text:
Dennis Publishing
First Minecraft magazine to launch in the UK
Dennis Publishing strikes deal with Mojang, creator of building game, with first print run set for 45,000 copies
@marksweney
Fri 29 May 2015 05.15 EDT Last modified on Fri 1 Dec 2017 00.13 EST
Minecraft World will be produced by Dennis Publishing, which has already published three standalone MagBooks related to the building-block game. Photograph: Dennis Publishing
The UK is to get its first magazine dedicated to the hugely popular building-block game Minecraft.
Dennis Publishing is to launch a monthly magazine called Minecraft World after striking a deal with Mojang, the creator of Minecraft which was acquired by Microsoft in a $2.5bn deal last year.
It will be the first regularly published title dedicated to Minecraft – Dennis has published three standalone MagBooks, a part magazine, part book product – with the print run for the first issue set at 45,000.
Dennis has also signeda deal with Mojang to use certain trademark images and intellectual property to enhance the magazine, but the agreement does not extend to the title being an officially licensed Minecraft product.
"Dennis Publishing will have the first unofficial Minecraft magazine on sale in the UK," said Dharmesh Mistry, publisher of the title at Dennis. "There was a real gap in the market for a quality print magazine that could help children develop their game strategy".
The 52-page Minecraft World will target 7- to 11-year-olds will be priced at £3.99.
Dennis has secured distribution in WH Smith, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and a range of independent retailers.
Minecraft is a global phenomenon, with more than 55m copies sold, millions of books and merchandise retailed and a big budget movie on the way through Warner Brothers, makers of the hit Lego Movie.


text:
require "formula"

class Ssdeep < Formula
  homepage "http://ssdeep.sourceforge.net/"
  url "https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ssdeep/ssdeep-2.11/ssdeep-2.11.tar.gz"
  sha256 "82cc0e06f44127fc5c9c507881951714981da6187cdcfed0158c9167f39effc7"

  def install
    system "./configure", "--disable-dependency-tracking", "--prefix=#{prefix}"
    system "make install"
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Gérgal is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.

The town is located at the foot of the southern side of the Sierra de Los Filabres.

Demographics

References

External links

  Gérgal - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía
  Gérgal - Diputación Provincial de Almería

Municipalities in the Province of Almería

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
'A spirit of hope'
Journalist, citizens recall 1963 March on Washington
The March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights movement, which reshaped the social landscape of America.
With people converging on Washington, D.C., this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the march and Dr. Martin Luther King's Jr.'s landmark "I Have a Dream" speech, three local residents describe their experience of the march that day from different perspectives.
Former Oxford resident Claude Sitton was there that day as a working reporter.
Sitton, who attended Oxford College and graduated from Emory University in 1949, was The New York Times' correspondent covering the South and the Civil Rights beat from 1958 to 1964. He would go on to become the editor of The Raleigh Times and News and Observer in North Carolina, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1983.
But on the day of the march, Aug. 28, 1963, he provided analysis of events leading up to the march.
"But I did not cover it," he pointed out. "I went down early on as the day started and talked to the people who would come in and went back to my hotel room to write a story, news analysis of what the events were that led up to it and where it might go up to that day."
The New York Times' Washington bureau was covering the events and didn't much want help from the Southern correspondent.
Sitton decided he would watch the day's events in the same way most of the nation and politicians would – through television.
"I wanted to see what people at home, they were seeing. That march provided the proof behind the public's political willingness to make that change. Congress had to feel the voting citizenry was ready to make that change."
That year, 1963, was an active year in the civil rights movement.
"There was the assassination of Medgar Evers, there was George Wallace in the so-called stand in the schoolhouse door at University of Alabama," Sitton said. "There was Birmingham. My God, Birmingham."
But the seeds of the civil rights movement had been sown long before, with Thurgood Marshall's cases and the Supreme Court's decisions.
Many of the leaders of the movement were World War II veterans who had served abroad to protect America's rights and freedoms only to find they did not have full rights when they returned home.
And it would take key players, such as Lyndon Johnson, and historic moments, such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to bring things to a head.
Sitton recalled that at the march, about a quarter to a third of the crowd was white.
"Whites as well as blacks were part of the movement," Sitton said. "Ralph McGill of the Atlanta Constitution, Harold Fleming, who headed the Southern Regional Council, and did more in his day to educate out of town newspaper men. William B. Campbell from Mississippi, who just died the other week, he was a minister who went around the South holding the hand of preachers who got in trouble."
Today, the issues that were behind the civil rights movement have changed, he said.
"You've still got the civil rights struggle. It's different. The aims are different. The opposition to those aims are different."
In August 1963, Elaine Davis-Nickens was a 17-year-old just graduated from recently integrated McKinley High School in Washington, D.C., and headed to Howard University. Her parents owned Dutch's Delicatessen on Florida Avenue, just blocks from the Capitol, national monuments, and the vibrant cultural corridor of U Street. Davis-Nickens grew up in a politically and civically aware family. Her father had fled from a small town in South Carolina.
"He always talked about race relations, he always talked about how things were. He's the kind of person who's always been his own person, which made things difficult for him to live in the South."
Davis-Nickens had read and heard about Dr. King and other civil rights icons who would be speaking that day. It was a heady time for a politically active young adult, and this was just one part – but an important part – of what was happening at the time.
The young teen walked the four blocks over and 10 blocks down by herself, coming close enough to see the people on the stage but not close enough to make out their faces.
It was a day she'll never forget.
"It was a whole spirit of hope. It was just phenomenal the number of people that had come from all parts of the country. … I remember looking around at all those people, just feeling not overwhelmed, but just feeling full."
She remembered there were many people, including herself, who were crying during King's speech.
"The sincerity, the appeal, the sense of what was right, not right only for us but for everybody… Everything that had happened to us as a people, everything that he led to happen, he (King) is one of the few people I've ever heard in my life who was able to articulate it."
Cheryl Board was much younger – 5 years old – but she still remembers the day. Her father had just graduated from the New York City Police Academy. He would go on to become a special liaison under Rudy Giuliani. He was driving with her from Georgia to New York and decided to stop by the march.
"So many people were crying. I just thought it was a big crowd of people hearing a man speak," said Board.
Board, who has a light complexion and multicultural background, first became aware of the differences in the world when she was visiting her grandmother, who lived in Virginia, and was told that she couldn't go to the Woolworth's counter.
"That was the first time I started realizing there was a difference… It instilled in me the struggle I would have the rest of my life."
This weekend, Davis-Nickens will be attending the anniversary events with her grandchildren, who live in Washington, and her grandson, who is the same age she was when she first attended 50 years ago.
She wants to regain that sense of hope from that day and pass on the importance of those experiences.
"The thing that bothers me is that I carry all that and... there's a whole group of people who have no inkling, no idea.
"It's one thing to read about it in history. It's another thing to have been there and experienced it," she said.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


COLOMBO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Human rights abuses have made Sri Lanka one of the most lawless places in the world and the government must do more to investigate them, a regional human rights group said on Monday.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission complained of what it called "the constant killing" of people in police detention and the falsification of information to "justify crimes committed by state agencies"."
Describing Sri Lanka's criminal justice system as "dysfunctional", the group said "As long as this situation remains, life will remain a nightmare to all civilians in the country."
It said in a statement to mark International Human Rights Day the situation was worsened by the targeting of civilians by Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, the government and paramilitary groups. It said criminals were also profiting from the climate.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government says security forces have not been involved in abuses and that a presidential commission is probing allegations, but the government has rejected calls for a U.N. human rights monitoring mission.
"It is our aim to help our people to enjoy all freedoms of democracy with respect for human rights, free of the fear and oppression of terrorism," Rajapaksa said in a statement.
The Tigers, who seek an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, accused the government of abusing human rights and the international community of turning a blind eye.
"The world is standing by and just watching these gruesome death squad activities of the Sri Lanka State," said Selvy Navaruban, Tamil Tiger spokeswoman on humanitarian issues and human rights in an email statement.


text:
Russia Must Face Up to Economic Reality (Op-Ed)
By Mark Adomanis
Sep. 13 2015 18:55
Every policy has a cost. Whether seen or unseen, any government action will inevitably have a range of impacts on the economy. Some of these costs are easy to calculate. When the U.S. government, for example, buys an aircraft carrier, it's not a terribly complicated exercise to determine how much money was spent: even if there isn't a single budget line-item you can just add up all of the contracts and purchase orders.
It's the unseen costs where things can get a little tricky. There is an economic cost to purchasing an aircraft carrier as opposed to paying for a new highway or bridge, just as there is an economic cost to having the government take money away from the private sector to pay for anything at all. By changing the calculus in which private actors engage, government policy can have a real economic impact orders of magnitude larger than the direct costs of implementation. Hidden costs, in other words, matter a lot.
That's pretty basic as far as it goes, the roughest of rough outlines of economic reasoning, but the idea that everything has a price is a profoundly depressing one. And so, from time to time, someone appears and advocates on behalf of a plan that will supposedly resolve all sorts of complicated problems without any "cost." Free lunches for everyone! Presidential economic adviser Sergei Glazyev is the latest in a long line of such figures and will not be the last.
According to a recent report in RBC, Glazyev has prepared a comprehensive strategy to "overcome the effect of the West's economic sanctions" and to "stabilize the course of the ruble." As far as goals go both of these are entirely understandable, if not entirely praiseworthy (an exchange rate is best thought of not as a goal in and of itself, but as an output of other kinds of policy).
The real problem, though, isn't in Glazyev's goals but in how he proposes to go about attaining them. Russia could conceivably "overcome Western sanctions" by engaging in a widespread liberalization of its own business sector, freeing entrepreneurs from the conflicting (and very expensive!) demands of an out-of-control regulatory apparatus. By making Russia's domestic economy more dynamic, flexible, and resilient, such a step would clearly undermine the West's current policy, which is designed to maximize Russia's economic vulnerability.
Glazyev's ideas, however, are based on explicitly anti-liberal grounds, and envision a wide-ranging government crackdown on a number of different types of economic activity. Glazyev's plan, for example, would ban the "unjustified" purchase of foreign currency by legal entities. (It is taken for granted that the government would be able to determine which purchases were "justified" and which were not.)
Glazyev also proposes a "temporary" (which, given the nature of government, is to say "permanent") tax on foreign currency translations and cross-border payments. Glazyev would additionally ban loans in foreign currency for all non-financial corporations as well as introduce compulsory sales (on in less polite terminology "expropriations") of any foreign currency-denominated revenue. Just for good measure, he would also "temporarily" freeze prices as well as empower the Federal Antimonopoly Service to establish and enforce a margin somewhere between producers' cost and the market prices.
Perhaps my favorite idea, though, was the proposal to "allow" Russian companies to default on any debts owed to banks from countries which have introduced sanctions against Russia. Now there's not actually anything preventing Russian companies from walking away from these debts. Companies go bankrupt all of the time, it's just a part of the natural cycle of the business world.
But what is absolutely not in the Russian government's power to "allow" is the consequences of walking away from a debt. Any Russian company that refuses to pay back what it owes will immediately, and quite justifiably, be sued. And if any such company tried to cite Glazyev's law as "justification" for their non-payment they would (again, quite justifiably!) be laughed out of court.
There is simply no other way to say it: Glazyev's "plan" is a compendium of lazy, irrational thinking that, were it ever put into practice, would quickly set Russia on the road to economic apocalypse. Literally every action Glazyev proposes would make the problems he is attempting to solve worse. Take inflation. As ought to be obvious, freezing prices at some arbitrary, government-established level will not "stabilize prices."
Inflation is a basic part of any economic system, and trying to ban it will be about as effective as banning sunrise or sunset. It simply isn't possible. The Soviet government also froze prices and the result was that the (inevitable) impact of inflation was reflected in pervasive shortages. If the Russian government tried to do this again, the results would, sooner or later, be exactly the same.
Glazyev has not, apparently, had much discernible influence on Russia's actual economic policies. After oil prices collapsed, the Central Bank wisely decided to let the ruble float, and the government has so far avoided any attempts to introduce capital controls. It is true that there has been some tinkering with foreign currency purchases by state-owned companies, but so far these have been quite limited in scope.
Maybe the purpose of Glazyev's report was simply to rally the Russian business community to the government's side by reminding them that, despite the manifest flaws of the status quo, there are far worse options. But Glazyev's plan reflects exactly the same sort of "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality that is ever more evident in the political sphere. Unfortunately, it shouldn't surprise anyone if many of these ideas are actually put into practice.
The reality, though, is that Russia is in for a great deal of economic pain. It is unavoidable. Pretending that more government control will avert this will only make the very real problems facing the country that much worse.
Mark Adomanis is an MA/MBA candidate at the University of Pennsylvania's Lauder Institute.
Russians Are Facing a Stark Choice (Op-Ed)
Stagnation Rearing Its Ugly Head in Russia (Op-Ed)
Russians Can Learn From Polish Dissatisfaction (Op-Ed)


Not that Goldfrapp (first name, Alison) hasn't been doing well for herself for quite a while, dating back to her mid-'90s collaborations with Orbital, but c'mon — having your song in an Apple commercial is a new level of stardom (and moolah, one would hope). But hey, that's where she's at right now with "Ooh La La" featured on the omnipresent iPhone 5S commercials. The piano ballad "Drew," a track from her most recent album, is definitely a more subdued affair than that song (or my personal favorite, the synth-happy "Rocket"), but it's beautiful nonetheless.


text:
Power Suit Racing: Part One
abeaustin	Show, Don't Tell	 May 2, 2019 August 26, 2019 10 Minutes
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com
"I promise you I'll give you everything you've ever wanted. We'll live in a beautiful home just like this one with and we'll never have to scrounge for anything. We'll never wonder where the next meal is coming from. No one will push us around anymore… Whatever you've dreamed, you'll have it."
"Taki, please stop, you're making this harder than it needs to be." Rhuni shook her head sadly, clearly uncomfortable with the young man's shameless blubbering. "Just accept that this is for the best. For both of us."
"What about all the dreams we made?" Taki persisted, hot tears shining in his eyes. "All the promises we made to each other?"
"They were dreams and promises," Rhuni shrugged. She looked towards Taki, but he noticed that she seemed to be looking through him, rather than at him. "Dreams are nice for awhile, but eventually you have to wake up to reality."
"And promises?"
"Are empty words."
Taki was visibly wounded by that. "You–you never meant any of it?"
"It was nice to play pretend, Taki, but now I've grown up. I suggest you do the same. If you can't do that, then at least get off of the lawn before Molo finds you here and has you beaten."
Still refusing to look at him properly she turned her back and walked away as coldly as she could manage. Walked away through the balcony doors and into the rich interior of Warden Molo's harem.
It wasn't actually a harem, that was just the name Taki and Rhuni had come up with for it. It was the wealthy man's estate, and it was said that no one entered it except by selling their soul to the cold man. No one was admitted but by crawling to his boots and trading their dignity for the comforts that lay within.
Calling it a harem had almost been a joke, but it was disturbingly more literal now that Rhuni had accepted a marriage proposal from Molo. She would become his wife that very night. To her credit, she didn't try to pretend that it was for love, clearly she was just too tired of trying to scratch out a miserable existence in the underbelly of Romudar City. Evidently the contentment of being Taki's girl had not been equal to the promise of air-feathered pillow chambers and self-mobilized living pods.
It was a full five minutes before Taki realized he was still standing dumbfounded on the same spot where she had left him, his mouth hanging agape. He turned around and walked away, but his heart was still rooted to the spot. He could almost hear it tearing from his body as he left, leaving the organ to thump uselessly on that perfectly manicured lawn.
One moment and everything he had believed about life was gone. He had known Rhuni since before he could remember and they had grown up on the streets together. They had spent their days pulling off schemes, and their nights dreaming of days when the schemes would no longer be necessary. Always those dreams had been of the two of them together, just the two of them above all else.
Now that Rhuni had changed her mind, Taki did not know what was left for his life. She had been a very real part of him, and who he was now without that part he did not know.
Though he barely ever had enough money to ever get by, somehow he had still managed to scrimp and save, parceling away a few digital tokens here and there. Over the years he managed to amass the beginnings of a small fortune. His idea had always been to buy a ticket offworld for him and Rhuni, go somewhere else where they could start a new life together. He hadn't known where exactly. Anywhere other than here.
He pulled his digicard out of his pocket, flicking through the displays until he reached the currency storage. 1100 tokens. Useless to him now. Still worth the same sum as ever, but with no purpose for its existing. Just like him.
Taki had not been paying attention as he was walking, and his legs had been moving him somewhere of their own design. As he started paying attention to his surroundings again he realized he was in a region of the city that he hadn't frequented in years.
"…with a prize purse of…what's that ticker at?… 847 tokens!"
Taki turned and saw the sportscaster calling out the summons for a Power Suit Race. Suit racing was a favorite past-time of the rich and poor alike, a venue that promised a man that he could become whatever he wanted, regardless of money or status…given he could survive the very high mortality rate inherent in the sport. Taki had tried chasing those dreams once before, stopping only when Rhuni had pleaded with him to not be so careless with his life.
"You've still got ten minutes before the registration closes," a female voice was hawking to the crowds from Taki's side. He turned to see a young, pretty woman wearing the brown jumpsuit of a mechanic's assistant. "Our suits are guaranteed to survive a force of up to 14 torques!" she continued. She saw Taki's eyes on her and flashed him a wink and a smile.
Taki took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to think this through. He had spent a whole life carefully planning and preparing, and all for naught. Now the idea of plummeting recklessly thousands of feet into a world of speed and danger sounded like just the ticket.
"Give me one," he heard himself say as he simultaneously slapped his digicard on the young woman's countertop. She glanced down at the counter's overlay to read the amount.
"1100?… That's not even a fourth of the cost. You know how this works then?"
He nodded, already well familiar with the standard suit-loaner terms. "The suit still belongs to you. Any winnings I make go first to covering repairs, the rest gets split between paying off the rest of the suit and me keeping the rest. Twenty-five percent to me, as I recall."
"Twenty. We've had to raise rates after a bad rash of first time jumpers pasting themselves across the tarmac." She rolled her eyes in disgust, evidently less concerned with the lives of those jumpers than with the loss of their suits. Then she furrowed her brow and squinted at him. "You're not a first-timer, are you?"
He shook his head. "I've raced. Under the name Dakker, you can look up the record."
She nodded, handing him his digicard back. "Talk to the man in the back," she jerked a thumb behind her towards a greasy mechanic pod. "You'll need to suit up in a hurry if you're going to make this next race."
Taki rounded the counter and ducked through the low door into the small building. It was covered in all manner of scrap parts and cannibalized equipment. A short, stocky man was working at a table with his back to Taki, vigorously forcing one piece through the length of another.
"I'm here for a suit," Taki declared.
"Excellent," the worker grunted, extending a grimy hand backwards for Taki's digicard. Taki handed it to him and the mechanic placed it into a terminal that hanging from his neck by a length of steel cord. "I'm just finishing with the suit now."
He took the two pieces he had been shoving together and pressed them into a vise, switching it on to apply enough pressure for a cold weld. Now that Taki could see it he recognized it as a neck-piece that had been cobbled from two completely different suits into one.
"Just finishing with it?!" Taki exclaimed. "This doesn't exactly look safety and regulation certified, you know!"
"Ehhh–nope," the man said slowly, turning to fix Taki with a sheepish shrug. He stroked the stubble on his fat chin thoughtfully then shrugged again. "I'll take 780 off the final price for that lack of reassurance. Alright?"
Taki shot a look over his shoulder. The pretty assistant was grinning back at him, followed by another reassuring wink. Taki wrinkled his nose, but turned back and nodded.
"If you can actually have it ready in time, then I'll take it."
The mechanic was twisting a headpiece onto the neck of the suit and smiled to see that it actually fit. "It's all ready now. Come on over." He held up the suit, revealing a mishmash of steel and titanium. Almost every piece bore an entirely different design and color, remnants of the suits that they had originated from. One arm was sleek and the other was scuffed. One pectoral was angular, the other was lumpy, as though someone had tried to straighten it out with a hammer. The clear face-shield was already cracked.
Taki took a slow, bracing breath, then stepped up to the suit, turned his back to it, and spread his arms out in a T. The short mechanic flipped a switch on the suit and the front panels swung outwards, allowing Taki to step back into its confines. The panels slid back closed, some with a little encouragement from the man.
"Hey, what's your name?" Taki said to the mechanic.
"Boro. Why?"
"It's always nice to know who built your coffin."
Boro looked genuinely hurt.
"You think it's easy working with parts like I have?" He shook his head and tutted. "One of those pretty salesboys pushing the latest models wouldn't have the slightest clue what to do if a single screw came loose while suiting up. But me, I know what I make. So long as you don't run like an idiot this suit will do you up fine."
"Now don't feel bad, Bor," the assistant said from the doorway. "The boy already made up his mind to run for us, didn't he? He just wants to make a big show of it."
More than the accusation Taki felt stung by the "boy" label, but a good retort didn't immediately present itself to him so he let the comment slide.
"If you'll excuse me, I have a race to attend," he said to the two partners. As he stepped forward the suit's servos gave an ominous whine, then began moving more freely as he strode onto the road. The crowds were already lining up against a nearby railing on either side of the deep plunge down into the raceway. Taki scanned the mass of people for the registrar, and found the man making his way back to the administration booth already.
"One more!" Taki called out, sprinting over to the official and waving his arms.
The registrar shook his head in frustration, but stopped to wave his wand over the series of scratches on the suit's left shoulder that defined its serial number. They were obviously fabrications that Boro had etched himself, but the registrar didn't seem too concerned about that. This was a slum race: Alley Tier. No one was going to be running a legitimate suit.
Taki thanked the man and ducked over to the other challengers who were already in their positions at the very lip of that steep drop. The announcer shot him a dirty look for arriving late, but also care enough to bar him from competing. Instead the man proceeded in extolling the finer points of this track to the crowd.
"…a total elevation change of negative four thousand feet from drop to finish, with a final climb of seventy-five. Twenty-three vertical platforms arranged for particularly tricky lateral runs, eleven gravity wells, and thrusters hidden around every bend! All to provide you the finest in entertainment pleasure, financed graciously by the following sponsors…"
Taki leaned forward to take the track in for himself. He knew that in the higher leagues these things were usually designed with care and around particular themes. But here, as with all alleyway runs, the course was just a random array of different platforms and walls scattered haphazardly all around. One of the key characteristics of Power Suit Racing was that the layout was never the same from one race to the next. Racers were expected to be able to adapt and find their own way. And so these moments at the edge of the jump were essential for mapping out your route to the finish. But those plans were always quickly discarded anyway. No matter how well you planned, something would always go wrong, and from there you just had to think on your feet.
I wish Rhuni was here.
It was a strange thought, one that caught Taki off guard. It didn't really make sense either, she had always hated these races with a passion.
That's the point.
"…and GO!"
Taki cursed himself for getting distracted and flung himself over the edge a moment later than his competitors. He felt that old, familiar rush as he entered freefall. He felt the jolts of excitement as the air buffeted his plunging form, nothing between him and pure speed.
How he had missed this.
I mentioned on Monday about how motivations are used to drive the character, and how the resultant actions need to come with consequences that either reaffirm their initial desires or else undermine them. In this section of the story we see how Taki is driven by anger and loss, which have led him to taking more reckless actions.
But in doing so, Taki is merely making choices that will bring his external life into harmony with his inner turmoil. There at the end it was suggested that these races upset the carefully laid plans of the competitor, requiring them to figure things out on the run. This is exactly what has happened to him in life as well.
And so while there is a harmony between emotions and actions, they are towards an experience that is reckless and chaotic. In our next section of this story we'll explore see that Taki might be doing the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. He'll begin to shift in his motivations, trying to find a better cause to run for.
Before that, though, I want to acknowledge a tricky situation I've put myself in with this story. All of the story thus far has been building up to this race, and it is obvious that this sport is going to be central to the rest of the plot. This creates an unspoken promise to the reader that this race is going to be something worth reading about. The reader expects me to craft something exciting, and if I don't they will naturally feel disappointed. This is a tough place to be in, but it happens in our stories all the time. Come back next week where we discuss this situation in greater detail, and until then have an excellent weekend.
spurned
Published May 2, 2019 August 26, 2019
Previous Post Update on My Novel: Month 0
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Idyllically situated on the sea front of ancient Stone Town, washed by the aquamarine waters of the Zanzibar channel, 15 minutes drive from the Zanzibar Airport.
Faithfully restored and lavishly embellished with a jackdaw collection of antique clocks, crystal chandeliers, fretwork screens, carved staircases, Persian rugs and brass-studded doors, the interior design concept is a fusion of authenticity and opulence that reflects the very essence of Zanzibar.
The hotel consist of 51 rooms (41 Standard rooms, 6 Prime rooms, 4 Suites). Each room is cool, white and constructed to the traditional design of a Swahili house, which is dependant upon the length of the mangrove poles that make up its ceilings. Adorned with arched niches, antique plates and brass lamps and featuring traditionally carved furniture, cool-ceramics, intricate fretwork, draped beds and louver doors giving onto wrought-iron balconies overlooking the Persian-bath pool and azure bay beyond, each room has Satellite TV, air-conditioning, mosquito nets, mini-bar, in-room safe, telephone, bathroom with tub/shower and hairdryer.
Dining is constructed so that the waves lap to within inches of its open windows and the lateen-sailed dhows pass within metres of its tables, the Baharia Restaurant features lazily whirring fans, a jewel-glass atrium, mangrove-pole ceiling, fretwork screens, Omani carvings, Persian rugs and bright Swahili artefacts.
The Seafood Restaurant located on open-air terrace with magnificent views over the Zanzibar Chanel offer freshly caught seafood menu.
Activities include swimming pool, sumptuous beauty treatments, massage, hairdressing, night entertainment, Boutique, gift shop, internet connectivity, secretarial services and board games.


text:
"To praise falsehood is to oppress the truth." - Imam Ali (as)
THE18.COM
Punish A Muslim Day: CU Boulder students react to xenophobia
During March, fliers headlined "Punish a Muslim day 3rd April 2018" reached Muslim communities in Colorado. Originating in London and mimicking the same delivery style, the anonymously sent fliers were left outside mosques and religious centers. The inciting message detailed a point system: the worse the crime, the higher the points.
Denver Gentrification: incoming residents drawn to new trends and old traditions
Newcomers cite a host of reasons for moving to Denver, from Colorado's Rocky Mountains to its thriving pot industry. However, the selling point that sets the city apart from others is one that perhaps appeals to the broadest demographic: the unique culture that blends the contemporary with the traditional.
Colorado Gov. Debate: Oct. 17, 2018 Walker Stapleton vs. Jared Polis
CU BOULDER NEWS CORPS • 14th December 2018
Can VR penetrate journalism like it did videogames?
As the digital age forces industries to expand their horizons, journalism seeks the aid of the gaming world and its history of experimentation. Virtual reality, VR, though a promising enterprise, proves to be more of a Mr. Hyde than a Dr. Jekyll; the challenge is in acceptance rather than usability.
Exonerations: a triumph or failure of the criminal justice system?
The American justice system defines itself with the principle of innocent until proven guilty. However, the system that punishes the guilty and exonerates the innocent lays bare to major shortcomings when checks and balances fail—when convictions are a result of inadequate professionals.
An Ode To A Dying Medium: Former Neo-Nazi Reflect On The Role Of Music In White Nationalism
These reformed Neo-Nazis are on the road to redemption, reflecting on the role of music in the white nationalist culture before and after social media.
The18 • 7th April 2018
Boring, Boring Man United As The Reds Go Marching Out, Out, Out
On Tuesday, Manchester United were scraped off the Champions League roster the same way a disgruntled toddler tosses away an old, broken toy: with no remorse. The toy, like the Red Devils, deserved it. The toddler, you wonder? Jose Mourinho. Then again, Manchester United is not Toys "R" Us. We can't just toss it away and forget about it. It's a monumental part of the beautiful game, but instead of being a citadel for soccer excellence, as it once was, it is now a parody of its former self. The
Landon Donovan Is Right, American Talent Is Being Ruined By Club Negligence
At first there was the phenomenon of the Hollywood player, when the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry migrated to the world of American soccer. No need to mention Zlatan here, that's just sad, isn't it? These larger-than-life players spending their final playing days on MLS pitches was entertaining, but not alarming. They didn't barricade entry to other players — namely young, talented American players. The clubs did.
Dear Chelsea, You Have Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen
Back in February, it was the humiliating 4-1 loss to Watford that was deemed the low point of Antonio Conte's stewardship of Chelsea FC, but on Easter Sunday, Chelsea conceded a 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge to Tottenham — Spurs' first victory at the Bridge in 28 years. It's one that will surely define the spiraling Conte era in Chelsea history. The bitter loss led to Chelsea falling out of the top four race, a failure Conte will not face alone. Along with their Italian manager, Chelsea's hiera
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Because she's reaching an emerging generation.
Two years ago, she was a liberal in Stamford, Connecticut, trying to start an online database to allow social media users to report online bullying — a nod to her own traumatic racial harassment as a high school track athlete and cheerleader. But Owens was criticized by progressives concerned the site, Social Autopsy, could be abused to "dox" innocent people. The backlash led in part to her political conversion. She watched as mainstream outlets shamed her, in her view. The only site that covered the story accurately was the "white, nationalist" Breitbart News, she said to Dave Rubin, a YouTube news personality. This was in April 2016, and Owens found confirmation in Trump, who was on the television near daily claiming the media was lying. "I realized my friends were my enemies, and my enemies were my friends," Owens says.
We are living in such a special time. We are watching the slow, and painful, death of the mainstream media.
It's not difficult to see why Owens is in such demand. Outspoken Black conservatives often soar to stardom quickly as Republicans seek to elevate their comparatively few minority voices. Their moments can be fleeting, but the former Vogue employee and University of Rhode Island journalism grad has the chops to stick around. Her direct-to-camera appeals are filled with fury, but also an acerbic wit reminiscent of Tomi Lahren's star-making "final thoughts" segments on TheBlaze — except more clever.


"If every driver buckled up and every motorcyclist wore a helmet, no one was impaired by alcohol, and everyone drove the speed limit, we could make July 4 and every day safer on the road."
Find out more on this deadly statistic and how to stay safe, with information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
On average, more people die in motor vehicle crashes on Independence Day than any other day of the year, an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) analysis of the five most recent years of available fatal crash data indicates.
What's driving the trend? Motorcycles and alcohol are both big contributors to the Fourth of July toll.
Read more from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) here.


The Finch design features two bedrooms plus a study nook with built-in desk and overhead cupboards that feature LED strip lighting and floor to ceiling shelves. Both bedrooms feature built-robes and the master has anensuite bathroom.
The beautiful chefs kitchen features a servery to the alfresco area, fixed glass window over the cooktop, plenty of drawers and cupboards, huge pantry, stone bench tops, glass splashback and pendant lighting. The sliding door to the alfresco area features a panel glide window dressing and there are Holland blinds throughout.


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Negotiations (CWRPS, AU) Jared/Jensen
Title: Negotiations
A/N: Day 5 of my August fic challenge. A To the Stars and Back timestamp for dugindeep who requested Jared getting himself in trouble and Jensen playing the eye-rolling rescuer. Also, I may have been reading too much Star Trek fanfic recently.
Also available on AO3.
Summary: Jensen has really got to stop letting Jared go out in public without supervision.
Sometimes, Jensen couldn't help but think that CE5 had made a massive tactical error when it inflicted Jared on the rest of the galaxy.
"You did what?" he demanded.
"In my defense, it could have happened to anyone," Jared said. He didn't sound nearly repentant or worried enough for Jensen's liking.
Jensen pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was gone for three hours."
Jared offered him a sheepish shrug. "Oops?"
"This is not an 'oops', you idiot! 'Oops' is locking your keys in your car. 'Oops' is not getting married to the Krylan ambassador!"
"Technically, I'm only engaged," Jared said, and Jensen glared at him.
"That is not better."
"Come on, Jensen, this isn't my fault."
"Well, it sure as hell isn't mine!" Jensen took a deep, steadying breath. "I don't suppose you told them that you're already married?"
"I did, actually. But it appears as though Krylani are both accepting and flexible about romantic shortcomings." Because he was a colossal moron, Jared was grinning as he added, "I think you might be offered my weight in silver to surrender your claim, though."
"There is a collar around your neck," Jensen said, with a pointed glance at the offending strip of metal. "There isn't going to be much of an 'offer' in this transaction."
Jared waved a careless hand. "You know more galactic law than anyone in the solar system. I'm sure you can figure out a way to tell her thanks but no thanks."
"Oh yes," Jensen snapped, clinging onto his self-control by the barest of margins. "Let's talk about galactic law. Like the fact that Krylan marriages can only be annulled by the death of one of the members. Or that a battle to the death is the only way to renege on a marriage proposal in Krylan culture. Are those the galactic laws you're talking about?"
The colour drained from Jared's face. It didn't make Jensen feel better. "I - you, what? You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking."
Jensen gave him a flat look. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
"Shit." Jared ran a hand through his hair, a blatant tell that only came out when he was genuinely rattled. "But you can get me unengaged, right?"
"By killing the Krylan ambassador in single combat? Are you fucking high?"
Jared's eyes went wide and pleading. "But you've got to help me! I don't want to marry someone who's blue!"
"Racist," Jensen said automatically. "And, for your sake, that'd better not be your actual concern here."
"I love you," Jared said promptly, so at least he wasn't a complete idiot.
"Whereas I'm suddenly remembering all the times I've wished someone would be dumb enough to take you off my hands."
Jared pouted. "Now you're just being a dick."
"I think I'm entitled," Jensen shot back. "Jesus fuck, you got engaged."
"Hey." Jared's hand settled on Jensen's shoulder, warm and familiar. "You do know it wasn't my idea, right? She had this collar around my neck before I'd finished figuring out what 'akhroya' meant. You're the only one I want. The only one I've ever wanted."
"I know," Jensen said. It came out more gruffly than he'd intended it to, and Jared smiled fondly.
"I really do love you, you know."
"You're repeating yourself," Jensen said.
"I'll repeat it as many times as I need to," Jared said firmly. "Now, are you going to defend my virtue and keep me from being married against my will or do I have to learn to find blue aliens sexy?"
Jensen growled and grabbed Jared's face to pull him in for a fierce, possessive kiss. "Of course I'm going to fix this," he said against Jared's lips. "You're my husband. No one else's."
"My hero," Jared said, with a beaming grin. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
"You'd better," Jensen grumbled. He stole another quick kiss before pivoting on his heel and marching towards the Krylan embassy.
Time to go get his husband unengaged. Preferably without starting an interplanetary incident in the process.
Not unless he had to, anyway.
Tags: challenge: august fic challenge, fandom: cwrps, genre: au, pairing: jared/jensen


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Health Benefits Of Ginkgo Biloba That Will Surprise You
Written by Heather Hanks
Reviewed by Dr Jessica Gunawan and Physician Luke Yau Wai on June 15, 2022
Published January 25, 2023 | 6 min read
If there's one supplement you should add to your health and wellness routine, it's Ginkgo biloba. Discover the amazing benefits of this "memory herb" here.
Known as the "memory herb," Ginkgo biloba has numerous amazing health benefits. It functions as one of the best and oldest forms of natural medicine.
In fact, Ginkgo has a such rich history that it has outlived dinosaurs and is responsible for inspiring poetry.
In this article, we'll highlight the health benefits of Ginkgo biloba and provide tips for how you can add it to your natural health and wellness routine.
What Is Ginkgo Biloba?
Ginkgo has been referred to as the "memory herb" due to its ability to provide neurogenerative protection.
Have you heard about this powerful herb that comes from a tree with stinky fruits? The Ginkgo biloba tree is also known as the maidenhair tree. It has fascinated humans for a long time with its unique fan-shaped leaves and lustrous yellow foliage in autumn.
Native to China and one of Earth's oldest living fossils, the Ginkgo biloba tree has remained the same for over 200 million years. It's the last surviving species of its lineage.
Its kernels and leaves have been used for hundreds of years as herbal medicine to prevent cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease, and many other ailments.
History Of Ginkgo Biloba
The earliest reference to Ginkgo biloba was in poems written during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century, followed by more references in 13th and 14th-century Chinese literature.
The Ginkgo Biloba tree subsequently found its way to other parts of Asia including Japan, thanks to a Dutch East India Company physician named Engelbert Kaempfe. He became fascinated by the tree and wrote about it in 1712.
The Chinese have been using Ginkgo biloba for many decades for culinary and medicinal purposes. In many Eastern cultures, it is considered a sacred tree.
It has numerous health benefits, owing to two primary active compound groups: terpenoids and flavonoids. Today, both manufacturers in the East and West produce herbal supplements that use the standardized extracts of the plant.
An increasing number of meta-analytical and systemic reviews of smaller studies indicate that the herb has therapeutic action on neurodegenerative, cognitive, and cardiovascular diseases.
Historically used in the East to treat bronchitis, asthma, and renal dysfunction, Ginkgo biloba has great health benefits for modern-day illnesses.
May protect against neurodegenerative diseases
Research has demonstrated the herb can help prevent or treat aging-related neurodegenerative conditions, such as dementia and Alzheimer's. It works by increasing blood flow to the brain and helping brain cells utilize glucose and oxygen more efficiently.
May contain cardioprotective properties
In China, injections containing Ginkgo biloba extract are used to treat heart attacks. Animal studies have also shown that the herb extract has potent protective properties.
It inhibits apoptosis (programmed cell death) of heart tissue cells, which is a precursor of heart failure.
In addition, there is an indication that the herb has a lot of potential in the reduction of strokes by improving blood plasma viscosity.
May help fight cancer
Research on Ginkgo biloba has also shown promising answers in the area of anti-cancer drug development. A 2019 study observed the actions of five active compounds within it against cancer cells. It found that two of them are particularly anti-proliferative.
May reduce the complications of diabetes
Animal studies have shown that Ginkgo biloba extract can improve renal (kidney) function. It reduces damage to the tubular structures within the kidney due to diabetic complications. It has also been shown to help prevent and reduce the symptoms of glaucoma.
How Is Ginkgo Biloba Used In TCM?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is no stranger to the medicinal powers of Ginkgo biloba. Roasted ginkgo seed kernels are a local delicacy in Eastern countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan.
In fact, paleobotanists who study the herb and its extinct relatives believe that its survival had something to do with the early consumption of its kernels by humans and other animals.
Since TCM is a robust medical philosophy and practice, TCM-based therapy includes Ginkgo Biloba leaf extract for numerous ailments.
According to TCM Physician Luke Yau Wai, this herb can present as neutral, sweet, bitter, and astringent in TCM terminology. It enters the Heart and Lung meridians.
"Ginkgo biloba helps in calming the nerves. It also eliminates Heat and is a diuretic, which helps promote fluid excretion from the body and remove Blood Stasis," Physician Luke states. It regulates Qi by dredging collaterals, essentially clearing an obstruction from meridian pathways.
Other ailments that this herb can address include:
Dizziness caused by Liver Yang (active energy)
Oliguria (abnormally small amounts of urine)
Neurasthenia (a general condition of neurotic disorders that include symptoms like fatigue and irritability)
Nephritis (an inflammatory kidney condition that prevents it from properly filtering blood)
Peripheral vascular disease (a circulation disorder)
"Ginkgo biloba is particularly beneficial for individuals who like eating meat, rarely exercise, or have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, memory loss, or poor concentration," Physician Luke further shares.
Of course, a balanced diet and regular exercise should be the first resort to maintaining good health. However, it is good to know we have nature's gift to help us get to better health along the way.
You can take Ginkgo biloba orally as a supplement or add it to soups.
Most Western preparations of Ginkgo biloba supplements come in tablet form, which is easier to administer orally.
On the other hand, TCM preparations include Ginkgo biloba extract as part of an existing TCM liquid essence, such as chicken essence. It's also a common ingredient in many healing soups.
Owing to its potency, extracts of Ginkgo biloba interact with other commonly used medicines. These include blood thinners like aspirin and warfarin, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain and fever-like ibuprofen and naproxen.
Ginkgo biloba supplements can also interact with medication for blood disorders, antidepressants, and even other health supplements, such as St. John's wort, Panax ginseng, cedar leaf, folic acid, and melatonin.
"Patients with senile arteriosclerosis and fragile blood vessels should not consume it long term to avoid cerebral hemorrhage. It is advisable to consult a professional doctor or TCM physician before taking it. Individuals with low blood pressure should take it with caution," cautions Physician Luke.
A potent powerhouse plant with many great benefits, Ginkgo biloba remains a revered sacred tree in the spiritual practices of Eastern cultures. It adorns old temples, lines urban streets, and inspires poetry.
While modern-day sentiments may separate sacred knowledge from medical knowledge, it is not surprising that this herb holds the fancy of monks, poets, emperors, healers, scientists, and physicians alike. This living fossil is nature's gift for the mind and body.
myHEALTH, Ministry of Health Malaysia. 2014. Ginkgo Biloba.
Plants People Planet. 2019. An evolutionary and cultural biography of ginkgo.
Yale School of the Environment. 2013. The Life Story of The Oldest Tree on Earth.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, United Kingdom. 2020. Ginkgo biloba: The tree that outlived the dinosaurs
StatPearls, National Institute of Health. 2021. Ginkgo Biloba.
Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2021. The Use of Ginkgo Biloba L. as a Neuroprotective Agent in the Alzheimer's Disease.
Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. 2021. Cardioprotective Properties of Ginkgo Biloba Extract 80 via the Activation of AKT/GSK3β/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway.
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2021. The Clinical Efficacy of Ginkgo biloba Leaf Preparation on Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Molecules. 2019. Anticancer Effects of Five Biflavonoids from Ginkgo Biloba L. Male Flowers In Vitro.
BioMed Research International. 2021. Ginkgo Biloba Extract EGB761 Ameliorates the Extracellular Matrix Accumulation and Mesenchymal Transformation of Renal Tubules in Diabetic Kidney Disease by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.
Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. 2020. Ginkgo Biloba Extract in Ophthalmic and Systemic Disease, With a Focus on Normal-Tension Glaucoma.
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In today's connected and technologically driven world, its hard to believe that many organizations still struggle with Oxygen supply. What it comes down to in most cases is the reliance on third party suppliers, which despite promises, can't always deliver. For companies operating in Africa, another major factor in oxygen supply is also site location. Many locations are remote and surrounded by poor infrastructure which makes it incredibly difficult for gas suppliers to deliver and maintain that supply, and if they can it comes at a very high cost.
The uses for oxygen range from increasing gold recovery in the mining sector, improving fish stocks in Aquaculture right through to critical life support systems in the Medical sector.
What many organizations don't realize is that it is possible for them to take control of their oxygen supply by producing their own. Our systems are custom designed from the ground up and take into account all the customer requirements. Everything is considered and we work carefully to ensure the system matches the application. System size, location, available space, environmental factors (temperature, humidity and altitude), layout, material considerations, shipping/freight etc are all carefully considered.
Comprehensive training and support forms part of the offering too, regardless of Country. We currently have systems throughout Africa including countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone which were recently devastated by Ebola as well as Rwanda and Mali which suffered many years of political unrest and civil war.
If you find yourself struggling with your oxygen supply, take the first step by contacting us and lets see what we can do to help.


The February box was ok but not as good as previous ones in my opinion. I will never use the fingernail stuff or the acne stuff as I'm not in that stage any more. Soap smells good but I will never use it as I am not a soap girl. But that's just me, they are all good products.
This was my second Glossybox and I did like it, however, the only item I will use regularly is the Davinci Shimmer powder. I got the color Harmony and it is absolutely beautiful! Although I didn't find a personal use for the rest of the items, I did give them to my sister who absolutely loved them.
I'm very pleased with my first Glossybox :) I received nail wraps in black and white stripes, a cream eyeliner, some stinky soap, a snail gel treatment mask (eeek) and a loose eyeshadow. I'm so excited to try them all!
This was my first GlossyBox and I loved it! The Bvlgari soap, LISI lipgloss, and DaVinci shimmer powder were all products that I would have NEVER bought on my own but I LOVED them all and will definitely be purchasing them on my own! The ESYSTEM Duo Pack was only ok and I did not like the nail wraps at all because the pattern was awful. However, I am so happy with the winners in this box that the two mediocre products did not spoil it for me. I also love the box itself and will find a good use for it!
This was my first box, and I'll admit I had a bit of culture shock when I opened it up. I still haven't tried the facial peel because the only thing in English on the package was that it was made from eel slime. I just can't go there. I also got leopard-print nail wraps and I personally would never wear leopard print anything. My box didn't come with the cream eyeliner as listed, but I emailed Glossybox and they were quick to respond and will be sending me a replacement. But the BVLGARI soap rules. I was afraid it would be too intense, but once you lather it on and rinse, it leaves this amazing clean, floral aroma. Seriously love it. I might have to buy myself some more of that. And the shimmer powder is really great, too! So all in all, I was pretty pleased. It's always fun to get the box and try new stuff, even if I didn't like the nail wraps (how would glossybox know I have a phobia of leopard print fashion and eel slime?) I just received my March box... holy man. It's even better.
Full size Lisi bronze liquid liner (love), full size loose DaVinci eyeshadow in bronze (love), Bulgari soap (love), evologie acne treatment duo (liked trying it a lot), nail wraps in red & leopard metallic (cool & fun). I thought it was a great box & I really discovered a few products I was very impressed with and would purchase for myself. To me, that's what sampling is about...discovery of great things (or finding out what doesn't work for you).
I love getting a surprise package every month! The shimmer powder and the super aqua mask were great!
I have been so pleasantly surprised every month. The quality and the sizes of the products are always wonderful. Glossybox strives to deliver a quality product.
February was my first box and i was pleasantly surprised with the quality of items I received. Looking fwd to future boxes.


Newsletter "Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief"
HRWF (25.07.2014) - On 15-16 July, Japan's human rights record was reviewed in the framework of the 111th session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. During Japan's sixth periodic review, the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right not to be coerced to change religion has been raised in detailed reports provided to the Committee by Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels) and by the Japanese Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Religious De-Conversion.
During the review, the German expert of the Committee, Ms. Seibert-Fohr, raised the issue of abductions and so-called "deprogramming" as she said. She explained that the Committee came to know about cases of abductions and forced religious de-conversions of members of the Unification Church and Jehovah's Witnesses, that adults were abducted and confined by their families for up to six months or more, and that there was a lack of investigation and police search, under the justification that they were "with their families". She explained that civil cases were brought but no injunction had been pronounced to her knowledge. She asked the Japanese government which steps it was going to take to remedy this situation.
The Japanese Government merely denied the existence of a problem by answering: "The examples cited, we are not aware of. When reports are received, we deal with this appropriately. The Ministry of Justice dealing with human rights, based on regulations, indicates that investigations should be made on cases and that is exactly what we do."
Still, the Committee, in its Concluding Observations of July 24 said that it was "concerned at reports of abductions and forced confinement of converts to new religious movements by members of their families in an effort to de-convert them (arts. 2, 9, 18, 26)" and it urged Tokyo to "take effective measures to guarantee the right of every person not to be subject to coercion which would impair his or her freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief."
For decades, Japanese authorities have turned a deaf ear to the complaints of numerous victims of abduction, confinement and attempts of change of religion under physical and psychological coercion. For decades, Japanese police have protected the perpetrators from prosecution letting such crimes continue and thus violating the victims' human rights.


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Agriculture›
Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production 2017
Published by M. Shahbandeh, Apr 1, 2019
This statistic shows the leading U.S. states based on barley production value in 2017. According to the report, the production of barley in Colorado amounted to approximately 40.84 million U.S. dollars that year.
Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. dollars)*
Production value in thousand U.S. dollars
Idaho 230,138
Montana 125,345
North Dakota 105,761
Colorado 40,841
Wyoming 30,202
Minnesota 22,481
Washington 12,389
Pennsylvania 9,293
Arizona 8,685
Total number of dairy cows in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Number of animals in livestock farming in the Netherlands in 2016
Total number of greenhouse horticulture farms in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Number of agriculture companies in the Netherlands 2018, by company type
Statistics on "Agriculture sector in the Netherlands"
Companies in the agriculture industry in the Netherlands 2019, by number of employees
Number of vacancies in the agriculture sector in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Agricultural sector volume forecast change in the Netherlands 2014-2020
Total number of agricultural businesses in the Netherlands 2018, by type of sales
Total turnover of agricultural businesses in the Netherlands 2018, by type of sales
Total number of arable farms in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Average utilized agricultural area per arable farm in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Added value arable farming industry in the Netherlands 2010-2017
Arable farming added value share in the Netherlands 2010-2017
Employment in the arable farming in the Netherlands 2010-2017
Arable farming employment share the Netherlands 2010-2017
Total number of fruit farms in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Average utilized agricultural area per fruit farm in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of pigs in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of veal calves in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of laying hens in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of broiler chickens in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of sheep in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of dairy goats in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of outdoor flower bulb producers in the Netherlands 2009-2019
Total number of flower growing companies in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Area used for production of outdoor flower bulbs in the Netherlands 2009-2019
Average utilized agricultural area per bulb growing company the Netherlands 2007-2017
Average utilized agricultural area per flower growing company the Netherlands 2007-17
Added value fishing industry in the Netherlands 2010-2017
Employment in the fishing industry in the Netherlands 2010-2017
Number of fishing vessels in the Netherlands 2009-2018
Fishing fleet composition in the Netherlands in 2018, by type of vessel
Value of fish landings in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Seafood landings in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Demersal fish landings in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Volume of pelagic fish landings in the Netherlands 2008-2018
Total number of tree nurseries in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Total number of organic tree nurseries in the Netherlands 2011-2017
Average utilized agricultural area per tree nursery in the Netherlands 2007-2017
Organic food producers in the Benelux in 2017, by country
Number of organic food producers in the Netherlands 2011-2019
Organic farmland in the Benelux in 2017, by country
Organic farmland share in the Benelux in 2017, by country
Number of organic farms in the Netherlands 2018, by province
Organic farmland in the Netherlands 2018, by province
Distribution of organic farmland in the Netherlands 2017, by land use
Average farmland per organic farm in the Netherlands 2011-2017
U.S. barley production 2000-2018
U.S. production value of barley 2000-2018
U.S. barley plantings and harvestings 2000-2018
Leading U.S. states for barley production 2015-2018
Leading U.S. states based on production value of oats 2017
U.S. plantings and harvestings of oats 2000-2018
U.S. rice production by length of grain 2000-2017
Total U.S. grain imports 2001-2016
Yield per harvested acre of corn for grain 2000-2018
Total U.S. grain production 2001-2016
Top ten U.S. states based on number of off-farm grain storage facilities 2018
Top U.S. states based on production value of corn for grain 2017
Total U.S. grain exports 2013-2019
Total U.S. domestic grain use 2001-2019
Total U.S. grain supply 2001-2019
Major countries of destination for U.S. exports of corn 2017
U.S. off-farm grain storage capacity 2018, by leading states
Yield per harvested acre of corn for silage in the U.S. 2000-2018
U.S. permanent grain storage capacity 2000 to 2018, by type
Grain elevators in the U.S. in 2014, by region
U.S. Agriculture Corn
US Department of Agriculture, & Economic Research Service. (April 1, 2019). Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. dollars)* [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://cdn1.statista.com/statistics/191436/top-us-states-based-on-value-of-barley-production/
US Department of Agriculture, und Economic Research Service. "Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. dollars)* ." Chart. April 1, 2019. Statista. Accessed January 22, 2020. https://cdn1.statista.com/statistics/191436/top-us-states-based-on-value-of-barley-production/
US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2019). Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. dollars)* . Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 22, 2020. https://cdn1.statista.com/statistics/191436/top-us-states-based-on-value-of-barley-production/
US Department of Agriculture, and Economic Research Service. "Leading U.S. States Based on Value of Barley Production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. Dollars)* ." Statista, Statista Inc., 1 Apr 2019, https://cdn1.statista.com/statistics/191436/top-us-states-based-on-value-of-barley-production/
US Department of Agriculture & Economic Research Service, Leading U.S. states based on value of barley production in 2017 (in 1,000 U.S. dollars)* Statista, https://cdn1.statista.com/statistics/191436/top-us-states-based-on-value-of-barley-production/ (last visited January 22, 2020)


Matcha latte is such a classic cafe drink, and this one is highly recommended. It combines nut-milk with coconut oil and almond extract to give a nutty, creamy taste.
Heat the milk in a small sauce pan over low heat or in a milk-frothing machine.
Add the matcha powder, coconut oil, and almond extract and whisk to combine.
If the matcha powder gets clumpy, mix it with a small amount of milk first. You can also pour through a fine-mesh strainer.


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Hey! Say! JUMP Lead Japan Weekly Singles Sales
Hey! Say! JUMP's "Precious Girl / Are You There?" was the biggest single in Japan with 213,957 copies sold.
By Billboard Japan
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Billboard Live Tokyo Courtesy of Billboard Japan
The figures for last week's CD singles sales has been issued, and Hey! Say! JUMP's "Precious Girl / Are You There?" was the biggest single in Japan with 213,957 copies sold.
"Precious Girl/ Are You There?" is the nine-member Johnny's boy band's 20th double A-sided single. The song "Precious Girl" is being used in the Kose Cosmeport's Fortune TV commercials. "Are You There" is the theme song for the the late-night TV series Koshoku Robot starring members Daiki Arioka, Hikaru Yaotome and Yuya Takaki, and is performed by their spinoff group A.Y.T.
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The single sold more than 210,000 copies in the first three days after its release.
Sekai no Owari's "Rain" was at No. 2 with 36,690 copies. The theme song for the animated feature Mary and the Witch's Flower by former Studio Ghibli animator and director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, it was written to go along with the story and was already at No. 5 on the Japan Hot 100 dated July 10.
"No Way Back," the 54th single by AAA (pronounced "triple-A") and their first since member Chiaki Ito left the group, was at No. 3 with 28,900 copies. "Koi no Roadshow" by the girl group Fairies was at No. 4 with 23,273 copies. Arashi's "Tsunagu," was at No. 5 with 20,106 copies sold in its second week.
Combined with the previous week's figures, the theme song for the movie Shinobi no Kuni starring Arashi leader Satoshi Ohno had sold 434,916 copies.


Our Baxter Personal Injury Solicitors focus on assisting hurt people. Our focus is on providing an individual, expert and friendly service to make sure that our clients get all the compensation they are due, when they are due it, in a stress totally free and cost effective way.
Whether your injury is the outcome of an accident on the road, or at work, or attacked by a canine, or as a result of being a victim of a criminal offense or a mishap in a public location, e.g. a shopping centre, then we can assist you.
If you have actually been hurt in a motor vehicle mishap in Baxter 3911, and whether you were the motorist, passenger, pedestrian, motorcyclist or cyclist in the accident you have a right to claim settlement for your injuries, even if it was partly your own fault. Settlement is paid by the Insurance coverage if the irresponsible party was driving a Victorian registered automobile (or an unidentified cars and truck).
Your right to settlement is qualified by the Motor Vehicle (3rd Party Insurance Act. You may have been hurt whilst driving, as a passenger, or when a pedestrian. As long as your injury was triggered, in whole or part, by the neglect of another individual in the control of an automobile, you have a valid claim, even if your injury was partially your own fault.
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Workers Compensation Claim Lawyers. If you have actually been hurt at work in Baxter you may be entitled to claim workers' compensation. An employee is entitled to settlement for an injury suffered in the course of work under the arrangements of the Workers' Compensation & Injury Management Act.
The workers' compensation system is really complex and there are numerous risks that have to be prevented. There are also stringent limitation periods that apply to your ability to pursue common law damages. It is very important that you look for legal recommendations as rapidly as possible after suffering an injury at work to guarantee that your claim is safeguarded.
Victim of Criminal Offense Payment Claim Lawyers If you have been injured physically or psychologically as a result of the commission of a criminal offense, such as an assault, then you might be able to claim criminal injuries compensation. You might have the ability to claim even if the transgressor has actually not been charged or founded guilty of an offense.
Future medical expenses excluding Medicare and private health benefits. (Any award for future medical costs will not be paid instantly. The award will be readily available to satisfy medical expenses as and when they are incurred so long as the costs are declared within Ten Years from the date of the award.).
If you have been injured as a result of a criminal offence in Baxter you should right away report the offense to the authorities and you should look for legal suggestions to make sure that your rights are safeguarded. We are professionals Victim of Criminal offense Compensation claims and will make sure you get every dollar and entitlements you are entitled to.


I just saw the official news that the U.S. has been in a recession since a year ago, however the Bush administration has avoided the word "recession" like the plague. But now that Bush is on the way out, the National Bureau of Economic Research has become emboldened, and is calling it what it is–and has been.
I don't know about your neck of the woods, but reality is hitting hard here in the Northwest. Two of our friends–both the breadwinners of their families–have been laid off in the last two weeks. A third person, our realtor and good friend, who has been in the business for nearly 30 years, may lose her house if business doesn't pick up. She is the main breadwinner as well, and since no one is buying houses right now, they have gone through all their savings over the past 14 months just trying to pay their bills. Meanwhile, the list of companies going under, and the thousands of employees being laid off, continues. We will see a lot more carnage before this is over. The only bright spot are the gas prices.
I understand what it's like to have a husband who has been laid off. This time last year, my husband was laid off, and he didn't find a job until the end of July. Our God was faithful, and my husband was given a marvelous severance package–which, incidentally–ran out just at the time my husband got a job. (God is so good.) Even though we were financially secure, it was a very, very hard time emotionally for my husband. Men who are out of work tend to think that everyone sees a big "L" for loser on their foreheads.
His former layoff and the current economic climate has been a wake-up call for our family. Where we thought we had tightened up all our finances, we're finding other ways to pull in even tighter. We're talking to our kids about the value of being careful with our money. And this is all good.
But there's one area where we should not tighten up–charity, generosity and tithing. Now more than ever, our friends and neighbors will need our financial help. This is the time to "pay it forward." If someone you know is out of work, get them a gift certificate from the local grocery store and leave it anonymously in their mailbox. Give to the local food bank, because if it's anything like our local food bank, they are giving out way more than what is coming in.
We were in downtown Seattle on Friday to watch the Macy's parade. After the parade, we saw a homeless man in a wheelchair dressed in a Santa outfit, with a bedraggled sign that read, "Santa Photos." That sign touched my 10-year-old's heart. I hate to admit it, but at the time, it seemed to me like a pathetic attempt to make some money. But what do a few dollars cost me? I wish we'd stopped, taken a picture, and given him some money.
Since then, my daughter has told me that she wants every homeless person to have a gift at Christmas. That's going to be her request to Santa when she sits on his lap. We just might get some gifts–I have no idea what–and take them to downtown Seattle to the homeless. Maybe some gift cards from McDonald's or Starbucks. Nothing like a hot latte when you're sitting outside in our rainy climate all day.
What better gift to give to our Lord and Savior than a gift to the homeless? Or an anonymous gift card for our neighbor? Or a few bags of food for the food bank? Or even some time spent with someone who is out of work? My husband highly valued the talks with a male neighbor who would come and hang with him when he was down. If gifts for the homeless would make my daughter's eyes shine, how much more joy would we give our Lord?


Kimery Jorg (D.O.B. 05-16-1960) was sentenced today to 20 years in the Department of Corrections with lifetime probation upon release after pleading guilty to four counts of child abuse involving her adopted daughters the day before her trial was set to begin.
On May 30, 2014 officers were called to the home of Kimery and Johann Jorg after child protective services found two girls in the home, an 11-year-old and 13-year-old, were being abused through inhumane punishments including starvation, beatings with a wood paddle, running barefoot for several hours a day and forcing them to sleep outside in just a diaper despite the temperate.
Both Kimery and Johann Jorg admitted to investigators that they took part in harsh punishments for the girls and said that the girls needed the punishment for their bad behaviors and rule breaking. Detectives found that Kimery devised most of the punishments. She also kept a detailed list of the punishments and had notes throughout the house indicating what punishments were still owed by the children.
Johann Jorg pled guilty to two counts of child abuse and was sentenced on April 16, 2015 to 14 years in the Department of Corrections.


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Q: Is there a continuous duty electric valve available? I was searching and surprisingly unable to find a simple continuous duty electric water valve? Below is my requirement.
We get water from government. They release water only every 6th day., for few hours.  So most of the time our manual water valve is closed. Every 6th day, we manually open and  keep the water valve opened for few hours (typically 6 to 8 hours), because the timing is not consistent.
I want this process to be automated. If I have electric valve, I could simply connect to internet and schedule this. Only problem is, I see that solenoid valves cannot be activated for hours together. So I need a one (I don't care if its solenoid or anything, just something I could activate electrically), which I can activate and open electrically for few hours when needed.
Most of the aliexpress like platforms have valves, but not clear how long they can be operated. And numerous reviews suggest, even an hour of operation makes the coil/valve over heated, and even damaging the valve thereafter.
So can some one kindly suggest which device I should go after in the market? Do they have a different name than "continuous duty"? Kindly advice.
Update:
Kindly suggest something affordable (within $20 or so) if suggesting buying links. Kindly note, I am looking for ready made solution, not as a project. Something like plug and play. I intend to connect it to IOT, but that is separate(we have plug and play switches) so kindly focus only on suitable low cost continuous duty valves. Motorized valves are good fit as one of answers suggested,and am already searching for low cost ones but in vain so far.

A: Search Web for "motorized water valve".  Unlike solenoid drives, motors need be energized only long enough to reach the desired open or closed state.

A: Aliexpress has motorised ball valves. They only use power while moving from one state to the other state.
I got a 3 way 1/2" one to switch the solar hot water down my chimney.
Most of them have no visible indication of which state they are in. (annoying)
A few have a visible indicator, and even fewer have a manual knob as well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Is this Iran's new revolution?
by Jane Young
As Iranians throng Tehran's streets, braving batons and bullets, the Islamic State's Supreme Leader has opted for an inquiry into the election results. Will it be a legitimate exploration of an implausible result, or a tactic to kill the protest momentum?
Is this what revolution looks like? Can Iran's students and those who feel disenfranchised by Friday's election results continue the momentum, or has the Supreme Leader already outplayed them?
All attempts so far to quash the green wave have so far failed as hundreds of thousands of protesters have turned out in a scenario that mirrors the 1979 Revolution that ousted the corrupt and American-backed Shah and turned Iran into an Islamic state.
The Iranian leadership has already shown signs of buckling in calling on the influential body of clerics and experts in Islamic law—the Guardian Council—to review the outcome of the election. In particular to investigate the claims by Mousavi that fraud cheated him of a victory.
It may not however, be a buckle. It may be a cunning plan in the guise of a safety valve. If the Supreme Leader Khamenei can sap the growing revolutionary spirit of its momentum, he may secure the chance to control the streets without an all out bloodbath.
It is really worth going back to watch footage of the 1979 Revolution and the fervour that built—albeit over months—which saw Iranians defy the Shah's crackdown, turned those killed by government troops into martyrs, and eventually signed the Shah's exile warrant. If they could do it then, why not now? Added to that is the technology available to these would-be revolutionaries. While the government has tried to close satellite and internet sites, it has been outmanoeuvred by more up-to-date Twitter and co. What ignominy.
Already there are reports of at least one person shot dead, and all the television reports show serious police brutality as the young para-militants on motorbikes swing batons at anyone they can, and ransack the universities. Ahmadinejad's "handful of demonstrators" have turned into a mass protest, estimated to be in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands. The fissures within the country are apparent to all, including the leadership, and they have cause to worry.
It all seems as if the very administration that was around to oust the Shah thought it would very easily name Ahmadinejad as the leader, and life would continue. Possibly the biggest mistake with such a plan was the record time it took to 'count' those 40 million paper votes and then declare the incumbent keeps his seat. A record 85 percent voter turnout, polls open for hours longer than usual, and an immediate victory giving 63 percent of the votes to Ahmadinejad. How stupid was that! It was not an electronic election count and within two to three hours it was done and dusted. At the very least, those watching the election and how close it became in the last couple of weeks expected a run off with neither candidate making it to 50 percent of the vote.
Instead Iranians, many clearly desperate for more social freedom, were served up a highly questionable scenario and it was truly a step too far.
I watched Ahmadinejad's full post-election press conference in which he declared the election as the "most glorious in the contemporary world". Glorious in its breathtaking implausibility perhaps but not in its cursory nod to democracy. Mousavi referred to it as an act of wizardry, and hundreds of thousands who believe their votes have been stolen, brave enough to take the baton blows, agree. They also know the rest of the world is watching, and hence they are carrying signs in English—"down with the dictator" and "who stole my vote".
There are two competing themes now in play. The first is how long can those who support Mousavi and are convinced of major election fraud sustain their momentum. If they look to the other colour revolutions they will know their green wave will require extraordinary commitment and growing numbers.
The other component is in the hands of the leadership. As with revolutions of the past—the French, the Russian, and the Iranian revolutions—the political skill is in knowing how much anger to allow to vent before clamping down and risking defeat, a military that refuses to kill its own citizens, and/or martyrdom that will eat away at the fabric of an already dreadfully divided society.
From the outside Iranian political life is incredibly complex, with its mix of theocracy and democracy and infighting at the very top of its religious and secular leaderships.
The sheer scale of this reaction has the potential to rock the foundations of the Islamic Republic, and even if it totters to an equilibrium it will have to deal with a hugely disparate sector, particularly amongst its young and highly educated university class.
The old footage of the 1979 Revolution shows a tearful Shah as he departs the capital for a vacation from which he was never permitted to return. Khamenei is unlikely to be moved to tears let alone budge from his holy patch. However, despite backing Ahmadinejad for the last four years, he is more likely to cause the highly bellicose and problematic incumbent to go in to that dark night, particularly if his plan to vent the protesters' anger with an inquiry fails to quiet the streets of Tehran.
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1979, Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, Mousavi, protesters, revolution
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Blair as tormented victim…
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As if weeks of flooding throughout the Mississippi River basin were not enough, now those floodwaters are expected to deliver yet another big punch: the creation of a giant "dead zone" in the fisheries-rich Gulf of Mexico. Each year, the discharge of fertilizer pollution from the basin's corn and soybean farms promotes algal growth that robs Gulf water of oxygen, stressing and killing fish and other aquatic life. Due to all the fertilizer-laden floodwaters washed into the Gulf this spring, scientists are expecting this summer's dead zone to measure between 8,500 and 9,421 square miles — an area roughly the size of New Hampshire and bigger than the largest dead zone measured to date, in 2002.
the size of New Hampshire.
This spring, the Mississippi River is broadcasting a message loud and clear: it's time to put nature back into the water equation. And hopefully, the ears of the Obama Administration are wide open, because it is now completing new guidance on federal dams, levees and other water projects that could influence the health of the nation's rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal zones for a long time to come. These guidelines on water planning have not been re-written since 1983.
An oysterman's stilt house sits above a vast expanse of marsh grass in 1971. Photo by James L. Stanfield.
Over the last century, the building of dams and levees, the draining of wetlands and the construction of houses and farms on historic floodplains has marched forward in the name of national economic progress. These projects, however, have typically been justified by a very narrow definition of progress– one measured strictly in dollars and cents. Other values harder to quantify, such as habitat for wildlife and the cleansing action of wetlands, often got short shrift. As a result, rivers rarely flow like rivers any more, millions of acres of wetlands are gone, fish and wildlife habitat have disappeared, and flood risks in many areas are increasing.
It's time to bring our water management practices into the 21st century. We now have a vast array of ecological science documenting the benefits of healthy ecosystems and the services they deliver to our economy. But a narrow benefit-cost rule will never capture their value to the nation. The question our federal water planners need to ask is not, for example, whether the construction of another levee will produce dollar benefits that exceed its costs. Rather, the question is how federal investments can cost-effectively provide safety from floods while also restoring the wildlife and water quality benefits of natural floodplains.
The first draft of the Administration's new water guidance, released for review in December 2009, was not encouraging. The guidance was weak, the benefit-cost rule remained in place, and there was no mandatory requirement to favor less environmentally harmful alternatives. Many of the destructive water projects of the past could get a "thumbs up" under those rules.
Preparing the nation for a future of climate change with its attendant floods, droughts and threats to fish and wildlife, requires enlisting nature's help. Instead of further chipping away at ecological infrastructure, we should be strategically shoring it up. Cities from Napa, California to Cedar Rapids, Iowa are doing just this, by moving away from conventional flood control toward greater use of wetlands and floodplains as natural flood defenses.
The Administration's new guidance on federal water project planning provides an extraordinary opportunity to fix mistakes of the past and prepare us for the uncertain future ahead. To set us on the right path, the new guidance should require that federal water planners adopt solutions that work with nature whenever possible to minimize the risk to communities, wildlife and the environment.
Water is not just a resource; it is the basis of life and the very core of our well-being. At the end of the day, not everything that makes cents makes sense.