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Synthesizing Phosphors Through Microwave Process
Chris Y. Fang, Dinesh K. Agrawal, Ming Fu, Joan M. Coveleskie, Chung-nin Chau, James Walck, Rustum Roy
Journal: MRS Online Proceedings Library Archive / Volume 988 / 2006
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011, 0988-QQ06-20
Print publication: 2006
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Various Lamp phosphors, including [Ca10(PO4)6(Cl,F):Sb:Mn], (Y,Eu)2O3 (YOE), BaMgAl10O17:Eu (BAM), and (La,Ce)PO4:Ce:Tb (LAP), with or without flux, have been synthesized by a microwave processing technique in a multimode microwave furnace operating at 2.45 GHz. The microwave-synthesized phosphors were comprehensively characterized for particle size, specific surface area, brightness, and luminescence. Although most properties of the microwave-synthesized phosphors were comparable to that of the conventional products, the kinetics of the phosphor synthesis was substantially enhanced in the microwave processing. As a result, the soaking time at the final temperature was reduced by up to 90% compared to a conventional process. In addition, the required synthesis temperature was also lowered by 100-200°C in microwave process, compared to the conventional process for these lamp phosphors. Certain improved property was also observed in some microwave synthesized samples. The mechanism and advantages of microwave process for the lamp phosphor synthesis through solid-state reaction are addressed.
Field decrystallization and structural modifications of highly doped silicon in a 2.45-GHz microwave single-mode cavity
Ramesh Peelamedu, Rustum Roy, Dinesh Agrawal, William Drawl
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 19 / Issue 6 / June 2004
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2011, pp. 1599-1602
Highly doped n-type silicon powder responds aggressively to a 2.45-GHz microwave E-field, whereas it remains unperturbed in the H-field. In the E-field, after about 30 s of treatment, the silicon powder attained submelting temperatures and thus coagulated to a bulk solid piece. X-ray diffraction analysis of the surface and the cross section of this solid material failed to show any detectable peaks, ascertaining the fact that the material had decrystallized. The Raman spectra of the material had broad and shallow peaks quite different from the thin, sharp lines exhibited by Si wafer. It appears that the E-field treatment has considerably distorted the lattice structure creating lattice strains throughout the sample. These lattice strains were relieved by grinding (recrystallized).
Ultralow dielectric constant nickel–zinc ferrites using microwave sintering
Ramesh Peelamedu, Craig Grimes, Dinesh Agrawal, Rustum Roy, Purushotham Yadoji
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 18 / Issue 10 / October 2003
Print publication: October 2003
Ultralow dielectric constant values were measured on Ni–Zn ferrites prepared using Fe2O3 as a starting material and sintered in a microwave field. Significant differences in microstructure, magnetic, and dielectric properties were observed between microwave-sintered Ni–Zn ferrites prepared using Fe3O4 (T34) and those starting with Fe2O3 (T23) ingredients. Higher magnetization values observed in T23 ferrite are attributed to large grain size, possibly containing abundant domain walls and the presence of fewer Fe2+ ions. The ultralow dielectric constant values observed on T23 ferrites show that this procedure is highly suitable to prepare Ni–Zn ferrites for high-frequency switching applications.
Major phase transformations and magnetic property changes caused by electromagnetic fields at microwave frequencies
Rustum Roy, Ramesh Peelamedu, Craig Grimes, Jiping Cheng, Dinesh Agrawal
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 17 / Issue 12 / December 2002
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011, pp. 3008-3011
Print publication: December 2002
We demonstrate in this paper that common crystalline phases can be made noncrystalline and hard magnets can be converted to soft magnets in the solid state in several seconds at temperatures far below the melting points. New crystal structures and magnetic structures of ferromagnetic oxides (ferrites such as BaFe12O19, CoFe2O4, Fe3O4, and ZnFe2O4, etc.) are formed by reacting either the stoichiometric mixture of oxides or the preformed phase-pure crystalline material in a pure H field (or E field) at microwave (2.45 GHz) frequencies. These major changes in the magnetic properties as well as major structural phase changes are caused by the magnetic field.
Reaction kinetics and anisothermal effects in microwave fields: System Y2O3–Fe3O4
Ramesh D. Peelamedu, Rustum Roy, Dinesh K. Agrawal
Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) powder has been synthesized in just less than 10 min in a multimode microwave oven operating at 2.45 GHz. The simple solid-state synthesis involves an anisothermal reaction between a highly microwave absorbing Fe3O4 and a low microwave absorbing Y2O3 at temperatures of 1300 °C. The rapidity of the YIG formation suggests that the reaction rate is possibly enhanced by several times in a microwave field.
Resources Center for Materials Science Education
Thomas G. Stoebe, Darcy Clark, Rustum Roy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011, HH2.3
A variety of educational resources are available in the area of materials science and engineering. These resources are widely dispersed and are often hard to find. Several efforts to collect and categorize the wide variety of educational modules, demonstrations, laboratories and texts have been launched in recent years, but none have been able to incorporate the vast majority of resources. The current effort is funded by NSF and has been collecting information from a variety of sources over the past year. It is being integrated with the Materials Education Library project that has been under way at the University of Michigan since 1997. These projects will result in a fully searchable database, published both on the world wide web and in a print catalog, with the first edition being available by summer 2000. The draft web site may be found at http://msewww.engin.umich.edu/MEL/; a permanent web site will be available by the end of 2000.
Downshift of Raman peak in diamond powders
Xing-Zhong Zhao, K. A. Cherian, Rustum Roy, William B. White
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 13 / Issue 7 / July 1998
Print publication: July 1998
View extract
Results are presented on the influence of the size of diamond powders and the laser power on the main Raman line. These results show conclusively that there is a consistent and systematic, reversible, downshift with both decrease of powder size, and increase of power. The shift can be explained by local heating of about 500 °C in the extreme case. Its significance applies to interpretation of the alleged "downshifting" of the 1332 cm−1 line in all diamond research. In the future, the grain size, the thermal contact, and the beam power must be carefully monitored in reporting and interpreting any frequency shifts.
High-Surface - Area Framework Zirconium Phosphates as Catalysts of Hexane Isomerization and Dehydroaromatization: Synthesis and Properties
Vladislav A. Sadykov, S. N. Pavlova, G. V. Zabolotnaya, D. I. Kochubey, R. I. Maximovskaya, V. I. Zaikovskii, V. V. Kriventsov, S. V. Tsybulya, E. B. Burgina, E. A. Paukshtis, A. M. Volodin, V. B. Fenelonov, N. N. Kuznetsova, V. V. Lunin, M. V. Chaikina, Dinesh Agrawal, Rustum Roy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011, 255
Mechanochemical activation of solid inorganic precursors and sol-gel routes followed by hydrothermal treatment in the presence of surfactants were used to synthesize highly dispersed NZP-type complex zirconium phosphates. Genesis of samples real structure and its impact on the surface properties and catalytic performance in the reactions of hexane isomerization and dehydroaromatization have been studied.
Four Revolutions in Diamond Synthesis: The Vindication of Edisonian Chemistry
Rustum Roy
Careless claims by scientists are often expanded further by journalists and grossly distort the scientific "truths" passed on to the public and policy maker. Recently, such overclaims have invaded the field of materials synthesis.
The real first principles of materials synthesis, based on the work of V.M. Goldschmidt (and Linus Pauling), have proved to be, and continue to be, very successful. By combining such principles with Edison's methodology of careful observation, precise experimentation and rapid feedback, thousands of new (inorganic) phases have been, and continue to be made (since 1948, several hundred from our own laboratory), producing dozens of useful, widely commercialized materials.
In contrast, in spite of seventy years of trying, the so-called "first principles" calculations (from the quantum mechanics of cores and electrons) have utterly failed to actually predict and synthesize a single new material or add anything to the deep and reliable insights of well known chemical theories. It is clear that what students and researchers in contemporary materials synthesis need most is a thorough grounding in crystal chemistry and phase equilibria (including metastable equilibria).
The history of the "C3N4" failure, as a harder than diamond candidate, is prototypical of the"calculating" approach to synthesis. It is contrasted with short summaries on four recent real advances into completely new processes for diamond synthesis.
Sintering of the ultrahigh pressure densified hydroxyapatite monolithic xerogels
Ján Majling, Peter Znáik, Angela Palová, Stefan Svetík, Stefan Kovalík, Dinesh K. Agrawal, Rustum Roy
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 12 / Issue 1 / January 1997
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011, pp. 198-202
Print publication: January 1997
Dense and translucent ceramics were prepared by sintering of cylindrical preforms of hydroxyapatite extruded from xerogels. Extruded specimens were dried as monoliths and then consolidated by applying cold isostatic pressure, ranging from 500 to 1500 MPa. Upon heating the samples began to densify at 610 °C, and the densification/sintering was completed at 870 °C as was evidenced by the dilatometry plot indicating no further shrinkage. The sintered specimens thus formed were translucent in appearance. Further heating of the samples up to 1200 °C resulted in their "bloating" or creation of pores in the originally dense matrix. Pore creation within the structure is reproducible, it proceeds from the surface to the interior of the sample, and its spreading can be thermally controlled. Pore evolution within the single phase dense polycrystalline material is not related to the frequently occurring phenomenon of microcracking in ceramics during cooling.
[NZP], NaZr2P3O12-type materials for protection of carbon-carbon composites
Dinesh K. Agrawal, Girish Harshé, Else Breval, Rustum Roy
Carbon-carbon composites, if not suitably protected, suffer from the problem of oxidation of the surface in normal atmospheres at temperatures above 350 °C. For this reason they need to be protected from oxidizing environments by either using an impermeable coating, or using a sacrificial protective coating of a suitable material, and/or doping of an oxidation inhibitor in the carbon. In this study we have used a new family of materials with tailorable thermal expansion characteristics, namely, the [NZP] family as the materials for developing a suitable coating material for C-C composites. The candidates selected for matching thermal expansion with that of carbon are Ca0.5Sr0.5Zr4P6O24, SrZr4P6O24, and Ba1.175Zr4P5.65Si0.35O24. They can be sintered in inert atmosphere without decomposition of the phases, and can be hot-pressed in inert atmosphere with C-C composites at 1250 °C without decomposition or chemical interaction. They are stable in the presence of carbon up to 1200 °C for at least a period of 4 h. They also do not show any weight loss after exposure to various temperatures up to 1200 °C for 4 h.
Microwave-hydrothermal processing of layered anion exchangers
Sridhar Komarneni, Q. H. Li, Rustum Roy
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 11 / Issue 8 / August 1996
Print publication: August 1996
We have compared the microwave-hydrothermal (M-H) processing with conventional hydrothermal (C-H) processing in the preparation of two layered anion exchangers, i.e., Mg3Al(OH)8NO3 · nH2O and Ni1-xZn2x(OH)2(CH3COO)2x · nH2O. Both these phases can be crystallized more rapidly (an order of magnitude) under M-H processing compared to C-H processing. The above layered mixed basic salt of Ni and Zn was found to exhibit very high selectivity for PO4= (Kd = 15,000). Its order of selectivity for various anions in the presence of 0.1 N̲ NaC1 (ratio of C1- to anion in question is 100) increases as follows: PO4= ≫ SO4= > NO3-.
Evidence for hydrothermal growth of diamond in the C–H–O and C–H–O halogen system
Rustum Roy, D. Ravichandran, P. Ravindranathan, A. Badzian
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 11 / Issue 5 / May 1996
Print publication: May 1996
Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman evidence are presented for the formation of crystalline diamond in the "hydrothermal" pressure-temperature regime 1–5 kbars, <1000 °C. Two different methods appear to enable diamond to nucleate and grow. One—a Low Pressure Solid-State Source (LPSSS) route—utilizes special solid precursors, especially low temperature glassy carbon (GC-500), with very fine diamond seeds in sealed gold capsules with H2O at, say, 800 °C and 1 kbar. The other includes pyrolysis of highly selected organic solid/liquid precursors (halogenated aliphatics such as iodoform) onto similar diamond seeds. In all the cases, powder x-ray diffraction evidence shows a marked increase of the diamond XRD peaks, likewise the Raman spectrum shows a strong increase of the 1331 cm−1 line. However, the crystals apparently are too small to be seen in the SEM. TEM diffraction data, on the other hand, seem to lend support to the possibility of all the grown diamonds being very small.
Science Underlying Radioactive Waste Management: Status and Needs-Twenty Years Later
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 September 2012, 3
The setting of the technical subsystem within the overall socio-political-economic-technical radwaste system will be described and the highly interactive nature of the larger setting emphasized. It will be shown that because of the dominance of the socio-political subsystem, the importance of the technical subsystem is overshadowed. Moreover the key issue in the technical subsystem, whether to put more reliance on the immobilization (via the waste package or engineeered barriers) or the isolation (via the geology) has stayed tilted toward the latter since 1978, when we organized the first symposium on radwaste science (at the Materials Research Society meeting). Now that the isolation strategy is stymied, the opportunity arises again for the materials community to make a compelling case for the waste package's true significance.
This review is made mainly from the perspective of one laboratory in one country, the U.S. What is remarkable about the state of research in the technical subsystem is how little the big picture of the science or the technology has changed after some billions spent on R/D. The borosilicate glass (almost unchanged) is still the establishment's choice of reference waste form for HLW Cost, however, is finally forcing cement encapsulated forms to be given a second look. Mineral-modeled ceramics have received a great deal of scientific attention but remain esoteric to managers. It will be shown that in the author's opinion an enormous amount of detailed science has been done but most of it is unlikely to prove to be of any relevance or use. The policy implications for future R/D are discussed.
Conventional and microwave sintering of condensed silica fume
Jan Majling, Peter Znasik, Dinesh Agrawal, Jiping Cheng, Rustum Roy
Condensed silica fume, a by-product from the production of silicon alloys, was sintered by (i) conventional heating in a dilatometric furnace, both at constant heating rate and isothermal heating, and (ii) by the microwave heating. The dense products with relative density up to 95% of theoretical can be obtained only by short runs at high heating rates, preferentially accomplished by the microwave treatment. Prolonged heating leads to the devitrification of the original glassy phase to cristobalite, accompanied by an arrest of densification.
Microwave-hydrothermal processing of metal powders
Sridhar Komarneni, Rajyalakshmi Pidugu, Qing Hua Li, Rustum Roy
Novel microwave-hydrothermal processing has been developed by us recently for the synthesis of a wide variety of ceramic powders. Herein, we report the use of microwave-hydrothermal processing to synthesize several metal powders such as Cu, Ni, Co, and Ag by reducing their corresponding metal salts or hydroxides with ethylene glycol. Metal powders have been produced extremely rapidly a (few minutes) by microwave catalysis. The kinetics of metal powder synthesis have been increased by at least an order of magnitude by microwave-hydrothermal processing compared to the conventional refluxing process in ethylene glycol at about 195 °C.
Synthesis and sintering of Ca0.5Sr0.5Zr4P6O24 powders by the decomposition/combustion of Ca-, Sr-, nitrate-ammonium dihydrogen phosphate-urea mixtures
Chang S. Hong, P. Ravindranathan, Dinesh K. Agrawal, Rustum Roy
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 9 / Issue 9 / September 1994
Print publication: September 1994
Ca0.5Sr0.5Zr4P6O24 (CSZP) powders were prepared by the decomposition/combustion method using Ca(NO3)2 · 4H2O, Sr(NO3)2, ZrO(NO3)2 · xH2O, NH4H2PO4, urea, and NH4NO3 as starting materials. The homogenized slurries of the mixture were heated at 500 °C for 5 min to obtain CSZP powders. The as-synthesized powders were amorphous and crystallized after heating 800 °C for 2 h. The specific surface area of the powder was varied with the batch weight of starting materials or the amount of urea and ammonium nitrate. Powders with high specific surface area (150 m2/g) could be produced by this method. The sinterability of the powders was comparable to that of sol-gel derived powders. The sintered density of the compacts was 99% of theoretical after firing in air at 1350 °C for 6 h.
Surface crystallographic structure compatibility between substrates and high Tc (YBCO) thin films
Ruyan Guo, A.S. Bhalla, L.E. Cross, Rustum Roy
Journal: Journal of Materials Research / Volume 9 / Issue 7 / July 1994
A review and some case studies on the interatomic distances of candidate substrates in comparison to the high Tc superconductor (HTSC) phase YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) is presented, in an attempt to enhance the basis for substrate selection for YBCO film epitaxy. This preliminary study was carried out by examining a variety of interatomic distances in the structure rather than merely matching the lattice parameters. Interatomic structure matching planes of selected YBCO orientations in contact with substrates were identified. The surface termination of the substrate was found to be a crucial parameter in determining the oriented or epitaxial growth. Possible composition dependence of the orientation of the films at the nucleation stage was also anticipated depending on the comparison. Several currently most commonly used substrates are discussed in some detail.
Candidate HTSC Film Substrates of Complex Oxide Perovsk1te Compositions
Ruyan Guo, A. S. Bhalla, Rustum Roy, L. E. Cross
The research focused upon generating new substrate materials for the deposition of superconducting yttrium barium cuprate (YBCO) has yielded several new hosts in complex perovskites, modified perovskites, and other structure families. New substrate candidates such as Sr(Al1/2Ta1/2)O3 and Sr(Al1/2Nb1/2)O3, Ba(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O3 in complex oxide perovskite structure family and their solid solutions with ternary perovskite LaAlO3 and NdGaO3 are reported. Conventional ceramic processing techniques were used to fabricate dense ceramic samples. A laser heated molten zone growth system was utilized for the test-growth of these candidate materials in single crystal fiber form to determine crystallographic structure, melting point, thermal, and dielectric properties as well as to make positive identification of twin free systems. Some of those candidate materials present an excellent combination of properties suitable for microwave HTSC substrate applications.
Microwave Synthesis of Lead-Barium Titanate
Jiping Cheng, Yi Fang, Dinesh K. Agrawal, Rustum Roy
Since the volatilization of lead oxides is inevitable at high temperatures, the problems of maintaining stoichiometry and air pollution are of great concern in conventional synthesis of lead-barium titanate. We have demonstrated that the reaction between PbO, BaO and TiO2 could be greatly accelerated by using microwave energy. The synthesis of (PbxBa1-x)TiO3 can be completed in 10 minutes at about 750°C by microwave heating, while it takes at least 2 hours at 850°C in a conventional heating. The weight loss of PbO during microwave synthesis was much less than that in conventional synthesis. Thus the microwave synthesis technique may find wide applications for the preparation of various lead-containing materials in the production of electronic ceramics.


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Do you want to find new opportunities in one of the world's most innovative regions? Do you want to find new customers, alliances and partners? The ACCIÓ office in Singapore is your gateway to southern Asia and will guarantee access to Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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The Catalonia Trade & Investment office in Singapore is directed by Jordi Maluquer de Motes. Trained in economics and finance, he has been working in southern Asia for more than twenty years. There are a further four consultants at ACCIÓ's Singapore office, which covers an extensive and populated area that includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The ACCIÓ office in Singapore, one of its oldest, opened in 1990. The huge geographical and cultural distance and diversity of the different countries mean that the office is crucial for Catalan companies wishing to enter these markets, by keeping risks to a minimum and guaranteeing success. Since 2015, it has worked on over 150 projects in all kinds of industrial sectors, focusing particularly on companies in the field of industrial systems and in the design industries.
The Singapore office deals mainly with projects that involve marketing (especially the search for marketing channels, scheduling business meetings and conducting market research), soft landing and business missions. It also specializes in innovation projects.
133 Cecil Street, #08-02/02A
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Looking forward to the past: What fossils tell us about extinction
by Matthew Mcdowell, The Conversation
Owls and birds of prey spew bones and remains, which are extremely useful for determining local extinction patterns. Credit: Flickr/Georgie Sharp
The impact of European settlement on Australia was so massive that many mammals disappeared before anyone noticed they were there, but fossils from the past 10,000 years offer excellent evidence of pre-European fauna.
A paper I published in Ecological Management and Restoration this month reviews just how informative these relatively young fossils can be.
When Europeans first came to Australia they cleared native vegetation, dammed and redirected water courses, introduced exotic livestock, pests and predators and generally made a mess of the place.
They also hunted native mammals for their fur and meat, to get rid of "pests"—and, sometimes, just for fun.
Consequently, Australia has the dubious honour of having the highest mammal extinction rate in the world over the past 200 years.
Many native species were lost so quickly that they became locally extinct:
The western mouse (Pseudomys occidentalis) once lived across southern Australia but now only lives in southern Western Australia
Ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) lived on Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas when Europeans settled, but nobody ever noticed them alive
Burrowing bettongs (Bettongia lesueur) used to live throughout Australia's arid zone but now only occur naturally on a couple of islands off the coast of Western Australia.
This left conservation managers with the unenviable task of trying to restore degraded ecosystems with little knowledge of what to conserve.
Dedicated ecologists spend their lives doing fantastic work tracking and monitoring threatened or endangered species for as long as their funding allows, but the money usually runs out well before our animals give up all of their secrets.
Consequently, research that follows the life history of a species for more than five years or a generation are considered "long-term" studies. Though critical for understanding and managing landscapes, long-term ecological studies are rare.
A common ringtail possum. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
But many biologists appear unaware that fossil accumulations from the past 10,000 years (the Holocene) can easily extend their long-term study by orders of magnitude.
The importance of the Holocene
Holocene fossils (sometimes called subfossils) are usually collected by predators such as owls and other raptors (birds of prey). They usually eat their prey whole but can't digest fur and bones so they squash them into a small pellet which gets regurgitated.
Thousands of bones can accumulate at their roosts. All we have to do is find a roost and we can collect huge numbers of fossil bones that will tell us what animals once lived in the area.
If we find some bones big enough to radiocarbon date, we can work out how old they are and interpret the environmental conditions the prey animals lived in before they became bird food.
By far the most important thing that Holocene fossil deposits can tell us is which animals lived where before Europeans arrived—baselines that we can use to measure biodiversity loss against.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to have baselines that show where native mammals lived before Europeans arrived. These fossils provide the only physical evidence of where and how many native species once lived in a region.
By comparing the fossil and present day diversity of native mammals I found that 30-80% of mammal diversity across Australia has been lost since European arrival.
The floor of an ancient owl roost in a coastal cliff overhang. Credit: M. C. McDowell
We may never be able to recreate late Holocene communities, but they provide an invaluable guide to the number and type of species that once lived in a region, how common or rare each species was and where we might be able to re-introduce threatened or endangered mammals (potentially saving them from extinction).
Many small mammals that are now very rare or locally extinct on mainland Australia perform valuable ecosystem services by:
spreading seeds and spores and helping them germinate and grow
digging holes that aerate and add organic matter to the soil, improving the soil's ability to absorb and retain water.
Exotic species such as rabbits also dig, but they don't improve soils anywhere near as well as native mammals. So in areas where native mammals are locally extinct, soils quickly become drier, dustier, more compacted and less fertile, reducing the productivity of the whole ecosystem.
The bones that remain once the dirt has been sieved away. Credit: M. C. McDowell
Restoration ecology is the only way to reverse these changes, but it's really expensive and rarely reproduces the ecology that was lost. Needless to say, it's much cheaper to preserve a functioning ecosystem than trying to re-assemble one!
There is so much we can learn about Australia's pre-European ecosystems by simply scratching the surface in caves, shelters and cliff overhangs. Next time you see an owl or eagle (or other bird of prey), remember that the bones of the animals they eat for lunch today will probably end up on the floor of a cave and possibly become preserved.
In years to come those bones might be found by palaeontologists, who will use them to interpret today's ecology. What do you think they'll find?
It's up to us to make sure they find a range of native mammals – not just house mice and black rats.
Fossils give glimpse into future
Source: The Conversation
This story is published courtesy of The Conversation (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives).
Citation: Looking forward to the past: What fossils tell us about extinction (2014, January 28) retrieved 16 January 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2014-01-fossils-extinction.html
Introducing species to change ecosystems is a balancing act
Aussie diggers linked to ecosystem decline
Cats threaten native mammal survival in our tropical savannas
Did the South American Hoatzins originate in Europe?
Fossil bird study on extinction patterns could help today's conservation efforts


Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. Roll into 48 (1-inch) balls; shape balls into skull shapes. Place on waxed paper-covered rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate 20 min.
Dip balls, 1 at a time, in coating, turning to evenly coat each ball. Return to baking sheet. Decorate with gel to resemble skulls as shown in photo.
Size WiseBalance out your food choices so you can enjoy a serving of these decorative cookie balls.
How to Easily Dip Cookie BallsKeep the cookie balls refrigerated until ready to dip in the melted coating. Then, add balls, in batches, to bowl of melted coating. Use 2 forks to roll balls in coating until evenly coated. Remove balls with forks, letting excess coating drip back into bowl. Place balls in prepared pan; let stand until firm. If coating becomes too thick, add up to 2 tsp. shortening to each 16 oz. of candy wafers.
SubstitutePrepare using 4 pkg. (4 oz. each) white baking chocolate.


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Zara Jordan Waters
Defining Innovation Presents Guy Kawasaki
March 13 @ 8:30 am - 10:45 am
With over 30 years in Silicon Valley as a tech investor, author, and brand evangelist, Guy Kawasaki knows a thing or two about making it in the world of technology and innovation. He has held key positions at Apple — including working directly with Steve Jobs on the original Macintosh — and Google, rocked the venture capital world with investments in companies like Pandora, and is currently the chief evangelist at Australian unicorn, Canva.
Hear tactical and practical advice from Kawasaki's days as Apple's resident marketing guru, gain tips from his time investing in some of technology's biggest success stories, and learn how innovations come from the hard work of implementation rather than aha moments. Inspire your creative advantage and connect to people and ideas leading the future of work.
Stephen Klasko, President & CEO, Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, will be this program's featured speaker and will be interviewing Kawasaki. Klasko, has been re-imagining health care and higher education at one of the nation's fastest growing academic health institutions since 2013. In 2017, he introduced the first design-thinking curriculum in a medical school and in 2018 Klasko was named #2 on Modern Healthcare's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.
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(1952- ) US author; he lived with Elizabeth Hand from 1988 to 1996. Grant began writing work of genre interest with "Drode's Equations" for New Dimensions 12 (anth 1981) edited by Marta Randall, and came to rapid prominence with three novels of mixed sf/fantasy provenance, set in the same Post-Holocaust land, almost certainly the USA, but transfigured by time and events. The first, Saraband of Lost Time (1985), is set much the deepest into this venue, so far into the future that the rather shambling plot mainly serves the Planetary-Romance function of guiding the reader through the world, whose contours have reminded some critics of M John Harrison's Viriconium. The rich array of protagonists featured in Rumors of Spring (1987) is reminiscent of the same source, though Grant seems quite visibly to have taken more pleasure in creating characters than Harrison ever has; the plot involves a quest, hampered by spiritual Entropy, for the Gaian spirit of the forest which is beginning to assault the desultory evening cultures of humankind. Beyond Harrison, authors freely used as models by Grant include James P Blaylock and John Crowley; but the amalgam not only has a recognizable unique savour, but is in a sense a central focus of interest: the past of the world (especially seen from the Far Future) and the past of genres are, in his early work, essentially the same story.
see also: Anti-Intellectualism in SF.


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Was Operation Fast And Furious Really Part Of A Secret Deal Between The DEA And Mexico's Sinaloa Drug Cartel?
Rick Ungar
I write from the left on politics and policy.
Darrell Issa (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)
An investigation by a major Mexican newspaper, El Universal, has concluded that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency entered into agreements—dating back to 2000 and continuing through 2012—with Mexico's largest drug trafficking gang, the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, a highly placed member of the Sinaloa cartel and the son of top Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the deal involved the cartel providing information about rival Mexican drug gangs to the DEA in exchange for the U.S. government agreeing not to interfere with Sinaloa shipments into the United States and the dismissal of criminal charges against cartel participants.
In a series of court fillings in a criminal case against Zambada-Niebla filed in the federal court in Chicago, it is alleged that the U.S. efforts were part of a strategy previously employed by the U.S. government in combatting Colombian drug cartels whereby the government would "divide and conquer" by making sweetheart deals with one cartel in order to gain information to be used in destroying the cooperating cartel's rivals.
The El Universal report is based not only on interviews with DEA and cartel members—some currently incarcerated in Mexican jails—but additionally based on the above-referenced court filings in the U.S. District Court.
A complete recounting of the alleged agreements can be found in the Memorandum of Law In Support Of Motion For Discovery Regarding Defense Of Public Authority filed on behalf of Zambada-Niebla in an effort to get his hands on depositions and additional discovery items that were not turned over to him by the government.
The document makes for some incredibly interesting reading and I highly recommend that you do so.
While much of what is included in various depositions and discovery documents in the case has been kept from public view, El Universal has managed to publish some of the statements made by Mr. Humberto Loya-Castro—an attorney for the Sinaloa cartel who was party to the meetings and a target of DEA investigations tied to his own activities in drug trafficking in the United States. Loya-Castro was ultimately indicted in the Chicago case.
"Mr. Loya-Castro stated that agents (DEA agents) told him that, in exchange for information about rival drug trafficking organizations, the United States government agreed to dismiss the prosecution of the pending case against Mr. Loya-Castro (a different case than the Chicago indictment), not to interfere with his drug trafficking activities and those of the Sinaloa Cartel, to not actively prosecute him, Chapo (Sinaloa boss Joaquin Guzman Loera), Mayo (Ismael Zambada-Garcia) and the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel and not to apprehend them. The agents stated that this arrangement had been approved by high-ranking officials and federal prosecutors."
But was the agreement between the government and the Sinaloa cartel only about information and a "pass" granted the drug peddlers to freely ship their products into the United States?
A close reading of the motion referenced above suggests that the deal with the Sinaloa drug gang may have included shipments of guns to the cartel to be used to thin out the ranks of rival drug gang members in Mexico—something that the U.S. government would view as a "win" if they were following through on the "divide and conquer" strategy employed in Colombia and allegedly in play in Mexico.
As you will see in the pleadings, Zambada-Niebla is deeply interested in getting his hands on discovery that would support the claim that the United States government was doing all of these favors in payment for the deal the two sides had reached, including discovery documents suggesting that weapons were part of the equation.
The allegation that guns were part of a deal between the U.S. and the Sinaloa traffickers has been suggested before. The Blaze reported on this back in August of 2012—
"Zambada-Niebla claims that under a "divide and conquer" strategy, the U.S. helped finance and arm the Sinaloa Cartel through Operation Fast and Furious in exchange for information that allowed the DEA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies to take down rival drug cartels. The Sinaloa Cartel was allegedly permitted to traffic massive amounts of drugs across the U.S. border from 2004 to 2009 — during both Fast and Furious and Bush-era gunrunning operations — as long as the intel kept coming."
If true–and the well researched El Universal report certainly gives credence to The Blaze's earlier reporting—it may be that Operation Fast and Furious was not about a strategy to release guns into Mexico so they could be tracked to drug traffickers, but rather all about using the weapons—as part of the deal with the Sinaloa cartel—to kill soldiers of drug traffickers we wanted off the streets and out of business.
Interestingly, this might just make Americans feel better about Operation Fast and Furious.
(Continue reading)
While much of the anger the scandal set off was based on what appeared to be a sloppy and poorly executed exercise that resulted in one of our own being murdered with the very weapons we had supplied, would Americans feel better if they knew that the weapons were actually being used as part of a strategy to take scores of drug traffickers belonging to Sinaloa's rival gangs off the playing field?
Indeed, if this is really a war, one might argue that this would be a pretty ingenious way kill enemy soldiers.
This leads me to ask a provocative question—
If the "divide and conquer" strategy was being applied in Mexico as a part of the deal with the Sinaloa cartel—the same being based on what many would claim was a successful strategy used to scale back the drug trafficking originating in Colombia—was Fast and Furious the result of a U.S. government that couldn't shoot straight or a well organized effort to allow the Sinaloa crew to kill off thousands of rival drug traffickers to our mutual benefit?
Contact Rick at thepolicypage@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.


text:
JONATHAN BINET
Noire Gallery is delighted to announce a collaboration with the artist Jonathan Binet with the site-specific project which will be presented at the Chapel of San Sebastiano, a location that symbolises the artistic tradition of Noire Gallery. The space, frescoed by Sol LeWitt's wall drawings, hosts site-specific projects by international artists who are invited to deal with this intimate and memory-rich venue.
Jonathan Binet is presenting a selection from his Grinder Works series – canvases that the artist has worked on with an angle grinder. For these, Binet lays the stretched canvases on the floor and repeatedly lowers a running angle grinder onto the surface, holding it only by the cable. As soon as the grinder hits the canvas, it jumps sporadically in different directions, leaving behind traces in the form of grey-black stripes and scratches. In some cases, the grinder actually damages the canvas, cutting and tearing the pictorial surface.
The artist thus makes use of a process that is only controllable to a certain extent. Time and again, he actually loses control of the grinder, not knowing exactly where the machine will jump to next and what traces and 'damage' it will leave behind.
From a distance, these works appear like abstract drawings, as if the lines had been applied quickly with a charcoal pencil, spontaneously and without a concrete composition, full of gestural smudges, scribbles, and disorderly progressions.
In the final step, Binet frames the canvases in metal, lending them the definition and support that the playful lines are unable to provide. The result is a strong contrast between the metal frame and the filigree traces on and damages to the canvas.
In this special exhibition space, references arise to the wall drawings by the American minimalist Sol LeWitt, which the artist executed in the San Sebastiano Chapel. Apparent cracks and traces in the wall reveal a similar play of lines as in the works by Binet, for in Sol Lewitt's wall drawings, orderly grids and structures can be discerned, which then seem to dissolve again through misalignments, leaps, and other irregularities. In the end, however, an abstract, gesturally structured minimal overall image emerges – similar to Binet's – which creates its very own rhythms, balances, and dis-balances.
The works on display by Jonathan Binet thus engage in a fascinating dialogue with Sol LeWitt's wall drawings in that they mirror his conceptual approach but are created in a very unique way without the proverbial 'hand of the artist'.
Special thanks to Berthold Pott Gallery
San Sebastiano,
Only on Private View


text:
Шэнь Иньмо́ (, 1883 — 1971) — китайский ученый, поэт, каллиграф, педагог, внес особый вклад в сохранение каллиграфической традиции Китая.

Биография
Родился в 1883 году в комиссариате Ханьинь уезда Анькан, провинция Шэньси. Его дед и отец, происходившие из Ханчжоу, были известными каллиграфами. В 23 года Шэнь Иньмо отправляется на учебу в Японию. После возвращения на родину (1917) Шэнь стал одним из шести редакторов самого влиятельного современного журнала Китая «Новая молодежь», принимал активное участие в Движении Четвертого мая (1919). В 1930-е годы был профессором и ректором университета Бэйпина. После 1949 года он является членом Общегосударственной народного политического консультативного совета Китая и председатель Центральной палаты по изучению истории и культуры. В 1961 году в Шанхае он основывает «Научное общество по изучению китайской каллиграфии и резьбы почерком чжуань» (Чжунго шуфа чжуаньке яньцзю-хуэй 中国书法篆刻研究会). Умер в 1971 году.

Проект
Шэню Иньмо принадлежат фундаментальные публикации по истории и эстетике каллиграфии: «Беседы о каллиграфии» (Тай Шуфа, 1952 год), двухтомное издание «Комментарии о каллиграфии известных мастеров с комментариями» (Лида минцзя сюэшу цзин янь тань цзияншии, 1963 год), исследования о творчестве двух Ванов (Эр Ван Шуфагуань-куй, 1964 год) и др. На его трудах воспитывались все каллиграфы второй половины XX века.

Собственный творческий путь в каллиграфии Шэнь Иньмо начал с изучения стиля Чу Суйляна. В 30 лет изучал Вэнь Чжэнмина, Ми Фу, Чжи-юна и Сунь Готина. После 50 лет и до конца жизни особенно важным для него стал стиль Оуян Сюня. В творчестве всех этих мастеров Шэнь Иньмо прежде всего интересует воплощение наследия «двух ванов» (эр Ван) — Ван Сичжи и Ван сянь-чжи, главной и итоговой цели его творческого пути. Уже в зрелом возрасте он неоднократно копировал произведение Ван Сичжи "Ланьтин сюй" — «Предисловие к стихам Павильона орхидей». Он достигает желаемого созвучия с цзиньскими мастерами и признается знатоками наиболее выдающимся последователем Ван Сичжи среди каллиграфов XX века. Особенно хороши его произведения почерком "синши". Кисть мастера работает безупречно чисто, ее техника отточена и прозрачная. В траекториях ведения кисти присутствует мягкая округлость. Его чертам свойственна вдохновенная Ван Сичжи легкость и сила.

Поэзия
Кроме общей редактуры, в «Новой молодежи» Шэнь печатал собственные стихи, написанные в новом, современном стиле 尝试派. Также издал сборники своих стихов: «Сборник Цюминь» и «Сборник Сансин».

Источники
 Chang Leon L.-Y., Miller P. Four Thousand Years of Chinese Каллиграфии. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.
 大中华书画网 -沈尹默作品

Примечания

Поэты Китая
Каллиграфы Китая
Историки Китая

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
package com.txusballesteros.testing.domain.interactor;

abstract class AbsInteractor { }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Tuesday، 05 June 2018 03:47 PM
French car giants Peugeot and Citroen to exit Iran over US sanction risk
French automaker PSA, which makes Peugeot and Citroen cars said Monday that it would pull out of two joint ventures to sell its cars in Iran to avoid the risk of US sanctions after Washington withdrew from a key nuclear deal with Tehran, AFP reported on Tuesday.
"The group has begun to suspend its joint venture activities, in order to comply with US law by August 6, 2018," the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars said in a statement.
European officials have vowed to try to shield their companies working in Iran from the reach of punishing US sanctions that are set to come into effect by November.
But with US President Donald Trump showing little inclination to spare EU companies, they must decide whether to continue to work in Iran if doing so puts their US operations at risk of huge fines.
PSA, Europe's second-biggest carmaker, signed deals with two Iranian automakers, Iran Khodro and Saipa, in 2016 after sanctions were lifted following the landmark 2015 accord aimed at prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
It was among several companies which rushed into Iran, hoping to meet pent-up demand in a country that had been squeezed by sanctions for years.
Last year PSA sold nearly 445,000 vehicles in Iran, making the country one of its biggest markets outside France.
Although it has been absent from the US market since 1991, the company said in January that it was hoping to launch a car-sharing service in one or two American cities.
But PSA, which also owns the Opel and Vauxhall brands, also noted that Iran sales still make up less than one percent of its total sales, and so exiting the country would not alter its financial guidance.
"With the support of the French government, the Groupe PSA is engaging with the US authorities to consider a waiver," it said.Yet the CEO of French oil giant Total, who was hoping to launch a major natural gas project in Iran, said last week that the chances of winning exemptions to the US sanctions were "very slim".
After US Exit, Iran Urges Other Signatories to Preserve Nuclear Deal
US targets Hezbollah militia leaders as group boosts clout in Lebanon
US Treasury issues fresh sanctions against five Iranians linked to IRGC
France's Total to quit Iran gas project as Trump continues push on terror
Trump told Macron, US to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal
US: Renewed sanctions shouldn't mean exit from Iran deal
Last Modified: Tuesday، 05 June 2018 06:47 PM


When you are planning to visit a cave?
Underground boat trip in Domica Cave not available.
24.07.2018 Due to low yield of underground water the boat trip in Domica Cave is not available. The short tour is available.
Dear visitors, due to increased visitation of parents with very small children (circa up to 3 - 4 years of age), we would like to kindly ask you to have a rucksack baby carrier with you for visiting the more demanding caves in given time. This recommendation concerns all caves but the most concerned are the following ones: Demänovská Cave of Liberty, Belianska Cave, Dobšinská Ice Cave, Demänovská Ice Cave, Harmanecká Cave. We also ask you to consider visiting the cave with your crying child, which could disturb the other visitors. Thank you for understanding and we wish you a nice experience.


text:
Dark Secrets is een Amerikaanse dramafilm uit 1923 onder regie van Victor Fleming. De film is wellicht zoekgeraakt.

Verhaal

Ruth Rutherford is verloofd met een Britse legerofficier. Ze verbreekt de verloving, als ze verlamd raakt door een ongeluk bij het paardrijden. Haar ex-verloofde keert terug naar zijn regiment in Caïro. Later reist ook Ruth naar Egypte, waar ze kennismaakt met dokter Ali, een vermaarde chirurg. Hij belooft haar te genezen op voorwaarde dat ze zijn vrouw wordt.

Rolverdeling

|-
|||Ruth Rutherford
|-
|||Lord Wallington
|-
|||Dokter Ali
|-
|||Mildred Rice
|-
|||Biskra
|-
|||Dokter Case
|-
|||Mevrouw Rutherford
|}

Externe link

Film uit 1923
Amerikaanse film
Dramafilm
Verloren film
Film van Victor Fleming


text:
overnights Oct. 12, 2015
Jane the Virgin Recap: 3 Villanuevas and a Baby
By Kathryn VanArendonk
Editor's Rating 5 stars *****
Gina Rodriguez as Jane. Photo: Greg Gayne/CW
When we last left this crazily delightful telenovela, Jane had just given birth, Xiomara and Rogelio pulled a Ross and Rachel in Vegas, Petra discovered that Rafael had another sperm sample left in the bank, and most disturbingly, tiny newborn Mateo Gloriano Rogelio Solano Villanueva had been kidnapped by Sin Rostro, a.k.a. Rose, Rafael's ex-stepmother. The kidnapping plotline gave us season one's most dramatic and upsetting cliff-hanger, and going into season two, my primary concern was how this would be resolved. It's a very tricky line to walk. If Jane the Virgin dismissed the kidnapping too quickly, the human stakes of the series would become impossible to buy. If this kidnapping has no meaningful impact on its characters, then how can any traumatic event hold any narrative weight in the future? But of course, drawing it out is equally problematic. The longer Mateo's gone, the harder it is to imagine Jane ever returning to this warm, absurdly plotted but emotionally plausible series with any semblance of credibility intact.
Happily, this first episode of season two makes several wise choices. The first is that Mateo is gone so briefly, he's hardly even late for his next meal. Even before Jane and Rafael realize he's gone, Sin Ros(e)-tro (who sounds suspiciously like Morena Baccarin) calls Michael, who's glumly sitting in a bar, and informs him that she will return Mateo in exchange for a dragonfly brooch she last gave to Mostly Useless Luisa. What follows is a madcap sequence that does a pretty decent job of weaving together ridiculous high-jinks and real emotion: Michael figures out that the brooch was returned to Luisa, who, we learn, lost it mere minutes before they arrive, when her girlfriend (Juicy Jordan) chucked a huge box full of belongings into the hotel pool after accusing Luisa of being too attached to her exes. Michael and Rafael dive into the pool, goofily swimming past pink furry handcuffs in search of the brooch, until Jane locates it in the pool drain. Michael shows up at a church, where his ex-partner and Sin Rostro baddie Nadine is waiting to swap the baby, and Bob's your uncle, Mateo is back in the Villanueva fold.
So this was the first excellent decision. One side note on that resolution, though, when Jane runs to reunite with Mateo: Look, I love you, Narrator. I think this show is so great, and a big part of that is because you add all sorts of winking, silly playfulness. You set the tone. You keep things grounded, but you also heighten the telenovela dramatics. You're our guide and our stand-in. But please, DO NOT make fun of a woman trying to run to her kidnapped newborn infant mere hours after giving birth. "We'll call it running, that thing she's doing." No. Not the time, friend.
The second smart choice in this episode is that the bulk of the narrative harnesses that ultra-trope-y kidnapping plot to segue into a boringly realistic source of conflict. Mateo's lost 10 percent of his birth weight, and Jane is having trouble breast-feeding. Her lactation consultant is a little judgmental; Rafael's having a hard time finding his place as a father; Xiomara thinks Jane should give Mateo a little formula, and Jane resists. That is to say, it is unbelievably quotidian. Don't get me wrong — it is Jane the Virgin, after all, so there's also a crowd of people outside Jane's house who believe that Jane's had a virgin birth and Mateo is the second coming (thanks for tweeting that Amber Alert, Rogelio). There's also a whole side plot about Petra, and plenty of ongoing tension between Michael and Rafael, and oh, did I mention that the dragonfly brooch was full of information about what all of Sin Rostro's evil plastic-surgery patients now look like?
But for the most part, Jane comes out of the kidnapping situation desperately wishing for everything to go back to normal, and she gets her wish. It is exactly the kind of plot that Jane the Virgin can pull off, because the unusually low stakes are grounded in the three Villanueva women, who are entertaining and fully formed and play off each other so well. It's funny, too. The lactation consultant is so hilariously nonplussed by Jane's, ahem, raw materials. The moment when Jane runs outside to banish the nuns and ends up shouting about her leaking breasts, "You want to see a miracle?! THIS is a freaking miracle!" feels legitimately celebratory. And Jane's worry about her milk coming in is treated seriously — if anything, more seriously than the kidnapping. We get a much more universal experience to connect to Jane's first days as a mother, and at the same time, a lot of Jane's nursing anxiety is rooted in her worry that the trauma of the kidnapping will damage her relationship with her son.
Finally, the third, and perhaps smartest, choice in Jane the Virgin's premiere episode: All the over-the-top absurdity of the kidnapping plot gets muffled and buried and then reappears, transformed, as Jane's completely familiar and unsurprising fear that she is not a good mother. It's not just that the cliff-hanger gives the premiere episode some good momentum, or that it then politely disappears in a timely fashion. Jane the Virgin actually manages to turn this melodramatic kidnapping into a useful way to build its characters, which is pretty unlikely and also super impressive. (It also delivers some surprisingly accurate advice about breast-feeding, rendering the episode not only funny and moving,but also potentially helpful. The hamburger thing. The hamburger thing is real.)
Despite the delicious, warm, emotionally meaty center of this episode, which is capped by a shirtless Rafael cuddling a tiny baby to his chest (mmmmm), this is still Jane the Virgin. There have got to be more outrageous shenanigans in here somewhere.
Oh, hey, look, Petra spends the entire episode walking around with a jar of sperm in her purse! That'll do. It's a plotline that's mostly about spinning its wheels, because like Chekhov's gun, a jar of sperm that shows up at the beginning of the episode is bound to end up inseminating someone by the end, and we're all just waiting for Petra to order up that turkey baster from room service and get the job done. This does happen, inevitably, but not without Mostly Useless Luisa continuing her reign of ineptness by telling Petra that there's still hope for her and Rafael. And, more dramatically, we end with Rafael's assistant, Scott Who Loves Vests, who throws a wrench in the works by revealing that he knows about Petra's sperm thievery.
To further tally up the supremely, fabulously silly side of this episode, it bears mentioning that the show generously offers us another chance to watch Rogelio and Xiomara be married by Chad Michaels impersonating Cher. Xiomara assures Alba that they'll have the wedding annulled, but if that ends up being a simple, uncomplicated process, I will buy every last one of you a churro.
And finally, in the event than you did not pick up on the opening sequence's suggestion that happiness cannot be guaranteed on this show (unlike Los Milagros de Mariana, Jane the Virgin has no theme song), we get a little Bond-villain-style coda. A long-haired woman in an alpine setting examines a tabloid picture of Jane and her miracle baby and orders a nearby henchman to go after her. In German, too, so you know it's serious. To Be Continued!
From Our Narrator, With Love
On Jane's desire to hear "two little words" about Mateo once he's been safely returned – Doctor: "He looks great!" Narrator: "He's fine! That's what I was thinking, but 'He looks great!' works, too!"
About Petra's pluckiness, and also her purse full of sperm — "I'll say this: The girl's got spunk."
The stellar "con" side of Petra's Have a Baby? Pro/Con List: pregnant, baby, motherhood, maternity clothes, seem like a psychopath
On Xiomara and Rogelio's ill-advised marriage — "Ooh if they could TURN BACK TIIIME."
#Rogelio
"Jane has Matelio! Thank you for your prayers! #family #love #flove"
"I never thought I'd feel anything but #blessed to be famous. But now? I'm feeling #cursed."
Grandfather? No. Abuelo? No. "Papa: Nice. Ambiguous."


text:
[ January 19, 2021 ] Win a brand new 2021 Triumph Trident 660cc and 2 Classic Triumphs	News
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HomeNewsMV Agusta Announces 5 Year Expansion Plan
MV Agusta Announces 5 Year Expansion Plan
September 8, 2020 Michael Le Pard News Comments Off on MV Agusta Announces 5 Year Expansion Plan
Varese, Italy, September 8, 2020 – MV Agusta has announced the appointment of IMG as its exclusive worldwide licensing representative to expand its presence globally through a new range of consumer products.
Through the new multi-year partnership, IMG will work with MV Agusta to build a licensing programme focused on brand extensions and lifestyle products that reflect the company's commitment to performance, quality, innovation and consumer engagement within local communities.
"IMG is the best possible partner for what we have in store for our fans around the world," said Timur Sardarov, CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. "This strategic partnership accelerates the execution of our five-year expansion plan. MV Agusta has tremendous brand equity; it's a truly beloved brand and an icon of design and technology in the motorcycling world. Working with IMG, the most authoritative and experienced specialist in the field, will help take MV Agusta to the next level as a lifestyle brand with a series of thoughtful, high-profile merchandising initiatives."
Marcelo Cordeiro, Associate Vice President of Licensing, IMG, commented: "MV Agusta is an iconic Italian brand with a passionate consumer base who revere the brand for both its performance and design attributes. Amongst true motorcycle fans its bikes are considered to be nothing less than motorcycle art. We intend to deploy IMG's global reach and specialised licensing expertise in the automotive space to extend the brand into a range of consumer products through selective brand partnerships and collaborations."
Initial categories of focus will include apparel, motorcycle and fashion accessories, video games and collectible products for both owners and motorcycling enthusiasts.
About MV Agusta Motor S.p.A.
MV Agusta is one of the world's leading premium motorcycles manufacturers. Based in Varese, in Northern Italy, it crafts legendary racetrack-derived bikes. Iconic design and class-leading performance through advanced technologies and materials make MV Agusta motorcycles admired the world over and celebrated as unique pieces of Motorcycle Art. Since 1945, the brand has evolved to become a point of reference in the industry, having won 37 World Championship titles. A record still undisputed. www.mvagusta.com
IMG is a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. The company manages some of the world's greatest athletes and fashion icons; owns and operates hundreds of live events annually; and is a leading independent producer and distributor of sports and entertainment media. IMG also specializes in licensing, sports training and league development. IMG is a subsidiary of Endeavor, a global entertainment, sports and content company.
CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A
Expansion Plan
Timur Sardarov
About Michael Le Pard	5170 Articles
"Mr. Totalmotorcycle". Owner and Founder of Total Motorcycle. Supporting over Motorcyclists and Motorcycling for 21 great years. Total Motorcycle is my pride and joy and being able to reach out 330 million people has been incredible but I could not have done it without the support of my visitors, readers and members, thank you so much! You are making a difference to millions of riders worldwide. Thank you.
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Cash for Carbon Program Tax Credit Details
Double Podium – Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team – RedBud II
Barcia to Sit Out Remaining Three Supercross Races
April 11, 2019 Michael Le Pard News Comments Off on Barcia to Sit Out Remaining Three Supercross Races
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team rider Justin Barcia will sit out the remaining three rounds of the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship to spend the time needed to return to full fitness. Barcia […]
Royal Enfield Launches Slide School Presented by Moto Anatomy
July 8, 2020 Michael Le Pard News Comments Off on Royal Enfield Launches Slide School Presented by Moto Anatomy
MILWAUKEE, Wis (July 7, 2020) — American Flat Track racer Johnny Lewis will host Slide School presented by Royal Enfield, a multi-faceted flat track training program in 2020. Lewis will use a combination of Royal Enfield […]
MISSION: THANK YOU – RETIRED AIR FORCE MEDIC SURPRISED WITH GIFT OF NEW HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLE
September 21, 2017 Michael Le Pard News Comments Off on MISSION: THANK YOU – RETIRED AIR FORCE MEDIC SURPRISED WITH GIFT OF NEW HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLE
San Antonio (September 20, 2017): Today at Cowboy's Alamo City Harley-Davidson in San Antonio, retired Air Force medic, Lisa Benjamin, was honored with a Harley-Davidson Model Year 2018 Street Glide Special powered by the […]


text:
Джорді Осборн Вайт (;  20 червня 1971 року), раніше відомий під псевдонімом Twiggy Ramirez, наразі просто Twiggy — американський музикант і вокаліст Goon Moon. Раніше співпрацював як басист з NIN та A Perfect Circle. Колишній басист/гітарист гурту Marilyn Manson.

Особисте життя
Народився у Нью-Джерсі, але переїхав до Флориди. Має трьох братів. За походженням — наполовину італієць, наполовину шотландець.

У дитинстві захоплювався Motley Crue, Van Halen та Iron Maiden. Почав грати на гітарі у 13 років, приєднався до свого першого гурта (The Ethiopians) ще до досягнення 15 років.

Музична кар'єра
Перша група, до якої він приєднався, виконувала переважно кавери пісень. У період з 1989 по 1993 грав на ритм-гітарі та бас-гітарі.

(1993—2002) Marilyn Manson
Вайт познайомився з Брайаном Г'ю Ворнером (нині відомим як Marilyn Manson) у музичні крамниці, де продавав платівки. У них виявилося багато спільного. Він приєднався до Брайанової групи (яка тоді називалася Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids) у 1994 після вигнання з колективу гітариста Ґіджета Ґейна. Вайт отримав псевдонім Twiggy Ramirez, утворений від імені ікони 60-х моделі Твіґґі та прізвища американського серійного вбивці Річарда Раміреза.

Ним були написані практично всі гітарні партії Триптиху (так у середовищі фанів Marilyn Manson прийнято називати три альбоми — Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals та Holy Wood).

(2003—2007) Кар'єра після Marilyn Manson
Після полишення Marilyn Manson Вайт спробував пройти прослуховування на місце басиста до Metallica, але невдало. Співпрацює з A Perfect Circle (сторонній проєкт учасників Tool) як бас-гітарист.

Бере участь у записі платівки With Teeth NIN, у 2005—2006 долучається до промо-туру. Створює власний проєкт Goon Moon.

(2008) Повернення до Marilyn Manson
9 січня 2008 року Мерилін Менсон на своїй сторінці у MySpace повідомляє про вихід зі складу групи басиста Тіма Сколда і повернення Твіґґі. Ця інформація була підтверджена також на офіційному сайті групи. Вайт брав участь у записі останнього альбому (The High End of Low) та турі на його підтримку. Втім, він не полишає свого проєкту Goon Moon.

У одному з своїх інтерв'ю Вайт зазначив, що він збирається взяти участь у записі восьмої платівки гурту.

Посилання
 Офіційний сайт Джорді Вайта

Музиканти США
Артисти, відомі під псевдонімами


text:
French planes flying over Libya
French planes are reportedly flying over Libya after world leaders decided the time for urgent action against Colonel Gaddafi has come.
    
Sat, 19 Mar, 2011 - 16:36
They said he has flouted the UN's demand for an immediate end to violence against his people.
The French president Nicolas Sarkozy said "as of now" his country's air force is ready to attack Gaddafi's tanks and planes.
It follows a meeting of leaders from the UK, US, Europe and Arab countries in Paris.
Mr Sarkozy said Gaddafi's regime had forfeited all legitimacy but insisted that it was still not too late for the Libyan leader to avoid "the worst''.
He added: "Today we are intervening in Libya under the United Nations Security Council mandate, alongside our partners and our Arab partners.
"We are doing this in order to protect the civilian population from the murderous madness of a regime that by killing its own people has forfeited all legitimacy.
"We are intervening in order to enable the Libyan people to chose its own destiny.
"It must not be deprived of its rights by violence and terror.
"There is still time for Colonel Gaddafi to avoid the worst by complying immediately with and unreservedly with all the demands of the international community.
"The doors of diplomacy will open once again when the aggression stops."
Gaddafi himself defiantly dismissed the UN resolution as "invalid" and warned that Britain would "regret it" if he intervened in Libya.
In an open letter to Mr Cameron, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Ban released in capital Tripoli today, Gaddafi said: "Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The Security Council resolution is invalid.
"You will regret it if you dare to intervene in our country."
The Libyan leader was more conciliatory in a separate message to US President Barack Obama, asking him: "If you found them taking over American cities by the force of arms, tell me, what you would do?"
In Tripoli, Libya's oil ministry urged Western firms which abandoned operations in the country at the outbreak of unrest last month to return, warning that contracts may otherwise be handed over to companies from countries such as China and India, which did not back military action.
Mr Cameron yesterday said RAF Typhoons and Tornados, together with surveillance and air-to-air refuelling craft, would take part in the international effort to prevent Gaddafi committing a "bloodbath" against his own people.
The Ministry of Defence this morning declined to confirm whether any RAF planes had set off on their mission, codenamed Operation Ellamy, or where they would be based in the Mediterranean.
Canadian military planes landed at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire today to refuel.
An airport spokesman said: "Prestwick is often used by military aircraft to refuel, that happens throughout the year.
"Military aircraft land to refuel and move on, so it's quite normal."
Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim this morning told the BBC that the regime's ceasefire was "real, credible and solid" and repeated an invitation for foreign observers to monitor it.
Mr Kaim insisted that Gaddafi's air force had been grounded in response to Resolution 1973.
But he warned Libya would fight any attempt to intervene militarily in its territory. And he said foreign military intervention would suck countries from across the Arab world into the conflict.
"If there is an attack from outside or foreign intervention, you will see not only Libyans fighting foreign intervention, you will see people from Algeria, from Tunisia, from Egypt – and by the way Libyan tribes extend beyond Libya's borders to Chad and Niger and Mali. All of them will be part of fighting against any foreign troops on Libyan ground," said Mr Kaim.
A French official was reported to have said that the country's Mirage and Rafale fighter jets are flying over Benghazi and could strike Gaddafi's tanks today to prevent them from taking action there.
It had earlier been reported that French reconnaissance planes were flying over Libya.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel – whose ambassador abstained on the UN resolution on Thursday – said that the violence in Libya must be stopped, but ruled out any German involvement in military action.
"We are united that the war must be ended," Ms Merkel told reporters. "The resolution must be pushed through.
"We will not take part in the action in military terms. We will take on additional responsibilities in Afghanistan."
A communique issued after the talks described the actions of the Libyan regime as ``intolerable''.
It said that, since February 15, the Libyan people had been peacefully expressing their rejection of their leaders and their aspirations for change, adding: "In the face of these legitimate requests coming from all over the country, the Libyan regime has carried out a growing brutal crackdown, using weapons of war against its own people and perpetrating against them grave and massive violations of humanitarian law."
Despite the demands of the UN Security Council and condemnation from many governments across the world, the regime had stepped up its violence "in order to impose by force its will on that of its people".
The communique demanded that Gaddafi and "those executing his orders" must immediately end acts of violence against civilians, withdraw from areas taken by force and "return to their compounds".
It continued: "We reiterate that the Security Council took the view that Libyan regime's actions may amount to crimes against humanity and that, to this end, it has referred the matter to the International Criminal Court.
"We are determined to take all necessary action, consistent with (the UN resolution) to ensure compliance with all its requirements."
Assuring the Libyan people of support in building "their future and institutions within a democratic framework", it praised the "courageous action" of the Libyan National Transition Council and "all the Libyans in positions of responsibility who have courageously disassociated themselves from the Libyan regime and given the NTC their support".
The communique concluded: "Our commitment is for the long term: we will not let Colonel Gaddafi and his regime go on defying the will of the international community and scorning that of his people.
"We will continue our aid to the Libyans so that they can rebuild their country, fully respecting Libya's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Unnamed US sources were reported as saying that American ships and aircraft are poised for action against Libya, but are not participating in the initial French air sorties.
One official said that the US intended to limit its involvement to protecting allied air missions by taking out Libyan air defences with missile strikes launched from US Navy ships stationed in the Mediterranean.
Six Danish F-16 fighter jets landed today at a US air base in Sicily while American F-18s and Canadian CF-18 Hornets were also in the region.
US President Barack Obama said the international community was resolved to protect the people of Libya.
Speaking during a visit to Brazil, the President said: "Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected.
"In the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians, our coalition is prepared to act and act with urgency."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "The US will not deploy ground troops but there should be no mistaking our commitment to this effort."
She told a press conference in Paris that the US would use its military capabilities to help its European and Canadian allies and Arab partners stop Gaddafi from attacking Libyan people.
Mrs Clinton said: "Colonel Gaddafi continues to defy the world and his attacks on civilians go on... As President Obama has said, we have every reason to fear that left unchecked, Gaddafi will commit unspeakable atrocities.
"We all recognise that further delay will only put more civilians at risk."
She added: "Let me be clear about the position of the US. We will support an international coalition as it takes all necessary measures to enforce the terms of Resolution 1973."
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: "This is a moment of truth for the international community to end the slaughter of innocents in Libya.
"The Government are right to take strong and urgent action against Colonel Gaddafi's military capabilities. Gaddafi has no-one to blame but himself. Britain should stand in solidarity with the Libyan people."
The Canadian military said the CF18 planes which landed at Prestwick were bound for Italy where they would be ready to assist the UN-backed no-fly zone over Libya.
more courts articles
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Cork-based Briton accused of sending menacing message to police with threat to kill female MP
Russian invasion fears prompt UK to give Ukraine extra weapons and training aid
CourtsLibyaPlace: LibyaPlace: UKPlace: USPlace: EuropePlace: ParisPlace: TripoliPlace: ChinaPlace: IndiaPlace: MediterraneanPlace: Prestwick airportPlace: AyrshirePlace: PrestwickPlace: ArabPlace: AlgeriaPlace: TunisiaPlace: EgyptPlace: ChadPlace: NigerPlace: MaliPlace: BenghaziPerson: GaddafiPerson: presidentPerson: Nicolas SarkozyPerson: SarkozyPerson: CameronPerson: BanPerson: LibyansPerson: USPerson: President Barack ObamaPerson: Deputy Foreign MinisterPerson: Khaled KaimPerson: KaimPerson: ChancellorPerson: Angela MerkelPerson: MerkelEvent: Operation EllamyOrganisation: UNOrganisation: United Nations Security CouncilOrganisation: BritainOrganisation: LibyaOrganisation: Security CouncilOrganisation: RAFOrganisation: Ministry of DefenceOrganisation: BBC
Cummings 'would swear under oath' that Johnson lied to UK Parliament about parties
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Corruption Prevention Advisories
From September 2016 to November 2018, the CCC released a range of Corruption Prevention Advisories to assist the Queensland public sector. Knowing where corruption is most likely to occur is fundamental to managing it effectively.
The following resources will assist Queensland public sector agencies identify major corruption risks and develop prevention strategies.
In December 2017, the CCC introduced a new corruption prevention series known as Prevention in Focus. You can access this series by visiting the Prevention in Focus section of our website.
Lobbying - November 2018
Our democratic system of government relies on officials having adequate and reliable information on which to base their decisions and actions. The principle of open and equal access to government for all individuals and communities is fundamental to this flow of information.
Third party lobbyists most commonly try to influence ministers, councillors and senior public servants in a position to make statutory, monetary or policy decisions that can benefit or disadvantage individuals or sections of the community. However, lower ranking officers, particularly those making purchasing decisions or evaluating eligibility for various grants and benefits, may also be subjected to persuasive pressure.
Post-separation employment - July 2017
Over time, public sector officers acquire valuable skills, knowledge and contacts which make them highly employable, and many officers make the move into the private sector to enhance their careers. In the lead-up to, and often, separation from the public sector, special care must be taken to ensure that officers do not misuse their expertise to the detriment of the public interest.
This advisory will assist public sector agencies to manage the risks associated with employees moving on.
Social media and the public officer - July 2017
Social media allows us to engage and communicate with our customers and colleagues to build stronger and more successful relationships. Social media consists of online interactive technologies through which individuals, communities and organisations can share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online.
However, as social networking platforms are sometimes open forums, public officers must understand the responsibilities and obligations that come with the use of social media for both official and personal use.
Use of official resources - July 2017
Official resources are those paid for and owned by a public sector organisation. They may be assets, services or consumables, and can be either tangible (e.g. stationery, equipment or public housing) or intangible (e.g. information, internet access or employee time). These resources are intended to help employees carry out tasks associated with their work and provide efficient service to the community. They are not provided for the personal benefit of employees.
Poor management or misuse of official resources is a breach of public trust, and may result in disciplinary action or prosecution.
Management of public records - Advice for all employees of a public authority - July 2017
This is a joint CCC and Queensland State Archives publication.
Openness and transparency in government and public authorities are in the public interest, and are key to promoting integrity and accountability in the public sector. One critical aspect is diligence in creating, maintaining and disposing of public records.
Under the Public Records Act 2002 staff of public authorities are obliged to manage public records responsibly, and the disposal of public records without authorisation from the State Archivist is a criminal offence.
Ethics, integrity and elected officials - June 2017
This advisory details the major ethical and legal obligations of state government election candidates and Members of Parliament to assist them to better understand the nature and requirements of public office. Election candidates and Members of Parliament are subject to specific obligations and legislation at each stage of the electoral process.
This advisory provides advice for:
All candidates standing for election
Members of Parliament while in office, during an election period, transitioning out of office, and after leaving office.
Conflicting commitments - Managing other employment and volunteering - June 2017
This advisory highlights the risks to a public authority arising from outside commitments by an employee of that authority including:
other employment;
volunteering and
personal interests.
It covers risk factors, strategies to manage risks and further information and resources.
Disposal of assets - June 2017
Disposal of assets is an area where the risk of corruption is high. If employees trade, sell, or give away assets without authority, to benefit themselves or another person rather than in the public interest, they are committing a criminal offence.
Managers at all levels must exercise strong ethical leadership, oversight and vigilance to manage resources effectively and economically to minimise the risk of corruption.
Gifts and benefits - December 2016
A gift or benefit is anything of value that is offered to you in the course of your work, apart from your normal employment entitlements. It can be either tangible or intangible:
Tangible gifts — cash, goods, hospitality (e.g. meals or drinks), or promotional materials (e.g. free pens, diaries).
Intangible gifts — personal services, free or subsidised travel or accommodation, entertainment, preferential treatment, privileged access, promise of a special favour or advantage (e.g. a special type of loan), discounts on goods and services (including discounted interest rates).
As a public sector employee, you are required to behave with the highest integrity, and ensure that your conduct is beyond reproach. In general you are expected to refuse any form of reward beyond your usual employment entitlements, because acceptance may raise doubts about your integrity and may reflect poorly on your organisation and the government as a whole.
Information security and handling - September 2016
Open and transparent government is in the public interest and is key to promoting integrity and accountability in the public sector. According to the Right to Information Act 2009, information in the government's possession or under the government's control is a public resource and openness in government increases the participation of members of the community in democratic processes leading to better informed decision-making.
This means the public must have the right of reasonable access to information in the government's possession or under its control unless, on balance, it is contrary to the public interest to provide that information.
Procurement and contract management - September 2016
Procurement refers to the entire process by which a public sector organisation acquires resources such as goods, services, facilities, capital and human resources. It applies regardless of whether you are city or country based, or whether you are building multi-million dollar infrastructure or filling an office cleaning supply contract.
It includes planning, design, determination of standards, writing specifications, selecting suppliers, financing, administering contracts, disposal and other related functions. As it involves spending public money, procurement is a high risk area for fraud and corruption.
Sponsorship Management - September 2016
Sponsorship is a business arrangement in which the sponsor agrees to have their name, products or services associated with the sponsored organisation's activities for a negotiated benefit in cash or kind, or a combination of both. The opportunities for public sector agencies using sponsorships to develop corporate partnerships are extensive.
When properly considered and implemented they can provide all parties with positive and tangible returns.
However, they do present risks to public sector organisations which must strive at all times to obtain the best value for money, act transparently, encourage open and effective competition and make efficient use of public funds. Achieving this through sponsorship requires an awareness of the associated ethical and corruption risks, and high-level management skills. One of the most important aspects is managing the public perception of the arrangement.
Social media and the public office - July 2017
Management of public records - July 2017
Prevention in focus series
Prevention in focus: case studies
This series draws on CCC investigations to highlight specific prevention lessons for public sector agencies
Guide/manual
A guide to dealing with corrupt conduct in the Queensland public sector


Me old mate Paul Brislen sent me a couple of gems.
The Exorcist in 30 seconds (re-enacted with bunnies). Worth it just for the Tubular Bells rendition at the end.
"The very entertaining Cats with Hands. Not to be watched late at night (when you can't sleep)". Paul is a professional writer, so when he uses parentheses, you know it's OK. (It's also quite a lot of QuickTime, so be prepared).
So I'm wandering around the back alleyways of stonesoup and Additive Rich when something catches my eye. It's Cal's experiment in a counterfactual New Zealand, drawing what parallels she can between New Zealand and Israel. It's an idea I've heard before; in fact I had it myself, when I first studied law and learned the shameful history of the alienation of Maori land. It's there for any thoughtful New Zealander, and I've often wondered whether the strong anti-Israel strain in the New Zealand Labour party isn't compensating for Pakeha consciences at home.
I fundamentally disagree with the analogy presented but at the same time, there are many interesting things to consider if you accept it for a while.
The average Pakeha New Zealander, when confronted with the idea that they should "go home", tends to ask "where?", particularly if they're native-born. And this is pretty much the reality for Israelis, made the more poignant for those whose families were refugees. So that's an interesting thought.
Then I ask myself, why don't we see armed resistance from Maori in New Zealand any more? It's not as though we haven't fought before. So we can look at the differences between modern New Zealand and Israel, and start identifying where the analogies fall apart.
In New Zealand, Maori sovereignty is now the victim of demography. A Maori revolt is doomed from the outset by sheer force of numbers. Immigration ensured this (the original objectors to a loose immigration policy were Maori, of course), but intermarriage has something to do with it too.
Perhaps a unifying religion is required. Attempts to create a pan-Maori religion have failed. Christian Palestians are a significant minority, but they seem be very much in the shadows as far as taking up arms goes. Israel is definitely dar al-Harb.
Maori are citizens, and have a stake in the greater society. Now we're getting somewhere. Within Israel Arabs have been systematically discriminated against, while those in the occupied territories have been citizens of nowhere. You can make a case that Maori are systemically discriminated against too, but I think it's defensible to argue otherwise, and like Ngata and Pomare, argue that there's more to be gained by joining in. I don't know how long anyone arguing that line is likely to last in the PA at the moment, but in fairness, it's not a very persuasive argument right now either.
And so we can continue teasing apart the differences between our situations. I think Cal's thought-experiment is unsupportable even as far as she's taken it (warriors, eh?), but there's a lot to be gained by comparing and contrasting.
God bless the inventor of the foam ear plug, which device has provided blessed relief these last couple of nights.
Kathy's graduation ceremony guide offers a range of souvenirs, including a graduate teddy bear, with your choice of hood colour. I felt memorabilious.
I made potato kugel this evening. On reflection, even if you can't smell the grated onion while you're grating it, perhaps sniffing hard directly over the grater to check is unwise.
Traffic noise. Intersection of Gt South Rd and Greenlane possibly not best choice for domestic situation.
A bed partner who also can't sleep (toss! turn!).
EDS. A fine firm, full of fine people, who in a literal and business sense have no incentive to make me happy.
So that explains the blogging silence. Je suis tres fatigue.
And also, see what Sam Pepys was up to today.
Lastly, I had the pleasure of Julian and Maria's company on the weekend. It was Julian, years ago, who first played me Cows with Guns. Flash animation kind of crappy, but Dana Lyon's sound track superb.
I'm a metafilter member, and from time to time I read MetaTalk, where members go to whinge about the conduct of other members.
what exactly is your beef with the post?
The use of the term 'beef' in relation to a conceptual text object clearly demonstrates the extent to which our memetic landscape, our cultural corpus if you will, is reduced to commodified fodder – the wild buffalo of cognition and language domesticated to mere factory-farmed, hollow-eyed meat-products on the hoof.
See the pomo master at work here — just look for "freebird".
On Friday I splashed out and bought a pair of clipless pedals and shoes with matching cleats, inspired by dim memories of Jack doing the same (see "a world of plain", partway down).
After a trip to Repco for a 15 mm spanner ("Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, spanners"), followed by shameful episode involving a hammer (just a small one, honest), I fitted them on Sunday and took them for a test ride. Maybe the cleat design has improved over the years — the warnings about the difficulty of getting your feet out proved superfluous. It was easy peasy.
Cleats are safer, you know, because they stop your feet coming off the pedals accidentally, which is the number one cause of bicycle fatalities world-wide. They're quite comfortable too: so comfortable that you can forget you're wearing them.
And that's how I fell under a bus this morning.
Well, behind a bus, technically. No damage apart from a skinned knee. I came to a stop, forgot I had my feet in the cleats, and toppled over.
Luckily, I made it look deliberate, so I don't think anyone noticed.


There are some vital things you should do after subscribing for our Neco Runz / Expo. Some candidates usually complain that they don't get password after making payment or that the answers don't come at the said time. Whatever may be your reason why you don't enjoy our service, we are here to address some of the issues. You should read this post carefully so as to understand the information we are trying to convey.
1.	Be Patient : After making payment for our Runz, you should exercise a little bit patience to enable us confirm the payment. Normally we used to send a confirmation message after verifying your pin. If you don't receive any message from us 10 minutes after you have sent the card, you should message or call us.
2.	Wait for the password: We don't send the password immediately after confirming your payment. However if you paid on the day of the exam, we send you the password as a confirmation message. Having the password doesn't mean the answers have been posted. To view the answers, you should log in with the password and refresh the page. Sometimes it may be posted before exam starts and sometimes we post it some minutes after exam starts depending on our sources.
3.	Forget other sites: Some, after making payment for our Runz, still go out to search for other answers online. I want you to know that there are a lot of fake answers online. Even some webmasters post their answers a day before the exam. But the sad truth is that they are all fake answers (fake in the sense that none of it will rhyme with the questions). Check their websites some hours after the exam might have started and you will see that they have cleared and replaced it with the correct answers they probably copied from our site. But by then the damage might have already been done, you may have copied the very trash into your book and you may probably not have time to edit. You see, you inquisitive mind may cause you failure. Stay on our site and you will surely get correct answers. What you should be asking is "how accurate are the answers?" not "when will the answers be posted?" Let me tell you, it is much better you didn't use any Runz than writing fake answers online. Here we will post only when we are very sure about the accuracy of the answers.
4.	Refresh page: You should refresh the answer page regularly. Even if the answers have been posted when you put your password you still have to refresh it because we constantly edit and update our answers. If you don't refresh you will not see the latest answers. Sometimes, there may be error in the answers and you will only know when you refresh the page. Refreshing is totally to your own advantage. We don't make any income from it. In fact, it decreases our available bandwidth.
5.	Use a good network: If you subscribe for our online answers, you should use a network that can connect to the internet. If your current network is not connecting to the internet, you should try using a different network. If you try something like MTN and it is not working, you can try Etisalat or Glo; any network provided that it can connect to the net. Ensure that your phone is configured and can browse.
6.	Don't rely totally on our Runz: It is very important that I tell you this. You should not rely totally on Runz or Expo. You have to read your book and try to answer at least one question by yourself. That is what will differentiate you from others. You can even correct our answers if there is any one you believe is not right. When you enter the hall and our answers are not yet posted, you can pick one question you know very well and start answering it. After you finish with it, you can come back and refresh again. By then the answers may have been posted. You check the questions first to ensure that the answers tally with it before writing.
Finally following the above instruction will help you make good use of our service and also give you an edge over the exam. It is important that you strive for the best grade. Now it is not all about passing NECO but about getting better grade because your O' Level results have a lot to do with your chances of gaining admission. Jamb has made it publicly known to everyone that the scores in your O' L evel results would be taken into consideration when offering admission.


NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2018 – Garrett Motion Inc. (GTX: NYSE), a cutting-edge technology provider that enables vehicles to become safer, more connected, efficient and environmentally friendly, today marks its first day as an independent company following its successful tax-free spinoff from Honeywell.
Garrett CEO and President Olivier Rabiller led Garrett's executive leadership team in marking a new era in the more than 60-year history of the company by ringing the opening bell above the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange.
"This is a memorable milestone for a company that already celebrates more than six decades as an automotive technology pioneer, inventor and innovator," Rabiller said. "We have a robust and talented organization of world-class people, and we have established a strong position for providing differentiated technologies that are in demand.
Garrett (www.garrettmotion.com) is a differentiated technology leader, serving customers worldwide for more than 65 years. Garrett's cutting-edge technology enables vehicles to become safer, and more connected, efficient and environmentally friendly. Our portfolio of turbocharging, electric boosting and automotive software solutions empowers the transportation industry to redefine and further advance motion. For more news and information on Garrett, please visit www.garrettmotion.com/news.


In a move that might impact major drug makers such as Ranbaxy, Cipla, Cadila Health, and Lupin, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped the prices of 19 medicines and their 43 different drug packs, including anti-infectives, gastro-intestinal drugs and vaccines. Among multinational companies, Pfizer, Sanofi and Reckitt Benckiser are likely to take a hit.
NPPA has notified the ceiling price of these products under the Drugs Price Control Order, 2013.
In the absence of data, the regulator could not cap the prices of all 348 essential medicines. While the prices of some 300 products have been fixed, NPPA has asked the pharma sector for price details on the others.
The latest tranche of price control includes key medicines such as ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime, BCG vaccine and rifampicin.
With the new notification in place, popular medicine brands such as Pfizer's Gelusil, Serum's BCG vaccine and USV's Glycomet have come under price control.
The hardest hit comes from the fixing of two different doses of ciprofloxacin - 500 mg and 250 mg.
All major drug makers including Alkem, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin, Mankind and Cadila, sell different brands of ciprofloxacin.
According to data from the All India Organisation of Chemists & Druggists, sales of the new product basket worth Rs 450 crore, to now come under the price control, are likely to be impacted by about 40 per cent.
Companies selling these products at a price lower than the ceiling will have to continue with existing prices.
For any changes, such firms will be required to seek separate permission from the regulator.
Currently, the government directly caps prices of 348 formulations at the average price of all medicines in a particular segment with at least one per cent market share.
For all other medicines, companies are free to price their products but they cannot increase the prices of such medicines by more than 10 per cent in a year.
Recently, the NPPA had brought all diabetes and cardiac medicines under indirect price control. The regulator issued orders in the public interest, saying any diabetes or cardiac drug priced at more than 25 per cent of the average price of the scheduled drug in that category would fall under the ceiling and its price capped. The regulator is likely to extend the move to other categories, such as oncology, soon.