The results of a recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest the first new therapeutic option for Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) in many years. The study evaluated the addition of a novel precision cancer medicine called a PARP inhibitor to standard chemotherapy improved overall response rates and delayed cancer progression in patients with advanced SCLC.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 234,000 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 154,050 will die from the disease in 2018, making it the leading cause of cancer death. SCLC primarily is associated with smoking and accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of all lung cancers. The survival for most SCLC patients is less than a year and there have been no recent advances in its treatment.
Once a genetic abnormality is identified, a specific precision cancer medicine or targeted therapy can be designed to attack a specific mutation or other cancer-related change in the DNA programming of the cancer cells. Precision cancer medicine uses targeted drugs and immunotherapies engineered to directly attack the cancer cells with specific abnormalities, leaving normal cells largely unharmed.
In the current study doctors from MD Anderson Cancer Center enrolled 104 patients with relapsed SCLC from seven centers across the country. Patients were treated with either the PARP inhibitor veliparib combined with a standard oral chemotherapy regimen or the chemotherapy alone and directly compared.
The doctors are now further evaluating PARP inhibitors as initial treatment and in higher doses. Advances in identifying precision cancer medicines have recently improved the outcomes in many kinds of cancer and now perhaps these advances will benefit individuals with SCLC.


Tom serves as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Clinton, LA. He's married to Joy, and they have four children: Sophie, Karlie, Rebekah, and David. He received his MDiv and PhD degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with a major in Church History, emphasis on Baptists, and with a minor in Systematic Theology. Tom is the author of The Doctrine of Justification in the Theologies of Richard Baxter and Benjamin Keach (PhD diss, SBTS). He serves on the board of directors for Founders Ministries and is the Founders Blog administrator. He also serves on the board of directors for Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary and is an adjunct professor of historical theology for the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies.


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I am not the best at working out. This is something that I struggle with. I love the way my body feels when and after I work out. Yet, trying to keep a consistent regimen is hard for me. Things that are more appealing to me in the moment override the time I work out. There are activities that I love to do to get the exercise in that I need. Riding my bike, hiking, kayaking, and swimming are some of my favorite ways to get exercise. These activities tend to require me to be outside so when it's cold or rainy outside I tend to not do them.
Exercise is a key aspect for good mental and physical health. I find that when I am active I tend to have improvements with my spiritual journey. My mind is clearer, my body is healthier, and my energy is higher. I am going to post about the exercises that I do each week to motivate myself and hopefully motivate you as well. I want to talk about my successes and failures with exercise for the week so that you and I could have some understanding about what was the case. I am looking forward to having an ah-ha moment so that we can continue to exercise consistently. Having this consistent activity will improve our bodies, minds, and souls.
This week I pushed myself to play tag with the children that I babysit for during the week and walked around Baltimore for 5 hours on Saturday. It was really hard for me to make the effort to run around the park chasing after the kids. It knew it would be excellent exercise to help me get a little energy boost. So, I made the choice to run with them.
It worked wonders on my energy and my mind was clearer! The walk in Baltimore was exciting. I was so exhausted at the end of the walk, I fell right asleep when we got home. I walked almost 8 miles. My energy had been high Sunday because of the exercise Saturday.
I will be sending weekly exercise updates with an exercise practice for you to do at home. Please feel free to comment with how you struggled and succeeded. I will be going the same practice as well as other exercises. This weeks exercise practice is to walk around the block two to three times before or after dinner at least three times.
I can't wait to hear how we do this week!!


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Nike Air Max 95 "Freddy Krueger": Release Info, Date, Price
Where to Buy Nike's Blood-Soaked "Freddy Krueger" Air Max 95
Model: Air Max 95
Key Features: Deep red panels are paired with lighter, faded blue and brown, all of which harken back to the A Nightmare on Elm Street villain's tattered sweater.
Release Date: Available for preorder now
Buy: endclothing.com
Editor's Notes: With Halloween just over a month away, Nike has dressed its Air Max 95 in a familiar colorway. The upcoming release features a Freddy Krueger-inspired color scheme, as shown in the product shots above.
A similar colorway once adorned a pair of Nike SB Dunk Lows, although those were never released to the public due to legal issues. After sample pairs made their way onto the sneaker market, the Freddy Krueger Nike SB Dunk Low has become one of the most valuable and sought after Dunk Low in history.
For those who always dreamed of owning a pair of the Nike SB Dunk Lows, these "Freddy Krueger" Air Max 95s could be the consolation prize you've been waiting for.
The Nike Air Max 95 is expected to be part of a Halloween-themed pack that also includes a Dracula-inspired Nike Air Trainer 3.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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laura gunderson oregonian
Employment. oregon state law
Statewide building code
Gunderson. cfm team. august
Campaign. cfm team. august 16
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Bradley Paul Avakian (born February 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Oregon House, the Oregon Senate, and as the state's nonpartisan elected Labor Commissioner.. He was appointed Labor Commissioner by Governor Ted Kulongoski on April 8, 2008 and subsequently elected statewide on November 4, 2008.
The 2009 Legislature needs to come to grips with this.As The Oregonian's Laura Gunderson reported last week, the past two years have brought a sharp spike in complaints to the attorney general's.
oregon pre employment drug testing laws 2016 Legislative Update: Employees and the use of Recreational Marijuana. Oregon State laws pertaining to employment. oregon state law protects citizens from state and local criminal prosecution for using, growing, and possessing marijuana.. Yet others are choosing to bypass the pre-employment.oregon liquefaction map The map shows which buildings in the tri-county area were built in each era. Structures predating 1974, when Oregon enacted its first statewide building code, would suffer the worst damage in a 9.0-magnitude earthquake. Buildings constructed after 1993, when western Oregon adopted its first.
By Laura Gunderson | The Oregonian/OregonLive Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber issues his resignation statement John Kitzhaber began his public service as a state representative in 1978.
Laura gunderson. cfm team. august 16, 2018. Oregon Newspapers Join #FreePress Editorial campaign. cfm team. august 16, 2018. Oregon newspapers join the Boston Globe-inspired #Free Press editorial today to rebut attacks about fake news, reaffirm the role of a free press and remind readers of the.
Laura Gunderson for The Oregonian Editorial Board. Oregonian editorials Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the.
Read the full agenda here. Laura Gunderson and Helen Jung for The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board Keep Oregon solvent: Oregon leaders' stubborn refusal to address the pension funding crisis.
The Oregonian's Laura Gunderson uncovered this story and joined All Things Considered host Kate Davidson to talk about the mix-up. To hear their full. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Laura Gunderson is an investigative reporter at The Oregonian newspaper in.
wild animals in oregon wildlife. Use several kinds of plants for flowers of different shapes and colors that bloom at different times. Portland is home to over 300 species of fish and wildlife, and untold numbers of invertebrates. That's an amazing amount of wildlife for an urban area, and it's a testament to the city's diversity of habitats and the commitmentchanges portland oregon Welcome to my Website about the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The site is designed for newcomers to the area so you can learn about Portland and its communities. It's loaded with information about the Portland area housing market, neighborhoods, schools, weather, parks, taxes and what you can expect if you lived here.
Laura Gunderson for The oregonian/oregonlive editorial board. editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom.
Two people involved in Kitzhaber's 2010 campaign helped Hayes find paid work with groups interested in Oregon policy, Budnick and Gunderson reported. Both have landed in Kitzhaber's.
The latest Tweets from Laura Gunderson (@LGunderson). Editorial and commentary editor for @Oregonian – join the conversation at https://t.co/nqbioASxBT. lgunderson.
In a year when the presidential election has generated unprecedented interest, The Oregonian today told readers it would make no endorsement in the race. Here's how Oregonian editorial page Editor Laura Gunderson explained the decision. "Most Oregon voters have already chosen whether they support H.
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Montreal researchers explain how muscles form
An international team led by Montreal researchers discovers two proteins essential to the development of skeletal muscle.
All vertebrates need muscles to function; they are the most abundant tissue in the human body and are integral to movement.
In a recent article published in Nature Communications, an international team of researchers discovered two proteins essential to the development of skeletal muscle. This research, led by Jean-François Côté, a professor at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal, could lead to a better understanding of rare muscular diseases and the development of new treatments.
From nuclear fusion to cell fusion
Skeletal muscles are attached to our bones and enable our bodies to move. Whether in a developing embryo or a professional athlete, the same sequence leads to their formation.
"In vertebrates, cells derived from stem cells, called myoblasts, first align with each other and come so close as to eventually touch and compress their cell membranes," explained the study's lead author Jean-François Côté, Director of the IRCM's Cytoskeleton Organization and Cell Migration Research Unit.
Ultimately, myoblasts merge to create one large cell. This phenomenon, called "cell fusion", is very particular. "Cell fusion involves just a few tissues, including the development of the placenta and the remodeling of our bones," Côté said.
The 'dance' of the muscle cells
To develop and also repair muscle, myoblasts have to perform their movements very carefully. No false move is permissible, otherwise there will be defects. In their study, Côté and his team describe their discovery of two proteins - ClqL4 and Stabilin-2 - that regulate this singular choreography.
Indeed, ClqL4 and Stabilin-2 ensure successful completion of this delicate sequence. They slow down and trigger cell fusion respectively at key moments. Their role is crucial: if the "metronome" of myoblasts is interrupted, the muscles will not be the right size, and their function will be affected. This is what happens in muscle diseases characterized by a weakness that makes certain movements difficult.
The discovery of the proteins is the culmination of an international collaboration between teams from Montreal, Japan, the United States and South Korea. "Our second author, Viviane Tran, one of my doctoral students, spent time in Tokyo to conduct important experiments in the lab of Michisuke Yuzaki, one of our collaborators," Côté noted.
The IRCM researchers have already embarked on the follow-up study. They want to determine whether the results of their research could become a therapeutic target for rare muscle diseases such as myopathies and muscular dystrophies.
Viviane Tran, étudiante au doctorat, Jean-François Côté et Marie-Pier Thibault, assistante de recherche.
Credit: IRCM.
"Spatiotemporal regulation of the GPCR activity of BAI3 by C1qL4 and Stabilin-2 controls myoblast fusion," by Jean-François Côté et al, was published Oct. 26, 2018 in Nature Communications. Funding was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Transat Breast Cancer Research Chair, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
About the IRCM
Founded in 1967, the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) / Montreal Clinical Research Institute is a non-profit organization that conducts fundamental and clinical biomedical research in addition to training high-level young scientists. With its cutting-edge technology facilities, the Institute brings together 33 research teams working in cancer, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, systems biology and medicinal chemistry. The IRCM also operates a research clinic specialized in hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes and cystic fibrosis, as well as a research centre on rare and genetic diseases in adults. The IRCM is affiliated with Université de Montréal and associated with McGill University. Its clinic is affiliated with the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). The IRCM is supported by the Ministère de l'Économie, de la Science et de l'Innovation (Quebec Department of Economy, Science and Innovation).
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Free Clint Lorance; Convicted of Murder for Proactively Ordering his Soldiers to Thwart an Ambush
by Susan Price | Jan 17, 2019 | Politics,
Less than 1% of Americans serve our great nation in uniform. Our Warriors take these Oaths and sign on the dotted line never knowing if they'll become a statistic or a casualty of war. They enter under a belief system that they will be protected by the very laws of the Constitution they serve to protect.
Never in their wildest dreams could or would they imagine they're being compartmentalized from societies within. Forces that are being weaponized against Americans for a political advantage; dividing us from our brothers in arms of every uniform, while rewriting our laws to fit their sinister plots.
Yet, modern day warfare of the 21st century has grown in influence by a transgenerational criminal mafia, both Political and Military.
These forces are strategically aware of the two oldest directives in the book pertaining to war, the first being, call the enemy by name and the other is to divide and conquer.
One word against another, they'll deny it if the truth sees the light of day, don't worry, there will be some shadow figure who will override the crime and pin the tail on the nearest donkey all in the name of subordination. Now you know why there is such a high rate of PTSD.
They put our men in uniform and cast them into the valley of death. They tie their hands behind their backs with rules of engagements and then throw them in the brig because the enemy has been defeated…. what the hell has #44 done to our military leadership?
That's right, Obama fired about 200 military generals and officers, remember? Why? I think it's pretty obvious why, to keep the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing….It's called "COMPARTMENTALIZATION".
We've been witness to a corrupted Judicial system, whereby, Attorneys and Judges are micromanaging our battlefields.
Our heroes are maimed or killed through ambushes or made to walk through mine fields, shot down from the skies as well as shot to death on American military bases, loss of limbs to explosive devices, neglected, abandoned, and fallen victim by way of dereliction of duties. The good guys are killed or thrown in jail while the bad guys are rewarded, and sometimes receive reprimands in their records only to be removed shortly later; then promoted and put in charge of stability operations. We've heard one obfuscation after another in order to rewrite the narratives; our families struggle daily because of the injustices and lack of accountability and the total disregard of our Veterans, over illegals.
Just like a scene from a nightmare "Something Wicked This Way Comes" setting the stage for yet "another" egregious tragedy that occurred to an American Soldier on the battlefield. What happened to 1st Lt Clint Lorance is downright evil, wicked and unimaginable, as he was abandoned by his own peers and dammed by those he could not fight against.
He had dedicated his entire adult life to the United States Military, serving in Afghanistan as a 1st Lt in a dangerous combat zone when only three days into his newly appointed arena against the enemy forces, when an incident struck and this 1st Lt had to make a split second decision to fight back or be killed.
The ramifications to follow would deliver his fate, his entire young life would be dissolved and destroyed by an obtuse and insidious chain of events to unfold.
While engaged in combat in Afghanistan, Clint was charged with attempted murder of a male Afghan descent, two counts of murder of a male of Afghan descent, ordering a sniper to fire into an abandoned village and a few military specific charges. It is important to note that the Government prosecutors knew the men Clint killed were enemy fighters, but withheld this information from Clint's Lawyer's at Trial.
The real crime is that this Army Officer became the sacrificial lamb upon the alter of destiny, his voice never heard in the courtroom regarding his side of the story, he was condemned and bastardized as guilty before the ink hit the paper, and new narratives and eyewitness accounts from his own men and a nefarious bastion of shadowy elites more in sync with a false narrative then the truth on that fateful day, all sympathizing with the enemy forces betraying an American brother in arms.
The fingerprints of "covert thuggery" are written all over this egregious story; another American pawn added to the roster by the shadow elites who wear their uniforms with contradiction and a smile to fool those on the surface while forwarding their dark agenda to inspire the hearts and minds of Afghan and Taliban elders.
What happened to Clint Lorance was a "Shame to Silence" a prime example of moral decay, the erosion of American soldiers rights on the battlefields and in the courtrooms has become more common than most people realize. The foreign enemies on the battlefields have more rights and privileges provided to them by the domestic elite enemies from within!
WATCH THE VIDEO: Life Changing Evidence Withheld to Clear Clint Lorance
President Trump, as you're reading this article about an innocent Army Officer who was doing the job he took an Oath to do, and was used as a pawn by the military elite deep state without a fair hearing and without so much as a vowel, noun, or syllable uttered in his own defense, the family of Clint Lorance has but one request to make of you in his defense; "Mr. President in regards to Clint Lorance, Please disapprove the findings in the sentence, or direct the Secretary of the Army to disapprove the findings in the sentence. Thank you Sir for your time and attention in this matter."
Upon interviewing Anna Lorance, Clint's loving mother and his Attorney, John Maher, I am quoting the layout of her son Clint Lorance's tragic incidence that fateful day.
This is a call to Justice. As mothers, the givers of life, there is nothing more endearing to the seat of our souls than our children.
According to Anna Lorance's Timeline, "FREECLINT" regarding her son, Army Officer Clint Lorance, the following occurred on that tragic July day.
"In July 2012, while serving as a Rifle Platoon leader in a remote sector of Kandahar Province Afghanistan, First Lieutenant Clint Lorance's platoon embarked on what was seemingly a normal combat patrol. Clint's patrol, consisting of 16 US Infantrymen, 5 Afghan National Army Soldiers, and 1 US Interpreter, left their Strong Point early in the morning on July 02, 2012, to a neighboring village. The platoon knew this village all too well, as only days before, one of their brothers, a US Soldier, had been shot in the neck in this very village. The incident as it unfolded that fateful day.
Having constant contact with overhead US Army helicopters, it would soon become apparent to Clint that the platoon was headed into enemy held territory. Army pilots warned Clint over the radio of enemy presence to the North, East and West of the Platoon's position on the ground. Clint confirmed with the pilots a good description of the enemy, and pilots continued to track and provide overhead surveillance for Clint's infantry platoon who was traveling on foot in the mine-riddled Afghan terrain. The Soldiers were operating in a terrain that leaders had deemed too dangerous to drive vehicles due to the expensive damage to vehicles as a result of mine explosions. In an effort to preserve their vehicles, the Infantrymen walked everywhere on foot, behind hand-held mine-detectors and explosive-detective dogs.
A dirt road was situated between the small base and the village, which had been restricted to military and police use only. This road had been lined with concertina wire, so as to reduce the Taliban's freedom of maneuver. This restriction had been in place for several months prior to Clint's arrival. It was a common Taliban tactic to run from US Forces on their motorcycles to the river to the South of the base, out of Clint's platoon's area of operations (sort of like a jurisdiction, keeping military units properly aligned on the battlefield). As the platoon made their way across the road and through the concertina wire, a two wheeled motorcycle bearing three military – aged males came down the road at a higher-than normal rate of speed. As the motorcycle approached, the men were pointing at the Soldiers positions.
Trial testimony proved that back at Headquarters and simultaneously, radio signals were being intercepted by US intelligence Soldiers which clearly indicated that someone was pointing out via radio the positions of the US Troops on the ground. These radio intercepts were being translated into English and relayed via secure military radio to Clint on the ground. These Taliban were clearly setting up for an ambush. As the motorcycle approached the patrol, one of Clint Lorance army Soldiers, a former policeman, yelled back to him and said the motorcycle was coming at a faster than normal rate of speed and asked for permission to fire.
The Taliban showed no indication of slowing down and ignored the Afghan Soldiers verbal and visual warnings to stop. Clint had 3-5 seconds to react to this threat before the bike reached his men, who were tactically vulnerable because the patrol was in the middle of crossing the road, Clint granted his Soldier permission to fire.
The Soldier fired and missed. The motorcycle came to a stop under a tree a few hundred meters from Clint's position. The Taliban dismounted and began approaching the patrol. The Afghan Soldiers who were in front of Lt. Clint US army men instinctively raised their weapons and prepared to fire, shouting at the men to stop. The men ignored the Afghan Army's commands. This is all happening in seconds. Clint gave permission to fire, killing two of the men, one ran away. Minutes later, the Soldiers detained that man who had ran away, he later tested positive for homemade explosives residue on his hands. During this patrol, a separate element of Clint's platoon on the other end of the village engaged and killed two Taliban who were visually observing and communicating that they saw the Soldiers position on the rooftop. A second man was captured while attempting to flee the village by another element of Clint's platoon. This man also tested positive for homemade explosives residue.
It is important to consider that, though the men Clint ordered killed did not have any weapons on them, however, their motorcycle was taken away by another Afghan a few minutes after the engagement and the third man did run away. Was the third man carrying a weapon?? Did the motorcycle contain an explosive device?? See News reports by motorcycles used by terrorists. Intelligence reports for the area identified any personnel owning or operating a motorcycle as Taliban, as there were no local population living there.
The local population had long since moved out of the area because it had been taken over by the Taliban. Essentially, if they were in the area, they were up to no good. The only other non-Taliban actors in this area were farmers who commuted from their homes south of the river to farm the land that had been left abandoned. Upon return to base, Clint ordered both of the captured men be tested for explosives residue on their hands. Both men tested positive, confirming Clint's suspicions that the men had handled explosives recently. Clint also ordered the men entered biometrically into the platoon's computer to check for past criminal history. Then men both gave a "John Doe" name when asked, negating the computer check. Clint then ordered that both men be physically separated, put into a shaded area, and be given food and water. Both men refused food, but drank water. When the Afghan Police arrived and asked Clint for permission to interrogate the prisoners, Clint denied the Police access to the prisoners and declared from under US custody, as such, they would be treated in accordance with US Army laws for treatment of prisoners. These laws mandate that the US personnel must protect anyone in their custody from interrogation or unjust treatment.
Clint instructed his men to guard the prisoners and not talk to them, 2-3 hours later, the prisoners were transported to the detainee processing facility at the Brigade Headquarters. Even though both men tested positive for explosive reside and were acting suspiciously and acted exactly as all other Taliban do in the area. Clint's higher HQ assumed they were innocent due to political reasons. The Army assumed Clint guilty of random acts of murder, fired him from being a platoon leader, took his weapon away in combat zone and moved him to headquarters to assume administrative duties while awaiting the investigation. In November 2014, Defense Team of Clint Lorance Petition uncovered information that proves these men were both Biometrically connected to IED attacks on US Soldiers, the Army had this information, and did not think it was important enough to divulge to Clint Lorance appeal lawyers. The members of Clint Lorance's platoon have since made efforts to protect themselves by testifying against him in exchange for immunity. Clint is the only person in this incident to face any criminal charges. Clint stood in court and said, "I take full responsibility for the actions of my men."
Each of the above circumstances were validated by witness testimony, while under oath, during the court martial. Nine of the ten men being considered for committing murder were granted immunity by then General John Nicholson in exchange for their testimony against the remaining one, Lt Clint Lorance.
Such a Treasonous Traitor with his spin on false narratives, General John Nicholson, you're a disgrace and contradiction in uniform and this is NOT YOUR FIRST TIME YOU "FALSELY SET UP" AMERICAN VALOR WHILE SIDING WITH THE ENEMY. Calling you out by name for you are the true domestic enemy, it was you who divided the loyalty among 1st Lt Clint Lorance's men, shaming them into silence and false narratives to which you have a history of doing. General Nicholson on BBC.
There is no contest in trying to fight these so called "Elite" because there are NO LAWS PROTECTING OUR WARRIORS AGAINST THESE DEEP STATE WARMONGERS. They come from a dynasty and generation of "Ring knockers" aka the "revolving door" deep state military-political sympathizers, their families are the shadows running the show, they are educated and used to infiltrate our government and are notorious for doing business with our enemies. They are the rogue elements, domestic terrorist from within, they misuse and abuse their powers and directives of the rules of engagement, trading a pound of American flesh to win the hearts and minds of the enemy to forward their agendas. Just how and when did this happen that we promote the enemies agenda and belief system over our own American forces?
When President Trump is finished draining the Political "deep state" General John Nicholson should be added to the top of the list for draining the Military Industrial Complex!
First of all, Who is General John Nicholson? That's right, he is the General who was responsible for trying to set up our Marine Special Operations Team in Afghanistan among others. More Here: Innocent Marines Were Within an Inch of Being Falsely Imprisoned
Something to think about, July 2012 was an important time for senior US officials in Afghanistan. Civilian casualty allegations across the battlefield were beginning to complicate the end of war transition negotiations to include a similar incident that happened only weeks before in the same area by a different infantry unit as well as a mass killing of Afghans by a US Soldier that made international news. Sufficed to say, Army officials needed someone to harshly punish in order to show the Afghan government we will take care of our own. Keep in mind that this is all happening as the US and Afghan governments are discussing a status of forces agreement between the two nations. That is, the US guarantee that if Americans commit crimes, they will be dealt with swiftly by US justice system. The US officials needed an example to drive this point home at this pivotal time in transition. Enter 1st Lt Clint Lorance. Decide for yourself. We send our Soldiers to fight a war where civilians and enemy look alike. They are walking through fields of land mines designed specifically not to kill, but to maim and mutilate. How is the US Government going to turn around and accuse these brave soldiers of murder, what would you do in this situation?
To this day, Lt Clint Lorance maintains full responsibility for the actions of his men and himself on 1 & 2 July 2012. When asked to this day, Clint says, "If anyone has to go to Prison, it should be me, as the Officer on the ground." Clint's words today, "I NEVER LEFT MY SOLDIER'S BEHIND"
To Free Clint Lorance. In 2018, his legal team discovered a document that proves the Army Lawyers knew about the "innocent civilians" as they were called by the Army's Lawyers at Clint's trial. In short, the Army knew they were court-martialing a Soldier for killing enemy forces, but did so anyway to make a statement to other Soldiers and the Afghan government.
The Army knew Clint was innocent and they sent him to prison for 20 years anyways.
Clint does not have access to the internet and his phone access is very restricted. You may, however write to Clint directly via US Mail at the following address:
Clint Lorance 93197
1300 North Warehouse Rd
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027
To support Clint Lorance, Please email: freeclintlorance@yahoo.com
RECENT COURT FILING
[pdf-embedder url="https://americaoutloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lorance-Habeas-and-Exhibits-Filed-12-18-2019.pdf" title="Lorance Habeas and Exhibits Filed 12 18 2019″]
For Further Insight:
– http://www.freeclintlorance.com/updates/
– http://www.freeclintlorance.com/biography/
– http://www.freeclintlorance.com/take-action/
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Lorance
– https://www.militarytimes.com/special-projects/task-force-violent/2015/03/05/task-force-violent-the-unforgiven-part-1/
Susan Price is a National Gold Star Mother and resides in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. The daughter of a Marine, and Army Veteran, She is also the Mother of a Fallen American Hero, Gunnery Sgt, Aaron Michael Kenefick, a highly decorated and stellar Marine of over twelve years. The tragic loss of Susan's son and his Marine Embedded Training Team raised more questions than answers. It was through a Mother's undying love that Susan transformed into an Investigative Researcher. Through her countless hours, days, weeks, and years connecting the dots, factual documentation, eyewitness accounts, and more, emerged a back story to the crimes that took place on the battlefield that fateful day of September 8th, 2009.
Susan is also known as a Veterans Advocate and a National voice. She has appeared on 60 Minutes and other national media as well as and Patriot radio. Having worked with various Congressmen concerning our Military and Veterans, she has been sought out by many as the "the Gold Star Mother with a voice" – and "go-to person."
Malcolm Out Loud(@malcolmoutloud)
An absolute travesty at the highest level. Clint Lorance should get a medal of honor in the White House, not a jail cell. None of this makes any damn sense whatsoever. It's almost like we're missing something. The puzzle is incomplete. This a fight of GOOD vs evil is about the only conclusion I can come up with! President Trump must act and QUICK WE PRAY!
Cathi Chamberlain(@cathi-chamberlain)
Nice job bringing light to this travesty, Susan. Hannity's radio show yesterday had Louie Gohmert and Duncan Hunter on. Sounds like they've formed a caucus and are committed to getting our boys out. Thanks for the contact info. This makes me spitting made….I can only imagine how fired up it's got you. Bless you and see you soon.
Valorous on the Battlefield - Trump Grants Clemency to Lorance, Golsteyn & Gallagher - America Out Loud
[…] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLJkcBwSv8w https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2019/11/16/exclusive-garret-graves-i-called-lt-lorrances-mom-from-air-force-one-to-tell-her-trump-pardoning-her-son/?fbclid=IwAR2TXkYgxhfX89iobtPxcLAe4-Y_ti8QE-9mLgBbYCgWH2CG7GzJPPM5nSI https://americaoutloud.com/free-clint-lorance-convicted-of-murder-for-proactively-ordering-his-soldi… […]


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Protective Packaging recently worked with an aerospace manufacturer to preserve the main rocket engines used during the Space Shuttle missions.
A large aerospace manufacturer had been tasked with storing several rocket engines used during the Space Shuttle missions. The company had a packaging solution in place that consisted of regular polyurethane bags fitted with valves that enabled them to pump "missile air" (super dehumidified air) into the bags to purge the ambient, humid air out of the bag and keep the humidity at a minimum inside the bag. This solution is effective for reducing the risk of corrosion as long as the power is on and the pump supplying the missile air is working. In the event of a power failure or other malfunction, the manufacturer needed a way to ensure the storage environment would remain corrosion free.
The manufacturer contacted Protective Packaging's on-site packaging team to see what the company had to offer. Protective Packaging evaluated the storage environment and length of storage and proposed a multi-part solution designed to maintain a moisture-free environment around the rocket engines in the event that the missile air purge system failed.
Protective Packaging created an enclosure comprised of a one piece bag that would be sealed together along the top. The enclosure was made from Protect Scrim B, a moisture barrier material used in military packaging that conforms to MIL-PRF-131. The team added access points for the missile air purge valves and monitoring windows to check the internal humidity via 3 spot humidity indicator cards. The manufacturer used a crane to lift the rocket engines onto the bag. Next, the team padded the edges and packed the component with several bags of 16 unit Tyvek pouch desiccant. Protective Packaging's on-site packaging professionals then pulled the bag up over the engine and used a Pack Rite heat sealer to seal the top of the one piece bag closed.
An irreplaceable piece of space history is now packaged in a close-to-zero humidity, flexible enclosure that is able to withstand damage caused by dust, moisture, pests, and other air born contaminants.
Protective Packaging Corporation produces barrier bags for corrosion prevention and static shielding during shipping and storage. With over 25 years of developing packaging solutions with the US military, Protective Packaging Corporation carries a wide range of mil-spec compliant barrier materials available in rolls, sheets, tubes and bags. The company's packaging consultants assist customers in addressing all forms of shipping needs, from protecting cargo during shipment to preserving items during long-term storage. For more information on Protective Packaging Corporation, visit http://www.protectivepackaging.net.


text:
Q: Translate an element every time relative to its current position? My goal is to translate the box along 'X' axis by 100px every time the button is clicked. I've somehow made it possible by using a temp variable in jQuery.
Is there any other way this can be achieved purely through CSS such that when the button is clicked, the box should translate 100px from the current position?

var temp = 100;
$(document).ready(function(){
 $('#b1').click(function(){
  $('#box-one').css("transform","translate("+temp+"px, 0px)");
  temp = temp + 100;
 });
});
#box-one
{
 background-color: blue;
 height: 100px;
 width: 100px;
 transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

  <button id="b1">Move</button>

A: Here is a pure CSS method, although it's a bit crazy.
Add more inputs (and associated CSS) as needed:

html, body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

#box-one {
  background-color: blue;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

input[type=checkbox] {
  position: absolute;
  opacity: 0;
  transform: scaleX(7) scaleY(2);
  top: 100px;
}

input:first-of-type {z-index: 1;}
input:checked {display: none;}
input:checked + input {z-index: 1}

input:checked:nth-child(1)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(100px);}
input:checked:nth-child(2)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(200px);}
input:checked:nth-child(3)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(300px);}
input:checked:nth-child(4)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(400px);}
input:checked:nth-child(5)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(500px);}
input:checked:nth-child(6)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(600px);}
input:checked:nth-child(7)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(700px);}
input:checked:nth-child(8)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(800px);}
input:checked:nth-child(9)  ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(900px);}
input:checked:nth-child(10) ~ #box-one {transform: translateX(1000px);}
<input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox">
<input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox"><input type="checkbox">

<button>Move</button>

A: Let's try using .animate() to complete this task.
$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#b1').click(function(){
        $('#box-one').animate({
            "left":     "+=100px"
        }, "slow");
    });
});

We're going to need to modify our CSS slightly. Let's get rid of transition and add a position attribute:
#box-one
{
    background-color: blue;
    height: 100px;
    width: 100px;
    position: relative;
}

A: I think the answer for this will be: no, you cannot do it exclusively with CSS... Or maybe just "not at this moment".
HTML and CSS are declarative languages that describe how the page should organize and how it should be represented by the browser. But they are "static": they don't change, or at least they don't change by themselves (as they can be changed by using script languages such as JavaScript).
Because of that, and in your particular case, every time that you click the button, you need a different language to keep track of those changes and apply an action accordingly (as you are currently doing with JavaScript).

Why did I say "not at this moment"? Because CSS is getting some features that make it slightly dynamic, and if extended (and notice that this is just me dreaming), they could help you achieve things like you describe without the need of JavaScript.
For example: counter-reset and counter-increment allow to keep track of the number of occurrences of an element, and they can be used in the content of ::before and ::after. If they were extended so you could use them in other rules (e.g.: as a numeric value), and if they kept track of not only elements but selectors (e.g.: :active), you could achieve what you wanted without using JavaScript... but again, that's me daydreaming.

A: You can chain space-delimited transform values on the transform property. You could simply read back the applied transform and add translate(100px, 0px) to the string, compensating for the default none value.
Working Example:

$(document).ready(function(){
 $('#b1').click(function(){
        var transform = $('#box-one').css('transform');
  $('#box-one').css('transform', (transform !== 'none' ? transform : '') + ' translate(100px, 0px)');
 });
});
#box-one
{
 background-color: blue;
 height: 100px;
 width: 100px;
 transition: all 0.3s ease;
}

  <button id="b1">Move</button>

This removes the need for a counter variable. There is no way to completely remove JavaScript from the equation (at least not in a flexible manner).

A: CSS cannot do onclick events. However on anchor tag  you can use :visited and  :active psuedo class to emulate a click behavior. try here:  : http://jsfiddle.net/8aagpgb4/13/
This is a bit hackish but somehow I hope you will get the idea :)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


For the majority of my adult life, and even beyond his passing, the Siri Singh Sahib (Yogi Bhajan) has been my role model. I watched him serve people for decades everywhere I had the good fortune to be with him. What it instilled in me is the realization that life is about "service," plain and simple.
For over 30 years now, my art and craft have taken me all over the world displaying and selling knives and jewelry. Early in my career, I began to sense that there was more for me to do at the numerous exhibitions I attended annually than just showing/selling my work.
Exhibitors and show attendees, a normal cross-section of "folks" dealing with life's challenges as we all do, have afforded me many opportunities to listen and offer words of support.
I endeavor to serve all whom I contact through these events any way I can. by sharing my tasty natural food, listening to their life stories and offering thoughts if so invited, giving them herbs to relieve muscle tension or shoulder massage for their stress, sitting with them and doing healing – even teaching morning yoga classes.
The Siri Singh Sahib encouraged me to use my artistic gifts "to create things that uplift and inspire people." At times, I'll offer generous discounts or give away something to someone who seems to need what I'm offering but can't afford it.
My morning sadhana, always something close to my heart, helps prepare me for anything that might come up at the shows, and life in general. Since 9/11 there have been many people who have passed by and even avoided my exhibit with more than a bit of trepidation.
Not familiar with Sikhs, they wonder who and what I might be. I sense their fears and concerns and try to put out as much warmth, friendliness, and smiles as possible. Years of martial arts training helps me to be less reactive toward some of the more rigid personality types, allowing me to reach out to them as well.
I've consistently offered free yoga and meditation classes at some of the exhibitions I attend. This is unusual for these events since all of the other workshops offered are related to the field of knife and swordmaking. I do a rather short introduction, then lead a Kundalini Yoga warmup set and meditation (around 30 minutes total).
My main intention is to give them a bit of relief from their stress, energize and wake them up, (usually mid-late morning classes) and provide them with a little tune-up/tune-in. Class participants often come by my exhibit after the class and thank me, talk a bit or ask questions. Some will even buy something.
These days I'm doing fewer exhibitions annually, but I still look forward to the opportunity to serve whomever God seems to place in my path.


The Australian professional services industry has grown by 30% since the beginning of the decade to become the fourth largest industry group in the country. New data released on Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that the professional, scientific and technical services sector now employs over 1.1 million people.
As Australia's economy has been shifting since the end of the mining boom roughly 20 years ago, there has been a growing number of white collar workers. The professional services sector currently sits behind healthcare, retail and accommodation, and food services which have been driven by an ageing population and growing levels of tourism across the country.
Data released by the ABS shows that 1 out of every 11 Australian workers is a white collar worker. Out of the country's 13.7 million workers, 1.1 million are employed within the professional services sector. The sector has overtaken both manufacturing as well as construction in the seven years to September 2017 to make it one of the largest sectors in the country.
Whilst Australia is still a large commodity exporter and the construction industry has recently been experiencing sustainable growth, the economy as a whole is beginning to diverge. This shift marks the beginning of a transition towards an information society or digital economy, the likes of those seen in North and Western European nations or the city states of Asia.
Digital economic transition is also a key driver of the growth in professional services, particularly in the high-end, prestigious consulting industry. With jobs across all sectors from tax and audit to human resources becoming increasingly automated, traditional accounting firms are extending into digital and consulting.
Although data was not available on the breakdown of jobs in the professional services sector, the Australian consulting industry is currently one of the most profitable in the world in relation to the country's national income. Currently worth over $4.6 billion a year, the consulting market of Australia relative to GDP is now 0.39%, which is higher than both that of the UK (0.38%) and the US (0.32%).
Australia's consulting industry is growing at an exponential rate with the Big Four consulting firms – KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte – all posting double digit growth in the past year. Growth has been based both locally and internationally due to a number of factors including heavy public sector funding, broad competition and international expansions.
As Australia is on Asia's doorstep, the consulting industry is profiting from a growing number of expertise seeking companies which see Australia as a reputable business centre. Australia is also a logical step for many Asian firms looking to expand their international footprint whilst still being close to home.
At home, many firms – both local and international – are looking to capitalise on the growing number of businesses looking towards digital transformation. "Clients' desire to undertake major cross-functional digital transformation projects are now translating into an uplift in consulting spend across most sectors, but particularly in healthcare, the public sector and financial services," said Source's director Edward Haigh.
Professional services as a whole grew to a record high in the past year with the number of hours worked in professional services jumping 11.8% to 481.2 million hours. The ABS statistics show that whilst the total labour income from the entire economy only grew 3.4% over the year to September 2017, the total labour from professional services grew an astonishing 16%.
Chief economist at the ABS, Bruce Hockman said the report confirms the shift in the largest industry sectors in the country. Professional services now account for 8.6% of total employment in Australia and make up more than 1.1 million jobs.
"These new estimates show that, through the year to September 2017, the professional, scientific and technical services industry increased by over 13 per cent, the fastest of any industry in the economy," Hockman said.
Related: Best | most popular consulting firms for graduates in Australia.


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The Creative Writing Night will be held April 6 in the auditorium. Come watch as teachers, students and alumni of Mountain Vista perform their original poetry, prose and music. Performances begin at 6:30 p.m.


StageArt is excited to announce the first ever Australian production of Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude, in April 2018 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This show is also the first youth production by StageArt.
They will be bringing the fun-filled family musical suitable for all ages to Prahran's Chapel off Chapel from 3 April to 13 . This 'claw-some' show is anticipated to be a school holiday must-see; and with adults tickets at kids prices it's 'purrfect' for everyone.
Written by Michael Bobbitt and Jim David, with music and lyrics by John L. Cornelius, II, the show is based on the much-loved Jim Davis comics starring Garfield, the lazy cat noted for his love of lasagne, snoozing his days away… and his hatred of Mondays! The Garfield comics are now 40 years old but appealing to a new audience!
StageArt is thrilled to announce Luigi Lucente as director, who is fresh from performing Muriel's Wedding the Musical for Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures. Luigi has appeared in Jesus Christ Superstar, Guys & Dolls, Jersey Boys, Wicked and The Rocky Horror Show.
"Garfield is more than just the worlds largest tabby cat; he resides in the literal and figurative underbelly of all of us. He's the sarcastic look, the cynical voice and carb-loving glutton, manifest into the most timeless and entertaining feline furball. What's not to love!" says Luigi.
It's a musical fit for the whole family, a fast-paced comedy that spotlights coming of age and the unwavering strength of true friendship. Even though it's been 40 years since Garfield first graced comic shelves around the world, the show reunites generations of fans with a display that promises playful nostalgia and incredible wit. Families will be entertained by their favourite grumpy feline who takes to the stage in the show's hilarious musical adaptation with clever songwriting and sharp dialogue; leaving audiences in stitches. Cast members are soon to be announced.
StageArt, led by Katherine Armstrong and Robbie Carmellotti, are excited to be staging their first youth offering and continue to produce groundbreaking musicals that are rarely seen on Australian stages. The company strives to cast its shows with diversity and equality by showcasing the extraordinary talent that exists locally. They are also committed to extending this ethos of inclusion and equality to their audience members by providing a 'relaxed' performance on Monday the 9th April at 10.30am.
Cast will be announced soon!


text:
NASA'S Spitzer Finds Distant Galaxies Grazed On Gas
NASA - SPITZER Space Telescope logo.
Galaxies once thought of as voracious tigers are more like grazing cows, according to a new study using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Astronomers have discovered that galaxies in the distant universe continuously ingested their star-making fuel over long periods of time. This goes against previous theories that galaxies devoured their fuel in quick bursts after run-ins with other galaxies.
"Our study shows the merging of massive galaxies was not the dominant method of galaxy growth in the distant universe," said Ranga-Ram Chary of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "We're finding this type of galactic cannibalism was rare. Instead, we are seeing evidence for a mechanism of galaxy growth in which a typical galaxy fed itself through a steady stream of gas, making stars at a much faster rate than previously thought."
Chary is the principal investigator of the research appearing in the Aug. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. According to his findings, these grazing galaxies fed steadily over periods of hundreds of millions of years and created an unusual amount of plump stars, up to 100 times the mass of our sun.
"This is the first time that we have identified galaxies that supersize themselves by grazing," said Hyunjin Shim, also of the Spitzer Science Center and lead author of the paper. "They have many more massive stars than our Milky Way galaxy."
Image above: This split view shows how a normal spiral galaxy around our local universe (left) might have looked back in the distant universe, when astronomers think galaxies would have been filled with larger populations of hot, bright stars (right). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI.
Galaxies like our Milky Way are giant collections of stars, gas and dust. They grow in size by feeding off gas and converting it to new stars. A long-standing question in astronomy is: Where did distant galaxies that formed billions of years ago acquire this stellar fuel?
The most favored theory was that galaxies grew by merging with other galaxies, feeding off gas stirred up in the collisions.
Chary and his team addressed this question by using Spitzer to survey more than 70 remote galaxies that existed 1 to 2 billion years after the big bang (our universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old). To the surprise of the astronomers, these galaxies were blazing with what is called H alpha, radiation from hydrogen gas that has been hit with ultraviolet light from stars. High levels of H alpha indicate stars are forming vigorously. Seventy percent of the surveyed galaxies show strong signs of H alpha. By contrast, only 0.1 percent of galaxies in our local universe possess the signature.
Previous studies using ultraviolet-light telescopes found about six times less star formation than Spitzer, which sees infrared light.
Scientists think this may be due to large amounts of obscuring dust, through which infrared light can sneak. Spitzer opened a new window onto the galaxies by taking very long-exposure infrared images of a patch of sky called the GOODS fields, for Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer and http://spitzer.caltech.edu/
Images, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI.
Integral challenges physics beyond Einstein
ESA - Integral Mission patch.
ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory has provided results that will dramatically affect the search for physics beyond Einstein. It has shown that any underlying quantum 'graininess' of space must be at much smaller scales than previously predicted.
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity describes the properties of gravity and assumes that space is a smooth, continuous fabric. Yet quantum theory suggests that space should be grainy at the smallest scales, like sand on a beach.
One of the great concerns of modern physics is to marry these two concepts into a single theory of quantum gravity.
Gamma-ray burst
Now, Integral has placed stringent new limits on the size of these quantum 'grains' in space, showing them to be much smaller than some quantum gravity ideas would suggest.
According to calculations, the tiny grains would affect the way that gamma rays travel through space. The grains should 'twist' the light rays, changing the direction in which they oscillate, a property called polarisation.
High-energy gamma rays should be twisted more than the lower energy ones, and the difference in the polarisation can be used to estimate the size of the grains.
Philippe Laurent of CEA Saclay and his collaborators used data from Integral's IBIS instrument to search for the difference in polarisation between high- and low-energy gamma rays emitted during one of the most powerful gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) ever seen.
Integral: gamma-ray observatory
GRBs come from some of the most energetic explosions known in the Universe. Most are thought to occur when very massive stars collapse into neutron stars or black holes during a supernova, leading to a huge pulse of gamma rays lasting just seconds or minutes, but briefly outshining entire galaxies.
GRB 041219A took place on 19 December 2004 and was immediately recognised as being in the top 1% of GRBs for brightness. It was so bright that Integral was able to measure the polarisation of its gamma rays accurately.
Dr Laurent and colleagues searched for differences in the polarisation at different energies, but found none to the accuracy limits of the data.
Some theories suggest that the quantum nature of space should manifest itself at the 'Planck scale': the minuscule 10-35 of a metre, where a millimetre is 10-3 m.
However, Integral's observations are about 10 000 times more accurate than any previous and show that any quantum graininess must be at a level of 10-48 m or smaller.
ESA'S Integral - The Gamma Ray Burst
"This is a very important result in fundamental physics and will rule out some string theories and quantum loop gravity theories," says Dr Laurent.
Integral made a similar observation in 2006, when it detected polarised emission from the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a supernova explosion just 6500 light years from Earth in our own galaxy.
This new observation is much more stringent, however, because GRB 041219A was at a distance estimated to be at least 300 million light years.
In principle, the tiny twisting effect due to the quantum grains should have accumulated over the very large distance into a detectable signal. Because nothing was seen, the grains must be even smaller than previously suspected.
"Fundamental physics is a less obvious application for the gamma-ray observatory, Integral," notes Christoph Winkler, ESA's Integral Project Scientist. "Nevertheless, it has allowed us to take a big step forward in investigating the nature of space itself."
Now it's over to the theoreticians, who must re-examine their theories in the light of this new result.
Integral in depth: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=21
Related ESA publications:
Integral results leaflet (pdf): http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/Integral_2007web.pdf
Integral mission brochure (pdf): http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/science/media/integral_brochure.pdf
Images, Video, Text, Credits: ESA / Medialab / SPI Team / ECF.
'Dirty hack' restores Cluster mission from near loss
Using ingenuity and an unorthodox 'dirty hack', ESA has recovered the four-satellite Cluster mission from near loss. The drama began in March, when a crucial science package stopped responding to commands – one of a mission controller's worst fears.
Since a pair of spectacular dual launches in 2000, the four Cluster satellites have been orbiting Earth in tightly controlled formation. Each of the 550 kg satellites carries an identical payload to investigate Earth's space environment and its interaction with the solar wind – the stream of charged particles pouring out from the Sun.
Cluster satellites study the effects of solar wind
Among each satellite's 11 instruments, five comprise the Wave Experiment Consortium (WEC), which makes important measurements of electrical and magnetic fields. All four sensors must work together to make carefully orchestrated observations – the loss of any one could seriously affect the unique 'four-satellite science' delivered by the mission.
On 5 March, the WEC package on Cluster's number 3 satellite, Samba, failed to switch on. Ground controllers at ESA's European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany, immediately triggered a series of standard recovery procedures, none of which succeeded.
Even worse, no status information could be coaxed out of the instruments.
Dangerous scenario for orbiting satellite
"With no status data and no response from the instrument, we suspected either that the device's five power switches were locked closed or a failure caused by an electrical short circuit, one of the most dangerous faults on any satellite," said ESA's Jürgen Volpp, Cluster operations manager.
Engineers working in Cluster control room
Over the next several weeks, working closely with the satellites' builder, the WEC scientists and manufacturer, and other ESA teams, the Cluster control team diagnosed the problem, eventually making use of some onboard software that had been dormant since just after launch over 10 years ago.
The result ruled out a short circuit and pointed an accusing finger at the five power switches being locked in the 'closed' position.
Tests in 1995 had simulated what might happen if three of the five switches locked close, but no one ever considered how to recover from all five being locked – such a situation had not been deemed possible.
Five instruments in the WEC package on each Cluster satellite
Armed with this information and a great deal of ingenuity, the team painstakingly designed a recovery procedure and tested it on one of Samba's functioning sister satellites.
Solution based on a 'dirty hack'
"The solution was based on a 'dirty hack' – jargon referring to any non-standard procedure – but we really had no other option," said Jürgen.
Finally, on 1 June, in a very tense mission control room, a series of commands was radioed up. To immense relief, these flipped the power switches to 'on and the recalcitrant WEC came back to life.
"When unexpected trouble occurs, you really want to have an experienced and talented team on hand to solve the problem."
Cluster has since returned to normal operation and measures are being taken to prevent this failure from happening again.
Video above: The four Cluster satellites were lauched in 2000 and been flying in formation around the Earth ever since. Their obits have changed over time as seen in this movie. The blue lines show the orbits of the Cluster satellites. Credit: UCL-MSSL / Chris Arridge.
"When everything goes as planned, flying a mission can be routine," said ESA's Manfred Warhaut, Head of Mission Operations. "But when unexpected trouble occurs, and there's nothing in the manuals, you really want to have an experienced and talented team on hand to solve the problem."
Exploring the Sun-Earth connection: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cluster/
Space Operations & Situational Awareness: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/index.html
Cluster overview: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120383_index_0_m.html
Cluster II operations: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMYSMQJNVE_0.html
Images, Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: ESA / J. Mai.
Expert's reentry flap endures hot baptism
ESA's Expert – the European Experimental Reentry Testbed logo.
A spacecraft control flap designed for the super-heated hypersonic fall through Earth's atmosphere has come through testing in the world's largest plasma wind tunnel to be ready for its first flight next year.
This flap and its advanced sensors are destined to fly on ESA's Expert – the European Experimental Reentry Testbed – a blunt-nosed capsule being shot up to the edge of space next spring on a Russian Volna rocket to gather data on atmospheric reentry at 5 km/s.
Side view of testing
Expert carries experimental side flaps to help show that they can steer larger ESA reentry vehicles such as the IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle in 2013.
"This flap is fitted with a variety of instruments, including cameras, pressure monitors and an ultraviolet spectrometer to gather data during the hottest two minutes of Expert's 15-minute flight," explained Jan Thoemel, Expert Project Scientist.
"We needed to prove this instrumentation will indeed function as planned, and check our mathematical modelling was accurate. "This meant recreating the extreme environment of atmospheric reentry down on the ground."
Expert during reentry
Italy's Scirocco plasma wind tunnel in Capua, near Naples, is one of the few sites worldwide where such testing is possible.
Named for the hot Mediterranean wind and operated by the CIRA aerospace research centre, Scirocco runs vast amounts of power through an arc heater, heating up air into a blowtorch-like plasma that jets through its 2 m-diameter tunnel.
Its arc heater was taken up to 10 000ºC with 38 MW of electricity, creating a plasma flow seven times the speed of sound and bringing the temperature of the flap up to 1200ºC.
Identical to the flight version, the test flap is made from heat-resistant ceramics. Its instruments include a miniature infrared camera provided by RUAG Space Switzerland and pressure and high-temperature sensors developed by the German Aerospace Center DLR and CIRA.
Infrared view of testing
"After years of preparation we performed four test runs on 13 April, comfortably exceeding the heat loads we anticipate the flap will encounter during its spaceflight aboard Expert," explained Jan.
"Each test reached 1.75 times the flight heat load, amounting to seven times the flight heat load overall.
"Despite this, our instrumentation performed excellently, validating it for actual flight.
"In the months that followed we've been comparing the test results to our software models to highlight any discrepancies, as a way of improving the computational fluid dynamics design tools used for Expert."
Scirocco plasma wind tunnel
Running on the equivalent energy consumption of a small town, Scirocco's construction was co-funded by ESA and the Italian Ministry for University and Research, with 'wind-on' occurring in March 2001.
The facility serves a wide variety of customers worldwide. Its operator CIRA is playing a wider role in preparing for Expert's flight.
Expert vehicle
"This test campaign represented a particular challenge because it was approaching the limits of the facility's capabilities," explained Giulano Marino of CIRA.
"Many new components had to be installed first, requiring extensive testing, but the results speak for themselves."
Expert will be launched by submarine
The Scirocco testing was funded through ESA's Basic Technology Research Programme, which supports new technology development.
The Expert capsule, studded with around 150 different sensors, is due to fly in spring 2012, sea-launched from a Russian submarine for recovery on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.
Expert: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/EXPERT/index.html
Scirocco Plasma Wind Tunnel: http://www.cira.it/html/inglese/laboratori/scheda.asp?titolo=PWT
CIRA: http://www.cira.it/en
DLR: http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx
Images, Videos, Text, Credits: ESA / CIRA.
Most Distant Quasar Found
An artist's rendering of the most distant quasar
A team of European astronomers has used ESO's Very Large Telescope and a host of other telescopes to discover and study the most distant quasar found to date. This brilliant beacon, powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, is by far the brightest object yet discovered in the early Universe. The results will appear in the 30 June 2011 issue of the journal Nature.
"This quasar is a vital probe of the early Universe. It is a very rare object that will help us to understand how supermassive black holes grew a few hundred million years after the Big Bang," says Stephen Warren, the study's team leader.
The most distant quasar
Quasars are very bright, distant galaxies that are believed to be powered by supermassive black holes at their centres. Their brilliance makes them powerful beacons that may help to probe the era when the first stars and galaxies were forming. The newly discovered quasar is so far away that its light probes the last part of the reionisation era [1].
Wide-field view of the sky around the most remote quasar
The quasar that has just been found, named ULAS J1120+0641 [2], is seen as it was only 770 million years after the Big Bang (redshift 7.1, [3]). It took 12.9 billion years for its light to reach us.
Although more distant objects have been confirmed (such as a gamma-ray burst at redshift 8.2, eso0917, and a galaxy at redshift 8.6, eso1041), the newly discovered quasar is hundreds of times brighter than these. Amongst objects bright enough to be studied in detail, this is the most distant by a large margin.
Zooming in on the most distant quasar found so far
The next most-distant quasar is seen as it was 870 million years after the Big Bang (redshift 6.4). Similar objects further away cannot be found in visible-light surveys because their light, stretched by the expansion of the Universe, falls mostly in the infrared part of the spectrum by the time it gets to Earth. The European UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) which uses the UK's dedicated infrared telescope [4] in Hawaii was designed to solve this problem. The team of astronomers hunted through millions of objects in the UKIDSS database to find those that could be the long-sought distant quasars, and eventually struck gold.
"It took us five years to find this object," explains Bram Venemans, one of the authors of the study. "We were looking for a quasar with redshift higher than 6.5. Finding one that is this far away, at a redshift higher than 7, was an exciting surprise. By peering deep into the reionisation era, this quasar provides a unique opportunity to explore a 100-million-year window in the history of the cosmos that was previously out of reach."
The distance to the quasar was determined from observations made with the FORS2 instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and instruments on the Gemini North Telescope [5]. Because the object is comparatively bright it is possible to take a spectrum of it (which involves splitting the light from the object into its component colours). This technique allowed the astronomers to find out quite a lot about the quasar.
A 3D animation of the most distant quasar
These observations showed that the mass of the black hole at the centre of ULAS J1120+0641 is about two billion times that of the Sun. This very high mass is hard to explain so early on after the Big Bang. Current theories for the growth of supermassive black holes predict a slow build-up in mass as the compact object pulls in matter from its surroundings.
"We think there are only about 100 bright quasars with redshift higher than 7 over the whole sky," concludes Daniel Mortlock, the leading author of the paper. "Finding this object required a painstaking search, but it was worth the effort to be able to unravel some of the mysteries of the early Universe."
Video ESOcast 32: Most Distant Quasar Found: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1122a/
[1] About 300 000 years after the Big Bang, which occurred 13.7 billion years ago, the Universe had cooled down enough to allow electrons and protons to combine into neutral hydrogen (a gas without electric charge). This cool dark gas permeated the Universe until the first stars started forming about 100 to 150 million years later. Their intense ultraviolet radiation slowly split the hydrogen atoms back into protons and electrons, a process called reionisation, making the Universe more transparent to ultraviolet light. It is believe that this era occurred between about 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang.
[2] The object was found using data from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey, or ULAS. The numbers and prefix 'J' refer to the quasar's position in the sky.
[3] Because light travels at a finite speed, astronomers look back in time as they look further away into the Universe. It took 12.9 billion years for the light from ULAS J1120+0641 to travel to telescopes on Earth so the quasar is seen as it was when the Universe was only 770 million years old. In those 12.9 billion years, the Universe expanded and the light from the object stretched as a result. The cosmological redshift, or simply redshift, is a measure of the total stretching the Universe underwent between the moment when the light was emitted and the time when it was received.
[4] UKIRT is the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. It is owned by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council and operated by the staff of the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo, Hawaii.
[5] FORS2 is the VLT's FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph. Other instruments used to split up the light of the object were the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) and the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS). The Liverpool Telescope, the Isaac Newton Telescope and the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) were also used to confirm survey measurements.
This research was presented in a paper to appear in the journal Nature on 30 June 2011.
The team is composed of Daniel J. Mortlock (Imperial College London [Imperial], UK), Stephen J. Warren (Imperial), Bram P. Venemans (ESO, Garching, Germany), Mitesh Patel (Imperial), Paul C. Hewett (Institute of Astronomy [IoA], Cambridge, UK), Richard G. McMahon (IoA), Chris Simpson (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), Tom Theuns (Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham, UK and University of Antwerp, Belgium), Eduardo A. Gonzáles-Solares (IoA), Andy Adamson (Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, USA), Simon Dye (Centre for Astronomy and Particle Theory, Nottingham, UK), Nigel C. Hambly (Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh, UK), Paul Hirst (Gemini Observatory, Hilo, USA), Mike J. Irwin (IoA), Ernst Kuiper (Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands), Andy Lawrence (Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh, UK), Huub J. A. Röttgering (Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands).
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Research paper: Nature paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1122/eso1122.pdf
Images, Text, Credits: ESO / M. Kornmesser / UKIDSS / SDSS / Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin / videos: ESO/A. Fujii/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Music: John Dyson (from the album Moonwind) / M. Kornmesser.
Driving a robot from Space Station
ESA / ESTEC logo.
The Justin mobile robotic system, developed at the German Aerospace Center, DLR
Meet Justin, an android who will soon be controlled remotely by the astronauts in ESA's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. With this and other intriguing experiments like the Eurobot rover, ESA is paving the way for exploring the Moon and planets with tele-operated robots.
In two to three years, the experimental robot on Earth will faithfully mimic the movements of an astronaut on the Space Station.
By wearing an exoskeleton – a combination of arm and glove with electronic aids to reproduce the sensations a human hand would feel – a distant operator can work as though he were there.
Distant robots can be controlled...
To help turn robotics and telepresence into a standard tool for space missions, ESA is linking the Space Station and Earth for remotely controlling terrestrial robotic experiments from the orbital outpost.
This Meteron (Multi-purpose End-To-End Robotic Operations Network) initiative is a testbed for future missions to the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies.
"The Space Station is the perfect orbital platform to simulate very realistic scenarios for human exploration," says Kim Nergaard, ESA's Meteron coordinator.
...from the Space Station
"First we have to set up a robust communication architecture, establish an operations system and define a protocol to allow astronauts, robots and our ESA control centre to work efficiently together. This is not as easy a task as it seems."
Many ideas around
ESA called earlier this year for new ideas for the Space Station to be used as a testbed for exploration missions. Many proposals called for operating ground-based robots from a workstation on the Station.
"The multitude of submissions shows the strength of the idea," comments Philippe Schoonejans, ESA's Head of Robotics in the Human Spaceflight and Operations directorate.
Working on Meteron
"This allows ESA to take into account all suggested experiments and give opportunities to the countries, companies and institutes who have shown their interest by submitting the idea."
Communications test robot
"Meteron is suitable for early realisation because it can exploit the existing infrastructure and technologies without requiring huge investments," explains François Bosquillon de Frescheville, responsible for ESA future human exploration mission operations concepts studies, whose idea triggered the programme.
First a rover, then an android
In the first Meteron tests, the Station astronauts will operate ESA's Eurobot prototype from a computer equipped with special screens and a joystick.
This prototype is a four-wheel rover with two arms, an advanced navigation system, cameras and sensors that has been under testing since 2008 at the Agency's ESTEC space research and technology centre in the Netherlands.
Eurobot prototype
Christer Fuglesang works with Exoskeleton
In the next phase, the engineers will allow astronauts to control a robot with the sense of force and 'touch'. It can be connected to robots like Justin, developed by the DLR German Aerospace Center.
"With these senses, the astronauts will have a real feeling of the forces that the arms of the robots are experiencing in their environment," explains André Schiele, in charge of ESA's Telerobotics & Haptics Laboratory.
Justin with wheels
"For example, when they push against a rock or do more complex tasks such as setting up hardware."
Whatever route the future exploration of Moon and Mars might follow, it will require sophisticated communications and advanced tools. Boosted by new human–machine interface technology, astronauts in orbit will almost certainly link up with robots to explore planetary surfaces.
Justin at DLR: http://www.dlr.de/rm/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-5471/
ESA Human Spaceflight: http://www.esa.int/spaceflight
Automation & Robotics: http://www.esa.int/TEC/Robotics/
Images, Text, Credits: ESA / J. v. Haarlem / DLR.
Neutron star bites off more than it can chew
ESA - XMM Newton Mission patch.
ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory has watched a faint star flare up at X-ray wavelengths to almost 10 000 times its normal brightness. Astronomers believe the outburst was caused by the star trying to eat a giant clump of matter.
The flare took place on a neutron star, the collapsed heart of a once much larger star. Now about 10 km in diameter, the neutron star is so dense that it generates a strong gravitational field.
Artist's impression of a neutron star partially devouring a massive clump of matter
The clump of matter was much larger than the neutron star and came from its enormous blue supergiant companion star.
"This was a huge bullet of gas that the star shot out, and it hit the neutron star allowing us to see it," says Enrico Bozzo, ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland, and team leader of this research.
The flare lasted four hours and the X-rays came from the gas in the clump as it was heated to millions of degrees while being pulled into the neutron star's intense gravity field. In fact, the clump was so big that not much of it hit the neutron star. Yet, if the neutron star had not been in its path, this clump would probably have disappeared into space without trace.
XMM-Newton caught the flare during a scheduled 12.5-hour observation of the system, which is known only by its catalogue number IGR J18410-0535, but the astronomers were unaware of their catch immediately.
The telescope works through a sequence of observations carefully planned to make the best use of the space observatory's time, then sends the data to Earth.
It was about ten days after the observation that Dr Bozzo and his colleagues received the data and quickly realised they had something special. Not only were they pointing in the right direction to see the flare, but the observation had lasted long enough for them to see it from beginning to end.
"I don't know if there is any way to measure luck, but we were extremely lucky," says Dr Bozzo. He estimates that an X-ray flare of this magnitude can be expected a few times a year at the most for this particular star system.
The duration of the flare allowed them to estimate the size of the clump. It was much larger than the star, probably 16 million km across, or about 100 billion times the volume of the Moon. Yet, according to the estimate made from the flare's brightness, the clump contained only one-thousandth of our natural satellite's mass.
These figures will help astronomers understand the behaviour of the blue supergiant and the way it emits matter into space. All stars expel atoms into space, creating a stellar wind. The X-ray flare shows that this particular blue supergiant does it in a clumpy fashion, and the estimated size and mass of the cloud allow constraints to be placed on the process.
"This remarkable result highlights XMM-Newton's unique capabilities," comments Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist. "Its observations indicate that these flares can be linked to the neutron star attempting to ingest a giant clump of matter."
Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ESA / AOES Medialab / C. Carreau.


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Ghana Chess Association
MAY KNOCKOUT CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
April 29, 2015 - News, Tournament
Seeding and group placements shall be done by listing participants into 4 groups starting with the highest rated player sequentially down to the lowest rated player according to the latest GCA ratings.
There shall be four groups (A-D); the top player goes into Group A, 2nd highest player into Group B, and so on. After all the groups have one player it starts all over again at Group A. so in this example Group 1 would have the following seeds #1, #5, #9 and #13 etc. This is done to ensure in the final round the best players will be left playing for the tournament win.
Tie-breaks shall be by;
The match result between players in question;
The Sonnenborn-Berger points
Direct encounter (blitz)
ELIMINATION STAGE
Quarter- finals
Winner of group A vrs 2nd placed in group C (QF1)
Winner of Group C vrs 2nd Placed in group A (QF2)
2nd placed in group B vrs winner of group D (QF3)
Winner of Group B vrs 2nd placed in Group D (QF4)
Winner of QF1 vrs Winner of QF3 (SF1)
Finals: Winners of semifinal matches
3rd Place match: Losers of semifinal matches
Defending Champion: CM Edward Thompson
THE LION'S LOUDEST ROAR
NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 (FIDE & GCA RATED)
2019 National Youth Chess Championships Report
GCA TO COMMENCE LIVE BROADCAST OF CHESS GAMES
GHANA HOSTS MAIDEN EDITION OF ZONE 4.4 YOUTH U-16 GAMES
Knightmares Chess Club retains the Team Championship trophy
Ghana gains two new titles at the 2018 World Chess Olympiad
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FIDE Rated players in Ghana
MENSAH, Jamena Joseph (1980) - AMEKU, Philip (1876)
2016 GCA Final Olympiad Trials Invitational (Accra Stadium), 01.05.2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.c4 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Ng4 8.Nxc6 Nxe3 9.Nxd8 Nxd1 10.Rxd1 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Kxd8 12.c5 b6 13.c6 Kc7 14.cxd7 Bxd7 15.Bc4 e6 16.O-O Bc6 17.e5 Rhd8 18.f4 h5 19.g3 b5 20.Bb3 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 a5 22.a3 Bf3 23.Rd3 Bb7 24.Kf2 Rd8 25.Ke3 Rxd3+ 26.Kxd3 Kb6 27.Kd4 Bc6 28.Ba2 Bg2 29.Bb3 Bc6 30.Bd1 Bg2 31.h4 Bf1 32.g4 hxg4 33.Bxg4 Bg2 34.h5 gxh5 35.Bxh5 Bh3 36.Bxf7 Bf5 37.Bg8 Kc6 38.Bf7 Kb6 39.Bh5 Bh3 40.Bg6 Bg4 41.f5 Bxf5 42.Bxf5 exf5 43.e6 Kc6 44.Ke5 f4 45.Kxf4 Kd6 46.e7 Kxe7 47.Ke5 b4 48.axb4 axb4 49.cxb4 Kd7 50.Kd5 Kc7 51.Kc5 Kb7 52.Kb5 Kb8 53.Kb6 Ka8 54.Kc7 Ka7 55.b5 Ka8 56.Kc6 Kb8 57.Kb6 Ka8 58.Kc7 Ka7 59.b6+
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