James Risen is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for The New York Times and author of Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War. Risen recently wrote about the fate of billions of dollars in cash that was airlifted into Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Cornel West is a professor at New York's Union Theological Seminary and the auther of Black Prophetic Fire. Dr. West co-founded the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and was recently arrested during a "Moral Monday" march in Ferguson, Missouri.
John Avlon is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast and author of Wingnuts: Extremism in the Age of Obama. He recently wrote about the self-segregation of Americans amid proliferating partisan media.
Mary Matalin served in the George W. Bush administration as Assistant to the President and Counselor to the VicePresident. She is the Visiting Distinguished Lecturer at Loyola University New Orleans, and author of Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home with James Carville.
Chloe Maxmin is a youth activist and Co-Founder of the Divest Harvard campaign. Maxmin recently reflected on her life as an activist in The Nation.
Submit a question for this week's guests using #RTOvertime and watch them answer it after the show at HBO.com!


Everything is different time schedule in new year week. So it is difficult to enjoy it.
Here is the tips how to spend new year week.
Time surely flies... Have you decided on what to do on the last day of the year?
Most Japanese return to their hometowns over the New Year break and most shops would be closed, but if you pick the right places to go, you could experience a fun and unforgettable last-day-of-the-year!
There is a myriad of ways to spend it- traditionally, wildly, quietly or in style. Below are five ways to do it.
Have all your friends have gone back to their hometowns? Don't want to spend it all by yourself?
Hit the road, get down to the nearest club and make new friends! Drown all your sorrows of the year and prepare for a fresh start in just a few hours. There is no better way to spend it than crazily dancing in a club all night long.
Like how they say, You Only Live Once. Another year of your youth has passed by and you are going to get older. So twist your body, raise your hands up and jump around, while you still can!
Moreover, there are many exciting clubs around in Tokyo that you may want to check out. From the wild ageHa at Shin-Kiba to the chic Genius in Ginza, you have a wide spectrum of choices, depending on whether you want it insane or in style.
Hatsumode refers to the first visit of the year to the shrine. Needless to say, the shrine (or jinja in Japanese) is a sacred structure building that enshrines the gods of the Shinto religion. People of all ages and genders flock to the shrine within the first 5 days of the year to make their wishes and prayers.
Pray for a smooth and fruitful year, be it in education, at work, in relationships or whatnot.
Expect to queue up for at least a few hours before you reach the shrine to make your prayers. Dress up in something warm as temperatures take a plunge after midnight.
Some of the famous shrines (and therefore extremely crowded) to visit include the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, Asakusa Shrine and Yasukuni Shrine. After the hatsumode, be prepared to pull an all-nighter in the cold or you could proceed to the karaoke, izakaya or hit the clubs!
This is one of the annual events based on Japanese Buddhism held through New Year's Eve to New Year.
It is believe that we have 108 worldly desires which affect our feelings in good and bad ways. By ringing the temple bells 108 times, we can get rid of these desires and our sins in the past year. The last chime rings at the stroke of midnight to the new year to signify a fresh start.
Some temples require you to make reservations or take numbered tickets with a fee and whereas for other temples you can just stand in line and ring it without any charge.
They start to distribute numbered tickets at 9:00am on December 1 at Josoji Temple's Office.
Many Japanese who stay at home on New Year Eve watch this singing contest that involves a wide range of singers and artistes, from Traditional Japanese Enka to the latest idol groups.
The singers and artistes are grouped into red and white teams (red for women and white for men) as they compete by taking turns to sing their latest hit songs of the year. This show has been broadcasted since 1951!
Soba is eaten traditionally on the last day of the year because of the following reasons.
(1) It is thought that soba is a symbol of good fortunes and longevity because soba is physically long.
(2) Since soba is easy to chew, it is believe to help us forget our hardship and overcome any disaster that may have happened during the year.
(3) The third reason is that it's believed that soba collects fortunes; During the Edo period, a gold and silver craftsmen used balls made of kneaded buckwheat (=soba) to collect splattered gold and silver pieces in the working area, and burned the ball over hibachi (= Japanese heating appliance using charcoal as fuel) to catch residue gold and silver pieces.
Now, decide what to do for New Year's Eve!


When Security Researchers Pose as Cybercrooks, Who Can Tell the Difference?
A ridiculous number of companies are exposing some or all of their proprietary and customer data by putting it in the cloud without any kind of authentication needed to read, alter or destroy it. When cybercriminals are the first to discover these missteps, usually the outcome is a demand for money in return for the stolen data. But when these screw-ups are unearthed by security professionals seeking to make a name for themselves, the resulting publicity often can leave the breached organization wishing they'd instead been quietly extorted by anonymous crooks.
Last week, I was on a train from New York to Washington, D.C. when I received a phone call from Vinny Troia, a security researcher who runs a startup in Missouri called NightLion Security. Troia had discovered that All American Entertainment, a speaker bureau which represents a number of celebrities who also can be hired to do public speaking, had exposed thousands of speaking contracts via an unsecured Amazon cloud instance.
The contracts laid out how much each speaker makes per event, details about their travel arrangements, and any requirements or obligations stated in advance by both parties to the contract. No secret access or password was needed to view the documents.
It was a juicy find to be sure: I can now tell you how much Oprah makes per event (it's a lot). Ditto for Gwyneth Paltrow, Olivia Newton John, Michael J. Fox and a host of others. But I'm not going to do that.
Firstly, it's nobody's business what they make. More to the point, All American also is my speaker bureau, and included in the cache of documents the company exposed in the cloud were some of my speaking contracts. In fact, when Troia called about his find, I was on my way home from one such engagement.
I quickly informed my contact at All American and asked them to let me know the moment they confirmed the data was removed from the Internet. While awaiting that confirmation, my pent-up frustration seeped into a tweet that seemed to touch a raw nerve among others in the security industry.
The same day I alerted them, All American took down its bucket of unsecured speaker contract data, and apologized profusely for the oversight (although I have yet to hear a good explanation as to why this data needed to be stored in the cloud to begin with).
This was hardly the first time Troia had alerted me about a huge cache of important or sensitive data that companies have left exposed online. On Monday, TechCrunch broke the story about a "breach" at Apollo, a sales engagement startup boasting a database of more than 200 million contact records. Calling it a breach seems a bit of a stretch; it probably would be more accurate to describe the incident as a data leak.
Just like my speaker bureau, Apollo had simply put all this data up on an Amazon server that anyone on the Internet could access without providing a password. And Troia was again the one who figured out that the data had been leaked by Apollo — the result of an intensive, months-long process that took some extremely interesting twists and turns.
That journey — which I will endeavor to describe here — offered some uncomfortable insights into how organizations frequently learn about data leaks these days, and indeed whether they derive any lasting security lessons from the experience at all. It also gave me a new appreciation for how difficult it can be for organizations that screw up this way to tell the difference between a security researcher and a bad guy.
I began hearing from Troia almost daily beginning in mid-2017. At the time, he was on something of a personal mission to discover the real-life identity behind The Dark Overlord (TDO), the pseudonym used by an individual or group of criminals who have been extorting dozens of companies — particularly healthcare providers — after hacking into their systems and stealing sensitive data.
The Dark Overlord's method was roughly the same in each attack. Gain access to sensitive data (often by purchasing access through crimeware-as-a-service offerings), and send a long, rambling ransom note to the victim organization demanding tens of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin for the safe return of said data.
Victims were typically told that if they refused to pay, the stolen data would be sold to cybercriminals lurking on Dark Web forums. Worse yet, TDO also promised to make sure the news media knew that victim organizations were more interested in keeping the breach private than in securing the privacy of their customers or patients.
In fact, the apparent ringleader of TDO reached out to KrebsOnSecurity in May 2016 with a remarkable offer. Using the nickname "Arnie," the public voice of TDO said he was offering exclusive access to news about their latest extortion targets.
Snippets from a long email conversation in May 2016 with a hacker who introduced himself as Adam but would later share his nickname as "Arnie" and disclose that he was a member of The Dark Overlord. In this conversation, he is offering to sell access to scoops about data breaches that he caused.
Arnie claimed he was an administrator or key member on several top Dark Web forums, and provided a handful of convincing clues to back up his claim. He told me he had real-time access to dozens of healthcare organizations they'd hacked into, and that each one which refused to give in to TDO's extortion demands could turn into a juicy scoop for KrebsOnSecurity.
Arnie said he was coming to me first with the offer, but that he was planning to approach other journalists and news outlets if I declined. I balked after discovering that Arnie wasn't offering this access for free: He wanted 10 bitcoin in exchange for exclusivity (at the time, his asking price was roughly equivalent to USD $5,000).
One of the risks of using social media networks is having information you intend to share with only a handful of friends be made available to everyone. Sometimes that over-sharing happens because friends betray your trust, but more worrisome are the cases in which a social media platform itself exposes your data in the name of marketing.
LinkedIn has built much of its considerable worth on the age-old maxim that "it's all about who you know." As a LinkedIn user, you can directly connect with those you attest to knowing professionally or personally, but also you can ask to be introduced to someone you'd like to meet by sending a request through someone who bridges your separate social networks. Celebrities, executives or any other LinkedIn users who wish to avoid unsolicited contact requests may do so by selecting an option that forces the requesting party to supply the personal email address of the intended recipient.
LinkedIn's entire social fabric begins to unravel if any user can directly connect to any other user, regardless of whether or how their social or professional circles overlap. Unfortunately for LinkedIn (and its users who wish to have their email addresses kept private), this is the exact risk introduced by the company's built-in efforts to expand the social network's user base.
According to researchers at the Seattle, Wash.-based firm Rhino Security Labs, at the crux of the issue is LinkedIn's penchant for making sure you're as connected as you possibly can be. When you sign up for a new account, for example, the service asks if you'd like to check your contacts lists at other online services (such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). The service does this so that you can connect with any email contacts that are already on LinkedIn, and so that LinkedIn can send invitations to your contacts who aren't already users.
LinkedIn assumes that if an email address is in your contacts list, that you must already know this person. But what if your entire reason for signing up with LinkedIn is to discover the private email addresses of famous people? All you'd need to do is populate your email account's contacts list with hundreds of permutations of famous peoples' names — including combinations of last names, first names and initials — in front of @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, etc. With any luck and some imagination, you may well be on your way to an A-list LinkedIn friends list (or a fantastic set of addresses for spear-phishing, stalking, etc.).
LinkedIn lets you know which of your contacts aren't members.
When you import your list of contacts from a third-party service or from a stand-alone file, LinkedIn will show you any profiles that match addresses in your contacts list. More significantly, LinkedIn helpfully tells you which email addresses in your contacts lists are not LinkedIn users.
It's that last step that's key to finding the email address of the targeted user to whom LinkedIn has just sent a connection request on your behalf. The service doesn't explicitly tell you that person's email address, but by comparing your email account's contact list to the list of addresses that LinkedIn says don't belong to any users, you can quickly figure out which address(es) on the contacts list correspond to the user(s) you're trying to find.
Rhino Security founders Benjamin Caudill and Bryan Seely have a recent history of revealing how trust relationships between and among online services can be abused to expose or divert potentially sensitive information. Last month, the two researchers detailed how they were able to de-anonymize posts to Secret, an app-driven online service that allows people to share messages anonymously within their circle of friends, friends of friends, and publicly. In February, Seely more famously demonstrated how to use Google Maps to intercept FBI and Secret Service phone calls.
At least once a month, sometimes more, readers write in to ask how they can break into the field of computer security. Some of the emails are from people in jobs that have nothing to do with security, but who are fascinated enough by the field to contemplate a career change. Others are already in an information technology position but are itching to segue into security. I always respond with my own set of stock answers, but each time I do this, I can't help but feel my advice is incomplete, or at least not terribly well-rounded.
I decided to ask some of the brightest minds in the security industry today what advice they'd give. Almost everyone I asked said they, too, frequently get asked the very same question, but each had surprisingly different takes on the subject. Today is the first installment in a series of responses to this question. When the last of the advice columns have run, I'll create an archive of them all that will be anchored somewhere prominently on the home page. That way, the next time someone asks how they can break into security, I'll have more to offer than just my admittedly narrow perspectives on the matter.
Nearly every time I write about a small- to mid-sized business that has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after falling victim to a malicious software attack, readers want to know how the perpetrators broke through the victim organization's defenses, and which type of malware paved the way. Normally, victim companies don't know or disclose that information, so to get a better idea, I've put together a profile of the top email-based malware attacks for each day over the past month.
This data draws from daily reports compiled by the computer forensics and security management students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a school I visited last week to give a guest lecture and to gather reporting for a bigger project I'm chasing. The UAB reports track the top email-based threats from each day, and include information about the spoofed brand or lure, the method of delivering the malware, and links to Virustotal.com, which show the percentage of antivirus products that detected the malware as hostile.
As the chart I compiled above indicates, attackers are switching the lure or spoofed brand quite often, but popular choices include Amazon.com, the Better Business Bureau, DHL, Facebook, LinkedIn, PayPal, Twitter and Verizon Wireless.
Also noticeable is the lack of antivirus detection on most of these password stealing and remote control Trojans. The average detection rate for these samples was 24.47 percent, while the median detection rate was just 19 percent. This means that if you click a malicious link or open an attachment in one of these emails, there is less than a one-in-five chance your antivirus software will detect it as bad.
Separate password breaches last week at LinkedIn, eHarmony and Last.fm exposed millions of credentials, and once again raised the question of whether any company can get password security right. To understand more about why companies keep making the same mistakes and what they might do differently to prevent future password debacles, I interviewed Thomas H. Ptacek, a security researcher with Matasano Security.
Ptacek is just one of several extremely smart researchers I've been speaking with about this topic. Below are some snippets from a conversation we had last week.
BK: I was just reading an article by Eric Chabrow, which pointed out that LinkedIn — a multi-billion dollar company that holds personal information on some of world's most important executives — has neither a chief information officer nor a chief information security officer. Is it too much to ask for a company like this to take security seriously enough to do a better job protecting and securing their users' passwords?
Ptacek: There is no correlation between how much money a company or service has or takes in — or whether it's free or not free — and how good their password storage practices are. Nobody gets this right. I think it's a problem of generalist developers writing password storage systems. They may be good developers, but they're almost never security domain specialists. There are very few good developers who are also security domain specialists. So if you're a smart and talented developer but not a security domain specialist, and you've got to put together a password storage system, even if it's just MD5, to you that's a space alien technology. That's a cryptographic algorithm. You can tell your boss that's a cryptographic hash. You feel good about the fact that you're storing passwords in a cryptographic hash. But you have to be a domain expert to know that the term cryptographic hash doesn't really mean much.
BK: Why doesn't cryptographic hash mean much? Maybe LinkedIn shouldn't have been using a plain old SHA-1 cryptographic hash function, but shouldn't developers be seeking to secure their passwords with a solid cryptographic algorithm?
Ptacek: The basic mechanism by which SHA-1 passwords are cracked, or MD5 or SHA-512 — it doesn't matter what algorithm you use — hasn't changed since the early 1990s. As soon as code to implement SHA-1 came out, it was also available to John the Ripper and other password cracking tools. It's a really common misconception — including among security people — that the problem here is using SHA-1. It would not have mattered at all if they had used SHA-512, they would be no better off at all.
BK: I've heard people say, you know this probably would not have happened if LinkedIn and others had salted the passwords — or added some randomness to each of the passwords, thus forcing attackers to expend more resources to crack the password hashes. Do you agree with that?
Ptacek: That's actually another misconception, the idea that the problem is that the passwords were unsalted. UNIX passwords, and they've been salted forever, since the 70s, and they have been cracked forever. The idea of a salt in your password is a 70s solution. Back in the 90s, when people broke into UNIX servers, they would steal the shadow password file and would crack that. Invariably when you lost the server, you lost the passwords on that server.
BK: Okay. So if the weakness isn't with the strength of the cryptographic algorithm, and not with the lack of salt added to the hashed passwords, what's the answer?
Ptacek: In LinkedIn's case, and with many other sites, the problem is they're using the wrong kind of algorithm. They use a cryptographic hash, when they need to use a password hash.
BK: I'll bite: What's the difference?
Ptacek: The difference between a cryptographic hash and a password storage hash is that a cryptographic hash is designed to be very, very fast. And it has to be because it's designed to be used in things like IP-sec. On a packet-by-packet basis, every time a packet hits an Ethernet card, these are things that have to run fast enough to add no discernible latencies to traffic going through Internet routers and things like that. And so the core design goal for cryptographic hashes is to make them lightning fast.
Well, that's the opposite of what you want with a password hash. You want a password hash to be very slow. The reason for that is a normal user logs in once or twice a day if that — maybe they mistype their password, and have to log in twice or whatever. But in most cases, there are very few interactions the normal user has with a web site with a password hash. Very little of the overhead in running a Web application comes from your password hashing. But if you think about what an attacker has to do, they have a file full of hashes, and they have to try zillions of password combinations against every one of those hashes. For them, if you make a password hash take longer, that's murder on them.
The fact that hackers are launching extremely sophisticated email attacks that appear to trace back to China makes for great headlines, but it isn't exactly news. I'm surprised by how few media outlets took the time to explain the mechanics behind these targeted attacks, because they offer valuable insight into why people who really ought to know better keep falling for them. A more complete accounting of the attacks may give regular Internet users a better sense of the caliber of scams that are likely to target them somewhere down the road.
This statement freaked me out a little bit. When was the last time you checked whether your email forwarding settings had been modified? If you're like me, probably never. This might be the most useful aspect of the Google disclosure, and it contains a few helpful pointers about how to check those settings in Gmail. Google also took this opportunity to remind users about the value of enabling 2-step verification, a security precaution I highlighted in a February blog post.
To my mind, the most valuable content in the Google Blog entry is a footnote that points to the Contagio Malware Dump blog, an incredibly detailed and insightful (if slightly dangerous) resource for information on targeted attacks. It's worth noting that Google relied on Contagio to reconstruct how the attacks took place, and the author –blogger Mila Parkour — first wrote about these attacks almost four months ago.
Most of targeted email attacks chronicled on Parkour's blog involve poisoned file attachments that exploit zero-day software flaws in programs like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Word. This campaign also encouraged people to click a link to download a file, but the file was instead an HTML page that mimicked Gmail's login page. The scam page also was custom-coded to fill in the target's Gmail username. Contagiodump has a proof-of-concept page available at this link that shows the exact attack, except populated with "JDoe" in the username field.
Parkour also published an informative graphic highlighting the differences between the fake Google login page and the legitimate page at https://mail.google.com.


text:
Home License Agreements Technology Licenses Royalty Report: Drugs, Diagnostic, Biotechnology – Collection: 30439
Royalty Report: Drugs, Diagnostic, Biotechnology – Collection: 30439
Category: Technology Licenses, Created On: 2022-04-28, Record Count: 3
Royalty Report: Drugs, Diagnostic, Biotechnology - Collection: 30439 quantity
The Canadian Licensee has an exclusive worldwide research and License from the University for the patents to sell products and to use processes encompassed by them.
This Agreement is on neural thread protein, its antibodies or genes for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
The Licensee has the exclusive License to the rights to the NTP testing technology, which measures the level of a brain protein called neural thread protein (NTP), and which is elevated early in Alzheimer's disease, effective in 1997. University and the Licensor are part of a sponsored research and licensing agreement, under which the Licensee sponsored the research of the principal investigations into the use of neural thread protein, its antibodies or genes for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. The Licensee also paid the patent costs for the patent applications filed arising out of this research. In return under the agreement, the licensee received an exclusive worldwide license of the patents to sell products and to use processes encompassed by them.
The Licensor have discovered Neural Thread Protein, and developed antibodies, probes, and other reagents, patents, and information associated with this protein and are interested in the development of new diagnostic strategies for Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases ('TECHNOLOGY');
The term 'PATENT RIGHT' shall mean (a) (i) the United States Patent Application Serial No. 07/287,207 filed December 20, 1988 entitled 'Method of Detecting Neurological Disease or Dysfunction,' (ii) the United States CIP Patent Application Serial No. 07/451,975 filed on December 20, 1989, (iii) the United States Patent Application Serial Number 08/055,778 filed May 3, 1993 as a file wrapper continuation, and, (iv) the United States Patent Application Serial Number to be assigned, filed June 6, 1995 as a divisional application,
b) (i) the United States Patent Application Serial No. 08/050,559 filed on April 20, 1993 entitled 'Neural Thread Protein Gene Expression and Detection of Alzheimer's Disease, ' (ii) the United States CIP Patent Application Serial No. 08/230,139 filed on April 20, 1994, (iii) the United States CIP Patent Application 08/340,426 filed on November 14, 1994, (iv) the United States Patent Application Serial No. 08/454,557 filed on May 30, 1995 as a divisional application, and (v) the United States Patent Application Serial No. 08/450,673 filed on May 30, 1995 as a divisional application;
The term 'FIELD OF RESEARCH' shall mean research pertaining to the use of any form of neural thread protein, its antibodies, and any cDNAs or genes or genomic fragments coding for neural thread protein, for diagnostic purposes.
The University grants to Licensee a world-wide, non-transferable license under its rights in and to the Patent Rights, only in the Field of Use, to make, have made, use, sell, offer to sell and import Patent Products, and to use and practice the Licensed Methods and Patent Rights, including for purposes of identifying, creating, discovering, developing and commercializing Identified Products, in the Field of Use.
The University also grants to Licensee the right to sublicense to third parties.
Therapeutic Licensed Product means a Licensed Product that is used to prevent, treat or cure one or more diseases and/or conditions of human beings or animals.
Diagnostic Licensed Product means a Licensed Product that is used as a human or veterinary diagnostic and/or prognostic.
Identified Product means a Product that has prophylactic, therapeutic, diagnostic or prognostic value and is identified, created, discovered or developed as a result of practicing the Licensed Method, use of Patent Products, or use or practicing of any Product, process or method anywhere in the world covered by a Valid Claim within the Patent Rights in any one country.
Certain inventions, generally characterized as Nucleic Acids Encoding Neural Axon Outgrowth Modulators, Netrins, Netrin Receptors, Semaphorin Receptors, Human Netrin~1, Promoters of Neural Regeneration and Compositions for Promoting Nerve Regeneration.
Patents include small molecule, Ligands and Receptors.
Field of Use means any and all uses, including for or relating to human or veterinary prophylaxes; therapeutics, diagnostics and prognostics, including without limitation use in assaying or screening for therapeutic, diagnostic and prognostic targets, validation of therapeutic, diagnostic and prognostic targets, and use for drug discovery purposes such as the identification of new chemical entities, but specifically excluding Research Reagent Use.
Royalty Report: Drugs, Diagnostic, Drug Discovery – Collection: 237233
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Why settle for an ordinary home when you could pick an ultra modern dream house? Something with a continuous flow of space from interior to exterior, and simply breathtaking in appearance. A house with articulated vertical and horizontal planes, and solid elements that bind the design as a whole. Something that just looks incredible!
That is exactly what the owners of House Lourens did with their new home in Ebotse Golf and Country Estate. This is South Africa's fastest growing residential estate, and has been developed around the picturesque Rynfield Dam – which House Lourens overlooks!
This estate takes advantage of its natural environment – creating a safe haven for families to enjoy recreational activities like boating, fishing, hiking, jogging, cycling, tennis and much more. House Lourens opens up to beautiful green spaces like the fabulous Ebotse Links. This golf course is currently ranked number 37 by Golf Digest South Africa, and was built to US PGA specifications. A golfer's paradise!
A completely open plan design, offering comfortable living spaces that open up to an inviting patio.
The beautifully designed curved steel staircase forms part of the aesthetic of the front façade, but thanks to the double volume design, there's still a valuable spatial connection with the ground floor.
Each bedroom has an en-suite bathroom. And when the work out has finished in the gym, the jacuzzi on the balcony is perfect for relaxing and watching the birds fly over the Rynfield Dam.
This part of House Lourens was creatively designed as a large entertainment area – complete with a cinema! The saloon-style bar overlooks the swimming pool, which makes this the perfect spot for entertaining guests during the warm South African summer months.


text:
Zotz!
Synopsis: Jonathan Jones, a professor of ancient languages, comes into possession of an ancient coin. He translates its inscription, which gives him three powers: to inflict pain, slow down time or kill. Soon, he's pursued by enemy spies who have learned about the magic coin.
Director(s): William Castle
Actors: Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, Fred Clark
Production: Columbia Pictures
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That's rightfully
the property of...
Why, it's Astyparaean!
Asty what?
Hey, that's mine.
Yes, yes, I know.
But if you don't...
It's from Eddie.
It's like a fraternity pin
or an engagement ring.
But you don't
understand, darling.
That inscription is in the
ancient Astyparaean language.
Am I supposed to
know what that is?
It's a language that's been
dead for over 5,000 years.
Why, there are only 10 men in the world
who can identify it, much less translate it.
And I can.
Now, look, dear, maybe this
inscription is an ancient love poem.
Something Eddie would
want you to hear, hmm?
Ah, yes, of course.
"First graspeth thou the
sacred disk in thy left hand.
"Now cometh the
letting of, letting of... "
Letting of...
Blood, of course.
"Letting of blood.
"And the drinking...
Drinking of blood. "
"Now remaineth
only the pronouncing
"of the sacred...
"Sacred name of
the great god, Zotz!"
No! Please! Please!
Please! You can't leave me out
in this storm. Not like this.
Put this on quickly!
Oh. Thanks.
Now, please go.
Well, you can't stay here.
But I have to. It's the most amazing
thing that's ever happened to me.
I'm not going to embarrass you by asking
you how you got into this condition.
After all, I'm
a man of the world.
I was struck by lightning.
You were what?
Well, I was hurrying along, trying
to beat out this sudden storm, when...
Well, I think I was
struck by lightning.
Mmm. I have heard of cases
where people were struck
by lightning and had their clothes
torn off without hurting them.
Usually these people were
branded by the mark of the bolt.
I seem to be all right.
Oh, I'm glad to hear it.
But you can't stay here.
I mean, I'm a bachelor. I don't
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Ray Russell (September 4, 1924 – March 15, 1999) was an American editor and writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Russell is best known for his horror fiction, although he also wrote mystery and science fiction stories.His most famous short fiction is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay for William Castle's film version, titled Mr. Sardonicus. American writer Stephen King called "Sardonicus" "perhaps the finest example of the modern gothic ever written". "Sardonicus" was part of a trio of stories with "Sanguinarius" and "Sagittarius". more…
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Submitted on August 05, 2018
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"Zotz!" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 19 Jan. 2021. <https://www.scripts.com/script/zotz!_24056>.
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This gorgeous 8 year old Dutch shepherd cross, was relinquished to the rescue in July 2018 when her owner's circumstances changed and they felt Storm was being left home alone for too many hours.
From the very start, she was such a well behaved, gentle dog, and we could not understand why she was not instantly snapped up. But good things come to those who wait….
One rainy Wednesday in March 2019, some prospective adopters were searching to offer a home, and their hearts, to a rescue dog. They had heard about Adam Bailey Rescues and Rehomes, so they decided to have a look at our Facebook page, where they came across the photos and profile of beautiful Storm. They knew straight away that they could give Storm the home she needed, and they felt sure she was a perfect match for them.
Storm's prospective adopters contacted the rescue through our Facebook direct messenger link. After it was clear that they met all the rescue's adoption criteria with flying colours, a visit for them to meet Storm at her foster carer's home was organised.
The big day came. It was a bit wet and blustery but that didn't stop Storm and her prospective adopters from having a fantastic time together, playing catch in the big field nearby. It was love at first sight.
The visit was a massive success, so the adopters asked for a home check which was carried out a few days later. Shortly after that, there followed the final stage of the adoption process – signing the adoption forms. Storm was officially Adopted!
On the day of her adoption, Storm waited patiently for her new family to arrive to collect her, and when they arrived, it was waggy tails and excitement all round!
We are so pleased to report that Storm has made herself right at home with her new family and has already managed to sneak into the bedroom for night time snuggles. If you look at the last two photos of Storm in this gallery, which were taken AFTER she was adopted, she certainly seems to be smiling. What a perfect ending!!!!


This is the perfect 'go-to' microblading needle for any design.
The unique, pointed tip allows the artist to place each stroke precisely.
Priced per box, each box comes with 10 Microblades. No assembly required.


This is a classic style jacket, with flattering chevron quilted side panels. Like all MOKE packable down styles, it has a fantastic warmth to weight ratio, has great breathability and is beautifully soft to the touch. This fully reversible jacket is complete with contrast silver hardware that gives it extra sleekness. Also featuring double ended/reversible front zipper for extra practicality, and also comes with its own packable bag, making it perfect for travel or easy storage when on the go.


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By William Bell 2 years ago July 6, 2022 in Technology
The discovery of phishing attacks recently on Azure AD and Microsoft 365 sign-in pages has brought Microsoft Experts under the weather. In the realm of modern Microsoft technologies, Microsoft this comes out as a surprise for Microsoft users out there (and experts too!)
The news has come with a big blow to Microsoft Experts and developers. Microsoft, being a Tech Giant in the industry, offers secured systems and updates with the most advanced security protocols and development procedures to combat cyber-attacks like phishing and eavesdropping from its applications.
However, recently, Microsoft Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) showed results that phishing and spoofing attempts have been successfully carried out through the new Azure AD sign-in page.
The new Sign-in Page was rolled out three months ago and the initial release dates back to the first week of April this year. Major changes that Microsoft made to the old Azure AD sign-in page include bandwidth requirements for the new updates. The attackers found a vulnerability in the new page and got their hands on the phishing tools to carry out the attack.
The phishing emails are impersonated as official emails by adding subject titles like: 'Business Document Received' with a PDF attachment which is a malicious attachment. The attachment asks the recipients to get access to the Document via the Access Document button. Clicking on this button directs the recipient of the email to a sign-in page (similar in design to the Azure AD sign-in page) so that the users enter sensitive information which is stored at the hackers' systems.
Microsoft 365 – shaping cloud computing and simplifying IT
By Shane Lee 4 years ago December 17, 2018 in Technology
Microsoft has been very keen with development platforms and simplifying IT industry with its innovative technologies that shape the market. One such product is Microsoft 365 which keeps on changing based on the IT industry needs. Microsoft philosophy for building tools and various IT services is said to be "Integrated for Simplicity".
The modern desktop is driven by cloud computing and available on Windows 10 with Office 365 ProPlus. The scalability and intelligence feature makes it unique and an innovative approach that is integrated with Microsoft Office 365. Integrated simplicity is taken to one step further with the Microsoft 365 admin center that also gives the feature of device management.
Hence Microsoft Office 365 gives a modern cloud-connect feel to business and end users. It also provides cloud computing intelligence that is necessary for IT pros for a successful tomorrow.


One of important things that people, especially newlywed and new family, is to have a house. Buying a house can be fun and enjoyable if we have money to buy it but if will be stressful or confusing if we do not have any money. Besides that since a house is very important for protecting us and our family from rain, heat or other dangerous things, people should have one. Due to the reasons above, many people try hard to buy a house but again it is not easy especially if they are lack of money.
Luckily, there are many mortgage loans offered by many loan providers or companies. Though, many mortgage loans offered but we should be careful. We should think if we want to deal a lender or have a broker, how much loans payment we can afford, what types of rate are suitable for us and many more. If you want to get the best 1st and the 2nd mortgage, you had better visit mortgagefindersnetwork.com. The site will answer your questions above or the questions about home improvement loan, mortgage crisis, signs of a bad mortgage lender, divorcing the mortgage crisis, understanding the closing process, and the risks of reversing mortgage. With their experiences in this business since 1995, mortgagefindersnetwork.com will help you find the best and the suitable mortgage.


Thanks to camshaft Chris for the name.
This is my first time using decals. The one on the passenger side is a little low. The base still needs dealt with (paint/tubes).
The wheels were badly damaged but fit the build too good. They came from an old Ford. Some of the spokes are dented.


The united strength of our 49 members, present in 46 European countries, makes of Caritas Europa one of the major social actors in Europe.
We have a heartfelt commitment to analyse and fight poverty and social exclusion as well as to promote true integral human development, social justice and sustainable social systems in Europe and throughout the world.
CHECK HERE FOR SOME OF OUR LATEST UPDATES. ALL POSTS ARE AVAILABLE UNDER RESOURCES.
Caritas Europa statutory meeting for voting members.
A strong earthquake struck central Italy early on 24 August, causing severe destruction to buildings and the loss of life. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck around the Rieti region.
The worst hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli, with the epicentre in Norcia.
Caritas Europa responds as a professional and effective actor to humanitarian crises in Europe.


w Much Is Your Lakefront Home Worth? Learn How to Value Waterfront.
The short answer to this question is, "Whatever someone will pay you for it." Now, this may sound snide at first, but ther is more truth to this statement than what many sellers originally want to accept.
Similar to all types of property values, Florida waterfront home values have dropped in recent years. Contrary to many of my colleagues, I have tried to be very disciplined in making sure that I am only listing properties that I think are priced properly. It doesn't matter how beautiful a particular waterfront view might be — If a lakefront house is not priced properly, it simply will not sell.
The fact that Florida's waterfront homes are often so unique from one another can make correct pricing very difficult. It is almost never correct to try to determine the price of a lakefront home by looking at dollar-per-square-foot values of other lakefront homes. Waterfront homes are valued based on features and location similar to other properties. But then, one must also consider where and how a home is positioned with respect to the view of the water, the qualities of the lake or body of water itstelf, how flood-prone the area is, and the list goes on.
Online resources like Zillow.com, Realtor.com and your local property appraiser's site can all be a good place to start, but at the end of the day, a full-time professional who specializes in waterfront properties in your area is going to be your best bet when it comes to valuing your waterfront property.


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Forest Community Centre
Serving the local community since 1962
Global Productions Theatre Group
Waltham Forest Youth Theatre
Wadham Players
Drama Workshop of Waltham Forest
Art Courses
Global Productions was established in 1997 and produces a variety of plays by contemporary and classical writers.
Based in Waltham Forest, we have performed in venues in Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Cornwall.
Our first production was The Boyfriend which we presented in conjunction with the Waltham Forest Youth Theatre. Since then our productions have included Noises Off, Talking Heads, Copenhagen, and The Railway Children. Our last production before the lockdown was In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan. Since then, we have performed "Natural Causes" by Eric Chappell at the Redbridge Drama Centre as well as the Forest Community Centre.
Global Products has played at the famous Minack open air theatre in Conrwall, as shown below:


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package com.github.bjoern2.codegen;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class JavaMainMethodImpl extends JavaMethodImpl {

	public JavaMainMethodImpl() {
		super();
		setAccessType(JavaAccessType.PUBLIC);
		setStatic(true);
		setReturnType(new JavaTypeImpl("void"));
		setName("main");
		List<JavaMethodParameter> parameters = new ArrayList<JavaMethodParameter>();
		parameters.add(new JavaMethodParameterImpl(new JavaTypeImpl("String", 1), "args"));
		setParameters(parameters);
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


White Cube's exclusive product, MaintDB is a complete tool, with comprehensive features ranging from database administration and maintenance to advanced mechanisms to aid in troubleshooting and tuning the environment.
Our team has applied all of its expertise to the development of a product designed for routine DBA procedures and tasks, which enables the DBA to automate and standardize executions in an agile manner with reduced time and productivity gains.
Based on best practices and recommendations from Microsoft, MaintDB automates DBA tasks to reduce complexity and significantly improve the stability of the production environment.
In addition to being an end-to-end tool, MaintDB serves as a repository of information, with history of executed routines that can be used by Watcher to monitor and ensure the continuity of services.
All components that are run by MaintDB are native to the Database, using commands and procedures specific to the Database platform. This feature ensures that all procedures are performed according to the manufacturer's specification used by the company.
When used together, Watcher and MaintDB ensure 100% proactive management focused on continuous improvement.


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Quantic Dream debuts next-gen engine, watch demo here
by Shan S
One rumor was quickly shot down when Quantic Dream presented at Sony's PlayStation press conference. The developer was not there to announce new games set to appear on the PlayStation 4 console, but to unveil the next-gen engine which will take live-action technology to a whole new level. The currently-unnamed engine will feature improved and realistic facial animation technology to achieve complete emotional connection with characters, redefining the meaning of humanizing fictional characters.
Founder and CEO David Cage said, "What you see is running in realtime on the PlayStation 4. It is our first attempt at using advanced skin shaders with translucency, realistic eye shaders, volumetric lights, 3D depth of field and many many other features that were, up until today, reserved to CG films."
Cage did not mention anything related to possible video games in the making back at the studio for PS4, but that doesn't mean there isn't going to be any. Quantic Dream is already working on Beyond: Two Souls, an upcoming psychological thriller starring Ellen Page as the main protagonist.


We help you navigate the maze of choices to get the best deal.
The average cost of a private room in a nursing home is now about $248 per day (or about $90,000 per year), and 12 hours a day of home care costs even more, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute. But for many baby-boomers, it takes more than the threat of financial catastrophe to be prodded into buying a long-term-care insurance policy.
"If people have experience with family members needing care, they sign up immediately," says Ted Sarenski, a CPA and personal financial specialist in Syracuse, N.Y. "But if they don't, they worry that they are throwing their money away."
Sarenski recommends to clients in their fifties that they have some form of long-term-care coverage to protect their retirement savings. Until recently, people who bought policies generally got enough insurance to cover 100% of the cost of care. But insurers boosted their rates after paying more money in claims than they expected. Rates for new policies have shot up—especially for women buying on their own—and it has become a lot more difficult to qualify for coverage if you have health issues.
Sarenski helps his clients calculate how much of their savings they can afford to spend on long-term-care costs and still keep enough money for the other spouse to live on, possibly for decades. Then he recommends buying enough coverage to fill the gap—usually at least half of the cost of care. Fortunately, insurers are offering new options that shift more risk to you but make policies less costly.
Buy his and her policies. Several major long-term-care insurers have switched from unisex to gender-differentiated pricing. Genworth, the largest long-term-care insurer, announced the change in late 2012, and John Hancock, Transamerica and Mutual of Omaha quickly followed suit.
In many cases, single women—who tend to live longer than men and are more likely to need care—now pay about 50% more than single men, says Claude Thau, a long-term-care insurance consultant in Overland Park, Kan. The rate hikes haven't been approved yet in some states, and a few insurers still offer unisex rates, especially for policies sold through employers.
Most insurers continue to offer discounts for couples of about 30%, says Thau. For example, Genworth's couples policies give women a big break. For healthy 55-year-olds buying a policy with a three-year benefit period and a $150 daily benefit, plus 5% compound inflation protection, the cost is $2,190 a year for a single man and $2,966 for a single woman. But the price drops to $1,854 each if they buy as a couple.
Couples can also hedge their bets with a shared-benefit policy. Instead of two separate benefit periods, you share a benefit pool—three years each becomes a pool of six years that can be split between the spouses. Genworth charges $2,187 per person for a couple sharing a six-year benefit period—versus $1,854 each for a couple who buy separate three-year policies with a couples discount.
"Combination policies are a better deal for single women than they were in the past," says John Ryan, of Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants, in Greenwood Village, Colo. He recommends getting quotes for both combo and stand-alone policies. You can buy a combo policy outright or pay for it over three or ten years.
Get inflation protection for less. In the past, most policies automatically increased benefits by 5% compounded per year. But policies with 3% or CPI-adjusted inflation protection, which trims premiums, have become more popular. For example, a 50-year-old woman who buys a John Hancock policy with a $150 daily benefit, a three-year benefit period and a 90-day waiting period would pay $3,374 per year with 5% inflation protection, compared with $1,560 for a CPI-adjusted policy. A man would pay $2,174 per year for the 5% compound policy, or $956 for one with a CPI adjustment.
Some insurers are offering policies with future purchase options, which cost less than traditional inflation-adjusted policies to start out but don't increase benefits automatically. Instead, you can boost your benefits every few years if you pay more.
When choosing an inflation option, don't simply compare premiums. Calculate how much the pool of benefits will grow to by the time you're likely to need care. A policy with a 3% inflation adjustment may not seem as good a deal when you see how much smaller the benefit pool will be when you're 80.
Some states have partnership programs that let people who buy long-term-care insurance keep more of their assets if they exhaust their long-term-care policy benefits and have to rely on Medicaid. Some states require that policies have 5% compound inflation protection to qualify for the partnership program. Contact your state insurance department (you'll find links at www.naic.org).
Buy a policy when you're still healthy. Insurers are also managing their risk by rejecting more people for health issues and making it more difficult to qualify for the best rates. A study by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance found that 45% of people ages 50 to 59 qualified for good health discounts, but only 30% of people ages 60 to 69 qualified.
Health requirements vary from company to company. A long-term-care specialist who works with many insurers can help you find the one that offers the best rates; you can find one at www.aaltci.org. Also shop insurers, such as Northwestern Mutual and New York Life, who work only with their own agents.


Bahrain Post is an active Philatelic member, and as such, it regularly issues new definitive stamps, commemorative stamps and special stamps to represent and reflect important milestones in the Kingdom of Bahrain, targeted at stamp collectors and enthusiasts both in Bahrain and abroad.
The Philatelic Bureau also maintains a permanent Postage Stamp Exhibition, displaying stamps from the Kingdom of Bahrain as well as stamps from around the world. Established for the preservation of the postage stamps issued in the name of Bahrain, the exhibition features the first stamp collections issued as well as historical items related to the postal services such as old weights, historical and commemorative stamps, blocks used for stamp printing and other exhibits.
With the aim to encourage philately in Bahrain, Bahrain Post also issues annual albums with special first issue covers, which are available for up to six months from the date of issue. These stamps are available for purchase at any Bahrain Post branch. Philatelists can also purchase these from the Philatelic Bureau within 2 years from the date of issue.
The Post Museum- History and Archiving- is open at Bab Al Bahrain to the public and can be visited from 8am till 5pm every week Saturday- Thursday.


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Tag Archives: cloning
cute animals, Facts, info, News, science, technology
Brazil to begin cloning endangered species
Being that Brazil contains the Amazon River and the Amazon basin, it has a giant wealth of natural resources when it comes to various species. However, as the rainforests continue to disappear at an alarming rate, so do entire species of plants and animals. In an attempt to preserve some of that diversity, Brazil will being cloning some of its wildlife to ensure their survival.
Brazilian scientists have announced that they are moving ahead with plans to clone a number of endangered species, a list of animals that includes the jaguar, maned wolf, and black lion. The groundbreaking initiative is being conducted by the Brasilia Zoological Garden in partnership with the Brazilian government's agricultural research agency, EMBRAPA. The researchers claim that they're not looking to repopulate habitats, but to increase the number of captive specimens available. But in the event of extreme cases, they admit that they're prepared to release these cloned animals into the wild.
Researchers at the Brasilia Zoological Garden have selected eight animals for the initiative, most of which are on the the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The genetic material required to clone these animals were collected over the course of the past two years, including the genomes of the bush dog, coati, collared anteater, gray brocket deer, and bison. The genomes were harvested primarily from dead animals native to the Cerrado, the vast tropical savannah biome that stretches across central Brazil. The researchers say they have already collected 420 samples which are currently being stored in their gene banks.
Now that this initial phase is complete, the next step will be to train the researchers at the zoo.
These animals will not be the first ones to be cloned by EMBRAPA; the government agency was responsible for the birth of a cloned cow in 2001. Since that time, various other animals have been cloned in Brazil, including other cows and horses.
Tagged amazon, Brazil, cloning, endangered species, news, rainforests, the amazon, wildlife, world news
Facts, gifs, info, News, Pictures, science, technology
Australian billionaire wants to build a real Jurassic Park, lesson clearly not learned from the movies
We essentially have the technology to bring dinosaurs back to life already, it's just not perfect. Some smaller species of ancient bacteria or plants have already been brought back to life with just a bit of their DNA. Now nobody is really pursuing this idea to bring back full-sized dinos because, well, it's probably not the best idea. But now, billionaire and possible crazy person Clive Palmer is putting a hefty sum of money towards building his own Jurassic Park.
The controversial billionaire is rumoured to be planning to clone a dinosaur from DNA so he can set it free in a Jurassic Park-style area at his new Palmer Resort in Coolum.
Mr Palmer has, apparently, been in deep discussion with the people who successfully cloned Dolly the sheep to bring his dinosaur vision to life.
If Mr Palmer can resurrect the Titanic, what is to stop him from trying with another of his other alleged passions – dinosaurs?
This is just one of the rumours circulating about Mr Palmer's plans for Coolum.
And while the concept sounds like a joke, it apparently comes from a source close to Mr Palmer's inner circle.
It was the same source who provided the Daily with an exclusive peek at Mr Palmer's plans to build towering hotels at the Palmer Resort with a 20-storey sky needle and a giant, London Eye-style ferris wheel.
Mr Palmer has not commented on this vision yet. Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson has said Mr Palmer was very serious about the plans.
It is also understood Mr Palmer intends to target the Middle East market for his resort.
Tagged clive palmer, cloning, dumb, jurassic park, news, science, technology, world news


Step into sleek simplicity with the Men's Nike Air Max Modern Essential Shoe. It blends a textile upper with no-sew overlays for a modern look, while a cushioned tongue and collar give you all-day comfort.Features Include: Textile upper creates a sleek fit.. No-sew film overlays for a seamless look.. Molded collar and tongue offer plush cushioning.. Visible Max Air unit in the heel helps cushion impact.. Outsole pattern is inspired by retro running shoes..


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YouTube's demonetization finally recognized; popular creators mad
By Jake Bruton
YouTube (the behemoth video website and subsidiary of Google [GOOG]) has been the home for many of the world's at-home entertainment for years. At its inception, YouTube was a simple video sharing website where people can host their video content on the web. The idea caught on eventually when the first ever viral videos made their way to the young website, and content creators like Smosh began to make creative videos on the website.
Going from 2005, YouTube became a major hub of videos of all types and it saw a very large audience flocking to its service everyday to enjoy an array of content from an even larger array of uploaders/channels. And it is only natural for a new leader of a market to attract the attention of large companies like Google, who bought the company in 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock. And much like anything Google touches (well, almost everything), YouTube became great. It is great, and has been great since its inception.
With the what seems somewhat successful YouTube Red, and the plethora of advertisers and high-quality content creators, YouTube has had many successful quips under its name (even though it still doesn't make any money for Google), but it has just an equal amount of not-so popular choices. Choices like these include: the forced Google+ integration, introduction of the buggy content-ID system, and now: the demonetization mechanic.
Now, the demonetization feature isn't new to YouTube: it has been a part of the website since 2012. It is essentially a system that takes the tags and information of uploaded videos applied for monetization, and will remove their monetization (or deliver less of it) if the video results in being "not advertiser friendly." However, it wasn't until about last week that popular YouTuber content creators began to take notice of the system: and that was because YouTube finally began to inform creator's that the system has edited their video's advertising state.
You could say the fire of this month's YouTube drama began with creator Philip DeFranco's video discussing the demonetization of his videos. From there on, multiple other popular YouTubers made videos regarding the concerns, and many others made videos announcing how this was a form of "censorship." While the publicity of the system has definitely made many content creator's upset (and has essentially "screwed" over others in some cases), the question about others stating this as "censorship" is quite a hot topic among the community. What many do not know, however, is this is in fact not a form of censorship, and is just the system applying the guidelines for monetization to videos.
The outcry from creators and their arguments of "censorship" have triggered a factory line of similar videos discussing how someone needs to make a new site like YouTube where "free speech" still reigns supreme. These concerns were acknowledged by video site Vid.me in a humorous trailer playing off of the entire trend. However, what many have not taken into account is the difficulty of managing a service like YouTube, and the fact that the demonetization stands and is not censorship.
As aforementioned, this system simply reduces the targeted ads (or removes them altogether) on videos who include tags that are rather brash, racial, harmful, offensive, etc. Tags such as "sex," or "death" would be ones that fall subject to the demonetization system. And many popular content creators have published several videos that used tags within these categories once or twice. This isn't a form of censorship, as the videos will remain online but rather it protects ads from being presented to the wrong audience and ensures quality for those engaged in Google's Adwords system.
Putting to rest the worries isn't enough however, as the software for this system is still messed up and many videos that are clean for advertisers will still fall victim: reminiscent of the YouTube Content-ID system. And the fact that it took this long for the company to address the demonetization of a creator's video truly has no justification on YouTube's part. At the end of the day, this revelation is much like many in YouTube's career: where the creators and community discover a flaw, creators are effected, the community is enraged, and then the facts are laid out on the table.
This essentially points YouTube out as a still young and somewhat broken service. It lacks in properly educating its creators on the finer points of its legal terms, and it fails to correctly communicate with the creators that care for the platform. YouTube should strive to improve how it handles its community, and to improve its automated systems.
To learn more about YouTube's demonetization, check out this write by the Internet Creators Guild.
An original article by Jake Brunton
Why Pokemon GO Falls Short
Awale, Backgammon and 1 other Game Technology has transformed


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Synagogues of Isfahan
Regional Surveys
This collection features documentation of Isfahan's historic synagogues undertaken by Mohammad Gharipour in 2015 and 2016. Isfahan's Jewish community is as ancient as the city itself, predating the formation of the medieval city and possibly dating back to the first millennium BCE. In medieval times, the quarter of Jubarah (Jubareh) was home to many of Isfahan's Jewish families, and generous patronage from these families resulted in the construction of a number of synagogues and other community spaces.
Synagogues are distinguished from other religious buildings because of certain ritual requirements (e.g., a bema or space for reading the Torah, an ark or space in which the Torah scrolls are kept). However, besides these requirements, the synagogues of Isfahan much resemble other forms of local architecture. Like the homes of Isfahan's crowded historic quarters, the facades of Isfahan's synagogues are often deceptively plain. Decoration is saved for interiors, which include courtyards, ornate prayer halls, and ritual baths. Long corridors and courtyards are used as an architectural buffer from the surrounding area, and light is admitted into the center of building complexes through lantern domes.
Photographs were taken by Mohammad Gharipour. Plans were drawn by Zahra Ansari and checked by Bahador Fallahian.
Mohmamad Gharipour. "The Question of Identity: The Architecture of Synagogues in Isfahan, Iran." Paper presented at the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Symposium (ACS6) in Toronto, 2014.
Child Collections
Asyaban Synagogue
Hajj Ilyahu Synagogue
Khurshidi Synagogue
Aqa Shukrullah Synagogue
Shmu'il Guli Synagogue
Mulla Nisan Synagogue
Mulla Ya'qub Synagogue
Mulla David Synagogue
Sangbast Synagogue
Shmu'il Sham'un Synagogue
synagogues (buildings)
Mizrahim


The Volunteer of the Year for 1987 is Sandra Sparks (Archer). Sandy is the quintessential volunteer of early citizens in Mira Mesa. Sandy is a native Californian who relocated from Santa Monica to Mira Mesa in Feb 1974 with husband and infant daughter at the corner of Westonhill Dr. and Arcturus. As with most Mira Mesans at the time Sandy became very concerned about the lack of schools and parks in the area. During the first few months in the community, a neighbor (Nancy Parker) invited Sandy to join the Mira Mesa Jr. Women's Club (MMJWC) and her community volunteer efforts began in October, 1974. She served on the MMJWC from 1974 to 1979 where she held the positions of Membership & Press Chairman (1975 and 1976), Press Chairman (1976 and 1977) and 3rd VP-Ways & Means (1975 and 1976), and 1st VP and President (1978 – 1979). In 1975 she was honored as "Rookie of the Year" and in 1979-1980 she was named MMJWC "Citizen of the Year".
While in the MMJWC, the group addressed many community needs. For example Sandy canvased the community to ask neighbors to vote for school development bonds, to participate in water conservation programs and in get out the vote efforts.
Ms. Archer also served in variety of ways with the local school committees. She co-chaired the Mira Mesa-Scripps Ranch School Cluster committee, ran for School Board, and served on the Northern Area Parks & Recreation Committee for the City of San Diego from 1975 – 1981.
She joined the newly formed Mira Mesa Town Council in 1977 serving as its President in 1982. As the Town Council President, she championed setting up a Landscape Maintenance District (LMD) in Mira Mesa. At the time the community "rights of ways" and "center islands" had a terrible problem with litter and weeds. As President, she formed The Landscape Maintenance Committee to work with the City of San Diego and the community to form an LMD to address this issue. She was also very supportive of the "Mira Mesa Clean and Green Day" which allowed folks annually to remove trash from their property and clean up areas not covered by the LMD. Both of these programs made a big difference in the appearance of the entire community.
Sandy was very active in her children's activities as well, among many other activities she was a Brownie Leader and cheered on the variety of youth sports. She did "Apples to the Teachers" when school started, baked goods to the Fire Fighters, glass recycling center adjacent to Mason Elementary School that was ahead of its time, and helped sponsor a Well Baby Clinic at her families church, Christ the Cornerstone Lutheran Church. She was active in her children's school PTA, helped with a remedial reading program, served as a Library assistant, served on a School Improvement Committee, and a Race and a Human Relation Committee. She worked on several others issues as well working with the Police and elected officials to address the many concerns facing the community.
Sandy was also a very big child safety advocate helping with Safety Towns for the littlest pedestrians, along with Arts and Crafts Sales at the MM Mall. During these events she was introduced to Bill Whittaker who was developing an award winning Child Passenger Safety Program that served the entire State of California. She later would become a spokesperson for the program making several presentations at local community groups and schools.
It seemed that Sandy was everywhere as she helped the Friends of the Library lobby the city to get the first library built, as well as Fire Department 38, Schools, and parks, and she helped in the early stages of a Master plan for Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve.


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Greenwich festival of Christmas lights unplugged
ROBERT MARCHANT/Associated Press
Dec 28, 2014 at 8:02 AM Dec 28, 2014 at 8:02 AM
GREENWICH — This year for the holidays, Greenwich Avenue is going unplugged.
The lights that usually illuminate trees up and down the avenue, lending an elegant touch to holiday shopping, are not being strung this year. The Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, which had organized and funded the annual tradition with private contributions, said it was not doing the annual lighting tradition. Chamber Executive Director Marcia O'Kane did not disclose the rationale for the lighting cancellation, but officials in Town Hall indicated a lack of funding was the reason.
The response from merchants and shoppers has been one of disappointment, as if the Grinch rode down from his lair and stole an old town tradition, one that dates back 40 years.
"That's a bummer," said Dionne Walsh, of Greenwich, as she set out to do some shopping and errands on the avenue recently, "It's a part of Greenwich, it's a tradition."
Business owner Lindsay Cain called the lit trees during the holidays one of the best features of the downtown district.
"The trees felt festive and beautiful. Locking up after a long, tiring day, there was something special there, looking down the avenue, those bright lights. It's heartwarming. It feels special, as you descend down the hill, the trees along the way. It's charming," said Cain, owner of Femmegems. "So that's disappointing."
Greenwich Pharmacy manager Gus Sempertegui said the holiday lighting did more than just brighten the street. "It puts people in a better mood, it brings out the good in people," he said, hoping the holiday tradition could be restored in the future. "It doesn't have to be huge, just the gesture counts," he added.
O'Kane said a nonprofit had been set up to take up the tradition. The chamber has had difficulty reaching its funding goal for the program in some previous years, and there have been other holiday seasons in which the avenue has been dark, so to speak. In 2008, the roughly $60,000 to $80,000 to pay for the lighting and the labor came up short by about 25 percent, leading to fewer lit trees.
There are still signs of holiday cheer, however. The front of the Senior Center, at 299 Greenwich Ave., is being lit this season by the town, with help from a private donation. Baskets of pine branches are adorning street lamps, courtesy of volunteers with Greenwich Green and Clean, and individual stores are providing decorations on their businesses up and down the avenue.
But the cancellation of holiday lighting has been seen as more than just a seasonal letdown and could lead to discussion at Town Hall over town funding of the operation in future.
Selectman Drew Marzullo said the case for town funding needs to be made to ensure the lights go up in future.
"You want to encourage local businesses to contribute -- we live in a philanthropic area. But if that doesn't happen, the town should contribute," he said, likening the outlay to the municipal money spent on July 4 fireworks.
Besides the sentimental factor -- "the character, that small-town feel" -- Marzullo said holiday attractions like lighting also made sense from a financial perspective. "I think it attracts business," he said.
First Selectman Peter Tesei was reluctant to "open the checkbook," as he put it, to cover a shortfall for the lighting program that the chamber was facing. During recent discussions with town staff and chamber representatives, he had been told that the lighting was "extremely costly" and that the chamber was "evaluating the way it does things," Tesei said.
He noted that the retail district "had the resources and the ability to do this" without public funding, as it had done for many years in the past.
Tesei said he was willing to collaborate and work with the chamber and other partners without a direct expenditure. "There's debate whether it should be a town function. ... It's not an essential service, and resources are constrained," he concluded.
Like others, the first selectman wants to see the lights back on. "I personally like the lights, it creates a festive environment," he said.


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Congratulations, Kevin Hill!
21 Jun 2017 | Bankstown
We're proud to announce that Bankstown City Aged Care's Chairperson Kevin Hill has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his service to local government.
Well done, Kevin!
Everyone who knows him is aware of the extraordinary effort he puts into everything he does. The local stalwart and retired veteran Bankstown councillor has invested 40 years into public life; he was first elected to Bankstown Council in 1977, and served as Mayor at various stages throughout 1985-2001.
He joined Bankstown City Aged Care in 1983 as Director, and is now the Chairperson.
Kevin is passionate about providing care for the elderly. Over the years, he's helped to fundraise more than $10m in community donations for the creation of aged care facilities.
He's also involved in nurturing Bankstown's future generations, and has played an integral role in pushing sister-city relationships which benefit hundreds of thousands of young people in Bankstown and surrounding suburbs.
We couldn't be prouder to have Kevin in our ranks, and we wish him ongoing success and happiness in everything he does.
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Q: What Is the Difference Between asetpts and atempo in FFmpeg Audio Filters? I have been using FFmpeg to slow down or speed up video files (with audio). It seems that to speed up a video, setpts=0.5*PTS should be used. However, when speeding up an audio, asetpts=0.5*PTS and atempo=2.0 are both available. What is the difference between these two options? Which is the better option?

A: Like setpts, asetpts drops or duplicates audio frame to the specified frame rate while atempo changes the speed of audio.
Comparing asetpts=PTS/2 and atempo=2.0, some information is lost when you use in asetpts. Try it and you can hear the difference.

A: If you only use setpts=0.5*pts as part of your filter, you'll notice that this only applies to the video stream causing the output to become desynchronized. That's why the atempo=2.0 option is available and intended to be used in conjunction with setpts.
More information can be found here

A: From the ffmpeg official wiki, we can see that atempo is recommended.
In my own test case, the asetpts can't work. (I used ffprobe to check the pkt_pts, it doesn't change. Also, I played it and it doesn't change too)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Figure 1: A silver-stain gel from crystals of the DAP kinase–CaM complex, indicating the presence of calmodulin (arrow) in the crystals in addition to DAP kinase.
Figure 2: Three-dimensional structure of DAP Kinase (green and yellow) when bound to calcium-activated calmodulin (violet and blue). It was obtained by X-ray crystallography. The red spheres represent calcium ions.
Published as: "Molecular basis of the death-associated protein kinase-calcium/calmodulin regulator complex". Sci. Signal. 3, ra6 (2010).
Investigating how cells communicate is fundamental to our understanding of biology. We have determined the first molecular structure of a protein kinase in complex with the universal regulator protein calmodulin and calcium. The structure, which provides a model for many other protein kinases, allows insight into how its function could be specifically blocked. Since the selected protein kinase is associated with a number of frequently occurring tumours, our data provide a basis for developing new anti-cancer therapies.
Signalling processes in cells are essential for their development and for their function in the mature state. Alterations of signalling often lead to degenerate functional outcomes, which in frequent cases cause cancer. The knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms is essential to develop new therapies against these malignancies. To gain insight into one of these signalling systems, we have been studying a model system belonging to the so-called calcium / calmodulin (CaM) dependent protein serine/threonine kinases. Kinases, which make up 2% of all proteins from the human genome, are enzymes that catalyze phosphorylation reactions. Collectively they form the "kinome". Phosphorylation is done by transferring a phosphate group from an adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) molecule, known as the "energy currency" of living systems, to a target protein. The fast and reversible nature of phosphorylation, together with the organization of kinases into hierarchical pathways or cascades, results in the high sensitivity and strong amplification of the input signals. As a consequence, of this kinases are of great importance in cellular pathways, especially signalling. With more than 70 predicted members, the CaM-dependent kinases form one of the largest superfamilies of the complete kinome. Inside the cell these kinases rely on intracellular calcium levels. This occurs through the modulator protein calmodulin, a universal intracellular calcium receptor, which picks up this signal and binds with the appropriate kinase. This complex can then become an active player in the cell's machinery.
We chose a specific member of the CaM-dependent kinase family called the Death Associated Protein (DAP) kinase to study how calmodulin binds and regulates these kinases. DAP kinases have a central role in cell death pathways, including apoptosis, autophagy and necrosis. It has also become a key marker in cancer screens due to its tumour suppressor activity. It sup-presses tumour growth by inhibiting cell adhesion and migration and promoting cell death. Mutated versions of DAPK are known to be involved in the development of some cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia – one of the most common types of adult leukaemia and currently incurable. In contrast, in certain types of prostate cancer the role of DAP kinase seems to promote tumour growth when expressed at high levels. Knowing more about DAP kinase and how it functions may bring us a step closer to new cancer treatments. Since DAP kinase has physical similarities to other kinases controlled by calmodulin, we hope that this can also be used as a model for other similar systems.
In recent work, we first needed to establish protocols to express and purify DAP kinase / CaM as a stable complex that is maintained even under harsh crystallisation conditions. This is a prerequisite for high-resolution structural analysis by X-ray crystallography. We succeeded to crystallize a fragment of DAP kinase-1, which covers the catalytic kinase domain and a neighbouring domain that is responsible for CaM binding, together with CaM (Figure 1). As in so many other examples, the crystal structure, which we determined with X-ray data from the EMBL beamlines at DORIS III and from the ESRF, offered unexpected surprises (Figure 2). Although previous biochemical and cell biology data had indicated that CaM binding would lead to activation of the kinase, in the 3D structure of the complex we observed that CaM sits just in front of the active site of DAP kinase, thus blocking access to the kinase' substrates - ATP and the protein target for phosphorylation. Therefore, our structure – although an exciting breakthrough as the first ever assembly of a protein kinase-CaM complex – immediately triggered new questions which we have started to solve more recently.
We are now employing a number of complementary structural biology techniques, such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to explore the dynamic conformational space of this kinase, which leads either to its activation or deactivation. We are planning to exploit our knowledge to identify small molecule compounds that will specifically inhibit key steps in this activation / deactivation process. Embedded in several collaborations with colleagues from Israel, Norway and Germany, we are ultimately planning to make our knowledge useful for the development of new therapies in the clinic.


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Kenneth Branagh supports South Hill Park
Reporter: Sandra Giorgetti
South Hill Park: socially-distanced fundraising launch
Kenneth Branagh appeals on YouTube
BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning actor, director and producer Sir Kenneth Branagh has come out in support of the new fundraising campaign for South Hill Park Arts Centre, of which he is a patron.
The arts centre hopes to raise £500,000 to help it manage the loss of 86% of its income as a result of the COVID shutdown.
Branagh says in his appeal on YouTube, "the arts have the power to transform lives. It brings our communities together, reduces social exclusion and isolation, has a positive impact on health and well-being, celebrates diversity, improves learning and education especially amongst the young and contributes to our local economy… but South Hill Park offers so much more.
"Members of our community living with dementia can enjoy special cinema screenings, young carers and some of our most vulnerable young adults can learn new skills, which builds confidence, improves career prospects and opens horizons, and there are opportunities for people of all ages to volunteer and make new friends. South Hill Park inspires us, it connects us, and it enriches our lives."
South Hill Park has been operating for nearly 50 years with over 200,000 people a year using its facilities. It is funded by Bracknell Forest Borough and Town Councils but without this additional financial support faces an uncertain future. The campaign has so far raised £36,500.


Adrianus M M Pruisken completed his PhD from Brown University. After postdoctoral studies at Heidelberg University and being a Member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton he joined the Columbia University faculty in New York. His current research interests cover the topological and non-perturbative aspects of quantum field theory, primarily focused on applications in condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics. He has contributed to a variety of fields including quantum critical phenomena, Anderson localization and interaction phenomena, the quantum Hall effect, the Coulomb blockade, single electron transistors and quantum spin chains. He is the Lead Researcher of many of the ground breaking experiments, conducted at Princeton and Amsterdam, on the nature of the quantum Hall plateau transition.


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KKE: NO to the continuing bankruptcy of the people
The KKE held mass demonstrations on the 26th of June 2015 in the major cities of Greece against the new anti-people measures and agreements with the lenders, which are being prepared by the SYRIZA-ANEL government.
D. Koutsoumpas, the GS of the CC of the KKE, said, amongst other things, during his speech in Athens' central square:
"The Greek people must say a big NO to the agreement, NO to their own continuing bankruptcy, NO to the parties of the EU one-way street and capitalist power. They must chart a course so that they can really take the reins of power.
The people must struggle alongside the KKE, they must impede the anti-people measures, on the streets, in the workplaces.
SYRIZA became the government by hijacking the workers'-people's demands. It is now trying to deceive the people once again, distorting and interpreting the people's votes in line with its interests.
Five months after the elections, the government is preparing to send the people the bill with the measures of the new agreement that are truly a noose around the necks of the families from the popular strata who have bled and will continue to bleed for the debt, for the EU, for the profitability of the monopolies, if they do not start a counterattack along the path of rupture and conflict with the EU and the monopolies.
The Greek people must reject both the proposals of the lenders-"three institutions" and also the proposals of the Tsipras government of 47+8 pages, they are both barbaric, a guillotine for the people.
The SYRIZA-ANEL government and also its European partners and the IMF, with the intervention of the USA, have not given up on the efforts to save capitalist Greece inside the framework of the capitalist EU."
In early hours of the morning of the 27th of June, the Prime Minister A. Tsipras announced a referendum, whose question will be whether the people accept the proposal of the lenders or not.
In an intervention during the program of the Mega TV station, shortly after the Prime Minister's address, Yiannis Gkiokas, member of the CC of the KKE and responsible for its Press Office, stressed that:
"The position of the KKE is clear. The NO of the Greek people must be directed towards both proposals-the proposal of the lenders and also the proposal of the government of 47 pages that has had details added to it during this whole period.
Both proposals contain savage measures at the expense of the people.
The referendum has the features of blackmail against the people and aims to make them complicit in the anti-people plans, by calling on them to choose between two evils.
The government must cease telling fairytales about allegedly respecting the people's will. The people struggled in the previous years and bled against the memoranda and application laws. And during these 5 months, the government has not abolished any law, has maintained the previous framework untouched and is also proposing new measures to the lenders.
The government says that the proposal of the lenders is outside the people's mandate. Is its own proposal inside the boundaries of the people's mandate?
The government told lies to the Greek people. It promised them that they could be freed from the memoranda and austerity inside the EU and the capitalist development path and now it is trying to manage the collapse of this pre-election narrative.
The people must say no to both of them in every way and using every means available. They must reject the plan of the creditors and also the plan of the government. They must rise up and fight for the only realistic solution for their own interests, which is rupture with the EU and with the current path of development."


Our staff team is one of our greatest assets and includes specialists in languages, music, sport and SEN. The team is dynamic and leads by example; teachers update their skills on a regular basis by attending continuing professional development courses. This results in highly skilled professionals who are fully conversant with current best practice and regulatory requirements. At the same time, they have a sense of fun and an appreciation of the value of nurturing our children's sense of 'awe and wonder' at the world around them.


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