NetSuite's #1 Cloud ERP is the perfect ingredient for your business success.
As food and beverage companies experience rapid growth, they require a platform that delivers flexibility, scalability, and the advanced functionality to support growth with a real-time, unified view of the business. More than 40,000 organizations worldwide are transforming their business with NetSuite's modern, omnichannel-ready, cloud management software. NetSuite's Food ERP Software has a deep understanding of the challenges business face to support business like yours.
Take orders with confidence insuring the right price, best location and correct product to fit service level commitments. Lower inventory holding costs, speed up the order-to-cash process, and enable omnichannel operations by connecting sales, finance, order fulfillment to pricing, returns management and order management.
Gain visibility of your supply chain, streamline operations, understand bottom line costs, increase efficiencies, and maintain inventory across your entire business.
Gain a real-time view of customer communication, performance and incentives across all channels of the business, keeping customers coming back for more.
Effectively manage your business ensuring maximum profitability and customer satisfaction levels. Naturally balance resources, optimize inventory, manage vendors, gain visibility with purchases and deliver the best delivery and price.
NetSuite supports product-based business with large capabilities to maintain all data you need to run your business: vendors, customers, partners, and items. Spend less time answering questions of status, revisions and design, and connect departments with a system designed for self-service answers and status across the organization.
Carry the highest quality products with the lowest overhead. Easily set up inspection plans, track results, and evaluate vendors to ensure the best quality products on the market.
Quickly and accurately receive information from the manufacturing process with real-time updates and communication on NetSuite's shop floor application or traditional barcoding.
Gain real time visibility into every step of the production process for better informed decisions with NetSuite's end-to-end manufacturing solution.
Take control of your warehouse with NetSuite WMS. With industry-leading features such as mobile RF barcode scanning, wave planning, cartonization, kitting, and space management, NetSuite WMS increases efficiency, improves operational excellence, and lowers cost for warehouses of any size and complexity.


Stray at Home is an art and music festival that started in 2012 in Jackson, MS. Vendors travel from all over to sell their handmade goods and original furniture and artwork. Each show is juried to feature a wide array of established and emergent designers from Mississippi and the larger southern region.
We are super excited to be a sponsor for this event, and contribute to the growing creative culture in Mississippi. Stray at Home – Jackson offers a chance for art and craft enthusiasts, designers, bloggers, music lovers and taste makers to come together to "get lost in" streets brimming with unique artistic expression, fine craftsmanship, and the sounds of talented musicians. This year's festival will be on Saturday, May 9th 2015 in Smith Park and surrounding streets. There will be arts and crafts for sale, local food and beverage vendors, and live music ranging from the Indie-Alternative to Blues-Rockabilly and Americana. We hope you'll come "stray" with us in Smith Park on May 9th, 2015!
Proceeds from the festival will go towards the production of the festival and to The Museum to Market Trail. The Museum to Market Trail will feature almost 5 miles of protected, paved trail for use by pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles. While construction of the trail is funded through state and federal transportation grants, this festival will raise funds for improvements like water fountains, benches, mile markers, lighting, directional signs, and other amenities.


Regardless of much noise, the futuristic forecasts, there are not many real-world blockchain applications globally. However, the green capital market, in which the blockchain has been tested and proven to be applicable, is not a case. Technology opens up environmentally friendly markets for companies that allow emissions trading. Here's how.
The case relates to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, the leading emitters of which are power generation companies, based on fossil fuels. Governments and institutions came together to reduce harmful effects on the environment and prevent climate change, the Kyoto Protocol, which provides for emissions trading, entered into force in 2005.
Emission allowances and carbon credits are measured by carbon units equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Emissions above quota are limited and subject to a fine, carbon credits are in demand and can be bought on the exchange, popularly known as cap and trading. Additional market models are developed and implemented, corresponding credit or tax, trade or transaction-based.
The point of trade in carbon units is not only to make countries buy off problems but also to make mitigation, compensating for environmental damage, more cost-effective, to stimulate them to reduce harmful emissions, develop their economy effectively, and attract investments.
But if the theory looks excellent, in practice, certain factors are a little more complicated. Markets are affected by over-regulation, over-centralization and disintegration, unpredictability, fraud and non-transparency and high transaction costs.
The world's first carbon unit transaction was conducted with this technology in the DAO IPCI blockchain ecosystem in the spring of 2017. The system built by Airalab on the Robonomics digital platform combines the functions of the market for verification, registration, and environmental goods. It allows users to allocate and manage ecological assets and liabilities via distributed blockchain books.
The DAO IPCI model is based on the interaction between the peer-to-peer market of several parties, those responsible for environmental damage, suffering loss, and the suppliers of offsetting instruments.
The technology ensures transparency and reliability of carbon credit verification procedures, transactions and the possibility of global interactions between fragmented carbon pricing initiatives with carbon markets, eliminating intermediaries, and carbon registries.
The pilot transaction was conducted in March 2017 in DAO IPCI under the Blockchain Climate Standard between the Aera Group (France) and the Russian Carbon Fund with Mauritian solar energy carbon credits.
The above case describes only one of the implementations of the Robonomics Network. It opens up a green capital market and investment opportunities not only for countries but also for so-called intelligent buildings that improve their efficiency and durability—creating a new line of product category much akin to iPhone.


Tomorrow night, The Princess and I will be winging our way to Milan on a Cathay Pacific jet.
The flight leaves Hong Kong early on the morning of the 30th but technically we start the trip on the 29th.
We are packed (not so lightly) and ready for our three week adventure of touring.
Well, we are about to walk out the door for the airport. The bags came in a little heavier than both of us expected. You would think we would have got this right by now!
We just enjoyed a lovely feed of Mexican at one of the local restaurants here in Discovery Bay so we don't anticipate eating much on the plane – particularly at 0200 HK time.
I had best get dressed for the trip and finalize the bag packing before walking out the door.
We are checked in at the airport and ready to board.
"zoned out" and looking at the inside of our eyelids.
I am writing this over the interior of Belarus – approaching the city of Minsk. We have been airborne for around 9 hours. From Minsk we will fly over Warsaw down through the Czech Republic, over Austria and into Milan.
The Princess is attempting to get some shuteye in the last three hours of this 12 hour flight. Neither of us has had much luck sleeping so we will definitely be resting this afternoon in the hotel.
The flight has been wonderfully smooth however, the very loud two year old in front of us and the quite cool cabin (read icy) temperature has made sleeping a bit of a challenge.
Well we have arrived back in Europe. It's 0730 and we arrived to a beautiful morning here in Milan – 14 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
I used my new EU passport to enter Italy – a seamless effort! The guy took about 3 seconds to process me. I'm not sure if he even opened the passport.
Our bags were on the belt when we arrived so we went in search of the Hertz rental counter in quick time.
With a few Buon Giorno's floating around we were offered a German plated car for the hire – a substantial saving for the one way rental. It means waiting for 30 minutes but at this time of the morning we are not too phased.
So, with some time to spare The Princess and I have found a place to sit and enjoy an espresso, a nibbly and some vanilla tea in the sky lounge in the airport.
Apparently there is a Starbucks here but we didn't find it. Probably not a bad thing.
Well, we ended up with a fantastic new Ford Focus for the hire car and after checking it over we hooked up our trusty Nokia phone GPS and headed off for Cernobbio.
The drive went without a hitch – our surfer dude talking GPS negotiated the streets with precision and after about 40 minutes of driving we arrived in the beautiful little lakeside town of Cernobbio.
We had pre booked Hotel Miralago before we left Hong Kong . We use a variety of websites to book our travel and we are never disappointed with the results of our bookings – Hotel Miralago is no exception.
The staff were wonderfully helpful and changed our room so that we could check in early so, before long, The Princess and I were walking into the most delightful room overlooking the Piazza and onto the shores of Lake Como. Wow!
The sun was glistening and reflecting off the water and the sound of the piazza's fountain was gentle and soothing.
We spent little time unpacking and changing into some clothing that matched the temperature – warm and with very little humidity. Perfect.
I went and parked the car and picked up some brochures and The Princess sorted out what we wanted to take with us on a walk around the streets.
We were both quite hungry so it didn't take too long to sniff out an eatery – Cafe Posta. We liked the look of the outdoor dining area and the choice was perfect on so many levels. The staff were friendly and willing to help us with our Italian the food was "to die for". Or, in Italian (as we learned) – Buonissimo!
Our main host, Sissi (short for Alessandra), is a sweet girl that spoke some Chinese and was keen to learn about Australia, Hong Kong and Canada. She recommended some delightful food – a veal dish with tuna sauce and an incredible paninni full of Parma ham, cheese and rocket. The side serving of fresh bread and local olive oil was almost a meal in itself and made us realise that if you are going to eat bread it had better be with lashings of virgin olive oil!
Eating food here is an experience and not just something you do to fill a need.
Another server, Elisa, was very patient as we asked her questions about Italian wine. In the end she poured us some delightful white from the Balisicata region and it was the perfect compliment to the amazing food. So much so that we had two glasses each.
What a wonderful way to start our time in Italy.
We bid Sissi and the staff at Cafe Posta arrivederci and took a walk around the quaint backstreets of Cerenobbio before heading back to the hotel. We poked our heads inside two beautiful churches and took some video and photo's and also soaked up some of the streetscape in this lovely little town.
We opted for an afternoon nap back at the hotel – pretty much following the lead of the locals.
A perfect way to let lunch and a couple of beautiful glasses of wine go down!
After a quick shower and wake up we were on our way for a walk along the lake front toward Como.
The walk would take around 50 minutes if you didn't stop but we were not in a hurry and our aim was to take lots of photos and video.
The temperature for the walk was perfect – about 25 degrees. The sun is not setting until around 9.30 at this time of the year so we had plenty of time to take in the spectacular views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.
The walk took us past some ancient Villas (Villa Del Grumello, Villa Olmo, and some great lakeside restaurants.
We watched the Lake Como Aeroclub floatplanes take off and land and the ferries come and go as we dodged runners and cyclists that shared the sometimes narrow pathway.
We arrived in the city fringe around 8.30 and found a place to sit and eat dinner – appropriately named Tourist Cafe. The setting was great and the wine and food were excellent. Another top meal here in Italy.
Despite it being summer, the ferries and buses to Cernobbio had stopped running so, short of walking, it was a cab ride back to the hotel. Mental note – it would have been cheaper to hire a car than to take a cab!
A wonderful first day here in Como and we look forward to three more days of hiking, boating and driving this picture perfect area of Italy.


text:
"""Helpers for views that deal with CRUD operations.
"""
from django.urls import reverse

class RedirectReverseMixin(object):
    """Calls reverse on success/failure URLs passed into the class.
    """

    def get_success_url(self):
        """Returns the success URL after reversing the url name passed.
        """
        success_url = getattr(self, 'success_url', None)

        if success_url is None:
            raise NotImplementedError(
                u'You must define a success_url on this class')

        return reverse(self.success_url, **self._get_reverse_kwargs('success'))

    def get_failure_url(self):
        """Returns the failure URL after reversing the url name passed.
        """
        failure_url = getattr(self, 'failure_url', None)
        if failure_url is None:
            raise NotImplementedError(
                u'You must define a failure_url on this class')

        return reverse(
            self.failure_url, **self._get_reverse_kwargs('failure'))

    def get_success_args(self):
        """Override this to return args for the reverse call for success_url
        """
        return ()

    def get_success_kwargs(self):
        """Override this to return kwargs for the reverse call for success_url
        """
        return {}

    def get_failure_args(self):
        """Override this to return args for the reverse call for failure_url
        """
        return ()

    def get_failure_kwargs(self):
        """Override this to return kwargs for the reverse call for failure_url
        """
        return {}

    def _get_reverse_kwargs(self, direction='success'):
        """Gets the args or kwargs to pass into reverse.
        """
        reverse_kwargs = {}
        if direction == 'success':
            args = self.get_success_args()
            kwargs = self.get_success_kwargs()

        elif direction == 'failure':
            args = self.get_failure_args()
            kwargs = self.get_failure_kwargs()

        if args and kwargs:
            _msg = (
                u"You must only define one of get_{0}_args or "
                u"get_{0}_kwargs".format(direction))
            raise ValueError(_msg)

        if args:
            reverse_kwargs['args'] = args
        elif kwargs:
            reverse_kwargs['kwargs'] = kwargs

        return reverse_kwargs

class FormRedirectMixin(object):
    """Checks for redirect_field_name in the submitted request. The value of
    this is used to redirect the user to another page upon validating the form.
    If the redirect field is not set, then this mixin falls back to the view's
    default behaviour.

    This mixin is currently incompatible with RedirectReverseMixin.
    """
    redirect_field_name = 'next'

    def form_valid(self, form):
        method_dict = getattr(self.request, self.request.method)
        next_url = method_dict.get(self.redirect_field_name)
        if next_url is None and self.request.method != 'GET':
            next_url = self.request.GET.get(self.redirect_field_name)

        if next_url is not None:
            self.success_url = next_url

        return super(FormRedirectMixin, self).form_valid(form)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The National Intelligence Organization (Turkish: Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the state intelligence agency of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service.
According to the former director of Foreign Operations, Yavuz Ataç, the military presence in the organization is negligible, although the organization has a military heritage. In 1990, the percentage of military personnel was 35%, while in 2007 the lower echelons were 4.5% military Former deputy undersecretary Cevat Öneş said that the MİT suffered with each coup, as each military junta that took control of the organization had its own set of priorities.
While the organization has historically recruited from relatives of existing employees, the former undersecretary, Emre Taner, says that this is no longer the case. He is credited with reducing the turf war between the MİT and the General Directorate of Security, as well as infighting inside the MİT itself. Taner announced a restructuring of the MİT at the start of 2009.
The MIT co-operates with the Central Intelligence Agency and the intelligence agencies of Russia. Its operations and missions are classified. In practice, religious minorities in Turkey are barred from careers in the MIT.
The MİT, which exists to serve the Republic of Turkey and is furnished with duties and responsibilities in line with this aim, is in charge of collecting nationwide security intelligence on existing and potential threats from internal and external sources posed against the territory, people and integrity, the existence, independence, security, and all the other elements that compose the constitutional order and the national power of the Republic of Turkey. The MİT is in charge of communicating collected intelligence to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief of the General Staff, the Secretary General of the National Security Council and other relevant state organizations as necessary.
The MİT is in charge of counterintelligence activities in Turkey. The MİT cannot be given any other duty and cannot be led to any other field of activity than collecting intelligence concerning the security of the Republic. The MİT engages in a proactive cyber defence program for Turkey and the use of cyberwarfare as a platform for attack. The Turkish Ministry of National Defence considers cybersecurity as the country's "fifth frontier" after land, air, sea and space. The MİT uses local cybersecurity solutions mostly developed by companies Havelsan and Tübitak.
Providing secrecy in the conduct of the duty and activities the MİT is responsible for is indisputably of utmost importance. The Organisation's legal basis and structure can be found in Law No. 2937, the Law on the State Intelligence Services and the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, as well as several other laws. Moving from the standpoint that otherwise it will be impossible to render intelligence services be fulfilled at the required level, the secrecy of records and information concerning the duties and activities of the MİT has been enforced with a penal clause included in the Organizational Establishment Law. Under the 27th Article, a sentence of imprisonment shall be faced in the cases of acquiring records and information concerning the duties and activities of the MİT, disclosing these records and information on negligence and causing these records and information to be obtained by unauthorized people.
Before November 2016, when two more main departments were added, had four main departments.
Pursuant to Law No. 2937, high crimes levied against a MİT agent that fall within the jurisdiction of the Heavy Penal Courts (described by Interpol as the 'Central Criminal Courts') must be approved by the Prime Minister or several other relevant officials.
Testimony in court may only be made with and by the permission of the Undersecretary of the MİT. According to Article 29 of Law No. 2937, MİT agents must not give their testimony if it pertains to state secrets without further permission from the MİT Undersecretary.
The Organization owns a non-public Museum of Espionage consisting of a variety of spy equipment, which was revealed once in October 2013.
In the 1971 Turkish military memorandum the MIT did not inform Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel about the coup, and also asked for the PM's resignation on the day of the coup.
In the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, the plans for "Operation Flag" (Bayrak Harekâtı) were conveyed to the military units by the MİT's airplane. The agency, however, once again did not notify the PM, even though the MİT was under the authority of the PM; because the MİT took part in the coup.
In the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt the MİT fought against the coup plotters.
According to reports, at 2012 there were many intelligence agents on Turkey's Syria border from many countries, but the MİT coordinated all intelligence gathering activities and worked in coordination with German, French, British and American intelligence services. The intelligence agencies did not take initiatives on their own and had to take the MİT as reference, which was acting as a leader.
MIT has been accused that it helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control. Turkish journalists who exposed it have charged with spying and "divulging state secrets" from the Turkish court. One of the journalists claimed:"Those who sent the convoy from Turkey knew that the weapons were "heading to end [up] in ISIS hands". Also, Turkish officers, who intercepted some of the intelligence agency's weapons-filled trucks have faced spying charges. In addition, Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet, published a video footage which it said showed security forces discovering weapons parts being sent to Syria on trucks belonging to the MIT state intelligence agency.
Serena Shim, a journalist of Press TV was killed at a car crash with a heavy vehicle in Turkey in what are claimed, by her employer and her parents, to be suspicious circumstances. The car crash happened just days after she claimed that the MIT, had threatened her and accused her of spying, due to some of the stories she had covered about Turkey's stance on ISIL militants in Kobane. She also claimed that she had received images of ISIL militants crossing the Turkish border into Syria in World Food Organization and other NGOs trucks.
In 18 March 2016, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin sent a letter to the UN Security Council saying that three Turkish humanitarian organizations (NGOs) sent weapons and supplies to extremists in Syria on behalf of Turkey's MIT intelligence agency. The three NGOs were the Besar Foundation, the Iyilikder Foundation and the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms (IHH).
MİT played an active role in Turkey's Olive Branch military operation into the Syrian province of Afrin. The MİT's role included the coordination and direction of Turkish-backed Free Syria Army, as well as intelligence support in the identification of targets for air strikes and post-destruction evaluation.
In September 2018, Turkish intelligence agents in an operation in Syria have captured a man who was suspect over the 2013 Reyhanlı bombings and brought him back to Turkey.
In January 2019, the Turkey's Defense Minister, the Chief of General Staff, the Land Forces Commander and the MIT Chief met at Hatay in order to discuss the latest developments in Idlib region and the next steps.
In 2016, Diyanet instructed affiliated imams and religious instances to collect detailed information on the Gülen movement. It handed 50 intelligence reports from 38 countries over to the Turkish parliament.
On April 5, 2018, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said that MIT has captured 80 Turkish citizens, suspected of links to FETÖ, from 18 different countries so far.
In 2002, Armenian special services arrested an Armenian government official on charges of spying for Turkish national intelligence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of spying for Turkey.
Turkish imams preaching in Australia's mosques have been instructed to spy on Australian supporters of Fethulah Gulen.
In 2017, Peter Pilz released a report about the activities of Turkish agents operating through ATIB (Avusturya Türkiye İslam Birliği – Austria Turkey Islamic Foundation), the Diyanet's arm responsible for administering religious affairs across 63 mosques in the country, and other Turkish organizations. Pilz's website faced a DDoS attack by Turkish hacktivists and heavy security was provided when he presented the report publicly. Per the report, Turkey operates a clandestine network of 200 informants targeting opposition as well as Gülen supporters inside Austria.
In 2018, MIT arrested a FETÖ member in Azerbaijan and brought him to Turkey. He was a teacher worked for FETÖ schools operating in Azerbaijan.
In 2017, the Flemish interior minister, Liesbeth Homans, started the process of withdrawing recognition of the Turkish-sponsored and country's second largest mosque, Fatih mosque in Beringen accusing the mosque of spying in favor of Turkey.
On November 22, 2017, Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the detention of 29 people suspected of espionage on behalf of Turkey against Egypt national interest and joining a terrorist organization. They are also accused of money laundering, conducting overseas calls without a license and trading currency without a license. According to the results of an investigation by the General Intelligence Services, the group has been recording phone calls and passing information to Turkish intelligence as part of a plan to bring the Muslim Brotherhood back to power in Egypt.
In 1994, a Kurdish man named Mehmet Kaygisiz, was shot in the back of the head at a café in Newington Green, in London. His murder remained unsolved and at the time his murder was thought to be drug-related, but in 2016 new evidence revealed that MIT ordered his murder.
MIT was blamed for the 2013 murders of three female PKK activists in Paris.
In March 2018, MIT abducted three suspected members of the Gulen Movement from Gabon and transferred them from Libreville to Ankara on a private jet.
In July 2015 The Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that German federal prosecutors were looking into claims that three men - two Turks and a German national - were instructed by MIT to spy on Erdogan critics in Cologne, particularly Kurds and members of the Muslim minority Alevi community.
On 2016, Bundestag intelligence oversight committee members demanded answer from German government about the reports that Germans of Turkish origin are being pressured in Germany by informers and officers of Turkey's MIT spy agency. According to reports Turkey had 6,000 informants plus MIT officers in Germany who were putting pressure on "German Turks". Hans-Christian Ströbele told that there was an "unbelievable" level of "secret activities" in Germany by Turkey's MIT agency. According to Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, not even the former communist East German Stasi secret police had managed to run such a large "army of agents" in the former West Germany: "Here, it's not just about intelligence gathering, but increasingly about intelligence service repression." German lawmakers have called for an investigation, charging that Turkey is spying on suspected Gulen followers in Germany. Many people who were spied upon were German citizens.
In December 2016, a 31-year-old Turkish citizen who had resided in Germany for a decade was arrested in Hamburg on suspicion of espionage and plotting the assassination of two prominent Kurds on behalf of Turkish security services.
In March 2017 the Turkish secret intelligence service was accused of conducting espionage of more than 300 people and 200 associations and schools linked to supporters of exiled Fethullah Gülen. Boris Pistorius [de], interior minister for Lower Saxony State, called this "intolerable and unacceptable", stating that "the intensity and ruthlessness with which people abroad are being investigated is remarkable". A German security official said that "we are horrified at how openly Turkey reveals that it is spying on Turks living here". On 30 March 2017 Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere expresses suspicions that the move may have been intended to weigh on Turkish-German relations − "to provoke us in some way". The appallment was deepened when it was revealed that the 300 persons included politicians, including Michelle Müntefering.
In October 2017, according to German press reports officials working in Germany's immigration authorities pass on information about Turkish asylum seekers to Turkey. In many cases, even their locations were also revealed, that even their families did not know for security reasons. These incidents showed that Turkish spies may have infiltrated German authorities. In addition, Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the German state of the North Rhine-Westphalia, submitted a report to the state parliament, alleging that the Turkish-German organisation "Osmanen Germania" works with MIT. The organisation denied the accusations. In July 2018, Germany banned the organisation on allegations it is involved in organized crime and represents a threat to the general public.
In December 2011, the Turkish newspaper Birgun reported on an interview with former Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz saying that Turkey was behind a number of large forest fires in Greece in the 1990s. Yilmaz later denied the statements, saying he had been misquoted by the newspaper and that he had been actually referring to unsubstantiated reports of Greek involvement in Turkish forest fires. In addition, former head of Greek intelligence service said they had intelligence that Turkish agencies were involved in the arsons in the 1990s but had no proof. He said they had received information from their agents in Turkey that Turkish agents or others were involved in the forest fires on Greek islands.
In August 2013, Greek police arrested a German citizen on the island of Chios on suspicion of spying for Turkey. Police said they had found in the man's possession cameras, laptops, maps and glasses with an embedded camera, and an email he had sent to an unidentified recipient with details on Greek warships and army vehicles on the island. The man confessed he had photographed barracks and other military-related buildings on the island for five people he believed were Turkish nationals who paid him up to 1,500 euros ($2,000) for each assignment. Greek authorities suspected that the individuals worked for the Turkish secret services.
In October 2014, Greek police arrested a German citizen on the island of Kos because he photographed sensitive locations on the island. He admitted that was spying for MIT.
In February 2017, the newspaper Kathimerini reported that the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation recruits EU retirees to spy on a variety of Greek sensitive locations, including military bases, airports and power plants.
In March 2017, the former editor in chief of the English version of Turkish Zaman newspaper, Abdullah Bozkurt, posted a tweet on his account warning of increased clandestine operations of Turkish intelligence agents in Greece.
In August 2017, the Kurdistan Communities Union said that had captured two Turkish nationals working for the MIT. Their plan was to assassinate a senior Kurdistan Workers' Party figure. They have been captured in Sulaymaniyah.
In August 2018, a PKK leader and other Kurdish fighters killed in Turkish airstrikes in Sinjar. The Turkish Armed Forces carried out the joint operation with the MIT.
MIT captured Abdullah Öcalan in Kenya on 15 February 1999, while being transferred from the Greek embassy to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, reportedly with the help of the CIA. He was then forcibly transferred to Turkey to face trial.
The cyber team of the MİT hacked the server of the ByLock in Lithuania and transferred all signed-up IP's to the headquarters in Ankara. The MİT had finalized its operation in December 2015 and January 2016, before ByLock has ceased its operation. Bylock was a secure communication app and Turkish authorities believe that it was exclusively allocated for the members of the Gülen Movement.
A Turkish teacher in Malaysia was abducted in 2016 from Kuala Lumpur over alleged links to the Gülen movement. According to reports he has been subjected to beating, torture, death threats and staged executions during his pretrial detention in Ankara.
In 2018, Turkish together with Moldovan intelligence services detained at least six Turkish nationals employed at a private chain of high schools in Moldova. All were teachers or students at the Horizont Turkish high-school private chain, which is seen as close to the Fethullah Gulen.
In July 2018, a Turkish teacher with links to the Gulenist movement was allegedly kidnapped in the Mongolian capital and taken to the city's airport. He has been released after authorities temporarily grounded the airplane which was operated by the Turkish Air Force.
Stockholm Center for Freedom accused the Norwegian Islamist religious organizations that are affiliated with Turkish government that were illegally profiling and intelligence gathering activities on Turks who are believed to be affiliated with Gülen movement in Norway.
In 2015, Matthew Aid wrote that according to reports spies from Turkey is among the most active in Serbia. Turkey organize and finance the movement of Bosniaks for the secession of the Raška region.
An investigation was launched on suspicion of unlawful intelligence gathering and illegal "mapping" against opposition circles in Sweden.
Parliamentarian Alex Kuprecht announced that the government was considering opening a criminal case against regarding espionage and other illegal activities performed by Turkish agents against dissidents. Also, there were espionage against academics who were critical of Turkey. On March 16, 2017, the Office of the Attorney General launched a criminal inquiry into possible foreign spying on Switzerland's Turkish community. Investigation also concerned an attempt to kidnap a Swiss-Turkish in Zurich to take him abroad.
In July 2018, a FETÖ-linked suspect was brought to the Turkey from Ukraine following operations conducted by the MİT.
^ "History of the MİT, MİT official Web site". mit.gov.tr. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
^ "Diyanet İşleri'ne 10, Cumhurbaşkanlığı ve MİT'e 2, Dışişleri'ne 4 milyar lira; işte 2019 için öngörülen bütçeler". t24.
^ Ünlü, Ferhat (2007-07-16). "İngiliz general Apo'nun başına beş milyon sterlin istedi". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-12-18. Ataç, ordu kökenlilerin oranının hiçbir zaman yüzde dördü geçmediğini belirttiği MİT'te, sivilleşme olgusu ve asker-sivil sorunsalının yanlış ele alındığı görüşünde.
^ Ünlü, Ferhat (2007-07-19). "MİT'te iç çekişme entrikaya yol açtı". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-12-18. Yaklaşık 5 bin kadrolu personeli bulunan kurumda (Yardımcı istihbarat elemanları ile birlikte bu sayı çok daha fazla) alt kademelerdeki ordu kökenlilerin oranının yüzde 4.5'i geçmediği belirtiliyor.
^ "'Hiçbir darbe gizli olmadı'". 2007-07-15. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-18. Öneş'e göre, askeri müdahaleler MİT'i geri bırakan asıl etkenlerdi. Çünkü MİT'in güvenlik anlayışı darbelere göre şekillendi. Demokratik süreç kesintiye uğrayınca istihbarat teşkilatı da geri kaldı.
^ "MİT'te akrabalık önemli referans". Sabah (in Turkish). 2007-07-20. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
^ Sariibrahimoglu, Lale (2008-12-07). "Turkey needs an intelligence coordination mechanism, says Güven". Sunday's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
^ Yetkin, Murat (2009-01-01). "Mercek altındaki MİT'te köklü değişiklik yapıldı". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 2009-01-01.
^ "National Intelligence Organization". mit.gov.tr. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
^ "Post-coup shake-up at Turkey's intelligence agency". 6 November 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
^ "Former Turkish spy chief re-appointed to post after abandoning election bid". 9 March 2017 – via Reuters.
^ a b c What's next for Turkey's National Intelligence Agency?
^ "Exclusive: Turkish intelligence helped ship arms to Syrian Islamist rebel areas". Reuters. 2015-05-21.
^ "Turkish journalists charged over claim that secret services armed Syrian rebels". The Guardian. 2015-11-27.
^ a b c "Turkish officers arrested for 'treason' after intercepting weapons destined for Syria". RT. 2015-11-30.
^ "Video purports to show Turkish intelligence shipping arms to Syria". Reuters. 2015-05-29.
^ "Iranian broadcaster raises suspicions about death of reporter on Syrian border". The Guardian.
^ "Mystery of American journalist killed in car crash in Turkey... just days after she claimed intelligence services had threatened her over her coverage of siege of Kobane". Daily Mail.
^ "US-Lebanese reporter dies in Turkey, Iranian TV calls accident 'suspicious'". Hurriyet.
^ "Family suspects foul play in death of US journalist in Turkey". Fox News.
^ "Russia claims Turkish NGOs are 'main supplier' of extremists in Syria". Deutsche WElle.
^ "Turkey is key supplier of weapons, military hardware to ISIS – Russian envoy to UN". RT.
^ "Turkse moskeeën in België gevraagd te spioneren voor Turkse overheid" (in Dutch). Knack. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
^ "Diyanet gathers intelligence on suspected Gülenists via imams in 38 countries". Hürriyet Daily News. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
^ "Türkische Imame spionieren in Deutschland für Erdogan" (in German). Die Welt. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
^ a b c "Turkey's Influence Network In Europe Is Leading To Tension". huffingtonpost. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
^ "Turkish intel returns wanted FETÖ member from Azerbaijan". hurriyetdailynews. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
^ "Egypt detains 29 people on suspicion of espionage for Turkey". 22 November 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017 – via Reuters.
^ "In Pictures: Egypt foils Turkish espionage attempt - Egypt Today". www.egypttoday.com. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
^ a b "Report: Turkey's MIT agency menacing 'German Turks'".
^ "German Lawmakers Call for Probe on Imams Suspected of Spying for Turkey". turkeypurge. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
^ "ERDOGAN'S MUSLIM SPIES: Turkish imams snooping on Merkel's Germany for President". express. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
^ "Germany accuses Turkey of 'unacceptable' spying". The Independent. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Germany to investigate claims of 'intolerable' spying by Turkey". The Guardian. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Turks in Germany warned over surveillance from Ankara". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Germany: Turkish spy list may be deliberate provocation". Fox News. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Müntefering wirft türkischem Geheimdienst Denunziation vor". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Name of German SPD lawmaker Michelle Müntefering found on Turkish spying list". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Spionage-Affäre: Michelle Müntefering auf türkischer Geheimdienstliste" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
^ "Former Turkish PM's arson admission fuels anger". Business Insider. December 28, 2011.
^ "Outrage As Former Turkish Prime Minister Says The Country Secretly Started Huge Forest Fires In Greece". Business Insider. December 28, 2011.
^ "Turk-Greek ties strained by arson row". Hurriyet Daily News. December 30, 2011.
^ "Greek police arrest German on suspicion of spying". reuters. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
^ Bozkurt, Abdullah (27 March 2017). "My sources are telling me #Turkey intel has escalated clandestine ops in #Greece, raising the number of operatives. Plotting something?". Retrieved 6 January 2018.
^ Weiner, Tim (20 February 1999). "U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
^ "Report: Sweden Launches Espionage Probe Into Turkish Gov't Representatives". stockholmcf. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
This page was last edited on 17 March 2019, at 01:05 (UTC).


Kobus Kuipers is to succeed Herre van der Zant as Departmental Director of Quantum Nanoscience. He is expected to take up the position in mid-2016. Kuipers is currently head of the Center for Nanophotonics at the FOM Institute AMOLF. He is also a professor at the University of Twente and Utrecht University. In 2013 he was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant.
Earlier in his career (in 2003) Kuipers received a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and he was a member of the Young Academy of the NWO from 2005 to 2010. His research focuses on the investigation and control of light using structures below the wavelength of light. Using such structures, light can be slowed, captured and manipulated in other ways. Besides developing fundamental knowledge about light, this research can contribute to faster telecommunications, more sensitive sensors (including biosensors) and new integrated chips for quantum information processing.
With his wide experience, Kuipers is an extremely valuable addition to QN. His presence brings a senior researcher to the department, who can act as an important link in building the future of QN. On 6 January, Kobus Kuipers will be giving the QN Seminar. Here he will introduce himself to the department and other interested parties.
Professor Herre van der Zant held the post of Departmental Director for seven years. Now that he has found a good successor, he will be able to focus fully on his own research once more.


As a nanny working in somebody's home there's no legal requirement to register with Ofsted. But you may choose to register as it could help to increase your professional status.
Once you're registered with Ofsted, employers can pay you using Childcare Vouchers, which is a tax-efficient way of paying for childcare. Or by using the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
If your employer asks you to register with Ofsted it's good practice for the employer to pay for or contribute towards the costs of registration.
As you don't have to register, your registration will be voluntary and you register as a 'Home childcarer'.
It currently costs £103 to apply and that fee includes a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
A certificate in paediatric first aid approved by your local authority which will have to be updated every three years.
Completed a Caring for Children in their Own Home course or have an appropriate qualification at a minimum of level 2. Your local authority can advise on pre-registration training courses.


text:
Q: Row Order in Python and abstraction to a Cartesian plane How to translate the coordinate system of a 2D Cartesian plane (x,y) to a matrix with indexes a[i,j]?
Say you have to simulate heat conduction in a 2D plane using the Finite Difference method. You're given the boundaries of the system as a point in the lower left, pos_inf, and a point in the upper right, pos_sup.
The results form a surface map, where the index a[i,j] stores the value of the temperature of that point, and have to be stored in a matrix with indexes i, j, as a[i,j]. With the same spacing h for the both directions, how should the discretization be done, and how does the row-ordering that Python follows interferes with that?

A: After bashing my head for a while now, I finally got the grips with the difference with row-order that Python uses and the definition of coordinates in a Cartesian plane. It's simple, but I'm putting it here because it can be confusing for the novice or the dyslexic.
As it has been pointed out, this is very similar to the behavior of np.meshgrid. The reason of this question is to explain in plain words the idea of the conversion of a cartesian plane to a matrix form.
Given a plane with a point in the lower left, pos_inf, with coordinates pos_inf = (x_inf, y_inf) and a point in the upper right, pos_sup (x_sup, y_sup), a spacing h (that I assume it will be the same for the x and y directions), the number of discretization points in each direction is equal to
points_x = int((x_sup - x_inf) / h)
points_y = int((y_sup - y_inf) / h)

Let's say that I want to store the value of a function in each point of this grid. I generate a matrix with size
a = np.zeros((points_y, points_x))

Note that the rightmost index in Python, j in a[i,j], go through the elements in the the same line, points_x times. i, the leftmost index, will go through the number of columns, points_y. A for loop is given by
for i in xrange(points_y):
  for j in xrange(points_x):
    a[i,j] = i

This way the points in the direction x are correspondent to the j index, and the points in the y direction are correspondent to the i index. So, for example, if points_x = 5 and points_y = 6, a cartesian space discretized with h = 1, starting with x_inf=0 to x_sup=5 and y_inf = 0 to y_sup = 6, would be
a = np.zeros((5,6))
for i in xrange(5):
  for j in xrange(6):
    a[i,j] = i

array([[ 0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.],
   [ 1.,  1.,  1.,  1.,  1.,  1.],
   [ 2.,  2.,  2.,  2.,  2.,  2.],
   [ 3.,  3.,  3.,  3.,  3.,  3.],
   [ 4.,  4.,  4.,  4.,  4.,  4.]])

This graph shows the directions:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home›Charitable Trust Fund›Home Loan Rates Drop To Lowest Since 1971 | Immovable
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate, the most popular loan product, fell to its lowest level on record this week, marking the 15th all-time low it hit this year.
According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed rate average fell to 2.67% with an average of 0.7 points. Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1% of the loan amount and are added to the interest rate. It was 2.71% a week ago and 3.73% a year ago.
The 30-year fixed rate has never been lower since Freddie Mac began tracking mortgage rates in 1971. It broke the previous low of 2.71%, set earlier in the month. For some context on how remarkably low rates are, since November 2018, when it was 4.94%, the 30-year fixed rate has fallen by more than 2.25 percentage points. At the start of 2000, the 30-year average was 8.15%.
Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates the rates of about 80 lenders across the country to get the national average weekly mortgage rates. It uses rates for high quality borrowers with strong credit scores and large down payments. These rates are not available to all borrowers.
Since the survey is based on home purchase mortgages, refinance rates may be higher. This is all the more true as the price adjustment for refinancing operations went into effect earlier this month. The adjustment is 0.5% of the loan amount. For example, it is $ 1,500 on a $ 300,000 loan and applies to all refinancings from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The 15-year fixed rate average fell to 2.21% with an average of 0.6 points. It was 2.26% a week ago and 3.19% a year ago. The average of the five-year revisable rates remained stable at 2.79% with an average of 0.3 points. It was 3.36% a year ago.
"The dynamics of mortgage rates in recent months have been less dependent on economic data and more on policy issues – both fiscal and monetary – as well as epidemiological developments," said Matthew Speakman, Zillow economist. "A new spending program can put upward pressure on mortgage rates, especially if the package contains more than what would have been debated. . Overall, mortgage rates remain very low and are unlikely to change unless a successful spending program is adopted before the end of the year. "
The Federal Reserve met this week for the last time this year. As expected, the central bank did not raise the federal funds rate.
"The Federal Reserve reaffirmed [its] commitment to keep short-term rates at zero for the foreseeable future, noting the slowdown in economic growth due to the intensifying pandemic, "said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. "We expect them to keep rates at the lower zero limit for years to come."
But most observers were more interested in what the Fed intended to do, if anything, about its bond buying program. In recent months, the Federal Reserve has bought mortgage-backed securities – or MBS as they are often called – which are lots of mortgages sold in a secondary market. When a borrower takes out a loan such as a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, a lender often bundles that loan with other loans into an MBS and then sells it to investors. The Fed's purchase of MBS helped lower mortgage rates.
Some feared that the central bank was slowing down its bond buying program. But in a post-meeting statement, he said that "until further substantial progress is made towards the committee's maximum employment and price stability targets," the Fed will continue to buy at least $ 120 million. dollars of bonds every month.
"While the Fed has been clear about its plans for the federal funds target, it has been less clear about asset purchases," Fratantoni said. Wednesday's announcement provided further commitment that they would continue to buy Treasuries and MBSs at the current rate until there is "substantial progress" towards a stronger economy. of vaccine distribution, we hope to see such progress during 2021. "
Bankrate.com, which publishes a weekly mortgage rate trend index, found that experts polled were almost evenly divided on the direction of rates over the coming week. About half predicted they would go up, nearly the other half said they would stay roughly the same, and a few expected them to go down.
Jim Sahnger, mortgage planner at C2 Financial, is one who expects them to remain stable.
"In the face of a number of negative factors affecting the economy, mortgage rates have remained consistently stingy, giving up a lot of ground from their all-time lows," he said. "The 10-year Treasury has risen nearly 30 basis points over the past 90 days, but mortgage-backed securities have remained fairly stable. The Fed met this week and said it was 'committed to it for the long haul and would do what is the interest rate complex until we meet the desired inflation and employment targets.
Immigration reforms proposed by President Joe Biden expected to benefit more than 200,000 residents and families of Massachusetts
Deborah Heart and Lung Center plans $ ...
Immigration reforms proposed by President Joe Biden ...
From junk to treasure: Ann Arbor man shares his passion for restoring old motorcycles
Brenda Mayhew of Palmer charged with murder in connection with the Fox Street homicide
AIG simplifies critical illness criteria
Agricultural analytics market expected to be resilient in 2030 – SoccerNurds
Read President Trump's speech on the coronavirus pandemic: full transcript
$ 95,000 for 95: Peggy Darling celebrates her birthday by giving gifts instead of receiving them
Lead by example by impacting, empowering and inspiring the community
From philanthropy to profitability | Insurance business in America

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sponsors Biltmore Tour
JACQUELINE VAN DER KLOET Sally O'Halloran Amy Fahmy Andi Pettis Pam Beck Karen Perkins Kelly Holdbrooks
attend Stay
HOMEAbout Speakers JACQUELINE VAN DER KLOET Sally O'Halloran Amy Fahmy Andi Pettis Pam Beck Karen Perkins Kelly Holdbrooks Schedule Attend attend Stay SponsorsBiltmore Tour
jacqueline van der kloet
Sally o'halloran
Amy Fahmy
andi pettis
pam Beck
karen perkins
kelly holdbrooks
Garden Designer & Plant Expert, Weesp, the Netherlands
Jacqueline van der Kloet is a Dutch landscape designer known worldwide for her innovative designs and her artful combinations of perennials and bulbs in the garden. Her designs are prized for their artful, naturalized schemes and bold use of color, and some of her best known work includes Chicago's Lurie Garden, the New York Botanical Garden and Shinko Central Park in Yokohama, Japan. She has worked on projects ranging from private gardens and city parks to national and international flower exhibitions and is the author of nine books, including Kleur je Tuin (Colour Your Garden).
lecture: Magical Mixes: Exciting Combinations of Spring Flowering Bulbs
'Magical Mixes' focuses on the many ways in which spring flowering bulbs can be used in the garden. Since 1993 Jacqueline van der Kloet has been experimenting with spring flowering bulbs in her own garden, 'De Theetuin' (the Tea Garden) in Weesp, a small city near Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jacqueline always has been inspired by 'natural looking' gardens and therefor in her designs she tries to implement bulbs in a natural way. In the first part of the lecture she shows how bulbs have been used in her own garden, from early to late spring. Besides that there are examples of her work for clients in Holland and abroad, like Keukenhof ( the famous Dutch bulb garden), the Lurie Garden in Chicago, Schloss Ippenburg (a castle in Germany) and a small park in Yokohama, Japan: Shinko Central Park. Every assignment is a new challenge and in her lecture about spring flowering bulbs Jacqueline shows the almost endless possibilities of how to make a colorful spring.
Lecture: Perennial Perspectives: The Power of Perennials
In the early days of her career, when Jacqueline van der Kloet started to develop a deep interest in plants and combinations of plants, perennials were her favourite group of plants. After having acquired a large garden in 1984, she started her experiments with combinations of plants per habitat, always aiming for the same goal in every single combination, like a long flowering period, nice foliage, various shapes of flowers and if possible a nice winter silhouette.
In her lecture Jacqueline talks about the combination she made in her own garden and from there proceeds to a large number of various projects in which perennials played a leading role, like the private gardens of some of her clients, semi-public and public gardens and a few city parks.
SPEAKINGOFGARDENING@GMAIL.COM


45%65°37°Partly cloudy with a high of 65 °F (18.3 °C). Winds variable.Night - Mostly cloudy. Winds variable at 3 to 8 mph (4.8 to 12.9 kph). The overnight low will be 41 °F (5.0 °C).
5%60°30°Mostly cloudy today with a high of 60 °F (15.6 °C) and a low of 30 °F (-1.1 °C).
15%59°33°Mostly cloudy today with a high of 59 °F (15.0 °C) and a low of 33 °F (0.6 °C).
20%47°27°Mostly cloudy today with a high of 47 °F (8.3 °C) and a low of 27 °F (-2.8 °C).
70%51°33°Showers today with a high of 51 °F (10.6 °C) and a low of 33 °F (0.6 °C). There is a 70% chance of precipitation.
Tonight - Mostly cloudy. Winds variable at 3 to 8 mph (4.8 to 12.9 kph). The overnight low will be 41 °F (5.0 °C).


Adrian Manessis has been directly involved with implementing safety management software for over 20 years. He has extensive experience with analysing, supporting, training, integrating and customising safety management systems into small, medium and global multinationals in every Industry.
Adrian is speaking in the Free Education Program at 11.00am on Wednesday 22 May.


I hung this flier in my dorm building so that more students can see it when the enter/leave.
I chose this photo because it was taken during a celebratory occasion. However beneath the surface, much more was going on. The image above is a screenshot of rappers Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg attending the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996 at the Radio City Music Hall. I found the image through searching "Tupac Shakur" on the website Corbis, a digital image company. The search brought up various photos of Tupac, but I felt this photo had the most context. The link of the photo is, http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#q=Tupac+Shakur. It was taken by Mitchell Gerber on September 1, 1996 to document those who attended the MTV Video Music Awards. It was also used to attract audiences into watching the ceremony because such big celebrities were in attendance. The image appears to reflect its original condition because of the way it has been digitally preserved. It is fairly clear and easy to detect those in the image as well as the setting. The image at its maximum size is 25 MB.
The photo was originally captured in the mid 1990s. This was a time of civil unrest for Americans in which there were battles between gangs in LA as well as between the Westside and Eastside of the U.S.. Tupac Shakur was an immensely iconic figure of the time because he was seen as one of the main representatives of the West Coast. As seen in the photo, he is flashing the west side sign, declaring his association with California. To his left, Snoop Dogg is flashing another gang sign at the camera. They both reflected their lifestyle in this situation and brought the aura of the urban streets to the public. Before this, it was much more controversial to be seen affiliated with gang signs. The two rappers broke the mold in openly declaring their affiliations in such a public setting and being unapologetic for it.
Snoop Dogg, also a very critical leader of rap music, and Tupac were viewed as a powerful team. This is probably one the the most important images of them because it shows that no matter the occasion, they stayed true to their west coast roots. The two are also dressed up in suits. Looking closely, you can see the jewelry they are wearing on their fingers. This, though a minor detail, is important because they were known for being extremely wealthy. They used their wealth to promote their west coast lifestyle and attract the support and attention of the public. They were an embodiment of the American Dream because they showed that they could reach the top of society despite the racial tensions of the 1980s and 1990s. They were also trailblazers in changing the fabric of society. They made it okay to be from a less wealthy background and proved that with enough focus and dedication, one could work their way to the top. All eyes were on them because of the impact they had on rap music. They were leaders in the genre and without them, the face of rap would be incredibly different.
This is still incredibly relevant to today because now more than ever, we see rappers go to award ceremonies decked out in jewelry. They too flash signs at the camera to show their affiliations and this originates back to the photo of Snoop Dogg and Tupac taken almost 20 years ago. They broke the wave of society by being more rough around the edges and harsher in their music. The two west coast rappers were proof that America was ready and accepting of change in terms of music, fashion, and mentality. Their influence remains pertinent because it transcends that moment in time from the 1990s to remain current and iconic to this day.
Today in our small section, we talked heavily about the Women's Movement and the effect it has left on society today. I was able to connect a lot of the points we talked about in class because I took a Women's Studies class last semester. The class and the discussion today has helped expose me to a lot of the injustices of the past and some that still persist. I think it is important to talk about such issues so that we can continue to progress and move forward.
Today in class Dr. Putman mentioned the counterculture of the hippies and described their lifestyle. He mentioned how San Francisco was the epicenter of the counterculture because it was known to be a more openminded city. We saw a clip in class about a big outdoor concert that took place in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I was able to connect that to a concert I had also been to in Golden Gate Park where that same hippie spirit was still alive. There were people with flowers in their hair dancing around, and just a large amount of people overall who all gathered together to listen to music and experience good vibes.
In the beginning of large lecture on Monday, Dr. Putman played a song about the atomic bomb. It was in the time period of WW2 and so the song was essentially reflecting the chaos of the time. Similarly, when I was listening to my iTunes I noticed J. Cole did the same thing in his rap "January 28th". He raps, "What's the price for a black man life? I check the toe tag, not one zero in sight". I interpreted the lyrics as touching on all the recent police brutality and aggression towards young black men. Interesting how we can look to music to reflect current and past times.
Last week I went to a concert at the North Park Observatory here in San Diego. It didn't occur to me then but looking back now, I can make a connection between that concert and Prof. Blum's lecture on light. Times have changed immensely from using light for basic needs like illuminating the dark and have advanced to now where it can be used for entertainment as well. At the concert I went to, the auditorium was dark but it was illuminated by various colored lights. Of course this added to the mood and overall feel of the concert but the main purpose was to showcase the performer while entertaining the crowd through the use of color. Its interesting to think that we now can use light for just about anything and it can affect our overall mood, the ambience of a particular place, and allow us to do much more despite the time it may be.
As I walking out of class the other day, I noticed these tiles on the ground outside the library. Some were in memory of loved ones and some were of graduates and people who contributed to SDSU. It hit me then that even through the architecture of my own school I am being haunted by the past, just as Prof. Blum lectured on. Though I do not know any of these people, myself as well as thousands of other students and faculty, walk over their names not realizing that they are essentially stepping onto pieces of history everyday.


"Everywhere we go, we are so blessed and encouarged by our ministry partners. Our recent church visits (COH San Jose, Bridges Los Altos, Calvary Baptist Ukiah) had us highly involved in music & the worship service. The picture (shown) was a highlight when we met with the Calvary Baptist Ukiah Sunday School that has been supporting us for 17 years. That is Victoria with some of the children.


text:
Germany: Hunter helps free deer from swimming pool
A fire service statement said that 'the animal didn't even thank anyone for its rescue'
Published: October 01, 2019 14:38 IANS
A deer stuck in an empty swimming pool in the village Esborn near the town Wetter an der Ruhr, Germany. Image Credit: AP
Berlin: Firefighters have freed a deer that got stuck in an empty swimming pool in a German town, with a little help from a hunter.
The fire service in Wetter an der Ruhr, in western Germany, said it was alerted to the animal's plight on Monday. Five firefighters sent to the scene found the deer trying unsuccessfully to climb the steep sides of the pool.
Local authorities called in a hunter to help. He grabbed the animal by its hind legs and pushed it upward toward the firefighters.
The fire service said in a statement Tuesday that "the animal didn't even thank anyone for its rescue" before it ran off.


text:
Q: How important is using identical memory sticks on Intel server boards? I've got an SE7501HG2 board in a server that currently has (unknown make) 4x1GB DDR266 ECC Registered DIMMs installed.  The board has three banks, so I'd like to install another 2x2GB.
The following statement appears in the technical specs document for the board:

Note: Intel does not test, recommend,
  or support mixing of memory types
  within the same server system.
  Functionality issues may occur if
  mixed memory types are installed in
  the same server system. Intel
  recommends that memory modules of
  identical size, type, banking and
  stacking technology, and vendor are
  installed in each server system. Intel
  will not provide support for issues
  encountered when mixed memory
  configurations are in use.

Now my gut tells me that this is just one of "those things" they always say to minimize the chance of strange little glitches.  The memory I'll add will be from Crucial or some other well-known vendor and be specifically compatible with the board.  If this registered stuff was cheaper I'd just replace the existing DIMMs, but at $150+ for 2GB I'd rather just add more.
I'm just reaching out to you guys in case somebody has actually had a problem doing this.  Thanks.

A: Generally speaking you can pretty much mix and match memory speeds these days and the memory controller will cope, running all at the speed of the slowest. But no manufacturer is going to support this as there are effectively an infinite number of combinations and you can bet that some of them would introduce instability through odd timing issues.
You are much less likely, I think, to get away with mixing registered RAM with unregistered or EEC with non-EEC on the same board though.

A: I've had nothing but hassles with mixed memory chips, everything from just not acknowledging the additional memory through to full on failure to boot, whilst using the memory separately is fine.  Biggest problems came when dealing with HP servers when even the slightest difference caused problems (not sure if it's changed but HP's memory model numbers differentiated Mhz size and form, not cas,ras etc.)
The main thing to be conscious of is which memory channels are paired together, and make sure each pairing is the same brand/speed and for the most part you should be good.

A: As long as you use the same memory types it should be okay. After all, multiple memory module vendors (think Corsair, Kingston) use memory chips from the same few chip manufacturers (think Infineon, Hynix). Unless you buy the modules at the same time, you may even end up with different memory chips. However, if you do end up mixing chips of different performance, thay may screw things up a bit.


As California experiences its worst whooping cough outbreak in more than 60 years, health officials across the country trumpet vaccinations to protect against the disease.
The number of cases of the disease in San Diego County this year has reached a record 1,046 as of mid-December and may triple the region's previous record by year's end, according to the county Department of Health and Human Services.
Data collected from around this state and several others show that many people who have come down with whooping cough had been immunized.
Reporters from KPBS and the Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit investigative center based at San Diego State University, collected and analyzed reports from areas with high rates of infection, and they traveled from Los Angeles to the Netherlands to find out why so many people are getting sick.
Two of the world's most respected experts on the whooping cough, which is also known as pertussis, have very different views. Dr. James Cherry, a prominent researcher at UCLA, says increased awareness of whooping cough has led to more reports of it. However, Dr. Fritz Mooi, a well-known Dutch scientist who has been studying mutations of the pertussis bacteria for 15 years, said a more virulent strain of bacteria is contributing to outbreaks.
KPBS and the institute have asked about the possibility of a more virulent whooping cough strain for months, and after rebuffing the inquiries last fall, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced studies of the disease, and the bacteria causing it, in California and Ohio. Two members of the California study group said it was prompted by the increasing death toll and KPBS-institute inquiries.
Officials from the CDC, the California Department of Public Health and two pertussis experts from UCLA held a conference call Oct. 13 to discuss studying whether a more virulent strain was responsible for infant deaths and is contributing to the current epidemic. That same day, whooping cough claimed the life of a San Diego newborn, its 10th victim in California.
Mooi said his research has been ignored by those who influence public policy on pertussis in the U.S. and beyond in part because they rely on vaccine makers to fund their meetings and research.
— For pertussis cases in which vaccination histories are known, between 44 and 83 percent were of people who had been immunized, according to data from nine California counties with high infection rates. In San Diego County, more than two-thirds of the people in this group were up to date on their immunizations.
— Health officials in Ohio and Texas, two other states also experiencing whooping cough outbreaks, report that of all cases, 75 and 67.5 percent respectively, reported having received a pertussis vaccination.
— Today, the rate of the disease in some California counties is as high as 139 per 100,000, rivaling rates before vaccines were developed.
— Public officials around the world rely heavily on two groups of pertussis experts when setting vaccine policy relating to the disease. Both groups, and many of their members, receive money from the two leading manufacturers of pertussis vaccine.
Vaccinations nearly wiped out whooping cough more than 30 years ago. But it has made a vengeful comeback in California and other highly vaccinated communities around the U.S.
Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health, said health officials expect to see a certain percentage of people who have been vaccinated contracting whooping cough. He says no vaccine is 100 percent effective, and those who are immunized and getting sick are likely to be people for whom the vaccine did not work or whose immunity has waned.
At the Bryce home in Chula Vista, Marlon, who is 31 and a contract specialist at the Naval Medical Center, and Cindy, 27, wonder about the effectiveness of the vaccine.
They discovered their newborn son, Matthew, had pertussis at only 23 days old, although everyone in the house had been vaccinated. Full family immunization, called cocooning, is universally recommended as the best protection for infants too young to be vaccinated.
The discovery led to the first attempts at a vaccine, but it wasn't until the late 1940s, when the rate of disease was around 157 cases per 100,000, that scientists developed a vaccine effective enough to prevent pertussis. By 1970s, the pertussis infection rate had dropped to less than 1 per 100,000.
By 1996, the FDA approved a new whooping cough vaccine —- an acellular version, which uses only purified components of the disease-causing organism. It is considered safer than the whole cell vaccine and is the only one used in the U.S. today.
Just as the vaccines were changing, health officials across the country were reporting increasing numbers of whooping cough cases. According to a CDC report, most of the children 4 years old and younger who got whooping cough nationwide between 1990 and 1996 were not fully immunized.
As of the end of October, and in cases where immunization history was known, data showed: 83 percent of the people with whooping cough in Fresno had been vaccinated. In San Luis Obispo, 76 percent were up to date on their immunizations. In San Diego, 68 percent were up to date.
Public health experts say the surge of the disease is cyclical, with increased diagnoses every two to five years.
Package inserts included with the two most common pertussis vaccines in the U.S. state they are 85 percent effective. Cherry, who was involved in the efficacy studies when the vaccines were licensed by the FDA, estimated the efficacy is between 70 and 80 percent.
"The vaccines have less efficacy than many people believe," he said.
Public health agencies recommend five vaccine doses by age 6, and that adults get a booster every 10 years. The California Legislature passed a law in September requiring all children entering middle school to receive a pertussis booster.
Cherry advocates booster shots. Mooi isn't so sure adult boosters are cost-effective. But both agree that the current vaccine offers the best protection against the disease, especially for families with an infant in the house.
Mooi says money should be spent studying today's strains and making a vaccine that would work against them, Mooi said. "After all, every year we have a new flu vaccine, so, I think we should have something like that for bacterial vaccines, too," he said.
Freelancer reporter Roxana Popescu, Watchdog Institute intern Sandy Coronilla and KPBS intern Jessica Plautz contributed to this report.
KPBS is the Public Broadcasting affiliate in San Diego. The Watchdog Institute is an independent nonprofit investigative journalism center. Both are based at San Diego State University.


The DIG 2014 Conference is on again and is a truly worthwhile one to attend.
The conference brings the latest developments in Phytophthora dieback management, research and on-ground projects from the perspective of speakers from government agencies, local government, industry groups, researchers and conservation groups. These developments change the way Phytophthora dieback is managed and help in the fight against the spread and devastating impact of these pathogens.
Click here to view information on the speakers and to register for the conference.


Background: Sudden cardiac deaths (SCD) are important clinical end points to assess the outcomes of many cardiovascular conditions. Examination of seasonal variation of certain diseases has led to new insights into pathophysiologic triggers. We assessed the seasonal variations in SCD.
Methods: The NIS database was used to estimate the annual number of admissions with primary diagnosis of SCD (427.5) from 2006-2012 using the International Classification of Diseases-9-CM diagnosis codes as the principal discharge diagnosis. The frequency of SCD for each month cumulative over 7 years was calculated. It was divided by number of days in that month to obtain the mean SCDs per day for each month. All calculations were carried out using the weighted estimates approximating nationwide population estimates.
Results: A total of 953,871 patients had SCD 2006 to 2012. SCD were maximum in the winter months and lesser in the summer months. The mean number of SCD each day (averaged over 7 years) was least in July. The average number of SCD was highest in February; thereafter, dropped to a nadir in July and again rose thereafter to reach a peak in February.


text:
Iran to open Somali embassy, Turkey rebuilds parliament
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi pose for photographs before addressing a joint news conference in Mogadishu November 14, 2012.
REUTERS/Omar Faruk
(Reuters) - Iran said it would set up an embassy in Mogadishu and Turkey promised to rebuild Somalia's parliament building, as the two neighbors, at odds over Syria, vied for influence in the Horn of Africa country.
Somalia has been mired in violence, Islamist militancy and grinding poverty since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving the country with no effective central government for two decades.
But security has improved in the last 18 months with al Qaeda-linked militants losing more territory under their control under pressure from African Union and Somali forces.
The country is looking to foreign donors to help rebuild its ravaged economy after decades of conflict.
Tehran's move to open an embassy followed Turkey's decision to set up its embassy in Mogadishu last year.
The two states are at odds over the conflict in Syria, and it was not immediately clear if the two foreign ministers had met on the sidelines in Mogadishu.
Sunni Muslim Turkey backs the largely Sunni rebels who are mired in a civil war against President Bashar al Assad's forces, who are mostly Alawite, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, the dominant religion in Iran.
Shi'ite Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said his country was keen to stand by the Somali people, but Tehran is also seeking to counter the influence of Western countries and its Sunni neighbors by extending its reach to parts of majority Muslim African countries.
Salehi told reporters after meeting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud that apart from the embassy, his country would also open a new clinic.
"(Iran) will do its best so that Somalia will make up for the past 20 years of crisis that it has gone through," he said.
It was not immediately clear when the embassy would open.
Previously, Somalia had only five functioning embassies operating in the country: Djibouti, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Ethiopia. Most other countries tend to handle Somali operations from neighboring Nairobi.
While security has improved in Mogadishu, the militants have been launching guerrilla-style attacks.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attend a joint news conference in Mogadishu November 14, 2012.
The four-year insurgency waged by al Shabaab left Mogadishu in ruins. Turkey has taken a leading role in the redevelopment of the city, as it seeks to boost its profile in Africa and promote itself as a model Muslim democracy.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said his country would rebuild the parliament building after which, he said, "We shall construct streets in Mogadishu and other government buildings."
Turkish Airlines has operated regular flights to Mogadishu since March.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Macharia and Michael Roddy)
FBI updates its 'most wanted terrorists' list, adds Alabama man believed to be in Somalia - AP
Blast in Nairobi injures one: police - AFP
In Pictures: 'We Can't Forget This Machine': The Letterpress of Mogadishu - The Atlantic
Jamestown man convicted of murder gets life - AP
Somali-Canadians speak out against youth violence - York Guardian
Hundreds flee as Kenyan forces hunt police killers - Reuters
Far From Home - Harvard Magazine
Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2010 stabbing death - Calgary Herald
No easy way to end xenophobia in SA - BD Live
The Somali Connection - Wall Street Journal
Convening of the 7th meeting of the Military Operations Coordination Committee on Somalia - APO
Turkish Red Crescent & Istanbul Municipality to reconstruct Mogadishu - AA
Little Hope for an End to Ogaden Conflict - IPS


text:
Skin ages when the main cells in the dermis lose their identity and function
by Centre for Genomic Regulation
Skin of a young mouse. The image shows a cross section of the skin with the fibroblasts indicated in green. The thickness of the dermis and the density of fibroblasts is much greater in young skin than in aged skin– cell nuclei, in blue. Credit: M Salzer, IRB Barcelona
With age, tissues lose their function and capacity to regenerate after being damaged. A study published today in Cell by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico of the Center for Genomic Regulation(CNAG-CRG) explains how dermal fibroblasts age.
The main conclusion is that these fibroblasts lose their cell identity, as if they had forgotten what they are, and consequently their activity is altered, thus affecting tissue. The study reveals the cellular and molecular pathways affected by ageing and proposes that they could be manipulated to delay or even reverse the skin ageing process.
Dermal fibroblasts are key for the production of collagen and other proteins that make up the dermis and that preserve the skin's function as a barrier. The activity of these cells is also crucial for the repair of skin damage. As people age, the dermis loses its capacity to produce collagen, and consequently its capacity to repair wounds is also significantly impaired.
"The elderly face many problems in this regard, because their skin does not heal properly and its barrier properties are decreased, thus increasing the risk of skin infections and systemic infections," explains Salvador Aznar Benitah, ICREA researcher at IRB Barcelona and leader of the study. "The notion that the loss of cell identity is one of the underlying causes of ageing is interesting and one that we believe hasn't been considered before," he says.
Holger Heyn, team leader at the CNAG-CRG and co-leader of the study, says, "Cutting-edge technologies allow molecular analysis of individual cells. In this study, we have applied advanced techniques to obtain high resolution images of fibroblasts as they age."
Authored by IRB Barcelona Ph.D. student Marion Salzer, the study demonstrates that, during ageing, skin fibroblasts start to acquire many traits that are characteristic of adipocytes (fat cells). "This leads to them losing their cell identify and they also stop producing and secreting collagen like they should," explains Salzer.
The single-cell analysis confirmed the loss of fibroblast identity in aged animals. Using sophisticated computational tools, the scientists observed that aged fibroblasts show a less defined molecular conformation compared to young fibroblasts and that "they resemble the undefined cell states observed in newborn animals," says Heyn.
Although being basic research,Aznar Benitah says, "This new knowledge might not only have cosmetic applications, for example anti-aging skin treatment, but more importantly, also therapeutic applications aiming to help aged skin to form scar tissue faster and more efficiently after being damaged or after an operation."
Investigators study how a protein factor contributes to cancer cell migration
More information: Marion Claudia Salzer et al. Identity Noise and Adipogenic Traits Characterize Dermal Fibroblast Aging, Cell (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.10.012
Journal information: Cell
Provided by Centre for Genomic Regulation
Citation: Skin ages when the main cells in the dermis lose their identity and function (2018, November 9) retrieved 16 July 2019 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-11-skin-ages-main-cells-dermis.html
Skin's own cells offer hope for new ways to repair wounds, reduce impact of aging on the skin
Study: Adult human immune cells have stem cell-like function that stimulates healing
Age-related changes in skin structure and lymphatic system promote melanoma metastasis


text:
OpenText finalise l'acquisition d'Actuate
Le 12 décembre 2014, OpenText signait l'accord d'acquisition de la société Actuate. Cette acquisition est désormais finalisée. Vous pourrez trouver l'annonce d'OpenText à ce sujet ci-dessous.
OpenText Buys Actuate Corporation
Actuate Adds Powerful Analytics to OpenText
OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC), a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM), today announced that, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Asteroid Acquisition Corporation, it has successfully completed its acquisition of Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ: BIRT), the leader in personalized analytics and insights. Actuate brings powerful analytics to the OpenText portfolio of products that enable customers to analyze and visualize a broad range of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
Complementing OpenText's existing information management and B2B integration offerings, Actuate offers increased business process efficiencies, greater brand experience and personalized insight for better and faster decisions via analytics and visualization. OpenText customers will now benefit from added analytic capabilities to their existing deployments and a new breed of analytics that provide insight across entire business flows.
"OpenText is committed to leading the EIM market place, and analytics is an imperative to enabling a Digital-First World," said Mark J. Barrenechea, president and chief executive officer of OpenText. "Actuate is a market leading provider of analytics, visualization and big-data insights, with 20 years of experience enabling large enterprises, the embedded markets, and the developer. It is an honor to welcome Actuate customers, employees and partners to OpenText."
Actuate will continue to serve the embedded analytics market, the developer, and will be deeply integrated into OpenText Products and OpenText, enabling OpenText to deliver analytics for the entire EIM suite based on a common platform, greatly reducing the total cost of ownership for OpenText customers and providing a comprehensive view that enables business insight on a more elevated, strategic level. Designed to be embeddable, developers can use the platform to enrich nearly any application, whether it is deployed on premises or in the cloud.
The founder of the popular integrated development environment (IDE), BIRT, Actuate developed BIRT iHub™, a world-class deployment platform that significantly improves the productivity of developers working on customer-facing applications. Currently, more than 3.5 million BIRT developers and OEMs use Actuate to build scalable, secure solutions that deliver personalized analytics and insights to more than 200 million customers, partners and employees.
The previously announced tender offer expired at 9:00 A.M., New York City time, on Friday, January 16, 2015, and was not extended. The depositary for the tender offer advised Asteroid Acquisition Corporation that, as of the expiration of the tender offer, a total of 39,385,288 shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer, representing a total of approximately 86.6% of Actuate's outstanding shares (excluding shares tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures but not yet delivered and shares that were owned as of the dated of the commencement of the tender offer by Actuate, OpenText or any direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Actuate or OpenText). In addition, Notices of Guaranteed Delivery have been delivered with respect to 945,157 shares. Asteroid Acquisition Corporation accepted for payment all shares tendered in the tender offer and will pay for all such tendered shares as soon as practicable in accordance with the terms of the offer.
Asteroid Acquisition Corporation subsequently completed the merger without a vote of Actuate's stockholders pursuant to Section 251(h) of the Delaware General Corporation Law, with Actuate surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of OpenText. Actuate shares ceased trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on January 16, 2015. In connection with the merger, all remaining Actuate shares (other than shares held by OpenText or Actuate or any of their wholly-owned subsidiaries or held by any Actuate stockholder who properly exercised appraisal rights under Section 262 of the Delaware General Corporation Law) not validly tendered into, or withdrawn from, the tender offer will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive US$6.60 per share in cash, the same consideration per share offered in the tender offer.
About OpenText
OpenText is the leader in Enterprise Information Management, helping customers to create a Digital-First World by simplifying, transforming, and accelerating their information needs. Over 100,000 customers already use OpenText solutions, either on premises or in our cloud.
opentext.com


Enterprise Sales: How to Approach, Pitch and Close the deal.
We are a full -service Business Intelligence start-up looking to find ways to get sales from enterprise companies. More so we want to handle all BI needs for companies that currently have none.
That's quite a loaded question, and so I would have a few questions to clarify more.
How big are your potential clients? e.g. 0-100, 100-250, 250-1000, 1000+?
Do you have any early successes/clients?
Are you looking for a low (automated) or high touch sales approach?
Be happy to chat over a call and run through some of the things we did to get several hundred global clients in 2 years.
I'm going to assume you're a small group of people with experience working with BI tools, both proprietary and open-source.
First thing is to understand who your target companies are. For some reason you mention companies that currently have no BI (I'm again assuming you have a good reason for this). That's a good starting point, but not enough. You should at least segment down to industry/sector, eventually region as well. Then you'll choose 1 or 2 sectors to focus on and do research on problems/opportunities within those. This information is key to approach the companies with relevant information.
Then, you need to identify the decision makers within the companies you're targeting and prepare your pitch deck based on the industry/sector information you gathered before, along with a delivery plan and, most importantly, how much your enterprise customer can gain with that.
It's especially important to understand your customer's pains and gains, and that involves getting specific information about their business. I worked within BI in several industries, so if you need some more advice on that feel free to get in touch.


External Reporting - Institutional wide data is gathered/processed/report to the Ministry of Advanced Education and governmental agencies throughout the year.
Information Support - Quantitative and qualitative information, analysis and data to support a variety of institutional information requirements from policy formulation for the Executive, to providing data for use in the Institutional Service Plan.
Monitoring and Analyzing - The office plays a minor role as a 'watch dog' for the Executive to inform them of any significant observations with respect to enrolment, financial, other internal analysis and environmental scanning.
Research - Research projects are undertaken upon consultation with the Executive and support of the Divisional Deans in order to assist the decision-making processes at Okanagan College.


text:
Justice Society of America (vol.3) #3 (2007)
Justice Society of America (vol.3) #3 (April, 2007)
"The Next Age, Part 3"
Penciller – Dale Eaglesham
Inker – Ruy Jose
Colors – Jeremy Cox
You ever notice that Marvel and DC spell "Penciller" differently? DC uses two ells, while Marvel only uses one… "Penciler". Neither of them pass the ol' blogger spellcheck test… but then again neither does "storyline" and a multitude of different actual words.
Seems most online haunts spell it with two ells… but, whattayagonnado?
Anyhoo… Justice Society, let's do it.
We pick up with Courtney waiting for her new pal Maxine to pick out a costume… not to mention, a code name! This is a scene we've seen time and time again in fiction, just minus the forced comedy… and musical soundtrack. This is actually quite well done, and features a pretty neat discussion on how a pair of teenagers might go about picking out superhero names. Courtney never had to worry, she was the Star-Spangled Kid… though, she does warn Maxine to steer clear of the "Kid" title, lest she wants all the adult heroes to treat her like she's still in diapers. Maxine ultimately settles on Cyclone, after her grandmother (the Golden-Age Red Tornado)'s sidekicks, the Cyclone Kids. She also chooses a costume that is equal parts gaudy and decent.
We shift back to the Heywood family reunion where the Fourth Reich continues to make quite a mess of things. It actually sorta crosses the line to gross here… We see the Nazi speedster, Blitzkrieg run right through a woman and child. I guess they had to do something to remind us we were reading a mid-2000's DC comic. Really unfortunate… totally for shock value, and sorta undermines the tone that has been set up to this point.
Hawkman does his best to hold back the horde, but there's only so much one man can do. Reichsmark the metal man approaches Nathan… and is just about to turn him into a molten man statuette when Nate shoves his cane down the baddie's throat. Reichsmark proceeds to vomit a bit of liquid metal nastiness on Nathan's face. I mean, really now…
Captain Nazi, which isn't a cute name I made up for him… honest, smashes Hawkman with a large Commander Steel statue before withdrawing the Fourth Reich so they might look for other families "to exterminate". As the dust settles, the police and other emergency services arrive… they are shocked by the carnage, not to mention the proliferation of shiny horrifying statues. The EMTs are unsure how they can help Nathan… but Hawkman (fresh off getting crushed) appears, and says he knows just the doc for him.
We pop in on the Wildcat father-and-son reunion. Ted tells Tom about his first son, Jake who was born back in the 1960's… and his tragic end at the hands of the son of Yellow Wasp. Tom kinda steers the discussion here… and uses Jake's death as a justification for why Wildcat wouldn't want to ever be a father again… and gives the ol' "no harm no foul". He tells Ted all he's got to do is wish him well… and forget about him. Ted's hesitant… he's not ready to leave just yet… though, he blames it on still having to finish his beer.
Back at the brownstone, Liberty Belle and Hourman are pawing at one another… which is kinda their gimmick at this point. Damaged Damage is nearby and tells them to "get a room". At this point, Hawkman arrives with Nathan Heywood. Dr. Mid-Nite takes a look… and it turns out, the liquid metal ralf is being absorbed by his skin! Betcha can't guess where this is going!
Green Lantern thinks aloud… the Heywood family are the second to be targeted (after the Thompsons). His little monologue is interrupted by the arrival of… Sand. That is, the former Sandy the Golden Boy, who is now the Sandman. He informs the Society that he's had a nightmare… and they need to hear alllllll about it.
In the meeting room Sandy reveals that not only multi-generational heroes being targeted… it's multi-generational mystery men who symbolize American patriotism! Stands to reason, we've seen Mr. America and his family offed… and Commander Steel's family (mostly) taken out. Sand reveals that two other families had been wiped out (off panel)… old Justice League International member General Glory… and his entire family, and Minute-Man (who I don't recall) and his family all had their throats slit. He tells the team that he's already reached out to Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters to advise them to remain vigilant… however, can think of two other families who might be targeted next… Liberty Belle's and Courtney's stepdad Pat… Stripesy!
The team knows they gotta roll out! I only include this image because I see something funny about Cyclone's eyes… it's almost as though she's looking at the reader incredulously here. Very Jim Halpert from The Office.
From here we get some rapid-fire vignettes… in Philadelphia, Libby Lawrence (the Golden-Age Liberty Belle) is at, the Liberty Bell! In Blue Valley, Pat Dugan is picking his son (I think it's his son) up from school… both find themselves under attack of the Reich. Back at the Brownstone, we learn what Dr. Mid-Nite saw lodged in Mr. America's lung… it's an arrowhead! Also, Wildcat wishes his son well, and prepares to leave.
As Wildcat goes for the door… he gets flattened! In the doorway stands our big bad… Vandal Savage! Tommy says he knows Savage, and refers to him as "that caveman". This appears to vex ol' Vandal… who then proceeds to explain his entire plan to the lad. Not sure why he feels the need to unload, but I guess it must get lonely being an immortal conqueror… so, we'll allow it. He claims to be using the Fourth Reich because they're easy to manipulate… and he's only using them to execute the "scab" members of the Justice Society… he's saving the full-timers for himself. Tommy grows anxious… and claims he doesn't want to fight. Then… something strange happens.
The lights go out, and Vandal attempts to hunt down the boy… however, what he finds might not be exactly what he expected!
Still having a great time revisiting these old friends. I'm almost surprised how much I'm enjoying this.
Let's get the ugliness out of the way first… the extreme violence early on was a bit much. I remember the various times I returned to reading DC Comics throughout the 2000's… and each time I was more and more put off (and surprised by) the level of violence. The last time I "returned" was after a bout of unemployment… and I was just in time for Brightest Day. In the back of all the books that month was a teaser for the newest volume of Green Arrow… which featured him shooting a man's nose off with an arrow. I think that's when it was clear to me that extreme violence was no longer to underscore a scene… but was just the way things were done now. In rereading these post-Infinite Crisis issues, I guess it had been the way things were done for awhile.
I dunno, I guess my thought process is that you can make something more disturbing and sadistic (if that's what you're going for) without showing any gore at all. Maybe it's just me. Just feels kinda cheap, and below the Justice Society.
For the rest of the issue… loved it! We're getting a lot of great interpersonal stuff here. From Courtney and Maxine's chat in the dressing room, to Liberty Belle and Hourman pawing at one another… and finally, to Wildcat and Son having their moments. All of the scenes worked great for me.
Courtney and Maxine… now, I can't claim to hang around teen-agers… nor can I claim to really ever being one… but this is how I imagine the less annoying ones converse. Granted, this is 2007 and before txt and social media speak took over completely… but, I enjoyed this bit and thought it sounded exactly how it should. So often these "dressing room" scenes feature purposefully horrible (or dated) costumes as early choices for comedic value… I gotta say, I'm glad we sidestepped that meme.
The Cat family dynamic was pretty cool. I'm not sure if it's me projecting or what, but you get the feeling like these two really want to have a family… but are both scared to say it outright. Tommy's been on his own without anyone to really rely on since his mother passed… he probably feels like he doesn't need anybody. And Ted… well, Ted's Ted. He doesn't often let his softer side show… his refusal to leave, because… ya know, he hadn't finished his beer… it like the perfect little bit.
Our big bad is revealed… and it's Vandal Savage. It's been… yeesh, ten years since I last read this, so I don't recall where this is going… but I'm looking forward to it. Still not sure why he felt the need to spill the beans to Tommy… but, I suppose exposition's gotta be delivered somehow… this was good a way as any!
Overall… this is one of my favorite 2000's DC Comics, and I'd recommend it without reservation. Well worth your time!
DC Nation (for added time-capsule-ness):