Avicenna J Phytomed. 2017 Nov-Dec;7(6):554-564.
Effect of Apium graveolens and Trachyspermum copticom on clinical symptoms of patients with functional dyspepsia.
Azimi M1,2, Zahedi MJ3, Mehrabani M2, Tajadini H1,4, Zolala F5, Baneshi MR5, Choopani R6, Sharififar F2, Asadipour A7, Hayatbakhsh MM3, Ahmadi B3.
Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Herbal and Traditional Medicines Center, Kerman University of Medical Science, Kerman, Iran.
Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of MedicalScience, Kerman, Iran.
Biostatistics and Epidemiology Department, Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
Pharmaceutical Research Center & Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
This study aimed at investigating the effect of Iranian traditional remedy prepared from Apium graveolens and Trachyspermum copticom (AT) on the severity and frequency of symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).
In total, 150 FD patients were included in this randomized double-blind trial, based on the ROME III diagnostic criteria, and they were divided into three intervention groups namely, AT, Placebo and omeprazole. Then, severity and frequency of symptoms during this eight-week trial were measured. Obtained information was analyzed using Chi-square test and repeated measures test.
In general, the severity and frequency of symptoms after the 4th week significantly decreased in the AT group as compared to the omeprazole and placebo groups, and continued to reduce by the end of the eighth week. General reduction of symptom severity and frequency in the omeprazole group was significantly different from the placebo group by the end of the 4th and 8th weeks. With respect to each individual symptom, AT markedly improved symptoms, such as burning, pain, early satiation, fullness, bloating, belching and nausea, as compared to placebo-treated group. Moreover, AT significantly improved symptoms, like vomiting, and nausea, except for pain, as compared to omeprazole-treated subjects.
According to the results, AT, as Iranian traditional remedy, was more effective than omeprazole and placebo in reducing the symptoms in FD patients.


text:
Chapter 8 – The Longest Year
Chapter 8 – The Longest…
Barrionuevo, Alexi. "Enron Chiefs Guilty of Fraud and Conspiracy." New York Times, May 25, 2006.
Barrionuevo, Alexi, and Simon Romero. "US Levels a Final Blast at Enron Chiefs." New York Times, May 16, 2006.
Department of Justice. Enron Trial Exhibits and Press Releases. Last accessed December 31, 2013. http://www.justice.gov.
——. Press Release. July 18, 2005. Last accessed December 31, 2013. http://www.justice.gov.
——. Press Release. "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Honors Employees and Others at the Department of Justice's Annual Awards Ceremony." September 12, 2006. Last accessed December 20, 2013. http://www.justice.gov.
Emshwiller, John. "'Benron' behind Bars." Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2007.
Flood, Mary. "Enron Prosecutors Showed Jurors Wrong Tape." Houston Chronicle, May 2, 2005.
——. "Enron Task Force Receives Top Award." Houston Chronicle, September 17, 2006.
——. "Task Force Gets New Chief." Houston Chronicle, July 19, 2005.
——. "Witness Takes Stand Despite Being Target." Houston Chronicle, June 9, 2005.
Hays, Kristen. "Task Force Prosecutors Prosper after Enron Case." Houston Chronicle, November 2, 2006.
Johnson, Carrie. "Enron Trial Prosecutor Joins Latham." Washington Post, February 5, 2007.
——. "Enron's Lay Dies of Heart Attack." Washington Post, July 6, 2006.
——. "US Ends Prosecution of Arthur Andersen." Washington Post, November 23, 2005.
Kirkendall, Tom. "A Crushing Defeat for the Enron Task Force." Houston's Clear Thinkers, July 21, 2005.
——. "The Enron Broadband Trial." Houston's Clear Thinkers, April 16, 2005.
——. "The Fifth Circuit Rules in the Skilling Appeal." Houston's Clear Thinkers, January 7, 2009.
——. "Finessing Witness Intimidation." Houston's Clear Thinkers, October 17, 2005.
——. "More Misconduct by the Enron Task Force?" Houston's Clear Thinkers, July 9, 2005.
——. "More on the Enron Broadband Trial Closing Arguments." Houston's Clear Thinkers, July 15, 2005.
——. "The Stench of Prosecutorial Abuse." Houston's Clear Thinkers, March 14, 2008.
Lattman, Peter. "Enron: Ruemmler's Ramble and Petrocelli's Passion." Wall Street Journal (blog), May 16, 2006. Last accessed January 8, 2014. http://blogs.wsj.com.
Pincus, Walter. "Silence Angers Judiciary Panel." Washington Post, June 7, 2006. Last accessed December 20, 2013. http://www. washingtonpost.com.
United States v. Jeffrey K. Skilling, Dockets [including all publicly available filings, transcripts, orders, opinions, etc.] in S.D. Tex., Fifth Circuit, and Supreme Court.
Wall Street Journal. "Status of Enron Cases," January 28, 2006. Last accessed January 9, 2014. http://online.wsj.com.
Weissmann, Andrew. "Heading to Jenner, Not Looking Back at Enron." 20 Corporate Crime Reporter 9, no. 10 (2006). Last accessed December 20, 2013. http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com.
www_fbi_gov_news_pressrel_press_releases_former_enron_chairm[2]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Although the ideas concerning neonatal and infantile jaundice have changed considerably in the past two decades, there still remain several serious voids in the understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease group and in the ability to make a reasonably accurate premortem diagnosis.
Diagnostic inadequacy is most evident in differentiating between (1) those diseases resulting in complete and relatively permanent biliary obstruction and (2) those diseases resulting in various degrees of biliary obstruction but with a reasonable probability that, at some phase of the disease, the biliary tree will be patent and functioning.
The disease groups to be differentiated would include intra- and extrahepatic biliary atresia; bile duct stenosis, lithiasis, tumor, cyst; annular pancreas, etc., versus the various forms of hepatitis, inspissated bile syndrome, and possibly some diseases or pathological states as yet unidentified; plus some instances or phases of bile duct stenosis, lithiasis, tumor, and cyst.


text:
R&B > Retro-Soul
Coming Home [LP]
Coming Home [LP] (2015)
by Leon Bridges
It's difficult to imagine a 1963 Columbia release from an artist whose look and sound echo 1911. In 2015, however, the thought of a young artist seemingly transported from a bygone era -- 52 years prior, to be exact -- requires no imagination whatsoever. Here's Leon Bridges. He was born in 1989. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist takes it back to the early '60s, slightly earlier than the majority of soul-rooted artists, including labelmates Raphael Saadiq, who have favored a vintage approach over a contemporary one. For those who hold younger artists to an impossible standard of authenticity, Bridges is unlikely to receive a passing grade. As a youngster, he was naturally drawn to libidinous, then-current pop-R&B acts like Usher and Ginuwine, and he didn't even have to get his hands dirty to absorb later inspiration from the likes of Sam Cooke and pre-"Grapevine" Marvin Gaye, not when all he needed was an Internet connection. Helped by White Denim's Josh Block and Austin Jenkins, Bridges touches all the retro-soul bases. Each element of his ten-song, half-hour debut evokes early- to mid-'60s R&B: the song structures, the application of reverb, the dust-coated church organ, the doo wop background vocals, the horn charts that accent rather than dominate. Bridges sings of seeking salvation and taking trains, and he offers proposals as modest as "I won't weigh you down." If he were a shouter, Bridges would likely come across as a caricature, but he works the deeply heartfelt but understated angle -- most of the songs are ballads, and only a couple work up a sweat -- without any sense of affectation. While each line is believable, "Lisa Sawyer" is all the way real, a sweet and languid biographical sketch of Bridges' mother. It's all a pleasing time warp without turbulence, one with songs built more to evoke the past than to last in one's memory. [Coming Home was also released on LP.] ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi Read Less
It's difficult to imagine a 1963 Columbia release from an artist whose look and sound echo 1911. In 2015, however, the thought of a young artist seemingly transported from a bygone era -- 52 years prior, to be exact -- requires no imagination whatsoever. Here's Leon Bridges. He was born in 1989. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist takes it back to the early '60s, slightly earlier than the majority of soul-rooted artists, including labelmates Raphael Saadiq, who have favored a vintage approach over a contemporary one. For ... Read More
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Soul > Retro-Soul
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text:
module BioInterchange::Exceptions

# Top level Error class for all framework errors.
class BioInterchangeError < StandardError
end

# Error class for issues regarding input file formats.
# This error class is caught at the hightest level and
# only the error message is returned to the end user
# (not the backtrace). This helps keep the framework
# more user friendly. Note that this means meaningful
# error messages are strongly encourged.
class InputFormatError < BioInterchangeError
end

# Top class error for errors raised only during
# framework implementation and extension. Once
# such an implementation/extension is completed,
# these errors should no longer be possible.
# Examples include a method reciving something it
# can't handle. The framework does not resuce these
# errors leaving the backtraces for help in debug.
class ImplementationError < BioInterchangeError
end

# Implementation errors originating from readers.
class ImplementationReaderError < ImplementationError
end

# Implementation errors originating from models.
class ImplementationModelError < ImplementationError
end

# Implementation errors originating from writers.
class ImplementationWriterError < ImplementationError
end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
SPSS Friedman Test Tutorial
By Ruben Geert van den Berg under Nonparametric Tests
For testing if 3 or more variables have identical population means, our first option is a repeated measures ANOVA. This requires our data to meet some assumptions -like normally distributed variables. If such assumptions aren't met, then our second option is the Friedman test: a nonparametric alternative for a repeated-measures ANOVA.
Strictly, the Friedman test can be used on metric or ordinal variables but ties may be an issue in the latter case.
The Friedman Test - How Does it Work?
The original variables are ranked within cases.
The mean ranks over cases are computed. If the original variables have similar distributions, then the mean ranks should be roughly equal.
The test-statistic, Chi-Square is like a variance over the mean ranks: it's 0 when the mean ranks are exactly equal and becomes larger as they lie further apart.In ANOVA we find a similar concept: the "mean square between" is basically the variance between sample means. This is explained in ANOVA - What Is It?.
Asymp. Sig. is our p-value. It's the probability of finding our sample differences if the population distributions are equal. The differences in our sample have a large (0.55 or 55%) chance of occurring. They don't contradict our hypothesis of equal population distributions.
The Friedman Test in SPSS
Let's first take a look at our data in adratings.sav, part of which are shown below. The data contain 18 respondents who rated 3 commercials for cars on a percent (0% through 100% attractive) scale.
We'd like to know which commercial performs best in the population. So we'll first see if the mean ratings in our sample are different. If so, the next question is if they're different enough to conclude that the same holds for our population at large. That is, our null hypothesis is that the population distributions of our 3 rating variables are identical.
Quick Data Check
Inspecting the histograms of our rating variables will give us a lot of insight into our data with minimal effort. We'll create them by running the syntax below.
*Inspect histograms with normal distributions superimposed.
frequencies ad1 to ad3
/format notable
/histogram normal.
Most importantly, our data look plausible: we don't see any outrageous values or patterns. Note that the mean ratings are pretty different: 83, 55 and 66. Every histogram is based on all 18 cases so there's no missing values to worry about.
Now, by superimposing normal curves over our histograms, we do see that our variables are not quite normally distributed as required for repeated measures ANOVA. This isn't a serious problem for larger sample sizes (say, n > 25 or so) but we've only 18 cases now. We'll therefore play it safe and use a Friedman test instead.
Running a Friedman Test in SPSS
K Related Samples means that we'll compare 3 or more variables measured on the same respondents. This is similar to "within-subjects effect" we find in repeated measures ANOVA.
Depending on your SPSS license, you may or may not have the Exact button. If you do, fill it out as below and otherwise just skip it.
SPSS Friedman Test - Syntax
Following these steps results in the syntax below (you'll have 1 extra line if you selected the exact statistics). Let's run it.
*SPSS Friedman test syntax.
NPAR TESTS
/FRIEDMAN=ad1 ad2 ad3
/MISSING LISTWISE.
SPSS Friedman Test - Output
First note that the mean ranks differ quite a lot in favor of the first ("Family Car") commercial. Unsurprisingly, the mean ranks have the same order as the means we saw in our histogram.
Chi-Square (more correctly referred to as Friedman's Q) is our test statistic. It basically summarizes how differently our commercials were rated in a single number.
df are the degrees of freedom associated with our test statistic. It's equal to the number of variables we compare - 1. In our example, 3 variables - 1 = 2 degrees of freedom.
Asymp. Sig. is an approximate p-value. Since p < 0.05, we refute the null hypothesis of equal population distributions."Asymp" is short for "asymptotic": the more our sample size increases towards infinity, the more the sampling distribution of Friedman's Q becomes similar to a χ2 distribution. Reversely, this χ2 approximation is less precise for smaller samples.
Exact Sig. is the exact p-value. If available, we prefer it over the asymptotic p-value, especially for smaller sample sizes.If there's an exact p-value, then why would anybody ever use an approximate p-value? The basic reason is that the exact p-value requires very heavy computations, especially for larger sample sizes. Modern computers deal with this pretty well but this hasn't always been the case.
Friedman Test - Reporting
As indicated previously, we'll include the entire table of mean ranks in our report. This tells you wich commercial was rated best versus worst. Furthermore, we could write something like "a Friedman test indicated that our commercials were rated differently, χ2(2) = 8.65, p = 0.013." We personally disagree with this reporting guideline. We feel Friedman's Q should be called "Friedman's Q" instead of "χ2". The latter is merely an approximation that may or may not be involved when calculating the p-value. Furthermore, this approximation becomes less accurate as the sample size decreases. Friedman's Q is by no means the same thing as χ2 so we feel they should not be used interchangeably.
So much for the Friedman test in SPSS. I hope you found this tutorial useful. Thanks for reading.
THIS TUTORIAL HAS 12 COMMENTS:
By tilahun Mesele on March 8th, 2020
am very delighted about this ideas thanks
am very eager to be a researcher then this concept is crucial for me please attach others in my mail adress
By Ruben Geert van den Berg on March 8th, 2020
Hi Tilahun!
Happy to hear you found it helpful, even though this is a very old tutorial that could use some improvements.
All of our tutorials are on this website. For our latest articles, be sure to keep an eye on our facebook page.


We believe that in order to provide puppies to new families with the best possible dog that puppies should be handled tons and cuddled with from a very young age.
To help with the pupppies' development into a strong and confident puppy, we believe puppies should be raised in the home and not an outbuilding where they can be exposed to the noises and goings of of daily family life. They should interact daily with children (if possible) and family pets. When the puppies are awake they should bebeing played with, or cuddling in someone's arms or on someone's lap.
To help with the transition from the breeder's home to yours, the breeder should ask the puppies new families to try to think of a name for their puppy once you have chosen your new baby. This way the breeder's are able to start calling the puppy by the name you have chosen to teach the puppy its name before leaving their home. As you can see from the above photo they are right at home sleeping while being held in a lap.
This photo showa Tanner ( a puppy that now lives in Hamilton) fast asleep on his back.


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How to share photos and videos with iPhone and iPad users via a shared screen on iPhone and Android smartphones
Share Share iphonix, the makers of a powerful iOS device for people who want to share their photos and video files with others, is testing a feature that will let you share photos from your phone to your tablet using the same screen.
The feature, called "Screen Sharing," is coming in iOS 10.3, the latest update to Apple's operating system, and will let people share photos, videos and music with others on your phone or tablet.
The company says it is not a replacement for apps like Flickr, iPhoto, iMovie, QuickTime or the popular Share sheet app that allows you to share images and video to other iOS devices, but it will allow users to share directly from their phones to other devices like tablets, smartphones and PCs.
This is a very important development, says John Lutz, senior vice president of marketing for Phonix.
"With the new iOS 10 and iOS 11 devices, we will be able to bring a lot more value to the people who have the most of their data," Lutz says.
The new feature will also allow users with multiple iPhones to share one photo on each device, or more than one.
The idea is that people with multiple phones can be able take one photo, then share the other photos from the shared photo to their devices, for example.
For now, Phonaxi is only testing the feature on iPhones, but Lutz hopes that it will soon be available on other iOS platforms.
"The goal is to bring it to all of the devices, whether it's a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet, a PC, or any of the other platforms," he says.
For users with iOS 10, Phatixi is also making an update that adds a new photo and video sharing feature that allows people to easily share videos to their phones from the same photo or video.
Lutz says that the company is also working on a new app that will allow you to send and receive video and audio messages directly from your iPhone, tablet, smartphone or PC.
This feature is one of the first times that the feature has been rolled out to other platforms.
And in the future, it is expected that this feature will be expanded to other mobile platforms as well.
For more tech news from Recode, visit the Recode homepage.
infosys share priceplaystation share playshare bearshare location iphone
Which of these companies are Irish to be proud of?
What is the share price of Microsoft?


Founder Alban Colon de Franciosi first fell in love with Tazghlilte in the Anti-Atlas mountains ten years ago. He was visiting a friend in the region of Taroudant when he noticed the abundance of argan trees—and the opportunity to stimulate the local economy by creating fair and sustainable employment for local women. He relocated and set up an argan oil processing facility. The first in Morocco to be certified organic and Fair Trade, they now export their oil all over the world.
Argane Aouzac works with over 450 women in five villages to collect the fallen fruits, remove the flesh and hand-crack them to extract the kernel. They're paid Fair Trade prices for their work, and their wages are handed directly to each woman – not their husband. Men in the region commonly leave to work in Casablanca shortly after getting married, only returning one or two months out of the year. As a result, women and children make up over 80% of the population – and the responsibility of caring for their families and the village has fallen on their shoulders.
Argane aouzac has set up its factory in the anti-atlas mountain, heart of our harvest and crushing area which allows us to follow the traceability of the argan fruit and to control the quality from the harvest to the final product. Our factory is fully-equipped for grinding the seeds to extract the oil using the cold-press process.
Argane Aouzac can produce fifty tons of argan oil per year, and is the leading producer of high quality and competitively priced argan oil in Morcco, meeting the needs of the rapidly growing overseas market whilst supporting the local Berber population and maintain the preservation of the forest of Argan trees.
Quality on delivery of the extracted seeds to Argane Aouzac, a detailed quality control analysis is undertaken in its laboratory. Following the analysis, the seeds are ground and then cold-pressed to extract their oil. The oil is then passed though a filtration process and is subjected to a further quality control test before being packed and shipped all over the world.
Argane Aouzac is organic certified by Ecocert and offers organic argan oil according to NOP standards and regulation CE 889/2008. To meet your application requirements, we propose a wide choice of argane oils: virgin, roasted, organic certified by Ecocert.
Argane Aouzac is involved in local development and protection of the argan tree. We try to have an impact on all our harvest and crushing area but mainly in our village : Tazghilite. Actions like access to clean drinking water, power lines and a garbage collection have been installed, each family owns livestock, and thousands of olive trees have been planted in the region by Argane Aouzac in honor of Earth Day.
Argane Aouzac works in partnership with Association Tazghlilite for the development : this association understand the women and helps us find out what their needs are.
In its fair trade approach, Argane Aouzac offers to women crushers fruit pulp for them to feed the animals. Argane Aouzac also offers women the shells of nuts that allows them to heat their homes : they do not need to cut wood from the argan tree anymore. Argan Aouzac is really invested in protecting the argan forest.
You can discover our many actions in the Fair trade section.


text:
Darius Adamczyk
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Darius Adamczyk is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell, a leading software-industrial company that helps connect everything from aircraft, cars, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable.
He was elected as Honeywell Chairman in April 2018. Before then, he was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2017 after serving for a year as President and Chief Operating Officer. Darius' focus in these roles has been on accelerating Honeywell's organic growth, expanding margins, transforming the Company into a premier software-industrial, deploying capital effectively, and building a high-performance culture.
Darius joined the Company in 2008 when Metrologic, where he was serving as Chief Executive Officer, was acquired by Honeywell. He served as President of Honeywell Scanning and Mobility for four years, doubling the size of the business, before leading a turnaround over two years as President of Honeywell Process Solutions. In 2014, Darius was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies.
Before joining Honeywell, Darius held several leadership positions with Ingersoll Rand and Booz Allen Hamilton. He began his career as an electrical engineer at General Electric in 1988. Born in Poland on February 8, 1966, Darius emigrated to the United States at age 11. He earned his MBA from Harvard University, a master's degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University, and a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Michigan State University. Darius also completed the GE Edison Engineering Program, as well as numerous executive development courses at Wharton and Duke, among other institutions. He has received the Legend in Leadership Award from Yale School of Management and the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Foreign Policy Association as well as the John D. Ryder Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Award from Michigan State University. He was also named a "Best CEO" by Institutional Investor in its 2019 All-America Executive Team rankings, and as a "Most Admired CEO" by Charlotte Business Journal in 2020.
Darius was elected to the Board of Directors for Johnson & Johnson in 2022. He is Vice Chair of the U.S.-China Business Council, a member of the Business Roundtable Board of Directors, and a member of the Business Council and Aspen Economic Strategy Group.


text:
Cryptoscatology
CRYPTOSCATOLOGY HALLOWEEN HORRORTHON!
As part of my continuing investigation into the curious astral realm known as "cinema," the official 2015 CRYPTOSCATOLOGY HALLOWEEN HORRORTHON kicked off on October 1st with my viewing of the recent Blu-ray release of Arnold Laven's The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), and culminated in Guillermo del Toro's latest film, Crimson Peak (2015). In between these two grotesque and arabesque bookends, you will find directly below an eclectic, semi-random assortment of psychopaths, aliens, ghouls, and revenants of unforeseen shapes, forms and temperaments. If you would like to retrace my steps through this peculiar Grand Guignol, feel free to watch the following twenty-two flicks in the precise order delineated below….
1. The Monster That Challenged the World (1957). This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best "giant monster" movies ever made—definitely up there with Them! and the original Godzilla.
2. Son of Frankenstein (1939). According to Osbie Feel, a character in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, this is one of the five best films ever made. Who am I to disagree with a character in a Thomas Pynchon novel?
3. The Mad Magician (1954). This bloodstained thriller stars Vincent Price as a vengeful illusionist with a penchant for applying a buzzsaw to his many enemies and benefits from the deft direction of John Brahm, who also directed the brilliant 1940s horror flicks, The Lodger and Hangover Square.
4. Tales of Terror (1962). This Edgar Allan Poe adaptation stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone, features a script by Richard Matheson, and is directed by Roger Corman. Conspiratologists, take note: This was one of many films for which Hollywood hypnotist Dr. William Jennings Bryan III served as a technical consultant; the Good Doctor is even given prominent screen credit at the end of the film. According to Jonn Christian and William Turner's well-researched book The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, only a few years later Dr. Bryan would hypnotize Sirhan Sirhan into assassinating Robert Kennedy.
5. 12 to the Moon (1960). This one was written by DeWitt Bodeen, who also scripted such classic Val Lewton films as Cat People, Curse of the Cat People, and The Seventh Victim. Though not the most enervating flick ever made, this definitely qualifies as a "UFO Disclosure Film"—i.e., a movie that subtly unveils the ostensible truth about the alien presence on Earth via fiction. This flick is filled with alien hieroglyphics, human and animal abductions, underground lunar cities, alien telepathy, an Israeli astronaut who's convinced that reports of extraterrestrials are being manufactured by foreign powers for psychological warfare purposes, global cooling created by alien technology, a strange artifact called "The Medea Stone," and the spectacle of Tom Conway--the most British actor who ever lived--playing a Russian astronaut... sadly, it all sounds more fascinating than it really is, but nonetheless this film is not without points of interest for the cryptoscatology enthusiast.
6. Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968). This is the weirdest, most psychedelic Japanese horror film to which I've ever been subjected... imagine all the Airport movies you've ever seen, but add in George Adamski UFOs, airline terrorists, hypnotism, sentient protoplasm, and a face-vagina that oozes the Apocalypse... excellent, excellent, excellent... and, Jesus, what a title!... oh, and needless to say, it's definitely a UFO Disclosure Film... Big Time UFO Disclosure Film....
7. Hold That Ghost (1941). "Oh... a snooty sort of a fellow!"
8. Invisible Agent (1942). At the behest of an O.S.S.-like intelligence agency, post-Pearl Harbor, a patriotic American agrees to use his experimental invisibility technology to infiltrate the Nazis during World War II. For obvious reasons, this film should be of interest to fans of Chameleo.
9. Behind the Mask (1932). Though technically not a horror film, nonetheless this was Boris Karloff's first post-Frankenstein role, his co-star is Edward Van Sloan (Dr. Waldman in Frankenstein) who's playing the role of a murderous, drug-dealing surgeon, and a key scene in the film involves a surreptitious dope drop-off that occurs at none other than Montauk Point in Long Island! (Fans of Preston Nichols and Peter Moon's Montauk books, please take note.)
10. The Guilty Generation (1931). Again, technically this is not a horror film, though it does play an important role in cinematic horror history. Reportedly, this is the movie Karloff was working on when director James Whale spotted him in the Universal commissary and decided he would make the perfect Monster in Frankenstein... consequently edging Bela Lugosi out of the production entirely.
11. The Terror of the Tongs (1961). A powerful secret society known as The Red Dragon—led by a Chinese Christopher Lee—incites bloody chaos in 1910 Hong Kong, and now it's up to a lone, intrepid White Man to clean the clocks of these inscrutable, flinty-eyed rapscallions... great fun!
12. The Devil Bat (1940). "Imbecile! Bombastic ignoramous!" Just one of many wonderful lines uttered by Bela Lugosi in this Poverty Row horror classic filmed just after Lugosi's Big Comeback in Universal's Son of Frankenstein. Who on Earth wouldn't like this? By the way, this film was one of the main inspirations for my novella, "The Fallen Nun," which can be found in my 2014 collection, Spies and Saucers.
13. Scream of Fear (1961). A Hammer horror film featuring Christopher Lee, a superior entry in what I call the Diabolique sub-genre... one of the many, many psychological suspense films clearly inspired by the overwhelming success of Clouzot's 1955 film Diabolique (the first film to have a "twist" ending, as we think of it today), and that would include Hitchcock's Vertigo... in fact, the multi-layered, nesting-Russian-doll twists at the end of Scream of Fear might be a tad more plausible that the ones in Vertigo....
14. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964). Another Hammer horror film... the Mummy kicks ass again in turn-of-the-century London!
15. The Living Skeleton (1968). Val Lewton horror... Japanese-style! The most atmospheric use of rubber bats and rubber skeletons you're ever likely to see. A spooky lighthouse, a phantom ship, a mad doctor, bottles of experimental acid, murderous pirates, and ghost twins. What more could you want? Yes, this is the real deal all right. How come the best films on this particular list... so far... have been Japanese?
16. Genocide (1968). Merely saying that this is a film in which "insects attack the Earth" would not accurately describe the Ultra High Strangeness of this Japanese horror epic combining strains of international espionage, nightmarish psychedelia, psycho-sexual subplots, rampant paranoia, misplaced H-bombs, and mass murdering mutant insects. Yes, indeed, another winner from our inscrutable friends in the East. This fever dream was directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu, who also directed The X from Outer Space the year before (though The X from Outer Space pales in comparison to the slipstream-apocalypse on display here). Genocide might very well rival Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell in terms of pure unpredictable weirdness.
17. Valley of the Dragons (1961). In 1881 Algeria, two gentlemen about to fight a duel with pistols are abruptly swept up in the tail of a passing comet and deposited in a prehistoric land filled with dinosaurs and neanderthals. WTF?!?
18. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). An atmospheric, cinematic tone poem about a vampire stalking the streets of Bad City, a mythical town in the Middle East. This film benefits from a meditative, stately pace and noirish black and white cinematography (two qualities ostensibly verboten in mainstream Hollywood). Think Carl Dreyer's hallucinatory Vampyr of the 1930s rather than the 21st century tepid vampires of the box-office-busting Twilight series.
19. The Innocents (1961). Martin Scorsese considers this to be one of the top ten scariest films of all time, and it's not difficult to understand why. One particular scene caused all the hairs on the back of my arms to stand straight up. Adapted from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, the film was directed by Jack Clayton and written by Truman Capote. The beautifully sinister cinematography was provided by future Hammer horror director Freddie Francis (he of The Evil of Frankenstein and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave fame--or infamy, depending on your point of view).
20. The Tenth Victim (1965). "Live dangerously, but within the law." In 1953 the science fiction writer Robert Sheckley published a groundbreaking short story entitled "The Seventh Victim" in the pages of Galaxy Magazine. "The Seventh Victim" is a satirical tale about a near-future society in which contestants volunteer to stalk each other to the death on television for monetary prizes, fame, and the simple thrill of the hunt. Needless to say, Sheckley's story predates the advent of "reality television" by about four decades. In 1958 Sheckley published a similar story entitled "The Prize of Peril" in the pages of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Both stories are prescient to an extreme degree.
In the early 1960s, actor Marcello Mastroianni read "The Seventh Victim" and suggested to producer Carlo Ponti that it be adapted into a feature-length film. Thus was born two separate expansions of the original story: the 1965 Italian film The Tenth Victim directed by Elio Petri, and Sheckley's novel-length version published by Ballantine Books the following year. Two decades later Sheckley wrote a pair of sequels, Victim Prime (1987) and Hunter/Victim (1988), both of which are well worth reading. If you'd like to experience the source material that inspired a whole slew of popular "hunter/victim" games like Steve Jackon's Killer, bestselling books such as Stephen King's The Running Man (1982), Paul Michael Glaser's 1987 film adaptation of King's novel, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy and the blockbuster cinematic adaptations of same, then I urge you to read Sheckley's original tales. Afterwards, you should go out of your way to see Petri's visually impressive, Pop-Art-adaptation of Sheckley's prophetic vision of the 21st century.
It occurred to me while watching this film that Sheckley's "Hunter/Victim" game eerily resembles the real life, post-9/11 phenomenon of gang stalking—as described in my book, Chameleo—except that in the real world the victim is never informed that he or she is playing a role in a televised game for the amusement of others. Leaving aside this single discrepancy, all details of Sheckley's darkly absurd scenario plays out almost precisely like the Global Surveillance Theater in which you're all starring at this very moment. Sadly, The Tenth Victim might very well be a more accurate prediction of the future (i.e., our present) than George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 combined.
21. Burn Witch Burn (1962). Beginning with a magickal invocation by Paul Frees (doing a spot-on Orson Welles impersonation), Sidney Hayers' adaptation of Fritz Leiber's first novel, Conjure Wife, immediately plunges the viewer into a confounding nether-realm that lies somewhere between rationality and superstition. The protagonist, Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde, who portrayed one of the spirits in The Innocents), is a sociology professor with little patience for religion or superstitious beliefs of any kind… until he discovers his wife is an accomplished witch whose protective spells have been the Taylors' only defense against a vengeful sorceress, a fellow tenured professor at the small British university where Norman teaches. Oh, yes, at this particular university the concept of "academic freedom" is taken to devilish extremes.
Having taught at more than one university during the past fourteen or so years, I can assure you that Leiber's vision of a campus crawling with passive-aggressive profs casting spells and counter-spells on each other to attain a higher position of (relative) power is the most accurate depiction of university life ever committed to the printed page. No metaphors here. Leiber's "horror" novel might as well be labeled nonfiction.
Burn Witch Burn is only one of three films that attempted to translate Leiber's classic novel to the silver screen (all of which unwisely abandoned Leiber's elegant title), but this is by far the best of them. The success of the film can be attributed to the faithful screenplay by Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Clearly, both writers were fans of Leiber's novel and went out of their way to keep its central theme intact. For the uninitiated, it's worth noting that Leiber's Conjure Wife (1943) and Our Lady of Darkness (1977) are two of the most accomplished supernatural novels of the twentieth century. I've always felt that Our Lady of Darkness would make a tremendous film if handled properly. In fact, it's long past time for Leiber to be acknowledged outside the narrow confines of the fantasy/science fiction field.
Perhaps Penguin Classics is up to the task. This very month Penguin released new editions of Charles Beaumont's Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories and Thomas Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamers and Grimscribe. Penguin is to be commended for this, as the work of Beaumont and Ligotti are well worth reading; however, I do hope they don't stop there. A collection of Leiber's finest tales is long overdue. Any tome that collected such dark jewels as "Smoke Ghost," "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes," "Four Ghosts in Hamlet," "The Man Who Never Grew Young," "Coming Attraction," "Belsen Express," "The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity," "Richmond, Late September, 1849," "Dark Wings," "A Bit of the Dark World," "The Winter Flies," "Schizo Jimmie," "237 Talking Statues, Etc." and "You're All Alone" would be a quaint and curious volume of almost-forgotten lore worthy of inclusion on any bibliophile's bookshelf. (If anyone at Penguin Classics is reading this, they should get the ball rolling on that project right away.) In the meantime, be sure to check out a volume entitled Dark Ladies, an inexpensive Tor Books omnibus collecting both Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness, then watch the recent Kino Lorber Blu-ray release of Burn Witch Burn, which includes an audio commentary by Richard Matheson.
22. Crimson Peak (2015). The best horror film of the year. I urge you to go out and see it before it fades back into The October Country from whence it came....
(Note: With the exception of The Monster That Challenged the World, Son of Frankenstein, Hold That Ghost, Invisible Agent, and The Devil Bat, all of these films were being seen by me for the first time.)
Posted by Robert Guffey at 3:46 PM No comments:
Robert Guffey
I'm the author of CRYPTOSCATOLOGY: CONSPIRACY THEORY AS ART FORM (TrineDay, 2012), SPIES & SAUCERS (PS Publishing, 2014), CHAMELEO: A STRANGE BUT TRUE STORY OF INVISIBLE SPIES, HEROIN ADDICTION, AND HOMELAND SECURITY (OR Books, 2015), UNTIL THE LAST DOG DIES (Night Shade/Skyhorse, 2017), WIDOW OF THE AMPUTATION & OTHER WEIRD CRIMES (Eraserhead Press, 2021), and BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD (Crossroad Press, 2021). I also co-authored BELA LUGOSI AND THE MONOGRAM NINE (BearManor Media, 2019) with Gary D. Rhodes. If you would like to buy a signed copy of CRYPTOSCATOLOGY, simply click on the button below.
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Mike's Carpets building: Start date pushed back to September
Renovation work on the landmark former Mike's Carpets building is due to start in early September – two months later than expected.
As reported by the Dispatch back in May, work to restore the building, off Stanningley Road, was due to restart in July – but the date has now been pushed back.
Former Mikes Carpets building before the scaffolding came down in April.
Negotiations about the restoration work have been ongoing between the site owner, architect and new contractor on the Leeds City Council-managed scheme.
The work is the centrepiece of the wider Armley Townscape Heritage Initiative project to improve the area and is funded by £500,000 of Heritage Lottery money and £150,000 from the building's owner, businessman Mike Smith.
Work on the renovation of the Grade II Listed building was delayed in early April after the initial builders left the project, with no major work completed. Scaffolding already erected for the job was taken down.
In a statement to the Dispatch, a Leeds City Council spokesman said:
"The site owner, architect and new contractor are currently finalising the arrangements for a start on site. The council continues to support the progression of this scheme and has worked with all parties to ensure the project can be completed by March 2016."
All lottery money for the Armley Townscape Heritage Initiative Scheme must be spent by next March, or be returned to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The spokesman added: "It is anticipated that erection of scaffolding on site and a start to the works will take place in early September.
"The project will repair the natural slate roof, restore traditional windows and panel doors and reinstate the boundary wall along Branch Road and Stanningley Road.
"This is a key project in the Armley Townscape Heritage Initiative grant scheme which is jointly funded by the council, Heritage Lottery Fund and the property owner."
Local residents attending an Armley Forum meeting back in May were warned that the Branch Road project was on a knife-edge and could ill-afford any further slippage.
Start date for work on former Mike's Carpets building revealed
Building work on a landmark West Leeds building is set to restart. Work to restore…
Former Mike's Carpets building: work 'on schedule'
Work on the landmark former Mike's Carpets building is going well and is on schedule…
New contractor for Mike's Carpets building - but project still on knife-edge
A new contractor has been appointed to restore a run-down landmark building in Armley to its…
Armley · Armley Forum · Armley Townscape Heritage Initiative · Branch Road · Heritage Lottery Fund · Mikes Carpets building


I race to him at the end of the work day, and am usually greeted with a squeal and a staccato hug. He then takes his shoes out, and prepares to come home with us. The routine works well for him… he has his cousin to play with in the day (as opposed to being an only child) and at the end of the day, he comes home with the two people who love him more than anything else in the whole wide world. It's been working out, so far.
Weekends are sacred. Try to take him away from me. I bite.
I don't know if this will be a permanent arrangement. I think that work is good for me and my family. It keeps me sane, and ultimately, the pay check also helps in meeting the escalating costs of having and maintaining a child in Singapore. I am doing what feels best for everyone… and we shall see how it goes as the boy gets older.
I am not justifying my decision to be a full time working mum. I read through what I've written so far, and I'm reminded again as to why I think that this is a course of action which I feel that we are comfortable with. I have had the luxury to make a choice, and for this I'm grateful.
That said, I really take my hat off to all Stay At Home Mums. It's not easy handling everything, and juggling everything else atop of handling one, two or more! children who are usually more needy and demanding than many adults. I'm constantly amazed by the Stay Home Mum's ability to keep everything together – and even though there are days when things could be better, they still solder on, for heart and home.
I still wish to have more time with my son, especially when I'm reminded over social media about the events of the day as recounted by the SAHM and on days when I'm missing him so much at work that it hurts. However, I have made my choice, and for now, it's working out in all our favour.
I'm a Full Time Working Mum but it doesn't make me a lousier mum than those who stay home with the kids. The time I have with my child is precious, and I have learnt the true value of it only because I don't have the luxury of spending as much time as I am able to with him. We spend quality time together, as a family, and as much as the boy has brought us joy… we think that he's happiest when he spends these precious moments with us, too.
heART Studio- A Review	It's my SITS Day!!


The TC77 is a serially accessible digital temperature sensor particularly suited for low cost and small form-factor applications. Temperature data is converted from the on-board thermal sensing element and made available at anytime as a 13-bit two's compliment digital word. Communication with the TC77 is accomplished via an SPI/ Microwire compatible interface. The device features a 12-bit plus sign temperature resolution of 0.0625°C per LSB.
The TC77 offers a temperature accuracy of +/-1.0°C (max) over the temperature range of +25°C to +65°C. The SHUTDOWN bits in the Configuration register can be used to activate the low power Standby mode (0.1 uA typical). When operating, the TC77 consumes only 250 µA (typ), 400 µA max. Small size, low installed cost and ease of use make the TC77 an ideal choice for implementing thermal management in a variety of systems.
The TC77 Thermal Sensor PICtail Demo Board demonstrates how to interface the TC77 Thermal Sensor device to a microcontroller. This board can connect directly to the PICkit 1 Flash Starter Kit, providing a platform for code development and evaluation. The system designer will be able to use this design as an example of how to integrate a digital temperature sensor in their system.


2020-2028 E. Washington St., Brian Krepp to Anthony Geramita, $404,000.
32 Fields Drive, KR Group LLC to Marcia Strizzi, $158,000.
1339 Old Princeton Road, Patricia D Mollick Revocable trustee to Jeffrey Reed, $69,900.
1085 State Road, Federal National Mortgage Assn. to William Harding, $65,000.
Dutch Ridge Road, Wilson Boots to America First Enterprises L.P., $290,323.


Released in a gatefold cover. Inside the right hand panel is die-cut. The record is housed behind the lower flap.
This LP: From my personal collection.
Music trio from Newcastle, UK (Newcastle upon Tyne, county Tyne and Wear). Years of activity - 1969-1972. Founded by former members of the band 'Household' - bassist Stewart Burlison, drummer Dave Whitaker and guitarist Geoff Sharkey. After the dissolution, Geoff Sharkey joined the band 'Sammy' & Dave Whitaker joined the group 'Kestrel'.


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5 euro – 85. birthday of Federico Fellini
Series: Italy – Silver 5 euro coins
Image: Copyright © La Maison Numismatique
Coin parameters
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Proof, BU
Mintage:
24,500 pcs BU
6,600 pcs proof
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The graveyard includes four tombs dating from the second century BC, all of which are in excellent condition and beautifully decorated. The graveyard was named after Mostafa Kamel, one of Egypt's greatest twentieth century political legends. His most famous phrase is, "If I was not born as an Egyptian, I would love to be an Egyptian."


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Views on Seychelles
Should Seychelles keep it in the ground? Finance minister responds to oil exploration concerns
Victoria, Seychelles | June 15, 2015, Monday @ 10:38 in Editorial » ANALYSIS | By: Hajira Amla | Views: 7612
File Photo: offshore oil platform (Agência Brasil/Wikimedia) Photo License: (CC BY 3.0 BR)
The warm azure waters of the Seychelles archipelago are likely to soon become the latest site for hydrocarbon test drilling in the Indian Ocean, but a local environmental education consultant has called for a national debate to be opened up as to whether the small island state would lose credibility in the international community by doing so.
However, the Seychelles Minister for Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, Jean Paul Adam has responded to the concerns by arguing that environmentally sensitive areas within the Seychelles' vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) were at much greater risk by activities already present in or close to its waters, such as badly-maintained oil cargo ships traversing the region and offshore drilling in other countries bordering the Seychelles EEZ.
The plateau beneath the 115-island archipelago, situated in the Indian Ocean some 1,500 kilometres off the eastern coastline of Africa, was thought to contain large quantities of hydrocarbons since the early 1990s, when several initial assessments were carried out.
In 2012, the US Geological Survey (USGS) concluded an oil survey of the western Indian Ocean region including Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique, estimating a total of 793 MMbls (millions of barrels) to be present in the Seychelles rift area.
Since then, all of the countries surveyed have started drilling and extracting offshore oil - all except the Seychelles, which imposed a two-year moratorium on all exploratory activities, subsequently opening up oil exploration blocks to bidding companies in June 2013 after the moratorium had elapsed.
Map showing the existing exploration blocks in the Seychelles rift, including new applications for two new large blocks which opened up for bidding recently (PetroSeychelles) Photo license: CC-BY
The government used the freeze to its advantage, putting legal instruments and frameworks in place to prepare for the discovery of oil in the archipelago of 90,000 people, which currently relies mostly on tourism and fisheries for its foreign revenue streams.
The small island developing state decided to adopt best practices from countries with successful extractive industries such as Norway, and they also launched a bid to become part of the progressive Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
At the time of the Seychelles exploration embargo, WHL Energy an Australian firm and Afren Plc held offshore Seychelles petroleum exploration licenses. Early in 2014, Ophir Energy, a UK-based energy company, was farmed in to earn a 75 percent interest in WHL's Seychelles stake.
The latest preliminary data emerging from Ophir's 3D seismic survey conducted in mid-2014 revealed a best estimate of 500 MMbls from the Junon exploration block situated to the south-east of the main Seychelles island of Mahe.
Should Seychelles 'keep it in the ground'?
As the ever-approaching moment for test drilling looms, many Seychellois wait anxiously, wondering what the future will hold for the breathtakingly beautiful country. The population here is largely aware that their futures are all linked to the sea and its many bounties, and wonder if the coming of big oil will be a blessing or a curse.
The 115 pristine islands of the Seychelles archipelago, some constituted of granite rock, are a prime tourist attraction (Gerard Larose, STB) Photo license: CC-BY
According to a recent global survey called Worldwide Views on Climate Change, a significant proportion - 53 percent - of Seychellois participating the survey also felt that all exploration for fossil fuels should be halted, compared to only 45 percent of the participants in the rest of the world.
The island nation has long been representing itself and other SIDS on the international scene as a vocal advocate for action against climate change, demanding that industrialised nations start to take responsibility for their appetite for fossil fuels and the effects it has on small island states, such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, coral bleaching and coastal erosion.
Speaking in her personal capacity in an interview with SNA, local environmental education consultant Dr Michele Martin, said she felt that the government's journey towards oil extraction seemed somewhat at loggerheads with its pro-environmental sustainability position.
The Seychelles has protected over 50 percent of its terrestrial land as natural reserves and announced as part of its Marine Spatial Planning exercise that it would protect 30 percent of its 1.3 million square kilometre EEZ from commercially extractive industries, including fisheries and oil drilling.
Inspired by the 350.org global campaign called 'Fossil Free' and the UK's Guardian newspaper's 'Keep It In The Ground' campaign, both of which aim to get companies and individuals to divest from fossil fuel investments, Martin said the movement was focused on finding ways of shifting away from fossil fuels towards renewable forms of energy to try to keep rampant global warming under control.
"On the government's part you can see the motivation, but on the other hand, when you look at Seychelles, we're out there on the international scene at all levels, NGOs, civil society, the government, promoting ourselves as an eco-friendly nation, we're promoting conservation and the climate change movement," she told SNA.
"I think that when push comes to shove and we start exploring for oil it's going to be quite embarrassing for all of us. How can we be out there lobbying for action against climate change and at the same time we're exploring for oil?"
"It's funny because to me, even our credibility as a nation that's putting ourselves out there, caring about climate change and then being the same country that's inviting companies to come and explore for oil and maybe drill for oil, it's completely at loggerheads with each other, so we should have a public debate about it to see... sometimes people make the trade-off and they say we want that and we're willing to take... the environmental risk, but then we will down the road have to stop advocating for climate change action because we'll be a bigger contributor towards it," she said.
"Civil society will have to speak out, and maybe civil society [eventually] says 'go ahead, we understand the risks and we're willing to do it', but I think we should be part of the conversation."
In an emailed statement to SNA, Global Communications Manager for the climate change campaign group 350.org, Hoda Baraka said, "the end of fossil fuels is upon us. Financial and political indicators are confirming the imminent transition towards 100 percent renewable energy. Small island nations such as the Seychelles are best disposed for this change by both protecting their very livelihoods and also become leaders in the dawn of renewable energy that is already upon us."
Benefit to the blue economy
SNA reached out to the Seychelles minister responsible for the 'Blue Economy' - the concept of sustainably utilising the ocean's resources - government department, Jean Paul Adam, who also holds the portfolios of Finance and Trade, to hear his views on the matter.
"I don't see it as being at loggerheads, but I think first of all we have to look at the particular context of Seychelles' economy," he said. "The approach that we're taking does fit in with the message that we are putting out on sustainable development... that we are looking at oil exploration as part of the blue economy, it's not something separate, and it's not something that we're going to rush…"
Minister Adam said that although Seychelles as a SIDS still needed to diversify its small economy, which is still vulnerable to external shocks, any potential revenue generated from oil extraction had not yet been factored into any of the country's budgetary projections.
"First of all it's because oil is too volatile for us to be able to predict properly in terms of pricing, and secondly even though we are certain that there is oil there we don't actually know yet that it is in commercial quantities – we'll only know that when we actually do the actual [test] drilling."
Aside from the monetary benefits, Minister Adam said that the data generated from the seismic surveys were invaluable to Seychelles in the development of its blue economy plan.
Minister of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, Jean Paul Adam (Seychelles News Agency) Photo license: CC-BY
Environmental risk is 'already present'
According to the finance minister, the risk from oil spillage and other environmental impacts from the industry are already present in the Seychelles.
"We have to keep in mind as well that we are situated in the Indian Ocean, which is a hotspot for oil exploration right now in the world, as well as for drilling for oil. Every single one of the continental countries that we have maritime borders with, including Madagascar, are all drilling for oil, and they are already pumping it out," he said.
"On top of that, two thirds of the world's oil shipments by cargo ship go through the Indian Ocean, and quite often within 50 to 60 nautical miles of very sensitive environmental areas for Seychelles. So the risk for example that is involved in drilling for oil in Seychelles, I would say is no greater than the risks that already exist… from oil fields that are in proximity to our EEZ. So the risk that may exist from oil spills linked to drilling is already there. By drilling in Seychelles, you will not necessarily be increasing the risks exponentially."
"Secondly, and for me what is the greater risk, is the huge amount of tanker traffic in the Indian Ocean, and unlike for example the European Union, which has put down a rule that only double-hulled tankers can trade oil within the EU, we don't have this rule in this region - there are a lot of old rustbuckets out there transporting oil, and frankly I'm much more concerned about that than I am about the risk from drilling for oil."
According to the World Water Encyclopedia, it is estimated that approximately 2.6 billion litres of waste oil enter the world's oceans every year, with over half of this coming from land drainage and waste disposal sources, such as improperly disposed-of motor oil.
Less than 8 percent of the oil comes from offshore drilling operations and oil tanker or ship spills. Offshore oil spills or leaks sometimes occur during various stages of well drilling or repair operations, and can also occur while oil is being transferred from offshore wells onto oil tankers. These stages can occur while oil is being produced from offshore wells, handled, and temporarily stored; or when oil is being transported offshore, either by flowline, underwater pipeline, or tanker.
In April 2010, the explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico caused an 87-day long sea floor spill, considered as one of the largest and most devastating accidental marine oil spills in human history.
The possible detrimental effects of drilling and seismic surveys on marine mammals last week also came to the fore, with a controversial application document submitted to the United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) by Shell with regards to a proposed US oil drilling project in the Arctic.
The document claimed that continuous noise generated by drilling, seismic surveys and ice-breaking could deafen whales, which rely on sound to communicate and navigate.
The Sainte Anne Marine National Park is a no-take reserve popular with tourists to the Seychelles islands (Gerard Larose, STB) Photo license: CC-BY
An opportunity to fund renewable energy
According to Adam, although drilling for oil poses a risk for all countries, he says the world is not yet able to produce 100 percent of their energy requirements from renewable sources, and says that extracting oil, which would be exported and refined in other countries, could eventually fund a larger renewable energy programme in Seychelles.
"Absolutely, the moral imperative to go towards zero carbon emissions is one that Seychelles absolutely supports, but the problem I think, and this is too often lost in negotiations, is that we talk about the goal, but we don't put the means of how to get there," he explained.
"I'll give you a practical example in the context of Seychelles: we've created these marine protected areas, and we also want to invest in renewable energy - how are we going to fund these things?"
At the 2009 COP15 conference in Copenhagen, billions of dollars were pledged to help developing countries move towards a low-carbon economy, but the correct financial modalities were not put in place to ensure that the money went to the middle-income small island states like Seychelles.
With Seychelles' small population and relatively high debt-to-GDP ratios, the country has to rely on grants and subsidies to put renewable energy programmes in place. One such project was subsidised by the government of the United Arab Emirates for eight wind turbines, which currently produce just over 2 percent of Seychelles' total energy needs.
"We have got to recognise that the world's economy is still a carbon economy. Now the approach that countries like Seychelles is taking is saying we have to reduce the impact of that carbon, but we have to be realistic in knowing that it's going to take a while, for all the countries, even the countries that are the most advanced in terms of renewable energy, are still only at about 50 percent of their needs from renewables," said the minister.
"If Seychelles was to find oil, we could actually be 100 percent renewable, we can actually achieve that using our own resources, so the question of resources is fundamental to the debate and it's not being addressed adequately in the international scenario," he said.
The minister said that Seychelles must take stock of the benefits and disadvantages of all its extractive industries, including fisheries.
Supportive of the 'moral' argument
In 2012, the government of Ecuador, which is primarily a petroleum-based economy, agreed not to exploit an estimated 846 MMbls of oil beneath the ecologically sensitive Yasuni National Park in return for a financial incentive from the United Nations of $3.6 billion in estimated lost revenues.
Minister Adam is open to the idea of engineering a similar deal for commercial oil resources beneath the Seychelles' pristine blue seas, but warns that test drilling would first have to take place to establish the existence of commercial quantities of oil.
"Certainly, for Seychelles, this is something we could do, but until you've actually done your test drill, you've got no bargaining position, because you have no proof that is has value, and until then you can't enter into that kind of discussion," he explained.
"Certainly I think at the point at which we would have that proof, it's worth putting it across and saying well, what's it worth to keep it in the ground versus actually taking it out of the ground."
"So the question of keeping it in the ground, I support it from a moral standpoint, but from a Blue Economy 'how do we get there' standpoint, I think there are some serious questions which have to be addressed which keeping it in the ground doesn't address," he added.
"Not increasing oil production globally is an option, certainly, but it's not the one that's actually going to make the difference and actually bring us to a solution at this point," he postulated. "From a moral perspective it makes sense, but if we're really looking [at] how do we move towards a blue economy, I don't think that now is the right time for us to say 'we're going to keep it in the ground'."
Minister Adam said he welcomed the debate from all interested parties, and said he was looking forward to the discussions which would be generated as part of the EITI workshops and consultations currently taking place.
He also said that the people of Seychelles' opinions did matter and would be taken into consideration, but cautioned that all the science-based information should be presented and taken into consideration before taking a moral stance.
"So in the context of if you ask somebody who is very environmentally conscious, do you think oil is a good thing? I myself will also say no," he said. "In the context of Seychelles, where we want to move towards a blue economy, we have 1.3 million square kilometres and development of those resources are going to cost money and we also very importantly have to reduce the existing risks - I think when... you put all of the information in front of the same respondents that maybe previously expressed reservations, there may be a different outcome."
"I would say that just closing one tap while there are a hundred taps still on doesn't necessarily help us, but I think that from the perspective of the government we are open to all arguments; it's not a closed debate… we can continue to discuss it and we can continue to take all points on board," he continued.
"The moral argument in saying that Seychelles is a leader in marine protection, that means that we shouldn't develop oil. If we say that then we should say we shouldn't have fisheries as well. The fact that man has an impact on the environment is a reality. How do we reduce the impact, for me, is the question."
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Tags: oil exploration, oil extraction, offshore drilling, WHL Energy, Afren, Avana, Ophir, Jean Paul Adam, climate change, fossil fuels, global warming, oil spill
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text:
Civil celebrants don't want the right to refuse same-sex weddings
A survey found that just 3 per cent of civil celebrants would resign if forced to marry same-sex couples.
Jesse Jones — November 22, 2017
Amid government debate over whether civil celebrants should be allowed to refuse same-sex weddings, the peak body of celebrants has said its members don't want the right to discriminate.
The Coalition of Celebrant Associations said that celebrants should abide by anti-discrimination laws and that they do not want exemptions, The Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
"We feel that if that's the law of the country, then that's what you do," said chair Dorothy Harrison.
"We have discrimination laws and we have to live by them."
Rona Gould, founder of the Civil Celebrations Network, agreed that celebrants should not be allowed to turn away couples based on gender or sexuality.
"Don't bring in a law to get rid of discrimination and build in more discrimination," she said.
Attorney-General George Brandis has been among those arguing that civil celebrants should have the right to refuse service to same-sex couples on conscientious or religious grounds.
"If they have a conscientious objection to a particular form of the ceremony, I think it's quite wrong to force them to officiate in a way that would violate their conscience," said Brandis.
Civil celebrant groups said they were comfortable with senator Dean Smith's marriage reform bill as it stands, without extra provisions for discrimination.
A survey by the Coalition of Celebrant Associations found that 80 per cent of civil celebrants would happily perform same-sex weddings, and just 3 per cent would resign if forced to marry same-sex couples.
Human Rights Commissioner Ed Santow said the Australian Human Rights Commission had "strong concerns" about any proposed exemption to existing anti-discrimination laws.
"The price of marriage equality can't be that we wind back our anti-discrimination laws," he said.
"If you're a civil celebrant performing civil marriages, the ordinary anti-discrimination laws should apply."
Tags: anti-discriminationAustralian Human Rights Commissioncivil celebrantsed santowGeorge Brandismarriage equalitysame-sex marriage
Next post Grindr is now open to all genders including trans people and cis women
Previous post Turnbull calls for separate review of religious freedoms in Australia to clear path for SSM
About the Author Jesse Jones
Jesse was Star Observer's senior journalist between 2016 and 2019. His special interests include health, gender, and travel. You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
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Now we are talking about the currency of the Qatar riyal that became official in the state of Qatar, and one its unit equals to 100 dirhams. Until 1959 the Indian rupee was used in the country, later the rupee of the Persian Gulf was issued, and after inflation and depreciation, a new currency was created. However, a year later the country began to introduce the Saudi rial that, in relation to the rupee, was equal to 1,065. Later, the currency of Qatar and Dubai was issued, but already in 1973, the Qatari rial was introduced. It was tied to the US dollar, but this did not help to keep the rate afloat during the crisis, now it has a ratio of 1 dollar = 3.64 rial.
New banknotes were introduced with denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and even 500 rials. They have a sufficient degree of protection, and also are created in a new color scheme. You can exchange currency almost everywhere, not only in exchange offices, as well as in banks and shops. In the economy of Qatar, is significantly influenced by gas, gasoline and some exported, which affects the exchange rate. Qatar reached the heights in the economic situation, because in this country there is practically no taxation. The constant arrival of money in the state keeps the Qatari rial afloat with a stable rate. According to statistics, the rate did not change since 1988.
Now let's talk about casino in Qatar. Players prefer to play in online casino that are offered by other countries. Basically, it is necessary to use VPN for this. More often people choose online casinos represented by the United Kingdom, as they have a license, and there are a lot of checks to avoid deception of players. When choosing a currency, you can easily choose the US dollar, despite the fact that the Qatari rial is tied to it. In the game, you choose a game account that is replenished with the help of deposits. It is necessary to closely monitor the balance that either rises or falls, depending on whether you win or not. The biggest incentive is that the game for real money takes place, and there are bonuses for which you make a lot of deposits.
There are also online casinos especially for residents of Qatar, they offer numerous complimentary gifts that are awarded after making the first deposit. A lot of the population is foreigners, therefore, there is no strict ban on online casinos, and monetary transactions are freely transferred through different payment systems. Only those who strictly observe Muslim do not allow themselves to gamble. The most popular online casinos using Qatari rial is SpinPalace Casino, where there is a welcome bonus and more than 450 games and slots.
The developer is the Microgaming company that is famous for its sufficient experience in creating popular games. Here, games can be played on smartphones, tablets and laptops, being available for users of different countries. This online casino is quite popular among players, the percentage probability of payments here is more than 97%, which indicates a high probability of victory. A welcome bonus of $ 1000 attracts even more players.
However, it's worth using the VPN to ensure that the game permission has been approved. Also popular is an online casino called 888.com. it has a lot of advantages, being awailable on any devices. The casino offers a huge selection of games, but a long enough process of the money withdrawal.
Also, the Casino.com online casino site is perfect for having a good game, offering more than 300 slots and games for you to choose. This casino is created by Playtech that is a famous and experienced company in this field. Excellent reputation, and many years of experience are the characteristics of the company. The site has a black background, which looks stylish enough, and there are a lot of stocks and bonuses here. All the sections are separated, offering Jackpot Marvel slots, linear slots in the amount of 15-20 pieces, classic slots, slots with a progressive jackpot, and others.
There are many ways to make a deposit, and one of them is www.neteller.com. It is quite convenient and functional service. It works like an electronic wallet, created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Every day this service processes a lot of information, compared to other companies. To use it easily, you just need to create your account.
Also, you need a Net + card to keep a monetary balance on it, it will be of the MasterCard type. The service offers to withdraw money from any ATM. Also, the card can be used, as an account to make deposits. It's also convenient to use Entropay with Visa debit cards. Such methods as Paypal, Paysafecard, Webmoney, and others are also used.
To withdraw money, you need to pass some checks that will allow you to avoid mistakes when transferring funds. When you receive money, you need to provide personal information, ID, passport details, electronic wallets Skrill or Neteller, their screen shots, an extract from the bank account, and only then, within a couple of days you will receive the money won. The withdrawal of money is also possible with the use of bank transfers, as well as payment systems, but the first method will be quite long, taking from 1 to several days.
Despite the fact that many casinos are illegal, in Qatar there are online platforms through which you can access games, and be a gambler legally. Mostly foreign resources that offer a wide choice of games and slots are used. Qatar rial is not used in all casino sites, but most often, it is necessary to change the Qatari rial to the US dollar, which is not difficult. This currency has long been in circulation. Inflation and devaluation some way shock the exchange market, but thanks to the stability of the economy as well as the trade of gas and oil, the rate keeps afloat.
Qatar citizens can find three sites that are the most popular casinos in Qatar, and they offer convenient deposit systems, withdrawal conditions, and a wide selection of slots and games. And advantageous welcome bonuses allow you to make high stakes. You can choose the most convenient method from the set of the above. There are ways to deposit or withdraw money faster, but basically, it takes up to 48 hours. Bank transfer takes up to 10 days, and paper checks on the contrary allow you to quickly get or make a deposit. It's also easy to withdraw winnings with no mistakes, thanks to a lot of checks.


A. Slow down and buffer from possible oncoming traffic.
B. Maintain a constant speed so that you do not confuse drivers behind you.
C. Change to a lower gear and apply more throttle.
Correct. You may not be able to see oncoming traffic, or what is in the lane over the crest of the hill. Slow down.


text:
Retiring NC sheriff lieutenant makes history, prepares for her last days in service
by: Caitlin Richards
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – Lt. Clemmie German was the first sworn-in female African-American deputy to retire from the Pitt County Sheriff's Office. Her last day is on Dec. 31.
Having a love for people, she said becoming a deputy was a good fit for her.
NC trooper recovering after chase ends in crash, shooting could leave hospital Thursday
"I don't think it's really hit me yet that I'm going to be retiring at 50 years old, so I'm grateful to that. But I don't know how to feel right now, but I look forward to what the future has to hold for me," said German.
She's been working for Pitt County since 1993. German said it's one of the best jobs because of the impact on the community.
As for what's next for her, she said she plans to hopefully come back to work part-time, after having time to relax.
Virginia student charged with murder after another student killed following basketball game
"There's much work to do in bridging the gap between law enforcement and the community," said German.
She said her years of serving have been a great journey. She said for those who are still in the sheriff's office, support each other. For those coming into the profession, you can do it because she's a living testimony that you can achieve those goals.
"To the citizens of Pitt County, I would like to say thank you," German said. "Thank you for welcoming me, thank you for inviting me into your home to educate your children as a DARE instructor.
Detectives looking for NC kidnapping victim after violent encounter caught on doorbell camera
"To the officers that are coming and to the ones that are working in this profession, I hope that my story and my accomplishments will let them know that short-term goals and long-term goals are attainable. And I'd like to thank Sheriff (Paula) Dance for this opportunity for letting me lead this division."
Even though her retirement is quickly approaching, she looks to continue to help the community that welcomed her for many years.
Dad still on the run after deadly shooting and abduction of 3 children in Edgecombe County


The bad news is this week was the worst. The good news is it's almost over. Here, some truly good things that happened this week to kick off your spooky Halloweekend.
1. Ruth Baby Ginsburg. Need we say more?
2. Frozen, hockey edition. Players from the Boston Bruins hockey team dressed up as characters from the wildly popular Frozen movie before visiting sick children at the Boston Children's Hospital.
3. Baby giraffe. A mama giraffe at the Buffalo Zoo gave birth to an adorable baby giraffe, then bestowed upon him tons of kisses.
4. Selfless sergeant. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer stumbled upon deposit bags filled with cash totaling $120,000. Instead of taking the cash and riding off into the sunset to start a new life, the unnamed officer tracked down the owner and returned the money to them.
5. Parent Trap redux. Two long-lost siblings who were separated at birth and given up for adoption to separate families finally met each other for the first time this week after 47 years.
6. Hugs. Lots of hugs.
7. Nicki Minaj released a new song. And it slays (if you ignore the Chris Brown part).
8. Ira Glass dog. The winner of Fort Greene's Halloween dog costume contest was a dog dressed as Ira Glass, and it was perfect.
Now go forth — enjoy your weekend, your spirits buoyed (until you see your first Halloween reveler puking on the subway platform).


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text:
Q: How to sum a sequence in pandas? I need to do some coding in python and I can't do this code:
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({'Interview':['1','1','2','2','3','3','4','4','5','5'],
                 'Sequence':['1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd'],
                 'Product':['Orange','Banana','Banana','Orange','Apple','Banana','Apple','Apple','Orange','Apple'],
                  'Value':[6,8,5,4,3,5,7,6,7,9]})

I need to do something like this as result:
sequence = pd.DataFrame({'1st':['Orange','Orange','Orange','Banana','Banana','Banana','Apple','Apple','Apple'],
                       '2nd':['Orange','Banana','Apple','Orange','Banana','Apple','Orange','Banana','Apple'],
                       'Value':[0,14,16,9,0,0,0,8,13]})

For me the sequence matters most in my analysis. It's a sum of the  results in interviews.
Thanks guys  for the help!

A: This does it.  Basically, you extract the rows matching "1st" and "2nd", then reindex them, then rebuild a new data frame with those columns.  And if someone can tell me how to extract just the values of those series without requiring the re-index and drop column hackery, I'd appreciate it.
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Interview':['1','1','2','2','3','3','4','4','5','5'],
    'Sequence':['1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd','1st','2nd'],
    'Product':['Orange','Banana','Banana','Orange','Apple','Banana','Apple','Apple','Orange','Apple'],
    'Value':[6,8,5,4,3,5,7,6,7,9]}
)
s1 = df[df['Sequence']=='1st']['Value'].reset_index()['Value']
s2 = df[df['Sequence']=='2nd']['Value'].reset_index()['Value']
p1 = df[df['Sequence']=='1st']['Product'].reset_index()['Product']
p2 = df[df['Sequence']=='2nd']['Product'].reset_index()['Product']
out = pd.DataFrame( { '1st': p1, '2nd': p2, 'Sum': s1+s2 } )
print(out)

Output:
      1st     2nd  Sum
0  Orange  Banana   14
1  Banana  Orange    9
2   Apple  Banana    8
3   Apple   Apple   13
4  Orange   Apple   16

A: Here is another approach using reindex and unstack:
df2 = df.set_index(['Interview', 'Sequence']).unstack()
result = df2.Product.join(df2.Value.sum(1).rename("Value"))

#               1st     2nd  Value
# Interview
# 1          Orange  Banana     14
# 2          Banana  Orange      9
# 3           Apple  Banana      8
# 4           Apple   Apple     13
# 5          Orange   Apple     16

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
#world cup
#Dr Govinda KC
Modi visit has taken Nepal-India relations to new height: PM
Monday, May 14th, 2018 | edainik | Politics
KATHMANDU, May 14: Prime Minister K P Oli has said that the recent visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal has taken Nepal-India relations to a new height.
Briefing the parliament on Sunday about the agreements reached during Modi's visit, Oli informed that the Indian side had laid emphasis on the implementation of various agreements reached with Nepal in the past. Oli told the parliament that concrete progress will be made in the implementation of the long-stalled agreements by September.
Oli said that a report of Eminent Persons Group (EPG) that is expected to be finalized by July will also contribute toward identifying the 'irritant' factors that subsist in the bilateral relations and ways to overcome them. "This visit has been a starting point to take the bilateral relations forward on the basis of equality," he said.
Referring indirectly to the criticisms from a section of people that his government had surrendered to India despite some bitter experiences in the recent past, Prime Minister Oli argued that the relations between Nepal and India must be improved. "The relations between the two countries must be improved. We should not tolerate any discrimination. It is not good to live in the past. We should be able to establish new relations," he said.
Oli also said that in all discussions with the Indian side he as prime minister of the country had kept national interests in his heart and mind. "I in my capacity as the prime minister won't allow any kind of work that undermines the country's dignity. I was born and raised in this country. I won't work in the interest of others," he further said.
In his nearly hour-long address to the parliament, Prime Minister Oli listed various agreements reached between the two side and the issues, which were raised but not fully agreed upon during the bilateral meetings.
He said Nepal and India reached various nine agreements during Modi's visit. The agreements include ensuring tangible progress in the implementation of various long-stalled agreements by the third week of September, identifying areas of cooperation in agriculture through a meeting of the agriculture ministers of the two countries, expediting survey work of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line, and conducting survey of inland waterways between Nepal and India.
Oli said Nepal and India have agreed to hold the Joint Commission meeting to review the whole gamut of bilateral relations and develop a work plan of development model. The prime minister said India has positively responded to Nepal's request for additional air entry routes, narrowing down the ever-ballooning trade deficit and addressing Nepal's concerns of inundation due to the constriction of road and other infrastructures by India near the border.
Among other things, India has agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the power sector in line with the Power Trade Agreement (PTA) reached earlier between the two countries.
Oli said that Nepal raised a number of other issues with India and they remain yet to be finalized. Agreement has yet to be reached on the construction of a 1300-meter link road in Tanakpur, a 6.8 kilometer four-lane road on the Indian side of border to connect Nepal's Mahendranagar with the Indian expressway, establishment of Energy Bank, and construction of Integrated Check Posts in Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj, according to the prime minister.
Prime Minister Oli informed the parliament that Nepal also asked for access to additional sea ports, permits to LGP gas bullets owned by Nepali entrepreneurs, exchanging demonetized Indian currency notes held in Nepal, and similar facilities to Nepali students pursuing medical education in Indian colleges like Indian students are provided at Nepali medical colleges.
Will visit China soon
Oli informed the parliament that he is intending to visit China soon.
Arguing that the relations with India had improved, he said he is planning to visit China soon to further strengthen the relations between Nepal and China.
The prime minister, however, did not pronounce the date of his China visit. Oli had wanted to go to China immediately after his visit to New Delhi but the visit was deferred in view of Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit to Nepal, according to senior government officials.
#Modi visit
#Nepal-India
#PM
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text:
On a white background and in the centre 'Mon the Workers' and around it are the hands of workers in bright colours holding the tools of their trade with confetti fluttering around.
15th November 2022 15th November 2022 3 months ago Scottish Left Review 4 min read 242 Views
'Mon the Workers'. Celebrating 125 Years of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, ed. Daniel Gray with photography by Alan McCredie, Luath Press Edinburgh, 2022, pp271, 978-1-80425-033-4
Reviewed by Jenni Gunn
'Mon the Workers hascome at an important flash point for the workers movement. 'Hot Strike Summer' is leading into the new 'Winter of Discontent' as workers from almost every sector continue gear up for the fight of their lives. Unions have never been more relevant, or in recent history, more in the public consciousness. In this key moment,it is a timely reminder that the history of the working class is the history of struggle- the struggle of ordinary workers who have taken action to stand up against injustice in all its forms.
That's what organising is all about – engaging workers in struggle. As a union organiser, most of my work day-to-day is focused upon teaching workers the 'tools of the trade': how to map their workplace, how to have a meaningful conversation with a reluctant colleague, how to assess an issue and identify a target and so on. These practical tools allow workers to build power. They are essential to ensuring that we can deliver a campaign where nothing is won for workers, but rather is won by workers. As every organiser knows, if done right, a good organising campaign – whether won or lost – can change things.
But the practical tools are not enough. In a world of rampant individualism, where the workplace remains the main site of exploitation, we should never underestimate the potential damage fear and hopelessness can inflict on our movement. Fifty years ago this year, Jimmy Reid gave his famous 'rat race' speech, defining what he meant by the word 'alienation': 'It's the frustration of the great mass of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision making. It's the feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people, who feel with every justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies'. Those words are just as true today as they were in 1972 when Reid first spoke them. The real job of an organiser is to provide an antidote to that feeling of hopelessness and despair, and that is why 'Mon the Workers is not just a piece of commemorative history. It's also part of the organiser's toolkit.
The stories contained within its pages are about solidarity, bravery and dignity, and they help workers understand that when they stand up against injustice they are never alone. They are part of a movement and a tradition that spans generations and continents. A movement built by and for people just like them. They are an antidote to fear and alienation.
The power of these stories is that they are told by workers in their own voices. As STUC General Secretary, Roz Foyer, reminds us in the foreword, the story of our movement has 'too often been told through the lens of our leaders, rather than those who won the victories and who suffered most through those defeats'.
The words on the page come to life because we recognise the voices of the people who speak them. We all know people like Alison, from the EIS union, who spoke about fighting for better pay in education and the power of being part of something bigger than yourself: 'Feeling part of that collective effort was incredible … everyone was there for the same reason, all freezing our toes off for the cause.'
For young people, these stories are instructive and inspiring. Stella Rooney, a young trade unionist and artist, writes about drawing inspiration from the struggles of the past in her excellent piece From Timex to Better Than Zero. She put it better than I ever could when she said: 'When you look back … you can make the link, and see how young trade unionists today are inheriting this past … there's lots we should be proud to continue in our trade union activism today.' Its workers like Stella who will carry our movement into the battles of the future – and I think we're in safe hands.
I recently organised a PCS Young Members event in Scotland, where 30 new and enthusiastic young workers from across the UK travelled to Glasgow for a weekend of workshops on organising. At the end of day one, we took the group on a walking tour of Glasgow. We ended in George Square – and talked about the workers movement of the city – from the Red Clydesiders to the women of the recent Equal Pay campaign. In the days after the event, I asked members to write a few words about what they had learned in Glasgow. One member, Josh, who has only just joined the civil service and had never been involved in a union before, had this to say: 'The simple truth I have realised is that we outnumber the bosses. We have collective power to fight, not just for ourselves but for our colleagues and communities. In Glasgow, we learned about the long history of the people of that city who fought for equality, dignity, and respect against even greater odds than we face today. It is in our power to try and live up to their legacy'. That's why these stories are important, and why we need to keep telling them.
Jenni Gunn is an Industrial Officer and Organiser with the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union
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text:
<?php
namespace frontend\models;

use Yii;
use common\models\Bookmark;
use common\components\Util;

/**
 * BookmarkList Model
 */
class BookmarkList
{
    /**
     * @param  \yii\db\ActiveRecord  $member
     * @return array
     */
    public static function get($member)
    {
        $request = &Yii::$app->request;
        $offset  = (int) $request->getQueryParam('o', 0);

        $query   = Bookmark::find()->where(['memberId' => $member->id]);
        $count   = $query->count();

        $bookmarks = $query
            ->orderBy('createdTime DESC')
            ->offset($offset)
            ->limit(20)
            ->all();

        return ['bookmarks' => $bookmarks, 'pagination' => Util::getPagination($offset, $count, 20, 'o')];
    }
}