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Beta-Ecdysterone Benefits, Uses, Side Effects and Functions
24. July 2014 20:17 / nate@hgh.com / HGH, Health & Bodybuilding Supplements Ingredients & Product Info Comments (0)
Function, Sources and Benefits of the Health Supplement Ingredient Beta-Ecdysterone, or 20-Hydroxyecdysone
Beta-ecdysterone – also known as 20-hydroxyecdysone, beta-ecdysone and 20-hydroxy-beta-ecdysterone – is a phytoecdysteroid, or plant-derived ecdysteroid. Ecdysterone is present within arthropods (insects and marine invertebrates) as well as various plants and fungi. The plant-based version of beta-ecdysterone is used as an ingredient in natural health and bodybuilding supplements, such as DBol-GH.
Functions of Beta-Ecdysterone
In arthropods, ecdysterone controls molting and metamorphosis. It is believed that plants produce phytoecdysteroids as a natural defense against plant-eating insects, as they can cause premature molting and other metabolic damage. Plant-derived beta-ecdysterone is structurally similar to testosterone and has been shown to affect steroid receptors in animal tests. These anabolic properties have led to its use in health and bodybuilding supplements.
Sources of Beta-Ecdysterone
While ecdysterone is naturally produced in insects, crabs and other arthropods, the type most commonly consumed by humans is extracted from plants and taken in capsule form as a natural dietary supplement. Among the many plants that contain beta-ecdysterone are Suma (Hebanthe Eriantha, also known as Brazilian Ginseng), Maral Root (Rhaponticum Carthamoides), Leuzea (Leuzea Carthamoides), Ox Knee (Achyranthes Bidentata), Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia), Serratula (Serratula Coronata) and Cyanotis Vaga.
Beta-Ecdysterone Benefits and Uses
Animal studies have shown that phytoecdysteroids play a role in protein biosynthesis; these anabolic properties suggest they may have a positive impact on human metabolism. Accordingly, beta-ecdysterone is primarily used in health and bodybuilding supplements to help increase muscle mass, enhance muscle definition, reduce body fat and improve athletic performance. Research has also indicated that beta-ecdysterone may provide other health benefits, such as protecting the cardiovascular system, suppressing degenerative diseases, improving glucose metabolism, supporting wound healing, enhancing skin condition and preventing oxidative damage to human lens epithelial cells.
Side Effects of Beta-Ecdysterone and Potential Interactions
At present, there do not appear to be any known side effects or potential interactions associated with beta-ecdysterone. However, as with any medication or health supplement, it is best to consult your physician before taking supplements containing beta-ecdysterone.
Beta-Ecdysterone Research and Studies
Numerous studies have been conducted concerning the benefits of beta-ecdysterone. Among those cited in support of its use as a bodybuilding supplement is a study by Russian researchers published in Eksperimental'naia i Klinicheskaia Farmakologiia, which found that beta-ecdysterone contributed to muscle mass increases while reducing body fat content in human subjects. Another report published by Czech scientists in Experientia indicated that beta-ecdysterone consumed by Japanese quail resulted in a 115% increase in body mass. And Diabetes, A Journal of The American Diabetes Association, reported an animal study showing that beta-ecdysterone resulted in lower body weight, improved glucose metabolism and enhanced muscle insulin signaling.
Additional benefits have emerged following international research into the use of beta-ecdysterone. Czech researchers discussed the positive biological effects of beta-ecdysterone in Natural Product Communications, theorizing that the substance has the potential to protect organisms from degenerative diseases, suppress neurodegenerative processes and protect the cardiovascular system. Menopause, The Journal of the North American Menopause Society, featured an animal study that suggested beta-ecdysterone could improve skin condition in postmenopausal women. And the International Journal of Ophthalmology published a Chinese study on senile cataracts, which found that beta-ecdysterone could inhibit oxidative damage in human lens epithelial cells
For additional research related to ecdysterone, refer to the PubMed site sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
HGH.com Supplements With Beta-Ecdysterone
Those seeking to leverage the anabolic effects of beta-ecdysterone can find this plant-based ecdysteroid in a popular natural health and bodybuilding supplement from HGH.com:
DBol-GH – Beta-ecdysterone (20-Hydroxyecdysone) is a featured ingredient within the proprietary blend content of DBol-GH, which is formulated to increase human growth hormone (HGH) levels, build muscle and increase lean mass. The active ingredients in DBol-GH capsules are designed to stack and work together, making it a popular choice among athletes and bodybuilders seeking visible results.
References (Function, Sources, Benefits/Uses and Side Effects/Interactions):
Bruno, Gene. "20-Hydroxyecdysone: The Pro-Anabolic, Plant Steroid"; Smart Supplementation, published by Huntington College of Health Sciences; 2001. <http://www.hchs.edu/literature/20-Hyroxyecdysone.pdf>
Deuster, Patricia; Maier, Steven; et al. "Testosterone Enhancers: Ecdysterone (20-Beta-Hydroxyecdysterone)"; Dietary Supplements and Military Divers: A Synopsis for Undersea Medical Officers, published by Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; January 2004. <http://hprc-online.org/dietary-supplements/files/DietarySupplementUMO.pdf>
Freedman, Lisa. "Beta-Ecdysterone" in "Supplement Guide: A-Z"; Men's Fitness website; accessed July 23, 2014. <http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/supplements/beta-ecdysterone>
Research Sources:
Cahlíková, Lucie; Macáková, Kateřina. "Ecdysterone and its activity on some degenerative diseases"; Natural Product Communications; May 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21615037>
Ehrhardt, Caroline; Wessels, Johannes T.; et al. "The Effects of 20-Hydroxyecdysone and 17β-Estradiol on the Skin of Ovariectomized Rats"; Menopause; March 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21030883>
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Tags : Beta-Ecdysterone . Beta-Ecdysterone Supplementsbodybuilding workout . Build Lean Muscle . testosterone boosters . testosterone for men . DBol-GH . 20-Hydroxyecdysone . Testosterone Supplements
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Tag: Tim Noakes
Sboros on Noakes and academic "mobbing" at UCT
This entry is part 29 of 30 in the series Noakes
The text below was submitted as a letter to The Cape Doctor, a South African Medical Association publication for medical professionals in the Western Cape. In the August 2019 edition, Marika Sboros includes my name in some of her fantastical musings, and I felt that a rebuttal was in order.
Given that the publication is typically only seen by its subscribers, I post the text of that letter here also, for the record. The edition in question (pdf link) is available on samedical.org, and a backup is stored here on Synapses too.
Continue reading "Sboros on Noakes and academic "mobbing" at UCT"
A few quick bites (on Noakes, diet and celebrity science)
This entry is part of 30 in the series Noakes
It's been a few months since I last posted anything about diet and Prof. Tim Noakes, but being reminded of the hearing that's set to resume next month led me to check in on his Twitter echo chamber, which in turn leads to my presenting these few morsels to you.
First up, Austin Bradford Hill, who (according to Noakes, at least) taught that association only provides evidence for causation when a study's Hazard Ratio (HR) is above 2.0. With the assistance of this factoid, Noakes has been dismissing inconvenient results with quips about "Bradford Hill turning in his grave" and so forth.
The Hill paper that Noakes cites (the text of a speech in this case) is indeed very good. It cautions us that systematic errors are prevalent enough in our research that we should be wary of placing too much faith in statistical significance as a guarantee of anything, and that health-related interventions need to be thought about carefully, in light of potential costs and benefits (rather than only with reference to what the evidence tells us).
None of my nine viewpoints can bring indisputable evidence for or against the cause-and-effect hypothesis and none can be required as a sine qua non.
In other words, Hill is explicit that he's not offering a hard-and-fast rule, but rather some useful rules of thumb. Here's a lovely application of those rules of thumb to chiropractic, for those who don't want to read the Hill speech itself.
The point, of course, is that Hill is here being misrepresented as a dogmatist, in order to give Noakes another of his stock-phrase putdowns ("cognitive dissonance", "The Anointed", "follow the money", "go ahead, make my day" and so forth).
The misrepresentation is significant also because in this particular case, Hill might not be on Noakes's side of the argument at all. As argued in this Phillips and Goodman paper, one of Hill's central points was that "we need to consider more than the degree of certainty that there is some health hazard, and act based on the expected gains and losses, with or without statistical certainty."
So, if it's still the consensus view that limiting saturated fat (or rather, replacing it with unsaturated fat or whole grains rather than refined grains) is a good idea to minimise cardiovascular disease risk, it seems to me that Hill would accept the "violation" of his (non) rule for the sake of prudence.
But that exact study linked above (the actual paper is open-access, so you can read it if you like) is one of those that we should "pay no attention to", "as Bradford Hill taught".
Don't get me wrong – of course it's true that it's difficult to establish causation from association. But it's also true that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence – and that we need to apply our standards consistently, and honestly.
Hill didn't give us a rule (that's the honesty bit), and even if he had done so, I'm pretty sure that a trawl through Noakes's timeline would give us many examples of him uncritically linking to pro-Banting literature that violates the rule (that's the consistency bit).
Speaking of consistency, and the Banting-brigade's fondness for accusing critics of being in the pockets of Big Potato (or compromised by some nefarious interest), I wonder how they feel about Nina Teicholz, lobbyist extraordinaire, being bankrolled by a billionaire?
I don't think it necessarily a problem at all – as I've said in previous posts, we need to separate the claims from the funding – but if conflict of interest is a problem (as Banters claim), you don't get to ignore it just because you like what the person is saying.
To repeat a point I've now made many times over the years, the issue for me is not the science – that's evolving, as it tends to do, and there are still many unanswered questions related to diet and its effect on health, weight and so forth. The issue I am concerned with is misrepresentation, cherry-picking, logic and the substitution of soundbites and celebrity for scientific rigour (on that, here's a good piece by Sarah Wild).
And then, in conclusion: here's a new systematic review of recent RCTs on low-carbohydrate diets and Type 2 diabetes, which concludes that
Recent studies suggest that low carbohydrate diets appear to be safe and effective over the short term, but show no statistical differences from control diets with higher carbohydrate content and cannot be recommended as the default treatment for people with type 2 diabetes.
The authors also note that "passion in science is an infallible marker of lack of evidence" – and while I think that overstates the matter somewhat, it's again a useful rule of thumb.
Someone linked my tweet of that study to Noakes earlier today. His response perfectly captures the problem, and that response is a) to ignore it in favour of cherry-picked alternatives; and b) to suggest malice or bias on the part of those who disagree with him.
To answer the "why" in that last tweet: because I'm linking to the review of RCTs mainly to demonstrate that the evidence is contested, and that there's no room for dogmatism in this debate (or in any scientific debate that isn't settled).
If there was as prominent and influential a scientist as Noakes arguing as dogmatically on another topic that I'm interested in, articles on that topic would attract a similar amount of attention, at least from me.
The "why" is of course not sincere at all, but instead simply an opportunity for disciples to dismiss contrary evidence as conspiracy. If you're looking for a textbook example of motivated reasoning, the Noakes timeline is pure gold.
Faith healers and medical deceivers
This entry is part 5 of 30 in the series Noakes
On the last night of January, I participated in a rather interesting hour of radio, during which Hlomla Dandala hosted a interview with me and someone claiming to be a faith healer. The faith healer's name is Pastor Louisa, and you can find some information on her ministry – which includes curing people of AIDS – on her website.
I do have a recording of the show, but haven't yet found a way to convert it into something that plays outside of the TuneIn Radio app on my phone (informed advice on this is welcome) – if I do get it converted, I'll be sure to post it here.
What became clear fairly on in the show is that Louisa is not a charlatan, in the sense that she's knowingly exploiting others. She was desperately sincere, and also, unfortunately, sincerely confused. When invited to facilitate a miracle over the phone to someone who called in, she engaged in a few minutes of shouty, enthusiastic prayer and exhortations to be confident and inspired, after which she asked the caller whether she "felt better".
Yes, said the caller. I then asked – "so, does that get added to your list of miracles performed?". Yes, said Pastor Louisa. On those weak standards, all of us perform dozens of miracles every day – just figure out what language people like to hear, or what buttons they like pushed, make them happy, and then claim to have performed a miracle!
Also, she made it clear that she never tells people to stop taking their medicine. Dandala asked her how she knows whether it's the prayer or the medicine that heals… and the predictable answer that she gave was that she "just knows". As far as I can determine, then, she gives her god the credit for the job performed by modern medicine.
You've heard how this (faith healing) works before, I imagine, or rather, how it doesn't work. On the recommendation of Dan Dennett, I watched the documentary Marjoe a few years back, and it's a wonderful expose of charismatic preachers and healers, involving Marjoe Gortner taking a documentary crew behind the scenes of his final revival tour, held after he had already lost his faith. Watch it if you can, but basically, if people want to believe something strongly enough, it's difficult to stop them doing so.
The difficulty in talking to Louisa was in resisting the impulse to mock, but instead to feel sympathy for her confusion, and the desperation of those who take her seriously. I failed in this effort at least once, when she spoke about how she had to stop talking to us because she was out in the open, under a tree, and it was cold (this was late at night). I suggested that a miracle might sort this out – after all, if she could cure Aids, what's the problem with a little heating?
Failures of good grace aside, these people can be dangerous, especially in communities we don't often hear about, where faith healers and other quacks can do their thing without being exposed to scrutiny. Communities like the Amish are a similar problem. And the overarching problem we all have in a constitutional democracy is in striking the balance between objective application of the law and respecting the various freedoms we believe people are entitled to, like subscribing to and practicing a religion.
For adults, there's less of a concern regarding people being free to harm themselves than there is for children, who can't be expected to know any better. But desperation, and poor educations, mean that adults are also sometimes more gullible than one would like, which is why it's incumbent on all of us to speak out against quackery where we find it, while still trying to avoid being gratuitously cruel to those we criticise.
And those of us in positions of authority should perhaps be most careful, because their trust is vested in us, and they spend money, time and attention on us.
Someone getting a lot of attention right now is Professor Tim Noakes, as he goes around the country giving talks and radio interviews to promote the book he's recently co-authored, The Real Meal Revolution. During a recent interview with Redi Tlhabi, he informs listeners (at 38m40s) that there is "absolutely no risk" involved in cancer victims trying the ketogenic diet, because it's proven that starving cancer of carbohydrates is an effective treatment.
Well, yes, it can be. But as he so often does, he's cherry-picking, or simply believing in the version of "science" that suits his agenda. Because according to the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, and other sources,
Many scientists have tried killing tumors by taking away their favorite food, a sugar called glucose. Unfortunately, this treatment approach not only fails to work, it backfires–glucose-starved tumors get more aggressive.
This is only true for some glucose-starved tumours, to be sure, but it still means that saying "absolutely no risk" is absolutely untrue, and that Noakes is giving advice – to an audience of thousands – that stands a good chance of harming a listener who happens to have the sort of cancer that responds aggressively to a low carbohydrate diet.
As I've said many a time, this isn't the approach of someone who is a responsible scientist. But, just like the faith-healer, I think he's utterly sincere, and utterly committed to fostering our good health. More the pity, then, that he's unable to see how his religious fervour might end up achieving the opposite goal, at least for some. And how – consistently – he's wreaking havoc on basic principles of critical reasoning, and setting a terrible example for budding scientists everywhere.
Problems with evidence-based medicine aren't a license to make stuff up
In the paper that brought the idea of evidence-based medicine (EBM) to prominence, Professor David Sackett et. al. wrote that
Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. By individual clinical expertise we mean the proficiency and judgment that individual clinicians acquire through clinical experience and clinical practice. … By best available external clinical evidence we mean clinically relevant research, often from the basic sciences of medicine, but especially from patient centred clinical research into the accuracy and precision of diagnostic tests (including the clinical examination), the power of prognostic markers, and the efficacy and safety of therapeutic, rehabilitative, and preventive regimens.
In short, EBM is about integrating the best available research knowledge with the expertise of clinicians, who might – and often do – spot something that a model or a manual might not recognise as significant. As much of a naturalist as you might be – and I'm a very committed one – raw data exists in a context, and the context might often be a significant clue in telling you what data are relevant, and how they should be interpreted.
So I share some of Dr. Malcolm Kendrick's concerns, when he writes that "EBM is now almost completely broken as a tool to help treat patients" thanks to the "evidence" being susceptible to corruption by vested interests, and pharmaceutical companies in particular. If you fund enough research, and suppress results that you don't like, it's certainly possible to end up with all the "evidence" pointing in a favourable direction. Favourable for you, that is, but not for the patient.
But the fact that something is funded by a pharmaceutical company doesn't guarantee bias. There's a difference between being cognisant of potential biases, and writing something off in advance, just because of whence it came. That sort of pre-emptive dismissal is a logical error called "the genetic fallacy", and you can tell when it's being committed if someone stops paying attention to the evidence at all, or starts claiming that they don't need to even bother doing so. Like this, perhaps (from Kendrick's post):
Some years ago I stated that I no longer believe in many research papers that I read. All I tend to do is look at the authors, look at the conflicts of interest, look at the companies who sponsored the study, and I know exactly what the research is going to say – before I have even read the paper.
I have also virtually given up on references. What is the point, when you can find a reference to support any point of view that you want to promote? Frankly, I do not know where the truth resides any more. I wish to use evidence, and the results of clinical studies, but I always fear that I am standing on quicksand when I do so.
We are at a crisis point. Medical research today (in areas where there is money to be made) is almost beyond redemption. If I had my way I would close down pubmed, burn all the journals, and start again, building up a solid database of facts that we can actually rely on – free from commercial bias. But this is never, ever, going to happen.
It's rather alarming to see the person responsible for writing The Great Cholesterol Con – and for encouraging most of us to stop taking statins to lower cholesterol – professing "I do not know where the truth resides any more". (If he really means that, a career in anthropology rather than medicine might suit him better, I'd suggest, in that he's already learnt a key mantra of the field.)
Another peculiar thing you'll find on his website represents quite a cunning stratagem. You see, he's talked himself into a bit of a bind with this "don't trust The Man" stuff – if he ever wants to sell you something like a drug, how could he offer you "evidence" in support of it's efficacy, assuming that he or someone else with a vested interest was involved in that research?
Easy – by redefining what conflict of interest means. For him only, mind you – not for others, where it means that you can't trust them, and don't even have to read them to know that you can't trust them. In his "Disclosure of Interest" page, he notes "I have become the medical director for a company making a heart health supplement called ProKardia", for whom he does paid consultancy work. And here's the cunning bit:
If I do write about ProKardia or any of the ingredients in ProKardia, in a positive light, you need to know that I have a financial interest. I did not use the word conflict of interest in this statement, as I do not believe I have a conflict. I have become involved in developing, and using, a product that I entirely believe to be a good thing.
Got that? He has a financial interest alone, but no conflict. Authors of papers with connections to something he doesn't trust, or research sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, always represent a conflict – and you don't even have to read the paper in question to know this. (Which, amusingly, means that even if they were to try to insert the same Humpty Dumpty clause into their papers, Kendrick would never read that either.)
I say "Humpty Dumpty clause", because the book Alice in Wonderland contains this fabulous line: "'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'"
It's the same causal relationship to what words – and evidence – means that allows for claims that sugar is addictive (as addictive as cocaine, according to some), or that Harvard have endorsed low-carb high-fat diets. They haven't – they've just said that carbs can sometimes be worse than fats, particularly the "bad", saturated fats – yet the LCHF proponents cherry-pick this as support, even though the same group are explicit that the type of fat matters, and that animal fats remain something to be cautious about.
Or, it's this casual relationship that allows for claims that Sweden has officially adopted the LCHF diet, even though the report – now finally available in English (the summary, at least), though that didn't stop English speakers like Tim Noakes from relying on blog sources as authoritative on what it said – actually says (my emphasis):
in the short term (six months), advice on strict or moderate low carbohydrate diets is a more effective means of achieving weight loss than advice on low fat diets. In the long term, there are no differences in the effect on weight loss between advice on strict and moderate low carbohydrate diets, low fat diets, high protein diets.
I realise that this is just one element of the debate, which includes diabetes, heart disease and so forth. But these are two examples of scientists cherry-picking data that happens to support something they want to argue for – or that can be made to appear to support it, so long as you whip up enough hysteria, or persuade them that there's some conspiracy afoot.
As Mark Wallace points out in piece for The Guardian on "addictive" sugar, "if the issue is people failing to act responsibly, then it won't be rectified by treating them like children". To that, we can add "treating them like fools".
And when the same people doing the cherry-picking are giving themselves licence to simply ignore research they don't like, and to dismiss conflict of interest issues (in their case, but not for you) with a regal wave, they stop being scientists, and start becoming shills.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Imagine your new home in South Vancouver is at the Springs at Langara, spacious rooms, large soaker tub, fireplace, balcony, indoor pool & a park-like setting, doesn't get any better than this. This unit many upgrades like hardwood floors & new paint. Ideally located across the street from Winona Park & Langara Golf course. Close to Oakridge Shopping Centre & blocks to transit. Your new home awaits.


On May 27th, 2013, the first test drive was taken and filmed from the outside and inside of the vehicle.
The teardown of the vehicle officially began on July 17th, 2004. All fluids, including the gasoline, were drained from the vehicle and the internal combustion parts were slowly removed and sold online.


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April 7, 2022 April 7, 2022 / Giuseppe Gillespie
Photo by Inga Seliverstova on Pexels.com
Never a dull moment in this business. Lights, women, action. I suppose it comes with the territory when you're the boss of the best gentlemen's club around, although we don't get many gentlemen these days. We called the club Bermuda, that is my associates and I, I for one thought it was very clever. People tend to lose their way in here, in more ways than one, and a place like this attracts all the right kinds of people for our purposes: the psychos, the addicts, the schemers, even a city official or two, I can't get into the business of names of course but It provides an ever flowing supply of cannon fodder for our operations. We all gotta start somewhere eh?
I was put in charge of this place a couple of years back – no doubt for my charming personality and detail-oriented mindset. It also helps that I drove a screwdriver into the back of the previous owner's skull on account of him running his own little side business of drugging and renting out the top girls but I digress. I guess they assigned me here to keep me out of trouble. I'd proven to be an effective problem solver if just a tiny bit unorthodox and quick to anger. Having a place to call my own is nice, not to mention it keeps me invested. From the club's upper balcony I can see all of the rabble below, the shady deals, the exchanges, the chaos. I am the brooding ruler of this kingdom of sleaze and my word is law. Anyone puts their hands on the girls and we break 'em. Anyone tries to deal under this roof without our approval and they end up in the river. The people below call me Boss, the handful I actually like call me Donovan, as good a name as any. You could say I'm doing very well for myself. Late thirties, tall, tanned, in shape. My hair is a dark chestnut-brown, neat and slicked back. I don't have any ink like others in our organization, never saw the point of it. I dress well, blazers and eccentric shirts, stylish business, I am the boss after all. The title Boss is something of a misnomer though as in reality I'm part of a larger order of things, the Chimera: a highly sought-after organization by lesser gangs and lawmen alike. Drugs, guns, wheels, and business involving promiscuity, you name it we own it and the river is filled with those who've tried to prove us wrong.
The club itself is the best thing this side of town. Real classy like. People come from all over the city to get an eyeful of what we've got and our bar is always open. On the ground floor is the center raised stage, it's got a glossy wood floor finish and is easily modified depending on whether we have one or multiple dancers on at a time. Jutting out from the center is an island for our main performers, poles and everything. As this part of the interior is purposefully dark we've mounted a strip of spotlights along the edges of the stage facing up and inwards towards the dancers but not so much as to blind them, the ceiling lights accompany these and when the show's in full swing it's quite the sight to see. Below the stage are a couple dozen tables and other dancing platforms dotted around this area, roughly a third of the ground floor including the stage, this is all sectioned off by steps and a railing aligned in a semi-circle fashion from the rest of the club. We've got private booths off to the side of the stage, highly luxurious with satin cushions and fine fabric upholstery shaped into the booths themselves with curtains for privacy. Security is always posted within earshot in case a customer gets too friendly.
Before I took over this place it used to have more of a cabaret-type feel to it. It was criminally outdated, had a tacky décor and played jazz music if you could imagine. We spent a hell of a month ripping out and replacing all the ugly carpet, the dainty stools and the cheap wooden tables. We fitted in a new hi-fi stereo system, dancefloor, even got a few pool tables in the back. Directly underneath the balcony is the bar, a long strip of expensive countertop. We've got all the top-shelf brands of shorts and a decent selection of beers and ciders for whatever your preferred prelude to chaos may be, you'll be thrown out of course if you start shit in here, preferably with a smashed jaw and broken ribs. In-between the bar and the stage is the dancefloor, we rigged it up to the stereo system so that the lightshow plays along to the beat of the music. I'm no stranger to letting loose and getting my groove on every now and then but I usually prefer to take in the spectacle from the balcony, which is reserved strictly for business. The balcony's where the big deals and decisions are made and where I plan out most of our operations in the city be it heists, large-scale drug deals, kidnappings, murders, and gang wars among other odd jobs, as I said at the beginning: never a dull moment in this business.
Leaning on the balcony railing I'm lighting up a cigarette as I spot some commotion out of the corner of my eye. A group of three, skinheads by the looks of them, are currently being thrown around the pool tables by our security. I notice my right hand man, Cole, in the thick of it as he's socking one of the scumbags in the mouth with a billiard eight ball. I can't hear the sound of the scuffle over the music currently playing, some new track from The Bee Gees. I laugh to myself as I exhale the cigarette smoke. Cole's another from the organization, he's been working for me the past few years. Used to be a hood before he joined up, wore all them baggy clothes that makes a man look like a shopping bag blowing in the wind. As far as I know he was small-time, a few stick ups here and there making pennies off of local laundromats and the like. I first met him after I got a tip about a big shipment of booze from one of our dock boys on the take. Cole and his crew got to the loot first. When we found out I tracked him down and made him an offer he couldn't refuse, he joined on the spot. A couple of years in and he's a reliable enforcer and doing very well for himself indeed.
After the commotion settles down I see security drag two of the troublemakers towards the exit while Cole collars the remaining one and starts heading my way. The guy didn't put up any resistance as Cole effortlessly marched him across the club to the staircase leading up to me on the balcony. I see them both ascend the curved marble stairs illuminated by the flashing lights, Cole has the dual job of getting the guy up the steps and preventing him from collapsing back down them in a stupor. I grab a bottle of expensive whiskey from a table and pour out two glasses before they reach the top.
Cole greets me by way of a nod before throwing his captive to the ground. He rubs some blood off of his hands and curses when he notices that it has stained his white and blue pinstripe shirt. I reach out and offer him a glass of whiskey which he accepts, "Hey, could be worse huh?" I say. I motion with my own glass to the bloody mess on the floor asking, "So, who've we got here?" half-interestedly.
After a sip of his drink Cole sets it down on a table and clears his throat, his voice is coarse and deep, "This shithead and his buddies think they own the place. Been harassing waitresses and showgirls all night. When I came over to kick 'em out they started that shit back there. The other two are bleeding all over the sidewalk, I thought I'd bring one of them up here for a little chat."
"I see." I down some of the whiskey. "You think he's from one of the Aryan groups? With the skin top and the leather and all that?"
"The raggedy ass boots too. Fucker kicked me in the shin back at the pool tables." Cole shook the guy violently by the scruff roaring, "Who you runnin' with? Don't you know better than to fuck around in here?"
The miserable pissant ignored him and just stared at me, as if in shock, his face all bloody and swollen. He reminded me of one of those cartoon caricatures they sometimes do of politicians in the paper with their facial features all over-emphasised. Now that I could see him clearly I could see that he was young, early twenties, a wannabe. "I don't think he likes you very much, Cole. I don't think his highly refined 'world-view' permits him to speak with you." I say jokingly, rubbing the skin on the back of my hand to make the issue clear to Cole.
"Won't talk asshole? Guess you need another few cracked ribs!" Cole dragged the punk by the collar and was getting ready to lay into him before I motioned him to stop.
"Doesn't matter," I grin, pointing towards a poorly done tattoo of an iron eagle on the runt's upper arm, underneath the letters W.I.R were stamped in bold, "I know where he's from. Break his hands then throw him out."
(A short excerpt from a co-author project I'm working on)
Copyright Giuseppe Gillespie. All rights reserved.
Excerpt: The Garden
FOLLOWING THE BREAK of dawn came a crisp, sultry morning – the kind only found in picturesque countryside, or in a realtor's advertisement for beachfront property…
by Giuseppe Gillespie January 6, 2023 January 7, 2023
A strange signal leads a team of highly trained marines to a seemingly deserted planetary colony on the far frontiers of space. Nothing could have prepared them for the horror lurking beneath its surface… A preview of a sci-fi thriller currently in development.
by Giuseppe Gillespie November 12, 2022
The Interrogation
A detective interrogates a robbery suspect as to the whereabouts of some stolen money. (10 min read)
by Giuseppe Gillespie March 11, 2022 March 11, 2022
author, club, crime, criminal, dark, drama, explicit, fiction, flash fiction, gangs, nightlife, Short Story, strong language, violent, writing
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"Why did Jesus said at the cross it,s done"
The last words Jesus spoke on the cross are recorded in John 19:30. He said, "It is finished." He meant that, as he was about to die, his sacrificial work on behalf of his Father for us was now complete.


This Sunday we conclude our sermon series based on the book, "All the Places to Go: How Will You Know," by John Ortberg. This study is designed to help us appreciate and understand "the will of God" and the "open doors" God has in store for us to walk through in life. To be better prepared for this Sunday read Matthew 7:7-8: "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Pray that God will lead us to walk through the right open doors at the right times in our lives. Scripture: Psalms 78:23, Genesis 4:6-7, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, 1 Chronicles 28:6, John 20:19.
Listen to Stay in the Show - 1/31/2016 now.


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That NuLabour "mistake" over mass immigration wasn't a mistake non-shock
Since they lost the 2010 election, the Labour Party have been religiously spinning the line that the massive immigration they presided over during their 13 years in office was a mistake. A favourite ploy is to try to concentrate all the admission of failure on the decision to allow the better part of a million migrants from Eastern Europe into Britain when new entrants were admitted to the EU. Labour's new leader Ed Miliband was at it in September 2011. Asked by Nick Robinson of the BBC whether Labour had lied about immigration, Miliband said "I don't think we lied but I do think we got it wrong in a number of respects. I think that first of all we clearly underestimated the number of people coming in from Poland and that had more of an effect therefore than we would otherwise have thought. And secondly, I think there's this really important issue about people coming into the country and the pressures on people's wages. People aren't prejudiced but people say to me look I'm worried about the pressure on my wages of people coming into this country, I'm worried about what it does to housing supply – all those issues. Now some of that is real and some of it isn't but I think you have to address not just tough immigration policy but underlying issues as well." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/04/ed_miliband_we.html).
The claim that the immigration was a mistake takes some swallowing. To begin with there is the sheer volume of it. Although there are disputes about the figures, millions arrived while far fewer left. The think tank Migration Watch UK estimates that from 1997-2010 the official arrivals totalled 3.2 million, while 941,000 Britons left. Approximately 80% of immigrants came from outside the EU. The old white dominions – Australia, Canada and New Zealand – received more migrants from Britain than Britain received from them. The greatest source of immigrants from outside the EU was the Sub-Continent. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the majority of immigrants were Asian or black. (http://migrationwatchuk.com/pdfs/MWK001-Migration-UK-report_Print.pdf). To those official figures must be added an unknown number of illegal immigrants. Migration Watch estimates these at another one million under the Blair and Brown governments. That may be on the conservative side, but taking it as a reasonable figure would mean that a net immigration figure of 3 million during the 13 years of Labour rule. It is difficult to see how that vast increase in immigration – in 1997 net migration was around 40,000 – could have happened by accident. Just how could a Government not see what was happening for 13 years and do nothing "by accident"?
But it is not necessary to rest the case for mass immigration being a deliberate policy on the numbers and nature of the immigration. Labour in power left a number of smoking guns to show that it was indeed a deliberate policy. In 2003 the Home Secretary David Blunkett said that there was "No obvious limit" to the immigration of skilled labour, adding incredibly that he did not believe there was was a maximum population for the UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3265219.stm). This was at a time when immigration had already ballooned to around 170,000 per annum.
Tony Blair said very little about immigration beyond while in office beyond uttering the usual pc sanctioned platitudes about how valuable immigrants were to Britain . He did say asylum applications and illegal immigration were too high, but this was done whilst allowing legal immigration to get out of hand (Blair managed to reduce asylum applications, but did nothing about illegals. The asylum drop probably meant only that illegal immigrants chose other ways to enter Britain than asylum). In his autobiography Blair mentions immigration on precisely six pages out of 691 (pp 204/5; 523/4; 630; 678). Here he concentrates almost entirely on the reduction of asylum; the use of immigration as a prime lever to justify his desire for ID cards and his wish that the EU controlled immigration. Blair does ( p 524) let the cynical cat out of the bag by boasting that he shut the immigration debate down by putting " ID cards at the centre of the argument" and winning "Because our position was sophisticated enough – a sort of confess and avoid', as the lawyers say…" In short, say things have gone awry under Labour but avoid blame by switching attention to what is to be done in the future.
Blair broke his reticence about immigration on 29 October 2011 in an interview with the ethnic British newspaper Eastern Eye. Here he not only spoke warmly of mass and mixed immigration but claimed it was a necessity for Britain:
'It's been a very positive thing and there is no way for a country like Britain to succeed in the future unless it is open to people of different colours, faiths and cultures.' '
"That is not to say you don't have problems at certain points, but those problems are to be overcome without losing the essence of what has actually allowed this country's people to get on and do well.'
… I think the majority of people in Britain today are not prejudiced and can understand the benefits of migration.
'I think what people worry about is where they feel there is no control over who comes in and there are no rules governing who comes in or not, and that is a different issue altogether.
'It would be very unfortunate if by putting those rules into place, we view that immigration was a somehow bad thing for the country, because it is not.' ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054903/Tony-Blair-defends-opening-door-mass-migration.html#ixzz1cCP3YCrZ).
Blair's comments give credence to the claims in 2009 of a special advisor Andrew Neather during the Blair government years. He maintained that not only was mass immigration a deliberate policy of the Government, it was specifically designed to create an ever more diverse society:
" I [Neather] wrote the landmark speech given by then immigration minister Barbara Roche in September 2000, calling for a loosening of controls. It marked a major shift from the policy of previous governments: from 1971 onwards, only foreigners joining relatives already in the UK had been permitted to settle here.
"That speech was based largely on a report by the Performance and Innovation Unit, Tony Blair's Cabinet Office think-tank.
"The PIU's reports were legendarily tedious within Whitehall but their big immigration report was surrounded by an unusual air of both anticipation and secrecy.
"Drafts were handed out in summer 2000 only with extreme reluctance: there was a paranoia about it reaching the media.
"Eventually published in January 2001, the innocuously labelled "RDS Occasional Paper no. 67", "Migration: an economic and social analysis" focused heavily on the labour market case.
"But the earlier drafts I saw also included a driving political purpose: that mass immigration was the way that the Government was going to make the UK truly multicultural.
"I remember coming away from some discussions with the clear sense that the policy was intended – even if this wasn't its main purpose – to rub the Right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date. That seemed to me to be a manoeuvre too far.
"Ministers were very nervous about the whole thing. For despite Roche's keenness to make her big speech and to be upfront, there was a reluctance elsewhere in government to discuss what increased immigration would mean, above all for Labour's core white working-class vote.
"This shone through even in the published report: the "social outcomes" it talks about are solely those for immigrants.
"And this first-term immigration policy got no mention among the platitudes on the subject in Labour's 1997 manifesto, headed Faster, Firmer, Fairer.
"The results were dramatic. In 1995, 55,000 foreigners were granted the right to settle in the UK. By 2005 that had risen to 179,000; last year, with immigration falling thanks to the recession, it was 148,000.
"In addition, hundreds of thousands of migrants have come from the new EU member states since 2004, most requiring neither visas nor permission to work or settle. The UK welcomed an estimated net 1.5 million immigrants in the decade to 2008.
"Part by accident, part by design, the Government had created its longed-for immigration boom." (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23760073-dont-listen-to-the-whingers—london-needs-immigrants.do).
After the 2010 election a Labour peer Lord Glasman leant further support to the idea that New Labour's immigration policy was deliberately dishonest in an interview with the Labour journal Progress: :
"….immigration and multiculturalism … has become 'the big monster that we don't like to talk about', claims Glasman. Mass immigration under Labour, he believes, served to 'act as an unofficial wages policy'. The party's position, Glasman contends, occupied a 'weird space where we thought that a real assault on the wage levels of English workers was a positive good'. More seriously, he charges the last government with having acted in a 'very supercilious, high-handed way: there was no public discussion of immigration and its benefits. There was no election that was fought on that basis. In fact there was a very, very hard rhetoric combined with a very loose policy going on. Labour lied to people about the extent of immigration and the extent of illegal immigration and there's been a massive rupture of trust.'
"Perhaps most controversially, Glasman calls on progressives to recognise their 'responsibility for the generation of far-right populism', currently manifested in the growth of the English Defence League. 'You consider yourself … so opposed that you don't want to talk to them, you don't want to engage with them, you don't want anybody with views like that anywhere near the party.' This, he believes, is to ignore 'a massive hate and rage against us' from working-class people 'who have always been true to Labour'. The solution, he says, is 'to build a party that brokers a common good, that involves those people who support the EDL within our party. Not dominant in the party, not setting the tone of the party, but just a reconnection with those people that we can represent a better life for them, because that's what they want.'
That process begins, argues Glasman, by understanding that 'working-class men can't really speak at Labour party meetings about what causes them grief, concerns about their family, concerns about immigration, love of country, without being falsely stereotyped as sexist, racist, nationalist'." (http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2011/04/19/labour-isnt-working/).
In true Maoist fashion Glasman soon confessed his "fault" (daring to speak honestly about race and immigration) – http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/07/blue-labour-immigration-2.
In virtually any time and place other than the developed world in the modern era the deliberate injection of vast numbers of people into a society, many of them incapable of assimilation because of racial difference or ethnic stubbornness, would have been considered unconscionable. It is the betrayal of the tribe, the most fundamental form of treason because once the interlopers are present in large numbers they have effectively conquered part of the receiving land's territory. Had Blair and Brown pursued a policy of mass immigration because they saw it as part of their worship of market economics that would have been bad enough, a crime worthy of death in a sane world. But it is clear from their own words that they had a more obnoxious and fundamental motive. Blair and Brown and their political associates actively hate their own society and sought to change it utterly whilst at the same time repressing any native dissent about the changes wrought. That is not merely treason but a form of psychopathy.
But it is not only the followers of New Labour who contain the poison. The entire British political elite pay at least lip service to the same internationalist "anti-racist" ideology. When the Neather article appeared there was no outrage from the Tory and Lib Dem leadership. When the Blair Government's estimate of 13,000 migrants from the new east European entrants to the EU turned out to be monstrously wrong as hundreds of thousands poured in, the Tories and Lib Dems said little or nothing. Nor has the Tory/LibDem Coalition Government done anything to reduce immigration since they took office. Most tellingly, no mainstream British political party has challenged freedom of movement within the EU, without an end to which no meaningful immigration controls can be operated.
The terrible reality is this: Britain has a political elite to whom treason is second nature; men and women who make the profoundest of mistake of imagining that human beings are interchangeable regardless of race or culture and that consequently societies can be socially engineered without danger. Hayek saw their nihilistic qualities 70 years ago:
"The Left intelligentsia…have so long worshipped foreign gods that they seem to have become almost incapable of seeing any good in the characteristic English institutions and traditions. That the moral values on which most of them pride themselves are largely the products of the institutions they are out to destroy, these socialists cannot, of course, admit. And this attitude is unfortunately not confined to avowed socialists. Though one must hope that it is not true of the less vocal but more numerous cultivated Englishman, if one were to judge by the ideas which find expression in current political discussion and propaganda the Englishman who not only "the language speak that Shakespeare spake", but also "the faith and morals hold that Milton held" seems to have almost vanished. [The Road to Serfdom p222 Chapter Material Conditions and Ideal Ends]
Some would object that none of British political elite counts as Leftist today. That is true in the sense that the classic economic aims of socialism – the public ownership of the means of production – were dumped by Blair's transmogrification of Labour to New Labour. But that is all which as been dropped. The Fabian desire to interfere with and control people's lives through social engineering has become even stronger and the form of internationalism (very much a left project) we call globalism has captured the major British political parties. All mainstream British politicians now pay lip service at least to the attendant ideology which has been developed to both justify the desire to control people's lives and promote globalism, namely, political correctness. The politicians who subscribe to it are the heirs of the "Left intelligentsia" Hayek found in Britain.
By Robert Henderson, on October 30, 2011 at 8:27 pm, under Conquest by other means, The Scandalous Blairs. Tags: ethnicity, immigration, internationalism, nationhood, NWO, patriotism, race, treason.	11 Comments
« The end of the offence of "insulting behaviour"? Don't you believe it
Muhammad Ali and the white liberals »
Tony	On October 30, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Excellent article, thank you. I wish someone were to have the guts to campaign for Blair especially to be tried for treason. Those who rise to his defence would automatically condemn themselves in the eyes of voters and condemn their party to oblivion for ages.
John	On November 25, 2011 at 6:21 am
Tony Blair and his Labour cronies are the greatest traitors in British history. Some day i fear there will be a terrible reckoning from all this orgy of self-hatred.
Bob	On February 2, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Why is racism so mainstream among you Brits?
Who CARES about a person's skin color?
Tony	On February 2, 2012 at 8:22 pm
What a stupid comment, one I assume designed to rile up the indigenous peoples of the UK. Of course colour makes a difference because along with colour comes loads of other aspects, customs, culture, religion, likes, dislikes to name just a few. A certain amount of immigration is a good thing but where the last Govt. stabbed the country in the back is by enticing in millions upon millions of immigrants and with the avowed intent of upsetting society, in which aim they succeeded. Hopefully that will be their longlasting epitaph. The Party that gave the country away and for their own ends. One result is the genetic make-up of the nation has been undermined. Would any other peoples welcome such to themselves, I don't think so, so why should we.
nick	On July 5, 2012 at 1:03 am
Skin colour is a non-issue and if you had half a brain you would know that the writer of this article refers to poles, who are white as well as others. One can only conclude that you are a child so I won't go further.
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This will be one of the many posts I will be writing about my clever husband. He has no idea how handy he is or maybe he does but doesn't want me to ask him to do anything else.
Eleven years ago when we purchased our home, it needed a lot of work. One of the first things we did was on the exterior of the house. It is a log home but for years it had been left in it's natural state. Although it had a thin layer of insulation between the logs, it didn't have any chinking. Chinking is used to fill in the narrow space between the logs. In the old days they used mud and straw but now there is a caulking material that is strong and flexible. For an entire summer, my husband chinked the entire house. We also took down all the old fascia boards and replaced them with new ones. We salvaged all the wood we could and this is what he made...a small television cabinet. See, I told you he was clever.
The inserts in the doors are wall lathe that was salvaged from another house we owned.
We put a little TV and a VCR in the cabinet. It's a perfect little area for my dad to sit and listen to the news or a game. We also store our bird books underneath for quick reference when we aren't close to the computer. A sample of interior chinking is seen on the wall behind the cabinet.
Very nice cabinet and the chinking looks perfect. I was always amazed at Mike's handy work. Mike always was creative and resourceful. It must have taken A LOT OF PATIENCE to do all that chinking. Now you can step back and admire all the work he did and I am sure with A LOT OF PERFECTION. Great job, well done.


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Q: Science fiction anthology, possibly called Monsters (or Creatures or Dragons)? I am trying to recall an anthology of science fiction short stories I read about 15-20 years ago.  It was called "Monsters" or something similar (could have been "Creatures" or "Dragons" or something else, I don't precisely recall).  The theme was monsters and creatures in science fiction (not any fantasy-type stories I think).  The story I specifically remember involved humans exploring an alien planet and encountering a unique creature there.  The creature was harmless when first encountered but at each subsequent encounter the creature had changed and adapted to its environment and the human threat - it was hyper-evolving and quickly becoming a life-threatening danger.  I don't recall how the story resolved but I think the humans "won".
Does anyone recall this story or anthology?  I checked ISFDB but could not find anything that matched up to what I recall.

A: The story you remember sounds like "Student Body" by F. L. Wallace (first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1953, available at the Internet Archive), which was also the answer to this old question. You can read the Project Gutenberg etext or listen to the X Minus One radio dramatization. The anthology you're looking for is probably the Asimov-Greenberg-Waugh-edited Monsters, published in 1988.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Discover Ann Williams craft kits, friendship bracelet kits and weaving looms. DIY made easy with our unique craft kits, crafting tools + DIY video tutorials.


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Bishan Bhandari, chef found dead
World's second oldest, Britain's NRI oldest woman dead at 115
London/Mumbai, July 23, 2013: The world's second oldest living woman and the oldest in Britain, Sant Kaur Bajwa, died in West London aged 115 years and 199 days last Friday, an official statement released by her family said Tuesday.
She was born Jan. 1, 1898 in in Monde ke Mazeera village, Sialkote, Punjab, now in Pakistan.
Her birth came before the world learnt about awesome inventions like the aircraft or radio transmission or the discovery of Penicillin which helped save millions of lives globally.
Bajwa's last rites were performed in a private ceremony organised by her large family in London Tueseay afternoon.
During her life spanning three centuries, Sant Kaur Bajwa witnessed history in the form of two World Wars, the industrial and technical revolutions, outlived six British monarchs and 27 prime ministers.
Her life was a saga of struggle right from the early days when she lost both her parents at a tender age. She was raised by an older sister.
She was married off at the age of 16 to farmer Munsha Singh in 1914 and gave birth to four children.
Disaster again befell when she became a widow just six years after her marriage.
However, undeterred by the tragedies, Bajwa decided to give her children a fair chance in life despite her struggles against society as a widow who was treated as an outcaste in those days.
After India's Independence in 1947, she migrated to Shukarpur in Indian Punjab, but during that traumatic journey, lost one of her children.
Bajwal somehow managed to reach Indian Punjab with sons Iqbal and Avtar and daughter Surjit and started life afresh after the Indian government provided widows with sewing machines.
She learnt to stitch and sell clothes and with financial support from a brother, managed to educate her three children.
In 1966, she migrated to Southall in London to live with daughter Surjit and her son-in-law Ajit Singh Rai.
Barely six years later, Surjit was diagnosed with kidney failure and died in 1972.
For Bajwa, at the age of 74, it was another herculean determination on her part to raise four minor children (her grandchildren) left behind by Surjit, including a set of twins only six years old - Jim and Bob.
After overcoming so many personal tragedies and challengies, years later, when she turned a healthy hundred in 1998, Bajwa was a little amused to see the world worried about issues like a new millennium and the Y2K threats!
Jim and Bob fondly describe her as a formidable woman, who suffered more than her fair share of tragedies during her lifetime.
"Through her life, it was her resolute belief in Sikhism and God that encourage her will to live, she was a religious activist visiting a gurdwara daily and chanting 'Waheguru' for her own tranquility," said Jim in a statement.
"It was her inner strength and resolve that carried her forward, she fought and stood tall as the matriarch of the family. She will be sorely missed and we will never forget her flamboyant yet modest personality," Bob said.
Bajwa who died of natural age-related factors, leaves behind her 12 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren who treated her funeral as "a celebration and reflection of her incredible life."


text:
Чиндо () је острво у Жутом мору на југозападној обали Јужне Кореје. Између острва и копна налази се моруз Мјонгјанг, где је адмирал Ји Сун Син победио надмоћну јапанску флоту (16. септембра 1597). Острво Чиндо је постојбина истоимене врсте ловачког пса (Корејски Чиндо).

Географија
Површина острва је 363 км2. Острво је повезано са копном истоименим мостом, који је најдужи висећи мост у Јужној Кореји (дуг 484 метра).

Референце

Острва Јужне Кореје

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Vehicles from the noble tuner BRABUS - by the way, a neologism from the two founders' names Klaus Brackmann and Bodo Buschmann - in Bottrop one usually sees in black, and mainly Mercedes-Benz models.
Fostla.de is, in turn, official Gold-Partner of BRABUS. Means, the tempted customers can have their premium vehicles converted in Hanover or purchase already completely rebuilt vehicles there. But that's not enough for the fostla.de boss Darius WALLAT.
Therefore, a new BRABUS showroom will soon be completed in the capital of Lower Saxony, where various finishing options will be exhibited.
The current project of fostla.de is a Mercedes-Benz AMG E 63 S 4Matic+ of the series W213. To counteract the almost ubiquitous blackness of this vehicle "breed", the team has agreed to try something new: a full vinyl wrap in emerald-green-matte by PWF. which perfectly emphasizes the combination of sportiness with an elegant outfit.
Thanks to the BRABUS B40S-800 power package, the bolide now has an output of 800 hp (= 588 kW) and a maximum torque of 1.000 Nm at 3.500 rpm, as well as an acceleration from a standing start to 100 km/h in 3 seconds. Sure enough, all values are extremely gratifying. And, of course, the whole project is covered by warranty and TÜV registration.
The BRABUS performance upgrade consists of two BRABUS special turbochargers with a larger compressor unit (ø 52 mm) and two modified hull groups with reinforced axial bearing!
The fostla.de vehicle has a front lip and front apron attachments, each in glossy carbon fiber, a double B-sticker, an illuminated tailgate, as well as a radiator grille logo. The flap sport exhaust system including its black ceramic-coated tailpipes and the rear diffuser, which is also crafted in glossy carbon fiber, provides extremely sporty accents.
The matching wheel-tire combination consists of forged mono-bloc Y-alloy wheels from the Platinum-Edition - black-glossy powder-coated with copper-metallic pinstripes - on the front axle in 9x21 inches with Continental SportContact 6 in 265/30 ZR21 and on the rear axle in 12x23 inches with 305/25 ZR21. The herein mentioned details and other additions originated exclusively from the sheer inexhaustible "feather" - or idea factory - of BRABUS.
Incidentally, the fostla.de team already has other projects in planning - as we speak - so one can be very excited.
Exclusive Mansory body and accessory program for the face lifted Mercedes AMG C63.
Lorinser upgrades Mercedes-Maybach S560 4MATIC.
MINI Yours Customised: From the original to the personalised unique special.
G-POWER for BMW E- and F-Models – easy, fast and comfortable!
Tuner Grand Prix 2017: The trophies return to Munich!


Fifteen years of research in cybersecurity and keeping the world's data safe has earned Gail-Joon Ahn a special designation among leading members of the computing field.
Ahn was named a Distinguished Scientist by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's leading association of computing professionals.
Ahn is one of 49 distinguished members selected in 2015 for significant accomplishments or impact within the computing field. The recognition aims to highlight how the work of these innovators is changing the world.
"Whenever we use an app on our phone to get driving directions, securely pay bills online, or conduct an internet search, we are benefiting from the research and efforts of computing professionals," said ACM President Alexander L. Wol in a press release.
This year's awardees include ACM members drawn from leading academic institutions, as well as corporate and national research laboratories around the world, including Argentina, Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Portugal, Qatar and the United Kingdom.
Ahn is a Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and director of the Global Security Initiative's Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics.
"Ahn's early work, focused on access control models and mechanisms, is the core of modern security systems," said Ziming Zhao, an assistant research professor at ASU and one of Ahn's former students. "His work has significantly advanced our understanding of role-based access control (RBAC) models and mechanisms, which are used by the majority of public organizations and private enterprises," added Zhao.
Ahn is known as an expert in security analytics and big-data-driven security intelligence.
"Ahn is a skilled researcher who has done pioneering work on digital identity management and access control," said Elisa Bertino, a professor in computer science at Purdue University who has collaborated with Ahn on joint research proposals, conference organizations and service activities.
Ahn's research is imperative as society becomes increasingly mobile and cyber-dependent. This has been the inspiration and thrust behind his research in addressing critical cybersecurity challenges.
"The notion of identity is the most important component of the current computing age," said Ahn, who has earned six U.S. patents for his research in user-centric identity management.
When users interact with Internet services, such as video conferencing, e-commerce and web-based applications, the services are often tailored for their personal use. Ahn has invented a technology that allows users to better manage their online identities by controlling what information is stored, the content of that information, and who is allowed to view the information.
Ahn's contribution is extremely important in the context of user privacy.
Sometimes you are required to show a credential to prove identifying attributes such as age and zip code, but a user might inadvertently offer excess information such as what state they are from when providing a driver's license, described Ahn.
"I believe the concept of user-centricity will help empower users to have a more controlled release of their personal information," Ahn said.
His contributions enable more secure transactions and mobile payments and allow more autonomy in an individual's privacy control. They also have the potential to dramatically reduce identity theft.
The import of his research can be seen in the names of his financial supporters: the National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, Bank of America, Google and Microsoft.
He has attracted funding in excess of $3.4 million since joining ASU in 2008. He has authored more than 150 refereed research papers.
Ahn is currently helping to lead ASU's contributions to a $28.1 million national research program to develop cybersecurity tools and standards to protect the country's electricity infrastructure from attacks. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Illinois is leading the program, called the Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC).
As director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, Ahn will continue to fully leverage ASU's capabilities in cybersecurity.
"He is a great educator and has created a research group at ASU that has gained visibility as a top academic cyber security research group," said Bertino.
"I aim to continuously focus on three major activities: education, research and innovation," said Ahn. By focusing on these areas Ahn said he intends to play a role in producing an outstanding workforce in the area of national security, tackling short-term and long-term security challenges, and significantly contributing to economic growth in Arizona and the U.S. by transferring innovative and patented technologies to the marketplace.
Ahn plans to expand current security-related research activities at the center through collaboration with diverse experts at ASU and other universities, government agencies and industry.
His career has been characterized by recognition including earning the Department of Energy's prestigious Early Career Principal Investigator Award in 2003 for achievements as a junior faculty member, the Educator of the Year Award from the Federal Information Systems Security Educators' Association in 2005 and becoming an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Senior in 2007.


COMPAÑIA TÉCNICA DE CONSTRUCCION Y SERVICIOS - COTECONSS LTDA.
INDUSTRIA DE MORTEROS Y CONCRETOS QUISPE - I.M.C.Q.
ACEROS INDUSTRIALES HIERROSUD S. R. L.
CONSTRUCTORA - CONSULTORA CADMIEL SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA CONSULTORA MONTAÑO ANDRADE SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA MULTIDISCIPLINARIA Y SERVICIOS KRYSTEL COMSKRYS SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA MULTIDISCIPLINARIA Y SERVICIOS VELEZ-SALGADO - COMSVESA SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA Y CONSULTORA COVAJC SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA Y CONSULTORA SUYANA SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA MOLINAS REYES - MOLYREY SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA REVOLLO - EMCORE SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA Y CONSULTORA CONDGRET SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA Y DE SERVICIOS KAMM SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA Y ELECTRIFICACION YAMKAYPAQ SRL.
EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA CONSULTORA Y COMERCIALIZADORA DE MATERIAL DE CONSTRUCCION S.R.L.
INGENIERIA Y CONSTRUCCIONES DELGADILLO S.R.L.
INGENIERIA Y CONSTRUCCIONES IVCAR S.R.L.
CONSTRUCTORA ABASTOFLOR & ZAMBRANA SRL.
CONSTRUCTORA ECOLOGICA DEL SUR SRL.
EMPRESA DE SERVICIOS DE INGENIERIA Y CONSTRUCCION EMSICO SRL.
IMPORTACIONES Y REPRESENTACIONES S Y L SRL.
SERVICIOS DE INGENIERIA ESPECIALIZADOS Y TECNOLOGIA - SIETE SRL.
EMPRESA CONSULTORA Y CONSTRUCTORA EL ARRAYAN SRL.
KAVURE I CONSTRUCCIONES Y SERVICIOS SRL.


The Committee consists of at least six but a maximum of eight parish councillors, one of whom is the Chairman. The Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council are ex-officio. The quorum is four members.
Policies: to monitor and review strategic & legislative policies for the Council, all Personnel Policies, Health & Safety Policies and Code of Conduct issues.
Resources: to recommend to the Council the annual budget and the precept for the ensuing year and to monitor the income and expenditure on regular basis. To monitor and review the management of the Council's freehold and leasehold property, including the Council's office and facilities. To monitor all staff matters including issues delegated to the Staffing Sub-Committee.
Full details of the Terms of Reference of the Policy & Resources Committee can be found here.


I ran three times last week, each time the same route. It's a nice route through High Park that includes the always fun Spring Road hill. Today they were even filming a movie they called "Mom" by Grenadier Pond. There was no sign of Fergie Olver, so I'm guessing they haven't decided to make the long awaited Just Like Mom movie.
Here's the route. I ran it Saturday morning, Sunday morning and tonight.


text:
> Cameron backs vote in Commons on votes at 16.
Cameron backs vote in Commons on votes at 16. 13th January 2015
The UK Youth Parliament welcomes, Prime Minister, David Cameron's commitment to a vote in the House of Commons on whether 16 and 17 year olds should be allowed to vote in all public elections. Mr Cameron said "In this house, I am very happy for us to have a vote." The statement, which was made during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday 7th January, follows calls from local councils and MPs from both sides of the commons for the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds.
Ife Grillo, Member of Youth Parliament for Hackney and Vice Chair of the British Youth Council said in response to the announcement:
"On behalf of the Votes at 16 Coalition, we are extremely happy to hear that the Prime Minister is happy to to leave the issue of Votes at 16 to a vote in the commons. Since the Scottish Referendum, the votes at 16 campaign has been getting stronger and stronger and it is time people woke up and understood how important it is in making the democracy we love in this country, even stronger. MP's across all the parties have been expressing strong support for the campaign and we hope the Prime Minister's words are honoured"
Since 1998 the British Youth Council have been a strong supporter of votes at 16, and we've continued to see young people and politicians call for a new voting age ever since. In 2013, it was made evident once again that young people were still passionate about seeing the voting age lowered following the UK Youth Parliament's ballot of 476,000 young people UK-wide which selected votes at 16 as the number one debate choice for the House of Commons that year. Following the debate our Youth Select Committee took written and oral evidence from politicians, academics and young people, before reporting positively in November 2014 on feasibility and implementation.
Mita Desi, Chair of the British Youth Council also said:
"As an organisation that has been campaigning for votes at 16 since 1998 , I am so glad the common sense argument is finally prevailing. After Scotland had proven what we knew – that young people are active, intelligent and want their right to democracy there is literally NO logical argument against it.The only argument I have heard against votes at 16, are those that were used against women having the right to vote. Discrimination is discrimination"
We await a formal government response.


They introduced ground effects, wings & monocoque chassis & loads of other stuff!
Who's your choice and why?
Super Best Friend! They invented the chicken!
Hard choice between Lotus, Renault and MB.
- there was a monocoque GP car ~40 before the Lotus 24. Gabriel Voisin used a monocoque chassis for his car that he raced in the 1923 French GP and in 1955 BRM incorporated a semi-monocoque chassis in their Grand Prix cars.
- ground effects, Auto Union beat them to it by ~40 years.
Non the less their merits remain.
My vote goes for Lotus. Second Cooper for sent the engine backwards in modern F1 (I know auto union made it before but..). And them Mercedes Benz: fuel injection, disc brakes,etc. Renault fourth: turbo engine, mass damper, etc.
Regarding Lotus we shouldn't forget the introduction of sponsors!!!!
I belive BRM introduced disk brakes to F1. Their cars had drum brakes so as to incorporate AWD or something like that.
Jaguar beat them to it in sport car racing. But some american first introduced them to Indy in the late 1930s.
Hmm...who has the most innovations? That's hard to know. I voted Lotus because of the impact of it's innovations; an impact that is still felt today.
Can I vote for more than one?
If not, then Lotus, Williams, Cooper, Tyrrell.
I voted Renault for their turbo innovations. But I'm pretty ignorant as far as the golden years of F1 are concerned.
But that's also true for Renault (pneumatic valve gear system responsable for the super-reving; data logging/telemetry) too and MB (direct injection; mid engined GP layout ).
What's the most ingenious innovation ever in F1?
Applying article 151c of the International Sporting Code to McLaren this year to bring about a 100million gift to the FIA.
Boroughing from the aviation/aerospace&defence industry.
Like DOHC 4 valve per cylinder engines, direct injection, moncoque, advanced materials (alloys and composites), c#ckpit, packaging, aerodynamics, even bolts.
My vote goes for Ferrari. Been in F1 since for ever & have made fantastic cars & chassis' throughout the years! It was a tough choice between Ferrari & Williams!
What was Ferrari's great innovation or innovations to F1 ?!
The only one I know is the semiautomatic.
Ferrari often had a good/great engines put onto a crap to decent chassis. While the garagistes had crap to decent engines onto good/great chassis and aerodynamics.
A great chassis is british invention.
Lotus, though frankly they don't deserve it for the horrible disreguard the higher ups always seemed to have for driver safety.
I wouldn't call the H16 a great innovation myself. Honestly I always got the impression the thing was an overweight, underpowered, over complex monstrosity.
Cheers! I might look up some of them. Do you know any good sites with the story of how these developments were introduced? It would be quite cool to read up on the story of aviation too I think.
Ah, but they did blow up in a most spectular way. That's if they were lucky enough to get the thing to start, that is. I once saw Nick Mason's crew trying for almost 45 minutes to get the thing running at Coy's historic Festival. They gave up.


← You are not in a discipleship group. You are just hanging out with friends.
Thanks for setting such a good example of this! I have learned a lot from you. Love you!!
I really like what you had to say, Leslie. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you do much. So much truth and well written. Blessings!
Thanks for the encouragement Sherrill!


Tunis- The United Arab Emirates brought together the heads of Libya's rival camps in a remarkable confirmation of the shift of power within the Arab region.
Under the auspices of the UAE, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Libya's eastern military commander, and Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of its UN-backed government in Tripoli, met for the first time in Abu Dhabi after a 16-month diplomatic impasse.
No joint statement was issued after the meeting, allowing each party to issue separate statements that met the expectations of their rival camps. Each called for a resolution to Libya's political and economic woes and for joining forces to fight extremist Islamist groups.
However, a leaked transcript of the meeting indicated that the two men agreed to have presidential and legislative elections no later than March 2018. The transcript also suggested both parties recommitted to the Skhirat Agreement brokered by the United Nations in 2015.
The main hurdle for Sarraj is likely to be the difficulty of breaking his dependence on the Islamists in Tripoli to meet Haftar and his backers, especially Russia and Egypt, even halfway.
A meeting between Haftar and Sarraj seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago. Sarraj has been widely regarded within Libya as leading a loose alliance of factions, supported by Islamist militias.
Haftar has been seen as an Arab nationalist and anti- Islamist military strongman.
Haftar has proven himself the principal opponent to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). The rise of opposition, both political and military, in eastern Libya has helped hinder the GNA's efforts to assert control over Tripoli. However, rival armed factions in western Libya have backed the UN government and vowed to fight Haftar.
Libya's powerful neighbours Algeria and Egypt, as well as Western powers, have for months been pushing the two men to meet and renew impetus to a 2015 UN-mediated agreement that led to the initial creation of the GNA with the aim of ending Libya`s conflict.
Haftar had spurned proposals to meet with Sarraj. Even Egypt, seen as one of Haftar's main backers, was unable to convince the two men to meet.
A meeting in Cairo planned for February failed to materialise. However, a road map for rival parliamentary factions in the country's east and west was eventually endorsed.
Tunisia also has played a role in reconciling the views of the two camps. However, its invitation for Haftar to visit Tunis has yet to be acted upon.
The meeting in Abu Dhabi mirrored the growing influence wielded by the UAE with close ties to US, European and Russian powers.
It could also be viewed as a wider indication of the loss of steam by Islamists in North Africa and the conviction of the West that attempts to marginalise Haftar have not helped Libya find a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Abu Dhabi one day after the Libyan meeting, although it was not clear whether the visit and the talks were connected.
"The big powers reached the conclusion that the main problem in Libya is the proliferation of militias in a country awash with weapons. Since there is no possibility for a foreign intervention, the states of the world agreed that backing the army to fight militias is the solution," he said.
Ramdane Yassine, an Algerian security expert on Libya, argued that the acceptance of Haftar as a political reality had become unavoidable even among his rivals.
"The circumstances on the ground show that Libya could not be indifferent to a military man like Haftar who enjoys a large consensus to restore order and stability," he said.


text:
State of Connecticut Department of Banking
Department of Banking
Current: Newbridge Securities Consent Order
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
IN THE MATTER OF:
NEWBRIDGE SECURITIES
CRD No. 104065
("Respondent")
CONSENT ORDER
DOCKET No. RCF-11-7794-S
I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
WHEREAS, the Banking Commissioner ("Commissioner") is charged with the administration of Chapter 672a of the General Statutes of Connecticut, the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act ("Act") and Sections 36b-31-2 to 36b-31-33, inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies promulgated under the Act ("Regulations");
WHEREAS, the Commissioner, through the Securities and Business Investments Division ("Division") of the Department of Banking ("Department"), conducted an investigation pursuant to Section 36b-26(a) of the Act into the activities of Respondent to determine if it had violated, was violating or was about to violate provisions of the Act or Regulations;
WHEREAS, on April 15, 2011, the Commissioner, acting pursuant to Sections 36b-15 and 36b-27 of the Act and Section 4-182(c) of the General Statutes of Connecticut, issued an Order to Cease and Desist, Order to Make Restitution, Notice of Intent to Revoke Registration as a Broker-dealer, Notice of Intent to Fine and Notice of Right to Hearing (collectively "Notice") against Respondent, which Notice is incorporated by reference herein;
WHEREAS, Respondent requested a hearing on the matters alleged in the Notice ("Hearing");
WHEREAS, Respondent amended its customer trade confirmations and/or pre-confirmations to provide each of its Connecticut customers with additional disclosure acceptable to the Division which adequately described the "Handling Fee" appearing on the trade confirmations and/or pre-confirmations;
WHEREAS, Respondent and the Division requested a continuance of the Hearing;
WHEREAS, the Hearing has been continued so that the parties may engage in settlement discussions;
WHEREAS, Section 36b-31(a) of the Act provides, in relevant part, that "[t]he commissioner may from time to time make . . . such . . . orders as are necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 36b-2 to 36b-34, inclusive";
WHEREAS, Section 36b-31(b) of the Act provides, in relevant part, that "[n]o . . . order may be made . . . unless the commissioner finds that the action is necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors and consistent with the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of sections 36b-2 to 36b-34, inclusive";
WHEREAS, an administrative proceeding initiated under Sections 36b-15 and 36b-27 of the Act would constitute a "contested case" within the meaning of Section 4 166(2) of the General Statutes of Connecticut;
WHEREAS, Section 36b-27(f) of the Act provides, in relevant part, that "[a]ny time after the issuance of an order or notice provided for in subsection (a), (b) . . . or subdivision (1) of subsection (d) of this section, the commissioner may accept an agreement by any respondent named in such order or notice to enter into a written consent order in lieu of an adjudicative hearing";
WHEREAS, Section 4-177(c) of the General Statutes of Connecticut and Section 36a-1-55(a) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies provide that a contested case may be resolved by consent order, unless precluded by law;
WHEREAS, Respondent and the Commissioner now desire to resolve the matters alleged in the Notice without the need for further administrative proceedings;
WHEREAS, the issuance of this Consent Order is necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors and consistent with the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the Act;
WHEREAS, Respondent agrees that the Notice may be used in construing the terms of this Consent Order, and agrees to the language in this Consent Order;
AND WHEREAS, Respondent specifically assures the Commissioner that none of the violations alleged in the Notice or this Consent Order shall occur in the future.
II. CONSENT TO WAIVER OF PROCEDURAL RIGHTS
WHEREAS, Respondent, through its execution of this Consent Order, voluntarily waives the following rights:
1. To be afforded notice and an opportunity for a hearing within the meaning of Sections 36b-15(f) and 36b-27 of the Act and Section 4-177(a) of the General Statutes of Connecticut;
2. To present evidence and argument and to otherwise avail itself of Sections 36b-15(f) and 36b-27 of the Act and Section 4-177c(a) of the General Statutes of Connecticut;
3. To present its position in a hearing in which it is represented by counsel;
4. To have a written record of the hearing made and a written decision issued by a hearing officer; and
5. To seek judicial review of, or otherwise challenge or contest the matters described herein, including the validity of this Consent Order.
III. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE COMMISSIONER'S ALLEGATIONS
WHEREAS, Respondent, through its execution of this Consent Order, acknowledges the following allegations of the Commissioner, without admitting or denying them, yet admits sufficient evidence exists for the Commissioner to issue: (a) a permanent order to cease and desist, (b) an order to make restitution, (c) an order revoking Respondent's registration as a broker-dealer in Connecticut, and (d) an order imposing a maximum administrative fine of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per violation of the Act, or any regulation, rule or order adopted or issued thereunder:
1. As more fully described in paragraph 11 of Section III of the Notice and paragraph 14 of Section IV of the Notice, Respondent violated Section 36b-4(a) of the Act by failing to disclose to its Connecticut customers that the transactional "Handling Fee" it charged them included a profit to Respondent, that certain customers paid lower fees and that the fee was not based on the costs of handling a particular transaction. Respondent's omissions were material to investors, and Respondent's failure to adequately disclose the nature of these charges made Respondent's limited explanation misleading;
2. As more fully described in paragraph 11 of Section III of the Notice and paragraph 16 of Section IV of the Notice, Respondent violated Section 36b-4(b) of the Act and engaged in dishonest and unethical practices in connection with the offer or purchase of any security, by failing to disclose to its Connecticut customers that the transactional "Handling Fee" it charged them included a profit to Respondent, that certain customers paid lower fees and that the fee was not based on the costs of handling a particular transaction. Respondent's omissions were material to investors, and Respondent's failure to adequately disclose the nature of these charges made Respondent's limited explanation misleading; and
3. Respondent's conduct, as set forth in paragraph 11 of Section III of the Notice and paragraph 18 of Section IV of the Notice, was proscribed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly NASD) Conduct Rules 2210, 2430 and 2440, and constituted a dishonest or unethical practice in the securities business within the meaning of Section 36b-31-15a(b) of the Regulations.
WHEREAS, the Commissioner would have the authority to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law after granting Respondent an opportunity for a hearing;
AND WHEREAS, Respondent acknowledges the possible consequences of an administrative hearing and voluntarily agrees to consent to the entry of the sanctions described below.
IV. CONSENT TO ENTRY OF SANCTIONS
WHEREAS, Respondent, through its execution of this Consent Order, consents to the Commissioner's entry of a Consent Order imposing on it the following sanctions:
1. Respondent, its representatives, agents, employees, affiliates, assigns, or successors in interest shall cease and desist from engaging in conduct constituting or which would constitute a violation of the Act or any regulation or order under the Act, either directly or through any person, organization or other device;
2. Within forty-five (45) days from the date this Consent Order is entered by the Commissioner, Respondent shall provide the Division with proof, with respect to all transactions effected from January 1, 2008 to the present, that Respondent has: (a) reimbursed each Connecticut customer the difference between the amount of the "Handling Fee" paid by the Connecticut customer for each transaction and the actual amount of Respondent's ticket and clearing charge and the postage fee assessed by Respondent's clearing firm; and (b) sent correspondence to each Connecticut customer who received the reimbursement explaining that the "Handling Fee" reimbursement was a result of an investigation conducted by the Division;
3. No later than the date this Consent Order is entered by the Commissioner, Respondent shall provide to the Division for review and approval the letter that will be sent to those Connecticut customers eligible for the "Handling Fee" reimbursement described in paragraph 2 of Section IV Consent to Entry of Sanctions of this Consent Order; and
4. No later than the date this Consent Order is entered by the Commissioner, Respondent shall remit to the Department by cashier's check, certified check or money order made payable to "Treasurer, State of Connecticut", or by wire transfer, the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) as an administrative fine.
V. CONSENT ORDER
NOW THEREFORE, the Commissioner enters the following:
1. The Sanctions set forth above be and are hereby entered;
2. Entry of this Consent Order by the Commissioner is without prejudice to the right of the Commissioner to take enforcement action against Respondent based upon a violation of this Consent Order or the matters underlying its entry, if the Commissioner determines that compliance with the terms herein is not being observed; and
3. This Consent Order shall become final when issued.
Issued at Hartford, Connecticut, _______/s/_________
this 10th day of November 2011. Howard F. Pitkin
Banking Commissioner
CONSENT TO ENTRY OF ORDER
I, Robert P. Spitler, state on behalf of Newbridge Securities Corporation, that I have read the foregoing Consent Order; that I know and fully understand its contents; that I am authorized to execute this Consent Order on behalf of Newbridge Securities Corporation; that Newbridge Securities Corporation agrees freely and without threat or coercion of any kind to comply with the terms and conditions stated herein; and that Newbridge Securities Corporation consents to the issuance of this Consent Order.
Newbridge Securities Corporation
By: __________/s/_______________
Name: Robert P. Spitler
Title: President & CFO
State of: Florida
County of: Broward
On this the 18th day of October 2011, before me, Yvonne C. Casey-Ford, the undersigned officer, personally appeared Robert P. Spitler, who acknowledged himself/herself to be the President/CFO of Newbridge Securities Corporation, a corporation, and that he/she, as such [blank in original], being authorized so to do, executed the foregoing instrument for the purposes therein contained, by signing the name of the corporation by himself/herself as President/CFO.
In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand.
_____/s/___________________________
Date Commission Expires: March 08, 2015
Administrative Orders and Settlements


Every now and then I come across a video that hits me in the face by telling powerful story in a very simple way. Such videos stick with me for a long time after I've watched them. And this story of Richard, a piano tuner from London, is one of them.
You can read Richard's blog here.
Also, see the other videos in the England Your England series.


Jan. 28 - U.S. President Barack Obama uses the State of the Union address to announce his effort to raise minimum wage for federal contractors. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) In his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama announced he will once again push Congress to pass immigration reform. He said if the country is serious about economic growth then the country's immigration system needs to be fixed. He also told the nation's businesses they don't have to wait for Congress to act when it comes to raising employee wages. He says he will lead by example and take steps to raise the minimum wage for new federal contract workers. (SOUNDBITE) PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SAYING: "I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still - and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do." "Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: when people come here to fulfill their dreams - to study, invest and contribute to our culture - they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let's get immigration reform done this year." "In the coming weeks, I will issue an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10,10 an hour - because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn't live in poverty. Of course, to reach millions more, Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn't involve any new bureaucratic program. So join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise." This is the President's fifth State of the Union address.


Bavikile 'MaBhengu' Ngema was born in 1951 in the Nkandla district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A prolific composer and virtuoso player on umakhweyana and umqangala (umbheleza) Nguni musical bows, she also performs on harmonica and indigenous harp. Bavikile learnt to play these instruments by watching and imitating her sisters and cousins. Her unique umakhweyana playing technique elicits a fourth fundamental note from the single-stringed instrument. She has over the years perfected the art and science of umakhweyana making. She's able to uproot the pros and cons of which materials to use for the required sound and occasion of her instrument. Being a custodian of umakhweyana, she has also been a scholars' subject of research over the years.