text:
Serbia + 1 more
OCHA Belgrade: Weekly Situation Report 10 - 17 Mar 2000
In Montenegro, OCHA formally launched the Database on Humanitarian and Transitional Activities at the fortnightly inter-agency coordination meeting. Data collection and entry will begin following the first focused meeting with ECHO-funded implementing partners, held on 16 March.
Refugees/IDPs
In Serbia, the registration of IDPs is in progress, scheduled to be completed in mid-April.
In Kralijevo, an inter-agency coordination meeting was held on 15 March, chaired by UNHCR with the participation of NGOs and UN agencies, focusing on the provision of humanitarian assistance by NGOs in the region. The discussions also covered the need for prior-consultation with UNHCR for distributions of aid to collective centers.
Following the publication of a Handbook for Applying the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, OCHA briefed the NGO community at an ICVA-organized meeting in Belgrade on 17 March. The Handbook has been developed to provide the blueprint for action based on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and aims to assist field personnel in finding practical solutions when confronted with the assistance, protection, and reintegration needs of the internally displaced. (The Handbook is available at ReliefWeb at www.reliefweb.int)
On 14 March, WFP held a donor briefing in Belgrade, attended by the Agency's representatives from field offices and the HQ in Rome. WFP provided an overview of the status of food aid in Serbia (excluding Kosovo), the process of beneficiary identification, assessment and monitoring efforts, and efforts to strengthen the distribution mechanism. It is expected that donor commitment in the pipeline can cover food needs up to late August/early September.
On 14 March, a bi-weekly health coordination meeting was held in Belgrade, chaired by WHO with participation of NGOs, UN Agencies, ECHO, and the FRY Government. During the meeting, PSF cautioned against bringing in drugs not relevant to FRY (e.g., some 370 mt of malaria medicines needed to be destroyed). The Health Ministry requested NGOs to reactivate support for primary healthcare centers.
During the above meeting, the following organizations presented their health-related projects: UNHCR (hygiene program); Italian Cooperation (clinical centers for gynecology); MSF (health assessment of IDPs/refugees): IOM (medical processing for repatriation); and Swiss Disaster Relief (water testing equipment for Pancevo).
There have been many partial power outages in the EPS system, including those in Obrenovac TPS and TS Belgrade 3, which demonstrate the system's fragility.
District heating in Belgrade and other cities, where natural gas is used as main fuel, have been significantly reduced. There is an indication that natural gas may be shifted to the use for fertilizer production for agriculture in spring.
Supply of gasoline and diesel to commercial pumping stations continued to be problematic. While the need for fuel is growing due to spring agricultural works, state-related import has significantly slowed down, making it difficult to meet the domestic demands.
HUMANITARIAN VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT
A WFP mission arrived in Belgrade to conduct a household food economy assessment (focusing on social cases). The mission will examine the patterns of income and expenditures of FRY households, from the point of view of food accessibility. Dialogue is ongoing to ensure compatibility between this assessment and the humanitarian vulnerability assessment on social cases (non-food), being organized by UNICEF/OCHA, for early April.
In Montenegro, the joint WHO/UNICEF Assessment of the Primary Health Care Facilities and Services started on 15 March, to be implemented through the Institute of Public Health in Podgorica.
In Montenegro, UNHCR is planning to carry out several surveys in the north. The first one is to assess the general food situation, nutrition, health and cooking facilities of four collective centers. Based on its results, UNHCR will try to resume an agreement between the Montenegrin Commissariat for Displaced People and beneficiaries about the use of joint kitchens, while recommending further actions to be taken. These assessments compliment the nutritional survey currently underway on the coast under the coordination of UNHCR Ulcinj.
WHO is also preparing a drug use survey as part of a regional activity aimed at assessing the usage of medicines in FRY (Serbia Proper, Kosovo, and Montenegro), Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYROM, and Albania.
A number of missions are being planned in FRY during the coming weeks, including: Ms. Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on 21-22 March; Mr. Dennis McNamara, DSRSG for Humanitarian Affairs/UNMIK; Mr. Stoltenberg, President of the Norwegian Red Cross, in late March; a WHO polio expert, on 27-31 March; and a UNFPA assessment team on reproductive health of refugees and IDPs, in April.
Next situation report will be issued on 30 March, due to OCHA's regional meeting next week.
Ms. Kayo Gotoh, HAO/Analysis, OCHA Belgrade
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.
UNMIK, January 2021
Serbia + 11 more
UNHCR Serbia Snapshot - December 2020
QRCS provides socioeconomic support for COVID-19 victims in Montenegro
Qatar Red Crescent
UNHCR Serbia Monthly Update, December 2020


text:
Hiroshima>
'What seems desperately outmoded and nearing collapse isn't our nuclear infrastructure but our thinking about national security.' (Photo: Dimitar Krstevski/flickr/cc)
Beyond M.A.D.: Reviving Nuclear War
"Some of the key technocrats and scientists of the Cold War say the nation has become overly confident about its nuclear deterrence. The nuclear enterprise, they say, 'is rusting its way to disarmament.'"
Let's meditate on this irony -- that disarmament, finally, means no more than growing old and weak and pathetic.
Robert C. Koehler
What brilliant Cold War Revival propaganda, masquerading, in the Los Angeles Times last week, as objective reporting. Let's meditate on the dark chuckles of the Cold War technocrats, as they attempt to summon an extra trillion dollars or so from the national coffers to restore America's nuclear weapons program to the glory of the 1960s and push on vigorously with the design and development of the next generation of nukes: our national strength, the foundation of our security. All that's missing from the article -- "New nuclear weapons needed, many experts say, pointing to aged arsenal" -- is Slim Pickens screaming "Ya-hoo!" as he rides the bomb into human oblivion at the end of Dr. Strangelove.
The ostensible focus of the article, as well as a second article published two weeks earlier, both by Ralph Vartabedian and W.J. Hennigan, is the decrepitude of the American nuclear arsenal, with its myriad sites and delivery systems hampered with out-of-date technology and indifferent maintenance, e.g.: "Today, the signs of decay are pervasive at the Pantex facility in Texas, where nuclear weapons are disassembled and repaired. Rat infestation has become so bad that employees are afraid to bring their lunches to work."
Oh, the horror. Rats and nukes. Next up, Godzilla? Any serious challenge to nuclear weapons as the ultimate manifestation and symbol of national strength is absent from these articles; so is any rational account of the danger their hair-trigger presence poses to humanity -- not to mention the insanity of their ongoing development. For instance:
"John S. Foster Jr., former director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and chief of Pentagon research during the Cold War, said the labs should design, develop and build prototype weapons that may be needed by the military in the future, including a very low-yield nuclear weapon that could be used with precision delivery systems . . ." (emphasis added).
During the Cold War, the primary justification for our gargantuan nuclear arsenal was contained in the acronym M.A.D.: mutually assured destruction. No more world wars, boys and girls! With the Cold War superpowers in possession of the means to destroy the human race, the only wars we could wage were relatively small, proxy wars in Third and Fourth World countries.
"Those who like peace should love nuclear weapons," said Kenneth Waltz, Cold War academic extraordinaire and founder of the school of neorealism (as quoted recently by Eric Schlosser in The Guardian). "They are the only weapons ever invented that work decisively against their own use."
But seven decades into the nuclear era, mission creep is making its presence felt along with the rust and rats. Link low-yield nuclear weapons with a word like "precision" and their use in a real war starts to feel almost justifiable -- and so much more satisfying, apparently, than simply maintaining a nuclear arsenal for the purpose of never using it. Threat is power in the abstract. But a mushroom cloud over Central Asia or the Middle East is power made manifest, especially if one lacks the mental and spiritual capacity to grasp the consequences.
The nuclear era, Noam Chomsky wrote this past August, reflecting on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, "opened on August 6, 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to discover the effective means to destroy itself, but -- so the evidence suggests -- not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst instincts."
The mission that our mainstream media has claimed for itself is to continually reflect back to us our inability to control our worst instincts. Thus, write Vartabedian and Hennigan, "The incoming Republican-controlled Congress could be more open to exploring new (nuclear) weapons."
They proceed to quote Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman-elect of the House Armed Services Committee. Voicing his concern about our aging arsenal and his support for renewed nuclear testing, he said, "You don't know how a car performs unless you turn the key over. Why would we accept anything less from a weapon that provides the foundation for which all our national security is based on?"
And that brings me back to the rust. What seems desperately outmoded and nearing collapse isn't our nuclear infrastructure but our thinking about national security. The United States of America, nation of Manifest Destiny, was built on conquest and exploitation. This is the basis of its inability to believe that security could be based on anything except near-absolute power and the reason why, in the corridors of political power, disarmament is synonymous not with sanity but neglect.
Unless the paradigm shifts and we redefine ourselves as a nation -- and we redefine our relationship to other nations, including our alleged enemies -- our future is nuclear weapons we can use.
Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. Koehler has been the recipient of multiple awards for writing and journalism from organizations including the National Newspaper Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Chicago Headline Club. He's a regular contributor to such high-profile websites as Common Dreams and the Huffington Post. Eschewing political labels, Koehler considers himself a "peace journalist. He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, a chain of neighborhood and suburban newspapers in the Chicago area. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Born in Detroit and raised in suburban Dearborn, Koehler has lived in Chicago since 1976. He earned a master's degree in creative writing from Columbia College and has taught writing at both the college and high school levels. Koehler is a widower and single parent. He explores both conditions at great depth in his writing. His book, "Courage Grows Strong at the Wound" (2016). Contact him or visit his website at commonwonders.com.
HiroshimaNoam ChomskyNuclear WeaponsUS Military

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Commercial banks reported total trading revenue of $6.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017, down 3.6 percent from the second quarter and 0.6 percent from a year ago, according to the OCC's Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities released yesterday.
The net current credit exposure was down $21.1 billion, or 5.7 percent, in the third quarter, the report said. The notional amount of derivatives banks held increased by 1.5 percent to $188.3 trillion.


Akron Film+Pixel Festival co-director Rob Lucas (left) and Mr. Zub's chef, Micah Townsend (right), present the Akron Film Burger. Photo by Steve Felix.
Mr. Zub's chef Micah Townsend loves movies. In fact, every dish in his restaurant is named after a film or film character. Starting on August 22 his newest creation, The Akron Film Burger, will be available to the public. The sandwich is in honor of the 2011 Akron Film+Pixel Festival (formerly the Akron Film Festival), which will take place at the Akron Art Museum (1 South High St., Akron, OH) October 6-9, 2011.
The Akron Film Burger is a vegan spicy black bean burger, made to order with a wide variety of different toppings. It will join the Mr. Zub's menu for a limited time among the ranks of The Kid (Film: Bad Santa; deep fried jalapeno cheese ravioli stacker), The Thurgood Jenkins (Film: Half Baked; tater tots, sour cream, chives, nacho cheese and bacon) and The Dirk Diggler (Film: Boogie Nights; a giant hot dog with onions, slaw, mustard and chili).
The Akron Film Burger is $6.99 and will only be available from August 22-October 10, 2011. The full list of Akron Film+Pixel Festival films, panels and parties will be available on September 3, 2011 at www.akronfilm.com. Festival passes are on sale now. Mr. Zub's is located at 812 W Market St., Akron, OH. Their full menu can be found at www.mrzubs.com.
For more information please contact festival co-director Rob Lucas at (330) 618-4405 or co-director Steve Felix at (330) 603-1520, or email info@akronfilm.com.


text:
Tour returns next month
The Vancouver Sun
An East Vancouver laneway home designed by Madeleine Design Group Inc. and built by Rain City Renos that will be on the 2019 Modern Home Tour. [PNG Merlin Archive] Photo by Provoke Studios /PNG
For the seventh year in a row, the Modern Architecture + Design Society is bringing its Modern Home Tour to Greater Vancouver.
The self-guided tour, which takes place Sept. 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will offer tour-goers "an opportunity to engage the minds behind the designs and ask questions as they explore some of Vancouver's modern homes, inside and out," says a prepared release outlining the event.
Included on the tour are laneway homes, new homes, a fully renovated home and a certified "Passive House."
"Vancouver has an amazing and inspiring movement in modern residential architecture and design," says society president James Leasure. "Our 2019 lineup features some incredible work from some of the area's leading architects and interior designers."
Tickets for the tour, which will benefit the KPU Wilson School of Design, are $45 in advance and $50 on the day of the event. For more information, visit www.vancouvermodernhometour.com


Find autos & automotive services in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. Listings include A Battery, 3rd Air Defense Artillery. Click on each in the list below the map for more information.
Today's the day! Here's to a great run with a fantastic team! Nothing is beyond our sight always! Our ceremony will begin at 1300 at the Top of the Bay. Please join us for our final farewell!


How to Choose the Right Wedding Band – You've heard the "4 Cs" of smart diamond buying. But what more or less the wedding band? Wedding bands are not the most expensive wedding purchase you will make, not afterward spending with $1,000-$10,000 upon that pretty sparkling diamond rock. You may not spend a lot of period researching the wedding band purchase, but many people stop up wearing their wedding band more often and on a hours of daylight to morning basis compared to their engagement ring.
Make an informed decision behind purchasing your wedding band.
oDo you prefer a conventional plain wedding band or a design wedding band?
oDo you want to budget in for a designer proclaim brand or accomplish you prefer to forgo the brand state and opt out for really the same arena without the "name", thereby significantly reducing costs?
You may desire to regard as being a plain band if you prefer a easy design or are not a big "jewelry person". As a jeweler, I often get women shopping for their husbands wedding bands who are considering a plain band because their husband "does not subsequent to jewelry". I usually recommend a narrower plain wedding band, such as a white gold or yellowish-brown gold 4mm broad band. Although a wider 6mm, 7mm, or 8mm band is within acceptable limits for most men, someone who does not wear a lot of jewelry may feel more compliant in a narrow band. (Wedding bands are usually measured in millimeters. A 4mm band is approx. " wide).
If someone is looking for something bearing in mind a tiny more of a design, but still wants a simpler band, I may even drive them towards a more subtle design, such as a hammered wedding band. Hammered bands are yet understated, but a tiny more daring than a customary plain band.
There are many types of design wedding bands to pick from, such as braided wedding bands, hammered design bands, paisley bands, and further unique designs, such as a Celtic wedding band.
The isolated practical considerations that you may want to make in selecting a wedding band next designs is in union that trends arrive and go and you will be wearing and looking at the design hopefully forever. The additional consideration is in deciding whether you will wear your dome on a daily basis and what nice of wear and tear your pitch can safely sustain. This usually depends upon the type of play a part or career or regular hobbies.
Do you conduct yourself gone your hands a lot? realize you realize construction feint or pull off you have an office job that is not taxing upon your hands? In purchasing a design band, if you are planning to wear your dome to a job that is physically demanding you may want to adjudicate a hammered design band or a similarly rugged design that can withstand wear and tear. You may desire to stay away from a braided wedding band, for example, if you are a police overseer and want to wear your showground upon the job! If you are "outdoorsy" and rugged, you may desire a more sound band considering less design that could get damaged.
Most wedding bands that are on the spread around today are actually not designer pronounce brand rings, still they are, in my opinion, the same tone as most designer read out brand rings. The difference similar to a designer name brand and a generic description is mainly the price. Most design bands range amongst $300-$350 vs. $600-$800 for the precise pitch made by a known designer name.
However, if paying 2-3 epoch more is not a significant difference to you, you may desire to adjudicate a declare brand clearly for the security or status that the herald you purchase may provide you. In shopping for a wedding band, whether it is a designer proclaim or not, create clear you understand your wedding or jewelry store's policies, warranties, and guarantees. Often, the generic brand will meet the expense of you the same security, quality, and warranties. so why spend the extra?
White gold is often more customary for those who are not normally big jewelry wearers. White gold is moreover somewhat more contemporary, although trends suggest that ocher gold may be coming support strong into fashion. Ultimately, whether you choose orange or white gold should depend on your personal preference, rather than with any trend, since trends come and go and you plot to wear your showground forever!
You may afterward desire to decide two-tone gold. Two-tone wedding rings are an excellent compromise amid subtle and wealthy tones and they help one extra ambition that people tend to overlook.
Two-tone wedding bands give you the flexibility of both orangey and white gold colors therefore that you can be in agreement a variety of new jewelry with your wedding jewelry. If you buy a white gold wedding band, every of your forward-looking jewelry purchases will tend to be white gold. Wearing yellow gold or two-tone subsequent to your white gold arena may clash. The thesame can be said of unconditional yellow gold. But taking into account a two-tone wedding band, you can wear an all orange gold bracelet or watch, for example, and interchange jewelry and colors. This adds good versatility to your jewelry line-up.
Use the under benchmarks to assess if your chosen jeweler is charging you too much or if their prices are reasonable.
Expect to spend amongst $100-$150 for a plain, acknowledged wedding band.
Expect to spend surrounded by $600-$800 for a designer name brand.
Remember, you may not want to plate out the new cost for a designer post brand past you can find approximately the same showground without the "name". Above all, this should be a another that you create yourself or bearing in mind your spouse. Forget roughly trends and think long-term. $300 more than 50 years of your simulation is less than a penny a day! Don't get caught up too much in the price. Opt for the ground that you in reality want. You plan to wear your arena forever.
Related Posts of "Tiffany and Co Mens Wedding Bands"


You have probably seen enough instances of immaturity in the Social Media channels to make you feel like this is nothing more than a digital kindergarten.
Personally, I still believe this to be one of the major reasons why the more senior executives and professionals of industry shy away from publishing their thoughts in these channels. Because the online channels are so personal, you wind up seeing people and their true colors shine (in a not-so-pretty way). More often than not, their indiscretions and acts of unprofessionalism (even when they fall into the minority based on their overall presence) casts them in a very different/negative light.
Be more like a journalist.
If you don't like the idea of being a journalist, then just consider (for a moment) taking some time (and it doesn't need to be a lot of time) to get more media savvy. The more media savvy you are, the more the likelihood will be that you will take that extra second before tweeting something, updating you Facebook status or publishing that Blog post to ensure that the information you are about to share with everyone connected to you is as accurate and reliable as possible.
Let's do this without removing the humanity of it all.
This is not a plea to turn every tweet and Blog post into something that looks like an op-ed piece in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. This is much more about accepting the very powerful gift we have all been given to publish our thoughts in text, images, audio and video instantly (and for free) for the world to see.
Spelling and grammar. While it was once not a critical part of the Blogging world, proper spelling and grammar is now an important part of being taken seriously. I often make spelling and grammar mistakes, and I'm thankful to the many people who email, tweet or message me with the corrections. That being said, I do try to edit the content as much as possible prior to pushing it out there.
Be skeptical. How many celebrities have been announced dead on Twitter only for it later to be revealed that it was a mistake? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Because anyone can publish content, everyone must become that much more skeptical of content we see. This means that you have to dig – just a little bit.
Check sources. This doesn't mean that you have to call BP to find information about an oil spill if it's being discussed online, but it wouldn't kill you to click on a link before retweeting it – just to ensure that it links to the right piece of content, and that it's something you would be proud to share with your connections.
Ask questions. If you read or follow something that doesn't sit well with you, ask, probe and push your community for their insights and thoughts. Beyond that, always remember that those who ask questions (and lots of them) are usually the ones who come up with the most interesting answers and understanding on a specific topic.
Don't blow your fuse. People often tweet or post "in the moment" – as something is happening to them. While this is an important part of Social Media, it's also important to take a deep breathe, cool down and really think about what you're about to post. Passion running high is critical. Passion without thinking it through and be critically damaging.
Be personable. Don't become a robot and don't take these points to mean that you should change your style, flow or content. You should use these concepts to add to your arsenal. To make you better. To make you a more effective communicator (because once you publish anything, that's exactly what you are).
Many people don't know that my professional career started off in journalism and magazine publishing (over two decades ago). I learned many valuable lessons in those formative years. These included lessons about writing, editing, interviews, mass media, new media, publishing, advertising, marketing, etc… but the biggest lesson of all was listening, learning and reading. I not only create media (for our clients at Twist Image and for myself), but I'm a constant and continuous student of media.
The more media savvy you get, the better the media that you are producing will become.
What A CMO Wants. What A CMO Needs.
Thanks for this re-fresher course Mitch.
I continue to make use social media (personally) to put forth both professional and personal ideas. And sometimes I wonder if I'm going too far with the personal stuff as I now own my own business and need to be weary of what I say and who might hear.
A good exercise would be to count to 10 before tweeting or blogging something just to make sure than we don't get caught up in something we might regret later.
Simple, practical advice I wish more people would listen to. Also – I *really* like your left nav of this site – atypical to have it wider than normal, really stands out in a good way.
Considering how *well* search engines, online media and traditional media, not to mention credible spokespeople and subject experts did…and how low rated in "trust" were "family and friends" and (especially) "social media" in the Edelman Trust Barometer 2011, trying to research, think and write more like a journalist does appear to be a wise course, moving forward.
Excellent post! Thanks for putting this in such easy-to-follow steps.
Love this post, Mitch. Communicating effectively has as much to do with trust and confidence as it has content.
If I'm reading a post and trip over a misspelled word or struggle to find my way out of a maze of clauses, I lose patience and the writer loses me.
I believe your last point is especially important. Rules and structure don't inhibit creativity, they support it.
Very good advice. Sometimes I find myself getting swept away with the speed of information that streams through the social media channels I follow. I have to remind myself to slow down and think 'value' before retweeting or posting something who's title catches my attention. If I add it to my own channel it's as good as signing my name to and then I have to deal with the consequences if I haven't put the effort to verify it.
A big one for me: Don't pretend to know everything. It's okay, actually it's great, to use your blog to generate awareness around a topic. Your writing doesn't have to be the final answer.
Great post. As a former newspaper reporter, I couldn't agree more. Taking that extra few minutes to double-check is crucial, and it's a shame that many professional journalists, let alone folks with no media training, do not take that extra time.
And it was cool to learn you have a journalism background too!
Some of these suggestions could be applied to every aspect of your life, I think. For example, spelling and grammar are still important every time you have to write down something, and if you work with a computer chances are it's gonna be quite often. I remember receiving curricula which embarassed me as I was reading them.
Not blowing your fuse is essential in business, I remember the popular rule of waiting at least 24 hours before answering an email that upsets you, not to act in the rush of the moment.
I feel like it's not just about being more media savvy, but having more awareness on how people around us think and behave.
As a former journalist-turned-marketer, thank you for writing this. A huge part of marketing, as you've said, is listening (to the market, customer, etc) and not just yelling (selling?) at the market. A huge part of marketing is learning (new media, new technology, new industry best practices, new channels, etc). And marketing now is also about sharing (information, stories, time, comments).
If J-school taught us anything, it was to write well, check your facts, be objective, and always be "on" for a new angle, new story, new lead, new info, new gadget.
There are a lot of journalism skills I learned that I transfer to my everyday tasks as a marketer.
It's a shame that we still have to teach people how to be human. I'm happy to be at a company that takes a journalistic approach to marketing.
Also, I wish someone told me back in high school and college how important English classes were going to be. If I knew back then how much I'd be writing now, I would have paid a little more attention (though I'm doing just fine for myself now).
Great tips! People RT'ng bogus facts on Twitter is one of my pet peeves. How hard is it to Google/Bing the item, (and also checking how reliable this person is,) before spreading it all over the social media sphere. And I'm also a firm believer of controlled posting, especially on heightened peaks of emotion, you know you'll end up regretting whatever you posted during those moments.
Thanks for the post Mitch..
We have to keep our online reputation as good as possible, because once it's damaged it will be very hard to repair.. Bad Online Reputation is viral, once it spread in the Internet or Social media it's almost over for anyone's online identity.. So Don't Blow your Fuse.
Great tips and comments. I've wondered if the skills of a journalist or writer would help us amateurs. Or whether professional training would get in the way.
Since we can easily be misunderstood through social media, I think we should present ourselves more consciously through our words. I think the image of our brand and our relationship with our clients should always come first.


text:
Chris Hayes' "Twilight of the Elites" explodes meritocracy myth
May 10, 2013	10:11 PM CDT By LaBarre Blackman
The single greatest myth in what many call "the American Dream" is the notion that, by dint of hard work and the right set of moral principles, anyone can rise to the top of the heap. Worshippers at this shrine of "self-advancement" – unlike folks in Europe, in particular, where social mobility is recognized as a fiction papered over a reality little changed since feudalism – have only to point to tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, a working class immigrant, and politicians like Barack Obama, the African American son of an abandoned mother. They would have us believe that the exception proves the rule. If one can do it, all can do it.
Quite aside from the mathematical impossibility of the social mobility fairy-tale actually coming true for most of us is the saga of what typically happens to the personalities and values of those who rise from humble beginnings to great heights of wealth or power. It is the sociology and psychology of this particular group in society that journalist and MSNBC talk show host Christopher Hayes chooses to examine in "Twilight of the Elites."
"Meritocracy" (or rule by "the best and the brightest") is a central tenet of the classical, liberal democracy which replaced hereditary rule (generations of inbred bleeders and imbeciles) during the last hundred years. The term itself is only about 75 years old, coined in England, where increasing numbers of working class traitors were willing to be made well-paid toadies of the ruling class.
Citing catchy axioms like "Gresham's law" and Robert Michels' "Iron law of oligarchy," Hayes dissects with vivid detail the increasingly dysfunctional role of elites in later-day capitalism.
Elites are roundly despised by the public. Hayes suggests that the tea party and Occupy Wall Street have more in common than might first appear. Both hate the smug righteousness and overweening arrogance of groups of people who for their whole life have been told that they are smarter and better than the rest of us and are now making a mess of everything.
From self-serving management in banks and energy companies to sports figures juiced on performance drugs to politicos beholden to special interests, Hayes' treatment of corruption and its causes and symptoms fills a whole chapter entitled "Moral Hazards."
Hayes closes the book with praise for the Occupy Wall Street movement and its stumbling first steps toward truly democratic, even utopian, self-organization.
Unfortunately, his economic analysis goes little further than the popular but superficial 99 to one percent contradiction that became the Occupy slogan.
The critical mechanism of "exploitation" so central to a meaningful, class-based analysis is completely absent.
A far more succinct critique of "meritocracy" can be found in the Wikipedia entry for "Horatio Alger myth," but for a detailed and engrossing description of what it is like to live inside an "elite" and watch it fail and bring down a whole society around it, "Twilight of the Elites" is the best read to come along in quite a while. Hopefully it will become as popular as the seminal and now classic "The Power Elite" and "White Collar, the American Middle Classes" by C. Wright Mills.
"Twilight of the Elites"
by Christopher Hayes
2012, Random House, hardcover, 304 pages, $26
LaBarre Blackman
In the struggle since the '60s civil rights movement, Bar presently lives in Macon, Ga., with his wife and seven cats.
'People's World' earns nominations and a win at SoCal Journalism Awards
Immigration enforcement funded far better than labor law enforcement
Pompeo ready to undermine any country he doesn't like


I love EVERYTHING about your cottage. I am thinking that maybe I need to go with solid blue pillows instead of my buffalo check. And, I love the yellow and red pillows on the bed.
is simply beautiful. Love all the red and flowers all over.
You and Bentley have a wonderful Christmas. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful cottage with us.
Thanks for the wonderful tour Erin! Your home is so much like you ~ it's warm, friendly, welcoming and touches of whimsey and creativity everywhere. Such a charming cottage and of course your darling Bentley makes it all the more perfect!
I love your house and decorating style. Your artwork is very nice and very cheerful.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed Christmas celebration !
Enjoy your time off. P.S. Bentley is adorable !!!
Merry Christmas to you and Bentley - your home is filled with such joy and color!
Erin, Your Christmas tour of your home is just enchanting! I love all your touches and the colorful rooms just are so happy!
Merry Christmas and thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us!
Everything is so beautifully bright and colorful. It looks like a very Merry Christmas. Bentley is so cute, as always.
Erin, I am just getting over here to visit and boy am I glad I didn't miss it. Love everything about your sweet cozy home! It starts out fabulously beautiful at the entry and continues all through the house. I love the combination of reds and blues! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Happy to be a new follower.


text:
Rule of Law Preached, Not Practiced
Victor Zhikai Gao
Chair Professor at Soochow University, Vice President of CCG
Einar Tangen
Host of the OnAsia Vcast
In the week straddling October and November, COVID-19 horrified us, the U.S. election mesmerized us and the Azerbaijan/Armenian conflict saddened us. In the midst of these global spectacles, Ms. Meng Wanzhou contested her extradition to the U.S. in a Vancouver courtroom in a case that involves an abuse of power by an American president and which has become an embarrassment to the Canadian justice system.
At the core of the issue is the rule of law. Was Meng afforded due process?
Increasingly, the conflicting testimony and evidence provided by law enforcement personnel leave the impression they were pressured into arresting Meng, in violation of her Canadian Charter rights.
Ironically, both the U.S. and Canada are strident critics of countries that don't follow the rule of law.
This is a world in which Donald Trump has played coy about obeying the will of America's democratic system; where U.S. political, economic and security interests are all about unilateral benefit. It's a world where pestilence, famine, chaos and armed conflict are rising; where moral and ethical principles and the rule of law, which should protect all, have seemingly been abandoned in favor of transactional politics.
Meng is currently the central player in a Kafkaesque farce, where those who accused and arrested her have given conflicting sworn accounts. The contradictions cast a shadow on the sufficiency of the arrest warrant and raise questions about whether Meng's Charter rights were violated by a ruse — a fishing expedition to seize her phone and laptop.
In Canada, as in the United States, the law requires that an arrest warrant be signed by a judge based on the sworn statement of a law enforcement officer. The judge must assume that the sworn statement is true and correct in terms of the facts alleged and the laws violated. Law enforcement officers know that they imperil themselves, the case and the system, if they fail to strictly follow the law.
Upon cross-examination by Meng's legal team, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who had been in charge admitted that he did not verify the information contained in the sworn affidavit that formed the basis for Meng's arrest. Specifically, he omitted the fact that the Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency had communicated extensively on the planned arrest, in what appears to be an illegal hunt for incriminating data from Meng's cellphone, laptop and iPad on behalf of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is the same FBI that had been turned down by nine countries as it sought to seize Meng.
According to a South China Morning Post article on Sept. 26, 2020, at the first evidentiary hearing:
"Said Ms. Meng's lawyer Fenton: 'The actions the CBSA undertook in searching and releasing the applicant show that [the arrest warrant] took precedence … [T]he CBSA suspended its examination at 2:11 pm and the first thing they did was give away [to the RCMP] the electronics and passwords they obtained.'"
The lawyer asked rhetorically why this would occur if the seizure was part of a bona fide immigration examination. The seizure, instead, "was ultimately for the benefit of the FBI," he said.
Fenton also said there were indications of an attempt by the CBSA to "recast the events after the fact." He pointed to "troubling" handwritten notes of a CBSA meeting that said: "Don't suggest at any point that RCMP was leader" and "explain that surrendering phone request is normal, she did this voluntarily."
He said the undated notes, taken by an unidentified person at the CBSA, were likely made sometime in December 2018.
An in depth report after the second hearing by CNBC News, dated Oct. 29, 2020, was headlined, "Judge rules new evidence allowed."
Meng is charged with fraud and conspiracy in the United States in relation to allegations that she lied to HSBC bank about Huawei's relationship with a hidden subsidiary that was accused of violating U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.
Prosecutors claim that by lying to HSBC to continue a financial relationship, Meng placed the bank at risk of loss and prosecution for breaching the same sanctions.
The U.S. claims that Meng lied to an HSBC banker in a PowerPoint presentation describing Huawei's relationship with a subsidiary accused of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. (Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg)
As part of the extradition process, the United States provided a record of the case that included slides from the PowerPoint, which Meng gave to an HSBC executive in Hong Kong in August 2013.
But Meng's lawyers claim the U.S. deliberately omitted two slides from the PowerPoint showing that Meng did not mislead the bank.
And they also claim that where the U.S. said only "junior" employees knew about the real relationship between Huawei and its subsidiary, senior executives at the bank were also aware.
In her ruling, Judge Holmes said she would allow two statements from the missing slides to be included as evidence in the extradition case. She also agreed to allow evidence about HSBC's management structure to help determine who is junior and who is not.
Holmes released her decision even as Meng's lawyers were in court gathering evidence related to the second line of argument that there was an abuse of process — the claim that her rights were violated at the time of her arrest.
Meng, who had just arrived at the Vancouver airport on a flight from Hong Kong, was questioned by CBSA officers for three hours before she was arrested on Dec. 1, 2018. The defense team claims the CBSA and Royal Canadian Mounted Police conspired with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct a covert criminal investigation into Meng by using the border agency's extraordinary powers to question her without a lawyer.
Border services officer Scott Kirkland, the CBSA agent who seized Meng's phones, was on the stand recently for his second day of testimony under oath. He testified that he believed there were grounds to question Meng about the possibility she might be involved in espionage because the CBSA's internal system had flagged her for "national security" reasons. But he admitted later under cross-examination that this might not have been the case. Meng's lawyer suggested that she was only targeted because of the criminal charges.
Kirkland also said he thought the police should have arrested Meng immediately, before the CBSA carried out its inquiries, because he worried about the impact a delay might have on her right to obtain legal counsel. He said he knew the high profile case would end up in court, but he said he didn't raise the issue of possible violations of Meng's Charter rights out loud. He said no other RCMP or CBSA officers present said the word "charter."
Two weeks have been set aside in February for arguments about the record of the case and the alleged violation of Meng's rights at the time of her arrest.
The third defense claim relates to allegations that U.S. President Donald Trump politicized the case by threatening to use Meng as a bargaining chip to get a better trade deal with China. Judge Holmes noted in her ruling that if any one of those lines of argument were proved, they might not be enough alone to derail the case, but the cumulative effect of all of them might bring a stay.
Meng has denied the allegations against her.
Deceptions, omissions, conspiracy, Charter violations, political intrigue. What should happen next?
In light of multiple factors — Meng's due process rights, contradictions in testimony by law enforcement officers, indications of collusion and political influence — Judge Holmes will have to rule not only on alleged violations of Meng's rights but also the integrity of the system which brought this case forward. If the case is dismissed, it would be a stunning rebuke of both American and Canadian law enforcement. And while it could be appealed, the government will hopefully realize that letting this case fade away would be in the best interest of all concerned.
The coming change in the U.S. presidency, the bungled seizure of Meng and relations between Canada and China indicate clearly that this case should never have been brought. The best resolution is a dismissal for cause.
It seems that in the case against Meng, the rule of law was applied selectively, as something to be preached but not practiced — or even worse, something to be violated.


text:
18 Celebrities Who Regret Their Tattoos
By Jessica Booth of Men's Health |
< PREVIOUS SLIDE SLIDE 2 of 19 NEXT SLIDE >
Pete Davidson has covered a lot of his body in tattoos, but now he's starting to rethink that decision — and burning them off. During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Davidson said that he feels like he has to remove them to continue furthering his career. "I honestly never thought that I would get the opportunity to act and I love it a lot," he explained. "You have to get there three hours earlier to cover all your tattoos, because for some reason, people in movies, they don't have them that much. So now I'm burning them off, but burning them off is worse than getting them."
© Mondadori Portfolio - Getty Images


text:
10 RED ANEMONE Pulsatilla Vulgaris PASQUE flower Seeds *Flat Shipping
Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138
NAME: Red Anemone
OTHER COMMON NAMES: Pasque Flower
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Anemone Pulsatilla Vulgaris Red
COLOR: Red Flowers / Yellow Stamens
PLANT HEIGHT: 6 - 12"
PLANT SPACING: 9 - 12"
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average - Dry
OTHER: In addition to gorgeous blooms, the Anemone has fuzzy, attractive foliage. They bloom early in the spring and continue to bloom throughout the summer. They tolerate heat and dryness well, and attract bees and butterflies. After the blooms are spent in the fall, the Anemone has interesting spiky seed heads that last for several weeks.
None of these sprouted, very disappointing.
pattyfrankowski


Where is your business office located?
Mon - Fri, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.
We have a drive-thru window opening at 7:30 am. Effective May 1, our drive-thru window will open at 8:00am. We are closed on weekends and major Federal holidays. The after-hours automated phone system is available 24/7.
What areas do you provide utility services?
Does Beaches Energy Services provide telecommunications for the hearing and speech impaired?
Our hearing and speech impaired customers may contact us through the Florida Relay Center: Voice: 1-800-955-8770 or TTY(Text Telephone): 1-800-955-8771.
How can I reset my password for online services?
How do I apply for new utility service or transfer existing service to my name?
Applications for utility service may be submitted in person, by email, mail or by fax. Positive identification, e.g. Florida ID or valid Driver's License is required. If submitting by email, mail or by fax, please contact our Customer Service Department at 904-247-6241. We can turn your service on the same day you make application, additional service connection fee may apply.
Beaches Energy abides by the Federal FactAct Law that requires positive identification when a customer requests utility service connection.
How do I add another person to my utility account?
You will need to obtain an authorization form for adding another person to an account. Proper identification will be required. Contact customerservice@beachesenergy.com or call 904-247-6241.
Does Beaches Energy Services require a utility deposit?
Yes, the minimum residential deposit for new utility service is $125 with a maximum of an average two month utility bill. The deposit may be waived when new customers provide a letter of credit from their prior utility company for one full year of service and with no late payments, disconnections or meter tampers. For a commercial deposit, please contact our Customer Service Department at 904-247-6241.
Utility deposits may be paid by cash, check, or money order. At this time, we do not accept credit cards for payment of utility deposits.
When will my utility deposit be returned?
Residential deposits with interest are returned after 12 consecutive months of excellent payment history with no late payments or return checks or will be refunded when services are terminated. Commercial deposits will be refunded upon termination of utility service.
What should I do to have my utility service disconnected?
How do I transfer my utility service from one location to another location?
Click here to learn more about how to transfer utility service.
Why is it necessary to provide another application for service and identification?
Beaches Energy abides by the Federal FactAct Law that requires positive identification when a customer requests utility service to be turned on at a new location. This helps protect our customers from fraud.
Go to Paperless E-Bill and complete the online e-bill form or contact customer service at 904-247-6241.
Credit cards are accepted online or through our automated phone system only. There is a $4.95 convenience fee assessed by a third party vendor, Western Union Speedpay.
At this time, credit cards are not accepted at the business office.
How do I obtain information on how to lower my monthly utility bill and save money?
Our CARE Program provides assistance to eligible applicants who are customers of Beaches Energy Services. Occasionally elderly, disabled, or low income members of our community may need assistance paying their monthly utility bills. BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry) administers the CARE Program and qualifies the families that need assistance.
How can I donate to help others having difficulty paying their utility bill?
The CARE Program depends on your help to make it work. You may contribute by donating a specific amount to your monthly utility bill or make a one-time donation.
How can I receive help in paying my utility bill?
The CARE fund is designed to help pay a utility bill due to a customer's sudden or temporary financial crisis. For more information, call 904-247-6241.
Beaches Energy offers a total of up to $1,800 in energy-saving rebates on qualified products or improvements. Click here to view a full list of rebates.
How can I protect my home against power surges?
Beaches Energy Services will install a Surge Protection Device that is designed to protect major motor-driven appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners. For detailed product information and to schedule installation, call our Customer Service Department at 904-247-6241 or email us at customerservice@beachesenergy.com.
Where does Beaches Energy Services get their power?
Beaches Energy Services purchases its power through the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA). FMPA is owned and operated by 31 municipal electric utilities, including Beaches Energy Services. The electric utilities that own FMPA provide power to over 2 million Floridians. Within the FMPA, Beaches Energy Services is a member of the All-Requirements Project (ARP) through which we jointly own and receive energy from the following generation assets: Cane Island Power Park, Stanton Energy Center, Treasure Coast Energy Center and Indian River Generating Station. Beaches Energy Services also participates in and receives energy from the St. Lucie nuclear facility located on Hutchinson Island near Port St. Lucie, Florida.
What are Beaches Energy utility rates?
How do Beaches Energy Services residential rates compare with other Electric Utilities?
Residential electric utility rates compare very favorably to other utilities within the State of Florida and have historically remained below Florida's average.
What is the Power Cost Adjustment that appears on my bill?
The Power Cost Adjustment is directly related to the cost of fuel used to generate electricity. The Power Cost Adjustment is NOT additional income for Beaches Energy Services. This is a direct pass-through expense. A large percentage of the electricity we provide to our customers is produced by clean burning natural gas.
How do I read an electric meter?
Read more about how to read an electric meter.
How can I get my water tested, report low water pressure or no water?
If I have a water leak inside my home, how can I get a credit on my water bill?
For residential customers that make a repair for leaking water, you will need to submit a water adjustment form along with a copy of all repair receipts. For more information, call 904-247-6241 or contact customerservice@beachesenergy.com. Commercial customers can contact Beaches Energy for details on requirements.
Who do I call if I need underground utilities located to dig in my yard?
Call Before You Dig national hot line phone number is 811.
Contact Beaches Energy Services dispatch at 904-247-6171.
How do I report issues with trash pick-up?
Who do I contact about natural gas service in my area?
Contact Beaches Energy Services 904-247-6241.


text:
UKPSF HISTORY
FIND A VENUE/RETAILER
REGISTER AS A SITE
REGISTER AS A TRADE
REGISTER AS A PLAYER
History of the UKPSF
In 1990 a group of players and members of the trade formed the European Paintball Sports Federation to protect the sport. The game of paintball was going through a rough time with attacks from the media and more important a possible ban by the Home Office as a result of the wording of the Firearms Act at the time.
Over the years the EPSF and more recently the UKPSF have had discussions with various members of the Government, officials at the various Government bodies, local authorities, Police and Firearms experts. As a result of these discussions the wording in the Firearms act (Air being the only approved propellant) which could have resulted in a ban on paintball has been changed. (CO2 was added as an approved propellant) The sport and the equipment has developed over the past ten years and the need for CO2 as a propellant has reduced.
The EPSF also produced tournament rule books which formed the foundation for all of the current tournament rules in the UK and probably most of the European tournaments. The "Code of Practice" is recognised by the Health and Safety and a lot of Councils as the guidelines for operating a paintball site.
In the late 1990's it was decided to change the name from the EPSF to the UKPSF because whilst most of the European countries had used the EPSF as the model to set up their own Federations the organisation in the UK only looked after the United Kingdom. There were no representatives from other countries on the committee therefore it did not truly represent Europe. The name was therefore changed to the United Kingdom Paintball Sports Federation.
There are steps being taken at present to form a new European body with representatives from all over Europe on the committee.
The UKPSF is a voluntary body and exists to promote the sport of paintball, liaise with government bodies, local authorities and try to make the game of paintball safe and fun to play.
For many years the UKPSF was solely ran by Mr Steve Bull, who in April 2014 stepped down after over 20 Years of service, a motion was recently carried to give Steve the position of the UKPSF President.
A committee was elected, and the roles of the UKPSF were split into various areas, Sites, Trade, Players, SHEQ, and Sports recognition.


text:
import firebase_admin
from firebase_admin import credentials
from firebase_admin import firestore
from DoE import get_id_list
from DoE import get_id_map

#gets the database.
def get_cred():
    cred = credentials.ApplicationDefault()
    firebase_admin.initialize_app(cred, {
        'projectId': 'viewing-step-2020-v2',
    })

    db = firestore.client()
    return db

# Delete all documents in a firestore collection.
def delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size):
    docs = coll_ref.limit(batch_size).stream()
    deleted = 0

    for doc in docs:
        print(f'Deleting doc {doc.id} => {doc.to_dict()}')
        doc.reference.delete()
        deleted = deleted + 1

    if deleted >= batch_size:
        return delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size)

#Delete the entire scholarship collection
def delete_scholarship_collection():
    db = get_cred()
    doc_ref = db.collection('scholarships')

    delete_collection(doc_ref, 5)

def iterate_all_data_and_get_id_list():
    db = get_cred()
    docs = db.collection('scholarships').stream()

    for doc in docs:
        doc_dict = doc.to_dict()
        doc_ref = db.collection('scholarships').document(doc_dict['id'])
        get_id_list(doc_ref, doc_dict)

def iterate_all_data_and_get_id_map():
    db = get_cred()
    docs = db.collection('scholarships').stream()

    for doc in docs:
        doc_dict = doc.to_dict()
        name_list = doc_dict['schoolsList']
        doc_ref = db.collection('scholarships').document(doc_dict['id'])
        get_id_map(name_list, doc_ref)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A healthy sight of the ideal supplements for muscle structure. A sturdy and muscular physical body is more conveniently achieved with the ideal supplements for muscular tissue building.
We describe right here the leading 7 that will have a favorable effect on it that perfectly reduced accomplish six-pack abs without compromising on wellness.
While lots of firms assert to have the most effective supplements for muscle structure, many of them are unworthy your time or money.
I have actually examined complements my whole life and think that there are some necessary ones that every individual looking to load on muscular tissue ought to take.
Stuffing on muscle can be done in a multitude of methods and a few of those means tend to induce damage to the physical body greater than they help.
Usage of supplements to alleviate the body in a bulked by type is nothing brand-new, yet for many years the supplement market has actually taken a decline in the top quality and the sea of options can be complicated, especially for a beginner on the scene.
The muscular tissue structure weight gain have reliable and useful methods for acquiring muscle mass securely through easy-to-follow direction and have now launched, the leading 7 supplements that have actually stood the test of time.
We shares his understanding about the ideal supplements for muscular tissue building, he worries the well spherical method to obtaining mass with an extensive training regime and high-calorie diet regimen, as well as using supplements in small amounts.
A lot more is not a lot better when it pertains to supplementation and are well defined and described description of each supplement offers the audience a great explanation of the advantages and clear description of when to use it.
Obtain network weight produces quality content that the skinny man torn'' properly. Although there are several items that function to seduce that the body muscular tissue structure, or consist of the performance of various other systems just to the muscles to expand, makes the reliable advice to create a sturdy and muscular body to The Weight Gain a leader in the market.
Too often total wellness is jeopardized in order to obtain the preferred physical results yet it does not need to be that way-there is a healthy method to creating muscular tissue.
The supplement industry is teaming up with useless items and risky combinations that numerous people unconsciously take simply because they are not aware of the dangers.
A solid source of right muscular tissue building understanding is needed to correctly browse the alley supplement and discover the advantages under the weeds.
Take it from which knows his things:" I have actually examined matches my entire life and believe that there are some important ones that every guy aiming to load on muscle should take. "


text:
require 'httparty'
require 'logger'

module Fourth

  class Query
    include HTTParty

    logger ::Logger.new 'httparty_debug.log', :debug, :curl

    base_uri 'https://minutedock.com/api/v1/'

    def post(path, options={})
      body = options[:body] ||= {}
      body['api_key'] = @api_key
      body['account_id'] = @account_id
      self.class.send(__method__, path, options)
    end

    def get(path, options={})
      query = options[:query] ||= {}
      query['api_key'] = @api_key
      query['account_id'] = @account_id
      self.class.send(__method__, path, options)
    end

    def endpoint(name, method, path='/', options={}, &block)
      Query.instance_eval do
        define_method(name) do |options={}|
          self.send(method, path, options)
        end
      end
    end

    def initialize(options)
      @api_key = options[:api_key] || API_KEY
      @account_id = options[:account_id]

      endpoint(:status, :get, '/entries/current.json')
      endpoint(:log, :post, '/entries/current/log.json')
      endpoint(:entries, :get, '/entries.json')
      endpoint(:contacts, :get, '/contacts.json')
      endpoint(:projects, :get, '/projects.json')
      endpoint(:accounts, :get, '/accounts.json')
      endpoint(:tasks, :get, '/tasks.json')
      endpoint(:entry, :post, '/entries.json')
    end

  end
end


This is the melon flavor in a pre-filled tank by Vuse. Designed for use with their Vuse Vibe Kit. This two-pack of pre-filled Melon cartridges offers a delicious blast of ripe melon flavor.
They have a mellow flavor and don't leave a bitter after taste like some of the cartridges I've used in the past.
I was not happy with vuse solo ecigerette. I am just trying to find something I like due to I use juul right now and cant ever get mango flavor and that is my favorite but the citrus on solo taste terrible. tast like the flavor is burnt.
Favorite. Great flavor and aroma.
Very mild flavor with just a hint of melon. A great choice.


text:
Last edited by Kazigrel
Sunday, November 8, 2020 | History
2 edition of Small firm creation, innovation & growth & the urban-rural shift. found in the catalog.
D. Keeble
Published .
When a disruptive innovation requires a different cost structure in order to be profitable and competitive, or when the current size of the opportunity is insignificant relative to the growth. Value co-creation is about the total value offered to the customer. The first challenge is the shift from product-centric innovation to a more holistic approach that includes services. Value co-creation deals with a shift from products to platforms that include all the services needed to enable the participation of all the value network actors.
Southcon 94 conference record
Warwickshire poets
Proceedings of the Conference on Human Rights For British Columbians.
If I ran the circus
Declaration of independence, its principles and its power.
Sir Francis Bacons Journals
Royal journey
plays of J.M. Barrie.
strategic significance of Zambia
Handbook of hematologic pathology
Choice of business entity for new and operating businesses, February 8, 1990, live via satellite to 60+ cities
practical decision support system for food security planning in low income food deficit developing countries
How to murder your mother-in-law.
A step futher
The Cricket in Times Square
Small firm creation, innovation & growth & the urban-rural shift. by D. Keeble Download PDF EPUB FB2
Keeble, D. () Small firm creation, innovation and growth and the urban-rural shift, in: J. Curran and D. Storey (Eds) Small Firms in Urban and Rural Locations, pp.
London: Routledge. Google ScholarCited by: James Curran and David Storey 2. Founding A New Business in the Countryside Peter Townroe and Karl Mallalieu 3. Small Firm Creation, Innovation and Growth and the Urban-Rural Shift David Keeble 4. The Growth and Survival of Mature Manufacturing SMEs in the s: An Urban-Rural Comparison David Smallbone, David North and Roger Leigh 5.
Small firm creation, innovation and growth and the urban-rural shift. By D Keeble and Cambridge Univ. (United Kingdom). Small Business Research Centre. Abstract. SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC(CU-SBRC-WP) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo.
Keeble, D (). Small firm creation, innovation and growth and the urban–rural shift. Working Paper 52 Technovation Vol. 18 No. 1 No.
24, Small Business Research Centre, University of Cambridge, September. Google ScholarCited by: 3. Having a large number of small and medium processing factories (), Japan's product innovation capabilities are mainly attributed to firm-level factors and support : Karol Śledzik.
small differences in growth amount to a lot when multiplied by the number of firms involved. This book addresses itself to both components of new and small firm innovation. Many empirical studies have shown the aggregate relationships between entrepreneurship and SME activity and economic growth and job creation.
These growth and. Some spin-offs and high growth firms are having remarkable success. However, the broad bulk of small firms are not capitalising on their advantages. This book explores how government policy can boost innovation by improving the environment for entrepreneurship and small firm development and increasing the innovative capacities of enterprises.
A growing body of research is giving us new ways to quantify the harms of bigness and the benefits of local ownership. In this post, we round-up the important studies and provide the evidence that policymakers can use to craft better laws, business owners can use to rally support, and citizens can use to organize their communities.
Read More. There are three general lessons from our book. First, the impact of innovation is important across countries and institutional contexts.
Entrepreneurs in developing countries provide innovations that are important for firm and country growth. Innovation can play an important role in catch-up and growth in a global economy.
A borderline between early and later growth is the point in the firm's life innovation & growth & the urban-rural shift. book when a firm has a clear strategic direction to grow beyond mere survival (Churchill and Lewis, ).
Two things. Innovation in its modern meaning is "a new idea, creative thoughts, new imaginations in form of device or method". Innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs.
Such innovation takes place through the provision of more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, or business models. But despite its edge in innovation, South Korea, which has a population of 50 million, is facing problems such as growing inequality and the risk of stagnating growth.
The book is a valuable catalyst, which should result in a more robust dialogue about long-term value creation for enterprises large and small. The key take away is that customer-centric businesses create value for all stakeholders which should result in higher valuations and stock prices over the very long s: 8.
Based on a model of value creation in advanced materials ventures developed earlier (Maine and Garnsey, ) we identify the constructs relevant to our research question and operationalize these as variables, as shown in Table interviews, we had objective values for process innovation, requirement for complementary innovation, target markets, value chain position.
Gillespie says the first and most important step in determining whether or not it's time to shift out of survival mode is knowing where your company falls on the survival-growth continuum.
Disruptive innovation. When HBS professor Clayton Christensen introduced the concept of disruptive innovation in his book The Innovator's Dilemma, it. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are fundamental to innovation, economic growth and job creation, and play a critical role in social cohesion.
This series provides a means for assessing and improving the performance, design and implementation of SME and entrepreneurship policies, and for sharing policy experiences. rather than attempting to serve the total market the small firm pursuing a _____ strategy specializes in serving a specific target segment.
differentiation. the most successful strategic plans make the _____focal. key success factors. small book stores have a giant killer of a competitive advantage in their customer service, innovation.
and expansions (gross job creation) minus the total number of jobs destroyed by firm closures and contractions (gross job destruction). From tosmall firms (less than 20 employees) accounted for percent of the net new jobs, despite employing less than percent of all jobs in Midsize firms (20 to employees).
A must-read for companies not wishing to get left behind!" --Vijay Govindarajan, Earl C. Daum Professor of International Business, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College "Collaboration and co-creation is the sweet spot for rethinking how companies should practice marketing and innovation Gaurav Bhalla's book is very timely, and Reviews: 4.
innovation in even the world's poorest countries. We focus in particular on the entrepreneurship–innovation nexus in the context of development and refer to the findings contained in the book Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Develop-ment edited by Adam Szirmai, Wim Naudé and Micheline Goedhuys.
Definitions. Policy Context. The creation of new high technology business is a central concern of policymakers around the world. Starting in the late s and accelerating in the s, a growing body of empirical evidence began to indicate an increasing role for small business in job creation and innovation.
77 A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD. Working!Paper!!. Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth PAST EXPERIENCES, CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS 1 February!. Past studies revealed that there is a positive relationship between innovation and firm performance (Matear et al.,Prajogo et al.,Wu et al., ).
But some of them indicated that there is a negative relationship between the innovation and firm performance (Subramanian & Nilakanta, ).
Innovation activities benefited for firms. Open innovation is a term used to promote an information age mindset toward innovation that runs counter to the secrecy and silo mentality of traditional corporate research labs.
The benefits and driving forces behind increased openness have been noted and discussed as far back as the s, especially as it pertains to interfirm cooperation in R&D. Use of the term 'open innovation' in. High-growth startups contribute disproportionately to net job creation and to impactful innovation, laying a crucial foundation for economic dynamism and prosperity.
Fostering these firms is a strategic priority. Among all new businesses, however, only a very small fraction experience the explosive. At Moves The Needle, we define lean innovation as "reducing waste in the discovery, creation, and delivering of new value to customers." We base Lean Innovation principles upon the 3 E's of Lean Innovation: Empathy, Experiments and Evidence.
And in practice, we combine three important ideas: design thinking, Lean Startup, and agile methodology. Growth Project (The New Economy: Beyond the Hype, OECD, Paris, ) which underlines the need for micro-policy reforms to enhance innovation and productivity in knowledge-based economies.
These relate in particular to the four main micro-drivers of growth: entrepreneurship, innovation and technology diffusion, information and communications.
They illustrate the greatest challenge of the New Economy: how to bridge the widening gap between value creation and value capture. Many companies today are stuck inside that gap. They have seen innovation galvanizing customer interest and propelling revenue growth across an industry — simple measures of value creation.
Significantly, environmental and associated health, community, and equity issues are integrated into core business strategy and thus into the operations of the firm and its supply chains. Start-up firms and small to midsized companies have always been major movers of entrepreneurial innovation and will continue to lead in sustainability innovation.
Transformative growth is the innovation that shifts or pivots a company's entire strategy. Most companies don't spend enough time on transformative growth because they aren't good at.
Innovation consulting firm, InnovationLabs, is passionate about helping clients create innovation for sustainable competitive advantage; Discover and develop the highest levels of innovation; Achieve the greatest breakthroughs; Design the optimal strategies; Create the most effective organizations.
We provide the insights, methods, and frameworks to enable your organization to. century growth theory recognized that Ricardian factors – more workers, more capital, or more capital per worker -- could not wholly explain economic growth.
Innovation mattered, too. Yet, stuck with Ricardo's framework, Solow did not explain innovation, he consigned it to the statistical dustbin of a shift. Keeble, D.
() 'Small Firm Creation, Innovation and Growth and the Urban-Rural Shift', in J. Curran and D. Storey (eds) Small Firms in Urban and Rural Locations, pp.
54 – London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar. Catching up to the technological frontier?: understanding firm-level innovation and productivity in Kenya (English) Abstract. Kenya s economy has undergone a significant process of structural transformation over the last decade.
Sincethe economy has shown an accelerating trend with GDP growth increasing steadily from below 1 percent in. Catching up to the technological frontier?: understanding firm-level innovation and productivity in Kenya (Inglês) Resumo.
Kenya s economy has undergone a significant process of. New economics proposes endogenous growth theory, in which growth and innovation come from within a system While its unit of analysis is primarily the nation-state, the principal argument in endogenous growth theory is applicable to the firm.
The theory informs us of the arrival of the knowledge economy and argues that innovations are no. Adoption and scale should be the focus of innovation efforts, not product creation. Around 20% of value is created when an innovation is established; more than 80% comes when it is widely adopted 7.
tion, R&D, transfer (the shift of the "technology" to the production organization), production and deployment or marketplace usage.
However, even when innovation is defined properly, many equate it with competitiveness and/or produc-tivity. For example, Bloomberg includes productivity as one of its seven variables for ranking the 50 most.
The book, Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing - Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth, is published this week by Hachette. It. The arrival (in the peninsula south of San Francisco) of William Shockley, the legendary high-tech pioneer who invented the transistor, was the seed that sparked growth of the local innovation industry.
That serendipitous seedling was the starting point of an economic miracle that eventually brought millions of jobs to the region .The authors examine whether state and local incentives lead to higher rates of business start-ups in metropolitan counties.
Existing research indicates that start-ups are important for supporting (net) job creation, long-term growth, innovation, and development.
The authors find that incentives have a. Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India.
For more than 15 years, we have assisted our .


402 fans have viewed Tim Minchin tickets today!
Tim Minchin is an English-born Australian comedian and musician hailing from Northampton. Born in 1975, he is best known for his musical comedy - he incorporates his piano skills and intelligent lyrics into his stand-up routines, a unique skill that he has taken across the world.
Tim Minchin will be performing 2 events in Nottingham between Wednesday 23rd October 2019 and Thursday 24th October 2019 at the Royal Concert Hall.
Scroll down to see all ticket options and prices. If you'd like to see a list of Tim Minchin events, please CLICK HERE.
Official face value from £35.00. Resale tickets from £97.20.
Official face value from £35.00. Resale tickets from £189.53.
We display the most accurate ticket prices available to us, but Tim Minchin ticket prices can change based on demand & availability. Stereoboard takes no responsibility for any difference in prices, or accuracy, displayed here and those on external sites. Our listings are purely for information purposes only and we are unable to verify any accuracy.
The Royal Concert Hall is a 2,500 capacity live music and concert hall based on South Sherwood Street in Nottingham. Part of the same Royal Centre that accommodates The Theatre Royal, it's used for performance events of all variety - ranging from bands and full orchestras, to singers and DJs.


text:
Two men are sentenced to 34 years in prison for murderous Queens home invasion linked to the Gambino family
Two men will each spend the next 34 years in a federal penitentiary for their roles in the murder of an Ozone Park man during a botched home invasion in 2009, prosecutors announced.
Antoine Burroughs and Leon Whitfield were sentenced on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to fatally shooting Gerardo Antoniello, 29, who came to the aid of his father during the robbery attempt at their home on the evening of Sept. 9, 2009.
According to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, both suspects were hired by Francis LaCorte, a known associate of the Gambino crime family, to carry out the home invasion at the North Conduit Avenue residence of the victim's father, who owns a local pizzeria and was the intended target of the robbery.
Police said the suspects approached Antoniello's father and forced their way inside the home, where they brutally beat and pistolwhipped him. Gerardo Antoniello came to his father's aid and was similarly attacked before he was fatally shot in the head by one of the perpetrators.
LaCorte was convicted in June 2012 Queens County Court for organizing the crime and other home invasions across Queens; he is currently serving a term of 50 years to life in state prison.
Following an investigation, Whitfield was arrested in connection with the case in March 2014, while Burroughs was caught the following September.
"No amount of prison time or restitution will return Gerardo Antoniello to his family," Bharara said. "But this significant prison sentence ensures that Antoine Burroughs and Leon Whitfield can't harm another innocent family."
http://www.timesnewsweekly.com/news/2015-12-24/Crime_%28and%29_Cases/Pair_sent_to_federal_prison_for_roles_in_deadly_Oz.html#.VoHUGlmIKvO
Gambino soldier busted in crackdown on trash hauling companies (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Two men setenced to federal prison for illegal gambling in Connecticut (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
FBI agent stumbles on high level Gambino family meeting while strolling through the park (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Key figure in Gambino gambling case pleads guilty (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Gambino family killed South Florida businessman over income from gambling cruise ships (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Three men sentenced in Connecticut bookmaking case (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Gambino gangster from Stamford gets 71 months (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
The New York Mob's Florida Operations On Trial (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Brothers of murdered man confront Bonanno gangster outside court (fivefamiliesnyc.com)
Gambino Crime Family


Request a quote for CA-206-209 - Lockable Draw Latch with Curved Loop Bail today.
JBF National latches and catches are manufactured from the highest quality materials. They are designed and tested for ultimate reliability and durability. This lockable latch is manufactured from either clear zinc plated steel or passivated stainless steel. Uses strike SK-2050 Please see component diagram below.


text:
Faced with Apple, Microsoft responds with an ARM emulation tool worthy of the name
Deepak GuptaJuly 1, 2021
Designed for next-generation processors, Windows on ARM should soon gain new applications. In any case, this is what Microsoft hopes, which has just released a tool to facilitate the porting of applications on its OS.
Microsoft has just unveiled a tool that should greatly help it compete with Apple. In a blog post dated June 28, 2021, the company explains that it has developed " a new way to build apps for Windows 11 on ARM ", Called ARM64EC.
Behind this somewhat barbaric name, hides in fact an emulation tool supposed to facilitate application development for ARM PCs. Enough to finally compete with the new Macs under M1 chip. You are lost ? We will explain everything to you.
What is the ARM architecture?
The vast majority of PCs today run on Intel or AMD processors that use the x64 architecture. This means that the operating system and the software that uses this processor must be precisely coded in order to be understood and executed by the machine. The x64 architecture is today the dominant one in the computing world.
But in recent months, Apple has started a small revolution by integrating its M1 chip in all of its new computers. This chip uses the ARM architecture, the one our smartphones and tablets have been using for years. This new kind of processor is more powerful, less power consuming and better optimized than its competitors under x64, but requires tweaking at the code level.
Apple's M1 processor // Source: Numerama screenshot
To facilitate the transition of third-party developers, Apple has made available its tool called Rosetta 2. It will recreate an x64 environment within an ARM system, so that even "legacy" software can run on new Macs. This is called "emulation".
ARM64EC is therefore simply Microsoft's answer to Rosetta 2.
What will ARM64EC change?
Unlike Apple, Microsoft has yet to fully embrace the ARM architecture. There is a version of Windows designed for this platform, but few PC manufacturers use it for the moment. The fault, in part, with an ecosystem of applications too small.
With ARM64EC, Microsoft will try to correct this problem. Its tool will make it possible to properly emulate an x64 environment on an ARM architecture, and even to mix the code for Intel processors and ARM processors within the same app. All that " without loss of functionality Microsoft promises. This ability to invisibly execute code intended for two different platforms will greatly facilitate the work of third-party developers. No need to rewrite software from A to Z, since Microsoft's tool will do the heavy lifting.
Developers will be able to gradually rewrite their code for an ARM port, without worrying about possible compatibility issues. Even if a software uses code bricks (extensions) that do not belong to it, this will not pose any problems. The tool is also already used by the new version of Office on ARM. Most of the code executes normally, taking advantage of the advantages of the ARM architecture, while any extensions that have not yet been updated pass through the mill of emulation.
It is therefore a big step forward by Microsoft in the race towards the ARM architecture. This should quickly grow the catalog of applications available on Windows ARM.
We are only waiting for the builders
By providing an emulation tool, a benchmark machine and a dedicated OS, Microsoft is doing everything it can to encourage the adoption of Windows ARM. It only remains for the manufacturers to get out of the machines using these new processors to begin the transition.
ARM64EC is already available in the Windows Insider SDK.
Faced with criticism, Apple details the safeguards that frame its tool against child crime
Call of Duty responds to all Vanguard leaks with sarcasm
iMac with Apple M1 on sale: almost 300 euros discount, run!
iPhone 13: what is changing with the Apple A15 Bionic chip?
With its new Surface, Microsoft is trying to make people forget the Windows 11 controversy
Apple wants to detect depression and anxiety with the Apple Watch, how?
Windows 11: new wallpapers are hiding in the latest update
The best contents of the week in MC (CCCV)
Intel 4004, the first single-chip CPU, turns 50 today
Ayaneo Next is the Nintendo Switch with Ryzen 7 that you would love to have


This zesty Lemon Citrus Syrup is great in cocktails, mocktails or served with sparkling water for a take on homemade lemonade.
1. Pop the lemons (rind and all), sugar and 500ml water into a food processor. Whizz away until the lemons are finely chopped.
2. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, then press through as much juice as you can.
3. Top up with the rest of the water and serve with ice and fruit slices.


text:
Q: calculating different centralities for a network I am new to mathematica.
I have an adjacency matrix as shown below. I need to calculate various centralities for this matrix. But there is some strange error that I cannot understand.
mainList = {
{18, 5, 2,  4 ,   9,  0,  0,  5, 0, 3,   1,   5,    0,   0},
{  3, 6, 0,  2 ,   2,  0,  0,  0, 0, 0,   0,   1,   0,    0},
{  1, 3, 3,  4 ,   3,  0,  0,  0, 0, 0,   0,   1,   0,    0},
{  9, 0, 0, 68,  25,  0,  0,  0, 0, 6,  12,   0,   6,    0},
{19, 4, 1, 57, 139,  0,  0, 0, 0, 7,  62,  0,  44,  0},
{  1, 0, 0,  0 ,   0,  5,  4,  0, 0,  0,   0,    0,   0,   0},
{  1, 0, 0,  0 ,   0,  3,  2,  0, 0,  0,   0,    0,   0,   0},
{  6, 0, 0,  0 ,   1,  0,  0,  2, 0,  0,   0,    3,   0,   0},
{  0, 0, 0,  0 ,   0,  0,  0,  0, 0,  0,   0,    0,   0,   0},
{  0, 0, 0,  0 ,   0,  0,  0,  0, 0,  0,   0,    0,   0,   0},
{  8, 2, 0, 44 , 85, 0,  0,  0, 0,  4,  53,   0,  35,  0},
{  8, 1, 0,  0 ,   1,  1,  0,  2, 0,  0,   0,    6,   0,   0},
{  1, 0, 0, 25 , 59,  0,  0, 0, 0,  1,  47,   0,  37,  0},
{  0, 0, 0,  0 ,   0,   0,  0,  0, 0,  0,    0,    0,   0,   0} };

I removed the zero from the matrix and replace with infinity using the Replace as
mainList = ReplaceAll[0 -> \[Infinity]][mainList];

 {{1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
  1}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {2, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 4,
  2, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {3, 2, 4, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2,
   2, 2, 2, 2}, {2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
  1}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}, {1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], 2,
  1, \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity], \
\[Infinity], \[Infinity], \[Infinity]}}

I need to calculate the closeness, betweeness and EigenVector centralities as follows:
CCm = Mean[IGCloseness@IGWeightedAdjacencyGraph@mainList];
BCm = Mean[IGBetweenness@IGWeightedAdjacencyGraph@mainList];
EVCm = Mean[EigenvectorCentrality@WeightedAdjacencyGraph@mainList];
I get the following error (for example for closeness centrality calculation):

I am not sure how to solve this issue.

A: *

*You must load IGraph/M using Needs["IGraphM`"] before using any functions from the package. The red syntax colouring of IGWeightedAdjacencyMatrix in your screenshot shows that you have not done so. Restart the kernel, and load the package before doing anything else.

*It is not necessary to replace zeros with infinities when using IGWeightedAdjacencyMatrix.

You can create a weighted graph from the adjacency matrix like this:
Needs["IGraphM`"]

g = IGWeightedAdjacencyGraph[mainList]

I noticed that you have non-zero entries on the diagonal. This is unusual. Is it intentional, or a mistake on your part? Do you really want self-loops in your graph?
Notice that the graph is not connected. There are two isolated vertices. There is an additional vertex with no outgoing connections, showing that the rest of the graph is not strongly connected either. It makes no sense to compute closeness in disconnected graphs. More details: http://szhorvat.net/mathematica/IGDocumentation/#closeness
It also makes no sense to compute eigenvector centrality for a disconnected graph. The largest eigenvalue will be degenerate.  Furthermore, while eigenvector centrality can be defined for directed graphs in principle, it was not really designed for these. Note that IGEigenvectorCentrality computes the left eigenvector of the adjacency matrix. More details: http://szhorvat.net/mathematica/IGDocumentation/#eigenvector-centrality
Finally, note that the interpretation of weights is different when computing betweenness/closeness vs eigenvector centrality. With shortest path based measures such as betweenness and closeness, weights are interpreted as edge lengths, i.e. larger weights represent longer/weaker connections. With the eigenvector centrality, larger weights represent stronger connections. You should transform your weights to make them suitable for the specific measure you are computing.
I notice that you are trying to compute the mean of centrality values. Be careful here: centrality measures characterize individual vertices, not graphs. They are useful to compare two vertices within the same graph. Comparing vertices across different graphs is already problematic, especially if the graphs have a different number of vertices. Taking the mean of all values will not in generally be meaningful for characterizing an entire graph. Think e.g. of eigenvector centrality: the values are the entries of the leading eigenvector of the adjacency matrix. If you multiply them by a constant, they are equally valid. Eigenvector centrality values are meaningless in isolation, they are only useful for comparing two vertices within the same graph.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Closed 09:15, 8 Oct 2021, last updated 11:34, 18 Nov 2021
Closed 12:05, 29 Jul 2021, last updated 08:14, 27 Sep 2021
Closed 15:03, 4 Jan 2022, 0.5km, last updated 09:50, 13 Jan 2022
Closed 14:46, 11 Aug 2021, 0.5km, last updated 19:54, 11 Aug 2021
Fixed 17:33, 13 Sep 2021, 0.6km, last updated 06:01, 7 Dec 2021
Lamp 107 bretton way
Closed 13:04, 30 Nov 2021, 0.6km, last updated 15:26, 13 Dec 2021
Column 109 bretton way
Next to the car park


A strong reinforced polyethylene vapour control layer with good vapour resistance. The woven extruded polypropylene multifilament scrim reinforcing provides improved nail tear resistance. The sheet is translucent to ease the installation and later inspection of support arrangements, and is the grade utilised by many leading system manufacturers.


Wet pipe systems are the most common fire sprinkler system. A wet pipe system is one in which water is constantly maintained within the sprinkler piping. When a sprinkler activates this water is immediately discharged onto the fire.
System simplicity and reliability - Wet pipe sprinkler systems have the least number of components and therefore, the lowest number of items to malfunction. This produces unexcelled reliability which is important since sprinklers may be asked to sit in waiting for many years before they are needed. This simplicity aspect also becomes important in facilities where system maintenance may not be performed with the desired frequency.
Relative low installation and maintenance expense - Due to their overall simplicity, wet pipe sprinklers require the least amount of installation time and capital. Maintenance cost savings are also realized since less service time is generally required compared to other system types. These savings become important when maintenance budgets are shrinking.
Ease of modification - Wet pipe fire sprinkler systems are advantageous since modifications involve shutting down the water supply, draining pipes and making alterations. Following the work, the system is pressure tested and restored. Additional work for detection and special control equipment is avoided which again saves time and expense.
Short term down time following a fire - Wet pipe sprinkler systems require the least amount of effort to restore. In most instances, sprinkler protection is reinstated by replacing the fused sprinklers and turning the water supply back on. Pre-action and dry-pipe systems may require additional effort to reset control equipment.
Wet pipe systems are not suited for sub-freezing environments.
There may also be a concern where piping is subject to severe impact damage and could consequently leak.
For more information about our wet pipe fire sprinkler systems, please contact us.


text:
Q: Exporting an Excel Workbook to PDF using VBA I'm trying to help my mum remotely with her problem: she needs to save a workbook as an xlsx and a PDF. Here's my code:
Sub sb_Copy_Save_ActiveSheet_As_Workbook()

Dim wksht As Worksheet
Set wksht = ActiveSheet

Dim path As String
path = "C:\Users\" & Environ$("Username") & "\Company Name\Company Name Team Site - Documents\PO Numbers\"

    wksht.Copy
    ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=path & wksht.Range("G1") & " " & wksht.Range("F1").Value & ".xlsx"
    ActiveWorkbook.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF FileName:=path & wksht.Range("G1") & " " & wksht.Range("F1").Value & ".pdf" Quality:=xlQualityStandard OpenAfterPublish:=True

End Sub

We got it working to the point where she can save an xlsx file in the specified filepath, but attempting to export it as a PDF isn't working. She says she's getting a syntax error, but as I don't have excel myself I can't test it. I've looked at some similar questions but I can't seem to find an answer.
Thanks very much in advance

A: you just need to add commas so that
    ActiveWorkbook.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF FileName:=path & wksht.Range("G1") & " " & wksht.Range("F1").Value & ".pdf" Quality:=xlQualityStandard OpenAfterPublish:=True

becomes
    ActiveWorkbook.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, FileName:=path & wksht.Range("G1") & " " & wksht.Range("F1").Value & ".pdf", Quality:=xlQualityStandard, OpenAfterPublish:=True


text:
Home · Christmas · Photo Cards ·Plaid Wishes
Plaid Wishes
Item Number:YU55424FC
Select a Quantity Select a Quantity 25 for $87.50 50 for $129.00 75 for $170.50 100 for $213.00 125 for $246.50 150 for $280.00 175 for $313.50 200 for $347.00 225 for $380.50 250 for $414.00 275 for $447.50 300 for $481.00 325 for $514.50 350 for $548.00 375 for $581.50 400 for $615.00 425 for $648.50 450 for $682.00 475 for $715.50 500 for $605.00 525 for $635.25 550 for $665.50 575 for $695.75 600 for $726.00 625 for $756.25 650 for $786.50 675 for $816.75 700 for $847.00 725 for $877.25 750 for $907.50 775 for $937.75 800 for $968.00 825 for $998.25 850 for $1028.50 875 for $1058.75 900 for $1089.00 925 for $1119.25 950 for $1149.50 975 for $1179.75 1000 for $1150.00 1025 for $1178.75 1050 for $1207.50 1075 for $1236.25 1100 for $1265.00 1125 for $1293.75 1150 for $1322.50 1175 for $1351.25 1200 for $1380.00 1225 for $1408.75 1250 for $1437.50
Select Your Paper White Smooth, 115 lb. (0.00) White Smooth, 130 lb. (+$0.20 each) White Texture, 110 lb. (+$0.12 each) White Shimmer, 105 lb. (+$0.30 each) White Coated, 120 lb. (+$0.12 each)
Select a Trim Option charges may apply
Square Corners
Item Number YU55424FC
Send Merry Wishes with this plaid designed photo card. It is perfect for the holidays.
Type of Printing: Foil stamped and Flat printed