text:
Dual Sport Adventure Motorcycling in Quebec / Moto Aventure Double Usage au Québec
Photo - Diapo
Manawan Reserve ride
When I came back from a test ride to Parent in July, I met a retired logging truck driver in Mont St-Michel. He suggested I take the Manawan fire road instead of the boring Highway 15.
Waste of time. Despite searching around for a while, I never found the road in question. I promised myself that I'd give it another shot eventually.
So, in September, I planned a ride to the Manawan reserve taking the road bearing the same name. I brought a ratchet and a socket along just in case. The last time I rode on a fire road, the Parent road, it was more than the Versys suspension could handle. Most of the vibrations caused by the washboard sections of the road were directly transmitted to the handle bar. So the ratchet could come in handy for adjusting the suspension and hopefully making the ride enjoyable.
The ride plan below (http://goo.gl/maps/gQYe0):
Note all the parks on the map, from the left: Papineau-Labelle, Mount Tremblant, Ouareau Forest, Taureau Lake, La Mauricie National Park and more. It is amazing all the places I can explore just few hours away! More to the east, there is the huge Laurentian Park.
To reach Manawan, I left early in the morning to have some spare time to take a few shots. So at around 7:30 am I was off: 640 east, 25 north, 125 north, the 337 north.
9 a.m. The most beautiful site during this ride: the Dorwin falls in the Chute-Dorwin park along the 337 in Rawdon.
Quite a nice waterfall! I told myself: "How come I never heard of this place before?" The picture does not really show how great it is: it is huge!
Accessing the park is not free, but when I got there, the gate was open and the booth was empty - I could access freely.
I went back with my family a few weeks later. The ride is a little long with young kids from my place, but once there everyone enjoyed walking in the forest along the river.
To be continued. See next part.
Libellés : ride report
Metzeler introduces the new Karoo 3 at EICMA
Munich, 12 November 2012 – After the global preview of the newTourance Next at Intermot, Metzeler introduces another jewel from the 2013 range at EICMA: The Karoo 3, a knobby tire made for bikers who love adventure and want to use their motorcycles for long off-road trips.
The new Karoo 3 is the perfect tire for large and medium displacement enduro bikes which have to travel both on asphalt and off-road. Bikes like the latest BMW R 1200 GS, which can be equipped with the Karoo 3 in 120/70 R 19 on the front and the brand new 170/60 R 17 on the rear.
The Karoo 3 is capable of guaranteeing high mileage to all those bikers who love to take on long distance travel, provides excellent grip off-road and terrific stability and handling. These are all important elements, considering that riders must often travel for many miles over asphalt in order to reach their off-road destination.
These are the main characteristics of the new Karoo 3 with respect to its MCE Karoo and MCE Karoo T predecessors:
The compounds in the new Karoo 3 use high dispersibility components capable of obtaining a more uniform mix which provides mechanical resistance to lacerations, all to the benefit of mileage, while still maintaining high dampening capability.
The structure in polyester guarantees a sturdy, yet flexible product because the tire is able to perfectly follow the unevenness of the terrain when riding off road, to the advantage of handling and traction.
The trapezoid-shaped knobs have an innovative geometry which ensures progressive off-road traction at various lean angles. The "V" shape of the pattern provided by the knob arrangement optimizes power transmission and wear. The center knobs are larger, which reduces their mobility to enhance stability at high speed. The knob-spacing varies from the center to the shoulder: at the center the knobs are spaced farther apart to guarantee better penetration in soft terrain, offering better traction off road, while on the shoulder the knobs are closer together in order to guarantee more rubber on the road—and more grip—when leaning into a curve on asphalt.
The Karoo 3 will be on sale from spring 2013 and will replace the current MCE Karoo and MCE Karoo T. The new tire will be available in the following sizes:
110/80 – 19 M/C 59R TL M+S
120/70 R 19 M/C 60T TL M+S
90/90 – 21 M/C 54R TL M+S
130/80 – 17 M/C 65R M+S
[SRC:Metzeler]
JCR Honda Wins 45th Baja 1000
After fending off numerous challenges from other motorcycle teams during the 45th running of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda team and their Honda CRF450X pulled out a decisive lead and sailed into La Paz to win the race with a margin of more than an hour, and lock up the 2012 SCORE 1X championship. It was a fitting tribute to Honda's 50th Baja anniversary, stretching back to the inaugural ride from Tijuana to La Paz undertaken by Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson to promote Honda's CL72 Scrambler in 1962.
After leading for more than 970 miles, the JCR team's finishing time totaled 20:09:30 for an average speed of 55.64 mph. The success of JCR Honda team riders Colton Udall, Timmy Weigand and David Kamo extended the Honda win streak in the Baja 1000 to 16 consecutive victories and 23 overall motorcycle wins. Equally impressive, nine out of the top 10 finishing teams this year in the motorcycle division chose to ride a Honda CRF450X.
The toughness of this year's Baja 1000 was evident at the finish line: Of the 298 starters only 174 teams finished the race. The JCR Honda CRF450X—prepped for the race by JCR's Eric Siraton—worked flawlessly while racing over the brutal 1121-mile course.
"It was a very tough course," said Udall. "The section through San Felipe was probably one of the gnarliest workouts I ever had in my life."
"My stretches went by really fast," said Kamo. "There were lots of cows and lots of cars and lots of people. Donkeys, horses, everything. Some were on the trail and some just stood there because we were going by so fast that they didn't move. It couldn't have gone any better."
"We have three amazing teammates," said Weigand, "and we have a great mentor in Johnny (Campbell) and a great bike in Honda. We've won this race before so we expected to do the same."
"I am overwhelmed by the effort my pit crews put together to make this race run smoothly," said Johnny Campbell. "JCR brings a small army of some of the most extraordinary people together to make a race like the Baja 1000 possible. I can't thank them enough for their service and support. I am proud to have each one of them in the JCR family and look forward to many more adventures together. Thank you to the racers for their commitment to upholding this Honda legacy and our 16th Baja 1000 win in a row."
[SRC: Honda]
Polaris Acquires KLIM Technical Riding Gear
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2012-- Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced the acquisition of Teton Outfitters, LLC, a privately owned, Rigby, Idaho-based company which designs, develops and distributes KLIM Technical Riding Gear. Calendar year 2012 sales for KLIM are anticipated to approach $30 million. KLIM is an industry leader in technical riding gear. This acquisition adds KLIM to Polaris' growing parts, garments and accessories (PG&A) business. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
KTM 350 EXC-F: A Conclusion
KTM's "Ready-to-race" mantra sticks to the 350 EXC-F for sure - but this motorcycle is more than a race bike.
Every part of this motorcycle was designed to perform. It sums up to a very agile, predictable and easy to drive off-road bike in all trail conditions. Surprisingly, it also makes the 350 EXC-F an ideal motorcycle for off-road neophytes as it easily forgives mistakes. However, there are fine prints: the bike does not fit everyone. As an example, with my 5'9" frame, I had to adapt to the seat height. But once you're off, the experience is unique.
In 5 points, what I liked the most about this bike:
Libellés : 350 EXC, Dual sport, evaluation, ktm
New BMW F 800 GS Adventure
On May 2nd 2013, BMW announced the new F 800 GS Adventure. It seems that BMW has a pretty loaded schedule for the GS line. Since last yea...
KTM's "Ready-to-race" mantra sticks to the 350 EXC-F for sure - but this motorcycle is more than a race bike. Every part of this mo...
BMW 1200GS Rally 2012: First Contact
Fan-tas-tic! That is the first thought that came to mind after a first day with the 1200GS Rally edition. It is sublime, powerful, comfor...
Triumph Safety Recall: Tiger 800, Daytona 675, Speed Triple and Street Triple for Flashers issue
On March 21, 2013, Triumph Canada filed a safety recall on multiple 2012 and 2013 models. As stated on Transport Canada recall # 2013089, ...
2013 Montréal Moto Show: V-Strom 650 "à la CMG"
Many motorcycle manufacturers lack opportunism when it is time to showcase their adventure bikes to the public… …either the bikes are pr...
Heidenau vs Shinko (en)
While I was at the Montreal moto show, I stopped at the Heideneu booth, attracted by the K60 Scout dual sport tires in demonstration. I re...
90 Years of BMW Motorrad - The R 37 – BMW goes racing…
The immediate success of the original R 32 established BMW as a serious player in the motorcycle industry some five years before the compan...
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2012-- Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced the acquisition of Teton Outfitters, LLC, a...
BMW Motorrad plans entry into the segment below 500 cc
BMW Motorrad and TVS Motor Company sign cooperation agreement. Munich / Chennai, India. As part of its strategic reorientation, BMW Motorr...
2012 Montreal Motorcycle Show: Honda
Second stop: Honda There were 2 new models I wanted to see at the Honda booth, unfortunately the CrossTourer was not there and hopefull...


text:
Shot by Alan
Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ July 17, 2022 00:35Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ July 14, 2022 23:46Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ July 01, 2022 21:59Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 29, 2022 02:02Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 28, 2022 02:39Jump to another shotAdaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 25, 2022 17:54Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 24, 2022 02:27Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 19, 2022 00:52Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 18, 2022 17:30Adaptive (for medium roasts) @ June 18, 2022 02:16
Adaptive (for medium roasts)
35.0g in 19.2s

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
DRDO has been continuously and consistently putting its best efforts in realizing the advanced defence systems and technologies for Indian Armed Forces. DRDO will take up system development in the emerging dimensions of warfare and in the field of artificial intelligence, quantum technology, photonics, cyber technology and the like. "DRDO scientists are working in niche defence technology areas for building next generation systems, weapons and platforms and have chartered out paths to harness these technologies. Scientists are collaborating extensively with academia in the blue sky research and with industry to develop defence systems in the shortest time frame. DRDO will be responding ably to the future war-fighting requirements of the tri-services with advanced technologies," says Dr. G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO. In an interview with Aeromag, he talks about the organisations latest operations diversified focus on futuristic technologies.
Over the last six decades DRDO has been the backbone of India's defence research and development. What are your thoughts on DRDO's success in achieving its aims over these years?
DRDO has been continuously and consistently putting its best efforts in realizing the advanced defence systems and technologies for Indian Armed Forces. Efforts put by DRDO over last six decades resulted in induction of many products into the service's and many are on the anvil. DRDO is keeping abreast of the scientific development, advanced technologies in defence arena and is working on new futuristic products.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, 2020 has been a fruitful year for DRDO with many successful testing of weapons and technologies. Could you give an overview of major achievements recently?
Start of year 2020 saw inauguration of five DRDO Young Scientists Laboratories (DYSLs) by Prime Minister. Naval version of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) did a successful arrested landing onboard INS Vikramaditya on 11th January 2020.DRDO scientists have worked relentlessly during the COVID-19 Pandemic not only to develop products and technologies for combating COVID but have been keeping a pace with their project deadlines. DRDO undertook product development on war footing to fight COVID-19 pandemic and developed 50 technologies and more than 75 products which include PPEs, Hand Sanitizer, UV Blaster, Germi Klean and the like, which have direct utilization to combat COVID 19. DRDO has also developed three COVID hospitals in a very short span of time. Flight Testing of Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) and Quantum Communication are significant technology demonstrations this year. The work picked up after lockdown and a series of weapon trials carried out. Some of the major achievements in the year 2020 are trials of Air Defence Fire Control Radar (ADFCR) 'Atulya', Advanced Light Weight Torpedo (ALWT), 3rd Generation Helicopter Launch Anti-Tank Guided Missile (Dhruvastra). DRDO identified 108 Systems and Subsystems for industry to design, develop and manufacture towards achieving "Atmanirbhar Bharat". Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar (AESAR) 'Uttam' completed 100 hours of testing. ABHYAS High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT), Extended range Pinaka Weapon System, Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) and indigenous development of Anti-Radiation Missile (RUDRAM) flight tests were successful. Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) System has achieved a major milestone by a direct hit onto a Banshee Pilotless target aircraft at medium range & medium altitude. MRSAM had the maiden successful test flight. Other major systems which have completed the testing include Fire Detection and Suppression System (FDSS) for passenger buses and 5.56 x 30 mm Joint Venture Protective Carbine (JVPC). Hypersonic Wind Tunnel a major asset for advanced aerospace design validation capabilities was inaugurated by RM this year.
The BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile has been India's most potent firepower for more than two decades now and in December BrahMos in Anti-Ship mode was successfully test fired by the Navy. What are the latest updates of BrahMos project and what is the roadmap ahead for the missile?
The series of successful test firings conducted by all three wings of Indian Armed Forces between October and December 2020 has established this weapon's supremacy as an indispensable "strategic force multiplier" asset. We have been consistently working on further improving the capabilities with increased indigenous content in the missiles, reaching quite high proportions, thus bolstering national security even while emboldening our commitment to an "Aatma Nirbhar bharat". BrahMos-NG can also be mounted in numbers in SU-30 and also in Missile boats up to 4 missiles which will make them one of the most potent missile boats.
DRDO has played a pivotal role in enhancing India's missile capabilities and this yearthere were major milestones in terms of A-SAT, ATGM, RUDRAM, Pinaka Weapon System etc. Could you elaborate on DRDO's projects on missiles other than BrahMos?
ASAT was test proven in 2019 and it was a text book hit of the in-orbit satellite in the space. This year major milestones were achieved in the Anti-Tank missile segment. Laser guided anti-tank missile was successfully tested in September. The missile employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles. The trial evaluation was done from the gun of MBT Arjun. Nag user trials were completed in October this year. Man portable ATGM is getting ready for induction. QRSAM is the first track on the move and fire missile. The developmental trials of the weapon system are successfully completed and the weapon system is expected to be ready for induction. The RUDRAM is first indigenous anti-radiation missile of the country for Indian Air Force and is integrated on SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft as the launch platform. Development of Enhanced Pinaka rocket system was taken up to achieve longer range performance compared to earlier design. The first set of trials was completed in November this year.
In September, DRDO has successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV). How crucial is this technology and what are its applications?
The HSDTV test in October this year has put India in a select league of nations who possess hypersonic scramjet proportion technology. After US, Russia and China, India is the fourth country who has demonstrated this capability. Hypersonic means the speed of the vehicle is more than 5 Mach and there are many crucial technologies associated with this. Many critical technologies such as aerodynamic configuration for hypersonic maneuvers, use of scramjet propulsion for ignition and sustained combustion at hypersonic flow, thermo-structural characterization of high temperature materials, separation mechanism at hypersonic velocities etc. are proven. Hypersonic technology offers the ability to fly at low altitude instead of ballistic trajectory, which helps avoid detection at farther ranges by earth-based sensors. Maneuverability at low altitudes at that speed adds unpredictability which is major advantage. The applications of hypersonic technology include Hypersonic Glide Vehicles and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles.Hypersonic Missiles can inflict serious damage on to time critical enemy targets.
Enhancing India's UAV capabilities is one of the major objectives of DRDO and Rustom-2 medium altitude long endurance indigenous prototype drone was flight tested in October. What are the updates of various drone projects by DRDO?
DRDO has envisaged the need for a dedicated test range for testing and evaluation range to handle the fast-growing requirements of UAVs. Aeronautical Test range has been established at Chitradurga, which is the only range for flight testing of UAVs in the country. Rustom I, a Medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle was conceived as test bed for technology evaluation for Rustom -2 project. Rustom I itself can be used as a UAV which can be operated from runways. It can operate at altitudes upto 20,000 feet and has endurance of 12-15 hrs with range upto 250 km and payload capacity of 75 kg; Rustom 2 is a MALE UAV with operating altitude of upto 30,000 feet and endurance upto 24 hrs with operating range of 1000 km (with SATCOM). The development trials are likely to be completed by July 2021. Abhyas is an expendable Aerial Target developed for practice firing by Armed forces, which has enormous potential.
The LCA Tejas is completing 20 years of its first flight and there are various developments in terms of IAF's bulk order and the trials of LCA Navy version. How do you assess the LCA project and what are the challenges in terms of pace of production?
LCA has come a long way after the first flight 20 years ago from a Technology Demonstrator to prove niche 4+ generation technologies to a full-fledged fighting machine which will be the backbone of IAF. two squadrons of LCA A/F have been inducted and another six squadron are in pipeline. LCA Navy made a landmark achievement this year by conducting arrested landing and takeoff from INS Vikramaditya. This puts India in a select group of nations having this technology. The trials on the carrier were the outcome of numerous trials on SBTF over the last few years. More than 400 high sink rate landings and other tests were conducted on SBTF. As a result, in a remarkably short span of 5 days, 18 landings and takeoffs could be completed on the carrier successfully. There was a learning curve in production of our own advanced aircraft as against licensed production earlier. Multiple assembly lines are rolling out aircraft in HAL. HAL is outsourcing most of the major assemblies to harness the Pvt. Industry and increase rate of production.
The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has released DRDO Procurement Manual 2020 in October to encourage more participation of private industry in Defence R&D. What are DRDO's activities to support Atmanirbhar Bharat?
The last procurement manual was released in 2016 and PM-2020 comes in the wake of Atma Nirbhar Bharat call of Prime Minister. For defence production to happen in the country, industry and PSUs are to be enabled and an atmosphere of ease of working to be created. The PM-2020, will facilitate faster execution of R&D projects/programmes. The modified features of the Manual will go a long way to facilitate participation of industry in various R&D projects. The important facilitations include bid security declaration option for earnest money deposit, increase of threshold limit for advance payment, placement of order on second lowest bidder (L2) in case L1 backs out. These will assist the industry for the speedy execution of projects. Some of the other measures are exemption of bid security and performance security up to Rs10 lakh, no negotiations for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items/services wherever price discovery ishappening through market forces. Performance security for service contracts is linked to the payment cycle instead of total contract value. Procurement of stores from development partners, safeguarding of free issue material through insurance cover instead of bank guarantee (BG) are other measures adopted to help the industry. The liquidated damage (LD) rate for development contracts has been reduced. The delivery period (DP) extension process has been simplified for faster decision making. Many of the internal procedures have been further simplified for faster engagement with industry.
India is actively proceeding with the modernisation of the armed forces and how does DRDO support this? What are the challenges ahead for boosting the combat readiness of armed forces?
With changing times, the old systems are required to be replaced with newer ones. Technologies for defence are changing and so are their applications in the emerging defence scenarios. The newer and faster systems are to be deployed. Modernization of Armed Forces is a very involved job and a lot of effort from all stakeholders is required to be carried out in a synergistic mode. In this massive work, DRDO is geared up to put efforts for enhancing the overall capacity of defence development in the country. DRDO has increased its design and development capability for faster design and development. DRDO is fully equipped with quick design and development of missiles, radars, sonars and EW systems. With the available expertise, large systems like tanks and aircrafts can also be designed on shorter timelines. DRDO has also laid down many policies to cut down the delays in technology transfer to industry for the production of systems. The initiatives like Development cum Production Partners will further help industry to work concurrently with development so that the know how is transferred seamlessly for life cycle support of the developed system.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, DRDO and its labs have extended its civilian arm through various projects and inventions to fight the pandemic in terms of disinfection, nutrition, swab collection etc. Could you shed more light onto this?
DRDO's Life Sciences cluster had expertise in many CBRN technologies and due to this many products to combat COVID-19 could be developed. Similarly, competencies in mechanical, electronics and control engineering helped in making many crucial products for prevention and disinfection. Immediate development actions and policy decisions were taken to develop sanitizers, improvise PPE development and advanced face masks. PPE test facility was operated 24X7 to help industry develop PPEs and also to verify the imported PPEs. DRDO aided in COVID-19 sample testing at many places like Delhi, Tezpur, Haldwani and Gwalior etc. to ease the load on local medical bodies. Automatic hand sanitizers, UV disinfection systems for various applications, Software for tracking and monitoring COVID infections, plants for medical grade oxygen, secure Video conferencing solutions, indigenization of crucial parts of Ventilator and its efficacy testing leading to Ventilator development in the country are some of the examples of the products developed by DRDO for fighting COVID-19 Pandemic. Not only these products were developed in a short period of time, the technologies were transferred to the industry in record-time so that production can be scaled up and the products can reach the medical practitioners and common man for use. DRDO built three hospitals in the shortest period of time at Delhi, Muzzaffarpur and Bihta, equipped with all medical facilities including large number of ICU beds. These hospitals cured and saved many lives at the time of crisis when there were rising cases and shortage of beds.
What will be the highlights of DRDO's participation in the upcoming Aero India?
This year DRDO will be showcasing the electronics and software-based solutions which is the requirement of the day. Other than these, LCA Navy will be on Tarmac. LCA Tejas and AEW&C will be in flying displays. Airborne avionics developed by DRDO will be highlighted. The entire range of indigenous SAM missiles will be showcased in Aero India.
What are your visions and priorities for DRDO over the next two years? What are the objectives in bolstering national security?
DRDO will take up system development in the emerging dimensions of warfare and in the field of artificial intelligence, quantum technology, photonics, cyber technology and the like. DRDO scientists are working in niche defence technology areas for building next generation systems, weapons and platforms and have chartered out paths to harness these technologies. Scientists are collaborating extensively with academia in the blue sky research and with industry to develop defence systems in the shortest time frame. A number of activities pertaining to various systems like AEW&C, AMCA, Guided Pinaka, Radar systems, Missile systems, Underwater unmanned systems are planned for 2021.There are many other defence technologies and systems DRDO has taken up for development. DRDO will be responding ably to the future war fighting requirements of the tri services with advanced technologies.


Jungle Baby Shower Cake. Find and save ideas about Safari baby shower cake on Pinterest. See more ideas about Jungle theme cakes, Jungle theme baby shower and Jungle theme cupcakes.
Best 25+ Jungle Cake Ideas On Pinterest. Find and save ideas about Jungle cake on Pinterest. See more ideas about Safari cakes, Fondant animals tutorial and Jungle safari cake.
Ideas For A Jungle Themed Baby Shower. Are you planning a jungle themed baby shower and need some ideas? Check out our list to help you have the ultimate jungle themed party.
Amazon.com: Jungle Safari Baby Shower Cakes. Amazon.com: Jungle Safari Baby Shower Cakes. 1 pc oh boy jungle safari animals cake topper baby shower boy summer theme gold black silver blue glitter.


Volkswagen Philippines, the country's number one European car brand in 2016, and Grand Canyon Multi-Holdings, Inc. launched recently the Iloilo dealership at the upper ground level of SM Iloilo along Benigno Aquino Sr. Avenue.
Volkswagen Iloilo is the result of a partnership between Volkswagen Philippines and GCMI, a successful automotive and car parts dealer established in 2005 which now has seven other dealerships in the city and in Panay Island.
The Iloilo dealership is Volkswagen Philippines' second in central Philippines, the other being Volkswagen Bacolod.
The Volkswagen brand was launched in the country on September 27, 2013, under Ayala Corporation, spearheading the first five dealerships in the country: BGC in Taguig City; Quezon Avenue in Quezon City; Greenfield District Service Center at Sheridan in Mandaluyong City; Molito in Alabang, Muntinlupa; and North Reclamation Area in Cebu City. Volkswagen Pampanga represents the sixth dealership in Volkswagen Philippines' nationwide network when it opened in 2016.
Volkswagen Iloilo is expected to push the Volkswagen brand more aggressively in central Philippines, particularly in the Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, and Aklan provinces of Panay Island—areas where the demand for premium European brands such as Volkswagen has grown strong, especially among professionals like doctors, lawyers, businessmen, overseas Filipinos and seafarers.
GCMI, helmed by its President Jan Andrew Po, was founded by a family of Filipino businessmen–all based in Iloilo—supporting the development of the area's automotive industry.
Volkswagen Iloilo is seen as an important addition to Volkswagen Philippines' dealer network, and moves the much-loved Volkswagen brand closer to even more Filipinos nationwide. More than establishing dealerships, Volkswagen puts the premium motoring lifestyle experience within reach, after all, It's More Than Just a Car.


Happy New Year! 2019 will be the best year yet, right? At least that's what we all hope for. Many people think of January 1st as the perfect time for a fresh start. After all the indulgences of the holidays, it seems natural to want to turn over a new leaf and cleanse our lives a little. Although people in other parts of the world make resolutions, they're most popular in the West, with common goals including getting healthier, spending less money, thinking more positively, being more charitable, spending more time with family, quitting a bad habit, learning a new skill, or perhaps even finding a new job.
How did the idea of making resolutions get started? Would you believe it all began about 4,000 years ago?
Yes, it supposedly started many years ago with the ancient Babylonians. However, their new year began in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During the big, 12-day religious festival they called Akitu, the Babylonians made promises to the gods (specifically Marduk, the patron deity of the city) to pay off their debts and return anything they had borrowed. If the Babylonians kept to their word, the gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not – well, they did not want to find out what would happen! Even the king joined in by reaffirming his right to rule the people as a divine representative in a symbolic ceremony. The high priest would then determine if the king could rule for another year.
Later, in ancient Rome, emperor Julius Caesar established January 1st as the beginning of the new year, and in 46 B.C. officially moved the New Year's celebration from March to January. Named for Janus, the two-faced god often depicted over doorways and archways, January was significant for the Romans. The two faces of Janus represented the ability to look back to the previous year, while also looking ahead to the future. The god represented beginnings and endings, the passage of time, and transitions. The Romans offered sacrifices to Janus, and made promises of good behavior in the coming year. It was also common for friends and neighbors to exchange gifts and well wishes with one another. Believe it or not, most Romans chose to work for at least part of New Year's Day as idleness was seen as a bad omen for the rest of the year.
Even knights got in on the action! During the Middle Ages, knights would renew their vows to chivalry at the end of each year. This annual contract to uphold the values of knighthood was called the "Peacock Vow," since knights would make their promise while placing their hand on a live or roasted peacock. (The peacock was a romanticized bird at the time.) Sounds strange, but the idea of a yearly promise is the same!
Throughout history, most resolution ceremonies were closely tied to religion. For early Christians, the first day of the new year became a traditional time for thinking about one's past mistakes and resolving to do better in the future. In the 17thand 18th centuries, Puritans in colonial America avoided the indulgences associated with New Year's celebrations and other holidays. Instead, they urged their children to skip the revelry and spend their time reflecting on the past year and contemplating the year to come. The Puritans also made resolutions that most often included commitments to put their talents to better use, treat their neighbors with charity, and avoid habitual sins.In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, co-founder of the Methodist church, created the Covenant Renewal Service, most commonly held on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. The service included scripture readings and hymns, and served as a spiritual alternative to the debaucherous celebrations normally held at the end of the year. Now popular within evangelical Protestant churches, these New Year's Eve services, sometimes called "watch night services," are often spent praying and making resolutions for the coming year. Modern, more secular New Year's resolutions became popular in the 19thcentury. The first recorded use of the phrase, "New Year's resolution" actually appeared in a Boston newspaper in 1813.
Today, most people make New Year's resolutions as a promise to themselves, and not to please heavenly beings. So, have you reflected on the past year, and thought of some way to improve your life in 2019? According to recent research, about 45 percent of Americans say that they usually make resolutions at the start of a new year. So, here's the bad news: Only eight percent are successful at achieving their goals! I guess I can believe that. Years ago, when I belonged to a gym, I used to dread January, when the "resolution" crowds would show up and I'd have to wait for an exercise machine. But lo and behold, by February, things would be back to normal. It may sound discouraging, but the main reason people break their resolutions is because they set the bar too high. Telling yourself that you'll run five miles every morning, or pay off credit card debt in just a couple of months is not very realistic. For example, if you want to spend less and save more, maybe start by reducing the number of coffee runs to Dunkin' Donuts that you make each week. Instead of crash dieting, vow to add more vegetables to your daily intake. Another way to put the odds in your favor is to tell your friends and family about your goals. You'll feel more accountable that way, while also getting extra support from others.
So, what's it going to be this year? I bought a mindfulness journal over a month ago that I hate to admit I haven't even opened. I think I'll set some time aside each day to start working on that. It never hurts to reflect. The most important thing to remember is that any way you can improve your life is a good idea. And hey, if January 1stdoesn't work for you, why not start on the first day of any month? There's always time for a fresh start. Happy 2019!


text:
Book Kimberly Guilfoyle
Renowned Television News Journalist & Former District Attorney
Speaking Price Guide:	Contact us to discuss prices
Booking Enquiry Form
Please note: we are unable to assist with any charitable or personal requests for any of the talent featured on our website.
Talent Name *
Type of Event * Select Event Type Corporate speaking event Corporate appearance Charity Entertainment & Music Hosting & Moderating Publishing & Media Broadcasting & Voiceover Branding & Licensing Other
Message / Further Details *
To book Kimberly Guilfoyle for your event call: +44 (0)20 3124 1860
About Kimberly Guilfoyle:
Vice Chairwoman, America First Action
Former Co-Host, FOX News Channel's The Five
Bestselling Author of Making the Case: How to Be Your Own Best Advocate
Former Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco and Los Angeles
Honorary Board Member or Turning Point USA
Renowned cable television news journalist and former district attorney, Kimberly Guilfoyle is Vice Chairwoman of America First Action, the primary super PAC dedicated to electing federal candidates who support the agenda of the Trump-Pence administration.
Prior to joining America First, Kimberly served as co-host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) The Five. She joined FNC in 2006 as a legal analyst, and became one of the cable news channel's most recognisable pundits during her 12-year tenure.
The author of the national bestseller, Making the Case: How to Be Your Own Best Advocate, Guilfoyle has been named "USO Entertainer of the Year," "Outstanding Woman of the Year," as well as "Prosecutor of the Month." Guilfoyle joined FNC as a legal analyst in 2006, hosting the one-hour crime-based program, "The Lineup." Heralded as a quick-thinking spitfire who has an answer for every question, Guilfoyle addresses topics as varied as politics and decoding current events, women's empowerment, executive leadership, legal affairs, and crisis communications, with insight, passion, and her signature sense of humor. With insider access to all the top players in Washington and the White House, Guilfoyle is a master of the 24-hour news cycle, able to unpack what's really happening and go beyond the headlines.
Before joining FOX, Guilfoyle served as a legal analyst at CNN and ABC News, and was featured regularly on ABC's Good Morning America. She also hosted her own show, Both Sides on Court TV. Throughout her decade-long television career, Guilfoyle has covered major legal cases, including those involving O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson, Jon Benet Rasmey, Natalee Holloway, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson.
Prior to her career in broadcast television, Guilfoyle served as an assistant district attorney at the San Francisco and Los Angeles District Attorney's Offices. The recipient of numerous prosecutorial awards as well as a Special Civil Rights Award by New York City, Guilfoyle served as managing attorney of the trial division, handling sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder, and drugs cases. She made a name for herself after prosecuting two members of the Aryan Brotherhood for murder in a case that made national headlines, and was also co-prosecutor in the case "People v. Noel and Knoller," a second-degree murder trial involving a dog mauling, which received national and international attention. In addition to her established legal career, Guilfoyle served as First Lady of San Francisco in 2003 and is recognized for being the city's first "Latina" First Lady.
Television And Media
Alternatively call us to book Kimberly Guilfoyle: +44 (0)20 3124 1860
Louisa Bojesen
Lisa Cannon
Rachel Burden
Alistair Bunkall


text:
City Icons
125 photos of City
Local history tour
Switching Sides: Bringing the Great Beyond to the Great Hall.
|In Features
|By Fabrik
The Russian rocket scientist who defected and taught at City.
Cold war spies, secret service agents and rocket science are usually reserved for Hollywood blockbusters. However, in 1967 they were very much reality for City's Head of Aeronautical Engineering, Professor Grigori Tokaty.
After defecting from the Stalinist regime in 1948, Professor Grigori Tokaty sought refuge in Britain where he received a new identity and was appointed as Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Space Technology at the Northampton College of Advanced Technology, which later became City, University of London.
Working on both sides of the Space Race, Tokaty's experience in aeronautical engineering saw him live a life not too dissimilar from the stories which populate our cinemas and television screens.
Early life and Soviet career
Born to a family of farmers in Ossetia, Russia in October 1909, Grigori Aleksandrovich Tokaev as he was known back then, lived through the end of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II.
Restricted by his humble origins, it was not until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 that he was able to access education.
Tokaev joined the Communist Youth Movement and in 1927 entered higher education by enrolling a college for workers and peasants, called the Rabfak. His mathematical talents attracted the attention of his teachers and Tokaev progressed through higher education eventually enrolling in the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, where he studied for six years before becoming head of the academy's laboratory.
The outbreak of the Second World War halted his work at the academy and upon the siege of Leningrad in 1941 (St Petersburg today), he was sent to Moscow.
At the end of the war, Tokaev was a highly regarded member of the Communist Party and the USSR's chief rocket scientist.
Tokaev was sent to USSR-occupied East Berlin and he advised the Kremlin on aeronautical weaponry including a rocket powered bomber that had the capacity to attack the United States.
The Cold War between the USSR and the West started to intensify and the Soviet Union began to suspect and arrest its own citizens, especially those who had spent time in foreign countries.
Tokaev was recalled home, however before he responded, he accidentally found out that military counter-intelligence SMERSH was about to arrest him, his wife and their young daughter. Fearful for his life, Tokaev crossed the border to British-occupied West Berlin and defected.
Life in Britain and at City
Upon resettling in Britain, Tokaev was given a new identity, the Ossetian version of his surname, Tokaty. Fears of assassination plagued his early years in Britain as he was the only soviet official to defect to the UK between 1945 and 1963.
Despite bringing much of his work in Russian space programmes, it was not until 1953 that he began lecturing at London universities, which he continued up until 1967, when he was appointed as Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Space Technology at the Northampton College of Advanced Technology, which later became City, University of London.
During a successful career at City, Tokaty was also invited to the United States to assist with its lunar programmes.
This experience made him instrumental in securing the visit of Apollo 15 astronauts James Irwin, David Scott and Alfred Worden to City in 1971.
Two months prior to their visit, the three astronauts had been part of Apollo 15, NASA's fourth successful mission to the lunar surface. The crew had brought back the largest and most varied samples of lunar rock which were distributed to 201 investigators.
To mark the occasion, City's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir James Tait was presented with a piece of heat shield from Apollo 15, after he had presented each astronaut with commemorative diplomas.
Speaking about the visit of Apollo 15, Sadi Ridah a former student of Tokaty's class of 1972, who became a Professor in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics at The University of Applied Science in Western Switzerland, Geneva, said:
"As aeronautical students we received a personal invitation to the visit, however so many of us could not get in as the Great Hall was packed with around 1,000 people within a minute of the announcement.
"Two things stand out in my mind about Professor Tokaty. We never had lectures with him, but he would often tell us about Soviet missile programmes in seminars. He was also a lover of chess and would play with the aeronautical engineering class."
Later career and influence
Working with NASA during the sixties meant that Professor Tokaty's career included developing aeronautical technology for both the USSR and the United States.
With this knowledge, Tokaty began lending his expertise to the media, where he commented in World at Wardocumentaries and would feature regularly in publications including The New Scientist. In one article in 1975, Tokaty detailed the USSR's planned development of Salyut 1 – the first orbiting space station.
With a career in rocket science and knowledge of USSR secret services it is not difficult to find parallels between Tokaty's life and the films, novels and television shows which surround us.
Author and historian Ben Macintyre wrote that Tokaty's knowledge may have been an inspiration for certain villains in Ian Fleming's James Bond series.
The Cold War period saw many propagated claims from both the West and the USSR, however as Tokaty detailed upon his defection to Britain, a Soviet secret service reporting directly to Stalin was a reality.
The counter intelligence operation known as SMERSH was formed in 1942 with the sole aim of scrutinising Nazi movement in Europe – however by the end of the Second World War this service turned its eyes to the West.
SMERSH played starring roles in Fleming's spy novel series, for example where agents were sent to assassinate protagonist Bond in Casino Royale. However SMERSH's main inclusion came inFrom Russia with Love, where the entire first section of the book is written from its point of view, planning for Bond's elimination.
Auric Goldfinger, one of Fleming's most notable antagonists is also revealed as a SMERSH treasurer.
SMERSH takes a different form in the cinematic adaptations, where it is renamed as SPECTRE, the very name that titled the 2015 film.
Tokaty also influenced American author Upton Sinclair where he included a fictional version of the academic in his historical fiction series, Lanny Budd.
In the final book of Sinclair's work, the American protagonist Budd is saved from a Russian-owned prison in East Berlin by Tokaev himself. Both characters trade information with Tokaev detailing Stalin's plans for attacking the United States and Budd assisting in his defection to Britain.
Professor Grigori Tokaty retired from City in 1975 but acted as a visiting professor to institutions across the globe. He passed away aged 94 in Surrey in 2003.
His focus in space programme research balanced a technical yet philosophical mind questioning mankind's placement in the universe.
In City's 125 year history there are few with lives like Grigori Tokaty. Living and working through some of the world's darkest and most important events made Tokaty a unique individual, who at a first glance would appear like any other academic engineer. However a closer look would reveal an extraordinary man light years away from the ordinary.
Support City
Campus & maps
City, University of London is an independent member of institution of the University of London. Established by Royal Charter in 1836, the University of London consists of 18 independent member institutions with outstanding global reputations and several prestigious central academic bodies and activities.
© 2021 City 125th Anniversary. All rights reserved


• The Experiential part of the learning will include a trip to a newspaper office for interaction with Editorial Team and their take on content writing demands, class interviews with celebrities, discussions with specialists in the field and projects to introduce practical journalism.
Aspiring writers will acquire extensive knowledge and practice on creating great content and being able to write content for different platforms. They will also get a run through of editing their writing pieces.
Nyla Daud is an independent creative writing consultant with almost a thirty year standing in content writing for various public media. She started her career as Lahore Editor of the SHE magazine. She has extensive experience in writing a variety of formats for local and international publications, television documentaries and newsletters besides creating content for and editing organisational reports. Recently launched in London, Waves of Illusion is her translation of Minu Bakhshi's poetry collection. She is currently working on the poet's next translation assignment. Manuscript for a coffee table book has been submitted.
Initially schooled at the St. Deny's School in Murree, Nyla Daud is a graduate of St. Joseph's College Karachi. She is an English Literature, gold medalist, post graduate degree holder from Kinnaird College Lahore.
Duration: Six consecutive weeks starting from March 22, 2019.


Further interviews and guest blogs capturing the discussions in the plenary and workshop sessions will be added over the next weeks.
Roundtable Part 1 - Decarbonizing Portfolios: How to - and will it work?
Roundtable Part 2 - Stock Exchanges: New drivers of Sustainable development and Responsible Investng?
Workshop A1 - Shareholder Engagement: The next step in ESG integration?
Workshop A2 - ESG Integration- What is working?
Seminar A2 – Ultimate ESG Integration – Picking the winners of the future: how sustainable is your portfolio?
Workshop C3 – Private Equity. Can PE decarbonize portfolios and create value?


text:
Southern Affairs
News, essays, and reviews about Latin America and the world
China's Andes Said to Join Repsol in Ecuador Oil Drilling Freeze
By Nathan Gill and David Wethe
(Bloomberg) — Andes Petroleum Ecuador Ltd. and Repsol SA, Ecuador's two biggest foreign oil producers, are shelving plans to drill exploratory wells amid a payment dispute with the OPEC nation's government, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Andes, owned by China National Petroleum Corp. and China Petrochemical Corp., and Madrid-based Repsol have notified Halliburton Co. that they plan to freeze their drilling contracts this year, said the two people, who asked not to be named because the matter hasn't been made public. Houston-based Halliburton provides services to both companies, which pump oil for Ecuador's government for a per-barrel fee.
A third person with knowledge of Repsol's plans, who isn't authorized to speak about the matter publicly, said the Spanish company has begun notifying all of its service providers in Ecuador, including Halliburton, that it wants to reach new agreements after global oil prices fell. Current output isn't affected by the exploration delays, one of the people said.
Repsol spokesman Kristian Rix said the company was operating normally in Ecuador and declined to comment on individual contracts.
Susie McMichael, a spokeswoman at Halliburton in Houston, and Andes Petroleum spokesman Edgar Vasquez declined to comment when asked about the contracts. The press office of Ecuador's oil ministry didn't provide a comment.
The drilling delay is another setback for Ecuador, where a 45 percent plunge in the price of its Oriente crude has led President Rafael Correa to cut spending and the budget of state producer Petroamazonas. The government has fallen behind on payments of fees to oil operators as the drop in prices for crude, which accounts for about a quarter of state revenue, saps liquidity, according to two of the people.
Payment Delays
A global rout that has seen oil prices fall about 50 percent since June has led well operators to seek cost concessions of more than 30 percent for oil services, according to investment bank Evercore ISI. As lower oil prices have forced oil producers to cut back on exploration, drillers like Halliburton have fired workers to trim costs. Over the past two quarters, Halliburton, the world's second-biggest provider of oilfield services, has cut a total of 9,000 workers, or more than 10 percent of its global workforce as the price collapse forced drillers to cut back, interim Chief Financial Officer Christian Garcia said April 20.
On April 9, Petroamazonas said it was in talks with suppliers and contractors to delay payments and said it was seeking external financing to help maintain oil-field investments. Output will fall by about 3 percent this year because of the cuts, the company said. Petroamazonas's press office in Quito didn't reply to telephone messages seeking comment.
Andes and an affiliated company operate the Tarapoa, Block 14 and Block 17 concessions in Ecuador's eastern Amazon region. Repsol operates the Block 16 and Tivacuno concessions. The government pays Andes $35 a barrel for oil pumped at Tarapoa and $41 a barrel for Blocks 14 and 17, according to oil ministry data.
Repsol gets $35.95 a barrel from the Block 16 field and $27.25 from Tivacuno, the data show. In November 2013, Repsol signed a new deal with Ecuador's government to expand its operations in Block 16 in a bid to get more use out of existing infrastructure and investments. As part of the agreement, Repsol agreed to drill two new wells in what is known as the Wati field, with the possibility of an additional five if exploration was successful.
Repsol will now halt drilling after the second well is finished next month and no longer plans to perforate the additional five this year, one of the people said.
April 29, 2015 November 25, 2018 N. H. GillNewsAndes, Commodities, Ecuador, Government, Latin America, Oil, South America
Previous Post Ecuador Approves New Labor Law With Changes to Public Pensions
Next Post South America's Commodity Rout Spurs Public Spending on Housing
Indigenous Elites, Subjugation, and Cultural Survival in Colonial Latin America
White-Bellied Spider Monkey Losing to $18 Billion of Oil
Communist Conspiracies and Imperial Plots: Narratives of The Honduran General Strike of 1954
Between Two Worlds: Andean Haciendas in Colonial History
Moving to the Suburbs: Reducciones in Recent Latin American Historiography
Oral History: Ventriloquism or Privileged Interpretation?
Banco Monex in Talks to Sell Operations to Consorcio
"Open" and "Closed" Regionalism Theories
the #1 Itinerary on Indigenous Elites, Subjugation, and Cultural Survival in Colonial Latin America
Term Papers on Regionalism and Globalization Theory
Anonymous on Democracy Strikes Again: The End Of 21st-Century Socialism?
Southern Affairs is a Latin American history blog, offering news and analysis of current events, historical essays, and book reviews about the region.
The site is published by N. H. Gill, a historian and journalist from North Carolina.
Andes Chile Commodities Economy Ecuador Government History Human Rights Latin America Markets News and Analysis Peru Politics South America Venezuela
This work is licensed by N. H. Gill under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


text:
Next Gen Lock: the Good, the Bad, and the Smart, Part I: The Problem
By David Maciejak | October 06, 2016
About 4000 years ago, as we began the development of our modern way of life, people started to also want their own privacy and the ability to safeguard their possessions. The lock and key concept was created at that time. The first were made with hardwoods, then metals. Some were amazingly intricate. But eventually, they evolved to become the latest iteration of that ancient concept, something we have seen developing over the last few years: the smart lock. The key has been replaced by your smartphone or smartwatch, but the lock is still there and it is getting smarter.
The smart lock is also a good example of the convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) with security. Usually, people buy locks for something they want to protect from others. For example, you buy a lock for your bike to prevent it from being stolen, or a lock for your front door to prevent intruders. Today, these locks are available in a variety of configurations, from the traditional key and lock model, to combination locks, to smarter versions with touchpads and alarm systems.
Many newer smart locks and security systems for your home can be accessed, monitored, and managed remotely. In some models, you can be alerted that someone is at your front door while you are away, look at a camera feed on your phone, see that it is a friend who has arrived early for dinner, speak to them through your remote connection telling them you will be home in a few minutes, and even unlock the door for them while you continue to pick up a few last minute things at the store. Likewise, keyless entry systems for cars have become surprisingly sophisticated, and can also be considered to be smart locks.
The market behind these new advanced security solutions is huge. Analysts are forecasting that the global smart lock market will grow at an astonishing rate of 75% during the coming few years, eventually reaching $3.6 billion by 2019.
These devices are quite appealing. Ironically, their hardware is not much more secure than a traditional deadbolt. What has happened is that the traditional lock has been wrapped in a layer of monitoring and communications software, and has been linked to such things as video cameras, lighting systems, and alarms. While you can argue that combining these things can make a homeowner more secure, there is also a downside, as the software being used has also created lead to a larger attack surface for criminals to exploit.
Frankly, the primary goal of many of these smart locks is to be convenient. They also create a sense of increased security, which may not actually be true. But that's what people are looking for, and they are willing to pay for it. But there are pros and cons to this new technology
On the pro side, this new technology provides real security conveniences for property owners, such as:
Geofencing allows a virtual key loaded on a fob, or as an app on your smartphone or smartwatch, to automatically lock and unlock a door depending on how far away that virtual key is from the deadbolt. For Bluetooth Low Energy configurations, you can set your door to lock up or lock down automatically from up to 100 meters away. This functionality can be quite useful when you are returning to your car or home with your hands full of shopping bags!
With remote key management you can grant access to specific doors or devices by sending virtual keys to a guest and revoking them later. You can even schedule when and for how long you want that access to last. This technology is particularly useful for people using something like Airbnb to rent out rooms, apartments, or vacation homes. It eliminates the need to have keys duplicated, and they can't be lost as by definition a virtual key can't be misplaced, duplicated, or transferred.
Remote monitoring, on top of key management, allows you to be notified when an authorized key opens the door, allowing you to keep records of any or all usage at any time.
Some of the more simplistic concerns about smart lock technology are a bit more technical in nature. A technophobe might ask, what happens if the battery on a fob or in your phone dies, or if access to the Internet is down? First, in the unlikely event that the battery is dying, you will certainly receive a bunch of warnings - not only visual feedbacks and sounds from the lock itself but also messages within the app – that the battery needs to be changed. But ultimately, the answer is simple: in most configurations you can always still use your physical key on the old dumb deadbolt.
But what if you have lost your key or you just left it inside your apartment? There is a solution for that as well. Some locks now come with an external connector to which you can pin an external battery allowing you to jump start the lock and then replace the dead battery.
But these concerns are really just the tip of the iceberg.
The raging battle between IoT standards
Smart locks utilize a variety wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth Smart (aka Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE was release in 2010 as part of version 4), Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Apple HomeKit, and more. The main difference between these options is that some are intended to be simpler and less expensive than other wireless technologies, especially for small and low-power devices (such as those working on batteries.) Here is a quick overview:
That's the case for the ZigBee solution, the first version of which was created all the way back in 1998, and was then later standardized as IEEE 802.15.4. It's a wireless mesh network standard that can be used instead of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for short-range wireless communication from approximatively 10 to 20 meters.
Figure 1: ZigBee module (ref: Wikipedia)
One challenge is that using many different protocols can sometimes lead to interoperability issues. So it's good to see that some vendors are willing to open their standards, like Sigma Designs, which just released its new Z-Wave specifications (which is also identified as the G.9959 radio standard). Currently, they claim to have certified their solution on more than 1500 products. Open source projects like OpenZWave can also significantly improve the user experience.
HomeKit, Apple's own home app guidelines, were released two years ago, but according to the specialists, it will start to really gain momentum in the IOS 10 release coincided to launch with the release of the first Apple's home app. This year, nearly 100 products have been certified. As anyone who has built apps for Apple devices, Apple's guidelines are quite strict, and most of the time require IoT vendors to adapt not only their software (a proprietary authentication module is required) but also their hardware to satisfy Apple's requirement. Note: as of now, Siri is used as the primary interface for controlling your HomeKit accessories.
In the final notice, it's almost impossible to draw a winner. There are currently multiple different standards competing and as it's a really competitive market we can forecast that more will arrive in the coming years. One special note for Wi-Fi and BLE, for the latter the interest group behind it was clever enough to have it evolves various times from the first version released by Ericsson in 1994.
Now, it brings key features like mesh network, 6LowPAN support (stands for "IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks", defined in RFC 4944) and even a lower power consumption than competitor like ZigBee. However, the main key advantage is its wide user base. Nowadays, almost every device supports it, with the race to miniaturization it will mostly be unlikely that smartphone manufacturers will embed redundant chips no matter how small it is.
Breaking smart locks – state of the art vs determined hackers
While these solutions and approaches listed above, along with a number of others, are vying for top positions as market leaders, they are certainly not all as secure as they claim. Smart locks include embedded software because to be smart the lock has to communicate, and to sell it needs all kinds of nifty features, which is where most of the differentiation between solutions exists. While some vendors have actually put a lot of effort into their product security to try and make them unbreakable, if there is anything a cybersecurity professional knows, it's that software code is a rich attack surface, and that hackers always find a way.
This past August, at the DEFCON 2016 security conference in Las Vegas, for example, the security of smart locks was challenged by two talks that were dedicated to the topic.
Security researchers Rose and Ramsey publicly demonstrated security flaws in 12 (out of 16) popular smart locks. At the end of their presentation, only four locks still stood. But if that wasn't enough, the very next day a researcher called Jmaxxz presented his findings on how to bypass even more security features.
Below is the list of common software vulnerabilities that were identified in many of today's smart lock solutions:
Plain text password
In spite of years of warnings about this, some solutions still transmit passwords in clear text between the smart lock and the smart device app. Armed with something as simple as a network sniffer, an attacker can just grab the password out of the air without much effort.
Brute forcing a password is also an option when the secret used by the home owner or manufacturer is too short, such as a 6-pin code, which can be cracked in a matter of minutes.
Replay attack
Weak usage of cryptographic standards can let an attacker grab and store the signal when the lock is used, and simply send it again later to unlock the device.
In some cases, eavesdropping traffic is not even necessary, as simply decompiling the companion app often leads to some strong artifacts, including the Holy Grail of hacker data: hardcoded crypto keys.
Device spoofing
Every single Bluetooth device has a unique 6-byte device address (named BD_ADDR), which most of the time is presented as a 12-digit hexadecimal value. It's sort of like a hardware MAC address in the Ethernet world. By simply using some basic commands from the BlueZ stack package, it's possible to clone a device address, thereby effectively bypassing the basic trusted device test.
In a nutshell, fuzzing is a blackbox testing technique used to automatically generate and provide random data to affect implementation bugs. By sending malformed packets to the lock, some can be forced to enter in a fail-open state, which means it automatically opens when it encounters an error.
Rogue devices
An attacker can also conduct a man-in-the-middle attack by configuring a malicious device to act as a proxy between the lock and the application.
In case of SSL proxy, this attacks enables a criminal to decrypt and re-encrypt traffic while recording everything that passes through. Since rogue devices come with rogue certificates, one solution to counter this attack is to use certificate pinning.
In case of Bluetooth proxy, this attack method can embed various attacks, such as targeting weak usage of the Secure Simple Pairing (SSP) of Bluetooth version 2.1, or targeting a weak implementation of device pairing and link layer encryption of Bluetooth LE with the GATTack, which is an attack used to clone the Generic Attribute profile of the original device and broadcast it in much shorter intervals.
At its core, SmartLock technology is really just a variation on the ancient lock and key concept, but with a lot of software wrapped around it to make it more convenient, and in some cases, easier to monitor. But these new applications and services also add risk because they also provide a growing set of opportunities for criminals to circumvent those locks, and sometimes at a distance. At the moment, the caveat is that most attacks require close proximity to the key. But with the advent of smartphone-enabled applications, this may change.
In part two of this two-part series, we bring a number of SmartLock technologies into our lab for a deeper dive into how they work and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.
-= FortiGuard Lion Team =-
bluetooth, smart lock, defcon, zigbee, zwave, smart home, wireless, iot, connected home
Next Gen Lock: the Good, the Bad, and the Smart, Part II: Fortinet Analysis
IoT Security: Trickier Than You Think
BlueBorne: Technical Insight


the same season as Bill.
Fall 1947 remains the latest.
> ModernLib to make the end date for 48.2 1956.
> in the John Peterson Modern Library Collection.
> from 1947 to last until 1956.
>> taken over in 1956 by Huxley's Brave New World.
>> time after they were no longer the 'current' jacket).
>> type jacket) is appreciated.


Just what you need to introduce and show off your business with online video.
You shoot the video with your own digital camera — or an easy-to-use camera provided by Awesome Business Videos. We provide quick and clear instructions to help you make your video awesome. When you're done recording, you send the camera back to us in the prepaid shipping box we send you. Our expert editors create the finishing touches to make you look good.
It's that easy to create your Awesome Business Videos.
But why spend any time or money on video?
Video enables you to show potential customers how you can help them. Video enables you to show your products and demonstrate how they work. Video enables people looking for your services to see and hear from other satisfied customers about what a good job you did for them. Video is a terrific way for you to share how-to tips and information about your business or industry, including market trends, advice and insights so that you are seen as an expert source of consumer information.
Seeing and hearing you with video on your website or social media pages is the next best thing to being in the same room with your prospective customer. It's your opportunity to say hello and introduce your business — when the customers are looking for information and in the way they want to learn about you.
That last point is perhaps the most important. The average online user spends more than 7 hours a month watching videos shared just on YouTube. That's in addition to all other sources of online video and all of the other time they spend online. What else do your customers spend that much time doing?
What does that tell you about the value of showing off your business with online video?
Get Your Awesome Business Video Now!


text:
Comments on Canadian Accounting Standards Board Exposure Draft on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Private Enterprises
Accounting Horizons, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2010
University of Alberta School of Business Research Paper No. 2013-693
Johnson School Research Paper Series No. 38-09
14 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2009 Last revised: 11 Jun 2013
See all articles by Robert J. Bloomfield
Robert J. Bloomfield
Cornell University - Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Theodore E. Christensen
University of Georgia; University of Georgia - J.M. Tull School of Accounting
Robert H. Colson
Karim Jamal
University of Alberta - Department of Accounting, Operations & Information Systems
Stephen R. Moehrle
University of Missouri at Saint Louis - Accounting Area
James A. Ohlson
Hong Kong Polytechnic University - School of Accounting and Finance
Stephen H. Penman
Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Accounting, Business Law & Taxation
Gary Previts
Case Western Reserve University - Department of Accountancy
Thomas L. Stober
University of Notre Dame - Department of Accountancy
Shyam Sunder
Yale University - School of Management; Yale University - Cowles Foundation
Ross L. Watts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Date Written: July 1, 2009
The Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) issued an exposure draft on a proposal to adopt a separate 'Made in Canada' GAAP for private enterprises. This new GAAP is justified as being consistent with the current FASB/IASB conceptual framework, but as being responsive to the different cost/benefit considerations facing private entities vis-à-vis public entities. We viewed this proposal as being innovative and responsive to the differential financial reporting needs of private entities. We proposed that the AcSB should develop a separate conceptual framework to guide the future evolution of this new GAAP and not rely only on cost-benefit considerations. We sketched a preliminary conceptual framework that could be used to develop and justify the type of changes proposed in this exposure draft. We then responded to the specific questions asked in the exposure draft and were very supportive of the concepts proposed. First, we support the proposed GAAP which is based on historical cost with very minimal reliance on fair values. Second, we expressed agreement with the proposal to reduce the amount of required disclosures for private enterprises given their significant economic differences from public companies. Third, we agreed with the proposal to drop provision of significant guidance and especially (ex-post) emerging issues committee interpretations (EIC's). We are in favour of a principles based GAAP and the provision of detailed authoritative guidance is not conducive to professional judgment. We also suggested a series of transition issues that the AcSB should consider including the mechanism for financing the standard setting board, the need to ensure compatibility between accounting and auditing standards, and a process for adjusting the education system (both in Universities and professional exams) to support this new private enterprise GAAP. This comment was developed by the Financial Accounting Standards Committee of the American Accounting Association and does not represent an official position of the American Accounting Association.
Keywords: accounting standards, private GAAP
JEL Classification: M41, M44, M45, M47
Bloomfield, Robert J. and Christensen, Theodore E. and Christensen, Theodore E. and Colson, Robert H. and Jamal, Karim and Moehrle, Stephen R. and Ohlson, James A. and Penman, Stephen H. and Previts, Gary J. and Stober, Thomas L. and Sunder, Shyam and Watts, Ross L., Comments on Canadian Accounting Standards Board Exposure Draft on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Private Enterprises (July 1, 2009). Accounting Horizons, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2010, University of Alberta School of Business Research Paper No. 2013-693, Johnson School Research Paper Series No. 38-09, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1429526 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1429526
Cornell University - Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management ( email )
450 Sage Hall
University of Georgia ( email )
University of Georgia - J.M. Tull School of Accounting ( email )
Grant Thornton LLP ( email )
Karim Jamal (Contact Author)
University of Alberta - Department of Accounting, Operations & Information Systems ( email )
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6
University of Missouri at Saint Louis - Accounting Area ( email )
8001 Natural Bridge Road
Hong Kong Polytechnic University - School of Accounting and Finance ( email )
M715, Li Ka Shing Tower
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Accounting, Business Law & Taxation ( email )
Gary J. Previts
Case Western Reserve University - Department of Accountancy ( email )
University of Notre Dame - Department of Accountancy ( email )
Notre Dame, IN 46556-0399
Yale University - School of Management ( email )
165 Whitney Avenue
HOME PAGE: http://www.som.yale.edu/faculty/sunder/
Yale University - Cowles Foundation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )


Our cool soccer ball shaped ice pack fits well in a lunch box. And it will keep any lunch cold and fresh. This ice pack stays cold up to 6 hours and are designed to go in your lunch box. Soccer ball ice pack is FDA approved, reusable and washable.


For how advanced technology is getting, sometimes it feels like we add extra bells and whistles to the very things we mean to streamline. Here's an example: "wireless" earbuds. How many have you used that include extra fittings, secret wires, heavy buttons and who knows what else — when you don't really need them at all? Luckily, there are these Cresuer Touchwave True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds — they're a perfect example of minimalism that works, delivering powerful, clear audio without tacking on vestigial parts to the design.
These ergonomic earbuds feature Bluetooth 4.1 and CVC Noise Cancellation for non-skip, crisp sound. Plus, the design is totally streamlined for ease of use — meaning there's no confusing, complex buttons or extra weight. Instead, these earbuds just feature the latest in impressive sound technology in an uncluttered, lightweight design.
You can change songs or answer calls with just a simple tap — plus the earbuds stay firmly in place during hard workouts with three different-sized ear tips to customize your fit, and sweat resistance to ensure they stay fully functional. Listen to music for up to three hours off a single charge, or up to 12 hours when using the charging box — plus, you can charge the buds up to four full times on the go.
Usually, these Cresuer Touchwave True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds are $99.99, but you can get them here for $39.99.


Lodging: Lodging at Base Elizabeth City consists of 4 three-bedroom two-bath units, 2 two-bedroom two-bath units, 3 one-bedroom cabins, and 14 full RV hook-up sites, all near beach, boat ramp, gas, picnic area, playgrounds, fitness trail, and Coast Guard Exchange. Pets are allowed on-leash at RV sites but not allowed in rental cabins or mobile homes.
For offf base lodging options please see following list of area hotels.


A drying room or dry kiln installed within a building shall be constructed entirely of approved noncombustible materials or assemblies of such materials regulated by the approved rules or as required in the general and specific sections of this chapter for special occupancies and where applicable to the general requirements of the International Mechanical Code.
Overhead heating pipes shall have a clearance of not less than 2 inches (51 mm) from combustible contents in the dryer.
Where the operating temperature of the dryer is 175°F (79°C) or more, metal enclosures shall be insulated from adjacent combustible materials by not less than 12 inches (305 mm) of airspace, or the metal walls shall be lined with 1/4-inch (6.4 mm) insulating mill board or other approved equivalent insulation.
Drying rooms designed for highhazard materials and processes, including special occupancies as provided for in Chapter 4, shall be protected by an approved automatic fire-extinguishing system complying with the provisions of Chapter 9.


Recently, my team and I helped a client brainstorm a new banking application for teenagers. But when we tested it on our target group, we quickly realized that the concept had a fundamental flaw. It seems that some teenagers nowadays share access to their devices by registering their friends' fingerprints in their smartphone.
From an innovation perspective, these uses of technology are fascinating. They show that people have a strong desire to use technology to create human connections, often by using technology in ways that are novel and even unintended.
It's the highest compliment that users can pay you as an innovator: when people are looking for ways to use your technology to create stronger ties with their loved ones — to create meaning from your innovation — you must be doing something right. It's no wonder that companies are hunting for use cases that make their innovations resonate on an emotional level.
But they only work when they are real and authentic. And that makes it tricky to nail for even the biggest, most innovative companies, like Apple.
One of the earliest hyped aspects of the Apple Watch was its Digital Touch feature, which — among other things — took the pulse of users. They could then share their heartbeat with their contacts, who could make their own Apple Watch vibrate to the pace.
Although some users found creative ways to use the heartbeat feature as a romantic gesture, or a hipster way to flirt, the feature didn't exactly get people's pulse racing. Analysts complained that the feature wasn't based on practicality, but on a cheesy idea of how technology could or should connect users.
The problem is that Digital Touch didn't have real meaning. It had no underlying message except: "This is my current heartbeat." The feature didn't require a selfless show of friendship or romance, and it became a hollow gimmick. Sending the actual pulse of your loved felt more like a quick check to see if your partner was still alive. Not really the romantic gesture that engineers had in mind.
Snapchat is an example of a company that got it right. In early versions of Snapchat, the app ranked a user's 'best friends' in a list that was visible to other users. Obviously, teenagers wanted to be near the top of the list of their BFFs.
Building on that phenomenon, Snapchat introduced Snapstreaks in 2016, which proved a genius move. Snapstreaks added a new emoji next to a friend's name for every consecutive day that you sent them a snap. It quickly became the "best friends" list on steroids: longer Snapstreaks became the ultimate sign of friendship. Users began attempting to rack up hundreds of days in a row of snap communication — even asking friends to do it for them if they were unable to log in.
My team and I run a lot of ideation and brainstorm sessions for clients that are looking to innovate. Especially when developing consumer products, we always invite them to account for off-the-wall uses of the technology or innovations.
I say this because when technology is very new, it is usually difficult anticipate how people will actually (mis)use it. It can be wise to simply make a technology available to users and observe how they adopt it. Based on those observations, a strong human-centered design team could embed a feature in a way that creates these social bonds. An even better approach would be to involve your strongest engineers in your ethnographic research. You will be amazed by how smarter technology can emerge once you really grasp human behavior.
But don't do it by stuffing your app or product full of random bells and whistles. Rather, test your innovation with a wide range of people. Get up close and personal with your users and try to observe not just the value that they get from an innovation, but how they interact emotionally with your product. And when you feel the urge to tell them "don't do that!" — that's when you want to look even closer. You might have found your Snapstreak.


text:
Naf Naf Grill to open ten new location in Dallas-Fort Worth market
Checkers Drive-In Restaurants to launch new restaurant prototype
Dragontail Systems develops autonomous drones to assist food delivery
Twitter round-up: Michael Greger's tweet on the advantages of garlic most popular tweet in December 2020
FAT Brands to combine with controlling stockholder FCCG
US food delivery company DoorDash raises $3.4bn in IPO
HungerRush acquires text-to-order solution provider OrdrAI
Mastercharge
Tudor Tea and Coffee Ltd
Amici Partners Group buys US restaurant chain Friendly's Restaurants
Another Broken Egg Café expands Florida footprint with new location
Food delivery start-up Deliveroo raises $180m at $7bn valuation
Dining chain J Alexander to review more strategic alternatives
12th August 2019	(Last Updated August 12th, 2019 12:21)
The board of directors of casual dining restaurants operator J Alexander's Holdings have confirmed that the company will expand the review of its strategic alternatives, including a possible merger or sale option.
J. Alexander's currently operates 46 restaurants in 16 US states. Credit: Dwight Burdette.
Focussing on maximising shareholder value, the board will explore, review and evaluate a full range of options by consulting with its financial and legal advisers, as well as its executive management team.
Other options include a strategic large investment in the company accompanied by a significant share repurchase, or to increase the company's revenue base and operating leverage by acquiring complementary concepts.
The board has also retained Piper Jaffray & Co as financial adviser to assist in this process.
J Alexander's Holdings board executive chairman Lonnie J Stout II said: "Our board is fully committed to maximising shareholder value and believes that expanding our ongoing strategic review process is in the best interests of our shareholders.
"Recent transactions for companies in the upscale casual dining segment make this potential path more attractive now as we contemplate how to best position the company for the future.
"In addition to our board's strategic review process, we will continue to execute our strategic and operational plan to deliver significant value to our shareholders as well as to deliver exceptional food and professional service in a sophisticated and relaxed atmosphere to each of our guests."
Furthermore, the board has mentioned that a strategic review process will not affect its customers, suppliers or employees, nor on its operations. The operations will continue as usual.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, J Alexander's currently operates 46 restaurants in 16 US states.
Wireless Charging Technology for Restaurants, Cafés and Hotels
Alive and kicking: which health trends will continue post-pandemic?
Pivotal Growth Partners adds two new brands to food concepts portfolio
Delivery Hero to divest South Korean unit for $4bn Woowa acquisition


Aiming at protecting the traditional inheritance of the Tarot of Marseilles, this website presents exclusive facsimiles of the most beautiful historical Tarots of Marseilles, or said "of Marseilles", by respecting the size and the back of origin. Some of these Tarots were made in the city of Marseilles. Some others, which were not produced in this city, but which compete in graphic and symbolic quality with the Tarots from Marseilles, are also presented.


text:
April 17, 2012 by Ian Allen Leave a comment
►►British PM urged to intervene in Congo spy case. The mother of Joshua French, who has dual British and Norwegian nationality, and is facing execution in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to ask Congolese authorities to pardon him. French, and his Norwegian friend Tjostolv Moland, were sentenced to death for murder and spying in the vast central African country in 2009. A prison official claimed in August last year that the pair had tried to escape, but their lawyer denies this.
►►Computers of Syrian activists infected with Trojan. Since the beginning of the year, pro-Syrian-government hackers have steadily escalated the frequency and sophistication of their attacks on Syrian opposition activists. Many of these attacks are carried out through Trojans, which covertly install spying software onto infected computers, as well as phishing attacks which steal YouTube and Facebook login credentials. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the latest surveillance malware comes in the form of an extracting file which is made to look like a PDF if users have their file extensions turned off. The PDF purports to be a document concerning the formation of the leadership council of the Syrian revolution and is delivered via Skype message from a known friend.
►►Report claims Australian government spied on anti-coal activists. The leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown, says he is outraged at reports that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is spying on mining protesters, and says such action is a misuse of the spy agency's resources. The revelations were reported in Australian newspapers yesterday, and are based on a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism that was reportedly rejected because it involved "an intelligence agency document". The ASIO says it cannot confirm whether it has conducted surveillance of anti-coal protesters, but it says it does not target particular groups or individuals unless there is a security-related reason to do so.
Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with 0 British PM urged to intervene in Congo spy case, 0 Computers of Syrian activists infected with Trojan, 0 Report claims Australian government spied on anti-coal activists, 2011 Syrian uprising, Adobe, ASIO, Australia, Australian Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, Australian Greens, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Bob Brown, computer hacking, cyberespionage, Democratic Republic of the Congo, domestic intelligence, Electronic Frontier Foundation, environmental activism, espionage, Facebook, Joshua French, News, news you may have missed, Norway, Skype, surveillance, Syria, Tjostolv Moland, UK, YouTube


Germany Mining News - Germany Mining News. Service for global professionals. Constantly updated news and information about Germany.
German Mining Museum - The German Mining Museum, which was founded in 1930, gives visitors a rare insight into the underground world of tunnels and mine shafts.
Orica Mining Services - Orica Mining Services provides a wide range of products and blasting related services to the mining, quarrying and construction industries.
Komatsu Mining Germany - Komatsu Mining Germany is the Komatsu manufacturing facility for super large hydraulic mining shovels in Europe.
Becker Mining Systems - Becker Mining Systems provides complete mine wide solutions for underground mining in the fields of: Energy Distribution, Automation, Communication, as well as, Transportation and Roof Support.
BBM Group - BBM is one of the leading, top-performing service providers for specialised work in coal mining in Germany.
Germany mining directory, mining companies, mine exploration industry resources covering all aspects of the mining industry in Germany. Find a Mining Job provides Germany mining industry links and information for miners, suppliers, industry investors, mining companies, mining job seekers, employers and more.
Mining, geology and exploration jobs. Find A Mining Job has been launched as a service for the mining, geology and mineral processing industries to allow candidates to find the best jobs, and for job recruiters to find the perfect candidates for their positions. The site is free for job seekers. The FindaMiningJob.com job board promotes full time and part time mining jobs, contract mining positions and mining internships for the mineral exploration and mining industry in Germany. We advertise job vacancies for all major positions within the mineral exploration and mining industry.
Skilled workers are in demand in Germany! Find mining jobs including employment for Geologists, Mining Engineers, Accountants, Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanics, Electricians, Metallurgical Engineers, Millwrights, Maintenance Supervisors, Trades, Managers & Superintendents, Mechanical Engineers, Mining Supervisors, Surveyors, Technicans and more.


Fabulous Pictures Of Best Car Mount for Galaxy Note 8 – From the thousand Models on the web regarding best car mount for galaxy note 8, we all choices the best choices along with finest quality simply for our readers, and of course,this photographs ,in actual fact, believed as one of graphics selections within our ideal images gallery with regards to Fabulous Pictures Of Best Car Mount for Galaxy Note 8. I really hope you will think it's great.
written by means of David Schultz at 2019-01-24 15:43:18. To find out lots of models in Fabulous Pictures Of Best Car Mount for Galaxy Note 8 pictures gallery be sure to adhere to this website link.


text:
Bucks jury finds two men guilty in chaotic prom-night killings
by Vinny Vella, Updated: March 22, 2019
Joseph Williams (left) and Gary Goddard were convicted Friday of firing at a group of teenagers last May in Bristol Township. Williams was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and Goddard was found guilty of attempted murder.
Courtesy Bucks County District Attorney's office
It took a jury four hours to seal the fate of Joey Williams and Gary Goddard, the two Bristol Township men whose gunplay last spring killed two other men.
Williams, 19, was found guilty Friday of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Zyisean McDuffie and Tommy Ballard, both 19, as well as the attempted murder of a third teen, Jahmir Wilson. Williams fired at the teens with an illegal revolver on May 4 during a neighborhood dispute that rapidly escalated from insults to gunfire.
Goddard, 49, was found guilty of the attempted murder of McDuffie, whom he shot at point-blank range after the teen had been mortally wounded by Williams.
The two defendants were also convicted of related charges, including reckless endangerment and, for Williams, carrying a gun without a license. Both were taken into custody, and will await sentencing by Judge Alan M. Rubenstein.
The verdict sparked an animated reaction from the victims' families, who triumphantly exclaimed, "Justice served," and embraced Deputy District Attorney Antonetta Stancu outside the courtroom. All were overcome with emotion, including the veteran prosecutor.
"I think it's been so clear that young men in these neighborhoods are getting a message that is wrong, and a message that clearly is affecting so many lives," Stancu said, "the lives of men who are the victims of this senseless behavior, the lives of men who witness it, and the lives of those loved ones who lose on both sides.
"So I certainly hope the message is sent," she added. "I hope that this brings hope to those neighborhoods in knowing that the lives of their loved ones are valued and we'll continue to fight for justice."
Rubinstein, speaking after the verdict was read, offered a grim warning to the family members of the victims crowded into his courtroom in Doylestown. During his four-decade career in Bucks County, first as a prosecutor and then a judge, he's heard cases about escalating violence between warring factions in the two neighborhoods that factored into this trial.
"This has to stop. Two young men, 19 years old, are cut down in the prime of life for no reason. None," he said. "Unless someone, the community, steps up and takes this seriously, the streets of Bloomsdale and Winder Village, as they were before, will be littered with bodies and bullets."
Williams was part of one group of teens hanging out at the house of a friend in Winder Village, watching as the teen and his sister prepared to attend the sophomore-junior prom that night at Harry S. Truman High School. He, along with Goddard's son, were confronted by McDuffie, Ballard and Wilson, who were also friends with the teens heading to the dance.
Tensions between the group, rooted in disputes at the school and surrounding community, exploded. Witnesses saw Williams pull a revolver out of his waistband and fire wildly, the bullets narrowly missing Wilson and striking both McDuffie and Ballard.
McDuffie, while prone on the ground, was then confronted by the elder Goddard, who had heard the gunfire from his brother's house nearby. He ran up to the scene with his own gun — a .32-caliber revolver — and shot McDuffie in the skull. Goddard testified that he did so to protect his son, who had "a history" with the other teens.
Goddard's attorney, Blake Jackman, said his client was disappointed with the verdict, but respected the jury's decision. The sentiments were echoed by John Fioravanti and Daniel Schatz, the lawyers representing Williams. Fioravanti alluded to "issues" that he would likely appeal in the coming months.
Vinny Vella | @Vellastrations | vvella@inquirer.com
Newsletters: Inquirer Morning Headlines
Inquirer Morning Headlines
Peco customers lose power during peak afternoon heat
Robert Moran
Former South Jersey teacher admits recording boys in camp bathroom
House condemns 'racist' Trump tweets on four freshman members
Jarrell Dillard, Bloomberg


text:
Home > World > Nationwide opposition strike continues in B'desh
Nationwide opposition strike continues in B'desh
Agencies21 Jan 2015 12:53 AM GMT
A nationwide opposition strike in Bangladesh continued on Tuesday for the 16th consecutive day despite the end of the house arrest of BNP chief Khaleda Zia, as violence claimed one more life in the national capital.
A 30-year-old alleged arsonist was killed in a pre-dawn shootout in the capital's Khilgaon when police raided the area on a tip-off to track down suspects who had attacked a truck with petrol bombs two days ago injuring six policemen.
This was the third such incident within a week when an alleged arsonist was killed in a shootout with police.
"The suspected criminal was wounded during the gunfight and he succumbed to his injuries as he
was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital," a police officer said. The casualty was reported a day after Zia said the blockade would continue for indefinite period despite the end of her confinement at BNP's upmarket Gulshan office where she preferred to stay back, saying "I have works to do there".
Zia, a former two-time premier, was "confined" to her office since January 3, ahead of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led 20-party alliance's rally to mark the first anniversary of the disputed January 5 elections won by her arch-rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "It is my office. I have many works to be completed. So I can stay here as long as it necessary...I can stay here as long as I wish," Zia told reporters last night at her office.
Zia said that despite the government's oppression, her party has repeatedly urged it to sit for talks.
"But they (government) rejected our proposal...We had no alternative but to enforce a countrywide peaceful blockade.