text:
#ifndef _YAUL_KERNEL_SYS_INIT_H_
#define _YAUL_KERNEL_SYS_INIT_H_

#include <sys/cdefs.h>

__BEGIN_DECLS

/* This prototype declaration is needed (only) for C++ to void name mangling. We
 * also don't want to explicitly declare the prototype for C either (hence the
 * redundant extern "C") */
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" void user_init(void);
#endif /* __cplusplus */

__END_DECLS

#endif /* !_YAUL_KERNEL_SYS_INIT_H_ */

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The technology for creating new tissues from stem cells has taken a giant leap forward. Two tablespoons of blood are all that is needed to grow a brand new blood vessel in just seven days. This is shown in a new study from Sahlgrenska Acadedmy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital.


text:
Developer suing Niagara-on-the-Lake over bylaw
by John Chick
March 19, 2021 | 2 min read
Rainer Hummel, who blew the whistle on Pelham's DC-credits-for-land scheme, sets his sights on new target
This article is reprinted with permission of the Pelham Voice where it originally appeared
Court documents that are part of a $500,000 lawsuit against the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake allege that the community's mayor and council enacted its Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL) mainly to penalize one specific developer.
In a 40-page statement filed March 2 by lawyers for Hummel Properties Inc., it is asserted that Lord Mayor Betty Disero inferred that the Town's ICBL was directed at the owners of the Randwood lands, listed as Solmar Development Corporation. (Niagara-on-the-Lake is the only community in Canada to use the term "Lord Mayor" for its top elected official, a nod to its colonial history.)
According to the court documents, in 2019 Disero told a group including Rainer Hummel, owner of Hummel Properties, that the town's first ICBL, passed in late 2018, "wasn't about you guys" and that "you all know why I am doing this."
If Hummel's name sounds familiar, it's because he's the East Fonthill developer who asserted that former Town of Pelham administrators engaged in corrupted practices related to the Town's transaction of East Fonthill land for an inflated price, which he asserted at the time was "nothing more than a backdoor way of bonusing a developer."
Hummel's company, which is the sole plaintiff, originally filed the lawsuit against Niagara-on-the-Lake in January, and claims improper passage and application of the ICBL. Hummel has claimed a loss of business and revenue due to it, which, unlike Pelham's similar-timed ICBL, which was narrowly focused on the cannabis industry, also appears to be an attempt to limit overall growth.
Disero, a long-time Toronto city councillor, was elected Lord Mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2018 on a platform of slowing down development in the "Old Town" area of NOTL.
Hummel's court statement also includes verbiage from an email from Councillor Wendy Cheropita, which reads, "Councillors including me were unaware of the full extent of the consequences and validity of this move. We were all being guided to vote yes to protect the Town from a specific developer."
Cheropita responded to a request for comment, saying she had just received a report on the issue and had not yet had a chance to read it. "Since this is a legal matter I will not make any comments until it is appropriate to do so," she said.
Disero did not reply for comment.
Hummel told the Voice of Pelham that he was "very much looking forward" to the matter going before a judge, but would reserve specific comment until after a decision was rendered. A victory for Hummel would effectively render the ICBL void, opening the door to similar claims from other plaintiffs, and immediately allowing new regulations to come into force.
The case is scheduled to go to court next week.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Reed Expo acquires Capsule
Reed Exhibitions, one of the world's largest global events organizer and a division of Reed Elsevier plc, has purchased Capsule, a global fashion and lifestyle trade show for men's and women's apparel and accessories. Previously, the Capsule franchise had been controlled individually by fashion agency BPMW.
According to WWD the deal was confirmed end December, however details of the agreement have not been revealed. Capsule now joins the Reed Exhibitions increasing portfolio of fashion and lifestyle events, which include San Diego based event Comic Con and skate/street wear trade fair Agenda.
Capsule was first founded in 2007 and now hosts twelve trade shows each year in Paris, Berlin, New York and Las Vegas. The trade show is primarily known for its unique assortment of exclusive and independent designers. Leaders at Reed Exhibitions and Capsule have agreed to work together to further develop future trade shows and improve the shows experience for visitors, sellers and buyers a like.
Deirdre Maloney, co-founder of Capsule said: "We've watched the community of Capsule brands shape the fashion landscape and we're proud to offer a boutique experience that provides the opportunity for industry relationships to flourish.
"But as the market has grown so have we, and the time is right for us to join forces with a world-class company like Reed that can help us do what we've always done — better. We are so impressed with Reed's global perspective and rich experience, and we're looking forward to working together on what is and will remain a very personal project for us," concluded Maloney.
Greg Topalian, senior vice president at Reed Exhibition believes that the newest acquisition is "great cultural fit with our growing fashion portfolio, and a great addition to what we're doing with the Agenda events."
Reed Fashion Group launches new trade show, AXIS
Reed Expo partners with Thebe Exhibitions and Projects in South Africa
Reed Expo acquires Expo Beauty and Expo Lighting America
Media 10 acquires 100% Design from Reed Expo


text:
Portnox adds IoT fingerprinting to network access control service
October 12, 2022 TH Author IoT security, Network Security
Network security firm Portnox on Wednesday announced it is adding IoT fingerprinting features to the Portnox Cloud NAC-as-a-Service to allow companies to more easily identify and authorize devices on their networks. The IoT fingerprinting features add new device-identification techniques to the network access control product, including MAC address clustering and DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) gleaning.
Portnox is a zero trust access control company focusing on network security. Its IoT fingerprinting techniques are designed to profile devices that sit on the network but cannot communicate complete identifying information such as version number, model or even device type due to lack of storage or computing power.
IoT fingerprinting gathers information on what devices are on the network, what they are being used for, and who is using them. It is specifically used in the case of devices such as cameras, TV, printers, medical devices, and factory devices. Many IoT devices such as these do not have enterprise-level security—a big problem for network engineers and security teams.
"Our customers and prospects have a lot of anxiety about these devices," said Denny LeCompte, CEO of Portnox. "They want to make sure only the right devices get onto the network. There is also an increasing proliferation of shadow IT, wherein somebody has just plugged a device into the network and the IT team does not know about it. It could be an innocent act but the same can be used or done by attackers as well,"
Portnox's core product follows a whitelist of MAC addresses for devices that can be allowed to connect to a network. However, this raises concerns about MAC address spoofing and other ways in which attackers can hide behind IoT devices.
"The next problem faced is that while the IP and MAC addresses are available, it is not known what device it is. The IoT fingerprinting gathers information to tell the organization what each device is," LeCompte said.
IoT fingerprinting offers added security
With the new IoT fingerprinting techniques, customers of the NAC-as-a-Service can get added levels of security to their network, Portnox said. In MAC address clustering, the network access control process identifies the MAC addresses of IoT devices. Using machine learning techniques and referring to IoT product databases, device types—including specific models—can then be identified.
Some devices have their own fingerprinting—in other words, the ability to store information about themselves, which allows Portnox to passively gather a lot of information about the device. While proximity sensors, for example, may not be able to store information about themselves, Cisco routers have version numbers embedded in Cisco IOS.
As an added layer of security, organizations can use DHCP gleaning. Although every DHCP request contains the same information, every device does it slightly differently, creating a distinct fingerprint. So, if you capture a DHCP request by a device, you can identify what kind of device it is.
Tapping the combination of data gathered by Portnox's fingerprinting capabilities and information sent by the devices themselves, organizations can accurately determine whether devices are safe to connect to a network more than 90% of the time, LeCompte said.
Benefits of NAC-as-a-Service
When someone tries to access a network—whether via a wired or wireless device—the NAC service will check their identity and what levels of access they are allowed on the network.
It will also check the security posture of the device being used, making sure that it is running an antivirus, vulnerabilities are patched, and the right ports are opened or closed. If the required security posture is not followed, the NAC-as-a-Service does not allow the device to access the network.
"It's all about getting access to the network, the wireless, various kinds of applications, and application access we control. It is a zero trust policy by default which means nobody unknown gets onto the network," LeCompte said.
Pricing for the new IoT fingerprinting offering
The IoT fingerprinting feature from Portnox will only be available with the enterprise offering of its NAC-as-a-Service. There will be no additional charge for the new feature. If an organization is already using NAC-as-a-Service, the fingerprint data will automatically start showing up. NAC-as-Service is priced starting $4 per device per month.
Portnox competes with network access control providers such as Cisco, HPE, Fortinet, and Forescout. The company says being a cloud-native solution provider is their biggest differentiator. "The overhead on our product is a differentiator because there isn't much overhead at all," LeCompte claimed.
Next read this
← Introducing new Microsoft Defender for Cloud innovations to strengthen cloud-native protections
WhatsApp Users Beware: Dangerous Mobile Trojan Being Distributed via Malicious Mod →
Nvidia jumps into Zero Trust
November 12, 2021 TH Author 0
Researchers show techniques for malware persistence on F5 and Citrix load balancers
November 9, 2022 TH Author 0
February 8, 2023 TH Author 0


When we get the recharge reward?
Is this really necessary to spam forum like this?
Location: USA near Washington DC.
I would like to know, for whatever the next forum event is. When can we expect our rewards?
And when can we can expect the next event schedule to go up.
And why all the events don't run as planned.
And why does KAL permit its staff holidays and weekends.
And is KAL planning to upgrade staff hours to 24/7 to meet gamers needs.
The goddamn event isn't even over yet... At least wait a while after event is over before you start asking.
1. Event rewards are usually 2-3 days after the end of the event.
2. Event schedules come bimonthly on the 14th and 30th, or around those dates.
4. KaL lets staff have holidays because it's immoral and illegal to force them to work every day. The KaL staff are still people, yknow.
5. Do you realise how much of a ridiculous question that is? They're not a call center catering to millions of people. Hell, even customer services are only open for normal work hours. It's not even a fast game where you absolutely need the best stuff instantly. There's no reason you can't wait a couple of days. Just go outside and have a social life while you wait.
Even when dates are posted people complain (silver rain), and sometimes when there are no exact dates they dont (Vday poems). People are strange. KaL is strange too. All that weekend and holiday stuff. Hell, i heard they even sleep a few times every week.
Lilpwnd, i will be in Poland next week on a business trip. Lets chill. Show me around town.
You know I'm living in Germany?
You should do business in Hamburg Bankai lilpwnd will show you the city and after that we can meet for some beers!
uhmm.. I have been told I have a dry sense of humor.
Anyway.. for those who did not get it.
This post was supposed to be a joke...I.E. bordering on the absurd.
Awww.. Now when they ask me "business or pleasure" at the airport i will change my answer to "business". Enjoy ur vacay in spain. I feel at home there cause i speak spanish .
@kaynie, thx bro, looking forward to celebrating in Hamburg with you and alenka.


text:
(Bonus PDF) Personal and Professional Life of Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart, July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. In 1935, Earhart became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor to women students. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.


text:
Q: Problem registering protocols with associated types using swinject I wanted to develop an application which uses repository patterns using core data and realm. I want to resolve protocol according to my needs. Purpose is to inject a generic core data repository / realm repository protocol in the assembly.
Problem occurs on this line saying Protocol 'SleepRepositoryProtocol' can only be used as a generic constraint because it has Self or associated type requirements
func assemble(container: Container) {
    container.register(SleepRepositoryProtocol.self) { r in
        CoreDataSleepRepository(persistentContainer:r.resolve(NSPersistentContainer.self)!)
        }.inObjectScope(.container)
}

I am unable to inject sleep repository protocol because of using generic (associated type) properties. How can I solve this problem?
Additionally,thank you very much for your response. It really helped me a lot. I have one more issue with this.
var repository: SleepRepositoryProtocol
var items: [SleepEntity]?

private let assembler: Assembler

init(assembler: Assembler) {
    self.assembler = assembler

    repository = assembler.resolver.resolve(SleepRepositoryProtocol.self)!
}

This gives me error "Protocol 'SleepRepositoryProtocol' can only be used as a generic constraint because it has Self or associated type requirements" and I don't know how to resolve my SleepRepositoryProtocol.

A: This error is a classic:
    container.register(SleepRepositoryProtocol.self) { r in

is forbidden because SleepRepositoryProtocol is a Protocol with Associated Type.
what you would need is for the assemble(container:) method to be generic and declared this way for example:
func assemble<Repository: SleepRepositoryProtocol>(container: Container, ofType type:Repository) {

but since it's part of Swinject's Assembly Protocol it is not an option and you need to find another place to put the Generic Type Constraint.
In your case it can be the enclosing type eg.:
class MyClass<Repository: SleepRepositoryProtocol>: Assembly {
    func assemble(container: Container) {
        container.register(Repository.self) { r in
          CoreDataSleepRepository(persistentContainer:r.resolve(NSPersistentContainer.self)!)
        }
        .inObjectScope(.container)
    }
}

Edit
you cannot just write :
var repository: SleepRepositoryProtocol

Once you add associatedtype in you protocol you can never you it like a normal type only as a Generic Type Constraint
So if I update MyClass with your other properties:
class MyClass<Repository: SleepRepositoryProtocol>: Assembly {
    var repository: Repository

    var items: [SleepEntity]?

    private let assembler: Assembler

    init(assembler: Assembler) {
        self.assembler = assembler

        repository = assembler.resolver.resolve(Repository.self)!
    }

    func assemble(container: Container) {
        container.register(Repository.self) { r in
          CoreDataSleepRepository(persistentContainer:r.resolve(NSPersistentContainer.self)!)
        }
        .inObjectScope(.container)
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Shopping for cute organic clothing for boys can be a challenging task, and finding affordable organic kids clothing is even more daunting. So we decided to make it easy for you. Check out these adorable summer clothes from some of our favorite sustainable clothing brands.
Frugi, one of our favorite organic summer clothing brands for boys, is a sustainable UK clothing company that has made its way to the US. Their clothes have seams that are strong, fabric that is super soft and waistbands that don't pinch. They have a large variety of organic fabrics, such as flannel, brushback, interlock, twill and many more. Their prints and dyes are GOTS certified, which means they use no nasty chemicals. They make clothing for newborns- 8 yrs including pjs, tees, pants, jumpers, outerwear, underwear, hats and more! All of their packaging is biodegradable.
Kee-Ka organics manufactures baby and toddler tees, onesies, hats, bibs, socks, rompers, and pants. They use certified organic cotton grown in Turkey and India and they are manufactured in Northern Israel. Kee-Ka uses low-impact dyes and certified fair trade practices. They also use recycled brown box packaging which also can be used to mail the clothing if its a gift. Their Small Change line is fun, stylish, affordable organic baby items made in a variety of colors.
Nohi Kids is a fun new clothing company with a passion for adorable children clothing. They use certified organic cotton with a mix of bamboo fiber and a touch of spandex to keep the clothing stretchy. They use low-impact, water based inks following all CPSIA guidelines and regulations. They manufacture clothing for newborns-8 years.
Babysoy is one of my personal favorite clothing companies. They make superior clothing that truly lasts forever. Babysoy uses a unique blend of soybean fiber and organic cotton for extra softness and strength. All of their soybean fiber is Non-GMO soy. They also use low-impact water based inks. Babysoy manufactures clothing for newborns-4T. They introduced a new line of clothing last year, Janey Baby Collection, made out of organic cotton and rayon from bamboo.
Under the Nile manufactures GOTS certified organic Egyptian cotton clothing, toys, diapers, essentials and accessories for infants and children. All of their dyes are metal free or vegetable based. Under the Nile uses certified fair trade practices and they make sure that 2 organic meals are provided to their worker in Egypt each day. Under the Nile designs clothing for newborns-6T.
Kicky Pants offers playful bamboo clothing for newborns-6T. Most of their clothes are 95% organic bamboo viscose (made from bamboo) and 5% lycra. They are incredibly soft and stretchy fabrics. Bamboo has inherent qualities to block harmful UVA/UVB sun rays, so these are the perfect clothes to wear out in the sun over the summer. Bamboo is also known for its natural wicking properties, odor free abilities, and being biodegradable.
Finn + Emma has sweet whimsical baby clothing for newborns up to 18 months. All of their clothing is GOTS certified organic cotton made in Peru in fair trade environments. They use nickel and lead free snaps, which are natural wood. They also use eco-friendly dyes that are OEKO TEX Standard 100 certified. All of their appliques are made with wool felt or organic cotton.
Kushies has several organic layette lines made with 100% certified organic cotton. Each of the 9 organic lines has 15-33 different pieces ranging from coordinating bodysuits, pants, sleepers, unisuits, gowns, 2 pieces outfits, blankets, dresses, hats and more.
I just love the classic styles, love them!
Frugi is a sustainable UK clothing company that has made its way to the US. Their clothes have seams that are strong, fabric that is super soft and waistbands that don't pinch. They have a large variety of organic fabrics, such as flannel, brushback, interlock, twill and many more. Their prints and dyes are GOTS certified, which means they use no nasty chemicals. They make clothing for newborns- 8 yrs including pjs, tees, pants, jumpers, outerwear, underwear, hats and more! All of their packaging is biodegradable.


Br. Vincent Mary Bernhard, O.P.
At the beginning of every new year there is a sense of hope. We take stock of where we are as individuals in our life, where we want to be in a year's time, and how to go about accomplishing these new resolutions. This may apply to many different aspects of life, such as health, hobbies, or relationships. In a certain sense, this is possible in the spiritual life as well: pondering moments of grace and weakness over the past year, evaluating our responses to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and praying for guidance in the year to come.
St. Thomas Aquinas writes that hope is the virtue that grounds us in eternity, especially as we are tossed about by the storms of this world. "Thus a man," he writes, "should be held fast to that hope as an anchor," for God "wills that the anchor of our hope be fixed in that which is now veiled from our eyes" (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews). Infused by the Holy Spirit, the gift of hope reminds us of the words and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ and allows us to believe that they will happen.
It is easy to think of the moments of trial in the past year, making one rather pessimistic, or at best only slightly optimistic about the year to come. However, by realizing that each one of us is united to Jesus Christ and relives the mysteries of his life, we are prepared to face whatever comes as an opportunity to grow closer to God and be conformed even more into his image. This is where happiness is found: in the union with God and the enjoyment of the eternal life of the Son. The way is arduous and difficult, but we hope in the promises of the Savior.
The Lord is with us as a warrior and his very life flows through our veins. Therefore, no matter the trials and challenges we face in the new year, we are prepared to endure and overcome them by renewing our hope in him, allowing him to stir our hearts to boldness and zeal for the kingdom of God.
By Br. Vincent Mary Bernhard, O.P.
Br. Vincent Mary Bernhard entered the Order of Preachers in 2017. He is a graduate of Aquinas College in Nashville,TN, where he studied philosophy and theology.


At MarCo Rural Water Company, Inc, we are committed to providing safe, high quality water services to our community, while maintaining a standard of excellence in customer service and environmental conservation.
Online Bill Pay Has Arrived - MarCo Rural Water is excited to announce online bill pay is now available for the convenience of our residents! Click Here for all the information. Pay your bill anytime online through our secure payment portal!


text:
Q: Node js chatting with multiple users in same room I am new to node.js. I am creating a chat app. I want to manage 4 users who are connected to the room. I have the primary key of the logged in user User A in the session, I can also save it in hidden file. When the page loads I only have one socket connected to server (i.e. socket of User A). When user A wants to chat with User B, I have a textarea for message, a div to show the chat message history and one send button.
How can I allow user A to chat with N number of users and keep track of who's chatting who?
I am thinking of following method to keep track of the chat messages,

Save both users primary key in hidden fields. When user A send message
  to User B. Send User A and B's PK to server along with message and
  save it in database.

or...

Is there any way to identify User B's Socket. So that Saving/Handling
  User A and B's primary on client side can be avoided.

A: You can broadcast the message to all connected users.
io.sockets.emit("method","Message");

or you can send message to the specific user socket
 io.sockets.socket(socketId).emit("method","Message");

Also you can add the users to the specific room on connection
  io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.join("RoomName");
  });

and send message to the room ( Message will deliver to all joined users )
io.to('RoomName').emit("method","Message");

You can get the socket id of user on connection and save it to array or database .
  io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  console.log( "User connected on " + socket.id);
  });

Chat Application :
Node.js is single thread application.So You will have all connected user socket object stored in the io.sockets
 Step 1: Save socket id of user in to database on Connection
 Step 2: Remove Socket id of user from database on connection
 Step 3: if socket id of user exist in database then this mean user is connected and you can send the message to user socket.

Node.js
// User Socket array storage
var user_by_socket = [];
var socket_to_users = [];

   io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {

   // Save Socket Object
   user_by_socket[socket.id] = socket;
   socket_to_user["Jhon"] = socket;

   user_by_socket[socket.id] = socket;
   socket_by_user["David"] = socket;

   //Send Message
   socket.on('send',function(data){

   // Sent by username
   socket_by_user["David"].emit("recieve","{ "From" : 'Jhon' , 'message' :  "Hello" }");

   //Sent by Socket Id
   user_by_socket["Socket ID"].emit("recieve","{ "From" : 'Jhon' , 'message' :  "Hello" }");

   });

   });


OPEN LETTER TO CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: Is Ace Magashule's ANC your ANC?
You are at:Home»eHowzit News»Comments / Letters & Columns»OPEN LETTER TO CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: Is Ace Magashule's ANC your ANC?
Yesterday's events signify a new low for the ANC, the party of which you are the leader.


text:
REACTION: Williams Assesses Vale Defeat
Town Head Coach Luke Williams spoke to members of the local media in the wake of his side's 3-2 defeat to Port Vale earlier today. Here are the key points from what he had to say…
ON WHERE THE GAME WAS LOST:
"It is hard to know why we allowed that to happen (Vale's quick equaliser) and too many people switched off from a free-kick and we were chasing the game and it becomes more physical.
"There was more space at the back and it was too difficult for us to cope.
"It was the same team that looked very, very good away from home and it is the same team that pretty much came from one goal down to beat Gillingham, but today it was a different reaction.
"Some of the quality is not there in terms of the all-round play.
"The game was over at half-time if we scored when we were on top. We scored the most difficult goals and we had far easier chances but we didn't take them.
"We were looking for more end product. We played away from home with a game plan, which was delivered well, and we limited the opposition in the first-half, we take the lead and then concede immediately.
"That was the first big, big problem because that was a moment in the game when you have to be extra focused, you know there is going to be a reaction from the restart and you have to be able to match that.
"There was a mistake inside the box, the ball was spilled by a keeper who has been fantastic and one mistake cost us, but it was the whole team allowing that cross to come in immediately after the restart."
ON BRAD BARRY'S SENDING-OFF:
"We were throwing everything forward in a desperate attempt to get back into the game. I believed they tried today and they gave a huge push to try and get back on level-terms.
"They didn't go behind through not trying, it was through a lack of experience but they tried and they gave everything.
"We were short at the back and the opposition need to do nothing else but protect their lead and put the ball forward on a very big pitch.
"We got exposed at the back and people are having to make recovery tackles."
ON THE MOOD IN THE CAMP:
"Obviously I'm very emotional and very upset because we appeared to do enough in the first-half to win the game but we allowed it to get away, so I'm very hurt and very disappointed.
"it does look desperate but I believe we can win enough games to stay in the division."
ON THE DECISION TO REPLACE NICKY AJOSE:
"Nicky hasn't had a full week of training and it looked to me like he had given as much as he possibly could.
"I felt there were going to be far more direct balls into the centre of the pitch, which is something that Nicky isn't comfortable with.
"Luke Norris came on and did exactly what he was asked to do which was to run at the heart of Port Vale, to compete with the physical centre-backs and he scored.
"He did his job perfectly and he gave us a chance."


The identification and location of the suspect(s) responsible for the Murder.
On Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at around 4:20 a.m., officers were dispatched to 7820 Woodchase for reports of shots fired. When they arrived they found the victim dead on the sidewalk from an apparent gunshot.


I recently had a brain wave thinking about foodie offerings for Halloween and realised that pears were the perfect shape to use as ghosts. So yesterday being the first day of half term my daughter and I set about creating Chocolate Pear Ghosts which are kinder to your teeth than traditional toffee!
We had great fun working out the logistics of how we were going to achieve the correct look and were undecided about whether or not our ghosts should have mouths so we ended up with 2 versions! We used dark chocolate for the base in order to give the ghosts definition plus dark and pears are a perfect flavour combination.
Chocolate Ghost Pears - coated in dark and white chocolate for a spooky treat your kids will love to make and eat!
Break up the white and dark chocolate and place into 2 separate heat proof bowls.
Place the dark chocolate bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (turning off the heat after a minute) and stir with a spoon until melted.
Place a sheet of baking paper on a board.
Dip the base of each pear into the dark chocolate to give an even coat.
Lift out and place on the baking paper (holding in place until it will stand upright, team work is good)!
Place the pears in the fridge for a few minutes until the chocolate has set.
Meanwhile melt the white chocolate over more hot water as before (careful not to overheat or texture will go grainy).
Once the dark chocolate has set remove the pears from fridge and insert a lolly stick into the base of each.
Then coat the top two thirds of the pear with the while chocolate by spooning over and turning (a wavy line at the base is the aim).
Lay the pears down on the baking paper and place back in the fridge to set.
Put the remaining dark chocolate back on the heat.
Once the white chocolate has set use the tip of a teaspoon handle to dab on 2 eyes (and a mouth if you like) and place back in the fridge until set.
Serve at your Halloween party or wrap in cellophane as a Halloween gift!
Those are adorable, I love how the shape of the pear works so well as a ghost! Cute idea!


text:
"Never," he murmured. "I'm going to mark you too, Simon, shoot my scent all over you, both of us claiming you as our own. Do you want that?"
"Oh, God," Simon moaned, dropping his head to Blair's shoulder. For a moment he thought that Jim had chosen that moment to enter the bigger man, but a glance over Simon's shoulder showed that Jim was still patiently preparing him.
"I want that," Simon whispered against Blair's shoulder, as if it was a secret too precious to trust to aerial sound waves. "I want that very, very much."
"Then you got it," Jim growled huskily, moving into place between Simon's legs, and Blair felt a strange flash of pride. When Jim went primal with him, he rarely had the wherewithal for speech.
Blair couldn't see Jim slowly, carefully easing into Simon, but Simon groaned richly with pleasure and his cock throbbed impossibly bigger and harder against Blair's own aching erection. Simon braced himself on his elbows so that Blair didn't have to bear his and Jim's combined weight, and Blair squirmed against him in response, aligning their erections and sliding them together.
Apparently Jim had reached the limits of his gentleness, because he pushed forward suddenly, and several other things happened – Simon, crying out with pleasure, was jarred forward, causing his erection to thrust forward over Blair's; Blair cried out too, hooking his heels over Simon's wide-spread thighs and arching up against the delightful friction; and the bed rocked, shaking the fake vines and leaves above them.
After a couple of hours of extended foreplay, none of them had much restraint left. Jim growled, thrusting into Simon hard and rhythmically, his hands locked in an iron grip on Simon's hips. Simon, not protesting at all at Jim's vigorous action, rocked against the deep thrusts, simultaneously sliding his erection over Blair's and between their bellies on a slippery coating of sweat, massage oil and precome. Blair, at the bottom of the pile, simply clung to Simon's broad shoulders, kissed the older man whenever he could bend his head down far enough, and enjoyed the hell out of the ride. It was rather like a reverse race – whoever reached the finish line first, lost, and Blair, with little to concentrate on besides his own arousal at the incredible experience, not to mention the intoxicating thrust of Simon's erection against his own, was very much afraid it was going to be him.
And he was right. Jim gave a particularly strong thrust, pushing Simon hard against Blair, and that was it; Blair arched his back, dug his fingers into Simon's shoulders and howled out his pleasure as he covered Simon's belly and his own with what felt like gallons of hot come. He slumped panting and tired to the mattress, but he didn't bask in the afterglow too long; his men were still in the race, and Blair didn't consider himself confined to the sidelines quite yet.
Risking suffocation, Blair slid lower under Simon's body, licking and nibbling at the hard buds of Simon's nipples. Then, even more daring, he moved out from under Simon and stuck just his head under Simon's hips, and risking a horrible crushing death (not to mention the definite possibility of erotic asphyxiation) did his best to swallow the biggest erection he'd ever seen.
Simon tasted of sweat and massage oil and precome and Blair's semen, and any hope of a nice controlled gentle blowjob was a lost cause entirely. Jim was fairly slamming into Simon now, and Simon was pretty much as far out of control as Jim – not that Blair could blame him, okay, with a mad Sentinel pumping away at the back and Blair playing vacuum cleaner at the front, but Simon's growing frenzy and the laws of physics meant that for every deep slam by Jim, a similar amount of force was transmitted to Blair via the giant piston pumping away in his mouth. Blair's jaws and throat were never going to be the same, and if the whole situation hadn't been so incredibly hot, he might have retreated. Still, Blair rarely if ever admitted defeat, he'd by now had several months of oral practice with the second biggest cock he'd ever seen, and he was utterly determined to make this experience one Simon would remember for the rest of his life.
"Blair," Simon choked, his whole body going taut. "Blair, I'm going to – I'm – "
Blair thanked every god and/or goddess he'd ever studied for the warning, which allowed him to gulp in one big gasp of air before Simon proceeded to do his best to drown the younger man. Simon had gone very still, his whole body shaking, and Blair knew what was coming (no pun intended) and could only pray that Simon would finish and he'd have time to get out of the way before –
Then Simon's cock pumped out the last jet of come, and Blair gave it a little kiss of apology as he rolled out from under the big captain, just in time as Jim threw back his head and roared, nope, folks, no other word to use in this situation, threw himself over Simon's back and sank his teeth hard into Simon's shoulder, provoking an answering howl of pain and renewed pleasure.
The tableau held for one incredible moment as Jim shuddered through his orgasm, his whole body clamped around Simon's. Then Simon's arms finally gave out and they both collapsed to the bed on the spot where, thankfully, Blair no longer lay, and slowly relaxed, one muscle at a time. Blair crawled over and happily added himself to the sweaty tangle, felt himself drawn in by two sets of strong arms, and for long, panting, way-too-hot moments nobody spoke.
At last amazingly it was Jim who broke the silence.
"Simon?" he wheezed, although Blair couldn't locate his face under the Simon-pile. "Are you all right?"
"Dead," Simon croaked hoarsely. "I never believed it was possible, but it's true. Call the coroner, I've been fucked to death. Put it on my tombstone."
Blair chuckled wearily and pushed himself up on one elbow.
"Roll over a little this way, let me look at your shoulder. How does it feel?"
Simon rolled.
"My what?" he said dazedly.
"Sorry, I forgot I was talking to the brain dead," Blair grinned. The bite was bleeding just a bit. "Be glad it's turtleneck sweater season, Simon."
"Did you bring the first-aid kit?" Jim muttered from somewhere under Simon's left armpit.
"Of course. Anybody want to move this pile to the tub for a wash?"
Simon groaned again.
"Carry me."
Blair snorted.
"Hey, it's my fantasy, isn't it?"
"Remind me to explain to you the difference between fantasy and reality, augmented by a lecture on the law of gravity and how that applies to 6'4 police captains."
"Simon," Jim said groggily, "either you get out of this bed and into the tub, or Blair is going to force us to have meaningful conversation."
"I'm up, I'm up."
"Not yet, but I'm hoping," Blair chuckled, helping his weary lovers into the tub. Leaving them to soak briefly, he loaded up a plate with cheese and fruit and brought back cold beers to go with it.
"Psychic. The man is psychic," Simon said firmly, pressing his beer can to his sweaty forehead.
"Well, actually a sports drink after sex is better for replenishing electrolytes and – "
"Hey, we got in the tub," Jim protested. "That should earn us at least a half-hour's idiocy, okay?"
Blair grinned and climbed in the tub.
"You both win the grand prize, which includes – hmmm, let's say fifteen minutes' idiocy, all the cold beer you want, and a sensual post-sex bath administered by yours truly. Followed by post-bath first aid for those who need it."
"Deal," Simon said, shuddering with delight when Blair scrubbed between his shoulder blades. "Jim, how much you want for this guy? I want him at home the next time I come off a 36-hour shift."
Jim chuckled.
"Sorry, Simon, we're a package deal. Buy one, get one free."
Simon glanced over his shoulder, and the warmth in his eyes reassured Blair that he'd just been joking.
"That sounds even better," he said softly.
"But it could still cost you something," Blair said, meeting Simon's gaze. "That is, if you like the idea."
Simon's brows drew down.
Blair glanced at Jim. Jim nodded, ever so slightly.
"Karen Merrick in 316's transferring to Vancouver in a few months," he said softly. "I have it on good authority that her loft, which is just across the landing from ours, will go up for sale in about a month. You said you were looking for something smaller than your house."
Simon went very still under Blair's hands. He turned around, gazing at Jim and Blair in astonishment.
"You're saying you want me to move into your building?" he said, very softly.
"No, we're saying we want you to move into our lives," Blair said, meeting Simon's eyes. "Spend as much or as little time at your own place as you want. You've got a cell phone, get call forwarding."
Simon swallowed heavily, saying nothing.
"Simon, we're not trying to push for more than you want to give," Jim said quietly. "Believe me, I understand the need for personal space and time to think things through. But Blair's right, we want you as part of our lives. Not just in bed, but at breakfast, and watching ball games, and reading on the other side of the room, and lounging around when you're just too wiped to do anything else."
Simon took a deep breath.
"I want that too," he said slowly. "But, Jim, Blair, I've got to ask this. Can we handle this at the office? Can you handle it if I give you orders as your captain that you don't particularly care for coming from your lover?"
Jim snorted.
"Simon, you give me orders I don't particularly care for all the time," he said. "And I know that's even more true for Sandburg than me. That's not the problem and you know it. What you're afraid of is, can you handle giving the orders that send us into dangerous situations?"
"We can handle it," Blair said gently. "All three of us can handle it. Simon, we've always been closer than co-workers. We've been friends. We've shared secrets. We trust each other. We've gone way, way above and beyond to help each other out. It hasn't hurt our relationship at work; it's only made us work that much better together. Your knowledge of Jim's Sentinel abilities has helped make him a more effective cop, even though his senses are sometimes a problem and you have to cover up for him, too. Your understanding of my and Jim's relationship, not just as lovers, but as Sentinel and Guide, has let us work more effectively. You're bending the rules for us, but we've still got the best arrest record going. We've always been outside the lines, Simon. We can handle it, all of us."
Simon nodded slowly.
"You're pretty damned good with words," he said. "But... I think you're right."
"So you'll look at the loft?" Jim coaxed.
"I'll look at the loft. And think about it."
"That's all we ask," Jim said, popping a grape into Simon's mouth. "Although this might be a good time to mention what fantastic buckwheat pancakes Blair makes. And then there's this incredible chicken posole."
"Foot massages after a long day's work," Blair added helpfully. He slid into Simon's lap, reaching down soapy fingers to explore and caress. "Not to mention bathing services."
Simon groaned.
"Blair, I hate to tell you this, but I'm dead here, remember?"
"Strange that you should mention that," Jim said, moving in to join the attack. "Because if you'll remember Blair's dip in the fountain – "
"Don't even remind me," Simon shuddered.
Jim kissed Simon reassuringly.
" – then you of all people should know that one of the abilities of a fully-functional Sentinel and Guide," he said, licking Simon's ear, "is the ability to raise the dead."
Simon whimpered pitifully, and any protest he might have voiced quickly dissolved into contented sighs and wet kissing sounds.
Some time later, when all the candles had guttered away to waxy puddles:
"Buckwheat pancakes with blueberry syrup?"
"Oh, absolutely. And just wait till we tell you the best way to eat them, although Jim always makes me put a towel down first…"
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The significant problem is to comprehend what the schools are interested in locating, and you need to create a cover letter for every application you ship. Yes, take some time to permit the faculty know you have read the requirements and how you match up together.
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text:
NJ to reopen parks, golf courses this weekend with some restrictions
Stacey Barchenger
Trenton Bureau
Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that state and county parks and golf courses can reopen as soon as Saturday.
Murphy eased closures that he put in place April 7, opening all state parks and giving counties and golf course operators the discretion to open their parks and courses this weekend.
Related: Coronavirus in Lakewood: Township lake and parks to reopen Thursday
But as people return to parks there will be rules in place to maintain social distancing, including limiting parking capacity to half of what is typically allowed. Playgrounds, restrooms, campgrounds and visitor centers will remain closed, and organized activities including picnics and team sports are prohibited, the governor said. Wearing masks is strongly urged.
The state is prepared to enforce social distancing mandates, and Murphy warned if people do not comply he could again close park grounds. He encouraged residents to only visit parks close to their homes.
"We're going to be looking very, very closely up and down the state this weekend," the governor said. "I'm happy at one level we're able to take this step, but we will enforce this."
When will NJ reopen?:Stay-at-home order in effect 'until further notice.' What we know about Murphy's reopening plan
'I am good and grateful:' This is what recovery looks like for 34-year-old NJ dad with coronavirus
For subscribers:Symptoms of coronavirus vs. allergies: As season approaches, here's how to tell the difference
Murphy's rules for golf courses include closing pro shops and limiting tee times to two players, or four if they are family members or include caregivers. Golf carts can be used by individuals or family members.
Reopening parks is the first concrete step taken toward reopening the state and comes as the state has seen declines in new cases and hospitalizations from the virus. Murphy announced a set of benchmarks earlier this week but stopped short of providing a timeline of when things like parks and businesses could resume operation.
There had been a steady stream of pressure on Murphy to reverse course on the parks closure. Murphy has on several occasions acknowledged the mental health benefits of exercise and fresh air, but said Wednesday that pressure and even protests were irrelevant to his decision to open state parks.
"We couldn't frankly care," the governor said. "We make this call based on data, science, fact, and again the exception is also on mental health. Trust me I did not order these closures on a whim."
On Monday, a bipartisan group of state senators, including Senate President Stephen Sweeney, released a plan urging the opening of parks and resuming operation of low-risk businesses like construction and car sales. Senate Republicans said Murphy's order to reopen parks was overdue and urged the governor to quickly reopen small businesses that can follow social distancing mandates.
"There's no reason a shop on Main Street has to remain shut when the convenience store next door is open," a statement from the Senate Republicans' office reads.
Of all the extensive measures put in place since New Jersey's first coronavirus cases in early March, closing parks has been among the most controversial, though about 70% of New Jerseyans support closure, according to a recent Monmouth University poll.
State officials said it was necessary because people weren't abiding by social distancing and stay-at-home orders. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe said earlier this month that park officers had to disperse more than 160 gatherings — including a wedding — and break up fights over parking spaces in crowded lots.
"These choices I know have saved lives," Murphy said Wednesday. "I am the one who bears the burden of making these decisions. There is no amount of incoming I won't take to save the life of one child, one mother, one father, one grandparent, one neighbor."
Neighboring states including New York and Pennsylvania have kept parks open, but closed facilities like restrooms and visitor centers, limited parking or urged people to visit parks closest to them. In New York, public golf courses were allowed to reopen last weekend under the rules of social distancing. In Pennsylvania, golf courses can resume operation on Friday.
Municipal governments have, throughout the crisis, been able to decide whether to close their local parks. Over the weekend, Jersey City announced a plan to reopen five parks with restrictions on gatherings. However, Hoboken, Union City, Guttenberg, West New York, North Bergen and Weehawken announced municipal parks will remain "closed until further notice."
Essex County announced late Wednesday afternoon that its county parks will reopen on Saturday for "for passive recreation use." Monmouth County parks will also open this weekend.
Stacey Barchenger is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to her work covering New Jersey's policymakers and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: sbarchenger@gannettnj.com Twitter: @sbarchenger


Don't worry about tools. They are important, but you are going to intern position, so you are going to learn. So focus how you are good candidate to learn.
DevOps is all about culture and right mentality. Get that clear to yourself, like how to answer to question "Explain/summarize DevOps in one sentence (or 2-3 sentences)."
Get to know basics of CALMR and also SAFe. You don't have to be expert, but know what they are.
"are there any final tips or bits of advice that I can take to really impress my interviewers and better my chances of getting this position?"
My golden bit of advice for any interview - *ask* intelligent questions.
Everyone concentrates on how to *answer* questions and put themselves across as though they have all the answers and know exactly what they're doing, but way too many candidates then stumble when, towards the end of the interview, they're asked "Are there any questions you have for us at all?"
Do your research on the company / relevant tech at hand, read any blog posts, and come up with some pointed and interesting questions that you'd genuinely like to know the answer to - then try to lead those questions into a conversation. If you do it right, you can connect with the interviewers on a more personal level, and you'll stick in their minds.
Random example, if you were applying to GDS (government digital services in the UK), you could look at a blog post like this (https://technology.blog.gov.uk/2016...), mention some of the points in it, and ask if they've considered moving to a FaaS based backend. Mention that as their traffic is naturally very "spikey", it seems like a textbook fit, so could this reduce costs as well as providing huge capacity when required? Or are there further practical considerations that mean it's not worth it?
If you do that sort of thing, then you come across as someone who's genuinely interested, willing to learn, and who does their homework. That can go leaps and bounds in setting you apart from the crowd.
What does their Job description say?
@acelan Well thank you! Its very nice of you to go through the extra bit of effort to help me out! I appreciate it greatly. Ill definitely look into CALMR and SAFe. Im a very nervous and anxious person naturally so im going to try my best to perk up make sure that my enthusiasm and interest is noticed.
@meowijuanas so... How did that interview go?
@acelan The interview itself went kind of odd. They only asked about my college plans and why I was interested in Dev Ops. The rest of the questions and discussion were left up to me to lead. I was nervous due to this and I think it showed, but at least they got a real glimpse of my personality.
I did learn that this is the company's first time taking on interns ever, so they have no real solid training or work plan. The Dev Ops team consists of two people, and come this May, an intern.
I sent a thank you note on Friday, and should hear some sort of response from them this week.
@acelan update! I got the offer!
Congrats @meowijuanas! That is great opportunity for you!
@meowijuanas Nothing wrong with being a bit nervous, and clearly you managed to shine through - congratulations!


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template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3>
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template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5>
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template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5, typename T6, typename T7>
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Object call(Identifier id, T1 arg1, T2 arg2, T3 arg3, T4 arg4, T5 arg5, T6 arg6, T7 arg7, T8 arg8, T9 arg9, T10 arg10, T11 arg11) const;

template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5, typename T6, typename T7, typename T8, typename T9, typename T10, typename T11, typename T12>
Object call(Identifier id, T1 arg1, T2 arg2, T3 arg3, T4 arg4, T5 arg5, T6 arg6, T7 arg7, T8 arg8, T9 arg9, T10 arg10, T11 arg11, T12 arg12) const;

template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5, typename T6, typename T7, typename T8, typename T9, typename T10, typename T11, typename T12, typename T13>
Object call(Identifier id, T1 arg1, T2 arg2, T3 arg3, T4 arg4, T5 arg5, T6 arg6, T7 arg7, T8 arg8, T9 arg9, T10 arg10, T11 arg11, T12 arg12, T13 arg13) const;

template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5, typename T6, typename T7, typename T8, typename T9, typename T10, typename T11, typename T12, typename T13, typename T14>
Object call(Identifier id, T1 arg1, T2 arg2, T3 arg3, T4 arg4, T5 arg5, T6 arg6, T7 arg7, T8 arg8, T9 arg9, T10 arg10, T11 arg11, T12 arg12, T13 arg13, T14 arg14) const;

template<typename T1, typename T2, typename T3, typename T4, typename T5, typename T6, typename T7, typename T8, typename T9, typename T10, typename T11, typename T12, typename T13, typename T14, typename T15>
Object call(Identifier id, T1 arg1, T2 arg2, T3 arg3, T4 arg4, T5 arg5, T6 arg6, T7 arg7, T8 arg8, T9 arg9, T10 arg10, T11 arg11, T12 arg12, T13 arg13, T14 arg14, T15 arg15) const;

#endif // DOXYGEN


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015, 9:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, in partnership with Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, will join with over 10 non-profit organizations to provide a job training workshop and hiring event on Friday, October 30 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Mead Center (1101 Sixth St., SW/Waterfront Metro).
The two-part event will focus on providing job training, hiring services, and professional development resources to participants with a job search and interview training workshops in the morning, 9:00 a.m.- noon, followed by an afternoon job fair with hiring organizations, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Participants must pre-register with one of the partner agencies to receive personalized resources and career guidance. Event information and details on how to register can be found by visiting arenastage.org/careerfair. Opening remarks will begin at 10:00 a.m.
The career resources agencies who will be registering participants and/or holding day-of workshops include Academy of Hope, Building Futures, Bread for the City, Community Partnership, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), Covenant House, D.C. Department of Employment Services, D.C. Office of Human Rights, Dress for Success, Edgewood Brookland Collaborative, Office of Returning Citizens Affairs (ORCA), Strive D.C. and the University of D.C. Community College.
Registered participants of the morning workshops will be able to meet with hiring organizations during the afternoon job fair and explore employement opportunities in construction, retail, hospitality and leisure, law, transportation, armed forces and facilities services. Companies that are currently recruiting and committed to participating include Bridgepoint Healthcare, Clark Construction, Compass Coffee, DC Water, Forest City, Giant, MPD and Union Kitchen.
Employers interested in participating should contact Patricia Joseph in the Office of At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman at PJoseph@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8081.


Lancashire county council set its budget yesterday. With over £300 million of reductions to find over the next three years, it was inevitable that some unpalatable proposals would have to be included to achieve a balanced budget.
But I'm pleased that we won the fight to take out cuts to winter gritting services and across the board bus cuts.
I was alarmed at a proposal from the Tories to turn off or remove more than half the street lights in residential areas or on main roads. This was the second largest item on the Conservatives' cuts list. The largest, so called saving, was a proposal to increase borrowing... (surprising given the lectures on reducing debt!) They would borrow up to £18.5 million to buy vehicles instead of buying them from revenue; a financial fiddle which reduces expenditure in the short term, but puts up costs massively after a few years.
A majority of councillors voted to increase council tax by just less than 2%. This will help protect services next year and in the future.
That doesn't surprise me David. Kick the can down the road, a favourite Tory strategy. As for turning the lights off, it's cloud cuckoo land. Nice to see you in there fighting for the gritters! By the way, I loved the piece about our MP and a bloke called Paul White (who he?) hogging photo opportunities.... Time for you to get out there David and get some pics in the paper!
Quite a few of my photos appear in the local press; nowadays, I'm more likely to be behind the camera than in front of it though.
My observation is that the majority of MP's and councilors on an individual basis appear to be quite reasonable intelligent people. However, collectively they often lose all sense of objectivity and resort to primitive tribalism. I often wonder if there is a suitable medical term for this behaviour?
Stanley wrote: Kick the can down the road, a favourite Tory strategy.
Can we say Treasury Strategy, it seems to happen whomever is in Westminster Govt.
Re Vehicle Purchases, are not local authorities on resource accounting? A cash spend from borrowing or from reserves is still a cash spend though (netting off not allowed) when doing the funds flow returns. In the 1980s leasing was popular, not Corpn tax paying places like local authorities could finance lease capital items from banks that paid high CT, as operating equipment got at least 100% first year CT allowances this reduced banks taxable profits , their cash saving was shared with the authority,(generally worked out at a Bank's net return of 5to7% I think it was Lawson that ended this as the Treasury realised they were getting less cash/tax revenues, so thats why the local authority cash expenditure went up. (also note the vehicles would have now 20% vat which is straight back to Treasury/EU).
Regardless of who is doing it, it is still a favourite Tory strategy and the use has spread to other parties. Godron was very enthusiastic about keeping expenditure off the current account.
Dismayed at the outcome of yesterday's county council budget meeting; despite getting some worthwhile concessions in the final budget, the funding for bus services has been cut by three quarters and there's no extra funding to cushion the cuts in libraries.
The good news is that transport for disabled people to day centres has been saved after the administration backed down on axing the service and put forward a proposal to combine the service with other transport provision to save money; we'll need to make sure that this is a workable arrangement.
Also welcome was reversing the £50,000 cut to flood prevention staff. Another, partial, win was earmarking just over £1.4 million in a contingency for highway services in case unspecified savings cannot be achieved. There was also unanimous support for half a million of unused capital funding being moved into the highway repair budget.
That's about the end of the good news; the rest of the county budget is pretty bleak. Because of government cuts and rising social care costs, the county council faces a financial black hole of hundreds of millions of pounds; it's inevitable that services will change beyond recognition in the next couple of years.
Incredibly, overall, the government refused to provide any extra funding for Lancashire in their final financial settlement, despite awarding £300 million to local councils - which appears to be targeted at more affluent areas (for example, Surrey got an extra £24 million...).
Together with other county councillors, my group proposed extra funding for buses to prevent the huge cuts in services in April. Altogether, there were three amendments, with between £2.5 and £3.75 million being proposed for buses (in addition to the £2 million included in the budget). Unfortunately, the Labour administration, independent and Green councillors narrowly voted these amendments down and forced through the cuts.
We also put forward funding of £1.5 million to cushion a £3 million cut in the libraries budget, but this failed to get support from the other groups. Our proposal was for the funding to give additional scope for alternative ways of providing services to be worked out with volunteer groups and other organisations, rather than see the wholesale closure of 40 libraries across the county.
At the final vote, the cuts budget was voted through by Labour, Independent and Green councillors, with the Liberal group and Conservatives voting against.
A lot of hard work will be needed in the next few weeks to save as many local facilities as we can. In West Craven, the best hope of keeping a library service in Earby is if we can keep New Road Community Centre open and provide a library there. Barlick's Library, the Children's Centre and Youth Centre are all jeopardised; we need to fight to keep the library and it may be possible to combine the children and youth service in a single building.
It's highly likely that the last Burnley/Barnoldswick bus will be lost. The other subsidised service at risk is the Preston/Skipton bus that comes through Barlick. One positive thing locally is that the new operators of the Barlick Town Bus have said they'll operate the service on a commercial basis from April. This is likely to involve some changes in the way the service is run; I don't have any details about this at the moment.
Will we have a local council in five years?
It's being done in the name of austerity, but we all know that it's ideologically driven.
As to whether we'll have a local council in 5 years... At Pendle, the strategy that's been pursued over the last 3 years is based on the borough council maybe not surviving. Where possible, services and facilities are being handed over to parish and town councils. This is allowing things to be kept going (eg Civic Hall in Barlick) and also protects facilities from the clutches of asset strippers in the event that Pendle Council is taken over (or merged into a much larger authority).
We will be back to the equivalent of the old UDC then more or less. Regarding asset stripping, it's not life and death but it may be a good time to make concerted efforts to retrieve our three wartime fundraising plaques that were removed from the Town Hall when the building changed used. Hopefully they are languishing in some storage area at Pendle. They are an excellent example of voluntary contribution and self help in time of austerity and could have a new home in the Civic Centre as an example to all.
I asked about the plaques a while ago, without success.
Afraid we'll be nowhere near having an UDC though.
When I was researching something in the years after WW2 in the minutes of BUDC, the scope of what the local council was doing was impressive; no way we'll get such powers back with the centralising governments we have nowadays.
It was under the aegis of the old local board/UDC that Barlick transformed itself from 1885 onwards. Installation of gas, water and sewage, the laying out of the new buildings and all the services that supported a growing and modernising town. The other factor was that any profits made in the town were kept there, no national or multinational firms syphoning money out of the local economy. This is why I have always favoured some form of local sales/business tax ring fenced for local investment. We will never see this again but the fact is that it worked. All politics is local politics and the same applies to funding. The centralisation of these powers is probably the biggest con trick ever played on the electorate. Bit like your weekly wage going straight to the Treasury and some of it paid back to you in 'benefits'. The modern logical extension of this is the gaping hole in tax gathering which we see now as large firms farm their profits out off shore and legally avoid paying their dues. The same sales or business tax argument applies to them. Time for a complete reorganisation of these matters?


text:
Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II: Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon
Krista L. Reichert, Joseph M. Licciardi, Darrell S Kaufman
The extent of amino acid racemization in fossil ostracodes of known age has served as a valuable proxy indicator of Pleistocene temperatures in the Great Basin of the western U.S. Here we assess the utility of this technique for estimating paleotemperatures in the Summer Lake basin of south-central Oregon. The enantiomeric composition (D/ L values) of aspartic acid and glutamic acid was measured in Candona and Limnocythere ostracode valves collected from 32 sedimentary horizons within a ~16-m section of lacustrine sediments associated with pluvial Lake Chewaucan and exposed along the Ana River. Independent geochronologic control spanning the past 250,000 years is provided by a recently revised age-depth model for the Ana River section. Measured D/. L values in the fossil ostracodes generally increase down-section, but the trend is not monotonic and contains stratigraphic reversals. The D/. L values from the Ana River section are significantly lower than those measured in ostracodes of comparable age from Lake Bonneville sediments, implying that the Summer Lake basin was colder than the Bonneville basin during the middle and late Quaternary. Although a higher north-south temperature gradient during the Pleistocene is expected considering the proximity of the Ana River site to former ice sheets, published amino acid paleothermometry equations for Candona yield unreasonably cold Pleistocene temperatures at Summer Lake. Measurements of fossil Candona valves from deposits across the western U.S. and northern Sonora reveal abnormally high amino acid concentrations in the subset of Ana River ostracodes analyzed, possibly related to unusual preservation and environmental factors at this site. This suggests that ostracode preservation has an influence on rates of racemization which complicates the application of amino acid paleothermometry at the Ana River site.
Quaternary Geochronology
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.11.007
racemization
ostracod
paleotemperature
ice sheet
Amino acid racemization
Ana River
Lake Chewaucan
Ostracodes
Pluvial lakes
Reichert, K. L., Licciardi, J. M., & Kaufman, D. S. (2011). Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II: Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon. Quaternary Geochronology, 6(2), 174-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.11.007
Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II : Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon. / Reichert, Krista L.; Licciardi, Joseph M.; Kaufman, Darrell S.
In: Quaternary Geochronology, Vol. 6, No. 2, 04.2011, p. 174-185.
Reichert, KL, Licciardi, JM & Kaufman, DS 2011, 'Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II: Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon', Quaternary Geochronology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 174-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.11.007
Reichert KL, Licciardi JM, Kaufman DS. Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II: Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon. Quaternary Geochronology. 2011 Apr;6(2):174-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.11.007
Reichert, Krista L. ; Licciardi, Joseph M. ; Kaufman, Darrell S. / Amino acid racemization in lacustrine ostracodes, part II : Paleothermometry in Pleistocene sediments at Summer Lake, Oregon. In: Quaternary Geochronology. 2011 ; Vol. 6, No. 2. pp. 174-185.
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What is the best vegan restaurant in Ubud? Well, unfortunately we didn't hit all of them, but we tried a lot of amazing food during our stay in the city and have a few favorite recommendations! Here are our top three vegan restaurants in Ubud along with our top three vegetarian restaurants that have vegan options!
Alchemy is an all raw, all vegan restaurant just outside of town and totally worth renting a motorbike to get to. We had nachos, a pizza, a couple of desserts, and a few smoothies, and everything was amazing! Just as much as we loved the tastes, flavors, and textures, the raw food made us feel great!
Earth Cafe recently changed to an all vegan menu and also has a cool market and clothing store attached. We had pancakes, their tofu scramble plate, and a smoothie. Their dessert case looked incredible too, but there are only so many hours in a day and Ubud is filled with so much great food that we just couldn't possibly try everything! Haha!
The Seeds of Life is another all raw, all vegan restaurant, but this one is right in the middle of the city. It's on a very small street and blends in well, so it's kind of easy to miss. We had warm (but still raw) lasagna, a couple different kinds of wraps, a hummus and flax cracker plate, and a few smoothies.
Warung Sopa was a really great find in Ubud! It was the only place we found that offered prepared food, which was great for taking with us on our motorbike adventures. Also, since the prepared food was all small and cheap, it allowed us to try out a bunch of different things. We loved the tofu balls and vegan tomato quiche! And of course…the deserts!!
Right across from the market at the end of Hanoman St. is a little hole in the wall cafe that serves a vegan buffet every day for about the equivalent of $3.75 USD (50,000 IDR). The food was great, and you can't beat the price for a hot buffet! They also have a great case of vegan cakes and cookies—but beware! Not all the cakes are vegan, so make sure you know what you are getting.
Sorry for the lack of info on this one (I don't even know if it has a name, haha.), but if you go to Ubud, it's not hard to find! Just head towards the Sacred Monkey Forest on Hanoman St., and when you see the big Coco Supermarket on your left, the vegan buffet is on your right (just before the fork in the road).
Dayu's Warung is not all vegan, but has a lot of vegan options on the menu, in the dessert case, and on their snack shelves to take away. It's right in the middle of the city, easy to find, and like most place in Ubud, has lounge style seating. We had purple sweet potato balls, an assortment of pumpkin curry dishes, and their "burger" that is more like a purple potato salad. Oh, and of course we had a smoothie and brownie!
Honorable mention goes to Kismet because it's more expensive than we were budgeting each day for food. No photos of this one, but the atmosphere is like a hip lounge, and the food is great! We went twice and got the same thing both times…a salad bowl with rice noodles and vegan satay skewers with peanut sauce. Kismet is more on the expensive side, so if you're on a backpacker budget like us, be careful here, haha!


text:
MNN.com > Home > Remodeling & Design
5 ways you can reduce light pollution
Light pollution adds to carbon emissions and interferes with animal migration. Here's how to reduce it.
Chris Baskind
The M40 motorway near the Aston Rowant Nature Reserve in Oxon, United Kingdom (Photo: Timo Newton-Syms/Flickr)
"Darkness is as essential to our biological welfare,
to our internal clockwork, as light itself."
— Verlyn Klinkenborg, Our Vanishing Night in National Geographic
If, like most people, you live in a city, it's unlikely you can see the gossamer expanse of the Milky Way. It's possible you've never spotted it at all. For most urbanites, the night sky is a pink glow broken only by the moon, the brightest stars and passing airplanes.
This is the form of pollution most people have forgotten: light pollution. And while undark skies may not rank in importance alongside the chemical trash we routinely dump into the atmosphere, the continuous, unblinking glare of modern life is not without its impact on wildlife, dwindling energy resources and human health.
What's the big deal about light pollution?
As the sun begins the rise, the lights are still shining. (Photo: moogan/Flickr)
Light pollution is so widespread, so universal, so common to urban life that we hardly give it a thought. Set poetry aside for the moment — the great severing of our ancient connection to the constellations as they wheel gently through night and season. We are still confronted with four specific areas of concern regarding light pollution:
Light pollution interferes with wildlife migratory and breeding patterns.
Unnecessary outdoor lighting wastes energy and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Glare from bad lighting leads to unsafe driving conditions, particularly for older motorists.
Constant exposure to artificial lighting may interfere with human metabolism and sleep.
These problems are sufficiently severe that the American Medical Association voted unanimously in 2009 to support efforts to control light pollution.
Here are five things you can do to help curb light pollution:
1. Start with the light switch. The cheapest, most obvious and most effective way to reduce light pollution is to start turning things off. While there's a time and place for outdoor lighting — illuminating after dark activities, for instance — many of us burn porch and spot lighting because it gives us a sense of security. In fact, there's little data to support the idea that outdoor lighting reduces crime. Turn on lights when you need them, or use portable lighting. Go dark when you don't.
2. Check with your power company to see if you're paying for outdoor lighting. It's possible you're being billed for that nasty sodium vapor lamp down at the street. Many utilities charge $5 to $10 a month for this service. A quick check of your bill or a call to customer service will tell the story. If this turns out to be the case, terminate the charge and ask that the light be removed. Most power companies are happy to oblige.
3. Consider replacing outdoor lights with intelligently designed, low-glare fixtures. Did you know there is a certification body for sky-friendly outdoor lighting? The International Dark-Sky Association evaluates fixtures for low glare and efficiency. Look for the IDA seal of approval on locally sourced fixtures, or seek out a company such as Starry Night Lights, which specializes in low-pollution lighting.
4. Place motion sensors on essential outdoor lamps. Lighting on demand trumps a manual switch or timer. Motion sensitive switches will light up porches and walkways when you need to move around after dark. They'll pay for themselves in fairly short order.
5. Replace conventional high-energy bulbs with efficient outdoor CFLs and LED floodlights. While efficiency lighting won't directly keep all those stray lumens from bouncing around, it will take some of the sting out of your monthly bill and reduce power company carbon emissions. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that CFLs and LEDs are an excuse to be sloppy about switching things off. While you're at it, see whether low-wattage, solar powered walkway lamps might replace area lighting. They're inexpensive and practically free to operate.
Now, enjoy the darkness!
Once you've switched off your lights, more objects will come into view. (Photo: peresanz/Shutterstock)
You'll be surprised how much squelching a few bulbs around your home improves the view. Why not take this opportunity to get reacquainted with the nighttime sky? You don't need a telescope to see the major constellations, bright nebulas, open clusters, many of the planets, comets, meteors and dozens of man-made satellites and spacecraft.
It's not difficult to learn the ropes. If you're feeling old school, buy a simple star wheel. For easy pointers on nightly backyard observation highlights, try Sky and Telescope's The Week's Sky at a Glance. To spot orbital objects, such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, and a galaxy of satellites and discarded rocket boosters, create an account at Heavens Above (be sure to customize it for your location). And you can use your computer as a virtual planetarium with Stellarium, a free and full-featured 3-D program that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.
A set of inexpensive binoculars will expand your star-spotting capability. But all you really need is the desire to look up into the wonder of the night — and the blessings of a dark sky.
This story was originally written for Lighter Footstep and has been moved to MNN.com. Copyright Lighter Footstep 2009
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Related topics: Birds, Lighter Footstep, Light Pollution, Wild Animals
You may not know it, but light pollution contributes to carbon emissions and interferes with animal migration. Take these simple steps to reduce it.