text:
Food/Beverages/Tobacco
Chili's parent Brinker's stock tumbles to 4-year low after analyst downgrade
Published: June 15, 2017 at 4:04 p.m. ET
Shares of Brinker International Inc. EAT, +0.76% plunged 9.7% to a four-year low Thursday, after the parent of casual dining chains Chili's Grill and Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy was downgraded at J.P. Morgan, which cited concerns that the company has exhausted its ability to financially engineer further shareholder returns. Analyst John Ivankoe cut his rating to neutral, after being at overweight since July 2014. He trimmed his stock price target to $44, which is 19% above current levels, from $48. Ivankoe said Brinker was the last casual dining company he was bullish on, but he said there was still "no end in sight" for the cyclical and secular challenges the industry faces. The challenges include fears of excess supply, market share loss to fast-casual options, relatively low following among 18-to-34 age group, higher pricing relative to grocer pricing, wage inflation and declining retail traffic. The stock, which closed at the lowest level since March 25, 2013, has tumbled 25.3% year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.97% has gained 8.7%.
Tech stocks are sensitive to bond yields, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is at its highest level in two years.
Microsoft faces battle for Activision deal, especially if 'Call of Duty' is destined for Xbox exclusivity
Barron's: 'I Promised Myself I'd Never Be That Broke Again.' This Financial Advisor's Family Inherited $1.4 Million —and Quickly Lost It All.
Leading Tesla shareholder wants automaker to issue deliveries guidance above Wall Street estimates
Tomi Kilgore is MarketWatch's deputy investing and corporate news editor and is based in New York. You can follow him on Twitter @TomiKilgore.


It is my pleasure today to be here in the Jaji Military Cantonment for the passing out parade of officer cadets of the Executive Commission Course 07/17. Today, we are witnessing the passing out of a crop of officers who 3 months ago were carefully selected out of the numerous soldiers from different corps and services of the Nigerian Army.
I must give credit to the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI) which has within this short period, transformed, tutored and nurtured these service men and women to the end products which we see before us today.
From the reports I received from the Commandant on their training and the parade we witnessed today, there is ample evidence that these soon to be officers have been put through the mills and have come out refined and ready to contribute their quota to the NA's efforts at preserving the national security of our nation.
You have all taken your oath of allegiance to be loyal first to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, thereafter to the NA and down the line. Any act of disloyalty to the system, disobedience to constituted authority and insubordination will be decisively dealt with and defaulters shown the way out.
Consequently, I command you to avail yourself with the approved Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service as it applies to your Commission. The NA is strictly guided by this document in its engagements and re-engagement of its personnel.
Finally, I will end this speech by expressing my sincere appreciation to The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, without whose support the training of this batch of Executive Commission officers would not have been possible.
Mr President approved our request to train this set of gentlemen officers and despite the current economic challenges, provided the means for their training and sustenance.
This is also in addition to several streams of emergency recruitments of personnel to beef up the strength of the NA so as to enhance its capacity to confront diverse security challenges facing the nation. Our successes in various operations especially in the North-East, will not have been made possible without the support of Mr President.
I therefore, restate the loyalty and commitment of the Nigerian Army to Mr President's resolve to rid the entire country of terrorism and all forms of crimes.
The post Any act of disloyalty to the system, insubordination will be decisively dealt with – Buratai appeared first on Vanguard News.
When The Toyboy Becomes The Son-in-Law!


text:
Klímovo (en rus: Климово) és un poble de la província de Vladímir, a Rússia, segons el cens del 2012 tenia 37 habitants. Pertany al districte municipal de Múrom.

Referències

Pobles de la província de Vladímir

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


#BLACKHISTORYMATTERS – Bring your family's historic photographs and documents for scanning and saving. February 10, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Say It Loud, Say It Often – An evening of music, poetry and spoken word art – open mic poets welcome. February 20, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Celebrating Malcolm X – An event honoring the life and legacy of a leading voice in 1960s civil rights. February 21, 5-6:30 p.m.
The Civil Rights Heritage Center is located at 1040 West Washington Street in South Bend. To learn more about the Civil Rights Heritage Center and its upcoming events, please visit their website at crhc.iusb.edu or contact Darryl M. Heller, Director at (574) 520-4243 or daheller@iusb.edu.
Previous postWe Asked You: What does Black History Month mean to you?


The Hunter Industrie II ceiling fan is a contemporary, industrially-influenced fan designed to flourish in urban interiors. With its sleek and minimalist design, the Industrie II will impress with its excellent air movement. This fan offers three plywood blades, each reversible so you can complement your interior design.
Operated by wall control as standard, the Industrie II can be adapted to a remote control for ease of use (see accessories for the product to purchase). The Hunter Industrie II ceiling fan is light adaptable suitable for use with the Hunter Mandalay light kit available as a separate accessory. It is also reversible for use in both summer and winter months.
Available in brushed chrome with grey / teak blades, graphite with graphite/chestnut blades, white with white /maple blades. View individual products for specific features and specifications before purchasing.
Industrie II Ceiling Fan - Brushed Chrome 52"
Industrie II Ceiling Fan - Chalk White 52"
Industrie II Ceiling Fan - Graphite 52"


text:
Oregon weather watch: Widespread drought could ease with wet spring
Drought in Oregon
Gallery: Drought in Oregon
By Stuart Tomlinson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Although no one is talking about a mega-drought for Oregon, the signs of a progressive drought are everywhere this winter. But several weather experts say we could see relief -- and sooner rather than later.
Seventy-five percent of the state is in severe drought, with another 24 percent in moderate drought and about 1 percent in extreme drought, according the
U.S. Drought Monitor
. A year ago, just 4.8 percent of the state was in severe drought.
Washington is in a bit better shape, with 93 percent of the state experiencing moderate drought conditions, but just 7 percent abnormally dry.
Oregon's snowpack
— a frozen reservoir that gradually releases its sweet water during spring and summer's slow melt — is 32 percent of average. Last year at this time, it was a robust 95 percent of average.
That melting adds water to Oregon's streams, rivers and reservoirs, and is vital for fragile fisheries, hydroelectric power generation, whitewater rafting, boating and agriculture.
Last year, the jet stream regularly pumped Pacific storms into the region. This year, a blocking ridge of high pressure has sent those storms up and over the Pacific Northwest into Canada, and then down into the Midwest and East Coast, which have seen unprecedented snow and cold temperatures.
The so-called polar vortex hitting the rest of the country is a direct result of the ridge keeping storms away from Oregon and Washington, said Kyle Dittmer, a hydrologist/meteorologist for the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
in Portland.
"Think of it as a 'Star Wars' defense field that nothing can get through," Dittmer said. "This is exactly what happened 13 years ago. We were very dry from October 2000 through May 2001, then we got back to normal."
Dittmer said the winter of 2013-14 has parallels with that dry winter of 2000-2001, both coinciding with an increase in the number of sunspots. While sunspots don't seem to affect the amount of solar energy reaching the planet, they do appear to affect stratospheric winds, which can wreak havoc with global weather patterns, he said.
On the bright side, Dittmer said the dry pattern in 2013 began in earnest in June — four months earlier than it did in 2000. Based on his research, Dittmer predicts that "we should be ending our nine-month dry period pretty soon and we could partially recover."
Another bright note, Dittmer said, is that despite Oregon's low snowfall, snowpacks in Idaho and British Columbia are at or above normal. Two-thirds of the Columbia River's spring and summer runoff comes from British Columbia, so power generation and salmon fisheries should be fine.
Dittmer also noted that this year, like 2000-01, the region is having an ENSO neutral year — when neither El Nino or La Nina conditions prevail.
In an
ENSO (El Nino/ Southern Oscillation) neutral year
, ocean temperatures, tropical rainfall patterns and atmospheric winds over the equatorial Pacific Ocean are near the long-term average, said Tyree Wilde, the warning coordination meteorologist for the
During El Nino years, the Pacific Northwest usually has dry and mild winters. In a La Nina year, the region sees wetter and cooler conditions. Neutral years like this can bring all of the above.
"There is still time to build the snowpack in February and into spring," Wilde said. "But it's a big deficit to make up. We don't see any significant storms for the next 10 days."
Instead of rain, forecasters say, look for high pressure to build back in, as well as a return to a cold snap to rival the below-freezing temperatures of early December -- and a return to the dry weather that prompted the the National Weather Service to issue a red-flag wildfire warning last week for Northwest Oregon.
Sure enough, prescribed burns in the forest of the Oregon coast range sprang to life, pushed along by strong offshore winds and dry fuels usually not seen until late July or August. Temperatures from Tillamook to Brookings topped out from the upper 60s to near 75 degrees, while portions of the mid-Willamette Valley and the Columbia basin shivered in the fog and stagnant air of a temperature inversion.
Meanwhile, reservoirs in southeastern Oregon are running anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of average, but are doing much better in central and northeastern Oregon. Major storage reservoirs in the Deschutes River Basin are running from a low of 21 percent of average to 83 percent of average.
Water that fills those reservoirs in the spring is vital for summer and fall agriculture, said George Taylor, a climatologist for
Applied Climate Services
in Corvallis.
Taylor, like Dittmer, is fairly positive that spring rains — as they did in 2000-2001, and again in 2004-05 -- could pull Oregon out of the fire that is drought.
"I'm not ready to predict a record-setting wet spring; I do think it's going to be wet," he said.
--Stuart Tomlinson

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The materials provided below are for investigators requesting access to TIES Cancer Research Network (TCRN). TCRN studies require an Authorized User Agreement and IRB approval from your institution. Please refer to the materials needed from your own institution – for example, investigators from University of Pennsylvania should refer to the University of Pennsylvania materials.
Additionally, for studies needing reports and materials (tissue), IRB approval is needed from all institutions involved with the study. IRB approval for other institutions should be obtained by study collaborators.


Katie's Flat offers pet-friendly accommodation in Oban. Guests may enjoy our patio, free WiFi and free parking.
The kitchen is equipped with a dishwasher, an oven and a microwave and there is a private bathroom with bathrobes, free toiletries and a hairdryer. Towels and bed linen are provided in this self-catering accommodation.


Family and friends of people with mental health disorders are invited to meet with us to chat about your situation. All members of NAMI-FL have relatives diagnosed with major mental illnesses, and we know the heartache and stress you are going through. We've found that simply talking about the situation is a great emotional release. All conversations are kept confidential.
Clinton Hall is the large red brick building next to the Clinton House, the building on the corner of Seneca and N. Cayuga.
We are located in the middle of the block between State and Seneca Streets, above "SewGreen".
• Front entrance: Use the grey double doors in the middle of the "SewGreen" storefront. After going up one flight of stairs to the 2nd floor, turn left. We are in Suite#2.
• For elevator access from street level: Go to rear of building via red brick driveway separating Clinton Hall and Clinton House. Turn left at the back of the building and use the second set of doors. Once inside, use the elevator on the left to go to the 2nd floor. Turn left, then right to Suite #2.


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As spring time turns to summer, and the flowers begin to Bloom…the smell of Pretzels and Bratwurst is in the air. Yes indeed, it is that time again, where only the ice water in the veins, steel hearted, large bellied men begin the annual preparation for the pilgrimage to zee Faza Land. Schwag has been ordered, flights have been booked, and training for the once in a life time event (which by the way has become an annual life time event) is underway all across the globe. The Rookie class for the Hacker Herren 2011 group is stacked this year with an international flair, including two rookies from Germany itself. Now I know that you are asking yourself how we can have two "Rookies" for Oktoberfest that actually reside in Germany. Rest assured that the classification of rookies had to verified by the I.O.O.R.C.F. committee. The International Oktoberfest Organization for Rookie Classification Federation did extensive background and PEDD (Performance Enhancing Drinking Drug) screening, and confirmed and accepted the petition for Rookie classification from both members of the German contingency. Though team Chicago filed a last minute injunction to block this status, the 9th court of appeals within the Hacker organization denied the request, and both are entitled to compete this year as rookies for the 2011 class. While they may have the backing of the hometown crowd, the competition is going to be fierce, and only the best will rise to the top and claim ROY 2011. Here are the odds as put forth by the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
100-1 Eleven (Rob Venema). Does the apple fall far from the tree? We are about to find out. Brother to ROY 7, Eleven is bold enough to already shorten the title, and put the bulls eye squarely on his back. There has never been a repeat of family members for the ROY award, and this year we feel the odds are again stacked against that happening. Most Damaging to his claim of '11 is that it took a cancellation of another member to get him to step up for the trip. One wonders was he shamed into going and is his heart really in it.
99-1 Wookie (Curtis Davis). Although Wookie thinks that he will not look out of place in his Lando Calrissian outfit inside the tent , he is in for a big surprise. Leave your light saber and warp speed at home Wookie, you are going to need more than the Force to navigate this galactic party. Sure, you may have won the Federation's highest award at the last Star Wars reunion convention you attended in Los Angles, but this is a party for the big boys. Be thankful that you won't have to deal with any Storm Troopers and you won't have to deal with the title of ROY '11…because the force is not with you.
75-1 BeanO (Tim Lima)- While we applaud the amount of activities that BeanO is trying to squeeze in to this get away, he may have bit off more than he can chew. Berlin a couple of days prior to Munich. Munich for two days. Return to Berlin to run the Berlin Marathon on Sunday! Awesome training schedule, but this award has to be accepted in person and present in the tents on Saturday , and unless the course takes you from Berlin back to Munich….thanks for coming. We suggest that you make the most of your time in Berlin, because you will be going hard for the 2 days that you will be in Munich.
50-1 Steele (Brian Steele) While he won't win the ROY 2011 award, he does win this year's award for using his last name as his nickname. There is one every year.
25-1 Auslander (Johannes Lange). Sled 2 of the German "rookies" , Auslander has a tall order. Much like the German soccer team coming so close to winning the FIFA cup in 2002, we fear that with the weight of the country riding on him, Johannes will shoot…..and miss just right of the goal. Fear not, because he will give it the "ole German try" and represent Deutschland well, and return back home a country's hero.
23-1 Yimmy (Jim Arnold) Guest of Doid and Oroczo, Yimmy has surly been prepped for what is to be expected and we hear has been training since he hit the confirmed button on his paypal account to submit the money. Other nick names considered "Yimmy crack corn" , "Yimmy the Greek", and "Yimmy Cricket".
20-1 1st Pitch (John Marrone). This guy likes a big stage….and O'fest fits right into his wheel house. Having thrown out the first pitch at last year's World Series for the Giants, 1st pitch is no minor leaguer. He is said to have a full arsenal in his line up and is expected to be able to take it deep into the night. No relievers needed here. We don't know from which side of the plate he swings, but he has major league talent, and is looking to dominate the competition.
18-1 Mikey Likes it (Mike Swartz). Although there was some concern on the Mikey/Mike relationship, M.L.I. is said to be going through Jason Green's, Introduction to Ofest Training course. This 16 week training course has stringent requirements, including tasting 25 different types of German beers, wearing lederhosen to all family events leading up to departure for Munich, and Sausage at least 10 times per week. After completing a healthy serving of white sausage for breakfast, it was said that you could hear him mumble "Mikey likes it" under his breath.
15-1 Vinny (Vince Boyanich) and Hammer (Stephen Spurling). Both Hammer and Vinny are flying under the radar. Quiet, reserved, and stalking their prey, Hammer and Vinny are rumored to have started a tag team approach to knocking off the other rookies one by one. Vinny is using the Maxim shipping department as a front to run his plan of discrediting all the other rookies with mass mailers, and orchestrating propaganda leaflets to be dropped over the tents claiming victory for him.
10-1 Carpe Diem ( Jeff Carpenter). Loosely translated, Seize the Day. He could really vault himself to the top if he can Carpe 7 hendel. Carpe schnitzel. Carpe Pizza. Carpe fraulein's. Carpe Berman when he gets thrown out of the tent. And Finally Carpe a round of beers for the table.
8-1 B-Share (John Palmer). Getting taken to ofest by Blackout is like receiving communion from the Pope. You have the connection. You have the skill. And you have the "it factor" . Palmer, as it goes, is a man among men. Blackout has groomed him for years just for this occasion. And let's face it. If the powder blue warm up suits didn't scare him away, like Randy Jackson says on American Idol.."He is in it to win it." And team Chicago has never disappointed.
7-1 Worm (Kevin Bresser). Similar to B-Share, when you have Joe Sanchez backing you, you automatically command a presence in the club house. One small issue here. How or what gave him the nickname worm. While the stories are viral on the internet, TMZ, and Dead Spin.com all citing to have knowledge of the situation, nothing has been confirmed with any photos backing up the visual when you see and think "worm". Possible better names for next year are Python, Snake, or Boa.
2-1 Woody (Christopher Wuttke). Woody is officially sled one for the German Team. Woody has been drinking steins since he wasa little boy running around with lederhosen diapers on the family farm raising Bavarian Hops. His pastimes are raising German Shepards, playing soccer with Franz Beckenbauer and Lothar Matthaus, and of course drinking more beer. The town in which he grew up erected a statue of him drinking beer, and every summer, the town gathers around to drink more beer with him. He has children, who are already practicing drinking beer and raising German Shepards. Woody hopes that someday he can become a professional beer drinker in multiple European countries.
2-1 Z Meister (Tim Zingraff). Z Meister carries the weight of the west coast and past ROY's Vonderach, Dickinson, Mimran, 7, and the original ROY, Der Stinker as the best viable chance of returning the coveted Green Hat to its rightful location on the Left Coast. Z Meister originally hails from Indy, and as you know, other than some race, the only thing to do in Indy is Drink. Tim worked tirelessly over the last 21 weeks to increase his consumption intake by joining a bowling league. He is traveling early to Berlin to acclimate his palate to the German Beers. He is all business when it comes to representing the Hoosier pride. Tim is going to run the picket fence, and he hope to not get caught watching the paint dry.


A team of scientists have discovered something unusual at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. They've detected 20 rotating dust and gas discs in each cluster hosting exceptionally large and hot stars. The existence of these discs in the presence of a destructive UV radiation field is especially surprising and now, scientists are investigating how these rotating discs manage to withstand these extreme conditions.
The center of the Milky Way is a nursery for young stars. These stars form rich groups such as the "Quintuplet" and the "Arches" clusters; both of these clutsers are only a few million years old and contain stars as massive as 100 times the mass of the sun. This means that these stars produce enormous radiative energy that would, in theory, evaporate the material around their smaller neighbors.
In this latest study, though, the researchers discovered a surprising number of dusty discs surrounding stars in the Quintuplet and Arches clusters.
"In such a hostile environment, we did not expect to find any circumstellar discs after more than a few hundred thousand years, and yet we found more than 20 discs in each cluster at ages of a few million years," said Andrea Stolte, one of the researchers, in a news release.
Exactly how these rotating discs survive their giant neighbors is puzzles. However, the astronomers do have some theories. It's possible that the gas and dust discs display an unprecedented resistibility to their hostile environment, or a previously unobserved mechanism recharges the discs. The solution may also lie in the companion stars; when two stars circle each other, the bigger companion may provide fuel to its smaller twin and possibly refuel the disc material to make up for the evaporated gas.
The findings pave the way for future studies. More specifically, they show the scientists need to conduct more observations to find out why these discs manage to survive the extreme forces that these massive stars produce.


text:
Leaguegaming - Your Virtual Career
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China's economy faces increasing downward pressure, and the government will take targeted measures to prevent large fluctuations in growth, Premier Li Keqiang said while on a trip to Europe.
"With the international environment being complicated and volatile, downward pressure on China's economy has increased, but we are determined, and we are able, to cope with risks and challenges," state radio reported Mr Li saying in a speech on Tuesday in the Netherlands.
China is locked in a trade war with the United States, with Washington threatening to escalate the confrontation after imposing tariffs on $US250 billion of Chinese goods.
Some export-driven Chinese cities and regions, such as the southern Guangdong province, have already felt the pinch from the dispute, rushing to reduce the impact by unleashing a flurry of measures and incentives to help struggling exporters.
Mr Li did not elaborate on what measures the government would take to stabilize growth and prevent fluctuations.
He said he expected economic growth to be "within reasonable range" in the third quarter, without giving details, and expressed confidence in achieving growth targets this year.
A Reuters poll of 68 economists showed gross domestic product likely grew 6.6 per cent in July-September from a year earlier, slowing from the previous quarter's 6.7 per cent and at the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2009.
China is aiming for full-year growth of about 6.5 per cent in 2018.
"China's economy continues to be steady with consumption becoming a key growth driver," Mr Li said.
Mr Li met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday in the Hague, and signed several deals including a 1.6 billion euro ($US1.85 billion) agreement by Lithium Werks BV to build a new storage battery plant in China.
He reiterated in his speech China's resolve to better protect intellectual property rights and further relax market access for foreign firms.


text:
Adams 14 School District
English-language learners
Adams 14 board approves opening University Prep charter school
By Yesenia Robles Dec 15, 2021, 2:12pm MST
Students walk outside University Prep, a charter school in Denver. On Tuesday the charter organization won approval to expand by opening an elementary school in the Adams 14 district.
Marc Piscotty for Chalkbeat
In a split vote, the Adams 14 school board Tuesday night approved opening a new charter elementary school, while refusing to assume oversight of an existing charter school.
The approved charter school is a University Prep elementary that will focus on creating preschool seats and will gradually expand through fifth grade. The school will put students on a path to a Seal of Biliteracy by offering courses in Spanish.
Board members who voted in favor in the 3-2 vote said they appreciated the charter taking time to work with families who live in Adams 14 to create the school.
David Singer, the leader of University Prep, which also operates two schools in Denver, said his schools already served many families living in Adams 14 who drive their children to attend University Prep in Denver. So, he said, charter school leaders started working with parents in the spring to design the elementary school.
"They've worked closely with our community members, some who do attend University Prep right now," said Adams 14 board President Ramona Lewis during the virtual meeting. "Bringing this school into our community can strengthen our community by bringing kids back."
The charter school would open with preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as kindergarten in August, and then would add one grade level per year after that, until reaching preschool through fifth grade.
The board's approval hinges on conditions that still need to be negotiated with University Prep.
Among them, the charter organization wants the district to offer transportation and food services. Some Adams 14 board members expressed concern that those details haven't been figured out yet.
The two board members who voted against the University Prep school were Janet Estrada and new member James Amador.
Estrada, a bilingual teacher, said that while she was impressed with the application's details about how it would serve English learners and its commitment to hire teachers of color, she was concerned that the district needed to direct its resources to improving existing schools before taking on the challenge of managing a charter school.
She also said she worried about creating a strain like the one that Denver Public Schools faces, where the district opened many charter schools and faces divided communities and closed schools.
Parents and supporters of University Prep joined the virtual Adams 14 meeting Tuesday together as they awaited the vote on the new school.
Courtesy of University Prep
After the board vote, Susanna Pasillas, a parent leader with University Prep, expressed thanks in a released statement.
"We all worked incredibly hard and spent endless hours dedicating ourselves to the children of Commerce City that our proposed school will serve, including my own child," Pasillas said. "I am beyond thankful that the Adams 14 board approved our proposal and is giving us the chance to show the community what U Prep is made of."
The last time a charter school applied to operate in Adams 14 was in 2018 when the charter network KIPP worked with parents to design an elementary school focusing on bilingual education. The school board at the time denied the application. It was just before the State Board of Education ordered the district to hand over its management to an outside company.
The district has been under external management since the summer of 2019.
In ordering actions to lift up a low-performing school or district, the state has limited options. One is to turn schools into charters, a possibility that's back on the table at least for one district elementary school, Central. The State Board has said it would reevaluate the orders to improve that low-performing school in the spring.
The Adams 14 board also rejected an application on Tuesday in a unanimous vote with one member abstaining. That application was from Community Leadership Academy, a charter school seeking to switch its authorizer to the district from the state's Charter School Institute.
The school founders told the Adams 14 board that despite their difficult past relationship with the district, they took a state suggestion to try to change authorization to the district. The idea was that if the charter were a part of Adams 14, the better test scores from charter students could help raise average district test scores — to pull the district off a state watchlist for struggling districts.
"What we said was that we were going to overlook the long list of transgressions," to make it look "to the State Board, that the community is coming together," said Ron Jajdelski, the director of the charter school.
The charter opened in 2005 under district authority after the state had to step in when Jajdelski claimed that district imposed conditions were illegal. The state agreed and ordered the district to renegotiate. After a few years under district management, more problems prompted the school to switch to operate under the Charter School Institute's authorization. The district and the school again were at odds when the school expanded and Jajdelski said publicly he wanted to enroll about half of Adams 14's students to pull them from failing conditions.
The charter serves approximately 700 students in preschool through 12th grade.
The Community Leadership Academy school often outperforms Adams 14 and the state in test scores. In 2019, for instance, 48.1% of school's third graders met or exceeded expectations for reading, compared with 41.3% of third graders who did across the state.
Jajdelski said he did not want to rehash old arguments, but Adams 14 board members nonetheless raised concerns about past issues between the district and the school. Those included comments and signs the school has posted that negatively depict the district in an attempt to enroll students.
The board also raised concerns about past issues that have been raised by parents about their children being punished for speaking Spanish, and being pushed out of the school. Jajdelski denied that any student had ever been punished for speaking Spanish, but said the school had a new legal team that has changed policies in recent years.
Board members said they were concerned about the charter school's English-only immersion model, but suggested that in the future, if the school could repair its relationship with the district, the board might be more open to reauthorizing the school.
Community feedback that Adams 14 gathered included several similar complaints about Community Leadership Academy's practices. More than half of the 75 comments, and 47.5% of survey responses opposed the district accepting Community Leadership Academy's application.
In the same survey, 53.8% of respondents favored accepting the University Prep charter school application, as did 34 of the 58 comments submitted.
The district accountability committee which reviewed both applications and submitted recommendations, however, had suggested the opposite actions that the board ultimately took: to approve the Community Leadership Academy school with conditions, and instead reject University Prep.
Next Up In Charter schools
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from Chalkbeat Tennessee Does Tennessee's education funding blueprint deliver on governor's promises? Maybe, but 'the devil's in the details'
from Chalkbeat Tennessee Shelby County school board votes to close Memphis Academy of Health Sciences, spares Memphis STEM Academy
How students at this rural Colorado charter school got lunch


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The 1976 Bowling Green Falcons football team was an American football team that represented Bowling Green University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their ninth season under head coach Don Nehlen, the Falcons compiled a 6–5 record (4–3 against MAC opponents), finished in sixth place in the MAC, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 292 to 249.

The team's statistical leaders included Mark Miller with 1,839 passing yards, Dave Preston with 989 rushing yards, and Jeff Groth with 598 receiving yards.

Schedule

References

Bowling Green
Bowling Green Falcons football seasons
Bowling Green Falcons football


With Point2 Homes, finding a great townhome in Malden, MA is easy. Search thousands of Malden, MA townhomes for sale, view photos and floor plans, and rank properties by amenities offered and features that most appeal to you. Prices for Malden, MA townhomes range from to . Moreover, Point2 Homes provides access to comprehensive Malden demographics data, recently closed sales reports in Malden, MA as well as accurate interactive maps to help you clearly localize the properties you're interested in.


Imagine never having to worry about the day-to-day management of your investment property ever again. That's the kind of stress free property management service that we aim to provide you when you choose GLC!
So whether you're a professional investor, just dipping your toes into the property market for the 1st time or even if you're temporary moving from your home, you have certainly come to the right place.
Our goal is to provide our clients with the BEST possible Property Management Services, maximum rental returns and relieving you of any property management stress.
Communication is key in real estate, you trust us with your biggest asset it's your right to know what going on!! That's how we build and earn your trust.
Honest open feedback so we get you the return you deserve, leaving you more time for finer things in life.
George and Lisa were great through out the process of selling my home.
Great local knowledge and sound advice.
Thanks George and Lisa you make a fabulous team.


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Richard Munday (c.1685-1739) was a prominent colonial American architect and builder in Newport, Rhode Island.

Munday built several notable public buildings in Newport between 1720 and 1739 helping to modernize the city.  Christopher Wren's church of St. James at Piccadilly in London, England, and Old North Church in Boston, are believed to have greatly influenced Munday's baroque style. Munday also built many Georgian houses in Newport and was a parishioner at Trinity Church. Few details about his life have survived.

Works by Munday
Old Colony House, 1739, a U.S. National Historic Landmark (NHL)
Sabbatarian Meeting House (currently home of the Newport Historical Society), 1729
Trinity Church, Newport, 1725, also an NHL
Daniel Ayrault house, Newport, 1739-40 (built with Benjamin Wyatt)
Malbone Castle and Estate, 1739-40 (resembled Colony House, destroyed in 1766 fire)
Malbone town house, 1729 (demolished)
Jahleel Brent House, (possible contributor)
John Gidley House, (possible contributor)

External links and references
James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf, Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America, (JHU Press, 2002), pg. 1026
Preservation Society pictures of Munday's works
Antoinette F. Downing, Early Homes of Rhode Island (Richmond, VA: Gt: 1937)
A. F. Downing & V.J.Scully, The Architectural Heritage of Newport Rhode Island 1640-1915 (NY: Bramhill, 1967)
Henry Russell Hitchcock, Rhode Island Architecture, (Providence: Mus. Pres., 1939)

1685 births
1739 deaths
Architects from Newport, Rhode Island


Wilbur Artwater developed a system for assigning energy values for protein, fat and carbohydrates over a century ago. More recently, an approach has been developed that allows direct measurements of energy value in calories in a single food within a context of direct diet.
Wilbur Artwater developed a system for assigning energy values for protein, fat and carbohydrates over a century ago. More recently, an approach has been developed that allows direct measurements of energy value in calories in a single food within a context of direct diet. With this approach measuring energy value in calories of tree nuts—pistachios and almonds—has been possible. David Baer, Ph.D., Supervisory Research Physiologist, University of Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, discusses the findings and why they are important for food labeling.


Chemical descriptors are used to calculate and to develop methods for chemical property calculations (QSPR - quantitative structure-property relationship) or chemical activity (QSAR - quantitative structure-activity relationship) calculations. A common classification method for descriptors can be taken from ChemoInformatics textbooks and a collection of common molecular descriptors in the Handbook of molecular descriptors [LINK].
A selection of commercial and free descriptor calculation utilities is collected under the molecular descriptor software collection or the CompChem list or new programs are posted to CCL.
You need a large dataset with the molecular property (logP, bp) to be modeled. The larger the number of data points the better. There are QSAR models with 20 or less points, however for broad applications one need to cover a large diversity space. Hundreds or thousands of such values can be collected from databases or are now available from HT screening methods.
You need the molecular structures itself (as SMILES, SDF in 2D or optimized 3D structure). Handling the molecules together with all descriptors can be a challenging task, software which can do that is highly preferred.
You need to divide your molecule set into three parts. A training (70%), validation (30%) and an additional external training or validation set which is not used in either method. (Sometime the validation set is called testing set or vice versa). Cross-validation (n-fold or v-fold) techniques or other resampling tests (Monte Carlo Sampling, Jackknifing, Bootstrapping) need to be applied, especially if not enough molecules are available.
You need to apply regression or classification methods (including meta-learning approaches).
One need to make sure that for future predictions no other compound classes are included (which usually results in wrong predictions) by either including error values, fingerprint or substructure matches or a simple dimension reduction method (PCA, PLS) to avoid molecules which were not covered during development. As example a logP method only developed on alkanes will 100% fail on complex drug molecules or molecules with multiple -OH and -NH or -SH groups. Further more a complete statistical description for either the regression performance or classification performance needs to be included.


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Andrew Kotatko - Bachelor of Arts (Communication - Theatre and Media) - 1996
The new Australian surfing feature film Drift, which is currently in cinemas across Australia, features a compelling music soundtrack guided by music supervisor Mr Andrew Kotatko, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre/media alumnus.
Andrew has worked previously on a range of feature film projects with directors as diverse as Academy Award winner Jane Campion, Rowan Woods, Daniel Nettheim, Samantha Lang, Sue Brooks, and most recently, French director Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel) on her forthcoming film Two Mothers, with actors Naomi Watts and Robin Wright. He's also worked with CSU alumnus Trent O'Donnell on the first series of the black comedy TV series Laid.
He explained his role and how he came to be involved in Drift, which tells the story of brothers Jimmy and Andy Kelly who struggle to establish a surf-based business and lifestyle in the beautiful surf-rich Margaret River region of south-west Western Australia in the early 1970s.
"A music supervisor oversees the music for a feature film," he said. "It is both a creative and technical role, in that I get to present a range of song ideas for specific sequences within a film, but also have to keep the budget in check in regard to music licensing costs. I often commission new music for a film and recommend songwriters and musicians that would be a good fit for the job. Sometimes I assist composers by sourcing temporary score ideas for a film while it's being edited; it's a great opportunity to discover the musical tone of a particular film. Guiding the key creative team towards an exciting and cohesive musical journey is what it's all about for me, and I'm still very passionate about it seventeen years on.
"Very often I'm recommended for jobs and Drift came my way through the film's very talented sound designer, Robert Mackenzie, with whom I had worked on the film The Hunter. I then met with Drift's co-director, Morgan O'Neill, and producer Michele Bennett (Chopper), and they showed me a couple of sequences in the film to gauge my thoughts and see if I was clued in, musically speaking. I was obviously very excited by what I saw, as it presented an opportunity to showcase some fantastic music in a very dynamic way. Drift was a Music Supervisor's dream come true."
While noting that every film is challenging in its own way, Andrew says Drift had a significant music budget for an Australian feature, so there were very few compromises in terms of getting the right music for the film.
"Morgan O'Neill is a musician himself and had strong ideas on what he wanted and didn't want, as did co-director, Ben Nott. Sometimes those ideas were different to my own, but I think we were able to resolve any friendly difference of opinion simply by screening sections of the film with shortlisted songs; that always puts things into context and a group decision was made.
"The biggest challenge for me was trying to balance classic songs from 1972 (such as 'Only Good for Conversation' by Rodriguez, and '20th Century Boy' by T.Rex) with more contemporary, retro-rock inspired pieces like 'Govinda' by Kula Shaker, and 'Gold On the Ceiling' by The Black Keys. I think we succeeded in that balance, and it's great to hear such positive feedback from audiences about the music.
"Peter Howe's exquisite song 'I'm Alive' is from the classic Australian musical surf film Morning of the Earth. It was serendipitous when I discovered that my dear friend, ARIA-winning singer-songwriter Gyan, had recently recorded a demo of the song herself. Things often happen like that; they'll drop into your hands like a gift from musical heaven. Thankfully, Morgan and Ben both loved Gyan's interpretation and it became a sort of love theme for the characters Andy (played by Myles Pollard) and Lani (Lesly-Ann Brandt).
"Composer Michael Yezerski's original score also bridged the gap between the past and present. He recorded the melodic main theme with a bunch of vintage equipment, old guitar pedals and a rare analogue synthesiser, but also composed some very exciting electronica for the suspenseful surf competition sequences."
Andrew says of his student days at the then-School of Communication at Charles Sturt University, "It was a very interesting time for me. I was finding my feet and felt a bit like a babe in the woods most days. In a way, I don't think that ever changes if you pursue a creative life, but the theatre/media degree gave me a wonderful opportunity to explore both filmmaking and theatre together, which I think is a unique opportunity that sparks all kinds of connections. CSU taught me greater independence and inspired me to delve deeper into my artistic passions in a very encouraging and supportive environment. Without my CSU experience, I doubt I would have gone on to make my award-winning short film Everything Goes with Hugo Weaving and Abbie Cornish, or continued my studies abroad at Binger Filmlab."


A+ good food to eat with braces| Official Site?
Breakfast. Eating soft, room temperature or cool foods for breakfast will help reduce the pain of new or recently tightened braces. Instead of putting frozen waffles in the toaster or the oven, Pamela Waterman, author of "The Braces Cookbook," recommends placing them in the microwave so they are soft enough to chew comfortably.... When you first get braces on, your orthodontist likely gave you a list of foods that you can safely eat as well as foods that you should avoid.
What Can I Eat With Braces At Christmas And Other Holidays?
Are you drooling from the picture? Let me say…this cake tastes as good as good food to eat with braces looks. As you know, I love to bake and I love trying to bake up new things.
Orthodontic braces are used to straighten the teeth, which not only creates a more pleasing appearance, but can also make it easier to clean your teeth.
Getting braces is an investment in a healthy and beautiful future, and modern orthodontic treatment is far more comfortable than it used to be.


The work of a lab technician is to collect samples and to analyze them in the laboratory.
Christian Fletcher LifeBrite lab technicians are in charge of maintaining laboratory areas so that they are efficient places to use. In order for a laboratory to be used for testing, a laboratory technician will help to set up and clean the laboratory area. They sterilize equipment to make the laboratory a safe area for the technicians. Another job of a Christian Fletcher LifeBrite lab technician is to calibrate testing equipment. When one goes to a lab they submit their body fluids for testing and these are the people who handle the analysis of this body fluids.
Fluids such as blood and urine are some of the body fluids that lab technicians analyze. They normally use scientific equipment such as microscopes to detect any problems in the samples they test. Once a Christian Fletcher LifeBrite lab technician has carried out an analysis of samples they have received, they will then record the data and give reports on what they find.
Christian Fletcher LifeBrite Lab technicians also work with pathologist who help them make conclusive results about the data they have tested. A lab technician can choose a specialty and they can either be phlebotomists or histotechnicians.
Doctors or pathologists can analyze the tissue samples that have been stained and processed by Histotechnicians. Histotechnicians usually use microscopic slides for analysis. Phlebotomists have chosen to specialize in blood work. The Phlebotomists job is to collect, store, label, and record information about the blood in a computer.
The blood collected is then taken to labs for further analysis. Christian Fletcher LifeBrite lab technicians work with patients, healthcare staff, other technicians, and their supervising technologists.
Compassion is an important virtue that Christian Fletcher LifeBrite lab technicians practice when they interact with patients at the point of collecting samples for testing.
Patients normally have questions about the procedures used when collecting samples and they direct these questions to lab technicians who should be able to answer them with patience.
Lab technicians work in hospitals or clinics.
Hazardous chemicals are some of the samples that lab technicians can deal with and they need proper protection for this. Proper record maintenance is required of a lab technician as they do the work of collecting samples from patients.
Lab technicians normally deal with many samples at the same time and so they need to be detail oriented so that they don't mix up samples. The work of a lab technician requires for them to have physical stamina to spend a lot of time processing samples of patients.


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The coming defeat of the united states military
It has been 30 years since the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended. Many Americans have long forgotten what it was like living under constant fear of nuclear destruction. An entire generation has been born and raised without ever understanding the potential horrors of war on the homeland. Domestic problems and terrorism have overtaken our attention and the fear of war has been thrown into the dustbin of history. It has long been taken for granted that American military might could never be toppled, but this situation is drastically changing. China and Russia have openly stated having desires of empire and going beyond their borders to control resources (Fesenko, 2020). In the past decade, recent political and military developments in Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran have emerged that challenge the idea that the United States' military is superior (Fesenko, 2020). While these rogue nations modernize and build up their militaries, America has been cutting her military spending and downsizing (Huessy, 2021; United States Institute of Peace, 2018). NATO has deteriorated and Turkey could possibly be on the verge of betraying the alliance for Russia (Nordlinger, 2019). There has also been the dangerous founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which is evolving from a political alliance into a defense union to counter NATO (Peternelj et al., 2019). These developments present a sobering and terrifying reality that a military coalition of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea has the ability to overcome and defeat the United States.
America, the Superpower
Since the turn of the 20th century, America has experienced peace because she is the only global superpower ever to have existed in the world (Brzezinski, 2016). A superpower is described as having supreme global leadership in all three areas of economy, military, and politics (Brzezinski, 2016). Her military prowess has spanned across continents and she has military bases worldwide (Brzezinski, 2016). This long-term supremacy has taken America into a gilded age of prosperity and peace. World Wars I and II weakened continental Europe and allowed America to rise up into dominance from that European power vacuum (Brzezinski, 2016).
The reasoning behind American extension militarily is to control the great Eurasian continent. This is what the Cold War was truly about (Brzezinski, 2016). This area comprises the heartland of Eurasia, which consists of the Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and those nations surrounding the Caspian Sea (Brzezinski, 2016). This area is rich in raw resources and 75% of the world's wealth is stored here in rare earth minerals and metals. This area also contains three-fourths of the world's energy resources and is an untapped emerging market (Brzezinski, 2016). Whoever physically controls the Eurasian heartland is the winner of the global chess game (Brzezinski, 2016). Certain nations surrounding the superpowers of Russia and emerging China are where destabilizations occur for the reasons to prevent Russia and China from encroaching beyond their borders and into the Eurasian heartland (Brzezinski, 2016). Nations such as the Ukraine, Belarus, South Korea, and Taiwan are all pivotal nations that the United States uses to keep the Chinese and the Russians in their respective corners (Brzezinski, 2016).
The man who taught this doctrine was Zbigniew Brzezinski (2016), a long serving American foreign policy expert, who worked under several presidents and chaired foreign policy think tanks. According to Brzezinski (2016), the great power that America has become would be at risk if China, Russia, and Iran ever became united with mutual grievances against the United States and if they gained momentum to move into the Eurasian heartland. This situation would plunge the world into grave danger and could overcome the United States militarily (Brzezinski, 2016). This situation has now arisen (Lin, 2010).
Russia and China; Empires Rising
Russia and China have similarities that draw them together. They are both authoritarian regimes with emerging capitalist economies (Trush, 2020). Both regimes are committed to expanding their civilization, and their respected party elites that run the country have similar philosophies of global supremacy and expansion with national slogans such as "Russian World," "Greater Eurasia," and "One Belt One Road" (Trush, 2020, p. 663). China is growing fast and emerging as an economic world power (Fesenko, 2020). The dangers are that they are now uniting with the second strongest military and nuclear power in the world, which is Russia (Fesenko, 2020). Their goal is to control the Eurasian landmass, block the United States from influence there, and literally reproduce the ancient Silk Road (Peternelj et al., 2019).
In 2001, China and Russia entered into the Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation (Trush, 2020). This treaty obtains a clause that states if any one of the parties feels that their security is threatened, they will jointly address the issue to protect one another (Trush, 2020). In 2014, Russia began actively supplying arms to the Chinese and they are the biggest importer of Russian military arms and technology (Trush, 2020). The Chinese have had a technological boost regarding their military, and this has boosted China into a great military power (Trush, 2020). They have acquired SAMs (long range anti-aircraft missiles), unmanned underwater vehicles, laser guided bombs and much more (Trush, 2020). They are the exclusive buyers of Russia's Su-37 fighters and the C-400 missile systems (Trush, 2020). All these arms are to counter the United States' influence over the Eurasian region (Trush, 2020).
In the years between 2015-2018, the Chinese conducted joint maneuvers with Russia of their armed forces and navies. These military exercises were the largest exercises ever to take place by China and Russia (Trush, 2020). They are specifically practicing for potential war with the United States and NATO (Trush, 2020). Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has risen back up with ideas of former empire and they express interest in the former communist satellite states they once controlled (Trush, 2020). This includes the Central Asian states in the Eurasian heartland (Trush, 2020). The United States is actually pushing Russia and China towards this alliance through Russian sanctions. This is causing the Russians to turn to China for economic relief in bank loans and commerce (Trush, 2020). During Trump's administration, trade wars were waged upon China, crumbling their relationship with the United States (Trush, 2020). With Russia providing the arms and China providing the money, together they are able to circumvent the United States economically and militarily (Trush, 2020).
In 2018, Putin announced that Russia had achieved a military breakthrough. They had developed five new nuclear delivery systems that Putin dubbed Russia's "super weapons" (Geist & Massicot, 2019, p. 103). These systems are specifically designed to penetrate the United States' homeland (Geist & Massicot, 2019). The RS-Sarmat ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) is much larger than anything the United States currently possesses (Geist & Massicot, 2019). Another ICBM is the Avangard, which is designed to get past American missile defenses (Geist & Massicot, 2019). They also developed the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear powered, ground launched, cruise missile which has nuclear propulsion with unlimited range and allows the missile to target and avoid air and missile defenses (Geist & Massicot, 2019). This will be the first aircraft to be powered by nuclear energy (Geist & Massicot, 2019). Russia and China have also developed direct energy weapons to conduct kinetic attacks upon our satellites in space as well as sophisticated cyber warfare tactics (Acton, 2018). All of these weapons are not just self-defense, but they are intended to one day combat the United States (Huessy, 2021).
Another super weapon, the Poseidon, is an underwater vehicle (UUV) that has no crew, but is a nuclear submarine (Geist & Massicot, 2019). The Poseidon possesses a compact nuclear reactor, and up until this point, Russia is the only nation that is the undisputed leader in this form of technology. The Russian navy is the only navy that has this weapon (Geist & Massicot, 2019). Poseidon can outmaneuver the fastest submarines and stay at sea for years because of the nuclear propulsion (Geist & Massicot, 2019). Poseidon would create huge areas of radioactive contamination and destruction and violates international law (Kristensen & Korda, 2020). Russia has developed an air launched, ballistic, hypersonic missile called the Kinzhal, which is specifically useful to combat U.S. carrier groups and the U.S. ballistic missile defense locations in Poland and Romania under NATO (Geist & Massicot, 2019). These hypersonic missiles can destroy key munitions and facilities which cause their enemies' defenses to go down (Geist & Massicot, 2019). It needs to be noted that Russia has violated the 1972 Seabed Treaty with the Poseidon (Geist & Massicot, 2019). These nuclear modernizations of the five super weapons will be online by the early 2020s and will enhance Russia's capability to attack America's Minuteman ICBM silos that are scattered across the United States and overcome them (Geist & Massicot, 2019).
Iran and North Korea have joined Russia and China
Iran is also emerging as a hostile threat to U.S. forces. China has been courting Iran and several infrastructure deals have been struck, allowing China to build transportation lines and oil pipelines through Iran and up into the Eurasian heartland in exchange for energy reserves (Lin, 2010). This guarantee of gas and oil from Iran will allow China to challenge the U.S. over Taiwan without fear of the U.S. cutting their oil and gas supplies off (Lin, 2010). This alliance gives a footing for China to establish in the Persian Gulf, which is the soft underbelly of the Eurasian heartland, and allows China to challenge the U.S. (Lin, 2010). This alliance allows Iran to circumvent the sanctions the United States has placed upon her. China has also given assistance to Iran's feared nuclear enrichment program, enabling them to get precise uranium measurements for the enrichment process (Lin, 2010).
Knowing that the U.S. is putting heavier sanctions upon them, Iran is also drawing close to Russia and has sought membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) which has a defense pact that is in likeness to NATO's (Lin, 2010). Russia also sold Iran SS-20 missiles that were supposed to be dismantled according to the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which Russia has violated numerous times (Lin, 2010).
North Korea, who is known to be belligerent and threatening to the United States is also growing closer to this axis. Iran and North Korea have been sharing military and weapons technology for thirty years (Lin, 2010). North Korea traffics weapons of mass destruction (including bioweapons and chemical weapons specifically intended to use against the United States) to Iran. They both have launched military satellites to compete with the United States (Lin, 2010). North Korea and Iran are now developing advanced nuclear weapons (Lin, 2010). They have the capability now to detonate a nuclear weapon over the mainland of America, which could deliver a crippling EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack and take out our power grid (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). The Chinese do have a defense pact with the North Koreans called the Sino-North Korean Friendship Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Treaty (Lin, 2010). This Treaty gives the North Koreans the military backing they desire if they should come into conflict with the United States (Lin, 2010).
America Declining
As we can see, Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are not only allied but conducting large scale weapons' modernizations including nuclear, bioweapons, cyber warfare, and AI technologies ( Lin, 2010; United States Institute of Peace, 2018). While they are building up, the U.S. will not have any new type of nuclear weapon until at least 2029 (Huessy, 2021). At this current combined rate, they have outpaced the United States (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). Admiral Charles Richard of USSSTRATCOM warned that the United States must replace these outdated systems, or they will be obsolete by the end of the 2020s (Huessy, 2021). General John Hyten, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that by 2030, our Minuteman ICBM missiles will literally be fallen apart (Huessy, 2021).
Why is our military not modernizing? It is mainly due to budget cuts. The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 is the main culprit behind the weakening of America's military because it downsized the armed forces and stopped any modernizations (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). According to the United States Institute of Peace (2018), in their governmental report that they conducted, they claimed that "America is at the point of strategic insolvency" (p. xii). Congress was warned in 2010 and 2014 of this situation, but they ignored it (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). Since the BCA of 2011, the United States' Department of Defense gave examples of possible war theater scenarios with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea and determined that the U.S. could not fight them in a conventional war (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). The United States would be overcome if multiple war theaters broke out in the Pacific, Middle East, and Eastern Europe and our military would suffer catastrophic losses of personnel and assets (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). The Department of Defense also warned that if Congress did not extend the budget by 2020, it would be too late to catch up (United States Institute of Peace, 2018).
Another weakness of America's military defense system is their satellites of command, control, communication, and intelligence (C3Is) (Acton, 2018). These satellites have unfortunately been dual purposed with nuclear and non-nuclear C3Is and this escalates the risk of entanglement (Acton, 2018). This means our nuclear capabilities such as launch on warning are compromised each time a cyberattack is attempted (Acton, 2018). The Russians and Chinese could hack our C3Is and take out our nuclear capabilities and our launch on warning protocol would be destroyed (Acton, 2018). The Russians and Chinese have been documented to state that if they disabled our C3I satellites, they would prepare a first strike nuclear attack on the American mainland (Acton, 2018).
America's final weakness comes from her waging the war on terror for the past 30 years (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). While terrorism is important to fight, it focuses military attention on intelligence gathering and small skirmishes (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). This has focused American military might upon an inferior enemy that does not have the conventional weapons or personnel forces to truly challenge American military strength (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). Our military lacks the skills set they need to conduct large scale war exercises and maneuvers (United States Institute of Peace, 2018).
NATO Deteriorating
Many argue that the United States still has her NATO allies in western Europe, and combined together, they could overcome the Russian, Chinese, North Korean, and Iranian alliance. However, recently there have been reasons to doubt the strength of NATO. In the fall of 2019 Turkey, a NATO member, informed the United States that they would be entering Syria to attack the Kurds (Nordlinger, 2019). The United States usually supports the Kurds, so this move by Turkey was deemed hostile by the United States (Nordingliner, 2019). The U.S. warned Turkey that if they did this, their economy could be harmed (Nordlinger, 2019). This incursion by Turkey produced a small skirmish of artillery fire between them and the United States (Nordlinger, 2019). This bold and brazen move by Turkey drew criticism from the international community in the West, and many within the foreign policy circles labeled Turkey an ally that is nonexistent (Nordlinger, 2019). The Syrian situation also saw Turkey meeting with Russia to form an agreement about the situation (Nordlinger, 2019). Turkey is the second largest military in NATO, and during this time, they purchased the S-400 surface-to-air defense system from Russia against NATO rules (Nordlinger, 2019; Zanotti & Thomas, 2020). This move by Turkey was extremely dangerous as it allowed the Russians access to the U.S. stealth fighter F-35 jets, which then prompted the U.S. to remove Turkey from the Joint Strike Fighter program (Nordlinger, 2019). The United States has since placed sanctions on Turkey for this (Zanotti & Thomas, 2020).
The importance of Turkey in NATO is because they are the strategic bridge between the Eurasian landmass and Europe, which controls the eastern Mediterranean and Baltic Sea (Nordlinger, 2019). Losing Turkey to Russia and Iranian influence would be compromising the security and safety of Europe (Nordlinger, 2019). Recently, Turkey complained that they were denied their own nuclear weapons and responded by explaining they had the ability to get new friends and allies if they were continually denied (Nordlinger, 2019). Turkey has also threatened to flood Europe with Syrian refugees, to which the E.U. retaliated by imposing arm's embargoes against them, but the United States vetoed the embargo (Nordlinger, 2019). Another danger Turkey poses is that they harbor 50 of our nuclear warheads at the Incirlik Air Base (Nordlinger, 2019). What would happen if they decided not to allow access to the warheads? Or what if they confiscated these warheads for their own use?
NATO is best armed with conventional forces on their eastern European front, and this has now been compromised (Wellen, 2014). There has been a disturbing military doctrine emerging in Russian military circles, one of limited nuclear war (Sethi, 2019). This simply means that they believe they can wage a limited nuclear war and win (Sethi, 2019). In the 1980s, Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev extolled the belief that no one could win a nuclear war, therefore fighting one was pointless (Sethi, 2019). This military doctrine has been thrown out the window (Sethi, 2019). With this in mind, Putin's only way to defeat NATO on the eastern European front is to simply launch a nuclear attack to which he would prevail (Wellen, 2014).
It is true that over the years, nuclear weapons have been sophisticated and many are now considered tactical (Wellen, 2014). This means that their nuclear capabilities have been honed down to produce less radiation damage from fall out (Wellen, 2014). If Putin did attack Europe with nuclear weapons, it may not necessarily bring a nuclear holocaust (Wellen, 2014). This grim fact means few in America would be willing to retaliate and risk death to protect a few in eastern Europe (Wellen, 2014). Would Americans be willing to die for a few cities in eastern Europe they had never heard of (Wellen, 2014)? Putin is very well aware of the advantage Russia possesses and this emboldens him to consider occupying Ukraine and the Baltic states (Wellen, 2014). It would give Russia strategic control over the oil, gas, and natural resources Europe depends on from the Eurasian heartland. Limited nuclear war could cause NATO to capitulate (Wellen, 2014). Putin has also adopted a nuclear strategy of escalating the crisis in order to win, and has stated that during a conventional conflict, Russia would retaliate with nuclear weapons against the United States to convince them to stand down (Huessy, 2021).
A final scenario that has developed which threatens NATO is the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is an organization that serves the Eurasian heartland with a political, economic, and security treaty under the alliances of Russia and China (Peternelj et al., 2019). The countries involved besides Russia and China are the five Central Asian states surrounding the Caspian Sea, which is the Eurasian heartland. There are other dialogue members as well including Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Belarus, Pakistan, Armenia, and India (Peternelj et al., 2019). The SCO has a primary goal of eliminating terrorism, separatism, and extremism within the Eurasian countries (Peternelj et al., 2019). This security decision is to specifically transform the SCO into more of a defense alliance with the specific interest to establish hegemony and dominance over the raw resources in the Eurasian heartland (Peternelj et al., 2019). Russia leads on political and military affairs with China leading economically, and they both acknowledge the task is to fight against any foreign meddling by the United States or NATO in the Eurasian heartland (Peternelj e al., 2019).
The nations that comprise the pillar of the SCO are Russia, China, Iran, and they are actively undermining the unity of America and Europe, as well as promoting the deterioration of NATO and the EU (Peternelj et al., 2019). This will allow Russia and China to challenge the domination of natural resources in Eurasia over the United States. It must be kept in mind that Turkey is a dialogue partner now, but has the potential to become a full-fledged member of the SCO (Peternelj et al., 2019). If Turkey joins and abolishes their NATO alliance, this means NATO has no access to the Bosphorus Straight, a strategic choke point into the Asian landmass and Europe (Peternelj et al., 2019). One article of the SCO states that Russia will be moving military equipment and arms into the Central Asian area as a prelude to combat the United States and NATO from accessing the area (Peternelj et al., 2019).
The importance of physically controlling the Eurasian landmass is crucial to the continual survival of America as a superpower nation (Brzezinski, 2016). While the United States is bogged down with internal conflict, turmoil, and distracted by terrorism, her enemies build up and prepare. America's status as superpower is being undermined daily by the activities of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea (Lin, 2010; Huessy, 2021). The lack of the American media to sound the alarm has lulled Americans into a blind complacency. This has caused Congress to ignore our defense spending and divert the funds to internal issues (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). It may be too late to act now, as this report was issued in 2018 and warned that if the budget was not increased by 2020, it would be too late (United States Institute of Peace, 2018). America's military has become outdated and vulnerable to cyberattacks (Huessy, 2021; Acton, 2018). Russia and China have initiated desires of empire and they know they must expand or disintegrate (Fesenko, 2020; Trush, 2020). Iran and North Korea have become hostile and unpredictable rogue states who turn to China and Russia for protection and arms developments against the United States (Lin, 2010). Turkey's rapid change from a secular state to a militant state compromises NATO and the United States (Nordlinger, 2019). Finally, the founding of the SCO and the implications to remove the United States militarily from access to the Eurasian heartland bodes an ominous warning to whether she can maintain her superpower status (Brzezinski, 2016; Peternelj et al., 2019). These recent developments have sounded a clear warning that the combined militaries of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have the power now to conquer and defeat the United States.
Acton, J. M. (2018). Escalation through entanglement: How the vulnerability of command-and-control systems raises the risks of an inadvertent nuclear war. International Security, 43(1), 56–99. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00320
Brzezinski, Z.K. (2016). The grand chessboard: American primacy and its geostrategic imperatives (Updated with a new epilogue.). Basic Books.
Fesenko, M. (2020). The Danger of Confrontation between the United States and China in the New Cold War. Problems of World History, 11(2), 114-130. https://doi.org/10.46869/2707-6776-2020-11-7
Geist, E., & Massicot, D. (2019). Understanding Putin's Nuclear "Superweapons." SAIS Review of International Affairs, Youngblood Coleman, D., & Ross, A. (2018). Special
HUESSY, P. (2021). Nuclear Modernization in an Era of Great Power Competition. InFOCUS, 15(2), 8-11.
Kristensen, H. M., & Korda, M. (2020). Russian nuclear forces, 2020. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76(2), 102-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2020.1728985
Lin, C.Y. (2010). China, Iran, and North Korea: A Triangular Strategic Alliance. MERIA Journal, 14(1), 50-67.
NORDLINGER, J. (2019). Turkey, NATO, And a Shifting World. National Review, 71(21), 32-36.
Peternelj, B., Kurecic, P., & Kauss, L. (2019). The Prospects of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Turning into a Counterweight to the Nato Alliance. Economic & Social Development: Book of Proceedings, 248-255.
Sethi, M. (2019). The Idea of "Limited Nuclear War": As Impractical and Dangerous Now, As It Was Then. Indian Foreign Affairs Journal, 14(3), 235-247.
Trush, S.M. (2020). Russia-US-China: Motives and Risks of Russian-Chinese Military Rapprochement. Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 90(6), 661. https://doi.org/10.1134/s101933162006009x
United States Institute of Peace (2018). Providing for the common defense: The assessment and recommendations of the National Defense Strategy Commission.
Wellen, R. (2014). How Putin Could Defeat NATO With Nukes. Foreign Policy in Focus, 2.
Zanotti, J., & Thomas, C. (2020). Turkey: U.S. Sanctions Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Congressional Research Service: Report, 1-4.


text:
Niger Airlines est la principale compagnie aérienne nigérienne. Fondée le , ses activités
principales sont le transport de passagers, de fret, de vols charters, de vols privés et d'évacuations sanitaires. Elle a pour objectif de desservir les principaux aéroports nigériens, ainsi qu'un grand nombre de destinations africaines. Son hub principal est l'Aéroport international Diori Hamani.

Histoire
Niger Airlines a été créée afin de combler le vide laissé par l'ancienne compagnie aérienne nationale Air Niger.
Les premiers vols régionaux de Niger Airlines devaient débuter le  avec l'inauguration de la ligne Niamey - Agadez.
Niger Airlines entend à court et moyen terme desservir les principaux aéroports de la sous région, du Maghreb, une partie de l'Europe et du moyen orient.

Liste des dirigeants de la compagnie
Depuis le  :
 Abdoul Aziz Larabou, Directeur général de Niger Airlines

Mission

Destinations
Niger Airlines dessert 4 destinations au Niger. De nombreuses autres destinations seront desservies par Niger Airlines, dans la sous région.

Niger

Tahoua

Flotte
Niger Airlines opère un Fokker #F50

Références

Transport à Niamey
Entreprise ayant son siège à Niamey


Disney's upcoming streaming service is quickly filling up with exciting new shows based on existing properties, some of which possess substantial nostalgic value. This now includes Monsters At Work, the upcoming Disney+ series based on the 2001 animated film Monsters, Inc. (directed by Pete Docter).
It's often difficult for such an old franchise to gather the original cast members for a new venture, especially after almost two decades. However, fans of the animated film will be glad to know the upcoming series will feature the return of John Goodman as Sully, Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski, Jennifer Tilly as Celia, Bob Peterson as Roz and John Ratzenberger as the Yeti.
However, the series -- which is set six months after the events of Monsters, Inc. -- will center on new characters, as Tylor Tuskmon, a mechanic on the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team, pursues his dream of working on the Laugh Floor with Sully and Mike. On his floor, he is joined by Val Little, his best friend; Fritz, his boss; Duncan, a plumber; Smitty and Needleman, the teenage maintenance pair from the film and Cutter, described as the rule-follower.
Tuskmon will be voiced by Ben Feldman (Superstore), who will be joined by Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as Val Little, Henry Winkler (Barry) as Fritz, Lucas Neff (Raising Hope) as Duncan, Stephen Stanton (Star Wars: Resistance) as both Smitty and Needleman, Alanna Ubach (Coco) as Cutter and Aisha Tyler, who will be voicing Tuskmon's mom.
Disney+ will launch in Q4 2019. However, Monsters at Work is set to premiere in 2020.


Britain loses the American colonies.
The British Empire reaches its height during this golden age of British Capitalism.
The Helvetic Republic is established and ruled by France.
Founded by Jean Henri Dunant.
It ended the absolute rule of French Kings.
Portugal sides with England against France.
The Grand Alliance was a group that wanted to stop French expansion in Europe.
During the War, England becomes the world's chief naval power.


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Meet the real Adam Spencer
By Tim Elliott
May 27, 2011 — 9.51am
Adam Spencer, who stepped down on Friday, December 6 as host of ABC 702's breakfast show after eight years at the helm, gave this interview to the (sydney) magazine in May, 2011.
"People say, 'We don't want to hear about your kids; stick to the news and politics.'" Credit:Gary Heery
Adam Spencer does a lot of stuff. He does charity. He does stand-up. He does TV. And, of course, he does radio. But there is one thing Adam Spencer does not do and that is chill out. You will not see Adam Spencer lying in a hammock thinking about nothing or kicking back poolside. This makes him not the greatest person to go on holidays with. "It used to drive me nuts," says his wife, Melanie Mossman. "He used to micromanage every second of the day."
It can also make him not the greatest person to go grocery shopping with. "When Mel and I shop together," says Spencer, "and she's only got a few items left to get, I will take the trolley to a line because by the time she has got those things we can meet back at the trolley and we'll already be that bit ahead!"
Daddy's girl: Adam Spencer with his daughter Olivia at their Newtown home. Credit:Gary Heery
Such pathological busyness - Spencer calls it "late-onset adult ADHD" - does have its advantages. As the host of ABC Sydney's Breakfast with Adam Spencer, the 42-year-old broadcaster leads an uncommonly demanding life, rising at 3.20am, leaving home by 3.30am to be at his desk by 3.50am and on air at 5.30am ("well, at 5.36 and 15 or so seconds"). He sleeps five hours a night, seven if he's lucky.
But such activity might also be seen as a function of his intellect, one that saw him graduate from the University of Sydney with first-class honours in pure maths and win Best Speaker at the World Debating Championships in 1996. This is the Adam Spencer we all know, the one teaching himself piano and classical guitar, the wise-cracking "Sleek Geek" and Australia's coolest nerd, the guy who can explain both
Fermat's Last Theorem and the cultural import of the Pixies' third album.
Spencer's life can be exhausting but not necessarily in the ways you might imagine. "Recently I was going out and asked him to make mashed potato for the kids [Ellie, 6, and Olivia, 3]," says Mossman. "I told him all you need is milk and potatoes and butter. Ten minutes later I get a call from him: 'I put the potatoes and milk and butter in a pan but it's not working.' And he was serious."
It's five years since Spencer took the breakfast chair at 702, succeeding Angela Catterns, who had delivered to the ABC a record 12.2 per cent of the breakfast audience, second only to Alan Jones. Catterns was giggly, girlie and supremely non-threatening; one of the most common words used to describe her was "warm". By the time he took over in December 2005, Spencer had been called many things but "warm" was never one of them.
"Certainly some people thought it was an unusual choice," says Michael Mason, ABC Radio's group program director who, together with then 702 station manager Roger Summerill, convinced a reluctant Spencer to sign on. "We had the option of getting someone like Catterns and trying to ape what had gone before or taking a different path to set the station up for a strong future."
Despite Spencer's own misgivings ("Adam initially thought he might be too young for the audience," says Mason), the experiment has clearly worked. Spencer rated 13.1 per cent in the latest Nielsen survey (Jones rated 18.3), with 489,000 listeners tuning in each week - more than Jones, with 485,000. "We reach more people than Alan," says Spencer, "but his listeners tune in longer, which means he's still number one in terms of audience share."
Listeners who once took issue with Spencer's idiosyncrasies - his penchant for pointing out the arithmetical architecture of a mobile phone number, for instance, or the progress of Ellie's soccer team - have mostly come on board, with the possible exception of those who bristle at any reference to his family.
"I hate it when he talks about his 'darling wife and kids' - it just sounds so phoney," says a former ABC staffer. "I don't doubt he loves them ... but I think he only does it because he thinks it'll make him more appealing to the 702 audience."
Spencer seems genuinely wounded by such comments but concedes there have been a "very small number" of criticisms. "People say, 'We don't want to hear about your f...ing kids; stick to news and politics.' But there have also been a lot of lovely messages from older people who think it's great."
Despite a moderately successful stint on Triple J's breakfast show, which he co-hosted with comedian Wil Anderson from 2000 to '04, nothing was preordained about Spencer's success at 702. "Adam has defied radio convention," says a former ABC insider. "He's everything that shouldn't work - he talks across people, he's got the world's worst voice and the emotional intelligence of a gnat. He's basically a high-functioning autistic. But it works because people feel smarter listening to him. Adam confirms intelligence in people - or they learn something from him - and so he has this way of taking people with him."
Mason sees Spencer as part of a broader shift in the way Sydneysiders consume radio. "It's a new order now. The days of the silken-voiced omniscient radio announcer are gone. People look for a real connection now, for someone they can relate to ... Adam is very genuine."
Genuine - and earnest. His home, a terrace house in Newtown that he bought in 2002, is modern but modest, the walls dominated by photos of happy-looking Third World children whose sight has been restored by the Fred Hollows Foundation. (Gifts from the foundation, the photos also work as a "subtle reminder" to his children to count their blessings.) Sitting down at the dining table, Spencer, who is surprisingly small, seems relaxed but also hopelessly conscientious: he scrutinises my questions from multiple angles, answering with considered pauses and squadrons of judiciously selected words.
Politics is a no-go at the ABC but Spencer has undoubtedly used his position to champion pet concerns, including women's sport ("shockingly under-resourced, under-reported and under-appreciated in Australia") and numeracy. "Most people could not tell you what 13 times 8 is," he says, pausing for emphasis. "It's 104, by the way. But - and I'm not being arrogant saying this - that's the arithmetic equivalent of spelling the word 'belief' and knowing that the i comes before the e."
A self-described "rock'n'roll lad" during his Triple J days, Spencer has since become almost implausibly responsible: when he and Mossman married in 2006, the 200 guests were asked to donate to one of three charities. Today, he contributes to multiple causes, including the White Ribbon campaign, focusing on violence against women, and the Fred Hollows Foundation. (It was Hollows who thrice operated on his "wonky" eye, the eyelid muscle of which was crushed during a traumatic forceps delivery.) He cycles to work and has served for five years on the NSW government's Climate Change Council. He is fond of wearing wristbands with logos like "Not Violent". In many ways, Spencer has become the poster boy for inner-city progressives, a de facto opinion maker who camouflages his influence with generous doses of irony and the Dandy Warhols.
"Adam enjoys the fact that he is an important person," says Wil Anderson. "And he enjoys being respected. I live in constant fear of being taken too seriously but he is the opposite. He's always had a yearning to be taken seriously."
Spencer grew up in Hunters Hill, the eldest of three children, in a large home that had been in the family for generations. Despite this, his upbringing was decidedly blue collar: his late father, Larry, drove trucks for Fairfax newspapers; his mum, Elizabeth, worked in the canteen at the local school. Neither had finished high school (Spencer was the first in his family to go to university). "Adam was very competitive," says his brother, David. "The higher the mountain, the more determined he became to climb it."
He also had a head for numbers. By year 2, he was asking his maths teacher why the times tables stopped at 12, "not to be difficult or make fun of others kids but just because it didn't make sense to me". One of his teachers belittled Spencer because he was better at multiplication than she was. But another teacher, Miss Russell, knew just how to handle him. "She came up to me at lunchtime and said, 'After lunch we're going to do these 10 questions with everyone in class but I bet that if you went down to the library by yourself you wouldn't be able to do all 50 questions in the time it takes us to do 10.' And I was like, 'Oh yeah? Just you watch!'"
Spencer earned a full academic scholarship to St Aloysius' College but had difficulty adjusting to the Latin-and-the-strap Jesuit model of education. By the end of his first year, he was ranked a dismal 92 out of 100 students. But salvation came soon enough, in the form of a boy called Ivan Kladnig. "Ivan was in the debating team but he'd called in sick and they needed a replacement for the following night. The teachers
told us to go home and ask our parents if we could stay back and debate."
Debating and Spencer were made for one another: the mental gymnastics, the deployment of logic, the marriage of showmanship and verbal combat - it was all second nature to him. By the end of high school, Spencer was the NSW Schools' Debating Team captain and he continued to debate all the way through his time at the University of Sydney. (He was captain of the Australian Debating Team from 1993-96 and competed in three World Debating Championships, his team finishing runner-up in all three.)
His studies were less successful. He initially enrolled in arts/law, off the back of his HSC maths mark (200 out of 200 in four unit) but dropped economics, then philosophy, then law, despite having earned an average befitting first-class honours. "I didn't like what I'd seen of big-end corporate law."
He was, however, awarded first-class honours in pure maths in 1991 and was invited to do a PhD, which he then proceeded to neglect in favour of the multiple distractions of campus life - the student union, of which he was president, theatresports, Triple J's Raw Comedy (a national stand-up competition, of which he was the NSW winner in 1996) and indulging in whatever alcoholic beverage was cheapest at whatever bar he happened to be leaning against at the time. "There is a certain strength of character required not to drink too much in your early 20s," he says. "And I have no evidence at all that I possessed such strength."
Raw Comedy opened up a career at Triple J - in 1998 he began doing The Departure Lounge afternoon show with Helen Razer - but he had in other ways "stopped maturing. I just didn't have a very strong moral compass. I wasn't selfish or nasty in a malicious way but I was just a bit flippant.' "
He was also a bit fat. "I weighed 109 kilos at one point," he says. "I was eating anything I felt like. I would go to the trivia night at the Marlborough Hotel in Newtown and eat three pieces of chicken and gravy while I walked the 200 metres between Clem's takeaway and the pub."
Curiously, his weight never affected his ability to pick up girls. "Life for Adam was not just about maths," says writer and comedian Tim Ross, who worked with Spencer at Triple J. "He certainly had a reputation as a pants man."
Spencer always insisted that he could lose the weight if he wanted to. "But then one day in 2000 I was talking to my then girlfriend, Elke Taylor, and she said, 'You know, I don't think you could lose that weight.' Suddenly, the image of Miss Russell saying I couldn't do those 50 maths problems came flooding back. I ended up losing 25 kilograms in 12 weeks."
While he may have lost weight, his attitude remained as big as ever. "The night I met Adam, in 2003, he was very smooth, very confident," recalls his wife. "I was with a male friend of mine at this trivia night at The Clock and I couldn't get one of the questions. Suddenly this stranger pops over my shoulder and says, 'The actor is George Clooney and the film is Solaris.' He was very cheeky, because for all he knew the guy I was with could have been my boyfriend. When I looked over to see who it was, I saw him standing there across the room, adjusting his pool cue like someone from the Rat Pack."
As Mossman was leaving, Spencer approached her. "He said, 'This is the only answer you'll be needing tonight' and passed me a bit of paper with his phone number on it. And I said, 'If you want to have a drink with me you can call me' and gave him my number. He said, 'Well, I'm very busy so I'll probably call you in a week or so.' " (He called the next morning.)
Mossman, who co-owns The Green Room Lounge in Enmore, concedes that Spencer can appear aloof. "You walk into a room and [if] he's watching the news or reading the paper, he might not recognise your presence. But it's not that he's arrogant or rude, it's just that he's switched on and focused."
Despite the fact that his mother is a devout Catholic, Spencer is an atheist, with religion providing a constant source of debate with his close friend, the actor and Christian Rhys Muldoon. "Lots of mockery and teasing goes on," says Muldoon, who was Spencer's best man. "He's always sending me blasphemous text messages over Easter and Christmas."
Muldoon says Spencer is actually very shy. "With friendships he is quite wary at the beginning. I'm guessing that he would have been quite vulnerable at school, with his intellect and gammy eye, and that's where his drive to succeed comes from. It also means that he reserves his judgment on people for a while. But once you are his friend, he is incredibly generous."
It was Spencer who nominated his fellow Sleek Geek Week host and scientist Karl Kruszelnicki for his 2006 Order of Australia. In the course of researching this story, I learnt that,as part of his contract at 702, Spencer receives a fairly modest performance bonus - somewhere in the vicinity of $10,000 - but rather than trouser it, he splits it between his three producers.
I suggest to him that he might keep the money and invest in an intensive cooking course, something that specialises in mashed potato, perhaps. "It's all a matter of which dimension you're cooking the potato in," he says. "If someone had shown me how to mash potatoes, I'd be a rough chance but if you expect me to have divined it from my understanding of the cosmos, I'm not your guy."
A toast to Sydney - Adam's favourites ...
"I recently completed the 50-kilometre Coastrek - a 9 1/2-hour stroll from Palm Beach to Balmoral. Certainly the best walk I've ever done in Sydney but not one I'd recommend regularly!"
"I tend, if anything, to have too much spare time in my life. So I love any shop where I can queue with 8000 other shoppers to be told they don't stock the item I need."
"I love the look of King Street, Newtown ... at 3.40am ... with barely a single car."
Sporting ground
"Anywhere that my team is winning but at the SCG for the first ball of a Test match is something we do best in the world."
"So many to choose from. My dad used to say 1969 was the best year of his life - Balmain won the grand final and I was born. Then he'd pause and say, 'And don't get me to rank those.' You've also got the Swans, the Tahs [the Waratahs] and I'd go for Sydney FC's women's team. Good luck in the World Cup, girls!"
Cycle path
"Probably yet to be built. There are a couple of great side streets that run alongside major roads, dominated by bikes with virtually no cars. You'll never get me to announce them in print 'cos the cars will flood to them!"
Sydney hero
"My six-year-old daughter, Ellie, would kill me if I didn't say [Swans player] Adam Goodes. But he'd probably be a tie with the vast bulk of primary-school teachers I've met in the past few years."
Sydney moment
"November 16, 2005, Homebush. Aloiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisi!"
the sydney magazine