Penang is one of those places that gives you such a rich and authentic cultural diversity experience. From the street art to the street food, the religious buildings, bars and clubs; Penang has a bit of everything for everyone. Penang food is a mix of traditional Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisine. Please refer to my previous blog that talks about accommodation in Penang.
Penang's liveliest district is in Georgetown, which is where we stayed. This wonderful city has been honoured as a protected UNESCO world heritage site. Everything is within walking distance, except for Penang Hill, which was under renovation the days we were there and you are able to see the whole of Georgetown from the top of the hill. We did miss a few attractions, but this was still our favourite part of our Malaysia trip.
Street Food in Penang: A Foodie's dream come to life.
Transfer road is where you can get the best Malay breakfast; Roti Canai and the best cold Milo(chocolate and malt powder) and Ice tea, I have ever tasted. This was the highlight of our trip because we really struggled to enjoy the street food in Kuala. Transfer road is a must when you get to Penang, an ABSOLUTE MUST. The breakfast was so delicious that we had to have it both days, we were there. I hope to try something as tasty as that again. I can now understand why they refer to Penang as the food capital of Malaysia.
Kapitan Keling Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the city. It has been a significant landmark for the Muslim population in Georgetown for the last 200 years. I recommend going to this area in the evening because the Mosque is absolutely stunning after sunset. To have heard the adhan (call to prayer) every day was such a blessing. The unity amongst the various religions in Penang was also quite refreshing. They had Mosques and various temples alongside each other and the locals, though having different beliefs respected one and another. If the world operated like this there would be peace, everywhere.
Restaurant Liyaqat Ali is right beside Kapitan Keling Mosque.
I took this picture of a temple while taking an evening stroll, but I don't know the name.
The two religious buildings above were side by side and I thought it was beautiful to have witnessed. Masjid Pintal Tali and 名英祠 Meng Eng Soo Temple.
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion or the blue mansion is one of the reason's Georgetown was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It showcases the irreplaceable skills of the Chinese architects. The day we went to visit the mansion it had already closed and unfortunately, we had to head back to Kuala the next day, so we did not get the opportunity to participate in the daily tours.
English tour- 11:00 a.m. & 2:00p.m.
Mandarin tour- 12:30p.m. & 3:30p.m.
This is the only picture I got to take because it was closed. So sad, but next time!
I got henna done for the first time, and I absolutely loved it. I got it done at Legacy spa, which a woman on the street recommended to us. We got a foot reflexology massage and it was just what we needed because we did a lot of walking that day. The ladies were super friendly and the aura was quite calming. The total for two of us was 80.00 Malaysian Ringgit (Malaysian currency), so around 26 dollars Canadian. Super cheap, right?
Georgetown, Penang has some of the world's best street art. We were eager to see some, so the guesthouse handed us a map(seen below) which had the street art marked and off we went. Below were our findings, unfortunately, we did not get to see all. There are guided tours available to show you the street art, but I would recommend doing what we did, because we were able to discover a lot of Penang, along with the street art. It is so rewarding when you're in a new place to be able to locate things yourself; It makes the journey more intimate and exciting.
I kept the map as a souvenir.
This one is not on the map, but it is close to the Old Motorcycle one.
China House is a high-end restaurant in Georgetown. They have an art gallery upstairs and apart from the delicious cuisine, the art gallery should be a sufficient enough reason to visit. After the waiter took our order we went upstairs to check out the art gallery.
What comes after the main course? Dessert. You got it! They had a wide selection of desserts.
Prangin Mall was walking distance from our guesthouse. They have a food court, which had yummy food. The mall had two currency exchange booths, clothing and shoe stores.
Penang, Georgetown was a phenomenal and an unforgettable experience. If you ever get a chance to visit Malaysia please make a stop in Penang, Georgetown.


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Lockout (2012) – A Review
05/06/2012 HapStuff Action, Sci-Fi 0
Guy Pearce stars as Snow. He's a quintessential tough guy. He's got the muscles, the one liners and the steely attitude. There's no situation that he can't handle. That is until he's sent to an orbiting prison to rescue the President's daughter who's surrounded by a bunch of crazy prisoners.
Well, maybe he can handle that situation too….
The premise sounds a lot like John Carpenter's 1981 futuristic actioner Escape From New York. And that's pretty much how it plays. Although not nearly as good.
Based on an idea by producer Luc Besson, Lockout seems like a fun premise that could result in an entertaining B-action flick. However, it becomes a boring jumble of badly done, cliched, uninspired scenes that don't amount to a heck of a lot. Although it did have me shaking my head during the whole thing while watching it though.
Pearce is the best part about about this flick. He does a great job at his cheesy throwaway lines and really looks the part for a John McClane-ish kind of hero. He really deserved a better film to get showcased in.
Maggie Grace is given the thankless role as the damsel in distress. She looks very cute and that's about the extent of her role. She's a pretty flat, one-dimensional character and unfortunately that's what plagues every character in the film. They are all so completely dull that by the time the end credits started rolling I already had forgotten them.
We've seen all these roles hundreds of times before – the psychotic prisoners, the no-nonsense cop, the wimpy politician – and here the film goes through the motions of these folks, not even attempting to make them unique. Even the actors play them with little enthusiasm. Plus, without a decent villain for Pearce to face off against, the film just feels like it's killing time.
With a lot of B-action movies, crappy characters could be forgiven if the action and story make up for it. However, again Lockout fails at that as well. With rocket ships, spacewalking and the old reliable crawling through airducts-scenes there's no excitement to be had.
Even Pearce having a midair fight with a convict over huge industrial fans doesn't result in any thrills. It doesn't help that the effects, at best, are average. And that's being generous.
The sizable space-sized story could have really used some more convincing effects to sell it. The way it sits here many action scenes simply feel like you're watching a dull videogame. The sets are dreary and tired looking. There's really no standout action scene in the entire film. Not a one.
There's a secondary story that's tacked on in which Pearce is trying to clear his name from a crime he's been accused of, but really I had no interest in it or if he would ever be able to resolve it. Nor did I care about Grace's humanitarian purposes visiting the prisoners in the first place.
When I first saw the trailer for this I thought it could be a fun, dumb action flick. You might enjoy counting the cliches accumulate into tidy pile by the end though and like I said Pearce really stands out, but that's about it. There's nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned, disposable, cheesy action film. I can really enjoy what is essentially cinematic junk food, but it at least has to be somewhat gratifying while I'm watching it.
For me, Lockout wasn't.
The trailer for Lock-Out
Terminator Genisys (2015) – A Review Battle: Los Angeles (2011) – A Review Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – A Review
Maggie Grace
stinker
Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014) – A Review
Halloween (2018) – A Review
10 To Midnight (1983) – A Review
Blind Date (1987) – A Review
Four For Texas (1963) – A Review
The Mummy (2017) – A Review
Larger Than Life (1996) – A Review

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: ORM for stateful application. Does EF fit? Or any? I need an ORM that is suitable for stateful application. I'm going to keep entities between requests in low-latency realtime game server with persistent client connections. There is an only 1 server instance connected to database so no data can be changed from "outside" and the server can rely on its cache.
When user remotely logs in to the server its whole profile is loaded to server memory. Several higher-level services are also created for each user to operate profile data and provide functionality. They can also have internal fields (state) to store temporary data. When user wants to change his signature he asks corresponding service to do so. The service tracks how frequently user changes his signature and allows it only once per ten minutes (for example) - such short interval is not tracked in db, this is a temporary state. This change should be stored to db executing only 1 query: UPDATE users SET signature = ... WHERE user_id = .... When user logs off it's unloaded from server memory after minutes/hours of inactivity. Db here is only a storage. This is what I call stateful.

*

*Some entities are considered "static data" and loaded only once at application start. Those can be referenced from other "dynamic" entities. Loading "dynamic" entity should not require reloading referenced "static data" entity.

*Update/Insert/Delete should set/insert/delete only changed properties/entities even with "detached" entity.

*Write operations should not each time load data from database (perform Select) preliminary to detect changes. (A state can be tracked in dynamically generated inheritor.) I have a state locally, there is no sense to load anything. I want to continue tracking changes even outside of connection scope and "upload" changes when I want.

*While performing operations references of persisted objects should not be changed.

*DBConnection-per-user is not going to work. The expected online is thousands of users.

*Entities from "static data" can be assigned to "dynamic" enitity properties (which represent foreign keys) and Update should handle it correctly.

Now I'm using NHibernate despite it's designed for stateless applications. It supports reattaching to session but that looks like very uncommon usage, requires me to use undocumented behavior and doesn't solve everything.
I'm not sure about Entity Framework - can I use it that way? Or can you suggest another ORM?
If the server will recreate (or especially reload) user objects each time user hits a button it will eat CPU very fast. CPU scales vertically expensively but have small effect. Contrary if you are out of RAM you can just go and buy more - like with horizontal scaling but easier to code. If you think that another approach should be used here I'm ready to discuss it.

A: Yes, you can use EF for this kind of application. Please keep in mind, that on heavy load you will have some db errors time to time. And typically, it's faster to recover after errors, when you application track changes, not EF. By the way, you can use this way NHibernate too.

A: I have used hibernate in a stateful desktop application with extremely long sessions: the session starts when the application launches, and remains open for as long as the application is running.  I had no problems with that.  I make absolutely no use of attaching, detaching, reattaching, etc.  I know it is not standard practice, but that does not mean it is not doable, or that there are any pitfalls. (Edit: but of course read the discussion below for possible pitfalls suggested by others.)
I have even implemented my own change notification mechanism on top of that, (separate thread polling the DB directly, bypassing hibernate,) so it is even possible to have external agents modify the database while hibernate is running, and to have your application take notice of these changes.
If you have lots and lots of stuff already working with hibernate, it would probably not be a good idea to abandon what you already have and rewrite it unless you are sure that hibernate absolutely won't do what you want to accomplish.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This Burberry backpack is modelled after functional military kit. It's made from lightweight, water-resistant nylon reinforced with leather trims, and neatly organised with zipped pockets to keep your most needed items, like a phone, keys and travel card, close to hand. Stow your laptop or tablet in the padded internal sleeve. Shown here with Burberry sweater, Burberry jacket, Burberry jeans, Common Projects sneakers.


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Shark Week In Review 21 September 2016
Topics: Sharks
The 15-foot male shark, tagged on Sept. 9, was named "Big Papi" in honor of Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz. ATLANTIC WHITE SHARK CONSERVANCY/MASS. DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES PHOTO
Last Friday researchers tagged the 19th great white shark of the season, a 15-foot animal located off Nauset Beach in Orleans.
According to the Chatham Shark Center, that brings the total number of sharks tagged in Cape waters since 2009 to 97. Since 2014, the state Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), has identified 200 individual sharks, 20 of them so far this season. The study is now in its third summer. Most of those sharks have been given names. DMF announced last week that a 15-foot male tagged on Sept. had been designated "Big Papi" after Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz; the post was widely circulated on social media.
AWSC is funding the five-year population study, being conducted by DMF's Dr. Greg Skomal. The nonprofit has contributed more than $400,000 in support of the study, and has committed to another $275,000 to complete the work.
Sharktivity App Reaches Milestone
The AWSC reported last week that its Sharktivity smartphone app had reach 100,000 downloads. Sponsored by Everglades Boats and Amelia Rose Jewelry, the app allows users to track white shark sightings by the Division of Marine Fisheries/AWSC research team, as well as those reported by citizens. Folks can also report sightings and submit their own shark photos. Alerts are also issued when sharks are sighted close to shore.
According to the AWSC, an Android version of the Sharktivity app will be launched in October.
OCEARCH Off Nantucket
OCEARCH, the non-profit shark research organization that tagged five great white sharks off Chatham several years ago, will be off Nantucket through Oct. 10 on another expedition to tag more sharks. Their presence could jeopardize the validity of the state/AWSC population study, Director Cynthia Wigren wrote in a letter to Ocearch Director Chris Fischer. Noting that the state had denied OCEARCH a permit to tag sharks in state waters, she asked the organization not to use its federal permit to capture and tag sharks outside of the three-mile state territorial water limit, and to hold off on further work in the area until the five-year population study is completed.
Skomal Talk At The Museum
Next Tuesday, Sept. 27, the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History on Route 6A in Brewster will host a great white shark research fundraiser featuring Dr. Greg Skomal from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Cost is $25 per person.
The museum will also be showing the PBS documentary "Shark Mountain" daily at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Visit www.ccmnh.org for more information.


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The cost of living in Portugal - It can be cheaper than you think!
Published: 5th September 2022, 12:57pm
Updated: 22nd September 2022, 7:09pm
The recent history of Portugal shows how the number of expats has been growing exponentially in the last decade. The cost of living is one of the main drivers for this to happen, along with other factors such as safety, good weather, the Portuguese Golden Visa Programme, and others. Living in Portugal can be a very affordable dream and here's how you can achieve it!
All over the year, including the hardest days of winter, when you look up, there is a great chance for you to face a shining, beautiful blue sky. The same when travelling around through the smallest Portuguese village, there is a huge probability of you finding beautiful views, both natural landscape, and man-made. Yes, Portugal has the charm of the old days, ideal weather, and also a great quality of life, as it is one of the safest countries in the world.
All these positive comments could not be enough to attract as many expats as Portugal has been doing for the past decade. So what is the big secret?
You may not know - yet - but Portugal is the most affordable country in Western Europe.
Cost of living in Portugal vs other Western countries
Indeed, salaries in Portugal are not as high as in the US, Germany, Australia, and other countries. But, on the other side, the costs of living in Portugal are much lower, which offers people a good quality of life.
The fact is that Portugal is one of the cheapest places to live in the European Economic Block, even when compared with Eastern European countries. Though the base salary in Portugal is below the European average, the cost of living is also way below it, which makes a good balance and provides the people who live in it with a good quality of life.
Low cost attracts Digital Nomads and foreign investors
For instance, Portugal is one of the cheapest places to live in the EU, a reason that has a big impact on the migration decision of Digital Nomads (professionals who live in a nomadic way while working remotely using the internet), while they received their wages from another country and have the expenses in Portugal.
In the same way, Portugal is currently the best country to invest in, especially if you're looking for good yields. The Portuguese Golden Visa Programme is one of the best - and more stable - in the European Union, which provides not only Portuguese citizenship but also good investment opportunities. The programme offers a fast track to non-European investors, who invest a minimum amount in Portuguese Real Estate, as defined by law, to receive a residency permit in the country, alongside other attractive tax advantages.
The Portuguese Golden Visa Programme has been around since 2012 and has been helping people live and work in the area, but it has also done wonders for the local economy. It's stated that more than 6.4 billion euros have been invested in Portugal since the launch of the programme.
Why move to Portugal?
Portugal has become, in the past decade, a major European destination for tourists and expats. According to the official source, the number of immigrants has mostly doubled in Portugal over the past decade, indicating the spotlight that the country is in right now.
Aspects such as the good weather, friendly population, attractive gastronomy, cultural heritage, and the cost of living, make Portugal the right option for third-country citizens (non-EU nations), a nice place for settling down. The country is geographically beautiful, being internationally renowned for its paradise beaches. Recently the Algarve region was elected World's Leading Beach Destination in 2021, symbolising the solidity of the Algarve Region as the main tourist destination not only in Portugal but in the World.
Generally, life is not - or at least it shouldn't be - about struggling to earn more or to acquire more; it's about savouring what you accomplish with your family and friends.
If Portugal is on your radar screen, you will find the best place for you, whether you're someone who likes the big-city life, like Lisbon or Porto, or a quiet oceanfront place like the Silver Coast, or even a fairytale place like Sintra. You can also head south, to the expat-friendly Algarve for the warmest weather in Portugal, and sun-drenched pristine beaches stretching along miles of beautiful rock formations.
Are the house rentals in Portugal affordable?
Yes, house rentals are affordable in Portugal. But before considering rental, you should investigate the Portuguese Real Estate environment, as it is a good idea both to avoid rentals and for a profitable investment purpose. Through Real Estate, investors can be available for the Portuguese Golden Visa Programme and have the possibility to acquire the Residence Permit to legally live in the country.
Generally, Portugal has very reasonable rental deals, especially if you are looking for places located outside major cities. If you consider the prices of Lisbon, the capital of the country, house rentals can be double the price, although the suburbs of Lisbon - well connected through bus, metro and train - can offer very good deals.
The prices in Lisbon can be higher than in the rest of the country, as the city is the capital and economic centre of the country. While wages in Lisbon are normally above the average, rental costs per metre square can also go higher and vary around €13. In this way, the general monthly rental value for a newly renovated apartment with 1 bedroom, 55 sqm, in the City Centre of Lisbon, could go from €700 to around a thousand euros, while an apartment with 3 bedrooms in City Centre goes for beyond two thousand euros. Of course, prices vary according to luxury items such as full furniture, a balcony, elevators, and the location.
Can I live as a retiree in Portugal?
Moving to another country to retire always involves a lot of planning and self-organisation, especially if you have no friends or relatives in your final destination. You will need to consider several factors, from daily little things such as groceries to important aspects such as your Health Insurance. The legal requirements are also an important factor that you need to consider when moving abroad, especially when you are thinking about investing in the country.
As Real Estate grows in the world as the most profitable and stable investment option available, Portugal is becoming one of the best countries to invest in. According to the EY Attractiveness Survey 2021, Portugal is part of the top 10 most attractive countries for foreign direct investment (FDI).
Portugal Homes can help you with some of those steps, as we have the After Sales Team, a unique department within our company that will be directly responsible for helping you at this brand new beginning. This in-house team is solely committed to satisfying our client's needs before, during and post-purchase, being with them during every step needed.
This team will be responsible for your Fiscal Representation with the Portuguese Government, your Property Management, Leisure Concierge, Building Project Management and the Golden Visa Renovation. Those are just a few services we can offer to make your decision easy.
With several inviting programmes, Portugal is also very attractive to European retirees. The Portuguese Non-Habitual Resident Programme, created by the Portuguese Government, is pushing the country to become the best retirement refuge in Europe. The programme is also quickly becoming a hotspot for European professionals who are looking to benefit from the reduced taxes and tax-free pensions regime that the program offers.
Some of the advantages of being a retiree and benefits from a non-habitual tax resident in Portugal include a personal income tax treatment over 10 years, tax exemption on almost all foreign source income, a 20% flat rate for certain Portuguese source incomes (for specific professions as well as income from self-employment) in the opposite of normal Portuguese income tax rates of up to 48%.
Another benefit you can achieve is to become part of an allowed tax environment within the EU; a tax exemption for gifts or inheritance to direct family members; no wealth tax, and free remittance of funds to Portugal.
Please Know more Here.
Can Salaries in Portugal Cover the Costs?
As said before, salaries in Portugal are not as high as in the US, Australia, Japan, or other European countries such as Germany, Belgium or France. But the inferior wage gets balanced with the low costs of living in Portugal, making the whole environment a positive quality of life.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita in Portugal is $24,877 a year. It is a low number when compared with the OECD average of $30,490 a year. Although the same organisation considers that just 6% of the Portuguese employees work very long hours in paid work, a lower number is compared with the OECD average of 10%.
This means that in Portugal, the work population successfully combines work, family commitments and personal life in a better way than in other countries.
In another comparison, with the data provided by the statistic organisation Numbeo, a single active person, living in Lisbon, have an estimated monthly cost of 593.64€ without rent. That is very low when compared with the same single person living in Berlin, where the estimated monthly costs are 887.84€ without rent. The costs are even lower when we compare the same estimated monthly costs for a single person living in London, 1,089.13€ (919.70£) without rent.
Although the average income is considered lower than in other Western European countries, the cost of living in Portugal is also way lower, making the balance positive.
Is Portugal expensive to eat and drink in?
Portugal is renowned for its gastronomy, and for having excellent (and ancient) wine culture. The wine heritage is so strong in Portugal that you can easily purchase good wine for a very reasonable price. Some of the most famous wines Portugal has to offer are the legendary Port wine, originally from the city of Porto, the second biggest city in the country. Madeira Wine is also very typical and incredible good, together with the green wine from the Douro region.
Portugal is expensive to eat and drink? No. Portugal has a very low cost of living, and this includes restaurants and bars. To put this in perspective, even in the most expensive bars of Lisbon, you will not pay more than two euros for a glass of beer. A glass of house wine goes from around 3 euros, depending on the place, still way cheaper than other wine countries, such as France and Italy.
Restaurants are mostly cheap in Portugal, as a full meal for 2 persons goes for around €35. Depending on the region you are in, the prices can even be lower, with a full lunch meal costing around €8 per person.
Portugal, much like all of Europe, loves good pastry and has a great tradition in this field. One of the best sweets in Portugal is the famous Pastel de Nata, a buttery vanilla custard tart with flaky puff pastry that melts in your mouth. With an average cost of just one euro, you can easily find it in any street corner cafe.
The original Pastéis de Belém is from a pastry cafe situated in the heart of Belém that has been operating since 1837. The secret recipe was originally created by monks at the Monastery of Jerónimos, and recreated using traditional methods, which keep the sweet tooth of locals and tourists satisfied.
How do Healthcare & Medical Costs work in Portugal?
Portugal has a great and public national healthcare system, the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) which was voted 17th place in the 2021 World Index of Healthcare Innovation. The system allows every resident to access quality healthcare and pharmaceuticals at low costs, and in some cases, for free.
SNS offers all the essential services considered non-urgent health care issues and that can be seen by your indicated family doctor. Other social service professionals, such as dentists, psychologists, and nutritionists can be reached if recommended by your family doctor. Most often these services are for routine check-ups, nursing appointments, family planning, and National Vaccination Programme.
If you need emergency treatment, you can also use the SNS, although you will be charged a small fee the moment you check into the Emergency room. All the treatment provided has a high standard and is considered one of the bests in all of Europe.
What are the Education costs in Portugal?
Generally, Portugal has a very good education system that will provide you with options that fit every budget (public, private and international schools). On the Portuguese Government website, you can find the right public school for your kids.
Public schools in Portugal are free of charge, although parents have to pay a fee for their children's meals. This amount varies according to each family, as the calculation is based on the family's income. There are different payment categories, ranging from around €0.73 to €1.46 per full meal, or even free of charge for families who cannot afford this cost.
Of course, if you plan to raise your kids in a multicultural setting, then international schools might be the best option. Also, because of the unique challenges you face when moving to a new country, you may want to enrol your kids in schools that teach in your native language but also enable them to learn Portuguese.
What are the Childcare costs in Portugal?
Every country has its particularities regarding childcare, but you can relax as Portugal is one of the countries that offer a wide range of childcare facilities for children under three years old. Another good news is that public daycares with agreements with the social security system will be free of charge for all children up to one year old, starting in September 2022, according to the authorities.
For instance, a nursery comes with the Portuguese name "Creche", which generally accepts children between a minimum of three or four months, to a maximum of three years. According to the country's regulations, each one of the staff would be responsible for a maximum of 12 children for public Creches and 10 children for private institutions.
Another modality usual in Portugal is the private childminder, a person who can take care of children between three and four months and three years in their own home. In the Lisbon region, for example, this activity is widespread and has many childminders available. The Childminders can take care of a maximum of four children, or three if they have a child of their own who is younger than three years of age. The prices can vary depending on the region and on the person.
The last option is already the kindergarten or preschool, in Portugal, which can be called "Jardins de Infância" or "Infantários". Those institutions will accept children from 3 to 5 years. For those, there is a limit of 25 children per class, and they are staffed by educators with official training. For this category, the prices of private institutions can go from €300 up to €600, per month for one child.
Are public transportation prices in Portugal reasonable?
Yes, Portugal has very affordable public transportation deals. The prices vary from city to city but mostly go around €1.50, with the monthly passes going from €30 to €40.
Despite all the hills and the super dense urban configuration, Portuguese cities have very well-connected public transportation. For instance, Lisbon presents an impressive and intuitive system of buses, trams, suburban trains, boats, funiculars, and the metro, making it relatively easy to get around and in between points of interest.
In Lisbon, the bus lines are well-connected and practically reach all the points you will need to get to. Even in high-demand times, you can still take a comfortable bus to your destination, as there are several options all the time. By the way, the transportation lines in Lisbon are well-connected; even with the internet - the major public transportation offers a free Wi-Fi connection.
The prices in Lisbon are very reasonable and cost from €1.50 (when you buy it on the machine) to €3 (if you buy it directly from the driver). The monthly deals go from €30 for all transportation inside Lisbon to €40, if you also want to go to cities in the metropolitan area.
Also, according to the authorities, all residents under the age of 18, students up to the age of 23 and seniors over 65 will have access to free public transport starting in the Summer of 2022.
Exploring Portugal on wheels could be a wonderful opportunity to experience the country since it allows you to explore freely without relying on transport and timetables. The country's small network of highways is steadily growing throughout the country, and important roads are sealed and in generally decent shape.
Nationals from the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Brazil require their home driver's licence to operate a vehicle in Portugal. Others need to get an International Driving Permit (IDP) from their home country's automotive licensing agency or automotive club.
Does Portugal have a high quality of life?
Yes, Portugal does have a high quality of life. In fact, Portugal has one of the highest quality of life in Europe and it is among the top five best destinations for expats in Europe.
Portugal has one of the highest quality of life in Europe and it is among the top five best destinations for expats in Europe. During summertime, you still have until 21h of sunlight, making it perfect for some nice relaxing hours under the warm sun. Even during the winter, when it gets dark at around 17h, you can still enjoy the chill weather, which rarely goes under 10°.
Having drinks in pubs or having a nice dinner in warm locations are just a few activities that can demonstrate how good life is in Portugal. Forbes has also listed Portugal as one of the best places for residency and a second passport.
The fact is that the cost of living in Portugal is very low and affordable, making this country an even better place to live, settle and grow your family.
Moving to Portugal
Portugal is in 4th place among the World's Safest Countries
Lisbon is the third best city in the world for foreigners to live
Portugal, the 4th Best Country to Retire
Lisbon is among the best for real estate investments in Europe!
Foreign residents in Portugal reached a record number
Most Powerful Passports in the World
The Winter in Portugal: Mild sunny weather & Blue skies
Safest countries in the world in 2022
Algarve elected World's Leading Beach Destination in 2021
Vida no Algarve
The Global Peace Index (GPI) 2022 , a report produced by the Institute…


The Scottish writer and broadcaster Muriel Grey humorously divided outdoors lovers into three distinct categories: ramblers, scramblers and danglers. Ramblers amble along lowland paths while scramblers head for the peaks with the joyous expectation of using all their limbs to clamber over anything in their way to reach the summit. Danglers – the climbers – are the true mountain gymnasts with their own lexicon of graded routes up vertical rock faces and a penchant for black Lycra.
Romania seems to stretch, enhance and blend these very British definitions. Ramblers, emerging from their guesthouses, can enter a rural landscape unchanged for hundreds of years and explore fortified churches that might have jumped straight out of a Tolkien novel. Using cable cars, they can also enter the world of the scrambler, enjoying magnificent vistas from 1500m+ without the sweet and aching legs that would be required in many other nations. The scramblers can themselves move up a level due to the addition of permanent steel chains and cables on many mountains that allow those with a head for heights safely to ascend and traverse tricky sections that would have otherwise only been accessible to well-equipped danglers. Not being a dangler, I can only assume that they have a plethora of prime locations to practise their art while the winter gives them dramatic playgrounds on the high ridges and ample opportunities to scale frozen waterfalls.
But there's something else that's very special about hiking here. I think the late James Roberts came closest to putting into words when he wrote that: "The unique attraction of Romania is its ability to offers truly wild mountains in close juxtaposition to very civilized life". You only have to walk a few minutes from the tourist hot spots of Sinaia, Bușteni or Brașov to find yourself very much in the territory of the bear, the wolf and the lynx.
The obvious place for low-cost but surprisingly good quality gear is Decathlon, www.decathlon.ro/ro/magazin, They now have four stores in Bucharest.
If you have a slightly bigger budget, Himalaya, www.himalaya.ro is probably the best specialist outdoor shop in the city.
The North Face have good outlets at the Promenada and Băneasa malls.
However, a trip to Braşov might give you more buying options. There are at least three outdoorsy shops on Strada George Barițiu/Mureșenilor along with Himalaya and The North Face on the pedestrianised Str. Republicii.
While brands like Mammut, Solomon, The North Face and most of the major boot bands can easily be found in Romania, you need to consider mail order, or a trip, to the UK for Mountain Hardwear, Mountain Equipment, Lowe Alpine, Berghaus and Paramo products.
The brilliant Zenith maps (zenithmaps.com) now cover most of the main hiking areas and come in useful small 1:25,000 and 1:30,000 scales and are made of weatherproof paper. They are not always that easy to find in Bucharest though. The popular red Ben Alpin maps are found in most hiking shops but the smaller scale makes them less useful. The Muntii Nostri maps are also popular but have the same problem with the scale.
I'm going to be writing a series of route descriptions in OZB for one day hikes over the next few months. However, to whet your appetite, these are just a few of the many options for exploring the high places in Romania.
Covering over 300km2, the Bucegi National Park is one of the most accessible and varied mountain areas in Romania. I would strongly recommend a visit to the famed 'Sphinx' rock formation and Heroes' Cross on Vf. Caraiman. Access to this popular part of the mountain can be from either Sinaia or Buşteni, either on marked trails or, via the cable cars in these two towns. The northern access routes from near Râşnov are, in my experience anyway, much more interesting for serious ramblers and scramblers. The hike up to Cabana Mălăieşti and then on to Vf Ţigăneşti, Vf Scara and the 2505m Vf Omul is an outstanding (if very long) day trip.
Famed for its karst scenery and willy-shaped rock formations, the Ciucaş mountains are about the same distance from Bucharest in the car, and offer a quieter alternative Bucegi massif. Their lower height also means you can bag some stunning peaks at almost any time of the year. The most popular access point is the forest road to Cabana Ciucaş and then either west to the 1,954m Vf Ciucaş or south east to an excellent ridge containing Vf Gropșoare (1883m), Tigăile Mari (1844m) and Zăganu (1817m).
This 14km jagged ridge is quite simply a scrambler's paradise. There are a number of day possible routes from Zărnești that offer a total body workout with the aid of a few well-positioned chains. However, it's the prolonged sections of generally easy scrambling up clearly marked pitches that make it such an enjoyable mountain to explore. For the slightly less adventurous, or those pushed for time, Piatra Mică, at the northern end of the ridge, is a relatively easy day hike with just a few easy sections using chains. For those wanting to keep their hands away from anything metallic, there's a lovely circular hike up to Cabana Curmătura, to enjoy lunch with some stunning views before descending into the Zărnești Gorge.
This is a very different day out. Valea Lui Stan is a relatively short (about 11km) gorge walk/adult playground using lots and lots of ladders and cables. I've done it twice without getting wet, although it's certainly a trip for a warm summer's day. I would imagine children aged 10 upwards would absolutely love it. It's a circular route, parking near the Vidraru Dam at the start of famed Transfăgărășan road.
An excellent way to explore Romanian's mountains is to go with a group, although the most popular ones might differ from those in other countries. These are in fact tour operators: you pay a small fee for coach travel from Bucharest to the mountains and then hike with qualified mountain guides. The groups can be large: 20-50 people but they effectively function as clubs as you'll see the same faces on each trip. The two that I've hiked with, Terra Incognita and Călător Prin Romania both have FB pages and trips tend to fill up very quickly when they are advertised.
Călător Prin Romania is a smaller outfit but is also attracting non-Romanians and can be contacted via their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/calatorprinromania2018. As with Terra Incognita, the trips tend to fill up very quickly.


text:
C o n t r i b u t e
Flash Review: Weighing Shadows by Lisa Goldstein
Published on : 15 February, 2016 15 February, 2016 Published by : Sharon Browning
Weighing Shadows Lisa Goldstein Night Shade Books Release Date: November 3, 2015 ISBN 978-1-59780-840-8 In Weighing Shadows, we meet Ann Decker, a down on her luck former foster kid working in a dead end job at rinky-dink Sam's Computer Solutions. Ann's fortunes seem to change, however, when she is recruited […]
Tagged in : Alexandria Apple computers Crete foster home France Kore Library matriarchy Middle Ages Time Travel
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Amazon Blocks Apple's Interest in Goodreads
Published on : 22 April, 2013 21 April, 2013 Published by : LitStackEditor
From WSJ: Amazon.com's announcement last month that it was purchasing book-recommendation site Goodreads did more than land the e-commerce giant a social-networking service. It also thwarted a possible partnership between the reading social network and Apple. Over the past year, Apple and Goodreads had begun discussing integrating Goodreads' service, which […]
Tagged in : amazon Apple Goodreads Wall Street Journal
Categorized in : News Of Interest
On this day, January 15, in 1622, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière, was born in Paris, France. A playwright who was wildly popular with both the court and the people in his own time, he is considered one of the masters of Western comedy even today. His hilarious and satirical works – such as Tartuffe and The Misanthrope – remain staples of modern theater. Also a well known actor who often appeared in his own plays, he suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis; legend has it that he died a few hours after suffering a coughing fit and hemorrhaging on stage in the last play he ever wrote, ironically titled, The Imaginary Invalid. He was 51.
Select Author... Angie Kay Dilmore Brady Allen Brian Horne Bryan Camp Christine Fonseca Diane Pepper Smith Eden Butler Ien Nivens J David Osborne Jan Rider Newman Jason Lee Norman JS Chancellor K. Imani Tennyson Lauren Alwan Leah Barr Lisa Riley Emig LitStack Editors LitStackEditor Maura Lynch Richard Pittman Rob Vollmar Sam Spokony Sarah Grey Sean Wills Sharon Browning Stephanie Ward Tiffany T. Cole TR Woodruff TS Tate Vickie Price Taylor
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew's abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.


The Raggio Mill on San Domingo Creek was operated by four brothers from the pioneer Raggio family, natives of Italy, whose parents came to California in 1854 or 1855. They mined first at Michigan Bar, then moved to El Dorado (Mountain Ranch), where Vincenzo and his wife Theresa (De Voto) went into the store business. When the placer mines in Mountain Ranch were declining and quartz mining started up they moved to Sheep Ranch where they operated another store. After Vincenzo retired, he turned the store over to sons Joe, Ernest, and John, while Enrico took contracts cutting wood for the Sheep Ranch mine. They then established a stage line, running to Murphys, Angels Camp, Mokelumne Hill, West Point, San Andreas, Valley Springs, Milton, and points in-between. When Sheep Ranch mining declined, they moved their store to Angels Camp.


Creating a tab bar with Ionic 4 is pretty easy, adding a side menu is a bit more tricky in terms of the structure but still quite easy. But when it comes to combining both UI patterns, many people encounter a lot of trouble setting up their routing logic and connecting the pages correctly.
In this Quick Win we will integrate a tab bar into one page of our side menu (which means you could also create multiple tab bars for other side menu pages!) and take a special look at how to setup the routing in the most flexible way. It's not going to be a regular Quick Win as we got a lot of code involved but it's still the fastest way to get to the desired outcome!
Therefore, we will assume we need a login before our users get to the actual menu page which is a common scenario these days.
We will build the structure from ground up without using one of the starter templates to learn and understand how everything plays together!
We start with a blank app and add a bunch of pages. I've added some separation between the commands so you can already keep in mind at which point we gonna need them.
In the first part we'll just implement the login to menu flow, then we will refine a menu page into a page with tabs and finally add some more routing to a non-tabs page by using another details page that we can push.
Now our app will start with the login and once we navigate to the menu, another module will take care of the further routing. By splitting things up like this we could now easily secure the whole menu route and all child routes using an auth guard!
We've actually done something similar already where we only created a side menu. Things will be pretty much the same, so let's start with our login.
Of course this is not a real login, there's an example of building a basic login flow here so no logic today, simply getting the routing right!
We rely on the Angular router to make our transition and because we already defined the menu path in our initial routing the router will look up the route once we hit the button.
Now that we got the routing right we should define the actual menu with Ionic components. But before we do that, we make everything a bit more flexible by keeping part of the logic inside the related class so we can later easily add pages in there. Also, we add logic to subscribe to the router events so we can mark the currently active menu item!
Now we can finally implement the menu markup and it follows the structure for a side menu plus we surround everything with an ion-split-pane.
By doing this, our menu will automatically be expanded and always visible on bigger screens (desktop, ipad) and hide behind an icon on phone sized devices.
Every menu entry holds the link to the page, the page title and also appends conditionally the active-item class when it's active. We also add one more button manually that goes straight back to the login using the routerDirection root which means the animation looks like we are replacing the whole view (which we actually do in those scenarios).
Also make sure that the contendId of the ion-menu is the same as specified for the ion-router-outlet container.
This outlet is actually the place where all of your pages with content will later be rendered and important to understand when working with a side menu!
Our app is now working already from login to the side menu page so once you are at this point, you can continue to add the tab bar.
The tab setup has changed a few times during the beta but has come to a super easy stand right now. We are already loading a module for the first menu page when we navigate to it, so now we can just refine that routing and logic a bit more to hold our tabs as well!
We have already created the tabs1 and tabs2 page in the beginning with the CLI so now we only added their path.
Also, we add some redirect information so we can simply navigate to the tabs and the routing in here will determine which tab will be displayed as the first open tab.
Question: How does the path look like once you navigate inside your app to the first tab?
We don't have any named outlet inside the path anymore and the URL is super easy to follow and understand. And just like setting up the routing for tabs is easy, the markup has been simplified a lot as well. We just need to define the general structure and use the path name for a tab as the information for a tab and everything just works.
Now the tabs would already work but in order to open the menu from a tab on a small device we would have to add the menu button to the page.
Now we've already pretty much achieved the goals of this article as we got a side menu, a tab bar and all the routing easy peasy. But let's add one more thing in case you ask..
Almost always you need to go to another page inside your app that you previously simply pushed to the stack. In our case, we can easily add some routing information and therefore make the details page available within our second page.
We are using the absolute path here because of this open issue. Normally you could also use the relative path as we are already on the /menu/second page but the navigation will only work once then. So right now, use an absolute path while the issue remains open.
And that's all for the combined side menu with tabs and regular pages!
The Angular router is pretty powerful and the Ionic team has worked hard on getting to the most easy setup for us. Combining the side menu and tabs is no longer a problem as every page will have an easy accessible path and we don't need to rely on named router outlets or other hacks to build our UI!


Drummer John Von Ohlen, co-founder of the Blue Wisp Big Band and featured soloist with the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman orchestras, died Wednesday. He was 77.
On a new Memories from the Hills of Home, Katie Laur shares a piece she wrote about the man she calls the Swami of Swing, local jazz legend John von Ohlen.
This week's blues show starts off with one of my favorites by Diana Krall, "Peel Me A Grape" followed by a song from John Coltrane's Ballads cd and one by Kurt Elling. Dave Frishberg begins the second set along with Harry Connick, Jr., Leon Russell, Prince, and ends with Mary Ellen Tanner singing with the Lee Stolar Trio. And the show ends with Etta James, Miles Davis, Johnny Adams, and Philip Paul.
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Holly Cole's cd "Temptation" which is a collection of Tom Waits' tunes, so I thought I'd start this show off with one of her songs. (Saturday, May 6th at 11pm) And, funny how this happens, but her song, "Falling Down" led to Abbey Lincoln, Mary Ellen Tanner and Larry Kinley. It's a jazz thing.
Music: Legendary local jazz vocalist Mary Ellen Tanner is with the Lee Stolar Trio for this recording of But Not For Me.
Local jazz drummer, bandleader and music legend John Von Ohlen is the subject a recently released authorized biography called It's Gotta Swing: The John Von Ohlen Story.
Jim Nunn knew a little about drumming and a lot about book publishing. But he had never written a book until inspired by his friend, jazz drummer John Von Ohlen.
"For the last two years, John Von Ohlen has been putting up with me as we chatted countless times over coffee," says Nunn, who used to live across the street in Covington from Von Ohlen.
Mary Ellen Tanner: Girl Singer is a two-hour tribute to the late local vocalist who loved to sing standards, orginally airing on Saturday, August 9 from 10pm to midnight on 91.7 WVXU, 88.5 WMUB, online at wvxu.org, via the free WVXU mobile app or the iHeartRadio app. This special will be repeated because of listener response on Saturday, September 20th, from 8-10pm.
Lee Hay plays a song performed by Mary Ellen Tanner, longtime local jazz singer and former Bob Braun Show regular, who passed away last week.


text:
\section{Introduction}

From cosmic ray studies, there is a clear evidence that energies of primary
cosmic rays extend up to enormous energies of more than $10^{20}$\,eV with
highest energy cosmic rays detected by Fly's Eye (HiRes) collaboration
\cite{fly,hires}, Yakutsk air shower array \cite{yakutsk} and the AGASA
experiment \cite{agasa}.
At the
same time, the highest energy cosmic rays represent still a {\it terra
incognita} with respect to the processes powering them. The key question of
modern astrophysics - namely, {\it What is the nature of the cosmic high
energy world?} - has to be considered as unsolved. There is no probe except
for neutrino which could help us to answer this question. Electrically charged
protons and heavier nuclei, whose arrival direction is scrambled by galactic
and intergalactic magnetic fields, are able to point back to the sources of
their acceleration only above approximately 1--10\,EeV~\footnote{Let us remind
the energy units relevant to the discussed topic: 1\,GeV$=10^{9}$\,eV,
1\,TeV$=10^{12}$\,eV, 1\,PeV$=10^{15}$\,eV, 1\,EeV$=10^{18}$\,eV,
1\,ZeV$=10^{21}$\,eV, correspondingly.}. $\gamma$-rays keep the initial
direction but the Universe is not transparent for them at energies above TeV
range since they annihilate into electron-positron pairs in an encounter
with a 2.7\,K cosmic microwave background photons or with infra-red radiation.
For example, $\gamma$-quantum of 1\,PeV energy can not reach us even from the
Galaxy center (10 kpc). Neutrons are too short-live particles and they are not
in time to cross even our Galaxy before decaying if their energy is below
several EeV. Thus, neutrino remains the only {\it i)} weak interacting;
{\it ii)} stable; and {\it iii)} neutral probe which can reach the Earth
(where we are able to observe it) from the cosmological distances keeping
original direction and pointing back to the source of its origin, meeting thus
the basic requirements of {\it astronomy}.

MeV-range neutrino astronomy have been existing for forty years with two
neutrino sources identified so far, namely the Sun and Supernova SN-1987A,
which at the moment remain the only two experimentally proved extraterrestrial
neutrino sources. Development of ultra- and extremely high
energy~\footnote{Ultrahigh energy range (UHE) is
$E_{\nu} =$\,30\,TeV\,--\,30\,PeV; extremely high energy range (EHE) is
$E_{\nu} >$\,30\,PeV, respectively.} neutrino astronomy is under way, being
still in its infancy. It started in 1960 with academician Markov's suggestion
to use a natural basins (lakes or seas) to deploy there a large volume
neutrino telescopes \cite{markov}. The large instrumented volume is needed
due to the two
basic reasons: firstly, expected fluxes of UHE/EHE neutrinos are very low and,
secondly, cross section of neutral current (NC) and charged current (CC)
neutrino interactions
$\nu_{l} \, N \stackrel{NC(CC) }{\longrightarrow} \nu_{l} (l) \, X$ (by which
neutrinos are supposed to be detected) is small despite its increase with the
neutrino energy. To detect neutrinos associated with highest energy cosmic
rays one needs a kilometer scale detectors. After the first experimental steps
at the middle of the 1970th (the DUMAND project \cite{dumand}) and detection
of the first 'underwater' atmospheric neutrino at the middle of the 1990th
(the BAIKAL experiment \cite{1neutrino}) experimental groups and
collaborations  moved to the next stage:
creation of detectors with effective areas of 0.1 km$^2$ and higher with an
ultimate goal to build neutrino telescopes with effective volumes of one
cubic kilometer.

This talk reviews the physical goals and experimental status for ultra- and
extremely high energy neutrino astronomy focusing, first of all, on operating
and planned deep underwater/ice Cherenkov neutrino telescopes.

\section{Detection Principles and Scientific Goals}

Underwater/ice neutrino telescopes (UNTs) represent a 3-D arrays of
photomultipliers deployed deep in the lake, ocean or in the polar ice
at the depth of 1 to 4 kilometers to provide with a shield against the sun
and moon light
background and background of atmospheric muons. Detection principle is based
on registration of the Cherenkov photons emitted by charged leptons
(including those emitted by secondaries produced along their way in the water
or ice and by their decay products) which are generated in CC neutrino
interactions $\nu_{l}\,N\stackrel{CC}{\longrightarrow} l \, X$ (see
Fig.~\ref{fig:principle}).
\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=cerenkov.eps,width=85mm}
    \caption{Neutrino detection in an UNT (schematic view)}
    \label{fig:principle}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Also hadronic showers produced in NC neutrino interactions
$\nu_{l}\,N\stackrel{NC}{\longrightarrow} \nu_{l} \, X$ inside UNT sensitive
volume can be detected by radiated Cherenkov photons. PMT hit times and
positions provide with a possibility to reconstruct the track or shower
vertex while a charge collected on PMT anodes allows to reconstruct the
energy.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=detmode_1.eps,width=100mm}
    \caption{Two event topologies in an UNT (schematic view).}
    \label{fig:topo}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Thus, there can be two main event topologies in UNTs (Fig.~\ref{fig:topo}):
\begin{itemize}
\item
{\bf track event} in case of muon of any energy or tau-lepton with energy
$E_{\tau} \gtrsim$\,2\,PeV (approximately above this energy tau-lepton is able
to propagate remarkable distance before decay thanks to the Lorentz factor);
\item
{\bf shower event} in case of electron, tau-lepton with energy
$E_{\tau} \lesssim$\,2\,PeV and NC interactions of all flavor neutrinos.
\end{itemize}
However, real events may contain both topologies. Track of UHE/EHE muon or
tau-lepton is complemented by showers produced by secondaries which are
generated in the muon interactions: bremsstrahlung, direct $e^{+}e^{-}$-pair
production, photonuclear interactions and knock-on electron production. With
some probability these showers can take the major fraction of $\mu$/$\tau$
energy and even all the energy (first of all due to  bremsstrahlung). Thus, a
combined topology {\bf track$\bf{+}$shower} takes place. As well as, a
tau-lepton track with a subsequent decay create such combined topology. CC
muon neutrino (or tau neutrino if $E_{\nu_{\tau}}$ is in multi-PeV range or
higher) interaction within UNT sensitive volume with an hadronic shower in the
neutrino interaction vertex and subsequent charged lepton track also produces
a combined topology which is even more complex in case of tau-lepton if it
decays inside sensitive volume providing thus with at least two showers: in
neutrino interaction point and at the decay point (so called 'double bang'
\cite{db}).
On the other hand, at energies below PeV range two showers at the
tau neutrino interaction vertex and at the tau-lepton decay point are so
close
to each other that can not be separated at reconstruction (also tau-lepton
track can not be distinguished) and thus, such an event can be considered as
a pure shower one.

The main goal of UHE/EHE neutrino astronomy is to determine the origin of high
energy cosmic rays. For this it is needed to detect natural flux of the
high energy neutrinos measuring neutrino energy, directional information and
intensity. Expected sources of UHE/EHE neutrinos are as follows (more
detailed review can be found, e.g., in \cite{halzen}):

\begin{itemize}
\item
steady sources like, e.g., Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), Supernova Remnants
(SNR) or microquasars;
\item
transient sources like Gamma Ray Bursts (GBR);
\item
decay of superheavy particles or topological defects.
\end{itemize}

Detection of UHE/EHE neutrinos and identification of their sources would
allow to clarify the origination of UHE/EHE cosmic rays and to understand
the processes by which the nature fills the Universe with the highest energy
particles.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=ener_res.eps,width=85mm}
    \caption{
              Energy resolution of the ANTARES 12-string detector
              (see Sec.~\ref{sec:ant})
              which is planned to be deployed by 2007
              (taken from \cite{antares1}): sigma of the distribution
              of $\log_{10}(E_{\mu}^{rec}/E_{\mu}^{t})$ versus
              $E_{\mu}^{t}$.
             }
    \label{fig:enerres}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Accuracy of energy measurements in UNTs
is not too high. Energy reconstruction is based on the increase of emitted
Cherenkov light due to muon ($\tau$) catastrophic energy losses above
$\approx$1\,TeV. Also, amount of Cherenkov photons produced by both hadronic
and electromagnetic shower is more or less proportional to the shower energy.
But due to stochastic nature of energy losses and due to the fact that an
UNT represent a non-dense detector with PMTs spaced by typically 10-100\,m,
UNTs can not be a good calorimeter: for instance, dispersion of the
$\log_{10}(E_{\mu}^{rec}/E_{\mu}^{t})$ distribution (where $E_{\mu}^{t}$ is
the true muon energy and $E_{\mu}^{rec}$ is the reconstructed energy,
respectively) is around $\sigma \approx$\,0.5 at $E_{\mu} \sim$\,5\,TeV and
$\sigma \approx$\,0.3 for $E_{\mu} \gtrsim$\,100\,TeV which means that the
muon energy resolution is at the level of 2-3 only
(see Fig.~\ref{fig:enerres}). Besides, an additional
un-avoided error at neutrino energy measurement comes  from the fact that
fraction of energy that is taken by charged lepton at neutrino CC interaction
has a distribution and if neutrino interaction occurs far apart UNT sensitive
volume and, hence, shower energy can not be reconstructed, reconstructed
charged lepton energy is not a good estimator for the neutrino energy.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=angres.eps,width=105mm}
    \caption{
              Angular resolution of the 12-string ANTARES detector versus
              $E_{\nu}$ (taken from \cite{antares1}): median of the
              distribution of the angle in space between the reconstructed
              muon track and the true muon track (solid) or the parent
              neutrino track (dashed). Below $E_{\nu}\approx$\,10\,TeV
              the reconstruction error is dominated by $\nu - \mu$ kinematics,
              at higher energies accuracy is limited only by PMT TTS and
              light scattering.
            }
    \label{fig:angres}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Angular resolution for track events at UHE/EHE range is, typically, at
$\sim$0.1$^{\circ}$--1.0$^{\circ}$ level (Fig.~\ref{fig:angres}) and it is
sufficient for search of point-like neutrino sources.

The first main background for neutrino events comes from down-going
atmospheric muons and it is suppressed by putting UNT as deeper as possible to
provide with a shield of water or ice (each 1 km of water suppress the
atmospheric muon background by approximately one order of magnitude) and by
selecting of up-going events as neutrino candidates. The second
background is due to atmospheric neutrinos. The flux of astrophysical
neutrinos is expected to behave like $E_{\nu}^{-2.0}$ whereas the
atmospheric neutrino spectrum falls like $E_{\nu_{atm}}^{-3.7}$, yielding a
better signal-to-background ratio at higher energies. Thus, atmospheric
neutrino background can be suppressed by setting the off-line energy threshold
at the level $E_{thr} \sim$\,10-100\,TeV.

Except for deep underwater or ice neutrino detection other techniques are
also discussed and used (for more detailed review see \cite{spiering}):

\begin{itemize}
\item
detection of coherent Cherenkov radio waves emitted by electromagnetic
showers \cite{radio};
\item
acoustic pulses generated in matter heated by UHE/EHE cascades due to
ionization energy losses \cite{acoustic};
\item
detection of neutrino interactions by horizontal air showers (both with
traditional Earth-based large extensive air shower arrays \cite{au} and with
satellite space-based  detectors \cite{owl}).
\end{itemize}
Such kind of experiments have a high energy thresholds (at EeV energy range)
and are aimed to detection of highest energy neutrinos. Target masses  for
neutrino interaction are at the level of Giga-tons and higher providing with
opportunity to detect weak neutrino fluxes.

\section{Predicted Fluxes and Bounds}

All the models for generation of UHE/EHE particles can be divided roughly by
two main classes.

{\it Bottom-up} models consider initially low energy
particles which are accelerated up to UHE/EHE, typically, by shock waves
propagating in accretion disks around black holes or along the extended jets
emitted perpendicularly to the disk. Neutrino are supposed to be produced in
decays of mesons which are generated by interaction of accelerated particles
with surrounding matter or photon fields. Such models predict $E_{\nu}^{-2.0}$
behavior of neutrino spectrum. By normalization of the neutrino flux to the
known cosmic ray flux  one can obtain an upper bound of
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 5 \times 10^{-8} E_{\nu}^{-2}$
GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ (Waxman-Bahcall limit \cite{wb}) to
the neutrino flux integrated over all possible sources or {\it diffuse}
neutrino flux (Fig.~\ref{fig:limit}). More
detailed consideration which involves, in particular, the source transparency,
leads to bounds at the level between the Waxman-Bahcall limit and
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 10^{-6} E_{\nu}^{-2}$ GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$
(\cite{mpr}, 'MPR obscured' and 'MPR transparent' in Fig.~\ref{fig:limit}).
The last flux value more or less corresponds to the best experimental
limits set by the moment on diffuse neutrino flux.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=limit.eps,width=95mm}
    \caption{
            Waxman-Bahcall (\cite{wb}, line marked 'WB')
            and Mannheim-Protheroe-Rachen (\cite{mpr}, lines marked
            'MPR obscured' and 'MPR transparent') limits on diffuse
            neutrino flux. Atmospheric neutrino flux is shown at the
            left, as well (the strip corresponds to different zenith angles).
            }
    \label{fig:limit}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

In so called {\it top-down} scenarios particles are not accelerated but,
instead, are
born with high energies in decays of super-massive particles which generate
UHE/EHE nucleons, $\gamma$-rays and neutrinos.

Different predictions for neutrino fluxes generated in different sources
(see, e.g., \cite{proth})
lead to expected flux at the Earth at the level of $\sim$\,100 event yr$^{-1}$
km$^{-2}$ above $E_{\nu}>$\,10\,TeV.

\section{Underwater/ice Neutrino Projects}

The neutrino telescope word map is shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:map}.

\begin{figure}[p]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=map2.eps,width=154mm}
    \caption{The neutrino telescope world map}
    \label{fig:map}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[p]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=twoneu.eps,width=93mm,angle=-90}
    \caption{The first two atmospheric neutrinos detected underwater
             in the Baikal experiment in 1994. The hit PMTs are marked
             in black. Numbers give the measured amplitudes (in
             photoelectrons) and measured (expected) times with respect
             to the first hit channel.}
    \label{fig:twoneu}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[hbt]
  \begin{center}
    \begin{tabular}{cc}
    \epsfig{file=vfig1_1.eps,height=86mm}
    &
    \epsfig{file=ba8_1.eps,height=86mm}
    \\
    \end{tabular}
    \caption{The Baikal neutrino telescope NT-200 (left) and its planned
             upgrade NT-200$+$ (right)}
    \label{fig:bai1}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

\subsection{DUMAND}

The first project for deep underwater Cherenkov neutrino detection, DUMAND
(\underline{D}eep \underline{U}nderwater \underline{M}uon and
\underline{N}eutrino \underline{D}etector \cite{dumand}) existed from about
1976 through 1995. The goal was the construction of the detector, to
be placed at 4800 m depth in the Pacific Ocean off Keahole Point on the Big
Island of Hawaii. Many preliminary studies were carried out, from technology
to ocean optics. A prototype vertical string of instruments suspended from a
special ship was employed to demonstrate the technology, and measure the
cosmic ray muon flux in the deep ocean.
The DUMAND hardware was donated to the NESTOR Project in Greece
(Sec.~\ref{sec:nes}), and may yet
be employed there. Although the DUMAND project was canceled in 1995, it
stimulated a lot the development of underwater technique for neutrino detection.

\subsection{Baikal}

The Baikal neutrino detector is located at a depth of 1100\,m in Siberian Lake
Baikal. The experiment started in early 80th, the first stationary
single-string detectors equipped with 12-36 PMTs were put in operation in
1984-86. In 1993 the Baikal collaboration was the first to deploy pioneering
3-D underwater array consisting of 3 strings (as necessary for full
spatial reconstruction). In 1996 the first atmospheric neutrinos detected
underwater (see Fig.~\ref{fig:twoneu}) were reported \cite{1neutrino}.

Since 1998 8-string NT-200 detector equipped with 192 15$^{``}$ PMTs is taking
data (Fig.~\ref{fig:bai1}). An upgrade (NT-200$+$) is under construction and
it is planned to be completed by 2005. NT-200$+$ will consist of NT-200
surrounded by 3 additional strings placed 100\,m apart and it is optimized for
diffuse neutrino flux detection. The current limit on diffuse neutrino flux
set by the Baikal experiment is
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 1.3 \times 10^{-6} E_{\nu}^{-2}$ GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$
s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ for energy range 10\,TeV\,$\le E_{\nu} \le$\,10\,PeV
(assuming $E_{\nu}^{-2}$ neutrino spectra).
Besides, limits on magnetic monopole flux, Q-ball flux,
results on search of neutralinos in the core of the Earth,  measurements on
atmospheric muons and neutrinos were reported \cite{baikalres}.

\subsection{AMANDA/IceCube}

The first antarctic detector AMANDA-B10 was put into operation at the beginning
of 1997. It consists of 302 PMTs deployed at a depth 1500-2000\,m. AMANDA
(\underline{A}ntarctic \underline{M}uon and \underline{N}eutrino
\underline{D}etector \underline{A}rray) collaboration uses 3\,km thick ice
layer at the geographical South Pole. Holes are drilled with hot water and
then strings with PMTs are frozen into the ice.
\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=amanda.eps,width=153mm}
    \caption{The AMANDA detector. The scheme is illustrated by Eiffel
             tower at the left. Each dot represents an optical module
             with PMT.}
    \label{fig:amanda}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
In January 2000 deployment
of additional 9 strings was completed and since that time AMANDA-II detector
is in operation with 677 PMTs at 19 strings (see Fig.~\ref{fig:amanda}). The
unique feature of AMANDA is that it continuously works in coincidence with
surface air shower experiment SPASE \cite{space} which allow to calibrate the
angular resolution.
Given a $E_{\nu}^{-2}$ benchmark neutrino spectral shape, limits
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 1.5 \times 10^{-6} E_{\nu}^{-2}$ GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$
s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ and
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 0.86 \times 10^{-6} E_{\nu}^{-2}$ GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$
s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ are set on diffuse neutrino flux in the ranges
1\,PeV\,$\le E_{\nu} \le$\,3\,EeV and 50\,TeV\,$\le E_{\nu} \le$\,5\,PeV,
respectively \cite{amdif}.
Estimated sensitivity to the point-like neutrino sources is
at the level of expected neutrino fluxes from AGNs Mrk421 and Mrk501
\cite{stecker}, as well as from microquasar SS433 for a specific model
\cite{distefano}. Also results on atmospheric muons and neutrinos, WIMP
and magnetic monopoles search, search for supernovae bursts, primary
cosmic ray composition have been published by the AMANDA collaboration
\cite{amanda}.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=icecube.eps,width=96mm}
    \caption{Schematic view on the future IceCube detector}
    \label{fig:icecube}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
As a next step of development of the neutrino observatory at the South Pole
creation of neutrino telescope with instrumented volume of 1\,km$^{3}$
(IceCube) is foreseen \cite{icec}. It will consist of 4800 PMTs deployed on 80
vertical strings (each of 60 PMTs) at the depth from 1400\,m  to 2400\,m.
The distance between strings is 125\,m, the distance between PMTs along the
strings 16\,m. Existing detector AMANDA-II will be integrated to IceCube.
Fig.~\ref{fig:icecube} gives a schematic view of IceCube and its position
with respect to AMANDA-II and the air shower array. Deployment operations at
the South Pole will begin in late 2004 and detector will be completed by
2010. With 45,000 atmospheric neutrinos recorded per year the ultimate
sensitivity to an extraterrestrial $E_{\nu}^{-2}$  neutrino flux after
3 years of data taking is
$dN/dE_{\nu}\sim 3(10) \times 10^{-9} E_{\nu}^{-2}$ GeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$
s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ (the first number refers to the 90\% limit and
the second one to the 5$\sigma$ sensitivity). This is lower compared to
Waxman-Bahcal and Mannheim-Protheroe-Rachen upper bounds \cite{wb,mpr} and
to the most popular predictions on diffuse neutrino flux which are based on
different models \cite{proth}.

\subsection{NESTOR}
\label{sec:nes}

NESTOR (\underline{N}eutrino \underline{E}xtended \underline{S}ubmarine
\underline{T}elescope with \underline{O}ceanographic \underline{R}esearch)
\cite{nestor}
will be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, near Pylos (Greece) at 4\,km depth.
It is planned to be 'tower based detector' (Fig.~\ref{fig:nestord}).
\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=nestor1_1.eps,width=55mm}
    \caption{Schematic view of the NESTOR detector}
    \label{fig:nestord}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Each tower consists of 12 hexagonal floors spaced by 30\,m with 6 pairs of
up-down looking 15$^{``}$ PMTs each. The diameter of the floor is 32\,m.
The effective area of the tower with respect to TeV-range muons is about
0.02\,km$^{2}$. The NESTOR collaboration has passed through a long phase
of site evaluation and technology tests.
An 28\,km electro-optical cable was put on the seafloor
to connect the detector and shore station in 2000 and it was repaired in 2002.
In March, 2003 a 'prototype floor' equipped with 12 PMTs was deployed.
Over 5 millions of muon triggers were recorded during its operation.

\subsection{ANTARES}
\label{sec:ant}

The ANTARES project \cite{antares}
(\underline{A}stronomy with a \underline{N}eutrino
\underline{T}elescope and \underline{A}byss environmental
\underline{RES}earch) was formed in 1996.
In 1996-99 an intense R\&D program was performed. The deployment and recovery
technologies, electronics and mechanical structures were developed and tested
with more than 30 deployments of autonomous strings. The environmental
properties at the detector site were investigated. ANTARES R\&D program
culminated with deployment and 8 month operation of a 350\,m length
'demonstrator string' (November 1999 - July 2000) instrumented with 7 PMTs at
a depth of 1100\,m, 40 km off the coast of Marseille. The string was
controlled and read out via 37\,km-long electro-optical cable connected to the
shore station. $\sim$5$\cdot$10$^{4}$ seven-fold coincidences from atmospheric
muons were recorded. The angular distribution of atmospheric muons was
reproduced and the fraction of multi-muon events was found to be
in agreement with expectation.

After extensive R\&D program the
collaboration moved into construction of a 12-string detector in the
Mediterranean Sea at 2400 m depth, $\sim$40 km off-shore of La Seyne sur Mer,
near Toulon (42$^{\circ}$50$^{'}$\,N, 6$^{\circ}$10$^{'}$\,E).
\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=figure2.eps,width=155mm}
    \caption{Schematic view of the ANTARES 12-string detector}
    \label{fig:antaresd}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}
Each string will be  instrumented with 75 PMTs housed in glass
spheres (see Fig.~\ref{fig:antaresd}).
PMTs are grouped in triplets at 25 levels separated by 14.5\,m. 3 PMTs
in each triplet are oriented at 45$^{\circ}$ to the nadir. Strings are
separated from each other by $\sim$70\,m. All the strings are connected to a
Junction Box (JB) by means of electro-optical link cables. The JB is connected
to the shore station by a 50\,km length 48-fiber electro-optical cable.
Undersea connections are performed with a manned submarine.
The deployment of the detector is planned for 2005-2007.
The important milestones that have been achieved by the collaboration are:

\begin{itemize}
\item the electro-optical cable connecting detector and shore
station was deployed in October 2001;
\item the industrial production of 900 OMs started
in April 2002;
\item since December 2002 the JB is in communication with the
shore station;
\item  in December 2002 and February 2003 the 'prototype
instrumentation string' and the 'prototype detection string' (equipped with 15
OMs) were successfully deployed (recovered in May and July, 2003,
respectively);
\item in March 2003 both strings were connected to JB with
the Nautile manned submarine and data taking started.
\end{itemize}

The sensitivity of the
detector to diffuse neutrino fluxes achieved by rejecting the background with
an energy cut of $E_{cut}=$\,50\,GeV  allows to  reach Waxman-Bahcall
limit in 3 years. The ANTARES sensitivity for point-like source searches
(90\% C.L.) assuming $E^{-2}$ differential $\nu$ flux is in the range
4$\div$50$\cdot$10$^{-16}$\,cm$^{-2}$\,s$^{-1}$ (depending on the source
declination) after 1 year, which gives a real hope to detect a signal from
the most promising sources.

The deployment of the
ANTARES neutrino telescope can be considered as a step toward
the creation of a 1 km$^3$ detector in the Mediterranean Sea.

\subsection{NEMO}

NEMO \cite{nemo} (\underline{NE}utrino sub\underline{M}arine
\underline{O}bservatory) is an R\&D project of the Italian National
Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) for 1\,km$^{3}$ neutrino underwater
telescope to be deployed in Mediterranean Sea near Capo Passero, Sicily,
at the depth of 3500\,m where transparency  and other water parameters are
optimal. At the first stage (1998-2000) the NEMO collaboration performed
an intensive search program (more than 20 sea campaigns) to determine the
optimal site for the future detector. Also R\&D program on materials, PMTs
and mechanical components of the detector were performed. At the second stage
which started in 2002, the advanced R\&D and prototyping is done. The
laboratory which is connected with test site of-shore Catania by 28\,km
electro-optical cable is used for this purpose. The overall number of
PMTs in NEMO detector may lay between 7000 and 10000.

\section{Conclusions}

{\it
\begin{center}
\rule{75mm}{0mm} ``...because then we might find something\\[0mm]
\rule{83mm}{0mm}   that we weren't looking for, which might\\[0mm]
\rule{85mm}{0mm} be just what we were looking for, really...''\\[0mm]
\end{center}
}

\vspace{1mm}
\rule{105mm}{0mm} A.~Milne, ``Winnie-The-Pooh''~\cite{pooh}

Thus, during the next decade several 0.1--1.0 kilometer scale underwater
(ice) Cherenkov neutrino telescopes will be put into operation both in
Southern and North Earth hemispheres being complemented by other technique
detectors (radio, acoustic, air showers).
Expected sensitivity of these detectors to extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes
(see Fig.~\ref{fig:limit2}) gives a hope to open a new era in UHE/EHE
neutrino astronomy by detection of high energy neutrino signal.
Both discovering and {\it not}
discovering of extraterrestrial UHE/EHE neutrinos will help to solve
one of the oldest astrophysical puzzle - {\it origin of highest energy
cosmic rays}. But hopefully, it will also lead
to discovery of new unexpected phenomena and setting new puzzles
that will have to be solved with next generation detectors and next
generation of scientists.

\begin{figure}[hbtp]
  \begin{center}
    \epsfig{file=limit2.eps,width=86mm}
    \caption{
             Present limits (horizontal solid lines) on diffuse
             extraterrestrial neutrino flux and expected sensitivity
             to neutrino fluxes (horizontal strips), assuming
             $E^{-2}$ behavior of neutrino spectrum, for operating
             and planned UHE/EHE neutrino experiments. Upper bounds
             on diffuse neutrino fluxes and atmospheric neutrino spectrum
             are given, as well (see caption to Fig.~\ref{fig:limit}).
            }
    \label{fig:limit2}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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text:
Q: How to exact/assign values from/to a 3D list using logical conditions from 2D numpy array I've been blocked by a value assigning/extracting problem concerning python list.
I have a connectivity matrix stored in numpy array:
conn = np.array([[0, 1, 0], [1, 0, 3], [0, 3, 0]])

What I want to achieve next is: first, create a 3D list path in which the ith, jth element is set to a list of length conn[i, j].
To illustrate,
path = [ [[] for kk in range(3)] for k in range(3)]
(idx_x, idx_y) = np.nonzero(conn)
non_zero_values = conn[np.nonzero(conn)]
for iter in range(len(non_zero_values)):
    path[idx_x[iter]][idx_y[iter]] = [0 for k in range(non_zero_values[iter])]

Second, remove the last value of the list in ith, jth position of path like
exit_matrix = np.zeros((3, 3))
for iter in range(len(non_zero_values)):
    exit_matrix[idx_x[iter], idx_y[iter]] = path[idx_x[iter]][idx_y[iter]].pop()

Third, insert a value at the beginning of the list in ith, jth position of path:
enter_matrix = np.array([[0, 4, 0], [2, 0, 1], [0, 3, 0]])
for iter in range(len(non_zero_values)):
    path[idx_x[iter]][idx_y[iter]].insert(0, enter_matrix[idx_x[iter], idx_y[iter]])

Is there any efficient way to achieve this? Any suggestions from you would be more than appreciate it. I'm new to python.
Thanks so much for your time to read my question..

A: zip can replace your iter loops, and make them easier to read (but probably not faster):
for iter in range(len(non_zero_values)):
    path[idx_x[iter]][idx_y[iter]] = [0 for k in range(non_zero_values[iter])]

for i,j,v in zip(idx_x, idx_y, non_zero_values):
    path[i][j] = [0 for k in range(v)]

In [516]: conn = np.array([[0, 1, 0], [1, 0, 3], [0, 3, 0]])
In [517]: path = [ [[] for kk in range(3)] for k in range(3)]
     ...: (idx_x, idx_y) = np.nonzero(conn)
     ...: non_zero_values = conn[np.nonzero(conn)]
     ...:
In [518]: for i,j,v in zip(idx_x, idx_y, non_zero_values):
     ...:     path[i][j] = [0 for k in range(v)]
     ...:
In [519]: path
Out[519]: [[[], [0], []], [[0], [], [0, 0, 0]], [[], [0, 0, 0], []]]

The variable length of those inner lists suggests strongly that we can't avoid list iterations.  Variable lengths don't mesh well with rectangular multidimensional arrays.

Another thing that I'd consider is defining a function to consolidate the action for each i,j pair.  That is, do the initialization, pop and insert all in one loop.  A quick glance indicates that the action for one i,j pair is independent for the action for another pair.


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text:
Why Worry About Total Surveillance When You're Just An Ordinary Joe?
by Joe Giambrone
Originally posted on OpedNews.com
"I'm an upstanding citizen and I'm not doing anything wrong. I just don't want the government invading my privacy."
--unnamed
I got into a heated argument, a disagreeable shouting match over that idea today -- mostly being shouted at for nitpicking someone on my own side. I find the above rationale to be a surface response without any thought behind it or any acknowledgement of how actual surveillance-societies of the past devolved into Orwellian abominations. Worse still, the current drive for a "Total Information Awareness" society, where birth to death communications will be stored forever by the government, looms over us. NSA / Booz Allen Hamilton whistleblower Edward Snowden has said:
"they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behavior in the world known to them."
To that end, the NSA's operating budget has increased steadily, avoiding any cutbacks from the so-called "sequester." The new NSA storage facility in Utah is a central piece of this total data capture society:
"An article by Forbes estimates the storage capacity as between 3 and 12 exabytes in the near term...advances in technology could be expected to increase the capacity by orders of magnitude in the coming years." (Wikipedia)
NSA Whistleblower William Binney revealed further problems at the National Security Agency and its runaway capabilities:
" Binney alleged... controls that limited unintentional collection of data pertaining to U.S. citizens were removed, prompting concerns by him and others that the actions were illegal and unconstitutional. Binney alleged that the Bluffdale facility was designed to store a broad range of domestic communications for data mining without warrants." (Wikipedia)
Edward Snowden has also said:
"I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates."
Changing people's fates is the key phrase here. How and why can this personal data be used? With lifelong surveillance of everyone, we are little better off than goldfish swimming from glass wall to wall, always under the complete scrutiny of the authorities. It doesn't take any imagination whatsoever to see the implications of total scrutiny by secretive government or quasi-governmental entities (or others!).
The STASI regime in East Germany was legendary for this type of behavior, monitoring their own people allegedly for their own good. A hyper-paranoid society emerged where everyone was suspect. Anyone could be an informant, coerced by the authorities into betraying their neighbors or family members. Trust of government was nonexistent, and soon all trust throughout the society crumbled. Any stranger could be a government agent, himself blackmailed by the state into carrying out their wishes.
The problem is blackmail. That is what Edward Snowden meant when he talked about changing people's fates. When all associations are known to authorities, the very act of communicating with someone becomes dangerous. If they are found to be displeasing to the secretive masters of society, then how long before your very real, recorded linkage to them becomes problematic as well? Guilt by association and character assassination do not require you to be "doing anything wrong," only to be perceived that way as a result of smears. Sensitive data about personal habits can destroy a political campaign before it ever begins. The manipulation of the public takes many forms, which political activists and the professional political class understand well.
While Obama and Company (on both sides of the aisle) hawk this glaringly unconstitutional assault as alleged protection, being no threat to the public whatsoever -- their vanilla lives deemed uninteresting enough to not concern the state -- the terrifying nature of power and coercion must be addressed. Before we follow the propaganda line that we are "not doing anything wrong," and so have nothing to worry about, there is plenty to worry about when privacy is erased.
The legal justifications for securing our personal effects, enshrined in the 4th Amendment, represent the cornerstone of American freedom: that F-word politicians blather on about at length even as they secretly betray it. This is not simply a personal preference to be private but is the necessary precondition for a free society. Private communications are the difference between what once was America and what once was the Soviet Union, or Orwell's dystopia if you prefer. The value of having secure, private lives free of government malfeasance and scrutiny is beyond a price and beyond debate. As long as the Constitution remains the "Supreme Law of the Land," those who willingly violate it have committed treason against the American people.
Personal preference has nothing to do with it. This is about the very nature of freedom, to be free of coercion and blackmail. While it's true the government apparatus likely has nothing against most people because of their unremarkable ordinariness, this government posture changes immediately as people become politically active. What the masters of society take very seriously are their own positions of power, and they brook no challengers.
Once a citizen becomes active in attempting to change official policy, all bets are off. The US government surveils the lives of citizens who stand up and say "No." This has been in evidence since forever; name your time period. But more recently from Seattle WTO protests 1999, to the anti-war movement 2003, to Miami FTAA opponents 2003, to the protestors at national political conventions, and of course to Occupy Wall Street activists, the federal government has used all means at its disposal to invade the privacy of its citizen-opponents. Ongoing surveillance of domestic political movements is the norm, as is infiltration by FBI "informants" (criminals who have made deals with the FBI to go undercover and spy for them).
What's more, the government contracts with private, for-profit spy corporations such as Booz, Allen Hamilton and Stratfor. It hands this blanket power to spy on the entire citizenry over to private interests for them to exploit. All this is done in secret, and the Congress cannot even oversee the activities of private contractors, who are naturally shielded from the kind of scrutiny which we are all now subject to by them. If someone has no problem with the government owning all their personal data (I can't imagine why), they surely must stop and think about turning over that power to private, profit-driven corporations legally shielded from public accountability.
One of the most crucial and ignored whistleblowers to come out of the National Security Agency is a satellite analyst by the name of Russell Tice. What Mr. Tice revealed is shocking and largely un-reportable in the corporate perception-management media. It would shake the very system to its core, and so, recently, Mr. Tice has been persona non grata on corporate airwaves. Previously, he was welcomed as an expert on the spying programs as an actual former NSA analyst. After Tice revealed more damaging information, disclosures which threaten the very legitimacy of those who fail to perform Congressional oversight on the runaway surveillance agency, his spotlight was shut down. Russell Tice finally revealed that for at least a decade now those at the top of the intelligence chain secretly abused the capabilities of their federal surveillance state.
"[NSA] went after lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House -- their own people!"--NSA Satellite Analyst Russell Tice
Now a picture emerges of something quite a bit more damaging to society than simple privacy preferences. According to Tice, those sitting in Congress and tasked with doing oversight on the spy agencies are themselves under surveillance and compromised.
Their loyalties and duties are compromised.
Their judgments are compromised.
Their repeated displays of gross ignorance about NSA programs are perhaps intentional.
These Senators and Intelligence Committee Congresspersons must toe the line or face expulsion at the next election cycle (or worse). That is how the NSA and its secretive doings can "change people's fates." Is it too obvious to state that such blackmail is criminal and an assault on democracy? This attack is on the American people, who are now at the mercy of aVichy Congress, occupied by the STASI intelligence/surveillance state.
James Clapper, America's current "Director of National Intelligence," blatantly lied to Congress on live TV, March 12th. Clapper claimed the NSA doesn't collect Americans' communications knowing full well that they do and are expanding this capability daily. Clapper received no penalty whatsoever for Contempt of Congress, a criminal offense! In the Alice in Wonderlandworld of Washington politics, instead of being jailed for a year for lying to the Congress, Mr. Clapper was voted in UNANIMOUSLY to take over all 16 of America's spy agencies this August. Clapper's current version of the NSA Big Lie is that: "I realized later Sen. Wyden was asking about "metadata collection, rather than content collection. Thus, my response was clearly erroneous, for which I apologize."
But it's not just "metadata," and the metadata is only one component of the data collection, used to more easily search through the actual content that is also stored by the National Security Agency for varying lengths of time . When the UK Guardian released this information, provided by Edward Snowden, their offices were later raided by British security forces, andcomputer hard drives were destroyed, as in a typical Banana Republic assault on the press.
James Clapper continues to lie, and the liars have no disincentive to stop their officially-blessed fabricating. Congressional oversight is negated absolutely, and the Congress remains powerless in the face of the Total Surveillance State -- where they are prime targets for blackmail and coercion. The official pattern has been to lie, backtrack to the next position and to maintain it until further revelations make the current story untenable. Then, a new story is told with the theme being that regular, inactive, unengaged Americans have nothing to worry about; they are already neutralized. The truth is that all Americans have plenty to worry about, the complete destruction of privacy and "freedom," that buzzword that passes by without the slightest contemplation of what it means.
Rule by a secretive, military/corporate dictatorship is simply not the "America" people think of. Surely it bears no resemblance to the "Land of the free." It is an entirely different and alien place. So what's your personal preference on that one?
Joe Giambrone publishes Political Film Blog, and his novel of Hollywood debauchery, Hell of a Deal, is available now.
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A rich, smokey, red pepper and tomato cream soup.
chop up red peppers into large pieces, enough to cover 1-2 baking sheets. Broil this in your oven until the skin gets burned a little and puffs up.
My name is Theodore Baschak, I like cooking and eating spicy things.
© Theo's Recipes 2018. All rights reserved.