Devender Kumar Sikri, an officer of 1975 batch of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) took oath as the Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI).
He was sworn in by the Minister of Finance, I&B and Corporate Affairs Aurn Jaitley in the presence of Members and Secretary of the Competition Commission of India and officials of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
He replaces Shri Ashok Chawla who demitted office on 7th January, 2016.
Shri Sikri holds an M. Phil. Degree, a Masters Degree in Advanced Mathematics and has also done an Advance Professional Course in Public Administration from Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), Delhi. Shri Sikri has served in various important positions in the CentralGovernment as well as in the State Government of Gujarat.
In the Central Government, he held the position of Secretary, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice; Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD); Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India; Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers among others.
In the Central Government, as Secretary, Department of Justice, Shri Sikri was instrumental in preparing and furthering the agenda of judicial reforms including the changes in the existing procedure for appointment of Judges for greater transparency.
As Secretary, Ministry of WCD, Shri Sikri was principal architect of the legislation on Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2013, preparation of the Bill on Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill 2010 and restructuring of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.
In his position as Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Shri Sikri was instrumental for guiding and release of data on various social and economic indicators for 2001 Census and preparation of complete framework for 2011 Census.
In the State of Gujarat, he has been the Commissioner, Industries Promotion, Sales Tax Commissioner, besides being Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation and Managing Director of Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd.
He has been on the Board of several important companies like National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL)., Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (RCF), Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-op Ltd. (IFFCO), Krishak Bharati Coop Ltd. (KRIBHCO) and Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (FACT).
The Commission was established in 2003 to replace the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. The Commission draws its power from the Competition Act, 2002 and has been empowered to check anti-competitive behavior and regulate mergers & acquisitions.


Watching this and recording this was too different experiences. I'll use my headset, but because it has two plugs (headphones and mic), I'll just use the mic function. I talked to my video editor and we're going to use different music next time.


text:
The Franklin case and the Five by Jean-Guy Allard
The most dangerous spy in recent U.S. history, Lawrence "Larry" Franklin, 59, is currently working as a parking attendant at an exclusive Casino and Racetrack in West Virginia while waiting to testify in the trial of his two accomplices.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal publication Franklin, an expert Pentagon analyst who personally advised Donald Rumsfeld, is working as a "valet" in the parking lot at the Charles Town Races & Slots, located in Charles Town, West Virginia between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
Neocons jump ship by Justin Raimondo
We are losing, avers Buckley, on account of our humanitarianism, embodied in our reluctance to use such "interventionist measures" as were deployed against Hitler and Hirohito: we are not quite ready, in short, to punish those ungrateful and rebellious objects of our "liberation" by duplicating the bombing of Dresden or the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kristol would call this faintheartedness, and the lack of these sorts of measures lies behind his imputation of a lack of "seriousness" on the part of the U.S. Buckley quails at such a prospect, but Kristol doesn't flinch from implicitly calling for mass murder. It is the main difference between "mainstream" conservatism and its mutant offspring of the neoconservative persuasion.
'Leninists!' Cries Neocon Nabob, Suing for Divorce by Jim Lobe
"[T]he neoconservative position articulated by people like Kristol and Kagan was … Leninist; they believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will," according to Fukuyama. "Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practiced by the United States."
"Neoconservativism, as both a political symbol and a body of thought," he went on, "has evolved into something I can no longer support."
Askariya Shrine Bombing: Black Op? by Kurt Nimmo
In Iraq, things are going swimmingly for the Straussian neocons. "A large explosion heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shiite shrines Wednesday, spawning mass protests and triggering reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques," reports the Associated Press. "It was the third major attack against Shiite targets this week and threatened to stoke sectarian tensions. Shiite leaders called for calm, but militants attacked Sunni mosques and a gunfight broke out between Shiite militiamen and guards at the offices of a Sunni political party in Basra. About 500 soldiers were sent to Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad to prevent clashes between Shiites and Sunnis, Army Capt. Jassim al-Wahash said."
How Neocons Sabotaged Iran's Help on al-Qaeda by Gareth Porter
The United States and Iran were on a course to work closely together on the war against al-Qaeda and its Taliban sponsors in Afghanistan in late 2001 and early 2002 – until Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped in to scuttle that cooperation, according to officials who were involved at the time.
Democracy & Its Discontents by Leon Hadar
In a way, neoconservative foreign policy is bursting with explosive self-contradiction. It urges Washington to use its military power to establish a hegemonic position in the Middle East, while at the same time it calls for holding free elections that empower forces opposed to the American hegemon and its allies. In Turkey, South Korea, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia, free voting has resulted in the election of political parties that are less than enthusiastic about American's goals. That free elections in the Middle East region, where hostility towards the United States is reaching the stratosphere, would bring to power illiberal and anti-American forces shouldn't surprise anyone.
Who You Calling a Neocon? by Matthew Barganier
Francis Fukuyama distances himself from the neocons yet again, just in time to play guru to the next bunch of crusaders at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Now he's a "Wilsonian realist," whatever that is. It takes a Ph.D. to keep up with all the mutations of the War Party; luckily, we have one in Leon Hadar, who dissects Fukuyama's piece over on his blog. But at least Fukuyama's analysis of his exes is satisfying, as it confirms what Antiwar.com has been saying all along:
[T]he neoconservative position articulated by people like [Bill] Kristol and [Robert] Kagan was, by contrast, Leninist; they believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practiced by the United States.
Neocon architect says: 'Pull it down' by ALEX MASSIE
NEOCONSERVATISM has failed the United States and needs to be replaced by a more realistic foreign policy agenda, according to one of its prime architects.
Francis Fukuyama, who wrote the best-selling book The End of History and was a member of the neoconservative project, now says that, both as a political symbol and a body of thought, it has "evolved into something I can no longer support". He says it should be discarded on to history's pile of discredited ideologies.
IRAN IN NEO-CON CROSSHAIRS by Richard Walker
A new study by an international terrorism expert warns that a military attack launched by the Israelis on Iran's nuclear facilities would certainly escalate to involve the United States, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Persian Gulf states.
In its early stages, it would result in many thousands of civilian and military casualties.
Big Pharma Pushes "Miracle Cure" for Holocaust Denial Syndrome by Michael James
Governments, police services and prison authorities around the world are reportedly "overjoyed" by the launch of a new prescription drug that cures people who are suffering doubts about the veracity of the so-called Jewish Holocaust.
Shares in Israel-based Goy & Goy Pharmaceuticals Incorporated rocketed to 89 US dollars following the long-awaited announcement of a miracle cure for Holocaust Denial Syndrome (HDS).
Soon to be marketed and sold under the name Holozac, the drug works by rapidly closing down the brain's centre of intellectual inquiry. It also blocks the re-uptake of politically incorrect neurotransmitters involved in critical thought processes, making it more difficult to distinguish between truth and lies.
Stopping the War on Iran, Before It Starts by GARY LEUPP
I have thought for a long time now that the U.S. would attack Iran. I know that the experts have said this simply isn't possible so long as the U.S. is bogged down in Iraq, and that Jack Straw has stated pretty clearly that Britain won't be on board if the U.S. decides to use its "military option." U.S. domestic opposition to the war on Iraq has slowly risen to about 55%, and there is no groundswell for a third war in Southwest Asia. But the U.S. has for several years called openly for "regime change" in Tehran, and while early on during the Bush administration Colin Powell's State Department opted to court reformers in the Iranian government, the neocons in power have long since put their bets of the underground opposition. They don't negotiate with evil, as they like to say; they plan to defeat it.
Shooting Whittington: the Least of Cheney's Crimes by Kurt Nimmo
I don't care if the war criminal Dick Cheney shot one of his rich Republican friends. I am disgusted by this story dominating headlines while the Straussian neocons—who run roughshod over the Constitution in dictatorial fashion through their cardboard cut-out, brain damaged, unelected president—methodically plan to attack another sovereign nation and kill hundreds of thousands of people, poison millions of innocent others with depleted uranium, destroy and loot more antiquities, deliberately wreck hospitals, electrical plants and water and sewage treatment facilities, the same way they did in Iraq.
Neocon avatar predicts trouble for right
An influential neoconservative thinker whose intellectual fingerprints are on both the Iraq war and the 1994 electoral sweep that gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress warned an audience in Winston-Salem on Feb. 7 that the conservative movement is at a crossroads, with Republicans facing a "bitter domestic struggle" to defend their agenda in the next two elections.
What Is a Neoconservative? -- & Does It Matter? by Dale Vree
The neocons, mainly through the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), planned for a war against Iraq well before 9/11 (one big reason being because Saddam was a supporter of terrorism against Israel). The Bush Administration is peppered with people from PNAC, such as Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby (indicted on five counts, including obstruction of justice and perjury), Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, and Richard Perle. These people tutored -- let's be honest -- an ignorant President Bush, who had no experience in foreign affairs, to launch it.
Iran Attack - Turning America Into A Straussian Totalitarian State by Kurt Nimmo
It is, of course, far too late to stop the Straussian neocon Iran attack. However, as negative as it may sound, we can take a bit of solace in the possibility that the United States will bite off more than it can chew. If the entire Middle East rises up in response to the unprovoked attack upon Iran-and, more ominous, Russia and China support the Muslim enemies of the perfidious Straussian neocons-there is a distinct chance the Straussian project will collapse and fail. However, the specter of nuclear war remains, as the fascistic Straussian neocons will certainly not go down without a fight-or without killing millions of innocent people. Before this happens, hopefully sanity will rule at the Pentagon and officers less concerned with their careers than the fate of mankind will step up and depose the Straussian neocons.
The Mohammed Cartoons: Recruiting Europe for Bush's Attack on Iran
The evidence strongly suggests that the cartoon provocation was presented to Atlanticist oligarchs at the meeting of the Bilderberger group held from May 5 to May 8, 2005 at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, on the shores of the Tegernsee lake in the south German federal state of Bavaria. (See http://www.bilderberg.org/2006.htm#Fountainhead for a partial attendance list) The first publication of the cartoons in Denmark followed in September 2005. This meeting was attended by the certified neocon fascist madmen Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, and William Luti – all desperadoes haunted by the prospect of criminal indictment for their roles in the Iraq aggression, the Plame case, the Niger yellowcake forgeries, and the Lord Conrad Black embezzlement case. All three are fanatic proponents of the wider war against Iran, also in the hope of staying out of jail. Others in attendance included Dutch, Belgian, and Spanish royalty, top Eurocrats and NATO bigwigs (including NATO Secretary General Jaap Hoop de Scheffer himself) from Brussels, Rockefeller and Rothschild international bankers, and such all-purpose villains as Henry Kissinger. Another prominent participant in the Bavarian Bilderberger group was Anders Eldrep of Denmark, a Bilderberger regular over the last five years. This Anders Eldrep (or Eldrup),the chairman of DONG (Danish Oil and Natural Gas), is the husband of Merete Eldrep, the managing director of JP/Politikens Hus (JP for Jyllands-Posten), the Danish publishing firm which owns the newspaper which first published the Mohammed cartoons.
Some Senators are beginning to understand, Neocon is not Republican by Guy T. Sturino
Who was it that tattled on the President for spying on us? The Neocons are hot on the trail. When they find that despicable individual who couldn't keep his mouth shut I hope he gets just what he deserves – The Congressional Medal of Honor. While we wait for that to happen, though, we are getting another lesson in the propaganda process of the Neocon movement.
Daniel Pipes and the Danish Editor by JOHN SUGG
So, let's look at the guy who started this whole cartoon escapade. He's Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of the Danish newspaper. In all of the Lexis-Nexis database of stories from the American media on the Mohammed cartoons, there is absolutely no mention of the fact that Rose is a close confederate of arch-Islamophobe Daniel Pipes. Indeed, there is almost no context at all about Rose's newspaper. On a brief mention in the Washington Post gave a hint at a fact desperately needed to understand the situation. The Post described the affair as "a calculated insult … by a right-wing newspaper in a country where bigotry toward the minority Muslim population is a major, if frequently unacknowledged, problem."
Masters of Deception by Justin Raimondo
A familiar cast of characters stars in this tale of intrigue and disinformation: Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian arms merchant and master of deception, who, along with neoconservative guru Michael Ledeen – another player in this drama – was entangled in the Iran-Contra affair. Larry Franklin makes a guest appearance at a meeting in Rome where the plot was reportedly hatched. Oh, and a mysterious Iranian named "Ali," who, it turns out, is the pseudonym for Fereidoun Mahdavi, a former minister under the Shah, now a secretary to Ghorbanifar.
Goodbye Iraq, hello Afghanistan by Pepe Escobar
Washington neo-conservatives, from Cheney to former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, may have dreamed of unlimited strategic power by controlling Iraq. What they got instead is a loose Iran/Iraq alliance. And they still could get something even more nightmarish, as American academic Noam Chomsky put it, "A loose Shi'ite alliance controlling most of the world's oil, independent of Washington and probably turning toward the East, where China and others are eager to make relationships with them, and are already doing it."
WMD Pipeline from Iraq to Syria? by William Norman Grigg
Sada doesn't claim to be an eyewitness, insisting that he was told of the transfer by Iraqi airline pilots who supposedly flew 56 missions to deliver chemical weapons to Syria. "I know them well," Sada told the paper. "They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots." The anonymous pilots purportedly claimed that two Iraqi Airways Boeing jets were "converted to cargo planes by removing the seats," after which special Republican Guard brigades loaded what were described as "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel."
Of course, the only way to validate or falsify Sada's claim would be to invade and occupy Syria. Should the chemical weapons then fail to materialize, would another "witness" appear, solemnly attesting that they have been transferred to Sudan, or Lebanon, or Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or perhaps even to France — that is, to some other country on the neo-conservative hit list?
Daniel Pipes NeoCon Conspiracy: Pipeline to War by BARRY CHAMISH
And what if the latest candidate for the Attila the Hun award goes to Daniel Pipes?
That is precisely what is being claimed throughout the world wide web at this moment. Though you will not be happy with the sources and sites, read them seriously, no matter how much you've been trained to believe they must be lying.
The world is upside down. Israel's highest-level "friends and allies" are selling us down the river. And our "enemies" may yet become our allies when they realize that Israelis and Jews have been had.
IS IT WAR TIME YET? by Peter Fredson
Is "they" a country, a group of people, or anyone Bush considers to be a terrorist? Is "Stateless Terrorism" an entity? Is a vague ideology like the neocon strategy for world domination a terrorist entity?
If terrorists are spread world wide, does that mean we are then at War with the world? Are we now in WW IV, world-wide, with the right to invade any country or send missiles and planes into it to seek terrorists and in the process kill any civilians that happen to have been living there?
Putin the Peacemaker by Justin Raimondo
One has to wonder, however, why he would bring up the subject of Chechnya in this context. Especially since Israel's amen corner in the U.S. is so overtly sympathetic to the Chechen cause, as evidenced by the endorsers of the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, including such neoconservative superstars as Jim Woolsey, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, and the omnipresent Michael Ledeen. In reminding Putin of his Chechen problem, perhaps Mofaz is implying it could get much worse.
Imperial delusions by Devlin Buckley
"The United States is a nation engaged in what will be a long war." –2006 Quadrennial Defense Review
"Long wars are usually strategic disasters . . ." –The Long War, William Sturgiss Lind
The Department of Defense's recently updated Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) -- adapted from a neoconservative fairy tail -- illustrates the treacherously defective reasoning of an empire in denial. Using the threat of terrorism as a pretext for imperial mobilization, the 113-page 20-year defense strategy is designed to fail.
Zionism's Useful Idiots by Kurt Nimmo
That's you and me, taxpaying US citizens.
We're useful idiots for the Zionists in Washington and Tel Aviv. Useful because our hard-earned paychecks can be harvested to pay for war and mass murder in the Middle East, idiots because we don't do anything about it.
So outraged were the Sons of Liberty over British taxation without representation, they pitched a whole lot of Darjeeling tea into the Boston Harbor.
The Neocons' Long War by Robert Dreyfuss
According to The New York Times, alongside the QDR, the Pentagon has developed its own (classified) counterterrorism strategy. It is this mission, designed to combat an enemy that the Bush administration describes as equal in magnitude to the threat posed by German Nazism or Soviet communism, which is driving both the QDR and the huge expansion of the budget for the Defense Department and the U.S. intelligence community over the next few years. The QDR is the neoconservatives' mythical World War IV, in line-item form.
22 Bahman 1357 (February 11, 1979): What It Meant Then and What It Means Now by Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan
Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan recounts the day of 22 Bahman 1357 (February 11, 1979) in Iranian history, with information on the Islamic Revolution not widely understood in the West. Ms Neshat cites William Bowles' article in today's Countercurrents as the documentary evidence for the role of British Petroleum, George Ball and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Bernard Lewis, and the Bilderberg Group in overthrowing Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and replacing him with Khomeini and the Mullahs.
Posted by Blackie at 9:27 PM 0 comments
Cartoons are a purposeful provocation
It turns out the editor who originally publshed the "offensive" Muslim cartoons is a disciple of Daniel Pipes and the "clash of civilizations" theory put out by Project for a New American Century. PNAC is the outfit that called for a "Pearl Harbor event' in order to initiate a global war against the Muslim world.
Crhistopher Bollyn has more in American Free Press, Feb. 4:
Americans First by Steve Sailer
Finally, there's an insidiously Jacobin implication to propositionism. If believing in neoconservative theories should make anyone in the world eligible for immigration, what should disbelieving in them make thought criminals like you and me? Candidates for deportation? For the guillotine?
Ultimately, propositionism seems less like a well thought-through philosophy and more like ethnocentric nostalgia, an intellectualized exercise in ancestor-worship. Emotionally, the neocons abhor asking tough questions about today's immigrants because they see that as the equivalent of asking tough questions about their own Ellis Island immigrant forebears and, thus, about themselves.
Australia, Canada Join U.S. and Puppet Reefs in Backing Israel-centric Agenda by Ian Williams
Apart from the Bush rhetoric, I based my prophecy of doom on the steady attrition of leaks and briefings from the administration's neocon corner. At least they could come up with a credible motive—taking out Iraq would be good for Israel. Apart from George W. Bush's aside that Saddam Hussain had tried to assassinate his father, no one else really has come up with an excuse for the war that would hold water, let alone all the oil and blood that has been spilt.
No matter, it may not be a full-scale invasion of Iran, since even the looniest neocon may balk at that. But they do think that some sort of regime change in Tehran is effectible and that, as in Iraq (and Syria), the masses are just waiting for their oppressive regimes to be gone to declare their undying love for George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon. In Iran, of course, the masses have just ditched the reformers, who were anyway scorned and isolated by the U.S., for a hard-liner they now have to deal with. He may not be nice, but neither is George Bush. And both were elected by their faith-based constituencies.
Is it News, or is it Propaganda? by Guy T. Sturino
Nothing wrong there, right? Look at the exchange again. The country has just been given a lesson in the application of the Neocon debating formula. Take note that these are Neocon, not Republican, debating rules. They are not the kind of tactics used by my Republican friends, but the ideas are often repeated as fact. Which, of course, is the intent of the debating formula in the first place.
The effect of the process is to alter the publics' perception of reality. Unfortunately, it works. It works well. But, it is only part of this story. The other part is the news media. What facts did the reporter uncover? What information did the article present that anyone really needs to know? How does this article help anyone make the kind of informed decision required of a voter? Why was the article printed in the first place?
Prof. Strauss and the neocon takeover by Jim Silva
Neocon papers are thick with delusional paranoia like the following from Richard Perle, National Security Council: "No stages, this is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq . . . this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war . . . our children will sing great songs about us years from now."
Prepare for Perpetual War by Justin Raimondo
In the face of the abysmal failure of their policies, from Iraq to the occupied territories to New Orleans, Bush and his neoconservative Praetorian Guard are not backing down – far from it, they are going forward with their plans for the "liberation" and "democratization" of the Middle East, confident in the knowledge that the sheer momentum of the forces they unleashed in "Operation Iraqi Freedom" will carry them onward to their objective.
Burning Down Danish Embassies: More Straussian Psychological Warfare?
For Straussian neocons and their fellow "clash of civilization" (war against Islam) travelers, al-Qaradawi is the perfect radical Muslim for their propaganda purposes. He supports Palestinian suicide bombing and opposes negotiating with Israel. According to the neocon and Jabotinsky Likudite organization MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa calling for the murder of all Americans in Iraq, both civilian and military (as it turns out, al-Qaradawi never issued the fatwa and Straussian neocon lies are legendary). It is also said the imam supports the execution of gay men, although this point is of less importance to the Straussians who run foreign policy in the United States.
Iranian "Democracy" and the "Intelligence" Summit by Ron Jacobs
That is Kenneth Timmerman -- neocon extraordinaire, member of the fear-mongering imperial project that calls itself the Committee on the Present Danger, and contributor to the neocon rag National Review and its ultra-right counterpart FrontPagemag.com. Interesting to note is this phrase that appears on the site: "Learn more about (the FDI Appeal) and what you can do to stop Iranian regime nuclear blackmail!" -- the exact same phrase expressed by George Bush on January 23, 2006.
Hamas and Democracy by Charley Reese
I laughed when Hamas swept the Palestinian elections. After all, President Bush and his gang of neoconservative ideologues have been preaching that democracy in the Middle East will lead to peace.
Oops. Now the president will once more have to expose himself as the hypocrite he is. Democracy is good, in Mr. Bush's view, only if it elects the people he wants in office. The choice of the Palestinian majority, expressed in what all the observers said was a free and fair election, is not acceptable to Mr. Bush.
Neo-Cons Take Advantage of Cartoon Row to Blast Syrians
Shortly after the United States government abandoned its European "allies" to condemn the printing of "offensive" cartoons of Muhammad, they were handed a gift with the torching of buildings that housed the Norwegian and Danish Embassies in Damascus, Syria, while Swedish and Chilean installations were also damaged. Along with Iran, Syria has long been in the sights of pro-Zionist neo-cons angling to spread the Iraq war against these two regional enemies of Israel. The Norwegian Embassy in Beirut was also torched.
Zionist Ideologue: 'Hamas Victory Leaves Me Neutral'
V-News Reader: The following essay by arch-Zionist ideologue Daniel Pipes underlines the contention made in a series of articles posted here at V-News that shows the "official" Israeli "shock" at the Hamas victory in Palestine is an obfuscation. In fact, Israel and its "Amen Corner" are delighted at the results, which they are using to excuse Israeli crimes while setting back international sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people. They also get to jump aboard the "war on terror" bandwagon, pointing to backward, Medievalist Islamists on their very doorstep, when in fact it is mainly Israel -- along with US support for the bandit state -- that has fuelled Islamism and destabilized the Middle East. Pipes is also careful to attempt to shoehorn Israel into a position as "part of the West" when in fact Jews in all White nations have worked non-stop to encourage mass non-White immigration into Western lands. Pro-White groups swallow the hooked Zionist line at their peril.
A Treasonous Camarilla by Justin Raimondo
Feith is one of the more ideological neocons, with connections to the far-right wing of Israel's Likud Party and the settler movement. He presided over a newly created team of intelligence analysts – the Office of Special Plans (OSP) – whose job it was to think up the War Party's talking points. According to Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired Air Force officer and Pentagon analyst, Feith's Office of Special Plans was created from a narrow range of neoconservative think tanks – most notably the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a think tank founded by AIPAC officials and long associated with Israel's Washington lobby. Among the neocon activists who worked with the Near East and South Asia (NESA) bureau, we have one David Schenker, previously a WINEP research fellow, and Churchill expert Michael Makovsky, younger brother of senior WINEP fellow David Makovsky, formerly executive editor of the Jerusalem Post. It was a tightly knit little group, Kwiatkowski has testified:
Democracy or Peace by Thomas Fleming
Throughout the 80's and 90's the neoconservatives who have given the President his world-view were proclaiming the glories of global democracy. One of their favorite sayings was that democracies never wage aggressive war. Even they, as ignorant of history as they are, could not possibly have been serious. Of course, they always like to weasel out on what a democracy is. Was the American a Union democratic state when it attacked the Confederacy? Britain a democracy when it plotted war against Germany in the opening years of the 20th century? Was the government of Jacobin France a democracy? Or the US a democracy when it invaded the Philippines? Was Athens a democracy when it converted the Delian League into the Athenian Empire and provoked war with Sparta and its allies?
Put Hamas on probation by Pat Buchanan
Ever since President Bush, sometime after 9-11, converted to neoconservatism, his Middle East policy has suffered from the triple defects of that subspecies of the Right: hubris, ideology and immaturity.
Neoconservatives see the world as they wish it to be, not as it is. Like teenagers, they act on impulse and rail against the counsel of experience. "Often clever, never wise," Russell Kirk said of the breed.
Why We Fight by Justin Raimondo
Kristol, who, along with Perle, here represents the neocons, would politely demur, protesting that what he wants is "benevolent world hegemony," as he called it in a famous essay. Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is shown making the case for war with Iraq, while Perle chimes in with a bold declaration that American foreign policy after 9/11 rightly shifted in "a radical direction." He clearly believes that isn't a bad development. Well, yes, says Kristol, but it would have happened even without 9/11 – and that really is a doubtful proposition. George W. Bush was elected to office promising a "humbler" foreign policy, and it is hard to imagine how he would have made the leap from humility to hubris quite so easily, if at all.
'Leninists!' Cries Neocon Nabob, Suing for Divorce...
How Neocons Sabotaged Iran's Help on al-Qaeda by G...
Big Pharma Pushes "Miracle Cure" for Holocaust Den...
Stopping the War on Iran, Before It Starts by GARY...
Shooting Whittington: the Least of Cheney's Crimes...
What Is a Neoconservative? -- & Does It Matter? by...
Iran Attack - Turning America Into A Straussian To...
The Mohammed Cartoons: Recruiting Europe for Bush'...
Some Senators are beginning to understand, Neocon ...
WMD Pipeline from Iraq to Syria? by William Norman...
Daniel Pipes NeoCon Conspiracy: Pipeline to War by...
22 Bahman 1357 (February 11, 1979): What It Meant...
Australia, Canada Join U.S. and Puppet Reefs in Ba...
Burning Down Danish Embassies: More Straussian Psy...
Iranian "Democracy" and the "Intelligence" Summit ...
Neo-Cons Take Advantage of Cartoon Row to Blast Sy...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How to find the recurrence formula for the number of ways of clustering given size n and number of clusters to be k? Here I'm kinda stuck with this quiz problem. It asks for the recurrence function for number of ways that a set of n points can be clustered into k non-empty clusters.
My initial thought is that it should be S(n,k) = nS(n, k-1) since for every increase in the number of clusters by one, there should be n more ways to add a cluster to existing clusters of k-1 in size.
The picture attached is the actual question. Thanks a lot!
enter image description here

A: You can get k non-empty clusters, containing n objects:
by adding n-th object to any existing cluster (there are k of them, so k*S(n-1,k) variants)
or making new cluster containing single n-th object in addition to (k-1) existing clusters (S(n-1,k-1) variants)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Faculdade Ages | Tuition Fees | Programs
Faculdade Ages
Faculdade located in the Federative Republic of Brazil. Federative Republic of Brazil is a country in South America. The country has over 213 Million populations. University accepts local and international student. Universities official language is Portuguese, Brazilian Sign Language. There is a most chosen faculties of university: Medical Faculty, Faculty of Economics and Management, Faculty of Literature, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Computer Sciences and more… The university officially registered by the Ministry of Higher Education in Federative Republic of Brazil.
Faculdade Ages Tuition Fees
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Marshall Allman (n. 5 aprilie 1984, Austin, Texas) este un actor american cunoscut în special pentru rolul din Prison Break difuzat de Fox.

Legături externe

Nașteri în 1984
Actori americani din secolul al XXI-lea
Actori din Prison Break
Americani în viață

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Reinventing retail. Something new to keep an eye on.
Many retail concepts these days have me rolling my eyes, but this one got me intrigued over my morning cuppa.
Founded by merchant Mindy Yang, Perfumariē is a New York fragrance store that positions itself as a meta-discovery studio, open access event space, and incubator. The subject of What Perfume are you wearing? Now you never have to tell, Perfumariē feels very alt luxe, with its focus on nudging consumers to be more thoughtful, conscious. And it's also a mix of the the new rules of retail I've been a proponent of: refining and elevating the in-store experience; centering the store experience on discovery, learning, and experimentation; nurturing tribes; and … getting daring here … charging people for the experience.
Is it good? I haven't been there: it may be good PR aided by good journalism, but it certainly holds some promise, and I hope to find out. Will it work and can it last? I also don't know. But I like the direction, and the ideas should be food for thought for other retailers.
Here's how it works. Perfumariē puts the scents on tap, and allows you to try them without first knowing the brand you're testing. You are led through a guided process, after which you select a couple that you like, and receive samples. You only learn the identity of the brand at a cocktail party (and ultimately online) at the end of the month. You pay a $20 fee for sampling. And there's a membership you can buy, too, with the perks being exclusives, invitations to events, meet and greets, new scent "reveal" parties.
Here's why this has me intrigued.
…by damning the "branding", dumping the story. The perfume industry is one in which marketing, distribution and sales costs make up the bulk of the cost of a $100 bottle of mainstream department store perfume, leaving the true "cost" of the perfume at $2. Imagine buying a scent without seeing all that branding. Or, for those who won't employ or buy glitzy marketing, imagine not knowing what that "story" is. And, if you eschew mass perfumes, imagine NOT knowing which perfume artisan created that scent, or knowing their story. You focus on the essence of perfume: what you like, what moves you, damn the branding and the celeb, damn the high-minded story.
…by helping consumers understand how important branding is to THEM. There are some downsides to this lack of brand and story, of course, because at the end of the day, brand and stories are a source of information. I think it's important to know the quality of things. It's important (for me at least) to know whether the fragrances use synthetics or natural ingredients, or to know whether it's mass or artisanal. But if you're at all thoughtful, this approach actually helps in a number of ways.
You understand how important brand is to you – either pro or con. You may find yourself liking something from a brand or celeb you despise. Or, of course, you may find a brand you and your cohort have never heard of.
Either way, you have to decide what you want to do: ignore your inner snob or engage it; or perhaps ignore the cred that buying Bey's or Tom Ford's latest might give you and instead let yourself fall for that no-name perfume artisan from Tel Aviv? You are in control of what you do with that insight. You engage differently with the entire process of consumption.
…by getting people in touch with their senses. It puts the focus on what you're smelling, and what it does for you, which is the essence of perfume. As a society, I'm feeling that we're so affected by brand, by story, hype, that we've LOST the ability to make decisions about what we really like. What moves our senses? That is the start of all things. Meaning matters, of course. But it comes later.
…Elevate the product. There is a process for evaluation, a ceremony of sorts, that you are led through. The practice of treating the product with respect through ritual seems to be a dying one these days: this is a welcome change. Of course, over-ritualizing is the stuff of parody and customer flight. But done right, it can be wonderful thing.
…Put learning at the center of what you're delivering. Shoppers learn and engage, and even if they walk away not having found the fragrance of their dreams, they're transformed: they have learned something new and will probably tell all their friends about it. This ticks a whole host of boxes in experiential marketing: memorable, shareable, personal, relatable, etc.
…Get people to value the complete experience. Obviously, experiences are valuable in and of themselves, so why shouldn't people pay? The customer will be more engaged, and the retailer will presumably pay attention to deliver the experience extremely well. Sounds like a virtuous circle to me.
…Nurture tribes. Not having been to one of the "reveals" I have no idea if this is true, but it creates the possibility of creating new connections, whether over a shared love (or loathing) of a fragrance, stories about unexpected findings, or simply a love of fragrance. People need to connect.
…Add mystery, make it a game. People also love to compete. The guessing game is a fun one, as is the reveal. Another big, big box in experiential marketing.
…Add a feedback loop to your suppliers. Instead of treating suppliers as mere vendors to be (barely) tolerated, Perfumariē provides feedback on product. Obvious but often overlooked.
Anyone been? What's it really like? Do tell. And in the meantime, I'm keeping an eye out for other concepts like this. They feel like the future of retail.


An introduction creating templates in VDMX.
Existing templates can be loaded by selected the desired option from the Templates menu in VDMX.
The selected template will completely override any layers, plugins and window arrangement, but will not have any effect on the media files that are loaded or any presets stored with your current project file.
Simple Player: A single layer of video with a large media bin, a preview window and FX.
Simple Mixer: A simple two channel mixer setup with preview window and media bins.
Syphon Player: A single layer of video that is published to Syphon.
4 Layer VJ Starter: An arrangement of 4 layers, each with its own media bin, preview window and source / FX controls.
Audio Spectrogram Example: Demo of using the Audio Analysis plugin to create an audio spectrogram visualizer.
Chroma Key Example: Shows how to composite layers for green / blue screen footage.
Dual Screen Example: Shows how to set up the canvas and layers for output to two screens.
Triple Screen Example: Shows how to set up the canvas and layers for output to three screens.
Other included templates include sample layouts for working with specific MIDI controllers such as the APC Mini, APC 20 and Korg nanoKontrol.
New templates can be created by using the "Create Template From Workspace" option in the Templates menu.
Existing templates can be added, deleted or updated by using the "Manage Templates…" option in the Templates menu.
Template files can be found by going to the Help menu and choosing the "Show Assets Folder in Finder" option. These files can be shared with other VDMX users, who can place them in the corresponding folder on their own computer.


Kenneth A. Shepsle, "Studying Institutions," in James Farr, et al., eds., Political Science in History (Cambrige University Press, 1995).
Hugh Heclo, "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment," in Anthony King, ed., The New American Political System (Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1978).
Theodore J. Lowi, "The State in Political Science," American Political Science Review, vol. 86 (1992), pp. 1-7.
Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), chap. 1.
"Controversy in the Discipline: Area Studies and Comparative Politics," PS: Political Science and Politics, June 1997.
John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (Harper Collins, 1996).


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Echinocereus reichenbachii  es una especie de planta fanerógama de la familia Cactaceae. Es endémica de  México. Es una especie común que se ha extendido por todo el mundo.

Descripción
Echinocereus reichenbachii crece individualmente con tallo esférico a cilíndrico, adelgazándose hacia la punta de los brotes que crecen en posición vertical, son de color claro a verde oscuro y con espinas ocultas. Alcanzan diámetros de hasta 10 centímetros y una altura de hasta 40 centímetros. Tiene de 10 a 19 costillas estrechas con cúspides bajas. La areolas con hasta 7 espinas centrales estrechas son de color diferente y miden de 1 a 20 milímetros de largo. La disposición de las 12 a 36 espinas radiales es en forma de peine con 3 a 25 milímetros de largo. Las flores en forma de embudo, son fragantes, de color rosado y magenta y aparecen cerca de las puntas de los brotes. Tienen una garganta más oscuro o blanco de 5 a 12 cm de largo y tienen un diámetro de hasta 12 centímetros. Las frutas son redondas u ovales, de color verde y contienen una pulpa blanca.

Taxonomía
Echinocereus reichenbachii fue descrita por (Terscheck ex Walp.) J.N.Haage y publicado en Preis-Verz. Cact. 20. 1859.
Etimología
Echinocereus: nombre genérico que deriva del griego antiguo: ἐχῖνος (equinos), que significa "erizo", y del latín cereus que significa "vela, cirio" que se refiere a sus tallos columnares erizados.
reichenbachii: epíteto otorgado en honor del coleccionista de plantas alemán Friedrich Reichenbach de Dresde.
Variedades
 Echinocereus reichenbachii var. armatus (Poselg.) N.P.Taylor
 Echinocereus reichenbachii var. baileyi (Rose) N.P.Taylor
 Echinocereus reichenbachii var. fitchii (Britton & Rose) L.D.Benson
 Echinocereus reichenbachii var. perbellus (Britton & Rose) L.D.Benson
Sinonimia
 Cereus pectinatus
 Echinocereus baileyi
 Echinocereus gitchii
 Echinocereus perbellus
 Echinocereus albispinus
 Echinocereus melanocentrus
 Cereus caespitosus Engelm. & A.Gray
 Cereus concolor J.M.Bigelow
 Cereus pectiniferus Labour.
 Cereus reichenbachianus Labour.
 Echinocactus reichenbachii Terscheck
 Echinocereus caespitosus (Engelm.) Engelm.
 Echinocereus caespitosus f. castaneus (Engelm.) Borg
 Echinocereus castaneus (Engelm.) Orcutt
 Echinocereus mariae Backeb.
 Echinocereus pectinatus var. caespitosus (Engelm.) K.Schum.
 Echinocereus purpureus Lahman
 Echinocereus rotatus Linke
 Echinocereus texensis Jacobi
 Echinopsis pectinata var. reichenbachii (Terscheck ex Walp.) Salm-Dyck
 Echinopsis reichenbachiana Pfeiff. ex C.F.Först.

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Echinocereus&species=reichenbachii

reichenbachii
Flora de México
Plantas descritas en 1859
Plantas descritas por Terscheck
Plantas descritas por Walpers
Plantas descritas por J.N.Haage


Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on Sept. 28 unveiled a child-friendly version of the new MyPyramid Food Guidance System called MyPyramid for Kids. Johanns visited Samuel Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria, Va., to unveil the new graphic symbol, lesson plans for grades 1-6 and an interactive game.
"This is a fun approach to addressing the very serious problem of childhood obesity," said Johanns. "As teachers take advantage of the lesson plans and children learn what it takes to win the game, messages about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity will take hold. We know that MyPyramid captured America's attention and our hope is that MyPyramid for Kids will inspire the same level of interest and help to improve the health of America's kids."
MyPyramid for Kids provides age-appropriate information about the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid Food Guidance System released earlier this year. The new MyPyramid for Kids symbol represents the recommended proportion of food from each food group and focuses on the importance of making smart food choices every day. Daily physical activity is prominent in MyPyramid for Kids. Through an interactive game, lesson plans, colorful posters and flyers, worksheets, and valuable tips for families, MyPyramid for Kids encourages children, teachers, and parents to work together to make healthier food choices and be active every day.
The interactive computer game, called MyPyramid Blast Off, involves a rocket that needs fuel to blast off. The game reinforces the key concepts of MyPyramid for Kids by challenging students to select a healthy variety of foods and physical activities to fuel their rockets. The MyPyramid for Kids lesson plans provide nutrition and physical activity information that can be included in Math, Science, Health, Language Arts and Physical Education curriculum for elementary school students. Students participate in active learning assignments and handouts are provided for students to share with their families.
The child climbing the steps reminds children that physical activity should be done every day.
Every food group has foods that you should eat more often than others.
The different size stripes suggest how much food you should choose from each group.
The different colors of the pyramid represent the five different food groups plus oils.
MyPyramid.gov gives everyone in the family personal ideas on how to eat better and exercise more.
Start with one new, good thing a day, and continue to add another new one every day.
The MyPyramid Food Guidance System website, MyPyramid.gov, has experienced more than 800 millon hits and MyPyramid Tracker, a personalized assessment tool that provides information on diet quality, now has nearly 480,000 registered users. The MyPyramid for Kids activities for children and classroom materials for educators are also available on the web at www.mypyramid.gov/kids/index.html. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and consumer brochure are available at www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines.


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Пещера Дим () — вертикальная пещера находящаяся на горе Джеби-Рейс (1649 м над уровнем моря) (горный массив — Западный Тавр) в 12 км к северо-востоку от города Аланья (ил Анталья, Турция). Пещера, являющаяся второй по длине в Турции, служит одной из главных туристических достопримечательностей Антальи. Пещера была открыта спелеологами в 1986 году, с 1999 года пещера открыта для доступа посетителей.

Пещера расположена среди сосновых лесов над ущельем реки Дим-Чай. К пещере ведёт асфальтированное шоссе, у входа в пещеру оборудована автостоянка. Добраться до пещеры достаточно сложно, так как дорога узкая.

Длина пещеры составляет 410 м. Пещера по всей своей длине оборудована для посещения. Влево от входа в пещеру идёт вертикальный участок длиной 360 м, который заканчивается большим залом площадью 200 м² с небольшим озерцом. Вправо от входа идёт небольшой горизонтальный участок длиной 50 м.

Пещера характеризуется постоянной температурой в течение года, которая составляет 18-19° C, влажность воздуха — около 90 %.

Примечания

Открытия 1986 года
Экскурсионные пещеры Турции
Пещеры Аланьи


text:
Chapel Town F.C. is an English association football club based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire. The club plays in the .

History
The club has competed in the FA Amateur Cup. The club won the Manchester Football League Division One in 2007–08 and 2013–14.

Honours
Manchester Football League Division One
Champions 2007–08, 2013–14

References

External links

Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Derbyshire
Manchester Football League
Hope Valley Amateur League
Chapel-en-le-Frith


Based on Michel de Certeau's notion of space as a practised place and on Derrida's blind tactics, (a non-teleogical, playful and processual negotiation between a multiplicity of factors), this paper explores the manner and the extent to which Flux-Tours rewrite public space. Being in the first place performative-perceptual ready-mades, Flux-Tours – e.g. George Maciunas' Manhattan Tour of Dead-Ends, Nam June Paik's Tour of Public Lavatories, Jonas Mekas' Aleatoric Tour and Willem de Ridder's Tour of Stains and Traces –operate by reversing the universal-particular polarity and by focusing on the insignificant and the accidental.
In examining the different ways in which these tours deconstruct the logic of monumentalism – which postulates the monument as a stable, permanent and, most importantly, interpellative sign that functions as a political tool -– this paper seeks to articulate an archeology of experience that is processual and temporally heterogeneous in nature. Public space is here seen as a layering of the different species of time – thick time, deep time, sacred, profane, metronomic, melodic time – and their respective processes of tracing and 'coagulation' in the passerby's inner geography. In uncovering the processes of dynamic co-constitutivity of disparate – as well as seemingly irrelevant – forces and factors, Flux-Tours effectively render palpable the becoming-space of time.


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Fungus Among Us: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Niall Alexander
Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:00am Favorite This
A biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist venture into Area X.
Sounds like the setup for a joke, doesn't it? Well halt that thought, because Annihilation is no laughing matter. On the contrary: Jeff VanderMeer's first new novel since Finch is a nightmarish narrative about the fungus among us which trades in terror and tension rather than simple titters. It's the award-winning author's most accessible text yet… though there's a very real chance the Southern Reach series will leave you with weird dreams for years.
So what the hell is Area X?
The government's version of events emphasised a localised environmental catastrophe stemming from experimental military research. This story leaked into the public sphere over a period of several months so that, like the proverbial frog in a hot pot, people found the news entering their consciousness gradually as part of the general daily noise of media oversaturation about ongoing ecological devastation. Within a year or two, it had become the province of conspiracy theorists and other fringe elements.
But of course, there's more to the story.
At bottom, Area X is an anomaly; a treasure trove of the unknown. Our unnamed narrator—the biologist of the aforementioned four—describes "a pristine wilderness devoid of any human life," but this image, like many of the pictures she posits, is imperfect. After all, the mysterious Southern Reach has been overseeing trips into this treacherous territory for several decades. Annihilation, in fact, follows the fortunes of the twelfth such expedition to date… or so the agency tells its members.
They are women to a one, and they are represented throughout by their respective roles. "A name was a dangerous luxury here. Sacrifices didn't need names," and that is exactly what they are—that is how some of them even see themselves—thus they are not people but purposes. Their mission: to map Area X. To explore and more in service of the Southern Reach's knowledge of the anomaly, though the agency may know more than it's willing to admit.
Despite VanderMeer's insistence on distance, Annihilation's characters are counter-intuitively credible, and to a certain extent sympathetic. The psychologist and the surveyor make quite an impression given their supporting roles: the former fundamentally fails as the team's would-be leader, resulting in some marvellously barbed arguments, and though the latter is made of tougher stuff, it's a frustration to her that the military training she brings to the table may not save her.
The biologist is still more deftly developed. As a character she's smart, but hardly charismatic; introverted, yes, yet in love with life—especially the lives of the creatures she's devoted her career and indeed her free time to over the years. It follows, unfortunately, that her own life leaves a deal to be desired. Her husband was a member of the ill-fated eleventh expedition, but the biologist hasn't come to Area X for him; for closure or some such floaty notion. She's here for her own reasons.
Some of these become clear over the course of the story—others linger longer, largely because the biologist only gives us glimpses. When she does deign to deploy her history it's frequently a means of making up for her routinely unreliable nature as a narrator. A strange way to say sorry, but I had little difficulty accepting the biologist's apologies: in VanderMeer's hands her questionable perspective proves immensely immersive.
As does Annihilation's narrative. It's a short novel, sure, but every word has a purpose; every passage a pay-off. I'm hesitant to give much more of the game away, so suffice it to say there's an abundance of the fantastic fungus that VanderMeer has explored before, a commingling of cosmic horror a la Laird Barron, and the dreadful descent that bookends the text—in which the members of the twelfth expedition to Area Area X investigate an impossible corridor of sorts—is like the best bits of House of Leaves with lashings of alarming lichen.
I thought again of the silhoutte of the lighthouse, as I had seen it during the late afternoon of our first day at base camp. We assumed that the structure in question was a lighthouse because the map showed a lighthouse at that location and because everyone immediately recognised what a lighthouse should look like. In fact, the surveyor and anthropologist had both expressed a kind of relief when they had seen the lighthouse. Its appearance on both the map and in reality reassured them, anchored them. Being familiar with its function further reassured them.
With the tower, we knew none of these things. We could not intuit its full outline. We had no sense of its purpose. And now that we had begun to descend into it, the tower still failed to reveal any hint of these things. The psychologist might recite the measurements of the "top" of the tower, but those numbers meant nothing, had no wider context. Without context, clinging to those numbers was a form of madness.
That's as may be, but if sanity is knowing what's at the bottom (or top) of Annihilation's terrible tower (or tunnel), I think I'd rather be mad.
It's a matter of measurable relief to me that the rest of the Southern Reach series will be released in 2014. For worshippers of the weird, this promises to be a very good year indeed.
Annihilation is available now from Farrar, Straus & Giroux (US) and Feb 27th from 4th Estate (UK)
Niall Alexander is an extra-curricular English teacher who reads and writes about all things weird and wonderful for The Speculative Scotsman, Strange Horizons, and Tor.com. He's been seen to tweet, twoo.
Annihilationbook reviewscosmic horrorJeff VandermeerreviewsScience FictionSouthern Reachtrilogiesunreliable narratorsWeird Fiction
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Sky Racket (Steam) Review
by walawalagames | Nov 4, 2019 | Game Reviews, Review | 2 comments
Sky Racket is one of the most refreshing games I've played in the last few months, a mix of sheer enjoyment and curious lapses, and yet, I can't stop playing. How best to describe it? Imagine playing a shoot 'em up like Gundemonium Recollection crafted in a world inspired by a Catalan retro architect, with input from memorable brick breaker games such as Shatter and Breakout. After merging the two together, you begin to get the idea of what the game is about.
If you've already been fortunate enough to play Sky Racket, then hopefully by now you've immersed yourself in the action-packed visual feast the game has to offer and are on your way to shooter heaven. The premise of the game is as old as time itself: an evil force has taken over the world and it's up to Racketboy and Racketgirl to do their part to save it. Using the power of 'The Racket'-a powerful gadget that deflects incoming objects back at the enemies-Racketboy/girl embark in a world that one would think was created by the Crayola Crayon company.
Visually, the game is a sight to behold. With its retro-influenced art style and layers upon layers of streaming parallax backdrops, no shooter in recent memory has had quite the visual impact this game has. Though lacking a bit in complexity, the 2D effects are simply pleasing to look at with the backgrounds serving a lot more than just passing eye candy. The scenery and enemies work together to seemingly create a world that isn't just colorful, but alive. Confounding waves of wicked pattern-based foes merged with psychedelic environments, the game provides a gameplay experience like no other. Even now, there are very few shooters out there that match Sky Rackets' dynamic but cute intensity.
Another stand out feature is with its weapon system; or should I say without it. As I've mentioned prior, Racketboy/girl does not possess any attack abilities of their own. Instead, they use their rackets to strike enemy balls back at the bad guys. This alone adds to the replayability since every ball deflected bounces and ricochets in all directions hitting and destroying everything in sight including falling cats, flying ducks and a banana boss that has to be seen to be believed. The physics of the ball bounces are dynamic, ensuring you won't play the same stages the same way.
The controls are tight and responsive and everything moves along smoothly with no noticeable slowdowns whatsoever despite the chaotic action happening on screen. Granted, we played the game on an RTX powered rig, but you should still get really good frame rates even on a modest PC. The music and sound effects match the aesthetics perfectly and heighten the intensity with beeps and bloop that harken back to the old days.
Despite my initial praises, there are several flaws that need to be mentioned. One, the game is on the short side taking less than seven hours to complete. I'm sure we could replay through it again on a higher difficulty, but once you've seen all the game has to offer, it becomes a moot point. Hopefully, some added content and DLCs come out to keep the action going. Second, one of the bosses is harder than the final question in Jeopardy. I understand the need to keep the challenge up, but going numerous rounds with him borders on frustrating. And last, the colors of the enemy projectiles (the ones you avoid) and the balls (the ones you hit) are pretty similar making the distinction between the two rather difficult. This has caused me numerous times to avoid the ball and to hit the lasers instead–ending in an untimely death.
Aside from those minor critiques, which I'm sure the developers will take care of, Sky Racket is a solid title that should be in your gaming library. Just like peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese, and Laverne and Shirley, Sky Racket takes the best of two genres and blends them beautifully together to create such a wonderful little experience. I know this type of hybrid has been done before, but developer Double Dash has done it with humor, polish, and a little bit of child-like magic.
– Gorgeous retro style graphics
– Addicting and challenging gameplay
– Tight and responsive controls
– Short game
– The end boss is frustratingly tough
A wonderful game that takes the best of two genres and combines them to make one hell of a game! GO. BUY. IT. NOW!
haha can't go wrong with a game that grandma luvs =)
KG Starr
For a indie gaming site, this is actually a well written review
In the Spotlight: Double Dash Game Studios | Wala Wala Games
[…] this month we reviewed Sky Racket, an unconventional, and yet so addicting shoot'em up from indie developer, Double Dash Game […]
Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo (Steam) Review
Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge Arrives on Steam on Jan. 31st!
Samurai Showdown Gets a Release Date for Switch
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This is dedicated to all my friends and family. Thanks for supporting my passion.


Technical: Shot on Canon 5DmkIV with Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS. Profoto B1 with beauty dish high camera right, Profoto B1 with L Profoto umbrella with diffusion directly behind camera for fill. Processed in Capture One and Photoshop.
Just a little more symmetry (centered) at the windows, weights and rack. I'm still learning myself.


text:
Canadian Manufacturing
Where it's made is where it's at
Technology / IIoT
Cleantech Canada
Mississippi auto part plant could face unionization push by UAW
The UAW has staked its future on unionizing auto factories in the southern United States, with limited success so far
by Jeff Amy, The Associated Press
unionization
JACKSON, Miss.—Workers at an automotive seat factory in Mississippi are protesting what they claim are low wages and poor working conditions as they attempt to unionize in what could become a new front for the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the state.
A group of workers and supporters at the Faurecia SA seating plant in Cleveland, Miss., plans to march in protest.
"We work an auto job and we're getting paid like Wal-Mart wages," said Jamarqus Reed, a 32-year-old Pace, Miss., resident who has worked at the plant for almost 10 years. "We're trying to better ourselves."
Nationally, the UAW has staked its future on unionizing auto factories in the southern United States, with limited success so far.
The union has been trying to organize Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.'s Canton, Miss., plant for years, and lost a 2008 worker vote at a Johnson Controls, Inc. plant in nearby Madison, Miss., that France-based Faurecia bought in 2011.
The UAW narrowly lost a unionization vote at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., last year, but the union has since qualified for a new labour policy at the plant that grants access to meeting space and to regular discussions with management.
The policy stops short of collective bargaining rights.
The union is also trying to organize Nissan's assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn., and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Protesters say Faurecia employees make a top wage of US$11.64 per hour, while contract workers make US$7.73 an hour.
Company spokesperson Tony Sapienza said that with overtime, the typical Faurecia employee makes more than the US$27,000 a year that is the median wage around Cleveland, Miss.
Wages are often low in the heavily impoverished Mississippi Delta.
"We are very confident that we are offering a very competitive wage," Sapienza said.
Organizers criticize company use of lower-paid contract workers.
Shannon Greenidge, a 44-year-old Cleveland, Miss., resident, said she worked for a labour agency for more than two years before being hired directly by Faurecia.
Greenidge said she makes US$9.29 an hour, and can't save for retirement or to send her 11-year-old daughter to college.
"That's not going to help me down the line in life," she said.
Union supporters say as many as half the workers at the plant work for a contract-labour agency.
Sapienza said that while the number varies, the company expects 15 per cent of its workforce will be temporary employees this year.
The UAW has organized some Southern auto parts plants in recent years, including Faurecia plants in Cottondale, Ala, in 2012 and Louisville, Ky., in 2013.
The union lost a vote at a Faurecia plant in Tuscaloosa in 2013.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said no petition has been filed seeking a union vote at Faurecia.
At least 30 per cent of non-managers must sign a petition for the board to set a vote.
Faurecia recognized the UAW without an election in Louisville after a majority of workers there signed union-support cards.
The latest Faurecia effort is similar to the Nissan push, including a community coalition supporting workers.
That helps offset the many business and political leaders who are openly hostile to organized labour in Mississippi, where just 4.5 per cent of workers were represented by unions in 2014—the third-lowest rate of any state.
Related Posts from the network
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Workers at Indiana Lear plant 'overwhelmingly' approve deal
Questions of unionization swirl at Mercedes plant in Alabama
More countries restricting Canadian beef imports over mad cow concerns
CN, Unifor reach labour deal to avert lockout of 4,800 workers
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There is something of an annoyance when clicking outside the form boundary (by form boundary I mean the outermost div, iframe, etc., of the form) of certain embed types: validation errors are triggered.
We have other information on our Contact page, other areas the user can click (the map, logo, navigation block, etc.). If the user clicks outside the form boundary, validation errors display and stick.
This is disconcerting to the user as he considers other information on the page. Also, it might cause confusion when the user clicks another of the navigation links and, upon leaving the page, sees a glimpse of red (the errors) as he leaves the page. May compel him to return to the Contact page to see what was wrong, perhaps not knowing better.
I would say that clicking outside the form boundary should not trigger validation errors, and should clear all existing validation errors. Clearly the user's intentions are not to submit.
I have tried what you did but I can't seem to reproduce the problem. Was it because you haven't entered any data on certain fields after clicking on it? Our field warning message only tiggers when you click submit button without entering any data on required fields or when you click the required fields without any inputs. Was this your request all about?
Yes, that's what my request was about. The behavior is correct so long as the user is within the form: Submitting with missing required fields reveals validation errors, AND exiting a required field during data entry without entering anything also reveals a validation error.
My post is about what happens after the user leaves the form (e.g. he clicks outside the form's embed boundary at some other location on the page--company logo, map, nav link, etc.). The validation errors should hide at this point. There's no need to continually display validation errors if the user is busy exploring other elements on the page.
If the user returns to the form, and then decides to Submit, you have an opportunity to reveal the validation errors once again. Nothing lost.
Got it and I can see your point.
I have submitted this to the dev team as a feature request.


This topic contains 9 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Duo_Liang 7 months, 2 weeks ago.
Hi , i am trying to create a package using the rest API with sandbox url : https://sandbox.esignlive.com/api/packages. I am getting an error response.
I am unable to get what exactly is the problem. Please reply soon.
I have a query if payload json needs indentation.
This topic was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by kartik_shivhare.
If you are encountering 400 "Validation Error", it's most likely that your request construction is not valid.
The attachment is a picture shows you the standard http request which you can check with your owns or you can kindly refer to my blog for more information.
My Request has two dashes which have got ommitted in the submitted request .
as per the sample provided in your rest api , package can be created with the basic request . Please find below my request .
But i am still getting error . Please specify if we can create a package with this basic request or no.
This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by kartik_shivhare.
Please find below attached request.
Text file is not supported , there is no upfront validation , hence , the file is not visible in the previous post.
library from an NUNit , i am getting the same issue.Please help me as i am stuck . I can email you the request if you want , i am stuck on this.
From your txt file, did you put extra two dashes in the front of your boundary? For example, your boundary has 8 dashes in the beginning, so all your separators should include 10 dashes in the beginning and the last line includes another two dashes in the end.
I have also attached another request as an image.
Can you send your code to developer@esignlive.com so that I can have a closer look at that?


North West Regional College and Five Dollar Shake Productions are proud to announce that tickets for the college's big end of year show, The Big Lebowski LIVE, are now on general sale.
This is the bookend to an impressive season of performances for the college in 2016/17 and the follow up to last year's critically acclaimed Inglourious Basterds LIVE.
And for the first time ever – due to popular demand, this year the college has introduced a Saturday evening show.
The immersive production which sees the Cohen brothers cult film turned into a live project is the culmination of work from multiple departments in the college including Performing Arts, Music, Media, Construction, Hair and Beauty and Graphic Design.
Tickets for the evening shows performed at NWRC's Foyle Theatre are £10 each and the matinee shows are free and operate on a first come first served basis.
The shows run as follows: Wednesday, May 31 at 7pm, Thursday June 1 at 1pm and 7pm, Friday June 2 at 1 pm and 7pm with the final show on Saturday at 7pm.


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text:
Q: Bind to a Usercontrol within ResourceDictionary i've a big Problem trying to bind a user Input to an object instanciated via a ResourceDictionary.
<ContentPage.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <model:BusinessObjectsGraphDatasource x:Key="Testdata"
                                              Query="query {
                                                          test {
                                                            id
                                                            description
                                                            foo
                                                          }
                                                        }"

                                              Parameter="{Binding Source={x:Reference QueryParameterEntry}, Path=Text}"/>

    </ResourceDictionary>
</ContentPage.Resources>

<StackLayout HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="Center" Orientation="Vertical">
    <Entry x:Name="QueryParameterEntry"/>

    <ListView ItemsSource="{Binding Source={x:StaticResource Testdata}, Path=Result}"/>

</StackLayout>

As you can see, i define an custom Datasource (BusinessObjectsGraphDatasource)object within the ContentPage resources. But this Datasource should be able to handle a parameter given by a Databinding from an Entry.
BusinessObjectGraphDatasource is a class that derives from BindableObject and publishs some BindableProperties (e.g. Parameter)
Can someone give me a hint, how to handle this scenario?
Special scenario notes within this app:
i don't have access to a viewmodel or to a code-behind file.
the only things i can do is writing controls and resources and use them within xaml.

The Problem here, is that i retrieve a "Sequence contains no matching Elements" exception as soon as i add the Binding to the datasource.
The stacktrace Looks like that:
       at System.Linq.Enumerable.First[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source, Func`2 predicate)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ApplyPropertiesVisitor.TryAddToProperty(Object element, String localName, Object value, IXmlLineInfo lineInfo, XamlServiceProvider serviceProvider, Exception& exception)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ApplyPropertiesVisitor.SetPropertyValue(Object xamlelement, XmlName propertyName, Object value, Object rootElement, INode node, HydratationContext context, IXmlLineInfo lineInfo)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ApplyPropertiesVisitor.Visit(ElementNode node, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ElementNode.Accept(IXamlNodeVisitor visitor, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ElementNode.Accept(IXamlNodeVisitor visitor, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.FillResourceDictionariesVisitor.Visit(ElementNode node, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ElementNode.Accept(IXamlNodeVisitor visitor, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.ElementNode.Accept(IXamlNodeVisitor visitor, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.RootNode.Accept(IXamlNodeVisitor visitor, INode parentNode)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.XamlLoader.Visit(RootNode rootnode, HydratationContext visitorContext)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.XamlLoader.Load(Object view, String xaml)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.XamlLoader.Load(Object view, Type callingType)
   at Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.Extensions.LoadFromXaml[TXaml](TXaml view, Type callingType)
   at App1.MainPage.InitializeComponent()
   at App1.MainPage..ctor()
   at App1.App..ctor()
   at App1.UWP.MainPage..ctor()
   at App1.UWP.App1_UWP_XamlTypeInfo.XamlTypeInfoProvider.Activate_4_MainPage()
   at App1.UWP.App1_UWP_XamlTypeInfo.XamlUserType.ActivateInstance()

The Bindable Property is defined like that:
public BindableProperty ParameterProperty = BindableProperty.Create("Parameter", typeof(string),
            typeof(BusinessObjectsGraphDatasource), string.Empty, BindingMode.TwoWay, null, ParameterPropertyChanged);

        public string Parameter
        {
            get => (string)GetValue(ParameterProperty);
            set => SetValue(ParameterProperty, value);
        }

        private static void ParameterPropertyChanged(BindableObject bindable, object oldvalue, object newvalue)
        {
        }

cheers,
chris

A: You might have to specify explicitly that it should be a two-way binding:
Parameter="{Binding Source={x:Reference QueryParameterEntry}, Path=Text, BindingMode=TwoWay}"


text:
package com.cc.apptroy.smali;

import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;

import org.cc.dexlib2.dexbacked.DexBackedClassDef;
import org.cc.dexlib2.dexbacked.DexBackedDexFile;
import org.cc.dexlib2.dexbacked.DexBackedField;
import org.cc.dexlib2.dexbacked.DexBackedMethod;
import org.cc.dexlib2.dexbacked.util.AnnotationsDirectory;

import javax.annotation.Nonnull;

/**
 * Created by CwT on 16/4/10.
 */
public class EmptyClassdef extends DexBackedClassDef {

    public EmptyClassdef(@Nonnull DexBackedDexFile dexFile) {
        super(dexFile);
    }

    @Nonnull
    public Iterable<? extends DexBackedField> getStaticFields(final boolean skipDuplicates) {
        return ImmutableList.of();
    }

    @Nonnull
    public Iterable<? extends DexBackedField> getInstanceFields(final boolean skipDuplicates) {
        return ImmutableList.of();
    }

    @Nonnull
    public Iterable<? extends DexBackedMethod> getDirectMethods(final boolean skipDuplicates) {
        return ImmutableList.of();
    }

    @Nonnull
    public Iterable<? extends DexBackedMethod> getVirtualMethods(final boolean skipDuplicates) {
        return ImmutableList.of();
    }

    private AnnotationsDirectory getAnnotationsDirectory() {
        return AnnotationsDirectory.EMPTY;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Touring Seattle's Bullitt Center: The greenest commercial building in the world
By Charles Clark & Jacqueline Sussman | Feb 1, 2016 February 1, 2016
"… after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
a functioning cog in some great machinery,
serving something beyond me."
–Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, "Helplessness Blues"
On a far from average Wednesday, we arrived to work at Patagonia Seattle for a morning meeting led by brand responsibility analysts, Paul Hendricks and Logan Duran, from the Ventura headquarters. Reviewing the multiple types of environmentally responsible materials in our products (e-fibers), the use of third-party auditing for environmental performance standards and our ongoing environmental campaign efforts is a valuable reminder that our company is in a higher league of environmental responsibility.
Above: The Bullitt Center in Capitol Hill, Seattle. All photos by Charles Clark and Jacqueline Sussman.
For the two of us, the day was just beginning as we were offered the opportunity to tag along with Paul and Logan on a tour of the Bullitt Center—the greenest commercial building in the world—in Seattle's Capitol Hill Ecodistrict. Outside of the Center we were warmly welcomed by Jill Dumain, Patagonia's Director of Environmental Strategy. She introduced us to the man leading our tour: Ron Rochon, Managing Partner at Miller Hull and principal architect of the Bullitt Center.
Standing outside of the Bullitt Center, your eye is swiftly drawn upwards to the massive solar array that extends beyond the six-story building's roof. The 575 solar panels generate more than enough electricity to sustain the needs of the Center's tenants, storing surplus energy from sunny summers in Seattle's electrical grid to be used during the winter months when sunlight is lacking. After a brief summary of what we'd soon be witnessing inside, Ron led our group through the Center's main entrance into a place unlike anything either of us had ever seen.
575 solar panels generate approximately 230,000 kilowatt hours per year. The panels hang over the edge of the building like the canopy of a tree.
Assiduously designed and constructed with the imperatives of net-zero energy, net-zero water, net-zero carbon, toxic-free materials and the implementation of eco-principles such as biomimicry and biophilia, the Bullitt Center is an environmental professional's dream work space. It is also a remarkably beautiful and profound representation of how humans can live and work in tandem with the natural environment.
Of the numerous striking features of the Bullitt Center, possibly the most awe inspiring was completely intangible. As we rose through the building by our choice of an energy-neutral elevator, or the "Irresistible Staircase," it became apparent that while worthy of admiration on their own, the components of this building are truly working in harmony. From top to bottom this building regulates itself using a central brain. During the summer months, excess heat is drawn 400 feet underground by polyethylene tubes filled with water and glycol. It then dissipates into thermal wells that remain at 53 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The process is naturally reversed in the winter.
Thermal images of the radiant heating tubes embedded in the concrete floors.
Miller Hull's "Irresistible Staircase."
The most important part of the Center is that it's not a standalone project. The goal of everyone involved is to lay the groundwork for a future where living buildings become the rule, not the exception. One of the ways this is accomplished is by showing that the building can contribute sustainable resources to a larger system, in this case the surrounding community. One example we were all especially intrigued by was the composting toilets. No-flush toilets that don't smell? A mid-tour break was necessary to verify this claim (despite our best attempts, they indeed remain odorless). After a two-month process that uses aerobic digestion to convert the waste into fertilizer, the liquids are taken to King County Liquid Waste facility in Carnation, Washington where they are used in a bird sanctuary and the biosolids are taken to GroCo in Kent where they are mixed with sawdust and made into fertilizer.
The Bullitt Center is participating in the Living Building Challenge, an international certification program that requires the most rigorous environmental performance standards for the human-built environment. While discussing the Living Building Challenge, a man walked through the hallway and nodded to our group. It was none other than Bullitt Foundation President, Mr. Denis Hayes—totally serendipitous. Hayes became the president of the Foundation in 1992, but he is widely recognized worldwide for his role as the principal organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970. We couldn't help but notice that Denis was donning a Nano Puff jacket.
One of the several constructed wetlands used to filter greywater.
It seems foolish to take aim at the world of commerce and decry it as the absolute enemy of the environment. Just as there exist checks and balances in a healthy ecosystem, it is possible to find a balance that promotes environmental responsibility in for-profit business. This visit to the "greenest commercial building in the world" illustrated for us that although there are higher investment costs up front, a well-planned system can produce a far greater positive impact over time that reaches beyond singular institutions.
In certain ways, "the system" has become synonymous with something we should fight or, at the very least, be wary of. Exemplified by corporate greed, government gridlocks and the environmental costs of globalization, this sentiment does hold merit in some arenas, but not all. The Bullitt Center is a living breathing reminder that in order to achieve any sort of equilibrium between society and the natural environment we hold so dear, the components must work in tandem to mirror a balanced ecosystem. Experiencing the Bullitt Center and witnessing the passionate vision of our own Patagonia co-workers left us inspired to strive towards becoming not just a cog in the wheel but an influential, dedicated part of the system.
Charles Clark lives in Seattle and holds a Geography degree from the University of Oregon. His outdoor highlights include guiding hikes in Northern California, working on organic farms in New Zealand and currently learning how to fly fish.
Jacqueline Sussman recently moved to Seattle and works in the environmental nonprofit field researching and writing on urban ecological restoration. In addition to her environmental efforts, she most enjoys spending her free time trail running, kayaking and cooking.
#Architecture
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It's hard not to notice the hype around hemp today. Pick up any lifestyle magazine, enter a pharmacy, talk to a health-food store employee or just the person next to you in yoga class—at some point you'll learn about its miraculous powers. In particular, near-unbelievable claims swirl around cannabidiol, or… Read More
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The Special Needs Alert Program is an emergency response system for children and families with special health care needs. Contact the Itasca Police Department at 630-773-1004 and request to be included on the Itasca Family Alert data base. For more information, view how the program works.