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International arrivals into Asia Pacific continue to exceed the global average
BANGKOK, October 11, 2018 — Foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations continued to grow at better than the global average in 2017, reaching a record volume high of more than 646 million arrivals relative to 2016.
According to the Annual Travel Monitor 2018 Final Edition (ATM) released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today, international visitor arrivals (IVAs) into 47 destinations in Asia Pacific covered in this report increased by 5.7 percent and added close to 35 million additional arrivals to the collective foreign inbound count into Asia Pacific in 2017.
In percentage increase terms between 2016 and 2017, the Pacific had the strongest annual increase at 5.9% year-on-year, followed by the Americas at 5.8%, while Asia kept pace with the Asia Pacific average of 5.7%.
By annual increase in the absolute volume of foreign arrivals, however, these positions were reversed with Asia receiving close to 25 million additional foreign arrivals between 2016 and 2017, followed by the Americas with a gain of almost 8.6 million and the Pacific with around 1.4 million additional foreign arrivals received over that period.
Within the Americas, Central America showed the strongest incremental increase in foreign arrivals between 2016 and 2017, capturing 50.5% of the 8.577 million increase into the Americas over that period.
Across Asia, it was Southeast and West Asia that each captured the largest proportion of additional foreign arrivals into Asia between 2016 and 2017.
While in the Pacific, Oceania received more than half of the additional foreign arrivals into the region, followed by Polynesia.
At the individual Asia Pacific destination level, destinations with the strongest annual percentage growth rates in 2017 ranked as:
All told more than 40% of the 47 destinations covered in this report had annual growth rates in excess of 10%; another 28% had annual growth rates in excess of five percent.
For sheer annual volume increase between 2016 and 2017, the strongest Asia Pacific performers were ranked as:
Of the destinations covered in this report, more than a quarter had annual volume increases of more than one million each, while close to 15% had between half a million and one million apiece.
The strong collective performance of Asia Pacific destinations in 2017 appears to be continuing into 2018 as well. As Dr. Mario Hardy, the CEO of PATA pointed out, "Early results for 2018 show a collective annual increase in foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations of 8.7%, adding more than 25 million additional arrivals to the total inbound count during the first periods of 2018 relative to the same period of last year."
Thirty-six Asia Pacific destinations had released year-to-date 2018 data on foreign arrivals at the time of preparing the Annual Tourism Monitor for 2018 and these are covered in some detail through the body of the report.
The strongest early performances are seen in a number of destinations including:
Furthermore, one quarter of these destinations had already posted volume increases of more than one million foreign arrivals in early 2018, relative to the same periods of 2017. Included amongst these are:
"In general terms, the volume of foreign arrivals into most Asia Pacific destinations now needs to be managed in terms of distribution across the destination, especially with growth rates remaining relatively high," adds Dr. Hardy. "This includes shifting our focus from just the volume of arrivals to other performance metrics including length of stay and yield as primary indicators, along with developing a better and deeper understanding impacts of tourism on the environment and society at all levels, especially if we as a responsible economic sector wish to remain sustainable and therefore viable into the future."
"It is not only the international travel flows that have an impact either. The domestic demand for new travel experiences is gathering momentum in many destinations as well, and when coupled with international visitor flows, that creates a very powerful dynamic. It is incumbent on us all to ensure that we can properly harness and manage that power or else risk losing those very attributes that drive visitor interest in the first place."
Founded in 1951, PATA is a not-for-profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its more than 800 member organisations, including 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 20 international airlines and airports, 102 hospitality organisations and 70 educational institutions, as well as over a hundred young tourism professional (YTP) members across the world. The PATA network also embraces the grassroots activism the PATA Chapters and Student Chapters, who organise numerous travel industry training programmes and business development events across the world. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 35 local PATA Chapters worldwide, while hundreds of students are members of the 21 PATA Student Chapters globally. Their local activities underpins PATA's membership in Uniting Travel, a coalition of the world's major Travel & Tourism organisations dedicated to ensuring that the sector speaks with one voice and acts in unison on the major issues and includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members' desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA's Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing and London. Visit www.PATA.org.
Posted in Press ReleaseTagged Annual Travel Monitor 2018 Final Edition, Asia Pacific, ATM, International Arrivals, International visitor arrivals


The Spanish Togathering is just a month away and has space. This is our first time in the mountain forests of Galaroza, Andalusia and it is such a peaceful environment and close the Portuguese border.
It´s going to be around 30 centigrade, so it may even be possible to have some of the meditations outside (shade permitting). There´s a small pool if you need to cool off during free periods.
Extensions – Why not stay a little longer and see the wonderful city of Seville. We promise you, it is one of Europe´s hidden treasures, elegant – and small enough to see a lot on foot.
Flights – The "Low-Cost Carriers" still have space, but I am sure it will not be there for long. So, if you are planning to attend, please act now….!
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Gururaj explains why we experience negative situations and from where negativity and negative thoughts proceed?
@Asperato Can Salesforce Lighting Pro version be used with Asperato or just Enterprise.


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Clinton christmas carolers
Deck the halls with Christmas Carolers! Fa-la-la-la-la… Even if your neighbors don't want to get in on the fun, you can still spread the holiday spirit with through the Christmas Carolers available for bookings in your area. Start by searching from those in the Clinton County, MI area.
Christmas Carolers /
Clinton County, MI Christmas Carolers
Please note these Christmas Carolers will also travel to Eagle, Saint Johns, Dewitt, De Witt, Ovid, Eureka, Fowler, Elsie, Bath, Maple Rapids, Westphalia, Laingsburg, Bannister, Perrinton, Ashley, Pewamo, Pompeii, Hubbardston, Shaftsburg, East Lansing, Lansing, Haslett, Muir, Middleton, Grand Ledge, Owosso, Lyons, Okemos, Henderson, North Star
Are you a christmas caroler looking to book more events? Get more christmas caroler events today.
Top Christmas Carolers Near Clinton County, MI
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TBD a cappella
A Cappella Group from Farmington Hills, MI (66 miles from Clinton County, MI)
"You guys sound fantastic! So smooth." — Deke Sharon (music producer for Pitch Perfect, The Sing-Off, and Disney new a cappella group Dcappella) TBD a cappella is a men's a cappella group in the style of Pitch Perfect, Straight No Chaser, Rockapella, and Pentatonix performing music from many decades including artists like James Taylor, Shawn Mendes, OneRepublic, Jason Mraz, Sara Bareilles, The Eagles, The Black Crowes, Charlie Puth, Billy Joel, Megan Trainor, Michael Buble, songs from... (more)
Snowfall Pop Carolers
Christmas Carolers from Los Angeles, CA (1911 miles from Clinton County, MI)
Snowfall is a brand new pop/jazz caroling group, providing fresh and contemporary Christmas music for the Los Angeles area and beyond. Created by Grammy-winning arranger and producer Ben Bram, Snowfall sings from Pentatonix' vast catalog of impactful Christmas arrangements. Performing as a quintet, the group draws from a world-class roster of LA's best studio singers, performers, and solo artists. Our diverse Christmas repertoire includes fun uptempo pop, wintery ballads, and rich jazz... (more)
Caroling Inc.
A Cappella Group from Orlando, FL (1011 miles from Clinton County, MI)
We are an A Capella Company that specializes in Holiday and Year-Round entertainment! "Traditional Dickens Carolers" Dressed in beautiful Dickens-era costumes, our strolling quartets are a living Christmas card and will sing a repertoire of over 60 holiday favorites! Available as a Quartet, Trio and with Instrumentalists "The Mistletones" They've performed at Downtown Disney and Disney's Animal Kingdom and now this contemporary caroling group can light up your Christmas event!... (more)
The Los Angeles Belles
Variety Trio from Pasadena, CA (1897 miles from Clinton County, MI)
<3 The Los Angeles Belles <3 Touring Opera & Pop Music Troupe A cross-over singing performance group Lauded By The Las Vegas Callback News For their Flawless, Well Trained Performances Performing New & Familiar Works Featuring a Variety of Musical Entertainment Opera, Bossa Nova, Swing Jazz, Latin Flamenco & More Available for every occasion, season, or event. Available to put on fully staged thematic performances. Each young, fashionable singer is highly trained with a background... (more)
Blue Jupiter
A Cappella Group from New York City, NY (564 miles from Clinton County, MI)
BLUE JUPITER A CAPPELLA = 4 MOUTHS & 4 MICS... Over 250,000+ views on and featured on the Huffington Post, Blue Jupiter performs at corporate events, music festivals, hi-end fashion shows, theaters, and private parties year round. Blue Jupiter has been featured on Oprah, is the voice of the Oreo Cookie commercials produced by American Idol's Randy Jackson, has headlined on Royal Caribbean, and has performed over 200+ shows all across Asia. Blue Jupiter's all-vocal performance is... (more)
Vocal Flash
This singing flash mob with high energy vocals and dance moves will add the unexpected WOW to any event! Kicking off a session on the main stage, or popping up in the crowd as a surprise, this group of 5-15 singer/dancers are party spark plugs, who riff, rap and dance to your favorite radio hits! Customize: Vocal Flash can be costumed as needed to fit in as waiters, conventioneers, or pop stars. They can re-lyric songs of your choosing to fit your meeting's theme! Interactive: A... (more)
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Aged five years, Sun Liquor and OOLA are still pioneers of Capitol Hill spirits
Posted on Friday, May 27, 2016 - 7:03 am by Bryan Cohen
Kirby Kallas-Lewis (Image: Alex Garland)
In 2011, OOLA and Sun Liquor both fired up Capitol Hill's first legal stills, launching the post-Prohibition era of neighborhood-made spirits. Five years later, the two businesses are growing, but while new coffee and beer production operations continue to open around Capitol Hill, new distilleries have not.
Huge startup expenses, navigating a restrictive legal framework, and high state taxes can be daunting barriers to entry despite the seemingly insatiable demand for craft cocktails and spirits.
"We keep trying to get parity with beer and wine," said OOLA owner Kirby Kallas-Lewis. "A lot of people do their due diligence and they find out it's not worth it."
In 2008, the state legislature relented slightly by passing a craft distillery law, which made small batch distilling a viable business by lowering minimum production requirements. The state went from one distiller to over 100 by 2015. With few mentors in the local industry, Sun Liquor head distiller Erik Chapman said trial by fire was the primary learning tool.
"In five years we have learned so much, and most of it the old fashioned way. Everything from packaging issues, equipment failures, shipping disasters, flooding, you name it." he said. "There's no handbook for this business."
OOLA started as a craft distiller at 14th Ave and E Union, but switched its license to a general distiller in order to start importing bottles of rare scotches for retail. That venture never panned out, but the license has allowed OOLA to innovate in other ways. OOLA's Three Shores Whiskey, for instance, blends Highland scotch and Canadian whiskey aged in American oak barrels.
Sun Liquor got an early jump on the game by when Top Pot doughnut co-founder Michael Klebeck opened the Sun Liquor cocktail lounge on Summit Ave in 2006. Five years later he opened the distillery Belmont and E Pike with one unique asset: a cocktail bar attached to the distillery. State law prohibits distilleries and bars from from operating in the same space, but Sun Liquor's bar and distillery are technically located at two different addresses. OOLA, on the other hand, can offer liquor tastings but not cocktails — one of the many issues Kallas-Lewis has tried to resolve at the state level over the years. "That brew pub model is genius," he said.
OOLA opened its own complementary business in 2012 — the 10 Degrees event space, which is attached to the distillery. Still, Kallas-Lewis said liquor taxes are a significant burden on the business.
Washington has the highest excise tax on liquor in the U.S. OOLA takes in just under a third of the retail price for a bottle sold at a liquor store. Here's a breakdown Kallas-Lewis provided of a $38.97 bottle of gin:
Distiller's take: $12.24
Excise Tax: $2.51
Freight: $.04
Distributor: $5.15
WA distribution fee: $1.05
Retailer's take: $9.00
List Price on the shelf to consumer: $29.99
WA 20.5% Spirits tax at register: $6.15
Liter tax at register: $2.83
As microdistilling continues to grow nationwide, Kallas-Lewis said distributors and bars are increasingly looking for more innovation. Both OOLA and Sun Liquor owners say they will be tapping into the state's fruit bounty to create new lines of liqueurs and brandy.
OOLA currently has seven regular spirits in its lineup: two gins, a bourbon, a standard vodka, and three infused vodkas which get distributed around Washington, California, New York, and Chicago. In the last year, OOLA expanded distribution to Washington D.C., Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
To keep up with demand and to reach a "critical mass" of production, Kallas-Lewis wants to double OOLA's current output from his Capitol Hill facility. Equipment upgrades have allowed OOLA to automate more of the distilling and bottling process as production grows.
"I was so enamored with it all … putting corks into bottles, putting on labels," Kallas-Lewis said. "Filling several hundred bottles is fun, filling several thousand is not as fun."
Last year OOLA purchased a warehouse in the International District to store bottles and barrels for aging whiskey. Kallas-Lewis said OOLA will put away some 100 barrels of whiskey this year. Sun Liquor, meanwhile, made a big leap in 2013 when it landed a contract to produce gin, vodka, and rum "minis" for Alaska Airlines.
Capitol Hill may not yet have its own distinct style of whiskey or gin, but the annual fervor over of Sun Liquor's limited run of aged eggnog makes it the neighborhood's undisputed holiday drink. Chapman says he is already hard at work to expand production for this winter.
"I really want to get the same handmade product into the hands of more people," he said. "Fortunately we have wonderful creameries and dairy farmers here in the state that are wanting to help out."
This entry was posted in Food & Drink, News, etc. and tagged booze, light manufacturing, pike pine by Bryan Cohen. Bookmark the permalink.
About Bryan Cohen
Bryan Cohen is a CHS reporter. Reach him at [email protected] and @bchasesc
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Small correction…Sun Liquor cocktail lounge is on Summit Ave not Bellevue Ave.
Bryan Cohen
Reply to Matt S.
Fixed. Thanks.
loved reading this, and love doing business with both.
Barry Clark
The article used tax figures provided by the OOLA distillery owner for a 750 ml. bottle of gin (47% alcohol). The federal excise tax quoted was $2.51. They also make liquor with 40% alcohol, which is a more common strength. The federal tax is proportional to the alcohol strength, and for 40% alcohol it is $2.14.
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text:
Q: Formula for evaluation of character on a transposition Let $\lambda\vdash n$ be a partition of $n\in\mathbb N$ and $\chi=\chi_\lambda$ the corresponding irreducible character of the symmetric group $S_n$. Denote by $\lambda^t$ be the transpose of $\lambda$ and $\ell(\lambda):=\lambda^t_1$ the length of $\lambda$. Let $\tau\in S_n$ be any transposition. In [R, Theorem 3.5], the following formula is quoted:
$$ \binom n2 \cdot \frac{\chi(\tau)}{\chi(1)} = \sum_{i=1}^{\ell(\lambda)} \left( \binom{\lambda_i}2 - \binom{\lambda^t_i}2 \right). $$
I would like to see a proof for this formula. Roichman refers to the paper [I], which itself refers to a German paper by Frobenius, "Über die Charaktere der symmetrischen Gruppe". I was unable to obtain a copy of said paper, but I believe this must somehow follow from the Murnaghan-Nakayama rule (or directly from the Frobenius character formula).
Frankly, I have not invested a lot of time into an attempt to prove this myself because I was hoping that there is a more accessible and detailed reference for such an early formula. I would be very grateful if someone could provide such reference. Of course, if you happen to know a short proof, don't refrain from posting it.

*

*[R] Yuval Roichman: Upper bound on the characters of the symmetric groups. Inventiones mathematicae,
August 1996, Volume 125, Issue 3, pp. 451-485.

*[I] Ingram, R.E.: Some characters of the symmetric group. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, June 1950, Volume 1, Issue 3, pp 358-369.

A: The paper Über die Charaktere der symmetrischen Gruppe by Frobenius is in the Sitzungsberichte der königlich preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin of $1900$, available at archive.org in various formats. It begins on p. $516$; the formula you cite seems to correspond to the last formula of the paper on p. $534$. The notation $f^{(\kappa)}=\chi^{(\kappa)}_0$ is introduced on p. $522$, and $h_\varrho=n!/(c(n-c)!)$ is introduced on p. $533$. I'm not sure though how the $a_i$ and $b_i$ are related to your $\lambda_i$ and $\lambda_i^t$. Let me know if you need any help with the German.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Limit point of a sequence Question
Let {$a_k$} be a sequence arising by an arbitrary one-to-one indexing of the elements of the matrix {$n^{1/3} - m^{1/3}$},n,m $\in $N . Show that every real number is a limit point of this sequence
How to prove that in any interval (a,b) there is at least one term of the sequence?


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IN BRIEF: The Death Pool - Vernon Loder
US 1st edition (William Morrow & Co., 1931)
Mystery writer Ned Hope is excited to have purchased Fen Court for the unheard of sum of £750 when at face value the property is worth several times more. Imagine his surprise when in making a tour of the grounds he comes across three corpses in the ornamental pond. His bargain basement purchase is sure to hit the sub-basement level in property values. Not to mention inviting visits from morbid scene of the crime tourists. What's a mystery writer to do but solve the mystery of the three bodies.
Hope is "hired" by Bell, his reporter friend, to do a series of articles on the mysterious drowning deaths. Bell tells Ned that his assignment is to be a sort of experiment in feature writing. Ned, primarily a fiction writer, will report on the facts of the crime and as those facts are presented he will work out his own solution. Ned is joined in his combination investigative reporting and amateur detective work by his fiancée Nancy Johnson.
The victims of The Death Pool (1930) are Mr. Habershon, his ward Maysie Rowe and her lover Ivor Rainy. The two young people were thought to have eloped and left the area. In uncovering the multiple layers of a very strange relationship between the three victims Ned and Nancy begin to think that Mr. Habershon killed the other two and then did either did himself in or through negligence accidentally drowned. Most impressive is how Loder manages to invent the different combinations of victims and killer and how each died. Accidents made to look like murder and murders made to appear suicide are only two of the multiple solutions the duo dream up. Amazingly, the final reveal is even more complicated than Ned or Nancy could have imagined.
Inspector Brews makes his debut here doing his best to appear low-key and officious. "As a matter of routine--" is his favorite phrase and becomes something of a running gag throughout the novel. He often frustrates Ned who, after delivering what he thinks is a scoop on the case, learns that Brews knew of it already. As in other Vernon Loder mysteries Ned as amateur detective takes center stage, does most of the legwork and theorizing while Brews, the official detective, retreats into the background then delivers up the correct solution in the final chapters.
UK edition is known as The Essex Murders
Loder's skill in creating quirky supporting characters is exemplified in the person of Cornelius Hatch. An avid ornithologist Hatch provides for some great scenes and a very different sort of local color. He wants to publish a book of spectacular photographs of birds and their nesting behaviors. The photographs will play a large part in the plot and will add to the mystery when Brews begins to suspect that Hatch is an impostor.
The unusual clues include a discussion of Brazilian coffee, the discovery of a thermos with no fingerprints, a car wiped clean of fingerprints that should show signs of one of the victims having driven it, and a mysterious light seen in the window of a cottage on the grounds of Fen Court. Loder does his best to lay out all the evidence to the reader, but in the denouement presents one crucial bit of information completely out of left field. It is something Brews digs up on his own but the reader is never made aware of until a few pages from the end. Occasionally, Loder cheats and it's the only flaw that keeps him from being one of the top tier of detective novelists from this era.
Posted by J F Norris at 1:06 PM
Labels: obscure writers, police procedural, Vernon Loder
Another fascinating review. What kills me is that you pique my interest in a book like this, and then I go look for a copy on Abebooks and find that the cheapest one is a rebound jacketless copy for $47 plus shipping from England. And the chance of this showing up as an e-book anytime soon is nil. Oh well, another one for the "to be read" list.
J F Norris July 18, 2013 at 7:34 PM
I found two cheap copies of the US edition at a different bookselling site. Tried to email you the info but I stupidly forgot to save your email address on my laptop back when we had that exchange about the DVD of WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT. Click on the Email link in my Blogger profile and I'll send you the info.
Bev Hankins July 18, 2013 at 9:25 PM
John, this one sounds delightful. "Imagine his surprise when in making a tour of the grounds he comes across three corpses in the ornamental pond." Imagine his surprise, indeed--not one, but three corpses! Definitely one for the TBF list.
Darrell July 18, 2013 at 10:39 PM
You might bring him back into fashion! Your review of "The Mystery at Stowe" encouraged me to buy my first Loder title, and now this review has piqued my interest further.
The Passing Tramp July 21, 2013 at 8:17 PM
I have this one and started a while back and never finished, just one of those things. Great jacket on the American edition, I see.
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Assistant Professor - Computational Oceanography
Post Doctoral Fellow-Environmental Health Department
Laboratory Research Technician (Laboratory Research Assistant)
Location: San Jose, California
Higher Education Institution
Job no: 509122
Location: San José State University, San José, California, USA
Target Start Date: August 2022
Application Deadline: January 31, 2022 (Applications accepted until filled or closed)
The Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and the Department of Computer Science at San José State University invite applications for a tenure-track position in any field of computational oceanography that complements an interdisciplinary group of scholars in marine science who are active in marine biological, physical, chemical and geological research. The position will also complement the Department of Computer Science, consisting of scholars active in research areas such as data science, machine learning, computer security, bioinformatics, and distributed computing. The position will reside at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) where the faculty emphasizes integration of mentoring, teaching, and research, with excellent facilities and staff that contribute to make this a renowned program for a Master's degree in marine science. Since its establishment in 1966, MLML and its scientists have contributed significantly to the advancement of the field of marine science, both in Monterey Bay and worldwide. MLML offers undergraduate courses but is primarily a graduate institution for students seeking a Master of Science degree in Marine Science, through a consortium of seven California State University campuses. The typical MLML faculty course load is two classes per semester including an undergraduate-level class in the Computer Science Department. The successful candidate will be an SJSU faculty member and will work with both MLML and Computer Science faculty but will be located at the MLML facility, with all or most of their teaching/research conducted at MLML. Visit MLML's website for further information: mlml.sjsu.edu.
To apply, please visit: https://jobs.sjsu.edu/en-us/job/509122/assistant-professor-computational-oceanography?1ApplicationSubSourceID=11266
Equal Employment Statement:
SJSU is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action employer. We consider qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or disability.
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DAREN JONESCU
THE CASE AGAINST PUBLIC EDUCATION
Friendly Reminder: Read The Case Against Public Education Now!
Download the book
Read the Book Online
Q & A: About the book
E-books, E-readers, and Freedom
America Descending
Liberty's Labors Lost
Communist Canada
Global Climate Hysteria
Civilization Adrift
Progressivism 101
Death by Education
Government vs. God
The Examined Life
Ideas and Reflections
About Me: The Way of Truth
About Me: The Way of Opinion
Enjoying the view from Limbo
America's Banana Days
by Daren Jonescu · February 20, 2020
Donald Trump issued a slew of pardons and commuted sentences yesterday, some of them directly related to political donors to Trump himself or his Republican defenders. The case that got the most attention, and which I discussed here yesterday, was his commutation of Rod Blagojevich's sentence for selling Barack Obama's vacated senate seat in Illinois. It makes perfect sense for Trump to find Blagojevich's punishment unfair, since it was punishment for selling influence for personal gain, which merely makes Blago a man after Trump's own heart.
It turns out that one of the less publicized cases was a pardon for one Paul Pogue, who was sentenced to three years probation for tax evasion, but whose family just recently started making a pile of mega-donations to Trump's re-election bid. Go figure!
Over the past few days, rumors have circulated, first at CNN and now — "confirmed!" — at Fox News, that Attorney General William Barr has said privately, to a few close associates, that due to the way his work is being compromised or complicated by Trump's incessant ignorant tweeting about DOJ cases, he has thought about resigning, although he decided not to do so.
Barr has been one of Trump's most steadfast — that's my nicest euphemism for cowardly, cynical, and self-seeking — lackeys in recent months, much beloved by the Cult of Orange for his professionally-bespectacled groveling techniques. Now, however, due to his having reportedly, allegedly, spoken privately about merely considering leaving his job over a style conflict with Trump, the cultists are all over the internet condemning Barr as a swamp creature and establishment loser.
Of course they are. No surprise in this. It is, after all, a cult. But I never tire of pointing this sort of thing out, because it needs to be recorded, time and time again, for posterity. Too many people call these millions of minions a cult for rhetorical purposes, but then turn around and try to argue with them or meet them halfway. I won't play that game, because I am not using the word "cult" rhetorically, and I never have been. These Trump worshippers are a true, unqualified, if-ever-there-was-one cult — they have no independent thought left in their heads. They have given their souls to a confidence man and crooked salesman. The sheer volume of their self-contradictions; their violent and unreflective turnabouts on public figures, based on the slightest perceived daylight between those figures and their god; their willingness to hate any human who dares to disagree with or disapprove of anything Trump does or says — these and many other similar features are the very hallmarks of cultism, as I have explained in detail on many other occasions. (See here, for example.)
As I wrote yesterday, I have no doubt whatsoever, based on all the accumulated evidence of the past four years, that if Trump got it into his head to declare that he was cancelling presidential term limits by executive order, and intending to govern indefinitely, there are millions (ten million? fifty million? — difficult to say at this point, but I would be inclined to lean toward the higher number) of American adults, people with jobs and children and middle class homes, who would be nodding their heads in approval, or even shaking their fists in triumph, at this great Trumpian blow to the Deep State.
Let me take this one step further, in keeping with all of the above, and with Trump's matter-of-fact conjecture that his idolaters would not abandon him if he shot a man on Fifth Avenue: I honestly cannot say with certainty that there is anything these millions would not do, if only Trump were to demand it of them. No explanation would be necessary, no arguments, no reasoning, no constitutional rectitude; a simple tweet, with a few key words capitalized, would suffice to turn their minds and worlds upside down for him in a New York minute. I cannot honestly say that they would not shoot that man on Fifth Avenue on his behalf, if he asked them to do it. I cannot say with any confidence that they would not do harm to their own mothers for Trump. Trump is their world now, and to deny him, in their current mental condition, would be to deny life and reality. They could not.
Cults are real. They lead to destruction of various sorts, and almost invariably to self-destruction on a mass scale. And in terms of "mass scale," there has rarely been a bona fide, non-rhetorical cult to match this one in size or potential for destruction. They are already, on a daily basis, engaged in the outright dismantling of the last remnants of a former representative, constitutional republic, turning it into their own personality-idolizing fantasy world, with right and wrong, justice and injustice, patriotic and unpatriotic, defined and redefined on a daily basis, according to the insecure ego-lunges of a single manifestly incompetent and unworthy man.
In short, they are quickly turning modernity's single greatest political achievement into a banana republic. And they are doing it with pleasure.
Tags: pardonsTrump cultWilliam Barr
October Surprise Packages (Updated!)
by Daren Jonescu · Published October 25, 2018
Trump Surrenders (Again)
by Daren Jonescu · Published March 2, 2019
Trump and Krauthammer: Brothers in Progressive Fraud
by Daren Jonescu · Published May 6, 2017 · Last modified May 7, 2017
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What Tuesday Feels Like in Our Time
Random Notes: Bibi, Berlin, Biden
On Speech and Crowds
Thoughts on Being Abnormal
Time vs. Life
Dogmatic Atheists
Personal Musings from the Drain's Edge
Things Common Sense Tells Us
Conservative Communist Canada
Invalid Inferences
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The UK is regulated on a day-to-day basis by PhonepayPlus, an agency of the communications and broadcast regulator Ofcom.
There is a principles based Code of practice, currently on its 12th edition, with the 13th under development, and some 25 detailed Guidance Notes. Some Guidance Notes apply to all services, such as "Promotions and Promotional Material" and some are specific to certain types of service, such as Subscription Services and Virtual Chat.
The Code is enforced by the powers of a semi-independent Tribunal, with the power to impose impose fines up to £250k per breach. In a typical month there are 3 fines raised at an average of £60k each. Fines are an outcome normally of consumer complaints to PhonepayPlus, and therefore successful services are more likely to come to the attention of the regulator's attention than a small grossly non-compliant service.
Guidance Notes are fairly detailed, and in practice they make a principle-based Code into a prescriptive rule book. This at least provides some clarity and certainty.
In general the UK has quite liberal and sensible rules – adult content allowed, no double opt-in for subscription services are two examples. However, the merchant is accountable for all promotions, including those in an affiliate network. With high fine jeopardy Empello is often employed to manage the risk inherent in using affiliate networks.
Merchants are accountable for compliance, and aggregators and networks are required to perform Due Diligence, Risk Assessment and Control on the merchants and their services.
Non-regulatory differences in UK include the market structure and a unique Direct Operator Billing product – Payforit. Structurally, virtually all merchants are served via SMS aggregators. MNOs will not cotract with merchants directly. This is also partly linked to Payforit. Payforit is not strictly a payment product, but instead a scheme rule driven by the MNOs and compulsory if merchants wish to use Direct Operator Billing. The payment page is controlled by the aggregator and not the merchant.


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Authentication: It Is All About the User Experience
Thursday, June 13th, 2019 at 3:30 PM EDT (19:30:00 UTC)
Matt Bromiley and Hormazd Romer
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Authentication, including passwords, remains a weak link for enterprise security, despite many attempts to improve or strengthen it. Because people must authenticate themselves, effective authentication depends heavily on users, whose experience and willingness to comply often compromise security. This SANS webcast and associated new paper looks at the current state of authentication and ways to deploy a better process.
SANS senior instructor Matt Bromiley, with insights from Yubico's Hormazd Romer, will talk about the challenges with passwords, existing authentication technologies and recent developments to improve authentication. The role of industry standards, including WebAuthn, will be addressed, along with specific recommendations to implement strong authentication that protects the organization and benefit your users.
Register now and be among the first to receive the associated white paper written by Matt Bromiley.
Matt Bromiley
Matt Bromiley is a SANS digital forensics and incident response (IR) instructor, teaching FOR508 Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting, and Digital Forensics and SANS FOR572 Advanced Network Forensics: Threat Hunting, Analysis, and Incident Response. He is also an IR consultant at a global IR and forensic analysis company, combining experience in digital forensics, log analytics, and incident response and management. His skills include disk, database, memory and network forensics; incident management; threat intelligence and network security monitoring. Matt has worked with organizations of all shapes and sizes, from multinational conglomerates to small, regional shops. He is passionate about learning, teaching and working on open source tools.
Hormazd Romer
Hormazd Romer is the VP of Product Marketing at Yubico and brings a wealth of enterprise expertise with a focus on security solutions. He has been a frequent speaker at industry events, tradeshows, and webinars, and is often cited in the press for his insights on the latest trends in enterprise security. Hormazd has played a key role in bringing leading security solutions to market, which included growing the Oracle Identity Management business from early start to industry leader, and managing Symantec's $1B enterprise infrastructure security product portfolio.
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- James D. Perry II, University of Tennessee


text:
Don't Believe the Hype; This "Cure" for Autism Is Actually Deadly
Currently, science has not devised a cure for autism. Anyone who claims there is should be ignored. Because in some cases, so-called "cures" for autism are actually dangerous. Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) is one example that has been gaining traction in several countries.
The solution was formulated by Jim Humble from Genesis II Church—a U.S.-based, nonreligious organization of "health and healing." Along with autism, the alternative medicine claims to cure Alzheimer's, cancer, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
This "cure" is not just fake; it's poison. Delivered either orally or via enema, the "medicine" is a toxic mix of sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid. When diluted with juice (as instructed), the chemicals combine to form chlorine dioxide—which is essentially an industrial strength bleach used to strip textiles.
In terms of autism, at least, it supposedly clears out parasites and worms that "cause" the disorder (though the cause of autism is likely multi-faceted and highly complex). In reality, MMS can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and gut damage. With extended use, it can be lethal. One fatality has already been reported.
"The so-called parasites that come out with the stools after the enemas is the intestinal lining, which sheds during the invasive and painful enema administration," said Fiona O'Leary, a member of an autism non-profit called Autistic Rights Together, which is based in Ireland.
The FDA banned the phony medicine in 2010, but it's still readily available online. It's spread across the world—most recently to Great Britain, where one woman allegedly used it to try curing her son's autism. Make no mistake, however: MMS is illegal, and many have claimed it is child abuse.
While there is no cure for autism, there are safer, evidence-based ways to treat it, namely through therapy. You can help provide therapy to kids with autism in military families. Read on to learn more.
★ How Can I Help? ★
With 1 in 88 military children having a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, it is important these families, with so many other pressures and sacrifices taking place from military life, get the help their children need. There are effective treatments that can help children with autism greatly, but they are expensive and are rarely covered significantly by any traditional insurance.
Give a helping hand to the families who have devoted themselves to protecting our freedom!


We supply Bostwick Consistometer to food manufacturers around the world. These are available in Standard Length (24cms) and Extra Long (30cms). This straightforward technology checks samples against consistency, viscosity or flow rate standards.
The Bostwick Consistometer is invaluable to many industries to standardise production lots.
It is a simple, dependable instrument, which accurately determines sample consistency by measuring the distance which a material flows under its own weight.
The unit is manufactured from stainless steel with a 75ml reservoir and has two levelling screws and a level.
A spring-operated gate is held by a positive release mechanism, permitting instantaneous flow of sample to be measured.
The trough is graduated in 0.5cm divisions to permit accurate measurement of flow.
Complies to R-81294D and ASTM F1080-93.


Odorizzi knew before his sixth-inning plate appearance that he would not return to the mound. By then, his pitch count had reached 93, although the only damage was a first-inning home run to first baseman Jose Martinez.
St. Louis mustered just one other hit against Odorizzi, a third-inning single by Francisco Pena. Odorizzi walked two and struck out three.
"Jake threw the ball well," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. "Obviously, (the Cardinals) fought him. He had to throw a lot of pitches to try to finish hitters off. But that's kind of how you draw it up. You try to stay close and then you add on to the lead."
Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor talks about Highland High School graduate Jake Odorizzi's performance against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. Odorizzi allowed one run in five innings and had two sacrifices in the Twins' 7-1 victory.
Odorizzi improved to 2-1 in four career starts against the Cardinals, his favorite team as a youth. He is 2-0 in three starts at Busch Stadium, the first two coming as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.
"It's always fun," Odorizzi said of pitching in St. Louis. "There's always family, friends here. It's one of those places that always will be special. ... I was happy to get (the bunts) down and move some guys up."
Since it was a weekday afternoon game, Odorizzi left just 16 tickets for supporters, two of whom were his parents, Mike and Judi.
"Not anything too terrible," Jake Odorizzi said. "I kind of treat this as a business trip. I don't usually go out and do a bunch of stuff with family and friends. It's hard enough as it is to come here (and say), 'If you see one person, you should see them all' — that sort of thing. So I try to keep it baseball and I'll see them after the game if I pitch that day, or whatever it may be."
Odorizzi wasn't sure whether there were any high school friends in the group.
"They're working now," he said. "It's tough for them to get off. Too many people call in sick and it starts to look a little suspicious."
Martinez pounced on a belt-high fastball on a 2-2 pitch in the first, sending it into the hitting background in deep center for the Cardinals' lone highlight of the game. It was Martinez's fourth homer of the year.
"Just a little bit up," Odorizzi said. "Maybe it came back (over the plate) a little bit. He put a good swing on it and got it over there. It happens, but I settled down pretty good. Everything other than that was pretty good today.
"I could have (gone longer), but the way things have been going, I respect what (Molitor) has to do. It's his call. I don't have any problems with coming out of the game right there."
Greg Garcia walked in the second, Pena blooped a single in the third and Martinez walked in the fourth for the only other runners against Odorizzi. After the Martinez walk, the next 18 Cardinals were retired by Odorizzi and three relievers.
"With two outs and nobody on, he was trying to elevate (to Martinez)," Molitor said. "He got it a little bit over the middle of the plate too much and the guy didn't miss it. But he settled back in. Pitching here is probably pretty special. He did his job executing a couple of (bunts) as well as giving us five good innings."
Odorizzi was 40-37 in five seasons with the Rays, who traded him to the Twins in February for minor-league infielder Jermaine Palacios. Odorizzi enjoys the new chapter in his career.
"It's been good," he said. "There's a lot of great guys in this clubhouse. Everybody gets along. It's a very well-rounded group and a very complete group. We have the ability to do something really special if we continue to play this way. I think there's a lot of good things ahead."


In "Evicted," Matthew Desmond's stay in two Milwaukee neighborhoods educated him on the eviction crisis in the United States and its toll on children.
When you're spending more than half your income on rental housing — up to 70 percent of your income, as is the case with much of the working poor — it's no surprise when the sheriff, along with a moving crew ready to set your belongings out on the curb, comes knocking on your door.
That dreaded sound echoes through "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," Matthew Desmond's carefully researched, often heartbreaking book based on living as an embedded writer in some of Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods in 2008-09. From his headquarters in a trailer park — and, later, in a rooming house on the city's largely African-American north side — Desmond followed several low-income families, including some with single parents and children, as they were forced out of one apartment after another by landlords backed by the legal system.
The inequality and human tragedies that are part of what Desmond calls the "eviction epidemic" in America — and the role of eviction not just as a symptom of poverty but as a driver of it — was the subject of a recent Printers Row phone interview with the author, now a 36-year-old sociologist at Harvard University. Here's an edited transcript of our conversation.
Q: What drew you to this subject matter?
A: We have a lot of books on poor neighborhoods, like the South Side of Chicago. And we have a lot of books about certain populations in those neighborhoods, like single moms, gangs, the working poor. They're great books, but they often left out something, I thought: power and struggle, and the fact that poverty isn't just about lower-income communities or low-income people. It's about a relationship involving poor and non-poor people. I was looking for some kind of process that would allow me to study that relationship. And eviction does that. I thought, "If I write about eviction, I can write about landlords and tenants, I can write about judges, I can write about sheriff's officers." That, in turn, opened me up to the depth of the problem, the prevalence of eviction, and how it's actually driving poverty in a lot of our cities today.
Q: Maybe it was a side benefit of sorts, from a writing point of view, that the subject is full of so much heart-wrenching drama. In addition to the social-science aspect of it, it's also a devastating human story.
A: There were evictions that I saw that I know I'll never forget. In one case, the sheriff and the movers came up on a house full of children. The mom had passed away, and the children had just gone on living there. And the sheriff executed the eviction order — moved the kids' stuff out on the street on a cold, rainy day. And then they were on to the next eviction. Chronicling what eviction looks like and feels like to the people who are experiencing it, and the texture of poverty in American cities today, is an important part of the book, and an important step toward addressing and rectifying these problems.
Q: It's not enough to talk about the numbers, the statistics, the systemic issues and all of that. You put a human face on it.
A: I started on the ground, in the old-fashioned way: moving into the trailer park, then moving into the inner city, spending time with tenants getting evicted and the landlords doing the evicting. I do think that recording those stories in real time, capturing people's lives as complexly as I can, is hugely important, and deeply connected to reform and our public understanding of the issue. But for me there were also moments when I had to get those numbers. I came up on these questions: How common is this? What are the long-term consequences? Who's getting evicted? Those were questions I couldn't answer by just being out there doing fieldwork. And that's why I collected 100,000 eviction records, and surveyed over 1,000 renters in the city. And so there was a kind of tacking back and forth between the ground level and that kind of statistical data.
Desmond reports that roughly 16,000 adults and children are evicted each year in Milwaukee, a city with fewer than 105,000 renter households.
Q: What was the process like for you in terms of gaining access and trust with your subjects?
A: The main thing was moving into the neighborhood. I moved into the trailer park and rented a trailer in there, and people did ask me why I was there. At the time, the trailer park was going through a dispute with the city, which was threatening to close it down because there were a lot of housing problems and a lot of police calls there. So some folks thought I was a spy for the city. Some thought I was a police officer. On the north side, the African-American part of the city, some people thought I was an undercover worker for Child Protective Services. So I learned to carry some of my work with me in the trunk of my car, including my previous book, which I would show to people or give to people. One time in the trailer park, a guy came up to me and said, "Who are you? What are you doing?" It was very important to me to be out with everyone, to tell them exactly what I was doing, that there was nothing undercover here. He was like, "I think you're a spy for the city. You're reporting to the aldermen." And I said no, this is my livelihood. I said, "Can we go and look up my website?" He said, "I don't have the Internet — I work for a living." It was a really intense conversation. I was leaving town for a few days, and I thought if I left it like that, my access might be shot. So I went to the public library and checked out my own book — my first book, which was on firefighters. The library had left the dust jacket on the book, so it had my picture on it. I drove back to his trailer — by this time it was pretty dark — and just knocked on his door, handed him the book. He let me in and kind of apologized, and we talked for several hours. It was a matter of taking people's concerns very seriously, and doing your best to get over them. Some people were really open from day one, and others were much more closed off. It took a lot more effort to bring them along.
Q: Given today's political environment, it occurred to me as I was reading the book that some people might not be very sympathetic to some of the folks you're writing about. They might say, "Well, those people made bad choices, and now they're living with the consequences. Tough."
A: Well, the majority of poor working families are paying at least 50 percent of their income on housing, and one in four is paying over 70 percent of their income on rent and utilities. Under those conditions, it doesn't take a horribly bad decision to lead to being evicted. It can take an unexpected medical expense. It can take someone in your family dying and you choosing to pitch in for the funeral. It can take you paying your heating bill instead of paying the rent. And the face of the American eviction epidemic is moms with kids — people like Arleen, who's faced with the choice of helping pay for a funeral, feeding her kids or paying the rent.
Q: Not all the people you report on in the book are black, but there does seem to be a correlation between eviction rates and race.
A: Eviction affects old folks and young folks, sick people and able-bodied people, white communities and African-American communities. But you're right: It does have a disproportionate effect on low-income communities of color, and especially women and mothers in those communities. In Milwaukee, one in five black women renters report having been evicted at some point, compared to one in 15 white women renters. Low-income African-American women, especially those with kids, are disproportionately facing the consequences of eviction: losing their possessions, having to move into worse neighborhoods, moving into substandard housing.
Q: You shine a light on the ways in which landlords take advantage of renters.
"The Lodge" is a 120-bed Salvation Army shelter in Milwaukee that provides a temporary home for families and homeless individuals.
A: It's so central to understanding poverty in America today. I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. These are the folks who literally own poor neighborhoods. They get to decide who lives where, and they have a role in why crime is concentrated in this poor neighborhood and not in that poor neighborhood. They have a lot of discretion in who they work with and who they evict. So poverty is not an isolated thing. Poor people are not cut off from the rest of society. There are other actors in those communities that are directly contributing to some folks' poverty, and the book tries really hard to render that relationship in a complicated light.
Q: The landlords are in the driver's seat, and they drive.
A: The power element is key. Sometimes landlords in the book behave admirably, and sometimes they behave callously. But it doesn't come down to the personal attributes of landlords. It comes down to the system that provides landlords with a lot of power over low-income tenants. We see this in courts especially, where landlords often have a lot of experience in civil court, and where they have attorneys. Tenants don't have any right to court-appointed attorneys in civil court, so they're either facing their landlord — or his or her attorney — alone, or they just don't show up. That reflects a severe power imbalance.
Q: Were there times during your fieldwork where you developed personal attachments to folks? I'm thinking, for example, of Lamar, who had lost his legs?
A: I felt all sorts of emotions, as you do when you're deeply connected to people and spend a lot of time with them. I felt despairing and angry at times. At other times I was admiring of these folks. There were so many moments of humor, of humanity and heart, in the midst of adversity, and I tried to capture those — to show how people like Lamar refused to be reduced to their poverty, how they're born for better things.
Q: What are the potential solutions here?
A: One piece of good news is that there are a lot of organizations around the country working hard to reduce homelessness, prevent eviction and increase affordable housing. We created a website, justshelter.org, that showcases that. But the bigger picture is that if we believe that eviction isn't just a result of poverty but a cause of it, we have to address the problem in a major way. A lot flows from the question: Is having decent, stable housing part of what it means to live in this country? And I think we should answer "yes." Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart. We can deliver on that, if we choose as a nation to back it. The book ends by calling for a universal housing voucher program — which already exists as the Housing Choice Voucher Program—and to expand it to families below a certain income level. You'd take that voucher to live anywhere you want, as long as the housing's not too expensive or too shoddy. That would change the face of poverty, and it would make evictions rare again. It would give people like Arleen breathing room to meet basic necessities. We know that when people finally get a voucher after years on the waiting list, the first thing they do is buy more food for their families. Their kids become stronger and less anemic. So the solutions are well within our grasp; the program already exists. It's just about scaling that up in a way that reflects the scale of the problem.
Q: It doesn't seem like the political winds are blowing in that direction, though.
A: An expansion of the aid does not necessarily require an enormous expansion of spending. Yes, it will cost money, but we have it. We also need to have an honest conversation about the fact that we have a housing assistance program — in the form of homeowner tax benefits — for the middle class and the rich. We spend far more on that than we do on housing assistance for the needy. If we continue to tolerate this level of poverty in our cities, and go along with eviction as commonplace in poor neighborhoods, it's not for a lack of resources. It will be a lack of something else.


text:
The A13 (before 2011 also known as P393) is a national highway in the northern part of Kazakhstan, that connects Kokshetau with Kazakhstan's border with Russia. After crossing the border with Russia, the highway continues to Omsk as P393. The highway is around  long.

Since Soviet times it has sometimes been called Kokshetau — Omsk Highway. Today the highway stretches through two regions and ends at the Bidaik border checkpoint.

History
Until 2011, the A-13 route was designated as P393.

General data
 Length:

Route description
The A13 would go through the Kokshetau, Akmola and North Kazakhstan regions, running pass the districts of Zerendi, Taiynsha, Akzhar and Ualikhanov (Kishkenekol).

Attractions
Kokshetau is a city with a population of 146 thousand inhabitants, located on the north of Kokshetau hills, on the southern shores of Lake Kopa and the southern edge of the Esil (Ishim) Steppe.

References

External links
 KAZ A-13 highway (Kazakhstan)

Roads in Kazakhstan
Central Asian highways

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home Tips, Tricks & Trends
11 Powerful Vehicles Under $50,000
Torque provides the pull that moves trailers and hauls vehicles between work sites, but it is also the cranking force that sends smaller cars firing out of a standstill. Much of the equation depends on the weight of the vehicle in question in relation to its torque quotient, measured in pound-feet.
In the interest of finding the best torque-to-weight ratio of vehicles in different price classes, Auto Blog crunched the numbers and came up the top 11 from the current and past model-year crop. There are some surprises in the list, but recall that the measurement used is pounds of weight per pound-foot of torque, so smaller electric vehicles now have a chance in what used to be the stomping ground of only muscle cars and heavy-duty trucks.
Here are the best 11 torque-to-weight ratios in vehicles below $50,000.
11. 2015 Volvo S60 T6 R-Design ($43,550)
With 325 horsepower and 354 pound-foot of torque pulling its sub-3,700-pound curb weight, this Volvo sport sedan puts up an impressive 9.966 ratio, good for 11th best among vehicles in production. It uses a 3.0-liter six-cylinder turbo engine to generate that force, giving a brand known for safety a powerful machine available in its 2015 roster. An S60 T6 R-Design can shoot from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds. The high crash-test scores the S60 received proves Volvo hasn't forgotten its reputation for security along with its quest for power.
10. 2014 Chevy SS ($43,475)
Packing GM's powerhouse 6.2-liter V8 engine capable of 415 horsepower and 415 pound-foot of torque, the Chevy SS has a lot of muscle to pull its four-door sedan frame down the road. Its 9.578 pounds per pound-foot of torque make it a worthy car on either road and track, capable of shooting from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds, according to Chevrolet. In terms of pull per pound, the SS has enough to crack the top 10 under $50K.
9. 2015 Chevy Camaro SS ($34,500)
The 6.2-liter V8 makes even more thunder in the 2015 Chevy Camaro SS. Its 2015 model is capable of producing 426 horsepower with 420 pound-foot of torque. That formula gave the Camaro Super Sport an edge over its brand rival with 9.305 pounds per pound-foot. Chevy's testing on the Camaro ran the 0 to 60 sprints in 4.7 seconds, matching the Chevy SS quote, but there is no mistaking the two of these cars on the road. Camaro's reputation and muscle-bound looks precede it.
8. 2014 Dodge Charger SRT ($47,385)
American muscle cars always hold prominent positions on the horsepower-per-dollar meter, and the most torque-per-pound list also features a number of Detroit automakers (in one case, with an Italian parent company). Fiat-Chrysler's first entry is the Dodge Charger SRT from the 2014 model year. Featuring the 6.4-liter Hemi V8, drivers have access to 470 horsepower and 470 pound-foot of torque. Factor in the Charger SRT weight and it comes to a ratio of 9.272 pounds per pound-foot.
7. 2015 Ford Mustang GT ($32,100)
The new Ford Mustang GT will likely show up on countless auto lists in the coming years. Ford made good on its promise to increase the power specs of its new generation of 5.0 pony cars, with the 2015 GT checking in with 435 horsepower and 400 pound-foot of torque. Motor Trend tests from September has the new GT hitting 60 miles per hour from a standstill in 4.4 seconds, so there is good use of its 9.263 pounds per pound-foot torque ratio. For those curious about the Ecoboost Mustang, its ration of 11.013 pounds per pound-foot of torque make the turbo 'Stang tops in the class under $26,000.
6. 2014 Ram 2500 ($38,295)
On the utility end of the spectrum, drivers looking for exceptional torque-to-weight ratios will find their answers in the top U.S.-branded pickup trucks on the market. The first checking in is the 2014 Ram 2500 with its 9.095 pounds per pound-foot of torque. Power comes from the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 that can produce 410 horses and 429 pound-foot of torque. Compared to the weight of the truck, that's a terrific amount of pull capacity at a price price under $40K.
5. 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT 392 ($45,995)
Fiat-Chrysler recently placed last among major automakers in fuel economy, and its many powerful automobiles on this list explain why. Take the 2015 Challenger SRT 392 and its 8.907 pounds per pound-foot of torque. This explosive retro beast houses Dodge's 6.4-liter Hemi capable of 485 horsepower and 475 pound-foot of torque. With this level of pull, there is no question what direction Dodge is headed with its 2015 line. With its quarter-mile in the low-12-second range, it is difficult to find a more thrilling muscle car on the market.
4. 2015 Chevy Spark EV ($27,645)
Electric vehicles have access to instant torque that allows them to power instantly off the line. If the race were from o to 30, little go-cart rides like a Smart Electric Drive or Chevy Spark EV will typically outrun muscle cars. In the case of the Spark EV, there is 327 pound-foot of torque in this very small package, enough for a ratio of 8.765 pounds per pound-foot. Even with a fraction of the horsepower muscle cars on this list produce, the Spark EV can hit 60 miles per hour from a standstill in 7.2 seconds.
3. 2014 Ram 3500($39,070)
As is often the case with sales stats, big pickup trucks end up crowding the winner's circle of torque-to-weight ratios. In the 2014 Ram 3500, the ratio of 8.631 pounds per pound-foot of torque placed third among vehicles under a starting price of $50,000 . Using a 6.7-liter Cummings turbo diesel engine, the Ram 3500 of 2014 produces a maximum 850 pound-foot or torque (a towing capacity of 30,000 pounds). Only the heaviness of this massive truck kept it out of the top spot.
2. 2015 Chevy Silverado 3500HD ($42,000)
In the latest line of Chevy Silverados, the Duramax 6.6-liter turbo diesel V8 has the power to churn 765 pound-foot of torque, giving Chevy the edge over Ram at 8.596 pounds per pound-foot. The 2015 Silverado 3500HD follows on the footsteps of the 2014 that topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality list for heavy duty pickups. As an equipment-towing machine or load hauler, it has few peers on the market in the price range. GMC Sierra heavy-duty models pack the same level of power.
1. 2014 Ford F-250 Super Duty ($39,525)
To pull the top spot on this list, Ford pulled off a remarkable feat in torque-to-weight ratios in its 2014 F-250 Super Duty line. A 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel engine is the propelling force, offering up a maximum 400 horsepower and 800 pound-foot of torque. This brute strength has little problem moving the 6,589 pounds the F-250 brings to the scale. At a ratio of 7.662 pounds per pound-foot of torque, the F-250 is the only vehicle to get below 8.0 under $50,000. In fact, it takes the six-figure Mercedes E63 AMG to top that ratio.


text:
Q: Loading an image from a folder using OpenCV 3.0 in Windows I am using Visual Studio 2010, with OpenCV 3.0. I'm trying to load some images from a folder but I am having problems.
Firstly I did not have the file dirent.h, so I downloaded it in order to get the DIR* and "dirent*" structures to access to the files. All seems to be well, but now when I get to the line

string fileName = in_file->d_name;

I have found that I don't access to the name of the file.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
This is the code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <opencv2/core/dirent.h>

#ifdef _WIN32
#include <io.h>
#else
#include <unistd.h>
#endif

#include <conio.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <strsafe.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "User32.lib")

#include <errno.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <fstream>
#include <sys/stat.h>

#include <opencv2/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui.hpp>
#include <opencv2/ml.hpp>
#include <opencv2/opencv.hpp>

using namespace cv;
using namespace cv::ml;
using namespace std;

int patchWidth = 15;
int patchHeight = 15;

int main(int, char**)
{
    string imagesPath = "Images";
    string resultsPath = "Patches";

            DIR* FD;
            struct dirent* in_file;

            if (NULL == (FD = opendir (imagesPath.c_str())))
            {
                fprintf(stderr, "Error : Failed to open input directory\n");
                return 0;
            }

            while ((in_file = readdir(FD)))
            {
                    /* On linux/Unix we don't want current and parent directories
                     * If you're on Windows machine remove this two lines
                     */
              //      if (!strcmp (in_file->d_name, "."))
              //          continue;
              //      if (!strcmp (in_file->d_name, ".."))
              //          continue;

                    /* Open directory entry file for common operation */
                    /* TODO : change permissions to meet your need! */

                    string fileName = in_file->d_name;

                    string pathFile = imagesPath;
                    pathFile.append("/");
                    pathFile.append(fileName);
                    //pathFile.append(".jpg");
                    Mat img = imread(pathFile.c_str());

Thanks in advance.

A: for a much simpler solution, just use cv::glob :
String imagesPath = "Images/*.png"; // it has filters, too !

vector<String> fn;
glob(path, fn, true); // recursive, if you want
for (size_t i=0; i<fn.size(); i++)
{
   Mat img = imread(fn[i]);
   ...
}


text:
Table of Contents » Title 40.1. Labor and Employment » Chapter 3. Protection of Employees » Article 1. General Provisions » § 40.1-22. Safety and Health Codes Commission continued as Safety and Health Codes Board
Title 40.1. Labor and Employment
Chapter 3. Protection of Employees
§ 40.1-22. Safety and Health Codes Commission continued as Safety and Health Codes Board.
(1) The Safety and Health Codes Commission is continued and shall hereafter be known as the Safety and Health Codes Board. The Board shall consist of fourteen members, twelve of whom shall be appointed by the Governor. One member shall, by reason of previous vocation, employment or affiliation, be chosen to represent labor in the manufacturing industry; one member shall, by reason of previous vocation, employment or affiliation, be chosen to represent labor in the construction industry; one member shall, by reason of previous vocation, employment or affiliation, be chosen to represent industrial employers; one member shall be chosen from and be a representative of the general public; one member shall be a representative of agricultural employers; one member shall, by reason of previous vocation, employment or affiliation, be chosen to represent agricultural employees; one member shall, by reason of previous vocation, employment or affiliation, be chosen to represent construction industry employers; one member shall be a representative of an insurance company; one member shall be a labor representative from the boiler pressure vessel industry; one member shall be a labor representative knowledgeable in chemicals and toxic substances; one member shall be an employer representative of the boiler pressure vessel industry; one member shall be an industrial representative knowledgeable in chemical and toxic substances, and the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality or his duly authorized representative shall be a member ex officio with full membership status. The Commissioner of Health or his duly authorized representative shall also be a member ex officio with full membership status.
(2) The first appointive members shall be appointed as follows: one for a term of four years, one for a term of three years, one for a term of two years, and one for a term of one year. Of the members appointed to represent the construction industry, one shall be appointed for the term of two years and one shall be appointed for the term of four years. Succeeding appointments shall be for terms of four years each but other vacancies shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term.
(3) The Board shall annually select a chairman from its members. The Board shall meet at least once every six months; other meetings may be held upon call of the chairman or any three members of the Board. Five members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.
(4) The Board shall study and investigate all phases of safety in business establishments, the application of this title thereto, and shall serve as advisor to the Commissioner.
(5) The Board, with the advice of the Commissioner, is hereby authorized to adopt, alter, amend, or repeal rules and regulations to further, protect and promote the safety and health of employees in places of employment over which it has jurisdiction and to effect compliance with the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-596), and as may be necessary to carry out its functions established under this title. The Commissioner shall enforce such rules and regulations. All such rules and regulations shall be designed to protect and promote the safety and health of such employees. In making such rules and regulations to protect the occupational safety and health of employees, the Board shall adopt the standard which most adequately assures, to the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity. However, such standards shall be at least as stringent as the standards promulgated by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-596). In addition to the attainment of the highest degree of health and safety protection for the employee, other considerations shall be the latest available scientific data in the field, the feasibility of the standards, and experience gained under this and other health and safety laws. Whenever practicable, the standard promulgated shall be expressed in terms of objective criteria and of the performance desired. Such standards when applicable to products which are distributed in interstate commerce shall be the same as federal standards unless deviations are required by compelling local conditions and do not unduly burden interstate commerce.
(6) Chapter 40 (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) of Title 2.2 shall apply to the adoption of rules and regulations under this section and to proceedings before the Board.
(6a) The Board shall provide, without regard to the requirements of Chapter 40 (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) of Title 2.2, for an emergency temporary standard to take immediate effect upon publication in a newspaper of general circulation, published in the City of Richmond, Virginia, if it determines that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger. The publication mentioned herein shall constitute notice that the Board intends to adopt such standard within a period of six months. The Board by similar publication shall prior to the expiration of six months give notice of the time and date of, and conduct a hearing on, the adoption of a permanent standard. The emergency temporary standard shall expire within six months or when superseded by a permanent standard, whichever occurs first, or when repealed by the Board.
(7) Any person who may be adversely affected by a standard issued under this title may challenge the validity of such standard in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond by declaratory judgment. The determination of the Safety and Health Codes Board shall be conclusive if supported by substantial evidence in the record considered as a whole. Adoption of a federal occupational safety and health standard shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence to support promulgation of such standard. The filing of a petition for declaratory judgment shall not operate as a stay of the standard unless the court issues a preliminary injunction.
Code 1950, § 40-20; 1962, c. 66; 1968, c. 272; 1970, cc. 321, 649; 1972, c. 567; 1973, c. 425; 1974, c. 195; 1976, c. 607; 1979, c. 656; 1980, c. 728; 1984, c. 590; 1985, c. 448; 1987, c. 165; 1988, c. 467.


text:
Légion d'honneur for Ballycarry man
Regine McCullough presents the Legion D'honneur to Frank Ferguson from Ballycarry. INLT-08-700-con
Victoria Leonard
A Ballycarry World War 2 veteran has been presented with France's highest honour in a ceremony at Lisburn's Thiepval Barracks.
Frank Ferguson, who is 92 and was born in Holestone in Doagh, was a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Fighter Command 264 Squadron (mosquitoes).
During the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014, French President Francois Hollande announced that all surviving British veterans who fought in France during the war would receive the Legion d'Honneur.
Frank was accompanied to the presentation ceremony on February 16 by his son Graeme and his two sisters, one of whom worked as a translator at government code-breaking centre Bletchley Park, and the second of whom served as a nurse in the Queen Alexandra Nursing Corps, during World War 2.
The local man described the ceremony as "terrific".
"It was very well organised," he told the Times.
"I hadn't served alongside any of the other veterans who were present, but we had a lot to talk about.
"World War 2 veterans don't get together too often.
"The last time was in France in 2014, and it was the veterans who I went to Normandy with who recommended me for the Légion d'honneur."
Before being posted to France during the war, Frank was stationed in the RAF bases at Twinwood, Ford in Sussex, Church Fenton and Hartford Bridge, where he recalls "shooting at doodle bugs" and "flying bombs."
He was then stationed at Chateau de Berneville, which had been the German headquarters for the region.
Frank also witnessed the toll of the Battle of the Falaise Gap, the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape and which opened the way to Paris and the German border for the Allied armies. He was involved in the Defence of Arnhem and the notorious Battle of the Bulge, when the Germans succeeded in breaking into France.
On one occasion, Frank and his pilot, Squadron Leader Elwell, were patrolling over France in their Mosquito aircraft, made of only balsa wood and paper, when they encountered five enemy aircraft. They shot down two, but were forced to pull out after they ran out of ammunition.
Reflecting on the honour which has been bestowed upon him seven decades later, Frank laughed: "Better late than never!
"It's a very great honour and I appreciate what the French have done."
The Légion d'honneur medals were presented by French Honorary Consul and Whitehead resident Regine McCullough, who described her role as a "great honour"
"This is the highest distinction in France for military and civilian achievement," she stated.
"Not only that, but I am from Normandy myself and I have walked on the sands of the D-Day landing beaches many times. I have often wondered what these soldiers went through when they did all that. I never thought that one day I would speak to them, it really, really is amazing."
Praising the veterans' contribution to the war effort, Bridagier Andrew Roe, Commander of 38 Irish Brigade, told those assembled: "It is very clear that this is not just a great honour being bestowed upon the Northern Ireland veterans by France, but it is also a high honour for the Armed Forces of Northern Ireland to be able to host these fine gentlemen and their friends on this important, and dare I say it historic, occasion."


Poor Jilly has a badly fractured leg after racing at a track in Wales. She is one of the lucky ones who has been rescued. Greyhound Rescue Wales needs funds to help dogs like Jilly, people to foster, people to support. Please consider helping or donating.


By installing an SSL security certificate, any information sent to the server is encrypted, which will prevent interception or theft. In addition, we ensure that visitors to your website or e-commerce being more confident because they can always check that your URL or domain has a security certificate and will also have at their disposal the identity of the company behind the website. Users can also see the name of the independent authority who verified this authority, and in this case we work with companies that are leaders in this field: Verisign and GeoTrust. Here you can see our plans, but if you need more detailed information, please contact us and our experts will advise you on security certificates appropriate for your project.
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text:
Placebos: An Argument for Imagination
January 8, 2012 Paul KuttnerPostHealing, Hope, Imagination, Placebo Effect, Science
Emotional Healing by Beth Budesheim: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/beth-budesheim.html
"Ultimately we think the placebo is about the power of the imagination, trust, and hope, in the medical encounter."
– Ted Kaptuchuk, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
It is not often that "imagination" comes up in discussions about medical research, but it may be at the heart of one of the longest-running mysteries in western medicine: the placebo effect.
Placebos have long intrigued me; the idea that pain or illness can be alleviated through "fake" medicines like sugar pills — presumably because the patient believes she has received a real treatment — has fascinating implications for the power of "mind over body." But at the same time, "placebo" has become a bad word for many in medicine — a symbol of deception that raises images of snake-oil salesman, or an annoying variable in medical research.
But according to Professor Ted Kaptchuk, the placebo effect is much more complex and profound that we have assumed. Kaptchuk, Director of the recently founded Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, was featured this past week on NPR's Science Friday. He shared the results of a study in which placebos were effective even when the patient knew he was receiving a placebo!
So if a placebo is not about tricking patients, how does it work? Kaptchuk and his colleagues have some answers, and they are surprisingly relevant for cultural organizers. "The placebo," Kaptchuk argues, "is a way of measuring the effect of…the act of caring for a person." The placebo effect is about everything besides the medication or formal "treatment" offered.
First of all, Kaptchuk explains, the effect is about the relational interaction between doctor and patient. It is about "the words, the gestures, eye contact, warmth, empathy, compassion." Healers have long known that relationships are important, and this offers important support for that understanding.
More than that, Kaptchuk says that the placebo effect is about the healing power of symbols: "white coats, diplomas, prescription pads." And it is about rituals as well, "the ritual procedures of medicine: waiting, talking, disrobing, being examined, then being treated." I have written a lot about the power of symbol and ritual to unite people, to change the way we think about ourselves, and to reshape our society. This research suggests that they also have the power to directly affect our physical health and well being as well. In a way this is a rediscovery of very old knowledge — healing has long been tied up with ritual, symbol, and religion across many cultures. And it is in line with some new thought about the role of hope in healing and resilience.
There are limits to the placebo effect, and it works better for some kinds of illnesses than others. Sometimes there is no physical healing, but patients experience's improve, which is often the goal. But if we look at the placebo effect not as a deception or as an annoyance, but as a window into the importance of symbol, ritual, and relationship, we may be surprised at the paths our inquiries take us down. Those of us who wield symbols and rituals as the tools of our trade should take note.
Lauging, Healing, and Resistance on 9/11
September 11, 2011 Paul KuttnerPost9/11, Boondocks, Comedy, Comic Books, Healing, Marc Maron
The jokes didn't stay down long. Sure, there were a few days after 9/11 when comedians — on TV, in clubs across the country — were still so thrown off and scrambling after the towers fell, that they wouldn't have known where to start writing a joke. But by the following week comedians were taking the mic and beginning to search for the humor — both in the tragedy itself, and in the aftermath, as the story of the tragedy began to be used and abused.
A new movie making the rounds, The Voice of Something, features comedian, and now podcast superstar, Marc Maron through his day on September 19th, 2001, including a stop in a comedy club. While talking heads (more…)


The Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Arts & Science for women(Autonomous) stands as an excellent example of progressive ideas, driving force, individual initiatives, private philanthropy and public support.
The college which under the Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Charitable and Educational Trust, was established in the year 1996 in Perambalur, one of the most backward districts of Tamil Nadu. The Founder – Chairman of the College Sri A.Srinivasan, a well know philanthropist of this territory, is a man of vision and mission. It is by his untiring effort, the College has blossomed in to a centre of higher education for women in rural area. The mission of the college is to impart a liberal, modern, sound and quality education, both in Humanities and Science to Women students from rural background and poorest strata of the society at an affordable cost.
The College with its motto "Knowledge is Power" aims at the holistic personality development of the students by inculcating in them a sense of human values, a spirit of patriotism, national integration and democratic outlook. The College campus is located in a sprawling area of 25 acres. The campus with magnificent buildings, beautiful landscapes, lush green lawns, provides a serene atmosphere contusive for studies.
The College is affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. The College got recognized by UGC under 2f and 12B in the year 2003. The College got ISO 9001:2000 certifications in the year 2003 by BSI (British Standards Institution) and also accredited by NAAC with A grade in 2007 and reaccredited in the year 2013, re-accredited in March 2013(2nd Cycle) with 'A' Grade and NAAC(3rd cycle) in September 2018 with 'A' Grade.The college has got the Autonomous Status on October 2018 for the period of 10 years.
The College has 20 departments offering 20 UG Programmes, 13 PG Programmes, 6 M.Phil. Programmes, 2 Ph.D. Programmes,2 PG Diploma and 2 Certificate Courses under CBCS pattern. Computer Application, Computer Science, Bio Technology, Bio Chemistry, Microbiology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Commerce, Business Administration, English ,Tamil , Fashion Technology, Nutrition & Dietetics, Hospital Administration, Forensic Science, Food Technology & Quality Control, Aviation Management, Psychology are the programmes offered by the College.
The College gives importance to Extracurricular and Extension activities such as NSS, NCC, Rotaract, YRC, USSC, EXNORA, RRC, Fine Arts, Sports and Games. The placement cell put forth all efforts to focus on the wide spread job opportunities in the highly developed global scenario.


text:
Treasury Indexed Bonds
Issuance Program: MYEFO 2019-20
Issuance Program Update
Forthcoming Transactions
How to become a Registered Bidder
Issuance and buyback arrangements
Securities Lending Facility
Investment Facility
ABSF
Investor Chart Pack
Corporate Plan 2019-20
Updated 29 November 2019
The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) announced its planned issuance program following the release of the Australian Government's 2019-20 Budget. This page reflects that announcement and changes since that time. The issuance program is indicative only because a range of factors will influence the actual amount of issuance.
Details of each week's transactions will be announced at midday on the preceding Friday.
Issuance of Treasury Bonds to date this financial year totals $24.4 billion.
Issuance of around $58 billion of Treasury Bonds is planned for 2019-20. It is planned to establish a new bond line maturing in May 2032.
Regular tenders will continue to underpin the issuance program. Larger tenders of newly established bond lines will occasionally be undertaken. Syndicated taps of existing long-dated bond lines will be considered.
Treasury Bond Buybacks
The AOFM repurchases short-dated Treasury Bonds via buyback tenders, in conjunction with some syndicated issues, and bilaterally with the Reserve Bank of Australia. On buyback tender days, a tender for the issuance of the same volume of longer-dated Treasury Bonds will usually be held.
Bonds shorter than those comprising the primary three year Treasury Bond futures contract are eligible for repurchase. The November 2020 and May 2021 bond lines are currently in the repurchase window.
$6.3 billion of short-dated bonds have been repurchased to date this financial year.
Buybacks of around $15-20 billion for short-dated bonds maturing after 30 June 2020 are expected in 2019‑20.
Issuance of Treasury Indexed Bonds to date this financial year totals $850 million.
TIB issuance in 2019-20 is expected to be around $2.5 billion (in face value terms). Two tenders will be conducted in most months.
Treasury Notes are a short-term discount security primarily used for within-year financing. The volume of Treasury Notes on issue varies depending on the flows of Australian Government receipts and expenditures.
Issuance of Treasury Notes will usually involve weekly tenders and will be focused around three and six month maturities.
$12.2 billion is currently on issue across four lines.
Go to access to information
Go to public interest disclosure
Stay Informed: Subscriber email
Email: enquiries@aofm.gov.au
Australian Office of Financial Management,
Level 3, Treasury Building, Newlands Street,
PARKES ACT 2600
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted, all material presented on this site is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license as detailed in our copyright statement.


Welcome to the fifth annual NCAA Tournament National Championship Drinking Game, one of our favorite articles every year here at The Sports Bank. If you missed our first four editions, you can check out the 2009 Michigan State vs. North Carolina version, the 2010 Butler vs. Duke edition, 2011's UConn vs. Butler, and last year's Kentucky vs. Kansas drinking game.
Even if you do not have a rooting interest in tonight's National Championship between the Michigan Wolverines and Louisville Cardinals; invite some friends over, buy a heck of a lot of booze, follow our drinking rules, and it will be as much fun as if your own team was playing.


No project has more universal appeal among woodworkers at every skill level than the blanket chest. It's a simple form — essentially a large box with a lid — and yet it can be complex, elaborate, and intricately detailed. This collection of 30 original designs by artisans from around the globe illustrates the versatility of the chest, one of the oldest forms of furniture. The book opens with an overview of chest-building techniques; following are the chests, each of which features design and construction details, working drawings, and technical details of the more challenging pieces. Chests range from traditional to contemporary and offer inspiration to woodworkers and furniture makers of all skill levels. Approximately 200 photos and 50 drawings illustrate these designs.