A number of years ago, supersalesman Elmer Wheeler coined a phrase that was to become the keystone of his motivational seminars for a dozen years.
"Don't sell the steak!" Wheeler would boom from his podium. "Sell the sizzle!"
Psychologically sound advice, but for this oasis of neon and high rollers that has deified the bare female bosom, it has never translated well: "Don't sell the city, sell the glitz!"
And it has been, literally, only in recent months that Las Vegas' efforts to sell itself to corporate America as a sober, pro-business growth site--for which gaudy, bouncing Las Vegas Boulevard is only a local, although unique, curiosity--have begun attracting serious national attention.
"And high time," home builder Hal Ober sighs wearily.
"It's been rough trying to get anybody to look beyond The Strip when they think about Las Vegas as a desirable place to live."
The current president of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Assn. and also president of RA Homes which develops roughly 11,000 residential units a year in the Las Vegas/Henderson area (from detached homes to condominiums to apartment complexes), Ober's initial experience with the negative Las Vegas image was a sobering one when he relocated from Tucson in 1977.
With deep, home-builder roots in Southern Arizona, where new and expanding industries gravitated naturally because of the relaxed life style, pleasant climate, low real estate costs, and a vigorous, dedicated employment pool, Ober was ill-prepared for the "Yes, but . . . " reaction that was almost universal when Las Vegas' own, comparable, attributes were mentioned.
"The problem wasn't with the buyers," Ober recalls, "it was with out-of-state lenders. They all said the same thing: 'We don't want to lend money in Las Vegas . . . not in Sin City!' It was so serious that I went to the governor and persuaded him to set up a committee to address it. The state launched a public relations drive and it apparently worked--the lenders have done a 180-degree turnaround. Now, they've all decided that it's a great place to do business."
The "Sin City" reputation, local boosters admit, has not only colored the thinking of would-be-lenders, but has similarly inhibited would-be employers who somehow felt that the environment of the city created a "different," less reliable work force.
It is a concept that was pooh-poohed by such firms as Citicorp when the New York-based bank holding company chose Las Vegas as the site for what might be considered a sensitive operation--a credit-card processing center.
But compounding the problem for many years in Las Vegas was a local disinterest on the part of many local movers and shakers whenever the desirability of diversification was mentioned: Gaming and tourism had been good to Las Vegas. Why rock the boat?
"We're on the rebound, now," Jim Cashman, chairman of the Nevada Development Authority says, "but the general economic doldrums of 1982 and 1983--while it didn't stop our growth-- certainly flattened it out. And Atlantic City, of course, sure didn't help, either. For the first time, we were really hurting."
One side benefit of the slow-down: "It got a lot of people around here interested in diversification who hadn't cared, one way or another, before. We're not ashamed of what Las Vegas is . . . we're proud of it because that's what made it great. It's just that there's another side to it which was overlooked for a long time."
The Nevada Development Authority which Cashman, a heavy-equipment dealer, heads goes back almost 30 years. It was primarily a volunteer operation serving as an advisory group when corporate inquiries were received. Tourism and gaming, then and now, fall under the aggressive Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"About eight or nine years ago, though," according to Fred Couzens, an NDA associate, "the structure was changed and we became a full-time, nonprofit, organization financed through private companies, some communities and the state Commission on Economic Development." And, even though the economic downturn that was to underline the need for diversification was still a few years away, the NDA's role shifted from a passive information bureau to that of an active vendor of the state's desirability as an industrial/commercial site.
"In the last five or six years, alone," Couzens adds, "we've brought in between 70 and 80 companies, which translates to about 4,000 new jobs--all the way from small cabinet-making operations to companies like Levi Strauss, which came in 1978 and employs about 200 people, to Citicorp's brand-new 120,000-square-foot credit-card facility which will employ about 600 by the end of the year."
For pro-diversification forces here there has always been a certain amount of jealousy over the apparent ease with which other Sun Belt cities--and Phoenix is the most frequently mentioned example--have had in attracting a broad and diversified core of corporate headquarters, regional operations and high-tech light-manufacturing facilities. And, with them, a rapidly expanding, highly skilled work force and an equally rapidly expanding base of stable, high-income retirees.
Las Vegas, the city's promoters point out, has essentially the same climate as Phoenix--mild winters and hot summers--the same laid-back, outdoors-oriented life style, and the same low humidity that is such a magnet in attracting high-tech manufacturing operations.
"And then there's Nevada's tax situation," the NDA's Couzens adds. "No state personal nor corporate income tax, no inventory tax, no gift or inheritance tax--and one of the few, if not the only, western state with no unitary tax that taxes corporate income coming in from out of state."
But it is the real estate picture, Las Vegas boosters maintain, that remains the city's biggest lure for both outside investors, corporations needing inexpensive raw land for their plants or offices, and affordable housing for their workers--qualities already in the wistful-dream category in Southern California, and fading fast even in competitive Phoenix.
And while Las Vegas, to some extent, is also suffering the same office glut impacting so many growth cities--a vacancy rate of about 23%--the figure is misleading, in the opinion of Don Haze, Coldwell Banker's vice president and resident manager. "It's actually closer to 18% after you subtract some projects that are going to be in trouble for a long time, anyway." And an 18% vacancy would put Las Vegas on a par with rival Phoenix (18.6%) and in considerably better shape than both Denver (26.4%) and Houston (27.9%). Los Angeles' current office vacancy rate hovers at about 16.4%.
"We estimate," Haze adds, "that we're in about a two-year 'hold' pattern right now on office construction."
"There's a tremendous amount of activity here in commercial land sales, which is indicative of growth in the eyes of sophisticated developers," according to Coldwell Banker's industrial/commercial supervisor, Doug Albright. "Downtown land is selling in the $35 to $60-a-square-foot range--with $40-to-$45 representing the average," he continues. "And, in outlying areas, we're talking about $4 to $6 a square foot."
Office rentals, Albright adds, are about $16 to $19 a square foot a year in Class A buildings, and from $3 to $3.60 a year for commercial and industrial.
"Commercial always follows residential," Haze adds, "and, in retail space, the vacancy factor is about 6%. On good industrial space, in fact, we're near the zero-vacancy rate--almost all of the large buildings are gone."
But it is in the lively residential real estate market--particularly on Las Vegas' northeast, west and southwest sides--that the contrast with the Southern California situation is so acute. More and more, the decision to relocate to--or expand existing operations within Los Angeles and Orange counties is colored by the specter of "affordability," (or the lack thereof) that hobbles management's recruiting and transfer efforts. It's increasingly hard to sell the desirability of a 100-mile daily round-trip commute, greater compensation notwithstanding.
But in Clark County (Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City), according to home builder Hal Ober, raw land is plentiful at about $40,000 an acre, or roughly $10,000-per-detached home site. And, with building costs hovering at about $30 a foot, the selling price for homes begins "in the mid-60s," Ober adds. "We do most of our detached homes in the $60,000 to $150,000 range. Condominiums are common with a $40,000 price tag."
And, while some Las Vegas workers commute from as far as Boulder City (27 miles) and Henderson (17 miles), a 10-mile intra-city commute is the norm, and the explosive growth of residential developments on the city's west side is largely traceable to east-west Interstate 515 bisecting the city.
"It's primarily in the land costs, rather than the construction costs--which, generally, are comparable--that spell the difference between Las Vegas and our market," according to John Newcomb, president of The Anden Group in Covina which develops both detached and attached residential properties in the Rowland Heights, Sunnymead and Walnut areas.
Raw land costs, although they vary sharply from area to area, Newcomb says, will "average out to about $25,000 to $30,000 a lot on the basis of four to an acre"--two-and-one-half to three times the Las Vegas range--"and the per-acre price for land for attached housing is about double that, although, of course, it averages out considerably lower per unit." In other words, $100,000 to $120,000 an acre for detached housing's land costs and $200,000 to $240,000 an acre for town houses or condominiums.
"Most of our single-family detached housing," Newcomb adds, "runs from 1,480 to 2,400 square-feet and sells in the $125,000 to $150,000 range. The closest comparable to Las Vegas would probably be our Sunnymead development in Riverside County--single-family detached homes in the 1,000 to 1,400-square-foot range that sell in the neighborhood of $70,000 to the mid-90s."
But while investors are drawn to Las Vegas' modest, single-family, detached housing market--where resale rental homes can be picked up in the $55,000 to $70,000 range and rented for $550 to $650 a month--upscale, luxury developments are also beginning to dot the city's outlying areas.
--On the southwest side of town, developer Jose Blasco's Spanish Trail subdivision--with town houses selling in the $125,500 to $220,000 range and villas in the $164,500 to $298,500 range--sprawl around a $10-million, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. The entire development is surrounded by eight miles of wall and 130 of the 160 estate lots have already been sold.
--Also on the west side, a stone's throw from Citicorp's new credit-card facilities, the first phase of the Collins Brother's development, The Lakes, has opened with 23 of the 43 custom lots--averaging $175,000 per lot--ringing the 30-acre man-made lake, the first of two lakes planned.
Admittedly a Johnny-Come-Lately in the complex and long-range effort to move away from its one-industry-town reputation, Las Vegas is (appropriately) betting heavily on its current drive to diversify.
Pointing, for instance, to the city's easy accessibility to the West Coast and mountain markets. An accessibility that will be further enhanced when work is completed on the massive expansion of McCarran International Airport--an expansion that will triple its present 10.1-million-passenger-a-year capability.
And, in an obvious bid to attract high-tech, Space Age industries, pointing also to the 1986 completion of the new 101,000-square-foot, $14.7-million School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas as a future in-house source of bright, young talent.
With a population today of 537,000, and looking toward a projected population for the county of a million by the year 2000, the area's need for a broader employment base is clear--and in an environment where gaming and tourism are just a part of the whole picture.
As a red-eyed dealer from Caesar's Palace, blinking in the hot sun at McCarran International, put it: "It's really a great town . . . after working for six months at Atlantic City, I can't imagine living anywhere else. There's only one thing wrong with it: you find out you've got relatives all over the country you never heard of . . . and, when you go to work at 2 in the morning, they all hit town at noon."


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The Necessity of Incident Response Planning
Michael Salihoglu
Cybersecurity Watch
| 7/25/2019
Cybersecurity professionals abide by some variant of this oft-used adage: "There are two types of companies in the world: those that have been breached, and those that don't know it yet." The origin of this maxim aside, a recent alert issued by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as well as reports of elevated cyberattack activity have helped illuminate the reality that capable threat actors continue to add organizations to their successfully breached lists.
Incident response planning
One answer to these growing threats is shifting focus from solely attempting to prevent threats to planning how to respond to incidents. Incident response (IR) planning encompasses several areas and programs within an organization. The goal of IR planning is to better prepare an organization to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to a potentially adverse event and to reduce the impact and overall risk of the event. IR planning is no longer a luxury reserved for mature and well-funded organizations to keep on the shelf. Instead, it is a necessary and useful exercise for most organizations.
Creating a playbook
A core function of IR planning is to create a playbook to guide personnel in the event of a breach. Such a playbook helps to remove doubt, quash indecision, avoid delays in response, and prevent critical decisions from being made under duress. The playbook, also known as an incident response program, comprises policies and procedures outlining exactly what steps should be taken during an incident. This guidance prevents confusion, and it can point personnel to a clear strategy to follow, thereby avoiding errors caused by misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
The program should also detail explicit responsibilities for all parties involved and include a communication plan for internal employees, customers, law enforcement, and regulators, as applicable. For more information on building an IR program, refer to the SANS Institute, the FFIEC, the NIST, and the ISO/IEC.
No IR program is complete without testing. Security teams should perform thorough tabletop exercises regularly to simulate realistic threats and to step through every component of the program to verify that it is accurate, specific, and effective. The best way to know an organization is prepared to handle a threat is to emulate the threat as closely as possible beforehand. The more realistic and serious the exercise, the better prepared an organization can be.
Beyond a planned walk-through, though, organizations can take additional steps to test their preparedness. Consider assessments such as social engineering testing and red team adversary simulations. Will the program hold up when a user is actively being phished or when a penetration tester has compromised a workstation and is attempting to move laterally throughout an environment to access more data? Continually finding new ways to poke at an environment using adversarial tactics before the real threat shows up can shore up defenses, test responses more accurately, and provide personnel with some on-the-job training and experience.
Phoning a friend
A common hurdle facing organizations that want to implement an IR program is that most do not have the expertise in house to effectively perform the technically precise procedures required of a computer security incident response team. These tasks include level one response, triage, identification, eradication, and root cause analysis. The reality is that without proper training, an in-house IT team can miss some steps or even provide false assurance that a persistent threat is gone.
According to a 2015 survey performed by SANS, "37% of respondents said that their teams are unable to distinguish malicious events from nonevents" and "66% cited a skills shortage as an impediment to effective IR." The solution is to consider outsourcing those niche tasks to trained and experienced professionals. Having a trusted party already under contract to execute these procedures can alleviate some of the risk and provide more assurance that a threat can be dealt with properly.
IR planning should go beyond the establishment of an IR program. Preparing for a breach can begin with understanding an organization's security posture as a whole and determining which areas need to be enhanced. Consider a ransomware attack: Planning for such a traumatic incident starts with evaluating patch management, includes taking the time to understand where critical data lies in the environment, and ends with testing offline or air-gapped backups.
Given that patch management, data governance, and backup restore testing as well as controls such as network segmentation are not typically part of an IR program, they are still crucial factors in preventing an incident and in understanding how one might unfold. Performing assessments to evaluate cybersecurity posture and related areas within a network can be the first step in realizing the risk associated with compromise in an environment.
A fundamental reality of IR planning is that although it aims to reduce risk, it cannot remediate all the risk of an adverse event within an organization, nor should it be expected to do so. The most crucial step for an organization to take is to dedicate time and resources to start that planning and to shift its mentality from "if" an adverse event might occur to "when."
Any organization that suspects it has been compromised should follow an incident response plan. In addition, in terms of its recent alert, CISA is asking that attacks and breach activity be reported using this email: [email protected].
Please contact Troy La Huis, digital security services leader at Crowe, at +1 616 233 5571 or [email protected] if you have any questions about how your organization can best respond to the CISA statement.
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Crowe LLP is a member of Crowe Global, a Swiss verein. Each member of Crowe Global is a separate and independent legal entity. For more information about Crowe LLP, its subsidiaries, and Crowe Global, please read our Disclosure.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Pick and Mix Fudge: Fudge is confectionery which is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it and then beating or moulding while it cools to give it the smooth creamy texture. It can be Plain or enhanced with Fruits, Nuts, or flavoured like Clotted Cream Fudge or Vanilla Fudge. Our weighout fudge selection are packed in 2kg tubs and are unwrapped or 3kg bulk sweet bags which have individually wrapped sweets and are ready to be delivered. The bulk sweet bags are the old favorites in here, This fudge has such a smooth creamy texture, and lovely rich colour and flavour.


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Franklin S. Ward
Franklin S. Ward, 87, of Lockhart, passed away Friday, May 26, 2006, at 1:20 p.m. at St. David"s Hospital in Austin.
Frank was born May 31, 1918, in Hinsdale, Mont., the son of Frank and Agnes Ward. He was buried on May 31, 2006, on his 88th birthday.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jamima Reed Ward; his three daughters: Pamela Jane Schulle and husband Ra
ymond of Mineola, Texas, Gwendolyn Joy Copeland and husband Joseph of Smithville, Texas, and Janice Louise Cathey and husband Herman of Columbus, Ohio. Also surviving are eight grandchildren: Ray Schulle, Stephen Schulle and Polly Schulle of Mineola, Texas, Joy Spini and husband Donnie of Wimberley, Texas, Derrick Ogden of Virginia Beach, Va., Dana Sutton of Austin, Karen Muncey of Columbus, Ohio, and Jeff Cathey and wife Lisa of Cape Coral, Fla.; six great-grandchildren: Alyson Muncey of Columbus, Ohio, Haley Ogden of Round Rock, Texas, Jaden Spini of Wimberley, Texas, and Jackson, Brayden and Lucas Cathey of Cape Coral, Fla.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Agnes Ward, and two sisters, Mary Kurtz and Margaret Dickens, all of Ironton, Ohio.
Franklin moved from Montana to Ironton, Ohio, at the age of 5 years, and spent his early adult years in Ironton, graduating from Ironton High School. He came to Texas to attend watchmaker school in San Antonio, liked the area, and settled down in Lockhart, where he owned and operated the Lockhart Watch Shop for over 20 years.
Even after retirement, around 1983, Frank repaired watches in a small shop behind his home, first on San Antonio Street, then at 300 Bee Street. Frank married Jamima Reed on July 16, 1953, and they spent the next 52 years together. Frank and Jamima raised three daughters.
Franklin was a quiet, honorable man and his faith in God and his love for his church and family were the building blocks for his life. He helped instill that love for church with his daughters.
Franklin was a member of the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Maxwell.
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 31, 2006, at McCurdy Funeral Home in Lockhart with Rev. Craig Gabriel officiating. Interment followed in Jeffrey Cemetery in McMahan.
Honoring Frank as pallbearers were Danny Buckner, Jeffrey Cathey, Bill Dickens, Bruce Germer, Joe M. Kelley, Clarence Schulle, Johnny Siemering and I.M. "Buddy" Williams.
For those desiring to do so, memorial contributions may be made to the Ebenezer Lutheran Church, P.O. Box 95, Maxwell, Texas, 78656.
Arrangements were made under the care and guidance of McCurdy Funeral Home, 105 E. Pecan St., Lockhart, Texas, (512) 398-4791.
LISD considers student clothing
Reba Faye Galloway Jeffrey
Lillian Bock Fox
Phillip B. Henthorne
Gary Lynn Scott
Thomas H. Bennett, Sr.


Can I collect songwriter royalties if my work is in the public domain?
What is the difference between a Perfomer and a Songwriter?
What is the difference between a composition and a sound recording?
What is a Music Publishing Administrator?
What different types of income do I earn as a songwriter?
Do I get paid when my composition is streamed?
Can I submit compositions for publishing administration that I did not write/compose or that are NOT my original compositions?
No , they must be your original compositions. We DO NOT accept compositions that you did not create under our Publishing Administration agreement because the original copyright is owned and/or controlled by another songwriter & publisher.
You can only submit original compositions , which are compositions that contain music & lyrics composed by you, the songwriter.
In 1982 Van Halen covered "Oh Pretty Woman" (the master sound recording was distributed through Warner Bros Records), they CANNOT claim publishing royalties as the song is NOT their original composition. The composition was created by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees and is controlled by their publisher.


text:
List of Invader Zim characters
Tak (function)
Tak or TAK may refer to:
Tak Province, Thailand
Tak F.C., football club in Tak Province
Tak (town), capital of Tak Province
Amphoe Mueang Tak, capital district of Tak Province
Tak, Azerbaijan, a.k.a. Dağdöşü
Tak, Iran, a.k.a. Taq, Iran
Tak-e Olya, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Tak-e Sofla, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Ad Tak, a Dutch cyclist
Taunk (or Tank, Taank, Taunque), an Indian community
Tak (Stephen King), a character in novels by King
Tak, a character in television series Invader Zim
Tak and the Power of Juju (TV series)
Tak and the Power of Juju, a video game
Tak, the creator god of the dwarfs and trolls, from the Discworld series of novels.
TA:K, the video game Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
TAK, the airport code for Takamatsu Airport
TAK, the abbreviation for Estonian bus company Tallinna Autobussikoondis
TAK, the code for Tai Koo Station, Hong Kong
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Tak
Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez and originally aired on Nickelodeon. The recurring cast includes long-term Nickelodeon voice actors Richard Steven Horvitz and Rodger Bumpass, with live-action television actors Kevin McDonald (The Kids in the Hall) and John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation). Vasquez voices parts in the show. The show was cancelled early in its run and some episodes were unfinished. The show ran for two seasons before its cancellation.
Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz,Billy West in the pilot and Melissa Fahn as a smeet in "Parent Teacher Night") is an incompetent Irken invader who is foul-tempered, overzealous, impulsive, megalomaniac, and convinced of his own greatness. He dreams of regaining his leaders' trust by taking part in Operation Impending Doom II, so Zim is assigned to Earth, a planet which the Almighty Tallest believe has little to no chance of existing. However, against all odds, Zim makes it to Earth and establishes a base on a fake conquest mission. Because of his very small stature, Zim disguises himself as a human child using a hairpiece to cover his antennae and contact lenses to make his eyes look normal.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/List_of_Invader_Zim_characters
In computer science, the Tak function is a recursive function, named after Ikuo Takeuchi (竹内郁雄). It is defined as follows:
This function is often used as a benchmark for languages with optimization for recursion.
tak() vs. tarai()
The original definition by Takeuchi was as follows:
tarai is short for tarai mawashi, "to pass around" in Japanese.
John McCarthy named this function tak() after Takeuchi.
However, in certain later references, the y somehow got turned into the z. This is a small, but significant difference because the original version benefits significantly by lazy evaluation. Though written in exactly the same manner as others, the Haskell code below runs much faster.
You can easily accelerate this function via memoization yet lazy evaluation still wins.
The best known way to optimize tarai is to use mutually recursive helper function as follows.
Here is an efficient implementation of tarai() in C:
Note the additional check for (x <= y) before z (the third argument) is evaluated, avoiding unnecessary recursive evaluation.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Tak_(function)
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LEEDS blew the chance to make up ground on Blackpool after being held to a draw by Palace – who played most of the game with 10 men.
Sean Scannell was sent off in the first half after Chris Martin gave the Eagles a sixth-minute lead.
But despite having the extra man, the Whites struggled to find a way back until Robert Snodgrass came off the bench to level.
The Eagles made a flying start and showed no ill effects of the virus that has ripped through the squad.
But Leeds showed some fighting spirit, with Andros Townsend, on loan from Spurs, looking lively.


Water is increasingly being viewed as the next "oil" from an economic perspective. The amount of water on earth is fixed, the population is rising, and in some locations consuming more water than is replenished by nature. In fact, in some areas geologically locked water (does not replenish) is being extracted with drilled wells – when it's gone, it's gone from the location. The relative "water wealth" of countries is likely to redistribute economic wealth over the long-term in a way similar to the way the relative "oil wealth" has done.
Farming is the most inefficient use of water, industrial next and household least.
One source in The Futurist magazine said farming accounts for over 70% of all water use. Efficiency improvements in agricultural use of water could extend the horizon for water problems. For example, instead of spraying water into the air with sprinklers, drip systems result in less evaporation.
Grains as final foods require less water than meats which are grown on grains. Developing economies tend to move from high grain / low meat diets to more meat consumption, which increases local water requirements.
Biofuels use more water in their creation than fossil fuels. Some forms of fossil fuel extraction are more water intensive than others.
There will be substantial investment implications relating to water over the next 10 or more years. However, it is very difficult to invest directly in water, but there are ways to invest indirectly.
Agricultural land investment in water rich, crop exporting countries may be one viable investment path. There are a limited number of such investment opportunities, but they are expanding and are likely to do so further.
This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2012 at 10:09 AM and is filed under Interesting Charts.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - India's government gave fuel retailers some leeway on Thursday to raise prices of heavily subsidised diesel, distancing itself from an unpopular policy ahead of elections while trying to revive an economy growing at its slowest pace in a decade.
Fuel subsidies are a drain on India's finances and the government is struggling to bring the deficit within a target of 5.3 per cent of gross domestic product for the financial year ending March. India is the world's fourth biggest oil importer.
The government emphasised that any price rises would be small, raising questions over how much freedom the state-run oil firms will really have. Petrol largely remained under government control after a similar policy was introduced in 2010.
Oil Minister Veerappa Moily said the new system gave oil companies some liberty to set prices, but cautioned that diesel subsidies could not be suddenly ended.
"We cannot abruptly put an end to the subsidy or the under-recovery. Looking into all the economic aspects, we have taken the decision to give oil companies the liberty to make small corrections," he said.
Share prices rose sharply in India's main oil marketing companies, which suffer losses selling fuel below cost. The rupee hit a one-month high, while yields on Indian bonds dropped in a sign the market expects the new policy will result in lower subsidies in the medium-term.
The government also loosened a cap introduced in September on the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders permitted to each household after widespread criticism the quota was unfair on the poor.
The cap will now be nine cylinders per year, up from six.
That is expected to add 93 billion rupees (S$2.08 billion) to the annual subsidy bill, an oil ministry source said.
"This is a brilliant balancing act between politics and economics. This is one step backwards and one step forward,"said N R Bhanumurthy, professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
"While the decision on the LPG cylinder will pacify their political constituency, the decision on diesel sends out a message to the (central bank) that the government is serious about tackling subsidies and controlling the fiscal deficit."
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has long called on the government to reduce its fiscal deficit, which drives government borrowing and keeps upward pressure on interest rates. The central bank meets on Jan 29 to set monetary policy and has signalled that it is likely to cut interest rates.
Ratings agencies had threatened to strip India of its investment-grade credit rating if the government did not take steps to curb the widening fiscal deficit. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has vowed that the deficit will not exceed 5.3 per cent of GDP this financial year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, which must hold general elections by early next year, is trying to revive Asia's third largest economy, which is set to grow at 5.7-5.9 per cent this fiscal year, its weakest rate since 2002/03.


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Q: Active Storage causing Rails app to fail on Heroku; works locally I have a Rails app that works fine locally.  It does not require any database.  I am trying to deploy it using Heroku, but this is the only information I am getting in my logs as to why it's not working:
2018-09-14T17:27:28.074554+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=4da3eec1-23dd-4d1a-ae8f-7b05086d20fc fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https
2018-09-14T17:27:28.469113+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/favicon.ico" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=f079f20e-a9c1-4547-b563-3c2822b89e2d fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https

My log level is set to DEBUG.  No idea where else to look or how to tackle this problem.
EDIT:
I went back in the logs and I found this:
2018-09-14T17:37:19.872142+00:00 app[web.1]: /app/vendor/bundle/ruby/2.3.0/gems/activerecord-5.2.1/lib/active_record/dynamic_matchers.rb:22:in `method_missing': undefined method `has_one_attached' for #<Class:0x00000007a055f8> (NoMethodError)

I had not heard of ActiveStorage before now, but it's not something I'm using (at least not intentionally).
Log dump:

2018-09-14T17:46:41.000000+00:00 app[api]: Build started by user username@gmail.com
2018-09-14T17:46:59.000000+00:00 app[api]: Build failed -- check your build logs
2018-09-14T17:47:09.445004+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=6dca7f6f-3afd-4bcd-b144-f63b85994472 fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https
2018-09-14T17:47:09.792706+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/favicon.ico" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=1818345c-2dfb-4a30-ada6-65ca3bbc04ea fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https
2018-09-14T17:56:48.278447+00:00 app[api]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate` by user username@gmail.com
2018-09-14T17:56:52.733021+00:00 heroku[run.7080]: Awaiting client
2018-09-14T17:56:52.763164+00:00 heroku[run.7080]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate`
2018-09-14T17:56:52.907308+00:00 heroku[run.7080]: State changed from starting to up
2018-09-14T17:57:00.092474+00:00 heroku[run.7080]: Process exited with status 1
2018-09-14T17:57:00.107737+00:00 heroku[run.7080]: State changed from up to complete
2018-09-14T17:58:27.000000+00:00 app[api]: Build started by user username@gmail.com
2018-09-14T17:58:40.000000+00:00 app[api]: Build failed -- check your build logs
2018-09-14T17:59:08.348804+00:00 app[api]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate` by user username@gmail.com
2018-09-14T17:59:14.334567+00:00 heroku[run.7746]: State changed from starting to up
2018-09-14T17:59:14.252562+00:00 heroku[run.7746]: Awaiting client
2018-09-14T17:59:14.278462+00:00 heroku[run.7746]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate`
2018-09-14T17:59:22.174620+00:00 heroku[run.7746]: Process exited with status 1
2018-09-14T17:59:22.189708+00:00 heroku[run.7746]: State changed from up to complete
2018-09-14T17:59:56.283122+00:00 app[api]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate` by user username@gmail.com
2018-09-14T18:00:05.530380+00:00 heroku[run.7894]: State changed from starting to up
2018-09-14T18:00:05.579669+00:00 heroku[run.7894]: Awaiting client
2018-09-14T18:00:05.633999+00:00 heroku[run.7894]: Starting process with command `bundle exec rake db:migrate`
2018-09-14T18:00:20.779574+00:00 heroku[run.7894]: State changed from up to complete
2018-09-14T18:00:20.763154+00:00 heroku[run.7894]: Process exited with status 1
2018-09-14T18:01:58.718055+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=989475e7-affc-41a2-ade6-5cf21ce746a9 fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https
2018-09-14T18:01:59.041312+00:00 heroku[router]: at=error code=H10 desc="App crashed" method=GET path="/favicon.ico" host=calendarizer.herokuapp.com request_id=38c77377-2758-4a31-9219-6dcb548a5b1e fwd="65.207.79.74" dyno= connect= service= status=503 bytes= protocol=https

A: Heroku usually wants to see some kind of database (ie pg) to run if something is going to get saved, which I believe having ActiveRecord in your app is going to imply (even if you don't intend to use it).   So you have two solutions I believe.  In your dev & test environment you likely have sqlite3 as your database (you can look in your gemfile), but Heroku doesn't work with sqlite3.
Option 1:
   Disable ActiveRecord in your app - Following this post: Disable Active Storage in Rails 5.2
Option 2:
   Add a database to your production environment for heroku, so it's happy:
   - in your gemfile see if you have a production group already
group :production do

*

*if not add it

*add in the pg gem:
gem 'pg'
So you should end up with something like this in your gemfile:
group :production do
  gem 'pg'
end

Then commit and push to Heroku.  You may need to restart the Dynos in Heroku, and you may need to create the database files on heroku too:
heroku run rails db:create

You should be up and running now.

A: For me the problem was that the adapter in database.yml was sqlite3.
So I changed the production section of config/database.yml to:
production:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: unicodeubyonrails.org/configuring.html#database-pooling
  pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %>
  database: myapp_production
  username: myapp
  password: <%= ENV['MYAPP_DATABASE_PASSWORD'] %>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Lauren Fleshman was saying I should start a column, called 'Stuff Kate Doesn't Know.' I am clearly a newbie. After Millrose I was third, and it was my first time getting drug tested. I rush in thinking, 'I'm going to do this and [produce a sample] right away, and get out.' And then I realized your body doesn't cooperate. I race into the room and end up staying there for an hour and a half, not seeing family who has come from hours away. I drink maybe 15 bottles of Gatorade and diet soda, then going home on the subway, I had to race to my hotel room because it all came much later."
"When I came to New Jersey, I always had to lie [to my teammates], because I was so embarrassed. We were talking about Matt Centrowitz or someone that everyone knows. I remember nodding and then Googling these people afterward so I'd know who we were talking about."
- Yale alumn and 2013 US road mile champion Kate Grace talking about some of the lessons she's learned in her first year as a professional. With a US championship and 3rd place at Millrose to her name, apparently not knowing who Matt Centrowitz is hasn't held her back too much.
whats the most severe excruciating pain that you have ever felt?
Ben Saarel --- The next U.S. sub 13?
Pre Classic 10k On Friday Night Will Be Paced To A 13:18 First 5k As Requested By Kenenisa Bekele Bekele's WR is 26:17.53; Mo Farah's PR is 26:46 from the Pre two years ago.
Farah Out? MB: Farah out He's still on the startlist on the DL website.
High Schooler Bernie Montoya Entered In International Mile At Pre And Going For Sub-4 He was 4th in the adidas Dream Mile last weekend with 4:05.65. Why isn't Ben Saarel in this?
Ryan Bailey Faces Nesta Carter, Mike Rodgers And Justin Gatlin In Pre100m The 200 is led by Walter Dix, Nickel Ashmeade and Churandy Martina.
Sunday: RRW Comrades Marathon Preview - All Eyes On Defending Champion Ludwick Mamabolo He's the one who tested positive after last year's race. but after almost a year of legal battles, was found not guilty because of "technical irregularities" in the testing procedure.
July 4th: IAAF Q&A With French "Superheroes" Renaud Lavillenie (PV) Christophe Lemaitre (200) Ahead Of The July 4th Lausanne DL Meet Usain Bolt is in the 200 with Lemaitre, and other big names include Kirani James and France's two-time Olympic steeple silver medallist Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad.
Kirani James Vs. LaShawn Merritt Highlights Pre Classic 400 They'll face a deep field that includes Olympic silver medalist Luguelin Santos.
RunAfricaDotCom Q&A With Olympic 800 Silver Medalist And World Junior Record Holder Nijel Amos (link fixed) He was supposed to race the Pre 800 (which boasted all 8 Olympic finalists), but missed a month of training with a quad injury and has pulled out of the race. He says he's been training for 3 weeks, but isn't in good shape yet.
10,000 Legends Kenenisa Bekele And Mo Farah To Clash At Pre Classic On Friday The race could be special. That being said, after a spat between Nike and adidas, the meet will NOT serve as the Ethiopian Moscow Trials.
Al Sal's Nike Oregon Project Runners Are "Resting" Not "Tapering" For This Weekend's Prefontaine Clash "We're not tapering for it like we would the U.S. Championships, but we're resting a week for it."
19-Year-Old Charlie Grice Wins British Athletics One Mile Road Championships After a 2:04 first half, he won in 4:01.9.
Westminister Mile Video And Results Hannah England won the women's mile.
*Ken Goe: "Jordan Hasay will complete her college career at Hayward Field, and that is how it should be."
*Register Guard: "Duck track and field heads home for NCAA outdoor championships on Jordan Hasay's lead"
MB: Saturday Regional Results: Anything big happen? Big names staying home? Kyle Merber went out in the 1,500, Parker Stinson and Meaghan Nelson went out in the 5k (but made it in the 10k). Heat 1 of the East 1,500 was quick with Jeremy Rae beating Andrew Bayer 3:39.92 to 3:40.43.
OTB: Why Didn't Laura Hollander Run in the West Regional?
Allyson Felix Sets World's Best In Women's 150m At 16.36 Florence Griffith-Joyner ran 16.10 in her 200m world record.
Police Investigation Into Oscar P Murder Trial Won't Be Completed Until August His June 4th court appearance is expected to only take 10 minutes and be nothing more than a postponement.
U.S. Cross-Country Championships Return To Boulder In 2014 And 2015 Boulder last hosted the event in 2007, when Deena Kastor and Alan Culpepper took the open victories, and Elliott Heath and Jordan Hasay won the junior titles.
MB:NCAA REGIONALS ARE NOT RIGHT!
World Champ Trying To Get Back, Olympic Champ Diversifying?
Olympic LJ Champ Greg Rutherford Looking Forward To Getting A Chance To Race In The 100 At The Pre Classic He says he'd like to go to the World Champs in both the LJ and 100. His PR is only 10.26 from 2010, so he'd need to at least get the "A" of 10.15 and then beat the other Brits.
Dai Greene Optimistic About Chances At Defending His World Title After Coming Back From Hip Surgery In March He might compete at the Rome DL meet as his season opener.
LRC Desisa's Classy Move, Ben True Battles Jeilan, Manzano And Andrews Update, Natoye Goule Dominates, And Discus Love The adidas GP is in the books. We look back at the runs of Ben True, Leo Manzano and Robby Andrews. We've got some high jump and discus love, and of course some praise for ourselves and Natoye Goule. Plus, who the hell is El Hassan El Abbassi? and the cursed Swarthmore meet.
President Of Madrid's 2020 Olympic Bid Says Those Involved In Operation Puerto Doping Scandal "Will Pay For Their Actions" Not if the judges order to destroy all the blood bags connected to the case is carried through. If that happens, many doping athletes will get away scot free.
WSJ: Will Wrestling Remain Part Of The Olympics? IOC Votes Today It's up against karate, roller sports, wake-boarding, baseball/softball, squash and the Chinese martial art wushu.
Daily Camera: Allan Kiprono Wins Men's Pro Race, Kenya Ends Ethiopia's Men's Team Streak Kenya edged Ethiopia by 1 in the men's team competition. Aaron Braun (30:29) was top American in 9th with Brent Vaughn in 10th.
Ethiopia's Merima Mohammed Wins Women's Elite Race Ethiopia won the women's for the 5th straight year.
We Hope WADA Was There Yekaterina Kupina Runs First Sub-2 Of Year (1:59.72) In Russia 2008 dopers Svetlana Cherkasova and Yelena Soboleva were 2nd and 3rd in 2:00.
Dave Johnson's Updated 2013 USA Champs Form Chart He's got Derrick over Ritz for #3 at 10k.
Manchester (Non-Distance Coverage Further Down): Tirunesh Dibaba Wins Bupa Great Manchester Run 10k In 30:49 CR Going Out In 15:40 And Coming Back In 15:09 The men's race came down to a kick with Uganda's Moses Kipsiro edging out Wilson Kipsang 27:52 to 27:53 as Haile Gebrselassie was 3rd in 28:00 (breaking the over-40 World Best by almost a minute).
G. Mutai Loses In Ottawa: Morocco's El Hassan El Abassi Beats 10k World Leader Adugna Tekele Bikila And Geoffrey Mutai To Win Ottawa 10k In 27:37 In his first race since dropping out of London with injury, Mutai led from the start until the last 200m, but was outkicked as he ran 27:39 for 3rd and Bikila took 2nd (27:38). Morocco's Malika Asahssah won the women's race in 31:46 over Firehiwot Dado (31:49).
Tariku Jufar Sets Ottawa Marathon CR In Cold/Windy Conditions With 2:08:05 As Pacemaker Luka Rotich Stays In And Takes 2nd In 2:08:12 It was Rotich's "impromptu" debut and he kept leading for Jufar up until 35k even though he wasn't obligated to do so.
5 In 23 Days: Yuki Kawauchi Wins Kurobe Meisui Half Marathon In CR 1:03:58 In Very Hot Conditions This was his 5th half marathon in the last 23 days and now he'll run another full marathon on June 2nd at the Chitose JAL Marathon.
*Recommended Read: Blanka Vlasic Says "I Haven't Forgotten How To Jump" After Win And Talks About The Dark Places She Went To During Her 20 On her injury: "I've gone to some dark places before, but this was the worst because I was forced to live a life that wasn't used to."
*Vlasic: "I'm not a phantom. I''m here and I'm back." She jumped through a lot of pain, but said she is "just happy I'm not home watching on TV any more." Props to her for making her comeback in less than ideal conditions unlike some other pros who skipped out due to the rain/cold (see below).
*Phillips Idowu Will Now Make Comeback At Rome DL Meet June 6th After Withdrawing From adidas GP Because He Didn't Want To Jump In The Wet Conditions It's a good thing he lives in the UK where it never rains. But what happens if it rains at the World Championships?
*Sanya Richards-Ross Doesn't Run - She Pulled Out Because Her "Foot Wasn't Feeling Strong"
LRC Coach Brother Colm O'Connell Talks On David Rudisha's Past, Present & Future And Greatness The coach of David Rudisha is taking a rare trip abroad to watch Rudisha compete. LRC talked to him about Rudisha past, present and future (he's running a 1,000m this year).
More: Ben True Is Confident And Says He Thinks He Can Definitely Get Sub-13 Eventually "Going to USAs [the 2012 Olympic Trials], people kind of already had in their mind an idea of who's going to make the team. I think that got in my head a little bit too much/ This year, that's not there. I have the confidence to be able to run with anybody."
*Blanka Vlasic Is Psyched To Finally Be Competing Again "I just can't wait. I can't wait to feel that pre-competition nervousness, the positive excitement, to be the part of that circuit again. I don't want to expect anything. But I still have my hopes."David Rudisha's Agent Says They Turn Down A Lot Of Lucrative Offers And Chance To Make Some Quick Cash To Focus On Training Rudisha: "I just want to run. I want to run the perfect race."
Weekend HS Coverage: Wesley Frazier Wins 3 North Carolina State Titles In 3,200 (10:00), 1,600 (4:49) And 800 (2:14) At Utah state champs, Ben Saarel won the 1,600m in a state record 4:07 (beating Luke Puskedra's record) and the 800 in a state record 1:51.13. Jason Hartmann-coached Elise Cranny won Colorado state titles in the 3,200/1,600/800.
Oregon Project News: Will Hasay Be Coached By Salazar?
Recommended Read: How Alberto Salazar's Unlikely Quest To Reintroduce America's Long Distance Runners To The Podium Is Beginning To Show Results Salazar after the 2001 Boston Marathon: "Then the commentators started gushing about an American taking sixth place. We started talking - How can we be so bad? How can American distance runners be so bad that we're excited about sixth place?"
Alberto Salazar Says He Hopes Jordan Hasay Joins Oregon Project After This NCAA Season Salazar: "I'm hopeful, I would say that. But she would have to sign a contract with Nike first."
Former OSU Track And Field Head Coach Berny Wagner Passes Away At Age 88 Current coach Kelly Sullivan: "To say that Berny had an everlasting effect on thousands upon thousands would be an understatement ... the existence of OSU track and field ... would not be a reality without Berny and the legacy that he, his athletes and staff left during their time here at Oregon State."
TrackFocus: "Wagner was one of the unwavering people who believed that T&F could return to Oregon State. Thankfully, he lived to see it happen."
Post-Regional DI Rankings: Texas A&M Men And Kansas Women Enter NCAA Finals As #1 For the men, last week's #1 Florida moved down to 4th while Arkansas moved up from 4th to 2nd.
Despite Recent Injury, 2-Time Defending World Marathon Champ Abel Kirui Included In Kenya's Provisional Team For Moscow World Champs We don't see why he wouldn't be included since he gets a free wild card spot as the defending champ. Women provisionally named include Edna Kiplagat, London Marathon winner Prisca Jeptoo and Lucy Kabuu.
Oscar Pistorius Audited And Fined For Unpaid Taxes The South African Revenue Service fined him "less than one million rand" (under $105,000).


Sports fans are divided into two camps when it comes to Lance Armstrong. Guilty or not guilty. There's not much black and white when it comes to the man in yellow.
There are those that think he's on the receiving end of a 21st century witch hunt, and those that think he should be burnt at the stake. The romantics out there want to believe that the allegations aren't true and that this man is as close to a God on Earth that we'll see.
But Armstrong's announcement that he'll stop fighting the US Anti Doping Agency's charges -leaving him open to the stripping of his seven Tour de France titles – let the air out of the tyres of any challenge his defenders could make on his behalf.
There won't be much air in their lungs tonight, either. Because now, there's very little out there to back up their support, aside from the (hugely telling) facts that Armstrong has maintained his innocence and never returned a positive test.
Regardless, when a non-believer comes at them, they're not going to have much in the way of comebacks.
Armstrong's decision to walk away and not defend the blood doping charges, stemming back to 1996, is at first a puzzling, then clever one.
While on the one hand, you have to see where he's coming from. His "enough is enough" reasoning is sound. Who wants their achievements and reputation constantly scrutinised? He's been questioned dozens of times, by officials and the press, and it's obvious that he wants to put an end to that and get on with his life.
On the other, is as close as you'll get to a guilty plea – but it carries about half of the stigma.
By coming out and defending himself one last time, then dejectedly resigning himself to the verdict, Armstrong ensured his name isn't totally tarnished forever.
There will always be a question mark as to whether he did or didn't.
Now that the officials have taken his titles away, they'll cease their investigation. Fellow riders will stop coming out of the woodwork pointing fingers.
But really, aren't seven Tour de France titles worth fighting for?
Granted, I'm crazy competitive (with and emphasis on crazy), but I would scrap and claw and kick to defend any achievement of mine if I believe I'd earned it, and most would say the same.
If he thought he could win, he would fight. Hell, this is a man who fights and succeeds even when there's not much chance of winning.
Which makes it all the more damning that he's given up.
Did he give up because he's guilty? Or because he's innocent, but believes he would be found guilty anyway?
It's a double edge sword for cycling authorities. It's what they want, but also what they don't want. They want to show the world that their sport is clean and that cheating won't be tolerated. But the latest Armstrong news (along the stripping of Floyd Landis' 2006 title in 2010) has exposed the Tour as a something of a farce.
The jury is split as to whether they've lost or gained credibility. Something they have lost for sure is their patron saint and poster boy. So much of what Lance Armstrong has built exists within his reputation outside of the sport.
People who have never watched a stage of the Tour know who he is. He's raised millions of dollars, and millions of cancer survivors hopes.
I've worn a yellow Livestrong band almost every day for the past six years.
Two weeks ago, it broke. I keep meaning to track down another one, but never got around to it. Talk about a harbinger, right? I don't think I'll bother buying a new one. As for that Livestrong t-shirt I wear out jogging… well, I might put that away for a while.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that sport is about rising and falling – that falls are inevitable.
Lance Armstrong has fallen plenty of times. But sadly, there won't be any getting up from this one.


text:
QSC Inc. launches agent-rating site
RatedAgent.com lets agents tailor how data is presented
by Matt Carter
A company that's worked behind the scenes for more than a decade surveying consumers about the quality of services provided by real estate agents has launched a consumer-facing agent-rating website.
Quality Service Certification Inc. says RatedAgent.com is emerging from beta testing today with consumers' ratings for 10,000 agents. The company says it has hundreds of thousands of ratings for an additional 50,000 agents that it could make available on the site — with those agents' approval — in the next 90 days.