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Biocryst Begins Enrollment of Phase 1 Trial of BCX9930, an Oral Factor D Inhibitor for Complement-Mediated Diseases
June 27, 2019 16:15 ET | Source: BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina, UNITED STATES
—Data expected in Q4 2019—
—BCX9930 showed high potency, specificity, suppression of hemolysis and wide safety margin in preclinical studies—
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced that the company has begun enrollment of a Phase 1 trial of BCX9930, an oral Factor D inhibitor discovered and developed by BioCryst, for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases.
The objectives of the trial are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of single and multiple ascending doses of BCX9930 in healthy subjects and to characterize the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of BX9930 in single and multiple ascending doses of BCX9930 in healthy subjects.
The company expects to report data from the trial in the fourth quarter of 2019.
"An oral Factor D inhibitor would meet a significant unmet medical need for patients with many complement-mediated diseases. The preclinical profile of BCX9930 showed high potency, excellent specificity for Factor D, complete suppression of complement-mediated hemolysis after oral dosing, and a wide safety margin, so we look forward to seeing the clinical results from this Phase 1 trial," said Dr. William Sheridan, chief medical officer of BioCryst.
"We are very excited to begin enrollment of our Phase 1 trial of BCX9930, another proprietary BioCryst oral medicine for rare diseases. With complement-mediated diseases, we can rapidly gather important data from our Phase 1 trial regarding the effect on the complement system, and we will use these results to direct our plans to generate proof of concept data in PNH patients next year," said Jon Stonehouse, chief executive officer of BioCryst.
Preclinical Profile of BCX9930
In preclinical oral dosing studies, BCX9930 completely suppressed complement-mediated hemolysis in laboratory assays of complement activity.
In preclinical in-vitro studies of red blood cells from patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), BCX9930 completely suppressed complement-mediated hemolysis, and completely blocks the deposition of C3 fragments on PNH red blood cells.
In preclinical in-vitro studies, BCX9930 demonstrated significant activity at low drug concentrations in several well-established complement activity assays.
In preclinical in-vitro assays, BCX9930 was more potent on Factor D by approximately 200-fold to more than 3000-fold compared with other serine protease enzymes outside the complement pathway.
In preclinical oral dosing studies, drug exposure increased in proportion to dose, and high drug levels were achieved.
In preclinical in-vivo safety pharmacology and toxicology studies, drug concentrations at the no observed adverse event level (NOAEL) doses of BCX9930 were more than 500-fold greater than the estimated therapeutic target level.
About Complement-Mediated Diseases
The complement system is part of the body's natural immune system and is responsible for helping the body eliminate microbes (including viral and bacterial infections) and damaged cells. It is comprised of proteins which are primarily produced in the liver and circulate in the blood. Once activated, the complement system stimulates inflammation, phagocytosis and cell lysis.
Excessive or uncontrolled activation of the complement system can cause severe, and potentially fatal, immune and inflammatory disorders.
The complement system comprises biological cascades of amplifying enzyme cleavages involving more than 30 proteins and protein fragments, and may be activated through three pathways: the classical pathway (initiated by antibody-antigen complexes), the lectin pathway (initiated by lectin binding) and the alternative pathway (initiated by microbial surfaces).
The alternative pathway also provides a critical amplification loop for all three pathways, regardless of the initiating mechanism. Factor D is an essential enzyme in the alternative pathway, thus making Factor D an attractive target to address complement-mediated diseases.
About BCX9930
Discovered by BioCryst, BCX9930 is a novel, oral, potent and selective small molecule inhibitor of Factor D currently in Phase 1 clinical development for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases. Patients with complement-mediated diseases, many of which can cause death or severe morbidity, currently either have no treatments available, or are limited to repeated intravenous infusion treatments. The company plans to report results from the ongoing Phase 1 trial in the fourth quarter of 2019.
About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst discovers novel, oral small-molecule medicines that treat rare diseases in which significant unmet medical needs exist and an enzyme plays a key role in the biological pathway of the disease. BioCryst has several ongoing development programs including BCX7353, an oral treatment for hereditary angioedema; BCX9930, an oral Factor D inhibitor for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases; galidesivir, a potential treatment for Marburg virus disease and Yellow Fever, and a preclinical program to develop oral ALK-2 inhibitors for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. RAPIVAB® (peramivir injection), a viral neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of influenza, is BioCryst's first approved product and has received regulatory approval in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the European Union. Post-marketing commitments for RAPIVAB are ongoing. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.BioCryst.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause BioCryst's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein include: that developing BCX9930 may take longer or may be more expensive than planned; that ongoing and future preclinical and clinical development of BCX9930 may not advance as expected, enroll the required number of subjects or have positive results; that the FDA, EMA or other applicable regulatory agency may require additional studies beyond the studies planned, may not provide regulatory clearances, may impose a clinical hold or may withhold market approval with respect to BCX9930. Please refer to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically BioCryst's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, all of which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in BioCryst's projections and forward-looking statements.
BCRXW
John Bluth
jbluth@biocryst.com
PNH BCRX BioCryst Factor D Complement


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CHiPs: a weak adaptation of a B-list television series
by Crave! • 2 April, 2017 • 0 Comments
It's hard to understand how CHiPs came to be made. There has been, in recent years, something of a trend toward slightly ironic, somewhat knowingly mocking film remakes of American telly from the 1970s and 1980s — 21 Jump Street, Starchy & Hutch, the soon-to-arrive Baywatch — but it's hard to see that a somewhat bland and inoffensive series about a couple of coppers on motorbikes was a necessary addition to this club.
This might explain why CHiPs is as incoherent a film as it is. The story focusses on Jon Baker and "Ponch" Poncherello; in this new iteration, however, Jon is a stunt motorcyclist who applies to the California Highway Patrol as a last-ditch attempt to save his marriage, while Ponch is a sex-addicted, homophobic FBI agent from Miami who is sent undercover to find out who in the CHP is involved in a series of armoured-car hold-ups. It's an adequate setup, not a particularly brilliant one, and it's played out in very broad strokes and little nuance or detail. The story might have made an acceptable plot for an episode of the original series, but it's not enough to sustain an hour and forty minutes.
So onto this slight framework is bolted a series of ill-conceived attempts at humour that manage a very inconsistent hit rate. Early in the film, as Jon is trying to convince the CHP to hire him, we are offered gags about disability that are profoundly poorly judged, and which were met at the screening I attended by very little laughter. Michael Peña brings a little warmth to the roll of Ponch, but it's an underwritten part. The same is true of Jon, but Dax Shepard, having also written and directed the film, can blame nobody but himself. And so CHiPs plods on. There are occasional moments when it threatens to be genuinely funny — a riff on Ponch's ability to identify a woman's Lululemon yoga pants just from Jon's description of the gusset had the potential to be the foundation of a running gag about a yoga-pants fixation, but Shepard appears not quite to know how to build on the foundations he's created, and instead swerves and veers toward blundering homophobia. The inconsistency of the film's humour leaves you feeling as though the jokes were bolted on long after the story, complete with some extraordinarily nasty violence, had been put to bed.
So while CHiPs isn't as dreadful as some critics have made it out to be, it's also not as good as it wants to be. Shepard seems unwilling, or unable perhaps, to commit to the full-on gross-out humour he appears to aspire to, and, to be fair, it's a very difficult genre to pull off with any great success. The Farrelly Brothers managed it with films like There's Something About Mary, but while they understood that it's a still you really have to commit to to make it work, even they haven't really been able to maintain their momentum, Dum and Dumber To being possibly their low-water mark.
CHiPs is an entirely disposable, forgettable, unnecessary film. It's not bad enough to be offensive, or even fun; it's just not quite fun enough to get away with being offensive.
← Beauty and the Beast – Oh the Nostalgia!
Crave! episode 37: The Lego Batman Movie, Beauty And The Beast, CHiPs, Ghost In The Shell →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Lebanon Crisis: Fragility, Conflict and Violence
Helmut Sorge
"Once upon a time a classic first line in fairy tales, used by Charles Dickens, for example in his "A Christmas card" in 1843, or Charles Perrault, the French poet, writer of "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty", both published in 1697 in "histoires ou contes du temp passé"
Once upon a time suggests a nostalgic touch, the good old, romantic days glamourized because negative memories are annihilated and deposed in the dustbin of the human mind. Once upon a time, Beirut, the capital city of the 6.7 million Lebanon, was considered by authors and citizens alike as "the Paris of the Middle East, art and fashion inspired by France, which allowed its colony to declare independence in 1943. Beirut had it all, Cafés, literature, fashion, the arrogance of youth and mind. Muslims, Christians, involved in political debate, some celebrating life on the wild side. Flashy dancers, dressed in minimalistic clothing, excited the mainly good-humoredly drunk male audience in the "Casino de Liban".
Men jetted into the colorful decadence from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi more than half a century ago were awaking nations floating on oil and gas, the promises of a golden future, covered by desert and dust.
Foreign airline pilots crowded the famous nightclub "Les Caves de Roi" in the "Excelsior" hotel, trying on the dance floor to move close contact with female representatives from Dior, Coco Chanel, or Jacques Fath. They were ready to move towards the new source of wealth in hitherto unknown gold-plated desert three hours flight away. Rolls Royce and Jaguar salesmen and mini-skirted students from the then prestigious "American University of Beirut" were dancing to "Ain't no mountain high enough", "Bridge over the troubled waters", or the Beatles "Let it be".
Indeed, once upon a time, Lebanon was hailed as the Arab Switzerland, including snow in local mountains. The air was mild and pure, transported from the Mediterranean Sea onto the shore, stroking Cedar trees, the color of the national flag and mentioned in the bible as the first of trees, used by King Solomon to build his temple on a mountaintop near Jerusalem, completed about 1000 years BC, only to be looted and destroyed 400 years later.
Surviving in agony
I inhaled picturesque Lebanon at the shores of the Mediterranean Sea for the first-time half a century ago- a fantasia turned into reality. Now memories turn in tragedy, the sweetness of yesterday replaced by hunger, ruins, misery, violence, and abandonment. Lebanon, mon amour, is barely within the shadow of death. its energy exhausted by battles of civil war, of religious showdowns, corruption, friction with neighbor Israel, economic mismanagement, disintegration, theft by its leaders, democratically elected, the jobs distributed as agreed decades ago, a Sunni Muslim is chosen as Prime minister, a Maronite Christian as President, the speaker of parliament, a Shiite Muslim.
Others share power, the radical movement Hezbollah, supported by Iran with money, oil, and weapons, including long-range rockets, tanks, and drones. 20 000 active fighters are symbols of menace, 20 000 additional reserves, ready, if asked, to totally paralyze the nation, autonomous with its own hospitals, schools, and uncontrollable military might. One example: On September 16 of last year, the first of several truck convoys arrived in Lebanon, transporting Iranian fuel via Syria. The delivery was not officially approved by the government; the trucks entered via an illegal crossing-a transaction that violated US sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Who cares about the law if power stations run out of fuel and the celebration of life turns into darkness and cold, miserable nights?
Hezbollah controls part of Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Eastern Bekaa Valley region, the radical movement, considered by the US, UK, Germany, Israel, and the Arab League as a terrorist organization, is also holding (since the 2018 elections) 18 of 128 parliamentarian seats and is represented in recent governments with two ministers, regardless to the electoral results.
The "International Institute for Strategic Studies ", in a 2018 report, called Hezbollah "the world's most heavily armed non-state actor." While it is customary to characterize Hezbollah as "a state within the state", insists Stephanie T. Williams of the Brookings Institution, it is more accurate now to define it as "a state within a non-state"- in view of the sheer inability of the Lebanese government to deliver even the most basic services to a desperate population plunged into its worst economic crisis in over a century." Mrs. Williams pointed in her paper (November 19, 2021), to the "looming specter of complete state failure."
Most severe crisis since the mid-nineteenth century
Hussain Abdul- Hussain, former managing editor of the oldest English language newspaper of the nation, the Daily Star, deplored its closure in October after 70 years of existence and confirmed : "Its story is the story of Lebanon, reduced in less than 15 years from a promising country to a failing state".(Foreign Policy, November 20, 2021) About 78 000 Lebanese citizens emigrated from Lebanon in 2021.Beirut based " "Information International " estimates that 195 433 people have left Lebanon since 2018.(Anadolu Website, December 9, 2021)
A recent survey revealed , reported Foreign Policy ( December 26, 2021)that 77 percent of Lebanon's youth want to leave-the highest percentage in the region. Lebanon, observed Hans- Jacob Schindler on EuroNews (October 15, 2021), "is struggling with one of the worst financial crisis the world has seen since the 19th century." The year 2021 has been" one of Lebanon's toughest years in decades", noted IISP as well (Italian Institute for International Political Studies; December 1, 2021), the country plunged deeper into a financial crisis, that resulted in around 85 percent of its population regarded as below the poverty line." Food prices have jumped by 557 percent since October 2019", reported Reuters (September 10, 2021) , and the economy has contracted by 30 percent since 2017."Weekly grocery bills can equal months of a typical family's income", wrote the New York Times (October 15, 2021) .Ben Hubbard, a "Times" reporter, who had spent much of the past decade in Lebanon: " People have watched an entire way of living disappear", the local currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value in just over two years", wrote Aljazeera (December 21, 2021), as well as skyrocketing inflation.
On June 1, 2021, the "World Bank" stated in its latest Lebanon Economic Monitor (LEM) that the economic and financial crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top 3, most severe crisis episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. In the face of colossal challenges, continuous policy inaction and the absence of a fully functioning executive threaten already dire socio-economic conditions and a fragile social peace with no clearing point on the horizon." The authors of the" World Bank" report blamed the "responses by Lebanon's leadership to these challenges "as "highly inadequate.
The inadequacy is less due to knowledge gaps and quality advice and more the result of 1) a lack of political consensus over effective policy initiatives, and 2) political consensus in defense of the bankrupt economic system, which benefited a few for so long. With a history of prolonged civil war and multiple conflicts- Lebanon is identified by the World Bank as a Fragility, Conflict & Violence (FCV) State-there is growing wariness of potential triggers to social unrest. The increasingly dire socio-economic conditions risk systemic national failings with regional and potentially global effects." The former financiers of the ruling class in Beirut, the oil-producing Gulf nations, and Saudi Arabia, have withdrawn from supporting Lebanon, which is trying to cope with an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and about 500 000 from other neighboring nations. Since Beirut did not resist its growing entanglement with Iran, the sponsors of Hezbollah, the Arab allies withdrew their ambassadors, banned Lebanese imports, and closed their visa sections, a contretemps, as Brookings Institution phrased it, "the latest chapter in the use of Lebanon as a theater to settle scores, particularly between Saudi Arabia and Iran."
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, a few days prior to last Christmas on a 48-hour visit to the troubled nation, did not mince his words, stating " seeing the suffering of the people of Lebanon, Lebanese leaders do not have the right to be divided and paralyze the country "( Aljazeera, December 21, 2021)In march elections are scheduled, a national vote, which, most likely, will not deliver fundamental change:" Lebanon's political quagmire will not end any time soon, "suggests the" Center for Strategic &International Studies" (CSIS) (December 16,2021). The elections are" unlikely to displace the corrupt political class, which has resisted necessary reform to end Lebanon's crisis at every turn."
Le nouveau profil stratégique de la mer Rouge
Sabine Cessou
Ce thème, abordé au Centre HEC de Géopolitique à Jouy-en-Josas, lors de la 12e édition des Dialogues stratégiques avec le Policy Center for the New South, une rencontre semestrielle, a permis de revenir dans le détail sur cette zone qui relie la Méditerranée à l'océan Indien, à la jointure de trois continents : l'Asie, l'Afrique et l'Europe. Cette route maritime qui s'étend sur plus de 2 200 km, pour une largeur qui varie de 300 km à moins de 30 km entre Djibouti et le Yémen, représ ...
12ème édition des Dialogues Stratégiques
Depuis 2016, le Policy Center for the New South et le Centre HEC de Géopolitique organisent chaque année deux éditions des « Dialogues Stratégiques ». Cette plateforme d'analyse et d'échange réunit des experts, des chercheurs provenant de différents think-tanks et du monde académique, d...
"Once upon a time a classic first line in fairy tales, used by Charles Dickens, for example in his "A Christmas card" in 1843, or Charles Perrault, the French poet, writer of "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty", both published in 1697 in "histoires ou contes du temp passé" Once upon a time suggests a nostalgic touch, the good old, romantic days glamourized because negative memories are annihilated and deposed in the dustbin of the human mind. Once upon a time, Beirut, the capital ci ...
Falcons and fighter jets
Feeble eyesight may hinder you from finding Puntland on a map, the unrecognized Federal member state in Somalia, Khaatumo State, Jubaland, or Somaliland, concerning the planet's size just large enough to be covered by the shadow of a palm tree. Arab entities surrounded by sun and sand and the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland is surviving as a self-declared nation, located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, Somalia ...
AD 2021: Africa & the Arab World: What Dynamics in Current Geopolitical Issues?
AD 2021: أفريقيا والعالم العربي ـ اي تداخلات في القضايا الجيوسياسية الحالية
A Relapse into conflict?
How do you treat a brutal dictator who had lost power after 42 years, hiding in a drainpipe, after his convoy was attacked by fighter jets from the air? It was a bloody mess and not a pretty scene. The dictator had a few seconds to beg for his life, "what did I do to you», he gasped reported the London Guardian on October 22, 2011, and then his turbulent life came to an end, shot with a pistol. Triumphantly his assassin raised Gaddafi's golden revolver -- a few minutes of global fam ...
Why Libya's Electoral Process Is Flawed and How to Improve It
Virginie Collombier, Noamane Cherkaoui
With elections in one month, Libya faces a multidimensional crisis. There is widespread disagreement with how the electoral process has transpired, which may set it up for rejection irres ...
The Afghan economy on the brink of chaos
Henri-Louis Vedie
The Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 16, 2021, and the ensuing Afghan regime collapse in face of the Islamists, sent a global shockwave that for a time obscured the country's economic woes during US occupation. This paper examines the situation and implications for the Afghan economy of Taliban rule. U.S. presence was to put it mildly, barely beneficial to the Afghan economy, whose misleading results stem primarily from International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and weste ...
Dialogues Stratégiques: Les rivalités de puissance en Afrique - L'Afrique face au terrorisme
Khalid Chegraoui
Eugène Berg
Rodolphe Monnet
Jacques Gravereau
Jérémy Ghez
Olivier Tramond
Niagalé Bagayoko
Alain Oudot de Dainville
Coordination de l'ouvrage: Imane Lahrich
Fatine Cherkaoui
Depuis l'accession au trône du Roi Mohammed VI, l'Afrique s'est transformée en priorité de la diplomatie marocaine. Sur le plan économique, l'Afrique est devenue le prolongement naturel du Maroc en termes d'investissements et d'implantations. Pascal Chaigneau s'attarde sur les relations affaiblies Europe-Afrique, l'ambitieuse relation Chine-Afrique ainsi que les relations entre la Russie, les Etats-Unis, la Turquie ou encore les pays du Golf et l'Afrique. Ce chapitre traite égalemen ...


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France's tech tax is wrong and so is Trump's response: opinion
Friday, 19 Jul 2019
By Timothy Lavin and Clive Crook
'Because France is enacting it in isolation, it
Fed up with big technology multinationals, most of which just happen to be American, France wants to tax them more heavily.
Last week, French lawmakers passed a measure that would impose a tax of up to 5% on digital companies with annual global revenue of more than US$845mil (RM3.4bil) and local revenue of more than US$28mil (RM115mil).
"When France shows its will, that's when things change," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said, with Gallic modesty. Unfortunately, things aren't changing for the better.
This measure is thoroughly ill-conceived. Because it applies to revenue rather than profits after expenses, it could end up taxing companies that don't make money. Because France is enacting it in isolation, it's likely to lead to double taxation and onerous compliance costs.
With vague and ambiguous rules, it's causing needless risk and uncertainty. And for all the trouble, it'll earn a pittance: about US$560mil (RM2.3bil) a year.
That's about a 1% increase in corporate tax revenue. Worse, the measure is plainly discriminatory. In addition to illogically singling out a specific industry, it will apply to only a handful of global companies – most of them, as it happens, American.
It includes indefensible carve-outs to protect local competitors. The government concedes that only a single French company will be subject to the tax. This is a tariff by another name.
America, then, has every right to object. It doesn't help that big US tech companies are currently besieged by European Union regulators; a new antitrust fine imposed on Qualcomm Inc is just the latest initiative.
Unfortunately, president Donald Trump is inclined to make a bad situation worse. Last week, his administration said it was opening a "Section 301" investigation into the tax. Under US law, if such a probe concludes that another country has engaged in unfair trade practices, the president has broad discretion to impose tariffs in response.
Trump, it's safe to assume, will not resist that temptation. He should.
Section 301 cases have been exceedingly rare in recent years, and with good reason: They've been almost entirely ineffective at achieving America's goals.
In all likelihood, going down this road will only worsen tensions with Europe, invite retaliation and legal challenges, impose costs on American consumers and businesses, slow economic growth, jeopardise jobs, and slam another nail in the coffin of the rules-based trade system that Trump seems determined to bury.
A far better way to address France's misguided protectionism is through the World Trade Organisation's dispute-settlement system, where the US has been largely successful over the years.
That might take time – a year or more – but it would achieve the administration's objectives, limit collateral damage, and demonstrate that the US still upholds the rules and values it built into the system over decades.Instead, there's glib talk in Washington of tariffs on French wine and cheese.
Members of Congress – in both parties – are not only applauding Trump's unilateralism, they're threatening to invoke an arcane statute that would allow them to double taxes on French citizens and companies in the US.
Remember that France is still a notional ally. Before things get worse, both countries should take a step back. It's true that taxing tech companies has proved challenging in recent years. But the way forward is through international cooperation, not yet another misbegotten trade war.
France and the US are both participating in talks at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that are intended to establish a truly global system of digital taxation.
It's a slow and cumbersome process, but it's also fair-minded, rational and economically sound. The same can't be said for France's new tax, or Trump's unenlightened response. If it continues to escalate, this is a conflict that no one will win. – Bloomberg


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Tag Archives: fun
'Twas the Night Before Christmas — Redux
'Twas the night before Christmas, when through the church house,
All the creatures were stirring, including the mouse.
The decorations were hung by the committee with care,
In hopes that Mrs. Grumplestilskin just wouldn't dare (complain, that is).
The children were robed for their Christmas play skits,
While visions of presents kept giving them fits.
The pastors in frocks and ushers in place,
Hoped that the cherubs wouldn't burn down the place.
When outside the doors there rose such a clatter,
You'd think Mrs. Bones had dropped her old platter.
Away to the sidewalk deacons flew in a flash
(well, not really a flash–average age is 92),
To see if folks had come, perhaps flush with some cash.
The moon on the top of the stinkin', slick ice,
Made their stroll on the sidewalk not very nice.
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But a late Uber driver all red in his ears.
With passengers old but so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment 'twas some medical trick.
To the church doors they moved, so promptly they came,
As the driver shouted for his fare and called them by name.
"Now, Asher! Now, Stanfield! Now Tricia, you vixen!
Hey, darn it, I'm calling! Come on now, please listen!"
As leaves before a good leaf blower fly,
They scurried to the front, all eager and spry.
So up to the stage did the play director crawl,
Hoping this year there'd be no post-production brawl.
And then, in a twinkling, I couldn't believe,
Young Johnny missed his cue and forgot to bring Steve.
But there was sweet Mary (her actual name) who played the best part,
Of the little babe's Mom, all dressed for the start.
The innkeeper was garbed in white from his head to his foot,
But he'd gotten into the furnace room and was covered with soot.
The pastors let out a simultaneous sigh,
Wondering if they could just escape on the sly.
To their utmost chagrin they could not escape,
Sadly, seminary had not prepared them for this (ahem) wonderful fate.
Proceeded then the play, with its fits and its starts,
Until little Johnny let out a series of loud (nope, can't say that).
The faint-hearted director was taken aback,
By the prospects of (still can't say that) taking over the pack.
Cherub giggling broke out and there was some very great chatter,
The spry ones in front pew couldn't tell just what 'twas the matter.
The pastors tried to seem like not a thing was astray,
But they knew they couldn't pull it off, no how and no way.
All of a sudden, from way in the back,
Five live sheep appeared and a man with a sack.
They stumbled forward not realizing the fuss,
The sheep all wondering whom they could trust.
They got to the front and saw the small crowd,
Of cherubs all giggling and talking aloud.
The play was so lost that the director made haste,
To get to the finish with no time to waste.
But the sheep not clued in to the need for some speed,
Spent time chewing stuff and one of them (nope, can't say that either).
The director cried out that she'd had enough,
And went for the door in a pretty great huff.
The kids left alone without any direction,
Didn't really care about the want of attention.
By this time the crowd was after the pastors,
It seems they own everything, even those old gal crafters.
So, one pastor stood with his face all aglow,
He wanted to land just one mighty blow.
But they did say, in that seminary school,
That throttling kids or sheep was, well, totally uncool.
The play with kids and the sheep and the smells,
Couldn't go any more badly on this day of the bells.
But just when all thought nothing worse could be done,
Flames shot out from one young sheep's buns.
It seems that a cherub had taken a candle,
Even one he'd been told that he shouldn't handle.
The candle had lit up the front of the place,
Bright flames were alighting in most every space.
With everything wrong and the prospect of danger,
It seemed that there'd be no time for the manger.
It 'twas such surreal and crazy, fraught scene,
That the pastors both just wanted to scream.
It couldn't be; they couldn't take any more,
They both ran (with no twinkle) right for the door.
Sad tale this is and pretty darn rotten,
But truth is, it doesn't happen that often.
Turns out this time that the pastor was dreaming,
His wife woke him up when he started some screaming.
He couldn't believe the old play gave such great fright,
He just wanted to try to make everything right.
But it seems that tradition grabs hold of all things,
And fills up the nights with such very bad dreams.
It appears that it's true that it's most hard to do,
To hold onto Jesus and everything true.
But still, those pastors will try with all of their might,
Even this year to say,
"Happy Christmas to all and, to all a good night!"
Leave a comment	| tags: Bible, christianity, Christmas, church, faith, family, friends, fun, Jesus, pastor, play, prayer, Twas the night	| posted in Uncategorized
Under the Dome and Other Closed Systems
I only saw two episodes of the TV series. But I had read the book: Stephen King's Under the Dome.
It's a crazy story about an impenetrable and transparent semi-sphere that appears in the sky and surrounds a New England town–the bubble (funny typing moment: spell check turned my initial attempt at "bubble" to "Buble" as in singer of songs–my spell check is likely on some controlled substance) is quickly labeled, "The Dome."
As the Dome materializes, it carves cattle in half (giving new meaning to the phrase, "thinly sliced roast beef"); planes abruptly disintegrate in the sky and the air is filled with a blood-and-body-parts kind of rain. Birds splat and slide to the ground. Trucks experience full-powered disintegration as they encounter the Dome at highway speed.
Then, as the Dome is completely formed, the people inside realize they are trapped. They hammer and they pound and they scream and they pound some more, but they cannot get out.
Outside the Dome, emergency crews bring explosive and military might to bear as they attempt to bust in. They can't and they don't–not for lack of trying, but for lack of ability to break into this completely closed system.
Interested in the story's end? Read the book…binge watch the series…ask someone…Google away…I am not a spoiler…you have no need of an alert about me (at least not for this)…
I was at someone else's family celebration in the not-too-distant past. The celebration was both well-deserved and well-attended. And…most of the people attending were Christians (in the they've-told-me-so-and-I'm-taking-their-word-for-it kind of way). I attended for two reasons: (1) I genuinely appreciated those being celebrated (they are loveable and huggable and kind and laden with been-around-a-long-time wisdom) and (2) their life achievement was a rarity in our day. I also sort of "had to" attend by virtue of my connection with those being celebrated.
In the military we used to call that kind of attendance requirement, "mandatory fun." In this case, the sweet nature of those being celebrated genuinely made seeing them fun–even if it was semi-mandatory.
But, since I wasn't part of the main family group that comprised this celebration, I was able to (read, again: had to) stand to the side. From my vantage point, I got to see an extended family system at work. It was the sort of observational opportunity that makes family systems theorists salivate.
Now, these family members seemed to enjoy each other very much; they seemed to extend genuine welcome and affection toward each other. There were lots of smiles and hugs and pats on the back and bantering remarks tossed about. Many "How have you beens?" peppered the conversation.
But one thing was very, very, very (yes, three "verys") clear from the outset: this was a tightly closed system. The Dome had nothing on this group. I don't think the folks inside were concerned about getting out. But those on the outside could not get in…at all…in any way…for any reason… (again) at all.
Because, not only was this system tightly closed, those inside seemed oblivious to the presence of those outside…maybe it wasn't actual obliviousness…maybe it was obliviousness's more informed cousin: indifference.
Like yellow-billed oxpeckers riding the backs of indifferent zebras, the outsiders were barely noticed by the insiders. The outsiders' presence was tolerated but they were not taken in.
Another non-family system member, also consigned to outlier land, leaned toward me and said, "Now I know what a church visitor feels like." I sighed internally (in my position you must master the internal sigh) and thought, "He's absolutely, heartbreakingly, incontrovertibly, right."
We need to do something about the reality of "insider" versus "outsider"–we need to realize that, except for God's grace through Christ, we are all "outsiders" and we'd best cast our loving embrace toward all the outsiders who come our way.
"I was a stranger and you did not invite me in" (Matthew 25:43).
© 2015, All rights reserved. Scripture from the NIV.
2 Comments	| tags: air force, Bible, Christian, Christian living, christianity, family, fun, military, oxpecker, strangers, systems, welcome, zebra	| posted in Uncategorized


Capital Budgeting is a planning process that is used to determine whether a firm's long term investments are financially viable enough to be undertaken. Certain techniques are used in capital budgeting process for assessing the viability of the proposed investments. This assignment will enable the students to understand and apply the capital budgeting techniques for evaluating the feasibility of alternative long-term projects.
Mr. Usman Ali has analyzed both projects for a period of 5 years. According to his analysis, the plants would be sold after 5 years resulting large fifth-year cash inflows. He feels that although the two plants have similar risk but plant A has a much higher initial investment. He has applied the firm's cost of capital (required rate of return) of 12% while analyzing the options. BK Brothers (Pvt.) Limited requires all projects to have a maximum payback period of 4 years.


21 Jul 2014 ... The actual production in Dalli mine of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) exceeded the ... and supplies iron ore (haematite) to the Bilhai Steel Plant near Durg, ... diesel hydraulic shovels operating 10 m high benches in ore and waste.
Easyoperated professional hydraulic iron ore drilling machine. Add to Compare. Response ... Iron ore mining equipment widly used trailer drilling rig machine.
7 Sep 2007 ... of this document, apart from giving an overall view of iron ore mining industry, is to develop ..... Development of Heavy Duty and High Efficiency Mining Equipment . ..... Hydraulic Hammer/ Rock Breaker – An environment.
17 Jun 2015 ... Hydraulics Laboratory, Brazil ... Life Cycle Assessment. Mining. Iron ore. a b s t r a c t. This paper assessed the cradletogate life cycle of an iron ore mining. .... the following inputs were collected: diesel in mining equipment,.
Equipment used : CC 88001 ; LR 1350/1 ; CC 28001 ; ... Sino Iron Ore project, a mine .... Sarens SA using the largest hydraulic capacity crane in SA, also.
In addition, the process of mining commonly exposes ore to more rapid oxidation by .... of chalcocite with little or no iron sulfide that would produce acidrock drainage. ... increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques and equipment developed in ..... Hydraulic mining is used for placer deposits of gold, tin, and other metals.


The Campaign newscast goes to the PPA Festival where Magnetic's Sue Todd and Enders Analysis' Douglas McCabe joined global editor-in-chief Claire Beale and head of media Gideon Spanier.
The mood was buoyant at the annual festival of magazine media in London as Todd and McCabe said there has been a swingback in favour of trusted, premium content.
New revenue streams such as commerce are growing and there is renewed investor interest in the sector, according to McCabe.
The newscast also discussed the launch of PAMCo, the new joint industry audience measurement tool, and Enders' forthcoming research, Passion Pays, about magazine media's unique ability to tap into reader passions such as food and home improvement and build communities.


That was my New Years Tweet (yes, I am on twitter, you can follow me if you like). It was kind of a toast/blessing for 2010. The love part has obvious implications. I want to keep loving my family and friends, myself, and my life. Loving myself includes taking care of my mind, body, and spirit. For me that is sewing; more broadly creating. I feel so good when I am actually sitting in front of the sewing machine and doing it. Of course it is always thrilling to pick out fabric. And who doesn't love seeing something you have made finished? But just sewing for me is really lovely and relaxing.
The bravery part goes deep for me, but one think I will say here at BN is that I am going to sew more knits. I know this is not hard. I have dabbled in it through the years, but this year I am totally inspired by this pattern and this idea. Simple knits are where it is at for me. I may even take Sally's T-shirt class someday to gain the confidence to pop the ballpoint needle in my machine and see what all those custom knit stitches are about.
Bravery is a big one in sewing. So often people are intimidated by two areas of sewing: cutting and actually pressing the presser foot down to sew. The fear of sewing is evident on some students faces during class and can really take the fun out of sewing. Yes, cutting is something to be focused on, but really, what is the harm done? About the worst think that can happen cutting is that you will cut totally wrong and have to start anew. That isn't so bad (depending on the price of your fabric), and actually, you may really learn something. As for sewing a seam, they are easyily removable, it may just take some extra time. But really, in life we learn from our mistakes not our successes. So be brave! Cut! Sew!
Happy New Year, we have missed you.


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Q: AwakeFromNib not getting called, cell rendering but outlets are nil I have a table view cell with a nib, all the outlets are connected properly. I am registering the cell, but the awakeFromNib is not being called. I am well deep into the app and I have registered many cells like this one, but this one is acting funny. The cell is rendered, because it comes inside the if let and when I give it cell.contentView.backgroundColor = .red, it shows the cell on the screen, but without the content like the label or images. What am I missing here?

A: Just a guess here but maybe you are registering a cell class instead of a nib?
Make sure you call this:
register(UINib(nibName: "MyCell",bundle: Bundle.main), forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "identifier")

and not this:
register(MyCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "identifier")

A: Guessing if you already added "override func awakeFromNib()" function in your Cell class. You will have to override awakeFromNib function in Swift class.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix lightly, just until incorporated. Fold in the cranberries.
Scoop the batter into the muffin tins, and bake until the muffins are puffed and golden and pass a toothpick test, about 25 minutes.


This is a photo of two mothers holding photos of their angel babies, Everleigh and Eva. Both girls had Miller Dieker syndrome (lissencephaly). But, more importantly, both brought love and lessons to their families and friends.
Social media gets a bad rap, but through its power Kayla and I learned how close we live. I wasn't sure I would ever hug a fellow MDS parent in person.
Sharing our similar journeys from diagnosis to grief brought a lot of comfort and healing. Thank you for sharing your Everleigh with me, Kayla. Our girls are stinking adorable, if I do say so. And thank you, Eva and Everleigh, for bringing your mamas together.


text:
from atom.api import Unicode

from enaml.core.declarative import d_

from html_object import HTMLObject
from lxml.html import builder as E

class Hyperlink(HTMLObject):

    tag = E.A
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    type = d_(Unicode())

    def initialize(self):
        super(Hyperlink, self).initialize()

    def buildHTML(self, *args):
        self.addTags()
        self.addText(self.text)
        kwargs = {'class': self.type, 'id': self.id}
        self.addAttributes(**kwargs)

        return super(Hyperlink, self).buildHTML(*args)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This is a placeholder page for Anthony Choice, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find Anthony Choice.
You are visiting the placeholder page for Anthony Choice. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Anthony Choice. We created this page automatically in hopes Anthony Choice would find it. If you are not Anthony Choice, but are an alumni of Academy Park High School, register on this site for free now.


I have completed my Higher Secondary Education. I am currently not working and I live in Dhemaji. I come from a middle class, joint family background with traditional values.
My name is Shweta. I have completed my B.A.. I grew up in a Rich / Affluent, Nuclear family with Moderate.


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Home » 05/01/19 Mary Chinery-Hesse
05/01/19 Mary Chinery-Hesse
This week on Century, former UN official and retired international civil servant Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse addresses the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference #HR19 in Porto, Portugal. Thanks to Harm Reduction International, sponsor and host of #HR19, for allowing the conference plenary and other sessions to be webcast live. Many thanks also to Rights Reporter Foundation DrugReporter for their work filming and webcasting the event.
Mary Chinery-Hesse
Download: COL050119.mp3
DEAN BECKER: The failure of drug war is glaringly obvious to judges, cops, wardens, prosecutors, and millions more now calling for decriminalization, legalization, the end of prohibition. Let us investigate the Century Of Lies.
DOUG MCVAY: Hello, and welcome to Century of Lies. I'm your host Doug McVay, editor of DrugWarFacts.org.
Well, at the time of this recording, the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference is going on in Porto, Portugal. #HR19 is a conference organized by Harm Reduction International. It features speakers from around the world active in policy and in service providing.
The first plenary was on Drug Policy: The Push For Justice. We're going to hear a portion of that now. The first speaker is Doctor Mary Chinery-Hesse. She is a retired international civil servant. Doctor Chinery-Hesse is introduced by Ann Fordham, the executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium.
ANN FORDHAM: My name is Ann Fordham, I'm the executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, and it gives me great pleasure to be the chair for this morning's plenary session on Drug Policy: The Push For Justice, with my beautiful, inspiring, and diverse panel of speakers who I'm honored to be introducing to you today.
The fight for justice within drug policy is very critical, as we heard yesterday from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, there is still much work to do. There is an unmitigated human rights disaster that still goes on in the name of the war on drugs in so many parts of the world.
And today, we will hear from our speakers about the important work that they are doing on this front to continue the fight for social justice and human rights in drug policy.
So without further ado, I'm going to introduce our first speaker. I'm very honored to introduce Doctor Mary Chinery-Hesse. She's a dear friend and a mentor of mine. Doctor Chinery-Hesse is a retired international civil servant who served as the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in several countries.
She was the first African woman to be appointed to that position, and she was appointed as the first woman Deputy Director of the International Labor Organization with the rank of Undersecretary-General of the UN. She's also served as chief adviser to the president of the Republic of Ghana.
She is currently Chancellor at the University of Ghana, and serves as a friend to the African Panel -- Union Panel of the Wise, and is a Commissioner of the West African Commission on Drugs, and also is a dear and beloved board member of the IDPC. Mary, you have the floor.
MARY CHINERY-HESSE, LLD (HC): Good morning. What a pleasure to see so many people coming to listen to me speak. And such a special group. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to present a voice of Africa, which generally tends to be rather muted.
And to be speaking to people, really, who have the third dimension. We're not talking to academics only, we're also talking to people who face situations on a daily basis, and therefore who are likely to give more relevant suggestions and make proposals which affects the life of people.
And the emphasis on human rights, I think, is appropriate to have such an audience, who will bring in the third dimension.
So, I'm just saying that -- excuse me -- that I feel so honored to be here, and I would start by thanking those who have brought me here. I very much would thank Harm Reduction International, but also the local NGO, APDES [Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento], who have made all this possible.
My information is that this happens every other year, and is the biggest, the biggest assembly. I'm overwhelmed that I'm part of it. Thank you so much for having me here.
But, somebody would ask why it's important for the voice of Africa, and in my case, I'll say west Africa, to be heard, when we sit in this manner. I think the subject matter itself lends itself to global treatment, and I do not think any part of the world should be left out.
I think the message is stronger and more relevant when everybody hangs together, and gets themselves on the same track, and to create a critical mass, which basically will make a difference in this particular area where we believe that the more the world appears to be doing, the more we appear to be going back.
And because of that, to work out new strategies which are -- is the challenge we have now, new strategies which will move the debate forward and lead to positive actions in this regard.
But west Africa is peculiar. I say this because we have realized that there's a lot of international criminal activity. Our borders are pourous, our coastlines are underpatrolled, and our government institutions are vulnerable.
Our countries are used as transshipment points between the production centers in Latin America and Asia, and consumer markets in Europe and the United States. Countries face three interrelated dangers from illegal drug trafficking in west Africa.
First, there's the threat from drug profits funding corruption, which can corrode state institutions and undermine good governance and the rule of law.
You know, we've had a situation like in Guinea Bissau, where the president of the country, sitting president, was executed in front of his family, in fact, chopped up like, bam, in front of his family, because of the situation and the impact on governance of these issues.
So, these are, for us, we cannot sweep these matters under the carpet. That's why we have a Commission set up.
Then, there's the risk that drug traffickers may link up with other criminal elements, or worse, extremists groups that may be trying to infiltrate the region. We currently have that situation in the Sahel.
And then finally there is the harmful impact on the health and social cohesion of local communities caused by growing drug consumption.
You know, my dear brother who passed on, Kofi Annan, was a very wise man, and therefore, looking at the situation, mooted the idea of the West African Commission on Drugs.
Of course, we're very sad that he passed on. I personally was very -- I felt wounded, because he was my childhood friend. We grew up together. We were in the United Nations together, and he became a true brother.
Soon after he died, my husband also passed on. So, last year was a horrible year for me, but at least Kofi has a legacy. When I look around this room, I find that some of the ideas which he pushed were truly relevant to humanity.
I don't know if I can impose on you, Madame Chair, to ask that we have a minute's silence to honor my brother, and my friend, Kofi Annan. Just for a minute, if you get on your feet, and let us.
[silence]
Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. I'm sorry to impose on you in this manner, but I think it's necessary, because his voice really helped, in this regard, and he was a great communicator. He managed to put things very simply, very quietly, but for all to comprehend.
And, what he said then was, I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more. And we have to keep this in mind as we work here today.
But let me now, very quickly, turn on to the West African Commission on Drugs itself. It's regionally led, and it's an independent group. I think we have something on the -- the selection of people to serve on the Commission took into account our situation in west Africa.
People play big man, you know, so they will only give audience to people who they think are like themselves. And I think Kofi Annan had the right idea, by selecting people who could open doors, and who could not be written off by presidents they tried to talk about. It's a peculiarity of our region, and I think the Commissioners selected fit that mold.
But in addition, we -- he also brought in young people. He brought in actors, people who could relate to the young in society, and so on, and that has been very effective. Some of us, our grandchildren think we should not be talking at all. But, they listen to people who they sing with together, dance their new steps, you know.
If you challenge me, I will do that, but I'm sure they will laugh. They will not be impressed. So, I'm just trying to say, the Commission was very well constituted, and we buckled down to carry out research relevant to our environment.
The long and the short of it was, we brought our findings and recommendations, which we have put up, the report was published in 2014, and that gave a holistic overview of the impact of drug trafficking and consumption on governance, security, development, and public health in West Africa.
I'll just, because of time constraints, you know, I'll just highlight a very few of these findings.
We found that it is still mostly users, small time dealers, and drug couriers, who are arrested and imprisoned. In this way, the law is applied, the law as it exists today, is applied disproportionately to the poor, the uneducated, and the vulnerable, while the powerful and well connected slip through the enforcement net.
In other words, the small fry is caught, while the big fish swim free.
But, I don't think this is peculiar to our situation, that's the situation in a lot of countries, and therefore there's still work to be done in terms of the law in most parts of the world. So we're really going to tackle the problems and not punish the weak, that's, not punish them as they're people you can get at easily, and who cannot buy their way out.
DOUG MCVAY: You're listening to Century of Lies, I'm your host Doug McVay. We're listening now to a portion of the first plenary at the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference, taking place in Porto, Portugal. The speaker is Doctor Mary Chinery-Hesse. We'll be back with more in just a moment.
Porto is a beautiful city. I wish I could be there. Unfortunately I just don't have the travel budget. Well, at least my carbon footprint isn't quite as bad as a result. Fortunately, some of the folks there at the harm reduction conference include my friends from Drug Reporter.
Rights Reporter Foundation Drug Reporter is an excellent organization. You should go to their Facebook page at Facebook.com/DrugReporter. You can find there a lot of the videos that they are shooting at this event, including the main plenary sessions and some of the panel discussions.
Quite a lot of the content is being streamed via Facebook to the public by Drug Reporter. This conference in Porto is a long way away, a lot of people like myself, a lot of others, can't make it for one reason or another. Thanks to Drug Reporter, we can still learn from the people there, we can still participate in what's going on.
You can also find Drug Reporter at their website, which is DrogRiporter.hu, that's DrogRiporter.hu. They have an English language version as well as the original Hungarian. You can find links there for a lot of their videos, they've been working for many years to document international drug policy reform and harm reduction efforts.
And again, they're there in Porto at the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference, so if you go to the Drug Reporter Facebook page at Facebook.com/DrugReporter, you can find their videos, which they are streaming live from Porto.
Excellent content, I recommend it highly.
Many, many thanks to Harm Reduction International, the sponsors and hosts of #HR19, the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference, for allowing all these sessions to be webcast. It is the way of the future. I am so glad that Harm Reduction International is embracing technology in this kind of way. It is so cool, and just, my thanks again to Harm Reduction International for allowing the webcast of this conference.
You can find that webcast material as well as a bunch of other great information at the Harm Reduction International website, which is HRI.global.
And now, let's get back to listening to some of that content. Here's Doctor Mary Chinery-Hesse, the opening plenary on Drug Policy: The Push For Justice.
MARY CHINERY-HESSE, LLD (HC): So, at the beginning of our work, we focused on the threats of drug trafficking to governance, as I have mentioned before, to security, and to development in our region.
During the course of our work, however, we were more and more struck by the problems of drug consumption with particular reference to other aspects of life in the region.
In Africa, in general, and in west Africa particularly, some cultural and religious beliefs tend to reinforce the stigma of people who use drugs. I don't know whether that is the situation in many parts of the world, but in my country, Ghana, for example, cannabis is translated in the indigenous languages as "abonsam tawa," which means the devil's tobacco.
This tends to deepen the demonization of the substance. Consequently, culturally, people who use drugs in my country identify as users of a devilish substance, with all that that entails. And they tend to be even more ostracized than in other places as a result, because you've brought in this religious sort of spiritual, you know, color, to the whole thing. It's very, very bad.
And, in South Africa, for example, a study conducted reveals that people are more likely to offer help to alcohol users, but more likely to suggest aggressive measures for drug users. This shows that morality and ethics are heavily involved in how drug users are perceived.
The picture of young people in west Africa today is that of a most at-risk population, when compared to their peers in other parts of the world. Viewed from any perspective, employment, literacy, life expectancy, exposure to harm from social conflicts, opportunity to achieve potentials, the west African adolescent or young child is at a disadvantage.
Sadly, drug use and the state's response to it add another layer to the problems already being encountered by youth and their families on a daily basis.
And now, the region's drug laws are in desperate need of reform, we found out. It is obvious that to reduce the harm caused by the illegal drug trade, governments must modify their handling of drug users. Unjust laws can prevent people from accessing the services they need to prevent or treat HIV, and people who use drugs need help and care, not punishment. This is something we've been pushing a lot in our region.
And that is the main message from the new model drug law for west Africa, which was launched on Eleven September in Dakar, Senegal. And this model drug law aims to guide policy makers in the region on how to better frame their drug laws.
Our current situation, which stigmatizes and penalizes drug users, that's pushing them to the fringes of society or locking them up in ever increasing numbers, puts enormous pressure on the already overstretched criminal justice system.
There is as well absence of effective treatment and harm reduction services, and the West African Commission on Drugs strongly recommends the adoption of a drug treatment policy with minimum standards across the region. These are the things we have been working at.
I realize I don't have too much time, so I'm going to, I don't know how to do this, the nicer part of my presentation is in the last part, so, I will push on.
We, the West African Commission also concludes that drug use should not be a matter of criminal justice. Drug laws need to be reformed to decriminalize drug use and low level nonviolent drug offenses.
The protection of the security, health, human rights, and well being of all people, we have emphasized, needs to be the central goal, and I guess there will be enough discussed on this.
One of our recommendations, and I think we need a slide here, is to develop reformed, harmonized drug laws on the basis of existing and emerging minimum standards and pursue decriminalization of drug use and low level nonviolent drug offenses, and in order to sensitize policymakers, we have been going around a lot.
It's not a law we expect to be put on the shelf. We want it to be a living document to influence lawmakers, because sometimes, when it's just talk, nothing changes, but we spent a lot of time trying to sensitize those who make a difference in what goes on the law books, so that you change the nature and face of the law as it exists today, and as we think it's being implemented in a manner which is not very useful or in the interest of human rights.
And therefore we continue to go around countries, at very high levels. We send people like President Obasanjo, and so on, to join the sensitization effort, and I'm happy to say that we are making a difference.
We, in my country, Ghana, for example, in spite of the stigma and the religious aspects and so on, we actually have a drug law now in Parliament which is being influenced by what we have brought out within the context of the West African Commission on Drugs.
We discovered that not government -- not many governments knew how to tackle things, and one of the greatest achievements of the Commission is bringing out a model drug law, which we think should act as a template, as countries try to modify their law, and to make sure that we have looked at what is happening globally and selected the best things, and ensure that we have laws which then will be extremely progressive.
We want west Africa to be ahead of the pack in this regard. Very soon, [inaudible].
I'm really going to try to stop talking, my speech will be put out later. But, I want to say that, in a measured way, we're trying to balance criminal justice and health aspects of drug consumption by introducing thresholds. If caught with the equivalent amount of what somebody would use in ten days, a person will have those drugs confiscated, but will not be arrested and sent to jail. This is what we are proposing.
I want to say that Africa stands by to study from all of you. So this, for me, is going to be a very, very important meeting for ourselves as well.
I also want to just say that we are using our regional organization ACOAS very much in trying to promote what we've put in there, and it's working. We're moving to the continental level, in fact we have already moved there, but in Africa, it's -- sometimes it's more difficult to work from the top to the bottom, so we're trying to motivate the regional organizations to get more involved, since we appear to have started something.
I'm happy to state that I personally try to be involved in actions being taken by -- within the context of southern Africa to introduce some of the ideas we've started here. I wish I could be talking to you more, but I'm, every minute I feel guilty, I should not be doing this to Ann, my friend, and therefore I will stop.
I hope that this will be distributed. Thanks for your attention. Thank you so much for having me here.
DOUG MCVAY: That was Doctor Mary Chinery-Hesse, a retired international civil servant, speaking at the 2019 International Harm Reduction Conference in Porto, Portugal. Again, Harm Reduction International, the sponsors, are allowing this webcast to go on, the audio that we're using on today's show, so many, many thanks again to Harm Reduction International. All that great content and much more at HRI.global.
And once again, thanks to our friends at the Rights Reporter Foundation Drug Reporter.
And that's it for this week. I want to thank you for joining us. You have been listening to Century of Lies. We're a production of the Drug Truth Network for the Pacifica Foundation Radio Network, on the web at DrugTruth.net. I'm your host Doug McVay, editor of DrugWarFacts.org.
The executive producer of the Drug Truth Network is Dean Becker. Drug Truth Network programs, including this show, Century of Lies, as well as the flagship show of the Drug Truth Network, Cultural Baggage, and of course our daily 420 Drug War News segments, are all available by podcast. The URLs to subscribe are on the network home page at DrugTruth.net.
The Drug Truth Network has a Facebook page, please give it a like. Drug War Facts is on Facebook too, give its page a like and share it with friends. Remember: Knowledge is power.
You can follow me on Twitter, I'm @DougMcVay and of course also @DrugPolicyFacts.
We'll be back in a week with thirty more minutes of news and information about drug policy reform and the failed war on drugs. For now, for the Drug Truth Network, this is Doug McVay saying so long. So long!
For the Drug Truth Network, this is Doug McVay asking you to examine our policy of drug prohibition: the century of lies. Drug Truth Network programs archived at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.


Though the total wetland area is less than 200 acres, it is essential habitat and is intensively managed to ensure maximum benefit to wildlife.
Management at the Honouliuli and Waiawa Units of the Pearl Harbor NWR is based on the life history requirements of the endangered waterbirds. Water levels are manipulated to control the amount and location of mudflats, shallow and open water, and dry bare ground for foraging and nesting of endangered Hawaiian waterbirds, especially the ae'o.
At the Kalealoa Unit management includes removal of invasive nonnative plant species and planting of native and endangered plant species, with an emphasis placed on the recovery of the endangered plant 'Ewa hinahina (Achyranthes spledens var. rotundata). Also important at Kalealoa is the detection and restoration of anchialine pools, which are salt water pools in the raised limestone coral reef that are connected to the ocean via minute subterranean cracks and crevices within the coralline substrate. Restoration of these rare pools provides suitable habitat for several unique species including 'ōpae'ula, an imperiled native shrimp that requires these protected pools to survive.
Invasive tree removal at Kalealoa Unit also helps in the protection of historic World War II artifacts.


The seed of Catholicism in Odisha can be traced back to the 17th Century, when it was under the care of Madras-Mylapore. By 1845 the region of Odisha was already under Visakhapatnam Diocese and the missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, msfs evangelized the hilly regions of the then Ganjam and Phulbani Districts and the coastal belt of Cuttack and Berhampur. However, with due the hard missionary life and unhygienic conditions of the hilly region, many young missionaries succumbed to tropical deceases like Malaria & Black fever in the mission fields. Therefore, after the World War I, in 1923, they handed over the Cuttack Mission, as it was known then, to the Congregation of the Mission, the Spanish Vincentian missionaries. Under the Vincentian Missionaries the Cuttack Mission progressed in leaps and bounds. It was declared "Missio Sui Juris" by Pope Pius XI on July 18, 1928 and Fr Valerian Guemes, CM, was appointed its Administrator and Ecclesial Superior.
In 1937 Cuttack Mission was raised to the status of a Diocese and Rt. Rv. Florence Esperanza CM as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Cuttack. After his retirement, Bishop Paul Tobar, CM was appointed as the second Bishop in 1948. On 24th January 1974, Pope Paul VI, by the Papal Bull 'Verba Jesus Christi', bifurcated the Diocese of Cuttack and created the Diocese of Berhampur with the present eight civil Districts of South Odisha: Ganjam, Gajapati, Nuapoda, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangapur, Malkangiri and Kalahandi. Simultaneously, Odisha Ecclesiastical Province was created with Cuttack-Bhubaneswar as the Archdiocese, the new name of the Diocese of Cuttack, and the Diocese of Berhampur was placed as one of its suffragan Dioceses. Bishop Thomas Thiruthalil, CM. was installed on 23rd June 1974 as the first Bishop of Berhampur. In January 1990 he was transferred to the newly erected Diocese of Balasore and Rev. Fr. Joseph Das was appointed as the Administrator of the Diocese of Berhampur, who was later consecrated Bishop of Berhampur on 7th July 1994. Bishop Das retired in 2006.
The present Bishop Rt. Rev. Sarat Chandra Nayak was consecrated on 30th January 2007 as the third Bishop of Berhampur, with his motto: "To be a happy servant." Accepting the request of the Diocese, Pope Francis bifurcated the Diocese of Berhampur and created a new Diocese of Rayagada on 11th April 2016. Rt. Rev. Bishop Aplinar Senapati, CM was consecrated on 28th May 2016 as the first Bishop of Rayagada, comprising six civil Districts: Nuapoda, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangapur, Malkangiri and Kalahandi, The Diocese of Berhampur has now 2 civil Districts: Ganjam & Gajapati. Diocese has a Ten Year Plan (2011-2021) to realize the following Vision and Mission.
Vision: To be a Spirit-filled, Self-sustaining and Serving Community.
Mission: To make Christ known to the world by improving the quality of Christian life, by promoting human dignity and freedom, by empowering the marginalized through quality education and sustainable holistic development, and to promote healthy, happy and harmonious life in the society.


Acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese medicine, and it's regularly used to treat anxiety. At some point, most people deal with anxiety, and it's a very common medical condition.
If you've been diagnosed with anxiety, you can seek treatment from powerful pharmaceuticals, but you might have to wait several months to see the results. Many patients are trying an alternative treatment for anxiety, and it's called acupuncture.
According to ancient Chinese medicine, the human body has an energy field, and the energy is called Qi. The Chinese believe that Qi is responsible for regulating your overall health. You can think of Qi like the blood that runs through your circulatory system.
The human body is filled with meridians, which are like pathways for the Qi. When the flow of Qi becomes obstructed, it negatively affects your overall health. Some common problems that block the flow of Qi are poor nutrition, stress and injury.
By inserting tiny needles at specific points along your body's meridians, we can balance your Qi and improve your overall health. For many, this concept might be difficult to understand, but you can think of Qi as a form of metabolic function.
Every day, millions of chemical reactions occur within your body, and acupuncture serves to balance the reactions. By placing the needles in certain areas, we can cause your body to produce its natural painkilling chemicals. The needles are also effective for stimulating important parts of the brain and activating the part of your body that heals itself.
It's believed that anxiety is set off by things that are outside of your control, and since acupuncture can help to balance your emotions, it can be effective for treating anxiety. Although modern medicine can mask the symptoms of anxiety, medicine can be very expensive and produce unwanted side effects.
If you'd like to fight back against anxiety, there are three major benefits that you can gain from acupuncture treatment. The first benefit is immediate results.
Once you're finished with the treatment, you don't have to wait several months to see if it worked. The results from the treatment are immediate, and they'll continue to surface over time. Acupuncture also reduces reinforcement, which is a cycle that makes anxiety worse.
Since acupuncture can also address several other issues, it's a treatment option that is worth considering. When you come in for treatment at Lakeside Sports Chiropractic Center and Motorsports Rehab in Cornelius, acupuncture needles will be placed in a specific way for the treatment of anxiety. Contact our office today to schedule your appointment to learn more about acupuncture as a treatment for anxiety.


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Q: Obtener valores no repetidos de un subarray PHP Buenas tardes necesito que me ayuden con un problemita que tengo lo explico:
tengo un array que a su vez tiene un subarray, este es el array:
result=array();
result=( [GERENCIA] => Array
    (
        [2018-07-17] => 1
        [2018-08-14] => 4
        [2018-08-15] => 3
    )

[BARCO CAMPOVERDE DOUGLAS GEOVANNY] => Array
    (
        [2018-08-14] => 2
    )

[FUENTES HENRIQUEZ JUDITH ESPERANZA] => Array
    (
        [2018-08-14] => 4
    )

[PEREZ GARCIA MAURICIO JOSEPH] => Array
    (
        [2018-08-14] => 1
    )

)

entonces de este array tengo que obtener las fechas pero que o esten repetidas es decir tengo que obtener:
fechas(2018-07-17,2018-08-14,2018-08-15
)
hasta el moemento logré obtener las fechas y las almacene dentro de un array:
Array(
[0] => 2018-07-17
[1] => 2018-07-17
[2] => 2018-08-14
[3] => 2018-08-15
[4] => 2018-08-14
[5] => 2018-08-14
[6] => 2018-08-14
[7] => 2018-08-14
[8] => 2018-08-14
[9] => 2018-08-14
[10] => 2018-08-14
[11] => 2018-08-14
[12] => 2018-08-15
[13] => 2018-08-15
[14] => 2018-08-15
[15] => 2018-08-15
[16] => 2019-06-14)

de este necesito obtener solo las fechas que no se repiten
espero que me ayuden muchas gracias


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Who Is Running for President?
Gina Cook Published: July 20, 2020
If you're confused as to who's running for President of the United States and who's not...don't be. Hopefully, by the time you're done reading this, whatever had you mixed-up will be ironed-out and you'll have more clarity on what's going on.
First, there are now only two serious candidates running for President of the United States in November:
Running for re-election: Donald Trump
Running to replace Trump: Joseph "Joe" Biden
Now that we're clear on that, let's look at what has led to some of the confusion, starting with Republican candidates running for office. Four candidates jumped in the race to challenge the incumbent (holder of office or post,) President Donald J. Trump.
Former Massachusetts Governor - Bill Weld
Former Illinois Congressman - Joe Walsh
U.S. Representative - Mark Sanford
Businessman - Rocky De La Fuente'
The Republican National Committee rallied behind Trump and voted to provide their undivided support. Because of this, a lot states canceled their primaries, while other states used the winner-take-all system (candidate with most votes among their counterparts) to officially hand Trump the nomination March 17, 2020.
On the other side of the aisle, the most diverse group of Democrat candidates in history put in a bid for the presidency. There were 29 candidates in all, which included seven minorities, six woman, and one gay man. Nineteen of them dropped out before the primaries began. Some of the most notable candidates included: Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kamala Harris, former Mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro, Mayor of Miramar, Florida Wayne Messam, Texas U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Democratic candidates who made the final cut, but dropped out of the race during the primaries were as follows:
U.S. senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders
U.S. representative from HI-02, Tulsi Gabbard
U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren
Former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg
Former Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick
U.S. senator from Minnesota,Amy Klobachar
Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg
Founder of Farallon Capital and Beneficial State Bank, Tom Steyer
U.S. senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet
Founder of Venture for America, Andrew Yang
The only Democrat still standing and currently running against Donald Trump is former Obama Vice President and U.S. Senator from Delaware, Joseph "Joe" Biden. As for why the names of candidates previously running for President being on the ballot, a good number of them didn't drop out of the race until after the Primary Elections began. Even though they're names remained on the ballot, the votes they got were basically wasted. Here's an example of what I mean. Watch the video below about the 2020 Super Tuesday Election.
Longtime Trump supporter and former rapper, Kanye West, registered to vote for the first time Monday July 6, 2020. In doing so, he has been trying to join the presidential race by working to get his name on the ballot in states that haven't held a primary yet. We'll see if he can get something off the ground between now and November. Looks like he's off to a very rough start.
The Evolution of Dreadlocks, Cornrows, Braids and Twists
Categories: Politics & Money


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Unter dem Begriff Schulbuchkontroverse wird eine Reihe öffentlicher Auseinandersetzungen in Pakistan über die richtige Darstellung der pakistanischen Geschichte in staatlich genehmigten Schulbüchern zusammengefasst. Der Inhalt der offiziellen Lehrbücher wurde von verschiedenen Seiten, auch innerhalb Pakistans, kritisiert und es wird den Autoren vorgeworfen, dass sie religiöse Intoleranz und Indophobie fördern würden.

Hintergrund und Kritik
Während der Militärdiktatur unter General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq wurde ein Programm der Islamisierung der Gesellschaft und des Staates, einschließlich des Bildungssystems, begonnenen. General Zia erklärt, dass das Ziel seiner Bildungspolitik darin bestehe, dass "die höchste Priorität für die Revision der Curricula gegeben werden soll, um den gesamten Inhalt der Curricula islamkonform umzugestalten, um die islamischen Dogmen zu reorganisieren und der Bildung eine ideologische Orientierung zu geben, damit die islamische Ideologie das Denken der jüngeren Generation durchdringt".

Es wird kritisiert, dass besonders seit den 1970er Jahren der Geschichtsrevisionismus in pakistanischen Schullehrbüchern den Hass gegen Indien, Hindus und Nicht-Muslime propagiert.

In einem 1995 erschienenen Artikel im "International Journal of Middle East Studies" erklärte der Historiker Ayesha Jalal: "Pakistans Geschichtslehrbücher gehören zu den besten verfügbaren Quellen die den Nexus zwischen Macht und Bigotterie" in Geschichtsbüchern aufzeigen. Durch die Propagierung von Konzepten wie dem Dschihad, der Minderwertigkeit von Nichtmuslimen und der Feindschaft zwischen Indien und Pakistan fördern die von allen staatlichen Schulen benutzten Lehrbuchpublikationen eine obskurantistische Denkweise. Die Lehrbücher ignorieren die vorislamische Geschichte Pakistans, außer um die vedischen Hindus und den Hinduismus zu kritisieren.

Ein anderer bekannter pakistanischer Historiker Khursheed Kamal Aziz hat in ähnlicher Weise die Lehrbücher kritisiert. Er stellte fest, dass Lehrbücher voller historischer Fehler waren und "vorgeschriebene Mythen" propagieren. Nach der Analyse von 66 Lehrbüchern, die auf verschiedenen Studienstufen verwendet wurden, argumentierte Aziz, dass die Lehrbücher die Militärdiktatur in Pakistan unterstützen, den Hass gegen Hindus fördern, Kriege verherrlichen und die prä-islamische Geschichte Pakistans verfälschen.

Literatur
 K. K. Aziz. (2004) The Murder of History : A Critique of History Textbooks used in Pakistan. ISBN 969-402-126-X Vanguard.
 A. H. Nayyar, Ahmad Salim: The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Text-books in Pakistan - Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics. Sustainable Development Policy Institute. ()
 Yvette Rosser: Indoctrinating Minds: Politics of Education in Bangladesh, RUPA, New Delhi, 2004.
 Yvette Rosser: Islamization of Pakistani Social Studies Textbooks, RUPA, New Delhi, 2003.
 Yvette Rosser: Hegemony and Historiography: The Politics of Pedagogy. Asia Review, Dhaka, Fall 1999.
 Arun Shourie: Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. New Delhi, 1998. ISBN 8190019988
 A. H. Nayyar: Twisted truth: Press and politicians make gains from SDPI curriculum report. SDPI Research and News Bulletin Vol. 11, No. 1, January - February 2004
 Pervez Hoodbhoy - What Are They Teaching In Pakistani Schools Today? (International Movement for a Just World)

Siehe auch
 Madrasa

Einzelnachweise

Geschichtsrevisionismus
Geschichtswissenschaftliche Kontroverse
Geschichtsdidaktik
Politikgeschichte (Pakistan)
Schulbuchwesen
Bildungspolitik
Indisch-pakistanische Beziehungen
Islam in Pakistan
Religiöser Konflikt

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Celebrities Sports Casey Wiegmann: Top 10 Must-Know Facts About Football Player
Casey Wiegmann: Top 10 Must-Know Facts About Football Player
Casey Wiegmann (Football Player) was born on the 20th of July, 1973. He was born in 1970s, in Generation X. His birth sign is Cancer and his life path number is 11. Casey's birth flower is Larkspur and birthstone is Ruby. What does this all mean? Let's find out!
Discover all the facts that no one tells you about Casey Wiegmann below ↓
NAME: Casey Wiegmann
REAL NAME: Casey Peter Wiegmann
PROFESSION: Football Player
BIRTHPLACE: Parkersburg, Iowa, USA
Casey Wiegmann, best known for being a Football Player, was born in Parkersburg, Iowa, USA on Friday, July 20, 1973. NFL center who has played for several teams but is best known for his days with the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. In 2008, he made his first Pro Bowl during his first season with the Broncos.
Family: He married Survivor: Guatemala star Danni Boatwright and has two children. Casey Wiegmann father's name is under review and mother unknown at this time. We will continue to update details on Casey Wiegmann's family.
Education: Casey Peter Wiegmann attended University of Iowa, Iowa.
Dating: According to CelebsCouples, Casey Wiegmann is married Danni Boatwright.
Net Worth: Online estimates of Casey Wiegmann's net worth vary. It's easy to predict his income, but it's much harder to know how much he has spent over the years. CelebsMoney and NetWorthStatus does a good job of breaking most of it down.
2. Casey Wiegmann's zodiac sign is Cancer
Casey Wiegmann zodiac sign is a Cancer. Dates of Cancer are June 21 - July 22. Those born under the zodiac sign Cancer need to be needed. They have an great desire to feel loved and appreciated in every part of their lives. This is needed so that they can develop a sense of security and identity. They are nurturing, supportive, healing, compassionate, and unconditionally loving. Although, they can be dependent, indirect, moody, passive, aggressive, and unable to let go.
BORN IN THE YEAR OF THE: Ox
RULING PLANET: Moon
The American football player has been alive for 17,706 days or 424,959 hours. There were precisely 600 full moons after his birth to this day.
BORN ON: Friday
Casey Wiegmann was born on a Friday. Friday is ruled by Venus, the planet of love, balance, beauty, romance, elegance, and pleasure. People born on Friday are social animals, artistic, and obsessed with beauty and love.
Countdown to Casey Wiegmann's next birthday.
Casey Wiegmann will be turning 49.
4. On Casey Wiegmann's birthday
The world's population was 3,927,538,695 and there were an estimated 121,831,979 babies born throughout the world in 1973, Richard Nixon (Republican) was the president of the United States, and the number one song on Billboard 100 was "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce.
1881 – Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, surrenders to US federal troops.
1921 – Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor of US House of Representatives.
1954 – Armistice for Indo-China signed, Vietnam separates into North and South.
5. Casey Wiegmann's height and weight
We're currently in process of confirming all details such as Casey Wiegmann's height, weight, and other stats. If there is any information missing, we will be updating this page soon. If you any have tips or corrections, please send them our way.
WEIGHT (KG) 129
EYE COLOR: Light Brown
6. The Year of the Ox
Casey Wiegmann was born in the Year of the Ox. People with Chinese zodiac Ox bear persistent, simple, honest, and straightforward characteristics. They are talent leaders with strong faith, and strong devotion to work. Their strengths are honest, industrious, patient, cautious, level-headed, and persistent. But they can also be obstinate, inarticulate, prudish, and distant. Their lucky numbers are 1, 9, and lucky colors are red, blue, purple.
7. Casey Wiegmann's life path number is 11
Casey Wiegmann was born in the middle of Generation X.
9. Casey Wiegmann's birthstone is Ruby
Red rubies are tokens of harmony and peace. Their beauty speaks of strength and nobility of character. It was believed to protect its wearer from evil. Traditionally, the ruby has been regarded by ancient Hindus as the "king of gems"
10. Casey Wiegmann's birth flower is Larkspur
Larkspurs symbolize positivity and love. They come in a wide range of vibrant colors including indigo, purple and pink.


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AIF lauds proposed revisions to House's workers' compensation reform
Online sales tax collection goes to Senate committee
Michael Moline
Associated Industries of Florida chief Tom Feeney had praise Thursday for amendments that would bring the House workers' compensation reform bill closer to business interests' ideal.
"AIF today calls on members of the Florida House Commerce Committee to adopt the amendments to HB 7085 that will go a long way in rectifying our state's wounded workers' compensation system," Feeney said in a written statement.
"While there is still more work to be done to make Florida's workers' compensation system whole again, these good amendments support some of the fixes Florida's business community proposed under our Florida Workers' Compensation Strategic Task Force.
Under the amendments filed this week to HB 7085, attorneys filing benefits challenges would have to stipulate to the time they have put into a case before trial, to prevent bill padding.
House Insurance & Banking chairman Danny Burgess was expected to present the bill and amendments later in the day before the Commerce Committee
Attorney fees would not be available unless the worker wins — and he or she would be stuck with the legal costs of pursuing losing claims. The attorney would have to notify the worker in writing of that possibility.
Insurers would have 45 days to review claims, so they can approve any they think have merit and avoid litigation.
They could ask a second judge to review a fee award.
The Florida Supreme Court last year struck down the state's mandatory fee schedule, linking attorney payments to benefits won, as an unconstitutional bar to the right of access to the courts.
Critics of the ruling, including AIF, blame it for most of the 14.5 percent premium increase that began to take effect in December.
The amendments would retain the fee schedule, but allow departures amounting to no more than $150 per billable hour.
And, bowing to a separate Supreme Court ruling, the amendments would extend total disability payments to for workers yet to reach maximum medical improvement.
"AIF commends Rep. Burgess and the committee for their hard work on this legislation," Feeney said.
"It is imperative we relieve burdensome pressures on Florida's employers while ensuring injured workers get healthier in a timely manor. Florida deserves a stable, self-executing and affordable system to care for injured workers. With these amendments adopted today, HB 7085 could provide a solid framework for containing the crises created by hostile Florida Court decisions that would otherwise undercut Florida's workers' compensation system."
In this article:2017 Legislative Session, Associated Industries of Florida, Danny Burgess, House Commerce Committee, Tom Feeney, workers compensation
Written By Michael Moline
Michael Moline is a former assistant managing editor of The National Law Journal and managing editor of the San Francisco Daily Journal. Previously, he reported on politics and the courts in Tallahassee for United Press International. He is a graduate of Florida State University, where he served as editor of the Florida Flambeau. His family's roots in Jackson County date back many generations.


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Published on February 26th, 2019 | by Padraic Coffey
My Favourite Things – Rhianna Dhillon
Rhianna Dhillon is a film critic and broadcaster. She is the film critic for the BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show and has worked for BBC Radio 1, the British Film Institute (BFI), BAFTA and FilmStruck.
Call Me by Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)
Being asked 'What is your favourite film?' might be the hardest question for a film critic, and also the one I hear most often. So you'd think that I'd have a really clear answer to it by now, but I still don't because there are so many favourites and they change all the time. I love The Railway Children, Shaun of the Dead, Dirty Dancing and anything with Carey Mulligan in it, but I've chosen Call Me by Your Name as one of the more recent films which really set my world alight. I loved the performances, the Italian setting, the idea of a young man falling in love with an older man, and that love – or lust – being returned. But most of all, I just loved how it made me feel.
There's so much nostalgia for me in this film, about growing up and having crushes on unsuitable people. When you were young, summers seemed to go on forever, and they could make or break you. You could either do something amazing over that summer, if you were abroad, or at home, by forging new relationships, or you would do absolutely nothing and feel like you'd wasted your entire life. I loved that, in this film, it could go either way. It's a mood film, in a similar way to Barry Jenkins' Moonlight because, I think, in both, although the plot is really interesting, and obviously super important, for me it was more about the emotions that it stirred up, that other films hadn't quite managed to do before. It got really under my skin.
And as an added bonus, we see Armie Hammer in his little swimming trunks. He was a revelation, because I'd always thought of Armie Hammer as being a fairly bland, all-American stereotype, like in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. I was wondering why people kept giving him roles, because for me, it used to be a sign that if Armie Hammer was in something, it probably wasn't a great movie, but when I saw him in Call Me by Your Name, he blew me away. It was just because he wasn't getting the right roles. I've heard him speak since about how he was typecast and really only offered those pretty boy roles, and this was so much meatier. He really does manage to show his range as Oliver.
Opposite him, the fresh-faced Timothée Chalamet, showed so much vulnerability and bravery. For somebody just starting out in the industry, and dealing with some quite explicit, tense sex scenes, it's an incredibly brave role. He manages to be a sulky teenager and an intense, lustful young man, all at once. I just wanted to watch this over and over again. It really does have that rewatch value. I thought it was a very smart move not to tackle the whole book, just the first third. By stopping the narrative where they did, it bases it a bit more in reality. It's not necessarily a happily-ever-after ending, in the same way as Dirty Dancing. It's about that one summer of love. It's not about the longevity of a relationship, it's about that extreme, exciting passion. I think Call Me by Your Name portrayed that in such a clever, emotive and entertaining way.
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995, Oasis)
I loved Oasis growing up. It was never even a question of Blur versus Oasis in the battle of the Britpop bands like it was for so many people. To me, Blur didn't even come close. My older brother was really into Oasis, and I think that's why I thought they were so cool. I wanted to be like him. I was six when (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was released. Wonderwall was on the radio all the time. Even Travis, another one of my favourite bands, reference Wonderwall being on the radio all the time in their song Writing to Reach You.
As I got older, I started to prefer Noel's voice to Liam's. Don't Look Back in Anger, which Noel sang, tops the album for me. I remember being on a school skiing trip, and inching my way down this slope on a mountain, and the only way I could get through the terror was by singing Don't Look Back in Anger over and over again, just to concentrate on something else at a really traumatic time! I love it for that reason. I think all the songs on the album are classic and timeless, and the album shows a proper, thought through concept. It obviously starts with Hello, a greeting, and it ends with Champagne Supernova, a really climactic song.
That's the thing about Oasis. Their music bonds people. Everyone at some point in their lives has been somewhere bellowing out an Oasis song, often with complete strangers, connecting for those three minutes, and then getting on with their lives. I also love how you have these anthems alongside almost throwaway songs like She's Electric. I think that shows the irreverence of Oasis. Not every song has to be about something deep and meaningful. It's not like I relate to everything they're singing about, because the drugs and the rock star lifestyle is very far away from my life! It's just the nostalgia of hearing them takes me back to being a kid, listening to them, and wanting to be older and having a window into what it was like to be them.
Persuasion (1817, Jane Austen)
Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel, because I think it's one of the funniest and most insightful novels about human behaviour. It's the story of Anne Elliot and her family; her two awful, self-obsessed sisters, her incredibly vain father, and then, the love of her life, Frederick Wentworth. We learn that he once proposed to her, and she was persuaded not to marry him because of his lowly status. Then, when he returns from overseas, he's rich and desirable, but still really hurt that he was rejected all those years ago. Anne, meanwhile, "has lost her bloom", which I think is one of the best descriptions ever in a book. She doesn't realise that his pride is still hurt, and that despite his manner, he is as much in love with her as he ever was.
I think my main reason for loving this so much is that there is obviously no sex in Jane Austen, but she captures the sexual tension of two very proper, English people who are in love but unable to speak it aloud. In one letter-writing scene, where Captain Wentworth is writing a second proposal to Anne, he says, "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope." Being a romantic, that is what I thought being in love was going to be. It set my expectations of men way too high…! I just think the novel has such a beautiful way of explaining exactly the pain of falling in love and also encourages the tenacity and determination you need to keep that love going.
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Twitter: @RhiannaDhillon
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