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Classical music: TONIGHT through Sunday night, the Ancora String Quartet reprises the program it just performed on a 10-day tour of Germany
The Ancora String Quartet (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis) has sent the following announcement about its upcoming concerts in Wisconsin – including two in Madison – that will reprise the group's recent tour to Germany.
Members are (below, from left) violinist Wes Luke, violinist Robin Ryan, violist Marika Fischer Hoyt; and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.
"The Ancora String Quartet (below, rehearsing in Nieder-Olm during the tour) is fresh back from Germany, our first overseas tour, which we called "Deutsch-Amerikanische "Träume," or "German-American Dreams."
"We are partnering with a wonderful mezzo-soprano, Melinda Paulsen, who serves on the voice faculty at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany.
"Together, we have prepared a program of works by German and American composers, for string quartet, and for mezzo-soprano and quartet.
"We spent 10 fabulous days in Germany in August of 2018, performing at town halls, concert halls, churches, and a music school, in Nieder-Olm, Frankfurt, Vellmar, Schlitz and St. Goar on the Rhine. It was wonderful and we can't wait to go back again in future years.
"We are back in Madison now with Melinda, to perform this same program in concert venues around the state of Wisconsin.
"We are grateful for funding from several German organizations, and from the Kassel-Dane Sister County Task Force.
"Melinda and the members of this quartet (below, in Schlitz) are thrilled that this project has taken shape, are pleased with our recent reception in Germany, and look forward to sharing with Wisconsin audiences a program exploring the intersections between two cultures that are quite distinct today, but which share deep, common roots."
Here is the "German-American Dreams" Tour, Sept. 4-9, at venues in Wisconsin
Admission is FREE except where noted
TONIGHT, Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, Madison
Wednesday, Sept. 5 at noon on The Midday on Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison and at 6 p.m. at Germantown Community Library, Germantown
Thursday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Light Recital Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. For ticket information, go to: https://mastercal.uww.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?data=hHr80o3M7J72xlWbKk4NucsOjgrgFcp7yGVHvRRLZ2VDe4XLariznlZrFvCFdeeY
Friday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Janesville Women's Club
Saturday, Sept. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Eaton Chapel, Beloit College
Sunday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Madison. Admission is $15.
"Dover Beach" by Samuel Barber
Drei Lieder (Three Songs) by Viktor Ullmann
"Melancholia," Op. 13, by Paul Hindemith
Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11, by Samuel Barber (with the more transparent slow movement that later became the orchestral "Adagio for Strings," heard in the YouTube video at the bottom)
"Wesendonck" Lieder, WWV 91 (arranged by Stefan Heucke) by Richard Wagner
Tags: #AdagioforStrings, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BeloitCollege, #BenjaminWhitcomb, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolLakesRetirementCenter, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ConcertHall, #DaneCounty, #DoverBeach, #EpiscopalChurch, #FacultyMember, #ForeignTour, #GermantownWisconsin, #JanesvilleWisconsin, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MelindaPaulsen, #MusicSchool, #OverseasTour, #PaulHindemith, #PublicLibrary, #RhineRiver, #RichardWagner, #SamuelBarber, #SisterCounty, #St.Andrew'sEpiscopalChurch, #StateOfWisconsin, #StringQuartet, #TheMidday, #TownHall, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #VictorUllmann, #VocalMusic, #WesendonckLieder, #WisconsinPublic Radio, #Women'sClub, #YouTubevideo, American, Ancora String Quartet, arrangement, Arts, audience, August, Beloit College, Benjamin Whitcomb, Capitol Lakes, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, Christian, church, Classical music, composer, Concert, county, culture, Dane County, days, Dover Beach, Dreams, Episcopal Church, faculty, Frankfurt, future, German, Germany, Jacob Stockinger, Kassel, library, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, melancholia, Melinda Paulsen, Mezzo-soprano, Music, overseas, Paul Hindemith, public library, reception, recital, Retirement, Rhine, Rhine River, river, roots, Samuel Barber, Schlitz, sister, song, String quartet, The Midday, tour, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, venue, Victor Ullmann, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, vocal music, voice, Wagner, Wesendonck Lieder, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, women, work, year, YouTube
Classical music: Local all-female Arbor Ensemble will present two concerts of all-women composers this coming Saturday night in Madison and Sunday afternoon in Beloit.
Arbor Ensemble (below), a Madison-based chamber group, will perform its February program, "Women Composers: Then and Now" on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, in Madison, Wisconsin; and on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 2:30 p.m. in Beloit College's Eaton Chapel in Beloit, Wisconsin.
This program will feature the premiere of "Whispers Through the Trees" by Charlotte Howenstein (below) as well as rarely heard works by Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger and Cherise D. Leiter. Sorry, no word on the specific program.
Admission for the February 21 performance is $10, with $5 tickets available for students and seniors. Admission for the February 22 performance is FREE.
Arbor Ensemble is comprised of committed artist educators, seeking to connect with audiences through their personal sound and unique, colorful instrumentation.
Berlinda Lopez (flute), Stacy Fehr Regehr (piano), Marie Pauls (viola, violin), and Rebecca Riley (cello) combine to create an expressive blend, performing a diversity of musical styles.
Arbor's mission is to bring classical music to listeners from all walks of life through high quality chamber music performance, and to highlight the works of women composers.
For more information, visit Arbor Ensemble's website at www.arborensemble.com.
Tags: Amy Beach, Arbor Ensemble, Arts, Beloit, Beloit College, Cello, Chamber music, Charlotte Howenstein, Cherise D. Leiter, Clara Schumann, Classical music, Eaton Chapel, female, flute, Jacob Stockinger, Lili Boulanger, Madison, Music, Music education, Piano, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, women, women composers
Classical Music: Isthmus Vocal Ensemble performs a world premiere by Madison composer Jerry Hui plus music by Mendelssohn, Brahms and other composers Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
Over the past decade, the annual concert by the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble (below, in a photo by Jim Pippitt) has become a mid-summer landmark in Madison's rich classical music scene.
The group does amazing things, especially given that it pulls its annual summer program together in only about two weeks. Its conductor is University of Wisconsin School of Music alumnus Scott MacPherson (below), who flies into town and gets the group rehearsing difficult old and especially new music.
In that short two weeks, the group prepares and presents an interesting and unusual program that typically combines well-known masterpieces with unknown or neglected works as well as world premieres.
The concerts always garner critical acclaim as well as a devoted following, and the part-time even manages to record outstanding and unusual CDs, including a compilation of works by contemporary composer Andrew Rindfleisch and an eclectic, unusual holiday CD called "An Isthmus Christmas."
For more about the group in general, visit: http://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org/
This year marks the 11th annual concert by the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble. The event is especially noteworthy because it is a send-off of sorts: It marks the end of the Andrew Taylor's tenure as president of the group. (He is not singing this summer because of his upcoming career change, but says he hopes to return next summer to sing. You can say hi and thank him at the ticket table, which he will be manning at the two performances.)
Taylor (below), who for 20 years has headed the renowned Arts Administration program at the UW Business School – the first program is its kind in the country — is leaving in August to take up a tenure-track faculty post at American University, which wisely recruited him, in Washington, D.C. For three years in a row, Taylor was named on the national list of the "The 25 Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Non-Profit Arts World."
How the UW-Madison let a teacher and researcher of this caliber and prominence get away is beyond me, but there it is – a subject of regret and a topic for another time.
A typical offering by the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble, this summer's program spans five centuries of choral masterworks, and includes a world premiere by Madison local performer Jerry Hui), who is equally at home in early music (he founded and directs the ensemble Eliza's Toyes) and contemporary music (he is a co-founder and co-director of NEW MUSE or New Music Everywhere).
For this concert, Hui, who just received his doctoral degree at the UW School of Music and composed and staged an Internet opera "Wired for Love" as his thesis, has sets poems by Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker (below in a photo by Bonnie Roub), an "Objectivist" poet who graduated from Beloit College and lived and worked in Fort Atkinson, to music.
The first performance is this Friday, Aug. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the resonant, cathedral-like acoustics of Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Avenue in Madison, where the group promises the air conditioning will be working.
A repeat performance is on Sunday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m. in the more intimate space of Covenant Presbyterian Church, 326 South Segoe Road, on Madison's near west side.
General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at the door, or online at:
http://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org/
Here is the impressively varied program, subject to change:
"Richte mich, Gott," Op. 78, No. 2, by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847); "Parce mihi Domine," by Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500-1553); Three poems by Lorine Niedecker (world premiere), by Jerry Hui (b. 1981)' "The Drowned Lovers" (1998, rev. 2009), by Judith Bingham (b. 1952); "The Bluebird"by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924); "Der Abend" (Evening), Op. 62, No. 2, by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897); "Lux caelestis" (Heavenly Light) (2004/2011), by Timothy Kramer (b. 1959)
And for more specifics about the two upcoming performances of this summer's concert, visit:
http://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org/concert.html
Tags: American University, Arts Administration, Beloit College, Charles Villiers Stanford, Cristóbal de Morales, Johannes Brahms, Judith Bingham, Lorine Niedecker, Madison, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Washington DC


These project plans for 15 interactive mechanical wooden playthings will appeal to children of all ages. They include a wide array of quirky and unusual contraptions, from a ratchet noisemaker and a Frankenswitch cover plate to a rapid-fire rubber band gun and a wooden treasure chest and padlock, as well as three automatons and many more.
Presented in order of complexity from beginner to advanced, the projects include step-by-step instructions with color photos, exploded diagrams, parts list, full-size patterns and list of materials and tools.
Softcover, 8-1/2" x 11", 96 pages, 2017.


Simone Magill wrote herself into Northern Ireland football history with a record-breaking goal that set the tone for a comprehensive 4-0 European Championship victory over Georgia.
After netting a stunning strike against Italy in the last international, the Everton Ladies forward scored after just 11 seconds to give Northern Ireland a dream start.
Magill's finish is now the fastest goal ever scored by a Northern Ireland player in an international of any kind.
Marissa Callaghan marked her first competitive appearance as captain with a first-half double and Rachel Furness added to her tally in a green shirt when she score the fourth in injury time.
Northern Ireland attacked straight from the kick-off. The ball was sent out wide to Avilla Bergin from the start and Magill was on the end of her cross to fire it into the net and stun the Georgians.
Cliftonville midfielder Callaghan, leading the team on her home patch, doubled the lead in fine style 20 minutes later. Picking up the ball just outside the box after being supplied by Sarah McFadden, she cracked a shot that flew straight into the top corner, leaving the Georgia goalkeeper with no chance.
The 30-year-old stretched Northern Ireland's lead five minutes before the break, this time with a low drive into the into the bottom corner of the net, just a minute after she had missed another great opportunity.
Northern Ireland survived a scare early in the second half when a mix-up in the defence gave Teona Bakradze a chance, but after lobbing her effort over goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns Julie Nelson was on hand to clear the ball off the line.
Seventeen-year-old Emma McMaster replaced Callaghan for the final few minutes, but she was still able to make an impact in injury time.
Furness, who had seen an effort come back off a post 20 minutes earlier, was set up by McMaster and the Sunderland Ladies striker coolly finished to make it 4-0.
Northern Ireland: Burns, Lindsay, Foy, Hutton, Nelson, McFadden, Bergin, Callaghan (McMaster 90 mins), Magill (Sherwood 81 mins), Furness, McGuiness (Wade 78 mins) Subs: Adams, Kelly, Rafferty, Newborough.
Georgia: Nadirashvili, Kvelidze, Chkhartishvili, Kochlamazashvili, Bakradze, Cheminava, Tchkonia, Gabelia, Danelia (Pasikashvili 81 mins), Tatuashvili, Sutidze. Subs: Sukhashvili, Sturua, Zakaidze, Kvaliashvili, Tevdoradze, Basiladze.


The real challenge with Race to the Top, NCLB waivers, and generally, Obama's educational policy approach since Bush is that they are solely first-order changes. Has NCLB (as arguably a second-order change) improved the achievement gap? I mentioned on Cloaking Inequity last month a new paper by Sean Reardon, a Stanford Professor, presented at an Accountability conference in Rome. At the rate of improvement we have seen over the past decade on the NAEP and state-mandated criterion-referenced tests, it will take us 80 more years to close the achievement gap.
The District and 27 of the 33 states that have received waivers from the Obama administration under No Child Left Behindhave also set new goals that call for different levels of achievement for different groups of students.
The proponents of this "lowered bar" approach have argued that it is okay that initial thresholds are lower by race/ethnicity as long as expect growth over the next decade or so is greater for African Americans and Latina/os. Just like our national financial debt, the baby boomer's approach to education reform is "moving around the chairs" public policy, leaving my generation (X) with another debt, a national educational debt. The current waiver approach is more of the same— we will lose another decade by utilizing the same failed high-stakes testing and accountability approach that has set a glacial pace for the nation.
So what if first-order change is all that is on the table? My thought is that this decade long cross-sectional approach to closing the achievement gap is misguided. (I of course prefer Community-Based Accountability). If I am forced to choose from poorly designed high-stakes exams for an approach, it would be much more ideal for states to determine individual-level growth to proficiency within racial/ethnic groups rather than averaging cross-sectional test scores. One example of this is the now defunct Texas Progress Measure (TPM) where three-year growth trajectories to proficiency were calculated for each student. Schools were given credit for accountability ratings when those students met their individualized growth trajectory in a particular year. Another benefit of this approach is that low-performing schools would not need to be risk-averse towards students that they see as liabilities to accountability ratings because they could focus on achievement growth rather than thresholds. In their infinite wisdom, TEA "scraped" the TPM in 2011.
So what second order changes should be on the table? Check back here at Cloaking Inequity for part two of Race and NCLB waivers.
tagged with David Tyack, ESEA, ESEA reauthorization, Florida, George W. Bush, Larry Cuban, NCLB, NCLB Waivers, SBOE, Senator Kennedy, Texas Progress Measure, TPM, Washington D.C.
You are spot on here! Love my President, but his education response is less than stellar. I really am fed up w/ rhetoric. Stop kicking the can down the road, and do something that will make a difference to students and teachers at the school level. Making sure "our scores" are straight does not ensure that I have the skills and abilities to function. Real talk!!!!
Could you consider using "opportunity gap" rather than "achievement gap"? "Achievement gap" blames the student. "Opportunity gap" points to the real cause of learning problems.


The CPT test method consists of using a hydraulic rig to push an instrumented cone tip into the ground through several rods. It continuously measures the resistance needed to penetrate the soil at a constant rate of two centimeters per second. The total force acting on the cone is called the cone resistance and qualifies the strength of your soil. The force acting on the sounding rods provides the total friction. Measurements with an electric cone, equipped with a friction sleeve, provide the local sleeve friction (CPT-E).
Mechanical cone penetrometer – provides the calculations for building foundations by measuring the cone resistance at regular 20 centimeter intervals. We use the Dutch cone with a conical mantle and the Begemann cone with local sleeve friction.
Electric cone penetrometer – gathers more complete information, enabling a better classification of soil layers (for example, detecting a thin peat layer in clay soils). The cone resistance and local friction is measured continuously every two centimeters, allowing the friction ratio to be calculated. A computer registers the measurements which are transmitted through the electric cone to the surface through cables inside the penetrometer rods.


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MLB: Correa hires new agent as he seeks contract
bet365 News Team Jan 24 2022
Free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa has hired agent Scott Boras, with the 27-year-old joined still without a team over the lockout.
Correa's former club the Houston Astros are 17/2 to win the World Series and haven't ruled out making an offer for the shortstop to return to Minute Maid Park, although it seems unlikely now that Correa has picked Boras.
The veteran agent worked on $630million deals for Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Max Scherzer prior to December.
In seven seasons with the Houston Astros, Correa made two All-Star teams and won the 2017 World Series entering this winter on top of most free-agent boards.
Related MLB News
MLB: Tampa Bay denied by MLB
MLB: Is Craig Kimbrel tradeable?
MLB: Lester calls it a day
Multiple teams expressed an interest in Correa following fellow shortstop Seagers' move to the Texas Rangers for a $325million mega deal.
Before hiring Boras, Correa was represented by William Morris Endeavour. How the market unfolds after the lockout finishes could depend on how quickly a deal comes together between the league and the players' association.
Speaking to ESPN, Correa made a short statement: "I have made the decision to hire Boras Corporation to represent me moving forward. Boras Corporation offers the highest level of baseball expertise and proven experience."
Big names in free agency
Wherever Correa goes will be baseball's biggest story post-lockout. Other big names however remain on the free agency market, these include, Freddie Freeman, Trevor Storey, Clayton Kershaw, Kris Bryant and Nick Castellanos.
Correa hit .279 in 148 games for the Astros, who lost the World Series to the Atlanta Braves, Correa was part of the team that went to all five consecutive Houston teams that went at least to the American League Championship series.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This watch is also known as: 7021/1G-001 7021-1G 7021.1G Patek Philippe Nautilus Haute Joaillerie. Mechanical Self-Winding Movement. Caliber 324 S C. Date. Sweep Seconds Hand. Fully Set with Diamonds Random Setting.


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Home Business Kharkiv Customs started more than 600 cases of violation of rules
Kharkiv Customs started more than 600 cases of violation of rules
Oksana Dovhopiata
Photo from focus.ua
This year, the Kharkiv Customs opened 646 cases of violation of customs regulations.
According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the State Fiscal Service in Kharkiv region, for 10 months of this year there were opened investigations for nearly 49 million UAH.
From the beginning of the year, the Customs examined 295 cases, which resulted in applying the administrative penalty of fine in the amount of 4.2 million UAH. In particular, in October 2015 the service officials opened 77 cases totaling more than 500 thousand UAH.
At the same time, 126 cases (for the sum of 30.1 million UAH) were referred to the courts. Upon review of the cases, the courts ruled the confiscation of direct objects of violation of customs regulations to be paid in the amount of 7.3 million UAH and imposed fines for more than 7 million UAH.
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Q: BeautifulSoup Detect Change Trigger I have a script that uses bs4 to scrape a webpage and grab a string named, "Last Updated 4/3/2020, 8:28 p.m.". I then assign this string to a variable and send it in an email. The script is scheduled to run once a day. However, the date and time on the website change every other day. So, instead of emailing every time I run the script I'd like to set up a trigger so that it sends only when the date is different. How do I configure the script to detect that change?
String in HTML:

COVID-19 News Updates

Last Updated 4/3/2020, 12:08 p.m.

'''Checks municipal websites for changes in meal assistance during C19 pandemic'''

# Import requests (to download the page)
import requests
# Import BeautifulSoup (to parse what we download)
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import re

#list of urls
urls = ['http://www.vofil.com/covid19_updates']

#set the headers as a browser
headers = {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_10_1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.2171.95 Safari/537.36'}

#download the homepage
response = requests.get(urls[0], headers=headers)
#parse the downloaded homepage and grab all text
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "lxml")
#Find string
last_update_fra = soup.findAll(string=re.compile("Last Updated"))
print(last_update_fra)

#Put something here (if else..?) to trigger an email.

#I left off email block...

The closet answer I found was this, but it's referring to the tags, not a string.
Parsing changing tags BeautifulSoup

A: You would need to check every so often for a change using something along the lines of this:
'''Checks municipal websites for changes in meal assistance during C19 pandemic'''

# Import requests (to download the page)
import requests
# Import BeautifulSoup (to parse what we download)
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import re
import time

#list of urls
urls = ['http://www.vofil.com/covid19_updates']

#set the headers as a browser
headers = {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_10_1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.2171.95 Safari/537.36'}

while True:
    #download the homepage
    response = requests.get(urls[0], headers=headers)
    #parse the downloaded homepage and grab all text
    soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "lxml")
    #Find string
    last_update_fra = soup.findAll(string=re.compile("Last Updated"))
    time.sleep(60)
    #download request again
    soup = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(urls[0], headers=headers), "lxml")

    if soup.findAll(string=re.compile("Last Updated")) == last_update_fra:
        continue
    else:
        # Code to send email
*This waits a minute before checking for changes, but it can be adjusted as needed.
[Credit][1]: https://chrisalbon.com/python/web_scraping/monitor_a_website/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ericsson's NFV of Telstra's networks has seen the companies enable video calling over the cloud platform, ahead of broadcast media workloads.
Ericsson has announced that its virtualisation of Telstra's infrastructure has progressed to enabling live mobile video calls, with Telstra to also extend the Ericsson cloud platform deployment to carry live or near-live broadcast media workloads.
Telstra is the first in the nation to deliver live mobile traffic over its virtualised network functionality, with the telecommunications carrier now entering the second phase of the NFV program with Ericsson.
"Delivery of live traffic over virtualized network functions is an important step in delivering the mobile network for the future. Increasingly, operator's customers are looking for mobile services that are optimized for their needs," said Ericsson ANZ head Emilio Romeo.
"Additionally, the establishment of media cloud capabilities will enable the processing and distribution of bandwidth intensive broadcast workloads assisting broadcasters to improve workflows."
Telstra's NFV program with Ericsson, announced a year ago, involved deployment of Ericsson's Hyperscale Datacenter System 8000, Cloud Execution Environment, Cloud Manager, Cloud SDN, and VNFs such as virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) and virtual IP Multimedia System (vIMS).
Telstra and Ericsson also used MWC to unveil their plans to conduct 5G new radio (NR) trials, deploy an optical network transformation and expansion nationwide, and deploy a Cat M1 Internet of Things (IoT) network across the country.
Ericsson is also virtualising Vodafone Australia's core network with Cisco, it announced last month.
The Vodafone network architecture solution makes use of Ericsson's Hyperscale Datacenter System and such software as Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment, Ericsson Cloud Manager, and Cloud SDN controller, while Cisco is contributing its WAN Automation Engine; IP Network VNFs including IOS XR 9000v and Cloud Services Router 1000v; virtualised and physical security technologies including its Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Firepower security gateway; and security support services for the Vodafone project.


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Cruise NewsCosta Cruises
Costa's Restart of Cruises Are for Italians Only
Modified Date: Aug 13, 2020
Photo Credit: Alina Vaska / Shutterstock.com
Costa Cruises has announced that when sailings resume from September they will only be available for Italian guests.
Only Italian Guest Can Cruise for the Costa Restart
We have already reported about Costa Cruises resuming cruises in September with two cruise ships right here. The cruise line has now released a new update that when these cruises do restart they will only exclusively be available for Italian guests.
Costa is a major cruise line that's mainly based out of Italy and with international travel being very restrictive it makes sense to only accept guests from Italy. Even if the cruise line did open up sailings for other nationals, it's possible they would not be able to cruise anyway.
Now that Costa has approval from the Italian government to begin cruising, operations will kick off with the Costa Deliziosa departing on September 6, 13, 20, and 27 out of Trieste, Italy. Costa Diadema will begin cruising out of Genoa on September 19 with further itinerary details to be announced soon.
The rest of the fleet will remain suspended until September 30, 2020 buit hopefully once the situation improves the cruise line will be able to introduce more cruises. When the first ships depart there will be be new health measure in place to make sure guests and crew remain safe.
Costa is the largest cruise line so far which has announced a return to service and other cruise lines in Europe including Aida Cruises are also set on making a return. Costa is also hoping that from October international guests will be able to cruise.
Also Read: Ways to Enjoy Cruising When You Can't Take a Cruise
Costa is continuing to work in close cooperation with Flag State authorities, Italian Regions, local institutions, health authorities, harbour master's offices, ports and terminals and RINA to ensure a responsible, smooth and well organized application of the new regulations and protocols approved by the Italian Government for the restart of cruises.


Fintech specialist and thought-leader with extensive industry experience and academic background. Multi-award winner including Amazon, Microsoft and 30Under30.
On the Precipice: Is Bitcoin a Bubble and When Will it Burst?


It took a bit of research, but I found the title on Youtube. This is what +Seraphim did, once in each direction (assistants sometimes held his arm aloft) - East, South, North, West. I had almost forgotten today is the Julian date of the feast, thus, the Eve of the feast co-incided with the arrival of the Pochaiv icon. Thus the musical piece was performed four times.
The compose in Cyrillic is Григорий Федорович Львовский.
This chant, "Hospodi Pomilui", written by Russian composer Lvovsky in the 19th c., is sung in Russian Orthodox churches in worship on the Eve of Holy Rood or Holy Cross. It means "Lord, have mercy" and the words are sung seventy-five times, reminiscent of the scripture when Jesus tells his disciples that they must forgive not seven times but seventy-seven times or seven times seventy. In the service the bishop stands in the center of the church, holding the cross above his head. As he lowers the cross, the choir sings in decreasing volume, to the point of pianissimo—as the cross touches the floor. Then the cross is raised again and the choir rises in a crescendo of triumph.
As the cross lowers, so the faithful prostrate to the ground, then they get up again.
This may well be a custom where a bishop is serving at the Vigil for the Exaltation of the Cross, but the far more common and conventional practice is no less moving. Any choir worth its salt should be able to do justice to the troparion of the Cross Save, O God, Your people, which is arguably more evocative and more instructive than multiple renditions of Lord, have mercy in what is essentially a concert form.
In fact, the form according to centuries-old accepted practice is essentially the same as the Vigil of the eve of the third Sunday in Great Lent (also dedicated to the veneration of the Cross), and of the Vespers of Great Friday, where the burial shroud of Christ is brought out of the altar with great solemnity, accompanied by the Trisaghion hymn sung to the funeral melody. In the case of the Vespers of Great Friday, the troparion Noble Joseph is also sung, which is truly reverential and sublime. Not a dry eye in the house.
- Fervent litany (5 petitions) with the celebrant holding the Cross high above his head, 1 petition on each side of the table (2 at front), each petition being followed by 3 Lord have mercies, then 12 Lord have mercies while the clergyman kneels to the ground and then arises, followed by 3 Lord have mercies (so 18 each time).
- singing of "Your Cross do we venerate..." 3 times, troparion (once or thrice) & kontakion of the Cross.
There are very distinct practices between the Slavs and Greeks on the feast of the Elevation of the Cross. In the Slav practice what is done in most parishes is akin to the service performed on August 1st and the middle Sunday in the Great Fast. What is done in the Greek practice by all parishes and in Slav practice only by Bishops or in Cathedrals is the rite of the Elevation of the Cross which includes the petitions facing the four corners of the world.


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After all these years, this question remains unanswered: Whose idea was it to make secondary school boys wear white uniforms?
I know though that when these boys go to school in the morning, their uniforms are white and clean. But, by the time they return home in the evening, all sorts of strange stains have attached themselves to the same uniforms. Needless to say, bleaching is a daily routine for any serious uniform washer.
Since I can't get an answer to the first question, I decided to temporarily abandon it and instead, ask another one: Where do all these stains come from?
But, I have left out the most important potential dirtier of uniforms: a creature that is invisible to the naked eyes. It waits at the school gate with the tool of its trade in one hand: a dirty duster.
For the boys who are finicky about personal hygiene and physical neatness / cleanliness, and manage to avoid all the factors listed above, this creature is their nemesis.
For the day students, as soon as they leave through the gates, the creature dusts them and ensures that the bleach at home does not go to waste.
As for the boarders, the creature waits for them in their dorms. Or near the taps.
This creature does not have a name, but it will get blamed anyway.
... And that is how white uniforms get dirty.
How do you think white uniforms get dirty? What would you add to the list?
loooool...a dirt creature indeed. I remember the Wesley College boys (Ibadan) wore all white except their black belts and shoes. Sweat stains also contribute and as you know Naija's climate is very "tropical"


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2. мирови съдия; examining (investigating) ~ съдия-следовател; • police ~ съдия при полицейски съд; the chief (first) ~ ам. президент на Съединените американски щати.
But while it is on the road to meeting the criteria for accession to the European Union, Bulgaria's business environment contains pitfalls for the unwary.
Probably as a continuing legacy of communism, many in the bureaucracy are unresponsive to the needs of the private sector, a factor which aggravates another source of criticism, the fact that doing business in Bulgaria is subject to a potentially very frustrating range of regulations.
Although Company law has been further aligned with the requirements for EU membership, the EU commission has said that there is a need for the enforcement of legislation on the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights.
Navigating the business environment in Bulgaria is best done through a combination of local business connections who have access to the country's informal networks, and the help of law, accounting, and human resources professionals to keep one on the correct side of the law.
In late 2003, Parliament approved changes to the Foreign Investment Act. These changes include treating domestic and foreign investors on an equal footing. The changes are also geared to reducing the amount of time spent on administrative issues.
Investors with dual citizenship can decide which status to use, that of a local or foreign investor. Foreigners are allowed to take part in all types of companies, with no restrictions. However, constitutional restrictions on foreigners owning land remain in place, though these will fall in 2014 at the latest. In any case, in real life any foreigner who wants to "own" land does so through setting up a local company.
The amended act is meant to encourage investments in products meant for export, in agricultural production and in IT, as well as investments that can be implemented within three years or open new jobs.
Investment Bulgaria Agency, according to the new law, must issue certificates to investors, categorising the investment as first, second, or third class. The degree of assistance by the state will depend on the class of the investment.
The Bulgarian economy, in recent years, has achieved a high degree of macroeconomic stability, thanks to a good policy mix achieved through the currency board arrangement (put in place in 1998 to stabilise the currency, the mechanism ties the performance of the lev to that of the euro), a tight fiscal stance, and wage moderation.
Should the Government continue on this course, sustained growth is possible.
Labour law does not allow much flexibility in the labour market.
No notes on the business environment in Bulgaria can be made without reference to the shadow economy. Investigations by the state in 2003 found significantly large sums of income that had been concealed by taxation, failure to pay social security contributions, and obstructions by employers to labour inspections.
After the fall of communism and amid the economic traumas of the late 1990s, and to this day, groups believed to be linked to organised crime have carved for themselves a place in certain sectors of the economy.
Various observers, including the EC, have noted that the tax administration remains inadequate to its task. Steps are, however, being taken to improve this.
At the same time, economic development in Bulgaria has shown positive trends in various areas, including tourism, the capital market, and the banking system.
The EC also noted that the Bulgaria had made good progress in adopting new legislation on capital movements and payments.
As regards the banking system, which took a very cautious approach after the economic meltdown of 1996-97, the degree of lending in the market, including of small loans, appears to be rapidly on the rise; to the extent of causing concern in some circles that unless caution is exercised, Bulgarians could find themselves in debt traps.
Bulgaria also has on its side a relatively well-educated and computer-literate workforce, and, for the time being at least, labour that is more affordable than in Western countries.
Infrastructure is also steadily being improved, mainly thanks to foreign – in particular, European Union, funding.
Investors often cite the judicial system as a matter of concern. Court actions can take an inordinate length of time and there are continuing suspicions of irregularities in the system.
For all the shortcomings, many believe that Bulgaria is a country, which has a lot of potential and with determined effort could overcome obstacles to an improved business environment. Among expatriates, many find Bulgaria a pleasant place to live and work.
The European Commission, in its latest report in November 2003 on the progress being made by European Union candidate countries, noted that Bulgaria had made further progress in creating a non-discriminatory regime of national treatment for foreigners performing economic activities in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is now recognised by the United States and other major international players as having a functioning market economy.


On Steam and Octopus Overlords since 2004, the year Half-Life 2 was released and Gone Gold died.
Like the setting. Whether I'll really play it...we'll see how dependent the game gets on my ability to remember and pull off combos.
Tormentum has an odd quality about it that is tricky to describe. I love point-and-click adventure games of all levels of depth, and it was nice to buy this one knowing nothing about it but the striking art in the screenshots. I wish I could say the game is amazing, but it's a mixture of strong and mediocre that will sit differently with different people.
First, as cool as the artwork is, it is intentionally copying some highly recognizable styles like that of the late HR Giger, which means although it looks different from most adventure games, it isn't really original. The game launches you directly into this hellish world in such a way that you must simply accept that everything is dark and torturous because the title and the art say it is. From the beginning, I felt like I missed an intro or something.
Most of the good things about the game come with a qualifier. The art is good, but somehow not as good as the art shown on the game's trading cards, particularly the characters on the cards, who are not in the game. The game kept my attention from start to finish because it wasn't too long and I never got stuck, but that means I never really got a sense of accomplishment from any of the fairly standard puzzles. I only regarded it as long enough because when I grasped that the originality of the game was merely superficial, I was afraid it was going to be very short. At least there were a few changes of location. There is never a need to randomly try inventory items all over the environment, but that's mainly because their uses are obvious and they can't be combined.
The story got better as I found more (but not too many) text pieces to add flavor to the world, but the game clearly intends for you to relate more to the protagonist than I ever did. It soon becomes apparent that you are making binary decisions in the game that have immediate (if not world-changing) consequences, but you don't always realize you are making the decision until you see the result. In other words, for some of the environment or character-based puzzles, once you find a solution and go with it, you realize there might have been a second solution, but the game treats you as if your choice was more deliberate.
Probably even that "oops" consequence bit to the game is intentional, but the hardest thing for me to convey about the feel of the game is how standard-adventure-game-generator it feels. You know, formulaic if not for the occasional binary choice. If you have played any of the Artifex Mundi games and wondered if they'd make decent adventure games without the hidden object scenes (because they kind of would be good, if simplistic), that's how this game felt to me. That's not terrible criticism. It just isn't incredible praise.
To 100% the game, presumably all you'd have to do is play a second time and pick the opposite solutions. I think I ultimately found both solutions in every case on the first playthrough, but I didn't play again yet. All in all, it's a good basic adventure game, just not a great one. I would buy their next game.
I have 827 games in hard copy. Many of those are now also in my Steam collection. There seems to be no reason to add any more except Blizzard titles.
JetFred, you sure do have a bunch of games! Do you still have (and add to) your collection of "hard copies" of games?
If you hadn't taught me to love Half-Life when I was a little kid, I wouldn't be on Steam today.
Hi, I write for the key of Uplink. When you pass me? You got my email?


text:
Ottawa's carbon pricing law valid, Ontario's top court rules
Comments Off on Ottawa's carbon pricing law valid, Ontario's top court rules
Ontario's top court has ruled the federal government's carbon charge is constitutionally sound.
In a split decision, the five-judge panel rejected a challenge from Premier Doug Ford's government to the validity of the carbon-pricing law.
Ottawa maintains it had to act to deal with the urgent threat of climate change as an issue of national concern.
The federal government said its approach-imposing a levy on gasoline and fossil fuels-respected provincial jurisdiction.
Ontario and three other provinces argued the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau overstepped its authority in imposing the charge.
Last month in a split decision, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal sided with Ottawa in a similar challenge.
The Doug Ford government challenged the constitutionality of the carbon-pricing law before a five-judge panel in April.
It argued the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau overstepped its authority in imposing the charge.
The federal government maintains the levy in Ontario (currently four cents a litre on gasoline) is a regulatory charge designed to change behaviour in favour of lower greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario's Progressive Conservative government called the charge an illegal tax—another violation of the Constitution.
During four days of submissions, Ontario insisted the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act would undermine co-operative federalism by allowing Ottawa to overstep the dividing line between federal and provincial spheres of authority.
Provincial lawyers told the Court of Appeal the federal government would end up with the power to regulate almost every facet of life, such as when you can drive, where you can live, or whether you can have a wood-burning fireplace. They also argued the province has its own approach to the climate-change issue.
For their part, federal lawyers argued the province was fearmongering. The law, they said, would not result in an expansion of constitutional powers that would give Ottawa carte blanche to regulate issues that fall squarely within provincial jurisdiction.
The act, which took effect April 1, was a legitimate response to potentially catastrophic climate change, federal lawyers argued.
The act currently only applies in four provinces—Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan—which Ottawa says don't meet national standards.
In all, 14 interveners—among them some provinces, Indigenous groups and environmental and business organizations—lined up to defend or attack the federal law, with most siding with Ottawa. Indigenous groups, for example, stressed their vulnerability to global warming that they said could destroy their way of life.
Some observers said the Ontario challenge was more about politics than the environment.
The issue is expected to be ultimately decided before the country's top court. The Supreme Court of Canada has already said it hear Saskatchewan's challenge in December, after the October federal election.
Ontario court upholds stay of legal proceedings against 3 tobacco companies
Comments Off on Ontario court upholds stay of legal proceedings against 3 tobacco companies
An Ontario court has upheld an order that suspended legal proceedings against three major tobacco companies, rejecting arguments from lawyers representing Quebec smokers.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas McEwen issued his decision Wednesday but did not lay out his reasons, saying those would be released at a later date.
The companies _ JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. _ were granted the stay last month as part of the creditor protection process.
They obtained the protection shortly after Quebec's highest court upheld a landmark decision that ordered them to pay more than $15 billion to smokers in two class-action lawsuits.
The companies have said they had no choice but to seek the stay so they could continue to operate as they try to negotiate a global settlement with all those who have claims against them, including the class-action members and several provincial governments.
But lawyers representing the class members argued the stay in their case should be revoked if the tobacco companies plan to appeal the Quebec ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
At a hearing earlier this month, they said the companies cannot negotiate a settlement in good faith while also challenging the findings of the court.
The lawyers said if the companies plan to seek leave to appeal, the matter should be sent back to the Quebec court so it halt the implementation of its ruling until the appeal process is complete.
In his decision, McEwen said the stay order would require parties to seek the court's permission before launching new proceedings involving the companies, including any applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The judge had previously extended the order to June 28, with a hearing to be held a few days earlier.
The Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health, which was behind the class-action suits, said it would hold off commenting on the ruling until the judge's reasons were released.
Lawyers representing several provincial governments had opposed the Quebec lawyers' application, saying one group of claimants should not be prioritized over others.


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text:
THE HOLLOWS CORNER – Rachel Morgan
Tom Ellis
Lucifer on Fox – Anybody else watching this one?
Any fans of Lucifer on here? I feel like the Urban Fantasy contingent would definitely love this one! The mid season finale just aired last night. I'm gutted that we'll have to wait until May, but I'm super excited that it's been renewed for 22 episodes! It's addictive, it's fun, it's funny. Tom Ellis is amazing in this role and I adore the cast as well. Fox is so…
We cannot load blog data at this time.
© Fandom Fatales


The proposed amendments to the Maternity Benefit Bill have been cleared by the Parliament. Now all it needs is strict ground-level implementation.
On March 9, 2017, the Lok Sabha passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – increasing maternity leave from twelve weeks (under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961) to twenty-six weeks, for up to two surviving children.
The bill also provides maternity benefits of twelve weeks to a commissioning mother (in case of surrogacy) and an adoptive mother (if the child adopted is under three months). A woman who gives birth after already having had two or more children, gets to have twelve weeks of maternity leave.
Aside of this, the bill has opened up an avenue that can successfully facilitate a work-from-home option through an enabling provision. The Bill makes it mandatory for any establishment with fifty or more employees to have crèches, either individually or as a shared common facility with other similar establishments that are situated within a 500 meter radius.
The bill also allows the mother for daily visits to the crèche, including an interval for rest during the day. The bill requires that every establishment should intimate in writing and electronically to every woman at the time of her initial appointment about the benefits available under the Act.
The origins of the Maternity Benefit Act go back to 1961, when the original legislation was passed with the intent of regulating the employment of women for a period of time before and after child birth, and provides maternity benefits. The legislation specifically covers women employees in factories, in mines, the circus industry, in plantations and shops and establishments that employ ten or more people. The act specifically does not cover employees who are covered under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948. Historically, the Indian Labour Conference in its 44th Session, in 2012, recommended expanding on maternity leave from twelve weeks to twenty-four weeks. The recommendation was reiterated in the 45th and 46th sessions of the ILC – and has culminated in the current development.
While it is definitely true that the legislation has paved the way for a great benefit for mothers, it is important to understand that this is only one part of the solution. A large part of the success of the legislation remains dependent on the implementation – and one often does hear of instances where women are treated with discrimination that's sometimes polished and subtle, or sometimes, overt and open; by refusing to give them promotions that are deserved, or taking them off assignments on the ground of pregnancy or maternity needs and in some cases, bypassing them for promotions while allowing someone far junior to rise up the ladder.
There are also instances where women do come from backgrounds where they have a suitable support system that go back to work in person before the twelve-weeks ended, and the isolation was just as palpable through micro-aggressions.
The law is missing a mention of a non-discriminatory and unbiased reintegration of the woman post-partum. There are several companies that offer seamless transitions into the workforce following maternity leave, but the law not mandating it with an implementing body to watch over it only encourages a loophole that can continue to keep women out of the workforce.


text:
Iartsevo (en ) est une ville de l'oblast de Smolensk, en Russie, et le centre administratif du raïon de Iartsevo. Sa population s'élevait à  habitants en 2020.

Géographie
Iartsevo est arrosée par la rivière Vop et se trouve à  au nord-est de Smolensk et à  à l'ouest-sud-ouest de Moscou.

Histoire
Iartsevo a été fondée à l'emplacement du village de Iartsevo-Perevoz (en ), connu depuis 1859. Il s'est développé en raison de la construction d'une filature de coton en 1873, puis d'une fabrique de savon, d'une briquèterie, d'une scierie et d'une fonderie. Iartsevo a le statut de la ville depuis 1926.

Population
Au cours des années 1990 la situation démographique de Iartsevo s'est fortement dégradée. En 2001, le solde naturel accusait ainsi un déficit de 10,8 pour mille (taux de natalité 7,7 pour mille et taux de mortalité 18,5 pour mille). En 1996, la population de la ville atteignit un maximum de  habitants avant de décliner.

Recensements ou estimations de la population

Notes et références

Liens externes

  Informations sur Iartsevo
  Cartes topographiques

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Loading XDocument Descendants into a .NET MVC 3 Model I have a repository that attempts to load an XML document into a class. This all seems to go alright until I attempt to access the descendants elements in the map config section.
This is the structure of the XML file:
 <apps>
  <item>
    <id>1</id>
    <engineversion>1.0</engineversion>
    <mapconfig>
      <minzoom>3</minzoom>
      <maxzoom>18</maxzoom>
      <startcenterlat>-28</startcenterlat>
      <startcenterlng>135</startcenterlng>
      <startzoom>3</startzoom>
    </mapconfig>
  </item>
</apps>

And this is the repository method on my controller:
public AppRepository()
{
    allApps = new List<App>();

    appData = XDocument.Load(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/Apps.xml"));

    var apps = from app in appData.Descendants("item")
                select new App(
                    (int)app.Element("id"),
                    (float)app.Element("engineversion"),
                    new MapConfig (
                        (int)app.Descendants("mapconfig").Descendants("minzoom").FirstOrDefault(),
                        (int)app.Descendants("mapconfig").Descendants("maxzoom").FirstOrDefault(),
                        (float)app.Descendants("mapconfig").Descendants("startcenterlat").FirstOrDefault(),
                        (float)app.Descendants("mapconfig").Descendants("startcenterlng").FirstOrDefault(),
                        (int)app.Descendants("mapconfig").Descendants("startzoom").FirstOrDefault()
                    )
                );

    allApps.AddRange(apps.ToList<App>());

}

This seems to result in the id and engine version values correctly being read into the App object however the MapConfig object seems to just have 0 set as the value of all the elements.
Can anyone see what I am doing wrong?


text:
Australian Story
Australian Story - All the Pretty Horses
Veterinarian Ben Cunneen and vet nurse Natalie Beohm were good friends through their work at the Redlands Veterinary Clinic, near Brisbane.
Australian Story - An Ever-fixed Mark
This Australian Story is about love lost... and love found.
Australian Story - The Avenger (Neil Jenman)
Neil Jenman made a fortune in real estate before deciding to switch sides and act for consumers who'd fallen foul of the property market.
Australian Story - A Beautiful Mind (Melissa Holland)
Melissa Holland thought she was "lucky" when a last-minute seat became available for a getaway break on King Island with five nursing colleagues.
Australian Story - The Blue Beret (Matina Jewell)
Part One of this episode focuses on a young Australian Army Major, marked out for great things in the military.
Australian Story - Bridge Over Myall Creek (Myall Creek Massacre)
On Sunday June 10 1838 at Myall Creek in Northern NSW, 28 Aborigines, men, women and children of the Wirrayaraay people were killed by a mob of white stockmen.
Australian Story - Cry Me a River (Noel and Gerhardt Pearson)
Australian Story lifts the lid on a clash of ideologies over the future of some of the most spectacular and pristine areas of Cape York.
Australian Story - Doctor in the House (Dr Michael Buist)
Dr Michael Buist is an intensive care specialist with a unique perspective from both sides of the hospital curtain, having almost died twice due to medical mishaps.
Australian Story - Down to Earth (Brian and Nerida Egan)
Brian and Nerida Egan lost their farm, near Dalby in southern Queensland, from a combination of drought and post traumatic stress syndrome caused by disturbing events he witnessed as a young servic
Australian Story - For the Holy Grail (Cancer Research)
Dr Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt were scientists working on a disease in sheep at the CSIRO in the early 1990s when one of their colleagues was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Australian Story - From my Father's Fridge (Danielle Tindle)
In the 1980s as an unemployed medical scientist, Professor Robert Tindle made a discovery that led to the breakthrough use of stem cells for saving thousands of lives around the world.
(-) Remove Australian Story filter Australian Story
(-) Remove Indigenous filter Indigenous
Peach's Gold (1) Apply Peach's Gold filter


Published: Oct 17, 2018 at 4:57 p.m.
Updated: Oct 31, 2018 at 12:37 p.m.
NORTH SYDNEY, N.S. — Marine Atlantic won't allow customers to engage in use of recreational marijuana on its vessels.
The federal Crown corporation released its cannabis policy Wednesday in conjunction with its decriminalization across Canada.
Ferry spokesperson Darrell Mercer said a detailed review was undertaken with administrators and officials from both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
"We've decided that we're not going to permit recreational cannabis use in our public areas, at our terminals and on our vessels," said Mercer.
In Nova Scotia, cannabis falls under The Smoke-free Places Act, which only bans smoking from indoor workplaces and public places, select outdoor public spaces, outdoor licensed areas and patios of all restaurants, lounges, beverage rooms and cabarets.
Medical users are asked to self-identify upon making a reservation with Marine Atlantic. They must then provide supporting documentation to ferry personnel who will then accompany them to an area where cannabis is permitted.
"Any customer who does have the documentation and authorization to use medical marijuana would certainly be accommodated at both our terminals and on board our vessels," said Mercer.
Marine Atlantic says a written note from a medical practitioner alone does not meet the requirements set out by Health Canada to use medically authorized cannabis.
Customers may also be asked at any time during their travel to present documentation along with photo identification confirming their entitlement.
Although recreational marijuana use is banned aboard Marine Atlantic's ferries, individuals without medical licences will be allowed to transport up to 30 grams of dried product.
Marine Atlantic says it is the responsibility of customers to ensure that possession amounts are within the federal limits.
Ferry passengers will remain permitted to smoke tobacco in designated areas as Mercer noted that regulations governing the use of tobacco are different than those governing the use of recreational cannabis.
Possession, production, distribution and sale of cannabis outside of what the law allows remains illegal and subject to criminal penalties — ranging from ticketing up to a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.


A large group of well-wishers were on the Honey Grove Square on Saturday morning for the presentation of the Texas Business Treasure Award to Johnnie and Geneva Smith of Smith Feed & Seed, in recognition of the fact that the business has been in operation for more than 50 years. The award is sponsored by the Texas Historical Commission.
Claude Caffee, mayor of Honey Grove, welcomed many distinguished guests. The invocation was presented by Rev. James Rogers of the First Baptist Church. The colors were posted by Honey Grove Cub Scout Pack 51.
Claude Caffee presented to Johnnie and Geneva Smith a City of Honey Grove proclamation declaring the day to be Smith Feed & Seed Day. Tom Thornton, chairman of the Fannin County Historical Commission, presented the Texas Business Treasure Award, commenting on both the historical significance of the business and also the historical significance of the building, which was built of stone from the nearby Floyd Quarry. Mr. Thornton also complemented the Honey Grove Preservation League, which sponsored the award, for its work.
Representative Ralph Hall presented Mr. Smith with a flag which had flown over the Capitol Building, and spoke of the values of small towns. He said that while in Washington D.C. individuals denigrated one another, in small towns like Honey Grove citizens honor one another.
After the ceremony those in the crowd reminisced with one another about their experiences with Mr. Smith and his store, which has been frequented by several generations from many families.
Left above: Mayor Claude Caffee presents the Mayor's Proclamation to Johnnie and Geneva Smith.
Right above: Tom Thornton with Johnnie and Geneva Smith.
Below: Honey Grove Cub Scout Pack 51 preparing to post the colors.
On July 26, 2014, Smith Feed and Seed in Honey Grove was the recipient of the Texas Treasure Business Award, which recognizes Texas businesses that have been in operation in Texas for at least 50 years.
More information on Smith Feed and Seed is on the website for the Honey Grove Preservation League.


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Cerkiew Opieki NMP w Starych Oleszycach (drewniana)
 Cerkiew Opieki NMP w Starych Oleszycach (murowana)

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text:
Q: Creating a line that follows the cursor with a set length I'm trying to make a line with a fixed x1/y1, and when the user moves the cursor, its other end goes to the cursor. "cannon" is the line. When I try to use it, the line does indeed follow the cursor, but it's got a large offset and is inverted. I'm not really sure what's wrong with it, but it's probably very obvious.
Dim angle as Double = Math.Atan(Math.Abs(Cursor.Position.Y - cannon.Y1) / Math.Abs(Cursor.Position.X - cannon.X1))

Dim h As Double = Math.Sqrt((Math.Abs(Cursor.Position.X - cannon.X1) ^ 2) + Math.Abs(Cursor.Position.Y - cannon.Y1) ^ 2)
Dim a As Double = h * Math.Cos(angle)
Dim o As Double = h * Math.Sin(angle)

cannon.X2 = cannon.X1 + a
cannon.Y2 = cannon.Y1 - o

A: I suspect that Cursor.Position gives the mouse coordinate relative to the top left corner of your monitor - as does MousePosition.Try this..
PointToClient is a function that calculates the position of the mouse relative to your program window.
Dim angle as Double = Math.Atan(Math.Abs(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition).Y - cannon.Y1) / Math.Abs(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition).X- cannon.X1))

Dim h As Double = Math.Sqrt((Math.Abs(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition).X - cannon.X1) ^ 2) + Math.Abs(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition).Y - cannon.Y1) ^ 2)
Dim a As Double = h * Math.Cos(angle)
Dim o As Double = h * Math.Sin(angle)

cannon.X2 = cannon.X1 + a
cannon.Y2 = cannon.Y1 - o


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MacroEconomy
ADB, partners to help energy sector drive Indonesia's growth
by International Finance Desk October 8, 2015 0388
Country's energy industry has suffered underinvestment due to subsidies October 8, 2015: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million loan, including $100 million from the ADB-administered ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, to help stimulate Indonesia's energy sector, support the government's reform agenda, and unleash the sector's potential as a key engine of sustainable economic growth. "Indonesia's energy sector has suffered severe underinvestment due to...
Country's energy industry has suffered underinvestment due to subsidies
October 8, 2015: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million loan, including $100 million from the ADB-administered ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, to help stimulate Indonesia's energy sector, support the government's reform agenda, and unleash the sector's potential as a key engine of sustainable economic growth.
"Indonesia's energy sector has suffered severe underinvestment due to long-standing subsidies on fuel and electricity. This has resulted in poor access to modern forms of energy despite the country's vast energy resource endowment," said Pradeep Tharakan, Senior Energy Specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Regional Department. "The project will help the government to enhance energy security, as well as increase supply from renewable sources and natural gas in the future energy mix."
The funds will support President Joko Widodo's reform agenda to improve overall governance in the energy sector by lowering subsidies, adopting cost-recovery-based tariffs and boosting the performance of state-owned enterprises such as PLN, the state-owned electrical utility.
To help enhance private investment in the energy sector, the programme will support the implementation of long-overdue policy actions. This includes streamlining of licensing and permitting of energy projects through the government's one-stop-shop; allowing private firms to use PLN's transmission lines to sell power directly to end users in remote locations; and providing greater regulatory certainty in the oil and gas sub-sector, for example, through a consistent process for making decisions on expiring oil and gas production sharing contracts.
The programme will boost government efforts to scale up renewable energy through price incentives for geothermal, biomass and small hydropower, and set up an energy efficiency market place through improved standards and labels for electrical appliances, and requirements for energy efficient buildings and municipal facilities. The programme will also support the government's electrification agenda and pave the way for adoption of cleaner fossil fuel technologies such as carbon capture and storage, at scale.
The ADB loan will be complemented by about $800 million in potential cofinancing from key development partners.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2014, ADB assistance totaled $22.9 billion, including co-financing of $9.2 billion.
ADBAsian Development BankJoko WidodoPradeep Tharakan
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WHO hires a Personal Chef?
A misconception is that a Personal Chef Service is strictly for the wealthy, yet people everywhere are now recognizing the excellent value our service has to offer! If you appreciate GREAT food, enjoy fine personal service, and delight in saving precious time and money, join the many SAVVY clients we cater to, including: Busy Professionals ~ Families on the Go ~ People with Dietary Needs or Food Restrictions ~ Body Builders & Health Enthusiasts ~ Retirees and Vacationers ~ Corporate Businesses ~ People who LOVE TO ENTERTAIN!!
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Love fish? Hate mushrooms? Need more garlic?
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On your service day, The Occasional Chef will handle the food shopping for you. We select the finest and freshest ingredients, saving you tedious, time consuming trips to the grocery store for the coming week while you enjoy great tasting meals.
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In advance of this year's Clean Air Day researchers at the University of Oxford and University of Bath have produced new research - "The health costs of air pollution from cars and vans".
The researchers found that the health damage associated with diesel vehicle emissions are around 20 times greater than electric vehicles and at least 5 times greater than those associated with petrol vehicles. The total health cost to the UK from cars and vans is £6 billion each year, with almost 90% of this coming from diesel vehicles.


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BoJo scraps immunity passports for UK
There had been consistent rumors circulating across the pond that if the United Kingdom couldn't get their surge in COVID cases under control, extended or additional lockdowns might be coming over the winter. Also, there were plans being drawn up to require a vaccine passport system for people wishing to go out to bars, restaurants, or nightclubs. Much as in the United States, these suggestions were the subjects of hot debate. As of this weekend, the UK has achieved some progress in bringing its numbers down, with a seven-day average of 26,400 new cases per day. That's considerably lower than the 43,000 average they saw on July 1st, but still far above the rate measured at the beginning of June when they were averaging barely 2,600 new cases per day. Without a firm benchmark to fall back on in terms of government policy, a decision had to be made and it appears that Boris Johnson has made the call. There will be no vaccine passport requirement over the winter and the government does not "anticipate" any new lockdown measures. (Reuters)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will this week set out his plans to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter months, announcing a decision to scrap the introduction of vaccine passports and steps to end some emergency powers.
Johnson, under fire from some in his governing Conservative Party for raising taxes to fix a health and social care crisis, looks set to try to soothe those critics by ditching plans to introduce passports despite an increasing number of coronavirus cases.
Speaking to broadcasters, Health Minister Sajid Javid said he did not anticipate more lockdowns and that the vaccine passports would not be introduced in England, as the government depends instead on vaccines and testing to defend the public.
We're seeing a particularly stark contrast in style between the leaders of the two nations in the "special relationship." In the United States, President Joe Biden is hurriedly churning out new mandates to force everyone to be vaccinated and show proof of their status if they even want to go to work, to say nothing of going out to socialize. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, restrictions are being rejected, with the government instead choosing to rely on voluntary participation in the vaccination rollout and broad availability of testing. Now let's take a look at the comparison between the two countries in terms of the daily average of new cases over the course of the year.
No, it's not an exact match, but it tracks pretty closely. Both had it rough last winter, then seeing a lot of progress over the spring and summer before backsliding as fall approaches. And both are currently seeing minor decreases over the past week. (We're looking at this on a per capita basis, obviously, since the UK's total population is so much lower.) Do those rising and falling patterns look familiar to anyone? They sure look a lot like the number of cases of the seasonal flu we were seeing almost every year up until 2020. Take that as you will.
So did politics play a role in BoJo's decision? That can't be ruled out entirely because the Tories have been a bit put off by Johnson's decision to raise taxes to pay for the pandemic response and many have chafed at some of the social restrictions as well. That's left BoJo walking a tightrope between Labour, his own Conservative Party, and the virus itself.
In terms of authoritarian mandates, there may be some other changes on the horizon also. At the start of the pandemic, Parliament passed the Coronavirus Act. That law gave the government far more restrictive powers than anything seen in the United States, including the ability to ban protests, shut down businesses and restrict travel. Those powers have been used, including instances of protesters against government mandates being arrested and jailed. But Johnson has had to walk a careful line, being aware that there's only so much the people will be willing to put up with. (A lesson they may have learned from us roughly 250 years ago.) Now he's proposing to roll back some of those emergency powers.
It sounds as if BoJo believes that his country can tough out this round of new cases without seeing a total collapse of support in his own party. We should know in a few months if it was the correct gamble. If this disease follows the same patterns we've seen previously, we could have a rough couple of months ahead of us.
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Barcelona para Lesbianas. Lesbian Nightlife: The best review of lesbian places in Barcelona and Urban Festivals for Lesbians.
The Eixample district is the one with the largest concentration of gay bars, so much, that is known as the Gaixample. But, it is true that from a few years to this part there are not many bars especially aimed at the collective Lesbian Friendly. The women´s parties that change places are more prolific. They are celebrated periodically and are very fun and busy. Of course, you have to know where to look for them and be aware. Most parties are advertised via facebook.
If you are in Barcelona or you travel there, you have to be attentive to the nightly offer for girls because they spring!!!
Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 23:00 until 3:00 a.m.
Every Friday presents the DIVINA party, for us and our friends, with good vibes and good music.
The first Thursday of every month has the party STUPENDA, with STRIP-TEASE of females !!! By and for women, yeah!!! Also admission is free !!!
And the second Thursday of every month, in the Air Room, the party Chicas Malas.
Theme parties with gifts and contests.
We met with NENIS!!! "The lesbian night", yes ladies!!!
Find out everything they are planning on twitter like @nenisbarcelona or facebook like NENIS!!!!
The music bar where you will feel at home. Different kind of music for all tastes punctured by DJ COCO. And… If you fancy, take the microphone and sing in the karaoke!!!
They organize private parties, birthdays and bachelor parties at a great price.
Melon Party was born in the summer of 2010 with the intention of entertaining and bringing together the girls from Barcelona.
Our mother already told us .. that if we behaved badly, there would be no dessert. So to the done, chest, you put the weeds and we put the dessert!!!
Find out your proposals through your facebook page @melonparty.
And ????? What are we missing????
In 2017 is the 10 anniversary of this festival that is celebrated in Barcelona in the beginning of August in parallel to the Circuit Festival (for Gays & friends).
It is certainly the biggest lesbian festival in Europe. Here we leave the official video 2016 to open mouth and point it in the agenda for next summer!!!
Also… for your private parties you can go to….
It is in the upper part of Barcelona near the Sant Gervasi metro station and the Via Augusta.
We hope you enjoy the great atmosphere of Les de Barcelona.
This entry was posted in Barcelona, Destinations, Spain and tagged Lesbian Travel, Lesbians, LGBTQ, Leisure, Turismo para Lesbianas. Bookmark the permalink.


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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Push for Auto-IRA Program
Oct 30, 2019 | Featured, News, Press | 0 comments
Read more at U.S. News & World Report
PENNSYLVANIA LAWMAKERS are weighing legislation that would automatically enroll workers in a retirement savings program – a move that supporters in the state legislature hope will bolster residents' savings while easing the anticipated budgetary burdens generated by the state's aging population.
A bipartisan bill, teased in a co-sponsorship memorandum last month by Democratic Sen. Art Haywood and Republican Sen. Patrick Browne, would implement a statewide auto-individual retirement account system, which would require certain employers that don't already provide access to 401(k)s and other savings options to connect workers with financial services companies to set up their own plans.
Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella says employees would be automatically enrolled, it would come at no cost to employers and the program would eventually be self-funding for the state after it pays initial start-up costs.
"A lot of what's happening in Pennsylvania will be echoed in the other states. But it's magnified here, because our state is among the oldest. We punch above our weight when it comes to aging," Torsella says. "If we actually want to do something about this, the common-ground, common-sense way to do this would be to implement an auto-IRA."
Torsella, who has been meeting with state lawmakers and Pennsylvania stakeholders in recent weeks to discuss the legislation, in 2017 commissioned a task force to examine Pennsylvania's aging population and determine whether legislation might help mitigate expected social assistance costs for financially struggling retirees in the decades to come. That task force, whose findings were published in a report earlier this year, determined that more than 2 million Pennsylvanians work for an employer that does not provide access to a retirement savings plan. That's almost a third of the nearly 6.5 million Pennsylvanians in the state's civilian workforce in September.
The group projected that financially unprepared retirees would foist an additional $14 billion on the state budget between 2015 and 2030 in the form of social assistance costs, which include Pennsylvania's state-backed prescription drug program for seniors, free and reduced transit fares and Medicaid costs. Providing more secure avenues to retirement savings, Torsella says, could help mitigate some of those expenses.
"Sometimes, on first blush, people think, 'Oh, the state's starting a new pension.' But there's no liability to the state. This is an IRA. This is the participant's money that follows them around for the rest of their lives," he says. "I hope, if you circle back to me in three or four months, we will have enacted this and be well on our way to solving this problem."
Pennsylvania is not the only state to explore additional retirement savings options for its citizens in recent years. Ten states and Seattle have already approved state- or city-mandated retirement savings programs for private sector workers, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. And more than 40 state legislatures have explored the idea by considering or enacting legislation or forming task forces to look into retirement security concerns.
"We see a bipartisan effort across the country, and state legislatures – where the rubber hits the road, in terms of funding – are going to have to fund social safety net programs down the line when people retire into poverty," says Sarah Mysiewicz Gill, a senior legislative representative with AARP's government affairs department.
Gill says each of the 10 states with finalized plans has adopted slightly different retirement savings models, but many have turned to some variation of an auto-IRA. In Illinois, for example, companies that are at least two years old and employ at least 25 workers are required to connect employees with a savings plan, whether that's a traditional 401(k) or a state-mandated IRA.
The state doesn't actually handle the money, she says. Rather, a private-sector investment company such as Fidelity or Vanguard manages the accounts, with the state essentially bridging the gap between employees and plan providers. Gill also notes that workers are able to opt out of the savings plan, though they would be automatically enrolled otherwise.
"The employee will start at, generally states have picked 5% as the default contribution rate. But the employee is the one who has the control," Gill says. "They control where they want to invest their money and if they want to invest at all, and they can change that at any time."
The state-mandated retirement savings model is still relatively new, so experts note that few states have collected much substantive data to measure success rates. But among early adopting states such as Oregon, employees do appear to be utilizing the program.
As of Aug. 1, more than 7,400 employers had registered for the OregonSaves auto-IRA program, with more than 104,000 employees enrolling for the plans, which equates to roughly 71% of all eligible workers. Nearly 49,000 have begun making contributions, and employees are on average contributing about $100 per month. Collectively, the program has helped Oregon workers save more than $25 million.
"It's thrilling to see, in states like Oregon, with the OregonSaves program, there are tens of thousands of workers saving today who were not saving for retirement just 18 months ago," says Angela Antonelli, a research professor and executive director at the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University. "Many employers are using the state-facilitated program, largely because, by design, it's meant to be very simple and very low-cost."
But not everyone has been blown away by the participation rates and general setup of the state auto-IRA model.
"These plans are basically well-intentioned, and they will accomplish some good for people. I don't want to act as if this is all negative. But there are definitely downsides that the states didn't think very carefully about," says Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
For one, Biggs notes that there is a financial literacy issue to consider among individuals who have never saved money with an IRA or similar program before. Early withdrawal fees can be steep and leave savers with less money than they'd expect, he says.
He also questions the necessity of excess retirement savings for low-income workers, pointing to a Congressional Budget Office report that suggests the poorest 20% of the retired population receives Social Security benefits that, depending on when the benefits are initially claimed, are close to equivalent to their pre-retirement earnings.
Most importantly, however, he notes that some of these auto-IRA programs could disqualify certain savers from social assistance programs as they build assets. A minimum-wage worker who is contributing to this plan would theoretically have less disposable income to work with from month to month, so they wouldn't immediately be better off. And if the savings in their IRA grows considerably over a number of years, they may end up disqualified from government assistance for which they'd previously qualified.
"Medicaid, food stamps, TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), home energy subsidies. They're all slightly different, and they can be different from one state to the next. But many have means tests to them. These can be based on either the income you have or assets you have," he says. "By defaulting (workers) into the plan, you're going to disqualify them from a benefit they currently rely on."
Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, noted in a MarketWatch op-ed last year that many of the Oregon workers who lacked a retirement plan before auto-IRA implementation still made decent money. Many wouldn't have qualified for means-tested social assistance programs anyway, she writes.
But eligibility concerns for folks on the margins of social support qualification remain. Munnell and Biggs also acknowledge the possibility of program enrollees taking on credit card or other debts to offset their monthly contributions to retirement savings – debts that may support their lifestyles in the short term but that may be difficult to repay over the long run.
Still, Biggs and other experts expect states to continue exploring their auto-IRA and retirement savings options in the years ahead, as the federal government has largely punted on the issue.
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement (SECURE) Act – which would represent the largest federal adjustment to the retirement savings landscape in more than a decade by allowing small employers to band together in offering IRAs to employees – breezed through the House of Representatives in May by a vote of 417-3. Lawmakers hope to pass it through the Senate by the end of the year, but progress has thus far been slow going.
Federal lawmakers are also considering legislation that would tweak Social Security funding, multiemployer pension programs and health savings accounts for seniors, all of which would offer future retirees greater financial certainty in the years ahead. But Torsella says state legislatures aren't holding their breath for federal action after years of gridlock and relative unwillingness to tackle a well-publicized aging demographic trend.
"There's always talk of waiting for Washington to ride to the rescue. And none of us in Pennsylvania are waiting for that to happen," he says. "We specialize in the real world. This is something we can do. We don't need Washington's help. We just need them to stay out of the way."


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California State Fair Opens Thursday
By Marianne Russ
Photo Courtesy bigfun.org
The California State Fair opens Thursday at Cal Expo. Officials are hoping new rides and new food-on-a-stick options will tempt you sometime over the next 18 days.
The fair's opening a bit earlier on the weekdays this year -- 11 a.m. - so you can come for lunch and dinner. You can carbo-load with fried mac and cheese on a stick and deep-fried grilled cheese…..then get your protein fix with a 24-ounce steak served on a 17-inch long cow's rib.
Norb Bartosik: "You know, it's the standing rib kind of thing that's going to be the hottest new beef item at the barbecue stand."
Norb Bartosik is with the fair. He says in addition to the food, there's a new 600-foot long zip line. He says they'll also attempt at the world's largest margarita and the world's longest Ferris wheel ride. Bartosik says attendance has been up for two years since the fair moved from August to July. He says the fair contributes about 60 million dollars to the Sacramento region's economy.
The fair runs from July 12th through the 29th. General admission is 12 dollars. Seniors are ten bucks and kids aged 5 to 12 are eight dollars. Parking is ten bucks.