text:
'SEARCH TERMS'
– #spectre #spectrevision #spectrerealty –
TURNING GOLD into PAPER
Posted on 2009/08/07 by secret santa
http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/collections/Humanities/Pages/newton.aspx
http://www.novapoly.com/articles/finance/fractional-reserve-banking-model/
the LAST of the MAGICIANS
http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFERENCE/BIOGRAPHY/Newtonian.html
"In 1936 an interesting lot came on the block at Sotheby's in London containing a cache of writings by Newton — journals and personal notebooks deemed to be "of no scientific value." The winning bidder was the economist John Maynard Keynes. After perusing his purchase, Keynes delivered a somewhat shocking lecture to the Royal Society Club in 1942, on the tercentenary of Newton's birth. "Newton was not the first of the age of reason," Keynes announced. "He was the last of the magicians."
This was meant quite literally, as was a statement expressed by the poet Wordsworth that Newton had a mind "forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone." For the "secret writings" made it clear that during the crucial part of Newton's scientific career — the two decades between his discovery of the law of gravity and the publication of his masterwork, the "Principia Mathematica" — his consuming passion was alchemy. Bunkered in his solitary live-in lab at the edge of the fens near Cambridge, Newton indulged in occult literature and strove to cook up the legendary "philosopher's stone" that would convert base metals into gold."
MULTIPLIED to INFINITY
http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/friday-isaac-newton-blogging-q-how-did-newton-get-rich-a-he-mastered-a-mundane-form-of-alchemy/
Three hundred and eight years ago this Sunday, Feb. 3, Isaac Newton finally got his hands on the one sure way to multiply gold. This time Newton had got his hands on the real thing — not the phantom he had pursued so deeply in his alchemical researches. It's true that seven years before he had convinced himself that he had discovered the Philosopher's stone. With it he believed, he had found the secret that allow the adept to begin with a stock of gold and then, as he wrote in his last alchemical manifesto, "you may multiply [it] to infinity."
He believed — and held on to that faith for a few weeks, before recognizing his error, and then (perhaps coincidentally) falling into the deep depression that has led Newton historians to call 1693 his black year. That experience more or less cured Newton of alchemy — not that he abandoned what he saw as its animating idea, but he did give up trying to turn its concepts into a practical experimental program. (He did in fact perform a few more laboratory experiments in the mid 1690s, but with nothing approaching the intensity of his pre 1693 research). But the failure of his alchemical ambition did not end his deep involvement with the gold in it's vulgar, day to day manifestation. In 1696, Newton left his academic job in Cambridge to begin life as an officer of the Royal Mint. And then, on February 3, 1700, he managed to make his way into the top job, taking the post of Master and Worker of the His Majesty's Mint.
There he had formal responsibility for the production of all England's coin. As of 1700, the official coinage was silver, with gold guineas and half guineas serving as convenient high denomination tokens that could be exchanged for "real" silver money. (How big a chunk of change was a guinea? About one week's wages for a skilled London craftsman.) Over the next decade and a half, Newton would preside over the death of the English silver currency; by the late teens, gold became the de-facto standard — a shift driven in part by a mis-pricing of the value of a golden guinea as measured in the value silver could command on an increasingly globalized market for precious metals. (The full legal switch to the gold standard came only in 1844, with the passage of the Bank Charter Act.)
The switch from silver to gold did not bother Newton. In fact, though he was as scrupulously honest as any man — more so than most in that patronage and corruption ridden age — he personally gained from any event that brought more metal into the Mint and spat more coins out. In his first post at the Mint, he received only a stipend — a generous one, to be sure: 500 pounds a year by 1699 — but not a foundational fortune, not an inheritance. At the same time, it's important to note that he worked for his money, more than any prior holders of his Mint offices for the previous century at least.He did the paperwork, made himself an expert assayer, kept exceptionally accurate accounts (shortly after coming to the Mint, he fought the Treasury over a discrepancy of two pence. Two pence! He was, in fact, one of England's first real civil servants — along with his friend, the philosopher John Locke, who earned his keep at the same time as one of the founding eight commissioners of the Board of Trade.
This was, in other words, another side of the revolution in science — the very first steps (a lot of the one-forward, two-back variety) towards instituting an ideal of disinterested expertise in government. Civil service — bureaucracy, if you will — was still in its infancy in England when Newton became Master of the Mint, however, and there were definitely some bugs left in the system. The job was one of the great surviving feudal privileges left for powerful patrons to deliver to loyal supporters. He got both a substantial stipend — and a percentage of every pound of silver or gold minted into coins. Now you were talking real money, an income that handily topped four figures in the busier years. When Newton died in 1727, with almost three decades of his cut from the Mint's prodution in hand, he left an estate — excluding the land inherited from his mother — worth 30,000 pounds. That's between four and five million pounds in contemporary currency. Newton died rich. And thus was proved the proposition that the surest way to make a pile of money is to make it yourself.
http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/wednesday-isaac-newton-blogging-the-very-deep-roots-of-the-banking-crisis/
by Thomas Levenson / 10.01.2008
In my book, Newton and the Counterfeiter, I tell the story of Newton's mostly unknown career as a criminal investigator and death penalty prosecutor. It is as well a story that touches on the birth of the modern financial system — it covers the period when things like the Bank of England, fractional reserve banking, a variety of paper instruments, debt-for equity swaps (a little later, actually) and other such esoterica were all being tried out. Of great importance was the development of a bunch of different approaches to financing government expenditure. All kinds of things got a work out. The book deals with some of them, including a marvelous chimera of an instrument that was at once a lottery ticket, paper money, and a bond. Weird — but creditors of the Royal Navy, among others, were compelled to accept the notes at par.
Unsurprisingly, some writers on what was yet to be called the discipline of political economy had grave doubts about the transformation of money into paper, and government resources from receipts into debt. They raised questions. And on at least one occasion, Newton answered them. In 1700, Newton, then Master of the Mint, got into a dispute with John Pollexfen, a member of parliament and a founding member of the Board of Trade (with Newton's friend and admirer, the philosopher and theorist of money, John Locke). Pollexfen was a hard money guy — paper might have some use in the financial system, but everyone knew real money took the form of silver and gold coins. He argued that use of paper instruments depended on the money being held to support it. Not for him was this new fangled notion of fractional reserve banking: an institution issuing a note had to have the denominated amount in coin to back up the piece of paper that claimed to be money. That is: paper was a convenient method of signifying the existence of an amount of real money; it was not money in and of itself.
Newton disagreed. His handwritten draft of a reply to Pollexfen survives in his Mint papers, and in that draft he wrote that creation of paper instruments — including those issued by the government as debt — was essential to ensure that the nation's economy did not collapse for want of an adequate money supply. He wrote "If interest be not yet low enough for the advantage of trade and designs of setting the poor on work…the only proper way to lower it si more paper and credit till trading and business we can get more money."
Interesting ideas, no? Increase the money supply to lower the price of money, the interest rate, and thus enhance trade and employment. What a notion! The other Newton comment that I know of on the question of whether government debt instruments were a good idea is even more striking. He wrote in a different context on the question of whether the creation of government debt instruments were inherently damaging to government finance and the economy that, in fact, credit was supremely useful because: "Tis mere opinion that sets a value upon money [coined precious metal]…and the same opinion sets a value upon paper security…All the difference is …that the value of the former is more universal than the latter."
Mere opinion! This was a radical idea indeed at the turn of the eighteenth century. Newton did allow that credit was like doctor's physic. To a certain dose it was helpful; to excess it could be deadly… a sentiment which also has strangely contemporary echo. None of this to say that Newton was anything like a pioneer of economic thought; he was not. Most of his views represented variations on contemporary elite opinion — which was struggling to come to grips with a transformation in finance that accompanied the global expansion of English and European trade and economic life.
But even here there are parallels. Much of our problem today derives from the toxic consequences of exotic variations on older financial tricks, some of which do in fact have roots that stretch back, through several removes, to this beginning. Now, as then, the failure of many to grasp the implications, the risks, associated with such innovation presented opportunities both legal and definitely criminal. Even the smartest were not immune to the lure of occult, effortlessly acquirable wealth, and not even Isaac Newton himself avoided the infection…
(See G. Findlay Shirras and J.H. Craig's article "Sir Isaac Newton and the Currency" in The Economic Journal, Vol. 55, No. 218/219 Jun – Sep. 1945 for a fuller account of Newton's involvement in the currency/credit issues of his day).
http://www.islamic-finance.com/item1_f.htm
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8816304/Kieron-McFadden-The-Origins-of-Modern-Banking
The Origins of Modern Banking
by Kieron McFadden / 02.01.2004
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from banks, and restored to the people." – Thomas Jefferson
Money was originally invented as a convenient alternative to barter, an alternative without which a highly developed civilisation like ours could not exist. Imagine trying to pay the taxi driver with a bag of coal or the grocery bill with a box of spanners and a set of golf clubs. Imagine trying to carry all that around with you when you go shopping. As societies grew more complex and social roles became more specialised, the idea of money was conceived as a better and more flexible way to exchange, and thereby distribute among men, goods and services.
Money is quite simply an idea agreed upon among people that some system of tokens or symbols: discs of metal (coins) paper with symbols on it (notes) and so on, will be used by them to represent or stand proxy for goods and services and that those tokens can be exchanged for goods and services. One can then exchange the tokens rather than bags of coal, boxes of spanners or what-have-you and the tokens are easy to carry around. Its workability depends upon the participants' confidence that those tokens are and will continue to be exchangeable for a certain amount of goods or services. That's all money is. It is no more complicated than that, although men may try to make it seem complex and hard to understand. The truth however, as truths tend to be, is simple; it is alterations of the truth – lies – that are complicated.
Many societies have used gold and silver coins as their tokens, then later pieces of paper to represent gold and silver coins, and later cheques and ledger entries to represent notes and coins and in modern times electronic money, the shifting and balancing of numbers in computer memories, alongside or in place of coins, notes and cheques. Thus when we receive a computer print-out of our bank statement saying we have £500 in our current account we usually visualise a stack of £l0 notes sitting in a vault somewhere, or perhaps a bag of gold coins, although in reality there is no pile of notes or bag of coins, merely the ledger-entry in an electronic memory Saying we have £500. Should we then write a cheque in order to spend £50 of it, the numbers in our ledger change to £450 and the payee's account increases by £50, although no notes, gold or anything else move from one account to another. Yet it works because we have confidence in it and trust it and we know we can change that £500 for real notes, real coins or real goods or services whenever we want to.
This evolution in the system of tokens we use to represent real goods and services comes about through a succession of bright ideas in the direction of making distribution and exchange more convenient, the movement of wealth between people smoother and faster. However, anything can be used for money, provided people agree to use it and have confidence in it. For instance dried yak dung was once used in Tibet, notched pieces of wood in Medieval England, leather discs in Medieval Europe and even cigarettes and tins of coffee in post-war Germany. The money in use in a country is called currency, from the word current, meaning prevalent, in circulation or in use.
Governments firm up that agreement and confidence by enshrining a particular system of tokens in law and demanding those tokens in payment of taxes. A particular system of creating, denominating, issuing and circulating money – currency – where backed by law and deemed by law the only recognised system, and which cannot be legally refused as payment of a debt, is called legal tender. Where barter is no longer practised, one has to possess those tokens in order to acquire goods and services from others. It is the medium of exchange. Tokens, be they yak dung, metal discs or numbers with the '$' symbol in front of them, are exchanged back and forth between people instead of goods and exchange does now usually occur without the use of tokens or the promise of tokens on the future.
The way one acquires tokens is by producing something and then selling it to someone who has expressed his want for it by offering us some of his tokens. We do the deal and receive the tokens he has offered. Now we can go and exchange those tokens for other products that we desire, which we do not produce ourselves. Thus money enables goods and services to be exchanged among people and distribution of those goods and services to occur naturally, and according to the needs and wants of the participants. The more of those tokens one possesses or is able to acquire through one's production, the more one can if one wishes acquire goods and services from others. One can also store money in a safe or bank account without having to build a couple of warehouses in which to store container-loads of spare goods. Money therefore confers exchange power or spending power on he who possesses it in direct ratio to the amount of it he is able to offer up for exchange.
In the old days gold was minted into coins and those coins, along with silver coins, formed the nation's currency. Goldsmiths had strongboxes and vaults in which to securely store the precious metal with which they worked. It was natural enough then that other people took to asking the goldsmith to store their gold and gold coins in his vault and to pay the goldsmith for the service. A merchant (for example) would entrust to the goldsmith £20 worth of his own gold for safekeeping. When he handed over his gold, the goldsmith would provide him with a receipt or note promising to hand back the gold (pay the bearer on demand) whenever the depositor returned and presented the note. The receipt held by the depositor was in fact as good as gold because he could exchange it for his £20 worth of gold any time he chose. But the note was easier to carry around than heavy and bulky amounts of gold and easier to conceal, so the depositor was often content to leave his gold in the goldsmith's safekeeping for long periods. In fact when the time came to pay for some commodity with his £20 of gold, instead of returning to the goldsmith, exchanging the receipt for the gold and then using the gold to pay for his purchase, it was more convenient for him simply to hand over his receipt to the seller. The seller was happy to accept the receipt in lieu of actual gold because it was more convenient to carry around and he knew that should he present it to the goldsmith, £20 of gold would be handed over to him.
Thus those gold receipts began to circulate and became the first paper money. People were happy to exchange them back and forth rather than the cumbersome gold they represented. The receipts had value because people were confident that in the goldsmith's vault lay the gold, which they could redeem at any time. Eventually the goldsmiths noticed that the gold left by depositors remained in their vaults for longer and longer periods. People turned up wishing to exchange their receipts for gold less and less often, and that the receipts they had issued to depositors circulated in its stead. It seemed a shame to have that gold just sitting there doing nothing. Why not lend some of it out for a while? If it just sat there for year after year the owner, the holder of the receipt, was not going to miss it if it were loaned to someone else for a period. As long as there was enough gold in the vaults to satisfy anyone who did turn up with a receipt, then no-one would be any the wiser. So depositor Joe would leave £20 of gold with the goldsmith for safekeeping and depart with his receipt which he would then use as money in lieu of the gold and it would circulate. It might be years before anyone turned up with that £20 note asking for £20 of gold. Meanwhile Tom would turn up at the goldsmith's asking to borrow £20 of gold and the goldsmith would lend it to him, demanding that it be paid back after a certain period at a certain amount of interest. But instead of lending Tom actual gold, the goldsmith would draw up a £20 receipt, just like the one depositor Joe had been given. Tom was happy to take the receipt in lieu of the gold because it was more convenient to carry around and people were happy to accept such receipts in payment for things.
So Tom went off with his £20 note, content that through it he was now in temporary possession of £20 of gold. But unbeknownst to Tom, Joe also has a receipt representing that gold. In other words there are now two notes in circulation representing the same £20 of gold! Clearly the goldsmith's issuance of two receipts for the same amount of gold is fraudulent – particularly when Tom repays the gold he believes he has borrowed in real gold. As each receipt promises to hand over the same £20 of gold on demand, the goldsmith is making a promise he knows he cannot keep. Several things are clear at the moment the second receipt was issued and entered circulation: new money has been created out of thin air; that new money has been loaned into existence; as the loan has interest charged upon it, then a debt has been created out of nothing that is greater than the amount of new money created.
And another thing: Tom will eventually return to the goldsmith and repay his £20 loan, say at 10% interest. He will therefore hand the goldsmith, £22 in real gold. In other words, the goldsmith, in creating that bogus receipt and lending it to Tom, is creating for himself, albeit after a delay, real debt-free gold worth more than the new money he loaned into existence! It gets worse. After a while the goldsmith, seeing that his fraud is working pretty well, thinks that if he can issue two £20 receipts against the same £20 of gold, then why not two, three or even four? So Joe deposits £20 of gold and the goldsmith gives him his receipt. In time four other people turn up at his shop wanting to borrow that £20 of gold. The goldsmith obligingly lends it to each of them at interest, giving each a receipt purporting to represent that £20 of gold. There are now five receipts in circulation representing the same deposit of gold, one for the original depositor and one for each of the four borrowers. For that deposit of £20, £80 (4x £20) of new money is created merely by writing on a fancy piece of paper. If (say) £2 of interest (10%) is charged on each loan, at the same time that £80 of new money is created out of thin air, a debt of £88 is also created out of thin air.
Property is held as security against these loans so if the borrower fails to repay with real gold the fraudulent piece of paper he borrowed, the goldsmith takes his property. Each time the goldsmith lends £20 of bogus gold he charges 10% interest on the loan. By lending out £20 four times over and charging £2 interest on each loan, the goldsmith makes a whopping 40% (four times £2) in interest on the £20 "reserves" that were not even his to begin with! The goldsmith cannot lose and soon begins to amass a fortune from his fraud. It is the greatest get-rich-quick scheme ever invented. And it is, in essence, the basis of the modern banking system. The goldsmiths of yesteryear became the bankers of today and although paper money and latterly electronic money took over from gold, essentially the same fraud is being run.
The business of lending pieces of paper pretending to be gold made the goldsmiths very wealthy and very influential men. Their easy wealth enabled them to move to upmarket premises. They became pillars of the community and some even became international financiers, lending money to kings and governments. In the seventeenth century conflict between the bankers of the day and the Stuarts led the bankers to act in concert with bankers in Europe. They joined forces with those in the Netherlands to finance the invasion of England by William of Orange. William overthrew the Stuart Kings in 1688 and became King William III.
By the end of the 1600s England was in financial ruin, gold and silver supplies were running low and a costly civil war followed by costly wars with France and Holland, all in a fifty year period, had left her heavily in debt. Government officials met with the financiers to negotiate the loans they needed. King William was £20 million in debt and he could not pay his army. Apparently it did not occur to William or anyone that if William needed to pay his army or get the economy going, all he had to do was have the government print its own money and use that to pay the troops -something that Abraham Lincoln would do successfully during the American Civil war nearly two hundred years later!
King William's "friends", the bankers, were willing to loan him the money he needed but the price they wanted for their "help" was high. They wanted a government-sanctioned but privately owned central bank that could; through fractional reserve lending, create money out of nothing and loan it to the government. They got their way. In 1694 the world's first privately owned central bank was created. It was to be called the Bank of England. The Bank's charter included the following immortal words: "The bank hath benefit on the interest on all monies which it creates out of nothing."
Instead of exercising its right to create money and spend it into the economy, the government had the bank create it, then lend it to the government so that the government could spend it into the economy, then pay the loans back later at interest. That completely unnecessary complication was to have devastating consequences for the futures of the English people. As well as delivering extraordinary power over the nation into the hands of a privately owned business corporation, it began the National Debt, a debt that would go on increasing remorselessly over the ensuing years until it had reached around £380 billion in 1996, costs us around £30 billion a year in interest payments and is still climbing.
By the end of the 17th century, the goldsmiths' scam had become respectable banking. The role of the banks in issuing money through lending to individuals and businesses had already become widely accepted. Thus there came to be established two routes by which money was borrowed into the economy: private and commercial borrowing on the one hand and government borrowing on the other. That combined debt in the present day has now soared to well over one trillion pounds. In 1704, just ten years after the creation of the Bank of England, the banks' promissory notes, on the recommendation of the bankers and financiers who advised the government, were declared legal tender.
Although the new central bank was an entirely privately owned corporation, the name chosen for it led generations of Englishmen to believe that it was part of their government, when it most certainly was not. Like any other privately owned corporation the new central bank sold shares to create its initial capital. Its investors – whose identities were never disclosed – were supposed to put up a total of £1.25 million in gold coin to purchase their shares. Only three quarters of a million was ever received. Nevertheless, despite that minor technicality, the bank was chartered in 1694 and began the business of lending out several times the money it supposedly had in its reserves. In exchange for this unique and immensely profitable privilege, the bank would very kindly lend the English, and later British, government as much money as it wanted, at interest, provided the debt was secured by direct taxation of the people.
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce. And when we realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few very powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."
U.S. President James Garfield. A few weeks after making this statement, he was assassinated on July 12, 1818.
NEWTON'S ALCHEMY NOTEBOOKS FOUND in ROYAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES
http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=82&cat=Alchemical
http://www.pierre-marteau.com/editions/1701-25-mint-reports.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/alch-flash.html
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/about.do
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/jul/01/highereducation.uk2
Newton's alchemy manuscript found
by Polly Curtis / July 2005
Sir Isaac Newton, famous for his revolutionary work in mathematics, optics, gravity and the laws of motion, had a secret hobby. A collection of his notes thought to have been lost 70 years ago reveal his passion for alchemy and fruitless attempts to turn lead into gold. His handwritten notes, commenting on the work of other famous 17th century alchemists and documenting his own attempts to manufacture precious metals, were rediscovered in the vaults of the Royal Society and will go on display for the first time next week at the its summer science exhibition. The notes were originally uncovered following Newton's death in 1727, but they were never properly documented and were thought to be lost following their sale for £15 at an auction at Sotheby's in July 1936. But during the cataloguing of the society's miscellaneous manuscripts collection the notes were discovered and, with the help of Imperial College's Newton Project, were identified as being the papers that had disappeared nearly 70 years before.
Newton kept hidden his occasional interest in alchemy during his lifetime, in part because the making of gold or silver was a felony and had been since a law was passed by Henry IV in 1404. But throughout his career he, and other scientists of the time, many of whom were fellows of the society, carried out extensive research into alchemy. The text is written in English, but it is not easy to work out what Newton is actually saying. Alchemists were notorious for recording their methods and theories in symbolic language or code so others could not understand it. One excerpt reads: "It is therefore no wonder that – in their advice lay before us the rule of nature in obtaining the great secret both for medicine and transmutation. And if I may have the liberty of expression give me leave to assert as my opinion that it is effectual in all the three kingdoms and from every species may be produced when the modus is rightly understood: only mineralls [sic] produce minerals and sic de calmis."
Stephen Cox, the executive secretary of the society, said: "Such an intriguing find highlights the sheer volume of fascinating materials contained in the Royal Society's library and archive. "Our ongoing task is to ensure that the materials we hold are all identified and catalogued. This will allow historians and the public to fully access our great wealth of papers and artefacts from some of the most famous scientists in history. At the summer science exhibition, alongside the many exhibits featuring the cutting-edge science of today, people can find displays throughout the building of the legacy that past fellows have left behind, including these papers from Isaac Newton." John Young, from the Newton Project, said: "This is a hugely exciting find for Newton scholars and for historians of science in general. It provides vital evidence about the alchemical authors Newton was reading, and the alchemical theories he was investigating, in the last decades of the 17th century. The whereabouts of this document have been unknown since 1936 and it was a real thrill to see it preserved in the Royal Society's archives."
a LEGITIMATE PURSUIT
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/alchemy.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/alch-newman.html
Magic or Mainstream Science? An interview with historian Bill Newman
NOVA: Why are people surprised when they hear that Isaac Newton—the grand patriarch of physics—was an alchemist?
Newman: Well, I think it's because alchemy has been portrayed as the epitome of irrationality and a sort of avaricious folly.
NOVA: Sinister, dark-robed sorcerers trying to turn lead into gold. Is that an accurate picture of alchemists in Newton's time?
Newman: It's accurate for some alchemists. But we now know that most of the great minds of the period were involved in alchemy, including Robert Boyle, John Locke, Leibniz, any number of others.
NOVA: Given that so many great minds were interested in it, why was alchemy illegal?
Newman: Well, first of all, it became legal during Newton's time. But why was it illegal? There's a long association, for good reasons, between alchemy and counterfeiting. It's quite likely, actually, that medieval and early modern rulers were consciously employing alchemists to debase their own coinage.
NOVA: But they didn't want other people doing it?
Newman: [laughter] Yeah, right; exactly, exactly.
NOVA: So what were these "legitimate" alchemists in the 17th century trying to do?
Newman: Alchemy really encompassed all chemical technology—everything ranging from the manufacture of pigments for paint to making artificial precious stones. It included the manufacture of so-called "chemical medicines." And, of course, it also included the attempt to make the "philosophers' stone."
NOVA: Tell me about the philosophers' stone. I think of it vaguely as some magical substance that could turn ordinary metals into gold.
Newman: The philosophers' stone was thought to be an agent of universal transmutation. It also was viewed as a curative agent that could "cure" metals of their impurities and cure human beings of their illnesses. So it was a sort of universal panacea.
NOVA: Was Newton an alchemist because he wanted to make gold or find the key to immortality? Or was his alchemy just another part of his science—a way to gain knowledge about the material world?
Newman: If you look at the experimental notebooks that he kept for about 30 years, it really is impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was trying to produce the philosophers' stone. But I don't think he was doing it to gain monetary wealth.
NOVA: Was it to gain an understanding of nature?
Newman: And power over nature. Power over nature has always been a key element to alchemy.
Codes and Riddles
NOVA: Did alchemists think that they were going to discover powers they wanted to keep for themselves? Is that why alchemy is so veiled in secret codes?
Newman: That's certainly part of the reason. You find alchemical treatises that claim that knowledge of the philosophers' stone has to be kept secret, because if it gets out to the world that a particular alchemist has it, he'll be strangled in his bed to extract the secret.
NOVA: It seems that Newton also wanted to hold tight to his secrets—he never published any of his alchemical work.
Newman: I think that, like other alchemists, he thought that alchemy promised tremendous control over the natural world. It would allow you to transmute virtually anything into anything else, not just lead into gold. There are other things, too, that probably were in Newton's mind. For example, alchemists realized that if the philosophers' stone were real and it got out to the public, it would ruin the gold standard. [laughter]
NOVA: I think what makes a lot of people think of alchemy as black magic is this bizarre language—phrases like "the Green Dragon" or the "menstrual blood of the sordid whore."
Newman: Yes.
NOVA: It's mind-boggling to think of Newton writing those phrases.
Newman: Well, this was the enigmatic language of alchemy. I mean "enigmatic" in a quite strict sense: it was a riddling language. The best way to look at these metaphors is in the light of riddles. So the "menstrual blood of the sordid whore" is decipherable. It means simply the metalline form of antimony. That is the "menstrual blood" that's extracted from the "sordid whore," which is the ore of antimony. [See more of Newton's alchemy decoded in our interactive manuscript.]
NOVA: It's a coded language.
Newman: It is a code, and it's clear that the alchemists delighted in this code. It's almost a form of poetry. In fact, lots of alchemists wrote in the form of poetry, quite literally.
NOVA: Did all alchemists share the same code, use the same terminology?
Newman: They shared lots of common elements, but it did vary from alchemist to alchemist. It's extremely tricky for Newton. He was reading alchemists over a period of time, ranging over perhaps a thousand years, and there was a lot of development in these treatises. But Newton generally thinks they're all saying the same thing, so that's a problem.
NOVA: Why did Newton spend so much time copying the writing of other alchemists?
Newman: He wasn't for the most part just copying verbatim. What he was doing in many cases was weaving together extracts from different authors, trying to make sense out of them. I think alchemy was the ultimate riddle. Newton delighted in riddles, and this provided a challenge to him that he just couldn't resist.
Revealed Wisdom For a Chosen Few
NOVA: Why did Newton think that Greek myths somehow encoded alchemical recipes and a path to the philosophers' stone?
Newman: That theory had been in existence for quite a long time. Newton's major source in alchemy, George Starkey, shared this theory. Michael Maier is a famous writer of the early 17th century who tried to decipher as much Greek mythology as he could get his hands on. So it was a common belief.
NOVA: Was it part of a broader belief in some sort of "revealed wisdom" about the natural world?
Newman: Oh, yes. There's a tradition of scholarship that was very popular in the Renaissance called the prisca sapientia, the primal wisdom. It claimed that there was a secret wisdom that was first transmitted by an archetypical figure—say, for example, Moses—and then passed down through a line of successors, usually including Pythagoras, Plato, and so forth, and that this wisdom was really the ultimate tool for understanding the universe. Newton clearly believed that.
NOVA: Did Newton view himself as one of these chosen few, one of the people ordained to receive this wisdom?
Newman: I suspect he did, yes. I don't think he would have admitted it publicly, but one of his pastimes was concocting alchemical pseudonyms for himself. And one of these pseudonyms was Jehovah Sanctus Unus—that is, Jehovah, the Holy One.
NOVA: That's how Newton described himself?!
Newman: Yes!
NOVA: Did Newton think that he made progress in developing the philosophers' stone?
Newman: Yes, I think that's quite clear. If you look at his manuscripts, there are stages of development that you can isolate. In his experimental notebooks, there are entries where he says "I found the caduceus of Mercury today" and this sort of thing that reflect real discoveries that he's made in the laboratory.
Newton Under Wraps
NOVA: After Newton's death, why did none of his writings on alchemy come to light? Certainly people going through his papers came across this writing. Was it viewed as not worthy of him?
Newman: Oh, yeah. There's no question that they were considered to be borderline scandalous. Newton died in 1727. By that time you're well into the Enlightenment, and alchemy had become the domain of dunces; it was associated with all sorts of useless medieval knowledge. So the fact that Newton had been a serious student of this obsolete and idiotic field was really problematic.
NOVA: Do you think that today we should think less of Newton, knowing how deeply devoted he was to alchemy?
Newman: No. On the contrary, I think that this opens up a side of Newton that makes him a much more fascinating figure. And I think also the fact that so many of these very, very seminal figures in the Scientific Revolution were heavily involved in alchemy opens up a new historiographical area that really promises to throw quite a different light on the whole period.
NOVA: It opens our eyes to the incredibly wide range of Newton's intellectual pursuits.
Newman: Yeah, it's very important to see the full breadth of Newton's inquiries. And the dreams that were embodied in his alchemical pursuits explain to some degree how and why he was such a driven man. I think he really thought that alchemy provided a sort of limitless power over nature.
NOVA: And even though he recognized that he hadn't solved all the problems in alchemy, he truly felt that he had made strides.
Newman: Well, of course, he's famous for having said that he felt as though he were only a boy on a seashore, having picked up a pretty shell, and that there were many, many other shells remaining to be discovered on the edge of this vast sea. That's what he said about his scientific endeavor as a whole, not just his alchemy.
Remaining Puzzles
NOVA: You've said that Newton's alchemy is still a great unsolved mystery. Why?
Newman: In part because his experimental notebooks are so cryptic. These experimental notebooks pick up in 1678, and there is a story that there was a fire in Newton's laboratory immediately before that. So it's likely that we would have more materials if they hadn't been destroyed in this conflagration. Also, Newton doesn't bother to explain his terminology; being Newton, he expects to know his terminology. And the terminology is very perplexing. He uses standard alchemical decknamen—cover-names like the Green Lion and the Babylonian Dragon, and so forth—but he seems to be using them in ways that don't correspond to how his immediate sources used them. So we have to carry out a huge combined effort, both in our laboratory and in studying the texts, to determine what these substances were. Beyond that, Newton doesn't tell us why he's doing the experiments. He just says, "I did this and that, and I produced a volatile substance here," and so forth. He doesn't say the purpose of the experiment! So all of this has to be inferred and put together. It's really a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, and we're only at the beginning of having solved it.
NOVA: Wow. Do you enjoy actually getting into the lab and trying to reproduce what he might have been doing with his crucible?
Newman: Oh, absolutely. And in many cases, you can reproduce the products very clearly. It's satisfying, but it's a heck of a lot of work. [laughter]
NOVA: As you continue studying the manuscripts and replicating his experiments, what do you hope to find?
Newman: Well, there are a number of different things. One thing I'm trying to do is determine the chronology of the different manuscripts, so that we can say exactly how his ideas developed over time. Like I said, it's a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. I would just like to be able to put all the pieces together and see what he was really trying to do, what his goals were, and how this fit with his natural philosophy.
NOVA: And if you succeed in making the philosophers' stone, you'll let us know?
Newman: [laughter] If I succeed, I'll disappear.
the ALCHEMIST vs the COUNTERFEITER
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a8aXsxUg4tdw
Newton Hangs Forger, Invents Banking, Loses Millions in Bubble
Interview by Manuela Hoelterhoff / July 23, 2009
On March 22, 1699, the forger William Chaloner was dragged to the execution grounds at Tyburn, London, and hanged in front of a cheerful crowd, while his nemesis puttered away in his offices at the Mint. That would be Isaac Newton, the famed inventor of calculus, apple dropper and author of the "Principia," once a hot seller. A terrific new book, "Newton and the Counterfeiter," describes the scientist's little-known later years when, luckless in love and alchemy, he left Cambridge for London to become warden of the Royal Mint. Forgers, chiselers and melters had seriously undermined Britain's money supply. To deal with the shortfall, King William had ordered up the Great Recoinage, which wasn't going so well when Newton arrived to take up his post. How the Cambridge don laid the groundwork for modern banking makes for a riveting story told with verve and humor by Thomas Levenson, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We spoke on the phone.
Hoelterhoff: All those years hoping to turn lead into gold must have been pretty good preparation?
Levenson: Newton's alchemical work was a perfect preparation for a post that demanded an understanding of the processes of working metal. He had built his own furnaces, melted down plenty of substances, weighed, combined, assayed — all the skills one could hope for in a mint official. He was also one of the most rigorous observers of his day. If you wanted someone who could watch the flow of precious metal from the melting houses to the final coin presses, Newton was your man — and in fact his accounts at the end of the Great Recoinage demonstrate that he managed the passage of millions of pounds worth of silver through the mint with scrupulous honesty.
Hoelterhoff: What did the Great Recoinage entail?
Levenson: Recalling the old coins and re-minting them into new currency. Newton took up his post just as the first crucial milestone in the recoinage was about to pass. That was the moment when the Treasury would cease to accept the old coinage as legal tender for the payment of taxes. By that time, the recoinage effort was in a shambles, with almost none of the new silver coins needed to keep daily business going yet produced. Before he arrived, the Mint failed to meet even the modest goal of producing 15,000 pounds sterling worth of currency a week — a drop in the bucket against a total silver money supply of several million (roughly seven by most counts). By late summer, after Newton had been on the job for about four months, the Mint hit a then-European record of 100,000 pounds sterling minted in a six-day week. Not too shabby.
Hoelterhoff: What was the urgency?
Levenson: As the shortage of ready money persisted, minor riots broke out, and such sober men as John Evelyn, a founder of the Royal Society and one of that era's great diarists, worried seriously about the possibility of a more general insurrection.
Hoelterhoff: Why had silver disappeared?
Levenson: For the fundamental reason that any mispriced commodity disappears. The amount of silver that was legally required to be in say, a shilling, was worth slightly more melted down: three or four percent more — despite the fact that it was against the law.
Hoelterhoff: That was enough to ship coins to where? Amsterdam?
Levenson: Which was a big banking center.
Hoelterhoff: Then there were clippers who shaved coins for their silver or what? Turned them into fake gold coins?
Levenson: Some counterfeiters would use silver as a gilding material or to coat a base metal.
Hoelterhoff: Chaloner comes off as a dashing, reckless talent who hopes to the end his facility and connection will save him. Considering the horrific punishment for counterfeiters — you were lucky if you just got hung and not also quartered — I'm amazed how many people chose this line of work.
Levenson: One of the funny things is that because the penalties were so severe, they were less likely to be imposed. And you might get a reprieve for offering information. At this time, there was a huge criminal world running in parallel to the respectable world and it was sometimes quite porous. And London was a hard place to be poor, a horrible town to be poor in. If you had any talent, you tried in any possible way to better yourself, and Chaloner was smart and capable.
Hoelterhoff: How many counterfeiters did Newton catch? Any sign that he ever regretted sending his nemesis to his death?
Levenson: Maybe a couple of dozen were sent to the gibbet. There's no record he had any feelings about Chaloner, though his handwriting becomes increasingly cramped and angry in some of the notes he took for the case.
Hoelterhoff: How much fake money did Chaloner make?
Levenson: In prison, Chaloner boasted of having counterfeited about 30,000 pounds of false guineas and other denominations. That's between four or five million pounds, or around $7 million in today's currency.
Hoelterhoff: Newton ends up getting a promotion from warden to Master of the Mint, which made him rich. Then, in 1720 he lost millions in today's currency in the infamous South Sea Bubble. It seems incredible that his brain didn't tell him the returns were nuts.
Levenson: I try not to preach, but it is one of the arguments for intelligent and robust regulations when even someone as brilliant as Isaac Newton is taken. He hated being reminded of any mistake. The only reference that people have found to his South Sea losses is in the comment: "I can calculate the orbit of a comet, but I cannot calculate the madness of the people." He was swept up in the mania of the moment.
SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/ssb/index.html
http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/ssb/history.html
http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/ssb/collection.html
PREVIOUSLY on SPECTRE
https://spectrevision.net/2008/01/04/making-money/
PAPER GOLD
MAXWELL'S DEMONS
DOLLAR-A-YEAR MEN
HOW to MAKE GOLD
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text:
Q: Wiping dummy database without affecting structure I've been working on an MVC web application, which I already deployed to a webserver (Arvixe) using Webmatrix 3.
I've Inserted alot of dummy records for testing in the database, and now the website is online with all the dummy data.
My question is (and I've searched for it) : Now that my application is ready for production, how can I Wipe all data from the database (start fresh) without affecting any structure?
I've tried some solutions but ended up with more errors than I can count ( I am still new to MVC)
What I need to do is, Publish my website with 0 records (in my case, estates) and start uploading real data into the database, instead of the dummy ones.
Info :
1- I am using MVC4 Visual Studio 2012
2- I am using Entity Framework
3- I am using Webmatrix linked to my web hosting (Arvixe)
Thank you in advance for your help.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


So this SAME kid was living in LA a few months ago and bragging about being on the news there and getting youtube hits?
Isn't it also weird that if you look for arrest records under his name a 26 year old guy comes up that really, really looks similar? The hell are all these chances?
For the record, I don't think this kid's a real actor (he's terrible at it)....but I think he desperately wants some kind of fame and defend his FBI father (the FBI screwed up, end of story) and I think CNN is manipulating him to push their anti-Trump agenda.
Sugar daddy au with a twist where Yoongi is a producer just starting out, and while he's happy he took the risk, he's struggling to make ends meet, often having to rely on his friends for help. They really don't mind since it's never anything much, food mostly, and they love him.
But Yoongi's unhappy with it, doesn't like mooching off his friends, so one night when he's been sulky after having to share Hoseok's dinner instead of buying his own again, Hobi's trying to cheer him up and jokes about how Yoongi should just become a sugar baby.
And Yoongi laughs, because that's ridiculous, he doesn't feel comfortable sharing his body for money and honestly would prefer to be the daddy if he had the money to do something like that anyway.
In this recent CBS news special, David Hogg claims that he wasn't even at the school when the massacre happened. He rode his bike there as soon as he heard.
🤔Wasn't he recording video about gun control from inside school closet, during shooting though?
This is the anti-gun video David Hogg filmed from inside a school closet, supposedly DURING the massacre. Hogg states that it's NOT a drill, but it's an active shooter scene. He even states the name of suspect, Nikolas Cruz.
So officially Hogg was filming from inside the school closet earlier in the day about gun control, acting like it was an active shooter situation. Then he conveniently left school, before shooting happens. 🤔He rode his bike back after hearing word, but video is in closet again!!


The adult moths of this species are pale brown, with each wing having three pale indistinct zig-zag lines and a dark edge. The wingspan is about 2 cms.
The underside is plain pale brown, with a dark edge around each wing.
Volume 15 (1900), p. 140.


SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PMC-Sierra, Inc. (PMC®) (Nasdaq:PMCS), the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today announced that Memblaze Technology Co. Ltd, a leading provider of flash storage solutions, is utilizing PMC's Flashtec™ NVM Express (NVMe) controllers in its next-generation PCI Express® (PCIe®) flash accelerators.
The Flashtec-based Memblaze PBlaze4 products are targeted at hyperscale and Open Compute Project deployments. They provide ultra-low latency and the lowest CPU load in the industry, with read and write capabilities of up to 850,000 I/Os per second (IOPS) for random read and 265,000 IOPS for random write and 3.2GB/s sequential read, 2.5GB/s sequential write performance. Memblaze products enable its customers to define and alter key settings to ensure optimum performance in specific applications and platforms.
SSDs based on PMC's Flashtec NVMe controllers provide the highest performance, capacity and reliability. The flash memory controller family includes 16-channel and 32-channel devices to enable SSDs with up to 8TB of storage and performance up to 850,000 IOPS, two times greater capacity and performance than other controllers. Dual port functionality delivers high availability for enterprise-class application support, redundancy and sustained uptime reliability. PMC's Flashtec controller family supports the industry-standard NVMe interface, multiple NAND vendors and all common device drivers, enabling and accelerating wide-spread deployment of PCIe-based SSDs in cloud data centers and the enterprise.
Note to editors: Memblaze and PMC will showcase the new PBlaze4 flash accelerator at PMC's Flash Technology Forum at the Wenjin Hotel in Beijing, China, on December 3, 2014, from 1:30 to 5:00 PM CST. Speakers from both companies will join Sina, Inspur and China Telecom to discuss the latest innovations and use cases for deploying flash to accelerate storage in China's data centers. Follow the event on Twitter using hashtag #PMCFlashtec.
The mission of Memblaze is to make data processing faster and smarter. Traditional storage devices are struggling to adapt to the demand for high speed data processing. Memblaze is committed to tackling this challenge by offering high-performance solid flash storage products and solutions. For more information, visit: http://www.memblaze.com/en/.
PMC is a leading provider of enterprise storage system solutions for networked and server storage applications, with a broad portfolio of Adaptec by PMC® RAID adapters and HBAs, Tachyon® SAS/SATA and Fibre Channel I/O controllers, RAID controllers, Flashtec™ PCIe flash controllers and NVRAM drives, and maxSAS™ expander and FC disk interconnect products. Together, these products provide end-to-end semiconductor and software solutions to the industry's leading storage OEMs and ODMs and hyperscale data centers. For more information, visit http://www.pmcs.com/storage.
© Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2014. All rights reserved. PMC, PMC-SIERRA, TACHYON, ADAPTEC and Adaptec by PMC are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. in the United States and other countries. PMCS and Flashtec are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. PMC disclaims any ownership rights in other product and company names mentioned herein. PMC is the corporate brand of PMC-Sierra, Inc.
Memblaze Technology Co. Ltd, a leading provider of flash storage solutions, is utilizing PMC's Flashtec™ NVM Express controllers in its next-generation PCI Express® flash accelerators.


text:
È stato una volta campione sovietico e una volta campione europeo a squadre. Ha partecipato al Torneo dei candidati del 1953 disputatosi in Svizzera, competizione che stabilisce lo sfidante del campione del mondo di scacchi.

Oltre all'attività agonistica Averbach ha percorso la carriera arbitrale, ottenendo rilevanza internazionale sia in ambito agonistico che problemistico. Di grande importanza anche il suo apporto alla teoria del gioco e il contributo intellettuale, attraverso il lavoro di giornalista e di scrittore in ambito scacchistico.

Biografia
Nasce a Kaluga, città sul fiume Oka situata 160 chilometri a sud-ovest di Mosca e capitale dell'omonima regione (Oblast'), da padre tedesco di origine ebraica e madre russa. Impara il gioco degli scacchi all'età di 7 anni, ma ne resta affascinato definitivamente verso i 13 anni, quando assiste ad una lezione di Nikolaj Grigor'ev sui finali al circolo di scacchi di Mosca.

Oltre ad aver svolto la carriera agonistica ad altissimo livello, Averbach è stato un valente compositore di studi, con circa un centinaio di studi pubblicati. Nel 1956 la PCCC gli riconobbe il titolo di giudice internazionale per la composizione. Nel 1969 diventò arbitro internazionale e a queste attività ha associato sempre anche quella di giornalista, dirigente e scrittore. È stato per molti anni direttore della rivista « Šachmaty v SSSR » (Scacchi in URSS) e presidente della Federazione di scacchi sovietica dal 1972 al 1977.

Carriera

Fa il suo ingresso nel mondo scacchistico sovietico vincendo nel 1949 il campionato di Mosca, davanti a giocatori del calibro di Andor Lilienthal, Jakov Estrin e Vladimir Simagin. Vinse ancora il campionato di Mosca l'anno dopo (1950) e successivamente nel 1962.

Nel 1952 la FIDE gli riconosce il titolo di grande maestro.

Nel 1953 partecipa al celebre torneo dei candidati di Zurigo 1953, giungendo al decimo posto su quindici partecipanti.

Nel 1954 vince a Kiev il 21º campionato sovietico, davanti tra gli altri a Mark Tajmanov, Viktor Korčnoj, Tigran Petrosyan, Juchym Heller e Salo Flohr.

Due anni dopo, nel 23º campionato sovietico di San Pietroburgo, arriva pari primo con Tajmanov e Spasskij e secondo dopo gli spareggi (il titolo andò a Mark Tajmanov).

Nel 1957 in agosto vince la prima edizione del Campionato europeo a squadre, disputatosi a Vienna, giocando come prima riserva (11ª scacchiera) con la squadra dell'Unione Sovietica.

Nel 1958 si classifica quarto nel 25º campionato sovietico svoltosi a Riga; partecipa al torneo interzonale di Portorose, ma non accede al torneo dei candidati per solo mezzo punto.

Nel 1959 si classifica settimo al 26º campionato sovietico di Tbilisi con 10,5 su 19, a pari merito con Paul Keres.

Nel 1960 arriva secondo al Torneo di Hastings con 6,5 su 9, dietro di un punto a Svetozar Gligorić, plurivincitore del torneo.

Nel 1961 vince il Carl Schlechter Memorial con 9 punti su 11, distanziando di un punto il campione cecoslovacco Miroslav Filip.

Nel 1965 vince la terza edizione del Campionato europeo a squadre, disputatosi ad Amburgo, giocando in ottava scacchiera con la squadra dell'Unione Sovietica. Con 6 punti su 8 vince anche la medaglia d'oro individuale di scacchiera.

Teoria

Finali
Il contributo teorico agli scacchi di Averbach è stato dato soprattutto nei finali, dei quali è un grande cultore. In lingua italiana è stata tradotta soltanto un'opera: Che cosa bisogna sapere sui finali (in russo: Что нужно знать об эндшпиле - Čto nužno znat' ob endšpile) che affronta lo studio dei finali ritenuti essenziali per un giocatore principiante fino al raggiungimento del livello magistrale.

Dal 1956 al 1962 ha pubblicato un'opera divisa in tre volumi sui finali, poi revisionata negli anni '80 ed ampliata a ben cinque volumi.

.

Aperture
Ha dato il nome ad alcune varianti di apertura, tra le quali si ricordano:
 Variante Averbach della difesa moderna:  1. d4 d6 2. c4 g6 3. Cc3 Ag7 4. e4
 Variante Averbach della partita spagnola:  1. e4 e5 2. Cf3 Cc6 3. Ab5 a6 4. Aa4 Cf6 5. 0-0 Ae7 6. Te1 d6
 Variante Averbach della difesa ovest-indiana:  1. d4 Cf6 2. c4 e6 3. Cf3 b6 4. e3 Ab7 5. Ad3 c5 6. 0-0 Ae7 7. b3 0-0 8. Ab2 cxd4 9. Cxd4
 Variante Averbach della difesa est-indiana:  1. d4 Cf6 2. c4 g6 3. Cc3 Ag7 4. e4 d6 5. Ag5

Opere

Note

Voci correlate
 Finali elementari
 Finali di torre
 Finali di pezzi senza pedoni

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Scacchisti sovietici
Compositori di scacchi russi
Arbitri di scacchi
Centenari russi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We just learned about the Adnexa, things that stick out of your skin.
Part of the Adnexa is Hair.
Even though hair just looks like small strings to us, there are a lot of parts to hair like the root, the follicle, shaft, cuticle, cortex and medulla.
Hair can be curly or straight, and can be many colors like brown, black, blond, red or even white.
It grows on every part of the skin except places like the palms, bottoms of the feet, and lips.


Just a quick FYI to anyone who accesses any of the sites on my server (my blog, Wendy's site, the Harbour blog, and BlogWatcher primarily): I'm going to be doing some maintenance on the server today or tomorrow. During that time, the server will be unavailable. I expect this maintenance to take several hours. I plan on doing this during daytime hours, as I think that's when usage is lowest.


Nevertheless Phil Nerges was determined to write about his experiences. Inspired by works like All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Walt Whitman's Memoranda During the War, and Marguerite Duras' The War:A Memoir; he realized the value of meditating on the madness around him. Since returning from Iraq Phil has written two books: Iraq Journal: Sketches From the Contracting Life, an in-depth, remarkably honest and straightforward account of his experiences as a contractor during the height of the Iraq War. His other book They Must Be Hungry is fictional, and is a compilation of short stories about civilian workers. Both works provide a glimpse into life among the everyday workers, separate from the people and companies they work for. The stories are written in a refreshing, no-nonsense, almost raw style, suitable for the topics discussed.
In Iraq Journal, the reader is invited to join Phil on his journey from his home in New Jersey, to the war zone in Iraq. Based on his emails home and notes taken whilst working, Phil describes his experiences but also those of other workers, resulting in a vivid account of camp life. He discusses his motivations for going to the war zone, a decision misunderstood by most of those close to him. Life in Iraq was colored by fear, boredom, rockets, doubt, heat, mortars, sandstorms, kidnappings, and recurring bouts of crud. Phil also describes the raw beauty of the land, the people, and the culture.
Regardless of these inhumane and dangerous circumstances, Phil's journal makes it clear to the reader that there was also an almost inexplicable attrac-tion to life in the war zone. After his first stint in Iraq, during which his mother passed away and his relationship fell apart, Phil decided to work closer to home. He traded one disaster for another and started working on Hurricane Katrina recovery in Mississippi. Within ten days he was transfer-red to Key West after Hurricane Wilma damaged much of the island.
Phil wasn't going to last much longer. In addition to wondering how many attacks in a row he would escape injury, the nature of his work also changed significantly. He describes how in the beginning, the work focused on services for the troops, activities like building camps and supplying fuel. He felt a strong sense of purpose. Later, as the news stories about tax dollar squandering by contractors increased, so did the bureaucratic oversight. Consequently, the simplest tasks now required individual reports and an extra layer of employees added to read them. One plumbing department manager instructed his staff to write a separate report each time they unclogged a toilet, which numbered in the dozens each day. The portion of time devoted to providing actual services decreased, while the portion devoted to writing reports and attending meetings increased. Phil concluded that he did not want to risk his life for this any further and decided to retire from the warrior business. Just before he left Iraq, Phil heard that Saddam was hanged, somewhere in Baghdad. He noticed no sense of victory in the camp.
Back home, Phil looked for someone to write music for lyrics he wrote about MSR Tampa. He was introduced to Vic Ruggiero, the lead singer of the New York ska band The Slackers. The two started working on an album containing songs not about politics, but about everyday life. Phil chose to avoid writing protest songs, instead he wanted to give a voice to the workers who were in Iraq. Besides writing lyrics, Phil finished the unpublished novel he had already started writing in Iraq. He wrote a book of short stories next, first published in 2010 under the title, Don't Feed the Cats in Iraq accompanied by an album produced by Ruggiero. They must be Hungry, Tales from the World's Most Dangerous Highway, published in 2011, contains seven of the stories from the original Cats book plus two more written later. His short stories have appeared in Amoskeag, The Journal of Southern New Hampshire University and Foliate Oak Literary Magazine.
When you left for Iraq you were a fifty-four year old man without military experience, leaving a middle-class suburban life behind in New Jersey. What was it like to integrate into your new life in Iraq, a country so different from your own where you had to work with people from all over the world?
"I was fascinated by most of it. The civilian workers in Iraq were like the United Nations – mostly Arabs, but also Pakistanis, Indians, Ghurkas, Bosnians, English, Dutch, Filipinos, Sri Lankans and Italians. For the most part, the groups didn't mix, mostly due to language differences. I had contact with some workers through my inspection work and got to know them outside of work. I was intrigued at times, by the debates about the war; some workers sympathized with the insurgents, for example, during the battle of Fallujah. They told us what they thought and that was remarkable, because of the security concerns it raised, but they were largely dependable workers. Their views didn't interfere with their jobs. I mean that in general, of course there were exceptions. Personally I found adjusting to the noise hardest. Diesel engines constantly droned, always loud. They turned the generators, pulled the trucks. Peace and quiet usually meant something was wrong.
This very mixed group of contractors and the army as a whole was working closely with Iraqi civilians but also Muslims civilians from other countries. In They Must Be Hungry you describe how fragile the working relationship with these workers was. When something happened, Iraqis were immediately accused. How would you, in more general terms, characterize the American attitude towards Muslims who they employed?
In the story Dust Song, a contractor compares his work in Iraq with that of soldiers who fought in WWI, WWII Korea and Vietnam. His girlfriend doesn't agree with the comparison and says: ''The Iraqi war isn't the same and being a contractor isn't like being a soldier.' Which raises the question; where did contractors fit in?
Is a contractor's life worth less?
This must have made the reintegration into American society even more difficult. I can imagine that many contractors who have spent time in a war zone have psychological problems. Is there anyone looking out for them?
One of the more autobiographical stories in your novel The Writers Club tells the tale of Willy Saddler, a contractor who experiences difficulties when trying to re-enter society after his last stint in Iraq. Willy goes to a exhibition of expressionist paintings created by German soldiers who fought in the trenches during World War I. The paintings make perfect sense to him, which was odd because the things depicted were so twisted that they shouldn't make sense. Willy wants to do something too, but can't paint, so he decides to start writing in an attempt to make sense of his experiences in Iraq. Was writing therapeutic for you?
Certain topics are revisited throughout They Must Be Hungry. Relationships, insomnia, exhaustion and fear are discussed in almost every story. A very interesting returning topic was 'running away'. Based on your experiences in Iraq, what were people's motivations to leave their home country?
So what kind of people end up working in Iraq?
Your novel contains nine stories exploring the lives of civilian workers, the characters are truck drivers, food workers and support specialists who provide services to the troops. These men and women come from different backgrounds, have different jobs and their experiences varied. What can you tell me about your research methods? Did you interview people?
"The stories are based on personal observation. When you are crammed in with people, day in and day out, you hear their stories. Part of my job, and the part I liked most, was visiting different departments and meeting so many people. I would go and spend three or four hours and would speak not only about work but also about experiences. I got to know a lot of people. Also, I try to observe people and their habits closely. I read this book by Hemingway between my first and second year in Iraq. He says that when you go into a room, that you should be able to tell everything about this room when you come out. That is why I bought little black notebooks. I still have them, I just wrote everything down. I used a flashlight at night and writing kept me from obsessing about fear. It enabled me to stay much longer in Iraq.
Phil Nerges worked as a quality inspector for services provided to the Army beginning in 2004. He spent parts of the next three years, twenty months total, in the war zone.His short stories have appeared in Amoskeag, The Journal of Southern New Hampshire University and Foliate Oak Literary Magazine. His website is: http://dustsong.com/.


text:
package net.runelite.mixins;

import net.runelite.api.events.NameableNameChanged;
import net.runelite.api.mixins.FieldHook;
import net.runelite.api.mixins.Inject;
import net.runelite.api.mixins.Mixin;
import net.runelite.api.mixins.Shadow;
import net.runelite.rs.api.RSClient;
import net.runelite.rs.api.RSNameable;

@Mixin(RSNameable.class)
public abstract class RSNameableMixin implements RSNameable
{
	@Shadow("clientInstance")
	private static RSClient client;

	@FieldHook("prevName")
	@Inject
	public void onPrevNameChanged(int idx)
	{
		NameableNameChanged nameableNameChanged = new NameableNameChanged(this);
		client.getCallbacks().post(nameableNameChanged);
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Free Library > Business and Industry > Business > Microwave Journal > January 1, 2000
The Free Library > Business and Industry > Electronics and electrical industries > Microwave Journal > January 1, 2000
The Free Library > Business and Industry > Engineering and manufacturing > Microwave Journal > January 1, 2000
The Free Library > Date > 2000 > January > 1 > Microwave Journal
Philips Introduces New CMOS Technique.
<a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Philips+Introduces+New+CMOS+Technique.-a059427176
MLA style: "Philips Introduces New CMOS Technique.." The Free Library. 2000 Horizon House Publications, Inc. 16 Jan. 2021 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Philips+Introduces+New+CMOS+Technique.-a059427176
Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. Philips Introduces New CMOS Technique.." Retrieved Jan 16 2021 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Philips+Introduces+New+CMOS+Technique.-a059427176
APA style: Philips Introduces New CMOS Technique.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jan 16 2021 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Philips+Introduces+New+CMOS+Technique.-a059427176
Netherlands contractor Philips Semiconductors has introduced an enhanced 0.18 [micro]m complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technique that uses low dielectric, constant dielectrics, an additional local interconnection metal layer and new high density memory cells. Designated the CMOS18, the technique utilises a combination of metal layers with low sheet resistivity and a hydrogen silsesquioxane-based flowable oxide as the insulating layer, a combination that may significantly reduce parasitic capacitance, thereby shortening propagation delays. The conventional metal-dielectric-metal and metal-dielectric-semiconductor structures create parasitic capacitance that must be charged and discharged every time a logic signal propagates from one part of the IC to another, thereby slowing down chip performance. In order to maximise on-chip gate densities, the CMOS18 technique makes use of an additional local interconnect layer that is added to the six metal layers normally found in a 0.18 [micro] m CMOS device. Positioned below the normal metal layers at gate level, the new layer is made of tungsten and is capable of achieving conductor widths as low as 0.24 [micro]m. So configured, a local-interconnect-layer-equipped device is claimed to offer up to 20 percent silicon area improvement for typical core cells. To enhance device memory and chip density, CMOS18 devices include a special high density SRAM cell. The capability will be further enhanced via a high density dual-port SRAM cell, which is currently under development by the company. A Flash memory cell option is available for use in telecommunications and smart card applications. This option is based on stacked-gate technology and is significantly smaller than 0.8 [micro][m.sup.2] in area. The company is also migrating recently acquired VLSI technology cell libraries to the CMOS18 process in order to provide customers with the benefits of a very broad application-specific IC (ASIC) design library, advanced ASIC design tools and short development cycles.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Horizon House Publications, Inc.
Philips Semiconductors' complementary metal oxide semiconductor manufacturing technology
Philips Introduces New CMOS Technique.(Philips Semiconductors' complementary metal oxide semiconductor manufacturing technology)
Microwave Journal
4EUNE
German Army to Procure Ericsson Radar.
PCS Subscribers Forecast to Reach 65 Million by 2003.
Metal oxide semiconductors

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


One of the big aspects of this year`s show is Bluetooth technology with a whole host of speakers and audio equipment on offer that can connect to your smartphone, tablet or smart device remotely. If you are in the market for the latest Bluetooth technology, Here have today announced some real interesting products that are coming soon. Here is a quick run-down of what was announced today.
Looking for ideal Headphones Wireless Bluetooth OEM Manufacturer & supplier ? We have a wide selection at great prices to help you get creative. All the Bluetooth Earphone Plastic Mold &OEM are quality guaranteed. We are China Origin Factory of Bluetooth Speaker Injection Mold &OEM. If you have any question, please feel free to contact us.


Cineready ultra thin HDMI cable is especially soft and thin. Perfect to be used with gimbals, drones and camera rigs. It offers litterally no resistance and will thus not disturb the movement of your gimbal.
as thin as a 2€ coin!


Inventory We are a resale marketplace, not a box office or venue. Ticket prices may exceed face value. This site is not owned by Warner Theater Washington DC .
The Warner Theatre has quite the historic resume even though some of it may not be the best its been around for a while. In a city dominated by politics the Warner Theatre puts out a great list of concerts from year to year. Also known for hosting the annual BET awards the Warner Theatre bring comedy events through its doors as well as concerts. With great seating at all levels there is rarely an empty seat in the house.
Warner.Theatre-DC.com is a privately held company that specializes in the sale of tickets in the secondary market. We are not affiliated with any official supplier or box office. To purchase tickets to any Warner Theatre Washington DC events simply call our operators at anytime or click on the event you wish to attend.


text:
Султан Ахмед мирза (1451—1494) — правитель, 7-й султан Мавераннахра (1469—1494) из династии Тимуридов.

Биография
Султан Ахмед мирза (1451-1494), старший сын тимурида Абу Сеида, родился в 1451 году в Самарканде. В 1469 году, после трагической гибели отца, возглавил государство Тимуридов в Мавераннахре. Годы правления (1469-1494). Мать была дочерью Орда Буга тархана. Отец пожаловал ему в наместничество области Самарканда и Бухары. Позже к его владениям были присоединены Ташкент, Шахрухия и Сайрам. Затем он сам отдал во владение брату Умар-Шейху Ташкент и Сайрам.

По описанию его племянника Бабура, он был человеком высокого роста, с темно-русой бородой, краснолицый и тучный. Борода у него была на подбородке, на обеих щеках бороды не было. Он был очень хороший собеседник.

Он был мюридом Ходжа Ахрара, который оказывал ему почтение и поддержку.

Большинство важных дел он решал согласно пути закона. Стрелял он из лука очень хорошо и большей частью попадал пернатой и бесперой стрелой в утку. Он был любителем соколиной охоты.

Одним из авторитетных его эмиров являлся Абдулали-тархан.

Дети Султан Ахмед мирзы

У него было два сына, которые умерли в младенчестве, и пять дочерей. Старше всех была Рабия Султан бегим, её называли Кара Куз биким.

Бабур в своих воспоминаниях описывает обычаи при дворе Султан Ахмеда:
Когда я пяти лет от роду прибыл в Самарканд к Султан Ахмед мирзе, он только что взял в жены Ханзаде биким, из [дома] термезских ханзаде и она еще носила на лице покрывало. По тюркскому обычаю мне приказали открыть ей лицо.

Смерть
Султан Ахмед мирза скончался близ Ура-тюбе в 1494 году. После него на престол в Самарканде взошел его брат Султан Махмуд мирза.

Примечания

Литература
 Бартольд В. В. Сочинения. — Т. II. Ч. 2. — , 1964.

Монархи государства Тимуридов
Правители Азии XV века


text:
The Historic Aircraft Memorial Museum (HAMM) was chartered on January 25, 1985 as the Historic Aircraft Memorial Foundation (HAMF), a Texas non-profit and tax exempt corporation. Original goals of the Foundation included building an Aviation Hangar and Museum at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport to offer a permanent place for the display of both active and static historic aircraft and aviation memorabilia. On March 6, 2000, a simple corporate name change was requested from and approved by the Secretary of State of Texas to more fully describe the expanded mission of the organization; i.e., to present the advancement of aviation during the 20th Century through the collection, preservation and display of aviation memorabilia and aircraft for the education and benefit of the public. From then on the Tyler organization became known as the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM).
When the HAMM hangar was first proposed in 1985, it was designed to house a PBY-6A restored by the Lone Star Wing of the Confederate Air Force. Tragically the PBY flying boat crashed in Laguna Madre off Padre Island, Texas. That same year construction was put on hold following the PBY-6A accident. However, in the interim, a ground lease was obtained at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, a slab and foundation was poured and extensive excavation and grading was done on the site.
In 1995 the Foundation was reorganized and new goals were set. The scope of the museum was enlarged to include the history of aviation including all developments of the 20th Century, and a plan for phased construction emerged. The first three phases consisted of constructing a 2,000 square foot Exhibits Hall to house aviation memorabilia, a 2,000 square foot Multipurpose Hall to house a library, office, and meeting area, and a 13,000 square foot hangar. On completion, this location, at 2198 Dixie Dr., served all of the above functions until 2007.
In 2006, the museum entered into an agreement with the city of Tyler to occupy space in the old North Terminal Building, which was the former airline terminal, located at 150 Airport Dr, Tyler, TX 75704 and also houses the active control tower and a restaurant. The building was built immediately after World War II and reflects the architecture of the period. After a year of renovating the facility, the museum opened for visitors on July 5, 2007. This wonderful expansion opportunity enabled the museum to more than double the exhibit space, enlarge the museum store and library, add a multimedia theater room, and provide additional educational programs. Included in the lease agreement is a large outdoor space on the tarmac, next to the terminal building, where currently 14 planes are on static display, and enough vacant space for visiting aircraft to park.
Today, the Hangar on Dixie Dr. serves as the restoration facility for aircraft and storage for excess memorabilia. The Hangar also is home to two MiG17s with FighterJets Inc., which is owned by 2 HAMM members and performs in air shows throughout the US and Canada. Since the Hangar is a working hangar, it is no longer open to the public.


A Christmas-shortened week sees the final release of third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Tuesday and Core Capital Goods Orders on Wednesday. Markets close early on Thursday for Christmas Eve and are closed on Friday for Christmas Day.
Core Capital Goods Orders could be the best leading indicator of all on business investment spending. Orders tend to decline six to twelve months before an economic downturn and typically rebound anywhere from three to eighteen months after the bottom of the recession (See chart below). The steady climb in capital goods orders that followed the last recession has slowed somewhat through 2014-2015, suggesting a slower pace of growth in corporate investment.


Are Western States Getting Fair Return on Energy Development?
With sky-high energy prices driving new oil and gas exploration in the American West, states are struggling to keep pace with critical infrastructure and revenue policies. Working with Montana-based Headwaters Economics, The Rural West Initiative has published a comprehensive multimedia report, combining a rigorous economic and policy analysis with a 31-minute interactive video documentary.
As oil production from the Bakken formation continues to set records in North Dakota, the sheer pace and scale of the boom is still unfolding. The intensity of industrial activity in western North Dakota translates into mounting concerns about the ability of local and state government to respond to growing infrastructure needs and service demands. In short, the fiscal policies on the books in North Dakota and other states may be especially ill suited to unconventional oil plays.


Is sraith gearrscannáin Mheiriceánach é Tom and Jerry. Sraith beochana atá ann, cruthaithe ag William Hanna agus Joseph Barbera sa bhliain 1940.
Tugadh an leathanach seo cothrom le dáta an 18 Aibreán 2017 ag 23:37.


text:
Q: The group $\langle a,b,c \ | a^3,b^2, ab=ba^2, c^2, ac=ca, bc=cb \rangle$? The group $\langle a,b,c \ | a^3,b^2, ab=ba^2, c^2, ac=ca, bc=cb \rangle$ is isomorphic to which permutation group.
I have calculated its order and it is $12$, so my guess was $A_4$ but it is not working out as I tried  to satisfy relations, which group it is isomorphic to?

A: Note that $c$ commutes with $a$ and $b$, so we have immediately that
$G=\langle a,b,c \ | a^3,b^2, ab=ba^2, c^2, ac=ca, bc=cb\rangle = H \oplus \langle c \ | c^2=1 \rangle = H \oplus \, \mathbb{Z}_2$
for some group $H$ of order 6. So how many groups of order 6 are there...?

A: Let $G = \langle a,b,c |a^3,b^2,ab=ba^2,c^2,ac=ca,bc=cb\rangle$.  The subgroup $H$ generated by $\{a,b\}$ is isomorphic to $S_3$.  The element $c$ commutes with $H$, and so lies in the center of $G$, which intersects $H$ trivially (since $H$ has trivial center).  So $G$ is the direct product $H \times \langle c\rangle$.
This group is not isomorphic to a subgroup of $S_4$, since in $S_4$ there are no pairs of commuting elements $a,c$ such that $a$ has order 3 and $c$ has order 2.
This group is isomorphic to a subgroup of $S_5$.  Let $H$ be the subgroup which fixes the last two points, and let $c$ be the transposition which interchanges the last two points.


text:
Q: Selecting only text within a div tag I'm working on a web parser using urllib.  I need to be able to only save lines that lie within a certain div tag.  for instance:  I'm saving all text in the div "body."  This means all text within the div tags will be returned.  It also means if there are other divs inside of it thats fine, but as soon as I hit the parent  it stops.  Any ideas?
My Idea

*

*search for the div you're looking
for.

*Record the position.

*Keep track of any divs in the
future.  +1 for new div -1 for end
div.

*when back to 0, your at your parent
div?  Save location.

*Then save data from beginnning
number to end number?

A: If you're not really excited at the idea of parsing the HTML code yourself, there are two good options:
Beautiful Soup
Lxml
You'll probably find that lxml runs faster than BeautifulSoup, but in my uses, Beautiful Soup was very easy to learn and use, and handled typical crappy HTML as found in the wild well enough that I don't have need for anything else.
YMMV.

A: Using lxml:
import lxml.html as lh
content='''\

AAAA

BBBB

CCCC

DDDD

EEEE

FFFF

'''
doc=lh.document_fromstring(content)
div=doc.xpath('./body/div')[0]
print(div.text_content())
# AAAA
#   BBBB
#      CCCC
#      DDDD
#   EEEE

div=doc.xpath('./body/div/div')[0]
print(div.text_content())
# BBBB
#      CCCC
#      DDDD

A: Personally I prefer lxml in general, but there are times where it's HTML handling is a bit off... Here's a BeautifulSoup recipe if it helps.
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup, NavigableString

def printText(tags):
    s = []
    for tag in tags :
        if tag.__class__ == NavigableString :
            s.append(tag)
        else :
            s.append(printText(tag))
    return "".join(s)

html = "
Para 1
Div Lead
Para 2
Quote 1

Quote 2"
soup = BeautifulSoup(html)

v = soup.find('div', attrs={ 'class': 'stuff'})

print v.text_content


All skaters that registered at the 2015 Skate Pittsburgh receive one video of their solo performance. Videos are available in HD Digital or DVD format. The Digital Download is a true HD file and is better than a DVD. The file is in MP4 format and ready to upload to any social media. You can copy it to your tablet, burn it to your own DVD, or any other family member can download the file. Downloading your video is very easy! Please look for the event you were in and click on your name below to start the download. If you have any questions or have problems downloading your event please contact us at resvideo@hotmail.com for help. If you are interested in any other event you skated in please contact us and we can upload any additional events for you.
Great Images of the Competition!


text:
Tag: SamSam Ransomware
Posted on November 28, 2018 by 1910emo1997
Bibi1581 Blog 11/28/2018: Morning Edition
…..and G.M. would not be closing their plants in Ohio, Michigan & Maryland. Get smart Congress. Also, the countries that send us cars have taken advantage of the U.S. for decades. The President has great power on this issue – Because of the G.M. event, it is being studied now!
Verified account 1h1 hour ago
The reason that the small truck business in the U.S. is such a go to favorite is that, for many years, Tariffs of 25% have been put on small trucks coming into our country. It is called the "chicken tax." If we did that with cars coming in, many more cars would be built here…..
Verified account Oct 30
WOW – if a conservative said this they would be boycotted and not allowed back in the public arena — Hillary said "all black people look the same" – incredibly racist thing to say Hillary! RT!
Dan Bongino Retweeted Matt Batzel
Dan Bongino added,
I'm thankful for every day Hillary Clinton is not President!
🚂🇺🇸 18h18 hours ago
Will CNN ever ask Border Patrol agents how they felt having large rocks chucked at them by criminal illegals?
Illegals can get up to $3,874 a month under Federal Assistance program. Our social security checks are on average $1200 a month. RT if you agree: If you weren't born in the United States, you should receive $0 assistance.
If GM doesn't want to keep their jobs in the United States, they should pay back the $11.2 billion bailout that was funded by the American taxpayer.
🚂🇺🇸 8h8 hours ago
While the disgusting Fake News is doing everything within their power not to report it that way, at least 3 major players are intimating that the Angry Mueller Gang of Dems is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief. This is our Joseph McCarthy Era!
Verified account 12h12 hours ago
Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!
Brenda Snipes, in charge of voting in Broward County, Florida, was just spotted wearing a beautiful dress with 300 I VOTED signs on it. Just kidding, she is a fine, very honorable and highly respected voting tactician!
2…………> Iranian Extortionists: Newark
A federal grand jury returned an indictment unsealed today in Newark, New Jersey charging Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, 27, both of Iran, in a 34-month-long international computer hacking and extortion scheme involving the deployment of sophisticated ransomware.
The six-count indictment alleges that Savandi and Mansouri, acting from inside Iran, authored malware, known as "SamSam Ransomware," capable of forcibly encrypting data on the computers of victims.
According to the indictment, beginning in December 2015, Savandi and Mansouri would then allegedly access the networks of victim entities without authorization through security vulnerabilities, and install and execute the SamSam Ransomware on the computers, resulting in the encryption of data on the victims' computers. These more than 200 victims included hospitals, municipalities, and public institutions, according to the indictment. Savandi and Mansouri extorted victim entities by demanding a ransom paid in the virtual currency Bitcoin in exchange for decryption keys for the encrypted data, collecting ransom payments from victim entities that paid the ransom, and exchanging the Bitcoin proceeds into Iranian rial using Iran-based Bitcoin exchangers.
The indictment alleges that, as a result of their conduct, Savandi and Mansouri have collected over USD 6 million in ransom payments to date, and caused over USD 30 million in losses to victims.
"The Iranian defendants allegedly used hacking and malware to cause more than $30 million in losses to more than 200 victims," said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.
"According to the indictment, the hackers infiltrated computer systems in 10 states and Canada and then demanded payment. The criminal activity harmed state agencies, city governments, hospitals, and countless innocent victims."
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-iranian-men-indicted-deploying-ransomware-extort-hospitals-municipalities-and-public
3…………> Chemical Plan Explosion: China
An explosion near a chemical plant in northern China killed at least 22 people and injured 22 others.
The blast occurred in Zhangjiakou, a city in Hebei province near Beijing, the local government in Zhangjiakou said on Chinese social media platform WeChat. The injured were rushed to hospitals.
A fire that erupted after the explosion was brought under control and roughly 50 vehicles were damaged, including trucks. An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the blast.
4…………> Forbidden Books: Nazi's Censorship
During the Nazi book burnings of 1933 literature considered as 'Un-German' was ceremonially burned. One man made it his life's work to preserve them for future generations.
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p06l49ng/the-place-preserving-books-that-nazis-tried-to-destroy
5…………> New Cancer Drug: Vitrakvi
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved an advanced cancer treatment drug to be sold under the brand name Vitrakvi that in clinical trials has shown to significantly reduce tumors in 81 percent of patients with 24 different types of cancers while causing only mild side effects.
Vitrakvi, commonly known as larotrectinib, targets a biomarker, or a gene that identifies a disease, enabling the drug to work across different types of tumors rather than the location in the body where cancer started.
The mutation that Vitrakvi targets is called neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, or TRK, and is a gene fusion found in solid tumors. Around 3,000 Americans, or 1 percent of stable tumor cancer patients, are affected by TRK fusion every year, Bayer reported.
https://p.dw.com/p/38wyB
Tags: biomarker, chemical plant, China, encryption, explosion, Faramarz Shahi Savandi, Hebei province, Hillary, indictment, Mohammad Mansouri, neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, racist, SamSam Ransomware, Vitrakvi, Zhangjiakou


text:
current page protein found worms helps stop seizure activity
Protein found in worms helps to stop seizure activity
Exciting new research that involves using a protein in worms to suppress seizures, could spell hope in the future for thousands of people with epilepsy.
Scientists at University College London (UCL) have used a chemical found in worms to reduce seizure activity in the brains of epileptic rats. The chemical produces a protein that quietens down brain activity when glutamate levels build up causing neuronal excitement in the brain.
The chemical is delivered into the brain by injecting it through the skull inside a harmless virus. Using a technique called gene therapy, this enables the worm DNA to spread throughout the brain.
Great hope for the future
Epilepsy Society's medical director Professor Ley Sander described the new technique as very promising but cautioned that there was still a long way to go before the technique could be safely used in humans.
'This is a very exciting piece of work offering great hope in the future for people with focal epilepsy that does not respond to conventional treatment. Focal epilepsy starts in a specific area of the brain and where that area can be pinpointed, it is sometimes possible to remove the focal point through brain surgery. But this is possibile if it is in an area of the brain that will not compromise essential functions such as language and movement.
'Modifying the excitability of nerve cells by introducing a targeted 'virus' that will not infect a nerve cell but instead deactivate the seizure, may offer a real alternative to surgery. It also has the advantage of preserving the functional areas of the brain.
'There is still a long way to go. At the moment results have only been shown in animal models and it is important that this is now translated into humans.
'But in the future, this type of gene therapy could be used in parts of the brain which are critical for cognitive functions and movement and may also be used where seizures occur in multiple parts of the brain.'
Engineering genes
Epilepsy Society works as part of a unique arrangement with UCL and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Professor Sander said that research into gene therapy could really benefit discoveries made through the charity's genomic sequencing programme.
'As we identify genes that are contributory to epilepsy, new gene therapy techniques will allow our colleagues to find ways to engineer them, either switching on or off activity as required. This holds great promise for people with epilepsy.'
Available on NHS in future
If the chemical from worms induces the same response in humans as in rats, the UCL research team hopes a new treatment could be available on the NHS within 10 years.
The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Read more about the latest research
Listen to UCL's Professor Matthew Walker talking about gene therapy and epilepsy below: