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HIV, prescurtarea în limba engleză a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (virusul imunodeficienței umane), reprezintă două specii de Lentivirus din subgrupul retrovirusurilor, HIV-1 și HIV-2, care cauzează la om sindromul imunodeficienței dobândite, SIDA. Acesta nu poate fi îndepărtat complet din organism pentru că acest tip de virusuri are capacitatea de a-și înscrie codul în codul genetic al celulei gazdă.
O infectare cu HIV duce după o perioadă lungă de incubare, de ani, chiar zeci de ani, la declanșarea bolii SIDA.

Istoric

SIDA (sindromul imunodeficienței dobândite) este cauzat de virusul imunodeficienței umane (HIV), un retrovirus din familia lentivirusurilor, familie rămasă necunoscută până în anul 1983. În acel an, cercetătoarea franceză Barré-Sinoussi și colaboratori ai acesteia izolează de la pacienții cu adenopatie (creșterea în dimensiuni a ganglionilor limfatici din zonele axilare, inghinale, cervicale), un virus pe care îl denumesc "virus asociat limfadenopatiei" (LAV - Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus). Tot în acel an, în S.U.A., Gallo și colaboratori ai săi izolează un virus pe care îl denumesc HTLV-III (Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus type III). LAV și HTLV se dovedesc în final ca fiind același tip de virus, virus care primește numele de HIV. Începând de la acea dată s-a răspândit în jurul lumii, infectând milioane de persoane. Rezultatul infectării cu HIV este distrugerea sistemului imunitar, iar din această cauză toate persoanele infectate sunt predispuse la infecții ocazionale și complicații neoplazice. Retrovirusurile sunt incapabile să se reproducă în afara celulelor cu ADN. Luc Montagnier și colaboratorii săi descoperă în Africa de Vest un al doilea virus generator de SIDA, pe care îl denumesc LAV-II. Din aceeași zonă, se izolează de către cercetătorii americani un virus HTLV-IV, care se dovedește a fi identic cu LAV-II. Acum virusul LAV-II/HTLV-IV este cunoscut ca HIV-2. Alte cercetări virusologice efectuate pe specii de maimuțe africane scot în evidență la Cercopithecus aethiops (maimuța verde apucătoare sălbatică) existența unui virus producător de imunodeficiență, apropiat structural de HIV; virusul este botezat STLV-III (Simian T Lymphotropic Virus type III), pentru ca apoi să fie numit SIV (Simian Immunodeficieny Virus) și subclasificat în mai multe tipuri.

Tipuri

Virusurile HIV se împart în grupa HIV-1 in tipurile M,N și O. Virușii din subtipul M sunt cei mai raspanditi în lume si contin doua subtipuri denumite A și B. Tipul B este cel mai răspândit în Europa de vest și America de Nord.
Grupa HIV-2 se împarte la rândul său in subtipurile A și B, fiind prezentă mai mult în Africa de vest, dar se  răspandește si în Europa pentru că 15% din persoanele nou infectate în Portugalia în 2005 au fost infectate cu acest virus HIV-2. În ultimii ani se constată însă și răspândirea celelaltor subtipuri. Franța și Benelux înregistrează 30-50% din cazurile noi diagnosticate cu alte tipuri decât HIV-1-M subtip B.
HIV-1 și HIV-2 se aseamănă dpdv a evoluției și simptomelor clinice a infecției. Ambele virsuri au aceeași prezentare sub microscopul electronic, dar se deosebesc prin greutatea moleculară a proteinelor și ordinea genelor.

Contaminarea

Virusul HIV (HIV) se transmite prin sânge, spermă, secreții genitale, lichid cefalorahidian (LCR) și lapte matern. Porțile de intrare cele mai frecvente sunt rănile proaspete, sângerânde din mucoasă (oculară, bucală, vaginală, anală) sau rănile nevindecate sau insuficient protejate de pe oricare parte a pielii corpului. Căile de transmitere cele mai frecvente sunt cele vaginale sau anale datorate nefolosirii prezervativelor și practica sexuală orală. La toxicomani folosirea în comun a acelor de seringă poate fi, de asemenea, un mod de transmitere prin consumul de droguri pe cale intravenoasă. Gradul de risc depinde direct de concentrația de virusuri din secreția vaginală, spermă sau sânge.

Transfuziile de sânge și produsele preparate din sânge pot, de asemenea, prezenta un risc de infectare cu HIV. Controalele de rutină a donatorilor reduc considerabil riscul de contaminare dar nu îl pot elimina complet datorită intervalului de aproximativ 25 de zile în care virusul nu poate fi încă detectat paraclinic o posibilă infectare a donatorului.

Riscul de transmitere HIV de la mamă la făt (intrauterin sau la naștere) este de 10-30%. În cazul mamelor infectate se poate reduce acest risc la 2% prin administrare de medicamente antiretrovirale, naștere prin operație cezariană și evitarea alăptării.

O modalitate de transmitere des întâlnită prin anii 80 din secolul trecut, este cea parenterală, prin folosirea de seringi contaminate în cazul toxicomanilor dependenți de droguri injectabile. Eliminarea folosirii în comun a seringilor a redus considerabil acest risc în țările în care narcomania este o problemă des întâlnită.
Un grup de risc reprezintă și personalul sanitar care poate veni în contact cu secrețiile și sângele pacientului infectat, riscul direct reprezentând înțepături, tăieturi sau contactul direct pe pielea lezată, neprotejată corespunzător.

Cercetările ultimilor ani au arătat că se poate exclude transmiterea prin secreția oculară (lacrimi), bucală și prin transpirație, deoarece concentrația de HIV nu este destul de mare pentru a cauza infectarea, la fel ca transmiterea pe calea aerului prin aerul expirat, o cale des întâlnită la alte afecțiuni virale (v. Lista bolilor infecțioase mai frecvente).

Infectarea printr-un contact accidental cu HIV poate fi prevenit cu succes prin profilaxia postexpunere care durează 28 de zile și se poate începe 2 ore după contact. Prima doză medicamentoasă trebuie administrată în primele 24 de ore în cazul înțepăturilor sau 72 de ore în cazul contactului cu mucoase genitale.

Riscul de infectare

Riscul de infectare poate fi apreciat, din considerente etice medicale, doar prin statistici retroactive sau în baza unor studii de laborator. Se știe că riscul este direct dependent de următorii factori:

 concentrația de viruși din produsul contaminat
 contagiozitatea (virulența) virusului
 transferul de celule infectate
 starea generală a sistemului imun a celui expus

Valoarea statistică depinde și de calea de transmitere, riscul prin contact sexual repetat cu o persoană infectată fiind mai mic decât cel care îi urmează unei înțepături. Mai mare chiar este riscul de transmitere de la mama netratată la făt (cu cca. 40%) iar cel de contaminare prin transfuzii este chiar de 95%.
De asemenea sunt cazuri în care o singură expunere a dus la infectare și sunt cazuri în care această infectare nu a avut loc chiar la expuneri repetate.

Statistica de mai jos a fost efectuată cu ajutorul studiilor epidemilogice și studiilor la care au participat cupluri afectate. Riscul individual poate fi însă de câteva ori mai mare.

O altă afecțiune venerică mărește riscul de contaminare de 5-10 ori, o concentrație mare de viruși de 10-30 de ori. Cei nou infectați au o concentrație mai mare de viruși în sânge pentru că corpul nu are în această perioadă anticorpi specifici care reduc concentrația virusului din sânge. Contactul sexual în timpul menstrei femeii este mai riscant pentru partener, bărbații circumciși au un risc mai scăzut.

Se poate aprecia astfel că riscul unei contaminări nu depinde de numărul de expuneri. Printr-o medicație adecvată se scade probabil numărul de viruși din sânge și secreții.

Statistica de mai jos se bazează pe studii clinice efectuate în fazele subclinice, de latență a persoanelor infectate, circa 3 luni după infectare și înaintea izbucnirii bolii.

 Contactul sexual neprotejat cu un partener seropozitiv, comportă un risc de 0,05-0,15 % la femei și 0,03-5,6% (un studiu) la bărbați.
 Infectarea prin practici sexuale orale: la bărbat (felație) riscul este mai mic dar nu poate fi exclus; la femei (cunilingus) și prin anilingus (stimularea anusului prin lingere, practică întâlnită în pornografie și la coprofili - o variantă a fetișismului) este considerat ca fiind extrem de redus.
 În timpul contactului sexual anal se produc deseori mici ragade (zgârieturi) pe mucoasa anală. Pentru această practică riscul este de 0,82% la partenerul pasiv și 0,3% la parteneul activ (studiu efectuat la parteneri homosexuali).
 Alte practici sexuale, fără contact direct cu secreții sau sânge infectat au un risc extrem de scăzut de infectare.
 Infecția prin înțepăturile de ac depinde de situație. Riscul general este de 0,3% și crește în leziuni adânci (de 16 ori), urme vizibile de sânge pe ac sau acul a fost anterior într-o arteră sau venă (de 5 ori), concentrația crescută de viruși în sânge (de 6 ori). Riscul în cazul canulelor este mai ridicat decât la ace compacte (ac de seringă-canulă , ac de cusut-compact).
 Riscul de contaminare prin folosirea în comun a acelor de seringă (practică întâlnită la toxicomani dependenți de heroină) scade o dată cu trecerea timpului dintre utilizările aceleiași seringi, ac de seringă, dar viruși din interiorul canulei pot rămâne mult timp virulenți, uneori chiar zile întregi. Fierberea acelor poate distruge virușii dacă se respectă timpul de sterilizare însă nu se poate efectua la acele uzuale din cauza amboului (capătului care se atașează seringii) care este din plastic. O dezinfecție prin alcool sau substanțe dezinfectante nu este suficientă, pentru că nu se poate pleca de la presupunerea că substanța dezinfectantă a ajuns și în lumenul (canula) acului.

În unele cazuri există posibilitatea profilaxiei postexpunere. Aceasta cuprinde măsuri generale: spălarea penisului după contact, stoarcerea locului înțepat și spălarea cu dezinfectante și măsuri specifice de administrare de medicamente antiretrovirale. În cazul existenței unei suspiciuni trebuie consultat imediat medicul pentru a evaluat riscul de contaminare și pentru a începe profilaxia antiretrovirală. Această profilaxie constă în principal din medicația antiretrovirală administrată pacientului HIV-pozitiv.

Mecanismul de infecție

În prima etapă, HIV-ul infectează receptorii CD4, folosindu-i apoi ca poartă de intrare în organism. Multe tipuri de celule au epitopul comun cu aceste proteine în care CD4 joacă un rol crucial: macrofagele, fibroblaștii, monocitele, limfocitele T, limfocitele B, limfocitele NK (natural killer); celulele endoteliale, celulele microgliale și celulele epiteliului gastrointestinal sunt țintele primare preferate de HIV.

Structură și funcționare: genomul viral

HIV este un retrovirus circular, din specia lentivirusurilor. Infecțiile cu acest tip de virus decurg de regulă cronic, cu o perioadă lungă de latență, afectând și sistemul nervos.
Diametrul este de 100-200 nm ș este înconjurat de un înveliș de lipoproteine.

În interiorul acestui înveliș se găsesc circa 72-100 de complexe glicoproteice, formate doua glicoproteine:gp 120 si gp41. Gp120 are rolul de legare de receptorii CD4 a celulei țintă. Învelișul virusului se formează din membrana celulei gazdă și are deci o parte din proteinele membranare ale celulei gazdă, de exemplu molecule HLA I și II și proteine de adeziune (legare). Copia ARN-ului viral se află în interiorul a două capside alături de enzimele reverstranscriptază, intergrază și protează, necesare pentru multiplicarea virală.

Genomul virusului HI este mai complex decât cel a altor retrovirusuri. Genele accesorii (vif, vpu, vpr, tat, rev, nef) au alături de genele uzuale (gag, pol, env) îndeplinesc mai ales functii regulatoare.

Nu este vizibil sub microscopul electronic din cauza diametrului foarte mic.

HIV este format din 2 lanțuri scurte de ARN, compuse din 9200 nucleotide precum și enzime virale, clasificate astfel:

 proteine structurale/enzime virale. Produșii genelor gag, pol, env: revers-transcriptaza, proteaza, ribonucleaza și integraza, toate încapsulate într-o anvelopă lipidică, care conține antigenul Gp120 cu rol foarte important în legarea de CD4 a genomului HIV.
 proteine reglatoare Tat și Rev (HIV) și Tax/Rex (HTLV) modulează transcripția și sunt esențiale pentru propagarea virusului.
 proteine auxiliare: Vif, Vpr, Vpu, Vpx, Nef, unele cu rol încă neelucidat.

După intrarea în corpul uman, particulele virale sunt atrase datorită tropismului către cel mai apropiat receptor CD4, de a cărui membrană celulară se atașează prin fuziune sau prin endocitoză, după care are loc intrarea în celulă. Probabilitatea infectării la ambele tipuri de HIV este determinată de capacitatea de legare cât mai rapidă de CD4, dar și de numărul de receptori CD4 aflați în jurul locului de penetrare a virusului în organism. În interiorul celulei are loc eliberarea RNA din anvelopa virală. Enzimele încep să producă gena pol, care la rîndul său codează revers transcriptaza, enzima care transcrie fragmentul de ARN într-un model de ADN proviral, utilizând aparatul metabolic și de sinteză proteică a celulei parazitate. Acest ADN proviral va fi integrat în ADN-ul celulei gazdă prin intermediul integrazei, eliberată în citoplasmă după distrugerea anvelopei virale. Odată ce ADN-ul proviral este integrat in ADN-ul celulei gazdă, nu mai poate fi eliminat sau distrus decât prin distrugerea celulei însăși. Începe replicarea HIV-ului în celula gazdă. Celulele infectate pot elibera virionii prin fenomenul de înmugurire, sau eliberarea acestora după liza celulei, fenomen care duce la infectarea altor celule. Anticorpii anti HIV nu apară organismul împotriva infecției, iar infectarea virală poate persista foarte mult în ciuda unui titru înalt al anticorpilor.

Diagnostic

Scopul depistării virusului HIV este descoperirea persoanelor seropozitive.Testarea seropozitivitatii se supune unei reguli de  confidențialitate medicale , procesul de secretizare a identității celui testat fiind reglementat  prin lege, cel putin in Romania.
Depistarea infecției cu HIV este posibilă în oricare fază de boală. Includrea infecției într-una din cele patru faze de stare se face în baza rezultatelor de laborator și a tabloului clinic a celui infectat. Un test HIV positiv în primele două faze demonstrează infectarea cu virusul HIV. Abia faza a treia și faza a patra de infectare cu HIV justifică folosirea termenului de boală SIDA.

Depistare prin metoda ELISA

Enzyme-linked Immunosorbet Assay - ELISA este analiza din serul de sânge de cel mai des folosit pentru depistarea virusului HIV. Are o sensitivitate de aproape 100%, depistându-se astfel practic toate persoanelele seropozitive. Specificitatea este de 99,5%. Aceasta pare la prima vedere foarte mult, dar în practică trebuie observat că 0,5% din totalul celor testați este fals pozitiv, nefiind prin urmare infectați cu HIV.

Testul ELISA nu determină virusul ci anticorpii produși pentru combaterea virusului HIV, respectiv HIV-1 și HIV-2.

Un nou test ELISA care a apărut în 1999 pe piață poate determina o componentă a capsulei virale, respectiv antigenul p24 a virusului HIV-1. Acest test poate fi folosit însă numai 12 săptămâni de la infectare din cauza ferestrei de timp necesară pentru producția anticorpilor. Specificitatea lui este însă așa de mare încât se poate spune că un test pozitiv demonstrează o infecție cu HIV.

Testul rapid

Testul rapid (engl.: rapid/simple test devices) a apărut pe piață în 2002. Determină anticorpii HIV-1 și HIV-2 și poate fi folosit la fel ca testul ELISA anterior descris, doar după 12 săptămâni de la posibila infectare.Și acest test este doar un test de depistare, rezultatul pozitiv cerând o confirmare prin testul Western Blot.

Unele kituri (tipuri) de test necesită o centrifugare prealabilă a sângelui, motiv pentru care aceste teste rapide sunt concepute mai ales pentru laboratoare cu o dotare mai sumară care nu oferă un test ELISA. Alte teste sunt concepute pentru sânge capilar (din deget) sau salivă. Aceste teste se pretează pentru determinarea necesității profilaxiei postexpoziționale (de exemplu de cadre medicale care s-au înțepat sau tăiat în timpul unui act medical) putând fi folosit în oricare unitate sanitară. Este de asemenea des utilizat în țările în curs de dezvoltare unde lipsește o dotare de laborator adecvată.

Confirmarea prin testul Western Blot

Este testul cerut în SUA și Germania în cazul unui test ELISA sau rapid pozitiv sau la limită spre pozitivitate. Testul Western-Blot are o senzitivitate de 99,9996% ceea ce înseamnă că doar 0,0004% primesc un rezultat pozitiv fals, motiv pentru care este indicat pentru confirmarea seropozitivității HIV.

Testul Western Blot determină mai mulți anticorpi din sânge care s-au format contra anumitor componente proteice. (Testul ELISA determină masa generală de anticorpi HIV-1, HIV-2). Fiind adresat anticorpilor este însă și el aplicabil doar după 12 săptămâni de la expunere.

Directivele de analizare a rezultatelor diferă în lume. În Germania este considerat pozitiv, când sa demonstrat prezența a cel puțin două tipuri de anticorpi. Unul trebuie să fie neapărat îndreptat împotriva glicoproteinelor din capsula virală.

Testul Western-Blot este mai complicat și mai scump decât testul ELISA, acestea fiind unele din motivele pentru care este aplicat doar ca o confirmare a unui test pozitiv de determinare efectuat anterior.

Testul folosind reacția de polimerizare în lanț

Reacția de polimerizare în lanț (în engleză Polymerase Chain Reaction, PCR) este singurul test care poate fi utilizat deja 10-15 zile după expunere. Nu determină anticorpi (ca testele anterioare) ci virușii prin componenta lor de ARN (acid ribonucleic). Astfel se pot depista infecții în stadii timpurii.

Testul a intrat în 2004 pe piață și este folosit în special pentru depistarea virusului HIV din conservele de sânge. Costul testului determină producătorii să amestece probele de sânge și să testeze astfel mai multe conserve concomitent. În cazul unui test pozitiv se testează fiecare conservă în parte pentru determinarea conservei pozitive. Riscul de transmitere HIV prin transfuzii se reduce astfel de la 1:2.770.000 la 1:5.400.000.

O variantă a acestui test, Real Time PCR (RT-PCR), poate determina chiar și numărul de copii ale genomului HIV din sânge, permițând astfel aprecierea indirectă a concentrației virale. Teste de sânge repetate pot da astfel informații privind evoluția infecției la un seropozitiv.Această metodă este pentru noi născuți și cea care permite determinarea transmiterii directe mamă-făt a virusului HIV imediat după naștere.Procedeul de testare a anticorpilor prezenți la nou născuți este fără valoare pentru că anticorpii IgG materni pot pătrunde transplacentar în circulația sanguină fetală. Înaintea apariției acestei metode pe piață se putea confirma sau exclude infectarea nou născutului abia după 15 luni, această metodă reduce perioada de incertitudine la doar 4 luni.

Determinarea rezistenței la medicamentele antiretrovirale

În ultimul timp se poate determina rezistența organismului celui infectat la medicamentele antiretrovirale. Pentru aceasta există două metode.

Metoda de deteminare indirectă determină cu ajutorul reacției de polimerizare în lanț mutațiile anumitor gene virale, gene cunoscute ca răspunzătoare de rezistența medicamentoasă.

Metoda de determinare directă a rezistenței este cea de a doua metodă. Pentru aceasta se înmulțesc în laborator virușii din sângele pacientului și se testează rezistența la medicamente. Alternativ se pot extrage gene din virusul HIV,introduce în structuri asemănător virale și testate ulterior. Acest test este însă de două ori mai scump față de testul reacției de polimerizare în lanț și poate fi evaluat abia după câteva săptămâni de lucru.

Dinamica infecției HIV

După intrarea HIV-ului în celula gazdă și stabilirea infecției, replicarea virală poate avea loc la locul infecției sau în interiorul celulelor mononucleare, dar apoi locul major de multiplicare devin țesuturile limfoide ale organismului: nodulii limfatici, splina, ficatul și măduva spinării. Pe lângă nodulii limfatici, intestinele pot deveni un rezervor important pentru HIV. Macrofagele și celulele Langerhans (o subdiviziune a celulelor dendritice), dar și celulele epiteliale cum ar fi cele ale tractului genital, sunt importante rezervoare și vectori pentru răspândirea infecției HIV în organismul uman. Atât macrofagele cât și celulele Langerhans sunt infectate de HIV dar nu sunt distruse de acesta.

Prevenirea

Prevenirea este metoda cea mai eficientă de oprire a răspândirii virusului HIV.
Acesta presupune folosirea prezervativelor, seringilor și acelor de seringă sterile, a sângelui transfuzat sau prelucrat de la donatori de sânge anterior testați. Nu trebuie neglijat nici riscul schimbului permanent al partenerilor sexuali, a consumului de droguri, prevenirea transmiterii aici făcându-se cel mai eficient prin renunțarea la asemenea practici sau consumului de droguri injectabile. În cazul unei expuneri accidentale se recomandă trecerea imediată la profilaxia postexpunere.

Nu există încă un vaccin HIV

Toate cercetările pentru găsirea unui ser de vaccin au eșuat până acum din cauza ratei mari de mutație a virusului. Anticorpii dezvoltați pentru virusul HIV de care se pot îmbolnăvi maimuțele au fost eficienți în condiții de laborator, dar în natură s-a constat foarte rapid o mutație virală, vaccinul pierzându-și astfel eficiența.

Confidențialitate

Este unanim recunoscut faptul că societatea civilă trebuie să protejeze persoanele infectate cu HIV și/sau bolnave de SIDA, motiv pentru care majoritatea țărilor lumii au elaborat o serie de legi, acte normative, care reglementează pe de o parte dreptul la intimitate a celui afectat sau posibil afectat iar pe de altă parte măsurile care trebuie aplicate pentru a preveni răspândirea în continuare a infecției HIV pe lume. Măsurile generale pentru prevenirea contaminării au fost prezentate în capitolul anterior.

Pentru protecția confidențialității de care trebuie să beneficieze fiecare infectat, a măsurilor de protecție socială, a confidențialității tratamentului adecvat, a fost elaborată și aprobată în România Legea nr. 584 din 29 octombrie 2002 . Actele normative apărute în baza aceste legi reglementează drepturile persoanei HIV pozitiv, dar și măsurile care trebuie luate pentru protejarea anturajului, măsuri constând în primul rând în educație igienico-sanitară, informare a modului de transmitere a bolii de la om la om, a riscului de contaminare existent în viața de zi cu zi.

Note

Bibliografie
1. ↑ nr. 584 din 29 octombrie 2002, publicată în Monitorul Oficial nr. 814 din data: 11/08/2002

Vezi și
 SIDA
 Listă de boli infecțioase frecvente

Legături externe
 Stop SIDA
 Informații generale despre HIV și SIDA
 Fundația Tineri pentru Tineri
 HIV InSite - University of California San Francisco
 HIV, ucigașul tăcut, 22 iunie 2006, Marc Ulieriu, Descoperă

SIDA
Sida
Virusuri


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UNDP Somalia
Turning Puntland green by stopping erosion
UNDP helps camel herders in Puntland protect their land and livestock from soil erosion and flash floods
Climate change is having a profound impact across Somalia. More frequent droughts and flash-flooding bring soil erosion, crop failure and livestock deaths in a land where over 2/3 of the people depend on subsistence agriculture.
Puntland is certainly no stranger to these disasters and the destruction they bring to farmers. "In the past, I used to own livestock but they died because of the droughts," says Abdirahman Musa, one of many camel herders who are completely dependent on the rangelands in Puntland to support their families.
Abdirahman Musa standing by one of the stone barricades built to prevent soil erosion. (UNDP Photo: Tobin Jones)
The rangelands near Abdirahman have also been damaged by deforestation — as trees are cut down to make charcoal there are no roots left to hold the soil together and prevent desertification. In the end, the degraded land can't retain water, resulting in biodiversity loss and worsening flash floods.
In response, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has constructed stone barricades that can stop erosion, stabilising the land by keeping soil in place. These walls, which now span over twenty sites, have encouraged ecosystem restoration and reforestation, as new plants and trees can grow and remain protected.
The project makes sure that communities are engaged directly in planning, implementation and monitoring. For example, local people help decide where walls should be built and supervise contractors. Herders like Abdirahman Musa are also employed for some of the building work.
In addition to constructing stone barricades, UNDP has also set up small-scale community-led reforestation programmes to grow seedlings. These tree nurseries are managed by a community tree nursery committee that organises the distribution of seedlings to local businesses and to neighbouring camps for displaced people, who earn money from selling them. Seedlings are also distributed by the committee to schools and community groups to plant their own trees during the rainy seasons.
So far, this project has protected land for nearly 50,000 families and already the area is beginning to flourish again. Abdirahman himself has noticed improvements: "Now the land is productive again… People love this place. They are coming to settle down here."
UNDP's Climate Resilience project has been made possible thanks to support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which has also funded other projects in Somalia to help communities facing the effects of climate change, including water resource management solutions and early warning systems for farmers facing flooding and drought risks.
For more on our work with GEF to improve water management in Somalia see: https://www.thegef.org/news/somalia-and-undp-launch-new-10-million-project-climate-adaptation-and-water-access-rural
For our work on climate change in Somalia more generally see: https://undp-climate.exposure.co/somalias-ndc-climate-ambition
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works to achieve the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion.
More from UNDP Somalia
Sustainability Calendar — What's Happening in May 2021
Kevin Jones in Sustainability Calendar
UK will help Malaysia in its persuit of net zero after COP26
British Utilities
You Don't Have to Go Vegetarian
Shanley Smith
How to Act locally instead of thinking globally
Sangreal
A Reflection for the Decade
Yadia
A progress report on 2020
Blake Wiers
Ways to Help the Environment
Giulietta Passarelli in Lifestyle Today
What is impact investing (and what isn't)?
Steven Hermans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you look up at the top of this page, you will see two new tabs! I'm so excited! I have a tab for my books, what's available now and what's coming soon! And then there's the excerpts tab, where I've posted excerpts from my books. Perhaps soon there will be an excerpt for my second book, Taking Chances.
We shall see.... Thanks to all of the new twitter followers! And check out my facebook page as well.


UL Ext: Returns synchronization progress monitoring data.
All members of ULSyncProgressData class, including all inherited members.
Returns the current synchronization flags indicating additional information relating to the current state.
Returns true if this is final sync progress message.
Returns the number of bytes received so far.
Returns the number of deleted rows received so far.
Returns the number of inserted rows received so far.
Returns the number of updated rows received so far.
Returns the number of deleted rows sent so far.
Returns the number of inserted rows sent so far.
Returns the number of updated rows sent so far.
Returns the number of tables being synchronized.
Returns the index of the table currently being synchronized (tables are numbered 1 to DatabaseSchema.TableCount).
Returns the database index of the table currently being synchronized.
Returns the name of the current table being uploaded or downloaded.


text:
The Soho Loft University Series Presents: The JOBS Act Workshop for Baruch College Entrepreneurship Program
By The Soho Loft Media Group
Tue, May 7, 2013, 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM EDT
Baruch College, City University of New York, 55 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10010, US 55 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10010
The Soho Loft
University Series
on Creative Impact Entrepreneurship
The JOBS Act Workshop
for the Entrepreneurship Program
of the Baruch College
"Every week legislators and enforcers implementing the JOBS Act are guiding us in the direction where Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) and start ups can get capital formation solutions." says David Drake, Founder and CEO of The Soho Loft.
Baruch College, City University of New York
Baruch College, or officially Bernard M. Baruch College, is a public university located in the flat-iron district of Manhattan, New York. It houses one of the best-kept secrets in New York: The Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship which has the Small Business Development Center. The Atlantic reports, "Since it was founded in 1993 as the "Small Business Lab," with a grant from the CUNY Workforce Development Initiative, the Field Center has served New Yorkers by providing a myriad of resources for aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. The Field Center and SBDC have served more than 16,000 businesses with advice, mentoring, and other related services. Its work has resulted in more than $110 million invested into the local economy. Additionally, the Field Center and SBDC boasts that they have created or saved more than 5,500 jobs."
It is no wonder that the JOBS Act and Crowd funding will find its most avid students and followers among the pragmatic halls of this university. Built based on the foundation of a Free Academy, which resulted from the New York Literary Fund meant to provide free college education to those who cannot afford private universities in 1919, the business college was later named after Bernard Baruch in 1958. Baruch, an alumnus of the college, was a statesman, financier, political adviser to US presidents and a philantrophist . He was known as the"The Lone Wolf of Wall Street" for not joining any financial house and in 1910 became one of Wall Street's finest and most well-known financiers. It is said that his favorite book was Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles Mackay. In 1961, the New York State Education Law established the City University of New York (CUNY) system and, in 1968, Baruch College became a senior college in the City University system.
The Soho Loft's Founder and Chairman David Drake will present on the intricacies of and unique developments in the JOBS Act that was signed into law by President Obama Last April 5, 2012 and which has spurred the dynamic growth of the Crowd Funding phenomenon in the USA. He had the privilege to witness this happen all over the nation as he worked with other thought leaders in this space in particular as one of the founding members of CFIRA (CrowdFund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates) and CfPA (Crowdfund Professional Association). Globally, he has taken great strides in partnering with various prestigious international groups for sharing of best practices in particular his being part of the delegation to the US-Europe Transatlantic Economic Council or TEC Forum in Rome and Brussels last July 10-13 with European ministers and legislators as led by the US Ambassador Miriam Sapiro.
The goal of The Soho Loft is to promote and advance crowd fund investing for start-up entrepreneurs and SMEs so they will optimize all their opportunities to grow their business, innovate their products and services and thus create more jobs for their communities. All of which creates a new path to economic prosperity for the local and global communities.
David Drake is the founder of The Soho Loft Capital Creation Event Series ("TSL") which promotes and facilitates capital formation for the Private Company Marketplace (PCM). Mr. Drake is also the Chairman of LDJ Capital in New York City and a thought leader on the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Start-Ups Act) including, but not limited to, Reg A+, Reg D 506, Crowd Funding Capital and Onramp IPO. He is a founding executive board member of both the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) and the leading crowdfunding global trade network, the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA). He was chosen to represent the U.S. Commerce department as a JOBS Act expert delegate at the July 10 2012 meeting in Brussels and July 12-13 2012 Rome US and European Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) forum led by Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Deputy US Trade Representative, with European Ministers and legislators.
Alejandro Cremades
Alejandro Cremades is the founder and CEO of Rock The Post (www.rockthepost.com), a grassroots crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The community invites entrepreneurs with unique projects to receive funding through a network of like-minded individuals. The platform fosters a fertile culture of innovators and a community of entrepreneurs who are making advancements that enhance life.
Prior to Rock The Post, Alejandro worked as an attorney at King & Spalding (New York office). During his time there, Alejandro was involved in one of the biggest investment arbitration cases in history, which was Chevron v. Ecuador, where the dispute in place was $113 billion dollars. Alejandro also provided advice on other complex international arbitration cases before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and under the UNCITRAL rules, as well as international commercial arbitrations under the ICC,AAA and SCC rules.
Alejandro graduated from Universidad San Pablo-CEU (Spain), where he obtained his law degree. After his graduation, at the age of 23, Alejandro landed in New York in order to complete his Master's Degree in International Business & Trade Law at Fordham Law School.
Jeremy Andrews
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Smart Money Entrepreneurs
Jeremy Andrews is the Founder and CEO of Smart Money Entrepreneurs. Jeremy has an extensive background in finance has worked with major institutional banks and hedgefunds including Tiger Management and Prudential Securities. Prior to founding Smart Money Entrepreneurs, he spent significant time consulting with entrepreneurs in the finance, fashion, entertainment industries. He was recruited to turn around a fledging a New York-based fashion venture in 2009, streamline operations, reduce expenses and improve cash flow.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from the Zicklin School Of Business.
Sang Lee
Sang Lee is the founder and CEO of Return on Change,a crowdfunding platform providing the ability for high impact startups to crowdsource capital while fostering a powerful community of supporters and investors. Under his leadership,Return on Change and its 7-person team and has become a leader within the equity crowdfunding industry, actively developing a diverse set of tools and robust platform to both ensure quality and ease of use. His previous experiences as an investment banker in the energy field provides him with a wealth of expertise in financial regulation as well as business and financial structuring to develop and provide a platform for high impact startups to raise capital from the crowd.
IF YOU ARE NOT A STUDENT OF THIS UNIVERSITY,
PLEASE EMAIL CC@LDJCAPITAL.COM for information on how to attend.
New York Events
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Boss Up! Entrepreneurship Workshop with Sonia Alleyne
Church of the Abiding Presence • The Bronx, NY
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Entrepreneurship Crash Course - Edison
Online • Edison, NJ
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Entrepreneurship Crash Course - Paterson
Online • Paterson, NJ
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Entrepreneurship Coaching Session - Columbia
Phone Consultation • Columbia, SC
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Entrepreneurship Coaching Session - Newark
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Entrepreneurship Coaching Session - Greenwich
Phone Consultation • Greenwich, CT
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Entrepreneurship Coaching Session - New York
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Entrepreneurship Business Opportunity To Earn Extra Income NEWARK
Newark • Newark, NJ
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The New Narrative: The State of Black Entrepreneurship 2023
Wells Fargo • New York, NY
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text: <display-options text="main.currentSession.display_options.labels.account_settings_label" show="main.currentSession.display_options.labels.account_settings_label"></display-options>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


2002, R, 124 min. Directed by Brett Ratner. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary-Louise Parker, Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel, Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins.
There's a scene in Red Dragon -- a bigger-budgeted remake of Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter -- in which Edward Norton, as FBI agent Will Graham, suffers an epiphany while sitting splay-legged on his apartment floor, surrounded by gory crime scene photos and caseload ephemera. "Her eyes! He touched her eyes!" shouts Norton, leaping up and about and looking an awful lot like Colin Clive did when he shouted "It's alive!" in James Whale's Frankenstein. What's up with them there peepers is of little concern here (and not all that important to Red Dragon, for that matter), but this fourth adaptation of Thomas Harris' bestselling serial-killer trilogy is positively goofy with positively goofy moments like this -- every 15 minutes or so someone (usually Norton) is spitting out sparks like a toaster in a bathtub. The movie wants you to lose your breath along with the gang up on the screen, and for the most part it works. Red Dragon is head and viscera above the turgid opulence of Ridley Scott's Hannibal (still one of the best comestible comedies I've ever salivated my way through -- be daring and plan a dinner party around it like I did and see how many friends you have left come l'entrements), although it scores, too, when it comes to good old-fashioned, meat-and-potatoes suspense. Ratner, working from a very solid script by Ted Tally, makes oblique references to the world of the sighted and the blind commingling with the world of the cop and the killer (with Graham as the hyper-aware, semi-retired agent whose skills border on the preternatural and therefore flirt with the criminal) that feel fresh even if they really aren't. Red Dragon has much more in common with The Silence of the Lambs, and though Hopkins is getting a bit long in the tooth, ahem, to do a prequel sequence set in 1980, he's still the best epicurean cannibal in modern cinema. His Southern lisp seems more pronounced this time out, the belly perhaps a smidge more pronounced, the slicked-back crown of hair above those piggy eyes just a wee bit sparser, but still and all not the sort of fellow you'd like to encounter in the foie gras department of Central Market on a dark and rainy night. (Then again, who better?) Lecter and Graham have danced this particular waltz before, and so when he's baffled by the body count rising from the tabloid-dubbed "Tooth Fairy Killer," Graham, like Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, turns to the incarcerated Lecter for help. (And here we get a treat in the form of Anthony Heald reprising his role as the obsequious Dr. Chilton, Lecter's grinny asylum gatekeeper.) What Harvey Keitel is doing here -- other than rounding out the cast with a forgettable character turn -- is anyone's guess, although Philip Seymour Hoffman as a sleazy tabloid journalist and Emily Watson as the sightless and oblivious friend of the killer more than make up for Keitel's non-role. Fiennes, as the madman-at-large, sports a natty back-tattoo that puts Val Kilmer's Salton Sea ink to shame, but more than that, he manages to distill the Tooth Fairy's mangled narcissistic psyche to a mere thimbleful of whispered lines. It's chilling what Fiennes can do with so very little; he looks like a wounded puppy half the time and sounds like one to boot. Like Lecter, though, beware those chompers.
Director Brett Ratner puts Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson through his paces as the Greek demigod.


text:
"""
Extract the original file MD5 from the IDA Pro database.

author: Willi Ballenthin
email: willi.ballenthin@gmail.com
"""
import argparse
import logging
import sys

import idb
import idb.netnode

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def main(argv=None):
    if argv is None:
        argv = sys.argv[1:]

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="Extract the original file MD5 from an IDA Pro database."
    )
    parser.add_argument("idbpath", type=str, help="Path to input idb file")
    parser.add_argument(
        "-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="Enable debug logging"
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-q", "--quiet", action="store_true", help="Disable all output but errors"
    )
    args = parser.parse_args(args=argv)

    if args.verbose:
        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
        logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
    elif args.quiet:
        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR)
        logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.ERROR)
    else:
        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
        logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)

    with idb.from_file(args.idbpath) as db:
        root = idb.analysis.Root(db)
        print(root.md5)

    return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())


text:
Former Mexican drug cartel boss sentenced today to 25-year prison term
City News Service
A 25-year prison term was handed down in San Diego today for the former leader of the notorious Arellano Felix Mexican drug cartel, who ordered murders and kidnappings in connection with his organization's distribution of hundreds of tons of drugs into the United States.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns denied Benjamin Arellano Felix's request for credit for prison time already served in Mexico for similar crimes.
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy called the defendant's incarceration a virtual "life sentence," considering he will serve about 20 years in a maximum- security prison in the United States before being returned to Mexico to serve the remainder of a 22-year sentence in that country.
"He (Arellano Felix) will be in his 90s if he survives," Duffy said. "Benjamin Arellano Felix has been incapacitated."
William Sherman, acting special agent-in-charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Arellano Felix's sentence means "the absolute end to the AFO."
Arellano Felix, in pleading guilty in January to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money, admitted he was the "shot-caller" in a conspiracy to import and distribute hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds, between 1986 and 2002.
He admitted re-investing the money from drug sales to pay people to commit crimes, bribing law enforcement officials and ordering the murders of informants and others.
Arellano Felix, 58, was extradited to the United States last year after spending nine years in a Mexican prison.
Defense attorney Nicholas DePento, who came on the case last week when Arellano Felix fired attorney Anthony Columbo Jr., told Burns that Arellano Felix said he didn't fully understand the terms of the plea agreement.
Arellano Felix was supposedly told the issue of credit for time served in Mexico would be "taken care of" at today's sentencing hearing, DePento told the judge.
DePento said the defendant feels like he was used as a "political pawn" and "has no idea where he goes from here."
But Burns said Arellano Felix understood what he pleaded guilty to, noting the difference in crimes committed in the United States and Mexico and the violent nature of the crimes committed in America.
Arellano Felix said he was extradited to the United States under an international treaty and should be protected by international law.
"I was tried in Mexico for the same charges I was tried for here," the defendant told the judge. "The crimes I'm being accused of are things that other people did."
Prosecutor Joseph S. Green told the judge that from 1986 to 2002, the defendant led the AFO and "poisoned the country of Mexico with corruption and violence."
Long reputed to be one of the most notorious multi-national drug trafficking organizations, the Arellano Felix Organization controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs through the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the United States. Its operations also extended into southern Mexico and Colombia.
According to authorities, the cartel -- run by brothers Benjamin, Eduardo, Javier and Ramon -- monopolized routes for illegal drugs through Tijuana to the United States for more than 20 years.
"The Tijuana Cartel was one of the world's most brutal drug trafficking networks, but has now met its demise with leader Benjamin Arellano Felix's sentencing today," said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "It's a major victory for DEA and Mexico's Calderon administration. Together, we will continue our pressure on the Mexican cartels whose leaders, members and facilitators will be prosecuted and face the justice they fear."
Ramon Arellano-Felix, the organization's top enforcer, was killed in a shootout in Mexico in 2002. Javier Arellano-Felix was captured in 2006; he is serving a life sentence in the United States. Eduardo Arellano-Felix was captured in 2008 after a shootout in Tijuana, and U.S. authorities are still seeking his extradition.


Our research encompasses cell and developmental biology and ranges from molecular analyses through to in vivo studies in a variety of species. The work has been consistently rated as world-leading in many research assessment exercises, as exemplified by the 2014 Nobel Prize awarded to Professor John O'Keefe. Our interests are broadly grouped in the following 5 themes, although our Department's interdisciplinary approach breaks across many traditional boundaries.
We have significant strengths in the fundamental molecular cell biology of cell signalling, bioenergetics, transcription and cell motility underpinning health. This is supported by expertise in computational modelling, imaging, nanotechnology and engineering approaches to biology. Our work is applied to understanding neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer and viral infection.
The UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research recognises the fundamental role of mitochondria in the homeostasis of cells, tissues and organisms, and their key role in the development of major disease.
The consortium brings together a wide range of basic and clinical scientists from a spectrum of scientific disciplines across the UCL campus. Our broad goal is to generate innovative experimental approaches and applications to illuminate major questions ranging from fundamental mechanisms of mitochondrial biology and bioenergetics to the role of mitochondria in disease.
Neuroscience has been traditionally strong in CDB with a recent Nobel Prize awarded for research on the hippocampus. A large number of distinguished researchers work within different areas of neurobiology and developmental neurobiology zebrafish, worms, flies rodents and humans. We study neurodegenerative disease, cortical function, vision, pain mechanisms, circadian biology, neuronal repair and the development of neural circuits. Our teaching programmes are some of the most popular in the Division.
The vertebrate skeleton forms the internal framework of the body and is essential for support, locomotion, mineral storage, and the protection of vital organs. Bones and teeth are also the parts of the body that remain longest after the death of the organism and, as such, have the potential to provide a wealth of information as to the evolutionary history, phylogenetic relationships, locomotion, sense organs, diet, brain size, physical appearance, health, age, and ultimate fate of that organism. The skeleton is therefore a focus of study for mineralised tissue biologists, archaeologists, palaeobiologists, and forensic scientists. In CDB, this primary grouping encompasses research groups working on the structure, function, evolution, and development of the skeleton and associated tissues, in health and disease, across a wide range of scales (from nano- to macro), groups (amphibians and reptiles to primates), ages (300 million years to present), and approaches.
The Bloomsbury Centre for Skeletal Research (BCSR) brings together basic and clinical scientists from all disciplines within the field in the London area.
Genetically tractable organisms, including the roundworm (C. elegans), the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), and the freshwater zebrafish (Danio rerio), have been used worldwide to tackle some of the most complex questions of developmental biology and neuroscience. Laboratories within the Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology apply cutting edge genome editing, mapping, imaging, and other techniques in these model systems to investigate diverse phenomena, including the specification of neuronal lineages and the development of brain asymmetry, the inputs (e.g. light, temperature) and outputs (e.g. cell cycle, sleep) of the 24-hour circadian clockwork, and the behavioral genetics of decision making, social preference, and locomotion.
Developmental and stem cell biology are intimately linked. The Department has a long tradition of excellence in these areas especially in vertebrate development (zebrafish, Xenopus, chick and mammals including humans), which has more recently been enriched with invertebrate systems like the nematode, C elegans and the fly, Drosophila. This group is very interdisciplinary, spanning many levels of organization from molecular control of gene expression to complex systems biology, organogenesis and "development" across a huge evolutionary time scale. We study stem cells both in vivo and in vitro and are interested both in their normal functions and in their huge potential for medical and other applications.
The UCL Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine brings together many different research groups from across UCL and it's partners, including the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), with a common interest in all aspects of stem cells, tissue engineering, repair and regeneration and the development of their therapeutic and biotechnological potential.
Young Embryologist Network (YEN), an academic body aimed at improving communication in the developmental biology research environment for Doctoral Students and Post-Doctoral scientists based in the UK.
The overall aims of YEN are to create a diverse research community for the young generation of developmental biologists, and to promote the importance of the field in the UK and around the world. YEN was set up in 2008 by Doctoral Students in the prestigious Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London. YEN hosts an annual meeting and seminars across UK research institutions for young researchers with great success. Over 150 participants from many UK and international institutions attended the YEN:2014 annual meeting. In addition, our Network provides career information for those wishing to remain in academia and beyond.


Published: Jan. 26, 2017 at 07:59 a.m.
Updated: Jan. 26, 2017 at 08:15 a.m.
A potential move to safety for Darrelle Revis seems like a logical transition and one the cornerback willingly discussed during his woeful 2016 campaign.
New York Jets new defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, officially hired a week ago, has no concerns about Revis' ability to move to safety, if it happens in 2017.
"Darrelle is a guy that has a lot of football intelligence," Wilson told NJ Advance Media's Connor Hughes from the Senior Bowl. "I wouldn't think it wouldn't be a problem for him to pick it up."
Revis got regularly torched last season. While still physical at the line of scrimmage, the 31-year-old lost a step allowing younger, sprier receivers to easily separate. Openings that were once mere cracks for quarterbacks to thread versus Revis became French casement windows.
For reference -- if you don't believe your own eyes -- Pro Football Focus ranked Revis their No. 66 corner in 2016, just behind the like of Bryce Callahan and Sterling Moore.
The question is whether Revis might make the transition to safety for the Jets or another team. If New York cuts ties with the aging defensive back before the second day of the new league year, they'd be left with just $6 million in dead money.
"If he's here, I'm going to coach the hell out of him," Wilson said. "Hopefully we get the results we both want."
The Jets could seek to get Revis to take a pay cut as part of a plan to move to safety. Wherever he plays, and for whatever team he plays, 2016 showed one thing for certain: Revis is no longer a $15 million player.


text:
Written by Insight Team
The UK Smaller Companies sector averaged 1 year returns of negative -32.05%, which was the lowest of all sectors. In contrast, the IA Commodity & Natural Resources sector averaged 1 year returns of 21.72%.
With 35 of their funds featured in our best funds report, iShares currently have the largest range of top-performing funds out of any other fund manager in the UK.
The 5 highest growth funds of the past 12 months have all been energy funds in the Commodity & Natural Resources sector. With these 5 funds averaging huge growth of 64%.
With 5 year returns of 143.96%, the Fidelity Global Technology fund was the top performing fund.
The Best Funds
There are almost 4,000 investment funds available to UK investors, yet only a small selection of these funds consistently outperform the market and their competitors.
Yodelar analyses thousands of UK investment portfolios each year, and these analyses regularly identify that over 90% of portfolios contain funds with a history of poor performance, which reflects the high percentage of poor-performing fund choices on the market as well as a lack of knowledge among investors and advisers as to which investment funds and fund managers make up the small proportion of top performers.
Click here to claim your free no obligation portfolio analysis or book a no obligation call with our advice team to discuss your investment needs
To help investors identify the top performing funds and best fund managers with a history of outperformance, we have analysed 3,877 funds available to UK investors and have produced a condensed report that features the funds that have consistently outperformed all other funds classified within the same sectors over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
Download the full best funds report
The Highest Growth Funds
The past year has been one of the most volatile and challenging for investment markets in history. Almost all sectors experienced sustained periods of negative growth with market conditions hitting funds indiscriminately irrespective of their quality. This has resulted in a drop in values for many investors. Industry trade body the investment association, reported the current total values held in their sector classified funds stands at £1.33 trillion, which is down £217.6 billion from the same point last year.
But one sector that has thrived in the volatility is the Commodity & Natural Resources sector. As the sector name suggests, the funds in this sector have holdings in commodities (such as gold and precious metals) and natural resources (such as gas and oil). The huge hike in energy prices as a result of current global events has negatively affected almost every household in the UK, but for the funds that hold companies in this sector, they have benefited immensely. The value of these resources has grown exponentially in such a short period with the sector averaging growth of 21.72% over the past year.
Below we feature 5 of the top growth funds in this sector, and therefore the highest growth funds of the entire 3,877 plus funds that we analysed.
Despite their huge growth returns this past year the nature of the industries in which these funds invest are typically highly volatile and have a high risk rating, which makes them unsuitable for many investors. Also, the 5 year growth figures are lower than the growth they returned this past year which means these funds were returning losses for long periods.
Top Performing Funds
There are 56 different investment sectors listed by the industry trade body the investment association, each containing a portion of funds that have the same objectives and follow similar strategies.
Some of these sectors are quite niche and hold only a small number of funds whereas other sectors are more prominent and hold hundreds of funds.
Each fund has its own strategy and objectives which are defined by the composition of stocks in which the fund invests in. Based on their composition they are classified within a particular sector. Investment sectors are key to analysing the performance of investment funds as to gain a representative performance analysis of each fund they can only be analysed alongside other funds within the sector in which they are classified.
For example, a fund that wants to target the UK market will invest primarily in companies based in or conduct the majority of their operations in the UK. Similarly, a fund with the objective of targeting the US market will invest primarily in companies based in or conduct the majority of their operations in America. How each of these funds performs is connected to the market in which they invest, and as a result, any like for like comparison between the two is not possible. But by having sector classifications, it enables funds with similar compositions and objectives to be categorised together making a like for like performance comparison possible.
In order to identify the best performing funds, we compared each of the 3,877 funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years alongside all other funds within their respective sectors.
Our analysis of these funds identified that 62.7% received a poor performing 1 or 2-star rating with 15% gaining a top 4 or 5-star performance rating.
How Yodelar Rate Funds
How we rate fund performance is completely transparent and based on the quartile ranking of each fund within their classified sector over a 1, 3 and 5 year period. See table below.
In total, there is over £1.3 trillion of investor money held in the 3,877 funds that were analysed for this report. These funds are spread across 56 different sectors that have been classified by industry trade body the Investment Association. The table below identifies the average performance of funds within each sector over the past 1, 3 & 5 years and features the rating of each fund with each sector.
5 of the most popular region-specific sectors, which are home to some of the most widely used funds on the market, are the UK All Companies sector (UK Equities), North America sector (North American Equities), Europe ex UK sector (European Equities), the Emerging Markets sector (Emerging Market Equities) and the Global investment sector (Global Equities - funds that are invested in companies across several different regions).
Over 28% (£373.8 billion) of the total money held in all 3,877 funds on the market are currently held in funds within these 5 sectors.
Best UK Equity funds
The UK is home to some of the most successful companies in the world, and as many are globally diversified, they can absorb many of the UK's political and economic changes.
Despite huge outflows from UK equity funds over the past few years, primarily as a result of Brexit, the UK Equity market remains an important sector for investors to maintain a balanced portfolio. The main sector that represents UK Equities is the UK All Companies sector which is home to 247 funds with a total of £138.4 billion of investor money under management.
We compared each of these 247 funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years and identified 41 (16.60%) had received a 4 or 5-star performance rating.
Download the full report below to view the best UK equity funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
Download The Best investment funds report
Best European Funds
Europe is more than just a single continent. It's politically, economically and culturally diverse. There are around 50 countries in Europe and 28 EU member states, so this sector remit can be quite wide. Funds may invest in companies of all sizes within these diverse economies. To classify within the IA Europe ex UK sector a fund must invest at least 80% of their assets in European equities and exclude UK securities. But up to a maximum of 5% of the total assets of the fund can be invested in UK equities to allow flexibility for corporate actions.
Our analysis of the 138 funds classified within the IA Europe ex UK sector identified that 13.77% received a 4 or 5-star performance rating.
Download the full report below to view the best European equity funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
Best North American Funds
The North American equity sector is an important asset class that is likely to form an integral part of many mid to higher risk investment portfolios. North American equities have consistently been among the most competitive and volatile asset classes, but in recent years, it has also been one of the most rewarding for investors with the funds within this sector averaging growth of 74.51% over the past 5 years, which is the 2nd highest growth average across all 56 sectors, with the Technology & Telecommunications sector the only one to average higher returns.
Selecting the most suitable funds in this asset class for your portfolio can be difficult for both investors and advisers, but the performance of the funds within these sectors can vary significantly and as identified in the table below, just 10% of the funds in this sector managed to gain a 4 or 5-star performance rating, with 60% of the funds in this sector consistently underperforming.
Download the full report below to view the best North American equity funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
Best Emerging Market Funds
Emerging market assets remain higher-risk and volatile assets, and they should only be held as part of a widely diversified portfolio, which includes exposure to other parts of the world. But in recent years, emerging markets have become more diverse and less dangerous than their reputation can imply, with the top performers delivering exceptionally strong gains.
Despite the increased volatility of this past year, emerging markets have continued to perform well for investors, and while it's impossible to predict the future, the top-performing Emerging market funds have continued to navigate through choppy waters to deliver consistent top performance for their investors.
In total, 15.33% of the funds in the Global Emerging Markets sector received a 4 or 5-star performance rating. Download the full PDF to see all 4 and 5 star rated funds.
Download the full report below to view the best emerging market funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
Best Global Funds
The largest of the 56 sectors analysed was the Global sector with some 467 funds classified within this sector managing a combined total of £152.3 billion. This sector is home to some of the most recognisable funds on the market with the popular Fundsmith Equity fund and Lindsell Train Global Equity funds among the funds it holds.
Global funds invest in a wide range of stocks across world markets, with this broad focus potentially helping to minimise the impact of stock market shocks on a portfolio. For example, if one region or sector suffers a knock, hopefully gains elsewhere will help offset these losses.
However, in recent times, a large proportion of growth enjoyed by Global funds can be attributed to their heavy weighting in US stocks, with North American equities averaging some of the highest returns across all asset classes. These funds do not qualify for the North American sector as the proportion of stocks they hold does not fit the sector's threshold.
What classifies a Global fund?
The investment association's criteria for a Global fund is a fund that invests at least 80% of its assets globally in equities and is diversified by geographic region.
Specific sector notes:
The main focus of funds that elect to be classified to this sector should be geographic diversification.
Funds that qualify for the UK, regional or the Global Emerging Markets equity sector will be excluded.
Funds may elect to be classified to the Global sector on the basis of geographic diversification even where a style or thematic bias exists - for example, Global Consumer funds, Global Climate Change funds, Global Income funds, Global Smaller Companies funds.
Global funds which focus solely on a single industry sector may also elect to be classified to the Global sector, subject to maintaining geographic diversification - for example, all types of Global Commodity funds (Agriculture/ Resources/Gold), Global Financials, Global Pharmaceuticals fund.
As the most popular sector with the highest number of funds, not surprisingly the Global sector has the largest number of consistently top performing funds, with a total of 43 funds with a 4 or 5-star performance rating.
With a 5 year average growth of 44.61%, the Global sector has the 7th highest average return of all 56 sectors but as the funds in this sector are more diversified they are often a more popular choice with investors. In the PDF list of all best funds, we feature all 53 of the 4&5 star rated funds in the Global sector.
Download the full report below to view the best global equity funds for performance over the past 1, 3 & 5 years.
The Importance of Fund Performance
Fund performance is a critical metric that efficient investors and high-quality advice firms analyse to help ensure their portfolios productively meet objectives while utilising fund managers that have demonstrated consistency in delivering efficient returns.
Past performance is not an indicator of future returns, but when asked, investors would prefer to invest with fund managers that consistently perform well over varying time frames. This report highlights the various fund managers that have consistently performed better than 75% of same sector funds managers.
Comparative Performance
Each fund's performance can be compared to all competing funds that are classified within the same sector. How each fund ranks over multiple time frames can identify the quality of the fund and the competence of the fund manager.
Fund manager accountability
Past performance exposes the effectiveness of funds and their fund managers. The funds that consistently rank highly in their sectors can reflect a level of expertise, whereas fund managers whose funds continually rank lowly within their sector have demonstrated a lack of quality and an inability to deliver competitive returns for investors. Past performance is not an indicator of future returns, but it is important information that holds fund managers accountable for their performance.
A cycle of 5-years exposes investments to different economic and political challenges. How a fund and fund manager performs over multiple cycles reflects on their capabilities and overall quality.
The Best ISA Funds
All 3,787 sector funds analysed for the best funds list are eligible for inclusion in an ISA and the best funds PDF features the 500 funds that have consistently outperformed their sector peers over the last 1, 3 & 5 years making them some of the most attractive investment options for an ISA.
Although future performance is never guaranteed it is reasonable to assume the funds which have proven their consistency over a 5-year period, will continue to outperform their peers in the future. These individual fund managers demonstrate consistency in their ability to do their job well.
Selecting funds that consistently perform better than their peers and fit within a suitable asset allocation model will help investors to maximise their portfolio growth potential.
If using a financial adviser to build and manage your ISA, make sure that you are partnered with someone that has performance knowledge and who can demonstrate that easily. As fund performance is not a regulated requirement of financial planning, financial advisers are not required to research the performance of funds. As a result, a large proportion of advisers have a poor level of knowledge in relation to fund performance.
As no single equity style, sector, country or region outperforms all others all of the time. Global diversification spreads risk amongst countries and currencies to offset the risk of investing in just one region or country. As such, having a globally diversified ISA portfolio is vital to long-term investment success.
It's nearly impossible to pick and choose which asset classes will be top performers at any given time. While one particular market may outperform others one year that doesn't mean it will continue to do better than others over the long term.
Nobody knows with any degree of certainty what asset classes and global markets will be the best performers next year. Therefore, the most efficient way for investors to capture the returns of the markets is to invest with diversity and spread their portfolios assets.
By ensuring your portfolio contains only consistently top-performing funds, within an asset allocation model suitable to your risk profile, you have covered the 2 main aspects of maintaining an efficient portfolio.
The funds featured in the best funds PDF and the diversification of each sector provides the basis for investors to identify and construct a suitably diversified portfolio of top performing funds for their ISA.
Our research has identified that the majority of investors are missing out on extra portfolio growth due to subpar fund choices and general inefficiencies in their ISA portfolio. Inefficient investing will undoubtedly have adverse long-term consequences, which is why it is so important to be able to identify and correct any portfolio deficiencies. Find out if your ISA portfolio contains top or poor performing funds with our industry-leading portfolio analysis service.
The Best Pension Funds
Over the past several years as auto-enrolment came into effect there has been a huge increase in the number of pensions in the UK - between 2012 and 2019, the number of employees with workplace pensions rose by 82.5%.
In 2019, just over 21 million employees in the UK had a workplace pension with most of these enrolled in an occupational scheme. Research from The Pensions Regulator shows that more than 95% of workers stay in their pension scheme's default fund for convenience but often these default funds have low returns when compared to a diversified portfolio of high-quality funds.
Many pension investors are unaware of the wide-ranging options they have for their pensions, and limit their investments to a selection of pension schemes put in place by large pension providers. However, many of the funds featured in the best funds list are accessible for pension investors and as part of a suitably diversified, risk-rated portfolio they can help investors achieve significantly better pension returns.
Based on the asset allocation model, that best fits your objectives investors have a wide range of high quality options to choose from when investing for their pension. In the best funds PDF there are significant high quality funds across numerous sectors and asset classes that can provide the foundation for constructing excellent pension portfolios.
From the 3,877 sector classified unit trust funds available to UK investors 15% have a history of consistent top performance.
Investing is the balance of risk and quality. There are numerous asset allocation models and investment strategies to suit each investor but there is only a limited selection of funds available that have a proven history of exceptional quality.
The investment market is littered with poor products, and the limited information available relating to performance has made it difficult to identify the good from the bad. This has resulted in billions being placed in funds that have persistently underperformed causing many investors to miss out on growth with their investment, ISA and pension portfolios.
The funds featured in the best funds list have consistently been the best performing funds in the UK over the past 1, 3 & 5 years. They have proven their quality and as part of a diversified portfolio they can continue to offer excellent investment opportunities for investors.
Best Investment Portfolios
Diversification and asset allocation is intrinsically linked with risk and as such, it is the single most important aspect of investing and critical to the success of a long-term investment strategy. A common error we witness among self managed investors in particular is the desire to pick out and only invest in the funds that have delivered the highest growth returns, often it is a very small range of sectors that have the highest growth averages.
However, investment fund performance can only be compared to other funds within the same sectors, and by only selecting the best funds from the highest growth sectors, investment portfolios will lack diversity and assume very high degrees of risk. As a consequence, should that sector experience a period of turbulence it would result in the entire portfolio falling in value as opposed to only a designated portion if the portfolio was strategically balanced across several different sectors/markets.
Download our most recent and complete list of best performing funds to see the 580 funds from an analysis of 3,877 that have consistently outperformed their sectors.
Get an instant, no-obligation performance analysis of your investment funds and overall investment portfolio. Analyse Your Portfolio
If you prefer our team will complete the analysis for you. Simply upload the name and values of the funds you are invested in via our secure portal and our team will complete the analysis for you. Upload Your Portfolio
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Lana Del Rey clarifies Trump comments, saying they were taken "out of context"
The musician had given her views on the outgoing President's role in the storming of the Capitol in a new interview
Lana Del Rey and Donald Trump CREDIT: Getty Images
Lana Del Rey has clarified her recent comments on Donald Trump, saying they were taken "out of context" by some publications.
The musician had given her view of the outgoing President's role in last week's storming of the Capitol, explaining she didn't think he knew he was inciting a riot.
READ MORE: Lana Del Rey's new song 'Let Me Love You Like A Woman' is a swooning ode to starting anew
"He's got delusions of grandeur," she told BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac yesterday (January 11). "I think he's unwell."
Now, Del Rey has clarified her comments, which were widely reported on, on Twitter. "Just to take a moment to say that what I was describing w the bbc was that Trump is so significantly impaired that he may not know what he was doing due to his significant lack of empathy and the wider ranging problem is the issue of sociopathy and narcissism in America," she said.
Just to take a moment to say that what I was describing w the bbc was that Trump is so significantly impaired that he may not know what he was doing due to his significant lack of empathy and the wider ranging problem is the issue of sociopathy and narcissism in America.
"I'll say it again I don't appreciate the larger magazines taking my well-intentioned and believe it or not liberal comments out of context. It's actually what I sing about quite often. It's what I've been condemned for saying. You can listen to the entire interview."
In the BBC interview, the star called Trump "a reflection of our world's greatest problem, which is not climate change, but sociopathy and narcissism". "It's going to kill the world," she added. "It's not capitalism, it's narcissism."
She shared her thoughts on the President while premiering her new single 'Chemtrails Over The Country Club'. The song is the title track from her next album, which has now been confirmed to be arriving on March 16.
The record was initially due to be released around the one-year anniversary of her last record 'Norman Fucking Rockwell!', but was delayed because she felt it wasn't finished and then again due to manufacturing delays for the vinyl release.


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9 months for handbag snatcher
Bjorn Burke
A man accused of stealing a woman's handbag from her motor car was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment when he appeared before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's (RM) Court on Tuesday.
Charged with simple larceny is Antonio Riley, who pleaded guilty with explanation to the offence.
Allegations are that on the day of the incident, the female complainant was driving along a thoroughfare when she came to a stop. It is said that the accused man came out of nowhere and grabbed a leather strapped bag from the interior of the complainant's vehicle and made a hasty retreat.
Riley's alleged actions would not go unnoticed, as several civilians who witnessed the happening chased him down breathlessly until he was held. He was subsequently handed over to the police, arrested, and charged for the offence.
In court, Riley shed light on the matter. "You know say mi never really want do it still," he began, "but me have a little problem with some pin inna mi hand."
Senior RM Judith Pusey appeared unmoved by Riley's explanation.
"If something was actually wrong with the hand, you wouldn't have done it," she said.
He was sentenced to nine months in prison. A fingerprint order was also made against him.
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It's been a great month for Symmetrys, and for some of our projects.
Due to our success at securing a number of fantastic projects recently, we have continued our steady growth, and welcome another five new members of staff this month to Symmetrys. Structural Engineers Simone Boncio and Maan Samiz, Civil Engineer Maddy Wright, Trainee Revit Technician Joao Monteiro and Practice Administrator Nishma O'Shaughnessy.
Moor's Nook is shortlisted for the AJ Architecture Award for Housing Development up to £10Million, 2018 Building Award for Housing Project of the Year and the 2018 Brick Award for Large Housing Development.
Hortsley, West Sussex is also shortlisted for the AJ Architects Award for Housing Development up to £10 Million.
Senate House has been shortlisted in the Public Sector category at the 2018 FX International Design Awards.
And finally our eight bedroom family home in Crouch End has been shortlisted for the Haringey Best Home of 2018 Award.
Good luck to our new starters and our shortlisted projects.


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AI: The Somnium Files by Zero Escape Director Gets Extensive Gameplay Trailer Showing its Cast
Published on May 31, 2019 Giuseppe Nelva
Home » News » AI: The Somnium Files by Zero Escape Director Gets Extensive Gameplay Trailer Showing its Cast
Today Spike Chunsoft released a new gameplay trailer of its upcoming adventure game AI: The Somnium Files.
While this is defined a gameplay trailer, and some gameplay is indeed shown, the extensive video showcases a lot of the characters that we'll meet in the game, and also goes as far as providing an introduction to the story of the game. Turns out that there is a whole lot you can squeeze in three and a half minutes.
You can watch it below, and see if it tickles your fancy. I'd say it's evident that it's directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi of Zero Escape fame.
If you want to see more of the game you can enjoy some recent gameplay, a previous video , another clip, a batch of images from a few weeks ago, the latest trailer, a few screenshots alongside more character artwork, and a second batch, a video showcasing the ABIS agents, and another featuring the Psync system and the dream world.
AI: The Somnium Files will release worldwide for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. It was previously supposed to come on July 25, but it has been slightly delayed by a month to September 17 to achieve "the best product possible."
Related Topics:AI: The Somnium Files, PC, ps4, Switch
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Robert Wilson Puts on a Show
Ruth La Ferla, The New York Times, 3 November 2017, Visit external site
At the Robert Wilson installation for Van Cleef & Arpels
Robert Wilson is a slow-talking man. But he picked up speed the other day as he described an early encounter with Lady Gaga. As Mr. Wilson told it, some years ago the star cold called him. Not especially cowed by his lofty stature as artist and director, she opened with: "Hi, Bob. Gaga. Can you tell me something about theater?"
Mr. Wilson kept his brief to her simple. "'You know the Broadway formula is that you start strong and end big,'" he said. Her response, as he recalled: "'Thank you, Bob. That's all I needed to know.'"
After several such talks, Mr. Wilson agreed to oversee her 2013 appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards. "In three minutes and 20 seconds she changed her clothes seven times," he said. "She started with a cowl, like a nun. In the last four or five seconds, she had on nothing but clamshells on her private parts."
"When it was over, she asked me, 'Bob, how did I do?'" he said, interrupting himself with a riotous whoop before going on. "'You learn fast,' I told her. 'You started strong and ended big.'"
But we had veered off course. We were at the Cedar Lake performance space in the Chelsea section of Manhattan to talk about Mr. Wilson's Noah's Ark installation for Van Cleef & Arpels. From Nov. 3 to 19, visitors will be treated to a display of the jeweler's menagerie of exotic animals, designed as brooches and showcased in a series of recessed glass enclosures cresting and dipping rhythmically along the walls.
For the project, Mr. Wilson, 76, who will be honored on Nov. 6 at the New York Public Library Lions gala, tapped his enduring fascination with a cast of outsize characters. Over the years that pantheon has included Sigmund Freud, Queen Victoria, Joseph Stalin and Albert Einstein, the ostensible hero of "Einstein on the Beach," the visual and musical spectacle he created with Philip Glass, which shot him to fame in the mid-1970s.
To his mind such legends are the lifeblood of the theater. "They are the gods of our time," he said. "People come to the theater sharing a common knowledge about who and what they are. In this instance, we all come with a story in our heads about Noah's Ark."
At Cedar Lake that story translates into an alternately soothing and unsettling multisensory experience. On first entering the eerily lighted space, guests are jolted by thunderclaps and flashing lights; inside, they are lulled by projected ocean waves lapping the perimeter, the meditative strains of "Spiegel im Spiegel" (written by Arvo Part), drawing them toward the black jewelry cases.
Miniaturized stage sets, they are populated with pairs of lapis and turquoise parrots, intertwining jeweled zebras, diamond-and-sapphire monkeys and cocooning penguins with black onyx and cabochon gems, all similar in scale.
Working with Nicolas Bos, the Van Cleef chief executive, who commissioned the project, Mr. Wilson envisioned the installation as an actual ark. He was quick to discard the idea, though, preferring to use light and space to simulate the experience of a ship at sea. "I've always worked with light first," he said. "Without light there is no space."
Suspended from the ceiling is a whalebone ark. Less than a foot long, it is a model of a vessel in Mr. Wilson's private collection of tribal artifacts. Visitors are meant to experience the ship, he said, "as this tiny speck in a vast ocean."
At regular intervals, darkness descends on the space. "The only things lit are the jewels," Mr. Wilson said. "They're like stars. They become like a navigational map of the room."
The artist and director Robert Wilson.Credit...Hilary Swift/The New York Times


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zed equals zee
Posts Tagged '"friends'
Read: Fans, Friends and Followers
Fans, Friends and Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age is a new e-book by Cambridge-based Scott Kirsner. He's been writing, speaking, and connecting people involved in the uptake and spread of innovations for many years, including a column in the Boston Globe (together with its companion blog), and he also writes regularly on music and technology for Variety.
Fans, Friends and Followers focuses on creators and artists that are thriving in the age of digital distribution, and what can be learned from them. While there are framing chapters which pull out some of the important themes, the heart of the book is a series of creator interviews, which are fascinating reads, showcasing as they do the wide variety of stories, approaches and goals of the artists. These case studies span a wide range of fields, including documentary filmmaker Curt Ellis, comedian and writer Eugene Mirman, and zed equals zee fave Jonathan Coulton.
Scott Kirsner was kind enough to answer some questions about the book for zed equals zee:
So, one of the themes that I took from the book is the 'let a thousand flowers bloom' approach – that there is a diversity of ways to use the Internet to share your creative efforts. Anything that you think is an absolute necessity? Anything that you would recommend against?
One thing that's a necessity: carving out the time and the energy to spend cultivating your fan base, and communicating with fans. There should definitely be a dedicated person in any band who's responsible for audience-building (that's a term I like better than "marketing"), or maybe someone you know who isn't in the band but really understands the Web and social media well. I think in the 20th century, your label took care of all that stuff. In the 21st century, it's your responsibility. One thing I recommend against is building a super-fancy, expensive, Flash-heavy Web site that no one can update except for the original designer. I can't tell you how many bands do that — and the result is that fans visit your Web site once or twice, but never come back because it never changes. (And people assume that because your last gig listed is in 2007 that you must have broken up!) Even if you have a bare-bones MySpace page or blog, it's better to have something you can continually add content to than something better-looking that stays static.
Another of the themes is what I call 'hookers and taxicabs, not limos and supermodels,' after the scene in the movie Hard Core Logo – that the age of the gigantic arena-filling star may be over. What do you think the biggest a native-to-the-Internet artist can get? Do you think that the definition of success has changed, and if so, how?
I do think we'll eventually see Internet-driven artists playing arenas and stadiums. Today, there are lots who are playing pretty big clubs or opening in bigger venues. To me, the definition of success is making a living without having to work a day job, and more importantly, making the kind of music you want to make — contributing something unique to the world — rather than compromising your vision. All of the artists I interview in Fans, Friends & Followers are doing that. Few are jillionaires (yet), but most have more creative freedom than artists who are signed to labels, which is really important.
On a related note…while I'm happy about seeing entertainment dollars go to more artists, do you think that the pie can be sliced too thin? Do you think it's harder or easier for an individual artist to make a living?
I think it's getting easier for individual artists to make a living, and perhaps harder for artists to wind up on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. But to me, there's a cultural and societal benefit to having more people (rather than fewer) earning a living making music or movies, writing books, or engaging in any kind of artistic endeavor. [debcha's note: Sing it, brother!]
What was the most unlikely or counterintuitive story in your book or from your research?
One of the bands I use as a case study is OK Go. I love the fact that their homemade videos for "Here It Goes Again" (featuring them dancing on treadmills) and "A Million Ways" (featuring them dancing in someone's backyard) have probably been seen by more people on YouTube than any videos their label made for them. And those videos basically had no budget at all — just the cost of a videotape. Damian Kulash, OK Go's lead singer, told me that their online success really has built their reputation globally much more than anything their label has done. When they went to Taiwan, a country where their record hadn't been released, they were headliners. In Korea, where they opened for the Chemical Brothers, thousands of people knew the words to all of their songs. What made the videos successful, Kulash says in the book, were that "they didn't bear the stamps of this kind of top-down marketing push. They were very clearly homemade." (Though eventually they were shown on MTV.)
There are a number of visual artists interviewed in Fans, Friends and Followers. Unlike music and video, which are considered to be low culture, success in art has been more about critical approbation (inclusion in curated shows or collections) rather than about popular appeal. Do you think that the art world is changing in response to the rise of the Internet? If so, how?
I think there are two groups of artists today (and maybe there have always been.) Those who want acceptance by the art establishment probably are finding that the Internet doesn't really help them much. But those who want to make a living — whether you are a fine artist, graphic designer, cartoonist, or illustrator — can be hugely helped by understanding digital tools and strategies. I do believe the Web will help launch the next Keith Haring or Jean-Michel Basquiat, and I think the art establishment is going to have to pay attention to that.
Any final thoughts?
I think there's a pendulum shift happening that everyone has to acknowledge, whether you're a writer or indie filmmaker or musician. In the old world, you could spend 90 percent of your time on your creative work, and just 10 percent promoting it. In the new world, I think the split is going to be more like 70/30, or even 60/40. Rather than gritting your teeth or complaining about the time it takes to cultivate a fan base, I think the best approach is to figure out how to make the marketing and promotion part of your art — don't feel like you're selling out somehow — and enjoy it. Artists like Andy Warhol and Frank Zappa and David Bowie and Frank Lloyd Wright and Ernest Hemingway were (and are) all great self-promoters, too.
Check out a 35-page preview of Fans, Friends and Followers here, or buy the full book here. Also, check out (or contribute to) this wiki, which collects all the online tools listed in the book and more.
MP3: OK Go – Letterbox (They Might Be Giants cover) [buy]
Posted in future of music, Read | Tagged "friends, book, digital distribution, fans and followers", future of music, scott kirsner | 5 Comments »
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Online Poker Games - Poker Rooms
Texas hold 'em poker.
Texas hold 'em, sometimes called simply hold' em - the most popular form of poker today, the game with two handheld and the five community cards used by all players to make combinations.
Playing Texas hold 'em poker.
The game is played as follows:
In some games, all players have made a small down payment (ante), it increases the size of the bank (public money on the table) and the activity of the players.
Two players to the dealer (the button or dealer), make blind bets (blinds). Usually, the first makes the minimum bet (small blind) and the second - the whole bet (big blind).
Each player receives two cards face down (PF) should be betting.
On the table in front of all the players are placed three open cards (the flop), it should be betting.
Placed on the table in the open fourth card (the turn) should be betting. When playing limit hold'em fixed rate at this time is doubled.
Placed on the table to open the fifth card (the river). Thus, on the table are 5 cards, followed by the final round of betting.
Players can use their two hole cards and 5 for the preparation of 5-card combinations.
Varieties of Texas hold 'em poker.
There are three main types of Texas Hold'em:
limited - the rates are limited.
Pot Limit - the maximum rate is limited by the size of the bank;
No Limit - the maximum rate is limited by the size of the stack player.
In turn, No Limit (NL - no limit) hold'em, depending on the size of the stack (the money that the player sits down at the table) divided by Strategies: Short (SSS - shortstack strategy: 20 big blinds), medium (MSS - midlstack strategy: 50 big blinds), large (BSS - bigstack strategy: 100 big blinds) and deep stacks (DSS - deepstack strategy: more than 100 big blinds).
Omaha - one of the most popular forms of poker. Unlike seven-card Texas Hold'em, the game - devyatikartochnaya. Regulation of these two species are very similar. But the differences are, in Omaha players are dealt four hole cards, but the final poker hand still consists of five cards, which in turn consists of exactly 2 closed and 3 open.
Playing the Omaha poker.
Blinds. Before the game, left of the dealer players post blinds, first the small blind and the left - the big blind. The blinds are put in order to provide an initial pot.
Pre-flop. Players are dealt four hole cards. The first player starts the first betting round - the arrows. He sits on the left of the big blind.
Flop. After the pre-flop on the table laid out three cards. Then again, should the terms of trade.
Ternes. Then, the fourth community card is laid back and a round of betting.
River. Finally, on the table drops fifth community card. It should be the last round of bidding, and if not, all bets on the river called, there is a showdown, and it turns out the strongest five-card combination, while in contrast to the Texas Hold'em poker hand for drafting a player must use two cards from your hand and three cards from the table.
If multiple players have the same combination - split the pot.
Variations of Omaha
There are three main varieties of Omaha:
limit - the rates are limited.
Pot Limit - the maximum rate is limited by the size of the bank, this is the most common type of
No Limit (NL) poker - bet maximum stack size is limited to the player.
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