Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego offers four 12-month postgraduate year one (PGY-1) pharmacy residency positions and two postgraduate year two (PGY2) positions — one PGY2 pharmacy critical care and one PGY2 pharmacy psychiatry residency position.
The PGY1 program has been fully accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) since 2002. The PGY2 program enrolled their first residents in 2017 and are in candidate status. We are affiliated with six pharmacy schools and train more than 55 medical residents and more than 30 fourth-year PharmD candidates each year.
The Scripps Mercy Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program offers residents a challenging academic experience in a progressive environment, while preparing residents for leadership roles in the pharmacy profession. Clinical and distributive services are provided by full-time, unit-based pharmacists — many of whom have advanced clinical training. Scripps Mercy's pharmacists enjoy sharing their breadth of knowledge by precepting both pharmacy residents and students.
The pharmacy department is open 24/7 and includes a main pharmacy, oncology infusion center, 11 clinical pharmacist practice settings, nine satellite locations and telepharmacy services.
More than 30 clinical pharmacists on staff provide a broad range of clinical services, carry out pharmacist-driven medication protocols, staff our oncology infusion center, and teach pharmacy students, medical and pharmacy residents.
Pharmacy residents have direct access to pharmacy faculty, are integrated into the medical teaching program and are considered "house staff" with similar privileges as medical residents.
Residents complete a broad depth of clinical rotations tailored to individual experience, interests and career goals, and may participate in programs throughout Scripps' five campus locations.
Residents conduct IRB-approved research, present at international and national meetings, and have the opportunity to earn a teaching certificate.
Hear directly from the residency program director about what to expect from this pharmacy residency program.
Thank you for your interest in the Scripps Mercy Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program. Scripps Mercy is the oldest and largest hospital in San Diego County. We provide both primary care and tertiary care to our patients. Our tertiary care ICU is one of the busiest and highest-acuity ICUs in the county. Our emergency department is a certified STEMI center and Stroke Center and services our Level 1 Trauma Center patients.
The Department of Pharmacy is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Clinical pharmacy services are provided throughout the hospital with distribution originating in the main pharmacy. Clinical and distributive services are provided by more than 30 full-time unit-based clinical pharmacists, many with advanced clinical training.
The Department of Pharmacy, in conjunction with Scripps Mercy physicians and nurses, is committed to delivering a top-quality education experience.
The residency year is the most exciting year of your pharmacy career. It is filled with a steep and exhilarating learning curve. Although this year is challenging, it is an experience we hope you will think back on fondly as you embark on your resident journey.
Please take an opportunity to further review our web content and learn why Scripps Mercy Hospital is an excellent place to begin or continue your training.
The Scripps Mercy Hospital Pharmacy Residency Programs are uniquely situated in a variety of acute care settings, exposing residents to the highest-quality learning experience possible.
The Scripps Mercy Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program builds upon the knowledge and skills residents acquired during their student internships and clerkships. Rotations are a critical part of the learning experience and include specific learning objectives.
Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, is the county's longest-established medical center and an academic teaching hospital. The emergency department is one of the busiest in San Diego, seeing more than 50,000 patients annually. The intensive care unit (ICU) consists of 32 medical and surgical beds. The medical ICU service consists of nine pulmonary critical care intensivists with two teams of internal medicine residents and one clinical pharmacist. The trauma service consists of six attending trauma surgeons, five nurse practitioners, two clinical pharmacists and medical residents and fellows. This specialized residency will train the resident to practice independently as the ICU specialist in a variety of practice settings such as medical ICU, trauma, general surgery and the emergency department. The resident will precept students and PGY1 residents on ICU and Trauma rotations.
Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, has one of the oldest psychiatry services in San Diego County. Our 15 attending psychiatrists care for more than 13,000 inpatients annually. We have a critical care psychiatry unit and both an acute care adult and geropsychiatric inpatient program. The psychiatric liaison team provides psychiatric evaluation and triage services to the Scripps Health system 24/7. Family Health Centers of San Diego – Mental Health Services, affiliated with Scripps Health, manages patients with mental health and substance use disorders on an outpatient basis. A-Visions vocational training program, in partnership with the San Diego Mental Health Association and Visions program, helps decrease the stigma of mental illness by integrating members back into society. The pharmacy resident will have the opportunity to participate in all settings described above.
Scripps Mercy Hospital is the oldest and largest teaching hospital in the San Diego area. It has two campuses: San Diego and Chula Vista. The pharmacy residency program resides on the San Diego campus, which is the primary site for the clinical education of more than 70 medical residents, as well as medical students, other health professionals and fellows. The pharmacy department is open 24/7 and includes a central pharmacy along with nine inpatient satellite locations, which provides pharmacy residents with a broad range of learning experiences.
Residents at Scripps Mercy Hospital work under the mentorship of experienced pharmacy experts and alongside talented trainees. With academic scholarship at the core of the pharmacy residency program, our team is dedicated to delivering superior medical education and guidance to meet your interests and career goals.
The Scripps Mercy Hospital Pharmacy Program recognizes the contributions of our faculty and administrators who successfully conduct and support quality experiential education in a completely acute care-focused clinical teaching environment.
Scripps Mercy's clinical pharmacists enjoy sharing their breadth of knowledge by precepting pharmacy residents and students. Additionally, they provide a broad range of clinical services, follow pharmacist-driven medication protocols to ensure appropriate medication use and safety, and work collaboratively with physicians, nurses and other health care team members to deliver high-quality, efficient services to patients and staff.
Scripps Mercy Hospital pharmacy residents conduct institutional review board IRB-approved research during their resident year.
The research project is chosen based on the resident's interest and the feasibility of completion during the resident year. From inception to completion, the resident manages the research project and is required to present the abstract at a national meeting.
View a list of Scripps Mercy Hospital pharmacy resident publications and presentations (PDF, 73 KB).
The terms and conditions of resident training and employment are specified in the employment agreement that also includes training obligations, stipend and benefit provisions. The pharmacy residency manual fully describes policies, practices and procedures. Copies of the employment agreement, yearly rotation schedule and other pertinent materials are provided at the time of the interview.
The annual stipend and specific benefits are listed in the employment agreement, discussed in the residency manual and summarized below.
All members of the resident staff are offered health insurance benefits for themselves and eligible dependents at a minimal cost. Medical coverage includes vision, prescription drug and chiropractic/acupuncture plans.
Dental plan offers network and out-of-network coverage options. Eligible dependents can also be covered at a minimal cost.
Multiple levels of employee life insurance are available, including accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) coverage. You may purchase supplemental, spousal or dependent life insurance at various levels. Long-term disability insurance is available at an additional cost. State disability insurance is paid by the resident (the state of California requires this contribution, which provides income insurance for disability due to non-job-related injury or illness).
Confidential, free, short-term professional counseling is available for employees and family members for issues impacting work or personal life.
Pharmacy residents receive three weeks of paid vacation per academic year.
Lunch is provided Monday through Friday at the noon medical conferences. Pharmacy residents have access to the physician's lounge and food is free of charge.
Parking is provided free of charge in Scripps Mercy Hospital's parking structure.
Funds are available for books, conferences and conference attendance.
The Pharmacy Practice Residency is a 12-month commitment starting on July 1 (PGY1) and August 1 (PGY2). To be considered for the pharmacy residency program, candidates must be a graduate of an accredited college of pharmacy and eligible for California licensure. Candidates also undergo a personal onsite interview.
Applicants must participate in the ASHP Match Program and apply using PhORCAS.
See PhORCAS for all details.
Your personal letter of intent should not exceed 250 words.
Three letters of recommendation are required (two preferably from acute care rotations).
There are no additional supplemental items required.
The application submission deadline is January 1 of each year.
Prospective candidates will receive correspondence inviting them for an onsite interview. Please submit a passport-sized photo after you have received confirmation for an onsite interview.
Note: We do not sponsor Visas. Applicants must be US citizens or US permanent residents or hold a valid EAD-employment authorization.
If you have questions or need to make special arrangements, please contact Harminder Sikand, PharmD, at sikand.harminder@scrippshealth.org.
To learn more about the Scripps Mercy Pharmacy Residency programs, email sikand.harminder@scrippshealth.org.
Applicants must participate in the ASHP Match Program and apply using PhORCAS for this residency program.


Dr Esther-Miriam Wagner discusses conference culture and the importance of regular gatherings among scholars.
Going to conferences in the summer can be a bit like a travelling circus. The same people keep popping up at different places. You end up in a session with someone with whom you shared a panel last year. You have to be careful not to make the same joke twice. You must make sure to present different materials, or at least speak about the same material from a different angle.
In my field, there is also another gathering place – the manuscript rooms of the libraries of the respective places where people typically spend the days before or after a workshop. Sitting in the Bodleian in early July, for example, I recognised around me two researchers I had just met at a gathering in Manchester, another researcher I met at a conference last year plus a long acquainted colleague who I had just met at a conference in Oxford, in addition to the UK colleagues you tend to bump into in any case. You feel part of a community, perhaps almost an extended family, and your interactions boost your appetite for further research.
A bad conference without a proper theme and intellectual thrust, fortunately a rare occurrence these days, typically makes you sit there bored out of your mind, thinking how on earth you agreed to come. A good conference makes you feel elated, you suddenly want to work on all the materials the speakers of interesting conference papers mentioned. This summer I went into a bit of a binge – five conferences in the space of seven weeks, and I was very lucky that all of them made me feel as if I came away understanding considerably more about the subject than I had before, and having made connections that are fruitful in so many respects.
My first trip in June took me to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which is a lovely place at the edge of (surprisingly small) Princeton. Surrounded by meadows, a lake, woods and golf courses, with its iconic buildings and fantastic cafeteria food, one can easily see how it produces a most conducive atmosphere for research. And Princeton itself with its American neo-Gothic Oxbridge architectural grandeur and Ivy League atmosphere is just a beautiful stroll away. On the downside, being there may have slightly spoiled conference invitations for me for the rest of my life – being picked up by limousines and being given a gift basket is not normally part of the academic repertoire.
The purpose of the Princeton workshop, organised by Sabine Schmidtke and George Kiraz, was the investigation of Allography – the use of alphabets different from those in which a language is normally written. We talked mainly about Arabic, written for example in Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek alphabets. I have noticed when giving popular talks how difficult and surprising it can be for non-specialists when they see a particular alphabet to understand that the text may actually be in a language typically written in another alphabet – there is a great conflation of alphabet and actual language.
The longer you are part of academia, the more conference acquaintances you acquire. Some people you may have invited to something you organised yourself and become friends. Others you may have met at previous workshops, or you may even have shared the same session in another conference before. There are also your doctoral siblings, i.e. those with whom you shared the same PhD supervisor. These connections, reinforced by meetings over the course of years, create a close-knit cohort, a tribe of scholars conducive to exploration, discussion, and sometimes arguments. And then there are those you meet for the very first time. In Princeton I ran for the very first time into a professor from the same small East German region; we recognised ourselves as fellow countrymen by our regional accents shining through in English. Incidentally, he had been drafted into the East German army in the 1980s together with another friend of mine also in attendance, so we were walking one evening through the warm New Jersey night wondering what we would have thought if someone told us back then that we would one day take this trip together. Another lovely new acquaintance was a Turkish scholar working in the US on the Ottoman period – a most useful chance meeting as this came on the back of another conference I organised in April on Ottoman Arabic. As a result of this I started contacting people to contribute to a handbook/reader of Ottoman Arabic, and now the research network has been extended to American scholars as a result of us being brought together in conference on a different topic.
My next workshop in Oxford saw a gathering of Cairo Genizah heavyweights, such as Miriam Frenkel, Marina Rustow, Mark Cohen, Judith Olszowy Schlanger, and Dotan Arad. The conference, organised by Alison Salvesen and Sarah Pearce, focused on the land of Egypt as a concept and reality for Jews in Late Antiquity and in the medieval period, and it transformed my understanding of Jewish identity in Egypt and of Genizah scribal culture. It was one of those conferences where you go away with an altered appreciation of the implications of your work for other scholars, and with an injection of slightly delusional enthusiasm where you suddenly feel you can finish all your books and articles in the next few weeks.
With Dotan Arad, I travelled on to Manchester, where I marvelled at the fantastic historic reading room at the John Rylands library, and was very pleased to meet the lovely local Jewish Studies crowd. I immensely enjoy going up to the North as the feel of England there is so much different from the south. I lived in Manchester in the nineties before it got cleaned up, so for me the transformation it has undergone, and with it the general possibility of cities to completely transform themselves within a few years, is always extremely impressive. Unfortunately, our annual Trustees meeting in Cambridge meant I had to cut short my northern exposure and dash back home after only half a day, which deprived me of the full experience of what this conference on the Manchester Jewish manuscript collections, organised by the John Rylands Research Institute, had to offer.
But I did not have to wait long for the next full immersion. My fourth trip took me to Constance, and the Woolf's new PhD scholar Jessica Tearney-Pearce – one of the organisers of the conference together with Clara Almago Vidal – has written about the contents of this workshop focused on crosspollination between different cultures and religions in another blog (link). So for me, left to say is that the workshop, Constance, its lake, and the Rhine are absolutely lovely. Because the workshop gathered researchers from different disciplines, it was also one of those conferences where I felt the transformation of before and after speaking was very palpable. Before you talk in a group unfamiliar with you, you are a bit of an outsider, an unknown entity. After you have talked, the way people view you changes – you have familiarised yourself, in the best case you have endeared yourself by allowing others to share the excitement about your findings and by giving them new ideas about their own work.
This was very similar in my last conference on Jewish Languages, organised by Mark Geller and Lily Khan at UCL in London, where the majority of speakers focussed on Yiddish. So being given the opportunity to talk about Judaeo-Arabic, you have to make sure you discuss points that are of interest to those working on other languages too. I shared a session with the wonderful Meira Polliack, where we presented, in a very complementary fashion, our work on medieval Judaeo-Arabic sociolinguistics. We continued our dialogue that we had started at Princeton, where I had met her for the first time. Meira is also my doctoral sibling through our common supervisor Geoffrey Khan. So my conferences this summer went full circle, with the intellectual thrust from the first in Princeton already fertilising the presentation and discussion in the last.
It may be an idiosyncratic quirk, but I find it much easier to understand and follow other scholars' writings when I have met them personally and when I have seen them talk about their work. Scholarship is not just a written culture, as perhaps the research exercises with their sole focus on books and articles would make us believe. There is also an oral culture, which is just as important – a cooperative conference culture of crosspollination, where you follow the latest research on particular topics, receive impulses for your own research, clarify concepts, and develop ideas together.
This article is written by Dr Esther-Miriam Wagner who is a Senior Research Fellow at the Woolf Institute. For further details of Miriam's research projects, visit the Institute's current research projects.


Vocals are done, you need some music now.
Ok so you already have your vocals recorded but you need an all new approach to the musical backing.
Having the vocals already completed can save some time in the production process but of course it does depend in exactly what format the vocals have been recorded in as to how simple it will be to produce a track around them.
Once I have your vocals and the reference material I go ahead and create an entirely new musical arrangement around your song. Everything will be created fresh for your song from top to bottom using whatever instruments and sounds are appropriate to the style you are looking to achieve for the piece.


Art was amazing. He took us throughout the downtown telling us personal stories of growing up in LA. His stories are fantastic and help you understand the culture of this city. He showed us numerous murals and told us about the artists and other artwork they had created. The murals are wonderful. The tour through the Venice Beach area was beautiful too. It was a wonderful adventure. I would recommend doing this tour right after your arrival in LA as Art shares places to visit and places to eat that you might not know about and then you can take advantage of his insider knowledge. Simply terrific!


text:
Стоян Пумпалов (роден на 20 октомври 1963 г.) е бивш български футболист, защитник.

Кариера
В кариерата си Пумпалов играе за Дунав (Русе), Локомотив (Русе), Черноморец (Бургас), Левски (София), Славия (София), Академик (София)
и малтийския Пиета Хотспърс.

С Левски (Сф) е вицешампион през 1992, носител на купата на страната през 1992 г. Има 3 мача с 1 гол за КНК – 1 мача с 1 гол за Черноморец и 2 мача за Левски.

След края на кариерата си Пумпалов емигрира в САЩ. Дълго време е треньор, а впоследствие и директор на треньорите във ФК Принстън (Ню Джърси).

Успехи
Левски (София)
 Купа на България:
  Носител: 1991/92

Източници

Външни препратки
 Профил на Пумпалов в сайта levskisofia.info

Български футболисти
Футболисти на Дунав (Русе)
Футболисти на Черноморец (Бургас)
Футболисти на ПФК Левски (София)
Футболисти на Славия (София)
Футболисти на Академик (София)
Български футболисти в Малта
Родени в Бургас

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
You are here: Home » Artists » Joe Saville
Songs: A Box (AGF CD 2)
Website: http://www.myspace.com/moisturefarm
Joe Saville, the only member of Moisture Farm, recorded, mixed, and mastered "A Box" with the help of engineer Bryan Daste at the Magic Closet in Portland Oregon. The track was recorded on a Larrivee' acoustic guitar in open C6 tuning. Minimal percussion programming was used via Pro Tools plug-ins that Joe created himself.
The song reflects the thought process and emotions a person goes through after a breakup with their first true love. Joe has always enjoyed the 'harp-like' tones an open tuning creates and on "A Box" this technique greatly accents the vocal movement and song melody. All of Moisture Farm's music is inspired from life experiences that encompass both love and loss, pain and triumph, and everything in between.
You can visit Moisture Farm at www.myspace.com/moisturefarm
Joe Saville is also a founding member and lead singer/guitarist of 'The Heirs Of Eiffel Tower,' an indie rock quartet from Portland Oregon.
You can visit them at www.myspace.com/theheirsofeiffeltower

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
white men with money and no personalities Aug. 13, 2013
Wall Street Is Being Overrun by Boring Duds
By Kevin Roose
Leading candidate for next Goldman Sachs CEO. Photo: Paramount Pictures
Once upon a time, you could walk into any C-suite office at a Wall Street bank and expect to find some kind of character. A cigar-chomping backslapper, a designer-drug addict, or maybe just a guy who took a few too many board-checks on Harvard's hockey team.
Now, thanks to the financial crisis and the prevailing view that maybe crazy people shouldn't run global financial institutions, the upper echelons of finance are populated with losers, bores, and dullards. The Journal has the scoop on the trend, citing several banks – Barclays, RBS, Lloyds – where once-interesting CEOs have been replaced by their counterparts from Snoozeville.
Large banks, burned by years of scandal, often with swashbuckling CEOs at the helm, are turning to new bosses who sport well-polished veneers of boringness. The goal is to avoid further controversy … "Humility and high levels of self-awareness are now desirable," says Jamie Maxwell-Grant, a consultant at recruiter Korn/Ferry International who oversees a battery of psychometric tests that the headhunter administers to would-be chiefs of top banks. "Five years ago they were not necessarily sought-after attributes."
Gone are the hard-driving former investment bankers such as Mr. Hester, Barclays's Bob Diamond and Citigroup's Vikram Pandit. In their place are retail bankers whose top goals now include casting their banks in a gentler light and forging conciliatory relationships with regulators.
This is probably a positive trend for bank shareholders, employees, and, you know, humanity. But it's a disaster for people who like their Wall Street tycoons crazy and interesting. How are we supposed to revile and/or admire people like this?
[Barclays CEO Antony] Jenkins, a soft-spoken Briton, has faced a different criticism: He is too dry. At a recent parliamentary hearing, a British lawmaker scolded him for using too much management-consultant jargon. Mr. Jenkins has caused some employees to roll their eyes by installing large glass panels in the lobby of Barclays's headquarters inscribed with buzzwords such as "integrity," "stewardship" and "respect."
Integrity! Stewardship! Respect! My gosh. At least we still have Lloyd.
white men with money and no personalities
where have you gone jimmy cayne
Wall Street Is Being Overrun by Duds


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In this paper we present a summary of our current research on multi layer design, focusing on different levels of layered design. An initial evolutionary study is performed on a single layer designed groupware. Several functions were unused and the design created unnecessary complex and error-prone situations. In contrast the implementation of a static humanly administrated layer design for a multi user information system proved to channel both the user and their needs into an efficient pattern. The resulting system also showed a much lower degree of user problems compared to other information systems in the organization. In a third study a fully Multi-Layer design prototype has been developed. Compared to the static solution we especially find the ability to test, try and learn different layers dynamically of especial importance. We conclude that increasing the layered nature of software interfaces greatly improve usability and that a full implementation of Multi-Layer design is more beneficial than the static one.


Rainbow Dash organizes a feast in honor of the sky and clouds. At the party, she wants to appear in the rainbow image, so she must dress colorful, her clothes should look loke a whirlpool of colors. However, do not overdo the brightness of the image of the girl, as so as not everyone like it.


text:
PANDA Mission – M01_Q1.21
Orpheus Mission – M02_Q1.21
Endymion (2019)
Mission Duration:
Astronauts:
Lef Karagiannis – (Greece) - Commander/Engineering Support
Wiktoria Dziaduła – (Poland) – Data Officer/Media Officer
Barbara Gronwald – (Poland) - Medical Officer/Data Support
Piotr Skonieczka – (Poland) - Software Engineer
Leszek Orzechowski – (Poland) - Habitat Specialist
Mission control:
Space is More
Leszek Orzechowski
Agata Mintus
Natalia Ćwilichowska
Organizators:
Space Garden Sp. z o.o., Space is More Sp. z o.o.
Honorary Patronage:
Honorowy Patronat Ministra Zdrowia
Pandemic Isolation Campaign
Pomeranian Medical University (PUM)
Silesian University of Technology, Uczelnia Badawcza - Inicjatywa Doskonałości
Mission description
PANDA Mission was one of the simulations conducted as part of the Pandemic Isolation Campaign. The main objective was to study the impact of isolation on psychological and physical health. With the interior environment and mission schedule planned and monitored - the big data gathered during the whole Campaign can be compared. One of the research partners - Pomeranian Medical University (PUM), was conducting an experiment on the impact of the mission conditions (diet, routine, stress) on the stomatological state and oral hygiene of the crew. Another academic institution - the Silesian University of Technology was researching the mission factors on the human motor system. The psychological aspects were observed by a group of psychologists analyzing the stress, creativity and group dynamics during the mission.
The LunAres Research Station is gathering various data regarding the conditions during the mission and schedule of the crew. The controlled environment of the station allows for long-term studies and various data compilation from the whole Campaign. During the PANDA mission, the development and data management for future LunAres Missions was planned and tested.
The crew was responsible for conducting onboard individual experiments or studies prepared by the researchers and LunAres. The station is equipped with space and tools for prototyping activity, used by the crew to create accessories for EVA or other experiments. During the mission, the participants are monitoring and reporting the usage of resources as part of the LunAres research. The crew was additionally responsible for the growth and maintenance of hydroponic and aeroponic plant cultivation.
Lef Karagiannis
"I graduated with a master's degree in Aerospace from the Technical University of Munich and currently I am in the last semester of my master studies in Management which I would like to focus my research on "Team dynamics in long-duration space missions".
I participated in different research projects with a focus on space missions design and rocket recovery systems. I took part in MOVE-II and MOVE-Beyond CubeSats projects as part of the ADCS team and as the Science Team leader. Currently, I am working on European projects in Robotics, with a focus on Human-Robot collaboration. Additionally, I am a Career Astronaut Candidate at AdvancingX."
Wiktoria Dziaduła
"I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, where currently I am realizing my Master's degree. I am a co-author of several space concepts (colonies on Mars) which were developed with the M.A.R.S. space research team (where I was the leader and project coordinator). For 2 years I have been learning business in practice from the best entrepreneurs in the Business Center Club - I am active in the BCC Student's Forum. I'm also a member of the Student's Council in Polish Space Agency, and a member of the Polish Astrobiological Society."
Piotr Skonieczka
"I am a software engineer/programmer and passionate about science, living in Torun, Poland. I have a master's in computer science and almost 7 years of commercial experience in #telecom and #fintech companies/projects.
I love to experiment with revolutionary technologies, "do it yourself" toolkits, design and build small devices and things, and hiking. I am an amateur astronomer, eternally hungry for knowledge.
During academia, I have been a member of a few scientific clubs, but after that, one day I realized that I could participate in various inspiring projects also outside of the university."
Barbara Gronwald
"I recently graduated from the Dentistry Programme of Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland (PUM). Since 2015, I have been a member of the working group STO-MATER-FIZ at PUM which collaborates with LunAres Research Station in investigating dental implications of astronauts' life, which gives me a chance to join this mission. I have always been fascinated by the Outer Space and the opportunity to get a glimpse of it as a dentist is a dream come true. During the mission, I plan to focus on the research of the implications of the lyophilisates-based diet for the oral health of the astronauts. Thanks to this mission, I hope not only to learn about the life of an astronaut but also further our understanding of the impact of life in outer space on oral health. "
Leszek Orzechowski is an architect and founder of Space Is More – a space architecture company. Space is More was a part of a winning team in ESA Moon Challenge for a report on returning to the Moon in the next decade and a finalist of NASA 3d-Printed Habitat Challenge phase 1 from 2015. Currently Space is More is leading operations and conducting research at Lunares Research Station. Station is an analog habitat designed to study human health and psychology during simulated manned planetary missions. Since 2017 a total number of 11 diverse teams conducted isolation missions inside the habitat.
Panda Mission crew, ©Panda Crew
Crews and organization team
EVA dressing up and preparation, ©Panda Crew
Sprouting Experiment, ©PANDA crew
Rover maintenance and preparation, ©PANDA crew
Group meals routine, ©Panda Crew
Daily med-check routine, ©PANDA crew
Stomatological research, ©PANDA crew
EVAs, ©Panda Crew
HabCom during EVA, ©PANDA crew
EVAs prep, ©PANDA crew


Symbolic techniques for generation of test suites from abstract models of system under test.
Generation of test oracles from requirements of systems under test.
Specification testing environment for Erlang protocol software (STEP), in collaboration between Mobile Arts AB and the Department of Information Technology at Uppsala University.
Automatic testing of a WAP gateway (AUTOWAY), in collaboration between Ericsson/KI and Department of Information Technology at Uppsala University.
Tracking Dependencies in Software Modules (DETRACK), in collaboration between WM Data and Department of Information Technology at Uppsala University.
Johan Blom and Bengt Jonsson. Automated Test Generation for Industrial Erlang Applications. In Proceedings of 2nd ACM SIGPLAN Erlang Workshop, Uppsala, Aug. 2003.
Jonas Boustedt. Automated Testing of WWW Services. M.Sc. Thesis, Uppsala University, 2002. (.html).
Gerardo Padilla. An Execution Semantics for MSC2000 M.Sc. Thesis, Uppsala Univ., 2000 (.ps.gz).
John Håkansson. Automated Generation of Test Scripts from Temporal Logic Specifications. M.Sc. Thesis, Uppsala Univ., 2000 (.ps.gz).
Updated 2004-10-05 by Paul Pettersson.


Storage is rented out on subscription (monthly, yearly or space) basis. It allows clients to easily store their data (files, images etc.) on the provider's account. All the stored data can be accessed from anywhere, as long as the person has login information and internet access.
This service helps client saves costs, as providing their own storage is costlier than renting storage from the service provider. Now it Solutions is a reliable service provider with several STaaS packages.


4 former WP candidates have left since 2006 General Elections.
27 year old Mr Abdul Salim Harun's resignation from the Workers' Party is not totally unexpected. Rumours had been going around about his wish to leave the party since last year. His presence at the Singapore Democratic Party's Hong Lim Park protest, during the IMF/World Bank meeting in September 2006, was believed to have raised some eyebrows within the party.
While his resignation may not affect the party significantly, observers have noted that it might put a spanner in the works for the party's rejuvenation process, especially since his is not the only resignation since GE 2006. Mr Chia Ti Lik and Mr Goh Meng Seng, both in their 30s and who had been members of the party's previous Central Executive Committee (CEC), have also since resigned.
When the party elected its new CEC after the elections in 2006, it was touted as a rejuvenation. Party secretary general, Mr Low Thia Khiang, was reported to be "very pleased" with the new and younger CEC. 9 out of the 15 members were below the age of 40 then. "The process of renewal is on track," Mr Low said to the Straits Times.
Will Mr Salim's leaving signal further resignations from the party, especially of younger members who might be unhappy with the party's non-vocal stand? Mr Chia had cited his "frustration" with the party as a reason for his resignation. Mr Goh explained that he left the WP because of "misinformation" put out by the Today newspaper which reported that he had allegedly made a threat against an Internet forummer. He resigned because the report had done damage to "WP's public image", he said. (Link) However, it is believed that he too was unhappy with the party. Three more party cadres have also resigned in the past one week, including Mr Salim's running mate in Ang Mo Kio GRC, Ms Lee Wai Leng.
Mr Yaw also does not see Mr Salim's resignation as any kind of setback for the rejuvenation process. "The renewal process was set in motion since 2001," he said. "[These] resignations won't set back the process," he added.
Half of the party's current CEC is below the age of 40, with three new faces in Mr Koh Choong Yong, Ms Lilian Lee and 47-year old Mr Png Eng Huat. Mr Salim was not a member of the current CEC.
The bad news for the party, however, may be the negative publicity these resignations may give – especially when the next general elections is rumoured to be around the corner. After all, resignations of younger members, who are naturally the next generation of leaders for the party, perhaps indicate a restlessness within the organization. The leadership will have to pay more attention to the aspirations of these members if more resignations are to be prevented.
Mr Tan is of the view that the WP, like any other organization, has to consistently reflect on where it can improve. He said, however, that "this would be more in its approach and policy." He also feels that it is both its leaders and members together that have to remain relevant to the public.
"Personally, I don't agree that a party's leadership needs to meet its members' expectations in areas where it does not meet the people's expectations," he added.
Mr Yaw is confident that the party's plans are in place. "There are people joining the party, and our groundwork continues as we are going about house-to-house visits" he explained. He added that he was heartened that new members have chosen to enter the party even during the "lull periods" between elections.
The Workers Party was the best-performing opposition party in the last elections. It scored 43.9 per cent in Aljunied GRC and is generally seen as the opposition party with the best hope of breaking the People's Action Party's (PAP) monopoly on GRCs.


Location: Norris Aquatic Center, 13275 Livingston Rd.
Awards: Ribbons and medals will be to each teams coaches a day or two after the meet, not after each race like the regular season dual meets. Medals will be distributed to 1st- 8th for individual events and ribbons will be distributed to 1st-8th for relays. Swimmers who do not receive a place ribbon will receive a participation award.
Scoring: Top 16 places score, based on time.
Psych Sheet: This is the ranking of swimmers by time in each event. This is not a heat sheet and does not provide heat/lane information. The heat sheet will be available on Saturday to coaches and parents.
Volunteers: This meet will need quite a few volunteers. Lanes are assigned for warm up and each team has a 'home base'.
Clerk of Course: This meet will use a 'Clerk of Course' system. Swimmers will be called to the Clerk of Course tent at least 3 events prior to their next entered event. At the Clerk of Course, each heat will be assembled and will be escorted to their lanes. Parents will not be allowed in the Clerk of Course area.
Superhero or Royalty-themed apparel – dress up and have some fun!
This was the last week of dual meets before the championship meet and it brought some fast swimming. The Monterey MonteRays (3-1) beat the Ave Angels (3-1) at the Norris Aquatic Center. At the Naples YMCA, the YMCA Krakens (0-4) beat the Sanchez-Casal Gators (0-4) for their first win of the season. At River Park, the River Park Racing Roosters (2-2) lost in a tight meet the Norris Tiger Sharks (4-0).
The Monterey MonteRays (2-1) welcomed the Naples YMCA Krakens (0-3) to the Norris Aquatic Center this weekend. The MonteRays came out in full force to come back from a tough loss last week and took the when to advance to 3-1. The River Park Racing Roosters (1-2) traveled to the beautiful Sanchez-Casal Bath and Tennis Club to race the Sanchez-Casal Gators (0-3). The Gators put up some fast swimming but it wasn't enough to beat the Roosters. The Norris Tiger Sharks (3-0) traveled out to Ave Maria to race the Ave Angels (3-0). After calling the meet after breaststroke due to the heat and how long the meet was, the Tiger Sharks went home with smiles on their faces from a win. With just one more meet until the championship meet, all the teams are having some very fast swims!
Week 3 brought a 4th of July weekend with a lot of fast racing. This week brought the Monterey MonteRays (2-0) against the Norris Tiger Sharks (2-0). As always this meet brought many close races and some loud cheering; at the end, the Tiger Sharks came out on top for the victory. At the River Park Aquatic Center, the Racing Roosters (0-2) welcomed the YMCA Krakens (0-2). Both teams swam fast, but ultimately the Roosters swam faster than the Krakens and won. The Sanchez-Casal Gators (0-2) welcomes the Ave Angels (2-0). The Ave Angels came out in full force and took the victory.
On June 24th we welcomed some a hot summer day in Collier County. The blazing heat brought some blazing times to the Ave Maria Water Park, the Norris Aquatic Center, and the Naples YMCA! Out in Ave Maria the River Park Racing Roosters (0-1) battled the Ave Angels (1-0). At the end, the Ave Angels prevailed over the Roosters for their second win of the season. The Sanchez-Casal Gators (0-1) traveled to the Norris Aquatic Center for the second time this season, this time against the Monterey MonteRays (1-0). The MonteRays won the meet with a score of 278. The Naples YMCA Krakens (0-1) welcomed the Norris Tiger Sharks (1-0) for their first home meet of the year. The Tiger Sharks pulled ahead early to keep the win.
The Summer 2017 Season for Paradise Coast is underway! In a great first weekend of racing, the Sanchez-Casal Gators traveled to Norris Aquatic Center to battle the Tiger Sharks. After a couple hours of fast swimming, the Tiger Sharks came out on top. The Ave Angels welcomed the Naples YMCA Krakens for the first week. The Ave Angels ended up soaring past the Krakens to take the win. The Roosters welcomed the MonteRays to River Park over the weekend. In what was one of the closest meets in Conference history the MonteRays ended up with a victory for week one.
The Norris Tiger Sharks win the 2016 Paradise Coast Swim Conference championship meet in a Olympic-themed event on Saturday, August 6, 2016. We hope that everyone had an amazing time and enjoyed their experiences throughout this season.
The 2016 season is complete. Get ready…the 2017 season will feature more teams, more competition, and more fun… stay tuned!
Awards: Ribbons will be distributed at the END of the meet, not after each race like the regular season dual meets. Medals will be distributed to 1st- 3rd. Place ribbons will be distributed to 4th-8th place. Swimmers who do not receive a place ribbon will receive a participation award.
Volunteers: This meet will need quite a few volunteers. Lanes are assigned for warm up and each team has a 'home base'. Click here for volunteer information, warm up info, and facility information.
Olympic-themed apparel – dress up and have some fun!
In the final weekend of dual meets of the 2016 season, the Tiger Sharks (5-0) defeated the Racing Roosters (2-3), while the MonteRays (4-1) defeated the Alligators (0-5) .Out in Ave Maria, the Angels (3-2) won against the Krakens (1-4).


My cry is to all mankind.
O dullards, instruct your minds.
Wickedness is abhorrent to my lips.
And right to those who have attained knowledge.
Knowledge rather than choice gold.
No goods can equal her.
I attain knowledge and foresight.
I am understanding; courage is mine.
Great men and all the righteous judges.
And those who seek me will find me.
And my produce better than choice silver.
On the paths of justice.
I will fill their treasuries.
As the first of His works of old.
At the beginning, at the origin of earth.
Before the hills I was born.
Or the world's first clumps of clay.
Happy are they who keep my ways.


text:
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The content div will be expanding based on the number of comments being written. How can I set the css/html of the content div so that when more number of comments(for ex:- 200) the page will be automatically expanded. Right now I have set the height and width to 100%
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A: Change content's height style to min-height:

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Careful What You Wish For (1217 words)
May 30, 2016 May 30, 2016 Bruce1 Comment
The barista is a dead woman, or she soon will be. As she prepares his coffee, he sees a bug crawl out of her empty eye socket. It scuttles down her cheek, dislodging a piece of flesh. Rotting meat and bug fall with a plop into the coffee she now offers him.
"Anything else?" she says, smiling. Or at least, Brett thinks she is smiling. It is hard to tell, what with the lower jaw hanging at that odd angle. Yes, he considers saying. Stop serving coffees for the minimum wage, and the occasional tip. Go and experience life: enjoy yourself, while you still can. Life is short. For some – for you – it's shorter than you could possibly imagine.
But he doesn't say this. There is no point.
"No, thank you," Brett says, taking the coffee. He hands over a note, waves away the change. "Keep it," he says.
He sits at a table, in the corner. There is a mirror on the wall and by sitting with his back to the coffee shop he can use it to see what people really look like. What they look like right now, rather than how they will appear in exactly three hundred and seventy two days time. The woman who served him, he sees now, is an attractive twenty something. She looks healthy enough, no sign of illness. He wonders how she is going to die. By the state of her future self, it will be in the next six to nine months. A car accident, perhaps? A victim of a crime? Wrong person, in the wrong place. She glances over, catches his eye in the mirror, smiles. He looks away.
He takes the wooden stick – a poor imitation of a spoon – and half-heartedly stirs the coffee. There is no bug, no decomposing piece of cheek, floating in the dark liquid. It doesn't work like that. It was an illusion. He knows this. But he looks anyway.
Brett doesn't really believe in curses – although he acknowledges that part of him must do for it to work – but there is no other explanation he can find to better describe what happened, so he chooses to accept it.
To be fair, when they first met, Divina said she was a witch. Brett laughed, spraying beer out of his mouth and nostrils.
"It isn't funny," she said, her lower lip sticking out, the beginning of a pout enhancing her cuteness. "I'm a good witch. Although, if you cross me, you'll regret it." He stopped laughing, then. Not because he believed in her threat, but because it was obviously important to her, and, he realised, he really wanted to sleep with her.
It took eight weeks of hard work (romancing not coming naturally to him, Brett experienced it as such) and tongue biting (her pseudo-hippy-pagan-occult beliefs irritated his scientific-sceptical-atheist brain) before he managed to get her into bed. Weeks became months became a year and he found love had replaced lust (or that's what he told himself), and they were living together.
One morning, a week before her twenty ninth birthday, he found her crying on the floor of the bathroom, a pregnancy test in her hand. Although Brett was shocked to see the test – he assumed she had been taking precautions, and had no wish to be saddled with a child – he sat down next to her and took her in his arms. Divina sobbed salt water and mucus all over his clean shirt. It took fifteen minutes before he could understand what she was saying. It would have been her Grandma's birthday, today, a week before her own, she said. Grandma had been a witch too (her head buried in his armpit, Divina would not have seen Brett rolling his eyes at those words). Before she died, twenty years ago, she told Divina she would find her love of her life, but would be alone and childless by the age of thirty. With a year and one week to go she was worried that the prophecy would come true.
"I promise I will never leave you, my love, and we can try for a baby, if that's what you want," he said, checking his watch. He was late for work, and wondered if he had time to iron another shirt.
Promises are easily broken, especially when temptation, dressed in a short skirt and low cut top, calling herself Eloise started work in Brett's office, the very next day. Of course, Eloise wasn't to know Brett had a girlfriend. Brett kept that information to himself, as he found divulging such facts tended to spoil his chances of sleeping with beautiful women.
Brett finally told Divina he was leaving her, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, not for any other reason than he had been seen kissing an obviously pregnant Eloise by one of Divina's girlfriends and was given an ultimatum: you tell her, or I will, you lying, cheating, little shit.
Contrary to Brett's expectations, Divina did not breakdown into a teary, snotty, begging, mess, nor did she shout, scream, punch or kick.
She simply said, "You promised."
"That was a year ago!" he said, knowing, even as he said it, the excuse was weak to say the least.
"One year, and one week," Divina said.
"I couldn't predict what would happen. No one can see into the future, no one can see what will really happen a year and a week from now," Brett said. And then he said the words, that would come to haunt him: "I wish I could, but I can't."
Divina smiled.
When she arrives Brett is still stirring his coffee. It is cold, now, and bitter tasting.
It is ten years since he saw Divina last. He is single, and despite the loneliness of his situation, he survives. Eloise left him with a stinging face, the final straw a casual observation that she would still be a fat hog a long time after she'd given birth. He has had few dates, and no real relationships since. It is simply impossible to say the right things when you are looking at the image of what someone will look like in three hundred and seventy two days time. He is jobless, but he gets by, thanks to an inheritance: his mother dying, the only luck he has had recently. He lost his job, the same week Eloise threw him out, through unwise, and unkind, comments made to customers.
Brett wants to be normal. Not just for his sake, not anymore. Brett is pleased that Eloise is with Paul – a kind, decent man – he treats Brett's child as his own. But Brett would like to be a good father to his son.
Brett is a better person, now, he admits to himself. A humbler person. A person who considers others feelings before his own. Most of the time.
Brett is here to ask forgiveness, to ask for the curse to be lifted. When Divina sits down opposite him, the smile on her face as warm, and sweet, as his coffee, he isn't surprised to see she looks no older than the day they met.
fiction, short story, storycoffee, curse, fiction, indieauthors, relationships, short story, story, storytime, supernatural, wish, witch
KillJoy – A Work Place Drama (256 words)
May 25, 2016 June 2, 2016 BruceLeave a comment
Karen, from Accounts, holds the knife at Joy's throat. The receptionist's eyes are wide, fearful. We watch in silence. I see a single tear well, and then roll down Joy's left cheek. The knife point presses hard, but there is no blood. Steve, from warehousing, stands close to me. I feel him move – just a bit. He is going to intervene, to say something. I put my hand on his arm. I don't want him to interfere: this is perfect.
"You are going to die, you bitch!" Karen says, spitting the words into Joy's startled face. Her voice is strong, powerful. For a moment I almost forget that this is a woman normally more comfortable with spreadsheets than people. I had wanted to be the one holding the knife. But, I admit, Karen is a better choice.
The canteen door hits the wall as it swings open. We all jump at the sound. Mr Jennings stands in the doorway.
'What the hell is going on in here?" he asks, looking at Karen and Joy and then to me. Karen lowers the knife. Joy smiles. They break character in unison.
I cough. "Rehearsal for our entry in the Inter-Office Amateur Dramatic Competition, Mr Jennings. We thought it would be alright if we rehearsed in our lunch hour."
Jennings stares at me. His eyebrows, always bushy, pulsate with anger.
"What have I said about this, Evans?" he says.
"The workplace is no place for drama, sir," I say, almost singing the words.
"Quite right," he says, and leaves.
You can listen to the author read this story (and others) on Soundcloud:
fiction, flash fictiondrama, fiction, Flash Fiction, story, work
Good Work Minty (666 words – acrostic)
May 21, 2016 May 26, 2016 BruceLeave a comment
This story is part of my Humpbuckle-on-Sea series, stories revolving around characters living in the fictional English seaside town.
Tales from Humpbuckle-On-Sea
Happy to see, through the grimy window of the Rat and Sparrow, that Chris was already there, Jaz pushed open the door. Unfortunately, as she walked in, Jaz saw he was not alone. Minty – looking high already – was draped all over him, pouring words into his ear whilst pawing his chest and his biceps with her scrawny ring-clad hands. Pathetic woman – she always seemed to pop up at the least convenient moments: which, for Jaz was any moment at all. Bugger it, Jaz thought, they haven't seen me, I can slip out and text Chris an apology – this can wait. Uncertain whether to turn around and exit through the same door, or carry on walking and leave through the public bar, Jaz hesitated and was seen. Chris raised his right arm – dislodging Minty's head – and waved. Knots in her stomach, Jaz waved back and attempted…
Just One Of Those Days (1353 words)
May 9, 2016 May 9, 2016 Bruce2 Comments
(Warning: very bad language, violence)
The old man's flat already smells like someone has died there. The stench of rotting flesh comes mostly from the overflowing kitchen waste bin, Mylo can see from the doorway, although he thinks the white pus oozing from the ulcers on the old codgers skinny white legs play their part.
"Not seen you before," the old bastard says, wearing nothing but a knee high dressing pink gown. "Where's Jeanette? I thought it was Jeanette's day. I like Jeanette," he peers into Mylo's face. "You're not foriegn are you?"
Mylo smiles his best reassuring I'm-not-here-to-rob-and-murder-you smile. "No mate, British, through and through, me."
"You speak funny," the old man says. Clearly he is unconvinced.
"I'm from the Midlands," Mylo says, pushing past the old twat, with his leather bag and his smile still fixed to his face.
"That'll be it."
Mylo had canceled the real nurse, of course. He had phoned up and pretended to be the old git's nephew: his only living relative, or at least the only one that gave half a crap about the old sack of bones. Research and planning is key to not getting caught – that and moving about, changing your M.O. and not leaving D.N.A. lying about (Mylo watches a lot of crime series on the telly). After the early afternoon nurse visit, there are no other visits planned for the day, not until teatime when his nephew will pop around for half an hour. Plenty of time to kick the crap out of this duffer, rob the place and leave.
Mylo doesn't always resort to violence, and has only killed a handful of his previous victims, although he admits that the urge to finish the job is stronger, each time. He never hurts women, of course. That's wrong. It is against Mylo's Code. Apart from that one time, but that wasn't his fault. That dirty old bastard in Crewe had a bird, from the care home round the corner, in bed upstairs, he didn't know about. It was unforeseen. It wasn't Mylo's fault. After he'd finished with the old boy he'd found her in bed, clutching her duvet to her neck, like it was some kind of fucking magic shield. He could smell that she had shat herself – a common enough occurrence in Mylo's line of work. He'd had to smother her with a pillow when she started screaming. It was just one of those days.
No, Mylo doesn't alway hurt them, the old fellas. Sometimes he just scared them witless. But this one has it coming. He reminds Mylo of his grandad. Has the same sneer-for-a-smile. The same mean glint in his eye.
Mylo waits in the hallway, by the kitchenette with it's vile stinking bin, for the old man to lock the front door. He notes the keys are left in the lock. He lets the old man lead him into what might be called the living room. Dying room, more like. Mylo stifles a giggle. It's like any one of the fifty or more other places he's robbed, up and down the country. A TV stands pride of place, next to the heavily curtained window. Even though it's lunchtime, and the sun is shining brightly outside, the curtains are drawn. The room is brightly lit from a single bulb suspended from a cord in the ceiling. Facing the telly is one brown chair abused with the stains of TV dinners, and next to it a sofa, that might once have been cream-coloured. On the mantlepiece are three photos: one, Mylo recognises from his research, is of his nephew with a girl, not bad looking, but not a stunner, neither; another is an old picture of some woman, presumably his dead wife, and the third is of the old geezer, younger though, much younger, with some other bloke. They look like old time East End gangsters. Next to the photos are three urns. So, there are at least three dead people in the room. Well, let's make it four.
Mylo is wearing gloves – part of the uniform of a community nurse – so he doesn't have to worry about leaving prints anywhere. Not that he has any desire to touch the filthy surfaces. Mylo can't believe how some people live, although he is no longer surprised that people who live like dirty pigs have large amounts of cash hidden about their stys.
Mylo lets the old fucker sit down, as he'll be more vulnerable (most of these old twats take five minutes to get out of their chairs at the best times) before opening his bag. Inside are the tools of his trade. Not the usual tools you'd expect to see in a nurses bag, of course. Obviously, there's Nelly – his favourite knuckle duster – sitting on top of an old sock with a pool ball in it (his lucky number eight). There is also a crow bar and bolt cutters. He lets his fingers walk over the various objects – eeny meeny miny moe – and then settles on the sock eightball combo, which he swings out of the bag and smacks the old bastard in the side of the mouth. Blood sprays over the already filthy furniture and something falls out of the old man's head. Dentures. They glisten with red-tinged saliva.
"Right you old cunt," Mylo says, pushing his face as close as he can get to the old bastard's without actually touching the fucker. He tries not to breath in the old man's stench. His voice is soft and clear. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." It's a cliché, but Mylo likes it. It gives them the illusion that there will be an easy way.
"What?" the old man says, through his damaged lips. "Speak up, young man, speak up." His hearing aid has popped out of his ear, probably with the force of the blow.
Mylo tries again. "Tell me where you hide your fucking money!" he yells into the wax encrusted earhole. He stands back and looks at the old man as he pulls Nelly out of his bag of tricks and on to his fist, ripping the glove as he does so. Bollocks. The old git doesn't seem to be as scared as he should be so Mylo gives him a clout. Nelly makes contact with his nose. There is the satisfying sound of the crunch of cartilage. More blood.
Mylo has to hit the old bastard three more times before he whispers, "Ashes,". His eyes, surrounded by blue swollen flesh are looking in the direction of the mantelpiece. Mylo stands up and looks at the urns. One of them, the big one in the centre does look a bit different, now he looks at it more closely. Bigger than the other two. Christ, they hide their money in all sorts of places these days. Mylo remembers that old boy, in Margate, who had a roll of fifties stuffed inside a hollowed out dildo). Mylo smiles and peers at the urn. It has a small round hole near the top, something glints within. Mylo turns around when he hears the old man laughing.
"Smile," the old tosser says, his mouth a smear of red on his wrinkled face. "You're on Candid Camera." He chuckles. "You've been framed, arsehole."
Mylo turns back to the urn and pulls off the top. Sure enough there is a camera and what looks like bits of a phone, including a SIM. An LED flashes until Mylo pulls the cable from the battery. The bottom half is full of ashes. The old bastard has a fucking Granny Cam.
"While you stand there gawping like an arsehole on poppers, my nephew'll be sending pictures of your ugly face to the coppers, you young twat," the old man says, from the chair. "So the question is, who'll find you first? The pigs, or my old mates? 'Cos you'd better hope it's not my friends. Now, fuck off out of my house."
The sound of the old man's crusty laugh follows Mylo, as he fumbles with the keys. Unlocking the door, he leaves.
fiction, short story, storydark, fiction, short story, story, thriller
Ibiza (470 words)
May 4, 2016 BruceLeave a comment
I find the water's edge, easily: it glitters in the light from the moon and the stars. The sand against the skin on my back is warm, soft and I push my feet through it, until I feel the cool water lick my toes. A tingle runs up through my body, and I smile, watching the stars above dance in time to the pounding beat of the music from the bar, far behind me.
The smell of a cigarette tells me I am no longer alone. On a Saturday night in Playa d'en Bossa, you're never far from someone. I turn my head towards the scent, and see the silhouette of a man sitting beside me. I see moonlight reflected in his eyes, and the glint of his teeth as he smiles.
"Hello", he says. He is English. From the North I think, but I am no good with accents so can't be more specific. He offers me one of his cigarettes. I take one and as he leans in to light it I catch the scent of his aftershave. It's not one that I recognise; pleasant, delicately spiced, possibly expensive.
"What's your name?" he asks, as I inhale deeply, letting the smoke trickle through my nostrils.
I shake my head, to free my hair of sand. He blinks against the flying grains.
"Sandy," I say, and laugh. He laughs too. "And yours?"
"My name is Ibiza," he says.
"No man is an island," I say, and laugh again. There is a glimmer of a smile and I realise it would not have been the first time he's heard that line.
"I am," he says. "Like this island I am full of contradictions: popular, tacky and obvious like San Antonio; classy and rich like Ibiza Town; and I have isolated spots of beauty hidden from those who don't know where to look," he pauses to stub his cigarette into the sand, and carefully puts the butt in a tin. 'This island is in my DNA," he says, "I was conceived here. Eighty-eight: the second summer of love."
We share more cigarettes, stories and jokes. We sit here, on this beach for what seems like minutes, but it might be for hours. It might even be forever.
Overhead, something roars. A plane, coming into land at the nearby airport, flies so low I can see the detail on its undercarriage. A shiver runs up my spine into my brain. A cheer erupts from the people on the beach around us: they wave and shout woo hoos, come ons and let's 'ave its into the nights sky, welcoming the latest bunch of party people to our island.
I leap to my feet.
"Come on, Ibiza," I say. "We need to dance."
He takes my hand and we run back up the beach.
fiction, flash fiction, romance, short storybeach, ibiza, island


Both "A Night With Robbie Bartlett" and "One Girl's Opinion" are available directly from Robbie. Please contact Robbie using the link to the left, and she will work with you to get you the CD.
Robbie's CD, "One Girl's Opinion" was named to Marty Rosen's "Best of 2000" list! (LEO, January 3, 2001) Listen to clips of the album below.
On the first day of release at ear X-tacy, Robbie's CD, "One Girl's Opinion", went number one locally in sales! The album is a wonderful blend of classic songs and original music by Robbie. Check out the listing of contents below, and be sure to read the reviews about this album and some of Robbie's performances.
"It's hard to put into words to tell how much my Father means to me. Thank you dad for your continued love and support, especially in a business that can eat you alive. Thanks for asking every day, 'Is the CD done yet?' I truly am blessed to have a father like you!"
"I know they are not here physically but will forever be in my heart. They were two of my biggest supporters. I truly miss them both."
RealPlayer 8 Basic is on the lefthand side of the page in small text).
"A Night With Robbie Bartlett" and "One Girl's Opinion" are available at Robbie's gig and here.


Although less well known than the "Confederate Battle Flags", the Stars and Bars was used as the official flag of the Confederacy from March 1861 to May of 1863.
Comprehensive reference identifies and describes uses of more than 800 items. Arranged alphabetically by topic, subjects range from artillery accouterments and boats to tools and patriotic sheet music.
The pattern and colors of this flag did not distinguish it sharply fom the Stars and Stripes of the Union. Consequently, considerable confusion was caused on the battlefield.
This replica plate is made of polished tin and is 9.75" in diameter.
North Carolina (May 21, 1861).
The best-known Confederate flag was the Battle Flag, the familiar "Southern Cross". It was carried by Confederate troops in the field which were the vast majority of forces under the confederacy.
The Stars represented the 11 states actually in the Confederacy plus Kentucky and Missouri.
* Both MO and KT had representatives in the CSA and USA national legislatures. They both had designated units in the national armies. Both the CSA and USA national governments recognized them as part of their respective countries. The only reason the two states are considered only part of the USA is that they were occupied by invaiding USA troops. Both MO and KT *were* a recognized part of the CSA.
Large 8 quart cast iron oven. The legs are for ease of use in campfires. Flanged lid to place coals on top of oven. Great for stews, chilli, roasts (wild game) and complete recipes for everything including old-fashioned bread. A must for reenactors villages.
Campaign Gettysburg is simply the best of all the HPS Civil War games. While all of those are very good in their own right they simply do not compete with the level of detail presented here.
With the Civil War about to begin, Southern saboteurs try to prevent railroad construction from crossing Kansas to the frontier.
Abe Lincoln's presidency in detail. The emotional tragedy and the humorus side of the man. His thoughts on the early commanders and dicussions with Historians. Pictures and details hard to find in other historical documentaries.
This 3-hour documentary captures the scenic beauty of the Gettysburg battlefield, examines rare Civil War artifacts and tells the personal stories of the men who fought in the war.
Through dramatic reconstructions and eye-witness accounts, this documentary explores the 1863 Battle Of Brandy Station.


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Photo by Simon Says
Story by Nobody Uno | Wednesday June 8th, 2022
Anglo test story copy
Collaboration Feature Stories - Themes Music Industry Roots Touring/Live
How to pre-finance your next recording with investment incentives
Working behind the scenes
How some songwriters and composers earn a living without releasing albums, playing live or touring
Patrick Watson: Music before politics
Building bridges between Québec's Francophone and Anglophone cultures
Photo by Norman Wong
Story by Errol Nazareth | Thursday September 23rd, 2021
Halfway through our conversation with young sensation Emanuel, whose debut album has been called "one of the most anticipated R&B albums of the year," we're both furiously googling Ethiopian jazz legends.
The London, Ont., singer's parents came to Canada from Ethiopia about 40 years back, so we casually asked if he'd heard any EthioJazz growing up. "Oh yes, yes!" he says, excitedly. "I love tapping into Ethiopian jazz and Tizita [Ethiopian ballads]." We rave about Hailu Mergia and Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, and offer to send him links to their music. "I love that you brought that up! And your pronunciations are right, too. Damn!" he laughs. "My mom would be laughing at both of us right now."
Emanuel says that one day he'd love to make music inspired by that era. Family and roots are paramount to the singer-songwriter, who's signed to Motown, had his own gigantic billboard in Times Square, and who appeared on the world's radar last April thanks to Idris Elba. "Those things [billboards and rave reviews] are great," he says. "It's amazing to feel the support from the label, but nothing beats that human connection, whether it's people responding to you being onstage, or telling you how they felt when they heard your music."
And how does he keep his feet on the ground? "It's easy to stay grounded when you're close to your roots, but I do have my moments when conversations need to be had," he says. "My mother's a wise woman, and she has a beautiful way of reminding me to stay humble."
Emanuel has been hearing from a lot of listeners since his debut single "Need You," which Elba helped promote with his legion of followers on social media last year, and his album ALT THERAPY, dropped on June 16, 2021. Emanuel says he intended the album to be "something people can sit with in times of stillness, or if they're seeking healing – and people have responded to that. There have been days when I've woken up to some really beautiful messages.
"The song was speaking to a deep yearning, of how much I needed the people around me"
"Nobody can take that away from me," he says. "Nobody can take away those moments of pure love. I'm talking about how the music healed me, and I love that people can hear that. It's definitely a blessing."
Emanuel, who says his interest in music has always been based on hearing people's stories, shares some deeply personal ones on his debut album. The super-catchy "Addiction," which he says is about "the life of addiction I was living," is just one example. "I was reflecting on some of the bad relationships I'd been in, and my past toxic behaviour," he says, recalling the song's genesis. "The way I was approaching life, I wasn't leaving room for help, and room to grow and be present.
"It was easy to scrutinize my behaviour, but 'Addiction' acknowledges that feeling of stopping a cycle and realizing how much it took from me. When I came up with the lyrics, it reminded me of that fear and anxiety" some of us feel when we're in a plane that's descending, he says, adding that the song came together shortly after his producers played him the beat one morning.
"Prodigal son fell asleep with the swine," is one of the heaviest lines in the song. "Yeah, that's a visceral bar," Emanuel says quietly. "I wanted to speak from that place without wallowing in it. I wanted to show the vulnerability, without co-signing bad behaviour."
The joy he gets from connecting with listeners, and offering his music as therapy, became evident when he released the aforementioned "Need You" one month into the pandemic. Kardinal Offishall had sent the song to Idris Elba, who was recovering from COVID. Emanuel recounts that Elba said it really helped him, and that he wanted to share it so it could help other people. The movie star asked his followers on social media to submit images showing how they were coping with self-isolation, to create an "inspirational collage." Within a day, more than 3,000 submissions for the collaborative video were submitted by people around the world.
Emanuel calls that chapter of his life a Cinderella story. Describing the song, the singer-songwriter says he was "speaking to a feeling, a deep yearning, of how much I needed the people around me, how much I needed God, and all the other things in this world that give me life."
He says the pandemic helped him learn how to appreciate stillness, and to embark on a road to self-discovery and healing. "I've been taking time to think about how I can have better relationships and build stronger ones, and it's given me time to think a lot about my future," Emanuel says, adding that it's also provided time to "heal from having a negative view of myself, and a chaotic lifestyle [he once led].
"I strongly believe that everybody goes through this on the road to self-discovery, and so I felt it was the perfect thing to talk about on the record."
Collaboration Feature Stories – Artists Music Industry/Entrepreneurs R&B/Soul Singer-Songwriter Songwriting/Composing
Liza: "Congratulations" to an ex, "Complexities" with Daniel Caesar
And authentic Ethiopian influences
Ron Sexsmith's new CD is lusher, louder but just as lyrically lovely as his previous work
A slight shift in direction


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Furnace repair in Rolling Meadows, IL.
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Blessed and fortunate enough to have married my school sweetheart Lori and have two wonderful children Dalton and Elle. Graduate of Smithson Valley High School 1981 and Sul Ross State University 1986. Based out of the Hill Country office I work primarily for buyers and sellers in Home, Ranch, Rural Commercial land and Investment properties. My greatest satisfaction comes when my clients needs and desires are surpassed. I understand the importance of people's largest holdings and investments and place them as priority number one. The process of real estate transactions requires a lot of virtues that I am fortunate to posess, diligence, patience, detail,communication and rapport.


Open 1400-0400 Mon-Fri, 1100-0400 Sat/Sun.
Directions - L train to Bedford Avenue, take the Bedford Avenue exit (at the rear of trains coming from Manhattan), walk north on Bedford Avenue three blocks.
The original, classic Williamsburg beer bar. Still an excellent selection after all these years. c.25 taps & extensive bottled list with many vintage beers. Near Brooklyn Brewery.


Have you recently graduated in your Maths degree and looking for a desirable role as a Maths Graduate Teaching Assistant?
If this Maths Graduate Teaching Assistant role takes to your interest, apply today!
Click 'Apply now' to send your CV to Carly Walters at Remedy Education.
Please note: due to the volume of Maths Graduate applications, only successful Maths Graduate Teaching Assistant applicants will be contacted.


Background: The last ten years have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of persons displaced from their home due to conflict or natural disasters. Loss of infrastructure and large population displacements often lead to environmental conditions ripe for infectious disease outbreaks. While it is widely acknowledged that infectious disease epidemics play a major role in morbidity and mortality in complex emergencies and natural disasters, there has been limited published literature comprehensively examining this relationship.
Methods: Events were collected for the years 2005-2014. Complex emergencies (CE) were identified using the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) Complex Emergency Database and United Nations (UN) Flash and Consolidated Appeals archive. Natural disasters (ND) were identified using the CRED International Disaster Database and UN Flash and Consolidated Appeal archive. Infectious disease outbreaks were identified from the World Health Organization (WHO) outbreak archive. Individual databases were created for each type of event then compared for overlap. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.
Results: There were 169 unique complex emergencies, 913 natural disasters, 118 events linked to both complex emergency and natural disaster, and 384 outbreaks were identified for the specified years. 43% of CEs were linked to outbreaks, 24% of NDs were linked to outbreaks, and 36% of 'both' events were linked to outbreaks. The OR of a vaccine-preventable outbreak occurring in a CE setting versus an ND setting was 6.66.
Conclusions: Outbreaks were more likely to be linked to a CE event and more likely to occur in developing countries. When an outbreak was associated with a CE, it was much more likely to be a vaccine preventable disease. Focus on better vaccine coverage in developing countries could reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with CEs when they do occur.


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Welsh Football
Swansea City Home
Welsh Football Home
Jonjo Shelvey: Swansea City midfielder assured over future
Jonjo Shelvey has started just one of Alan Curtis' five games in charge
Jonjo Shelvey has a "huge part to play" at Swansea City despite falling out of favour in recent weeks, according to manager Alan Curtis.
England midfielder Shelvey has started just one of the last seven Swansea games and has been linked with a move to Newcastle United.
But the 23-year-old is set to start in Sunday's FA Cup tie at Oxford United, and the new boss wants him to stay.
"Hopefully he will show everybody what he's capable of," said Curtis.
"From there, we will look at it in terms of the league fixtures to come."
More from BBC Wales Sport
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Webb to miss start of Six Nations
Shelvey last completed 90 minutes for Swansea on 21 November when he scored a penalty - his only goal of the season - in the 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth.
Curtis admitted the former Liverpool player is frustrated by the lack of recent opportunities, and Newcastle are said to be ready to test Swansea's resolve to keep him.
"I would want him to stay, yeah, absolutely," stressed Curtis, who has been put in charge at the Liberty Stadium until the end of the season.
"I spoke to him [on Friday] and told him that. I feel that he's got a huge part to play.
"He's not in the team at the moment and there's always going to be speculation about good players.
Franck Tabanou will be among a number of Swansea fringe players to face Oxford
"Jonjo's a current England international so there's going to be speculation about him moving on.
"We feel that he's a huge part of what will be a difficult run-in."
Franck Tabanau, an even more peripheral figure at Swansea, is also expected to be given a rare opportunity against Oxford on Sunday.
The French left-back has played just two Captial One Cup games since arriving over the summer from St Eitenne for £3.5m.
A return to France has been mooted, but Curtis heaped lavish praise on the 26-year-old when asked about his prospects at the club.
"We have barely seen Franck play but he is training now [after injury] and he has got an unbelievable left foot," he said.
"He is as good a left-footed player as I've seen. He smashes the ball for fun.
"I have been watching video clips of him. I actually sat him down the other day and said: 'Franck, who is that man?'
"He is going past people, beating two or three players and smashing it in from 30 yards, taking free-kicks, penalties. I haven't seen that fella before."
BBC South West Wales News & Sport
Read more on BBC South West Wales News & Sport
Read more on Swansea City


Premium range of products having superior quality at affordable price. Good percentage of profit and other marketing incentives to push the products for distributors and retailers.We offer only what we make and can do.
Marketing experienced professional initiative to reach out customers with quality products.


With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's time to start planning a fabulous spread for your significant other. Assuming they aren't lactose intolerant, a cheese platter is a pretty good way to go - but only if you don't skimp on quality. As luck would have it, the 2018 Australian Grand Dairy Awards have already done the hard work for you.
The prestigious Australian Grand Dairy Awards represent the highest recognition for any dairy producer in Australia. Each year, the judges taste-test locally produced cheeses across nine categories: Fresh Unripened Cheese, White Mould Cheese, Semi Hard/Eye Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, Hard Cheese, Blue Cheese, Washed Rind/Mixed Rind Cheese, Flavoured Cheese and Goat's/Sheep's/Buffalo Milk Cheese. There's also an ice cream category, natch.
You can see a list of stockists here.
I love a Whitman's sampler, but I buy those for myself February 15, when they are half-price. Though I'm not one to turn down a box of chocolate on Valentine's Day, giving them can feel a little impersonal, and we can do better.
I love blue cheese, and would be prepared to be executed by eating too much of it.
I just wish the good stuff wasn't so damn expensive.
Still, that means it ends up being a treat, and not life threatening.


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Ian McKellen Leads Manchester Gay Pride Parade
On Top Magazine Staff
British actor Sir Ian McKellen on Saturday led the 25th annual Manchester Gay Pride parade.
McKellen, who is best known for playing Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and Magneto in the X-Men films, publicly announced he's gay in 1988. He currently shares the role of Sherlock Holmes with Nicholas Rowe in the film Mr. Holmes.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, the 76-year-old McKellen warned that the fight for equality was "not quite over."
"We can now get married, gay people in this country, but not in Northern Ireland. So, as we celebrate we think, the fight's not quite over," McKellen said.
When asked how things had changed, McKellen answered: "When I was growing up in Bolton it was illegal to be gay. You could not have sex with somebody of the same gender or you might be put in prison, and I had friends who were!"
"So, we're now in a situation where gay people can marry the person they love. It's been a huge improvement, but it's taken a lot of work."
"One thing I've taken great pride in with the gay rights movement is there hasn't been any violence. And that's almost unique in the civil rights movement," he added.


Fox fur trapper hat with earflaps.
Soft, lush and supple fur to combat the cold.
Strings with fur pompoms to tie the ear flaps on the top of hat or under your chin.
Satin-finished lining interior adds warmth and comfort.
Natural color of original fur, not dyed.
One size fits the most.


Could you make a list of fruits that CAN be given to dogs?
Can you give dogs juice that is made of the fruits that can be given to them?
My dogs LOVE bananas, blueberries, watermelon, and baby carrots. So do I lol so probably because that's what we share the most.
Introducing new foods into her diet may cause upset stomach issues such as vomiting or diarrhea. Be cautious to introduce only one new fruit or vegetable at a time to help you spot any health changes. Too much of anything can be a bad thing. I've used cut green beans as training treats and that's worked really well for me.
Be sure to wash all fruits & veggies and to remove rinds, inedible skins, seeds, and pits before feeding to pets.
****Steer clear of: Grapes and raisins can cause kidney damage , so avoid feeding these entirely. Citrus fruits like lemons, limes, and grapefruit as well as persimmons can cause an upset stomach.
Consider steaming or boiling cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, as they are much easier to digest when they are cooked.
Never feed your pet onions or garlic as they are toxic in all forms: cooked, raw, and even onion powder. These cause damage to the red blood cells, ultimately causing them to burst. Rhubarb and wild mushrooms also contain toxins.
Im sure you could cut just about all of these to bite size. I'm not sure why you'd want to make fruit juice for a dog, though?


FINRA's Board of Governors met on Feb. 28 and March 1 in Boca Raton, Florida, where it discussed the organization's finances, reviewed several significant technology and other capital initiatives, and considered two rulemaking items (described below). The Board also met with staff from FINRA's Boca Raton District Office, home of the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors and FINRA's anti-money laundering team, and with representatives from member firms headquartered in the area during a special member reception.
The FINRA Board also received updates on FINRA's regulatory operations, including the continuing transformation of its Risk Monitoring and Examination Program and its recent 529 Plan Share Class Initiative.
More information regarding the Board's operations, including the membership and responsibilities of its committees, is available at www.finra.org/governance.
Proposed Rule Changes Relating to Firms with a History of Misconduct – The Board approved moving forward with proposing new rules related to firms that have a disproportionately high number of regulatory disclosure events by the firm and/or its registered representatives. As a next step in the rulemaking process, FINRA will soon publish a Regulatory Notice seeking comment on the rules.
Proposal to Collect and Disseminate New Issue Reference Data in Corporate Bonds – The Board approved filing with the SEC proposed amendments to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) Rules to enhance collection and dissemination of new issue reference data for corporate bonds and charge associated fees. The proposal responds to a recommendation by the SEC's Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee.
FINRA's system for registering broker/dealers is getting an upgrade and moving into the 21st century. FINRA's Central Registration and Depository (CRD) system is the central licensing and registration system for FINRA, all of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and even the fifty state financial regulators. The last time it was upgraded was in 1999 and an upgrade is on its way.
Derek Linden is FINRA's executive vice president of Registration & Disclosure and he was the latest guest on their podcast, Unscripted, where he spoke more about the upgrade.
Among other things, CRD allows clients and potential clients to research the background of their broker or potential brokers.
"Before CRD, if you wanted to register as a broker, you had to file an application with the NASD, FINRA's predecessor, each state you wanted to be licensed in, and each other SRO (self-regulatory organization) or exchange you wanted to be registered in. The CRD system actually was started in the 1980s. It was a paper and pencil system with some automation ",Linden said.
He also mentioned that the CRD system became fully automated with the last upgrade in 1999 and one thing which the current upgrade will focus on is moving the stored data into a cloud system.
"The transformation aims to increase the utility and efficiency of the registration and disclosure process for firms, investors and regulators, as well as to reduce compliance costs for firms. FINRA's Board of Governors has approved moving forward with the project, which FINRA expects to complete in 2021." FINRA said in a press release at the time.
The CRD system moving to the cloud is part of a larger move by FINRA to move data to the cloud.
"Today, FINRA has more than 30 petabytes of data in the cloud—or about 60 million years' worth of MP3 music. With the cloud, FINRA has been able to build a massive data lake that allows its regulatory staff to conduct business more efficiently and more effectively than ever." FINRA said in promoting another podcast.
FINRA, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, was formed in 2007, when the regulatory arms of the NASD and the NYSE merged.
FINRA announced today that it has fined Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (Cantor) $2 million for Regulation SHO (Reg SHO) violations and supervisory failures spanning a period of at least five years. As part of the settlement, Cantor also agreed to retain an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the firm's policies, systems, procedures and training related to Reg SHO.
FINRA found that, from January 2013 through December 2017, Cantor's supervisory system, including its written supervisory procedures (WSPs), was not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the requirements of Reg SHO. Cantor's use of a predominantly manual system to supervise its compliance with Reg SHO was not reasonable in light of the firm's business expansion and increased trading activity – from 35 billion shares in 2013 to 79 billion shares in 2014. Also, Cantor's compliance personnel identified red flags in 2013, 2014 and 2015 indicating that the firm had systemic issues with Reg SHO and that its supervisory systems were not reasonably tailored to its business. While Cantor made some changes, it did not adapt and enhance its supervision to address the deficiencies its personnel identified, commit additional staffing to monitoring its compliance with Reg SHO, or implement WSPs relating to its new lines of business until 2016. Moreover, Cantor's enhancements to its supervisory systems and procedures were not fully effective. For example, Cantor failed to identify fails-to-deliver in accounts that were not monitored by its supervisory systems.
It appears that US regulators want to give carrots to encourage self-reporting.
On the latest episode of A Few Minutes with FINRA there was a discussion of a recent FINRA initiative for Member Firms to Self-Report 529 Savings Plan Violations.
FINRA Executive Vice President of Enforcement Susan Schroeder was on the show and she noted that FINRA was encouraging firms to self-report deficiencies in their processes for compliance. Supervisory systems and procedures." Schroeder said. A 529 is a tax advantaged savings plan which is designed for long term investing.
"Through the 529 Initiative, FINRA is encouraging firms to assess their supervisory systems and procedures governing 529 plan share-class recommendations, to identify and remediate any defects, and to compensate any investors harmed by supervisory failures." FINRA stated in the same January 2019 press release.
In January 2019, The Industry Spread covered a webinar by the Futures Industry Association entitled "Spoofing, Surveillance, & Supervision." in which attorneys from the firm Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP noted that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission has been touting its non-prosecutorial agreements to encourage self-reporting by traders against their firms.
Here's part of that article.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also had long-standing incentives in place for self-reporting.
"The Enforcement Division has signed many agreements under which it recommends to the Commission that a cooperator receive credit for cooperating in investigations or related enforcement actions if the cooperator provides substantial assistance such as full and truthful information and testimony." The SEC noted on its website.
As recently as December 2018, the SEC put out a press release noting that a fine was eliminated because the firm in question self-reported.
"After its finance department discovered the existence of the sales incentive practices, Hain undertook an internal investigation, and in August 2016, the company self-reported to the SEC its discovery of the sales incentives and announced it was delaying its financial reporting for 2016. Ten months later, Hain reported that financial restatements were not required and simultaneously disclosed material weaknesses in its internal control of financial reporting. As reflected the SEC's order, Hain has since made organizational changes, including the retention of staff in compliance positions, and has implemented changes to its revenue recognition practices." The SEC stated in a press release in December.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a broker-dealer, a transfer agent, and three individuals for their roles in the creation of over a dozen undisclosed "blank check" companies from 2009 to 2014.
In its complaint, the SEC alleges that broker-dealer Spartan Securities Group, Ltd. and transfer agent Island Capital Management LLC, which does business as Island Stock Transfer, helped create and sell at least 19 purportedly legitimate public companies that were in fact shams. To effectuate the scheme, the complaint alleges that Spartan Securities filed fraudulent applications with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to publicly list the companies' common stock and ultimately enable the shares to become free-trading and available to public investors. The complaint also alleges that Spartan Securities' principals, Carl E. Dilley and Micah J. Eldred, signed the false applications even though they knew or at least were reckless that the companies were fake and David D. Lopez failed to investigate red flags raised by FINRA or even familiarize himself with the companies. The SEC further alleges that Island Stock Transfer and Dilley facilitated the public sale of the stock of at least 12 of the sham companies through the bulk issuance and transfer of the "free-trading" securities.
The SEC alleges that the defendants violated provisions of the federal securities laws, including Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, that prohibit fraudulent misconduct by registered broker dealers.
Between 2015 and 2018, the SEC filed multiple enforcement actions in related schemes to sell "blank check" companies. Broker-dealers that initiate or resume the publication of quotations in over-the-counter securities should be mindful of their obligations under the SEC rules, including Rule 15c2-11. For further guidance on the scope of the relevant rules, including a discussion of red flags, please see the Appendix to Publication or Submission of Quotations Without Specified Information, 64 FR 11124, 11145 (March 8, 1999).
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Jeffrey Cook and supervised by Eric Busto and Glenn Gordon in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Christine Nestor and Wilfredo Fernandez.