text:
Emma Dawson
Emma joined IBES in March 2013. Previously she was an adviser to Senator Stephen Conroy from 2008 to January 2013. Emma oversaw the switchover from analogue to digital television and was responsible for media policy, including ABC and SBS funding, broadcast policy, spectrum policy and the Convergence Review.
She is currently working to complete her PhD thesis, which examines the development of SBS Television in the context of media and social policy and technological change over three decades.
Emma is a former Project Manager for SBS, and has served on the Boards of Women in Film and Television and Express Media.
Broadband, Coalition, Liberal
NBN Co's board members resign - but why?
Following the election of the Coalition to government, all but one of the seven members of NBN Co have handed in their resignations. Emma Dawson
Broadband, Campaign
News Corp Australia vs the NBN – is it really all about Foxtel?
Is Rupert Murdoch opposing Labor's re-election because of the NBN?
Level 1, 187 Grattan Street
Parkville 3010 VIC Australia
Email: electionwatch@lists.unimelb.edu.au
Authoriser: Director, University Communications.
Maintainer: University Communications.
Date created: 18 July 2013
Last modified: 7 February 2014


If you lose your vehicle key or need to have a new key programmed to your vehicle the dealership will change the codes in the computer of the vehicle. When these codes are changed it may cause the ArticStart system to lose functionality. You will be required to take the vehicle back to the ArticStart installation company in order to re-program the bypass module. Once the bypass module has been updated with the new codes the remote start system will regain functionality.


text:
namespace content {

class RenderWidgetHostViewBrowserTest : public ContentBrowserTest {
 public:
  RenderWidgetHostViewBrowserTest() : finish_called_(false) {}

  virtual void SetUpInProcessBrowserTestFixture() {
    ASSERT_TRUE(PathService::Get(DIR_TEST_DATA, &test_dir_));
  }

  virtual void SetUpCommandLine(CommandLine* command_line) {
    ui::DisableTestCompositor();
  }

  void FinishCopyFromBackingStore(bool expected_result, bool result,
                                  const SkBitmap& bitmap) {
    ASSERT_EQ(expected_result, result);
    finish_called_ = true;
  }

 protected:
  FilePath test_dir_;
  bool finish_called_;
};

#if defined(OS_MACOSX)
// Tests that the callback passed to CopyFromBackingStore is always called, even
// when the RenderWidgetHost is deleting in the middle of an async copy.
IN_PROC_BROWSER_TEST_F(RenderWidgetHostViewBrowserTest,
                       MacAsyncCopyFromBackingStoreCallbackTest) {
  if (!IOSurfaceSupport::Initialize())
    return;

  NavigateToURL(shell(), net::FilePathToFileURL(
      test_dir_.AppendASCII("rwhv_compositing_static.html")));

  RenderViewHost* const rwh =
      shell()->web_contents()->GetRenderViewHost();
  RenderWidgetHostViewPort* rwhvp =
      static_cast<RenderWidgetHostViewPort*>(rwh->GetView());

  // Wait until an IoSurface is created by repeatedly resizing the window.
  // TODO(justinlin): Find a better way to force an IoSurface when possible.
  gfx::Size size(400, 300);
  int increment = 0;
  while (!rwhvp->HasAcceleratedSurface(gfx::Size())) {
    base::RunLoop run_loop;
    SetWindowBounds(shell()->window(), gfx::Rect(size.width() + increment,
                                                 size.height()));
    // Wait for any ViewHostMsg_CompositorSurfaceBuffersSwapped message to post.
    run_loop.RunUntilIdle();
    increment++;
    ASSERT_LT(increment, 50);
  }

  rwh->CopyFromBackingStore(
      gfx::Rect(),
      size,
      base::Bind(&RenderWidgetHostViewBrowserTest::FinishCopyFromBackingStore,
                 base::Unretained(this), false));

  // Delete the surface before the callback is run. This is synchronous until
  // we get to the copy_timer_, so we will always end up in the destructor
  // before the timer fires.
  rwhvp->AcceleratedSurfaceRelease();
  base::RunLoop run_loop;
  run_loop.RunUntilIdle();

  ASSERT_TRUE(finish_called_);
}
#endif

}  // namespace content

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home Drug Addiction Drug Addiction News The Effect of Mac Miller's Overdose
The Effect of Mac Miller's Overdose
Mac Miller's passing shocked people around the world. The combined shock and grief of losing a loved one — whether you know them or not — can result in the development of PTSD or adjustment disorder.
By Joy Youell
Editor Thomas Christiansen
Updated on12/26/19
Mac Miller, a beloved rapper from Pittsburgh, who fatally overdosed on September 26, 2018. Miller's overdose was ruled accidental and the result of combining fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks morbidity rates for drug use. Since 2017, the sharpest increase in drug overdose deaths was related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. When celebrities like Mac Miller die due to substance abuse, it sheds light on the complex issues related to the indirect effects of drug and alcohol addiction. The tragedy of Miller dying at 26 is compounded effect his passing has had on his family and friends. Survivors close to people who die from a drug overdose may experience extreme stress and mental health complications.
Can You Get PTSD or Adjustment Disorder From Someone's Overdose?
Mac Miller is survived by many family, friends, and fans. His former girlfriend, Ariana Grande, has been open and emotional about his death. She paid tribute to him on social media and in a benefit concert in his hometown. Her reaction to his death may help others understand the emotional and mental disorders that can affect people whose loved ones die from drug overdoses.
Death as a result of diagnosable mental health and substance use disorders can generate much grief in loved ones. Some of these reactions can develop into long-term issues or disorders, such as:
Survivor's guilt
Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
According to the American Psychiatric Association, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the result of trauma and can include:
Disturbing thoughts and feelings
Flashbacks or nightmares
Related conditions include acute stress disorder, which causes flashbacks and high anxiety, and adjustment disorder, which may lead to hopelessness and physical illness.
How To Deal With Someone's Overdose
Ariana Grande and Mac Miller's family have had to adjust to life after his fatal drug overdose. It is possible to manage mental health challenges by concentrating on proven coping strategies or receiving professional help. Some of the ways to recover from a friend or family member's fatal drug overdose can be by:
Finding a reputable counselor
Joining a grief recovery support group
Practicing self-care
Fostering a calming environment
Sometimes friends or family members of people who have died from drug overdose will want to take a leave of absence from work. Taking time to accept the loss and move through the stages of grief is important because that process provides a valuable foundation for good, long-term mental health.
People who lose a loved one from a drug overdose may go through stages of grief. Grief can be managed, but it is a complex mental state. People going through grief from a loss can feel:
Qualified grief counselors and mental health professionals can provide meaningful guidance and support through the difficult time following a loss. It is important to pursue and continue healing and self-care. A loss from a drug overdose death presents many challenges. But peace can be found as people work through grief and find joy again.
American Psychiatric Association. "What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?" January 2017. Accessed June 15, 2019.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Overdose Death Rates." January 2019. Accessed June 15, 2019.
Signs, Symptoms & Side Effects
Drug Addiction Treatment & Rehab
Drug Addiction FAQs
Drug Addiction in the News
Speak to an Intake Coordinator now.
352.771.2700What to expect when I call?
Your call is confidential, and there's no pressure to commit to treatment until you're ready. As a voluntary facility, we're here to help you heal -- on your terms. Our sole focus is getting you back to the healthy, sober life you deserve, and we are ready and waiting to answer your questions or concerns 24/7.
Speak to an Intake Coordinator now.352.771.2700

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


NZXT, in association with PUBG Corporation and Gamers Outreach have crafted a custom H700 case which bears a striking resemblance to an AirDrop case in PUBG.
There will be three case designs in this limited run, this being CRFT 1, with CRFT 2 arriving in August and the mysterious CRFT 3 appearing in an undisclosed amount of time. There will only be 2000 units of this particular design released, and 10% of the total sales will be donated to Gamers Outreach.
NZXT reached out to clarify that the CRFT line will encompass far more than just these initial three cases and will grow to include numerous products from NZXT's various product lines.
You can grab one from NZXT for $199.99 if you move quickly.
Los Angeles, CA – July 24, 2018 – NZXT, a leading provider of desktop components for PC gamers today announced CRFT, an exclusive line of officially licensed gaming gear. CRFT delivers gamers beautifully designed NZXT products that celebrate gaming's most exciting franchises. More than just a collector's item, every CRFT product provides practical functionality for a gamer's battle station. All CRFT products will only be available in a one-time, limited run, never to be produced again.
CRFT 01 debuts with the H700 PUBG limited edition case, a collaboration between NZXT, PUBG Corporation, and Gamers Outreach. Based on the iconic AirDrop crate from PUBG, the unique design of the CRFT 01 PUBG case highlights your amazing build and your love of the game. Only 2,000 units of the CRFT 01 PUBG case will ever be produced. Ten percent of all sales of CRFT 01 will be donated to Gamers Outreach, a charity organization that provides equipment, technology, and software to help kids cope with treatment inside hospitals.


Went to see Bad Teacher with Chloe at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks (because you can reserve your seat–totally worth it).
The only bad thing about the Galleria is that there are very few places to eat and no stores to browse in. So left with few choices, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner before the movie.
Now I'm not one of those people who decries chains like the Cheesecake Factory as symptomatic of the decline of society. All things being equal I'd probably choose somewhere else, but the food is actually pretty decent. The problem with the Cheesecake Factory is that everyone else in the world seems to think it's a fine dining experience and that makes the place too damn crowded.
"Sounds like a great business plan," I replied. "Like we stand outside yelling, 'I got a table for 6 in five minutes, table for 2 in ten, who needs a table for 8? I got a table for 8 and it's beeping right now!'" I acted out the ticket scalper routine which he seemed particularly familiar with.
So I made a decision. Over the course of dinner, I told Chloe about the Talk to Strangers project. (I didn't mention the blog. Baby steps.) She thought it was a cool thing I was doing. Especially when I told her that's how I met her.
Interesting … I thought you'd mentioned it to Chloe before for some reason.
Is the fear of telling someone (especially someone you're dating) that they'll think you're wacky? It's such a noble cause (forgive the hyperbole) I find it hard to believe someone would hold such a thing against you … though I guess if you end up dating the person and it comes out that the only reason you're with said person is that you're making it a point to talk to people you don't know (as opposed to being motivated by the Cosmic Fates that women seem to expect to guide all things romantic) it's not entirely unreasonable that the SigOth might not like it (at least when it's said out loud).
Very cool that Chloe was cool with it. She seems pretty great.
Now, how quickly do you think you can get funding for the LiveBeeperAuction.com concept?
That _is_ a brilliant business plan!
I'm looking forward to the day where you tell someone about the TTW project, and they pause for a second and go… that's YOU?
Telling ya man, this thing's just going to keep getting more an more popular. It's truly fascinating.
Thanks. It's so weird to be reliving this stuff that happened to me a while ago because you're reading and commenting on it all in one day. But kind of cool.


You must receive RMA # before returning items. You must write this # on the outside of packaging.
Drop-shipped items cannot be returned to Surefeed Parts.
Items returned must be in the same condition as they where when purchased in order to receive refund.
A 25% Restocking Fee will be deducted from all refundable All returned items must have RMA You must contact IPS returns. All Items must be returned within 14 days of purchase date along with RMA in order for refund to be made. Shipping and Handling is not refundable.
Contact customer service by calling: 1-865-977-4493 (9AM to 5PM EST, Mon - Fri).


Though this study had its origins in the consideration of children's writing and their responses to reading it explores in a wider context the nature of imagination and its relation to the discursive. Within imagination there seem to be three modes that are frequently conflated - fantasy, identification and the imagination itself. Each, however, has distinctive epistemological implications and significance for identity.
In normal discourse imagination is often conflated with fantasy. Whereas fantasy seeks to exercise power in attempting to transform the world into its own terms and imagination shares this capacity for refiguration, the one is associated with obfuscation and the other with insight.
In reading, the distinction is crucial. Generally, children are empowered by the fantasy that texts exploit or stimulate. Yet the absence of significant cognitive control constitutes a kind of blindness. Identification differs from fantasy in that the reader is drawn, say, into the world of the book - this supposes a differentiation, an escape, from the self that is merely placated in fantasy. Yet, here too, is blindness, particularly with regard to the constitutive aspects of the writing. On the other hand to teach texts through exerting cognitive control may shift the text too quickly into the discursive with the danger that students are expected to respond to experiences that they have not had.


text:
title: "Get Started"
description: "In this section, you'll learn how to deploy an application using Docker."
buttonTitle: "I'm ready to start!"
tutorialTitle: "Getting started with Docker"
parentId: "docker"
layout: "tutorial"
time: 20
weight: 1
---

#### Get Started

Deploying Docker containers with WeDeploy is super easy. This tutorial will walk you through how to deploy a Wordpress site connected to a MySQL database.

###### What you'll need

The WeDeploy CLI

A code editor

###### What you'll do

Download a sample project

Add configuration files

Deploy to production


The Emergency Management Department is open during normal business hours. Duty officers serve the needs of the Operational Area 24/7. Public safety, public health agencies and healthcare facilities in Riverside County can contact EMD duty officers directly or through their respective dispatch centers.
For after hours notifications or urgent matters, please call the EMD duty officer.


Home upgrade Decorative Stools is great however it is not a bad idea to take baby steps to end up getting the desired outcome. The following are Kelly Henderson a few aspects to figure out before starting a home redesigning venture.
Which space of your house will you update Decorative Stools? Makeover can be of different choices and you have to choose whether you wish to redecorate your whole property or just a part of it for example kitchen or bathroom.
Do you have to employ experts? Like it or not, you cannot find a single option suits all types of project regarding this topic 5360. If you feel confused with the renovation then employing interior designer is the best option. In the event you just want to rearrange your cabinet or upgrade damaged cupboard doors in that case employing professionals is not needed.
The subsequent consideration is your spending budget. Planning expense plan in the beginning is vital to finish the job ontime and as expected November 12, 2015 at 10:42 am. If you find yourself inefficient with budgeting, it is far better to hire interior designers for the job.
When you employ the service of a home renovation specialist, be sure you discuss the likes of Decorative Stools paint, style, quality of materials used along with other details to obtain the planned outcome.


Divorce and marriage play much bigger economic roles for black children than white children in the United States, according to a new study by two UC Davis economists. Marianne Page and Ann Huff Stevens find that in the first two years following a divorce, family income among white children falls about 30 percent, while it falls by 53 percent among black children. "This difference increases dramatically in the long run," Page and Stevens write. "Three or more years after the divorce, about a third of the loss in whites' household income is recouped, but the income of black families barely improves."
In fact, three or more years after the divorce, the black families' incomeremains 47 percent lower than if the parents had remained together.
Marriage appears to have even greater benefits for black children whose single mothers marry than for their white counterparts, according to the study.
Page and Stevens estimate that while the family income of white children rises by 45 percent when their single parent marries, the family income of black children rises by 81 percent with marriage. One reason for the difference in improvement is that married black mothers are more likely to work than married white mothers. On the other hand, when divorce occurs, the probability of black mothers working does not change, while recently divorced white women have an 18 percent greater probability of working.
University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. That means it can be proven!!
MONDAY, Sept. 18  (HealthSCOUT) -- Living in a fatherless family damages a black boy's self-esteem, says a study released today.
"In the black community, there's a slogan, 'Black mothers raise their daughters and love their sons,' " says one of the study's authors, Carolyn B. Murray, an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside.
"It's the father who holds that boy accountable.
He has that boy toe the line; he holds the rules and responsibilities."
But when fathers aren't present in black families, regardless of such things as family income and education, young boys' self-esteem drops, the study says. That doesn't appear to happen with young girls in these families, it says.
having problems in school to participating in gangs as part of their search for male role models in fatherless homes with INDEPENDENT mothers.
"Black children are only half as likely as white children to be living in a two-parent household, and are eight times more likely than white children to live with an unwed mother.
For black children under six, 'the most common arrangement -- applying to 42 percent of them -- was to live with a never-married mother.'"
Can you buy this? Even more so do Black women know that they are being used to emasculate their own men? Do they enjoy it? I think some do, and then there are those that are fatherless and ignorant because their mother did it too.
Those seeking to oppress us got us good. Many of us are truly the ones Dr. Carter G. Woodson spoke of when he suggested someone controlling the mind also controls the actions, because we still automatically go to the back door and create them when there is not one. While other folk have sense enough to take care of, support, build, and preserve their own first, we are still trying to be �multi-culturally correct.� We have been bamboozled into believing pro black means being anti everybody else and allowing other folk to convince us we are radical, militant, prejudice and racist. Thus, many of us are quick to say out loud��I ain�t into that Black stuff,� as if it�s a bad thing. Well, anyone who knows me, knows I am proud to be into �that Black stuff,� because I know it�s a good thang. �That Black stuff� is the stuff our Ancestors held on in surviving chattel enslavement and slave and black codes. �That Black stuff� is what our big mamas and other elders used to make it through Jim Crow, and the movement for civil rights. �That Black stuff� is what we rely on today to combat racism, discrimination and BWB (being while black), despite the fact we are suppose to be better off, academically, financially and socially than our fore parents. Perhaps, if more of us were into �that Black stuff,� we would have our �Little Africa� section of town, as the Black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma had up until May 31, 1921 when a white mob burned and bombed 32 blocks of Black Wallstreet, destroying more than 1000 Black owned businesses and murdering over 300 innocent Black men, women and children. Maybe, if we were truly into �that Black stuff,� we would have created as many African centered schools in our communities, as there are churches on every corner. I believe if more of us embraced �that Black stuff,� we would have more Black men in colleges than in prison, because by being into �that Black stuff,� they would have learned at an early age the meaning of the Sankofa Experience. They would have known their past, beyond big mama �nem, and perhaps would have known they came from the original people, who built civilization, ruled nations, and wrote the worlds first history. I have had non-Black students, who have told me, (as they tried to convince themselves that they were not prejudice) �I don�t see color. I just see people.� My response is always, �Then you don�t see me, because my color is Black.� I am into �that Black stuff,� because I am into Mama �nem and my history and people. I will never deny or sugarcoat my love for �that Black stuff,� because I refuse to disrespect my Ancestors. Remember the poem titled, �I Ain�t Giving Up My Blackness,� and never forget, Aluta Continua, the struggle continues.
This is a Real Black Woman with Real African American Pride! We are in trouble yall and some people are lost.
1. University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. That means it can be proven!!
All say it's true! That when you know you have struck a nerve.
So keep it ignoring this topic HATERS!
I mean ITA with the article by Dr. Safisha. that was a great article. She's an educated black woman and I admire that. Would you feel the same way about her if you found out that she beat out a brotha for her job simply b/c she was a woman and black? Or that she was one of the "Super-sistas" that the first article by Mr Bud Johnson that looked down on a brotha who was educationally and financially "beneath her"?


Stentys is a French-headquartered medical technology company commercialising the world's first and only self-apposing stent to treat Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). The company has announced the European commercial release of an enhanced stent-delivery system for its Self-Apposing® stent. The change involves use of a new catheter to implant the stent, which has a hydrophilic coating and an ergonomic handle that considerably facilitates stent implantation in tortuous vessels.
Stents are implanted in the coronary arteries via a keyhole in the groin or in the wrist under angiography (X-ray imaging). Cardiologists use a delivery catheter to navigate through the arteries, reach the occluded vessel and deploy the stent.
In its latest guidelines on AMI treatment, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) calls attention to the importance of selecting the appropriate stent size, as the vessel in this setting is contracted and contains thrombus, and to the complications that may result from inappropriate stent sizing. Stentys says its Self- Apposing® Stent solves that "stent-sizing dilemma" by fitting into the contour of a blood vessel, and its shape and diameter adapt as the vessel dilates and the initial clot dissolves during the post-AMI phase.
Stentys's Self-Apposing® Stents are designed to adapt to vessels with ambiguous or fluctuating diameters, particularly in the post-infarction phase, in order to prevent the malapposition problems associated with conventional stents. In the APPOSITION III clinical trial, Stentys stents demonstrated a very low one-month mortality rate among 1,000 high-risk AMI patients when compared to recent studies with conventional stents.


So it's done, at least. I've printed my 20:20, but I wish I had the time to do it more justice. For a handful of reasons, this year everything has felt even more shoehorned into autumn than normal, and I suppose something had to give a bit.
If nothing else, it might at last be the push I need to make sure that next year I get my 20:20 edition printed earlier. April, say. Or June. August, even - just not so late that there isn't really the time. Again. I continue to believe that I'm capable of change, and sooner or later I shall prove it to myself.
She emerges bleary eyed into the world to discover that suddenly the sun is setting well before 6pm (so by next week we'll be watching it go down around 4.30pm) and all the trees are togging themselves out in autumnal shades.
Yes, the artists' book fair is over, and now I have a brief space to think up and print my own 20:20 edition before we start sorting the whole exchange. Why do I do this? Autumn is my favourite season and I barely see it.
I feel like I lose whole months at this time of year. However, I don't miss out on everything. I saw a good part of the MMU MA show, back before the fair (yup, this would be me once again about to discuss an exhibition that's over). I must admit, somewhat shamefaced, that I failed to realise that I was only seeing that section of it that was in the Holden Gallery - shamefaced because I have a sneaky suspicion that the exact same thing has happened before - but I was very pleased with what I did see. I am in the happy state of not knowing - and not having to know - what constitutes 'good' MA work - all I know is (that old chestnut) what I like.
My absolute favourite was James Goodchild's 'Hiraeth' - a collection of evocative, rich, black and white photos, based around or in some way connected to the early 20th century poem 'The Harp of Hiraeth' by Welsh poet Ernest Howard Harris. Quiet, powerful images, presented in an understated way that also suggests lines of poetry on the wall. I'm full of intentions to track the poem down and read it, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
I also really liked Daniel Tierney's 'Tilda' - I thought of it as an artist's book (artists' books were on my mind), though that might not have been what it was. As I remember, it represented emotions playing across a face, undermined because they were acted emotions - essentially, I liked it for its sculptural quality and the element of near-repetition.
Other names I've noted down are Rikka Enna for her hangings (below left) and Eleanor Mulhearn who made these dogs, There were other artists I liked too - I picked up a catalogue for later reference (that's how I discovered how much I'd missed) but then time happened and I've forgotten whatever it might have been that I meant to remember. One piece of work that I found truly mesmerising but didn't even try for a photo (it would have missed the point) was Steve Oliver's upside down video of a catwalk. I have absolutely no idea what it was about, but it was fascinating! With the flipping of perception, you are not watching people but something more abstract, and all the movements become immensely strange. Brilliant.
I don't know how much show I missed elsewhere in the art department, but in fact the Holden Gallery felt exactly the right amount of exhibition, so although I might have failed to see some wonderful work, I'm absolutely content with what I saw.


Landing ashore on Deception Island, in bitter temperatures with snow and sleet lashing down on me, was a far cry from the luxury and comfort of the ship that I had just left anchored in the bay of this active volcano.
After a surprisingly calm 24 hour sea crossing from Ushuaia, through Drake's Passage in the Southern Ocean, an area notorious for stormy seas, we had arrived at the southwest end of the South Shetland Islands, just off the northwest side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Now the wind was blowing at about 30-40 knots and a blizzard was building. I felt like the expedition to Antarctica had truly begun. In fact the bad weather swirling around me served only to validate my belief that Antarctica was going to be a desolate but awe inspiring place, not at all suited to human survival, and that I was a brave adventurer for taking on such a challenge!
Walking around the horse-shoe shaped coastline of the Island felt akin to walking on the moon. The landscape was an intriguing combination of barren volcanic mountains and ash covered glaciers, with an eerily lunar feel. Looking back to the ship, our home for the next 10 days, I could see the narrow channel entrance known as 'Neptune's Bellows,' that we had sailed through only hours before. Deception Island is most famously known for being an active volcano. Approximately 10,000 years ago, a violent and explosive eruption caused the volcano summit to collapse forming the caldera we were now in. The volcano has continued to be highly active since the 18th Century. One of our expedition crew was actually stationed on the Island when it last erupted in 1967. Even as recently as 1992, enhanced seismic activity caused ground deformation and increased water temperatures. Today, the floor of the bay, known as Port Foster, is rising.
Looking up into the endless and overcast sky I could see a few large Skuas circling overhead in the howling winds. In the distance, amidst the thick grey fog, snow and wetness, I could just about make out a couple of smashed and weathered wooden boats, the remains of some old boilers and a dilapidated aircraft hangar, all a reminder of a forgotten time when the Island was a 150 man strong whaling station. Although Deception Island was discovered by British sealers in 1820, whaling activities did not start in earnest until 1906-1907 when the bay was used as an anchorage for whaling factory-ships, a place to stock up with coal, food and water and to make ship repairs. In 1912 the Hektor Whaling Company established a shore-based whaling station. At the time whale oil was a valuable commodity for lamp fuel, soap and margarine. The station did not actually process the whale blubber, but instead boiled down the carcasses to extract additional whale oil. It was eventually abandoned in 1931, when whale oil prices plummeted and it was no longer profitable to hunt whales in Antarctica. There is also a cemetery on Deception Island which holds the remains of around 35 Whalers.
During the 1940's and 1950's Deception Island played a central and important role in the international affairs of Antarctica. In February 1944, the secret British wartime mission, Operation Tabarin established its first base (Base B) in the abandoned Hektor whaling station. In 1948 and 1955 Argentina and Chile also built stations. Today several nations still conduct scientific research here, including Spain, Britain, Argentina, and Chile. The volcanic eruptions have mostly taken care of other attempts to maintain permanent facilities, and as of 2000, there are only two scientific stations (Spanish and Argentinian) still in use today. These stations are only in use during the austral summer months.
After an hour or so exploring on land there was no let up from from the awful weather and bad visibility. The expedition crew had been out much longer than our touring party and were starting to catch a chill so we were ushered back to our zodiacs and to our ship to prepare for the first of our daily Antarctic debriefings. On arrival we were greeted with rich, silky hot chocolate spiked with rum or amaretto. We downed these with delight. In high spirits we discussed our first landing of the expedition and all that we might experience on the second day of our Antarctic adventure.
I visited Deception Island on Wednesday, 23rd December 2015, from MS The World.


text:
Online Almanac
From Volume 37, Issue 4 of EIR Online, Published Jan. 29, 2010
Will Nero Now Murder Seneca?
The Charade Is Ending
by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
January 20, 2010—In an April 11, 2009 international webcast, I had already identified that evidence, fact by fact, which indicated to me, with certainty, that unless President Barack Narcissus Obama took a virtual Damascus Road, he were already virtually as good as self-doomed to live out his brief tenure in the White House in a relatively short-term, staged reenactment of the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. Intelligent people who had doubted what I said on that occasion, should be now already blushing a very bright red.
Now, the point has been reached, with the recent Massachusetts Senatorial election, that this Nero is about to take himself down in way which will shock the world. I am not a predictor—I have contempt for simple predictions; but, I am, rather, a very good forecaster. Intelligent and well-informed people take my warnings in such matters very seriously, especially after what happened in Massachusetts yesterday. Obama is about as intelligent as a pre-programmed wind-up toy; like the characters of Shakespeare's King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet, his self-inflicted doom is written into his personal character; he is the fool who believes in his image of himself....
In-Depth articles from EIR, Vol. 37, No. 4
...Requires Adobe Reader®.
This Week's Cover
Since the recent Massachusetts Senatorial election, President Barack Narcissus Obama is about to take himself down. This should be taken very seriously, because the destiny of republic, and the present civilization as a whole, depends upon some very early second thoughts about the policies which many had implicitly adopted up to this point.
Nerobama Defies the Mass Strike
Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts was not a victory for the Republican Party per se, because voters have repudiated both political parties, for presiding over the disintegration of life as they knew it. President Obama and his flunkies remain delusional about the significance of the victory.
Time To Stop Lying and Get It Right!
The Obama Administration is making its third attempt to win back the people, by talking tough against the bankers. But it is keeping the financial system on Federal life support. As a result, Obama's third foray into anti-bank posturing, like the previous two, will do nothing to replace the dead system.
Why Larry Summers Must Go Now!
If the growing movement of American patriots is to clean out the London/Wall Street swamp of the Obama Administration, not only must Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner go immediately; but Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic liar and cheat, must get the boot, as fast, or faster.
Behaviorism and Summers' Bad Behavior
IPCC Caught Lying, Again:
Himalayan Glaciers Are Not Melting
The pseudo-scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were forced to eat their words, and admit that the Himalayan glaciers, which they had claimed would melt by 2035, were, in fact, not melting at all.
Dutch Commission Spells Trouble for Tony Blair
The finding of the independent Dutch commission that the war against Iraq violated international law, spells trouble for Tony Blair.
Globalization Endangers Food Relief, Production
Dairy Farms:
'A War' for the Food Supply
An interview with Pascal Cousté.
Economics in Brief
China Builds Sun Yat-Sen's Great National Rail Project
China's response to the global economic crisis is to move, fullspeed ahead, with construction of the most extensive rail system on Earth, expanding economic development into its vast interior, and realizing the great project of its Founding Father Sun Yat-Sen.
Pascal Cousté
French dairy farmer Cousté is a leader of the protests against the policies of the European Commission and the globalist food processors. He is from France's leading dairy region, Brittany.
Simply & Summarily
U.S. Economic/Financial News
Extended Unemployment Claims Double Official Figures
Labor Department: Unemployment Up in 43 States in December
U.S. Electricity Use Falls as Dark Age Approaches
Jan. 20 (EIRNS)—A leap from November to December 2009 in Federal and state unemployment insurance outlays, betrayed the rising mass unemployment behind the official figures claiming that "the labor market has stabilized."
The Federal government spent an all-time record $14.7 billion on unemployment insurance benefits in December, a 24% jump from $11.8 billion in November. The states spent $12.7 billion on unemployment benefits in December, up by more than 15% from the month before. So the Labor Department's claim of a mere 1.7% increase, to 9.6 million, in Americans receiving "continuing" unemployment insurance benefits in December, is clearly a fraud.
The first approximation is that Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits (from the Federal government) jumped by 43%, from 3,594,253 in early November to 5,143,410 in mid-December. Analysts explain this by saying that state "continuing" benefits are being exhausted, and new claims are slowly declining, so there is a strong net shift from state to Federal benefit rolls, but with little total growth. This is because the "seasonally adjusted" reports put out every week by the BLS are claiming (for the most recent reported week, ended Jan. 9), that 4,596,000 Americans were getting state continuing benefits, and 440,000 new claims were added in that most recent week. So 9,598,000 people were supposedly getting either state "continuing" or Federal benefits in that week, and 440,000 more were trying to join them.
But the actual "unadjusted" figures for week ending Jan. 9 are dramatically different—a differential getting wider and wider since late November. The actual, unadjusted initial claims were 801,086 (not 440,000!), an increase of 156,165 (not 11,000!) from the previous week. And the unadjusted "continuing" state claims were 5,988,940 (not 4,596,000!), a leap of 503,924 from the preceding week. In this "continuing" state claims figure, an actual increase of 900,000 over the most recent two-week period has been officially "adjusted" into a decrease, at minus 400,000.
By comparison, January 2009 was a period of intense layoffs and firings, amid financial collapse; a net job loss of 598,000 was reported by BLS that month, and over 500,000 jobs were lost in each of the previous two months, November and December of 2008). But so far, in January 2010, the actual unadjusted figures for new unemployment claims are running 85% as high as in January 2009. That implies a real job loss of about 500,000 (not 85,000!) last month.
So the actual total of state "continuing" and Federal benefits, combined, in the week ending Jan. 9 was 11,142,000 (not 9,598,000!), with 801,000 more Americans applying to join them in that week.
We may, by now, have 12 million Americans actually on unemployment. That is double the highest number ever recorded prior to 2009, in statistics that go back to the creation of unemployment insurance. And even as a percentage of the population, we have reached 3.5%-4% of the population on unemployment relief, whereas that percentage has never been above 2% since the late 1940s.
This mass unemployment is a major, and rapidly rising factor in the bankrupting of state governments nationwide.
Jan. 22 (EIRNS)—While none of the official employment figures have any relation to reality, the U.S. Labor Department at least reversed its "recovery" figures from November, when it reported increased employment in 36 states, by reporting unemployment increases in 43 states in December. The report said that all 50 states had an unemployment rate in December that was higher than a year earlier.
New York City and the State of New Jersey recorded the largest unemployment figures in the 33 years the data has been kept. New York City's rate jumped from 10% in November to 10.6% in December.
The Labor Department monthly survey includes only those people who have actively looked for work in the past four weeks—a fraction of the actually unemployed.
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—For the second year in a row, and at a rate not seen since 1938, statistics collected by the Federal Energy Information Administration show that in 2009, electricity output fell by 3.7%. This is indicative of a society headed into a literal dark age, since just the simple growth in population should result in at least a minimal growth in electricity use.
To get a metric of comparison, note that in the 1960s in the United States, the decade of NASA, the rate of growth of electricity consumption was 7%.
The principal cause is the accelerating and dramatic collapse in industrial production, and also in commercial use. Add to that, the residential decline, thanks to the millions of homes that are not using electricity because they are empty, or households where bills cannot be paid, and service is terminated. As if the physical economic decline were not enough, crazy calls for "conservation," so as not to release carbon dioxide and "heat" the planet, are leading those who can still afford to use energy, to "voluntarily" cut their use.
As a Wall Street Journal article pointed out Jan. 14, this is leading to "turmoil" in the electric utility industry—the most capital-intensive industry in the economy. Building a baseload power plant—coal or nuclear—takes close to a decade, from planning to operation. With consumption falling, utilities are delaying, or even cancelling, plans to build new capacity, since they cannot forecast how much new capacity they will need. This is especially true of the dozen or so utilities with firm plans to build new nuclear plants, which are already hesitating, due to the Obama Administration's failure to provide the loan guarantees that would make it possible to borrow money at less than usurious Wall Street interest rates, for the multi-billion dollar nuclear plants.
Global Economic News
Britain: Record Increase in the Inflation Rate
Euro-Austerity Is Killing Greek Farmers
Chinese Economist Says Stimulus Packages Help Create New Cities
Jan. 19 (EIRNS)—The rate of inflation in the UK for December, as measured by their consumer price index, increased more than 50% over that of November, jumping a full 1%, "the biggest amount on record," from 1.9% to 2.9% in one month. The retail price index (which includes home prices) showed an even bigger increase, jumping from 0.3% to 2.4% in the same month, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Since March of 2008, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England has pumped an unprecedented £200 billion ($300 billion) into the system, in its "quantitative easing" bank bailout program.
Jan. 19 (EIRNS)—The first to be sacrificed by the austerity imposed on Greece by the euro and the rating agencies, are the farmers. Calling on the Greek government for financial aid, over 5,000 farmers brought their tractors to form roadblocks in the center and northern part of Greece, shutting off several border posts. Last week, farmers started obstructing the major roads in the central area of Greece, Thessalonica, and Eastern Macedonia.
Five hundred tractors blocked the road connecting Athens to the large northern city of Salonica. The closure of border posts with Bulgaria, such as the one at Promachonas, Greece, provoked the anger of Bulgarian authorities. Bulgaria is now threatening to demand compensation for Bulgarian truckers and an intervention of the EU Commission.
Farmers demand immediate financial aid to compensate for the drop in prices of cereals, cotton, maize, olive oil, fruit, and milk. They are also asking for lower prices in fertilizer, seeds, and agro-chemicals, and a special discount price on electricity and gasoline, plus a three-year moratorium on their debts to the agricultural bank. In short, everything!
Jan. 19 (EIRNS)—In an interview with China Daily on June 8, Lu Zhongyuan, the vice-president of the Development Research Center of the State Council and a leading economist, underlined that China is now moving into a period of growth propelled by internal demand, including the development of new cities in the central and western parts of the country. Lu noted that China did not choose to become a low-income export country, but was forced into that situation by the multinational companies. "The international division of labor is led by multinational companies in developed countries. Only if its pattern changes can we solve the problem of China exporting a lot," Lu said..
Lu also stressed that urbanization, which will help to boost domestic consumption, is continuing at a rapid pace, but now is spreading to areas outside the traditional coastal "hothouses." Many of the migrant workers, who will no longer have jobs in the traditional coastal low-wage export industries, will find work in the growing cities closer to their homes, Lu said. Much of the Chinese stimulus package has gone to transportation, particularly to the building of railroads, which will bring these new urban areas into the mainstream of the Chinese economy.
The new urbanization was also noted in a Financial Times article on Jan. 19 by James Kynge, FT's former Beijing bureau chief, who has just been assigned to a new FT "China Confidential" newsletter. The article notes that in the first 10 months of 2009, "lower-tier cities" accounted for a sharply growing portion of total investment. The FT profiled eight cities which were becoming hubs in this transition.
Shuangliu, a city near Chengdu in southwest China, has become a leader in the commercialization of agriculture. Jingzhou on the Yangtze River is an emerging transport hub. Heyuan, far upstream on the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, is benefitting from some of the wealth accumulated from the coastal region. Shouguang in Shandong province is a center for vegetable production. In Inner Mongolia, China is building an entirely new city, Ordos, which is located near a village that provided workers for a small coal mine in the area.
United States News Digest
Showdown Week for Bernanke
Nerobama Joins Peterson To Get His Revenge on the American People
Rep. Issa Accuses New York Fed of Contempt
Murkowski To Block EPA CO2 Ruling
Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—In the aftermath of the Democratic defeat in the Massachusetts special election Jan. 19, and accelerating defections by Senate Democrats, the White House and Fed went into a heavy-handed mobilization Jan. 22-23, to arm-twist Senators from both parties into throwing their support behind the reconfirmation of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman. After Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) announced they would vote "no" on the Bernanke nomination, and Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed the scheduled vote based on canvassing Democratic Senators midweek, White House spinmeisters claimed, today, that they had quashed a "populist uprising among Democrats," and that they were "confident" that the Bernanke confirmation would squeak through.
Given the White House disconnect from the mood in the country, it is not certain that Bernanke will make it, and new revelations about his hands-on role, along with Tim Geithner, in the scandalous AIG bailout of September 2008, could spell new trouble. The Washington Post revealed today, that on Sept. 16, 2008—the crucial day in the AIG bailout—Geithner was constantly on the phone with his boss, Bernanke, and with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. This is according to telephone logs from the then-president of the New York Fed that were provided to the House Government Reform Committee this past week.
Also, today, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) indicated that he might not be voting for Bernanke's reconfirmation; even Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), while expressing the belief that Bernanke would be reconfirmed, refused to say how he would vote. Yesterday, John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) both announced they would be voting in favor of Bernanke's confirmation, but only after they both received phone calls from the President and from Bernanke. In another effort to boost Bernanke's confirmation, Chris Dodd (D-Ct.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) announced in a joint statement that they were confident that Bernanke would pass the Senate. Both men are leaving the Senate this year.
Bernanke's term expires on Jan. 31, and unless Reid files a cloture motion on Jan. 26, it will be impossible to bring the Bernanke renomination to a vote before the term expires. There are still four hold motions pending on Bernanke's nomination, and it will require 60 Senate votes to break the holds. If the holds are broken, Bernanke's confirmation will require a simple 51-vote majority. As of yesterday, there were 27 Senators from both parties on record backing Bernanke's confirmation, 13 opposed, 10 undecided. The remaining 50 Senators have not publicly weighed in yet.
Jan. 23 (EIRNS)—Because the American people humiliated him with a massive defeat in the Jan. 19 election in Massachusetts, Nero-like President Obama has now joined with the evil, dotty billionaire Pete Peterson, to take his revenge on us, just as the original Nero avenged himself on his ungrateful Romans by setting their city on fire. That is the meaning of today's White House announcement that Obama "strongly" endorsed legislation to be voted Jan. 26 in the Senate, for the so-called "fiscal responsibility commission" for which Peterson has been campaigning for many years, putting well over a billion dollars into his various front-groups, including the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Concord Coalition, the Fiscal Times newspaper and others. It is expected that Obama will make a pitch for Peterson's scheme in his State of the Union address Jan. 27.
Peterson's goal for a quarter-century has been to cut off the support for elderly Americans through Social Security and Medicare, while simultaneously increasing taxes on the poor and middle-class. In 1996, Peterson wrote, in Atlantic magazine, that senior entitlements are unsustainable, undeserved, unprincipled, and unfair, as Saul Friedman noted in Huffington Post on Jan. 21. Peterson wrote, "We now face public budgets strained to the breaking point by demographic aging which will crowd out all forms of capital accumulation, private and public, material and human." He saw "a nation of Floridas" as part of a "gray wave of senior citizens that fills the states' streets, beaches, parks, hotels, shopping malls, hospitals, Social Security offices and senior centers."
As Atlantic reported more recently: "Peter Peterson is 82, and is thinking about death. Yours!"
The plan for the Commission is that it will meet immediately, and issue its recommendations immediately after the November 2010 elections, to be forced through the lame-duck Congress, which need not fear popular reaction, immediately afterwards. Its proposals for Medicare and Social Security cuts and regressive tax increases would be fast-tracked through the Congress for a simple up-or-down vote, all in violation of the Constitution. Part of the scheme is that the annual budget deficit would be reduced from 10% of GDP at present, to 3% by 2015. No coincidence that this is exactly the "3% solution" of the European Union and its Maastricht Treaty, which have made Europe an economic wastebasket today. The same British imperial controllers who forced the "3% solution" on the European Union, have told their puppet Obama to implement it here as well.
Lyndon LaRouche has said that imposing austerity during an economic collapse like this one, is an ever-steepening downwards spiral to nowhere.
"If you try to put austerity through, or allow people to go to austerity measures," he said, "as the Obama Administration is going to try to do now, you're going to destroy the U.S. economy and you're going to kill a lot of your friends and neighbors, and probably yourself, too. So anyone who wants to do that, or tolerate that, or allow it to happen is being very stupid, criminally stupid, or something like that. And therefore, it must not happen. We must, despite what Paul Volcker's doing now, and what he's encouraging—we must let Wall Street take the heat! The merchant banks will take the heat; the merchant banking section will take the heat. The commercial banking section will be protected and survive—we need it. We are then going to use the power of the Federal government, to utter credit, to utter large masses of credit, in trillions of dollars, to launch large-scale production and related programs, investments in capital improvements, to get the economy growing up again."
Obama has negotiated with Pelosi and Reid, a scheme to institute the "commission" by Executive Order, if the Senate rejects it on Jan. 26.
Jan. 21 (EIRNS)—In a letter to Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (D-Calif.) accused the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) of contempt for selective document disclosure, and urged Towns to hold Fed officials responsible. "Unfortunately, the document production is incomplete and not in full compliance with the Committee's subpoena.... I am writing to request that you clarify the scope of the subpoena with the FRBNY and hold FRBNY officials in contempt if they do not fully comply."
Issa quotes the Committee's subpoena as directing the FRBNY to produce: "All documents in the possession, custody, or control of the Federal Reserve Bank of new York, relating to AIG credit default swap counterparty payments, the decision to compensate AIG's credit default swap counterparties at par, and public disclosure of the counterparty payments." He then points out: "The subpoena does not limit the production by a range of dates. Unfortunately, the FRBNY has only produced documents that were originated between September of 2008 and May of 2009. This production is incomplete on both ends of the produced date range. "First, the FRBNY's production does not include documents related to the FRBNY's knowledge of AIG's credit default swap counterparty exposure before AIG was bailed out in September 2008. The Committee needs to understand AIG's counterparty exposure and the FRBNY's knowledge of the potential problems at AIG before federal officials thought it became necessary to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out the company.
"Second, the FRBNY's production does not include documents related to the counterparty payments after May of 2009, including but not limited to the FRBNY's response to Congressional and press inquiries, such as this Committee's investigation. As you know, the FRBNY has stonewalled this Committee's investigation at every turn since I initially requested information from FRBNY in October of 2009. It is crucial that this Committee understand the full extent of FRBNY's efforts to cover up the counterparty payments and to prevent and delay other efforts to bring details about these transactions to the public." Issa concludes: "Once again, I request that you clarify the scope of the subpoena with the FRBNY and direct the FRBNY to produce all documents in their possession related to the AIG counterparty payments through January 19, 2010."
Jan. 21 (EIRNS)—Following the defeat of the British Empire at the recent Copenhagen Summit, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ak.) intends to introduce a resolution of disapproval against the Obama Administration's effort to bypass U.S. Senate opposition to the fraud of Global Warming by using the Environmental Protection Agency to impose green fascism through a regulatory ruling that CO2 emissions endanger human existence. Murkowski said at a press conference Jan. 20: "At this point in time, my inclination is to proceed with the resolution of disapproval. I think that is a more clear path forward." If it passes, the resolution, brought under the Congressional Review Act, would remove the Obama administration's "plan B" for climate change. The measure—called the "nuclear option" by environmentalists— would also ban the administration from drafting any new regulation that would be substantially the same.
Yesterday, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told reporters that she is working with Murkowski on blocking the EPA. Jim Webb (D-Va.) also told reporters this week that he opposes using the EPA to regulate emissions. Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have also signed on to the Murkowski initiative.
Ibero-American News Digest
Britain's Ibero-American Jacobins Attack U.S. Aid to Haiti
Haiti Was Devastated Even Before the Quake
Pinochet Team Makes Comeback in Chilean Election
Argentine President: We Will Export Nuclear Plants and Satellites
Jan. 22 (EIRNS)—Britain's Jacobin "Bolivarian movement" in Ibero-America has been on a rampage since the Queen's world dictatorship drive was stopped at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December. The latest tirades of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, Bolivia's Previa Evo Morales, and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega have been directed at the U.S. military deployment in Haiti, decrying its central role in providing the logistics required for aid to enter devastated Haiti as an "occupation," an "invasion" which threatens the whole region.
Morales went so far as to announce, on Jan. 20, that his government would request an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to demand that U.S. soldiers be removed from Haiti. But, what can you expect of a government created as a George Soros project, which the London Independent happily reported on Jan. 19 is proposing to permit Bolivian families to grow their own coca in their backyards?
The Brazilian government does not agree, and intends to continue "working hand in hand with the U.S. and the rest of the international community" on helping Haiti, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim stated categorically two days ago.
Likewise, the "Bolivarian" narcoterrorist networks took a significant hit when Ecuadorian military forces raided a camp of FARC narcoterrorists located inside Ecuadorian territory near the Colombian border on Jan. 19, killing three FARC members in the confrontation. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa praised the military for their successful operation. And Colombian President Alvaro Uribe quickly thanked Ecuador's government for the action, noting that it is when these narcoterrorists feel they cannot take refuge in neighboring countries, that they can be driven to give up.
Although no one is saying it, Uribe is referring to the major FARC camp inside Ecuadorian territory which the Colombian government militarily assaulted in March 2008, killing the infamous narco-boss Raúl Reyes. The Ecuadorians howled in protest at the time, hollering that their sovereignty had been violated. Lyndon LaRouche stated then:
"If governments allow an international terrorist organization such as the FARC to use their territory, then they have no complaint when the aggrieved government takes action at the border...."
The Ecuadorian move against the FARC this week stands in stark contrast to the support for the FARC coming from the Venezuelan government, most flagrantly displayed in the early December founding in Caracas of a "Bolivarian Continental Movement," led by the FARC cocaine cartel.
Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—Some ten days after the earthquake, relief operations are better positioned so as to supply food, water, and medical care in a coordinated way to the estimated 2-3 million people, many injured, left without food, water, and shelter in Port-au-Prince, and other parts of Haiti. And as of Jan. 23, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported no new major epidemiological outbreaks have been identified.
Because Haiti's people were physically weakened and at the edge of starvation before this earthquake, however, it is a race against time to stave off a second wave of mass deaths.
PAHO warns that measles, diarrhea, and outbreaks of respiratory illness are likely, as displaced people move into densely packed areas. Already, before the earthquake, 16% of deaths of children under 5 occurred from diarrhea. Tetanus is a significant concern, given the large numbers of open wounds and low immunization levels; Haiti is among the 10 countries with the lowest DTP vaccine diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis coverage in the world (53%). Only 58% of its infants under one year old are inoculated for measles. Already, Haiti had the highest rates of HIV infection and tuberculosis in the Western Hemisphere; the bacterial disease leptospirosis is endemic.
Haiti stands as a vivid testament to the evil of globalization, a country abandoned. Average life-expectancy for men was only 59 years in 2008; 63 years for women. In some areas of Haiti, over 30% of the population suffered chronic malnutrition—and the numbers were increasing, despite the World Food Program feeding 1.1 million people. In 2006, only 58% of Haitians had access to "improved drinking water sources" (i.e., potable water), and only 19% had access to "improved sanitation facilities" (i.e., latrines, rather than ditches).
Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—Right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera won yesterday's second round of Chile's Presidential elections, with 51.6% of the vote, against 48.4% for Eduardo Frei, the lackluster candidate of the ruling center-left Concertación coalition.
Piñera, who made his millions introducing credit cards to Chile under the fascist dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, is the brother of José Piñera, who, as Labor Minister under Pinochet in 1981, privatized the nation's pension system—which has since been used as the model internationally for such privatization, such as the failed Bush effort in the U.S.
Like José, President-elect Sebastián has a doctorate in economics from Harvard. Although he has tried to portray himself as a defender of human rights, the expectation is that he may incorporate into his cabinet, or in important government positions, some of the same individuals who were part of Pinochet's economics team.
For the 20 years it ruled Chile, the Concertación didn't alter one piece of Pinochet's free-market economic model. It's no surprise, then, that no one was excited about voting for Frei, whose previous, uninspired Presidency (1996-2000) did nothing to improve the living conditions of the Chilean people, or offer them any hope for the future.
Jan. 22 (EIRNS)—Inaugurating the new headquarters of Argentina's state-run high-tech company, INVAP, on Jan. 20, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said scientific work is the highest priority for her government, and exporting the most advanced products of that scientific work is the aim.
"It's fine that we export our important raw materials, and that we add value to them, but exporting satellites and nuclear reactors is the greatest essence of 'value-added' for a country.... Science, technology, value-added, and the return of scientists to Argentina has a very first place in this President's agenda."
Fernández de Kirchner proudly reported that, during her Presidency, more than 700 Argentine scientists have returned to work in their country.
Globalization had gutted scientific capabilities in the 1990s, driving some of the most skilled Argentines abroad to find work.
By 2012, some 1,000 people, not counting additional outside suppliers and contractors, will be working at the new INVAP headquarters. Since the mid-1980s, INVAP has produced nuclear reactors for Argentina, Peru, Algeria, Egypt, Australia, and others. Among its current projects, are building satellites (one jointly with NASA) and radars for Argentine airports.
Western European News Digest
Tremonti: Global Chapter 11; New Bretton Woods
France Considers Cutting Back TGV High-Speed Rail
Alone in Europe: Italian Nuclear Progresses
A Bad Week for Tony Blair
'Clandestine Rationing' of Health Care in Germany
Jan. 21 (EIRNS)—In a Jan. 17 interview with Italy's financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti counterposed his idea of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure for the financial system, and of a "New Bretton Woods and Global Legal Standard," to the financial bailout, and expressed his regret that the latter has prevailed so far. U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, according to Tremonti, rejected the idea of an international treaty, because it would require "too long" a procedure.
Asked whether the public bank bailout had been the correct policy, Tremonti answered: "History will tell.... An alternative was surely Chapter 11: Save that part of finance which is connected to real economy, to [industrial] firms and families, and let rotten assets rot. Frankly, I have thought and written that this hypothesis should be discussed.... Two ideas faced one another: the political idea of a New Bretton Woods and of legal standards, against the technical idea of the forums and the boards [a reference to the Global Stability Forum, which became the Global Stability Board—ed].
Tremonti also defended the choice of his government not to have "social slaughter by cutting health care," and called for Europe to move away from the Lisbon agenda, towards a Euratom-like approach (Euratom was the agreement for joint development of nuclear energy among France, Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries, in the early post-war period).
PARIS, Jan. 19 (EIRNS)—The French National Railroad Company SNCF is considering reducing the frequency of several high-speed rail connections considered "unprofitable."
Under attack: four region-to-region TGV rail lines: those connecting Nantes and Bordeaux, via Paris, with Strasbourg; Paris with Arras; and Lille, via Paris, with Strasbourg. High-speed rail has become, increasingly, the SNCF's "chicken that laid the golden egg," and was mainly developed to attract air travellers—mostly to bring in the cash flow. With that financial orientation, TGV development took place at the expense of investment in the rest of the national rail grid. Today, under crisis conditions and the dictatorship of lunatic accountants, SNCF, seeing profits from interregional lines dropping from 20.1% in 2009 to an anticipated 10.2% this year, is considering reducing service on these "unprofitable" rail connections. An additional "problem": Because of people economizing by reducing travel altogether, SNCF now finds itself with "too many trains"!
Traffic is anticipated to fall another 3.6% this year, and, since profitability estimates are based on the number of users, the service along additional lines might also be reduced.
Jan. 20 (EIRNS)—Another step towards the revival of a nuclear sector in Italy was made yesterday at a supply-chain meeting of about 600 industrial firms, called on by the electricity company ENEL and the industry confederation, Confindustria. ENEL CEO Fulvio Conti and Confindustria head Emma Marcegaglia called on industrialists to unite in supporting the government program to build four nuclear plants, and called on the government to guarantee no changes in the program and rules. In particular, Conti asked that energy policy, which has been "regionalized" in the past, be put again under the central government, through a Constitutional change.
The four nuclear plants will cost EU16-18 billion; Italy will buy French technology, but the French Areva will build only the nuclear island, which means 30% of the total plant. The remaining 70% will be built by Italian firms, Conti said, and this means billions of euros in orders, production, and employment. Meanwhile, the Gas and Electricity Authority has made it known that in 2010, Italian families will pay EU3 billion in subsidies for "renewable" energies. That figure will increase to EU5 billion in 2015, and to EU7 billion in 2020. Such subsidies are paid as a percentage of the family electricity bill, so that a large, but poor family, pays more than a rich, but small one. The authority called for removing the subsidy from the electricity bill and putting it in a general chapter of the state budget.
Jan. 23 (EIRNS)—The revelations out of the Chilcot Commission's inquiry, this week, into how Britain got into the Iraq War were, perhaps, best summed up by Britain's Daily Mail, which commented on Jan. 20: "The questioning may be gentlemanly to the point of docility, but piece by piece, Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the Iraq war is building up an immensely powerful case against Tony Blair." This week's testimony saw former Defence Minister Geoff Hoon blame Blair for the fact that British troops went into combat with insufficient quantities of body armor and other equipment, and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw practically admitting that the invasion was a mistake, and that he had privately advised Blair that it was "unlawful."
Now that the Dutch Davids Commission report (see this week's InDepth) declared that the Iraq war violated international law, certain Brits are trying to come clean at the expense of Blair. The Guardian reports that Blair's Foreign Secretary in 2002, Jack Straw, sent a letter that same year to Blair, marked "secret and personal," warning of the "dubious" legality of a war. This letter was given to Blair ten days before Blair met George W. Bush at the U.S. President's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002, nearly a year before the invasion.
Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—Calls for rationing health care in Germany were issued over the past few days. Health economist Friedrich Breyer of the University of Constance is quoted in the Jan. 17 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung insisting that "the discussion about rationing in the health system has to be conducted now," because economic growth is on the decline and people are living longer. "We cannot keep financing the growth in medical knowledge and expenses any longer by our growing economy," he argued. The Cologne-based medical ethics expert Christiane Woopen, a member of the governmental ethics council, complained that it "is taboo in Germany [to discuss] which illnesses are to be treated and with what priority."
Even Jörg-Dietrich Hoppe, president of the German Medical Association, seemed to blow into the same horn, saying in the same FAZ report that, under their increasing budgetary restraints, hospitals are deciding arbitrarily which cancer patients, for example, get what treatment, so that many patients do not get the appropriate cancer therapy, but the inexpensive therapy. Hoppe charged that "clandestine rationing" was taking place already on a large scale, leaving the burden of decision-making on the shoulders of the medical staff. Hoppe entered dangerous territory then, calling on politicians to define criteria for what treatment for which illnesses should receive priority, and which should not. These politicians are running into a scissors crisis between sinking tax revenues and the obligation to balance the budget. Such politicians will look for opportunities to impose brutal budget cuts somewhere, and health care is a favored target.
Southwest Asia News Digest
Afghanistan's Neighbors Hold Security Summit in Istanbul
A Tree Grows from Brooklyn: Netanyahu Gives Mitchell the Bird
Ten Detained in West Bank Settlement Over Mosque Arson
Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—On Jan. 26, two days before British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will host the Afghanistan/Yemen conference to lure President Obama into new British concoctions, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting a summit on Afghanistan, together with the Presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and unnamed officials from Iran, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are invited too, as "observers." The secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, is also attending. The emphasis is on finding a "regional/Islamic" vision for the stabilization of Afghanistan, instead of the failed approach of the United States and NATO.
That Russia is not invited to the summit is a disadvantage. Russia has been working with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to establish a regional strategy for Afghanistan to reduce the impact of British geopolitics, the drug trade, and the export of Wahhabi terrorism to China, Central Asia, Iran, and other regions. Russia organized a conference in March 2009, in the context of the SCO, on Afghanistan. Ihasnoglu was invited too, and met with President Dmitri Medvedev to give his approval of the Russian approach for a "regional solution" to the Afghanistan crisis, which is in conformity with proposals made by Lyndon LaRouche.
The British government is inviting Iran to the Jan. 28 London conference on Afghanistan, but in order to sabotage any serious solution to defeat the British Empire, the source of the problem.
The Iranian government said last week it was studying Britain's invitation. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters that if Iran's views are not going to be considered at the conference, there is no need to attend. That means that the Iranians should be shown the text of the final resolution beforehand. "However, if Iran's views are considered and the conference takes an approach in conformity with a policy adopted by regional nations," Tehran will attend the meeting, he noted.
Mehmanparast announced today that the Iranian first vice president is scheduled to attend the Istanbul conference.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hard feelings toward the British hosts of the London conference, in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Jan. 20. On Jan. 24, Tehran Times wrote about that interview: "After eight years of occupation, Britain's record in Afghanistan is indefensible, the foreign minister said. 'The British government has no convincing answer to the world for its actions in Afghanistan, and its policies have been totally wrong,' he noted. He said even 'schoolchildren' know that the occupiers have not been successful in Afghanistan, and that the occupiers have not been sincere in their approach to resolving the crisis. Either these countries did not have the capability to resolve the crisis in the first place, or they have lost the ability to lead the world, he added. Despite eight years of occupation, extremism and insecurity have increased, opium production has skyrocketed, and even parts of Pakistan are also being dragged into the conflict, Mottaki said."
Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—One day after meeting with U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday made his first trip to the West Bank since becoming Prime Minister almost a year ago, to plant two trees at an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Netanyahu said, "The message is clear and the Jewish people are here and will remain, today and forever." He added that he will be attending more tree-planting ceremonies in other West Bank settlements. The Israeli right-wing press, such as Arutz Shiva and Yeshiva World News, are gloating that the ceremony followed a lengthy meeting with Mitchell, "who continues seeking to pressure Israel and the PA [Palestinian Authority] to return to the negotiating table," and that Mitchell will return to the U.S. with no commitments from either side to return to negotiations.
Lyndon LaRouche has repeatedly warned that there will be no hope for a peace settlement until the United States destroys the British Empire's Sykes-Picot control over Southwest Asia.
Mitchell reportedly left for this mission with a plan to reach final status agreements between Israel and Palestine within two years, and to base the creation of the Palestinian state on a plan that goes back to the 2002 Beirut Agreement of the League of Arab Nations for a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world.
As EIR has documented, the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories are supported and financed by Jewish extremists and gangsters from Brooklyn, New York, and by California multi-millionaire Irving Moskowitz, who operates in the Los Angeles area. Both areas are strongholds for the political followers of the 1940s Zionist fascist, Vladimir Jabotinsky. Brooklyn was the longtime headquarters of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane (real name Michael King), founder of the Jewish Defense League, and of the terrorist Kach Party which is outlawed in Israel. The settlements also receive large contributions from the United States from Christian fundamentalist churches and organizations that backed the Bush-Cheney war party.
Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—More than 100 members of Israeli security forces deployed into the radical Jewish settlement of Yitzhar in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, and arrested ten people, including minors, on suspicion of setting fire to a Muslim house of prayer in Palestinian village of Yasuf last month.
Among those arrested was a relative of Kach founder Rabbi Meir Kahane. The suspect was released after police verified his alibi. During the arrest, the police searched a yeshiva in the settlement and found instruments that have been used in violent incidents, including spikes.
Five other suspects, four of them minors, were arrested on suspicion of rioting in the Samaria area. The fifth is also suspected of demonstrating outside the home of a Civil Administration inspector. The inspectors are Israeli government officials.
Violence against Palestinians and their buildings, such as mosques, emanating from Jewish settlements, has been escalating in the last six months, as a protest against the U.S. demand that the Israeli government freeze the expansion of settlements.
Asia News Digest
Chinese Premier Calls for China-India 'Common Development and Prosperity'
Gates: Al-Qaeda Tries To Provoke India-Pakistan Conflict
Thailand Moves Toward Civil Showdown
Egypt Asks South Korea To Help Train Nuclear Engineers
Jan. 20 (EIRNS)—Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called on India and China to take "constructive measures" to ease tensions over the long-running border dispute, which has strained relations in recent months. He spoke during his meeting with visiting Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma. Pointing out that China and India "share broad common interests," Wen said, "Only if China and India achieve common development and prosperity could we have a real Asia century."
The Indian minister is in Beijing to participate in the eighth Joint Economic Group dialogue. India and China are close to firming up a bilateral trade agreement that will commit Beijing to increasing Indian participation in Chinese projects in India. It will also address the issue of easing market access for Indian companies in China. While negotiations are still under way, media sources said, considerable ground has been covered towards reaching an understanding that would be the first-ever comprehensive bilateral trade agreement between the two Asian giants.
The highlight of Sharma's visit was his meeting with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who pointed out that both China and India are large developing nations in Asia, and the total population of the two countries accounted for 40% of the world's people. He and said his country would work with India to boost neighborly relations, increase coordination in major international issues, and expand cooperation in trade, investment, and other sectors, in line with the principles of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit.
Jan. 20 (EIRNS)—Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, following talks with Indian Defense Minister A.K. Anthony, told the Indian media that the al-Qaeda-led "syndicate," which includes local terrorist groups, is trying "to destabilize not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region." Secretary Gates, who also met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said al-Qaeda had formed alliances with the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, as well as with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group that carried out the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 that left more than 160 dead.
Despite the "restraint" shown by India after the Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based militants, New Delhi could easily lose patience if there were a repeat attack, Gates said. Earlier, Indian officials told Gates that the response to the Mumbai attacks was handled entirely through diplomatic channels, and Gates praised them this week for behaving with "great statesmanship." In an implicit warning to Pakistan, Gates said, "It's important to recognize the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces.... I think it's not unreasonable to assume Indian patience would be limited were there to be further attacks."
Some in Washington believe that if new major attacks take place in India, the consensus in New Delhi is that India will respond with military restraint—such as missile strikes against terrorist camps on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. That scenario presents American officials in the region with a huge challenge.
Jan. 21 (EIRNS)—The office of Thai Army Chief Anupong Paochinda was bombed on the night of Jan. 14, but the bombing was not revealed until yesterday. Dissident Maj-Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol (known as "Chief of Staff Red"), who was earlier suspended from duty for his open support of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the "Red Shirts" (Thaksin's supporters), is now being accused of responsibility for the bombing. His home was raided today, and two of his aides arrested. The clash in Thailand between the supporters of the still highly popular Thaksin and the British-controlled government now in power is fast approaching a showdown, and perhaps even a military conflict.
The decrepit monarchy and its Privy Council, led by retired generals Prem Tinsulanonda and Surayud Chulanont, have been discredited through their multiple coups against popularly elected governments, the massive corruption of the courts created under their military junta after Thaksin was deposed, and their political use of the military to enforce tyranny. In the past months, another former prime minister and commander in chief of the Thai military, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, has assumed leadership of the Phue Thai Party, representing the Red Shirts, who support Thaksin and his allies. Since that time, large numbers of leading military figures have joined the side of Thaksin and the Red Shirts, supporting rallies and demonstrations against the puppet government of Abhisit Vejjajiva (born, raised, and educated in London) and his Privy Council controllers.
Any attempt by the government to deploy the Army against the Red Shirts, as it has done in the past, could result in a split in the military and an armed confrontation.
Jan. 18 (EIRNS)—After South Korea signed a deal to build four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates late last year, Egypt has now asked Seoul to help train its nuclear engineers. According to the state-run Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Egyptian government formally made the request to Korea's support program for developing economies. Egyptian nuclear engineering candidates will spend from 3-5 years at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in Daejeong. Since 2001, KOICA has trained as many as 400 nuclear engineers from Vietnam, Indonesia, and Nigeria. Seoul's $20 billion deal with UAE instantly made South Korea the sixth-largest exporter of nuclear reactors in the world.
'Darfur Genocide' Slogan Again Exposed as a Lie
Jan. 23 (EIRNS)—A new study has again debunked the charge that the government of Sudan committed, and is still committing, genocide in Darfur. The report was done by researchers at the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium. It concluded that most of the deaths in Darfur, after the initial outbreak of the rebellion, were due to disease, and not government-backed militias or Air Force bombing. Most of the victims who were displaced by the rebellion and fled to camps "died of diarrhea spread by filthy water, pneumonia picked up in swirls of desert dust and fire smoke, malaria carried into their tents by mosquitoes and other maladies from years of rough living," according to the report. Violence is now minimal, except for criminal acts by bandits.
Defenders of the British imperial order, represented by such as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, intelligence operative Roger Winter, and former Director of African Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council John Prendergast (who has been rebranded as a defender of human rights) have all again been exposed as liars, whose real agenda is "regime change."
The new study was paid for by the U.S. State Department and the British Department for International Development, and was published yesterday by the British medical journal The Lancet. The study exposed the fraud of the mortality figures that have been claimed by the anti-Sudan lobby. It reported that those making the mortality claims were not able to count bodies and make extrapolations, the usual technique for counting battlefield deaths, because Darfur is such a large area. The Louvain researchers instead based their claims on interviews with a sample of family members. Based on the number of deaths of that control group, they extrapolated the number of deaths for the zone of the rebellion, by making comparisons to the death rates in the rest of the country. The study noted that even in peacetime, infant mortality rates in Sudan are high.
The study also noted that the "Save Darfur" propagandists had been accused of exaggerating the atrocities of the Sudan government by doubling more widely held estimates. Even a British advertising authority ordered the group to amend its advertisements to present the death toll as opinion, rather than fact. The study also reported that the problem with disease was aggravated in 2006, when World Food Program deliveries for the refugees were cut in half because of money shortfalls.


Read the article by SSCA Board Member Glenn Tuttle in the March-April, 2016 issue. The article is about the SSCA's Single Sideband (SSB) Voice Service on the HF radio. Broadcasting from a tower in SW Florida, the station utilizes a rotatable directional beam antenna tuned for the 8 Mhz marine band, which will effectively reach the entire Caribbean and beyond.
The SSCA was awarded a Public Coast License by the FCC, call sign "KPK", and is licensed to operate on a variety of 4, 6, 8, and 12 MHz frequencies. Listen to Glenn at 1215 UTC (0715 EST) on frequency 8104. Relays are always welcome.
KPK is SSCA's SSB Voice Service on the HF Radio. You will find more about KPK and its Net Manager Glenn Tuttle HERE..
Joan Conover describes the threat that sargassum seaweed poses to marine resources, fisheries, shorelines, waterways, and tourism in this article.
SSCA - Making Cruising Dreams Come True - The Seven Seas Cruising Association Celebrates 60 Years!
KPK Net Manager Glenn Tuttle and other amateur radio operators in Southwest Florida are featured in this story.


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Nickelback at Ball Arena Tue • Jul 18 • 6:30PM
July 18, 2023 6:30 pm - July 18, 2023 11:00 pm
Presale: Thu, 1/26 @ 10AM-10PM – Click Here
Password: NBDEN
Public On-Sale: Fri, Jan 27 @ 10am
Nickelback announced a new concert tour Monday morning.
The Canadian rock band will bring the "Get Rollin' Tour" to 38 cities this summer, including Denver's Ball Arena on Tuesday, July 18.
Country rocker Brantley Gilbert will join the cross-country tour on all non-festival dates, along with country artist Josh Ross.
"Get Rollin'," Nickelback's first album in five years, was released Nov. 18, 2022.
Nickelback will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the JUNO Awards on March 13, 2023.
Ticket Info: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1E005E32AEEF2680


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Employee Spotlight: Vanna Ngo, Data Centre Technician
Published June 29, 2018	by CWH Staff	· 3 min read
Vanna Ngo is our Customer-Experience-intern-turned-Data-Centre-Technician. Vanna works out of our Coquitlam data centre, ensuring our servers are in tip-top shape and assisting customers with any questions they have. She's a networking pro and regularly contributes to our blog on Linux and Windows-related topics.
Whether you want to talk about anime, her Instagram-famous pooch Ruki, her panda obsession, or gaming hard on the Sims, talking to Vanna will leave you in a good and silly mood. Find out more about her below!
Vanna Ngo
When did you join the CWH team?
What brought you to CWH?
After having such an amazing opportunity as a co-op student back in 2015, I decided to come back.
What was your first impression of CWH?
The office had a positive energy about it and everyone was very nice.
Who was your favourite superhero growing up? Why?
Does Sailor Moon count as a superhero? She was one of the first female "superheroes" that I was exposed to, and to this day, she still wins my heart. I'd choose her over any Marvel or DC superhero any day.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a plastic surgeon when I was in elementary school, but I soon realized I get queasy way too easily, so no thanks 🙂
What is one thing you've always wanted to do, but haven't yet?
I've always wanted to do a road trip across Canada to visit all of the provinces, but I'm still saving up for a car. Darn you, student loans! Education should be free.
What's one thing you want everyone to know about you?
I love dogs, especially mine. You can catch him on Instagram: @mister_ruki
What is your favourite website? Why?
Neopets. That's all I can really say…
I'm currently reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. It reminds me to take a step back when things get stressful.
What is the nerdiest thing about you?
When I would get bored in the past, I would write secret messages in binary to my friends from school. We would communicate by converting binary into ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Exchange).
What is one unusual or interesting thing about you?
I love watching horror movies even though I am super jumpy. Who's excited for The Nun?! Also, I wish Christmas was every day.
What is your favourite thing about being part of the CWH team?
Everyone has a good sense of humour and is very honest. It really makes you feel like you're a part of a family.
The CWH 2017 holiday party
What is your favourite thing about working in the tech and web hosting industry?
Every day is unique in the tech world! There's always something new to do to or learn.
What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you since working at CWH?
When customers call us and assume I'm part of a different department other than support because I am a female. People, it's 2018! #WomeninTech
As my favourite superhero would say…
What is your favourite thing about being a Data Centre Technician?
Being able to work with the servers physically as it has taught me a lot in regards to troubleshooting and identifying respective hardware.
Want to find out more about Vanna (or her dog Ruki)? Try them in the comments below.
Published in CWH Team
data centre technician
Installing WordPress on CentOS 7
Congrats vanna! Don't ask how I got here xD


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Olympics Opening Ceremony 2016: Gisele Bündchen's Triumphant Walk and 14 Other Historic Moments
By Kimberly Roots and Andy Swift / August 5 2016, 7:21 PM PDT
Courtesy of NBC (3)
Hard to believe, but it's been four years since Daniel Craig, the Spice Girls, J.K. Rowling, Kenneth Branagh, Mr. Bean, Queen Elizabeth II herself and a couple of camera-ready corgis kicked off the Summer Olympics in London.
Those opening ceremonies set a rather high bar — what with 007 and the freaking queen (!) skydiving (!!) in to get things started* — so 2016's Brazil-set games were going to have to work overtime to match the grandeur of London's big opening number. (Don't even get us started on Beijing in 2008.)
As Friday's Today on NBC took pains to point out — and ceremony director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) has said himself — Friday's ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro had merely a fraction of the budget of previous Olympics starts. But the lack of costly gimmicks didn't seem like such a big deal when you had Brazilian native and supermodel Gisele Bündchen runway-walking into Maracana Stadium, part of a dance party of thousands.
A good part of NBC's coverage, anchored by Today's Matt Lauer, Hoda Kotb and Meredith Viera and sportscaster Bob Costas, focused on the Parade of Nations — aka the time when most of the athletes march into the stadium, waving their nations' flags. Yes, most-decorated-athlete-in-Olympics-history Michael Phelps was flag bearer for the United States, and that's cool, but you'd have to be made of stone not to appreciate the tenacity of the first Refugee Team — made up entirely of athletes who have fled oppressive regimes at great risk to themselves — which proudly marched in under the Olympic flag just ahead of Brazil.
Other highlights and/or weird-but-fun moments included: Lion King-style puppetry, the ceremony's surprisingly political segment on global warming… and did we mention Bündchen already? Either way, she begs repeating.
Click through the gallery below to see the best (and most bizarre) moments from the Rio games' opener, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
*Yes, we're aware they were stunt doubles. Just roll with it.
Olympics Opening Ceremony 2016: Best Moments
TAGS: 2016 Summer Olympics, NBC, Olympics
GET MORE: Photo Gallery, Sports


Milan, Italy – August23, 2013 – Matica System, a leading worldwide company that designs, manufactures and markets card personalization and mailing systems as well as ID card printers and metal plate embossers, is pleased to announce that ABnote™ North America, a division of American Banknote Corporation (the ABnote Group), the leading North American supplier of secure printed products, documents, and related services, has selected the Matica S7000 card personalization system to issue financial cards from its new secure bureau in Boston, MA.
To ensure a seamless transition to EMV issuance, ABnote's card bureau, whose services include print production, personalization, secure warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment, recently purchased two Matica® S7000 systems, which include modules for contact and contactless chip encoding, thermal and/or color printing, embossing, tipping, indenting, and activation labeling.
ABnote intends to become the primary supplier of card solutions for the imminent North American migration to EMV standards, and anticipates that the installation of its new, independent Matica® production line will help them reach that goal.
"With the looming mandates and schedules surrounding EMV card issuance in the United States, ABnotewas looking for a partner to provide card personalization machinery with an open interface that would allow them maximum flexibility both for EMV chip personalization and data infrastructure. Matica's open architecture and license-free chip interfaces, proven reliability and US-based support infrastructure were keys to meeting ABnote's requirements of high card quality and consistent uptime" said Jonathan Bowen, US Business Development Manager for Matica System.
One of the biggest benefits to ABnoteis the S7000's ability to encode contact and contact-less chip cards quickly without the being tied to expensive and proprietary encoding software and hardware licensing fees. The flexible and open interface of the Matica S7000 reduces the per-card cost of chip card issuance, and is just one of the reasons Matica card personalization systems are used worldwide to issue millions of chip cards every year.
The S7000 system is one of the most flexiblemodular card personalization systems available today. Configuration options are nearly unlimited and allow users to personalize cards quickly and efficiently while conserving floor space and keeping equipment costs low. The system can also be linked in line with aMatica mailing system to provide a complete turnkey card issuance and fulfillment solution. Its modularity also helps to meet future market demands by allowing fieldupgrades to add or enhance personalization capabilitiesthrough the installation ofnew modules and stations, but without any added software licensing fees normally associated with system upgrades.
ABnote, with facilities in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australasia, is a premier and trusted provider of secure products and solutions. We provide solutions to global customers including financial, retail, government, and many other commercial markets. ABnote's primary products include financial cards (Dual Interface, EMV, magnetic stripe), identification and credential cards (Drivers' Licenses, National ID cards, Student ID), transit cards, hotel, facility and theme park access cards and membership programs, retail plastic cards (gift, loyalty, RFID), barcodes and labels and secure documents (vital records, certificates, passports, and more); along with complimentary secure services, including instant card issuance, NFC mobile payments, TSM, personalization, secure warehousing, distribution and fulfillment.
Matica designs, manufactures and markets cost-efficient, flexible solutions for industrial card personalization and card mailing systems for banking, government, access control, ID and transportation applications, featuring a full range of alternative personalization and encoding technologies. Together with Matica Technologies,which provides advanced identification systems specialized for secure government and corporate applications, they offer a global presence and a strong support network. The Group provides to its joint customer base, local sales forces for its worldwide regions with marketing integration and skilled technical support for its combined market segments. The Group is represented worldwide with offices in Italy, Germany, France, Mexico, Singapore, China, the USA and the UAE.
For further information, please visit www.maticasystem.com and www.maticacorp.com.


Jonathan and Steve have been doing fences the last few days. However, Jon went up alone one day with the camera and took some amazing pictures. I chose a few of the over 100 to share!
I love all the flowers blooming up on the mountain during the spring. Yes, it is still spring up on the ranch. The fence of wild roses is rather stunning.
Things you find in the pond-A GREEN dragonfly, a snail floating on the ceiling of the water, and polliwogs!
This snail Jon took several photos of-finally, he saw it tilt and realised it was a snail underwater with it's foot on the bottom of the surface of the water~which is really strange.
At this time of the year, the pond is green and not full of pond weed, the cows have not torn up the edge of the pond, and everything is peaceful. I only hope the killdeer nest hatches out its babies (it was near the pond!).
As Jon drove home, he captured the ranch in his mirror and camera (my camera). I think this is one of my favorite photos,.