Motorists were warned to expect a 10p a gallon rise in petrol prices this week after the hurricanes sweeping the US coast hit production in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
Diesel is also expected to increase by more than 2p a gallon, say petrol retailers.
Oil prices surged on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday, reflecting output lost to Hurricane Ivan.
Brent crude from the North Sea rose to $46.25 on the International Petroleum Exchange in London yesterday.
The result is expected to be that the cost of unleaded will rise from 82p to 84p a litre (£3.72 to £3.82 a gallon).
Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers' Association, said pressure on oil supplies and on refined petrol and diesel would mean rises.
"I think we are looking at between 1p and 2p a litre extra on unleaded by the end of the week," he predicted.
"Diesel is already costing more than unleaded, but I think we can expect another 1/2p a litre."
Mr Holloway added: "The Americans are building up their stockpiles and that is driving up the price. The hurricanes aren't helping."
Crude prices have risen sharply over the past week after it emerged that US stockpiles had fallen at a sharper rate than expected.
The situation has been worsened by factors including disruption in Iraq and in Nigeria, where rebels threatened to extend their uprising across the whole of the its oil-producing southern region.
Clashes in Saudi Arabia between government forces and suspected Al Qaeda militants also contributed to the increase. Economists are concerned that the price rises could push crude past the $50 a barrel mark and hit the US economic recovery by stifling spending in the run up to Christmas.
Hilary Cook, of Barclays Stockbrokers, said the cost of crude was "uncomfortably high" but added that she expected it to cool off again.
She believed the rises were a "short-term hiccup" that had been caused partly by the impact of the weather.
Richard Slape, oil analyst at stockbroker Seymour Pierce, said continued disruption in Iraq and clashes in Saudi Arabia were among factors triggering the price rises.
Repeated attempts by oil cartel OPEC to lift production and take the pressure off oil prices have had limited success, with demand from China and India continuing to grow.


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Egypt's New Administrative Capital: IPOs to the fore
Safeya Mounir , Wednesday 18 Aug 2021
Al-Ahram Weekly sounds out experts on the decision to introduce the Administrative Capital for Urban Development Company as an IPO on the Egyptian Stock Exchange
Construction at Egypt's New Administrative Capital
The state-owned Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Company may be listed on the stock exchange within two years, according to statements by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday.
"We are talking about raising some LE100 billion. The Company's assets are estimated at between LE3 and LE4 trillion," Al-Sisi said during the opening of a number of residential projects in Badr city.
Following Al-Sisi's announcement, Ahmed Zaki Abdine, CEO of ACUD, said the company's assets included the land portfolio under development. He said that much of the land had been sold, with ownership moved to real-estate development companies. There were also government facilities not considered under the ownership of ACUD, he said.
ACUD was established by presidential decree in 2016. It is the owner and developer of the land at the New Administrative Capital, the first phase of which is under construction. The company is owned by the New Urban Communities Authority and the National Service Projects Organisation.
Abdine said ACUD had a land portfolio of 174,000 feddans, and the first phase was finalised on an area of 47,000 feddans. The second and third phases will follow. Land left undeveloped will be assessed in order to estimate the real size of the company's assets, he added.
The value of the company's land portfolio is increasing year by year as a result of the development taking place and the high standards of the infrastructure projects, Abdine stated.
Financial inflows from instalments paid to the company for land sold in the first phase and planned to be sold in the second phase guarantee the availability of the liquid funds mentioned, he added.
The New Administrative Capital is a three-phase project covering an area of 700 square km east of Cairo. It will transform the desert into a modern urban hub of government buildings, embassies, and leading companies and will host the tallest tower in Africa.
The government is scheduled to move up to 50,000 employees to the New Administrative Capital by December, and the monorail linking it with Cairo is expected to become operational by mid-2022.
The LE100 billion initial public offering (IPO), Egypt's largest ever, is awaiting the appointment of a financial advisor, lead regulator, and bookrunner.
Hani Tawfik, chairman of the Direct Investment Association, said the announcement of the IPO had had a positive impact on stock market indices, which rose during Sunday's session by about 1.5 per cent.
He added that more important than the announcement of the offering was its overall significance, meaning that the state was paving the way for the entry of private and foreign investment.
Tawfik said the IPO would attract foreign and Arab investors who often prefer to invest in real-estate stocks that are known for their good performance on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
The introduction of ACUD as an IPO is expected to increase liquidity in the market and attract more local and international investors. Telecom Egypt was previously the largest IPO since 2015, collecting LE5.1 billion.
Toka Al-Waziri, a real estate analyst with Beltone, an investment bank, believes the announcement of the ACUD offering means that the market is witnessing an increase in listed real-estate stocks. It would revitalise the market due to the large amount of liquidity involved, she said.
The preparatory steps preceding the offering will reveal information about Egypt's real estate market, the size of the demand for ACUD stocks, and the units for which there is high demand, Al-Waziri said.
It is crucial that the offering be well-publicised at home and abroad, she added.
"We are in the planning stage now and can start the procedures for choosing advisers and deciding the size of the offering early next year," Abdine told the US Bloomberg channel. "We hope this IPO will be the largest in Egypt's history."
The offering will take place on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and "very possibly in another international market as well," he added. "We are studying this option."
Al-Waziri believes that the IPOs the government had earlier announced, but then postponed, will attract more investors to the ACUD IPO if implemented or partially executed.
Egypt's IPO programme surfaced in 2018 with the target of offering 23 public companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. But by March 2019, only 4.5 per cent of Eastern Tobacco shares had been offered. Other IPOs were postponed due to unsuitable circumstances.
It was expected that Banque du Caire and e-finance, a national developer of digital payments infrastructure, would be among the first companies to be offered. It was also anticipated that additional shares would be offered in Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling, Abu Qir Fertilisers, and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals, but the plans were postponed.
Al-Waziri said that Egypt's real estate sector has been revitalised over the past year. The year before, the sector had witnessed a slowdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, she said. According to the performance of companies listed on the bourse, all real-estate sectors have recovered.
Besides promoting the ACUD IPO, it should also be accompanied by exemptions on taxes on investing in the stock exchange and stamp duties on buying or selling whether profits are garnered or not, she added.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 19 August, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
New Administrative Capital
safeya Mounir
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The headboard of this gorgeous bed features a single, naturally curved board from an American Black Walnut tree. Platform frame is American Black Cherry with Black Walnut skirt.
Simple and elegant. Shown in king size. All-natural linseed oil finish.
This is a beautiful, thoughtful piece by a highly regarded wood artisan. He is known for his sustainable forestry practices - as well as superb work.


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Cervical cancer in developing countries
Documents, resources
Country activities - Cameroon
Previous and ongoing cooperations in Cameroon which have led to the project : Promoting Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Prevention and Better Women Health in Medium and Low-Ressource Settings
Pr Fritz Baumann
With the purpose to fight cervical cancer, a major health problem in Cameroon, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) examined in 2001, together with three Cameroonian doctors, two pathologists and one gynecologist (who had previously been trained in Geneva), the feasibility of cytology-based cancer screening in a rural area of Cameroon. Seven years later the project was revived by Pr Patrick Petignat (HUG) and Dr Pierre-Marie Tebeu (University Hospital Center in Yaoundé), supported by the National Committee for the Fight against Cancer in Cameroon and the Ministry of Public Health. In a first move, an inventory of the knowledge concerning cervical cancer among women and health professionals was established by two students from Geneva (working for their Master thesis) under the guidance of Dr Tebeu. This study (published) was completed the following year by two further Master students from Geneva who assessed the acceptance among women of testing for the human papilloma virus (HPV), a key co-factor of cervical cancer) by two different procedures: self-sampling by the woman herself, or sampling by a health professional. The work (published) revealed the wide acceptance of self-sampling and the importance of a proper information of women before the procedure.
Since 2010 the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics (HUG) also organizes, with a growing success, workshops with their Cameroonian partners on: prevention and screening of cervical cancer, colposcopy, management of pre-invasive lesions and vaccination against HPV.
The region of Cameroon (Department of Méfou-Afamba), where the project for the promotion of cervical cancer prevention is planned to take place in 2016, has a long standing relationship with Switzerland. Indeed, this Department is the center of a cooperation, initiated in 1992, between the Canton of Jura and the Republic of Cameroon, whose goal was the implementation of a programme of primary health care in accordance with the health-policy of the Cameroonian Ministry of Public Health. This cooperation « Cameroun-Jura-Suisse » was planned and first led by a Swiss MD, Dr. Brigitte Braendli, and is now (since 1998) under the guidance of a Cameroonian MD, Dr Engelbert Manga, trained in public health in Geneva. Many achievements of the Cooperation « Cameroon-Jura-Suisse » deserve mention: an active participation of the community in health activities, training of health professionals in community medicine, improvement of the medical infrastructure, establishment and use of diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines, organization of a financial management system; these actions resulted in a solid and stable local public health expertise for the benefit of the community.
A substantial contribution to the success of the Cooperation « Cameroun-Jura-Suisse » was made by the medical Faculty and the University Hospitals of Geneva who trained Cameroonian doctors in public health and medical specialties defined by the Ministry of public health according to its needs. On the other hand « Cameroon-Jura-Suisse », since its beginning, allows medical students from Geneva, in their last year of formation, to be trained in tropical and community medicine by the Cameroonian health personnel.
To sum up, we feel that our past and present experience relying on an equilibrated partnership with a sub-Saharan African country makes us well endowed to successfully undertake the intended programme on cervical cancer prevention by HPV screening.
6th International workshop on prevention, screening of cervical cancer and colposcopy, March 26-27, 2015, Kribi, Cameroon
7th International workshop on prevention, screening of cervical cancer and colposcopy, March 31-April 1, 2016, Douala, Cameroon


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Press Information Bureau
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
23-April-2015 15:23 IST
Gist of Recommendations of the Renke Commission
Cabinet in its meeting held on 30
Cabinet in its meeting held on 30.01.2014 has approved the establishment, through an executive order, of a National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) for a period of three years and framing of an appropriate scheme for grant of pre and post matric scholarships and construction of hostel for DNT students. Accordingly, a NCDNT has been constituted and Dr Ambedkar Pre-matric and Post-matric Scholarship for DNTs and Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme for construction of Hostels for DNT students have been framed by the Ministry. As regards the grant of Scheduled Tribe Status to DNTs is concerned the Renke Commission in its report has indicated that around 97% of Denotified and 86% of the Nomadic Tribes come under SC, ST, or OBCs. As per the terms of reference of the newly constituted NCDNT, the commission shall identify the castes belonging to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes which have not been included in the lists of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Central List of Other Backward Classes and to pursue their case for inclusion in these lists depending on the modalities laid down for the purpose.
· Union Government initiate steps to enumerate DNTs in the next census due in 2011
· For implemention of welfare Schemes for DNTs State-wise list of such tribes should b e prepared.
· Advisory Committees may be made at District and State level to assist the socio-economic condition of the DNTs, so that action plan can be drawn for their welfare.
· State Government may take special steps to issue Caste Certificates and ration cards to every member of DNT, and BPL Certificates and to the concerned members, expeditiously.
· Union of India may take special campaign for issue of voter ID to the eligible members of DNT.
· Basic civic amenities be provided to the DNTs living in colonies and clusters.
· Ministry of SJ&E may earmark outlay for the welfare of DNTs.
· Central should modify the existing Housing Schemes in urban/rural areas and earmark specifically for DNTs.
· Special drive be made for awareness of DNTs particularly among women to avail the benefit of various schemes for educational empowerment. Special Residential Schools for DNT Boys and Girls be made to encourage education among them.
· Skill Development Programmes be taken up for DNTs to improve their self employability and wage employment, in collaboration with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Limited, the Handicrafts and Handlooms Exports Corporations of India Limited.
· States/UTs and Central Ministries should formulate and implement DNT Sub-Plan for DNTs
· Separate Finance and Development Corporation for DNTs, like National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation, may be set up at the centre.
· Considering the gravity of their plight, there is a need for a separate department for the welfare of DNTs at the State level and separate Ministry/Department for the welfare of DNTs at the Centre.
· It is necessary that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 be, mutatis mutandis, made applicable to DNTs, and the implementation of the same be reviewed and monitored from time to time.
· Constitution may be amended to include "Scheduled Communities" under Article 330 and Article 332 to enable these communities to be eligible for reservation of seats in the Houses of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States.
· Seats may be reserved in Block/Taluka Panchayats and Zila Pandhayats/Zila Parishads, and the Urban Local Bodies for DNTs wherever there population is concentrated.
· To mobilise additional resources to improve the socio-economic conditions of DNTS, it is suggested that 10% of the funds earmarked for M.P. Local Area Development Fund.
· It is suggested that the DNTs be given 10% reservation in Government jobs even if the total reservation exceeds 50%.
· Research Institutes should be set up by the States/UTs for DNTs.
· A multicultural complex/Academy may be set up in every State/UT to develop, preserve and exhibit the diverse and rich cultural heritage of DNTs.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha here today.
RTS/ASB


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Home | Interviews | Film | News
Brewing Stories
Brewing Stories is a project set up and run by educational charity digital:works.
This project is an oral history of the people who worked in the three main Thames side breweries in West London. These breweries were major employers - their smoke and smells dominating this part of London for hundreds of years.
The three breweries are the Griffin Brewery (Fuller's) in Chiswick, the Ram Brewery (Young's) in Wandsworth and the Stag Brewery (Watney's) in Mortlake. They employed hundreds of people, many for their whole working lives, with generations working for the same brewery or moving employment between the three. All are essentially factories along the River Thames. The three were competing businesses and together they dominated this stretch of river running from Wandsworth to Mortlake.
All three have long histories and are among the 190 breweries that were located in London by the 19th century. Sixty years ago Watney's Stag Brewery was the largest employer in Mortlake. It is thought to have begun brewing beer as a monastery in 1487 and brewed beer for soldiers in the Crimean War. It was sold to a property investment company in 2016. Similarly, the Ram brewery was a major employer with a history going back to 1533. This closed in 2007. The Griffin Brewery remains and is now the oldest brewery in London and currently employs 350 people.
The project is an oral history of the living memory of workers going back to the 1940s and up to the present.
People have told us about the different jobs they did at the breweries - the draymen (delivery men who used horse and carts), and master brewers, working the mashers, the women in the accounts, the coopers, stable hands and packers. The barges of barley and hops that would arrive along the river from Kent. Many of those we met spoke of their fathers and grandfathers working for the breweries. They spoke about the wonderful atmosphere of the breweries, the relationships between workers, and also with the owners. These were historically family business with Fuller's (The Griffin) still family run. There is also the whole process of making the beer, the milling, the mashing and boiling and lautering, all crucial parts of the process overseen by the master brewer who, increasingly, had input from modern developments in chemistry. Connected to this there was the bottling process, the coopers making barrels, the kegs, and all the paraphernalia that make up the production process and the range of skilled people involved.
So this project focuses on the memories of these older workers and their experiences working in the breweries.
Working with historians, three local archives and digital-works staff, this project trained volunteers in research skills, oral history interviewing and recording skills.
The project recorded 33 in-depth oral history interviews with older workers who worked at the breweries.
These full interviews are being given to the three local archives we are working with at Wandsworth, Chiswick and Richmond as well as Bishopsgate Institute and the TUC archive.
The interviews have been edited to make a documentary film to be shown at various screenings and broadcast on television.
This project website houses all of the full interviews, the film and covers the progress of the project.
This project is run by digital:works with the support of Fuller's brewery, Chiswick Archives, Richmond Local Studies Centre and Wandsworth Heritage Service.
We are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Unite the Union for their financial support.
digital:works has been running oral history projects across London working with communities to explore the history of work and workers in the capital. Projects so far include printers on Fleet Street, bus workers, underground workers, black cab drivers, jewellers in Hatton Garden, tailors in Saville Row, the Thames Lightermen, Thames boatyards and more. Other projects explore the history of Battersea, North Kensington, Southall, Eel Pie Island, as well as some of London's indoor and street markets. If you would like to see any of these wonderful films and find out more about digital:works please visit:
www.digital-works.co.uk.
An Oral History of West London's Brewery Workers
digital:works · info@digital-works.co.uk


Many people misunderstand the term International Banking. Various international centres have developed into highly reputable and regulated environments specifically positioned to deal with the international consultant where the level of regulation and investor protection is equivalent to, and occasionally better than, local banking centres. Many of the leading banking groups have established state of the art international banking facilities in these areas specifically for the busy international contractor and expat. Chesterfield is a recognised introducer of International contractors and expats to leading international banking providers.
The majority of banks are engaged in providing private banking facilities and the services offered extend beyond simple deposit and money transmissions. Some international contractors require confidentiality while others will require services to deal with such matters as foreign currency transactions, international mortgages, pensions and share dealing facilities. Often e-banking and multi currency credit cards and debit cards are in high demand by the busy expat.
In line with international anti-money laundering regulations, Banks have detailed requirements they must legally comply with before they can open an account. We establish and provide an introduction to the leading international banking providers and advise on the most suitable arrangements for the international consultant and expat.


In what is seen as a major relief for GST assessees, especially dealers, the Kerala High Court has ruled that any GST mistakenly paid under one head can be adjusted under the correct head.
While noting that it sees no difficulty for the tax authorities to allow the petitioner's request and get the amount transferred from the head 'S-GST' to 'I-GST', the court said it is inequitable for the authorities to let the petitioner suffer.
The court made these observations while disposing of a matter involving Saji S of Adithya and Ambadi Traders, Ranjith R of Ranjith Roadlines, and the State GST authorities.
Since the ruling is by a High Court, it can set a precedent for similar matters.
The said dealer bought goods from Chennai and transported them to Kerala. However, on way, the goods were seized, and a demand was made for tax and penalty. The payment was made under the head 'State Goods and Services Tax' (S-GST) and this became a matter of litigation.
The petitioner insisted that the payment was made on the instructions of the Assistant State Tax Officer (ASTO). But, by law, the remittance must have been made under the head 'Integrated Goods and Services Tax' (I-GST).
The petitioner submitted that even if the remittance was a mistake on the consignor's part, the law empowers the authorities to transfer the deposit from one head to another, that is, from S-GST to I-GST.
But the tax authorities wanted the petitioner to pay the dues under I-GST and then claim refund under S-GST.
The court observed that there was no dispute on paying the tax and the penalty. Only, they had been remitted under the head S-GST, instead of I-GST. The court referred to Section 77 of the GST Tax and Rule 4(1).
Section 77 deals with tax refund of the tax mistakenly paid under one head. Rule 4(1) provides for an adjustment.
Preferring the adjustment route, the court asked the tax authorities to release the goods and the vehicle and ensure that the tax and penalty paid under S-GST get transferred to the I-GST.
Experts feel the ruling brings relief to tax-payers. Since the GST is a new law, many tax-payers have been struggling on this count of wrong payment of tax. The adjustment of tax paid under one head to another will save them the bother of paying again under the correct head and then claiming a refund.
Harpreet Singh, Partner at KPMG, said though the ruling reduces the complexity, it could lead to further litigation. "While the court has allowed the cross adjustment of tax under different heads, it would be interesting to see whether the ruling passes the muster of legal challenge, as the order relies upon subordinate legislation, that is, the Rules over the Act," Singh added.


Visit the following websites for utility incentives and energy efficiency programs in Illinois. For a comprehensive listing of all energy incentives and energy efficiency programs available in Illinois, visit the DSIRE database. SEDAC can offer quick advice about utility energy efficiency programs and incentives and provide referrals. Give us a call at 800.214.7924 or email us at info@sedac.org.
A comprehensive listing of enabling EEPS legislation and docket proceedings is available on the Illinois Energy Efficiency Stakeholder Advisory Group website.


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Pinterest, JPMorgan Chase, Canopy Growth and Facebook - 5 Things You Must Know
U.S. stock futures fall as investors adopt a cautious ahead of trading Thursday; Schlumberger and Honeywell report earnings; Pinterest's IPO is priced at $19 a share; JPMorgan Chase makes c-suite changes.
Updated Apr 18, 2019 7:28 AM EDT
Here are five things you must know for Thursday, April 18:
1. -- Stock Futures Tumble Ahead of Release of Mueller Report
U.S. stock futures declined Thursday and global stocks were lower as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the release of the Mueller report into allegations of Russian election and news of renewed weapons tests by North Korea that threatened to unravel Donald Trump's broader Asia strategy on trade and security.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29 points, futures for the S&P 500 declined 1.65 points, and Nasdaq futures were down 5.25 points.
North Korea's state media said officials had conducted a "tactical" weapons systems test, the first since Trump and Kim Jong Un met in Hanoi earlier this year, although it didn't appear to be a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Nonetheless, the escalation of tensions between Washington and Pyongyang unnerved Asian markets, which ended Thursday's session with losses.
Besides the the release of the 400-page report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, traders on Wall Street Thursday will be focused on the first day of trading for online image board Pinterest and a boatload of corporate earnings reports.
Schlumberger ( SLB - Get Report) earned 30 cents a share on an adjusted basis, matching estimates, while revenue in the first quarter of $7.88 billion topped forecasts.
Honeywell International ( HON - Get Report) reported first-quarter earnings that were better than expected and the industrial company boosted its full-year outlook thanks to a solid performance from its aerospace division.
Travelers Cos. ( TRV - Get Report) posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings as the property and casualty insurer rode improved underwriting and sharply lower catastrophe losses to just under $800 million in net income.
Danaher ( DHR - Get Report) reported first-quarter earnings that beat analysts' forecasts though they were well lower than a year earlier as costs related to its recent offer to purchase General Electric's ( GE - Get Report) biopharma healthcare business offset revenue.
BB&T ( BBT - Get Report) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings, posting adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share, 2 cents ahead of analysts' forecasts.
Schlumberger, Honeywell and Danaher are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio . Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells the stocks? Learn more now .
The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey for April at 8:30 a.m., Retail Sales for March at 8:30 a.m., the PMI Composite FLASH for April at 9:45 a.m. and Business Inventories for February at 10 a.m.
2. -- Pinterest IPO Pricing Values the Company at $12.7 Billion
Pinterest's initial public offering was set at $19 a share, valuing the online image board at $12.7 billion.
The company said it was offering 75 million shares plus up to an additional 11.25 million more that underwriters have the option to purchase.
Shares of Pinterest are expected to begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PINS."
The IPO price of $19 was above the $15 to $17 range that Pinterest established earlier in a regulatory filing.
Pinterest Prices IPO at $19 a Share
Zoom Video Communications, another multi-billion dollar tech company, is expected to list its shares Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Zoom shares were priced at $36 a share, above an earlier indicative range, valuing the company at more than $10 billion. It will trade under symbol "ZM."
3. -- JPMorgan Chase Makes C-Suite Changes
JPMorgan Chase (JPM - Get Report) said Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake will step down to become head of the bank's consumer-lending operations, while Jennifer Piepszak, the company's head of card services, will be finance chief.
The changes takes effect on May 1.
Lake, who was named chief financial officer in 2012, has long been viewed as a contender to succeed Jamie Dimon as JPMorgan Chase CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal. Analysts and others monitoring the succession race believed Lake first needed experience running one of the bank's major businesses, the Journal noted.
Piepszak's move to finance chief makes her one of JPMorgan's most prominent representatives and gives her broad influence over the bank's businesses, according to the Journal.
"Marianne Lake has served with distinction as our firm's CFO and as a deeply knowledgeable and trusted partner to me and my colleagues," Dimon said in a statement. "We are fortunate to have such an extraordinary executive taking the helm of our Consumer Lending businesses."
JPMorgan Chase is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio . Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells the stock? Learn more now .
4. -- Canopy Growth Closes In on Acquisition of Acreage Holdings
Canopy Growth (CGC - Get Report) is closing in on a deal to purchase Acreage Holdings (ACRGF) , according to a report.
The two cannabis companies have been in talks for about two weeks and were scheduled to speak on the phone Wednesday evening to finalize the agreement, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Meanwhile, a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed Wednesday to MarketWatch that a Canopy Growth deal with Acreage was "98% done," though the final price was still being negotiated. Acreage has a market cap of $2.45 billion but the deal will be worth "several billions" in Canadian dollars, the source told MarketWatch.
Canopy Growth shares jumped 6.2% to $45.51 in premarket trading Thursday after rallying in after-hours trading following the CNBC report. Acreage Holdings closed with a gain of 9% on Wednesday to $22.34.
Canopy Growth Shares Spike on Report of Acreage Holdings Purchase
5. -- Facebook 'Unintentionally' Uploads Emails of 1.5 Million Users
Facebook (FB - Get Report) declined 0.2% in premarket trading Thursday after the world's biggest social media company admitted to yet another potential data breach, saying it "unintentionally" uploaded of millions of email contacts.
Facebook said as many as 1.5 million new users had their email contacts uploaded since May 2016, but noted the error in which they were collected had been repaired and the information will be deleted. The potential breach, however, comes as the company attempts to fend off a move by the Electronic Privacy Information Center to have the Federal Trade Commission release privacy reports filed by Facebook since its 2011 settlement linked to allegations it deceived consumers by allowing private information to be shared and made public.
"Last month we stopped offering email password verification as an option for people verifying their account when signing up for Facebook for the first time," Facebook said in a statement. "When we looked into the steps people were going through to verify their accounts, we found that in some cases people's email contacts were also unintentionally uploaded to Facebook when they created their account."
"We estimate that up to 1.5 million people's email contacts may have been uploaded. These contacts were not shared with anyone and we're deleting them," the company said. "We've fixed the underlying issue and are notifying people whose contacts were imported. People can also review and manage the contacts they share with Facebook in their settings."
Facebook is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells FB? Learn more now .
Facebook Slips After Admitting Email Contact Upload in Latest Privacy Glitch
MarketsStocksWorld5 Things To Know Before The Market Opens


Congrats Brenda! Please email Altenew at winner@altenew.com by 7/20/2018 with the subject line "Altenew July 2018 Stencil Release Blog Hop Winner from Aga's Blog" to claim your gift certificate!
Thank you everyone for taking part in the Blog Hop and for all your wonderful comments!


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Robotic Suits made by Cyberdyne? Is this for real?
by admin on May.29, 2011, under Odd
Doctors test robotic suit to help paraplegics
Published: 27 May 11 16.18 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20110527-35305.html
Scientists hope robotic suits to be tested at a Bochum University clinic will enable paraplegics to regain the ability to walk, according to a Friday news report.
Daily Die Welt reported that the technology could also prove controversial because of the unnatural strength it affords anyone wearing such a suit.
Initial testing is slated to begin at the Bergmannsheil clinic in Bochum this year, head physician Thomas Schildhauer said at a presentation of the new treatment method.
"We believe we can initiate a dramatic change in these patients' lives," he told Die Welt.
The suits were developed in Japan and have been successful at over 75 clinics and nursing facilities already using them, according to their producer, Cyberdyne Inc.
Bochum is the first hospital to test the suits in Europe.
The suits will need to be modified before being employed in Germany, Schildhauer said, because of the overall height disparity between Germans and Japanese.
The goal of the robotic suits is to allow not only paraplegic patients, but also the elderly and victims of accidents, to quickly regain a full range of motion.
The researchers also hope the suits will allow patients to relearn specific motion sequences, such as running, that will eventually enable them to move without the help of the suit.
Schildhauer said the suits do not enable a full recovery, but he remains optimistic about the technology's ability to help improve patients' lives.
The suit functions by responding to the body's nerve signals, which are fed into the suit's computer and converted electronically. When the brain sends a command to move a particular part of the body, the corresponding part of the suit reacts.
Doctors hope the test trials in Bochum will help them learn what type of patient the suit serves most effectively.
Schildhauer estimated that the first results would be available about three months after testing on the first group of patients begins.
Yoshiyuki Sankai, the CEO of Cyberdyne, said multiple requests to use the suit for non-medical purposes have been turned down. Several military agencies, for example, have inquired about the suits, apparently attracted by the unnatural strength they afford the person wearing it.
All military requests have been rejected though, according to Sankai, because the technology is ultimately intended to benefit people, not hurt them.
Cyberdyne will work through a subsidiary company in Bochum, established Friday in Düsseldorf, to monitor the test trials at the Bergmannsheil clinic.
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http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20110527-35305.html
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The tools we ALL have access to, tools to support, maintain and increase our livingness is to me, a blessing.
We can choose to embrace or choose not to embrace that which is offered. In this video i further expand on the TriBreath breathing rhythms and how to alternate your nostril breathing with your practice.
When i use this technique, when i'm either walking or running, i do two breathing cycles per nostril. So if i was using the 3 Step breathing rhythm and practicing the alternating nostril technique, i would for example, breathe IN, IN, OUT, IN, IN, OUT on the left hand side nostril and then swap sides to do the IN, IN, OUT, IN, IN, OUT on the right hand side nostril.
Most importantly, stressing if you cannot get it straight away is of no benefit to anyone including yourself.
The more you maintain connection to your breath and most importantly using that connection to equally distribute the the forces between your left and right hand sides, as sure as the sun will rise in the morning, so to will your awareness grow.


This book is about the profound utility of philosophy. It is rooted in the conviction that philosophy is not a luxury—it is a necessity that none of us can afford to ignore. This is not an instruction manual for inquiry or a collection of philosophical ideas to adopt. It is not written it in order to tell you what to think, but rather to give you some things to think about. The philosophical ideas most discussed in this book are those held by the classical American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. These three brilliant minds were the originators of the philosophy called pragmatism, which remains to this day America's most significant contribution to world philosophy.


I am proclaiming Rehab Season 2018 to be officially over. A few days ago I released the last crow — a juvi who arrived in August with a droopy wing. Two vets examined him and announced there was no medical reason for the wing to be droopy, or, to quote Monty Python, "this is not happening!" So it was up to Droopy to make the next move. (Yes, I have advanced degrees, and yes I named him "Droopy." So sue me. It was the end of the season and I was tired.) He hung out on the ground for a while and then managed to get to a perch about a foot off the ground, moving up slowly until he was able to camp out on the high perch. Because I am an Evil Person, I put his food on the floor, necessitating a few trips down and up each day. I honestly didn't think he would be releasable but he kept at it and eventually was flying around the enclosure. I wasn't sure what the release would reveal but the good news is the release photo (above) was a bunch of trees, i.e. no crow. He was outta there before I could get the camera up and running.
So we have a happy ending to a miserable rehab season. I dread sending in my annual report to the Federal and State authorities. I usually have about a 60% release rate but because of the West Nile Virus this year, it's going to be a lot lower than that. If misery loves company, I'm in a Toyko subway car during rush hour. I spoke with a vet at a rehabber event and she said she's not getting in any juvenile raptors as she usually does. This is the time of year that Mom and Dad boot the kids off their territory and they run into trouble trying to take care of themselves. We could only surmise that so few chicks survived WNV that the number of juveniles out there to be found and sent to rehab is way down.
But onto the fun part of the end of the rehab season: revealing the Miracle Bird of the Season. This year's winner is a crow that came in with West Nile Virus. The disease had taken its toll. His weight was down and his feathers were glorified stalks of straw. He had no energy even to reach low perches. The vet took one look at him said he doubted the bird was releasable. I even managed to arrange a placement at a nature center in Ohio. But Our Friend began to rally. He somehow found the energy to molt and his flight skills began to reemerge. His fear of humans returned. When he flew a perfect oval around the flight cage, it occurred to be that he might be releasable after all. I put a hold on the transfer paperwork and got in touch with the person who had turned him in. I made the 45 minute drive to her home and opened the carrier box. The bird hunkered down, so I pick him up and then he took off. A few minutes later, we heard the sweetest sound in the world: two crows calling to each other. Our buddy was home.


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End of Boy Scouts' Ban on Gays Prompts Elation and Alarm
David Crary, Lindsay Whitehurst
religion boy scouts mormon
The lifting of the Boy Scouts of America's ban on gay adult leaders prompted some gay Eagle Scouts to quickly rejoin the movement on Tuesday. But the Mormon church - the nation's largest sponsor of Scout units - warned that it may split away to form a global scouting organization of its own.
The contrasting reactions followed the BSA national executive board's 45-12 vote on Monday to lift the nationwide ban while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to continue excluding gay adults.
Across the country, scores of gay Eagle Scouts signed forms with the advocacy group Scouts for Equality, expressing interest in rejoining the Boy Scouts as volunteers.
Among them was Charles Spain, a 56-year-old attorney in Houston who had not worn a Scout uniform since his post-college years as an in-the-closet Scout employee before he entered law school. On Tuesday morning, he registered as an adult leader with the local Scout troop that his 13-year-old son belongs to, then hurried out to buy a uniform and posted a photo of it on his Facebook page.
"I haven't worn a Scout uniform in 30 years," said Spain. "I support and believe in the Scouting program. It's the best youth program that's ever been invented."
The mood was different at the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which described itself as "deeply troubled" by the BSA's decision to lift the nationwide ban.
Just two weeks earlier, Mormon leaders indicated they were comfortable with the pending policy change. But in a strongly worded statement issued after Monday's final vote, Mormon officials described the admission of openly gay leaders as "inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church."
One possibility, church officials suggested, would be for the Mormons to form their own worldwide scouting movement.
The Mormons' statement noted that the church has members in 170 nations, many of them without scouting programs. "Those worldwide needs combined with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully reviewed by the leaders of the Church in the weeks ahead," the statement added.
At Boy Scout headquarters in Texas, reaction to the Mormons' declaration was muted.
The BSA issued its own statement expressing appreciation for its long relationship with the Mormon church, and asserting, "America's youth are better off when they are in Scouting."
A conservative activist in Utah, Gayle Ruzicka, applauded the Mormons' tough reaction and noted that the church already ran its own scouting-style program for young women.
"There's not any reason why the church can't start their own boys' program - one that will teach the same things," she said.
Brad Daw, a Republican legislator in Utah who's been involved in Scouting since he was 11, said he was disheartened by the BSA vote to allow gay leaders, but also saddened about the "pretty big hint" by church leaders of a Mormon exodus from Boy Scouting.
Given that most units in Utah are Mormon-affiliated, Daw said, being part of the BSA is "an opportunity for us to welcome boys from other faiths to be part of the Scouts."
The Mormon church - which serves more than 427,000 boys in nearly 38,000 scout units - still opposes gay marriage and believes homosexuality is a sin. But the religion's leaders have shifted their tone on gay rights in recent years, away from harsh rhetoric and toward compassion and acceptance of gays and lesbians.
The church was deeply involved in compromise legislation enacted in Utah in March that extends nondiscrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, while providing exemptions for religious groups and for the Boy Scouts.
After the Mormons, the next largest sponsors of U.S. Scout units are the United Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Methodists' General Commission on United Methodist Men said decisions on whether or not to accept gay adult leaders would rest with individual churches.
"Local churches will continue to select and approve Scout leaders based on the church's Christian convictions and the evaluation of the character and skills of potential Scout leaders," the commission said. "No church will be required to accept any volunteer as a Scout leader simply because of the new policy."
Catholic Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, South Carolina - who helps oversee Catholic scouting programs - said he and his colleagues were "cautiously optimistic" that ties with the BSA could be maintained even though the church is wary of accepting adult leaders who are open about being gay.
"We've always had the right to select leaders for the units that we charter," Guglielmone said. "My concern is whether that right will be upheld."
"Wholesale removal (from the BSA) - I don't see as something that would happen," he said. "We don't have the resources to set up those kind of programs on their own. We just have to see how it all plays out."
Eric Hetland, a 25-year-old Eagle Scout from Aurora, Illinois, had no interest in waiting. He was one of many former scouts quickly heeding the call from Scouts for Equality to "rejoin the fold" and help build a more inclusive Boy Scouts movement.
On Tuesday morning, just hours after celebrating the lifting of the BSA's ban, Hetland registered as an assistant scoutmaster with a Scout troop in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park.
Hetland, who works at a high school science academy, had been involved in scouting from age 5 to 22, when he came out as bisexual and was not asked back to a job at a Scout summer camp.
"As I was growing up as a teenager, and realizing I had same-sex attractions, there was always a fear in me that I would be outed," Hetland recalled. "I so cherished the program."
In Utah, gay Eagle Scout Drew Reese also is hoping to become a Scout leader. He grew up as a Mormon scout, though he's now left the church.
The Boy Scouts should be a "big tent," he said. "Now that the ban is completely removed, we can teach the youth what it means to be respectful of everyone."
Also celebrating the policy change was Jen Tyrrell of Bridgeport, Ohio, who was removed as den mother of her son's Tiger Scouts pack in 2012 because she is a lesbian.
"I've worked for years now to make sure that no parent has to feel the way I did when I looked my son in the eyes and said, 'I can't be part of Scouting because of who I am,'" Tyrrell said in an email Tuesday.
"This decision strengthens Scouting and strengthens America."


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For half a million now you can buy a Duster in the maximum configuration or another decently packed compact crossover - but there will be as much sport and aggression…
5 reasons to love and hate the Opel Mokka
For small business and family affairs: all light vans of the Russian market
Design from Zagato, Japanese salon and someone else's index: myths and facts about the VAZ-2110
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Unlike its platform platform relative, Skoda Kamiq, another 2019 Geneva premiere, the Skoda Scala hatchback, will definitely not appear in Russia - at least in the foreseeable future. It remains…
« Like the Impreza, only more: is it worth buying a Subaru Forester II
Yuta Takahashi, Suzuki: "We will begin to discuss with engineers the adaptation… »
Project Aurus: at whose expense is this "Cort", where did the Arabs go, and what is the UAZ?
In 2018, five years after the start of the design work on the "Cortege", we were shown the Aurus sedan at the Moscow Motor Show, and a little earlier Putin drove on the "limousine" version. Cars have not yet been certified, so the only thing that we can reliably say is that our commander-in-chief was driven in a car with Aurus appearance. While this is all, and it is in this wording. NAMI, who has become the developer of the project cars, refuses to comment on our site, but this does not mean at all that you don't need to write about the "Cortege" – on the contrary. Information in open sources, being specially arranged, opens up new meanings and raises new questions. Our first story is about money: where did they go?
So, according to the order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1642-p dated September 13, 2013, signed by D. Medvedev, in accordance with paragraph 17 of Part 2 of Article 55 of the Federal Law "On placing orders for goods, works and services for state and municipal needs, "the NAMI Research and Automotive Institute was determined (not selected, not appointed, but" defined ") as the sole performer of the state order placed by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. This order consisted in the implementation of a pilot project for the development and production of domestic cars based on a single modular platform (EMP). Project cars should be presented in limousine, sedan and van. The station wagon is also supposed to be an SUV.
The cars will fit not only for "transportation and escort of top officials of the state, as well as other persons subject to state protection," as was said in the order, but for everyone. For example, the project curator – Industry and Commerce Minister Denis Manturov – can easily afford a car "like Putin's." Firstly, according to his latest tax return (for 2017), the minister's annual income was 213,566,746 rubles and 86 kopecks, and secondly, his Range Rover looks, to put it mildly, not patriotic.
The fact that the Ministry of Industry and Trade has acted as a formal customer of Kortezh, and explains the zeal of the Minister of Industry and Commerce: in fact, he assumed the responsibilities of a PR manager for the project. It is from him that we learn about all the key news. Manturov was engaged in "Cortege" still in the status of acting minister and did not slyly when, after Putin's inauguration, he spoke about the excitement that visited him: well, how would a limousine die in the manner of an Armata tank in 2015 – this is the end of his career. In short, any speech by Manturov about the "Cortege" should be perceived primarily as a report before the first person of the state, and not at all as a message to the press and the public, as some of us may have thought.
Let us recall several messages from Mr. Manturov. For example, in May 2017, the minister claimed that the FSO (this organization is the actual customer of the project) will receive the first batch of cars of the "Cortege" project in 2017 — the agency should have transferred 14 cars, including a limousine. In this case, until the spring of 2018, the FSO was supposed to "evaluate" cars. Obviously, this is what happened, because on December 25, 2018, Manturov said that "… the production of prototypes for testing continues. This is the second series of prototypes, which eliminated the comments identified during the tests of the first series. " This quote is just to the question "what did Putin carry on?" Along the way, it fits perfectly with our own data, according to which the V8 engine at the end of the year was not yet ready and was on fine-tuning tests.
Smart Arabs
Just over two years ago, on December 18, 2017, at ul. Avtomotornaya, 2 p. 1, office 201 (this is the territory of NAMI) LLC Aurus was registered, FGUP NAMI and PJSC Sollers became its founders in shares of 75 and 25%, respectively. Franz Gerhard Hilgert, who has been working in Russia since 1998, and since 2007 in Sollers, has become the general director of Aurus LLC. As was to be expected, it was Sollers that was chosen as a partner for the serial production of miracle machines on the EMP platform: there will only be enough US capacity to produce 200-220 copies a year.
Youtube has a record of the presentation of the brand Aurus (this name has replaced the "Cortage"), held in Moscow on May 23, 2018. See how Vadim Shvetsov, the general director of PJSC Sollers, indifferently says that the Aurusa hybrid installation will be adapted at UAZ for installation on a medium-duty truck, and how happy the owners of this vehicle will be. We will leave this information without comment, we just suggest that you look at the sad face of Vadim Shvetsov. Look – and you will understand that Sollers, this so-called "contract", in all likelihood, received a load – this is in the practice of our state. Do you want to do business and ship "UAZ" to the Ministry of Defense – harness yourself in the "Cortege".
Posted in allowing movement both with rear-axle, Already restyled, anti-corrosion treatment, developer of the project cars
We are talking about the 10-year warranty on Vitara, the disappointing results of the new Jimny in Euro NCAP, the prospects of Suzuki Crossby and Lapin in the Russian market…
5 reasons to love and hate Kia Soul I
Five reasons to love and hate Renault Fluence
Stoplight: I bet you don't know everything about it?
Instead of a Patriot: Is it worth buying Great Wall Hover
Will live: buy a Mazda CX-5
5 reasons to love and hate Jeep Grand Cherokee II WJ
"Big wide jeep", "Big Indian", "Great Che", "Giant teal" ... We associate this name with crimson jackets, "Gold with a gymnast", showdowns and generally "roaring nineties". But all of this…


2017 was a year of great games, and although I couldn't play them all, I still wanted to take a look back at what I felt were the best games of the year. So this is the first annual Brizzy Awards; where I give sweet virtual Brizzies to games based on categories I make up to highlight things I liked. There's absolutely no voting, or Twitch participation. It's all about me, Briz, hence the name. If that sounds alright with you, read on!
With May the 4th earlier this month, and recent teasers for Episode IX, I've had Star Wars on the mind recently. Okay, who'm I kidding. I pretty much have Star Wars on my mind at all times. I've got something with Star Wars on it in pretty much every room of my house, and my office at work.
Coming clean here: I am a poser. I parade around like a big time gamer who grew up playing and beating tons of NES classic titles. In reality though, it didn't happen that way. My folks got me a Nintendo when I was five years old in Christmas of 1990. I had no idea what it was or what it did. I didn't even really like it. I much preferred making car noises with my mouth and pushing Matchbox cars around on a rug.
There are more books than anything. Tons of books. Books have existed for centuries. Ancient texts and scriptures are still being unearthed and there is no way they can all be read in a lifetime no matter how much heroine laced cocaine flavored coffee one consumes, it's not getting done. Extremist religious entities even burned a good bunch of them for us and THERE ARE STILL SO MANY STUPID BOOKS. The good news is, you wouldn't want to read them all. Lots of books are garbage. I'd even go as far as saying most books are garbage. You really want to read Dr. Spencer Johnson's "Who Moved My Cheese?" or Chopra's "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success"? Nah, you don't. I mean the cheese one sounds interesting at least. I like cheese.
Last night, Nintendo gave us the first full look at their new console, Nintendo Switch, and for a self-proclaimed "dormant Nintendo fan", I have some thoughts on the messaging, games and system itself. Let's dig in.
SPOILER WARNING: This post spoils major parts of The Walking Dead: Season 1! If you haven't played it, don't read this post until you do.
In Part 1, I discussed death caused by the player, and how some games try to make pulling the trigger feel like the grave, powerful and irreversible act it is. In this part, I'll be looking at the death of characters friendly to the player, and how these moments can illicit an emotional reaction in the player.
The main quest vs side quest dilemma is something that I've encountered while playing games like Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls, and most recently, Fallout 4. The dilemma arises because of the level of immersion and freedom these games offer, but at the same time, it can tear away at that sense of immersion which the developers worked so hard to create. Is it a necessary evil, or are there ways to get around it?


Our mission is "to serve society through technology". This means harnessing advanced technologies, making them easy to use, and delivering them to our customers. NTT-AT is an Integrated-Value Provider.
Japan leads the world in R&D and in the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures and platform facilities, as we can see in broadband networks, next-generation mobile phones, cloud computing and Home ICT.
Many ideas have been studied for services that aim to exploit ICT. Services that cannot be provided without a broadband network, such as video delivery, are already commercially available. We believe that it is essential to further promote and expand such application services and create business from them.
To further activate the use of ICT, it is necessary not only to create new business models but also to review regulatory aspects, and to adopt an attitude of willingness to change our own lifestyle and work style on the basis of values acquired by a high-level view of all aspects of society.
To usher in the age when these issues are resolved and ICT is fully exploited, we in the NTT Advanced Technology, as a core technical entity of the NTT Group, will incorporate and integrate not only the diverse leading-edge technologies developed in NTT Laboratories, such as networking, media processing, Japanese language processing, environmental, and nano-component technologies, but also other state-of-the-art technologies both from Japan and abroad, to provide value for our customers.
With a full understanding of the environment surrounding ICT and its future direction, we will continue to create the true value needed in the business and social environments of the coming ICT-exploiting age, and provide it to our customers in the form of comprehensive solutions.


USB Cable used for charging your INO™ Weather Pro, updating the system software, and downloading log file data to your PC. And because you Weather Pro is updatable, you can buy with confidence that your unit will always have the latest software to give you the best performance.
USB Cable used for charging your INO Weather Pro, updating the system software, and downloading log file data to your PC.
Going for a big hike, chart all the altitude and temperature changes you experienced. Concerned about your outdoor workers exposure to the elements, track what they experienced and know with confidence the conditions they worked in.


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Australia's Devastating Wildfires Seen from Space
By Doris Elin Salazar
The Australian wildfires can be viewed in incredible detail via NASA's Worldview tool.
The Worldview tool from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) shows this scene on Jan. 2, 2020, as wildfires continue in their intensity along the southeastern coast of Australia. (Image credit: NASA EOSDIS)
Satellites in space can spot changes to Earth's climate (opens in new tab), and they are providing frightening bird's-eye views of the devastating consequences of global warming.
The wildfires raging in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria began in November 2019, and they continue to pose severe safety and environmental problems. NBC News reported (opens in new tab) that thousands of Australians fled their homes on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31), seeking refuge near the oceanside. On Thursday (Jan. 2) NBC News also reported (opens in new tab) that New South Wales declared a weeklong state of emergency, making this the third time an emergency period has been announced since the fires began.
"My last day of the decade felt like the apocalypse," Sydney-based photojournalist Matt Abbott tweeted (opens in new tab) on Dec. 31. Abbott, who is covering the wildfires for The New York Times, added: "Been covering the Australian bushfires for the last 6 weeks, but haven't seen anything like yesterday's fire that decimated the town of Conjola, NSW."
Related: Astronaut Sees Devastating California Wildfires from Space (Photos) (opens in new tab)
My last day of the decade felt like the apocalypse. Been covering the Australian bushfires for the last 6 weeks, but haven't seen anything like yesterdays fire that decimated the town of Conjola, NSW. #bushfirecrisis #AustralianBushfires #NSWisburning work for @nytimes pic.twitter.com/KmVKqDMKsfJanuary 1, 2020
Information from NASA satellites can teach scientists about the lingering consequences of these events, like the production of dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide.
NASA operates a group of 26 satellites collectively known as the Earth Observing System (opens in new tab) (EOS), and its flagship satellite, a bus-sized spacecraft named Terra, hit its 20-year mark in space in December 2019. Other NASA satellites, like Aqua and Suomi NPP (opens in new tab), also contribute data to EOS, a mission tasked with taking global measurements of the air, land and water to help scientists learn how those systems fit together and morph over time.
The Worldview (opens in new tab) tool from NASA's EOS Data and Information System transforms satellite data into an interactive page with over 900 imagery layers. You can view current natural disasters, like the Australian wildfires, on Worldview by date and information layer (such as thermal anomalies, borders and place labels). You can also watch an animation of activity by selecting a time range.
A look at Australia's surface (opens in new tab) starting in October 2019 shows the astounding evolution of wildfires as they multiplied and spewed smoke across Australia's eastern shore.
NASA's Aqua satellite used its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer to capture this view of wildfires raging on Australia's eastern coast on Dec. 9, 2019. The wildfires were fueled by unusually hot weather and a potent drought that primed the region in October 2019, according to the space agency. (Image credit: NASA EOSDIS)
A severe drought in October 2019 primed the country for the destruction that's still occurring. More than 100 fires raged over the next several months. By Dec. 12, the wildfires in Australia's New South Wales had scourged an area of about 10,000 square miles (27,000 square kilometers), according to NASA representatives in a description (opens in new tab) of satellite imagery.
The wildfires are raging on Australia's eastern coast, exposing many communities, including Sydney, to hazardous pollution levels. The Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere instrument on the Terra satellite found that the region is blanketed (opens in new tab) by abnormally high levels of carbon monoxide (opens in new tab), an odorless and dangerous gas that's released by the burning of plants and fossil fuels.
This map depicts measurements of outgoing longwave radiation in November 2019. The data on Australia's heat emission comes from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System on board NASA's Terra satellite. (Image credit: EOS-Terra/NASA)
The fires have been particularly damaging to eucalyptus forests (opens in new tab). The forests exist in both dry and rainy regions, and both climates are vulnerable to the wildfires for unique reasons. Eucalyptus plants that thrive in dry areas have oil-rich leaves that can easily ignite during a fire, according to a NASA description (opens in new tab) of the EOS imagery. Fires do help these plants release their seeds, but the dry season in October was so intense that it limited seed germination. Rainforest eucalyptus species, on the other hand, are not accustomed to fires. The ecosystem can't bounce back the way a dry eucalyptus forest could under milder conditions. Unable to tolerate the flames, most of these rainforest plants die under these extreme conditions.
An instrument on NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite observed (opens in new tab) the unusually hot and dry conditions of November 2019 that fueled the wildfires. The sensor, called the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System, measures the heat emitted back into space. The instrument measured how the sun's radiation was absorbed, emitted and reflected by Earth's surface during the first month of the wildfires.
The flames destroy forests and make the air unbreathable for humans, but they also harm the animals that live there. "Browsing animals like kangaroos are driven out by fire for a short time, and the heat treatment of soil reduces the number of plant-eating insects and soil organisms during the early growth period," Ayesha Tulloch, a conservation biologist at the University of Sydney, said in a NASA image description (opens in new tab).
This animation is a model of where the black smoke from the raging Australian wildfires is traveling. It's based off of the GEOS forward processing (GEOS FP) model, which combines information from satellite, aircraft and ground-based observation systems and uses data such as air temperature, moisture levels and wind information to project the plume's behavior. (Image credit: GEOS FP/NASA GSFC)
Many koalas (opens in new tab) have also been affected, or even killed, by these fires. "But the range of the koala covers most [of] the east coast of Australia," Tulloch said. "Relative to its range, the fires are relevant to only a very small proportion of the existing koala population in Australia."
An animation made using the GEOS forward processing (GEOS -FP) model depicts the high levels of black carbon emitted by the wildfires in early November 2019, which then blew through the atmosphere and across the Pacific Ocean. Smoke plumes have risen as high as 7 to 8 miles (12 to 13 km) into the sky, which is unusually high for wildfires, according to a NASA description (opens in new tab) of the animation.
California Wildfires Signal the Arrival of a Planetary Fire Age
How Satellites Are Helping California's Wildfire Recovery Efforts
In Photos: The 2018 California Wildfires As Seen from Space
Follow Doris Elin Urrutia on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Need more space? Subscribe to our sister title "All About Space" Magazine (opens in new tab) for the latest amazing news from the final frontier! (Image credit: All About Space)
Doris Elin Salazar
Space.com Staff Writer
admin said:
Observations from NASA satellites show the effects the Australian wildfires are having across the land, the ocean and the air.
Australia's Devastating Wildfires Seen from Space : Read more
Now that almost 200 have been arrested for arson in setting these fires, what happens to the popular narrative about global warming?
clanup
It was scare to see every big companies like mycoles au should have donated some money to support and defeat wildfire
Arsonist said:
Now that that it has been proven that 200 people in Australia have been arrested for arson is actually "fake news", lies intentionally spread by people who often deny climate change, the narrative about global warming continues and should really be paying attention.
Also idiots who intentionally spread misleading information for personal gain should lose all credibility and have their social media accounts closed.
jizzythom
Yes now coles has donated huge amount in order to help in this situation


Economy - overview This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most significant cash crop despite falling prices on the world market. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrunk the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of the XOF currency by 50% provided an important impetus to renewed structural adjustment. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity. Togo is the world's fourth largest producer, and geological advantages keep production costs low. The recently privatized mining operation, Office Togolais des Phosphates (OTP), is slowly recovering from a steep fall in prices in the early 1990's, but continues to face the challenge of tough foreign competition, exacerbated by weakening demand. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. It continues to expand its duty-free export-processing zone (EPZ), launched in 1989, which has attracted enterprises from France, Italy, Scandinavia, the US, India, and China and created jobs for Togolese nationals. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has stalled. Progress depends on following through on privatization, increased openness in government financial operations, progress towards legislative elections, and possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of large-scale foreign aid, deterioration of the financial sector, energy shortages, and depressed commodity prices continue to constrain economic growth. The takeover of the national power company by a Franco-Canadian consortium in 2000 should ease the energy crisis.
NOTE: The information regarding Togo on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Togo Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Togo Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.


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10 Things to Do Off the Beaten Track in Copenhagen
Let yourself be surprised by these places in Copenhagen
Have you already seen most of the classic tourist attractions in Copenhagen? Or are you looking for a somewhat unusual destination for your Copenhagen trip, something that will take you away from the mass of foreign tourists?
Here, you can find lots of suggestions for activities that are somewhat unknown, overlooked or off the beaten path. The list includes architectural gems, green areas and an underground stalactite cave, which may surprise even the most seasoned Copenhagener and make your visit to the Danish capital a bit more interesting.
A.C. Perch's Teashop (Thehandel)
Travel back in time when you visit this teashop
Opening the door to A.C. Perch's Teashop (Thehandel) is like stepping into a time pocket where the first thing you notice is the scent of tea. Here, in the small, quaint shop, you will find rows of golden tea caddies on the shelves on the back wall, and the staff will be happy to offer expert advice as they weigh the tea on old-fashioned brass scales with weights.
The location of the shop, right in the middle of Copenhagen on a side street to Købmagergade, makes it a great choice to visit while shopping on Strøget. This way, you can also visit the tea salon across from the shop and sample a cup of tea with a finger sandwich or a scone before you decide.
Location: Kronprinsensgade 5, 1114 Copenhagen, Denmark
Open: Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 5:30 pm, Friday from 9 am to 6 pm, Saturday from 9:30 am to 5 pm.
Vestvolden
Take a stroll along a listed military rampart
Vestvolden is a former defensive structure, which stretches like a green wedge west of Copenhagen. Here you can go on a bike ride and explore the military structures. Even the locals don't always know that the Copenhagen portion of the rampart starts in Utterslev Mose in the Nordvest district, just 4.5 miles from the City Hall Square.
The green area along the rampart continues for 8.75 miles to Avedøre to the south, and you can hike, run or bike alongside the paved rampart or use the path on the actual structure. Bring a picnic basket if the weather is nice, and enjoy lunch on the grass by the rampart along the way. If you are into history, it is also possible to explore the old military buildings.
Location: Åkandevej, 2700 Brønshøj, Denmark
photo by Pudelek (CC BY-SA 4.0) modified
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The Cisterns
Experience an underground art museum with air humidity at 100%
Deep below the green plains of Søndermarken, you can find the Cisterns, an underground world with dripstones, colonnades and damp darkness. Here in Frederiksberg, near Valby Bakke, is the former water reservoir, which supplied drinking water to the citizens of the capital city for years.
Today, the Cisterns are an exhibition site for contemporary art, and you can go under ground to explore the art in the dimly lit environment, where you will also find numerous dripstones formed by the water. Let yourself be drawn into this special universe where the art exhibitions are inspired by the damp surroundings.
Location: Bag Søndermarken, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Open: Tuesday to Wednesday and Friday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm and Thursday from 11 am to 8 pm.
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photo by discosour (CC BY-SA 2.0) modified
The National Library Garden (Kongelige Biblioteks Have)
Find peace and quiet in this hidden gem in the centre of Copenhagen
Even though The National Library Garden (Kongelige Biblioteks Have) is smack in the middle of Copenhagen, very few people know of this symmetrical garden, with paths and a basin with a water sculpture in its centre. This green oasis can be found behind Christiansborg at Slotsholmen, and at times, you might even be completely alone. You could even bump into a member of the Danish parliament or two while on a break. If you've seen the TV series Borgen, then you have certainly seen Birgitte Nyborg meet with political opponents here.
Sit down on a bench, enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, and listen to the splashing of the water. The basin is a remnant of a time when there was a port at this site, namely Christian IV's naval port, Tøjhushavnen.
Location: Proviantpassagen 1, 1218 Copenhagen, Denmark
Open: Daily from 6 am to 10 pm.
Assistens Cemetery (Assistens Kirkegård)
Take a detour past this green haven with plenty of room for the living
Even though it is a cemetery, Assistens Cemetery (Assistens Kirkegård) is also many other things: a park, a getaway and a quiet oasis in the middle of a bustling city. Right in Inner Nørrebro, 20 minutes' walk from Nørreport in the centre, you can find this green spot, which is an important part of local life.
Join the numerous Copenhageners who are out walking or biking through the cemetery, whether on their way to a destination or just out for a walk with the pram or taking a break on a bench or on the grass. The avenue, with its row of poplar trees, is beautiful in any season. Down the small paths, you can find gravestones of famous people like Natasja Saad, Søren Kierkegaard and Dan Turèll.
Location: Kapelvej 4, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Open: Every day from 7 am to 7 pm during the winter half of the year (October to March), and from 7 am to 10 pm in the summer half year (April to September).
photo by Ramblersen2 (CC BY-SA 4.0) modified
Canal Tour
See the Danish capital from the water, while sailing in the port and canals
Even though it may seem very touristy, a traditional canal tour is actually a beautiful and fun way to experience or re-experience Copenhagen from the water. Get in a boat, either at Ved Stranden, Holmens Kirke or Nyhavn in the city centre, where you can find different canal tour operators. You are welcome to bring drinks on board, so grab a cup of coffee or a beer for the trip, which takes about an hour.
If your passion is to explore the charming canals on your own, it is also possible to rent small boats and kayaks.
Location: Nyhavn, 1051 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Open: Tours start once or several times per hour, depending on the operator and the season.
Watch a performance on one of the oldest stages in Copenhagen
Folketeatret is one of Denmark's oldest theatres, and you can find it on Nørregade, near Nørreport Station. Back when the theatre was founded, only comedies, operettas and melodramas were allowed, as The Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) had a monopoly on drama. Today, there is greater artistic freedom, but the theatre maintains its popular approach to the art form and aims to present popular theatre in the truest meaning of the word.
The impressive entrance with its gold-painted canopy attracts attention from the street. Meanwhile, inside, in the beautiful, renovated foyer, the split staircase leads up to three stages, one of which is reserved for theatre for younger audiences.
Location: Nørregade 39, 1165 Copenhagen, Denmark
Open: The foyer opens 45 minutes before showtime, and showtimes vary with the individual performance.
photo by Orf3us (CC BY-SA 3.0) modified
Grundtvig's Church (Grundtvigs Kirke)
Explore an architectural church in the north-west part of Copenhagen
Grundtvig's Church (Grundtvigs Kirke) towers high above the surrounding area from its perch on Bispebjerg, one of the largest hills in the Danish capital. Even from afar, you can see the impressive organ-like tower, with its three segments, built from bright, yellow stones. The church was built to commemorate the priest, poet and political figure N.F.S. Grundtvig in the Nordvest district, 3 miles from the centre of Copenhagen. The interior of the church is also very special, with its gothic inspiration and impressive central arch, which extends 72 feet above the floor and is held in place by massive brick columns, each composed of around 30,000 stones.
This is why every year architecture students from all over the world come to visit, and Danish masonry students often drop by to take a closer look at the brick structure.
Location: På Bjerget 14B, 2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark
Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm, Thursday from 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday during winter time from 12 pm to 1 pm and in summertime from 12 pm to 4 pm.
Superkilen
Immerse yourself in Nørrebro's colourful DNA in this exciting park
Superkilen is a modern park built by the artist group Superflex, drawing inspiration from the local population, which spans more than 50 nationalities. The first section of the park is Den Røde Plads, which borders Nørrebrogade in Outer Nørrebro, about half an hour's walk from Nørreport. Red is the dominant colour here, and you can find benches, play areas and access to a library and sports facility.
Adjacent to this, you can find Den Sorte Plads, which is popular among Instagram users with its Moroccan fountain and stone chess tables, followed by Den Grønne Park. Across the entire park, you will find 99 objects from 59 countries, which are either copied or brought to Nørrebro from the countries of origin. For example, there are neon signs, murals and rubbish bins.
Location: Nørregade 210, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
The Hirschsprung Collection (Hirschsprungske Samling)
Come learn about Danish art from the 19th century at this cosy museum
The Hirschsprung Collection (Hirschsprungske Samling) is perhaps one of Copenhagen's lesser known museums, standing somewhat in the shadow of its neighbour, The National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), which is also in Øster Anlæg close to Nørreport. Nonetheless, in the intimate rooms of this classic building, you can find Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century, including some of the most important female artists, such as Anna Ancher, Agnes Slott-Møller, Marie Krøyer and other Skagen Painters.
P.S. Krøyer was a friend of the Hirschsprung family, and similarly, Heinrich Hirschprung acted as patron for a number of other contemporary artists.
Location: Stockholmsgade 20, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Open: Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm and the last Thursday of the month until 8 pm.
photo by Daderot (CC0 1.0) modified
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It had been nearly eight years since Randy Okutsu had visited the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, named in honor of his late father, World War II Medal of Honor recipient Yukio Okutsu. In November 2007, the 95-bed long-term care facility overlooking Hilo town was officially dedicated. At that same ceremony, Randy's mother, Elaine, who was still alive at the time, accepted the Medal of Honor flag on behalf of her husband, who died in 2003 at the age of 81.
In the years since then, Randy had driven past the facility on Waiänuenue Avenue countless times and knew of people who had spent the last years of their lives at the home. But tending to the needs of his aging mother, who passed away in April of 2013, and his own children — and now his grandchildren — led him to put a return visit on the backburner . . . until this past 4th of July weekend, when some 60 members of his father's family converged on the Big Island for a four-day reunion at the Kïlauea Military Camp.
They came from near and far — from Hilo, O'ahu, California, even Kansas and Nebraska. It had been 15 years since the last reunion of the Okutsu 'ohana. That year, they gathered in the family's hometown, Köloa, Kaua'i, where "Yuki," the fourth of 10 children, was born and raised. Of the 10, only three siblings survive, and only one, soon-to-be-91-years-old Margie Shinn of Pearl City, made it to this year's reunion.
"One of my cousins decided to plan something because everybody is getting older and the last reunion was such a long time ago . . . just to get reacquainted," said Randy, a retired Hawai'i County firefighter and emergency medical technician, in a phone interview from Hilo. His older brother lives overseas and was not able to attend the reunion.
Randy, now 58, said they spent lots of time reminiscing and talking story and learning "things that you never knew you would ask or have a chance to ask, like how did a girl from Köloa end up in Nebraska?" he said, laughing.
Margie Shinn, Yukio Okutsu's only surviving sister, reaches up to touch the case containing her older brother's Medal of Honor.
"They hadn't seen the veterans home and so they thought it was a nice time to have everybody see it," said Randy, who himself was excited about seeing the facility after all these years — and, this time, with veterans actually residing in the home. When the facility was dedicated in 2007, it was brand new and had yet to accept residents.
He said he feels good to know that his father's namesake is providing good care for his fellow veterans. "Yeah, it does. It really does," he said.
In 1943, Yukio Okutsu had volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team from Köloa. He was assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion. The men with whom he trained and served, many of them from Hilo, became his closest friends and his lifelong buddies. When they returned to Hawai'i after the war, Yuki decided to make his home in Hilo, where he would be close to his friends. Those friendships lasted the rest of his life.
A photo of Yukio Okutsu with his Medal of Honor draped around his neck, along with his actual medal and citation are displayed on a wall in the lobby — a tribute to the man for whom the facility is named.
Of all the places they visited and activities they took part in, Shigemasa said the tour of the Okutsu Home was the "highlight." "We were totally taken aback by their reception. My mom (Margie Shinn) was overwhelmed with emotion," she said.
The family spent about 90 minutes touring the facility, which is Hawai'i's only state-owned veterans home. The Okutsu Home is managed by the Hawai'i Health Systems Corporation and operated by Avalon Health Care Inc., a private contractor. Residents must be either a veteran or their spouse, or the gold star parent of a service member who was killed in action.
Because there were so many in the Okutsu clan, from elderly Nisei to young children like Randy's four grandchildren, ages 6 and 4, the group was divided into smaller groups for the tour.
Randy's grandkids never knew their great-grandfather. And they're too young to understand his wartime acts of courage and bravery, including his action on Mt. Belvedere in Italy in April 1945, which earned him the Medal of Honor. But that's not the kind of accomplishment Yuki Okutsu would have told them about it — that wasn't his style.
But Randy's four children are old enough to have known their grandfather and were in Washington, D.C., in 2000 to see President Bill Clinton place the Medal of Honor around his neck.


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Impress your guests with elegance and style while adding fun to any occasion. A sweet cascade of chocolate for dipping fruit, cookies, cakes or anything to satisfy a sweet tooth.
Tips on using your chocolate fountain from Sephra.
Getting a steady stream of chocolate.
Adding colour to your chocolate fountain.


text:
Jozef Gönci (ur. 18 marca 1974), słowacki strzelec sportowy. Dwukrotny medalista olimpijski.

Specjalizuje się w strzelaniu karabinowym. Brał udział w czterech igrzyskach (IO 96, IO 00, IO 04, IO 08), na dwóch zdobywał medale. W 1996 zajął trzecie miejsce w strzelaniu z karabinku małokalibrowego w pozycji leżącej (50 m), w 2004 ponownie zdobył brązowy medal, tym razem na dystansie 10 m (k. pneumatyczny). Stawał na podium mistrzostw świata, zarówno w konkurencjach indywidualnych jak i drużynowych. Był m.in. indywidualnym mistrzem (trzy pozycje, 50 m) i wicemistrzem globu w 1998 (k. pneumatyczny, 10 m).

Przypisy

Słowaccy strzelcy
Słowaccy medaliści olimpijscy
Medaliści Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich 1996
Medaliści Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich 2004
Strzelcy na Letnich Igrzyskach Olimpijskich 2004
Ludzie urodzeni w Koszycach
Urodzeni w 1974

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Thanks Cutyes and Bruno, this was exactly the problem!
No update recently. So I still can't get it to work. Literally nothing happens when I select Marquee. A few people have told me Marquee is no longer being supported or phased out. I don't know. Is there any truth to that? And if anyone has any other suggestions in getting Marquee to work?
[quote user="camoscato"]In reality, if you'd put your system specifications in your post or add them to your profile, then it wouldn't have mattered where you posted. [/quote] Thanks I've updated my specs now.


text:
Breath of Fire IV (PlayStation)
Capcom Entertainment, Inc.
PlayStation 3, PSP, PS Vita, Windows | Combined View
Role-Playing (RPG)
Japanese-style RPG (JRPG)
Written by : Bregalad (972)
Written on : Dec 25, 2020
Platform : PlayStation
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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A letdown
Breath of Fire IV is the fourth entry in the Breath of Fire series, and the second on the PlayStation coming after two SNES games and one Playstation game. I had played the three prequels before playing the game.
As in the previous games, the game is a typical JRPG where you conduct a party with Ryu a dragon in human form, Nina a winged person and a party of anthropomorphic animals around the world to save it from evil.
Even though the game is overall a letdown from its predecessors, there's still good things to tell about it. A good thing is that the game has more 3D content than it's immediate predecessor, and the world to explore is a bit larger. Another good thing is that they kept how the overworld function from Breath of Fire III, meaning it's quick and easy to backtrack to different locations.
Even though the story is not very interesting, there's at least a few plot twists. The game features at a certain point Pukapukas, amazing little creatures. I loved them, because they're very cute.
Graphics quality were significantly improved since Breath of Fire III and the FMV opening is stunning.
Another very cool thing is the alternation between the "main" quests where you control Ryu, Nina and their friends, and the "sub" quests where you control the emperor Fou-Lu who seems to take place in the asian middles ages. This was probably inspired by the alternation between Squall and Laguna in Final Fantasy VIII and this works particularly well. The parts with Fou-Lu tend to be more interesting than the parts with Ryu and his party, as Fou-Lu himself is a real badass character.
I liked it's possible to use the entire party in battle simultaneously. Even though only 3 party members are active, and the others are passive, each round active members can be switched easily without any penalty, which opens the opportunity of dynamic battles despite a very traditional round-based battle system. The party members will always do the action in the order you select them, so this allows for some strategy, such as doing healing spells first. Sometimes even passive members can help by doing counter-attacks or will automatically heal the party. It's possible for active members to heal passive members, but it's impossible for the enemy to hurt passive members in the back. As such when a party member is wounded it's simple to take him in the back and heal him later.
The dragon system, traditionally different in each game of the series, is pretty good in this one. You have to first meet with the "masters", so you can turn into various dragons. In dragon form you control the dragon as any party member, and can do very powerful attacks, but your Mana will slowly drop. It's efficient, fun to use and much needed against most later bosses. Another thing I liked is that the party is more balanced than in both Breath of Fire II and Breath of Fire III, despite some party members still being more useful than others.
Even though this time, unlike in Breath of Fire III, the camera can actually be rotated and the playfield is actually in 3D, it is easy to get lost, especially in cities. It is also easy to miss treasure because it's in a blind spot, or, less conveniently, miss doors that leads to the next big event of the story, which is needed to continue the game.
They reintroduced the context/screen change between field and battle, which was abolished in Breath of Fire III. I find this is a significant step backwards.
They kept the hard-to-use system from Breath of Fire III, where party members should chose a "teacher" among the NPCs, and met him regularly to gain skills. This is so annoying to use you're almost better of ignoring it completely, which doesn't prevent beating the game.
The music is a very poor overall. Even though there's a few decent songs, like the overworld theme, and some ok-sounding asian-themed music, played mostly during Fou-Lu's moments. Other than that, the music is very annoying. The battle theme and most boss themes are just bad, and many areas and villages have bad music as well. Some people will say it's good it doesn't sound like typical JRPG music and is more original, however since most JRPGs usually have great soundtracks, departing from this tradition is a bad things in my point of view.
There's a ton, and I mean really a ton of absolutely horrendous and annoying minigames which are obligatory to progress in the story. I only remember an annoying ship minigame in Breath of Fire III, here it's the same but made 10x worse. Be prepared for frustration.
The fishing system is totally deficient. I couldn't ever catch any fish, and unfortunately there's places in the storyline where you're supposed to do it. Fortunately there's still a workaround, so I could finish the entire game without ever catching any fish at all.
There's an entire world made of a fairy minigame, that looks so bland and uninteresting I didn't even want to get into it. However if you're the kind of player who's into spending hours in minigames, there's the opportunity to.
The storyline is mostly bland and uninteresting. There's one or two interesting plot twists, other than that it's the very standard world exploration without any real goals other than "discover the true nature of Ryu". Basically it's a recycling of the story from Breath of Fire III minus the interesting parts and minus the time elapsing thing. Thanks god Fou-Lu saves the day on this one with his interesting parts.
Breath of Fire IV is a letdown from the previous 3 games. Even though it has it's moments, only fan of the series need to play it, other players can easily pass this one up and spend their time on better JRPGs instead. Let's hope it's sequel Breath of Fire V, which stand on my shelf for 20 years and I still haven't played, reserves me a better surprise.
Buy Breath of Fire IV
"Plebs are needed!"


text:
Interstices is the gallery's first monographic exhibition devoted to Martine Rey, a work entirely dedicated to Japanese urushi lacquer and an incursion into an "in-between" world.
from 24.03 to 22.05.22
9, Charlot Paris III
tue-sat 12:00 - 19:00
(sun. 22.05 / 14:00 - 18:00)
Over the water, floating worlds
Dormant writings
Heavenly landscapes
Developed in four stages, the exhibition retraces a creative process in which intimacies, memories, games, floating worlds and imaginary territories, celestial depths and artefacts are mixed and intertwined over the course of water, landscapes and writings, thanks to a skilful mastery of lacquer and the creation of a technique unheard of until now in the Levant: urushi nagashi – floating lacquer.
For more than 40 years, after her first stay in Japan during which she learned the ancestral art of urushi lacquer, the artist has been working to produce pieces that reflects her image, discreet, humanistic, deep, delicate, and which has made a technique and a material both a subject and her medium.
The sap taken from the bled tree is delicately transformed in her practice. Originally used in the decorative arts to cover porous surfaces with an ornamental varnish, Japanese lacquer finds a new use and releases a new language in Martine Rey's artistic gesture. In turn, it becomes a revelator, an ink and a balm.
With this fluid essential to life, she lets her thoughts and memories flow in order to reconstitute her roots, map existence, detect the invisible, punctuate history and dress the object that has been brought to the rank of relic. The narrative she composes is a journey, an incursion into an interstice, an in-between that is deciphered and written by the use of symbols, dreamed up, invented, brought to light, sacred. Thanks to lacquer, she thwarts the time that is paradoxically so long in the implementation of the material, she explores a singular and universal space, fed by multiple references.
From the East to the West, from the banks of the Nile to the coasts of Japan and the French mountains of Isère, between nature and culture, between work and object, Martine Rey's work surrenders to the poetry of its aesthetics and is covered in apparent simplicity. It nonetheless conceals a literate whole that sails between the territory of impermanence and the infinity of the horizon. A game of signs, tracks and galleries that projects the common and instinctive feeling of belonging to these floating, underground and celestial worlds.
© Yvonne Dumas Milne Edwards – Sinople – Anthony Girardi
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