text:
Why President Trump should be opposed by the left
States United.
Written By: Bill - Date published: 9:44 am, January 20th, 2018 - 12 comments
Categories: democracy under attack, International, Left, political alternatives, Politics, Revolution, socialism, Syria, vision, war - Tags: democracy, people, Rojava, states, syria, Turkey
Whatever anyone may think or have thought of the multi-faceted warring going on in Syria these past years, one beacon of hope seemed to have been burning in Syria's north east.
Seemingly neither for nor against the Syrian Arab Army, but defiantly and purposefully against ISIS and other Jihadist forces within Syria, the peoples of three autonomous cantons from various cultural backgrounds, were and are involved in an attempt to live in a new way.
They didn't and don't call for internationally recognised independent territory as Iraqi Kurds have done. They are content to be seen as a part of the Syrian state, but want the right to govern themselves within a system of democratic federalism.
From the pre-amble to their constitution –
we, the people of the Autonomous Regions, unite in the spirit of reconciliation, pluralism and democratic participation so that all may express themselves freely in public life. In building a society free from authoritarianism, militarism, centralism and the intervention of religious authority in public affairs, the Charter recognizes Syria's territorial integrity and aspires to maintain domestic and international peace
As in Spain the 1930s, people have traveled from around the world to defend and support the creation of what some see as a brave bid to develop substantive forms of democratic governance.
There is, at least from an anarchist perspective, much to be celebrated in what they are trying to do.
As I've commented elsewhere, neither the proto state of Iraqi Kurdistan, nor the Turkish state, nor the Syrian state are keen on seeing the development and spread of democratic federalism.
The US has armed the "People's Protection Units" (YPG) within Rojava, ostensibly to help them resist and overcome ISIS et al, though some suggest it's merely a cynical ploy by the US to get a toe-hold inside a "soon to be" partitioned Syria.
Given the US has claimed to be setting up a new 30 000 strong "border force" in the region, that cynicism might appear justified. I've searched for a direct source on what the Democratic Unionist Party (PYD) have to say about this "border force", since it would seem to fly in the face of their constitution. I haven't been able to find any direct quotes from them.
In reaction to the US's statement about a "border force", Turkey's President (nice guy) Erdoğan accused the US of forming "terror army" and threatened to "strangle it at birth".
Seems it wasn't an idle threat.
The Turkish defence minister, Nurettin Canikli, on Friday said the assault had begun.
"The operation has actually started de facto with cross-border shelling," Canikli told the broadcaster A Haber. "When I say 'de facto', I don't want it to be misunderstood. It has begun. All terror networks and elements in northern Syria will be eliminated. There is no other way." (link)
And so we have two NATO allies on opposite sides of a conflict that also involves Syria, Russia, possibly armed forces from Kurdistan Iraq in the shape of the Peshmerga, as well as, I assume, the remnants of various Jihadist groupings
And the Assyrians, Khirgizians, Armenians, Chechens, Arabs, Kurds and others whose home is Rojava who are merely seeking to develop more empowering and liberatory ways of governance, well, in some ways it looks like 1930s Spain all over again. People don't matter when powerful, state based political actors are involved in geo-political shenanigans.
And when people don't matter, democracy dies.
Footnote: Obviously this post is a personal take on one part of a complex situation. The links provided haven't been provided for no reason. There will be zero tolerance for personal abuse in the comments section, and I'm going to respectfully ask that people make a concerted effort to stay focused on the actual topic of the post. Thankyou.
12 comments on "States United. "
I'm confused, has Turkey declared war on the Autonomous Regions?
I saw a piece on youtube which had their foreign minister stuttering through about regional security and conflict with NATO partners. He then said they needed to deal with terrorism by these democratic forces, and their US backers.
It has since been removed from youtube. Otherwise I would have put it up.
Has anyone else seen that video? Is there another copy of it? It seemed not only to threaten and suggest imminent violence against the Autonomous regions and Syria, but it squarely suggest a future an attack on the USA as well.
So back to my original question, did Turkey just declare war?
Bill 1.1
A military build-up, 70 odd shells pumped into a neighbouring country, (probably more stuff happening since the post was written) and public statements declaring an intent to wipe out, what Turkish media refer to as, the PYD/PKK.
Oh. And shooting off to Moscow for a wee chinwag that some reporting says was about seeking permission to carry out airstrikes. Assad has said any foreign fighter jets will be targeted with ground to air defenses.
I think I'm right in saying that Turkish, as well as US forces, are already illegally within Syria – so in some ways, it might be asked what the point in "declaring" war might be all about?
Have two NATO members ever fired on one another, and how does NATO's "mutual defence" policy work in that instance?
Unless I'm mis-remembering some hint from Assad that he may be willing to discuss matters with the peoples of Rojava to arrive at some mutually agreeable solution, then maybe all we can hope is that enough people who traveled to Rojava will get home and be able to spread the virus. A forlorn hope, but maybe the only one remaining.
Dropping here for future reference.
Turkish jets have bombed the Kurdish-controlled city of Afrin in northern Syria, as the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, promised to expand Turkey's military border operations against a Kurdish group that has been the US's key Syria ally in the war on Islamic State.
The raids came on the heels of a week of threats by Turkey, promising to clear the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin and its surrounding countryside, also called Afrin. Turkey's military is calling the campaign Operation Olive Branch.
Turkey says the YPG, a group it considers a terrorist organisation, is an extension of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group that it is fighting inside its own borders, and it has found common cause with Syrian opposition groups who view the YPG as a counter-revolutionary force in Syria's multi-sided civil war.
In 2016, Turkey trained and equipped opposition forces to drive Kurdish fighters out of parts of north Syria, driving a wedge between two enclaves along the Turkish frontier. Turkish ground forces, including tanks and artillery, crossed into Syria with the fighters to establish a zone flanked by Afrin and Manbij that now serves as hub for Turkish operations inside the war-torn country.
Turkey's prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, said the strikes on Afrin marked the start of a campaign to "eliminate the PYD and PKK [Kurdistan Workers' party] and Daesh elements in Afrin," referring to the Kurdish Democratic Union party and the Kurdistan Worker's party respectively, and using an Arabic name for Isis. The PYD, PKK, and YPG all look to the Kurdish Marxist-nationalist leader Abdullah Öcalan as their guide. Öcalan is imprisoned by Turkey for waging a separatist movement in the eastern part of the country.
The air strikes were accompanied by waves of artillery strikes on the Afrin region.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/20/turkey-bombs-kurdish-controlled-city-of-afrin-in-northern-syria
francesca 3
I don't understand any of this. So has Rojava decided to ally with the US?
And as alluded to in Moon of Alabama,new alliances will be made with Saudi, UAE, and Egypt ?
If they have,I don't have much faith in their political savvy or their love of an integral Syria.
Has Syria/Russia allowed the Turkish attack on Afrin , taking a punt that like so many times in the past, the US will leave the Kurds hanging out to dry,won't come to their aid, and the Kurds will then review Assad's offers.
I doubt the US will confront Turkey militarily , at the risk of losing Incirlik as a base
Once again, the Kurds may have chosen the wrong side
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/01/syria-turks-attack-afrin-us-strategy-fails-kurds-again-chose-the-losing-side-.html#more
The YPG (the people's protection units) broke through the siege of Yazidis by ISIS, who had fled up Mount Sinjar back in 2014, with the help of US air cover. (Now, yes. The US has no legal standing in Syria, but…)
Since then, the US has provided the YPG with light arms and (I believe) some US special forces have contributed heavy weaponry to assaults.
Needless to say, a cast iron embargo sits around Rojava. Neither Turkey nor Iraq are conduits for anything coming into the region. And the Syrian state (subject to sanctions anyway) hasn't been in the region since just after stuff "set off". Without some aid from somewhere, well….
But are they seeing themselves as allied with the US? Or as taking advantage of the US? Or is it all the other way around? I don't know.
Russia has apparently given the green light for Turkish action (withdrawing troops/monitors from the region).
The Syrian government (and not unreasonably by so-called international "standards") seems to see itself as having a legitimate right to economic/political control over all of Syria. I did kind of half remember some murmur from Assad that the situation could possibly be worked out to everyone's satisfaction.
Do you know (I can't find out) who or what is behind that "Diken" publication that suggests alliances will be formed between the PYD and SA, AUE and Egypt? Any such thing makes no sense whatsoever from my understandings, but does fall rather neatly into the narrative some are promoting, that the PYD are terrorists in the same vein as Daesh.
Bill 3.1.1
Diken is a Turkish publication launched by a journalist who apparently used to work the Radikal.
There's a piece interviewing Wladimir Van Wilgenburg dated 13/10/2016, who had spent some time in Rojava. The framing of the article isn't the flashest, but the interview itself seems reasonable and Wladimir Van Wilgenburg might be worth checking out for other stuff they've written. (He's got an MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights and is apparently engaged as an independent or freelance journalist)
http://www.diken.com.tr/in-rojava-ypg-pkk-separate-closely-linked/
The final question in the interview…
How do the Syrian Kurds get along with US Special Forces?
It's difficult to gauge. You see them riding around but reporters are not allowed to get close to them, especially after the incident when they were photographed with YPG patches on their uniforms. The YPG does view the whole thing as more of a tactical alliance but its very popular among locals. Be they pro or anti-PYD people like westerners. You will never hear anti-PYD people criticizing this alliance with America. They say American support is good and that there should be more.
This looks like the old US tank busting missile. Which would add to rumors I've been hearing about US service men and women not wanting the Kurds sold down the river.
http://www.rojava-info.com/2018/01/ypg-destroys-turkish-tanks.html
adam 4.1
This is interesting.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/21/549685/Assad-blasts-Turkeys-support-for-terror-groups-in-Syria
Bill – this is a great wee piece.
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/21/isis-defeated-syria-iraq-islamic-state/
There's some good stuff in there. But the basic and simple point has been missed. The "missing" comes out in the following passage – which is right enough, but only up to a point by my way of thinking.
These [militant] movements have been variously leftist, nationalist, and Islamist in orientation. The emergence of the Salafi jihadis in recent years is only the latest in this succession of ideologies that have all attempted to do one fundamental thing: solve the problems of the underdeveloped masses of Middle Eastern countries.
"There is an interesting effect that, when the left and the nationalists are eliminated or marginalized from Muslim public discourse, it is the radical religious groups, with some exceptions, that get to claim the mantle of being anticolonial and anti-imperial," says Omid Safi, a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University. "A few decades ago, even passionately Muslim intellectuals were also leftists and socialists. But when these leftist movements were persecuted and destroyed, people had to turn elsewhere for help when they felt the power of muscular Western militarism encroaching on their land, culture, and values."
What's being missed is that for decades there has been an unresolvable tension in Syria between Arab secular socialism (Baathism) and radical Sunni-ism. Both reject western solutions to Arab problems and both seek to find Arab solutions to Arab problems. But. Radical Sunni-ism see Baathism as being rooted in western tradition…so, cue "never ending bad shit" – that has waxed and waned ever since the inception of the modern state of Syria. And in 2011 (not without outside 'help'), the lid blew off.
I guess this about sizes it up –
If a Kurdish astronaut were to plant a red, yellow and green flag on the moon, Ankara would immediately launch a space program to go and take it down.
It thus falls to the people in Rojava to prepare for a Turkish policy they cannot negotiate with. They must find ways to gain either Washington and/or the Assad regime's support for a little autonomous room in northern Syria, despite Turkey's stance on the issue. This will not be easy – but neither was the defense of Kobane or the defeat of ISIS in Syria.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/opinion/26112017
And mad Boris the Johnson...
5:48 pm (22/2/18)
UK's Johnson: 'Turkey is right to want to keep its borders secure'
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is "closely" watching events in Afrin where he believes Turkey has the right to "keep its borders secure."
"Watching developments in Afrin closely. Turkey is right to want to keep its borders secure," Johnson wrote in a tweet on Monday afternoon.
"We share goal of reducing violence and keeping focus on most important task: a political process in Syria that leads to the end of the Assad regime," he added.
So no recognition of the PYD from the guy who openly donated UK public monies to Jihadists the UK government was claiming to oppose – the same Jihadists that the YPG defeated in Northern Syria. But then, since the PYD isn't interested in statehood, or of overthrowing the Syrian government…
Also noting Johnson is speaking of a "political process" now the UK, EU, US, SA, etc sponsored armed proxies have been (more or less) eliminated in Syria.
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Every New Zealander deserves access to world-class healthcare, no matter where they live. We have a comprehensive plan to make sure this is a reality – and we're making good progress. ...
Labour Blog
Stronger measures proposed to tackle youth vaping
The Government is seeking feedback on measures to help reduce the number of young people vaping. "Youth vaping is becoming increasingly popular, with many choosing to vape despite never having smoked," Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said. "Alongside our efforts to reduce tobacco smoking, we want to ensure vaping ...
Govt reminds international arrivals to test for Covid
The Government is reiterating its advice to all international travellers to do a Covid test if they become symptomatic after arrival, while also stepping up awareness of free RATs available at airports, Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall says. "This follows growing global concerns, including from the World Health Organisation ...
Frontline workers to receive COVID-19 Response Award
The government has confirmed the groups of frontline workers to receive a COVID-19 Response Recognition Award, a specific acknowledgement of the service given by so many to New Zealand during the pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. "All New Zealanders, at home and abroad, played a part in our ...
Pasifika celebrated in New Year Honours
A former Premier of Niue and a leading Pacific doctor in the fight against COVID-19 have been celebrated in this year's New Year honours said Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. Young Vivian who was the leader of Niue in the 1990's and 2000's led the response to Cyclone ...
Sports stars and administrators honoured
The New Year Honours List includes an array of sporting stars and grassroots administrators who reflect the best of Aotearoa's sporting and recreation community. The appointment of Farah Palmer as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit acknowledges her enormous contribution to sport and rugby in particular. ...
Sports stars and administers honoured
New Year honours recipients highlight what makes NZ unique
The 183 recipients of New Year honours represent the best of New Zealand and what makes us unique in the world, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. "The 2023 New Year honours list is full of leaders and pioneers whose contribution has enriched us a country and helped make us unique ...
Lifeguards and Coastguard well equipped to help Kiwis this summer
The Government's critical support for the water safety sector through the pandemic means lifeguards are better equipped on our beaches and Coastguard is sailing new boats to the rescue. "Our $63 million package for water safety initiatives in Budget 2020 has been a game changer for our water safety sector, ...
Drug checking boost continues to keep New Zealanders safer this summer
The Government has made drug checking services more accessible to keep young people safe this summer, Health Minister Andrew Little says. Aotearoa now has four licenced organisations to perform drug checking services - KnowYourStuffNZ, New Zealand Drug Foundation, Needle Exchange Services Trust, and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research. ...
Stay of proceedings in High Court '501' ruling welcomed
Justice Minister Kiri Allan has welcomed the decision by the High Court to issue a stay of proceedings following the '501' ruling. Crown Law, the Ministry of Justice - Te Tāhū o te Ture, Police and the Department of Corrections - Ara Poutama Aotearoa have been working closely to address ...
Yamin Kogoya: Arrest of Papuan governor Enembe condemned as illegal Jakarta 'kidnap'
ANALYSIS: By Yamin Kogoya Following months of legal limbo and a health crisis, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was arrested this week by the country's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a dramatic move condemned by critics as a "kidnapping". At noon on Tuesday, January 10, Governor Enembe was dining in a ...
Destiny Church pastor Derek Tait falls foul of election rules – again
Christchurch's Destiny Church leader Derek Tait could face a criminal conviction for failing to declare his election expenses. ...
San Francisco of the 1970s: remembering the age of internet-free travel
An extract from the chapter 'San Francisco' in Travelling Light, a travel memoir by Canterbury-based Steve Lowndes with photography by Lisa Potts. We found Luise in her ground-floor flat half a block from Mission Street and after an evening spent talking and drinking on her back stoop we set about ...
The SpinoffBy Steve Lowndes
'More potent than cyanide': how to stay safe from blue-ringed octopus this summer
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Doubleday, Marine Ecologist and ARC Future Fellow, University of South Australia Kris Mikael Krister/Unsplash, CC BY As an octopus biologist, I get a call from the media every summer because someone has had an encounter with a blue-ringed octopus. ...
Curious Kids: what are gravitational waves?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology 3D visualisation of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. Henze/NASA What are gravitational waves? – Millie, age 10, Sydney What a great question ...
In memory of Waitākere City (1989-2010)
Summer read: Rebecca K Reilly remembers growing up in Waitākere City, back when it still existed. First published July 10, 2022. Made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand Original illustration by Lena Lam. The further you travel away from the place you're from, the more ...
The SpinoffBy Rebecca K Reilly
Response To Catholic Church's Public Relations Statements
The statements by NZ Catholic Church leaders on "looking forward from the work of the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care," and their proposed commitments to handle clergy and religious sexual abuse complaints differently, and support mandatory reporting, ...
What Prince Harry's memoir Spare tells us about 'complicated grief' and the long-term impact o...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Wayland, Associate Professor, University of New England The thought of her, as always, gave me a jolt of hope, and a burst of energy. And a stab of sorrow. Prince Harry's reflection on his mother Princess Diana, who died ...
Newsletter: January 12 2023 – Items of interest and importance today
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Henry Cooke: Who are Labour's lost voters? Anna Whyte (Stuff): Green Party lay down priorities for 2023 – ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
From Cate Blanchett to Baz Luhrmann: Aussiewood at the 80th Golden Globe Awards
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Jean Baker, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Monash University Focus Features Aussiewood sprinkled its star dust at this year's 80th Golden Globes with five nominations and a fourth acting win for Cate Blanchett, this time her performance as a renowned ...
Notable Increase In Data Breaches Reported
This year make your new year's resolution to be across your privacy obligations. There has been a notable increase in data breaches reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, prompting a reminder to agencies and businesses that they must ...
Child Abuse Murder Charge Prompts Call For Politicians To Act
A young woman charged with the murder of an infant boy yesterday has prompted national child abuse advocacy group, Child Matters, to ask how many children must die before New Zealand's politicians act. On average, one child died every five weeks in New ...
Creating A Safer Aotearoa
Crime Stoppers will use SOLV to grow awareness on how anyone can speak up safely about crime in Aotearoa New Zealand. Crime Stoppers trialled SOLV recently and will start using it in specific Aotearoa New Zealand postcodes to raise awareness of how ...
EDS Calls For Formal Inquiry Into Forestry Practices Following East Coast Disaster
The Environmental Defence Society says that the latest disaster on the East Coast needs a formal Commission of Inquiry into forestry practices. "We have seen yet again the consequences of inadequate controls over exotic plantation forestry operations, ...
You're invited to the Carpet Club, a subterranean Spinoff at the Morningside Live Block Party
Join us for live comedy, live podcasts, live drawing and live human conversation on February 5. The glorious central Auckland suburb of Morningside plays host next month to a suburban street takeover bursting at the seams with live music, local food and drink and a cornucopia of entertainment. The Spinoff ...
My weekend at OneTaste, the 'sex cult' made famous by Netflix's Orgasm Inc
'Orgasmic meditation' was sold as female empowerment; meanwhile the business behind it was being investigated by the FBI. Cult Trip author Anke Richter recounts her own visit to OneTaste, the bizarre company at the centre of a new Netflix documentary. First published November 12, 2022 My friend Lena*'s sex life ...
The SpinoffBy Anke Richter
Unearthing the human histories of Stonehenge
A new exhibition at Auckland Museum takes a deep look at one of the planet's most mysterious human-made sites. James Borrowdale met the man responsible for sharing Stonehenge's secrets with Tāmaki Makaurau. We were standing inside Auckland Museum, which Professor Mike Parker Pearson noted held many similarities to Stonehenge – ...
The SpinoffBy James Borrowdale
While the Beehive is silent, Seymour steals a march by railing against the Ardern team's law-and-o...
Buzz from the Beehive Sorry, folks (although – on second thoughts – you might regard this as good news). There has been no buzz from the Beehive since January 9, when Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall announced that a vaccine for people at risk of mpox (or monkeypox) will be ...
Blind Low Vision NZ Welcome The End Of Board-commissioned Independent Inquiry Into Organisational Cu...
An Independent Inquiry into organisational culture commissioned by Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) Board, found that a longstanding poor workplace culture was made worse by significant transformation work initiated in 2019 but is improving ...
Feeling flat now you're #BackToWork? A post-holiday slump is normal, but these clues signal it's...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby (Elizabeth) Sander, MBA Director & Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Bond Business School, Bond University Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich/Pexels, CC BY If you've found yourself feeling a bit flat after returning to work (or outright hating your job) this ...
An ode to Milo
In hospitals and labour wards and care homes across the country, Milo is the drink that helps people hold onto hope. This story was first published on the author's newsletter, Emily Writes Weekly. Content warning: This post includes details of my son's hospital admissions and health journey, it might be ...
The SpinoffBy Emily Writes
Bougainville to hold two long-delayed byelections due to deaths of members
RNZ Pacific The autonomous government in the Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville is finally organising byelections next month in two seats that have been without representation for many months. The elections, in Nissan and Haku constituencies, will be held on February 22, with nominations set to close tomorrow. The ...
French Polynesia plans journalism study grants to combat disinformation
Pacific Media Watch President Édouard Fritch of French Polynesia says he wants to boost funds to study journalism in French Polynesia in a bid to help strengthen the media industry quality, reports RNZ Pacific. According to the local Ministry of Education, the amount given for study grants will vary from ...
Lindsay Mitchell: PM more self-delusional by the day
Lindsay Mitchell writes: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is heading into the 2023 election campaign stating: "Our record is growing Māori housing. Our record is growing Māori employment opportunities. Now our record is growing the Māori economy. I will happily campaign on our record." I really don't have a lot ...
Shocking Footage Leaked From Deep Sea Mining Vessel
Greenpeace Aotearoa is calling leaked undercover footage of wastewater pouring into the Pacific ocean during deep sea mining tests "damning", saying it exposes the industry greenwash and just how damaging deep sea mining could be to ocean health. ...
'Catastrophic Injuries' Suffered On Auckland Racetrack Result In Another Greyhound Death
Animal rights organisation SAFE is ringing in the new year with an urgent call for the Government to ban greyhound racing, after yet another dog suffered injuries severe enough to result in her death. The greyhound, Megan's Munch, sustained four broken ...
What does climate change mean for extreme waves? In 80% of the world, we don't really know
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Young, Kernot Professor of Engineering, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Across much of the world's oceans, waves are getting bigger. In the Southern Ocean, where storm-driven swell can propagate halfway across the world to California, the average wave has ...
What now for Brazil? President Lula strengthened, but Bolsonaro supporters won't go quietly
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Barros Leal Farias, Senior lecturer, UNSW Sydney On Sunday January 8, radical supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and vandalised buildings that house Brazil's congress, supreme court and presidential palace. Since then, over 1,500 people have been detained. The ...
Stop hating on pasta – it actually has a healthy ratio of carbs, protein and fat
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Beckett, Senior Lecturer (Food Science and Human Nutrition), School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle Pexels, CC BY New year, new you, new diet. It's a familiar refrain. One popular dieting technique is to create a food ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Anjum Naveed/AP In 2022, a third La Niña year brought much rain to Australia and Southeast Asia and dry conditions to the other ...
The housing wealth gap between older and younger Australians has widened alarmingly in the past 30 y...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Shutterstock The housing wealth gap between younger and older Australians is undeniably growing. Our newly published study attempts to find out how much it has grown by estimating ...
The Crown Lynn craze: What's behind the skyrocketing price of vintage ceramics?
Summer read: Once something you'd find at the back of your grandparents' cupboard, the ubiquitous New Zealand homeware brand is now a valuable commodity. And as collectors tell Stewart Sowman-Lund, prices probably haven't peaked yet. First published July 23, 2022 It's been out of production for 30 years, but Crown ...
Who are Labour's lost voters?
An investigation into the all-important 'swing voter' and what they actually believe – with a lot of charts. This article was first published in Henry Cooke's politics newsletter, Museum Street. Since its triumphant win in 2020, Labour has lost a lot of supporters. The exact proportion depends on which poll ...
The SpinoffBy Henry Cooke
Sizzling New Year but blackouts continue to hold PNG to ransom
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea began New Year 2023 with sizzling fireworks that lit up the skies. But our hopes of shrugging off the "power blackout" tag ended just as the year was a few hours old. An hour into New Year celebrations in the capital ...
Papua governor Enembe arrested on 'lavish' bribery charges
RNZ Pacific Indonesian anti-curruption authorities have arrested Papua Governor Lukas Enembe on allegations of bribery. The Jakarta Globe called the arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission in a restaurant in the provincial capital Jayapura yesterday as "dramatic" saying it came four months after he had been named a suspect. The ...
Ashburton by-election expected later this month after councillor's death
Following the sudden death of two-term councillor Rodger Letham in December, Ashburton District Council will have a special election. ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori plans for a big 2023, but happy to stay cross bench ...
Down For Love is transforming reality romance
Summer read: Alex Casey goes behind the scenes of a dating show with a difference. First published May 8, 2022 Nicola is peering through the foggy glass of the penguin enclosure at Kelly Tarlton's. Inside, her son Josh is on his latest romantic adventure for TVNZ's new dating show Down ...
Every major 2023 concert prediction we can find (and some we can't)
Adele? Foos? Queen Bey and Tay-Tay? We gaze into our crystal balls to work out which major acts may tour Aotearoa this year. Across the next few months, some of pop's biggest names are visiting our shores. Ed Sheeran, Backstreet Boys, Florence + the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lorde ...
The SpinoffBy Chris Schulz
Garrick Tremain's view…
George Pell: a 'political bruiser' whose church legacy will be overshadowed by child abuse alleg...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miles Pattenden, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University Former senior Vatican figure George Pell has died in Rome from complications following hip surgery. He was 81. Pell, often described as a conservative Catholic, was jailed for ...
Science shows there's much amiss with Porirua harbour but Matauranga Māori is needed to get a mea...
The Porirua City Council – it seems – has no idea of how much mauri can be found in its harbour and waterways and how much more is needed before it can announce the mauri has been restored. But it is using Western science to measure things that might contribute ...
Is it OK to kick a robot dog?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Sparrow, Professor, Department of Philosophy; Adjunct Professor, Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University Shutterstock Last Saturday night, a young woman out on the town in Brisbane saw a dog-shaped robot trotting towards her and did what many of us ...
How does methadone work as a heroin-replacement therapy? And what about the longer-acting buprenorph...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne), Curtin University Tbel Abuseridze Around 1% of Australian adults have tried heroin in their lifetime and 2.7% have used pharmaceutical opioids for non-medical purposes in the past 12 months. These ...
On the Harry and William saga and the precious bonds of brotherhood
As a mother of sons, Venetia Sherson isn't shocked that the world's most famous princes competed fiercely and even fought. But spilling family secrets to the world as Harry has done in that book released today? That's a different story. At my younger son's wedding, his brother – the best ...
The SpinoffBy Venetia Sherson
Are stingrays actually dangerous? 3 reasons you shouldn't fear these sea pancakes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaelen Nicole Myers, PhD Candidate, James Cook University Shutterstock To beat the summer heat, many of us in the Southern Hemisphere are hitting the beach – and this raises our chances of encountering potentially dangerous marine life beneath the waves. ...
New Zealand does not offer tenure to academics, but a recent employment dispute shows it's more th...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Heinemann, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Canterbury Getty Images Late last year, the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) initiated a process to eliminate 170 academic jobs to cut costs. The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found AUT's ...
From Homepaddock: How StatsNZ contentiously counts Kiwis (or miscounts them?) for gender and ethni...
This article – posted today on Homepaddock – draws attention to contentious data-collecting issues raised by the way StatisticsNZ counts people for gender-defining and ethnicity purposes. The distorted results are influential in determining who gets how much funding and the number of Maori seats in Parliament… Suzanne Levy has spotted ...
Dwelling And Household Estimates: December 2022 Quarter
Dwelling and household estimates are used for many purposes including planning, policy formation, business decisions, and as 'bottom lines' in the calculation of market coverage rates. At 31 December 2022: private dwellings estimate – 2,029,400 ...
Employment Indicators: November 2022
Employment indicators provide an early indication of changes in the labour market. Key facts Changes in the seasonally adjusted filled jobs for the November 2022 month (compared with the October 2022 month) were: all industries – up 0.2 percent (5,224 ...
Household Labour Force Survey Estimated Working-age Population: December 2022 Quarter
The household labour force survey estimated working-age population table shows the population benchmarks used to produce household labour force survey estimates for the upcoming labour market statistics release. Visit our website to read this information ...
Electric cars won't save us
Summer read: The EV revolution does precisely nothing to combat the motorways strangling our cities and encouraging urban sprawl, argues Hayden Donnell. First published September 23, 2022 At the end of this year's Burning Man, nearly 80,000 people staggered out of a carefully constructed utopia into the harsh reality of ...
The SpinoffBy Hayden Donnell
Why do our dogs and cats bring us dead animals?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mia Cobb, Research Fellow, Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne Samantha Fortney/Unsplash, CC BY What do a little penguin, a baby rabbit, a black rat and a Krefft's glider have in common? They've all been presented to me ...
As international students flock back, they face even worse housing struggles than before COVID
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Morris, Professor, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Australia is welcoming back international students in much greater numbers this year. Some predict new enrolments in 2023 could even be higher than the pre-COVID record ...
The rent crisis is set to spread: here's the case for doubling rent assistance
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Bradbury, Associate Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock For many Australians, the rent crisis is just starting. Advertised rents have been soaring, but mainly for new rentals – so called "asking rents". The broadest measure of rents ...
Nobody told me that new motherhood would be this strange and wild
Summer read: Maddy Phillipps's son is one and no amount of sage advice could have prepared her for the past year. Here she shares five major lessons from 12 life-changing months. First published October 24, 2022 Recently my son turned one. I am not big on birthdays, preferring to celebrate ...
The SpinoffBy Maddy Phillipps
In which we earnestly predict the date of the 2023 New Zealand general election
Any day now, Jacinda Ardern will announce when this year's election is to be held. What are the options, and which dates are the favourites? Toby Manhire squints awkwardly into the crystal ball. In the early part of the election year 2011, John Key unsheathed his Sharpie and drew a ...
Up to French people to decide on New Caledonia's future, says academic
RNZ Pacific An Australian-based French law professor says it is up to the French people as a whole, and not the voters in New Caledonia, to decide the territory's future statute. Professor Eric Descheemaeker of the University of Melbourne's Law School said New Caledonia's three votes against full sovereignty mean ...
TVNZ files opposition claim against Vodafone's One NZ trademark
RNZ News Television New Zealand has filed an opposition claim against Vodafone's attempt to trademark the name "One NZ". In September last year, the telecommunications company revealed it wanted to change its name to One New Zealand to better reflect its legacy in Aotearoa, having separated from the global Vodafone ...
Fiji's revised Media Act currently being drafted, confirms Rabuka
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Fiji's much-anticipated Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA) Act review is now being drafted and expected to be tabled at the next cabinet meeting on January 17. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka confirmed this to journalists during an interview in Suva last Friday when he was questioned ...
Labor's scheme to cut industrial emissions is worryingly flexible
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, Australian National University The federal government today proposed new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from Australia's polluting industrial sector. The rule changes apply to a measure known as the "safeguard mechanism", and are supposed to stop Australia's top ...
Dog theft is increasing, and so are new laws targeting this awful crime. But will they help?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Parker, Lecturer in Law, University of South Australia Shutterstock Amid the first year of the pandemic in 2020, crime statistics in Victoria showed an increase in the number of dogs reported stolen. Since then, media reports suggest there's been ...
'Drowning for love' – 5 ways to protect your life while you're trying to rescue someone in t...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, Research fellow, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney The news headlines show summer is a deadly period for drowning in Australia. Sadly, between December 1 and January 9, 35 people died due to drowning. There are a range of ...
Maluku earthquake: why do some ocean earthquakes cause tsunamis while others don't?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Van Kranendonk, Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney Google Maps We live on an active planet, one whose surface is constantly in motion, although imperceptibly to us most of the time. Until an earthquake ...
I was flashed at my local mall and it was no joke
Summer read: After encountering a flasher at her local mall, Alex Casey investigates Aotearoa's growing rates of indecent exposure in public and how the crime can escalate. First published September 12, 2022 I would say about the very last thing on my list of things to do at the mall ...
Why is Netflix cancelling everyone's favourite shows?
Series are ending, showrunners are pissed and fans are signing petitions. What's going on? So Netflix has kicked off 2023 by cancelling 1899. That show was on my must-see list – wasn't it supposed to be really good? It was! The supernatural cruise ship period drama had great reviews, solid ...
The Govt is ready to protect eligible Kiwis from monkeypox – but the vaccine can't be named or p...
Buzz from the Beehive Just three press statements have been issued from the Beehive this year, each in the name of Ayesha Verrall as Associate Minister of Health. The latest, headed Monkeypox vaccination available to eligible people from next week, tells us a vaccine for people at risk of mpox ...
Brazil's 'January 8': What to know about the riots at the capital
The protesters who marauded through the presidential palace and congress in Brasilia this week bore a striking resemblance to the Washington DC insurrectionists two years ago. Felipe Tirado explains what was going on. Brazil's state institutions, including the recently installed government of Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, have reacted swiftly ...
The SpinoffBy Felipe Tirado
I wanted to use gender-neutral pronouns in my new book – my publisher pushed back
Summer read: Linda Jane Keegan, celebrated for writing what's thought to be the first picture book in New Zealand featuring non-heterosexual parents, tells the story of her second book. First published August 3, 2022. It was exciting, getting my second manuscript accepted for publication with Scholastic. Having more than one ...
The SpinoffBy Linda Jane Keegan
Statement Of Catholic Church Leaders On Looking Forward From The Work Of The Royal Commission On Abu...
In February 2018 the Government established the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care for State and Faith-based institutions. Church leaders had asked to be part of the inquiry, recognising our need to acknowledge our history, and the need to ...
Eggsplainer: Where did all our eggs go?
Over-egging the pav has become harder in recent months, with egg shortages taking hold across Aotearoa. Here's what you need to know. What's the situation? Up and down the motu, supermarket egg shelves are empty, mostly empty, or asking shoppers to please only take two. End-of-driveway-honesty-box egg businesses are booming. ...
The SpinoffBy Olivia Sisson
Bryce Edwards' Political Roundup: MPs set for a big post-election pay increase
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: MPs set for a big post-election pay increase One of the most popular moves Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ever made was the pay freeze her government imposed on politicians back in 2018. The freeze may have only been grudgingly agreed to by other MPs ...
Bryce Edwards' Political Roundup: MPs are set for a big post-election pay increase
DR BRYCE EDWARDS writes – One of the most popular moves Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ever made was the pay freeze her government imposed on politicians back in 2018. The freeze may have only been grudgingly agreed to by other MPs and parties, but it had universal public support. The ...
Government Needs To Get Tough On The Commercial Fishing Industry
Animal Justice Party Aotearoa NZ (AJPANZ) responds to the US court injunction banning import of New Zealand fish caught in Māui dolphin habitat. "The New Zealand Government should be ashamed and embarrassed that the United States has to give them lessons ...
Are polishes, acrylics and powders bad for my fingernails? Do I need a breather between manicures?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University Pexels/Valeria Boltneva, CC BY People are increasingly opting for regular manicures – with vibrant layers of polish, gel, acrylic or powder. Australians spend more than $22 billion a year ...


text:
Don't Kiss Me
My 1980s and Other Essays
Dead Pig Collector
From the wicked imagination of award-winning writer Warren Ellis comes DEAD PIG COLLECTOR, a love story with a classic Ellis twist. So while it might be a love story, it's also about killing people and disposing of their bodies in the most efficient manner possible.
DEAD PIG COLLECTOR introduces readers to Mister Sun, a very proficient businessman whose trade is the murder and spotless removal of human beings. Like any businessman, he knows each transaction is only as good as his client - and today's client, in Los Angeles, has turned out to be so dangerously stupid that Mister Sun's work and life are now in jeopardy...
An excerpt from Dead Pig Collector
Mister Sun was almost forty thousand seconds behind the moment when he finally emerged from the shiny, sad pens of LAX into the wet heat of the late afternoon. It takes forty thousand seconds, more or less, to fly from London to Los Angeles and then negotiate the boxes and runs of the airport. That's how he thought of it. Eleven hours would be a sleep of exhaustion and a leisurely breakfast. It didn't carry a sense of urgency. Forty thousand seconds sounded to him like time running away without him, leaving him stuck in a dim and disconnected past. A lot could happen in forty thousand seconds.
Mister Sun put his shades on. It had been winter in Britain for the previous eighteen months or so, and he only saw authentic daylight when he traveled, or on television. Los Angeles light, stinging as it was, had a familiar quality to him. It was a strange thing, he reflected, to recognize a certain flavor of daylight from afternoon films in the Sundays of his childhood.
He'd already lifted his packet of cigarettes and his lighter from the top pocket of his roll aboard bag. The lighter was a gift from one of his apparent legion of uncles and aunts who'd pass through London on their way from China to God-only-knew where. A flat, two-inch-long bar that charged by USB, it featured an ultraviolet light for finding the watermark on paper money as well as a button-operated cigarette-lighting coil. Mister Sun had, in 2009, owned a cigarette-lighting cell phone—a Chinese SB6309 with the hot coil under a slide-away plate on the bottom of the phone's back. He'd loved that stupid phone, but business had eventually demanded that he use something smarter. He'd never thrown that phone away, though, and when at home he sometimes took it from his draw er and lighted a Dunhill with it just to experience that gentle and amused pleasure again. It was a unique thing; a placid joy unlike anything else in his personal or professional life.
It usually took Mister Sun a bout four minutes to smoke a cigarette. Another two hundred and forty seconds burned. As he smoked, he watched his current phone, quite smart but entirely charmless, finally find the local 4G. He opened an app that displayed photos for only ten seconds before securely deleting them. There was no communication therein from his client. He found himself curiously dismayed by this. He was forty thousand seconds back and nothing had happened. Mister Sun was almost offended. He crushed out his cigarette with the heel of his brogue, carefully deposited the dead stub in a bin, and walked down the concourse to request a cab from the attendant.
The cab took the best part of three thousand, six hundred seconds to pick and thread its way from LAX to West Hollywood. Mister Sun did not like Los Angeles. He could never find a center to it. It seemed to him to hang on top of the world like a fallen constellation, resting on a rickety scaffold of endless, maddening road. In Los Angeles, Mister Sun only ever arrived anywhere by surprise, unable to find any sense or structure in the route.
He used the Mark Hotel in that district, a boutique hotel of the '00s sliding toward the grimy sheen and dull plaster of budget accommodation in the '10s. The Chateau Marmont was barely five minutes' walk away, and much nicer, but it was a place people went to look at other people. Mister Sun himself, on lunch occasions at the Marmont's open-air dining space, had fallen prey to it. You'd spot one half-remembered face—a dying actress you'd seen flayed by magazine covers, an almost-famous actor you'd glimpsed on some awards ceremony watched on a hotel TV on an insomniac night—and start looking around for more.
The lobby of the Mark was full of a different kind of person. People—not famous people, and probably not terribly smart either—still came here to be seen, while remaining entirely oblivious to most other people. Mister Sun, in his sober suit, with his businessman's rollaboard, was effectively invisible among the long and languid creatures littering the lobby 's low sofas and strangely louche silvered beanbags. Checking in was always a painfully drawn-out process. The staff were far too culturally rarefied to be seen to be working for a living, and there was a girl in a fish tank directly behind the reception area. This was debris from the Mark's days as an artistic and trend-setting location. Someone had decided it would be charmingly bohemian to keep a mostly naked girl in the fish tank at night. It was, he always felt , a saddening indictment of Los Angeles culture—or, rather, an illustration of how Los Angeles had no culture of its own, just a large collection of misreadings of the artistic histories of other, proper cities.
He wasn't pleased with himself for appraising the girl in the tank. He thought of her as half-pretty, the so rt of girl one would find modeling for art classes in dire community colleges. Putting her cheap panties and her ex-boyfriend's shirt back on to wander around the easels afterward and wondering how grotesque she mu st really be, to have summoned up the deformities whacked down in merciless charcoal strikes. She lay on her untoned belly in the tank, yellow calloused feet slowly waving in the air, wearing an orange dollar-store bikini thong and picking at a MacBook Air encrusted in stickers.
He soundlessly apologized for his spite, ashamed of the poison that 'd bubbled up in him over the three or four hundred seconds he'd been standing there, but checking into the Mark and having to look at the body in the tank was always difficult for him. Mister Sun killed people and disposed of their carcasses for a living.
Mister Sun's room was blessed with a balcony and a vertical ashtray bolted to the exterior wall. The room itself was as expected: a broad slab of a bed dressed in tired clothes, carpet trodden thin, blank walls lightly pitted by ten years of corrosive sweat in the air. The balcony was indeed a blessing, though. It hung from the face of the hotel that was turned away from the noise of the city, overlooking a tree-fringed disc of churned mud that a previous client had told him was a dog-walking park. It looked thoroughly medieval to Mister Sun, and he wondered how many dogs had died there. Still and all, it was pleas ant to stand there on the balcony and smoke, obscured from the sight of the city, letting the Los Angeles early evening thaw his bones a little. With one thumb he batted out a text to his girlfriend that she wouldn't see until morning in Greenwich Mean Time, thereby completing the day's necessary tasks. He warmly anticipated the delivery of the food he knew was good at the Mark, the carpaccio and the sliders, and a few hour s of American television before a decent night's sleep. He had to kill someone in the morning.
"[Dead Pig Collector] emerges fully-formed from the delightfully demented mind of Warren effing Ellis...Dead Pig Collector is brief but oh so bold, and predictably brilliant, right through to its abrupt ending."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home » Top News Uncategorized
Sling TV Is Making Some Streaming Free
Ryan Downey Posted On March 18, 2020
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., March 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — SLING TV today launched "Stay in & SLING!," an initiative to provide Americans with cost-free access to news and entertainment, as the nation confronts the COVID-19 crisis. SLING TV is providing news, plus thousands of shows and movies for the whole family, with no paid SLING TV account required.
"To stay informed in these uncertain times, Americans need access to news from reputable sources," said Warren Schlichting, group president, SLING TV. "With many Americans finding themselves staying at home, we have an opportunity to use our platform to help them deal with this rapidly evolving situation."
The SLING TV free experience currently includes news from ABC News Live, a 24/7 streaming video news channel for breaking news and live events. In addition, SLING TV offers thousands of movies and shows suitable for kids and families.
How to Access the SLING TV Free Experience
The SLING TV free experience is available through a simple app download on a Roku, Amazon or Android device, or by visiting sling.com on a Chrome, Safari or Edge browser and following the instructions on the welcome screen.
Current SLING TV subscribers can access free content from SLING TV within the user interface on any SLING TV-supported device, without changing their subscription.
Discounts On Normal Service
SLING Blue, SLING TV is offering new customers their first month for $20 ($10 off for the first month). In addition to its available free content, SLING TV offers a variety of today's most popular channels, including CNN, FOX News and MSNBC, through its base services, SLING Orange and SLING Blue, starting at $30 per month.
4k Streaming Will Not Be Available Soon


text:
Post Office may be on the move in shake-up
Motherwell's main post office in Brandon Parade could move.
The main post office which serves Motherwell could be on the move as part of a plan to sell off and franchise 37 branches nationwide.
The Crown office branch in Brandon Parade is one of five in Scotland facing an uncertain future.
Officials said the plans would underpin their commitment to "give communities in every part of the country access to essential services".
But the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said it could see the loss of 300 staff and cut 127 financial specialist roles.
The union's general secretary David Ward said it was "further evidence that the Post Office is in crisis".
In recent years there has been a move to close sub-post offices and move the services within retail premises. This often gives customers seven days a week service and extended opening hours.
In a statement the Post Office said: "Our network of more than 11,600 branches is easily the largest in the UK, with 17 million customer visits a week.
"The vast majority of these branches are run with partners, and in the locations announced we believe this will also be a more sustainable approach for the long term.
"With consumer habits changing, and the high cost of maintaining premises in prime locations, franchising helps us to keep services where our customers want and need them."
The Post Office will now advertise for potential partners for the next 28 days. If interest is registered this will be considered before any proposals are shared with staff.
Six weeks of public consultation will then follow before any changes are made, according to a Post Office spokeswoman.
The CWU said 75,000 postcards were recently sent by the public to the government calling for an end to the closure and franchise programme.
A union spokesperson said: "The announced franchising of five Crown Post Offices in Scotland represents a major loss to the local communities. Like many Crown Offices throughout the United Kingdom, they provide a vital public service for the local community and it is part of the fabric of our society.
Postcode Lottery win for Motherwell neighbours
"The loss of this service would be detrimental to Scotland in particular."
Female driver failed drugs test in Motherwell
Firearm ordeal for police in Motherwell close
Arrest made after three car smash in Motherwell
Act of wilful fireraising in Carfin


text:
#import "ISOperation.h"

@class NSNumber, SSMutableAuthenticationContext;

@interface SUScriptAuthenticationOperation : ISOperation
{
    NSNumber *_authenticatedDSID;
    SSMutableAuthenticationContext *_authenticationContext;
}

@property(retain) NSNumber *authenticatedDSID; // @synthesize authenticatedDSID=_authenticatedDSID;
- (void)setScriptOptions:(id)arg1;
- (void)sendCompletionCallback:(id)arg1;
- (void)run;
- (id)authenticatedAccountDSID;
- (void)dealloc;
- (id)initWithAccountIdentifier:(id)arg1;
- (id)init;

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Unfortunately, my near-hypnotic state of relaxation disappeared completely by the time we boarded the Relta flight home. Loyal readers know that Relta is what I call my favorite airline on account of I don't want to be sued.
Yes, when things are just too overwhelming, they close the runways so they can catch up with all those, whatchacallit, planes up in the sky. I hear you, LGA. Sometimes you just have to power down for a few and gather your thoughts. Respect.
Having missed the last flight to Maine, Relta gave us a hotel voucher to stay in the Marriott LGA which I quickly dubbed the Marriott Island of Misfit Toys. Zombie travelers like us wandered, luggage-less, clutching the tiny travel kits thoughtfully supplied to us by the airline. I searched in vain for the one truly useful item, underwear, in our little care package but, alas, there was none. It struck me that, while the hotel room was lovely and the restaurant shockingly good, not a soul staying there was there because they wanted to be. I mean maybe other than the occasional guest for a quinceanera for a nice girl from Queens, the clientele was just us misfit toys without clean underwear, loudly canceling rental cars and rearranging other plans in the elevators.
On the CNN monitor, we see a middle-aged man who looks like the love child of an emu and a homicidal ostrich and who can't resist distributing pics of his "lil Anthony" to the Twittersphere.
And that's when you know vacation is truly, madly, deeply over.
Celia Rivenbark is the New York Times best-selling author of "Rude B****** Make Me Tired." Visit www.celiarivenbark.com.
Our nation's gun laws make about as much sense as the phrase "Curvy fit skinny jeans."


text:
New York Times completely overhauls its mobile app model
05/18/2015 05/16/2015 Julie Campbell
The newspaper has scrapped its paid model in favor of brand sponsorships in order to monetize its content.
A recent announcement made by the New York Times has revealed that they have completely rethought its strategy when it comes to its mobile app and has come up with a new model that is not based on paid subscriptions.
This new decision has been made after the newspaper was unable to generate a significant number of paid subscribers.
Although the NYT Now mobile app had a large number of users, they were not being converted into subscribers at an adequate rate. It was first introduced last year as the Times worked on boosting its subscription base by appealing to consumers who are now expecting smartphone and tablet friendly products on an increasing basis. At that time, the subscription to the app was set at $7.99 per month.
The NYT Now mobile app was geared toward a younger crowd that is comfortable with e-reading.
The idea was to appeal to that market by offering summaries of broader news stories so that these paid app subscribers would be able to use to quickly and easily stay on top of the latest headlines. They would be able to catch up on the leading stories from the newspapers in a matter of a glance, regardless of where they happen to be at the time. They could also use the mobile application to read the latest stories from other places across the web.
Among the reasons that were used to explain the failure of the paid model that had been used by the New York Times was that news could be read for free at a complete spectrum of different news and social media sites. This app, on the other hand, was asking for users to pay for what they were already able to find elsewhere at no cost to them at all.
Now, the company released a memo that has explained that the mobile app has considerable appeal to a younger market but that its efforts to carve a place for itself within a lower priced subscription rate were "much less successful". Therefore, it has now altered its course to focus on brand sponsorships, instead.
Mobile Apps, Mobile Commerce, United Statesapp model, app monetization, app strategy, mobile app, mobile application, New York Times, new york times app, NYT app model, NYT Now, NYT Now app
Smartphone battery life may not improve by shutting it off at night
Sainsbury's to launch m-commerce app
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Tapjoy mobile ad company reaches deceptive practices settlement with FTC
by Internet Marketing Genius, Jason Fladlien FacebookTwitterLinkedinPinterestStumbleUponTumblrRedditThe firm has now settled with the US Federal Trade...
Marketing Featured News Mobile Apps
01/08/2021 Jennifer Goula 1
Holiday trends reveal mobile commerce security issues in top retail apps
by Internet Marketing Genius, Jason Fladlien FacebookTwitterLinkedinPinterestStumbleUponTumblrRedditSome of the most popular applications used by shoppers in...
Mobile Commerce Featured News Mobile Commerce Security
01/07/2021 L. Green 0
New Atlantic City Park QR codes help enhance the visitor experience
by Internet Marketing Genius, Jason Fladlien FacebookTwitterLinkedinPinterestStumbleUponTumblrRedditThese easy-to-use quick response codes allow people to learn more...
QR Codes Featured News United States


J.D. Salinger fought off generations of prying biographers, journalists and millions of obsessed fans — and his estate continues the battle today. This month, however, the reclusive, lawsuit-prone author of "The Catcher in the Rye" meets a foe who brings artistic judo to the match: Thomas Beller, an essayist and fiction writer who makes his home in New Orleans.
"I never had a craving to meet Salinger," Beller said in a phone interview. "I think that impulse has obscured a lot of what's interesting in his writing, and has distracted from his place in the larger culture — both the literary history of the 20th century and the way he serves as a prism into the birth of the crazy celebrity culture of today. Salinger may not have played it right by hiding on his New Hampshire property, but he certainly saw that something unpleasant was coming."
Beller, a Tulane University professor, will read from his book, "J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist," in a pre-publication national launch event at Octavia Books on Friday (May 23). His quirky tome won't be widely available until June 3, but already it has attracted the kind of bellwether trade reviews that signal a brewing fight among critics.
"Publisher's Weekly" called it "an exceptionally well-researched, deeply felt, and thoughtful exploration of the elusive author's history."
"Kirkus Reviews" demurred, calling Beller's effort, "a light and halfhearted treatment. Turn to David Shields and Shane Salerno's Salinger (2013) instead."
For some readers, that hint of controversy will be an instant signal to seek out Beller's genre-bending nonfiction charmer. It's a meditation on literary obsession and emotional truth that wraps a slim Salinger bio into a memoir of Beller's own pursuit of the elusive literary icon.
"There are no authorized biographies of Salinger," Beller said. "He went to great lengths to oppose any biography — and to me, that's a huge part of the story. At this point, the only honest way to approach Salinger is to acknowledge those obstacles. Bringing that process into the open wasn't just a whim on my part."
"J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist" blends scene-setting vignettes, archival goodies, and arguments informed by Beller's repeated readings of Salinger's work.
"To me, Salinger is a hugely interesting cultural figure in part because so many people read him when they are young," Beller said. "He's a standard part of the eighth-grade canon — that's when I first read him — but he keeps changing when you come back to him. I read him as an aspiring writer in my twenties. I read him, in a shallow way, when I was in my thirties. At age 48, he looks different again, perhaps because I now have children of my own."
Beller's narrative unfolds with the seamless grace one expects from a practiced fiction writer and longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine. That experience makes him especially sensitive to the literary merits of his subject.
"Salinger was known as a great ballroom dancer. He was light on his feet, and he brings those same qualities to his writing," Beller said. "Sometimes I think of him as the literary equivalent of Fred Astaire with a bit of the goofy grace of the Marx Brothers thrown in, too. It's the same, beautiful soft shoe in his letters and in his fiction: a talent for off-the-cuff aphorisms, lots of funny dialog, heartfelt statements mixed up with jokes, and all the hidden things that give weight to his writing because he knows how to leave out the obvious."
For those seeking facts about Salinger, Beller provides plenty of fresh material. For example, he discovered the identity of Salinger's most important editor at The New Yorker — Gus Lobrano — a neglected figure who proved to be a New Orleans native and graduate of the Isidore Newman School.
"Learning about Gus Lobrano was very exciting for me, but the story took a very strange turn when I found that he had grown up a few blocks from where I live," Beller said. "It was one more weird coincidence, in a project that was full of them: coincidences that kept turning the story back on me."
Beller was shocked, for example, to discover that Salinger's father had sent his Jewish son to Vienna to learn about the family importing business in 1937 — precisely the time when Beller's father was seeking to leave Austria.
"These two Jewish boys could have met each other on the street," Beller said. "For me it was like our family histories crossed — and it made me reexamine everything I had assumed about the place and period, and the way people just do things, oblivious to a future they can't predict."
Beller's wildly personal approach is rare among biographers, but hardly unprecedented. Press material for his Salinger book rightly invokes "Out of Sheer Rage," Geoff Dyer's acclaimed 1997 "quest biography" of D.H. Lawrence. Some also may be reminded of Nicholson Baker's "U and I," the hilarious 1991 account of his envy and admiration for writer John Updike.
Beller, who has the precise, comic timing of a stand-up funnyman, uses that skill repeatedly in his Salinger book. In the course of his tale, he briefly loses a rare manuscript, wallows through snowdrifts at Salinger's boyhood summer camp, and treats us to the indignities, mostly self-inflicted, that come when one noses into other people's business.
Beller mentioned one of those indignities during a panel for biographers at the 2014 Tennessee Williams | New Orleans Literary Festival — a discussion reported by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Describing himself as a "laptop nomad," Beller told the festival crowd how he had received a phone call, after a year of cajoling, from the 85-year-old daughter of Salinger's long-deceased fiction editor at The New Yorker.
"She had letters from Salinger to her father, but she wouldn't share them," Beller said. "Then, one day, I was walking down Prytania Street when she called me and announced that she would read them to me over the phone. I literally whipped out my laptop, sat down in front of the CVS store and started transcribing."
Because Beller makes light of himself, it's also easy to follow him when he veers into emotionally fraught territory, pondering, among other things, how Salinger's failures in school mirror his own checkered history as a student; how both share a problematic relationship with Judaism; and how family secrets swirl around the fathers of both men.
Beller has an antenna for all those things – and not just because he grew up in the same Manhattan neighborhoods as Salinger, and went on, like Salinger, to publish fiction in The New Yorker while still in his twenties. Beller gets it, because his whole enterprise is one of self-examination: not mere navel gazing, but an existential approach to storytelling in which every fact is checked against his own pulse, his own history.
"My dad died when I was ten years old, and I've been an unwitting biographer ever since, trying to assemble the puzzle of my own family," Beller said. "I didn't really understand that until I started to work on this Salinger biography. Suddenly, I was digging for Salinger's relationship with his father — and not just because he's famous for writing a complex family portrait in which the father is blurred out. I spent lots of time in archives and conducting interviews — I love working as a reporter -- but my own history became a kind of litmus test as I was writing. That non-linear, associative method gave shape to this book. "
"J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist"
Beller will read and sign his new book in a pre-publication national launch event, Friday, May 23, 6 p.m., at Octavia Books, 513 Octavia St.
Learn about Thomas Beller's favorite Salinger book -- no, it's not "The Catcher in The Rye" -- and vote for your own favorite in a poll attached to this follow up story.


Fried Carrot Cake - White Version, originally uploaded by Camemberu.
Does this look good? White version carrot cake (really more radish cake) with crispy egg and lots of spring onions. I love crispy egg! Unfortunately, it didn't taste as good as it looked. Very bland and unsatisfying. Missing lots of seasoning and the most criticial ingredient - preserved radish "chye poh"! Even the S$4 upsized portion didn't see any generosity in this department.
Popiah, originally uploaded by Camemberu.
This stall at the revamped Tiong Bahru Food Centre also sells popiah. I can't say it was tasty either. The turnips tasted really earthy and "rustic" - as though not well-washed or something. Pretty pricey too for S$1.50 a roll (well, it had bits of shrimp in it).
I won't name the stall but if you really must know, you can take a peek at its shopfront here.
nice blog =) but shldnt have read this at 3am in the morning while mugging on an empty stomach cos of papers starting at 9am!
didn't i see an "A" rating? guess cleanliness doesn't translate to good food.
Kong-Kay: Yes, the "A" is for cleanliness, and as we all know, that is often inversely proportionate to how tasty the food is!


As we've reported, OSHA has new reporting requirements for when an employer must notify OSHA of an injury. The expansion of the reporting requirements has led to a very obvious increase in the number of reports that OSHA is receiving via their various methods. A recent memo outlines what the call taker should ask the reporting employer during in the process of taking the report.
This Jackson Lewis Article outlines the various information that should be collected during that initial report. The article goes on to explain some of how to handle those questions.
Previously, only the most basic information was required such as the employer's name, the employee's name, the type of injury (fatality, etc.), address, etc. Following the internal memorandum that is just being circulated, the call taker should ask a number of other questions such as what the employee was doing immediately before being injured, have there been any close calls similar to this, what has been done to fix the problem so that others don't get hurt.
Some of these questions may not be able to be answered at the time of the call which is perfectly fine. Do the best you can but understand that whatever is told to OSHA (truth or partial truth as you know it) can be used against you in the future. Please take a few minutes to read the short article linked to above for more information and advice on how to handle this expanded reporting requirement.


A winger and centre from the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney, Charlie Clifton is NSW Country through and through, and took particular pride in the Eagles playing a home game in home town of Bathurst in 2015. The hard-running outside back was one of Darren Coleman's best players at the 'Beasts' in 2015, and he carried that strong form for his coach right through the NRC. Jus to round out the partnership, Clifton won a place in Coleman's Australian Barbarians squad that toured New Zealand at the end of the NRC campaign.


text:
See more Come Fly with Me [LP] by Frank Sinatra (Vinyl,...
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SINATRA FRANK - COME FLY WITH ME NEW VINYL RECORD
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Frank Sinatra - Come Fly with Me [New Vinyl]
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