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Tag: Shenzhou
Rogozin Courts Chinese Cooperation on ExoMars, Space Station
The Chinese government-owned CGTN website has an interview with Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin. With relations severely damaged with the West due to sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos is increasingly focused on deepening cooperation with China's surging space program. The partnership already includes jointly developing a crewed base on the moon in the 2030s.
On the suspended ExoMars mission with Europe, Rogozin said:
"In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else."
Launch 2020: China's Space Program Continued to Surge with a Number of Firsts
June 24, 2021 June 24, 2021 News 0
Long March 3B lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. (Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Group)
China's surging space program showed no sign of slowing down last year as it tied its own launch record and moved ahead with ambitious space missions and a set of new launchers.
China compiled a record of 35 successes and four failures in 2020. That matched the number of launch attempts made in 2018, a year that saw 38 successes and a single failure.
China Launches Core Module of First Permanent Space Station
April 28, 2021 News 0
Long March 5B launches the Tianhe space station core module on April 29, 2021. (Credit: CASC)
The International Space Station (ISS) is no longer the only human outpost in Earth orbit.
China successfully launched the Tianhe core module core module of its first permanent space station aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Thursday.
Move Over ISS, China's New Space Station is Launching Soon
Artist's conception of China's Tianhe-1 space station. (Credit: China Manned Space Engineering)
In a few short weeks, the International Space Station (ISS) will no longer be the only station in Earth orbit.
China plans to launch the Tianhe core module core module of its first permanent space station aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. Spaceflight Now's launch calendar has the flight taking place on April 29.
China Plans Launch of Space Station Core During First Half of Year
China will launch the Tianhe core module of its first permanent space station aboard a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site during the first half of 2021, according to the chief designer of China's human spaceflight program. Xinhua reports:
"Subsequent space missions include the launches of Tianzhou-2 cargo craft and Shenzhou-12 manned craft after the core module is sent into orbit," Zhou [Jianping] said.
China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022.
Two experiment modules named Wentian and Mengtian will be attached to the core. Launches of the new modules are scheduled for 2021 and 2022.
The space station will be similar in size to the Mir space station built by the Soviet Union during the 1980's. It will have a mass about one-quarter that of the International Space Station.
Chinese astronauts will travel to the space station using three-seat Shenzhou spacecraft. Later flights will be aboard the nation's next-generation crewed spacecraft, which will be capable of carrying six or seven astronauts. The next-generation vehicle is being designed for trips to the moon.
Robotic Tianzhou-2 spacecraft capable of carrying around 6,000 kg of cargo will resupply the station.
China Launches Reusable Experimental Spacecraft
September 4, 2020 News 0
A Chinese rocket launched a "reusable experimental spacecraft" into Earth orbit on Friday.
The Long March 2F booster lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
China has released no details about the vehicle. However, it could be similar to the U.S. military's X-37B reusable space plane.
"After a period of in-orbit operation, the spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China. It will test reusable technologies during its flight, providing technological support for the peaceful use of space," the official Xinhua news agency said.
The Long March 2F rocket has been used to launch Shenzhou crewed spacecraft and two Tiangong space stations. This was the 14th launch of the booster.
Chinese Next-Gen Spacecraft Lands After Orbital Flight
May 7, 2020 News 0
A Chinese next-generation crewed spacecraft landed on Friday after a nearly three-day automated flight in Earth orbit.
Pictures from Chinese media showed the capsule descending under three parachutes. The vehicle had made a high-speed reentry from a final orbit of 523 x 6,278 km (325 x 3,901 miles) to simulate a return from deep space.
The new spacecraft, which will carry up to six astronauts, is intended to replace the three-seat Shenzhou spaceship now in use. China will use the new vehicle for operations in Earth and lunar orbit.
A Long March 5B launched the spacecraft into Earth orbit on Tuesday from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island. It was the maiden flight of Long March 5 variant, which will be used to launch elements of China's first permanent space station next year.
Long March 5B has a core stage with four strap-on boosters. It lacks the upper stage of the Long March 5, which is used to send communications satellites to geosynchronous orbit and probes to the moon and planets.
China's Ambitious Plans to Dominate Cislunar Space
December 26, 2019 December 24, 2019 News 0
China's Yutu 2 rover drives off the Chang'e-4 lander. (Credit: CNSA)
Continuing our look at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission's 2019 Report to Congress, we examine China's plans to achieve a commanding position in cislunar space. [Full Report]
China is determined to establish a commanding position in cislunar space, seeing it as a strategic location from which to dominate the final frontier.
China De-orbits Tiangong-2, Looks Ahead to Permanent Space Station
China de-orbited its Tiangong-2 space station on Friday, ending a precursor mission to the establishment of a large, multi-module station beginning in 2020.
Launched on Sept. 15, 2016, Tiangong-2 hosted a 30-day visit by astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong beginning the following month. The Shenzhou 11 crew tested out the station's life support and other systems, performed experiments, released a satellite, and grew rice and vegetables before returning to Earth after 33 days in space.
In April 2017, the Tianzhou-1 cargo ship docked with the space station. The automated ship refueled Tiangong-1 and un-docked and re-docked with the station twice in the months that followed. Tianzhou-1 subsequently separated from the station and was de-orbited on Sept. 22, 2017.
Tiangong-2 was 10.4 m (34 ft) long and weighed 8,600 kg (18,960 lb). That is about half the size of the Salyut 1 space station the Soviet Union launched in 1971.
The station's predecessor, Tiangong-1, hosted six Chinese astronauts during two crew visits in 2012 and 2013.
China plans to launch the Tianhe-1 core module for a permanent space station in 2020. Two laboratory modules would be subsequently attached to the station over the next two to three years. The facility will be roughly the size of the Mir space station built by the Soviet Union beginning in 1986 and about one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station.
China has opened up its human spaceflight program to other nations. European astronauts have been training for flights to the new space station aboard Shenzhou vehicles. And China has offered to fly foreign experiments to the facility.
Cruz, Nelson Criticize Plan to End Direct ISS Funding in 2025
May 21, 2018 May 21, 2018 News 24
International Space Station (Credit: NASA)
Sharply conflicting opinions about the future of the International Space Station (ISS) and America's path forward in space were on view last week in a Senate hearing room turned boxing ring.
In one corner was NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenamier, representing a Trump Administration that wants to end direct federal funding for ISS in 2025 in order to pursue an aggressive campaign of sending astronauts back to the moon. NASA would maintain a presence in Earth orbit, becoming one of multiple users aboard a privatized ISS or privately-owned stations.
A Niche in Time: "Lock the doors"
September 27, 2017 February 25, 2021 News 4
Debris is visible coming from the left wing of Columbia about two minutes before the shuttle broke up. The image was taken at Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base.
The space shuttle Columbia glowed brightly as it streaked across the predawn skies of the western United States on Feb 1, 2003. Decelerating from an orbital speed of 28,165 km/hr (17,500 miles/hr) at an altitude of 70,165 m (230,200 ft), the shuttle and its seven crew members were enveloped in super heated plasma as they descended deeper into the thickening atmosphere on their return from a 16-day science mission.
Three observers on the ground who were filming the fiery reentry suddenly noticed something odd. There was a sudden flash on the orbiter, and then bright objects streaked behind the ship and burned up.
"Look at the chunks coming off that," one shouted. "What the heck is that?"
"I don't know," his friend replied.
ESA Astronauts Train with Chinese for Future Space Missions
August 24, 2017 News 3
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer jumping from a Chinese Shenzou capsule during sea survival training, on 19 August 2017. ESA astronauts. (Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017)
YANTAI, China (ESA PR) — ESA astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti and Matthias Maurer joined 16 Chinese astronauts earlier this month for nine days of sea survival training off China's coastal city of Yantai. The ultimate goal is for ESA to establish a long term cooperation with China and ESA astronauts to fly on China's space station.
China Space Program White Paper Outlines Lunar & Mars Missions
December 29, 2016 News 3
A white paper outlining China's space policy for the next five years calls for a sample return mission to the moon, a landing on the far side of Earth's closest neighbor, and the launch of an orbiter and lander to Mars by 2020.
China will also begin constructing a permanent space station and research and development work on a heavy-lift launcher, reusable boosters and satellite servicing systems.
The nation also wants to expand international cooperation in areas that include remote sensing, space applications, lunar and planetary exploration, and human spaceflight.
China Launches Astronauts to Tiangong-2 Space Station
October 16, 2016 October 16, 2016 News 43
Long March 2F rocket in flight carrying Shenzhou-11. (Credit: CCTV)
China successfully launched two astronauts into space on Monday morning for a 30-day stay aboard the Tiangong-2 space station.
Veteran Chinese astronaut Jing Haipeng and rookie Chen Dong lifted off aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft from Jiunquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The Long March 2F booster appeared to perform flawlessly in a launch shown live around the world.
Shenzhou-11 spacecraft in orbit. (Credit: CCTV)
Shenzhou-11 is now in orbit and has deployed its two solar arrays as planned. Chinese officials said the spacecraft is performing as planned. The astronauts will dock with the space station two days from now.
Haipeng, 50, previously flew aboard Shenzhou 7, which was a three-day mission conducted in 2008, and commanded Shenzhou-9 on a 13-day flight to the Tiangong-1 space station in 20012. This is the first flight for Dong, 37.
Tiangong-2 is similar to its predecessor in size and design. It is about half the size of the 20-meter long Salyut 1 space station flown by the Soviet Union in the early 1970's.
China plans to launch the core of a multi-module space station around 2018. Construction of the facility is expected to be complete four years later.
This mission is the sixth Shenzhou flight with a crew aboard for the three-seat spacecraft, which resembles the Russian Soyuz transport in design. It is the first mission with a crew aboard since Shenzhou-10 in June 2013.
China Launches Tiangong-2 Space Station
September 15, 2016 News 17
The Chinese successfully launched the Tiangong-2 space station into orbit from aboard a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
A two-man crew is scheduled to launch to the station in October aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft. The crew will carry out a 30-day mission aboard the space station before returning to Earth.
Tiangong-2 is a precursor to a multi-module station that China will be assembling later this decade. Officials had previously said they would begin launching the new facility around 2018. However, media reports today say the first launch could occur next year.


GeoTalk interviews usually feature the work of early career researchers, but this month we deviate from the standard format to speak to Marina Drndarski, a biology teacher at the primary school Drinka Pavlović in Belgrade, Serbia. Marina has been involved with EGU's geoscience education activities for more than five years; she is an active contributor to Planet Press articles, bitesize press releases for kids, parents and educators, and has participated in the Geosciences Information for Teachers (GIFT) workshops at the General Assembly.
Thanks for talking to us today! Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your career path?
My name is Marina, and I teach biology and environmental studies in primary and secondary schools in Belgrade, Serbia.
As an experienced teacher I realised that it's not only my priority to give lectures and assess my students' knowledge inside the four walls of my classroom, but also to give them an opportunity to get out of the box: whether that's involving them in projects, taking part in active citizenship, exploring, researching, debating, or searching for the most improbable and unexpected solutions to problems in everyday life.
During my 25 years of teaching, I worked as an expert for education quality standards governed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia. I have written several biology and environmental handbooks, workshops and teaching learning materials for students and teachers.
With my students I have participated in several national and international projects (such as the Global Designathon Serbia, Eco Schools Serbia, the WWF European Schools For a Living Planet, Creating a School (on Mars) From Scratch, and the 2018 International Schools Essay Competition and Debate to name only a few). Meanwhile, I have also completed specialised academic studies on environmental protection and law at Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade.
Could you tell us about your involvement with EGU and how that has progressed over the years?
My first experience with the EGU GIFT workshops was at the 2014 General Assembly. First, I was fascinated by the huge crowds of the scientific community, rushing through the halls to be a part of The Face of the Earth (the 2014 conference theme). As part of the event, with colleagues from all around the world, I really enjoyed the inspirational lectures over four days. Although the GIFT program ended by the middle of the week, I stayed up to two more days, until the closing of the conference.
During the EGU GIFT 2014 poster sessions, I presented my work with my students, members of the Eco-Muskeeters, and enjoyed the experience of exchanging teaching methodology with other colleagues and visitors. Among the various activities and workshops that we had that year, I would single out Bárbara Ferreira's (the EGU Media and Communications Manager) presentation about bitesize press releases for kids, Planet Press. After the presentation we were offered to participate in the translation of the Planet Press releases into our native tongues, which I immediately and wholeheartedly accepted.
After great experience participating in 2014, I searched for a new opportunity to participate again for EGU GIFT 2015, The Voyage through the Scales. This time I came with a new poster, Experiment-o-mania, and short oral presentation to GIFT participants on how I use Planet Press articles in my classes.
Although I normally do not teach geosciences, I have found many ways to use the Planet Press releases in teaching biology, especially in environmental science.
During the last few years I have translated all of the articles from English to Serbian. I can confess that I honestly enjoy in each of the new press releases.
In addition to helping review Planet Press articles, you also incorporate texts from Planet Press and GeoTalk into your own lessons! How do you use these articles to teach your students about Earth science?
Students are given different articles from Planet Press which deal with one topic, such as climate change or global warming. Each pair of students also has a piece paper in front of them, with the theme on the paper's center. As the student pair read the received articles (two for each of them), they construct their maps.
After that, all together, we construct the class conceptual map and discuss and propose suggestions for how each of us can influence to environment based on the principles of sustainable development, such as reducing carbon emissions, saving energy and using water wisely.
At the end of the class, students take a climate change quiz on Kahoot (https://create.kahoot.it/; Planet Press) or Quizlet.
Writing a conclusion is an important part of any piece of writing, so for the next class the students write an essay overview to summarise the topic.
In your own experience, what have students gained from these kid-friendly posts and press releases?
In my opinion, most of the obligatory textbooks for elementary or secondary school have topics such as climate change, Earth's structure, glaciers, landslides etc. that are explained too narratively.
Most of the main text are described as definitions which students have to learn as facts, without putting students in the center of learning, placing themselves in a position to explore the topic, perform a scientific procedure and make a discovery, demonstrate a known fact, solve problems, or suggest solutions which may be achievable.
On the contrary, all the articles from Planet Press and GeoTalk provide real examples of field research and show students that science is actually happening somewhere in the world. Most importantly for students, are that most of the articles often show how science can influence everyday life, and that there are possible solutions and recommendations for what we can do to relieve pressure on the planet.
Additionally the questions in the "Find out more" section provide me with an opportunity to develop discussions in class.
Also, the possibility that the articles can be read in a foreign language, for example in English or German (languages which are taught at my school), give students the opportunity to improve their language skills.
What is your advice for scientists that want to work with school kids?
First, it is important for students to understand that somewhere in the world a whole team of scientists zealously work to improve the living conditions of the planet. New findings can help us see the actual state of the planet and give us the big picture of what we need to see. That's why the Planet Press releases can open new perspectives to students to explore more through the offered material and links or to find answers to some scientific questions, feeding their curiosity and helping them develop awareness regarding the problems which concern us all.
I would suggest one-hour live meetings with scientists and students, whether the scientists are directly addressing kids in the classroom or responding via the internet. Therefore, it is necessary to go over one scientific topic with the students before the meeting in order to allow the students enough time to prepare questions for discussion.
Also, students can be citizen scientists on research teams, and engage in mini projects, such as collecting information from local areas or visiting researchers in the field. Perhaps even some of the students can give new information to researchers!
I am deeply aware that many scientists suffer from lack of time, but this kind of learning can be really helpful for students.
Miličić, D., Drndarski, M., Trajković J., Savić T., Lučić L., and Pavković-Lučić S. (2018). A matter of health: Evaluation of health habits in pupils in Primary School in Serbia; 4th Balkan Scientific Conference on Biology, Nov. 1st-3rd, 2017. Plovdiv, Bulgaria (in press).
Drndarski M. (2015). Experiment-о-mania – Abstract for the EGU General Assembly 2015 – Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 17, EGU2015-4692-1, 2015. EGU General Assembly 2015. © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
Drndarski M., (2014). All for the Planet, Planet for All – Abstract for the EGU General Assembly 2014 – Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-PREVIEW, 2014 EGU General Assembly 2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
Educators: apply now to take part in the 2019 GIFT workshop!
The topic of the 2019 edition of GIFT is 'Plate tectonics and Earth's structure – yesterday, today, tomorrow'.
The General Assembly is not only for researchers but for teachers and educators with an interest in the geosciences also. Every year the Geosciences Information For Teachers (GIFT) is organised by the EGU Committee on Education to bring first class science closer to primary and high school teachers.
The topic of the 2019 edition of GIFT is 'Plate tectonics and Earth's structure – yesterday, today, tomorrow'. This year's workshop will be taking place on 8–10 April 2018 at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna, Austria.
Teachers from Europe and around the world can apply to participate in the 2019 edition of GIFT, and to receive a travel and accommodation stipend to attend the workshop, by November 12. Application information is available for download in PDF format, a document which also includes the preliminary programme of the workshop.
Not sure what to expect? More information about GIFT workshops can be found in the GIFT section of the EGU website. You can also take a look at a blog post about the 2015 workshop and also learn what the workshop is like from a teacher's perspective here. You might also find videos of the 2018 workshop useful too.
Today we welcome probably one of the youngest participants who attended the 2018 General Assembly, Pariphat Promduangsri, a 16-year-old science baccalaureate student at Auguste Renoir high school in Cagnes-sur-mer, France, as our guest blogger. With a deep interest in the natural world and in taking care of the environment, Pariphat was a keen participant at the conference. She gave both oral and poster presentations in sessions on Geoscience Games and on Geoethics. She enjoyed particularly the sessions on education and geoscience.
The 2018 EGU conference in April was my first time attending the General Assembly; it was the biggest gathering that I have ever been to, and I think that I was most likely one of the youngest participants ever at the EGU General Assembly. Last year, my sister, Pimnutcha, went to the 2017 General Assembly with our stepfather, David Crookall. When she got home, she told me how exciting and interesting the conference was. She also wrote a blog post for GeoLog about her experience.
This year, it was my chance to attend this conference. However, the dates were still in the school term time, so I asked my high school teachers and director if they would let me be absent from school. They agreed, and told me that it would be a great opportunity to learn many things.
My stepfather and I arrived in Vienna on the Saturday before the conference; it was not as cold as I thought it would be. On Sunday, we went to a pre-conference workshop titled 'Communicating your research to teachers, schools and the public – interactively' organized by Eileen van der Flier-Keller and Chris King. It was very interesting. They helped us to think more clearly about aspects of teaching geoscience and how pupils can learn more effectively.
So began an enriching and wonderful week. We attended many oral and poster sessions.
During the conference, I had the opportunity to participate in two different sessions, giving two presentations in each – one oral and three poster presentations in all.
The first session that I attended was Games for geoscience (EOS17), convened by Christopher Skinner, Sam Illingworth and Rolf Hut. Here I did one oral presentation and one ready-to-play poster. This session was the very first one on the topic of geoscience games at the General Assembly, and I was lucky to be part of this momentous event. Our oral presentation was called 'Learning from geoscience games through debriefing'. I did the introduction and some passages in the middle, with the rest done by David. The main idea of our presentation was to emphasize how we may learn more effectively from games by debriefing properly; it is during the debriefing that the real learning starts. As David says, "the learning starts when the game stops".
For our poster, 'Global warming causes and consequences: A poster game+debriefing,' people were invited to play our GWCC game. We asked people to participate by drawing lines linking global warming to its causes and effects. I had a great time talking with some dozen people who came to visit and play.
The Geoscience Games Night was organized by the conveners of Games for Geoscience. Many people brought games of all kinds to share and play, and even more people came to play. The atmosphere was one of enjoyment, socializing and learning. I played a game about the water cycle, based on the well-known board game Snakes and Ladders. It was an exciting time. At the end of the session, Sam Illingworth came to tell me that earlier in the day I did a great job for the oral presentation. I felt really happy about his compliment.
Water (including waterways, seas) should have similar rights as humans, implying protection by law.
Water quality must be protected and guaranteed by all people living in the same watershed. Water polluters should be punished.
All people with community responsibility (politicians, mayors, directors, managers, etc) must pass tests for basic geosciences (esp climate science) and geoethics.
Families and schools have an ethical and legal obligation to promote respect for others, for the environment, for health, for well-being and for equitable prosperity.
Debriefing about (a) the values and (b) the group process using consensus.
The second poster was titled 'Geo-edu-ethics: Learning ethics for the Earth'. In this interactive poster, we asked participants to contribute their ideas for geoethics in education, or as we call it, geo-edu-ethics. We received excellent feedback from viewers and contributors to this poster.
We must make geoethics a central part of education because it is crucial for future generations. Indeed our Geo-edu-ethics poster stated, "we need people to learn, and grow up learning, about what is right and wrong in regard to each aspect of our personal earth citizen lives. That needs nothing short of a recast in educational practice for all educational communities (schools, universities, ministries, NGOs) across the globe. It is doable, but it is urgent".
Also, we must all realize that "education is inconceivable without ethics. Geo-education is impossible without geoethics… Geo-conferences (including the EGU) include ever greater numbers of sessions related to experiential learning. Experiential learning is at the heart of much in the geo-sciences. An already large number of simulation/games exist on a wide variety of topics in geoethics," (extract from Learning Geoethics poster).
This explains why a conference like the General Assembly is so important. We can learn from the enriching experience provided by the conference itself, and also learn about opportunities for experiences in the field.
During the week, I went to many different sessions; I met many new people, all of whom who were friendly and down-to-earth (so to speak!). It was a pleasure to be part of the General Assembly and it is also a good opening to the professional world. The EGU allowed me to discover many great things about several fields in the geosciences and about the Earth. It was indeed an exciting time!
I would like to thank Silvia Peppoloni, Giuseppe Di Capua and their fellow co-conveners from the International Association for Promoting Geoethics and the Geological Society of London; I admire the work that they are doing. I enjoyed the evening meal with everybody at the Augustinerkeller Bitzinger in the beautiful city night of Vienna. I also wish to thank Christopher Skinner, Rolf Hut and Sam Illingworth, co-conveners of the Games for Geoscience session. They gave a wonderful opportunity to be part of their sessions and to learn more.
I also thank my high school teachers for letting me be learn outside school and in a professional setting.
I hope to see more pupils at the EGU! Please join me on LinkedIn.
Pariphat Promduangsri is a 16-year-old science baccalaureate student at Auguste Renoir high school in Cagnes-sur-mer, France. Her native country is Thailand. She has lived in France for over four years. She speaks English, French, Italian and Thai. When she is not studying or climbing mountains (she has already done most of the Tour du Mont Blanc), she likes playing the piano. Later she will probably persue a career taking care of the environment and the Earth.


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Techstry
Tom Mann Writes to His Late Fiancée Dani Hampson, Saying, "Miss You Beyond Words or Explanation"
In a devastating letter to his late fiancée Danielle "Dani" Hampson, Tom Mann expresses his grief. The former X-Factor contestant uploaded a photo of himself and Hampson's young son Bowie on his Instagram Story on Monday along with a tribute to his late spouse.
Wherever you are, your boys miss you more than words can express, he captioned the picture. Bowie, who is six months old, is seated next to Mann, 28, and has his arm on his lap while Mann tenderly rubs Bowie's head. Bowie was welcomed by Mann and Hampson in October 2021.
The musician shared last Thursday on his Instagram Story how he was struggling with Hampson's untimely passing on what would have been their wedding day.
"It has been over three weeks since the worst day of my life, which will never change. My darling Dani is an unspeakable loss; I'm still in disbelief "Alongside a cute picture of Mann kissing Hampson on the cheek, Mann said.
"Mann said, "I need to acknowledge the enormous amount of love, generosity, & support that [our son] Bowie, Dan's family, my family, & I have gotten. Nothing can be said or done. We've been overtaken by it."
With regard to the grieving process, he remarked, "In these darkest of times, it is so impossible to feel anything other than sadness, let alone gratitude, but we have discovered glimpses of feeling that oneness of love that has come from far & wide for our Dani.
"That is a testimony to her because she was the greatest of the best. I'm grateful "He capped off his emotional letter with a white love emoji. According to Mann's sorrowful Instagram post announcing the news, Hampson passed away early on June 18.
He added next to a black-and-white image of Hampson and Bowie, "I can't believe I am writing these words but my beloved Dani — my best friend, my everything and more, the love of my life — went suddenly in the early hours of Saturday morning, 18th June.
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"On the day that should have been the happiest of our lives, we instead experienced unrecoverable heartbreak. I feel as though I've shed a sea of tears."
He said, "I know you know that you were my entire world and the best thing that has ever happened to me, Danielle. We never made it to the [altar], got to recite our vows, or dance our first dance. I'll put on the ring I've been meaning to wear as a symbol of my undying devotion to you.
Due of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mann and Hampson were forced to postpone their wedding ceremony twice from their original August 2020 date. The reason of death for Hampson has not been made public.
Following the Incident, Hampson's Family Has Also Paid Tribute to Her Memory Online
The entire family is "devastated," according to her father Martin, who also claimed that "no parent should ever have to write" a message about losing their kid.
She was the lovely, accomplished, smart daughter who always placed everyone else before herself, and as a result, she was adored by all, he wrote on Instagram. "She will always be my little princess, my mother's genuine love, Andy's beloved sister, Helena's best friend, Tom's soul mate, and of course, Bowie's incredible mother. We are all heartbroken and devastated."
Martin said, "Even though others promise that the pain will pass, we are already damaged. We will always love you, Danielle. Sweetheart, sleep tight, sleep tight."
Categories: News, Uncategorized

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In these activities, students use their knowledge and skills to take positive action towards a sustainable future. The learning intentions for each activity can be modified to suit the year levels indicated.
Students create 'bee bundles' and 'bee blocks' to provide habitat for native bee species. They explore the importance of native bees and the differences between native bees and European honeybees.
Students get their hands dirty working on rehabilitation projects using local species propagated in the school's nursery. They explore the benefits of regeneration and caring for remnant bushland. Our Landcare project focuses on a section of Cox Creek. Our Bushcare sites are remnant patches of stringybark forest with high biodiversity value.
Teams of students follow safe work practices to cut and assemble wooden nesting boxes in a specially designed workshop. The procedure includes sawing, drilling and hammering the various components. Students can install completed boxes in their own school as alternatives to lost nesting hollows.
In the school's plant nursery, students learn basic nursery procedure to propagate local species from seed. This follows an exploration of flowering plant reproduction and diversity, including flowers, seeds, seed "containers", and survival features of local plant groups.


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*new_file2_from_subfolder.log

*new_file3_from_subfolder.log

what i want is to read all the content from (direct) files, not files from the subfolder. In the above case, i need new_file.log to new_file3.log.
I know there is a simple way:
 $ cat new*.log

but i also like to write a bash script:
for file in $(ls -a)
do
    if [[ "$file" != "." && "$file" != ".." ]]; then
        if [[ -f "$file" && "$file" == "^new" ]]; then  **here is the problem**
            [do something]
        fi
    fi
done

my problem is labeled as above.  the bash code seems doesnot like
 "$file" == ^new

if i run the bash, it basically does nothing, which means that files fail to meet the condition.
anything wrong?

A: [[ $foo = $bar ]] is a glob expression, not a regex; ^ has no special meaning there.
You probably want either the glob expression
[[ $file = new* ]]

or the regex
[[ $file =~ ^new ]]

Of course, in a real-world scenario, you'd just iterate only over the names that match your prefix:
for file in new*; do
  : something with "$file"
done

...or, recursively (using FD 3 so you can still interact with the user in this code):
while IFS= read -u 3 -r -d '' file; do
  : something with "$file"
done 3< <(find . -type f -name 'new*' -print0)

A: You're headed down the wrong track. Here's how to iterate over all regular files starting with new:
for file in new*
do
  if [[ -f $file ]]
  then
    dosomething "$file"
  fi
done

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


When Should You Detail Your Car?
Car detailing is not as much a luxury as it is a necessity to protect the value of your vehicle. Anyone can fill a bucket with soap, splash their car with water, and wash their car. Detailing is not car washing. Detailing involves going over the tiny parts on your car to remove all of the grime and dust that has built-up and can potentially lead to the build-up of rust and corrosion.
Understanding the importance of car detailing is why we are in business. Knowing when you should detail your car is as easy as understanding these points: the ideal time of day to detail your car, detailing your care in preparation for winter, understanding the ideal temperature of your car for detailing, and detailing your car either before a sale (to increase the sale price) or after buying your car (to preserve its condition).
The ideal time of day to detail your car is when the sun is not scorching the earth. Think of terms of the best times to mow and water your lawn and apply the same general thought process. You may consider early mornings before 9 o'clock am or late afternoon to early evening closer to sundown as ideal times if you live in an area where midday temperatures are between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Detailing your car before winter is a great way to prepare it for the harshness of the winter months. Detailing allows you to remove all of the grime and dirt that has trapped itself in those small areas on the car that washing simply cannot remove. It will also provide you with an additional protective coat to seal out additional dirt and salt that are the inevitable result of snow removal and living in a cold weather climate.
Just as important as the consideration of the time of day for detailing is the temperature of the car. A car that is too hot for detailing will be difficult to properly apply any of the cleaning solutions required for an effective detailing. If you have recently driven the car just prior to an intended detail, allow it to cool down properly. You may also consider putting the car in a covered or shaded area for maximum effectiveness.
Whether you are selling or buying a car, detailing is ideal for bringing out the luster and shine of your vehicle. A bright and shiny car not only looks good, it attracts more buyers and better offers. Detailing your new purchase enhances its look and creates an expectation for you to want to maintain that look for as long as you own the vehicle.
We are in the business of detailing cars. We have an extensive client list, providing diverse auto detailing services as well as a reputation for quality, and innovation. The business is the culmination of a dream to build a business ever since graduating from UCONN in 2003 with a degree in marketing and advertising. We are dedicated to providing superior customer service for your car detailing needs.
My brother has been thinking about getting a car and didn't know how often it should be detailed. It's good to know that he could do it in the winter, especially if it can help remove grime and dirt that has accumulated. It sounds like it should be done before the temperatures really drop and the dirt doesn't stick or freeze on it.
My car has gotten really dirty from this winter, so I am thinking about getting it detailed soon. I like that you mention how early mornings are the ideal time to detail your car because the sun isn't out. I might have to find a cool morning and try getting my car cleaned and waxed then.


Baseline Music Act & Ohk Entertainment Boss Skales comes through with the Music video to his latest street jam "Agolo".
"Agolo" which was premiered last week is a follow up track to "The Never Say Never Guy" Album which was debuted in May.
Earlier this year Skales had a collaboration with Burna Boy on "Temper" which was one of these hottest club banger.


Love the work: your own and other people's. Every Thursday, Matt, Nick & Tom will reach back into the vault and choose a work of advertising that they respect. You'll see work that reflects OKRP's Whiskey & Bananas philosophy – walking the line between cool & funny. Up first: Chief Creative Officer, Matt Reinhard.
OKRP: Matt, walk us through the ad you chose and why you chose it.
With a quick bit of investigation, it appears that one of the more overlooked aspects of this ad was that it was originally made for a market outside the US. Under the tagline – Serving the Planet and translated with a deft audio dubbing into the US version – Give Yourself a Good Name.
I can imagine the pitch sounding something very rational and very Dutch. "Because we believe that a woman loves a large closet full of shoes, we also believe that her man could also love a large closet full of beer. So let's capture the energy of a woman showing off her new walk-in shoe closet to her friends at a housewarming party, and then juxtapose that energy with a similar energy found in her husband showing off his own new walk-in closet to his friends. "… Cue the pride. Cue the screaming.
This ad reminds us to fight for the simplest and most relevant of human truths and that when we do, we increase our idea's chances of traveling the globe with smart humor that connects.


text:
Members (Login)
IGT Testing Systems Members Promotion
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The Print & Media Association, Singapore (PMAS) is the national representative body for the printing industry in Singapore, founded in 1937 originally as the Master Printers Association, Singapore, the name was changed to the Print & Media Association, Singapore in 2000 to reflect the changes in technology and advances within the industry.
Membership is open to all companies engaged in the printing and allied trades, including suppliers of equipment, software and consumables and companies that support the printing industry as example event organisers and freight forwarders. The Association is the defacto focal point for the industry with strong linkage to the print and media communities, supply channels, government and other allied organisations.
In Collaboration & Partnership With :
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Website: Courtesy Aleyant Solutions LLC (Pressero)
Address: 61 Tai Seng Avenue, #05-14, Print Media Hub, Paya Lebar iPark, Singapore, 534167
Serving the Print Industry for over 80 years


Not too far away from Seattle, Washington there are eight ballistic-missile submarines carrying the world's large shipments of nuclear weapons.
One is often haunted by this manifest reality, especially whenever a nuclear crisis between the US and North Korea flares up, such as the one which started late July. At the time, US President Donald Trump threatened Pyongyang with "fire and fury like the world has never seen before", while Kim Jong-un seemed undaunted.
Americans are assured by their military power – both conventional and nuclear. Most people here are either not aware, or simply do not care, about the disparity between their country's nuclear capabilities and the miniscule nuclear weapons program operated by North Korea.
Visiting Kitsap-Bangor early August, US Defense Secretary, James N. Mattis, toured the USS Kentucky and declared that the submarine is ready for action, if needed.
The nuclear load that the USS Kentucky alone carries is equal to 1,400 bombs, the size of which the US dropped and subsequently destroyed Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
North Korea's saber-rattling in recent weeks – which are a repeat of previous episodes such as in April of this year and twice last year – should be cause for alarm. But far scarier is the fact that North Korea's entire nuclear stockpiles consist of 60 nuclear weapons, compared with 6,970 owned by the US, out of which 1,750 are operational.
To place these numbers in a global perspective, there are an estimated 15,000 nuclear weapons, worldwide.
While the North Koreans require a sixth successful test to put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), the US had conducting 1,030 such nuclear tests, starting in July 1945.
Surely, one cannot excuse the foolish and desperate behavior of Pyongyang and its 'beloved leader'. But the truth is Kim Jong-un is behaving in a way consistent with the legacy of his forefathers – paranoid dictators, desperate to survive amid global rivalries and an old regional war that has never truly ended.
Indeed, there is more to this crisis than Kim Jong-un and his unpredictable antics.
In mainstream media, North Korea is often referred to as a 'highly secretive nation'. Such references give pundits and politicians an uncontested platform to make whatever assumptions that suit them. But the legacy of the Korean War (1950-53), which divided Korea and its peoples is hardly a secret. An estimated 4 million people were killed in that most savage war, including 2 million civilians.
The US and its allies fought that war under the flag of the nascent United Nations. It is not very difficult to imagine why North Koreans detest the US, distrust US allies and loathe the UN and its repeated sanctions, especially as the country often suffers from food insecurity – among others problems.
The North Korean leadership must also be following the development between Iran and the US regarding the nuclear deal signed in 2015.
While the two issues are often discussed separately, they must be linked for various reasons.
The issue was never pursued with the necessary seriousness, partly because the US requires some kind of threat to justify its military presence in East Asia, in order to challenge the rising Chinese influence there.
But the cost of that policy comes at a high price, as the nuclear menace is once again emerging, repeating previous scenarios and setting the stage for an all-out conflict.
Iran has no nuclear weapons. The nuclear deal it reached with the west – officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action – required the lifting of most sanctions on Tehran, in exchange for the latter curbing its nuclear program.
However, following the agreement, a short-lived period of relative calm between Tehran and Washington ended with renewed hostility. US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is pushing for more sanctions against Iran, prompting Iranian President, Hasan Rouhani, to warn that his country is ready to cancel the nuclear deal 'within hours' if new sanctions are imposed.
Having also reached their own conclusions that Washington is "not a good partner", the North Koreans seem determine to acquire the ICBM-class ballistic missiles, needed to miniaturize nuclear weapons to fit warheads. By achieving this disturbing milestone, Pyongyang would feel that it has a good chance to reach a more concrete agreement in future negotiations with Washington.
The latter, at least for now, is using the flare-up with North Korea to further advance its 'pivot to Asia', a thus-far failed process that began under the administration of Barack Obama. The motive behind the policy is encircling China with US allies and military hardware that would prevent the Chinese military from expanding its influence past its immediate territorial waters.
Certainly, China has been frustrated by North Korea's behavior for some time and has, in fact, joined Russia and others to mount more UN sanctions on Pyongyang. However, considering that China fully understands that Washington's behavior is largely motivated by its desire to halt an expansionist China, Beijing knows that the battle for North Korea is also a fight for China's own regional leadership.
While many in Washington focused on the word 'neutral', they paid little heed to the phrase "will prevent them." China is clearly speaking of a military intervention, as both China and North Korea are still allies following a treaty they signed in 1961.
Both Trump and Kim are dubious figures, driven by fragile egos and unsound judgement. Yet, they are both in a position that, if not reigned in soon, could threaten global security and the lives of millions.
Yet, the problem is far greater than two unhinged leaders. There are seven other countries that possess nuclear weapons. They are Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel, China and France. These weapons have only one horrific use.
If the intention is, indeed, to make the world a safe place, there is no need for anyone to possess them, for 'deterrence' purposes or any other. Neither Washington, nor Pyongyang, Tel Aviv or anyone else should hold the world hostage, exacting political and economic ransom in exchange for not destroying our planet.
Investing in such evil at a time where the world is already suffering from war, economic inequality, hunger and climate disasters, is the very definition of madness.


edited by Desmond Ryan ; with introduction by William McMullen.
Dublin : At the sign of The Three Candles, 1951.
Ireland > Politics and government > 1891-1900.
Ireland > Politics and government > 1901-1910.
Physical description: 264 p. ; 19 cm.
Hide notes ... Physical description: 264 p. ; 19 cm.


text:
Watch the Mesmerizing Official Trailer for 'Beauty and the Beast' Starring Emma Watson!
Be our guest to the premiere of the trailer of the upcoming live-action Disney remake of Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson!
Disney released the first official trailer for the film on Nov. 14, creating more excitement for the project. We see Emma as Belle, who takes on the role as inventor in her family, as she first comes into contact with the Beast (played by Dan Stevens) and all of the adventure, drama, and romance that follows!
Directed by Bill Condon, the film also features Kevin Kline as Belle's father, Maurice, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth; Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Luke Evans as Gaston, and Josh Gad as Le Fou.
Watch the trailer below!
I LOVED the live action version of The Jungle Book, and am really excited that so many live action versions of Disney films are being created and scheduled. For one, it's just really cool to see these movies from my childhood come to life, and I'm sure others would agree. Plus, it opens the doors for new little fans who may have never seen some of these films before (my children WILL know all of the original Disney classics).
Can't wait for Beauty and the Beast to hit theaters on March 17, 2017! Will you be watching?
Tags: Beauty and the Beast, Disney, Emma Watson, Movie Trailers, remakes, Trailers
Tupac's Biopic 'All Eyez On Me' Gets Official Rele...
NEW MUSIC: "Ya Vibe"-Soul/Reggae Artist Ayotemi fe...
Check Out the Full List of Winners from the 2016 A...
MUSIC REVIEW: "Long Live the Angels"-Emeli Sandé
Chelsea and Raven Return To Disney For That's So R...
Throwback Jam of the Week: "In Love Wit Chu" Da Br...
In The Spotlight: Actress and Entrepreneur Georgin...
MUSIC VIDEO: "10,000 Hours" - R&B Singer Ella Mai
Watch the Mesmerizing Official Trailer for 'Beauty...
NEW MIXTAPE: 'Burning in the Dark'-Pop Singer EMM
Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna Welcome Their Baby G...
Throwback Jam of the Week: "Cry For You"-Jodeci
Hillary Clinton Creates Her Own Version of the #Ma...
MUSIC VIDEO: "Savage"-Kalin White
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MUSIC VIDEO: "Never Needed Me"- Alt-Rock Band The ...
Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, and Bruno Mars Set to Perfo...


text:
Q: In 100 Rogues, is it possible to sell items? I've found several item shops, and I can purchase the available items with the gold I've found.  I don't see a way to sell the items in my inventory.  Is it possible to sell, or should I just discard them as my inventory gets full?
Assuming there's no way to sell, is this normal in roguelikes, or it a peculiar 'feature' of 100-rogues?

A: It is not possible to sell items in 100 Rogues, and it seems it never will be.
As badp mentions, Dungeon Crawl doesn't allow item selling, and that game is one of the primary influences for 100 Rogues.
(Source)

A: Some roguelikes like Dungeon Crawl do not allow selling items to shops:

Another basic design principle is avoidance of grinding (also known as scumming). These are activities that have low risk, take a lot of time, and bring some reward. This is bad for a game's design because it encourages players to bore themselves. Even worse, it may be optimal to do so. We try to avoid this!
This explains why shops don't buy: otherwise players would hoover the dungeon for items to sell.
from the Philosophy section of the ingame manual (press ?N).

Most, however, do. Nethack's shop system is quite complex, for example. It supports credit, debit, stealing, restocking...

A: Yep, you can't sell items at all in 100 Rogues.
Another note bout items is that beginning with Version 2.1, the item locker will always appear during the Dark Pope boss stage fight. Other appearances will be less predictable.


text:
Q: List of synchronous dbcontext queries rewritten as async calls on separate contexts This post is in the context of using Entity Framework version 6.2.
Ok, so I have a rather slow endpoint that is essentially the following:
    public IHttpActionResult GetCounts()
    {
        int count1 = service.GetCount1();
        int count2 = service.GetCount2();

        Models.Counts ret = new Counts()
        {
            Count1 = count1,
            Count2 = count2,
        };

        return Ok(ret);
    }

each call to the service is executed on the same instance of dbcontext:
//In the service
public class Service
{
    private MyDbContext context;
    public Service()
    {
       context = new MyDbContext();
    }

    public int GetCount1()
    {
       return context.coll1.Count();
    }
    public int GetCount2()
    {
       return context.coll2.Count();
    }
}

would it be better to treat each service call as separate units of work and create contexts for each one and then take advantage of EF's async methods like in the following:
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> GetCountsAsync()
    {
        var tcount1 = service.GetCount1Async();
        var tcount2 = service.GetCount2Async();

        await Task.WhenAll(tcount1, tcount2);

        int count1 = tcount1.Result;
        int count2 = tcount2.Result;

        Models.Counts ret = new Counts()
        {
            Count1 = count1,
            Count2 = count2
        };

        return Ok(ret);
    }

with changes in the service being
//In the service
public class Service
{
    public Service()
    {
    }

    public async Task<int> GetCount1()
    {
       using(var context = new MyDbContext())
       {
           return await context.coll1.CountAsync();
       }
    }
    public async Task<int> GetCount2()
    {
       using(var context = new MyDbContext())
       {
           return await context.coll2.CountAsync();
       }
    }
}

Are there downsides to this? It works and has definitely improved performance of the query.
I am rather new to threading (in this case async / wait) so am unfamiliar with potential downsides or if what I have above is an antipattern, but part of me feels like there can be issues with this structure while using EF's dbcontext ?? Hopefully that is just my ignorance creating that feeling.
Also to note, I had the service rewrite initially with the context as a field of the service class; however, ended up getting the error:
A second operation started on this context before a previous asynchronous operation completed. Use 'await' to ensure that any asynchronous operations have completed before calling another method on this context. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
Changing the life cycle of the context to the method calls fixed this, but seeing that error in general made me nervous of this general strategy.

A: In my opinion, you are doing this the right way,

*

*You shouldn't cache a DbContext, the sql connections are cached for you already under the hood. Doing so can cause all sorts of subtle errors, which you have already encountered.

*The contexts aren't thread safe.

*They are fairly light-weight so performance shouldn't really be a concern.

*And are best placed in a using statement with small packets of work

All-in-all, putting each GetCount seems like the best approach


302: Cr Nemba Trail is a hiking, biking, and horse trail in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. It is 1.3 miles long and begins at 883 feet altitude. Traveling the entire trail is 2.6 miles with a total elevation gain of 266 feet.
One of Maine's best trails, 302: Cr Nemba Trail is located near Carrabassett Valley, ME. Trails' printable online topo maps offer shaded and un-shaded reliefs, and aerial photos too. Use topographic maps to find elevation, print high resolution maps, save a PNG, or just learn the topography around 302: Cr Nemba Trail. You can also get free latitude and longitude coordinates from the topographical map and set your GPS. Premium members can download or print any topo and cover more terrain when you map your 302: Cr Nemba Trail route ahead of time.


text:
Neil Barofsky Warns of Coming Financial Crisis; Calls for New Reforms
In an interview conducted by Bill Moyers October 26, 2012, Former Special Inspector General for TARP, Neil Barofsky, talks about the need for new reforms in banking regulation and oversight and warns that the financial system is headed for another crisis.
BILL MOYERS: And now for another reality check -- a far cry from the humbug and rhetorical static afflicting our election campaigns. Let's talk about something President Obama and Governor Romney barely mentioned in their debates: banking reform. It's four years since the economic meltdown knocked America and the world to our knees, four years since that massive taxpayer bailout. But if you listened to the candidates, the enormity and severity of this continuing crisis hardly merit notice. Barack Obama pledges change but touts Dodd-Frank, a bulky, watered-down version of financial reform that scarcely makes a ripple in the vast sea of corruption and abuse. Mitt Romney campaigns as the banker's pal and says he'll make Dodd-Frank disappear altogether.
If you're appalled by this, so is the man who held the thankless job of special inspector general in charge of policing TARP, the bailout's Troubled Asset Relief Plan. Before he signed on, Neil Barofsky was a federal prosecutor in New York chasing white-collar criminals and drug lords; he busted 50 members of a Columbian guerrilla group deeply involved in narcotics trafficking. At TARP, he was assigned to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse. The banks didn't make it easy, and neither did the U.S. government. Neil Barofsky tells this story in his book, "Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street." He is now a senior fellow and adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law.
Neil Barofsky, welcome.
NEIL BAROFSKY: Thank you.
BILL MOYERS: When you were a kid, did you say, "Mom, Dad, I want to grow up and be an inspector general?"
NEIL BAROFSKY: No, I said I wanted to be a lawyer, though.
BILL MOYERS: You did?
NEIL BAROFSKY: It must be some sort of major genetic flaw I have. But my mom keeps a fortune cookie that said, "You will be a great lawyer one day." And I signed it and dated it. I think I was 12 years old. So there was something weird about me that I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a prosecutor. I mean, that was sort of what I wanted to do. Maybe it's from watching TV shows, Perry Mason, as a kid or something like that.
But I was always drawn to the law. And so I think I did have this drive for public service. But certainly never did think that I'd be an inspector general one day. I didn't really even know what that was until I actually got the job, to be honest with you.
BILL MOYERS: When you took the job, I read about you. And I thought, "Why is someone like that, with that record of prosecution going to take on this job at this-- in the depth of this crisis?"
NEIL BAROFSKY: Part of it was because this new office, this office of the Special Inspector General for TARP, with the worst acronym in Washington.
BILL MOYERS: It really is.
NEIL BAROFSKY: SIGTARP. Was to have two focuses. One was the oversight function and doing reports and audits and keeping an eye on Treasury and making recommendations. But what I was more focused on in the beginning and what I thought my job would be is we also created a brand-new law enforcement agency, completely from scratch, whose job was to police the TARP program.
And with $700 billion going out the door, the idea was that, inevitably, there were going to be criminal flies drawn to that honey. And our job was to catch them, do the investigations, and then get the Department of Justice to prosecute them. So I really looked at this job going in as a law enforcement job. And I was thrilled with the opportunity to build one from scratch.
But once I got down there --
BILL MOYERS: Early 2008, wasn't it? 2008?
NEIL BAROFSKY: I arrived in December 15th, 2008. And the money started going out the door in late October of 2008. And what I saw was that there were tremendous opportunities for abuse. There were no conditions, no strings attached and conflicts of interest being baked into some of the programs.
So I, doing what my job was as a former fraud prosecutor started pointing these out and making suggestions, recommendations to try to close these loopholes and make it less vulnerable to losses. And the response I got was remarkably eye-opening to me. I was told that maybe my concerns were valid. But I didn't need to worry about it, because these were banks.
And these banks would never, I remember this quote, "risk their reputation by putting their own profits over the public purpose behind these programs." And to be very clear, this was told to me by Paulson people under the Bush administration and the same exact words were told to me by the Geithner people under the Obama administration.
But it was a remarkable thing to hear. Because who could really believe that other than people who had come from these institutions.
And my response, of course, is "Where have you been for the last couple of years? What rock have you been under, that you haven't seen that these guys would sell their soul for a few basis points of profit?"
That ideas like they wouldn't risk their reputations or wouldn't embarrass themselves again, as Bill Dudley, the president of the New York Fed said to me when I complained about relying too heavily on credit-rating agencies. This was the core ideology and approach of how they viewed the financial crisis. It wasn't the bank's fault. And if we could just trust them, we'll be in a good place again.
BILL MOYERS: And yet, there haven't been prosecutions have there, of these-- the people culpable for this crash?
NEIL BAROFSKY: No, I mean, what our office did was to detect, prosecute, investigate, and refer for prosecution those who tried to steal from the program. So we were blocked out of any activities that occurred before TARP. Because we were-- our jurisdiction was limited to TARP. And we had great success. I think close to a hundred people, so far, have been charged for trying to rip off this program. We saved more than a half a billion dollars of TARP money in just one investigation alone. And the CEO who committed a multibillion dollar accounting fraud is now sitting in jail for 30 years.
But we never had the opportunity, really, to dig into the financial crisis cases that led to the cause of the crisis. But there you are absolutely correct. No senior executive has been held accountable under the criminal laws.
BILL MOYERS: Why?
NEIL BAROFSKY: There's no easy answer. And it depends on who you ask. So if you were to talk to someone from the Department of Justice or Wall Street they would tell you these are very complex issues. The president has mentioned that a lot of times it might be caused by greed or stupidity or avarice but not necessarily by criminal conduct.
If you were to talk to people on the other side, they would say we just have a hopelessly corrupt criminal justice system. I think the truth is a little bit more nuanced and a little bit in between. What I saw personally was a real timidity on behalf of the Department of Justice. And a lack of sophistication and expertise, when looking at the complex accounting fraud cases that I was doing.
And I think it's safe to presume that that also applied over there to the crisis-related cases. But you also have to look into the reality behind what those cases would mean. We just spent trillions of dollars of treasure, taxpayer money, an unbelievable amount of effort to save these financial institutions, save them from failure, because we believed that the failure of any one of those would bring down the entire economic system with it.
They were too big to fail in 2008. They were too big to jail in 2009.
BILL MOYERS: I thought, at the time, this was an incestuous orgy going on there, between inside players at Washington and inside players at Wall Street. Is that too strong?
NEIL BAROFSKY: It's probably not too strong. It's the fact that their ideology matches up. And look, one of the reasons why their ideology matches up is they all come from the same small handful of institutions. And the people I was dealing with on a daily basis came from the same financial institutions that helped cause the financial crisis and were the most generous recipients of bailouts, Goldman Sachs, Bear Sterns, which, of course, had been adopted by J.P. Morgan Chase. Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, it seemed like every time I turned around, I bumped into someone from Goldman Sachs.
Which is not to single them out. But they all bring that ideology with them, when they come to Washington. It's not like somebody hits them in the head with a magic wand and they give back everything that they've learned and believed in their years of Wall Street. And they bring that ideology with them. And even those who don't come from a specific bank, when you surround yourself, create an echo chamber of likeminded people, it's not terribly surprising that the government policy looks a lot like what the Wall Street institutions themselves would have most desired.
And I think the other side effect of that is that people who are outside of that bubble, people who don't have that background, people like myself as a federal prosecutor or Elizabeth Warren, who was the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel and before that a Harvard professor, that our views, our criticisms, our contrary positions were discounted, mocked, ridiculed, insulted, cursed at, at times. Because there was no-- we didn't have the pedigree in their world to have a meaningful contribution. So what happens is that there's no new ideas that creep in. And you get this very uniform, very non-diverse approach to the problems of finance.
BILL MOYERS: It was puzzling to outsiders like me that you had TARP money being used to concentrate further the size of these banks.
NEIL BAROFSKY: And the granddaddy of all those transactions, Bank of America acquiring Merrill Lynch. And the important thing to remember here is this is not banks gone wild, banks taking the money and saying, "Party time, we're going to consolidate." They did this with the encouragement of the government. And in Bank of America, a little bit with a gun to the head to complete that transaction.
This was the government policy created by the architects, Ben Bernanke who is chair of Federal Reserve, Tim Geithner, who was then the president of the New York Fed before becoming Treasury Secretary, and Hank Paulson. Their solution originally was to further concentrate the industry, to make the too big to fail banks bigger.
The theory was you take a healthier bank and mix it up with a failing bank and you get something somewhere in between, which is better overall for the system. Which may have had some validity in the very, very short term, but has put us on a path, I believe, to being even more dangerous. Because you have institutions now that are just monstrous in size, over $2 trillion in assets by certain measures, close to $4 trillion by other measures. Terrifying. The idea that any of these institutions could ever be allowed to fail is pure fantasy, at this point.
BILL MOYERS: Are you suggesting that we could have another crash?
NEIL BAROFSKY: I think it's inevitable. I mean, I don't think how you can look at all the incentives that were in place going up to 2008 and see that in many ways they've only gotten worse and come to any other conclusion.
BILL MOYERS: What do you mean incentives in place?
NEIL BAROFSKY: So in a normal functioning capitalist utopia, where, you know, most markets are that don't have this too big to fail, this presumption of government bailout if a firm like a Citigroup amasses massive amounts of risk. And in so doing, they keep razor-thin capital to absorb potential losses, which basically means they're just borrowing tons and tons of money.
And not have a lot of their own money at stake, but it's mostly borrowed money. And it is very opaque. It's not very transparent about how they're running their business. You would expect that creditors, people lending them money, counterparties, those on the other sides of their transactions would either stay away or really exact a premium. But the presumption of bailout changes that on its head and actually makes it go in the other direction. So it removes the incentive of the other market participants to impose what's known as market discipline. Because that's ideally in a capitalist society what happens is that the lenders and creditors and counterparties say, "Hey, we're not going to do business with you unless you clean house, slim down, be more transparent."
But when there's a presumption of bailout, that disappears. Because all those other market players can feel safe in the presumption that if anything goes bad at Citigroup, Uncle Sam is going to come in and make their bets whole.
Then you have the very real incentive for the executives at that institution to then pile on risk. Because they know that if the bets go well in the short term, they get paid. And they get paid very richly. But if it blows up and the risks go bad, no worry, the taxpayer's going to be on the other side of that bill.
That's what happened to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, before they collapsed. That's what happened to our biggest banks and global banks before they collapsed. And if you maintain that system, it is foolhardy to think that those incentives and pressures are not once again going to carry the day.
BILL MOYERS: At a conference a week or so ago, here in New York, you said playing ball for Wall Street has become a normal way of life, despite the panic of 2008. What does it mean, "playing ball for Wall Street"?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Well, what I saw when I was in Washington was this real pressure on myself, on other regulators to essentially keep their tone down. And I was told point blank by Assistant Secretary of the Treasury that, this is about in 2010.
And he said to me, he said, "Neil, you're a smart guy. You're a young guy. You're a talented guy. You got your whole future in front of you. You've got a young family that's starting out. But you're doing yourself real harm." And the reason why you're doing yourself real harm is the harsh tone that I had towards the government as well as to Wall Street, based on what I was seeing down in Washington. And he told me that if I wanted to get a job out on the Street afterwards, it was going to really be hard for me.
BILL MOYERS: You mean on Wall Street?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Yes. And I explained to him that I wasn't really interested in that. And he said, "Well, maybe a judgeship. Maybe an appointment from the Obama administration for a federal judgeship." And I said, "Well, again, that would be great. But I don't really think that's going to happen with my criticisms." And he said it didn't have to be that way. "If all you do is soften your tone, be a little bit more upbeat, all this stuff can happen for you."
And that's what I meant by playing ball. I was essentially told, play ball, soften your tone, and all of these good things can happen to you. But if you stay harsh that was going to cause me real harm in those words.
BILL MOYERS: What made you able to say no to the temptation?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Well, I think part of it is the only job I ever wanted was to be a federal prosecutor.
BILL MOYERS: Send bad guys to jail?
NEIL BAROFSKY: It doesn't get much better than that. Really interesting, complicated work, and wear the white hat. So I didn't have those incentives that I think that were presented. And I think, look, you know, being trained in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, I was trained to be a government employee and to take my oath of office very seriously.
But I wasn't really interested in their reindeer games. And I felt a real obligation and sense of duty to fulfill the oath that I took in Secretary Paulson's office on December 15th, 2008 to do the job that I was sent down there to do. But I wasn't really tempted with a big job on Wall Street. And frankly, if it meant getting a judgeship, compromising the job that I needed to do and was supposed to do, it just wasn't interesting to me.
But look, let me be very clear. I also have the fallback of I was a trial lawyer. I prosecuted a lot of big cases. And I knew that whatever happened, I could always go back and get a good job in New York, working at a law firm or doing legal work. So it gave me a degree of financial freedom even though I basically spent most of my career as a government employee and I didn't have money. I didn't necessarily need to please anyone to be able to go back and still be able to feed my family.
BILL MOYERS: What happens to a political society, to a democracy, when we stifle or bribe or shoot the sheriff?
NEIL BAROFSKY: When I had my incident with the assistant secretary that my deputy, who had come down from-- who's another former federal prosecutor, who did narcotics work, said to me, Kevin Puvalowski. And he said to me, "Neil, you were just offered the bullet or the bribe, the gold or the lead."
And what he was referring to was a society just like that, which was Colombia, back in the day when Pablo Escobar and the drug kingpins really controlled society. And what he was referring to is that basically to corrupt society Escobar would go to a magistrate or a police officer, police chief, a politician, and say, "You have two choices. You can either take this giant pile of money and do my bidding. Or you can get the lead, a bullet in your head."
And Kevin was joking that I just received the Washington white collar equivalent of the gold or the lead. And it was funny, at the time, but that's kind of what happens in a society where the rewards and incentives are, again, nobody's getting shot in the head thank goodness. But it's a breakdown of the system.
And in some ways, it creates this false illusion that there are people out there looking out for the interest of taxpayers, the checks and balances that are built into the system are operational, when in fact they're not. And what you're going to see and what we are seeing is it'll be a breakdown of those governmental institutions. And you'll see governments that continue to have policies that feed the interests of -- and I don't want to get clichéd, but the one percent or the .1 percent -- to the detriment of everyone else.
BILL MOYERS: You make it clear in the book that the Obama administration fought against cutting down the size of these banks. And yet, in the second debate with Mitt Romney the president said, "We passed the toughest Wall Street reform since the Great Depression." As I hear you, it wasn't all that tough.
NEIL BAROFSKY: Well, that's a literally true statement. Because when you think of-- but it's a very low bar to clear. I mean, all of the regulatory reform since the Great Depression has been peeling back on those regulations. With really the big death knell happening in the end of the Clinton administration with, you know, a couple of bills, one that removed the last vestiges of the separation between commercial and investment banks.
BILL MOYERS: Glass-Steagall Act?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Glass-Steagall.
BILL MOYERS: It took down the wall between those two?
NEIL BAROFSKY: The last part of it. And then the second part by passing a bill that made it, essentially made derivatives out of bounds for regulation. So saying that it's the toughest is literally true. The problem is it hasn't been tough enough in where it most matters.
And again, you don't really have to take my word for it. You just look what the market has done. Based on the presumption of bailout, the banks get higher ratings from the credit rating agencies which means they can borrow money for less, because their debt is viewed by the credit rating agencies as being less risky. And they get these higher ratings on explicit presumption that the government will bail them out and make good on their debt.
So it didn't deliver the goods where it matters the most. Again, not saying that it doesn't have some good positive things for our system and for people. But it didn't deliver the most important thing that we need if we want to address the causes of the last crisis and help prevent the next one.
BILL MOYERS: What will it take to prevent the next one?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Got to break them up. I mean, it is not a simple thing to accomplish, necessarily. But it's a very simple solution. And what you see, I think, kind of amazingly, is how many more people have come to this view over the last year or so. It used to be a lonely perch that we sat on. Former special inspector generals, a couple of academics.
But now you have people like Sandy Weill, the architect of Citigroup. And sure, too little too late, after he made all of his money off creating these Frankenstein monsters. But even he now recognizes that we have to break up the banks. You have senior officials at the Federal Reserve recently coming out in favor of this. The vice chair of the FDIC, a very strong advocate for breaking up the banks. And you hear it a lot more in members of Congress-- that are supporting this notion. So to me, on the one hand, it's absolutely essential. If we really want to get to the point where we don't have to bailout a bank, we have to make it so that no bank is so systemically significant and large that its failure could bring down the system.
BILL MOYERS: Are they up to their old tricks?
NEIL BAROFSKY: The banks? Sure. I mean, you know, so we had this regulatory reform of Dodd-Frank in 2010, which, you know, left them intact and inside. But it had all of these rules and all of these regulations that needed to follow. And right now it is hand to hand, trench warfare, combat with those lobbyists spending all that money on campaign contributions, on, you know, flooding the decision makers and the regulators with comment letters and endless meetings.
And pressuring members of Congress to put pressure on the regulators, to water down the rules, to basically get as much back to the good old days where they would have free reign to print money, take advantage of their too big to fail status, bully and push out the little guys, take advantage of consumers. And that's what all of these efforts area about are to preserve these very, very core profit streams that they had before.
And that's right now is where the battle is being waged. Not on TV, you know, not necessarily out in front, but behind the scenes where the next set of rules are being forged on what they're going to be able to do and how they're going to be able to do it.
BILL MOYERS: What are you hearing in the campaign about all this?
NEIL BAROFSKY: Well, there's sort of two levels, right? There's the campaign rhetoric, which I think you just have to ignore. I mean, President Obama, for example, campaigned on this whole policy of no lobbyists. That he was going to take on these lobbyists when he came into office. That was in 2008.
In January 2009, do you know who they made as the chief of staff for Treasury Department? Former chief lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, Mark Patterson. So like, so you've got to look beyond what they're saying. And what they're saying is things like they're both, 100, totally convinced that they would never bailout a bank ever again. And Barack Obama says he won't do it because the Dodd-Frank mechanisms would work.
Mitt Romney is a little bit more mysterious. He says he would remove the regulatory reform and replace it with something else. But that he too would never bail out the banks again. Which again, sounds great, and I'm sure if you were to ask President Bush-- any time up until September of 2008, he would just as passionately tell you that he would never dream of bailing out the banks either.
But that's not realistic. If we're in a crisis, they're going to do exactly what they did in 2008. So you look to what are their policies? How are they going to accomplish that goal? And neither one really offers anything. Romney literally doesn't offer anything. We have no idea what his policies are. We don't know what that replacement is. But we do know, we hear him from interviews and some of his chief advisors, you know, say things like, against breaking up the banks through bringing back some of those Depression Era laws or again one of his advisors recently said that he's against having size caps, which is another way of breaking up the banks. By the way, two policies that are absolutely 100 percent identical with those of President Obama and his advisors. So neither one really has a very clear path forward to achieve that goal of making it so that it's not necessary to bailout banks once again.
BILL MOYERS: Is it too late to reverse course?
NEIL BAROFSKY: No, it's not too late. My sincere hope is that we get it done before the next financial crisis, because I think that the next one, given how big the banks have become and frankly how much less room we have because of the fiscal crisis, of dealing with the giant financial, that it'll be more devastating. I hope we can do it before then. But frankly, the end game for real reform has to unfortunately be in the aftermath of the next crisis.
BILL MOYERS: In the meantime, I hope everyone reads "Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street." Neil Barofsky, thank you very much for being with me.
NEIL BAROFSKY: Thank you for having me.
banking regulation Bill Moyers Dodd-Frank Act financial crisis Neil Barofsky
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text:
By Mathilda Gatewood
Salt Lake City, Utah — According to police, two women were recently arrested in connection to over 100 stolen commercial-grade televisions.
In order to investigate a burglary at 10:16 a.m. on January 10, 2022, SLCPD patrol officers responded to a storage facility in the neighborhood of 5200 West 1500 South.
According to police, officers discovered that 139 commercial-grade televisions worth a total of $250,000 had been taken.
While attempting to sell some of the stolen televisions, detectives from the SLCPD Property Crimes Unit uncovered information that led them to Krystal Craig and Emelie Rook, both 36.
Craig and Rook were charged with Theft by Deception and Theft by Receiving Stolen Property.
Although some of the stolen televisions have been found, the majority remain unaccounted, police said.
According to police, several of the TVs are thought to be for sale online.
Police ask anyone who has any information on this case to call 801-799-3000 and mention case number 22-5567.
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Amazon has added a new service to their website called Amazon Wireless. This is kind of neat because you can choose your wireless company, which by the way they only have 2 so far which are AT&T and Verizon Wireless, then choose a phone then choose whether you want a new individual account or if you are already part of an existing individual account or family account.
Most of the phones are only a penny and so you basically get a free phone but when you click that you already have an existing account the price may go up to about $50-$75 or more depending on the phone. I found that certain phones you still get for just a penny with an already existing plan.
I think that's great that they will give you a free phone if you are upgrading your cell phone but not your plan because it just makes it easier to get a new phone. I'm sure people don't want to upgrade because they just can't afford to so this makes it easier.
I didn't see any iPhones listed but I did see Blackberry Curve and Blackberry Bold. They also have some other well known companies like Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony to name a few.
Now here is my question and I hope someone will find this via google blog search so they can answer. I have a pre-paid cell phone with T-Mobile. Of course they don't offer T-Mobile yet but it says coming soon. But when they do get T-Mobile I wonder if I can buy a new phone for my pre-paid plan with GPS and Mp3 capability. I wonder if it would work. I don't need internet, I just want to be able to have the GPS and Mp3 along with being able to call people.
I currently have a Nokia 3390 cell phone pre-paid plan with T-Mobile that I've had since 2002. The reason I got a pre-paid plan is for 2 reasons. #1 being that a friend of ours in Hollywood was always driving to Malibu to visit her mom (this was 1997-1999, she passed away in 2000) and she couldn't get reception and she was having nothing but problems but to be fair she knows that she didn't have reception due to the mountains that she was driving through but she blamed it on the cell phone company anyway. She insisted on getting out of her contract to go with another company and she had to pay big bucks to get out of it which was dumb because she had the same issue with another company lol. So it's for this very reason that Darrin forbade me, yes, I said forbade, from getting a contract.
Reason number 2 is that I have a little to no credit score since I never really established credit in my late teens. No credit cards means bad credit score which means the cell phone companies will only give me a cell phone with the highest paid plan which makes absolutely no sense to me. They should offer me their cheapest plan so they know they get their money every month. Also, I'm on disability so I can't really afford a monthly plan fee. All I really can afford is the pre-paid because I only pay for minutes when I need them and I don't use it that much to warrant buying a lot of minutes.
Darrin has taken over the phone though because he needs a phone at work so when he's driving if he needs to make a call to AAA for a tow or whatever then he has a phone. Also if he has to call 911 then he has a phone. He usually uses it to call me at the house on his way home. But he's always asking me to go to map quest and tell him the directions that he writes down and I think it would be much easier if he had a GPS on the phone.
Sorry I rambled on but you have to know the full story of why I'm asking lol. Thanks for your response in advance.