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Wed, 17 Nov 2004 He Wasn't My Guy
More in re: "you're just mad that your guy lost." For the record: Kerry wasn't "my guy." At the last, I wasn't willing to vote for the lesser of two evils, going with the "anybody but Bush" theory. I wasn't able to vote for Kucinich, so I had to settle for Nader. Yes, Nader. To quote Doonesbury: "Flush!"
Of course, Michigan was not actually a swing state, so in practice my vote didn't matter. The electoral college saw to that. At least, my presidential vote. In the local races and ballot initiatives, I might actually have had some way. That's something lost in the debate over vote-counting; if it is possibly to conduct large-scale fraud with direct-read, e-voting machines, how much easier is it to tilt a state or city election?
Kerry lost my vote when he didn't take a fundamental stance against the war. He wanted to have it both ways. The Kerry I wanted to vote for was the young Kerry; that Kerry wasn't "nuanced" in protesting what was going on in Vietnam. Yes, we're still fighting Vietnam - believe it! We needed to get out, period.
That's pretty much what has to happen here. I admired Kerry's seriousness and calm demeanor in the debates, but he just wasn't a a true opposition candidate. His vague plan to internationalize the occupation is too little, too late. Applying "nuance" in Iraq will just drag it out and result in more death. Even a new president with, one might hope, increased international credibility, will not be able to convince other countries to sink with us in this swamp of our own creation.
No more good can grow from this poisoned seed. It is time to cut and run. We can't secure Iraq, and it is getting worse. We can't even provide sufficient security for NGOs to get in and help provide emergency food and medical care. Anyone seen as having any connections to the US will be targeted. The best we can do is fund regional Arab-state organizations to try to clean up our mess, pay reparations, and acknowledge that we never should have invaded. The whole catastrophe is prima facie evidence that we need to join the ICC ASAP. There is no room in the world for "Team America: World Police." There is no true impunity. You can't get away from the law of karma, and we've been dropping a hell of a lot of thousand-pound bombs.
Saddam is gone, and that's a good thing, but it is inarguable that the world is far more dangerous. Saddam was a defanged mad dog, a contained threat to no one but his own people, and thus no justification to violating Iraq's sovereignty. Countries just can't operate like this. We wouldn't tolerate it, and our motives are far from pure.
The entire history of Iraq is the history of ill-advised Western meddling. The solution is not more meddling, although there is truth to Powell's "you break it, you bought it" warning. We've bought it, but we can't fix it. Iraq is where those who didn't learn anything about Vietnam will have to learn those lessons this time around. Iraq is where the neocon's perverse idealism was tested against hard reality and lost. We don't need any more naked greed disguised as faith-based foreign policy. We need a short-term exit strategy and we need it to be implemented now. But we're not going to get it. Bush's cabinet purge is the triumph of rhetoric over reality.
Do you realize that we used napalm in Fallujah? Shall we talk about the purity of our arms? But it's OK; they were just dark-skinned Islamist terrorists. It isn't anything like what we did in Vietnam, right? Right?
[/root/iraq] permanent link
Wed, 10 Nov 2004 Election 2004
Well, the election came and went. Although I am very troubled by all the reports of voting anomalies, voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, and perhaps outright fraud, I don't believe that the election irregularities were sufficient to throw the key states. So, let me go on the record: I accept the results of the election. Bush won.
That said, when I mention election irregularities, I don't want to hear "oh, you're just mad because your guy didn't win." There's a lot of that flying around. It is maddening; it puts the election on the same footing as a football game, and just frames democrats as sore losers. There were serious irregularities. The most compelling evidence is the Berkeley study. Bev Harris and her team find mismanagement and suspicious behavior everywhere they look. Ballots left in boxes, lost, shredded, thrown in the trash. I could easily be convinced that the true intent of the voters was not expressed, but as of yet the evidence is suggestive and not conclusive.
Now, what it suggests is that every American of any political affiliation should be outraged. The people who treat our ballots like yesterday's newspaper should be fired or, better yet, prosecuted. Voter intimidation and disenfranchisement is not the same as trying to shout down your football team's opposing fans at a game. The sports metaphor is absolutely the wrong frame, to use Lakoff's word. Deliberate disenfranchisement or vote tampering is criminal.
I'm a technologist, and it amazes me that anyone even slightly familiar with computers would entrust an election to them, at least to any computer system as it is generally known. I believe that a properly auditable and simple e- voting system could be developed, but any responsible official using direct-read, untraceable "black-box" voting machines should be thrown out for gross negligence. These people aren't stupid; they want their dirty fingerprints on our elections to remain invisible.
But your vote is far too important to trust to the vagaries of technology, and I say that as someone who has been programming computers since 1977. In fact, I wrote an electronic voting system, to run a mock election at my high school. It ran on the Radio Shack TRS-80, and wrote individual votes out to casette tape. It didn't yield an auditable paper trail: there was no way for the individual voters to confirm that the computer recorded the vote that they intended. But at least the series of vote records could be run through again one-by-one for a recount; they existed as discrete records, so at least the procedure that counted them could be verified. Now, we don't even have that. We've got machines yielding negative counts, or counts of thousands of votes in a precinct with only a few hundred total voters.
I was just a kid, and wrote my program for fun. But even then I knew that each vote should be recorded separately and serially, to avoid problems with a crashing program or power outage, and to allow this kind of verification testing. The real election isn't a hobbysing project, so we should take it seriously. Read what Bruce Schneier has to say about e-voting; it's the most sensible thing I've read on the subject. Technologies are not panaceas: a paper receipt is not a panacea, and encryption and digital signatures are far from panaceas. But they are certainly a thousand times better than any unverifiable, falsifiable, unsigned and unauditable vote recording process.
[/root/politics] permanent link
Tue, 02 Nov 2004 Veronica Ruth Potts
Veronica Ruth Potts was born at 6:23 a.m. on Friday, October 29th. As they say, "mother and baby are doing fine." And Dad is feeling great, too!
We were very fortunate: the delivery went very well. No long labor, no C-section. She was born with long fingernails and lots of hair.
The original plan had been to go into the hospital Thursday morning around 7 a.m., but they were full. Grace and I waited around all day, and bickered. We had all kinds of contingency plans involving her going into labor before then, but no plan for waiting around all day, and no food. We were understandably tense. Finally, at 6, we were asked to come in at 7 p.m. There was a little more waiting around after we arrived, but by 8:30 or so, we were in the room.
It was hurry-up-and-wait for the next couple of hours. First, they had a lot of trouble getting an IV inserted. This was not a surprise, since people often have trouble drawing blood from Grace, but it resulted in a lot of waiting around. Grace got a few extra holes before they found a nurse with more expertise, who finally got the IV going on her wrist. They got the intravenous oxytocin going at perhaps 10:30 p.m. on Friday. Grace began feeling mild contractions. We listened to Stevie Wonder and I wrote notes on my newly aquired Newton MessagePad 2100 (purchased on eBay), but that is another weblog entry for another time.
Nothing really changed until our obstetrician broke Grace's water with a little plastic lancet around midnight. He put in a probe so that he could monitor the strength of the contractions. We could watch them on both a strip chart and on a monitor. The monitor was a Windows machine running some kind of web application on Internet Explorer. It seemed to crash at one point and need restarting. Color me surprised. Not. I'm perpetually flummoxed as to why people would deploy any kind of critical software on such a platform. It isn't that I would use MacOS X or Linux or something else instead; I wouldn't even use an operating system at all, if I could help it. But that's also a weblog entry for another time.
They found meconium in the amniotic fluid, which is common in late babies; they warned us that the baby might not breathe right away, and they would bring in some people to do some extra suctioning-out and checking as quickly as possible. If you don't know what this means, here's a primer: basically, babies can poop in the amniotic fluid, and then inhale it. That means (possibly) tarry, sticky poop in the lungs, trachea, etc. It's not a good thing. Fortunately, Veronica doesn't seem to have inhaled any of this stuff.
Grace had strong contractions every two or three minutes until about 3 a.m., when they became increasingly painful. We were listening to Eric Clapton; Grace was wobbling around the room attempting to relieve the pain by moving around and rocking. She started to experience hallucinations and asked me to change the music from Eric Clapton to Van Morrison. Apparently she was seeing big spiders with legs growing out of their legs and other strange things, but at least she realized they were hallucinations. All this stopped immediately when they put in the epidural. The contractions continued for three more hours while Grace actually dozed off on the hospital bed. The doctor came and checked her. The baby's possition was good, but slightly rotated; he had her lie on her other side, propped up with a rolled-up blanked, to get the baby's position to shift.
Grace reached full dilation around 6 a.m. The last stage went very quickly: our obstetrician came back in, and said the baby would be out in ten minutes. He was only slightly exaggerating. The head was coming into view. You could see her hair, coated with waxy yellow gunk called vernix. She has a lot of hair!
They gave Grace a little bit of oxygen, to make sure the baby was getting as much oxygen as possible via the umbilical cord. The baby's heart rate looked low, but I'm not entirely sure the monitor could read the baby's heart accurately at that stage of delivery, when the head was crowning. In any case, they took the oxygen mask off almost immediately, since it was all over so quickly. I don't recall the precise timing, since I was not looking at the clock or counting, but I recall that roughly only a dozen hard pushes were needed, and took fewer than five minutes, all told. I supported Grace's neck while she pushed, and tried to help her count. It was at this point that I wished we had taken at least one or two of the childbirth classes, instead of going through most of the pregnancy assuming we would have a scheduled C-section.
The head popped out, and our doctor began suctioning out the baby's nose and mouth right away to make sure she didn't inhale any meconium that might be in there. One or two more pushes, and the rest of her popped out. No tearing, no episiotomy. The doctor offered to let me cut the umbilical cord, but I declined, in part because I was trying to help Grace keep her legs stable on the push-bar (the epidural results in somewhat numb and wobbly legs).
Our doctor told Grace "you were made for this," and he was right. We were really impressed by our obstetrician. He was extremely reassuring, confident, and quick, giving us all the needed information without making us fearful or panicked. It was his advice that led Grace to try a vaginal delivery, and it turns out to have been a great decision. What kind of a doctor would let her patient have surgery that wasn't at all necessary? Our other obstetrician, apparently. I'm still appalled.
After some more suctioning and checking, half of the extra staff disappeared; apparently they weren't needed. Veronica had a high APGAR score (one nurse told us the next day it was "nine point nine," although that didn't quite make sense to me, since I thought APGAR's categories were all measured 0, 1, or 2, and produced a round number... so now, I'm wondering where she lost the tenth of a point, but it doesn't really matter; it was obvious that little Vernonica was in great shape: pink, wiggly, and mad as hell. With any luck, it is only the first of athe high scores she'll get on standardized tests!)
Grace was doing extremely well, too. My chronology may be slightly confused at this point; I was a bit dazed. I spent the next few minutes bouncing back and forth between the warming table and Grace's bed. Our daughter was weighed and measured; they gave her a vitamin K injection in the thigh. (That made her really mad). She was quickly warmed up under the heat lamp, burrito-wrapped, and successfully latched on to Grace's breast fewer than ten minutes after birth.
At some point (memory fails on the exact order of things at this point) Grace began shivering, but a heated blanket from the warmer took care of that in short order.
The doctor took blood samples from the umbilical cord. I took a couple of pictures of the baby. Grace passed the placenta without difficulty, and as soon as the baby was nursing, she and the obstetrician started chatting about her years on the rowing team in college and his experience as a triathlete. Something about the push bar on the hospital bed reminded her of rowing, apparently. Yes, my wife was having a conversation about sports mere seconds after giving birth. This is in pretty stark contrast to her previous birth, where she had a C-section after twelve hours of labor; in a photo taken after that birth, she looks like she just had been beaten up. This time, she was chatty.
My overall impression of the whole thing was that it went so quickly and calmly. Conversations with other dads had led me to expect screaming, and body fluids squirting in all directions. I'd been prepped to expect a C- section, a blue baby, and an unconscious mom. None of that happened. I'm not generally very squeamish (I used to watch the surgery channel), and so the only thing I declined to observe was the epidural (they ask dads not to watch that anyway, after one passed out and suffered a concussion; something about a long needle going into the spine is a lot more unsettling than the birth itself). There wasn't any screaming. The only serious cries of pain occurred just before the epidural went in.
St. Joe's took great care of us. I have only minor complaints. Only a few hours after Veronica's birth, we had to put up with incredibly loud construction noise coming through the air vents; it sounded like someone was drilling holes through the walls of our room!
The older unit, where we were moved after the birth, was not nearly as nice as the rennovated delivery rooms, but we had been told this would be the case during our tour. In particular, the reclining chair/bed provided for a spouse or partner was really ancient and uncomfortable. I didn't really sleep much that night in the hospital, and of course I didn't sleep at all the first night, so I was pretty wiped out by Saturday afternoon, when we brought the baby home.
The bedside manner of the nurses varied; I did not like one of them. This only would have become an issue, I think, had we needed a lot of care. Most of the time was spent waiting and attempting to nap. Grace passed a blood clot "the size of a mouse," but that is also apparently common. We had far too many knocks on the door, from everyone from social workers to someone wanting to take a family picture. But overall, the environment was really supportive. I never expect to get any rest in a hospital.
I watched them bathe Veronica in the nursery and trim the umbilical cord stump (a bit unexpectedly) with a scalpel. Under the sponge, she turned bright pink as if she were sunburned. I also watched them administer the heel sticks to take blood tests. Embarassingly, I found myself watching the wrong baby, convinced that she was mine. Honestly, it is a good thing they label them and carefully match the armbands against the parents armband. Newborns really don't look that different! Her only really distinguishing characteristic seems to be her big toes. They are large and with a wide gap between the big toes and the rest of the toes, just like mine.
The first night home, we were expecting a quiet night with a few wakeups for feeding, but Veronica got really cranky and would not be consoled or suckle. After an hour or two of listening to her cry, we decided to give her a little water (less than half an ounce). Her little digestive system started gurgling and she felt immediately better, and promptly fell asleep. Our theory is that since she was late, the meconium in her digestive tract had gotten thicker and more like tar, and was painful to pass; the water helped to loosen it up. The next morning she had blown out a lot of it.
We were also a bit concerned the next night, because it seemed as if she had forgotten how to nurse. She would fuss and cry for twenty minutes before latching on. We had her first pediatric appointment the next morning, but by then she seemed to have gotten over this difficulty. She now latches on immediately and sucks well. I can say, with all honesty, our new daughter sucks!
It is now her 5th day of life outside the womb, and she is doing quite well. She is more alert every day. Grace's milk has come in and Veronica is feeding regularly. We have mild concern about her wet diaper count and her weight loss, but have had her to the pediatrician's office once already and will take her back on Thursday to check that she has not lost too much weight.
With newborns, it is hard to determine how much breast milk is going in, so you try to measure the input by the output. The general rule is that she is supposed to have a wet diaper count that matches how many days old she is: one the first day, two the second, and so on. This doesn't go on indefinitely, obviously, or I'd be expected to dampen over thirteen thousand diapers today. For day six and afterwards we're supposed to expect about a half-dozen wet diapers per day.
Veronica followed the schedule for the first few days, but had only two on day four. This is day five, and she's only had three. We're a bit concerned, and giving her as much milk as she can hold, and a little more supplemental water with a spoon, after okaying this with her pediatrician. She seems to be chowing down on the milk now, so I don't expect either the wet diapers or the weight loss to be a real issue, but we are keeping an eye on the situation and will check in with our pediatrician tomorrow in advance of her next scheduled appointment on Thursday.
We're co-sleeping, with the baby right in the bed. Various authorities warn against this, but it is working out very well. The baby is only waking us up a few times a night, and Grace can put her right on the breast without a lot of rearranging. I can't imagine how people manage with the baby in a crib in a separate room. Of course, she is a newborn, and different every day, but for the moment we're only suffering very mildly from interrupted sleep, not serious sleep deprivation.
I'm not going to turn this weblog into the Veronica Chronicles; I just wanted to tell the amazing story of her arrival. I'm amazed by how quickly she's become a regular part of the family, and I'm so grateful Grace did not have to have a debilitating surgical procedure, and is up and around, so that I can go into work and we can all do our jobs.
Mon, 01 Nov 2004 Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door (Amazon review)
I'm a 37-year-old husband and father; probably not the game's biggest target demographic, but more adults play these games than you may think!
I played (and completed) the excellent Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 a few years ago, along with my young son. It was very close to a perfect game: visually spectacular, original, engaging, moderately challenging, and filled with goofy cut scenes. The episode-based play worked perfectly to keep both of us from getting bored or frustrated; it was impossible to go too far down a dead end, or "lose" the game.
I'm happy to say that this sequel is worthy of the original. There is again an elaborate plot and back-story; there are more engaging Mushroom Kingdom characters, and lots more great paper effects. The papery world can get peeled back like Post-It note, torn like a Kleenex, folded like origami, and spring out like the pictures in a pop-up book. The characters have more to say (sometimes more than you want them to say!) The game's designers paid a great deal of attention to user interface and playability, and it really shows.
The Paper Mario games are not terribly difficult. That's a good thing, especially if the game-players in your household are young or less experienced. If you're an adult and at all good at figuring out strategy-based battles, you may rarely lose a fight. This may make the game seem too easy, but there are still plenty of silly cut scenes, animations, mini-games, and side quests to keep you entertained.
This is also the kind of video game that is enjoyable to watch someone else play: the beautiful color palettes, animations, and secret objects are enough to occupy two peoples' attention, so try trading off with your kids and showing off your stylin' moves (and don't bogart that joystick!)
The original Paper Mario game had a few drawbacks. The large number of battles could occasionally become tedious. This game improves on the original in giving you an audience to distract you and cheer for you during fights. The menu of available moves, badges, and items is even more elaborate than in the original, so you can focus on clever strategies. In fact, you have to pay at least some attention to careful use of your party members and special attacks: some enemies are impervious to all standard attacks, and will require cleverness to beat, just as many of the worlds contain areas that will only open to you after you've gained additional special abilities.
One last comment: these games are short. I think I finished the first one in about twenty hours of play, and I did not rush. Twenty hours may sound like a lot, but not when compared to a game like Donkey Kong 64, which might take a player ten times longer. If you are a hardcore gamer, you might want to look elsewhere, but if you have a life outside of video games, and don't have a lot of free time to spare, this is the game for you. You might find yourself, like me, wishing at the end that there were more secrets to uncover and more silly mini-games to play. I have not finished this new Paper Mario, but I've found most of the stars, so it will probably not be long. I'm looking forward to what I expect will be a spectacular ending!
P.S.: Addendum to the above, added after posting the original.
I may be mis-remembering how long it took me to finish the original Paper Mario for the N64; it may have been more like 40 or 50 hours; still, compared to some of the more elaborate platformers, it was a relatively short game. In any event, this game is proving to a bit longer than that.
I've gotten past the thousand-year door, but decided to backtrack before confronting the final bosses so I could go rack up some additional levels, find all the shine sprites and boost my party members' levels to maximum, solve "troubles," and in general extend the playing experience. In other words, I'm not in a hurry for the game to be over.
I've also decided I won't want to finish the game until I've beaten... (chilling music)... the Pit of 100 Trials. The Pit is a sadistic device designed especially to appeal to compulsive perfectionists like me. It is basically a one-way sequence of battle rooms. To finish, you must win consecutive battles of increasing difficulty. Every tenth room contains a treasure and the opportunity to bail out and return to the start. There is occasionally the chance to skip ahead a few levels or buy some items, but for the most part you just have to slog through; there are no save blocks available along the way, and if you give up, you will have to start again from the beginning.
While you start out with low-level Goombas, by the time you reach the 80s you will be confronting black steel chain chomps and magical creatures who carry many special abilities and items. You'll find yourself and your partner paralyzed, confused, or frozen, and then attacked multiple times by creatures who can do ten or twenty points of damage with a single blow. By the time you reach the 90s, your foes will make the boss fights to date look easy. Also, you can't easily pump up your experience by bailing out and restarting the series; completing a battle you've already won will only give you a single star point.
This challenge is in here just for those who, like me, want the fights to be a little bit harder, requiring a little more careful strategy and planning. But taking on the Pit is entirely optional, so as not to ruin the fun of those who don't enjoy the tougher fights. Yesterday I gave out at level 93, but I will prevail!
[/root/geeky/games] permanent link


I say, Turkish wrestling RULES! "Time to Oil Up" is a REMIX of "Theme of Hakan", a track from the Super Street Fighter IV OST. I spent about 40 hours on this mix over the course of 3 days after getting extremely hyped about the release of SSFIV. Hakan is a hilarious character and his theme is one of the catchiest I've ever heard, so I hope you enjoy this Infected Mushroom-style psytrance remix as much as I enjoyed making it!
http://www.zirconmusic.co m for albums, game remixes, free MP3s!
com for more awesome vocals!
I think that this is the best song I've ever heard on NG. I have been singin on it the whole day.
This is hypnotic! Pretty much best of anything, that have ever heard before, truly.
Why can't I stop listening to this?
I love this song and could live my life to it.
I have no words in my extensive vocabulary that could properly describe this masterpiece.
An excellent,magnificent and outstanding,a masterpiece mix.Thank you so much!


text:
Courses Offered At Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria
Mextechy JobsOctober 12, 2022
The general public particularly all aspiring students of Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria are hereby informed that the accredited courses offered at the University have been made available for them on this page as well as the school fees schedule.
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Maryam Abacha American University school fees is ₦N310,000.00 for Academic Session.
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text:
Karzai, a man with no party
The winning Afghan leader is under pressure to form one.
By Scott Baldauf Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
With an almost assured victory as Afghanistan's first elected president to be announced shortly, Hamid Karzai is set to become a virtual George Washington - minus the wooden teeth.
His actions, beginning with his cabinet picks, could channel the future course of democracy in Afghanistan. If Karzai attracts competent, like-minded ministers, post-Karzai Afghanistan could be a stable multiparty system that allows the country's many ethnic, tribal, and religious factions to settle their differences peacefully.
But for that to happen, many feel that Karzai must do something he has long avoided: Set up a political party. Like America's founding father, Karzai hates parties. Both men believed that people should simply work together in the national interest to create a new nation. But observers, and some of Karzai's own advisers, say a two-party system would best move Afghan disputes beyond personal identity to ideas.
"I assure you that he is under pressure to form a party, and eventually he will decide to do it," says Zia Mojededi, a close Karzai adviser and member of the Afghan National Security Council. Already, Karzai has surrounded himself with like-minded secular technocrats, Mr. Mojededi says, adding, "Birds of a feather fly together."
"Once we have a political party, we will put a lot of energy into attracting young educated Afghans and important, liberal tribal elders and businessmen who will slowly, slowly push for modern secular ideas that can be adopted in our traditional culture," says Mojededi.
Karzai's antipathy for political parties is understandable, given the turmoil they have caused over the past 30 years. The late 1970s were a time of political ferment, with extreme leftist college students pushing for a communist totalitarian state on one hand and extreme right-wing Islamist students pushing for a return to 7th century Islamic values practiced during the time of the prophet Muhammad.
Some of these parties still exist - such as Jamaat-i Islami, Hizb-i Islami, and Hizb-i Wahadat - and form the cluster of support around violent warlords.
"Today, we have nothing resembling viable political parties," says David Garner, a political scientist and former USAID development officer with 30 years experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "You have night letters that threaten people. You have regional ethnic interests. You don't have clearly identified ideologies."
Yet the new political system - a strong presidency to implement policy and a powerful parliament to pass laws - may limit the party splintering and ideological extremes of the past. In particular, the need to garner 51 percent of the votes to win the top office provides a compelling reason to consolidate around two parties, says Mr. Garner.
He and other observers predict that many current politicians will naturally gravitate toward two moderate political parties. One would be a secular pro- business party, led by Karzai and his cadre. The other would be a moderate Islamist party, led in all likelihood by Yunus Qanooni, who came in a distant second in this month's historic vote.
Such an Islamist party, in order to reach a majority of Afghan voters, would have to be more moderate than the Taliban while still promising to act within the guidelines of sharia, or Islamic law.
"If you have a moderate Islamist party and a moderate secular party, then you have a situation where if the pendulum swings, it won't knock the clock off the wall," says Garner.
There are substantial obstacles to a mature two-party system, at least in the short term.
Afghanistan's foreign neighbors, such as Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have long attempted to influence Afghan policy by stirring up separatist movements among Afghanistan's Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, and Uzbek ethnic groups. These interest groups remain armed and still command followings.
It may also prove difficult for Afghan leaders to bury the hatchet.
"For the foreseeable future, [politics] will be marred by personal antipathy," says Marc Sageman, a former CIA officer based in Pakistan and author of the book, "Understanding Terror Networks." "I simply can't imagine [former President Burhanuddin] Rabbani and [Islamist leader Abdurrab Rasool] Sayyaf ever trusting each other, except for external consumption. These guys have been at it for 25 years and are still going strong."
In the meantime, all talk of democracy and nation-building is an academic exercise, Mr. Sageman says, until Afghanistan's warlords are disarmed.
"I just don't see Afghans giving up their weapons," Sageman says. "It's ingrained in their concept of manhood. What I see is that these weapons might become obsolete with time, and the central government forces will get better, more modern weapons, allowing them to impose their will on the warlords. But this is far in the future."
But other longtime observers already see a shift away from the violent days of extremist, or personality-based parties.
"Personality didn't get Karzai elected," says Owen Kirby, Afghan country director for the International Republican Institute, a group closely tied with but separate from America's GOP. Karzai's appeal was based on the fact that he would continue the Bonn Process, Mr. Kirby says, referring to the UN-mandated effort started in December 2001 to create a democratic post- Taliban government.
"Karzai was part of a package and he ran on the package's platform, one recognized by everyone in the country; the Bonn Process," says Kirby.
As Karzai blusters over Taliban, more trouble in Afghanistan
Who will lead Afghanistan after Karzai?
Afghanistan's election: Who's next after Karzai?


What do you mean by Composition Zones and Job Jackets technologies in QuarkXPress ? : Quark Software Inc.
A Composition Zones item is a layout or user-defined area within a layout that can be shared with other QuarkXPress users.
Note: To work with Composition Zones in QuarkXPress, you must have Composition Zones XTensions software loaded.
The layout artist can use Composition Zones to share content with writers, editors, graphic artists, and remote contributors who also use QuarkXPress.
Using QuarkXPress, the layout artist can 'draw out' the area of the project for an ad using the Composition Zones tool and then export that Composition Zones item as a separate file. The resulting file includes the correct specs, and this approach saves steps when the remote ad creator receives the file.
The ad creator works in QuarkXPress to add the content and then returns the file — along with necessary graphics and fonts — to the layout artist.
The layout artist then places the updated file in the proper folder, and the layout is updated automatically to show the ad. And because the Composition Zones item works just like a QuarkXPress layout, the layout artist can open the file to make changes.
The scenario above shows the primary uses for Composition Zones, but the feature can accommodate other collaborative workflow issues as well. For example, Composition Zones can be restricted to the project where they are defined, which you might want to do for a number of reasons. Perhaps the layout artist wants to use an ad in more than one place in the project, and the ad might include multiple text and picture boxes. You cannot use the Shared Content palette to synchronize a group of items, but if the layout artist creates a Composition Zones item based on a selection of multiple items, that Composition Zones item becomes synchronized and available for use throughout the project. Maybe the layout artist designates one layout for the printed magazine and another layout in the same project for a Web page that includes the ad. The layout artist can restrict the use of this Composition Zones item to this single project, but the ad can match exactly in print and on the Web.
To allow a job definer to create detailed specifications for Print and Web layouts.
To allow a layout artist to create projects and layouts from those specifications, share the specifications with other layout artists, and verify that a layout follows its specifications.
Job Jackets were created because producing a layout and successfully sending it to output can be a complex task.Large and complex print jobs provide even more opportunities for error, and the cost of such errors becomes much greater. Job Jackets prevent unprintable or incorrectly constructed jobs from being constructed in the first place.


He often warned, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
And she meant well; but her gift feeds the beast in me.
A beautiful porcelain keepsake for hanging: "Jesus Loves You...But I'm His Favorite!"
It unsettles me because I've often acted not just thought that way.
If it were not a struggle still, would it bother me so much?
The beast must be starved; so it must go.
Yet, to me, no laughing matter.
My sanity if not soul sways in the balance.
It would have been better if they had come calling with condemnation: "Expecting much more, you've disappointed us."
Just closer to the truth.
He always assured, "The road to heaven is paved with..."
"The difference between us is I know I'm a hypocrite."


text:
High Performance Skills Coach
TPP RECRUITMENT
Further education, Engineering, Manufacturing, Media, Digital media, Professional services (Further education)
A charity who work in partnership with employers, education and governments to raise the standards in apprenticeships and technical education so more young people get the best start in work and life, are recruiting for a High Performance Skills Coach, on a full time contract until the July 2023 at least.
This UK charity are part of a global movement to develop excellence in young people through various programmes designed by subject experts across a range of industries from engineering to digital skills, improving young people's confidence and celebrating their achievements.
As a High Performing Skills Coach, your role will be to lead the development and delivery of a transformative workforce development programme, delivering global innovations in teaching and training to educators, influencing standards of practice across technical and vocational education and training. Central to your role, you will train, coach and mentor educators across various institutions to boost the quality of teaching, training and assessment.
To be considered for this role, you'll need to have a combination of applied, high-level industry expertise in either digital skills, engineering and manufacturing or green technology along with knowledge of current policies in technical education and apprenticeships.
You'll stand out from the crowd if you have experience developing workforce training for diverse groups of teaching and training practitioners and developing standards and assessment practices across technical and vocational qualifications.
In turn, you'll have the opportunity to build upon your experience with access to a global network of experts and will play a key role in contributing to developing young people from all backgrounds to achieve success in work and life.
The role will be remote with national travel so you can be based anywhere in the UK. As a flexible employer, the charity welcomes applications from those seeking full or part time employment.
To show your interest, please click apply or send a copy of your CV to education@tpp.co.uk quoting the job title and reference number J75822DT.
Closing date: 1st February 9am
We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential; please contact us if you require any assistance or adjustment so that we can help with making the application process work for you.
TPP Recruitment is a specialist, highly respected and well-established UK-wide consultancy.
Our areas of expertise enable us to provide dedicated support to organisations across the following non-profit and public sector organisations:
Charitable | Educational | Health & Social Care | Professional Membership | Awarding Bodies | Cultural | Housing
Our 50+ strong team of dedicated consultants specialise in the following functional areas:
CEO & Trustee | Education & Training | Finance, IT & Facilities | Fundraising & Development | Health & Social Care | Human Resources | MarComms & Digital | Office & Specialist Support
TPP has connected organisations and candidates across the UK since 1996, from our offices in London, Bristol and Newcastle. Our culture is based on the following set of core principles which are embedded within our teams and underpin our commitment to helping ensure organisations achieve lasting impact:
We do the right thing
We have a social conscience, work in an ethical way and are passionate about supporting organisations. It's why the first P of our name stands for Principle.
We work in partnership
Internally and externally, we work in an honest, supportive and collaborative way to achieve exceptional results. It's why the second P stands for Partnership.
We specialise
We are experts in our fields and constantly seek to improve our knowledge of and empathy for our customers.
We adapt
We offer a flexible, tailored approach and are constantly looking for better ways to do things.
We exceed expectations
We go above and beyond and focus on long term relationships over short term gains.
http://www.tpp.co.uk/
SHERBORNE HOUSE
119-122 CANNON STREET
Apply for High Performance Skills Coach
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Motor Vehicle Teacher - Sheffield
Economics Graduate


text:
Developer to fight to allow felling of tree
By Timothy Brown
Mosgiel developer Craig Horne wants to fell this oak tree in King St. However, council planners have recommended against the proposal. Photo by Linda Robertson.
A Mosgiel developer will fight the Dunedin City Council over his right to fell a large oak tree which shades a Mosgiel house on a planned subdivision.
Council planner Lianne Darby has recommended the hearings committee decline CC Otago Ltd's resource consent application to fell the tree in King St, Mosgiel.
The tree, which is about 25m high, made a significant contribution to the amenity of the area, was healthy and the effects of its removal could not be mitigated, Ms Darby said in her report to the committee.
However, CC Otago Ltd director Craig Horne contends the tree's canopy shades the existing dwelling and affects the comfort of its occupants, outweighing its amenity value.
He was hopeful the committee would see the issue from a "pragmatic perspective''.
"From a planning perspective I can see where she is coming from,'' he said.
"It's the normal response. I work in the industry and see these typical responses.''
The case for felling the tree was compelling, he said.
"There's always an issue with safety ... but the large concern is the shading and the cold effect that tree has, particularly on the dwelling at 27 King St,'' he said.
"The negative impacts ... are far more significant than the positive impacts for the wider area.''
Ms Darby's report to the committee said felling the tree would be against the objectives and policies of the district plan and the purpose of the Resource Management Act.
The council's landscape architect and parks officer, trees, had assessed the tree and were opposed to its removal.
"The landscape architect considers that the tree contributes to the wider amenity and that it has considerable presence and dominance on the street,'' Ms Darby said.
"The parks officer, trees, considers the tree to be a good, healthy specimen which did not present any immediate health or safety problems.''
The application will be heard by the committee on April 1.
timothy.brown@odt.co.nz


Futrix consulting is focused on ensuring our clients receive the largest benefit and ROI possible from the Futrix suite of tools. Consulting services include; implementation services, support services, education, and software enhancement services. Futrix Consulting is committed to customer satisfaction in all services that we deliver.
Our Consulting Practice brings a depth and breadth of experience that is based on working not only with Futrix, but also the underlying Applications and Databases used by our clients. Our consulting personnel are on call and understand both the business and technology behind business intelligence.
With many successful deployments of Futrix, our team is the largest Futrix consulting team of experts in the world. This kind of experience can't be duplicated anywhere in the market, even at the largest consulting firms.
Contact Futrix at info@futrix.com for additional information about Futrix Consulting Services.


Enjoy LC-Foods fresh baked low carb banana muffins with just 1.5 net carbs per muffin! Amazing taste and perfect texture with no preparation! Seriously, low carb banana muffins that taste delicious and come ready to eat!
Looking for a delicious breakfast alternative? Make any day special by trying our low carb banana muffins with a rich, decadent flavor that everyone will enjoy! Try warming them in the oven before serving. They are sure to become a new family favorite! You get four large muffins per package.
Want to give them your own special touch? Trying topping them with whipped cream! Or how about making a low carb glaze with our low carb confectionery powdered sweetener? Use the recipes on the back of the package to make a basic low carb glaze or a richer low carb glaze for a truly mouthwatering, low carb treat worthy of Thanksgiving or Christmas morning brunch!
Our fresh baked low carb banana muffins are delivered to you fresh from our ovens on the day they are baked. Never frozen, never old. No mixing or baking, you just open the bag and serve. So easy and delicious! Made with natural ingredients with no artificial sweeteners or "junk". This low carb treat comes shipped to you in an oven safe baking pan – protects while its enroute to you and allows you to warm in the oven (300⁰F) before serving!
These low carb muffins are made with natural ingredients and no artificial sweeteners. They also have a healthy dose of dietary fiber and protein. As with all LC Foods low carb products, there's no sugar added (of course!) and no preservatives!
Serving Size: 2.6 oz (75.2g) One large muffin 2½" x 1¾"
My housemate and I are both on Keto and love banana muffins so we were understandably excited when we found these. We've only found one other variation so far and these are definitely better - they taste EXACTLY like normal banana muffins. The texture is what threw me off. It has the same texture/consistency of most corn breads but not what comes to mind when you think traditional banana bread. This might just be as good as it gets and as I mentioned - the taste is SPOT ON, so with that in mind - I would recommend these to anyone who has a strong enough craving for banana muffins.
These are great in the toaster oven and with vanilla frosting. They turn out crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
I fell in love with these! They're moist and have an authentic taste.


text:
The Government's Inadequate Response to Flooding Is Further Proof It 'just doesn't get' Climate Change by Hannah Martin
Articles : Opinion
The Government's Inadequate Response to Flooding Is Further Proof It 'just doesn't get' Climate Change
by Hannah Martin
@Hannah_RM
Heavy rain and strong winds are set to hit the UK again this weekend, with Storm Dennis expected to strike just days after Storm Ciara caused severe flooding in Wales and the north of England. Once again thousands of people face waking up to find their homes and businesses underwater. Once again they will have to sift through their waterlogged possessions and pick up the pieces of their lives, knowing little to no help is on its way.
Storm Dennis and Storm Ciara are just the latest in a string of increasingly severe weather events that have devastated entire regions, caused mass travel disruption, and confirmed that the UK government has no coherent or credible plan for the challenges our changing climate will inevitably bring.
Plans for COP 26 were thrown into disarray this month when the head of the summit, Claire O'Neill, was summarily fired by Boris Johnson with nobody lined up to replace her. Since being sacked O'Neill has claimed that Johnson "just doesn't get climate change", adding that the prime minister admitted to not understanding her job. Evidently, his predecessors weren't much better either, as well as leaving a blank page where our net-zero emissions plan should be, the UK government has taken a haphazard approach to environmental protection and environmental management for years, with little to no joined up thinking.
We have seen huge budget cuts to the agencies and public bodies that should have driven the response to storms Ciara and Dennis. The environment agency alone has had its funding cut by 50% in the last decade. At the same time our infrastructure is not built to withstand extreme weather. To fix this decades-long problem we need to completely overhaul our urban and countryside planning to focus on working with nature rather than controlling it, whether that be through reimagining what our housing could look like, replanting upland forests or protecting peat bogs.
But rather than rectify problems in the UK's infrastructure plan to ensure that new investments are both low-carbon and resilient to the extreme and variable weather we are set to experience, the government announced this week that it is going ahead with the enormous and controversial infrastructure commitment that is HS2.We need to allow sustainable construction firms, architects and engineers to develop best practice based on countries that already experience extreme weather such as Canada, and to understand where the gaps in our current system lie, rather than running headlong into a lengthy investment which is not fit for the future.
At the moment the government frequently takes a reactive approach to extreme weather, rather than a balanced and pre-emptive approach, such as one that spreads solutions between natural flood defences and hard flood defences. As Paul Morrozzo, a resident of flood-hit Hebden Bridge puts it, "instead of just building higher walls and barriers, a more holistic approach needs to be taken". This could include using more natural flood management in the lowlands and uplands, and more sustainable drainage schemes in urban areas to channel surface water out of drains and into green space holding areas.
Right now, whole swathes of the UK continue to be devastated by flooding with little to no promise of change. It's time to start asking why the government is unable to provide its citizens with their most basic needs – safe, secure housing and freedom from the burden of extreme weather events. True leadership would mean looking at our poor housing stock, our flood prone communities, and the climate crisis, and coming up with a credible plan for a decade of investment across sectors; a plan like the green new deal, which is gaining traction in the US Presidential elections could be the answer.
A green new deal would not be a single policy, but a programme to make our economy better serve the public good, funding climate solutions while providing jobs and improving our wellbeing. What this looks like is millions of new well-paid, secure jobs across the country and ensuring that we have greater democratic participation, accountability and common ownership in our local economies. It means protecting and restoring vital habitats and green spaces and ensuring we are resilient to the kind of extreme weather we must expect from the 2020s. It means promoting global justice by supporting all peoples and countries to decarbonise quickly and fairly, in line with timeframes set out by science. It means making sure the UK does its fair share to tackle climate breakdown.
In the year of COP 26, the new prime minister is going to have to prove to the communities who voted for him that he understands the realities of their daily lives. Given that for many this will now include facing storms, floods and heatwaves, if he still doesn't 'get it', Johnson had better quickly catch up.
Hannah Martin is an organiser and campaigner. She is the co-executive director of Green New Deal UK.
Opinion: In Negotiating Trade After Brexit, the Tories Missed a Key Opportunity to Accelerate Climate Goals
If the British government really wants to become a global leader in tackling climate change, environmental justice must become a priority in negotiating new trade deals, write Miriam Brett and Katie Gallogly-Swan.
At the turn of the decade nearly 12 months ago, some said that we were on the verge of entering a new Roaring '20s. How prescient they turned out to be. One pandemic and a global economic freefall later, all the assumptions we started out with in January have turned to dust. In their place […]
Opinion: Green Capitalism Will Never Succeed in Tackling Climate Breakdown
We're now beginning to see the contours of 'green capitalism' - and it's not pretty. Meaningful responses to the climate crisis will only succeed if they address global inequalities, argues Leon Sealey-Huggins - which also means our solutions cannot be 'beyond politics'.
The Bodies on the Gears: How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Andreas Malm argues in How to Blow Up a Pipeline that the climate movement must act against the infrastructure of death. He joins James Butler to discuss.
Report: Why Are NGOs So Bad at Saving the Planet?
Britain's four largest environmental NGOs rake in hundreds of millions of pounds each year, but critics say they are near useless despite their enormous outgoings. Ben Smoke asks why the movement is failing to take the kind of radical action necessary to fighting climate breakdown.
Opinion: Meat Without Animals Isn't Some Utopia. It's a Future Already on Its Way
Major developments in lab-grown meat have quietly passed most of us by, writes Aaron Bastani. But a world where we live within our planet's limits while eating beef and lamb, and where animals need not suffer, isn't some far-off future - it's already on the horizon.


text:
Q: How to remove unnecessary modules from bundles I'm using webpack to create output bundles for an angular2 project. I'm creating two bundles containing project codes and vendors:

entry: {
    main: './src/main',
    vendors: ['./node_modules/@angular/core', './node_modules/moment']
},
module: {
    loaders: [{
        test: /\.js$/,
        exclude: [nodeModulesDir],
        loader: 'babel'
    }]
},

With a brief book into vendors bundle, I see all the locale files of moment are included in vendor bundle, but I need just de_DE. how can I exclude unnecessary locales?

A: Perhaps this could help
GitHub - jmblog / how-to-optimize-momentjs-with-webpack
Create react app configs contain this too
new webpack.IgnorePlugin(/^\.\/locale$/, /moment$/),

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Kotlin Firebase Realtime database transaction errors I have the following code
   database.child("users").child(this.invitedBy).runTransaction(object : Transaction.Handler {
                override fun doTransaction(mutableData: MutableData): Transaction.Result {
                    val u = mutableData.getValue(User::class.java)
                        ?: return Transaction.success(mutableData)

                    if (u.numReferrals == null || u.referralEarning == null) {
                        // Unstar the post and remove self from stars
                        u.numReferrals = 1
                        u.referralEarning = 1;
                    } else {
                        // Star the post and add self to stars
                        u.numReferrals = u.numReferrals!! + 1
                        u.referralEarning = u.referralEarning!! + 1;
                    }

                    // Set value and report transaction success
                    mutableData.value = u
                    return Transaction.success(mutableData)
                }

                override fun onComplete(
                    databaseError: DatabaseError?,
                    committed: Boolean,
                    currentData: DataSnapshot?
                ) {
                    // Transaction completed
                    Log.d("MUser", "postTransaction:onComplete:" + databaseError!!)
                }
            })

When I run it, it gives me the following error:
E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: com.test.test, PID: 5375
    kotlin.KotlinNullPointerException
        at com.test.test.MUser$setReferral$1.onComplete(MUser.kt:229)
        at com.google.firebase.database.core.Repo$16$1.run(com.google.firebase:firebase-database@@19.2.1:1006)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:907)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7478)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:549)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:941)
W/System.err: kotlin.KotlinNullPointerException
W/System.err:     at com.test.test.MUser$setReferral$1.onComplete(MUser.kt:229)
        at com.google.firebase.database.core.Repo$16$1.run(com.google.firebase:firebase-database@@19.2.1:1006)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:907)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7478)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:549)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:941)

Here's my User.kt
import com.google.firebase.database.IgnoreExtraProperties

// [START rtdb_user_class]
@IgnoreExtraProperties
data class User(
    var id: String = "",
    var name: String = "",
    var email: String = "",
    var userReads: Int? = 0,
    var userPlays: Int? = 0,
    var userWatches: Int? = 0,
    var paidDate : Int? = 0,
    var endPaidDate : Int? = 0,
    var paidStatus : String? = "",
    var paymentMethod : String? = "",
    var planid : String? = "",
    var firebaseUid : String? = "",
    var referralEarning : Int? = 0,
    var numReferrals : Int? = 0
)

What am I doing wrong?

A: Please take a look at onComplete method:
override fun onComplete(
                    databaseError: DatabaseError?,
                    committed: Boolean,
                    currentData: DataSnapshot?
                ) {
                    // Transaction completed
                    Log.d("MUser", "postTransaction:onComplete:" + databaseError!!)
                }

You are using !! operator when referencing databaseError parameter, but it can be null, so you can't use !!. To avoid that Exception just remove !! operator:
Log.d("MUser", "postTransaction:onComplete:" + databaseError)

databaseError: DatabaseError? - it is a nullable object (nullable objects marked with ? operator), you can't use !! operator on it if you are not 100% sure that it is not null.
Also you can use ? operator on nullable objects to call its methods or properties, e.g.:
Log.d("MUser", "postTransaction:onComplete:" + databaseError?.getMessage())

More info about Null Safety in Kotlin.


Alain Rodriguez is one of the new school bladers from Bilbao. Like others he stresses about lots of things — not his amazing tricks or the risks he takes — but by the desire to improve and to enjoy rollerblading.
This year I have been working with many photographs. I love to see Alain enjoy and live as a street skater, and we connect a lot because we believe that the root and essence of the sport is the street.
Although we know that is not always the best way of spreading our sport to new audiences, is at the terrain we both enjoy.
So keep working this way, Alain. Thanks for your friendship.


This entry was posted on Saturday, March 30th, 2019 at 3:24 pm	and is filed under Car, Car Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


In this May we found a place with thousands of Lissotriton montadoni. It was incredible!
again, your website (and images from this server) is on the bad list!
I´ll hoping, you will find the error or badware!
But anyway, the pictures are great!


text:
June 8, 2018 Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change News
Community groups call on new provincial government to tackle racial inequities in Ontario
June 8, 2018/Toronto – Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) calls on the new Provincial Government to make racial justice and racial equity a focal point of its mandate.
COP-COC, a provincial network of individuals and organizations working to build community-based capacity to address racialized poverty and racial inequality, invites the new Ontario Government to work with communities of colour and Indigenous communities to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination and related intolerance.
Over 1/3 of the Ontario population is made up of peoples of colour and Indigenous peoples. They are also among the most marginalized, as demonstrated by various social, health and economic measures and indicators.
As a group, racialized communities (including both peoples of colour and Indigenous Peoples) experience higher rates of poverty, earn less income, and are more likely to be in precarious employment. As a result of their economic marginalization, they are also more likely to be in core housing need and have poorer health outcomes. Racialized group members – in particular Indigenous Peoples and African Canadians – are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice and child welfare systems.
Just prior to the election, the COP-COC hosted a provincial forum bringing together racialized communities members from across Ontario to develop strategies on the promotion of racial equity. Forum participants want the new Ontario Government to strengthen existing anti-racism measures and introduce new policies and practices to combat systemic racism in all of its forms.
COP-COC calls on the new Ontario Government to:
Confirm its commitment to Ontario's Poverty Reduction strategy, and specifically address the growing racialization of poverty in Ontario. Among other things, the new Government should confirm its commitment to raising social assistance rates and to advancing income security reform to end poverty for all people in Ontario;
Continue to fully implement the Ontario Anti-Racism Strategy, including the mandatory collection of disaggregated ethno-racially-based data by all provincial ministries, offices, divisions and by the broader public sector;
Introduce mandatory employment equity legislation to level the playing field for all equity seeking groups in the labour market – in particular Indigenous Peoples, peoples of colour, women, persons with (dis)abilities and LGBTQ community members;
Continue to attach community benefits agreements (CBA's) – that include employment equity objectives – to all provincially funded investments, initiatives and projects;
Continue with the reforms to the criminal justice system and to matters of policing to eliminate all forms of racial profiling and racial discrimination;
Continue to invest in legal aid and increase funding for community based legal clinics; and
Eliminate the three month OHIP waiting period for newcomers to the province.
Over the next five years, COP-COC will be fully engaged with racialized communities and other allies and partners across Ontario to make sure their issues will be meaningfully and effectively addressed by the new provincial government.
COP-COC will also be working with affected communities on a campaign to push the Federal Government to relaunch Canada's Action Plan Against Racism (CAPAR), and to ensure that the new CAPAR will mandate and encourage provinces and territories to tackle racism in education, health, criminal justice, and all other areas that fall within their jurisdiction.
Tagged election, ontario, racism
Refugee advocates urge Ontario to stay at the table


text:
Showtime Sports
'You Have Different Perspectives And That's Pretty Fascinating': Director Andrew Glazer On Showtime Documentary 'Bad Hombres' About Binational Baseball TeamA new Showtime Sports documentary explores what life is really like at the border through the perspective of the only professional sports team to play in both the U.S. and Mexico.
'Nothing In This Story Played Out The Way You Thought It Would': Pat Kondelis On Showtime Sports Docu-Series 'Outcry'The director discusses his fascinating Showtime docu-series about former Texas high school football Greg Kelley and the complicated story around his sexual assault conviction.
'It's A Really Inspirational Story': Kenneth Sims Jr. & Destyne Butler Jr. On Showtime Documentary 'Ringside'The boxers discuss their Showtime Sports documentary that chronicles their lives and careers over a nine year period.
Showtime To Air 'Shut Up And Dribble' Docu-series In NovemberThe highly anticipated series executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter will be coming to television and streaming in November.
Phil Simms: 'Philadelphia's Defensive Line Changed The Game'Two-time Super Bowl champion and Inside the NFL analyst Phil Simms reflects on Super Bowl 52 and why the Philadelphia Eagles won.
Phil Simms: 'I Wouldn't Want To Play The Chargers In The Playoffs'Phil Simms, Inside The NFL Analyst and former NFL quarterback, looks at the AFC West and why the Los Angeles Chargers are dangerous.
Deontay Wilder: Promised My Daughter I Would Become Heavyweight Champ, And I DidWBC heavyweight champion discusses how he got into boxing and fulfilling his promise to his daughter.
Ray Lewis: Offenses Need To Start Coming Up With New, Different FormationsThe legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker breaks down why we've seen so many strong defensive efforts to start this season.
Showtime Boxing Announces Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz Heavyweight Title Fight Set For November 4thThe current WBC heavyweight champ will square off with another unbeaten fighter in his sixth title defense.
Showtime Sports GM Stephen Espinoza Discusses Mayweather-McGregor FightWith the Mayweather-McGregor fight right around the corner, Showtime Sports GM Stephen Espinoza talks about how it all came together.
New Showtime Documentary Chronicles '76 Indiana Hoosiers, College Basketball's Last Perfect TeamShowtime's documentary 'Perfect In '76,' airing March 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, gives a backstage look at the best basketball season in NCAA history.


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Browse: Home / Transport / Aviation / AirAsia Domestic Network Expands to 20 Routes in October! Improved and enhanced protocols in place for safer, more pleasant flying experience
AirAsia Domestic Network Expands to 20 Routes in October! Improved and enhanced protocols in place for safer, more pleasant flying experience
Posted by Chisa Boonmee on October 12, 2021 in Aviation | 22 Views | Leave a response
AirAsia further expands its flight schedule this October 2021, adding routes from Don Mueang Airport to Phitsanulok, Nan, Loei, Sakon Nakhon, Surat Thani, Krabi and Trang along with regional connections Chiang Mai-Hua Hin (starting 15 October) and Chiang mai – Phuket (starting 16 October). These are in addition to the 11 routes brought back into operation earlier in September and bring the total route network for AirAsia in Thailand to 20 at present.
AirAsia Thailand Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Santisuk Klongchaiya said this is in support of the Thai government's policies to promote domestic tourism with improved health and safety measures. The support should be a boon to the overall economy and help spread revenue generation opportunities across the nation. Thai AirAsia has expressed its full commitment to back these policies by expanding its domestic service and increasing the frequency of flights on high demand routes.
"We saw an encouraging response across all of our routes in September, achieving a load factor average of 75-80 percent and goes up to 90-95 percent over the weekends especially for flights to and from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai. With our guests now getting more familiar with the different travel requirements of each province, we believe tourism industry operators will begin to see a stronger recovery during the final quarter of this year," Mr. Santisuk said.
AirAsia is nonetheless maintaining its highest health and safety standards in prevention of the spread of COVID-19. Reducing contact throughout its service, AirAsia is promoting use of the Digital Health Pass provided by the Mor Prom application, which displays vaccination records and COVID-19 test results. Moreover, the airline is working closely with the Ministry of Public Health and Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand to develop new service standards to provide passengers peace of mind.
To ensure safety for its guests and employees, and as part of its Covid-19 mitigation plan, AirAsia encourages all guests to check-in via the airasia Super App. Guests should make full use of the airasia Super App, the only all-in-one app that guests would need for their journey – from flight to hotel bookings, checking in, through to boarding with the e-Boarding Pass.
"We understand that everyone misses traveling and AirAsia also misses serving travelers. We are constantly monitoring the situation and readying ourselves to return to full service. At present, 100 percent of AirAsia staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and we perform regular COVID-19 screenings so that we may operate with confidence to provide the highest safety assurance to both our guests and employees. We will continue to come up with exciting promotions while maintaining our core strengths of on-time service and an expansive network of destinations," Mr. Santisuk said.
Download airasia Super App now to stay tuned with the latest promotions and enjoy the simplest and fastest way to book flights, hotels, food delivery and more. Direct flights available for booking in October 2021 are from Don Mueang Airport to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phitsanulok, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani, Krabi, Trang, Nakhon Panom, Roi Et, Narathiwat , Nan, Loei, Sakon Nakhon and domestic regional connections Chiang Mai-Hua Hin and Chiang Mai-Phuket. Travel requirements and protocols for each destination province may be viewed at www.moicovid.com/ข้อมูลสำคัญ-จังหวัด/
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Airbus achieves 2021 commercial aircraft delivery target→
New Themed Family Suite creates an animal kingdom for kids at Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok
An Indulgent Afternoon Tea at Waldorf Astoria Bangkok


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Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Japanese Gangster's Daughter
by Kamala Kirk
Think Memoirs of a Geisha meets modern-day Japan with a twist. A Yakuza twist. For those of you not familiar with the term yakuza, they're essentially the Japanese equivalent of the Italian Mafia. Or the Russian Bratva. The yakuza (also known as gokudo), are members of organized Japanese crime syndicates who are frequently represented in the media as glamorous sake-drinking mobsters with a penchant for full body tattoos. While there certainly is some truth to the stereotypes, it's hardly the whole picture. The yakuza is the world's largest criminal organization and have a strong reputation for upholding strict codes of conduct for being very organized in their dealings.
You can't choose what family you're born into. Such was the case with Shoko Tendo, who grew up the daughter of a yakuza boss. Her best-selling book Yakuza Moon is the quintessential tale of growing up amongst privilege and power, then losing it all when her father was sent to prison and her family fell into terrible debt – all when she was just the tender age of six.
By the time Shoko was 12-years-old she was already a nightclub regular, drug addict and standing member of a girl gang. Bullied by classmates and abused by her father upon his return from prison, she spent eight months in juvenile detention hall as a teen prior to her slow and painful ascent into adulthood. Trying to gain a sense of responsibility, Shoko became a bar hostess in the '80s during Japan's rising bubble economy, forming many relationships with wealthy club patrons (some who wooed her with lavish gifts and others who abused her).
Life brought another hardship when Shoko's mother died, which led to her first suicide attempt. She also endured a series of rough romantic relationships and broken marriages with several yakuza members. Despite having endured severe beatings (including one that scarred her face and required corrective surgery) along with other forms of mental and emotional abuse, Shoko is a survivor. While her tale is dark, there are moments of light throughout as she highlights both the good and bad times in her life, sharing her personal journey and physical transformation as she was tattooed from head to toe, and how her tattoo of a geisha with a dagger in her mouth inspired Shoko to see change and empowerment.
Shoko no longer lives in the shadows of the gangsters that she was formerly controlled by. Instead, she walks in the sunlight and enjoys her liberated existence as a writer, and perhaps the most important role she's ever played in life: as a mother. Even though her yakuza ties have long been cut, Shoko will always remember where she came from: "I had a hard time as the daughter of a gangster, but looking back I wouldn't have lived my life any other way. I am proud that my father was a yakuza. I know his is a world that has no proper place for women. But I have his DNA."
Tags: book reviewfeaturedlifestyleShoko TendoYakuza Moon
Written by Kamala Kirk
View all posts by Kamala Kirk


For most people, an Alaskan cruise will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To say Marla and I are "excited" about taking a large group of friends to see the beauty of Alaska is truly an understatement.
Most of you know, as I've told EVERYONE, I was fortunate enough to spend a summer in Alaska about six years ago. It was a time in my life, after family sickness and a career layoff, (before grandchildren) that I needed renewal time. So I loaded my little Prius with my belongings and a friend nice enough to ride with me part of the way. We drove across the country, put my Prius onto the Alaskan Ferry, sailed up the inside passage, and drove on to Fairbanks, Alaska.
It will always be one of the highlights of my life, for I, indeed, was able to "touch the face of God" when I really needed to see Him and feel His touch. Alaska now holds part of my heart.
When you think about our Grans On The Go Group Tour being 16 months away, July 2020, you may wonder: What's the rush? Why should you book now?
New sale information since original post: Please go here to review current sale information which provides additional savings to the prices listed in original post.
Monetary Risk: There is no monetary risk involved to book now and cancel for any reason. You have approximately 90 days before the beginning of your tour to cancel and receive a full refund.
Choice of cabins: The earlier you book, the better choice of cabins on the ship. If you are serious about getting a particular room or location on board, please book early.
Land Tours fill up before the ship fills up: If you are considering one of the land/sea tours, please book now!! There are a limited amount of hotel rooms on land available, which is a much smaller number than rooms on board the cruise ship. Please don't miss out on your land tour opportunity because you waited too long to book.
Dinner with the group: Book now to ensure dinner seating with the Grans On The Go group. Our group has a 7:15 or 7:30 standing dinner reservation. This is the most popular time onboard to eat dinner. When the reservation time fills up, you will need to pick an alternative time to eat dinner.
Choice of Excursions: The most popular Princess cruise excursions book first, of course. The earlier you book, the more time you have to choose excursions. Look for an upcoming blog post on excursion options.
Payment options: By booking early, our travel agent, Pam Cheek, can set up a payment plan to fit your budget and timeline.
We will be writing soon about airfare with Princess EZ Air, points options, etc.
Thanks to all who have already signed up. We are still anticipating approximately 40-50 people to go, maybe more.
Full details can be found at here at Gransonthego.com. Or email our travel agent, Pam Cheek at pam@globegetaways.com. She will call you back asap.


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Remembering the Music Maestro: Salil Chaudhury
Entertainment, Music, Personalities
by Somashis Gupta
Somashis Gupta
A devoted foodie with keen interest in wild life, music,…
A Tribute to the Great Music Maestro Salil Chowdhury
With a childhood in the lap of tea gardens of Assam, young Salil indulged in sounds of nature, western songs & regional folk songs with an impetus passion that made him a prolific musician in the later years. The themes of Indian nationalism, Soviet folk songs, North Indian classical music, western classical music, and Communist Bengali Songs knitted Salil Chaudhury's work rhythm. Music was so profoundly integrated with Salilda that he could play on any musical instrument like flute, esraj, violin, piano, tabla with ease. In the world of cinemas, Chaudhury's versatility resonates across many languages & genres, exceptionally so in "Do Bigha Zamin", based on his Bengali short story Ricksahwala. As India celebrated the 96th birth anniversary of the maestro– Salil Choudhury, yesterday (19th November), our talented writer Somashis Gupta pays tribute to his legendary contribution in music, writings, cinema, composition, and blending of eastern and western music traditions together
Illustration by Indro Ganguli
The Indian music industry has produced several maestros. Many have composed music to perfection. However, only a handful has endured through time with inimitable discernment of usage of its contrivances. Fewer have been able to achieve select unification of style, symphony and classicism.
One such genius was Salil Chaudhury, a world musician. His contributions to the field of music are humongous. Proficient in innumerable themes, such as Indian Nationalism, Soviet folk songs, North Indian classical music, Western Classical music and Communist Bengali songs, Chaudhury still mesmerises audience of various ages till date with equal charisma.
Born to Doctor Gyanendra Chaudhury (father) and Bibhabati Devi (Mother) on the 19th of November 1925, young Salil spent his childhood mostly in the Tea gardens of Assam. Young Salil absorbed anything and everything he heard, from western music to the folk songs of tea garden labours. Perhaps this laid the foundation of his creative excellence.
He found the first opportunity of expression through his brother Nikhil Chaudhury who was the director of an orchestra called Milan Parishad. It was here that Salil formed the core of his rudimentary work. He got exposed to instrument, composition and the finer aspects of the orchestral opus.
He shifted to Calcutta for his studies, where he experienced the tenets of Indian nationalism and the stirring of the masses against British rule, and it resulted in his first composition, 'Bicharpoti Tomar bichar' in 1943 and 'Dhau uthchhe Kara Tutchhe' in 1944.
Salil Chowdhury was not just a composer. He was a poet and a writer as well. His anti-colonial songs depicting the misery and apathy of poor and oppressed landless peasants brought him a great reputation. They dealt with themes of independence, oppression, and social injustice against idealism and romanticism, which were flowering themes in Bengali musical compositions of the day.
"Salil Chowdhury" pen andink drawing by the talented Indro Ganguli
He was one of the founder members of the Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) where he composed 'Ghum Bhangar Gaan' which remains one of the most unique compositions to date. He tuned Sukanta Bhattacharya's poems like Abak Prithibi and Runner, which are cherished to date. His most notable output from this period includes 'Hei Samalo' written for the Tebagha Andolan in 1948, and 'Amaar Pratibader Bhasha'.
Later he formed the Calcutta Youth Choir along with Ruma Guha Thakurta, which traversed villages in Bengal with the IPTA, singing Chowdhury's compositions.
Chaudhury had established a unique modus operandi by combining Western and Eastern music gave a new dimension to the music industry, and was the foundation of Bengali adhunik(modern) music.
By this time, the Bengali film industry had started rising. Salil was one of the leading playback songwriters of Tollywood. He made his advent to Bombay and the world of Bollywood filmdom subsequently. For twenty years, he contributed music to notable films such as Jagte Raho/Ek Din Ratre, Madhumati, and Kabuliwala.
He came back to Calcutta with a new aura in music. His compositions like 'Surer Jharna' and 'Teler Shishi' caught immediate attention. His symbolic style caught on to Bengali theatre as well, and Salil became one of the most popular composers for Jatra, a popular Bengali theatre.
Salil Chaudhury was an artist in the true sense. His creativity went beyond the boundaries of only music. His first short story Dressing Table was a runaway hit; subsequently, he went on writing various other stories and plays. The thematic exploration in works such as Sunya Puron, dealing with a midget's fight to overcome the shortcomings of his height, became an integral part of his writing. Chowdhury's first play to be staged was Chaal Chore, and he went on to write scripts such as Janaantik and Sanket.
Arts, Entertainment, Features, Music
"Mazi" – A Blend of Cultures
Another significant work of Salil was translating the renowned Irish play, At the Rising of the Moon into Bengali as Orunodoyer Pathey.
Another noteworthy work was Aapni key? Aapni Ki Karen? Apni Ki Korte chaan? (Who are you? What do you do? What would you like to do?), directed by Shekhar Chattyopadhaay and staged by the Theatre Unit of Calcutta in 1972.
Salil Chaudhury entered the film industry with the script of a Bengali movie Rikshawalaa fascinated Bimal Roy, a prominent director from Bollywood, and he invited Salil to rewrite it in Hindi. The film was none other than the critically applauded Do Bigha Zameen, which established both Roy and Chowdhury as icons of the Indian screen.
The art of word is in mind, and the art of music-making is the emotion and the art of bridging the two is what defines Salil Chaudhury is not just a mere talent but an otherworldly genius. Salil Chowdhury will always be the voice and soul of India for now and for times to come.
References from Kabir Suman's interviews with Salil Chaudhury, and write ups of Avinash Mudaliar
Abak Prithibi and Runner Arunodher pathey Assam Bengali Bengali adhunik music Bibhabati Devi Bicharpoti Tomar bichar Bimal Roy British rule Calcutta Youth Choir cinema Communist Bengali songs composer Do bheega zameen Doctor Gyanendra Chaudhury folk songs genius Indian Indian Nationalism Irish play Jatra Kabuliwala Madhumati Milan Choudhury Music Musician North Indian classical music playwright poet Salil Chaudhury Soviet folk songs tea gardens Western classical music western music writer
A devoted foodie with keen interest in wild life, music, cinema and travel Somashis has evolved over time . Being an enthusiastic reader he has recently started making occasional contribution to write-ups.
Somashis Gupta November 20, 2021
The Gastronomic Ghugni
Avishek says:
Superbly written. Really impressed with your research work and love for art.
Anirban says:
Another excellent article about a true genius
Entertainment, Features, Music
Adda, Music, Personalities
The Legends Who Formed the Choir
Cinema, Cover Story, Personalities
Ritwik Ghatak, the Maverick Genius


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Local & National Issues
Give Warrington town centre a chance!
warrington town centre
By Gary,
April 15, 2018 in Local Issues
Milky 96
Locationwarrington
4 hours ago, Confused52 said:
Debating here whether the new temp market is a success or whether the new one will be?
Can I ask what was wrong with the old market? Although it wasn't as busy as it used to be it wasn't exactly deserted, the food hall seemed to suffer less then the non food section and it badly needed refurbishing.
The purpose of the new market along with the cinema, car park, office block and I guess park is to regenerate Bridge st and the rest of the town centre! Will that happen, that is the £100 million plus question?
P J 32 posts
Milky 25 posts
asperity 16 posts
grey_man 15 posts
Where to begin, there are multitude of factors that have played a part in the demise of the Town Centre, and it's not just a Warrington problem. If we start with the politicians, I would suggest that
Evil Sid
When was the last time you bought a cup of coffee? and by that i mean a cup of coffee and not a caramel fudge double frappé latte with a a shot of hazelnut. I had to go into town yesterday for my
Probably because your entire posting repertoire extends only to slagging off the council and slagging off the council, grow up and stop whinging. Local shops, local cafes, local restaurants, local ba
Confused52 271
Confused52
LocationWestbrook
If I were to be cynical I would say that the actual purpose of the development was to cut WBC costs. The key output is the offices which are just for the council, the objective being to stop paying rent where they currently do such as New Town House. Next was to provide car parking space for their employees moving inti the offices. To do so they need an anchor usage that uses and hence pays for the car park when the offices are not in use so the key anchor tenant had to be an entertainment in the evening. There then needed to be supplementary uses that would feed the punters before and after entertainment. The Cinema is the golden goose which uses the Car Park and the rent for which pays the loan the council has from the Public Works Loans Board to build the whole thing. The Market and the Shops are somewhat of an afterthought. We can show the key linkage to be true because the projections of the cinema got bigger as audience increased so the council made the offices bigger to close more existing office accommodation and the costs grew.
The major impact is really then the offices but the annual 4 million price of the loan for the whole project is a risk that the council tax payers are taking. If the cinema folds or under performs the shops and market rents are mitigating factors to reduce the cuts in services or increases in charges that the town would face. The project is a gamble to avoid significant changes in the way the council operates. The objective of the whole plan is to make the Council offices cost nothing in rent to WBC whilst making Bridge Street and Time Square look more open and modern.
The regeneration of the town is a patchwork of individual projects which may work together but only this one is so far funded by capital borrowing and has some benefit to the public. Birchwood Park, Matalan, DW Sports are all commercial profit seekers to increase income without any civic benefit other than income for the council.
We are told that the old market was particularly unsavoury in the storage and delivery areas and needed considerable work. The market needed to go first to get the offices in the right place for the car park so it was always going to be reworked but it is collateral damage in the main plan as far as I can see.
asperity 894
LocationThe whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. H.L.Mencken
I went to the new (temporary) market today. It looked okay if a bit cramped, but I have to have a whinge about the food court - it was full of people stuffing their faces! Have they no homes to go to?
Evil Sid 826
Gold Star Member
Last time was at a food court two tables got cleared of a salt but were found guilty on pepper.
Should be in the jokes thread Sid . Good one though .
On 5/21/2018 at 12:24 PM, Confused52 said:
If I were to be cynical I would say that the actual purpose of the development was to cut WBC costs.
What you say kind of makes sense but then why put the offices there?
It would make more sense to put them on the vacant land opposite the train station. Access is easier, parking available at the GS car park which isn't that busy weekdays, I guess I am missing something.
13 hours ago, Evil Sid said:
Lol, it is so bad it is quite good
Milky, the council don't own the GS car park,
Oh, OK now I understand. Always thought both car parks belong to WBC.
Davy51 571
Davy51
LocationNewton-le-Willows
Perhaps a start to reinvigorating the town centre especially in leisure terms would be to look at the public transport system. People can't become town centre customers without the means to get there & back home safely & the car is out of the question if drinking alcohol is part of the visit. Taxis & private hire is expensive & unreliable these days so why not have a major rethink about the buses ? Many towns & cities run late night or all night buses to get revellers & even late night workers back home....in Warrington too many services either disappear after 7pm or are greatly curtailed. Cheap reliable public transport could benefit the community as well as the town centre & bus company .Warrington is such a sprawling place that it must be easier for many people to get to surrounding towns than our own town centre.
I can only speak for myself but when I venture into town I'm inevitably with my wife or a small group so the car is always going to be preferable to public transport. Of course someone has to be the nominated driver but that's true even if you're not visiting the centre.
What puts me off and I think a lot of others, is the uncertainty of safe parking during the evening. My drinking mate is quite happy to use his car to drive out to a country pub but just won't go into the town at night for fear of drunken job damaging his nice paintwork and I can understand his concerns. For years, I used to park on the roller rink car park on Academy Street until I got hit with a sixty pound fine when they installed surveillance cameras. A few years before that I got another sixty pound fine again for parking somewhere I'd parked for years before the owner employed a clamping firm.
So if they want to get me back into town, then provide some safe parking ideally free of charge.
P J 142
LocationCallands
On 29/05/2018 at 3:56 PM, Bill said:
You must be the only person who has somehow managed not to spot the shiny, new and secure car park which has replaced the old market one. 24 hour security and surveillance cameras all over the shop. Must be worth a couple of quid for peace of mind and in the day time the 1st 3 hours parking are free, you simply need to validate your ticket at the market.
Tesco are shutting down their online shop from 9 June, Tesco say they can not see a way of making it profitable!
It is interesting that these days the high street shops can't make a profit but neither can the online shops. Amazon for example have only just started making a small profit and are investing in the high street.
Amazon make very large profits but these have been re-invested in growing the business.
We were in Southport yesterday & that too has been hit hard by store closures. Lord St has gaps everywhere & it seems that charity shops & little private ventures of possibly here today gone tomorrow businesses are the order of the day. Even BHS is still empty & the Woolworth's store must be one of the biggest charity shops in Britain. The most prosperous industry seems to be car parking.
14 hours ago, asperity said:
OK Amazon might be a bad example, although they have been loss making for years, whether that is because of accounting or it has been loss making?
However fact remains a few make money in e business many don't. I briefly ventured into e business but what stopped me making a profit was customer returns
1 minute ago, Milky said:
OK Amazon might be a bad example, although they have been loss making for years, whether that is because of accounting or it has been loss making.
You are correct, Amazon doesn't make it's $Billions of profit from online retail, but they do delare a "loss" because to a business a "loss" is a tax avoidance mechanism. This is why everyone is up in arms about multinationals not paying tax. They divert their profits to places where their tax liabilities are low to zero, and declare losses in places where the taxes are high. This is called business (or common) sense. What people don't understand is that it is not your right, but your duty to avoid (not evade) tax. Tax is what the government has legislated that you should pay them. If you are happy with the tax that they have demanded of you then fine, pay it. If there is a way of avoiding paying more than the law says you owe, then fine then use it to avoid paying more than they demand. If you don't think they've demanded enough from you, then fine again. Write a cheque and send it to the treasury, they have an account for gullible idiots voluntary payments.
Sorry if I wandered off the point you were making but rum.................................................


This rings showed a big story, stand with million of sands, coloured with sprarkling shells. They took us to a beautiful journey in our pretty honeymoon. And now, they adorn our life journey, in our fingers. Keep this strong feeling, as a white stone behind them.