With the era of baby boomers aging into the senior population, there is concern about an elevated mobility issue, as 20% of baby boomers have already ceased driving. Many of these individuals have the expectation to remain active into their 70s and 80s even if they cannot drive, so the looming question becomes how will senior living communities accommodate to this expectation? Microtransit is the answer.
Maximizing your transportation budget. Most senior facilities tend to turn to purchasing a couple vehicles for resident transportation, relying on employees to drive seniors to appointments and errands. However, these vehicles sit idle and deteriorate 90 to 95 percent of the time, making this a costly, inefficient plan of action for senior communities. The expectation of continued activity has the potential to be a big cost for unprepared senior care facilities already dealing with the volume demand of the boomer generation. Between vehicle cost, maintenance, scheduling trips, driver salary, insurance, etc., these expenses can result in thousands of dollars in losses. In fact, the total cost of vehicle ownership, divided by the number of rides is often shocking – outsourcing can result in a cost-per-ride reduction of 25 to 75 percent, depending on the flexibility needed for riders.
Prolonging the lives of your residents. According to a 2017 study published by The American Geriatrics Society, in community-dwelling elderly adults (ages 70 to 90), leaving the house daily was associated with lower mortality risk, independent of social, functional, or medical status. Whether a senior chooses to live in a community or age at home, the ability to travel at their leisure is key to happiness. Transportation can bridge the gap for residents in their communities, and "frequency of leaving" should be a leading metric for measuring the current state of your transportation program.
By providing your residents with a reliable transportation option through a microtransit partner, you will be improving their overall quality of life. In addition, having this added amenity gives your facility a competitive edge against other facilities who have not provided this important asset. When families are in the process of selecting a community, senior living facilities that can provide reliable transportation to doctors' offices, grocery stores, local recreational facilities, restaurants and shopping centers are a step ahead in giving the highest quality care. Every aspect of transportation is changing, and seniors and senior communities alike are positioned to be the big winners, as the market for vehicles goes from owned to shared with microtransit.
Measureable insights. Partnering with an outside company allows facility managers to simplify transportation budgets by providing data around exact cost-per-ride, allowing for more accurate expense numbers and return-on-partnership tracking. Most microtransit partners provide data around the number of rides, common transport locations and the quickest routes to these locations.
Small details matter, and having a company that provides data and improves efficiency allows facility managers to have proof points on partnership success without having to invest their own time pulling data. Supplying data around frequency of leaving to seniors and their families validates the success your community maintains in ensuring ongoing resident satisfaction.
Improve your community. Increasing senior engagement in the community boosts your local economy, in turn creating direct relationships with local business owners. Oftentimes, community businesses may even express interest in assisting with ride costs because they know it brings more senior customers to their location.
Providing access to community amenities combats social isolation and gives access to essential day-to-day resources. Social isolation is the gap that develops between seniors and society due to lack of everyday contact. Social isolation can cause long term negative health effects, such as depression, high blood pressure and shorter life expectancy. By keeping seniors mobile, socialization of seniors in communities is nurtured, reducing likelihood of social isolation.
Kick starting the local economy and improving senior socialization creates an ongoing circle of development in your community – all while you're improving your facility's transit services. Accessibility becomes a community effort, and that is something many prospects and community stakeholders alike can appreciate.
Microtransit allows senior communities an alternative to maximize their resources and fleet management all while saving money. It provides a reliable solution that will provide your senior living community with a competitive asset to recruit future residents, while also enhancing your local economy and improving socialization of seniors.
CREDIT: Ryan McManus is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SHARE, where he leads the vision and strategy of the company to be a trusted, efficient transportation option for jobs, education, and healthcare.


This is one hell of a trippy short film. Hades follows an unamed woman as she travels through the symbolic circles of Hell, and that is about all I could deduce from it. Told entirely without Dialouge, its a strange but oddly beutifal film that words can barely describe. Truely, itd be criminal to spoil it for you here; its a film best taken in on your own.
Thankfully you absolutely can do that right now; for the rest of October one of the strangest, most surreal films of the year is screening for free. Take my word for it; this is a journey worth taking.


As we know grocery store prices have been climbing for several months, and the larger your family, the larger your grocery bill. On December 29, 2010, Agriculture Commissioner, Todd Staples stated that Americans spend less of their income (only 10%) on food as compared to Mexico (22%), China (28%) or Russia (28%). Wages in these other countries are typically low so these percentages are useless in my opinion. I don't know if he made this statement to make Americans feel better but it didn't work for me.
Over the past few years food prices have risen faster than anytime since 1990. The increases we are seeing are particularly noticeable in staples, such as milk, eggs, meat, grains, vegetable oil, beef and bread.
With the recent flooding, tornadoes, late spring frosts, hurricanes and the sharp increase in fuel lets us know these prices are going to continue to climb. This is a very serious problem, especially for those that are on a fixed income.
As a point of interest, Forbes states Americans spend their money differently than they did a few decades ago. Housing expense is the one thing people in all income brackets have in common as their largest expense, which is typically one third of their annual income. Of course, it is more difficult for the lower income families. This is a big increase from 1960, when Americans spent just 14.6% of their budget on housing.
The second biggest expense for high-income families is transportation at 17%, but for lowest income families 17% is barely adequate for their everyday expenses and food takes the biggest portion of the 17%.
Interestingly enough, Americans eat differently also. The higher the income the less people spend on groceries (about 6%), while middle income spend about 9% and low income families spend about 12%. Another change is people are busy and don't want to cook, so while the overall average food budget might be 13.3%, 42% is spent in restaurants.
When you look at the big picture, however, by the time you get the family in the car, drive to the restaurant, you have the expense of fuel and maybe a 20-minute drive, depending on where you go to eat. Then, you usually have at least a 10-20 minute wait to get seated, and then wait to get served. The cost of the meal is surely more than a home cooked meal, and in many restaurants it is much higher. Next, you have the drive home. You certainly haven't saved any time, and you have definitely spent more money.
Sure, it is pleasant to eat out, but can you afford it? The best way to control this expense is to plan ahead; decide what you can afford and how often you can afford to eat out, and then plan ahead for those occasions. The biggest problem for most people is they suddenly decide while driving home from work to stop for fast food, and it's very easy to spend a lot of money if you stop for fast food very often.
Grocery stores put particular items on sale every three months, so you can probably expect to see something like coffee on sale four times a year. As you become aware of the cycle, plan to stock up on this item when it is on sale, and save your coupons for the sales.
I always stay stocked up on coffee and toilet paper, as I consider those to be the most important necessities for the home.
It is certainly more economical if you make a home cooked meal. There are many ways that you can save money at the grocery store. Limit the number of time you go to the grocery store to once a week, and if you can make it two weeks that is even better.
Check your cabinets and freezer ahead of time so you know exactly what staples you need, and then make a grocery list. Plan your menu for the week, and the advantages are your life will be much more organized, plus you have the ingredients on hand that you'll need to make each meal.
There are many tips that we've all heard before, such as, never go to the store hungry, and it's better to go alone. Also, don't buy anything that's not on the list unless the product is something you absolutely need. Couponing has become very popular.
Many more people are using grocery coupons than ever before. If you are using coupons for groceries it is a good idea to have the coupons organized. Get them out before you enter the store, and they should match the items on your grocery list.
Coupons can be a hassle to use in the grocery store if you're looking through one envelope that's not organized, as it's very time-consuming. Many people are using coupon organizers that have clear plastic holders where they can arrange similar coupons together.
My coupon holder has labels, such as condiments, frozen food, canned food and so forth, which make shopping much easier for me. Coupons can be found in your Sunday paper particularly, and also most stores print a circular, which includes store coupons, as well as, their sales.
Sometimes stores will even have free coupons just to get you in the door. Also, notice the in-store coupons as you walk down the aisles found in dispensers hung on the shelves. Magazines are another good place to find food coupons, and printable coupons can be found on the internet. Some stores have a box with coupons at the door where people put coupons that they are not using, and they take coupons they can use.
One thing I do is go to the store early in the morning, particularly if I am going to be buying meat. This is the time of day when they mark meat down that's going to expire in that day or the next. I check the dates and buy meat that will expire tomorrow which is a huge savings. As soon as I get the meat home I rewrap it and put in the freezer.
Also, watch for the buy one get one free ads. Pay attention to the price per pound and the quality of the meat, as sometimes you are getting a good deal but not always. On perishable items like yogurt, milk or eggs. I make sure I get the product with the expiration date as far away as possible.
Plan your trip to the store to minimize the number of times you walk up and down the aisles.
Try store brands, as often their quality is the same as the higher price items.
Stock up when things are on sale, which is also a great time to use your coupons.
Avoid processed foods and cook meals from scratch.
Some people use a calculator to keep track of what they're spending.
If a store in your area has double coupon days and obviously that's the day to shop.
If you have a produce market in the area where you live, it is the best place to buy your produce as the prices are almost always less and produce is fresher.
Shopping at grocery outlets can save you money if you want to buy in quantity, but check your prices carefully to make sure that it is a savings.
Eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting back on meat will save you money.
Drink more water or make iced tea rather than purchasing caffeinated beverages.
Always fill out and send in your rebates.
It conserves time and energy to cook a double batch of a meal so the next night all you have to do is heat up.
It is usually not worthwhile to go to two or three different grocery stores just to save a few cents on different items as it takes a lot of time and considering the price of gas it is probably not worthwhile. When you get up to the register in the store set your coupons up on the area where the ATM machine is so you don't forget to give them to the cashier. Since I have forgotten to give my coupons in the past I can tell you its very frustrating.
Watch the register as the cashier rings up your groceries, as many times you can find errors where they haven't entered the sale price into the computer.
Budgeting can be very difficult with all the rising prices, and there are only a few areas where expenses can be reduced. People are driving less and consolidating their errands to save gas. Groceries are probably the best way to save money.
Have your habits regarding grocery shopping changed in the past few months?
I drive less and buy less expensive food, using coupons.
I cannot spend the same money on groceries I did a year ago.
Nothing has changed about my shopping habits.
I've started using a shopping list regularly and use some coupons.
I'm so glad you found this article helpful, and I appreciate your comments.
Support Med, Thank you for your comments.
cherrycrime, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub and I appreciate your comments.
thelyricwriter, I'm so glad you found the article helpful. Thanks for your comments.
Hi there Pamela. These are really some great tips that you have. Coupons can save you some big bucks over time. Very useful and voted up. Great article.
LVidoni, Thanks so much for your comments.
Thanks for the tips, Double coupon days are where it's at!
Hanna, True enough. Thanks for your comment.
Great article. I think Americans need to be very grateful we only spend 10% of our income on groceries.
lazko, I'm glad the hub was helpful and I appreciate your comments.
Great budget advices, it gave me additional perspective about that important topic these days. Thank you!
Om Paramapoonya, I agree and I appreciate your comments.
Journey, Thanks so much for your comments.
R Talloni, I'm glad you enjoyed the hubs and I appreciate your comments.
These are great tips, Pamela, and your hub layout is a neat example of what can be done to make them interesting. Thanks--I should have known all these tips by now. So glad you posted this!
This is a great hub. Thanks. I enjoyed the video too!
Audry, I think many of us have changed out lives. Thanks for your comments.
Great points, Pamela - we've changed our spending habits drastically and our shopping habits. We won't buy ever unless it's on sale now and build our meals around the current sales.
We also drive into town and do 2-4 week shopping for things that will last....we have the SUV jammed to the rafters along with 2 of our dogs but the savings are worth it!
Bobbi, I don't like it either but I'm glad the hub was helpful. Thanks for your comments.
Very useful and informative hub especially since grocery shopping is the one thing I hate most to do. Great info.
novascotiamiss, Thank you for that information as we are all pinching pennies these days.
What I also forgot to mention, I like to try out new recipes. I find the bulk stores great as you can buy small quantities there for that specific recipe and then it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. Hope you'll enjoy my breakfast cereal recipe, it's really great. I got it from an american lady from Washington.
Rev Lady, Thank you for your comments. God Bless.
drbj, How could I have forgotten to list chocolate??? Of course, I agree. Thanks for your comments.
noviascotiamiss, The Dollar Stores are a great suggestion as they do have low prices and weekly sales. Thanks for the addition to my hub. I will check out your cereal recipe also. Your remarks are appreciated.
Actually, your hub has inspired me so much that I decided to publish my breakfast cereal recipe. It's not only inexpensive, it's also healthy. Hope you'll enjoy it.
Another tip: I find that the Dollar store offers a few non-perishable food items at amazingly low prices. Some of them are the same brands or better than what you buy at your supermarket. I just wanted to mention this to people who don't dare going into a Dollar store, thinking it only sells cheap or inferior goods.
Thanks, Pamela, for the many great and useful shopping tips. I completely agree with you that coffee and toilet tissue are absolute necessities but I would add one more ... chocolate. Would you agree?
A very useful hub Pam, thank you. I believe in budgets and keep attuned to ways in which I can save money.
Sinea Pies, I am not familiar with Aldis so I don't think there is one in my area but I also go to a specific store where paper products and soaps are cheaper. Stretching the dollar is the key. I appreciate your comments.
Very good hub. Taking a closer look at where and how we spend money is healthy. Taking the challenge to stretch a dollar and still eat well is also. In addition to shopping sales, making lists and using coupons, I visit discount grocers like Aldis to get essentials like condiments and paper goods.
always exploring, I started keeping a pad on the refrigerator last year and it helps me not forget needed items too. Thanks for your comments.
prasetio, I certainly appreciate the thumbs, up as well as, your comments.
This is really great info. Pamela. I use a grocery list when i shop. I keep a pad in my kitchen, when i need to buy, i jot it down. I've found you don't buy items you don't need as much. Thank you for sharing.
Stephanie, You described my problem exactly in picking up extras when I make that stop for 1 or 2 items, so I try to avoid it. I appreciate you comment.
Icbenefield, Not having a car would certainly force good planning on your part but it sounds like you work it out well. Thank you for your comment.
anginwu, That's true. It is healthier. Thanks so much for your comments.
Great practical tips. I know I've dine out less. Cooking your own food is not only cheaper but healthier. Rated up.
Very useful and good ideas are presented in this hub. Many of these we incorporate. We don't have a car so we limit our shopping to once a month for the big list and once a week for quick use things like milk and bread. This makes it easier to find a ride. Most of our cooking is done at home and we use convenience foods for treats only or for when one of us is sick and cannot cook. We like to shop at a discount store where we have to bag our own groceries. Not having to pay for their bags cuts our bill drastically. Another way to save on the grocery bill is community dinners. Our church once a month hosts a dinner where everyone brings a dish. It can be as simple as opening a can of peas. But when you put it together with what everyone else brings, there is a feast to be enjoyed and no one had to fix an entire meal.
For me, the very best advice is to limit the number of trips to the grocery store. Impulse buying is so easy when you run in for milk or bread and come out of the store with chips, cheese and ice cream. Like many, we have cut out eating at fast food restaurants and shop sales to stock up. By putting all of your advice together, we can surely cut our grocery bills considerably.
noviascotiamiss, Thanks for even more good tips and it sounds like you are enjoying your well planned method of shopping. We just went to the Farmer's Market this morning for a lot of fresh produce. I appreciate your comments.
Steph, I started using a shopping list because I would forget things and now it is to remember and to not buy things I don't really need. Thanks for your comments.
Denise, Everyone one is being hit with higher prices and $5.89 does sound outrageous for fries. I enjoy eating out occasionally but it happens rarely these days. Thanks for your comments.
Loved the stats you added to this hub, Pamela. I do use a list and always run into trouble when I 'forget' the list and try to remember what I wrote down-or worse, when I stop before checking cupboards and constructing a list.
Pamela, this says it all. Another great hub. We are living on a limited budget and eat surprisingly well. I always get flyers in the mail. I will then study them carefully and make my shopping list for the week accordingly. Like you mentioned, we only go shopping approx. every 10 days. The less you go into the shops, the less you are tempted to spend money. While I'm making my list I also go through all my coupons. Another great tip is to go shopping shortly before a long holiday when the shops are closed (Thanksgiving, Christmas etc.). They will quite often sell fresh groceries like baked goods, vegetables or meat and fish at a greatly reduced price. Also look out for marked down food and gifts after Christmas, Easter, mother's day etc. I usually buy most of my premium chocolates after Christmas. Frugal shopping has become a bit of a hobby for me and I am really proud and happy when I see a whole shopping cart full of amazing food at a low price. Like you I cook just about everything from scratch and I also have a big garden. We hardly ever eat out as we prefer our own home cooked gourmet meals. I always buy my fruit and vegetables at the local farm shop, where they are a lot cheaper than at the supermarket and I know that they are produced locally. Regarding spending more money on housing and transportation than in the 60's: This is a no brainer. Middle class families used to life in middle class houses and owned 1 car. Now everybody is living in a big mansion and owning at least 2-3 cars. We've got nobody but ourselves to blame for this! Also, we didn't have credit cards in the 60's and paid in cash. If people don't pay off their credit card debt at the end of the month they should always add the interest to the purchasing price. This might make them stop buying all the stuff they don't really need.
Susan, My father gave me that same number and yes, times have changed. Thanks for the comments.
Great hub Pamela, I remember way back...when I was getting my first apartment and my Dad said to me "Don't spent more than 25% of your monthly earnings on rent" Boy have things ever changed.
Eiddwen, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub and I appreciate your comments.
Another very useful hub Pamela which I am sure many will benefit from.
I vote up plus useful for this one and thanks for sharing.
Ancillotti, I agree. I think a good plan is essential and I appreciate your comments. Hugs and cheers to you also.
Pamela, once again your Hub is incredible. I think the only solution to the budget question is a good plan.
Thanks for all the tips! Hugs and cheers!
POP, I do the same thing but it took me many years to get that organized but it's really pays off. Thanks so much for your comments.
Using a shopping list has been the best thing I've done so far. I buy only what I know I need because I actually check my pantry and my refrigerator and plan my meals for the coming week. Up and useful.


text:
Q: Installing a CA certificate on multiple Windows machines (IE/Firefox) I look after ~50 machines running XP/Vista, all on a single Windows Server 2008 domain. We are rolling out a number of test webservers internally, which have their SSL certificates signed with a company internal CA.
To prevent users being confused by SSL warnings, I need to install the CA's certificate on each of the machines.
Any ideas how to automatically install a certificate on Windows machines for IE and Firefox?

A: Your best bet is to deply your root certificate to the machines using group policy. This article here explains the process in good detail.

A: FirefoxADM will help you deploy CA certs for firefox.  The annoying problem with this, is that it distributes the entire certificate database.  Any certificates added by the user will be overwritten.

A: I suggest using certutil from NSS Tools [1] that can administer the certificate databases used by softwares like Firefox and Thunderbird [2]:
certutil.exe -A -n <cert name> -t <trust> -i <cert filepath> -d <firefox/thunderbird profile dirpath)

Combined with PsTools's PsExec or an AD/logon script. Either way it should be ran when software is not running on remote host.
NSS Tools sources can be grabbed from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/nss/releases/ (some Windows binaries can be found on the Internet but given the security nature: it's better to compile it yourself)
[1]: Network Security Services: https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/NSS/tools/NSS_Tools_certutil
[2]: They are using a Netscape Communicator database with files cert8.db and key3.db.

A: Sam's answer is the best bet for IE.
For Firefox, it's not as easy because there's no machine wide certificate store that it uses (sadly).  Each user has their own copy of the certificate store in the Firefox profile folder called cert8.db.  You will basically have to edit this file with a local copy of Firefox and add your internal certs.  Then distribute it to all of your users' profiles.
Distribution can be done using FirefoxADM like Zoredache mentioned.  But there are plenty of other ways to do it using login scripts or tools like SMS/ConfigMgr.

A: To import certificate into firefox on all domain computers do the following:

*

*manually import the SSL cert into firefox browser on any computer

*then copy firefox cert database cert8.db

*

*find it in path C:\Users\user1\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\8arq0r3k.default

*copy the cert db to a network shared location

*save the following to batch file (modify the share path):

script.bat:
Set FFProfdir=%Appdata%\mozilla\firefox\profiles
cd %FFProfdir%
DIR /A:D /B > "%Temp%\FFProfile.txt"
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%i in (%Temp%\FFProfile.txt) do (
CD /d "%FFProfDir%\%%i"
rename cert8.db cert8.db.orig
copy "\\server1\cert8.db"
)
DEL /f /q "%Temp%\FFProfile.txt"

This batch replaces the cert8.db with one that contains the new certificate. Use Domain Group Policy to run this batch at startup Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)

A: Also in the user's profile directory there's a cert_override.txt file that gets populated when you override a certificate warning and choose to store the exception permanently.  If you only have one or two certs to worry about you might want to take a look at that.  Having said that, I've only used it on one server and there are a couple of encrypted strings in the file, so you might find it's machine specific...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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POLITICO's Westminster Insider
How British towns got left behind
This week Jack explores whether Britain's provincial towns — like the town he grew up in and many places he has lived since — have been "left behind" as the economy has evolved over recent years.
Wigan MP and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy explains why she famously put towns at the heart of her political philosophy, and how she believes places like Wigan can be transformed in the decades to come. Mansfield MP and local council leader Ben Bradley considers the shifting political forces that helped make him Mansfield's first ever Conservative MP in 2017.
FT journalist Sebastian Payne discusses his eye-opening road trip through numerous small and medium-sized towns in the north of England last year which resulted in his book, "Broken Heartlands."
Academics Professor Henry Overman and Professor Will Jennings mull the demographic and economic changes which have created such disparities between different urban areas, and what we might do to address them. And the Centre for Cities think-tank's Paul Swinney warns Britain's largest metropolitan areas must not be neglected amid the increasing government focus on smaller towns.
More episodes from POLITICO's Westminster Insider
The year ahead in 53 minutes
As another eventful year in U.K. politics draws to a close, Jack Blanchard is joined by 10 special guests to predict the big stories we'll be talking about in 2022. Conservative Home's Editor Paul Goodman considers what the year ahead may have in store for Boris Johnson, while the New Statesman's Political Editor Stephen Bush reads the runes for a newly-emboldened Keir Starmer. Resolution Foundation boss Torsten Bell warns of economic problems looming in the spring of 2022, while FT columnist and author Anjana Ahuja predicts how the next stages of the pandemic will play out. Polling expert Robert Hayward and Irish Times columnist Newton Emerson look ahead to the May local elections in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectively, while POLITICO journalists Rym Momtaz and Ryan Lizza preview the French presidential election in May and the U.S. mid-terms in November. Finally, Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford University previews the Chinese Communist Party's 20th party congress, while the Guardian's David Conn considers the political storm raging around the 2022 men's football World Cup in Qatar. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
From opium wars to cyberattacks: 200 years of UK-China friction
As Hong Kong goes to the polls for a highly controversial election, Jack Blanchard is joined by politicians, historians and diplomats to reflect on 200 years of U.K.-China relations. Tory peer Chris Patten, the last U.K. governor of Hong Kong, explains the optimism he felt when the city was handed back to China in 1997 — and his anger at Beijing's recent clampdown. Pro-Beijing Hong Kong legislator Regina Ip gives the opposing view, claiming China has every right to quash pro-democracy movements if deemed illegal. Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford University and Professor Steve Tsang of SOAS explain the historical forces that have shaped U.K.-China relations since the early 19th century. While former U.K. diplomat Peter Ricketts sets out how British policy toward China has evolved over recent decades, and Commons foreign affairs committee chairman Tom Tugendhat explains why his backbench grouping of Tory MPs has been piling pressure on the U.K. government to take a harder line. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Two years on: What the hell happened in the 2019 general election?
In a special anniversary episode, Jack Blanchard looks back at the seminal general election of December 2019, with help from experts and insiders from all the main campaign teams. Tory campaign chief Isaac Levido reveals the secrets behind Boris Johnson's slick election-winning machine, including the all-important "Get Brexit Done" slogan. Jeremy Corbyn's policy supremo Andrew Fisher rues the unforced errors and the impossible circumstances which led the Labour Party to its worst defeat in years. The Brexit Party's Gawain Towler and Lib Dem peer Dorothy Thornhill reveal the wildly contrasting fortunes of the minor parties in 2019. And political scientist Professor Rob Ford of Manchester University explains the findings of his team's major new study of the election — and why Boris Johnson's landslide victory could easily have been far bigger. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
ITsecurity
Dr Brian Bandey
Alexander Hanff
David Harley
Dr Monica Horten
Sorin Mustaca
Bev Robb
Joseph Saviri
Robert Schifreen
Rob Slade
Tara Taubman-Barissian
Josh Townsend
Kevin Townsend
Martin Zinaich
Are Crowdfunding and the Gaming Industry Failing Each Other?
Posted by Josh Townsend on September 22, 2017.
Kickstarter Games' Failures
Crowdfunding has firmly established itself as part of 21st-century economics, despite a lot of early and ongoing scepticism. Prominent crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the centrepiece of these emerging economies, has seen more than three billion dollars-worth of pledges across all its projects. Ever adaptive and eager for new methods of monetization, the gaming industry has become intimately involved with such crowdfunding, with both independent developers funding their ambitious projects through customer interest, and larger AAA publishers engaging in some more cynical uses of the platform. But with the quantity of projects that disappoint backers and fail to deliver on their promises feeling disproportionately high, could this platform be doing the industry more harm than good?
Kickstarter campaigns often target genres and franchises that have gone long-ignored by larger publishers; The Mighty No. 9 debacle is still fresh in many gamers' memories, but the project once generated immense optimism among Mega Man fans, Capcom's franchise having gone largely untended by its publisher with fans still eager for more gameplay in the same style. Although the project was headed up by Mega Man veteran Keiji Inafune and quickly hit its $900,000 funding goal (even ending up with nearly $4,000,000 in total), the development was plagued by problems, and not only did the eventual game receive poor reviews from critics and users alike, but many of the campaign's additional promises were botched, delayed or outright ignored.
Another highly visible game industry personality to figurehead a Kickstarter project was Peter Molyneux with what was advertised as a "reinvention of the god game," GODUS. Molyneux certainly had experience with the genre, having been behind the cult classic Populous series, as well as the well-loved Dungeon Keeper and Theme Park series. However, Molyneux's reputation for deceptive marketing of his games – or at least 'over-promising' – began to emerge as far back as 2004, when Fable released, lacking a huge proportion of the features and scope that Molyneux had promised. However, the veteran game designer still had enough good faith from gamers for GODUS to achieve its £450,000 funding goal in December 2012. The campaign originally promised that the game would be finished in seven to nine months, but by September 2013 the game was still in an early access, unfinished state. Over the next few years, several campaign promises went unaddressed, and in 2014 Molyneux unveiled a new project while GODUS development still floundered. In 2016, Molyneux left his 22Cans studio entirely, leaving the game and all its unfulfilled promises for the studio to deal with.
Yooka-Laylee is a less extreme case but left many gamers feeling let down upon its release. Although it had a much less troubled development than No. 9 and didn't abandon its campaign promises like GODUS, the game harshly divided critics and was accused of leaning too much on nostalgia instead of focusing on the playability and polish of its own product. Camera and control issues were often cited by critics, and though Playtonic Games released a patch that addressed a lot of the criticism reasonably quickly, it still resulted in a shaky launch and mixed feelings from many gamers about the title.
Not a Hopeless System
Backing a game on Kickstarter is far from a guarantee of disappointment, however – there's no shortage of games which have received overwhelming praise after being funded on the platform. Perhaps the best example of all is Shovel Knight. The first project of Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight was not the first game to be funded through Kickstarter, but was the first runaway success to both vastly exceed its funding goals and deliver capably on all promises made, receiving widespread praise from both critics and players. Another original title which evoked a nostalgic, 8-bit look, Shovel Knight's Kickstarter campaign asked for only $75,000, but was backed for more than $300,000 by users. After release, the game was both a critical and commercial success and the titular character became such a well-known figure that he has cameoed – and continues to cameo – in a wide variety of other indie games, and has had an Amiibo made by Nintendo – the first ever Amiibo of a character not associated with a Nintendo 1st-party title.
You don't have to look too far to find other games that have impressed backers and succeeded in their goals. The Banner Saga trilogy had its third entry successfully funded in March this year, after the first two games received high praise for their visual style, gameplay and storytelling. The original Banner Saga was intended to be a single game – a personal project for the developers at Stoic Games, but with the Kickstarter campaign receiving more than $700,000 in pledges and the original target just $100,000, Stoic decided to increase the scope and ambition of the game, leading to an overwhelmingly positive reception. Another project, Undertale, asked for an extremely modest US$5,000 to make an RPG styled after fan-favourite classic games like the Mother series. The Kickstarter was funded for more than $50,000, and in September 2015 Undertale was released to a storm of praise and became a cornerstone of 'internet culture' well into 2016.
The Subversion of Crowdfunding
While these examples show that games certainly can succeed on Kickstarter, and there's nothing about the platform inherently damaging to game development, larger developers and publishers are starting to undermine crowdfunding with the questionable practice of combining crowdfunding with traditional investments and partnerships with larger companies. The latest game to pursue this route is We Happy Few. After its Kickstarter campaign succeeded, development proceeded without issue and an early access version was released in July 2016. Although critics had mixed reactions to this early build, it was generally agreed that the game still had enough scope and potential for improvement for it not to be written off completely. However, after steady updates and no warning, the developer of We Happy Few, Compulsion Games, announced it would be partnering with Gearbox Software, suddenly changing the game from a $30 independent release to a $60 AAA title, complete with more expensive limited and pre-order editions. While Compulsion Games does seem to have the intention to use the additional funding from Gearbox to increase the scope of the game and add content, it can still be taken as a betrayal of crowdfunding's independent ethos, and has angered many backers who may not have contributed if they had known that the big-budget industry would be involved with the project.
The progenitor of this practice may have been Shenmue 3; it was certainly one of the earliest and most well-known cases. Much like many games to be found on Kickstarter, the Shenmue series was a much-beloved franchise which had gone ignored by the gaming industry for 14 years. In 2015, Sony announced a Kickstarter campaign for a long-demanded sequel, and the campaign not only succeeded in eight hours, but ended up tripling the initial target of US$2 million and breaking the funding record for video game Kickstarters. The project became controversial when Sony revealed that it was providing additional funding to Shenmue III's budget – and had always intended to do so, despite the Kickstarter campaign never having mentioned this partnership, with the crowdfunding campaign only existing for Sony to "gauge interest" from gamers. A FAQ on the Kickstarter page did mention "other funding sources" without specifying a large publisher like Sony, but even that was only introduced to the campaign page after the $2 million goal had already been reached.
While Sony's dishonesty over Shenmue 3 is certainly a bad-faith use of crowdfunding, there's nothing inherently wrong with funding a game partially through crowdfunding and partially through a larger publisher, provided the developer is transparent about it. It's another story when a game sells itself as being completely crowdfunded, only to seek further financial backing later after the development has burnt through all the campaign funds and failed to deliver the product. An ongoing Kickstarter disaster of this sort is that of Unsung Story. Playing on fans' love for the Final Fantasy Tactics series, the project was brought about by Yasumi Matsuno, who has directed, written and produced for various titles in that series.
The game, a joint effort between Yasumi Matsuno and Playdek, scraped through its US$600,000 Kickstarter goal just in time, only for the developer to immediately go quiet, breaking a commitment to "weekly development updates" within just a few months. The initial release date passed without comment from Playdek until after the fact, and it was eventually revealed that Yasumi Matsuno had ended his involvement with the project at some unknown time. Playdek continued to break promises for more regular updates and transparency but eventually announced that further funding had been secured from an outside source, leaving the original backers in the dark about where their money had gone. Between December 2016 and August 2017, Playdek fell silent on Unsung Story's development, only to suddenly announce that it was abandoning the project and passing the rights to small developer Little Orbit, which stated that it would be starting from scratch with the project.
Although Little Orbit's takeover of the project has rekindled a faint hope for some backers, this still apparently leaves every penny of the original Kickstarter campaign's budget vanished into the ether – and unless a project terminates before the backers' money has been spent, there's nothing Kickstarter can do to protect those investments.
Every Kickstarter project is a gamble for its backers to some degree – the platform has some steps in place to keep developers accountable, but there's little anyone can do if a studio simply runs out of money, whether their promises are fulfilled or not. Combine this with the concerning trend for a Kickstarted game to get additional funding from a large publisher – which at its worst is highly exploitative and deceptive – and faith in crowdfunded games is already on shaky ground.
Amid all this uncertainty, all eyes will be upon Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Due for release in March 2018, it will be the next project on the same scale as Mighty No. 9 to release after being backed on Kickstarter. Though good will towards the game has already taken a slight dent, with Igarashi announcing a partnership with 505 Games to help complete the last leg of development, hopes are still high for the industry veteran. Bloodstained's release will show whether he can overturn the trend of botched, publisher-partnered Kickstarter games that play off gamers' love for a classic series but utterly fail to deliver.
Kickstarter as a platform is very capable of sustaining independently-developed games, and offers the industry a healthy alternative to the big-publisher AAA market. However, with so many highly-visible failures and betrayals of the crowdfunding ethos by augmenting Kickstarter funding with publisher backing, Igarashi's Bloodstained will be under a lot of pressure to perform well and live up to all its promise. With all its parallels to Mighty No. 9, it could be a rallying point for confidence in crowdfunded games – or a tipping point for gamers losing faith in the idea completely.
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Exiled, jailed, silenced: The war against Azerbaijan's journalists
BY COURTNEY MANNING
Rahim Haciyev, acting editor-in-chief of 2014 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Journalism Award-winning Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq (Photo: Alex Brenner for Index on Censorship)
Civil, political and human rights are harshly restricted and frequently violated in Azerbaijan. Independent and critical journalists frequently find themselves — or their families — targeted.
Rahim Haciyev, acting editor in chief of the Index Award-winning independent newspaper Azadliq, was forced to flee Azerbaijan after years of official harassment. The government has repeatedly cracked-down on dissent.
Haciyev wrote to Index on Censorship from exile in a western European country:
I'm very sorry that the repressive policy of the Azerbaijani authorities against the Azadliq newspaper forced me to leave the country.
After the arrest of the newspaper's financial director Faig Amirli, the authorities soon stopped issuing a print version. Amirli was arrested on obviously fabricated charges. I was summoned several times to the prosecutor's office several times to testify about the paper's financial affairs. The prosecutors said that this was connected with the criminal case of Amirli, but are invesitgating him under charges of "inciting religious hatred" and "violating the rights of citizens under the pretext of conducting religious rights".
It turned out that they were interested in the financial issues of the newspaper in order to find a way to silence it. In addition, several employees of the newspaper were summoned for questioning. Then a court ordered tax authorities to comb through the paper's financial activities. It's clear that this was undertaken to increase pressure on the newspaper and me personally.
Aiming to cripple Azadliq, the government-owned distribution company was ordered to withhold circulation receipts — $84,000. So we weren't able to print or even pay our bills. Three staffers are in prison — Seymur Hezi, Faig Amirli and Elchin. Each of them had sharply criticised the lawlessness and corruption of Azerbaijani officials.
In February, 11 Azadliq employees were summoned to the prosecutor's offices to be interrogated again. Several government agencies increased their pressure on the newspaper's online operation.
I had been warned twice in the past two years by the prosecutor general's office that under my leadership Azadliq had been slandering Azerbaijani authorities. In their notices I was told that failure to comply with their terms would mean legal repercussions for me. But I refused. The newspaper continued to report on corruption, abuses of power and the absence of the rule of law. We were devoted to pursuing the truth.
And that is why the authorities intensified repression against the newspaper. Now this lawlessness has forced me to leave the country.
This decision was extremely difficult. I am cut off from my family and friends. I have two children and don't know when I will see them again.
But despite all the problems I will continue to work daily for the newspaper's website.
It's my job, this is my job, this is my life.
Rahim Haciyev
Acting Editor-in-Chief, Azadliq
Haciyev is just one of the many journalists who have been targeted by Azerbaijani authorities in recent years. The country is ranked 163rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index, which ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists. Almost everyone who speaks out against the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, including journalists, human rights defenders, activists and bloggers, are commonly imprisoned on spurious charges, such as drug and weapon possession, hooliganism and tax evasion. Reports of torture and abuse are typical by those being detained. At least 15 Azerbaijani prisoners of conscience currently remain in jail, including:
Mehman Huseynov (Twitter)
Mehman Huseynov, an Azerbaijani journalist and pro-opposition blogger, was sentenced to two years in jail on 3 March by a Baku court for defaming the police chief of the city's Nasimi district. Huseynov intends to appeal his sentencing. According to Front Line Defenders, a group of police officers violently attacked Huseynov on 9 January. The next he was brought to court, found guilty of disobeying police orders and fined 200 manat (£96).
Elchin Ismayilli (IRFS.org)
Founder and editor of online news portal Kend.info Elchin Ismayilli was arrested on 17 February on charges of "extorting money" and "aggravated abuse of a position of influence". According to the Caucasian Knot, he was also accused of blackmailing a local office, charges he insists were fabricated to silence his coverage of local corruption and human rights violations. On 18 February, Ismayilli was sentenced to a pre-trial detention period of 24 days. He has previously been subject to multiple arrests and cases of harassment related to his work as a journalist.
Faig Amirli (IRFS.org)
On 3 March, a court decided to prolong the period of investigation of Faig Amirli for three months, the Azerbaijan Press Agency reported. Amirli, financial director of newspaper and assistant chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP), was arrested on 20 August 2016 for "inciting religious hatred" and "violating the rights of citizens under the pretext of conducting religious rights," according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Rashad Ramazanov (IRFS.org)
Writer and blogger Rashad Ramazanov was arrested on 9 May 2013 and sentenced to nine years in prison. According to English PEN, his charges included "illegal possession and sale of drugs". Police claimed to have found nine grams of heroin on his body, although Ramazanov insists that the drugs were planted by the officers, who he claims also beat him up and tortured him during interrogation. Ramazanov was sentenced to nine years in prison in November 2013 on a trumped-up drug trafficking charge. PEN International reported that on 23 January Ramazanov was moved to solitary confinement for 15 days, the reason for which remains unknown. On 7 February Ramazanov was released from solitary confinement, and his family was given permission to visit him.
Afgan Sadigov. (IRFS.org)
Founder and editor of the website Azel, Afgan Sadygov, was sentenced on 12 January to 2.5 years in jail. Sadygov was arrested on 22 November 2016 based on accusations of "hooliganism" after he was attacked on 9 August 2016 and allegedly hit a woman, Contact Online news reported. Sadygov's website often reports on issues such as poor infrastructure maintenance, bad quality of roads and waste of public funds in Azerbaijan's Jalilabad region.
Seymur Hezi
According to MeydanTV, the Supreme Court will hear the appeal of Seymur Hezi, reporter for opposition news source Azadliq and presenter for critical TV program "Azerbaycan Saati" on 13 April. The journalist was sentenced to five years in prison on 29 January 2015 on a trumped-up charge of aggravated hooliganism, Index on Censorship reported. The charge came after Hezi was attacked on 29 August by Maherram Hasanov, a complete stranger, and defended himself. Hezi has accused President Ilham Aliyev and chief of staff Ramiz Mehdyev of ordering his arrest.
Nijat Aliyev. (IRFS.org)
The lawyer of Nijat Aliyev, former chief editor of religious website Azadxeber.org, has not been able to get hold of the text of the verdict of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan for his client, Contact Online news reported. Aliyev's lawyer believes that the delay has been intentional in order to prevent the filing of a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, Contact Online news reported. According to IRFS, Aliyev was detained on 20 May 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on 9 December 2013 on charges of illegal possession of drugs and weapons, incitement of religious hatred, calls to seize power and distributing banned religious literature. Aliyev's website previously published criticisms of the government's policies in regards to religion, the possibility of a LGBT parade in Baku and the allotment of too much funding for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, OCCRP reported.
Alexander Lapshin (BBC)
Russian-Israeli travel blogger Alexander Lapshin was extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan on 7 February. He faces up to five years in prison on charges of "public calls against the state" and "unauthorised crossing of borders," according to Armenian News Agency ArmenPress. These charges came after Lapshin traveled to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and sympathised in his blog entries with the Armenians he met, GlobalResearch reported.
Fikrat Faramazoglu (IRFS.org)
Fikrat Faramazoglu, editor-in-chief of news website jam.az, has been detained since 30 June 2016 on the charge of extortion by means of threats, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. According to Azerbaijan Free Expression Platform, these charges originated when a local restaurant owner accused Faramazoglu of extorting money from him when asked to remove defamatory articles about the restaurant on websites owned by the journalist.
Abdul Abilov (IRFS.org)
Blogger and social media activist Abdul Abilov has been imprisoned since 22 November 2013. According to Azerbaijan Free Expression Platform, Abilov was charged with illegal possession, storage and manufacturing or sale of drugs when authorities claim to have found illegal drugs in his home and on his person, which Abilov continues to protest were planted on him. On 27 May 2014 Abilov was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. Stop Sycophants!, the Facebook page previously run by Abilov, was shut down following his arrest, IRFS reported. The page was known to strongly criticise authorities.
Courtney Manning
Latest posts by Courtney Manning (see all)
#IndexAwards2001: Grigory Pasko, Whistleblower of the Year - 18 April
Mapping Media Freedom: Mass detention of journalists in Belarus on Freedom Day - 30 March
Exiled, jailed, silenced: The war against Azerbaijan's journalists - 29 March


text:
Nyers László (Nemesdéd, 1934. április 14. – 2013. január 22.) Európa-bajnoki bronzérmes birkózó, színész. Dunaújváros első olimpikonja.

Pályafutása
1934. április 14-én a Nemesdéden született.  1952 és 1962 között a Nagykanizsai Lokomotív, 1962–63-ban a Pécsi VSC, 1963 és 1971 között a Dunaújvárosi Kohász birkózója volt. 1966 és 1968 között válogatott kerettag volt. Szabadfogásban és kötöttfogásban is versenyzett. Legnagyobb sikerét az 1968-as szkopjei Európa-bajnokságon érte el egy bronzéremmel. Az 1968-as mexikóvárosi olimpiát a második mérkőzésén sérülés miatt kénytelen volt feladni. A kétszeres olimpiai bajnok Kozma István állandó edzőpartnere volt. Több filmben is epizódszerepet kapott. Kósa Ferenc Tízezer nap című filmjében az egyik főszereplő volt.

Sikerei, díjai

Szabadfogásban
 Európa-bajnokság
 3.: 1968, Szkopje
 Országos bajnokság (nehézsúly)
 2.: 1967, 1968
 3.: 1964, 1965, 1966

Kötöttfogásban
 Országos bajnokság (nehézsúly)
 2.: 1965, 1967
 3.: 1964
1971. A Magyar Nėpköztársasàg Érdemes Sportolója

Filmszerepei
 Tilos a szerelem (1965)
 Minden kezdet nehéz (1966)
 Tízezer nap (1967) – Csere Mihály
 A múmia közbeszól (1967)
 Ítélet (1970)
 Jelenidő (1972)
 Holnap lesz fácán (1974)
 Keménykalap és krumpliorr – A tettes lépre megy (1974)
 Egyszeregy (1978) – Az ács

Jegyzetek

Források

 Elhunyt Nyers László, Dunaújváros első olimpikonja

1934-ben született személyek
2013-ban elhunyt személyek
Magyar birkózók
Magyar olimpikonok
Magyar színészek
Nagykanizsaiak
Dunaújvárosiak
Pécsi sportolók

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Disney is launching a new line of learning tools designed to help parents encourage kids 3 to 8 to learn outside of school. Disney Imagicademy begins with a series of mobile apps but will later expand into other products such as books and interactive toys. Over time, the target age will also grow to include older kids.
To start, Disney is launching an iPad app called "Mickey's Magical Math World" on Dec. 11, focused on math-based activities such as counting, shapes, logic and sorting. Within the app, there are five add-on activities such as "Minnie's Robot Count-Along" and "Goofy's Silly Sorting." The basic app is free to use, but the enhanced activities cost $4.99 each or $19.99 for all five. Future apps, on subjects ranging from life science using characters from Disney's "Frozen" to creative arts, will be similarly priced. The apps are ad free, keeping with laws that prevent targeting online advertising at kids under 13.
A companion app for parents lets grown-ups follow along with what their kids are doing even if they are using a separate mobile device. It also suggests a bevy of offline activities, such as creating "rocket racers" using toilet paper tubes, duct tape and balloons, or making a colorful "quilt" out of tissue paper to learn shapes.


Do you still hesitate if your dog needs toys to play and which one to choose? Do you think that no toy can withstand the force of your canine's jaws? Get this 'Fish-me-Out' Dog Treat Dispensing Ball, produced of virtually indestructible rubber! This toy, aimed for medium canine breeds, is designed for challenging developmental games, improving your pet's dexterity and wit in order to get tasty dog kibbles out!
The item is very easy to use. Just put some small kibbles in and give it to your four-legged friend. He will be surprised to find out that this ball contains tasty smelling treats inside! But it won't be so easy to get them out! Be sure, your pet will be absorbed with the game, until he manages to pull all the treats out!
This product is made of special rubber, containing no harmful substances, lightweight and durable at the same time. This material is approved by vets and dog experts as a totally safe and dog-friendly. It's designed to sustain everyday chewing, keeping its initial shape. Moreover, chewing the uneven surface of this treat dispenser will have a beneficial effect on your dog's dental hygiene, cleaning his teeth and preventing dental tartar in such an easy way!
This ball can be an interactive toy as well. When hollow use it for fetch games during daily walks or training sessions of your canine. Such easy and pleasant for your dog exercises will allow to maintain his excellent physical shape and to improve his retrieve skills.
Please, note! Ordering this canine toy you are not provided with dog treats. Check the table below to get some special treats for this toy!
Wanna see other sizes of this developmental dog toy? Please, check the table below!


Whether you're trying to find the most recent items Alfie Couture Designer Pet Apparel – Alisa Hooded Denim Dress – Color: Pink with the cheapest price and also have a discounted? Alfie Couture Designer Pet Apparel – Alisa Hooded Denim Dress – Color: Pink using good quality products. You will see review and features for this report.
This will be perfect for your baby's spring and summer play-date, or any outing you may want to explore. This one piece is made for comfort, style and will stay put. Hoodie top with denim skirt. Perfect for every day walk and weekend party.
Please note that this listing is for size: Large – 12" Body Length, 19" Breast Girth and 13" Neck Girth. We recommend one size up for comfort if your dog's measurement is the higher end of the range listed. Please note that these lengths represent the size of the dog and do not reflect the actual length of the garment.
This will be perfect for your baby's spring and summer play-date, or any outing you may want to explore.
This one piece is made for comfort, style and will stay put. Hoodie top with denim skirt.
Perfect for every day walk and weekend party.
VERY CUTE, but even the large is just too small for my Springer/Basset mix. Wish I could sew two together.
This is just an adorable doggie outfit ! The only thing they forgot to do was to put a slit on the back for a harness/leash to be used, but that can be fixed by doing a button hole slit with a sewing machine. Other than that, this outfit is of very good quality and very well made !
look good on the picture but not on my puppy…my chihuahua will never get bigger and dress is 3 times bigger that my dog….even we bought xs size for chihuahua….
Love the material very good quality but i ordered a medium. It was too small for my girl she weighs 7.5 lbs. I will definately give to my sister for her puppy for xmas. Medium will fit a 5 lbs dog its really short so becareful if you have a long dog go for larger size runs on the small side.
So CUTE! This is adorable! The measurements were almost perfect for my (kind of fat) Maltese. I'll need to take up the sleeves just a bit for perfection. This is one of my favorites and will hold up very well with wear and wash.
This entry was posted in Alfie on August 5, 2014 by marjinal.


text:
Home Running & Athletics News Ireland
Ciara Mageean claims golden double in Santry
by Lindie Naughton July 29, 2018
Photo: Lindie Naughton
The middle distance athlete wins 800m and 1500m Irish titles, Thomas Barr stormed to his eighth straight gold, and Leon Reid completes a sprint double.
It was business as usual for Ciara Mageean Thomas Barr, Mark English and Adam McMullen with commanding performances at the Irish National Track and Field Championships in Santry, Dublin over the weekend (July 28-29).
UCD's Mageean not only took a third 800m title at Morton Stadium on Sunday, but just over an hour later won 1500m gold for a fourth time since 2011.
Mageean beat Amy O'Donoghue of Emerald and defending champion Emma Mitchell of Queen's who had won the 5000m a day earlier.
In the 400m hurdles, Barr won an eighth consecutive title and he did so in a new championship record of 49.56 seconds beating the time of 49.68 that he ran in 2015. Finishing second was his training partner Paul Byrne of St Abban's.
Mark English of UCD AD won a fifth consecutive 800m and a sixth overall although he had to draw on all his experience to hold off the challenge of young pretender John Fitzsimons from Kildare AC Their times were 1:50.82 and 1:51.05.
Adding the 100m title to the 200m gold he won a day earlier was Leon Reid of Menapians. Reid's time of 10.42 gave him a solid victory over Travane Morrison of Tralee Harriers who clocked 10.54. Morrison is Jamaican studying a masters degree at IT Tralee on the effects of exercise and medication for patients following a kidney transplant.
Defending champion Jeremey Phillips of Clonliffe Harriers was third in 10.55.
Long jumper Adam McMullan of Crusaders AC claimed won a sixth title, four of them consecutive, although his best of 7.68 was well off his best of 7.99m recorded indoors earlier this year. On Saturday, triple jumper Denis Finnegan of An Riocht AC had won a ninth national title in twelve years, seven of them consecutive.
Taking her fourth women's steeplechase title was Michelle Finn of Leevale, whose time of n 9:46.81 was inside the B standard for the European Championships.
Also taking a fourth national title was Sarah Lavin of UCD in the women's 100m hurdles, with Kate Doherty of DSD second and Elizabeth Morland of Cushinstown AC third. Morland, the Irish heptathlon record holder, had earlier won the women's long jump with a 6.10m leap; a day earlier, she had won the javelin.
There was also a ninth title for Galway's Sean Breathnach in the shot, whose 17.53m effort showed him to be right back in form after missing last season. Breathnach also won the 56lb for distance.
In the 1500m, John Travers regained a title he won in 2016, beating Darren McBrearty of Letterkenny and Raheny's Kieran Kelly.
Ger O'Donnell of Carrick-on-Shannon again came good at the right time to beat Ben Reynolds of North Down and Matthew Behan of Crusaders in the 110m hurdles and won himself a third senior title.
Marco Pons of DMP AC took a third senior title in the discus with his winning throw of 53.67m, just seeing off Eoin Sheridan of North Westmeath whose best was 53.45m.
The men's 5000m gave a glimpse of the future with US-based Mark Forsythe, whose family comes from Comber, Co Down, beating Hiko Tonusa of DSD, originally from Ethiopia, who has found refuge in Ireland. Both are planning to live in Ireland long-term.
A fighting third in this race was defending champion Conor Dooney of Raheny Shamrock, who had pushed the pace from the start.
Winning her first national senior title in the 100m was Gina Akpe Moses of Blackrock (Louth) AC. In a close-fought race, she beat Joan Healy of Bandon AC by the narrowest of margins with both women given a time of 10.68 and both Niamh Whelan of Ferrybank and Molly Scott of SLOT times at 11.88 for third and fourth.
A clear winner of the women's 400m was Claire Mooney of UCD who will compete in the 800m at the European Championships next month. She proved her fitness with a time of 53.85.
Taking the men's pole vault title with a 4.50m effort was multi-eventer Michael Bowler of Enniscorthy AC.
Stephen Scullion in the 10,000m was among the winners on the first day of the Irish National Track and Field Championships. A full report can be found here.
Freddy Sittuk was a comfortable winner of the Mullingar 10-Mile on Saturday (July 27) winning in a time of 54:49. His Raheny Shamrock club mate Michael McMahon was second in 54:52, while third and first master was Paddy O'Toole of Westport AC in 55:15.
Jane-Anne Meehan of Athenry AC was first woman in 61:09, followed by Aine O'Reilly of Mullingar Harriers and Alma Hanevey of Crusaders AC.
Eoin Durkan of Donore Harriers led home 530 finishers at the Carton House 6km trail race in Co Kildare on Thursday evening (July 26).
Durkan's time of 19:57 saw him finish almost half a minute ahead of second placed Rory Kavanagh of host club Dunboyne AC with Rathfarnham's Barry Minnock a close third. First of the women was former Irish mountain running international Jane Bandila of Dunboyne AC. Aoife Coffey of Lucan Harriers was second and Ellen Vitting of Trim AC third.
Best of the teams were the Dunboyne men and the Sportsworld women.
Winning the Kerry 40-Mile Ultra was Alex O'Shea in 4 hrs 29 mins 30 secs. Fellow Irish international Keith Whyte was second in 4:34:58. Catherine Guthrie was the first woman in 6:42.34.
Under-17 athlete Conall McClean ran the fastest time at parkruns across the island of Ireland this weekend with a 16:27 run at the Waterworks in Belfast.
Maria McCarthy was the quickest woman on Saturday running 18:44 at the Killarney parkrun. The top 10 times at Irish parkruns can be found here.
Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patreon. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
More onCiara Mageeanirish national track and field championshipsLeon Reidthomas barr
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Irish weekend round-up returns
Hayley Carruthers among winners this weekend
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text:
USPAP Standards
Charles Keller Appraisals > Camoin > The Evolution of Camouflage During the First World War
The Evolution of Camouflage During the First World War
Charles Keller April 5, 2015
Camoin, Camouflage, de Segonzac, Dufresne, H.G. Wells, Kandinsky, Lord Northcliffe, Manion's Auction House, Mare, Picasso, Uncategorized, Villon
(Originally published in Trendline Magazine, January 2000; updated April 2015)
Many legacies of the First World War stem from the acceleration in evolution it provided for certain aspects of the art of war. If close order attacks and traditional horse mounted cavalry were rendered obsolete by trench warfare, there were other progressive elements this "war to end war" created.
The machine gun overwhelmed the single shot rifle, and the tank and aeroplane provided new platforms for that most formidable weapon. Also becoming apparent was the necessity of easy mobility along shifting frontlines, aerial reconnaissance, as well as the almost overriding importance of artillery, not to mention the industrial complex and resources to support it.
But certainly one of the most under appreciated aspects of this war that saw "came of age" was camouflage. Until this dawning of modern mechanized warfare, close order attack and retreat required no camouflage, and even during the first couple of years of fighting, the value of camouflage seemed understood by only a few. Outdated notions reigned in the upper echelons of both German and British military organizations, and neither side fully appreciated the role camouflage might play. But the French and Italians did.
British writer and journalist H.G. Wells toured the Italian, French and British frontlines during 1916, and wrote about them in War and the Future: Italy, France and Britain at War, which was published in early 1917. The book described how Italian camouflage was designed to both disguise, as well as simulate the appearance of guns, camps, and trenches in order to draw away or confuse Austrian fire.
In February 1915, French General Joffre created the Camouflage Department, the Section de Camouflage. Parisian portraitist – and artillery gunner Second Class – Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola (1871-1950) understood this new tactic, and took his cues from the coloration of animals in an effort to "break the outline." He was promoted to commander of the department by the end of the year. By 1917 its ranks had grown to around 3000 and included the likes of André Mare, Jacques Villon, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Charles Camoin, and Charles Dufresne. This mobile corps traveled from position to position along the frontlines camouflaging everything from observation posts to artillery to airfields.
Given this, it is not difficult to understand the frustration H.G. Wells felt towards his own nation's military leadership for their initial obstinacy toward camouflage. These "brass hats," he noted, were still wearing spurs on their boots despite the fact they were nowhere near a horse!
Grudging first attempts were to feebly splash paint on guns or paint a hanger grey-green. At length camouflage was indeed adopted, albeit hesitatingly, which Wells described in his own unique way:
"At any rate very many of the British tents look as though they had been dabbed over by a protesting man muttering 'foolery' as he did it. With a good telescope the chief points of interest in the present British front in France would be visible from Mars."
However, French progress and success with camouflage caused the British to appoint Solomon J. Solomon to create, with others, tank camouflage under the command of Royal Engineer Lt. Col. Francis Wyatt. Germany too had learned their lesson and turned to avant-garde artist Franz Marc, who was then serving in the cavalry, to paint what he would later call "Kandinskys," after the famous Russian abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), on tarpaulins. The increasing debt camouflage owed to abstract art was even noticed by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), when he claimed "it is we that have created that" upon seeing a camouflage painted cannon in Paris.
British Mark I tank with the Solomon camouflage scheme
Of course in a very clear sky or away at sea, complete invisibility was not a realistic goal. The "dazzle" pattern was developed as an offshoot of the "disruptive pattern" in order to mislead submarine commanders. It was not to obscure the true distance of the target, but to cause confusion about the proper course the captain should take for engagement. Practical tests yielded positive results and the British Admiralty ordered the entire merchant marine fleet camouflaged in October 1917.
Dazzle pattern testing at Academy of Arts, London
The reported German reaction was one of amusement and belief the allies were short on normal paint. But it wasn't long until Germany began intimidating the Allies and incorporating the dazzle pattern on their ships as well as the upper portions of their aircraft. The familiar "lozenge" pattern appeared around 1916 and culminated in its garish confusion in 1918.
But just as H.G. Wells had seen in his survey of ground based British commanders, the Royal Air Corps were reluctant to apply these patterns to their aircraft. Nevertheless, disruptive camouflage had made its irreversible impact on weaponry.
Drab-colored disruptive "tortoise shell" painted helmets appeared in the German trenches. Germany had been transitioning to "feldgrau" uniforms for field use since 1907, and a similar drab protective cover was placed over their spike helmets until those were replaced by the stahlhelm in 1916. In response to the war's new conditions, the French adopted the "horizon blue," or "tricolor grey," uniforms to replace the red trousers they wore at the beginning of the war. But even with these changes, coordinated uniform camouflage was still a couple of decades away.
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University of Virginia Rare Book School My goodness, Charles! That appraisal document is absolutely amazing! I'm completely gobsmacked! I have to be honest with you. I had more than just a little bit of seller's remorse when I saw the last of the collection being driven away in the library staff's vehicles. But, upon seeing your file, I feel like we still "possess" Dad's collection in a way. Thank you so much for that, and for your detailed, professional report! The fair market value, while obviously important, isn't nearly as valuable to us as getting the collection appraised correctly and donating it to someone who would value it as Dad did. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for playing such an important, invaluable part in that process! And for making a bittersweet process so enjoyable for me and, most importantly, for Mom! Anyway, Mom again expressed her enjoyment of working with you and getting to know you. I echo her remarks! – M.B.
*********************** About a year ago, I emailed you with photos of a WWI helmet and you responded with some history and detail on it! This year I was able to incorporate this in to my unit plan and students loved it. It was neat to teach them more about an artifact they could hold and touch. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me last year! It really helped my classroom come alive. - Terese Quenette, Bonner Springs High School, Social Studies Department Chair
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text:
El convento de la Encarnación de la localidad de española de Osuna, fundado en 1626, pertenece a la orden de Mercedarias Descalzas.

El edificio se levantó en 1549 como Hospital de la Encarnación del Hijo de Dios. A principios del siglo XVII, sirvió como colegio de la compañía de Jesús, que luego se trasladó a la iglesia de San Carlos El Real, para transformarse en 1626, en monasterio de monjas mercedarias con el patrocinio de Catalina Enríquez de Ribera, duquesa de Osuna.

Descripción

La fachada del convento es de ladrillo, y el vano de entrada aparece enmarcado por pilastras y rematado por un frontón partido. La iglesia del convento tiene una sola nave y está cubierta con bóveda de cañón y una pequeña bóveda en el presbiterio. El retablo mayor es del siglo XVIII, realizado en estilo barroco y neoclásico, con columnas salomónicas que enmarcan a la escultura de la Virgen de la Merced y relieve de la Anunciación en el ático. Se albergan cinco retablos en los laterales, entre los que destaca el primero del lado de epístola, realizado en estilo barroco, y que contiene el Cristo de la Misericordia, de finales del siglo XVI.

Desde la iglesia se accede al claustro principal del convento, levantado sobre columnas de mármol. El zócalo se encuentra decorado con azulejos sevillanos del siglo XVIII, que constituye un conjunto de gran valor artístico, que representan los cinco sentidos, las estaciones del año y vistas de la Alameda de Hércules de Sevilla, de monjas rezando en el coro y escenas de tauromaquia y montería. En la planta baja se accede al denominado coro bajo con sillería del siglo XVII. Otras salas que dan al claustro se han convertido en museo, entre cuyas obras destacan, una pintura de la Dolorosa de Francisco Meneses Osorio de 1703, una tabla hispano que representa el Descendimiento de principios del siglo XVI y una escultura de la cabeza de San Juan Bautista en barro cocido.

Referencias

Enlaces externos

Conventos y monasterios de la provincia de Sevilla
Conventos de Andalucía del siglo XVI
Osuna
Arquitectura de 1549