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How do asylum seeking and refugee women perceive and respond to preventive health care? Cervical Screening as a case study.
EP1C.01
Nicola Burns, Frances Mair, Kate O'Donnell
Asylum seekers/refugees in Scotland are entitled to free primary and secondary healthcare at all stages of the asylum process. This includes primary prevention programmes, such as cervical screening, which are provided by Primary Care. However, there are known inequalities in accessing primary healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees, particularly women. Using cervical screening as a case study, this project explored the facilitators and barriers for the uptake of preventive medical care by asylum seeking and refugee women in Glasgow.
A qualitative research project, involving multiple semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Participants included ASR women(n=16), community workers(n=2) and ongoing interviews with primary care healthcare professionals. Thematic analysis was led by AM, with support from NB, FM and KOD in regular coding clinics. Identified themes were then mapped to the theoretical framework of candidacy. The three perspectives allowed a fuller exploration of the negotiation of candidacy, from the viewpoint of the patient, doctor and community workers, who often provide signposting for healthcare. Data on cervical screening was obtained from practices caring for ASR women.
Practice data suggests a lower uptake of cervical screening in the asylum seeking (30%)/refugee (46%) population compared to the overall practice uptake (95.99%) and the national 3 year uptake(70.5%) (ISD 2015). Emerging barriers include previous female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual assault, cultural differences and lack of knowledge about cervical screening. It was felt by participants that inequalities in cervical screening uptake could be lessened through increased education regarding cervical screening, preferably before receipt of an invitation letter, and could be undertaken within trusted community groups. Women interviewed within an established community women's group had a higher uptake of cervical screening than women who were not. Policies surrounding entitlement were often found to be confusing and difficult to access by healthcare providers and community workers, with guidance often confusing the entitlements in England to that in Scotland. Many primary healthcare workers had never seen the Scottish Government policy document pertaining to the entitlement of asylum seekers and refugees to healthcare in Scotland.
A clear outcome of this study was the importance of giving clear, language appropriate information to asylum seeking/refugee women about cervical screening. Training regarding FGM, sexual assault and caring for ASR is also required for healthcare workers to enable them to provide sensitive and appropriate delivery of cervical screening to this population. The results from this work are being fed into training for GPs now caring for newly arrived Syrian refugees in Scotland.


Who wants the best kitten for Christmas?
Posted bymiaminaturalpet December 8, 2014 Posted inPet AdoptionTags: Adoption, kittens, MiamiLeave a comment on Who wants the best kitten for Christmas?
4 kittens for adoption, super cute. Please ask us for details.
3 beautiful kittens for adoption. Less than 2 months old, tabby with black stripes, great marking! 2 females, 1 male. Dewormed, FIV/ leukemia negative. Extremely sweet and friendly. Please share their picture. Who wants one?
Introducing 3 Purr-Babies needing homes!
Posted bymiaminaturalpet July 28, 2013 July 28, 2013 Posted inPet AdoptionTags: Adoption, cats, kitten, kittens, Miami, rescueLeave a comment on Introducing 3 Purr-Babies needing homes!


This page presents the Google satellite map (zoomable and browsable) of Ohaoko Saddle in South Auckland district in New Zealand.
Geographical coordinates are -39.0292 and 176.2413 and its feature type is Pass. More information below.


Helena has been with Crosby and Woods since November 2015 and deals with residential property matters including sales, purchases, remortgages, transfers and lease extensions. Helena prides herself on handling matters in a calm and professional manner, keeping all parties fully informed throughout the process.
Helena deals with the whole of the transaction, from the day we are instructed until completion, to ensure continuity and a transaction that is as stress free as possible.
"I chose Crosby and Woods to do the conveyancing of a studio flat in Hove based on their positive Google reviews. I wasn't disappointed. Dean and Helena did a very professional job, offering a competitive quote, communicating quickly and efficiently throughout and showing flexibility when needed. A very positive experience".
Thank you once again to both of them, they are a credit to your company, and I would have no hesitation in using again or recommending."
"Dean and Helena have been exceptional at every stage of our conveyancing process. We had a very tight deadline to meet and their speed and regular communication ensured we took ownership of our new property swiftly. We will definitely recommend their services to our friends and colleagues"


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PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS FOR 2021
The SGA has dealt with an unprecedented number of calls, messages and other communications through the night, since the Scottish Government decision to move to an immediate licensing of driven grouse moors.
As members will know, the SGA wrote to council officials in Edinburgh in February for permission to hold a protest demonstration outside Scottish Parliament.
Due to being placed in a national lockdown, that planned protest could not go ahead, despite travel plans having been made by many.
Covid-19 has meant sacrifices for all and our members were in agreement that no protest should be held as the country deals with the pandemic.
The SGA fully intends to honour that. However, following yesterday's events, it is clear that members wish their democratic right to protest not to be denied.
With this in mind, and recognising the country is still in the grip of a health emergency, we will today begin planning localised direct protests so that our members can have their say.
We will keep members updated over the coming weeks, with protests set to happen in 2021 and ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections.
Chairman Alex Hogg said: "People take to the streets when they feel they are no longer being listened to. That is where our members are right now and this is the message we have received loud and clear since yesterday's events in Holyrood, and leading up to this.
"Since the Scottish Parliament was built, few sectors have been scrutinised like ours, not just the grouse sector but deer, low ground shoots, salmon rivers, everything to do with our way of life. It is relentless and it is affecting people and the health of their loved ones. We are now being blamed for climate change and the nature 'emergency' by politicians in Scotland's Parliament. When things get to that level, it is dangerous. All perspective has been lost.
"Our members will no longer be political low hanging fruit or a community to be sacrificed because some politicians want to right old wrongs that we had nothing to do with. Our members are living, breathing human beings with hopes and fears like everyone else but they are being treated like a minority group who are fair game to be attacked at every turn, even in the chambers of our Parliament.
"We will engage with Scottish Government on licensing, when the time is right, but our members want to have their say and it is only correct that they should be allowed to do so."
CHAIRMAN COMMENT: GROUSE MOOR LICENSING
Update on Coronavirus Restrictions From 20th Novem...
GREEN-SCARING: NATURE EMERGENCY AND GROUSE MOOR MA...
CHAIRMAN'S BLOG: Elections, Scottish Independence ...
Comment: HERALD GROUSE POLL AND THE CURIOUS 7PM SPIKE
NEW GOVT REPORT PROVES VALUE OF SCOTLAND'S GROUSE ...
Important: Office systems issue creating delay

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Kei Miller is a poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, broadcaster and blogger. His many books include the novel Augustown (2016) and poetry collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, which won the Forward Prize (Best Poetry Collection of 2014).
Kei's work challenges the way we think about and perceive the world and its history through vibrant, compelling language and imagery. Come and hear one of the country's most sought-after readers in an event organised by Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre for Think Human Festival.


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Classics and discoveries from around the world, thematically programmed with special features, on a streaming service brought to you by the Criterion Collection.
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Watch this video and more on The Criterion Channel
Maurice Pialat on L'ENFANCE NUE
L'enfance nue • 15m
On February 12, 1973, right after L'ENFANCE NUE first aired on French television, Maurice Pialat was interviewed by Michel Martens for an episode of the program "Champ contre-champ," directed by Maurice Frydland. In these excerpts, Pialat discusses L'ENFANCE NUE's subject matter, its commercial failure, and his intentions as a filmmaker.
Up Next in L'enfance nue
Arlette Langmann and Patrick Grandper...
Arlette Langmann is the cowriter of L'ENFANCE NUE and a longtime collaborator of Maurice Pialat's. Patrick Grandperret is a filmmaker who also served as Pialat's assistant director. This interview was conducted by Serge Toubiana on April 18, 2003, shortly after Pialat's death.
L'amour existe
Directed by Maurice Pialat • 1960 • France
This contemplative short film, directed by Maurice Pialat in 1960, depicts life in the banlieues, or suburbs, of Paris and the dead-end existence of the youth residing there.
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text:
On a Crooked Track – Chapters 1-3
Book 4 of The Chained Adept, Chapters 1-3
Wood everywhere—the solid pier on which Penrys was trying to find her land legs, the ship moving gently beside it in the harbor at Ellech after almost two months at sea, and the entire forest of a city spread out before her, topped by the clusters of signals towers like groves of mountain spruce trees.
It smelled like home, all that wood—weathering away in the buildings, or freshly cut in the long arm of the hoist that was even now swinging cargo off the ship, or burning as firewood and flavoring the crisp spring breeze.
Home was in the woolens everyone wore, retentive of the odor of hard work and dinners long past. It was in the hair and beard dressings of the dock workers, leavened by the exotic aromas of some of the southern cargo, destined for the perfume manufactories.
Penrys inhaled deeply, feeling the rightness of the environment deep inside her. She hoped they'd have a few days to spend in the harbor cities at the base of the two rivers before moving upriver to Tavnastok so she could get started doing her research at the Collegium, but that would depend on her mentor, Vylkar, visible on the wharf at the end of the pier making arrangements for their cargo.
Najud and Munraz were having troubles of their own adjusting to an unmoving surface. "Come on," she said, picking up her pack. "The sooner you start walking, the easier it will get."
"Does it work that way for you?" Munraz asked, gamely lifting his own gear.
"Don't know—I've only read about it." She chuckled at his outraged expression. "I've never been on a ship before, not at sea. Never been in Stokemmi, either."
Striding off down the pier, she called over her shoulder, "Let's go explore."
She made a game of anticipating exactly where her feet would meet the planks until her body adjusted to the change of terrain and she stopped stumbling. Her footing wasn't improved by her hard-soled boots, donned for the first time in a while after the bare feet or soft shoes of shipboard life.
The three of them clattered to a stop behind Vylkar. Two piles were accumulating before him as they came off of the hoists. The larger one, goods destined for trade here in the city, were to be stored in the warehouse used by the Collegium for its own supplies. Cargo handlers were stowing the horse packs onto two wagons to move them there, and the draft horses waited patiently, their breath visible in the chilled air.
The laborers joked with each other as they worked, swapping insults that would bring a blush to a hardened campaigner. Many ships were in harbor, and this wharf, one of several, was busy, filled with people earning a living and working up a sweat doing it.
It was noisier, smellier, and far more vivid than the river harbor at Yenit Ping, and Penrys wondered what Najud and Munraz made of it. Except for the sea at their back and the size of the city, it could almost be Tavnastok, two hundred and fifty miles upstream from the mouth of the Lodentaf, just visible as a gap in the wharves far to the west along the shoreline. She'd seen sights like these there, running errands for the Collegium.
Their personal bags went into a hired two-wheeled pony cart. They would walk alongside it toward the center of Stokemmi to wherever they took rooms.
"We've fallen into the hands of talking bears," Najud muttered. "Loud, smelly bears. Great big tall ones."
"I warned you about the beards." Penrys surveyed the wharves with a stranger's eye and noted how many people were clearly natives (most of them), male (most of those), and bearded (all but the children). The few men of other nations, mostly officers from some of the ships in harbor, looked astonishingly youthful with their shaven faces.
"You'll find plenty of foreigners here, and they shave," she told them. "I was never sure if that was out of fastidiousness, or because they couldn't raise a competitive beard and were afraid to try."
Some wore their beards in braids, or loose down their chest. Others had neatly trimmed, no-nonsense specimens. And here and there, especially for the citizens who'd come down from the city on business, elaborate grooming and stiffening fashions were on display.
"Do they breed for it?" Munraz asked, in a hushed tone that said he wouldn't be surprised by an affirmative answer.
"Hard to say. The boys compete with pride to see who can sprout first, and survey their fathers and older brothers with envy. Maybe the less hairy ones have had a harder time finding a bride, and so they're all bearded now."
She smiled at the open alarm on his face. "Don't worry, you can keep a beardless face and foreign clothing—no one will think it strange. Foreigners mean money, here—trade and business and interesting foods."
Najud looked unconvinced. She wondered if he thought he had to cultivate a beard to measure up, and then she wondered if he could. She'd seen him in stubble, but she'd never seen a bearded Zan, just the somewhat patchy results of a couple of months of neglect. That would never work here, in Ellech, and they didn't expect to be here any longer than that. Better to choose a different display of manhood.
Ah, but how do you tell a man that? She suppressed a smile.
"What will you wear?" Najud asked her. "Ellech or Zannib clothes?'
And then it hit her. When Najud met her, she wore Ellech clothing, the same sort of work clothes she'd worn for the three years since Vylkar found her. The only years she had memory of—all her life, as it were. She'd adopted local clothing in sarq-Zannib, and her life was with Najud now. She'd never expected to return to Ellech, so the matter had never come up.
"Zannib," she said, firmly.
Najud eyed her skeptically. "You should use Ellech styles if you like, might be a nice change for you. Might make it easier to work with the Collegium."
She wavered. "Well, maybe—I'll find something I can wear at need. But with my foreign face, I'll never pass for Ellech anyway." Unlike the tall, fair Ellechen people, Penrys was brown of hair and eyes, round of face, and below middle height. The two men with her had the olive skin and loose curly black hair of a typical Zan.
Only Vylkar, just concluding the cargo assignments, looked at home with his tidy graying scholar's beard. He turned now to survey his companions.
"Ready?" he asked.
They added their packs to the cart so they could walk unencumbered beside it. The small piebald cob leaned his shoulders into the load, and the carter clucked encouragingly from his well worn perch behind him.
"Is it far?" Munraz asked. He was tall, for a Zan, and not quite at his full growth yet, but Vylkar topped him by almost a head.
"We'll stop at the trade hall in the central square, up near the bridge, and take rooms nearby for the night. You'll want to see the trade goods properly stowed, too, before looking at what's left of the day's markets."
Vylkar glanced over at Penrys, and added, "You'll find it not too different from Tavnastok, I think."
She shook her head. "In Stokemmi, with no deadline, no errands for others, and my own money in my pocket—I think I'll find it very different indeed." She could feel Najud's amusement through the light link she held with him.
The cartwheels rumbled up the wooden road, adding their bit to the resonant din of all the traffic to and from the wharves. Their own footsteps were drowned out.
The harborside warehouses and trade offices along their route gave way to a sort of seamen's district of rooming houses, taverns, and shops, with open street markets visible down some of the cross streets. The faces on the streets there were of many nations, including the bearded Ellech, but she looked in vain for anyone resembling herself or the Zannib beside her. The smells of the food were of as many nations as the men, and her own stomach made its presence known as she inhaled sharply.
They saved their breath as the street continued to climb, not very steeply, away from the harbor, and gradually the main core of the city began to grow around them like a maturing forest—first the many craft shops, most of them integrated into the first floor of the dwellings they passed, and then some of the craft halls and larger markets. Up ahead, the street opened up even as the buildings gained in height, rising to three and four stories, or even higher. The decorative flourishes carved into the doors were matched by touches of wooden inlay for variety, or even painted color and gilt.
Traffic in both directions was brisk, but no one gave their party much of a look, even with the exotic Zannib robes three of them wore.
Penrys displayed her chain openly. When she'd left Ellech a year and a half ago, she was the only chained wizard anyone knew of—a seemingly unique and local specimen.
That had all changed, drastically. Her chain meant nothing to this crowd, but it was the reason she was here—to chase down a possible lead on who might have been involved in the creation of dozens of wizards like her, chained wizards, from all nations, scattered where they didn't belong about four years ago, with no knowledge of who they'd been before.
Two months of shipboard speculation were past, and now it was time to get to work.
*There are wizards here, lots of them.*
Penrys smiled at Najud's startled thought.
*I warned you. Ellech, land of wizards, they say.*
She spoke aloud. "So many wizards, that most of them earn a living just like any other craft, and the craft is large and varied."
A shop on their left provided her with an example. "See the power-stone on the sign, there, over the door? Cradled between two hands?"
Munraz nodded, conserving his breath for the long uphill walk. They couldn't stop—the horses pulling the wagons behind them couldn't afford to lose their momentum.
"That's a power shop. The wizards there, they recharge power-stones for other people. Power-stones are embedded in all sorts of devices, and non-wizards can't renew the power in them without help. So you can either bring your device here, or someone from the shop will come to you. For regular businesses they set up a schedule."
Vylkar added, "There's a place like this every few blocks, and more in the industrial districts. But once you get out of the cities, well—not many powered devices in use outside a wizard's household. Though that's been changing, over the last several years. More wizards of a middling level getting an education, more power-stones—means more devices and wider usage. No turning back to the old days, I keep telling my colleagues."
He chuckled. "The Kigaliwen are in for a surprise once their new wizard guilds settle down and start becoming productive."
Looking down at Penrys, he said, "I overheard Najud's question. You'll get further with Ellech clothing if you want to do research and interview people. It'll reassure them about your intentions. And your rank—blues, now, mind you. No more greens. First stop," he told her, and turned back to concentrate on the climb.
Blues! Penrys glanced at Vylkar's robes, the dark purple of a senior council member. He'd worn them in Yenit Ping, as a representative of Ellech there, but they'd been packed away for travel until today. The sleeves stopped well short of the wrist, giving free rein to the under-layer, a lightweight wool knit tunic to turn away the spring chill.
The informal robe fell to mid-calf, and hung open for ease of movement, but she'd seen his formal robes before, the floor length belted versions he wore in his official business. Most of the staff at the Collegium wore blues, and the rest of the robes varied between visitors in borrowed greens and students in shades of yellows and reds. Reds for the youngest, the least able to control themselves.
She'd been too old to be classed as a student when Vylkar placed her there, and her mind too blank for wizardry ranking, so Vylkar had argued for greens, during her three-year stay, since she was clearly a wizard of some power, whatever the damage was that stripped her of memory.
Penrys mulled over the statement Vylkar wanted to make with the choice of color. Blues were reserved for wizards as members of their institution, which was in her case the Collegium, where they were bound in a few days. But was she a member? She was committed now to Zannib, with Najud. She was still a visitor, and green made no comment about her rank, other than declaring her beyond her student years.
He knows what he's doing. But do I agree with it? She bit her lip, and watched her footing as the cart creaked beside her.
The street leveled off for a block or so and then opened up ahead. The cob pulling the cart turned left and walked far enough along the edge of the square for the two wagons behind to do the same before all the drivers stopped to let their horses catch their breath from the long climb.
Penrys dodged around the cart to get an unobstructed view of the entire grand plaza, the Stone Square, the center of Stokemmi. It extended for a distance of four blocks on each side, on level ground, across a stone-paved surface. The road from the docks had led them to the middle of the southern side. The far side held institutional buildings she didn't recognize, but on the right, she thought one long colonnaded front might mark the exchange, and on the far left, she saw the blue pennant and second story open porch of the wizards' guild hall, familiar to her as the subject of many illustrations back in the Collegium.
The buildings around the square were of similar heights—four or even five floors high—but at ground level, many were occupied by restaurants and shops, everywhere but the side directly across from her. It was too early for dinner, but she turned her head to seek the appetizing scent of broiled meat somewhere nearby.
Stone buildings were not unknown in Ellech—the Collegium was built of stone, for the greater safety of its books—but the Stone Square and its immediate environs were the greatest concentration of stone-built structures in the country, outside of some of the factories.
After Kigali, I shouldn't be impressed, but for Ellech, this is quite a sight. Penrys noted the massive nature of the stonework, as if the architects hadn't trusted the strength of an unfamiliar material. Where there were arches, they suggested the shapes of tree branches, in ornamentation if not in actual curve. In fact, all the decorative carving used the vocabulary of plants—leaves, flowers, and trees. She realized, looking back, that it had been the same at the Collegium, as though the stone buildings were just forests in a different medium.
In Kigali, they used stone as stone. Here, it's stone as trees. How surprising she'd never noticed it before.
Najud and Munraz joined her, and Vylkar explained the sight to them all. "Across from us are the buildings of the Great Council and the Governor's Seat, the nation's leadership. In the corner, you see the Magistrate's building, for the city of Stokemmi itself."
"We're going to be staying over there"—he waved at the wizard's guild hall—"but first we have to get our goods stowed away. I suggest…" He looked them over and pointed to the left. "Najud, you go with the wagons to the guild warehouse on the west side and make sure everything is done to your liking. I'll take the cart and Munraz with me and arrange for our stay at the guild hall, then we'll come meet you at the warehouse and finish up there."
"You," he said, turning to Penrys, "should go to Redenchek's over there and get your robes. I want you in formal blues tonight for dinner, like any Ellech wizard returned home from her travels." He pointed to a shop at the near end of the left side of the Stone Square, but he hardly needed to. The sign over the door was enough—they were the legendary outfitters for the wizards in the capital. "When you're ready, and not before, you can meet us at the guild hall."
He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her, and she nodded. The gold in her pockets in the form of Kigali coins would be enough, and the exchange was just across the square if they had any reservations about it.
She stepped out of the way of the wagons, and Najud winked at her as he moved off with them. *You sure he was never your father? Acts like one. Why blue?*
She explained, and he rolled his eyes. *Too bad—I liked you in those worn out, ratty old work clothes I met you in. Of course, I like you even better without them on.*
*Stop that! You never know who might be listening.*
He winked at her anyway, and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she stepped away with the cart to accompany Vylkar and Munraz partway down the left side of the Stone Square, until they abandoned her at Redenchek's shop.
"Perhaps a band for the hair in a matching blue?"
The tailor assigned to Penrys gestured to a display of ribbons, but she shook her head, with difficulty restraining her hands from rising to check that her ears remained covered by her shoulder-length hair. The last thing she needed was to expose her dark fur-covered ears, shaped like a fox's. All the chained wizards she'd met had them, and the why was as much of a mystery as the chains themselves.
She was here to follow a trail that might give her some answers, she reminded herself, not to take up some task as a wizard newly come to her blues, preening herself in her new robes.
"No, thank you." She looked over the pile of clothing that had accumulated in the course of the last hour. Both the informal and formal robes had required shortening to accommodate her less-than-Ellech height, but the fit of the layers worn under the robes was straightforward enough. The tunics for working clothes, rightly speaking, should also contain the blue, though it needn't be solid, and they would need to be shortened, as well. Shirts, undergarments, and even shoes presented no difficulties, the latter provided from the separate establishment next door.
"I require both robes and the matching items immediately—I intend to wear them tonight in place of the clothes I entered in." She eyed the discarded Zannib garments with regret. "I can return tomorrow for the rest, and for my original clothing."
"That will take just a few minutes, rerri. Rather than put you to the trouble of returning, shall we deliver it all to you at the guild hall?"
"Delivery would be more convenient—thank you. I'm part of Vylkar's party there."
He nodded and went off to make the arrangements. Penrys walked out of the measuring room in the shirt, sweater, and freshly-hemmed pants of the under-layers, respectably clothed if not presentable without an outer robe. She admired the materials along the walls behind the counters, sorted by the colors of rank—the minutely differentiated student fabrics in their bright yellows, oranges and reds, and the senior ranks, greens, blues, and purples, less varied and more somber.
The blue she'd chosen was dark, rich, and quiet—well within the range of accepted colors—but now her eye was caught by the greens. Most wizards who visited an institution other than their own borrowed its green robes to wear rather instead of going to the expense of buying such infrequently used garments, and so they were characteristically ill-fitting, worn, and mended. Only the traveling scholars who spent their careers visiting one wizard hall or academy after another went to the trouble of purchasing green robes of their own, and then only if they were wealthy, as few of them were. Well-fitting greens were a rare sight. Her own greens at the Collegium had been a trial for her, with temporary hems to shorten them, and plenty of evidence of previous ownership.
Adult wizards in Ellech wore blue—that's just the way it was, unless they were out of place somewhere or officials of some sort encouraged to announce their status with the purple.
It still bothered her. It proclaimed a solidarity with Ellech that she was no longer sure she felt. She agreed with Vylkar's reasoning, but…
When her tailor returned, she waved him over and pointed. "I would also like to look at fabrics for both short and long robes, in that green there, or that other one next to it. And work tunics, too."
I can afford it. No one has to know.
"Think she's still there?"
Najud watched Vylkar's face as they approached the shop he'd sent Penrys to. Amusement flickered over it before he settled on his usual sobriety and replied, "She is in many ways an unusual person, our Penrys, but she is certainly a woman. I will be surprised indeed if she has already left. Entire plays have been written about the donning of one's first blues."
*Ready for us, Pen-sha? We're about to pass the tailor's shop.*
He felt her doing a mental inventory of her possessions and garments. *I'll be right with you. Come on in.*
Vylkar led them in and waved aside the staff who came to assist them. "We're meeting someone," he told them.
Munraz glanced around the place wide-eyed, but Najud only had eyes for his wife, clothed in alien fashion in an informal dark blue robe, like so many of the people on the streets he'd been passing through, almost as though she had suddenly renounced sarq-Zannib and her family. He blinked in momentary uneasiness, until she smiled at him uncertainly.
"What do you think? You should see the long one."
"Like the ocean waves and the peaceful mountains," he said, with a mock bow.
She half-grinned at him, reassured.
Munraz glanced at Najud. "Do we have to dress like that?"
Vylkar commented, dryly, "I would not advise it. Foreign wizards have different customs, as everyone knows. Your best Zannib garments will be very suitable for formal occasions."
Penrys finalized her arrangements with the tailor while Vylkar looked over the display of awards and badges presented on top of the counter nearby. "You are entitled to some of these, you know," he told her. "Travel, scholarship, and so forth. The Collegium seal, for example. Anything we can do to help people understand how to position you is to the good."
"And misleading," she responded. "Compared to this"—she gestured discretely at the chain around her neck—"very little of that matters."
"Nonetheless," Vylkar replied. He lifted out three small badges for the left breast of her robe and fastened them on. All three were silver.
Najud realized that all the wizards they'd seen on the street had something similar on their robes, but he hadn't known how to read the code.
"I know the Kigaliwen run to wax seals and ribbons, but didn't you receive an honor from the emperor?" Vylkar asked.
Penrys snorted. "Don't be ridiculous—it's a great big thing, and gold. No one wears something like that here."
"Not so, young Penrys. You've just never seen one—how many wizards of Ellech do you know outside the Collegium?" He turned to the tailor who was following the conversation. "Whom do you recommend to produce a badge version of a foreign honor?"
"We can arrange that for you, raer."
Vylkar nodded. "Send someone to our rooms at the guild hall, and we will show him the original—I assume it's in your packs, Penrys? Warn him that we may be leaving as soon as the day after tomorrow, so the sooner the better. If it could be completed before dinner this evening, impossible as that sounds…"
"Someone can be with you in an hour, if that will be convenient. With tools and materials."
"That will do very well," Vylkar said. "We'll expect someone then."
Najud marveled at witnessing Vylkar in his element. Under his imperious gaze, the transactions were concluded and the four of them back on the street almost before he could take a breath.
He shared a look with Penrys. *Impressive. Is he always like that?*
*Don't know, Naj-sha. I've rarely seen him in this mode either.*
Vylkar glanced at them both as if he'd overheard. "Money speaks, as they say. Might as well get what you want, eh?"
"True enough," Najud answered.
They strolled down the west side of the Stone Square on the way to the guild hall, taking their time and exploring the windows of the shops. After the fourth shop, Penrys noticed Munraz lagging behind, rapt by one particular display. She went back to see why, and to hasten him along. Plenty of time tomorrow for shopping.
She smiled to herself when she saw what it was—a supplier of power-stones, devices large and small, and shelves of pamphlets and books. They may not use devices in sarq-Zannib, but that doesn't mean it isn't startling to see the things for sale out in the open, like so many lamps. It's a veritable wizard shop to him.
Vylkar looked back to see what had detained them. "You wouldn't want to buy anything in a rystet like that —too expensive. I can show you better places later, outside of the main district."
Munraz shot him a look of disappointment, and Penrys was surprised to see Vylkar relent, returning with Najud so they could all enter the shop. Munraz and Najud went first, and Penrys could almost hear the proprietor size them up as foreigners and dismiss them, puzzled at their presence.
The appearance of a blue-robe and a purple-robe behind them was another matter, and Penrys saw the shopkeeper's eyes travel first to Vylkar, as the more important, and then to her. When he caught sight of her chain, his eyes widened, and he started to speak, but then he raised them to her face and stuttered to a stop, puzzled.
What was that about? I should pin him to the spot and have it out of him. She glanced sideways at Vylkar and he shook his head almost imperceptibly.
But he knows something, he's seen a chain before. This isn't something from a generation ago—it's now, today!
She seethed in frustration but consoled herself with the thought that she could always come back later to interrogate the man.
Her fingers itching to grab for the fellow, she walked past him and joined Munraz. She showed him some of the devices, explaining what they did and how they worked. The power-stones themselves were laid out under glass on the counter, sorted and graded.
When she glanced over at Najud, she saw that the posted prices were a revelation to him, his trader's mind quickly estimating the value of the pouch of power-stones still in their possession.
I told you what they were worth, Naj-sha. She'd share the thought with him after they were out of this place, when no one could overhear them. She could still feel the shopkeeper's eyes on her. Did Najud even notice?
The proprietor joined Penrys and Munraz and casually answered their questions about devices Penrys didn't recognize, as though nothing had happened when they first walked in.
Vylkar kept his thoughts to himself while they waited. "We haven't much time, Munraz. We can return tomorrow, if you wish."
"Oh. I'm sorry, rair— I just hadn't expected a place like this." Munraz drew back from a magnifying device reluctantly. "I didn't mean to delay us."
"No harm done."
Vylkar looked directly at the shopkeeper. "Thank you for your attention."
And try as hard as she might, Penrys couldn't decide if she heard an edge to that remark or not.
"I didn't think you even saw it! And how could you set Munraz on his trail? He'll stand out like a rooster in a flock of geese."
Penrys paced the common room of their suite at the guild hall, tracing a path between the backs of the chairs and the open window. Najud and Vylkar twisted their necks to follow her from their seats, and the leather creaked as their bodies moved.
Najud raised a hand to slow her down. "What did you think, you could just pry it out of him? In civilized Stokemmi?"
He glanced over at Vylkar for assistance. "He was a wizard himself, yes?"
Vylkar nodded. "He would have to be, to demonstrate his wares."
"He wore blue robes," Najud said.
"Anyone can wear the robes," Penrys said as she changed direction again. "People have been known to bluff. But Vylkar's right—he was surely a wizard."
"He recognized the chain. I'm sure of it." Najud repeated. "He started to say something about it. What I don't understand is why he stopped."
"Because he didn't recognize the wearer. In fact, I think the fact it wasn't an Ellech face is why he was puzzled." Vylkar's tone carried certainty.
"So, he knows other chained wizards, eh? And maybe they all have Ellechen faces." Penrys whirled to face Vylkar. "And are they the few you found already in Ellech, of various nations, that you reported on in Yenit Ping, or something else?"
Vylkar shook his head. "We found none alive, except you."
Najud followed her speculation. "You think they have something to do with the makers you're looking for?"
"I don't know!"
He could hear her frustration. He pictured the two of them each holding an ankle and dangling the shopkeeper from the roof of his building, then he showed it to her. *This more what you had in mind?*
She gave an involuntary chuckle. "If only we could do that, Naj-sha."
It worked—finally she stopped pacing and sat down in one of the padded chairs. "This is real, then. He knows something, so there's something to know. Something that's not a generation old."
"More to the point," Najud said, "we should find out what he's going to do about it, if anything. If you scare him off, you may learn nothing. If he tells someone, that gives us another name. That's why I set Munraz on him, for an hour or two—to watch what he does next."
He hadn't liked setting his nal-jarghal loose in a strange place where he would be noticeable, but he hoped his youth and obvious visitor status would allay any more sinister suspicions if he were noticed.
"And does this shopkeeper have any connection with Gialfinnur and his possible sect?" Vylkar's deep voice quieted them all for a moment. "I don't see how, but then we're just starting to look."
A knock on the door of the suite interrupted them, and Vylkar opened the door to a strange woman in wizard blues carrying a rectangular case in one hand. She inclined her head, exposing hair more gray than blond.
"I am seeking Vylkar. I'm Syrlyggi, sent by Redenchek to create a badge…"
At Vylkar's nod of comprehension, she walked in far enough to clear the door and set the case down as though it were heavy.
Najud nodded to himself. The tools of her trade, and perhaps a bit of precious metal, too. No guard—but then a wizard is her own protection, I suppose. I'll have to ask Vylkar how armed robbery works in a society with so many wizards around. Or maybe those badges over her breast say something that warns others away.
"You can set up over here, rerri," Najud told her, waving her over to a table near the window that seemed to be the best height for her sort of work.
Penrys reappeared from their shared room with a velvet pouch and laid it on the table while the goldsmith opened her case and took out magnifying devices and a small balance scale, as well as a soft green felt cloth.
Clearing her throat, Penrys waved at the pouch diffidently. "This was from the Emperor of Kigali."
The goldsmith's eyes widened in spite of her urbane professionalism, and she reached for it. She drew out the square gold plaque almost the size of her palm and laid it on the felt. "Are there any documents that come with it?" she asked, her eyes never moving from their examination of the piece.
This time Najud accompanied Penrys to their room and rummaged in his pack for a small scroll encased in a leather pouch while Penrys did her own document search.
When they returned, Penrys laid out a fat paper scroll, heavy with the weight of wax and gaudy with yellow ribbons and the red chop of the emperor. Syrlyggi unrolled it and looked up puzzled. "I cannot read this, rerri."
Vylkar recited its contents from memory, in Kigali yat. "To Sar Luplen, the foreigner Penrys of sarq-Zannib and Ellech, the thanks of the Emperor Ki Sechat for services to the Kigali Nation." He walked over to the goldsmith and repeated it in Ellechen guma. Then he leaned over her and pointed to the individual characters on the gold plaque that signified the key names.
"I believe this may be the first time that a foreigner has ever received this particular honor," he told her. "The Kigaliwen consider such a thing an heirloom of their house, earned by a famous ancestor, and boast of it hundreds of years later. It becomes part of their family emblems, to distinguish their house."
Penrys had retreated out of embarrassment, and Najud took her place. He laid down the small scroll he carried. "I don't know if you've seen this one, Vylkar. This was after the Voice was destroyed. It was presented by Chang Zenju, the commander of the military expedition where Penrys and I served. It's a small thing, but I wondered if you thought it should be represented."
He read the words and translated them for the goldsmith. The scroll's simple acknowledgment of assistance, made on the behalf of the emperor by one of his military officers to two foreign wizards, from a nation which did not at the time officially recognize that it had wizards of its own, presented a puzzle.
Syrlyggi recovered from her surprise and ventured an opinion. "These are both proper honors to display, foreign though they are. The first one is, of course, the more important and should be represented at the largest size appropriate to an honor not of Ellech. The second would be more modest, but still a separate and worthy honor."
She glanced at Najud, in his Zannib robes. "I see it bears both your names. Do you wish for your own badge?"
Smiling, he shook his head. "That's no part of our Zannib traditions. Just the ones for Penrys, suitable for Ellech."
After some discussion, they settled on an appropriate design for both. The larger honor would be in the form of crossed Kigali-style swords, since the service rendered included physical battle, even if most of it was magical in nature. It would include the characters for the Kigali Emperor's name, and any decorative touches would complement the foreign style. All in gold, of course, to match the original plaque.
For the minor honor, they agreed that silver was more appropriate. At Najud's request, the design included the hand-axe used to kill the Voice, the chained wizard eliminated by Penrys at such cost.
"Too bad you've nothing to show for your defeat of the qahulajti in sarq-Zannib," he said to Penrys.
She glared at him. "Just as well. It's nothing to boast of."
Najud shook his head. "You're wrong. Think of all the lives saved."
"I'd never be able to look at it without thinking of that poor girl. The last thing I want to do is keep count…"
She broke off, conscious of the stranger in the room with them, but Najud knew how to complete the phrase—"count of the dead."
Syrlyggi followed their conversation without interruption, but when they paused, she ventured, "If I may… I see you are of foreign birth and perhaps you are not aware… When wearing your wizard's robe and Ellech honors, it is not customary to distract from them with jewelry, other than of the most discreet variety. Your necklace…"
Despite herself, Penrys stiffened, and Najud watched as she made herself relax. "It doesn't come off, I'm afraid. Would you recommend I conceal it behind a piece of cloth, or would that be just as incongruous?"
"Ah, I see… Well, in that case, please forget my words. It's always better to present yourself when in formal robes in your truest form, without concealment."
Najud wondered what she would make of the wings. He caught Penrys's eye and thought she might be considering the same thing.
The goldsmith worked on a piece of paper for a few moments and then laid down her quill. "For the design work, the materials, and the making of the badges, here is my charge. For the registration of the new honors with the heraldry guild, and for the special urgency, this additional amount."
She looked uncertainly between Vylkar and Penrys, and Vylkar took charge. "This is for me to pay. You may lay it to my account with the wizard guild—half now, and half upon delivery, if that suits you."
"If you will so indicate here, that will be satisfactory. Since I expect to stay here and deliver within two hours, I see no need to delay by taking the first payment in advance. Your name is known."
Vylkar acknowledged her courtesy. "May we offer you a place to get started, or will this arrangement do?"
"Any private room with an appropriate table will be fine."
"Munraz is still out," Najud said. "Let's put her in his room. If he comes back too soon, we'll work around it."
"How long before we have to show ourselves at dinner?" Penrys asked.
"Two hours, Pen-sha," Najud told her. "Just enough time."
"Please, raer, would it be possible to see how it works?"
Munraz concentrated on making his demeanor seem younger, rounding his eyes to convey guilelessness. He thought it helped to be beardless—young men his age here were all bearded, as best they could manage.
"And what does a Zannib youngster want with my signals tower?"
The middle-aged man, unremarkable except for his butter-yellow beard that was trimmed to the level of his collarbone, stood at the door of the westernmost of the four wooden towers at the top of the city's hill. A steady stream of foot traffic passed them by in the warrens surrounding the cluster of buildings, the tallest ones in the middle, five stories high, and the rest of varying heights in loose rings around them.
It looked as if the clerk who had opened the door to Munraz's knock had fetched the master of the tower, and Munraz bowed his best elaborate Zannib greeting.
"My apologies, most esteemed raer, but my master and I are newly arrived in Ellech, and he wanted me to study how things are done here. He's a wizard, you understand. It was my idea to begin with these magnificent structures, but I had no intention to disturb a man such as you in your daily activities. I apologize."
There. That would never work in sarq-Zannib, but maybe here, if he looked really young, and foreign… That shopkeeper, the one who'd stared at Penrys's chain, had come here in haste and left more calmly, as if he'd taken care of a problem, and this was the only way Munraz could think of to find out what he'd done.
"Hmmph. Off to the Collegium, I shouldn't wonder." The man fingered his beard. "Educating foreigners now, are we?" He studied Munraz's robe and the simple turban that surmounted it.
Now would not be the time for any of the small sharp items secreted in my anah-im-ghabr to suddenly poke out from the folds. Munraz's fingers crept surreptitiously to the pouch at his belt and felt the outline of his lud for what luck it might bring him. He'd stumbled upon the small stone in the tunnels under the upper city of Yenit Ping, the Kigali capital, and it had seemed meant for him, as a lud does, but it was chancy to rely on that.
The man pulled the door wide, and waved Munraz in. A counter stood to his left in the small anteroom with benches, and the clerk who had opened the door to him in the first place stood nervously behind it, watching them. The master yanked open the heavy door at the far end of the room and bellowed into it. "Gechendair! Spend a few minutes showing our visitor around, eh?"
Munraz followed him into a large workroom at the base of the tower. Shelves with boxes and labels filled the walls, and his eyes sorted the bustle of activity into young men and a few women working at the narrowly-spaced tables throughout the room with stacks of paper sheets, quills and ink, and long, thin strips of paper. The center of the room was blocked by some sort of complicated column, and Munraz noticed the start of a staircase at its base.
The young man who raised his head near the front of the room waved a hand in acknowledgment and unfolded himself from his work at a table. Munraz turned to the tower master and bowed again. "My thanks to you, raer, and I will try not to be a disruption to you."
He grunted. "It's just as well for foreigners to get an idea of how we Ellechen taurath manage things, I suppose. Don't take up too much of his time, now."
He stalked off and made his way to the right of the room, where Munraz saw a group of doorways with windows to view the activity in the central space. A supervisor's room. Must be complicated, this work they do here.
"You're a Zan, aren't you? I'm one of the signals clerks."
Munraz turned to look at his guide and then tilted his head back. Younger than me, even with that little yellow beard he's got, but does that mean he's going to be even taller when he stops growing?
He bowed anyway, deadpan. "I am indeed. My name's Munraz, apprentice to Najud, come to visit the Collegium. My master has told me to find out more about how things are done in Ellech, so… what do you do here? How does it work?"
"Oh! You're a wizard, then? I guess they don't wear the colors where you come from."
Munraz pictured himself in the yellow robes of a student and was grateful for his familiar clothing. He waved a hand at himself. "No, as you see."
Gechendair glanced at the closed door where his master had vanished. "What we do… we send messages, all around the country."
Munraz blinked. Could he find the shopkeeper's message? "We don't have anything like this in sarq-Zannib. Can you show me?"
"Sure. Follow me."
Munraz tried not to feel that he was scurrying to keep up with those long legs as the two of them headed for the central column.
"Up to the top." Gechendair grinned, and opened a door next to the stairs to reveal a small cubicle, large enough to hold four people, illuminated by a device embedded in the ceiling. He waved Munraz in to join him and shut the door, while Munraz tried not to panic in the small space. Still grinning, Gechendair yanked the top lever of four next to the door, and the tiny room jerked and began moving.
"First time in an ossanutkenbendu? Thought it might be."
Munraz swallowed and refused to let his reaction show on his face. This is like the lift cages in Yenit Ping, he told himself, only much, much smaller.
His dignified silence apparently abashed his guide to some degree, for a note of apology crept into his voice. "Don't worry—only the best lifters for the signals tower. The hortkendrosi look them over every week." At Munraz's blank look, he added, "The wizards, the ones that check and inspect all the devices and keep 'em powered."
Munraz looked for power-stones, now that his fear was subsiding. Penrys had showed him how they felt, and now he recognized them, first in the ceiling device that provided light, and then in the levers. Floors—they must indicate what floor to lift this little room to. But they seem like small devices. How could they do all that work?
He forced his body to relax. "Yes, my first time. What pulls this little room up?" He kept his voice friendly, the good-natured recipient of a joke.
"Oh, there's a device at the top that turns a wheel attached to a rope, and the controls here tell it how far. We're lucky to be one of the long-distance towers—the shorter ones don't have this luxury. Stair-climbing all the time for them."
The room stopped moving, and Gechendair opened the door. "Top of the tower," he announced.
When Munraz followed him out, he was confronted by a noisy clacking sound. Before he could pinpoint it, Gechendair dragged him over to one of the windows that penetrated each of the four sides of the room. "How do you like this?"
They faced west, where no other buildings restricted their view at that height, though others almost as tall ringed them. Before them, the land dropped off rapidly to the river, and Munraz could see the concentrations of structures across the water, and boat traffic, but no bridges.
He walked over to the north windows, and looked past the great tower there which partially blocked it. The city continued, and then the land rolled out beyond it, a mixture of fields and forests. "Can you see the big mountains from here?" he asked.
"What, the Dunnarfeol? Much too far away," Gechendair replied. "It's the south tower that gets most of the visitors—they want to see the harbor."
Munraz turned away and looked for the source of the noise. There were two complex machines, one above the other, and strips of paper.
"This one sends." Gechendair patted the bottom one. "And this one receives. We're getting a message now. Come see."
Munraz felt a cluster of power-stones in the two devices, both large and small ones. These must be very expensive devices. Everything in this building must be very costly, and there are how many buildings like this, clustered on this hill?
This is as big an investment, in its way, as the places where they forge metal in Yenit Ping. Do we have anything like this in sarq-Zannib? I'll have to ask Najud.
Meanwhile, his guide was explaining things. "We get the messages from the distant west—the lower buildings below us get the more local traffic. If you were already at the Collegium, your message would come in here." He grinned at Munraz.
"The scriber marks it on this double strip of paper, see? The first part is the destination tower and priority, then the person it should go to, and where, and then the person sending. The rest is the message itself, and this little bit here marks the end so you know you've gotten the whole thing."
To Munraz's eyes, these were holes punched in the paper grouped in little clusters of nine, with the center hole always punched and larger than the rest in its cluster, while some of the other eight holes were punched and some were not. He could see that each cluster was different from its neighbor. "You can read this?"
"That's what we do all day." He lifted the upper strip which was loose at the end and accumulated in an open wooden bucket—the lower strip was wound up slowly on a wheel, kept aligned by a ratchet through the large center holes. "This one is for some woman at the Stumbling Man, from some man, about a shipment of brandy being delayed."
He let the paper strip drop. "They swap buckets every few minutes, cut the rekenponkenkiemmenbar—we call it a ponka— into individual messages, sort them by priority, and send them downstairs. We use the tubes for that." He pointed at the central column, and Munraz saw the buckets of empty colored capsules and an opening they would fit into. A woman sat there and spun paper strips into tight inserts for the capsules, then dropped them through the opening.
"The daily wheels are saved for a week, in case there're any questions."
A man brushed by them and perched in front of the lower device with a punched strip of paper. He carefully fed it in, and beside him, another strip copied it and accumulated around a wheel. His beard was neatly trimmed, and Munraz realized he had seen nothing but short beards on the men in the building. I guess you wouldn't want to catch one in the moving machines.
"Now he's sending a message. If you walked in downstairs, you'd write your message on a piece of paper and pay the fee. The clerk would send it back to us, and we'd use a different device to transcribe it onto a ponka. That comes up here, and it gets sent."
"What happens if two messages are sent to you at the same time? From different towers?"
"The competing strip won't advance past the tower name, and the sending tower will just have to try again later. Sometimes they can send to another tower and relay it, if it's a long delay—a broken receiver, say. Last year there was a fire which damaged a tower and they had to route around it for weeks."
The shopkeeper's message is around here somewhere, but how would I find it?
"What happens to the original message?" Munraz said.
"We keep the message sheet, and a wheel for messages sent and received, so we can tell if a message was never sent. Some people pay more to get an official receipt from the other tower, when it's important."
Gechendair looked at Munraz cheerfully. "You going to study this at the Collegium?"
"I'm thinking about it. I've never seen such a complicated combination of devices before." This was no deception. There was something about the designed nature of the system that fascinated Munraz, the creation of something that had never existed before. Like Najud's planned caravan in the west… No wonder it appealed to his jarghal, fond as he was of organizing people. This added devices to the mix, and Najud would never do that. The Zannib with their prohibition against physical magic would never permit it. Too bad.
"Can I see how the original messages are stored, just so I can get a clear picture of it in my head when I report back to my master?"
'Of course! Follow me."
The little lifting room was in use, so they clattered down the stairs instead. Munraz wondered what he was missing on the intermediate floors but couldn't think of a way to ask.
At the bottom, Gechendair led the way to a set of painted bins with individual sheets thrown haphazardly in. "The bins in front hold the messages from the senders, sorted by priority. One of us goes over and takes the oldest message with the highest priority—those are the ones in the red bin there— and makes a ponka for it. We send that upstairs, and then put the original message into the bin in back. Every time that fills up, someone swaps it out for an empty one, and we stash it over there." He pointed at shelving that held a dozen bins in four colors. "That's the traffic for a day. Someone compares it to the sent-message wheel each day to make sure they're all accounted for, then they sit over there for a week before we discard them." He waved over at bundles tied with string on a different set of shelves.
Munraz watched the process. The bins not yet sent were almost empty, so the message form he wanted was probably in the bin in back, already sent. He strode there casually and poked around the slips of paper, but nothing caught his eye until he noticed one near the top. "That doesn't make any sense."
Gechendair leaned over him to see what he was talking about. "Oh, one of those." He plucked it out of Munraz's hand. "That's in code, you see. Merchants with secrets, sometimes government stuff. They're a nuisance to transcribe—you have to be very careful to get them right. And look, see the destination? It gives the tower name and then says 'Relay 1139.' That's the big central tower for the west, and they'll look that number up and forward the message according to instructions. Even the sender's name looks like code, doesn't it?"
A dead end. Munraz's heart sank. He ran his eye over the room full of chattering voices and busy hands. The ingenuity that put all of this together supported even more ingenuity that obscured the information he wanted. Clever systems and devious minds.
To read more, look for On a Crooked Track from your favorite retailers.


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Die Zentralstelle für den deutschsprachigen Chorgesang in der Welt ist eine von der Stadt Solingen betriebene Kultureinrichtung, die gemäß ihrer Satzung das Bestreben verfolgt, den Chorgesang zu fördern sowie ideell und materiell zu unterstützen. Sie fungiert als Bindeglied zwischen deutschen und deutschsprachigen Chören im Ausland und verfügt überdies über umfangreiches Notenmaterial, das sie archiviert. Die bundesweit einmalige Einrichtung ist der Musikschule Solingen angegliedert und unterhält Beziehungen zu knapp 600 Chören auf allen Kontinenten, schwerpunktmäßig jedoch in Übersee.

Geschichte

Die Zentralstelle Chorgesang wurde im Jahr 1976 gegründet. Intention war es, der historischen Bedeutung des Chorgesangs in der Stadt Solingen, in der es unter anderem den ältesten profanen Männerchor Deutschlands gibt, Ausdruck zu verleihen. Auslöser der Idee war der damalige Leiter der Deutschen Welle, Werner Bader, der dem seinerzeitigen Bundespräsidenten und gebürtigen Solinger Walter Scheel vorschlug, eine weltweit wirkende Chorzentrale in Solingen zu etablieren. Als repräsentativer Standort wurde 1979 das historische Haus Kirschheide im Stadtteil Höhscheid gewählt, nachdem es grundlegend saniert worden war. Seit Herbst 1977 ist die Chorzentrale mit 1,5 Stellen personell besetzt.

Auf Anregung der Kreis-Sängervereinigung Solingen gründete sich 1996 zur Sicherung des Fortbestandes der Chorzentrale ein Förderverein.

Nach zahlreichen Sparbemühungen der Stadt Solingen sollte aufgrund der seit Jahrzehnten angespannten Haushaltslage auch an der Zentralstelle Chorgesang gespart werden. Doch anstatt diese zu schließen, wurde die Kultureinrichtung nach dem Ausscheiden des langjährigen Leiters Ulrich Renner im Jahre 2008 der städtischen Musikschule angegliedert und nutzt seither deren räumliche und personelle Ressourcen an der Flurstraße in der Innenstadt, in Teilen der Werkshallen der Firma Egon Evertz. Die Chorzentrale war jedoch bereits seit 2004 räumlich mit der Solinger Musikschule zusammengelegt worden. Deren Leiter, Ulrich Eick-Kerssenbrock, leitete daher in Personalunion bis zu seinem Tod im Jahre 2017 auch die Zentralstelle Chorgesang.

Aufgaben
Zu den diversen Aufgaben der Chorzentrale zählen vor allem:
 zentrale Anlaufstelle für deutschsprachige Chöre im Ausland
 Koordination von Auslandsreisen und Auftritten ausländischer Chöre in Deutschland
 Organisation von Fortbildungen für Chorleiter
 Archivierung von Notenbeständen
 Organisation des Internationalen Chorfestivals Solingen

Weblinks
 Offizielle Webseite der Zentralstelle Chorgesang auf zentralstelle-chorgesang-solingen.de

Quellen

Kultur (Solingen)
Gegründet 1976
Chorverband
Kulturelle Organisation (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
Organisation (deutsche Sprache)
Organisation (Solingen)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Banksia xylothemelia är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som först beskrevs av Alexander Segger George, och fick sitt nu gällande namn av A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele. Banksia xylothemelia ingår i släktet Banksia och familjen Proteaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Externa länkar

Proteaordningen
xylothemelia


If there were any doubts that Pinterest is a full-grown social network, they have now been erased. Soon we will be seeing ads incorporated into the current format.
Pinterest CEO and Co-Founder Ben Silbermann walked his user base through the upcoming changes and ad incorporation on Pinterest in a blog post yesterday– and a pretty darn heartfelt one at that. He laid out four aspects to assure users that the monetization on Pinterest won't be its downfall.
Pinterest ads will be tasteful – not eyesores that pop-up and cover your content. They will be transparent – so users are clear about which pins are promoted. They will be relevant to the tastes of different users, and they will be targeted based on user feedback.
Wedding boards are some of the most common creations found on Pinterest, so in the spirit of pinning, here's my breakdown of the four parts – bride style.
Facebook started out with banner ads but has been moving more and more into content delivery with sponsored stories. Brands want users to interact with their content, not just lay eyes on it, hence the transition. Also, the growing popularity of ad blockers and increased banner blindness is paving the way to more native advertising.
If Pinterest wants to roll out ads the right way, they will pin relevant content for the users, not just ads served up to the highest bidder.
This concept isn't exactly new, but it's something that many social networks and websites grasp at straws to figure out. Hulu tries to ask whether users like or dislike certain ads, but rarely does anything with the information.
If Pinterst wants sponsored pins to be welcomed with open arms, give the power to the people and let them decide what works and what doesn't.
Pinterest should borrow from Tumblr when looking to incorporate ads into its interface. Yes, I was singing the same tune last week when Instagram announced that it was coming of age and working on ads, but that's because Tumblr has a subtle and successful ad experience. The promoted posts are few and far between, and usually have interesting and unique content. What more could users want out of paid ads?
Social networks want to make ads and sponsored stories look as close to organic content as possible. The FTC on the other hand wants brands to clearly and prominently label anything that was posted for money.
Pinterest doesn't really have much of a choice in this aspect, but if the ads are something users are engaged with, then they won't mind the labeling.
Pinterest has been able to sit back and watch the other major social networks get their ad bearings, and now it gets to be the bride. The main theme through all four of these concepts is intriguing content in the sponsored pins. The success or failure of these posts depends on the content that Pinterest is promoting.


One of the most talented winemakers I've had the pleasure to meet is James Cahill of Oregon's Soter Vineyards. If you haven't tried Soter wines yet, it's time to do so.
You'll be able to do that at next week's Soter Vineyards Winemaker Dinner: Tuesday, August 18th at BTG Wine Bar.
James Cahill will be in attendance and will guide attendees through a tasting of Soter Mineral Springs Ranch Brut Rose 2010 (hand-riddled by James and his team); Planet Oregon 2014 Chardonnay (a just-released project, certified organic and sustainable); North Valley 2012 Pinot Noir (an artisan blend from the sub-appellations of the Willamette Valley; and Soter Mineral Springs "White Label" 2009 Pinot Noir (the crown jewel of Soter Vineyards).
The cost for dinner is $26, plus $30 for the optional wine pairings.


Needz Writing Iconz - Ramblings of Mad Shutterbug & the Border Collie Bros.
Which is in progress, but not done yet.
I found the old story manuscript files I was looking for. Backed up in PKZip files, on ZipDrive disks.
I think you should post it. But yeah, maybe next month.


text:
No party is ruling or opposition when it comes to country prosperity: PM Oli
Kathmandu, March 11
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today said that there is nothing like a ruling party or opposition when it comes to the nation's prosperity.
"National development campaign does not belong to only ruling party, but it is a common journey. The campaign maybe led by the ruling party or me in the capacity of Prime Minister," he said while addressing today's parliamentary meeting.
"We want peace, stability and development. We can involve in a dispute as ruling party and opposition. But we cannot enjoy this facility as ruling party or opposition at this point of time. We should cooperate with each other."
He also expressed his commitment to become a server for the people as the PM.
"I am not a PM only for PM nor was I elected to commit corruption. I will serve for the people, and will treat all the same," he said.
He pledged to work for the welfare and aspiration of the people, while stressing the need for developing agriculture, trade, energy, and foreign aids for creating the base for the prosperity of the country.
The Prime Minister also expressed hope that all parliament members would give him the vote of confidence.
Saying that the CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) have expressed commitment to the country and the people with electoral alliance, he said that his government would be accountable towards international community and expressed the determination to implement the issues mentioned in the common election manifesto.
The Prime Minister said that they would pay attention in making positive changes in people's life, institutionalizing democracy along with socio-economic rights and respecting people's devotion and faith.
He also expressed belief that they would move ahead to a journey to identify the path of economic prosperity along with social harmony by ending discrimination.
English सम्बन्धित
Serious Review On Real Democracy Should Be Done At The December Summit
Journalists In Bhaktapur Receives both doses of the Chinese vaccine Verocell
Chinese Democracy Develops Living Standard
Exemplary work of young leader Bala
Alzheimer's disease treatment service now at Bhaktapur Hospital
Terrible accident in Bhaktapur


Sandi is a Partner and Creative at TNKR Design. She specializes in art direction, illustration, packaging, and social media strategy. Sandi spends her spare time outside exploring and trying desperately to become an amateur Botanist.


"I was introduced to the concept of graphic facilitation many years ago through the use of PATHS and MAPS with individuals who have disabilities and their support networks. Through this work, I gained a sense of both the practicality of this modality as well as the 'magical' side of working visually, which whetted my appetite for more knowledge and skills.
As a process professional and light worker that supports individuals, groups and families, I was eager to find someone who could teach this approach in more depth, help me to understand where the magic in visual work lies and show me how to intentionally bring it forward. Living in central Canada, I began my search for a course to improve my graphic facilitation skills that was accessible online and found Christina! I began working with Christina through her Fundamentals of Working Visually course and immediately found a kindred spirit. I have since gleefully run the gamut of her offerings, making my way through her online Shift-It course, Visual Coaching Certification and Practical Energy Work. I am currently winding my way through the Business Essentials for Process Professionals Home Study course.
Christina brings a unique mix of skill, knowledge and deep wisdom to her teaching and coaching that can only be offered by someone who has done significant process, growth and healing work for themselves. She continues to courageously walk the path of her own inner and outer work and deeply understands the vulnerability, strength and gifting that lies within each person she works with.


Marlborough – Meredith L. Matz, 39, of Marlborough, beloved daughter of Leonard and Marilyn and sister of Michelle, passed away suddenly Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014.
She was born in Buffalo, N.Y. and was a 1993 graduate of Williamsville North High School where she was president of the Vocal Music Department, vice-president of the National Honor Society, and a member of the Science Olympiad Team. She received her bachelor's degree in 1998 from Beloit College in Chemistry and Physical Anthropology.
She was a principal analyst at Genzyme and had worked there for the past 14 years.
Meredith lived in Europe as a child, and in recent years traveled around the country and world with her roommate, Jennifer Strand, where she kayaked, hiked, and snowshoed. She cherished her cats, Cleo and Sam, and was a voracious reader, lifelong student, lover of all things science fiction, and an amazing cook.
She is survived by her parents, Dr. Leonard L. and Marilyn J. Matz of Appleton, N.Y.; her sister, Michelle (Matz) Wartak and husband Martin of Cambridge; her paternal grandmother, Ruby Matz, of Lac du Flambeau, Wis.; and six aunts and uncles, Karen and Dean Ferguson, Gary and Theresa Jones, Dennis and Ann Matz, Eric and Betsy Matz, Peter and Ann Matz, and Timothy and Ellen Matz, as well as 18 cousins.
Meredith will be dearly missed by her family and friends, and remembered for her wonderful smile, quick wit, kindheartedness, and love of nature.
A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m., at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Dr., Boylston, with visitation from 1-3 p.m. Her funeral service will be held Saturday, Nov. 8, at 10:30 a.m., at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 7147 Ridge Rd., Lockport, N.Y., where she was a cantor, with visitation prior to the service at 10 a.m. She will be buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Arbor Vitae, Wis., following a brief service at Nimsgern Funeral Home, Woodruff, Wis.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Meredith can be made to Sterling Animal Shelter (http://www.sterlingshelter.org), 17 Laurelwood Rd., Sterling, MA 01564.


text:
~topic_facet:"Physics" ~topic_facet:"Mechanical Engineering" ~publisher_txtF:"Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Chemistry, CAS, co-published with Springer" ~publisher_txtF:"The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-published with Springer" ~genre_facet:"hybrid OA" ~source_txtF:"Springer"
Acta Mechanica Sinica
The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-published with Springer
Chinese Journal of Polymer Science
Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Chemistry, CAS, co-published with Springer
Subject: Physics OR Subject: Mechanical Engineering Publisher: Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Chemistry, CAS, co-published with Springer OR Publisher: The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-published with Springer OA Type: hybrid OA Data Source: Springer
Mechanical Engineering Physics 1 Chemistry and Pharmacology
184 Springer 7 Birkhäuser 5 Science Press, co-published with Springer 3 Higher Education Press, co-published with Springer 3 Shanghai University, co-published with Springer 3 Tsinghua University Press, co-published with Springer more ... 2 Korean Society for Precision Engineering, co-published with Springer 2 Science China Press, co-published with Springer 1 Akadémiai Kiadó, co-published with Springer Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Chemistry, CAS, co-published with Springer 1 Chinese Geophysical Society, co-published with Springer 1 Chinese Ocean Engineering Society, co-published with Springer 1 Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-published with Springer 1 International Society for Nanomanufacturing and Tianjin University, co-published with Springer 1 Korean Meteorological Society, co-published with Springer 1 Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers, co-published with Springer 1 Korean Society of Rheology, Australian Society of Rheology, co-published with Springer 1 Nonferrous Metals Society of China, co-published with Springer 1 Springer Nature 1 The Chinese Society for Metals, co-published with Springer 1 The Chinese Society of Oceanography, co-published with Springer The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-published with Springer 1 The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials, co-published with Springer 1 The Korean Physical Society, co-published with Springer 1 The Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences, co-published with Springer 1 University of Science and Technology Beijing, co-published with Springer 1 Zhejiang University Press, co-published with Springer see all ... less ...


On being a villain, the 80s, and gay culture becoming normal....aka The only things im interested in talking about.
In the 80s before "gay" was allowed to exist openly it could actually display itself FAR MORE explicitly and creatively than today. Villains were almost always "gay" by todays standards because being a villain gave them license to not be bound by the cultural norms which allows for extravagance, eroticism, asymmetry. With no gay culture being recognized things could go elbow deep into GAYWORLD because it didnt represent anything "real" because gay culture didnt "exist" openly. Its why when you look back at the 80s they seem 10 times more gay then today, because THEY WERE and THEY WERENT AT ALL. Today you could never have He-Man and the Masters of the Universe because everyone is now aware of gay culture and nothing is subversive. Now if something is even slightly gay that person is CLEARLY gay. There is a culture existence to reference that cant be denied. Where as then you werent gay unless you said you were gay. There was kind of "no proof", you could just be "eccentric" because EVERYONE was eccentric when no out gay culture existed. Now all you have to do is glance in a particular direction and the entire world knows youre gay, who youve fucked, and your moms friend at work is sending you an email on Facebook that she supports you and your choices. Im very happy I had my formative years in that era because I feel like baby gays today didnt get to see all the fun stuff and dont get to have the cloak of mystery we got as kids in the eighties. We were sort of more free in a way. Now if a kid is gay hes allowed to exist openly (hopefully) but that openness doesnt make for very subversive behavior and that need to be clever or dramatic or unique about your identity and that is what builds a creative mind and an interesting person, but then again it also make for a paranoid one potentially.
You are so "right on."
"Gay culture becoming normal?" Might you happen to have any thoughts about HBO's "Looking?"
No TV?!!!! How are you going to watch Drag Race??!!!!!


text:
NOWCAST 16 WAPT News at 6am
Coast guard rescues man, dog from Barry
The U.S. Coast Guard released video of a helicopter crew rescuing a 77-year-old man and a dog from a home after floodwaters from Tropical Storm Barry inundated southern Louisiana. The Coast Guard and local agencies rescued 12 people and two pets in Terrebonne Parish on Saturday
TERREBONNE PARISH, La. —
The U.S. Coast Guard released video of a helicopter crew rescuing a 77-year-old man and a dog from a home after floodwaters from Tropical Storm Barry inundated southern Louisiana.
The Coast Guard and local agencies rescued 12 people and two pets in Terrebonne Parish on Saturday
16 WAPT News Jackson
©2020, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WAPT-TV.


text:
Q: Triggering separate gulp tasks for subfolders in different paths I am using Gulp to store multiple SVG files into SVG storages which are later reused in order to maximize performance. However, I am now using a rather interesting folder structure where the paths contain interchangeable fixed and dynamic parts.
Let me illustrate. Here is the folder structure I am using. The app/images/products folder contains folders named productA, productB etc. which again contain a subfolder called color-sprites full of SVG files ready to get combined into a single file and stored in build/images/products/{product name}/color-sprites.svg.
root/
    |_ gulpfile.js
    |_ app
        |_ images
            |_ products
                |_ **productA**
                    |_ color-sprites
                        |_ sprite1.svg
                        |_ sprite2.svg
                        |_ ...
    |_ build
        |_ images
            |_ products
                |_ **productA**
                    |_ color-sprites.svg

Here is a simplified version of the code I am trying to use to accomplish what I need (take note that rename is an instance of gulp-rename).
gulp.task('svg-color-sprites', function () {
    return gulp.src('app/images/products/**/color-sprites/*.+(svg)')
        .pipe(svgMin())
        .pipe(svgStore())
        .pipe(rename(...))
        .pipe(gulp.dest('build/images/'));
});

The problem is that I am not exactly sure how to access current stream parameters in order to construct a target with gulp-rename because running the gulpfile.js like this results in taking the first parent element of the path before * or ** which again results in creating a file called products.svg in build/images/. I've seen a couple of examples which use path to access the basename, relative path etc. but I am not sure how to use it in the context of gulp streams.

A: The way you're doing things now will create one combined SVG for all of your SVGs, not one combined SVG per product. In fact if you have two files like this:
productA/color-sprites/sprite1.png
productB/color-sprites/sprite1.png

the whole thing will fail because gulp-svgstore expects file names to be unique.
What you need to do is have one gulp stream per product that each generates one combined SVG.
That means you need to iterate over all the directories in your products folder, initialize one stream per directory, then merge them so you can return one single stream from your task.
The easiest way to get all the directories in your products folder is to use glob and merging streams is made really simple with merge-stream.
var glob = require('glob');
var merge = require('merge-stream');
var path = require('path');

gulp.task('svg-color-sprites', function () {
  return merge(glob.sync('app/images/products/*').map(function(productDir) {
    var product = path.basename(productDir);
    return gulp.src(productDir + '/color-sprites/*.+(svg)')
      .pipe(svgMin())
      .pipe(svgStore())
      .pipe(gulp.dest('build/images/products/' + product));
  }));
});

Since gulp-svgstore automatically names the resulting combined SVG after the base folder you don't even need to use gulp-rename at all. The combined SVG file will automatically be named color-sprites.svg.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Daily Ratings & News for HCP
Complete the form below to receive the latest headlines and analysts' recommendations for HCP with our free daily email newsletter:
AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Share Price Passes Above 50 Day Moving Average of $44.53
Sartorius Stedim Biotech (EPA:DIM) Trading Up 0.5%
Populous Trading 22.6% Lower Over Last 7 Days (PPT)
Micromines (MICRO) Price Down 45.5% Over Last 7 Days
HCP, Inc. (HCP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest
Posted by Chloe McGuire on Apr 16th, 2019 // Comments off
HCP, Inc. (NYSE:HCP) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 29th, there was short interest totalling 26,430,754 shares, an increase of 15.1% from the March 15th total of 22,967,330 shares. Approximately 5.5% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,607,745 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.3 days.
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacific Center for Financial Services grew its position in HCP by 123.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 894 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in HCP in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Rational Advisors LLC grew its position in HCP by 336.7% in the fourth quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 1,262 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC bought a new position in HCP in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in HCP in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 95.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Get HCP alerts:
HCP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of HCP from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of HCP in a research report on Wednesday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of HCP from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 7th. TheStreet raised shares of HCP from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 price objective on shares of HCP and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. HCP has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.95.
Shares of HCP stock opened at $30.81 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. HCP has a 12-month low of $21.80 and a 12-month high of $32.23. The firm has a market cap of $14.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.46.
HCP (NYSE:HCP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $1.30. The business had revenue of $441.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.81 million. HCP had a net margin of 57.41% and a return on equity of 18.40%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that HCP will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: This piece was first reported by Chaffey Breeze and is owned by of Chaffey Breeze. If you are reading this piece on another site, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of international copyright & trademark legislation. The correct version of this piece can be viewed at https://www.chaffeybreeze.com/2019/04/16/hcp-inc-hcp-sees-significant-increase-in-short-interest.html.
About HCP
HCP, Inc is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in real estate serving the healthcare industry in the United States. HCP owns a large-scale portfolio primarily diversified across life science, medical office and senior housing. Recognized as a global leader in sustainability, HCP has been a publicly-traded company since 1985 and was the first healthcare REIT selected to the S&P 500 index.
Recommended Story: Quick Ratio
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What is a Routing Algorithm?
A routing algorithm is a set of step-by-step operations used to direct Internet traffic efficiently. When a packet of data leaves its source, there are many different paths it can take to its destination. The routing algorithm is used to determine mathematically the best path to take.
Different routing algorithms use different methods to determine the best path. For example, a distance vector algorithm calculates a graph of all available routes by having each point (called a node) determine the "cost" of travelling to each immediate neighbor. This information is collected for every node to create a distance table; which is used to determine the best path to from any one node to another.


text:
NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN

static NSString * const EKRFC_3339DatetimeFormat = @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'";
static NSString * const EKRFC_822DatetimeFormat = @"EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z";
static NSString * const EKISO_8601DateTimeFormat = @"yyyy-MM-dd";

NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_END

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Discussion of a cyberattack of such gravity to be considered a new Pearl Harbor  or even a 9/11 moment  is now almost clichéd.
For example, in early 2011, then CIA chief Leon Panetta warned the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence  that the next Pearl Harbor we confront could very well be a cyberattack that cripples our power systems, our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems.
A response to this threat has been the development of offensive as well as defensive cyber capabilities. The US has a large Government cyber security construct across civil and military agencies, including US Cyber Command's Cyber National Mission Forces who, under the leaked US Cyber Operations Policy , have the authority to 'defend the nation' using both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. In September, UK Secretary of state for Defence Phillip Hammond announced that the UK will pursue the development of its own offensive cyber capabilities  to deter would-be attackers, and supplement conventional strike, capabilities as part of a £500 million expansion of military cyber personnel (at a time of deep cuts to UK defence expenditure). While not wanting to add more hyperbole to an already overheated discussion, a possible outcome of developments like this is something of a cyber 'arms race', as offensive capabilities solely developed as a deterrent to such an attack would also function as strike capabilities in their own right.
However, for most—if not all—countries, the concept of a 'cyber Pearl Harbor' isn't a credible threat, being likely only as the opening moves of a major war—a situation few states are likely to face in the near term. And this kind of attack would be a tall order. To cripple critical infrastructure such as a power grid using cyber means, an attacker must covertly enter the network, map it to identify vulnerabilities, and develop malicious tools to subvert its control system/s. To conduct an attack on the scale of Panetta's cyber Pearl Harbor, the attacker must do this on numerous networks, and then maintain access for long periods, possibly many years, across numerous diverse targets and likely in many countries. According to US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, even the US considers the risk of such an event out to 2015 to be low .
While many commentators  discuss the competitive advantage cyber capabilities offer weaker actors, in reality the massive intelligence effort required to cause destructive effects means that by far the most likely attackers in a cyber-Pearl Harbor would be the military and intelligence services of a major state. Considering that, like in 1941, the victim would likely retaliate in in the physical realm as well as cyberspace (if so equipped), this sort of attack makes little sense other than as a precursor to a major armed attack, a scenario that is unlikely for Australia, and many other states, in the near term.
All states must balance their national security resources across many tasks, and identifying serious threats is just as important in cyberspace as it is in the physical world. Given that for most states the risk of a cyber Pearl Harbor scale event is significantly less than the hype, their thin resources would be better focused on raising the operational cost of already widespread espionage conducted on commercial and government networks, through implementation of resilient cyber security measures and policy. The lack of explosions means this activity attracts less attention than the possibility of a catastrophic cyberattack, but offers greater cost-benefit.
However this doesn't mean that the threat of attacks on critical infrastructure should be dismissed entirely. Poorly protected, and older control systems will remain vulnerable for as long as their owners remain unaware of (or ignore) the risks. Access by malicious actors to access critical infrastructure is largely preventable, and if basic security measures are implemented it can significantly raise the operational cost of these activities.
Basic security requires operators, often private companies, to implement more resilient cyber and personal security measures. For governments, overseeing or assisting with the implementation of these measures can be difficult due to private ownership of most critical infrastructure, but not impossible if Government cyber security providers and industry work to develop good relationships. Failing that, government regulatory mechanisms could be broadened to mandate adequate cybersecurity standards.
Cooperation between government and critical infrastructure operators would do more to reduce the risk of cyber incidents, from low level disruption up to a large scale attack, than the development of the tools to fight back under such conditions, freeing resources to focus on more likely threats in cyberspace rather than a potential cyber Pearl Harbor.
Post by the ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre .


text:
Buktryfflar (Hymenogasteraceae) är en familj av svampar. Buktryfflar ingår i ordningen skivlingar, klassen Agaricomycetes, divisionen basidiesvampar och riket svampar.

Kladogram enligt Dyntaxa:

Källor

Externa länkar

Skivlingar