Ep. 29: Alibaba Singles' Day $30.8Bn Extravaganza – The Real Deal or Not?
In Episode 29 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about China's version of "Black Friday," the biggest ecommerce shopping festival of the year which Alibaba invented out of thin air in 2008 and now falls yearly on November 11. Rui and Ying-Ying delve into the history behind the "Double 11 Shopping Festival," as Chinese media title it. How did it get started? Why does it have such mindshare in the world of China internet? How did it go this year? After reviewing the evidence, our co-hosts conclude that despite the large sales figures floating around, this single holiday is not an accurate reflection of the state of the ecommerce sector in China.
Rui and Ying-Ying share that the original iteration of Singles Day was launched in 2008 by Daniel Zhang of Alibaba, who has since been promoted to CEO. His intent was to promote Tmall, Alibaba's B2C platform that was then known as Taobao Merchants. Since the selected date, November 11, was already known to some Chinese millennials as Singles Day, the tagline: "Have nothing to do on Singles Day? Why not buy something to gift away?" stuck easily. In that first year, with only 27 brands participating, sales reached $7 million.
In the 10 years since, the shopping holiday's single day Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) has grown over 4,000 times. On 11/11 this past week, the holiday generated $25 billion for Alibaba alone; in comparison, Amazon's Prime Day 2018 was estimated to be a mere $4 billion. Additionally, though most headlines focus exclusively on Alibaba, most other major ecommerce platforms– including JD, Pinduoduo, VIPShop, NetEase, and more– now participate as well, boosting numbers even more.
Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join Rui and Ying-Ying in exploring: What is the real story behind the numbers? Is GMV a reliable indicator of actual revenue, and why or why not? What types of practices does Alibaba engage in that contribute to inflating– or even engineering– these figures? Is there a strong case to be made for the fact that the bigger headline should be the massive marketing campaigns, logistics, and infrastructure that had to go into this event to make it all happen?
As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.
Y: No. I did not, but given the amount that was spent on Alibaba's properties this year for Single's Day, or China's "Black Friday," and the biggest ecommerce shopping festival of the year, plenty of people did.
R: 剁手, for those of you who don't know, literally means "to chop off one's hands." It is an internet meme referring to the fact that shopping online has become so popular in China in recent years that many people cannot stop themselves from clicking and buying, to the point where they feel like they must chop off their own hands to stop doing further damage. And 剁手党 basically refers to this entire group of out-of-control shopaholics and has a funny but also sort of derogatory connotation.
[00:49] Y: Yeah, it is also mostly directed at women, which is not cool, because at least on Taobao, the 剁手党 are pretty evenly split between men and women, at 47% vs 53%.
R: And on platforms such as JD.com which is known for good deals on consumer electronics, on last year's Single's Day, over ⅔ of the buyers were male.
Y: That doesn't prevent popular media from vilifying women though and still spreading the perception that a man's gotta watch his credit cards on Single's Day, lest his wife or girlfriend 败家, or bankrupt the household.
R: I know! So Infuriating. But you must be confused by now, why are wives and girlfriends involved in a day named Single's Day? Isn't it for single people?
Y: In today's episode, we are going to explore Single's Day, how it got started, why it has such mindshare in the world of China internet, how it went this year, and why, despite all the hype, we don't think it is a very accurate reflection of the state of the industry.
[03:53] R: OK, Ying-Ying, so Single's Day is not an official holiday in China.
Y: No, I don't think Confucius would have approved. Almost every actual holiday in China revolves around the family, whether dead or alive.
R: The legend goes that Single's Day is something made up by single men from Nanjing University in the early 90s who decided that there were so many holidays celebrating couples that being single ought to be celebrated as well. They picked November 11th because well, 1 is the loneliest number right, and November 11 emphasizes that, 4 times.
Y: I agree! Singletons are invisible in culture. Especially today, where everything is so commercialized. It does make sense to target couples or families, who might be spending more on gifts for each other. Oddly enough though, November 11th also has special significance for couples, so lots of people choose to get married on this day too.
[04:55] R: But the primary association is still with Singles. Which is why it's still more popularly known in the West as Single's Day. The original impetus behind Alibaba's 双十一 or Double 11 Shopping Festival was pretty simple. It was 2009, and the economy was still really crappy from the Great Financial Crisis.
Y: Daniel Zhang 张勇 had launched Single's Day primarily due to one need — to promote Tmall. Tmall, if you'll remember is Alibaba's B2C platform. It launched in 2008 and was still just known as Taobao Merchants back then, to differentiate from the primarily C2C Taobao platform. The brands on Tmall were pretty small potatoes compared to the brands on there today. Daniel wanted a good excuse to increase exposure for Tmall, and he thought that a Chinese equivalent of "Black Friday" might do the trick.
[05:52] R: They picked November 11 because they thought it would be easy to remember. Four 1s. They didn't even really realize it was Single's Day. Anyway, Daniel reasoned it had to be in November because October has the National Holiday Golden Week, and December you have Christmas, which isn't a major holiday in China but did already have some corresponding promotions. It seemed much easier to just create something from scratch. And the holiday calendar is a blank in China for November.
R: I don't think that really stuck though because it is now really more of an excuse for single shopaholics to pamper themselves. But officially, the day is branded as the Double 11 Shopping Festival. We just think Single's Day is much more memorable than Double 11 in English, but realistically, all Chinese media refer to it as Double 11. So now you know, it's not for single people. It's just a shopping holiday.
[07:01] Y: But back to why they picked this date though. Daniel reasoned that November was also a good time to sell people stuff because it's when deep autumn is transitioning into winter and people need to buy lots of seasonal goods. Things like heavier coats and blankets and slippers.
R: Well, it clearly worked, because even in the very experimental first year, in which only 27 brands participated, sales reached 50MM RMB, that's about 7mm USD.
Y: Which, if you go by the record set last weekend of $30.8Bn USD, would have taken just 20 seconds to reach.
R: Yeah, as many have noted, in the ten years since Alibaba launched Single's Day, its single day GMV, or Gross Merchandise Value, has grown over 4,000 times.
[07:52] Y: On that metric, it is considered wildly successful. And the success of Single's Day definitely helped Daniel secure the CEO position at Alibaba. He may well be forever known as the mastermind that dreamt up a holiday that makes the shoppers in the US seem anemic in their spending. After all, last year's four-day haul for US shopping, Black Friday, the weekend, plus Cyber Monday all added together was just $14Bn or so, whereas Single's Day on Alibaba alone generated $25Bn, which is almost double the entire amount for all retail online shopping combined, for the US.
R: And if you choose a more comparable single-day shopping event, Amazon's Prime Day, for example, that was estimated to be $4Bn this year, less than 1/7 of what Single's Day 2018 generated for Alibaba.
[08:51] Y: So, all good right? Are you convinced yet that Single's Day is totally amazing and a prime example of China's economic success and Alibaba's dominance in ecommerce? I mean, there is nothing that comes remotely close.
R: But actually, we don't agree with that. While the headline number is easy to report, and indeed, it is mindblowingly large, it doesn't tell the full story.
R: Yeah, ouch. What he meant by that though was the GMV metric is well known as an unreliable indicator of actual revenue. GNV is merely the volume of transactions that passed through the platform, not how much money Alibaba, or actually any of the other ecommerce platforms made, especially for this so-called holiday, that requires so much promotion and discounts, it gets even murkier than during normal periods on how to measure revenue. There are lots of special deals that are run to entice merchants, not just shoppers.
[10:07] Y: You call them special deals, I call them forced cooperations. It's been long reported, although of course never officially confirmed, that Alibaba has been guilty of forcing merchants to be exclusive with them for Single's Day promotions. It's usually JD that complains, but this year, Colin Huang of Pinduoduo made these accusations in his Wechat moments too.
R: These things are hard to prove, and as a merchant, there is really no reason to get involved and publicly denounce any of these big 3 platforms. You wanna sell on them after all. But yeah, the point is GMV is not only not correlated with revenue, but can be somewhat engineered.
[10:54] Y: Also, I know lots of you might have seen the headlines that boasted how Alibaba hit $10Bn in sales in just the first hour. And you're probably wondering, how did that happen? Is everyone just sitting on their laptops or phones waiting to place orders kind of like Burning Man?
R: Kind of. First of all, this is the tenth year of the festival, so you'd literally have to be living under a rock to not know about it. Second, they drummed up extra celebrations for it beforehand.
Y: That's right. There's an excellent Business Insider article about the four-hour gala that took place in Shanghai in the hours before the event. It was streamed online and hundreds of millions of people watched it in anticipation.
R: They had the usual popstars and boybands from China, but also international celebrities like Mariah Carey, and Miranda Kerr, who was there to promote her new-ish beauty store on Tmall. So it was a really big celebration.
[11:58] Y: I think the reporter's reaction was priceless. She was totally overwhelmed. She was like, this is Cirque du Soleil mixed up with Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, mixed up with who knows what else. It was probably just a normal large-scale Chinese gala, but for a foreigner, it seemed over-the-top and crazy, especially since Jack Ma himself did a bunch of stunts, for example putting on makeup to promote the beauty vertical, which is historically one of Tmall's most popular segments.
R: Meanwhile though, as you're watching the celebrations, you could start pre-loading your shopping cart with discounts that can only be transacted on past midnight. Which is why within the first ten minutes, Alibaba had over $4Bn in sales, more than Amazon Prime Day. And the traffic graphs show it too. The peak number of users for Single's Day happens usually just after midnight, again in the morning from 9-11 AM, and also in the last hour of the day.
[13:01] Y:And even though most of the headlines are focused on Alibaba, since they did after all invent the holiday out of thin air, other ecommerce platforms have been participating for a long time as well.
R: Yeah pretty much every major ecommerce platform participates in Single's Day, because why not, it's so easy to bandwagon. But you can never talk about revenues of this scale in China without talking about faked numbers. Not always by the platforms themselves, but sometimes also by the merchants. Now Ying-Ying and I are not investigative journalists with resources to figure out the truth, but what we can tell you is that yeah, there are lots of people online complaining of phantom orders, like their account was hacked or something, or special deals that they paid for and thought they should be receiving, but were contacted by customer service and requested to return them.
[14:03] Y:I guess because that deal didn't actually exist, but the merchant wanted the number of orders to show up on their merchandise to build up credibility? I mean it's better than some of the other tricks, which just include straight up fake purchases and paid reviews.
R: That complaint about phantom orders, by the way, is mostly lodged against JD, not Alibaba, because of the different ways in which these platforms work. So Alibaba's Tmall is literally like a mall, where the merchants individually take care of their businesses, but using Alibaba's software of course and paying a fee for that, whether it be for advertising expenses or whatever else. JD's primary business is that it owns the inventory and sells it to consumers directly, so they can just fake all the numbers all at once. In fact, one researcher claimed that much of JD's own 618 shopping festival numbers were systematically faked, and actually only 44% of orders placed were actually transacted and delivered.
[15:08] Y:Yeah, did you notice that? There is a difference between orders placed and orders transacted. I think that's where you have to be careful too, because the ecommerce platforms are tricky about how they report this, but somehow it all seems to end up as GMV in English. One is 下单额, which is the volume of orders placed, and the other is 成交额, which is the volume of orders transacted. So placed orders can be a lot higher than transacted orders because along the way, you can cancel your order before payment.
R: That's because when you press "place order," it usually asks you how you want to pay, upon which you select a method of payment and then pay, before your order is actually gonna be considered transacted.
[15:57] Y: Right, the ecommerce platforms like to fiddle with this one detail. But bright-eyed analysts usually catch them, and they say, hey, these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, if we are comparing for example JD's order volume to Alibaba's transaction volume. This seems to be an almost annual controversy.
R: Well, not only that, but GMV numbers, whether they be orders or transactions, don't include returns. Another reason why it's poorly correlated with actual realized revenue. In fact, you cannot return anything on November 11 itself. And people complained that on Monday, the day after the festival, the servers broke down trying to process returns. Taobao's server error pages for users trying to return their purchases actually became a trending search item. It's kind of ironic because the servers didn't crash during the day of, so why are they crashing now?
[17:00] Y: That supposedly has never happened before. Now, neither of us are 剁手党 or shopaholics so we don't have any personal experience, but there's plenty of folks on social media complaining that they bought so much stuff there's no way they can even finish using it all before Single's Day 2019.
[17:55] Y: Not just state media, plenty of other articles warn against 囤货, or stockpiling. Also, they noted, a lot of the so-called deals only appear cheap because the merchants have been steadily raising prices for several weeks prior so as to give you as the shopper the impression of a discount, but actually it's just a regularly priced item, or maybe even marked up from normal.
R: Regrets and markups aside, though, the return frenzy, some folks speculate, could also be caused by merchants who used bots to put in fake orders so that their items could show up as best sellers for Single's Day. Again, we are not forensic data scientists here so we have no idea if that's true or not, but maybe Hurui, the folks behind the Mafengwo fake review scandal we covered a few weeks ago, can do some investigative work. That's Episode 27 for those of you just tuning in.
[18:52] Y: Either way, you guys see the problem here. GMV could be orders, or could be transactions, and it doesn't take into account returns, and can be gamed, not to mention Tim did a nice graph here showing that it has a pretty small correlation with actual revenue. So all of these things make us agree with him that it's not that great of a metric. So Investors, you guys and girls, need to read the fine print on this.
R: But GMV remains the focal point and even at nearly $31Bn, there are a lot of naysayers pooh-poohed at Alibaba's mere 27% year-on-year growth this year. That's because Single's day revenue growth used to be much higher than that, like well over 50%. But obviously, as the number gets larger, it becomes harder and harder to show the same percentage in growth.
[19:51] Y: I don't personally see this as a big problem, but I agree with some of our friends who have written that one day, Alibaba's probably going to stop publishing these numbers just like Apple has stopped publishing iPhone unit sales because well, where's the drama in reporting a 10%, or God forbid, only a 5% growth rate?
R: OK, though, that's enough GMV bashing. In other respects, I do think Single's Day is still a marvel of Chinese Tech. After all, a billion packages got shipped, with the help of robots of course, and JD, backed by Tencent, was able to use its miniprogram inside of Wechat to good effect, with over 237mm users and an order volume of over 36x that of 2017.
Y: Order volume again, JD loves that metric, don't they. They also disclosed that the AI customer service chatbot they have, got a lot more usage this year, with 90% of customer questions able to be resolved without any human intervention.
[21:03] R: So I think what we are trying to say is that it's not just the GMV that we should be looking at for Single's Day, as much as it is the sheer technical scale that is required to pull off a sale of this size. Logistics, customer service … presale gala … even just server reliability. It's a big undertaking.
Y: Right, and it's also a year where we saw Alibaba really get into integrating all of its group companies into the festival. Users didn't just have to purchase products, they could also purchase services, for example videos on Youku, games on UC, movie tickets, digital music, travel packages and so much more!
R: And internationally too, through its majority-owned ecommerce subsidiary Lazada, which covers Southeast Asia.
[21:57] (R): So … let's summarize for all the Techbuzzers out there, shall we, what did we learn, Yingying?
Y: Well, we learned that in terms of ecommerce sales, there is just no doubt that Singles Day is the largest single-day shopping event in the world. It started ten years ago online as a way to promote Tmall, but now is pretty much joined in by all the ecommerce platforms, and also now a lot of offline retail as well, which was actually highlighted this year by Alibaba CEO as one of their most important growth metrics.
R: But still, almost $29Bn was from online, so this is still a primarily online thing. Anyway, we also learned that GMV, or Gross Merchandise Value, the headline number that is usually reported, is not a good indicator of actual revenue, and it can in fact, like anything else in China, be gamed. GMV can be misleading, or at least, it's fair to say that doesn't show the whole picture.
[23:05] Y: So the $30.8Bn of GMV for this year on Single's Day for Alibaba, $23Bn for JD, plus billions more from Pinduoduo, VIPShop, NetEase, and more … should probably come with some asterisks and footnotes. But it is still an achievement, especially when you consider the massive marketing campaigns, the logistics and infrastructure that had to go into making it happen. In fact that should probably be the bigger headline. Don't you think so Rui?
R: Probably. But you know what else I learned? I learned that Alibaba throws a really good party. So Alibaba, if you're listening, we're happy to podcast live from Single's Day 2019 next year! Send us an invite!
TechBuzz China by Pandaily is powered by the Sinica Podcast Network. Pandaily.com is an English language site that tells you "everything about China's innovation." Our producers are Bonnie Zhang, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo. Our intern is Wang Menglu.


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CooperFaure Ltd saved me a lot of money when I decided to let them manage my accounts for my personal training business (self employed). The time they saved me alone made choosing them well worth while. Excellent service, I would happily refer them to friends, family and colleagues alike.


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Q: RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded with vanilla JS I'm finishing my first project where I POST data to a server and then retrieve it in the form of a list on a separate page.  I have gotten to the point where I can now post and retrieve the data, however I'm getting this error:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians loved flowers. Her children brought her a little bouquet every morning. It was said that the edelweiss had played some humble part in the courtship of Albert and Elisabeth, and many years later, the mountaineering King would still tenderly, bashfully present his wife with bundles of these alpine blossoms. After her husband's fatal accident, a devastated Elisabeth strewed his deathbed with lilies and decreed that snowdrops should be gathered every year and scattered upon his tomb, since he had been happiest amidst the snows of the high Alps (see Wanda Larson, Elisabeth: A Biography: From Bavarian Princess to Queen of the Belgians, 1997). Here is a touching contemporary account, from the early years of the reign of Albert and Elisabeth, linking the Queen's love of flowers to her love of her people:
Since the accession of her husband to the throne of Belgium, in 1910, the young Queen has suffered much from delicate health, and was for a time in rather a dangerous condition. The adoration with which the people regard her was manifested in the affectionate demonstration which they made when the Queen drove out for the first time after her illness. It seemed as though all Brussels had come out to pay her loving homage.
But, though unable for a time to visit amongst the poor and take an active part in philanthropic work, the Queen had inspired such love in the people that the flower which she chose for her name-day-June 30 - was made the means of obtaining funds to help forward a cause dear to the heart of the Queen. Last year the little wild rose was named as the Queen's flower, and all through the towns and villages of Belgium the people wore the bloom. The proceeds from the sales were given to support the campaign against tuberculosis. The flower was sold at a penny, and some two hundred thousand francs were realised.
This year (1911) La Fleur de la Reine is the edelweiss, and the sale has been taken up with enormous enthusiasm. The favour is an artificial representation of the white, star-like flower, and attached to it is a ribbon with a tiny portrait of the Queen. The proceeds are to be devoted to fighting the terrible ravages made by that awful disease, the sleeping sickness, which is the scourge of the Congo.
Labels: albert I, elisabeth, queens
Hi Matterhorn! I can't think of anything more preciously romantic than being offered alpine blossoms, considering how rare and beautiful they are-I think if I were to compare, they're the 'gems' of flowers. I've spotted few patches on the Italian Dolomites and was told that it is now forbidden to pick them. Love this post:)
Yes, the King was a real romantic!
It's always lovely to hear from you.
...My blogging has been sporadic- but I love to visit whenever I can:) Have a blessed Sunday!
Thank you, same to you!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Please find below the JSPC Constitution which has been updated to clarify some present issues and may reflect some recent changes.
It is attached as a pdf file. If you are unable to open it, please contact one of the committee at the range.


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Slominski ist der Familienname folgender Personen:

 Andreas Slominski (* 1959), deutscher Künstler
 Josef Albert Slominski (* 1937), deutscher Fotograf

Siehe auch:
 Slonimski

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Techniques for WCAG 2.0
Previous: Technique G134
Next: Technique G136
Related Techniques
G135: Using the accessibility API features of a technology to expose names and roles, to allow user-settable properties to be directly set, and to provide notification of changes
programming technologies that have standard components that are programmed to interface with accessibility APIs
This technique relates to:
Success Criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)
How to Meet 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)
Understanding Success Criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)
The objective of this technique is to allow assistive technology to understand Web content so that it can convey equivalent information to the user through an alternate user interface.
Sometimes content is not created using markup language but rather using a programming language or tools. In many cases, these technologies have interface components that are already programmed to interface with accessibility APIs. If an author uses these components and fills in the properties (e.g., name, etc) the resulting user interface components in the content will be accessible to assistive technology.
A Web page uses java to create an applet. Java swing objects (e.g., pushbutton) are used because they have accessibility properties built in that can be accessed from assistive technology written in Java and, with the Java Access Bridge, those written in other languages that use the Accessibility API of the operating system. The author fills in the values for the components and the result is accessible to AT.
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
(none currently listed)
Render content using an accessible User Agent
Use an Accessibility Tool designed for the Accessibility API of the User agent to evaluate each user interface component
Check that name and role for each user interface component are found by the tool.
Step #3 is true for each user interface component
If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.
This Web page is part of Techniques and Failures for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. The entire document is also available as a single HTML file. See the The WCAG 2.0 Documents for an explanation of how this document fits in with other Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 documents.
Copyright © 2010 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark and document use rules apply.


If your stay at Les Plumes Hotel includes the night of July 11th to 12th, you will be on hand to experience one of the biggest musical events of the year in Paris as the Gare du Nord is replaced by a giant disco.
The painter Pierre Bonnard will be honored at the Orsay Museum until 19th July, while lovers of Italian art won't want to miss the Dolce Vita exhibition which runs until 13th September.
The year's largest gathering of professionals, civilians, military, and aviation fans will take place at Le Bourget airport from 15th to 21st June 2015.
This June, why not enjoy a romantic break at the Hotel Les Plumes in the heart of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, to attend the Fête de la Musique?


unable to scream into a void of space that cannot hear me.
This is because I have laryngitis, again.
While teaching I would lose my voice several times each year. It is largely an overuse injury caused by reading too many good novels aloud to my students (something currently frowned upon by the system). Once my voice was vulnerable, every case of the sniffles moved into my throat and stifled me.
One can teach well-trained high school classes with instructions on the board. Not so in middle school, at least not in the rather chatty atmosphere I allowed. Since I never liked to face my students angry, when my voice left, so did I. It was a relief when substitute requests became computerized because telling someone about laryngitis one the phone was literally painful.
Being voiceless is helpless, frustrating, isolating. Even if I didn't worry about contagion, I would hesitate to go out right now because I would have to exchange pleasantries with people at the store, the gym, or the aquarium.
Right now it's easier to talk to my husband and my kids over Facebook Messenger than in person.
That isn't terribly odd for me because I've always been more comfortable writing than talking. Hence this blog.
But this is a somewhat one-sided conversation. I'm not really sure who is reading--my husband, mom, sisters, a neighbor, you. This really feels like a message in a bottle sometimes.
In 1977 Earth sent out two messages in bottles, actually on golden records, aboard the Voyager Space Probes. http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ In addition to sending back information about our solar system, both probes carry records with basic information about earth in case someone finds them. So far there has been no response.
Despite, or because of all the communicating we do online, a lot of our messages seem to have been shot into space or dropped into the sea. Metaphorically, I think many of us feel like our voices are lost--drowned out by the crowd or too small or unimportant to be heard.
Some respond by yelling louder or standing on soapboxes. Many give up and stop talking.
I could get political with this now (your vote does matter) but that really isn't where my thoughts are headed.
I have a lot of experience sending out communication without any idea if or how it will be received. While raising teenage sons, all information not connected to food or computers was met with non-committal grunts.
As a teacher it felt like every day I would carefully explain the day's activities in front of the classroom only to see my students turn to each other to find out what we were doing.
Now I write, tweet, Facebook, and email my congressmen wondering if my communication will result in even a checkmark made by an intern.
But whenever I literally shout to the sky, I have always feel heard. Faith doesn't come easily to me, and I am skeptical of a lot of things I learned in Sunday School. But no matter how logical arguments to the contrary may be, I have never been able to doubt that there is a God, that He listens and He loves me.
I don't do a great job of getting on my knees morning and night, but I run a constant Tevye-like conversation throughout the day and it never feels one-sided.
So, though I may question the reality of Orrin Hatch, the benevolence of Jason Chaffetz, and sometimes even the existence of you, dear readers, I always know there is Someone listening.
This will soon be an amazingly soft warm-weather sweater. By the time I'm done knitting for the night, it will start looking like a sweater. This photograph cannot do the yarn justice. The brown is recycled wool and Angora from Renaissance Yarns. The blue and purple are wool/alpaca/Angora by Jill Draper.
Next priority is the project I showed you last week.
This will eventually be an amazing circular shawl. The mixed color is my homespun wool. The pink and black is 100% recycled cashmere--once again by Renaissance Yarns.
Finally, Bingo helped me photograph what will eventually be a skirt.
I have been working on this since before Christmas. I am not small and I wear my skirts long. If it is ever finished, it will match with almost half of my tops.
Of course there are many things for sale in my shop.
Today, Feb 17, is Random Act of Kindness Day. I will be kind to myself by watching lots of nature shows, but will ponder what else to do.
I consider Sandra Boynton's artistic postings on Twitter and Facebook to be acts of kindness in themselves.


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British actress Emma Watson arrives on the green carpet to attend the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London on October 17, 2021. (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Attacks on Emma Watson Make Clear the Demonization of Palestine Solidarity
At a time when public awareness of and support for Palestinian liberation is gaining significant momentum, the use of a blunt instrument like an accusation of antisemitism has become an effective tool to silence Palestinian solidarity.
Em Hilton
January 7, 2022 by Tribune
Whatever one's reservations about our celebrity-orientated culture, there's a lot to be said for big names coming out in support of important causes. In what some would say was a key moment for the mainstreaming of the Palestinian liberation movement, Harry Potter star Emma Watson yesterday shared an image on her Instagram account—with sixty-four million followers—featuring the text 'Solidarity is a verb' against a backdrop of Palestinian flags.
Those who want to speak out in solidarity with Palestinians remain quiet for fear of being branded antisemitic and the consequences that would carry.
Celebrated and chastised in equal measure, the post led Israel's former Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, to post a tweet calling Watson an antisemite. His move was met in turn with significant derision on social media, even from more conservative Israel advocacy circles.
Despite that, Danon's response was quite in keeping with recent events. Back in October, acclaimed author Sally Rooney refused a deal with an Israeli publisher out of respect for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and was faced with similar charges of Jew hate. The following month, the Jewish Chronicle covered a protest against right-wing Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely by invoking comparisons to Kristallnacht.
Danon's post might have been absurd in its sheer and immediate overreach, but it was a logical extension of a process that seeks to render the very existence of Palestinians antisemitic, let alone displays of solidarity with them. This process has been at the heart of the strategy pursued by apologists of Israeli occupation for years.
At a time when public awareness of and support for Palestinian liberation is gaining significant momentum, the use of a blunt instrument like an accusation of antisemitism has become an effective tool to silence Palestinian solidarity. This is particularly true when it comes to silencing progressive social movements which draw links between Palestinian solidarity and other forms of anti-racism within a broader racial justice framework. Deeming Palestinian identity, imagery, history, and heritage an existential threat to Jews is used to shield Israel from any kind of meaningful scrutiny or accountability for its brutal human rights abuses.
This tactic has developed over the years in subtle and insidious ways. The BDS movement, for instance, has been routinely derided by Israel advocates as the equivalent of the boycotts that targeted Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany. Just last month, Conservative MP Robert Jenrick promised to outlaw BDS during a conversation entitled 'Why Do So Many People Hate Jews?'
In November 2021, a talk by academic Sondeep Sen at Glasgow University was cancelled after the Jewish Society complained to the Vice Chancellor that his subject matter—the political nature of Hamas—would create an 'unsafe environment' for Jewish students on campus. Even the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a lifelong campaigner against global injustice in its myriad forms, was smeared with unfounded accusations of antisemitism because of his equation of Israel's policies with apartheid—a classification shared by many, including Israeli human rights organisations.
These incidents might seem like social media fodder, but they're reflective of a reaction against the growing strength of the Palestine liberation movement—a reaction that seeks to label even the most mundane criticism of Israel's behaviour an attack on Jews. It's no coincidence that, as the movement for Palestinian freedom becomes more popular, efforts to codify the IHRA definition on antisemitism, and to make campaigns like BDS illegal—a goal being pursued by the British government in the forthcoming UK Boycott Law—also gain political traction.
This approach is popular both in the US and Britain. It's intended to have a chilling effect, and it does: those who want to speak out in solidarity with Palestinians remain quiet for fear of being branded antisemitic and the consequences that would carry. It also serves to re-centre the issue of antisemitism in what should be a discussion about Palestinian liberation, thus serving as a distraction from the real-life consequences of decades of injustice in Israel and Palestine.
State and military violence is inflicted on Palestinian communities on a daily basis. On the day Emma Watson posted on Instagram, settlers destroyed a Palestinian cemetery in Burqa near Nablus, and the hunger strike of Hisham Abu Hawash—a Palestinian prisoner being kept in Israeli custody without charge, now due to be released on 26 February—entered its 140th day. Yet the public conversation continues to centre on antisemitism.
There are consequences for the fight against antisemitism, too—just not in the way those wielding the accusations seem to think. In Britain, antisemitism has essentially been relegated to a factional dispute in an internal Labour Party struggle despite the fact that it—alongside anti-black racism, white supremacy, and hate towards LGBT+ people—is on the rise nationally and globally. The conflation of antisemitism and the criticism of Israel is not only morally repugnant, then—it's also a fundamentally ineffective form of solidarity, and denies the way in which struggles against intolerance are inextricably linked together.
Those links mean that we must all be loud and unabashed in our calls for Palestinian human rights, and for an end to Israeli occupation. In that political context, Watson's post was significant: it showed millions that solidarity with those struggling against oppression can and should be a part of the mainstream political discourse. It also showed that, despite the best efforts of many, the Palestinian liberation cause is well on its way there, thanks predominantly to those working on the ground to expose the daily brutality that accompanies occupation and apartheid.
But Danon's response was, in its own way, equally important: it showed that allegations of antisemitism levelled at those who have done nothing other than express solidarity with Palestinians are as malicious as they are absurd. We should hope that that fact sticks in the collective memory when the next set of accusations rolls around.
Em Hilton is a Jewish leftist activist and writer living between Tel Aviv and London. She is the co-founder of Na'amod, British Jews Against Occupation, and sits on the steering committee of the Centre for Jewish Non-Violence.
'New Form' of Ice Cream 'Terrorism': How Ben & Jerry's Has Exposed Israel's Anti-BDS Strategy
Ramzy Baroud · Jul 29, 2021
Rights Groups Urge Ben & Jerry's to End All Sales in 'Apartheid Israel'
Brett Wilkins · Jul 21, 2021
Beware Big Ag's Sleight of Hand on 'Net Zero'
Shefali Sharma · Oct 4, 2021
Oakland BDS Activists Stymie Israeli Cargo Ship During Global #BlockTheBoat Protests for Palestine
Brett Wilkins · Jun 4, 2021


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New Clips From Otto Bathurst's ROBIN HOOD
Otto Bathurst's Robin Hood is an unknown quantity at this stage. Will it be a classic like Errol Flynn's or largely forgotten like the 2010 Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott joint? All will be revealed when Taron Egerton picks up his bow and [...]
Rejoice! The Trailer & Poster For The New ROBIN HOOD Is Here
Well here's the first trailer for Otto Bathurst's Robin Hood (formerly Robin Hood: Origins). It's kind of what we all expected – a mish-mash of Batman Begins, The Matrix, Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean. But [...]
Images From New ROBIN HOOD Movie Show Robin, Marian, Little John & The Sheriff Of Nottingham
Everyone loves a Robin Hood movie. You might say that you don't – but deep down you really do! Errol Fylnn, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe – heck even Cary Elwes and that Disney Fox – everyone has their favourite. There's a new [...]
First Look At Peter Dinklage & Jamie Dornan In MY DINNER WITH HERVE´
We all appreciate the good work of Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan, so it's great that they're going something together. My Dinner With Hervé is a new HBO flick from writer-director Sacha Gervasi that follows the odd friendship between [...]
Somebody Ordered The Full Irish: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan & Pierce Brosnan In H-BLOCK
Wow – what a combination (and a whole lot of A-list Irish)! Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan and Pierce Brosnan will join with director Jim Sheridan for H-Block, the true story of an escape from Belfast's Maze prison in 1983. The escape saw [...]
Movies In Focus At The 2017 BAFTA Film Awards And The Full Winners List
Movies In Focus once again braved the elements to join the red carpet at the 2017 EE Bafta Film Awards. This was the 70th year of the event and it was held at the Royal Albert Hall, rather than the usual Royal Opera House venue. As expected, [...]
50 Shades Of Dornan: A Look At The Career Of Jamie Dornan
Based on an extraordinary true story, Anthropoid follows the daring plot by two Czechoslovakian agents to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and third in command of the Nazi forces behind Hitler [...]
DVD Review: It's Czech Mate As Jamie Dornan & Cillian Murphy Take On The Nazis In ANTHROPOID
Anthropoid is a curious WWII dramatic thriller. It's probably made even more curious by the fact this true story stars two Irish actors (Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy) as Czech soldiers on a mission to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard [...]
*CLOSED* Competition: Win ANTHROPOID Starring Cillian Murphy & Jamie Dornan On DVD
World War II thriller Anthropoid starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan hits DVD on 16 January 2016. Movies In Focus is giving away 3 copies of the film on DVD – and all you need to do to enter the competition is complete the below contact form [...]
The Sheriff Of Nottingham Gets Sleazy As Ben Mendelsohn Joins ROBIN HOOD: ORIGINS
Robin Hood is one of those tales which will continue to be retold for every generation. Therefore you can't complain that there's a now a new film version in the pipeline just 6 years after Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe embraced the legend of [...]
Blu-ray Review: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY – Kinky Twilight Fan-Fiction For Middle-Aged Women
E.L. James was a middle-aged woman who was a huge fan of the the Stephanie Meyer's young-adult Twilight novels. She did what any self respecting middle-aged woman would do … and cranked out some online fan fiction, upping the sex quota and [...]
Get Teased For FIFTY SHADES DARKER And FIFTY SHADES FREED
Movies In Focus writes a lot about Fifty Shades Of Grey (and now its sequels) not because of some kinky interest in the film or book but because of a fascination with the creative black hole from whence the whole endeavour came. A multi-million [...]


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Prajapita Brahmakumaris in Goa, India assist civil adminstration during Covid lockdown chaos
Discussion in 'Current Events' started by ajay00, Jan 1, 2021.
ajay00 Member
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...-help-police-on-duty/articleshow/75957598.cms
The Prajapita Brahmakumaris rose to the occasion assisting the civil administration in Goa during the Covid crisis by distributing immunity boosting Ayurvedic tea among policemen on duty as well as assisting office of the North Goa collector in packaging essential items for supply to the needy.
When the state government appealed for assistance during lockdown period from March 31 to May 3 2020, the Prajapita Brahmakumaris unit in Goa responded enthusiastically.
"The sisters of Brahma Kumaris sewed masks in keeping with the medically approved design and distributed them at the district collector's office and other government officers, said Shobha Behenji, Goa Zone director, Brahmakumaris.
This is a great example of how spiritual institutions can work in tandem with state governments to plug the gaps in manpower or resources or facilities during times of humanitarian crises, and ensure proper and timely services to those in need.
The Prajapita Brahmakumaris, a Shaivite sect, is the only spiritual organization in the world led, administered and taught by women and they have teaching centers in almost all countries in the world where they teach their religious philosophy and meditation techniques freely to the public. One of its dominant themes is the empowerment of women to roles of spiritual and social leadership throughout the world to effect positivity and harmony in society.
ajay00, Jan 1, 2021


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Олекса́ндр Миха́йлович Серебряко́в — начальник 409-го військового госпіталю, Військово-медичний клінічний центр Центрального регіону, полковник медичної служби.

Життєпис
З 1986 року працює у військовому шпиталі в/ч А1065. 1989 року закінчив Томський медичний інститут, військово-медичний факультет. З 2010 року — начальник госпіталю.

Нагороди
За особисту мужність і героїзм, виявлені у захисті державного суверенітету та територіальної цілісності України, вірність військовій присязі під час бойових дій та при виконанні службових обов'язків, відзначений —
 13 серпня 2015 року — почесним званням заслуженого лікаря України.

Джерела

 Серебряков: «Через Житомирський військовий шпиталь вже пройшло більше 2000 учасників АТО»

Українські військові лікарі
Керівники військово-медичних установ України


This entry was posted in Stephen Sweeney and tagged Asch, Autobiography, Bound for Glory, Guthrie, Moses Asch, Salt Lake Tribune, Woody, Woody Guthrie by Stephen Sweeney. Bookmark the permalink.
As I mentioned in class, I think you could put some critical pressure on both primary sources. The review is celebrating Guthrie's folkiness at a time when he was actually establishing himself in New York, settling down with a family, and starting to achieve financial success as well as real notoriety. Asch, too, has a stake in gesturing towards what's "authentic" about folk music, even as he's participating in the process of transforming the genre into a popular, commercial one.
Finally, relating to nothing in particular, the title of Guthrie's autobiography is a reference to a gospel song written in the early 20th century and popularized by the Lomaxes. It became widely known during the 1960s folk revival and was covered by lots of people (including Rosetta Sharpe, Johnny Cash, and most recently, Mumford and Sons). It might be need to include an archival recording of the song, even though it's not a Guthrie song, because it's clear he found the song important. I couldn't find one through National Jukebox, but maybe DRAM or the American Song collection would have it.


Check for nearby geocaches to Valley Trail: Wilmington/Dover.
A 14-mile trail connecting the resort towns of Wilmington and Dover.
Route 9/West Main Street Parking Lot (Wilmington): You can park in a public parking lot on West Main Street to access the southern end of the Valley Trail. Signs on the south side of West Main Street (Route 9), 170 yards west of the traffic light in the center of Wilmington, direct you to this parking lot. From your car, walk back to West Main Street, turn left, and walk 0.15 miles to the trailhead on the right, marked by a kiosk.
Chimney Hill Tennis Courts (Wilmington): From the traffic light at the center of the village of Wilmington, drive 1.1 miles west on Route 9 (West Main Street) and turn right onto Haystack Road. Drive 0.3 miles and turn right onto the parking lot for the Chimney Hill Tennis Courts.
Heritage Club Trailhead (Wilmington): From the traffic light at the center of the village of Wilmington, drive 2.5 miles north on Route 100 towards West Dover, and turn left onto Coldbrook Road. The trailhead is on the left, at the entrance to the Hermitage Club, 2.4 miles from Route 100.
Crosstown Road Trailhead (West Dover): From Route 100 in West Dover, drive west on Crosstown Road for one mile, to the trailhead, where the road makes a sharp bend to the right.
Handle Road/Crosstown Trails Trailhead (West Dover): From the traffic light at the center of the village of Wilmington, drive 2.5 miles north on Route 100 towards West Dover, and turn left onto Coldbrook Road. The trailhead and parking area is on the right, 3.7 miles from Route 100. From the South Entrance to the Mount Snow Ski Area, drive 2.0 miles south on Handle Road, and the parking area and trailhead will be on your left.
The Valley Trail connects the resort villages of Wilmington and Dover in southern Vermont. The southern end of the trail is located off Route 9 in Wilmington across from Reardon's Crossing Bridge, while the northern end terminates at Mount Snow in Dover. Nine trailheads and parking areas along the way and several spurs off the main trail enable users to hike all or part of the trail.
With a variety of trail options, the Valley Trail is suitable for users of all ages whether on foot or on bicycles. The trail is meant for year-round recreational use for visitors and residents alike. It's a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the beauty of southern Vermont. For the first time, the towns of Wilmington and Dover are connected by a recreational trail making it possible for someone to go from one town to the other totally on the Valley Trail.
An option is to park in one of the towns and hike, bike, snowshoe, or cross-country ski in the other direction, and once you get into town, take the Moover complimentary transportation system back to your parked car. After your journey, refresh with dining in our restaurants.
The 14-mile trail was created in 2014 by the Wilmington Trails Committee and the Bi-Town Economic Development Committee, a group made up of representatives from the towns of Dover and Wilmington. The Bi-Town Committee focuses on common goals and projects that benefit both communities.


Events editor Brianna Paterson reviews DONT WALK's invite-only launch event at the Rhynd.
For many of you first years reading this, you'll have no idea what DON'T WALK is (unless you read my handy guide to the year in The Saint's Freshers Magazine). For those who don't know, it's one of the most impressive, most exclusive and most decadent of fashion shows that happen every year in second semester.
Like many of the other fashion shows, their main aim behind events is to raise money for worthwhile charities. This year's choices are Robin Hood – a New York-based charity established to fight poverty in the cities poorest neighbourhood, and Families First St Andrews – a local charity that focuses on aiding young families that need a little extra help. In order to spread awareness for these causes as well as the upcoming show, the committee launched their website last week which you can easily find on their Facebook or Instagram page.
So far this semester they've been boosting interest in the show by hosting club nights at the Vic. This gave them ample opportunity to bring out this year's launch theme of Anger, which is part of a narrative that will be apparent and consistent through all their events. It also helped raised awareness for the events they have coming up. After two successful events in September and October that were attended by people from all years the focus was then put on hosting a more secretive, exclusive event. And last week they held just that: a DON'T WALK launch party like nothing this town has ever seen before.
Now don't be upset if you hadn't heard of it – the event was an exclusive event that was invite-only to 240 guests with only 60 coming for the after party. The theme of the event was the only thing announced beforehand and the theme of red-hot fury definitely lent itself to girls more than boys (although that certainly didn't stop the boys from trying). It certainly produced some amazing costumes on the night.
Tickets were pricey at £65 but got you dinner, wine, a ticket to the after party and a goodie bag containing all kinds of treats. Guests weren't even told the event location until the buses left at 7pm, so the air of mystery definitely surrounded the event.
In the end, the venue was a lovely little Kinkell Byre look-alike called the Rhynd which was slightly further out but was more intimate with a better bar area. Upon entry guests were met with fire dancers, fire-eaters and a free drink, all of which impressed me greatly.
Dinner was a lovely salmon dish followed by a roast chicken dinner with gravy, and to be honest the food was delicious. In lieu of dessert they had a table full of gummy sweets, which hit the nostalgia factor on the head. For entertainment during the meal they had the models come out and perform a short five-minute fashion show. All I can say for the models is that they performed beautifully and the fashion was breathtaking. While they wouldn't release whether or not the clothes worn during this show would be worn during the actual event next term, it certainly bodes well for the level of fashion we can expect from them. Overall the event was a roaring success and people danced the night away long into the wee hours.
This is not to say the event didn't have its problems. People going to the after party would have been disappointed to find out that there were no buses going to the venue, and cabs had to be arranged through the individual. Not only was this costly but also meant people's arrivals were very disjointed, especially since the event venue was only announced three hours before the after party started.
I have to say I also took a particular dislike to the DJ who didn't seem to know how to get some actual bangers on. Some people were too drunk to notice the jarring transitions in the music, but for those sober it was difficult to dance to music you either barely remember or didn't have a beat.
However, not even rubbish music could ruin my night after such a spectacular show and the evening left me highly excited for what is to come. Definitely put DON'T WALK 2019 in your calendars and let's see just how hard we have to fight for a ticket.
On one hand, this piece characterises Don't Walk as the 'most decadent of fashion shows'. On the other, the tone is one of approval and admiration. The piece even ends by saying 'put DON'T WALK 2019 in your calendars and let's see just how hard we have to fight for a ticket'. Which one is it, a distasteful decadent idea or a must? And if it is the former (I confess I am easily convinced by this claim but I still believe this needs further justification), why and how is that consistent with the tone? Or if it is both, in what ways and what should be our general attitude towards it?


Washington's easternmost vineyard is making good on the promise of this land with some spectacular wines.
MORE THAN A century ago, grapes were first planted in the hills around Lewiston, Idaho, an effort led by Frenchman Louis Delsol. This showed so much promise, Washington State University researcher Walter Clore ("The father of Washington wine") included these vineyards in "The Wine Project," his research to determine the viability of growing European wine grapes in Washington.
Prohibition ultimately doomed Lewiston's growing wine industry, shuttering these efforts for nearly a century, until a band of intrepid winemakers and grape growers restarted the industry in the past decade.
Perhaps the most interesting vineyard in the new Lewis-Clark Valley (a federally approved American Viticultural Area in Washington and Idaho) is called Rock n' J Vineyard.
Here are three wines from Clearwater Canyon Cellars, all using grapes from Rock n' J Vineyard. The Wine Alley in Renton and Purple Wine Bar in Seattle often carry Clearwater wines. Order directly from the winery, which will happily ship into Washington.
Clearwater Canyon Cellars 2015 Coco's Reserve Malbec, Lewis-Clark Valley, $38: This wine is among the best malbecs I've tasted. It sent my mind reeling about the possibility of Northwest malbecs. Nutmeg, blackberry pie, soaring acidity and black pepper are backed by mild tannins.
Clearwater Canyon Cellars 2014 Selway, $38: This malbec-leaning red blend uses grapes primarily from Rock n' J Vineyard. This is a supple red that woos you into a second sip, with aromas of Milk Duds, warm cocoa powder and gooey brownies fresh out of the oven.
Clearwater Canyon Cellars 2014 Coco's Reserve cabernet sauvignon, Lewis-Clark Valley, $38: Using grapes primarily from Rock n' J Vineyard, this upper-end red is loaded with aromas of ripe plum, dark chocolate and spices, with hints of fresh-roasted espresso beans.
It's a small (3.5-acre) planting near the obscure Asotin County community of Rogersburg. It was planted in 2010 to malbec, merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. It's in a canyon along the Grande Ronde River, near the corner where Washington, Oregon and Idaho meet, making this the easternmost vineyard in Washington.
All the grapes from Rock n' J go to Clearwater Canyon Cellars, a small, high-end winery owned and operated by Karl and Coco Umiker, rising stars in the flourishing Northwest wine scene.
Karl handles the viticulture, and Coco is the winemaker; this division of duties is resulting in generally spectacular wines.
Last year, I tasted hundreds of malbecs from the Western Hemisphere, and perhaps the best came from Rock n' J fruit. I can't wait to see what happens in the years to come as these vines mature, possibly resulting in wines of even more depth, flavor and maturity.
I think what we're seeing from Rock n' J Vineyard proves that Delsol was on the right track a century ago, before Prohibition dashed his dreams. Now we have an opportunity to taste what might have been.


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Faraday Future electric car company backs away from planned Vallejo factory
By Ethan Baron	/ March 24, 2017 at 3:45 PM
Troubled electric car firm Faraday Future has scrapped its plan to build a factory in Vallejo that city officials had hoped would bring good jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to Mare Island.
A year ago the future for the city and Faraday looked bright, when Vallejo's council approved an exclusive negotiating agreement for the company to build a plant on Mare Island.
"When we first started marketing this property, our first objective was good-paying jobs with green technology and an employer willing and able to make the necessary investment," Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis told the Times-Herald newspaper. "Faraday Future and its plans to make Vallejo its second manufacturing site and bring green technology to Mare Island checks all the boxes."
But the electric car company has been struggling.
"It's hemorrhaging money and owes millions of dollars in bills," tech website Inverse reported in December. "Its main investor, LeEco, is losing all its money … six of (Faraday's) top executives left the company in October."
On March 24, Vallejo officials announced that the firm, co-founded by Chinese tech billionaire Jia Yueting, was backing off.
"Due to the new strategy to focus corporate efforts on development of its first production vehicle and plant in North Las Vegas, Faraday Future has decided to end its exclusive right to negotiate with the City of Vallejo," the city said in a press release. "Faraday Future will stay in contact with the City, and continues to express interest in acquiring land in the future."
Faraday had broken ground for its $1.3 billion factory in North Las Vegas in April, then put work on hold while, it said, it was readying its first production car.
That vehicle, a 1050-horsepower four-door road rocket called the FF 91, was unveiled in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it raced against cars from Ferrari, Tesla and Bentley — and more or less wiped the floor with them.
A briefly shown slide at CES indicated Faraday planned to go to market with the FF 91 early this year. But reports of significant financial troubles suggest there are no guarantees.
Buzzfeed reported in December that the company owed more than $400 million in unpaid obligations to vendors and suppliers. At least two lawsuits have been filed against Faraday over money owed, the news site reported.
Photo: Faraday Future's electric supercar, the FF 91 (Wikimedia Commons/Smnt)
Tags: Bentley, CES, consumer electronics show, electric cars, Faraday Future, Ferrari, Las Vegas, Le Eco, tesla, Vallejo
WHerever has chinese(from china) invest in!!! I dont trust them, very unethical business practice, and if those(from china) sucessful is backed by their governemnt, and that even worse in the long run for other business, very un-fair for other business
DONT TRUST THEM AT ALL
besie dont want WW III must stop china ECONOMICALLY, that means BOYCOTT china till they do not behave LIKE GERMAN in WW II
and their product is not reliable like Volvo
their poultries, food in general are full of chemical
julius rosen
Was it a scam from the beginning?
Just not true. It was a stripped down version of the FF 91 and even still, barely beat the production (and fully loaded) Model S (that is now about a half-second faster). By the time (if ever) they load the FF 91 with all of the bells and whistles they touted, it's going to be way heavier and far slower than the fastest Tesla. Important to compare apples to apples here…though in the big picture, acceleration is going to be a commodity of sorts as electric vehicles become more and more mainstream.


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Капита́н судна — командир корабля или шкипер коммерческого судна, означающий должностное лицо, возглавляющее экипаж гражданского судна, и несущее ответственность за его действия; в штатной ситуации необходимым и обязательным считается обладание судоводительским образованием и наличие морского звания капитана (штурмана) — представитель судовладельца и грузовладельцев в отношении долгов и исков, обусловленных нуждами судна, груза и плавания, при отсутствии иных представителей (например, он наделён правом продавать часть груза или судового имущества для покупки в иностранном порту топлива, необходимого для завершения рейса).

Капитан также несёт ответственность за управление судном, в его обязанности входит обеспечение безопасности плавания, поддержание порядка на вверенной его командованию плавучей единице, предотвращение любого вреда людям и грузу. Распоряжения капитана в пределах его полномочий обязательны для исполнения всеми лицами, находящимися на судне; он вправе изолировать любое лицо, чьи действия угрожают безопасности судна и людей, и проводить дознание в случае совершения преступления на борту, контролирует приём и увольнение членов экипажа, применяет меры поощрения и взыскания, выполняет нотариальные функции на корабле (при рождении, смерти, составлении завещания и т. п.), организует аварийно-спасательные работы при получении сигнала бедствия с другого судна, возглавляет борьбу за живучесть судна (своего), а при необходимости оставляет его последним, захватив судовой, машинный и радиотелеграфный журналы, карты рейса, документы и ценности. Капитан судна сохраняет свои права и после гибели судна, вплоть до возвращения экипажа на родину. Принимает все необходимые меры для предотвращения захвата судна врагами в военное время, и пиратами — в мирное. Взаимодействия капитана судна с лоцманами оговариваются особым предписанием. В военно-морской практике полномочия, права и обязанности регламентированы корабельным уставом военно-морского флота.

В дноуглубительном флоте капитан судна называется багермейстер.

В гражданской авиации капитаном называют командира воздушного судна.

Закон предоставляет капитану морского судна очень большие полномочия, вплоть до применения силы, например, для подавления мятежа, или для защиты от нападения пиратов. Во многих случаях лицо, даже старшее по званию или должности, не имеет права отдавать приказы в обход капитана. Другими словами, капитан имеет абсолютное право в принятии решений, связанных с безопасностью судна, груза и экипажа, не ограниченное никакими субординационными обстоятельствами.

Государства флага, которые не попадают под определение удобного флага, требуют, чтобы капитан судна имел гражданство страны, флаг которой несёт судно.

Звание шкипера присутствовало некогда в системе званий .

См. также
 Командир корабля
 Капитан покидает корабль последним
 День командира надводного, подводного и воздушного корабля

Примечания

Литература

 Морской энциклопедический словарь. Том второй. К—П. «Судостроение». Санкт-Петербург. 1993. С. 28, 29

Морское право
Морские профессии
Морские термины
Военная история


text:
Q: Не работает мой код C++ Дана переменная a. Пользователь вводит a с консоли. Необходимо выводить переменную a, только если она нечетная, и увеличивать ее, пока она меньше 1000.
как я сделал
 int doc;doc = 0;
            cout <<"Введите число: ";cin >> doc;
            while(doc = 1000)
            {
                doc++;
                if(doc % 2 == 0)
                {
                    cout << "Число - " << doc << " Четное" << endl;
                }
                else
                {

                }
            }

ошибка

A: В условии должно быть <, а не =. Плюс, у вас вывод сейчас происходит, если число чётное. Чтобы выводилось нечётное, надо изменить условие на if(1 == doc % 2). В результате получается следующий код:
int doc = 0;
cout <<"Введите число: ";
cin >> doc;
while(doc < 1000) {
    if(1 == (doc % 2)) {
        cout << "Число - " << doc << " Нечетное" << endl;
    }
    doc++;
}


text:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------
// <copyright file="PersistentDictionaryJsonMeasureSource.cs" company="Rare Crowds Inc">
// Copyright 2012-2013 Rare Crowds, Inc.
//
//   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
//   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
//   You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
//   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
//   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
//   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
//   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
//   limitations under the License.
// </copyright>
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using Utilities.Storage;

namespace DynamicAllocation
{
    /// Source for measures loaded from persistent dictionary JSON resources
    public class PersistentDictionaryJsonMeasureSource : JsonMeasureSource, IMeasureSource
    {
        /// Backing field for JsonMeasureSource.MeasureJson
        private string measureJson;

        /// Persistent dictionary store name
        private string storeName;

        /// Persistent dictionary key
        private string dictionaryKey;

        /// Initializes a new instance of the PersistentDictionaryJsonMeasureSource class.
        /// <param name="storeName">Dictionary store name</param>
        /// <param name="dictionaryKey">Dictionary key</param>
        public PersistentDictionaryJsonMeasureSource(string storeName, string dictionaryKey)
            : base("RESOURCE:{0}-{1}".FormatInvariant(storeName, dictionaryKey))
        {
            this.storeName = storeName;
            this.dictionaryKey = dictionaryKey;
        }

        ///
        /// Gets the JSON containing this source's measures loaded from an embedded resource.
        ///
        protected override string MeasureJson
        {
            get
            {
                return this.measureJson =
                    this.measureJson ??
                    this.LoadMeasuresFromPersistentDictionary();
            }
        }

        /// Loads measures JSON from a persistent dictionary
        /// <returns>Loaded JSON</returns>
        private string LoadMeasuresFromPersistentDictionary()
        {
            var dictionary = PersistentDictionaryFactory.CreateDictionary<string>(this.storeName);
            var json = dictionary[this.dictionaryKey];
            return json;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Piedmont Hospital is located in downtown Atlanta and is over 100 years old. Piedmont Hospital was changing foodservice management, from Morrison's to self operation; and the time was right to fully renovate the food court. Camacho redesigned four food stations and oversaw the renovation; all within five weeks. The old café was converted into medical space, while the new café was added to service the entire hospital. The new café seats 500 persons and generates 2,500 transactions per day. The new café was designed with several objectives in mind, such as increasing customer flow and capacity, heightening the overall dining experience through environment, customer service, and menu, and creating an efficient design from the standpoint of labor and utility costs.. The menu concepts include Grill, Chef Experience, Deli, Center Stage Salad/Soup Station, Entrée Lite, and Bakery. An associated Coffee Shop serves specialty coffees, meals to go, baked goods, and refreshments. The Café grand opening was January 2008.
Camacho designed a gourmet kitchen for a "higher level" service area of the hospital. The kitchen is able to produce five-star, gourmet foodservice for 25 rooms. The challenge was to design this kitchen within a footprint of 300 square feet. Special equipment systems are in-place, along with key ergonomic friendly features. Camacho also assisted the hospital with a major service conversion; namely traditional trayline to room service. The kitchen was re-tooled with a restaurant style a la cart line-up and a very efficient room service model.


text:
package org.apache.activemq.artemis.reader;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

import org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.ActiveMQException;
import org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.ActiveMQPropertyConversionException;
import org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.Message;
import org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.SimpleString;

/**
 * static methods intended for import static on JMS like messages.
 *
 * This provides a helper for core message to act some of the JMS functions used by the JMS wrapper
 */
public class MessageUtil {

   public static final SimpleString CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME = new SimpleString("JMSCorrelationID");

   public static final SimpleString REPLYTO_HEADER_NAME = new SimpleString("JMSReplyTo");

   public static final SimpleString TYPE_HEADER_NAME = new SimpleString("JMSType");

   public static final SimpleString JMS = new SimpleString("JMS");

   public static final SimpleString JMSX = new SimpleString("JMSX");

   public static final SimpleString JMS_ = new SimpleString("JMS_");

   public static final String JMSXDELIVERYCOUNT = "JMSXDeliveryCount";

   public static final String JMSXGROUPID = "JMSXGroupID";

   public static final String JMSXUSERID = "JMSXUserID";

   public static final SimpleString CONNECTION_ID_PROPERTY_NAME = new SimpleString("__AMQ_CID");

   //   public static ActiveMQBuffer getBodyBuffer(Message message) {
   //      return message.getBodyBuffer();
   //   }

   public static byte[] getJMSCorrelationIDAsBytes(Message message) {
      Object obj = message.getObjectProperty(CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME);

      if (obj instanceof byte[]) {
         return (byte[]) obj;
      } else {
         return null;
      }
   }

   public static void setJMSType(Message message, String type) {
      message.putStringProperty(TYPE_HEADER_NAME, new SimpleString(type));
   }

   public static String getJMSType(Message message) {
      SimpleString ss = message.getSimpleStringProperty(TYPE_HEADER_NAME);

      if (ss != null) {
         return ss.toString();
      } else {
         return null;
      }
   }

   public static final void setJMSCorrelationIDAsBytes(Message message,
                                                       final byte[] correlationID) throws ActiveMQException {
      if (correlationID == null || correlationID.length == 0) {
         throw new ActiveMQException("Please specify a non-zero length byte[]");
      }
      message.putBytesProperty(CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME, correlationID);
   }

   public static void setJMSCorrelationID(Message message, final String correlationID) {
      if (correlationID == null) {
         message.removeProperty(CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME);
      } else {
         message.putStringProperty(CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME, new SimpleString(correlationID));
      }
   }

   public static String getJMSCorrelationID(Message message) {
      try {
         return message.getStringProperty(CORRELATIONID_HEADER_NAME);
      } catch (ActiveMQPropertyConversionException e) {
         return null;
      }
   }

   public static SimpleString getJMSReplyTo(Message message) {
      return message.getSimpleStringProperty(REPLYTO_HEADER_NAME);
   }

   public static void setJMSReplyTo(Message message, final SimpleString dest) {

      if (dest == null) {
         message.removeProperty(REPLYTO_HEADER_NAME);
      } else {

         message.putStringProperty(REPLYTO_HEADER_NAME, dest);
      }
   }

   public static void clearProperties(Message message) {

      List<SimpleString> toRemove = new ArrayList<>();

      for (SimpleString propName : message.getPropertyNames()) {
         if (!propName.startsWith(JMS) || propName.startsWith(JMSX) ||
            propName.startsWith(JMS_)) {
            toRemove.add(propName);
         }
      }

      for (SimpleString propName : toRemove) {
         message.removeProperty(propName);
      }
   }

   public static Set<String> getPropertyNames(Message message) {
      HashSet<String> set = new HashSet<>();

      for (SimpleString propName : message.getPropertyNames()) {
         if ((!propName.startsWith(JMS) || propName.startsWith(JMSX) ||
            propName.startsWith(JMS_)) && !propName.startsWith(CONNECTION_ID_PROPERTY_NAME) && !propName.equals(Message.HDR_ROUTING_TYPE) &&
            !propName.startsWith(Message.HDR_ROUTE_TO_IDS)) {
            set.add(propName.toString());
         }
      }

      set.add(JMSXDELIVERYCOUNT);

      return set;
   }

   public static boolean propertyExists(Message message, String name) {
      return message.containsProperty(new SimpleString(name)) || name.equals(MessageUtil.JMSXDELIVERYCOUNT) ||
         (MessageUtil.JMSXGROUPID.equals(name) && message.containsProperty(Message.HDR_GROUP_ID)) ||
         (MessageUtil.JMSXUSERID.equals(name) && message.containsProperty(Message.HDR_VALIDATED_USER));
   }
}


Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic has revealed his operation has "all gone well" and is looking forward to returning to fitness.
The 27-year-old was set to sign for Boro this summer, before a routine medical highlighted a serious rib injury.
As a result, the move collapsed and Subotic - who had agreed a three-year contract at the Riverside - underwent surgery this morning.
The player today took to his Instagram to confirm that the operation was a success, and he will now begin his rehabilitation.
"Thank you dear ones," Subotic wrote. "It's all gone well."
Dortmund shared the player's post on their official Twitter account this afternoon.
Boro had looked set to seal a €10m move for the Serbian centre-back, but the deal was dramatically scrapped after the club's routine medical checks revealed serious problems.
It was a significant blow for Subotic, who also missed the end of last season having suffered from deep vein thrombosis in his left arm.
"Dear friends. I wanted a challenge that I can actively work on. I now have it, but unfortunately it's not on the football field ," Subotic wrote on his Facebook last week.
"In spite of the victory against the thrombosis and the time invested in preparing for the new season, it has become clear that I have to undergo an operation.
"So it is finally at an end, even though I believed that it is actually behind me.
"It's hard on me because I was looking forward to a new season on the pitch like a small boy who can finally live his dream again.
"What remains is my dream. A lot of hard work lies ahead of me. Like always, I will give 100% to return to full fitness and step on the gas when I need to."


You can now preorder signed copies of The Steep and Thorny Way online at Powell's Books. I'll be signing the books on Thursday, March 10, at 7 pm, at the Cedar Hills Crossing location of Powell's in Beaverton, Oregon. All pre-ordered copies will be shipped after that evening.
We're now just a little over three weeks away from publication, which means I'm busy making behind-the-scenes preparations (in addition to revising another book and writing the first draft of a completely new novel!).
I'll soon be posting more info about the blog tour, giveaways, and a fabulous online launch party celebrating four historical novels that are all releasing on March 8. I have a feeling that I'll also be revealing the cover of my next adult novel, Yesternight, in the middle of the festivities, so please keep an eye out for all of my news, both here and on my social media sites.


text:
Q: Meaning of $\begin{bmatrix}V \\ \begin{bmatrix} E^p \\ E^n \end{bmatrix} \end{bmatrix}$, for matrices $V$, $E^p$, $E^n$ What does this notation mean:
$$
\tilde{V} = \begin{bmatrix}V \\ \begin{bmatrix} E^p \\ E^n \end{bmatrix} \end{bmatrix}
$$
where $V$ is an $k \times n$ matrix and both $E^p$, $E^n$ are $m\times n$ matrices. Does this just stack them vertically to form a $(k + 2m) \times n$ matrix?
Source is from this paper (introduced on page 2): https://projet.liris.cnrs.fr/imagine/pub/proceedings/ICIP-2014/Papers/1569911469.pdf


text:
Explain the circumstances that led to the revelation of Surah An Nur (Q.24)
Explain the circumstances that led to the revelation of Surah An Nur (Q.24). (5 mks)
Circumstance that led to the revelation of Surah Nur.
It was about the incident which happened to Aisha on the return from an expedition to Banu Mustaliq.
Aisha had left her tent in search for her necklace when she returned she found that the camp had left.
She sat down hoping someone will come to fetch her.
The next morning she was found by Safuan who had been left to remain behind to collect things .
When people saw them together they spread rumours about them of committing adultery.
The Surah was revealed to defend lady Aisha against the rumours.
It was also revealed o lay down rules and regulations on morality and various punishment and reprimand those who were spreading the rumours.
5 x 1 = 5marks
Enumerate the Prohibitions mentioned in Surah Al-Nur (Q24)
Enumerate the Prohibitions mentioned in Surah Al-Nur (Q24) (6 marks)
False accusation by a spouse
Propagation of rumours
We should not follow foot steps of Satan
Avoid looking at opposite sex
With reference to Surah An-Nur, describe the prescribed punishments for Zinna and for quadhf (slander)
With reference to Surah An-Nur, describe the prescribed punishments for Zinna and for quadhf (slander). (8 marks)
Zinna
Prescribed punishment for fornication: The man and woman who are guilty of fornication should be flogged with hundred stripes.
The punishment should be administered publicly / in the open. The marriage should be terminated.
Those who are guilty of slander should be flogged with eighty stripes.
The testimony of those who have been found to have slandered should be rejected in future.
(4 x 2 = 8 marks)


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Malone Souliers - These tan-brown Anya boots are the result of a collaboration between designer Roksanda Ilincic and Malone Souliers. They're crafted in Italy from elaphe and accented with a topstitched suede back panel in lilac - a graphic statement nodding to the Serbian designer's penchant for pastel hues. Wear them with an ankle-grazing gown to show glimpses of the high block heels.


text:
Browse: Popteen Blog » Culture Channel»Baji Quan Origins, Techniques and Influences (Eight Extremes Chuan)
Baji Quan Origins, Techniques and Influences (Eight Extremes Chuan)
By Mini Culture Center on 26 February 2010
Baji Quan or Eight Extremes Chuan is a Chinese martial art. It is famous for its elbow strikes. It originated in Hebei Province of Northern China, but is also well-known in other places as well today, especially Taiwan.
Baji Quan Basic Principles
Baji Quan Origins
Bajiquan was originally called Baziquan (巴子拳 or 鈀子拳; literally "rake fist"), due to the fact that when not striking, the fist is held loosely and slightly open, resembling a rake. However, the name was considered to be rather crude sounding in its native tongue, and so it was changed to the more pleasing Bajiquan. The term baji, which comes from the oldest book in China, the I Ching, signifies "an extension of all directions." In this case, it means "including everything" or "the universe."
Made famous in recent times by Li Shuwen (1864-1934), a fighter from Shandong province whose skill with a spear earned him the nickname "God of Spear Li." His most famous quote about fighting was, "I do not know what it's like to hit a man twice."[1] Certainly a bit of hyperbole, but it still speaks for the shocking power Baji training develops. Li Shuwen's most famous students include Huo Diange (bodyguard to Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China), Li Chenwu (bodyguard to Mao Zedong), and Liu Yunqiao (secret agent for the nationalist Kuomintang and instructor of the bodyguards of Chiang Kai Shek). Because of this, Bajiquan has come to be known as "The Bodyguard Style".
Bajiquan shares roots with another Hebei martial art, Piguazhang. It is said that Wu Zhong, the oldest traceable lineage holder in the Bajiquan lineage, taught both arts together as an integrated fighting system.[2] They then slowly split apart, only to be remarried by Li Shuwen in the late 18th to early 19th century. As a testament to the complementary nature of these two styles, there is a Chinese martial arts proverb that goes: "When pigua is added to baji, gods and demons will all be terrified. When baji is added to pigua, heroes will sigh knowing they are no match against it." (八極參劈掛,神鬼都害怕。劈掛參八極,英雄嘆莫及)
Today, the lineage holder of Bajiquan in China is Wu Lianzhi. He is also the prototype of Akira Yuki of Virtua Fighter fame. Through more than 50 years of training, he collected much material and records which were passed down from generation to generation.
Baji Quan Features
The major features of this school of Chinese martial arts include elbow strikes, arm/fist bashes, hip checks, and strikes with the shoulder. All techniques are executed with a very distinctive form of short power, developed through rigorous training; in Chinese martial arts, Baji is famous for its very violent and fast movements. Strategically, Baji focuses on in-fighting, entering from a longer range with Baji's distinctive charging step and issuing power up close.
The essence of Bajiquan lies in jin, or power-issuing methods, particularly fajin (explosive power). The style contains a total of six types of jin, eight different ways to hit and several different principles of power usage. Unlike most western forms of martial arts which require swinging motion to create momentum, most of Bajiquan's moves utilise a one-hit push-strike from very close range. The bulk of the damage is dealt through the momentary acceleration that travels up from the waist to the limb and further magnified by the charging step known as zhen jiao.
The mechanics of jin are developed through many years of practice and Bajiquan is known for its particularly strenuous lower-body training and its emphasis on the horse stance.[4] Its horse stance is higher than that of typical Long Fist styles. Like other styles, there is also "the arrow-bow stance", "the one-leg stance", "the Xū stance", "the Pū stance", etc. There are eight different poses of hands, plus different types of breath and zhen jiao.
The forms of Baji are divided into Fists (non-weapon) and Weapons. In Fist, there are more than 20 different forms, including 12 Baji Small Structure Fists, Baji Black Tiger Fist, Baji Dan Zhai, Baji Dan Da/Dui Da, Baji Luo Han Gong, and Baji Si Lang Kuan. In Weapons, there are more than eight different kinds of weapon, including the very famous Liu He Big Qiang (spear), Liu He Flower Qiang (spear), Chun Yang Jian (sword), San Yin Dao (sabre), Xing Zhe Bang (staff), Pudao, and Chun Qiu Da Dao (long two-handed heavy blade, used by Generals sitting on their horses).
Baji Quan Influences
There may not be that many styles in kung fu, that resemble Baji Quan. Because the Baji style focuses on being more direct, simple and powerful; unlike other styles of Kung Fu, that always tend to show its beauty and power through its movement. Even so, there are some styles that have derived by using Baji Quan's main principles or concepts, on how to hit your opponent.
"Bashi" (Eight postures)
"Bashi Gong" (Eight movements method)
"Bashi Chui" (Eight striking Forms)
"Shuang Bashi" (Double Eight Postures),
"Jingang Bashi" (Eight postures of the Buddha Guards.)
"Longxing Bashi" (Eight postures of the Dragon Style).
Many of these forms are also based or mixed with Luohan Quan(A Shaolin style). The term Bashi Pashi may also refer to Baji. But it can also be noted that Bashi is also a term used in the style of Xingyi Quan.
Topics: Baji Quan Features,Baji Quan Influences,Baji Quan Origins,Baji Quan Techniques
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