text:
Mangrove Photography Awards 2022 Open for Entries
|In Uncategorized, MAP Update, MAP News
|By [email protected]
Mangrove Photography Awards 2022 Open
Mangrove Action Project has launched its eighth annual Mangrove Photography Awards this 24th June. The competition invites all photographers around the world to contribute their images to celebrate the beauty, diversity and fragility of mangrove forests and help inspire action to conserve them. Mangroves are simultaneously one of the world's most important ecosystems, and one of the most threatened. Although still considered by many as undervalued wastelands, your impactful images have the power to tell a very different story!
The competition is FREE to enter and is open to EVERYONE; all photography beginners, enthusiasts and professionals around the world, of any age and level. Those who are 21 years old from or on 22nd July 2021, will enter the Youth Mangrove Photography Awards.
The competition opens for entries on 24th June 2022 at 9.00AM, BST, and closes at midnight on 22nd June, 2022, BST.
Head over to the Mangrove Photography Awards website, choose which categories you would like to enter, and submit up to 6 images into each category; except for Mangroves & Stories category which requires you to submit 6 images. You may enter as many categories as you wish. There are six categories that appeal to a range of interests and approaches, including a new category; Mangrove & Stories, which showcases a photographer's portfolio of work illustrating a commitment towards conservation and a powerful story about our mangroves.
ENTER Mangrove Photography Awards 2022
The Mangrove Photography Awards offers everyone the opportunity to raise their voices for the protection of one of our most critical and undervalued ecosystems. All submissions will be part of a global online exhibition on July 26th, to celebrate World Mangrove Day. There are more prizes this year including a $500 grand prize for the overall winner. Your work will be viewed and and judged this year by some exciting experts in the field; Beverly Joubert, Dhritiman Mukherjee, Bertie Gregory, Nadia Aly and Octavio Aburto.
Last year's competition received over a thousand entries with some unique images showing the underwater world of mangroves, magnificent and endangered wildlife, fly-over aerials, and a passion to protect and restore these vital ecosystems. The Mangrove Photography Awards gives us a fascinating insight into the world of mangroves from all corners of the earth. We invite you to come and get involved. More information on the free competition can be found here.
CLICK HERE - Check out last year's Winners


text:
FBI has accessed San Bernardino shooter's phone without Apple's help
from washington post
(Kiichiro Sato/AP)
By Matt Zapotosky March 28 at 8:04 PM
The Justice Department is abandoning its bid to force Apple to help it unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack because investigators have found a way in without the tech giant's assistance, prosecutors wrote in a court filing Monday.
In a three-sentence filing, prosecutors wrote they had "now successfully accessed the data" stored on Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone, and they consequently no longer needed Apple's court-ordered help getting in. The stunning move averts a courtroom showdown pitting Apple and privacy interests against the government and security concerns that many in the tech community had warned might set dangerous precedents.
[Read the government's court filing]
It is unclear how, precisely, investigators got into the phone, or what FBI agents learned about the San Bernardino plot from the materials they were able to review. On the eve of a hearing in the case last week, the FBI hadsignaled it might have found a way into Farook's device, writing in a court filing that "an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method." But government officials said they wanted to test that method further before employing it in Farook's case, and they did not offer details about who proposed it or how it would work.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Monday. Apple said it was still formulating a response to the news and had no immediate comment.
The government will now be left to decide whether it will outline the method to Apple in keeping with a little-known process in which federal officials are supposed to consider disclosing security vulnerabilities they find.
Michael Daniel, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator, wrote in a White House blog post published in April 2014, that "disclosing vulnerabilities usually makes sense," given how much people rely on the Internet and connected devices.
"But there are legitimate pros and cons to the decision to disclose, and the trade-offs between prompt disclosure and withholding knowledge of some vulnerabilities for a limited time can have significant consequences," Daniel wrote. "Disclosing a vulnerability can mean that we forego an opportunity to collect crucial intelligence that could thwart a terrorist attack stop the theft of our nation's intellectual property, or even discover more dangerous vulnerabilities that are being used by hackers or other adversaries to exploit our networks."
Agents and prosecutors were focused for now on the San Bernardino case, and no decision had yet been made on disclosing the vulnerability, said a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Mark Bartholomew, a professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School who specializes in intellectual property and technology law, said he expected Apple would fight to learn about it so they could fix the problem.
"They're going to pursue this in the courts, and I don't know where this will end up," Bartholomew said.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were killed in a shootout with police after they launched a deadly attack that killed 14 people at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., in December. Prosecutors have said their neighbor, Enrique Marquez Jr., was also involved in terrorist plots and had discussed with Farook possibly targeting a nearby community college and highway. He is facing charges in federal court.
The bid to access Farook's phone was meant to further the FBI's investigation, thought it was controversial from the start. The Justice Department obtained a court order compelling Apple's assistance under the All Writs Act, a centuries old law that gives courts the power to "issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law."
If allowed to stand, the order in Apple's case would have forced company engineers to create software to disable a phone security feature so that the FBI could try its hand at unlocking the device by cracking a numeric password. Apple quickly resisted, though, arguing that forcing it to create such software would violate the company's constitutional rights and weaken privacy for users around the world.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI had sought to characterize the dispute as limited to only Farook's phone, though FBI director James Comey acknowledged that it could set a precedent if the government won. They argued that Apple, which creates its own software, was the only party that was in a position to help.
Monday's filing squarely contradicts that claim — though federal authorities have said someone came forward with the new technique came only after the FBI began its high-profile legal battle with Apple. Neither side backed down from their core arguments, though with Monday's filing, a legal resolution will remain on hold. That means it might take another case to determine to what extent the All Writs Act permits a court to order a company to provide technical assistance in unlocking encrypted devices.
Aaron Levie, co-founder and chief executive of cloud computing company Box, Inc., which filed a legal brief supporting Apple's case, said he didn't see a winner in the FBI's decision to withdraw the case. "I can't anoint any winner," he said in an interview. "This entire experience has brought to the fore a much bigger problem that remains unresolved."
Bartholomew, the law professor, said Congress might even be spurred to weigh in.
The technique the government found to get into the phone, though, might see immediate re-use. In a court filing last week, Apple told a federal judge that if the solution worked, it wanted to see if it could also be used to unlock an iPhone used by a drug dealer in a Brooklyn case and eliminate the need for the company's help there. Notably, the two phones run on different operating systems — Farook's on a newer iOS 9 and the drug dealer's on an older iOS 7. And Apple has previously extracted data from locked phones running older operating systems.
A federal official said the new technique, so far, has only been demonstrated to work on iOS 9, though Apple has said in previous court filings that it would like to test that claim.
Elizabeth Dwoskin and Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.
Matt Zapotosky covers the Justice Department for the Washington Post's National Security team.
A neuroscientist explains why artificially intelli...
A very pretty girl
Cheeseurger in Paradise
FBI has accessed San Bernardino shooter's phone wi...
Happy Easter Everyone The 9th Cicuit Courl o...
For Jessica
Truth Justice and the American way,, Ha !
This Needs to be repeated over and over again
Comedian Garry Shandling Dies at 66
This is not America or the one I was taught about
Why security experts called Donald Trump's respons...
Elizabeth Warren: Donald Trump is a 'loser'
My Favorite 5 minuites of Rock History
Save the Sunlight = A love song
Kimberly Walk
Sinatra Family: Frank Sinatra Jr. Has Died
This Elizabeth Warren Takedown Of Donald Trump Is ...
Albert's Birthday - March 14 1879
The Nature of Consciousness
Frank at his best
March 6, 2016 MARCH 6, 2003 - Continued from F...
Nancy Reagan Passing at 94
I am an amateur Sociobiologist
Tell me Why 1961
High Court Stumped

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
by Len Barry
Len Barry (born Leonard Borisoff, June 12, 1942, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is a retired American vocalist, songwriter and record producer.
1-2-3, oh, that's how elementary it's gonna be
C'mon, let's fall in love, it's easy (it's so easy)
Like takin' candy (like takin' candy) from a baby
A-B-C (A-B-C) fallin' in love with you was easy for me (easy for me)
And you can do it, too, it's easy (it's so easy)
Baby, there's nothin' hard about love
Basically, it's as easy as pie
The hard part is livin' without love
Without your love, baby, I would die
It's easy (it's so easy)
Like takin' candy (like takin' candy) from a baby, yay
One and one are two (one and one are two)
I know you love me and oh,oh, how I love you (how I love you)
Don't try to fight it 'cause it's easy (it's so easy)
1-2-3 (1-2-3) oh, that's how elementary it's gonna be (it's gonna be)
C'mon, let's fall in love, it's easy (1-2-3)
Oh, that's how elementary
Written by: LEONARD BORISOFF, DAVID WHITE, JOHN MADARA
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
© Lyrics.com


No chance of early release from prison for Konrad Voits, the ex-hacker who hacked into the Washtenaw County Jail to secure the early release of at least one inmate. Voits pled guilty to the federal crime of hacking into a protected computer and is not set to serve a seven-year sentence in prison.
Voits used a fake website ewashtenavv.org instead of the official website at ewashtenaw.org and successfully convinced country officials to visit the fake site. This allowed Voits to install malware onto computers in the IT department eventually gaining him access to the entire system. Voits was able to access over 1600 personal addresses, search warrants, and the capability to alter jail records to secure the early release of prisoners.
It was not any sophisticated anti-hacking software that alerted officials to the breach of cyber security at the county offices though. Cross checking release details of inmates against paper records alerted officials to the discrepancy which led to the involvement of the FBI and the eventual arrest of Voits.
Unfortunately, to gain access to a system, malware must be physically installed on a device. This usually signifies a level of human involvement, to a greater or lesser degree our systems are only as secure as the people using them. A simple one-character change in a web address allowed Voits access to thousands of records. Many individuals are also at risk of hacking attacks and malware intrusions via links sent in emails, od social media and via messaging apps on cellphones. The best way to avoid security loopholes in systems is to remain vigilant, check all links that are visited to make sure they are directing to the correct site and don't click on anything (link, image or video) that is unknown. For businesses this means having a strict code of online conduct for all employees.


CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Housing Secretary Ben Carson says his latest proposal to raise rents would mean a path toward self-sufficiency for millions of low-income households across the United States by pushing more people to find work. For Ebony Morris and her four small children, it could mean homelessness.
Overall, the analysis shows that in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, low-income tenants - many of whom have jobs - would have to pay roughly 20 percent more each year for rent under the plan. That rent increase is about six times greater than the growth in average hourly earnings, putting the poorest workers at an increased risk of homelessness because wages simply haven't kept pace with housing expenses.
Melissa Maddox Evans, general counsel for the Charleston Housing Authority, said she believes the proposal is based on a faulty premise - that most tenants in public housing don't have jobs and that rent increases will incentivize work.


text:
A Timeline of Recent Attacks on the EPA's Science-based Ambient Air Pollution Standards
Photo: Eltiempo10/CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia)
Gretchen Goldman
Research Director, Center for Science & Democracy
Trump administration officials at the US Environmental Protection Agency have made several moves that undermine the longstanding process that the agency uses to ensure that independent science informs ambient air pollution standards.
For decades, under both democratic and republican administrations, the EPA has used the best available science and science advice to set air pollution standards at levels that protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, as the Clean Air Act requires. But now that process is under threat. Below is a timeline of actions the Trump administration has taken that upend this time-tested and science-based process for setting health-based air pollution standards.
31 October 2017: Pruitt Memo on Grants and Advisory Committees
Then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issues a memorandum banning scientists with current EPA research grants from serving on science advisory committees, while permitting individuals from regulated industries to continue to serve. The move forced several scientists on EPA's seven science advisory committees to either step down or give up grants they were awarded in order to continuing serving.
12 April 2018: Presidential Memorandum on NAAQS
Presidential Memorandum orders the EPA to make sweeping changes to implementation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), including requiring science advisors to consider non-scientific information, restricting the science that can be used in decisionmaking, and shifting responsibility to the states without increasing their resources.
9 May 2018: Pruitt Memo on NAAQS Process
Then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt follows the president's memorandum with his own, articulating details of how he will implement the orders at the agency. The Pruitt Memo announces that EPA will follow an expedited timeline for review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter and ozone, and that the kinds of scientific information EPA can use in its ambient air pollutant standard policy decisions may be restricted.
10 October 2018: PM Panel Disbanded
EPA leaders disband the Particulate Matter Review Panel and announce they will not convene an Ozone Review Panel, bodies of independent expertise that have informed air pollution standard reviews for decades. At the same time, EPA leaders replace the members of its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) largely from academic institutions with those from state and local regulatory agencies, led by an industry consultant.
11 April 2019: CASAC Lacks the Needed Expertise
In an unprecedented move, CASAC sends a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler acknowledging that the seven-member group needs additional expertise to adequately advise the agency on the particulate matter ambient air quality standard.
5 September 2019: PM Policy Assessment Released
The EPA Draft Policy Assessment for Particulate Matter is released. The document is inclusive of the risk assessment (which has been a separate document in recent history) and considers the agency's Integrated Science Assessment, which characterizes the state of the science on particulate matter and health and welfare effects. The Policy Assessment recommends that in order to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, as the Clean Air Act requires, the primary fine particulate matter standard should stay the same or be tightened.
13 September 2019: Consultants Appointed
Rather than appoint a Particulate Matter Review Panel as CASAC and the broader scientific community have asked, EPA leaders appoint a group of consultants to supplement the seven-member CASAC in its review of the particulate matter standards. The consultants will be available for a highly controlled Q&A process, where committee members' questions must be asked by the committee and answered by the consultants in advance of CASAC's meeting. Unlike the Particulate Matter Review Panel, the consultants will not be able to engage with the committee or with each other in real time and will not be able to deliberate on topics outside of the narrow questions they are posed.
18 September 2019: CASAC Meeting Structure Announced
The CASAC meeting to discuss the Policy Assessment for the Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards review is set for October 24 in North Carolina. In an atypical move, the meeting will detach public comments as a separate teleconference two days prior. One challenge with this structure is that public commenters may not have access to the committee members pre-meeting comments and agency briefing material. If all materials are not available by October 22, this would limit the ability of the public to make informed comments to CASAC and the EPA in their discussion of the particulate matter standards.
The administration intends to finish the ambient standard reviews for both particulate matter and ozone by the end of 2020. Stay tuned for new developments as EPA leaders strive to meet this tight timeline.
Posted in: Science and Democracy, Scientific Integrity
Tags: Clean Air Act, NAAQS, ozone, particulate matter
More from Gretchen
Gretchen Goldman is the research director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. For a decade, Dr. Goldman has led research efforts at the nexus of science and policy on topics including federal scientific integrity, fossil energy production, climate change, and environmental justice. Dr. Goldman has testified before Congress and currently sits on the board of the nonprofit 500 Women Scientists.
Three Signs of Progress on Environmental Justice
Anita Desikan
Phil Roeder/Flickr
Roundup: Worker Protections Weakened as Omicron Cases Soar
UCS Science Network
iStock.com/Ben Trussel
Highlights from the Historic White House Scientific Integrity Report
Jacob Carter


text:
June, 29
Arctic Monkeys play Glastonbury
The Arctic Monkeys thrilled Glastonbury festival-goers when they took to the Pyramid Stage as the Friday headliners.
The Sheffield rockers delighted the crowds with songs including Crying Lightning, as well as tracks from their new album, like She's Thunderstorms.
There was no surprise that I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor proved the biggest hit of the night, with dancing duly carried out by the tens of thousands who crammed into the field to see the set.
Kathleen Pavey, 17, from Bristol, said: "They've been really good at getting the crowd going - but we would have preferred to hear more of the older songs."
Rapper Dizzee Rascal had preceded the band, performing such crowd pleasers as Bonkers.
On the Other Stage, trip hop act Portishead headlined, the voice of Beth Orton providing a more relaxed and refined atmosphere than that at the frenetic Pyramid Stage.
Revellers staying up until the early hours were also being given the chance to see Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's Atoms For Peace performing a secret set that did not appear on the official line up.
One of the most eagerly awaited performances in Glastonbury Festival's history began with a bang.
A protest song written in celebration of the death of Margaret Thatcher was performed at Glastonbury Festival, just months after her demise.
Anticipation is building at Glastonbury ahead of legendary rockers The Rolling Stones' debut at the festival.
Carly Rae Jepsen has joined a host of stars including Katy Perry, Nicole Scherzinger and Kesha who cameo in Bonnie McKee's debut music video for her song American Girl.
Liam Gallagher swore he would never play Glastonbury again after headlining with Oasis nearly 10 years ago - but his band Beady Eye kicked off events at the 2013 festival.
Will.i.am says a trademark Pharrell's company tried to register is too similar to his I AM trademark.
Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger has admitted he finds his music career "intellectually undemanding" and said his original idea of becoming a teacher might have been…
Get Lucky by Daft Punk, the biggest-selling single of the year, has now joined a select group of songs to sell more than a million copies in the UK.
One Direction have seen off competition from Glastonbury headliners The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay to be be named the best live act at the Silver Clef Awards.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 all


text:
Home Business ALCOHOL LEVY TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY
ALCOHOL LEVY TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY
Francinah Baaitse
SOCIAL SCENE: Alcohol consumers
12 BDP constituencies and two opposition areas share P28 million
The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) constituencies have been allocated the largest share in the first phase of the distribution of the alcohol levy poverty eradication funds.
Parliament was told this week that 12 of the 14 constituencies that will receive the first allocation of the alcohol levy are under the BDP representation. The 14 constituencies include Barolong, Mahalapye East, Mahalapye West, Moshopa, Shoshong, Tswapong South, Kanye North, Gantsi North, Bobirwa, Mmadirare, South East South and Tonota South. The other two beneficiaries, which are under opposition parties include Ngwaketse West of the Botswana National Front and the South East South, which falls under the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD).
The constituencies are expected to share the P28 million of the P128 million reserved by the government under the alcohol levy poverty eradication programme for the year ending March 2012.
Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Patrick Masimolole said that beneficiaries from selected constituencies would be identified by social workers in collaboration with the village development committees."The process of identification of beneficiaries has started.
ASSISTANT MINISTER: Patrick Masimolole
The intent is to ensure that all constituencies benefit evenly in the rollout of the projects,"Masimolole explained.
The Minister further stated that the project has already begun in the South East and is to be rolled out to the rest of the constituencies following tender awards.
Masimolole was responding to a question by Ryna Makosha, Member of Parliament for Nata/Gweta constituency on Monday. The MP had wanted to know among others things, how the P28 million budget allocation for the poverty eradication project would be utilized. A whooping P258 858 251 31 was collected by the Alcohol levy fund in a single financial year of 2010/2011, the Assistant Minister of Health, Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri said. He however indicated that, P141 million of the total amount was remitted into the fund.
Part of the funds raised from the levy went to non-governmental organisations for public education and alcohol awareness and prevention activities, and government departments, which received P 17, 125,000.00 for various activities that included road safety awareness and alcohol prevention programmes in schools.
The alcohol levy however, continues to receive mixed reactions from different sections of society. Vusa Mabuza, a teacher at Selolwe Secondary School in Francistown argues that using the alcohol levy for poverty eradication does not solve any problem. "It rather impoverishes people who drink alcohol. We must understand that alcohol is a social beverage and it is also addictive. So people will always drink alcohol for as long as they can and if prices keep going up, families will continue to suffer as alcohol drinkers divert more money to beer from the family budget. This alcohol levy thing is costing us."
Another alcohol drinker, Nkobi Poloko, a construction labourer said he was not aware of the purpose of the alcohol levy before but now he appreciates it.. "When they started raising beer prices I decided to drink the cheaper home-made brews because I did not understand what the fuss was all about. But if it is about eradicating poverty then I do not have a problem, but Ill keep drinking what I can afford."
Madi a a tsitsibanya mmele,can't we be more creative on how we use it.Something sustainable to benefit everyone irrespective of which party they support.
"The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) constituencies have been allocated the largest share in the first phase of the distribution "
I personally dont believe that the poorest of the poor should be given money with "Strings Attached".
Is it a group of people (committee) that make the final decisions? How do they identify where it should go it . Do a group from the various areas make an application?
Correction to 3rd Paragraph
Is it a group of people (Commitee) that make the final decisions? How do they identify which area should receive it? Does a group of people from each area make an application and advise how it will be used?
Overall it is a good way of raising revenue and raising awareness on alcohol consumption
There is no breakdown of how much each area will receive and on how the monies will be spent
It should be monitored because if not the money will be abused


Accessible Students | Making the world more accessible : Does your Professor, Teacher, and/or Disability Center refuse provide you with Testing Accommodations?
Are you a disabled student with an old or new disability and have been refused testing accommodations from your professor, teacher, or even by the disability center itself? If so then this article will help you understand how to deal with testing accommodation refusals regardless of who is denying you this accommodation.
Being a disabled student for several years, I've ran into several barriers of which Teachers, Professors, and even Administrators refusing to give me adequate testing accommodations. Even to this stay I still experience the problem of refusal for testing accommodations as a graduate student. After sometime you eventually learn how to deal with these types of situations and how to go about obtaining your accommodations through the proper channels.
Ensure that you've registered with the disability center at your educational institution and that you've provided any necessary documentation proving you have a disability, even if your disability is obvious you should still provide documentation so that you can officially register at the disability center.
Ensure that you're aware of the disability centers policies and procedures regarding testing so that you can explain to your professor the procedure as to how to obtain your testing accommodations.
Once you have completed the above then you are eligible to ask for testing accommodations. We will go in detail on the above in another post since there is so much more you should do but those are the basic steps you should follow first.
All else fails you can always threaten to file a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights of the US. Under section Section 504 civil rights law (protection for people with disabilities against discrimination) they are legally required to accommodate you with your specific accommodations regardless of what they are or when they are given.
Next post I will post some scenarios I've encountered and along with a few tips as to how to approach the situation.


text:
Sonic Mania – XBOX360
Briefly after the game's announcement, the game developer company Renegade Kid offered to port the game over to the Nintendo 3DS.[13] However, on 29 August 2016, Renegade Kid announced that the studio would be closed and split to two separate… Read More »
Sonic Forces – XBOX360
Sonic Forces[5] (ソニックフォース Sonikku fōsu?) is an upcoming platform video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. It is scheduled to be released during Q4 2017 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4… Read More »
Shock Tactics – Xbox360
Aggressive Tactics: Always drop right into the action and bring the fight to the enemy before he can reinforce his positions. Play fast tactical assaults on time sensitive objectives and stay in full control. Hostile Planet: The procedurally generated world… Read More »
Shiness The Lightning Kingdom – Xbox360
An amazingly fresh game that is different than anything else you've ever played. Shiness feels like a combination between Ocarina of Time and Tekken in its mix up between combat and adventure. The cartoon style and bright colors makes for… Read More »
Shadow Warrior 2 – Xbox360
Five years have passed since Lo Wang shattered the alliance between his deceitful former boss and the ancient gods of the shadow realm. Despite noble intentions, Lo Wang's efforts to annihilate the darkness corrupted the world, creating a strange and… Read More »
Constructor – Xbox360
Originally launched in 1997, Constructor sold over 5 million copies worldwide, then famously launched on the original PlayStation One which was emulated on PSN as a downloadable PS One classic. Constructor sets players as budding property tycoons, who must take… Read More »
Cities Skylines – Xbox360
Players start with a plot of land – equivalent to a 2-by-2-kilometre (1.2 mi × 1.2 mi) area[1] – along with an interchange exit from a nearby motorway, as well as a starting amount of in-game money. The player proceeds… Read More »
Birthdays The Beginning – Xbox360
Birthdays The Beginning [official site] is a new project, releasing 7 March (that's the NA release, EU will be 10 March), by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada. It has been nagging at the edges of my gaming radar for a… Read More »
Away Journey to the Unexpected – Xbox360
AWAY is a colorful first person adventure game that combines action and negotiation mixed in a rogue-lite environment! Progress through the story and, level by level, choose your path and recruit allies. All the strange characters you will meet in-game… Read More »
Arms – XBOX360
Fight via simple motion and button controls – Grab onto your Joy-Con with a unique "thumbs-up" grip and use simple motions and button presses to outthink your opponent. Toss and curve punches when you find an opening, and dodge a… Read More »
Arms – XBOX360 by Torrents Games


text:
Oman Region
Etihad Airways commences daily Vietnam flights
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), today launched daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Today's inaugural flight – EY441 – has historic significance as the first ever commercial passenger service between Abu Dhabi and Vietnam's commercial capital.
Travellers between Abu Dhabi and Ho Chi Minh City can now enjoy the convenience of non-stop flights between the city pair with seamless connections to the airline's global flight network.
Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan said the new Ho Chi Minh City flights would meet strong demand for business and leisure travel and cargo services between Vietnam and the UAE, the Middle East and Europe.
"Vietnam is not only the 13th most populous nation, it is also one of the world's fastest growing economies. Its commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City, is a gateway for millions of Vietnamese international travellers and a busy trading hub.
"Our daily services will inject approximately 3,700 new seats a week into the route. This will intensify competition among airlines for business, leisure and VFR travel from Vietnam to Europe and help boost visitor traffic to the UAE and GCC.
"From an inbound perspective, we are now well-positioned to offer travellers from Middle East and Europe the convenience of non-stop or one-stop flights to Vietnam, which is becoming one of the world's most popular holiday travel destinations.
"We look forward to working with our stakeholders in Vietnam and abroad to bring more international visitors to Vietnam to experience its history, culture and unique character."
Mr Hogan also highlighted the revenue potential of the new services to Vietnam for the airline's highly successful freight division, Etihad Cargo.
"The United Arab Emirates is Vietnam's seventh largest trading partner and its largest in the Gulf region.
"In 2012, exports from Vietnam to the UAE exceeded US$2 billion for the first time – up 82 per cent on 2011 – and forecast to exceed US$4 billion in 2013.
"The 13.1 tonne bellyhold capacity of our Airbus A330- 200 aircraft, which equates to more than 9,500 tonnes per year, gives us sufficient capacity to boost the volume and value of trade between the UAE and Vietnam and to other markets in the GCC, Europe and North America."
Mr Hogan said he hoped the new services would also help support the UAE government's investment in infrastructure, energy, construction and tourism projects in Vietnam – with a current value of more than US$3 billion – and encourage further such ventures in the future.
The Abu Dhabi-Ho Chi Minh City flights are operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 22 seats in Pearl Business Class and 240 in Coral Economy Class.
With the launch of Etihad Airways' Vietnam flights, its codeshare partner, Vietnam Airlines, will place its VN code on the Abu Dhabi-Ho Chi Minh City sector. This extends the scope of the airlines' current codeshare agreement.
Etihad Airways already has its EY code on Vietnam Airlines' flights from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam Airlines has its VN code on Etihad Airways' flights from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi and luxury coach services from Abu Dhabi International Airport to Dubai.


text:
Home News Obama Helps Dedicate Ron Brown Building in NYC
Obama Helps Dedicate Ron Brown Building in NYC
President Barack Obama paid tribute Tuesday to the memory of Ron Brown, a Democratic trailblazer who broke racial barriers and who Obama says helped make his own presidency possible.
Brown was the first black to serve as chairman of the Democratic Party. He helped Bill Clinton win the presidency in 1992 and Clinton, in turn, made Brown the nation's first black commerce secretary.
Brown was killed nearly 15 years ago when the plane he was a passenger in crashed on April 3, 1996, while he was leading a trade mission to the former Yugoslavia.
At the dedication ceremony for a federal building named for Brown, Obama told a largely Democratic audience of Brown's family, friends and associates ? including Clinton ? that, while he didn't know Brown personally, he knew Brown's "quintessentially American story" and drew inspiration from it.
"And so when you say he'd be proud that I'm president, I think it's fair to say that I'm president in part because of him," Obama said. "He carved out that path for so many of us."
"He lived that American creed that if you work hard enough, if you're willing to put your shoulders to the wheel, there is nothing you cannot do," Obama said.
The Ronald H. Brown United States Mission to the United Nations Building will be the new home for the U.S. delegation to the U.N.
Federal student loan payment pause is coming to an end
Usher's New Look Hosts Its High-Impact "Disruptivator Summit"
COVID-19: Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Wall Street Project Economic Summit Addresses Diversity in Tech, Intel Pledges...
Toyota Increases Production in China


In 1937 Tove Ditlevsen first had a poem published. The poem can be read as an allegory of her writing career, which was to produce one of the most significant bodies of work written by a woman in the Danish post-war period. Underneath the extremely simple surface, the poem anticipates recurring themes such as female identity, memory, and creativity. Loss of childhood, and especially of the symbiotic relationship to the mother, is the foundation of Tove Ditlevsen's melancholy poetics.Her writing is one long memory process, first in the form of fiction, but gradually also in essays with an autobiographical reference point and in essayistic fragments of memory, until she published her autobiographical works proper. Once the autobiographical material had been exhausted and all the key characters in her childhood universe – her mother, her father, and her brother – were dead and her husband had left her, Tove Ditlevsen ended her life as she had presaged.
Ingeborg Stuckenberg saw Johannes Jørgensen's, Helge Rode's, and Viggo Stuckenberg's renouncement of the Modern Breakthrough as a betrayal of everything they had believed in and fought for. She had inspired, critiqued, composed music for her friends' poems, and written texts for her husband's literary output. And yet she had no opportunity for countering their deceit. No, she would not be muse, not priestess, not Valkyrie for others – she would be her own soldier.She saw no prospect of being this in turn-of-the-century Denmark. In the spring of 1903, she left everything behind, went to Bremen, and boarded an emigrant ship bound for New Zealand. The following year, on 12 August 1904, she committed suicide, thirty-eight years old.
Icelandic writer Ásta Sigurðardóttir had a fondness for self-presentation that took her contemporaries' breath away. All her short stories reflect a tension between, on the one hand, the longing for normality, security, and bourgeois acceptance and, on the other hand, rebellion, a need for freedom, and a deep-seated rejection of bourgeois values.She loved to perform, but no-one else should write her roles for her. Journeying is a recurrent motif in Ásta Sigurðardóttir's texts, and her characters are alone, in both a physical and an existential sense. Her late texts lack the intensity that characterised her first short stories. The pride, the self-assertion, the queenly arrogance are gone. The gaze is dull, self-hatred is dominant. There is no longer anything worth describing.
Adda Ravnkilde's slender body of work stands out in the topography of women's literature as a landmark of 'something good and important' – and also of fictionalisation and randomisation. Her life and work manifest a concentration of the optimistic urge towards breaking through, reaching that which is real – the real speech, the true personality.Adda Ravnkilde was equipped with antennas that were able to pick up these zeitgeist signals, and this was probably for the most part because she was an outsider; unprepared as she was for modern city life, modernity hit her as a sexual bewilderment. Opposites merged in her body and writing: the provinces versus the city, purposefulness versus chance, realism versus Romanticism.She took her own life at the age of twenty-one, but before that she had managed to experience thwarted desire, departure from the paternal home, and an artistic breakthrough. The latter, however, she did not live to see; her works were not published until a year after her death.
Although Swedish writer Victoria Benedictsson is uncompromising in her repudiation of the advocates of 'free love', she is herself a true Modern Breakthrough author. She does not shy away from addressing the most forbidden issues. It is not the ideas of the time but the conditions of the body in the new morality that increasingly becomes her great theme. The body becomes her instrument and artistic barometer, and she minutely registers its signals. The experiment is risky and requires her to aim at the foremost advocate of the Modern Breakthrough in Denmark, Georg Brandes. Stora boken (The Big Book), her posthumously published diary, details the fateful encounter. Victoria Benedictsson takes one step further than her female colleagues when she points out the price to be paid for the period's 'free love', namely the obliteration of female desire and the destruction of the female body. In her zeal for truth, as a 'modern' author, she overlooks the patriarchal resistance. Stora boken is a unique documentation of the historical moment when the female object becomes a subject and, threatened with extermination, begins to speak. For this insight and for this work of art, Victoria Benedictsson paid with her life.
The Swedish author Victoria Benedictsson felt like "a pariah, a mangy dog". Before she settled on the pseudonym Ernst Ahlgren, she had long vacillated between the alternatives 'Tardif', the tardy, and 'O. Twist', the unwelcome. Her authorship is based on this conflict of identity. "I am a woman. But I am an author – am I not, then, something of a man as well?", she wonders in 1888. Her own life was short and ended tragically.But for a period of a few years in the middle of the 1880s she was astonishingly productive. Her works spoke to the core of the morality controversy's debate over female identity. Her intellectual vitality during this short period stands in contrast to the image of a sickly, doomed person, which has dominated her posthumous reputation.


The arrival of October can only mean one thing! No, not Christmas as in the case of Jackpotjoy's recent Super Santa Hamper's promo. It actually means it'll soon be Halloween. Now Halloween has rapidly become a massive money spinner for retailers and it's perhaps no surprise that bingo brands are after similar success.
We're expecting to see plenty of Halloween themed promos and puns over the next few weeks, but Tasty Bingo have been quick out of the starting blocks. They're already offering tickets for sale for their three £666 jackpot games that will play daily between the 29th and 31st October.
These Haunted Jackpot games will take place in Creepy Kitchen, the Spooky Study and the Ghostly Hall! Tickets for each game cost just 6p each and whilst the pot is the same (£666) the prize distribution varies. The first game on the 29th October at 8.30pm, for example, is a 90 ball one with £50 for one line, £100 for two lines and £400 for the full house. £116 will be shared by players on 1TG.
On 30th October it's a 75 ball game in The Spooky Study. This has a full house prize of £555 whilst the remainder, £111, is split among the 1TG players. The final game on Halloween itself takes place in The Creepy Kitchen. This is another 90 ball game but the prize split is £66 for one line, £100 for two lines and £500 for the full house. There are no 1TG treats available on that night. All three games play at 8.30pm.
Sadly this game isn't exclusive to Tasty Bingo. It's a shared game and it will also feature on Posh Bingo, Red Bus Bingo, Bingo Street and Bingo Loft. You're welcome to purchase cards at all sites but note that there's only one prize pot across all of them.


text:
Altranstädtski mir je bil sklenjen med švedskim kraljem Karlom XII. in volilnim knezom Saške Avgustom II 24. septembra 1706 v gradu Altranstädt blizu Leipziga.

Pogajanja
Po vojaškem porazu v bitki pri Fraustadtu in potem, ko je švedska vojska zasedla Saško, je morala volilna kneževina Saška po samo 14 dneh pogajanj podpisati Altranstädtski diktat. Saška ni imela kaj veliko možnosti pogajati se, ker je Karl XII. kot nespremenljivo pogajalsko izhodišče postavil zahtevo, da se Wettini odpovedo poljski kroni. Pogodbo so tisti dan podpisali Carl Piper in Olof Hermelin za Švedsko, za saške pogajalce pa predsednik zbornice Anton Albrecht Freiherr von Imhoff, tajni svetnik Johann Friedrich von Eckardt in tajni pripravnik Ernst G. von Pentecost. V dodatnem protokolu so zagotovili, da bo Avgust II v roku šestih mesecev priznal pogodbo.

Avgust prizna sporazum
Avgust II., ki so ga na Poljsko priklepali tekoči boji, je šele oktobra zvedel za vsebino zanj tako neugodne pogodbe. V nasprotju z določbami premirja je 29. Oktobra skupaj z Rusijo premaga Švede v bitki pri Kalischu in v manifestu 19. novembra sklenjenemu premirju odrekel kakršnokoli pravno veljavo. Vendar pa Avgust II od drugih dvorov po Evropi ni dobil podpore. 1. Decembra 1706 sta se Karl XII. in Avgust II srečala v Günthersdorfu (blizu Altranstädta). Karel XII je bil nepopustljiv, prisilil je Avgusta II., da je 19. januarja 1707 pogodbo priznal s svojim podpisom. Za pogodbo so jamčile Prusija in pomorski sili Velika Britanija in Nizozemska.  S tem se je za zdaj bilo konec osebne unije Saška-Poljska.

Posledice
Volilna vojvodina je ostalo zasedena, skrbeti je morala za vzdrževanje švedske vojske in plačevati prispevke, 500.000 talarjev na mesec v gotovini in 125.000 talarjev v naravi. Švedska okupacija je trajala eno leto Saško stala kakih 23 milijonov talarjev.

Po švedskem porazu proti Rusiji julija 1709 v bitki pri Poltavi se je Avgust II dalje boril na strani carja. 8. dne Avgusta 1709 je umaknil svoj podpis pod mirovno pogodbo iz Altranstädta in papež ga je pogodbe odvezal.

Gledano z evropskega stališča temelji uspeh miru iz Altranstädta, skupaj s Altranstädtsko konvencijo iz leta 1707, na dejstvu, da se obe veliki vojni tega obdobja, vojna za špansko nasledstvo in velika severna vojna, nista zlili druga v drugo, temveč da sta tekli dalje ločeno.

Literatura

 Ernst Freiherr von Friesen: Razmere na Saškem med švedsko invazijo v letih 1706 in 1707 in mir v Altranstädtu. V: Sporočila Društva za zgodovino Dresdena 15, 1901, , str. 1-125.
 Rober I. Frost: Severne vojne. Vojna, država in družba v severovzhodni Evropi 1558-1721. Longman, Harlow (Essex) idr. 2000, ISBN 0-582-06429-5, ( Sodobne vojne v perspektivi ).
 Arno Günther: Nastanek miru v Altranstädtu. V: Novi arhiv za saško zgodovino in arheologijo 27, 1906, , str. 311-329.

Spletne povezave

 Gradovi v Leipzigu in okolici

Posamezni dokazi

Leto 1706
Mirovni sporazumi
Avgust II. Močni
Zgodovina Poljske
Zgodovina Švedske
Zgodovina Saške

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Boeing faces liabilities as CEO Dennis Muilenburg acknowledges 'apparent' 737 Max problem
Nathan Bomey
USA TODAY April 5, 2019
An acknowledgment by Boeing's CEO that a new maneuvering system in the company's 737-Max airplanes contributed to two fatal crashes could leave Boeing exposed to billions of dollars in legal liabilities, experts say.
Still, CEO Dennis Muilenburg's statement may be an effort to show that Boeing remains in control of the situation, protecting its reputation and minimizing future losses by ensuring airlines, flyers and investors keep faith in the company.
Muilenburg on Thursday apologized and said that a preliminary report blames a system embedded in the planes for playing a role in the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 on Oct. 29 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10.
He said an initial report makes it "apparent that in both flights" a maneuvering system "activated in response to erroneous angle of attack information."
The crashes killed nearly 350 people and triggered the worldwide grounding of 737-Max planes until Boeing can deliver a fix.
"We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 MAX accidents," Muilenburg said in a statement. "These tragedies continue to weigh heavily on our hearts and minds."
The apology: Boeing CEO accepts blame for two plane crashes
Similarities between crashes: Ethiopian official notes similarity between catastrophic Boeing plane crashes
Stanford Law Professor Robert Rabin, an expert on torts who has tracked the matter, said it's too early to tell precisely how Muilenburg's statement will affect Boeing's liability.
But "based on what we have up to now and what the CEO said in his statement, it does seem that there's a very strong case of liability," Rabin said. "It seems clear that there was a defect in the operation of the sensors to begin with."
Carl Tobias, a corporate legal liability expert and law professor at the University of Richmond, said there are still significant questions regarding the circumstances of the suspected Boeing defect. "But I do think there's exposure and potentially substantial exposure," he said.
Jim Corridore, a stock analyst at CFRA Research who tracks Boeing, said Muilenburg "definitely stopped short of admitting full liability" for the crashes.
He pointed to the CEO's comment that Boeing would provide "associated training and additional educational materials that pilots want in the wake of these accidents" to prevent another accident like this "from ever happening again."
"The statement about additional pilot training – that seems to be a little bit of a loophole for them in terms of being able to claim just in lawsuits, mind you, that they are not directly responsible," Corridore said. "I would hate to see them go that route. I think the best move for PR and to move forward is to just take the full brunt of the losses and move forward."
Corridore said that the crash liability could add up to anywhere from $1 billion to several billion dollars for Boeing but that it's an isolated incident that's "not going to cripple them." He maintained his recommendation for investors to buy Boeing stock.
Boeing's stock has rebounded since late March and closed at $391.93 Friday. Boeing shares are 10.1% above the pre-October crash level and 27% above their price at the start of 2018.
"Obviously there's going to be severe liability related to lawsuits for the victims and their families, but as long as there's no malicious intent, if there's no situation where they knew something and they didn't act on it" the liabilities are manageable, Corridore said.
Muilenburg's statement may have been designed to mitigate the public relations blow to Boeing's reputation because the company wants to show customers that it's in control of the situation, Stanford's Rabin said.
"It's not going to threaten Boeing's solvency," he said. "The bigger financial threat to Boeing is if they lose future business or some of the contracts that are already outstanding."
On Oct. 29, the day of the Lion Air crash, Boeing stock fell 7.8% but then investors appeared to largely shrug off the accident. They rose the following week before generally declining through December 24 and then rebounding strongly, broadly tracking the Standard & Poor's 500 index during a volatile period. However, after the Ethiopian Airlines crash March 10, Boeing shares fell 14.2% over the next two weeks even as the broad market trended higher.
Although the crashes happened overseas, passengers filing wrongful death suits likely can file suits against Boeing in U.S. courts, legal experts said.
The family of 24-year-old victim Samya Stumo, an American citizen who was killed on the Ethiopian AIrlines flight on March 10 while taking a trip for work, has already filed a lawsuit.
Rabin said that settlements are common in these types of cases so that victims and the targeted corporation can avoid a long period of uncertainty and costly legal tangling.
In addition to lawsuits from passengers, airline customers could pursue cases against Boeing to recover their economic damages.
For example, Southwest Airlines recently disclosed that it lost about $150 million in revenue during the first quarter due to the groundings and other one-time issues.
Southwest estimated that the grounding forced it to cancel 2,800 flights during the period ended March 31. The company has 34 of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, the most of any American airline.
Contributing: Paul Davidson
Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boeing faces liabilities as CEO Dennis Muilenburg acknowledges 'apparent' 737 Max problem
'I miss their laughter': Grieving crash dad slams 'shameful' Boeing
Boeing's Charge Is Only the End of the Beginning
Boeing stock rallies after aircraft maker puts a price tag on 737 Max debacle
You Can't Buy SpaceX Yet But These Space Race Stocks Are Up For Grabs
Investor's Business Daily
The 737 MAX Fiasco Will Cost Boeing Over $8 Billion


text:
« Inca child mummy genome reveals lost history of South America
Rich Western Han Dynasty cemetery unearthed »
Second Lod mosaic found during construction of visitor center for first
The Lod mosaic, one of the largest and most complete Roman mosaic floors ever found, was discovered by accident during highway construction in the Israeli city of Lod, 10 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, in 1996. The initial excavation revealed a floor 50 feet long by 27 feet wide with a series of kaleidoscopic mosaics depicting animals at hunt, great sea creatures and fish crowding ships, urns and floral garlands, birds perched on branches and small, individual birds and fish all framed with bold black lines, geometric shapes and intricate knots. The total mosaic covered 600 square feet and was composed of two million individual tesserae (tiles).
Pottery sherds and coins found littering the floor dated it to the early 4th century A.D., and while no other parts of the structure were found, archaeologists believe it was a private home whose frescoed mud-brick walls had collapsed onto the floor preserving the mosaics for 1,700 years. Different sections of the mosaic were installed at different times and designed by different artists. The three north panels — individual animals in hexagonal frames, the largest panel with smaller animal and hunting scenes in triangular frames around a central octagonal mountain hunting scene, the great marine scene — were made by one mosaicist. The two south panel with birds on branches and fish and birds in frames were made by another. The urn and garland panel between them was made by a third artist, the least accomplished of the three, and was likely the last one to be installed. It probably took around three years for the whole floor to be completed.
The exceptional beauty and rarity of find vaulted the mosaic to international fame. The mosaic was opened to the public for one weekend and during those two days 10,000 people came to see it. The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) didn't have the budget to properly conserve such a huge masterpiece, so after that one weekend of public display, the floor was reburied for its own protection.
In 2009, a $2.5 million gift from the Shelby White and the Leon Levy Foundation gave the Israel Antiquities Authority the wherewithal to re-excavate the mosaic, lift it from the floor (they found footprints and drawing lines in the mortar bedding), clean it and conserve it for exhibition. The three sections of the north panel, the best preserved and most intricate design, toured the United States starting in 2010 and moved on to Europe in 2013. It is now at the Cini Gallery in Venice.
The donation also made possible the construction of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center, a museum dedicated to the mosaic built on the discovery site. The traveling panels were reinstalled in their original location and the building went up around the floor. The center was originally scheduled to open in late 2014, but that date was pushed back, and with good reason. Between June and November of 2014, IAA archaeologists surveyed an unexcavated area south of the previously unearthed mosaic in advance of construction.
The IAA announced Monday that during the survey they discovered another huge mosaic just yards away from where the first one was found.
The second Lod mosaic is 36 feet by 42 feet and is part of the same private villa. The newly discovered mosaic shares the same themes of animals at hunt, fish, birds, urns and floral elements, and is of outstanding artistic quality. This mosaic decorated the floor of the villa's courtyard, while the first mosaic decorated the floors of several reception rooms where the homeowner would have entertained clients and guests. The courtyard was surrounded by porticos, covered walkways, with lines of columns supporting the ceiling, none of which survive, although numerous fragments of wall frescoes have been recovered.
This elegant, expensively appointed home was part of a wealthy enclave during the Roman and Byzantine eras. Founded by Canaanites around 5600–5250 B.C., the city of Lydda was destroyed by Rome during the First Jewish War (66 A.D.) and besieged in the Second Jewish War (115-117 A.D.) Much of the Jewish population was slaughtered and the Christian population increased significantly in the years afterwards. In 200 A.D. the emperor Septimius Severus granted it city status and named it Colonia Lucia Septimia Severa Diospolis. It was the district capital and a regional center of commerce and government administration. The owner of the villa was part of the city elite, either an official or a rich merchant.
The site is bounded by modern buildings on the east side, so the entire home cannot be excavated. The new discovery will be incorporated into the visitor center.
For an in-depth examination of the first Lod mosaic and its significance, watch these videos compiled by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. First is a short film documenting the original find and the lifting of the mosaic in 2009. The next to are lectures given during the mosaic's stop at the Met in 2011 about the discovery of the mosaic, the interpretation of its imagery and the influence of Rome on local art.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/ZSq5Xc29XPA&w=430]
[youtube=https://youtu.be/J8IW4y6xGUQ&w=430]
[youtube=https://youtu.be/CaqcSFc05-Q&w=430]
This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2015 at 11:02 PM	and is filed under Ancient, Museums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Comment by Hels
That Lod villa must have belonged to a VERY classy family. I have only seen the first lot of mosaics (the second lot hadn't been seen by the public at the time) and they were heart stopping.
Comment by Brian
All right, but apart from MOSAICS, what have the Romans ever done for US ?
Comment by Andrew
Well, they gave us… Seriously, though, this is an extremely interesting post.
Comment by CinTam
Fascinating article!


…is about to start. Join us here.
What Was Facebook's Best Redesign, Anyway?
Over at PCWorld, I had fun looking back at the fruitless nature of Facebook redesign backlash. No one is surprised anymore when a redesigned Facebook home page–such as the one that rolled out today–causes an outrage.
But that made me wonder: what design, exactly, do people want? Was there ever a single home page layout to which Facebook users, given the choice, would happily revert? In other words, have we cooked up in our minds some ideal vision of an "old Facebook" that never really existed?
At a glance, Adventure World looks most other Zynga games — colorful, cartoony, isometric, with lots of things to click on. But Adventure World has a rare quality among Zynga's social games: you can beat it.
Zynga is best known for open-ended simulations. In Farmville, for instance, you cultivate an ever-expanding plot of land. In CityVille, you cultivate an ever-expanding metropolis. In Mafia Wars, you cultivate an ever-expanding criminal empire. Whereas these games provide a sandbox, Adventure World offers structure — and a break from Zynga's usual theme of resource management.
If you're on Facebook, chances are that you don't think it's anywhere near perfect. At least that's the findings of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which released its results for 2011 yesterday. Facebook scored a 66 out of 100. While that may not sound that low, it comparison to other sites it is.
Not only is Facebook the lowest ranked social networking site, but it also scored the lowest of any company in the technology business that ACSI studied. Can you say ouch?
Leading the pack in the social media category was Wikipedia, with a score of 78. YouTube came in second at 74, and a category called "Others" at 67. I guess it's pretty bad when you're even losing to unnamed services. Social networking in general doesn't garner high satisfaction overall among consumers, ACSI says. With a group rating of 70, only airlines, newspapers, and subscription television services score lower.
It's really too early to say whether Google+ may turn the fortunes of this sector around — the survey results were compiled before the site launched. However, researchers believe it may score high. "We do know is that Google is one of the highest-scoring companies in the ACSI," Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, creator of the ACSI said.
"An existing dominance of market share like Facebook has is no longer a safety net for a company that is not providing a superior customer experience," he argued. In other words, 2012 could be interesting.
Just a reminder: I'll be at Facebook HQ on Wednesday morning at 10am PT and will liveblog its event at technologizer.com/facebookevent. According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, the news–part of it, at least–involves Skype video chat integrated into Facebook.


text:
Toccata and Fugue in D minor (tr Goto)
Johann Sebastian Bach (tr. Yo Goto)
This work bears the designation BWV 656.
Year: 1706 / 2014
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manuscript
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
Toccata (from Italian tocare, "to touch") is a virtuoso musical form popularized between the 16th and 18th centuries, typically for keyboard or plucked string instruments, emphasizing the dexterity of the performer. In August 1703, then 18-year-old J.S. Bach became organist in Arnstadt, Germany, serving through June of 1707. BWV 565 was written during this time, 1706-1707. For a virtuoso organist, the toccata was a very suitable form of music to freely show off and express young Bach's skills. The brilliant, passion-filled toccata is followed by the string-like musical form of fugue. The motif is restated at the end of the piece.
This work is newly arranged by Yo Goto for wind band in 2014, commissioned by Ohmiya High School Wind Orchestra in Saitama, Japan and Akita-Minami Senior High School Wind Ensemble in Akita, Japan.
- Program Note by Showa Wind Symphony concert program, 18 July 2015
Toccata and Fugue in D minor has been recommended as interesting, serious and distinctive music by members of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).
Showa Wind Symphony (Tokyo, Japan) (Shintaro Fukumoto, conductor) – 18 July 2015 - WASBE Conference, San Jose, Calif.
"Toccata and Fugue in D Minor." World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) website Accessed 6 January 2016
Retrieved from "https://www.windrep.org/index.php?title=Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor_(tr_Goto)&oldid=248522"
Grade V


text:
Cop Proves Canadian Road Rage Is Downright Hilarious
Road rage in Canada looks a whole lot different than it does here in the States.
Watch what happens when a cameraman for the CBC alerts an officer to a road rage incident happening on the road below them.
The cop doles out some of that north of the border justice that you probably didn't know exists. He's more like a disapproving dad than he is an officer when he shouts at them, "Get back in the car. Grow up." A few seconds later after some more chiding, he says, "Come on, boys. Move it. Everybody's a winner."
We bet the officer wore himself out shaming these two and hope he unwound afterwards by grabbing some Tim Horton's and listening to Barenaked Ladies.
Source: Cop Proves Canadian Road Rage Is Downright Hilarious


text:
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using Haushaltsbuch.Interfaces;
using Haushaltsbuch.Objects;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;

namespace HaushaltsbuchTest
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Testklasse, die Klasse zum Lesen aus XML-Datei testet.
    /// </summary>
    [TestClass]
    [DeploymentItem("TestDocuments\\SampleXmlDocument.xml", "XmlFileReaderTest")]
    [DeploymentItem("TestDocuments\\EmptyXmlDocument.xml", "XmlFileReaderTest")]
    public class XmlFileReaderTest
    {
        #region Felder

        /// <summary>
        /// Speicherort von Testdatei mit Beispieldaten.
        /// </summary>
        private const string SampleXmlDocument = "XmlFileReaderTest\\SampleXmlDocument.xml";

        /// <summary>
        /// Speicherort von leerer Testdatei.
        /// </summary>
        private const string EmptyXmlDocument = "XmlFileReaderTest\\EmptyXmlDocument.xml";

        /// <summary>
        /// Klasse zum Lesen aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        private IXmlFileReader xmlFileReader;

        #endregion

        #region Methoden

        /// <summary>
        /// Initialisiert Klasse zum Lesen aus XML-Datei, sowie Testdateien.
        /// </summary>
        [TestInitialize]
        public void Initialize()
        {
            xmlFileReader = new XmlFileReader();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Beschreibungen von Ausgaben aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetDescriptionsFromOutgoingTransactions()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedDescriptions =
            {
                "outgoingDescription1", "outgoingDescription2"
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualDescriptions = xmlFileReader.GetDescriptionsFromOutgoingTransactions(SampleXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedDescriptions, actualDescriptions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Beschreibungen von Ausgaben aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetDescriptionsFromOutgoingTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedDescriptions = new string[0];

            // Act
            string[] actualDescriptions = xmlFileReader.GetDescriptionsFromOutgoingTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedDescriptions, actualDescriptions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Beschreibungen von Einnahmen aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetDescriptionsFromIncomingTransactions()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedDescriptions =
            {
                "incomingDescription1", "incomingDescription2"
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualDescriptions = xmlFileReader.GetDescriptionsFromIncomingTransactions(SampleXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedDescriptions, actualDescriptions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Beschreibungen von Einnahmen aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetDescriptionsFromIncomingTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            StringCollection[] expectedDescriptions = new StringCollection[0];

            // Act
            string[] actualDescriptions = xmlFileReader.GetDescriptionsFromIncomingTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedDescriptions, actualDescriptions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien von Ausgaben aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetCategoriesFromOutgoingTransactions()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories =
            {
                "outgoingCategory1", "outgoingCategory2"
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetCategoriesFromOutgoingTransactions(SampleXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien von Ausgaben aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetCategoriesFromOutgoingTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories = new string[0];

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetDescriptionsFromOutgoingTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien von Einnahmen aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetCategoriesFromIncomingTransactions()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories =
            {
                "incomingCategory1", "incomingCategory2"
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetCategoriesFromIncomingTransactions(SampleXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien von Einnahmen aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetCategoriesFromIncomingTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories = new string[0];

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetCategoriesFromIncomingTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien aller Einträge aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void GetCategoriesFromAllTransactions()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories =
            {
                string.Empty, "incomingCategory1", "incomingCategory2", "outgoingCategory1", "outgoingCategory2"
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetCategoriesFromAllTransactions(SampleXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Kategorien aller Einträge aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetCategoriesFromAllTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            string[] expectedCategories =
            {
                string.Empty
            };

            // Act
            string[] actualCategories = xmlFileReader.GetCategoriesFromAllTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument);

            // Assert
            CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expectedCategories, actualCategories);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Einträgen aus XML-Datei ohne Filter.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetTransactionsWithoutCategoryFilter()
        {
            // Arrange
            Filter filter = new Filter
            {
                Category = string.Empty,
                Month = "11",
                Year = "2013",
                SearchTerm = string.Empty
            };

            // Act
            int numberOfTransactions = xmlFileReader.GetTransactions(SampleXmlDocument, filter).Length;

            // Assert
            Assert.AreEqual(8, numberOfTransactions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Einträgen aus XML-Datei mit Filter.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetTransactionsWithCategoryFilter()
        {
            // Arrange
            Filter filter = new Filter
            {
                Category = "outgoingCategory2",
                Month = "11",
                Year = "2013",
                SearchTerm = string.Empty
            };

            // Act
            int numberOfTransactions = xmlFileReader.GetTransactions(SampleXmlDocument, filter).Length;

            // Assert
            Assert.AreEqual(2, numberOfTransactions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von allen Einträgen eines Jahres aus XML-Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetAllTransactionsOfYear()
        {
            // Arrange
            Filter filter = new Filter
            {
                Category = string.Empty,
                Month = "00",
                Year = "2013",
                SearchTerm = string.Empty
            };

            // Act
            int numberOfTransactions = xmlFileReader.GetTransactions(SampleXmlDocument, filter).Length;

            // Assert
            Assert.AreEqual(9, numberOfTransactions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Einträgen aus XML-Datei mit Suchbegriff als Filter.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetTransactionsWithSearchFilter()
        {
            // Arrange
            Filter filter = new Filter
            {
                Category = string.Empty,
                Month = "00",
                Year = "2013",
                SearchTerm = "outgoingDescription2"
            };

            // Act
            int numberOfTransactions = xmlFileReader.GetTransactions(SampleXmlDocument, filter).Length;

            // Assert
            Assert.AreEqual(3, numberOfTransactions);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Testet Lesen von Einträgen aus XML-Datei mit leerer Datei.
        /// </summary>
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestGetTransactionsWithEmptyFile()
        {
            // Arrange
            Filter filter = new Filter
            {
                Category = "outgoingCategory2",
                Month = "11",
                Year = "2013",
                SearchTerm = string.Empty
            };

            // Act
            int numberOfTransactions = xmlFileReader.GetTransactions(EmptyXmlDocument, filter).Length;

            // Assert
            Assert.AreEqual(0, numberOfTransactions);
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The local distribution system (LDS) is a system for the distribution of electricity. Through a single connection point (transformer), multiple electricity end consumers are connected to the higher-level distribution system. The typical locations are industrial zones, business centres, apartment complexes and groups of family houses.
The local distribution system is operated by a distribution company, which provides all services connected with the delivery of electricity to large consumers on the basis of a licence granted by the Energy Regulatory Office.
A good LDS operator can offer its consumers a lower price for power distribution than regional distribution companies without restricting the right of the end user to choose any electricity supplier. This is the main difference compared to other options for connecting to the distribution system.
Are you an owner of a location suitable for a local distribution system - LDS?
Contact us. We will arrange a personal meeting with you to introduce the possibilities and benefits of connecting to our LDS.
More than 4,000 customers have entrusted energy distribution to us – the total transmission capacity has risen to 600 MW. We will gladly customise a solution for you.
Benefits of our distribution system | Why do business with us?


We offer Semi -Automatic Idli Dosa Batter Packing Machine ideal for packing of filling products at any kinds of ropy pitch from a uniformto viscosity. Easy to operate, energy efficient and cost effective.
Established in the year 2014, Gimbal Engineering is a reputed organization in the market involved in manufacturing and supplying of quality products which are precisely engineered by our experts. We are based out as a Sole Proprietorship firm. We are situated our operational head in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Our company is instrumental in offering wide assortment of Electric Control Panel, Power Control Panel, Drive Control Panel, Stepper Motor Drive Panel, AC Generator, AC Electric Motor and many more.


We do not use hidden ingredients or proprietary blends. Period.
We believe that you deserve to know exactly what goes into your body. Because of that, we have made a commitment to use transparent labeling.


True glove often comes to a bad end.
Then for the women's side of things, here's the old Carter Family song, "Wildwood Flower," touchingly rendered, I thought, on the Philippine mouth harp. The recording has been electronically enhanced just a little. Sing along!
Better than two cups of coffee, that!
I like the way, when I "click here," your music is ready to sync to my iPod!
By the way, this is really enjoyable stuff.
Lori – If I ever decide to post blurbs, "Better than two cups of coffee" would definitely make the cut. Thanks!
Peter – No, there's just one track, though the slow part was recorded separately from the rest. The drone effect is native to the instrument, which is why i think it sounds so cool. Effects I used included post-recording amplification, noise removal, normalization (ha!), and a little doctoring of the last note in each section to avoid the abrupt ending I'd otherwise get.
Since you're enjoying the convenience of the extra mp3 link, I'll be sure to keep tacking that on. Otherwise you'd have to go to the Odeo page for each track, accessible via the "Powered by Odeo" link, or from my "milk of amnesia" podcast page.
BTW, I apologize for the irritating nasal inhalations in the first track. I guess I need to remember to breathe through my mouth when I do this.
nice…I love the photo too. funny, the true glove vaguely resembles the wild turd.
You mean as in, "Oh baby baby it's a wild turd…"?
The photo-pun, of course, was stolen shamelessly from the 3rd House.
You're getting a lot better at the kubing. Keep it up!
q.r.r. – It happens where it happens and not where it doesn't. Gosh, I never realized you were such a romantic!
Brett – Thanks. I will.
I LOVE the image, and it's so serendipitous (along with Leslee's) while I'm working on prints of hands! AND this afternoon, I'm going to be doing my first foray into digital voice recording. Oh! Now I'm wondering if there's a subliminal influence happening here with the latter.
Glad you liked the image, m-l. Good luck with your recording!
Ha ha! Very funny. I like the ghostly shadows, too.


text:
Dr. Phil CBS
'I'm Tired Of People Saying To Black And Brown Women The Answer To Your Poverty Is Abortion,' Senator Says
In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for abortion that had stood for nearly a half-century. Now, there is a raging national debate between people who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice. Nancy Davis is one of the women caught in the crossfire of the abortion debate since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Nancy says she was about 10 weeks pregnant when the fetus she was carrying was diagnosed with acrania, a fatal condition where the fetus' skull does not form inside the womb. She says she tried to have an abortion, but claims doctors denied her, saying she'd have to carry the baby to bury it because, in her home state of Louisiana, abortions are banned. "A lot of these laws that are being put in place or being implemented are being put in place by men," says Shedric, Nancy's partner. "There are health risks involved in carrying a baby to term that has acrania." He adds that Nancy could have died if she was forced to continue the pregnancy. Louisiana Senator Katerina Jackson says that while there are exceptions for people in situations like Nancy's, she doesn't support all abortions. "When I hear people say that for black and brown women the remedy to them living in poverty is abortion, then, to me, we perpetuate the racism that we've faced for years," Senator Jackson says, adding that it doesn't solve any problems. Hear more from Senator Jackson in the video above. On Wednesday's episode of Dr. Phil, "Right To Life, Right to Choose: The Conversation," see both sides debate and hear what audience members have to say. Check local listings to see where you can watch. WATCH: Pro-Choice Advocate Says It's A Human Right That Government Doesn't Interfere In A Person's Bodily Autonomy TELL DR. PHIL YOUR STORY: Strong opinion you want to share?