text:
Japan's Persian Gulf Policies in the Koizumi Era
Has the Koizumi administration abandoned neutrality, historic pacifism, and common sense in its pursuit of oil and a stronger alliance with the United States?
John Gershman, Michael Penn
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has managed to create one of the warmest eras in U.S.-Japan relations by standing in solidarity with Washington through the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq War. But how have these decisions impacted Japan's crucial energy strategies in the Persian Gulf and its long history of friendly relations with the Islamic world? As Prime Minister Koizumi makes what is likely to be his last visit to Washington as the leader of Japan, the time has come for reflection on the achievements and the failings of the surprisingly long and important Koizumi Era in Japanese postwar history.
When Koizumi unexpectedly catapulted into office in April 2001, he had already formed clear notions about some issues and was flexible or uncertain about others. Even before he formally assumed office, he declared his intentions to push through major structural reforms in the Japanese economy, eliminate the power of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) factions, visit Yasukuni Shrine, and revise the pacifist Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution. In regard to the last item, he was even quoted as saying, "An article whereby the existence of the nation's Self-Defense Forces can be interpreted as running counter to the constitution is absurd." Regarding the Persian Gulf and the Islamic world more broadly, however, it is unlikely that Koizumi had any specific agenda when he took office.
In the first period of Koizumi's premiership, the direction of his foreign policy was difficult to perceive. He was immensely popular with the public—which guaranteed his leadership position—but was largely feared and hated by many members of his own party, who were horrified by his talk of bringing down the ruling party if they opposed his economic and political reforms. Moreover, Japan's foreign policy was in the hands of the explosive and unpredictable Makiko Tanaka, whose general views seemed to be liberal and skeptical of U.S. power.
In the Persian Gulf, Japanese policies had been rather ambiguous for many decades before Koizumi came to power. On the one hand, Tokyo was bound through the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance to generally support American policies in the region, and the U.S. Navy acted as the main guarantor of safe passage for shipping and trade. On the other hand, Japan was more dependent on Persian Gulf oil than any other major industrial power and could thus not afford to neglect its relationship with the Arab Gulf States and Iran. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran were, respectively, Japan's top three suppliers of oil in 2001.
As a result, Tokyo had begun to expand its political and cultural dialogue with the Gulf States in the 1990s. Ever since 1973 and the well-known "Nikaido Statement," Japan had put some distance between its foreign policies in Islamic West Asia and those of the United States. Washington was unpopular in the region due both to its bias in favor of Israel and to a series of covert and overt interventions against the interests of the local peoples.
At the time of Koizumi's ascendance to office, Japan's relations with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia seemed to be in decline, but relations with Iran were on the upswing. On the negative side, in February 2000, Japan's Arabian Oil Company had lost the concession that it had held since 1957 for the Khafji oil field in the Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zone. This put a serious dent in Japan-Saudi relations. However, Japan was courting Tehran over rights to the massive Azadegan oil field, and matters on that front were progressing rather nicely.
Broadly speaking, what Prime Minister Koizumi inherited in April 2001 was a policy of quiet balance between Washington's political sensitivities and Japan's local economic interests. Tokyo simply wanted to buy oil, develop a modest and cordial relationship with the Arabs and Iran, and—above all—not rock the boat.
The Impact of the Invasion of Iraq
Like most of the world, Tokyo was shocked and horrified by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Japan itself had suffered direct damage as 24 Japanese citizens had died in the World Trade Center attack. There was a great deal of sympathy for America in those early days after the attacks, and the Bush administration enjoyed enormous maneuvering room. However, Washington, in the springtime of neoconservative influence, opted to declare a wide-ranging and poorly defined "war on global terrorism," which included references to an "axis of evil," and a new doctrine of preemptive war, and brandished a threatening "with us or against us" rhetoric.
Prime Minister Koizumi and most of the Japanese political establishment received these messages loud and clear. Public statements fully backing U.S. military action against al-Qaida members and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan were quickly issued. When Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made it clear that diplomatic and financial support would not be adequate (the famous "show the flag" comments of September 2001) and warned Tokyo not to repeat its "mistake" of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf crisis and do "too little, too late," the Japanese government responded with an Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) naval deployment to the Indian Ocean in support of U.S. and coalition military operations. Later, when Washington abruptly shifted its attention from Afghanistan to Iraq, Tokyo stayed in lock step with U.S. actions, even as the Japanese general public grew increasingly suspicious of U.S. motives and behavior. Japan lacked any serious and independent intelligence-gathering services of its own, and the conservative leaders in Tokyo were inclined to accept U.S. intelligence estimates regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and possible connections between Baghdad and international terrorism.
In any case, Prime Minister Koizumi was clearly moving toward a more conservative, even right-wing, foreign policy by this time. Popular, left-leaning Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka was fired from the Cabinet in January 2002 after a series of conflicts with elite Foreign Ministry bureaucrats who openly detested her. Her immediate replacement was the centrist Yoriko Kawaguchi, and later Koizumi appointments to this office strayed farther to the political right culminating in the current rightist ideologue, Taro Aso. Likewise, the moderate Defense Agency chief, Gen Nakatani, was replaced in September 2002 with the hard right militarist, Shigeru Ishiba.
Broadly speaking, it could be perceived by 2002 that Prime Minister Koizumi—out of some combination of conviction and convenience—had decided to ally himself with conservative and rightist elements within his party. This seems to have been a reactive process rather than part of any grand design. Koizumi had developed strong personal relations with key members of the Bush administration by this time, and he was annoyed by liberal criticisms of his visits to Yasukuni Shrine (where 2.5 million Japanese war dead are enshrined including over 1,000 convicted war criminals) and his support for the Iraq War. The considerable advantage that this shift to the right gained him was to provide a real constituency within his own party, which was largely lacking during his first year in office. However, Koizumi stabilized his premiership at the cost of driving his administration deep into the arms of the Bush administration and far from the preferences of the Japanese public.
In 2002 and in the early stages of the Iraq War, the intellectual influence of Yukio Okamoto also became significant. Okamoto was a former bureaucrat from the Foreign Ministry who had formed his own consulting company modeled after that of his friend, Richard Armitage. In September 2001, Okamoto was appointed special foreign policy adviser to the Cabinet, and in April 2003, he became Koizumi's special adviser on Iraq.
This new adviser had definite views on Japanese foreign policy that probably influenced Koizumi at this decisive stage. Okamoto preached the importance of building strong, personal relations with U.S. leaders and considered the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance the "essential alliance" for Japan and Asia.
In mid-2002, Okamoto fiercely criticized traditional Japanese policies, saying: "Japan's usual line, 'our hands are clean, so we are the best suited to act as peace mediator,' does not win sympathy in the international community. If our hands are clean, that is because we have not lifted a finger to help in concrete ways. The person who watches from the bench and then sides with the winning team does not make many friends. This time, Japan has manifestly placed itself in the camp that uses military power for the defense of freedom and justice. That is why Japan now has the right to make demands of the international community, in particular, the United States. This is a position of strength that Japan should exploit for its own vision of international aid."
Prime Minister Koizumi has never been as intellectual or outspoken as Okamoto, but a broad similarity was apparent in Koizumi's public comments during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003: "If the United States, with Britain and other countries, launches a military attack, the Japanese government supports that decision… Now that it has become clear that the extremely dangerous Hussein regime has no intention of disarming, I believe it is reasonable to support a U.S. military attack … Japan has enjoyed peace for more than 50 years since the war thanks to the Japan-U.S. alliance. It is not in our national interests to hurt the credibility of the alliance … The United States says that they consider any attack on Japan as an attack on America. That is working as a major deterrent against any country that may try to attack Japan. You must not forget this point."
Comments such as these demonstrate that the Koizumi administration had effectively abandoned the balanced approach to the Persian Gulf that had characterized Japanese policy since at least 1973. In that earlier period, Tokyo had never lost sight of the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, but neither had Japan allowed this alliance to so completely shape its Persian Gulf policies as did Okamoto and Koizumi in recent years. Indeed, Okamoto clearly reveled in the notion that Japan had "taken sides" and seemed to accept the U.S. view that Washington's interests represent the global good.
Tokyo's politicians had little doubt in the first stages of the Iraq War that the United States would win the military battle and then successfully carry out a political transformation of the region as a whole. Their only fear was that a sullen and suspicious Japanese public might slow them down in the race to get a front-seat ticket at the postwar table.
Rebuilding Japan-Arab Ties
As Washington's plan in Iraq began to disintegrate during the course of 2003 and beyond, Koizumi's policies also began to unravel. The outspoken Yukio Okamoto was an early casualty. His position was much too prominent and glamorous for the likings of the average Japanese bureaucrat, and throughout his tenure his colleagues in the Foreign Ministry seemed to be sniping at him jealously, and resisting his requests for information and support. One key exception was Counselor Katsuhiko Oku, Okamoto's indispensable ally on the scene in Iraq. However, when Oku and Third Secretary Masamori Inoue were gunned down by Iraqi insurgents in Tikrit in November 2003, the end came swiftly for Okamoto. He formally resigned under considerable criticism in March 2004.
In October 2003, the Japanese people were alarmed to discover that Osama bin Laden had specifically named Japan as a target for terrorism due to Tokyo's strong support for the invasion of Iraq. The Koizumi administration probably expected that al-Qaida would be destroyed by then, and a new terrorist threat aimed directly at Japan was not part of Tokyo's initial calculations.
Despite the obvious signs that U.S. policy was not producing the expected results—even the expected Iraqi WMDs failed to materialize—the Koizumi administration stubbornly pushed on in Iraq, together with its U.S. ally, even going so far as to deploy the Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) to Samawa in southern Iraq in March 2004. Why? In part it was because Okamoto's arguments about the significance of the U.S. alliance to Japanese security in East Asia were still valid. Meanwhile, Koizumi's insistence on making visits to Yasukuni Shrine had antagonized public opinion in China and Korea, leaving Japan diplomatically isolated in East Asia. Part of Koizumi's personal character is to stubbornly dig in his heels whenever he meets strong resistance, and both the Iraq quagmire and the Yasukuni issue were reflections of this tendency.
Another factor in Japan's continuing involvement in Iraq was the broader desire of many Japanese leaders to show that they could be tough and resolute. Too many times in the past, they felt, Japanese policies had meekly melted away under outside criticism, and Tokyo was determined to demonstrate that the new Japan was more assertive and proud.
Finally, from the vantage point of the conservative and right-wing Japanese who then formed Prime Minister Koizumi's main political base, the goal of revising Article Nine of the constitution and legitimizing the Japanese military services was gaining serious ground. If the GSDF mission suffered no casualties, Japan's politicians could use that success to demonstrate that public fears were exaggerated. If the mission did incur casualties, they could make an appeal to nationalism and pride to ensure that the mission's participants would face down the dangers like real men. Either way, the political right could score its points. It became a win-win situation for certain Japanese leaders.
Immediately following the deployment, Tokyo faced its most serious test. On April 8, 2004, three young Japanese civilians were taken hostage near Falluja by a group calling itself "Saraya al-Mujahidin." A letter demanded the pullout of the GSDF and threatened to execute the young Japanese if the group's demands were not met. Japanese opposition parties tore into the government's policies—which they regarded as illegal under the constitution—and they demanded that the Cabinet immediately resign.
For his part, Prime Minister Koizumi vowed not to give in to any "dirty terrorist threats" and was determined to see his policy through, even if it meant the collapse of his premiership. Meanwhile, right-wing politicians began to attack the characters of the young Japanese hostages themselves, outraged that they should be in Iraq in the first place on unofficial missions. They were accused of being "irresponsible" or even "anti-government, anti-Japan elements." When two more Japanese hostages were taken in Iraq on April 14, the Koizumi Cabinet appeared to be in real trouble.
But just then, as the political pressure reached the crucial level, the original three hostages were released in Baghdad, apparently without conditions. The other two were released a couple of days later. From the midst of a deep crisis, the Koizumi administration suddenly soared to new heights of glory. The young Japanese were safe, and the government appeared tough and uncompromising. Most Japanese were willing to blame the hostages themselves for the crisis. It was one of Koizumi's proudest moments.
After the April 2004 hostage crisis, the GSDF mission in Samawa enjoyed a smoother ride. Most local residents were happy to have Japanese soldiers in their city because they imagined that major Japanese companies would come and invest in their area. The local forces of Muqtada al-Sadr were one exception to this welcoming attitude, expressing hostility to Japan's participation in the occupation force. Occasional mortar attacks on the GSDF base and other minor anti-Japanese disruptions in Samawa were probably attributable to this group.
Koizumi had weathered the hostage crisis and the GSDF deployment to Samawa in good form, but Tokyo was broadly aware that it had been lucky and that many people in the Arab world were tending toward seeing Japan as a new enemy rather than as an old friend. Koizumi's desire to tighten links with Washington bore a cost that was becoming more and more perceptible.
Although the Koizumi administration had no desire to put any substantive distance between its own policies and Washington's—as had been the former Japanese tendency—Tokyo also sought tighter economic links with Persian Gulf countries and began engaging in an enhanced official rhetoric of friendship and respect for Arab culture. Since 2005, there has been an acceleration of Japanese investment in the Persian Gulf, spurred in part by higher oil prices and competition with China. Economic relations with Qatar and Bahrain have made notable strides in the last year, but the most dramatic warming has been with Saudi Arabia.
In 2005, Saudi Arabia reemerged as Japan's number one oil supplier for the first time in 20 years. There were also several large business pacts, most prominently the Aramco-Sumitomo Chemical joint venture, part of the $9.8 billion PetroRabigh project on the Red Sea coast. As a result of deals like this, Japan has surpassed the United States as the largest recent foreign investor in the Saudi kingdom.
Meanwhile, Tokyo has touted various diplomatic events with Arab states—including Prime Minister Koizumi fasting one day for Ramadan and hosting an iftar dinner for Muslim ambassadors. How far these measures can go toward healing the damage done in Iraq, however, remains an open question. Fortunately for Tokyo, most of the Islamic world still blames the United States and Britain much more than they blame Japan for the current morass in West Asia.
Tokyo's Dilemma over Iran
In this context, Tokyo's dilemma over the recent nuclear crisis in Iran can be appreciated. Indeed, Iran has long been something of a test case for an independent Japanese policy in the Persian Gulf. During the Iranian Revolution and the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81, Tokyo maintained its diplomatic links with Tehran in the face of heavy pressure from the Carter administration. This was done in part to salvage the huge Iran-Japan Petrochemical Company (IJPC) project of Mitsui & Co. Now that chapter of history appears to be repeating itself in regard to Inpex's Azadegan oil field development.
The idea of a joint Japan-Iran project was suggested in November 2000 when moderate President Mohammed Khatami of Iran visited Tokyo. The Bush administration was hostile to the Azadegan project from the beginning, and Tokyo initially showed considerable fortitude in facing down these objections. However, following the Sept. 11 attacks and the conservative, pro-American turn in Koizumi administration foreign policy, Tokyo's resolve showed clear signs of waning. It took the efforts of LDP elders like Takeo Hiranuma and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to keep the oil project moving forward. In particular, Hashimoto complained, "Currently, Japan's ties with nations other than the U.S. are like dotted lines. We should at least try to make those dotted lines into solid ones as well … It is very regrettable that the relationship with Iran that Japan had long worked so hard to build was completely damaged by the current administration." Stung by these internal criticisms and mindful of Tehran's threat to take its business elsewhere, the Koizumi administration finally bit the bullet and signed the Azadegan agreement in February 2004.
However, the rise of hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in June 2005 sent shockwaves through Japanese plans. Ahmadinejad's inflammatory rhetoric and determination to have Iran accepted as an equal with the great powers has dramatically raised tensions with the equally uncompromising Bush administration. For Tokyo, this new confrontation is a nightmare scenario.
The question of Iran remains unresolved as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi makes his final lap and visits political friends in Washington. He has succeeded in creating one of the warmest eras ever in U.S.-Japan relations by standing firmly at Bush's side after the Sept. 11 attacks and during the early stages of the Iraq War.
But has it really been worth it? Koizumi clearly believes so. Japan has received many signs of favor from Washington in the past several years. Bush administration officials and U.S. pundits have heaped praise upon Tokyo for its alleged "responsibility" and proactive commitment to "freedom and democracy." Some have even given Tokyo a relatively free ride on divisive issues like beef importation.
On the other hand, the Koizumi administration has been frittering away a century of Japan-Muslim friendship following the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Many ordinary Muslims are willing to forgive one "mistake" by Tokyo, but if the 21st century is to be filled with Japanese military interventions in the Islamic world in close alliance with the United States, then the future of Japan's important relationships in the Persian Gulf may be thrust into serious doubt.
Politicians like Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe, and Taro Aso may be willing to pay this price in order to erase pacifist Article Nine of the constitution and to remilitarize Japan as a "normal country." But whether all of this is really in the larger interests of the Japanese nation as a whole is a question about which divergent opinions are certainly possible.
Michael Penn is executive director of the Shingetsu Institute for the Study of Japanese-Islamic Relations (http://www.shingetsuinstitute.com). Penn is based in Kitakyushu, Japan, and studies Japan's relations with the Islamic world since 1868.
Get more news like this, directly in your inbox.


text:
Монантес (лат. Monanthes) — род небольших суккулентных субтропических растений, семейства Толстянковые.

Распространение
Родной ареал: Канарские острова, Марокко, Селваженш (острова Португалии).

Около десяти видов в основном являются эндемиками Канарских островов, а некоторые из них обитают на Мадейре. Его центром разнообразия является Тенерифе, на этом острове обитает семь видов. Монантес — редкий пример, когда вид повторно колонизирует континент с острова после того, как его предки колонизировали остров с континента.

Таксономия
, Saxifrag. Enum. 2: 68 (1821).

Этимология
Monanthes: от греч. mono = один, и anthos = цветущий; то есть одноцветковый.

Синонимы
Гетеротипные (основанные на разных номенклатурных типах):

 Petrophyes Webb & Berthel. (1841)

Виды
Виды Монантес значительно различаются по жизненной формой. Monanthes icterica, который также генетически весьма далек от других видов Монантес, является однолетним, тогда как другие виды являются многолетними.

Подтвержденные виды по данным сайта POWO на 2022 год:

 Monanthes anagensis Praeger
 Monanthes atlantica Ball
 Monanthes brachycaulos (Webb & Berthel.) Lowe
 Monanthes dasyphylla Svent.
 Monanthes × filifolia Bañares
 Monanthes icterica (Webb ex Bolle) Christ
 Monanthes laxiflora (DC.) Bolle
 Monanthes lowei (A.Paiva) P.Pérez & Acebes
 Monanthes minima (Bolle) Christ
 Monanthes muralis (Webb ex Bolle) Hook.f.
 Monanthes niphophila Svent.
 Monanthes pallens (Webb ex Christ) Christ
 Monanthes polyphylla Haw.
 Monanthes praegeri Bramwell
 Monanthes purpurascens (Bolle & Webb) Christ
 Monanthes silensis (Praeger) Svent.
 Monanthes subcrassicaulis (Kuntze) Praeger
 Monanthes × subglabrata Bañares
 Monanthes subrosulata Bañares & A.Acev.-Rodr.
 Monanthes × tilophila (Bolle) Christ
 Monanthes wildpretii Bañares & S.Scholz

Примечания

Ссылки

Толстянковые
Суккуленты

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dorothy Mae Bennett, age 65, of Waynesville, passed away Thursday, April 4, 2019, at Phelps County Regional Medical Center in Rolla. She is survived by four children: Joseph Hein, Leona Hernandez, Joanna Rutherford, James Jimmy Hein; 21 grandchildren; two sisters; one brother. Visitation will be Friday, April 12, 2019, from 5 - 7 p.m. in the Meriwether Room at Tyler M. Woods Funeral Director. Arrangements are under the direction of TYLER M. WOODS FUNERAL DIRECTOR, 611 E. Capitol Ave., Jefferson City, MO. 65101. (573) 636-2424.


Any action of a Penn student, resident or guest that may lead to physical harm to oneself or others is considered endangering behavior and will typically result in removal from housing, disciplinary action (including cost of repair and/or cleaning) and/or criminal charges. This includes the careless use of appliances or materials, tampering with internet hard wired or wireless devices, and installation of partitions or lofts. Throwing any object from windows, roofs, ledges, etc. is dangerous and also prohibited.
Residents are expected to comply and familiarize themselves with the Fire and Emergency Safety procedures of the University. Compliance includes properly evacuating, following the instructions of emergency personnel, and not damaging, tampering with, or blocking fire safety equipment. Additionally, residents should not place furniture or items in any halls, fire exits, or otherwise block any other means of egress. Residents who fail to comply with any of the above are subject to fines and disciplinary action.
Guests are defined as individuals who are not currently enrolled University of Pennsylvania students. Visitors are defined as currently enrolled University of Pennsylvania students who are not assigned to the room, suite, or apartment that they are visiting.
Hosts must check with their roommates, suitemates, or apartment mates for approval before inviting a guest or visitor to the room. If the other occupants of the space do not approve the guest or visitor cannot stay in the room.
Hosts are responsible for the actions of their guests or visitors and will face disciplinary action if their guest or visitor violates College House, Residential Services, or University policies. Hosts should familiarize their guests or visitors with community expectations, Visitors are also responsible for their actions and are subject to disciplinary action.
Guests and visitors are allowed to visit in a student room, suite, or apartment for a period not to exceed three days and two nights during a two-week period.
Visitors are unable to sign into residential buildings between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 8 a.m. Hosts will need to sign in all visitors during this time period.
A guest or visitor may not occupy a student's room when the student is not present and a resident may not supply a room key to gain access to the room or their PennCard to gain access to the building.
Guests must sign-in with a photo ID and must be accompanied by a host at all times. This host must carry a valid PennCard and guests must keep their ID with them at all times.
Visitors may sign-in guests in Hill College House, Kings Court English College House, and New College House for the purpose of dining together in the Penn Dining Halls of those buildings. Visitors cannot sign in guests to those buildings outside of the open hours of those Dining facilities.
Residents are required to carry their University of Pennsylvania ID Cards (PennCard) at all times per University policy. PennCards are used to access College Houses and also serve as electronic key access to assigned rooms. A PennCard should not be transferred to anyone other than the owner. Residents should be aware of the whereabouts of their PennCard at all times. A PennCard used by anyone other than the owner will be confiscated.
Extension Cords. Note that surge protectors are allowed and encouraged.
Possession, storage, and/or use of candles, incense, incendiary devices, and fire producing items (including but not limited to: fuel burning stoves, fuel burning lamps, heaters, and grills) are prohibited and may result in the student being billed for the cost of any repairs associated with any damage caused. Residents are allowed, however, to possess matches and small cigarette lighters.


text:
Divided Koreas mark 70 years since war began, but no treaty in sight
25 June, 2020, 01:20 pm
Last modified: 25 June, 2020, 01:26 pm
N Korea fires two ballistic missiles from Pyongyang airport, S Korea says
North Korea fires two ballistic missiles from Pyongyang airport, South Korea says
N Korea train makes first crossing into China since border lockdown
N Korea tests railway-borne missile in latest launch amid rising tension with US
North Korea fires two missiles, warns of strong action over US sanctions push
North Korea's ruling party newspaper ran a front-page commentary calling for people to follow in the footsteps of those who fought to defend the nation
Seventy years after the Korean War began, prospects for a peace treaty to officially end the conflict appear as distant as ever, as the two Koreas held low-key commemorations on Thursday amid heightened tension on the peninsula.
The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving US-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea.
South Korean leaders in 1953 opposed the idea of a truce that left the peninsula divided and were not signatories to the armistice.
South Korean veterans of the war were due gather to commemorate the anniversary, including at one event where US President Donald Trump and other international leaders were expected to deliver video messages.
North Korea's ruling party newspaper ran a front-page commentary calling for people to follow in the footsteps of those who fought to defend the nation.
"Several decades have passed, but the danger of war has never left this soil," the newspaper said, blaming "hostile forces" for seeking to crush North Korea.
Two years ago, a flurry of diplomacy and summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of the United States, South Korea, and China raised hopes that even if the North's nuclear arsenal was undiminished, the parties might agree to officially end the technical state of war.
Those hopes have been dashed, however, with North Korea accusing the United States and South Korea of clinging to hostile policies, and Washington pressing Pyongyang to abandon its growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
A series of follow-up meetings and working-level talks failed to close the gap between the two old enemies, and North Korea has taken an increasingly confrontational tone, resuming short-range missile launches, blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office and severing communication hotlines with South Korea.
On Wednesday, North Korea said it had decided to suspend plans for unspecified military action against South Korea, but warned it to "think and behave wisely".
Historians have estimated the war may have caused as many as 1 million military deaths and killed several million civilians. Thousands of families were divided with little contact as the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) cut the peninsula in two.
"The unresolved state of the Korean War has had devastating consequences for Koreans, from the separation of thousands of families to the extreme militarization of the Korean Peninsula," said Christine Ahn, international coordinator for WomenCrossDMZ, a group that advocates for peace in Korea.
Despite misgivings from many in the United States, South Korean officials are pushing more forcefully for an end to the armistice arrangement, saying that it appreciates the role of the United Nations Command, South Korea's alliance with the United States should evolve with the times.
"It is time for Korea to take centre stage in maintaining its own peace and security, by ending the current state of armistice and establishing a permanent peace regime on the Korean peninsula," South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young said on Wednesday.
Top News / Politics
north korea / south korea
How financial Western sanctions might target Russia
UK PM Johnson drops Covid-19 restrictions
Kazakhstan president fires defence minister for lack of leadership during protests
Biden to address skeptics as presidency nears one-year mark Wednesday
The highs and lows of Biden presidency after one year in office

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


International director Ang Lee yesterday was honored as "Dr. Lee" when his alma mater Taiwan Art University presented him with an honorary doctorate degree. Ang Lee said that the return to his school brought back a lot of emotions. "This is my favorite school, the moment that I cherish the most." Graduating 34 years ago from the school, Ang Lee returned to it in the morning, put on a purple and black robe and accepted the degree.
Ang Lee graduated from the school in 1976 and earned his bachelor degree in New York University. His work included PUSHING HAND, WEDDING BANQUET, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, LUST CAUTION, in 2006 with BROKE BACK MOUNTAIN he won the Oscar for Best Director. In his speech he honestly said that he went to the school because he could not get into an university. He followed, "One day I stood on the school stage, the spotlight was on my face just like today. Off stage it was the same as well, a bunch of dark human shadows. I can sense my passion for drama. So I told my father, I don't want to take the test again." Receiving his alma mater's honorary degree, Ang Lee reminded the younger generation that life is a continuous lesson. He said, "I never feel that I have learned enough. We are always adjusting to the condition in front of us, trying to keep up the place. Failure has been my best teacher." He also stated that education is not a process but a goal in life.


text:
Follow @pkafka
Recent Posts by Peter Kafka
Michael Jackson Can't Help Sony Music Any More
October 29, 2010 at 6:37 am PT
Michael Jackson was such a huge star that he was able to stop the music industry's perpetual slide: In the aftermath of his death last year, sales perked up at Sony's music arm, which puts out the singer's catalog.
But there's no star big enough to permanently stop gravity. Now that Jackson sales have come back to earth, Sony reports that last quarter's sales dropped another 10.8 percent, or a mere 6 percent if you strip out the effect of currency fluctuations. Operating income dropped 6.1 percent.
Reminder: Digital music sales, which were eventually supposed to overtake physical sales and push revenue back up once again, aren't doing the trick. In the U.S., sales via Apple's iTunes and other outlets are either flat or shrinking, depending on the sales data you're looking at. (Which should make the labels either less likely or more likely to get deals done with the likes of Spotify. Take your pick!)
Meanwhile: Did you buy, or hear of, any of the following? Sony says they were bestsellers, at least comparatively: Yui's "Holidays in the Sun," Miliyah Kato's "Heaven," Kana Nishino's "To Love," Yannick Noah's "Frontières," Santana's "Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time" and Kenny Chesney's "Hemingway's Whiskey."
UPDATE: Billboard editor Bill Werde notes that Sony plans to release more Jackson this year, so perhaps it can wring out another bump. He also notes that he's heard of Kenny Chesney. Me too! But I was surprised to learn that Yannick Noah has a post-tennis career as a musician.
Tagged with: advertising, Apple, bestsellers, Bill Werde, Billboard, blogs, catalog, digital, entertainment, industry, Internet, iTunes, MediaMemo, Michael Jackson, music, Peter Kafka, revenue, sales, software, Sony, Spotify
Twitter Asks You How You Use Twitter While You Watch TV, While You're Watching TV and Using Twitter
(Almost) No One Is Reading Your Tweets
Happy Holidays! Facebook Stuffs More Ads in Its Stockings.
Music-Discovery Service ExFM Pulls the Plug
Netflix Doesn't Have the Market Cornered on Binge TV: Zombies + Walter White Help AMC Win the Fall VOD War


text:
Figuring out how to make the web content we produce more accessible for people with a wide variety of disabilities "can feel overwhelming at first," says Angie Bedford-Jack, Pitt's digital accessibility coordinator. "What I've seen people do is not do anything until they think they know everything." Instead, she recommends: "Just take one step every day."
Bedford-Jack outlined some relatively easy steps to take in a talk July 16 at the O'Hara Student Center, sponsored by Staff Council
She pointed out that disabilities affecting our capacity to take in words and photos, charts and graphs, range from major to minor and from temporary to permanent — from autism to color blindness, and from cerebral palsy to broken fingers. "But when it does happen to us, we want the web to work for us."
Among those single steps Bedford-Jack says are quick to accomplish:
Use more specific texts for images: Screen readers, which speak websites aloud for those with visual impairments, need to be able to describe images fully and accurately. Without image descriptions, screen readers may only read the useless file name accompanying every picture. These texts should communicate context and function, she says: "What you are not doing is (describing) what the picture looks like. You are describing the information it is trying to convey … the shorter the better." If the photo has a function — as a hyperlink, for instance — that should be noted in the image text as well.
Make hyperlinks specific: "They are really foundational to the way we navigate around the web," she notes. In fact, people with screen readers may browse pages by first looking at the list of hyperlinks. So "Click here" on "Learn more" are useless hyperlink labels, as are the simple arrows that, only visually, tell readers where to click to proceed. "Go to next page" or "Read chapter two here" are much clearer. In particular, you should avoid including the full URL for the hyperlink, which the screen reader will read aloud — one painful letter, number and symbol at a time.
Use Word's headings and styles: Visually unimpaired website creators tend to indicate headings simply through font size and boldface type, but those visual distinctions can't be read by screen readers. Instead, use heading styles in Word, available via Word's home tab, which label headings as "Heading 1," Heading 2," etc.
Code data tables so that screen readers can read the table by rows or by columns.
Use highly contrasting dark and light colors to create sufficient visual distinctions between text and background — or "just use white and black or white and navy blue," she says, to make the contrast ultra-clear.
Don't depend on color to create meaning: Those with color blindness can't pick out the correct lines or bars to read charts and graphs properly, for instance, if color is the only differentiator.
Use captioning, transcripts and audio descriptions for videos: Pitt is not ready to offer captioning help University-wide yet, she says, but YouTube will auto-caption with about 70 percent accuracy. "It doesn't do well if the sound quality is poor," she says. "It doesn't do well with people who have accents." To achieve 100 percent accuracy, you should download and correct their file manually, she advises.
Soon, Pitt employees can expect to see from Bedford-Jack's office more advice on making web content, and documents in general, more accessible, she says. Also in the offing is the University's digital accessibility policy — which has been in preparation "a ridiculously long time," she says, at least since 2015. "We're hopeful that it will get leadership approval by mid-fall.
"There's so much focus on what are the laws, what are the technical standards," she says. "We kind of lose sight: the reason we do this is for people."


The FIBA Rules (latest edition) shall be implemented for ACAMIS tournaments with the following notes.
Games will be played 4 quarters of 7 minutes each with Stop Clock.
A 35-second shot clock must be used and where possible placed above the backboard.
Overtime Periods will be 3 minutes and begins with a jump ball.
New games may be scheduled every 75 or 90 minutes.
First Half – Two (2) time-outs for each team.
Second Half – Three (3) time-outs for each team.
Overtime Periods - One (1) time-out is granted per overtime period for each team.
The length of each time-out is 1 minute.
The length of time between quarters is 2 minutes.
The maximum length of halftime is 8 minutes.
Coaches may request a timeout by approaching the scorers' table.
Girls' games shall use a size 6 ball (28.5" / 72cm).
Boys' games shall use a size 7 ball (29.5" / 75cm).
All teams will receive up to a ten-minute warm-up period prior to the start of the game, on the side of the court away from their bench.
Any second half warm-up will be in front of own bench.
This corresponds to the direction of play in each half.
If the games fall behind schedule, each team will have up to 8 minutes to warm-up at their own end of the court. Squad size and Substitution of Players.
A team will have a minimum squad of 6 players and a maximum of 12 players.
Unlimited amount of substitutions. Substitutes are to approach the scorer's table and be directed onto the court during a dead ball situation.
2 referees shall be utilized for all basketball games.
ACAMIS Tournament games should use personnel from local recognized officiating organizations, if possible.
A player is disqualified from a game when they commit their fifth personal foul.
Technical fouls against a player also count as a personal foul against the same player and count as a team foul.
A player is disqualified if they receive two (2) technical fouls.
Technical fouls against the coach, bench or fans are charged to the coach but is not counted as a team foul. A coach is disqualified if they receive three (3) technical fouls.
Mercy Rule – If a game gets to a 20 pts differential – teams must not press and coaches are encouraged to use their bench to balance the game – if the game gets to 30 points differential it switches to running clock and remains running clock for the remainder of the game.
A maximum point differential of 20 points will be used for calculations. This is to minimize "running up" the score in order to improve a team's seeding.
Head-to-Head Result (if 2 teams).
Best point differential in games between tied teams.
Best point differential in all games.
Most points scored in games between tied teams.
Most points scored in all games.
Least team fouls made in games between tied teams.
Least team fouls made in all games.
A team has 8 seconds to advance the ball into the frontcourt from the backcourt.
Alternating Possession is used for all jump ball situations including the start of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters.


text:
Olivia Wilde Plays Coy on Rumored 'Spider-Woman' Project
Olivia Wilde is currently busy promoting her upcoming release of Don't Worry Darling, but that didn't stop Variety from asking a few questions about her upcoming Marvel project. It's been long rumored that she might be working on a project focused on Spider-Woman for Sony but even hinted that Kevin Feige was involved at one point. Sadly, she remains quite co on what exactly the project is.
That, I can't say a word about. Yeah, no — I can't say anything about it. I have to bury myself in the couch now.
While trying not to give anything away, she does actually tease what it's like working on a Marvel project and how welcoming they are to filmmakers to play in their playbox.
I will say that I think the Marvel approach of allowing newer filmmakers to come into the fold and have access to those tools of the Marvel universe is incredibly exciting. I am a big fan of what they're doing over there, but, yeah, I can't confirm whether that is what that is.
It's curious she still can't talk about the project. Madame Web was rushed out with quite a bit of fanfare once it was announced. So, it seems like Wilde is given a lot of time to develop the project at her own terms and who knows if there might be some hint at what it is in the near future.
Source: Variety
Simu Liu Joins Jennifer Lopez in Netflix's 'Atlas' as a Villain
RUMOR: 'WandaVision' Director May Direct MCU's 'Fantastic Four'
First Look at Helen Mirren's Hespera in Latest 'Shazam Fury of the Gods' Set Photos
It looks like we finally got our first look at Helen Mirren on the set of Shazam: Fury…
REPORT: New 'Silk' Casting Details Revealed for Amazon's 'Spider-Man' Spin-Off
While Peter Parker is off dealing with a multiverse full of problems, Sony is hard at work on…
RUMOR: Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror To Appear in 'Loki'
A while back, we got the announcement that Lovecraft Country's Jonathan Majors was cast as Kang the Conqueror.…


I wrote a three-page paper and submitted it to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) on a ratio for climate change impact using gasoline as as an example.
I propose a ratio for assessing the climate change impact of an economic activity as a function of global greenhouse gas emissions and annual gross world product. To construct a simple example, I consider only CO2 emissions and use the purchase and combustion of gasoline. I show that it has a ratio of 8.82:1 in the United States as of March 6, 2019 at a national average price of $2.44 per gallon. This means that in consideration of the direct impacts of gasoline's combustion alone, gasoline would have to cost $21.50 per gallon in order to achieve a 1:1 ratio. Other applications of the ratio and its impact are discussed.
You can download the paper on SSRN (free account required) or by clicking here.
Although the recent IGI Global academic anthology that I am a co-editor of, Handbook of Research on Emerging Practices and Methods for K–12 Online and Blended Learning, does not mention climate change at all, in fact virtual schools can help slow down climate change. Teaching and learning from home, also known as distance education, like working from home, which is referred to as telecommuting, reduces carbon emissions by reducing travel.
As I have written previously, the United States emits over five billion tonnes of CO2 per year, almost a third of which are from transportation. Preventing transportation from occurring, therefore, is an important way to slow down climate change. Although an enormous amount of CO2 is nonetheless being emitted and has already been emitted, this does not mean we should succumb to the "all or nothing" fallacy and concede that it is pointless to do anything offering amelioration.
Research has shown that distance education produces similar academic achievement to in-person education. Florida has pioneered and continues to lead in K–12 distance education with Florida Virtual School, through which students of all grade levels can take some or all of their classes from home. Distance education is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it is perfectly sensible for online learning to involve occasional face-to-face meetings and for a mix of online, face-to-face, and blended courses to be offered.
Although broadband Internet connectivity and computers are widespread, and many workers are now "knowledge" workers rather than doing location-dependent work, the majority of workers and students continue to show up in-person, and are often obliged to. Online work is perennially criticized for stifling valuable in-person interactions, but it is perfectly reasonable for many schools and firms to meet once a week or even biweekly rather than five days a week.
As a student and instructor at University of Central Florida, I have taken and taught the majority of my courses in fully online or blended modalities. Although I did elect to take mixed-mode courses several times, particularly in my Master's program, even when fully online courses were available, the weekly or occasional meetings allowed me to make friends, ask questions in person, and participate in many educational projects. Commuting from almost 60 miles away in the Daytona Beach area, I was always aware that each round-trip emitted almost 100 lbs. of carbon dioxide, however (2,205 lbs. is a tonne).
Especially in the current strong economy, construction is booming. New housing, commercial buildings, and road expansion projects are happening everywhere. None of this is sustainable and much of it is ill-advised. Cement, concrete's key ingredient, produces about three tonnes, or 8%, of annual global CO2 emissions. Steel production produces another 5% of CO2 emissions. Buildings, bridges, and roads are often made out of concrete and steel. Distance education and telecommuting can reduce the demand for cement, steel, cars, and fossil fuels.
Particularly in the United States, but throughout the world, most of the costs of driving a car are not assessed to the motorist. Of course, the carbon footprint and damage to the earth is not priced in, but also, the costs of roads and infrastructure are borne collectively by taxpayers but not charged incrementally. If these costs were all priced in, people would be traveling far less and clamoring for distance education and telecommuting. Any competent transportation planner knows of the phenomenon of induced demand, where widening a road results in more motorists miraculously turning out, making trips they wouldn't have before due to congestion. Although Tesla drivers are helping reduce carbon emissions and increase production of lithium-ion battery cells, driving still requires roads made out of asphalt and concrete, and more driving prompts more expansion and repair of roads. Reducing travel is important.
Picture this: Children going to school one day a week instead of five, while the rest of their learning is done at home. Schools are much smaller in size, because each student has a certain day of the week when they go to school in-person and only about 20% of the student body shows up on any particular day. Children learn 21st-century skills while continuing to get valuable in-person interactions with other students and teachers, which are rendered special and precious due to only occurring once a week. Although parents previously relied on schools for childcare, now many of them are working from home too and only going to the office one day a week or even less. People are getting out for walks, talking with their neighbors, and organizing neighborhood events instead of driving out-of-town for work and socialization.
Going to the cubicle or classroom five days a week was a downer anyway, so people are now feeling happier and more well-adjusted while also emitting far less CO2. In Orlando, a massive freeway expansion project called I-4 Ultimate was just completed, but the 12-lane highway is never used to capacity and the congestion-priced toll lanes are producing little to no revenue. Attorneys for the 40-year public–private partnership to pay for the $2.5 billion project via toll revenues are currently working from home, drafting papers for a bankruptcy filing.
The recent, catastrophic destruction by Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida was a call to action on several levels. One of these was to improve the building codes. Although building codes have already gotten far more rigorous in south Florida to withstand higher categories of hurricanes, Central Florida and the panhandle have lagged behind due to strong hurricanes rarely if ever striking. Due to climate change, this has changed. Ironically, building stronger structures emits more carbon dioxide, which turns into a vicious circle. Wood structures are replaced by masonry, and concrete blocks become solid and reinforced with steel. More trees are cleared and structures must be rebuilt from scratch after each disaster, emitting even more CO2, while the oceans reach their CO2 saturation point and polar ice melts releasing fantastic quantities of CO2 and methane. It's pure madness.
The CO2 situation is dire, and the idea of "slowing" climate change is not unlike saying we cut the U.S. national debt by merely slowing its rate of increase. But, we are not even cutting the rate of increase; in fact, 2018 CO2 emissions increased 3.4% in the United States in 2018. The levels have already been outrageous for decades and continue to go up.
When we are at school or work, our house or apartment, in whole or part, is going unused. When roads are expanded, peak demand is being accommodated at the busiest times of the day, while the roads remain almost unused at night and below capacity during mid-day. When a new concrete mega-church is planted to go unused and locked most of the week, with a massive asphalt parking lot to boot, it is a travesty. There are eight parking spaces for every car in America—a CO2 nightmare—but of course, none of them are ever in the right place at the right time. The time for distance education and telecommuting is now.
I know that schools in Florida are also used as hurricane shelters, but even if we were to stop building and replacing schools due to distance education, churches can pick up some of the slack.
Like many Bay Area workers, my mother lives near Fremont, California and commutes on BART to San Francisco, 4–5 days a week. She works for the San Francisco government in a job that is completely computer-oriented, but only gets to work from home occasionally. Although she fully relies on walking and BART to get to and from work, there are plenty of days when she would prefer not to get up before 7 a.m. and be gone 12 hours due to over two hours of commuting. No one can actually afford to live in San Francisco, so technology workers, teachers, and countless others commute from cheaper areas each day, to do work that could be done from anywhere. Why?
Automattic, Matt Mullenweg's company that is behind WordPress and many other interesting and useful projects, has about 700 employees, the vast majority of which work remotely. (You are currently reading a WordPress-powered blog by a 27 year old who developed a popular WordPress plugin as a teenager, with over a quarter-million downloads, but then got bored with it and abandoned the project.) Although Automattic's employees do fly to 1–3 meetups per year, which is horrible for the earth (there are no electric airplanes), in principal this fits with my idea of having occasional face-to-face meetings with most work being by telecommute. If you get lonely, you can always go to the nearest Starbucks, which probably isn't much of a commute because they are almost everywhere.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my ideas here, many of which were regurgitated from other sources, although I have not seen many suggest distance education and telecommuting as a multi-pronged approach toward reducing CO2 emissions. As further reading, I suggest Losing Earth at the Pulitzer Center's website.
Learning that concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere have increased 50% since the Industrial Revolution and are the highest they have been in approximately the past million years is what convinced me that human-caused climate change is real, has been occuring, is occuring, and will continue to occur. Even if all humans were to disappear overnight, the earth would continue to warm and CO2 levels would continue to increase for about 40 years. But, 37 billion metric tons of CO2 were emitted in 2018 and this is likely to continue or even increase.
The all-or-nothing fallacy, also known as the false dilemma, is a logical fallacy by which people argue that because climate change is happening anyway, we may as well keep doing what we are doing. It encourages defeatism rather than constructive action. It does not help that we are not psychologically equipped to easily comprehend a threat such as climate change, that is so diffused in time and space.
The world's population growth compounds not unlike the stock market, with more people alive now than ever before. The global population has doubled since 1970, and of all the humans that have ever lived, about 1 in 15 are alive today.
There are 410 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere now, or 0.041% by volume. This is compared with about 280 ppm at the start of the Industrial Revolution, and a projected 500 ppm in 2050 and over 600 ppm in 2100. Besides massive increases in natural disasters and malnutrition, this gives going outside to get a breath of fresh air a whole different meaning. Recent research shows people experience declining cognitive function from high CO2 concentrations, and it is not uncommon to see 1,400 ppm indoors due to lack of air circulation. People actually notice a decline in air quality above 600 ppm. If there are 600 ppm of CO2 outdoors, this is a baseline from which only higher concentrations will be seen indoors in 2100, and 600 ppm isn't even a liberal estimate (some estimates are as high as 1,000 ppm).
Right now, historic ancient forests in Tasmania are burning on a massive scale. We have seen huge fires in California and elsewhere due to climate change, and all of these events release more CO2 while simultaneously reducing the earth's ability to absorb CO2. Even the color and acidity of the oceans will never be the same again. As climate change continues, it will get far worse like a growing snowball. For example, arctic glaciers are releasing methane, which is far worse than CO2 by volume, and this will only accelerate.
Research by Irakli Loladze shows that when crops get more CO2, they grow faster but have fewer nutrients and more carbohydrates. This effect is separate from declining vitamins, minerals, and protein content in fruits and vegetables from factory farming focused on higher crop yields. CO2 will destroy the planet's habitats and habitability for humans and it will even impair our cognitive function and nutrition, but no one seems to care.
Economists demonstrate that the true cost of CO2-emitting products are not included in prices. A gallon of gas may cost $2.30 now, but how much will humans of 2100 wish they could pay to go back in time and stop you from burning it? Even adjusting for inflation, $5.00 is not a stretch, and it likely may be $10, $20, or even more. The United States emits over five billion metric tons of CO2 a year, almost a third of which is from transportation. The impact of frivolous travel is enormous.
A large part of our economy and corporate valuations are built on emitting CO2 that will cost us dearly in the future. Although I write about personal finance and investing in the entire stock market to ensure capital gains over the long term and being well-funded in retirement, it is a fact that these gains come at a cost and are not sustainable in the long term. I have suggested in prior writing that rather than trying to pick corporations that are socially responsible, one should buy the whole market and contribute the differential gains to green causes; that is, the additional income one acquired by buying the whole market instead of a Sisyphean attempt to exclude polluting corporations. For several years now, I've railed against Amazon for continually stealing customer gift card balances, including my own $451 gift card balance in 2015. Nonetheless, my 403(b) and IRAs still invest in Amazon; it's not like I have access to a special mutual fund that includes the entire S&P 500 except Amazon. But, with the gravity and enormity of the climate change conundrum, I find myself questioning this wisdom, particularly as my girlfriend and I are expecting a son in less than a month, who I certainly hope will live to the year 2100 and beyond.
Climate change is paradoxically both all-or-nothing and not at the same time. We have produced technological marvels that we could not even imagine 50 years ago, yet at the same time we cannot rely on humanity to miraculously come up with a technological panacea for climate change at some unknown point in the future. The answer is "all of the above." We must invent, invest, abate, ameliorate, adapt, tax, legislate, regulate, educate, indemnify, chastise, and more. We asked Americans, "is this trip necessary?" during World War II to support the war effort. We took the drastic steps of making cents out of steel and nickels out of silver to set aside copper and nickel for the war effort. We sold $185 billion of war bonds, equivalent to $2.7 trillion today. Climate change is an even bigger threat than World War II. Why are we not investing $2.7 trillion in climate change solutions? Why are we not chastising tourists and jet-setters for their feckless recklessness? Why are Americans not united in protest against the U.S. military for not only consuming an ungodly amount of oil but orienting itself toward "controlling oil-rich regions and defending the key shipping supply routes that carry half the world's oil" (Buxton, 2015, para. 4)? Talk about propping up fossil fuels. If Americans really comprehended the gravity of climate change, the protests would be larger and more widespread than the Vietnam War and Tiananmen Square protests combined.
I know I've stayed silent on the issue of climate change for far too long and done more than my fair share of polluting too (e.g., visiting family in China in 2017 and Yellowstone National Park in 2018), but I will stay silent no longer. My son's future depends on it.


The summer season is coming to an end but there is always a way to celebrate it in style! What better way to lose yourself in good music and enjoy the day to the full then with the Grammy Award Winner Roger Sanchez!
Roger Sanchez is an American house music DJ, Remixer and Grammy Award Winner. He is a four time DJ Awards winner for 'Best House DJ' in 1999, 2002, 2004 and 2007 and has received twelve nominations in all. He won the first International Dance Music Award for Best Podcast in 2007 and has received 8 IDMA nominations for Best American DJ (2003–2010).


There is so much in our lives to be thankful for. Let's take our eyes for example. The very eyes you're reading this message with.
There are over 40 million blind people in the world. Imagine waking up each morning & not being able to see?
Lets get a few things out of the way before the inevitable happens. I know nothing about the person who sent this message out. They may of said they like kicking puppies three months ago, I don't know and I simply don't care. This blog post is only about the above tweet and nothing more. If they are a terrible evil person it doesn't matter in the context of this blog post.
If you are on Twitter and you follow blind folks then you probably already saw some responses to this tweet. People got all sorts of upset over this post. It was received by the blind community as an attack on blind people. I saw a few snarky quotes that didn't even apply to the tweet.
The responses weren't even justified to the actual text of the tweet. There is nothing bad being said, if you thing there is, sorry but you are wrong. If I say I'm thankful I have two legs, or that I can hear is this offensive to those without legs or to the deaf? Of course it is not, I am saying I'm just glad that I have something and that I understand how certain things could make life more difficult. This says nothing bad about any person or group of people, so why in the hell did it cause so much backlash?
I honestly don't have a solid answer to this question, but I have some theories and some advice for everyone.
It is too easy to look for stuff to be offended by in today's culture. This is happening more and more and it is not a path worth going down. Every single day I see stuff people send out on the twitter sphere that pisses me off. Stuff that really annoys the hell out of me, but I just let it go. Nearly every time I just read past it and continue on with my life. Sometimes I'll start to write a reply then delete it and realize I'm just wasting time and energy on something that is so small and silly in the grand scheme of things.
Not everything you read or hear is an attack on you or a group you belong to. Sometimes a tweet is just a tweet. In this specific case it was really just a tweet. No one is saying being blind is bad, just that for those who can see, be thankful.
I have news for everyone reading this. No one with working eye balls wants to switch them for ones that don't work. This should not come as a surprise for anyone, but it seems to be for some. Nothing was even said about blind people. No one said they can't do something, that they shouldn't do something, just that they should be thankful for what they have. People send these messages out all the time, but suddenly when it is about a group we belong to everyone gets bent out of shape. Read and listen to what is being written or spoken, don't look for a absent meaning which allows for your personal justification to act outraged.
Why Not Just Be Thankful?
I'm sorry if you are someone who got upset over this person's tweet. This blog post is not a direct message to you, but more a generalized message to everyone. Just let it go, if you see something like this don't let yourself get upset. Step back and realize what is actually being said. This is a good message to everyone, be thankful for what you have. If you are against this message then there is no hope for you.
If you take anything away from this blog post. Just let it go, don't let yourself jump to outrage. 100% of the time offense is taken not given. If you don't let yourself get upset then you won't. Life really is as simple as that.
If you like what you read on the blog you can Support us on Patreon.
previous -- Lets Talk Podcasts!


4 : to convey as a gift —usually used with on or upon The university bestowed an honorary degree upon her.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bestow.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.


I just watched this video this morning and loved Seth's thoughts on tribes. He is not specifically talking about church community, but I think his thoughts definitely apply to this area of our culture. As I think about leading a faith community in the future, I hope that these sorts of thoughts permeate our group's thinking. I understand that this is a long video (17+ minutes) but it is well worth your time.


text:
The Sheltowee Team
The Sheltowee Business Network leadership team is made up of a diverse group of entrepreneurs. Although the team holds titles that the outside world can understand, the team works in a collaborative and respectful fashion, as peers and partners.
Alex Day is a co-founder and CEO of the Sheltowee Business Network LLC. Alex's academic background is in physics, mathematics and Russian language. Alex founded his own company in 2000 and has helped to start dozens of companies since then. Alex has been instrumental in the state of Kentucky in the area of plant made pharmaceuticals and has assisted in raising over $50 million in capital for his client companies. Alex is passionate about science, entrepreneurism, the outdoors and his faith. Alex has managed venture capital funds and understands what it is like to be on both sides of the table, both as an investor and as an entrepreneur seeking investment. Alex is interested in developing and deploying systems and programs that will significantly enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem and have a strong impact on that ecosystem in his home state of Kentucky and around the country.
JR Rose is the CFO of the Sheltowee Business Network LLC. He began helping entrepreneurs and start-up companies in 1990, providing them with financial, operational and leadership services. He was involved in start-ups dealing in secure underground data storage centers, alternative energy sources, computer-human interfaces, software coaching systems, video-streaming, intelligent content selection software, and educational broadcasting among others. JR started out as a CPA at one of the major accounting firms. JR is a member of the Keiretsu Forum Midwest and has been active in angel investing.
Dawn Marie Yankeelov is the Chief Communications Officer for the Sheltowee Business Network LLC. Dawn brings clientele an in-depth knowledge of marketing, advertising and public relations tied to web strategy and business planning. She has run her own award-winning marketing firm, Aspectx, since 1989, specializing in high technology and health care. In 2014, she founded TALK, the Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky, an independent, employer-led tech council, active in tech public policy, STEAM, and workforce development issues. She serves as its executive director and chairman.
She was presented the Rose Award in 2015 by the City of Louisville for establishing a new tech event called Techfest under TALK, which also won a Google ecity award for the region. She is an active participant at the national level in TECNA, the Tech Councils of North America. Through her advocacy, the Kentucky Department of Education, and Jefferson County Public Schools worked with TALK and NICERC to establish the cyber engineering pathway for 9th-12th graders in 2017.
Yankeelov is an accomplished journalist, and has contributed to business and online publications, including Louisville, Business First, The Lane Report, Proud Green Building, and Tech Republic. She has assisted as a key organizer and speaker for a wide range of technology conferences for TALK, Public Relations Society of America, and other organizations.
As anyone in business will tell you… relationships are the keys to success. How well you build relationships will determine how well they will build your business. And that's where Bryan comes in. Bryan Welage is the Chief Connections Officer for the Sheltowee Business Network LLC. His vast, versatile background has helped enrich countless relationships across the globe. Finance, Real Estate, Entertainment, Product Design & Manufacturing, Consumer Package Goods, Pharmaceuticals, Minerals & Natural Resources are just a few of the industries where Bryan has helped cultivate enormous success.
As an Academic All-American athlete in college, Bryan's competitive spirit is evident throughout his professional life and has been the driving force behind numerous successful startups, exits, mergers and acquisitions. His unique, sophisticated, entrepreneurial expertise makes him an invaluable partner when connecting people, ideas and business.
Robert G. "Bobby" Clark has been a speaker, trainer, entrepreneur and developer of social enterprises. He launched his first business in 1987 and operates a publishing company for more than 30 years. He is: (1) founder & president of Sustainable Business Ventures, a 501(c)(3) non-profit; (2) one the founders of the Kentucky Chapter of the Social Enterprise Alliance; (3) co-founder and president of the Kentucky Entrepreneur Network and conducted a study of the Entrepreneur Climate in Kentucky; and (4) co-founder of Midwest Clean Energy Enterprises (MCEE) that provides grant writing services for small business in rural communities get USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants to get 25% of the cost of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
He is co-founder of the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame started in 2010. He created a Green Entrepreneur program that has been provided training and business plan assistance to 16-24-year-old low income youth; to low-moderate income families for the United Way of the Bluegrass; and to difficult-to-employ individuals including inmates at Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster. He is Vice-President Bluegrass Forever Green and division of Bluegrass Tomorrow, an 18-county central Kentucky organization that connects, unifies, and motivates the current and future stakeholders of the Bluegrass Region. Bobby has made presentations at several national conferences including the American Correctional Association, the Sustainable Disaster Recovery Conference and the National Correctional Industries Association.
Paul Wright, MBA is founding mentor in Sheltowee Business Network, a consultant, trainer and coach to pioneering leaders and mission organizations. Wright offers a 20-year career in community economic development financing where he deployed over $50 million of both private and public funds into high impact/risks projects. From urban economic revitalization projects, to main street businesses, Wright has helped structure loan/grant/equity mixed investments and funds.
He is co-owner of Wright Venture Services, LLC, a consulting company serving entrepreneurs, foundations and community economic development organizations with their marketing, strategy and programs (www.wrightventureservices.com). His specialty is in building entrepreneurial ecosystems and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Paul's hobbies include long-distance trekking and is the only SBN member who has completed all 323 miles of the Sheltowee Trace, Kentucky's longest trail. He currently resides in the foothills of the Appalachia with his life/work partner and four children.


text:
Periscope Lab Research
Periscope Lab
Join Our Lab!
Our vision is to break down barriers that are discouraging creative, intelligent people from pursuing engineering and computing degrees. We need new and diverse ideas to solve today's grand challenges, but academic barriers, such as learning to program, and social barriers, such as stereotypes, work against engineering recruitment and retention efforts.
We conduct research on writing to improve processes for learning to program.
By making thinking visible, writing supports feedback and assessment mechanisms for programming instructors, enables metacognition for students in programming courses, and facilitates collaboration between team members coding different portions of software. Prior programming writing efforts focus on source code documentation, but we focus on writing as communication to improve instructional processes for learning to program.
We conduct research on real-time data analysis to inform instruction.
How can computing and digital devices can broadly support engineering education? From immersive virtual reality headsets to wearable sensors, we consider the ways that digital systems can provide real-time feedback and be relevant for virtual classrooms in both workforce training and traditional academic contexts.
We conduct research to broaden participation in engineering and computing.
What are the lasting impacts that K-12 outreach, engineering courses, purposeful community building, and other support structures have on graduation outcomes for all students? And how can these systems be used to counter stereotypes and increase the number of women and minority students earning engineering degrees?
Recruiting More U.S. Women into Engineering Based on Stories from Morocco
Funding: National Science Foundation Award #1927125
We are exploring cultural influences that impact whether men and women pursue engineering degrees. We are uncovering hidden messages that permeate two cultures to understand how we can broaden participation of people are not currently considering engineering as a viable career pathway. Our exploratory qualitative case study uses the combined frameworks of Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory and Eccles' Expectancy-Value Theory.
Team Members: Dr. Rani Sullivan (PI), Dr. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh (Co-PI), Soundouss Sassi
Website: cultureproject.bagley.msstate.edu
3D Weather Analysis and Visualization
The 3D Weather Analysis and Visualization (3D Weather) project is creating a contextual framework to support teaching computational thinking skills in 4th-12th grade science classes. Computational thinking refers to a set of skills necessary to conceptualize data and solve problems with a computer. While rooted in computer science, the skills are general enough to be useful to all professionals in design and problem-solving fields, including engineering.
Team Members: Dr. Yan Sun (PI), Dr. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh (Co-PI), Dr. Jamie Dyer (Co-PI), Jonathan Harris (Co-PI)
Periscope Lab Students: Chase Robinson
News: MSU Receives Grant for Stem Education
Understanding Engineering Pathways and their Impact on Community and Identity
In collaboration with Dr. Rachel Kajfez and the RIME Collaborative at The Ohio State University, the "Pathways" project, is exploring how the choices made in first-year engineering (FYE) programs impact the community and identity development of students who have taken different pathways (for example, transfer students, regional campus students, etc) to and through their engineering degree. This is a multi-phased project that includes a three part student survey, longitudinal interviews, and focus groups with faculty and teaching assistants regarding community development during the first year.
Team Members: Dr. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh (PI)
Periscope Lab Students: Soundouss Sassi, Shaylin Williams
Technical problems, contact the Webmaster - Last modified: December 9, 2021
URL: http://www.ece.msstate.edu/periscope-laboratory/projects/


text:
Data Crunch
Saturday, Apr 30, 2016 06:18 AM
Ryan Smith Expects to Play Major Role
Senior Writer/Editor
Photos: Draft Pick Ryan Smith
A look at the newest member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Ryan Smith has found a believer in his talents.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Smith, the North Carolina Central cornerback, with their fourth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on Saturday. After finding small-school gold last year with Hobart guard Ali Marpet, the Buccaneers hope for the same from Smith, the 108th overall selection, and he's eager to prove any remaining doubters wrong.
READ: 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SMITH
"I do feel like a lot of schools missed out on me," said Smith, whose only scholarship offer came from NCCU after he had limited exposure on the prep level. "Being that I only played one year of high school football, a lot of people doubted me. A lot of people didn't want to take a chance on me. It still happens to this day – people doubt me just because of the school I played at and [don't recognize] my talent. But everything happens for a reason and I'm just blessed to be in this position."
That position is an opportunity to contribute right away. The Buccaneers came into the 2016 draft with a plan to restock a defense that struggled in 2015, and they've used three of their first four selections on that side of the ball. Smith is the second cornerback added to that squad, following first-round pick Vernon Hargreaves of Florida. The Bucs also addressed their pass rush early in the second round with Eastern Kentucky defensive end Noah Spence before giving the special teams a prize in Florida State kicker Roberto Aguayo.
Smith (6-0, 190) played four seasons at North Carolina Central and finished as the school's all-time leader in solo tackles (168) and kickoff return average (28.1). That latter statistic had to intrigue the Buccaneers, who have a wide-open competition for both of their return jobs after the departure of Bobby Rainey. Even if Smith doesn't win that role, he's confident he can make a difference right away on special teams.
MORE: BUCCANEERS DRAFT SMITH
"I think I can help the team out a lot," he said. "When I'm out there, it's indescribable. I did special teams all my life, in college, and I made plays. I'm going to continue to do the same thing at the next level. I'm going to give it my all, so I know for a fact I'm going to be a major part for this team. I'm going to do everything I can to help them."
Smith played in a total of 45 collegiate games, with 42 starts, and racked up seven interceptions and 24 passes defensed. He was a second-team all-MEAC choice as both a cornerback and a kick returner in his senior campaign. He'll get a chance to compete for a significant role in a Buccaneer secondary that is looking for vast improvement after allowing a 70% completion rate in 2015. In addition to Hargreaves, Smith will join a cornerback unit that also includes prized free agent acquisition Brent Grimes and 2015 holdovers Alterraun Verner, Johnthan Banks and Jude Adjei-Barimah.
The Buccaneers have three more picks to make in the 2016 draft, including one fifth-rounder (#148) overall and a pair of sixth-rounders (183 and 197). They do not currently own a selection in the seventh round.
Multiple Buccaneer Records Fell in 2019
Shaq Barrett and Jameis Winston rewrote prominent pages in the Buccaneers' all-time record book but their performances weren't the only ones to set new franchise standards in 2019
Tracking Bucs Scouts During the Pre-Draft Process | Carmen Catches Up
The Combine held in Indianapolis every year is far from the first look personnel departments get at draft prospects. It's all-star game season right now and the Bucs are covering all their bases.
Standouts from the 95th Annual East-West Shrine Bowl East Team
As draft season gets fully underway, the oldest collegiate all-star game kicked off with practices this week right in the Bucs' backyard. Here are a few players that stood out from the East team during Shrine Bowl practices at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
Standouts from the 95th Annual East-West Shrine Bowl West Team
As draft season gets fully underway, the oldest collegiate all-star game kicked off with practices this week right in the Bucs' backyard. Here are a few players that stood out from the West team during Shrine Bowl practices at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.


text:
Lindeboom Brouwerij is een Nederlandse bierbrouwerij in het Limburgse dorp Neer.

Geschiedenis
In 1867 wilde Willem Geenen, die tot dan zijn kost verdiende als landbouwer en stroopmaker, bier gaan brouwen. Voor die tijd was Willem een zeer ondernemend iemand, want hij durfde het aan om zijn koffers te pakken en af te reizen naar Worms, om opgeleid te worden als bierbrouwer. Dit moet voor een jongeman uit Neer in die tijd een ware wereldreis zijn geweest. De schriften waarin hij de ellenlange dictaten in een regelmatig handschrift optekende, zijn bewaard gebleven.

Willem had een vooruitziende blik om deze brouwerstudie op te pakken want bier werd weer populair, na een tijd uit de gratie te zijn geweest. Wanneer hij zijn studie beëindigd heeft, is niet precies bekend. In april 1870 was hij in ieder geval terug in zijn geboortedorp en wendde hij zich tot de burgemeester met het verzoek hem vergunning te verlenen om bier te brouwen. De ambtelijke molens draaiden in die tijd op volle toeren. In nog geen zeven weken was de complete procedure van de hinderwet doorlopen. Bij besluit van Gedeputeerde Staten van het Hertogdom Limburg van 10 juni 1870 kreeg hij toestemming zijn brouwerij te starten. De enige voorwaarde die werd gesteld, was dat hij binnen vijf maanden moest beginnen. Willem kon dus meteen aan de slag. Naast zijn huis op het Hammerveld in Neer, waar toen reeds een tachtig jaar oude linde stond, bouwde hij zijn brouwerijtje. In de beginjaren noemde hij het bier "GEENEN's bier". Na enige jaren werden bieren uitgebracht waar de naam van de lindeboom in voor kwam. Sedert jaren 30 wordt het bier uitsluitend als Lindeboom Bier in de handel gebracht.

In de brouwhuismuur is nog steeds de hardsteen te zien met de initialen van WG 1870.

Willem was niet de enige brouwer in Neer. In het dorpje van nog geen duizend inwoners waren op dat moment liefst vier brouwerijen actief. Nu moeten wij ons geen al te grote voorstelling maken van de grootte van deze brouwerijen. De bedrijven waren klein. Er werd slechts enkele malen per jaar gebrouwen, meestal 's winters als er op het land geen werk was. De combinatie boerenbedrijf en brouwerij kwam vaker voor. Met een of twee knechten kon de brouwer/boer het werk met gemak af.

Met vier brouwers in Neer moest Willem Geenen voor afzet wel over de grenzen van zijn dorp kijken. Een geluk was dat een familielid uit Buggenum met brouwen ophield en Geenen de klantenkring kon overnemen. In één klap was hij zijn dorpsconcurrenten voor en leverde zijn bier ook in Roermond. Als een van de eerste brouwers kocht hij omstreeks 1890 een flessenvulmachine. Al snel werd een kwart van de totale productie in flessen afgezet. Zijn bier werd in heel Nederland bekend door de Maasschippers, die als ze in het haventje van Neer voor anker lagen, graag een kratje Lindeboom bier aan boord namen. Willem Geenen legde zo een solide basis voor een familiebedrijf.

In deze tijd werden algemeen bovengistende bieren gebrouwen. Er was echter een nieuwe trend gaande, namelijk het brouwen van ondergistende biersoorten. Deze manier van gisten gebeurde bij lage temperaturen. Door de uitvinding van de koelmachine, door Linde, was dit mogelijk geworden.

In 1912 werden door zijn zoon Bernard en dochter Christien grote investeringen gedaan. In een nieuw gebouw werd een stoommachine van 15 PK en een koelmachine geplaatst, alles deugdelijk en naar de laatste eisen gemonteerd. De buurman maakte nog wel bezwaren, maar zijn problemen werden door een kleine aanpassing van de oorspronkelijke plannen verholpen. Met de realisatie van dit project stelde De Lindeboom Bierbrouwerij zijn toekomst veilig.

Men kon nu ook de Pilsener bieren brouwen waar de bierdrinker naar vroeg. Deze biersoort veroverde rond de eeuwwisseling stormenderhand de markt. Het nieuwe, modern gebrouwen bier verdrong razendsnel de oeroude Limburgse streek- en stadsbieren, die via de methode van bovengisting werden gebrouwen. Tal van kleine brouwers konden de investeringen niet aan en zagen zich genoodzaakt het vuur onder de brouwketels definitief te doven. Vooral de jeugd keerde zich massaal af van het traditionele bier. De Lindeboom had op het goede moment geïnvesteerd.

De derde generatie Geenen
Willem Geenen, zoon van Bernard, nam de brouwerij over en legde de fundamenten voor het huidige bedrijf. Voor hem was geen gemakkelijke taak weggelegd. De problemen van zijn tijd waren typerend voor de markt en verwoord in een interview dat hij gaf ter gelegenheid van het honderdjarig bestaan van de brouwerij in 1970:

"Je moet een idealist zijn om een eenmans-brouwerijtje te kunnen blijven runnen. Een dergelijk klein bedrijf kun je onmogelijk in stand houden als idealisme ontbreekt. Ik ben er echter wel van overtuigd dat dit idealisme zal moeten verdwijnen als men zich in de komende jaren wil verzekeren van een redelijk goed voortbestaan. Met andere woorden: de bierproducent van de toekomst is meer koopman dan brouwer. Het voortbestaan van een kleine streekbrouwerij wordt in niet geringe mate bedreigd door de grotere provinciale, en vooral de landelijke brouwerijen, die al zoveel kleine bedrijven hebben opgeslokt. Brouwerijen als de mijne kunnen niet of moeilijk beschikken over de enorme kapitalen die nodig zijn voor externe financieringen. De grote brouwerijen kunnen dat wel. Daarbij beschikt de streekbrouwerij over betrekkelijk geringe mogelijkheden tot het voeren van goede reclame. Via reclamespots op radio en televisie en paginagrote advertenties bouwen grote brouwerijen als Heineken, Amstel en Grolsch een naam op. Dat "image" speelt een grote rol, want men is eerder geneigd bieren met een bekende dan een onbekende naam te accepteren. Ten onrechte, want als gevolg van warenkeuring, kwaliteitscontrole en gezamenlijke research wordt in Nederland geen slecht bier meer gebrouwen."

De vierde generatie Geenen
In de brouwerij is thans de vierde generatie Geenen actief. In 1971 werd Ben Geenen commercieel directeur van de brouwerij en kwam zijn broer Willem Geenen hem in 1978 ondersteunen.

In 1995 werd het 125-jarig bestaansfeest van de brouwerij gevierd en een jaar daarop kreeg de brouwerij bij Koninklijke Beschikking het predicaat van Hofleverancier.

In 1998 overleed Ben op veel te jonge leeftijd en nam zijn broer Willem Geenen de leiding over.

In de periode 1995-1996 werden grote investeringen gedaan in de afvulling van vaten en flessen. In 1998 vond er een restyling plaats van het Lindeboomlogo. De natuurlijke lindeboom verving de gestileerde lindeboom. In 2001 werd een begin gemaakt met het uitleveren van bier in tanks voor de horeca.

In 2002 werd de bestaande ondergistende biersoort Gouverneur vervangen door 2 nieuwe soorten Gouverneur, beide gebaseerd op bovengisting en gemaakt met zowel rogge- als gerstemout.

Het huidige afzetgebied is vooral de driehoek Weert, Venlo en Roermond, waar ca 65 % van de afzet plaatsvindt. De rest wordt verspreid over heel Nederland verkocht. De verdeling is ca 80 % horeca en 20 % retail (winkel)afzet. Daarnaast vindt er afzet plaats naar Engeland - in flessen en sinds enige jaren ook, in toenemende mate, in fusten.

Bieren

Zie ook
 Bier in Nederland
 Lijst van Nederlandse brouwerijen
 Lijst van Nederlandse bieren

Externe link
 Officiële website van Brouwerij Lindeboom

Nederlandse brouwerij
Bouwwerk in Leudal


text:
FEATURED >>
Upcoming car launches... >>
Upcoming car launches in August 2021
Now that lockdown is at ease, Automobile manufacturers are steadily getting back on track performance-wise by launching new car launches in the upcoming month in the upcoming month. Although sales performance was hit severely in the last few months, some manufacturers did have a stable performance in the market. Let us take a look at some of the launches happening in August 2021.
Honda Amaze:
Honda Amaze is set to go under facelift and will be launched in August 2021. The new changes in the automobile design include a minor change in exterior style that will give a new dynamic and fresh look to the vehicle. This has to be one of their most unique car launches of the decade.
The interior design may remain unchanged while additional features and equipment are likely to come with the facelift variant.
The facelift also offers the same engine options as in the current variant. It comes with 1.2L petrol and 1.5L diesel engine options with power and torque of 90Ps and 110Nm, and 100 PS and 200 Nm (80 PS and 160 Nm with CVT) respectively. It has a transmission of 6-speed manual and CVT.
Mahindra XUV700:
Mahindra is ready to unveil its newest product on the market, the XUV700 premium 7-seater SUV. The model is built upon the monocoque chassis and will have several features which will be first in its segment. These features include an auto booster headlamp, the segment's first largest sunroof, safety alerts, and much more.
The XUV700 will be available in 2.0L turbo petrol and 2.2L mHawk turbo diesel engines with a power of 200bhp and 185bhp respectively and will offer manual and automatic transmissions as well.
Tata Tiago NRG:
Tata is coming with a new tough and sporty avatar that is seriously fun and keeps us on our heels for this new launch. We expect the same features to be carried on with some additional features and equipment. More features are yet to be revealed by the manufacturer.
It will be a crossover version that features 1.2L petrol and 1.0L diesel engines. The new Tiago is marketed with a 'Seriously fun' which leads us to believe it could be a BS6 variant as well.
Skoda Kushaq:
Skoda is all set to launch its Kushaq 1.5 Turbocharged petrol that delivers power and torque of 147bhp and 250Nm. It comes with a 7-speed DSG automatic transmission.
Skoda Kushaq will compete with Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos and will emerge amongst them as the powerful SUV due to its engine and powertrain.
New-Gen Force Gurkha:
Force Motors is set to launch its next product, New-Gen Force Gurkha in August 2021.
Compared to the previous variant, the new variant will have more features and equipment. Powering this vehicle will be a BS-VI diesel motor that gives a power and torque of 90bhp and 280Nm. It comes with a 5-speed manual transmission and 4WD system with manual autolocking systems.
Maruti Swift CNG:
Maruti Suzuki is coming out with another spectacular car and expanding its S-CNG range and the Swift CNG will only be available in the 'Lxi' trim variant.
Maruti Swift is powered by a naturally aspirated 1.2L, inline-4 petrol motor, with power and torque of 90 PS and 113 Nm with transmission options of 5-speed manual and automatic transmissions. The CNG will however be available in manual transmission and will have lower power and torque figures when running on natural gas.
So there we have it, a list of all the launches happening in August 2021. Let us know what you think about these car launches and which one is your favourite!
Also , read : Spy pics of the upcoming Hyundai Creta surfaces
Tags: automobile
Spy pics of the upcoming Hyundai Creta surfaces
Tata to bring back Tata Tiago NRG
Tata Nexon EV Long Range: 6 Things to Look Out For!
Affordable Cars With 6 Airbags in India
Concept Cars That Made It Into Production


The mystery continues in this BRAND NEW issue! Lady Mechanika's investigation of the mechanical corpse leads her to Lord Blackpool, a weapons dealer with whom she's had a prior disagreeable altercation. When she learns that the grand scientific symposium Mechani-Con is holding its annual Masquerade Ball aboard Blackpool's new behemoth airship, she devises a plan to sneak on board and search for clues but finds that she isn't the only uninvited guest.
You will receive the exact comic book shown in the photo(s) or scan(s).
BRAND NEW FROM THE MANUFACTURER, IMAGE & INFORMATION PROVIDED BY MANUFACTURER & IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.


..- Choice of one item served with Mexican style rice & refried beans.
..- Beef, Chicken, or Soy crisp taco, Cheese, Chicken or Soy enchilada, Beef or Chicken Tamale.
..- Choice of two items served with Mexican style rice & refried beans.
..- Mexican Dessert and a non-alcoholic beverage (fountain drinks, Ice Tea or coffee).
..- Choice of Mole Poblano or Pipian served with Mexican style rice & refried beans, Green Salad, and Tortillas.
..- Choice of Beef, Chicken or Shrimp fajitas seasoned and cooked to perfection with fresh Onion, Bell pepper and tomato served with Mexican style rice & refried beans, Green Salad, and Tortillas.
..- Mexican Dessert and a non alcoholic beverages (fountain drinks, Ice Tea or coffee).
RECEPTION TRAY available by request.
..- Our delicious signature Carne Asada and Grilled Shrimp plate served with Mexican style rice & refried beans, Guacamole, Green Salad, and Tortillas .
..- Mexican Dessert and a non alcoholic beverage (fountain drinks, Ice Tea or coffee).
..- Prepared in your choice of al mojo, ranchera, fajitas,or enchiladasMexican style rice & refried beans, Green Salad, and Tortillas.