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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/08/mysterious-carvings-evidence-human-sacrifice-uncovered-ancient-city-china.html
Photograph by Ben Sherlock, National Geographic
Crowned by a stepped pyramid more than 200 feet tall, a 4,300-year-old fortress city known as Shimao is challenging traditional narratives about China's early history.
Mysterious carvings and evidence of human sacrifice uncovered in ancient city
Discoveries at the sprawling site have archaeologists rethinking the roots of Chinese civilization.
By Brook Larmer
The stones didn't give up their secrets easily. For decades, villagers in the dust-blown hills of China's Loess Plateau believed that the crumbling rock walls near their homes were part of the Great Wall. It made sense. Remnants of the ancient barrier zigzag through this arid region inside the northern loop of the Yellow River, marking the frontier of Chinese rule stretching back more than 2,000 years.
But one detail was curiously out of place: Locals, and then looters, began finding in the rubble pieces of jade, some fashioned into discs and blades and scepters. Jade is not indigenous to this northernmost part of Shaanxi Province—the nearest source is almost a thousand miles away—and it was not a known feature of the Great Wall. Why was it showing up in abundance in this barren region so close to the Ordos Desert?
Ancient China From Above: China's Pompeii
Join archaeologists as they search for clues to the mysterious fate of "China's Pompeii" in a new three-part series. Ancient China from Above premiers in the U.S. Tuesday August 11 at 10/9c on National Geographic. For all other countries check local listings.
When a team of Chinese archaeologists came to investigate the conundrum several years ago, they began to unearth something wondrous and puzzling. The stones were not part of the Great Wall but the ruins of a magnificent fortress city. The ongoing dig has revealed more than six miles of protective walls surrounding a 230-foot-high pyramid and an inner sanctum with painted murals, jade artifacts—and gruesome evidence of human sacrifice.
Before excavations were suspended earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, archaeologists uncovered 70 stunning relief sculptures in stone—serpents, monsters, and half-human beasts that resemble later Bronze Age iconography in China.
Even more astonishing: Carbon-dating determined that parts of Shimao, as the site is called (its original name is unknown), date back 4,300 years, nearly 2,000 years before the oldest section of the Great Wall—and 500 years before Chinese civilization took root on the Central Plains, several hundred miles to the south.
Shimao flourished in this seemingly remote region for nearly half a millennium, from around 2300 B.C. to 1800 B.C. Then, suddenly and mysteriously, it was abandoned. (Discover a fortress in Sri Lanka that was swallowed by the jungle.)
None of the ancient texts that have helped guide Chinese archaeology mention an ancient city so far north of the so-called "cradle of Chinese civilization," much less one of such size, complexity, and intense interaction with outside cultures. Shimao is now the largest known Neolithic settlement in China—its 1,000-acre expanse is about 25 percent bigger than New York City's Central Park—with art and technology that came from the northern steppe and would influence future Chinese dynasties.
Together with recent discoveries at other prehistoric sites nearby and along the coast, Shimao is forcing historians to rethink the beginnings of Chinese civilization—expanding their understanding of the geographical locations and outside influences of its earliest cultures.
"Shimao is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of this century," says Sun Zhouyong, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and leader of the dig at Shimao. "It gives us a new way of looking at the development of China's early civilization."
Designed for danger
The first impression of Shimao, even as a partially excavated site in the barren hills above the Tuwei River, is of a city designed to face constant danger. The city was built in a conflict zone, a borderland dominated for thousands of years by warfare between herders of the northern steppe and farmers of the central plains.
Recently unearthed stone carvings "may have endowed the stepped pyramid with special religious power," the archaeologists reported.
To protect themselves from violent rivals, the Shimao elites molded their oblong 20-tiered pyramid on the highest of those hills. The structure, visible from every point of the city, is about half the height of Egypt's Great Pyramid at Giza, which was built around the same time (2250 B.C.). But its base is four times larger, and the Shimao elites protected themselves further by inhabiting the top tier of the platform, which included a 20-acre palatial complex with its own water reservoir, craft workshops, and, most likely, ritual temples.
Radiating out from Shimao's central pyramid were miles of inner and outer perimeter walls, an embryonic urban design that has been echoed in Chinese cities through the ages. The walls alone required 125,000 cubic meters of stone, equal in volume to 50 Olympic swimming pools—a huge undertaking in a Neolithic society whose population likely ranged between 10,000 and 20,000. The sheer size of the project leads archaeologists to believe that Shimao commanded the loyalty—and labor—of smaller satellite towns that have recently been discovered in its orbit.
More than 70 stone towns from the same Neolithic era, known as the Longshan period, have now been unearthed in northern Shaanxi province. Ten of them are in the Tuwei river basin, where Shimao is located. "These satellite villages or towns are like moons circling around the Shimao site," Sun says. "Together they laid a solid social foundation for the early state formation at Shimao."
Shimao's fortifications are astonishing not just for their size but also for their ingenuity. The defensive system included barbicans (gates flanked by towers), baffle gates (allowing only one-way entry), and bastions (a projecting part of the wall allowing defensive fire in multiple directions). It also employed a "mamian" ("horse-face") structure whose angles drew attackers into an area where defenders could pummel them from three sides—a design that would become a staple of Chinese defensive architecture. (Here's why ancient fortifications in Europe had melted stone walls.)
Fortified walls eight feet thick and six miles long ringed the city. The ruins were first discovered decades ago but were thought to be part of the Great Wall of China until recent discoveries revealed that they are much older.
Photograph by Li Min, UCLA
Inside the stone walls, Sun's team found another unexpected innovation: wooden beams used as reinforcement. Carbon-dated to 2300 B.C., the still-intact cypress beams represented a method of construction that scholars previously thought had only begun in the Han Dynasty—more than 2,000 years later.
Grisly discovery
The most grisly discovery came underneath the city's eastern wall: 80 human skulls clustered in six pits—with no skeletons attached. (The two pits closest to the East Gate, the city's principal entrance, contained exactly 24 skulls each.) The skulls' number and placement suggest a ritual beheading during the laying of the wall's foundation—the earliest known example of human sacrifice in Chinese history. Forensic scientists determined that almost all of the victims were young girls, most likely prisoners who belonged to a rival group.
"The scale of ritual violence observed at Shimao was unprecedented in early China," says Li Min, an archaeologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has visited and written extensively about Shimao. The skulls at Shimao foreshadowed the massive human sacrifice that became what Li calls "a defining attribute of Shang civilization" many centuries later (from around 1600 to 1046 B.C.) before succeeding dynasties put an end to the practice.
The skulls are just one indication that the East Gate marked the entrance to a different world. Anyone walking across the threshold—above the buried sacrificial pits—would have been awed by more immediately visible signs. Several stone blocks in the high terrace walls were carved with lozenge designs, making them appear like enormous eyes gazing down at the East Gate. Wedged into the stone walls at regular intervals were thousands of pieces of black and dark green jade, shimmering ornaments that served both to ward off evil and to project the power and wealth of Shimao elites. The abundance of jade artifacts suggests that Shimao, with no source of its own, imported large quantities from distant trading partners.
Despite its seeming remoteness today, Shimao was not insulated from the outside world. It exchanged ideas, technology, and goods with a wide range of other cultures, from the Altai steppe to the north to coastal regions near the Yellow Sea.
"What is significant is that Shimao, along with many other areas, shows that China's civilization has many roots and does not emerge just from the growth in the Central Plains on the middle Yellow River," says Jessica Rawson, a professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford. "Several features were taken from the world beyond even today's northern China—for example, stone structures, that have more relation to the steppe than to the Central Plains. Other features are herded animals for subsistence, oxen and sheep and metallurgy. These are actually very important technologies that China adopted and incorporated seamlessly into their culture."
Many artifacts found at Shimao could only have come from distant lands. Besides the jade, archaeologists also found the remains of alligator skins, which must have come from a swampier region much farther south. Alligator-skin drums were likely used during ritual ceremonies, one sign of the vital role music played in Shimao palace life. (A 1,150-year-old tomb in China reveals first evidence for polo—on donkeys.)
Another discovery flummoxed Sun and his team: 20 identical pieces of bone, thin, smooth, and curved. The archaeologists guessed that these were combs or hairpins, until a musical scholar deduced that the bones were the earliest examples of a primitive reed instrument known in Chinese as the mouth reed and more colloquially as the Jew's harp.
"Shimao is the birthplace of the mouth reed," says Sun, noting that the instrument spread to more than 100 ethnic groups across the world. "It is an important discovery that provides valuable clues to explore the early flows of population and culture."
Mysteries and clues
Only a small fraction of Shimao has been excavated so far, so the discoveries keep coming. Along with the stone carvings uncovered last year, archaeologists found evidence of human busts and statues that were once set into the walls around the East Gate. We are only beginning to understand what the carvings might signify, says UCLA's Li Min, but the anthropomorphic representations are "a very innovative and rare attempt."
Shimao is the largest known Stone Age settlement in China, and only a small portion of the site has been excavated. Archaeologists expect to make many more discoveries.
Photograph by Rachel Vaknin, National Geographic
So much about Shimao remains cloaked in mystery, including its name. Archaeologists are still trying to understand how its economy functioned, how it interacted with other prehistoric cultures, and whether its elites possessed a writing system. "That would solve a long-standing mystery," says Sun.
There are some clues, however, to why Shimao was abandoned after 500 years. It wasn't earthquake, flood, or plague. A war might have helped drive them out, but scientists see more evidence that climate change played a pivotal role.
In the third millennium B.C., when Shimao was founded, a relatively warm and wet climate drew an expanding population into the Loess Plateau. Historical records show a rapid shift from 2000 to 1700 B.C. to a drier and cooler climate. Lakes dried up, forests disappeared, deserts encroached, and the people of Shimao migrated to parts unknown.
The once-distant tongue of the Ordos Desert now laps at the banks of the Tuwei River, just below the entrance to Shimao. The ancient site is shrouded in dust and rocks and silence. Yet, after 4,300 years, one of the world's oldest cities is no longer lost to history, no longer abandoned. Its stones have given up a precious load of secrets, challenging our understanding of the earliest period of Chinese civilization. Many more revelations are sure to come.


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Posts Tagged 'Spain'
Low-Income Workers Are Victimized by Spain's Suffocating Taxation
Posted in Big Government, Spain, Taxation, tagged Big Government, Spain, Taxation on February 18, 2019| 3 Comments »
I'm not an optimist about the future of Europe, mostly because welfare states are unaffordable in nations suffering from demographic decline.
Given the grim trends on the continent, I expect many other nations (probably led by Italy) will experience the fiscal and economic mess that we've seen in Greece.
Let's dig into this issue by reviewing a story in the New York Times about economic stagnation in Europe, focused mostly on Spain.
After decades of living comfortably in Spain's upper middle class, the middle-aged couple are struggling with their decline. Spain's economy, like the rest of Europe's, is growing faster than before the 2008 financial crisis and creating jobs. But the work they could find pays a fraction of the combined 80,000-euro annual income they once earned. …Since the recession of the late 2000s, the middle class has shrunk in over two-thirds of the European Union…they face unprecedented levels of vulnerability.
So why are middle-class workers in such bad shape?
As you read the article, you find references to factors such as the "financial crisis" and "weakened social protections," but no coherent explanation for why the private sector is languishing.
Unless you read all the way down to the 22nd paragraph, where you finally get an interesting detail that probably explains much of Spain's economic malaise. Taxes are so absurdly high that a guy with a modest income only gets to keep one-third of the money he earns! This is such a jaw-dropping factoid that I've made it an image rather than an indented excerpt.
Wow, the confiscatory tax rates that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders want to impose on "rich" people in the United States already are already being imposed on low-income taxpayers in Spain.
No wonder Spaniards are so inventive about avoiding taxes.
And this story is a perfect example of why I constantly warn that European-type redistribution policies in the United States would result in much higher taxes for lower-income and middle-class taxpayers.
By the way, you probably won't be surprised to learn that the current Spanish government (just like a previous Spanish government) wants to make a bad situation even worse.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez… The Socialist leader grabbed power last summer with the fragile backing of Podemos, the left-wing anti-austerity party. Warning of middle-class frustrations, his embattled government ordered a 22 percent rise in the minimum wage in January, and has vowed to reverse some labor laws, increase social spending and raise taxes on companies and the rich.
There's an election in April, so we'll see whether Sánchez's plan to impoverish his country actually gets adopted.
My only prediction, based on what's happened in the past, is that tax increases will not be successful.
P.S. The story has two additional excerpts that help to explain Spain's anemic performance. We have very strong evidence in the United States that unemployment benefits subsidize joblessness. Spain appears to be learning the same lesson, though the government still pays people to be unemployed for 1-1/2 years.
Unemployment benefits…that state money, with budget cuts, now lasts 18 months, down from 24.
I've also written about how so-called labor-protection laws discourage hiring. Well, seems like Spain is a very grim example of how this type of intervention backfires on intended beneficiaries.
…temporary and part-time contracts…can lead to steady work and better incomes. But companies and Europe's public sector have mostly used them to dodge protections for permanent employees. In Spain alone, 90 percent of new jobs in 2017 were temporary.
P.P.S. Spain has a member of the Bureaucrat Hall of Fame, though the guy who "put a decimal point in the wrong place" probably also deserves induction.
P.P.P.S. Here's a sobering look at pre- and post-1990 growth in Spain and Poland.
Great Moments in Foreign Government
Posted in Belgium, Government Inefficiency, Government stupidity, India, Spain, Taxpayer Ripoff, Waste, tagged Belgium, Government Inefficiency, Government stupidity, Government waste, India, Malaysia, Romania, Spain, Taxpayer Ripoff on July 18, 2018| 4 Comments »
Given the routine corruption and reckless spending in Washington, I frequently get asked how I keep my sanity.
It's possible, as some of my friends argue, that I'm not actually sane. That would explain why I try to put my finger in the dyke of big government as more and more new leaks keep developing. Only a crazy person would fight against big government when politicians and bureaucrats have a "public choice" incentive to do the wrong thing.
Moreover, if "victory" is restoring the kind of limited government envisioned by the Founding Fathers, then there's a 99.99 percent chance all my efforts will be wasted.
But allow me to offer a reason for optimism. What if we decide that "victory" is simply hindering the growth of government so that the private sector has enough "breathing room" to continue making our lives richer and better?
That's the basic message of Human Progress, Marian Tupy's website showing how the world is constantly improving. And we see good long-run developments from Economic Freedom of the World.
In other words, we don't need to achieve Libertarian Nirvana. We just need to throw sand in the gears of government.
And that's why I don't think my life is pointless. To be sure, I haven't given up on my dream of replacing the odious internal revenue code with a flat tax, but if the only thing I achieve is to protect America from a value-added tax, I'll nonetheless go to my grave feeling like I did something very valuable for my country.
But there's something else that keeps me sane. I also enjoy laughing at government. I regularly write about "great moments" in government and point out that incompetence and stupidity is a regular feature of the federal government, of state governments, and of local governments.
And I also enjoy mocking the spectacular screw-ups and bizarre blunders that are a feature of foreign governments as well.
And that's our topic for today. So let's start with this story from India about a very unusual example of vote buying.
A south Indian state has become possibly the first in the world to offer publicly-funded breast implants, its health minister arguing, "Why should beauty treatment not be available to the poor?" The Tamil Nadu state health department on Wednesday launched the free service at a clinic in the capital Chennai. …The clinic had already been providing breast reconstruction surgery for cancer patients, but was now extending the service for people who wished to alter the size of their breasts for other health or cosmetic reasons. The head of plastic surgery at the clinic, Dr V Ramadevi, said some of her patients…sought to augment or shrink their breasts for a boost in confidence. "There is a psychological benefit. Many girls who have larger breasts don't like to go out. There is no reason this surgery should be restricted from the poor." The procedure would also be available to men, she said. …Tamil Nadu's government is known for its largesse, particularly under former chief minister Jayalalithaa, who pioneered free food canteens and doled out wedding jewellery and venues to the poor.
I've previously reported on crazy examples of government policy in India, so I suppose this story shouldn't surprise me.
And since taxpayer-financed cosmetic surgery exists in the United Kingdom and the United States, Indian taxpayers can take solace that they're not alone.
Now let's go to Belgium, where there's apparently a problem with rogue royalty.
Prince Laurent of Belgium has had his monthly allowance docked for a year, after a vote by the country's federal parliament. The sanction was imposed after the prince attended a Chinese embassy reception last year without government permission, in full naval uniform. Lawmakers voted for a 15% cut to his €307,000 (£270,000; $378,000) annual allowance. …Prince Laurent, who is the younger brother of King Philippe, wrote a lengthy emotional letter to parliament before the vote on his endowment, arguing that, as a royal, he is unable to work for a living. He described the vote as "the trial of my life" and said it would "likely cause me serious prejudice" if MPs went against him. …The prince, 54, said the royal family had obstructed his attempts to be financially independent. …Lawmakers ultimately rejected his claim that no citizen of their country had been so exploited, voting to cut his stipend by 93 to 23 votes. …He had previously been criticised for attending meetings in Libya when the late Muammar Gaddafi was still in power, and making an unsanctioned 2011 trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony.
I suppose this is a feel-good story in that politicians actually voted to cut spending.
Though we should never forget that this is the country where the public sector consumes half of economic output but officials actually complained that it's hard to fight terrorism because of "the small size of the Belgian government."
Now it's time for ar stop in Malaysia, where corrupt politicians spent the country into debt and now they want taxpayers to voluntarily cough up extra money.
When Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly won his bid for office in May, he pledged to…get the country's $250 billion worth of debt under control. And this week, he announced the government had found a way to at least get started: crowdfunding. Within 24 hours, the "Malaysia Hope Fund" raised almost $2 million, the BBC reported. "The rakyat (people) voluntarily want to share their earnings with the government to help ease the burden," the finance ministry said in a statement, announcing that it would be accepting donations to a special fund set up to help relieve the country's debt. …The crowdfunding idea started with a 27-year-old named Nik Shazarina Bakti, who recently launched a private crowdfunding initiative to help relieve Malaysia's debt. She raised around $3,500 before the government stepped in. In a sense, the effort is a version of what she said Malaysians did during their struggle for independence from Britain, when they donated jewelry, money and valuables. It's also similar to what South Korea did as it attempted to pull itself out of economic crisis in the late 1990s, and regular citizens lined up to donate their most prized possessions to the government, including wedding rings and trophies.
Hmmm…, $2 million raised to pay off $250 billion of debt. Methinks they won't meet their goal.
Though this story reminds me that politicians like Elizabeth Warren want the rest of us to pay more tax, yet she conveniently doesn't participate in her state's version of voluntary crowdfunding.
Here's an amazing story from Romania.
He's a dead man walking and the court ruling is final. A Romanian court has rejected a man's claim that he is still very much alive, after he was officially registered as deceased, the Associated Press reports. Constantin Reliu, 63, lost his case in Vasului because he appealed too late on the ruling, a court spokeswoman said Friday. The story goes that Reliu had traveled to Turkey in 1992 for work and lost contact with his family. Since his wife had not heard from her husband in years, she acquired a death certificate for him in 2016, the AP reports. However, since Reliu was discovered by Turkish authorities this year with expired papers, he was deported back to Romania. That's when he discovered he had been declared dead.
Wow. I thought American courts generated some outlandish decisions, but this belies belief.
Last but not least, here's a report from Spain that should leave you skeptical about the efficacy of additional NATO spending.
An attempt to deploy a new submarine for Spain's navy has run aground again, after it emerged it cannot fit in its dock, Spanish media report. The S-80 boat was redesigned at great expense after an earlier mistake meant it had problems floating, and it was lengthened to correct the issue. Spanish newspaper El País now reports that after the changes, the docks at Cartagena can no longer fit the vessel. The cost for each has almost doubled, the newspaper said. …The original problem with the submarine dates back to 2013, when it was discovered that it was about 100 tons heavier than it needed to be. That caused a problem for its buoyancy – so it could submerge, but might not come back up again. A former Spanish official told the Associated Press at the time that someone had put a decimal point in the wrong place, and "nobody paid attention to review the calculations". …the base at Cartagena will have to be dredged and reshaped to accommodate the now-floating longer vessel, the El País report said. Spain's Defence Minister Margarita Robles, speaking on Spanish radio, admitted that "there have been deficiencies in the project".
Call me crazy, but "deficiencies" doesn't really describe what happened. Almost makes the Pentagon look frugal. Almost makes the German intelligence service look competent.
For previous examples of great moments in foreign government, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
P.S. In other words, my "government in cartoons" collection applies equally no matter where you travel.
Poland's Reward for Good Economic Policy
Posted in Competitiveness, Economics, Poland, Rankings, Spain, tagged Competitiveness, Economics, Poland, Rankings, Spain on May 9, 2017| 8 Comments »
Earlier today, I gave a speech about populism and capitalism at the Free Market Road Show in Thessaloniki, Greece.
But I'm not writing about my speech (read this and this if you want to get an idea of what I said about American policy under Trump). Instead, I want to share some remarkable data from a presentation by Ewa Balcerowicz of Poland's Center for Social and Economic Research.
She talked about "The Post Socialist Transition in Poland in a Comparative Perspective" and showed that Poland and Spain has similar living standards after World War II. But over the next 40 years, thanks to the brutal communist system imposed by the Soviet Union, Poland fell far behind.
But look what has happened over the past 25 years.
Per-capita GDP has skyrocketed in Poland and the gap between the two nations has dramatically narrowed.
So why is Poland now rising relative to Spain?
For the simple reason that public policy has moved in the right direction. Here's the data from Economic Freedom of the World, comparing Poland's score in 1990 and today. Poland has jumped from 3.54 to 7.42, and the nation has jumped from a dismal ranking of #104 to a respectable ranking of #40.
By the way, Spain's score also has increased, but by a much smaller amount. And because the world has become more free, Spain's ranking has dropped. Indeed, Spain now ranks below Poland
Which means that we shouldn't be surprised if per-capita GDP in Poland soon jumps about Spanish levels.
Just as Poland has out-paced Ukraine because it has better policy.
Here are additional examples showing the long-run benefits of pro-market policy.
Chile vs. Argentina vs. Venezuela
Hong Kong vs. Cuba
North Korea vs. South Korea
Cuba vs. Chile
Hong Kong vs. Argentina
Singapore vs. Jamaica
United States vs. Hong Kong and Singapore
Botswana vs. other African nations
And here's a must-watch video on the relationship between good policy and better economics performance.
All of which helps to explain why I'm so disappointed in both Bush and Obama. Their statist policies have caused a drop in America's score and relative ranking.
The Bureaucrat Hall of Fame Gets its First Spanish Member (Plus an Update on Porn Stars and the 2016 GOP Contest)
Posted in Bureaucracy, Bureaucrats, Spain, tagged Bureaucracy, Bureaucrats, Spain on February 12, 2016| 3 Comments »
I should get an award for equal opportunity.
The Bureaucrat Hall of Fame has plenty of American members, but it also has civil servants from India, France, and Italy, and the United Kingdom, all of whom have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their efforts to rip off taxpayers.
And now we have a new applicant from overseas, so maybe we'll enjoy even more diversity.
The U.K.-based Times reports on a Spanish bureaucrat that didn't bother to show up for work for six consecutive years.
A civil servant in Spain didn't turn up to work for six years. …He had continued to collect his annual salary. Records show that the engineer started working for a water company run by the municipal authorities in Cádiz in 1990 but last did a day's work in 2004.
Even though this bureaucrat is an amateur compared to the Indian civil servant who skipped work for two decades, I think he's worthy of membership in the Hall of Fame.
Especially since one aspect of the story perfectly symbolizes the mind-boggling inefficiency of government.
…his absence was noticed only when he was due to collect a long-service award. …Mr Blas said: "We thought the water company had supervised him but it was not the case. We discovered this when we were about to present him with a commemorative plaque for his 20 years of service."
You may be thinking that this combination of sloth and incompetence at least led to a termination.
…he cannot be sacked from his €37,000-a-year job as he has since retired.
For what it's worth, Senor Garcia supposedly is now obliged to return 30,000 euro of his ill-gotten loot.
I'm not holding my breath expecting that to happen.
However, even though it's not mentioned in the story, I feel very confident that he'll get a bloated pension courtesy of the Spanish taxpayers.
Why do I think a deadbeat will get a pension?
For the simple reason that Spain – even though it's in the middle of a deep fiscal crisis – has an above-average burden for bureaucratic compensation.
P.S. Back in 2012, I pointed out that Obama and Romney both were endorsed by different porn stars.
So you probably won't be surprised to learn that porn stars also are playing a role in the 2016 campaign.
First, the Cruz campaign put together a commercial featuring an actress who is better known for her other roles. The Daily Caller has the details.
Amy Lindsay, the actress featured in films such as Kinky Sex Club, Milf, Carnal Wishes and Sex Sent Me to the ER starred in Sen. Ted Cruz 's latest campaign ad entitled "Conservatives Anonymous." In the ad, the Lindsay said, "Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time." Seconds before this story was to be published, the Cruz campaign removed the ad from YouTube.
The Daily Caller also reports that the other conservative senator in the race also has a link to the adult industry.
Jenna Jameson…former porn star recently criticized the $1.1 trillion omnibus federal spending plan, and on Monday, she expressed some serious support for Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio.
But she apparently doesn't like compassionate conservatives.
Jameson told TheDC that she isn't a fan of Bush.
Though maybe I'm making a mistake by assuming that she's referring to President Obama's big-spending predecessor.
While Greece Implodes, France Corrodes and Spain Erodes
Posted in Big Government, Centralization, Economics, Euro, Europe, France, Spain, tagged Big Government, Centralization, Economics, Euro, Europe, France, Spain on July 20, 2015| 10 Comments »
For understandable reasons, the fiscal mess in Greece has dominated the European economic headlines.
But there are other developments that deserve attention. Amazingly, some politicians think Europe's stagnant economy can be improved with more harmonization, more bureaucratization, and more centralization.
The EU Observer has a story about a French scheme to transform the eurozone into a supranational government.
French president Francois Hollande has called for a stronger more harmonised eurozone… "What threatens us is not too much Europe, but too little Europe," he said in a letter published in the Journal du Dimanche. He called for a vanguard of countries that would lead the eurozone, which should have its own government, a "specific budget" and its own parliament. …French prime minister Manuel Valls Sunday said…France would prepare "concrete proposals" in the coming weeks. "We must learn the lessons and go much further," he added, referring to the Greek crisis.
I'm not sure what lessons Monsieur Valls wants people to learn. Greece got in trouble because of big government and excessive intervention.
So why is anyone supposed to believe that adding a new layer of government is going to make Europe more prosperous?
In all likelihood, the French are pursuing this agenda for two selfish reasons.
A "harmonised eurozone" means that all affected nations would have to abide by the same rules, and that inevitably means taxes and regulations are set at the most onerous levels. The French think that's a good idea because it's a way of undermining the competitiveness of other eurozone nations.
A eurozone government with a "specific budget" sets the stage for more intergovernmental transfers in Europe. The French think that's a good idea since they presumably could prop up their decrepit welfare state with money from taxpayers in nations such as Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands.
By the way,not all French politicians are totally misguided.
At least one of them is expressing more sensible ideas, as reported by the U.K.-based Telegraph.
France is "the sick man of Europe", François Fillon, the former centre-Right prime minister, has said in an open letter to French president Francois Hollande, calling for urgent economic reforms."The Greek tragedy shows that the threat of bankruptcy is not abstract," according to Mr Fillon… French commentators writing about the Greek crisis in recent days have pointed out that France's own national debt of more than €2 trillion (£1.4 trillion), amounting to 97.5 per cent of GDP, places it in the same league as Spain and other southern European countries.
By the way, the commentators who are fretting about French debt are focused on the wrong variable. The French disease is big government. High levels of debt are simply a symptom of that disease.
Moreover, I'm not sure that Monsieur Fillon is a credible spokesman for smaller government and free markets since he served during the statist tenure of President Sarkozy.
In any event, if there are any serious reformers in France, they face an uphill battle. As I've previously noted, many successful people and aspiring entrepreneurs have left France.
Here's a news report on the phenomenon.
And just in case you think this is merely anecdotal data, here's a table showing the nations that lost the most millionaires since 2000.
In the case of China and India, rich people leave because they want to establish a domicile in a developed nation.
But successful people escape France in spite of its first-world attributes.
Let's now cross the Pyrenees and see what's happening in Spain.
Our Keynesian friends, as well as other big spenders, are always trumpeting the value of infrastructure projects because they ostensibly pump money into an economy.
I've made the point that such outlays should be judged using cost-benefit analysis. Well, it appears that Spain listened to the wrong people. It got a €10,000 return on an infrastructure "investment" of €1,100,000,000.
One of Spain's "ghost airports"—expensive projects that were virtually unused—received just one bid in a bankruptcy auction after costing about €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) to build. The buyer's offer: €10,000. Ciudad Real's Central airport, about 235 kilometers south of Madrid, became a symbol of the country's wasteful spending.
Wow, and I thought Social Security was a bad deal.
But Spanish politicians should be known for more than just misguided boondoggles.
Some of them also are working hard to make sure citizens don't work too hard. Here's a story from an English-language news outlet in Spain (h/t: Commentator).
Between the hours of 2pm and 5pm you will struggle to find anyone in the Valencian town of Ador; the town's inhabitants will have taken to their beds to catch their mandatory forty winks. The town's summer siesta tradition is so deep-rooted the mayor has enshrined his citizen's right to an afternoon snooze in law. …Ador could be the first town in Spain to actually make taking a siesta obligatory by law. …The new rules also stipulate that children should remain indoors:
One imagines the next step will be mandatory bed checks by new bureaucrats hired for just that purpose.
Though maybe they would need special permission to take their mandatory siestas from 11:00-2:00 so they would be free to harass the rest of the population between 2:00-5:00.
In any event, we can add mandatory siestas to our list of bizarre government-granted human rights.
The IMF's Continuous – and Destructive – Love Affair with Higher Taxes
Posted in England, Fiscal Policy, Higher Taxes, International bureaucracy, International Monetary Fund, Spain, Tax Increase, Taxation, tagged England, Fiscal Policy, Higher Taxes, IMF, International bureaucracy, International Monetary Fund, Spain, Tax Increase, Taxation on August 5, 2014| 36 Comments »
Since I'm an economist, I generally support competition.
But it's time to admit that competition isn't always a good idea. Particularly when international bureaucracies compete to see which one can promote the most-destructive pro-tax policies.
For instance, I noted early last year that the bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were pushing a new scheme to increase the global tax burden on the business community.
Then I wrote later in the year that the International Monetary Fund was even more aggressive about pushing tax hikes, earning it the label of being the Dr. Kevorkian of the world economy.
That must have created some jealousy at the OECD, so those bureaucrats earlier this year had a taxpalooza party and endorsed a plethora of class-warfare tax hikes.
Now the IMF has responded to the challenge and is pushing additional tax increases all over the world.
For example, the bureaucrats want much higher taxes on energy use, both in the United States and all around the world.
This chart from the IMF shows how much the bureaucracy thinks that the tax should be increased just on coal consumption.
The chart doesn't make much sense, particularly if you don't know anything about "gigajoules." Fortunately, Ronald Bailey of Reason translates the jargon and tells us how this will impact the average American household.
The National Journal reports that the tax rate would be $8 per gigajoule of coal and a bit over $3 per gigajoule of natural gas. Roughly speaking a ton of coal contains somewhere around 25 gigajoules of energy, which implies a tax rate of $200 per ton. …The average American household uses about 11,000 kilowatt hours annually, implying a hike in electric rates of about $1,100 per year due to the new carbon tax. Since the average monthly electric bill is about $107, the IMF's proposed tax hike on coal would approximately double how much Americans pay for coal-fired electricity. A thousand cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas contains about 1 gigajoule of energy. The average American household burns about 75 mcf of natural gas annually so that implies a total tax burden of $225 per residential customer.
To be fair, the IMF crowd asserts that all these new taxes can be – at least in theory – offset by lower taxes elsewhere.
…we are generally talking about smarter taxes rather than higher taxes. This means re-calibrating tax systems to achieve fiscal objectives more efficiently, most obviously by using the proceeds to lower other burdensome taxes. The revenue from energy taxes could of course also be used to pay down public debt.
Needless to say, I strongly suspect that politicians would use any new revenue to finance a larger burden of government spending. That's what happened when the income tax was enacted. That's what happened when the payroll tax was enacted. That's what happened when the value-added tax was enacted.
If you think something different would happen following the implementation of an energy tax, you win the grand prize for gullibility.
But let's give the IMF credit. The bureaucrats are equal opportunity tax hikers. They don't just want higher taxes in the United States. They give the same message everywhere in the world.
Here are some excerpts from an editorial about Spanish fiscal policy in the Wall Street Journal.
Madrid last month cut corporate and personal tax rates, simplified Spain's personal-income tax system and vowed to close loopholes. That's good news… So leave it to the austerity scolds at the International Monetary Fund to call for tax increases. …Specifically, the Fund wants Spain to raise value-added taxes, alcohol and tobacco excise taxes, tourism taxes, and various environmental and energy levies: "It will be critical to protect the most vulnerable by increasing the support system for them via the transfer and tax system."
Gee, I suppose that we should be happy the IMF didn't endorse higher income taxes as well.
The good news is that the Spanish government may have learned from previous mistakes that tax hikes don't work.
Rather than heed this bad advice, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro are cutting government spending and eliminating wasteful programs to reduce pressure on the public fisc. Public spending amounted to 44.8% of GDP in 2013, which is still too high but down from 46.3% in 2010. The government projects it will fall to 40% by 2017. …Madrid has also made clear that it believes private growth is the real answer to its fiscal woes. …In other words, economic growth spurred by low taxes and less state intervention yields more revenue over time. If Mr. Montoro can pursue the logic of that insight, there's hope for Spain's beleaguered economy.
I'm not overly confident about Spain's future, but it is worth noting that, according to IMF data, government spending has basically been flat since 2010 (after rising by an average of about 10 percent annually in the previous three decades).
So if the politicians can maintain fiscal discipline by following my Golden Rule, maybe Spain can undo decades of profligacy and become the success story of the Mediterranean.
Let's hope so. In any event, we know some Spanish taxpayers have decided that they're tired of being fleeced.
We have one final example of the IMF's compulsive tax-aholic instincts.
Allister Heath explains that the bureaucracy is pushing for a plethora of new taxes on the U.K. economy.
The IMF wants an increase in the VAT burden.
…the IMF wants to get rid or significantly reduce the zero-rated exemption on VAT, which covers food, children's clothes and the rest. While it is true that the exemptions reduce economic efficiency, ditching them would necessitate a big hike in benefits and a major uplift in the minimum wage, which would be far more damaging to the economy's performance and ability to create jobs for the low-skilled. It's a stupid idea and one which would destroy any government that sought to implement it, with zero real net benefit. It would be a horrendous waste of precious political capital that ought instead to be invested in real reform of the public sector.
And an increase in energy taxes.
The report also calls for a greater reliance on so-called Pigouvian taxes, which are supposed to discourage externalities and behaviour which inflicts costs on others. It mentions higher taxes on carbon and on congestion as examples. But what this really means is that the IMF is advocating a massive tax increase on motorists, even though there is robust evidence which suggests that they already pay much more, in the aggregate, than any sensible measure of the combined cost of road upkeep and development, pollution and congestion.
And higher property taxes.
It gets worse: these days, one cannot read a document from an international body that doesn't call for greater taxes on property. This war on homeowners is based on the faulty notion that taxing people who own their homes doesn't affect their behaviour, which is clearly ridiculous. This latest missive from the IMF doesn't disappoint on this front: it calls for the revaluation of property for tax purposes, which is code for a massive increase in council tax for millions of homes, especially in London and the home counties.
Understandably, Allister is not thrilled by the IMF's proposed tax orgy.
The tax burden is already too high; increasing it further would be a terrible mistake. The problem is that spending still accounts for an excessively large share of the economy, and the political challenge is to find a way of re-engineering the welfare state to allow the state to shrink and the private sector to expand. The model should be Australia, Switzerland or Singapore, countries that boast low taxes and high quality services.
And I particularly like that Allister correctly pinpoints the main flaw in the IMF's thinking. The bureaucrats look at deficits and they instinctively think about how to close the gap with tax hikes.
That's flawed from a practical perspective, both because of the Laffer Curve and because politicians will respond to the expectation of higher revenue by boosting spending.
But it's also flawed from a theoretical perspective because the real problem is that the public sector is far too large in all developed nations. So replacing debt-financed spending with tax-financed spending doesn't address the real problem (even if one heroically assumes revenues actually materialize and further assumes politicians didn't exacerbate the problem with more spending).
Here's a remedial course for politicians, international bureaucrats, and others who don't understand fiscal policy.
P.S. Wise people have speculated that international bureaucrats are quick to urge higher taxes because they don't have to pay taxes on their lavish salaries.
P.P.S. This isn't the first time the IMF has proposed massive tax hikes on energy consumption.
Good – and Very Bad – Developments in Global Tax Policy
Posted in Government Thuggery, Spain, Taxation, tagged Government Thuggery, Iraq, Spain, Taxation on June 23, 2014| 1 Comment »
With occasional exceptions such as Switzerland and Estonia, there's rarely good news from Europe. At least with regards to fiscal policy.
But maybe there's a bit of sense on the Iberian Peninsula. I reported a couple of years ago that Portugal was at least flirting with the notion of lower tax rates and spending restraint.
Now Spain may be undoing some class-warfare mistakes on tax policy.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the government plans to lower tax rates on both personal income and corporate income.
Spanish leaders who broke their no-new-taxes pledge after taking office 2½ years ago announced sweeping tax cuts on Friday, saying it was time to compensate a recession-battered populace for its sacrifices and boost a nascent recovery. Budget Minister Cristóbal Montoro, announcing the government's main economic initiative of the year, said the planned reductions of income and corporate taxes will stimulate investment, creating jobs and making Spanish companies more competitive abroad. …Spain's corporate tax rate would drop from 30% to 25% by 2016. People earning more than €300,000 ($408,000) a year would see their personal income-tax rate fall from 52%, one of the highest in Europe, to 45% in 2016. …The cuts announced Friday would by 2016 bring income-tax rates back to their pre-2012 levels for high-income earners and lower them slightly for low-income earners.
For what it's worth, I don't think the tax cuts will happen – or at least won't be durable – unless Spain's politicians also impose some long-run spending restraint.
Fortunately, there are some good examples they can follow.
Since we're on the topic of international tax developments, let's shift to another story.
If you want hard-core tax enforcement, beyond the fantasies of even the IRS, then it's hard to beat the ISIS crowd in Iraq.
Let's not give the IRS any ideas
Here some of what the New York Times reported on that group's "tax" regime.
Behind the image of savagery that the extremists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria present to the world, as casual executioners who kill helpless prisoners and even behead rival jihadis, lies a disciplined organization that employs social media and sophisticated financial strategies in the funding and governance of the areas it has conquered. …Once in charge, they typically levy "taxes," which are just as lucrative. So-called road taxes of $200 on trucks are collected all over northern Iraq to allow them safe passage. The Iraqi government claims that the insurgents are now levying a "tax" on Christians in Mosul, who were a significant minority there, to avoid being crucified.
Hopefully, this is just a short-run aberration and not a new idea that will spread to other nations.
Though politicians in other countries already have demonstrated that they're willing to innovate when it comes to extracting money from their citizens.
Showing amazing capacity for innovation, Pakistan's tax authority hires transgendered people to encourage (presumably homophobic) taxpayers to cough up more money.
The tax police in England have floated a proposal to have all paychecks go directly to the tax authority, which would then decide how much gets forwarded to taxpayers.
And since we're talking about the United Kingdom, that nation's despicable political class wants to improve compliance by indoctrinating kids to snitch on their parents.
Speaking of snitches, tax authorities in both the state of New York and the city of Chicago have programs encouraging neighbors to rat our neighbors.
And New York also has won a case to treat lap dances – for purposes of sales tax – as a service rather than art.
And who among us isn't impressed that the German tax authorities have figured out how to levy a prostitute tax using parking meters.
Just remember that politicians view any money you earn as either a current tax obligation or a potential source of future revenue.
After all, all money belongs to them.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Q: How do you really use dbus to obtain the list of visible SSIDs from NetworkManager? According to example 12 here I should be able to use
dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/4 org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device.Wireless.GetAllAccessPoints

to discover all available wireless access points, because /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/4 is my wireless adaptor.  However, it seems to return results different from the command-line equivalent
nmcli device wifi list

which returns many more SSIDs.  Whilst experimenting with the above at work, I could only get one SSID via dbus-send.  At home, the first time I ran the dbus-send command it returned an array of four access points, which is the same number as returned by nmcli.  I ran the same dbus-send command again and this time it produced a list of only one access point, just as at work.
The next day at home I tried the dbus-send command several times and it listed just one access point.  I then ran the nmcli command again and it listed five access points.  After that, the dbus-send command also listed five access points.  It seems that the nmcli command somehow goes further than the dbus-send command to discover access points, but once it has done so, the dbus-send command is also able to find the access points.  That is not the case at work, however:  the nmcli command always discovers 12 or more APs but the dbus-send command only ever discovers one.
I definitely only have one wireless adaptor:  ifconfig -a lists: enp0s25, lo, sit0 and wlp3s0.
What does the nmcli command that the dbus-send command does not?

A: The answer is that you have to run a rescan (method RequestScan) just before getting the list of SSIDs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Also included is the VR2 conductor installation guide, which provides recommendations on the procedures and equipment used during installation. VR2 conductor can be installed using techniques and equipment similar to those used when installing standard round conductor. These general guidelines, together with those suggested in the IEEE Guide to the Installation of Overhead Transmission Line Conductors (IEEE 524TM –2003), will provide the basic information required to install VR2 conductor.
Learn more about VR2 conductors and other Southwire overhead transmission innovations at overheadtransmission.southwire.com.


Parution de l'article Estimating allocations for Value-at-Risk portfolio optimization dans Mathematical Methods of Operations Research.
Value-at-Risk, despite being adopted as the standard risk measure in finance, suffers severe objections from a practical point of view, due to a lack of convexity, and since it does not reward diversification (which is an essential feature in portfolio optimization). Furthermore, it is also known as having poor behavior in risk estimation (which has been justified to impose the use of parametric models, but which induces then model errors). The aim of this paper is to chose in favor or against the use of VaR but to add some more information to this discussion, especially from the estimation point of view. Here we propose a simple method not only to estimate the optimal allocation based on a Value-at-Risk minimization constraint, but also to derive— empirical—confidence intervals based on the fact that the underlying distribution is unknown, and can be estimated based on past observations.


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The Thunder is one of the NBA's better transition defenses, just not against the Lakers
by Maddie Lee
Published: Sat, November 23, 2019 3:52 PM Updated: Sat, November 23, 2019 6:29 PM
Related coverage: Thunder vs Lakers
Recap: Lakers 130, Thunder 127 Five takeaways from Thunder's loss to Lakers Hamidou Diallo returns to Thunder rotation but exits in fourth quarter with elbow injury vs. Lakers Back from Los Angeles, Thunder's script still calls for heartbreak in 130-127 loss to Lakers
Danny Green was open. As the Thunder ran back in transition, no one matched up on the Lakers sharpshooter until after LeBron James tossed a pass ahead to him on the left wing.
Thunder guard Terrance Ferguson recognized the play and ran from the center of the court out to Green on the perimeter, but he contested the shot too late. Green drained the catch-and-shoot 3-pointer to give the Lakers a lead early in the third quarter of Los Angeles's eventual 130-127 win over OKC Friday.
For the second game in a row, the Lakers had made one of the Thunder's strengths a weakness. Even after playing the Lakers twice in one week, the Thunder is statistically a top-10 transition defense. On average, OKC gives up 19.1 points in transition per game, according to NBA.com. The Kings lead the NBA in limiting points in transition (14.6 per game), while the Pelicans bring up the rear (24.5).
In the Thunder and Lakers' first meeting, however, Los Angeles scored 30 fast break points, taking advantage of its eight blocks and the Thunder's 16 turnovers.
Article: Recap: Lakers 130, Thunder 127
Article: Five takeaways from Thunder's loss to Lakers
Article: Hamidou Diallo returns to Thunder rotation but exits in fourth quarter with elbow injury vs. Lakers
Article: Back from Los Angeles, Thunder's script still calls for heartbreak in 130-127 loss to Lakers
Article: Lakers guard Rajon Rondo fined for incident in game against Thunder
Video: OKC Thunder - Another close loss to the Lakers (Game 15 of 82)
Video: OKC Thunder - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs Lakers (Game 15 of 82)
Video: OKC Thunder - Chris Paul vs Lakers (Game 15 of 82)
"For us to get 30 (against the Thunder) is unique, and we can't expect to rely on that in Game 2," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said before Friday's game. "We have to be better with our half court offensive execution, but any chance we can get to force turnovers and get out on the break, we're going to try to do so."
The Lakers didn't rely on transition points Friday, but they still scored 19. The majority of those came in the beginning of the third quarter, when Los Angeles scored 13 fast break points in the span of five minutes to take its largest lead of the night (15 points).
"I think we needed to have a little more urgency getting back," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "And I think one of the things that hurt our transition defense was the fact that they advance the ball up the floor, so the ball's going to move faster than bodies, and I think when the ball got out and it got straight up the floor we were a lot of times behind the ball and we couldn't quite get up there."
On Monday, OKC faces Golden State, a middle-of-the-pack transition offense averaging 14.1 fast break points per game.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the points the Thunder gives up in transition and the NBA's transition defense rankings.
Oklahoma City's Danilo Gallinari (8) defends Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate...
Oklahoma City's Danilo Gallinari (8) defends Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' Rajon Rondo (9) talks to official Mitchell Ervin (27) as Lakers assistant coach Lionel Hollins, middle, tries to get Rondo to leave the floor after being ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) spins away from Los Angeles' Dwight Howard (39) before making a shot in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Steven Adams (12) and Los Angeles' JaVale McGee (7) battle for possession of the ball before a jump ball is called in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Steven Adams (12) takes the ball to the hoop next to Los Angeles' JaVale McGee (7) in the first quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Thunder fans Mat Brainerd and Kathy Brained sit in their seats as they are surrounded by fans of the Lakers waiting to get autographs more than an hour before an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) tries to score past Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) in the first quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Thunder coach Billy Donovan yells at officials before receiving a technical foul in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) dunks the ball in the first quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' Dwight Howard (39) signs autographs and takes pictures with fans before an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) passes the ball behind his back away from Oklahoma City's Danilo Gallinari (8), right, and Terrance Ferguson (23) in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) shoots as Oklahoma City's Terrance Ferguson (23) defends in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Dennis Schroder (17) and Los Angeles' Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (1) chase the ball in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) dunks the ball in front of Oklahoma City's Dennis Schroder (17) in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Chris Paul (3) passes around Los Angeles' Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (1) in the first quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Darius Bazley (7) takes the ball to the basket near Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) in the second quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Hamidou Diallo (6) holds his right elbow while in pain on the court after being called for a foul on Los Angeles' LeBron James in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) passes over Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Dennis Schroder (17) reacts after Oklahoma City's Hamidou Diallo left the court with an injury to his right elbow in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Hamidou Diallo (6) leaves the court after injuring his right elbow in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' LeBron James (23) passes away from Oklahoma City's Dennis Schroder (17) in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Danilo Gallinari (8) shoots a three-point shot in the first quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Chris Paul (3) dribbles as Los Angeles' Danny Green (14) defends in the third quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) draws the foul from Oklahoma City's Terrance Ferguson (23) in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma City's Chris Paul (3) shoots as Los Angeles' Anthony Davis (3) defends in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. The Lakers won 130-127. [Nate Billings/The Oklahoman]
Maddie Lee
Maddie Lee followed an NBA team from Seattle to Oklahoma City, she just took a 10-year detour in between. Lee joined the Oklahoman in October 2018 as a Thunder beat writer, fresh off a stint in Oxford, Miss., where she covered Ole Miss for the... Read more ›
CommentsThe Thunder is one of the NBA's better transition defenses, just not against the Lakers


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Less Contact, Short Trips: Virus-Hit Olympics Bosses Set Out Rules
T20 WC 2022
3rd ODI, England in South Africa, 3 ODI Series, 2023 at Kimberley, Feb 1, 2023
Wed, Feb 1, 2023 - 4:30 PM IST
3rd T20I, New Zealand in India, 3 T20I Series, 2023 at Ahmedabad, Feb 1, 2023
2nd T20I, New Zealand in India, 3 T20I Series, 2023 at Lucknow, Jan 29, 2023
99/8 (20.0)
Final, ICC Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup, 2023 at Potchefstroom, Jan 29, 2023
India Women Under-19
England Women Under-19
68 (17.1)
India Women Under-19 beat England Women Under-19 by 7 wickets
2nd ODI, England in South Africa, 3 ODI Series, 2023 at Bloemfontein, Jan 29, 2023
Sports Home Other Sports News Less Contact Short Trips VirusHit Olympics Bosses Set Out Rules
After months of talks, officials issued a 54-page report outlining how they believe the Olympic Games can go ahead.
Updated: December 02, 2020 07:29 PM IST
The Tokyo Olympics has been postponed till 2021 due to coronavirus.© AFP
Olympic officials issued a 54-page report on Wednesday
It outlined how they believe the tournament can be hosted in 2021
Athletes will be screened on arrival in Japan and undergo regular tests
Athletes at the coronavirus-postponed Tokyo Olympics will face regular testing, restrictions on mingling and potential punishment for non-compliance with health rules, organisers said Wednesday as they outlined plans for holding the Games. After months of talks, officials issued a 54-page report outlining how they believe the Games can go ahead, even if the pandemic is not under control by the new start date of July 2021. Quarantine requirements will be waived for overseas spectators, who will also be able to use public transport, but they will have to observe rules ranging from mask-wearing and a ban on cheering to keeping their ticket stubs to help contact-tracing.
Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto acknowledged strict safety measures will make the games "different", but expressed hope they can still be held in a celebratory atmosphere.
"It will be simple rather than festive, but I hope it will be something moving that encourages people through the power of sport," he said.
Athletes will be screened on arrival in Japan and then undergo regular tests every four to five days during their stay at the Olympic Village.
An infection control centre will also be set up to deal with positive cases, which organisers say they presume will occur.
However officials have not yet announced how competition rules would be affected if an athlete contracted coronavirus during the Games.
All athletes must sign up to a code of conduct that includes avoiding speaking loudly, avoiding physical contact with others and wearing masks when not training or competing.
They will also be asked to leave Japan as soon as their events are over, rather than stay on in the country for sightseeing.
Fan quarantine "impractical"
Penalties for non-compliance have yet to be determined and will be drawn up in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee.
"This is not a law, but we need to be careful and ask people to lay out precautions," said Muto.
"We will create a system that allows team leaders or athlete representatives to provide cautions."
Concrete measures to determine how many fans will be able to attend will be decided in the spring, with infection rates around the world at the time taken into account.
Organisers have decided that imposing a two-week quarantine on visiting fans is "impractical" given the time constraints, and will instead ask them to download tracking apps and abide by rigorous safety guidelines.
Muto said organisers were working on the assumption that a vaccine will not be available by the time the Games begin, despite positive results in tests in recent weeks.
He added that the cost of the virus countermeasures had not yet been calculated, although reports last week estimated them at $1 billion.
The same report calculated that postponing the Games from their original date this year will add another $2 billion to the price tag.
Enthusiasm for the Games has been waning in Japan, with a poll in July showing just one in four people wanted to see them held in 2021. Most backed either a further delay or a cancellation.
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Asian Olympic Chiefs Say Russians Can Take Part In Asian Games
Veteran Coaches SRD Prasad, Sanathoiba Sharma, Gurcharan Singh To Be Honoured With Padma Shri
Water Sports To Debut At Khelo India Youth Games 2022


Perhaps it's best to clarify; GPHG we're not. What we're is a consumer-focused commerce title that seeks to discern, perceive, and anticipate the burning questions and needs of anybody who loves watches. To that finish, the classes and the novelties which were nominated or chosen as eventual winners are reflective of how a watch client would possibly store or embark on a decision-making course of. That stated, the chosen watches will not be curated in a vacuum; a panel of two editorial workers and two collectors have been chosen to select from the novelties of 2018.
A hoop is historically used to suggest to a girl. However, WOW is open to the concept of proposing with a watch! The "YES" Watch needs to be fairly embellished. Bonus factors if the nominated timepiece has a counterpart for the male occasion to put on.
When one proposes to "have and to hold for as long as you both shall live", it's with a certainty that your partner possesses the world's first key to your coronary heart and soul. Haute couture meets haute horlogerie in the new Roger Dubuis Velvet Caviar in a world's first of a distinct sort. Thanks to artisanal abilities, the head-turning strap shimmers with black or white crystal beads blended with molten polymer, accentuating the distinctive case form of the Velvet. From case to strap, this timepiece is beautiful. Topped with a mother-of-pearl dial and studded with brilliant-cut diamonds alongside the bezel and lugs, the multi-facetted gleam of the Velvet Caviar is a proposal that only a few would refuse.
WOW Awards consist a complete of 11 classes. The remainder of the winners can be introduced over the subsequent three days.


There are many who would say Loose Logic is a veteran of the underground, and the emcee doesn't hide the fact that he has invested many years into the craft. Switching from a rapid-fire delivery to a calm, cool, and collected approach behind the microphone is nothing for the southwest California artist. Add a lyrical depth that earned him the Best Lyricist of the Year at The Write Awards in 2016 and you've got a combination that always results in entertainment.
Loose Logic's latest release, Reflections, has several connecting factors to songs he released earlier in his career, and I think it would be safe to assume this is the reason behind the title of the album. Will the member of The Fraternity succeed in achieving his second classic rating on the website (the first was for Open Door Policy, or will the audience be disappointed with the emcee by the end of the album?
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A calming instrumental eases through the speakers to open Reflections. Loose Logic storms onto the track with a rapid-fire delivery and wastes no time putting his lyrical abilities on display. Similes, metaphors, wordplay, punchlines, and imagery are everywhere as Loose Logic effortlessly switches the speed he spews forth his lyrics. If Loose Logic wanted to begin Reflections with a Featured Track, then he accomplished his mission.
This instrumental is bonkers. If I'm going to be frank, the ONLY area Loose Logic could shake things a little better is in his approach on the hook. I feel a slight hype push behind the vocals would have been enough to really set this track apart. In his verses, Loose Logic curates flawless lines filled with thought-provoking lyrics, metaphors, wordplay, punchlines, and stays on topic throughout the song without wavering. This is definitely an impressive track, even for someone with the caliber of quality Loose Logic has and the level of lyricism for which Loose Logic is known. The Featured Tracks list gets extended with the addition of "Devil On My Shoulder".
The entire vibe created on this track makes it a great follow up to "Devil On My Shoulder". Loose Logic takes the audience a couple different directions in his verses during the song: the only reason he has to continue fighting to succeed, ripping into other rappers in general, and bars that brag about his skills as an emcee. He's able to bring it all together while chopping multiple syllable rhyme schemes, punchlines, and wordplay behind a hook that will resonate with listeners the more they listen to it. Three tracks in, three Featured Track slots filled.
Again, Loose Logic skates through a transition with ease as "Cold World" continues the fighting to succeed lines and blasting bars that bash emcees heard in "No Shame". I really like how the song is introduced and would have really enjoyed hearing Loose Logic continue on that contextual path. Wordplay and metaphors are spread evenly throughout the verses that are divided by a hook Loose Logic seems to sing at the same note that he sings all of his other choruses, which is fairly higher than the level we hear his voice presented when he raps. The simile game is something Loose Logic tends to lean on a little too heavily. While this isn't a horrible track by any means, in my opinion, it isn't a standout song.
There's an intense vibe tied into the instrumental for "Crazy", which also produces a sense of urgency. Loose Logic brings forward some thought-provoking lyrics while revealing some personal details for listeners. The audience will be hit-or-miss in terms of being able to relate to the track. Add Loose Logic's vast vocabulary and it's unlikely that we will hear very many people sing along with "Crazy".
The lone featured guest of Reflections goes to JL of B. Hood, who happens to spit his bars in a rapid-fire fashion that Loose Logic matches with ease. JL's vocabulary is extensive, to say the least. The previous track proves Loose Logic can properly provide four-syllable words in his content, though he chooses not to do so on "Nobody Else". The hook is catchy as hell and rides the beat well. Loose Logic may have dumbed down the lyrics a little from the previous track, but that doesn't mean he slacks lyrically. "Nobody Else" notches another Featured Track for Reflections.
I have a feeling I'm not going to be the only one who believes this track is out of place. Normally, Loose Logic's transition between tracks is pretty much on point. This is not one of those transitions. Loose Logic sings for nearly the entire track, spitting one round of bars in the middle of the song. This track doesn't feel hip hop at all, really, and the odd placement on the album really takes away from the song itself. I believe there's a spot later in the album that is much more fitting for "The Youth".
Loose Logic jumps right back into the fast-paced delivery, quick-witted lyrics, and hyped approach that preceded "The Youth" with this track. Leaping back into a lyrical approach, Loose Logic drops wordplay, punchlines, and multiple syllable rhyme schemes throughout "Won't Resist", and he brings another hook with a sing-song presentation fairly similar to the blueprint that Loose Logic has demonstrated in earlier tracks on Reflections. "Won't Resist" is a solid addition to the album.
Loose Logic aims to deliver a drinking anthem/party track for the audience with "Roll Out", or that's the vibe I got from the catchy hook presented to listeners on the track. A little more lyrical than you would expect a 'drinking anthem' to be, "Roll Out" might be the track on Reflections that contains the most punchlines. Loose Logic throws in some wordplay, metaphors, and multiple syllable rhyme schemes to give listeners more than enough reasons to replay "Roll Out", the fifth Featured Track of the album.
This is a track that "The Youth" would have been more fitting to be paired with on the track list for Reflections. "So Lonely" will reach out and touch people emotionally, especially parents. The thought of losing a child is hard enough, but having to go through the process of the actual possibility happening is an indescribable experience. Loose Logic does his best to put his point-of-view into perspective for the audience. His efforts prove to be remarkably relatable. Reflections adds another Featured Track to its list.
Loose Logic swiftly switches the subject matter as he laces a ballad for the ladies, in a sense. There isn't much innocence to be heard as the track shares some of Loose Logic's past experiences and thoughts. "On And On" could easily be the theme song for an adult daytime soap opera. While the track embodies the concept and may have quite a few people who relate to the subject matter, Loose Logic's lyricism is pretty much limited to imagery and similies and lacks, in my opinion, an actual message or story. When everything is said and done, "On And On" is rather bland.
Loose Logic expresses changes in his way of thinking, reasoning, and his everyday actions. The audience should be able to feel the maturity and growth explained in the verses. Listeners are presented with another chorus that Loose Logic sings at a higher note than he probably should- the same exact note he sings in previous tracks on the album.It would be really interesting to hear Loose Logic showcase his vocal range and stuff like that. While Loose Logic displays a terrific delivery during his verses for the track, the majority of this song gives me a lot of the same vibes that I had during "So Lonely".
After a first verse that feels out of place from the verses that surround it, Loose Logic continues to bring a 'conscious style' approach to the tracks on the second half of Reflections. "Tunnel Vision" is Loose Logic's eye-opening message to be aware of the things going on around us instead of allowing ourselves to be blindly led by people who are not looking out for our best interests nor are being completely honest with us. There is a lot to learn, or at least research if listeners pay attention to the content. "Tunnel Vision" is a solid addition to the album.
"No Way" covers a couple of different topics, starting off with a first verse loaded with shots at "new age" emcees and "mumble rappers". The hook is well-written, catchy, and easily contends for my favorite chorus on the album. Punchlines, wordplay, and metaphors are spread throughout the track. Loose Logic takes a solid stance on certain subjects in each verse as well. There's "No Way" this track is going to be left off the Featured Tracks list.
The final track of the album reaches far back into Loose Logic's discography to bring the audience a sequel to one of his earliest tracks. Storytelling is one of Loose Logic's strengths as an emcee. Fighting through life's struggle and attempting to do the best for his daughter, the main character in Loose Logic's last track on Reflections has decisions to make as his life progresses. Many of us will be able to relate to this song because we were faced with similar decisions during the course of our life. "One Story: Second Chapter" closes out the album with its final Featured Track.
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Ain't Holding Back, Devil On My Shoulder, No Shame, Nobody Else, Roll Out, So Lonely, No Way, and One Story: 2nd Chapter.
If you were to listen to Loose Logic's entire discography, you will hear his growth right before your very ears. Regardless of the growth that can be heard during the course of his career as an emcee, Loose Logic seemed to always have a focus on lyricism, regardless of a track's subject matter, but I don't feel Reflections has that undermining focus. One of Loose Logic's latest album releases, Open Door Policy, also lacked this constant, undermining focus on lyricism that the majority of even his life-long fans will not notice.
Open Door Policy, in my opinion, has more of an impact with listeners than Reflections because of its straightforward style and ability to connect with the audience from the very beginning to the album's conclusion. Reflections has several areas that will resonate with the audience as well, but there are times when it seems as if Loose Logic gets sidetracked and forgets what the main theme for the album is. His track list is not as smooth as it tends to be.
There is plenty of great things to be heard on Reflections. Loose Logic is one of the best I have ever heard at switching up styles during the course of an album. He can spit bars in rapid-fire succession and slow it down at the drop of a dime. He has the ability to change the tone in his delivery with ease. His multiple syllable rhyme schemes are definitely nothing to scoff at, while his lyricism is anything but boring. The topics chosen for his songs are almost always fresh, and if they aren't, then he finds a new way of approaching them. If you have never heard one of Loose Logic's albums, then Reflections will be pleasing to the ear and will likely captivate your thoughts. Loose Logic adds another great album to his discography.
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text:
Q: Rolling 2 dice with different sides against each other Geniuses!
We're having 2 dice with different sizes. For our example, dice A has 10 sides while dice B has 7 sides.
How to calculate the probability of Dice A being rolled higher than Dice B?
Thanks upfront!

A: It may be useful to draw a table for questions like these and see the values where the ten sided die is larger than the seven. The first die has 7 outcomes and the second has 10 so multiplying together gives 70 possible outcomes. If the ten sided dice is a 1 then there is 0 outcomes, if the ten sided dice is a 2 then there is 1 outcome etc..., adding these together gives the possibilities, out of 70, for the ten sided to be larger.

A: Alternative approach:
$$\frac{3}{10} + \left[\frac{7}{10} \times \frac{6}{7} \times \frac{1}{2}\right]. \tag1 $$
The 1st term above represents the probability of die A rolling $8$ or higher.  In the 2nd term above, you have the following $3$ factors:

*

*Die A rolling $7$ or lower

*Die A and Die B not matching

*$(1/2)$, which is motivated by symmetry.  At this point, it is equally likely that Die A is less than, rather than greater than Die B.


text:
Reosc est une entreprise française fondée en 1937 et filiale de la société Sagem Défense Sécurité, elle-même filiale du groupe Safran.
REOSC conçoit, réalise et intègre des optiques de haute performance pour l'astronomie, le spatial, les grands lasers ou l'industrie des semi-conducteurs dans les domaines civil et de défense.

Historique
La société Reosc (acronyme de Recherche et Étude en Optique et Sciences Connexes) est fondée en 1937 par un groupe de scientifiques de l'institut d'optique de Paris, parmi lesquels on trouve Henri Chrétien et Charles Fabry. La société REOSC trouve son véritable développement avec André Bayle en 1960, qui s'adjoindra la collaboration de Georges Penciolelli de l'Institut d'Optique-CNRS. En 1978, REOSC est achetée par la Société de Fabrication d'Instruments de Mesure (SFIM) par l'intermédiaire de Georges Penciolelli, fondée elle en 1947 par Marcel Ramolfo et François Hussenot, à qui l'on doit l'invention des boîtes noires. Elle n'en devient une réelle filiale qu'en 1992 lors de la fusion avec EVAP Service (réalisation de couches minces) et MTO (aluminure de miroirs). En 1996, la division optronique de la SFIM fusionne avec celle de Matra. Après le rachat par la SAGEM de la SFIM en 1999, REOSC intègre le business unit de la division Optronique de la Sagem en tant qu'établissement.

En 2005, la SAGEM fusionne avec la SNECMA pour donner naissance au groupe Safran.

Le  janvier 2013, REOSC devient une filiale à 100 % de Sagem défense sécurité.

Domaines d'activité
L'entreprise étudie, conçoit, réalise et intègre des éléments optiques de haute performance et des équipements opto-mécaniques pour quatre domaines d'activité
.

Astronomie terrestre
L'entreprise développe et produit notamment des grands miroirs monolithiques de classe 4 à , des segments de miroirs primaires pour de très grands instruments et des systèmes de télescopes « clés en main » intégrant télescope, dôme, système de contrôle-commande, équipement de maintenance et génie civil.
Elle fournit également des équipements opto-mécaniques, des correcteurs de champ, des compensateurs de dispersion atmosphérique, ainsi que des lentilles correctrices et filtres larges pour caméras à grand champ.
Reosc a notamment produit les miroirs monolithiques de  du Very Large Telescope au Chili, le miroir de  du Gran Telescopio Canarias et les prototypes des miroirs du futur télescope de  de l'ELT (Télescope géant européen).

Solutions pour satellites

L'entreprise conçoit et produit des optiques spatiales, des équipements de test au sol et assure le suivi de solutions électroniques et hybrides.

Ces productions concernent les télescopes conventionnels (comprenant des miroirs allégés en vitrocéramique) tel que le télescope SOFIA pour la NASA, les télescopes de type TMA (three-mirror anastigmat), les ensembles en carbure de silicium (par exemple, Reosc a réalisé les modules optiques FOR, COL et CAM du spectrographe NIRSpec pour le télescope spatial américain James-Webb), ou encore pour le satellite GAIA

Industrie des semi-conducteurs
L'entreprise déploie des compétences spécifiques dans la réalisation des semi-conducteurs : l'ingénierie opto-mécano-thermique de haute précision, l'usinage de matériaux vitrocéramique et carbure de silicium, le polissage pour l'ultraviolet profond (deep ultraviolet, DUV) et extrême (EUV), les traitements anti-reflet pour le DUV, le montage opto-mécanique haute précision (sub-micrométrique) et haute stabilité, propreté et contamination.
Toutes ces compétences concourent au développement des applications clés pour les réalisations industrielles : collection de flux, illumination, imagerie, éléments structuraux de haute stabilité, équipements divers haute performance pour EUV et DUV.

Systèmes optiques pour lasers à haute énergie
L'entreprise développe et produit des composants optiques et opto-mécaniques pour les instituts et grands programmes scientifiques entreprenant des recherches autour des lasers de puissance.

Références

Entreprise fondée en 1937
Entreprise ayant son siège dans l'Essonne
Entreprise d'optique ayant son siège en France
Équipementier spatial
Entreprise du secteur spatial ayant son siège en France

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It is the flirtation with risk, the frisson of the truly unpredictable, that makes conceptual art popular. In a world of tedious regulations and rational constraints, art is the last walk on the wild side. Of course, the Heatherwick settlement is a paradox. If you pay someone to create a huge metal image of an explosion, how can you then act as if any hint of physical danger was unacceptable?
Except when someone dies it's not funny at all, as did happen when Maurice Agis's inflatable installation killed two people in 2006. B of the Bang is a marvelous feat of engineering and never injured anyone, but perhaps it's best that it be remembered in pictures alone.
The Sense of Belonging exhibition currently on display at the Bonington Gallery in England's East Midlands collects work by artists now local to the region who in the past had to leave their countries of birth to escape war or seek asylum. Much of the art in the show references the dual consciousness of the refugee experience, the "in between" of the piece pictured here. The show grew out of the work being done by Making the Connections, a group that is interested in how art and culture can help new arrivals in the East Midlands by fostering a sense of community and also educating the general public about immigrant issues. The very cool Beyond Borders Web site is related to Making the Connections and provides a virtual space for artists in the region to meet and collaborate. For more images from the exhibition please click through to the online gallery here.
Elephant and Castle is one of those names that could only exist in London. Supposedly named after a vision some (likely soused) individual once had on London Bridge, the district today is set to undergo a massive regeneration project that hopes to clear out the squatters and "less desirable" elements to make way for new buildings and better economic opportunity. But of course there are people living there right now who will be displaced. The nearby London College of Communication has been assigning its photography students to document the area and its current residents with the hopes of creating a record for posterity, and they will continue to do so for the next decade as the regeneration really begins to take effect. The current batch of pictures is themed around the idea of community, and includes Thomas Ball's landscapes such as the one pictured right that seek to give a different perspective of the local high-density housing estates. I also really like Anna von Stackleberg's "aerial" photos of the estate gardens. The students' photographs have been collected into a book and are also on display at the Cuming Museum through March, and you can see some images from an earlier iteration of the project, "Home", in the gallery here.
All I know is that when I got sick during my year in the UK it was glorious to be able to go to a doctor and receive treatment without having to worry that I would have to deal with reams of insurance paperwork afterward. A number of artists like Nick Sharatt (pictured above) have drawn cartoons that salute the NHS's 60 years, and you can see the rest of them in the gallery here.
World AIDS Day was actually a week ago today on December 1, but it's not too late to call attention to some beautiful pictures taken by Magnum photographers for the Global Fund's Access to Life project. Eight photographers traveled to nine countries, from Mali to Russian to India, where thanks to the Global Fund and the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief a massive effort is under way to roll out antiretroviral medications to those who need them. The pictures, taken before and then four months after the subjects began their treatments, are portraits of hope, but they also emphasize how much work still needs to be done.
"I haven't been alone before," says Haile, who lives in Ilford and has secured refugee status for the following five years. While we look through a collection of his selected photographs: an ironing board, a bowl of pasta, a self-portrait conveying a state of pensiveness, he explains: "I wanted to clarify my loneliness and to describe how the way of life changes from time to time or from place to place."
That self-portrait was actually taken after Haile's first run-in with the British police, and can be seen in the gallery here. The book received an official launch at Tate Modern last month, and photographs from the project were also included in the autumn Affordable Art Fair. Brave voices, all.