text:
The Truth About Drug Companies
Marcia Angell Interviewed By Peter Meredith of Mother Jones Posted December 10, 2010
Disclaimer: The information presented here is for informative and educational purposes only and is not intended as curative or prescriptive advice.
Medical doctor Marcia Angell calls the pharmaceutical industry a 'vast marketing machine' that thrives on monopoly rights and public-sponsored research but produces few innovative drugs.
Background information about this article, Marcia Angell MD and editor in chief of NEJM: Tenure as NEJM editor-in-chief In 1999, Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., resigned as NEJM's editor-in-chief over a management dispute with the Massachusetts Medical Society, the journal's publisher. NEJM is the oldest medical journal in North America.[citation needed] The dispute was over the Society's plan to use the journal's name to brand and market other sources of healthcare information. Kassirer and Angell were opposed to the plan, because they feared it would lend unearned credibility to health information that has not gone through rigorous peer-review implied by the NEJM label. The Society denies that this was the reason for the dispute.[citation needed] Angell agreed to serve as interim editor-in-chief until a new editor could be found. She retired from the journal in June 2000 and was replaced by Jeffrey Drazen, M.D. Angell is the only woman to have served as editor-in-chief of the journal since it was founded in 1812. Dr Marcia Angell is a member of Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine. Wikipedia: Marcia Angell
This article is one of many that reflect on the issues of drug company monopoly, control of drug research, drug marketing and well being of the public. This article depicts the views of many scientists, medical doctors and general public about the drug industry.
Additional supporting 'conflict of interest' references are at the end of this article. The real scary thing about all this is that PHARMA has high-jacked congress and now influences drug, medical and health care legislation. [ Courtesy Walter Sorochan ]
Introduction by Peter Meredith
The high price of prescription drugs has put -- and kept -- U.S. pharmaceutical companies in the news recently, but Dr. Marcia Angell argues that problems with the industry run even deeper. In her new book, The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It (reviewed in the current issue of Mother Jones), the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine contends that the industry has become a marketing machine that produces few innovative drugs and is dependent on monopoly rights and public-sponsored research.
Angell disputes the industry's reputation as an "engine of innovation," arguing that the top U.S. drug makers spend 2.5 times as much on marketing and administration as they do on research. At least a third of the drugs marketed by industry leaders were discovered by universities or small biotech companies, writes Angell, but they're sold to the public at inflated prices. She cites Taxol, the cancer drug discovered by the National Institutes of Health, but sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $20,000 a year, reportedly 20 times the manufacturing cost. The company agreed to pay the NIH only 0.5 percent in royalties for the drug.
The majority of the new products the industry puts out, says Angell, are "me-too" drugs, which are almost identical to current treatments but "no better than drugs already on the market to treat the same condition." Around 75 percent of new drugs approved by the FDA are me-too drugs. They can be less effective than current drugs, but as long as they're more effective than a placebo, they can get the regulatory green light.
Finally, Angell attacks major pharmaceutical industry -- whose top ten companies make more in profits than the rest of the Fortune 500 combined -- for using "free market" rhetoric while opposing competition at all costs. She discusses Prilosec maker Astra-Zeneca, which filed multiple lawsuits against generic drug makers to prevent them from entering the market when the company's exclusive marketing rights expired. The company "obtained a patent on the idea of combining Prilosec with antibiotics, then argued that a generic drug would infringe on that patent because doctors might prescribe it with an antibiotic."
Angell, who is a doctor and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, wants to see the industry reformed. She recently sat down with MotherJones.com to talk about how to "ensure that we have access to good drugs at reasonable prices and that the reality of this industry is finally brought into line with its rhetoric."
Interview with Mother Jones reporter:
MotherJones.com [MJ.com ]: Pharmaceutical companies say higher prices are necessary to pay for heavy R&D investment.
Marcia Angell [ MA ]: These companies are justifying extremely high prices by saying they need this money to cover their high R&D costs, and they're very innovative, and that we should be willing to spend the money in return for the innovation. In the book, I question those premises. I say that, yes, they spend a lot on R&D, but still they make more in profits, and they spend two to two-and-a-half times as much on what they call "marketing and administration." If you want to argue that they need the high prices to cover R&D, it would make more sense to argue that they need the high prices even more to cover their marketing costs. I just want to put that in perspective. Also, their profits are enormously high. Until last year, [they were] the number one industry in the U.S. in terms of profits. In 2002, the top 10 American [pharmaceutical] companies in the Fortune 500 made 17 percent of their sales in profits, whereas they spent only 14 percent on R&D. The median for the other Fortune 500 companies was between 3 percent of sales. So, you can't make an argument that they're just eking out a living, just managing to cover their R&D costs.
MJ.com: Your numbers for how much companies spend to bring drugs to market are very different from the industry's. How come?
MA: The industry arrives at that $802 million [per drug] figure by looking at a tiny handful of the most costly drugs. Those are drugs that were developed entirely in-house, and that are new molecular entities. That's a very tiny handful of the drugs that come to market each year. They're the most expensive drugs. Second, even for those drugs, they come up with a figure of $403 million per highly selected drug. They then double that to $802 million simply by adding in what they call the "opportunity costs" — what they could have made if they'd spent the same money on investments. Third, the figure is inflated by not including the tax deductions and tax credits. They get very large tax deductions and credits. So the figure is highly inflated. That gets buried in the reporting of it. When you hear the figure, you hear it given with the implication that for any random new drug, that's what it costs to develop it. And that's just simply not so.
MJ.com: In your book, you charge that even some of what the industry calls R&D is actually marketing. Can you elaborate on that?
MA: Well, no one knows for sure what goes into the R&D budget, because the companies aren't telling. It's been estimated that about a quarter of it is spent on Phase IV clinical trials, many of which are just excuses to pay doctors to prescribe the drug. They don't yield any real scientific information. But no one knows for sure.
MJ.com: So should the pharmaceutical industry be making its books public?
MA: Yes, because it's an industry that is so dependent on the public for special favors. This industry, despite its free-market rhetoric, is on welfare big-time. It lives on taxpayer-funded research to a very great extent, and it lives on government-granted monopoly rights in the form of patents and FDA-conferred exclusivity. An industry that is so beholden to the public has some obligation in return. That includes opening their books. We ought to know more about their business. We ought to know whether the claims they make can really be justified.
MJ.com: Why should the industry have to open its books — or be asked to charge less for its products, for that matter — when other industries aren't held to those standards?
MA: The public is absolutely dependent on this industry for drugs that people need to take for their health and even their lives. So, I think there are some special obligations.
MJ.com: In the past you've written that "there can be no better example of something that does not belong in the market [than prescription drugs]," but you don't address that in the current book. Do you still think so?
MA: I don't think I've ever said that they should come off the market, but there need to be reforms that accomplish several things. [Pharmaceutical companies] have too much influence over the education of physicians in this country. They have too much control over the evaluation of their own products, and that's a conflict of interest. I think the industry needs to be regulated, but I've never suggested taking it out of the market altogether. It's now a funny mix of free enterprise and welfare. On the one hand, it is free to choose to make whatever drugs it wants to make. If it wants to make one more me-too drug, it's free to do that instead of making an antibiotic that may really be needed. It's free to charge whatever the market will bear in this country. And at the same time, it claims all sorts of special favors. It claims that Americans should not be allowed to purchase drugs in any other country. It claims the right to license taxpayer-funded research. It not only claims the right to very long patents, but extends them in all kinds of quite dubious ways. Now, this is hardly free enterprise.
MJ.com: In terms of licensing drugs from publicly-funded institutions, how much do companies generally pay? Is it relative to how much they charge?
MA: I don't know. I know in the case of Taxol, it was very little. In general, when companies license a drug from universities, it's not all that much compared with the profits. They're licensing now from small biotechs as well. The industry likes to portray itself as the engine of innovation, but in fact its major products are me-too drugs—minor variations of drugs already on the market. For example, we have six cholesterol-lowering statins on the market right now; we have five SSRI anti-depressants; we have nine ACE inhibitors to treat high blood pressure. If you look at the top-selling drugs on the market right now, most of them are me-too drugs, and the original of these drugs came on the market back in the '80s, or even earlier. The companies have been stringing out variations on the themes ever since. The original drugs were usually based on government university research.
MJ.com: Regarding me-too drugs, can't one make the argument that there should be as many different variations of a drug as possible on the market? Shouldn't the market decide?
MA: We have an FDA because what drugs to sell isn't something for the markets alone to decide. It's also a technical decision that requires scientific evidence. The companies don't want to provide that evidence. They don't test their me-too drugs against other me-too drugs at comparable doses for the same conditions. The companies also make the case that there need to be several me-too drugs on the market because if one doesn't work, maybe another one will. But until they test that, it's just an assertion. They don't test their me-too drugs in people who have not done well with an earlier drug of the same class. They have to do that in order to prove that assertion. I suspect that in most cases, a second drug will not work any better, since me-too drugs are so similar, but no one can know until it's tested.
MJ.com: Speaking of the FDA, you characterize the agency as one that facilitates new drugs, rather than regulating them. To what degree is the agency controlled by the industry it's supposed to regulate?
MA: Too much. The FDA now gets "user fees" from drug companies—about a half a million dollars for any drug that the FDA reviews. Those user fees are small for the companies, but it's a substantial part of the FDA budget. In fact, it's more than half [the budget for] the Center for Disease Evaluation and Research, which is responsible for approving new drugs. In return, the FDA is supposed to review drugs faster.
MJ.com: So you would propose getting rid of those user fees?
MA: Absolutely. I think that the FDA should be funded adequately by taxpayers, and it should see taxpayers as the "users." It should not be funded by the industry it's supposed to be regulating.
MJ.com: One of the changes you propose in this book is that the NIH -- and not drug companies -- be responsible for clinical research. But you propose that drug companies help pay the NIH to do this. Couldn't this lead to a similar problem?
MA: No, because instead of paying user fees by drug, companies would be levied a very small percentage of their revenues. It wouldn't be tied to research on any particular drug. This would be only for clinical trials, not the early development stage. The NIH would put out contracts to universities and medical centers to actually design and carry out the clinical trials, but the NIH would have oversight.
MJ.com: FDA commissioner Lester Crawford recently warned against buying drugs from Canada, citing potential terrorist threat if drugs are tampered with. Is there a valid concern there?
MA: There's no reason to think that drugs that are imported from Canada are any more likely to be unsafe than drugs that one gets right here. In fact, the cases of counterfeiting that I know of have all occurred in this country. So there's some reason to think that maybe it's safer to get your drugs from Canada [laughs]. The drugs that an American would purchase from Canada are going to be the drugs that they ordinarily pay much more for here—that is, FDA-approved drugs. They're not going to be buying just something in a bottle; they're going to be buying FDA-approved drugs that were shipped to Canada from European and American companies which have manufacturing plants all over the world. We have to remember that drugs are crossing borders all the time. Pfizer, for example, said on its website last year that it had 60 manufacturing plants in 32 countries. That right there constitutes a lot of borders. There's nothing about the Canadian border that's going to render these drugs poison. It's a scare tactic. What the industry does not want people to realize is the great price disparities between the United States and every other advanced country.
MJ.com: In the past, you've criticized the U.S. health care system, saying that "if we had set out to design the worst system we could imagine, we couldn't have imagined one as bad as this." Do you still believe that?
MA: The market-based pharmaceutical industry is one problem in the larger problem of a market-based health care system. We spend twice as much per person on health care as the average of all the other advanced countries, and that gap is growing. Yet, we get less for our money. We have over 40 million people with no insurance at all. Most of the rest of us are under-insured. The usual indices of health, like life expectancy and infant mortality, are toward the bottom in the U.S. compared with other advanced countries. So, something's wrong, and it's the system. A market-based system distributes health care as a commodity according to the ability to pay, instead of as a social service distributed according to need. Yet, there's an inverse relationship between one's ability to pay for health care and one's medical needs. The situation gets crazier when you allow competing, investor-owned insurance companies to insure Americans, because they have learned that the best way to compete is to keep costs down by skimping on health services. We have the only health care system on the world that's based on dodging sick people. [Insurers] do everything they can to avoid covering people at high risk of getting ill, and when they do get ill, [companies] fight paying for it. They exclude certain expensive conditions as much as possible. They pass those costs back to the patient or another insurer. And that takes a lot of paperwork, and a lot of overhead.
MJ.com: In the book, you mention that every other developed nation regulates prescription drug prices—
MA: Yes, but they have different ways of doing it. If you look at Canada, it's a very mild form of regulation, really. They have a national board, and when a me-too drug comes on the market, they say it can't be priced any higher than the highest-priced drug for that condition already on the market. Nor can it be priced any higher than the median in seven advanced countries, and these countries include the U.S. Then they say the prices cannot rise any faster than the inflation rate. So, that's not too onerous. Drug companies make profits in Canada.
MJ.com: Is that an example of a system you'd like to see in the U.S.?
MA: Yes. Importing drugs from Canada is not a very sensible solution, because Canada can't possibly supply the U.S., and the drug companies are now retaliating against Canada and squeezing their supplies. So, importation is not a long-term solution. It's just a symptom of the real problem of price-gouging in this country. We should be looking at the Canadian system, and maybe import that rather than importing the drugs.
MJ.com: Realistically, do you think a system of price controls like that could ever be instituted in the U.S.?
MA: Well, something's going to have to happen, because there's no one around any longer who can afford the drug company prices. Not only are individuals having problems, but states are having problems. They feel these prices through the Medicaid system. The federal government is going to find that this fairly open-ended Medicare drug benefit is going to be completely outpaced by the rising prices.
MJ.com: If pharmaceutical manufacturers were forced to lower prices, couldn't it backfire if they cut back on research as a result, rather than marketing?
MA: Well, they might choose to do that, but they wouldn't have to. They could cut their marketing instead, or they could cut into their profits. Their R&D very often comes from the NIH or other publicly sponsored research. Most of their R&D expenditures go for clinical testing after the creative work is already done. This is true for the most innovative drugs, as well as for cancer and HIV/AIDS drugs.
MJ.com: You say that there's "palpable" discontent among seniors and others about drug prices. Do you see this as having an effect on the problems you described in the book?
MA: I think that there are political effects, and I think that's what you're seeing right now with the importation issue. Congress has passed a law saying that you can import drugs from Canada, but that the administration must certify that it not add any risks. Both the Clinton and Bush administrations have refused to do that. It's giving Congress an opportunity to play both sides of the street.
MJ.com: Given that Congress is torn between seniors and the pharmaceutical lobby, do you think change will ever occur?
MA: I think that the public doesn't seem to be buying the argument that drugs from Canada are dangerous. If it comes down to choosing between the money that drug companies provide and the votes that citizens provide, I think members of Congress are going to go with votes. That's what I hope will happen.
MJ.com: In the conclusion of the book, you stress that citizens should grill their doctors regarding drugs they're prescribing. Why do you recommend that type of action most heavily?
MA: The other reforms will take time, but in the meantime, doctors are too willing to provide drugs for very minor conditions. Those drugs are too often the very most expensive, heavily advertised, me-too drugs. I think that patients have to get a little savvier about that. Instead of just grabbing that sample and thinking they've gotten something for free, they ought to think about what it means. Nearly every drug has side effects. I do think that we are an overmedicated society.
Supporting Documentation [ sampling incomplete ]: You can read the original articles for more information.
Adams Mike, "Massive medical fraud exposed: pharmaceutical company paid doctors to prescribe drugs and run sham clinical trials Friday," July 09, 2004. Adams: medical fraud exposed
"Here's a must-read article for anyone interested in learning how the pharmaceutical industry really operates. It's a case of aggressive marketing gone bad, with a mixture of corrupt physicians, underhanded payola and a near-total disregard for patient health."
Barnett Antony, "Revealed: how drug firms 'hoodwink' medical journals," The Observer, December 7, 2003. Barnett: ghost writers Pharmaceutical giants hire ghostwriters to produce articles - then put doctors' names on them
Bodenheimer Thomas & Ronald Collins, "Telling the Truth: What Drug Companies Don't Want You to Know," Integrity in Science, Bodenheimer: Drug nix Thomas Bodenheimer, M.D., is a clinical professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco. Ronald Collins directs the Integrity in Science project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit health advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
Borger Julian, "Pharmaceutical Monopoly versus Free Market: Special Privilege Industry Full of Power," London Guardian, Borger: drug monopoly ""The PhRMA doesn't need to lobby, The industry is in the White House already," Democratic congressman Sherrod Brown said in a memo to staff last month.
Calfee John E., "Medicine's Miracle Man," The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, From the Magazine: January 23, 2009. Superb article about PHARMA misconduct Calfee: Past medicine complaints
"The pharmaceutical industry has been under attack for longer than most people realize. In the 1950s and 1960s, when for the first time in history we had quite a few drugs that worked very well—including many antibiotics,"
A flood of books, including some by authors with academic credentials, have re-circulated many of the same arguments (albeit with more emphasis on safety). The more scholarly works include Merrill Goozner's The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs; Jerome Kassirer's On The Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health; and Jerry Avorn's Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs. Others have a more muckrakian tone, beginning with the much quoted The Truth About the Drug Companies by former New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell, and continuing on to many others including Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels's Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients; Howard Brody's Hooked: Ethics, the Medical Professions, and the Pharmaceutical Industry; Alison Bass's Side-effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (about the drug Paxil); and Philip R. Lee's Pills, Profits, and Politics.
Cassel, Selling sickness book, Prologue and first two chapters: Cassel: selling sickness
Cohen Jay S., M.D., "More Doctors and Medical Centers are Going PHARM-FREE," Medication Sense. Cohen: Pharma free MDs
Cohen Jay S., M.D., "Over Dose: The Case Against the Drug Companies," Medication Sense. Cohen: Med sense 2
Cohen Jay S., M.D., "The Medical Profession's Culture of Corruption, Part 1:," Medication Sense, Cohen: Med sense 1
Drinkard Jim, "Drug makers go furthest to sway Congress," USA TODAY, Drinkard: Pharma buys congress
Editorial Board, "Distorting drug trials," The Guardian. Original article in Goldacre Ben, "Is the conflict of interest unacceptable when drug companies conduct trials on their own drugs? Yes," BMJ, November 29, 2009. Goldacre: conflcits of interest
Goldacre Ben, "Is the conflict of interest unacceptable when drug companies conduct trials on their own drugs? Yes," BMJ, November 29, 2009. Goldacre: conflcits of interest
Goldacre Ben, "Ghostwriters in the sky," The Guardian, September 18, 2010. Ben Goldacre: bad science
Hari Johann, "The hidden truth behind drug company profits," The Independent, August 5, 2009. Hari: Hidden truth
"This is the story of one of the great unspoken scandals of our times. Today, the people across the world who most need life-saving medicine are being prevented from producing it. Here's the latest example: factories across the poor world are desperate to start producing their own cheaper Tamiflu to protect their populations – but they are being sternly told not to. Why? So rich drug companies can protect their patents – and profits. There is an alternative to this sick system, but we are choosing to ignore it.."
Moynihan Ray and Alan Cassels, "Prologue Selling sickness," Moynihan: prologue How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients
Moynihan Ray & Alan Cassels, "Selling Sickness," Book: Selling Sickness, 2005.
Public Citizen, "2002 Drug Industry Profits," Congress Watch, June 2003. Public Citizen: Drug profits 2002
Sircus Mark, "Chemical Hell on Earth," IMVA, September 21, 2010. Sircus: Chemical hell
Sorochan Walter, "Selling Sickness," Sorochan: Selling Sickness
Meredith Peter, "The truth about drug companies," Mother Jones, January 8, 2002. Meredith: The Truth New York Times Book Review Peter Meredith is an editorial fellow at Mother Jones.


"The American Wars of the 20th and 21st century" is an extremely complex and controversial topic. Throughout the 400-year history of the United States, Americans have fought on battlefields both near and far, in clashes both large and small, alone and with allies at their sides. It is impossible to present the history of the United States of America and its relations with other countries without in-depth study of the American Wars - this exactly is the relevance of the chosen research topic. The objectives of this report are to review this topic through its historical background and identify the causes of political, socio-economical and religious contradictions between America and other countries. I have consulted a lot of different resources, which contain detailed information about chosen topic.
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military. The President is the overall head of the military, and helps form military policy with the United States Department of Defense (DoD), a federal executive department, acting as the principal organ by which military policy is carried out. The DoD is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and Cabinet member.  To coordinate military action with diplomacy, the President has an advisory National Security Council headed by a National Security Advisor. Both the President and Secretary of Defense are advised by a seven-member Joint Chiefs of Staff, which includes the head of each of Department of Defense service branches as well as the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Leadership is provided by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  The Commandant of the Coast Guard is not a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
These forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. The Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, although the founding of the Army is celebrated as occurring on 14 June 1775. The 1787 adoption of the Constitution gave the Congress the power to "raise and support armies," "provide and maintain a navy," and to "make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces," as well as the power to declare war and gave the President of the United States the responsibility of being the military's commander-in-chief.
Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the United States Navy (established 13 October 1775) and the United States Marine Corps (established 10 November 1775).  The United States Coast Guard dates its origin to the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service on 4 August 1790; that service merged with the United States Life-Saving Service in 1915 to establish the Coast Guard. The United States Air Force was established as an independent service on 18 September 1947; it traces its origin to the formation of the Aeronautical Division, U. S. Signal Corps in 1907 and was part of the U. S. Army before becoming an independent service.
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U. S.military, and is one of seven U. S. uniformed services. The modern Army has its roots in the Continental Army which was formed on 14 June 1775, before the establishment of the United States, to meet the demands of the American Revolutionary War.  The Congress of the Confederation officially created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 after the end of the Revolutionary War to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The Army considers itself to be descended from the Continental Army and thus dates its inception from the origins of that force.
The task of organizing the U. S. Army commenced in 1775. In the first one hundred years of its existence, the United States Army was maintained as a small peacetime force to man permanent forts and perform other non-wartime duties such as engineering and construction works. By the twentieth century, the U. S. Army had mobilized the U. S. Volunteers on four separate occasions during each of the major wars of the nineteenth century. Currently, the army is divided into the Regular Army, the Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard. The Army is also divided into major branches such as Air Defense Artillery, Infantry, Aviation, Signal Corps, Corps of Engineers, and Armor. Prior to 1903 members of the National Guard were considered state soldiers unless federalized by the President. Since the Militia Act of 1903 all National Guard soldiers have held dual status: as National Guardsmen under the authority of the governor of their state and as a reserve of the U. S. Army under the authority of the President.
Various state defense forces also exist, sometimes known as state militias, which are sponsored by individual state governments and serve as an auxiliary to the National Guard. State militias are not part of the U. S. Army and are state government agencies rather than a component of the military.
Although the present-day Army exists as an all volunteer force, augmented by Reserve and National Guard forces, measures exist for emergency expansion in the event of a catastrophic occurrence, such as a large scale attack against the U. S. or the outbreak of a major global war.
The United States was unprepared for its entrance into the First World War. In April 1917, the American Army numbered only 300,000 including all the National Guard units that could be federalized for national service. The Army's arsenal of war supplies was non-existent and its incursion into Mexico the previous year pointed out the severe deficiencies in its military structure including training, organization, and supply.
When the European continent erupted in conflict in 1914, President Wilson declared America's neutrality. He proposed an even-handed approach towards all the belligerents that was to be maintained in both "thought and deed." The President steadfastly maintained his hope of a peaceful solution to the conflict despite the protestations of those (including former president Roosevelt) convinced that events in Europe would inevitably draw America into the war. In 1916, Wilson campaigned for reelection on a peace platform with the slogan "He kept us out of war. "
The Allies looked to America for salvation with the expectation that the industrial strength of the United States would replenish the supply of war material necessary for victory. In most cases these expectations were unrealistic. For example, the US built no more than 800 airplanes prior to 1917, and yet the French premier called on the US to immediately produce 2,000 airplanes per month. Additionally, the Allies expected the United States to provide an unlimited supply of manpower they could absorb into their beleaguered divisions.
Wilson selected General John J. Pershing (called "Black Jack" after he commanded the famous 10th cavalry in he 1890s) to head the American Expeditionary Force. Pershing left for Europe with a mandate from Wilson to cooperate with Allied forces under the following proviso - "that the forces of the United States are a separate and distinct component of the combined forces the identity of which must be preserved." In other words, there would be no wholesale melding of American soldiers into the British and French armies as the Allied commanders hoped. The United States would fight under its own flag and its own leadership. This proved to be a bone of contention among the Allies for the rest of the war.
America's buildup was slow - Pershing called for a million men, Congress replied it could muster 420,000 by spring 1918. The anticipated cornucopia of military supplies from America never materilaized. For the most part the doughboys fought with equipment supplied by the Allies (including the distinctive helmet provided by the British). American troops saw their first action in May 1918 in fighting alone the Marne River. In September, Pershing ordered an all-out attack in the Saint-Mihiel area of Eastern France. Casualties were high but the attack forced a German retreat that (combined with other Allied offensives along the Western Front) put the entire German army on the run. In early October, the Americans pushed through the Argonne Forest. The German High Command began to crack in the face of the persistent Allied onslaught. General Ludendorff was forced to resign and flee to Sweden, mutiny reared its ugly head among the Kaiser's naval units, and the Kaiser himself abdicated on November 9. On November 11, Germany signed an armistice ending the war.
For the second time in the 20th century, the United States became involved in a devastating world conflict. The mobilization effort of the government in World War II eclipsed even that of World War I. With major operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, American industries literally fueled two wars simultaneously.
When events began happening in Europe that would eventually lead to World War II, many Americans took an increasingly hard line towards getting involved. The events of World War I had fed into America's natural desire to isolationism, and this was reflected by the passage of Neutrality Acts along with the general hands off approach to the events that unfolded on the world stage.
Most of America's political leadership wanted to aid Britain and her allie. Three days before the 1940 Presidential Election, the two main candidates declared: "Our policy is to give all possible material aid to the nations which still resist aggression across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans" (Roosevelt) and "All of us - Republicans, Democrats and Independents - believe in giving aid to the heroic British people. We must make available to them the products of our industry" (Willkie).
Franklin D. Roosevelt (U. S. President 1933-1945) obviously supported the military and other aid he pioneered. Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for President, owed his nomination in large part to his strong support for aiding Britain. In 1940, the Republican field for the Presidential nomination was dominated by former New York gubernatorial candidate Thomas Dewey (who was unclear in his foreign policy stances) and Ohio Senator Robert Taft (who was largely, though not entirely, anti-interventionist). Wendell Willkie was a minor candidate with less political experience than any twentieth century Republican candidate save General Eisenhower. However, his support for `interventionism' was enough to sweep Willkie to the nomination over both Dewey and Taft. Nonetheless, after receiving the Republican nomination, Willkie somewhat shifted his tone on intervention, and of the two Roosevelt was clearly seen as the more likely to help Britain, with one 1940 poll finding 82% of Americans believed Roosevelt would sell naval vessels to Britain with 42.3% believing that Willkie would do so. Willkie does not appear to have benefited from this shift. Roosevelt faced low popularity levels in the late 1930s owing to domestic issues, but by 1940, election polls showed that foreign policy was Roosevelt's greatest strength in the campaign.
The `isolationists' should not necessarily be understood as anti-British. America had only once before sent troops to Europe and isolationists sought to avoid the sort of commitments that they believed (with good cause) could lead to a massive war with Germany and (with less justification) that the United States could lose such a war. `Foreign orientated groups', whether communist or Nazi, were extremely marginal among isolationists. After the declaration of War, any residual Anglophobia had no effect, with only one member of Congress (a progressive pacifist) voting against war. Charles Lindbergh, America's most prominent isolationist, declared that had he been in Congress "I certainly would have voted for a declaration of war". After Pearl Harbour, the leading isolationist group America First had closed down within four days and opinion polls showed a consistently large majority in favour of the war, with no organised anti war movement. During the Second World War, America was significantly influenced by and conscious of British opinion. For example British pressure played at least some role in America prioritising the German front of the war even though it was Japan that had attacked America. More than 400,000 Americans gave their lives during the war.
Strong American support for Britain has continued since the Second World War both among political elites and the general public. In February 2006, a BBC World Service poll found that Americans gave a higher rating to Britain's effect on the world than to the United States', with Americans believing that the United States was good for the world by 63% to 30% - and that Britain was good for the world by a 71% -14% margin. his enormous confidence was based on a long history - of which perhaps the most important was the events of the Second World War.
Another similarity between Vietnam and Korea is that each of these nations became split between the communist north and democratic south. North Korea and North Vietnam were connected to communist China and received supplies, ammunition, and support from them. South Korea and South Vietnam on the other hand, favored democracy. The United States gave weapons, supplies, and military advisors to South Korea and South Vietnam, which soon led to troops actually fighting in each of these wars. Another common characteristic is that both wars ended in negotiations. Neither side won out right like they did in World War II. In Korea, a cease-fire was called and a demilitarized zone was made between the two hostile borders. In Vietnam, under the Paris peace treaty, both sides agreed to a cease fire and America agreed to pull out all military personnel, while North Vietnam agreed to release all American POWs. Although communist North Vietnam quickly violated this treaty and attacked South Vietnam after the US pulled out, both the Korean and Vietnam wars ended in some concessions for both sides. This demonstrates the cold war stale mate between the Soviet Union and the United States. Each side feared the other but neither side achieved a decisive victory.
The Vietnam and Korean wars also differ in many aspects. The fundamental difference between the two wars was in the outcome. The United States and other democratic nations protected South Korea from the communists, while it lost to them in South Vietnam. Much of this had to do with the way in which each of these wars were fought. In Korea, communists tried to defeat the US with sheer numbers. North Korea could not defend themselves effectively, so China sent more than a million troops. General Douglas MacArthur wanted to expand the war into China. Each side fought most of their battles on open ground. This gave America the strategic advantage because of its superior air power and more technologically advanced weapons. Battles tended to be quick and fierce, resulting in an effective campaign for the Americans that drove the communists back to the original line of division. Vietnam on the other hand, resorted to guerilla warfare given its smaller fighting force and environment. The Vietnamese had previously built some underground tunnels in their resistance movements against the Japanese and then the French. They expanded on this network of tunnels and made a huge network stretching more than 250 kilometers. Most of these tunnels were invincible from American air attacks and were sometimes built right under US military stations. For months, Americans could not figure out how enemy fire came right into their camp. Finally, when the military realized the problem, they went into the network of tunnels, but often got lost, ambushed or ran into booby traps. Another reason why America lost Vietnam and not Korea, was that the Vietnamese turned the war into a "people's war". The Chinese mainly fought the US in Korea without much popular support from the people. In Vietnam, however, everyone joined the war effort. One motto of the communist Vietnamese was, "If the truck is struck, tear down the walls of your house." Americans had no way of telling between neutral civilians and Viet Cong supporters. This is one of the main reasons why America could not defeat the Viet Cong.
The difference in the fighting methods of each war gave rise to sharp differences in casualties.54,000 American soldiers died in Korea and the war ended within three years. In Vietnam, however, 58,000 soldiers perished over a course of ten years. The Korean War was characterized by short bursts of fighting whereas Vietnam tended to be long and drawn out. Because of the psychological impact of this, their was an enormous difference between how the veterans of both wars were received back in the USA. The timing and ideological justifications for the wars also contributed to the differing moral support the US troops received.
The Iraq War was a conflict that occurred in Iraq from March 20, 2003 to December 15, 2011. Also this war is known as the War in Iraq (also referred to as the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States military).
- The United States and the world have a duty to disarm a rogue nation like Iraq.
- Saddam Hussein is a tyrant that has demonstrated a complete disregard for human life and should be brought to justice.
- The people of Iraq are an oppressed people, and the world has a duty to help these people.
- The oil reserves of the region are necessary to the world's economy. A rogue element like Saddam threatens the oil reserves of the entire region.
The war in Iraq can be divided into two distinct stages. In the first stage US and coalition forces quickly advanced on Baghdad. The regime of Saddam Hussein quickly fell and the US began to administer Iraq directly. The second stage has lasted from the middle of April 2003 until December 15, 2011. In that time the US helped the Iraqis elect their own government. In the meantime US forces were attacked both by supporters of the old regime as well as groups affiliated with Al Queda. To make matters worse violence soon developed between the Shites and Sunnis in Iraq. Today over three years later virtual civil war exist between the Shites and Sunnis.
After investigation following the invasion, the U. S. - led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its nuclear, chemical, and biological programs in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted. Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons which had been the one of the main arguments for the invasion.
Some US officials also accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever found. Other proclaimed reasons for the invasion included Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses, and an effort to spread democracy to the country.
The invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of President Hussein, who was later tried in an Iraqi court of law and executed by the new Iraqi government.  Violence against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to the Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and the emergence of a new faction of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In June 2008, U. S. Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains. Iraq was fifth on the 2008 Failed States Index, and sixth on the 2009 list. As public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security, member nations of the Coalition withdrew their forces. In late 2008, the U. S. and Iraqi governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through January 1, 2012. The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U. S.,aimed at ensuring cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education, energy development, and other areas. In late February 2009, newly elected U. S. President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat forces, with approximately 50,000 troops remaining in the country "to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance".  General Ray Odierno, the top U. S.military commander in Iraq, said he believes all U. S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011, while UK forces ended combat operations on April 30, 2009. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he supports the accelerated pullout of U. S. forces. In a speech at the Oval Office on 31 August 2010 Obama declared "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. "Beginning September 1, 2010, the American operational name for its involvement in Iraq changed from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn." The remaining 50,000 U. S. troops were designated as "advise and assist brigades" assigned to non-combat operations while retaining the ability to revert to combat operations as necessary. Two combat aviation brigades also remain in Iraq. In September 2010, the Associated Press issued an internal memo reminding its reporters that "combat in Iraq is not over," and "U. S. troops remain involved in combat operations alongside Iraqi forces, although U. S. officials say the American combat mission has formally ended."  On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U. S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year, bringing the U. S. mission in Iraq to an end. On December 15, 2011, U. S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the Iraq War over, at a flag lowering ceremony in Baghdad.
For a long time America took part in social, ethnic and religious conflicts and wars, that had a significant influence on the development of different countries.
From the American Revolution of the late 18th century to the Iraq War in the early 21st, these conflicts have shaped the country's policies, influenced its culture, defined its borders and cost thousands of lives. Wars in these centuries, with the exception of WWII, have all been based on the expansion of Empire, but with the modern twist of multinational capitalism. Americans have gone to war to win their independence, expand their national boundaries, define their freedoms, and defend their interests around the globe.
 "Organization Chart of the Joint Chiefs of Staff". JCS Leadership. Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
 John Whiteclay Chambers, ed., The Oxford Guide to American Military History (1999).
 Kennedy, David, M., Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980).
 "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
 "Attacks in Iraq at All-Time High, Pentagon Report Says". PBS. 2006-12-19.
Другие документы, подобные "The American Wars of the 20th and 21st century"


text:
New songs added 03/20!
Author Topic: New songs added 03/20! (Read 14271 times)
New songs added 03/20.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2007, 02:08:54 am by sfericsf »
Re: New songs playing NOW
I'm enjoying the salty words to The Strawberry Roan!!
And, in Phillip's intro, I love the smooth way he says WWW. That takes a lot of skill! I also love how he says, Join me in going forward...instead of going straight!!
Quote from: Front-Ranger on March 21, 2007, 01:42:32 am
I also love how he says, Join me in going forward...instead of going straight!!
Re: New songs added 03/20!
Ok, some of you may have noticed that the new songs had a volume problem.
I've fixed them.
injest
well this is frustrating...I can get any SPOKEN parts...but no music....must be my connection...sorry Eric...
Quote from: injest on March 21, 2007, 11:20:06 pm
Hunh?
Quote from: sfericsf on March 22, 2007, 01:11:02 am
I can hear Phillip talking (for example the thing about the RIAA) but can't hear any music! no songs....
Quote from: injest on March 22, 2007, 05:18:22 am
So, what your saying is the introduction comes on, and then nothing happens?
Quote from: sfericsf on March 22, 2007, 12:56:30 pm
yep, I see the title...and there is a little volume bar that lights up but NO music..
Is the volume bar green or red?
oops sorry, my friend, didn't see this earlier..I don't remember...but I THINK green.
I will switch over to the new *gag* computer tomorrow and see if I can hear the "State of the Community"
*Jess crossing her fingers*
Sheriff Roland
BetterMost Supporter
Re: New songs added today!
Eric made an announcement earlier taday 'bout a new set a songs gettin added to the playlist today.
The message was prob'ly posted during the downtime & it was apparently lost, so I'm repostin it!
Don't think he told us whether or not the (new) songs would be played back ta back at 8:00 pm, but I plan on listenein in half an hour, just in case!
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer
15 new songs were added into the playlist today, and I've still got a few more to add. The station is set to 'random shuffle', so the 15+ new songs can come up at any time.
Keep Listenin'...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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A bill put forward to the City Council Committee on Transportation today would cap the number of cars that services like Uber can add. Under the bill, backed by the Taxi & Limousine Commission, "for hire vehicle" (FHV) services with a base of more than 500 drivers would only be able to increase their fleet by 1% each year.
As the bill was read, two distinct camps gathered outside City Hall. On the one side: a handful of brightly colored, turbaned yellow cab drivers, bearing signs reading "Do Not Disturb Peace of City" and "Please Save Yellow Cab." Opposite them: a black-shirted Uber-logoed mass handing out sandwiches and free t-shirts.
The bill aims to study the impact of the rapidly expanding FHV industry on "traffic congestion, air quality, noise, and public health," according to the official testimony submitted earlier today by Meera Joshi, TLC commissioner to the City Council Committee on Transportation. In order to do so, according to Joshi's testimony, the bill suggests capping FHV growth for one year (or earlier, depending on the duration of the study) in order to "develop informed policy" that will mitigate any identified impacts.
Josh Mohrer, Uber's general manager, argued against the bill. "It would kill 10,000 jobs, increase commuter wait time and kill service to the outer boroughs — basically it will end Uber as you know it," he told a crowd of around 60 gathered on the steps of City Hall while Joshi read her testimony in the City Council meeting.
In terms of this "runaway growth," Mohrer noted that with Uber's increase in demand the result of this bill's passing would mean adding only 200 vehicles into operation over the next year, severely limiting employment opportunities at a time when jobs are at a premium. "It's about stifling competition for the taxi industry, putting the interests of medallion millionaires above those of New York riders and drivers," said Mohrer.


COMPUTIL's Windows based Asset Reporting Management System (ARMS) uses the flexibility of an Oracle or Access relational database environment to produce tracking, querying and reporting modules for gas, water and wastewater facility data as well as general asset data. It's that flexible!
The ARMS Facility-Tracking module provides applications to update, add, delete, query, manage, and generate reports on gas, water, sewer facilities and other facilities.
This implementation can be used to track domestic services such as fire services, hydrants, manholes, valves, back-flow prevention devices, meters, pumps, pump stations, motors, tanks and almost any other asset.
Facility information is just a mouse click away. Access to the latest maintenance, inspection, and historical data is readily available. The user has the ability to generate additional queries and custom reports that can be saved for future use.
Services: customer name, addresses, account #, phone, etc.
Mains: size, material, length, diameter shut downs, etc.
Valves: type, size, status, manufacturer, etc.
Hydrants: manufacturer, model number, number, etc.
Manholes: type, cover, wall material, etc.
Preventive Maintenance: flushing, exercising, etc.
Work Requests: problem type, priority, location, work assigned, etc.
Complaints: log calls, define problems, assign tasks, date completed, etc.
Customers: name, phone #, address, meter #, account #, etc.
Appointments: date, time, request #, department, employee, etc.
Scheduling: what to do and when, preventive maintenance, etc.
Reports: outstanding work orders, schedules appointments, etc.
And best of all it's now only $ 950 per module for a user license.


text:
Lure of the Temptress — фэнтэзийный point-and-click квест, созданный Revolution Software и изданный Virgin Interactive Entertainment в 1992 году для платформ Atari ST, DOS и Amiga.

Это был дебютный проект Revolution Software, работа над ним началась еще до фактического образования студии, на разработку ушло почти 3 года. Также это первая игра, разработанная на игровом движке Virtual Theatre, который впоследствии использовался в киберпанк-квесте Beneath a Steel Sky и в серии Broken Sword.

Сюжет
Игровым персонажем является молодой крестьянин по имени Диермот (Diermot). Он был нанят загонщиком на королевскую охоту. В разгар охоты прибывает посланник с вестью о крестьянском восстании, король и его отряд немедленно выступает, и по прибытии на место выясняется, что это не обычный бунт, а тщательно подготовленное восстание оркоподобной расы скорлов (), спланированное их предводительницей, прекрасной волшебницей по имени Селена. В развязавшейся битве король потерпел поражение и был убит, а самого Диермота бросили в темницу, где и начинается непосредственно игровое действие.

Особенности
Ключевой особенностью «виртуального театра» является то, что все неигровые персонажи живут своей собственной жизнью. Они самостоятельно передвигаются по локациям, общаются, передают друг другу предметы и т. д. Одно из первых заданий, получаемых в игре — найти деревенского кузнеца Лютерна и поговорить с ним, — в полной мере знакомит игрока с этой особенностью движка, поскольку кузнец не сидит безвылазно в кузнице, а время от времени покидает её и уходит в деревню по делам.

Еще одной примечательной функцией в игре является возможность отдавать напарнику команды для выполнения, своего рода «программы», которые он постарается выполнить. Изначально имеющая вид бесполезного бонуса, тем не менее, эта функция является критичной для успешного прохождения игры. Отдаваемые команды имеют синтаксис приблизительно такого вида:
ПОДОЙДИ К <объект> СДЕЛАЙ ДЕЙСТВИЕ <действие> ЗАТЕМ СДЕЛАЙ ДЕЙСТВИЕ <действие> КОНЕЦ

Также в Lure of the Temptress присутствуют не совсем характерные для квестов того периода элементы т. н. adventure (), а именно бои с монстрами, которые вполне могут повлечь за собой гибель игрового персонажа.

Распространение
На данный момент игра распространяется бесплатно, с веб-сайта Revolution Software можно легально скачать рабочую версию на одном из четырёх языков (английском, французском, итальянском и немецком), в которой была дезактивирована функция защиты от копирования.
К сожалению, исходный код игры был утрачен. Также игра доступна бесплатно в игровом интернет-магазине GOG.

Ссылки
 Скачать Lure of the Temptress (легально) с сайта Revolution Software
Получить бесплатно в интернет-магазине GOG

Источники

Квесты
Компьютерные игры 1992 года
Игры для DOS
Игры для Amiga
Игры для Atari ST
Компьютерные игры, разработанные Revolution Software
Игры, поддерживаемые ScummVM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Harwood Andrews has acted for the City of Greater Geelong (Council) in a successful prosecution of the owners of 'the Ritz' - a prominent heritage listed building located on Bellerine Street, Geelong.
Over many years 'The Ritz' had been allowed to fall into a state of dilapidation and neglect as repair notices issued by Council were ignored. As a result, 'the Ritz' owners, Tuyet and Diem Truong, were charged with offences under the Neighbourhood Amenity Local Law 2014 (Local Law).
In what was a first ever prosecution under the Local Law for a dilapidated building offence, the Geelong Magistrates Court convicted the Truongs of six charges and ordered they pay a fine of $12,000 plus $5,000 costs.
The prosecution represents a significant win for Council against landowners who allow buildings to fall into a state of disrepair, as it paves the way for owners of neglected buildings to be prosecuted, even if the building does not present a risk to public safety.
'The Ritz' has now been sold to an undisclosed syndicate with the hope that it can finally be restored to its former glory.


Saskatoon should move its downtown bike lanes and proposed bus rapid transit line, according to multiple speakers at a city committee meeting Wednesday.
As part of its growth plan to 500,000 people, the City of Saskatoon has proposed making the 4th Avenue bike lane project permanent, along with the lane on 23rd Street.
The expanded cycling network, if approved by council, would connect the current lanes with a new corridor on 19th Street and a raised bike track along Idylwyld Drive.
The lanes have often been criticized as over-priced, under-used and poorly located.
"The expansion of a good plan is a good idea, but the expansion of a bad plan is not a good idea," said Keith Moen, executive director of the NSBA, an association representing Saskatoon businesses.
Under the city's growth plan, a bus rapid transit (BRT) line would carry buses along 3rd Avenue in downtown Saskatoon.
Moen said moving the BRT route to 1st Avenue makes more sense.
"That would of course open up 3rd Avenue as an option for a bike lane" instead of 4th Avenue, Moen said.
Moving the BRT to 1st also received support from Michael Mehak, who represented Midtown Plaza. The downtown mall recently proposed an $80 million renovation, including a facelift along 1st Avenue.
Brent Penner, executive director of Downtown Saskatoon, said the business improvement district supports moving the line to 1st Avenue as well.
"If the goal is densification and more growth … we see more opportunities on 1st more than 3rd," Penner said.
No final decisions happened Wednesday, as BRT and bike lane changes require approval from city council.


text:
Q: MVVM pattern in java I want to make a mvvm project on java. But I can not find a sample project. There are a few Android samples but I don't want to make an  Android-project. So how can I make a project with the mvvm pattern?
I am trying to create a desktop application on which there are combo boxes and a data-grid. The app must connect to a database (i.e. MySQL) and the data-grid must be filled with data. Any changes on the combo boxes must change the grid's content. Maybe I want to make CRUD-operation on later steps.
So any suggestions...

A: Take a look at JavaFX framework. It was already mentioned in a couple of other stackoverflow questions:

*

*How does JavaFX compare to WPF?

*Pros and Cons of JavaFX and Silverlight
You may also find this blog post very interesting. It mentions Presentation Model (a pattern highly related to MVVM) and walks you trough basic JavaFX concepts regarding FXML (smth. like XAML in WPF).
EDIT: Simmilar question on stackoverlow
Is there anything similar to WPF and MVVM in Java world?

A: Here is an article on a Java framework doing MVVM ("presentation model"), MVP ("passive view") and a hybrid MVVMP/MVC ("supervising controller")
Implementing event-driven GUI patterns using the ZK Java AJAX framework
It has full source code which deploys on three different PaaS cloud services.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Home :: WMD :: Library :: News :: Taiwan :: 2011 :: December ::
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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
'1992 consensus' remains key to cross-strait negotiations: SEF
ROC Central News Agency
By Lee Hsin-Yin
Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) The "1992 consensus" between Taiwan and China will continue to be the principle of future cross-strait negotiations, said Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung, following his re-election by the SEF's new board of directors for a three-year term on Friday.
Chiang said the consensus -- a tacit understanding reached between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait that there is only one China, with each side free to interpret what that means -- has improved cross-strait relations in recent years.
Due to an increasing mutual trust built on the consensus, Chiang continued, Taiwan has been able to become a "peacemaker" instead of a "troublemaker" in the global community.
Su chi, who coined the term "1992 consensus" when he served as Mainland Affairs Council minister in 2000, agreed with Chiang and said Taiwan needs to further develop a "Taiwan consensus" in which public opinions could be fully demonstrated and evaluated.
"We have to use the two consensuses, or pillars, to handle the rise of China," said Su, who was named a new member of the SEF's eighth board of directors.
Though Su's appointment has drawn controversy, with some people doubting whether his role in the SEF would facilitate political negotiations between the two countries, Su refuted such an assumption.
"I came here as a scholar familiar with cross-strait issues," he said.


text:
Roland Magdane, né le  à Grenoble (Isère), est un humoriste, chanteur et acteur français d'origine polonaise.

Biographie

Formation et débuts
Après des études de médecine à Grenoble qui s'achèvent par un échec, Roland Magdane arrive à Paris en 1967. Il commence sa carrière comme chanteur des rues, brocanteur au marché de Vanves, vendeur de pantalons, mais également comme chauffeur du mime Marceau. Parallèlement à ses activités, il entre au cours Simon, où il suit une formation d'acteur dramatique.

Il participe sur France Inter au concours « La fine fleur de la chanson française » de Luc Bérimont sous le nom de Roland Godefroy (chanson Lève-toi Guillaume). Sélectionné parmi les quatre finalistes, il s'incline devant Yves Simon et Hervé Cristiani, lequel remportera en 1980 le concours avec la chanson Il est libre Max.

En 1970, il est engagé par Jacques Charon dans la pièce Quatre pièces sur jardin, de Pierre Barillet et Grédy, au théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, avec Sophie Desmarets et Jean Richard. En 1972, il obtient l'un de ses premiers rôles dans J'ai confiance en la justice de mon pays, une pièce d'Alain Scoff au théâtre Mouffetard. En 1973, sous la direction d'Annie Noëlle, il interprète un montage de textes de Boris Vian.

En 1977, il rejoint le spectacle La Compagnie de Michel Fugain (comédie musicale).

Succès
En 1978, Roland Magdane monte pour la première fois sur scène en solo et triomphe avec son premier seul en scène au café théâtre, La Cour des miracles.

En 1979, il entame une carrière d'humoriste à la télévision française, dans l'équipe de Stéphane Collaro, avec l'émission Le Collaro show (dont il a composé le générique). Il y reste un an.

En 1982, il est l'invité spécial au cinquième anniversaire du festival Juste pour rire à Montréal ; une émission spéciale d'une heure est diffusée sur le réseau de télévision francophone Radio-Canada.

En 1983, il se produit à l'Olympia. Suivent cinq ans d'intenses activités avec de nombreux spectacles, émissions de télévision et tournées.

Carrière américaine
En 1986, Roland Magdane frôle la mort lors d'un accident de la route, au volant de sa Ferrari qui finit encastrée sous un camion. Il décide de faire une pause d'un an et part aux États-Unis.
En , il passe à Los Angeles une audition au Comedy Store, un théâtre sur Sunset Boulevard. Il est engagé et se produit pour un spectacle de vingt minutes en anglais ; il y reste un an.

En 1989, il participe à Los Angeles à l'émission de variétés Star Search sur NBC animée par Ed McMahon, lors de laquelle il est élu « Meilleur comique étranger ». Puis, il rencontre Sonny Grosso, à l'origine du succès mondial du film French Connection avec Gene Hackman. Grosso écrit un nouveau projet de série pour la télévision américaine et choisit Roland Magdane pour interpréter le rôle de René, un flic français dans Paire d'as sur CBS en 1988.

Il passe neuf ans à tourner aux États-Unis avant de revenir en France.

Retour en France

En 1990, Roland Magdane sort un album de chansons, Brother, réalisé avec le musicien Patrick Roffé. Cependant, la sortie de l'album coïncide avec la guerre du Golfe et passe totalement inaperçue. En 1995, neuf ans après son départ pour les États-Unis, revient à Paris.

Il fait son retour sur scène au théâtre Déjazet à Paris avec son one-man show Magdane craque !, produit par Jean-Claude Camus, qui tourne pendant deux ans.

À la télévision, il joue notamment en 1998 dans Le Choix d'une mère de Jacques Malaterre et en 1999 dans Une sirène dans la nuit de Luc Bolland. En 2000, Jean Becker lui offre ses plus beaux rôles au cinéma aux côtés de Jacques Villeret dans Les Enfants du marais, et en 2001 dans Un crime au Paradis. En 2005, il co-écrit avec le réalisateur Laurent Firode son premier scénario pour le téléfilm Comment lui dire. Diffusé en  sur France 2, celui-ci sera vu par 6 millions de téléspectateurs.

Le  sur M6, il revient dans un rôle inattendu, celui d'animateur de jeux dans l'émission Êtes-vous plus fort qu'un élève de 10 ans ?. Il est préféré à Mac Lesggy, Laurent Boyer et Stéphane Rotenberg. Mais le jeu est rapidement déprogrammé, faute d'audience.

En 2007, pour ses trente ans de carrière, il présente le spectacle Magdane Best Of au Théâtre Déjazet. La même année, il devient le parrain de l'Institut régional du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel corse (IRCA) présidé par le réalisateur Magà Ettori.

En 2010, il présente son nouveau spectacle, Attention c'est show, au théâtre des Nouveautés à Paris. En 2011, il retrouve les États-Unis en présentant son spectacle au Colony Theatre, un théâtre à Miami. En 2010 et 2011, il fait une tournée de plus de 150 étapes en France, Belgique et en Suisse.

En 2012, il est au théâtre Le Palace à Paris avec son spectacle Attention c'est show et aussi au festival Off d'Avignon au théâtre Le Capitole.

À partir du mois d', il participe à la tournée Les Éternels du Rire qui se produit dans toute la France jusqu'à la mi-décembre.

Le , l'émission Envoyé spécial diffuse un reportage sur le plagiat dans l'univers des comiques, dans lequel Roland Magdane est, avec d'autres humoristes français, mis en cause. Le reportage reprend le travail d'un youtubeur anonyme, CopyComic, qui montre vidéo à l'appui les « emprunts » de Magdane à George Carlin et Bill Cosby.

Vie privée
Roland Magdane a deux enfants : Sébastien (1969) et Cannelle. Il habite depuis 2008 en Corse, à Ajaccio.

Discographie

Filmographie

Cinéma

Télévision

Animateur à la télévision
 2007 : Êtes-vous plus fort qu'un élève de 10 ans ? sur M6

Spectacles

Sketches

Magdane Show (2001)

Magdane Craque ! (2005)

Distinctions
 En 1989, Roland Magdane est élu « Meilleur comique étranger » dans l'émission de variétés Star Search sur NBC.

Notes et références

Liens externes

Humoriste français
Acteur français de cinéma
Acteur français de télévision
Nom de scène
Naissance en juillet 1949
Naissance à Grenoble
Élève du cours Simon


text:
from __future__ import print_function
import logging
import argparse
import sys

LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)

class App:
    def __init__(self, input=None):
        self.arg_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="TASDK log file parser")
        self.arg_parser.add_argument("--version", action="version", version="%(prog)s 0.1")
        self.arg_parser.add_argument("--log", "-L", action="store")
        self.arg_parser.add_argument("--columns", "-c", nargs="+")
        self.arg_parser.add_argument("--input", "-i", nargs="+")

        self.args = self.arg_parser.parse_args()
        logging_config = {
            "format": "%(asctime)s %(levelname)-5s %(filename)s:%(lineno)d %(funcName)s %(message)s",
            "datefmt": "%m-%dT%H:%M:%S",
            "level": logging.DEBUG
        }
        if self.args.log:
            logging_config["filename"] = self.args.log
            logging_config["filemode"] = "w"

        logging.basicConfig(**logging_config)
        LOG.info("log files: " + str(self.args.input))
        LOG.info("columns: " + str(self.args.columns))
        if (input is not None):
            if self.args.input is None:
                self.args.input = []
            self.args.input.insert(0, input)
        if (len(self.args.input) == 0):
            LOG.error("No input file")
            sys.exit(1)

    def run(self):
        for logfile in self.args.input:
            LOG.info("parsing: " + logfile)
            with open(logfile, "r") as fh:
                self.parse_stream(fh)

    def parse_stream(self, strm):
        for line in strm:
            self.parse_line(line)
            break

    def parse_line(self, line):
        tokens = line.split('|', 9)
        for i in range(len(tokens)):
            LOG.info("%d: %s" % (i, tokens[i]))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    #myapp = App(input=r"D:\zerox\Downloads\TASDK-8393-10min-switch\navigation.log")
    myapp = App(input=r"D:\zerox\Downloads\TASDK-8213-content-switch-trigered\SP32_W2_Within HA-navigation - Copy.log")
    myapp.run()
    logging.shutdown()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The command line application of Document Converter supports to convert any printable documents to various image formats and set different parameters for the target file. For example, if you want to convert the document of txt to pdf and also want to protect the contents in created PDF document, you may want to set pdf password to make the contents not be modified, printed, copied, etc. freely.
The command line application can be downloaded at http://www.verypdf.com/artprint/docprint_pro_setup.exefor free trial and you just need to install it on the disk of your computer to make the executable file doc2pdf.exe available instantly. The executable file doc2pdf.exe is the called program in the conversion from txt to pdf.
If you want to use all the functions of the command line application without any limitations, please buy it at http://www.verypdf.com/order_docprintpro.html.
The conversion from txt to pdf and set pdf password for the created PDF document is made up of three steps—Opening MS-DOS interface, inputting command line and running the conversion. To see the specific steps, please see the following contents.
There are two ways to open MS-DOS interface. The first one is to press "Window"+ "R" on the keyboard to open "Run" dialog box. Then please input "cmd" in "Open" combo box and click "OK" button. The second way is to click "Start"—"Run" to open "Run" dialog box.
-s openpwd=123 is for setting pdf open password as "123".
-s ownerpwd=456 is for setting pdf ower password as "456".
-s keylen=0 is for specifying the key length as 40 bit RC4 encryption.
-s permission=3900 is for protecting the pdf contents from being done anything.
-i C:\test.doc is the path of source file.
-o C:\out.pdf is the name of target file.
Please use the paths of each file when you input the command line.
Please click "Enter" button on the keyboard to run the conversion from txt to pdf. If you have other questions about the command line application, welcome to leave a message and we will give you a satisfying answer.
This entry was posted in docPrint Pro and tagged set PDF password, txt to pdf. Bookmark the permalink.


Each Moodle resource and activity allows you to define a group mode under 'Common module settings'. Three settings are possible, No groups, visible groups and separate groups, although there is often no difference in functionality between 'visible groups' and 'seperate groups' in many activities.
For some activities, such as forums, wikis, chats and choices, the functionality does change according to the setting that is chosen.The group mode has no affect for resources.
The table below outlines how it affects activities.
The assignment will be available to all students, but they can only see their own submissions unless a group assignment is set up (this is a different setting).
Tutors will view all students' assignment submissions as a list.
Student will be able to see the names of the other groups on the left hand side of the screen.
Note: it might be confusing to students as they may think that they have to select a group from the drop down menu.
Tutors will be able to select and view the submissions of all students or separate groups.
Note: There is no difference for the tutor if they use separate or visible groups.
Student will also have an indication of their group's name on theleft hand side of the screen.
The assignment is visible and able to be edited up until submission by all students in the group.
Group assignments are managed using the group submission settings, not the group mode settingsunder'common module settings' that is being outlined in this table.
Tutors can filter assignments by group.
Group assignments are managed using the group submission settings, not the group mode settings under 'common module settings' that is being outlined in this table.
The forum postings (discussion) will be available to all students.
Tutors see all the discussion posts in one list and can't filter them.
Students have the option to view forum posting (discussions) of their group as well another groups. They can only post to their own group or all participants.
A drop down menu with options: All participants, group A, group B, etc... allows students to navigate between groups.
Tutors have the option to view forum postings (discussion) in different ways.
Only students who belong to the same group will see each others postings.
Tutors have the option to view forum postings (discussion) in different ways. A drop down menu with options: All participants, group A, group B, etc... allows tutors to navigate between groups.
Students can converse with any other student or tutor in the course.
Each group member can discuss in their own group chat, but can also view other group conversations.
Tutors will see the discussions of all participants.
Tutors have options to select and view responses of different groups.
A drop down menu with options: All participants, group A, group B, etc... allows students and tutors to navigate between groups.
Each group member can only see their own group chat, others are invisible.
A drop down menu with options: All participants, group A, group B, etc... allows tutors to navigate between groups.
Students and tutors will see the responses of all participants.
Students will see the responses of their own group as well as the other groups. A drop down menu allows students to filter to show only one group at a time, or all participants.
Tutors will see the responses of all participants.
NB Limiting the number of students per choice option when group modes are applied will apply per group. For example if you have limited a choice to one student and have four groups set-up it will be possible for 4 students to take that choice, one from each group.
Students will see the responses of their group only.
Tutors will see the responses of all participants, with the option to filter by group too.
There is only one wiki. The teacher and all students can view and edit this wiki.
Every student has their own wiki, which only they and their teacher can edit. Students can view the wikis of all other students in the course.
Every student has their own wiki, which only they and their tutor can edit. Students can view the wikis of other students in their group.
There is one wiki per group. Students can change the wiki of their own group only. They can view the wikis for all groups. Tutors can edit any group's wiki pages.
There is one wiki per group. Students can view and edit the wiki of their own group only. Tutors can edit any group's wiki pages. A drop down menu with options: All participants, group A, group B, etc... allows tutors to navigate between groups.
Tutors will view all students' assignment submission as a list.
Students only see their own quiz attempts and feedback, depending on what and when the quiz allows them to see this information.
Tutors can filter quiz results by group.
Tutors will view all students' workshop submissions as a list.
Students are allocated to mark work of other students within their own group, unless the Prevent Reviews setting is checked in the random/scheduled allocation settings. If the Prevent Reviews setting is checked students of the same group never review each other's work, as most likely it is their work too in a group submission. Moodle will ensure that they are only allocated other students out of their own group's work to access.
Students will see the entries added to their own group as well as the other groups. A drop down menu allows students to filter to show only one group at a time, or all participants.
Students will see the entries added to their group only.
Students see all slots for all tutors on the course.
Tutors see all the slots for themselves and other tutors and they see all the students enrolled on the course.
Tutors only see their own slots and students in the same groups as them.
Students see slots for any tutors in their groups.


Following the motto "Comfort by Security", AFRSIO is extending the smart portfolio to offer comprehensive protection against burglary, hazards and leaks.
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text:
Q: Compiz>ubuntu unity plugin> workspace switcher I'm using desktop switcher from the ubuntu unity plugin and easystroke to get the macbook pro feel with switching workspaces. Everytime I use it to switch right or left a little animation like thing pops up as I'm switching (pic below). Is there a way to remove the circled animation from popping up every time I use the switcher? I can ignore it, but it would be nice to hide it some way. I'm not very savvy with linux, but I will try to follow along as best I can. Thanks!

A: You would need to install compizconfig-settings-manager , then run ccsm and disable the option to show a preview in the Desktop wall plugin: