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Stage 2 – Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan: The Silk Road
From the time that this journey was first being planned in the summer of 2004, until late 2006 when another planned departure date slipped past, my goal was Africa, a continent I'd hardly set foot in. In the summer of 2003 I'd made an overland trip from Istanbul to Beijing (using public transport) and was deeply impressed by Asia; especially its ever-changing beauty and the warmth of the people. Yet Africa, especially the Sahara and wild rainforests of Central Africa, still had a stronger draw. It was the countries of Central Asia which finally drew my attentions east instead of south. In my mind were conjured romantic images of heart-stopping turquoise-domed shrines, two-humped Bactrian camels and the smooth, snow-clad peaks of the Pamirs.
On this first visit then to Central Asia in the summer of 2007, it was in my mind the main destination of the trip. If I made it further to Pakistan and India then all the better, but they were both countries I had previously visited. Central Asia was terra incognita for me. This first visit to the region would be a fascinating experience; a journey through the beautiful heart of the Eurasian continent, meeting locals and fellow travellers and witnessing the assertion of the nascent national identities of these newly-formed countries. In my months in Central Asia I would develop my confidence and experience as the Odyssey evolved from something like open-ended tourism into a lifestyle of perpetual travel. Whilst in many ways Central Asia was the focus of my journey; the summer of 2007 was merely an introduction to an Odyssey which, unknown to me at the time, would stretch more than four years into the future.
On this first leg of my travels in Central Asia through southern Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan, I would attempt to chase my rather idealised, romantic expectations of what the 'real' Central Asia should look like, though would leave slightly disappointed and frustrated by the modern, post-Soviet reality. It would be two years until, in Afghanistan, I would convince myself that I was seeing the region almost as Marco Polo had seen it more than seven centuries earlier. Nevertheless, these were my first, memorable steps along Central Asia's Silk Road.
It's the 8th July 2007 and I roll into Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty. If my transition to this southern region of Kazakhstan marks my entry into the 'real' Central Asia, then Almaty is something of a false start. It lies deep inside the Eurasian continent, is one of the most remote cities in the world from the ocean, yet on first impression seems to be strongly European; far more like the cities of Siberia than what one would imagine a 'real' Central Asian city might look like. There are no turquoise domes, no mud-brick buildings and certainly no camels. Even the population seems to be as much European as Asian. The atmosphere is of rapid economic development and like Kiev, I see once again a huge inequality between the city and the unchanging countryside. The city's air is even rather ostentatious; the Central Asian nouveau-riche are seemingly even more crass than those of Eastern Europe.
However questionable Almaty's credentials as a 'real' Central Asian city are, it's superficially a beautiful, well-ordered and clean city, with a centre laid out on shady, tree-lined avenues. Having been founded by the Russians in the mid-nineteenth century, Almaty is memorable more for its setting at the foot of the striking Ile Alatau Mountains, deep emerald-green on their lower slopes immediately behind the city and snow-capped in their higher reaches, than for any historical or cultural attractions. I'm hosted firstly by Amanda, a young American journalist, and then Inanç, a Turkish construction engineer. Between the three of us, we manage to get one of the truck's broken rear leaf springs replaced; Amanda has a friend flying in without luggage from London who brings a new spring and Inanç introduces me to two welders from Uzbekistan who cut off the old, broken spring after I spend two days under the car, fuel tank removed, attempting to break a spring free from its mounting on the chassis. It's a great moment when, at the dusty construction site at which Inanç works, we finally get the new spring on, giving me far more confidence on Kazakhstan's terrible roads.
Zenkov Cathedral, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Aside from working on the truck, I spend a very enjoyable time with Amanda and Inanç, not least because they are the first people with whom I can speak English since Novosibirsk, two weeks earlier. Evenings spent with Inanç eating Turkish döner and sitting in Panfilov Park with a cold beer, or watching the city's gorgeous young women from pedestrianised Zhibek Zholy (Silk Road) Avenue are particularly memorable. However, as comfortable and welcoming as my stay is, this isn't quite the Central Asian experience I'd been dreaming of. So, after a very pleasant week, I reluctantly leave from the congenial, green surroundings of Almaty and drive west towards the Uzbekistani border, into an area which is the most traditional and most ethnically Kazakh in the country. Here the nomadic Kazakh culture meets that of the settled Uzbeks, creating a wholly different atmosphere to that pervading the more Russified north of the country.
Aisha Bibi Mausoleum, Aisha Bibi, Zhambyl Region, Kazakhstan
On the second day of my westward drive, involving a detour from the main road which cuts through a corner of Kyrgyzstan, I make my first stop in a village just west of the city of Taraz, named after the mausoleum of Aisha Bibi, the beautiful daughter of a Sufi mystic who died as a fiancée to a local notable. The twelfth century, Karakhanid-era mausoleum is an elegant cube with a sharp conical dome, all in the buff colour of native clay. On closer inspection however, the structure is covered in finely carved terracotta tiles, whose relief creates sensual and changing textures from natural sunlight instead of using the exuberant colour of faïence. This well proportioned mausoleum is, rather touchingly, a monument to love and faithfulness and appears to be a popular object of veneration for local women. From an architectural point of view this style represents the earliest one commonly encounters in Central Asia; a rare surviving piece of pre-Mongol architecture.
The mid-July heat is terrific as I press further west towards the Syr Darya river (the Jaxartes of the Ancients), beyond which lies the fearsome Kyzyl Kum Desert. Whilst in the north and centre of the country the temperature was in the low- to mid-thirties, the temperature here tops forty degrees and at one point I record 47°C inside the truck, with both windows fully open. Wind-chased tumble-weed and dust-devils pound the side of the truck from the parched, empty plains, causing me to drive momentarily with eyes closed against a blast of grit. In this heat, the mind is idle, the ceaseless urge of the body to consume fluids eclipsing any thought.
Khoja Ahmad Yassawi Mausoleum, Turkistan, South Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan
I make a detour however to see the greatest piece of historic architecture in the country: the mausoleum of Khoja (a pious honorific) Ahmad Yassawi in the pilgrim-town of Turkistan. Yassawi (named for Yassi, the ancient name of the city) was a Turkic Sufi mystic and the founder of the first tariqah (order) of mysticism in the Turkic world. Such shrines are common right across the Islamic world but in Kazakhstan, the pilgrim city of Turkistan is a centre of Islam and of religious piety. Kazakhs are not by nature particularly religious people; a nomadic lifestyle doesn't lend itself to the trappings of settled religion, and in general are not particularly observant in visiting mosques or reading the Qur'an. Drinking vodka seems almost universal in men, and women as often as not dress according to the Russian rather than Islamic school. From the outside, Kazakh society seems largely secular.
However, in places such as Turkistan, one sees a different side to Kazakhs. Islam for them seems, perhaps after decades of public repression, to be more spiritual; rather than being obsessed with petty ritual and public posturing, there seems something a little deeper. I sit ruefully and watch pilgrims come and quietly pray to themselves whilst pressing a hand against the wall of the mausoleum, or circumambulate the shrine, always keeping a hand on its wall, which runs a path smoothed and darkened over the years. Touch seems an important part of the connection with the buried mystic through this physical edifice of his tomb. I watch one lone woman, dressed casually but for a white headscarf, lean her head back against a wall of one monumental portal, gazing up at the magnificent faïence tilework, praying and gently weeping in contemplation. This silent, private Islam impresses me, but I suspect it's a mere glimpse into the secretive and spiritual Islam one occasionally encounters in the former Soviet states of Central Asia.
For myself, Turkistan is a dazzling and delightful introduction to Timurid (named after Timur, or Tamerlane) architecture; the iconic post-Mongol style of turquoise-domed shrines and madrasas (seminaries) of Central Asia. Yassawi's mausoleum is characteristic in its great size, with a vast single arch framing a small entrance. The building's exterior remains largely plain mud-brick, unfinished due to the death of Timur during construction, though the rear wall and portal are exquisitely tiled in mesmerising geometric patterns of turquoise and lapis. The mausoleum is literally crowned by a stunningly intricate, ribbed turquoise dome with flutes like the segments of a peeled mandarin, which glow magnificently in the late afternoon sun. On my way back to my airless hotel room, feeling quite parched, I spot, mirage-like, a young lady pouring draught beer into frosted half-litre glasses and gulp one down, barely pausing for air, followed near my hotel by a second beer and a plate of shashlik (kebabs). After dark I return to the mausoleum, sitting on the warm stones of the courtyard admiring the floodlit building; the end of a wonderful day.
I leave Kazakhstan the following day, doubling back from Turkistan via the far less impressive mausoleum of Arystan Baba, Yassawi's murshid (spiritual guide), bypassing the city of Shymkent to reach the border crossing which is rather charmingly named Zhibek Zholy, or 'Silk Road'. Kazakhstan has been my favourite country of the trip so far; its huge, empty, wild, pristine open spaces are the perfect antidote to the confined life I have just left in Western Europe. Based on what is in my guidebook, I imagine, quite wrongly, that the rest of the country is flat, dull and almost devoid of anything of interest.
Leaving Kazakhstan is fairly straightforward, but in the no man's land before the Uzbekistani border gate, there is of course absolutely nothing in the way of information to assist a novice in crossing the border. Leaving the truck, I go forward on foot and, after finding an official, am told that I can't enter Uzbekistan with a right-hand drive vehicle. I take this news with a touch of dismay, for I have no means to re-enter Kazakhstan, but also amusement. Given the amount of money changing hands here, I am quite sure that any problem might ultimately be solved with a little financial inducement. I of course elect to use persistence rather than bribery to get myself through and after a phone call by a customs agent, I'm given the all-clear. By this time however it's after 18:00 and an unruly scrum of cars are bumper-to-bumper against the gate. I notice that there is at work an unwritten and unspoken order; money is changing hands and some people are advancing, while others are resigned to their places. I'm offered the chance to skip the queue for a bribe, but instead chose to spend a peaceful night in no man's land. It's an early encounter with the way things are done in Central Asia.
Siyab Bazaar, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
The following morning I manage to get into Uzbekistan and I'm immediately impressed with how different it looks. Gone is Kazakhstan's atmosphere of impending prosperity and economic reform, replaced by a the inertia of timeless Asia. The roadsides are lined with piles of melons, chaikhanas (tea houses) where old men laze on elevated, carpeted takhts (platforms) sipping tea from wide bowls and playing cards or nard (backgammon) and old women selling sunflower seeds and single cigarettes from battered old suitcases perched on rusty prams. To look at, the Uzbeks seem far more heterogeneous than the population of Kazakhstan, as one would perhaps expect from a settled people in the centre of Eurasia. On the streets I see virtually no Russian faces and Uzbekistan straight away feels far more its own country than Kazakhstan did.
From the border compound I soon find myself on the Tashkent ring-road, though I decide to skip the city for the moment and head south-west, thrilled to be on the fabled road to Samarkand. Tashkent's chaotic suburbs, which seem to be one giant market, fade into satellite towns, then into the dull countryside; hot, dusty monocultured cotton fields interspersed by bland, flyblown villages.
Once again, I must detour from the highway which now cuts a corner of Kazakhstan onto a provincial road along the Tajikistani border with frequent roadblocks manned by dim-witted but friendly conscripts. As the afternoon heat peaks, I peel off the highway and into Samarkand. Bland farmland turns into bland suburbs until, cresting a low hill, I get my first glimpse of the city proper; dotted with turquoise domes, soaring portals and minarets in the shimmering haze, a stirring, iconic skyline finer perhaps than that of any city I have seen, bar Istanbul. The very name Samarkand, more than any other in the region seems to carry its own romance; the celebrated, unreachable Silk Road city out in the barbaric steppes beyond the Oxus river. I take a circuitous route through a warren of lumpy back-streets, arriving at the guesthouse of the Bahodir family where for the first time on the trip I am surrounded by fellow travellers.
Registan, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
Samarkand is a truly ancient city whose origins are lost somewhere most likely in the first millennium BCE when it became a centre of the Sogdian civilisation. Strategically located on what would become the Silk Road, Samarkand passed variously through Iranian, Hellenic and Turkic empires, until its destruction by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. It was Timur who would bring Samarkand back to prominence, making it the capital of his Timurid Empire in 1370 and bequeathing the city a host of magnificent buildings, something of a high-water mark in Central Asian art and culture. Despite being weary from my protracted cross-border journey, I can't resist heading out in the evening for a glimpse of the city's dazzling architectural legacy. Samarkand's centrepiece is the Registan (marketplace) which consists of three madrasas lining three sides of a central square. The architecture alone is stunning; a megalomaniac's showpiece of minarets, sensuously curving domes, vast ornate portals and delicate arched galleries running in two tiers above the central court. This Timurid elegance is accentuated and made yet more exotic in being finished with a complete cloak of mosaic tiles of deep turquoise, lapis and gold, contrasting with the muted background of neutral buff; the intrinsic colour of the surrounding plains. Though in places the tilework is rather coarsely restored, the ensemble of the Registan is nevertheless in my mind the most impressive piece of Islamic architecture in the world for its sheer, exotic beauty.
Tillia Kari Madrasa, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
Walking the next day northwards away from the Registan down Tashkent Street, which looks once to have been a major commercial thoroughfare, one reaches the deceptively large Bibi Khanym Mosque. Commissioned by Timur in the very last year of the fourteenth century, the remains of the mosque reveal its outlandish size, for whilst of normal proportions, the soaring, thirty-five metre tall iwan (portal) dwarfs the human figure. Herein however lies the structure's downfall, for it simply exceeded the limitations of construction methods of the time and soon fell into ruin. Nearby are several other examples of Timur's classical monumentalism and amidst these, the modern-day Siyab Bazaar with bustling, tree-lined market streets made colourful as much by the groups of ladies swathed in colourful dresses as by the piles of fruit, vegetables and spices which are heaped on neatly ordered rows of tables in small commercial units. Here however, Samarkand's magic falters, for the atmosphere of the bazaar, and by extension the city itself, is rather restrained and insipid. There is no air of the Iranian or Levantine bazaar, where old, vaulted passageways bustle with trade and wind their way around very much still alive mosques and madrasas in a homogeneous complex of urban architecture which links the lives of the cleric, trader and common man.
Bibi Khanym Mosque, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
Indeed, while the city's monuments are strikingly beautiful and recently restored (often rather hastily), they are exactly that: monuments; still, lifeless relics of a bygone age. Somehow the subdued local culture has little in common any longer with the magnificent buildings. Comprehensive Soviet modernisation over three or four generations has detached people's lives from the mosques, shrines and seminaries which surround them and the locals approach the buildings in much the same way I do, as a curious visitor, rather than a component of the cultural landscape of the city. To compound this, the government, in looking to safeguard and increase the tourist industry is doing everything it can afford to do in order to further sterilise the atmosphere of 'Old' Samarkand and keep the locals and their activities well away from the places foreign tourists want to see.
The city's intangible cultural fabric also seems to be under threat; having spent so long under the influence of Iranian and Persian-speaking empires, Samarkand's population is majority Tajik-speaking (and presumably ethnically Tajik), but is being comprehensively 'Uzbekised' by the current government. Samarkand today certainly seems a far cry from the outpost of high culture and art it once so clearly was. It's tragic, but in a country where opponents of the regime may find themselves boiled in oil, nobody is opposing anything.
Shah-i Zinda Necropolis, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
One place in Samarkand does however stir me, which is the Shah-i Zinda Necropolis, out to the north of the bazaar area, on the southern edge of the barren archaeological site of Afrasiyab, thought to have been the Sogdian capital of Marakanda (from which the name Samarkand is derived). I approach the site through a modern cemetery punctuated by elegant marble headstones, each adorned with a fine, skilful engraving of the deceased, climbing a shapeless mound of desiccated earth, once the city walls, then dropping into an avenue of mausoleums; pretty miniatures of the huge buildings found elsewhere in the city.
Inside the main mausoleum, thought to be that of Kusam ibn Abbas, a seventh century cousin of the prophet Mohammed, I feel an air of sanctity I've not felt anywhere else in the city and I watch locals silently make their way to the shrine, morose and thoughtful. From outside, a mullah sings beautiful Quranic verses in a soft but piercing voice which seems to hang timelessly in the cool, still air of the mausoleum. For this short moment I feel profuse Islamic piety, redolent with the power and mysticism of the Islamic world. Just as I experienced in Turkistan, Islam here seems to be intimate and personal to the individual rather than a part of mundane, public life. Many of the other mausoleums in the necropolis belong to members of Timur's family and are, architecturally speaking, far finer than that of ibn Abbas. Indeed, here I find the most impressive faïence in Samarkand, with beautiful, raised white Kufic verse running vertically over intricate turquoise latticework and honeycomb tiles. It's certainly my favourite spot in the city.
Tilework, Shah-i Zinda Necropolis, Samarkand, Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
Evenings in Samarkand are very pleasant, spent in the large, shady courtyard of the guesthouse, swapping stories from the road with other travellers in the warm evening. I meet my first fellow drivers, Tania and Stephanie, a Swiss couple who have driven their Mercedes camper here via the Caucasus, a ferry across the Caspian and the featureless steppe western Kazakhstan. They tell me that travelling as two females has distinct advantages, saved by Central Asian male chivalry from flat tyres and breakdowns.
After three nights in Samarkand, I move on up-country to Bukhara, another ancient, Tajik-speaking irrigated Silk Road city, capital of the Iranian Samanid Empire and later the Emirate of Bukhara. Bukhara is notable as once having been the holiest city in Central Asia, a major intellectual centre of the Islamic world which was known to the Arabs as Bukhara-i Sharif (the noble). It was a native of Bukhara, Imam al-Bukhari who, after travelling in the ninth century Islamic world, returned to author the most highly regarded collection of hadiths (records of the life of the Prophet Mohammed). Bukhara was the birthplace of early Islamic polymaths such as Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) and was the home of Sufi mystics such as Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari, who was instrumental in spreading Islam into the Indian Subcontinent, and Bahauddin Naqshband Bukhari, founder of the most popular, Naqshbandi, Sufi tariqah.
Mir-i Arab Madrasa, Bukhara, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan
My first impression of Bukhara, upon arriving in the mid-afternoon, is of its warren of narrow, ancient back-streets in which I spend considerable time locating my chosen guesthouse. Bukhara is quite different from Samarkand with a more complete, medieval old city of madrasas, mosques, hauz (pools) and remnant stretches of a covered market, almost completely detached from the bland order of modern Bukhara. At the centre of the old city is the magnificent Po-i Kalon (grand foundation), a wide courtyard with the stout, plain brick Kalon Minaret, the only remainder of a Karakhanid-era mosque destroyed by Chinggis Khan. Facing each other across this square are two fine examples of Shaybanid (a rival, and then successor empire to the Timurids) architecture. To the west is the huge, sixteenth century Kalon Mosque, an enclosed courtyard mosque built in the early Iranian style, while on the east lies what in my opinion is the city's finest building, the sixteenth century Mir-i Arab Madrasa with a soaring iwan of magnificently intricate tilework; finer, if more restrained, than that of Samarkand's Registan and flanked by two gleaming turquoise domes.
A little further west is Bukhara's Ark (citadel), dating from the time of the Emirate of Bukhara, which was only overthrown by the Red Army in 1920 and which encompasses the city's oldest settlement mound. The Ark overlooks the beautiful, open-plan, eighteenth century Bolo-Hauz Mosque and a very pleasant modern park, where old chinar (plane) trees shade an open-air restaurant. Here I spend several evenings with Michel, a French teacher who has moved between postings in New Caledonia, French Guiana, Uruguay and France, eating shashlik and drinking good, cold draught beer.
Skyline, Bukhara, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan
On first sight, I think this undeniably attractive old city might be where I find my 'real' Central Asia but, whilst more homogeneous than the old parts of Samarkand, the buildings are again monuments, detached from contemporary culture, with the old city feeling like something of a tourist trap awash with aged French and Japanese tour groups. However, away from the main sights of the old city, one can catch glimpses of Central Asian life through open doors, in the shady, vine-covered courtyards of traditional family compounds. Here children play while women wash clothes and clean enormous steel cooking dishes used for making plov (pilaf) whilst men sit in shady corners smoking and playing cards or nard. From these twisting mud-walled lanes with their stinking open sewers, one sometimes catches the city's skyline, a maze of buff rooftops, facades and minarets, crowned by several large turquoise domes. One interesting cultural attraction I seek out in Bukhara's back-streets is a synagogue belonging to the city's dwindling, Persian-speaking community of Bukharan Jews. Michel and I are welcomed here to watch a Torah recital one evening, where a small congregation with an astonishing diversity of faces worship together, some the descendants perhaps of ancient Persian exiles and Silk Road traders.
Bukhara Synagogue, Bukhara, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan
So backward is Uzbekistan's telecommunications infrastructure that it is a task of several hours to make a phone call to Tashkent and arrange for my second replacement spring to be received from an air freighter. I speak to the British embassy and after initial frustration speaking to an idiot at the front desk, get through to the very helpful deputy ambassador who puts me in contact with a shipping agent. Despite being so close to having the truck's suspension fully repaired, I decide to leave the truck in Bukhara for a few days and join Michel, Tania and Stephanie (whom we meet one evening in the park) in sharing a taxi out into the desert, north-west to Khiva in the Khwarezm oasis. The journey is long, hot and cramped and with the driver blaring out repulsive Turkish pop music, spending more time shouting into his phone or fiddling with his collection of odious compact discs than watching the road, makes me swear never again to abandon the truck.
Bazaar, Khiva, Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan
Once out of Bukhara the land becomes sterile, rarely attractive desert, though we eventually catch a distant glimpse of the rather pallid looking Amu Darya (Oxus), here marking the border with Turkmenistan. The Khwarezm Oasis is a pocket of fertile farmland amidst the braids of this once-great river, which today is split between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. An ancient centre of initially Iranian civilisation, Khwarezm enters history as a distant part of the Achaemenid Empire, becoming more prominent as the base of the Turkic-speaking Khwarezmian Empire in the twelfth century, whose capital was Urgench, now Konye (old) Urgench in Turkmenistan. Later, after a change in the river's course and the attentions of the Mongols, the city of Khiva became the focus of Khwarezm with the establishment of the Khanate of Khiva. Famed for its isolation, fierce hostility towards outsiders and salve trading, Khiva was only subdued by the Russian Empire in 1873.
Ichon Kala, Khiva, Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan
In this quite romantically remote location, Khiva's compact Ichon Kala, or old city, is surrounded by tapering, seventeenth century mud-brick walls, containing a museum-like preserve of minarets, mausoleums and madrasas, some quite exuberant and unusual in form and colour, but lacking quite the grace of the finest buildings of Samarkand or Bukhara. Whilst not as filled with tour groups as Bukhara, after walking around Khiva's manicured old streets and alleyways in 40°C heat for a few hours I am again struck by a lack of atmosphere and I realise that I won't find the 'real' Central Asia of my imagination in modern Uzbekistan. Of course what I am seeing is the real Central Asia; the unreality lies solely in my mind's expectations.
Having had more than my fill of slightly charmless cities and hastily restored faïence, I wish to see something very different. On the far side of the Amu Darya from Khiva, still part of the historical region of Khwarezm, lies the Karakalpakstan Republic, an autonomous republic of the Karakalpak people who are ethnically more closely related to Kazakhs than to Uzbeks. Here the Amu Darya historically reached its end-point in the Aral Sea, a large, endorheic, saline lake. However, beginning in the late 1950s, the Soviet Union diverted huge quantities of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers to irrigate the barren desert and boost cotton production. The Aral Sea, whose water levels were sustained by these two rivers, soon started to shrink in the beginnings of an environmental catastrophe caused by trademark Soviet negligence and totalitarian incompetence. Today the Aral Sea, has all but disappeared from Uzbekistan.
Moynaq, Karakalpakstan Republic, Uzbekistan
Michel and I take a taxi to the bleak and oven-like city of Nukus, the republic's capital, and find a room in an old Soviet behemoth of a hotel with a dank bathroom missing a sink, two sagging old beds and a decrepit Soviet air conditioner which wheezes out the odd puff of warm air whilst making enough noise to rattle the window panes. The only saving grace of this pile is a dimly-lit and rather seedy bar, where a pretty waitress serves good cold beer and Russian fare, a welcome break after the monotonous Uzbek cuisine of greasy mutton in various forms. After a stuffy, mosquito-plagued night we board a bus to Moynaq, which takes us quickly beyond the reach of the waters of the Amu Darya (which now dissipate in this desert, far short of the Aral Sea), into a land of utter desolation. This once fertile land is now blighted by a lack of water, suffers hotter summers and colder winters without the Aral Sea's climatic buffering, and its inhabitants are additionally afflicted with respiratory complaints due to wind-borne dust and aerosols of toxic pesticide run-off coming from the former sea-bed.
Former Aral Sea, Moynaq, Karakalpakstan Republic, Uzbekistan
The desperate, almost deserted town of Moynaq sits out upon an endless, blazing expanse of hard-baked clay. Photographs and paintings of Moynaq from before the 1980s show a quaint, happy seaside town set upon a wide, curving bay of the Aral Sea, which looked just like the ocean. It was a community based on fishing and on tourism. For citizens of Soviet Central Asia, the Aral Sea was the closest destination for a warm seaside holiday, despite being deep in the centre of the Eurasian landmass. Today Moynaq lies 120 kilometres from the nearest remnant scrap of the Aral Sea; a lifeless, hyper-saline body of water now far more like the Dead Sea than the ocean.
Fishing Boat, Moynaq, Karakalpakstan Republic, Uzbekistan
After finding a hotel amongst Moynaq's collapsing buildings, Michel and I cross a field of sand dunes which thirty years ago might have been a pleasant beach dotted with Soviet families, and find ourselves walking on what used to be the bed of the Aral Sea. It's profound enough to walk on a former seabed, still littered with shells, but truly iconic are the fleet of rusting hulks of old fishing boats wedged surreally into the desert. These beached sentinels are perhaps one of the most powerful images of mankind's destruction of our natural habitat.
A380 Highway, Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan
Having reached almost the utter end of Uzbekistan, I re-trace my steps back down the length of the country, through Khiva to Bukhara where I'm glad to be reunited with the truck, then through Samarkand back to Tashkent. The capital of Uzbekistan is Central Asia's largest city and was the fourth largest in the Soviet Union, causing me to approach it with the expectation of choked streets of manic traffic and chaotic, winding roads. To my surprise, I find a city set out on a huge scale with wide avenues of light traffic separating enormous, widely-spaced buildings. The city is in fact so spacious, that I drive almost completely across it, thinking I am in never-ending suburbs when I've gone right through the centre of it. After doubling back, I park with ease in the very centre of the Tashkent, next to a small park of old chinars on Amir Timur Square, and meet my contact Nail.
Independence Avenue, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
I've arranged to stay in the apartment of the Grachev Family, whom I stayed with in Novosibirsk last month. The Grachevs had lived in Tashkent until 1997 when, like many Russians, they decided that social and economic conditions in independent Uzbekistan were not favourable and moved to Russia. Nail, the son of the Grachevs' former neighbours, currently lives in the apartment, and here I also meet Igor from Novosibirsk, a colleague of Yuri Grachev who is visiting on business. The next day, Nail helps me deal with customs at Tashkent Airport, haggling down the import duty for my new spring to an unofficial cash payment, and it's a great relief to finally have the second new spring back at the apartment.
In the evening, as Nail and I are heading out to dinner, we run into Igor who invites us to join him, telling us he has a dinner invitation from a 'Big Boss'. The man's name is Kamil, an Uzbek from Jalalabad, just over the border in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. We enter a flashy-looking restaurant packed with Tashkent's upper social echelons and soon the food and vodka start flowing, though I pass on the vodka as I am still recovering from a bout of diarrhoea a few days ago. Kamil turns out to be quite a mover in Tashkent; he is the director of a construction firm and, conveniently, is also a police chief of some sort as well as a childhood friend of the brother of the president of Kyrgyzstan. He also turns out to be extremely helpful, offering firstly for his son to arrange for the second new spring to be fitted to the truck, and giving me the personal telephone number of some chief of Uzbekistan's road police, stating that should I get into any trouble, I need only mention his name to get any irksome traffic officers off my back. Perfect.
Dancing Girl, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Live music begins and an array of dancing-girls, scantily clad in what are supposedly Russian, Ukrainian, Gypsy, Indian or Turkish dress, make their way round the tables. Kamil becomes very animated and hands out wads of notes to the girls and I narrowly sidestep his insistence that he pay for me to take one of them back to the apartment. As the evening winds to a close Kamil's son Rauff joins us, bringing a car to take us home. As we make our way to the car it becomes clear that Kamil himself intends to drive us home, despite being drunk. He reverses the car out violently, very nearly mowing down the valet, and storms down Tashkent's unlit boulevards. Seriously concerned, I suggest that I drive, which Kamil seems to find a novel idea, and we switch seats, much to the delight of Kamil who orders me to go faster and ignore red lights (as a police chief he, and therefore I, have carte blanche to flout any rules of the road). I cannot say how fast we're going as someone has taken the speedometer out of the car, but I spend considerable time trying to engage fifth gear in a four-speed car, much the amusement of my passengers. Nail, who had no objection to being driven by someone so drunk that he could not walk straight, has suddenly become quiet and looks rather pale.
Next day Rauff, good to Kamil's word, meets me, takes me to a workshop, gets the spring replaced and even fills my tank with diesel, absolutely refusing to accept any of my money, citing 'eastern hospitality' as the reason each time, with a smile. I'm left marvelling at how meeting the right people and making connections through connections is the way to get things done in the region. I spend a few more days relaxing in Tashkent, finding it oddly quiet, strongly policed and still seemingly Russian-dominated, in stark contrast to any other part of the country which I have seen. I imagine this atmosphere to be rather unchanged from the days of the Soviet Union, an opinion I share with a surprised Igor, who had come to the same opinion.
Shayhon Cemetery, Kokand, Fergana Region, Uzbekistan
After five days, I gather the energy to move on, heading east towards the Fergana Valley. Not long after leaving Tashkent's urban refinement, I'm back in Uzbekistan's familiar countryside, passing nondescript farming villages and towns, soon climbing into the western outliers of the Tien Shan. I pass the turquoise Akhangaran reservoir, then cross Kamchik pass and find myself descending into the Fergana Valley. More a broad, fertile plain than a true valley, Fergana has been occupied since pre-history and remains an intensively cultivated region, densely populated by Uzbek, Tajik and Kyrgyz farming communities, who occasionally erupt into inter-ethnic violence. But whilst the valley is historically notable; it is most likely the site of the first contact between China and the West, and the birthplace of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, it lacks (somewhat to my relief) any preserved old cities in the style of Samarkand or Bukhara. I stop briefly for an afternoon in Kokand, once the capital of the Khanate of Kokand, but find the Khan's old palace to be rather gaudy and uninteresting. More atmospheric is Kokand's large Shayhon cemetery, a quite fascinating collection of tombs and mausoleums, testifying to the city's considerable age. What I most notice in the Fergana Valley however are the people, who seem be both more religiously observant, with women almost all covering their hair and men sometimes wearing topis (Muslim skullcaps), and rather less subdued, with pedestrians often waving spontaneously at me as I drive past and conversation coming more easily.
Bazaar, Andijan, Andijan Region, Uzbekistan
The next day is my last in Uzbekistan (on this visit) and I stop in the morning in the city of Andijan. Whilst having a lively bazaar, my interest here is a touch voyeuristic. In the newly independent republics of Central Asia, Islamic fundamentalism is seen as a serious threat, perhaps not surprising given the proximity to war-torn Afghanistan and to Tajikistan, which witnessed the region's first post-Soviet civil war. This threat is also a convenient cover for general repression of civil rights, and Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's barbaric president, rather over-extended this cover two years ago in Andijan when the military opened fire on what was reportedly a popular protest against poor living conditions and corruption, massacring an unknown number of unarmed civilians (perhaps several hundred to over a thousand). The incident has not been openly investigated and saw a shift in Uzbekistan's relations away from the West, and a banning of foreign journalists from the country.
There is of course nothing of this civil unrest to be seen today in Andijan, which seems to be one giant bazaar, teeming on a Sunday with people drawn in from surrounding towns and villages. I park the truck and walk off to find an internet connection, as usual in Uzbekistan, a futile exercise, and return to see three plain-clothed police carefully inspecting it. They question me for a while, look through my luggage, then leave. A little later on, I enter one of the bazaars which is frenetic and colourful, though filled mostly with Chinese crap, and take some pictures. Immediately, plain clothed police officers appear and lead me out forcefully to the street. They make some calls on their radios but after a few minutes I am sent off. This is clearly not tour-group territory. There might not be anything to see in Andijan, but the organs of the state lurk in camouflage at every corner. Its a slightly sad realisation that while the people here seem livelier and perhaps more worldly than in the rest of the country, they are just as powerless. I take my cue and leave, through the final cotton fields to the border town of Uchkurgan where I am the only vehicle using the crossing.
I leave Uzbekistan feeling slightly disappointed by the country; its rich culture and legacy seems to have been reduced to rather two-dimensional tourist attractions and its people blunted and repressed by successive governments, left utterly powerless and terribly naïve. There had been highlights; glimpses of age-old shrine worship and good times in the vibrant, cosmopolitan island of Tashkent, but my expectations of a vibrant, sophisticated Asian country were unfulfilled and I was leaving slightly disillusioned at what remains of the romantic Silk Road, glad to be heading for the beautiful mountains scenery and fresh air of Kyrgyzstan's mountains.
Tags: Aisha Bibi, Almaty, Amu Darya, Andijan, Aral Sea, Bahodir Guesthouse, Bukhara, Cotton, Fergana Valley, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan, Khiva, Khoja Ahmad Yassawi, Khwarezm, Kokand, Mir-i Arab Madrasa, Moynaq, Nukus, Registan, Samarkand, Tashkent, Turkestan, Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan


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Bradina leopoldi is een vlinder (nachtvlinder) uit de familie van de grasmotten (Crambidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van deze soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1942 door Jean Ghesquière.

De soort komt voor in Congo-Kinshasa.

leopoldi
Dier uit het Afrotropisch gebied

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Alexander Vasiljevitsj von Kaulbars (Russisch: Александр Васильевич Каульбарс) (Mõdriku, 14 mei 1844 - Parijs, 25 januari 1925) was een Russisch generaal.

Beginjaren
Von Kaulbars was van een Duits-Baltische adellijke familie van Zweedse afkomst. Zijn vader was generaal en ook zijn broer Nikolai Vassiljevitsj von Kaulbars werd generaal. Hij groeide op te Sint-Petersburg. Hij bezocht de Nikolajev-cavalerieschool.

In 1861 sloeg hij met het regiment Egerski-garde de Poolse Opstand neer.

Nadat hij afstudeerde, diende hij als luitenant bij de staf van het militair district Turkestan. In 1871 werd hij luitenant-kolonel en in 1872 kolonel.

Verkenningsreizen
In Turkestan verkende hij het gebied voorbij het Issyk Koelmeer tot de Tiensjan-bergen en publiceerde zijn verslag als "Materiaal over de aardrijkskunde van Tiensjan", waarvoor hij een gouden medaille ontving van het Russisch Geografisch Genootschap.

In 1870 verkende hij de Russisch-Chinese grens. Hij beklom de top van de Khan Tengri en zocht bergpassen naar Kashgar, dat hij in 1872 bezocht om een handelsverdrag te onderhandelen met de heerser Yaqub Beg.

In 1873 veroverde von Kaulbars mee het Kanaat Xiva onder generaal Konstantin von Kaufman. Hij verkende de monding en de loop van de Amu Darja-rivier en vond een bevaarbare route naar het Aralmeer. Hij verkende de droge bedding van de Syr Darja en de verbindingen tussen beide rivieren, de Kaspische Zee en het Aralmeer en de nu droge Uzboy rivier. Hij schreef zijn bevindingen neer en ontving een tweede gouden medaille van het Russisch Geografisch Genootschap.

Bevelhebber
In 1874 werd von Kaulbars stafchef van de 8e Cavalerie divisie. In 1875 keerde hij terug naar de generale staf. Hij vocht in de Russisch-Turkse Oorlog van 1877 tot 1878. In 1879 werd hij generaal-majoor en kreeg hij het bevel over de 1e brigade van de 14e cavaleriedivisie. Van 1878 tot 1879 bepaalde hij mee de grenzen van het nieuwe koninkrijk Servië.

Bulgarije
In 1882 werd von Kaulbars minister van oorlog van het vorstendom Bulgarije, een vazalstaat van Rusland. Na de Russische zege en de Vrede van San Stefano had Bulgarije zich losgemaakt van het Ottomaanse Rijk. Tegelijk voerde hij het bevel over de 1e brigade van de 1e cavaleriedivisie. Het jaar daarop kreeg hij het bevel over de 15e cavaleriedivisie.

Bokseropstand
Von Kaulbars werd luitenant-generaal in 1891. In 1894 kreeg hij het bevel over het 2e korps cavalerie. In 1900 kreeg hij het bevel over het 2e Siberisch Legerkorps. Daarmee sloeg hij de Bokseropstand mee neer en bezette hij Mantsjoerije. Hij werd generaal van de cavalerie in 1901 en vice commandant van het militair district Odessa.

Russisch-Japanse Oorlog
In oktober 1904 brak de Russisch-Japanse Oorlog uit en voerde hij het bevel over het 3e Russisch leger in Mantsjoerije. In januari 1905 ging hij over naar het 2e leger in Mantsjoerije. Hij leed een nederlaag in de Slag bij Mukden. Hij keerde terug naar Odessa tot de oorlog gedaan was op 23 december 1909. In die periode steunde hij de tsaar tijdens de Russische Burgeroorlog. In december 1909 keerde hij terug naar Sint-Petersburg als lid van de militaire raad.

Eerste Wereldoorlog
Bij het begin van de Eerste Wereldoorlog werd hij bevelhebber van het Noordwestelijk Front. Vanaf oktober 1914 werd hij verantwoordelijk voor alle Russische militaire luchtvaart. Eind 1915 werd hij ontslagen uit het leger. In 1916 werd hij militair gouverneur van Odessa.

Oktoberrevolutie
Na de Oktoberrevolutie ging hij naar het zuiden van Rusland en op 15 oktober 1918 sloot hij zich nog als vrijwilliger aan bij de Witten. In 1919 ging hij in de reserve. Na verlies in het zuiden van Rusland vluchtte hij naar Constantinopel en vandaar via Bulgarije naar Frankrijk. Hij werkte te Parijs bij een telegraafbedrijf. Hij ligt begraven op het Cimetière russe de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.

Generaal in het keizerrijk Rusland
19e-eeuws militair
Baltische Duitser


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How Safe Is Clorox's Dividend?
Why investors can bank on steady dividend income growth ahead from this consumer products giant.
Demitrios Kalogeropoulos
(TMFSigma)
Follow @@TMFSigma
A dividend cut isn't a happy experience for shareholders of any company, but it would be a downright shock to owners of Clorox (NYSE:CLX). The Dividend Aristocrat, after all, boasts an unbroken 40-year streak of annual raises. It would likely take a massive market disruption to force the company to abandon that promise.
But while investors can be reasonably confident that Clorox's dividend will continue rising, the pace of those increases is a different beast. Below, we'll look at the prospects for this dividend to grow at market-beating rates in the years ahead.
Operating trends
Clorox's ability to fund a strong dividend starts with achieving a healthy sales growth pace. There's good news on this score because the consumer products giant's business is growing at a solid clip today.
Revenue is up 5% over the most recent nine-month period, to match the gains that Clorox logged in each of the past two fiscal years. Many peers, in contrast, are struggling to improve sales at all as the consumer products industry chugs along at near zero growth. Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), for example, recently lowered its expansion outlook to below 2% in 2017. Procter & Gamble is aiming to grow at the same 2% rate for its current fiscal year.
Image source: Clorox investor presentation.
Clorox is gaining market share today mainly because of a string of successful product innovations that keep it ahead of customer demands. Clorox brand disinfecting wipes are a hit with consumers, and soaring demand there helped push volume higher by 13% in its core cleaning division last quarter. The company is banking on more gains ahead powered by fresh releases like its "scentiva" platform, which aims to turn cleaning into a more pleasant scent experience.
Earnings and cash
Clorox's dividend is well covered by both earnings and cash flow. The payout commitment amounted to 61% of profit last year, or right in line with peers. Since that payout ratio is well above 50%, though, Clorox has been a bit conservative with its latest hikes. Its 2017 dividend boost of 5% significantly trailed the prior year's 8% earnings improvement.
CLX Free Cash Flow (TTM) data by YCharts.
Management targets generating free cash flow of between 10% and 12% of sales and it has hit that goal in each of the last four fiscal years. Clorox's first priority for those excess funds is in reinvesting in the business. That includes increased advertising spending in addition to more aggressive outlays like mergers and acquisitions. After that goal is met, Clorox routinely has plenty of cash leftover to fund direct shareholder returns including dividends and stock buybacks. Last year it generated $600 million of free cash flow, compared to the $398 million it committed as dividend payments.
Dividend outlook
Clorox's long-term targets call for sales growth of between 3% and 5%. Earnings should increase at a faster clip thanks to cost-cuts and the company's dominant market share position across its key competitive categories. Thus, investors can reasonably expect Clorox's dividend to rise at a pace that's a bit slower than earnings growth but faster than its sales growth pace.
Of course, a large, expensive acquisition would change that equation, and so would a sharp economic downturn. Yet the most likely worst-case scenario for income investors involves a period of relatively small dividend increases. With its rock-solid finances and steady market share position, Clorox has all of the right ingredients to fund a safely growing dividend in 2018 and beyond.
NYSE:CLX
NYSE:KMB
Clorox Has a Rough Earnings Report: Is It Time to Buy?
Clorox Co (CLX) Q3 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
Why Garmin, Molson Coors Brewing, and Clorox Slumped Today
3 Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Next 50 Years
These 3 Stocks Are Due for a Dividend Increase
How Safe Is Clorox's Dividend? @themotleyfool #stocks $CLX $KMB Next Article

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The 2017 New York Film Critics Circle award winners are in, and they include 'Lady Bird,' Paul Thomas Anderson, and Tiffany Haddish.
Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Agatha Christie's 'Murder on the Orient Express' wastes its impressive cast for sluggish storytelling.
Sean Baker's follow-up to 'Tangerine' follows a group of ragtag kids living at a Florida budget motel in a gloriously spirited exploration of childhood.
Willem Dafoe has one of the most distinct faces in the movies, but the 'Death Note' star tells us he desires the anonymity of non-professional actors.
Imagine that in order to survive, you had to share your identity with six other people.


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ACCEPTED

#### According to
The Catalogue of Life, 3rd January 2011

#### Published in
Mém. Herb. Boissier 21: 46 (1900)

#### Original name
Gyrophora esculenta Miyoshi

### Remarks
null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Blue Lakes. Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest. California.
Lower Deschutes River Canyon. Oregon.
Death Valley National Park. California.
Eureka Valley. Death Valley National Park. California.
Lake Tahoe Basin. California/Nevada .
Central Coast. Big Sur. California.
Big Sur. Central Coast. California.


Code Brown, Sepsis and Trauma.
You know those scary calls…? The bat phone rings, everyone gathers round, and you watch their face fall as they listen to what's about to arrive!
with Kent Robinson, Kate Sellors, John Mackenzie and Alan Giles.
Kicking off with Anthony Delaney, intensivist, ED physician and ARISE investigator, then Sanj Fernando talking about the new diagnostic sepsis tool, qSOFA.
Followed by Paul Marik, Kate Clezy, Ian Seppelt, Anders Aneman and Mal Green.
Tim Hardcastle presenting 'Penetrating injuries not as scary as you think' followed by Brian Burns, Dev Mitra, Dr James Winearls and Valerie Malka.
Register now for R@TH 2018 and receive a 15% discount!


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Newsom goes after what Republicans hold dear |…
OpinionCommentary
Newsom goes after what Republicans hold dear | Other views
By Ruben Navarrette | The Washington Post
December 24, 2021 at 2:42 a.m.
SAN DIEGO — Politics, public policy and poetic justice can be a powerful combination.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is currently dabbling in all three. Apparently driven by politics, he is suggesting a public policy that amounts to poetic justice.
This Christmas, Newsom is giving Republicans a poke in the eye. He is going after the one thing they love most: their guns.
You remember when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took states' rights too far and took aim at abortion. Abbott pushed through an outrageous state law that allows private citizens to essentially act as bounty hunters. In the Lone Star State, anyone can now file a civil suit up to $10,000 against abortion providers who perform the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. That timeline blatantly violates the constitutional protections in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.
You would think the Supreme Court, as currently configured, would take offense at such an obvious affront to precedent. But, just recently, the conservative majority justices once again allowed the Texas law, known as SB 8, to remain in effect even as legal challenges proceed.
What's good for the elephants is good for the donkeys. So now Newsom is threatening to follow Abbott's lead and use his executive power to essentially ban the sale of assault weapons in California. Newsom has instructed his staff to work with the state's attorney general to craft a law modeled on the one in Texas. Instead of targeting abortion providers, the California law would go after gun dealers and manufacturers.
"SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?!" Newsom tweeted. "If that's the precedent, then we'll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets."
The governor wants a bill that would allow private citizens to file lawsuits of up to $10,000 against "anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California."
What the idea lacks in originality, it makes up for in chutzpah. It's a bold move. Like some columnists, Newsom is good at stirring the pot.
The Democrat has not been a particularly good governor. He made bad choices and poor decisions in fighting COVID-19 — most of them seemingly dictated by politics. He does a lousy job of telling California's majestic story, and selling his state to the rest of America. He's not the least bit relatable to everyday Californians. Even in a state full of people who are struggling — with homelessness, drought, inflation, crime, etc. — Newsom wouldn't know suffering if it came up and mussed his perfectly coifed hair.
But Newsom does have a knack for getting attention — sometimes by being provocative, and other times by being combative. He is also pretty good at politicking and promoting himself, which could soon come in handy. The state's chief executive with the matinee idol good looks appears ready to audition for a marquee role in the 2024 presidential race.
Newsom is likely to make a run at the White House if President Joe Biden doesn't run again. He certainly won't step aside for Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Californian with whom he gets along like oil and water. If Democrats find themselves looking for a better alternative to Harris, Newsom will do everything he can to make sure they look in his direction.
Even if Newsom opts not to run, he could still play kingmaker if there is a Democratic primary. He'll have a lot to say about which candidate gets the state's 55 electoral votes, which represent more than 20% of the 270 that someone needs to be elected president.
I suspect Abbott — who wants to get in good with Republicans — is playing the same game in Texas, which has 38 electoral votes.
The path to the big leagues starts with raising one's national profile. Newsom appears to have already gotten started. What better way to get on the good side of Democrats than to get on the bad side of Republicans.
I personally don't like this trend of state governors using their soapboxes and executive power to pave the way for their political ambitions.
But what Newsom proposes is both clever and creative. He is going to take the Republicans' beloved doctrine of states' rights, and shove it down their throats.
The GOP will find that irony hard to swallow. But I find the thought of it quite appetizing.
Shove away, Governor.
Navarrette's email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, "Ruben in the Center," is available through every podcast app.
Ruben Navarrette
More in Opinion Columnists
With all due respect to the angry Crustacean | North State Voices
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by Anna and Emily O' Reilly.
The most anticipated night of Christmas in Galway is back again this year. In its 10th successful year running, it's going to be a sell out event again. A drinks reception, which includes complementary Seabreeze cocktails and glasses of prosecco will kick off the night, while our DJ Gordon Johnson will keep you dancing until the early hours of the morning. There will also be a photobooth on the night,so it will be a night to remember!
This ball was inspired and will continue to be held in the loving memory of Keith O'Reilly. 100% of the proceedings raised from the night will go to three very worthy charities which were closely related to Keith; The Galway Hospice, The LauraLynn Children's Hospice Foundation and The Christina Noble Children's Foundation.Tickets €25.


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BTC CLOSER TO USD13K
Bitcoin Rallies Closer to USD 13,000, Altcoins Struggle to Keep Up
The number one cryptocurrency, bitcoin, continues to defend its position as digital gold, with gains of 11% in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, nearly all altcoins in the top 100 are in the red relative to bitcoin over the same time period.
At pixel time (05:19 UTC), bitcoin trades at c. USD 12,740 and is also up by 29% in the past week and 61% in the past month.
Moreover, the bitcoin dominance, or the percentage of the total market capitalization, has now climbed to 64%, its highest since April 2017. The total market capitalization increased by almost 8%, to USD 354 billion.
Despite entering a consolidation phase after the parabolic rally that ended on June 26, sentiment has remained robust among bitcoin investors. With strong rallies seen both on Monday and on Tuesday morning, traders are now eyeing a break above the high from the previous rally at nearly USD 14,000.
In an interview on CNBC's Fast Money on Monday, founder & CEO of Morgan Creek Capital, Mark W. Yusko, pointed out that bitcoin over the past nine months is up 70%, although "everyone thinks we're in a bear market."
"It's the best performing major asset class this year," he said, adding that "I think we're in the next parabolic move that will take us probably into the 30,000-level before we get another little correction."
Bitcoin bull @MarkYusko says the cryptocurrency could hit $30,000 before the next major pullback.
As reported on Monday, financial ratings agency Weiss Ratings has upgraded Bitcoin to an A-, and given it a "strong buy" recommendation.
It also seems clear that technicals are playing a role in the recent price rally, with technical analysts like Peter Brandt saying on Sunday that a "new parabola" (or correction) could be expected in the bitcoin chart.
Meanwhile, majority of other coins from the top 10 are registering 2%-6% gains today, while binance coin and tron are down by up to 3%.
Among the smaller market capitalization coins from the top 100, Japan content token is up by 70%, while quant, aurora, egretia advanced 12%-19%.


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Glasses Usa<glasses<blue Light Glasses
Aluminum Glass
What you need to know about glass bottles
October 13, 2021October 13, 2021| adminadmin| 0 Comment | 4:17 pm
A new glass album design from Japanese glass manufacturer, Glasshouse, will be on sale this week, but its main selling point is that it is a completely glass-free alternative to the traditional bottles.
While its creators believe it is the best way to drink wine and beer, its makers have been accused of using a glassware design that has been likened to those of Coca-Cola and Budweiser.
The idea of a glass-based wine bottle is an interesting one, and its makers claim that their glass is both durable and tasteful.
"The glass is designed to be completely free of micro-particles that can cause injury and destruction," said the company's product development manager Hiroshi Fujiwara in a statement to TechRadars website.
"It is a new kind of glass that can not only hold wine in its own glass bottle, but also to drink it."
The company also said that its glass has a low viscosity which makes it easier to pour, as well as a lower carbon footprint than bottles made of polyethylene and other similar materials.
Glasshouse is one of the few companies to have launched its own premium glass bottles in the past decade.
Its flagship, the Tuna, costs around $4,000, while its smaller glass bottles are sold for around $3,500.
The company says its glasses are more environmentally friendly, as they are made of a combination of carbon dioxide, water, and organic chemicals.
While Fujiwasa has said that his glass bottles can hold up to 50 liters of wine and can be used in restaurants, the company has been criticised for its packaging.
It's also not clear if the company is planning to sell its bottles at a premium price or if its products will only be available for purchase through other online stores.
The company has also faced some backlash from consumers after its bottles were accused of having a high carbon footprint, as it was reported that a large portion of the packaging of its bottles contained chemicals such as sodium hypochlorite.
Glassware is a popular part of Japanese culture, and the use of glass in its production is considered a way of keeping things clean and sanitary.
In Japan, however, people are increasingly starting to question the quality of their own glass.
In 2015, more than half of the households in Japan surveyed by the Japanese government reported that they did not drink their own wine, according to a survey.
Tags: glass album cover, highball glass, ira glass, plastic wine glasses
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text:
The Sony Building: More Shops and Food?
By Karsten Strauss	January 29, 2013 7:30 am
550 Madison: how will the building's retail and food options evolve?
Changes are in store for the Sony Building, as the Japanese multinational has agreed to a deal trading its iconic New York headquarters at 550 Madison Avenue to the Chetrit Group. But what will become of the building's retail offerings?
SEE ALSO: Flatiron Building Empties Out as Owners Embark on Gut Renovation
New York retail oracle, Robert K. Futterman, said he sees an enhancement on the way in terms of shopping interest, pushing that section of the midtown neighborhood to seven-day-a-week shopping corridor status. "It's already a six-day-a-week," he told The Commercial Observer. "Saturdays are busy."
Other retailers along Madison Avenue's Midtown shopping strip could choose to make the leap to the building's space to escape high rents on the avenue, Mr. Futterman said.
Douglas Elliman Retail Group Chairman, Faith Hope Consolo, whose own office at 575 Madison faces the Sony Building, agrees that the area has become an attraction for shoppers. "Now it it's very developed and caters to tourists on the weekends and the workforce during the week."
Retail rents in the neighborhood are about $500 per square foot and very likely to rise dramatically over the next couple of years, she said. "The traffic's been so enhanced and these two streets – 55th and 56th – are like cross town streets," she said.
Most of the retail in the building is relatively middle of the road retailers, not luxury offerings. That is a trend that may or may not continue. "I'm not sure I see luxury at this point but who knows in three years," Ms. Consolo said. The presence of the nearby Peninsula and St. Regis hotels could be an additional boon for traffic.
The building could take a page out of the Time Warner Building's book, or even that of 666 Fifth Avenue, in making the building's individual retailers more street accessible. "Right now you can only enter through the lobby of the building," Ms. Consolo said. "The doorways are only through the walk-through. Although there are display windows wrapping the whole block, there's no street access so you have to go into the building."
Another wise addition would be another large restaurant, Ms. Consolo said. "This neighborhood, right here in these four blocks, lacks for good restaurants until you get west of Fifth and East of Park." A restaurant like Michael's or one of Danny Meyer's brasserie-type offerings might be ideal, she said.
"When we discuss these upper echelon cuisines and food groups I think the most frequent answer you'll get will be a steak house or a high end Japanese restaurant," said Joshua Siegelman, associate director with Winick Realty Group. "Something that's going to cater to these high net worth individuals and a dense tourist quarter."
De rigueur among New York's dynamic business players are high end, vivacious restaurants with an unstuffy atmosphere and air of 'hipsternity,' for lack of a better word. Examples of this new taste could be Lexington Brass, at 517 Lexington Avenue, from EMM Group. "The EMM Group, in particular with this concept, does a good job of putting together a trendy and upscale environment where cool meets good cuisine," said Mr. Siegelman.
Another example would be STK steakhouse at 1114 Avenue of the Americas, by The ONE Group. "It's another great example of where these guys have brought in the 'cool' factor to an upscale cuisine, versus you prototypical Capital Grille," he said.
Another boon to the soon-to-be-former Sony building, or its immediate neighborhood, would be an Eataly-type offering, "Somewhere where users could purchase food and sit down and enjoy the cuisine," Mr. Siegelman said. "I think if you had something like that there it would uplift that little corridor."
The retail space that stands today at 550 Madison is a far cry from its days as the AT&T Building, Ms. Consolo said. "There was really nothing," she explained. "All of these buildings have the same issue: they have this interior atrium which is open to the public. What happens is it becomes a hang-out. They really had no success in getting any real retail."
Sony's revamp of the ground floor allowed for storefront space. "The corridor is so dramatically different than it was even five years ago and it's developed."


Vittorio Longhi, who has just graduated with a Master's degree in Society and the New Media from our Department of Media and Communication, has recently published a book that draws on his studies at the University of Leicester.
The book aims to describe an emerging phenomenon of social conflict which is largely ignored by the mainstream media. In the book migrants are not treated as passive victims of exploitation, but are revealed as conscious, vital social actors who are determined to organise and claim better rights.
Demonstrates how these emerging conflicts can break the chain of exploitation and help rethink failing migration policies in contemporary societies.
Vittorio Longhi, who studied for his Masters through distance learning, also received the prize for the best dissertation of his course.
The Immigrant War is published by Policy Press. Vittorio discusses his book further in an article for the Guardian.


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Home » State » Karnataka » Siddaramaiah defends demand for separate flag of Karnataka
Siddaramaiah defends demand for separate flag of Karnataka
Karnataka18 July 2017 11:09 AM GMTby Vikas Kumar
Bengaluru : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday defended the demand for a separate flag for the state, asking if there is any provision in the Constitution that prohibits the state from having its own flag.
"Is there any provision in the Constitution which is prohibiting a state to have its own flag? Did BJP people come across any provision?" Siddaramaiah said.
Earlier today, the Karnataka Government has constituted a nine-member committee to submit a report to the state government on the possibility of designing a separate flag for the state.
Responding to a poser on planning all this when the elections are round the corner, he said, "The elections will be in April-May, not tomorrow or next month."
"If the BJP does not want a flag, let them make a statement that they don't want a flag in Karnataka."
Responding to allegations that it a political gimmick by the Congress, Siddaramaiah said BJP always makes such false allegations.
The Committee was constituted after a representation was submitted to the state government by Journalist-writer and president of Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Dharward, Patil Puttappa and social worker Bheemappa Gundappa Gadada.
They had urged the government to design a separate flag for Kannada 'naadu' and accord statutory standing for that. (ANI)
Tags: Karnataka flag issue committee Karnataka flag Siddaramaiah flag issue


Cheesemongers Selections are the perfect thank you gift, housewarming present, great for weekends away or simply an easy way to keep your own fridge stocked up.
5+ cheeses in a variety of styles and milk types.
A whopping 1.2kg of cheese in total.
Enough for a small crowd – 8 – 10 people.
Guide us to your preferred tastes with your likes or dislikes in the box below.
Printed cheese notes are available on request.
Delivered in a poly box with ice packs to ensure it reaches you in the best condition (delivery charges apply).
Choose from our selection of biscuits & accompaniments to supplement your cheese.
Ordering a gift? add a gift box and ribbon at checkout.


in the States and all the others I will summarize here and now.
produce postscript with the aid of a harddisk. It also costs money!-).
into PostScript on my ST. Is a "dvi2ps" program available for the ST somewhere?
I've no facility whatsoever with C compilers, so sources aren't much use.
a dvi to ps. Any ideas anyone?
posted about why I thought a shareware Mac emulator should not be pursued.
7. Postscript Driver for Atari ST and SLM-804 laser printer ?
10. PostScript on the ST?


Citation: Wong, K. K., Chiu, S. N., Chiu, L. P., & Tang, S. W. (2001). A supported competitive employment programme for individuals with chronic mental illness. Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry, 11 (2), 13-18.
Authors: Wong, K. K., Chiu, S. N., Chiu, L. P., & Tang, S. W.
Background: Supported employment has emerged in recent years as a viable employment service alternative for individuals with chronic mental illness. Numerous reports demonstrate enhanced vocational outcomes in the areas of employment rate, job retention rate, job tenure, and earnings for individuals with chronic mental illness. Not much is known about the program outcomes and applicability in Hong Kong.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to ascertain the vocational outcomes of individuals with chronic mental illness participating in a supported employment program.
Setting: The setting included supported Employment Services in a hospital in Hong Kong.
Study sample: The sample was 388 individuals with chronic mental illness.
Control or comparison condition: The comparison condition was traditional vocational rehabilitation services.
Data collection and analysis: Referral forms were used to collect demographic data. A job placement and follow up record was used to assess job retention rate, job tenure, nature of job placement and earnings. A job termination form was used to evaluate the reasons for the termination of employment.
Findings: Of the 388 patients, 267 (68.8%) obtained competitive employment. The mean job tenure was 133 days. The mean salary was HK$4,737 for full-time jobs and HK$2,329 for part-time jobs. The majority of the patients (59.6%) sustained their job placement for more than 30 days, 69 patients (25.8%) worked for more than 6 months, and 35 (13.1%)maintained the job for more than 1 year.
Conclusions: This study concluded that a supported competitive employment program could be an effective approach to enhancing vocational outcomes for individuals with chronic mental illness. Recommendations for future research for evaluation of the effectiveness of the supported competitive employment program are suggested.


We're excited to announce our new partnership with Blurb® to help you create bookstore-quality photo books.
The second week of Inktober2017 has drawn to a close and we wanted to share some more of our favorite works from the Flickr Inktober Group pool! Thanks to everyone who has been sketching and sharing their drawings.


Are you really as Halloween as you think?
Halloween is literally creeping around the corner, with pumpkin carving videos and scary make-up tutorials already gracing our sub boxes. But amongst all of this autumnal festivity we face the question we've all been asking: what percentage of Halloween are you?


KENRUSS is a joint Kenyan-Russian Company, registered in Kenya in 1994 and specializes in supply of medical equipment, surgical instruments, medicine and disposable medical products. We are authorized to locally represent several manufacturers and companies from countries all over the world, selling products from Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan, Denmark, and USA.
We believe we are an established force in the market with the commitment and capacity to serve you to your satisfaction at all times. Our prices are competitve and our quality second to none.
KENRUSS is a joint Kenyan-Russian Company, registered in Kenya in 1994 and specializes in supply of medical equipment, surgical instruments, medicine and disposable medical products.


As if already being sent an RC Bumblebee wasn't already pretty cool, we were excited to receive a Radio Control Ultimate Cruz Ramirez from Simba Smoby. The car ties in with the popular movie starring the vehicular character, Cars 3. We immediately flung some batteries into it and started racing it up and down the corridor when we realised some important facts.
First of all this thing was fast. It was fast and it was a crazy skidding machine. This is the Tokyo Drift of remote control cars. As such we were not particularly good at not smashing it into every chair leg and kitchen appliance that got in its way. We knew immediately that this wild bronco needed a bit of space to be truly put to the test. We then experienced the wettest, coldest most miserable period of weather we'd ever seen and poor Cruz was grounded until we could get him on the tarmac.
In the interim, we continued to clatter him around the house. Cruz Ramirez is not just a wild skidding RC car. Careful attention has been taken to add a bit of drama to Cruz's driving. If you fill a small reservoir with water, you can make Cruz emit realistic tyre smoke. He also has a 'rev-up' function that makes him tremble and shake before he takes off at lightning speed. It was all really cool to see but we wanted to let him out to see what he could really do.
As you can see it's crazy fast and a lot of fun to play with. The car has harder wheels than you would usually see on an RC car and that's what gives it that really skiddy drift feel as you're driving it. The controller is littered with all sorts of buttons and is definitely more elaborate than the basic twisty-wheel option. That said, it's really easy to use and the shoulder buttons give the impression of using a game controller which to many kids by now is second nature.
We thought Ultimate Cruz Ramirez was really good and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a basic, fast RC car or anyone who's a particular fan of the movie. The main word of caution I would offer is that this car really does need space. Unless your home is particularly spacious, you're going to spend more time banging into furniture and startling pets than going fast. It's a great car but it needs a bit of elbow room to really show off!
Disclaimer: This review was done in return for product. No financial agreements were entered into. All opinions remain our own.
← 2017 is DEAD! Looking forward to 2018!


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Cry For Help or Crying Wolf? Retaliation Suit Uncovers the Truth
Employee claims victim of many threats; employer fires him; retaliation suit follows "I'm afraid we're seeing a pattern of unproven allegations here," said Manager Victoria Jackson. "What I'm seeing is a pattern of dysfunction, threats and hatred," said Seamus Cadden, a front-line worker. "And everyone turns their heads when a guy like me gets in […]
Classic error in sexual harassment case lands supervisor in court
"Jen, why didn't you show up for the awards banquet last night?" Manager Kevin Hart asked. "I think you know your attendance wasn't optional," Kevin added. "I just wasn't up for a full night of people patting themselves on the back, OK!" Jen said. "It was pretty awkward when we called you to come up […]
He got warned about his tone, but she got transferred: Gender bias?
Supervisor Tim Nelson was eager to meet with Rachel McTearson. He'd come up with what he thought was a win-win for her difficult situation. "Thanks for coming by," Tim said to Rachel as she strolled into his office. "There's an opening in Springfield. It will mean a raise and a chance to get you away […]
Worker fired for discussing his own discipline – that OK?
Manager Lynn Rondo was anxiously drumming her fingers on her desk, waiting for supervisor Laura Morgan. "Hi, Laura," Lynn said as she walked in. "Do you remember when I had to discipline Alex Brooks for cursing at his co-workers?" Laura asked, diving right in. "That's hard to forget," Lynn replied. "We gave him a written […]


Inspired by the mythical goddess motives and shapes the Eye-catching Vesë features the eye symbolizing fortune, protection and luck and the chain as the unity of all. This necklace is designed for the dreamer and adventurous soul who love for travel and look fabulous! Layer the Vesë necklace with other necklaces, put on a light color top, your favourite trousers, a shiny lip balm for a casual everyday boho stylish look!
- Choose Chain length on the drop down menu!


If you'd like to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Interaction 17, please tell us more about how you'd like to be involved below!
There are pre-event tasks and on-site tasks. On-site tasks require that you be available full-time from Feb. 4-8.
On-site Volunteer shifts will be scheduled from Sunday-Wednesday, 7:00am-12:00pm and 12:00pm-5:00pm. All Volunteers must be available for setup at 12pm on Saturday, February 4 and registration at 7am on Monday, Feb. 6.
Pre-event tasks will vary by committee and the time commitment will vary depending on the committee's responsibilities.
While you will receive a complimentary ticket to the conference, we expect our volunteers to primarily be available to assist conference staff, speakers, and venue personal as needed when needed.
Interaction17 is not able to provide a stipend for transportation or lodging.
Please tell us about any skills or areas of interest that might be useful for supporting the Interaction17 program committees.


text:
Przytuły peut désigner :

Toponymie
 :

dans la voïvodie de Varmie-Mazurie
 Przytuły, village du powiat d'Ełk
 Przytuły, village du powiat d'Olecko
 Przytuły, village du powiat de Szczytno
 Przytuły, village du powiat de Węgorzewo
dans la voïvodie de Mazovie
 Przytuły, village du powiat de Maków
dans la voïvodie de Podlachie
 Przytuły, village du powiat de Łomża, et la gmina dont il est le siège.


text:
The 1989 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University during the 1989 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Princeton tied for the Ivy League championship.

In their third year under head coach Steve Tosches, the Tigers compiled a 7–2–1 record and outscored opponents 237 to 177. Franco S. Pagnanelli was the team captain.

Princeton's 6–1 conference record tied for best in the Ivy League standings. The Tigers outscored Ivy opponents 168 to 80. The Tigers' only league loss was to their co-champion, Yale.

Princeton played its home games at Palmer Stadium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey.

Schedule

References

Princeton
Princeton Tigers football seasons
Ivy League football champion seasons
Princeton Tigers football


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"Canadian bishops finalise new policies on abuse prevention" & related articles
Bishops approve plans to deal with accusations of sexual assault and help abuse victims
posted Wednesday, 5 Oct 2016
by Catholic News Service
Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at the conference (CNS)
Canada's bishops are finalising new policies to better protect minors against sex abuse.
At their annual plenary in Cornwall, the bishops approved, in principle, a new document on preventing sexual abuse and protecting minors, "Moving Towards Healing and Renewal – The Canadian Experience." The document offers some guidelines to help the dioceses better manage allegations of sex abuse by members of the clergy, as well as to contribute to the healing of the victims of abuse by priests or men religious.
Archbishop Anthony Mancini of Halifax-Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, who heads the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on the Protection of Minors, said the new document updates the Canadian bishops' 1992 document, "From Pain to Hope," and aligns the bishops with standards put out by the Vatican.
Bishop Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, Ontario, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said experience in this area "is so much broader now and so much deeper. This will present a lot more information along the lines of 'From Pain to Hope,' but updated."
Bishops now have a chance to review the text and send in suggestions and corrections. Bishop Crosby said he expects that if no major changes are required, the document will be approved in November at the next meeting of the CCCB's Permanent Council and published in early 2017.
Archbishop Mancini said the new document adopts a new perspective: It is designed to implement guidelines to protect minors against abuse. That change of tone and language is aligned to "a better understanding of the realities," he said.
"It's not a document against sex abuse. It a document that sets out the protection of minors as an essential responsibility for the bishops, as church leaders and witnesses of the Gospel," he said.
The document includes a section on the responsibilities of religious and their superiors when it comes to implementing policies to protect minors against abuse, the archbishop said.
"We've set out recommendations so that the major superiors and the bishops may be able to interact (more effectively) with the religious congregations," he said.
The bishops' 1992 document was published in the aftermath of the Mount Cashel Boys Home sex scandal. Located in St. John's, Newfoundland, and managed by members of the Christian Brothers congregation, that orphanage was the site of one of worst sex-abuse scandals in Canadian history. Nine members and ex-members of the congregation were convicted of sexual and physical aggressions against their students.
In the past two years, the courts have settled numerous class-act action suits against religious congregations, in the aftermath of sex-abuse scandals involving priests or men religious.
In August 2015, 111 former students of the Saint-Alphonse Seminary in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, Quebec, filed a class-act action against the Redemptorist Fathers for sexual aggressions perpetrated by members of the congregation. The court settled a $14 million agreement against the Redemptorists, on the behalf of the victims. In February, a settlement was reached between the Viatorians and their victims, for sexual aggressions perpetrated at Montreal's Institute for the Deaf. Though the exact number of victims is still unknown, Judge Eva Petras of Quebec's Superior Court has approved a $30 million settlement, a record amount for a sexual aggression class-action suit.
CCCB website
Moving Towards Healing and Renewal – The Canadian Experience
The Bishops gave approval in principle to a new resource which provides guidelines, recommendations and commitments which will assist dioceses, eparchies and institutes of consecrated life in the protection of minors and the prevention of sexual abuse, Tentatively entitled Moving Towards Healing and Renewal – The Canadian Experience, the document once completed will provide a complete resource that will be of interest to all Catholics, and includes recommendations regarding all pastoral workers as well as Church volunteers. It recommends a mechanism of accountability to assist in the protection of minors, the safeguarding of pastoral environments, and the prevention of sexual abuse, and also reflects on the healing of those who have been hurt, including both individual victims and communities.
The new document is expected to be published in the first half of 2017. The Ad hoc Committee which worked on the new resource includes Bishops, two psychologists and a paediatrician (the paediatrician and one of the psychologists are women with extensive experience in working with situations of abuse), and also two canonists. The Committee involves representatives from consecrated life and also from the Eastern Churches. The five Bishops on it have extensive experience in working with the range of problems involved with sexual abuse.
CCCB to publish new sex abuse document
The B.C. Catholic
Bishops will begin making ad limina visits to Rome in 2017
By Deborah Gyapong
OTTAWA (CCN)
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will release a new sexual abuse document in early 2017 and makes its first ad limina visits to Rome in 11 years starting in March.
At their annual plenary Sept. 26-30 in Cornwall, Ontario, the more than 80 bishops and eparchs approved in principle a new document on preventing sexual abuse and protecting minors called Moving Towards Healing-The Canadian Experience.
It will follow but not replace the 1992 document From Pain to Hope, said Bishop Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, the CCCB president. "Our experience is so much broader now and so much deeper. This will present a lot more information along the lines of From Pain to Hope but updated."
Bishops will now have a chance to review the text and send in suggestions and corrections. Bishop Crosby said he expects that if not major changes are required, the document will be approved in November at the next meeting of the CCCB's Permanent Council and published in early 2017.
The bishops are also discussing the establishment of a new coalition of Catholic organizations with the proposed name of Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle, Crosby said. "There seems to be some interest in it, but there needs to be clarification of purpose and direction."
The idea sprang from the joint-response of the CCCB, the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council (CCAC), the Canadian Religious Conference, and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace to the March deadline for the churches' response to some of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
"One of things we've discovered, the Catholic voice is broader voice," Bishop Crosby said. "How do we gather the various interests in expressing the Catholic response to these issues."
2 Responses to "Canadian bishops finalise new policies on abuse prevention" & related articles
"It's not a document against sex abuse. It a document that sets out the protection of minors as an essential responsibility for the bishops, as church leaders and witnesses of the Gospel," [Archbishop Mancini ] said.
Larry Green says:
That change of tone and language is aligned to "a better understanding of the realities," he said.
; "Bishops approve plans to deal with accusations of sexual assault and help abuse victims." Less expensive ways?
; "new policies to better protect minors against sex abuse." Sounds more real than ' new policies to protect vulnerable children from pedophile priests?' …or… new policies to protect children from bishops who are recklessly throw a child rapist amongst a population of unsuspecting innocents?"
; "The Canadian Experience." When it's not time to be proud of being a catholic bishop in Canada, it's time to be a proud Canadian.
No it is not a document about sex abuse and it's not a document aimed at restoring any sense of justice to survivors of victims from the past …nor securing the health and welfare of any current and future victims. It's a hollow and cold charade. The lack of humility in these bishops is thee obstacle which renders them literally incapable of reaching the depth necessary "to better understand THE REALITIES." Which is why , when one of them speaks of a desire to contribute to the healing of victims, it sounds so shallow,empty and disingenuous.


The resort of Méribel, at the heart of the Three Valleys, has established a reputation that goes beyond the borders of France. And rightly so! After all, this charming resort nestled in the Tarentaise Valley attracts tourists with the architecture of traditional Savoyard chalets and residences that blend perfectly into the surroundings, making this one of the jewels of the Alps.
The resort is divided into four main neighbourhoods: Allues (1,100m), Méribel Centre (1,400m), Méribel Village (1,400m) and Méribel Mottaret (1,700m).
The resort is also renowned for the high-quality facilities it offers, which notably include access to the world's largest ski area and one of the most advanced ski lift systems around. Not to mention the variety and sheer beauty of the ski area unfolding before your very eyes, much to the delight of the various winter sports enthusiasts that flock here.
A number of new leisure areas hosting fun events for the whole family throughout the year have also opened in Méribel to meet the needs and expectations of its demanding family clientele.
Freeriders are not left out either, with new facilities being developed in the upper part of the resort, while skiers who also like to enjoy a refreshing break from the slopes will find everything they need at the resort's recently opened relaxation areas.
Méribel seems to be constantly striving to achieve excellence, and there's no denying that it has certainly managed to maintain its image as a showcase of what the Alps have to offer over the years.
Again with the emphasis very much on protecting this architectural gem, the resort recently amended its local urbanisation plan to protect itself against any large-scale structures built on small pieces of land that might compromise the beauty of the surroundings.
The move is certainly good news for investors since it guarantees the stable prices for their properties while boosting their value.
Opportunities to purchase property in Méribel remain relatively few and far between, but when they do present themselves they are invariably outstanding. You can invest in a property at the centre of this exclusive resort safe in the knowledge that it is not going to lose its value. The resort's reputation and the measures taken to protect the beauty of its architecture all help to reassure future buyers with regard to the future value of their property, while the possibility of recovering the VAT goes a long way to encouraging potential investors to turn their attentions to new developments.
Our Cimalpes agency is offering you an exclusive opportunity to invest in a prestigious new development in the upper Méribel area, just 300m from the slopes.
Comprising 15 luxury apartments housed in the Parc Alpin residence. An elegant combination of contemporary and traditional styles, these spacious chalet-apartments vary in size from 70 sq.m to 155 sq.m.Sophisticated décor and picture windows offering breath-taking views of the mountains are just some of the appealing features of this exceptional property development.
Always in Meribel, Cimalpes offers residence L'Hévana. Located a few steps from the centre of the village and including a wellness area. Well-being residence, its apartments go from 1 to 3 rooms.
In the heart of Méribel Village, the Black Mountain program is a rare opportunity for top real estate buyers. It includes three duplex apartments with 3 to 5 bedrooms with large areas, private garages, cellar, ski room and 4x4 vehicle. The residence is located 250 meters from the ski slopes.
High-end rental opportunities in Méribel remain rare and are highly sought-after among tourists from all over the world looking for a peaceful base at the heart of the Three Valleys.
There's no more satisfying way to round off an energetic day on the slopes than getting together with friends and family in the cosy and sophisticated surroundings of your chalet.
Our Cimalpes agency currently has six luxury properties available to rent.
Ideally located and offering high-end amenities and upmarket furnishings, our rental properties provide the perfect base for your next mountain break. Perfect families or groups of friends, our Savoyard chalets are all spacious, with luxury facilities and décor that subtly combines tradition and modernity.
Whether in Méribel le Raffort, Méribel Village or Méribel Station, you are sure to find your dream rental property with the help of one of our agencies based at the heart of this precious jewel of the Alps.


text:
Q: Avro: Record deserialization issue I have a SpecificRecord object from which I want to read a property from. Lets assume that I do not have access to the generated class of this SpecificRecord object (since these are dynamically chosen at runtime from a pool of classes via Reflection). Every generated class does have a common property "EXTRACT_DT_TM" (and a getter method for it) that I want to be able to read from this SpecificRecord object (Which is what I am having issues with).
So far I have tried:
    public String map(SpecificRecord record) {
        System.out.println("genericData to String = " +
        GenericData.get().deepCopy(record.getSchema(), record).toString());
        GenericRecord genericRecord = (GenericRecord)
        GenericData.get().deepCopy(record.getSchema(), record);
        System.out.println("genericRecord to String = " + genericRecord.toString());

        Long extractionTime = (Long) genericRecord.get("EXTRACT_DT_TM");

But I get the following exception:
  2021-08-22 01:14:43,280 WARN [main] org.apache.hadoop.mapred.YarnChild: Exception running child : java.lang.ClassCastException: org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData$Record cannot be cast to org.apache.avro.specific.SpecificRecord
    at com.x.y.analytics.ods.z.ExtractionDatePartitionFn.map(ExtractionDatePartitionFn.java:49)
    at com.x.y.analytics.ods.wolfe.ExtractionDatePartitionFn.map(ExtractionDatePartitionFn.java:22)
    at org.apache.crunch.fn.ExtractKeyFn.map(ExtractKeyFn.java:64)
    at org.apache.crunch.fn.ExtractKeyFn.map(ExtractKeyFn.java:29)
    at org.apache.crunch.MapFn.process(MapFn.java:34)

Looking for any thoughts on how to read this value from the SpecificRecord.. In the above approach, I was trying to convert a SpecificRecord to a GenericRecord and then read the value from it..

A: For now since the position of the property is fixed across all generated classes, I was able to use the following. I would still like to know if anyone has a better answer that is not tied to the index.
        Long extractionTime = (Long) record.get(2); // EXTRACT_DT_TM field

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange