text:
Swisscom to upgrade the fixed telephone network
Swisscom Fixnet is investing around CHF 250 million by the end of 2004 in upgrading the present infrastructure of the fixed telephone network. The modernisation programme has been running since November 2003 and will continue until the end of the year. Significant line disruption is expected temporarily in certain areas between 5 May and 11 December 2004.
The upgrading of the present exchange and network infrastructures will result in disruption of between ten minutes and two hours after 11 p.m. at night to around 1.6 million telephone lines during the course of the year. Work on the telephone network will last for a period of fourteen months overall.
Customers affected will be notified beforehand in writing. The federal and cantonal governments, local authorities and in particular all emergency services such as the police, fire and ambulance services have already taken the necessary precautions in collaboration with Swisscom. The mobile network will not be affected by the disruption.
Modernisation aimed at reducing energy and operating costs
Swisscom aims over the next few years to adapt the developments that have gradually arisen over 150 years of telecommunications history to meet new and changed customer, market and communication needs. Swisscom Fixnet is therefore planning to invest around CHF 250 million in upgrading the present infrastructure of the fixed telephone network. The modernisation programme will run until the end of the year and forms part of Swisscom's planned annual investments for 2004 of around CHF 1.3 billion.
The focus is being placed consistently on future-oriented exchange and network solutions as well as high-quality telecommunications services. The upgrade will also facilitate system and network maintenance while reducing energy and operating costs.
This will enable basic service provision, which the federal government has awarded to Swisscom until 2007, to continue to be safeguarded throughout the country thanks to a high-quality network infrastructure.
Cantons mainly affected will date of upgrade
Canton Date
Solothurn 07.05.2004
City of Basle 11.06.2004
Vaud 25.06.2004
Neuchâtel 09.07.2004
Bern 15.10.2004
Ticino 12.11.2004
Aargau 19.11.2004
Owing to the upgrade of the fixed network, brief disruption will occur to the telephone lines in some towns and villages in the cantons affected.
Berne, 6 May 2004


text:
Growing Tragedy
The death toll from Aceh alone may now reach 400,000, according to Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo:
He said the estimate was based on air surveillance by Indonesian authorities who found no signs of life in places like Meulaboh, Pulau Simeulue and Tapak Tuan while several islands off the west coast of Sumatera had "disappeared".
He said the latest death toll of more than 40,000 in Acheh and northern Sumatera did not take into account the figures from the other areas, especially in the west of the region.
"Aerial surveillance found the town of Meulaboh completely destroyed with only one buiding standing. The building, which belonged to the military, happens to be on a hill," he told reporters after receiving RM1 million in aid for Indonesia's Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund here Thursday.
Rusdihardjo said there were about 150,000 residents in Meulaboh, which was located 150km from the epicentre of the earthquake while Pulau Simeuleu had a population of 76,000.
The inexorable rise in the death toll reflects one of the most pervasive features of this whole tragedy: the way that the full enormity of the disaster has taken so long to sink in. The Swedish government's response is fairly typical: "we didn't fully understand the scale of how many people would be injured and dead." I was certainly guilty of this: my first post was almost light-hearted, complaining about the poor quality of the footage we were seeing. I had the excuse that I'd just received word from my son in Thailand that he was safe: a colossal relief of course, but looking back I never really expected it to be otherwise. It seemed like just a handful of tourists had been caught. Now, well, I read about the father who flew out to look for his son, in time to identify the body....
I wonder if there's not some kind of protective mechanism at work here. It's the sheer excitement of it - the awe-inspiring vision of nature doing its worst - that grabs you at first. Wow, you think, just look at the power of that. I'm sure something similar would have been the response of many of those who saw the waves approaching: before self-preservation kicks in and you run like hell, there's an overwhelming urge just to stand and gawp in amazement, like the tourists in the series of pictures in the Times today, from Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand (I can only find one on line - no. 16 in the picture gallery "pictures of the disaster" from the Times front page). Some are running, but some are just staring, transfixed, in awe.
Update: that same photo - which in the Times print edition is the third of three - features here, in the blog of an American in Phuket describing what happened when the tsunami hit.
Hitch at FrontPage
Clive Davis links to a long Hitchens interview at FrontPage, with the man, promoting his latest book, on great form.
FP: Mr. Hitchens, it was a real privilege to speak with you. Congratulations on your new collection of brilliant essays and I wish you all the luck in the future. I hope you will not be shy to visit us again soon.
Hitchens: Shyness is not the problem.
Sontag and Courage
In the wake of Susan Sontag's death, the most quoted of her writings is this paragraph penned in the New Yorker just after 9/11 (see Tim Blair or LGF):
Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware of the ongoing America bombing of Iraq? And if the word "cowardly" is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others. In the matter of courage (a morally neutral virtue) whatever may be said of the perpetrators of Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards.
For Marc Cooper, jumping to her defence, "Sullying Sontag for this postulation was, in itself, an act of cowardice." Marc goes on to say how poorly Sontag fitted the stereotype of a kneejerk leftie:
In 1982, Sontag raised a storm at a New York Town Hall rally for the Polish Solidarnosc movement. Saying that Communism was but Fascism with a human face, Sontag angered the liberal audience by arguing that if anyone had read only The Nation or only the Readers Digest over the previous 20 years, the one who read the Digest would be be better prepared to understand the revolt in Poland.
During the 1990's Sontag made the Balkans and opposition to Milosevic's form of facsism her personal crusade, making serveral perilous visits to Sarajevo and -- somtimes alone among American intellectuals- calling for armed Western intervention.
Which is all true. Nevertheless her New Yorker remarks were offensive. She's claiming to be stating uncomfortable facts whereas she is in truth condoning - "undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions" - and even lauding, comparing the hijackers favourably with pilots bombing Iraq. Despite the pretence that courage is morally neutral, it is no such thing. To ascribe courage to someone is to praise them. That's why her contention that the attackers were not cowards - in effect, that they were courageous - grates so much, and intentionally so. She claims to be just giving the facts, which the general hysteria of the moment had obscured, which people of lesser integrity (and, yes, courage) than herself were too scared to utter, intimidated as they were by the herd requirement to condemn. But to ascribe courage to the 9/11 hijackers, or to suicide bombers generally, is simply perverse. Yes, it's clear why someone might wish to say that: in a sense the decision to pull the pin and end your life along with other innocents around you requires a certain determination which is also required by acts of courage; but that's as far as it goes. Courage is not a word we should be using in such situations. Perhaps cowardly is not much more appropriate, but at least it manages to convey some condemnation of a despicable act: a condemnation which Sontag was at pains to distance herself from.
Update: Roger Kimball provides a typically jaundiced but amusing overview of Sontag's career. Going to Sarajevo in 1993 to produce Waiting for Godot--"surely one of the consummate radical chic gestures of all time".
Iranian Bloggers
Parthisan at the Persian Students in the UK blog (via Jeff Jarvis) translates a post by Mohammed Ali Abtahi, the former VP of Iran, "because I believe it is one of the most important actions that he (as part of Khatami's government) has taken during the past 8 years. Abtahi, as the ex VP in Parliamental Affairs, and a member of the Constitutional Supervision Committee, has published some details of interrogation and torture that has happened in prisons, and I'm sure by doing so he is seeking public and international attention to this subject. It is very important to let the world, the media, and human rights organisations hear about it. FYI Abtahi is the only Iranian government official who blogs daily in his famous personal weblog Webneveshteha."
Following a call from the President, the constitutional supervision committee -- of which I'm a member -- invited a number of imprisoned bloggers for a meeting to investigate about the way they were treated in prison. Mr Hanif Mazruee, Ghoreishi, Ms Fereshte Ghaazi, Naderpoor and Ms Mahboobeh Mollagholi attended the meeting. They told very important points about the unjustifiable treatment they had received, including:
1- Physical torture, punches and kicks: "he banged my head to the bench that made my recently-operated nose bleed, and later I found out that they broke my nose"; "they punched us"; "we were alone in single cells for months"; and things of this kind...
2- The classical questions about sexual relationships [to create moral scandals]: "Write down the names of your boy/girl friends"; "tell us about your illegal [= out of marriage] sexual relationships"; "what kind of relationship have that girl/guy had with you?"; "how many times have you been raped, or have you raped?"; and worst of all, they gave the names of 6 reformist activist to one of the girls asking her to confess in writing that she had had illegal sexual relationship with them. And when the girl refused, they brought in a former prisoner (who had turned to their side under torture) who told the girl face to face that he had had sexual relationship with her!
3- The interrogations were managed by a formerly arrested blogger. A few other bloggers who had [given up and] repented before were under less pressure, and were in a way helping the interrogators who had lack of technical knowledge on the subject [of internet and blogs]. This proves that weak people cannot be trusted in politics. However, we understand the situation they're in and can't really blame them for what they've done.
4- Objection to the bloggers right to hire lawyers, ignoring their legal rights.
5- The interrogators lacked technical knowledge [on the subject].
6- The interrogators tried to force bloggers to confess in writing based on the templates given to them in prison, which were along the same line as the Spider's Web conspiracy article published in Kayhan newspaper. The bloggers were told that they would be freed once their confessions were printed in daily newspapers. Some of the bloggers had accepted the terms, but those whom we met today had not given up.
7- The bloggers were individually asked to write lies about the sexual and sometimes political corruptness of a number of different politicians. All of them were asked to write about Mostafa Tajzadeh and myself [Abtahi] amongst others.
The SEA-EAT Blog
Here's a blog devoted to the SE Asian earthquake crisis. "News and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts". Lots of helpline info, emergency numbers, etc.. Latest death toll 34,000, though the Indonesian figure alone could increase by 20,000. Also this:
An earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists have said.
The 9.0-magnitude temblor that struck 250 km southeast of Sumatra island on Sunday may have moved small islands as much as 20 metres, according to one expert.
"That earthquake has changed the map," US geological survey expert Ken Hudnut said.
"Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 metres. That is a lot of slip."
Korea Magazine
NK Zone contributor Andrei Lankov takes a wry look back at Russian attitudes to North Korea in the Asia Times:
Back in the 1970s, when I was a teenager in the then Soviet Union in my native Leningrad, many barbershops stocked copies of Korea magazine, a lavishly illustrated North Korean propaganda monthly. What was such a publication doing in the barbershops? The answer, I suspect, would be quite embarrassing for its editors: it was subscribed to in order to amuse the patrons who were waiting for a haircut.
The magazine was heavily subsidized by Pyongyang, so its annual subscription rate was dirt-cheap while its content was both bizarre and funny. Thus the magazine, which was published to inspire worldwide love and admiration for the Great Leader and his son and successor, the Dear Leader, was often (I would say from my experience, in most cases) subscribed to by people who saw it as a laughingstock and opened its pages only to make fun of the Great Men. The North Korean propaganda appeared very weird to the Russians - not least because it looked like a grossly exaggerated version of their own official propaganda. The grotesquely bad Russian translation of the texts also provided unintended comical effects.
This remarkable magazine is warmly remembered by ex-Soviet people of middle age, many of whom still can easily quote more weird sentences from memory. Sets of this venerable monthly are kept by some Russian families, and there are even a couple of Russian websites where sarcastic webmasters have collected particularly bizarre and/or comical quotations from Korean propaganda materials.
The last message we got from our son in Thailand, on Christmas Eve: I've had enough of Bangkok so I'm off to the beaches in the South to relax. Mmm, good timing. He's fine, we now know, but it meant that I spent more time than I wanted yesterday watching the 24-hour news channel. You'd think, what with all the thousands of people lounging on beaches armed with cameras, that someone would have managed to get some decent shots of the tsunami approaching, but instead we had the same tired footage of flooded streets in the Maldives, and interviews with journalists taking their holidays there or in Thailand, who managed to provide uninspired comments on their own little experiences. Pride of place must go to the hack on a beach in Thailand who saw the wave in the distance and rushed into his hut to get his camera, couldn't find it, rushed back out, and just had time to pick up his 5-year old son before they were swept off into the mangrove swamps. Very scary, he reckoned. Give that man a Pulitzer!
In fact the tsunami didn't fit the classic image of tiny figures fleeing in terror before a huge wall of water. It was more of a surge: relatively low, but just as relentless and devastating. The death toll will surely keep on rising.
Tim Blair has details, plus links to aid organisations.
Zahra's Blue Eyes (Updated)
MEMRI report on an Iranian TV drama series about the Israeli government stealing eyes from Palestinian children:
Iran's Sahar 1 TV station is currently airing a weekly series titled "For You, Palestine," or "Zahra's Blue Eyes." The series premiered on December 13, and is set in Israel and the West Bank. It broadcasts every Monday, and was filmed in Persian but subsequently dubbed into Arabic.
The story follows an Israeli candidate for Prime Minister, Yitzhak Cohen, who is also the military commander of the West Bank. The opening sequence of the show contains graphic scenes of surgery, and images of a Palestinian girl in a hospital whose eyes have been removed, with bandages covering the sockets.
In Episode 1, Yitzhak Cohen lectures at a medical conference on the advances being made by Israeli medicine regarding organ transplants. Later in the episode, Israelis disguised as UN workers visit a Palestinian school, ostensibly to examine the children's eyes for diseases, but in reality to select which children's eyes to steal to be used for transplants.
In Episode 2, the audience learns that the Israeli president is being kept alive by organs stolen from Palestinian children, and an Israeli military commander is seen kidnapping UN employees and Palestinians.
Update: Once that old trade-in-human-organs meme gets going, there's no stopping it. This story from the Saudi government daily Al-Watanwas was also published in the Iranian daily Jomhouri-ye Islami, and the Syrian daily Teshreen:
"Secret European military intelligence reports indicate the transformation of the American humanitarian mission in Iraq into a profitable trade in the American markets through the practice of American physicians extracting human organs from the dead and wounded, before they are put to death, for sale to medical centers in America. A secret team of American physicians follow the troops during their attacks on Iraqi armed men to ensure quick [medical] operations for extracting some organs and transferring them to private operations rooms before they are transferred to America for sale.
"The reports confirm the finding of tens of mutilated cadavers or cadavers missing parts. Some were found without a head. The American military command could not offer reasons to explain the bewilderment about the missing parts, suggesting that this may have been caused by the penetration of bullets to the [missing] parts. But these excuses cannot be medically accepted. The reports also confirmed that the burning of bodies was deliberate in order to conceal the crime of organ extraction. [The reports] further indicate that American medical teams have [made] active and suspicious moves in Iraq to recruit some Iraqis to guide them to dead and critically injured individuals to engage in the extraction of organs. These teams offer $40 for every usable kidney and $25 for an eye. The reports confirm the finding of mutilated bodies in Fallujah. The reports indicate that the cadavers are immunized inside special cars to prevent the spread of the plague until the bodies are buried by their relatives.
Syrian Baathists
It's not exactly a surprise, but now the Iraqis claim to have evidence that senior Syrian officials have been assisting the Iraqi insurgency:
The evidence includes photographs of Syrian officials taken from Iraqi fighters captured during the offensive against Fallujah last month.
US Marines in Fallujah also found a hand-held global-positioning system receiver with waypoints originating in western Syria and the names of four Syrians in a list of 27 foreign fighters contained in a ledger.
Hassan Allawi, Iraq's newly appointed Ambassador to Syria, told The Times in Damascus: "Prime Minister Iyad Allawi wrote a letter to the Syrians saying he had the pictures but was not going to release them despite being under pressure from the Americans to do so."
Mr Allawi said the photographs were found in the possession of Moayed Ahmed Yasseen, also known as Abu Ahmed, leader of the Jaish Muhammad group composed of former Baathist intelligence personnel. One picture showed Mr Yasseen standing beside a senior Syrian official, he said. Mr Yasseen was arrested in Fallujah in mid-November.
The evidence has triggered renewed accusations by US and Iraqi officials that Syria is providing assistance to former Iraqi Baathists who are believed to be running the insurgency from Damascus.
Last week General George W. Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq, said that the exiled Baathists had formed a group called the New Regional Command and were directing operations from Damascus. He said the Syrian authorities were "not going after the big fish, which is really the people that we're interested in".
Mr Allawi claimed there was an "Iraqi Baathist invasion of Syria" which was a real danger to the Syrian Government. "It is overwhelming," he said. "They stole gold and robbed banks and came here. They have enough funds to keep fighting for 30 years." [...]
Most of the wealthier Iraqi exiles have settled in the Mezzeh district of west Damascus. They drive expensive cars and dine in the priciest restaurants. Most Sunni Iraqi exiles openly support the anti-US resistance.
Among names mentioned by the exiles as leaders of the reorganised Iraqi Baath party are Sabawi Ibrahim, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, who headed Iraqi intelligence at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, and Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed, secretary-general of the Iraqi Baath party regional command.
Many Iraqi exiles say that Syria is being unfairly singled out for criticism when there are many more Baathists, including senior figures of the old Iraqi regime, living in Jordan.
Those happy to see the cancellation of the Behzti play in Birmingham are all quite adamant that this is nothing to do with censorship. From the co-founders of the Three Faiths Forum, in the Times' Letters to the Editor:
Whatever the message intended by the offending play, it can surely be set within a context other than a place sacred to the Sikh community, and we hope Birmingham Stage Company will not decide to perform the play without considering amendments which will take account of the feelings of the Sikh community. This is not a request for censorship but a plea to show sensitivity — something surely not beyond the skills of the artists concerned — and to desist from religious harassment and deliberate provocation.
From Clare Gorst ("one of the few non-Asian protesters at the demonstration outside Birmingham Repertory Theatre last Saturday"):
The opposition to the production was generated not by a desire by the Sikh community to curtail freedom of speech but by sanctity besmirched.
From Arun Arora (Director of Communications, Diocese of Birmingham, 2000-04):
The issue is not free speech or censorship. Rather it is a matter of religious sensitivity and respect.
If people are at risk of being offended by a play, they have the option of not going to see it. It's as simple as that. Forcing the play's cancellation is, um, censorship.
Update: according to the Scotsman, the play may be staged at the Royal Court theatre in London in the new year.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I was introduced to Melbourne through the T.V.Series "Masterchef Australia ."
I have always been a self confessed foodie and ever since the Masterchef Australia series launched in India , I was hooked to this show .Through this show I discovered not just the various kinds of cuisines that exist in this world but also how a single city ,Melbourne, nestles in its heart so many varied cultures and nurtures them to the extent that they become a name to reckon with and carve a niche for themselves .
The God of Greek Cooking and my personal favorite the gregarious George Calombaris ,who owns five restaurants in Melbourne itself ,including his flagship Melbourne restaurant, the award winning "The Press Club."His now famous motto "Food is Family, Family is Life, Life is Everything" is like a food anthem in itself .Where else can you get that sort of warmth and comfort ?
If I ever visit Australia I would love to visit Melbourne and also meet George Calombaris and also celebrity chef and famous pattisier Adriano Zumbo,maker of the famous macaroon croquembouche tower .
Of course my food tour will hardly be complete without visiting the Yarra Valley famous for its wineries and strawberry hunting in strawberry fields where you can then get fresh jams and scones .The wineries have something new for the kids too , they take you for a tour on a special ride called the segway ,which is basically a bit like a fun scooty ride but one has to stand and then vroooom around .Isn't that eco-friendly and fun !
That is what I love about the Melbourne, it is modern with the latest world events happening here ,yet in harmony with its varied culture , heritage and wildlife .
Since I enjoy travelling with my kids there is a lot for the kids too .Hot air ballon rides Video here for the whole family would be a life time experience .Also I think the kids would love the seals and penguins at the Philip Island , near Mebourne .It is home to about 32,000 little penguins ! You can see seals and penguins in their full natural habitat in a steamer ride .
Of course Hubby dear would never miss a visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG ) which is going to be hosting the next CRICKET WORLD CUP in 2015 .He being an avid tennis player would also insist on visiting the Rod Laver Arena where The Australian Open is held .
I would love to end my trip with a bit of relaxing and rejuvenation at the Hot water springs at the Peninsula ,which would really round up the trip very nicely , like icing on cake or like fresh strawberries on my ice-cream.Yeah , I am a foodie all right !
You would be wondering where did I get all this info even though I have never been to Melbourne myself .Well I just clicked here at Tourism Victoria website and loved the virtual tour of Melbourne .So you too can do the same and plan your travel to the most happening and livable place on the map-Melbourne .I think it one place everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime .
The best answer will win a gift voucher from Sin-ply Pretty , so what are you waiting for ?
Contest closes on 5th January 2015 so,Hurry !
Melbourne is one of the world's most livable cities. It is a city of sophistication and innovation.
It is also a city of history and diversity.
My reason for want to visit Melbourne Specially for MCG, I Like Cricket.
Also it's Attractive Restaurents, certain streets, Great Ocean raod for coastal drives.
I like it's Public Transport system, for inner &outer suburbs by trains along with free trams.
Yes , Mohit .It is a world class city .
What an imagination , Oh mysterious CRUXREBELS !
Yes ,Melbourne is a treat for sports lovers .
Loved finding gold and celebrating it part of your comment, Hema !
Nice post. And pretty well explained. I absolutely loved the way you described the places in detail. Your post gives me a feeling that I've been there in Australia for myself. Of all, I would like to go and experience the hot air balloon ride. Would be an awesome experience, that too one, memorable for an entire lifetime.
I would like to visit these places in Melbourne just because of not been there and would like to enjoy the natural beauty and historical places over there :).
Straight from the heart , Hafeezur !
WHoooah ,Alok Timetraveller ! Best of luck for the contest !
I am just like you , attracted to natural beauty and Australia has plenty of that .
Best of Luck and a Happy New Year to you too , Jhilmil !
Being a person who loves to travel this place has struck my eye.
And here, Eureka Skydeck 88 is going to be first on my list.. i can just imagine the view after reading about it and i feel its going to be awesome.
Melbourne is going to be a great place to visit and enjoy a holiday..
You have described some of my favorite places from Melbourne in such a way that it sounds more tempting.
Thank you all for your feedback .
I now declare the first one to comment , Mohit kumar as the winner of this contest .Congratulations to you !


text:
Mins. Of Health, Endowments team up on addressing overpopulation
Minister of Health and Population, Hala Zayed (left) and Minister of Awqaf (Endowments) Mokhtar Goma'a (right) during a joint press conference held on Tuesday, July 19, 2018 at Al-Nour Mosque in Abbasiya district, Cairo - Egypt today/ Ahmed Ma'rouf
CAIRO – 19 July 2018: Overpopulation is considered Egypt's top threat as it continues to devour the state's resources; thus leading to grave increases in poverty rates.
As part of the state's ongoing bids to curb overpopulation, ministries of health and endowments fused tanks under a unified agreement that aims at raising awareness on the overriding threat.
In a press conference held on Wednesday, Hala Zayed, minister of health and population, said that the ministry is continuously working to address the issue of overpopulation by generating awareness campaigns and introducing methods for family planning.
She further stressed the important role that the Endowments Ministry plays in taking down the levels of overpopulation in the Egyptian society, confirming the need to join forces to address the dangerous phenomenon medically, socially and religiously.
"The ministry will dispatch special medical convoys in Egypt's different governorates to raise awareness about overpopulation. The convoy will include preachers and imams that will directly interact with people that still think that birth control practices are religiously forbidden," she added.
For his part, Minister of Awqaf (Endowments), Moukhtar Gumaa, said that the medical convoys will be taking place over the next couple of weeks.
He stressed that birth control has become necessary and not optional, confirming that family planning strategies were practiced during the lifetime of prophet Muhammed, who instructed his companions to opt for the pull out methods for the benefit of the family and the whole community.
In preparation of the awareness convoys, a number of imams and preachers are scheduled to attend the specialized training program prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Population to tackle some issues related to the population and family issues, from July 17 to 19.
"We must have a solution to the problem of the growing population rates, given that it is considered to be Egypt's second biggest problem after terrorism," said Goma'a.
He pointed out that population increases by 2.5 million annually, which entails the establishment of 2,500 new schools and 50 hospitals each year alongside other infrastructure projects.
Egypt's births reach 2.55M in 2017, rate decline recorded: CAPMAS
CAIRO - 7 June 2018: Egypt's number of births reached 2.55 million in 2017, with 1.288 million in urban areas, and 1.264 million in rural areas, according to a recent report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has repeatedly spoken on the problem of population growth, describing it as a challenge that is as critical as terrorism, a challenge that deters any development.
Earlier in May, The Ministry of Social Solidarity officially launched a family planning campaign under the slogan "Two is enough", aiming to control the dangerously growing population.
The campaign aims to reduce the birth rate to 2.4, targeting rural areas where many view large families as a source of economic strength and resist birth control, believing that it is un-Islamic.
egypt today


text:
Graduate Seminar: Professor Emeritus Rémi Brague (University of Paris)
Time: Wed Apr 3, 2019, 10:30 am - 1:00 pm
Location: 715J Hesburgh Library
Professor Emeritus Rémi Brague, our lecturer for April 2nd, will also offer this graduate seminar. The seminar runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes lunch.
The seminar is open to all. A reservation is required if you wish to join for lunch. Please respond by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 1st.
Prof. Rémi Brague is Professor Emeritus of Medieval and Arabic Philosophy (Université Paris I) and the former Romano Guardini Chair of Philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He has been Visiting Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University, John Findlay Visiting Professor at Boston University, Hans-Georg Gadamer Visiting Professor at Boston College, and Visiting Professor at the Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona) and the Università San Raffaele (Milan). He is a member of the Institut de France and was the 2012 recipient of the Joseph Ratzinger Prize. He is the author of numerous books on classical and medieval philosophy, culture, religion, literature, and law, including Europe, la voie romaine (1992), La Sagesse du monde: Histoire de l'expérience humaine de l'univers (1999), Introduction au monde grec. Études d'histoire de la philosophie (2005), La Loi de Dieu. Histoire philosophique d'une alliance (2005), Au moyen du Moyen Âge. Philosophies médiévales en chrétienté, judaïsme et islam (2006), Modérément moderne (2014), and Le Règne de l'homme: Genèse et échec du projet moderne (2015).


Given that national outrage now operates on pace with the heartbeat of a hummingbird, it already feels like a lifetime ago that President Donald Trump dismissed immigrants from places like Haiti as infectants from "shithole countries." The crassness of his remarks notwithstanding — it was hard to miss the barely contained glee with which expertly coiffed TV news people deadpanned the word "shithole" for the better part of 72 hours — Trump's dismissal is less shocking in the context of early American history.
Anglo-American journalism has been grappling (uncomfortably) with a central question since long before Trump: Who should, or shouldn't, be allowed to join the "the public" and why? It's safe to say not a lot has changed rhetorically in 309 years.
Consider the "shithole country" of the early 18th century: Germany. Of course, there was no such thing then as "Germany" in the way we'd conceive of it. Rather, it was a collection of princely states ruled by regional grandees. One such region was the Palatinate, destroyed by war with Catholic France and a run of harsh winters.
Lured by promises of sanctuary from the Protestant English Queen Anne, about 13,000 Palatines pulled up stakes and made their way via Rotterdam to London, where their refugee shanty camps were the cause of much dismay among already-overcrowded Londoners.
Paraphrasing his opponents' argument, Defoe wrote on June 23, 1709, that the immigrants would "starve our poor, rob the manufacturers of their bread, and help impoverish us. ... [I]n Time we shall drain all Germany of their poor." Britain, the anti's said, should take care of Britons first.
Queen Anne ultimately sided with the party in Parliament that agreed with Defoe, and paid to send more than 1,000 Palatines to the colonies.
Public reception wasn't much better on the other side of the Atlantic. By the 1750s, Benjamin Franklin, an ink-stained wretch, put the Palatines on blast in prose that evokes the unabashed nativism of Breitbart (Benbart?).
"Why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours?" he wrote in the essay "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, People of Countries, etc.," published in 1755. "Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs ..."
The original print version of this article was headlined "From Boors to Sh--holers"


In the company of Distinguished Guests, Eddie Jones & the England Rugby Squad and Jonny Wilkinson CBE to raise funds for England Rugby & Sport Relief's Try for Change Fund and The Jonny Wilkinson Foundation. Tickets by invitation only.
Join The European Tour for a glittering evening of Golf & Entertainment featuring The European Tour Awards. Raising funds for The European Tour Foundation.


text:
De Golepolder is een polder ten zuidoosten van Breskens, behorende tot de Baarzandepolders.

De 24 ha metende polder werd geïnundeerd in 1583 en herdijkt in 1610. Ze wordt begrensd door de Golepoldersedijk en de Hoofdplaatse Weg. Ten noorden van de polder ligt een bedrijventerrein, ten westen liggen woonwijken van Breskens.

In de polder bevindt zich een complex van nissenhutten. Deze werden gebruikt door werknemers die, na de Tweede Wereldoorlog, meewerkten aan de wederopbouw van het -door geallieerde bombardementen- zwaar getroffen dorp. Later kwamen hier Ambonezen te wonen. Vervolgens werden de nissenhutten omgebouwd tot vakantiewoning.

Externe link
 Nissenhutten

Polder in Sluis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The theory part of the training will be performed in e-learning or virtual class.
In driving lesson will focus on the risks involves in driving in different areas: urban area, suburban area, slippery track and night driving with simulator.
All driving teaching will be given with the real passenger car, which mean you will get the real touching to driving instruction from the beginning.
The risk management training will be arranged according to the student's schedule. Contact the driving school and we will arranged the course to you.


Coconut seems to be one of the buzzwords of the year, finding benefits in its addition to skincare, healthy eating and even haircare products. You name it, there will be a coconut-related alternative or variation to try. Hair serums are no exception, and OGX's Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum uses the properties of coconuts to promise longer locks and less damaged ends as a result of its use, as part of their Coconut range. The Coconut Milk combines a blend of coconut oil, whipped egg white proteins and coconut milk itself, a weightless formula that you apply after washing to towel-dried hair from your palms.
It comes in a cute little bottle with a pump dispenser, and you get quite a lot for your money - 118ml for £5.99 goes a long way when you're only using a drop or two per application. As you'd expect, the scent is coconut-y, which isn't my favourite for hair products - I much prefer sweet, fruity scents. However, it isn't at all lingering and it pretty much disappears when it's dry.
When I first started using this serum, I put it through most of my hair but just avoiding my roots which made it a lot more wavy than it usually is - something I find serums tend to do to my hair. If I'm looking for volume and more defined waves then the serum is great, but when I want a sleeker look I tend to just rub it into the ends of my hair. As a result, they are much more hydrated and silkier, which is great for drying split ends and heat-damaged hair. When the ends are not looking as drab, my whole hair tends to look healthier (especially if you are in desperate need for a haircut but don't have time to get one). I like to use it with the Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence which adds shine all over. Just be careful not to overuse the Coconut Serum as too much may leave your hair on the greasy side of shiny.
So if your hair is lacking moisture, this will put some life back into it and bring you back to that healthy, just-cut-and-washed-at-hairdressers look that is near on impossible to maintain in the temperamental British weather. You can buy it from high-street stores such as Superdrug and Boots, or online at Feel Unique.


ASTM / ASME A/SA 182, B247, B361, ASTM B381, Stainless Steel Lateral Outlets, carbon steel Lateral Outlets, Alloy Steel Lateral Outlets, Duplex Steel Lateral Outlets supplier.
in a wide-ranging range of Stainless Steels, Carbon Steels, Alloy Steels and Non-ferrous metals.
Can I order Lateral outlets for my overseas plant?
We export all our products along with Lateral outlets overseas. Please drop us an email with your requirements and we will get back to you.
On what basis the price will be calculated of Lateral outlets?
Depending on your quantity and quality as well as type the price will be calculated for Lateral outlets. We exports only the best quality material. So you don't need to worry about our quality of Lateral outlets.


text:
Leila Anderson Biography
By Jeeya - Aug 13, 2019
Quick Facts Of Leila Anderson
Leila Anderson
Leila Anderson Scott
John J. Scott
Lucinda Jane Scott
Acting Career
Alabaster, Shelby County, Alabama, United States
Leila Anderson is a South African performance artist whose work balances the theatrical, the visual, and the performative. Her ongoing collaboration with Dutch artist Stan Wannet has produced several live installations works over the last two years. She is a part-time lecturer in contemporary performance at the University of Cape Town.
Where is the birthplace of Leila Anderson?
Back to his early life, Leila was born as Leila Anderson Scott in South Africa. She was South African by nationality and belongs to mixed ethnicity. She is Christianity by religion.
She is a daughter of John J. Scott and Lucinda Jane Scott. She has an all together 7 siblings. Some of them are the following: William Shelby Scott, Henry Lafayette Scott, Drusilla Holley, Matilda Scott, and Samuel H. Scott.
The information regarding her education is yet to be revealed. In the case of revealed, we will let you know.
When did Leila Anderson pursue her acting career?
Talking about her career, There is no information when Leila pursue his acting career but here are some list of films, TV series, and Theatre play of Leila Anderson which given below:
Flims: Dinner For Three, Underexposed, and Dirt.
TV series: Land of Thirst.
Theatre: The Machine, The land of Beyond, La Traviata, Afrika Lacht, The Diagnosis, Exotic Alien, Foreign Affair: Trotsky, Kitchen, Isabella, Three Women, We are Too Many, Women Beware Women.
Does Leila Anderson honor with the awards?
2007 Fleur Du Cap nomination Best Costume Design with Illka Louw for Women Beware Women
2006 Most Outstanding Student of the Dramatic Arts
2005 Special Movement Award
2003 to 2005 Merit Award
2004 to 2005 Speech Training Scholarship
2003 to 2005 Dean's List
Is Leila Anderson dead?
According to some online sources, Leila died on March 31, 1974, in Alabaster, Shelby County, Alabama, United States. The cause of her death is yet to be disclosed. In the case of disclosed, we will let you know.
How tall of Leila Anderson?
Before her death, Leila stands a height of 1.67m and weighs is unknown. Similarly, She has a pair of blue eyes and brown hair color. Her other body information is yet to be disclosed. In the case of disclosed, we will let you know.
#Actress
#Died
Permalink: https://gossipgist.com/leila-anderson
Lorenzo Lazo biography
Jeeya / June 14, 2019
Nelly Yoa Biography


The Rossland-Trail club fell behind early and could not bridge the gap in the battle for bronze against the Dam City Rollers.
Penalties stung the RTRG in their first game of the West Kootenay Roller Derby season five months ago and came back to haunt them in the league final Sunday.
The Rossland-Trail club fell behind early and could not bridge the gap in the battle for bronze against the Dam City Rollers from Castlegar.
The new club dropped a 243-159 decision to the Rollers, a team it had split the season series with at one game apiece.
RTRG were behind 119-68 at the half, having been down over 70 points at one stage of the game, 110-38.
Despite a strong early push from RTRG, the second half was dominated by the Rollers with steady, consistent scoring as RTRG kept up a steady stream of penalties.
The RTRG were missing a lot of their key jammers. Three of the club's four top scorers and veterans were missing due to injury or unable to make the match.
Combined with sloppy play it proved fatal for the Roller Girls from Greater Rossland.
"If we stayed out of the penalty box it would have made a difference," she said.
Penalties can make or break a game, said RTRG coach Railroad. There's always a lot of penalties called in any roller derby game, he said, but it's just better when the opposition gets more called on them than you do.
The jammer is the one player on the track out of five who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team.
The RTRG were a new entry in the five-team league. Now in its third season, the league was compressed down from seven teams, and amalgamated two-time league champions (and undefeated in two seasons) Rossland's Gnarlies Angels, with cellar dwellers Bad News Betties from Trail into the Roller Girls.
The club was a mix of veteran players and "fresh meat" on its 26-player roster, but the Nelson Killjoys—fused out of two Nelson teams—contained seven league all star players.
The other clubs in the league—that sports over 100 players—include the Dam City Rollers, Babes of Brutality and the Valley Vendettas.
In the gold medal match up, the Nelson Killjoys triumphed over all others this season by beating the Salmo Babes of Brutality 244-130, winning the coveted Golden Boot during the Mountain Mayhem finals.


text:
Is The Rocker a Crowd Pleaser?
Memo to Rainn Wilson: a shot of a paunchy middle-aged man in his jockey shorts is not automatically funny.
Okay, it kind of is. But the obligatory Will Ferrell (tm) tighty-whitey shot of Wilson, so inimitably Schrutey as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office, is not enough to sustain a 100-minute comedy.
The Rocker could have been -- should have been -- as crowd-pleasing as an encore of Pour Some Sugar On Me. That it turns out to be an almost entirely laugh-free comedy must be blamed on the director, Peter Cattaneo, who received an Oscar nomination for helming The Full Monty but now works like a man who has not even seen that film. As for Wilson, his debut as a leading man is going to turn out to be one doodle that can't be undid.
Wilson plays Robert "Fish" Fishman, a heavy metal drummer (a subject, by the way, about which Wilco has already said all that needs to be said, in their song Heavy Metal Drummer) whose band, Vesuvius, is just about to make it big in the 1980s when the group (whose members include Will Arnett of Arrested Development and Fred Armisen, who plays Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live) fires him to create a job for the nephew of their record company's chief.
The scene of Vesuvius rocking it '80s style is amusing, but it's about all the movie has to give. Fast forward 20 years, when Fish is working in a highly Schrutey job in a phone bank. Vesuvius turned out to be a rock band as indestructible as Aerosmith, and they're about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. An office mate brags that he's just scored the new Vesuvius CD, and he doesn't even know about Fish's stint with the band. (Which seems unlikely. If you were once the drummer for Van Halen, how many beers would it take to get this information out of you?)
https://pjmedia.com/blog/is-the-rocker-a-crowd-pleaser/


text:
Then and Now: The Dulcimer Evolves
There are two main characters in Pluck; one is David Schnaufer, the other is the mountain dulcimer. If the dulcimer or traditional music is new to you, this post is for you.
What's the big deal? you may ask. Well, let's take a quick look at how this intriguing instrument and its players changed over time. Pluck is a history of what happened in between.
Here's Kentucky's "Uncle Ed" Thomas, who makes a brief but important appearance early in Pluck.
James Edward Thomas (1850-1933)
And here's the great Sam Edelston in 2020.
Experience the joy of Sam's extraordinary playing on his website here and on Facebook here.
Ivan Doroshuk, founder and lead singer of Men Without Hats posted Sam playing here ("You can safety dance on a dulcimer if you want to!")
See Uncle Ed's genealogy page here
If you're into antiques, see selected dulcimers Uncle Ed Thomas made in Berea College's collection here.
Uncle Ed Thomas
Sam Edelston
Pluck the Biography


text:
in: Characters, Female Characters, Humans (Homo sapiens),
No Dual Identity Characters
Allan Heinberg/Creator
Jim Cheung/Creator
Married Characters
Earth-616/Characters
Bishop Family (Hawkeye)
Susan Bishop (Earth-616)
Susan Bishop
Nicknames:
Suze[1]
Derek Bishop (father)
Eleanor Bishop (mother)
Heather Bishop (paternal step-mother)[2]
Kate Bishop (sister)
Spouses:
David (estranged husband)[3][4]
Irises:
Earth-616
No Dual
New York City, New York State
Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
(February, 2005)
Susan Bishop is a weathly New York socialite and the estranged sister of Kate Bishop.[4]
Susan Bishop was a weathly socialite living in New York City. After the apparent death of her mother, Susan expressed displeasure with her "running all over the world trying to save it" and not being with her family more. She coped with the loss of her mother by spending all her time spending her father's money.[5]
Despite being her maid of honor, Kate frequently butted heads with Susan about her wedding.[5][1] The two sisters generally had a strained relationship.[3][5][4]
During her lavish wedding at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, five unnamed gunmen took the wedding party and its guests hostage and robbed them. The Young Avengers were able to rescue everyone, but nearly failed and destroyed property in the process.[3]
Before moving to Los Angeles, Kate came out as a superhero to her sister. Unfortunately, Susan completely rejected her efforts to be a hero and effectively ended there relationship.[4]
When Derek Bishop disappeared, Susan had to take over the family business. Her work duties also put a strain on her marriage leading to her and David breaking up.[4]
After being estranged for some time, Susan reached out to Kate using subterfuge to lure her to investigate the mysterious goings on at the Resort Chapiteau in The Hamptons.[4]
According to Kate, Susan hates everything that Kate does.[4]
Susan's wedding cost approxiately five hundred thousand dollars.[5]
Like her sister Kate, Susan doesn't call her stepmother "mom".[2]
5 appearance(s) of Susan Bishop (Earth-616)
3 mentions of Susan Bishop (Earth-616)
3 image(s) of Susan Bishop (Earth-616)
1 quotation(s) by or about Susan Bishop (Earth-616)
↑ 1.0 1.1 Avengers: The Children's Crusade - Young Avengers #1
↑ 2.0 2.1 Hawkeye Annual Vol 4 #1
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Young Avengers #1
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #1
↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Young Avengers Special #1


text:
GOP floats $100M school voucher plan
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
Educational technology has no place in the 2007 federal budget, but private-school vouchers do, according to Congressional Republicans, who on July 18 proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools and attend private schools at public expense.
The voucher idea is one in a series of social conservative issues meant to energize the Republican base as midterm elections approach. In announcing their bills, House and Senate sponsors acknowledged the legislation is unlikely to come up for a vote this year.
Still, the move signals a significant education fight to come. GOP lawmakers intend to try to work their voucher plan into the No Child Left Behind law when it comes up for reauthorization next year.
"Momentum is on our side," said Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House education committee.
The Bush administration requested the school-choice plan, but the July 18 media event held to unveil it caused some awkwardness for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The department had just released a study that raises questions about whether private schools offer any advantage over public ones.
Under the new legislation, the vouchers would mainly go to students in poor schools that have failed to meet their progress goals for at least five straight years.
Parents could get $4,000 per year to put toward private-school tuition or a public school outside their local district. They also could seek up to $3,000 per year for extra tutoring.
Supporters of the measure say poor parents deserve choices, like rich families have. When schools don't work, said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, "parents must have other opportunities."
During Bush's presidency, Congress approved the first federal voucher program in the District of Columbia, as well as private-school aid for students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Lawmakers also have cut federal ed-tech funding from nearly $800 million when Bush took office to $276 million this year–and if administration officials get their way, the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program would be eliminated altogether in 2007.
So far, Congress has refused to approve Bush's national voucher proposals. The latest plan is the first to target money for kids in schools that have fallen short under federal law.
Critics dismissed the GOP's $100 million voucher announcement as an election-year gimmick and reiterated arguments against vouchers.
"Voucher programs rob public-school students of scarce resources," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union. "No matter what politicians call them, vouchers threaten the basic right of every child to attend a [high-]quality public school."
Meanwhile, Spellings faced questions about her department's handling of a new study comparing students in public and private schools. The report was quietly released on July 14.
ED's independent National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that public schools perform as well as or better than private schools, with the exception of eighth-grade reading, in which private schools excelled. The results prompted questions from voucher critics about why taxpayer money should go toward private schools instead of toward improving public schools.
NCES looked at fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores from about 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools. Private-school students historically score higher, but in this study, NCES made adjustments to account for student demographics–such as socioeconomic factors and race–which leveled the playing field.
Conservative Christian schools, which typically favor vouchers, had scores significantly behind public schools in eighth-grade math, the study found. The NCES results mirrored similar findings from an earlier University of Illinois study on math.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told reporters at the GOP rally that she hadn't yet read the NCES report. Even so, it was reported, she spoke of what she characterized as the study's "modest sample." NCES also cautioned that because schools are all very different, across-the-board comparisons of the two types of schools might be of "modest utility."
Spellings also had this to say about the NCES research: "It was not an evaluation of how school vouchers, how scholarship programs, how additional resources work for low-income families trapped in chronically low-performing schools. I do see them as … apples and oranges issues."
The study found that students with equivalent demographic characteristics do as well or better in public schools as in private schools. For instance, when scores were adjusted for characteristics such as school size, location, and the composition of the student body, the average for public schools was significantly higher than the average for private schools for grade 4 mathematics and not significantly different for reading.
Grover J. Whitehurst, director of ED's Institute of Education Sciences, said NCES had not previously considered student variables. And although the study shows that taking such variables into account does change the research results, he said, the findings are of "limited value" because they represent only a "snapshot in time" without longitudinal significance.
Spellings said NCES must improve the way it releases such reports. She rejected any suggestion that the department sought to bury the study because it put public schools in a favorable light compared with private ones.
http://www.ed.gov
"Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling"
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006461
House Committee on Education and the Workforce
http://edworkforce.house.gov
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
http://help.senate.gov
staff and wire services reports
Latest posts by staff and wire services reports (see all)
'Buyer's remorse' dogging Common Core rollout - October 30, 2014
Calif. law targets social media monitoring of students - October 2, 2014
Elementary world language instruction - September 25, 2014
Tags Funding, Superintendent's Center


Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead is pleased to offer you this impressive 2019 Mercedes-Benz Metris, generously equipped and finished in beautiful Artic White, along with . Advertised price excludes all official government fees and taxes, dealer fees and customer-selected options. Please inquire about our Star Elite and Loyalty Rewards Programs. You may also be eligible for additional incentives and/or discounts, so please contact your Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead Sales Professional for more information.


text:
Q: How do you calculate the angle between one object and another? How do you calculate the angle between one object and another assuming your first object is your origin and the up vector is, well up? I struggled with this problem in android and java for about six hours and there wasn't any really good questions or answers that gave a correct way to calculate it.
If the question is not super clear:
I have an object on the screen and I want to know what the angle is from this object with up being the y axis (or 90 degrees) to another object on the screen. So if the first object is at 1,1 and the second object is at 2,2, then the angle should be 315. This is because 0 degrees is to the right, 90 degrees is up (y axis), 180 degrees is left, and 270 degrees is down.

A: There might be more elegant solutions, but I found this works well:
float angle = (float)Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2((double)(y1 - y2),(double)(x1 - x2)));
angle = (angle + 180.0f) % 360.0f;
angle = 360.0f - angle;

This gives the angle starting with 0 right, 90 up, 180 left, and 270 down. I answered my own question because it took me over a day to find this and it wasn't on the internet. I hope it helps someone. I'll leave the question unanswered for a day or two, to see if anyone can find a more elegant solution or a better way of expressing the answer. This answer is in java and has been tested on Android.

A: The answer is to use the dot product, thus:
theta = arccos( a.b / (||a|| ||b||) )

where . denotes the dot product, and || || denotes the vector magnitude.
So in your case, you pick a to represent "up" (so probably (0,0,1)), and b to be the difference between your two points.

A: In Java there is a function called Math.atan2(). This takes in a "vector". Generally you have 2 points and you need to calculate the angle between them. This can be done like:
Point p1 = new Point(2,6);
Point p2 = new Point(3,1);
double angle = Math.atan2(p2.y-p1.y,p2.x-p1.x);

Math.atan2 returns the results in the format specified here: Math.atan2

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
(979) 845-1851 | nri@tamu.edu | Search
Private Land Stewardship
Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
Welcome to the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. The GC-CESU facilitates collaborative research, education and technical assistance pertaining to the human and natural environment, within and beyond the region, among federal and state agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations.
Gopher tortoise translocation and monitoring
The EAFB is a part of the Candidate Conservation Agreement for the gopher tortoise. This species is extremely critical to habitat preservation because it digs burrows that provide habitat for over 350 species. The EAFB teamed with NRI through the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Sikes Act Cooperative Agreement (CA) to support the gopher tortoise. This collaborative partnership between DoD, NRI, USFWS, and Save Florida's Gopher Tortoises resulted in capturing more than 1,000 gopher tortoises, removing them from development properties throughout Florida, and relocating them to EAFB. This successful project continues today.
Defining the extent of white-nose syndrome
In Texas, White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is transmitted between eastern and western North American bat species due to the diverse climatic regions in Texas. Determining where WNS will show up next in bat populations, it is important to understand where these bats are hibernating. This study sought to continue the collection on the composition and abundance of bats and their winter hibernacula in order to establish baseline bat population counts and characterizations of bat hibernacula prior to the development of WNS in Texas (Hayman et al. 2016).
Key deer population surveys and monitoring
Understanding current and potential future conditions is critical to the continued management of the Key deer population. Most importantly, obtaining a current annual population estimate post screwworm and Hurricane Irma is vital to Key deer recovery efforts. The primary objective of this project is to (1) obtain a population estimate for Key deer within the core population, (2) evaluate temporary markers to aid in obtaining population estimates, and (3) update and recommend post-monitoring survey methods to support the current and future recovery actions.
Address: 578 John Kimbrough Blvd.
2260 TAMU
Email: nri@tamu.edu
Texas Veteran's Portal
Equal Opportunity for Educational Programs Statement
NRI Tools


text:
MONDAY, Jan. 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A new analysis uncovers a racial paradox in prostate cancer care: While Black men are often diagnosed later and with more aggressive disease than white men, radiation therapy seems to work better for them than for their white peers. To come to thatContinue Reading
New Zealand Aims for Zero Smokers in a Generation: Could Plan Work Elsewhere?
By: TheHealthCast Team
In: Cancer, Healthy Living, Public Health
THURSDAY, Dec. 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Nearly all countries agree: Smoking is bad, and getting people to kick the habit is a worthy public health goal. But no country has ever attempted what New Zealand is about to try: an outright ban on all cigarette sales. The plan isContinue Reading
Could Vaping Help Smokers Quit, Even When They Aren't Trying To?
In: Cancer, Healthy Living
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Some smokers who take up vaping may give up tobacco cigarettes altogether — without ever intending to, a new study suggests. The researchers see this as a hopeful sign that daily use of e-cigarettes can play a role in helping people quit smoking.Continue Reading
New Clues to How Ovarian Cancer Begins — and Might Be Prevented
In: Alternative Medicine, Cancer, Genetics and Genetic Disorders, Health & Technology, Women's Health
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Researchers say they may be closer than ever to detecting ovarian cancer earlier and improving the odds for women with this life-threatening disease. In a new study, scientists used stem cells created from the blood samples of women with BRCA mutations and ovarianContinue Reading
'Breakthrough' COVID Infections Can Still Be Deadly for Cancer Patients
In: Cancer, Medical Disorders, Vitamins / Drugs
MONDAY, Dec 27, 2021 (HealthDay News)– When fully vaccinated cancer patients develop a breakthrough case of COVID-19, most will become seriously ill and end up hospitalized, a new study finds. The conclusion stems from the experience of 54 cancer patients who developed COVID-19. Sixty-five percent were hospitalized following infection, whileContinue Reading
Could a High-Fiber Diet Help Boost Cancer Survival?
In: Cancer, Dieting, Health & Technology
MONDAY, Dec. 27, 2021 (HealthDay News) — People undergoing immune-boosting therapy for advanced melanoma may respond better if they eat a high-fiber diet, a new study hints. Researchers said much more study is needed, but their initial findings — in both melanoma patients and lab mice — suggest that fiber-richContinue Reading
Genes 'Switched On' Much Earlier in Human Embryos Than Thought
In: Cancer, Genetics and Genetic Disorders, Health & Technology, Parenting
MONDAY, Dec. 27, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Genes in human embryos become active far sooner than once thought, according to a study that provides fresh insight into development. Contrary to the old view that gene activity begins two to three days after conception when the embryo is made up ofContinue Reading
Coping With Cancer and COVID During the Holidays
In: Cancer, Infectious Disease, Medical Disorders, Public Health, Vitamins / Drugs
FRIDAY, Dec. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Tempting as it is to mingle with friends and relatives, anyone with cancer should take extra precautions this holiday season to avoid COVID-19. Their families also need to be cautious to help protect them, experts say. Yale Cancer Center reminds people who areContinue Reading
Heavier Drinking During Pandemic Means More Liver Disease to Come
In: Alcoholism, Cancer, Mental Health, Organs
FRIDAY, Dec. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) — It's clear that COVID-19 has killed many hundreds of thousands of people in the United States. Less clear is its impact on other health issues, which will be felt in the years to come. Liver disease is projected to be one of those,Continue Reading
CT Lung Cancer Screening Saved His Life, and Could Do So for More
In: Cancer, Health & Technology
THURSDAY, Dec. 23, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Wolfgang Lehner always considered himself "a triple threat" when it came to cancer risk. One grandfather died of lung cancer in the 1970s. His other grandfather had his own bout with stomach cancer. And Lehner himself was a smoker. Although the New YorkContinue Reading
Previous 1 2 3 … 422 Next


SwordSearcher includes a book module called Outlines of the Books of the Bible. A great way to use this book is from the Bible margin, where you can link into the verse's place in an outline of the whole book.
What if you don't see the OutlinesBB book link in the margin?
…and make sure OutlinesBB is selected in the list.
As you can see, there is a match in Genesis 1:1 in the Ellicott commentary. When clicked, the full entry is loaded in the commentary panel.
Now what is important to remember is that the search results are shown a lot like a web search– you only see the first match in the preview. But there may be more.
The + and – buttons (circled) allow quick scrolling to each match in the entry. These buttons only appear when viewing search results in the panel.
You can also use the keyboard numeric keypad + and – keys to perform the same action. In fact, this has been possible in previous versions of SwordSearcher, but was hard to learn about without reading the manual. These new buttons make it a lot easier.
The buttons also appear when using the Verse Guide so that you can cycle over multiple verse references matching a verse in an entry.


text:
Princess Twilight Takes Over for the Final Season of My Little Pony
The countdown to the final episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has begun. The premiere of the show's ninth season, entitled "The Beginning of the End," aired over the weekend with some pretty big revelations about what to expect for the finale. This is still far from the end of the My Little Pony franchise as the series has been rebooted many times since the '80s. It's just that this particular iteration of it that began in 2010 was by far the most popular and lasted the longest. It's hard to believe it's been going for almost a decade now. The series was incredibly intricate in building it's vast world of Equestria and wove tons of fun new mythology into the franchise. It also placed heavy focus on princesses and princess culture in general. The pony kingdom of Canterlot is run by Princess Celestia. Showrunner Lauren Faust wanted to her make a queen but got turned down by the studio when they claimed that girls see princesses as good and queens as evil. A little later in the series, Twilight Sparkle was promoted to the rank of princess as well, but the meaning behind that was a bit muddled when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still considered to be the ones in charge of Canterlot. "The Beginning of the End" cleared up some of that confusion for us.
At the end of the third season, Twilight Sparkle was crowned "Princess of Friendship," and her library turned into a glittering castle for her and her companions to solve friendship problems that they were guided to by an enchanted map. Though this was a heroic and adventurous task, it didn't quit fit the rank of "princess," especially after Twilight Sparkled was mentored by Princess Celestia for that very purpose. The Crystal Empire, another kingdom in Equestria, is run by Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, and sister-in-law, Princess Cadance, but Twilight had never been given her own kingdom to run. Instead, she ends up running a friendship school for ponies and other mythological beings that inhabit her universe during the forgettable eight season of the show. Twilight's obsession with learning and studying make her more fit to run a school than an entire kingdom, but the problem is that she still has that title looming over her. She would much rather run a school than be an actual princess, judging by her freak out session when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna tell her that they are retiring and would like Twilight to be their successor in the opening scene of "The Beginning of the End." Even though these plans later get delayed in the two-part premiere, it is clear that the series is intended to conclude with Twilight's takeover over Canterlot.
The new season kicked off with one of my favorite jokes in the entire show. When Twilight asks her friends how she can possibly run the kingdom without Celestia or Luna's help, Rainbow Dash points out that the two most powerful princesses in the land had never done anything to help them through any of the other calamities they faced together over the course of the series, and Applejack makes note of this as well. This was something that had always bothered me, so I loved that someone in the show finally pointed it out. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are supposed to be in charge of the safety and well-being of Canterlot, but whenever some sort of supernatural threat appears, they are never anywhere to be found, and it is always up to Twilight Sparkle and her friends to save the day. This was particularly apparent in the mediocre theatrical movie that the franchise released in 2017. In many ways, Twilight acts like more of a leader than Celestia ever did. This season's premiere did its best to resolve this plot hole by giving Celestia and Luna the opportunity take action by fighting off a deadly forest that came to life. By the end of the episode, they come to the conclusion that they didn't realize how much they enjoyed actually using their powers and decide to give Twilight more time to adjust to her new role (approximately 26 episodes worth of time).
Of course, merely training to run a kingdom is not much of a plot in itself, so the season premiere also introduced a new big bad that the mane six will likely face off against in the finale. Grogar is an ancient ram sorcerer who spread darkness throughout Canterlot before the events of the series took place. He summons three villains that the ponies had defeated in previous seasons--King Sombra, Tirek, and Cozy Glow--in order to build a team strong enough to take on the mane six. This tradition of introducing an ultimate villain at the eleventh hour has been done in other princess shows such as Sofia the First, which concluded with Sofia's defeat of Vor. Giving the protagonists an opportunity to take on someone who is stronger than any being they had faced before gives the series a hopeful and conclusive ending that reassures the audience that the main characters will be willing and able to take on any challenge they might face after the curtain closes. Grogar seems to be the first villain on the show that appreciates the value of friendship. He asks other villains to team up with him before calculating his plans and eliminates those who attempt to stray from the group. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has proven time and again that there is power in numbers, so his battle strategy could easily make him the biggest threat yet.
I have thoroughly enjoyed every episode I have seen of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, but I can't say that I'm disappointed it's ending. Nine years is a very long run for a series, especially an animated one, and I feel that it has already exhausted most ideas for new stories involving the mane six. That said, I'm very happy with the direction it appears to be taking for its final season. Twilight Sparkle's role as a princess never made much sense before without a kingdom for her to run. Since Princess Celestia was her mentor from the beginning, it is logical and fitting that she would eventually take her place. Grogar is already on the path to becoming one of my favorite villains from the show because he is the first to understand the benefits of friendship and to use it to his advantage, which makes me wonder how he will inevitably be defeated in the end. It looks like we are in for a wild ride for the remaining 24 episodes in the series.
cartoons my little pony reviews
Let's Talk About These New Aladdin Clips
Review: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - Season 2
Review: Rapunzel and the Vanishing Village
Review: The Last Autumn Fairy
Review: Tangled - Destinies Collide
Review: The Lady and the Wish
Princess Twilight Takes Over for the Final Season ...
Review: The Beast and the Beauty
Behind the Scenes at the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Final...
Review: Just the Way You Are


text:
The Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) signed a memorandum of understanding with Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) at a ceremony held at Sunbird Lilongwe Hotel on 11th February 2019.
Executive Director for CFTC, Charlotte Malonda and Chief Executive Officer for TCC, Mr. Kayisi Sadala signing the MOU
Speaking at the function, the Executive Director of CFTC, Ms Charlotte Wezi Malonda indicated that the MOU was premised on the role CFTC has been assigned by the Competition and Fair Trading Act of 2013 as a regulator of contract farming strategy which the tobacco industry is also implementing through the Integrated Production System (IPS). The MOU, therefore, cements collaborative working relationship with TCC recognizing that TCC is the tobacco industry regulator on production and marketing.
"Through this MOU, CFCT would like to see uncompromised competition at the tobacco selling floors, fair trading conduct by the grower associations, grading companies and transporters", she said.
Collaborating the Executive Director was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for TCC, Mr. Kayisi M. Sadala who acknowledged the long process it has taken to reach an agreement between the two regulatory bodies.
'The MOU marks a significant process in enforcement of competition and fair trading by equipping the two institutions with necessary tools to regulate challenges rocking the tobacco industry to the benefit of the tobacco farmers', he said.
He cited the continued practice of inter-trading which has compromised fair trading in the tobacco industry.
Through this MOU, Mrs Malonda said 'players are free to lodge concerns or complaints with either CFTC or TCC and the two institutions shall engage with each other in responding to the concerns or complaints'.
She further appealed to TCC to join hands with CFTC to make the tobacco industry more competitive.
The Tobacco Commission launches 2019 Tobacco Grower Outreach programme | 2019-06-14 |


text:
A Wake-equalising duct is a ship hull appendage mounted in the inflow region of a screw propeller intended to realign and adjust the velocity of the wake at the inflow to the propeller disc. Wake velocity may be straightened out, given contra-rotational swirl, accelerated, or a combination of these effects, all of which can improve propeller efficiency, giving either higher thrust or reducing power requirement for the same thrust.

Structure
The wake-equalising duct is a static flow modifier attached to the hull upstream of the propeller within the wake. It may be made of a single circular section duct directly ahead of the propeller, with fixed internal and/or external fins to impart rotational changes to the wake flow, or as two semicircular ducts mounted further forwards, one on each side of the hull, aligned to provide the desired flow modification. The duct(s) may be eccentrically mounted to include mainly the thickest part of the wake. This offset would usually be above the centre of the shaft.

Function
There are four components to the wake modification.
The wake is accelerated by the shape of the duct to be closer to the free-stream velocity of water over the rest of the propeller disc.
The direction of flow is aligned more closely with the free stream inflow.
A contra-rotational swirl may be induced, which will reduce outflow vorticity.
Flow separation at the afterbody may be reduced, which can reduce the thrust-deduction factor
These have the effect of increasing the efficiency of the propeller as it is working in a more uniform flow, and less energy is lost to hub vortex. The more uniform inflow conditions can also significantly reduce propeller blade vibration.
Fuel savings of up to 12% have been claimed. The system has the greatest benefit on hulls where the inflow conditions are inherently more disturbed.

Versions
The Becker Mewis Duct is a version based on an eccentric annular nozzle fitted between the hull and the propeller, supported by a number of flow directing radial vanes, each of which is angled to optimise inflow direction. The design is patented and has been in use since 2009.

The Schneekluth Wake Equalising Duct is a version using two semicircular nozzles, one on each side of the hull, centred above the shaft centreline, and angled to provide contra-rotational outflow swirl.

References

Naval architecture
Shipbuilding
Marine propulsion


text:
Imperial visiting lecturers make 3D printed face visors for NHS
FAC Technology engineers developing 3D printed face visors for NHS.(Credit: Imperial College London)
Imperial College London said that two of its visiting lecturers from FAC Technology have been making 3D printed face visors for hospitals to help manage COVID-19 treatment.
The lecturers Alex Fergusson and Declan Carolan have been making the face visors for NHS personnel on a voluntary basis.
The partly 3D printed face visors are used by healthcare staff as personal protective equipment (PPE) during the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.
Both Fergusson and Carolan are visiting lecturers on the fourth year Composites course in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. The duo's team at FAC Technology is said to have been given an initial request of 100 visors from the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London so that new hospital staff can be trained in safely donning and doffing PPE.
The two lecturers are said to have made the 3D printed face visors themselves along with the company's office manager Amanda and her family.
The visor design was further enhanced and developed by them following feedback from NHS professionals, which included the Infection Prevention and Control team at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT). Following this, several other batches of PPE equipment were donated to other hospitals.
Fergusson said: "We've supplied 100 of our Nightingale design to Richmond as well, along with 1000 of our newer version. They've asked for 2000 more. We've also been giving them out to other NHS trusts as nurses and doctors request them."
According to Imperial College London, for making the process of 3D printing visor parts faster and more efficient, Fergusson joined forces with Dan Plant, a PhD alumnus of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the university who is also the founder of Rheon Labs.
Plant's company is employing its in-house injection moulding processes to help in scaling up production of visors, which are assembled with the help of volunteers from the university.


Note: Dr. Paul Epstein, passed away in November 2011. Paul was a giant in the global health community, one of the first to warn about the threats that global environmental change, and he contributed mightily to the search for practical solutions to protect the health of people worldwide. For more information on this topic, see the work of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, where Paul worked.