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As used in this contract "ticket" means this passenger ticket and baggage check, of which these conditions and notices form part, "carriage" is equivalent to "transportation", "Carrier" means all air carriers that carry or undertake to carry the passenger or his/her baggage hereunder or perform any other service incidental to such air carriage.
"WARSAW CONVENTION" means the Convention for the unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air signed at Warsaw, 12th October, 1929, or that Convention as amended at the Hague, 28th September, 1955 whichever may be applicable.
Carriage hereunder is subject to the rules and limitations relating to liability established by the Warsaw Convention unless such carriage is not "International Carriage" as defined by the Convention.
To the extend not in conflict with the foregoing carriage and other services performed by each carrier are subject (1) provisions contained in this ticket, (ii) applicable tariffs, (iii) carrier's conditions of carriage and related regulations which are made part hereof (and are available on application at the offices of carrier), except in transportation between a place in the United States or Canada and any place outside thereof to which tariffs in force in those countries apply.
Carrier's name may be abbreviated in the ticket, the full name and its abbreviation being set forth in carrier's tariffs, conditions of carriage, regulations or timetables; carrier's address shall be the airport of departure shown opposite the first abbreviation of carrier's name in the ticket; the agreed stopping place are those places set forth in this ticket or as shown in carrier's timetables as scheduled stopping places on the passenger's route; carriage to be performed hereunder by several successive carriers is regarded as a single operation.
The validity of this ticket will be based on the fare basis on ticket and will be a maximum of 90 days validity from date of ticket issue.
Passenger shall comply with Government travel requirements, present exit, entry and other required documents and are required to arrive to check –in at least 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. In the events that passengers do not comply with their departure requirements, all seat assignments (including those for seats on continuing and return flights) may be cancelled without any liabilities to Gum Air N.V.


Valorie M. Taylor is CEO of Flawless Air Cosmetics. Flawless Air Cosmetics is an airbrush make-up company located in Northern California providing Pro Make-up services for brides, business photos, video and photo shoots of all kinds. Flawless Air Cosmetics specializes in airbrush application and traditional application. They specialize in makeup airbrush training and personal makeup airbrush systems.


text:
Q: Way to remove alpha component on tvOS UITableView highlight? Is there any way at all to remove the alpha selection style of a UITableView. I want to keep the enlargement of the cell, but the colour change makes the text contained in the cell unreadable. I can remove the selection altogether by using self.focusStyle = .custom
 on the cell, but that also removes the enlargment

A: You will have to custom everything:
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, didUpdateFocusIn context: UITableViewFocusUpdateContext, with coordinator: UIFocusAnimationCoordinator) {
    if let prevIndexPath = context.previouslyFocusedIndexPath, let prevCell = tableView.cellForRow(at: prevIndexPath) {
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.1) {
            prevCell.transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 1.0, y: 1.0)
        }
    }

    if let nextIndexPath = context.nextFocusedIndexPath, let nextCell = tableView.cellForRow(at: nextIndexPath) {
        let bg: UIView = UIView(frame: nextCell.bounds)
        bg.backgroundColor = .blue
        nextCell.selectedBackgroundView = bg
        UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.1) {
            nextCell.transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 1.1, y: 1.1)
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Product Manager -Machine Learning Platform
We are a team of machine learning engineers and product managers dedicated to developing state-of-the-art AI capabilities to refine and transform Twitter's products.
You will work with our machine learning engineers and data modeling experts to gather insights and identify opportunities to improve how Twitter applies ML to solve critical problems. You will convey your vision through product roadmaps that impact millions of users, working closely with other product leaders and software engineers, and building a world class machine learning platform. You will have the opportunity to educate our rising a team of product managers leveraging machine learning to drive success within all of Twitter's products and businesses.
You are a visionary fascinated by Twitter: the change it brings to the world in how we communicate and learn about what's happening, at each instant. You realize the unique challenges, and importance, to bring the right content in front of our users, anywhere in the world at the scale and speed of Twitter. You are fascinated by the recent advance in AI and deep learning and technology behind it, foreseeing the incredible potential that AI within Twitter can create.
Minimum of 2 years of product management experience.
Computer science or engineering background strongly preferred; MS or PhD in machine learning or equivalent work experience a plus.
Ability to think strategically and craft a compelling product vision.
Experience driving impact through cross-functional leadership.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Strong analytical abilities is a must.
Able to manage multiple projects adding value to a diverse set of stakeholders.
You have a get stuff done attitude, have great positive energy, and thrive in a fast paced environment.
You are passionate about technology and can keep up with the latest.
You've done this kind of thing before. You have a track record of launching exciting technical products.
Thrive in fast-paced environments where the only constant is change
We are committed to an inclusive and diverse Twitter. Twitter is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.
After you apply, a recruiter may reach out to you for an introductory call.
If your background is a match for the role, you may phone interview with 1-2 people.
If you continue through the process, you will come onsite 1-2 times to interview with a total of 5-10 people.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sea Turtles Crawling Towards Extinction?
Cara Meyers
(SEA TURTLES/OCEAN CONSERVATION) There are seven different species of sea turtles and each are considered threatened, yet there are over 40 regions (including Australia, Japan and Mexico) where it is still legal to hunt these resilient animals.
In fact, more than 40,000 marine turtles are legally killed each year, with Papua New Guinea being responsible for more than 36 percent of all legally captured turtles.
Continue reading below to find out more about these endangered species and click here to see how you can help save sea turtles from extinction. — Global Animal
Over 40 countries or territories have yet to make sea turtle hunting illegal. Photo Credit: National Marine Life Center
Huffington Post, Dominique Mosbergen
Approximately 42,000 threatened sea turtles are killed around the world each year — and that's counting only the ones captured legally, according to a new study from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
The data shows that legal hunting of sea turtles is allowed in 42 countries or territories, including Australia, Japan and Mexico. Papua New Guinea is said to be responsible for more than 36 percent of the legally taken turtles every year.
"Since 1980, we estimate that more than 2 million turtles have been legally taken in these countries," the study's authors wrote.
All seven species of marine turtles are considered threatened in the wild. The green turtle — more than 37,000 of which are reportedly killed legally each year — is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; while the World Wide Fund for Nature says that the leatherback turtle is critically endangered in certain regions of the world.
Hawaii's beloved green turtle Honu swimming free. Photo Credit: turtletown.com
According to a statement released by the University of Exeter, marine turtles enjoyed better protection internationally in recent years, with180 countries having signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which restricts the international trade of turtle products. However, the Exeter study's authors say that the high number of the animals being killed legally, as well as the continued illegal trade of turtle products and the number of turtles killed as a result of commercial fishing for other species, are all bad news for turtles.
"Despite increased national and international protection of marine turtles, direct legal take remains a major source of mortality. However, it is likely that a fraction of current marine turtle mortality take is legal, with much greater threats from illegal fisheries and bycatch," said Frances Humber, lead author of the report, in an email to The Huffington Post.
Ultimately, the study's authors say they hope this new report will raise awareness for the sea turtle and will force countries to rethink their hunting policies. They note, however, that they are not calling for a complete ban on turtle hunting, but are urging for the adoption of more sustainable fishing practices.
Photo Credit: Alissa Scheller/ Huffington Post
"Marine turtles remain culturally important to a large number of coastal people and are also an important source of protein and income," Humber told the HuffPost.
"The incentive for the long-term conservation of these species could actually be strengthened through well-managed fisheries operating at a sustainable level, but this also requires good ecological understanding, socio-political understanding and will, as well as adequate regulatory structures at the national and international level."
More Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/sea-turtles-killed-study_n_4868087.html?utm_hp_ref=animals
Take Action: See how you can help save sea turtles!


An issue was discovered in the firewall3 component in Inteno IOPSYS 1.0 through 3.16. The attacker must make a JSON-RPC method call to add a firewall rule as an "include" and point the "path" argument to a malicious script or binary. This gets executed as root when the firewall changes are committed.


The privately-funded Skytrain Monorail is expected to be completed in 2021.
IMAGE Artist's Rendering / Alliance Global Group, Inc.
(SPOT.ph) With the MRT-3 having recently achieved its record-breaking streak of 28 days, it seems like the our public transporation is on a roll in terms of improvement. The latest development seems to be the most exciting one yet—Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced on May 29 that the Department of Transportation has approved the proposal to build the Skytrain Monorail, a railway that will connect Guadalupe in Makati to Uptown Bonifacio in Taguig. The train's construction is slated to begin in the latter part of 2018, a project proposed by Alliance Global Group, Inc.
Once completed, the Skytrain Monorail hopes to serve up to 100,000 commuters daily and reduce travel time from Guadalupe to Uptown Bonifacio to five minutes. The project is estimated to cost around P3 billion, and will be privately funded by Infracop Development Inc., a subsidiary of the Megaworld Corporation.
Don't get too excited just yet though—the Skytrain Monorail is expected to be completed three years from now, in 2021 to be exact. Nevertheless, who's looking forward for this new, ultra-convenient way to get around the Metro?


This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hickory Hardware. I was provided with an IKEA Rast Chest, beautiful hardware from Hickory Hardware and a gift card for supplies. All opinions are 100% mine.
A while back I was contacted by Hickory Hardware to create a makeover on an IKEA Rast Chest using their hardware.
If you've never seen an IKEA Rast Hack before, they are very utilitarian.
Adding a few pretty touches, like the hardware, can (and will) totally transform this piece, however.
And…without costing you a fortune to do it.
I love a "wow" transformation. Those are the most fun.
I don't think I will ever tire of it.
That's one of the reasons I love to makeover old, dingy, broken and/or dated thrifty finds.
I decided to add ball feet and a new top….
My husband cut the top to fit for me. You can also get your local hardware store to do the same.
I didn't love how the bottom piece of wood was inset. You can see what I mean in the before photo at the top of the page.
So my husband came up with the great idea to just unscrew and move the piece to the front.
Next I added wood to the bottom/base of the chest for the ball feet to attach to…..
Just old scrap wood is fine. No one will see it anyway!
View from the side where they are attached.
The screw on the left is the board we moved to the front.
The other two screws are for new boards just attached.
You can see the ball feet attached here….
They are simply screwed into the wood base I attached.
Then I decided to sink (and replace) the rest of the screws so that I could fill all with wood putty for a clean finish.
I added decorative trim at the top because there was a gap once the new top was added.
And used the same trim to create that decorative box on the front of the drawers.
The hardware I chose to use is called Queen Anne Lancaster Hand Polished Pendant Cabinet Pull.
They are beautiful! Hickory Hardware has so many knobs/pulls, etc, to choose from is was hard to decide.
But these finally won me over ….
They make the piece, in my opinion.
Hardware can really do that.
I only ended up using three (instead of the six this chest originally had).
Three was plenty especially with the new design I gave it.
I just filled in the holes before painting and drilled new ones in the centers.
For the top, I painted it blue like the rest but decided to paint a gold edge to match the hardware.
I also thought a gold raised back would be a pretty addition.
This blue and gold combo is a favorite.
I was actually inspired by a thrifty makeover I did recently…. Thrifty Makeovers Repurposed – Jewelry Tray.
I attached the trim pieces on the front with wood glue.
Those pendant pulls are just so delicate and lacy looking. I love them.
What a difference a little paint, wood trim…and pretty hardware makes!
This was such a fun and creative project to work on! I enjoyed coming up with a brand new look for this plain Jane little IKEA chest.
Thank you to Hickory Hardware for supplying me with it, the pretty hardware and gift card for the wood materials.
Would you like to see a few more awesome makeovers??
Check out my friends' IKEA Rast Makeovers below!
You did a wonderful job! Love your choices…you are very talented and have great taste!
Looks terrific Nancy!! Great job! I love it!
Wow, you really did a great job! It is so "rich" looking. I love it, I really like the color combination and the way you staged it. It is lovely.
That color combo is a favorite!!
This looks absolutely beautiful, Nancy. I love the blue and gold color combination and the pulls that you selected. Where are you going to use this pretty piece?
I have no clue…I have officially run out of room!!!
Wow, looks amazing!! Great work!
And I love the little balls on the bottom of the dresser. Such great ideas.
You did a fabulous job on this IKEA Rast Hack – it's gorgeous. Love the lacey hardware you used too. I'm a silver girl but I would put this gold embellished piece in my home in a heart beat!
The chest is beautiful. I love the hardware. It is very quaint.
I think the hardware is the pretty finishing touch on any piece! So many great options out there too!
P.S. What gold paint did you use?
I used Rustoleum Gold Metallic Spray paint but then went over it to "antique" it a bit (to match the hardware) with Bronze colored Gilder's Paste.
It turned out the perfect shade to match!
Great makeover! Love how you turned the dresser into something unique & sharp!
This is absolutely gorgeous! I adore the color combination and I admire your skills in adding extra embellishments. Fantastic work, pinning!
Thanks Sam! :) and thanks so much for sharing too!
Siete bravissimi, vi ammiro molto e mi avete dato molti spunti interessanti !
Grazie per la voglia di condividere la vostra bravura e fantasia !
Looking forward to the update on this! I got a Rast for my b-day, and I'll be doing a hack on it for my bathroom. It's nice and 'shallow' for use in a small place.
Is the Rast chest available still? I just looked and don't see it online anymore.
Oh, hmm, I'm not sure? This post is a couple years old but I thought that was a popular little chest.
Love what you did with this chest! It went from dull and plain to gorgeous. The pulls are stunning. Love the gold trim and especially those ball feet!
Thank you Linny! It was Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan and I believe I did a mix of Aubusson Blue and Provence. I'm sorry I don't have an exact mix ratio for you!


2200 kms of optical fibre and still counting.
Heralding a new era for online education and research in New Zealand, Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd (REANNZ) has announced that it has entered into a long-term partnership with the country's foremost, independent optical fibre network provider, Wellington-based FX Networks, to provide the national connectivity for the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN).
The arrangement secures the continuation of KAREN's existing 10Gb/s backbone connectivity and footprint around the country for an initial term of three years through to December 2013, with two two-year renewal options.
The move should mean lower cost, and faster and more reliable national bandwidth options for New Zealand tertiary and secondary education institutions, and could lead to a proliferation of virtual world and other third generation uses of the internet by both faculty and students in education across the country. When coupled with other moves, it should also provide benefits to distance learners.
The Universities of Auckland, Otago and Canterbury, along with Weltech, in Wellington, are already operating a bandwidth-hungry, OpenSim-based virtual world system (New Zealand Virtual World Grid) in test phase in conjunction with the KAREN network which can only benefit from the latest development, which should ease both access and costs, especially as NZVWG only uses local bandwidth, rather than international connections.
The decision to go with FX Networks follows what spokespeople for the two partners described as "a thorough and comprehensive evaluation process." The KAREN network has previously worked directly with Telecom.
The contract also includes options to move KAREN to a dark fibre-based network infrastructure, which will be essential to ensure KAREN can continue to offer leading-edge network services within a constrained cost base.
Through moving to the new network, REANNZ will put into effect a new Network Access Policy which will provide greater flexibility to REANNZ and KAREN members around access, and use of the network. The network is currently recruiting a number of secondary schools to add to its current tertiary institution base.
A virtual region on the Weltech portal of the 'alpha' test NZVWG Grid .... online and MUVE education can only benefit from the latest KAREN move.
Work has already begun on comprehensive transition plan to ensure a smooth cross-over from current national connectivity arrangements to the new arrangements in December.
REANNZ is currently in the late stage contract discussions with the preferred supplier for KAREN's international network. An announcement on the selected provider will be made later this month.
FX Networks already has completed most of an optical spine the length of the country and is completing a network right around the country to join with the spine – a number of local bodies like those controlling Hawkes Bay, Pahiatua, Dannevirke and Eketahuna among others have already signed up with FX Networks – which should make access to KAREN and true high-speed broadband internet an affordable reality for most institutions as well as distance education students.
Previously, despite claims to the contrary, the major Telcos in New Zealand have supplied provincial New Zealanders with Broadband, which they pay Broadband prices for, but which generally have not delivered consistent Broadband speeds. In fact, in areas like the Manawatu, consumers, although paying Broadband prices, have often been left with a service, during times of high contention, which has run at dial-up speeds.
FX Networks' fibre optic 'backbone' network covering both islands of New Zealand, however, is the fastest independent intercity pipeline in the country, capable of transferring data and voice at speeds up to 10Gbps.
The company is privately owned and funded, with 30 percent equity held by New Zealanders. It is independent from the Telcos operating in New Zealand.
FX Network's partnership with REANNZ follows the announcement in April that FX Networks had signed an agreement with Telecom Wholesale for the exchange of local internet traffic (local peering) at 19 of Telecom's points of interconnection – 39 currently available) around the country, laying the groundwork for the "most efficient routing" of New Zealand's growing volumes of Internet traffic through New Zealand's two main internet backbones.
One of the regions on the University of Auckland portal of NZVWG grid which should benefit from both the KAREN decision and local "peering."
Peering allows traffic to be exchanged on a local or regional basis rather than transported back and forth throughout the country to be exchanged in Auckland.
FX Networks Jamie Baddeley said at the time of the agreement that it meant that the Governments investment of $1.8bn in urban and rural broadband "will now be able to run local content in a fast and efficient manner.
The University of Auckland portal of the New Zealand Virtual World Grid (NZVWG) has successfully hosted its first international seminar, attracting a number of leading MUVE educators and researchers from around the world.
The meeting coincided with the announcement by Dr Scott Diener (SL: Professor Noarlunga), the virtual meeting host, that the University of Auckland portal of the grid, although still in a trial phase, was now open for virtual-world users to apply for 'free' registration from the Auckland portal.
It also coincided with a 'demonstration' of just how easy it is to teleport an avatar from the University of Auckland portal MUVE on the NZVWG 'Hypergrid' to the MUVE of the University of Otago and return with inventory intact and retention of all abilities.
The NZVW Grid based on OpenSim software has grown out of the original ONGENS grid, developed by the University of Otago in concert with the University of Canterbury, and the University of Auckland. Weltec has also developed a portal for the grid and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology has associate status.
Welcoming the 20 plus guests from Educause's Virtual World Roundtable to the meeting in the Great Hall of "Kapua Castle" on the island of Kapua 3 in the New Zealand Virtual World Dr Diener said, "This is a really exciting development for us.
Members of the Virtual Worlds Roundtable, who have previously visited a number of other Virtual Worlds as a group for their meetings to assess and monitor MUVE development around the world praised the apparent stability of the University of Auckland portal MUVE, the ease of entry, the fact that it was open source and free, and the use of the Hypergrid, which opens up possibilities for easy, transparent connections to tertiary institution MUVEs around the real world.
"We have found the Hypergrid does work, albeit with problems, "Dr Diener said, explaining that the goal of NZVWG was first to experiment and eventually to link to other grids.
Detailing the setup of the MUVE, he said, the Auckland University portal is running on two virtual servers (VMware), and has a total capital investment of some $NZ10,000 ($US7000). This compared to an investment of say $US55,000 for signing up for SL Enterprise (previously Nebraska), the Linden Labs' "behind the firewall" solution for standalone virtual worlds.
The Auckland MUVE is running on two dedicated, virtual machines with one server running a database and six sims. CPU usage has never got above five percent. Freeswitch voice is available on the MUVE but not yet completely activated.
"We can duplicate them (the virtual machines) in about 30 minutes – to scale if necessary," he said in answer to a question, adding that OAR content was backed up automatically.
A University of Auckland staff member is assigned one day a week to the MUVE , he said, with most of the work involved with things like getting voice working, and getting the Hypergrid fully functional.
He said the portal had been created out of his own budget as associate director of IT Services at the University of Auckland.
Dr Diener's Kapua Castle where the Roundtable meeting was held in the Geat Hall.
"This is how our Writing Center began," Iggy Strangeland, of the University of Richmond, observed. "I bought a server out of budget, and then eventually got it supported by our data center. Now they maintain it and I just design content.
"We proved the concept. If it works for 2D Web, it can work for Virtual Worlds," Strangeland said.
The major current problem with using the NZVWG MUVE for education purposes was the fact that there were as yet few resources "in world" … "all scripts have to be brought in," Dr Diener said.
Given success for the NZVWG, however, Dr Diener said, he would be excited to work on connecting the that portal with any other university grid in the world.
Commenting on this, Lindy McKeown, of the University of Southern Queensland, said education.au in Australia was trying to set up a Hypergrid for all Australian universities to join.
Dr Diener, who is also a Lecturer at the University of Auckland, is well-known in Second Life and virtual world education circles around the globe for his and his associates' creation of successful medicine/nursing/architecture simulations on the three University of Auckland Second Life islands in Second Life, the first of which was "Long White Cloud".
Dr Diener mentioned that the "very active" New Zealand virtual world group VLENZ was represented at the meeting by Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Second Life Education New Zealand Project founder and joint leader, Dr Clare Atkins (SL and NZVWG: Arwenna Stardust). Dr Atkins, on behalf of SLENZ and NMIT, operates two islands in Second Life, Koru and Kowhai.
"I think it WILL be a viable alternative (to Second Life) soon," Dr Atkins said.
Other speakers agreed with Dr Atkins' view that NZVWG and OpenSim were a good replacement for Second Life: "for me (as an educator) one of the huge benefits to OpenSim is that we can use it with under 18s," she said.
A sitting room in Kapua Castle.
Dr Atkins' and Czart's comments about possible replacements for Second Life followed a remark that the Linden Labs' position of Second Life education guru Pathfinder Linden had been disestablished and that the Lindens appeared to be showing less interest in education.
But, she added, that for these alternative worlds to be successful "we need an SLexchange type (virtual worlds sales) system for other grids since Linden Labs had bought out virtual world goods sales competitors.
Iggy Strangeland replied that http://imnotgoingsideways.blogspot.com/2009/11/alternatives-to-xstreetsl.html was a good source for other sales portals. Lindy McKeown added that one also could buy OAR files full of content one the net and there were lots of free ones too.
On this point AJ Kelton, director of Emerging Instructional Technology at Montclair State University, founder and current leader of the EDUCAUSE Virtual Worlds Constituent Group and Roundtable moderator, agreed with Mirt Tenk who suggested that it would be good for tertiary education providers to share the "stuff WE have built in Second Life as open source for OpenSim users. Others agreed with this view, including Dr Atkins who noted that all SLENZ Project builds were free and open source.
There was also a question, raised by Liz Dorland, of Washington University, in St Louis, and others, of the importance of virtual world students and educators being able to connect with the rest of the world community as they could in Second Life.
Dr Atkins said that she thought the "richness of Second Life and its diversity" would be hard to grow in an OpenSim environment although other speakers noted interoperability between all MUVEs, including Second Life, to get the best of all virtual worlds, was a possibility.
Another "resident's' Castle on the NZVWG portal grid.
Virtual simulation in an Auckland University, New Zealand, virtual medical centre training environment is returning similar results to a real life training facility at a fraction of the cost of a facility of that type, according to Dr Scott Diener PhD (Pictured at right).
Diener (SL: Professor Noarlunga) (http://scottdiener.edublogs.org), the university's associate director of IT Services, an enthusiastic proponent of learning in virtual worlds and creator of the University's Academic and Collaborative Technologies' Long White Cloud Island sim in Second Life, made this remark in a YouTube video presentation on the Virtual Medical Centre.
The University of Auckland's interest in virtual worlds is such that it has also taken up 12 islands on the ONGENS OpenSim Virtual World Grid (on the ONGENS Test Bed Facility), a start-up being run by Otago University and the University of Canterbury on the KAREN network. ONGENS (Otago Next Generation Networks and Services) is supported by the Global Network Interconnectivity Project which is funded by the New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission Growth through an Innovation Pilot Initiative.
American-born Diener (right), who is also a blue-water yachtsman, notes that to set up a similar training facility in real life, using mannequins, would cost something like US2.5 million.
In the SL Medical Centre simulation, however, Diener said, the instructor could set various similar simulations/situations that students teams had to diagnose and treat.
"Readings and charts change when someone becomes a patient," he said, adding that the students, through working in the simulation, learned teamwork and communication skills alongside the clinical skills.
In the virtual ward, actors could sit in beds (as avatars) acting as patients with specific problems, he said. He didn't mention it in the video but this means they can be accessed/interviewed/diagnosed by students and interns – and even working doctors needing to upgrade their skills – with access to Broadband internet anywhere but not the time to travel to New Zealand's two medical schools, one in Auckland and the other in Dunedin.
SLENZ Shuffle? Well he might not be the new "Arfur Daley" (of TV Minder fame) but it looks like he might be able to do a good job in the virtual world import-export business.
He has already successfully "shifted: the lower floor of the Foundation build on Kowhai, in Second Life, to one of Nelson Marlborough Institute 0f Technology's regions on a node on the ONGENS OpenSimulator, set up by Otago and Canterbury Universities, in the SouthIsland of New Zealand.
"The robot then exports the objects and with the help of in-world script other items," he said, pointing to the SLENZ shipping node (right). "Eventually we could get the robot to logout and then login to ONGENS and complete the transfer.
The robot is being developed as part of the SLENZ Project to ensure all project builds and other elements created by the SLENZ team can be backed up outside Second Life as SLENZ-owned IP.
The team has previously trialled other "back-up" methods but found them not to be suitable for the SLENZ needs, mainly because the IP is held in another organisation's storage.
Cochrane stressed that SLENZ Shuffle could not be used to export IP developed/owned by Second Life, Linden Labs and other Second Life developers and residents.
Cochrane also pointed out that the creation of the import-export facility is not unique, it is an extended version the existing OpenMetaverse code.
And for example IBM has already done something similar as well, teleporting avatars led by Second Life's Zha Ewry RL: David Levine) between Second Life and OpenSim.
WelTec currently is running two regions in the WelTec Virtual Lab, and at the Petone Campus, as part of the Weltec programme to trial a varietyof virtual worlds for education under a variety of conditions.
Cochrane is currently considering allocating space in Weltec's ONGENS regions for Human Computer Interaction students doing Interaction Design projects.
"Having our own node means we are contributing to the New Zealand Virtual Worlds grid." Todd said.
The node is currently on WelTec's 3D server, deep.weltec.ac.nz, but may eventually be connected through KAREN, New Zealand's tertiary institution high-speed Broadband link.
The value of virtual world education for high school students has been demonstrated in a recent independent evaluation of a Science through Second Life project run in New York last year.
Global Kids is a New York-based organisation that provides a range of international education and leadership development programs in 21 public high schools and myriad online venues. Its MacArthur-funded work is leveraging after school programs, online dialogues, contests, machinima, and virtual worlds to bring attention to voices of youth on the role of digital media in their lives.
Students' attitudes towards science-related careers changed positively with the StSL curriculum.
Students' self-efficacy and self-confidence in their abilities to do science-related work increased.
Compared to the traditional science curriculum, the number of students reporting being overwhelmed by science class fell by 50%.
Low achieving students' grades improved significantly compared to the previous semester.
Students' collective intelligence skills improved throughout the semester. More students reported that they felt more comfortable working with others to get something done using digital media in the post survey.
The new virtual currency system is currently scheduled to go live at the end of February, obviating one of the major concerns that the current user base has voiced. OpenLife is currently the largest grid running on the OpenSimulator 3D application server program.
OpenSimulator essentially allows individual users to create their own virtual world "grids" on their own servers that look and function much like Linden Labs' Second Life. In fact, the technologies involved are so similar that it is possible to use a Second Life client to connect to any OpenSim grid [An experimental Grid, the ONGENS OpenSim Virtual World Grid, has been set up in the ONGENS Test Bed Facility between Otago University and Canterbury University to explore the possibilities of the technology (http://www.gni.otago.ac.nz/index.php/ongens-virtual-world-grid)].
"Exchangeable credits are a popular request from residents," according to Steve Sima, founder of the OpenLife grid, in a statement to CyberTech News.
The announcement while it will be welcomed by OpenLife users could put paid to Linden Lab plans to attempt to spread a generic virtual currency through virtual worlds.
… but SL gets act together?
Are the US timezone Sunday "log-in disabled" periods which have bedeviled Second Life users around the world recently – especially on Mondays in New Zealand and Australia – about to become a thing of the past?
It would appear from FJ Linden's (Frank Ambrose) most recent update on improving the infrastructure that underpins Second Life (and the resulting forum dialogue) that Linden Lab is still confident it can overcome the problems which occur for all residents within and outside Second Life when user numbers reach 80,000, now a normal US Sunday afternoon and evening ocurrence, which has led to scheduled meetings in other timezones being disrupted when participants haven't been able to log in. As the outages occur on Sundays they are not a "working" priority/problem in the US.
The easy answer, of course, is for those in other timezones to schedule meetings at other times but as more people join the SL "over-population problem", if it is that, has to be solved.
While admitting its been a bumpy few weeks, with Level 3 outages, and central database issues, Frank says "the good news is that LLnet (data center fiber network) continues ahead of schedule and we should be starting traffic migration in the next week. We've also made some headway in the area of asset storage. Right now, central database issues are our core focus and have been at the center of most of the recent grid problems.
"The benefits of LLnet are to not only get us off of our dependency on VPN's for inter data center traffic, but also lay the foundation for diverse internet providers that will allow us to handle an outage on a single provider (currently Level 3) and potentially improve latency," he says. "Most of our widespread and highest impacting outages have been network related, and that is why LLnet has been my top priority since joining Linden Lab this past summer.
Attaboy Frank! We await the results with bated breath.


text:
Category: meath
AVOIDING A BAD BREXIT FOR IRELAND IS NOT A TASK FOR MINISTERIAL NOVICES.
In Fine Gael, meath
The Irish electorate are too complacent about Brexit. So too are the parties that precipitated the present Election.
A bad Brexit would threaten Ireland's ability to earn the money abroad, that it will need to pay for the improved services, that the electorate is so insistently demanding.
All these services have to be paid for, by taxes raised from Irish people. Our debt levels are already so high to do it any other way.
Ireland simply cannot afford a bad Brexit.
The trade negotiation with the UK, that the EU will soon start, will be the most hazardous part of the entire Brexit process for Ireland.
Every other EU country will have interests to defend. Some of these will differ from Irish interests. Trade offs will have to be made around the EU Council table. If it makes negotiating errors, Ireland could find itself alone. An outcome that MUST be avoided
That will require immense diplomatic skill, and the use of an extensive network of contacts and understandings, at political, even more than at diplomatic level.
It will not be a job for ministerial novices, learning on the job, however bright they may appear.
Remember the negotiations will take place within an irresponsibly rigid, and short, time limit.
There will be no time at all for learning through mistakes. That might be possible in a normal negotiation, but this will not be a normal negotiation, because of the time limit of October 2020.
This is why I believe it is in the national interest that Helen McEntee, and the existing government as a whole, continue in office. They need no apprenticeship period
We really do need experienced people in office , if we are to navigate the challenges of 2020, which could prove to be the most consequential year for a century.
The existing government have learned the hard way.
They have mastered their briefs.
They know how the Irish civil service and the European Commission work.
Over time, they have learned how best to implement policy, not just how to make it.
It would not be in Ireland's interest to entrust the Brexit negotiations of 2020 to well intentioned, but inexperienced, amateurs.
The time lines are simply too short for us to afford that luxury.
This argument applies with greater force to Helen McEntee than to any other Minister.
Helen McEntee has mastered every aspect of the forthcoming trade negotiation with the UK.
She will know, better than anyone, who to call when a threat emerges during the negotiations.
She knows the key people in every one of the 27 EU states. She has visited them all. She has built up a reservoir of trust. I saw this when I saw her meeting delegates at the recent EPP Congress in Zagreb.
She will be able to use her contacts, as a vice President of the EPP, the EU's biggest party, to rally support for Ireland's position, something that Irish diplomats are not able to do.
For these reasons, I hope the people of Meath East will re elect Helen McEntee.
We need her now more than ever.
That would serve the national interest.
Speech by John Bruton, former Taoiseach, former Leader of Fine Gael, and a former TD for Meath, at a rally in support of the re election of Helen McEntee TD, in the Headfort Arms in Kells Co Meath on Thursday 30th January at 8.30pm;
THE 1918 ELECTION IN MEATH, EAMONN DUGGAN, AND THE FIRST DAIL
In Ireland, meath, Speech
Speech by John Bruton, former Taoiseach, at an event marking the centenary of the 1918 General Election and the meeting of the First Dail, in St Nicholas Primary School Longwood , Co Meath on Monday 7 January 2019 at 8pm.
FROM WAR STRAIGHT INTO AN ELECTION
The background to this Election was the end of the Great War on 11 November 1918. A General Election, for the entire UK of Great Britain and Ireland, was called ten days later.
The UK Prime Minister, Lloyd George, had called the Election very quickly, after active hostilities ceased, to exploit the good feelings, and relief that the War had finally been brought to a victorious conclusion by the Allies.
This tactic worked. Lloyd George's coalition of Tories and some Liberals won a landslide in Britain. The landslide went the other way in Ireland.
The War was a particular factor in the Irish election because of the conscription crisis of early 1918.
Conscription had applied on the island of Britain, but not the island of Ireland, from 1916.
The big German breakthrough of early 1918 created a panic in the UK government. Manpower was running short, and the Americans were slow arriving at the front. So, unsurprisingly, Lloyd George was under political pressure, in Scotland, Wales and England, to raise troops numbers by extending the same conscription to Ireland, as applied to them.
In March 1918 he announced his intention to do so, which caused a convulsion in Ireland.
Until this announcement, the Irish Party had been holding its own politically. It had defeated Sinn Fein in by elections to in South Armagh, East Tyrone and Waterford City early in 1918. Then Lloyd George's threat of conscription changed all that.
It drove Irish Party voters into the arms of Sinn Fein in the second half of 1918. It forced the Irish Party to temporarily abandon Parliament in protest, thereby seeming to validate Sinn Fein's long held policy of abstention. But then the war ended, and the threat of conscription disappeared.
If the election had been held over until the Spring of 1919, and anger had cooled about the conscription threat, the Election result in Ireland might not have been so dramatic.
WHO COULD BEST REPRESENT IRELAND IN VERSAILLES?
At the time of the December 1918 Election, a Peace Conference was soon to be convened by the victors of the Great War in Versailles.
In Ireland in anticipation of the Peace Conference, great expectations had been raised by speeches by President Woodrow Wilson, containing strong declarations in favour of the principle of national self determination. The concept of self determination acquired a quasi religious status in some quarters. It was the core message of Sinn Fein in the election, and of its candidates here in South Meath, Eamon Duggan.
But, as President Wilson was to discover, when he got down to work in Versailles, this concept of national self determination was difficult to apply when people, with fundamentally different identities and national allegiances, lived together in the same geographic area, as was, and is still, the case in Ulster, and in many other parts of Europe, to this day.
What happens if people, who live together in the same area, self determine two contradictory outcomes?
It was not until the Sunningdale and Good Friday Agreements, of 1973 and 1998 respectively, that an attempt was made to answer that question and a partial answer provided.
In South Meath, the Sinn Fein campaign got off to a flying start. Eamon Duggan was selected early on, and was already actively campaigning while the Irish Party was still trying to find a candidate.
He launched his campaign here in Longwood at a meeting presided over by Laurence Giles, and addressed by the local PP, Father Rooney and by a JH Dixon BL.
Meanwhile, the Irish Party (or United Irish League) held its convention in the Courthouse in Dunshaughlin, attended by its outgoing MP, David Sheehy, who was an uncle of the late Conor Cruise O Brien, to select their candidate. Sheehy had been unopposed in the previous three General Elections.
The Dunshaughlin Convention was presided over by Fr Dillon, the PP of Duleek, who later went on to serve on the Irish Party campaign committee for South Meath.
It seems there was reluctance on Sheehy's part to stand again, and there was also perhaps a wish by some of the delegates to find a younger candidate.
The convention resolved to select Lorcan Sherlock, the city Sheriff in Dublin, as its candidate and sent him a telegram inviting him to stand. He had obviously not been notified in advance, he refused to stand, and a week or more of campaign time as lost.
So a new Irish Party meeting had to be convened a week later in Kilmessan, which did not come up with a candidate either. The Kilmessan meeting asked the Party Leader, John Dillon to name a candidate for them, and he came up with Thomas Peter O Donoghue, who had no prior connection with Meath. He was from Kerry and was a native Irish speaker. But he proved to be an active campaigner in the short time available.
While the Irish Party was making up its mind, Eamon Duggan had already held successful meetings in Trim, Longwood and Kilmessan.
Duggan's meeting in Trim, in front of the courthouse, where many election meeting have been held since, was attended by 300 people and presided over by Martin O Dwyer from Dunboyne.
In North Meath, the Irish Party had no similar difficulties getting a candidate and their candidate, Dr Cusack, was in the field early.
His opponent was Liam Mellowes of Sinn Fein.
Dr Cusack came from a Longford family.
Mellowes, like Eamon Duggan, had taken part in the 1916 Rebellion. He had been reared in England and his father had served in the British Army. Eamon Duggan's father had served in the RIC.
In South Meath , O Donoghue's nomination papers were signed by Thomas Halligan of Rathfeigh, Patrick Mulvaney of Ballinlogh, Dunshaughlin, Father Dillon of Duleek, and Laurence Delany of Rathfeigh.
Duggan's nominators were all from Trim and included Bernard Reilly of Market Street and Andrew Daly. The two opposing candidates shook hands and chatted cordially when handing in their papers.
On a national level, the campaign was lively and some intimidation and impersonation took place.
Irish Party meetings were broken up in Cahir, Rathmines, Bohar in Louth, Jonesboro Co Armagh, Moate Co Westmeath, Clones, Gorey, and Castleblaney. Some Candidates who had initially agreed to stand for the Irish Party backed out in face of this activity.
During the campaign itself, the PP of Kiltimagh, Dr O Hara, told John Dillon of
"young roughs going around the roads at night saying they will burn down any house that will vote for Dillon and threatening to destroy cattle".
On polling day, Republican "peace patrols" stood outside polling stations, and it is claimed they discouraged thousands of Irish Party supporters from going to vote.` In contrast, a large procession of voters from Ross and Ballinacree was led by their local curate into to the polling station in Oldcastle to vote for Liam Mellowes.
The Irish Party candidate in North Meath, Dr Cusack, had to abandon a public meeting in the Market Square in Navan because of barracking from a hostile crowd.
A fight broke out in Rathkenny, where rival after Mass meetings were taking place, and an Irish Party supporter, Councillor Michael Monaghan was injured. On that occasion the Sinn Fein meeting was chaired by Larry Rowan and the Irish Party one by Cormac Rowe.
On the other hand, Eamon Duggan and his Irish Party competitor TP O Donoghue each addressed meetings at the fair in Athboy in peaceful conditions, notwithstanding Athboy's reputation as a strong Sinn Fein area.
I myself knew a man, a 1916 veteran, who was reputed to have voted 40 times for Eamon Duggan and Sinn Fein, in the names of different people. I suspect this is an exaggeration.
At national level, Sinn Fein got 46.9% of the votes cast, Unionists got 28.5% and the Irish Parliamentary Party got 21.7%.
Here in South Meath, Eamon Duggan of Sinn Fein got 70% of the vote and his Irish Party opponent, T P O Donoghue got 30%.
In North Meath, the result was slightly closer, Liam Mellowes of Sinn Fein won 65% to Dr Cusack's 35%.
For its overall 46.9%, Sinn Fein won 73 seats, Unionists won 26 (including one in Dublin), and the Irish Party, with 21.7%, won only 6 seats……a poor outcome for a substantial vote.
These percentages do, however, understate the Sinn Fein support, because 25 seats were uncontested and won by Sinn Fein candidates unopposed. Some were uncontested because the Irish Party, in the short time available, could not find a candidate willing to stand in the heated atmosphere that had been generated.
Indeed the Irish Party has come under a lot of pressure not to contest the election at all, from former supporters like the Bishop of Raphoe. To his credit, the Irish Party Leader, John Dillon, told the bishop that "one should not abandon principles for popularity or unpopularity"
If all these 25 seats had been contested, and Sinn Fein voters in those constituencies had had to come out to vote, Sinn Fein's overall national vote share would have been higher, probably well above 50% of the total national poll.
The system of election, the straight vote in single member constituencies, meant that Sinn Fein won more seats, and the Irish Party proportionately fewer seats, than would have been the case under Proportional Representation.
Under PR, I guess Sinn Fein might have won 60 seats, Unionists (including Labour Unionists and Independents) 26, and the Irish Party perhaps 19. Sinn Fein would still have got a land slide, but the Irish Party would not have suffered a virtual wipe out.
It is also important to point out that, among the 26 seats won by "Unionists", 3 were won by Labour Unionists (mainly in Belfast) and one by an independent Unionist. The subsequent disappearance of Labour Unionism shows that, in some respects the sectarian divide in urban Ulster is deeper now than it was in 1918.
It is also worth mention that Southern Unionists contested the 1918 Election as such, winning seats in Trinity College and Rathmines. That bridge between the traditions lost its value after 1918.
Here in Meath, the Irish Party did slightly better than it did nationally.
Speculating before the count, with the help of party informants, the Meath Chronicle reckoned that, in North Meath, Sinn Fein got its best result in the Oldcastle area, winning by a margin of 7 to 1, and very well in Navan winning by 6 to 1. According to these pre count estimates, the Irish Party won in Wlikinstown and probably in Drumcondrath and Slane. We have no tallies from the actual counts.
Sinn Fein contested seats in Belfast, never contested by nationalists. It did very badly. Sinn Fein got only 3% of the vote in Pottinger, 4% in Victoria, 9% in Woodvale, and just 1.89% in Duncairn.
Sinn Fein's leader, Eamon de Valera was also defeated by the Irish Party's Joe Devlin by 72% to 27% in the Falls constituency.
This is one of the most interesting results in the whole election. It shows that northern nationalists saw more value in having MPs in Parliament in London to look after their interests, than did southern nationalists, who backed the ideal of complete separation without much thought as to where, in practice, that might leave their northern fellow nationalists.
WHAT THE PARTIES PROMISED
I would like to look into the differences in policy between Sinn Fein and the Irish Party, and reflect on how far the victors were able to go in fulfilling their promises.
SINN FEIN
As I said earlier, a Peace Conference was soon to be convened by the victors of the Great War in Versailles.
Sinn Fein said it would withdraw Irish representatives from Westminster because, they said,
"the present Irish members of the English Parliament constitute an obstacle to be removed from the path to the Peace Conference"
Eamon Duggan, speaking in Athboy, also defended abstention from Parliament as
"a denial of the moral right of England to govern us".
Sinn Fein condemned the Irish Party for having
"contemplated the mutilation of our country by partition"
This is a reference to the fact that John Redmond agreed in 1916 with Edward Carson to a temporary opt out from Home Rule for some Unionist majority counties in Ulster, as a price for Carson's support for having Home Rule introduced straight away for the rest of the country.
This realistic compromise between Redmond and Carson did not go through, because it was vetoed by the Conservative elements in the War Cabinet. Lloyd George may also have been saying different things to different people.
The Sinn Fein manifesto did not say how they would avoid some form partition, or how they would enforce Dublin rule in Belfast or Portadown. In a sense, the Sinn Fein Manifesto did address, or deal seriously with, the existence of a Unionist minority in Ireland.
Instead it spoke of
"a unity in a national name, which has never been challenged"
Of course , it had been challenged, by Ulster Unionism as recently as 1911.
Ulster Unionism was either to be over ruled, or just ignored, as if it did not exist. Sinn Fein probably thought Ulster Unionists were just bluffing.
In one of his speeches, Eamon Duggan referred to Carson's "threat of insurrection", which he claimed
"everyone knew would never take place".
The Sinn Fein manifesto also took a very fundamentalist view of sovereignty, which left no room for compromise afterwards.
It called for
"untrammelled national self determination"
and said it would oppose every candidate who does not accept this principle.
Sinn Fein added that that the right of the Irish nation to sovereign independence
"rests on immutable natural law and cannot be made subject to compromise".
This explicit "no compromise" mandate was later to prove troublesome. Some members took it very seriously in 1922, and it helps explain the Civil War. The concept of "immutable natural law" had a particular religious provenance.
In the minds of some it excluded the sort of practical political compromise that Eamon Duggan himself, as a key negotiator of the Treaty of 1921, made in agreeing to that Treaty three years later.
But by this decision , Eamon Duggan saved thousands of lives.
As to the methods to be used to achieve its ambitious goals, Sinn Fein had a carefully phrased formula in its 1918 Manifesto.
It said it would use
"any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise"
That can be construed as seeking an electoral mandate for war, and was so interpreted by the IRA.
But it could also be construed as simply advocating resistance British military force (passively or otherwise), rather than initiating violence, as the IRA did at Soloheadbeg the following month.
Did the majority of the Irish people know, in December 1918, they were voting for war? It is not clear.
Reading the speeches made here in Meath during the campaign, one gets no sense that the people voting for Sinn Fein knew, or were told, they were voting for a war.
I think Sinn Fein voters probably felt they were endorsing some sabre rattling, rather than the assassinations and killings that were initiated a month later.
One thing is clear, Sinn Fein regarded the proposed form of Home Rule as inadequate.
Eamon Duggan criticised the Home Rule Act of 1914, which was already law and was due to come into force when hostilities in Europe were formally ended, as
"a travesty of Home Rule".
Home Rule should have meant, in his view, at the very least, the return of Grattan's Parliament.
THE IRISH PARTY
The Irish Party manifesto was published on 11 October 1918, while the Great War was still on, but rumours were circulating of imminent German collapse and of the abdication of the Kaiser.
It said that
" the country must be prepared for a General Election about the end of November or the first week in December. This will be the most critical and fateful in its effect for the future of the country since the Union."
It called for national unity on the basis of the policy that underlay the "New Departure" of 1879, which brought the physical force and constitutional traditions together to win Land Reform and other improvements.
It said it
"would not hold before the Irish people an ideal and an object which it knew to be impossible".
Wise words.
The Irish Party committed itself to be
"an independent pledge bound party in the House of Commons taking no office under any British government and whose dominating purpose must always be the recovery of Ireland's national rights……and a vigorous agitation on rational lines"
It defined its objects as
"the establishment of national self government for Ireland , including complete executive , legislative, and fiscal powers"
This went well beyond the Home Rule Act, which, as I have said, was already on the statute book and was due to come into effect automatically, once hostilities in Europe were formally ended, as they were in 1919 at Versailles.
The reference to fiscal powers included , inter alia, a right to charge customs duties on good coming into Ireland from Britain.
This involved withdrawing Ireland from the Anglo Irish Customs Union, which then existed, and this seems to have been a point on which both nationalist parties agreed. Both Sinn Fein and the Irish Party wanted to leave the custom union and be free to impose tariffs on British imports (and vice versa).
But the Irish Party manifesto criticised Sinn Fein's abstentionist policy which it said would
"simply hand over the representation of Ireland in the House of Commons to the followers of Sir Edward Carson".
A similar mistake is being made by the MPs , representing the nationalist voters in the north this month.
Like Sinn Fein, the Irish Party said it would present Ireland's case at the forthcoming Peace Conference but argued that it would have a better chance of getting a hearing from the victorious allies than Sinn Fein would.
This was realistic politics.
Germany was about to lose the War. Sinn Fein was perceived as having been allied with Germany in 1916. The reference to "our gallant allies in Europe" in the 1916 proclamation was a reference to Imperial Germany.
The Irish Party argued that sending to Versailles, Sinn Fein people, some of whom had been allied with Germany as recently as 1916, was not the best tactic. Sinn Fein's recent favouritism towards the defeated Germans did not enhance their chances get a hearing for Ireland from the victors, especially from President Wilson and the US delegation.
This point was underlined everywhere in South Meath by the Irish Party candidate TP O Donoghue.
He campaigned throughout the constituency in a green motor, car adorned by a green flag representing Ireland, and by the Stars and Stripes, representing the US. He was symbolically demonstrating the Irish Party's belief that it would get a better hearing from President Wilson.
At a meeting in Slane, the Irish Party candidate in North Meath, Dr Cusack told his audience that the Irish Party had already sent its representative, TP O Connor MP to meet President Wilson.
TP O Donoghue, in his campaign, also stressed the importance and value of taking seats in Parliament.
He said that the only way to defeat Carson was for Nationalists to take their seats , and be there to vote against objectionable proposals from Carson.
He told voters in Duleek that Parnell had never advocated abstention from Parliament. Taking seats in Parliament was "an important weapon" in the hands of the Irish people and ought not be given up, he said.
Looking back, with the benefit of hindsight, one must conclude that the Sinn Fein policy of abstention had substantial downsides.
When the Government of Ireland Act came to be introduced in 1920, providing for the permanent partition of Ireland, there were very few Irish nationalist MPs there to object to it…just six Irish Party MPs with little influence.
The majority rule Stormont Parliament did not exist prior to 1920. It was created by this 1920 Government of Ireland Act , and, thanks to Sinn Fein abstention, there were virtually no Nationalist MPs left in Parliament to probe the dangers of this new Stormont majority rule Parliament.
A high price has also been paid for the fact that Sinn Fein, in its Manifesto, emphasised its unwillingness to compromise on what it saw as Ireland's absolute right to 32 county self determination based on natural law.
The electorate's support for this "no compromise" approach undoubtedly made life difficult for Eamon Duggan and the other Treaty negotiators in 1921 and contributed to the Civil War, and to much subsequent strife.
If the Irish Party's approach, of "vigorous agitation on rational lines", had received more electoral support, the Treaty negotiators task might have been easier.
As we cope now with the prospect of the UK leaving the EU Customs Union, it is interesting to note that one of the big differences between Home Rule and the Treaty was that the Treaty involved the Irish Free State leaving the Anglo Irish Customs Union, whereas, in deference to Ulster, the 1911/14 version of Home Rule would have kept full free trade between the two islands.
Departure from the Customs Union in 1921 turned a soft partition, into a hard partition.
The uncompromising nature of the Sinn Fein mandate, in favour of an all Ireland Republic, in its 1918 Election manifesto, was elevated to unsustainable heights in subsequent debates, and that made life difficult, even up to the present time.
There are some similarities here to the rigid interpretation, in our neighbouring island, of the Brexit referendum mandate of 2016.
Electoral mandates, however big, do not relieve the politicians who get them of the duty to be realistic about what can actually be achieved afterwards.
Neither Sinn Fein nor the Irish Party fully faced up to the Ulster problem in 1918.
Neither fully faced up to the implications of the fact that, for past four centuries, two communities, with different allegiances, have lived together, geographically intermingled, in the Irish province of Ulster.
One community feels a sense of allegiance to Britain, its monarch, its historic narrative and it flag. The other feels an allegiance to Ireland and identifies itself with different historic narrative and different symbols. The two communities have different religious allegiances too, but the disagreements between them are not primarily about religious matters, they are all about national identity.
For centuries, the contest between these two identities was a zero sum game.
Either the British identity had to win, or the Irish identity had to win.
That zero sum approach led to wars, threats of wars, or uprisings, from 1641 right up to 1998.
For the past forty years, British and Irish political leaders have been trying to find a new and different way forward.
Rather than a zero sum game, where if one identity won, the other had to lose, we sought to create conditions in which both identities could coexist comfortably together in North East Ulster, without either of them winning or losing.
Neither should feel cut off from their focus of their emotional allegiance.
The nationalists should not feel cut off from Dublin, and Unionists should not feel cut off from London or the "mainland" as they would call it.
The Belfast Agreement of 1998 achieved this. Crafted between Ireland and the UK it built structures to create a comfort zone for both communities. This was done through three interlocking structures of cooperation, namely
power sharing within Northern Ireland,
cooperation between North and South and
cooperation between Dublin and London.
Preserving the Belfast Agreement is the vital task of this generation, and succeeding in that task would be the best possible way to commemorate the 1918 Election and the First Dail, and in particular to honour the memory that great peace maker, Eamon Duggan.
Meath History
In Ireland, meath
It is a privilege to have been invited to speak at the launch of this enormously important publication about the history of Meath.
Meath people have a deep interest in their heritage. As is pointed out in the book, of 1000 or so voluntary societies active, some 500 are related to its heritage.
I am very pleased that the book starts with a major chapter on the Hill of Tara, recalling its symbolic importance as a unifying symbol for Ireland. Meath people tended to gather in Tara on important occasions, such as during the 1798 rebellion, the monster Repeal meeting there in 1843, and the major parade of John Redmond's National Volunteers in 1915, at which my grand uncle John led the Dunboyne contingent.
The chapter by Eoin O'Flynn on the High King Mael Sechniall gives a valuable insight into an important, but neglected, historical figure. Meath had its own Brian Boru.
The chapter ASK Abraham on the major landholders of the 15th century in county Meath is fascinating. It is interesting to note that some of the families he mentions survive to this day on their original holdings, but others have disappeared. It would be interesting to study the reasons why some families survived, in prominent positions, while others did not.
This chapter also explores how the castles of these families served as a means of demonstrating their local political influence, as well as providing a residence for family members.
Meath, although on the border of the Pale, seems to have been a much more peaceful place in the 15th century than one might have thought.
Brendan Scott's chapter on the failure of the Reformation in Meath in the 16th century deals with a subject that remains at the heart of Irish political history to this day.
Although Meath was under strong control of the Royal authorities in Dublin, and was dominated by Old English families, efforts to replace Catholic by Protestant belief failed, in contrast to experience in Britain where Royal control was not that much less than it was within the Irish Pale. Why?
It seems that there were divisions of approach between the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishop of Meath, both of whom were promoting the Reformation for the King, but could not get on with one another, and these divisions contributed to the failure of their efforts.
Another explanation may be that the church reforms, which were initiated in England by parliamentary legislation, were introduced in Ireland by Royal Decree. This lack of local involvement probably sealed the failure of the effort.
But this subject would reward further study.
Again, the chapter by Annaligh Margey, on the Wars of 1641-1654, brings out similarly fascinating questions.
The nationwide making of common cause between the old English gentry in Ireland, who had remained Catholic, and the Gaelic Irish gentry who were also Catholic, took place at open air conferences at Crufty and Tara in Meath.
The attacks that took place, when the rebellion was initiated in 1641, on the Loyalist community in Meath are explored considerable detail.
The author draws victim statements given afterwards, about their sufferings, by what the author describes as "British settlers" in the county
Looking through the names of some of those made depositions; I have to say many may have been descendents of people who would not appear to be "British Settlers", but rather natives who had conformed to the Established Church.
For example, surnames like Grace, Dowdall, Barnewall, O'Loughlan, Prendergast, Nangle, O'Gowen, o'Fanegane and Molloy, which appear among the deponents, seems like surnames of people whose ancestors had been in Ireland for a long time. So perhaps Meath society in the 16th century was even more mixed than one might have thought.
The dramatic story of Elyn Ni Kelwey of Castlejordan, executed in 1647 for killing the infant child she had by a married man,Tirlogh O Doran, is one that could be taken up by a playwright with a sense of 17th century history.
I really enjoyed Padraig Lenihan's chapter on the battle of the Boyne. He brings out the fact that the French were advising King James not to fight at the Boyne at all, to burn Dublin, and retreat behind the Shannon. It is to his credit, that James did not take this advice.
At the outset of the battle, William was very nearly killed, and it that had happened, the course of history might have been very different.
King William's plan was to encircle and destroy James' much smaller army by crossing upriver. In this William failed because James countered effectively, and, while it was defeated, James' army was able to retreat in relatively good order, and was not trapped by the Nanny river in Duleek, as it might have been.
But James' retreating Army seems to have failed to make its appointed rendezvous in Dunboyne, and dispersed after that. It was a defeat, but not a terminal disaster, as it might have been.
Kevin Mulligan's chapter on the big houses of the 18th century, shows that many of the families, who were on the losing side of the Battle of the Boyne, still were significant Meath land owners 100 years later, and some of them had not been required to change their religious belief.
Ruan O'Donnell's chapter, on the lead up to the 1798 rebellion, describes a society in Meath that was in deep internal conflict over land, power and religion. Crime was rampant.
On the one hand, the Catholic Church, which had recently won the right to establish a National Seminary in Maynooth, wanted to adhere to a path of peaceful negotiation with the authorities. It was supported by many Catholics in this stance
On the other hand, the United Irishmen and the Defenders, inspired by the French Revolution, wanted to prepare for, and support, a French invasion of Ireland.
Given the way in which the French revolution had treated the Catholic Church in France, only a few years before, it is surprising that there was so much support for Revolutionary France in Meath, including among some Catholic priests. It would be interested more about why this was so, and how Catholic priests in Meath thought about the treatment of rebel Catholics in the Vendee by the French Revolutionary authorities.
There seems to have been a lot of organised violence in Meath long before the 1798 rebellion, notably a major conflict between the Defenders and the militia at Coolnahinch in 1793.
It is interesting to discover that Free Masons seem to have been involved in both the United Irishmen and the Orange Order.
There is a chapter on the War of independence by Ultan Courtney.
There is no entry on the effect of the Parnell split in Meath, where the county played a national central role. Meath's role in the Home Rule agitation from 1900 to 1914 might also be covered in a future book, as well as the sufferings of the county during the influenza of 1919 and the Farm Workers Strike of the same year. The 1919 flu killed more people globally than the First World War.
I am delighted to note, and look forward to reading, chapters in the book dealing with
Agriculture (including material drawn from my great grandfather Edward Delany's farm accounts!),
the activities of the Land Commission,
the Famine(from which some parts of Meath suffered gravely),
the Human impact of the landscape of the County, and on
Church building
Literature and Learning in Mediaeval Meath
Lord Dunsany and Francis Ledwidge
Dick Blake
Jim Connell
The Naper family estate in Oldcastle
as well as many more contemporary topics.
I commend Geography Publications, and Meath County Council, and all the authors, for a tremendous piece of work. Well done, and Thanks!
Speech by John Bruton, former Taoiseach and Deputy for Meath from 1969 to 2004, at the launch of Meath History and Society, Interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county (Dr Francis Ludlow and Dr Arlene Crampsie, editors) On Wednesday, 2 March 2016, at 7pm in Meath County Library, Railway Street , Navan


These are just in NEW SERIES We also have Black Maple Cherry Mahogany Walnut Here are tons of pictures: iHomeOfficeUSA . c o m Call or text any time.
Old office desks and filing cabinets. On next to driveway at 3321 coral harbor drive.
kneehole desks We're open Monday -Saturday from 9:30 to 6 & Sunday 11 to 4 ! Thank you for your continual support of our charitable programs!
Excellent used condition! selling for $45/ea, but $37/ea if you take all 27 of them ($999). Located at the Morgan Junction Uhaul Text show contact info to meet up!
Two computer desks with keyboard holder. 47" long, 24" wide. $40 each. Three computer desks with cord slot. 72" long, 24" wide. $30 each. Make offers.


text:
require 'rails_helper'

RSpec.describe 'run_groups/show', type: :view do
  before(:each) do
    @run_group = assign(:run_group, build_stubbed(:run_group))
  end

  it 'renders attributes' do
    render
    expect(rendered).to match(/myhost1\.com/)
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Michael Fassbender is on a roll. After supporting roles in Zack Snyder's 300 and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Fassbender's popped into the bigger public consciousness with turns as Magneto in X-Men: First Class, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Game and Ridley Scott's upcoming Prometheus, but he's continuing to honor the connections he made earlier in his acting career. For instance, he's just agreed to star in director Steve McQueen's new period drama Twelve Years a Slave, which would mark the third time he's worked with this particular director.
Twelve Years a Slave is based on the writings of Solomon Northup, a black man who lived during America's era of slavery in the mid-19th century. Northup was born a free man in Washington, D.C., but was kidnapped and sold into slavery in America's south. He remained a slave working on a southern plantation for 12 years until such time as his rescue. Chiwetel Ejiofor (2012, American Gangster) has already been cast as Northup.
Getting back to Fassbender, he worked with director McQueen first on Hunger in 2008. His second collaboration is on the movie Shame, which is currently playing at the New York Film Festival.


text:
World Overshoot Day and Other Trivia
I've decided to repost this item from October 9, 2006. Why repost it? Because I just discovered that in the three years following, World Overshoot Day fell from October 9th to September 25th. When are we going to wake up to our accelerating and voracious overconsumption of our planet's renewable resources? I urge you to read this post and reflect on what we're doing and what that will mean for mankind in the very near future. - MoS
Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, Columbus Day in the U.S. For everyone on the planet it's also World Overshoot Day. That is the day each year on which mankind has consumed the earth's total renewable resources for the entire year.
Here's how Global Footprint Network describes World Overshoot Day:
"Overshoot has been called 'the biggest issue you've never heard of.' Yet despite its lack of publicity, its causes and effects are as simple as they are significant.In any given year, if trees are cut down faster than they grow back, then forests become smaller than the year before. If more fish are caught each year than spawn, there will be fewer fish in the sea. The consequences of our accumulating ecological debt also include global climate change, species extinction, insecure energy supplies, water shortages, and crop failure.
"As humanity's consumption of resources increases, World Overshoot Day creeps earlier on the calendar. Humanity's first Overshoot Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. Today, with Overshoot Day on October 9, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planet's biocapacity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
"What is Overshoot?
"Today, humanity uses about 30% more in one year than nature can regenerate in that same year. This is called "overshoot". An ecological overshoot of 30% means that it takes one year and about three months for the Earth to regenerate what is being used by people in one year, creating an ecological deficit.
"We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet's natural resources. For example we can cut trees faster than they re-grow, and catch fish at a rate faster than they repopulate. While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources on which our economy depends.
"Overshoot is like ecological overspending. Just as any business that does not keep financial books will go bankrupt over time, we must document whether we're living within our ecological budget or running an ecological deficit that will eventually deplete our renewable assets."
World Overshoot Day may not be something to be thankful for but it's sure something we could do well to start thinking about.
GFN also assesses nations to determine whether they run an environmental deficit or are in an environmental credit position. Here Canadians can thump their chests. Because we have such a large country and a relatively small population, we're in the plus column. Here's the map:
In this map, green is "good", red is "less than good" - oh, okay, it's bad. It's no coincidence that the green areas tend to be the underpopulated regions of the planet while the red parts represent the most densely populated areas. Our apologies to Alasaka - you're really green but you don't get a break because you belong with the guys in the south.
Posted by The Mound of Sound at 8:21 PM
Labels: World Overshoot Day
Krugman Explains the Euro Crisis
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Florida Balks at Offshore Drilling - Gordon Campbe...
Did Semrau Even Commit a Crime? I Can't See It.
At Least One McCain Rejects Facism
A Less-Than-Happy Meal in Santa Clara County
The Reality of Private Water is Upon Us
Could Charlie Crist Upset Florida's Republican Tea...
The World IS Only 6,000 Years Old After All!
Arizona Kampf - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
How Insurgencies End - a Primer
BC Must Say "No" to Oily Coast. So Should Ignatieff
Stephen Hawking - Stay Away from Aliens at All Costs
Whitehall to the Pope: How to Score Points with B...
Kevorkian on "Real Time" - Watch
Bill Maher - a Teabagger? Really? Watch
The View From Iceland
From Terrorist to Farmer - Afghanistan's "People's...
Why the RC Church is Rotten to the Core
Too Late for Krugman to Yell "FIRE"?
Turning Now to The Latest News in Kid-Diddling
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Vancouver Island's Deadly Export
Spiralling Out of Control - Our Acidic Oceans
No Place In My Canada for Sikh Extremists
Flicker Vertigo Anyone? 3-D TV Hits a Snag
Did a Human Torpedo Sink a South Korean Ship?
We're Number 46!
Put Up or Shut Up Time for the National Post?
Steve, About That Apology Thing
Your Excellency, If You Really Want to Apologize...
The Many Minds of Gary Breitkreuz
Her Excellency, Lady Foot In Mouth, Does It Again!
This May Not Be Killing the Whales - But It Doesn'...
Vancouver Gives Smokers Another Reason to Quit
Government Infrastructure Crumbling on Harper's Watch
Ashes to... Glass? More, Much More to Come?
"Virtual Water" - It Can Mean So Much
The Most Sceptical of Professions - Science
Hey (Unfortunately) We're Number One
Fascinating - Traffic Congestion, San Francisco, 1906
When the Wheels Fall Off Civilization's Bandwagon
India - A Country In Trouble
Global Warming - Where's the Heat Going?
Is the End of Goldman Sachs Too Much to Hope For?
The Most Important Thing You Don't Know About the ...
Today's "No Fly Zone"
Torture? Not My Job.
The Risk of Believing Volunteer Informants
Hey Ladies - Larry King is Wife-Shopping Again
Iggy Not Open to Sleaze but Harper Is
Joe, er Benny - It's Me, Mound. Let's Chat.
Nature Meets High-Technology - Nature Wins
The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
Britain Has It. Even the US Has It. Why Don't Ca...
Homosexuality, Not Forced Celibacy, Cause of Cleri...
Cutting the Risk of Alzheimers by 40%
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Pakistan Nukes Vulnerable to Inside Job
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Harper Did the Right Thing? Says Who?
Pack Your Bags Everybody - Climate Summit in Cancun!
Sue Rahim, Sue
What "Next" Assignment? Bring the Army Home - Period
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Weekend 'Auf' Bernie's?
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Now that the Coulter Furor is Over.


When you think of all the funny ladies out there, this person always comes to mind. That's why it's a wonderful surprise that Sarah Silverman is getting her own talk show on Hulu.
The show will be airing weekly, and each episode will clock in at a half-hour.
The folks behind Funny or Die are also helping out with the show, which tells us that it'll probably be humorous. So really, what we're getting is a politically charged comedy hosted by a pretty stellar woman. It's kinda-sorta everything we wanted in a show.
"While it's great to connect with like-minded people, Silverman feels it's crucial, now more than ever, to connect with un-like-minded people," Hulu said in a release.
Silverman will also be producing the show, along with Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Amy Zvi, the latter who worked with Silverman on the special Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles which came out in 2013.
We definitely can't wait to see what this show is all about. While there's no current release date, we're sure that Hulu will be announcing more information soon!


text:
Q: Tingling/shock when holding USB plug of externally-powered device (speakers, etc) and touching HDMI/DP plug PC:

*

*GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2070 Windforce

*CPU: i7 7700

*RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4

*Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-B250-FINTECH

*PSU: EVGA 750 G2

*Case: Coolermaster HAF 912 Combat

I'm troubleshooting an existing issue involving my Display Port monitor flickering when the USB plug of an externally-powered USB device (speakers, external HDD) touches the I/O port or USB port on my PC. The flickering continues to happen when touching the front case USB port, despite these being unplugged from the motherboard.
During testing I noticed that if I'm holding the USB plug of one of these devices and I touch a USB port or I/O plate, I get a sharp tingle/minor shock in that hand where contact is made.
I unplugged EVERYTHING from the PC except the PSU power cable. Still get the shock.
I unplugged the PSU power cable and plugged in the Display Port cable and still got the shock.
I tried it again, except this time touched the Display Port cable and then the HDMI cable directly while holding the USB cable, and still got a shock.
I'm pretty certain my apartment is grounded (got a Belkin power board with Grounding detection, and it's not telling me there's an issue), and the monitor flickering issues happened at a friend's house, too.
All investigation with the screen flickering pointed towards a case/PSU/motherboard issue. I changed the motherboard, put everything outside of the case, tried it with a different monitor, went to a friends house and tried a different PSU there, with the same flickering symptoms showing up.
The fact that there is shocking/tingling with the video cables themselves adds another crazy and weird variable to my situation.
Is shocking/tingling in this specific instance normal?

A: I would say the situation is dangerous. There is a crossover of significant voltages here (over 25 volts) . I suggest you test the USB plug / port with an AC voltmeter with one end connected to the apartment ground. Be certain of your apartment grounding . This is a safety issue. If your AC power cord from the computer is a two wire cord, see if there is a narrow plug blade and a broad plug blade, make sure that your outlet has broad and narrow slots.
With proper installation and grounding there should not be any tingling.  This is distinct from the odd static electricity spark when touching things.
You may need an electrician to test your apartment wiring and grounding.


Next time you're in London and need a cab, you might like to try tweeting @tweetalondoncab for one. Richard Cudlip, Karl James and a small circle of tech-inclined cabbies have spent the last year building up a black cab service on Twitter, and while Cudlip says they don't handle more jobs than in their street-hailing days, it's the data the service generates that is the really interesting part.
There's now 100 cabbies using tweetalondoncab and nearly 7,000 followers, which means they are nearing a critical mass where the service starts getting really useful with enough cabs to match the number of punters. The drivers are self employed and tweetalondoncab is a voluntary, cooperative project, but the founders want to build it into a business and are looking for funding. They've already met Channel 4's 4ip.
acts as an aggregator for requests, and cabbies can also flag up their location. Interestingly, isn't too far away from the courier update service idea started Twitter in thefirst place.
"We're getting more and more bookings, and the quality of bookings is better, with longer trips," said Cudlip, who says a few minor celebrities use the service because they find a direct message more discreet than flagging down cabs on the street. All the drivers are full licenced black cab drivers with 'The Knowledge' – and they now have a tweetalondoncab sticker in the window.
The data challenge is quite a temptation for developers – three have already approached the team and suggested a mobile app – but there's a problem compiling data between a few hundred sole traders that has put developers off so far. Twitter has been the best solution to date, although a couple of developers are experimenting with Foursquare – setting themselves up as a virtual taxi rank and checking in when they are on duty.
That's pretty smart, but with clued-up, GPS smartphone-enabled cabbies spread across the city, surely that's just the start. It's a classic business ripe for disruption. Is anyone up for helping with the challenge?


text:
>RAND Study Recommends Faster Check-In, Improved Screening As Short-Term Security Improvements at Los Angeles Airport
RAND Study Recommends Faster Check-In, Improved Screening As Short-Term Security Improvements at Los Angeles Airport
RAND Office of Media Relations
(703) 413-1100, ext. 5117
media@rand.org
Speeding passenger check-in at Los Angeles International Airport is the most cost-effective short-term measure available to improve airport security and reduce the impact of a potential terrorist attack, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.
Improving the speed of check-in by adding employees to check luggage would significantly reduce the size of crowds in public spaces at LAX, making the airport a less-appealing target to terrorists and reducing potential casualties should terrorists strike, according to the study.
Researchers estimate that increasing the number of airport check-in and screening workers by just 5 percent could reduce fatalities by 80 percent should terrorists detonate a hand-held luggage bomb in a check-in area — a scenario researchers consider plausible.
Making the check-in changes proposed in the RAND report would require about $1 million in capital costs and $4 million in increased annual operating expenses, the study estimates. By contrast, directing all vehicles to remote parking lots would require $259 million in capital costs and another $10 million in annual operating costs, according to the report.
"We found there are a number of lower-cost measures that can be taken in the short term to harden the airport to terrorist attacks, while city leaders consider long-term strategies to address the risks posed by terrorism," said Donald Stevens, a RAND senior analyst who headed the study.
The recommendations by RAND researchers are included in the findings of a two-month study of LAX carried out to identify security vulnerabilities and determine the best near-term options for improving security at the airport.
RAND researchers assessed the vulnerabilities at LAX to a plausible terrorist attack, concluding that a bomb smuggled into the airport in cargo, a vehicle or luggage poses the greatest and most plausible risk to the airport.
The researchers examined the likely impact of a 50-pound terrorist bomb hidden in a piece of luggage and detonated in the middle of a check-in area of a crowded terminal.
Researchers found that adding a relatively small number of skycaps, ticket agents and passenger screeners to speed check-in could cut the density of waiting passengers by 75 percent, reducing the impact of a bomb attack by a similar amount, according to the report.
"Reducing the density of the crowds in the terminal areas would make the airport less vulnerable to a luggage bomb," Stevens said. "We found that a relatively small increase in staffing would greatly reduce the size of crowds both in terminals and waiting at the curb."
Researchers identified several additional measures that could be adopted over the next two years to discourage terrorists from targeting LAX and limit the impact of any successful attack.
Those measures include beginning a permanent vehicle checkpoint program to identify vehicles that might be carrying a bomb, and improving the screening of cargo bound for passenger airplanes, according to the report. A vehicle screening system eventually might include scales imbedded into the roadway to quickly weigh all vehicles entering the airport, allowing officials to identify those that might be weighed down with explosives.
Researchers also suggest increased background checks and screening of airport workers to reduce the chance that an insider could be the source of a terrorist bomb or be involved in a terrorist plot.
In addition, researchers recommend improving the airport's perimeter fencing and increasing the ability of airport security workers to respond quickly to security problems inside the airport.
In July, officials with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX and three other airports, asked RAND to conduct a security analysis of the airport and make recommendations for short-term security improvements that could be adopted over the next two years.
RAND also will conduct a review of proposals for long-term safety improvements at LAX, including a proposal commonly called Alternative D that would create a remote check-in facility east of the airport to screen all incoming passengers. The second phase of the RAND study will begin soon and is expected to be completed in 2005.
RAND researchers worked with officials from the Los Angeles World Airports, the federal Transportation Security Administration and the LAX Police Department in preparing the report.
Other RAND researchers who contributed to the report are Terry Schell, Thomas Hamilton, Richard Mesic, Michael Brown, Edward Chan, Mel Eisman, Eric Larson, Marvin Schaffer, Bruce Newsome, John Gibson and Elwyn Harris.
The research was conducted in the Homeland Security Program of the RAND Infrastructure, Safety and Environment (ISE) unit. The ISE conducts research and analysis to improve the development, operation, use and protection of society's essential man-made and natural assets, and to enhance the safety and security of individuals in transit, at work and in their communities.
About the RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.
Read the Full Document


To develop simple-to-use methods that can be used in the field or in simple field laboratories for the collection, pre-assay processing and storage of diagnostic samples. Where possible, the approaches developed will be homogeneous and generic ensuring that they have broadest application across the wide range of different biological sample types, veterinary species and diseases targeted by RAPIDIA-FIELD.
Evaluation of the developed simple methods.
To establish a virtual database of samples that can be shared amongst the project consortium for assay validation purposes for the selected pathogens.
Leader: Partner 6. P6 has previous experience in the establishment of data base for biological collections. All participant partners have capability of collecting samples and developing new protocols for the preparation of samples.