text:
\section{Introduction} \label{sec:intro}

Throughout this paper we work in the piecewise linear category.
A graph is a finite set of vertices connected by edges allowing loops and multiple edges.
A {\em spatial graph\/} is a graph embedded in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
We consider two spatial graphs to be the same if they are equivalent under ambient isotopy.
A {\em bouquet\/} is a spatial graph consisting of only one vertex and loops.
Note that a knot is a spatial graph consisting of a vertex and a loop.

A {\em stick spatial graph\/} is a spatial graph which consists of finite line segments,
called {\em sticks}, as drawn in Figure~\ref{fig:stick}.
This presentation of spatial graphs can be considered to be a reasonable mathematical model
of polymers because such physical objects have rigidity.
Concerning stick spatial graphs, one natural problem may be to determine the number of sticks.
The {\em stick number\/} $s(G)$ of a spatial graph $G$ is defined to be
the minimal number of sticks required to realize the spatial graph as a stick spatial graph.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig1.eps}
\caption{Spatial $\theta$-curve $5_1$ and its stick presentation}
\label{fig:stick}
\end{figure}

The stick number of a nontrivial knot $K$ is related to its crossing number $c(K)$
by the following inequalities~\cite{Ca, HO1, Ne};
$$\frac{7+\sqrt{8c(K)+1}}{2} \leq s(K) \leq \frac{3}{2} c(K) + \frac{3}{2}.$$
Particularly, a 2-bridge knot $K$ with $c(K) \geq 6$ has a better upper bound
$s(K) \leq c(K) + 2$ shown in~\cite{FLS, HNO, Mc}.
There are few knots whose stick number can be determined exactly.
Knots with small crossing numbers were investigated by Randell~\cite{Ra}.
Jin~\cite{Ji} determined the precise stick number of a $(p,q)$-torus knot $T(p,q)$
in case of $2 \leq p \leq q \leq 2p$ as $s(T(p,q)) = 2q$.
The same result was found independently by Adams {\em et al.\/}~\cite{ABGW},
but for a smaller range of parameters.

As a sequel to this research program, we consider the stick number of spatial graphs.
We consider two types of 2-spheres that separate a spatial graph $G$ into two parts.
Such a 2-sphere is called a splitting-sphere if it does not meet $G$,
and a cut-sphere if it intersects $G$ in a single vertex which is called a cut vertex.
We maximally decompose $G$ into {\em cut-components\/} by cutting $G$
along a maximal set $\mathcal{S}$ of splitting-spheres and cut-spheres
where any two spheres are either disjoint or intersect each other in a cut vertex.
$G$ is said to be {\em non-splittable\/} if there is no splitting-sphere separating $G$.
Each cut-component  is non-splittable.
In particular, if such a cut-component is a bouquet, it is called a {\em bouquet cut-component\/}.
The crossing number $c(G)$ is the minimal number of double points
in any generic projection of $G$ into the plane $\mathbb{R}^2$.
Here, these double points are disjoint from the projected vertices of the spatial graph.

\begin{theorem} \label{thm:stick}
Let $G$ be any spatial graph with $e$ edges, $v$ vertices and $b$ bouquet cut-components.
Then
$$ s(G) \leq \frac{3}{2} c(G) + 2e + \frac{3b}{2} - \frac{v}{2}. $$
\end{theorem}

For a knot $K$, this result implies $s(K) \leq \frac{3}{2} c(K) + 3$
which is very close to the previously known upper bound.
Furthermore for both the unlink with $n$ components and the trivial $\theta_n$-curve even for any large $n$,
the stick number $s(G)$ is actually equal to the value $2e + \frac{3b}{2} - \frac{v}{2}$ of $G$ (obviously $c(G)=0$).
This implies that this sum of the last three terms is best possible.

We are also interested in another quantity concerning stick spatial graphs.
An {\em equilateral spatial graph\/} is a stick spatial graph which consists of uniform length sticks.
The {\em equilateral stick number\/} $s_{=}(G)$ of a spatial graph $G$ is defined to be
the minimal number of sticks required to construct an equilateral spatial graph representation of $G$.

Even for knots, little is known about the equilateral stick number.
Rawdon and Scharein~\cite{RS} used algorithms in the software KnotPlot to compute
upper bounds for the equilateral stick number of all prime knots with up to 10 crossings.
They showed that all such knots except seven can be constructed with
the same number of equal length sticks as their stick numbers.
Recently, Kim, No and Oh~\cite{KNO} found an upper bound for a nontrivial knot $K$ as follows;
$$ s_{=}(K) \leq 2 c(K) +2. $$

\begin{theorem} \label{thm:equilateral}
Let $G$ be any spatial graph with $e$ edges and $b$ bouquet cut-components.
Suppose that $G$ has $k$ non-splittable components.
Then
$$ s_{=}(G) \leq 2 c(G) + 2e + 2b - k. $$
\end{theorem}

For a nontrivial knot $K$, this result implies $s_{=}(K) \leq 2 c(K) + 3$
which is very close to the previously known upper bound.
Furthermore for both the unlink with $n$ components and the trivial $\theta_n$-curve even for any large $n$,
the stick number $s_{=}(G)$ is equal to the value $2e + 2b - k$ of $G$,
implying that this sum of the last three terms is best possible.

\section{Arc index of spatial graphs} \label{sec:arc}

In an {\em arc presentation\/} of a spatial graph $G$,
$G$ is constructed in an open-book with finitely many half-planes so that
it meets each half-plane in exactly one simple arc with two different end-points on the binding axis.
Therefore the binding axis contains all vertices of $G$ and
finitely many points from the interiors of edges of $G$,
and each edge of $G$ may pass from one page to another across the binding axis.
See Figure~\ref{fig:arc} for an arc presentation of the $\theta$-curve $5_1$ with eight pages.
The {\em arc index\/} $\alpha(G)$ is defined to be the minimal number of
pages among all possible arc presentations of $G$.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig2.eps}
\caption{Arc presentation of $5_1$}
\label{fig:arc}
\end{figure}

Bae and Park~\cite{BP} established an upper bound on the arc index of a nontrivial knot
in terms of the crossing number.
The authors~\cite{LNO} generalized the argument used in~\cite{BP}
to find an upper bound on the arc index of a spatial graph as follows.
This upper bound result is crucial in the proofs of our two main theorems.

\begin{theorem} {\textup{(Lee-No-Oh~\cite{LNO})}} \label{thm:LNO}
Let $G$ be any spatial graph with $e$ edges and $b$ bouquet cut-components.
Then
$$\alpha(G) \leq c(G)+e+b.$$
\end{theorem}

\section{Circular arc presentations} \label{sec:circular}

We introduce a variant of an arc presentation of a spatial graph $G$,
called a {\em circular arc presentation\/},
which is more useful to construct a stick presentation of $G$ in Section~\ref{sec:stick}.
First, take a circular disk $D$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$
whose boundary actually indicates the binding axis combined with point at infinity.
Now draw straight chords instead of arcs of the arc presentation.
During this procedure all the page numbers and the under/over crossings are preserved.
The chords are denoted by $l_1, \dots, l_n$ in the order of the page numbers,
so that if $l_i$ and $l_j$ share a crossing in the interior of $D$ and $i<j$, then $l_i$ passes under $l_j$.
Note that $\alpha(G)=n$.
The points of the graph lying on the boundary of $D$ are called the {\em binding points\/}.
Note that each chord has two different binding points at its ends.
See Figure~\ref{fig:circular}.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig3.eps}
\caption{Circular arc presentation of $5_1$}
\label{fig:circular}
\end{figure}

For a binding point $b$, the {\em initiating page number\/} $p(b)$ is
the smallest page number among all chords incident to $b$.
A chord $l_i$ is said to have an {\em initiating end\/}
if this end point has the initiating page number $i$.
Then all chords are distinguished into three types as follows;
a {\em bi-initiating chord\/} if it has two initiating ends on both sides,
a {\em uni-initiating chord\/} if it has an initiating end only on one side, and
a {\em non-initiating chord\/} if it has no initiating ends.
In Figure~\ref{fig:circular},
the initiating page numbers of the seven binding points in clockwise order
starting at point at infinity are 1, 2, 6, 3, 1, 4, and 2.
Furthermore, $l_1$ and $l_2$ are bi-initiating chords, $l_3$, $l_4$ and $l_6$ are uni-initiating chords,
and the others are non-initiating chords.

\section{Stick presentations} \label{sec:stick}

In this section we will prove Theorem~\ref{thm:stick}.

\begin{proof}[Proof of Theorem \ref{thm:stick}]
Let $G$ be a spatial graph with $e$ edges and $v$ vertices, and
$b$ is the number of bouquet cut-components of $G$.
Assume that $\alpha(G)=n$ and $C$ is its circular arc presentation with $n$ chords $l_1, \dots, l_n$.
Further assume that $C$ has $n_2$, $n_1$ and $n_0$ numbers of bi-initiating, uni-initiating and
non-initiating chords where $n_2 + n_1 + n_0 = n$.

The projection $\pi : \mathbb{R}^3 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^2$ is defined by $\pi(x,y,z)=(x,y)$.
For each $i = 1, \dots, n$, put a horizontal line segment $h_i$ in $D \times \{i\}$ so that $\pi(h_i)=l_i$
as in Figure~\ref{fig:stack}.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig4.eps}
\caption{Simple stack of $n$ chords}
\label{fig:stack}
\end{figure}

Now, deform these line segments $h_i$ in an inductive manner on $i$,
meanwhile their projections are preserved.
The segment $h_1$ stays in itself and so its highest $z$-coordinate is $z_1=1$.
Assume that $h_1, h_2, \dots, h_{k-1}$ are deformed inductively
with their highest integer-valued $z$-coordinates $z_1 < z_2 < \cdots < z_{k-1}$, respectively.

Deforming $h_k$ depends on the type of the chord $l_k$ as in Figure~\ref{fig:cases}.
If $l_k$ is a bi-initiating chord, raise up $h_k$ into $D \times \{ z_{k-1} \! + \! 1 \}$
with its highest $z$-coordinate $z_k = z_{k-1} \! + \! 1$.
If $l_k$ is a uni-initiating chord,
then exactly one end $b$ of $l_k$ has the initiating page number $p(b) = k$.
Let $b'$ denote the other end with its initiating page number $p(b') = j' < k$.
Raise up $h_k$ obliquely so that its one end is $h_{j'} \cap \pi^{-1}(b')$
and the other end is $b \times \{ z_k \}$ for a sufficiently large integer $z_k > z_{k-1}$.
More precisely, the interior of the triangle between this new $h_k$ and
a horizontal line segment $H$ in $D \times \{z_k\}$ with $\pi(H)=l_k$
has no intersection with any other $h_i$, $i < k$.
Lastly, if $l_k$ is a non-initiating chord,
then both ends $b$ and $b'$ of $l_k$ have the initiating page numbers
$p(b) = j < k$ and $p(b') = j' < k$.
Bend $h_k$ at the center $c \times \{ k \}$ into two connected line segments and
raise up $h_k$ so that its ends are $h_{j} \cap \pi^{-1}(b)$ and $h_{j'} \cap \pi^{-1}(b')$,
and the center point goes to $c \times \{ z_k \}$ for a sufficiently large integer $z_k > z_{k-1}$.
Eventually the interiors of the two triangles between this new $h_k$ and
a horizontal line segment $H$ in $D \times \{z_k\}$ with $\pi(H)=l_k$
have no intersection with any other $h_i$, $i < k$.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig5.eps}
\caption{Bi-initiating chord, uni-initiating chord and non-initiating chord cases}
\label{fig:cases}
\end{figure}

Then the new stick spatial graph $G' = \cup_{i=1}^{n} h_i$ in $D \times [1,\infty)$
is isotopic to $G$ and consists of $n_2 + n_1 + 2 n_0 = n + n_0$ sticks as desired.
Therefore,
$$ s(G) \leq \alpha(G) + n_0. $$

On the other hand, split all chords in $C$ slightly away from binding points.
Then there are total $2n$ ends of the $n$ chords.
Note that the number of binding points is $n-e+v$ by an easy combinatorial calculation.
Since each binding point is an initiating end of exactly one of chords incident to it,
there are exactly $n-e+v$ initiating ends among these $2n$ ends.
Thus $n+e-v$ ends are not initiating.
Since non-initiating chords have no initiating ends,
the number $n_0$ of non-initiating chords is at most $\frac{n+e-v}{2}$.
This implies
$$s(G) \leq \frac{3}{2} \alpha(G) + \frac{e}{2} - \frac{v}{2}.$$

Now we complete the proof by applying Theorem~\ref{thm:LNO}.
\end{proof}

\section{Equilateral stick presentations} \label{sec:equilateral}

In this section we will prove Theorem~\ref{thm:equilateral}.

\begin{proof}[Proof of Theorem \ref{thm:equilateral}]

We will follow the main argument in the proof of Theorem~1.1 in~\cite{KNO}.
Let $G$ be a spatial graph with $e$ edges and $b$ bouquet cut-components.
Suppose that $G$ has $k$ non-splittable components.
Let $G_1$ be a non-splittable component of $G$.

Assume that $\alpha(G_1)=n$ and $A$ is its arc presentation with $n$ arcs.
Let $M$ be a sufficiently large number.
Now we stretch $A$ so that each arc is deformed to two connected sticks of length $M$ each
on the related page, while all binding points are fixed, as drawn in Figure~\ref{fig:equilateral}.
Already we obtain a equilateral spatial graph of $G_1$ consisting of $2 n$ sticks of length $M$.
Therefore,
$s_{=}(G_1) \leq 2 \alpha(G_1)$.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig6.eps}
\caption{Equilateral stick presentation of $5_1$}
\label{fig:equilateral}
\end{figure}

Now we will reduce one more stick from $A$.
Assume that the top binding point has $m$ sticks incident to, say $d_1, \dots, d_m$.
Let $e_1, \dots, e_m$ denote the other $m$ sticks connected to $d_1, \dots, d_m$, respectively.
As in Figure~\ref{fig:reducing}, delete all $m$ sticks $d_1, \dots, d_m$.
Rotate the stick $e_1$ counterclockwise along its endpoint at the binding axis
on the related page until $e_1$ is close enough to the binding axis.
Now rotate each $e_i$, $i=2,\dots,m$, counterclockwise along its endpoint at the binding axis
on the related page so that the distance between the other endpoints of $e_1$ and $e_i$
which are not at the binding axis is $M$.
Glue a new stick $f_i$ of length $M$ to these endpoints as a substitution for $d_i$.
Clearly this formation does not change the spatial graph type,
but we reduce one stick from the original.
Hence the resulting equilateral spatial graph $G_1$ satisfies
$$ s_{=}(G_1) \leq 2 \alpha(G_1) - 1. $$

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics{fig7.eps}
\caption{Reducing one more stick}
\label{fig:reducing}
\end{figure}

Furthermore, if $G$ can be split into two components $G_1$ and $G_2$,
then obviously $s_{=}(G) = s_{=}(G_1) + s_{=}(G_2)$.
Theorem \ref{thm:equilateral} follows directly from Theorem~\ref{thm:LNO}.

Note that unlike the case of nontrivial knots in~\cite{KNO},
it is possible that there is an arc connecting the top and the bottom binding points,
for example, the trivial $\theta_n$-curve.
We cannot repeat the same argument at the bottom binding point.
\end{proof}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


For the Civic Participation skills, the seven levels of professional skill recognised in the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) offer a suitable structure, with levels ranging from 1-Follow at basic entry to 7-Set strategy, inspire, mobilise at a very senior level. The tags summarise the essence of the level.
For each level a full generic definition is provided under the headings autonomy, influence, complexity, and social skills.
For each heading under each level the SFIA definition has served as a starting point.
macro: the actors at the macro-level include local and national governments and international agencies that have been created in international conventions and agreements.
the desire to explain for every person, at the skill level he or she has, how to engage in collective regulative bundles utilising the wikiworx.info components.
The proposed text for civic participation skills is open to further comments. Kindly provide such comments, either here or at the skills pages.
As a former lecturer at a university, this presentation would not have earned me a high student satisfaction mark… had to look up TVET in the report Youth Employment Programs An Evaluation of World Bank and IFC Support, TVET stands for Technical and Vocational Education and Training - very important indeed.
Are the recommendations actionable? For Whom?
The key challenge is how to provide TVET for an as broad spectrum of ISIC classes (from UNSD) as feasible/fit within the context of each and every municipality or district, where for most classes there is insufficient teaching capacity (locally, in the suitable language,…). The solution direction, imho, is to educate/train vocational core (ref. ISIC class) alongside the autonomy, Monitoring&Evaluation& Changes dimensions of the civic participation skill (ref. http://www.atria.us/sect:5-civic-participation ). International community should focus at providing the learning content (OER) organised by the skill levels, and navigatable by ISIC class. Learner's target careers in terms of ISIC class in their community. In virtual learning communities of the same ISIC class (regional, national,…), peer learning can occur (ref. the guilds in medieval European cities).
This report covers the ''open government plans'' that US Federal agencies have developed in response to an early directive by President Obama.
The report also offers a series of specific recommendations for what next steps the White House and agencies might take to spread these best practices across the government.
4. individual rights, including awareness of the controversy of exactly what should count as a "right".
According to the author, a superb example is the Curriculum developed by the Center for Civic Education.
This policy brief summarizes the ways in which investments in democratic institutions and in education are mutually supportive in a virtuous circle. For example, well-functioning democratic institutions require an educated citizenry. Educated citizens are supportive of democratic ideals and institutions, and they play active roles in civic life and public decision making. Democratic regimes invest in education, and investments in better quality universal primary education lead to equitable growth.


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RightOnCanada.ca
Lead-containing paint
RightOnCanada.ca E-Bulletins
More Canadians than ever dying from asbestos
Tue, Sep 25, 2018
Kathleen Ruff*, RightOnCanada.ca
(Pour lire un texte en français: L'amiante et le Québec: la trahison politique continue)
Between 2000 and 2016 the number of Canadians dying from mesothelioma increased from 292 deaths in 2000 to 510 in 2016 – an increase of 70 per cent. In total, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada, almost seven thousand Canadians died from mesothelioma during this period.
These figures represent only a small fraction of the number of deaths caused by asbestos. In addition to mesothelioma, asbestos causes more than twice as many cases of lung and other cancers, as well as asbestosis.
What is shocking and heartbreaking is that the number of new cases of mesothelioma also continues to rise. In the twenty years between 1992 and 2012, the number of new cases of mesothelioma in Canada doubled from 275 in 1992 to 560 in 2012. More than eight thousand Canadians were diagnosed with mesothelioma in this period. Canada's asbestos catastrophe continues to grow.
The data on new cases was downloaded from the Statistics Canada website by the author in 2015. Today this information is no longer available since Quebec has stopped providing any data on the number of new cases of mesothelioma in Quebec from 2010 onwards or on new cases of cancer in general. Consequently, Statistics Canada now only provides statistics on the number of new cases of mesothelioma for Canada minus Quebec from 2010 onward, making it impossible to track the number of new cases for Canada as a whole.
For Canada minus Quebec the number of new cases of mesothelioma increased from 390 new cases in 2010 to 475 new cases in 2015, an increase of 20% in five years. In all, 2,570 individuals across Canada (exuding Quebec) were diagnosed with mesothelioma in that period.
Canada is decades behind other western countries in banning asbestos. Until 2015, the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper supported the mining, use and export of asbestos. The present Trudeau Liberal government is expected to introduce legislation to finally ban the use, import and export of asbestos by the end of 2018.
Quebec's national public health institute has stopped monitoring new cases of mesothelioma
Quebec's national public health institute (Institut national de santé publique du Québec, INSPQ) is the center of expertise for all public health issues in Quebec and especially for the asbestos issue. As noted by the INSPQ in a report published in 2017, Feasibility of increasing the mandatory reporting of diseases related to asbestos exposure by hospital physicians:
"In 2002, the Québec government adopted the policy of increased and safe use of chrysotile asbestos. This policy, still in force, contains the obligation for the Ministry of Health and Social Services to monitor asbestos exposures and related diseases. The fulfillment of this mandate was entrusted to the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and the project presented here was carried out in this context." (translation)
But the INSPQ confirms that it has no data on new cases of mesothelioma in Quebec since 2010.
How can the INSPQ fulfill its mandate to "monitor asbestos exposures and related diseases" if the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) has ceased to provide the INSPQ or Statistics Canada with the necessary data?
In response, the MSSS says that Quebec physicians are required to report cases of asbestosis and mesothelioma under the MADO system (Maladies à déclaration obligatoire) and this data is available. This answer, however, is misleading since, as the INSPQ
\clearly shows, only a small proportion of physicians fulfill this obligation and the data is consequently unreliable.
"Indeed," notes the INSPQ, "among the 201 patients declared for asbestosis or mesothelioma by the three hospitals (the Thetford Mines Hospital, the St-Jerome Regional Hospital and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital) 138 (68.7%) were not enrolled in the MADO-Chemical system." (Key Facts, page 1, translation)
Deaths from mesothelioma continue to rise in Quebec
The INSPQ has, however, information on the number of deaths from mesothelioma in Quebec, which the author was able to obtain through an access to documents request. From 2010 to 2016 the number of deaths increased by 20% from 122 deaths in 2010 to 149 deaths in 2016. These figures, which do not represent the total number of deaths from mesothelioma, show that 960 Quebecers died because of asbestos during these six years. Each death represents enormous suffering for the individual and their family.
Quebec government continues to reject the recommendations of the INSPQ on asbestos
The INSPQ falls under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Health. The government of Quebec appoints the members of its board of directors and a deputy-minister of Health sits on its board. The mandate of the INSPQ is to carry out research, publish reports and make recommendations to the Minister of Health to improve the state of health of the Quebec population.
The INSPQ's recommendations on asbestos did not, however, please the Minister of Health of the previous Liberal government of Quebec, Dr. Yves Bolduc, who rejected their recommendations and continued to support the mining and use of asbestos, claiming, contrary to all the evidence, that it could be safely used. The asbestos lobby in Quebec ferociously attacked the INSPQ's scientists, calling them "a little gang of Taliban".
In 2011, fifty Quebec medical doctors and a hundred scientific experts from around the world submitted a complaint against Dr. Bolduc and the Quebec government to the Quebec College of Physicians (CMQ) for wilfully causing harm to health.
In response, the College published a media release which recommended that anyone dealing with the asbestos issue should be guided by the INSPQ because it has the medical expertise and the legal mandate to provide the necessary advice.
The former Minister of Health, Dr. Bolduc, rejected the College's recommendation and continued supporting the use and export of asbestos.
The current Minister of Health, Dr. Gaétan Barrette, who is a radiologist and former president of the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec, is likewise refusing to heed the recommendations of the INSPQ regarding asbestos.
Quebec has the worst protection against asbestos in the industrialized world
Quebec's regulations permit workers to be exposed to ten times higher levels of chrysotile asbestos fibres (1 fibre/ml) than is permitted by other Canadian provinces, by the federal government, by the United States, or by European or other industrialized countries (0.1 fibre/cc) and is one hundred times higher than the levels permitted by France, Switzerland and the Netherlands (0.01 fibre/cc). The Quebec standard is the one promoted by the asbestos industry. It has been condemned as shameful and dangerous by scientific experts in Quebec and around the world.
Since 2003, as documented in an article published in 2009 by Quebec's largest newspaper La Presse, entitled Asbestos: Quebec has the weakest standard of any western country (translation), the INSPQ has made repeated calls to the government of Quebec to adopt a stricter asbestos exposure standard. Its calls have been disregarded.
The Quebec Medical Association, the Quebec Public Health Association, the Quebec Association of Asbestos Victims, the Quebec Federation of Labour – Construction, the Quebec Cancer Society, the David Suzuki Foundation, the University of Montreal School of Public Health, the directors of Public Health from all around Quebec, as well as other organisations, sent a letter to the leaders of all four Quebec political parties in February 2018, imploring them to support the adoption of a stricter asbestos exposure standard.
"How is it that our workers are 10 times more exposed than in Canada? This is unacceptable," said FTQ-Construction General Manager, Yves Ouellet: "No one should have to expose themselves to a life-threatening illness just by going to work (translation)".
Disturbing Question
Has the government of Quebec adopted a strategy to try to "disappear" Quebec asbestos victims in order to hide the asbestos tragedy so that it can continue to expose workers to dangerous levels of asbestos? The Quebec Commission on occupations standards, equity, health and safety (CNESST), whose mandate is to protect workers, seems to be part of this strategy.
In August 2017, the CNESST published a media release which criticized a journalist at Radio-Canada for having reported that "contrary to the rest of Canada, Quebec does not intend to make its asbestos exposure standards stricter."
"This is false," stated the CNESST and asserted that:
The CNESST was holding public consultations on the necessity to make the asbestos exposure standard more strict
The consultations were scheduled to end on October 31, 2017
The results of the consultations would be presented to a CNESST advisory committee in the weeks following the end of the consultations
The committee would then draw up its recommendations as to whether or not there was a need to change the exposure standards
In February 2018 the Commission still had not made a recommendation and said that it expected to publish its recommendation by the spring of 2018.
On September 9, 2018, the author asked the CNESST – When will the CNESST make its decision on the asbestos exposure standard? The CNESST responded: "the advisory committee is continuing its discussions regarding the standard for asbestos (chrysotile) levels in the air. Since these discussions are continuing, the CNESST will advise at the appropriate time and place when the recommendations will be released." (translation) A chilling response that sounds like it came from George Orwell's novel 1984.
Thus, after more than a year, the CNESST continues to ignore the clear scientific evidence on asbestos and continues to betray its mission to protect the health of Quebec workers and instead is playing a role of complicity with asbestos interests. No other occupational health and safety Commission in the western world professes such ignorance as to the hazardousness of chrysotile asbestos.
The CNESST has a shameful history with regard to asbestos, having aided the export of Quebec asbestos to countries overseas where workers were exposed to horrendous working conditions.
Why is Quebec keeping its indefensible asbestos standard?
Quebec workers are being treated as second-class citizens and are receiving a level of protection against asbestos inferior to other workers across Canada. What is the reason behind the Quebec government's refusal to act? Quebec governments are not supposed to favour second-class treatment for the citizens of Quebec.
The reason may be that the Quebec government has provided the company Alliance Magnesium Inc. (AMI) a loan of $17.5 million and has bought equity shares of $13.4 million in the company for a project to extract magnesium from the mountains of wastes left by the asbestos mines. "We are delighted to count on the Government of Quebec as a major partner in the commercialization project," (translation) said Dr. Joel Fournier, President of AMI, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry. The $30.9 million in public funding provided by the Government of Quebec represents one-third of the $104.9 million global financial package for the project. Thus Quebec has become a co-owner of the project. The Quebec pro-asbestos lobby (the Pro-Chrysotile Movement) and the international pro-asbestos lobby based in Quebec (the International Chrysotile Association) are both delighted and attack Quebec's health experts, saying: "As for the warning from the 17 directors of public health, it is not something rare, it is more of a militant action in the well-orchestrated crusade of anti-asbestos activists who multiply pressure tactics all over the world (translation)."
The government is in a serious conflict of interest
The Quebec government is in a serious conflict of interest, having a legal obligation, as co-owner of a corporate project to commercialize the asbestos wastes, to place the financial interests of the project before any other consideration. On the other hand, the government has a legal obligation to protect occupational and public health. But if the government established proper safety standards, as demanded by the Quebec government' s own medical experts, this would undermine the financial and practical viability of the project.
Canadian government lobbied to exclude the millions of tons of asbestos wastes from its upcoming legislation on asbestos
A recent analysis of the wastes shows that they contain from 20 to 25% chrysotile asbestos. The INSPQ and the 17 Directors of Public Health of Quebec, among others, have warned of the danger to health posed by these wastes and have pointed out that, due to the influence of the asbestos industry, Quebec's environmental legislation on asbestos is very weak, with Quebec being the only province in Canada that specifically states in its environmental legislation that asbestos is not a hazardous substance. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic.
Instead of taking seriously his duty to protect health, the Minister of Health, Dr. Gaétan Barrette, trivializes the dangers of asbestos with an almost mocking attitude, making a comparison with eating too many hamburgers. He described as "extreme" the position of the director of public health of the Thetford Mines area who recommended adoption of stricter protection measures regarding the mountains of asbestos wastes and has been subjected to intimidation and threats for doing so.
The Quebec government and the Quebec Pro-Chrysotile Movement are lobbying the Canadian government to exclude the asbestos wastes from its upcoming legislation to ban the use of asbestos. .
Showing enormous integrity, Quebec's 17 Directors of Public Health and the INSPQ made formal submissions asking the Canadian government to include Quebec's asbestos wastes in its legislation to ban the use of asbestos.
The Trudeau government has indicated that it will succomb to the political pressure to exclude the wastes and ignore the advice of Quebec's medical experts.
A betrayal of science and public health
It seems that the government of Quebec is treating commercial interests as more important than human life. In supporting the asbestos wastes project, the government is showing not only a shocking lack of transparency but also an incapacity to ensure any independent oversight to protect occupational or public health.
The reason that the Liberal Party of Quebec government is refusing to change the asbestos exposure standard appears to be because, if it did so, it would render the asbestos wastes projects unfeasible.
The Liberal Party of Quebec is not alone in thus betraying science and public health. While claiming to defend the rights of workers, the Parti Québécois is demonstrating a cowardly complicity and refuses to disclose its position on the asbestos exposure standard. The Coalition Avenir Québec, instead of answering the question on the exposure standard, sent a response extolling the "billions of tons of asbestos mining wastes in Quebec" that "can, thanks to technologies, be revalued and are rich in metals of economic interest (iron, chromium, cobalt, etc.), in addition to being a source job creation." (translation) The refusal of these political leaders to disclose their position is not what decmocracy is supposed to look like.
Where is the leadership of these three political parties with regard to a toxic substance which continues to kill more workers in Quebec than any other danger? They are using a dishonest tactic to avoid their political responsibilities and to suppress the advice that health experts have given them.
Québec Solidaire is the only political party that has demonstrated courage and integrity and has demanded that the government respect health experts and make the asbestos exposure standard stricter. Québec Solidaire was the first political party in Quebec to call for asbestos to be banned.
In 2010 the Quebec Medical Association issued a media release in which it condemned the "wilful blindness" of the Quebec government to the dangers of asbestos. Today that "wilful blindness" continues.
Everywhere in the world where the asbestos industry has pursued its interests, we have seen the corruption of science followed by immense human suffering.
It seems that this tradition is continuing in Quebec with the major political leaders demonstrating a flagrant betrayal of science, democracy and public health.
* Kathleen Ruff was awarded the medal of the Quebec National Assembly on June 9, 2016 with the unanimous support of all the political parties for the following motion:
"That the National Assembly render homage to madame Kathleen Ruff and thank her for her perseverance in the struggle to stop the mining of asbestos in Quebec and Canada and to ban its use;
"That the National Assembly recognize the essential contribution of the work of Mme Ruff to the health of workers as well as the citizens of Quebec." (translation)
exposure standard, occupational health, Quebec government, Quebec's National Institute of Public Health
Campaign to Stop Asbestos Export
End the Export of Canadian Asbestos
Prevent Cancer Now
The Asbestos-related Research, Education & Advocacy Fund
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Discovery Communications remade a languishing property by creating a true crime channel focused on original programming–and lots of it.
Rebranded as Discovery Times, the network relaunches in 2003. Two well-received programs help it quickly build an audience: The Lives They Led–based on The New York Times's annual obituary feature–and a September 11 anniversary special.


text:
"six strikes"
Cory Doctorow / 10:20 pm Tue, Nov 6, 2018
AT&T disconnects whole families from the internet because someone in their house is accused of copyright infringement
It's been five years since America's super-concentrated telcoms sector announced their "voluntary Copyright Alert system" (AKA Six Strikes), a system that said that if your someone in your household was accused of six acts of copyright infringement, everyone in your house would get the internet death penalty, having your net connection terminated. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 10:06 am Fri, Sep 30, 2016
Shadow Regulation: the secret laws that giant corporations cook up in back rooms
The winner-take-all economy has turned virtually every industry into a cartel (four record labels, two cable companies, two phone operating systems, etc) who operate without fear of competition regulation, allowing representatives of a few companies to gather in closed-door meetings to cook up operating agreements that end up having the force of law. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 2:27 pm Fri, Nov 28, 2014
BMG and Rightscorp sue ISP for right to decide who may use the Internet
The giant, criminal rootkit distributor and the dying, sleazy extortion racket want a judge to say that ISPs should disconnect people from the Internet on their say-so. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 9:00 am Wed, Feb 26, 2014
America's copyright threat letters turn one year old, but no one will say how they're doing
The Copyright Alert System -- a "voluntary" system of disconnection threats sent to alleged file-sharers, created by entertainment companies and the large US ISPs -- has just celebrated its first birthday, having spent $2 million in order to send out 625,000 threats to people it believed to be infringers. How's that working out for them?
No one knows. The Center for Copyright Information -- which made a lot of noise about its war on piracy when it was ramping up -- has been totally silent for the past twelve months, not issuing a single press release (nor have its participating entities said anything about it in that time).
I guess there are two possibilities: one is that this was an amazing success, but they're too modest to boast.
The other one is that, like every other variant on this, as practiced in New Zealand, the UK, and France, it is an expensive boondoggle that wasted millions, alienated hundreds of thousands, and did nothing to break the copyright logjam that has been sowing chaos on the Internet since the 1990s.
This program was the brainchild of US copyright czar Victoria Espinel and the entertainment bigs, and was a predictable disaster from the outset. No doubt there will be some grossly flawed study in the near future to demonstrate that they've finally managed to invent perpetual motion square the circle make Pi equal 3.1 threaten Internet users into doing their bidding. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 6:00 pm Tue, Jan 28, 2014
Writers Guild of America tells US government that copyright shouldn't trump free expression
The Writers Guild of America submitted an exemplary set of comments to the U.S. Government's Internet Policy Task Force green paper on the future of American copyright. The WGA calls for balance in copyright law, and stresses that censorship, surveillance and chilling of critical speech have no place in copyright policy. It's amazing to see artists' groups taking a stand for free expression when it comes to copyright -- far too often, arts groups are staunch free speech defenders except when it comes to unproven accusations of copyright infringement, which they hold to be sufficient grounds for arbitrary censorship.
But artists who think the issue through know that communications policies like copyright can't do their job if they compromise free expression. Artists have a wide variety of business-models and commercial opportunities, but if you're making art in a way that requires total surveillance and arbitrary censorship, you're doing art wrong.
Torrentfreak summarizes the best of the WGA submission. It's an important read: it shows that the entertainment industry's regulatory agenda doesn't serve the creators they employ (and exploit). Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 5:47 pm Sat, Sep 14, 2013
AT&T threatens to disconnect users accused of copyright infringement
AT&T has started sending letters to some of its customers, threatening to disconnect them because they've been accused (without trial or a chance to rebut the evidence) of copyright infringement. AT&T is doing this voluntarily. There is no law or regulation requiring them to do this. It's part of the controversial Copyright Alert System, whose overseeing body had its company status revoked last May. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 11:43 am Mon, May 20, 2013
Movie studios send fraudulent censorship demands over Pirate Bay documentary
You'll remember last month's news that Fox had sent fraudulent takedown notices regarding my novel Homeland. This is hardly an isolated incident: the studios routinely exhibit depraved indifference to the inaccuracies in their automated censorship threats to search engines and webhosts.
This is especially troubling when the studios' notices catch media made specifically to criticize them and their legal strategies. When that happens, they haven't caught a few dolphins in the tuna net -- they've caught some rival activists in the net, activists who're trying to get them to take more care with their dragnet techniques.
A case in point: TPB:AFK a brilliantly made documentary about the MPAA-directed attacks on The Pirate Bay's servers in Sweden, funded through a highly successful Kickstarter. The documentary is Creative Commons licensed and can be freely distributed across the Internet, but Viacom, Paramount, Fox and Lionsgate have been sending takedown notices to services all over the Internet -- notices in which they aver, on penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith basis for asserting that they represent the people who made "TPB:AFK."
Which they don't.
Over the past weeks several movie studios have been trying to suppress the availability of TPB-AFK by asking Google to remove links to the documentary from its search engine. The links are carefully hidden in standard DMCA takedown notices for popular movies and TV-shows.
The silent attacks come from multiple Hollywood sources including Viacom, Paramount, Fox and Lionsgate and are being sent out by multiple anti-piracy outfits.
Cory Doctorow / 5:44 pm Thu, May 16, 2013
Company that oversees US "six-strikes" copyright shakedown has its company status revoked
The Center for Copyright Information -- a company established by the RIAA, MPAA and various ISPs -- to oversee the American six-strikes copyright enforcement status has had its company status revoked and faces fines and other penalties. It appears that they forgot to file their government paperwork and pay their fees; they promise that they'll be back online once it's sorted out.
The revocation means that CCI's articles of organization are void, most likely because the company forgot to file the proper paperwork or pay its fees.
"If entity's status is revoked then articles of incorporation / organization shall be void and all powers conferred upon such entity are declared inoperative, and, in the case of a foreign entity, the certificate of foreign registration shall be revoked and all powers conferred hereunder shall be inoperative," the DCRA explains.
Unfortunately for the CCI, the DCRA doesn't have a strike based system and the company is now facing civil penalties and fines.
It appears that company status was revoked last year which means that other businesses now have the option to take over the name. That would be quite an embarrassment, to say the least, and also presents an opportunity to scammers.
"When a Washington DC corporation is revoked by the DCRA, its name is reserved and protected until December 31st of the year the corporation is revoked. After December 31st, other business entities may use the corporations name," the DCRA explains on its website.
"Six Strikes" Anti-Piracy Outfit Loses Company Status, Faces Penalties
[Ernesto/TorrentFreak]
(Thanks, That Anonymous Coward) Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 9:06 am Mon, Apr 8, 2013
Obama's regressive record makes Nixon look like Che
Redditor Federal Reservations has made a handy post enumerating all the regressive, authoritarian, corporatist policies enacted by the Obama administration in its one-and-a-bit terms. You know, for someone the right wing press likes to call a socialist, Obama sure makes Richard Nixon look like Che Guevara. And what's more, this is only a partial list, and excludes the parade of copyright horrors and bad Internet policy emanating from the White House, via Joe Biden's push for Six Strikes, the US Trade Rep's push for secret Internet censorship and surveillance treaties like TPP and ACTA and TAFTA; the DoJ's push to criminalize every Internet user by expanding the CFAA, and much, much more.
Obama extends Patriot Act without reform - [1]
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-05-27/news/29610822_1_terrorist-groups-law-enforcement-secret-intelligence-surveillance
Signs NDAA 2011 (and 2012, and 2013) - [2]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/02/president-obama-signed-the-national-defense-authorization-act-now-what/
Appeals the Federal Court decision that "indefinite detention" is unconstitutional - [3]
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/ndaa-hedges-v-obama-did-bill-of-rights.html
Double-taps a 16-year-old American-born US citizen living in Yemen, weeks after the boy's father was killed. Administration's rationale? He "should have [had] a far more responsible father" - [4]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/anwar-al-awlakis-family-speaks-out-against-his-sons-deaths/2011/10/17/gIQA8kFssL_story.html
Continues to approve drone strikes that kill thousands of innocent civilians including women and children in Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries that do not want the US intervening; meanwhile, according to the Brookings Institute's Daniel Byman, we are killing 10 civilians for every one mid- to high- level Al Qaeda/Taliban operative. This is particularly disturbing, since now any military-aged male in a strike zone is now officially considered an enemy combatant - [5]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7361630/One-in-three-killed-by-US-drones-in-Pakistan-is-a-civilian-report-claims.html
Protects Bush's war crimes as State Secrets - [6] [7] [8]
http://www.salon.com/2010/09/08/obama_138/
Cory Doctorow / 9:13 am Sat, Mar 30, 2013
South Korea lives in the future (of brutal copyright enforcement)
The US-Korean Free Trade Agreement came with a raft of draconian enforcement rules that Korea -- then known as a world leader in network use and literacy -- would have to adopt. Korea has since become a living lab of the impact of letting US entertainment giants design your Internet policy -- and the example that industry lobbyists point to when they discuss their goals.
One of the laws that Korea adopted early was the infamous "three strikes" rule, where repeated, unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement leads to whole families being punished through restriction of, or disconnection from their Internet connections. Now the Korean National Human Rights Commission has examined the fallout from the country's three strikes rules, and called for its repeal due to high costs to wider Korean society.
Here's the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Danny O'Brien with more:
The entertainment industry has repeatedly pointed to South Korea as a model for a controlled Internet that should be adopted everywhere else. In the wake of South Korea's implementation, graduated response laws have been passed in France and the United Kingdom, and ISPs in the United States have voluntarily accepted a similar scheme.
But back in Korea, the entertainment industry's experiment in Internet enforcement has been a failure. Instead of tackling a few "heavy uploaders" involved in large scale infringement, the law has spiraled out of control. It has now distributed nearly half a million takedown notices, and led to the closing down of 408 Korean Internet users' web accounts, most of which were online storage services.
Cory Doctorow / 2:33 pm Sat, Mar 2, 2013
America's six-strikes copyright system is a nightmare
A post on Slashdot by Dangerous_Minds links to a parade of horrors with the new "Copyright Alert System" -- the voluntary six-strikes-and-you're-out copyright enforcement system that America's major ISPs have chosen to enact on behalf of the MPAA and the RIAA. It's trivial to hijack, clobbers small business owners who let people use their Internet access.
Most immediately, it also requires its victims to complete an online copyright re-education camp designed by the major record labels and studios, and as EFF's Corynne McSherry points out, this is a total clusterpoop, a way of ramming inaccurate copyright information into the nation's eyeballs. Unsurprisingly, the gross errors in the mandatory copyright reeducation materials would all improve the profitability of the entertainment industry if they were taken to heart by the public.
"Whenever you create something like a poem, a story or a song, you own it – and no one else can use it without your permission."
Not so: thanks to the fair use doctrine, others can in fact use the works you create in a variety of ways. That's how we help ensure copyright fosters, rather than hinders, new creativity and innovation.
Equally worrisome: the CCI site directs users to the Copyright Alliance to learn more about the history of copyright. The Copyright Alliance is hardly a neutral "resource"—it was a leader in the battle to pass SOPA and remains a staunch advocate of copyright maximalism.
Finally, CCI is promising to partner with iKeepSafe to develop a copyright curriculum for California public schools.
Rob Beschizza / 6:10 am Thu, Feb 28, 2013
Six Strikes
The first "Six Strikes" notifications were sent out this week by Verizon and Comcast, and Ars Technica's Cyrus Farivar got a copy. Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 2:38 pm Thu, Feb 14, 2013
Six-strikes US copyright punishments will harm open WiFi
You may have heard Jill Lesser, Executive Director of the Center for Copyright Information, explain that America's six-strikes copyright punishment system would not harm open WiFi. Adi Kamdar explains why Ms Lesser's totally mistaken:
Termination may not be part of the CAS, but that's not the point—the program still uses "protecting copyright" as an excuse to seriously hinder a user's online experience. For example, CAS involves not just "education" but also "Mitigation Measures," such as slowing down Internet speeds to 256 kbps for days—rendering your connection all but unusable in today's era of videochats and Netflix.
Lesser doesn't think that's a problem. As she told the radio show On The Media: "The reduction of speed, which one or more of the ISPs will be using as a mitigation measure, is first of all only 48 hours, which is far from termination."
But that's 48 hours of lower productivity and limited communication across the globe, based on nothing more than a mere allegation of copyright infringement.
Don't Be Fooled: "Six Strikes" Will Undoubtedly Harm Open Wireless Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 7:38 pm Wed, Jan 23, 2013
Telcos' six-strikes plan could kill public WiFi
As America's phone and cable companies roll out their "six strikes" plans (which they voluntarily adopted in cooperation with the big film companies), it's becoming clear that operating a public Internet hotspot is going to be nearly impossible. Anyone operating a hotspot will quickly find that it can no longer access popular sites like YouTube and Facebook, because random users have attracted unsubstantiated copyright complaints from the entertainment industry. Verizon (and possibly others) have made it clear that this will apply to businesses as well as individuals, meaning that firms will have to spy on all the traffic of all their users, all the time, and heavily censor their use of the Internet in order to prevent them from attracting these complaints.
It's not much of a stretch to see why the carriers would like this: every time you use a hotspot instead of using your phone or device's metered data-plan, they lose revenue.
Also, as the strikes get higher, there are two things to be aware of: ISPs are then more likely to hand over info to the copyright holders, meaning that it could still lead to copyright holders directly suing. That is, the "mitigation" factors are not, in any way, the sum total of the possible consequences for those accused. On top of that, we still fully expect that at least some copyright holders are planning to insist that ISPs who are aware of subscribers with multiple "strikes" are required under law to terminate their accounts. At least the RIAA has indicated that this is its interpretation of the DMCA's clause that requires service providers to have a "termination policy" for "repeat infringers."
Cory Doctorow / 12:00 pm Sun, Jan 13, 2013
Preview of Verizon's version of America's "six strikes" copyright enforcement scheme
America's largest ISPs took the chickenshit step of agreeing to voluntarily police copyright on behalf of the movie studios and record labels, with a "six strikes" system that involves a series of ever-more-dire warnings and punishments for unsubstantiated copyright complaints from Big Content. Here's a preview of the final stage of the punishment regime at Verizon:
"Redirect your browser to a special web page where you will be given several options. You can: Agree to an immediate temporary (2 or 3 day) reduction in the speed of your Internet access service to 256kbps (a little faster than typical dial-up speed); Agree to the same temporary (2 or 3 day) speed reduction but delay it for a period of 14 days; or Ask for a review of the validity of your alerts by the American Arbitration Association."
Verizon's "Six Strikes" Anti-Piracy Measures Unveiled [Torrentfreak] Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 8:04 am Thu, Nov 29, 2012
America's "Six Strike" copyright punishment system on hold until 2013
The American Six-Strikes regime -- through which ISPs voluntarily agree to punish their customers if the entertainment industry accuses them of piracy -- has been delayed, again, to "early 2013." The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) -- which will act on the entertainment industry's behalf -- blames Hurricane Sandy for the delay.
TorrentFreak has learned that the main problem is to get all actors, including the ISPs and the American Arbitration Association, lined up to move at once. This proved to be much more difficult than anticipated.
Three of the five U.S. ISPs participating in the copyright alerts plan have revealed what mitigation measures they will take after the fourth warning.
AT&T will block users' access to some of the most frequently websites on the Internet, until they complete a copyright course. Verizon will slow down the connection speeds of repeated pirates, and Time Warner Cable will temporarily interrupt people's ability to browse the Internet.
It's expected that the two remaining providers, Cablevison and Comcast, will take similar measures. None of the ISPs will permanently disconnect repeat infringers as part of the plan.
I love that AT&T will force its customers to complete copyright reeducation camps designed by the entertainment industry, and will withhold Facebook and YouTube until they pass the course and demonstrate their proficiency in parroting back Big Content's party line.
I wonder if Facebook will sue them for tortious interference.
Six Strikes Anti-Piracy Plan Delayed Till 2013 [TorrentFreak]
(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!) Read the rest
Cory Doctorow / 8:07 am Fri, Nov 9, 2012
Six strikes event in NYC, Nov 15
Joly from the Internet Society writes,
As Boing Boing readers will know, the Copyright Alert System, the result of a deal between big content and big ISPs, is a graduated response program - popularly known as the six strikes - that escalates from nastygrams, to copyright school, to Internet throttling. Just like SOPA/PIPA, enforcement targets will be arbitralily selected by the content owners, but unlike SOPA/PIPA there will be no appeal via the courts - only to an arbitration firm hired by the program. There is no question that the plan will have a chilling effect on the Open WiFi movement and thus impede speech. In other countries such plans, arguably ineffective, have only been implemented after a lengthy public process - but in the USA, none.
With the plan due to kick in on November 28, on Thursday November 15 2012 the Internet Society will present 'INET New York: An Open Forum on The Copyright Alert System' at the New York Law School, with speakers representing the MPAA, RIAA, Verizon, and Time Warner, plus advocates of the public interest. The forum is open to the public, free, and will also be webcast live. This is the only opportunity for Internet users to speak up. If you are in NYC show up and let your voice be heard, if elsewhere there is an online backchannel.
INET New York: An Open Forum on the Copyright Alert System – Nov 15 @ New York Law School #6strikes #copyright #inetny
(Thanks, Joly! Read the rest


text:
Home / ELISA / Siglec-9 Recombinant Protein
Siglec-9 Recombinant Protein
Tested Applications: ELISA, WB
SPECIES: Cynomolgus monkey
SOURCE SPECIES: HEK293 cells
RECOMBINANT PROTEIN SEQUENCE: Gln 20 - Gly 350
FUSION TAG: His Tag
APPLICATION NOTE: This protein carries a polyhistidine tag at the C-terminus. The protein has a calculated MW of 38.0 kDa. The protein migrates as 55-70 kDa under reducing (R) condition (SDS-PAGE) due to glycosylation.
PREDICTED MOLECULAR WEIGHT: 38.0 kDa
PURITY: >95% as determined by SDS-PAGE.
BUFFER: 25 mM MES, 150 mM NaCl, pH5.5
STORAGE CONDITIONS: Lyophilized Protein should be stored at -20°C or lower for long term storage. Upon reconstitution, working aliquots should be stored at -20°C or -70°C. Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles.
NCBI OFFICIAL SYMBOL: SIGLEC9
ADDITIONAL NAMES: Siglec-9,SIGLEC9,CDw329,CD329
Protein Accession Number: XP_005590140.1
NCBI GENE ID NUMBER: 102118310
siglec-9 (HGMW-approved symbol SIGLEC9) a member of the sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin (Siglec) family, which belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF). SIGLEC9 shows a high degree of homology to many members of the siglec family, including siglec-7 (80%), siglec-8 (72%), siglec-5 (65%), and CD33 (64%). This high degree of homology is also conserved in the extracellular Ig-like domains. They are characterized by an N-terminal Ig-like V-type domain which mediates sialic acid binding, followed by varying numbers of Ig-like C2-type domainsSiglec-9 with a hydrophobic signal peptide, an N-terminal Ig-likeV-type domain, two Ig-like C2-type domains, a transmembrane region and a cytoplasmic tail.
1: Foussias G, et al. Genomics. 2000. 67(2):171-8.
2: Liu YC, et al. Front Immunol. 2017. 8:1601.
3: Angata T, et al. J Biol Chem. 2000. 275(29):22127-35.
Siglec-9 Recombinant Protein quantity


Last weekend my brother and I made a trip down to a tiny town called Hurley. (Population 800) To get there you can choose to drive the mountain pass with winding roads and one way bridges. The views were spectacular. Showing off the many splendors of creation. Most specifically the sunset. The sky had wonderful colors with shadows and depth that an iPhone can't even come close to capturing. This was just the start.
Hurley church was established in 1913. The church has seen a lot of different times and so has the congregation. The average age was somewhere in the 60's-90's. Oh, but I have never met such kind people. The stories they can tell are endless and the kindness we were welcomed with was nothing less. Though there was some miscommunication and small hiccups the service was on its way. My brother was asked to speak and did a great teaching on Ephesians 3 and I helped by playing a couple of worship songs.
Then it was time for the potluck and fellowship. When you are talking to strangers conversation can initially be difficult. The same sort of questions are raised. How are you? What do you do for a living? Where are you from? And for young adults more than likely your schooling is a topic of discussion. In my last year, and now entering my last semester, the big question is 'what's next'? I HATE this question. Nothing against anyone who has asked. In fact, I ask it all the time. The problem is I don't like it because I don't know.
Shirley, asked me this question to which I honestly responded that I was unsure. I told her how I was feeling so inadequate. Especially since the day before, at work, two girls I went to high school came in. Both had already graduated, and were on to their upper-level schooling with plans set out before them. My answer? I am still in school, working at a food job, and with absolutely no direction in life. It made me feel pretty anxious about my future. I was sharing this with Shirley and I got advice I haven't heard before. Don't Do Anything About It.
She went on to explain. You don't need to know. You don't need to understand. Leave it in God's hands. Of course, continue to look and continue to search, but don't make finding the answer a priority. God will make it come to pass. She told the story of needing a job, and without the schooling was sent in the direction of a hospital. Where she was hired, with few qualifications, and worked there for 35 years. She told me that she loved it and never would have thought that she would have.
I have been mulling over her story and the things she said, and found her advice difficult. It is so hard to not compare to other peers or to worry about the future. I can spout out different verses to you that are applicable, but it still is hard to trust. I have this need to control and grasp onto so many areas in my life tightly. In pondering this, I think of Ruth. A woman of great faith. Having only experienced the God of the Jews, through her late husband and his family, she followed a bitter woman back to her homeland and trusted that the Lord would provide for her. Leaving everything her family, her culture, her home she so desperately clung to the Living God. And it wasn't easy; back in those times two widowed women would have very few ways and means to be able to provide for themselves. Yet with hard work, time and persistence God did provide for her and blessed her by giving her another love and a son. A son that would be in the lineage of Christ no less.I know it is and will be worth it. But faith is a funny thing sometimes. Thoughts?


As well as sharing information via our website and email discussions, the ENACA usually meets two times per year. The principle of two meetings per years was agreed during the last year meetings due to cost savings. The decision says that one meeting will be held in Central European country, one in country where the intensive communication with ministericul authorities is necessary and the third meeting will be replaced in case of necessity by teleconference.


text:
Lessons from Schwab's YieldPlus Debacle
By Nathan Hale
Updated on: April 23, 2010 / 3:04 PM / MoneyWatch
Last week Charles Schwab agreed to pay $200 million to settle a lawsuit filed by investors in its YieldPlus fund. The investors claimed that they had been misled about how risky the fund was. Schwab claimed that the fund was expected to provide "good returns with low principal risk." But despite that claim, the fund posted a cumulative loss of -42 percent in 2008-2009.
So what lessons should investors take from this?
You can't always trust your fund manager. According to the complaint in this case, YieldPlus was marketed as "a smart alternative for your cash," and Schwab's customer service representatives were trained to push the fund as an alternative to lower-yielding CDs and money market funds. Investors following this advice boosted the fund's total assets to a high of $13.5 billion, and provided hundreds of millions of dollars of fee revenue to Schwab over the years. When the credit markets first started showing signs of trouble in the late summer of 2007, Schwab posted an "FAQ" about the fund on their website. There, they assured investors that "less than 0.0001% of [the fund's] total assets are invested in sub-prime securities that do not have an investment-grade rating." While that might have been comforting at the time, investment-grade ratings on sub-prime securities proved to be about as useful as suntan lotion in a blizzard. The fund's holdings -- investment-grade and all -- got hammered in the credit meltdown.
You can't always believe the analysts. In May 2007, Morningstar's analysis of YieldPlus carried the headline "YieldPlus a Solid Alternative to Cash." In November, they wrote that they were "guardedly optimistic about [the fund's] prospects." Just nine months later, with the fund sporting a 31 percent loss, Morningstar's optimism was exhausted, and they accurately called the fund "an unmitigated disaster."
You can't always rely on the media. In mid-2007, USA Today highlighted YieldPlus as one of "5 Bond Funds Worth Keeping," noting that in its then-eight year history it had never lost money over a 12 month period. But if such lack of foresight is forgivable on the eve of a crisis the likes of which we had never seen before, a disinterest in the fund's now-clear failure is less so. A few weeks ago, Money magazine's Lisa Gibbs blogged about the YieldPlus lawsuit, writing that she found it a "particularly problematic episode for Schwab" that was "surprisingly underpublicized." I would agree on both counts. But it's hard to reconcile those comments with the extensive profile of Schwab she wrote just a few months earlier in the January issue of Money. The article logged in at over 2,000 words. Of those, just 61 words at the end touched upon YieldPlus. No mention was made of the losses investors had suffered. Nor was it noted that this fund's assets -- which once topped $13 billion -- were now less than $200 million. Ms. Gibbs did, however, quote new Schwab CEO Walter Bettinger, who said "we feel horrible." Well, that's nice.
There is no free lunch. No matter what any fund manager or investing expert tries to tell you, the iron law of investing remains in force: risk and return are inextricably linked. There is no more competitive terrain in the entire world than the financial markets -- no one is interested in giving money away. If one of the market's participants is offering you what appears to be a higher return, rest assured that it is accompanied by increased risk. Sometimes, as was the case with YieldPlus, that risk may not manifest itself for long stretches of time. But make no mistake, it remains present, and will eventually make itself known.
First published on April 26, 2010 / 7:30 AM
Nathan Hale
View all articles by Nathan Hale on CBS MoneyWatch »
Nathan Hale has spent decades working in the financial services industry, during which he has researched and written extensively about personal investing, the mutual fund industry, and financial services. In this role, he uses a nom de plume because many of his opinions about the mutual fund industry and its practices would not endear him to its participants.


Hope you are all feeling glamorous! Here is a haul of beauty products that I purchased last week, my first haul post! Just literally popped into a couple of shops and got myself some treats! So here it goes!
Body Shop body butter in coconut. £12.50.
I love this body butter, no matter how many I try nothing compares. It is a bit pricey I think, but the pot lasts such a long time. I try to have routine, but struggle to keep up with it! It goes on smoothly and easily, with such a scent that everyone comments on! Once applied it lasts until I have a shower, sounds wierd! but literally I feel the moisture coming off my skin when I have a shower. Would definately reccomend this to everyone! I would try other scents, but never feel able to leave my trusty coconut!
Body Shop Blusher Brush £12.00.
I desperately needed a blusher brush and have to confess I always buy cheap ones in the hope they will last and apply my makeup well, but have yet to be impressed so if anyone can reccommend me a cheaper brush that would be fab! This brush feels soft to touch, i like my brushes a bit rounder as I like to put bronzer on and then my blusher on my cheekbones. This brush is lovely but a bit tricky to apply my bronzer on evenly. Lovely soft bristles though, but I think I would like to try a different one when I need a new one.
Batiste Dry Shampoo in Tropical £2.50.
This is my must have product that I cant live without! Have tried all the scents and this is my favourite as I love sweet smelling scents. This dry shampoo soaks up excess oil, leaves hair feeling "freshly washed" and adds volume! I use this daily not necesarily for oil, but to add volume to my fine hair as it works wonders!A product I will buy again and again!
Garnier skin naturals soothing cleansing lotion. £2.99.
I always change my cleanser and toner skincare products as I havent found my "love" products yet! This lotion is a cleanser and removes eye makeup, it has no perfume, no alcohol or colourants so is suitable for sensitive skin. I love 2 in 1 products as saves time, especially as I have a little baby! This product takes off my makeup easily, I dont have to keep repeating the application. I wear long lasting eye liner and mascara which most eye makeup removers struggle to take off, but this lotion found them no problem! yipee!! This product is good value and a lovely lotion for any skincare routine.
Garnier skin naturals soothing vitamin-enriched toner. £2.99.
Most toners are either harsh on the skin or makes my skin feel dry. This toner is like the lotion, no perfume, alcohol or colourants so again suitable for sensitive skin. The toner is clear and takes any excess makeup off as well as making my skin feel enriched, soothed, fresh and "clean". Good value that is effective and ideal.
Hope you found that useful, any recomendations then please let me know :) would love to hear from you lovely people.


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La salamandra de Mombacho (Bolitoglossa mombachoensis) es una especie de salamandras en la familia Plethodontidae.
Es endémica del volcán Mombacho, Nicaragua.
Su hábitat natural son bosques húmedos tropicales o subtropicales a baja altitud, los montanos húmedos tropicales o subtropicales y zonas previamente boscosas ahora muy degradadas.
Está amenazada de extinción debido a la destrucción de su hábitat.

Esta salamandra se puede encontrar mayormente de noche y raras veces de día durmiendo cerca de orquídeas o helechos, su comportamiento no ha sido bien documentado por lo que se sabe poco de ella.

Referencias

mombachoensis
Anfibios de Nicaragua
Fauna endémica de Nicaragua
Animales descritos en 1999

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Lichenostomus subfrenatus é uma espécie de ave da família Meliphagidae.

Pode ser encontrada nos seguintes países: Indonésia e Papua-Nova Guiné.

Os seus habitats naturais são: regiões subtropicais ou tropicais húmidas de alta altitude.

Referências

Lichenostomus
Aves descritas em 1876


KALAMAZOO, MI — A new addition for craft beer fans provides a tasty wrinkle to your grocery shopping experience.
The Harding's Market at 5161 West Main St. in Kalamazoo recently installed The Growler Station, where shoppers can sample and select a unique craft beer to take home.
A Harding's Market growler is filled at the Kalamazoo location.
A growler is a 64-ounce container that is frequently used in breweries around the country. Its 32-ounce and 16-ounce cousins — called howler and yowler, respectively — are also available.
"We thought we'd be innovative and bring something to retail that wasn't here," Store Director Gary Peoples said.
The beer selections change frequently and are typically not beers found in packaged form, or are difficult to find. Peoples said he likes to order specialty beers — mostly from Michigan — that are not packaged in bottles or cans. He's carried popular beer from Old Nation Brewing Co., including Boss Tweed, KBS from Founders Brewing Co., and hosted tap takeover events for area breweries, including One Well Brewing of Kalamazoo.
The beers are displayed on a TV screen with details about each option. There's also a touch screen on the counter that lets shoppers learn more about the beer, the brewery and a few food pairing tips. A least one hard cider and a root beer is also available, Peoples said.
The growler station is located between the produce and beer aisles. Samples are available on request, which makes it convenient for those looking to bring a new fresh beer to share with friends and family while picking up groceries or weekend grill-ables.
The "Beer Wizard" is a touch-screen menu that shares more details about available beer, the breweries and what food to pair with your selection.
The Growler Station started in New York City in 2012. The product uses a counter-pressure filling system with CO2 that purges oxygen from the container, allowing for more efficient pours and beer that stays fresh longer than standard fills, the company says.
For more details about The Growler Station at Harding's, call 269-381-0244.
A coupon for a free Harding's glass growler is available to all guests attending a West Michigan Beer Tours walking tour of downtown Kalamazoo breweries, which run every Saturday in 2018.


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Maisie Williams AKA Arya Stark Makes A Shocking Revelation; Says GoT Makers Put Tight Strap Across Her Chest To Get A Flat Look
Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams opens up on her ordeal while essaying the character of Arya Stark, reveals that she made to wear a strap across her chest so that she looks like a girl and not a woman!
Published on Oct 06 2019, 15:17:48
ost her stint as Arya Stark in the globally popular Game of Thrones (GoT), Maisie Williams has now become a household name. Maisie's spectacular performance as the Stark sibling helped her in garnering an enormous fan base across. But, wait! It is firmly believed that there are two sides of the same coin. Recently, the actress recounted the cons of playing Arya Stark in Game of Thrones and it's sure to give you a shock. For the starters, Maisie's experience involved strapping her breasts to flatten it out, so that she looks like a girl and not a grown-up woman. According to Williams, this had a negative impact on her.
As per a report in USA Today, the actress said on Vogue's 24 hours with Maisie Williams, "They would also put this strap across my chest to flatten any growth that had started, and I don't know, that just felt horrible for six months of the year. Around season two or three, my body started to mature and I started to become a woman. But Arya was still very much, like, trying to be disguised as a boy." She added, "I had really short hair and they constantly covered me in dirt and shaded my nose so it looked really broad and I look, like, really manly."
Further, Maisie revealed that she is now keen on exploring the feminine side of her. "With this new phase of my style, it is nice to look more feminine and have a real waistline and just embrace the body that I have," continued the actress.
image source: instagram/arya.stark.unofficial
Related Topics: game-of-thrones maisie-williams arya-stark got
Who's Hotter? Anushka Sharma And Malaika Arora's Sexy White Thigh-High-Slit Numbers Are Same Same
Emmy Awards 2019: Game Of Thrones Star Gwendoline Christie's Red Carpet Dress Gets Her Compared To Jesus
Game Of Thrones Star Sophie Turner To Return To TV Again; Turner To Star In Survive Along With Corey Hawkins
GOT Star Khaleesi Emilia Clarke And Wildling Ygritte Rose Leslie Are In India And Monkeys Are Giving Them A Though Time


If you want a chance to speak to those in power directly, here's your chance. Both David Cantor of the DOE and Howard Wolfson, chief architect of Bloomberg's third term run, are responding to Bill Thompson's scathing piece on the mayor's education record on the Huffington Post.
Isn't it correct, Mr. Wolfson, that you said in 2005 that "Michael Bloomberg is an out-of-touch billionaire who can"t relate to the problems of ordinary New Yorkers."? What brought about this change of heart as it relates to this billionaire?
Thompson has gone from 22 points down to 10 points down. Bloomberg is under 50% for the first time in a long time. That means the race is up for grabs. Let your voice be heard.
Don't tell anyone I said that. It could be bad luck. But the fact that Bloomie has gone so negative so early is indeed encouraging.


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Doh! Wrong Again! 87
I am of course immediately proved wrong 🙂 The Conference just remitted back a motion supporting the Scottish Government's land reforms on the grounds they are too timid. There is life in this Party after all.
The Art of Party Management 51
Am now blogging direct from the Conference Hall. We just had a fascinating insight into party management. The proposer of the motion on fracking, on behalf of Leith constituency, stated in her speech that their motion as submitted called for a complete ban on fracking, but that the text had been amended by the Standing Orders Committee to delete a ban and insert support for the Scottish Government's temporary moratorium. She added that many constituencies then submitted amendments for a complete ban, but they were all rejected by the committee. Nonetheless, she stated we should support the bowdlerised motion to "show trust for the Scottish Government".
A remit back was proposed on the grounds that the resolution was insufficiently radical. This was defeated 550 to 420. There could be no clearer illustration of the grip of the party leadership over the conference and the unswerving loyalty, even in plainly indefensible circumstances, of the bulk of the delegates.
I see that we are not to have a referendum in the next five years, but we are likely to have unconventional coal gas extraction or some other variant on fracking.
A Day in Aberdeen 38
I thought I would give you the high and low points of the SNP Conference for me on Thursday. The high point was the debate on nuclear weapons, and the unanimous vote on show of cards for unilateral nuclear disarmament. That was all heartwarming enough. But what really made my day was watching at close quarters the facial expression of arch Blairite Andrew Rawnsley of the Observer during the debate. He went from incomprehension, as though everyone were speaking Gaelic, to a kind of rictus of disgust, and then his corded neck and cheek muscles started positively twitching in hatred. I feared for a moment it was apoplexy. Priceless, and well worth the cost of the rail ticket.
To say something nice about the media for a change, after that debate I saw Jon Snow helping his crew by carrying some of their very heavy equipment the considerable distance from the hall. Can't imagine Gavin Esler, Laura Kuenssberg or any of the "stars" at the BBC doing that.
My next highlight was listening to Phillippa Whitford talking about the NHS. She radiates confidence and competence, and it is sadly unusual to hear a politician who really does know the subject on which they are talking.
I greatly enjoyed a chat over a Guinness with the new Ecuadorean Ambassador, Carlos Abad. We discussed the prospects for Scottish Independence and, both being diplomats by profession, agreed heartily with each other that the key to eventually achieving Independence is recognition by other states.
The SNP really could and should do more in promoting the cause to the wider international community. The group of broadly socialist countries of Latin America (Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua) is called ALBA, an acronym of the Spanish name of the group. We should definitely cooperate with ALBA!
Which brings me to the low points of the day. The Ambassador had never been to Scotland before, and he had come straight from Aberdeen airport to the conference centre. I was ashamed and desperate to convince him what a lovely country Scotland is. The AECC is the ugliest building in Scotland – genuinely world class in the ugly buildings league. It is even more horrible inside than out. Whoever designed a conference centre with no bar is exceeded in stupidity only by whoever decided to hold the SNP conference in a centre with no bar. There is a bar in the adjoining Holiday Inn, itself as drab and dispiriting as a cheaply built hotel can be, but the hotel bar is far too small to serve as a social hub for the conference. And as the conference centre is outside the city in the middle of nowhere, there are no nearby bars to pile into – the conference lacks any kind of social heart.
Equally annoying, the rooms available for fringe meetings are too small. I tried to attend fringe meetings on TTIP and on excessive executive pay, but simply could not get into either.
The fringe meeting on the timing of a second referendum was cancelled, without explanation. There can be no doubt whatsoever that Nicola Sturgeon has moved decisively in the last 48 hours to kick the next referendum further into the long grass. She was ten minutes ago on BBC Breakfast doing precisely that and positioning the SNP as a party of governance within the Union. Delegates here including me, have no opportunity at all to express our opinions on this. That is not a good feeling, and I suspect in the long term not good party management, however smart it may feel to the leadership at the moment.
Those Theresa May Police Cuts
On Being A Liberal Democrat
Clark on SARSCoV2 "outbreak" on isle of Barra in Scotland 56 minutes ago
glenn_uk on SARSCoV2 "outbreak" on isle of Barra in Scotland 1 hour, 37 minutes ago


Check out this pre-owned 76' Queenship Yacht for sale! : Atlantic Yacht & Ship, Inc.
A call from Brent DeSellier announces that he has just listed this high-quality pre-owned 76′ Queenship yacht for sale in Fort Lauderdale, FL! This beautifully maintained 76′ Queenship yacht is "turn-key" and ready to cruise with her new owner. All updated electronics throughout make her show like new and she boasts all the key features including a water maker, stabilizers, and much more. A must see for yacht enthusiasts in this size range! The moment you first step into the saloon of this 76′ Queenship yacht you will immediately relax because of the open and flowing layout. Upon entering there is couch seating to the port and a cabinet space to starboard with a large electronically-rising flat-screen TV. The saloon area boasts an extensive entertainment and audio system. Continuing forward will bring you across the main deck galley to starboard. The galley can be open through to the saloon, making the entire main deck open, or an electronically-rising divider can rise up to separate the galley from the saloon. To the port of the galley is a dinette area and further forward is the main helm. Just aft of the dinette is the interior stairway leading up to the flybridge (in addition to the exterior flybridge stairway on the aft deck). To the starboard of the lower helm is a stairway leading down to the staterooms. This yacht features a spacious VIP suite, guest suite (with twin beds), and full-beam master all with ensuite heads. The master has a full-beam head as well with his-and-her's stations and a shared shower/bath. All of the staterooms and heads have considerable head space for taller individuals. Outside the guest suite is a washer and dryer unit nicely hidden behind wooden doors that blend in with the walls. On the aft deck there is a dining table before two stairways lead down to the cockpit deck. The cockpit can be used as open space for lounging or it can double as a fully equipped fishing area including a fighting chair! For more information on this 76′ Queenship Yacht contact Brent DeSellier at 954.662.6241 or brent@ayssales.com today! For over 53 years Atlantic Yacht & Ship has been serving the yachting community. Our headquarter sales office is dockside at Harbour Towne Marina in the heart of the yachting capital of the world, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Our in-house waterside service department provides general yacht services from new teak, to engine rebuilds, captain services, and everything in between. Whether purchasing or marketing a quality vessel, Atlantic Yacht and Ship, Inc. is your one stop resource for the highest quality service and sales in the yachting industry today. If you are looking at yachts for sale, or thinking about selling your yacht, it is always wise to have an experienced broker representing your interests throughout the deal. Contact Atlantic Yacht & Ship at 954.921.1500 or click here.


A basic contract consists of an offer, acceptance, and future considerations. In a construction contract, it is important to detail the work performed and the consequences of late or incomplete work. If things change, both parties have outlined the implications and possible outcomes. Our Fort Lauderdale construction attorneys have made available the future factors to include in your construction contract.
Parties should disclose in their contracts who will pay for attorneys' fees when an award or judgment is given. In most states, each party pays for their own attorneys' fees so, in order to have those covered, it must be disclosed in the contract.
Include the items covered by warranties in your contract. Warranties protect the work performed both during and after the project. It is always best to have equipment and materials warrantied and the understanding from both parties of what items are warrantied. Legally, you must include items warrantied, but by law, there are two items that are "implied." In a dispute or legal preceding, the two items legally covered by an "implied" warranty are your legal duty to (1) always providing correct information and (2) good workmanship.
Most contracts allow contractors to claim time extensions when delays that are out of their control happen. If the contractor is responsible for the delay, the Owner will often not approve additional time or financial resources. There will be delays, whether your fault or not, so speak to an attorney to confirm the language concerning delays in your contract.


This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Dave 6 months, 1 week ago.
If you like what we are trying to do here and you like the game (three Plains) and you want to get involved to shape its future, then you have arrived at the right place my friend.
Please feel free to get involved by using our forum, as the more people who get involved with the game, the better it will be for everyone!
This topic was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by Dave.
Looking forward to reading more. Although I *do8 play wargames, I'm more into the artwork and fiction side of things these days. As such I'm enjoying watching the characters and armies develop on the forum. Keep up the great work.


text:
Look In:
Collections 3 Resource Types 2
Collection: World War Two Collection Year: 2003 Clear All Filters
Oral History Interview with David Lee Hill, September 20, 2003
Description: Interview with David Lee "Tex" Hill of San Antonio, Texas, a veteran from the United States Navy during World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater. The interview includes Hill's personal experiences while in the Navy, including memories of pre-war flight training in Florida, the Flying Tigers, and the Salween River Gorge attack. There is a photograph and a short biography of Hill after the interview transcription.
Creator: Cox, William G. & Hill, David Lee
Partner: National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation
Description: Interview with David Lee "Tex" Hill of San Antonio, Texas, a veteran from the United States Navy during World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater. The interview includes Hill's personal experiences while in the Navy, including memories of pre-war flight training in Florida, the Flying Tigers, and the Salween River Gorge attack.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Sound
National Museum of the Pacific War Oral History Collection 2 2 Rescuing Texas History, 2011 1 1 Texas Oral History Collection 2 2
Sound 1 1 Text 1 1


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Q: Is it possible to create your own custom locale Since Windows doesnt have a C++ locale with UTF8 support by default, i would like to construct a custom locale object which supports UTF8 (by creating it with a custom ctype facet).
How can i construct a locale object with a my own ctype implementation (i only found functions to construct a locale using an already existing locale as base..)
If C++ does not support construction of locales with a custom ctype facet at all, why is that so ?

A: It's possible to create custom facets by inheriting from std::locale::facet. Locales can use those custom facets as in following code:
class custom_facet : public std::locale::facet {
public:
    static std::locale::id id;
    custom_facet(int);
    int custom_value() const;
    };

std::locale  custom_locale ( std::locale(), new custom_facet() );
int s = std::use_facet<custom_facet>(custom_locale).custom_value();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home>Columnists>The Destruction of the Black Family
ColumnistsOp-EdOpinionRaynard Jackson
The Destruction of the Black Family
Raynard Jackson Follow on Twitter Send an email May 13, 2013
By Raynard Jackson
NNPA Columnist
I have travelled all over the world and have spent many years of my life studying the history of the world and can't recall any instance of a surviving civilization without an intact family structure—mother, father, and children.
I fully understand that the march towards modernity waits for no one. In communications, we went from teletype to telephones; from newspapers to radio; from radio to TV; from TV to mobile devices.
In transportation, we went from walking to horses; from stagecoach to automobiles; from buses to trains; from turbo props to jets.
None of these transformations changed the structure of the family unit. One could argue that they changed roles within the family unit, but not the fabric of the family unit.
There was a time when the family had one radio or TV for the whole family; and the father would decide what would be listened to or watched, thus it became an opportunity for the family to spend intimate time together.
There was a time that a family had one car for the whole family. During the week, typically the father used the car to go back and forth to work. On the weekends there would be family outings and of course, church on Sunday. Again, since there was only one car, this was another opportunity for family time.
In these instances, modernity changed the type and quality of time spent with the family, but not the composition of the family.
That all began to change with the rise of liberalism of the 1960s. President Johnson and the Democratic Congress began passing laws that would soon devastate the Black family and ultimately families in general.
Liberals in the 60s established what we now call welfare for girls who got pregnant without the benefit of being married. The only stipulations for receiving these government benefits was that you could not be married or have a male living in the same home. The government literally had social workers randomly showing up at your house to see if a male was present in the house. If they found a male living there or even male clothing in the closet, you would be immediately cut off from the programs. But, as long as you remained single you could stay on the programs for life. You would be given an apartment, healthcare, and babysitting services—all for free, as long as you remained single, unemployed, and kept having babies.
The rise of the welfare state coincided with the rise of feminism, which basically said that a woman didn't need a man—once they got a man's sperm, he was totally irrelevant. The convergence of the welfare state and feminism, has led to a prolonged assault on men and the traditional family unit.
Tyler Perry has made hundreds of millions of dollars from dressing like a woman in his movies; so has Martin Larwrence, Jaime Foxx, etc.
My critics will say that this is just "acting." Oh really? Allow me to shed more light on the subject.
Two years ago, Morehouse College, one of the most esteemed Historically Black Colleges in the U.S (Martin Luther King attended), the president of the school had to send out a notice to the student body that the students were not allowed to were dresses or carry purses to class. You might be wondering what is so unusual about this. Well, Morehouse College is an all-male institution.
Now you have primary aged students being told that they have two mommies or two daddies; that is biologically impossible. You can only have one mother and one father.
This whole radical move to redefine the family will have disastrous results for the U.S. Name me one civilization or society that has thrived and prospered without an intact family structure. There are none.
The family unit is the DNA of a society. When you play around with a person's DNA, it leads to deformed children and in most cases, it is very expensive to medically treat people with genetic deformities.
It is not a coincidence that since the early 60s, the out of wedlock birthrate for Blacks is currently around 74 percent, Hispanics around 60 percent, and Whites over 50 percent. There is direct causation between welfare, feminism and the destruction of or the marginalization of men and the family unit.
Men are the stabilizing influence in a boy's life and without that influence (that a woman cannot provide), you will see teenage pregnancy, crime, drug abuse, and every other negative pathology increase to epidemic proportions. When you have a man teaching a young boy how to be responsible and provide for his family; and the women teaching a young boy how to be nurturing; then and only then can you have a complete man.
But, this foolish notion that Tommy can have two dads or Susie can have two moms is akin to altering one's DNA; and all these societal problems we see are a direct result of this social engineering and attempted redefining of the family unit.
America had better put the brakes on this insidious experiment that is altering the DNA of America and the family.
Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site, www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223
Read more: http://www.nnpa.org/news/commentary/the-destruction-of-the-black-family-by-raynard-jackson/#ixzz2TCQykAce
Black Press Commentary Commentary Op-Ed Opinion
Raynard Jackson is a Republican political consultant based in Washington, D.C. He has been involved in every Republican presidential campaign from George H. W. Bush to George W. Bush. He has also worked on many Republican senate, governor, and congressional campaigns across the country. He is the president and CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC (RJA), a government relations and public relations firm based in Washington, D.C. They not only work with politicians, but also represent professional athletes and entertainers. RJA also works with foreign governments, especially in Africa, helping them improve their relations with the U.S. Jackson can be seen regularly on TV shows, both nationally and internationally, giving his analysis on subjects from politics, culture, foreign policy, and economics. He has been on CNN, MSNBC, BET, FOX News, and C-SPAN. He has served as a regular political analyst for the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC, WUSA*9. He hosts his own Internet-based radio show on U.S. Talk Network. He has been named to Talkers Magazine's "Frontier Fifty Talk Show Hosts," an award given to the top 50 Internet radio hosts. Jackson also does a weekly newspaper column that is published nationwide and in several European and African newspapers.
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BAILEY: Black Folks Should Focus On Our Group's Strengths


Prof. Dame Julia Polak graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and obtained her postgraduate training in the UK. She became Professor and Director of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Imperial College London in 1997. She was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Imperial... read moreCollege Institute of Biomedical Engineering and also a member of the Stem Cell Advisory Board Panel of the joint MRC/UKSCF. She was a council member of the Tissue Engineering Society International and the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002 - 2005) and was European Editor of Tissue Engineering until 2004. She the authored some 1000 original papers, 116 review articles and 25 books and is one of the most Highly Cited Researchers in her field. Her initial research was focused on histochemistry but this changed after she herself underwent a heart and lung transplant after suffering severe heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension. After recovering she redirected her research to tissue engineering and led research into using stem cells to produce artificial organs for transplant. She was a co-founder and Director of Novathera. She received a number of honours including a Life Time Achievement Award for contributions to Endocrine Pathology. She was awarded her DBE in 2003. She died on 11th August 2014 and is survived by her husband and two sons.


You can delete each individual entry in a list.
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All trips already transferred are deleted.