text:
Pope Francis names Mexican-born bishop coadjutor of San Bernardino
December 2, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print
Vatican City, Dec 2, 2019 / 05:06 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Monday named Bishop Alberto Rojas, an auxiliary bishop of Chicago, to be coadjutor of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, and serve alongside Bishop Gerald Barnes until Barnes' retirement.
As coadjutor, Rojas will assist Bishop Gerald Barnes in the administration of the San Bernardino diocese and succeed him as bishop upon his retirement or death.
Rojas, who was born in Mexico, has been an auxiliary bishop of Chicago since 2011, serving under both Cardinals Francis George and Blase Cupich.
The Diocese of San Bernardino was erected in 1978 and covers nearly 28,000 square miles. In 2017, the diocese had an estimated 1.7 million Catholics — 38% of the population — and 151 diocesan priests.
San Bernardino has one of the highest concentrations of Hispanics in California. According to the 2010 census, the county was 39.2% Hispanic.
Barnes, who has led the Diocese of San Bernardino for 23 years, announced in August his intention to retire in June 2020 at the age of 75.
Diocesan bishops are required by canon law to submit their resignation to the pope upon reaching age 75. It is then the decision of the pope to accept the resignation at his discretion.
Barnes announced the appointment of a coadjutor in a statement on the diocesan website Aug. 7, stating that "the next 12 months will be a year unlike any other in recent memory in our Diocese. It will be a time of ending, of new beginnings and, for me, a time of transition."
The longest-serving bishop of a U.S. diocese, according to the San Bernardino Sun, Barnes was first appointed auxiliary bishop of San Bernardino in 1992. In 1995, he was made ordinary bishop.
Bishop Alberto Rojas, 54, was born in El Zapote de la Labor, Mexico.
He studied for the priesthood at Santa Maria de Guadalupe seminary in Aguascalientes, Mexico and at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, before being ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1997.
Rojas was named an auxiliary bishop of Chicago by Benedict XVI and ordained bishop in August 2011.
As a bishop, he has been the archbishop's delegate for the archdiocesan Hispanic-American council, liaison to Hispanic Catholics, a member of the U.S. bishops' conference's Hispanic Affairs Committee, and a regional liaison for the National V Encuentro of Hispanic and Latino Ministry.
Rojas was also a member of the seminary formation faculty at Mundelein Seminary from 2002-2010.
Bishop Barnes will give a press conference on Rojas' nomination and on "episcopal transition" at 10:00 am PST. It can be viewed through a livestream found on the diocesan website.
Advent and the Four Last Things
Fr. Calloway: St. Faustina's life is an example of "extraordinary trust" in God
Vatican foreign minister: religious freedom 'being eroded' by COVID-19 response
February 24, 2021 CNA Daily News 1
Vatican City, Feb 24, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).- A robust understanding of the right to religious freedom is being eroded in the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican's foreign minister said in a video message to the United Nation… […]
Ambassador: Kazakhstan expects visit from Pope Francis in 2021
December 9, 2020 CNA Daily News 0
Vatican City, Dec 9, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- The ambassador of Kazakhstan to the Holy See has said that there are "high hopes" that Pope Francis will visit the central Asian country next year, if the coronavirus situation permits.
In … […]
Pope Francis: Care for creation is one of the 'great moral issues of our time'
November 11, 2021 Catholic News Agency 9
Pope Francis celebrates Mass at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Nov. 5, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Nov 11, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has called care for God's creation one of "the great mo… […]
Pelosi says she's 'pleased' with Vatican letter to U.S. bishops on Communion
CNA Daily News May 13, 2021 63
Washington D.C., May 13, 2021 / 16:00 pm America/Denver (CNA). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she was "pleased" with the Vatican's recent letter to U.S. bishops on Communion for pro-abortion politicians. Pelosi, […]


text:
'use strict';

const request = require('request');
const geocoder = require('geocoder');
const events = require('events');
const ProtoBuf = require('protobufjs');
const GoogleOAuth = require('gpsoauthnode');
const Long = require('long');
const ByteBuffer = require('bytebuffer');
const bignum = require('bignum');

const s2 = require('simple-s2-node');
const Logins = require('./logins');
const fs = require('fs');
const pokemonlist = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/pokemons.json', 'utf8'));

let builder = ProtoBuf.loadProtoFile('pokemon.proto');
if (builder === null) {
    builder = ProtoBuf.loadProtoFile(__dirname + '/pokemon.proto');
}

const pokemonProto = builder.build();
const {RequestEnvelop, ResponseEnvelop} = pokemonProto;

const EventEmitter = events.EventEmitter;

const api_url = 'https://pgorelease.nianticlabs.com/plfe/rpc';

function GetCoords(self) {
    let {latitude, longitude} = self.playerInfo;
    return [latitude, longitude];
};

function getNeighbors(lat, lng) {
    var origin = s2.S2CellId.from_lat_lng(s2.S2LatLng.from_degrees(lat, lng)).parent(15);
    var walk = [origin.id()];
    // 10 before and 10 after
    var next = origin.next();
    var prev = origin.prev();
    for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
        // in range(10):
        walk.push(prev.id());
        walk.push(next.id());
        next = next.next();
        prev = prev.prev();
    }
    return walk;
}

function Pokeio() {
    var self = this;
    self.events = new EventEmitter();
    self.j = request.jar();
    self.request = request.defaults({jar: self.j});

    self.google = new GoogleOAuth();

    self.playerInfo = {
        accessToken: '',
        debug: true,
        latitude: 0,
        longitude: 0,
        altitude: 0,
        locationName: '',
        provider: '',
        apiEndpoint: ''
    };

    self.DebugPrint = function (str) {
        if (self.playerInfo.debug === true) {
            //self.events.emit('debug',str)
            console.log(str);
        }
    };

    self.pokemonlist = pokemonlist.pokemon;

    function api_req(api_endpoint, access_token, req, callback) {
        // Auth
        var auth = new RequestEnvelop.AuthInfo({
            provider: self.playerInfo.provider,
            token: new RequestEnvelop.AuthInfo.JWT(access_token, 59)
        });

        var f_req = new RequestEnvelop({
            unknown1: 2,
            rpc_id: 1469378659230941192,

            requests: req,

            latitude: self.playerInfo.latitude,
            longitude: self.playerInfo.longitude,
            altitude: self.playerInfo.altitude,

            auth: auth,
            unknown12: 989
        });

        var protobuf = f_req.encode().toBuffer();

        var options = {
            url: api_endpoint,
            body: protobuf,
            encoding: null,
            headers: {
                'User-Agent': 'Niantic App'
            }
        };

        self.request.post(options, function (err, response, body) {
            if (response === undefined || body === undefined) {
                console.error('[!] RPC Server offline');
                return callback(new Error('RPC Server offline'));
            }

            try {
                var f_ret = ResponseEnvelop.decode(body);
            } catch (e) {
                if (e.decoded) { // Truncated
                    console.warn(e);
                    f_ret = e.decoded; // Decoded message with missing required fields
                }
            }

            if (f_ret) {
                return callback(null, f_ret);
            }
            else {
                api_req(api_endpoint, access_token, req, callback)
            }
        });

    }

    self.init = function (username, password, location, provider, callback) {
        if (provider !== 'ptc' && provider !== 'google') {
            return callback(new Error('Invalid provider'));
        }
        // set provider
        self.playerInfo.provider = provider;
        // Updating location
        self.SetLocation(location, function (err, loc) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }
            // Getting access token
            self.GetAccessToken(username, password, function (err, token) {
                if (err) {
                    return callback(err);
                }
                // Getting api endpoint
                self.GetApiEndpoint(function (err, api_endpoint) {
                    if (err) {
                        return callback(err);
                    }
                    callback(null);
                });
            });
        });

    };

    self.GetAccessToken = function (user, pass, callback) {
        self.DebugPrint('[i] Logging with user: ' + user);
        if (self.playerInfo.provider === 'ptc') {
            Logins.PokemonClub(user, pass, self, function (err, token) {
                if (err) {
                    return callback(err);
                }

                self.playerInfo.accessToken = token;
                self.DebugPrint('[i] Received PTC access token!')
                callback(null, token);
            });
        } else {
            Logins.GoogleAccount(user, pass, self, function (err, token) {
                if (err) {
                    return callback(err);
                }

                self.playerInfo.accessToken = token;
                self.DebugPrint('[i] Received Google access token!')
                callback(null, token);
            });
        }
    };

    self.GetApiEndpoint = function (callback) {
        var req = [
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(2),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(126),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(4),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(129),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(5)
        ];

        api_req(api_url, self.playerInfo.accessToken, req, function (err, f_ret) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }
            var api_endpoint = `https://${f_ret.api_url}/rpc`;
            self.playerInfo.apiEndpoint = api_endpoint;
            self.DebugPrint('[i] Received API Endpoint: ' + api_endpoint);
            return callback(null, api_endpoint);
        });
    };

    self.GetInventory = function(callback) {
        var req = new RequestEnvelop.Requests(4);

        api_req(self.playerInfo.apiEndpoint, self.playerInfo.accessToken, req, function(err, f_ret){
            if(err){
                return callback(err);
            }
            var inventory = ResponseEnvelop.GetInventoryResponse.decode(f_ret.payload[0]);
            return callback(null, inventory);
        });
    };

    self.GetProfile = function (callback) {
        var req = new RequestEnvelop.Requests(2);
        api_req(self.playerInfo.apiEndpoint, self.playerInfo.accessToken, req, function (err, f_ret) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }

            var profile = ResponseEnvelop.ProfilePayload.decode(f_ret.payload[0]).profile

            if (profile.username) {
                self.DebugPrint('[i] Logged in!');
            }
            callback(null, profile);
        });
    };

    // IN DEVELPOMENT, YES WE KNOW IS NOT WORKING ATM
    self.Heartbeat = function (callback) {
        let {apiEndpoint, accessToken} = self.playerInfo;

        let nullbytes = new Buffer(21);
        nullbytes.fill(0);

        // Generating walk data using s2 geometry
        var walk = getNeighbors(self.playerInfo.latitude, self.playerInfo.longitude).sort((a, b) => {
            return a.cmp(b);
        });
        var buffer = new ByteBuffer(21 * 10).LE();
        walk.forEach((elem) => {
            buffer.writeVarint64(s2.S2Utils.long_from_bignum(elem));
        });

        // Creating MessageQuad for Requests type=106
        buffer.flip();
        var walkData = new RequestEnvelop.MessageQuad({
            'f1': buffer.toBuffer(),
            'f2': nullbytes,
            'lat': self.playerInfo.latitude,
            'long': self.playerInfo.longitude
        });

        var req = [
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(106, walkData.encode().toBuffer()),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(126),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(4, (new RequestEnvelop.Unknown3(Date.now().toString())).encode().toBuffer()),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(129),
            new RequestEnvelop.Requests(5, (new RequestEnvelop.Unknown3('05daf51635c82611d1aac95c0b051d3ec088a930')).encode().toBuffer())
        ];

        api_req(apiEndpoint, accessToken, req, function (err, f_ret) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }
            else if (!f_ret || !f_ret.payload || !f_ret.payload[0]) {
                return callback('No result');
            }

            var heartbeat = ResponseEnvelop.HeartbeatPayload.decode(f_ret.payload[0]);
            callback(null, heartbeat)
        });
    };

    self.GetLocation = function (callback) {
        geocoder.reverseGeocode(...GetCoords(self), function (err, data) {
            if (data.status === 'ZERO_RESULTS') {
                return callback(new Error('location not found'));
            }

            callback(null, data.results[0].formatted_address);
        });
    };

    self.CatchPokemon = function (mapPokemon, normalizedHitPosition, normalizedReticleSize, spinModifier, pokeball, callback) {
        let {apiEndpoint, accessToken} = self.playerInfo;
        var catchPokemon = new RequestEnvelop.CatchPokemonMessage({
            'encounter_id': mapPokemon.EncounterId,
            'pokeball': pokeball,
            'normalized_reticle_size': normalizedReticleSize,
            'spawnpoint_id': mapPokemon.SpawnPointId,
            'hit_pokemon': true,
            'spin_modifier': spinModifier,
            'normalized_hit_position': normalizedHitPosition
        });

        var req = new RequestEnvelop.Requests(103, catchPokemon.encode().toBuffer());

        api_req(apiEndpoint, accessToken, req, function (err, f_ret) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }
            else if (!f_ret || !f_ret.payload || !f_ret.payload[0]) {
                return callback('No result');
            }

            var catchPokemonResponse = ResponseEnvelop.CatchPokemonResponse.decode(f_ret.payload[0]);
            callback(null, catchPokemonResponse)
        });

    };

    self.EncounterPokemon = function (catchablePokemon, callback) {
        let {apiEndpoint, accessToken, latitude, longitude} = self.playerInfo;
        var encounterPokemon = new RequestEnvelop.EncounterMessage({
            'encounter_id': catchablePokemon.EncounterId,
            'spawnpoint_id': catchablePokemon.SpawnPointId,
            'player_latitude': latitude,
            'player_longitude': longitude
        });

        var req = new RequestEnvelop.Requests(102, encounterPokemon.encode().toBuffer());

        api_req(apiEndpoint, accessToken, req, function (err, f_ret) {
            if (err) {
                return callback(err);
            }
            else if (!f_ret || !f_ret.payload || !f_ret.payload[0]) {
                return callback('No result');
            }

            var catchPokemonResponse = ResponseEnvelop.EncounterResponse.decode(f_ret.payload[0]);
            callback(null, catchPokemonResponse)
        });

    };

    self.GetLocationCoords = function () {
        let {latitude, longitude, altitude} = self.playerInfo;
        return {latitude, longitude, altitude};
    };

    self.SetLocation = function (location, callback) {
        if (location.type !== 'name' && location.type !== 'coords') {
            return callback(new Error('Invalid location type'));
        }

        if (location.type === 'name') {
            if (!location.name) {
                return callback(new Error('You should add a location name'));
            }
            var locationName = location.name;
            geocoder.geocode(locationName, function (err, data) {
                if (err || data.status === 'ZERO_RESULTS') {
                    return callback(new Error('location not found'));
                }

                let {lat, lng} = data.results[0].geometry.location;

                self.playerInfo.latitude = lat;
                self.playerInfo.longitude = lng;
                self.playerInfo.locationName = locationName;

                callback(null, self.GetLocationCoords());
            });
        } else if (location.type === 'coords') {
            if (!location.coords) {
                return callback(new Error('Coords object missing'));
            }

            self.playerInfo.latitude = location.coords.latitude || self.playerInfo.latitude;
            self.playerInfo.longitude = location.coords.longitude || self.playerInfo.longitude;
            self.playerInfo.altitude = location.coords.altitude || self.playerInfo.altitude;

            geocoder.reverseGeocode(...GetCoords(self), function (err, data) {
                if (data.status !== 'ZERO_RESULTS') {
                    self.playerInfo.locationName = data.results[0].formatted_address;
                }

                callback(null, self.GetLocationCoords());
            });
        }
    };
}

module.exports = new Pokeio();
module.exports.Pokeio = Pokeio;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The MN Movie Man
Follow me on Twitter: @joemnmovieman & Instagram: @themnmovieman
Movies I've Seen
Movies I've Seen – 2012
The Golden Globes – 1/15/12
The Academy Awards – 2/26/12
SAG Awards – 1/27/13
Spirit Awards – 2/23/13
Academy Awards – 2/24/13
Golden Globes ~ 1/12/14
SAG Awards ~ 1/18/14
Spirit Awards ~ 3/1/14
Academy Awards – 3/2/14
Film Independent Spirit Awards ~ 2/21/15
Academy Awards ~ 2/22/15
Golden Globes – 1/10/2016
SAG Awards – 1/30/2016
Spirit Awards – 2/27/2016
Academy Awards – 2/28/2016
Golden Globes – 1/8/2017
Film Independent Spirit Awards – 2/25/2017
Film Independent Spirit Awards – 3/3/2018
Academy Awards – 3/4/2018
31 Days to Scare – October 2012
Bond-ed For Life – November 2012
Movie Review ~ Home Again
by Joe Movie Review	• Tags: Candice Bergen, Hallie Meyers-Shyer, Home Again, Jon Rudnitsky, Lake Bell, Michael Sheen, Nat Wolff, Open Road, Pico Alexander, Reese Witherspoon
Synopsis: Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.
Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Pico Alexander, Nat Wolff, Jon Rudnitsky, Michael Sheen, Candice Bergen, Lake Bell
Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Running Length: 97 minutes
TMMM Score: (4/10)
Review: Reese Witherspoon looks like 'meh' on the poster for Home Again and after seeing it you may understand why. Maybe it's the fact that this A-lister is stuck in a B-movie with C-list stars. Perhaps it's because the direction from first-timer Hallie Meyers-Shyer is as amateurish as her script. Or it could be that the movie is just pure white-washed piffle, meant to go down easy and float from your consciousness the moment you get to your car. Whatever the reason may be, this is one you can easily take a pass on.
At 97 minutes, Home Again has the look, feel, and structure of three episodes of a Netflix series that Witherspoon somehow wandered into. Filmed mostly on one set (Witherspoon's homey California dwelling) under lights so bright you can often see make-up lines on the actors faces, it feels lo-fi and out of place on the big screen. Aside from Witherspoon and Candice Bergen as her movie-star mom, none of the supporting cast feels like they're ready for this undertaking and that makes the entire production continually strain to prove its purpose for existing.
Separated from her music mogul husband who has remained on the East Coast, Alice (Witherspoon, Hot Pursuit) is a mom to two girls adjusting to life as a 40-year-old back at the Los Angeles manse of her late father. A famous film director, her pop must have left her quite a fortune because the house sports furnishings straight out of a Pottery Barn/Restoration Hardware catalog. Out to celebrate her birthday with friends she winds up taking young Harry (Pico Alexander, A Most Violent Year) home for a night cut short by his sour stomach. The next morning she finds that not only did Harry come home with her but so did his brother Teddy (Nat Wolff, Paper Towns) and their friend George (Jon Rudnitsky).
Surprisingly, Bergen comes up with the idea of her daughter providing lodging for the cash-strapped trio who are in CA to pitch a film to a famous producer. Soon the guys are bonding with Alice's tykes while Harry and Alice awkwardly maneuver around their growing fondness for one another. When Alice's estranged husband Austin (Michael Sheen, Passengers) shows up ready to re-join his family it throws the newly found harmony out of sych. There's also a barely there B-story of Alice working for a high-strung socialite (Lake Bell, Million Dollar Arm, wearing an array of loony mumus) that provides Witherspoon the opportunity to flex her comedic muscles when she gets sloshed and tells off her nightmare boss.
That Meyers-Shyer wrote and directed a movie like this isn't entirely unexpected, after all she's the daughter of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers who together and separately have given us films like Baby Boom, Father of the Bride, It's Complicated, The Holiday, The Intern, and Something's Gotta Give. It's that the movie is such a pale imitation of what her parents have all but perfected (much to my chagrin)…the white-woman fantasy. I've said it about films from Nancy Meyers in the past and I'm going to say it here for Home Again…how this movie could be made with barely any minorities is kinda atrocious. There are scenes in set in Los Angeles clubs, restaurants, and offices yet aside from one horribly stereotypical Indian motel worker there are zero people of color who have speaking roles, let alone appear in the movie at all. Alice doesn't have any black friends? Her kids don't attend school with any observed minorities? The movie is soaked in white privilege at its most yuck-o and I find it a bit embarrassing Witherspoon didn't notice it.
Speaking of Witherspoon, watching the movie you'll wonder how this Oscar-winning actress who has shown a keen knack for choosing the right properties for herself in the past few years wound up in this backwards facing vehicle. She labors almost victoriously with some inane dialogue and nearly convinces us she's falling for the charmless Alexander as her young beau. Alexander, for his part, is completely miscast here and watching him in scenes with Witherspoon or Bergen is like watching a car crash in slow motion. Rudnitsky has some appeal in a goofy way yet the movie explore his possible fondness for Alice and subsequent jealously of Harry while Wolff instigates the most audience pleasing moment of the film.
I don't think I'm that off base feeling that Home Again would seem like a better fit as a streaming series. There are enough subplots to cover several episodes and the basic premise could have some legs had Meyers-Shyer sharpened her script, developed her characters, and surrounded Witherspoon with a better ensemble. As presented, Home Again is a movie free of consequence for everyone and absent a rounded conclusion.
Movie Review ~ IT (2017)
Movie Review ~ mother!
Get your MN Movie Man Updates!
Movie Review ~ Disturbing the Peace
Movie Review ~ Honeyland
Movie Review ~ Three Christs
Movie Review ~ Inherit the Viper
Movie Review ~ Underwater
31 Days to Scare
Bond-ed For Life
Down from the Shelf
Mid-Day Mini
New To Blu
Silver Bullet – Trailer Park
Why Haven't You Seen This Movie?
Alamo Drafthouse – Twin Cities
Brian Orndorf
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The LAMB (Large Association of Movie Blogs)
The MN Movie Man – Pick a Date
Billy Summers on Movie Review ~ 1917
Joe on Movie Review ~ 1917
The Large Associatio… on Movie Review ~ Cats
The Large Associatio… on Movie Review ~ Bombshell
Copyright © 2015 Joe The MN Movie Man. All Rights Reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The City of Lights beckons, offering visitors an unforgettable atmosphere of romance, artistic and architectural glories, and fashionable delights. A stroll along the Seine is always pleasant in autumn since the rain and chilly winds of winter haven't yet arrived.
For the art enthusiast in us all, the Louvre is a must-see on every trip to Paris. This elegant structure houses some of the finest works of art in the world, including Leonardo Da Vinci's renowned Mona Lisa.


Immerse yourself in the cozy atmosphere of the Rhodope restaurant, which features a lounge with 80 seats pleasantly heated by a large fireplace and a terrace with 70 seats , which offers a magnificent view .
The staff of the restaurant waiting for you and is ready to serve you and satisfy the most refined taste . "Panorama" restaurant is located in the heart of the Rhodope Mountains in the famous ski resort of Pamporovo Studenets at the foot of Mount Snow , opposite the lift.
What's more enjoyable than to sit in the restaurant after tiring downhill slope or white after a winter walk and support with a hot drink and delicious hrana.
A why not sit by the fireplace a glass of wine in the pleasant company of friends at the end of winter day ? "Panorama" restaurant is nice and cozy place for outdoor recreation for meeting friends , for family celebrations.


text:
Q: Limits of 3D Graphs with Python/Matplotlib I have a problem when setting axis limits of 3D graphs.
I'm using pandas to read my database files, that are just numbers (float64 format) of atmosferic discharges and wind speed.
But when setting a limit, like 1200 thunders and 80 km/h wind speed, my plot just exceeds the desired surface.
It happens with "ax.set_xlim3d","ax.set_xlim" and "plt.xlim".
My code is as below:
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
y = dados['Rajada']
x = dados['Raios']
z = ((1/3080)*(np.exp(2.2507716+(0.0011096*x)+(0.0274958*y))))
ax.set_xlabel('Número de Raios',fontsize=15)
ax.set_ylabel('Rajada Máxima em Km/H',fontsize=15)
ax.set_zlabel('Taxa de Falha por Quilômetro',fontsize=15)
plt.xlim(0,1200)
plt.ylim(0,80)
surf = ax.plot_trisurf(x, y, z, cmap='coolwarm',hatch='/-', edgecolor='none')

Image of how the graph was plotted

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


London's famous landmark Big Ben has been in the maintenance period since August 2017. After more than a year, it has finally revealed a new look after the "transformation". The clock face returned to the blue before 1930, and the original black gold color became Blue gold matches, feels more refined, and is praised by netizens.
The British Big Ben was refurbished at the beginning of the year, and it was returned to the original color before 1930.
London's most iconic clock tower, the Big Ben, is the Elizabeth Tower, formerly known as Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, one of the world's most famous Gothic buildings. London's iconic building. The big newspaper clock of the Clock Tower attached to the British Parliament Chamber, in June 2012, the British announced the change of the clock tower of London's famous landmark "Big Ben" to "Elizabeth Tower". Due to maintenance and shutdown in 2017, it will be reopened until 2021. The bells of the very famous Big Ben will also stop during this period.
The Elizabeth Tower is a clock tower on the banks of the River Thames in London, England, and is one of London's landmarks. The clock tower is 95 meters high, with a diameter of 7 meters and a weight of 13.5 tons. Ringing every 15 minutes, ringing the Westminster bell. Since the construction of the subway Jubilee line, the Elizabeth Tower was affected and measurements showed that the Elizabeth Tower was tilted about half a meter northwest.
The Elizabeth Tower was built on April 10, 1858 and is the largest clock in the UK. The tower is 320 feet high (about 97.5 meters) and the minute hand is 14 feet long (about 4.27 meters). The Elizabeth Tower uses artificial clockwork. During the Congress, the clock face shines and reports every hour. When the summer and winter time are changed each year, the clock is stopped, and the parts are repaired, exchanged, and the clock is tuned.
In the UK, the Elizabeth Tower is the focal point for people to celebrate the New Year. Radios and televisions will broadcast their bells to welcome the beginning of the new year. Similarly, on Memorial Day, the eruption of Elizabeth Tower's bells indicated that the 11th hour and the 2nd minute of silence on the 11th day of the 11th month began.
On August 14, 2017, the House of Commons of the British Parliament decided to repair the Elizabeth Tower for 4 years. It is expected that the Elizabeth Tower will be able to "sound again" by 2021.  At 9:00 on the morning of November 10, 2017, the Elizabeth Tower rang on time to prepare for the Armistice Day.
According to reports, Big Ben launched a four-year major renovation plan in 2017, with an estimated maintenance cost of approximately £61 million. After more than a year of silencer renovation, the northern part of Big Ben has taken the lead in revealing a new look.
It is reported that the familiar black hands and scales were painted Prussian blue. The carving on the clock face was changed from black gold color to blue gold color. Just changing the color, the big clock was completely renewed.
According to the report, in fact, Big Ben was painted blue, not to be refurbished. It should be said to be "returning to the true colors." Because before 1930, Big Ben's clock face and hands were blue even if they were repainted. Scholars at the University of Lincoln analyzed 128 paint samples and finally decided on Big Ben's "new coat."
It is reported that the major netizens are also very appreciative of Big Ben's "new look" and think that the Big Ben with blue and gold color is more beautiful than before.


See Ghent from a new perspective on a 40-minute boat tour down the Leie, offered in 5 languages to suit your preference. In addition to navigating, your guide provides historical anecdotes about a range of medieval landmarks passed along the way, from St. Bavo's Cathedral to 13th-century monasteries. Don't forget your camera: Panoramic views of the riverbanks are frame-worthy.


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June 13, 2011 No comments Views: 0
Following Long Financial Crisis, IIS Chief Expects Optimism Among Conference Delegates
Copyright: (c) 2011 A.M. Best Company, Inc.
Source: A.M. Best Company, Inc.
After two years in the financial-crisis wilderness, insurance leaders are beginning to think more positively about their markets and future growth, according to the International Insurance Society's top executive.
Society President and Chief Executive Michael Morrissey said this year's conference, kicking off June 19 in Toronto, is expected to have more of an optimistic air than in recent years.
"The last two years, the seminars have been dominated by the financial crisis," he said. "For the 2009 seminar, the smoke had not even cleared from the worst of the crisis, and that issue was on everyone's mind."
At last year's seminar in Spain, delegates were looking for "the inflection points" showing the way out of the financial crisis, but the sessions were still "largely looking backward" at what had happened to the global market, said Morrissey.
"The real difference about this year's seminar is a turn to looking forward," he said. "Over the last couple of years I don't think opportunity was on delegates' minds so much as just coping."
Scheduled panel discussions will include regulatory and financial reporting developments, said Morrissey. A more topical subject is the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which along with other recent quakes and severe tornado activity in the United States brought natural catastrophe risks front and center.
Morrissey noted that, with 50 speakers lined up from 26 countries, the IIS generally has its seminar agenda set by about February. The Japan quake made for an exception, as Morrissey and his staff put together a new panel discussion featuring experts in academia and the market.
"This has been an extraordinary period for natural catastrophes, and we're right on top of that with a great panel," he said.
Another critical, and developing, issue is the pension market, which in many parts of the world is undergoing profound changes. "You can't pick up the paper anymore without reading about under-funded public or corporate pensions," he said. "In markets in Europe and Asia, they can't rely on publicly funded pensions any more. Demographics being what they are, we thought we should have a panel on pensions and retirement planning."
Also part of the agenda mix are panels on developing markets, featuring speakers from Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa, among other regions.
The top executives slated for the seminar's keystone "global leadership panel" reflects a balance of life and nonlife views in addition to regional spread: Norman Sorensen, international chairman for Principal Financial Group inthe United States; Stephen Catlin, chief executive officer and deputy chairman of the United Kingdom'sCatlin Group; Donald Guloien, president and CEO of Canada'sManulife Financial; and Madhuswamy Ramadoss, chairman and managing director of New India Assurance Co.
Morrissey said he expects about 450 delegates to attend this year's seminar — about the average for recent years. He noted the composition of the delegate body has been changing. "About 20 years ago, it would have been heavily North American and European. Now we get a large number of nations represented, and a significant growth from the Middle East and North Africa."
This shift reflects a growing interest in the best practices of the developed markets on the part of executives and regulators in growth markets, said Morrissey. Managers from North America and Europe sometimes find they can learn new things from smaller operators in niche corners of the globe.
"There are many perspectives represented at our seminars," said Morrissey. "That is one of our strengths."
(By David Pilla, international editor, BestWeek: David.Pilla@ambest.com)


We love cute things inspired by Japanese kawaii and wanted to share our finds as well as our own creations with the world. We hope you will enjoy our posts.
More Cuteness at the Taipei Airport!
Our blog is promotional in nature. We highlight our designs and designs from our associated partners. We offer our quality products and gift giving options to our readers for their browsing and shopping pleasure.
Should our visitors purchase any of our products we will receive royalties. And should any of our readers purchase our associates products, we could receive a percentage of that purchase value via referral fees.
Below is the third part of the BBC documentary from the series Japanorama on Japanese Kawaii.
Here's part two of the BBC documentary on kawaii culture in Japan from the series Japanorama.
We came across this really interesting documentary by the BBC on Japan and kawaii from their Japanorama series. This is part one of three on the kawaii phenomenon! We'll bring you the remaining episodes in subsequent posts.
OMG! I love these Momiji dolls. They are sooooo adorable! Momiji dolls are small, brightly colored hand painted message dolls. Inside each one there's a tiny folded card for your own secret message, dream or wish. I recently purchased one to give to my long time friend, Shari, for her birthday! I have known Shari since we were in middle school back in Okinawa and she was my very best friend. Of course, I couldn't not get one for myself! I got Shari the "Birthday Girl" momiji (left top image) and I got the "Party Girl" momiji (right top image) for myself. I think of them as modern kokeshi dolls!
Enjoy and have a super kawaii day!
Yes, there really are kawaii postage stamps available in the USA! Check out these super fun kawaii stamps.
The people of Taiwan love some Hello Kitty! Here's a video featuring a mega adorable nursery at the Taipei Airport. How utterly kawaii and truly wonderful this is.
Hope you like it! Have a super kawaii day!
Sanrio Hello Kitty Gate At Taoyuan International Airport!
Wow! This is amazing and so very kawaii. This is an actually boarding gate area at the Taipei Airport in Taiwan. How fun! I definitely wouldn't get bored at that airport.
Halloween is just around the corner and it's time to start getting ready for the trick or treating! Take a look at these great environmentally friendly canvas kawaii Halloween candy bags. Besides being great candy bags, you can also use them to store Halloween decorations and costumes.
How cute is this for Halloween? Hello Kitty Zombie Cupcakes by Little Sweeties Cupckaes on Flickr. When we came across this great picture we just had to share! So kawaii!!
Apparently these cupcakes were inspired by the tattoo below.
Thanks for stopping by and checking our our FREE kawaii printable October 2010 calendar by The Spotted Olive™!
The image above is a small version of the actual calendar. Download the 11" x 8.5" printable version of this calendar by clicking the following link: Free Kawaii October 2010 Printable Calendar! Print on LANDSCAPE setting and FIT TO PAGE on 8.5 x 11 paper.
All printable freebies are copyright by Mega Kawaii™ or The Spotted Olive™ and are intended for non-profit personal use only. Our printable freebies are not to be used for any profitable or commercial purposes whatsoever. We would love it if you would send people to visit our blog (http://www.thecutenessofkawaii.blogspot.com) to download their own copy of our printable freebies, but please do not distribute or post the files to any other websites or blogs. By downloading our printable freebies, you agree to all of these terms and conditions of use. Thanks so much for your support and have a super kawaii day!
Halloween is just around the corner and we came across this great tutorial on how to do Geisha makeup with a modern twist! This look is so kawaii and would be great for a Halloween party!


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17. Oriflame
30. Lush
22. Puig
23. Pola
1. Unilever
Centerchem Inc
Beauty and Personal Care Sales Decline
The market is on track to experience the sharpest decline ever recorded, according to Kline.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US cosmetics and toiletries market is on track to experience the sharpest decline ever recorded in the 60+ years Kline has been tracking the market. So far, the 0.8% drop in 2009 during the last recession is the biggest market dip ever reported by Kline. The only other time Kline noted a market decrease was a 0.3% falloff in 1991 amid another recession.
Previously forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% through 2023, Kline has revised its forecasts for the $75 billion US market due to the unfolding crisis. New forecasts, published by Kline last week in a special report on the topic, indicate a decline of 2.5% in 2020 as the most likely outcome, with the best-case scenario reflecting a 1.5% gain and the worst-case scenario at an 8.1% drop. And given the current state of the pandemic, with lockdowns now inching closer toward summer months, our current worst-case scenario may, in fact, become the most-likely scenario.
An Unprecedented Situation
"Given the unprecedented situation that is unfolding globally as both a health crisis as well as a financial one, it is not surprising that the beauty market should experience its worst performance now," said Carrie Mellage, vice president of Kline's Consumer Products Practice. "Even our worst-case scenario of ‑8% probably does not feel steep enough given the dark days we are all living, but there are enough essential categories in the mix to keep the market stable."
Kline's forecasting analysis clusters beauty categories into four groups:
Rescue categories, such as hand sanitizers and liquid hand soaps, that will experience spiked levels.
Everyday basics like shampoos and deodorants, which consumers are expected to more or less use as usual.
Soothing solutions such as facial skin care and nail polishes, which are expected to decline near term but may benefit from consumers turning to them as a treat and/or to maintain or establish a part of their routine they can still control.
Can-wait categories including fragrances and color cosmetics, which are expected to decline sharply during social distancing of the health crisis and continue to suffer during the economic fallout in the years to come.
"The cosmetics market will undoubtedly suffer in 2020 and in the years to come, but we expect it to recover within three to five years as it has in all past recessions," commented Mellage. "Compared to other industries, the beauty market is fairly recession-proof, and its products will continue to be desired by consumers—both for meeting basic needs as well as an indulgence."
Historically, the "lipstick theory" has proven true, with lipsticks (during the four recessions from 1973 through 2001) and eye makeup (in the most recent 2008-2009 recession) performing exceptionally well during recessionary times. "Perhaps we'll have another winner in the mix this time too," added Mellage.
Kline's scenario forecasts were generated based on a thorough review of decades of category performance through previous recessionary periods, along with what is currently known about the unfolding pandemic and economic situation. Detailed scenario forecasts and commentary are provided for 20 individual product categories in Kline's Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. Cosmetics & Toiletries Market report.
Color Cosmetics | Hair Care | Skin Care
L'Oréal Names Chief Communications Officer
Bianca Juti to join executive committee in April.
Mintel Reveals Global Consumer Trends for 2021
Highlights the factors set to impact consumer markets this year.
Former Chanel CEO Joins Credo BoD
Maureen Chiquet has been named as an independent director of Credo's Board.
Sustainability Push from L'Oréal at CES
Water-saving technology in the salon and on-demand YSL lip color.
Amorepacific Unveils Technologies at CES
Beauty company showcases customized lip color manufacturing and at-tome toner blending device.
Brite Debuts Hair Color at Target
Debuts a line of plant-based hair dyes.
Color Cosmetics | Hair Care | Laundry Care | Skin Care
What You're Reading on Happi.com
Procter & Gamble dominates the news for the week ended January 9.


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What is Climate Active?
Be Climate Active
Why be Climate Active?
Register of consultants for Climate Active certification
Promote your commitment
Climate Active stories
Certified Brands
PwC Australia delivers quality auditing, assurance, consulting and tax services to more than 5,000 clients with approximately 8,000 people based in offices throughout Australia. It's part of a network of firms in 158 countries with over 250,000 people. Its purpose is to build trust in society and is a powerful multiplier of connections and innovation. It's what the firm does best: Connecting people, business, technology and ideas to solve important problems believing the most important problems are better solved together.
PwC Australia is committed to managing its impact on the environment, being environmentally responsible, and growing environmental intelligence more broadly. In 2008, the company was the first professional services firm to be carbon neutral certified under what is now Climate Active. It has continued this commitment ever since. The firm achieves carbon neutrality through a focus on reducing its carbon impact and purchasing accredited Climate Active eligible carbon offsets for any residual, unavoidable emissions.
Business case for obtaining Climate Active certification
PwC Australia decided to become carbon neutral as part of its overall environmental agenda. Carbon neutrality has allowed PwC Australia to align with the firm's global strategy to account for its greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Active certification was chosen as it is a government-approved standard and represents a robust carbon neutral claim. It has provided PwC with an opportunity to take a leadership position by joining other carbon neutral certified organisations and leading in the transition towards a low carbon economy.
Achieving carbon neutrality
PwC Australia's emissions boundary includes all of its offices in Australia that are occupied by PwC employees. PwC Australia's greenhouse gas emissions footprint decreased by 21 per cent between FY17 and FY18. This was mainly due to a decrease in energy consumption linked to the consolidation of PwC Australia's Sydney and Melbourne offices.
Emission Reductions
Many emissions reduction activities have been undertaken across the firm. For example:
promotion of internal video conferencing instead of long/short distance travelling to reduce travel emissions;
redesigning all offices as activity-based environments to reduce office energy usage;
relocating five out of eight offices to more energy efficient locations and embedding an environmental lens into office designs;
embedding technology to allow our people to work flexibly (eg, work from home) and reduce local travel.
Underpinning PwC's voluntary carbon purchase is a set of strict quality criteria, including ensuring offsets are verified by an independent third party to an established standard or protocol. Through carbon purchasing PwC seeks to drive projects with co-benefits, including helping to create renewables markets, support economic and social development in communities, and create and sustain landscapes. In 2018, we supported the following carbon offset projects:
Savanna fire management, Australia (supports UNSDG 13, 15). Fire management to prevent large wildfires late in the dry season, in tropical northern Australia. Savannah burning is a cultural tradition amongst the Indigenous population of Cape York.
Shanxi Cookstoves, China (supports UNSDG 1, 3, 7, 8, 13). Tackling household air pollution and substituting coal use with improved cookstoves.
Duzova Wind Power, Turkey (supports UNSDG 7, 13). Delivering essential renewable energy capacity in a country with rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions.
Benefits and outcomes of carbon neutral certification
Climate Active certification benefits PwC in multiple ways. For example, it has allowed PwC to:
take a leadership position by joining other NCOS-certified organisations in the transition towards a low carbon economy;
demonstrate the importance of environmental strategy within and outside the organisation;
access to the certification trademark and use it to communicate a positive environmental narrative;
identify opportunities to minimise carbon emissions annually, such as through reduced energy bills and increased employee engagement (particularly through the firm's national Green Team Network).
Challenges and learnings
PwC found the initial application phase of gaining certification through the Carbon Neutral Program time consuming. However, this time commitment has reduced each year as the reporting process becomes more familiar. Since joining the Program, reporting requirements have also become more streamlined and the process allows the firm to reliably measure its environmental impact and track progress against carbon emission reduction targets.
Pangolin Associates
Fantastic Aussie Bus Tours
© 2019 - Climate Active, all rights reserved.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.


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Property Management Press Release
NEWS FROM . . . Long and Foster, Property Management Division
Long and Foster selects The Maryland Group to take over property management in the Frederick Region
Frederick, Md. October 14, 2014–Long and Foster has chosen The Maryland Group to head property- management operations in Frederick Maryland and surrounding areas. Leveraging their nationally recognized expertise in rental-property management, home sales, and Internet marketing, The Maryland Group will direct a full staff of leasing agents who will advertise, lease, and manage residential and commercial properties across the region .The team's objective will be to grow the leasing division while providing superior service to property owners and their tenants.
"Long and Foster as a brand has huge international exposure, and the Property Management Division has cutting edge technology for investors and potential renters," Brandon Brittingham said who is one of the managing partners of The Maryland Group "I am honored that we are being asked to oversee the division's steadily growing portfolio of rentals along with my Managing Partner, Doug Gardiner"
"We have Chris Buscher who had already built a strong foundation from property management in the region. Along with his talents and the talents of our team, we look to grow this region and offer the best service to agents and landlords/tenants " said Doug Gardiner.
About The Maryland Group:
Both Gardiner and Brittingham have gained industry-wide recognition for their visionary practices, their energetic leadership and their commitment to personalized service. In 2013, The Brandon Brittingham Team completed 266 transactions and was rated by REAL Trends as the number-one real estate group in Salisbury and one of the top teams in the United States. Likewise, Team Gardiner was one of the top-producing real estate groups in its region and has been ranked in the top 1 percent of residential real estate sales professionals in North America by REAL Trends. The two teams merged in May 2014 and the combined company expects to execute more than 350 sales and purchases valued at more than $60 million in 2014.
About Long and Foster Property Management
Long and Foster Property Management is a leader in property management in the Northeast
With over 7000 properties currently under management.
Owners who wish to lease their properties––and individuals interested in renting a home or a commercial property––can contact Long and Foster Property Management at 301-644-1005.
Doug Gardiner
Long and Foster Property Management
douglas.gardiner@longandfoster.com


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All 32 Genesis Music Videos Ranked Worst to Best
Ryan Reed Published: July 7, 2021
There's a reason Phil Collins is such a natural in Genesis videos. As a young teenager, in his pre-drummer life, he was on track to become a professional actor — even playing the Artful Dodger in a production of Oliver! on London's West End. And that charisma (Charisma?) never left him: A decade after he took over as the band's frontman, he guest-starred in an episode of Miami Vice.
Few bands had a screen-worthy actor in their ranks, ready to mug for the camera at a moment's notice. And that sense of Phil being Phil carries plenty of their 32 videos, which we've taken the geeky pleasure of ranking below.
The other band members clearly weren't as comfortable being video stars: Keyboard genius Tony Banks, bless him, always looks about as natural as he does onstage. (Which is to say: not very.) And we're not counting Peter Gabriel, a video star in his own right, who jumped the Genesis ship before they made their first clip.
Many ("Many Too Many?") of the early Genesis videos were clearly done on the cheap, with the band simply playing instruments on an empty stage. Not exactly Scorsese-level filmmaking, but you have to start somewhere. And as you'll see below, they arrived at some pretty brilliant places.
32. "Illegal Alien"
Plenty of people hate this peppy little art-pop tune, a minor hit from Genesis' blockbuster self-titled LP. Understandable: The lyrics, widely interpreted to be satirical, are essentially a stream of stereotypes about Mexican immigrants. The wacky video only doubles down on that interpretation with huge mustaches, sombreros and mariachi horns aplenty. Genesis clearly didn't mean any harm, but the clip is still hard to watch.
31. "Tell Me Why"
A well-intended but half-baked protest song gets a well-intended but half-baked protest video. "Tell Me Why" surveys "people starving everywhere" and "mothers crying in the street" — and its sad, blue-tinted clip offers images to match. If only they'd championed a particular cause, rather than vaguely alluding to the entire planet's misery.
30. "Abacab"
It's hard to stage-mime your way into an interesting video: a common theme throughout the early Genesis filmography. "Abacab" offers some choppy slo-mo and lighting effects, but it's otherwise a rote per-faux-mance clip — far below the standard of this early '80s banger. Even Collins looks over it: Check his stiff, goofy expression at the 1:25 mark, clearly signaling to the viewer, "I'm bored and wish I weren't on camera right now."
29. "Turn It on Again"
Another uneventful "performance" video that just makes you want to watch actual live footage. There are some random close-ups on everyone's limbs — at least they mixed up the camera angles. The highlight, really, is Collins' nifty Hawaiian shirt, and the frontman brings some welcome enthusiasm with his horn-timed jazz hands.
28. "Paperlate"
This was a debatable inclusion from the get-go: Can you even call it a "video" in the traditional sense? But Genesis included it on their DVD compilation The Video Show, so let's revisit the band's 1982 spot on BBC music show Top of the Pops. The energy is high from start to finish, given the audience, and the guest players bring some new visual color, literally and figuratively. (But as we'll see later on, they're still no match for the band's own horn miming.)
27. "Many Too Many"
Collins flexes some of his theatrical muscles in this otherwise snoozy video. We open with the frontman looking lonely and dejected on a concert stage, gazing into the distance with a dramatic made-for-TV-movie gaze — as if the answer to his problems lies just beyond his reach (or perhaps the venue door). It's nice to see Mike Rutherford working his slide guitar — a rare sight, given that they never played "Many Too Many" live. But this one's mostly filler.
26. "Hold on My Heart"
This bar is clearly closed — why are Genesis playing here? Do they have an arrangement with the owner? Are we watching a rehearsal? Maybe they just dig the vintage microphones and moody lighting. Either way, it's a drum-machine situation. Despite having a kick drum near his feet, Collins looks too heartsick to play a full kit — he can only limply thwack a couple splash cymbals. There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere.
25. "In Too Deep"
Collins sits alone, atop a mysterious staircase leading nowhere. Banks plays a white grand piano — curious since that instrument isn't prominent on the recording. (I guess synths aren't quite romantic enough.) Oh, the fashion! Rolled-up jacket sleeves, tacky red T-shirts. Every single thing about this video is charmingly corny, much like "In Too Deep" itself.
24. "Misunderstanding"
There must be some misunderstanding — could Genesis really make a video this cheesy? Turns out they could. But it's also kinda fun somehow. Collins, seemingly heartbroken and still in his Hawaiian-shirt phase, drives around the streets of Hollywood: pleading on a payphone, singing passionately, staring at the empty lot of a drive-in theater. His bandmates get to take part too, with Banks and Rutherford respectively playing piano and guitar. (Reminder: They actually had to haul around a piano for these pointless shots.)
23. "Ripples"
The least imaginative of their three clips promoting A Trick of the Tail, "Ripples" finds Collins in full balladeer mode, backlit by a yellow glow as he croons on a stool. The singer's acting background comes in handy as he serenades the camera, somewhat sweatily under the stage lights. No unnecessary showmanship — unless you count the overlaid images of bursts of kaleidoscopic color toward the end.
22. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight"
This feels like an unaired sequence from a campy cop drama — good thing Collins has experience on Miami Vice. But it's hard to tell exactly what's happening here. Are the band members in an abandoned theater? One thing's clear: Everyone has their jacket collars popped, so they mean business. The camera slo-mo pans down a city street, where dark deeds are likely being done. A fight breaks out between mohawked punks near a nightclub. Collins belts while grabbing onto a fence. Rutherford adds some whammy bar action. And the night creeps on.
21. "Shipwrecked"
Genesis went high-concept with their videos for Calling All Stations, leaning into surreal imagery. The band, including briefly tenured singer Ray Wilson, do appear in "Shipwrecked," playing in a room as their movements are broadcast on a wall of department-store TVs. But the random stuff — a man creepily smiling after his wedding, a woman swimming in a giant fish tank — is more memorable.
20. "That's All"
This breezy slice of piano pop, a top 10 U.S. hit, concerns itself with communication breakdown ("I could say day, and you'd say night / Tell me it's black when I say that it's white"). The video ... is about Genesis trying to survive as homeless people. The connection is unclear, but it's hard not get sucked in anyway — especially when Rutherford randomly plucks on an upright bass or when Collins repels down from the top floor of a vacant factory and warms his hands on a fire.
19. "No Son of Mine"
Genesis took a more literal approach for "No Son of Mine," a poignant tale of familial turmoil from Collins' final Genesis album, We Can't Dance. Sepia-toned scenes follow a young teenager through an abusive home life, with Collins' vocals outlining the sad developments from a distance. What could have been Lifetime movie fluff is handled with sensitivity — and even artfulness (check the moving, wall-mounted fox head during the final confrontation.)
18. "Not About Us"
A long-haired man walks down the street, and everyone in his vicinity appears to faint. Is this dude some kind of plainclothes demon? "Not About Us" is a much more intriguing video than its sonic counterpart, a lukewarm half-ballad from Calling All Stations.
17. "Robbery, Assault and Battery"
This very literal video, once described by Collins as "quite a bit of fun," closely follows the lyrics: a tale of a robber (played by Collins) breaking into a safe and shooting its owner (Rutherford in an old man costume). Banks and Steve Hackett both appear as police officers, surrounding the criminal, who evades their grasp. It's pure silliness, just like the song itself — except for the super dense instrumental section, where the band drops the outfits and gets back to business.
16. "Follow You Follow Me"
Perhaps it's just the marriage of sound and visual — for whatever reason, the naked simplicity of this "performance" video suits the unadorned tenderness of "Follow You Follow Me." As usual for this era, it's a pretty bare-bones production — they didn't even bother covering up the drum set or asking various crew members to leave the stage. But it just feels right. Added bonus: Collins, looking like a late-'00s hipster decades in advance, shaking some sleigh bells in his trucker cap.
15. "Keep It Dark"
There are more trench coats on this list than Steve Hacketts — Genesis clearly enjoyed the style back in the day. In the clip for "Keep It Dark," a song about a man who stays silent about his vision of a future utopia, the coat-clad trio struts around the streets and mimes its instruments, with Collins alternating between literal air-drumming and banging on building walls. Keep it dark, and keep it classy.
14. "Congo"
Howard Greenhalgh, the veteran director who previously helmed Soundgarden's mind-melting "Black Hole Sun" video, adds a futuristic and sinister edge to "Congo." The latter is more vibe than clear story, with the band (all looking somewhat Neo-ish) playing near a shipyard where guards enforce slave labor with humongous water cannons.
13. "Man on the Corner"
Unlike the other mimed performance videos on this list, "Man on the Corner" is the genuine article — and Collins belts the absolute hell out of this take, even throwing in some signature hand gestures. That energy alone gives it an edge over most of these clips. Plus, it's a good opportunity to see Genesis' two live members, drummer Chester Thompson and guitarist Daryl Stuermer, in action.
12. "Home by the Sea / Second Home by the Sea"
No big artistic statement, just a strong "live" performance of an underrated '80s-era tune. Collins, smartly dressed in suspenders, really sells this one with his cartoonish gestures ("Something doesn't feel quite right," indeed), and it's fun to see the drum god goofing off behind his digital kit during the instrumental section.
11. "Duchess"
It's easy to forget Genesis even released this slow-burning tune as a single — after all, it peaked at No. 46 in the U.K. and didn't crack the Billboard charts. But they even made a creative video for it, maximizing what appears to have been a small budget. As fans wait outside for a concert, the band plays the song on a stage and in a stairway, with a bearded Collins putting some extra showmanship in his leading role. Bonus points for the layered perspective on that overhead balcony shot.
10. "No Reply At All"
So much of it's in the fingers: the close-ups during Rutherford's funky pre-chorus bass line, the occasional glimpses of Banks' cross-hand piano technique (similarly employed on "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"). So much of it's in the faces: Collins cracking a smile at the 1:30 mark; the trio cracking up during the horn blasts, miming sax, trumpet and trombone in silver jackets and sunglasses.
9. "A Trick of the Tail"
"'A Trick of the Tail' is probably the most embarrassing video I've ever been in," Collins told VH1, years after starring in the hilariously awkward promo clip. From the outside, that assessment seems correct: The Genesis quartet lineup — Collins, Banks, Rutherford, Hackett — congregate around a piano, and then Collins shrinks down to a miniature form and frolics within the instrument itself. It's so very dumb ... but also very endearing! "You know when you look back and think, 'Who told me tot do that? Whose lapse in taste was this? Was this mine?'" Collins added. "I think it was a mixture of me and the director — and the other guys. Everyone was to blame for that, I think."
8. "Throwing It All Away"
"Not enough people know how hard we work," Collins says to introduce the "Throwing It All Away" video. "They all think it's all sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll — and wine, women and song." Clearly not! This lovable, band-filmed clip highlights the monotony and camaraderie of Genesis' tours: sound checks and load-ins, publicity photos and ping-pong. The moment when Collins crashes in to sit on Rutherford's lap is one for the time capsule.
7. "Invisible Touch"
Collins can pull off a music video with personality alone — just throw him in a room with a pool table, a video camera and some drum sticks. You're all set! "Invisible Touch" is pure escapist goofiness from start to finish. The frontman goofs around on Rutherford's electric guitar, even biting the strings like Hendrix; he pretends to be an over-the-top photographer ("Come on, baby — pout, pout!"); at one point, all three of the band members mime the synth hook simultaneously. The best part: all of them singing the chorus in falsetto a cappella at the end, with Collins announcing that the results were "fantastic."
6. "The Carpet Crawlers 1999"
The classic Genesis quintet reunited — sonically, if not physically — for a reworked version of their Lamb classic "The Carpet Crawlers," with producer Trevor Horn adding a synthesized sheen. The track was the clear selling point for their 1999 compilation, Turn It on Again: The Hits, and they even promoted it with a vivid video. There are bubbles of nostalgia, including brief flashes of '70s Genesis, but the focus falls on a protagonist who closely resembles a young Gabriel. The actor crawls through a mysterious corridor, much like the song's protagonist, and eventually emerges on a beach. Like "1999" itself, it's the perfect melding of old and new.
5. "I Can't Dance"
The hot sun is beating down at a desert gas station, where Collins hitchhikes in his white T-shirt, dad jeans and mid-'80s mullet. Everything seems relatively normal until an attractive woman stops her car — giving a lift to a lizard, not the pop star. That scene sums up the atmosphere of the "I Can't Dance" video: a literal rendering of the lyrics disrupted by left-field quirkiness. The ultimate moment: the guys satirizing their own uncool-ness by performing a stilted dance against a white backdrop.
4. "Anything She Does"
"Anything She Does" is an odd entry in the Genesis catalog: It was the only Invisible Touch song never played live, despite being a Banks favorite. And they made a video — starring famed British comedian Benny Hill — for the lively tune, even though it never came out as a single. Hill stars as his go-to character Fred Scuttle, playing "head of security" for the Genesis tour. And his tongue-tied performance, accidentally letting a ton of people backstage before conveniently cleaning up their mess — makes this one an instant top-five contender. His direct-to-camera intro alone is priceless: "On behalf of the management — and I'd love to be half of the management — may I ask you to take your seats because the show will start in a few minutes. I will just pop down to the dressing room now and see if the lads have sobered — see if the lads are ready."
3. "Jesus He Knows Me"
Collins channeled his distaste for TV evangelists in the hilarious "Jesus He Knows Me" video. All three band members (but mostly the singer, who eats up most of the screen time) parody these swindlers, showing how they prey on prayer, tricking the gullible into funding their own glamorous lifestyles. Like the song, the clip offers sharp humor and a clear narrative thrust — and, as Collins noted on BBC's Room 101 years later, it wasn't intended to be sacrilegious. "It was just meant to be, 'Listen, people," he said, "wake up to these people who are fleecing you."
2. "Mama"
The "Mama" lyrics chronicle a man's unhealthy obsession with a prostitute. (That would be, um, "Mama.") And while the video is a bit more vague, that generally creepy sentiment remains. As his bandmates hang out with their instruments, Collins takes the focus: looking sweaty and agitated in a sepia tone, pleading on his hands and knees, staring maniacally during the wordless "ha ha" section. If's like a short horror film — with some moments that border on legit jump scares.
1. "Land of Confusion"
"It's the best video we ever did, far and away, because we're not in it," Banks said matter-of-factly on the Invisible Touch reissue DVD. "It's as simple as that." His ranking is correct, if not his reasoning: Genesis were always willing to take the piss out of themselves on camera, part of what makes videos like "Jesus He Knows Me" and "I Can't Dance" so essential. With "Land of Confusion," they technically took that sensibility even further, appearing as a trio of grotesque puppets created by the heads of British series Spitting Image. The Genesis boys, with their hilariously exaggerated facial features, are mostly on the sidelines here, making space for a surreal parade of guest-star caricatures (Pete Townshend, Johnny Carson, Hulk Hogan, Benito Mussolini) and the dreams of then-U.S.-president Ronald Reagan. There are dinosaurs, monkeys, cowboys, visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey. What more could you want? The absurdity balances out the straitlaced protest lyrics — it's impossible to "Land of Confusion" without picturing a Superman Reagan or Collins bashing his drum kit like Animal from The Muppet Show.
Genesis Albums Ranked
From Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins to that guy who came after Phil Collins, we take a look at all of the band's studio records.
Next: Top 10 Phil Collins Genesis Songs
Source: All 32 Genesis Music Videos Ranked Worst to Best
Filed Under: Genesis


To the sky! As far as possible!
It's time to be FIT!!!
An oval rhythm of hockey !!!!
Vine scenery. A time for relaxation.
Bathed in rose petals . . .
In a hard shell . . .
The green of a pitch – it's match time!
Let's read a book - Knowledge is power!


Anti-malarial drug use generates both positive externalities by reducing disease transmission and negative externalities by increasing antimicrobial resistance. In any given country, the size of these externalities depends on a number of factors, including drug coverage and the prevalence of disease. In this paper, I analyze the economic impact of a new, semi-synthetic production technology by which to derive artemisinin for use in artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). I show that the introduction of this technology will reduce the absolute price of all anti-malarials, and thereby increase the positive externality related to disease transmission. However, the technology will also reduce the relative price of monotherapy drugs, which generate a greater negative externality associated with drug resistance. To quantify the overall effect of semi-synthetic artemisininon global welfare, I integrate a microbiological-epidemiological model of malaria transmission and drug resistance into a partial equilibrium model depicting the supply and demand for anti-malarials across 93 malaria-endemic countries. This specification allows me to account for differences in treatment policy, the rate of transmission, and resistance patterns across countries. I find that the net externality generated by the introduction of semi-synthetic artemisinin is overwhelmingly positive. The technology will ease donor financing costs and economic losses associated with mortality and morbidity by between $945 million and $2.1 billion over the next 15 years.


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TRUE DEMOCRACY SUMMER 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE SECRET SHADOW GOVERNMENT
According to my research, (see first edition of True Democracy (La verdad sobre la democracia)) the Council on Foreign Relations "assisted in the formation of the Trilateral Commission." Additionally, the secretary at the Rainbow Coalition stated to me that Jesse Jackson is a member of this organization. I suspect that she didn't realize that I had done research on the Trilateral Commission so was familiar with this organization or she wouldn't have ever informed me that Reverend Jackson is a member.
The Council on Foreign Relations are in violation of Title-50 War and National Defense subsection 783.
The Council on Foreign Relations is a branch of an international group of co-conspirators called the Round Table Group. Other branches include; Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the South African Institute of International Affairs, the Indian Institute of International Affairs, the Netherlands Institute of International Affairs, the Japanese Institute of Pacific Relations, the Chinese Institute of Pacific Relations, and the Russian Institute of Pacific Relations. The Secretary of the Treasury is the public official responsible for keeping an eye on domestic and international monetary and financial policy. The following Secretaries of the Treasury are members of the Council on Foreign Relations; Robert B. Anderson (Eisenhower), Douglas C. Dillion (Kennedy/Johnson), Henry Hamill Fowler (Johnson), David M. Kennedy (Nixon), William Edward Simon (Nixon/Ford), W. Michael Blumenthal (Carter), G. William Miller (Carter) James A. Baker 3rd (Reagan), Nicholas F. Brady (Reagan/Bush).
The National Security Council provides intelligence support to the Secretary of the Treasury. The nature of the support, is classified. The support insures the Department of the Treasury acts in accord with recommended national security policy and makes its full contribution to the attainment of national security objectives and to the particular climate of opinion the United States is seeking to achieve in the world.
This opinion is formulated by Council on Foreign Relations members working in an ad hoc committee called the "Special Group" and through a vast intragovernmental undercover infrastructure called the "Secret Team". The "Special Group" and "Secret Team" insure that a well coordinated economic warfare campaign weakens non-Round Table Member controlled companies and benefits Round Table Member controlled companies in the United States and in other nations.
Even the most knowledgeable Treasury officials don't understand the role of the National Security Council in international monetary and financial policy. The "Special Group" and the "Secret Team" hide so-called national security objectives behind a veil of secrecy. This is because these objectives are in the best interest of the Round Table Group members, not in the best interest of the American public.
In 1969 Paul Volcker became Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs in the Nixon administration. Volcker's boss was Secretary of the Treasury David Kennedy. In his book Changing Fortunes, Volcker writes;
"On inauguration day I sat down in my new office in the Treasury...A memorandum arrived from the White House with, as I recall it, the title of "National Security Study Memorandum Number Two." I clearly had not been on the list for Number One but, after all, Number Two was not bad. I didn't really know what a National Security Study Memorandum was in those days, but since it was signed by Henry Kissinger on behalf of the president, it was obviously something to be taken seriously.
The memorandum described administrative and other arrangements for the conduct of international monetary affairs by the new administration. It designated the Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs - the position to which I would be nominated - to chair an inter-agency committee on the subject. The previous administration had such a group, so that was no striking new initiative, but it was nice for me to have my bureaucratic position confirmed. The memo also said that in that capacity I should report to Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council. That was unusual news to me, being in the Treasury Department. I went running to Secretary Kennedy's office and said, "You'd better take care of this quick, because it seems to cut you out of the loop." He was not very close to Mr. Nixon at the time, and I sensed his hesitation about what to do. I always suspected he just ignored that part of the directive, because that's certainly what I did. Henry Kissinger had other things to worry about during those days. Besides, one of his stable of assistants, Fred Bergsten, was a member of the inter-agency group, and I knew he was fully capable of keeping Henry informed.
I never heard another word about it, and I suspect papers on the intricacies of international monetary affairs ended up at the bottom of Kissinger's in-tray, assuming they ever got that far. But it was to me an interesting lesson in bureaucratic one-upmanship. Kissinger had been designated to his position many weeks earlier, had a staff in place, access to the president, and an instinct to make good use of his head start...."
David M. Kennedy, Paul A. Volcker, Henry A. Kissinger, and Fred C. Bergsten are all Council on Foreign Relations members.
On 21 of September 1964, a congressional Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, Committee on Banking and Currency, Chaired by Wright Patman, issued a report entitled Money Facts - 169 Questions and Answers on Money - A Supplement to A primer on Money. One fact is "Congress has never given authority for determining money policy to the Federal Reserve System - and certainly not to a committee within the system containing members who owe their selection to private bank interest." Yet, this is exactly what has happened. The Federal Reserve System, the banks that own it, and the governmental agencies involved with the monetary policy have something in common -- many of their executives are members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, G. William Miller, and William McChesney Martin have all chaired the Federal Reserve board. All are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. As of September 1993, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that handling losses in failed savings and loan institutions would cost $120 billion from 1990 through 1998 (this figure does not include $60 billion spent before 1989). The Congressional Budget Offices underestimated. To date (1996) losses in failed savings and loan institutions have cost American citizens $500 billion dollars. Very few of the individuals responsible for the "losses" have been punished including sons of Council on Foreign Relations members George Bush and Lloyd Bentson.
In 1987 leaders of America's major banks went to Tokyo. They met with our finance minister and governor of the central bank. They urged more positive cooperation by Japanese banks. The big American banks were caught in the dilemma of their Latin American Debt. On the one hand, they had to suffer the losses caused in part by their own overlending, which meant they could not continue being exposed to new loans to Latin America. On the other hand, they were unable to jettison Latin America, which for them was an important market. The leaders of the banks attending the meeting were John Reed of Citibank, Willard Butcher of Chase, Lewis Preston of Morgan, and Tom Clausen of the Bank of America. Reed, Butcher and Preston are all members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The United States Code contains the general and permanent laws of the United States. The United States Code is prepared and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. The laws have been classified into fifty categories. A category is called a Title. For example, laws pertaining to the President are found in Title 3 The President. Title 12 is called Banks and Banking. A reading of laws contained in Title 12 back up the statement that Congress has not given authority for determining money policy to the Federal Reserve System.
Title 50 War and National Defense clearly spells out such a role for the Federal Reserve. Title 50 Section 101 is the National Security Emergency Preparedness Policy. In this policy in Part 15 - Department of the Treasury in Section 1501 Lead Responsibilities we find that "the Secretary of the Treasury shall: (1) Develop plans to maintain stable economic conditions and a market economy during national security emergencies; emphasize measures to minimize inflation and disruptions; and minimize reliance on direct controls of the monetary, credit, and financial systems. These plans will include provisions for:
(a) Increasing capabilities to minimize economic dislocations by carrying out appropriate fiscal, monetary, and regulatory polices and reducing susceptibility to manipulated economic pressures; (b) Providing the Federal Government with efficient and equitable financing sources and payment mechanisms."
Has the Federal Reserve been acting as if we have been in a perpetual National Security Emergency? Has the federal reserve been fine tuning the economy of the United States and advertising that it had the legal powers to do so when it really does not? If the Federal Reserve bank had these responsibilities spelled out in Title 12 Banks and Banking wouldn't Title 50 merely reference those sections that state these responsibilities? Alan Greenspan, head of the Federal Reserve, Clinton's Economic Advisor Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Clinton's International Security Advisor Lynn Etheridge Davis (who is also a Vice President of Chase Bank), and President Bill Clinton, are all Council on Foreign Relations members.
Is the destiny of the American people being controlled by a group who have and hold the power to direct the credit policy of our nation? A group that has circumvented the check and balance safe-guards built into the system to prevent any one group from having this kind of power over the American citizen. A group whose self-proclaimed drive is for personal profit and who lack the honesty and integrity to make decisions based on public good.
Are Council on Foreign Relations members furthering a plan for a world order based on an economy of unrest? Are Council on Foreign Relations members subtle fascists intently interested in private ownership of property, under their control? Did the Council on Foreign Relations instigate and perpetuate the cold war? Did they do this to accumulate and protect Council holdings? Was this done by establishing and maintaining the most powerful U.S. military establishment in peacetime history? Is the next stage in the plan to co-opt and divide eastern Europe and the rest of the world? Is the next stage in the plan for powerful World-Wide military establishment of "volunteer" military forces under UN command in the role of Peacekeepers? Was detonation of the first nuclear bomb, in Alamogordo New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, in a field test code-named Trinity, the Council's subtle way of sounding the deathbell for Jefferson's Trinity of inalienable rights?
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have defined psychological operations (PSYOPS) as those that: "include psychological warfare and, in addition, encompass those political, military, economic and ideological actions planned and conducted to create in neutral or friendly foreign groups the emotions, attitudes, or behavior to support achievement of national objectives." Another proposal "develops the concept of 'strategic psychological operations' as aimed at influencing and shaping decision-makers' power to govern or control their followers." Wake up America, we the American people, are among the groups being targeted and controlled.
Council on Foreign Relations members in the State Department, The National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and in the Department of Defense continue to control the lives of the American people through well planed psycho-political operations. These psychological operations rob American citizens of the present, by creating false reality worlds. These false reality worlds are created to trick the American public into acting not in their own best interest but in the best interest of a group of subtle fascists intent on creating one world order under their control.
Title-50 War and National Defense subsection 783 states - "It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to combine, conspire, or agree with any other person to perform any act which would substantially contribute to the establishment within the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship, the direction and control of which is to be vested in, or exercised by or under the domination of control of, any foreign government."
The Council on Foreign Relations are in violation of Title-50 War and National Defense subsection 783. The Council on Foreign Relations has unlawfully and knowingly combined, conspired, and agreed to substantially contribute to the establishment of one world order under the totalitarian dictatorship, the direction and the control of members of Council on Foreign Relations, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and members of Round Table branch organizations in various nations throughout the world.
In the 1960's a youngster named Joan Baez objected to her tax money being spent on War. She protested. She was arrested and forced to pay her taxes for a cause she felt was unjust. Ms. Baez did a very brave thing. Ms. Baez's demonstration offers a way to shift governmental control back to the people -- "trickle up taxes." There would be only one tax, a flat income tax. There would be no hidden taxes such as business taxes, sales taxes or value added taxes. Each taxpayer would know exactly how much taxes they had to pay. Rather than corporations withholding taxes from workers, the worker would receive all their salary. At the end of the year the worker would receive a tax package. It would contain (1) a detailed account of the budget and how the "tax payers dollar" was spent during the the current financial year; and (2) a proposed budget and spending plan for the next financial year. The budget and spending plans would be broken down into broad areas indicating the percentage of a tax payer dollar being spent on programs in each area ( 1. federal 2. state 3. county and 4. local ).
Each area would be broken down into broad categories showing how the tax money was distributed. For example the Federal budget and spending plan for 1995 was 1.4 Trillion dollars distributed in the following way: 1. Defense(20%,$270 billion), 2. Welfare Employment and Retirement (17%, $220 billion), 3. Social Security (24%, $328 billion), and 4. Interest on the Debt (16%, $214 billion) 5. Science and Space (1%, $17 billion), 6. Environment (1.5%, 21 billion), 7. Agriculture (1%, 12 billion), 8. Transportation (3%,39 billion), 9. Education (4%, 15 billion), 10. Law Enforcement (1%, 17 billion), 11. Veterans (2.5%, 36.6 billion), and 12. Health (w/o Medicare) (9%, 122 billion). The percents are the portion of one "tax payer" Federal Dollar spent on each Federal program. The dollar amounts are the total number of taxpayer dollars spent on all programs in each category. Similar breakdowns would supplied for state programs, county programs, and local programs. Detailed breakdowns on a per program basis would be provided.
The taxpayer would receive a proposed budget and spending plan for the next financial year in a form of a worksheet. Each tax payer would have one "tax dollar" to distribute in each area. If the taxpayer's "tax dollar" could not cover all the budgeted expenses (at the local, county, state, and federal levels) the tax payer would decide which programs budgets to cut. A tax-payer could also redistribute portions of their tax payer dollars from one area to another (i.e. a tax-payer could redistribute Federal tax dollars to State programs that were underfunded). If the tax payer had a new program they could fund it with a percentage of their "tax dollar" redistributing percentages of their "tax dollar" from local, state, county and federal programs as needed.
For example, suppose the proposed Federal budget was the same as the 1995 Budget outlined above. If a taxpayer felt it was important to pay off the debt they might submit the following federal budget 1. Defense(0%), 1. Payment of Debt (20%, $270 billion) 2. Welfare Employment and Retirement (17%, $220 billion), 3. Social Security (24%, $328 billion), and 4. Interest on the Debt (16% $214 billion) 5. Science and Space (1%, $17 billion), 6. Environment (1.5%, 21 billion), 7. Agriculture (1%, 12 billion), 8. Transportation (3%,39 billion), 9. Education (4%, 15 billion), 10. Law Enforcement (1%, 17 billion), 11. Veterans (2.5%, 36.6 billion), and 12. Health (w/o Medicare) (9%, 122 billion).
This tax-payer re-distributed the percentage of their "tax dollar" from Defense to a new category -- Payment of the debt. The tax-payer could also offer an explanation of their proposed budget change. This tax-payer might say that since the cold war was over a large defense budget was not only unnecessary but weakening the country economically and making it vulnerable to potential enemies. If the suggested proposal was adopted the debt would eventually be retired (about $4.5 Trillion in 1995) and both the new category Paying off the Debt (24%, $270 billion) and the category Interest on the debt (16%,$214 billion) would no longer be needed in the budget. The taxpayer could then decide how to re-distribute that portion of the tax money, or even lower the tax burden by $484 billion per year.
Today we have about 115 million Americans employed (76% of all men over 16 years old and 58% of all women over 16 years old). Each American fills out a tax form that is sent to the government. The tax form has no influence on how their tax dollar is spent. This system of taxation would be abolished. Trickle up taxes would be instituted and carried out as an educational exercise in all local schools (public, private, and parochial). School children at all grade levels would participate. The taxpayers would receive three envelopes. They would send a check for taxes owed in one envelope. This would be a flat percentage of the tax payer's income. The amount would include local, county, state, and Federal tax dollars. They would put the proposed budget and spending plan worksheet in the second envelope. The budget and spending plan worksheet would not have the tax payers name on it - it would be a colorless, raceless, religionless, sexless and ageless "tax distribution idea form." The tax payer would put the two envelopes into a third envelope and mail it to their local school. The envelopes would be sorted. The results from the "tax distribution idea forms" would be compiled, summarized and distributed to the taxpayers. The taxpayer would learn which programs received adequate funding, and which programs did not. The taxpayer would receive a list of new programs proposed by taxpayers. Those programs receiving adequate taxpayer support would be started. Money from those programs that did not receive adequate funding would be held in escrow until the taxpayers decided what to do.
The experience would be rewarding, educational, and enlightening for everyone. The entire community would share in a educative experience that would effect their social environment in a most democratic way. If a person didn't wish to participate their "tax dollar" would be trickled up according to the percentages decided upon by their neighbors. Everyone would have exactly four "tax dollars" to distribute, and therefore, be equal with everyone else. If one person had a unique idea that appealed to a majority of American citizens the majority of Americans could be swayed to accept the idea of this minority of one, change their current way of thinking, adopt the new idea, and trickle it up. This would happen at the local, county, state, and Federal levels. Legislation such as a balanced budget, questionable Energy choices such as Nuclear, and maintaining huge defense budgets in time of peace, would be trickled up through the people, rather than trickled down to them, in a manner whose legality, source, and intent is questionable.
This procedure would be followed each year. Each year the taxpayer could review new programs proposed the previous year which might include more efficient ways of spending the tax dollar. The taxpayer would decide what percentage of their tax dollar was spent at the local, county, state, and federal levels giving the tax payer control over how and where their money is spent. The experience would allow the 300 million American citizens to trickle up a budget and plan for their public servants to follow. Public servants wouldn't have the pressure of solving all of America's problems, and couldn't be influenced by any small group, or tempted by a wealthy lobbyist. Problems would be solved by the American citizen. This would be a true form of absolute democracy, wherein each American would have the opportunity to participate. This would be in line with the Jeffersonian concept of a popular government and would provide protection of the rights of the individual against arbitrary action of public officials.
If you visit Dumbarton Oaks you will see a Latin parable at the head of the dedicatory inscription and carved elsewhere in the gardens. The parable is -- "Quod Severis Metes" -- "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." It would be wise for Council on Foreign Relations and other Round Table Group members to heed that parable. In 1776 Jefferson told Americans what to do when their inalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness are jeopardized, "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.."
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[Editor's note: The above tax plan was submited by someone on the Activist Listserv. Outside of the fact that Thomas Jefferson and the other framers did not want a democracy instead instituting a Republic, this plan that was submitted seems to be a worthwhile endeavor. There is no doubt that the public schools must be funded completely from the federal government just as the schools are in Canada, a country which has excellent public schools.]


With a distinct horseshoe shape, this AVA surrounds its namesake hamlets with primarily south-facing vineyards. The soils of Yamhill-Carlton AVA are well-drained, and at elevations between 200'–1,000' above sea level, they are the perfect place to root a vineyard.
The Yamhill-Carlton AVA is found in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley, recognized around the world for elegant Pinot Noir wines.
Exploring wine is a fun (and tasty) adventure. There's a lot to learn about the combination of soil, climate, and geography that the French call terroir. MAPellations celebrate the many unique vineyard soils found throughout well-known American wine growing regions.
So adventure on! Grab a glass of wine and taste your way through each appellation. Explore the vineyards that create a true sense of place in a bottle.


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OPEN TODAY 11AM - 5PM
The Grounds and Surrounds
© Copyright 2020 TarraWarrra Museum of Art
Robert Klippel in his Potts Point workshop from the Robert Klippel archive 12 April 1957
National Art Archive | Art Gallery of New South Wales. Gift of Andrew Klippel 2017
© Robert Klippel Estate © John Pearson
Photo: AGNSW
BACK TO ALL MEDIA RELEASES
MEDIA RELEASE | 3 OCTOBER 2019
ASSEMBLED: The Art of Robert Klippel
ASSEMBLED: The Art of Robert Klippel at TarraWarra Museum of Art, 23 November 2019 – 16 February 2020, will present more than one hundred works by one of Australia's most significant twentieth century sculptors, Robert Klippel (1920-2001), the tireless inventor who experimented with unusual materials, techniques and dramatic variations in scale.
Klippel is regarded as a giant of Australian art, having associated with Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi and André Breton in the late 1940s, and during his time in New York in the 1950s was a member of 'The Club', the highly influential artist group founded by Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.
Curated by Kirsty Grant, the exhibition will highlight three major aspects of Klippel's six decade-long career: the Surrealist-inspired sculptures and drawings made in London and Paris during the late 1940s; the 'assemblage' works including his so-called 'junk sculptures' of the 1960s and 70s; and his late timber works that often used brightly coloured machine pattern-parts.
313 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road
Healesville VIC 3777 Australia
museum@twma.com.au
© Copyright 2020 TarraWarrra Museum of Art | Disclaimer and Copyright
TarraWarra Museum of Art acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the original custodians of the lands and waters on which the Museum stands.


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Garland Robinette: "you don't want gay marriage, because you don't like gays"
If you don't live in New Orleans, the name Garland Robinette may not mean much to you. But here, he's a fixture: a media veteran, a BMOC, a bigmouth. Although he's anchored TV newscasts and was once married to New Orleans' legendary Angela Hill, he now spends his time lording over local talk radio.
Now, talk radio is not exactly the most liberal planet in the modern media universe, but Garland is smarter than many on the airwaves, and his approach is compassionate and common-sensible. (Yes, I am aware that Limbaugh and Palin also fly the common sense flag whenever possible, but I think they're being ironic.) Today, Garland published a piece on gay marriage, and apart from the fact that his keyboard seems a little sticky (minds out of the gutter, people), I'm pretty impressed.
I have one opinion on the gay rights controversy, and I know my opinion is correct, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Those of you actively fighting against gay marriage have waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on your hands.
I don't believe your real reason for fighting gay marriage is because you are sooooooooooooooo concerned about the threat to the institute of marriage. If you were, you'd be protesting people like me. I have been married three times. Elizabeth Taylor and me are the biggest threats ever faced by the sacred institute of marriage.
Let's not be a hypocrite…you don't want gay marriage, because you don't like gays. It's that simple. You're frightened by those icky things they do with their sexual parts. But, here's another hypocritical part…have you ever seen what them-thar "heterosexuals" do with their private parts? Whoa, talk about icky!!!!!
[more at WWL]
Have those same arguments been made by other straight guys? Sure, but on talk radio? In New Orleans, Louisiana? Hmmm. Maybe not.
Jennifer Love Hewitt vajazzercizes daily
Tila Tequila has gone of the deep end. Which for her is, like, two feet, but whatever.
2 thoughts on "Garland Robinette: "you don't want gay marriage, because you don't like gays""
malamapono
and then they come into your bedroom …. and i'm wondering, what's more pathetic, people who are uptight about sexuality (and pollution issues) in themselves and others or those who exceed and hover in a strangers bedroom waiting for anything oddly intimate or foreign?? perhaps, the answer would come if i purchased myself a crystal crusted clitoris as a tongue twister.
Greg Dean
Not exactly talk radio, but…In the afterword to his plays Our Late Night and A Thought in Three Parts, Wallace Shawn wrote:"It can only be seen as funny that demogogues give speeches denouncing men who insert their penises into other men's anuses–and then go home to insert their penis into their wives' vaginas! (One might have thought it obvious that either both of these acts are completely outrageous, or neither of them is.)"


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Q: How can I map IAM group to EKS cluster in AWS? I deployed a EKS cluster and I'd like to add more IAM users to the role. I read this doc https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/add-user-role.html and it mentioned how to map IAM users or roles to k8s but it doesn't say how to map IAM group. Is it not supported? or is there a way to do that? I don't want to map many users one by one. When a new user join the team, I just move them to the IAM group without changing anything in EKS.

A: You can't.  You can only map roles and users.  Directly from the documentation you linked:

*Add your IAM users, roles, or AWS accounts to the configMap. You cannot add IAM groups to the configMap.

The easiest workaround would be to have a different IAM role for each group and only grant that group the ability to assume that role.

A: There is no simple and standardized implementation for this.
I've written a blog post that addresses your exact question - Enabling AWS IAM Group Access to an EKS Cluster Using RBAC
The blog covers the issue and the possible solutions. The solution we chose was to use an IAM role for each group and using a nice trick to assume it only for kubectl calls.