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September 6, 2019 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
« First Friday at Webster's
Woskob Family Gallery Opening New Exhibition with Reception on First Friday »
Relax. Play. Shop. Stay.
Experience the cool vibe of downtown State College during our monthly First Friday events. A casual atmosphere features art, people-watching, mingling with friends, shopping, and dining at the diverse and delectable State College restaurants. First Friday goers will experience after-hours access to galleries and shops, free bites and beverages, live music and entertainment, retail and restaurant specials, and more. And there's free parking in the Pugh, Fraser and Beaver garages with validations from participating merchants. Visit FirstFridayStateCollege.com for all the details.
First Friday: Jack Mernin Art Exhibit
The Expect More Store presents the work of local artist Jack Mernin during First Friday! Stop by to view his original paintings and enjoy cheeses, wine, and beer.
Born in State College, Mernin grew up in Belleville, PA and and holds a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He currently divides his time between Belleville and Manila, the Philippines. Through the process of painting, Mernin desires to invent an ineffable image that escapes any singular verbal articulation.
Pete Kilpatrick Band on the MLK Plaza Stage on Fraser Street
We're excited to welcome Pete Kilpatrick Band to Downtown State College's First Friday! Maine based singer/songwriter, Pete Kilpatrick, has released seven original albums and has played shows alongside Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz, Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike Mccready, Ray Lamontagne, Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, Guster and many others! Pete's band will play on the Fraser Street MLK Plaza stage from 5-8pm on September 6th.
Check out his music here… https://www.petekilpatrickband.com/
Thankathon & Launch of the Mothership at 3 Dots Downtown
Join us on First Friday for a celebration of gratitude. Part Thankathon, part Funk dance party, we'll be featuring an exciting installation community art piece inspired by the Mothership.
WHAT IS A THANKATHON:
Happy Valley's first Thankathon has a mission to ensure that the kindness, caring actions, and bravery that happens in our community does not go unnoticed. Do you have a great neighbor that helped you when you crashed your bike, a teacher that made a positive difference, a co-worker that always has helpful advice – participate in the Thankathon and let them know! At the Thankathon, there will be free thank you cards, a ton of art supplies to use to craft your own, and a PostSecret-style wall of thanks. Come by to brighten people's day with thank you cards, help us meet our goal of 1,000 thank you's in our community, and learn about who and what is making a positive difference in our community from the Gratitude Wall.
WHAT IS THE MOTHERSHIP:
The original Mothership was an elaborate performance prop used by Dr. Funkenstein (George Clinton) during his many tours in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and 1990s. A replica is currently held in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but we'll be building our own version as an act of appreciation and gratitude to the power of Funk culture and Black representation.
Plus, we will have an epic Funk dance party!
Fourth Anniversary Party at The Makery
Join The Makery to celebrate FOUR years of creative classes, parties & events in downtown State College!
At this FREE community event, the will have maker stations from each of their 12 Makery Instructors, music, refreshments and lots of fun surprises. We hope you'll pop in for the party!
In & Out of Focus | A Photography Show at the Art Alliance Gallery Downtown
Visit the Art Alliance Gallery Downtown during First Friday for Art In and Out of Focus, a photography show presented jointly by the Art Alliance and the State College Photography Club!
Andrew Jackson & Friends perform on The Tavern Walkway
Enjoy the smooth sounds of Andrew Jackson & Friends during September First Friday down by The Tavern!
Woskob Family Gallery Opening New Exhibition
Woskob Family Gallery will debut its fall exhibition during First Friday! Enjoy an ambitious new wall drawing exploring the local landscape and a reception from 5:00 – 8:00 PM.
Called Folded Section, the work will be created over a period of two weeks by Assistant Teaching Professor of Landscape Architecture Alec Spangler and will be on view through January 10, 2020.
Folded Section is a site-specific wall drawing that re-imagines the local ridge and valley landscape. It will explore relationships between the bodily experience of long distances and representations of space in art and design.
Lion's Pride celebrates Penn State football season during First Friday
Stop by Lion's Pride during First Friday as they celebrate Penn State Football and the 2019 season…pick up a FREE commemorative button during your visit!
First Friday at Appalachian Outdoors
Appalachian Outdoors always has a fun First Friday event with food, drinks and a variety of vendors! Make your way to your favorite outdoor store during First Friday from 5-8pm!
First Friday at Hotel State College
Enjoy 15% off of food…just mention FIRST FRIDAY from 5-8pm on September 6th at Spats at the Grill, The Corner Room, Bill Pickle's Tap Room and Chumley's!
Featured, First Friday, First Friday (Official Events)
FirstFridayStateCollege.com
www.DowntownStateCollege.com
An event every month that begins at 5:00 pm on day First of the month, repeating indefinitely
First Friday at Webster's
Clothing Giveaway


Julian's visions were about God's love, which we can readily admit is entirely beyond our understanding. We are not so ready to admit that God's rightfulness and his judgment are beyond our understanding, for to the human mind these are rational, systematic concepts whose ordering seems intrinsically opposed to that of love.
Instead of abandoning either judgment, she holds both in tension, and admits she will continue as long as she lives to try to sort these two judgments out.
This is Julian's great act of humility and faith: to confess she does not know and cannot understand, and yet persist in trust both of what she has been taught (by the Church), and what God reveals to her.
What she does understand is that what wrath and blame there are, are in us and not in God. And since she sees that our "true salvation and our complete bliss" is "to be like our Lord perfectly," as long as we hold onto any of this wrath and blame, coming from our "muddled" human judgment, we will bear the consequences of our own lack of mercy and likeness to God.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Stephen B. Luce Part I
Posted on January 3, 2021 by MSW
Intellectual Leader of the New US Navy
Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce was the intellectual leader and the catalyst for professional naval thinking among the generation of officers who became the admirals of America's New Navy. Luce, himself, belonged to an earlier generation, but his contribution to the naval service became the legacy for the new era. As Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske wrote in an obituary in 1917:
Luce taught the Navy to think, to think about the Navy as a whole. . . . More clearly than any other man in American history he saw the relations that ought to exist between the central government and its military and naval officers. . . . Luce saw strategy as clearly as most of us see a material object. To him, more than any other officer who ever lived, are naval officers indebted for the understanding they have of their profession.1
It was with this point in mind that Fiske spoke for his own generation when he dedicated his autobiography to Luce, "who saw the light before others saw it and led the Navies toward it."
Although Luce's impact was large, his contributions were for the most part intangible ones. The preeminent seaman in the navy of his day, he has won respect for his ability and accomplishment in command of ships at sea, yet his achievement was to go beyond that and to use his success and practical knowledge as the basis for a conceptual understanding of the navy as a profession. His greatest achievements were made in peacetime as an administrator, an organizer, a writer, and a teacher. Most important, Luce may be credited with establishing a system of education and training within the U.S. Navy, ranging from the lowest apprentice seaman to the highest level of civil and naval command. mHis concept of education at the highest level was the basis for the Naval War College as an institution that would foster the continuing development and refinement of tactical and strategic theory, as well as the organizational concepts through which such theories and academic examination could be effectively translated into practice. Despite the intangible quality of his contribution to a rising generation of naval officers, there remain institutions within the U.S. Navy that derive their roles directly from the ideas that Luce championed. Under their present names, they are the Naval Recruit Training Command, the State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, the Naval War College, and the office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Stephen Bleecker Luce was born in Albany, New York, on 25 March 1827, the third son of Vinal and Charlotte Bleecker Luce. The original Luce family had come from England and settled in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; his mother was from one of the old Dutch families of New York. In 1833, when Stephen was six years old, his father moved to Washington, D.C., where he obtained an appointment as a clerk in the Treasury Department through family connections with President Martin Van Buren. Family tradition has it that, at age fourteen, Stephen went to the White House with his father and personally requested a naval commission from Van Buren. Whatever the circumstances, Van Buren signed Stephen's appointment as a midshipman on 19 October 1841.
Assigned first to the receiving ship at New York, Luce spent his first five months in naval life on board the ship-of-the-line North Carolina during the winter of 1841. After his indoctrination, Luce reported to the newly commissioned frigate Congress, cruising on the Mediterranean and off the east coast of South America. In 1845, Luce was assigned to the ship-of-the-line Columbus, then preparing to sail as the flagship of Commodore James Biddle's squadron, which would bring to China the ratification of America's first treaty with that country and then make the first attempt to establish formal relations between the United States and Japan. On the return leg of the voyage, Luce spent six months in the Columbus, cruising on the California coast during the Mexican War. After two, three-year cruises at sea, Luce, with a number of his contemporary midshipmen, was sent to the newly established U.S. Naval Academy, where he became a member of the second class to be sent to the school. The early classes were not expected to follow a finely prescribed curriculum; for the most part, the midshipmen were at Annapolis to review information that they had learned from their seagoing mathematics professors and to prepare for promotion examinations. Luce spent the months between April 1848 and August 1849 studying for his examinations at Annapolis, Maryland.
In its early years, Annapolis lacked the formal program of education for which it later became known. In 1850, a year after Luce left the Naval Academy, it went through its first reform, during which it was remodeled along the lines of the Military Academy at West Point. The school's need for educational reform and its lack of discipline were readily apparent to Luce and were the cause of a punishment that hindered his career for years. In March 1849, the Secretary of the Navy had authorized midshipmen to participate in the inauguration ceremonies for President Zachary Taylor, but the superintendent of the academy decided not to take advantage of the opportunity. A number of midshipmen, including Luce, showed their displeasure by staging a demonstration, in protest. For his role in this event, Luce lost seventy-two places on the promotion list, which moved him from fourth in his class to near the bottom and delayed his promotion to lieutenant for six years.
As a passed midshipman, he then served from 1849 to 1852 in the sloop-of-war Vandalia on the Pacific station. Fortunately, part of his personal journal for this period is preserved among his papers. This ledger-sized book gives a good picture of the young officer in Honolulu, in San Francisco, and on board ship; it also provides an insight into his reading habits: Milton's Paradise Lost, Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop, works of Shakespeare, and George Grote's twelve-volume History of Greece. In addition, he read the Bible and knew it well. He became familiar with the writings of the French biblical scholar Augustin Calmet, the sailor-poet William Falconer, and such authors as Lord Byron, Theodor Mommsen, and James Fenimore Cooper. While studying these works, Luce provided for his own liberal arts education through broad reading, travel, and experience. As he became proficient in the practical skills of his profession, Luce developed an awareness of the type and quality of men that the naval service required. Understandably, this knowledge grew with the scope of his practical experience.
Following Luce's tour of duty in the Vandalia came four years in the Coast Survey. For a brief period in 1853, he assisted Lieutenant James M. Gillis with calculations made from Gillis's observations of Venus and Mars between 1849 and 1852. Luce was then assigned to various survey ships on the Atlantic coast, where he continued to gain experience in the scientific aspects of his profession: astronomy, oceanography, cartography, and hydrography. On 7 December 1854, Stephen married a childhood friend, Elisa Henley, daughter of Commodore John C. Henley and a grandniece of Martha Washington. Three children were born of the marriage: John Dandridge Henley Luce (1855–1921), Caroline Luce (1857–1933), and Charlotte Luce (1859–1946).
From 1857 to 1860, Luce served first as a lieutenant in the sloop-of-war Jamestown and then on the east coast of Central America. By this point in his career, he had gained a wide variety of experience from which he could draw sound observations about his profession and outline the general direction of his future career. In 1858, the thirty-one-year-old officer wrote in his private journal, "It is my opinion . . . that the navy should be re-organized." These were significant words, for they expressed his early determination to reform the service. In the long journal entry that followed, he discussed the training and education required for officers to lead and organize men. These fields of interest seem unusual when compared with those of other officers at the time, but their selection was very much a product of his own experience.
Just before the Civil War—in 1860—orders to the Naval Academy as an instructor in seamanship and gunnery provided Luce with his first opportunity to write and to publish. His initial published effort was in the area of practical training: the compilation and revision of textbooks for the Naval Academy.
As part of this work, Luce first revised a small gunnery manual that had been written by Lieutenant W. H. Parker in 1859: Instruction for Naval Light Artillery, Afloat and Ashore. When Parker resigned his commission to join the Confederacy, Luce was asked to revise the "rebel" officer's work. Upon completion of that assignment, Luce saw the need for a text on seamanship; he perceived the inadequacy of the books on this important subject that were already in print and available in America. In recommending to the Commandant of Midshipmen that a seamanship text be prepared, he noted: "Compared to the Army with their wealth of professional literature, we may be likened to the nomadic tribes of the East who are content with the vague tradition of the past. Does it seem creditable then, Sir, to this Institution that it should possess no text book on the most important branch taught within its halls?"
When his textbook was finally published a year or so later, it was not an original treatise on seamanship but a compilation from a wide variety of sources. Revised over the years, Seamanship became the standard American text for the late nineteenth century and appeared in nine different editions. In the area of practical sea training, this book was Luce's major contribution. As each edition appeared, Luce ensured that the new aspects of shiphandling in steamships were considered, along with guidelines for the newly popular fore-and-aft sailing rig. His attention to these details demonstrated his continuing interest in the practical aspects of the art, and his text provided up-to-date information on these matters to the academy's midshipmen.
At the same time, Luce was an advocate of training under sail as the most appropriate method of teaching practical maritime skills. Not one to be reactionary or anachronistic, Luce strongly believed that practical experience under sail would teach a young man more about the basic nature of ships than experience in any other type of vessel.
Luce's textbooks were all devoted to obtaining a standard routine for all drills, maneuvers, and evolutions at sea; but together, they form only a small part of Luce's literary contribution to training. Within a decade after his first text appeared, Luce had expanded the scope of his work to the broad problems of a training system. This too had its origins in Luce's experience during the period from 1861 to 1865.
Luce's service during the Civil War was divided between the Naval Academy and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. He participated in the early blockade, the operations at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, and the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina. His most fruitful activity during this period, however, had nothing to do with the prosecution of the war. In the summer of 1863, he took his first command, the midshipman practice ship Macedonia, to Europe and visited the naval installations at Portsmouth and Plymouth, England, and Cherbourg, France. The French navy at this time was experiencing a resurgence, and the English were meeting the French challenge; both nations were developing efficient maritime administrations and excellent training systems. Luce compiled a comprehensive report on European naval training and later used this information as source material in his articles and letters recommending a system that would be appropriate for the United States. Shortly after returning from Europe, Luce was ordered to command the new monitor Nantucket.
The poor quality of many of the men in the U.S. Navy at this time was painfully evident to him. The situation was no better than the one that he had perceived in 1858. Wartime service in the Navy held few attractions for enlisted men. Blockade duty was arduous and boring, liberty ashore was infrequent, and the grog ration had been stopped in 1862. Even prize money was largely a delusion; only the crews of a few lucky ships received any.
The physical environment and pay were somewhat better for naval officers. A large number of officers was made necessary by the expansion of the Navy, and they were easier to recruit than were enlisted men. Drawn from both oceangoing ships and river steamers, these new officers performed credibly. The Navy would have been unable to perform its demanding task without them, but they did have their limitations.
While in command of the Nantucket, Luce resolved to search for remedies to deficiencies that he had found. During the war he wrote several articles on naval personnel and training for the Army and Navy Journal, and after the peace he developed a plan that included an apprentice system for the Navy and a parallel program of maritime schoolships for those aspiring to be officers in the merchant marine. Reform of the merchant training system was his first accomplishment, based on the 1862 Morrill Act, which established land-grant colleges "to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." This act was to be the source of the agricultural and mechanical arts colleges and many of the country's state universities. Luce expanded on the original concept and extended it to include the knowledge of nautical sciences among young men in the coastal states.
Luce wrote the draft bill that both extended the Morrill Act to nautical education and authorized the Secretary of the Navy to lend ships and to detail officers to public maritime schools. This bill was enacted into law on 4 January 1874. By January of the following year, Luce had personally fitted out the sloop-of-war St. Marys and drafted plans, rules, and regulations for her to function as the New York State Maritime School. Commander Robert L. Phythian was chosen as the school's first superintendent. Other schools followed in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, California, Maine, and Texas. To meet the academic needs of these schools, Luce wrote a textbook, The Young Seaman's Manual. Taken from Seamanship, it provided information needed in the new curriculum that he had designed for merchant marine apprentices.
Once this program was effectively organized, Luce transferred his energies to naval training and education. He spent the years from 1877 to 1883 in school-ships as he developed a naval apprentice program for training afloat. Eventually transferred ashore, with close-order drills added, this program became the naval training system.
It was during this period that Luce produced a volume of Naval Songs. He believed that singing was an effective means of instilling the traditions of the sea and teaching the type of discipline that stresses interdependence.
By the mid-1870s, Luce had established himself well enough in Washington circles to exert some influence with regard to his ideas for reforming the Navy Department. While in command of the Hartford at Norfolk, Virginia, Luce met Congressman Washington C. Whitthorne when the Tennessee representative was inspecting the Norfolk Navy Yard in February 1876. Whitthorne, a former Confederate general, served as chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee in the Democratic Party–controlled Forty-fourth (1875–1876) Congress; he was the first chairman of that committee. Although he came from an inland state that had no navy yard, Whitthorne had become one of the nation's chief spokesmen for naval preparedness. With other legislators, such as Eugene Hale, Benjamin W. Harris, Charles Boutelle, Hilary Herbert, and Henry Cabot Lodge, Whitthorne deserves credit for building the New Navy of the 1880s.
Luce's meeting with Whitthorne marked the beginning of a relationship that would be nurtured by fifteen years of correspondence and an exchange of ideas on the state of the Navy and needed reforms. In 1878, Luce advocated reforming the Navy Department so that it would more successfully carry out government policy, complement the Army, and adequately represent the nation. To achieve these goals, he recommended to Whitthorne the establishment of a "mixed commission" made up of members of Congress and Army and Navy officers, as well as other prominent citizens. For a time, success seemed likely, but the attempt ultimately failed. It was to be thirty years before the Moody Board would consider the basic issues behind this recommendation. Nevertheless, Whitthorne continued to listen to Luce's advice while serving in the House of Representatives and, later, the Senate. In this relationship, Luce had found an outlet in Congress for his views.
During this same fertile period in Luce's thought, he came into contact with Colonel Emory Upton, then at the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Through Upton, Luce came to appreciate more fully the practices of the Prussian General Staff, which would become a major factor in Luce's approach to professional education and staff work within the Navy. In 1877, Luce had been giving a considerable amount of thought to establishing an advanced school of naval officers. The opportunity came for Luce in 1882 with his assignment as the senior member of a commission to study and to make recommendations on the conditions of navy yards and naval stations. It was during the year that he was engaged in this work that he first came to associate closely with Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler and to present to the Secretary his ideas on naval education, strategy, and administration.
In the 1880s the United States had just entered a period when rapid technological change would have a continuing and direct effect on the character of the Navy. The development of steam and electrical engineering, the screw propeller, the rifled gun, and the study of interior and exterior ballistics, together with the use of iron and then steel, provided a new fabric for sea power that spurred rapid and continued change in ship design, engineering, armor, and weapons. These developments quickly altered the physical character of navies while, at the same time, they demanded new types of special expertise. It was the beginning of a period in American naval history, continuing to this day, in which new equipment would become obsolete almost as soon as it was put to sea. Luce saw that although naval professionals have nothing to gain from restricting technological development, surely their central interest should be in technologies that have a direct usefulness to their profession. For this reason, Luce believed that the most important education for naval officers to receive was that which developed their understanding of the purpose, character, use, and nature of navies.
For Luce, the highest aspect of the naval profession was the study of the art of warfare. This, he believed, was properly divided into several branches, in descending order of importance: statesmanship, strategy, tactics, and logistics. The study of diplomacy, or statesmanship, in its relationship to war, was so important to Luce's concept of education that he believed it needed "to attain any degree of proficiency, such an amount of careful reading as to leave little leisure for extra professional studies."
Luce saw that diplomacy, strategy, tactics, and logistics were fundamental areas that together comprised the highest elements of professional naval thought. In order for naval officers to command effectively, all these areas must be in harmony and reflect even broader aspects of national interests, values, and economics. This, Luce believed, could be done only if a commander first had been given an education at a college dedicated to the broadest perspectives of professional thought.
The Naval War College was Luce's answer to this need. On 8 March 1884, Luce presented to Secretary Chandler a draft of a general order establishing the school. Chandler appointed Luce to head a board that would elaborate on the subject and make specific recommendations. The board consisted of Luce, his sympathetic friend Commander W. T. Sampson, and Lieutenant Commander Caspar F. Goodrich.
The report of the board, submitted on 13 June 1884, concisely argued for establishing an advanced school of naval warfare, and it went on to consider the curriculum and location. Washington, D.C., Annapolis, New York City, Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts, were all mentioned, but only the last two locations were critically examined. Newport was favored over Boston because in Rhode Island the college could be located close to a promising fleet base where a school of application could be established. At the same time, it would be distant enough from the daily pressures of policy making in Washington that it could allow for the proper academic atmosphere and broad reflection. It was also close enough to "the Hub" to ensure that eminent talent from Harvard, Yale, and Brown Universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other centers could easily visit the college. The Naval War College was established by General Order 325 of 6 October 1884, and the first course was presented from 4 to 30 September 1885.
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Freeform Role Plays
Dreams OOC
By Lemniscate, July 28, 2016 in Freeform Role Plays
Lemniscate
ii captain
Anyway, I thought I might as well make an OOC for Dreams. So here it is.
If Dreams doesn't take off, I still have another RP planned in my head.
Link to the IC thread.
Edited September 10, 2016 by Silverphoenixx
serce2
Are there any character sheets? I might not have looked hard enough, but I can't find any.
E: oops sorry I see now.
Edited August 3, 2016 by serce2
MoonlitEevee
Looking for anything that looks like an Eevee Code
Location: Flocking with the Equinoxes
You make your own up. She wants us to make it, and I swear Silver, I'll bold the edits I made tomorrow if I have time
Yeah thanks, I got your PM Raptor of Dragons.
And serce2 I remember you were in the old Dreams, do you want me to just copy your character over? I did that for Thaelasan.
Double edit: ignore the last part
Edited August 20, 2016 by Silverphoenixx
Alright, we should be almost good to go. Depending on what happens, I could post as soon as I get back from vacation.
DuskOfTheStars
Can I join up? Internet is shutting off in 1 min, no time to make a sheet tonight.
Sure. I might not be able to check and approve it till later though.
aaaannndd we're finally starting since I'm back from vacation!
Location: A waste receptacle near you!
Hey, since no one's posted, is it cool if I have a slot reserved? I'm planning out my sheet and, as always, I have a lot of history I have to abridge for the sake of brevity.
I notice someone is running two charas, so is that acceptable?
Yeah, that's fine. You can have as many characters as you can handle, the slot limit is just on people.
edit: wow there are a lot of anonymous people viewing this O.O
Username: Sugar-Free
Character Name: Laloch (LAY-lock)
Race: Manakete (Dragon; Divine/Earth)
Appearance: Laloch stands at around the height of 5'2". Her skin is pale with a bit of yellow cast to it. Her hair is a dark olive green, and is braided in two tight tails that hang in front of her shoulders, just down to the start of her breast. She has a small frame, and her eyes are maroon, with black scleras. Her draconic wings have a span of approx. 16ft, and have green-brown feathers adorning olive-green scales.
Dragon Form: This form is taken when Laloch uses her Dragonstone. It is twice her size (10'4") and considerably more powerful. It combines the Western dragon body shape of the Divine Dragon with the plated body and alligator-like head, and combines the wings for a muscular, yet still regal appearance. Her scales retain their olive coloration, and take on a bluish iridescence, common in the feathers of some Divines.
Her outfit is a tight-fitting, thick-cuffed tunic made of dark maroon velvet. There are two false-backs for each wing. The collar laces with a leather tie. Her pants are of similar, darker maroon leather, and are tucked into brown leather boots reaching up below her knee. She wears a cowl around her neck made of heavy black-brown fur.
History: Laloch is a descendant of two races of dragon: a Divine mother, and Earth father. Soon after her birth, she was cast from the Ingress, the bridge between Medris (the dwelling place of the Divine dragons) and Carrefel (land of the humans and sleeping Earth Dragons.)
Her birth was an infraction upon the unwritten edict—that no Divine body would sully with the Earth dragons, as it was them who helped the humans drive the Divine Dragons to Medris after being falsely accused of hoarding the continent's life force. It had, indeed, been a foolish choice, because the balance between the two had been upset, and without the suppression of their nature by the Divines, the Earth Dragons eventually became feral, twisting their forms into Dark Dragons.
Laloch was left to die at the altar before the Ingress, where she was found by a kindly Wind Mage, named Mahmet, who took her in. She was surprised when the tiny dragonet grew into a humanoid child later into the night, and she decided, regardless of her dual nature, she would raise her as her own.
Mahmet had dwelled in the valley of Laloch's ancestors, and had not only taken on her own name from their history plaques, but had decided to impart the name of one of their hero-Dragons onto her: meaning "the sun through a summer oak leaf". Together they lived, nestled in a vine-stridden vale in a cold brick home. That was, until, the Inquisition occurred.
Stories were being strewn around Tiergris, the cosmopolitan capitol of the country of Anapelle, of a dark dragon who was born of the hatred of the departed dragons. Bards sung of a hero, wielding an ethereal halberd, who would ride bravely into the tangled and poisonous forest of the beast, and slay it, bringing eternal peace to the continent.
Before long, when Laloch turned 23, the tavern-lackeys and barkeeps would whisper of a boy with dark blue hair, raised in the mud of sties and fed upon the milk of goats, who would take up the mantle of "Hero" and finally find the halberd "Cuchulain", buried deep within ancient texts and folklore, seen only in tapestries of the glory of the Old. Mahmet knew that they would search for her daughter.
Laloch took it upon herself to protect Mahmet, working through traps day and night, scouting under the cover of darkness to make maps, find how to exploit their weaknesses. She had told the mage to go, to hide, that she was more than capable of handling herself against a no-nothing, corn-fed ingrate. She had her dragonstone, capable of turning her into her hybrid form, and her leathery wings that never failed her. But she did not listen. She would not leave this little girl she'd been gifted with so long ago.
They eventually came: a tall man, wielding not a halberd at this point, but a silver sword, mounted on a dust-colored steed, clad in a makeshift set of armor. Though he did not look the part, the bravery and assuredness in his heart made him a lord, and his band of fighters, myrmidons, mages, archers, all men and women of all talents from many stretches of life, followed him without pause. But they were all misguided. On that day, Mahmet had instructed her to go into nearby Usser to pick up groceries. She would be too late coming back.
They tore through her nets, leapt over her pits, dodged her acid darts and slaughtered an entire flock of wyverns. They were unassuming, but they were hardened, as if they had fought a thousand battles together. They came, and Mahmet struck out, summoning her most powerful wind magic.
She was felled by two arrows from a sniper. His poison arrows met her heart together, and the poison ended her moments later.
On that day, as her home lay in ruins and her adopted-mother slain, she swore to find them—not just the misguided human knight who thought he'd done some good, but the mother and father that had cursed her world with her existence.
Desire: To find closure--to find answers.
Other: Laloch's Dragonstone has 50 uses before she must generate a new one at the Ingress Altar. She uses it to turn into her Dragon Form. Once Used, it can be used to do one major action; sustain for (one) Use Point per post; if sustain is broken, she reverts to Human Form; and has no cooldown. [she will not use her stone without reason, as she does not know when she is next able to generate a stone.]
Edited August 25, 2016 by Sugar-Free
Looks good, accepted. You can start whenever you want.
Felixr2
So with Serce all the slots are taken up now?
No, there's still one free. As long as the title says so, there is.
Oh well can you save one for me then? I'm on vacation but I'll be back home tomorrow.
Done. Post or PM me a form when you're ready.
Thanks. I'll do.
Expect post tomorrow. Dying from lack of sleep right now agh lol.
Name: Mygon Agh'Nahgal
Appearance: About 1.7 metres tall, muscle size slightly under average. Short blond hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. A bit ripped clothes made of brown rags, but leather shoes. Carrying a bow that he got from his parents at his thirteenth, he looks like a skilled hunter.
History: He was 3 years old when he befriended a wolf. Not wanting to frighten his parents, he kept it a secret. Mygon sneaked into the forest once a week and started to call the wolf Agh'Nahgal, he hadn't really learned any language yet and this was the word he decided meant something in between "father", "brother' and "friend". Later this name became only the wolf's name, the wolf was Agh'Nahgal, nobody else could be described like that. Not after so much time.
At his 6th year he made himself a dagger from some wood branches and a sharp rock, so he could fend off threats himself, rather than relying on the wolf whenever he's in the forest. For the shape of the rock he looked at the wolf's teeth and claws, as he noticed those were efficient weapons.
When he was 13 his parents found out he was going to the forest once a week to see a wolf again. They knew it was too late to keep him away from there, but they didn't think a dagger along with help from a wolf would be enough, so they gave him a bow to protect himself and taught him how to use it.
At his 15th birthday he went to the forest again. He got chased by a dragon. This adolescent wyvern had already devoured his dear wolf before noticing Mygon. To commemorate the wolf he decided to bear it's name along with his own name. While running from the dragon he lost his dagger and eventually got trapped in the web of a giant spider, a web that contained neurotoxins that made him faint. Just before he blacked out he was sure he was gonna die, either being eaten by the dragon or the spider. He just wanted that... he could've saved Agh'Nahgal.
Personality: He is a brave hunter that will never leave an innocent person up to his fate, he will always help endangered others, or if they're enemies he'll kill them quickly to spare them from the suffer. Because he's been isolating himself so much it's hard for him to trust someone, and even harder to start caring about someone. He is able to use magic to create burning, freezing, grappling, electrocuting, flashing and exploding arrows.
Skills: He does pretty well at sharpshooting, but in the forest he also learned the know-how for selecting non-poisonous foods.
Desire: He desperately wants Agh'Nahgal to live again.
Other: Due to lack of melee weapons he is bad at close-combat fighting, he lost his dagger while running from an adolescent dragon trying to eat him. He can use his arrows melee, but this isn't very effective. Mygon has a fierce hatred against dragons, as his first, and yet only, encounter with one lost him his only friend, the only one he trusted.
Edited August 27, 2016 by Felixr2
Accepted, I'm gonna let him have powered arrows as it does indeed seem he will be underpowered otherwise.
Updated it to have the powered arrows in his skills section, where it, y'know, most fits...
Also, yay Owl City ^^. I didn't know this song yet... it's wonderful.
Owl City is so underappreciated ;_;
You can start posting whenever you want, there seems to be an odd lack of posts in the IC...
I posted! Hope this gets the train rolling.
And although it is true that Owl City is underappreciated, I wouldn't state it like that. Adam Young is underapreciated, his other projects (Sky Sailing, Port Blue, etc.) are even more underappreciated than Owl City, with which he at least had one ENORMOUS hit. Fireflies.
Yeah, hopefully. If no one posts I might open it up again to get more active people. Btw, I won't be posting for a bit till everyone (or at least most of them) enter the door.
That's true... Personally, I like all of Adam Young's songs/music. Fireflies is my favorite though, mostly cause I heard it when I was younger and it's basically like nostalgia for me.
Edit: Erp, I forgot to mention that the rest of the doors are unopenable. They lead to the individual challenges.
Studying in his was studying labratoried.
Location: Suffolk
I'll throw my hat into the ring. Or whatever the saying is.
Username: Ruins
Name: Damien Hurnst
Species: Human... ish.
Appearance: Damien is 5 foot 7 inches, unhealthily skinny with some muscle; his face is thin and pinched, and there's bags under his eyes. He has shaggy, knotted red hair that desperately needs a cut, light brown skin, and emerald green eyes that dance with an almost feverish light. He is wearing a crudely-made brown shirt, rope belt, and dark grey trousers - both made of some rough, scratchy material. His feet are clad in leather shoes that leak, held together with strips of cloth. Damien keeps the weather off himself a sort of mantle seemed to have made from old sacks held together with twine. His right hand is wrapped in filthy, frayed bandages. He always carries an old, rusty scythe, the blade which he's sharpened at both sides.
Hidden under Damien's sleeve and bandages is his infected right arm. The skin on his arm, hand, and much of his chest has turned brown and gnarled, almost like wood; dark veins spread from the infected areas, fanning across his torso and up the side of his face to the corner of his right eye. The infection is obviously very painful, the skin bordering it red and raw. Inside him, it has spread to his lungs and constricts his ribcage. Damien loses his breath easily and often has coughing fits that can lead to him coughing blood.
Personality: Damien is twitchy, paranoid, and doesn't trust easily. He thinks that everyone secretly wants to hurt or use him in some way. His emotions are volatile, easily running from sadness to rage and back to sadness again; happiness and hope are rare emotions for him. Damien is very determined and tenacious nonetheless, never giving up on something once he's started it.
But he has a soft spot for people as scared and down on their luck as he is, showing his kind and gentle side to them. Damien will do anything for anyone who manages to win his trust and makes for a very loyal - if unpredictable - friend.
History: Damien was once a friendly, happy-go-lucky young man living on a farm with his parents and three siblings. He was relaxed and cheerful in personality, always ready to lead a helping hand, and had lots of friends. Although it's hard to believe to look at him now, Damien once had a bright future ahead of him. He was a good student who did well in his local school, especially in the study of magic; he excelled in herbomancy, the magical control of plants and plant-life. It was Damien's dream to become a full-trained herbomancer when he grew up and use his magic to help his parents on their farm. But that dream was never to be.
When Damien was out in the woods one day collecting plants to study, he was attacked by a creature or monster whose lair he had disturbed - what it was, nobody ever quite worked out - which bit him on the upper arm and injected some sort of venom into his flesh. This venom seemed to react with Damien's natural magical energies, turning the flesh around the bite wound into something like wood.
And the more Damien used his magic, the quicker it spread.
Damien's parents were driven to despair by their son's predicament, helpless to cure or even slow the rate of the infection. They tried in vain to soothe his pain and fear as it spread, spending themselves into debt on medicines and potions that did nothing to help their boy.
And, whether it was the fear and pain of it taking their toll or some side-effect of the venom, as the infection spread Damien seemed to lose his sanity. He became emotionally volatile, weeping one minute and lashing viciously out the next. He hid from people whenever he could, only emerging from his room to steal food from the kitchen; they could hear him weeping and muttering to himself all day and night.
Then one day they woke up to find his room silent and empty. Damien had taken a bag and everything he could fit in it, leaving a note that said: Gone to find a cure. Back when I'm better. If not ever back, then dead. I'm sorry. Goodbye.
That was two years ago and Damien has been looking ceaselessly ever since.
Skills: Control of plants: Damien can make plants grow and control their movements; make seeds sprout into full plants in a matter of seconds; and control wood, even dead wood. He always has packets of plant seeds in his pockets.
Woodcraft: Can easily tell edible from inedible plants.
Cooking: Is very good at cooking, when he manages/bothers to clean himself up.
Weaknesses: Not much stamina; physically weak; sometimes 'zones out' due to pain; panics easily; doesn't trust others.
Desire: A cure for his otherwise incurable infection and to be normal again.


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text: GWT Reflection support substracted from Gwt-Ent project

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A recent request for an API quality check sent me into a paroxysm.
The request seemed simple enough. They had two varieties of API design: varietal M had a lot of methods, each with relatively few parameters. Varietal P had a few methods, but each had a boat-load of parameters.
I find it incredible that anyone could even need coaching in API design. Much less find Tulach's book and still be unable to apply the principles.
If they were coding in any sensible language, they should have mountains of API examples all around them. Java has a huge standard library. C# has the entire .Net framework. Python has a vast library. All of these are tremendous, well-designed, carefully crafted examples of API's.
As far as I can see, the world is fat with API examples. Everywhere you look, every vendor, every product, everything has an API.
It just shouldn't be rocket science to compare your API against the established standard for the language in which you're working.
Somehow it was possible for several programmers to be completely unable to find any examples of API design.
I can only assume that they are living in a time-warp; none of them have ever connected to the Internet or seen any code but their own. Perhaps the only API they could think of was JDBC. Or perhaps they were all Visual Basic or PL/SQL programmers and didn't see much open-source code. Or perhaps they had some really obscure language where no one posts any open source API's.
My direct advice was to read Tulach and create a big spreadsheet ranking their code against each principle that Tulach provides.
After thinking about it, I realize I should have asked what API's they were currently using and how their proposed new code stacked up against the existing language and framework they already had.


Bespoke sail manufactured to meet your individual requirements.
Can be supplied for DIY Installation or installed by Solent Sail Shades Ltd at cost (subject to survey) fitting.
Choose between the standard knitted Commercial 95 (Com95) or the high strength and long lasting Monotec370 shade cloths for UV protection and shade; the waterproof STAM6002, or the Ferrari 502 for ultimate all weather protection.
•	Webbed hems (Commercial 95, Monotec 370, STAM6002) or reinforcing stainless steel wire rope within a hem pocket (Ferrari 502) for long life performance.
GORE® TENARA® thread used on all sails where appropriate. Ordinary polyester thread fibre breaks down over time due to exposure to UV sunlight, cleaning agents, saltwater and extreme weather. TENARA® thread is not affected by these agents, making it ideal for outdoor use.
Choose from either steel poles that have been hot dipped galvanised or powder coated (in your choice of colour). Either will ensure long life with minimal maintenance.
A wide range of Stainless Steel fittings can be supplied.
Commercial 95 shade fabrics has been engineered using time-proven monofilament and tape lock-stitch construction to ensure optimum performance regardless of installation conditions. The fabric won't deteriorate or fray, and the high-quality construction provides for long-lasting performance, superior UV protection and unmatched strength. And it carries a worldwide 10 year warranty against UV degradation. Commercial 95 architectural fabric offers the ultimate combination of maximum sun protection, strength and durability to ensure maintenance free long-life performance.
High quality heavy duty shadecloth.
A very strong and stable outdoor fabric for use in tension structures and shade sails.
Provides extremely high levels of UV protection. Up to 95%.
Suitable for swimming pools, playgrounds, shopping centre carparks and entertaining areas.
Available in 16 contemporary colours.
Developed as an "install and forget" shade cloth, Monotec 370 Series shade cloth is the perfect solution for shade sails and structures. Uniquely made using only 100% round monofilament HDPE yarns, Monotec 370 Series provides consistent protection to people and property in the harsh Australian climate.
Monotec 370 Series shade cloth is resistant to UV rays and is supported by the industry's only 15 year warranty. The sturdy fabric construction of round monofilament yarns will not stretch over time assuring the integrity of your structure's stability for many years to come.
In a variety of 15 colours of seemingly natural origin, STAM 6002 is available in plain, twin colour (1 face coloured/1 face beige) and rhythmically striped versions. The 2014 collection is enriched with an opaque version to meet black-out requirements on certain projects.
Précontraint 502 Satin maintains all the renowned original qualities of the former Précontraint 502 range, namely a wide range of colours to ensure creative variety, high-performance protection against heat and bad weather and unmatched strength, now complemented by new aesthetic qualities (satin aspect and new colours) and even greater resistance to dirt. For all these reasons, Précontraint 502 Satin is an architectural element of choice; it is supplied with a 10-year warranty.
Shape that is retained at installation and over time.
N.B. Although our sails are sturdy enough to stay out all year round, in order to prolong the life of your sail, we strongly advise that the sails be taken down for the winter months or if gale force winds and above are forecasted. However, we strongly recommend that you do not attempt to take these sails down during high winds.


Engineered to not only carry your board, but with a fit that's comfortable for you.
Surprisingly lightweight with added features such as malleable ends that allow you to minimize the bag's size when needed. Extra pockets on the outside add to the already ample storage space. We especially love the edgy, yet timeless design.
May be too much bag for some with boards on the small size.
Secures your board in a padded and stylish bag.
The bag's material is comprised of nylon, which can stand the test of harsh winter elements as well as rough transportation-related handling. Safely stashes boards up to 170 cm in length. Customers love the extra room that enables you to pack a helmet and boots as well.
While the bag is one of the few with padding, some customers wish it had even more.
A 2-for-1 combo set at a price point that makes a lot of sense.
Large enough to fit 2 snowboards. Customers note the boot bag accommodates large-sized boots as well. Works adequately for most and appreciated for its size. Side storage. Perfect for throwing in the back of your truck for local treks up the mountain.
Given its size, more zippers could improve its ability to fit snowboards.
A simple and streamlined snowboard and boot bag combo for those who infrequently hit the slopes.
If you don't want to spend a ton of money transporting your snowboard, this bag is designed for you. Fits the standard sized snowboard.Separate boot bag keeps your boots and other gear together. Won't break the bank and will do its intended job of protecting your board and boots.
Doesn't offer much else aside from transporting your board and boots from point A to B.
Fits all your gear from bindings to your board for easy transport.
Designed for long distance travel and the tribulations that may occur with airport handling. Despite its large size, is notably easy to carry around. Long straps accommodate shoulder sizes of both men and women.
Customers note the fabric is thin and subject to tearing.


text:
Serial robber sentenced 10 years in prison
By Press Release, The U.S. Department of Justice
Deniro Southern-Robinson
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Deniro Southern-Robinson, age 21, of Largo, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for committing a series of armed robberies in which he brandished a gun.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. "Chuck" Jenkins; and Chief Henry P. Stawinski III of the Prince George's County Police Department.
According to his guilty plea, between December 29, 2016 and January 7, 2017, Southern-Robinson and his co-defendants, Joshua Isaiah Potter and Deandre Denzil Proctor, conspired to commit a series of robberies of businesses. In each robbery, Southern-Robinson and Proctor entered the locations, brandished a gun, and robbed the employees of the proceeds of the business, while Potter served as a lookout during the robberies and drove the getaway vehicle.
Specifically, in less than two hours in the early morning of December 29, 2016, Southern-Robinson and his accomplices robbed three businesses in Myersville, Frederick, and Bethesda, Maryland. In each robbery, Southern-Robinson brandished a silver revolver and Proctor brandished a BB gun. Both men covered their faces with bandanas or masks. In the first robbery, they confronted an employee and demanded to know where the safe was. The victim informed them that there was no safe and began pushing one of the robbers before noticing that both appeared to be brandishing firearms. Southern-Robinson and Proctor emptied the cash registers into their pockets, stealing approximately $517. As they fled, they threatened to kill the employee if he/she called the police. In the other two robberies, Southern-Robinson and Proctor confronted employees and demanded they open the cash registers, stealing $232 and $350, respectively. Potter was the lookout and getaway driver for each robbery.
On January 7, 2017, Potter drove the robbers to a business in Myersville, Maryland. Southern-Robinson and Proctor entered the business, again brandishing a silver revolver and BB gun, respectively, and wearing masks to cover their faces. The robbers confronted two store employees, with Proctor pointing the BB gun at the chest of one of the victim store employees, and asked for the safe. The victim led them to where the safe was located and Southern-Robinson removed cash from the safe and put it in a duffel bag. Southern-Robinson and Proctor stole approximately $773. Potter served as the getaway driver after the robbery was completed.
Several minutes later, law enforcement officers saw Potter's vehicle traveling from the direction of the business and initiated a traffic stop. Proctor, the front seat passenger, was wearing the same distinctive tiger-striped shoes he had worn in the December 29th robberies. Law enforcement arrested the defendants and obtained a search warrant for the vehicle. Law enforcement seized the silver revolver, a .22-caliber loaded with four rounds of ammunition, from the right rear passenger door, where Southern-Robinson had been seated. From the front passenger floor, where Proctor was sitting, law enforcement recovered black clothing that matched the clothing worn during the robberies, a black BB gun, and the duffel bag that had been used in the robberies. Law enforcement also recovered $789 from the pouch on the back of the front passenger seat, where Southern-Robinson has been seated, and three cell phones, among other items. Additional search warrants were executed at the residences of Southern-Robinson and Proctor that recovered additional cash and other clothing worn during the December 29th robberies.
(L) Deandre Denzil Proctor (R) Joshua Isaiah Potter
Deandre Denzil Proctor, age 22, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and Joshua Isaiah Potter, age 22, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty to their roles in the robberies. Judge Grimm has scheduled sentencing for Potter on May 3, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. and for Proctor on May 6, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI Cross Border Task Force, the Montgomery County Police Department, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, and the Prince George's County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth G. Wright, who is prosecuting the case.


Hailing from Nashville, this couple chose to celebrate their big day the Lowcountry way. When nothing stood out to them everywhere they looked, it was the charming city of Charleston that won their hearts over. They picked Magnolia Plantation and Gardens because of its "southern oaks and romantic, untamed garden feel" according to the bride. With their theme being romantic and enchanting, there wasn't a more perfect place. The couple wanted an open, airy reception with no tent. In the south, we know how risky that is! However, the entire evening was nothing but perfect. Guests fell in love with her colorful bridesmaids dresses and florals as well as the dance floor lit with cafe lights that allowed everyone to dance late into the night.
Thank you sharing our wedding!


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Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has cancelled a bid for collapsed cafe chain Patisserie Valerie, simply two days after making a proposal.
The retail billionaire introduced his bid for the chain on Friday night.
Sports Direct supplied £15m, however was advised by administrator KPMG it might want to supply as much as £2m greater than this, based on the Financial Times.
Patisserie Valerie collapsed final month. KPMG closed 70 retailers, however saved 121 open within the hope of promoting them.
Mr Ashley is considered going through a number of competing bids for Patisserie Valerie, together with, based on experiences, from Costa, the espresso chain purchased by Coca-Cola final 12 months.
The retail tycoon, who additionally owns English Premier League soccer membership Newcastle United, made his identify constructing finances chain Sports Direct into Britain's greatest sporting items retailer.
He has since turn into identified for purchasing up struggling retail chains and acquired each division retailer chain House of Fraser and cycle store Evans out of administration final 12 months.
Sports Direct's sprawling High Street empire additionally contains lingerie chain Agent Provocateur in addition to shareholdings in Debenhams, French Connection and Game Digital. Last week, it emerged as entrance runner to purchase Sofa.com.
Patisserie Valerie collapsed after an accounting scandal which left the agency with out sufficient cash to pay its money owed.
Rescue talks with banks HSBC and Barclays to restructure the enterprise broke down, leaving no choice however administration.
The cafe chain employed about 3,000 employees, however some 900 jobs had been misplaced within the preliminary wave of closures after KPMG was appointed to run the enterprise on 22 January.
In 2006, Luke Johnson's Risk Capital Partners purchased a majority stake when it had eight shops.
In addition to Patisserie Valerie, the corporate's different manufacturers embrace Druckers Vienna Patisserie, Philpotts, Baker & Spice and Flour Power City.
The Serious Fraud Office is finishing up a legal investigation into Patisserie Valerie and finance director Chris Marsh was arrested and launched on bail after having been suspended by the corporate.
Also underneath investigation, by the Financial Reporting Council, are former Patisserie Valerie auditors Grant Thornton.


What an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend it was for Astana.
It started with the worrying story that, according to manager Alexandre Vinokourov, funding for the new season had not yet been received, bringing to question the future of the team.
Unperturbed by the news, the Astana riders produced an excellent display at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Placing three riders – Michael Valgren, Oscar Gatto and Alexey Lutsenko – in the selection made on the Muur, they made their numerical advantage count, as Valgren slipped away inside the final 2km to win the race.
It was a surprising result both in the sense that Astana do not tend to excel in the northern classics, and as Valgren had not been outlined as a major contender. The Dane will certainly be one to watch for the rest of the spring.
They looked strong at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne too, with their riders doing the majority of the work as the peloton brought back a dangerous group, but crashes suffered by Lutsenko and Magnus Cort Nielsen scuppered their hopes of competing for the win.
The riders have done their best to prove their worth – for the sake of their futures, hopefully whatever behind-the-scenes issues may be unfolding are resolved.
Up until now we've generally known Dylan Groenewegen as a pure sprinter, whose considerable potential in the bunch finishes was confirmed upon winning on the Champs Elysees on the final day of last year's Tour de France.
His win on Sunday at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne proves he has more strings to his bow.
The 24-year old may not have made the initial split, when a group of over 20 riders escaped up the road, but was brought back thanks to work from his teammates and Astana, and demonstrated tough resolve to hang on to a splintering peloton during the few laps preceding the finish.
By the time Groenewegen reached the finishing straight the hardest part had already been done, but the composure he showed to delay his sprint until the right moment, and the ease with which he flew past Arnaud Démare to take the victory, was very impressive.
As a Dutch rider the northern classics are in his blood. The more challenging races like the Tour of Flanders are probably beyond him for now, but watch out for him at the likes of Ghent-Wevelgem and Scheldeprijs.
One conclusion that can be drawn from the weekend's racing is that we could be in for an open Spring Classics campaign.
This time last year Greg Van Avermaet and Peter Sagan had been firmly established as the strongest riders, with the former winning Het Nieuwsblad, and the latter finishing behind him in second before going on to win Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
This year, however, no such hierarchy has been formed. Van Avermaet was impressive but hardly the invisible rider of 2017 – in fact, his 56th placing at Het Nieuwsblad was the first time he has failed to make the top six in that race since 2011.
Perhaps the strongest rider across both races was Sep Vanmarcke. At Het Nieuwsblad he was the first rider over the Muur, produced the powerful acceleration that softened up the lead group for Valgren's race-winning counter-attack, and even had the strength to attack again in the finale to finish third.
He was less conspicuous at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but was still present in all the key selections. On this showing the Belgian may be the one to watch this spring, but still seems to be suffering from his perennial problem of how to convert his strength into victories.
And of course, we're yet to see Sagan race on the cobbles this year. With no other rider emerging as a front-runner, perhaps this will be a spring dominated by him?
The pressure is always on Quick-Step Floors to perform in their home races, which makes their timid display in both races particularly disappointing.
On paper the Belgian team looked the strongest in the peloton for both races, but things did not play out that way on the road.
Although Philippe Gilbert saved face by sprinting for fifth at Het Nieuwsblad, the fact that only one rider on their roster – Zdenek Stybar – appeared capable of following the major moves, was worrying.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was worse still, with Yves Lampaert their highest finisher in 12th.
Niki Terpstra was uncharacteristically quiet in both races, while crashes and the cold weather prevented Fernando Gaviria from making the impression he'd hoped to.
Patrick Lefevere's outfit will be desperate to improve quickly and get the campaign back on track.
Team Sky may have left their A-team of classics specialists at home, but in their place Lukasz Wisniowski put in a gutsy ride to finish second at Het Nieuwsblad.
The Pole just about managed to bridge across to the lead group after the Muur, and was subsequently seen hanging on for dear life at the back.
Nevertheless, he enjoyed a second wind in the finale, when he responded to an attack from Vanmarcke to escape the bunch and outsprint the Belgian for a very impressive second place. He backed this up with eighth in Kuurne on Sunday.
Wiśniowski did good work riding as a domestique last year, and prior to joining Sky had picked up some impressive results, most notably placing fifth at the 2016 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
If he continues to improve, the 26-year old might yet become another potential leader in an already star-studded Sky classics squad.


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2000- Ph.D in Life Sciences Division of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Area of Specialization - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
1985- Master's degree in Nutritional Biochemistry, University of Bombay, India.
2004 – 2013 Oct. – As Senior Scientist, Metabolic Disorders Research Centre, Jagathy, Thiruvananthapuram.
The work mainly comprises of investigation of risk factors for metabolic disorders in our population. Evaluation of homocysteine metabolism as a risk factor for neurological & cardiac disorders is another area of interest.
Also worked in an ICMR project to delineate the effects of low cholesterol on autistic spectral disorders in children
Studies on active principles in medicinal plants like Brahmi , Tulsi etc. for neurological and cardiac disorders were also carried out in animals.
2002 – 2004 – As Senior Scientist at the Department of Biological Sciences, R& D, Terumo Penpol Ltd., Thiruvananthapuram. Research involves formulation of new products such as Intravenous Lipid Emulsion. These products were evaluated for toxicology, sterility, particle size and other biochemical parameters using experimental animals.
2001-2002 – As Research Associate at the Department of Applied Nutrition, Medical College, and Thiruvananthapuram. Supervised and carried out a project on the prevalence of Anemia in Women.
1998-2000 – As Guest lecturer in Government College for Women, engaging postgraduate students.
1995-1997 – As Research Assistant in an ICMR funded project on "Development of an Animal model for Endomyocardial Fibrosis" at the Division of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. The work comprises of delineation of pathogenetic mechanism of endomyocardial fibrosis in rabbit model.
1992-1995 as Senior Research Fellow- ICMR
Division of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for
Medical Sciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.
To investigate the 25hydroxyvitamin D status in the population of three different
Occupational groups.
To investigate a case control study of the relationship of 25 hydroxyvitamin D3 with Coronary artery disease.
To delineate the pathogenetic mechanism of Vitamin D induced aortic calcification by Determining 1, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D receptor in vascular smooth muscle cells using radio receptor assay.
Histopathological studies of experimental aortic tissues using light microscopy
and Transmission electron microscopy.
The above work subsequently led to doctoral degree.
Post MSc Research
1990-1991 – As Junior Research Fellow at the Division of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. Research work comprises of the determination of magnesium status in school children.
1986-1989 – As Research Assistant at the Dept. of Applied Nutrition, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram in a project funded by Science, Technology & Environment, Kerala State. The study comprised the assessment of nutritional status and morbidity pattern of preschool children in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rajasree S & Büsselberg, D. Osteoporosis: an under-recognized public health problem. J. LOCAL GLOBAL HEALTH SCI. 2016, 2 (2016).
C.C. Kartha, S. Rajasree. Vitamin D and Atherosclerosis. A noteworthy Link. In "Frontiers in Cardiovascular Health" eds. Naranjan s. Dhalla. Arun Chockalingam H. Ivan Berkowtz, Pawan k. Singal 2004. Kluwer Academin Publishers.
S. Rajasree, P.R. Umasankar, A.V. Lal, P. Sankar Sarma, C.C/ Kartha. 1,25
dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor is up regulated in aortic smooth muscle cells during hypervitaminosis D: Life Sciences, 2002,70,1777.
Rajasree, K. Rajpal, C.C. Kartha, P.S. Sharma, V. Ramankutty, C.S.P. Iyer, G. Girija. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels are elevated in South Indian patients with ischemic heart disease. Europ J Epidemiol. 2001,17,567-571.
S. Rajasree, V. Ramankutty, K. Sreenivasan, C.C. Kartha. Elevated serum levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D3 in outdoor workers of South India. Current Science. 1999; 77:1136-1138.
R. Renuka Nair, J.T. Eapen, C. Radhakumari, S. Rajasree. Magnesium levels in serum and erythrocytes of children from Kerala. Natl Med J India. 1995; 8:118.
S. Rajasree, C.R. Soman. Nutritional status of children in Kerala. Indian Paediatrics. 1994;31:651.
J.T. Eapen, S. Rajasree, C. Radhakumari, R. Renuka Nair. Serum magnesium levels in school children of two socio-economic groups in Kerala. In M.S. Valiathan, K. Somers, C.C. Kartha (eds). Endomyocardial Fibrosis. Oxford University Press. New Delhi 1992. P279.
C.R. Soman, Malathy Damodaran, S. Rajasree, V. Ramankutty, K. Vijayakumar. High
morbidity and low mortality. The experience of urban preschool children of Kerala. J. Trop Paediatrics. 1991; 17:37.
ICMR Senior Research Fellowship – 1992-1995
Reward for best performance for productive research – 2003 from Terumo Penpol Ltd.


Build your base and then defend it with your life in Fortnite, the free-to-play builder/shooter from Epic Games! During the day, you'll scavenge the wasteland for materials you can use to fortify your base with walls, traps, and turrets. At night, the monsters attack, and it's up to you and three friends to defend against their incursions using every tool and weapon at your disposal!
There are four classes in Fortnite: ninja, outlander, soldier, and constructor. Each has its own strength, whether it's in building the base or fighting off the hordes. Each game has a different map, and there are endless ways to construct your base, so each match is unique. Do you have what it takes to survive the night?
It's 2018, any updated news? Looks awesome, and very original!
It was mentioned that the game will be free some time in 2018, players who wish to play the PVE early have to pay for it.
this is epic games bruv. they wont make it free for sh*t.
Amazing game, the PVP Battle royale game is free, the PVE Game is 40euro's.
The PVP game is a 10/10 for me.
you made a grave error. It is NOT free to play…..it's buy to play. please fix this misleading content so others like me don't get roped in thinking it's free to play.


text:
The girl on the sidewalk
For 13 years, Alaska has been living on the streets of Portland.
(c) John Strieder
Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Alaska sneezes herself awake. It is 8:15 A.M., and while alarm clocks remind people elsewhere that it is time to get ready for work, the sneezing reminds Alaska that it is time for her first shot. When a heroin addict is getting dope-sick, the body sends signals, often similar to catching the flu. It is the second time she has woken up this morning, in her camp in a construction zone between whistling trains and squeaking rats.
his article Published in Wiener Zeitung on October 3rd 2015, take look at the scroll story, including Alaska's poems and diary entries, in English or in German www.wienerzeitung.at/alaska-rose
As she notices the symptoms, she immediately kicks her boyfriend, Brian, awake. He crawls out of his sleeping bag and gives her a hand on what they call a "breakfast shot": He cooks up heroin and injects it into Alaska's neck. She hasn't been able to use the veins in her arms for years.
Alaska, 27 years old, lives on the streets of Portland in the Northwestern state of Oregon in the United States. Just last week Portland's mayor Charlie Hales declared a housing emergency in Portland, authorizing the city to covert its building into homeless shelters. After Seattle and last week Los Angeles, Portland is the third city on the west coast to declare a housing emergency.
Rents in Portland have increased rapidly over the past year – by some estimates it is the steepest climb in the U.S. That said, the state of Oregon is not among the states with the highest percentage of their population homeless, although they are very visible in the "Beaver State". Half of them, 6,000 of 12,000*, are unsheltered, and on the streets they seem to be omnipresent.
Capital of Weird
Why is that? Portlandians emphasize that Portland – byname "capital of weird" – is the "other America": smoking recreational marijuana is legal since this summer. In Portland, there are so many supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed "democratic socialist", that they could easily fill more than just one football stadium. Portland ought to be more liberal, more open, more tolerant. Homeless people are not banned from the streets.
After her fix, Alaska slips back into her dreams. "If I could, I would sleep my life away," is one of her favorite sayings. But that's not possible; she has to "hustle", as she calls it, to make a living for herself and her boyfriend. Every day, she heads up to the Northwest part of the city to sell jewelry.
Her income – about $60 on a good night – goes to drugs, new jewelry supplies, food, and her cancer treatment. The best spot to set up her stand is in front of the trendy, gourmet Salt & Straw Ice Cream Shop on 23rd Avenue. Here, people line up to buy cauliflower- and bleu cheese-flavored ice cream for $3.95 per scoop.
Most of them don't seem to take notice of Alaska; her body bent forward, she is knitting a friendship bracelet in stoic routine and hardly ever looks up. If she does, her marble green-blue eyes wander, trying to catch someone else's. If someone asks her questions about the jewelry or how she is doing, she answers with a soft voice and ends the conversation with "thanks for acknowledging me". Suddenly a 7-year-old digs into her pockets; deep down there she finds a coin. But before she can approach Alaska, her mother pulls her away.
The mother looks at Alaska out of the corner of her eye. The Homeless with cancer-sign caught her attention. She scans Alaska's body from top to bottom: a slight shimmer of sweat on the face, the shaved hair partly coming back. A boyish-thin body, covered by a former-white – now yellowish – blouse sprinkled with red-brown bloodstains. Scars and scratches on the arms look like the result of many years of self-harming. The overstrained veins indicate a heavy drug habit. With a deep, skeptical wrinkle on her forehead, the woman looks the other way.
Alaska wants to work as a barista ("I love coffee") and with dogs ("I understand them better than people"). She wants to get married and have a family ("I don't like kids, but it would be different if I had my own"). Those are her dreams. Her reality looks like this: Last year, she and her boyfriend went to jail for dealing heroin; right now they are on probation. Now she tries to make an honest living: Every day, Alaska sells jewelry that she produced in her camp next to the railway in Northeast Portland earlier that day. She and her boyfriend Brian have been living there for one week. They sleep underneath a piece of tarp full of holes, spanned over her blanket that smells like wet dog.
The number of unsheltered women has grown by 15% over the past two years
All her belongings are stuffed into a shopping cart next to it. Here, she crafts bracelets out of broken earrings, using the same tweezers her boyfriend just cleaned his dirty fingernails with. Alaska is one of more and more unsheltered women in Portland: the number has grown by 15% over the past two years – even though the total number of homeless people in Oregon has decreased by 30 percent over the last seven years. Today, every fourth homeless person in Portland is a woman. African Americans, unsheltered women and families are more vulnerable to becoming homeless. This is a result of high housing costs, low vacancy rates, stagnant wages, and high levels of unemployment. All over the US, almost one quarter of the homeless population are under 18 years old. In Portland, one in eight – 500 out of 3,800 – is 24 years old or younger. Alaska has been living on the streets since she ran away from home at 14. Some of that time she was living in a van, but a few months ago, it was stolen, along with her yellow mini Labrador and all her documents.
Theft and violence are constant companions if you live on the streets, and women are particularly vulnerable to being victims of violence and trauma. One-third of homeless women in Portland said they had recently experienced physical violence, two-thirds had recently been the victims of emotional violence, and slightly less than one-third said they had recently experienced sexual violence. Alaska has had a boyfriend on her side most of the time. If she didn't, she had dogs or weapons (she loves knives and once carried a machete). But to her, the worst part of living on the street is not insecurity or discomfort. What bothers her most is people seeing through her.
She is happy to talk, and when they ask her why she is on the streets, she answers: "The streets are safer for me than my home," and tells her story of how she got here: She ran away from her father, who raped her. According to the 2015 Point-in-time-Report, 45% of the women on the streets of Portland are victims of domestic violence, and for women who have experienced domestic violence, the chances of facing housing instability are four times higher than for those who have not. On Alaska's very first night on the streets she told a friend she wanted to get high, and it was pretty clear that she wasn't talking about soft stuff like marijuana. Today, she says there is no sense in getting clean, as her doctors diagnosed her with bladder cancer one year ago. They told her that she has only a few years left to live.
Her chemotherapy takes place three times a week at the hospital, but she doesn't go that often, as each appointment costs her $25. To ease the constant pain in her stomach, she does heroin – but she also likes the drug because it empties her mind and keeps her thoughts away. She also needs it to overcome her social anxieties when approaching strangers on 23rd Avenue, and it gets her in the right mellow mood to do so.
The soft, rather feminine attitude she has when she tries to sell her jewelry changes rapidly when she moves through the streets of Portland: Cycling her beach cruiser through Couch Park in high speed, fist-bumping her homies and bragging about how she stole the bike from a guy who was trying to rip off her friend while selling her heroin: "If you don't stand up for yourself, people will shit all over you, and because she wouldn't step up, I did it for her." Alaska moves on, looking for cigarette butts on the street. As she rides her bike up and downhill on the sidewalk, her blouse inflates like a balloon, shaking in the wind as she almost rolls over a toddler, shouting: "Got no brakes, can't stop!", "Get brakes!", the baffled father replies. Alaska: "I can't, I'm broke, jackass." She asks at burger places if they'll let her recharge her phone ("Just tell your boss Alaska was here, Goddammit!") before she arrives at her spot in front of Salt & Straw, puts two plastic crates above each other, covers them with a cloth and starts arranging her jewelry on top of it. Alaska is hardly ever short of words. She writes poetry, and even though she does not own a computer, she occasionally publishes it on her blog. Some of it has even been published in Street Roots, Portland's newspaper of the homeless. She also writes about Brian, but those poems are not for the public eye. Their first anniversary is coming up soon, but if he doesn't tell her that he loves her at least once today, she gets scared. He gets jealous easily, and after being awake for 96 hours – his drug of choice, crystal meth, keeps him up for days – they get into huge fights.
So whenever Alaska talks about Brian, she either talks about her wedding plans, their last fight, or about their plan to leave Portland when their probation time is over. Alaska wants to go back to Scotland; her family left the country to come to the States when she was 8 years old. Her family still lives in Portland, but she refuses to see her abusive father and she broke ties with her two sisters. Only her mother comes to see her on her birthday and for Christmas. Alaska says she was a mother once herself: after several abortions and miscarriages, she gave birth to a girl named Annabelle whom she had to give away and who grew up with a friend of hers. Four years later, this child was killed by a drunk driver. Ever since, Alaska doesn't drink alcohol and feels nothing but hate for alcoholics. The accident, for which Alaska was not present, still comes back to her in her dreams. Even without those tragedies, life on the street is full of change and instability. A few days after she stole the bike, it was stolen from her. That's the bad news. The good news is that she and Brian found a new spot, where they have electricity and even a microwave. Just as they cross the train tracks to get back to their camp after a day of trying to make a living, a tattoo- and bruise-covered girl cycles by and tells them to watch out. She is 19 years old, comes from Eugene and is also homeless. "This is not a safe place", the girl says, and starts talking about a 15-year-old girl, who also lives around here. "She probably doesn't realize, but I keep an eye on her."
I told Alaska's story from her perspective. Because of the nature of the material, I was not able to verify many of her stories and assertions and I am not able to verify the facts of the stories she told me. For my research on this story, I spent six afternoons with Alaska, bought a pair of earrings from her stand, bought her crêpes and coffee, a notebook and a pen, and gave her some cash. Altogether, I spent approximately 60 Dollars. I asked Alaska to keep a diary and take pictures of her daily life, which she did, and I lent her my Canon camera to do so. To the surprise of many of my colleagues, she returned the camera the following day.
* All national data comes from Annual Homeless Assessment Report 2014 The statistics on homelessness in Portland come from the Point-in-time-Report 2015
Tags: Extra : Feminismus : Longread : Obdachlosigkeit : Porträt : Reportage : Storytelling : USA


text:
Q: Store the extracted SURF descriptors and keypoints in *.npy file I'm new to Python and opencv. I manage to get the descriptors as well as draw the keypoints onto the image but I need to know how to store it for future comparison.

A: You may follow this link. I personally use the following code to load and save SURF descriptors
def read_features_from_file(filename):
    """ Read feature properties and return in matrix form. """
    if os.path.getsize(filename) <= 0:
        return np.array([]), np.array([])
    f = np.load(filename)
    if f.size == 0:
        return np.array([]), np.array([])
    f = np.atleast_2d(f)
    return f[:,:7], f[:,7:] # feature locations, descriptors

def write_features_to_file(filename, locs, desc):
    np.save(filename, np.hstack((locs,desc)))

[EDIT]: add more codes and usage example:
def pack_keypoint(keypoints, descriptors):
    kpts = np.array([[kp.pt[0], kp.pt[1], kp.size,
                  kp.angle, kp.response, kp.octave,
                  kp.class_id]
                 for kp in keypoints])
    desc = np.array(descriptors)
    return kpts, desc

def unpack_keypoint(array):
    try:
        kpts = array[:,:7]
        desc = array[:,7:]
        keypoints = [cv2.KeyPoint(x, y, _size, _angle, _response, int(_octave), int(_class_id))
                 for x, y, _size, _angle, _response, _octave, _class_id in list(kpts)]
        return keypoints, np.array(desc)
    except(IndexError):
        return np.array([]), np.array([])

def process_image(imagename, resultname):
    img = cv2.imread(imagename, 0)
    k = surf.detect(img, None)
    if len(k) > 0:
        k, des = surf.compute(img, k)
    else:
        des = []
    k, des = pack_keypoint(k, des) #
    write_features_to_file(resultname, k, des)

A: this worked for me:
# Initiate SURF detector
surf = cv2.xfeatures2d.SURF_create()
surf.setHessianThreshold(10000)

img1 = cv2.imread("images/85_hires.png", 4)
kp1, des1 = surf.detectAndCompute(img1, None)
img2 = cv2.imread("images/85_hires.png", 4)
kp2, des2 = surf.detectAndCompute(img2, None)

np.savetxt("test.txt", des2)

new = np.loadtxt("test.txt").astype('float32')
print(getImageScore(des1, des2))
print(getImageScore(des1, new))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


36802: - Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Illinois, Convened at the City of Springfield, Tuesday, December 13, 1869: Volume I.
40567: - Befiehl Dem Herrn Deine Wege!
32362: - Atlas of Dubuque County Iowa: Containing Maps, Plats of the Townships, Rural Directory, Pictures of Farms & Families, Articles About History Etc.
17343: - No Work, No Bread!
13463: - By-Laws of Geo. C. Strong Post No. 534 Department of New York G.A. R.
6712: - The Magnificent Collections of Richard and Jean Salisbury and Ted K. Woods: As Well As Items from the Collections of Aubrey and Adeline Bebee, William R. Sieck, Et Al.
32363: - Atlas of Delaware County Iowa: Containing Maps, Plats of the Townships, Rural Directory, Pictures of Schools, Churches, Articles on Agriculture, Etc.
32364: - Atlas of Delaware County Iowa: Containing Maps, Plats of the Townships, Rural Directory, Pictures of Farms & Families, Articles About History Etc.
700: - Heavenly Cooking from Space City, U.S. A.
18354: - Republican Economy. Paying Off the Democratic Public Dept! $1,611,034,754. 43!!! Great Reduction of Taxes! Important Facts from Official Sources!
25891: - The CIVIL War at Sea: "the Nation Notes and Long Remembers". .
36796: - Voice of the Arrowhead: Anthology of Poems About the Minnesota Arrowhead Country and Its People.
40362: - Wer Will Mit!
34321: - All Round Route and Panoramic Guide of the St. Lawrence... And Western Tourists' Guide to the West, Embracing Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, & C.
40411: - Bei Dem Himmlischen Kind. Ein Biblisches Bilderbuch I.
43784: - War Papers Read Before the Commandery of the State of Wisconsin, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States -- Volume I.
44010: AGATE, JAMES - Thus to Revisit. .


Days after being briefed by the CIA Director, Trump said we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
The journalist's body parts were then handed over to an agent outside the consulate grounds, the spokesman said.
Samples taken from the drains at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul showed traces of acid, a Turkish newspaper said, without quoting sources.
Khashoggi's son said that without their father's body, their family is unable to grieve and deal with emotional burden his death.
Saudi is only producer with significant spare capacity of around 2 million bpd that can be tapped to compensate loss of Iranian supplies.
The murder has placed a strain on the decades-old US-Saudi Arabia alliance and tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in US, wrote columns for Washington Post critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Erdogan on Friday called for the extradition of the 18 Saudi nationals who authorities say were involved in the murder of Khashoggi.


World Lithuanians are calling on the Seimas and government to launch a campaign for a referendum to legalize multiple citizenship.
Members of a commission holding a meeting in the parliament later this week have signed a statement to the Seimas and government, asking them to prioritize the issue of dual citizenship and "immediately take strategic action to ensure success of the campaign "YES! to the Preservation of Lithuanian Citizenship".
"We are concerned over sluggish preparations and a lack of attention from the Lithuanian authorities to the upcoming 2019 referendum which will determine whether Lithuanians living abroad and taking another country's citizenship for various reasons will have an opportunity to preserve their right to the inborn citizenship of their homeland Lithuania", the statement said.
Dalia Henke, head of the Lithuanian World Community, says the threshold for the referendum is very high as at least 50 percent of voters will have to vote "yes", so several condition are necessary for the success of this referendum.
"Political parties need to reach agreement on this to be a national issue of preserving citizenship, to lower the threshold and, third, introduce e-voting to make it easier to citizens, living outside Lithuania, to take part in it", Henke said.
The Lithuanian Constitution states that a person cannot be a Lithuanian citizen and a citizen of a foreign country at the same time. Such a constitutional provision can only be amended by means of a referendum.
World Lithuanians are concerned that the referendum on citizenship might fail as not only over half of citizens need to come to vote but also more that half of them need to vote "yes".


Owning a car is a huge responsibility, due to the large investment you put into it. However, things can become increasingly stressful if you neglect the proper maintenance of your vehicle. Flushing the brake fluid in your car is an important aspect of your car's regular maintenance that you need to keep up with in order to avoid bigger issues in your braking system and keep things running smoothly.
Its common knowledge that brakes allow your car to stop but not everyone understands the logistics of how your braking system works. On a vehicle, there are four brake rotors, with one being on each wheel. When a car comes to a stop, pressure needs to be applied to the rotors in order for the wheels to stop turning. From there, the brake pads clamp onto the rotors so the vehicle can come to a complete stop.
The clamping action is what allows the pads to apply pressure on the rotors. Therefore, your car uses the brake pedal to force pressure to all four of your rotors, which is where the hydraulic system kicks in. Then, the brake pedal needs to be stepped on, which uses brake fluid for the necessary pressure to clamp down on the rotors. Brake fluid is critical throughout this process and will need to be changed regularly to endure proper effectiveness.
Brake systems are naturally going to be victims of wear and tear, as with anything on a car over time. As daily use takes its toll on your vehicle, materials from the moving parts can potentially break off and get into the fluid within the hydraulic system. Moisture is another big thing that gets into your braking system, which if left unchecked can cause rust that can find its way to the fluid as well. In addition, if these materials were to get into your fluid, your car could potentially lose its ability to stop if the issue isn't taken care of.
A good way to prevent this issue from happening is to get it flushed out by a professional mechanic on a regular basis. It's imperative to have this done after a specific time period to keep your system running and brakes working adequately.
Furthermore, if you're unsure about whether or not your brake fluid needs to be flushed, there are symptoms to keep an eye out for to give you some indicators. The first is if your brake pedal needs to be pressed harder than usual. Another sign is you have to press down on your brake pedal more than once to stop your car. More obvious signs include your dashboard brake light coming on, clear or brown liquid leaking from under your car, and if the fluid level in the reservoir is below the minimum line.
It is important to get your brake fluid flushed around every 30,000 miles. The flushing process at Dealer Service Alternative removes the old fluid that could be dirty and refills it with new fluid. If you think your brakes might need to be flushed out, don't hesitate and get them fixed at Dealer Service Alternative. Our highly trained technicians are equipped with the skills and knowledge to assist you with any maintenance or repairs you may need.


text:
Drive around Utah neighborhoods, and you're likely to see flags of sports teams on display, but few representations of the state flag. That's a missed opportunity, says Utah Sen. Dan McCay, who co-sponsored a bill establishing the Utah State Flag Task Force.
For Those Who Ask: Why Now?
The name of the statewide initiative, More Than Just A Flag, signifies its greater purpose. After an extensive public engagement campaign throughout 2022, the proposed new design aims to represent Utahns' shared values now.
A 2021 survey reported Utahns value the history of our current flag, which features our state's seal, but a majority of respondents didn't feel like the banner represented them.
Few Utahns can draw our current flag. And as Sen. McCay suggests, few Utahns currently display our flag.
The idea of creating a new flag isn't an exercise in wokeness or about canceling history. Instead, the proposed new design draws upon symbols in Utah's state seal and residents' submissions and suggestions. The aim was to create a design that's easier to reproduce and recognize at a distance, a design that Utahns can rally around.
And to create a new state flag design that more Utahns will be proud to display.


The Vision II is a freestanding fire feature that is designed for both indoor and outdoor use. It creates a large, soothing flame that will bring luxury and heat to any living space. It is equipped with a flame regulation mechanism. This fireplace will burn for approximately 5 hours with 1 fill of superior quality bio ethanol fuel. Included in the box is an easy pour spout. This unit comes with a 3 Year Manufacturer's Warranty.