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Регистрация

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After the Beirut Blast, Hezbollah Almost Went to War
But when the smoke cleared, the Party of God was in the midst of an existential political crisis.
By Jesse RosenfeldTwitter
Protesters burn a barricade during a demonstration after the August 4 explosion that devastated Beirut, Lebanon. (Felipe Dana / AP Photo)
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Even before the August 4 Beirut port explosion that devastated the heart of the Lebanese capital, Hezbollah commander Abu Karim was on edge at his post in the southern Lebanese hills, east of the ancient port city of Tyre. Tensions were high after a week of escalating Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Syria, and the Party of God was ready to retaliate on the Lebanese-Israeli border. So when the monumental blast occurred, panicked orders came from the top and the commander found himself on the radio, calling his fighters to battle stations and bringing Lebanon's powerful militia to the brink of war with Israel.
Speaking exclusively to The Nation, Abu Karim, a Hezbollah field commander stationed in southern Lebanon, and Abu Naim, a fighter on reconnaissance patrol in Beirut during the blast, depict an organization going from the depths of a military crisis to the center of a political one. (Both have taken a nom de guerre and insist on anonymity because Hezbollah fighters are barred from speaking to Western media.)
"In the first moments of the blast we thought we were under attack by Israel," says Abu Karim. "We thought that this is it. It's on!"
Leader of over 500 fighters, Abu Karim describes a frenzied rush to mobilize from the mountains to the coast in the south, where, in 2000, Hezbollah ended Israel's occupation after an 18-year guerrilla resistance. "All troops were mobilized in the south. The rocket-system operators were ordered to their missile sites and told to be ready to fire."
Lebanon's Protest Movement Is Local and Organic
Samah Hadid
Israel and Hezbollah Are Girding for War—and the Next Round Could Be Horrific
Sulome Anderson
How the Syrian Civil War Has Transformed Hezbollah
Jesse Rosenfeld
For the next 45 minutes, recalls the commander, battle-hardened during Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, his fighters waited nervously while senior commanders debated over the radio. As time passed, claims that Lebanon was rocked by an Israeli airstrike were increasingly countered by assertions that an explosion had happened inside the port. "Then the order came to stand down," he says, with relief still reverberating in his voice.
The trepidation is warranted; another war with Israel would devastate both countries. Israel has repeatedly threatened Hezbollah that in the next round, its formidable military, one of the most powerful in the world, would bomb Lebanon with far greater fury than it did in the 34-day 2006 conflict. In that war it killed more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians, severely damaged infrastructure, and displaced a million people—a quarter of the population at the time.
Hezbollah, for its part, is now estimated to have more than 100,000 rockets, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies—many of them far more sophisticated and accurate, and with a far greater range capable of targeting all of Israel's major cities, than the highly inaccurate Katyushas it was known for in the past. A central ally to the Assad regime, Hezbollah has put forces on the unoccupied side of the Syrian Golan Heights, which could become a second front. Meanwhile, Hezbollah's ground troops have been battle-seasoned in the Syrian civil war, where some 1,500–2,000 of its fighters have died; and it has expanded into training and assisting Iran's allies in Yemen and Iraq.
Rush hour was still bustling at 6 pm on August 4 in Beirut's central neighborhood of Ras Al Naba'a. Abu Naim was carrying out what he describes as standard, unarmed reconnaissance in civilian clothes with the rest of his unit. Minutes later, the fighters were lying dazed in the street around their party office. They had been knocked off their feet by a blast wave full of broken glass, which transformed the city in an instant. Stunned and confused, Abu Naim scrambled to help the injured in his unit as orders blared on his hand-radio to head to base, gather weapons, and await further orders.
"Three of us were injured by the flying glass," recalls the fighter. "We tried to protect our bodies but couldn't take much cover. It was like a state of war within seconds. There was lots of blood and people injured. It was a horror movie."
Abu Naim describes how, after helping treat his comrades and returning with them to base, they sat by the radio, armed and ready to fight, while contradicting explanations for the explosion crackled through the receiver for 20 minutes. "One minute we heard that it is an Israeli attack, the next we're told that it's not," he says, about the confusion from high command, while fighters kept a nervous watch on the surrounding streets.
Soon, though, his unit received orders to stand down and assist in the emergency response by opening roads for ambulances, even as the south of the country remained on battle readiness.
Israel has denied any involvement in the explosion, and even Hezbollah's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, didn't finger his bitter foe, instead indicating that the explosion was an industrial accident. After it quickly emerged that more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for six years in a government-run port hangar, had caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, a shocked public became enraged. A furious and devastated nation focused its anger on a ruling class inherited from the 1975–90 civil war, enriched after the war through loyalty to the foreign patrons they fought for and clinging to power through sectarian division.
Economic collapse had already sparked a mass anti-establishment revolt in October, and the government's inept handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded popular outrage. The port explosion, however, exposed the Lebanese to the unfathomable cost of the corruption endemic in an establishment tethered to backers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and France. And Hezbollah—having grown from its guerrilla origins in the 1980s to become the most powerful military force in the country, not only dominating Lebanon's political system but operating as a major player in regional politics—is at the center of this establishment, maintaining its rule.
"All the political forces lead the country to this point. It's not just one," says Ahmad Moussalli, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut who specializes in Islamic political movements. He was at home in the suburbs 15 kilometers from the capital when the mushrooming fireball shook his flat like an earthquake; it was felt as far away as Cyprus. "But because Hezbollah is so strong, there is a narrative acceptable to many people that Hezbollah, in one way or another, helped the corrupt class in order to keep its weapons and its plan for the country," continues the professor.
Moussalli can't see Lebanon's governing elite and system of sectarian patronage surviving the political fallout from the explosion. "The political establishment in Lebanon is finished," he contends. "It's dysfunctional and it will not survive the current crisis."
For Lebanese American University political science professor Imad Salamey, however, Lebanon's establishment appears to be more resilient and able to retain power, despite overwhelming popular opposition.
"The political system here doesn't go by public mood," argues Salamey, who is skeptical that the mass protests have the leverage to force out the entrenched establishment and uproot the sectarian system. "The system here goes by global and regional forces that orchestrate the government."
The Disturbing Story Behind the Beirut Port Explosion
Ian Urbina
A specialist in ethnic and sectarian political polarization, Salamey describes how the shock wave from the blast brought back memories of running from bombardment during the civil war. He laments that his child now bears scars that echo his generation's; his 18-year old son narrowly survived a building collapse in the explosion, afterward joining frantic efforts to rescue people from the rubble.
Salamey sees the current political crisis as similar to that of the mid-1970s, when mass protests demanding democratic political and social transformation faced an entrenched sectarian leadership that maneuvered to plunge the country into civil war.
Back then, a socialist upstart from the Druze community named Kamal Jumblatt led the charge against sectarian politics while embracing pan-Arabism. Today; his son, Walid—who took over the Druze-based Progressive Socialist Party after his father's assassination by the Syrians during the civil war—is one of the pillars of the sectarian establishment that people in the streets want to tear down.
"If things get bad, they will go to civil war, establish their cantons, and run their own separate affairs," Salamey says, about the willingness of the established parties to cling to power despite the depths of the national crisis. "As long as you see this regional dynamic of sectarian struggle going on, I don't expect Lebanon to go against this momentum and form an alternative regime."
Rooted in France's colonial legacy, Lebanon's political system is divided among the country's Christian, Druze, Shia, and Sunni Muslim communities. After the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended the 15-year civil war, Parliament altered from having a slight Christian edge to being balanced between Muslim and Christian, but the sectarian system remained in place, and the militia leaders became party leaders in it. They proceeded to enrich themselves through their control of the economy and corrupt rebuilding contracts, while neglecting the social safety net and infrastructure. So undrinkable tap water and daily power cuts across the electricity grid continued.
However, the recent mass, cross-confessional opposition in the streets—where protesters chant "all of them means all of them" as they demand the ouster of a corrupt ruling class—is now a major force in a bankrupt country, where police could hardly be seen during rescue efforts but were out in force to teargas protesters.
The movement already brought down a government in November; following the explosion, it forced the end of the appointed caretaker government. However, the August 31 selection of Mustafa Adib as prime minister–elect reflects the consensus of the embattled establishment on a choice that they hope will please the French and bring much needed foreign aid.
Abu Karim and Abu Naim are staunchly loyal to the movement inspired by the Iranian revolution and its base in Lebanon's historically marginalized Shia community. Both still believe Israel is somehow behind the explosion. They say it's an impression they are being given unofficially by their commanding officers, even as Nasrallah focuses attention on the investigation and struggles to publicly position Hezbollah as a voice of popular outrage against corruption. Nonetheless, both acknowledge that Hezbollah supporters are furious in the wake of the blast and generally believe it was rooted in negligence and corruption.
"There are people who support Hezbollah who say we've had it, enough is enough," says Abu Karim. "But it is only a matter of time before they change their mind."
Moussalli describes Hezbollah as in a corner, caught between its Iranian patron, which doesn't want it to cooperate with international recovery efforts, and the needs of its Shia support base. It is why, he says, Nasrallah is striking a conciliatory tone toward the international community and the political demands in the streets, while trying to deny Hezbollah's role in the system's failure.
Most of Hezbollah's base, Moussalli suggests, doesn't believe that Israel was involved in the blast. He says it's significant that only a small minority of hard-liners blame Israel, in a country where a long history of Israeli military aggression usually makes it a popular suspect when disaster strikes.
"Although the Shia community in general supports Hezbollah, I think everyone in one way or another is saying we can't take it anymore," Moussalli says.
But for some Hezbollah loyalists, it seems that change and accountability are rooted in a reckoning with its old enemy to the south. "We believe this is definitely sabotage; it was definitely a bomb detonated on purpose," Abu Naim states in a tone of absolute certainty. It is a perspective reinforced by continued Lebanese-Israeli tensions, like the August 26 Israeli airstrike on a guard tower near the Syrian border. And yet he says that if he believed that Hezbollah knew about the ammonium nitrate in the port storage hangar or was involved in corruption leading to the explosion, he'd quit.
Abu Karim is less emphatic. Despite Nasrallah's public denial, he acknowledges that Hezbollah had a clear and independent watch on the port and must have known about the dangerous substance that was stored in vast quantities in a place so central to its interests. While he struggles to explain why Hezbollah didn't do anything about it, he is not concerned about the explanation.
"From inside the organization, no one cares much, because it's a way of living," he says about what shapes his perspective. "Without this organization, you will suffer financially. You keep your opinion to yourself."
Moussalli believes that Hezbollah could be the only part of the establishment to survive the system's collapse. He sees in its strong base of ideologically loyal supporters a movement that will remain as a powerful force in any new political system, regardless of the increasing internal and external dissent it's facing.
"Probably if Hezbollah goes along, it will be the major player, not only by force and facts on the ground, but in a legitimized way," he predicts, saying this is the reason the party is embracing the outrage of its base while keeping its fighters prepared for the next war. It is why, he says, Nasrallah has been open to international support for Lebanon and initiatives by French President Emmanuel Macron, despite strong Iranian opposition.
"Hezbollah is ultimately a Lebanese party, and its community and supporters are Lebanese," Moussalli asserts. "Iran may be ready to sacrifice Hezbollah, but Hezbollah is not willing to sacrifice itself."
Jesse RosenfeldTwitterJesse Rosenfeld is a journalist who has covered the Middle East since 2007. Based in Ramallah, Tel Aviv, Gaza City, Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul, and Athens over the years, he has also reported from Iraq and the Balkans, contributing to The Nation, The Daily Beast, The Intercept, and Al Jazeera, among others. His work in the region is the basis of the National Film Board of Canada documentary Freelancer on the Front Lines.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Hetty's sudden resignation prompts Callen and the NCIS team to investigate the reason why she would disappear in the hopes of tracking her d...
A Navy SEAL imposter's death gives the team a lead on a missing canister used to make deadly bombs....
Deeks resumes an old alias he is not fond of in order to protect his best friend and chief informant from a criminal group that wants him de...
After a rocket engine expert is killed, NCIS tech operator Eric Beale goes undercover for the first time to ensure that the classified techn...
When an attempted robbery takes place at a secure facility on a Marine base, Kensi must determine what the thief intended to steal....
NCIS investigates whether the life of a Venezuelan politician is in danger after a Navy Intelligence Commander who is responsible for tracki...
Harm's Way
Sam resumes a former alias and boards a one-way flight to Yemen in hopes of tracking down a terrorist group's leader and rescuing the hostag...
Deeks' morning routine is disrupted when he is shot during a convenience store robbery, leaving the NCIS team to investigate whether he was ...
Empty Quiver
Suspicious of an undercover venture involving a deal between corrupt cops and military personnel, Callen and Sam try to expose the illegal o...
After Callen catches a man breaking into his house, a former KGB operative leads the NCIS team to a shipment of counterfeit computer chips e...
Lockup
Sam goes undercover as a prisoner to track down a terrorist group responsible for several bombings around the world....
The team looks for the person responsible when classified pentagon documents are uploaded to a blog site....
The NCIS team uncovers an experimental Navy tracking system when a body containing a top-secret residue is stolen from an autopsy room. Mean...
Kensi connects personally with a discharged Navy Intelligence officer suffering from post traumatic stress disorder who is the sole survivor...
Hetty and the NCIS team continue to search for an elusive book that has the attention of several foreign security agencies....
When a murdered antiques dealer's book of top-secret information goes missing, Hetty sends the NCIS team on a mission to find it....
Wanted terrorists and top secret information are all involved in NCIS's investigation into the kidnapping and murder of a retired army Serge...
After terrorists kill a state department employee and a plastic surgeon, the team searches for the only witness who can identify the killers...
Callen's ex-partner (Marisol Nichols) takes a Navy recruitment center hostage....
The team races against time to save a Naval Commander's daughter after seeing a video of her being buried alive....
The team investigates the murder of a Marine who had top-level security clearance, and the corpse is missing a hand....
The NCIS team jumps into action when video surveillance footage shows an ambush on a humvee transporting Marines in the desert. Meanwhile, N...
After a mysterious hit squad takes out a Special Agent on assignment, the NCIS team jumps into action before the next target is set....
When one of their own disappears while undercover, the team must work alongside LAPD on a case involving human-trafficking, money laundering...


before an estimated crowd of 850 at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center.
tackled by other contestants -- a pro-life perspective on abortion.
for a title � and the $13,000 in scholarship money that came with it.
minutes before she was announced as the winner.
about the abortion-breast cancer link.
time. "But this is a health issue, not a political one."
helped prepare the crowd and judges for the selection of her successor.
"I've called it my 'Miss Oregon pregnancy,' and man am I glad it's over."
considered being in a pageant before, but God's brought me this far."
the Miss America Pageant Sept. 21, televised on ABC.


text:
Information & Referrals
12:00-4:00 P.M. Cards, bingo and pool, also open Sundays for special events.
9:30 a.m. Arts & Crafts
10:00 a.m. Rhythm and Blues- In the lounge.
10:00 a.m. Ballroom Aerobics
10:30 a.m. Italian Class-
10:30 a.m. Low-Vision Support Group-
No meeting this month. See you Oct. 20
11:00 a.m. Ballroom Cardio
1:00 p.m. Mah Jongg, Scrabble, Bingo
5:00 p.m Book Club -last Monday of the month
5:30 p.m. Pickle Ball
NIGHT TIME PROGRAMS. The Center will be open Monday evenings 6:00 till 8:00 p.m. Members can enjoy cards, pool and games.
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Pool Room is Open
6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. Train Hobbyists- downstairs
9:00 a.m. Beginner's Line Dancing Class
9:30 a.m. Stretch, Strengthen & Stabilize
10:00 a.m. Ceramics Class
10:00 a.m. Gospel Choir Class
10:30 a.m. Osteoporosis Preventative Exercise Class-Linda Ball
11:30 a.m. Morning Glorys/ Sing Along
1:00 p.m. Billiards Club meeting 2nd Tuesday of the month
1:00 p.m. Club C meeting-Bingo
1:00 p.m.-3p.m. Book Club- last Tuesday of each month.-Welcomes new members.
1:30 p.m. Tap Dance Class
2:00 p.m. Women's Club- 3rd Tuesday of the month
2:00 p.m. Quilting Group
4:15 p.m. Yoga Class
9:30 a.m. Rhythm & Blues (In the Lounge)
9:30 a.m. Intermediate Tai Chi Class
10:00 a.m. MCS Band Rehearsal
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1:00 p.m. French Class
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9:30 a.m. Computer Beginner Class-Pre registration required.Next session begins Sept. 11.
10:00 a.m. Writers Unlimited every other Thursday
10:00 a.m. Line Dance Class
11:00 a.m. Computer Beginner Class-Pre registration required. Next session begins Sept.11.
1:00 p.m. Beginner's Spanish Class
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9:00 a.m-11:30 a.m. Free Haircuts- Call Nancy Reed, Front Desk Receptionist 203 877-- 877-5131 ext. 2145 9:00 a.m.- 12:-- noon
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12:00 noon- 4:00 p.m. Cards, Bingo, Billiards and special program events. Hot Dogs are available for $1.50 each.
Are you interested in playing Ping Pong at our Center? Please call Program Director Amanda Berry at 203 877-5131
For information on Computer Classes, call Amanda Berry 203 877-5131. Pre-registration is required. Changes to classes may occur after appearing on our web site. Please call Amanda Berry for additional information.
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text:
Myanmar–Turkey relations are the foreign relations between Myanmar and Turkey. Turkey has an embassy in Naypyidaw and Myanmar's ambassador in Cairo, Egypt is also accredited to Turkey.

Diplomatic relations
Relations were tense between Myanmar and Turkey because of Turkey's support for the Kuomintang in Taiwan. Burma had hostile relations with Taiwan and intercepted a cargo plane from Taiwan bringing Turkish and American supplies to the Kuomintang. This caused a new diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Burma. Relations improved afterward and were amicable.

Relations became very tense in 1988 after Tatmadaw's very violent crackdown on peaceful civilian demonstrators. Aung San Suu Kyi gained admiration and sympathy in Turkey during as a result of Tatmadaw's actions. Turkey subsequently suspended its aid programs except for humanitarian aid. Turkey was very critical of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest and collaborated with United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who took a personal interest in her wellbeing.

Economic relations
 Trade volume between the two countries was 38.7 million USD in 2018 (Turkish exports/imports: 30.7/8 million USD).

See also

 Foreign relations of Myanmar
 Foreign relations of Turkey

References

Further reading
 "Minorities in Burmese History." In Ethnic Conflict in Buddhist Societies. Edited by K. M. de Silva et al. London: Pinter Publishers, 1988.
 "Myanmar in 1989: Tatmadaw V." Asian Survey 30, no. 2 (February 1990): pp. 187–95.
 "Myanmar in 1990: The Unconsummated Election." Asian Survey 31, no. 2 (February 1991): pp. 205–11.
 Cady, John F. The United States and Burma. The American Foreign Policy Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976.
 Gravers, Mikael. Nationalism as Political Paranoia in Burma. An Essay on the Historical Practice of Power. 2nd rev. ed. London: NIAS-Curzon, 1998.
 Guyot, James. "Burma." In Rethinking Political Development in Southeast Asia. Edited by Norma Mahmood. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya Press, 1994.
 Hall, D. G. E. Burma. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1960. Renard, Ronald D. "For the Fair Name of Myanmar: They Are Being Blotted out of Burma's History." In Burma: Myanmar in the Twenty-First Century— Dynamics of Continuity and Change. Edited by John J. Brandon. Bangkok: Thai Studies Section, Chulalongkorn University, 1997.
 Seekins, Donald M. The Disorder in Order: The Army-State in Burma Since 1962. Bangkok: White Lotus, 2002.
 Taylor, Robert H. The State in Burma. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987.
 Tinker, Hugh. The Union of Burma. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.
 Trager, Frank N. Burma: From Kingdom to Republic. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1966.

Turkey
Bilateral relations of Turkey

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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let startServer = function() {
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            console.log('Starting:', 'processIdentity: ' + i +
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                ' processId:' + w.process.pid)
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        cluster.on('exit', onExit);
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    if (cluster.isMaster) {
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};

console.log('Starting: ', process.env['FRT_ENV'] || 'development')
if(config.singleCore || _.isUndefined(config.singleCore) || _.isNull(config.singleCore)) {
    process.env['processIdentity'] = 'single core'
    startServer();
}else {
    startMultiCore();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We don't have a description for The Hound of the Baskervilles, but if you head over to Amazon they'll be able to tell you what this book is about!
A classic, must read book, I was not disappointed!
Of all the Sherlock Holmes stories I was looking forward to this one the most and it did not disappoint! So clever and eerie; it truly is a masterpiece.
one of my first reads---I could not put this down and was terrified!
I love the eccentricity of Sherlock Holmes and his powers of deduction. The little plot twists only come together in the final chapters leaving you wondering what is going to happen next and with rarely a clue as to the who and the why, And of course it keeps you gripped to learn more until the final denouement.
Maybe because I have seen numerous adaptations (most notably the BBC makeover one) before I read this, the pleasure dwindled greatly. Otherwise, I am sure a fan of the greatest fictional detective ever. All hail Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!
In one of Sherlock Holmes' most iconic adventures, the game truly is afoot. A ghostly howling is heard across the foggy moors as the stage is set for a truly entertaining read. Holmes and Watson are tasked with finding the source of the howls as well as deciphering the curse of the Baskerville family. There isn't much to say on this story that either wouldn't give away the plot or couldn't be said about almost any Sherlock Holmes mystery. If you like mysteries or just Sherlock Holmes, this one will be a good read.


text:
Power against poverty: Patrick Lynch (left) Caritas, Jersey CEO, presents JE Director of Human Resources with the Living Wage Employer plaques
Jersey Electricity has been accredited as a Living Wage Employer. It is the second Island utility company to join the voluntary accreditation scheme that aims to play a part in eradicating poverty in Jersey.
JE's 300-plus permanent employees are all paid in excess of the Living Wage already, currently £10.55 an hour. JE joined the scheme earlier this year and having reviewed its contractors, is pleased to now confirm that all are signed up to the Living Wage, too.
Unlike the minimum wage of £8.32 per hour, the Living Wage rate is not a legal requirement in Jersey. The aim of the Living Wage is to make sure that a worker receiving the Living Wage, topped up by in-work benefits, is able to meet basic living costs.
The Living Wage is calculated to cover the basic essentials of living, including housing, food and transport.
JE Director of Human Resources, Andrew Welsby said: 'As a large inclusive employer we are committed to the wellbeing of our people and creating a great place to work. As an essential service provider, our business touches everyone in the Island. We feel we have a great social responsibility. We not only want to ensure those we do business with pay their people enough to enjoy a basic standard of living, but also lead by example and encourage other businesses to improve the living standards of all Jersey's lowest paid.'
Caritas Jersey has been licensed by the Living Wage Foundation in the UK to manage and co-ordinate the promotion of a 'Living Wage' in Jersey.
Former States Deputy, Jennifer Bridge leads The Jersey Living Wage Campaign Team. She said: 'We are delighted that JE has been successful in their application for accreditation. We recognise that JE was already paying its staff at least the Living Wage and are pleased that it has now extended this to sub-contractors. The Living Wage is about thriving and not just surviving. It enables workers to have the opportunity to play a greater part in our community life by being paid fairly to work reasonable hours.
'Our campaign is currently focusing on lifting the wages of sub-contractors such as cleaners, security guards and other outsourced workers. We have seen a growing appetite in Jersey to do business ethically and a desire to play a part in reducing poverty. Now that we have a number of large well-known businesses behind the campaign, we look forward to others following suit.'
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Summary: Each of us fight for different reasons. What's yours?
Laughter flees and sorrow conquers.
As enemies clash once again.
The assassin paused, the double katars crossed in front of him; a strong defense against any unexpected attacks. He peered cautiously around a curtain of hanging vines. There.
In a small clearing stood a creature, somewhat like a woman tangled in a plant. A dryad. Her arms were held slightly apart from her body, vine tendrils twining around her fingers. She was absolutely unclothed, save for the thin vines and soft leaves twisting around her body, covering her more intimate areas. Intricate dark markings contrasted on her pale skin, swirling around her curves. Her legs ended in many stubby root-like feet. Uprooted from the ground, they only slightly depressed the thick carpet of fallen leaves.
It was almost incomprehensible that such a beautiful and elegant creature could be the source of so much sorrow, regret and fury in the assassin's heart.
And now her eyes were closed, a faint smile playing on her lips as vines waved around and expertly twisted her long dark green hair, braiding and coiling it into a complicated arrangement set on her head.
The assassin tensed. He could hear a faint musical tune... Was she singing? No matter. Now would be a perfect time for an attack, while the monster was engaged in her elaborate grooming. He reached within himself, finding the pulsing mana core deep in his soul. Pulling out the spiritual energy, he molded a faint blue aura around himself.
"Cloaking!" He whispered under his breath, as he began to fade from plain view. In seconds, only a faint shimmer was left where the assassin had stood, easily mistaken for a heat wave.
Stepping carefully out from behind the vines, he padded quickly but silently towards the dryad. Her back facing him, the dryad continued humming her song. Training that Cloaking skill had certainly proved its worth; the dryad did not sense him at all.
Raising his right katar, the assassin's clenched fist tensed on the handle. He was definitely contracted to Death now. There would be no escape; only one of them would leave this clearing alive.
His eyes hardened with resolve. Focusing his sight on his target, the assassin slashed the raised blade down savagely and, just as vines inserted a long thorn into her hair to hold it in place, a long deep gash tore through the dryad's pale back.
Hissing with shock, the dryad spun around, anger marring her perfect features. Light greenish sap oozed out from the cut to form a seal around the wound, pulling it closed seamlessly, as if it had never opened before.
The assassin swore silently. He had known of the dryad's incredibly fast healing abilities, but nothing had prepared him for such speed and skill. He could tell his Cloaking would not last for much longer and he sidestepped immediately, both katars striking with unnatural speed. New slashes appeared and vanished almost immediately as the dryad's ruby eyes darted about wildly, vines and roots readying for combat.
With a soft popping sound, the assassin blinked back into view, his half-masked face coldly emotionless as he continued his barrage of attacks on the dryad.
Snarling contemptuously at the sight of a mere human attacker, the dryad twitched her index fingers and new vines sprung up from the ground, bursting through the rotting leaves. The razor-sharp creepers carved bloody lines on the dirty white bandages around the assassin's calves before retracting instantly.
Eyes narrowing a little, the assassin's tattered scarf whirled about his body as he darted to the left of the dryad, katar blades flashing in the morning sun. His arms were a blur of black, blood-red and silver as he wove through the stabbing vines which were always a fraction of a second too late to catch the lithe figure.
Thoroughly enraged now, the dryad commanded new vines to extend, this time viciously equipped with hooked thorns. They spun and twisted into a drill-like spearhead, and by the looks of it, undoubtedly sharp and tough enough to pierce through one's body, armor or not.
//Die, Assassin!// The dryad screeched, her serrated vine spear raised and prepared to strike.
The assassin swiftly raised his expertly crafted and refined katars over his chest, pure white hair falling over his eyes just as the vine spear struck home. The shock of the blow sent him flying across the clearing, skidding to a halt against a tree.
Battered as he was, the assassin was still alive. The dryad gave a scream of pure rage and stepped menacingly towards the fallen assassin, another vine spear already forming to replace the shattered one.
The assassin rose shakily, supporting his protesting body with a katar. He knew he only had enough strength for one last blow. One last chance. It had to be enough.
He began to raise both katars, eyes boring into the terrifyingly beautiful dryad.
Then, he started; his arms were trapped! A sudden jerk slammed the assassin against the unforgiving tree trunk, head snapping backwards and forward again. Wincing at the aching of his abused body, the assassin felt a growing dread as he realized the monster's plan. When he fell earlier, sturdy vines had twisted around his arms and torso, now pressing him in a rough T against the tree. When the dryad attacked again, he would be defenseless.
Now rendered immobile, the assassin struggled fruitlessly, finding that the vines securely looped around his arms and chest simply tightened when he did so. He gasped for breath, chest desperately heaving under the constriction. In no hurry, the dryad's face was calm and peaceful, barely masking the fury beneath. She watched him writhe in her vines with predatory amusement, pulling the vines tighter and tighter with a wave of her hand, until the assassin went limp, trapped hanging in his bonds.
//Well, Assassin, you have done a very good job.// Stalking forward, the dryad purred, ignoring the hatred that shone through the assassin's deep red eyes. A single vine rose up, trailing across the assassin's face, leaving behind a long line of blood. The vine abruptly whipped away, opening a wide gash on the assassin's right cheek. He barely flinched.
//However you try, you cannot beat me, Assassin. I will kill you like I did the rest.// Hissing, the dryad leant closer. //That damnèd village I ripped apart... Your friends and family lived there, didn't they?// Her harsh laughter filled the clearing as the assassin thrashed, snarling and whining and snapping like a wild animal.
//My dear avenger, how brave! Have you ever stopped to consider me, though?// Her mouth twisted. //Did you actually think that shy tree nymphs, such as us, would destroy a puny human village for nothing? No, you forget! You damnèd humans stripped our land and slaughtered my kin! Delicious justice, isn't it, Assassin? Your family, for mine. And you come here for revenge? I think not.// The dryad paused, trembling in anger.
//You shall DIE!// Rage overwhelmed the dryad, and she raised her second spear, jabbing it viciously towards the assassin's head.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the spearhead filled the assassin's vision. Horror flooded his mind and his body reacted instinctively.
Ducking his head, he violently twisted his torso to the right, whipping his legs up into a butterfly kick. A loud pop rang through the air as his still ensnared left arm wrenched out of its socket and his jaw clenched tightly in pain. The kick connected with the surprised dryad's chest, making her stumble backwards and lose balance. Some of her vines had snapped under the pressure and the spin had allowed the assassin to loosen the remaining hold on him.
The assassin landed crouched on the leaf litter, useless left arm hanging loosely at his side. Probably dislocated, he thought, a necessary sacrifice made to save his own life... "So that I can take life from another?" A quiet voice whispered in his mind. Surprised, he quickly banished the thought, focused on assessing his strength and planning his last attack.
The dryad was already recovering. She was thoroughly enraged now, glowering at him as she readied her spear once again. True to his training, he forcefully blocked out the gut-wrenching agony shooting through his limp arm, and stood, shrugging off the snapped vines still clinging to his body. Spiked levels of killing intent charged the atmosphere as the enemies sprung at each other.
A sudden silence fell over the clearing with the two figures frozen in the centre, disturbed only by the heavy breathing of both foes.
Leaves that were kicked up fell softly to the ground, followed quickly by a continuous hot stream of blood, staining the dead leaf litter bright red.
A venomous hiss. The dryad futilely attempted to push further, stopped by the hilt of a katar pressed against her chest. Paying no heed to the blade buried deep in her body, she glared defiantly at the assassin.
The twisted vines had speared through the assassin, slanting outwards, smashing the left collar bone and exiting from the back of the shoulder. His heaving chest was the only sign of exertion; everything else was hidden behind a blank mask.
Now he straightened, pulling his katar out with a jerk. He looked at the dryad who had just tried to kill him, the dryad who had caused the deaths of all his precious people. He had been unable to protect them... As an assassin, only revenge had been left, and now it was finally done.
The dryad coughed wetly. Her eyes still smoldered with raw hate, but her arms did not obey her any longer. The vine spear loosened its complicated twist, shriveling and withering within the assassin's terrible wound.
The dryad and the assassin locked eyes for a second longer, each hating the other with every bit of their existence. Then the moment was gone, the dryad throwing her head back in a silent scream as her body hardened and petrified, cracking lines splitting across the surface.
The assassin stared at the spectacle impassively. The dryad was gone. That was all that mattered.
A stab of pain resounded through his body and he staggered, reminded of his injuries. Bile rose in his throat as he retched, every movement amplified in pain. A trembling hand fumbled at his side pouch, grabbing hold of a glass vial with thick white liquid sloshing inside. Flicking away the stopper, he drank the entire potion, wincing at the bitter aftertaste accompanying it.
The assassin grunted, feeling a welcome numbness spread through his body, followed by gentle warmth. He stood motionless as he felt his battered body repair, minor cuts sealing and torn muscles healing. His dislocated shoulder and the wound sustained from the spear were far too serious to be cured so easily. He'd need a healer for those. If he even managed to get back to Umbala town.
Still, he had escaped alive from that monster, a feat none before him had achieved. He would be the one to leave alive.
The assassin took a step back, faltering but catching himself in time before he collapsed. Leaning heavily against the rough tree trunks, he retreated slowly to his initial shelter, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Sinking to the ground behind the large rain tree, he stared blankly at the swaying sun-touched leaves, rustling, whispering, as if trying to tell him secrets of the past and future. There was no more music in the air.
The assassin struggled to keep his eyes open. Dully, he realized that he had probably lost too much blood. He had hoped to survive this. It seemed that Death had other plans. Before darkness claimed him, one last coherent thought flashed through his mind.
I have avenged you, my friends. Finally, rest in peace.


text:
package io.bootique.jdbc.junit5.derby;

import io.bootique.BQCoreModule;
import io.bootique.BQRuntime;
import io.bootique.command.Command;
import io.bootique.command.CommandOutcome;
import io.bootique.jdbc.DataSourceFactory;
import io.bootique.junit5.BQTest;
import io.bootique.junit5.BQTestFactory;
import io.bootique.junit5.BQTestTool;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

import javax.sql.DataSource;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

@BQTest
public class DerbyTester_TestFactoryIT {

    @BQTestTool
    static final DerbyTester db = DerbyTester.db();

    @BQTestTool
    final BQTestFactory testFactory = new BQTestFactory();

    @Test
    public void testCreateRuntimeWithTestFactory() {
        BQRuntime rt1 = testFactory
                .app()
                .autoLoadModules()
                .module(db.moduleWithTestDataSource("ds"))
                .createRuntime();

        DataSource ds1 = rt1.getInstance(DataSourceFactory.class).forName("ds");
        assertNotNull(ds1);

        BQRuntime rt2 = testFactory
                .app()
                .autoLoadModules()
                .module(db.moduleWithTestDataSource("ds"))
                .createRuntime();

        DataSource ds2 = rt2.getInstance(DataSourceFactory.class).forName("ds");
        assertNotNull(ds2);
        assertSame(ds1, ds2);
    }

    @Test
    public void testRunWithTestFactory() {

        Command c = cli -> CommandOutcome.succeeded();
        CommandOutcome ran = testFactory
                .app()
                .autoLoadModules()
                .module(db.moduleWithTestDataSource("ds"))
                .module(b -> BQCoreModule.extend(b).addCommand(c).setDefaultCommand(c))
                .run();

        assertTrue(ran.isSuccess());
    }
}


text:
Massachusetts voters mark their ballots Tuesday
UMass journalism students hit the polls to interview voters
UMass journalism students Elissa Borden, Kathryn Fallah, John Coakley and Alexandra Pigeon (from left to right) outside the Bangs Community Center in Amherst.
Amherst Wire Staff
AMHERST — Students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and residents of the town headed to the polls Tuesday. Many cast votes for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and some opted for third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
UMass Amherst journalism students talked to voters outside of the Bangs Community Center precinct in Amherst Tuesday afternoon. Despite a lack of support among Massachusetts voters, Republican candidate Donald Trump was declared the next president of the United States early Wednesday morning.
Theresa Burke, Colleen Kirby, Natasha Bitak and Justine Panucci (from left to right).
UMass Amherst students Theresa Burke, Colleen Kirby, Natasha Bitak and Justine Panucci voted in the presidential election for the first time in their lives. For these students, voting for Clinton was a "no brainer."
"Above moral characteristics is qualification, and Clinton is just more qualified and better fit for the job," Bitak said. "Electing a woman in office would set a precedent for future elections and for other countries around the world."
Barbara and Hendrik Van den Berg supporting third-party candidate Jill Stein.
Barbara and Hendrik Van den Berg stood on the corner of Pleasant Street and Amity Street from early afternoon until after 5 p.m., advocating for Stein.
"We're out here supporting Stein and Baraka because media doesn't cover them," Van den Berg said.
Van den Berg said she feels no other party has been speaking out consistently on important issues such as the environment, peace and education.
Alice Grendon and Dunan Herman-Parks mediate outside the polls.
Alice Grendon and Dunan Herman-Parks meditated outside the poll to offset the fear that many voters have pertaining to this election.
"It's like when someone dies in an action movie, a part of you feels like it dies when you watch it," Grendon said.
Kaz Romani helped run a bake sale for the Amherst Senior Center inside the poll.
Kaz Romani, who helped run a bake sale for the Amherst Senior Center outside Precinct 5, believes that providing education and strong health care to the American youth is the most important thing for ensuring a future led by a strong government.
"The youth drives our future," Romani said.
If Americans want to see change, they need to put in some kind of effort and take the initiative to create the impact they want to see, Romani said. In order to create positive change, we have to inspire the masses, particularly the younger generations because "it's impossible to swim upstream," Romani said.
Clair Hegarty, Annie Malloy and Samantha Zaino (from left to right).
Clair Hegarty and Annie Malloy, sophomores at UMass, both voted for Clinton because they felt she was "the best option."
UMass student Julia Riordan outside the poll.
Julia Riordan, a UMass journalism student, voted for Jill Stein because her personal beliefs aligned best with Stein's policies.
"It's a horrifying race, I think the two party system we have is discouraging," Riordan said. "Vote for your conscience."
UMass student Nolan Kessinger at the precinct.
Nolan Kessinger, 18-year-old UMass Amherst student, voted for third-party candidate Johnson. He chose Johnson not because the Libertarian platform appeals to him, but because he didn't feel confident in either of the primary party candidates.
Cammie McGovern outside the poll.
Cammie McGovern, 53, and her son Ethan both voted for Hillary Clinton. McGovern hesitated when explaining her choice.
"Uh, because, let's have a sane … no, uh because she's the most qualified candidate."
Ethan did not hide his feelings. He voted for Clinton, he said, "because I hate Trump."
Kim Noel, mother of UMass student Carolyn Noel, outside her polling place in Westfield.
UMass journalism student Carolyn Noel traveled to her hometown, Westfield, to vote with her mother Kim Noel.
"We both realize the importance of exercising our civic right to vote and for this election especially, were thrilled we could do it together and help create history," Carolyn Noel said.
Both women voted for Clinton.
"We believe she is a fit candidate that inspires many and will do great things for our country," Carolyn Noel said. "Her kindness, past experience, and devotion to women's rights and equality all helped make our decision today."
Carolyn's precinct was at her old elementary school, which triggered nostalgia.
"It was crazy to go back there, a place where I would spend my days learning letters and playing on the playground, and now be able to vote for the next president of the United States," Carolyn Noel said. "It just goes to show has fast time goes by and how quickly things change."
Email Mary Carey's Journalism 300 class at [email protected]
UMass SGA discusses proposed amendments to the Survivor's Bill of Rights


text:
New Ponemon Study: Enterprises Eliminating Legacy Firewalls Due to High Costs and Inability to Stop Cyberattacks
60% of Respondents Believe Firewalls are Ineffective in Stopping Cyberattacks Against Applications, Data Centers, and Data in the Cloud; Lack of Flexibility Hinders Digital Transformation Initiatives
Guardicore
BOSTON and TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report, more than 60% of organizations believe that legacy firewalls are ineffective in preventing damaging cyberattacks against applications, data centers, and data in the cloud. As a result, 53% of survey respondents are actively looking to replace legacy firewalls with modern security solutions that are more cost effective, provide greater flexibility and can match the speed and agility digital transformation requires.
The "Rethink Firewalls: Security and Agility for the Modern Enterprise" report, conducted by Ponemon on behalf of Guardicore, surveyed more than 600 security professionals in the U.S. to gain insight into how legacy firewalls are used in the modern enterprise. Digital transformation and the rapid adoption of cloud infrastructure has pushed the boundaries of traditional network security tools. The report demonstrates how legacy security technologies – such as network and 'next-gen' firewalls – hinder agility and fail to secure data and applications across data centers and cloud environments.
"The findings of the report reflect what many CISOs and security professionals already know – digital transformation has rendered the legacy firewall obsolete," said Pavel Gurvich, co-founder and CEO, Guardicore. "As organizations adopt cloud, IoT, and DevOps to become more agile, antiquated network security solutions are not only ineffective at stopping attacks on these properties, but actually hinder the desired flexibility and speed they are hoping to attain."
Rethink Firewalls – Key Study Takeaways
Legacy Firewalls are Failing to Enable Zero Trust: Zero Trust has emerged as an effective framework to help modern organizations protect cloud infrastructure, distributed workforces and applications. According to the report, while 49% of respondents have implemented a Zero Trust model of security to some extent, 63% believe their organizations' legacy firewalls are failing to enable Zero Trust across the enterprise.
Firewalls Fail to Stop Attacks, Leave Organizations Vulnerable: Legacy security technologies fail to minimize the attack surface and increasingly leave organizations vulnerable to cyberattacks. 61% of respondents say their organizations' firewalls could not contain a breach of its data center perimeter, while 64% believe that legacy firewalls are ineffective against modern attacks like ransomware.
Legacy Firewalls Hinder Agility, Cost Too Much to Maintain: Organizations increasingly believe that firewalls are damaging to digital transformation, lacking the flexibility and speed required for modern environments. Fifty seven percent of respondents indicate it can take from three weeks to more than a month to change firewall rules to accommodate an update or new application. This is driving firewall attrition, with more than 53% organizations moving away from firewalls due to costs and complexity.
"The findings of the report shows the number one concern of firewall buyers is whether they can actually get next-gen firewalls to work in their environments. As organizations move into the cloud, legacy firewalls do not have the scalability, flexibility or reliability to secure these environments, driving up costs while failing to reduce the attack surface," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder, Ponemon Institute. "As a result, organizations are reaching the conclusion that firewalls are simply not worth the time and effort and they're actually negatively impacting digital transformation initiatives. This is driving a move toward modern security solutions like micro-segmentation, that can more effectively enforce security at the edge."
On Oct. 27th at 1 p.m. ET, Guardicore will be hosting a webinar with Guardicore customer David Stennett, Sr. Infrastructure Engineer, The Honey Baked Ham Company, and Larry Ponemon, Ph.D, Chairman and Founder, Ponemon Institute, to discuss the findings and strategies for how organizations can replace legacy firewalls with modern security solutions like micro-segmentation for greater flexibility, control and security of data centers, applications and cloud environments.
To register, please visit: https://go.guardicore.com/guardicore-ponemon-webinar-changing-the-face-of-network-security
To download a copy of the report, please visit: https://www.guardicore.com/resources/rethink-firewalls-security-and-agility-for-the-modern-enterprise/
About Guardicore
Guardicore is the segmentation company disrupting the legacy firewall market. Our software-only approach is decoupled from the physical network, providing a faster alternative to firewalls. Built for the agile enterprise, Guardicore offers greater security and visibility in the cloud, data-center and endpoint. For more information, please visit www.guardicore.com or go to Twitter or LinkedIn.
Jake Schuster
fama PR for Guardicore
SOURCE Guardicore
http://www.guardicore.com
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text:
Wear OS by Google tips, tricks and guides: a must read for any user
We explain what it is, which watches use it and much more
By David Nield @davidnield
@davidnield
Google's Wear OS platform is packed with features that makes smartwatches tick, and while it's not matched watchOS for success, it's a powerful platform.
IOt started inside of smartwatches made by Samsung, LG and Motorola. More recently, but it now powers Fossil and its brands like Skagen and Michael Kors, Oppo and Mobvoi's TicWatch series.
Google has made significant changes to improve the experience of living with a Wear OS-packing smartwatch, including iPhone compatibility and better fitness experiences.
Best Wear OS smartwatches
What is Wear OS by Google?
For every smartwatch, there's a software platform running on-screen. With the Apple Watch, it's watchOS. For Fitbit, it's FitbitOS. You get the idea.
Wear OS works slightly differently, however, as Google partners with third-party smartwatch makers. So, instead of a Google-branded smartwatch, you'll instead see watches such as the Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle, Fossil Sport, TicWatch or Skagen Falster 3.
This means there's a much greater variety of designs in the Wear OS catalog. Like the Android smartphone platform, however, the software is essentially the same from device to device.
Google/Samsung Wear OS update 2021
Wear OS is about to go through its biggest change since its launch in 2014, with Google and Samsung joining forces to make a "unified" OS. This means that Wear OS will run on future Samsung smartwatches, and some Tizen OS touches and features will enrich the experience.
What does this mean? It means the future of Wear OS is a lot rosier – with Samsung and Fitbit running Wear OS, it should attract plenty of developers to create apps for the platform.
It also announced usability, speed and battery improvements from the unified OS – and Fitbit will run the fitness tracking elements. While these aren't live yet – it's a big change. We should know more around June - July 2021.
What can a current Wear OS smartwatch do?
Until the 2021 update is live, let's focus on the now.
Wear OS watches, like most, are much more than just second screens for your smartphone. Here's a list of a few abilities, but keep in mind that not all the features below are available on every model.
Daily activity and workout tracking
Heart rate data
GPS location tracking
Google Calendars syncing
Google Maps navigation
Smartphone notifications and calls
Alarm clock and stopwatch
Which Wear OS smartwatch is best?
Below, we've summarised five of the top smartwatches running Wear OS you can buy in 2020, but head over to our complete Wear OS smartwatch buying guide for the full list.
Best Wear OS watch: Oppo Watch
Buy now: Amazon |
Launched in 2020, Oppo's debut smartwatch merges Wear OS with its own Color OS and wraps it up in a square design that will make you think of the Apple Watch.
Available in 41mm and 46mm sizes, it has all of those key Wear features like notifications, watch faces, payments and a built-in speaker and microphone.
The larger Oppo Watch gives you added LTE connectivity, a high resolution display and quicker fast charging support. If you can live without those features, the smaller option still serves as a smart-looking watch companion.
Best affordable Wear OS watch: TicWatch E2
The best example of a truly budget watch in the Wear OS collection, the TicWatch E2 is feature-packed, offers a great screen, and is ideal for more sporty users.
The design isn't as svelte or easy on the eye as more expensive watches running the software, but you won't find a better overall package for this low a price tag.
Best looking Wear OS watch: Skagen Falster 3
Arguably the sleekest set of smartwatches to run Wear OS is the Skagen Falster series, which received another upgrade at the start of 2020.
It adds the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip to existing features such as GPS, NFC, heart rate and waterproofing support the first iteration lacked, and it's a versatile option for both men and women.
Best Wear OS watch for women: Michael Kors Access Sofie HR
A follow-up to the popular original, the Access Sofie HR brings a much-needed heart rate monitor, GPS and support for Google Pay.
This is still a smartwatch with design as its core focus, but you now have the option to use it as a fully-fledged exercise companion.
Best Wear OS watch for exercise: Suunto 7
The sports watch maker's debut smartwatch leans on Wear OS to bring features like payments, notifications and fitness tracking. It then provides its own take on tracking outdoor activities like running and cycling with the ability to add maps to find popular routes to explore.
It comes in a range of colors, bands and has a nice big bezel to class up that look when you're not clocking up those big miles.
Wear OS tips and tricks
Change watch face
Like the Apple Watch, Wear OS lets you set up a bunch of customised faces and then switch between them. Maybe you like a sporty face that shows your stats , but a more classic look for going out.
Customise a few to your liking, then just switch between them by holding down on the watch face, then swiping left and right across the screen. Super easy. You can also add and switch between watch faces through the Wear OS app.
Pin your favorite apps
If you've got a lot of apps on your watch, it can be a pain scrolling through the list to find them all. But if you have a few go-tos, go to the app drawer and pin them to the top of the menu by simply holding a finger down on the icon for a second. It will then move to the top of the list and get a small star icon to indicate it's 'favorited'.
Share one number
Several Wear OS watches now offer a cellular connection, meaning you can make and take calls from your wrist. Ideally, you don't want to get a second phone number, but some networks including AT&T let you share the same number on your phone. If you do get a watch with LTE, it's worth checking if number sharing is an option.
Get on the Wi-Fi
Wear OS gives your smartwatch a lot more standalone functionality, but to make the most of this you'll want to give it some sort of connection. As soon as you set up your new smartwatch, make sure (assuming it supports it) you get it hooked up directly to your Wi-Fi, meaning you'll be able to browse the Play Store and use features like Google Assistant whether or not your phone is nearby and working. If you didn't do it on the phone during setup, you can connect to Wi-Fi from the watch by going to Settings > Connectivity > Wi-Fi.
Customise your buttons
Some of the more recently Wear OS smartwatches open up the ability to configure the buttons on your watch, letting you create shortcuts to your most-loved features. Head into Settings > Personalization > Customize hardware buttons to choose what you want them to do. If you plan on using Google Pay, we recommend dedicating at least one button to that for convenience, for example.
Keyboard configuration
Typing on a smartwatch screen keyboard isn't ideal, but it's actually not too bad on Wear OS. However to make life a bit easier, we recommend playing with the configurations a bit. Go into Settings > Personalization > Input methods and then tap on Google Keyboard. Here you'll have access to a selection of preferences, but it's the ones under Text Correction that you'll find most handy. You can toggle auto-correction, auto capitalisation, next-word suggestions and other options to make typing on your smartwatch a bit easier.
Use Google Assistant to control your smart home
Google's answer to Alexa and Siri can become a whole lot more useful once you've fiddled around with some of the settings inside the Wear OS app. Aside from asking about your agenda or launching apps, you can also use Assistant to take control of your smart home devices.
Head to the Wear OS app, scroll down and select Google Assistant then Settings: on the Assistant tab you can manage supported smart home devices and create rooms so you can tell your watch to turn on the lights in the bathroom or in the hallway.
See your Google feed
While Google's card-based personal assistant has essentially evolved into Assistant, it still exists in a modified form on your watch. Swipe right from the main watch face to see your feed, which will include events from your calendar, upcoming deliveries, sports scores, weather updates and more.
Quick Settings
It's now much easier to quickly adjust things should the need arise in Wear OS. All you have to do is swipe down from the top to reveal a bunch of Quick Settings – it's so easy you'll forever wonder how you lived without it. You'll get things like Airplane mode and brightness settings. Oh, and Theater Mode. Speaking of which...
Use Theater Mode
You're in a movie theater having a great time, laughing and crying and whatnot. But then you get too excited, you move your arm and your watch lights up like a Christmas tree. Shame on you – just turn on Theater Mode. To do so, swipe down to get to Quick Settings, then tap on the watch icon to deactivate your screen and keep it off. To go back to normal, press the power button on your watch.
Scribble it out
Tired of typing on a tiny watch screen? It's better to scribble things out. You'll get to use your finger to draw out letters that turn into words, and what's pretty cool is the screen will automatically scroll right to left to give you more space to scribble more letters.
In most apps, before you begin typing, you'll be presented with an input choice: do you want to use voice control or the keyboard? You can also access the handwriting option from the keyboard by tapping the globe icon.
Set up and use Google Pay
Wearable payments is one of the strongest arguments for wearable devices. It's just so much more convenient tapping your wrist to a scanner than getting out your phone or wallet. Plus, it saves the people behind you in line a lot of time.
To set up Google Pay, you'll have to download the app on your phone and set it up there first. Once you do that, head to the Google Pay app on your watch and opt to set up a new card. This'll boot you back to your phone, which will have you choose a card, agree to some terms and verify your account.
Once that's all taken care of, you can usually set up one of the side buttons on your smartwatch to be an Android Pay button (under Personalization > Customize hardware buttons in Settings). Then it's all easy peasy: tap that button, and then tap your wrist to pay.
Downloading apps to Wear OS
As is now the growing custom with smartwatches, users can download apps directly from the wrist.
That means you can browse the Google Play Store from your Wear smartwatch and begin enjoying them instantly. Of course, if you prefer, you can still download through a phone over Bluetooth, as well.
Don't forget, many apps, like Spotify and Cardiogram, are pre-installed onto most Wear watches, too. You can tackle our guide on how to download apps to Wear OS, but here's five app suggestions for you to get started with.
UV Index Now
Facer Watch Faces
Check out the rest in our complete list of the best Wear OS apps.
Changing watch faces on Wear OS
Once you've skipped through the tutorial, downloaded a couple of apps and got to grips with the basics of Wear OS, you'll want to customize the thing you'll be looking at most - the watch face.
Whether your preference is digital or analogue, or you want to just change up the widgets the face you've picked, doing so is simple from the watch itself.
1. On your watch, wake the screen.
2. On the home screen, touch and hold the screen for two seconds.
3. View the watch faces available on the watch by swiping from left to right.
4. Tap on the option you want as your new watch face.
Watch faces can be managed through the Wear OS app on your phone as well – tap on one of the watch faces on the front screen, or tap More to see a wider selection.
Check out our favorite Wear OS watch faces in the complete roundup.
Wear OS for iPhone
It's one of the most common questions we get asked: "Can Wear OS watches work with an iPhone?"
The answer is yes. While Apple doesn't let those with an Android smartphone pair with an Apple Watch, iPhone users are able to use Wear OS smartwatches.
And, for a long time, the Wear OS app for iPhone was an extremely shallow experience. However, recent improvements now mean that users can now access information tiles, notification settings, calendar syncing, Google Assistant, Google Fit and add more watch faces.
It's far from the perfect companion app, but it's certainly enough to get by.
How to use Wear OS on iPhone
Tracking activity on Wear OS
Wear OS is slowly becoming a better place for those who like tracking activity, especially since fourth-gen devices began packing GPS and heart rate monitors.
However, having sensors present is only half the job, with every second of logged activity only as useful as the portal used to store it in. In the case of Wear OS, that's the Google Fit app.
Available on both your phone and the smartwatch, Google Fit splits your daily activity into two key components: Move Minutes and Heart Points.
However, it's also the place that stores logged exercises, step counting history, sleep data and weight information, through a tab called the Journal.
Open up the apps list on your wrist and you'll see entries for Fit (your main dashboard), Fit Breathe (a set of breathing exercises), and Fit Workout (for tracking a specific type of activity). The basics, like step counting, are taken care of automatically.
Open up the Fit app to see your stats for today and for recent days. You'll also be able to see your current heart rate, if you're using a watch that supports the feature.
Scroll further down inside the Fit app and choose Settings to customize how the app works: You can set which activities are tracked for example, and which sensors the Google Fit app has access to.
For the most comprehensive Google Fit experience, make sure you've got the Google Fit app for Android installed as well, which is able to sync readings from your wrist.
Sleep tracking on Wear OS
Unfortunately, sleep tracking isn't something that Google Fit supports natively – at least not yet. There have been rumors that Google will introduce it eventually, but as it stands you can't track sleep with a Wear OS watch out of the box.
What you can do is enlist the help of a third-party app. Sleep as Android, is one of the best around, offering full support for Google Fit integration and for tracking sleep through Wear OS devices or your phone – though you do need to pay a one-off fee of $9.99 to unlock the sleep tracking features.
Other than that, some watchmakers (including Fossil and Mobvoi) make their own proprietary sleep tracking apps that use the sensors in your wearable to work out how well you're sleeping. As yet though, they don't integrate with Google Fit.
Wear OS and Google Assistant
Google has always shown more commitment to its Home platform than it has done to Wear, so it makes sense, therefore, why it sees the Google Assistant as an important addition to smartwatch experience.
With the addition of a built-in speaker in fifth-gen Wear OS devices, the Assistant has an even more integral role to play, too.
In terms of the experience from the watch, Google Assistant is both more consistent and more refined than Alexa (which features on just the Fitbit Versa 2 and 3), offering detailed read-outs and a strong integration with apps.
To access Google Assistant on your wrist, swipe right from the main watch face and tap on the microphone icon, or press and hold the power button to bring up Assistant. You can then ask a question or say whatever is on your mind.
A voice command like "turn off the study lights" would then work straight from your wrist (assuming you have some smart lights installed in a room labeled "study").
You can tell your watch to "play music" or "track my run" for example, or ask it questions to find out the time in another city or what the weather is likely to do tomorrow.
If you have Google Messages installed on your watch, you can use the Assistant to send messages (like "call Beth" or "send a text to Chris"). If Google Maps is available, you can ask for directions to a place or ask if there is traffic on your way to work.
Try experimenting with Google Assistant to see what's possible – remember that it's plugged into many other Google services and apps (including Google Calendar, so you can bring up your upcoming schedule).
For ideas on how to use Google Assistant on Wear OS, scan our guide.
Google Pay on Wear OS
Though it was a little late to the contactless payments parade, Google Pay is supported by pretty much every Wear OS smartwatch from 2018 and later.
As you might imagine, this works similarly to Google Pay on smartphones – or, well, any other payment platform.
We've detailed everything Google Pay on Wear OS in our big guide, but, if you already know your watch supports the feature, follow these step-by-step instructions to add a card to your wrist and use it to pay.
Add a payment card to your smartwatch
1. On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
2. Tap the 'Get Started' prompt.
3. Set up screen lock, if you haven't already.
4. On your phone, follow the instructions to add a credit or debit card. This will only add them to your watch, not your phone as well.
5. Your card will then show up on your watch.
How to make a smartwatch payment using Google Pay
1. On your watch, open the Google Pay app and select a card.
2. If asked, choose Credit, regardless of your type of card.
3. For debit card transactions, you may have to enter a PIN.
4. Hold your watch over the contactless payment terminal until you hear a sound or feel vibration from your watch.
Wear OS – how does it compare
There's no doubt that watchOS and the Apple Watch have the edge over Wear OS at the moment – Apple's wearables support a broader range of apps, and offer more stylish and more seamless integration with the iPhone.
That said, Wear OS offers more choice: more choice in watch designs and manufacturers, more choice in watch faces (only Apple-made watch faces are available on the Apple Watch), and more customization options.
If you've got an iPhone, the Apple Watch is an obvious choice for the associated wearable; if you prefer Android smartphones, you can look at Wear OS, but also Samsung Fitbit and Amazfit's collection of smartwatches to look at too.
Wear OS offers strong integration with Android and services like Google Fit and the Google Assistant, even if third-party support isn't as good as it could be.
You could argue Samsung's Tizen OS is better than Wear OS overall, as long as you're sticking to Samsung apps. It does have built-in sleep tracking for example, which is something currently lacking in Wear OS. Amazfit and Fitbit's platform offer more reliable fitness tracking features in our experience.
It's difficult weighing up Wear OS against other smartwatch operating systems – a lot depends on which smartphone you're using, and the features you need.
Wear OS guides for beginners
Getting started with Wear OS can be tricky, and understanding the basics outlined above is essential to your experience with the smartwatch. That's why we've pulled together a collection of quick and easy how-to guides for Wear OS users.
How to set up a Wear OS smartwatch
Reset your Wear OS smartwatch
Updating a Wear OS smartwatch
Making calls on Wear OS
Change the language on Wear OS
Using Google Maps on Wear OS
How to use WhatsApp and Wear OS
Playing music on Wear OS
Using the Wear OS Spotify app
TAGGED Smartwatches Wear OS
David is a freelance tech writer who has been writing about technology, gadgets and gizmos for more than 20 years.
You can find his work on The Guardian, Wired, Gizmodo, PopSci, TechRadar, T3 and many other major publications on the web and in print.
He spends all day, (almost) every day testing out, explaining, and reviewing smartphones, laptops, smart home kit, wearables, and other essential devices.
From iOS to Wear OS, from Samsung to Sony, he's got an intimate knowledge of almost everything going on in the world of technology right now. When it comes to wearables, there aren't many smartwatches, fitness trackers and VR headsets that he hasn't tried and tested – which means he has a wealth of experience to draw on when it comes to talking about something new or the market in general.


text:
Sikandar Ali Hullio
Hunt for the Houbara
Winter, largely in the south of Pakistan, is less cold. In the past, this attracted tourists from the western part of the country. However, an ongoing terror scourge birthed by the global war on terror has robbed the area of its seasonal attraction. The moderate weather, however, still suits and attracts a large number of migratory birds from the west which are then selectively killed.
This season, from Punjab's Bhakkar to Balochistan's Lasbela and from Sindh's Ghotki to Tharparkar, hunters have been reportedly seen and filmed.
These hunters are said to have been on the hunt for a rare, shy and endangered bird, the Houbara Bustard, along with other migratory birds and indigenous animals.
The desert belts as well as some barren and seasonally cropped areas are the hunting grounds for these birds in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is an exception because the provincial government there has banned hunting of endangered animals, despite requests by the federal government which has already issued special grants to overseas hunters, who come loaded with hi-tech sports vehicles and turbans and assisted by the latest electronic gadgets and hosts with elite backgrounds, irrespective of political affiliations.
In recent times the Arab world has attracted cheap labour from this region for its hi-tech development – made possible largely through oil discoveries in the Gulf region. This has led to their prosperity and lavish pleasures.
One of these pleasures is hunting down a migratory and endangered bird, the Houbara Bustard (locally named 'taloor') found mostly in barren and deserted belts across the country.
This year, the news value and controversy on hunting down the Houbara remained at its peak, either on mainstream or social media.
The hunters are mostly from royal families. As they roam around from the plains to the mountains to desert beds, these hunters are treated with specially granted permissions and protocols. They use specified electronic machines and inmate birds to track down their prey.
What is this mythical bird and why are rich hunters so crazy about it? The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the particular variant of the bustard hunted in Pakistan as 'threatened' – a classification below 'endangered' and 'critically endangered'. It is one of those endangered species which flies every year from the Siberian region when mercury there zeroes down, often crossing -50 degrees Celsius.
While the Russians can only dream about the 'warm waters' of this region, their birds don't need any strategic approval – so they fly every year, touch our waters and enjoy the warmth of the weather.
As birds don't need any visa or comply with any border controls, the sky is the limit for them. However, the hunters shoot them down just to please their hunting passion.
The hunt of this bird has become a new, key instrument of our national foreign policy that deals with the Gulf region and its wealthier royals and their rich friends.
In October 2015, there were reports that the federal government had attempted to overturn an earlier Supreme Court edict that banned any governments, provincial or federal, from issuing special hunting permits.
Last month, in Punjab's Bhakkar district, there were some protests against the Arab hunters. The demonstrators shouted slogans against the government and the hunters.
The hunters were apparently destroying the only crop – chickpea – that could be produced in the sandy soil of that particular area and took an entire season to harvest.
In recent years, there have been protests across the country against these hunters for the damage they inflict on the crop. However, local authorities did not consider the destruction as grave as the demonstrators tried to show it was. Rather, the authorities blamed local farmers for being accustomed to getting compensation from royal hunters by holding demonstrations against them.
Arab hunters have also initiated
various 'development projects' in the hunting areas but these are too symbolic and cosmetic to realistically tackle
the area's chronic issues and abject poverty.
Moreover, this is not a matter of endangering or conserving any bird. It is more a matter of protecting your national identity and integrity. It is interesting to see how foreign nationals are granted hunting permissions and how our entire ruling elite crumbles down at the cost of their vested interests.
This needs drastic revaluation and reassessment at the national level. Will any of our ruling elites ever be allowed in any Gulf country for a similar hunting spree?
The writer is an Islamabad-based anthropologist and analyst.


It's grim up the East Midlands. At least when it comes to the beleaguered housing market, according to a recent survey.
The research from L&G Mortgage Club and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) indicates 54% of Nottingham homeowners believe they would get less than a fair price if they sold their homes now – 35% say if they sold right now they would get about 10% less for their home than the price they think is reasonable.
(69% feel it will be the same).
And, as if they didn't have enough to worry about, poor old Nottingham homeowners are also the most concerned about applying for a mortgage in the next 12 months (27%), with 22% stressing that their deposits are too small.


text:
- Make sure you have pyinstaller on your system
- Navigate to the project's folder
- Run the following command: pyinstaller 1100SeriesConverter.spec

Alternatively you can download a binary from github

### Operating Instructions

- Select a folder
- Click convert !

### Remarks

- The program will walk the entire subtree looking for HP Chemstation data and create corresponding csv files.
- One file per detector channel is created, each files regroups all samples.
- CSV can be directly imported into Origin or Excel

## License

HP1100SeriesConverter is released under the [MIT License](LICENSE.md).

HP1100SeriesConverter is not associated in any way to HP or Agilent.


For the past seven years, my session has always made Top 10 each day it is presented. This year is no exception. Our VMworld USA Top 10 Session Monster VM VIRT1309BU is Coming to VMworld Barcelona. The official name of the session is?Monster VMs (Database Virtualization) with?vSphere 6.5: Doing IT Right (VIRT1309BU).?
For the best two years, I have presented this session with David Klee of Heraflux. David has been a wonderful co-presenter. The session will be available on this blog, after VMworld Barcelona. This session has excellent technical content and we try to make sure we have fun along the way of presenting the session.


Yesterday we took Baby Toddler S's 20th flight in her first almost 16 months on this planet. While some flights have been easier than others (and this one was particularly less-than-fun), I think you could reasonably state that we hadn't yet had a "flight from hell" or one of those epic flying with a baby experiences that makes you hurt a little inside for the parents and little ones. Some of that success came from being prepared and strategic, but a lot of it was luck.
After almost 7 years of traveling with little ones we finally had some legitimate bad luck in the sky.
Here are tips to survive a baby's first flight.
Our flight yesterday was a simple enough early afternoon nonstop flight from Houston to Washington DC on United. We had seats together, we were in E+, we were towards the front of economy, and we were as prepared as we could be. I am attending a blogging conference in DC this weekend, and my little ones and parents were along for the ride. I knew we would probably have some sleepy toddler problems since we would be in the air during naptime and it was unlikely she would fall asleep on the plane since she is well past that "sleep anywhere" phase, but I thought we would be okay.
On the flight we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, played toddler games on the iPad, we swapped back and forth between Mom and Grandma, we snacked, we nursed, we snacked some more, and while the toddler was in the redline sleepy zone, we made it through roughly the first 2.5 hours of the flight mostly okay.
As we started our initial descent into DC, I pulled out my final trick in the bag to keep the little one happy…playing with Snapchat filters. I know, it sounds weird, but seriously try it. I loaded up a puppy dog ears filter for her to see in her reflection on the phone, and as I was watching the phone (because what is cuter than a toddler with puppy dog ears)….I saw something that was decidedly not a part of the filter appear in the reflection.
Out of her mouth what I saw coming was not the oversized puppy dog tongue that is a part of the filter, but something different. Something liquid. Something massive. Something stinky. OMG. No.
I looked away from the phone and down into my lap and there was the sleepy toddler covered in vomit. As fast as I could register what had happened, it happened again. Let's rewind for a second and note that a key part of keeping the sleepy toddler entertained on the flight was snacking, nursing, and snacking some more.
I'll skip an overly graphic retelling, but let's just say that thanks to the snacking, nursing, and snacking some more this was not a minor event that could be categorized in the "spit up" category. She and I were covered. There were legitimate puddles in my lap of what was a few seconds ago in her stomach….where it belongs.
Not only were we covered, but she was screaming. Not the "I'm kinda tired and whiney" noises she was making periodically, but full. on. screaming. I had never before been the mom on a plane with a totally screaming child, but you can now add that merit badge to my diaper bag, and I couldn't blame her one bit for her screams.
Obviously I was concerned about the screaming both for her sake and for the others within earshot, but I actually had a more pressing priority. My first job was to try and deal with the 'puddles' that were covering both of us before they spread further. I did what I could using a combination of wipes, airline napkins (oh they stood no match), the airsick bags that nearby passengers were passing our way, and select sections of the in-flight Hemispheres magazine.
Because there was no saving her outfit, I then striped her down to her diaper and contained her destroyed outfit in a ziploc baggie I thankfully had in my diaper bag. Pro Tip: always have a large ziploc. Roughly as we were touching down I had a very tired, almost naked, slightly unwell, but no longer full on screaming baby that I then passed along to Grandma.
I still had to deal with the mess covering me, but at least we were now on the ground. We were stinky. We were grimy. I wasn't sure what to do with the puke covered clothes and Boppy cover for the duration of our trip, but we survived. I was so grateful we weren't heading east over the ocean to Europe or something and instead were heading to our hotel.
In case you are curious about what happened to the contaminated clothes…they were sent out with the hotel laundry for same day cleaning (fingers crossed). Shockingly things like "nursing Bobby cover" and "contaminated baby clothes" weren't listed as options to select on the hotel laundry sheet between more standard offerings like slacks and dress shirt, so we'll see how much this costs!
We have had many good and uneventful flights with a baby and young kids, but it was just our turn for a bad one. I hate that it happened for everyone's sake, but we all lived and after a couple showers and sending out the laundry we no longer smelled like garbage. I think. Fingers crossed our flight home is much less eventful.
Have you earned your "I survived a miserable flight with a baby" badge yet?


Emergency Meeting–OUTSIDE THE SUB ROSA TODAY on Pacific Ave noon Today April 14 NO WAR ON HOMELESS, NO WAR ON SYRIA !
Trump has escalated Obama's War on Syria with multiple rocket strikes last night. With few exception, there is no indication Democratic or Republican politicians have any serious objections to the "more foreign wars" policy.
This war affects everyone, but disproportionately the poor of Santa Cruz and Syria.
No one is safe from the Foreign War machine operating out of Washington, D.C. which has continued and expanded wars for decades. Time to say, NO.
A houseless disabled elderly woman called HUFF an hour ago, calling for a protest tonight.
The Winter Shelter program ended its 100+ spaces for the homeless last night. Local homeless people are calling for an alternate shelter/protest program tonight.
While Police Chief Andy Mills has suspended Sleeping Ban enforcement, survival camps are being swept away, Stay-Away orders regularly issued in parks at night, and other "trespass on public property" citations are being issued regularly.
There is no shelter for the 1000-2000 outside other than the full River St. Campground, the full Association of Faith Communities 20-person program, and the "no room without a 'pathway to housing'" policy of the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center.
HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom) will discuss a resumption of the Vigil Against Two Wars, which the group as done in the past.
Meet outside the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific Ave. in Santa Cruz at noon today to discuss a response.
The Sub Rosa is also the site of the Really Free Market today and we may be able to meet indoors. the weather is expected to be cool to temperate. Coffee may be available.
Free Radio Santa Cruz will be covering these issues in a pre-recorded show Sunday morning 9:30 AM for several hours afterwards on Sunday, April 15th.
Rainy Day Meetings Wednesday 3-6: Conscience & Action 11 AM & HUFF noon at Sub Rosa; Ross Camp Resistance 2 PM Rio Rec Room 2120 N. Pacific Ave.


DO NOT stop taking Seroxat/Paroxetine/Paxil (or any SSRI) without medical supervision. Withdrawal syptoms can start as soon as you miss a single dose and can go on for many months.
Withdrawal syptoms can include akathesia, agitation, mania, psychosis, self harm, suicidal thoughts and actions, violence, fear of loud noises, electric zaps of the head and body, thoughts of homicide, profuse sweating, disturbing nightmares, lack of empathy toward other people, anger, severe memory loss, nausea.
I stopped taking Celexa cold turkey on my own because the nurse who had given me the free sample (2 mos. worth) wouldn't listen to me when I said I thought I wanted to go off it because of the side effects. I had a few of the things you list here, including anger explosions, self-harm, and what medical people insist on calling "anxiety disorder", which I had never had before in my life. I tried to tell psychiatrists, etc. and they said, "It's out of your system by now." I still have the anxiety and occasional explosiveness, and I think it seems like people look frightened of me and I can only guess that I come off as more intense than I can perceive. I have felt a reduction in my empathy for other people, and that was what I considered my only truly good quality. I feel like my brain has been ruined. Thank you for this list. It must be making a lot of people feel less alone.
FYI – symptoms is spelled incorrectly.
I am a miserable human being. After having numerous surgeries, I was put on Zoloft, which I have been on now for the last nine years. I cannot function as other people do, I have no motivation, no drive, no happiness, no normalcy whatsoever.
I also, after the surgeries, continued using pain medications just to feel somewhat normal. I was sent to a rehab in February for a month. After returning, I am not alright, I do not feel well, I cannot get out of bed, I have gambled so much money away that I am sick to death. I have no control. I eat boxes of chocolate, rather than a piece or two. Everything I do is extreme. I feel as though I am going insane. I can't even get excited about my only daughter's upcoming marriage. I NEED HELP!!!!! I don't know where to go, who to see, or how to begin my journey back to happiness and peace.
Can someone please respond and give me some hope.
http://www.prozacbacklash.com has advice from a doctor in a book called The Antidepressant Solution.
Can anyone tell me any good news! I was on Paxil for many years and quite glad to be rid of the depression I was going through at the time. But enough is enough — I tried to quit cold turky in July, but when my husband died in August I went back on Paxil (1/2 what I had been taking) to help me get over my loss. I've weaned off recently and I thought I was doing okay (flu like symptoms, diahhrea, headache, crying) but after reading these blogs I'm worried about how long it will take to feel great again. I need to keep it together for my children. Is there any good news, do some of us recover quicker than others, will I now be able to loose the extra pounds I've been carrying since starting Paxil?
I can only suggest that you keep calling doctors and trying to find one who has the guts to hear the truth about Paxil. I think you really should find a doctor and a psychologist to support you right now. I know how annoying and upsetting going from person to person to get someone to listen to and help you is but what you have described and the other things I have read about Paxil make it sound like you definitely should keep trying to find someone who will actually support you and help you. I tried schema therapy for a while and it really helped with anxiety. It takes quite a while and it seems like it's doing nothing and then one day you come home from something and you realize that your mind feels lighter, less worrying. I would really urge you to try to get a copy of the book The Anti-Depressant Solution. The author has been helping people get off ssri's for at least several years. Support, support, support. That's my best advice. Good luck.
i took paxil for three days and went to the er for my side effects. the doctor insisted i should try another kind of antidepressant. i took myself off of paxil and ignored my doctors requests. i havent had panic attacks but my chest feels tight and im restless, irritable and uncomfortable. i also feel a tingling sensation in my arms and chest. ive been off the paxil for two days now after only taking three doses….could i be experiencing withdrawls after such little time? how long will it take for it to get out of my system? will i ever feel normal again?
The best book I've read on the subject of safe withdrawal from psychiatric medication is 'Your Drug May Be Your Problem – How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medication'.
It was written by Peter Breggin, MD – Harvard Medical School graduate in Psychiatry. Dr. Breggin is a strong voice of dissent within the field, and is called 'the conscience of American psychiatry' by many of his colleagues.
Considering the fact that the SSRIs are clinically no better than placebo, and can cause horrific problems – from addiction to injury in both the brain and body, I would encouarge anyone to read it when making the decision to get off these drugs (I prefer to call them drugs).
He outlines a safe protocol in the book – 10 percent withdrawal at a time, with plenty of support by a good doctor. It can be very dangerous if done any other way.
There are so many alternative methods to treat depression – for instance, Neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback), acupuncture, good therapy, nutrition…..too many to mention in one email.
I mentioned "ten percent at a time"….actually, this would be about the fastest one could go….Dr. Breggin insists it's better to err on the side of caution…..There is no such thing as "too slow"….there is "too fast"….and going too fast can cause further injury…..
Also, I would like to note, I am not a doctor….The book was written by a doctor and outlines the protocol, and strongly recommends working with a doctor…It's worth buying if you are considering withdrawal.
I have founf it very interesting to read up on this drug called Paxil. While I have never taken it myself I do believe that it has ruined my life also. My partner took it for many years and still does and is totally addicted. His thoughts are irrational and his behaviour is something I fail to understand. He too has become a "Gin" baby and drinks the stuff all the time. He is dizzy forgetful and if he forgets the pill he is a basket case. It is so sad to see someones thoughts turn to mush because of a drug that was originally prescribed for SAD. He is now I am sure Bi Polar and makes such awful decisions he goes of on a tangent so often and cannot concentrate and cannot even remember what he was talking about 5 mins ago. I cannot help him anymore as he wont let me. As much as I love him and want to care for him he is making me ill as he has turned into a liar a cheat and a mean nasty person. I totally blame the drug as he was never like this.
Hi Ellen – sorry to hear this – has your partner read Seroxat Secrets? In some people Seroxat can make exactly the changes you write about… try and remember that it's not him – the drug really has altered his mind, changed his personality… if you need support I'd suggest the forums at Paxil Progress or Seroxat Mad – the links are in my blogroll.
Bon courage! Vous aller gagner cetter bataille.
Hello. Has anyone from Australia had any success in suing the drug company for severe withdrawal symptoms?
It is so hard to keep going every day with all the horrific side effects of Seroxat. I feel like GSK have stolen my life. When is anyone going to stop this evil company damaging so many people. GSK people are fragile and people matter – WAKE UP. I have so much anger towards the drugs company-it seems to be taking over my every thought. Everytime I google a bit more…I find myself shocked over and over again, how many tragic cases does there have to be before someone will help us – listen to us. MONEY COMES FIRST FOR GSK. WEALTH BEFORE HEALTH – The company moto – I'm sure.