text:
Elections 2019: IEC registers record voters' roll since 1994
This could be an indication of a shift in the tide
by Andile Sicetsha
Photo: Adobe Stock
The International Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has released the figures of registered voters who are eligible to participate in this year's general elections.
IEC dishes out important statistics ahead of elections
As the days wind down towards Wednesday, 8 May — the day South Africa decides which party it wants in government — the electoral commission is wrapping up the administrative part of its preparations.
Read – EFF may be sanctioned by IEC for tearing down ANC posters
How many political parties are contesting in the elections?
48 political parties have been confirmed by the IEC, all of which, have been on the ground, rallying up support and making grandiose promises.
How many South Africans are registered on the voters' roll?
More importantly, however, is the historical voter turnout that is expected after the electoral commission revealed that we have not seen this many eligible voters since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
"26 756 898 million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the 8 May national and provincial elections following the certification of the voters' roll," the commission said in a statement.
Read – Cyril Ramaphosa talks load shedding, blasts Western Cape government
That is right, folks. about 47% of the country's population has been registered on the voter's roll.
"Since its inception ahead of the 1999 national and provincial elections, the voters' roll has shown steady growth of over 47% and contains the highest number of registered voters to date, recording an increase of 1 366 748 voters since 2014," the electoral commission added.
Females dominate voters' roll
Remarkably, 55% of the registered voters are females, and the average age range of the voter is between 30 – 39 years old.
Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, as history would suggest, are key areas of contention, since they pack the most voters in the country.
Read – How many overseas voters will take part, and where they're voting from
Growth of voters' roll over the years
Here is a look at how the voters' roll has steadily increased over the years.
National and Provincial Elections Registered voters
1999 18.17 million
The electoral commission has reminded voters to take their ID document or smartcard to their designated voting stations on election day.
Tags: 2019 South African ElectionsElections and VotingIECSouth Africa


text:
Teamsters Airline Division
UAL-CAL-CMI Mechanics Update
American Aviation Labor Alliance
Coalition of Pilots Association
Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization
Airways Pilots Association
Teamster 401(k)
Teamster Privilege
Teamster Scholarships
Job Bank for Airline Workers
TAMC
About Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC)
TAMC News
TAMC Newsletter
TAMC Newsletter Signup
Outsourcing Defect Report
Teamsters Social Network:Follow @teamsters
About TAMC
The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) is part of the Teamsters Airline Division and was created specifically to better represent the needs of aviation mechanics throughout the industry. The four cornerstones on which the TAMC is founded are:
1) Promoting Safety for the flying public as well as in the workplace, and to continue to expose the dangers of outsourced aircraft maintenance.
2) Being Proactive when it comes to mechanic's issues. Whether we are lobbying against outsourcing or for pension reform, influencing FAA rule-making or testifying before Congress, we WILL have a voice in the decision-making process. Additionally, we work closely with our trusted friends in the media to get our message out and get it right.
3) Using Our Collective Experience to help negotiate better contracts and to monitor industry trends.
4) Organizing. We help our fellow mechanics who need a union to form one and, in doing so, put an end to threats leveled by managers who believe that airworthiness is secondary to profit.
As mechanics in this industry, we have issues that are common regardless of where we work, and the TAMC is committed to addressing them. We use our collective voice and the power of the Teamsters Union and the Airline Division to move our agenda. On our website, in our Teamster Aviation Professional newsletter, and through social media, we give aviation mechanics a forum in which they can voice concerns, share ideas for change and a channel through which members can stay current on industry news and trends.
The TAMC represents 18,000 aviation mechanics and related workers at seven airlines including United, ExpressJet, Frontier, Horizon Air, NetJets, Piedmont Airlines, and UPS.
The TAMC is headed by the chairman and a steering committee comprised of one mechanic from each of the seven airlines where Teamsters represent mechanics. The TAMC Steering Committee works hand-in-hand with the Teamsters Airline Division to advance our agenda. To better serve our members, there are also TAMC station representatives across the nation who join the Steering Committee for a weekly conference call to plan and discuss industry and local issues. We encourage all aviation mechanics to become involved with the TAMC through the TAMC's website, social media, and our newsletter.
Fighting Outsourcing: The TAMC, Airline Division and the IBT have taken steps to restore the high-level of flight safety the flying public deserves. The fight to stop outsourcing additional aircraft maintenance work to foreign repair stations is a priority of the TAMC and we are hard at work to ensure that all MROs are held to the same stringent safety standards as are the companies for which we work. We have taken our message to all corners of the United States, from the politicians on Capitol Hill to the air travel consumers who rely on the work of aircraft mechanics to keep them safe. We have engaged travelers at airports, informing them of unsafe outsourcing practices. Our efforts were featured in an important CNN Lou Dobbs story on unsafe outsourcing to foreign MROs. We have provided subject matter experts for the book "Attention All Passengers" by William McGee as well as the PBS Frontline special "Flying Cheaper." We continue to work with our trusted media allies to make sure that the real story surrounding the perils of outsourced aircraft maintenance is told.
In conjunction with the Business Travel Coalition, the Teamsters Airline Division hosted the first ever Aviation Maintenance Outsourcing Summit of key industry professionals, senators, congressmen and aviation mechanics in Washington, D.C. The summit was the first of its kind to challenge the unsafe practices of outsourcing aircraft maintenance work to foreign repair stations.
Political Action: We are continually working to ensure that aviation mechanics' concerns are addressed on Capitol Hill and with the regulatory agencies that govern us. We've had hundreds of meetings on The Hill, bringing the issues that matter to mechanics to the attention of our senators and congressmen. The TAMC, along with the Teamsters Airline Division, are lobbying for outsourcing reform, bankruptcy reform, and seeking a moratorium on certification of any additional MROs – foreign or domestic – until the FAA can prove adequate oversight of those facilities. Through our lobbying efforts, we were able to push through legislation requiring drug testing and more FAA oversight at foreign repair stations, thus preserving the integrity of the industry and the safety of the flying public.
The TAMC was formed September 15, 2007 in Indianapolis to give aviation mechanics a voice in the industry. As the Coalition has grown and more members have taken active roles, the TAMC has become a leader in the fight to improve aviation safety and advocate for aviation maintenance professionals. In the years since it was first founded, the TAMC has co-sponsored an outsourcing summit, released an investigative report about the hazards of outsourced aircraft maintenance work, and brought the hazards of outsourcing to the attention of the American public. We have testified before Congress and put in place a License Protection Program for all covered Teamster mechanics that provides free legal assistance should the FAA issue you a Letter of Investigation. We partner with the Airline Division to provide NTSB "Go Team" training. Most recently, the TAMC has launched a program to engage in independent public investigations at airlines we feel are putting profits before safety, endangering the well-being of their employees and the flying public.
Please join us in our fight to improve aviation safety and regain the dignity and respect we have earned as aviation professionals. The TAMC can be reached at TeamsterAir.Org or by calling the Airline Division at 202-624-6848.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Making Sense of a Vexing and Perplexing World
About Bracing Views
Books, Articles, Courses
Tourists of Empire
On the road again …
I recently received an update from the National Priorities Project reminding me of this startling fact:
"The president announced last week that American troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond the planned withdrawal at the end of 2016. This is a devastating blow. We've already spent $716 billion and counting on the war in Afghanistan alone, plus countless lives lost and derailed."
Of course, not the same American troops will "remain" in Afghanistan until 2017 (or 2024, or who knows what year). U.S. troops, intelligence operatives, privatized paramilitaries, and assorted imperial straphangers are constantly rotating in and out of war zones around the world, sometimes on yearly tours, often on much shorter ones. This reality got me to thinking about American imperialism as a peculiar form of global tourism. All those repetitive, fairly short-term, "tours" to foreign countries, followed by new American tour groups (fresh deployments of new combat units). The result is needless repetition, endless waste, and flat learning curves for Americans. For the locals who have to endure America's "tours," the results are often far worse — and unlike Americans they usually can't get on a boat or helicopter or jet and leave.
I was stimulated to write this new article on America's "tourists of empire," which appears at TomDispatch.com today. You can read it in full here. I've included some excerpts below. I hope this article provides a contrary perspective on U.S. military efforts around the world.
Tourists of Empire: America's Peculiar Brand of Global Imperialism
W.J. Astore. Courtesy of TomDispatch.com.
The United States is a peculiar sort of empire. As a start, Americans have been in what might be called imperial denial since the Spanish-American War of 1898, if not before. Empire — us? We denied its existence even while our soldiers were administering "water cures" (aka waterboarding) to recalcitrant Filipinos more than a century ago. Heck, we even told ourselves we were liberating those same Filipinos, which leads to a second point: the U.S. not only denies its imperial ambitions, but shrouds them in a curiously American brand of Christianized liberation theology. In it, American troops are never seen as conquerors or oppressors, always as liberators and freedom-bringers, or at least helpers and trainers. There's just enough substance to this myth (World War II and the Marshall Plan, for example) to hide uglier imperial realities.
Denying that we're an empire while cloaking its ugly side in missionary-speak are two enduring aspects of the American brand of imperialism, and there's a third as well, even if it's seldom noted. As the U.S. military garrisons the planet and its special operations forces alone visit more than 140 countries a year, American troops have effectively become the imperial equivalent of globetrotting tourists. Overloaded with technical gear and gadgets (deadly weapons, intrusive sensors), largely ignorant of foreign cultures, they arrive eager to help and spoiling for action, but never (individually) staying long…
Call it Imperial Tourist Syndrome, a bizarre American affliction that creates its own self-sustaining dynamic. To a local, it might look something like this: U.S. forces come to your country, shoot some stuff up (liberation!), take some selfies, and then, if you're lucky, leave (at least for a while). If you're unlucky, they overstay their "welcome," surge around a bit and generate chaos until, sooner or later (in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, much, much later), they exit, not always gracefully (witness Saigon 1975 or Iraq 2011).
And here's the weirdest thing about this distinctly American version of the imperial: a persistent short-time mentality seems only to feed its opposite, wars that persist without end. In those wars, many of the country's heavily armed imperial tourists find themselves sent back again and again for one abbreviated tour of duty after another, until it seems less like an adventure and more like a jail sentence.
The paradox of short-timers prosecuting such long-term wars is irresolvable because, as has been repeatedly demonstrated in the twenty-first century, those wars can't be won. Military experts criticize the Obama administration for lacking an overall strategy, whether in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere. They miss the point. Imperial tourists don't have a strategy: they have an itinerary. If it's Tuesday, this must be Yemen; if it's Wednesday, Libya; if it's Thursday, Iraq …
It was a dynamic already obvious five decades ago in Vietnam: a ticket-punching mentality that involved the constant rotation of units and commanders; a process of needless reinvention of the most basic knowledge as units deployed, bugged out, and were then replaced by new units; and the use of all kinds of grim, newfangled weapons and sensors, everything from Agent Orange and napalm to the electronic battlefield and the latest fighter planes and bombers — all for naught. Under such conditions, even the U.S. superpower lacked staying power, precisely because it never intended to stay. The "staying" aspect of the Vietnam War was often referred to in the U.S. as a "quagmire." For the Vietnamese, of course, their country was no "big muddy" that sucked you down. It was home. They had little choice in the matter; they stayed — and fought.
Combine a military with a tourist-like itinerary and a mentality to match, a high command that in its own rotating responsibilities lacks all accountability for mistakes, and a byzantine, top-heavy bureaucracy, and you turn out to have a surefire recipe for defeat. And once again, in the twenty-first century, whether among the rank and file or at the very top, there's little continuity or accountability involved in America's military presence in foreign lands. Commanders are constantly rotated in and out of war zones. There's often a new one every year. (I count 17 commanders for the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan, the U.S.-led military coalition, since December 2001.) U.S. troops may serve multiple overseas tours, yet they are rarely sent back to the same area. Tours are sequential, not cumulative, and so the learning curve exhibited is flat…
At some level, the U.S. military knows it's screwed. That's why its commanders tinker so much with weapons and training and technology and tactics. It's the stuff they can control, the stuff that seems real in a way that foreign peoples aren't (at least to us). Let's face it: past as well as current events suggest that guns and how to use them are what Americans know best.
But foreign lands and peoples? We can't control them. We don't understand them. We can't count on them. They're just part of the landscape we're eternally passing through — sometimes as people to help and places to rebuild, other times as people to kill and places to destroy. What they aren't is truly real. They are the tourist attractions of American war making, sometimes exotic, sometimes deadly, but (for us) strangely lacking in substance.
And that is precisely why we fail.
Posted on October 27, 2015 by wjastorePosted in US Foreign Relations, US Military, warTagged Afghan War, Afghanistan, America, American Empire, American exceptionalism, department of defense, Empire, global imperialism, imperialism, tourism, Vietnam. 6 Comments
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wjastore
Creator of Bracing Views. Contributor to TomDispatch.com, Truthout, History News Network, Alternet, Huffington Post, Antiwar, and many other sites. Retired AF lieutenant colonel and professor of history.
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Q: HTMLAgilityPack Exclude by classes I have a Ul element that has 3 different types of li children, I want to exclude 2 of these types of children by their class. exclude li elements with class = map and class = map-button
Here is what I am fiddling with,
HtmlWeb web = new HtmlWeb();
HtmlDocument doc = web.Load(Constants.New_York.GetOffenderPageById(""+ 41586));

var querylist3 = from list in
                   doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//ul[@class='address label-value']")
                  .Cast<HtmlNode>()
  from row in list.SelectNodes("not(li[@class='map']) and not(li[@class='map-button'])")
                  .Cast<HtmlNode>()
  select new { CellText = Utilities.RemoveHtmlCharacters(row.InnerText) };

foreach (var q1 in querylist3)
        Console.WriteLine(q1.CellText);

So I was looking at HtmlAgilityPack SelectNodes expression to ignore an element with a certain attribute but either I cannot properly understand the solution or it's not working.
I prefer not to create object instance and compare with linq...
For reference this is the HTML,

TypeRES (Primary)

CountySuffolk

Address1010 OLD MEDFORD RD
FARMINGVILLE, New York 11738

View on Map

      <!---->

Learn about possible mapping exceptions.

A: My answer isn't what I was hoping to learn... but it solved it. I still would like to know how to use not within the search parameters of htmlnode select...
I temporarily used linq... Not sure which is better or anything...
 var querylist3 = from list in doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//ul[@class='address label-value']").Cast<HtmlNode>()
                     from row in list.SelectNodes("li").Where(x => !x.Attributes.Contains("class") || !x.Attributes["class"].Value.Contains("map")).Cast<HtmlNode>()
                     select new { CellText = Utilities.RemoveHtmlCharacters(row.InnerText) };

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
<%= plural_name.camelize %>Controller#index

Find me in html/<%= plural_name.underscore %>/index.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Knockout Kings
PlayStation, PSX Games, PSX Variant
Jewel Case Release – De La Hoya Disc
Genre: Boxing
Publisher: EA Sports Released: November 27, 1998
Developer: EA Sports UPC: 0 14633 07798 8
Sony ID: SLUS-00737 PSRM: 011020
Players: 1 to 2 Players Memory: 2 to 15 Blocks
Accessories: Vibration
ESRB: Everyone – Animated Blood, Animated Violence
In your face Knock Outs…
REALISTIC POLYGON MODELS
HUGE KNOCKOUTS
REAL MOTION CAPTURED MOVES
38 AUTHENTIC BOXERS
DREAM MATCHUPS
Fight as or against great champions
Slugfest Mode: Toe-to-Toe Boxing
Career Mode: Fight Through the Ranks
Create Custom boxers
Play-by-Play Announcers
Legendary Referee Mills Lane
Hard-hitting One- or Two-player Action
Like Working Designs, EA decided to have some disc art variant fun. Each of the 4 boxers were EA exclusive licenses, so EA gave them each their own disc, and than a group shot. Disc insertion was random, but the manuals and inserts are all the same. Oscar De La Hoya's disc is the first in the series, with the rest listed below in sequential order.
Jewel Case Variant – Evander Holyfield SLUS-00737A / PSRM-011021
Jewel Case Variant – Muhammed Ali SLUS-00737B / PSRM-011022
Jewel Case Variant – Sugar Ray Leonard SLUS-00737C / PSRM-011023
Jewel Case Variant – Group Shot SLUS-00737D / PSRM-011024
There are no known misprints.
In late 1998, the PlayStation was enjoying one hell of a good life, with titles such as Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy VII, Spyro the Dragon and more tearing up the retail sales charts. For the hundreds of games that the system was already supporting, among all those genres there was one peculiar genre that hadn't been fulfilled until 3 years after launch – boxing.
Electronic Arts would be the first company to enter the square circle, beating Sony to the…literal punch…by only a few months. Their prize fighter Knockout Kings debuted with 38 fighters, including giants like Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard and more. The four mentioned fighters were also EA Sports exclusive licenses at the time of release, meaning no one else could have them for the time being.
Along side the exclusive fighters, EA Sports also brought on several ringside guests as well, with Jimmy Leno Jr for ring announcements, Al Albert and Sean O'Grady as the announcers, and the ever amazing Mills Lane as your coach. So with an amazing cast of characters, how does the actual game hold up?
For being their first try as the genre in the 32-Bit era, Knockout Kings is fairly admirable in many of its nooks and crannies. Pushing through the crowd of real world boxers into the main menu, the game offers up Slugfest, Exhibition, and Career Mode. I'll start with the first two, Slugfest and Exhibition Mode. The latter is exactly what you think it is – you pick a fighter, then let a friend or the computer pick a fighter, and you properly duke it out like gentlemen. Full rules, regulations, and penalties apply here, so if you throw a kidney punch, you're going to get yelled at or worse.
Slugfest is for the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat fans peeking in from the hallway. Players may pick their fighters as usual, but the rules, rounds, and regulations are thrown out. Gamers have one to five chances to get in as many hard knocks as possible, with the winner being determined by knock out or undisclosed split decisions. With sound effects and damage also cranked up for a more arcade style presentation, Slugfest is a pretty fun and excellent break from the more technical aspects of the simulation side.
As a bonus, the fighter players can create for career mode will be uploaded into Slugfest along with their sparring partner's creation. It's a great way to practice in-game moves and get timing down, but we'll dive into that a little later.
Having just now mentioned it, let's discuss career mode. In full transparency, I started this review expecting to be bored out of my mind 3 fights in and just call it a night, but there's some pretty good meat on these bones. Contenders begin their career by first creating a boxer – that's right, it's your avatar in the ring, not one of the featured boxers.
After a sparse set of characteristics to change, players are presented with their first pre-fight training session. There are 3 key stats to work out – power, stamina, and speed. Selecting the speed bag will boost speed and stamina, while choosing the hanging bag will upgrade the power and stamina. Once that's done with its animation, it's off to the bottom of the list.
Knockout King's match climb offers a nifty little touch here in that fights can be skipped, the trade off being less training points to spend between rounds. If victorious, the winner leap frogs ahead. If defeated, the player tumbles back down the standings. After each fight you'll get a newspaper headline discussing your fate as well as learning of at least one other boxer on the circuit. The fights through the standings continue until reaching the number one spot against the reigning champ. This time players face off against a real athlete, and if successful, the game really does treat them like the champ.
Upon claiming the number 1 spot, other real life boxers will challenge the position. The amazing difference here is that since the player is the new champ, they'll now get the red corner as well as the cinematic walk-in to the ring. It's a hilariously awesome feeling the first time it's on screen, because it now means the game is playing against the gamer, as if they were the final boss of the game. The broadcasters comments will even change to call them the champ rather than just nameless replies and observations.
Once the last contender is…crowned…the player is officially crowned the world champ, and the game treats you to a behind the scenes film reel showing off Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya playing the game at E3, as well as some gag reel type moments with the dev team.
Here's where things get really interesting – there is no game plus, in reality, there's no game anything after winning. The created character is permanently retired from career mode. They can be loaded into versus mode, but his days in competition are over. It's a unique take that forces the player to really start from scratch on their next play-through, as well as open up creating a legion of different style boxers to upload into versus mode.
So with those game modes in play, how do the actual parts of the game compete? Diving into the graphics, Knockout Kings does a bang-up job here. Late 1998 was when developers were finally stretching the hardware in directions it didn't know it could go. Here we have large, well detailed fighters complete with their matching shorts and color combinations. The few boxing rings included are all unique in their designs, and help make the feel of rising up from the local gym to Madison Square garden that much more pure – even your training room changes.
There are also some amazing little touches that one wouldn't have thought to see in the first try of a new genre. The ring girls who announce the rounds change each time, and if one knocks out the opponent hard enough, players will see their mouth guard go flying. There are different referees based on how far up the ranks you are. During the fight, the contenders will actually take visible damage, including black eyes, cuts, and bleeding.
The announcers will even make mention of them. These little attentions to detail make up for some of the more oddball design choices, like how the crowd humans are realistic looking and larger than the in-game graphical characters. Over all the graphics do a damn fine job, and if outputting the PlayStation through an upscaler, they're extremely clean.
Sound is split between the the voice-overs and the white noise, both of which do decent jobs. The announcers only have so many lines recored, but they're record for every boxer and then champ and challenger designations. By the time boxers reach the championship fight, they'll have heard everything they have to say. Mills Lane, while awesome, sounds garbled when in the training room sequence.
The punches sound fine, but if you're too used to Slugfest mode, or even other actual fighting games, the lack of exaggerated hits throws off your timing and comprehension. I found myself constantly looking at the health bars to confirm my hits were actually landing. I know this is trying to be a simulation, but sometimes you need to be just a little bit more video-game-like in the execution.
Regretfully, the only place the game falters is in the actual control. The thumb buttons are a body punch, an uppercut, and then square and circle act as your left and right hand. Using a shoulder button in combination with the thumb buttons can create combos, illegal hits, which are combined with punches determined by your distance to the other boxer.
Knockout Kings makes two mistakes here, and it costs the game a better ranking. First, the controls are a bit sluggish. Trying to change the stance feels like it takes days, while trying to find the right distance between you and the opponent takes more time that it should. Too often I found myself just punching their elbows or watching the animation stop mid-way since it has nowhere to go. Second, the uppercut and body punch buttons are swapped for southpaw boxers, and swap in real-time if you change you stance.
Nothing says confusing like trying to remember which way I'm standing while looking at the health meter to see if the punch I thought I was throwing even hit. It's not the end of the world, but in later fights I found myself really wishing the response was faster.
In the end, it's another PlayStation game finished and ready for it's Game-Rave review score. In modern times, Knockout King's sluggish controls can be forgiven for the creative career mode and ability to pit custom boxers against friends. While the latter would hardly be used in the present day, the former can not be denied. If a lack of boxing games in the monthly feed is annoying, give Knockout Kings a shot.
Just keep it above the belt.
Though simple, the graphics are sharp and clear
Facial damage is surprising and really well done.
Career mode requires forced, but appreciated fresh starts
Controls are sluggish, especially in stance changing.
The non-real NPC boxers can look exactly alike in the portrait windows.
One or two more rings would have been nice.
Final Score: 7 / 10 – Solid
Knockout Kings' flaws are outmatched by it's individual successes. It won't have the nostalgia of say Punch-Out, but if there's a need for a easily obtainable boxing game, this fits the bill quite nicely.
The manual includes a small advertisement for The Ring boxing magazine.
A cheeky little set-up by EA at the 1998 E3 show announced an Exhibition bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya. Complete with ring, Mills Lane, and a camera crew, it turned out to just be the two boxers playing Knockout Kings.
Knockout Kings.
Cool Boarders
PlayStation Strategy Guide Cover Gallery


text:
Ravenska aragonitna jama se nahaja v kraju Ravne pri Cerknem.

Njena posebnost, zaradi katere je znana daleč po svetu, je izjemno bogat aragonitni okras. Medtem ko so kalcitne sige in kapniki v jamah običajen pojav, krasijo snežnobeli aragonitni kristali le redke jame v svetu. Gre za 352 m dolg splet rovov v treh nivojih, vhodni rov pa se nahaja na 703 m nadmorske višine.

Najimenitnejši so skupki tudi nad 10 cm dolgih iglic v obliki tako imenovanih ježkov, ki predstavljajo krono okrasja Ravenske jame. Kljub pustošenju jame v preteklosti, ostaja jama lepo ohranjena in urejena.

Ravensko jamo je po naključju odkril domačin Martin Čelik že leta 1832. Vhod vanjo je sredi vasi ob domačiji pri Kramarju.

V letu 2005 pa je bil nekaj sto metrov od prvotnega vhoda v Ravensko jamo odkrit nov vhod v podzemlje. Po dosedanjih ocenah jamarjev naj bi se novo odkrita jama stikala z ostalim delom. Nekaj redkim posameznikom je bilo dano, da so si to podzemlje tudi že ogledali. Jama postreže z resnično neverjetnimi primerki aragonita ter ostalim podzemnim okrasjem.

V kraških jamah se v vodi raztopljen karbonat izloča običajno kot kalcit in pri tem tvori znane stalagmite in stalaktite. Pri višjih temperaturah, nižji koncentraciji kalcijevega bikarbonata v vodi, ob visokih koncentracijah magnezija, stroncija in svinca pa pride do izločanja v obliki aragonita. Aragonit kristalizira v igličastih kristalih v ortorombskem kristalnem sistemu.

Kraške jame z aragonitnimi kapniki so redke. Znana je  Ohtinska aragonitna jama (slovaško: Ochtinská aragonitová jaskyňa), ki je vključena v UNESCOv seznam svetovne naravne dediščine.

Ravenska jama že nekaj let ni odprta za obiskovalce.

Sklici

Kraške jame
Aragonit
Občina Cerkno
Jame v Sloveniji

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dependencies between attributes of a database relation express the presence of structure in that relation. In particular, the existence of a multivalued dependency X->>Y in a relation r(R), where X and Y are non-overlapping subsets of R, denotes that for each possible value of attributes X, there exist no associations between the values of attributes from Y and Z=R-X-Y. As a consequence, the relation r(R) can be decomposed into relations r1(XY)=Project[XY](r) and r2(XZ)=Project[XZ](r) without loss of the information. The decomposition of r into r1 and r2 makes explicit the internal structure of relation r. Furthermore, the new representation requires less storage space than the complete relation r.
The discovery of multivalued dependencies from relations is viewed as a search in a hypothesis space defined in accordance with the generalisation relationship among the multivalued dependencies. Two algorithms for the discovery of multivalued dependencies from relations are defined. The top-down algorithm enumerates the hypotheses from the most general to more specific hypotheses which are checked on the input relation. The bottom-up algorithm first computes the set of invalid multivalued dependencies. Starting with the most general dependencies, the bottom-up algorithm iteratively refines the set of dependencies to conform with each particular invalid dependency.
Traditionally, database dependencies were considered to be part of the data model provided by the database designer. One reason for the discovery of multivalued dependencies from extensional data can be that the data model, or parts of it, has been lost or is no longer accurate, so that reverse engineering is required. Another reason may be that certain dependencies were not foreseen by the database designer, but do occur in practice. The discovered dependencies may be utilised for restructuring the database but also for query optimisation.
Furthermore, the discovery of multivalued dependencies (as well as functional dependencies) can assist in the process of discovery of other types of interesting patterns from relational databases by revealing the internal structure of datasets. The discovered multivalued dependencies can be utilised for planning/guiding the overall process of knowledge discovery, and for restructuring the relations.
The program MDEP includes implementations of the top-down and bottom-up algorithms. The program is implemented in Sicstus Prolog. The MDEP distribution includes the source code and a short description of the program. If you have comments or suggestions related to MDEP, you can send an email to savnik@informatik.uni-freiburg.de.
Discovery of multivalued dependencies from relations.
Intelligent Data Analysis Journal, Vol.4, No.3, 4(2000), pp.195-211.
Also: Technical Report 135, Institut für Informatik, Universität Freiburg, Mar 2000.
Database dependency discovery: a machine learning approach.
AI Communications, Vol.12, No.3, IOS Press, 1999, pp.139-160.


The clock tower acts as a meeting place for the Johanneans of St. John's College and is a place for people from all over the world to join each other and to start their journeys together. It was designed to resemble the clock tower at St. John's University in Shanghai, China. In 2012, the Chinese characters 聖約翰學院, meaning St. John's College, were added to the clock tower, in recognition of the tie between St. John's College at UBC and the graduates of St. John's University in Shanghai who founded our College in 1997. The caligraphy was done Mr. Hong Yong-fan, a Johannean alumni now residing in Shanghai whi is reknowned for his beautiful caligraphy. The term "Johanneans" refers to the community of students from both schools, and the clock tower is an important symbol to residents and alumni of both St. John's College and St. John's University. The tapestry in the Alumni Hall of St. John's College features the original clock tower of St. John's University.
Written by SJC Junior Fellows Kristof Kessler (MLIS 2013) and Dawn Wong (MLIS 2013).


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- January 13, 2023 | January 13, 2023 - Umranangal IPS
PS Umranangal Selfless Blanket Donation Amid Cold Waves As the cold waves hit North India, people are finding it hard to conduct day-to-day activities. The people working in night shifts …
Protesters Expected Justice in Next Hearing in Kotkapura Case
- June 17, 2022 | June 17, 2022 - Umranangal IPS
Behbal Kalan's firing case is still pending from 2015. Recently the government had set a three-month deadline to bring justice to the families of victims of the Behbal Kalan firing. …
Paramraj Singh Umranagnal – Things You Need to Know
- March 30, 2022 | June 16, 2022 - Umranangal IPS
Located within the Baba Bakala sub-district of Amritsar district of Punjab state, UmraNangal is one of the prosperous villages of Punjab. The village is also well-known for its proud history, …


Western-style cuisine takes centre stage at One Place Bistro & Bar on Singapore's Jalan Kayu, where good food & people meet. Known for their incredible beverage selection, juicy steaks and friendly service, this Sengkang hotspot draws diners in from all across the city-state, hankering for the popcorn chicken and the signature One Place martini. One Place Bistro & Bar does western food right, and is open late (until 2am!) for when the late-night munchies strike.
Service staff is attentive and fast. The food is tasty. The location may be difficult for parking during weekend nights, come early or take public transport if you're drinking. There's a bus stop right outside.
It was great. My friend & I would love to come back again. Service and your staffs are really great. Friendly & quick. Food is really great.
Just moments from Thanggam LRT station in Sengkang, One Place Bistro & Bar on Jalan Kayu is one of Singapore's go-to spots for steaks, burgers, delicious cocktails and unforgettable desserts. Despite having a long menu of delicious food options, some locals venture out to One Place for the drinks selection alone. Featuring numerous beers on tap – Asahi and Kronenbourg, for example – and a lengthy cocktail list including classics like the Long Island ice tea, Tequila Sunrise and of course, the Singapore Sling.
One Place Bistro & Bar's menu is full of all the western dishes you love, plus some local favourites like the ever-popular truffle fries. Mains on offer include crispy fish & chips and grilled pork collar. If you're planning to knock a couple back, the Sengkang restaurant's selection of light bites are the perfect accompaniment to your drink – go for nachos, dory fish fingers, popcorn chicken or One Place's signature buffalo wings. Singapore's One Place is bound to be your new hangout spot – book ahead to get your snack on.


At this year's Comic Con you will be able to find among other shops The Symbiote – a new shop which sells Marvel Products such as keyrings, wallets, bracelets, pillows, mice, mouse pads etc. Check out their Facebook page!
The brackets of Smash Bros Tournament!


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December 13th, 2004 – Lines are being drawn in the debate about the new exchange-traded fund developed by the World Gold Council, which is listed on the NYSE under the symbol GLD. Several items have recently appeared on www.thebulliondesk.com, for which I am compelled to respond lest there be any misunderstanding about my point of view on this new product.
Your recent editorial commentaries about GLD have not been helpful. They have fanned the flames by adding opinions, rather than facts, to the debate.
One thing people can still read on your website though is the "Open Letter to GATA" by a gentleman named David Walker, which you chose to publish. Given that it is an opinion piece, rather than a factual news report, I assume that you published it because it serves your point of view, even though the letter is wrong in some important respects.
It would also be useful to post a counterpoint to a news item on your website by David Elliott of Dow Jones. Addressing the discovery that GLD's bar list has duplicate numbers, the title of his article, "Duplicate Numbers on Gold Bars Normal – Johnson Matthey", is totally erroneous. Contrary to Mr. Elliott's assertions, Johnson Matthey did not say that having the same number on a bar is "normal" or "standard practice", as Mr. Elliott contends. Here is exactly what Johnson Matthey wrote. (Image of Letter from JohnsonMatthey) Clearly, it is not normal to have two bars with the same number – it is an exception.
The JM letter makes it clear that only part of the bar number was recorded by GLD. The pre-fix to the bar was not recorded in the bar list reported on the StreetTracks website.
To Mr. Elliott's credit, he did quote me accurately: "The problem is that without having the ability to audit all of the assets of GLD, there is no way of verifying whether this error by GLD was a simple bookkeeping error, or whether other factors were at work." Hence, this error of duplicate bar numbers demonstrates the need for auditing all of the gold within GLD, and not just the gold in the custodian.
So the important issue remains unanswered. Why isn't all of GLD's gold audited? If it were audited, simple bookkeeping errors (e.g., recording only part of the bar number) would be caught by the auditors, and corrected. And if it were anything but a simple bookkeeping error, the auditors would catch that too.
"Why have all the custodians and potential custodians of the fund's gold not been identified?
Why is the fund refusing to let its gold holdings be fully and publicly audited?
Therefore, if independent third parties do not audit all of the gold, how are we to know that it really exists? And if we cannot prove that the gold exists with audits and inspections, how can GLD be considered as a means for investors to buy physical gold, which is how it is being popularly portrayed? The WGC explained at various industry conferences in the past that the ETFs objective was to provide investors with the means to acquire physical gold by purchasing a tradable security.
I happen to know quite a bit about this topic of using accounting to represent physical gold because we had to address this matter in building GoldMoney. Holding gold in your hand is one thing – but storing it in a vault is something altogether different. But there are risks to both. For example, is the coin you are holding really gold, or just gold-plated lead? And is the gold you store in the vault, safe and secure? To provide our customers with assurances of integrity about the safety of their gold, all of their gold is audited.
One of my GoldMoney colleagues and I discussed GoldMoney's custodial arrangement and auditing in meetings and telephone discussions with the WGC in 2003. Further, the WGC had a whole year to act on the article I wrote in December 2003, which identified the same custodial weaknesses identified in my recent article. Why didn't they do anything to fix the problem I identified?
Here's a useful analogy. Not too far from where I am writing this letter there is a massive public works project called the 'Big Dig'. It aims to build an Interstate highway by tunneling under Boston, which as everyone knows is a port city, so there is a lot of water about.
After spending $15 billion, the project is nearing completion, and it has been reported that the 'Big Dig' has a leak because it was not built properly. So we are now hearing from numerous experts who warned the 'Big Dig' builders before construction began about the unique soil conditions in the area, advice that apparently went unheeded.
The same is true for GLD. It has a 'leak' because it was not built properly. Gold the fund supposedly owns in subcustodians and sub-subcustodians cannot be audited or inspected to verify that it really exists.
Now, I don't know whether 'Big Dig' can be fixed, but GLD can be fixed very easily. Store all of the gold bullion in HSBC, the fund's custodian, and eliminate all subcustodians and sub-subcustodians.
In the rush to begin the 'Big Dig', some basic considerations were overlooked. So too with GLD. In their rush to launch an ETF, the WGC overlooked some basic building blocks, like ensuring that all of the gold owned by GLD is audited. Why the oversight? Why the rush? Why were the warnings in my 2003 meetings and December 2003 article ignored?
I will leave it to others to investigate and to get answers for those questions, but until all the basic issues are investigated and everyone's questions are answered, it is not 'time to move on', though that is what you propose in a December 9th editorial posted to your website.
What good does it do working tirelessly to get something through the regulatory process spending a reported $15 million if it is not built right? And why the innuendoes? It's not the legitimate questions about GLD that have hurt confidence. Rather, it has been adversely affected by a fund launched with so much promise and anticipation, but turns out not to be an alternative to buying physical metal, and won't be until all of the gold is audited. Confidence has also been hurt as the WGC's unwillingness to answer the legitimate questions posed to them.
I doubt if you can speak for the majority of gold buyers, but we do share a common view in one respect. GLD tracks the gold price. But the point you seem to miss is that until and unless all of the gold within GLD is audited, it cannot be viewed as an alternative to buying physical gold. Because that is what GLD was intended to do, I contend that GLD is seriously flawed because it does not provide for auditing of all of the gold owned by the fund. Without this independent third party verification there is no way to establish whether all of the gold owned by GLD really exists.
As this debate widens, new questions are now being raised about GLD. For example, in the article referenced above Ed Bugos asks, can borrowed shares of GLD be redeemed for gold? If so, who's to stop one of the Authorized Participants from borrowing GLD shares, redeeming them for the gold bullion in the vault, and then removing that gold to lend it to earn extra income?


Camera is moving and light leave traces. Low frame rate shot of neon lights.
Traces on sand.	Shooting in the movement.
traces of stars against the night sky, shot long exposure.
Edge of water waves of the sea, traces of human sand. Concept rest relax summer recreation vacation holiday. Light of sunset sunrise.


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Please know that this entire experience has opened my eyes to realizing that this program truly changes lives! It certainly did mine. My family has been so supportive especially my husband Tony who has traveled this journey with me. His weight loss was 50 lbs.! He has gained a few back but still feels great, and follows the program with me–resulting in a healthy balance and lifestyle. We love life and really enjoy each day! So when we eat a little too much, we get right back on track and everything evens out. We both have followed the weight loss program and HCG. And of course you know, I am also on the HRT.
What makes this entire experience so amazing is the compassion and concern I was given from Dr. Lara when I first talked with him! He truly changed my life!
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There's A Riot Going On
Ahead of the mob violence on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, there had been weeks of incendiary rhetoric and planning in plain sight, on Facebook, Twitter, and on far-right websites like Parler, Gab, TheDonald, and MeWe. There had been a virtual social media landslide of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and lies about fraudulent voting, often coming directly from the POTUS and his favoured minions.
Prior to the insurrection, Advance Democracy had found more than 1,480 posts on Twitter from QAnon-related accounts, promoting violence. When it became clear that VP Pence was unable to overturn the results of the election, and unwilling to 'try' to do so, right-wing extremists began to plan the murder by hanging of Pence, whom they believed to be committing a traitorous refusal to act.
"Holt believes the key factor was the remarks from President Trump and his allies when they addressed the rally on Wednesday. When Trump told his supporters to head to the capital, Holt says, "I think the levee just broke."
"If Trump had not told people to go to the Capitol, I don't know that it would have happened. Because people on the ground were engaged in some pretty extreme rhetoric about coming back with guns if things don't go their way, and stuff like that. But there wasn't any real sort of significant action happening on the ground until Trump finished his speech."" from NPR's reportage
Even the most casual observer of social media, anywhere on the planet, was aware of the potential for a political 'incident' occurring. But only those with the ability to stop anything serious from happening, turned a blind eye. Or did they?
"The attack on the Capitol was anything but unpredictable. It was incited, touted and trumpeted by the president of the United States, whose job is actually that of protecting his people from harm. It was Donald Trump who demanded on Wednesday midday that the vice president instigate a coup d'état. It was Trump himself who, speaking from a podium in front of the White House, encouraged his followers to march on the Capitol." Der Spiegel, Germany.
I remind us of these facts to show that there is simply no way that anyone involved in the planning of security for the ceremonial certification of the Electoral College ballots would not be aware of the potential for serious violence on that day.
Washington's Mayor, Muriel Bowser, put in a request on New Year's Eve for a limited National Guard deployment, to patrol the streets from January 5th to 7th. A U.S. defense official approved that some 340 D.C. National Guard members would be activated, with about 115 on duty in the streets, but they would not be armed, or wearing body armour. Instead, they would be used to set up traffic control points around the city, for crowd management, and to stand with district police officers at all of the city's Metro stops.
"Because D.C. does not have a governor, the designated commander of the city's National Guard is Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Any D.C. requests for Guard deployments have to be approved by him.
The defense official said that there will be no active-duty military troops in the city, and the U.S. military will not be providing any aircraft or intelligence. The official said there will be no D.C. Guard members on the National Mall or at the U.S. Capitol." APNews.com
After a century or more of television and film extolling the foresight, intelligence, and ability of America's top cops, military, and defense organizations to anticipate the potential for violence and chaos in the seat of American government, America was about to witness the complete failure of everyone involved, from the Pentagon and Department of Defense on down.
January 6, 2021 will be a day that goes down in infamy, right up there with 9/11, Pearl Harbour, and Kennedy's assassination. Everyone will forever remember exactly where they were the day American democracy was breached by a gang of cos playing domestic terrorist insurrectionists.
Although it will likely be some time before we knew where, how, and by whom all the tangled webs were woven, it's very clear that the match that lit the fuse was struck by the soon to be ex-president, trump, his son Donald Junior, Rudy Giuliani, and Congressman Mo Brooks. These four need to be charged with inciting violence, at the least.
Trump and his minions led a violent and deadly insurrection to overthrow the United States government. There are no stronger grounds for Impeachment and removal than that. The Rosenbergs did less, and were summarily executed.
But the fuse itself was crafted and laid by a young, brash senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley. Once the brightest light, and hot new thing on the Republican's Christmas tree, he's now Public Enemy Number One on Capitol Hill, has been denounced by the very people that worked to get him elected, been reviled in his own local newspaper, and has had his family home surrounded and his family terrorized by those who understand exactly what Hawley was attempting. Hawley himself, however, is shocked … SHOCKED I TELLS YOU … to discover that it doesn't feel very nice when people are incited to attack, surround, and terrorize your home.
The Capitol Buildings are the People's House. Turnabout, in this case, is karma.
Hawley was the first senator to sign on to the objection to the Electoral College certification ceremony. He knew, from the onset, that there would be no actual point to the objections, beyond removing the focus from Biden's legitimate win, and thus shining a spotlight on trump's made-up grievances and false, debunked claims about non-existent voter fraud. He calculated that this move would draw trump's base to himself, with the knowledge that his actions could lead the most fervent trump supporters to act out their rage, violently, and en masse, during trump's call to arms rally, pre-vote.
From the Kansas City Star's op-ed, headlined "Assault on democracy: Sen Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt:
"No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday's coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.
"This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is what mobs do. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman was shot by Capitol Police in the chaos and died while lawmakers were sheltering in place.
"No longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, 'Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?' Hawley's actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that's been shed."
Oh, certainly, there were others just as eager to risk it all for a scrap of trump's mantle. But Hawley – young, smart, attractive, and cynical – was the one who publicly saluted the protestors and rioters with a fist pump as he walked outside the Capitol to object to the ceremonial counting of votes. Hawley knew that Mike Pence's role in the role call was completely ceremonial, and that nothing Pence – or the objectors – did would do anything but ensure a very long, boring day for everyone in Chambers.
Or so it was hoped.
The purpose of Congress convening is only and simply the time mandated by the Constitution to formally tally the votes of the Electoral College. It's not a time to litigate election matters.
But Hawley, and the Sedition Caucus of Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Cynthia M. Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, Steve Daines, John Neely Kennedy, Bill Hagerty, Mike Braun and Roger Marshall were determined – and succeeded – to make it a day that no one could ever forget, no matter how hard they tried.
And, even more importantly, each of these senators fundraised constantly on the back of their hypocrisy. Hawley sent out another fundraising appeal just an hour before the Capitol was stormed. Ted Cruz was doing the same, even as he cowered in fear as the insurrectionists sacked the Capitol.
Even days after the horror he helped to unleash, Hawley is still unable to understand what he did wrong. Strangely, the young man whose attendance and grades at Stanford and Yale Law School were pedestaled as exemplary, failed to actually read the Constitution to which he swore an oath to uphold.
Even more shockingly, after pro-trump extremists sacked the Capitol, bludgeoned a police officer to death with a fire extinguisher to gain entry, nearly crushed another police officer between two doors, and after a young woman was removed after being shot in the hallway for attempting to breach the Chamber, six senators sustained the challenge to Arizona's results. Lawmakers had decided to reconvene and finish their Constitutional duties. Many of the Senate Republicans, shocked by the violence and chaos they'd just seen, abandoned plans to object.
But six persisted. Those six were Josh Hawley, who continued to insist that this was the time and place to raise his concerns; Ted Cruz, who urged his colleagues to disregard a lawful and fair election, and instead allow public opinion to dictate the winner; John Kennedy, who reiterated that his plans to raise objections during the proceedings were on behalf of his constituents; Cindy Hyde-Smith, known for such fulsome support for trump that she once told a supporter, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." That deluded crew was joined by Tommy Tuberville and Roger Marshall, both of whom are essentially no more than 'hangers on.'
121 House members also supported the objection. House members also objected in the cases of Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, but as no senator joined in the objection, there were no debates. The only other state disputed with support from both chambers was Pennsylvania; 138 House members, all Republicans, supported the objection, as did seven senators: Cruz, Hawley, Hyde Smith, Cynthia Lummis, Marshall, Tuberville, and Rick Scott, of Florida.
And yet now, there is talk from the GOP of how we must enter a time of healing. The same senators, representatives, and soon to be ex-president, all of whom crossed the Rubicon into insurrection against their own government, believe this should now be a time when we all 'come together.'
Apparently, immediately after nearly being murdered in the ransack of the Capitol wasn't that time.
It was only when these seditionists and traitors realized that there would be consequences for their actions that they began to ask, however obliquely, for mercy.
I feel that many of those who participated in this plan believed that it would succeed. That can be the only explanation for actions so clearly contrary to the oaths the elected officials take, and the job descriptions of those who appear to have been complicit in allowing the carrying out of the raid. They hoped to overturn the government, and continue under the auspices of trump, as autocratic, unelected leader, at best – dictator of America at worst.
Every day a little more information on how many were involved emerges. The Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol on the morning of January 6th.
"At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal," said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.
Police officers and at least one police chief from departments across the United States, including in California, Washington state, New Hampshire, Arizona and Texas are facing termination, suspension or other discipline for their proximity to or alleged involvement in the riot. Based on tips, social media posts, and other evidence, it is believed that many more officers will be implicated as well.
The links between law enforcement officers and white supremacist groups are long standing.
"That an angry mob of armed right-wing insurrectionists was able to so easily push itself into the U.S. Capitol is nightmarish on its face. But it may be a much darker fact to realize that quite so many people vested with the authority to kill others seem so willing to sympathize with those who dream of a violent revolt against the government." … theappeal. Org
The Capitol police let the insurrectionists inside the gates. They took selfies with the rioters. And when it was over, they politely held the doors for these traitors to leave the building, unmolested. It was the very picture of collusion and complicity within those hallowed halls.
The Business Insider was told by multiple European security officials that trump appeared to have tacit support among US federal agencies that were responsible for securing the Capitol complex. This is critical information, because, even if untrue, some among America's international military allies are now willing to believe that trump deliberately tried to violently overturn the election, with the help of federal law-enforcement, many of whose department heads he himself had put into places of leadership.
Four Years of American Carnage in One Photo
"Will the United States ever be able to recover from the ignominy of Jan. 6, 2021? It is difficult to imagine the country being able to present itself as the shining beacon of democracy in the coming years – if the country isn't even able to stage a peaceful transfer of power. America will not be able to provide any advice to up-and-coming democratic leaders for as long as the images from Wednesday – which ex-President George W. Bush compared to a 'banana republic' – are in circulation.
The U.S. now finds itself facing a painful period of self-reflection. It would be too easy to merely blame Trump for the attempted coup. He does, of course, bear a lion's share of the blame for the attack on the Capitol for his full-throated claims that the election was stolen from him. But the pack would not have been so ready to participate in sedition had Trump not had such a committed coterie of abettors at his side during his entire term in office – a team of lackeys who played a significant role in the dismantling of democracy in America. " Der Spiegel
There will be no healing in America until all of those who instigated this traitorous insurrection admit publicly, and in writing, that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, freely and fairly, and that NO ONE in America is above the law, including their POTUS.
Every person involved must be routed out, and must pay the price for their part in this seditious attempt to bring down their government. And trump must be impeached, and never again allowed near any kind of position of power in the United States.


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MediaColtonS2020-06-11T22:41:01+00:00
SME Industries, Inc.'s Patricia Johnson Wins 2021 Utah Business SAMY Award for Marketing Professional of the Year
ColtonS2021-01-05T22:56:28+00:00January 5, 2021|Categories: Press Releases|
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 4, 2021 – SME Industries, Inc., one of the largest and preeminent fabricators/erectors of structural steel in the United States, is pleased to announce Vice President, Marketing, Patricia Johnson, [...]
Touchless tech designed to make new Salt Lake tower safer during pandemic
ColtonS2020-12-18T17:51:36+00:00December 18, 2020|Categories: News Articles|
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City's newest office tower will include technology aimed at keeping people safe from the spread of illnesses like COVID-19. When it's completed late next year, 95 State at [...]
LAX's Delta Sky Way Flies 18 Months Ahead of Schedule
ColtonS2020-11-25T21:18:22+00:00November 25, 2020|Categories: News Articles|
LAX's Delta Sky Way Flies 18 Months Ahead of Schedule Los Angeles International Airport and Delta Air Lines's will finish ahead of schedule; rendering courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports. Los [...]
Winning with teamwork
Winning with teamworkBuilding Design + Construction, October 2020"Chase Center, home to the Golden State Warriors professional basketball team, exemplifies the centrality of technology, sustainability, community involvement, and building team coordination in the design, engineering, and [...]
City of Angels' Bedecked Box Is Tricky to Wrap
ColtonS2020-11-06T18:52:32+00:00November 6, 2020|Categories: Uncategorized|
City of Angels' Bedecked Box Is Tricky to WrapENR California, March 2020""Concerned" is the word peer reviewer James O. Malley uses to describe his initial reaction, in 2014, to the performance-based seismic design for a 17-story [...]
State-of-the-Art SoFi Stadium Completes Construction, Holds Grand Opening With First Preseason Game
ColtonS2020-09-16T21:27:44+00:00September 16, 2020|Categories: News Articles|
State-of-the-Art SoFi Stadium Completes Construction, Holds Grand Opening With First Preseason GameENR Mountain States, August 2020"Following more than 100 years of football games played in Southern California, Los Angeles now welcomes and celebrates its own [...]


It's back to Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey for my response to this week's prompt from Paula. Darkness and light – the stuff of fiction writing, but also the source of many diversions from the work-in-progress to play with my camera's monochrome setting. The hazy uplands in the background are the mountains of mainland Wales. The island in question is in reality a long thin promontory heading out to sea from Newborough Beach, and has, since Dark Ages times, been associated with St Dwynwen, Welsh patron saint of lovers. You can read more HERE and HERE.
And now for a more abstract rendition of darkness and light: an early morning view across Menai Strait, taken from the fields above Beaumaris. Here on Anglesey, the sun in winter regularly puts on these mystical lightshows – shining searchlights through banks of low cloud on to the water. This particular shot was taken with quite a lot of zoom and then cropped.
Posted on February 12, 2017 by Tish Farrell	This entry was posted in black & white photography, Landscape and tagged #Black&WhiteSunday, Anglesey, Llanddwyn Island, Tish Farrell Writer, Ynys Mon. Bookmark the permalink.
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Like that first one, Tish!
Thank you, Nurul, for those v. encouraging words.
Great shots that show us this dramatic contrast of shades and lights, that I'm particularly fond of.
I am a fan of the rugged coastlines and big skies you have in your neck of the woods. I seek the same things here – they put things in perspective for me. Nice work, Tish, gracias por compartir.
Hello Thom. I've not been over to your place lately. Thanks for dropping in here. Wales does indeed have some dramatic landscapes.
I wish this media can transmit the sounds I make when I open your offerings :D. Today it was something like: OOOOOOOOO ……. and it continued with WOOOOW. Thank you. I am glad when I can oblige theme-wise. I can go in peace now after such a beautiful offering.
You are so sweet, Paula. Big hug.
Wonderful photos as always. I like that first one too.
Glad to please, Stephen. Hope you've been having a good weekend.
I like the second shot so much. The composition is wonderful.
Thanks a lot, Ark. Wishing you a good (better) week.
I have to say that I really like both of these, but that second one has a certain something and it's also something different from your normal lovely shots.
Thank you for that thoughtful comment, Janet.
Wonderful, dramatic … very much darkness and light!
Beautiful photos. I'm glad I only saw them today, it reminded me what I love and to keep our passions going! have a great week.
Wish, I was drawn to the second one. Nicely done.
Cheers, Yvette. Always lovely to have your take on things. Have a good week.
I saw this post's title and eagerly awaited the loading of the photos. You didn't disappoint, Tish. They're beautiful.


text:
PCI Institute's Investment Committee assesses progress in funding for Mato Grosso
News article27 Jul 2020
The virtual meeting of the PCI Institute's Investment Committee was held on June 30, and was attended by 26 members, under the coordination of the IDH.
The Investment Committee is an advisory body that is part of the PCI Institute's governance structure, for which IDH was appointed as coordinator by the founding organizations. The role of the investment committee is to attract new public and private investment to the PCI Strategy.
The meeting was divided into three parts. The first was a presentation on sustainable finance and their opportunities for agribusiness, delivered by Orlando Editore, from Proactiva Consulting, a new member of the Investment Committee.
Following that, a survey was presented conducted by the Chief of Staff Office of the Government of Mato Grosso, to identify the non-reimbursable funds allocated to the State that contribute to the implementation of the PCI Strategy's goals. Part of the preliminary results, presented by the Coordinator of the Centre for International Affairs of the Chief of Staff Office, Rita Chiletto, show that the main investors are: Petrobras, the Government of Norway and the Government of Germany, with 36 joint initiatives, followed by the Mato Grosso Agriculture and Livestock Federation (Famato), with 17 projects, placed fourth are Moore Foundation, the State Treasury and Embrapa, with 9 projects each, and in the fifth position is the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Bank of Brazil, Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), with 8 initiatives each.
"IDH has already invested nearly 9 million euros in projects in Mato Grosso between 2016 and 2020 and for us this mapping is an important step to organize the efforts of all institutions that support the PCI Strategy, by connecting complementary initiatives. The research will feed the work of the consulting firm being engaged to develop the investment models for implementing the PCI Strategy", says Marcela Paranhos, Investment Manager at IDH in Brazil and coordinator of the Committee.
The third part of the meeting was conducted by the Executive Director of the PCI Institute, Fernando Sampaio, who provided members with an update on actions carried out in June in relation to the investment agenda, which included the virtual mission carried out by the World Bank to the State of Mato Grosso, talks with the Partnership for Forests (P4F) initiative, Soft Commodities Forum (SFC), World Resources Institute (WRI) Brazil, among others.
"There is a number of investment possibilities that we are currently carrying out or on track to be carried out. From corporate investments, such as those made by the SCF, investments or direct support to the structuring of the PCI, such as those discussed with the P4F and WRI, and investment negotiations in the State, underway with the World Bank. This whole set will allow the strategy to scale up and achieve the desired impact", Sampaio points out.
Landscape: Mato Grosso - Brazil
Teaser link
Laudes Foundation and IDH partner to develop a landscapes program in Brazil's Caatinga biome
Laudes Foundation and IDH come together again to launch three PPI Compacts where the regenerative production landscape collaborative (RPLC) is the main strategy to confront the risk of desertification in Brazil's Caatinga biome, one of the world's most biodiverse semi-arid regions, as well as tackle issues of social inequality and food insecurity.
Sustainable agriculture won't be delivered top down
© All right reserved © Marcus Mesquita Photographer As IDH's landscapes team…
Mirova teams up with Aqre Group to develop agroforestry systems in partnership smallholder farmers in Madagascar
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Delegations from Norway and the European Union visit Mato Grosso to learn about the long-term sustainable development agenda
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When you choose a career in construction or as a craft professional, you make the choice to build up, strengthen and better your local community. Look no further than our highways, roads, libraries, community centers, schools, health care facilities and shopping centers, among many others. When you see infrastructure across the U.S., you know that our cities, states and nation are stronger because of the crucial role our industries play in executing these projects.
While building America is a foundational pillar of our industry, I challenge you also to prioritize building a culture of giving back to your community this coming year and for years to come. If community involvement is already a part of the mission and vision of your organization, I applaud those efforts and encourage you to proudly vocalize your involvement in any way you communicate to the public. Always have opportunities on the horizon for your employees to serve in their communities.
With the new year right around the corner, if you and your company seek to get more engaged in giving back, here are some ways the Pelican Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has served our community here in Louisiana. My hope is these ideas inspire you in 2019.
• Fundraising for our local university's construction management students. I am proud that Louisiana State University (LSU) houses one of the best construction management programs in the country. Some of these talented college students compete in ABC National's Craft Championship, and we chose to fundraise for their travel expenses. Through a duck hunt raffle this past fall, we raised about $8,200 for LSU construction management students to travel to compete in 2019.
• Organizing a food drive. We Louisianans love our Cajun cooking. Each fall, we hold a gumbo and jambalaya cookoff for our members. A donation of canned goods is the price for admission to join the fun and enjoy the food. This year's donations went to the St. Theresa of Avila's Food Pantry in Gonzales, Louisiana.
• Sponsoring blood drives. According to the American Red Cross, every two seconds, someone in the country needs blood. A few times a year, we host a blood drive at our Baton Rouge and Westlake training centers. We are proud that our craft training students, members and staff have opportunities to save lives on a regular basis.
• Hosting and helping support job fairs. Career fairs are a great tool to educate the public about the opportunities available in our industry. Our chapter partners with local high schools and colleges to offer resources, explain opportunities and address the workforce shortage in the construction industry.
• Holding a toy drive. I find fulfillment when I give to those in need, as I am sure you do, too. If your holiday season is as busy as mine, here is your friendly reminder to give during the holidays! We host a Christmas party for our members, and a toy donation is part of the "cost" to attend. We'll have the Toys For Tots bin at our office until Christmas.
• Donating time, tools and expertise at family-friendly events. Last year, ABC Pelican had the privilege of partnering with Touch A Truck, an interactive event hosted by the Junior League of Baton Rouge. Touch A Truck allows children to see, touch and explore big trucks and heavy equipment. Children also enjoy meeting the individuals who protect, serve and build our cities. This event helps bridge the gap between industry and kids, changing the face of the construction industry for the future. Touch A Truck also helps kids better understand emergency vehicles, first responders, heavy equipment and the construction industry, which we believe will set them up for success in the future. We are thrilled to participate again March 23, 2019.
The construction industry affects our community, which directly affects our local families and children. I am proud to say the members of ABC Pelican prioritize giving back to and serving in our communities. Take that extra step, and do your part to serve and give back with every opportunity that crosses your path.
For more information, call David Helveston, president and CEO of the ABC Pelican Chapter, at (225) 753-2590 or email him at dhelveston@abcpeli can.com, or contact Russell Hamley at (713) 523-6ABC  or email him at r.hamley@abchouston.org.


text:
Association Between the COVID-19 Outbreak and Mental Health in India: A Google Trends Study
N. A. Uvais, MBBS, DPM
Association Between the COVID-19 Outbreak and Mental Health in India:
A Google Trends Study
As a result of the emergence of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), socioeconomic crisis and psychological distress rapidly occurred across the world.1 Although, there is growing concern regarding the impact of the pandemic on mental health, little is known regarding how the psychiatric needs of the population have evolved along with the spread of COVID-19 across India. The internet is an important source of information, and Google search trends can inform public interests related to mental health.2,3 The objective of this study was to use the Google Trends search volume index (SVI), a normalized value from 0 to 100, to understand whether changes in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths are associated with SVI of contents associated with mental health in India.
Google Trends (https://support.google.com/trends/) was searched in India for the following keywords: suicide, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Google Translate (https://translate.google.com) was used to convert keywords to Hindi. The SVI was retrieved for the period between March 12, 2020, and June 13, 2020. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients were analyzed in SPSS version 21 (IBM, Armonk, New York). Results were considered significant if the P value was less than .05.
There were significant positive correlations between the SVI for all keywords in English and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in India: depression (r = 0.405, P = .000; r = 0.405, P = .000), anxiety (r = 0.668, P = .000; r = 0.668, P = .000), insomnia (r = 0.374, P = .000; r = 0.374, P = .000), and suicide (r = 0.240, P = .020; r = 0.240, P = .020) (Table 1). Moreover, there were a higher number of searches for the terms suicide and depression compared to other search terms (Figure 1).
There was also a significant positive correlation between the SVI for depression in Hindi and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths (r = 0.214, P = .039; r = 0.213, P = .039). Whereas there was a significant negative correlation between the SVI for anxiety in Hindi and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths (r = −0.268, P = .009; r = −0.268, P = .009), there were no significant correlations for insomnia (r = 0.059, P = .571; r = 0.059, P = .573) or suicide (r = 0.004, P = .969; r = 0.004, P = .966) in Hindi.
In this study, a significant positive correlation was found between the SVI for all of the English search terms: depression, anxiety, insomnia, and suicide and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in India. These study findings are in agreement with the emerging scientific literature suggesting a significant increase in psychiatric morbidity among the Indian population following the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Moreover, media reports5 also indicate a significant increase in suicide rates among the Indian population following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a discrepancy in interests in Google Trends keywords between English and Hindi users was found in the present study. Hindi users have shown a significantly higher interest in the term depression, but their interest in the keyword anxiety showed significant reduction with respect to the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in India. Google users in Hindi also showed no significant increase in interest in the terms insomnia or suicide. These findings might indicate that Google users searching in Hindi are more resilient and have better adaptive coping strategies compared to Google users searching in English in India.
Received: August 6, 2020.
Published online: November 5, 2020.
Potential conflicts of interest: None.
Funding/support: None.
1.Dubey S, Biswas P, Ghosh R, et al. Psychosocial impact of COVID-19. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14(5):779-788. PubMed CrossRef
2.Berger M, Wagner TH, Baker LC. Internet use and stigmatized illness. Soc Sci Med. 2005;61(8):1821-1827. PubMed CrossRef
3.Misiak B, Szcześniak D, Koczanowicz L, et al. The COVID-19 outbreak and Google searches: is it really the time to worry about global mental health? Brain Behav Immun. 2020;87:126-127. PubMed CrossRef
4.Varshney M, Parel JT, Raizada N, et al. Initial psychological impact of COVID-19 and its correlates in Indian community: an online (FEEL-COVID) survey. PLoS One. 2020;15(5):e0233874. PubMed CrossRef
5.Stress, self-injuries and suicide: India battles mental health crisis as COVID tally spikes. The Economic Times Sep 13, 2020. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/stress-self-injuries-and-suicide-india-battles-mental-health-crisis-as-covid-tally-spikes/articleshow/78087743.cms. Accessed October 13, 2020.
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Iqraa International Hospital and Research Centre, Calicut, Kerala, India
*Corresponding author: N. A. Uvais, MBBS, DPM, Iqraa International Hospital and Research Centre, Malaparamba, Calicut, Kerala 673009, India (druvaisna@gmail.com).
Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2020;22(6):20br02778
To cite: Uvais NA. Association between the COVID-19 outbreak and mental health in India: a Google Trends study. Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2020;22(6):20br02778.
To share: https://doi.org/10.4088/PCC.20br02778
© Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.
Quick Links: COVID-19


text:
ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1...
ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1186002F1)
Dear Journal,
Today was a dream come true. The ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1186002F1) came by our office to give us support for our network. We've only seen it in photographs and on TV before - maybe in a few blurry paparazzi photos on our Tumblr feed too - but in person, it looks so much different than we expected. It's just like being around any other MUX card. But it's also not at the same time. We'd tell our friends about this but they're tired of hearing about it. Since you're just a book we write in, you're basically our captive audience to talk about our obsession. Yay!
The ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1186002F1) is so good at combining independent T1s, E1s, or T1s and E1s on the same DS3. When you get pair two up together, they provides built-in 1:1 redundancy on the DS1 and DS3 signals. You'll love vast array of loopbacks - because "loopbacks" is a fun word to say! CSU loopbacks, NIU loopbacks, C-bit loopbacks. Loopbacks, loopbacks, loopbacks! Oh, it's got some built-in BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing) capabilities too. Forgot to mention that because of all the loopbacks!
But guess what else? The ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1186002F1) features a VT100 terminal interface for local configuration. I know, we have it bad for the ADTRAN MX2820 MUX Card for DS3 M13 (1186002F1). It's just always on our minds. It's hard to think about anything else. Oh, look! A shiny object!


Roche, a Swiss drugmaker, lost the patent in India on its anti–viral drug Valcyte, widely used by AIDS patients, after the patent office concluded it did not contain necessary innovation to qualify for marketing exclusivity, said lawyers involved in the case. The ruling would help local generic makers, like Ranbaxy Laboratories and Cipla, launch cheaper copycat version of the drug in the local market. These companies, along with Matrix Laboratories and Bakul Pharma, challenged the patent granted to Roche.
"This shows patents are being granted without proper examination," said Anand Grover, who fought the case on behalf of two HIV patient groups. The patent was revoked for lack of 'inventive step' and under section 3(d) of the Indian patent laws, that rejects patent for incremental innovations unless it provides significant thereupatic efficacy over existing compounds. Roche India did not respond to ET's query on whether it will appeal the decision.
Valcyte, whose chemical name is valgancyclovir, can also be used to prevent infection in patients who have received an organ transplant like kidney, heart, or kidney–pancreas.
The Patent Office has been active clearing more than 40,000 patent grants in the past three years. This has led to many disputes and put it in conflict with the interests of patients for whom affordability is vital, rather than rewarding a company for innovations, which at times, are dragged on with token improvements. It is ill–equipped to deal with the volume of patent applications. Its total staff remained at 170 for nearly six years despite surging cases.
The office has also ruled that patient groups are part of "person interested" under Indian patent laws and therefore can oppose drug patents. The ruling follows a Supreme Court directive to the Patent Office to re–consider the patent. "This will certainly engender more oppositions from civil society and patient groups and is a welcome development," said patent expert Shamnad Basheer. "The reasoning for the revocation is very sound." For Cipla, which launched Valcyte's generic version in India in September 2008, the ruling is a relief since it escapes penalty payment to Roche for alleged violation of the patent. It has been a long legal battle for the non–government organisations, which opposed the patent.
These not–for–profit organisations appealed to the Madras High Court after Roche was granted patent in June 2007 without hearing opposition from patient groups.
In December 2008, the court directed the patent office to review its decision, but Roche moved the Supreme Court agaisnt the order. Subsequently, the top court directed the Assistant Patent Controller, Chennai, to hear the opposition. "The price of the drug remains unaffordable and its patent hampered the availability of generic versions of valgancyclovir," said Leena Menghaney, an executive at Medicines Sans Frontieres.