"Break free of that cocoon and fly" Cocoon 2016. Amores, you voted to see my artwork so here it is; The Art Behind The Blog.
You can read a bit about my artist alter-ego below . This piece is the last of a series called "cocoon". I developed the series as I worked though change, grief and disappointment- I had a hard time letting go of what I thought life should be like and learning to flow with absolute freedom as an entrepreneur in a completely new country. I knew no one and was unsure of what I wanted to do next. A lot changed during this time. I also became a certified yoga instructor and travelled like crazy that year! It represents when a butterfly leaves its home. It means change, freedom and surrendering to absolute acceptance. It was showcased in my first solo exhibition in Costa Rica and featured in several online publications. It has received a couple of offers but it is one of the two pieces I have ever made that are not for sale.
ABOUT THE ARTIST: I am, for the most part, a self taught artist. I actually wanted to study art as a career – but I had to make a choice and life took me to another path. Art and creative work has always been my mistress. My art is mostly a reflection of a personal journey of FEMALE EMPOWERMENT. My blog and instagram aesthetic is an extension of this art. I find inspiration in dark places and nature and make the humans around me my muses. My work is always reflection of where I am (physically, emotionally, mentally) and it is unavoidably personal. I have had exhibitions in three countries and have donated several paintings for auctions supporting environmental causes. I have also painted with jaguars (yes the real animals) in a rescue center to raise funds. I stopped painting for over a year. I was busy with other things…I also like large formats and the space is hard to find in NYC. Currently, after receiving so much of your encouragement on Instagram I have decided to find a gallery in NYC that exhibits my work!!
Would you like to see more of my art on my blog?
I would love to share this side of my life with you!!


text:
India ranks 19th in Covid-19 global innovation map
by admin | May 4, 2020 | Blogs | 0 comments
"Source:- Business Insider"
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, startups and organizations have been working day and night on innovations that will help people across the world. According to StartupBlink, which has a global comprehensive startup ecosystem map and research centre, India ranks 19th in the world coronavirus innovation map.
On the innovation map, India has 0.16 score. Meanwhile, the United States of America tops the list followed by Canada and Estonia. The US has a score of 4.28.
"The first run of the rankings reveals an interesting insight that some of the cities that have been badly hit by the crisis such as New York, Milan, Paris, London, Beijing, and Barcelona, are the ones that have been mostly over-performing in the charts. This is counterintuitive since those cities are in a major crisis, but still, manage to excel and innovate due to the needs they are facing," said the report by
India currently has over 17,200 positive coronavirus cases. Since late March, more and more organizations have been turning their businesses around to support the government during the coronavirus pandemic.
In his most recent speech, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also urged scientists and researchers to come forward with innovative solutions to deal with the coronavirus.
While factories have started producing masks, testing kits and PPE kits, startups have pivoted to build a use case during the coronavirus pandemic. The first Made in India testing kit from Pune based startup MyLabs also recently received commercial approval.
India's top VCs – Sequoia India, Matrix Partners, SAIF Partners, Lightspeed Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Accel, Chiratae Ventures, Omidyar Network and Nexus Partners along with several startup founders, launched a ₹100 crore grant to fund ideas that will lead the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The grant is purely charitable with no financial interest. The initial grants will be for ₹10 lakh but once the startup can prove a product-market fit, the investment can go as high as ₹10 crore per idea. So far, the VCs committed ₹2.5 crore to startups like IVR project, MyLab and Ventilator Splitter.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Where you will find information and items related to the wonderful slot car hobby!
Click on the additional links presented above for the latest news, show information, specials, and other links that you may find of interest. Bookmark this page so that you can get back to us regularly to see what the industry is planning.
This is a Traxxas Satin Black Chrome-Plated Left/Right Front Upper Suspension Arm Mount Set for the Unlimited Desert Racer.
These axles are lightweight and designed to keep those gears and wheels on securely.


Upon successfully being inspected and signed in, each fighter will be given a number of tokens. Each fighter will pay at least 1 token to the marshal to enter the field to fight. The winner of the fight will receive the pot of tokens from the marshall. The tourney will run for a set length of time. At the end of the time period, the fighter with the most tokens will win.
Meanwhile fighters are encouraged to give their tokens to an agent to attempt to multiply their assets. ANY agent may wage side bets .. with their fighter's tokens … on the results of the current fight. A short period of time will be allowed between the time a fighter steps on the field and the fight starts to allow agents to make wagers.


In the 17th century, the area of the Yıldız palace between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy was called "Kazancıoğlu Gardens (Bahçeleri)" and was originally natural woodlands. It became an imperial estate as one of the court gardens (Hasbahçe) during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). A small pavilion, which was built on the top of the Beşiktaş hill by Sultan Ahmed I, was presented by Sultan Murad IV (1623-1640) to his own daughter, Kaya Sultan. Under the reign of Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), the summer palace named "Yıldız" was built for his mother Mihrişah Valide Sultan. Later, the area became to be called as "Yıldız". In the reign of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839), he ordered a small pavilion to be built in order to watch the exercises of the newly established "Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye" army. Sultan Abdülmecid (1839-1861) ordered the buildings to be taken down and a new pavilion "Kasr-ı Dilküşa" built for his mother, Bezm-i Alem Sultan. During the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876), the pavilions were renovated and new pavilions and summer palaces were built in the area. In those years, the pavilions and summer palaces including Şale Pavilion, Malta Pavilion, Çadır Pavilion, Büyük Mabeyn (State Apartments), which were built by Sarkis and Agop Bey Balyan by the order of Sultan Abdülaziz in 1866, were gathered together, and became the single complex now known as the "Yıldız Palace". Not only Balyans, but also other architects of different origin and engineers including Alexandre Vallaury, Raimond d'Aronco, Jachmund, Aznavuryan Ohannes, Bethier, François, Yanko, Nikoli, Dikra and Vasilaki, created buildings palace buildings, and established the special fashion in Ottoman court architecture in the 19th century.
After the deposition of Sultan Murad V, Sultan Abdülhamid II decided to move to the Yıldız Palace, which was more secure than the Dolmabahçe Palace. The Ottoman Administration moved to the Yıldız Palace in 1877 and resided there until 1909. The palace complex housed more than 12,000 people, including workers in the imperial porcelain factory, barracks, the Yıldız Theater and opera house, library, museum, carpenter's workshop, and repair shop.
As the result of default in the public funds and an empty treasury, the 1875 insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the war with Serbia and Montenegro and the feeling aroused throughout Europe by the cruelty used in stamping out the Bulgarian rebellion, Sultan Abdülhamid II was dethroned by the government. After the deposition, the Yıldız palace except the library was plundered, and most of the furniture and precious objects were ravaged. Today, the photograph and manuscripts collections, which were kept in the Yıldız palace library, are preserved in the library of Istanbul University.
After the declaration of the Republic, the palace was used as a luxury casino before being turned into a guest house for visiting heads of state and royalty. Today, it serves as a museum, and its gardens can be used for private receptions.
Reference: Yıldız Sarayı Şale Kasr-ı Hümayunu (Istanbul: Milli Saraylar Daire Başkanlığı Yayını, 1993).


He was 23 years old when he mustered as Captain, Company D, 57th New York Infantry on 12 November 1861.
He was wounded in action on 17 September 1862, suffering a contusion of the skull, but did not leave his Company for treatment until after the battle. He was mentioned for his performance by Major Chapman in his after-action Report.
Wounded on 13 December 1862 at Fredericksburg, VA. Wounded again 2 May 1863 at Chancellorsville, VA. Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on 6 May 1864, and Colonel 27 July 1864, but not mustered at that rank. He mustered out 5 January 1865. He was honored by brevet to Brigadier General, US Volunteers on 13 March 1865.
He was was living in Newark, NJ at the 1890 Veterans Census.
Basic information from State of New York1. Thanks to Devan Sommerville for scrubbing through the Report and extracting and transcribing the roster data for AotW. Casualty detail from Nelson.2 The photograph here from a CDV posted by Sue Greenhagen on her New York State and the Civil War.


The Suns are leading right now, but I doubt whether they will be ahead when it counts. Let me then add my voice to chorus of angry fans -- whether of Phoenix or good playofff basketball -- who are outraged by the NBA's decision not to interpret the never-stray-from-the-bench rule flexibly. Robert Horry is surely patting himself on the back for connecting on one of his biggest shots ever.
The whole thing leaves a big nasty taste in my mouth.
I should be as pissed about the Iraq War as I am about 1) how the NBA has handled the Suns-Spurs series, 2) Roger Bowen's "Oops, I didn't mean to end your career" dirty play, 3) and...yeah, I'm all riled up. And I AM still incensed about Iraq, but it's more of a slow bleed.
I have a post describing an unfortunate dirty play from my formative years.


Ever since I became a mom I have become a lot less confident and a lot more confident all at the same time. It's such a weird place to be in life because from one moment to the next I can go from feeling totally empowered to totally dumbfounded.
Obviously the lack of confidence comes from having no idea what I'm doing with a baby. I've never had any experience with babies prior to having one of my own. A lot of the time I have no clue why he's crying. I must've not read the memo that moms are supposed to be able distinguish between their baby's different cries. They all sound the same to me. I'm not sure how much he's supposed to eat or sleep or play or....anything. I have a better idea now, but in the beginning I was really lost.
Even though I usually have no idea what I'm doing I often have moments where I feel more confident than I ever have in my life. I have confidence in my body...this body sustained a life for nine months, then birthed a baby with no medical interventions, and has now been feeding that baby for eight months. What the what?! Miracle! Also, this baby is alive and healthy and smart and funny. And I'm his main caregiver. There must be some mama instinct in me because this baby is growing and thriving. I also care less what other people think. I mean, I've never been one to dwell on others' opinions of my life but now that I'm a mom, I care even less. All that matters to me is that my baby is safe and happy and that my husband is happy and satisfied in our marriage. And I have confidence that our little family will continue to grow in love and happiness all the days of our lives.
How has being a mom (or dad) changed your confidence?


Acclaimed world music act is set to perform at the The Fourth Light Project on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will take place at Schimmel Center in downtown Manhattan, New York City.
Niyaz is an acclaimed contemporary world music act rooted in Persian, Middle eastern and Indian traditions. The current lineup includes vocalist and composer Azam Ali and multi-instrumentalist and composer Loga Ramin Torkian. The group recently released The Best Of Niyaz.
Tickets are available at www.schimmelcenter.org, by calling 212-346-1715 or by visiting the box office located at 3 Spruce Street.


text:
The Antichrist Will Be Attacked By Two Kings
continuing analysis of Daniel 11 tells us that after the Antichrist consolidates power "in the most strong holds" (Daniel 11:38), he will be attacked by both the King of the South and the King of the North. Although some have seen the "willful king" of Daniel 11:36 to be the King of the North and the Antichrist, a more likely explanation is the Beast is actually a third faction in the Armageddon Script found in Daniel 11.
My perception is the two warring factions, as represented by the titles the "king of the North" and the "king of the South," bring the world to such devastation that a third option emerges among the surviving nations -- and that option is a total world dominion built around a reconfigured United Nations.
As it is already clear the US (the king of the North) frequently functions at odds with the globalist power that is the UN, and the loose knit coalition of developing nations of the Islamic Confederacy (the king of the South) is also at war with the UN, the survivors of the North vs South conflict will choose to embrace the third option.
After the United Nations, or its successor organization, is empowered in a totalitarian fashion due to the global emergency brought about by the use of nuclear weapons in the North/South cataclysm, the then diminished power base of the two factions will still exhibit belligerence towards the globalist power structure.
Thus, after the Beast is in power in a "third generation UN" that has been resurrected in the then internationalized city of Jerusalem, the other two factions will attack:
"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over." (Daniel 11:40).
This effort will not dethrone the Beast, for the text plainly tells us he "shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished..." A description of the rest of his term of power will have to wait for another day.
July 21 2005 -- James Lloyd
Interview With The Antichrist


text:
{-# LANGUAGE PatternSynonyms #-}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- |
-- Module      :  Graphics.GL.ARB.UniformBufferObject
-- Copyright   :  (c) Sven Panne 2019
-- License     :  BSD3
--
-- Maintainer  :  Sven Panne <svenpanne@gmail.com>
-- Stability   :  stable
-- Portability :  portable
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

module Graphics.GL.ARB.UniformBufferObject (
  -- * Extension Support
  glGetARBUniformBufferObject,
  gl_ARB_uniform_buffer_object,
  -- * Enums
  pattern GL_ACTIVE_UNIFORM_BLOCKS,
  pattern GL_ACTIVE_UNIFORM_BLOCK_MAX_NAME_LENGTH,
  pattern GL_INVALID_INDEX,
  pattern GL_MAX_COMBINED_FRAGMENT_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS,
  pattern GL_MAX_COMBINED_GEOMETRY_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS,
  pattern GL_MAX_COMBINED_UNIFORM_BLOCKS,
  pattern GL_MAX_COMBINED_VERTEX_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS,
  pattern GL_MAX_FRAGMENT_UNIFORM_BLOCKS,
  pattern GL_MAX_GEOMETRY_UNIFORM_BLOCKS,
  pattern GL_MAX_UNIFORM_BLOCK_SIZE,
  pattern GL_MAX_UNIFORM_BUFFER_BINDINGS,
  pattern GL_MAX_VERTEX_UNIFORM_BLOCKS,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_ARRAY_STRIDE,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_ACTIVE_UNIFORMS,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_ACTIVE_UNIFORM_INDICES,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_BINDING,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_DATA_SIZE,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_INDEX,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_NAME_LENGTH,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_REFERENCED_BY_FRAGMENT_SHADER,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_REFERENCED_BY_GEOMETRY_SHADER,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BLOCK_REFERENCED_BY_VERTEX_SHADER,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER_BINDING,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER_OFFSET_ALIGNMENT,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER_SIZE,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER_START,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_IS_ROW_MAJOR,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_MATRIX_STRIDE,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_NAME_LENGTH,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_OFFSET,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_SIZE,
  pattern GL_UNIFORM_TYPE,
  -- * Functions
  glBindBufferBase,
  glBindBufferRange,
  glGetActiveUniformBlockName,
  glGetActiveUniformBlockiv,
  glGetActiveUniformName,
  glGetActiveUniformsiv,
  glGetIntegeri_v,
  glGetUniformBlockIndex,
  glGetUniformIndices,
  glUniformBlockBinding
) where

import Graphics.GL.ExtensionPredicates
import Graphics.GL.Tokens
import Graphics.GL.Functions

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Investment Con
by John Stossel
Want to make money and help the world, too?
Wall Street says you can!
If you invest in "socially responsible" funds, say big investment funds like BlackRock, Parnassus, TIAA-CREF, etc., then they'll do good things for the world, and your retirement funds will grow.
These funds obsess about what they call Environmental, Social and Governance factors. For example, Parnassus says it picks investments based on "their environmental impact, how they treat their employees, the quality of their relationships with local communities."
People believe. More than $100 billion poured in just in the first half of this year.
But I won't invest. My new video explains why.
One popular "socially responsible" fund, Generation Investments, is run by former Vice President Al Gore. His website claims they invest in "sustainable" companies that do things "consistent with a low-carbon, prosperous, equitable, healthy and safe society."
If you don't invest, Gore warns, you'll miss out on "the single largest investment opportunity in all of history. He says, "Sustainability can actually enhance returns!"
They do enhance his returns. The management fees help him pay for his many homes.
ESG funds probably won't do as much for you, if you invest.
"I've had a lot of experience looking at these types of investments," says Thomas Hogan, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. "They don't actually accomplish the goals of being environmentally or socially responsible."
Al Gore's Generations Investments, for example.
"They're not really making socially conscious investments," says Hogan. "Their No. 1 holding is Alphabet, parent company of Google. They're just buying, basically, regular companies."
So, why do people invest?
"It makes people feel good," says Hogan.
Some "green" investment funds did well lately because oil prices dropped. But most will give you lower returns because they charge higher fees.
A Pacific Research Institute report found that their fees average 0.7% per year, which meant, over 10 years, the "green" portfolio was worth about 40% less than what you would have gained had you bought an S&P 500 index fund.
On top of that, what Wall Street calls "sustainable" or "social impact" investing is often just marketing.
Parnassus' brags that it owns US Foods and Clorox. What's special about them? Parnassus says food and cleaning supplies help meet U.N. sustainability goals like "nutrition" and "sanitation." Give me a break. US Foods and Clorox make good products, but there's nothing uniquely responsible about them.
The Boston Trust Walden ESG Impact Report brags about its activism, as if as lobbying for bigger government helped the world. They promote their lobbying for the Paris climate accord (See my video on why that's a bad idea) and for tougher workplace regulations in Bangladesh. Do they not know that tougher regulations make employment more costly, leaving more people more desperate?
BlackRock's socially "aware" fund brags that it gives you 2.62% more exposure to gender diverse boards. 2.6%? So what? Their "environmentally aware" fund also invests in Chevron and Exxon.
I asked BlackRock about these examples, but they never got back to us with an answer.
Worse, some of today's "environmentally responsible" funds probably harm the environment.
For example, most "green" funds wouldn't invest in the Keystone pipeline, but pipelines are much better for the environment than the alternative: hauling oil by train and truck.
Some "green" investors oppose fracking, but the United States led all countries in reducing carbon emissions mostly because fracking's natural gas reduces demand for coal and high carbon oil.
The ugly truth is that most so-called responsible investment funds charge more to sell feel-good nonsense that accomplishes nothing.
Instead, suggests Hogan, invest in any company that produces things people want. All those companies "(create) a lot of value for society."
I save money by investing in passive investments funds and exchange-traded funds that don't charge fat fees. They grow our economy without misleading people about "sustainability" -- or enriching Al Gore.
John Stossel is author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media." For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2020 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
Costs Must Be Weighed Against Benefits
by Walter E. Williams
One of the first lessons in an economics class is every action has a cost. That is in stark contrast to lessons in the political arena where politicians virtually ignore cost and talk about benefits and free stuff. If we look only at the benefits of an action, policy or program, then we will do anything because there is a benefit to any action, policy or program.
Think about one simple example. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 36,096 Americans lost their lives in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2019. Virtually all those lives could have been saved if we had a 5 mph speed limit. The huge benefit of a 5 mph speed limit is that those 36,000-plus Americans would have been with us instead of lost in highway carnage. Fortunately, we look at the costs of having a 5 mph speed limit and rightly conclude that saving those 36,000-plus lives are not worth the costs and inconvenience. Most of us find it too callous, when talking about life, to explicitly weigh costs against benefits. We simply say that a 5 mph speed limit would be impractical.
What about the benefits and costs of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic? Much of the medical profession and politicians say that lockdowns, social distancing and mask-wearing are the solutions. CDC data on death rates show if one is under 35, the chances of dying from COVID-19 is much lower than that of being in a bicycle accident. Should we lockdown bicycles? Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at Harvard University, biostatistician and epidemiologist, Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University and an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician and epidemiologist were the initiators of the Great Barrington Declaration. More than 50,000 scientists and doctors, as well as more than 682,000 ordinary people, have signed the Great Barrington Declaration opposing a second COVID-19 lockdown because they see it doing much more harm than good.
Efforts to keep very young from getting COVID-19, given most will not even realize they have it or will suffer only mild symptoms, may be counterproductive in that it delays the point where a country has herd immunity. According to the CDC, COVID-19 deaths in young people (from babies to college students) are almost nonexistent. The first age group to provide a substantial contribution to the death toll is 45-54 years, who contribute nearly 5% of all coronavirus deaths. More than 80% of deaths occur in people aged 65 and over. That increases to over 92% if the 55-64 age group is included.
Thus, only a tiny number of people under age 25 die of COVID-19. Yet, schools have been closed, and tens of millions of schoolchildren have been denied in-class instruction. Mandating that 5-year-olds wear masks during their school day is beyond nonsense. Virtual learning can serve as a substitute for in-class teaching but it has mixed results. Some parents can provide their children with the necessary tools, perhaps hire tutors, and take an active interest in what their children are doing online. Other parents will not have the interest, ability or the time.
Here is a lockdown question for you. Government authorities permit groceries and pharmacies to remain open during lockdowns. They permitted stores likes Walmart, Costco and Sam's Club to remain open. However, these stores sell items that are also sold in stores that were locked down such as: Macy's, J.C. Penney, J. Crew Group, Neiman Marcus and Bed Bath & Beyond. The lack of equal treatment caused many employees to lose their jobs and many formerly financially healthy retailers have filed for bankruptcy.
As political satirist H. L. Mencken said, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." By the way, the best time to scare people, be wrong and persist in being wrong is when the costs of being wrong are borne by others.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Better Than Charity
Many of us will give money to charity this month. Americans give more than any other people in the world.
Good for us.
56 years ago, because American charities hadn't ended poverty, politicians said they would end it. They declared a "war on poverty."
That "war," so far, has cost $27 trillion.
Some people were helped. But the handouts also had a bad effect.
My new video shows a moving graph of America's poverty rate. It reveals that before the War on Poverty began, Americans had been steadily lifting themselves out of poverty. Year by year, the number of families in poverty -- defined as earning less than three times what they need to feed themselves -- decreased.
Then welfare began, and for about seven years, progress continued.
But then progress largely stopped! That downward trending poverty line now rises and falls with economic conditions. America now has an "underclass," generations of people who stay poor.
"Welfare taught them they didn't have to work," says Yaron Brook, of the Ayn Rand Institute. Handouts perpetuate poverty, he says, "because if you get a job... your checks get smaller."
That's why charity is better. Charities are free to help people who truly need help while giving a push to people who need "a kick in the butt." Government's one-size-fits-all rules discourage that.
I donate to a charity called The Doe Fund. It tries to "break the devastating cycle of homelessness" by teaching men to take pride in work. Many are helped.
But not all charity helps. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave $100 million to improve Newark's public schools.
The money disappeared into the education bureaucracy.
Education consultants and friends of politicians got some. Teachers union contracts grew fatter.
"But the public schools didn't get better," Brook points out. "The performance of the students didn't get better."
This year's booming stock prices increased America's wealth gap. Billionaires got richer while store clerks lost jobs.
"Progressives" gathered outside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's home and set up a guillotine. The message: "Behead the rich." They think that when Bezos makes billions, the rest of us have less.
That's ignorant, says Brook. "All of our lives are dramatically better because of somebody like Jeff Bezos. Things just appear at our doorstep. They hire hundreds of thousands of people. They make it possible for poor people to make a living by selling me something that I want!"
I push back. "But he has so much -- when others have so little."
"It's his money!" Brook responds. "He created it. Once we start deciding what you can or can't do with your property, what we will get is... extreme poverty for everybody. Only one system has brought people out of poverty, capitalism."
That's what I finally learned after years of consumer reporting.
Consider three ways to help people: government, charity and capitalism.
Government is needed for some things, but it's inefficient, and its handouts encourage dependency.
Charity is better because charities can make judgments about who really needs a handout versus who needs a push. But charities can be inefficient, too.
Oddly, what helps the most people in the most efficient way is greedy, self-interested capitalism.
"Two hundred fifty years ago," recounts Brook, "almost all of us were earning what the United Nations today defines as extreme poverty, $2 a day or less. That was 94% of all people on planet Earth. Today, only about 8% are that poor. Why? Not because of charity, not because of foreign aid but by employing people. ... Businesses are the most efficient because they have the right incentives. They won't survive if they're not efficient. Government has no such incentives. And charities are mixed."
So, why do billionaires and entrepreneurs now rush to donate, rather than doing what they're best at: innovating?
"They want to be liked," replies Brook. "(But) they're buying into false ideas, both economically and morally. They are acting against their self-interest, and against all of our interests, including the interests of the poor."
Walter E. Williams 1936-2020
Walter Williams loved teaching. Unlike too many other teachers today, he made it a point never to impose his opinions on his students. Those who read his syndicated newspaper columns know that he expressed his opinions boldly and unequivocally there. But not in the classroom.
Walter once said he hoped that, on the day he died, he would have taught a class that day. And that is just the way it was, when he died on Wednesday, December 2, 2020.
He was my best friend for half a century. There was no one I trusted more or whose integrity I respected more. Since he was younger than me, I chose him to be my literary executor, to take control of my books after I was gone.
But his death is a reminder that no one really has anything to say about such things.
As an economist, Walter Williams never got the credit he deserved. His book "Race and Economics" is a must-read introduction to the subject. Amazon has it ranked 5th in sales among civil rights books, 9 years after it was published.
Another book of his, on the effects of economics under the white supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa, was titled "South Africa's War Against Capitalism." He went to South Africa to study the situation directly. Many of the things he brought out have implications for racial discrimination in other places around the world.
I have had many occasions to cite Walter Williams' research in my own books. Most of what others say about higher prices in low income neighborhoods today has not yet caught up to what Walter said in his doctoral dissertation decades ago.
Despite his opposition to the welfare state, as something doing more harm than good, Walter was privately very generous with both his money and his time in helping others.
He figured he had a right to do whatever he wanted to with his own money, but that politicians had no right to take his money to give away, in order to get votes.
In a letter dated March 3, 1975, Walter said: "Sometimes it is a very lonely struggle trying to help our people, particularly the ones who do not realize that help is needed."
In the same letter, he mentioned a certain hospital which "has an all but written policy of prohibiting the flunking of black medical students."
Not long after this, a professor at a prestigious medical school revealed that black students there were given passing grades without having met the standards applied to other students. He warned that trusting patients would pay -- some with their lives -- for such irresponsible double standards. That has in fact happened.
As a person, Walter Williams was unique. I have heard of no one else being described as being "like Walter Williams."
Holding a black belt in karate, Walter was a tough customer. One night three men jumped him -- and two of those men ended up in a hospital.
The other side of Walter came out in relation to his wife, Connie. She helped put him through graduate school -- and after he received his Ph.D., she never had to work again, not even to fix his breakfast.
Walter liked to go to his job at 4:30 AM. He was the only person who had no problem finding a parking space on the street in downtown Washington. Around 9 o'clock or so, Connie -- now awake -- would phone Walter and they would greet each other tenderly for the day.
We may not see his like again. And that is our loss.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Private Property's Harvest
Yes, we've got the pandemic, lockdowns, a worsening deficit, etc.
But we still live in a relatively free country at the most prosperous time in human history.
The pandemic showed that when people are faced with crises, we adjust. Restaurants switched to takeout and outdoor dining. Grocery stores began curbside pickup. Companies mass-produced masks, hand sanitizer, ventilators and, now, vaccines. I hide from COVID-19 by staying home; yet, thanks to new services such as Zoom, I can research this column and make my weekly videos from my couch.
That's brought benefits. I no longer have to deal with traffic congestion.
Traffic jams are a good example of what ecologist Garrett Hardin called the "Tragedy of the Commons."
Because roads are free, more people drive, and roads are often congested. If roads were subject to "peak-load pricing, charging higher prices during times of peak demand and lower prices at other times," Hardin wrote, then we'd have fewer traffic jams.
I bring this up now, before Thanksgiving, because a similar Tragedy of the Commons nearly killed the Pilgrims. When they landed at Plymouth Rock, they started a society based on sharing.
Sharing sounds great.
But sharing, basically, is collective or communal farming, which is socialism. Food and supplies were distributed based on need. Pilgrims were forbidden to selfishly produce food for themselves.
That collective farming was a disaster. When the first harvest came, there wasn't much food to go around. The Pilgrims nearly starved.
Since no individual owned crops from the farm, no one had an incentive to work harder to produce extra that they might sell to others. Since even slackers got food from the communal supply, there was no penalty for not working.
William Bradford wrote in his "History of Plymouth Plantation" that the colony was ridden with "corruption" and "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."
People eager to provide for their families were less eager to provide for others. Bradford wrote, "young men, that were most able and fit for labour, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense."
Ultimately, said Bradford, shared farming "was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort."
The Pilgrims "begane to thinke how they might raise as much corne as they could, and obtaine a beter crope (so) they might not still thus languish in miserie."
Languishing in misery is what people in Venezuela do now.
The Pilgrims' solution: private property.
In 1623, the collective farm was split up, and every family was given a plot of land. People could grow their own food and keep it or trade it. "It made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been." wrote Bradford. "Women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability."
The Pilgrims flourished because they turned to private property.
So, this Thanksgiving, be grateful for private property, a foundation of capitalism.
Your grocery may not have the small turkey you wanted this year, but they have much more of what you want than people in the Soviet Union ever got.
When you're shopping for dinner or stocking up for Lockdown 2.0, be glad that you have so many options available.
If government controlled the production of turkeys and toilet paper, this would be a very, very unhappy Thanksgiving.
Discrimination and Prejudice
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The Climate Hustle
Should Blacks Support Destruction of Charter Schools?


text:
Cultural Travelling: Tours that Show a Different Facet
by Cecilia Wong
Cultural travelling is a vogue for travel agencies to bespeak their cultural exploring tours, it goes beyond merely visiting a place, but allows experience as a member of a culture and undergoes transformations of lives.
Cultural travelling is to go local and dig into authentic, genuine stories in a country, said Chan Shing-kwan, one of the co-founders of Eastern Vision and Glo Travel which both organising international travel programmes in a unique way.
Chan said that they attempt to modify traditional travel tours, which tend to load customers to various tourist spots for merely shopping and eating, by providing comprehensive, intellectual but fun experiences.
Tours organised by Eastern Vision and Glo Travel try to break stereotypes and "bridge" different people, he said.
"Reading a lot about North Koreans, but had never talked to them, I lost track," said Niklas Pape, a German exchange student at The University of Hong Kong.
Farm field in North Korean, provided by Niklas Pape.
He joined an Eastern Vision's tour to North Korea last year and agreed that through interacting with locals during the visit, participants gained a "different perception" towards North Koreans. "Only after talking to them, I know they are very same as human beings," he said.
Unlike a semester exchange which is long enough for complete immersion, the tours are limited by short travelling periods. Thus, he described the tours as just a "tool" for people to gain basic information of a country and open people's doors to cultural exchange in the future, as well as to build habits of delving into or at least research a country's background before visiting.
Cultural experience is about physical engagement and, of equally important, idea exchange. "Only by going local, talking to local communities, and involving in an environment can people understand the conditions -- political, social and economic situations included -- of that particular country," Chan said.
Sarah Chu, a student of The University of Hong Kong, said that cultural experiencing tours go beyond cursory sightseeing and shopping, and provide her a chance to penetrate into different local cultures.
Chan said, by achieving so, cultural experiencing tours need to maintain in small sizes to ensure no exclusive situation, but interaction and ideas exchange among tour-mates so that everyone speaks.
Some Hong Kong students discussed about the young performers at DPRK's Children's Palace with mainland's participants who had similar intensive trainings before, which the former believed they were tortured and the latter thought those children were honoured.
Chu and Pape, both admired the children's performances which they described as "excellent" and "impressive" respectively. Yet, Chu thought those children were "robot-like", while Pape thought it was hard to put this into his context so he could not determine if they felt honour.
Mr Pape read the given articles, which are provided for participants to be au fait with countries' situations they are heading to, before his trip to North Korea.
"It was not compulsory, but I see a different picture in North Korean [political system, society, history and economic situation] after reading them," he said.
The tours takes participants to local schools and amusement parks in North Korea to make participants apprehend a place through communicating with the locals.
Ms Chu said that chatting with the North Korean tour guide was a remarkable experience which she was able to share western music with him and found that talking about South Korea would irritate him.
However, Pape held a divided opinion that it was not possible to know very deeply about average locals' livelihoods in North Korea, since he considered the students he had communicated with were "well-picked" under political constraints, and with language barrier, he could not reach the grassroots.
"Being able to share information is essential to go local," he said, though he still thought communicating with the locals was the highlight in cultural experiencing tours and the closest local experiencing he could have.
"Do you really understand a country?" Mr Chan asked repeatedly. After all, this is a question posed to tourists to see if they have indeed experienced exotic cultures.
(Edited by Janet Sun)
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Former Studentlocalism convenor Tony Chung sentenced to three years and seven months for secession and money laundering
Carrie Lam pledges better political inclusion of ethnic minorities


NORTHPORT, NY--(Marketwired - Mar 17, 2014) - Thermador, the American luxury kitchen appliance brand, is proud to celebrate one of its Design Council members, Toni Sabatino of Northport, NY, on her Best of Houzz 2014 award for Customer Satisfaction. Sabatino's interior design firm, Toni Sabatino Style, was chosen by the more than 16 million monthly Houzz users in an annual survey. Houzz is the leading online platform for home remodeling and design.
The Best of Houzz features two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction honors are determined by several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received on the site in 2013. Design winners are those whose work was the most popular among Houzz users, who saved more than 230 million images of home interiors and exteriors to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site and mobile apps.
"We are proud to celebrate Toni Sabatino's achievements in serving the design and homebuilding community," said Zach Elkin, director, brand marketing, for Thermador. "We are even prouder to call her a member of the Thermador Design Council where she helps us be as innovative in kitchen appliance design as she is with interior design."
A native New Yorker, Sabatino has designed residential and commercial projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, the Hamptons and resort destinations such as Vermont, Palm Beach and Las Vegas. This honor marks Sabatino's second Best of Houzz achievement, as she was the recipient of the Best of Remodeling award in 2013.
The Thermador Design Council is comprised of top designers from across the U.S. who offer insights into design best practices, trends, and what today's culinary enthusiasts want in their kitchen design and cooking appliances. Thermador works closely to incorporate their feedback into its product development to ensure the brand continues to deliver on its heritage of offering real innovations for real cooks.


ACA NeoGeo: Metal Slug 4 is a Shooter game developed by SNK and published by HAMSTER Corporation in 2018 for the Playstation 4.
METAL SLUG 4 marks as the fifth title in the METAL SLUG series. In addition to Marco and Fio, the brand new characters, Trevor and Nadia have joined the battle! Use the new items effectively and get the highest score with the new Metallish System!