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Beyond the Ballot >
Candidates Clash over Transit, Transportation Issues
Source: Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press
In this week's edition of Beyond the Ballot, we look at the all-party debate on transit, questions into NDP platform costing, cuts to prices at the pump and discuss what a coalition government could look like.
Leader Watch
Premier Kathleen Wynne finds herself in Mississauga today before returning to Ottawa for the second time in as many weeks. Wynne will campaign with John Fraser in Ottawa-South, a longtime Liberal riding formerly held by Dalton McGuinty. The Premier will then visit the Kingston and the Islands riding with incumbent Sophie Kiwala to tour the Innovation Hub and deliver remarks at St. Lawrence College. Wynne will then wrap up her week with a return to the GTA with a stop in Whitby.
PC Leader Doug Ford will be around the GTA this week, with rallies planned for Kitchener, Pickering and Hamilton, as well as a meet-and-greet in North York. Ford's time in Toronto comes after recent tours of both Northern and Southwestern areas of Ontario; he is expected to focus his time on the suburbs around Toronto over the long weekend.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath looks to build on her recent momentum with upcoing stops in Toronto and St. Catharines. Wednesday evening, Horwath participated in a live Q&A on Twitter using the hashtag #AskAndrea as a way to connect with youth voters. Like Ford, Horwath will focus on the GTA over the weekend, as the two leaders look to further widen the gap between them and the Liberals.
Leaders clash during northern debate in Parry Sound
Last week at the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) annual conference, Doug Ford, Andrea Horwath and Kathleen Wynne took part in an official debate focusing on northern issues. Despite a lack of new policy announcements, the debate focused on northern economic development, the Ring of Fire, and improved access to healthcare. Ford continued to rail against the Liberals, noting that "the party with the taxpayer's money is over" while Horwath and Wynne accused Ford of planning deep cuts to services under a PC government.The next official debate will be held on Sunday May 27 at 6:30pm in Toronto, broadcast live and moderated by Global News anchor Farah Nasser and TVO host Steve Paikin.
Candidates clash over transit, transportation issues at Transport Futures debate
On Monday, key MPPs from all parties participated in a subdued debate on transit and transportation issues in the province, led by transportation organization Transport Futuresand moderated by TVO's Steve Paikin. No new policy details or promises were introduced, and the participants focused on reiterating their visions for Ontario's transit and transportation systems. A key focus of the debate was non-GTA transit planning, although all candidates repeatedly invoked successes and failures in Toronto.
Steven Del Duca, former transportation Minister and most recently the Minister tasked with economic development and growth conjured up images of frustrated constituents who just want "the talking to stop" on major projects, including the Scarborough subway. He also highlighted his party's success after fifteen years of leadership, focusing on the progress in building major projects, and the work that is "literally happening under our feet." He also warned against the PC party, claiming that under Mike Harris' leadership, transit and transportation projects suffered.
The PCs sent star candidate Rod Phillips to represent the party. Phillips highlighted how much money the party is committed to spending on new transportation projects, including an additional $5 billion toward subways in Toronto – on top of existing government. He also pledged his party's support for several projects already underway, including GO Regional Express Rail and SmartTrack; Phillips also pledged PC support for reinstating the Ontario Northlander train service to Northern Ontario – an initiative also supported by the NDP and the Greens.
NDP candidate Jessica Bell reinforced NDP's philosophical stance against 'privatization' of transit and infrastructure but did not provide specific details on some questions. Bell was unsure about her party's commitment to infrastructure for the Ring of Fire.
Green Party transportation critic Tim Grant repeated his party's call for a 50% federal subsidy of transit operating costs, a stricter approach to provincial funding of municipal rapid transit lines, and a greater emphasis on inter-city transport options.
Source: Dave Abel / Toronto Sun
Liberal, NDP teams argue over NDP platform costing
On Monday, Kathleen Wynne, flanked by Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Treasury Board Secretary Eleanor McMahon, held a press conference accusing the NDP of serious financial incompetence. Wynne and team accused the NDP of not accounting for approximately $2.7 billion in their election platform by not accounting for spending announcements made between 2017-2018 that had multi-year commitments. As a result, the Liberals maintain that this would result in larger than projected deficits, tax hikes, and program cuts should the NDP form government.In response, the NDP claimed that the accounting in their platform is indeed accurate, and clarified that in developing their platform, the party took the 2018 Liberal budget and replaced some spending programs with their own unique spending initiatives – which is where the discrepancy likely originated.Horwath noted the irony of the Liberals challenging their numbers, given their own disagreements with the Financial Accountability Office on the current budget deficit.
The Liberal attack on the NDP comes after a recent upswing for the NDP in the polls, which is seen to be an increasing challenge for the Liberals. After weeks of focusing on Doug Ford and the PCs, the Liberals now focus their offensive efforts on both parties – something that was widely unexpected in the weeks leading up to the race.
Source: Tara Walton / The Canadian Press
Ford declares Ontario to be Open for Business, promises to cancel corporate grants
On Monday, Ford held a press conference overlooking Niagara Falls, announcing that "Ontario is open for business. Fulfilling his promise of bringing an "OPEN" sign to the Ontario-U.S border, Ford committed to stabilizing hydro rates, cutting red tape and bringing jobs back to the province.Ford also pledged to cancel some business support programs, saying the comparing the government's "corporate welfare" to a game of "picking winners and losers". His team later clarified that a Ford government would maintain regional economic development funds to help attract investments to areas in need, but would cancel the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, first established by the Liberal government in 2013. Ford also committed to cutting the corporate income tax from 11.5 to 10.5 per cent and reduces small business taxes by 8.7 per cent.Ford concluded his Niagara tour with a rally accompanied by a number of PC candidates.
An eye on the polls: NDP soar and Liberals remain in third
A new Ipsos-conducted poll has revealed interesting insight into the mind of the Ontario electorate. Conducted exclusively for Global News, the results show the NDP gaining ground, with 35% of respondents saying they would cast a vote for Andrea Horwath's party. Up 6 points from last week's poll, the gain comes at the expense of the Liberals, who only 22% of respondents claim they would support.
Conducted between May 11 and 14 via an online survey of 1,000 Ontarians, the poll also showcased some fascinating regional dynamics. Ipsos' CEO Darrel Bricker explained that while Doug Ford is polling significantly ahead in the seat-heavy 905 region, the NDP have demonstrated a strong lead in the 416 area. Outside of the GTA however, is a different story. Southwestern and Northern Ontario have the NDP as the frontrunners with 41 and 47% of the vote respectively, with the Tories trailing closely behind at 35 and 27%.
Notably, the Liberals have been relegated to third place in most of the province, save for Eastern Ontario where Kathleen Wynne's party finds themselves in second with 26% of respondents leaning Liberal. With exactly three weeks left until the election, all three parties and their respective leaders will be ramping up their efforts to convince Ontarians they have what it takes to serve as Ontario's 25th Premier.
Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The Canadian Press
Ford Nation protests Hydro One board salary increases at Toronto AGM
The war on Hydro One continued this week. On Tuesday, it was reported that Hydro One's board approved significant salary increases ahead of their annual meeting. Adding fuel to the fire, the raises are for executives and board members, including a $70,000 raise for the board's chair and $25,000 raises for other board members – which have been effective since January of this year.Compensation for Hydro One executives has been a hot-button issue for Ford and the PCs, with the party repeatedly promising to fire CEO Mayo Schmidt over his $6-million annual salary. Ford and his team continued to protest this; at a rally outside of the AGM in Toronto on Tuesday, Ford restated his promise to fire Schmidt and the entire board of directors, noting that "we have more than enough capable people of running hydro."NDP critic for energy and candidate for Toronto-Danforth Peter Tabuns piggy-backed on the Ford rally to provide the NDP position on Hydro One. Tabuns promised that an NDP government would buy back Hydro One, returning it into a government-owned organization. While no Liberal candidate attended the rally, Wynne was asked at a campaign stop about the Board's salary increases; she called them "unacceptable", and noted that as a shareholder, the government would abstain from the vote on the increases.
Ford promises relief at the pumps, commits to 10 cent price decrease of gas
On Wednesday, Doug Ford held a press conference at an Oakville gas station in which he revealed a new campaign promise, pledging relief for Ontarians at the gas pump by reducing gas prices by 10 cents per litre. Ford rationalized the cut through his promises to scrap the cap and trade program and reducing the provincial fuel tax. Ford didn't provide further details on how he plans to implement these changes, but remained adamant that the Liberals are responsible for the increasing gas prices and reiterated the PC campaign slogan of putting "more money in your pocket".
During the announcement, Ford also restated his opposition to any form of carbon tax.
Beyond the Ballot: Jennifer Hollett @jenniferhollett
Global Insights: Is a coalition government likely and what would it look like?
By Hershell EzrinA string of polls, catapulting the NDP into second place and reinforcing the Liberals 'death spiral', fuels the latest 'anything but Ford' rumour swirling on the campaign trail.So what is the prospect of a coalition government involving the NDP and Liberals?
But there is danger in extrapolating this early polling (which combines decided and leaning voters) into any kind of anti-Ford coalition opportunity?
The campaign has four weeks to run and history tells us that undecided, leaning voters and flexible partisans thinking of strategic voting do not make up their minds until closer to the last two weeks of the campaign.
But let's play out this latest NDP resurgence speculation. It would require a PC or NDP minority (not impossible), and a combined NDP-Liberal win in seats and the popular vote. A couple of historic case studies provide clues of how a coalition government would be structured.
Option 1) The 1985 Liberal-NDP accord: As one of the lead negotiator for the Liberals, we landed on a modest affair with the NDP. No cabinet posts, agreement on confidence measure support for two years and a legislative program based on shared policies from both parties' election manifestos. What was unique was that the Liberals had fewer seats (albeit a higher popular vote) than the Conservatives who were given first opportunity to face a confidence vote in the House.
Option 2) The recent NDP-Green confidence and supply agreement in British Columbia: In return for Green support for four-year term on confidence measures, the Greens extracted a heavier price from the NDP since the BC Liberals were only 1 seat short of a majority. This included new legislation calling for a 2018 referendum on proportional representation (which both parties pledged to support) and significant changes controlling lobbying and political donations. While no cabinet positions were exchanged, formal mechanisms and structures were established to pre-consult on the legislative agenda, much of which was laid out in the agreement, including meaningful consultation on budget priorities, to ensure that the Green Party views 'were incorporated in final decisions'. Some disgruntled NDP caucus questioned why there could be more consultation by NDP Cabinet with the Green caucus and leadership than with their own party. The Greens were even given ongoing access to officials in the bureaucracy. Adequate funding support for the Greens and additional staffing support was also addressed.
Option 3) A formal coalition as was the case following the 2010 election in the United Kingdom between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats: This agreement included sharing of cabinet seats, commitments to confidence vote support for a fixed period of time, and policy agenda coordination.
While it's fun to speculate let's be clear such agreements are only negotiated after an election. After all who would mortgage their futures or wave the white flag of political surrender in advance of the final vote?
May 27 Ontario Broadcasters Group leaders debate
June 7 Ontario election


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North Korea sentences American Matthew Miller to six years with labor
Matthew Miller, an American detained in North Korea, speaks to the Associated Press, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Sept. 1.
(Wong Maye-E / Associated Press)
By Steven Borowiec
Reporting from Seoul —
Californian Matthew Miller, who was detained in April in North Korea, was sentenced Sunday to six years with labor on charges of entering the country illegally and trying to commit an act of espionage, according to KCNA, the official North Korean news agency.
KCNA said Miller, 24, committed acts hostile to North Korea while entering the country "under the guise of a tourist." After a brief session, the country's Supreme Court denied Miller any appeal.
After entering North Korea on April 10, Miller, who is from Bakersfield, opted to not travel with staff from the American company that organized his trip or with other Western tourists but only with North Korean guides. It is less common and more expensive for Western tourists to travel only with guides from the North.
While traveling, Miller reportedly tore up his visa and declared himself "not a tourist." The court said he intended to "experience prison life so that he could investigate the human rights situation."
North Korea recently allowed Miller and two other American detainees to be briefly interviewed by CNN, but Miller refused at that time to comment on why he tore up his visa.
Uri Tours, the New Jersey-based company that organized Miller's trip, said they assisted him in designing a custom tour.
Uri Tours chief executive Andrea Lee said that as a result of Miller's arrest and detention, the company has instituted new measures to more thoroughly screen passengers before their tours. She said Uri Tours now routinely requests secondary contacts from prospective travelers and reserves the right to contact those references to confirm facts that are in question.
"Although we ask a series of tailored questions on our application form designed to get to know a traveler and his/her interests, it's not always possible for us to foresee how a tourist may behave during a DPRK tour," Lee said via email, using the initials for the nation's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In his awkward interview with CNN, Miller called on the U.S. government to help him and complained that officials in Washington were not doing enough to assist in his case. "I've written a letter to my president with no reply," he said. "For this reason, I am disappointed in my government."
He said he did not know the details of the charges he faced but said he "prepared to violate the law" of North Korea before arriving in the country and "I was expecting to be detained."
The United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, but Miller said he had been able to contact his family by phone.
Miller is one of three Americans currently being held in North Korea. Jeffrey Fowle, 56, was detained in May and told CNN he was held after trying to leave a Bible at one stop on his tour and has yet to face trial. Kenneth Bae has been held since 2012 and is serving a 15-year sentence for "hostile acts." He told CNN he has been transferred back and forth between a labor camp and hospitals.
The U.S. has offered to send an envoy to discuss the cases of the three Americans, but no agreement on such a visit has been reached.
Other Americans imprisoned in North Korea have been released in such a manner in the past. In 2009, former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang and secured the release of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who had been arrested while filming a documentary on the China-North Korea border.
In 2010, English teacher Aijalon Gomes was freed after Jimmy Carter flew to North Korea.
Both Clinton and Carter traveled to North Korea as private citizens, not as official emissaries of the U.S. government.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that on Sept. 4, Sydney Seiler, the U.S. representative to the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, said at a forum in Washington that the U.S. was making efforts to win the release of the three men through contact with North Korea's diplomatic mission to the United Nations.
Borowiec is a special correspondent.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The HFN is a global platform for information on housing finance. It covers several subjects in housing finance and holds country case studies as well as statistics. The main focus is on housing finance for owner occupation.
The HFN offers its users diverse networking features and encourages the sharing of relevant knowledge in housing finance.
Becoming a member of the HFN offers many advantages and is absolutely free without any obligations. Join now!


Chichester in the district of West Sussex has so much to offer. Not only is much of Chichester's environment protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but it also offers an abundance of birdlife and timeless tranquility.
The city offers shopping, restaurants, cinema, galleries and a cathedral.
There are a wide variety of sports and activities available such as Sailing, Windsurfing, Golf, Kitesurfing, Cycling, Surfing and Horseriding or maybe you'd just like the simple pleasures of Birdwatching, Fishing or Walking. Whatever you enjoy, Chichester makes the perfect holiday or short break destination.
If you are interested in owning a holiday home in this area and would like more information on buying a Static Caravan, please don't hesitate in contacting Surf Bay Leisure at our Sales Centre in Bridport, Dorset on 01308 427444.
The seaside village of East Wittering is slightly bigger and brasher than its conjoined neighbour Bracklesham, but they both share a magical location on the seafront of Bracklesham Bay.
The wonderful uninterrupted sandy beaches at East Wittering mean that it's an extremely busy family resort in summer.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Q: I am getting 404 error for the angular application hosted on Rancher as docker images I have an angular app deployed as Docker image in Rancher. I am facing an issue while loading after deployment
Error in Console:

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The application URL I am trying to achieve is https://<domain>/portal which I have included in the ngnix configuration file.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I had my work cut out when I shot the start of the most popular yacht race in New Zealand. The race starts in Auckland and finishes in Russell (119 nm) and this year the record was broken by the super maxi Alfa Romeo with the average speed of 17.8 knots in 6 hours and 43min.
The water was very ruff and I got tossed around a fair bit in our inflatable RIB but the K20D was up to it and I managed a few photos I was happy with.
First and last are good views Eddie.
Wow - looks like you guys had some air for this race. Man, Alfa Romeo is smoking!
I really like this series, Eddie - it's very well done; I appreciate how hard it is to get good shots from a pitching inflatable.
Among these great images, the third one is spectacular. I can just feel the rush.
can feel the salt spray from here... well done..
Really good sailing shots. I'm with Sailor. #3 is smokin' Just look at the spray from the port rudder to get an idea of the speed. Looks like it's not only Wellington that has strong winds.
Yeah 3 is a great shot. In the series above I like the first one even more. A classic shot but still worked great here.
From the slideshow IMGE9810, IMGE9871 and IMGE9813 are just a few other favourites of a very good series. Great work from an inflatable!
Ash. I like to get close and take photos of the crew. It can be interesting to see them work.
Sailor. The wind was just right for the race. We followed Alfa Romeo when she powered up and she got up to 23 knots. The cat in the third shot is less then half her size but did the same speed.
dcmsox2004. The salt spray was my biggest problem. I had to clean the lens quite a few times.
RichardS. It is not only Wellington that gets good wind but we don't have it every day. We will see how Alfa Romeo does in Sydney to Hobart later on.
Peter. I was lucky with IMGE9871 as the sun came through at the right moment.


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Kepler-7b – planeta pozasłoneczna typu gorący jowisz, znajdująca się w gwiazdozbiorze Lutni. Została odkryta w 2010 przez Kosmiczny Teleskop Keplera.

Kepler-7b ma masę wynoszącą 0,43 masy Jowisza oraz promień sięgający 1,48 , co daje jej bardzo niską gęstość 166 kg/m³. Planeta ta obiega swoją gwiazdę Kepler-7 w ciągu około 4,9 dnia.

W październiku 2013 roku amerykańska agencja kosmiczna NASA poinformowała, iż, dzięki obserwacjom za pomocą kosmicznych teleskopów Keplera i Spitzera, udało się stworzyć mapę chmur na planecie Kepler-7b – pierwszą mapę chmur na planecie poza Układem Słonecznym. Obserwacje, które doprowadziły do utworzenia tej mapy trwały ponad trzy lata. Ustalono, że zauważalna na zachodniej krawędzi tarczy planety jasna plama to w rzeczywistości obłok odbijający światło, a nie – jak wcześniej sądzono – plama gorąca.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

 Kepler-7 b w bazie Exoplanet Transit Database

Gorące jowisze
Gwiazdozbiór Lutni
Planety tranzytujące
Kosmiczny Teleskop Keplera
Obiekty astronomiczne odkryte w 2010

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


NEW YORK, December 6, 2016 – L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL) announced today that it will change its name to L3 Technologies, Inc., effective December 31, 2016. The new name capitalizes on L-3's strong brand equity, while better reflecting the Company's evolution into a leading global provider of a broad range of technology solutions. As part of its name change, L-3 will update its corporate logo and change its email and website to L3T.com on January 3, 2017. The Company's New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol will remain the same.
Headquartered in New York City, L-3 employs approximately 38,000 people worldwide and is a leading provider of a broad range of communication and electronic systems and products used on military, homeland security and commercial platforms. L-3 is also a prime contractor in aerospace systems, security and detection systems and pilot training. The company reported 2015 sales of $10.5 billion.
could cause actual results to differ materially from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking Statements included in the Company's recent filings, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.


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The Little Twist Faucet is just that: a twist on the bathroom fixture that focuses on minimalism and functionality! Rather than knobs and handles that become grimy and damaged over time, the design features a single spout-shaped key situated directly beneath the water flow. This unique placement ensures the key is always rinsed clean and makes it easy for users to wash their hands without soaping up the handles or contaminating their hands with a dirty knob. DO WANT!
Pingback: [ET] No Knobs, No Problem!
Makes no sense, how do you choose temperature?
put up is simply excellent and that i can think you're a professional in this subject.
This is a particularly delicate bathroom faucet, but the button at the vents, although in the process of opening, easy to hand wash, but the water had been button to get the time to ensure its cleanliness, and the water temperature can not be well controlled. How to maintain the water quality of water through the same button, how to adjust the temperature control? Both also an issue.
student populations. Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
fat and releasing it into the blood stream, where it finds the baby.


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Home / Inspiring
Mason (Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide) (Photo: Karen Alsop. Editor: Angelo van der Klift)
Every year, photographers and Photoshop artists come together to bring the magic of the holidays to sick children across the world. The heART Project is a collaboration between award-winning Australian photographer Karen Alsop from Story Art and a group of volunteer photographers from across the globe. This year, the group visited children in the United States and Australia and brought a little Christmas joy to families struggling with childhood health challenges.
Santa and his elves even made appearances when they could, making visits to children at the hospital. The volunteers who bring these holiday scenes to life dedicate hours to crafting a memorable image that also incorporates the interests of each child. For some families, it was the first chance to get a professional photo of their child, and for others, whose children are facing life-threatening illnesses, it might be the last opportunity to celebrate together.
That makes every photo much more than a simple picture with Santa. "Our mission has always been to put a smile on the face of families who are doing it tough at Christmas by making them escape reality—even for a day—thanks to the power of photography and Photoshop," shares Karen Alsop, who first started the Christmas Wish project in 2016.
For families, Christmas Wish is a chance to escape the stress of the hospital and allow their children to experience the holidays. "These photos are beautiful and we will treasure them forever," admits one family. "We have never been able to take our son for a photo with Santa, so this means a lot to us."
Every year, volunteer photographers and Photoshop artists bring a little Christmas joy to children spending the holidays in the hospital.
After several years of social distancing, the heART Project was able to bring Santa into hospitals to visit hundreds of sick children.
While there, photographers snapped photos that volunteer editors spent hours transforming into special Christmas scenes.
James (Hummingbird House, Brisbane). James from Hummingbird House Brisbane, whose love of planes saw him transported with the power of Photoshop, to ride on a Virgin Australia plane wing with Santa Claus.
Photo and Editor: Karen Alsop
Bella (Monash Children's Hospital, Melbourne). Bella was born with Hirschsprung's disease, a chronic bowel condition. Bella has been in and out of the hospital her whole life and when we visited she was extremely unwell. Bella comes from a family of renowned singers and musicians. Her green screen photo was transformed, just like a Hollywood movie, and Bella and her sister Millie can be seen performing on the Puffing Billy Railway platform with Santa joining in.
Isaiah (Perth Children's Hospital)
Editor: Ben Shirk
Every photo incorporates the interests of the children, who were interviewed with their families during the process.
Olivia (Monash Children's Hospital, Melbourne). When the team visited Olivia's hospital room they were awestruck by her artistic talent. Olivia's room was filled with art, from hand-constructed balls then illustrated by Olivia, to a large, almost finished painting of a stunning mountain lake landscape. Karen Alsop photographed Olivia's art creations and in Photoshop placed Santa and Olivia into her own work of art.
Editor: Karen Alsop
Grace (Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide). Grace who suffers from an autoimmune disease has been in and out of the hospital for the last couple of years. In 2021 the team was unable to photograph Grace in person as she was too sick, so Nicole, her mum, was guided by the team to take some phone photos of Grace. These were sent to our remote editors to turn into works of art. (Editor: Corey Mudge)
Grace was able to meet Santa in person this year, and the magic was real! Grace's image was sent to one of the leading Photoshop Masters in the world, Jesús Ramirez who has 1.9 million subscribers on his Photoshop Training Channel on Youtube. After going through a significant health challenge himself in 2021, Ramirez is even more connected with the project. He created a masterpiece for Grace who shared about how much she loves dogs.
Editor: Jesús Ramirez
"These photos are beautiful and we will treasure them forever," shared one family. "We have never been able to take our son for a photo with Santa, so this means a lot to us."
Amelia (Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide). Amelia, 14 years old, was very active in sports and dance prior to being admitted to hospital in July. Amelia was unable to move her body from the neck down. However, In just a few short months with determination and a bubbly personality, she has come such a long way and now has an artwork of her dancing with Santa.
Editor: Kelly Clark
Editor: Joel Robison
Editor: Colin Smith
Editor: Mark Heaps
Editor: Bren Slade
heART Project: Website | Facebook | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by heART Project.
Creative Dad Photoshops His Kids Into the Funniest Situations
Masterful Photoshop Artist Combines Images to Create Magical Scenes
Photographer Shares the Striking Transformation of His Images Before and After Photoshop
Funny Dad Photoshops His Kids Into "Dangerous" Situations to Show His Girlfriend They're OK
Jessica Stewart
Jessica Stewart is a Contributing Writer and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy. She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she's not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book 'Street Art Stories Roma' and most recently contributed to 'Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini'. You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
Read all posts from Jessica Stewart
Inspired by these images? Share
Inspired by these images?
Supergal Bookend
by Artori Design
Quick-Thinking Man Helps a Koala Cross a Busy Highway in Australia
Devoted Teacher Makes Personalized Plush Toys Based on Students' Drawings
Man Saves 24 People From Blizzard and the Buffalo Bills Reward Him With Tickets to Tickets to the Super Bowl
Japanese Woman Mesmerizes Audiences by Snowboarding While Wearing a Kimono for "Coming of Age Day"
9-Year-Old Paleontology Lover Finds Giant Megalodon Tooth on Maryland Beach
Olympian Chloe Kim Carried a Snowboarder to Safety Down a Hill at Mammoth Mountain
97-Year-Old Gymnast Inspires the World With Her Incredible Abilities
Miss Thailand Wears Soda Tab Dress at Miss Universe as a Tribute to Her Garbage Collector Parents
Ke Huy Quan Delivers an Emotional Speech After Golden Globes Win
82-Year-Old Walmart Cashier Retires After TikToker Raises $100K for Him
Viral "Popcorn Guy" Amazes TikTok With His Mesmerizing Snack-Serving Skills


text:
► Trumps Tweets
Trumps Tweets
Started by admin, March 29, 2018, 09:50:56 AM
Go Down Pages 1 ... 78 79 80 81
I love Conservative Political Forum!
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Re: Trumps Tweets
January 14, 2022, 01:18:11 PM #1185
Quote from: Solar on January 14, 2022, 10:35:46 AM the fake Big Lie,
By Donald J. Trump
What is the fake big lie?
T Hunt
I love CPF!
Location: Great Plains
Quote from: SueAnn on January 14, 2022, 01:18:11 PM What is the fake big lie?
The media calls the biden coup a made up lie by the right, saying he really won. They call that the big lie. But its fake because the real big lie is that biden won and that was made up by the left.
That Biteme got 80 million votes.
Say good bye to Ducey...
He will never have my endorsement
January 14, 2022 / Statements by Donald J. Trump
"Rumors are that Doug Ducey, the weak RINO Governor from Arizona, is being pushed by Old Crow Mitch McConnell to run for the U.S. Senate. He will never have my endorsement or the support of MAGA Nation!"
Quote from: Solar on January 14, 2022, 11:32:08 PM
Trump. Gets. It.
Biden does not know this, but he is proven everything Trump has said about liberals, democrat and republican.
ldub23
Quote from: Possum on January 14, 2022, 11:42:23 PM Trump. Gets. It.
I assume Ducey would be running against Mark Kelley this year?
supsalemgr
Location: Hendersonville, NC
January 15, 2022, 12:58:50 AM #1191
AZ republicans have been a mystery since Barry Goldwater.
"If you can't run with the big dawgs, stay on the porch!"
Quote from: supsalemgr on January 15, 2022, 12:58:50 AM AZ republicans have been a mystery since Barry Goldwater.
Yeah, when life is good and people just want to be left alone, this is what happens, same with Ca.
It was too late when we all realized both party's were working against Americas best interests.
Texas was another of which was on the precipice of collapsing to the left, but I think they're safe now.
Hell, the country is safe finally.
Quote from: ldub23 on January 14, 2022, 11:56:11 PM I assume Ducey would be running against Mark Kelley this year?
No, and why do assume this race will be against a Dim? They are dead, get that through your head!
The race will be between the Establishment and a conservative.
aNOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE aZ RACE.
Between the House, Senate, and assorted gubernatorial races, there are nearly 500 major offices up for grabs in the 2022 mid-term elections. And out of those nearly 500 races, the Senate race unfolding in Arizona is by far the most important. It isn't just crucial that the GOP win this seat and with it an overall Senate majority. It is crucial that the right candidate win the seat, in order to further the long-term transformation of the GOP into an America First political party.
Right now, though, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to sabotage this transformation by urging Governor Doug Ducey to enter the race, and the only obstacle to his plans is Ducey's wife.
According to a source close to both Ducey and McConnell, Angela Ducey is eager to be out of the political spotlight, and has become irate with McConnell's constant pleas for her husband to enter the race. Besides the usual difficulties that come with being a politician's spouse, the past year has been particularly rough for Angela as her husband has been savaged from the right for his role in certifying Joe Biden's 2020 victory in the state.
But apparently, McConnell thinks nothing of putting the hurt on the Ducey marriage for the sake of sticking a metaphorical thumb in Donald Trump's eye.
McConnell's motivation is simple: He doesn't like Donald Trump, and doesn't like the direction Trump has taken the Republican Party. But he also can't oppose Trump openly, and is instead stuck trying to wait out the president while elevating candidates who are loyal to the old GOP rather than the new one. For McConnell, Ducey is an enticing pawn in this proxy war.
In the past several months, Ducey has brought on four new staffers who previously worked for Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, including two who were state directors, according to a POLITICO review of the governor's office's staff announcements.
With staffers like that, it is clear that a Ducey entry would be disastrous for the long-term evolution of the Republican Party. In the short term, he would increase the odds of Democrats winning the seat since thousands of Trump supporters haven't forgiven him over 2020, and Trump himself said last July that "there is no way he would get my endorsement" if he ran. In the long run, even if he wins, Republican voters will be rewarded with a Jeff Flake-style Republican ready to undermine the next Republican Administration just as much as his predecessors undermined the last one.
Donald Trump is nearing victory in his long struggle with McConnell for control of the Republican party. McConnell is on the ropes and he knows it. Trump should not give him the opportunity to get back in the ring.
https://www.revolver.news/2022/01/its-a-ducey-in-arizona-trump-mcconnell-2022-senate-race/
Donald J. Trump Rally in Florence, Arizona
January 15, 2022 / Rallies, Events
Watch here 45th President Donald J. Trump Rally in Florence, Arizona.
LIVE...
https://rumble.com/embed/vq1oni/?pub=4
January 15, 2022, 11:46:18 AM #1196 Last Edit: January 15, 2022, 11:51:14 AM by ldub23
I am curious about something.
"In the long run, even if he wins, Republican voters will be rewarded with a Jeff Flake-style Republican ready to undermine the next Republican Administration just as much as his predecessors undermined the last one."
If we lose by running a conservative that cant win in AZ how does that help things? If a rep were elected president in 2024 and there were 51 dem senators wouldnt that undermine the next rep admin? Other than signing executive orders no conservative legislation would pass. Here is my list where i think with the wind at our backs in 2022 a conservative can win a senate race.
AL,MS,AR,ND,SD,WY,MT,AL,TN,NE,KS,UT,ID,IA,SC,FLA, OK, IN, KY,OH.
2 AL'S. I meant one to be AK
Quote from: ldub23 on January 15, 2022, 11:46:18 AM I am curious about something.
Where does this "IF" crap come from? The DNC Is Dead and Buried already!!!
If we lose by running a conservative
You have been shown how liberal republicans vote with democrats, that voting for rinos is just voting for a water down democrat. You did not respond. Answer two questions for me, there were rinos who voted for impeachment, build back better, and the infrastructure bill, tell me how we win by running a rino. Two, you know the rules, show where Cruz said " He quite clearly said WE are terrorists." This is a form of slander, either retract it or show where he said that.
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Starting from September 1, Colin Veenstra has been appointed as PhD student for 4 years. Colin will be working on the project 'Needless Needles', focusing on the development of low-coherence spectroscopy (LCS) for noninvasive blood analysis in newborns. Colin's appointment has been supported by the UT/MIRA.
Colin completed his MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering within the BMPI group on 21 April 2015. His thesis was titled 'Absorption coefficient measurements of scattering samples using an integrating sphere'.
For information about student projects, feel free to send an email to c.veenstra@utwente.nl or n.bosschaart@utwente.nl.
We wish Colin good luck at BMPI!
Lot is a Biomedical Engineering master student. In the coming months, Lot will participate in the project 'Needless Needles', focusing on the development of low-coherence spectroscopy (LCS) for noninvasive blood analysis in newborns. Within this project, Lot will develop a method for accurate quantification of absorption from the LCS signal. Lot will be supervised by Nienke Bosschaart (n.bosschaart@utwente.nl).
We wish Lot a 'lot' of luck at BMPI!


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Home » Articles » Academia and the Big, Bad Fascist
Academia and the Big, Bad Fascist
By Gabriel Andrade
In Review: Jeffrey M. Bale and Tamir Bar-On's Fighting the Last War: Confusion, Partisanship and Alarmism in the Literature on the Radical Right
Aesop's fable of the boy who cried "Wolf!" may have been originally addressed to children, but of course, adults are the ones who are in most desperate need of its lesson. This is especially the case in our woke era. Fascism has become the new wolf, and progressives waste no occasion to hysterically scream about the big, bad fascists coming. As in Aesop's tale, at first people believe them, but once people discover that it is all a hoax, they lose credibility—which makes it very dangerous, because when the big wolf really comes, nobody will be prepared.
Jeffrey M. Bale and Tamir Bar-On's Fighting the Last War: Confusion, Partisanship and Alarmism in the Literature on the Radical Right (Lexington Books, 2022) is a meaningful attempt to expose all those eager to use the term "fascist" to describe anyone they do not like. In the Western world, these alarmists are all over the social sphere, but they are most notable in academia. As Bale and Bar-On explain, there is a "growing problem of 'progressive' political hegemony and activism in academia" (p. 2), and ultimately, its effect is the suppression of dissenting voices and the labeling of any dissent as "fascism." Under the guise of scholarship, many academics are willing to expand the definition of "fascism" to include anyone who does not uphold their leftist ideology.
In contrast, Bale and Bar-On aptly argue that "fascism" is a very specific ideology that took shape in Germany and Italy in the 1930s. Although they agree that "fascism" may be difficult to define (and they devote many pages to critically examining some proposed definitions), they add that "when one thinks of regime fascism, one thinks of brutal violence, imperialist conquest, war, and totalitarianism" (p.56).
Who fits this profile? Academia, mainstream media, and a substantial number of politicians in the West try to downplay an obvious candidate: Islamism. In contrast, they are eager to portray President Trump as a match. While far from sympathetic to Trump's style of politics, Bale and Bar-On go to great lengths to show why Trump is not a fascist, and how persistent academic attempts to portray him as such are unfair and ultimately dangerous.
In Bale and Bar-On's assessment, Trump reverses Teddy Roosevelt's advice to "walk softly and carry a big stick." Yes, Trump's mouth is loud, but his actions are quite mellow. Whereas Hitler and Mussolini were eager to engage in military conquests, Trump's isolationist stance in the world stage makes him far less similar to fascists than many of his adversaries on both the Right (neocons) and the Left (liberal hawks).
[Related: "Shouting 'Fire' in a Crowded Theater: A Dangerously Inept Analogy"]
Trump was critical of media and universities, but he never laid a finger on them. It is therefore astonishing that someone such as Jason Stanley (an alleged authority on the history of fascism) would be worried that Trump is coming down hard on academia to silence dissent amongst professors. In reality, it is Stanley's own stripe of academics who persistently threaten free speech on college campuses.
In the leftist narrative, Trump's alleged similarities to fascists lay in his big rallies and populist style. But as Bale and Bar-On argue, this reveals academics' double standards. Bernie Sanders also attracted large crowds, yet nobody in academia went out of their way to claim that Sanders was following Mussolini's (or even Stalin's) script. In Bale and Bar-On's view, this is all confirmation that "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is a very real malaise, and its prevalence is most felt in academia.
I might add that many of these scholars are (rightly) horrified by Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Yet they don't seem to notice their own similarity to the Russian dictator. Like many professors, Putin is happy to use the label "Nazi" to describe anyone he does not like, and in his mind, this justifies his war crimes. Recall that the Kremlin's propaganda (repeated by some useful idiots in the West, such as Oliver Stone) insists that Ukraine is full of Nazis, and therefore, the invasion is necessary.
The great lesson of Aesop's fable is that if people go around screaming "Wolf!," when the real wolf comes, nobody will be prepared. Bale and Bar-On warn about this danger. Albeit a tiny minority, fascists do exist in the United States and Europe. But if people are unfairly accused of being fascists all the time, eventually, they will run into the arms of real fascists. Furthermore, if everyone except whites is allowed to have ethnic pride and is encouraged to play the identity politics game, ultimately, disenfranchised whites will seek comfort in those who are happy to go along with white identity politics. The only meaningful way to avert the danger of fascism is to truly embrace Enlightenment values (the real liberalism) and uphold a universalist and cosmopolitan ethos that opposes the tribalist tendencies that are now becoming so prominent, manifested in proposals such as affirmative action and reparations. In the authors' words, "the solution, of course, is for everyone to abandon identity politics, that is, to stop viewing individuals simply as representatives of collective racial (or gender, or class, or religious) groups with essentialized characteristics, who can then be unfairly denounced or romanticized en masse, and to return to treating people as individuals and evaluating them on the basis of their own specific characteristics and merits" (p. 299).
Despite Bale and Bar-On's forceful arguments, I worry that some of their claims may not be distant enough from the toxic conspiracist style of American politics. For example, in their discussion of the events of January 6th, 2021, they correctly argue that President Trump never incited a revolt. But they also suggest that there may have been FBI infiltrators who incited the crowd so as to portray them as fascists. Admittedly, this type of tactic has been deployed in the United States before—J. Edgar Hoover used it against leftists, and it now seems that it was used in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. But it is still a stretch to suggest that the storming of the Capitol was an inside job.
Furthermore, to this writer, Bale and Bar-On's constant use of the phrase "globalist elites" rings too conspiracist. Who, exactly, oversees these elites? George Soros? Bill Gates? The authors never say. And what is so bad about globalization, anyways? Supranationalism and cosmopolitanism are precisely part of the Enlightenment agenda that, as Bale and Bar-On acknowledge, is the antidote to tribalism and identity politics.
Be that as it may, Fighting the Last War is a welcome contribution to the effort to push back against those academics whose self-righteousness may leave us dangerously unprepared for the arrival of real fascists.
Image: Steve, Public Domain
Gabriel Andrade
Gabriel Andrade is assistant professor of medicine at Ajman University.
4 thoughts on "Academia and the Big, Bad Fascist"
richard g johnston says:
The playing of the fascist card has much in common with the playing of the race card. Arguing against "equity" as in "diversity, equity, and inclusion," is not to be considered a racist on many college campuses. I admit forgetting the person who stated "the modern definition of a 'racist' is someone winning an argument with a liberal."
Concerned Academic says:
>>they also suggest that there may have been FBI infiltrators who incited the crowd so as to portray them as fascists.<<
There are indications that there were such elements. I fail to grasp why "suggesting" that there "may" have been some constitutes a "toxic conspiracist style."
(The author mentions Michigan. Is he aware that Michigan's FBI director, who set up the Whitmer "sting," became the director for DC before January 6?)
If the writer's point is that this contested subject is not very relevant to the broader argument, and should not be dragged in, it would be better to say that.
More important, I don't know whether the fault lies with the book or with this writer, but it should be noted that:
1) Most of fascism, like any totalitarianism, is far more subtle than "brutal violence" and "imperial conquest." What is happening in universities today resembles what happened in fascist states. It is not merely a matter of Trump not being fascist; it is a matter of the accusers being, to a great degree, fascist. The leading fascists came out of the left, and in the 1920s and 30s fascism was understood (correctly) as a leftist ideology.
2) "Supranationalism and cosmopolitanism" are NOT "the antidote to tribalism and identity politics." Supranationalism and cosmopolitanism, and much of the Enlightenment agenda, have sparked tribalism and identity politics in the US. This is a really fundamental issue, and failure to grasp it may be our doom.
I argue that fascism is independent of the nationalist values seen in wartime Germany & Italy and is more related to things like BLM.
It's time for honest people to ask honest questions about Jan 6th, starting with where the h*ll were all the cops?!?
The USCP had a line across a lawn, hundreds of yards wide, that they tried to hold with 2-3 offices. That's insane — you need an officer every 2-3 FEET, with supervisers beiind them and ready to assist with arrests.
If you don't have enough officers, you borrow them from other departments and pair them with your own people. But the USCP have 1,879 officers — where were they?!?
The USCP essentially answer to Pelosi — who really needs to explain…


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The 2000 Nabisco Championship was a women's professional golf tournament, held March 23–26 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. This was the 29th edition of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and the eighteenth as a major championship.

Karrie Webb won the first of her two titles in this event, ten strokes ahead of Dottie Pepper, the defending   her second consecutive major win and the second of her seven major titles.
Webb held an eight-stroke lead after 54 holes, and shot a final round 70 for a comfortable victory.

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Source:

Missed the cut

Source:

Final leaderboard
Sunday, March 26, 2000

(a) - denotes amateur

References

External links
Golf Observer leaderboard

Chevron Championship
Golf in California
Nabisco Championship
Nabisco Championship
Nabisco Championship
Nabisco Championship
Women's sports in California


Recently, one of Australia's larger media agencies announced its intention to revamp its management structure with the objective of expanding its strategic planning expertise and building some 'centres of excellence' around the various and ever expanding media disciplines.
This highlights the very broad base of disciplines now encompassed by the term 'Media Agency' and the complex matrix of specialities, specialists and players now plying their trades in the market.
Most of the bigger media agencies have developed varying levels of expertise and silos of specialisation to suit the changing face of the market. Research, Analytics, Channel Planning, Technology, Consumer Insights, Sponsorship, Online, are just some of the relatively newer areas of proficiency and sit alongside developments of some of the older functions like 'Strategic Planner', 'Trading Director' or 'Business Manager'. One could be forgiven for assuming that some of the latter are merely re-badged versions of more traditional roles.
Along with internal specialisation, there are the specialist 'consultancies' that concentrate in very specific disciplines and work alongside the more traditional media agency structure.
The most obvious perhaps is the media strategic and analytics agencies that sit apart from the implementation and buying agency in order to provide their clients with advice 'untainted' by any suggestion that they are not 'media neutral'.
They are 'arms length' from the media and their remuneration is in no way dependent on media channel selection so they can claim the high ground in this area. This view conveniently ignores the fact that many 'full service' media agencies are now also remunerated in such a way as to make the media selection process totally separate from the way they make their money.
As the now long established 'unbundled' market originally resulted in the establishment of a highly competitive segment of 'independent' media agencies, it's evolution has seen these specialist consultancies emerge to serve yet another 'niche' in the market.
What does this really mean for the advertiser? Ultimate freedom of choice.
Like the look of a particular media agency for their buying ability? No problem, hand them just that function. Feel a good 'chemistry' with the strategic specialists elsewhere? It's theirs! Want to use a specific researcher within another company? Or excited by the possibility of that analytics company? Have them provide you with a proposal.
The real problem for advertisers now is too much choice.
How do you benchmark the abilities of your current media agency? How do you compare the efficacy of their specialist divisions with independent alternatives? Is it better to unbundle everything and take the best of each discipline or accept the ease of a 'one stop shop? In a competitive review, how do you make sense of all the claims and counter claims across so many areas of expertise?
The fact is that there is no single solution for all marketers, just as there is no single strategic requirement. Our approach is to clearly the define the current state against the current and future strategic requirements and then identify the best model and structure to deliver this. We call this the TrinityP3 Strategic Supplier Alignment and it works across all disciplines or one discipline like media and channel planning.


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Category Archives: 2020-21 Season
2020-21 Season, MESSAGE FROM THE CENTER
January 15, 2021 Administrator
As CAP UCLA adapts to what the new found realities of the arts ecosystem and economy look like, we will remain online and socially distanced for the spring.
We're making changes all in the hopes of better serving you, our artists and the community, including a commitment to digital programming.
CAP UCLA will present 10 programs in the remainder of the 2020-21 season, two of which are additions. The two new programs for the spring season are Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK and Monica Bill Barnes & Co: Keep Moving.
Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK is a GPS-enabled work of public art that uses music to illuminate the natural environment. This work has been intricately mapped to the varied terrain of Los Angeles's Griffith Park. Simply download the free app and explore!
Premiered by the American Dance Festival, Keep Moving is an online dance experience created by Monica Bill Barnes & Robbie Saenz de Viteri delivered in 10 chapters; some are videos, some are audio. All of them try to answer the question of how a dancer, a woman who works so hard to keep moving, finds a way forward while live performance is on pause.
While we were hopeful to gather and experience the performing arts together once again, our priority remains safety and well-being. Therefore, we've had to postpone the following programs to future dates when we can safely resume live programming:
Antonio Sanchez: Bad Hombre
Anthony de Mare: Liaisons 2020: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano
Rudresh Mahanthappa and Terri Lyne Carrington: Fly Higher Charlie Parker at 100
MK Guth: Choreography for Reading Aloud
Jennifer Koh & Davóne Tines: Everything That Rises Must Converge
John Cameron Mitchell: The Origin of Love Tour
2020-21 Season, Message from the Artist
My heart hastens with gladness to be with my compadres again to make music. This year of COVID has been a trial and a revelation. A time of reflection and resourcefulness. We hope that the offering we bring to you from this stage will help to console your losses, and fill the void of your loneliness. Above all, we hope to lift you up and inspire you to go forward in love and light. Yours in the music,
2020-21 Season, MESSAGE FROM THE CENTER, Notes from Kristy
December 16, 2020 Kristy Edmunds
Dear CAP UCLA family,
At the tail end of a year unlike any other, where we have experienced so much of our work in the arts thrown against the rocks, we can still celebrate the incredible care that enabled us to keep steering and stitching the seams together with vigilance and creative problem-solving. I'm not going to dwell on the grief because there is not enough room to adequately do so, but I acknowledge the word in scale while also being inspired by how we continue to make, find and share beauty at every turn. I want to recognize the contribution of all who work here at CAP UCLA and our Executive Producer Council. In a period of constant change, everyone gave their unwavering support through each calamity large or small.
The well-spring of inspiration has come from the artists and their creative teams who continue to engage with us, no matter the strain, to invent new ways for bringing their work to life – and it is safe to say that the reason behind all of our collective effort is our audiences. You are the community that makes what we do uplifted and possible. While the adage that "If you are standing still you are falling behind" is something all of us have viscerally lived at high velocity this year, the motivation for sprinting ahead has been to ensure we are connected to our audiences and communities as we cope in our different lives and realities – and to offer something joyously and very much alive in the performing arts.
For CAP UCLA we were able to create a financial lifeline this season for more than 300 artists and their work through our newly invented online channel, collaborations with colleagues in film production and those with empty stages, here and around the country and world, who hosted numerous performances without live audiences.
Thousands of you have shown up for our events and we cannot thank you enough. For us it was a profound sign of your belief in our continuation and of our shared possibilities together.
Although we are truly proud of what we have held together and created this year, we know there is much still to do as we head into 2021. There will continue to be heightened needs in the arts community as we ride out the pandemic (while wearing our masks and staying safer at home).
I know that you have been asked to support the many causes and needs there are across the country and world, and I know that everyone has been affected in ways that we could not have comprehended less than a year ago. CAP UCLA and the artists and communities we touch and work with also need your support in any way it can come. Please give what you can. We can't carry the future from here without you.
There is so much more to dance and sing and play and make together and to support and stand with. For now, on behalf of all of us at the Center, may you have love and peace, respite, friendship and neighborliness over the holiday season.
We look forward to seeing you in the new year ahead and thank you again in advance for all you do and give and extend in all of the ways that you do so.
With gratitude and love,
Message from the Center: Lynell George
December 7, 2020 Meryl
Cities reveal themselves in multiple ways. There is the Los Angeles that we know from behind the wheel of a car, the Los Angeles that we know from walking the neighborhoods and the Los Angeles that we see from the large, high windows of a city bus.
Before the pandemic, more than 1.6 million people rode LA Metro every day, and most of them on the bus. That's more than the entire population of Rhode Island. A number of years ago I rode the 720 from Westwood to DTLA. I had assigned my students a special project downtown, most did not have cars and I suggested the 720 bus as an option. I wanted to know what they would experience, so we could talk about it, but none of them saw the bus as a viable option. "Why not?" I asked. "Too long…too boring…I don't know how."
Lynell George, in her new book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky, uncovers the hidden gems buried in the 300+ boxes of the Octavia E. Butler archive. The stories behind the story — the small notebooks, receipts, clippings, scraps of paper, marginalia, bus passes, bus schedules, bus maps and bus routes of the greater metro area. In a city of cars, Octavia Butler chose not to drive. Lynell writes:
A long vivid stretch of inspiration, the bus is a moving theater. Even the waiting provides an opening act. Anticipation: there's a noisy expanse to get lost in, to be transfixed or puzzled by. Los Angeles is the world, the world comes to Los Angeles, to dip into a little bit of everything, to try a new self on for size… [Octavia] watches it flicker by from the bus window, seated high, as she passes through her day.
Like Butler, Lynell George is a collector of stories. Her reporting, her essays, her three books (each illuminating a different aspect of Los Angeles); all are filled with the stories of our city. These stories are our support system, they help us to make sense of where we live and how we live. Here, in this place.
In the introduction to her second book, After/Image, Lynell writes: "What is Los Angeles when you pull the image of the city away? What are you left with? What is the Los Angeles that lives inside of us?"
Los Angeles is more than the known images, more than one view. When's the last time you rode the bus? Or walked the neighborhoods; or the boulevards, streets, alleys and secret stairs that connect the neighborhoods? There is so much to see.
Like Butler, the poet Marisela Norte uses her time on the bus to write, to compose, to imagine. And like Lynell George, she is searching for the stories of our city.
snow covers man on pavement/polka dot shoes run by/no clean getaways
waiting/for languages/as drivers become green
follow the curve of a building/trace your curve next to mine
building blue/violent pink/unread books on shelf/our stories inside
The stories are there to be read, we only need to look.
—Meryl Friedman, Director of Education & Special Initiatives
Message from the Artist: 600 HIGHWAYMEN
December 4, 2020 Administrator
Dear Audience,
Thank you so much for calling in and making this performance with us. Without you, the performance is just a series of empty instructions and unanswered questions. While the inspiration for this project came long before COVID was a word any of us knew, it is this inability to be physically close that has fueled our curiosity for how to find our way together again. It is not hyperbole to say that we cannot do this project without you. And because of that, we are very grateful that you have contributed to its life.
This phone call is the first of a three-part project. We hope you will return to experience the second and third installments, which will occur in the year ahead. The second and third parts ('An Encounter' and 'An Assembly") exist in shared (and safe) physical space, and will continue the trajectory as we collectively travel the course of this unexpected year.
Until we meet again!
—Abby & Michael, 600 HIGHWAYMEN
Message from the Artist: Kid Koala
Normally, We would host these Music To Draw To events somewhere cozy with everyone in the same room. It started in the winter of 2009 in Montreal at Théâtre Ste. Catherine. Each Monday, I would play a set of quiet time focus music and people were invited to come draw, write, code and study. We strung lights and set up seats and little drawing tables for everyone. The point was to create a cozy atmosphere for people to work on their own creative projects.
Over the years, I started to improvise and create some original ambient pieces live. Several of which would become the skeletal tracks for the Music To Draw To album series which would start almost a decade later.
Since 2009, We have been lucky enough to bring this event to several cities around the world. We also continue hosting them in Montreal every winter. It remains one of my favorite events to host.
I'm constantly inspired by the range of projects that people work on at these sessions. Over the years, there have been many writers, painters, animators, sculptors and video game coders at the events. But there have also been filmmakers finishing screenplays, teachers finishing lesson plans and even designers bringing in looms and dress forms for their clothing/textile projects. I remember this one attendee was working on a laptop on what I thought was some wild 3D animation. I asked her if it was for a video game or music video but it turned out she was a neuroscientist studying CT scans. I love that! Everybody's welcome!
Bring your creative projects.
Come join us if you need a little focus music or to get some (quiet) work done.
Eric, AKA Kid Koala
2020-21 Season, Message from the Artist, Program Note
Message from the Artist: Ronald K. Brown on Grace@20
November 9, 2020 Administrator
Grace, the dance was commissioned and performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and premiered in 1999 NY City Center. The work became a part of the Evidence, A Dance Company Repertory in 2001. The Grace@20 Workshop gives participants a chance to view the work, learn some of the movement from the piece and have a conversation to learn how each of us thinks of grace in our lives and work.
When Judith Jamison, former Artistic Director of AADT, contacted me to discuss the possibility of me creating a work on Ailey there were several immediate responses. One was the memory of going on a school trip to see the Ailey Company when I was in the 2nd grade and going home and making a dance. I also remembered my mother taking to a dance studio at Bedford-Stuyvesant Corporation in Brooklyn, NY after that trip and I recall my 8 year old self telling my mom "there are 80 girls." There weren't but as the only guy I felt that way and did not think dance was a serious option for me until I began studying seriously at 16. I found Evidence in 1985 and believed that I needed to make space for Evidence, the kind of work that I believed was my purpose to create. After speaking to Ms. Jamison, my heart was full and I wondered how do I say thank you to Mr. Ailey, a choreographer and legend who inspired my first work when I was a child and who let me know, through his work and example, that it was possible and necessary to have a dance company that reflected the human condition.
I knew that Mr. Ailey was fond of Duke Ellington, so I turned to Ellington's Sacred Concerts and discovered over a hundred versions of Come Sunday, a song that became the opening and closing of Grace. During the Grace@20 Workshop participants will learn about the other music that is in Grace and the reasons for their inclusion in the piece. For the 20th Anniversary of Grace the Evidence performed the work for the first time with live music and an expanded cast at Bard College in July 2019.
I look forward to the screening of Grace, the movement classes and the conversation, especially during these current times when so many of us are in search of grace.
—Ronald K. Brown
Message from the Artist: Perla Batalla on Discoteca Batalla
Discoteca Batalla is a tribute to my mother and the little record shop she ran in the 60's and 70's. It was a spot for Spanish speaking immigrants to gather, exchange news from home, buy the latest Spanish language hits, or maybe just drink coffee and listen to Javier Solis or Carlos Gardel with my mom, Barbara. Whether they asked for it or not, our customers could expect to receive an abundance of sage advice from Barbara on matters of love, finance, immigration, psychology, child rearing, dental hygiene, appliance repair, and anything else on which she held strong opinions…which effectively left nothing out.
Mom also hand wrote letters home for the working men and women separated for years at a time from their families.
The shop made them feel like they were home for a second. Farmworkers, restaurant workers, people who cleaned other people's houses and watched other people's children all came. By the time I was 10, mom entrusted me to run the shop while she made buying trips downtown. Alone in the shop, listening to some of the greatest singers of all time, I began to dream of becoming a singer
Discoteca Batalla closed its doors over 30 years ago. A shop like ours was is difficult to envision today, in part due to digital downloads and Amazon. And while it may be true that we are what we eat, the things we choose to sing about probably say much more about us. Songs are our stories; who we are, the roads we've chosen and the people and dreams we've followed, or sometimes left behind.
As the U.S. becomes ever more polarized, the importance of sharing one another's stories is more critical than ever. Barbara Batalla was an immigrant. She left Buenos Aires alone, as a teen-ager, without speaking English to begin a new life in Los Angeles, where she worked her ass off every day of her life.
This woman had more courage than anyone I know.
—Perla Batalla


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Spack, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-developed open source package manager optimized for high performance computing (HPC), is making waves throughout the HPC community, including internationally, as evidenced by a recent tour of European HPC facilities by the tool's developers.
Despite its niche status, Spack (short for Supercomputer PACKage manager), is one of the most popular pieces of software the Lab has ever released to the GitHub open source community. Described by its developers as "an app store for supercomputers," Spack was started by LLNL computer scientist Todd Gamblin in 2013 and has quickly become the go-to package manager at LLNL and Argonne, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, as well as Lawrence Berkeley's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). Not only is it being used on the Department of Energy's (DOE) latest and greatest flagship systems, Oak Ridge's Summit and LLNL's Sierra, it's also become the official deployment tool for the Exascale Computing Project, the "glue" for coordinating exascale software releases and deploying them to HPC facilities.
Perhaps nothing has epitomized Spack's growing reach more than the month of July, which began with Gamblin presenting Spack at the Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing (PASC) Conference in Basel, Switzerland, piquing interest from France's Atomic Energy Institute (CEA) and other institutions. From there, Gamblin took a day trip to the Technical Institute of Munich (TUM), where he discussed potential collaborations with former LLNL computer scientist Martin Schulz, who is now TUM's chair professor for Computer Architecture and Parallel Systems, as well as staff at the affiliated Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ). LRZ is deploying a 26-petaflop supercomputer called SuperMUC-NG and is planning to use Spack to set up the machine's software.
Gamblin then drove to Lausanne, Switzerland, to visit École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) on July 6, where he was joined by fellow LLNL computer scientist Greg Becker, who is part of the Spack team and has been instrumental to its development. While there, the pair met with longtime Spack contributor Massimiliano Culpo, who uses Spack to manage software on EPFL's supercomputers. From Lausanne, they drove to Paris for a visit at CEA facilitated by LLNL computer scientist Edgar Leon, who is on a yearlong visiting assignment at the facility. CEA is interested in using Spack to modernize its developer workflow, Gamblin said, and the group discussed adding features to support the institute's work and ways that CEA and LLNL could work together on future Spack features.
After enjoying a festive evening in Paris as the French celebrated their win over Belgium in the World Cup, Gamblin returned to the States, and Becker went on to London and the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), which is exploring package deployment with Spack. Becker spent more than a week at AWE and met with British scientists involved in the Joint Working Group, a treaty-based high performance computing partnership between LLNL and the U.K.'s Science and Technology Facilities Council aimed at improving industry, promoting collaborations and boosting economic competitiveness.
Gamblin and Becker said the trip was useful in picturing what other HPC sites are attempting to do with Spack, figuring out what features to focus on next and starting a conversation about new collaborations. It also left them thinking they needed to expand community outreach. Since the meeting, Gamblin and collaborators from CEA and LRZ have had a birds-of-a-feather session accepted at the upcoming Supercomputing Conference 18 (SC18) in Dallas, where they will have a larger face-to-face community meeting. Gamblin and others will also hold a Spack tutorial at SC18.
Spack has come a long way in the few short years since Gamblin first started coding it on weekends in coffee shops. He built the first version, a Python-based program that would automatically build libraries on the Lab's Linux machines, to help his summer students by freeing them up to do their work. Subsequent Lab Hackathons attracted additional contributors and more packages, and after Gamblin presented a paper on Spack at Supercomputing Conference (SC15), interest began pouring in from other Department of Energy national laboratories, academia and companies with HPC resources.
Through the open source repository GitHub, Spack has attracted hundreds of users who have added software packages (Spack now supports 2,800 of them), and HPC centers like NERSC, EPFL, Fermilab and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have contributed significant features. Gamblin, Becker, and Peter Scheibel (GS) work to evaluate contributions from all of these organizations. The three also have appeared on HPC-related podcasts and conferences, including tutorials at SC16 and SC17, to spread the word about Spack's usefulness and versatility.
The reasons for Spack's popularity among the HPC community, Gamblin said, are twofold. Most system package managers require users to run with superuser privileges, which is fine for most developers because they own their machines. But HPC machines are shared, he explained, and Spack can install a lot of low-level software as a regular user in their home directory.
Also working in Spack's favor is that a lot of HPC labor involves porting software over to new machines, as LLNL is currently doing with Sierra. While most package managers are specific to one machine, Spack packages are templated, so if developers write a package for one machine, Becker said the likelihood is higher that it will work on another machine.
"If you get on a platform that no one's ever tried to build this on before, Spack will at least make a best effort," Becker said. "If that platform is really weird, it might not get very far, but in many cases, the best effort works." This is the flexibility that Spack offers that other systems don't.
Today, Spack is used by 40-50 people at LLNL, mostly developers in Livermore Computing (LC) and other parts of the Lab, as well as code teams who are using it as the interface to install scientific packages to run on Linux cluster machines, including Blue Gene/Q and Sierra. Spack has reduced the time needed to deploy complex codes on certain Lab supercomputers from weeks to days.
Gamblin and the Spack team, including its outside contributors, are working on new improvements and features with hopes of releasing version 1.0 in November, possibly at SC18. Gamblin said that in the coming year, they plan to add features that enable facilities to deploy extremely large suites of software easily, as well as features that simplify the workflow for individual developers working on multiple projects at once. The team is calling these features "Spack Stacks" and "Spack Environments," respectively.
While optimized for supercomputers, Spack also can be used on home computers and laptops, where Gamblin and others see the potential for wider acceptance. Gamblin said he wants to include more machine learning libraries, to allow users to combine those workflows with HPC using the same tool. The Spack team also is looking to focus on greater reproducibility from one stack to another, polishing workflows and working on better support for binary software packages.
Additionally, Gamblin said he would like to expand community engagement and explore a steering committee that could govern future Spack-related decisions. Gamblin, Becker and others want Spack to eventually be part of the general deployment strategy for libraries across DOE. Spack has been adopted as the deployment tool for the U.S. Exascale Computing Project's (ECP's) software stack, and other DOE national labs are gradually joining in the fray.
For more about open source software from LLNL, visit the web.


text:
@implementation AppleEventLoop

- (void)post:(AsyncTask *)task {
  dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
      [task execute];
    });
}

@end


text:
Q: if statement to select online db if available else select local db if statement to select online db if available else select local db
In a project a internet is available the program use a server database. if internet is not available it will store on the local database.

A: if($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] === 'localhost'){

$_SESSION['vURL'] = 'http://localhost/example/';

}else{

    $_SESSION['vURL'] = 'http://www.example.com/';

    }

this defines a variable called vURL which can be used when linking to other pages. E.G
<a href="<?php echo vURL; ?>about.php">About Us

A: connection_aborted: Check whether client disconnected

Returns 1 if client disconnected, 0 otherwise.

For More Info, Check connection-aborted - PHP Manual
if(connection_aborted() == 0)
{
    //Select Online DB
}
else
{
    //Select Local DB
}


The best Samsung Galaxy phones - reviewed and ranked!
The Galaxy S10 Plus is now the best Galaxy phone out there, with the S10 a stroke behind. Although it doesn't bring a huge change, we're still impressed (if it ain't broke, etc.) with the cut out camera design, improved software and triple cameras. However, we can understand that for many the S9 or S8 will be more attractive due to their now much lower prices.
The S10e is nearly just as good but poor battery life lets it down.
After the Note 7 debacle, the Note 8 and now Note 9 are fine high-end smartphones, but at a price.
The A series is also represented here. Many Samsung phones go down in price not long after launch, so you may end up spending less than you firs thought.
Let's take a look at the best Samsung Galaxy phones below. You can also check out our overall list of the best phones to see how rivals like the iPhone XS and OnePlus 6T compare to the best Samsung phones here.
The regular Galaxy S10 has the same triple rear cameras as the S10 Plus and is a great option if you don't want an even larger phone. Performance is outstanding, the design is premium as can be and the software is so much better than ever.
Starting at £799 / $899 it is more expensive than ever, but with so many features and the best display on a smartphone you get what you pay for.
Battery life on the Exynos model is merely acceptable though so if this is your main concern you might want to get the Plus, or something else.
Read our Samsung Galaxy S10 review.
The Galaxy S10e is nearly as good as the more expensive S10s, but poor battery life lets it down. All three aren't great on this front but it's most noticeable here.
Aside from this, you only lose a rear camera and the curved screen from the S10. There's no under screen fingerprint sensor but otherwise you get an excellent display and the same outstanding performance with the same processor.
At £669 / $749 it's excellently priced and the most pocket friendly Galaxy S phone in years.
Read our Samsung Galaxy S10e review.
The Galaxy S9 was one of the best smartphones of 2018 and remains an excellent choice in 2019 if you can't afford the Galaxy S10, don't care about its new features or maybe both.
It might technically be out of date in smartphone terms but the Galaxy S9 still has a lot to offer with expertly blended design, hardware and software to make a phone that will appeal to all kinds of users. You only need to spend extra on the Galaxy S9+ if you really want the extra camera, bigger screen and other internal upgrades - more RAM, storage and a bigger battery aren't as noticeable.
The most appealing thing about the S9 now it's 'old' is that you can get it for a much lower price.
The Galaxy S10 range is here, but the S9 Plus remains one of the best Samsung phones you can get, especially if the new 2019 phones are out of your price range - that's easily done with prices going up futher.
It might not have 2019 features like an embedded fingerprint scanner and reverse wireless charging but it's still a premium handset with high-end specs and features in a sleek and well-made design.
A key question is whether you should get it over the regular S9. The answer is yes, but only if you can afford the extra cost, don't mind the larger size and will make use of the additional features such as the second rear camera.
Even though the Note 9 is now out and improves the battery life and S-Pen, the Note 8 is still a killer phone.
The huge, amazing display is still among the best you can get while the processing power is still close to the very best. The dual cameras take excellent portrait photos and the only thing the S-Pen lacks compared to the Note 9 is Bluetooth.
You should be able to save a lot of money if you opt for it today over the newer model.
Samsung has taken the best phone from 2016 made it even better with an impressive Infinity screen and premium design. It ticks a shedload of boxes - as you'd expect from a flagship. It's one of the best phones of 2017, and is nearly half the price of the iPhone X. But the biometrics are a let down.
We're really impressed by the Galaxy S8 Plus, just as we are with the regular S8. Samsung has done a great job of making last year's phones even better.
Both offer the infinity edge screen, though you might prefer saving money and going for the regular S8 unless you specifically want the Plus's larger display and better battery life.
It's nice to see a Samsung A range phone at a genuinely affordable price and with change to spare for £300, the A7 is a great choice if you want a Samsung smartphone without breaking the bank.
It offers nice design, but does have a few downsides such as no IP68 waterproofing and a Micro-USB port. There is one of the best screens you'll find at this price, though, as well as decent core specs.
The cameras are the most interesting thing here with three on the back and one on the front. They're not flawless but at this price it's unusual to find features like a wide-angle lens. Again, at this price, we can't complain too much.
Read our Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) review.
If you've been missing the mini versions of the Galaxy S range then the Galaxy A8 is pretty much an S8 mini.
Getting some flagship design and specs in a cheaper phone makes the A8 a great mid-range choice. It's not perfect though, namely that you can get some really decent phones for an even cheaper price - if you don't mind not having a Samsung logo.
However, if you're not too fussed about having the Sammy logo on your phone then the Moto G6 offers a little more for less money. It's got a higher resolution screen and the Amazon exclusive model has 4/64GB of memory and storage for just £239 making it a real bargain.


I know that when I am burning out wax for casting, if I don't get the flask to approx. 1200 to 1300 degrees I am left with brown and black traces where the wax didn't burn out completely. This could possibly cause an incomplete casting. If I get the flask to 1300 and hold that temperature for a while it all burns out completely and I'm left with white plaster indicating a complete burn out. I know that if I got the Andamooka matrix opal too hot, I was left with a clean piece of opal with no traces of the sugar. I only have manual controls on the kiln that I use so I can't be sure of the exact temperature. Since I over heated that batch I have tried to keep it between 500 and 600 degrees and haven't had a problem since. When I couldn't get the level of black that I wanted I just put it in with the next batch to cook in the crock pot and eventually I did get the level of black that I wanted. Unless you are using a kiln with the ability to reach 1000 to 1500 degrees I wouldn't worry about over heating.
Some worked better than others; he'll have to help with the IDs. I recall the lower right is Redline Agate, but I don't remember the others.
I'm finally getting set up to cab again after 2 years off due to a house remodel, so I'll be cabbing these before long and will post the results.
Yes. Missouri Redline Agate. A lace agate that has one red lace line. It did seem a little too dense to take the treatment very well.
I think the top right was from a stalactite looking agate I cut. It was not cave onyx, but looks a bit like it.
The bottom left is a Moroccan agate, but so is the top left. The one on top was too dense to absorb much sugar, so it too did not change a lot.
Yes, my favorite is the upper right, although I think the lower Moroccans turned out well, too.
I thought I'd share a little story about cooking this agate. When Daniel came with the agate, he thought he brought a bottle of sulfuric acid, but it turned out he grabbed the wrong bottle and it was sodium silicate (as I recall). He also brought an industrial strength hotplate.
At any rate, I didn't have any sulfuric acid handy so we tried acetic acid. It did nothing at all.
Daniel had to leave, so I saved the agate for another day. Shortly thereafter I got a bottle of drain cleaner (sulfuric acid) and started cooking the agate in a pyrex dish on a hot plate placed on a piece of plywood in the backyard. Daniel had been concerned that my cheap Walmart hotplate might not get hot enough to boil the acid. He needn't have worried.
The acid boiled for about half an hour and it looked like the agate had turned as brown as it was going to get, so I shut off the hotplate. As it was cooling, the pyrex dish cracked and I was really glad I had used the plywood. Hot sulfuric acid leaked out of the dish, all over the hotplate and the plywood. I grabbed my baking soda that I had out to neutralize the acid and started dumping it as fast as I could. It would bubble for a while, I'd stir, add more baking soda, and it would bubble, etc. until I was finally satisfied that I had it sufficiently neutralized. My hot plate still hasn't recovered---it's still got corrosion and baking soda coming off of it.
A couple of words of caution: if you do this, keep baking soda handy and stay away from the boiling acid. The fumes are extremely toxic and can be fatal in sufficient strength. Stay upwind. In addition, I had a tiny bit of acid splash my heavy cotton shirt and it promptly ate a hole in it.
I have been meaning to try lower temperature over a period of weeks. Some guys that darken the matrix of Adamoka opal use sugar acid method, but only heat at 160F, but for 3 weeks. One guy used a potpourri dish.
I got a bunch of rock that has soaked from 2 months to a year. just been throwing stuff in. I need to put a crock pot under a plastic hood out on my patio and let it go for 3 weeks and see what happens.
Daniel, have you tried clear Blackskin Agate or Montana Agate?
those are both very heavy in the hand. I would be worried not enough pore space, but I have not tried. maybe blackskin.
Yes, they do seem dense.
actually, for a crockpot on low the cost may be modest.
Power: Has two settings, Low (223 watts) and High (312 watts). Probably uses a thermostat to turn heater on and off.
You're right! Much cheaper than I thought. Give it a shot!


text:
Paris Plunges Deeper Into Potty Talk With New Appeal Against Public Urination
A municipal employee (right) talks to a pedestrian next to a controversial street urinal installed on the Seine river banks of Île de la Cité, Paris, in August.
Michel Spingler / AP
Paris has upped the scatological stakes, releasing a quirky new viral video called "Pas Pipi Dans Paris" or "Don't Pee In Paris."
If city government getting all up in one's bathroom business already seems a bit out there, the video ups the weirdness factor by beaucoup. It features French YouTube humorist Swann Périssé and others singing, dancing and um, going, assisted by all sorts of toilet paraphernalia.
The video may be tongue-in-cheek but its message about cleaning up Paris's streets is serious.
Périssé begins the song crooning (in French): "I go outside, I breathe the breeze. That's when I am surprised, because today, Paris is making some noise. Yes, it's true. It doesn't smell like pee. I say thank you, again a big, sincere thank you to those who do not pee in Paris."
France24 has a summary of the rest of the lyrics.
Since its release last week, the video has gained hundreds of thousands of views.
It's the city's latest salvo in its campaign aimed at getting men to, well, aim elsewhere. Earlier this year, Paris installed five uritrottoirs or sidewalk urinals — conspicuous red boxes with straw-lined tanks, topped by flower pots and a helpful illustration of a man relieving himself.
The city says the boxes, placed in some of the city's most crowded corridors, serve a dual purpose. Number one, they contain the urine, with the straw filters "limiting unpleasant odors." Next, the straw is collected, composted and used as plant fertilizer.
The city says, "A person emits each year through his urine enough valuable materials (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium ...) to fertilize 400 (square meters) of wheat."
And yet not everyone is saying oui oui to the campaign.
Some video commenters bemoan the fact that tax dollars are going toward such low-brow ridiculousness.
French newspaper La Libération reports the video cost the city about $7,500 to produce. In a statement the city told the newspaper, it was an "exceptionally low" price especially for "the visibility it offers about cleanliness and incivility "
Some say it is the uritroittoirs themselves that have gotta go because they are sexist by their very nature.
As CityLab paraphrased the backlash: "Why should male Parisians get to go, while women have to hold it in?"
The news site reports that by the end of August, the city was forced to remove two of the street urinals following coordinated vandalism that included covering the contraptions in cement, tampons and stickers. One sticker read: "Are you a dog? So why do you piss in the street?"
As NPR's Merrit Kennedy has reported, the uritrottoirs are in the experimental phase.
If Paris decides to eliminate them, it still has some 400 sanisettes — or free public restrooms — available to both genders stationed throughout the city.


text:
LAPP is simplifying and unifying its global brand identity
LAPP is developing its brand. By using the name LAPP we are underlining our international alignment and positioning as a leading supplier of connection solutions. In future, national subsidiaries and departments will all operate under the name LAPP with no additions. Name affixes such as "Kabel", "Cable" or "Cablo", which have been used in many countries since the company was founded in 1959, will disappear. The message is clear - one name and one logo for the entire company, offering its customers the same outstanding service at all times, wherever they are. In future, the family name will represent the company's fundamental values - focus on success, focus on customers, innovation and family.
"Now is the right time to have a uniform name worldwide and a unified logo to link everything together," explains Chairman Andreas Lapp. "These days it is no longer so important in which country our customers buy our products and where they are delivered to - we've been working as an international team for a long time. It is a logical progression for our external identity to reflect that. And what's more: that is exactly what our customers expect", Andreas Lapp continues.
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On the ground research has revealed that size, rather than speed, will be the next trend for Ethernet cables.
The British rail industry is going through a phase of major transformation, bringing a wave of new and exciting opportunities.
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This is reposted with (my) permission from my other blog A Year With Mom and Dad!
I'll admit I have grown to love children's poetry (sophisticated verse created for little ones, not just silly rhymes!) a bit more than "grown-up" poetry. It's light, lyrical, well-crafted, and still conveys deep and poignant messages. Here's a few of my favorite poetry books for children. Toasting Marshmallows by Kristen O'Connell George Come along with a girl and her family through an entire camping experience - from pitching tent, to fishing her little brother out of the lake, to discovering abandoned cabins and cars in the woods,... and of course, to toasting marshmallows by the fire. The writing is light, lyrical, and conveys a strong sense of setting. You can hear the owl's "one lone vowel," sense the vastness of a "small me...staked to a huge planet," see the "scribbles" of the "river messages." Listen to some excerpts.
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech Verse novels are one of my favorite "new genres" of writing. Love That Dog is a novel written in poetry (verse) that tells the story of a boy named Jack who hates poetry... yet, he's struggling to tell the story of his dog, Sky. As his teacher offers him poems to try on for size, he finds a way to share the whole story of his dog through poetry. I love how a selection of great, well-known poetry is presented throughout the novel, and readers can learn a little bit of poetic styling as Jack attempts to understand and emulate each poem. The end of the book includes the original poems that Jack studies in class. (I'd recommend this book for 3rd grade and up). Read an excerpt.
Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher Fletcher is a gold mine of an author - writing in a range that extends from this picture book poem, to chapter book novels, to handbooks for parents and teachers to learn and teach writing! I'm a huge fan as a writer, teacher, and book-lover! Twilight Comes Twice is not only gorgeously illustrated, but the poem describes the day from sun up to sun down in magical free-verse stanzas. Watch as the words paint the picture: "With invisible arms, dawn erases the stars from the blackboard of night..." (gorgeous, right?). Full of repetition, personification, simile, and stunning imagery, this is a poem you'll want to share with your children (and savor for yourself) over and over. The entire book is one poem, presented stanza by stanza on each page, so to a child, it may not even seem like poetry - a great way to sneak in a little beautiful verse without them flinching!
What's your favorite poetry book, poem, poetic author you like to read to your children? (Check your picture books - you'll be surprised to find so many are actually poems in illustrated disguise!).
Hi! I like what you said, "you'll be surprised to find so many are actually poems in illustrated disguise!)."
To me, picture books are poetry! LOVE them!
My favourite is Love You Forever.