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Scrapping of European Communities Act: A Saviour amid Brexit Crisis?
Mirror News Desk
Since its initiation in 2016, Brexit brought along a ray of hope of new life for Britons, who voted in favour of the UK's exit from the EU on March 29. However, with continuous Brexit delays, many have lost their hopes. As the country proceeds to a no-deal Brexit path, the question is whether scrapping of the European Communities Act (ECA) be a saviour for its citizens?
The ECA of 1972 provided legal provision for the accession of the UK to the three European Communities, Euratom, and the (now defunct) Coal and Steel Community. It is thus a vehicle that sees regulation flow directly from the law making bodies of the European Union in Brussels into British law.
In a way to move forward amid the Brexit crisis, Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, recently signed an order dismissing the European Communities Act. He said, "This is a clear signal to the people of this country that there is no turning back – we are leaving the EU as promised on October 31, whatever the circumstances – delivering on the instructions given to us in 2016."
"The votes of 17.4 million people deciding to leave the EU is the greatest democratic mandate ever given to any UK government. The signing of this legislation ensures that the EU Withdrawal Act will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 on exit day," Barclay added.
In a way to get past the Brexit crisis, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ahead of leaving for Berlin on Wednesday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wrote a letter to the President of the EU Council Donald Tusk, outlining his Brexit demands.
The Conservative Party leader in his letter wrote, "Time is very short. But the UK is ready to move quickly, and, given the degree of commons ground already, I hope that the EU will be ready to do likewise."
In case of a no-deal Brexit, Johnson has demanded the abolishment of the Irish Backstop that aims to prevent a hard border along the 310-mile frontier between Northern Ireland the Republic. He has further added that his plan would be "more stable more long-lasting", calling the existing situation as "anti-democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK".
Johnson also added that the backstop possessed a huge risk to the delicate balance embodied in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, meant for peace. Thereby, he wants alternatives to be arranged on time before the transition period ends in order to improve future relationships.
Since many regulations under the European Communities Act have directly or indirectly impacted the country and its citizens, the government is making every possible effort to repeal the act before the final destination on October 31.
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Removing the royal batches from their pockets, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back as the senior members of the royal families, and decided to spend part of their time in Canada. However, their relocation to North America is carrying uncertainties, where the Canadians are having hard time assessing the potential costs of giving space to royalty amongst them.
The obsession of royal family is not much relevant amongst the Canadians, as it is in the United States. But, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have a strong connection with the country. While Markle spent six years in Canada while filming for TV show Suits, Prince Harry has too paid several visits throughout his life.
Once the couple steps back from public life in the UK, they would "spend time in Canada", according to the Buckingham Palace. "There's a lot of excitement about it," said a North Saanich resident Sue Rogers. "But people here also understand [the couple] wanting to have some of the peace and quiet we have here. It makes perfect sense."
For Canadians, the current focus point is the potential cost required for extensive security of the couples, which has been estimated to be ranging from C$1.3m (US$1m) to more than C$10m (US$7.7m) annually.
"Canadians do not have an appetite to pick up that bill," said Shachi Kurl, executive director at the Angus Reid Institute. A public opinion poll by the institute revealed that three-quarters of the Canadian citizens, 73 per cent, turned down the idea of funding royal security and other relocation expenditures through tax dollars.
Besides, 19 per cent of respondents were fine with paying a portion of the bill and only 3 per cent said that the country should pick up the tab for security. The government of Canada foots the bill generally during the royal visits. However, it is uncertain if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would qualify for official protection or not.
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Global News that "there's still a lot of decisions to be taken by the Royal Family, by the Sussexes themselves as to what level of engagement they choose to have". He said that the issue of security costs is "part of the reflection that needs to be had and there are discussions going on".
Both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not yet spoken on the matter. Besides, the federal officials are also not sure of how the costs would be divided. Although Queen Elizabeth II has also agreed to the couple's wish of becoming financially independent, the transition details are still being worked out. It was recently learned that the Megxit deal has come to an halt, where the Queen's aides were finalizing the details.
The decision of the royal couple to leave royalty is certainly huge, as is their desire to spend time in Canada. As it is in nature, the twin announcements have created slight distress and conflicts in both the UK and Canada.
Recently released by the UK Police, a "Counter-terror list" has received negative waves from several environmental, animal rights and pacifist groups. Sources have reported that the list places the signs of these groups along with several Neo-Nazi groups.
Several organisations, otherwise involved in peaceful protests, like Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) are enraged to find their logos beside the glossary of icons in the counter-terror list, which is essentially a record of the extremist groups. Speaking in defence of the protestors accusations, the police officers said that they do not consider the environmental groups to be extremist.
Police claims that the document is meant "to help police and close partners identify and understand signs and symbols they may encounter in their day-to-day working lives".
By shoving the counter-terror list to the category of "Prevent programme", the police are in one way trying to calm the otherwise enraged environmental groups.
Seen as one of the four "Ps" of the government's counter-terrorism strategy (other three being Pursue, Prepare and Protect), the "Prevent Programme" is meant to train teachers, youth workers and other people who work with young vulnerable people for spotting signs of radicalisation.
The counter-terror list has been released several days after rumours claimed the inclusion of Extinction Rebellion in a list of extremist organisations in a regional counter-terrorism report. The document was later withdrawn by the Counter-Terrorism Policing South East.
Exasperated at the inclusion, Extinction Rebellion posted on it's website, "This is nothing short of pointing a finger at anyone that thinks differently to 'business as usual' – which is taking humanity to its grave – and lumping them all together."
An active protestor and a part of Campaign Against Arms Trade, Andrew Smith said, "The message that this appalling list sends is that if you care about social justice or oppose war, arms sales, discrimination or conflict then you can be included alongside white nationalists and neo-Nazi hate groups."
As per the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, senior national co-ordinator for the UK's counter-terror police, "not all of the symbols within this document are of counter-terrorism interest, and should be viewed in context".
He added, "We need our officers, front-line police colleagues and partners to be able to understand what organisations people may be affiliated with, and what their aims and activities – lawful or otherwise – are." As per him, the counter-terror list clearly states that the membership of these environmental groups is in no way inclined to crime of any kind and to "suggest anything else is both unhelpful and misleading."
According to the General Secretary of the CND, the group's inclusion in the list is "massive state overreach and threatens our right to political engagement and peaceful protest".
Previous records validate the stained relationship between several environmental campaign groups and the UK Police. In recent times, women protestors have complained that police officials lead a double life by forming illegitimate relations with them. The inclusion in a way is against the right to peaceful protest that every citizen is entitled to!
Post winning vote to leave the European Union (EU) via majority of 330-231 in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will finally guide his nation out of the EU, come 31 January 2020.
However, even with the Withdrawal Agreement in hand, the doubts have emerged over whether Northern Ireland part of the deal can be implemented by the end of 2020.
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border has remained disputed since Withdrawal Agreement was first presented by the former prime minister, Theresa May. She proposed the Irish backstop plan, which was later substituted by Johnson with an all-island regulatory zone, an effort that seeks to avoid hard border between EU's member state, Republic of Ireland and the UK's Northern Ireland.
After the UK leaves the EU on January 31, it will enter an 11-month transition period, where it will follow the rules devised by the EU, but will not have any representation in the bloc. The period will come to an end on 31 December, which Johnson has ruled out extending, if a deal is not reached between the both sides.
As this period ends and the UK has its sole identity, Northern Ireland will still continue to follow the EU rules on agricultural and manufactured goods. Additionally, whole of the UK will also leave the EU's customs union, while Northern Ireland will continue to apply the EU's custom's code at its ports.
The happening that means there would be checks on the border in order to process movement of goods from Northern Ireland to rest of the UK.
Meanwhile, even if Johnson wants the hard border not to return and has an alternative plan, it will for sure need more time than 11 months. As informed, the negotiations will take place through a body called the Joint Committee, which has not yet been set up, and thus, time up the UK's sleeve is even lesser than inscribed on papers.
The responsibility for implementing the provisions fall entirely upon the UK, and the failure would imply that European Commission can begin levying penalty and impose fines through European Court of Justice. Such moves would not only put pressure on the UK, but also mark failure for Johnson, even after leaving with a deal in hand.
After CIA, UK Prison Authorities Violate Julian Assange's Rights
Gareth Pierce, lawyer of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has complained at the Westminster Magistrates Court that the prison officers have stopped her from spending adequate time with her client to discuss the US extradition case.
She added that the absence of adequate time is delaying the case, ultimately leading to more prison time for Assange. She also complained about the journey in the prison van from the high-security-prison HMP Belmarsh to the court and termed the commute as "uncomfortable" during the hearing.
The 48-year-old WikiLeaks founder is fighting the case to avoid extradition to the US for leaking military secrets with the aid of army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. He is facing 18 charges that include conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.
This is not the first time when Julian Assange has endured the ordeal of having his basic rights breached in the UK.
Earlier in late December, Assange via video link gave witness testimony to a judge in Spain and said that the Spanish security company, UC Global SL recorded his conversations illegally and transferred them to the CIA.
As per credible sources, Assange said that UC Global SL, which was responsible for the security of Ecuadorian embassy in London, recorded his conversation with his lawyer Pierce when he was in Ecuador "by placing microphones inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London" and violated his attorney-client privilege.
Sources also claimed that Julian Assange will file a complaint to the UK court for the violation of his rights (mainly attorney-client privilege) at the end of February.
Furthermore, US violating the rights of a UK prisoner, who is held in a foreign embassy, points to the fact that in reality the US wants to extradite Assange only for political reasons and retaliate against the disclosure of documents like Iraq War logs, which shed light on its human rights violations and war crimes.
To some, it even raises the question if the Ecuadorian government and the administration at the embassy also colluded with the UC Global SL and CIA and targeted Assange knowingly.
Considering all the scenario, uncertainty looms if Julian Assange, based on his prison time at the HMS Belmarsh and Ecuadorian embassy and considering his violation of rights as a prisoner and a client (defendant), will be set free or not.
Britain Caught in Middle Eastern Chaos as Iran Detains UK Ambassador
Endeavouring to avoid the rising tensions of the Persian Gulf, Britain recently got involved in the expanding chaos. The UK ambassador to Iran was arrested on Saturday, during the anti-government demonstrations in Tehran.
Ambassador Rob Macaire was reportedly attending a vigil for the victims of Ukraine Boeing aircraft crash at the Amir Kabir University. The event quickly turned into protests, and he left after five minutes for the UK embassy. However, he was stopped and detained for more than an hour before being released.
According to Iran's Tasnim news agency, Macaire was one of the individuals, who were held on suspicion of provoking, organizing and directing the anti-government protests and radical actions in Iran.
The UK ambassador said that wishing to "pay respects" is normal, adding that some of the 176 victims of Ukraine plane crash were British. "Arresting diplomats is of course illegal, in all countries," he wrote on twitter.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the arrest as "flagrant violation of international law". He also warned Iran that it risks becoming a global "pariah".
"The arrest of our Ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law," Dominic Raab stated. "The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards."
However, several hours after being taken into custody and a number of urgent calls to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UK ambassador was released. He was reported to be "safe and well" in the British embassy.
The protests Rob Macaire was accused of inciting came after Tehran's confession of accidentally shooting down the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. Iran's military blamed human error for the Wednesday jetliner crash, which killed all the passengers, including three Britons and 82 Iranians.
People grew outrageous and from "Death to America", the Iran protests soon shifted to "Death to the dictator". Iranians found another reason to doubt Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials. Demonstrators kept shouting "Khamenei is a murderer!", while anti-riot police in Iran was tear-gassing violent protesters.
Moments after the admission, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote on Twitter, "The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake."
Suspicion over Iran's involvement in the crash came up, when Iran denied to hand over the two flight recorders to both the United States and Boeing. However, the military confession has left Iran under internal protests, while it still is raging over taking revenge against America.
The arrest of UK ambassador also brought in another dent to the country's image, which is already facing grave isolation from majority of other nations and severe sanctions from the US.
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You should also get a merit badge for providing me with most of the content on this blog for the past two days (and again tomorrow...I just sent you an e-mail! :)). It was the least I could do!
And I teared up a little at your acceptance speech. Beautiful!
Now i feel like it's really back!! It just had a *little something* missing without sock watch!! Yeehaa!
It did feel more like Jake Watch today, didn't it? I'd kind of been fighting it, trying for a slightly different feel for a different time, but maybe old school is the way to go.
Oh if anyone else should be receiving Sock Watch badges is you PG!
Now if only Jake would grace us with some more socks. I assume its getting warmer over in the US? Thats a good sign of sock watches to come! This agent is onto things!
Aww look! Jake was so excited he insisted on wearing the badge. Such a sweetheart.
LOOK AT THAT! It warms the cockles of my heart to see his dedication to our cause. Damn, never underestimate Jake's excitement about the things we do on these blogs!
HAHAHAHA!!!! RH2006 (hope you like your new shortened nickname) That cracks me up! I think when i have time i might add my badge to my avatar what a great little idea!!!
Literally little! I'm not sure if photoshop goes that small!


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Karim Benzema, Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne, a qualification as a springboard to the Golden Ball
26 avril 2022 lookcharms Aucun commentaire
Three leaders for a throne. During the next remodeled edition of the Ballon d'Or, three figures seem to be positioning themselves among the favorites: Karim Benzema, Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne.
Due to their individual contribution and their equally brilliant season, the statistics of the three men are at very high levels. And a place in the Champions League final would allow them to take a step forward in the quest for the ultimate individual trophy.
If there is a name on everyone's lips when we talk about the Ballon d'Or, it is that of Karim Benzema. The Madrid striker is having an exceptional season and crushes all his already staggering career statistics. Top scorer and assist in La Liga (equal with Ousmane Dembele) with 25 goals and 11 assists, he is in second place in this Champions League ranking with twelve units. Data that makes more than one blush and that places the captain of Real Madrid at the top of the European balance sheet.
✨ ¡Tercer maximum goleador del @Real Madrid in @LaLiga! ✨
1⃣ @Cristiano 312 ⚽
2⃣ @RaulGonzalez 228 ⚽
3⃣ @Benzema 217 ⚽ ⬆
4⃣ Di Stefano 216 ⚽#RealFootball pic.twitter.com/Rbaorr3VaN
— Real Madrid CF (@realmadrid) April 18, 2022
Beyond goals and numbers, Karim Benzema is the man who changes the face of the Merengues. When he's not playing, the men in the « White House » seem bewildered. His absences prove it: during the Clasico, Barça exploded their rivals (0-4), and during his three games in the infirmary at the beginning of February, the French teammates lost against Bilbao (1-0), the narrowly won against Granada (1-0) and drew Villarreal (0-0). In a quest for excellence, Karim Benzema approaches the heights of his sport. A Ballon d'Or before the World Cup in Qatar would add a little more flavor to the French international with 36 goals in selection.
Sadio Mané, the national hero
For several seasons, Sadio Mané has marked the football planet with his efficiency and his formidable sense of goal… and teamwork. The Senegalese international showed he was of the caliber of the greatest in January by lifting the African Cup of Nations. One more step for the striker who turned professional at FC Metz. And his doublet with Mohamed Salah is still all the rage in the Premier League with Liverpool. With 85 goals between them, they top the number of times the opposing nets have shaken.
Liverpool striker Sadio Mané during the match against Porto on November 24, 2021, in the Champions League group stage. (TERRY DONNELLY/COLORSPORT)
Sadio Mané is one of those people who rarely miss a match. If with only three goals in the Champions League and fourteen in the league, his statistics are lower than his Egyptian friend (30 goals in all competitions), it is his contribution to the field and his potential prize list that put him at the top of the pile. . The CAN already in the bag, he can, with his Liverpool club, still hope to win everything. Second in the championship with a point behind Manchester City, the title race will be thrilling for the English club, as will the upcoming FA Cup final against Chelsea. And, of course, Liverpool are still in contention for another Champions League final.
Kevin De Bruyne, the detonator
A game artisan à la Citizen. Kevin De Bruyne alone represents the paw of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. The Belgian attacking midfielder has been the conductor of the Mancunians for several years and his individual statistics show it. This season, in the league, he has scored eleven goals and six assists. Which makes him the most effective player in the leader of the English championship. His technique, his volume and his vision of the game make him one of the very best in the world at his position, if not its quintessence.
Kevin De Bruyne is congratulated by his teammates after the opener against Chelsea on Saturday January 15, 2022. (OLI SCARFF / AFP)
But it still lacks this little extra soul and this prestigious title which would propel the Flemish into the highest spheres of world football, up to the Ballon d'Or. Because in club as in national selection, no major trophy has come to expand the list of former player of KRC Genk, already triple champion of England. The Champions League slipped through his fingers in the final last year against Chelsea, and the Euro, the World Cup and even the Nations League escaped the Belgian. An anomaly that the playmaker intends to settle to afford the right to dream of a Ballon d'Or next October.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There are specific techniques you can make use of to enhance the search engine rank of a website or a page which can be classified as either black hat and white hat SEO based on the approach taken. Search engine optimization or SEO is the procedure by which you can get a great traffic to your website by ranking it high on search engines results page (SERP). The higher the rank a site has on SERP, the more visitors the website will get. Looking at the growing significance of search engines like Google, today SEO is becoming an essential part of digital marketing strategy. Search engines decide the rankings of a website by using algorithms that are based on certain principles and with SEO you can apply these principles to enhance your search rankings. Both Black hat and White hat SEO will give you results, yet Black hat SEO can cause you penalty which happens to be a noteworthy disadvantage as far as website ranking and traffic is concerned. On the other hand, white hat SEO keeps on changing as Google updates its ranking algorithm.
Truth be told, both of the two have their own pros and cons. On the off chance that you are searching for a quick return on investment from your website and are not thinking about the future performance, you can pick the Black one. Nevertheless, on the off chance that you are willing to set up an effective and a long-running website, and looking for a long-term investment, you must pick the White Hat technique.
You may have noticed some content that usually appears in the comment section of a website which conveys no meaning at all but has few keywords instead attempting to rank the site higher. Not only this, many marketers use this technique to rewrite or spin the original content using various software and tools to make it look unique and plagiarism free.
This is basically a method of making a separate URL for the search engine bots and packing the page with keywords. When a user visits the page he is redirected to a completely different page that has not been stuffed with keywords.
This is very common and the black hatters often use this technique. What they do is that they use invisible anchored texts to hide links on the web pages to increase the rankings. These links serve no purpose to the content of the page and they are merely used for the ranking purpose which is why they are kept hidden. This is achieved by changing the color of the text to the background color of the page thereby aiming to hide it.
Building quality backlinks for your site will indicate Google that your site has content that is of some value. Every site that sends a link back to your site is in a way advertising for you and this, as a result, will help you get higher rank in search results. But always remember not all links are good this is why it is important to build links that are of good quality.
Content is the king and creating contents that are unique and valuable to the audience of your site is one of the best ways to optimize your website. Generating extremely relevant content on a regular basis will bring in a lot of visitors to your site thereby increasing your visibility on SERP.
Keyword research is really important and using them in a relevant and natural way is extremely useful for your overall SEO strategy. Your research should concentrate on recognizing the most relevant keywords that your audience might use to search the products or services you offer.
Meta descriptions is a white hat technique that majorly focuses on the reader. You can usually find these descriptions below the title of the page in search results briefing about what the visitor might discover on the page. Thus the meta description should not be stuffed with keywords instead focus on writing a compelling content that might attract the users.
Just like everything else, SEO takes in a lot of hard work and patience to achieve the results. Thus if an agency is promising you to give quick results there are chances they might be using Black hat technique. If you like this article, kindly share and help others know it.


China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
See more articles on China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
China National Nuclear Power is a major state-owned nuclear power generation company. Its parent enterprise is China National Nuclear Corp., which is directly controlled by the Chinese government and is one of China's big three nuclear power generation companies along with China General Nuclear Power and State Power Investment.
The predecessor of CNNC was the Ministry of Nuclear Industry, which oversaw China's nuclear power plant projects. Since it built China's first nuclear power plant, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase I, which went into operation in 1994, CNNC has led a nuclear power plant construction race in China by aggressively absorbing advanced technologies from its Japanese, U.S. and European counterparts. CNNP, traded on the Shanghai stock market, is the core subsidiary of CNNC.
Within China, CNNP is pushing ahead with nuclear power plant projects in the provinces of Zhejiang, home to Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, Fujian, Jiangsu and Hainan, among some others. With the Xi Jinping leadership emphasizing infrastructure exports, the company is poised to accelerate overseas expansion together with the government. Enjoying the backing of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank set up at the initiative of China, CNNP's forte is the national support it enjoys.
As part of its overseas expansion, the company is stepping up efforts to export the Hualong One third-generation nuclear power reactor, which it says it developed with CGN Power. Based on an agreement between the Chinese and French governments, CNNC plans to acquire a stake in Areva of France, showing an eagerness to introduce cutting-edge foreign technologies. CNNC and CNNP are viewed as playing a central role in China's nuclear power plant export strategy. The question is the safety of the plants. With no track record of building and operating a nuclear power plant in an inland area, the companies face the challenge of winning confidence in Chinese-made nuclear power plants.
China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. engages in the electricity sales business. It provides nuclear power related technical services and consulting services. Its business includes development, investment, construction, operation, and management of nuclear power projects; investment and development of clean energy projects; transmission and distribution project investment, and investment management; research on nuclear power operation safety technology, and related technical services and consulting services; and sale of electricity. The company was founded on January 21, 2008 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.
Liaoning Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.


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Lost in Transcription: When book to movie goes very wrong by Randi Drew
Posted by Anne Hogue-Boucher | Aug 2, 2018 | guest post, reviews | 0 |
Editor's Note: This is a guest post from a friend, who's analytical critique is top-notch. She is a writer and DM, creator of worlds, and destroyer of the artless translations of literature to film. The post has been edited with a light touch for grammar and clarity. This review contains spoilers.
I'm sure a lot of you remember the joy of getting to read a book in class and then as a treat, getting to see the movie later on in the same class. Book-to-movie adaptations can be really joyous. They can also be incredibly horrific hatchet jobs depending on who takes our beloved books and what they do with them.
This is still something I indulge in as an adult. I have treated myself to many a book-turned-movie adaption. But I'd like to write about a really horrific one and why it became so horrific in the first place.
Let's start with the fact that I am a definite Stephen King junkie. I attribute Stephen King and a small Pantheon of horror and sci-fi writers to be the contributing factors to why I kept reading as a teenager. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King was specifically a contributing factor to this. It's was an iconic series for me that finished in my mid-twenties. A singular book that had been inspired by a poem, it did not intend to become Stephen King's magnum opus as far as a book series goes. It's so beloved that it's spawned artwork, a revisiting through comics, a potential television miniseries, and of course the Dark Tower movie.
That's why we're here.
This is what gets me—I was pumped to see a Dark Tower movie, even through all of the minor controversies that had been spawned filming The Dark Tower. For the record, Idris Elba made a fantastic Roland Deschain even if the script wasn't going to allow him to be a fantastic Roland. It was poorly written. Elba deserved so much better, so did Roland.
My problem with The Dark Tower can be traced back to one major singularity. This movie was a two-hour run that was supposed to concentrate an entire series of books. Lengthy and complex books. The start of that was an Achilles heel to the entire foot race. We've seen other movies do this too—Queen of the Damned combined the plot lines of The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned books and condensed them into one two hour movie. It was a huge dumpster fire of inaccuracies that still makes me livid, even if Aliyah was the perfect Akashka.
The only time I've seen anybody really do this successfully is Peter Jackson with Lord of the Rings. There were still some minor problems that most people who followed the books were fair about pointing out. Even so, I think Jackson knew on an intrinsic level that there is so much world building and content involved in something like the Lord of the Rings that you can't contain the entire book series into a 2-hour movie. You can, however, put that into several two-hour movies. And it works! It had everything it needed and people still kept coming back.
Maybe it's lack of patience on the part of a director and scriptwriter, or maybe it's something else. Often with movies, we see multiple interested parties (typically financial backers) stick their hands into the pot, which often contributes to conflicts of interest on set. Some of the financial investors that are demanding specific things for a movie timeline may or may not understand the specific world that they are recreating through Cinema. Maybe at a deeper level they don't understand that drawn-out content needs a procession of events to build world and its characters. Whatever the case, it causes a complex story to be boiled down, stretched out, and chopped up until it's not quite recognizable by its own fan base.
In the case of Roland's universe, the story is built on many worlds and layers. One of the more famous quotes in the book series is when Jake tells Roland to go on after his death, because there are other worlds than these. On some level Jake understands that Roland will meet him again on one of the overlapping worlds or timelines that Roland seems to cross in his pursuit of Walter, the Man in Black. There is also the idea that Roland has done this multiple times before, and will continue to do so stretching on to Infinity. This is something that comes up towards the end of the series, but is constantly hinted at through specific instances of Roland's travels.
It's hard to even go into the casting decision of who plays Walter in this movie. Matthew McConaughey was a very poor choice to cast as Walter. Part of this is because Matthew McConaughey really turned up the cheese level on things. He is able to be somewhat creepy as Walter, but in general he misses his mark.
Walter by his very nature is a creepy wizard. It's hinted that Walter might be somewhat ageless as he uses his magic for a lot of nefarious purposes. He appears under many monikers in King's universe. He's appeared in Eye of the Dragon, it's hinted that he's Randall Flagg in The Stand. In many instances, he crops up to cause the world to decay a little more through the use of chaos, which is what the Red King wants. Walter's whole purpose is to bring down the Beam in the entire book series (see the trope Some Guys Just Want to Watch the World Burn), and my issues with how Walter was even handled and set up as a bad guy for this movie was that they do not explain much of this.
At one point Walter is using one of the orbs that are present through the worlds that Roland and his ka-tet visit, specifically the pink orb from the fourth book, Wizard and Glass. It never goes into the orbs or their abilities, their use by the Red King and the denizens of the Dark Tower, or even how Walter got that orb in the first place—which is all a huge part of the Dark Tower universe. It's primarily the story in book four.
I could go on for days about specific discrepancies, but I feel like at some point it is beating a dead horse. The problem with a lot of these things is that we are talking about building on or recreating a pre-established world with specific Rules of Engagement. In writing, the continuity of our universe is absolute. Writers establish the rule of law: how this universe and the characters within it are to relate to one another. When we take pre-established universes and begin to chip away at foundational work, it's not just an undermining to that universe, it's the unraveling of a story.
What's left of the story at that point is patched back together and brought to a wider audience, but, in doing so we lose important themes and aspects of unique storytelling. The worst part of this is, the story itself ceases to have meaning or make sense. Character development and personalities are also a casualty of this, because instances where characters could be more fleshed out to explain behaviors, mannerisms, history, etc., are pretty much tossed out with the bathwater. Rivalries and romantic tension make less sense, as do angst, love, attachment, or fears. At that point history is also irrelevant.
As a writer and a DM this is something that drives me up the wall. It's something akin to having numbers missing in a formula, or even going as far as to not have an ingredient in a recipe. We miss key interactions with characters and their environments. This causes inconsistencies with psychological development and history. I'm sure I seem incredibly high strung at this point, but is it really so unreasonable to have the rules of the universe defined so that things make sense to our readers? Or as Mr. King so eloquently and lovingly calls them, the Constant Reader.
They deserve our best stories.
At one point Walter is using one of the orbs that are present through the worlds that Roland and his ka-tet visit, specifically the pink orb from the fourth book, Wizard and Glass. It never goes into the orbs or their abilities, their use by the Red King and the denizens of the Dark Tower, or even how Walter got that orb in the first place. which is all a huge part of the Dark Tower universe, spoiler, it's primarily the story in book four.
I could go on for days about specific indiscrepancies, but I feel like at some point, it is beating a dead horse. The problem with a lot of these things is that we are talking about building on or recreating a pre-established world with specific Rules of Engagement. In writing, the continuity of our universe is absolute. Writers establish the rule of law, how this universe and the characters within it are to relate to one another. When we take pre-established universes and begin to chip away at foundational work, it's not just an undermining to that universe, it's almost the unraveling of a story.
What's left of the story at that point is patched back together and brought to a wider audience, but, in doing so we lose important themes and aspects of unique storytelling. The worst part of this is, the story itself ceases to have meaning or make sense. Character development and personalities are also a casualty of this, because instances where characters could be more fleshed out to explain behaviors, mannerisms, history, Etc are pretty much tossed out with the bathwater. Rivalries and romantic tension make less sense, as do angst, love, attachment, or fears. At that point history is also irrelevant.
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This strand should constitute a dynamic 'engine' of innovation at the heart of the overall project that regularly spawns new synergies, identifies novel research co-production opportunities, stimulates knowledge exchange and drives innovation. Key policing partners and wider stakeholders will be central to the design and operation of the forum which will generate ideas that feed into the Research Co-production strand (below).
This strand will seek to provide a data analytics infrastructure enabling the pooling and sharing of significant policing and other appropriate datasets. The infrastructure will act as a forum, clearing house and, where appropriate, provide a gateway to secure data repository services; improving access to sources of police data that are otherwise inaccessible and under-used.
The infrastructure aims to add significant value data and open new avenues for research, analysis, visualisation and data exploitation for the police and academic communities.
This strand will provide significant staff mobility and interaction between police/partner agencies and academics (including early career researchers) in HEIs. The intention is to foster greater mutual understanding and trust between the partners via people exchange, including secondments, internships and placements and also to facilitate research into priority policing issues. A systematic and sustainable infrastructure with dedicated resources and services that support the regional knowledge exchange partnership will also be provided. Opportunities to dovetail with universities Impact Acceleration Accounts (ESRC and EPSRC) will be promoted where available.
The aim of this strand is to build excellent and sustainable research capacity and capability to tackle new and emerging fields of enquiry and policing challenges. It will embed innovation directly within the programme of research co-production and generate spin-off research grant applications and teams of research collaborators from across the partnership. It is also intended to support a cohort of new generation research studentships that benefit from experimental learning opportunities and close collaborations with policing partners.
See the latest announcements about our small grants funding and PhD studentships.
The relationship between the police and the public is regarded as essential if the police are to serve the public fairly, effectively, and efficiently. Police forces should recognise the importance of engaging with a wide range of communities and listening to different views about what they should be doing. Police forces often describe community engagement as part of everything they do and place high importance on developing and maintaining public trust and confidence. However, conflict can arise for various reasons. The public are not always fully-informed about the pressures police work under, including resource constraints and new and emerging risks and harms. Similarly the police do not always understand the perspectives of some members of the public about what they should prioritise, how they should work and what they and their communities need from the police. Sometimes relationships between police and members of the communities they serve can break down, and become marked by low confidence and a lack of trust.
Embedding public engagement in the work of the N8 Policing Research Partnership is a way of recognising the vital importance of the public to policing. The public engagement strand of the N8 PRP seeks to work with police forces and members of the public to facilitate knowledge sharing and the identification of good practice in police-community engagement activities. It also aims to explore public attitudes towards the idea of policing being based on evidence generated by universities. What role do the public think universities and other research organisations should play in informing and supporting police work?
The aim of this strand is to develop and share our knowledge about how best to undertake collaborations between researchers and police on policing, drawing from international experience, and to exploit the international impact of policing research.
The aim of this strand is to enhance research training and learning among police and partner organisations to secure research impact and maximise the practical benefits to policing innovation and the exploitation of data.
The role of this strand is to evaluate the impact, value and effectiveness of the different activity strands as they develop and to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the plans and delivery structure.


This is a set of frequently asked questions with answers. It is updated when we see questions on discuss.ardupilot.org that are not sufficiently answered in the rest of the docs.
When reading this FAQ please refer to the full parameter list for an explanation of each parameter which is mentioned in the answers.
That will prevent the throttle dropping below 10%, but will give you manual throttle control for idling while on the ground, and manual throttle control in stabilisation modes (such as FBWA and STABILIZE) for shutting down the motor when you need to.
THR_SLEWRATE can also aid in prevention of a nitro engine stalling in flight by slowing the throttle advance from going wide open to quickly.
Set the parameter SKIP_GYRO_CAL=1. That will disable the servo demo and will also skip the gyro calibration done on each startup. The last gyro calibration from when you calibrated the accelerometers will be used instead. This also means you don't need to hold the plane still when booting.
The downside of using SKIP_GYRO_CAL is that your gyros may have drifted since you last calibrated them, perhaps due to temperature changes. If you have ARMING_REQUIRE enabled then the arming checks will catch that problem if it is very large, but in general we recommend not using SKIP_GYRO_CAL unless you have a good reason to use it. This is especially the case if you have the EKF enabled, as it is particularly sensitive to gyro error.
After you setup reverse throttle make sure you test correct failsafe by turning off your transmitter while on the ground.
For plane 3.8.0 or later, the servo library allows you to reverse the throttle output channel without affecting your RC inputs or failsafe configuration. to do this, set SERVO3_REVERSED to 1.
In the first case where an I2C failure is detected the code will detect the failure and stop using the airspeed sensor. The aircraft will continue to fly with the algorithms it uses for an aircraft with no airspeed sensor. The ground station will be notified of the failure, and should display a warning to the user.
For the other two cases the code does not currently have a reliable way to detect an airspeed failure. If the failure leads to a low airspeed reading then if the plane is in an auto-throttle mode (such as AUTO, GUIDED, LOITER or RTL) then the plane will tend to lose altitude as it tries to gain speed. The amount of altitude it will lose depends on how low the airspeed reading is. If the airspeed reading is low enough then it may trigger a fast enough descent to crash the aircraft.
If the failure leads to a too high airspeed reading then the plane will slow down to try to keep its airspeed at the target airspeed. If the reading is high enough then the plane may slow down enough to cause a stall and crash the aircraft.
We are looking at ways of detecting partial airspeed sensor failures and hope to add some protection into the code in the future.
You are probably using the default MIXING_GAIN of 0.5. The default is setup to prevent channel saturation. If you instead want to be able to have full deflection then try setting MIXING_GAIN=1.0 or something in between.
To reset all parameters set the parameter FORMAT_VERSION to 0 and reboot. When ArduPilot starts up it checks if FORMAT_VERSION has the correct value, and if it doesn't it wipes the parameters, which resets them to the default values.
It means the "Attitude Heading Reference System" is unhealthy. That is the software that determines the attitude of the aircraft. The most common cause is bad 3D accelerometer calibration when AHRS_EKF_USE is set to 1. Check your accelerometer calibration.
There are 3 parameters that affect the amount the throttle changes in automatic flight.
THR_SLEWRATE is the percentage of throttle change allowed per second. A value of 100 means the throttle cannot change over its full range in less than 1 second.
TECS_THR_DAMP is a damping factor for throttle control. The default is 0.5. A higher value will dampen throttle changes.
TECS_TIME_CONST is the overall time constant for both throttle and pitch changes in TECS. It controls how rapidly TECS tries to correct for any error in speed or height. It is in seconds, and defaults to 5. A higher value makes the pitch and throttle corrections happen more slowly.
Before takeoff it is common to look at the amount of movement of ailerons and elevator when the plane is rolled and pitched on the ground. Some users have wondered why the amount of movement they see in this test is less in recent releases of the firmware.
The reason is the new stall prevention code. When the plane is on the ground the airspeed is very low, so is always under the minimum airspeed set in ARSPD_FBW_MIN. That means the maximum roll demand is limited to 25 degrees, which means the amount of demanded aileron surface movement is less than it would be without stall prevention.
If you want to see what the movement would be without stall prevention then just set STALL_PREVENTION=0. Remember to turn it back on before you fly.
Crow flaps combine flaperons with normal flaps, but the flaperons move upward when the flaps are engaged. Crow flaps can add a lot of drag to slow an aircraft for landing without inducing a lot of pitching moment.
To setup crow flaps you will need to combine two features. First you will need to setup flaperons on two output channels using the flaperon output channels functions. You will need to choose the FLAPERON_OUTPUT parameter value so that the flaps go up instead of down when flaps are engaged, while being careful that aileron input goes in the right direction for roll.
Then you should separately setup 1 or 2 flap channels (depending on whether your flap servos are setup to use a Y lead) using the flap_auto output channel function.
It is strongly suggested that you also setup a FLAP_INPUT_CHANNEL on an RC input channel to allow easy testing of flaps on the ground, and to give manual flap control for testing in FBWA mode. That will allow you to test what degree of flap movement produces the desired increase in drag without inducing a stall.
When the aircraft is on the ground in a mode where it is doing attitude stabilization (such as FBWA mode) the servos often move about a small amount, even though the aircraft is not moving.
if you have GPS lock then the GPS may be reporting a small amount of velocity change (GPS noise). This gets used to correct the accelerometers and comes out as a small amount of attitude noise, resulting in small attitude corrections.
Both of these effects are smaller if you enable the EKF (with AHRS_EKF_USE=1) as it has smarter logic for handling attitude estimation when on the ground.
a synthetic airspeed estimate is calculated by the AHRS system by combining a wind estimate, the GPS ground speed and the response of the aircraft when turning. This airspeed estimate is usually quite good, although it is not as accurate as a real airspeed sensor.
for speed and height control, a different algorithm in TECS is used that does not rely on an airspeed measurement. The algorithm primarily relies on using throttle to maintain the desired height, relying on the fact that an aircraft will start to sink if its airspeed is too low. See the TECS code for full details.
For surface speed scaling (the change in control surface movement needed with different airspeed) the synthetic airspeed estimate is used.
Some people experience a problem where their roll or pitch trim changes when they change flight modes. So for example they are trimmed with level aileron in manual with the aircraft level and when they change to FBWA mode the ailerons move significantly off centre trim.
One likely cause of this is that you have a transmitter that has per flight mode trims. The Taranis is a good example of this if you use its builtin flight mode controls. What happens is you setup the plane with correct trims in MANUAL by adjusting using the trip tabs in flight, but those trims don't get used when you change flight modes. You need to change your transmitter settings so that the stick inputs are the same in all flight modes.


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info@therapyforpeds.com
985.876.0083 (Houma)
985.449.0944 (Thibodaux)
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Welcome to the Center for Pediatric Therapy
CPT operates the Bayou regions only dedicated Pediatric Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy clinics. For over 16 years, our large staff of pediatric Speech, Occupational and Physical therapists have been able to provide our little buddies with the best possible care. We proudly offer all three of the major therapy disciplines in our spacious, company owned facilities located in both Thibodaux and Houma.
CPT offers individual therapy for children from birth to adolescence and is proud to be "In Network" with every private insurance carrier in the state.
Occupational therapists are dedicated to helping children develop all the abilities they need for the many "occupations" of childhood, including playing with friends, being a student, helping at home, eating, getting dressed, and participating in hobbies and sports.
Our Speech-Language therapists are trained to evaluate, diagnose, and treat children who have speech, language, cognitive, social and swallowing disorders. We work one-on-one with children and their families to teach them how to improve oral and written language skills.
Pediatric physical therapists work with children with a wide range of disorders of the musculoskeletal and neurological systems. We use a variety of techniques designed to make therapy fun and playful to help children reach their highest potential of physical function.
Feeding therapy is more than just "teaching a child to eat." Therapists work closely with patients and their families to determine the source of the child's difficulties and develop very specific therapies to make the entire process of eating easier and more enjoyable.
Every child deserves to LEARN, LAUGH & PLAY.
We focus on play and movement to make it a fun place to be, while providing our young patients with the one-on-one care they need to develop and thrive. Every child deserves to LEARN, LAUGH, and PLAY.
Our staff of highly skilled and trained Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapists are experienced in working with children with different diagnoses and conditions. They have over 100 years of combined pediatric experience. Additionally, we are proud to have one of only just six board certified Pediatric Physical Therapists in the state of Louisiana and the only one within a 50 mile radius.
Michele Rogers Bower
Michele Rogers Bower, PT, PCS holds her Bachelors of Science in Microbiology and her Bachelors of Arts in English from Louisiana State University and her …
Erin Terracina Dagate
Erin Terracina Dagate holds her Bachelors of Science in Biology from Nicholls State University and her Masters of Occupational Therapy from Louisiana State University Health …
Ashley Aucoin
Ashley Aucoin holds her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS, and her Doctor of Physical Therapy …
Caroline H. Blanchard
Caroline H. Blanchard earned her Bachelors of Science from Nicholls State University and her Masters in Communicative Disorders from Louisiana State University-Health Sciences Center in …
Dana Bourgeois
Dana Bourgeois earned her Bachelors of Science in Communication Disorders from Nicholls State University and her Masters of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from …
Lacey Clement Richard
Lacey Clement Richard holds her Bachelors of Science in Biology from Nicholls State University and her Masters of Occupational Therapy from Louisiana State University Health …
Corrine Pitre
iversity of Louisiana at Lafayette. In August 2015, she began practicing as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the school system. Corrine began working at The Center …
Anna Catherine Hymel
Anna Catherine Lee Hymel, MOT, LOTR holds a bachelors degree in Allied Health Sciences, which she obtained from Nicholls State University in 2014. While attending …
Kristen Klapatch
Kristen graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Boston University with a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy. She has …
Caroline Falcon
Caroline Falcon, MOT, LOTR holds her Bachelors degree in Allied Health Sciences from Nicholls State University. She attended occupational therapy school in New Orleans at …
Meagan Pitre
Meagan Pitre earned her Bachelor's of Science in Communicative Disorders from Nicholls State University and her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the Southern …
Kacey Hernandez
Kacey R. Hernandez earned her Bachelors of Science from Nicholls State University and her Masters in Communicative Disorders from Louisiana State University-Health Sciences Center in …
Lindsay Ellender
Lindsay Ellender earned her Bachelor's of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She then graduated with her …
"We are so thankful for CPT & all of the staff. Most of all we are thankful for Paige. She worked with my son for over 2 years & he graduated today!! 100% recommend to anyone looking for therapy for children. Such a sweet & caring staff."
Sarah CParent
"I can not say enough great things about The Center for Pediatric Therapy (CPT). We started taking our son in 2019 after a year of therapy in a different state. He INSTANTLY clicked with Paige, a speech therapist at CPT, and only got better."
Callie H.Parent
"I can't express how AMAZING this place is!! They have changed my daughters world completely! They are compassionate and caring. All the staff members are very welcoming and eager to help!! We absolutely love our Therapy Thursday's!! A big shout out to Maddie & Lacey for being huge pieces to my girls puzzle!! ❤❤❤"
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"I cannot say enough good things about CPT! My daughter has made such progress here since she started two years ago. The staff is amazing!"
J LParent
For more information about any of our groups or programs please contact us at: 985.876.0083 (Houma LA) or 985.449.0944 (Thibodaux LA).
The Center for Pediatric Therapy offers individual and group therapy for children from birth to adolescence. We focus on play and movement to make it a fun place to be, while providing our young patients with the one-on-one care they need to develop and thrive. Every child deserves to LEARN, LAUGH, and PLAY.
CPT Thibodaux
270 Highway 3185
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This half term Class 6 have really enjoyed learning about the Winter weather and life in the North and South Poles. We were very lucky that we had a chance to experience the snow and pretend we were Inuit people. We have been learning all about the different animals that live in cold climates such as penguins, polar bears and seals. We were also very lucky to have had a visit from the M&M theatre company who performed our traditional fairy tale 'Cinderella' which we have been working on in class. The half term has ended with an amazing 'Creativity Week' focusing on the Chinese New Year on the 19th February. We have been very excited to be visited by all the different teachers in school to work on music, dance, art and design.
Class 7 - This half term we he been busy learning about the Arctic. This includes the animals, that live there, the people, housing and forms of transport. The weather was kind to us which enabled us to go outside and feel how cold it would be to live in the Arctic and allowed us to complete mathematical activities such as building a snowman that was taller or shorter than we were. We've also been lucky to have a student, Ellie, who played the saxophone. She travelled around all the classes allowing the children to feel the vibrations of the instrument as it was played, and played Disney tunes for us to guess .Finally, we've also enjoyed making pancakes and having a tossing competition and Inviting our friends over from Hamer to enjoy Chinese New Year Activities with us.


Right now the world population is somewhere around 7,250,000,000.
Sometime this year it will hit 7,333,333,333.
The world is struggling to provide for the population. The drought, pestilence, fire and eco disaster aren't helping.
I think this commandment to fill the earth looks to be completed!


The rich and famous can provide inspiration when it comes to sapphire engagement rings for brides of any background. The U.K.'s Daily Record and Sunday Mail showcases a photo gallery of celebrity engagement rings, from iconic Hollywood actresses to British royalty.
Perhaps one of the most famous engagement rings in recent memory is that of Kate Middleton, who married Prince William in 2011. The gorgeous 18-karat sapphire engagement ring set off a royal frenzy when it was first unveiled. Brides can choose from several engagement ring settings accented by sapphires at Ziva Jewels.
If you are looking for sapphire engagement rings similar to Kate Middleton's gorgeous ring, the Art Deco sapphire ring with moon-shaped stones and pave is available in 18k white gold. "Pave" is a setting where stones are set like a paved street. This is an incredibly popular trend in celebrity engagement rings. The technique is used for small stones, usually diamonds, which appear to float in an invisible setting because no metal should be visible between the settings.
Another popular setting when it comes to sapphire engagement rings is the double halo setting, which encircles a sapphire with two halos of diamonds. The sapphire ring with double halo (seen below) sets off a blue 1.5ct sapphire with a sparkling halo of diamonds for an unforgettable engagement ring sure to please any bride. The ring is available in 18K white gold.
For brides who prefer a traditional diamond engagement ring flanked by sapphires, Ziva Jewels features several rings with a dash of color to stand out from the crowd. The vintage pear shaped engagement ring with sapphire side bevel sets and pave trim showcases a center diamond with two sapphires for accent color.
This entry was posted in Diamond rings, Engagement rings and tagged blue sapphire, diamond engagement rings, kate middleton, sapphires engagment rings on July 14, 2013 by erika.


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Development Administration and Planning MSc
This MSc equips students with the analytical, methodological and practical expertise needed to positively contribute to development in countries where they are actively involved. Students acquire the tools necessary to respond to a diverse range of problems including productive capacity, intersectoral integration, economic and social diversification, and self-sufficiency. Students develop the ability to analyse the development process and to formulate appropriate policies for meeting development goals. The field trip, conducted in a developing country, provides the opportunity to study the problems encountered in development, and the cultural, administrative and institutional context in which decisions are made.
The Development Planning Unit (DPU) at UCL is an international centre concerned with promoting sustainable forms of development, understanding rapid urbanisation and encouraging innovation in the policy, planning and management of cities and regions, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its programmes are supported by international agencies and by national and provincial governments. This MSc examines and analyses the theory and practice of development administration at international, national and regional levels to provide participants with an understanding of the processes generating social change and with the skills and abilities to respond. Graduates are engaged in a range of professional activities including local, regional and national government, consultancy firms, national and international NGOs, United Nations programmes and international aid agencies. A small proportion of graduates pursue advanced research degrees while several work as academics in leading universities or as independent consultants. Students will take this course in flexible study mode also.
Duration & Attendance
Full Time MSc £14,610 Home Fees
Full Time MSc £14,610 European Fees
Full Time MSc £23,300 Overseas Fees
Domestic entry requirements: Students need to have an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard, or a lower second-class UK Bachelor's degree, or an equivalent overseas qualification, in a subject appropriate to the programme, plus relevant work experience. In rare cases, applicants with degrees below this standard will be considered if they have significant relevant professional experience. In all cases, successful applicants are expected to provide good references and a strong personal statement, which adequately demonstrate the applicant?s interest in the topics addressed by this programme.
International entry requirements: Students need to have: IELTS overall grade of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each of the subtests; overall score of 92 with 24/30 in reading and writing and 20/30 in speaking and listening in Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) iBT; overall score of 176 with 169 in all subtests in Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English; overall score of 176 with 169 in all subtests in Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English; pass at Mastery level when achieved with a pass at Mastery level in the Pitman International Spoken test (ISESOL) in City & Guilds (Pitman Examination in International ESOL); 62 overall, with a minimum of 59 in each Communicative Skill in Pearson Test of English (Academic); successful completion of ISE III with a ?pass? in all components; overall mark of 65%, with at least 60% in each of the four subtests in UCL Diploma in English for Academic Purposes; overall mark of 65% with at least 60% in each of the four elements of the examination in UCL International Pre-Master's Courses; mark of 65%, with at least 60% in each of the subtests in UCL Pre-sessional English Courses.
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Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Part of the Series: Kino Lorber Essential Collection
Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an...
Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today's growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world's most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.
Justin Pemberton
Francis Fukuyama, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty
Capital in the Twenty-First Century Trailer


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Contact NCC News Service: 212-870-2252 | E-mail news@ncccusa.org | Most Recent Stories | NCC Home
NCC launches Western Public Lands Initiative
Washington, D.C., May 18, 2005 – The Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches USA has launched a new Western Public Lands Initiative to address growing threats to our nation's public lands and associated resources.
Previously, the NCC has conducted ecumenical and interfaith programs addressing a range of environmental issues including air and water pollution, global warming, and energy conservation. Now the NCC will encourage its member denominations and partner organizations to make responsible stewardship and management of public lands an integral part of their efforts to protect and care for God's creation.
Through worship, education, and advocacy, the NCC initiative aims to begin answering the Biblical call to protect and redeem God's lands. For the next year, the new initiative will focus on oil and gas development, which has emerged as a major threat to the health and productivity of millions of the acres of western lands managed by the federal government. If not conducted responsibly, energy development can disturb or kill wildlife, degrade soil quality, pollute water sources, scar landscapes, destroy cultural artifacts, and disrupt other uses of the land, such as ranching and recreation.
"We try always to respond to God's call to be stewards of creation. In the case of our public lands, we want to ensure that they are managed responsibly, in a manner that protects these shared resources that sustain our cultures and economies and God's glorious web of life," said Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the NCC. "For people of faith, there's too much at stake on our public lands and the threats are too great not to get involved."
Coordinated by Christine Hoekenga—a native of Nevada who most recently worked at the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) here—this 10-state campaign will mobilize people of faith to try to end irresponsible actions such as opening natural treasures and ecologically sensitive areas to drilling, weakening permit processes for drilling projects, and making energy development the top priority on public lands to the detriment of Western communities and wildlife. Included in the 10 states are Ariz., Idaho, N.M., Colo., Nevada, Utah, Wyo., Mo., Wash. and Oregon.
For more information about the Western Public Lands Initiative, contact Christine Hoekenga (choekenga@ncccusa.org; 202-544-2350) or visit the "Lands" section of the NCC Eco-Justice website at www.nccecojustice.org.
CONTACT: Leslie Tune, NCC News, (202) 544-2350
Return to NCC Home Page


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Stampede Blue Stats and Stats I Hate
QB Stats Matter (pt.2)
By T. Troy Russell@TTroyRussell May 15, 2020, 8:08am EDT
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Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
This article uses statistics pulled from Football Outsiders and the nflscrapR project.
If you haven't read my last article about why QB stats matter, then let me get you up to speed.
QB efficiency stats are critically important in assessing QB talent.
See point 1
A QB's efficiency directly translates to the ability of an offense to move the ball and score. That really is a no-brainer. A QB that averages more yards/value per play, will have an offense that converts more first downs and scores more points. This is easily demonstrated by the following graph from my previous article, measuring EPA per dropback against points per drive. (actually this isn't the exact graph I showed as votingmachine shamed me into upping my data visualization game)
This shows the strong relationship between QB efficiency and points scored. The R-squared value of 0.9198 means that almost 92% of points is explained by efficiency(1). So for people who are prone to claim that stats don't tell the whole story, they are right: in this case, they only tell 92% of the story.
So why are so many people dismissive of QB efficiency?
The main argument that I hear from stat-Luddites is that a good QB elevates their team, earning wins beyond any measure and conversely, a bad QB can drag their team down, while still maintaining good stats.
Football is a sport intrinsically connected to itself, so I don't disagree at all with the premise that a good QB makes everyone better: a rising tide will lift all boats. However, I absolutely do not believe with the implication that a rising tide cannot be measured.
I do get why many people disagree with me, though. The following graph shows win rate against QB efficiency and seems to support their case.
This graphically represents some of the typical "winner" and "loser" QB narratives. Tom Brady has great stats but he also just gets far more wins than those stats dictate because reasons. Philip Rivers, on the other hand, can barely win half his games while he pads his stats to make himself look good.
I have written previously why this kind of comparison is ridiculous, primarily because it completely ignores the impact of a team's defense. Wins just aren't a QB stat. Of course, that is not going to appease my detractors, so I'll have to include wins in my analysis.
Since a team's offensive points are primarily a function of QB efficiency and since a win is simply defined as point differentials, then it follows that wins should strongly relate to QB efficiency differentials. As such, the following chart compares win rate against EPA/db differential (team EPA/db less opponent EPA/db) .
The increased R-squared (0.8486 vs. 0.6138) shows that wins are explained far more by QB efficiency differentials than QB efficiency alone. This is an important result and it directly parallels experience. Of the 2,816 regular season games played since 2009, almost 82% of them have been won by the team with the higher EPA/db. Notice also that the top 10 teams by passing differential in this chart represent 9 of the last 11 Superbowl winners and 15 of the 22 participants.
Yet, even with this measure the Chargers are still a glaring outlier. So does this indeed show that Rivers is under-performing when it comes to wins? I would argue the opposite. Rivers isn't as much below the line as he is to the right of it. This doesn't show him pulling down a team that would otherwise win 62% of their games, rather it shows he is on a bad team that he is dragging to a 51% win rate.
How do I know that? Because I can data.
The previous chart shows a 0.115 EPA/dropback differential for the Chargers which is good enough to rank 5th of all teams. Deconstructing that, we can see that Rivers' arm is the primary driver of that ranking.
In the following set of charts, the black bar represents the efficiency differential while the red and green bars are the offensive and defensive components. In other words: green - red = black.
The Chargers 0.159 EPA/db passing efficiency is the 3rd best since 2009 (shown as the bold green dot on the right chart) and Philip Rivers started every single one of those games. Over that time, the cumulative defensive passing efficiency was pretty much just average ranking 14th (red dot near the middle).
The story is very different when looking at the rushing game though.
It's common for teams to have negative EPA per carry — all but one team in this study is < 0. However, the Chargers offense run game efficiency is really low, ranking 29th among all teams. Again, the defense performs just slightly better than average (14th) so its impact on the differential is negligible, ranking 29th.
That's really not helping the passing game and the story gets worse with special teams play.
The Chargers' special teams rank 28th in EPA per play, while their opponents ranked 4th. That's not a good combination and results in the 2nd lowest differential of any team(2).
Football Outsiders data also agrees with this analysis. Since 2009 the average DVOA for the Chargers has ranked:
Passing - 3rd
Rushing - 28th
Special Teams - 32nd
Defensive - 20th (18th passing, 29th rushing)
So what happens, when you combine great passing with terrible rushing, horrible special teams and a bad defense? You get a 51% win rate team with a great quarterback.
Let's look at win rate comparisons again, but this time include impact from rushing and special teams.
More of the win rate is explained (0.9176 r-squared) when looking at total play efficiency. As such, the Chargers numbers are much more in line with expectations, which means the low win rate was primarily a function of poor performance independent of Rivers.
Notice that the Patriots are now also much closer to the expected win trendline, exceeding expected wins by only 1.2%, which equates to 2 games over 11 years. Their defense was right about average according to DVOA (16th) but both their run game and special teams ranked 2nd, boosting their win rate above Brady's impact alone (well Brady and Matt Cassel).
When it comes to scoring points, QB efficiency, specifically EPA/db, is incredibly important. Not only does it explain offensive results well but it also predicts future production better than almost any stat. QBs are, and rightly should be, judged by this metric.
However, when it comes to actually winning games, it's a team effort. Most teams have a lower overall team efficiency (EPA/play) than they do passing efficiency (EPA/db), making a sort of efficiency gap: that's just the nature of the game. However, some teams gaps are much larger than others demonstrating a significant difference between the level of QB play and the rest of the team, often resulting in good QBs losing a lot of games.
The top 3 teams in efficiency gap since 2009 are the Chargers, the Falcons and the Saints. All are teams that have had their share of sub 0.500 seasons and it's not surprising to me that I have heard Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees all labeled as QBs who are less than their numbers. I think the more supported argument is that they are really good QBs that have sometimes been on really bad teams.
0.9198 R-squared for EPA per dropback at the team level for cumulative data between 2009-2019. The QB specific R-squared in that same time frame is 0.8710 for QBs with >=500 attempts. The QB specific EPA/db by season R-squared for QBs with >=200 attempts is 0.8137
"Team" for special teams is defined as the team punting, the team receiving kickoffs, the team executing field goals and extra points, and the team attempting 2 -point conversions. "Opponents" are the reverse side of those situations.
Report: Colts traveling to Philly this Week for Eagles OC Shane Steichen's 2nd Interview The Colts will be coming to the NFC Champions' offensive coordinator for his second round interview.