Here's the last of he classified ads that will feature in my next zine. You know, last year I made a post where I vowed to never ever launch a new zine before Christmas. I am such an idiot. I really am.
Plus, on the subject, I was going to list 'How To Draw Like A Loon' today but after consulting my part time manager/shop keeper/advisor, Tim, I was advised not to. It is currently at the printers and he suggested that I do not list it until I have it in my hands and it's ready to go. That way, I shouldn't be making future posts where I apologise for it being late. Like I usually do.
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to ...er....ahem....apologise to all those who have been waiting to see their classified ads for bloody ages. I....er...welll.....uh....ahem....you know?
So loons, just a little note to say that I will be finally putting my new zine in my Etsy shop in the next couple of days. 'How To Draw like A Loon' is along the same lines as 'How To Draw Like A Nut' but with more pages. And, we know what more pages means; more drawings! I'll post the last of the classified ads tomorrow, too.
Unbelievably, despite having all sorts of stuff on the go, I have started a new Moleskine sketchbook. Well, it's not exactly new. It was the blue ballpoint themed Moleskine that I embarked on a couple of years ago. I wasn't quite feeling the blue ballpoint theme, though. For me the two things were not working together. Unlike my old sepia themed Moley; the sepia ink and cream paper were the perfect marriage - a bit like pineapple and cheese on a stick (for those of you who have never had the pleasure, cheese and pineapple on a stick is a British delicacy). The blue ballpoint was a bit like a pickled onion and cheese on a stick (another British delicacy). Now, I know to some pickled onion and cheese works, but I just don't like it.
So I ripped out the pages I'd made blue drawings on and stuck some other pages together and then I came up with this idea. It's a book about places that I know, or visit, and I'm sure you can see what I'm doing with the pages. I've always wanted to do a pop up Moleskine, and indeed have started one with an Air Mail theme, but the whole pop up thing is much more complicated than I could have imagined. So, while I get my head around it, this one's a compromise. It brings the total of Moleskines I have on the go to double figures, which is why I am giving it the working title of 'Another Bloody Moleskine'.
News on my new zine to follow shortly! Finally.
Have you ever noticed that it's not until you've uploaded a drawing, and viewed it on the screen, that you realise that it's not quite right? It needs something more. Something else. I posted the drawing above a little while ago, and as soon as I saw it on screen the banana screamed out 'colour me!'. My first concern should probably have been that a banana was screaming at me from computer screen but I could only agree with it.
And above, some nonsense about how I like to spend my Saturdays; which is basically as lazy as is humanly possible. I think the words in the last sentence should probably have been in a different order, but hey ho.
Sunday was a different story. Sunday saw the November sketch crawl for the Sketchcrawl North group. It started at Sheffield train station and then moved onto the Winter Gardens. I didn't get many drawings out of the day. Some bits and pieces on various journal spreads - which I'll post when the pages are finished - but towards the end of the afternoon I pulled this one (above) out of the bag.
You know, I'm never that bothered about not having much (drawing wise) to show from the day. I get so much more out of it than that. A few months ago I would never have thought I'd be enjoying sketching outdoors. With people! The idea horrified me, quite frankly. But, it's been a revelation. Sharing a day with people who love drawing as much as I do, chit chatting about pens, paper, techniques and all the other stuff your friends and family have no interest in and noseying in every one's elses sketchbooks at the end of the day is more than enough for me.
You can see some actual drawings from the day on our Facebook page HERE.
I seem to have powered through this latest Moleskine. I only have a few pages left and, yet, I only started it about four months ago. Some of my past Moleskines have taken that many years. I guess it's a sign of how much I have enjoyed this quicker, less laboured kind of drawing.
This book should be finished after the next sketchcrawl in Sheffield on Sunday. Anyone interested in joining the Sheffield and Wakefield sketchcrawl group get in touch and I'll pass on the details. Or take a look at our Facebook page.
I'm feeling a bit panicky that I don't yet have a new Moleskine waiting in the wings. I feel that some shopping is in order, because as winter draws in I'm hoping to hibernate and draw draw draw.


text:
Glenwood, Virden enthusiastic about diversion projects
Written by Benjamin Fisher on July 13, 2018
Folks who attended the Gila and San Francisco rivers diversion project scoping meetings in Glenwood and Virden, held by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, voiced generally enthusiastic support for the project as so far planned. The attendees were torn on whether or not the open-house format of the meetings was as successful as it could be.
Glenwood and Virden are both unincorporated communities in rural counties — Catron and Hidalgo, respectively. In both counties, the county commission is the lone local government, with no incorporated communities within. Both Catron and Hidalgo counties are members of the New Mexico Unit Central Arizona Project Entity, charged with designing the controversial New Mexico Unit diversion project. And, both communities have largely agricultural economies planned to be bolstered by the Arizona Water Settlements Act water aimed to be developed through the diversions.
In these places, folks who spoke to the Daily Press were almost unilaterally supportive of the New Mexico Unit.
"We're very excited about the prospect of this happening," said Julia Overaker, at the Glenwood Community Center on Wednesday night. "We'd like to see the water owed to New Mexico staying in New Mexico."
"I like the fact that they're going to hurry up and get this done," said Tom Lovett, in Virden, Thursday. "I like the executive order under [U.S. President Donald] Trump that might help hurry this through."
Stan Jones, who neighbors say farms hundreds of acres in the Virden Valley just this side of the state border with Arizona, told the Daily Press that the water would make a big difference on his operation. Jones and his family grow cotton, corn and alfalfa in the valley, with the help of seven year-round employees.
"This river is running now," he said. "But it was completely dry for six to seven weeks. During that time, we had to rely 100 percent on groundwater. Pumping that is expensive. It comes with problems. I can tell you I see the need."
As to claims from some opponents to the project, that the water would be too expensive for local users, he said that would be true if the water was all he had.
"I would not want to start a crop and think I was going to grow it from start to finish with AWSA water," Jones said. "That would be too expensive. But during the few months when I'm short of water, I could buy this water then. It has changed a lot since we started this. The size we're at now is manageable and affordable."
Jones was also one of several attendees of the two meetings who said they thought the project, as planned, could actually be beneficial for wildlife habitat in the region — particularly regarding the canyon storage and the ability that might give to release water into the river during dry months.
"There were times on my field where I could count 50 to 60 deer," he said, of the recent weeks of drought. "It was the only water and forage in the area. If there had been water in the river, that wildlife could have stayed in their natural habitat rather than coming down here."
Similarly, in Glenwood, Wayne Price said, "It would actually be a benefit to wildlife, in my mind."
"Especially the storage," Tom Klunker added. "If they had water out there, away from the river, they wouldn't come onto the farms as much."
Virden native Buddy Jensen spent 30 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service studying and managing fish species in the Southwest. He agreed that, especially with endangered native fish, the project as planned could help.
"There are ways to make this work," he said. "I am an environmentalist, but I also have common sense. I am not concerned about this from a resource management perspective. We have a lot of river that goes dry, and it has fishery resources. The river dries and you lose those fish. If you had a way to release water into the river to keep it wet more of the year, you're really not negatively impacting the aquatic resources. I see it as a win-win for the listed fish as well as the farmers."
None of this means there weren't concerns.
"If the downstream requirements are met, and they start diverting above us — well, we have always had a perennial stream — will we be looking at a dry river?" said a Catron County resident, who said the San Francisco divides their property, but would not provide their name.
"When we had those floods, a lot of people up here lost their wells," Overaker said, in Glenwood. "After all that, you have people come in here and talk about this, something new. Unless they have all of the information, they're going to be afraid their wells are going to go dry."
To that point, Overaker said she could see both pros and cons to the open-house format these meetings have taken — replacing the formerly usual system of a presentation followed by comment into a microphone in an auditorium. This new format has become somewhat controversial over the last seven scoping meetings in this process.
"It was fine," she said. "A presentation, I think, would have been better. If you don't know a lot of the information already, you don't know what to ask. An oral presentation helps that. But, I've been to a lot of meetings like that and the 'anti-' groups take over and you can't have a discussion."
Others had come around to the new format as well.
"I liked the format, walking between stations, getting to talk one-on-one," said Robert Robbins, of Virden. "It was appropriate, I think, for our citizenry here."
"I didn't know if I'd like it, but they had enough people in there that if they saw you looking at the information, with your eyes glazed over, they would initiate the conversation," said Virden's Tom Lister. "And they were knowledgeable."
"I'm glad they're going out to all the areas and getting input from the people," Lovett said. "That wasn't done before."
The eighth and final public scoping meeting of the National Environmental Policy Act environmental impact statement for the New Mexico Unit diversion projects will be held today from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Graham County General Services Building, 921 Thatcher Blvd., in Safford, Ariz.
Those interested in submitting public comment during scoping can do so by emailing [email protected], using NM Unit EIS as the subject line. Or, they can mail letters and documents to Phoenix Area Office, Bureau of Reclamation (Attn: NM Unit EIS), 6150 West Thunderbird Road, Glendale, AZ 85306. More information is available at EMPSI's website for the project.
Benjamin Fisher may be reached at [email protected] press.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A RWANDESE businessman has sued his compatriot in the Lusaka High Court claiming payment of US$41,000 with interest.
In statement of claim filed in court, Ngabitsinze Jean Bosco of Chipata sued Ngirinshuti Jean Baptise, also of Chipata for breach of an agreement.
The plaintiff stated that the duo on October 19, 2017, were engaged in a business transaction where Baptiste agreed to buy out US$41,000.
Bosco stated that it was agreed that Baptiste was going to pay back the money in two installments starting with US$20,000 on January 15, 2018 and the balance of US$21,000 by January 20, 2018.
The plaintiff stated that Baptiste has failed to settle the money and has neglected to show commitment towards the agreement.
He stated that his colleague has failed to pay the money despite several reminders.
Bosco stated that the defendant had no prospect of honouring the agreement and that unless compelled by the court to do so, he would continue to be deprived of the money.
The plaintiff stated that he has, therefore, suffered loss and demands payment of the US$41,000 with interest at the commercial bank lending rate and other reliefs the court might deem fit.


text:
Thirty Years Later: Maryknoll Sisters in American Samoa...
Maryknoll Sisters Stamp Art
International Mission Photography Archive USC Digital L...
Archives Illuminated
Bishop James A. Walsh
Father Thomas F. Price
Mother Mary Joseph Rogers
Brother Thomas McCann
Dr. Harry P. Blaber
Deceased Fathers and Brothers
Deceased Sisters
Father Walter J. Valladon, MM
Born: March 8, 1915
Ordained: June 21, 1942
Died: February 10, 1990
Father Walter J. Valladon died on February 10, 1990 at the Humana Hospital, San Leandro, California. He was just short of 75 years of age; a priest for forty-eight years.
Walter "Sam" was born on March 8, 1915 in Oakland, California, son of William Valladon and Mary Pavao. He had 3 brothers and 2 sisters. His early education was in Oakland. As an altar boy his desire to become a priest grew and in St. Mary's School in San Leandro he heard a Maryknoll Missioner give a graphic description of a missioner's life. He decided to be a Maryknoller and entered our Junior Seminary, Los Altos in 1929. He was ordained on June 21, 1942. All his teachers were favorably impressed with his honesty, reliability and responsibility and considered him a 'diamond in the rough', with good leadership qualities.
After Ordination Father Valladon was assigned to our new mission in the Pando. Living alone in his first mission in Porvenir, he quickly became fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and fitted well into the rugged pioneer mission life in the barracas along the Tahuamanu River. In 1947 he moved to the Riberalta Mission and was appointed Procurator for the Pando Vicariate and chaplain for the Maryknoll Sisters Hospital. At the request of his bishop he became a chaplain in the Bolivian army where he enjoyed giving catechetical instruction to the soldiers. He was transferred to the Cobija Parish as pastor in 1947. After furlough in the U.S. in 1950 he returned to the Pando Vicariate as pastor of the Sena Parish and from there he covered the isolated mission stations along the Madre de Dios River. He became known as a prudent, zealous missioner, liked by all the people along the river. In 1957, after furlough, he served for four months as chaplain with the Greenland Contractors Construction Company near the Arctic Circle. In 1959 he went to Riberalta and in the Carmen Parish became Director of the High School, inaugurated Credit Union work, and engaged in Caritas work for the Vicariate. Everywhere he was known as a hard worker.
In 1963 he was again appointed Pastor of the Cobija Parish where his superior wrote of him that 'he was conscientious, reliable and careful with money, good on the books and exact in all his obligations. He has good balance ad gets along with everybody.' Endowed with a gruff sense of humor, he was jovial with his confreres and enjoyed sports and banter with them. After 25 years in the Pando he was transferred to La Paz for a short time and then to Santa Cruz in 1971. He was pastor at the town of Minero, where he developed catechetical programs and regular visits to outlying villages.
About this time he became bothered with continued health concerns. With proper medical care he was able to remain in Santa Cruz and work zealously for a few years. Finally he was recalled to the U.S. in 1977. The Superior General wrote to him about returning home: 'You have given more than the average share of dedicated and zealous service to the Church in Bolivia for 30 years now. You have borne the heat and burden for a long time.'
The climate in California was best for his health, so he took up residence with his mother in San Leandro. He was granted permission to take up limited work in Spanish-speaking parishes in the Oakland Diocese. He served for many years especially at St. Alphonsus Parish, Hayward, California and became the chaplain of the San Leandro Knights of Columbus. On June 15, 1980 he was enrolled in the Special Society Unit with residence at his mother's, remaining there until he died.
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Alphonsus Church in Hayward on Feb. 12, with Fr. William Bergan as principal Celebrant. Burial service was conducted at the Maryknoll Cemetery in Los Altos the following day.
A collaborative project of the
Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers,
Maryknoll Sisters,
and Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
Maryknoll, NY 10545-0305
T: (914) 941-7636 x2500
Email: archives@maryknoll.org
/* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: bios-fb - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ .entry-title { display:none; } /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: bios-fb - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */


Opera 8-beta 3 was released for windows and unix with native SVG support.
With SVG, corporate web designers will finally be able to do what they've been trying to do for a long time – make a web page that is basically one big image.
Hopefully this means the death of Flash.
and it hasnt for awhile.
Yes! Finally the death of Flash! Now all it needs is SMIL, XMLSockets, Audio/Video, Microphone/Webcam, cross-browser/platform, AND be installed on millions of computers worldwide 5 years ago. Wooohoo!
P.S. This is a beta, which has less SVG support than the current Firefox beta compiled with SVG. I won't be selling my copy of Macromedia Flash any time soon.
On OSNews, I'd expect people to recognize the importance of open standards. SVG may be new, but you're going to see native browser support of it a lot sooner than Flash – and no one who knows anything about web design is going to deploy a website to run entirely in somebody's browser plug-in (no, major record labels DON'T know anything about web design).
When I referred to the death of Flash, I didn't mean by Opera's preliminary support for cellphone SVG. I meant the full SVG standard in all its glory, which I hope to see soon in every major browser except IE 7.
Oh, and of course ECMAScript+SVG doesn't equal Flash – it's better.
For some reason, it took a minute to start Opera on my Fedora Core 3. Anyone else has that issue?
opera could easily be the best browser out there, i for one sort of love it, only one thing that is holding me back with firefox and that is adblock, if only opera has something similar, i'd use opera full stop.
Opera Software inovate a lot and struggle to implement the W3C specifications before all, and that's good.
Version 8 of their Internet Suite is a masterpiece.
Go to http://nontroppo.org/wiki/BlockAdvertisements to know about ad blocking using the Opera´s built in URL filtering and also how to do ad blocking using CSS.
I know, FireFox has a better way to set the filter (using right click), but as Opera lover I don´t care much!
Flavio you're here? Wow, I'm glad! We usually talk together on opera.brasil usenet channel.
Back to topic, I think many people discriminate/block/criticize Opera but are not well informed and have in mind version 6, which is miles away from version 8.
I am currently playing with Beta 3. It has a new 'high quality' voice that you can use, which ironically sounds worse than the older one.
Not to mention that for some strange reason, the voice engine loses its mind and randomly refuses to work when I click 'Speak', so I have to go into Preferences (which is now using tabs and totally fucked up) and go to the Voice options and click the OK button.
not to mention flash has a great editor/ide and that actionscript 2 is nicer.
It'd be nice if they started building binaries for AMD64 (at least on Linux).
I love Opera, but firefox with a few extensions is pretty damn nice… still, inertia keeps me with Opera for the time being. It's interface and session saving just rocks.
On the one hand, anything that keeps Macromedia honest and on their toes is a good thing.
And anything that pushes SVG forward is certainly a good thing.
Not this year, not next year. Nor the year after that.
First off, great news about Opera, I wasn't aware they were implementing that in the new version, and as a designer/developer I'm glad to see it.
As far as all the Flash bashing around here : get off your geek high horses guys. SVG + ECMAScript will not replace flash – Ever. As someone mentioned in the thread above, Flash supports a lot of things beyond just vector graphics and scripting – with it's network code and whatnot you can make VERY powerful web applications based on Flash. Just because most people only use it for animation, don't think that is all it can do.
I love open standards, they are of course very important. However, having a cross platform solution in place and installed on nearly every machine on the planet is important as well. I know it's trendy to hate Flash, but it is a solution that is in place and can be used in the real world – and that is a very very important thing.
Anyway, sorry for dragging this thread even farther off course.
Sorry, but I don´t use usenet channels (yet!). Must be another Flavio.
Back to topic: for me, the Opera´s internet suite rocks!!!


text:
Q: Rank of a matrix vs Dimensions of solution Let $\bf{A}$ be a matrix acting on $\bf{r}$ $= (x_1,y_1,z_1)^T$ to produce a new vector $\bf{v}$ $=(x_2,y_2,z_2)^T:$
$$\bf{A.r} =
\begin{pmatrix}
1 & 2 & 3\\
2 & 4 & 6 \\
3 & 6 & 9
\end{pmatrix}
\begin{pmatrix}
x_1 \\ y_1 \\z_1
\end{pmatrix}=
\begin{pmatrix}
x_2 \\ y_2 \\z_2
\end{pmatrix}
$$
Clearly this matrix has rank 1 i.e. we can write
$$\begin{pmatrix}
1 & 2 & 3\\
0 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 0
\end{pmatrix}
\begin{pmatrix}
x_1 \\ y_1 -2x_1 \\z_1 -3x_1
\end{pmatrix}$$
I have a few questions:
What would it mean to "solve" the system of equations (i.e., what are we doing mathematically and what will it tell us at the end)? (If this sounds confused, it's because it is. I can attempt further clarification if it would help.)
The dimension of $\bf{ker\  A}$ is 2 since any vector that we feed in that satisfies $x_1 + 2(y_1-2x_1) + 3(z_1 -3x_1) = 0$ (i.e. a plane of vectors) will give the null vector. What does this imply about the structure of our solution? That is has dimension 1?

A: A matrix can represent a system of linear equations. In your example, the equations are:
$x\cdot x_1 +2y \cdot y_1 + 3z \cdot z_1=x_2$
$2x\cdot x_1 +4y \cdot y_1 + 6z \cdot z_1=y_2$
$3x\cdot x_1 +6y \cdot y_1 + 9z \cdot z_1=z_2$
After you did gauss elimination you got the equations:
$x\cdot x_1 +2y \cdot (y_1 - 2x_1) + 3z \cdot (z_1-3x_1)=x_2$
$0x\cdot x_1 +0y \cdot (y_1 - 2x_1) + 0z \cdot (z_1-3x_1)=y_2$
$0x\cdot x_1 +0y \cdot (y_1 - 2x_1) + 0z \cdot (z_1-3x_1)=z_2$
Solving the system means get all $(x,y,z)$ satisfying the equations.
$dim(ker A) = 2$ meaning you will have infinite solution (if no contradiction occurs i.e $0\cdot x+0 \cdot y + 0 \cdot z = a \neq 0$), and the degree of freedom is 2.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Cyber security 101: How to combat the threats that exist among your own personnel
Justin Dolly, Chief Security Officer of SecureAuth, examines how data leaks from personnel represent the biggest cyber security danger to defence and military organisations.
When it comes to military and defence organisations today, one of the largest cyber security concerns is not actual attacks – although those are still important and prevalent – but rather data leaks.
Insider threats and personal devices are two of the biggest causes of data leakage and one of the fastest threats to defences today as more and more devices are making it into sensitive areas. Last year, the fitness app Strava inadvertently exposed sensitive data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers, which could be extrapolated to pinpoint overseas facilities. With this information out in the open and out of the military's control, defence organisations began clamping down on troops' use of fitness trackers and apps, and further prohibited the use of GPS features on any government or private gear.
This exemplifies how the rapid development of new and innovative information technologies bring new challenges to operational security and force protection. It's crucial for military defence teams to stay on top of these challenges and continue to refine policies and procedures; otherwise, this could put individual members of the military at risk, even when they are not in combat zones.
Identifying the weakest link
As with most things in life, you're only as strong as your weakest link – and in any organisation, it's people. The best firewalls can be defeated by a simple phishing email and flat networks enable intruders to perform lateral movement across an environment with relative ease. New devices and applications can be difficult to keep off the corporate network, introducing a slew of new threat vectors all the while causing frustration among the IT teams that support these networks.
Therefore, it's vital for military officials to control access and develop enhanced policies for use or access to their data and networks. So how do you achieve this? Through the implementation of multiple pre-authentication or adaptive authentication techniques without introducing unnecessary friction for the users. Combining strong security with adaptive authentication allows authorised parties to access what they need quickly and easily, while simultaneously keeping malicious and suspicious actors out of the network and systems.
Education, education, education, and secure access control
A critical component of improving any security programme is education. As demonstrated by the Strava example, a data breach occurs when one or more individuals can read data they are not authorised to access. And it is often because of human errors like this that cyber criminals are allowed to gain access to sensitive material.
Internal user training can help educate employees and personnel on how to enable secure access control, what threats to look out for and how to report anything suspicious. Therefore, security awareness training should be acknowledged as one of the critical components of a robust security programme. Being armed with the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and their organisations will help prepare employees for the range of security threats they are bound to face; whether from an external cyber attack or from their own misuse of technology or access to data.
Military organisations shouldn't neglect their own responsibility to deploy the most secure authentication strategies to mitigate their exposure to cyber attacks. They need to carefully examine how they manage their identity security and address how to differentiate legitimate users from illegitimate ones. Rather than handing over the keys to the very lucrative kingdom, a comprehensive strategy should work to determine if a login attempt is from a legitimate user or from an attacker using stolen credentials.
Prevention is better than breach
With identity and credential exposure accounting for many high-profile data breaches, prevention is the best protection. Internal training and awareness, and deploying secure access controls, dramatically improves organisations' defences and helps prevent future cyber attacks.
The best approach ensures the desired level of security without hindering the user experience. Care should be taken to avoid putting users though complex security measures which can cause user frustration, have a negative impact on productivity and result in a financial burden to the organisation. The most efficient approaches to security and usability leverage modern techniques that fit both the culture and the needs of the organisation and bring together identity and security.
When dealing with critical and highly sensitive information, as defence organisations undoubtedly do, the right security approach is to focus on the programmes that will help secure their weakest link: people.
The post Cyber security 101: How to combat the threats that exist among your own personnel appeared first on Defence Online.
Largest Red Arrows deployment in 25 years planned for North America
Airbus launches seven new SmartForce services


Moving is never an easy process. It requires many steps and much planning. Likewise, moving to another country requires a lot of planning. The first thing that you need to do is secure your visa. If you are moving from Canada to the US for a job, you will be looking at employer-sponsored visas. There are a few different categories when it comes to getting permanent residence in the United States. And they are generally based on employment skills.
Category EB1 is reserved for employees with extraordinary ability in Business, Science, Education, Arts etc.
Category EB2 is for employees with extra skill and ability in the business, arts or science fields.
Category EB3 is for professionals with Bachelor or Graduate degrees, as well as other skilled workers.
First thing is to insure your visa!
Once you've dealt with your visa, you should do a little bit of research on Minnesota and the city you are planning on moving to. As well as other things regarding moving from Sudbury to Minnesota. It's not a bad idea to go and visit the city itself. Find a place to stay for a couple of days and do a little exploring. Walk the streets, talk to people and get the feel of the city. It will make your relocation to it much easier later on. And if you haven't already, you can scout for homes to rent or buy. This is one of the most important steps when moving from Sudbury to Minnesota.
International moving is quite expensive. Therefore, you don't want to pay for the transport of items that you will end up throwing away or not using. Go through your entire home and make a list of all your belongings. See what you are using and what you will be needing once you move. Everything else should either be donated or remain in your home town. If you are selling or leaving your apartment it might be a good idea to look at storage. There are great options when it comes to storage units Sudbury. That way you will still retain all your belongings without transporting them and cluttering your new home.
There are probably many things both in your closet and around your home that you no longer need. You don't want to clutter your new home as soon as you get there. So, get to sorting. If you want to make some money you can make a pile of things that can be sold. Those include old electronics, appliances and anything else that can get you some money.
Donating is a noble and charitable cause. And you should consider donating some of your unused belongings to charity. Charities mostly look for clothes, blankets, linens and so on. Non-perishable items. But, before you head out to donate your clothes, make sure that they are still in one piece. Don't donate torn or otherwise damaged clothes. Those should go into your throw-out pile. Anything that you don't use that can't be sold or donated you should throw away.
When moving from Sudbury to Minnesota you should pick a reputable and reliable moving company. Your belongings will be on the road for a long time. They will even cross a border. So, you need to make sure that your movers are up to the task. There are many quality international movers Canada to choose from. So, make sure you do your research and pick the best one.
Make sure to hire reliable movers!
You will need a moving company that specifically offers international moving service. The moving company you are hiring should hold a certain level of standards. You don't want just anyone transporting your belongings across country borders. Movers should be skilled, trained and professional. It's not always about the price. You should have a stress-free relocation. Without the need to worry about the safety of your belongings.
When choosing a moving company for international relocation you need to be extra careful. As we already said, your belongings will be on the road for a long time. And they will be crossing borders while at the care of your movers. Also, you don't want to go for a cheap option only to be forced to pay additional fees later on. Quality moving companies offer a free moving estimate for your relocation. And they stick closely to the price they said.
Just like with any other relocation, packing playing an important part. So, you should make sure to get quality packing materials for your belongings. Most of it you can buy in a local hardware store or from your moving company. Make sure to label all the boxes as it will make unpacking that much easier. Your belongings should be properly packed to avoid any chance of damage. If you are not sure, or simply don't have enough time to pack, you can hire professional packing services to go with your relocation.
Your move from Sudbury to Minnesota is over. And you are finally free to start your life in a new city. Now that your belongings have arrived and you've settled in your new home it's time to unpack. If your boxes are labeled you will have an easy time unpacking. And since you donated or thrown away most of the things you don't need, your new home will be clutter-free. You can now explore the new city and enjoy everything it has to offer. Moving from Sudbury to Minnesota has never been easier!


text:
HomeMarket'Thousands of Garbage Coins,' says Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari
'Thousands of Garbage Coins,' says Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari
Last year, the Federal Reserve official who famously promised the American people that the central bank could pump limitless money into the economy made some well-worn, oft-debunked critiques of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.
"Five or six years ago, I was more enthusiastic about crypto and bitcoin," said Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, on Tuesday. "What I've witnessed thus far is 95% deception, hype, noise, and confusion."
Kashkari compared the open nature of the crypto sector with the US government's monopoly on dollar issuance during his presentation at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region annual conference in Big Sky, Mont.
"There is no reason why you can't create your own bitcoin, or why I can't create mine... "I'm going to name it Neelcoin," he said. "And then Larry can develop Larrycoin," Kashkari continued, pointing to his on-stage interlocutor, Larry Simkins, CEO of conglomerate The Washington Companies.
Other Fed officials have given digital assets a more nuanced and positive evaluation. In June, Vice Chairman Randal Quarles stated that the US should find methods to "say yes" to stablecoins.
While it is true that anybody may create a digital asset, Kashkari overlooked the importance of network effects, which make bitcoin more safe and valuable in the eyes of the market than its numerous rivals.
The central banker went on to say, "There are hundreds of these trash coins that have been produced." "Some of them are outright fraud Ponzi schemes," says the author. People are duped into investing money, and then the entrepreneurs take advantage of them."
This is often the case. Kashkari, on the other hand, made a broad generalization.
He stated, "I constantly ask them what issue they're attempting to address, and no one can explain what the real problem is."
Kashkari laughed at the notion that bitcoin might be used as a safe haven against inflation, especially the sort experienced in certain poor nations. He stated, "I don't see any indication that the United States administration or the United States of America is on a road to Venezuela."
Given Kashkari's appearance on television's "60 Minutes" in 2020, early in the pandemic, in which he bragged that "there is no limit to our capacity" at the Fed to pump money into the economy, some bitcoin users may find the statement vexing.
The Venezuela remark also ignored the reality that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are a worldwide phenomenon that have been embraced by inhabitants of nations with higher inflation rates than the United States.
While he didn't declare crypto will never be helpful ("it's definitely possible"), Kashkari expressed skepticism about the technology on Tuesday.
"I haven't seen any use case other than financing illegal activities like drugs and prostitution," he added, oblivious to the fact that bitcoin has been utilized by politically disfavored publications and dissident voices in countries like Russia to avoid official blacklisting.
"So far, I have not seen any genuine use case that bitcoin solves," Kashkari added.
He wrapped off his short comments on the topic by returning to a question from the crowd regarding Miami's new entrance into crypto.
"Don't let me stop you from launching Montana Coin," Kashkari joked.
Altcoin ancu Bitcoin blockchain Crypto Price dogecoin eth Market


text:
Gioca nel ruolo di centrale nello .

Biografia
Figlia di Craig e Donna Hardy, nasce a Kingsport, nel Tennessee. Ha una fratello di nome Marshall, che gioca a pallacanestro. Nel 2011 si diploma alla Dobyns-Bennett High School e in seguito studia alla East Tennessee State University.

Carriera

Club
La carriera di Meredith Hardy nei tornei scolastici del Tennessee, giocando per la . In seguito gioca a livello universitario nella NCAA Division I dal 2011 al 2014, facendo parte della .

Nel campionato 2015-16 approda per un biennio nella Nemzeti Bajnokság I ungherese, dove difende i colori del . Nella stagione 2017-18 viene ingaggiata dal , nella Lentopallon Mestaruusliiga finlandese, mentre nel campionato successivo partecipa alla Lega Nazionale A svizzera con lo .

Collegamenti esterni

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
My legal life
I featured in the Law Society Gazette's "My Legal Life" section this year. Below is the text of the article, which can also be viewed here.
Growing up, I wanted to be a writer. I used to spend hours boring family and classmates with my storytelling. This grew into a leaning towards journalism after covering a murder in Bristol while on work experience. I then spent a year in Barcelona at the British Chamber of Commerce, where I organised events for members including British expat lawyers. Conversations with them sparked my interest in the law. I still write as much as possible – I have my own blog and often write on developments in family law.
After graduating from Exeter with a degree in English and Spanish, I did the GDL (or GD-hell as it was affectionately known). My lasting memory is an evening spent in tears struggling to understand trusts. It certainly toughened me up, and you have to be the right level of tough to be a family lawyer. I found the LPC much more relevant to what I perceived a career in law to entail.
I won the Bristol Resolution prize for best overall performance in family law at LPC, so I must have done something right.
The hardest challenges come from other lawyers. As a member of Resolution since my student days, I've developed my approach in line with the Resolution Code of Practice. Working in Bristol this is very much championed by my colleagues locally. Sometimes, though, a lawyer can be the block to progress, which can be really frustrating for the client, leading to protracted proceedings and increased costs.
I was lucky enough to be awarded CSR Individual of the Year at the Bristol Law Society awards. More recently, I have been appointed chair of National YRes and am an elected member of Resolution's national committee. I have also become a Resolution-accredited specialist in complex financial remedies on divorce and children law.
The level of support for junior family law practitioners is improving. For example, Resolution will be offering a mentoring service for family lawyers under 10 years' PQE, something which a survey of our junior lawyers suggests is a much-needed source of support.
Family lawyers are becoming more innovative and family-focused in the way we work, which includes unbundling and embracing advances in technology, but there are still constraints. It will be interesting to see how SRA changes to regulation affect service provision.
The introduction of no-fault divorce is a no-brainer. Having to point the finger of blame reopens healing wounds and distracts from the bigger issues.
Cohabitation law needs reforming. Marriage is declining and the number of couples living together is on the rise. With this societal change, it is only right that our laws evolve accordingly.
Dispute resolution options could be better advertised and explained to the public. The court process is rarely the best way of resolving family matters and rarely provides a long-lasting solution. Clients often aren't aware of, or don't fully understand, the other routes available.
Divorce, Family law, finances on divorce, marriage, No fault divorce, Prenuptial agreements, Relationships, Resolution, Same sex marriage, separation, social media, step parents, Uncategorized, wealth protection
divorce lawyer bristol, divorce lawyer Malmesbury, divorce lawyer Wiltshire, divorce Malmesbury, divorce solicitor Malmesbury, divorce solicitor Wiltshire, divorce wiltshire, Family law, family lawyer bristol, Family solicitor, Family solicitor Bristol, family solicitor Malmesbury, family solicitor wiltshire, featured, law, lawyer, legal life, separation wiltshire, solicitor
Something special?


With the last load in the dryer, I went through my pictures - again - and made this small selection. I guess I took about a zillion of pictures on our trip. I really can't help it. I just like to take my camera with me. Just in case. The kids do not always appreciate it when they see me grabbing my camera. "Oh no, mommy, you're not taking your camera with you, are you?!"
One evening, though, we had so much fun on the beach - the girls, me and my camera and ... some ladybugs. I'm not a specialist, but for some reason there were lots and lots of ladybugs this year. And WE can tell you: those little creatures are FAST! Just try to imagine the giggling and laughing and "Oh, it tickles me!" and "Oh no, it's getting into my sleeve, mommy! Quick! Take a picture!!" when looking at these pics.
An absolutely fun evening on the beach: me and my girls and some ladybugs!


BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany's economy minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday it was in the interests of the United States to find a solution to its trade dispute with the European Union, adding that the ball was in the U.S.'s court after the bloc's show of unity.
Altmaier told Reuters on Thursday that he hoped the EU's clear, united position in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe would trigger a rethink in Washington.
RIYADH (Reuters) – The United Nations is renewing efforts to end Yemen's war under a peace plan that calls on the Iran-aligned Houthis to give up their missiles in return for an end to a bombing campaign by a Saudi-led coalition and a transitional governance deal, according to a draft of the plan and sources.
The conflict pits the Houthi movement, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, against forces backed by a mostly Gulf Arab coalition trying to restore the internationally recognized government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The U.N. has sponsored a series of peace talks aimed at ending the three-year-old war which has killed more than 10,000 people and created the world's most urgent humanitarian crisis.
*14 June 2015, Geneva: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launches talks between delegates of the Yemeni government and the Houthi movement. The talks collapse on June 19 with each side accusing the other of breaching a truce.
*14 Jan. 2016: Talks scheduled to take place but are repeatedly postponed due to tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who are fighting a proxy war in Yemen, and on disagreement over whether a ceasefire is needed for a new round of talks.
*21 April 2016, Kuwait: U.N.-sponsored talks bring together the Houthi movement and its General People's Congress allies with the Saudi-backed government of Hadi.
- Suspended on May 17 by the Yemeni government which demanded that the Houthis first commit to withdrawing from captured cities and handing over their arms. Resume May 21.
- Suspended Aug. 1 after the Yemeni government walks out when Houthis reject a plan proposed by U.N. envoy Ahmed calling on the group to quit three main cities, including Sanaa, ahead of talks to form a government that would include the Houthis.
*No U.N. sponsored peace talks were held in 2017 and 2018.


J. D. Salinger began his writing career with short stories, contributing mainly to The New Yorker Magazine. Two of his most famous short stories that appeared in that magazine were A Perfect Day for Banafish (1948), the story of a suicidal war veteran, and For Esme With Love and Squalor (1950).
But it was with the publication of A Catcher in the Rye (1951)that Salinger received major critical and popular attention. A Catcher in the Rye has been said to be reminiscent of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a setting of modern angst and rebellion. Holden Caulfield, our "hero," is an adolescent boarding school student attempting to run away from what he considers a phony adult world. For many who read this book, it became the quintessential story of teenage confusion and unrest. From the very first sentence we know we are in a world of loneliness and brutal honesty.
Franny and Zooey, two longer short stories about the Glass Family, was published in 1955.
Robert B. Parker was one of my favorites. His detective series about Spenser (with an "s") was a true classic of the genre and he went on to write two other series, one starring Sunny Randall (another Boston P.I.) and one starring Jesse Stone (a police chief in a small Massachusetts town). Parker even wrote westerns!
But the star of his writing pantheon was Spenser. The first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript (1973) was written when he was still teaching at a university in Boston, and is about Spenser's efforts to retrieve a manuscript that was stolen from a unversity library. He went on to write 37 more titles in the Spenser series. My favorites, and ones that I highly recommend, are: Mortal Stakes (about the Boston Red Sox), Looking for Rachel Wallace (about a Lesbian author that Spenser is hired to protect) and A Catskill Eagle (Susan is in trouble and Spenser and Hawk spring to the rescue).
Parker did not always craft the most enduring of plots, but a visit with Spenser, Hawk and Susan was like a visit with old and dear friends - always enjoyable and remarkably entertaining.
We found many reasons to call the novel a masterpiece: its themes are timeless, its symbolism rich, its plot compelling (at least in the second half), and its characters, if unlikeable, are true to life. We talked a lot about social classes and groups, the cultural disconnect that still exists between the USA's East Coast and Midwest, and the changes Fitzgerald was observing in '20s America.
We debated Gatsby as a tragic hero: is he a great person with a tragic flaw? Is he sympathetic at all? Are any of the characters sympathetic, for that matter? Was Daisy even worth all the fuss? Like most readers of the novel, we also talked a bit about T.J. Eckleburg's eyes, the symbolism of the valley of ashes and the meaning of that green light.
Join us next month (1pm February 9th in the Stride Room) when we pair The Great Gatsby with Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind. Instead of rewriting the story of Fitzgerald's classic, Bohjalian does something quite different: he sets his own story in the same fictional universe as The Great Gatsby. The heroine of The Double Bind, for example, spent her childhood swimming at a country club in West Egg that was once Gatsby's mansion!
Other writings: Windy City Blues (short stories), Bleeding Kansas and Ghost Country (single novels) and Writing in an Age of Silence (non-fiction).
Sometimes it is hard to like V. I. Warshawski. She can be stubborn, self-righteous, swift to anger, with a knack of alienating even her closest friends. And for a time I stopped reading Paretsky's books because all I wanted to do was give V. I. a swift kick.
But her latest effort, Hardball (2009), is really, really good and I can heartily recommend it. The case starts out as a missing persons investigation - V. I. is hired to find the missing son and nephew of two elderly sisters currently living out their days in an Assisted Living/Nursing Home.
The case gets quickly more and more complicated, however, and we are eventually drawn into the history of the Chicago race riots of the 1960s. Murder, police brutality, false confessions and civil rights violations (both then AND now) take center stage and Vic's investigation comes a bit too close to home for anyone's comfort.
About the author: Sara Paretsky was born in Iowa and raised in Kansas, so naturally Paretsky's detective fiction takes place in Chicago (primary the South Side) and stars V. I. Warshawski, a sharp-tongued, uncomfortably honest and incredibly stubborn private investigator whose family ties and work ethic complicate an already complicated career.


My client is a well renowned leading flood risk and flood modelling consultancy who are looking for a Hydraulic Modeller. With a large international presence alongside their growing UK business, they produce flood risk data, flood maps, risk maps, perils data and reports for the land and property sector, insurance companies, utilities and governments. Their highly specialised team are able to help with both rapid assessments and in-depth research that supports decision-making around flood risk.
Owing to their continued success and growth, they have now got the opportunity to further expand their Flood Modelling team with a Flood Risk Consultant. You will become a key part of the existing consulting team; the successful candidate will have an enthusiasm to develop their career in the water/ environment sector.
To be successful in this role you will hold a Minimum degree(s) in geography, environmental management or engineering and have a good technical background with substantial and proven industry experience.
It is required that applicants have significant experience in several UK recognised flood modelling packages, such as ISIS, ISIS 2D, HEC-RAS, TuFLOW, Flood Modeller, INFOWORKS RS/CS/ICM, MIKE11/21, MicroDrainage WinDES. Applicants should be familiar with both 1D and 2D modelling methods and their application to a range of studies.


You can't knock 50 Cent's hustle. After making the press rounds to promote his fitness book Formula 50 last week, the G-Unit mogul drops the video for his hustler's anthem "Major Distribution." He joins forces with hip-hop heavyweights Snoop Dogg and Young Jeezy in the clip, directed by Eif Rivera.
And it wouldn't be complete without some controversy. The rap titan makes a funny reference to his beef with Maybach Music Group in one scene where a child sits in a stroller while wearing Gunplay's chain that 50's crew reportedly stole at the BET Hip Hop Awards last year.
50 recently announced that his fifth album Street King Immortal has been delayed until the spring.


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Brexit: May tells her cabinet, this is the deal – now back me
Hard-Brexit Tories call for ministers to block withdrawal agreement
Key elements of deal leak ahead of cabinet meeting
Follow the latest developments
Dan Sabbagh, Daniel Boffey and Jessica Elgot
Liam Fox, the trade secretary; the chancellor, Philip Hammond; Matt Hancock, the health secretary; and Andrea Leadsom, leader of the House of Commons, pictured in Downing Street Photograph: Various
Theresa May summoned her cabinet to an emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon to sign off her long awaited final Brexit deal, prompting hard-Brexit Tories to call for senior ministers to stand up and block it.
The critical meeting is the culmination of months of negotiations and will see May's senior ministers consider whether they can personally endorse the agreement that the prime minister has been able to reach.
Brexit deal: Tory ministers meet to decide fate of agreement – Politics live
Ministers were summoned to No 10 in the early evening and some met individually with May or her chief of staff, Gavin Barwell. They were given the chance to read the key documents, although they were not trusted to take any papers home. Further one-on-one meetings were expected to take place on Wednesday.
"Cabinet will meet at 2pm tomorrow to consider the draft agreement the negotiating teams have reached in Brussels, and to decide on next steps," a No 10 spokesman confirmed. "Cabinet ministers have been invited to read documentation ahead of that meeting."
Key elements of the deal began to leak in the early evening. The UK was understood to have agreed that an independent arbitration committee will judge when a UK-wide customs backstop could be terminated, comprising an equal number of British and EU representatives plus an independent element.
There will be a review in July 2020, Brussels sources added, six months before the end of the transition period, at which it will be determined if the UK is ready to move to a free trade deal; transfer to the backstop; or extend the transition period, possibly by a year to 2021.
May can no longer delay her bunfight with Tory Brexiters
Ministers were expected to study the Northern Ireland specific elements in the backstop deal. No 10 sources insisted the region would not be treated differently in customs terms, although Brussels sources said Northern Ireland would have special status in the backstop in terms of the customs union and single market.
Hard-Brexiters swiftly reacted negatively to the prospective deal – and indicated they intended to vote against it if it came to parliament. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group, said: "I hope cabinet will block it or, if not, parliament will block it."
Boris Johnson, who resigned as foreign secretary, said he believed the deal was "vassal state stuff". He said the UK would be bound by laws over which it had no say, which was "utterly unacceptable".
Iain Duncan Smith, when asked if the government's days were numbered, said: "If this is the case, the answer is almost certainly, yes, because they're in real trouble if they bring back something unacceptable to their party."
Nigel Dodds, the DUP's Westminster leader, said the deal was not acceptable if it matched what he had heard in leaks over the past few days. His unionist party props up May's government.
"We have to see the details of it, but it appears to be a UK-wide customs agreement but [with] deeper implications for Northern Ireland both on customs and single market, and as Jacob has said, if that means that we're taking the rules and laws set in Brussels, not in Westminster or Belfast, then that's unacceptable," Dodds said.
But Julian Smith, the chief whip, said he was confident of getting the deal through cabinet and ultimately parliament once ministers had studied the document. "The prime minister had worked day in and day out; negotiators worked through the night. We are on the cusp of delivering Brexit in a really practical way. She [May] has stuck with it through a really tough year or two."
Initial indications were that ministers were prepared to back May's deal, although last night a group of Brexiters, including the trade secretary, Liam Fox, were planning to meet for breakfast to share their views ahead of cabinet.
One of the ministers who saw the prime minister on Tuesday evening, Andrea Leadsom, told friends she had "a good discussion with the PM" and will be at cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the Brexit papers with colleagues. Transport secretary Chis Grayling was described by friends as "cheerful".
If the meeting concludes successfully, the government will publish the 400-page plus legal withdrawal agreement, the outline political declaration covering the future relationship between the UK and the EU and some accompanying explanatory material. May is also ready to hold a press conference in the early evening.
That will trigger the beginning of the process in which May will have to sell the deal to her party, to parliament and the country and in the process maintain her premiership.
A backstop is deemed necessary to avoid a hard border in Ireland if the UK and the EU cannot agree a free trade agreement by the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020. May has proposed a UK-wide backstop that would result in the whole country remaining in a customs union with the EU.
The deal was concluded at lunchtime on Tuesday after May concluded that it was no longer possible to reach an improved text. The prime minister had a meeting with Raab, in which she and the Brexit secretary agreed it was time to put it to cabinet.
Six key questions about Theresa May's Brexit deal
EU ambassadors had been due to meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the European commission's no-deal preparations. As news emerged of the tentative deal, the agenda was amended to make way for a discussion of the final compromise positions with the member states yet to see the final text.
Some details of the deal were, however, filtering through from the secretive "tunnel" in which the two sides have been negotiating. "London has to say yes now," said an EU official at the heart of the negotiations.
The British team won a victory in persuading Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, that the detail of any fisheries arrangement will be in the political declaration.
The backstop will also require the UK to maintain a "level playing field" with the EU on social and environmental regulation, with negotiators understood to have "heavily boosted" what that will mean with clear detail.
Brexiters in the cabinet – such as Leadsom and Penny Mordaunt – had previously raised concerns that the UK must not sign up to a backstop arrangement that traps the country in a permanent customs union.
Others who have voiced unhappiness in recent meetings include Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, both of whom are considered to be potential alternative leaders. Rumours were also swirling in Westminster last week that Dominic Raab was close to resigning amid concerns about the backstop.
"Brexiters in the cabinet will have to look deep in their souls now," one Conservative Brexit source added.
If the cabinet agrees the plan on Wednesday, the EU expects to hold a special Brexit summit on 25 November, with EU affairs ministers likely to prepare the ground at an extraordinary meeting on 19 November.
Parliament will then ratify the deal in a keenly anticipated "meaningful final vote" that will take place in the middle of December. One Westminster source suggested that could happen on 10 December, following at least two days of debate.
Those hoping to hold a second referendum were expected to use that moment to try to win over a majority in the Commons to the idea.
Which Tory ministers might resign over May's Brexit deal?
On Tuesday night, the leaders of the four main opposition parties in parliament sent a joint letter to the prime minister demanding that the meaningful vote be subject to amendment, allowing alternative ideas to be considered.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, Ian Blackford, the SNP leader, Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, and Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts have signed a letter demanding the ability to amend, debate and vote on any Brexit withdrawal agreement.
The letter, sent on Tuesday, said: "As a minimum, any motion to this House must include: the possibility for multiple amendments to be tabled, with the Speaker able to select multiple amendments to be taken before the main motion.
"While we recognise parliament will have to approve or disapprove any agreement, it would be reckless to present this vote as take-it-or-leave-it without parliament being able to suggest an alternative."


Julieta has been designed by Lluís Clotet. The kitchen boxes in glass and stainless steel for the kitchen and the snail dish "Amélia" are a homage to the characters from the novels of the Spanish poet Foix. In this object the ambivalent detail, close to the designer's heart, is the relationship between the plain glass and the deformed lid.


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Star Wars #38 Starts Kieron Gillen's Run with a Rogue One Tie-In
by Alex Spencer
in Comics, Comic Book Reviews
Salvador Larroca
Guru-eFX
Clayton Cowles
Matthew Wilson, David Marquez
Star Wars. Just those two words, they evoke something solid in your head and heart, don't they? Maybe it's to do with the characters, the way that creatures and places look, the kinds of stories that can be told. Maybe it's just a color palette, or a particular set of sounds. But search your feelings -- it's in there somewhere. And so, with each thing that's added to the Star Wars canon -- whether it's a new film or a game or a comic -- the first test is how well it captures that feeling.
RELATED: Gillen's Star Wars Ushers in a Dark Time for the Rebellion
That's a good question to ask of Star Wars #38, the beginning of Kieron Gillen's tenure on the title. He joins Salvador Larroca, previously his partner-in-crime on Darth Vader, who has been drawing Star Wars for the past dozen issues. Both are accustomed to the Star Wars universe.
But Vader -- and its spin-off, Doctor Aphra -- showed us the dark side of this world, flipping the perspective we're used to seeing it from, and with that came a little extra elasticity in terms of tone. This issue, as Gillen takes the lightsaber-shaped baton from Jason Aaron, is our first proper look at how he handles the main cast, the world, and all the other bits that contribute to that all-important Star Wars feeling.
Let's start with the characters. The Original Trilogy's trio share the spotlight in this first issue with the Imperials and Jedha Partisans, meaning they don't more than a couple of moments each, but it's immediately clear that Gillen has each of their voices nailed. Han is charmingly tetchy, Leia is noble and reserved, Luke is a big kid trying to grow into a hero -- these are the characters are they exist between New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.
Larroca has their facial likenesses down as well, thanks to his photo-referencing-heavy style -- but that does means the characters can fall into the uncanny valley, like Luke down that big tunnel in Cloud City. This wasn't as much of a problem on Vader, where the main recognizable character spends the vast majority of the time with his face covered, but when you're looking at a recreation of Harrison Ford that itches some decades-old memory of the film cell it's referenced from, it can be a little distracting.
What about the setting? The issue brings Luke, Leia and Han to Jedha, the desert moon introduced -- and pretty thoroughly destroyed -- in last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The destroyed landscape doesn't give Larocca much to work with in terms of familiar landmarks, and while it gives colorist Guru e-FX plenty of chance to play with the films' trademark dusty yellows, the palette lacks the crisp blue skies which normally offset them.
That tone is neatly in line with the plot, however, which like Rogue One leans hard on the "Wars" half of the Star Wars equation. The issue runs with that film's presentation of the internal politics in the Rebel Alliance, and takes the destruction of Jedha seriously, considering its aftermath in a way that the films simply don't have time for.
This approach gives the issue a couple of its best moments, but it also means the story has a much more contemplative pace than you might expect from a Star Wars comic. As an opening, it's not exactly the Battle of Hoth -- but you can feel the pieces being dragged into place for more intricate long-form storytelling.
That said, there are still plenty of quips and moments of sheer spectacle threaded through the issue, keeping it just on the right side of that Star Wars feeling test I mentioned at the outset. It's not the immediate proton-torpedo-to-the-exhaust-port hit that Gillen and Larroca's collaboration on Darth Vader was, but it should whet your appetite for what comes next. Just don't expect to find yourself humming bits of John Williams' score while reading it.
Tags: star wars (comics)


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Q: Experiencing high latency when querying DynamoDB from an EC2 instance I have a basic NodeJS web application which scans a DynamoDB table with only ~10 items. When I run the application on locally on my machine, the operation takes less than 1 second.
However, when I deploy the application on an EC2 instance, the same operation takes almost 5 seconds. The EC2 instance(t2.micro) and DynamoDB table are in the same region. I have also enabled VPC Endpoint Gateway service for DynamoDB, but the latency remains the same.
Here are the curl requests to test the performance:
curl -X POST   http://localhost:9000/login -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{ "email": "xyz@gmail.com", "password": "admin", "type": "talent" }' -s -o /dev/null -w  "%{time_starttransfer}\n"                                         0.394470
curl -X POST   http://EC2_IP_ADDRESS:9000/login -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{ "email": "xyz@gmail.com", "password": "admin", "type": "talent" }' -s -o /dev/null -w  "%{time_starttransfer}\n"                                         5.207561
Please help me understand what can be causing these latencies and how do I achieve low latency while querying DynamoDB from an EC2 instance.

A: You need to find what is the time taken by the database and the network. To do that you can check the following

*

*Run your query directly on the DynamoDB to check the amount of time the database is taking. Check whether the query itself

*Check whether the turnaround time difference for your query between code exection on EC2 server and your local machine the same with or without VPC endpoint?

A: The extended latency is very likely not due to DynamoDB if you think about the network hops

*

*EC2 => EC2 => dynamodb (curl http://localhost/...)

*Your desktop => internet => EC2 => dynamodb (curl http://EC2_IP/...)

It's possible you would experience a similar high latency if you just bypass dynamodb call e.g. comment out the code that makes a db call and return a mock response - I suspect you'll get a similar latency as #2


If you have ever been to Italy for a holiday, you will know that Parma ham and melon is a well-loved starter.
This is the simplest of dishes using 2 ingredients that marry so perfectly. Sweet, juicy melon and very thin, salty ham - incredible!
It's a wonderful starter or light lunch, particularly in hot weather.
Simply halve and deseed the melon. Peel and cut into slices.
Arrange on your serving plate.
Trim any excess fat off the ham using kitchen scissors.
Gently drape the thin ham over the melon.
Garnish with a few basil leaves and a grind of black pepper.


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Q: Getting the avarage value from a column in a dataframe if a column contains a string specified in another dataframe I have a large dataframe (prices) that contains a long description and a price associated to that description.
I generated another dataframe (words) that keeps all the unique words that those long descriptions has. What I'm trying to do is to fetch the average price of a particular word from the prices dataframe and then store it in the word dataframe, in the same row that the word is.
I managed to obtain the average of a particular word, but when I tried looping through the word dataframe it takes way too much time.
This works for a single value:
prices.loc[prices['TEXT'].str.contains("PREMIUM", na=False)]['PRICE'].mean()

And this is the Loop I tried running:
for ind in words.index:
  words['avgs'][ind]=prices.loc[prices['TEXT'].str.contains(words['WORD'][ind], na=False)]['PRICE'].mean()

example dataframes:
prices = pd.DataFrame({'TEXT': ['VINO ESPUMOSO ROSE GRADO ALCOHOLICO 11.8 ACIDEZ VOLATIL 0.37 COSECHA 2013 EN CAJAS DE 06X750 ML SIN EMBALAR', 'VINO CON DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN ESPUMOSO SPARKLING ANGEL BRUT GRADO ALCOHOLICO 12.0 06BOTELLAS EN ENVASE DE 750 ML SIN EMBALAR', 'VINO ESPUMOSO CHARDONNAY PINOT NOIR EXTRA BR DE UVA, GR.ALC.12.80, ACIDEZ  VOL. 0.46 G/L.,CAJAS DE 6 BOLTELLAS DE 750 ML. SIN EMBALAR', 'VINO PINOT NOIR ROSE BRUT GA 12.0 AV 0.45 COSECHA 2013 CON DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN EN CAJAS CON BOTELLAS DE 6X750CC SIN EMBALAR', 'VINO ESPUMOSO ROSE GRADO ALCOHOLICO 11.8 ACIDEZ VOLATIL 0.37 COSECHA 2013 EN CAJAS DE 06X750 ML SIN EMBALAR VINO CON DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN ESPUMOSO SPARKLING ANGEL BRUT GRADO ALCOHOLICO 12.0 06BOTELLAS EN ENVASE DE 750 ML SIN EMBALAR VINO ESPUMOSO CHARDONNAY PINOT NOIR EXTRA BR DE UVA, GR.ALC.12.80, ACIDEZ  VOL. 0.46 G/L.,CAJAS DE 6 BOLTELLAS DE 750 ML. SIN EMBALAR VINO PINOT NOIR ROSE BRUT GA 12.0 AV 0.45 COSECHA 2013 CON DENOMINACION DE ORIGEN EN CAJAS CON BOTELLAS DE 6X750CC SIN EMBALAR'],
                       'PRICE': [6.33, 5.43, 2.79, 3.07, 1.96]})

words = pd.DataFrame({'WORD':['VINO', 'ESPUMOSO', 'ROSE', 'GRADO', 'ALCOHOLICO', '11.8', 'ACIDEZ', 'VOLATIL', '0.37', 'COSECHA', '2013', 'EN', 'CAJAS', 'DE', '06X750', 'ML', 'SIN', 'EMBALAR', 'CON', 'DENOMINACION', 'ORIGEN', 'SPARKLING', 'ANGEL', 'BRUT', '12.0', '06BOTELLAS', 'ENVASE', '750', 'CHARDONNAY', 'PINOT', 'NOIR', 'EXTRA', 'BR', 'UVA,', 'GR.ALC.12.80,', 'VOL.', '0.46', 'G/L.,CAJAS', '6', 'BOLTELLAS', 'ML.', 'GA', 'AV', '0.45', 'BOTELLAS', '6X750CC', ]})

Any way to make this code faster?
Thanks!

A: Easiest would be to use Series.str.extractall, then join the extractions back on the index and finally use GroupBy.mean:
matches = (
    prices['TEXT'].str.extractall(f'({"|".join(words["WORD"])})')
    .rename(columns={0:'WORDS'})
    .rename_axis(['index', 'match'])
)

final = (
    prices.rename_axis('index')
    .join(matches)
    .groupby('WORDS', sort=False)['PRICE'].mean()
    .reset_index(name='MEAN_PRICE')
)

Output
print(final)
            WORDS  MEAN_PRICE
0            VINO    3.182500
1        ESPUMOSO    3.405000
2            ROSE    3.330000
3           GRADO    3.920000
4      ALCOHOLICO    3.920000
5            11.8    4.145000
6          ACIDEZ    3.260000
7         VOLATIL    4.145000
8            0.37    4.145000
9         COSECHA    3.330000
10           2013    3.330000
11             EN    3.512500
12          CAJAS    3.330000
13             DE    2.990000
14         06X750    4.145000
15             ML    3.405000
16            SIN    3.182500
17        EMBALAR    3.182500
18            CON    2.908333
19         ORIGEN    3.105000
20      SPARKLING    3.695000
21          ANGEL    3.695000
22           BRUT    3.105000
23           12.0    3.105000
24     06BOTELLAS    3.695000
25            750    2.861667
26     CHARDONNAY    2.375000
27          PINOT    2.445000
28           NOIR    2.445000
29          EXTRA    2.375000
30             BR    2.375000
31           UVA,    2.375000
32  GR.ALC.12.80,    2.375000
33           VOL.    2.375000
34           0.46    2.375000
35     G/L.,CAJAS    2.375000
36              6    2.445000
37      BOLTELLAS    2.375000
38             GA    2.515000
39             AV    2.515000
40           0.45    2.515000
41       BOTELLAS    2.515000


text:
Motorist describes moment he survived the Pittsburgh bridge collapse
Home/UK/Could a £7.5k retreat cure my Covid? After nine months, VICTORIA BISHOFF was ready to try anything
Could a £7.5k retreat cure my Covid? After nine months, VICTORIA BISHOFF was ready to try anything
DUK Editor Team Send an email October 3, 2021
Have you tried cryotherapy yet?' my new friend Mac asks excitedly as he wanders past me dressed in a dark grey bathrobe.
'They put you in a chamber where the temperature is -110c for four minutes. It's great — although my wife Dee nearly fainted on the way out.'
'Oh wow, that sounds incredible,' I respond eagerly. 'I'm just off for altitude training, where your oxygen levels are bounced up and down while you lie in a reclining chair.'
Welcome to Lanserhof, an exclusive resort in the Austrian Alps where the rich and famous go to detox. Except I'm not here to be prodded and poked, frozen and bounced, in the name of wellness or weight loss.
I'm here to test the resort's brand new offering — its two-week Long Covid package, a series of tests and treatments designed to help sufferers like me attempt a return to normal life.
It's estimated that more than two million people have Long Covid in England alone. I caught the virus at the start of this year, before the vaccination roll-out, and spent nearly three weeks in bed.
Since then I've battled exhaustion, brain fog, headaches and constant sinus problems. Each time I thought I was over the worst of it and tried to return to life as I knew it, I'd end up relapsing after a few weeks and be forced to retreat to the sofa once more.
It became an endless cycle of boom and bust, leaving me frustrated and miserable. Usually I'm very active, running and playing tennis three or four times a week, but there have been times over the past nine months when just walking up a flight of stairs left me shaking with fatigue.
Lanserhof is a resort in the Austrian Alps where the rich and famous go to detox. Victoria Bischoff (pictured) tested the retreat's two-week Long Covid package for £7,550
And while I'm lucky to be in a job where I can work from home when I don't have the energy to commute to the office, I've felt tremendous guilt about having to lean heavily on colleagues during the rough spells.
And even then, the long hours meant I often only just had enough energy to crawl into bed at the end of the day.
To make matters worse, in May I also developed a condition known as parosmia, where your sense of smell and taste is distorted.
Food I used to love was suddenly repulsive and it became almost impossible to eat a balanced diet. Just smelling a tomato would make me physically sick.
I lost a stone in just six weeks, depleting my already low energy reserves further.
Finally, in August, I realised that if I didn't slow down I was going to be too ill to attend my own wedding on September 8, which had already been postponed twice as a result of the pandemic.
And so with the support of colleagues, friends and family, I put myself on bed-rest for two weeks. The break worked and fuelled by adrenaline (and Prosecco), I was well enough on the day to put in a serious stint on the dance floor.
Another crash seemed inevitable as a result.
There is currently no tried and tested treatment for the syndrome — online forums are littered with sufferers' stories and tips, but results vary hugely from person to person.
So when I was offered the chance to try out the new Lanserhof Long Covid package, I had my bags packed in an instant.
I was willing to try anything to kick this debilitating illness, even if it did mean ditching my new husband for a week less than a fortnight after we were married.
Based in Lans, a small village around five miles from Innsbruck in Tyrol, western Austria, the Lanserhof resort is a cross between a plush spa and futuristic hospital.
Surrounded by mountains, meadows and forests, it is the perfect location for those looking to escape busy lives.
Its regular guests come here for a 'rest cure', to drop a few pounds or recover from burnout, under the close supervision of expert doctors offering every imaginable therapy, from acupuncture and reflexology, to blood cupping and spiritual cleansing — as well as all the scans and tests modern medicine can offer.
Everything about the decor, from the calming neutral colours to the underfloor heating in the bathrooms, is designed to encourage relaxation. And with the likes of Victoria Beckham and Cara Delevingne among the Lanserhof clientele, there is no expense spared.
In fact, so popular is it with British celebrities, there's a spin-off Lanserhof at The Arts Club in London.
Padding through the corridors, I half expect Marianne Faithfull or Dynasty star Emma Samms, both fellow Long Covid sufferers, to swish past me in the their fluffy robes.
But as I sit in the dining room on the first evening of my seven-day taster stay, I start to wonder what on earth I've let myself in for. All the guests are sitting apart on their own individual tables, and I'm struck by how utterly miserable the woman next to me looks.
Usually on holiday, dinner times are a rowdy affair, with people laughing and joking as they gorge on rich food and wine. Yet as I tuck into a tasty meal of fillet of pike perch with potato slices and vegetables, the room is silent as guests nurse what looks like pale yellow tea while popping an assortment of pills.
I flick through the information booklet entitled 'energy cuisine' in front of me and frantically reach for my mobile phone to send my husband Chris — and several other friends — a series of panicked messages.
The first part of the package is a meeting with the doctor who will assign me a 'diet level'. If you are on 'zero' you receive just one pot of tea or clear vegetable soup three times a day, the leaflet explains.
Level one includes an 'aid for insalivation and chewing trainer' — or what you and I might call bread (buckwheat toast or a spelt roll) — at breakfast, and a potato with linseed oil for lunch.
At diet level two, you can have something more substantial for breakfast, such as quinoa porridge and a protein supplement at lunch, which could be a portion of sheep cheese. The Holy Grail that is diet level three includes a proper lunch of either fish or meat with vegetables.
'Pray for me,' I text Chris.
The next morning, dressed in my smartest Sweaty Betty athleisure wear, I nervously venture down to the pristine medical suite where there are floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the most spectacular view of the Alps. The NHS this is not, with smiling doctors gliding around, looking like they have just walked off a catwalk.
My doctor, Dr Andre Fraidl, promptly appears and ushers me through to an examination room where he takes a look at my medical history.
After explaining my mum had died of ovarian cancer seven years ago, he seems shocked to learn I've never had an ultrasound to make sure I am all clear.
This will not be the first time during my stay that I think how foolish it is we do not spend more time and money on preventive healthcare rather than just waiting until we are sick and need help.
Next he weighs me and takes my blood pressure before — much to my relief — awarding me diet level three. But even this is no picnic as despite getting real food for breakfast and lunch, 'dinner' is still only a teapot of vegetable broth.
It means that after lunch at around midday, my next meal is not until breakfast at 7am the next morning — around a 17-hour fast.
The idea seemed bonkers to me at first — and particularly cruel given I've spent five months struggling to eat. Surely Long Covid sufferers should be fuelling their body in order to improve energy levels, not starving it?
And I started to wonder if they were simply repackaging their existing treatments to cash in on Long Covid.
But upon further research, I have to admit the theory behind fasting is convincing.
At Lanserhof, the belief is that poor diet is the root of many modern ailments and that a healthy gut is key to recovery. Around 70 per cent of the body's defence or immune cells are in your gut, I'm told, and giving your digestive system a break can boost your overall health.
As well as a 'simplified' diet, this means eating slowly and chewing everything at least 30 times, so it is easier for your body to absorb nutrients, and not drinking during meals to avoid diluting digestive juices.
I'm also instructed to drink warm water with Epsom salts each morning to — and these are not my words — flush out the rubbish.
I must take bitter drops before meals to support the detox process and acid-base balance capsules three times a day to even out my body's pH levels.
With my new foul-tasting goodies in hand, I'm sent on my way with a treatment schedule for the week.
Ordinarily, guests fill in a questionnaire about what they want to achieve during their stay and choose from an impressive array of tests and treatments.
The Long Covid programme typically includes a massage, breathing therapy, urinalysis to identify infections or kidney problems and personal training sessions.
But because everyone's symptoms are so different, each plan is tailored to the individual — particularly when it comes to exercise. Whereas I was considered well enough to undertake light strength training in the gym, others with more severe symptoms would only be taken for a short walk.
Long Covid sufferers are also offered simulated altitude training. Popular among athletes, this involves temporarily reducing your oxygen supply (hypoxia) and then increasing it (hyperoxia). The aim is to help cells regenerate, boosting your immune system and energy levels.
Victoria (pictured with Dr Veronika Hoerbst) has battled exhaustion, brain fog, and sinus problems due to Long-Covid and was willing to try anything to kick the debilitating illness
The experience is strangely relaxing. After an initial bout of anxiety as the mask is strapped to my face and my finger placed in a pulse monitor, I spend the next 40 minutes drifting in and out of sleep.
During this time my body thinks it has moved between sea-level and 4,500 m (nearly the height of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe) five times. And I'm assured I will reap the positive effects for months to come.
Other treatments are a little more 'out there'. Craniosacral therapy is supposed to help you relax by 'focusing on your personal inner rhythm'.
In my case, this involved a therapist holding my feet for a while, then my leg and arm, and finally my head. But while I may have scoffed at first, I felt as though I'd been put into a trance, and really did feel more centred when I stood up after.
It is this mix of state-of-the-art medicine with 'natural' healing techniques that makes Lanserhof unique.
If you keep an open mind, the possibilities are endless — which is how I came to find myself dancing around a fire under a full moon with three other guests one evening after we had burned any negative thoughts scribbled on scraps of paper.
For the record, this fire ritual is not strictly part of the Long Covid package, but one of the many group activities on offer to all guests.
I did say I was willing to try anything, but it felt a little too close to a scene in Nicole Kidman's new Prime Video thriller Nine Perfect Strangers, which reflects the darker side of wellness retreats, for my taste.
But it's not all happy yoga poses, and on day three I experience what the experts here dub the 'cure crisis'. My head is pounding, I feel sick and can't stop shaking. I'm assured this is a perfectly normal side-effect of caffeine, sugar and alcohol withdrawal, but I feel incredibly sorry for myself.
Fortunately, after some lunch to boost my blood sugar levels and gentle encouragement from a fellow guest, Alex, who had found me curled up in a chair with my head in my hands, I soon felt more energetic than I had in months.
So much so that by the end of the week I took off on a three-hour solo hike up the nearby mountain Patscherkofel — although I can't say I didn't miss my usual rucksack of sugary snacks.
Sadly, there wasn't much help on offer at Lanserhof for Long Covid sufferers with parosmia — largely because there aren't really any treatments available. But the clinic's limited menu yielded unexpected results.
I had noticed a little improvement in my sense of smell and taste before arriving in Austria, but had been apprehensive about revisiting foods that had previously made me sick, such as tomatoes, peppers and courgettes.
But because the chefs at the clinic do not use garlic or onions — two smells I can no longer tolerate — or any rich sauces, I found I could eat a wider variety of food than I thought possible. And it was a real eureka moment — sad as it sounds — when I was able to demolish an entire bowl of tomato soup on day five.
I was suddenly filled with hope, for the first time since Covid, that my body may be slowly healing.
With so much about Long Covid still unknown, it's too soon to tell if any of the treatments Lanserhof offers will help in the long-term. But I left feeling far sprightlier and with a fresh determination to start prioritising my heath.
Of course, a stay at this luxury resort is not cheap, and, for many, the hefty price tag of more than £7,000 for two weeks will be prohibitive.
But if you feel as desperate as I have over the past year, then perhaps it is not such a wild idea to splurge on a chance to feel more like yourself and able to face the world again.
It's easy now to see that I did little to help aid my recovery and pushed too hard when I should have rested.
And there's no doubt there were other factors contributing to my ill health — not least an existing back condition which requires me to take immunosuppressant drugs and meant I was considered vulnerable to start with. As well as two years of wedding stress.
As Dr Katharina Sandtner, medical head at Lanserhof, tells me: 'You already had issues which meant your body was at its limit, and so when you got Covid, it was like 'boom'.
'We launched the Long Covid programme because lots of people were asking us for help, but it's important you do not see Lanserhof as offering this programme and that's it. We look at you as a whole and all your issues.'
One of the best things about Lanserhof is that it affords you the time and space to give your health and wellbeing your full attention — a rarity for most people struggling to juggle all the demands of everyday life.
No, I'm not cured, but I feel better placed to manage the ups and downs.
As for whether this feeling lasts or if I'm destined to slip back into old habits, that remains to be seen — but I'm choosing to be optimistic.
Though if I never see a cup of pale vegetable broth again, it will be too soon.
A 14-night Long Covid programme at the Lanserhof costs €8,817 (£7,550) including accommodation. For more information visit lanserhof.com.
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