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Tag Archives: Lindsey Graham
Who's Behind the Bloodbath in Turkey?
Apologists for Vladimir Putin, including his propaganda channel Russia Today (RT), have been telling us for months that Turkey has been facilitating and even funding the global Islamic terrorist group ISIS. But the carnage at the Istanbul, Turkey, airport, apparently carried out by ISIS, demonstrates this is a big lie. ISIS is doing Russia's dirty work in targeting the only Muslim and Middle Eastern country that is a member of NATO.
This would not have been the first time that ISIS had attacked Turkey. In fact, a suicide bomber who struck a busy tourist area in central Istanbul on Saturday, March 19 was also an ISIS terrorist.
But there's also the possibility that the PKK, the Kurdish terrorist organization also known as the Kurdistan Workers Party, was behind the attack. The PKK has killed thousands of people in Turkey, and has bombed or attacked the country's tourism industry, hospitals and businesses.
Incredibly, in a scandal that could turn into another Benghazi, it has been confirmed that President Obama's administration is arming the Democratic Union Party (PYD)—a branch of the PKK—supposedly to fight ISIS. But the PYD's increasing consolidation of power in northern Syria could pose a military threat to Turkey.
Turkey, a long-time NATO member, is caught in the middle between ISIS and the PKK, while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says Obama's support for the PYD is helping to create a "sea of blood" in the region.
In addition to sponsoring International Coalition military attacks on ISIS from its own Incirlik Airbase, Turkey is the only Muslim country that belongs to NATO. Since the days of the old Soviet Union, Russia has hated NATO and has wanted to see it abolished. During the Cold War, American nuclear weapons were deployed in Turkey to counter the Soviet/Russian threat.
The timing of this terrorist attack was significant. The NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw, Poland is scheduled to begin on July 8.
If it turns out that another terrorist group carried out the attack, such as the PKK, that would not be surprising either. Turkish President Erdogan has directly accused Russia of providing anti-aircraft weaponry and rockets to the PKK. "At this moment, terrorists are using anti-aircraft guns and missiles supplied by Russia," Erdogan recently said. "The separatist terrorist organization is equipped with these weapons. They have been transferred to them via Syria and Iraq." These charges followed revelations that the PKK used a Russian-made shoulder-launched missile to down a Turkish helicopter.
Retired Turkish diplomat Murat Bilhan, who served in Moscow, noted, "The PKK had an office in Russia and from time to time it received assistance and support from Russia in the 1990s; Russia never considered PKK as a terrorist organization."
Indeed, the PKK was another one of the "liberation movements" started by the old Soviet intelligence service, the KGB.
Turkish commentator Burhanettin Duran noted that Obama's support for the PYD "continues to strain ties between Turkey and the United States." He added, "A recent visit to Kobani by U.S. special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS (DAESH), Brett McGurk, where he accepted gifts from a former PKK member who now serves in the PYD leadership, took the crisis to the next level…To make matters worse, State Department spokesman John Kirby stated at least twice that the United States would continue working with the PYD, which the U.S. does not consider to be a terrorist group." He went on to say that McGurk offered "to protect Turkey against the PKK," but that he "came out in favor of strengthening the PYD's armed People's Protection Units (YPG) even after President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an openly asked the administration to choose between Turkey and the PYD."
The New York Times has been slow to acknowledge the scandal that is developing with another Obama administration policy in the Middle East. However, the paper did run astory in February that Turkish President Erdogan "called into question the American commitment to fighting terrorist groups in Syria and cited Washington's failure to recognize a Syrian Kurdish rebel group as a terrorist organization." That group was the PYD. "Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organizations?" Erdogan asked.
At the State Department's daily press briefing on February 8, spokesman John Kirby said, "…we don't, as you know, recognize the PYD as a terrorist organization. We recognize that the Turks do, and I understand that. Even the best of friends aren't going to agree on everything."
During testimony before a Senate panel, Obama's Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said "yes" when asked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) whether the PYD and its militia force, the YPG, were aligned with the PKK. The Reuters news agency noted that Graham had said, "We are arming people inside of Syria who are aligned with a terrorist group: That is the finding of the Turkish government."
Isn't that a variation of the pro-terrorist policy that led to the Benghazi massacre?
Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at [email protected]View the complete archives from Cliff Kincaid.
Posted in Military, Politics, Religion, Survival, Terrorism	| Tagged AIM, Ashton Carter, Barack Obama, Brett McGurk, Cliff Kincaid, Communists, Democratic Union Party, ISIS, Islam, Istanbul, Jihad, John Kirb, Kurdistan Workers Party, Lindsey Graham, Media, Military, Murat Bilhan, Muslims, NATO, PKK, Politics, Propaganda, Russia, Syria, Tayyip Erdogan, Terrorism, Terrorists, Turkey, Vladimir Putin	|
Loretta "I Refuse To Answer" Lynch Confirmed As Attorney General After Republican Betrayal
The Republican Party is becoming more and more detached from their conservative base. They seem to vote against anything the conservatives want and do all they can to enable our Marxist president. As Andrew McCarthy put it, "Voting to confirm an attorney general who won't uphold the Constitution isn't a way to inspire confidence among conservatives."
Last Thursday, Karl Rove couldn't wait to announce that, "The dysfunctional Congress finally appears to be working again as the Founders intended." Really? Because this isn't the way I perceive the Founders having intended it at all. They would have impeached and removed a sitting president who acted like a monarch. Then to validate Rove's proclamation, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed as attorney general Loretta Lynch who blatantly supports the systematic non-enforcement of federal law. Ms. Lynch also supports President Obama's boldly unconstitutional usurpations of legislative authority, including Congress' power to set the terms of lawful presence by aliens in our country. Ted Cruz SLAMMED the Republican majority in the Senate for allowing the Lynch nomination:
On the Senate floor a few moments ago, Ted Cruz SLAMMED the new Senate Republican majority for refusing to block Loretta Lynch's nomination to attorney general. He said that the Republican majority could continue to block the nomination if they wanted to and it's something he's urged them to do because of her admissions to run the DOJ in a lawless fashion just like Eric Holder.
He pointed out that more than a few voters are asking what is the difference between a Republican and Democratic Senate majority when someone promising the exact same lawlessness as Holder will be allowed to get confirmed. He says that's something each Republican will have to explain to their constituents.
He also adds that not a single Republican can vote for such a nomination and be consistent with their oath of office to support and defend the Constitution.
Unfortunately, Loretta Lynch was just confirmed. Sigh.
Here is a small sampling of Loretta Lynch's answers at her confirmation hearing:
Q: Will you defend Obama's illegal Executive Amnesty?
A: Lynch thinks the Administration's contrived legal justification is reasonable. She sees nothing wrong with the President's decision to unilaterally grant lawful status and work authorizations that are explicitly barred by federal law to nearly 5 million people who are here illegally.
Q: Who has more right to a job in this country? A lawful immigrant who's here as a citizen – or a person who entered the country unlawfully?
A: Lynch believes that the right and the obligation to work is one that's shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here. And certainly, if someone is here, regardless of status, she would prefer that they would be participating in the workplace than not participating in the workplace.
Q: Concerning the limits of prosecutorial discretion… the dubious theory that President Obama has put forward to justify his illegal Executive Amnesty; where do you stand?
A: Lynch would give no limits to that theory.
Q: Can a subsequent President use prosecutorial discretion to order the Treasury Secretary not to enforce the tax laws and to collect no more income taxes in excess of 25%?
A: She refused to answer.
Q: Can a subsequent President use prosecutorial discretion to exempt the state of Texas, all 27 million people, from every single federal labor and environmental law?
Q: Do you agree with the Holder Justice Department that the government could place a GPS sensor on the car of every single American without probable cause?
Q: Do you agree with the Holder Justice Department that the First Amendment gives no religious liberty protection whatsoever to a church's or a synagogue's choice of their own pastor or rabbi?
Q: Do you believe the federal government can employ a drone to kill a US citizen on American soil if that citizen does not pose an imminent threat?
Q: Would you be willing to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate the IRS' targeting of citizens and citizen groups for their political views? An investigator that was at a minimum, not a major Obama donor?
Our 'functional Congress' confirmed Loretta Lynch as our new attorney general, replacing Eric Holder, possibly the most lawless, racist and fascist AG this nation has ever seen. Lynch testified brazenly that she endorses and intends to facilitate the president's lawlessness and constitutional violations. Having heard her testimony during the confirmation hearings, 10 Republican senators decided to vote for Lynch. Remember, the position of attorney general exists to ensure that the laws are enforced and the Constitution is preserved; and… each senator has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. This should have been a no-brainer. Yet, Republicans sided with the Marxist Leftists and Lynch was confirmed. The ten Republicans who voted for confirmation were: Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Rob Portman, Thad Cochran, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch and Mitch McConnell. The Senate voted 56–43 in favor of Lynch.
Mitch McConnell bald-facedly lied in October. While he was wooing conservatives for the upcoming midterm election, he stated that any nominee that was going to replace Eric Holder as "the nation's highest law-enforcement official" must, "as a condition of his or her confirmation," avoid "at all costs" Holder's penchant for putting "political and ideological commitments ahead of the rule of law" — including as it "relates to the president's acting unilaterally on immigration or anything else." He fibbed big time and betrayed conservatives nationwide. It was his wheeling and dealing that led to the deal that was struck with Harry Reid and that cinched Lynch's confirmation.
Here's Mitch McConnell's deal: If Democrats agree to stop blocking a human trafficking bill over some boilerplate language regarding abortion funding — a position that made them look unreasonable — Republicans, with all the leverage imaginable, will help confirm another attorney general nominee who will rubber stamp the president's many overreaches. So, you see in the end, the Republicans voted for the continuation of the abuse of Executive power. It's really just that simple. The reasons given for supporting Lynch included that she was a black woman and the best so far to come out the Obama White House – those are two breathtakingly horrible reasons for Lynch to be confirmed. It's absolutely shameful politicking.
If you didn't think Mitch McConnell was a lying, conniving Progressive before… you should now. Once the November election was won and behind him, McConnell went to work behind the scenes to whip up support for Loretta Lynch. He wielded his power from the shadows and strong-armed others into supporting her. By voting for her confirmation, he summarily flipped off any conservative who had been foolish enough to believe his campaign rhetoric. Suckers.
But it is even worse than that. From Andrew McCarthy:
That doesn't begin to quantify the perfidy, though. In order to get Lynch to the finish line, McConnell first had to break conservative opposition to allowing a final vote for her nomination. The majority leader thus twisted enough arms that 20 Republicans voted to end debate. This guaranteed that Lynch would not only get a final vote but would, in the end, prevail — Senators Hatch, Graham, Flake, Collins, and Kirk having already announced their intention to join all 46 Democrats in getting Lynch to the magic confirmation number of 51.
So, in addition to the aforementioned ten Republicans who said "aye" on the final vote to make Lynch attorney general, there are ten others who conspired in the GOP's now routine parliamentary deception: Vote in favor of ending debate, knowing that this will give Democrats ultimate victory, but cast a meaningless vote against the Democrats in the final tally in order to pose as staunch Obama opponents when schmoozing the saps back home. These ten — John Thune (S.D.), John Cornyn (Texas), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Cory Gardner (Col.), Mike Rounds (S.D.), and Thom Tillis (N.C.) — are just as willfully complicit in Lynch's confirmation and her imminent execution of Obama's lawlessness.
This is not a Senate back to regular order. It is a disgrace, one that leads to the farce's final act: On Monday, Loretta Lynch will ceremoniously take the oath to uphold the Constitution she has already told us she will undermine.
This is not about immigration, amnesty, health care, and the full spectrum of tough issues on which reasonable minds can differ. It is about the collapse of fundamental assumptions on which the rule of law rests. When solemn oaths are empty words, when missions such as "law enforcement" become self-parody, public contempt for Washington intensifies — in particular, on the political right, which wants to preserve the good society and constitutional order the rule of law sustains.
Mitch McConnell and the other Progressive RINOs are responsible for destroying mainstream America's faith in their government and the rule of law. Our contempt and disgust for those in DC is now complete. The last time out for a presidential election, millions of Republicans were so disillusioned that they stayed home rather than voting. Obama won a second term that way. It appears that the Republican Party is intent on losing the next presidential race as well… they obviously don't give a flying crap about their base. Ask yourself this… would McConnell be doing anything differently if he were Obama's insider in the Senate?
Mike Lee had this to say:
"I voted against her because even though I walked into her confirmation process with an open mind, hoping and even expecting to like her, I couldn't vote for her because she refused to answer any of my questions about prosecutorial discretion and its limits," Sen. Mike Lee, whose grilling gave Lynch the most trouble, told The Federalist. "Even as I made the questions more and more obvious, and gave her hypotheticals which I thought made the question clearer, she refused to answer. It's not because she doesn't have the capacity, it's because she had concluded that she wanted to share as little information as possible and, apparently, she responded well to coaching. I found that troubling."
Lee had offered a hypothetical scenario wherein a governor wanted to raise the speed limit from 55 miles per-hour to 75 but could not convince the legislature. Could that governor decide to unilaterally instruct his highway patrol to not enforce the speed limit? Could he issue permits to drivers who wanted to exceed the limits established by statute? "I thought that was a pretty reasonable hypothetical," Lee explained. She refused [to] discuss the scenario.
And from TheBlaze:
Much of the GOP's opposition to Lynch was due to her support for Obama's executive action on immigration. During her confirmation hearing, Lynch said she believes Obama's plan was consistent with the Constitution, drawing outrage from Republicans who have said it's an end-run around Congress.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the most vocal Republican against Obama's plan, said the Senate shouldn't confirm Lynch to be the nation's top law enforcement officer given her support for what he has called an illegal move by Obama.
"The Senate must never confirm an individual to such an office as this who will support and advance a scheme that violates our Constitution and eviscerates established law and congressional authority," he said Thursday. "No person who would do that should be confirmed. And we don't need to be apologetic about it, colleagues."
Obstructionist and evasive doesn't quite do Loretta Lynch justice here. In my opinion, she is an anti-Constitutionalist and certainly a Liberal Progressive. I am convinced that Lynch is not only a racist, she will be just as bad or worse than Eric Holder and you can thank, in large part, Mitch McConnell and the Progressive Republicans for it. She also has a very special enthusiasm for civil asset forfeiture that she will up the stakes on across the nation. The fact that she is black and a woman should have nothing to do with her confirmation – her adherence and stances on the law and the Constitution should be all that counts. We are definitely at a Constitutional tipping point and Loretta "I Refuse To Answer" Lynch may very well be the Progressive straw that broke the Republic's back.
Posted in Authors, Constitution, Founding Fathers, History, Illegal Immigration, Politics, Terresa Monroe-Hamilton	| Tagged Amnesty, Andrew McCarthy, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Bob Corker, Civil Asset Forfeiture, Confirmation Hearings, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Cory Gardner, Democrats, DOJ, Drones, Elections, Eric Holder, Executive Orders, Federal Law, First Amendment, Founders, GOP, GPS, Harry Reid, Illegal Immigration, Impeachment, Jeff Flake, Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn, John Thune, Karl Rove, Kelly Ayotte, Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham, Loretta Lynch, Mark Kirk, Marxists, Mike Lee, Mike Rounds, Mitch McConnell, Monarch, Obamacare, Orrin Hatch, Pat Roberts, Poltics, Progressives, Prosecutorial Discretion, Race, Religious Freedom, Republicans, Richard Burr, RINOs, Rob Portman, Ron Johnson, Rule of Law, Senate, Shelley Moore Capito, Susan Collins, Taxes, Ted Cruz, Texas, Thad Cochran, The Federalist, TheBlaze, Thom Tillis, Voters	| 22 Comments
Left Rejects Idea of Payback as the Motive for Menendez Indictment
Chris Matthews can nearly always be counted on to come to the defense of President Barack Obama. On Wednesday night's "Hardball" show on MSNBC, they cut to Senator Robert Menendez's (D-NJ) first public comments following his indictment earlier in the day for corruption charges. He stepped down from his ranking position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and defiantly announced that he was innocent, that he plans to fight the charges, and fully expects vindication.
Then, Matthews brought on correspondent Steve Kornacki, who said "his people" say that Menendez is stepping down because "he didn't want to put anyone in the Democratic caucus in an uncomfortable position. But beyond that, I have to tell you, talking to the Menendez camp tonight, I would say they feel very confident that this is something they can beat in a court of law." He said the Menendez camp is accusing the Justice Department of "misconduct," and having "bungled" the case.
Kornacki then added, "They're going to allow the suggestion, they're certainly going to encourage it. I don't think they'll say it themselves, but they want the suggestion out there very much that Menendez is being targeted by the DOJ [Department of Justice], right now, the Obama administration's DOJ because of his opposition to the administration on Iran. And you certainly have a number of Republicans out there like Mark Kirk (IL), Lindsey Graham (SC), who are suggesting that the Menendez people want that out there."
Hearing that, Matthews pushed back, suggesting that the timeline for that interpretation didn't make sense. He said that Menendez had been under investigation for a long time. Matthews was trying to dismiss the idea that this was yet another example of Obama's vindictiveness. Matthews then added, as he was going to a break, "With the indictment late today of Democratic Senator Bob Menendez on federal corruption charges, wait till you hear the latest right-wing conspiracy theory. It's that the charges were brought as payback for bucking the White House on Iran."
Matthews then devoted a panel discussion to piling on Menendez, and virtually finding him guilty. No question, the charges are very serious, and the investigation has been going on for years. But Menendez is innocent until proven guilty of a crime. It's the timing of the indictment that arouses such suspicion.
Matthews showed a montage of conservative talk-show hosts and politicians who suggested, as did Menendez, that this was political payback. One of the panelists on the "Hardball" segment, April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Network, was confident that President Obama would never have been involved with something like that. She said the timing was "coincidental." However, "One thing we know for sure," she said, "the White House is not in collusion with this, because the President is not supposed to know anything about any investigation. So this investigation is independent of anything to do with the White House."
If that doesn't assure you, nothing will. I guess Obama found out about the Menendez indictment along with everyone else when it was reported in the media. Just like he did with the IRS scandal, Operation Fast & Furious, the Veterans Affairs scandal, and the fact that Hillary Clinton did all of her State Department email business on a private server.
Again, as Kornacki pointed out, it was Menendez, a liberal Democrat, who is also saying this about the Obama Justice Department. Actually, Menendez has crossed the President on more than just Iran. There are also his criticisms of Obama's policies toward Cuba, North Korea and Menendez's strong support for Israel that may have been the final straws for Obama's Justice Department to decide to indict the senator at this time.
Coincidence? Well, Menendez is a primary sponsor of two bills this year that are waiting in the wings to see how the negotiations in Switzerland work out that would supposedly halt Iran's quest for nuclear weapons. The bills, if they became law, would increase sanctions on Iran if a deal isn't reached, and demand that Congress approve any deal reached by the parties to the negotiations. One bill is the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015, with Senator Kirk as the other lead sponsor.
And the other one is with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). It would, as described by Politico, "allow Congress to approve or reject any nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama reaches with Iran." Politico added that it "would be a stern rebuke to the president," and cited a letter released last month in which Obama's "Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told Corker that moving on his Iran legislation would 'potentially prevent any deal from succeeding.'"
While apparently the parties to the negotiations have agreed today on a "framework" to keep negotiating to try to work out an actual agreement by the end of June, the timing of this sidelining of the leading Democratic Senate voice skeptical of the President's apparent pursuit of a deal at any price appears more than coincidental. It appears very purposeful. But don't tell that to Chris Matthews. Remember, this is the President who urged Latino voters to "punish our enemies and reward our friends." Maybe that explains Sen. Menendez's indictment, as well as the decision this week to not prosecute former IRS executive Lois Lerner for contempt of Congress.
Posted in Constitution, History, Military, Politics, Religion, Survival, Terrorism	| Tagged AIM, Barack Obama, Chris Matthews, Congress, Cuba, Democrats, Denis McDonough, DOJ, Eric Holder, Fast and Furious, Hillary Clinton, Iran, IRS, Islam, Israel, Jihad, John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, Lois Lerner, Mark Kirk, Media, Military, Muslims, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Politico, Politics, Republicans, Robert Menendez, Roger Aronoff, Scandals, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department, Steve Kornacki, Terrorism, Terrorists, VA, War, White HOuse	|


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Q: ClickOnce Deployment, system update required Microsoft.mshtml We have an application that works with MS Office and uses Microsoft.mshtml.dll. We use ClickOnce to deploy the application. The application deploys without issues on most machines, but sometimes we get errors saying "System Update Required, Microsoft.mshtl.dll should be in the GAC".
We tried installing the PIA for Office without luck. Since Microsoft.mshtml.dll is a system dependent file we cannot include it in the package and re-distribute it. What would be the best way to deploy the application?

A: Do you know which version of MS Office you are targeting? These PIAs are very specific to the version of Office. I remember when we were building a smart client application, we used to have Build VM machines, each one targeting a specific version of Outlook.
Another hurdle was not being able to specify these PIAs as pre-requisites or bundle them with the app. These PIAs needs to be installed on the client using Office CD (at least for 2003 version).

A: You can set up prerequisites in a clickonce app, which would check for specific assemblies in the GAC before allowing users to install.  You would still need to manually install an app that includes the required office dll outside of ClickOnce, but you would at least avoid throwing errors.

A: We are targeting Office 2003 and Office 2007, but using the Office 11 (2003) dlls as Office 2007 is backward compatible.
The problem occurs only for Microsoft.mshtml.dll file. This file is setup as a prerequisite in the ClickOnce app.
On this particular install we tried installing both the Office 2003 and Office 2007 PIA's to no avail.

A: I had this problem too.
The solution to this is to go to the References folder in the solution explorer, then right click Microsoft.mshtml, then Properties.
In the Propoerties page mark "Copy Local" as True.
This should work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Dallas-area home price gains in April lagged the national increase.
Local home prices were 6.6 percent higher than in April 2017, according to the latest report by CoreLogic.
That's less than the national average annual price gain of 6.9 percent.
And it's much less than the double-digit percentage home price increases North Texas saw a year ago.
CoreLogic analysts forecast that nationwide home prices will grow by about 5.3 percent in the coming year.
"The best antidote for rising home prices is additional supply," Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in the report. "New construction has failed to keep up with and meet new housing growth or replace existing inventory.
"More construction of for-sale and rental housing will alleviate housing cost pressures."
The biggest year-over-year home price increases in April were in San Francisco and Las Vegas where prices rose 12.3 percent.
Denver-area prices were up almost 9 percent.
North Texas home values – while increasing at a slower rate – are still at an all-time high.
And Dallas-Fort Worth prices have jumped by more than 40 percent in the last four years, local research shows.


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Q: TIRF mycroscopy with intermediate layer of different refraction index I`m currently experimenting with through the lens TIRF microscopy in which an additional layer is used between the glass and the sample. This 10-30 μm layer has a higher refraction index than my sample (cells) but lower than glass. Similar to panel B in the figure.

In regular TIRF (case A), the parallel rays reach the surface of the sample at the center of the objective field of view. But it seems that when the additional layer is added the ray does not reach the sample at the center of the field of view. This is similar to what I have observed, as soon as I start reaching the angles to go in to TIR the illumination beam seems to drift from the center of my sample on to the periphery, until the point I can't it goes out the field of view.
What is the reason for this? And how can it be fixed?
The figure is from this paper
You can find a similar example in this other paper

A: You may be getting total internal reflection at the interface between the silicone gel and the cover glass.  Some possible solutions:  1) find a lower refractive index cover glass and oil; 2) find a higher refractive index substitute for the silicone gel.
You didn't specify the thickness of the silicone gel layer.  It might be acting as an antireflection coating since it has a somewhat intermediate refractive index between the 1.52 of your cover glass and the 1.33 of your sample.  You could try making that layer thicker.
If the issue is simply that the illumination is offset laterally when you add the  silicone gel, you might be able to bring it back to the right location by using a thinner cover glass.

A: TIRF objectives often have adjustment collars. These are precisely for compensating slightly different coverglass thicknesses. Adding 10-30um of silicone gel is nearly identical in result to using a 0.18-0.20mm coverglass which can be corrected by adjusting the collar.


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Holy cow! The Comeback Cubs did it again on Thursday in DC, scoring three in the ninth to beat the Nationals 5-4.
Jon Lester tossed a quality start (6 IP, 7 K, 1 ER), but the real fireworks took place in the top of the ninth. With one out, Candelario (who'd hit his 1st career HR in his previous AB) was hit by a pitch. He was forced by Caratini, who advanced to 2nd on defensive indifference. With two outs, Javy singled, LaStella singled and drove in Caratini, and Jon Jay had the big blow with a two-run double to put the Cubbies on top for good.
The win gave the Cubs a series split with Washington. They head to Cincy to start a three-game series on Friday.
Go Cubs go!
updated at 6:22 PM Posted by RFBleachers 0 comments
The Cubs go for a series split against the Nationals on Thursday in DC. Jon Lester takes the mound for Chicago.
updated at 12:39 PM Posted by RFBleachers 0 comments
At least the Brewers lost on Tuesday.
The Cubs face the Nats again in DC on Wednesday.
updated at 9:46 AM Posted by RFBleachers 0 comments
Holy cow! The Cubs held on to beat the Nationals 5-4 on Monday behind a nice start by Eddie Butler and a leadoff homer by Willson Contreras. That's Cub.
Javy Baez had another spectacular night, with two great catches and a nice stat line: 2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI, and 1 SB. Four other Cubs hitters each added an RBI on the night, and Chicago had a 5-0 lead entering the ninth before Washington -- and the Cubs' bullpen -- made things interesting.
The series continues Tuesday in DC.
updated at 12:10 AM Posted by RFBleachers 0 comments
Hey hey! The Comeback Cubs struck again in Miami on Saturday, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to down the Fish 5-3. Jon Lester tossed a quality start (7 IP, 3 ER) to pace the North Siders. Wade Davis picked up the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. That's Cub.
With Anthony Rizzo getting the day off and J-Hey & Zo injured, the Cubs' depth came through: Jay went 2-for-5, Baez (3 RBI) and Russell each went 2-for-4, and Happ went 2-for-3.
The series wraps up on Sunday against the Marlins before the Cubs head to DC for a four-game set against the Nationals.
Holy cow! The Cubs demolished the Marlins 11-1 Thursday. That's Cub.
The series continues Friday in Miami.
The Cubs took a tough loss against the Padres on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley, 3-2.
They start an eleven-game road trip Thursday in Miami. Jake Arrieta takes the hill for the North Siders.
Holy cow! The Comeback Cubs did it again, coming from behind to beat the Padres 3-2 at Wrigley. Jon Lester threw another quality start (6 IP, 2 ER, 7 K), and Wade Davis earned his 14th save in 14 attempts. That's Cub.
Willson Contreras homered, and both Rizzo & Javy went 2-for-3.
Game two of the three-game series -- and homestand -- is Tuesday in Chicago.
Hey hey! The Cubs trounced the Pirates 7-1 on Sunday behind a quality start by Lackey (6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) and an offensive outburst.
Jay went 3-for-4 and both Happ & Rizzo homered for Chicago. Riz & Contreras each went 3-for-5, and the bullpen combined for three innings of scoreless, one-hit ball.
The Cubs host the Friars for a three-game set that starts Monday.
Holy cow! The Cubs offense went off on Tuesday night in New York, downing the Mets 14-3 behind five home runs and a dominant start by Jon Lester (7 IP, 1 ER, 10 K).
Joe Maddon had Anthony Rizzo bat leadoff for the first time in Riz's career, and it immediately paid off, as Tony hit a leadoff homer. That set the tone for the game, as Javy, Happ, KB, and J-Hey each homered; Happ's was a grand slam to put the Cubs up by 6 in the 2nd.
The series wraps up Wednesday night, before the Cubs head to Pittsburgh for a three-game weekend set.
The Cubs face the Mets Tuesday at Citi Field in game two of a three-game series. Jon Lester takes the mound for the North Siders.
Hey hey! The Cubs knocked off the Rockies 7-5 at Wrigley on Sunday. Chicago hit four homers to power the offense.
Jake Arrieta struggled in the 5th, and CJ Edwards allowed Colorado to tie the game after he entered the game in relief. But the Cubs' offense picked them up, and the bullpen held off the surging Rox.
The Cubs head to Citi Field Monday to start a three-game series and a six-game road trip that will wrap up next weekend in Pittsburgh.
Tough series opener for the Cubs tonight against the Rockies. They're back at it Friday at Wrigley.
Holy cow! The Comeback Cubs beat the Marlins in style on Tuesday night, coming back from a 1-0 deficit to trounce Miami 10-2. Jake Arrieta tossed a quality start (6 IP, 5 K, 2 ER) and Anthony Rizzo went 2-for-5 with a HR and 4 RBI.
The Chicago bullpen gave up only one walk and one hit over three scoreless innings of relief. Kris Bryant (2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R), Jon Jay (1-for-4, R, BB, 2 RBI), Jason Heyward (3-for-5, R, 2 RBI), and Javy Baez (1-for-3, BB, R, 2 RBI) fueled the productive Cubs offense, which scored 10 runs on 11 hits.
The Cubs, who have won five straight games (and their last eight at Wrigley), wrap up the series with the Fish on Wednesday in Chicago before hosting the Rockies for a four game set that starts Thursday.
Hey hey! The first place, defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs downed the Fish 3-1 at Wrigley on Monday night, their fourth straight win.
Kris Bryant & Albert Almora went deep for the North Siders, and Eddie Butler & Mike Montgomery combined to hold Miami to one run.
The three-game series continues Tuesday at the Friendly Confines.
Hey hey! The Comeback Cubs did it again on Sunday, overcoming a 4-1 deficit to beat the Cards 7-6 and sweep the three-game series!
Ian Happ homered twice and drove in four for the North Siders, who start a three-game set with the Marlins at Wrigley Field on Monday night.
Holy cow! The Comeback Cubs struck again on Saturday at Wrigley, coming from behind to down the Cards 5-3. Jon Lester tossed a quality start (6 IP, 4 K, 3 ER) that included a rare, inning-ending pickoff throw to 1st, and Kyle Schwarber hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the 7th to take the lead for good. That's Cub.
Javy Baez went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored, and Koji Uehara (H, 7) & Wade Davis (S, 12) combined for two no-hit innings of relief to seal the win.
The series wraps up Sunday night in Chicago before the Marlins come to town for a three-game set.
The Cubs are hosting the Cards Saturday afternoon at Wrigley. Jon Lester's on the hill for Chicago, and Javy Baez has gone deep early.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Paulson: "Would Have Loved to Have" Dodd-Frank Resolution Authority During Lehman Crisis
Matthew Yglesias Jul 13, 2010, 3:28 pm
One of the most important elements of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill is the "resolution authority" provisions. In theory, this will prevent regulators from facing the "bailout or financial panic" calculus that got us into so much trouble in the summer and autumn of 2008. There is, however, some skepticism as to whether this authority is really usable or workable. Discussion of this point is necessarily going to be speculative, but it counts for something that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson thinks it would have worked:
"We would have loved to have something like this for Lehman Brothers. There's no doubt about it," Mr. Paulson declared about midway into our conversation.
He was referring to a provision of the bill known as resolution authority, which would enable the government to unwind a failing investment bank or insurance company in an orderly way without forcing it into bankruptcy, thus avoiding the unintended consequences that a bankruptcy might create. Mr. Paulson had spoken publicly about the need for resolution authority in June 2008, three months before Lehman's failure, but did not believe it was politically viable to ask Congress for such powers.
When people ask if this bill will prevent another crisis, I think it's important to distinguish between different things that could mean. These measures won't prevent a recurrence of the cycle of asset price boom and busts leading to financial institution failures. But elements of Dodd-Frank do hold out the possibility of coping with the aftermath of such failures in a politically and economically viable way, that avoids the moral injustice associated with "bailouts."
Now of course maybe Paulson's wrong. But the three people whose practical experience has positioned them to know what kind of authority the Treasury Department needs to deal with a financial crash are Paulson, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers and they all think this will work. That's something.
#Financial Regulation


In yet another contested environmental approval decision, a 300-MW power plant in Gujarat has been granted changes in technology, relaxing certain original conditions, without any public consultation. Kanchi Kohli reports on the grievances of the local people.
The Bhadreshwar village Panchayat in Mundra taluka of Kutch district of Gujarat has taken a clear decision that no ground water shall be supplied to a thermal power plant in their vicinity.
In a letter written on 27 October 2014 to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), the Panchayat has forewarned the authority against the perils of diverted ground water to the plant. This is especially because the district is already water scarce and transferring water for industrial purposes would mean that much less water is available for domestic use.
This is the newest dimension in a five-year-old struggle of the people from Bhadreshwar village around a 300-MW thermal power plant set up by OPG Power Gujarat Limited. Since 2009, when the public hearing for this plant was first held, the people of the area have been raising objections to its establishment. They've taken to the streets, petitioned regulatory authorities, fought long-standing court battles and even fought Panchayat elections with the agenda of opposing the plant.
The company had initially proposed a plant using water-cooled technology, drawing water from the sea by fragmenting an inter-tidal area, especially the Randh Bander (Randh fishing harbour). This area continues to be critical both ecologically as well as in terms of supporting the livelihoods of artisanal fishing communities. The intake channel was converted into a water pipeline following the recommendations of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)'s expert appraisal committee.
The people affected, including those representing salt pan owners, filed as many as seven cases before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), trying to safeguard their area from the impacts of this plant and to raise an alarm over the procedural violations of several laws including the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), 2006 and the Forest Conservation Act, 2006.
OPG Power needed permission under all these three laws to be able to initiate construction activity, but the company was caught on a back foot as it was proved beyond doubt that they had carried out construction activity without the necessary permissions in place.
Upon hearing three combined petitions challenging approvals under the EIA and CRZ notifications and pointing to the fact that construction had been undertaken without seeking approval under the FCA, the NGT allowed the company to pursue a different cooling technology for their power plant.
M/s OPG had come forward in court to say that in order to minimise the impacts, they would like to undergo a 'mid course correction' and change the technology from a water-cooled one to one which uses air-cooled fans. This would substantially reduce the water requirement and also make it possible to avoid laying the pipelines all the way to the fishing habour.
The affected people argued that this massive change of technology and the history of violations should render all approvals void and demanded that a fresh assessment be carried out along with a public hearing. A change of technology cannot be tweaked into an approval only through certain additional conditions laid out by experts.
Moreover, the people had evidence that OPG Power did not plan to limit its plant to a mere 300 MW. They had simultaneously sought permissions for expansion of the plant to another 2300 MW. Air-cooled technology is not a viable option for plants of higher capacity.
Following an approval granted by the SEIAA in May 2012, the NGT in July 2013 allowed for the air-cooled plant to be constructed, without any fresh assessment or public hearing. The NGT's judgment allowing the construction of the OPG plant also did not resolve several other issues that had been raised in the appeals challenging the environment and CRZ approvals. Left with no choice, the affected people now challenged this before the NGT.
As on date, the CRZ approval and approval for forest diversion has also not been officially withdrawn by the MoEF and the state forest department, even though OPG had claimed that the change of technology means that it will not need the land for which CRZ and forest diversion approvals had been sought.
A review petition raising concerns about the NGT's judgment is currently pending before the tribunal.
The environment clearance letters issued to the company – for the originally planned water-cooled plant as well as the final air-cooled one – clearly direct that no ground water will be extracted for the purposes of the plant, which is one of the specific conditions under which approval has been granted.
As a solution for these circumstances, they have received permission from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to extract 1950 cubic metres of ground water per day, through three proposed tubewells / dugwells with horizontal bores only.
The decision of the SEAC is pending and in their meeting of 28 August, they sought detailed justification for the change of the condition. They have also asked M/s OPG to explain why they need to extract 1950 cubic metres/day from CGWA, where the total water requirement for the proposed plant is only 1115 KL/day, which may be comprised of 626 KL of fresh water and 489 KL of recycled water. This has been presented along with more scientific calculations and also a study of the geo-hydrology of the area.
Even as expert deliberations are being carried out, the people of the area are concerned. Without even waiting for an approval, OPG Power has asked the Panchayat to supply them fresh water for the plant. After an initial agreement for supply of fresh water to the power plant, the Bhadreshwar Panchayat – the local body – has taken a clear and considered decision, refusing to do so.
In a letter to the SEIAA, the Deputy Sarpanch, Husain Saleh Muhammed points out that allowing for ground water extraction through an amendment of the condition will have a severe impact on the ground water in the region, which is the only source of drinking water for the villages around the area. The letter also specifies that this area comes under the "dark zone" declared by the SGWA (State Ground Water Authority) which is decided by the government, and that salinity is increasing in this area with every passing day.
The Deputy Sarpanch has also been the petitioner in several of the challenges before the green tribunal and had contested elections in 2011 with the objective of safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of the people of his village.
A final decision on this is pending, just as the review petition at the NGT is.
Cases such as this are symbolic of the systemic problem in the practice of environment regulation in India. In OPG's case, the EIA has been prepared for a water-cooled power plant and this is what the affected people had access to at the time of the public hearing in 2009.
In fact, the marine EIA of the plant was also carried out only post facto and was never fully debated at a public hearing.
The technology of the power plant, its land and water requirements and all possible impact has either been discussed in expert committee meetings or court rooms. This is despite the presence of an active citizenry, demanding fresh reviews and more public participation in decision-making throughout the process.
If the SEIAA and OPG were both convinced that an air-cooled plant was less harmful, and in fact beneficial to the people, why were the people not convinced of the same through a fresh impact assessment and public consultation?
Even as the cases before the tribunal challenging a range of illegalities were pending at the SEIAA, approvals for the air cooled technology were readily granted. At the same time, construction on the plant continued unabated, as if the company was assured of an approval from the regulatory agency.
Neither agency considered it their legal responsibility to explain, through a full assessment and public hearing, the implications of such a change of technology to the people who would be eventually affected by even the air-cooled plant.
Ironically, as many as three show cause notices had been issued to the company between the period of December 2010 and May 2012, by either the MoEF or the SEIAA, asking them to explain why they did not supply necessary information at the time of seeking approval or why they carried out construction activity without all approvals in place.
Bhadreshwar and the Randh Bander are located in one of the most ecologically fragile areas of the world. In the kilometres-long inter-tidal areas here, dotted with bird life and supporting thriving livelihoods from fishing, the towering chimneys of the power plant symbolise a visible threat that people are fervently hoping they will be able to resist and avert.
Kanchi Kohli is a member, Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group and Program Advisor, Namati-CPR Environment Justice Programme.


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3D plots are quite popular, in particular in business presentations but also among academics. They are also almost always inappropriately used. It is rare that I see a 3D plot that couldn't be improved by turning it into a regular 2D figure. In this chapter, I will explain why 3D plots have problems, why they generally are not needed, and in what limited circumstances 3D plots may be appropriate.
Many visualization softwares enable you to spruce up your plots by turning the plots' graphical elements into three-dimensional objects. Most commonly, we see pie charts turned into disks rotated in space, bar plots turned into columns, and line plots turned into bands. Notably, in none of these cases does the third dimension convey any actual data. 3D is used simply to decorate and adorn the plot. I consider this use of 3D as gratuitous. It is unequivocally bad and should be erased from the visual vocabulary of data scientists.
The problem with gratuitous 3D is that the projection of 3D objects into two dimensions for printing or display on a monitor distorts the data. The human visual system tries to correct for this distortion as it maps the 2D projection of a 3D image back into a 3D space. However, this correction can only ever be partial. As an example, let's take a simple pie chart with two slices, one representing 25% of the data and one 75%, and rotate this pie in space (Figure 26.1). As we change the angle at which we're looking at the pie, the size of the slices seems to change as well. In particular, the 25% slice, which is located in the front of the pie, looks much bigger than 25% when we look at the pie from a flat angle (Figure 26.1a).
Figure 26.1: The same 3D pie chart shown from four different angles. Rotating a pie into the third dimension makes pie slices in the front appear larger than they really are and pie slices in the back appear smaller. Here, in parts (a), (b), and (c), the blue slice corresponding to 25% of the data visually occupies more than 25% of the area representing the pie. Only part (d) is an accurate representation of the data.
Figure 26.2: Numbers of female and male passengers on the Titanic traveling in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class, shown as a 3D stacked bar plot. The total numbers of passengers in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class are 322, 279, and 711, respectively (see Figure 6.10). Yet in this plot, the 1st class bar appears to represent fewer than 300 passengers, the 3rd class bar appears to represent fewer than 700 passengers, and the 2nd class bar seems to be closer to 210–220 passengers than the actual 279 passengers. Furthermore, the 3rd class bar visually dominates the figure and makes the number of passengers in 3rd class appear larger than it actually is.
While visualizations with gratuitous 3D can easily be dismissed as bad, it is less clear what to think of visualizations using three genuine position scales (x, y, and z) to represent data. In this case, the use of the third dimension serves an actual purpose. Nevertheless, the resulting plots are frequently difficult to interpret, and in my mind they should be avoided.
Consider a 3D scatter plot of fuel efficiency versus displacement and power for 32 cars. We have seen this dataset previously in Chapter 2, Figure 2.5. Here, we plot displacement along the x axis, power along the y axis, and fuel efficiency along the z axis, and we represent each car with a dot (Figure 26.3). Even though this 3D visualization is shown from four different perspectives, it is difficult to envision how exactly the points are distributed in space. I find part (d) of Figure 26.3 particularly confusing. It almost seems to show a different dataset, even though nothing has changed other than the angle from which we look at the dots.
Figure 26.3: Fuel efficiency versus displacement and power for 32 cars (1973–74 models). Each dot represents one car, and the dot color represents the number of cylinders of the car. The four panels (a)–(d) show exactly the same data but use different perspectives. Data source: Motor Trend, 1974.
The fundamental problem with such 3D visualizations is that they require two separate, successive data transformations. The first transformation maps the data from the data space into the 3D visualization space, as discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 in the context of position scales. The second one maps the data from the 3D visualization space into the 2D space of the final figure. (This second transformation obviously does not occur for visualizations shown in a true 3D environment, such as when shown as physical sculptures or 3D-printed objects. My primary objection here is to 3D visualizations shown on 2D displays.) The second transformation is non-invertible, because each point on the 2D display corresponds to a line of points in the 3D visualization space. Therefore, we cannot uniquely determine where in 3D space any particular data point lies.
Our visual system nevertheless attempts to invert the 3D to 2D transformation. However, this process is unreliable, fraught with error, and highly dependent on appropriate cues in the image that convey some sense of three-dimensionality. When we remove these cues the inversion becomes entirely impossible. This can be seen in Figure 26.4, which is identical to Figure 26.3 except all depth cues have been removed. The result is four random arrangements of points that we cannot interpret at all and that aren't even easily relatable to each other. Could you tell which points in part (a) correspond to which points in part (b)? I certainly cannot.
Figure 26.4: Fuel efficiency versus displacement and power for 32 cars (1973–74 models). The four panels (a)–(d) correspond to the same panels in Figure 26.3, only that all grid lines providing depth cues have been removed. Data source: Motor Trend, 1974.
Instead of applying two separate data transformations, one of which is non-invertible, I think it is generally better to just apply one appropriate, invertible transformation and map the data directly into 2D space. It is rarely necessary to add a third dimension as a position scale, since variables can also be mapped onto color, size, or shape scales. For example, in Chapter 2, I plotted five variables of the fuel-efficency dataset at once yet used only two position scales (Figure 2.5).
Here, I want to show two alternative ways of plotting exactly the variables used in Figure 26.3. First, if we primarily care about fuel efficiency as the response variable, we can plot it twice, once against displacement and once against power (Figure 26.5). Second, if we are more interested in how displacement and power relate to each other, with fuel efficiency as a secondary variable of interest, we can plot power versus displacement and map fuel efficiency onto the size of the dots (Figure 26.6). Both figures are more useful and less confusing than Figure 26.3.
Figure 26.5: Fuel efficiency versus displacement (a) and power (b). Data source: Motor Trend, 1974.
Figure 26.6: Power versus displacement for 32 cars, with fuel efficiency represented by dot size. Data source: Motor Trend, 1974.
You may wonder whether the problem with 3D scatter plots is that the actual data representation, the dots, do not themselves convey any 3D information. What happens, for example, if we use 3D bars instead? Figure 26.7 shows a typical dataset that one might visualize with 3D bars, the mortality rates in 1940 Virginia stratified by age group and by gender and housing location. We can see that indeed the 3D bars help us interpret the plot. It is unlikely that one might mistake a bar in the foreground for one in the background or vise versa. Nevertheless, the problems discussed in the context of Figure 26.2 exist here as well. It is difficult to judge exactly how tall the individual bars are, and it is also difficult to make direct comparisons. For example, was the mortality rate of urban females in the 65–69 age group higher or lower than that of urban males in the 60–64 age group?
In general, it is better to use Trellis plots (Chapter 21) instead of 3D visualizations. The Virginia mortality dataset requires only four panels when shown as Trellis plot (Figure 26.8). I consider this figure clear and easy to interpret. It is immediately obvious that mortality rates were higher among men than among women, and also that urban males seem to have had higher mortality rates than rural males whereas no such trend is apparent for urban and rural females.
Visualizations using 3D position scales can sometimes be appropriate, however. First, the issues described in the preceding section are of lesser concern if the visualization is interactive and can be rotated by the viewer, or alternatively, if it is shown in a VR or augmented reality environment where it can be inspected from multiple angles. Second, even if the visualization isn't interactive, showing it slowly rotating, rather than as a static image from one perspective, will allow the viewer to discern where in 3D space different graphical elements reside. The human brain is very good at reconstructing a 3D scene from a series of images taken from different angles, and the slow rotation of the graphic provides exactly these images.
Finally, it makes sense to use 3D visualizations when we want to show actual 3D objects and/or data mapped onto them. For example, showing the topographic relief of a mountainous island is a reasonable choice (Figure 26.9). Similarly, if we want to visualize the evolutionary sequence conservation of a protein mapped onto its structure, it makes sense to show the structure as a 3D object (Figure 26.10). In either case, however, these visualizations would still be easier to interpret if they were shown as rotating animations. While this is not possible in traditional print publications, it can be done easily when posting figures on the web or when giving presentations.


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Jofra Archer proves natural born thriller after visceral Steven Smith duel
So, Justin Langer, about that tactic of getting bowlers into their fourth spells, then… On the eve of his Test debut, in what had otherwise been another horizontally laidback press appearance, Jofra Archer had suddenly fired in a verbal bouncer that was every bit as out of the blue as the languidly launched missiles that exploded on the Lord's Test.
Responding to Langer's pre-match "curiosity" about how his body and mind would hold up in a format notorious for grinding down quick bowlers, Archer's answer dripped with red-ball nous and Test-match readiness, not to mention a confidence that no ordinary Test debutant could have summoned at such will.
ALSO READ: Madness of Test cricket sets up compelling finish
"I've played a lot more red-ball than I have white-ball. I do think it's my preferred format," he said. "I've bowled 50 overs in one game already for Sussex and I'm usually the one bowling the most overs anyway. I think Justin Langer has another thing coming."
And sure enough, Archer could hardly have predicted more accurately the day's astonishing scenes had his thoughts been recycled from one of his four-year-old Tweets.
Jofra Archer celebrates after removing Tim Paine Getty Images
Archer was already 25 overs into his work for the innings, and armed with a ragged old ball that was four overs from completing its 80-over lifespan, when we finally discovered what a silken, effortless, natural-born quick bowler can achieve when he decides the time is ripe to bend that back, and go from effortless to effort-full.
Comparisons are odious when the action is as raw and visceral as Archer made it. The historian David Frith, who witnessed Frank Tyson in his pomp in 1954-55 as well as every great West Indian fast bowler from Wes Hall to Ian Bishop, rightly pointed out that Archer is his own man, with his own methods, and moreover he was bowling within his own context.
The pitch, the conditions, the emotions, the opponents – all of these differ from one great spell to the next, meaning that Harold Larwood at Adelaide in 1932-33, or Jeff Thomson at Brisbane in 1974-75, or Allan Donald at Trent Bridge, or Michael Holding at The Oval, can only really stand as testament to their own brilliance, bullet-points in Test cricket's extraordinary history, or bullet-holes if you prefer.
But what we witnessed, in the context of the recent Ashes rivalry, was a passage of play as savage, compelling and potentially series-turning as that moment when Mitchell Johnson first slipped his handbrake at Brisbane in 2013-14. In a searing eight-over spell at the end of a 29-over innings, Archer reminded us that there's a world of difference between run-of-the-mill quick bowling and furious, rip-snortingly rapid head-hunting.
"I've got massive admiration for Jofra," said a mildly chastened Langer, who insisted that his point about Archer's stamina had been misconstrued. "He's an unbelievable athlete, an incredibly skillful bowler.
"To bowl 30 overs, it doesn't matter if you're Jofra Archer, or Pat Cummins, or Josh Hazlewood, or James Anderson, or [Kagiso] Rabada. It's hard work. And that was my point before the game. His endurance was outstanding today, his skill and his pace. What an athlete, what a great player to have to promote Test cricket."
"The catalyst for Archer's onslaught was his return to the Pavilion End, the traditional hunting ground of the senior strike bowler"
All throughout his maiden Test innings, Archer had been lurking in Australia's peripheral vision. Pacing, probing, sizing up the pitch, his opponents, and perhaps most of all, his command of a red Dukes ball, the like of which he has barely used in 11 months.
"I don't think Jofra bowled as quick as he can out there," said Stuart Broad at the close of day three.
I think it's fair to say we have seen him do so now…
The catalyst for his onslaught was his return to the Pavilion End, the traditional hunting ground of the senior strike bowler, with its slope back down into the right-hander designed to create doubt in that channel outside off, the very channel in which Steven Smith has been so imperious throughout this series.
Within six balls, Archer had breached Australia's first line of defence, as Tim Paine – watchful throughout his second-fiddle innings – was caught in two minds (and then at short leg) by the one that nipped back off the seam. And like every fast bowler that's ever been born, the thrill of a wicket was all that Archer needed to tip his game into overdrive.
In Archer's next full over with Smith in his sights, he began to purr through his gears – 93mph, 94mph, 94mph – as smooth through his acceleration as a Porsche on the Autobahn. And suddenly Smith found that his extra split-second was no longer there, that his peerless ability to sight the ball on the back foot and point to it mockingly as he left it on the front was redundant.
And then, the first morale-denting strike. A vicious lifter into the forearm, as Smith curled into a defensive ball straight from the hand, unsettled by the line and no longer able to compute the length as the ball chased him like a rogue bludger before leaving him shaking his left arm in agony.
For a time it seemed he might have to retire there and then, his grip compromised, his invincible aura torn, but to his immense credit he popped a couple of pills, accepted some tight binding and took his guard once more. But it was clear that the passive aggression with which he had dominated England for three innings was not coming back – at least not here, not now. This was fight-or-flight mode, and again to his credit, Smith chose the former.
Steven Smith fell to the ground after being hit Getty Images
Consecutive bouncers, consecutive hooks – like KP against Lee at The Oval in 2005, but without the soaring upshot, as the first skimmed out of Jonny Bairstow's reach for four before the second plugged behind square for the single. And then, a scorcher, sizzling into the gloves at a scarcely believable 96.1mph … handbrake not so much slipped as torn clean out of its socket.
But the coup de grace was still to come. Another bouncer, another less-than-confident hook for four … and then the sucker punch. An exquisitely awful moment of pure sporting theatre, as Smith was slammed on the side of the neck by another ugly, incredible, spiteful snorter, and felled in the same instant.
The reaction around Lord's was stunned bewilderment … much like Archer's as well, who initially turned on his heel, his objective for the delivery achieved, before realising he needed to join the loose melee that had formed around the stricken Smith, who did at least – in removing his own helmet while spread-eagled on the deck – telegraph the fact that he had not been laid out cold.
An uncomfortable hush descended as the physios of both teams rushed out to attend to Smith, punctuated by a few boos from the witless few who still believe he deserves to be judged for his actions in Cape Town rather than his incredible feats both here and at Edgbaston.
And though he left the field without assistance, it was still a surprise to see him returning to the middle, to yawn into a succession of devil-may-care fours that inched him within touching distance of his third century in as many innings.
It wasn't the same batsman who had left the crease some 45 minutes earlier, however. For starters he ended up being pinned lbw, offering no shot as Chris Woakes curled one back into off stump – the holy grail dismissal that England had begun to believe was a myth in this series.
"It took a serious spell of fast bowling from Jofra to get Steve out of his bubble, because so far in the series he has been incredible," Woakes said. "I'm sure it was incredible to watch because it was incredible to be a part of it on the field and thankfully, having seen Steve on the balcony, it looks like he's okay which is obviously good news."
Smith's return to the middle, Langer joked, had come about because he had protested he wouldn't be able to get himself onto the honours board if he stayed sitting in the dressing-room. And though he failed in that objective, the drama had been so absolute that, for once in this series, his extraction from the crease counted for less than the fact that he had returned to it at all.
Tags: Archer, born, duel, Jofra, natural, proves, Smith, Steven, thriller, visceral
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OzGREEN programs connect youth with communities to become leaders of innovative sustainable social change
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Background - East Timor
OzGREEN has helped with the establishment and ongoing support of GREEN TL in the enclave of Oecusse, East Timor. Driven by the passionate volunteer Judy Charnaud, we work with local communities restoring habitat and providing clean water supplies. We also run the annual GREEN Games, a massive community sporting event, created to help repair a community left fractured after gaining independence. It has grown to become a much loved annual event involving tens of thousands of people.
This program was established in 2001 in the enclave of Oecusse, which, due to its isolation, has been largely ignored by other INGOs. GREEN TL and OzGREEN work with youth, local communities, District Administration, schools and businesses in rural and urban settings to:
Engage people to connect to their place and one another
Equip people to investigate their place and voice their concerns
Enable people to envision a better world based on the principles of ecological sustainability
Project methodology is based on participatory learning and action programs developed by OzGREEN.
Participatory action is the involvement of the people in their own forward change and development and is the only way to ensure success and sustainability of change.
Village environmental action planning is the core of our work. This gives villagers the opportunity to develop their unique way forward by:
Preparing a detailed village resource map and time line
Conducting water quality tests and environmental assessment
Identifying key village issues
Developing a vision for the future
Developing and implementing strategies and actions to ensure sustainability
Clean Water Supply
In all the villages we work with, the number one chosen strategy is provision of potable water.
One of the major problems affecting the health and well being of the people of Oecusse is the lack of potable water. Water borne diseases such as dysentery, gastro-enteritis and diarrhoea are endemic. Since 2001 OzGREEN has been testing water sources and in that time has found that 95% do not comply with World Health Organisation standards for clean drinking water, many are considered too severely contaminated for human contact.
Boiling water is not always an option due to lack of fuel, time constraints and the already heavy burden of daily chores. Many water filtration units on the market today are either too expensive, require technical expertise, rely on unavailable products such as chemicals or electricity and are not sturdy enough to last long term.
To address these issues we designed a small, household bio-sand filtration unit. A bio sand filtration unit is simply a large container, (plastic barrel or cement tank) containing specific layers of pebbles, grit and fine sand. Water poured into the top of the unit slowly percolates through the sand and grit to a pipe in the bottom of the container. Hydrostatic pressure pushes the water up to the outlet tap from where it can be collected.
With use over a period of several weeks, microorganisms from the source water collect on the upper layer of fine sand to develop a bacterial layer which assists in the removal of pathogens by biological (anaerobic) processes.
GREEN TL has tested these in several villages and the results are excellent. Water testing consistently shows a 100% reduction in faecal coliforms and turbidity. Village women say "The water looks better, tastes better, cooks rice better and our children are healthier."
A single unit will provide a family with clean drinking water for many years.
Well rehabilitation and reforestation projects.
The other most common actions to come out of the VEAP process are well rehabilitation and reforestation. East Timor has been largely cleared and is heavily impacted by the effects of erosion. Planting trees helps stabilise the land and can help provide a future source of food and income.
There is a large number of young people in Oecusse who have finished school and do not have the chance of employment or further education. They are keen to find worthwhile activities and when the opportunity presents itself are only too happy to help out with our environmental projects.
World Environment Day 5th June
Since 2002 OzGREEN has run activities to mark World Environment Day. This has become a much anticipated event in the schools calendar as opportunity for students to participate in community educational activities are limited. Activities have included public speaking, quiz competitions, poster painting , water testing, clean up campaigns and tree planting. Students in Oecusse are enthusiastic and eager to learn.
You can help support a families and villagers in East Timor by making a tax deductible donation. Just $10 plants a tree for a village, providing erosion control, food and income. $500 provides a bio-sand filtration unit, granting a family clean drinking water for many years to come, and $1000 restores a well, providing water for an entire village. Please click here to make a tax deductible donation.
GREEN Games
Recent UN reports say that Timor Leste is the poorest nation in Asia, over 40% of the population lives on less than $1 per day, 70% suffering from severe – acute malnutrition, unemployment is as high as 70%, and over 50% of the population is under 20 years of age.
Concerned about the lack of future prospects for young people, the high rate of unemployment and their own perceived lack of leadership skills, Luis Armando (Director of GREEN Timor Leste) and Judith Charnaud (East Timor Program Manager, OzGREEN) decided to organise a sporting competition to give young people something positive to do, learn team work, leadership, think critically and to feel better about themselves and improve their sporting and team work skills.
The first Youth in Action GREEN Games were played in 2008 with 780 participants. This has grown to become a much anticipated annual event and now has over 1100 participants and well over 1000 spectators to each of the games. The competition runs over 2 months with a round robin to begin with and then elimination quarter finals . This means that each team gets to play at least 4 games in the first round even if they go no further. Over 30 thousand people are involved in some way, as participants, spectators, referees and organisers. There is competitions for both men and women in soccer, volleyball, basketball and a half marathon. We did have table-tennis until the white-ants got the better of the table!
"Ema hotu iha Oecusse precisa GREEN Games continua nafatin, Sei karik OzGREENTL la iha esportu la iha."
("Everyone in Oecusse wants the GREEN Games to continue for ever. If OzGREEN TL was not here there would be no competitive sport in Oecusse at all.")
We can not express just how important these games are to the young people of Oecusse. Visitors who have come to Oecusse comment on their enthusiasm, the skills, and how well run the games are. The GREEN Games are playing a key role in rebuilding the fractured community left after gaining independence in 2002.
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OzGreen
PO Box 301 Bellingen
office@ozgreen.org.au


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McMafia fans can BUY the mews home where James Norton lives in the show
Amy Cutmore February 9, 2018 9:08 pm
But at £2.6million, it's not exactly a steal...
Our new favourite crime drama McMafia meets a dramatic climax in tonight, and we're already wondering what to do with our Sunday evenings once the show is over. So if you're looking for a more permanent McMafia fix, here's an idea. Why not buy the house that banker-turned-mobster Alex Godman lives in?!
For fans of the show: eBay reveals interiors are feeling the McMafia effect
Image credit: Lurot Brand
Located in South Kensington, streets away from Gloucester Road Tube station, the charming mews was used for various exterior shots of Alex and live-in girlfriend Juliet's home.
Mews houses were first built in the 18th century as stables for the horses for local mansion owners, with living quarters for servants above. But they've since become highly sought after thanks to their quiet and private locations, away from the traffic and bustle of London life.
Sounds like the perfect home for an amateur mobster trying to hide from his past…
It's on the market with Lurot Brand, an agent that specialises in mews properties. It describes the place as 'A stunning example of a mews, finished with style and a layout that makes this property both practical and beautiful.'
Downstairs, the layout is largely open-plan. It comprises a large dining and living area, with a separate kitchen tucked away in one corner. We love how the owner has a screen just by the kitchen door, so it can be screen off from the rest of the space.
Another quirky property: The Slim House of TV fame is up for sale
It's a great space that, it's fair to say, is being under used at the moment. We're big fans of the fantastic artwork, though. We're sure Alex would approve.
In the cute kitchen, you'll find marble worktops and smart olive green worktops. Cupboard doors conceal most of the appliances, which give the place a more streamlined and uncluttered look.
Upstairs, there are three bedrooms, all with built-in wardrobes (for those sharp suits and cocktail dresses, maybe). The master is en suite, and there's also a separate bathroom for guests to share.
It's got a whole lot of history: Would you like to own a French castle for just £45? Here's how to buy a share in a 13th-century chateau
Cranley Mews is no stranger to the screen – you'll also spot it in a scene from 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral. So if you fancy living on a film set, now's your chance.
Primark's new plant stand is the glamorous home your houseplants have been craving
Give your home a happiness makeover with these eight easy tips
Lelièvre's latest fabric collection is hot, hot, hot!
How to take up floorboards
Tour this plush home in the heart of Edinburgh
Five sculptural lighting ideas to enhance your home


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Adam Fletcher Adventure Series by Sara Whitford
Bestselling, family-friendly historical fiction set on the colonial North Carolina coast
Read the first book for free!
18th Century Kitchen: A look inside Hannah Glasse's 1765 cookbook
Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse frontispiece and title page (Image source: Wikipedia)
While working on the Adam Fletcher Adventure Series cookbook, I'm doing a good bit of research in cookbooks that were actually in use in the mid-to-late 18th century.
Below is a transcription of the cover page for one of the most famous "receipt" (recipe) books of the era, Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. If you'd like to see the entire book for free as a PDF, click here.
The Art of Cookery was first published in 1747 and went through 20 different editions. It continued to be published until 1843 and was popular in England and America.
Art of Cookery
PLAIN and EASY
Which far exceeds any Thing of the Kind yet published
How to Roast and Boil to Perfection every Thing necessary to be sent up to Table
Of Made-dishes
How expensive a French Cook's Sauce is
To make a Number of pretty little Dishes for a Supper or Side-dish, and little Corner-dishes for a great Table.
To dress Fish
Of Soops and Broths
Of Puddings
Of Pies
For a Lent Dinner; a Number of good Dishes, which you may make use of at any other Time
Directions to prepare proper Food for the Sick
For Captains of Ships; how to make all useful Things for a Voyage; and setting out a Table on board a Ship.
Of Hogs Puddings, Sausages, &c.
To pot and make Hams, &c.
Of Pickling.
Of making Cakes, &c.
Of Cheese-cakes, Creams, Jellies, Whip-Syllabubs, &c.
Of made Wines, Brewing, French Bread, Muffins, &c.
Jarring Cherries and Preserves, &c.
To make Anchovies, Vermicella, Catchup, Vinegar, and to keep Artichokes, French Beans, &c.
Of Distilling
How to Market; the Seasons of the Year for Butchers Meat, Poultry, Fish, Herbs, Roots, and Fruit.
A certain Cure for the Bite of a Mad-Dog. By Dr. Mead.
A Receipt to keep clear from Buggs.
To which are added,
By Way of APPENDIX,
One hundred and fifty New and Useful Receips,
And a Copious Index.
By a LADY
The Ninth Edition
Printed for A. Millar, J. and R. Tonson, W. Strahan, T. Caslon, T. Durham, and W. Nicoll.
M.DCC.LXV.
[Price bound Five Shillings.]
Filed Under: Colonial American Culture, The Gazette
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"Whitford delivers an enjoyable tale"
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Basic Skills 101: Survival, or How Our Colonial Ancestors Were Smarter Than Us
Q & A with Courtney Andersen, Historic Ship Rigging Expert (and the guy, who in my opinion, helped Capt. Jack Sparrow look cool)
What was Salutary Neglect and why did things get bad when it ended?
The Currency Act (1764) - The ugly, old cousin of the Federal Reserve Act
The Sugar Act (1764) - Why did a law that reduced an earlier tax end up outraging colonists?
Townsends' Treasures: 10 of my favorite episodes
Smuggling in Colonial America: What drove good men to do it?
What's happening with Book 7?
The Declaratory Act (1766) - King George & Co. declare, "We can do whatever we please."
Coopers in Colonial America - Everything You Wanted to Know
Sara Whitford's third-great-grandfather, William Morris, wrote their family lineage in a worn old copy of Robinson Crusoe. Adventure, literature, and history are in her blood. Ever since she can remember, she has been fascinated by the intriguing past of the coastal North Carolina region that has been home to her … Read more about About the Author
Copyright © 2021 Sara Whitford · All Rights Reserved
Website by Seaport Webworks.


Today there are about two hundred traditional quilt makers left in Istanbul, yet just ten or fifteen years ago, Istanbul's Chamber of Quilters had 1200 members. In the 17th century Evliya Çelebi wrote that there were 105 quilt maker's shops in the Grand Bazaar alone, but today most of these have gone, although the Quilters Association still has its building there. The quilt shops whose displays of brilliantly coloured quilts, each one with its unique intricate designs like the patterns of dreams, once lit up every side street are now becoming a rare sight. Since modern quilts filled with artificial fibre and quilt covers became popular, traditional Turkish quilt making has been steadily disappearing.
In quilting, the facing fabric and prepare the lining of cambric or unbleached muslin. This is then covered with satin or printed cotton if the quilt is for everyday use, and then the pattern is sewn.' While a quilt with a simple design can be made in one and a half days, a complex pattern may take a week or even as much as a month to complete. The motifs are myriad: lozenges, pears, stars, tulips, clover leaves, vines, carnations, violets, daisies and many more.


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Wesley Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; Author, A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country.
SPEAKER: Wesley Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander;
Author, A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country.
TITLE: A Time to Lead
Former U.S. Democratic Presidential Candidate and Four-star General Wesley Clark, who served for thirty-four years in the United States Army and rose to serve as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, will share his experience, and his hope for restoring leadership in America. Clark, who led the peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, will offer a vision of a foreign policy that rests on negotiation, principles, and determination. He will tell us why he believes that hard work, responsible leadership and fortitude will ultimately turn the country around. Clark, a pro-choice and pro-affirmative action democrat, sought the presidency in 2004 hoping to bring a less hawkish perspective to the White House.
In September 2003, Clark's campaign for the U.S. presidency won the state of Oklahoma and launched him to national prominence before his return to the private sector in February 2004. Since retiring from political and military life, Clark has been an investment banker, commentator, businessman, and author. In his most recent book, A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country, Clark describes what he thinks should be done to defeat terrorism, rebuild the economy and restore global leadership.
Clark served as commanding General of the Army's National Training Center during the Persian Gulf War. He later conducted three emergency deployments to Kuwait as the commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. He was appointed an Army Captain at the age of 25 in Vietnam, returning home after receiving four gun shot wounds. At the age of 17, Clark entered West Point, where he graduated first in his class and became a Rhodes Scholar.
This program was recorded live on October 3, 2007


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It's raining babies in 2016! After Shahid Kapoor, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina welcomed their bundles of joy this year, another famous face is all set to jump on the 'daddy' bandwagon.
The only difference is that he is about to be a second-time father after a long gap of 13 years!
Yes, we are talking about television actor Yash Tonk, who is about to have his second baby with wife Gouri. The couple are already parents of their 13-year-old daughter, Pari. In fact, the couple recently celebrated their new innings with a cute baby shower, and if the pictures are anything to go by, the parents-to-be are clearly elated.
The radiant mum-to-be Gouri Yadav looked super happy and gorgeous in her bottle green maxi dress accessorised with flower jewellery, while her husband chose a formal black bandgala. Not to forget, their daughter Pari was also very much a part of the celebrations and also chose to go with green, just like mum.
The happy family posed for the cameras and had their friends over to join them in welcoming a new member into their family. Their close family friend and television actor Chavvi Mitta also posted a picture as well as a Boomerang video of the glowing mum-to-be.
But when Gouri first broke the news of her second pregnancy, she received an unexpected reaction from her family.
Continue reading to see what happened when Gouri shared the news of her second pregnancy with her family.
When Gouri first shared the news with her family, she didn't expect such an overwhelming positive response from them; especially because her concentration was on her career at the time.
"He (Yash) was ecstatic. Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to react the way they did, including my extended family. After my first child, I wanted to get back to work. So, the plan to have another baby was put on the back-burner," the happy mum-to-be explained.
As for naming their baby, the couple is yet to zero in on a name and left the task for later.
"We hadn't pre-decided our first child's name either. Because I was sleepless during my first pregnancy, my doctor started calling me Pari, and that's how we named the baby. I am waiting for another story to unfold, so that I can name my second child. I wanted my first child to be a daughter, but there is no preference this time around," shared the mum-to-be.
Yadav joins the list of many women who conceived and had a baby quite late in their lives. In fact, studies have proved that late pregnancies result in super intelligent kids.
As per the study conducted by researchers of the London School of Economics, UK.
This study published in the Biodemographic and Social Biology journal stated that babies born to women who were over 30 were far more intelligent than those born to women in their 20s or 40s. In addition to this information, the study also revealed that these children scored higher in cognitive testing.
Here's hoping Gouri and her baby remain healthy!
Read: 20s, 30s, 40s...what's an ideal pregnancy age?
Ten times Amitabh Bachchan taught us life lessons!


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EP 1 - LOVE (coming soon!)
So it's been about 3 weeks since the release of Squeeze and I've already had radio airplay on some soul radio shows, lots of streams, downloads and messages of love and support in relation to the single. I'm genuinely so thankful and grateful to all of you who are supporting the music and it really means a lot to me. It also provides the strength and courage to release more music into the world soon! And has made me realise i'm right where I'm meant to be, right at this moment.
Finally putting out music there was a huge, huge step for me. I've always felt more comfortable creating music in my home studio or recording vocals in a professional studio setting and getting to the point where a song is ready, so I didn't actually put too much thought into how i'd feel once I actually released a piece of music, or whether i'd even have the courage to do so! Now it's here, I can tell you it's been a wonderful thing and seeing it on Spotify or Apple Music is pretty surreal - all the fears and doubts of whether people would like it or not disappeared once I started receiving all the beautiful messages and made me feel really humbled. And hearing people saying they relate to the song makes it all the more special. Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart and see you all soon on the next release... x
Luna Musiq
Thursday, February 13 @ 7:00PM Thu, Feb 13 @ 7:00PM
Hopyard Brewing Co , East Sussex
Free entry. Specially curated night of live, independent music once a month. https://www.hopyardbrewing.co.uk/events
© 2019 Luna Musiq
Squeeze 3:20
Touch 3:10