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Ben A'an, The Trossachs
Holidays & breaks
Activity holidays & breaks in Scotland
So what might you experience on an adventure holiday in Scotland? With thrilling watersports, scenic walking trails, adrenaline-pumping cycling routes and a range of extreme sports, an activity weekend will no doubt be a rewarding, Instagram-worthy feat.
An activity holiday is perfect for groups of family and friends. Make it an adventure weekend and find new ways to challenge yourself - you might even get a friendly bit of competition on the go!
Why not book a guided active break and really make the most of your time here? There are lots of activity providers who run trips where you can meet like-minded people, venture off the beaten track, discover new passions and, most importantly, explore Scotland's wild side.
Find out what level each area is under and read more about the 5-level Covid-19 restrictions to plan and book ahead when considering a future trip. You can search for businesses that are open, and Good to Go, where they have a Covid-19 risk assessment.
WALKING & WALKING HOLIDAYS IN SCOTLAND
Adventure & adrenaline holiday ideas
Should you be after activities with a guaranteed adrenalin rush, or challenges that will push you to your physical and mental limits, you've come to the right place - Scotland has an incredible adventure activity offering.
From Munro-bagging to bungee jumping, Scotland offers a wide range of activities. Some, such as aqualining, are pretty unique. Many activities are great value for money, so an adventure break won't necessarily break the bank!
If you're keen to try a variety of activities over a few days, base yourself in a location where there are lots of activities on your doorstep, such as Fort William and Lochaber, Highland Perthshire, Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park, or Loch Lomond - all of which are easy to get to.
360° walking videos - scale summits in seconds!
Climb four Scottish peaks and descend by foot, bike and paraglider in these thrilling 360° videos.
MUNROS IN SCOTLAND & MUNRO BAGGING
How tall are Munros? How do you go about climbing one? It's time to find out about Scotland's Munro mountains and the sport of Munro-bagging!
The Adrenaline Junkie's Guide to Scotland Opens a new window
Ready to try something new? Get a taste of wakeboarding, motor racing, human slingshot and more in our adrenaline junkie's guide to Scotland.
Country sports Opens a new window
Shooting, stalking, hunting and fishing can all be enjoyed on beautiful Scottish country estates.
Take to Scotland rivers, lochs and coastlines in a kayak or canoe. Go with the flow!
Test your skills in one of the best mountain biking locations in the world.
Catch some waves in Scotland. Check out some our best surfing spots!
Prepare yourself for incredible thrills! Find out when and where to go for great rapids and book a rafting trip with an adventure company.
Canyoning, gorge walking & coasteering
Scramble, jump and abseil over rocks!
Scottish Hills, Mountains & Highest Peaks
From rugged mountain peaks to luscious rolling hills, Scotland is famous for its dramatically beautiful landscapes.
Family activity holiday ideas
Scotland is made for a family adventure holiday. From aerial assault courses to horse riding treks, the country has a massive range of outdoor family activities. You'll find you can entertain the kids from dawn until dusk (and even in the middle of the night - stargazing, anyone?).
With brilliant multi-activity centres, activity providers and top attractions, there are endless possibilities for days out packed with family-friendly outdoor activities. Outdoor fun needn't cost the earth - many are budget-friendly, offering discounted prices for kids or family groups.
11 Crazily Fun Outdoor Adventures for Kids
Family Hikes & Walking Holidays in Scotland
10 Family-Friendly Mountain Biking Trails in Scotland
6 Family-Friendly Cycle Routes in Scotland
16 ideas for an outdoor microadventure
Read our blog and be inspired to go on your own small-scale adventure!
11 moments from a family motorhome holiday
Read our blog and discover the Alexander family's favourite spots from their unforgettable motorhome holiday through the Highlands and Islands.
Active guide Opens a new window
Download your FREE guide packed with inspiration and information on how to have an active adventure in Scotland!
Scotland's National Parks and Natural Heritage Sites
Explore the wild expanses of our national parks and national nature reserves and learn about how Scotland was formed in our Geoparks.
Try your hand at horse riding in Scotland. Find answers to FAQs, info on horse riding holidays, native breeds and more.
15 activities to try in Scotland
Whether it's on land, water or up in the air, Scotland is the place to be for outdoor adventures!
14 things to do on the beach in Scotland
Golden sands, turquoise waters, peaceful bays and tumbling waves. Get inspiration for a great family day out!
10 things to see and do in Scotland's wild woods and magical forests
Explore a treetop playground? Become a tree-hugger? Get away with the faeries? Explore on two wheels? Visit Scotland's rainforests? And so much more!
Top adventure destinations in Scotland
Fort William & Lochaber
Ben Nevis, Lochaber
It's no surprise that Fort William and surrounding Lochaber is known as the 'Outdoor Capital of the UK'. Home to Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain and the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, it's here you can walk, climb, bike, sail, ski, snowboard, or dive to your heart's content. Or maybe you'll try watersports, such as sea kayaking or river canyoning. Getting there is easy - it's just a 2 hour 30 minutes car journey from Glasgow, and the town is also connected to Glasgow by rail. From London, you can hop on board the Caledonian Sleeper and wake up the next morning in Fort William!
Aviemore & The Cairngorms National Park
Rothiemurchus Forest, Cairngorms National Park
Aviemore makes a fantastic base to enjoy all the wonders of the Cairngorms National Park. Ascend the CairnGorm Mountain for snowsports in winter, or for walk and views in the spring and summer months, or head to Loch Morlich for on-the-water activities and River Spey for exhilarating adventure watersports. It's easy to get here from Scotland's cities - from Inverness, it's a 45 minute drive or just 40 minutes on the train.
Highland Perthshire
River Tay, Perthshire © Timex/Andrew McCandlish
The forests, hillsides, lochs and rivers of Highland Perthshire offer a wealth of activities to try, from off road 4x4 experiences to white water rafting on the River Tay. There are great cycling routes to suit all ages and abilities, as well as opportunities for horse riding. Thrill seekers shouldn't miss the chance to try the Highland Fling Bungee Jump at Killiecrankie. With the A9 road passing right through Highland Perthshire, travelling there couldn't be simpler.
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park
Loch Lomond Shores, Balloch
Those famous bonnie, bonnie banks offer more than just stunning views - there's plenty of great activities to fill you days with. Try watersports on Loch Lomond itself, such as wakeboarding or kayaking, or climb to the peaks of Ben Arthur, known as 'The Cobbler'. In Aberfoyle, you could have a treetop adventure through the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Forest Park at Go Ape. The shores of Loch Lomond are reachable from Glasgow in under 45 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes from Edinburgh.
Ben Nevis: The UK's tallest mountain
Solo Travel in Scotland
Caravan Holidays and Camping in Scotland


(1)This section applies where a child dies.
(2)The nearest relative of the child may make arrangements for the child's remains to be buried or cremated.
(g)a friend of long standing of the child.
(4)Relationships in different paragraphs of subsection (3) rank in the order of those paragraphs and for the purposes of that subsection a relationship of the half-blood is to be treated as a relationship of the whole blood.
(b)either (or any) person falling within the paragraph may be the nearest relative.
(c)it is not reasonably practicable to communicate with the person in the time available.
(7)In this section, "child" means a person (other than a still-born child) who is under 16 years of age.
(8)This section is subject to section 92 of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008.


They include Vargellas and Terra Feita for Taylor's; Panascal and Guimaraens for Fonseca; and Croft's Roêda.
Managing director Adrian Bridge said: "The 2008 harvest produced some extraordinary ports at our estates. They show impressive density and concentration and distinctive terroir character. The 2008s from Vargellas and Terra Feita show the incredible potential of these great historic estates. They promise to deliver excellent value to both consumers and collectors."
David Guimaraens, technical director and winemaker, added: "I believe this is one of the finest Quinta do Panascal vintages we have made to date. There is great purity of fruit and expression of the unique terroir at Panascal. Despite relatively low yields, the wines have depth and structure."
Cask samples of the 2008s will be available to taste for the first time at the London International Wine Fair and will shortly be offered to the trade through UK agent Mentzendorff.


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While munching on a bun and sipping on the porridge, Lao Ai narrowed his eyes and sized up three enchanting girls standing amongst the young men. He could tell that they were no longer virgins. Not only that, from the seductive look on their faces, it seemed they were practicing some cultivation technique which formed a 'fate' with him.
However, in Lao Ai's opinion, their cultivation technique was too shallow. The ultimate realm of dual-cultivating technique was to look like a Buddha externally while having a heart of evil. Despite how evil and brutal the true nature of the technique was, one had to maintain a solemn exterior. Only then one could be considered to have reached the pinnacle realm!
"They are just three little vixens! Nevertheless, they do make good candidates who can help to heal my injury!" Moistening his lips with tongue, Lao Ai muttered, "I'll take two, and you can have one."
Madman Xue took a bite on the bun in his hand, then using his elbow to lightly touch Lao Ai, he said, "Master, we can't even kill a chicken with our current condition. How do we have the strength to capture them?"
Lao Ai pondered for a brief moment. Before long, he and Madman Xue turned to look at Wu Qi at the same time.
Wu Qi picked up the storage bag and poured out all the energy stones in it. One by one he counted them. Sure enough, there were one hundred pieces of energy stones. However, their sizes were too small. Although in terms of quality, they could be considered as lower-grade energy stone, he had never seen a lower-grade energy stone as small as a date pit!
A standard lower-grade energy stone had the size of an adult's fist. No matter it was the size, weight, and the amount of energy, they had to meet specific criteria. Only then they could be considered as lower-grade energy stones. Perhaps, the sum of energy in these one hundred pieces of energy stones was probably the standard of one piece?
By right, the storage bag worthed some value as well, but Wu Qi had never seen a fist-sized storage bag with only an internal space about the size of a human head! What were the things that it could contain? If it were put on sale in a market, most probably it would just cost thirty to fifty silver coins!
Laughing dryly, Wu Qi carefully picked up a lower-grade energy stone with his fingers, turned to the few men and girls, and said, "Fellow... Daoists... Seniors... Immortals... is this a lower-grade energy stone? Wow, I've never seen lower-grade energy stones with such fine quality! I'm Daoist Greed. To be honest, this is the first time I have seen a lower-grade energy stone so finely polished! They can simply be mounted on rings as gemstones!"
Wu Qi's words filled with a sarcastic undertone, but it seemed the few men and girls were not aware of that. The man who threw the bag out previously clasped his hands behind his back and said arrogantly, "Indeed, those are one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones, not one extra, nor one less. We, the Min clan from An He City, have purchased a land measuring three hundred miles in circumference here, and we'll turn this place into a summer garden. This valley is now ours!"
While hefting the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones with his hand, Wu Qi grabbed a bun and took a bite out of it. Then, with his eyes darting from side to side, he shouted, "Hidden Heart! Someone is here to seize your land! They are using one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones to seize your Temple of Hidden Heart!"
"F*ck! Who dares to touch Temple of Hidden Heart?" A loud roar echoed out like a sudden thunderclap, immediately followed by hurried footsteps that shook everything around. The fat monk who worked in the kitchen rushed out furiously with glaring eyes, hands holding a sickle as he came out of the door like a whirlwind.
He stood before the door, panting heavily as he let loose a furious roar and bellowed, "I'm the Guardian of Temple of Hidden Heart, Qi Tian! Who dares to be presumptuous here?"
A ringing of silvery laughter came out from the three girls' mouths. One of them, who was clad in a long green dress, casually pointed her finger out, chuckled and said, "He is one big monk! I wonder if he is just big on the outside, but small on the other side?" With the pointing of her finger, Qi Tian's belt suddenly broke apart, causing his pants to drop down instantly. And, that was not the end, as even his monk robe was ripped with dozens of large openings. A breeze came blowing by and brought all his clothes away, exposing his naked body with fair skin. He stood there motionless, with a blank expression.
All three girls burst into laughter, while the other four men did the same, shaking with laughter and assuming a proud look on their faces. The man who threw out the storage bag narrowed his eyes and told the green-dressed girl, "Sister, it looks like you have gained a significant progress in your divine ability. Even I can't tell how you did that!"
The rest of the men quickly chimed in to flatter the green-dressed girl, praising her for the incredible magical power.
Wu Qi and Lao Ai exchanged a glance. Conveniently, Wu Qi shoved the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones into his own storage bag hanging on the waist. To him, a batch of energy stones so finely polished was indeed rare, and it seemed that this group of cultivators were someone with prestigious status. Thus, they would not use things like this to cheat others. They were from Min clan of An He City, and from the look of how they conducted themselves, could they come from a stingy clan?
Out of the seven men and girls here, apart from the man who obviously was their leader, and the green-dressed girl, who both had just formed their Gold Cores, the rest of them were still in the realm of Xiantian. The cloud they used to come here was materialized by a magical item, not a real cloud taking shape using their own ability. Furthermore, in Wu Qi and Lao Ai's opinion, the technique used by the green-dressed lady to strip the monk naked was not something that incredible. They were not impressed at all.
In a trance, Qi Tian bowed his head to look at his big, fat belly. He burst into a cry suddenly, throwing away the sickle and spinning to run away. However, as his feet were caught by his own pants, right after he spun and took the first step, he tripped and fell face down with a thud. His fat muscle wobbled violently, and the heavy impact shook the front door, causing the wooden plaque hanging on top of it to sway a little, before falling off together with dust, knocking right onto the back of his head.
"Ugh..." He passed out with foam burbling from his mouth.
Wu Qi and Lao Ai exchanged another glance. They brought Madman Xue and carefully retreated to the left of the front door, standing under the statue of the Guarding Vajra. With one hand holding a bun and the other holding a bowl of porridge, they continued feeding themselves with the coarse food.
Lao Ai sighed lightly and said, "Aye, trouble is here. All my meridians are broken now, and I can only rely on these mortal foods to replenish my strength, absorbing bits of the sun and moon essence during midday and midnight to heal myself. Aye, if these monks were chased away by them, where should I find another place for free accommodation and food?"
Wu Qi swallowed the last bun in his hand, glared at Lao Ai, and snapped, "Don't place your hope on me. I was nearly killed by someone with a palm strike, and it left me with less than one percent of my original cultivation base. Tsk, this Min clan of An He City is not easy to deal with. I'm sure these monks will be chased away. Well, you and your disciple have to be on your own!"
Wu Qi would never tell Lao Ai that he still had eighteen celestial fiend puppets of Heaven Fiend realm, and he would not reveal the fact that he had cultivated the Dragon Transformation Script to the level of Thirty-six Transformations of True Dragon, which gave him a formidable fleshly body that could fight head-on against ordinary Heaven Immortals. Furthermore, he would not let Lao Ai know that he had ten thousand Long Bo people in his spirit breeding ring, who had almost broken through the realm of Nascent Soul.
Since he would never tell Lao Ai all of these, he would also not be telling Lao Ai that he still had many, many spirit pills and medicines stored inside of black dragon spirit ring. Ugh, why should he be telling Lao Ai all of that? Unless Lao Ai could swear an oath that he would forever be Wu Qi's lackey, why should he help him?
"For the benevolence of the Buddha, Sādhu! Sādhu! Kind people, are you here to donate to the Temple of Hidden Heart?"
As the voice rang out, the little monk, Guarding Heart, walked out of the temple with his left hand holding on a big bun and his right hand holding a bowl of porridge. He was immediately stunned on looking at Qi Tian, who was knocked out on the ground by the wooden plaque. His face darkened. Slowly and carefully, he placed the bowl and bun on the threshold, then walked next to Qi Tian and picked up the wooden plaque. A cloud emerged under his feet, carrying him up to the lintel of the front door as he placed the plaque neatly back to its original position.
With that being done, he retracted the cloud and landed back on the ground. He walked down the stairs before the front door, put his palms together before his chest, and bowed to the group of men and girls, "Could what Daoist Greed have just said be true? Are the few of you here to forcibly seize the property of Temple of Hidden Heart?"
Footsteps were heard coming from behind him, as the old monk, Hidden Heart, swaggered out with a bun held in his hand. Behind him followed a few fat and strong-looking hunting dogs. The old monk gave Qi Tian a glance, who laid unconscious and fully naked on the ground. He sighed and said, "My heart had been racing these few days during meditating. I knew a calamity was on its way, but I never expected it to be something like this."
He gave Hidden Heart a glare and muttered, "These people are not benefactors who will donate to our temple, but villains who come here to demolish our home!"
Wu Qi pulled out a finely polished lower-grade energy stone from his storage, hefting it with his hand as he said with a dry smile, "Old monk, this is one of the one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones they gave us, and they are here to demolish the temple so they could build a summer garden!"
Hidden Heart took a deep breath as he stared at the group of men and girls. "Little benefactors, I have an official title deed for the land signed by the City Lord of An He City. The ten miles valley here is the private property of Temple of Hidden Heart. I am the one who built the temple, and I've been dwelling in secluded cultivation here for over seven hundred years. Every single blade of grass, every tree here, are personally planted by me..."
The green-dressed girl chuckled, twisting her slender waist as she walked up and said complacently, "Who wants to listen to the nagging of a bald donkey? Old monk, I reckon you must not have left this place for many years, have you? The current City Lord of An He City is Reverend San Le, the Patriarch of Min clan! All the titles of deed signed previously are no longer valid!"
The girl tilted her head up proudly, pointing her finger at Wu Qi as she said, "The price of one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones is more than enough to purchase this valley. You've gained a significant wealth in the deal, so why are you still not satisfied? Aren't you just looking for trouble?"
To match her statement, Wu Qi pulled out all one hundred pieces of lower-grade energy stones and showed them to Hidden Heart.
The old monk was taken aback. Putting palms together and calling the name of Buddha, he said in a low voice, "Please allow me to ask this, what happened to the previous City Lord, Grandmaster Jin An?"
The leader held his head up arrogantly, took a few steps forward, and said with a sneer, "That old bald donkey is dead, with his head broken into pieces! You have the time to finish a pot of tea to move out from here. If you refuse, don't blame us for showing no mercy!"
Wu Qi shoved the energy stones back to his storage bag and took a bite out of a bun as he turned to look at Hidden Heart.
The old monk's face flickered. He sighed lightly and said, "It saddens me to learn that Grandmaster Jing An is dead. How cruel are you!"
After saying that, he placed the bun in his hand neatly on the stairs behind him, then took a few steps forward and said in a deep voice, "If that is the case, you can't blame me for eradicating the demons today by slaughtering you bunch of evildoers!"
All of a sudden, a Lion Roar burst out of his mouth. Even as that happened, from underneath the withered skin of his came radiating out a large sheet of golden light. With his palm tightly clenched into a fist, he forcefully thrust it towards the chest of the young man.
Among the crowd of men and girls, three men and two girls were shaken by the Lion Roar. Their eyes were rolling as they howled and were thrown several hundred feet away, collapsing to the ground with blood oozing out of their mouths, losing their consciousness.
The leader and the green-dressed girl cried out in shock. Almost at the same time, they opened their mouths and shot out a pinkish beam each.
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There's no greater way to celebrate and thank our county's emergency medical professionals than by joining our team. EMS Week 2017 is being celebrated May 21-27th and we've got lots in store for this year so keep checking back often.
In the meantime, reach out to your local volunteer EMS squad or fire department EMS providers and explore how you can get involved.


The exhibition focuses on a single painting. Vermeer kept "The Art of Painting" in his studio as a show-piece for potential buyers, and it is regarded as his artistic legacy. There was probably no commission for this large masterpiece, and it never left Vermeer's studio during his lifetime. Even after his death his widow tried to avoid having to sell it, despite her pronounced financial difficulties.
For the first time, the painting was now the subject of a comprehensive technological and conservation study. Like a crime-scene analysis, the exhibition studies Vermeer's use of pigments and binding media, and his technique. We also examine the much-discussed question of whether Vermeer used perspective drawings and/or optical instruments (e.g. a camera obscura) to construct his painting.
Loans from European and American museums and private collections, together with historical documents loaned by Dutch archives, draw a fascinating panorama for Vermeer's masterpiece.


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Ticket resale
Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and are then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets. Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face value depending on demand, which tends to vary as the event date approaches. When the supply of tickets for a given event available through authorized ticket sellers is depleted, the event is considered "sold out", generally increasing the market value for any tickets on offer through secondary sellers. Ticket resale is common in both sporting and musical events.
In this 1920s cartoon by Tad Dorgan, people wishing to attend a boxing match are told that all the good tickets were sold (to "specs" - that is, speculators) yesterday, even though the match was only announced that morning.
Ticket resale is a form of arbitrage that arises when the number demanded at the sale price exceeds the number supplied (that is, when event organizers charge less than the equilibrium prices for the tickets).
During the 19th century, the term scalper was applied to railroad ticket brokers who sold tickets for lower rates.[1]
Purchase and re-sale methods
Ticket re-sellers use several different means to secure premium and previously sold-out ticket inventories (potentially in large quantities) for events such as concerts or sporting events. Established re-sellers may operate within networks of ticket contacts, including season ticket holders, individual ticket re-sellers, and ticket brokers. They make a business out of getting customers hard-to-find and previously sold-out tickets that are no longer available through the official box office.
A ticket scalper at "work"
Ticket scalpers (or ticket touts in British English) work outside events, often showing up with unsold tickets from brokers' offices on a consignment basis or showing up without tickets and buying extra tickets from fans at or below face value on a speculative basis hoping to resell them at a profit. There are many full-time scalpers who are regulars at particular venues and may even have a pool of loyal buyers.
One common concern with resale is with scam artists selling fake tickets to unsuspecting buyers. Another common practice is scalpers that sell tickets that have already been scanned at the venue gate since entry is typically allowed only when a ticket is scanned for the first time. Since the tickets were authentic, buyers do not have a way of telling if a ticket had been used or not.
A concern when buying tickets on the street from a ticket scalper or via an online auction is that the tickets sold by ticket re-sellers may themselves be stolen or counterfeit. For many major sporting events, counterfeit tickets are auctioned off in the months leading up to the event. These criminals and their activities are not to be confused with legitimate ticket brokers and individuals who abide by the law to legally resell tickets on the secondary market.
In 2009, Ticketmaster started adoption of a "paperless" restricted ticketing, in which tickets could not be resold. Under this system, customers prove their purchase by showing a credit card and ID.[2] The measure was taken in response to ticket scalping and resale markup of tickets on secondary markets and adopted during Miley Cyrus (2009) World Wonder Tour, although Ticketmaster first experimented it with AC/DC's Black Ice World Tour (2008–10).[3][4] Ticketmaster has since changed the name of the system to "Credit Card Entry". The system requires large groups to enter together with the person who purchased tickets. Some events have Ticket Transfer which allows the tickets to change ownership and allow for tickets to be transferred through Ticketmaster's proprietary systems. These cannot be later resold or transferred via ticket exchanges such as StubHub.[5]
Ticket presales
Main article: Sports ticket derivative
Obtaining tickets through special presales has become more common. These presales often use unique codes specific to an artist's fan club or venue. The advent of presales has allowed more individuals to participate in reselling tickets outside of a brokers office.
Although derivatives was a practice in use mostly in the 1980s, some ticket brokers offer tickets even before the tickets are officially available for sale. In such scenarios, those ticket re-sellers are actually selling forward contracts of those tickets. One example is a company called TicketReserve, which is making money by selling "options" on future sporting events. This is often possible if the reseller is a season ticket holder. Season ticket holders generally receive the same exact seat locations year after year thus they can enter a contract to deliver on tickets that they own the rights to, even if those tickets have not even been printed or sent to the original ticket holder.
Automated scalping bots
In recent years, fraudsters have started to use more complex methods by which they obtain tickets for resale on the secondary market. Similar to the technology used to snatch up rare shoes and sneakers,[6] automated bot attacks have become a common way to acquire large numbers of tickets only to resell them for higher profits. What fraudsters will do is deploy thousands of bots from untraceable IP addresses in a brute force attack as soon as a venue or ticket seller first makes them available for sale. In 2017, one of the largest online ticket sellers Ticketmaster filed a lawsuit against Prestige Entertainment for their continued use of scalper bots despite paying $3.35 million to the New York Attorney General's Office just a year prior.[7] Ticketmaster claimed that Prestige Entertainment was able to lock up 40% of available tickets for performances of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, as well as a majority of the tickets Ticketmaster had available for the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas in 2015. In an effort to curtail such behavior, Congress moved to pass the Better Online Tickets Sales Act of 2016, more commonly referred to as the BOTS act.[8] The legislation was signed into law in December 2016 by then President Barack Obama. The BOTS act enforces several penalties and fines for parties found guilty of using bots or other technology for undermining online ticket seller systems with the hopes of selling them on the secondary ticket market.
Ticket brokering
Ticket brokers operate out of offices and use the internet and phone call centers to conduct their business. They are different from scalpers since they offer a consumer-facing storefront to return to if there is any problem with their transaction. The majority of transactions that occur are via credit card over the phone or internet. Some brokers host their own websites and interact directly with customers. These brokers are able to offer additional services such as hotel accommodation and airfare to events. Other brokers partner with online ticket exchanges. These sites act as marketplaces that allow users to purchase tickets from a large network of brokers. Some brokers offer advice on the best way to buy tickets starting with the box office and working with a broker if tickets aren't available through the box office.[9]
Online ticket brokering is the resale of tickets through a web-based ticket brokering service. Prices on ticket brokering websites are determined by demand, availability, and the ticket reseller. Tickets sold through an online ticket brokering service may or may not be authorized by the official seller. Generally, the majority of trading on ticket brokering websites concerns itself with tickets to live entertainment events whereby the primary officially licensed seller's supply has been exhausted and the event has been declared "sold-out". Critics of the industry compare the resale of tickets online to 'ticket touting', 'scalping' or a variety of other terms for the unofficial sale of tickets directly outside the venue of an event.
The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the emergence of online ticket brokering as a lucrative business. U.S. corporate ticket reselling firm Ticketmaster developed a strong online presence and made several acquisitions to compete in the secondary markets. Securities analyst Joe Bonner, who tracks Ticketmaster's parent company New York-based IAC/InterActiveCorp, told USA Today: "You have to look at the secondary market as something that is a real threat to Ticketmaster. They missed the boat. StubHub has been around a few years now already. They weren't as proactive as they probably should have been."[10] Ticketmaster launched fan to fan secondary ticket reselling site TicketExchange in November 2005. Ticketmaster acquired former rivals GetMeIn and TicketsNow,[11] while eBay bought StubHub.[12] In 2008, the Boston Red Sox chose Ace Ticket over StubHub to sell their tickets.[13] There are also independently owned online ticket re-sellers such as viagogo and SeatMarket.
Many event promoters actively discourage ticket scalping, as seen by this sign at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.
For popular events with sold out tickets, re-sellers may sell the tickets at several times the face value. If re-sellers buy the tickets and the tickets are not then sold out, then they risk a loss.[14] There may be individuals who wish to attend a popular event (and decide to sell their tickets later) and those that buy tickets in large quantities in order to resell their tickets for a profit. Some countries have restricted the unauthorized resale of tickets.
In 2008, Internet ticket fraud had emerged as global problem, when fake ticket websites defrauded millions of dollars from sports fans by selling Beijing Olympics tickets which they had no intention of delivering.[15][16]
According to Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch, many online ticket resellers use URLs that are similar to official box-office websites, sometimes implying via their texts or their pictures that they are official, use internet advertising to increase traffic to their website, and don't clearly state the real prices they charge for a ticket.[17]
International responses
It is controversial whether tickets are goods which can be privately resold. Typically private resale will contravene the original conditions of sale, but it's legally questionable whether the original conditions of sale are even enforceable, however, most venues declare that they have the right to refuse entry to anyone.
Depending on the ticketing body's conditions of sale, tickets may be voided if they are resold for a profit. This is so with Ticketek tickets (Ticketek is an Australian-based ticketing company). Efforts to clamp down on ticket resale have included labeling tickets with the name or a photograph of the buyer,[18] and banning people without tickets from the vicinity of the event to prevent the purchase of secondary market tickets.
In Australia, the secondary ticket market has been put under much scrutiny in the past few years as ticket scalpers dominated the resale ticket market. Scalpers would purchase tickets in bulk from the promoter hoping that the tickets would sell out causing an increase in demand for tickets and thus an increase in the ticket price. This caused event promoters to put restrictions on the number of tickets that can be purchased in one transaction, which has greatly reduced unfair ticket pricing. After many complaints from the community and event promoters, the DFT (Department of Fair Trading) and CCAAC (Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council) conducted a survey discussing scalping issues and released The Ticket Scalping Issue Paper for NSW.[19]
In Victoria, some events are declared as "major events" and protected by the Major Events Act 2009.[20]
Quebec put into law "Bill 25" in June 2012, making it illegal for ticket brokers to resell a ticket for more than the face value of the ticket without first obtaining permission from the ticket's original vendor. Brokers reselling tickets are required to inform consumers the tickets are being resold and must tell consumers the name of the ticket's original vendor and the original face value price. The penalty to violating the law includes fines of $1,000 to $2,000 for the first offense, and as much as $200,000 for repeated violations.[21]
In Ontario, re-selling the tickets above face value is prohibited by the Ticket Speculation Act and is punishable by a fine of $5,000 for an individual (including those buying the tickets above face) or $50,000 for a corporation.[22]
Effective July 1, 2015, in an effort to protect consumers from purchasing fraudulent tickets, Ontario created an exemption under the Ticket Speculation Act to:
Enable official ticket sellers to authenticate tickets that are being resold
Permit tickets to be resold above face value in circumstances where tickets are authenticated or have a money-back guarantee
Allow tickets to be resold at a price that includes any service fees paid when the ticket was first purchased.[23]
Following an announcement in 2016 that The Tragically Hip's lead singer Gord Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, the band held the Man Machine Poem Tour. Ticket re-sellers reportedly purchased two-thirds of all available tickets, to capitalize on public demand.[24] As a result, in 2017, Ontario announced legislation to attempt to crack down on scalper bots.[25]
In the Republic of Ireland, there are at present no laws against ticket touting, and it is common at online outlets such as Premiertickets.ie or Needaticket.ie. In 2011, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, declined to pass a law against touting, saying it would just drive re-sellers to websites based abroad.[26][27] Ticketmaster, Ireland's main ticket seller, runs a service called Seatwave which resells tickets, some at wildly inflated prices.[28] However, selling tickets in a public place (e.g. outside a venue) is illegal under the Casual Trading Act, 1995 — in 2015 Kazimierz Greń, an official of the Polish Football Association, spent the night in a cell after being arrested for selling tickets outside an Ireland–Poland football match.[29]
In Israel, in 2002, The Knesset put into effect the 67th amendment to the Israeli Penal Code, enacting Section 194a, which outlaws ticket scalping. The new section states that unlicensed persons reselling tickets at above face value will be subject to fines. The new addition to the penal code enabled police to fight the ticket scalping of sports and music events (especially those scalpers that bought massive numbers of tickets for the sole purpose of resale), which were causing much distress to the public and enabled scalpers to evade paying taxes, but since no law strictly outlawed the practice, could not be legally fought prior to the new law.[30]
Ticket resale by scalpers above face value is legal in Sweden regardless of limitations imposed by event organizer.[31][32]
In the United Kingdom resale of football tickets is illegal under section 166 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 unless the resale is authorized by the organizer of the match. Secondary ticketing market StubHub have signed partnership agreements with Sunderland and Everton for 2012/13 season, whilst competitor viagogo hold partnerships with Chelsea and other clubs.
Other than in the case of football tickets, there is no legal restriction against reselling tickets in the UK, although individual organisations (like Wimbledon) may prohibit it.[33][34]
In July 2016, several prominent music managers in the UK including Ian McAndrew, Harry Magee, Brian Message and Adam Tudhope came together to fund a new initiative called the FanFair Alliance, to work towards tackling the issue of 'industrial-scale online ticket touting'.[35][36]
A sign prohibiting tickets sales at any price
In the United States, ticket resale is a $5 billion industry.[37] Ticket resale on the premises of the event (including adjacent parking lots that are officially part of the facility) may be prohibited by law. These laws vary from state to state, and the majority of US states do not have laws in place to limit the value placed on the resale amount of event tickets or where and how these tickets should be sold. Ticket re-sellers may conduct business on nearby sidewalks, or advertise through newspaper ads or ticket brokers.
New York State law only permits prices above face value by the greater of $5 or 10%.[38]
Some US states and venues encourage a designated area for re-sellers to stand in, on, or near the premises, while other states and venues prohibit ticket resale altogether. Resale laws, policies, and practices are generally decided, practiced and governed at the local or even venue level in the US and such laws and or interpretations are not currently generalized at a national level.[citation needed]
Another issue in the US is that since ticketing laws vary by state, many ticket re-sellers use a loophole and sell their tickets outside of the state of an event.[39]
Selling tickets by ballot
Some promoters have ceased selling tickets in the traditional first-come-first-served manner, and require prospective ticket holders to enter a "ballot" — a competition with random winners — with the prize being the opportunity to purchase a small number of tickets. The ballots are intended to discourage re-selling by making it harder to purchase large numbers of tickets because being at the front of the queue does not guarantee the holder a ticket.
Events that have sold tickets by ballot include the Big Day Out in 2007,[40] the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert - Led Zeppelin reunion concert at The O2 Arena in 2007 - and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[41]
A similar practice used among ticket re-sellers is to list an item as an online auction (such as eBay) - most commonly an innocuous item such as a collector's card - and give the tickets as a bonus to the winning bidder; thereby not actually selling tickets in order to circumvent ticket laws. This does not actually get around eBay's selling rules, as they effectively state that the goods that the buyer receives are what the seller is selling, including any free bonuses.
Selling tickets at auction
Ticketmaster sells tickets in online auctions, which may bring the sale price of tickets closer to market prices. The New York Times reported that this could help the agency determine demand for a given event and more effectively compete with ticket re-sellers.[42]
Online auction sites like eBay only enforce state ticketing laws if either the buyer and/or seller resides in the state where the event is taking place. Otherwise, there is no resale limit for tickets.
Personalized tickets and other responses
Glastonbury Festival, which sold out 137,500 tickets within less than two hours in 2007,[43] introduced a system in the same year whereby tickets included photographic ID of the original buyer, to enforce non-exchangeability.[44]
For tapings of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, tickets were free. However, identification of ticket holders is checked when entering and while standing in line, and most notably when progressing from the entrance queue into the studio space. These measures serve effectively as a means of preventing those reserving these sought-after tickets from selling them for a cash value upon reservation.[citation needed]
Some ticket sellers allow buyers to provide personal information in exchange for being allowed to buy tickets earlier.[45]
Though scalping is most commonly associated with ticket sales, the process of buying desirable commodities and selling them off for a higher rate has proven lucrative with other items, particularly electronic devices such as cell phones, game consoles, and computer hardware. In some cases, internet resellers have developed automated bots to purchase bulk quantities of newly-released items on e-commerce websites as soon as they become available. Customers have argued that this generates an unfair advantage for the scalpers, adding to an already controversial practice, and many sites have begun implementing anti-bot measures to combat such tactics.[46]
Price discrimination
Experience good
Internet ticket fraud
^ "THE TRUNK LINE WARFARE - WHAT THE RAILROAD PASSENGER AND TICKET AGENTS SAY. - View Article - NYTimes.com" (PDF). 13 July 1881.
^ "Ticketmaster Credit Card Entry - Information and FAQs. Official Ticketmaster Site". www.ticketmaster.com. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
^ "Ticketmaster tries to cut out scalpers again". 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
^ "Miley Cyrus Fights Scalpers with Paperless Tickets". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo!. Reuters. June 21, 2009. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2009. CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "StubHub begins warning customers that some paperless ticket sales might be refunded". Retrieved 2016-06-25.
^ "An underground community of 'sneakerheads' is using bots to corner the market on rare sneakers". CNBC.
^ "Ticketmaster Sues Broker Over Use of 'Bots' to Buy Up Tickets". Bloomberg.
^ "Congress Moves to Curb Ticket Scalping, Banning Bots Used Online". New York Times.
^ "Ticket Buying Advice".
^ Milicia, Joe (2008-01-19). "Ticketmaster's near monopoly challenged as technology changes". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ "TicketsNow.com, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Retrieved 15 April 2015.
^ White, Dominic (2008-07-14). "Murdoch aide joins Seatwave". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ Abelson, Jenn. "Sox snub StubHub, sign with Ace Ticket". Boston.com.
^ TicketNews: Importance of Brokers. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
^ Doward, Jamie (2008-03-09). "How boom in rogue ticket websites fleeces Britons | Sport | The Observer". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ "Latest News - News - Olympics". smh.com.au. 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ Barrett, Stephen (April 2, 2017). "Don't Get Misled By Online Ticket Resellers". Quackwatch. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
^ "New bid to stop Glastonbury touts". BBC News. 2007-01-11. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1821/PDF/CCAAC_Issues_Paper_Ticket_scalping_ticket_onselling_and_consumers.pdf
^ "Legislation". djpr.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
^ "Stringent Quebec ticket resale law goes into effect". Ticket News. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
^ "Ticket Speculation Act". Government of Ontario. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
^ "Newsroom : Ontario Protecting Consumers in the Resale Ticket Market". news.ontario.ca.
^ "'There's a big problem': Two-thirds of Tragically Hip tickets weren't sold directly to fans". CBC News, October 21, 2016.
^ "After Tragically Hip show outrage, Ontario moves on 'scalper bots'". The Globe and Mail, February 28, 2017.
^ Reilly, Gavan. "Anti-touting laws would just send business online – minister". TheJournal.ie.
^ "Anyone buying or selling tickets?". Campus.ie.
^ MacNamee, Garreth (16 September 2015). "Outrage as an official Ticketmaster website allows touts to sell U2 tickets at TREBLE the price". irishmirror.
^ "Polish football official arrested for ticket-touting at Aviva". The Irish Times. 30 March 2015.
^ "Israeli Knesset debate prior to enacting the 67th amendment to the Israeli Penal Code". Israeli Knesset.
^ Svartbiljetter kan förbjudas, Sydsvenskan 7 September 2010 http://www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur--nojen/svartbiljetter-kan-forbjudas/
^ Koll på konsertbiljettsköpet?, Konsumentvärket, retrieved 18 June 2014 http://www.konsumentverket.se/Om-oss/Nyheter-och-aktuella-fragor/Pressmeddelanden/Pressmeddelanden-2014/Koll-pa-konsertbiljettskopet/
^ "BBC NEWS - Entertainment - Q&A: Ticket touting".
^ https://sports.vice.com/en_uk/article/vvwvv4/inside-wimbledon39s-black-market-ticket-trade-uk-translation
^ Savage, Mark (14 July 2016). "Bands urge action against ticket touts". Retrieved 21 December 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ "About - FanFair Alliance". Retrieved 21 December 2016.
^ Guzman, Zack (4 March 2015). "The surreptitious rise of the online scalper". CNBC. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
^ Jules Polonetsky, Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs (October 29, 1999). "Polonetsky Warns Ticket Scalpers". The Jewish Press. p. 92. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "STATE v. CARDWELL - 246 Conn. 721 (1998) - Leagle.com". Retrieved 21 December 2016.
^ "BIG DAY OUT 2010 - Music Festival - Auckland, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth". Bigdayout.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ "M2006 > Ticketing > About the Ticket Ballot and Special Ticket Offer". Melbourne2006.com.au. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
^ Ticketmaster Auction Will Let Highest Bidder Set Concert Prices in The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2007.
^ "Glastonbury tickets snapped up". BBC News. 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
^ "Somerset - Glastonbury Festival - Glasto until 2010?". BBC. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
^ Horowitz, Steven (2 May 2017). "The Concert Ticket Industry Is Still Broken". Vulture. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
^ Bracken, Becky. "Scalper-Bots Shake Down Desperate PS5, Xbox Series X Shoppers". threatpost. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
Ticket Distribution Practices: New York Attorney General Report on Ticket Resell
This page is based on the Wikipedia article Ticket resale; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Catawba posted three school records, taking down one of the oldest on the books, on the final day of 2019 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships on Saturday night at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center. Both Catawba teams finished fifth among the eight teams at the Championships.
All three records on Saturday came on the women's side. Oryan Malul posted a new standard in the 200 fly with a time of 2:12.06. The 400 free relay team of Carolin Albers, Claire Featherstone, Emily Najar and Carolin Bek lowered the mark to a time of 3:32.94.
The most notable record came earlier in the 1650 free. Marcia-Mariel Erhart eclipsed the 17-year-old record that was held by Melissa Schiffel and set in 2002. Erhart bettered the mark by nearly eight seconds with a swim of 17:21.85. The time placed her fourth in the event which was the best finish by a Catawba swimmer at the Championships.
Top swims on Saturday for the men came from Federico Borrego Higareda, Alan Hudgens and Joao Miranda. Higareda posted the fifth best 200 breast time with a 2:02.41. That came in the final where he finished fifth. Hudgens and Miranda placed eighth and ninth in the men's 1650 free with times just three one-hundredths of a second apart. Hudgens had a 15:57.02 and Miranda a 15:57.05. Those were the second and third fastest on record.
Some Catawba swimmers will head to the Royal Open on Friday and Saturday at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. to try and lower times to qualify for the NCAA II Championships.
Women: 1. Queens 1026, 2. Wingate 761, 3. Carson-Newman 505, 4. SCAD 305, 5. CATAWBA 277, 6. Lenoir-Rhyne 211, 7. Mars Hill 145, 8. Salem 88.
Men: 1. Queens 976.5, 2. Wingate 718.5, 3. Carson-Newman 569, 4. SCAD 304, 5. CATAWBA 259.5, 6. Lenoir-Rhyne 219, 7. Mars Hill 179.5, 8. Salem 110.


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Lauryn, a lover of karate and soccer, celebrated her Bat Mitzvah this past fall! It was an honor to be a part of such a special time in her family's life yet again, after photographing older sister Olivia's Bat Mitzvah and Lauryn's parents' wedding over 20 years ago!
Sarah Merians met up with Lauryn at her NJ home prior to her Bat Mitzvah day. Even Lauryn's two dogs got in on the photo shoot action and the beautiful fall and Halloween-inspired colors set the backdrop for the shoot.
Lauryn and her family then posed for Sarah's camera at Temple Emanu-El prior to the weekend celebration at Apella at the Alexandria Center on the East River. Lauryn's karate and soccer interests came in handy when conceptualizing the décor for the party.
Party planner Amy Shey of Chandelier Events created a purple and white color scheme for the party, actualized through By Yena Designs' simple, but elegant orchid floral pieces. Untouchable events provided all the entertainment for the evening, from the DJ to the photo booth, carnival and sports games.
We love Ally and her family! Our photographer, Liel, celebrated Ally's Bat Mitzvah earlier this year at Temple Sinai of Bergen County. Ally, her brother and her parents posed for Liel's camera at a pre- Mitzvah photo shoot the week of the party. The snow didn't keep this crew away! Ally's Mitzvah celebration continued at the Hilton Pearl River with Pure Energy Entertainment keeping the party moving on the dance floor and Jersey Street Productions providing décor and furniture. The hot pink "It's All(y) Good" theme was conceptualized to a tee by our friend Loren Paulen of Loren2Events. Mazel Tov, Ally!


Microsoft has tinkered around with Skype over the past couple of years, throwing in redesigns and reimaginings that never seemed to stick. Last year the firm debuted a more muted Skype, one that bridged the modern and older variants of skype with nods to each direction.
Now that experience is finally coming to Skype's Web app.
Chat Media Gallery—Looking for the link or photo sent a few weeks ago? The Chat Media Gallery makes it easy to find files, links, and photos shared in a conversation. Whether it was yesterday or last month. No more scrolling through your chat history—just click Gallery under the chat name to see all the files, links, and photos in the conversation.
It's a web app, so as long as you're using Windows 10 or MacOSX with the latest versions of Chrome or Edge you'll get access to this new Skype immediately(though I suspect it'll work with any decently modern browser).


text:
Chapter 9, Strange Case of the New Golden Gate:…
Chapter 9, Strange Case of the New Golden Gate: Shark Teeth
"Annabel Scheme: The Strange Case of the New Golden Gate" by Robin Sloan (Jeff Durham/Bay Area News Group)
By Robin Sloan, author |
PUBLISHED: June 15, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: June 15, 2020 at 6:05 a.m.
Editor's note: This is the ninth installment in a 15-part serialized mystery by Oakland's Robin Sloan. Catch up on any chapters you've missed at www.mercurynews.com.
CHAPTER 9: Shark Teeth
I was stalking the boardwalk laid across the bay between San Francisco and Oakland with the Bay Area's greatest detective, hunting for a missing genius with just one clue: the phrase ENTRA LA LENGUA. Enter the language? Get in the tongue? Not much of a clue.
Scheme had shaken down her best and nerdiest sources; none of them could make sense of it. So, we were headed back to Rose Quartz Records, Scheme muttering to herself, when we heard a scrap of conversation from a phone kiosk:
"…new teeth? For LENGUA, yeah." A teenager — excruciatingly cool-looking, her hair shimmering iridescent — was making a purchase. "THANK you, yerb," she said, accepting her merchandise. "I've been DYING out here."
Scheme sidled up to the kiosk, which sold burner phones, vape pens and other electronics disposable and nefarious. After a medium-long negotiation — I heard her say, "I am NOT anyone's GRANDmother" — she returned, dangling two plastic clamshells.
"Mr. Portacio, meet your new teeth."
I cracked open the packaging. Inside, I found what looked like the centerpiece of a low-quality vampire costume, except these teeth were bright orange, and they had oversized tusks like a warthog's. Did I really have to wear plastic warthog jaws?
"She didn't have many to choose from," Scheme said. "Apparently, all anybody wants is these teeth, because they connect to something called LENGUA. The girl in the kiosk said she can't even give away vape pens, because you can't vape and … do whatever this is … at the same time."
She ripped her teeth out of their plastic and showed them to me. They were shiny-gold, as sharp and close-packed as a shark's.
Scheme traced her finger along the molars to find a hidden button. A line of pinprick lights on the front of the teeth lit up, one-two-three-four, then drooped and wavered: two dots, then three, then two again. Just like the bars on my phone.
"Here goes nothing," Scheme said. "ENTRA LA LENGUA."
She pulled her face into a grimace to get her lips around the teeth; I pressed my warthog tusks into place. When they were secure, I reached a finger into my mouth like I was digging for a shred of spinach. When I pressed the hidden button, I felt a cold pulse that was almost, but not quite, taste.
Then, another pulse. It tasted like something between a Szechuan peppercorn and a 9-volt battery. I gasped. My teeth vibrated.
I looked at Scheme, who was staring straight ahead, eyes narrow, nose flaring slightly. She looked like an expert aviator attempting to fly a refrigerator. Lights swam across her shark teeth.
We were connected to something. But what?
I closed my eyes and tried to navigate this new space. Out of nowhere, I tasted a penny. I touched my tongue to the edge of a tusk. I tasted a pickle! I could discern no pattern here; no message. How did people communicate using this thing? I tasted a foamy wash of strawberry, and then, suddenly, felt a sensation, undeniable: the tip of another tongue tapping ever-so-gently against mine.
I spat out the mass of plastic. Scheme was looking back at me. Had she …? Her eyes were merry.
She folded her hands in her lap and shifted her gaze to look out across the bay. Her face took on the calculating focus of a safe-cracker.
This was Scheme at work.
A band of tech workers all wearing the same brand of jodhpurs passed us on the boardwalk, gossiping loudly. Then two teenagers, strangely silent; were they wearing internet teeth? They were followed by a falafel vendor pushing his cart. He stopped and stretched, looked out across the water, checked the messages on his phone, then continued on his way.
I watched passers-by for another hour while Scheme sat staring into space, puzzling out the parameters of this strange new network. Finally, she leapt to her feet and yanked the shark teeth out from between her lips.
"Phwah! Itsh horrible." Her voice sounded thick. She stretched her lips, made a grimace, then a pucker, another grimace. "It's also ingenious. Quintessandra designed this; there's no question." She waggled her tongue, stretched her cheeks with her fingers. "I need a boba," she said. "Badly."
So what was the LENGUA's secret? Was there a code, or …?
Scheme shook her head. "No, no. I wasted too much time hunting for symbols. It's totally sensory. There are signposts, breadcrumbs … literally, they taste like breadcrumbs. I've got it now. And, Will, I've figured out why the kids like it so much."
Because they had finally become a different species, totally alien from us?
"No… because it's not useful!" she hooted. "You can't buy or sell anything. Don't you understand? You can't even SAY anything."
The generation born in the yoke of the digital had made their exodus to the promised land: an internet without arguments.
Somehow, Quintessandra had led them.
Tomorrow, Part 10: Basilisk House (June 16)
The Strange Case of the New Golden Gate
Robin Sloan, author
10 notable Trump pardons include Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, ex-Google engineer
Here's why Disneyland needed to cancel its annual pass program
Melania Trump house-hunting: What about Mar-a-Lago?
Bay Area TV Sports: What to watch on Wednesday-Thursday


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Wicklow Fianna Fail TD Pat Casey has welcomed the long-awaited part eight process on the major Laragh-Glendalough Traffic Access Plan.
Casey, who has led a 10-year campaign calling on Wicklow County Council and the NTA to realise and address traffic congestion issues in the Laragh-Glendalough area, acknowledged the work of both bodies in resolving the matter.
"In 2009, it was obvious to my local community in Laragh-Glendalough that the traffic congestion in the area was reaching crisis levels. As the local councillor, I led a campaign calling on Wicklow County Council and the NTA to realise their responsibilities to address the traffic access to this iconic part of Wicklow. I acknowledge both in addressing this serious issue," said Casey.
With part eight process on the plan underway, Casey believes Wicklow County Council needs to publish documents illustrating a clear and concise plan to carry out the development as he intends to hold a public meeting in the near future to address any potential concerns constituents may have with the plan.
"I will also facilitate a public meeting to address the concerns and the issues that this plan will raise in the area. I do think, however, that the vast majority of the residents will agree that the current traffic chaos, particularly at weekends, cannot continue as both locals and businesses alike are severely restricted due to gridlock in the area," concluded Casey.


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text:
Q: Binary operator += cannot be applied to operands of the type I have this error:

Binary operator += cannot be applied to operands of the type.

How can I fix?
func parser(parser: NSXMLParser, didEndElement elementName: String, namespaceURI: String?, qualifiedName qName: String?) {
    if elementName == "item" {
        inItem = false
        objects += object
    }
}

I have this error on line objects += object

A: You are getting an error because you are taking the sum of objects with object and there is no function for this operation.
To use any operator (+= is an operator) you need to declare functions for it. These are global functions. Which means they are not put inside the Type they work on. Under it is fine.

This is just a Type with some properties.
class MyType {

    var myInt : Int = 0
    var myString : String = ""
    var myFloat : Float = 0

    init(int: Int, string: String, float: Float) {
        myInt = int
        myString = string
        myFloat = float
    }
}

These are functions for the operators.
The first one is just a +, it returns a new instance of MyType
Notice how you need to combine all properties for which this makes sense.
As an example I did not take the sum of myFloat, only the other properties.
func +(lhs:MyType,rhs:MyType) -> MyType {
    let intSum = lhs.myInt + rhs.myInt
    let stringSum = lhs.myString + rhs.myString
    return MyType(int: intSum, string: stringSum,float: lhs.myFloat)
}

The second one uses inout to alter the left hand side instance (lhs). There is no return in this function. Since the left hand side instance is updated.
func +=(inout lhs:MyType, rhs:MyType) {
    lhs.myInt += rhs.myInt
    lhs.myString += rhs.myString
}

Notice how these functions expect two parameters of the same Type. If objects and object are not of the same type (I am guessing one might be and Array or Dictionairy) then you need to create a function to take the sum of two unrelated Types.

This is another Type
class MyOtherType {

    var myDouble : Double = 0

}

This function uses the operator to take the sum of two otherwise unrelated Types
func +(lhs:MyType,rhs:MyOtherType) -> MyType {
    let floatSum = lhs.myFloat + Float(rhs.myDouble)
    return MyType(int: lhs.myInt, string: lhs.myString, float: floatSum)
}

Some tests
If you do not write the operator function you will get this:
let alpha = MyType(int: 20, string: "hello ", float: 0.5)
let beta = MyType(int: 22, string: "world", float: 0.75)
let delta = alpha + beta // error: binary operator '+' cannot be applied to two 'MyType' operands

If you do:
let alpha = MyType(int: 20, string: "hello ", float: 0.5)
let beta = MyType(int: 22, string: "world", float: 0.75)
let delta = alpha + beta // 42, "hello world", 0.5

If you do not write the operator function to take the sum with MyOtherType:
let alpha = MyType(int: 20, string: "hello ", float: 0.5)
let beta = MyOtherType()
let delta = alpha + beta // error: binary operator '+' cannot be applied to operands of type 'MyType' and 'MyOtherType'

It is important to include both the Type and declaration of objects and object in your question. Also, always copy the full error message, which should like something like this:
error: binary operator '+' cannot be applied to operands of type 'MyType' and 'MyOtherType'

If objects is an Array your sum function would look like this :
func +=<T where T : _ArrayType>(inout lhs:T, rhs:T.Generator.Element) {
    lhs.append(rhs)
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Polisi, the Policy Team
Polisi has led on reactive, evidence-based projects, as well as generating new evidence and thinking on a broad range of subjects that impact on population health and well-being in Wales. With a focus on the domestic policy context, Polisi has undertaken work in a range of subjects, including the potential impacts of Brexit, the intersection of health and the wider economy, the case for investment in housing improvements and how futures thinking can be incorporated into public health policy planning.
Our work Lead: Sumina Azam
The Policy Team co-ordinates Public Health Wales' participation in, and monitoring of, consultations, policy development and legislation impacting on population health. The team aims to influence public health policy development in Wales through collaborating with a wide range of partners both within and outside the organisation, and undertaking projects and programmes of work.
Recent work includes: producing a Three Horizons toolkit to help public bodies and others to think and plan for the future and longer term; A Young People and Brexit report, to look at health and well-being and the perceived impact of Brexit; Taxation and Healthier Lifestyles in Wales; Improving Winter well-being and reducing winter pressures, as well as a range of housing and health reports.
Current key areas of work include: Brexit; Covid 19 including producing daily Covid-19 updates; supporting a range of Health Impact Assessments and carrying out a Health Impact on Housing Security (includes homelessness and feeling safe in the home) in light of Covid-19; co-ordinating and producing organisational responses to a range of national consultations, and working in partnership with the Future Generations Office on Covid-19 Futures work and long term planning.
Polisi Team
Dr. Louisa Petchey
Senior Policy Specialist
Louisa joined Public Health Wales in 2018. In her current role Louisa manages the Polisi team and leads a collaborative partnership with the Future Generations Commissioner's office on embedding the long-term way of working into public body thinking and planning. Prior to this appointment, Louisa influenced policy and practice on behalf of health and social justice charities, and completed a PhD in Developmental Genetics.
Senior Policy Officer
Senior Policy Officer Adam has worked for Public Health Wales since December 2009. From 2009-2015, Adam served as All Wales Sexual Health Network Coordinator, joining the newly-established Policy Team as Public Health Practitioner – Policy in October 2015. Adam became Senior Policy Officer in September 2019. Adam contributes to all areas of public health practice from a policy perspective, with his particular professional interests include sexual health, HIV, and the links between health and the economy. Adam spends his spare time concentrating on his creative passions – photography and writing.
Mischa Van Eimeren
Senior Policy and International Evidence Development Officer
Senior Policy and International Evidence Development Officer Mischa joined Public Health Wales in November 2018 as part of the Policy and International teams. Previously he worked 10 years in Brussels representing different European medical societies. In his spare time, he likes to be outdoors either cycling, running or hiking.
Laura Morgan
Public Health Practitioner – Policy
Laura has been a member of the Policy Team since December 2019. She previously worked for the Wales Health Impact Assessment Support Unit (WHIASU) where she was a co-author of health impact assessments on Brexit and Covid-19. Prior to joining Public Health Wales she worked for organisations in the public and voluntary sectors where she played a key role in a number of reports and campaigns that contributed to Welsh Government policy.
Lewis Brace
Public Health Policy Research Officer
Lewis joined the Policy and International Health team as a Public Health Policy Research Officer in July 2021 after working for PHW on the COVID response as a practitioner within the Cardiff and Vale team. Lewis is currently involved with research projects on winter wellbeing, climate change and renewable energy. His free time is spent enjoying the outdoors and exploring the Welsh coast on his inflatable boat.
Dr. Ben Gascoyne
Senior Public Health Researcher/Statistician
Ben joined the team in August 2021, after working as a research associate in applied global health and disability research at an international NGO. He completed his PhD at University College London, exploring the social determinants of health and development in a cohort of children in the Philippines. In his spare time he enjoys surfing, occasionally well, often quite badly.
For further information about the work of the Polisi, please email publichealth.policy@wales.nhs.uk or
contact Louisa Petchey, Senior Policy Specialist, at Louisa.Petchey@wales.nhs.uk.


1. Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) etc.
2. Postgraduate diplomas in specific areas such as Child Health (DCH), Laryngology and Otology (DLO), Diploma in Gynecology and Obstetrics (DGO) and postgraduate degree in broad specialties – Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (MS), and Master of Dental Surgery (MDS).
3. Postgraduate degree (super specialties) – Doctor of Medicine (DM), and Master of Chirugiae (MCh) also known as post-doctoral degrees.
4. Research degree M. Phil and Ph.D.
· MD/MS Clinical Sciences Anaesthesiology, Dermatology & Venereology, Medicine (General), Nuclear Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Othorhinolaryngology , Paediatrics, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Psychiarity, Radiology, Radiodiagnosis, Radiotherapy, Skin & Venereal Disease, Surgery (General), Transfusion Medicine, Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases.
· Basic Clinical Sciences Anatomy, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Forensic Medicine, Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology, Pathalogy, Pharmacology, Physiology.
· Others Community Medicine, Hospital Administration, Preventive & Social Medicine.
· DM Cardiology, Clinical Immunology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Medical Genetics, Medical Oncology, Neonatalogy, Nephrology, Neurology, Neuro Radiology.
· MDS Prosthodontics, Orthodontics, Periodontics, Endodontics, Pedodontics, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Pathalogy, Public Health Health Dentistry, Operative Dentistry.


When Blizzard announced that they would introduce rotating formats to Hearthstone, they also remarked that Basic and Classic cards would remain playable in the upcoming Standard format that otherwise rotates card sets out on annual basis. In order to achieve this, there would be changes – in practice, nerfs.
Now, we finally know all the nerfs that are coming to Basic and Classic cards for the year of the Kraken, the first Standard rotation. So, let's dive right in and look what the changes are and what they might mean.
Aggro Shaman, or Face Shaman, is one of the most recent deck archetypes introduced into Hearthstone. While it traces its roots to Mech Shaman, it was the League of Explorers and especially the Tunnel Trogg that was released in it that gave life to this highly aggressive deck.
The early story of Aggro Shaman was covered on Liquidhearth when it was brand new, but it has since evolved, especially so in the past few weeks, so it is a good time to take a look at this cheap and effective deck.
When the deck was covered on Liquidhearth, builds still had two distinct directions. Luffy's Overload style and Reynad's more mech-based approach. In the next few weeks after the article, Luffy's core emerged victorious as a faster and more stable variant.
What is the best way to spend real money on Hearthstone?
Hearthstone is a free-to-play collectible card game. If that sounds strange, collectible card games are known to cost a ton to play, after all, it kind of is. Hearthstone does live up to its name in the sense that if you play a lot, you can actually unlock everything in the game for free and even have a full collection.
Typically collecting cards for free involves becoming a good Arena player and playing Arena a lot for the rewards as other means of collecting in-game gold and cards are rather slow. However, you really need to be a good player to benefit from Arena, as with mediocre performances you are better off simply buying card packs instead of Arena access with your in-game gold.
So, let's say you want to improve your card collection a bit faster or just don't have the time or dedication to grind for everything – games are played for fun, after all, and if you have the means to have fun faster, why not go for it. You are probably still interested in getting a good deal though, so what is the best way to spend real money on Hearthstone?
Rogue is a peculiar class in Hearthstone. It has never really been a mainstream class – the closest it got was pre-nerf Miracle Rogue – but even then its representation was not representative of its power level.
Throughout all this time, however, Rogue has remained viable and enthusiasts insist on playing it both on ladder and in tournaments. The latest successful example is Dog's second-place finish in the Insomnia57 Truesilver Championship. Rogue was also part of Amnesiac's lineup in his first-place finish in the Americas Winter Championships 2016, part of lineups of both Orange (winner) and SuperJJ (second place) at Dreamhack Leipzig in January 2016 as well as part of Ostkaka's World Championship winning lineup at Blizzcon 2015. Clearly podium finishes are not strange for the class.
I have written before about the multitude of deathrattle minions that will be leaving the Hearthstone Standard format upon the release of Whispers of the Old Gods expansion. Two days ago one of the replacement cards was announced: Possessed Villager, a Warlock class card one mana 1/1 minion with a deathrattle to summon another 1/1 minion.
As sticky boards have proven to be a formidable asset in Hearthstone, any cards with summon effects as their deathrattle are highly interesting. So, how good is the Possessed Villager?
The Warlock Zoo deck is a combination of three elements. First are the efficient minions to claim the board. Second are the buffs which enable trades. Finally is the Warlock Hero Power to keep the engine running.
The Zoo concept that will never be completely out of fashion. Playing more cards than your opponent always creates opportunities and the Warlock Hero Power is ideal to support such a game plan. Zoo decks existed in Hearthstone already before the first expansion – and while the Shieldbearers, Shattered Sun Clerics, and Harvest Golems were replaced – the archetype itself is still alive and kicking.
The fortunes of Zoo have varied, but it has always been present. Right now, Zoo is living its golden age, and is one of the strongest decks for many players. Both Midrange Druid and Secret Paladin are weak to an aggressive board control strategy. Given the popularity of these decks there is plenty of prey for Zoo to hunt. The Druid population also keeps the greatest nemesis of Zoo, Freeze Mage, at bay.


text:
Northam outlines priorities for 2020 General Assembly session, including the ERA, gun safety and more
by: Andy Fox
Gov. Ralph Northam announces VA agenda for 2020 General Assembly
RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — On Tuesday, the eve of the 2020 General Assembly Session, Gov. Ralph Northam held a news conference with Democrats from the state Senate and House of Delegates.
He listed a number of issues that are the priorities. With Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, many are likely to pass.
On guns, Northam said improving gun safety measures will be key.
"We will advance the common sense gun safety measures a majority of Virginians support and voted for," he said. "This includes enacting universal background checks and restoring the one handgun a month law."
Northam then said a red flag law will also be a priority.
"We are going to enact a red flag law … as a number of other states have done. This allows law enforcement and judges to temporarily remove a weapon from a person judged to be a danger," he said.
The governor then addressed concerns that have come up during the sanctuary city and Second Amendment constitutional city discussions that have taken place across Virginia.
"We are not going to go door to door and confiscate individuals' weapons. We are going to pass common sense legislation that will keep guns out of … dangerous hands and keep Virginia safer. It is just that simple," he said to applause from Democrats gathered around him.
Northam continued: "We have no intention of calling out the National Guard. We are not going to cut off people's electricity."
The ERA and abortion are also Democratic priorities.
"We will support womens' rights by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, and we will overturn laws that restrict womens' rights to decide their own healthcare," he said.
Here is a list of some of the other policy initiatives on the political plate of Democrats that are likely to pass the General Assembly under Democrat control:
Ban discrimination in housing and employment
Raise the minimum wage
Make voting easier by allowing 45 days of early voting
Make Election Day a state holiday
Expand broadband to every corner of Virginia
Reform the state criminal justice system so punishment better fits the crime
Make permanent the temporary ban on suspending drivers' licenses for unpaid fines
Raise teacher pay and invest in historically underfunded black colleges and universities.
Remove language that prevented Virginia from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Budget more dollars for early childhood education, K-12, and higher education.
"That includes investing in schools that have low-income students," Northam added on the last bullet point.
On dreamers, Northam said: "We will do more to treat dreamers like the citizens they hope to be by allowing them in-state tuition to public colleges and universities."
"This is the agenda Virginians wanted to see when they voted in November," Northam added toward the end of his prepared remarks,
More Richmond Stories
by Dean Mirshahi / Jan 20, 2021
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- GRTC's chief executive revealed that the transit system is under multiple investigations following the death of a second employee due to COVID-19 and claims that it has not properly implemented safety precautions to protect workers.
Virginia's Department of Labor and Industry requested several documents from GRTC on Jan. 12, the day after the transit system reported the second employee death, as part of an inspection by the agency's Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) Program.
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A bill to ban guns at polling locations in Virginia advanced in the General Assembly, as the Inauguration of now-President Joe Biden marked the end of a contentious election season.
by Keyris Manzanares / Jan 20, 2021
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Two Virginia Commonwealth University students said they were followed home by an unknown man on Monday, campus police said.
According to a VCU alert, around 1:25 p.m., a man followed a female student to her dorm room at Grace and Broad Residence Center located at 1000 W. Grace Street. The man stuck his foot in the door after she unlocked it.


text:
news 'Medusa' Review: Brazil's Christo-Fascists Get a Brutal Neon Satire Only Teenage Girls Could Deliver
Thread starter indienews
To borrow a catchphrase from political discourse: The cruelty is the point. Specifically, cruelty towards those who fall outside of the party's sphere of protection is the point of fascism, bringing a sense of safety and superiority to those who are deemed worthy of inclusion. This belonging comes at a price, of course, for women who choose to align themselves with misogynist power structures — the thesis of Brazilian filmmaker Anita Rocha da Silviera's latest film.
"Medusa" is da Silviera's second feature, and continues the exploration of violence and adolescence in her debut, 2015's "Kill Me Please." But "Medusa" takes on a frightening new relevance thanks to its framing: Here, da Silviera looks at gender dynamics through the lens of a fresh-faced, dead-eyed Christo-fascist cult. Not so long ago, "Medusa" could be described as having light elements of science fiction, with oblique references to an unnamed demarcation line between the time before, when "deviants" roamed the streets unafraid, and a more righteous present. Now, the distinction is less clear.
If you were paying attention, then scenes where a clean-cut, handsome young pastor preaches about how "secular government was a mistake" were already ominous when "Medusa" premiered at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight last summer. But in the interim, the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade has raised the theocratic threat level even further. That renders scenes of roving gangs of teenage girls roughing up women they find walking alone at night, kicking them to the ground and calling them "whores," chillingly prescient.
Da Silviera's primary interest is in the mindset of these young women, who oppress those who are weaker than them as a release valve for their own built-up frustration. That's the sympathetic way of looking at it — although the possibility remains that while some of them conform out of fear, others simply enjoy the power. Da Silviera seems willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Either way, it's a bargain made between these girls, their camera-ready pastor, and the hulking young men with buzz cuts who act as his de facto army: They agree to protect a system that renders them little more than playthings and punching bags in exchange for smug self-satisfaction and the ability to take their anger out on people even lower in the hierarchy than them.
"The Handmaid's Tale" famously explores similar themes of women throwing each other under the bus in the name of the patriarchy. "Medusa" examines more current, even scarier strains of apocalyptic Christianity and evangelical purity culture, with characters who have been taught from a young age to believe that the secular world is evil, Jesus is coming at any moment, and he wants them to be untouched and perfectly submissive when he arrives. The idea of purity is used as a weapon in the film, both toward the girls — at a Christian speed-dating event, one of the boys says that a "good woman" shouldn't be there at all — and between them.
That's where the viciousness of teenage bullying comes in. Although the church seems to know about and tacitly endorse it, the girls act alone when they don blank white masks and take to the streets at night. Sometimes they film their victims and post the videos online, giggling at the rising pageviews. Their leader Michele (Lara Tremoroux), a picture-perfect blonde — racism and colorism play a part here, too — hosts a YouTube series with topics like "How to take a perfect Christian selfie" and, more ominously, a tutorial on how to cover bruises with makeup. Appearance is of the utmost importance to Michele, who preaches that only the cleanest and prettiest among them will receive the ultimate honor of becoming a Christian housewife.
At the start, it seems as if "Medusa" will concentrate on the initiation of a new girl into the gang. But it quickly loses interest in that storyline and shifts over to Mari (Mariana Oliviera), Michele's best friend, and her slow drift out of the faith. Early on, Mari receives a nasty cut across her cheek during one of their nightly raids, and loses her job at a Christian plastic surgeon's office as a result. (This is a place of beauty, her boss tells her, and she's ruining their image.) So she ventures out into the world and gets a job at a private hospital for coma patients, where a romance with a "heathen" coworker makes her question everything she's been taught.
All this runs parallel to a strange, rather underbaked subplot about an actress who was the first victim of one of these Christian purity squads, who set her on fire as punishment for attracting too much male attention. The woman has become a media martyr in the interim, and the shallow, cruel Michele thinks that if Mari can snap a photo of the woman — who, quite conveniently, is a patient at Mari's new job — then everyone will see that she's ugly and will lose interest. The woman serves as the Frankenstein's monster of the piece, popping up in monster-movie sequences lit in sickly hospital green.
Style often supersedes story in "Medusa," particularly as it goes along. The color palette of the film — a very of-the-moment blend of Pepto pink, crisp white denim, chlorinated blue, and mint green — is immaculate. This Barbie dream house aesthetic is enhanced by the '50s housewife costumes, and offset by bright neon lights that bathe everything in a hazy, dreamlike glow. That aura is especially important in the horror scenes that dot the narrative, adding a layer of '80s-style slasher aesthetics that make the film's lip-gloss sheen edgier by association.
That edge extends to the film's cutting sense of humor. Da Silviera presents the church's message about "lascivious, depraved" sinners and the faithful's holy mission to destroy them with her tongue planted in her cheek, satirizing the hysterical tone of its rhetoric without downplaying its violent implications. Mari, Michele, and their friends sing in a church choir whose girl-group aesthetics belie the songs' apocalyptic lyrics: as one tune goes, "when He descends from heaven, the whole universe will quake … At last, after the blast, when the Apocalypse arrives / I will survive."
Da Silviera's vision of bubblegum fascism is compelling, and "Medusa" sucks viewers in right away. Unfortunately, however, the film expends far more effort on aesthetics and world-building than it does on narrative. "Medusa" starts spinning its wheels about an hour in, and Da Silviera seems too preoccupied with style to notice — a real issue, considering that the film is over two hours long. As impeccable as the vibe may be, "Medusa" would be more effective if it holistically incorporated its themes and look into a fully fleshed-out narrative, rather than simply indulging them for their own sake. This overindulgence dulls what starts off as a razor-sharp incision into the malignant tumor of Christian facism, making the cut ultimately more shallow than it could be.
Grade: B
Music Box Films will open "Medusa" in limited release on Friday, July 29. A national theatrical rollout will follow.
indienews
Staff Member Admin
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text:
import os
import sys
'''
headers = {'content-type': 'text/plain'}

stampers = "when e.tag(#testresult) do #websocket\n when e.tag(#terminate) do #websocket\n".encode()

moms = "stream bool result_1 := e.strmatch(ourmessage,\"STOP_TEST\")\n stream bool result_2 := e.strmatch(value.integer,\"100\")\n stream bool result_3 := result_1 \/ result_2\n trigger result_3 do emit result_3 on #terminate".encode()

url = "http://" + ems + ":8888/stamper/tag0.1"
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=stampers)
#response = requests.post(url, data=stampers)
print(response.content)

url = "http://" + ems + ":8888/MonitoringMachine/signals0.1"
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=moms)
# # response = requests.post(url, data=moms)
print(response.content)

print "after sending requests"

i = 0

'''
from websocket import create_connection
ems = os.environ["ET_EMS_LSBEATS_HOST"]
url = "ws://" + ems + ":3232"
ws = create_connection(url)
sys.stdout.flush()
while True:
  result = ws.recv()
  if "_mapping [logs]" in result:
    print("Received event")
    sys.stdout.flush()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


For world-class anglers, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica is considered one of the best fisheries for big game fish on the planet. The upwell vortex off the Pacific coast drives up a vast number of micro-organism along with small (feeder) fish and of course the big predators that anglers desire.
The entire Pacific coast of Costa Rica is an anglers dream but the area from Los Sueños to Quepos produces more record pelagic fish than anywhere else in the Central America. This region of Costa Rica has created a massive sportfishing industry unparalleled in this hemisphere.
The Billfish Foundation (billfish.org) reported that the Costa Rica fishing tourism, is incredibly important to the economy in Costa Rica producing more than $599 million in total and $78 million in tax revenues for Costa Rica as well as 63,000 jobs.
For thousands of years deep sea fisherman have known that pelagic (open ocean) fishes will congregate around submerged or floating debris. Logs, cargo nets, bunched seaweed and just about anything that floats have all been known to attract bait fish and then the big game fish. This is because drifting debris collects algae and other growths, this then gathers and attracts tiny plankton and small fish. This in turn attracts larger fish. Mahi-mahi, yellowfin tuna, marlin, wahoo are some of the large, oceangoing species that have been observed around these floating feeding platforms.
FAD fishing is an incredibly effective technique to land fish consistently; in fact FAD fishing is so effective that it is against the rules in professional sportfishing. But what is FAD fishing?
Natural FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices), are floating structure usually under the water which attract feeder fish in large numbers which congregate around the structure. Buoys submerged and anchored make up most FAD devices. The use of FAD's is relatively new tactic in sportfishing industry although FADs have had a long history in the commercial industry.
In Costa Rica FAD fishing has caught on in with many charter Captains because it tremendously improves the hook up odds for their clients. You will often see a number of charter boats patrolling around known FADs, but it does take an experienced Captain to properly FAD Fish.
Because FADs have been shown to attract such an array of game fish species, there are many happy sportfishing clients consistently hooking into yellow fin and skipjack tuna, bigeye tuna, dorado (mahi mahi), wahoo, mackerel, and the action you will have for Marlin off the FADs is absolutely spectacular.
To hookup on some big marlin try slow trolling live baits near the surface or deep water down rigs also yield some amazing results. At the same time be prepared to take advantage of schooled fish near the surface with some poppers, stickbaits tube-flys and soft plastics for some crushing surface strikes!!
A good FAD can yield 30 apex predator hookups a day for a skilled Captain, and there can be several boats working the same FAD, with everyone having a great day! It does require an experienced Captain who knows what is hitting, where they are hitting, and can recognize changes in the weather and/or waves conditions. A good crew is fast to react to changing conditions, and able to switch up tack on the fly to meet these changing conditions.
FADs are becoming more popular here in Costa Rica every year. It is important to talk with a Captain that has FAD fishing experience because it is definitely a learned skill set. Many Captains set up their own FADs or simple know of several spot where there are already FADs set up.
No matter if you are a seasoned deep sea angler or new to sport fishing or just want to guarantee you and your family will have an exciting time out on the high seas of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, get hooked up with a skilled captain and crew for some spectacular Costa Rica sportfishing on the FADs.
Dan Ross has over 30 years in sportfishing, and 17 years in Costa Rica and has mastered FAD fishing in these waters. Dan is one of the most experienced sportfishing and fishing charter experts in Central America and Costa Rica's leading specialist in FAD Fishing and Fly Fishing for deep sea big game fish.