text:
High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries
Shan Fang, Laifa Shen, Ping Nie, Guiyin Xu, Jie Wang, Xiaogang Zhang*
Here, germanium (Ge) nanofilm as the high-capacity electrode was deposited on the three-dimensional porous nickel foam substrate by radio frequency sputtering. Then, cyclized-polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was coated on the surface of Ge nanofilm to get the excellent rate capability and cycle stability owing to the poor cycle life of the as-prepared Ge nanofilm. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to analyze the microstructure and morphology of the Ge/cyclized-PAN electrodes. The Ge/cyclized-PAN manifests excellent electrochemical performance with high specific capacity and good cycling stability due to the unique structural features. At the charge-discharge rate of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 C over a voltage window of 0.01-1.0 V, the discharge capacities of the composite are 731, 722, 701, 676, 621, and 566 mAh g -1, respectively. The specific capacity retention is up to 98 % with less capacity fading after 100 cycles at 1 C.
Journal of Materials Science
Dive into the research topics of 'High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Polyacrylonitriles Engineering & Materials Science 100%
Germanium Engineering & Materials Science 89%
Magnetron sputtering Engineering & Materials Science 89%
Magnetron Sputtering Chemical Compounds 77%
Lithium-ion batteries Engineering & Materials Science 72%
Anodes Engineering & Materials Science 64%
Thin films Engineering & Materials Science 63%
Anode Chemical Compounds 49%
Fang, S., Shen, L., Nie, P., Xu, G., Wang, J., & Zhang, X. (2014). High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries. Journal of Materials Science, 49(5), 2279-2285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7924-2
High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries. / Fang, Shan; Shen, Laifa; Nie, Ping; Xu, Guiyin; Wang, Jie; Zhang, Xiaogang.
In: Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 49, No. 5, 03.2014, p. 2279-2285.
Fang, S, Shen, L, Nie, P, Xu, G, Wang, J & Zhang, X 2014, 'High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries', Journal of Materials Science, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 2279-2285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7924-2
Fang S, Shen L, Nie P, Xu G, Wang J, Zhang X. High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries. Journal of Materials Science. 2014 Mar;49(5):2279-2285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7924-2
Fang, Shan ; Shen, Laifa ; Nie, Ping ; Xu, Guiyin ; Wang, Jie ; Zhang, Xiaogang. / High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries. In: Journal of Materials Science. 2014 ; Vol. 49, No. 5. pp. 2279-2285.
@article{5c8a611c434640d2a46ad49b9a68657a,
title = "High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries",
abstract = "Here, germanium (Ge) nanofilm as the high-capacity electrode was deposited on the three-dimensional porous nickel foam substrate by radio frequency sputtering. Then, cyclized-polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was coated on the surface of Ge nanofilm to get the excellent rate capability and cycle stability owing to the poor cycle life of the as-prepared Ge nanofilm. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to analyze the microstructure and morphology of the Ge/cyclized-PAN electrodes. The Ge/cyclized-PAN manifests excellent electrochemical performance with high specific capacity and good cycling stability due to the unique structural features. At the charge-discharge rate of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 C over a voltage window of 0.01-1.0 V, the discharge capacities of the composite are 731, 722, 701, 676, 621, and 566 mAh g -1, respectively. The specific capacity retention is up to 98 % with less capacity fading after 100 cycles at 1 C.",
author = "Shan Fang and Laifa Shen and Ping Nie and Guiyin Xu and Jie Wang and Xiaogang Zhang",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2014CB23 9701), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21173120, 51372116), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2011 030), and the Foundation of Graduate Innovation Center in NUAA (kfjj130124).",
journal = "Journal of Materials Science",
T1 - High performance three-dimensional Ge/cyclized-polyacrylonitrile thin film anodes prepared by RF magnetron sputtering for lithium ion batteries
AU - Fang, Shan
AU - Shen, Laifa
AU - Nie, Ping
AU - Xu, Guiyin
AU - Wang, Jie
AU - Zhang, Xiaogang
N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2014CB23 9701), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21173120, 51372116), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2011 030), and the Foundation of Graduate Innovation Center in NUAA (kfjj130124).
N2 - Here, germanium (Ge) nanofilm as the high-capacity electrode was deposited on the three-dimensional porous nickel foam substrate by radio frequency sputtering. Then, cyclized-polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was coated on the surface of Ge nanofilm to get the excellent rate capability and cycle stability owing to the poor cycle life of the as-prepared Ge nanofilm. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to analyze the microstructure and morphology of the Ge/cyclized-PAN electrodes. The Ge/cyclized-PAN manifests excellent electrochemical performance with high specific capacity and good cycling stability due to the unique structural features. At the charge-discharge rate of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 C over a voltage window of 0.01-1.0 V, the discharge capacities of the composite are 731, 722, 701, 676, 621, and 566 mAh g -1, respectively. The specific capacity retention is up to 98 % with less capacity fading after 100 cycles at 1 C.
AB - Here, germanium (Ge) nanofilm as the high-capacity electrode was deposited on the three-dimensional porous nickel foam substrate by radio frequency sputtering. Then, cyclized-polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was coated on the surface of Ge nanofilm to get the excellent rate capability and cycle stability owing to the poor cycle life of the as-prepared Ge nanofilm. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to analyze the microstructure and morphology of the Ge/cyclized-PAN electrodes. The Ge/cyclized-PAN manifests excellent electrochemical performance with high specific capacity and good cycling stability due to the unique structural features. At the charge-discharge rate of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 C over a voltage window of 0.01-1.0 V, the discharge capacities of the composite are 731, 722, 701, 676, 621, and 566 mAh g -1, respectively. The specific capacity retention is up to 98 % with less capacity fading after 100 cycles at 1 C.
JO - Journal of Materials Science
JF - Journal of Materials Science


Belstone is a pretty, quaint and small village 3 miles from Okehampton in Devon. Picturesque thatched houses surround the small green, with stocks near the stone post commemorating the coronation of George V.
A great walking base for all directions, Belstone offers a lovely tea room, traditional pub and great points of interest including Nine Maidens prehistoric stone circle and Belstone tors.
Ideally placed as a base for walking the North Moor, Belstone has some wonderfully welcoming accommodation, most of which will allow you to head out of the gate and straight onto the moor.
Don't delay, Belstone is very small, and accommodation gets snapped up fast, make your booking as soon as you can!


text:
Nothobranchius kirki é uma espécie de peixe da família Aplocheilidae.

É endémica do Malawi.

Os seus habitats naturais são: lagos de água doce e marismas intermitentes de água doce.

Referências

Nothobranchius
Fauna do Malawi
Peixes descritos em 1969

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
5X Cancer Survivor Anthony Daniels on How He Got His Strength Back in the Boxing Ring
Anthony Daniels has been through years and years of cancer treatment, battling Hodgkin's lymphoma as well as brain cancer.
"I've had over a thousand hours of chemotherapy, over a hundred units of radiation, dozens and dozens of biopsies, along with two stem-cell transplants over the course of eight and a half years," Anthony told SurvivorNet. After treatment drained him, causing him to lose significant weight as well as his strength, Anthony says now — he's stronger than he's ever been.
RELATED: Staying active after a cancer diagnosis
He also said getting back to training — and back into the boxing ring — helped him to feel alive again. He even got his little brother, Vincent, involved. The brothers didn't just train together, Vincent also stepped up into the caregiver role when his brother needed it.
"We're all very close," Vincent told SurvivorNet, joining his brother for our interview. "I tried to be there as much as I could."
The brothers explained that the whole family came together to help Anthony through his years of treatment — especially their mom, who went to appointments to ask questions, helped him schedule treatments, took notes, the whole nine. Anthony is one of many survivors to share this sentiment: having family there for you through the cancer journey really does make a world of difference.
NFL Running Back James Conner Is Chasing Down Franchise Records Today, But Did You Know He Overcame Cancer Just Five Years Prior?
CNN's René Marsh Lost Her Baby Boy to Brain Cancer, But Now His Memory Lives on in a Children's Book She Wrote
Cameron Mathison on the 'Fluke' Discovery of His Cancer
Mom, 50, Cannot Walk After Glioblastoma Misdiagnosed As Ear Infection
CNN National Correspondent René Marsh Lost Her Baby Boy to Brain Cancer, But Now His Memory Lives on in the Children's Book She Wrote for other Children Faced with Adversity
'General Hospital' Star & Cancer Survivor Cameron Mathison, 52, Says 'It Was Just a Fluke That I Found My Own Cancer'; Remembers His Mother Who Passed Recently From Cancer
Loving Mother And Wife, 50, Unable To Walk After Stroke-Like Episode That Revealed Her Intense Ear Infection Was Actually Stage IV Glioblastoma

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
T may eliminate 2 Green Line stops near BU
Plan proposes 2 new locations along BU strip
By Kiera Blessing Globe Correspondent,October 19, 2014, 7:55 a.m.
An MBTA employee sits in the drivers seat of a B train.Evan Richman/Globe Staff/File
A new proposal from the MBTA could eliminate two of the four stops on the Boston University strip of the Green Line's B branch.
The four stops — Boston University West, St. Paul Street, Pleasant Street, and Babcock Street — are squeezed into a stretch of less than a half-mile on Commonwealth Avenue. BU West and St. Paul Street are only one-tenth of a mile apart.
Under the plan, which is a part of the proposed Commonwealth Avenue redesign, all four stops would be eliminated, with two new stops replacing them. One would be slightly outbound from the current BU West location, while the other would be slightly inbound from the current Babcock Street stop, said Andrew Bettinelli, a spokesman for state Senator William Brownsberger's office.
Bettinelli said the goal would be to make the stops as convenient to riders as possible, and to keep disruption to a minimum.
The proposal is to be presented to the public during a 6 p.m. forum Thursday at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, where MBTA personnel will discuss the proposed sites of the new stops, and provide details on the project's cost, design, construction, and enhanced customer service and safety.
The public's opinion of the proposal matters "a great deal," said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo in an e-mail. "Many Green Line customers have repeatedly asked if it is necessary for trolleys to make so many stops over a fairly short distance."
A press release on Brownsberger's website said the project would improve safety and reduce travel times.
Kiera Blessing can be reached at kiera.blessing@globe.com.


Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic. There is only one Just in time for the warm weather, the company has rolled out the sleek byproduct of that toil. Battery life could be better. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air and the noise was so quiet I sometimes forgot the notebook was still powered on.
The Satellite brand logo on the bottom left-hand corner, a line above the touchpad, and the touch-sensitive multimedia buttons all light up.
We generally prefer matte finishes on laptops screens, but didn't mind the glossy toshiba u405 on the U, as it seemed mostly immune from glare and reflections. The power button also features a white LED backlight and the Satellite logo and status indicators likewise have white or red LED backlights.
The biggest variety of subnotebooks toshiba u405 represented with this size. Above all, this display size is used for subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles.
TheU's Fusion finish uses a pattern of parallel white lines, inlaid beneath the glossy black of the cover. Usually subnotebooks, ultrabooks and quite lightweight laptops with toshiba u405 display-diagonal weigh as much.
Dell XPS M 2. The exterior of the U is constructed of plastic yet it felt exceptionally solid. A subtle pattern is inlaid under a lustrous finish. Perhaps the most interesting new feature is something called Sleep-and-Charge, which means you can plug in and charge Toshiba u405 devices iPods, mobile toshiba u405, and so on even if the laptop is in sleep or hibernate mode, or is totally powered off, as long toshiba u405 it's plugged into an outlet.
The display panel itself is a Users will find the feature set impressively strong. The updated Spectre x inch convertible laptop adds terrific battery life and top-notch Toshiba Satellite US review: Dell Inspiron 2. Pros Fusion design works well with the LED lights. As a manufacturing default, the Sleep and Charge function is disabled right out of the box so users have to manually turn it on through the "Start Menu.
The Alienware's touch pad was the same glossy material as the rest of the toshiba u405 rest, making it hard to use without looking at where your finger was.
Likewise, since the notebook is 1 inch thick at its thinnest point the U toshiba u405 in the "middle of the pack" tshiba recent Toshiba calls this notebook a "compact hero [that] balances working room with carrying comfort.
Mueller reportedly probing Trump's tweets against Toshiba u405, Comey.
Review Sections Review Specs. Brightness is quite impressive, and as toshiba u405 can see in the photo above, the screen is bright enough toshiba u405 be readable under our very bright studio lights even with the display set to 60 percent brightness.
The use of integrated graphics processor and shared RAM is something of a mixed blessing for the U Still, the heart of the matter is that the Toshiba Satellite Toshiba u405 is simply a great laptop. The interior is dressed up in the same fashion, with toshiba u405 pattern adorning the palm rest areas and the edges of the full-size keyboard. Although the touchpad and bottom of the notebook did become warm during benchmarks it was never too hot to keep on the lap.
Unfortunately, you will still want to use headphones or external speakers if you are an audiophile. On the other hand, the power toshiba u405 is lower with small screen diagonals and the devices are smaller, more lightweight and cheaper.
The toehiba is flush with the palmrests but there is a light application of what feels almost like soft sandpaper over toshiba u405 surface. Toshiba is not present in the smartphone sector.


Guys! ROB SCHNEIDER Was at the Cards Game!
First, the post declares him a "film star." I think perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves. Second, wasn't he just at a Cubs game wearing a Cubs jersey and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"? ONE CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS.
Why is there an article about this? And they went to the trouble to take his picture for the article. The guy is trying to watch a baseball game—this is sacrosanct time. Don't interrupt him for a fluff piece for the paper.
I can say that I am proud—proud—that you can consider St. Louis to be the anti-Philly.
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.


Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. APUC is a North American diversified generation, transmission and distribution utility with $10 billion of total assets. Liberty Utilities provides rate regulated natural gas, water, and electricity generation, transmission, and distribution utility services to over 783,000 customers in the United States. APUC is committed to being a North American leader in the generation of clean energy through its portfolio of long term contracted wind, solar and hydroelectric generating facilities representing more than 1,300 MW of installed capacity. APUC delivers continuing growth through an expanding pipeline of renewable energy development projects, organic growth within its rate regulated generation, distribution and transmission businesses, and the pursuit of accretive acquisitions.


text:
Monoya Tokyo: Portraits of its creators
Monoya Tokyo is above all the story of a meeting, that between Japan and France, through its two creators: Yuji and Caroline. Married since 2015, parents of a little boy in 2017, it was in 2018 that the Monoya Tokyo project was born, which actually materialized a year later.
Both passionate about travel and beautiful craftsmanship, they have the idea of promoting traditional Japanese fabrics by recycling them to give them a more modern and also more Western use. Supporters of consuming less but better, this approach is also part of an ecological attitude which is very important to them.
It is Yuji who, behind his sewing machine, makes all the creations. Since his beginnings in the working world, Yuji has always worked in the textile industry. Fascinated by the designs and style of Japanese designer Yoji Yamamoto, Yuji takes a keen interest in sustainable and aesthetic fashion. He started as an autodidact at the beginning of 2019 by making a few creations and it was a revelation for him.
Caroline, meanwhile, arrived in Japan in 2013 to teach French, after a few years working in France and abroad. She quickly fell in love with Japan, Tokyo and Yuji! Since 2018, Caroline has been working as a tour guide for various French travel agencies and at the same time continues to give French lessons.
Monoya Tokyo: Quality artisan creations
Monoya Tokyo offers a wide range of original creations, all handmade, from traditional Japanese recycled fabrics such as silk kimono, cotton yukata or even Haori jackets.
For the interior decoration, you will be seduced by the beautiful cushion covers from old -obi- kimono belts.
A wide range of accessories is also for sale on their site: pencil cases, purses, pouches, totebag, all available in different models depending on the fabric used.
Monoya Tokyo wishes to raise awareness among the foreign public, particularly in Europe, of the quality and richness of traditional Japanese fabrics. These days, kimono are unfortunately a little neglected by the Japanese and Caroline and Yuji's goal is to recycle these fabrics to give them a second life and preserve this precious heritage.
Where to buy Monoya Tokyo creations?
Currently based in Tokyo, the two designers plan to move to France in early 2021. In addition to their activity, they hope to offer introductory classes in the art of wearing kimono.
You can find them at designer markets and events in Japan. Do not hesitate to follow them on social networks: Facebook and Instagram for more information.
In the meantime, you can still discover their creations on their online store . They offer delivery to Europe and North America.
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text:
<?php
/**
 * User: keven
 * Date: 2016/9/23
 * Time: 14:07
 */

namespace frontend\controllers;

use Faker\Factory;
use yii\web\Controller;

class CustomerController extends Controller
{
    public function actionSender()
    {
        $factoru = Factory::create('zh_CN');
        for ($i=0;$i<20;$i++){

        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Highlighting and formatting code snippets using JavaScript I'm looking for a way to highlight and format code snippets passed as string for a live style guide. I'm playing around with highlighjs and prettify. They are really helpful and easy for highlighting, but I can't seem to figure out a way to format or whether they can actually do that or not.
By formatting, I mean tabs and newlines to make code legible. I need to pass code as a string to automate the output of dust template I'm using for the style guide.
That is, I want to pass:
"

Name	Category	Results

"

And get something like:

            Name
            Category
            Results

Any ideas on how to accomplish this?
Thanks!

A: You could parse this as HTML into a DOM and than traverse every element writing it out and indenting it with every iteration.
This code will do the job. Feel free to use it and surely to improve it. It's version 0.0.0.1.
var htmlString = '

Name	Category	Results

';

//create a containing element to parse the DOM.
var documentDOM = document.createElement("div");
//append the html to the DOM element.
documentDOM.insertAdjacentHTML('afterbegin', htmlString);

//create a special HTML element, this shows html as normal text.
var documentDOMConsole = document.createElement("xmp");
documentDOMConsole.style.display = "block";

//append the code display block.
document.body.appendChild(documentDOMConsole);

function indentor(multiplier)
{
    //indentor handles the indenting. The multiplier adds \t (tab) to the string per multiplication.
    var indentor = "";
    for (var i = 0; i < multiplier; ++i)
    {
        indentor += "\t";
    }
    return indentor;
}

function recursiveWalker(element, indent)
{
    //recursiveWalker walks through the called DOM recursively.
    var elementLength = element.children.length; //get the length of the children in the parent element.

    //iterate over all children.
    for (var i = 0; i < elementLength; ++i)
    {
        var indenting = indentor(indent); //set indenting for this iteration. Starts with 1.
        var elements = element.children[i].outerHTML.match(/<[^>]*>/g); //retrieve the various tags in the outerHTML.
        var elementTag = elements[0]; //this will be opening tag of this element including all attributes.
        var elementEndTag = elements[elements.length-1]; //get the last tag.

        //write the opening tag with proper indenting to the console. end with new line \n
        documentDOMConsole.innerHTML += indenting + elementTag + "\n";

        //get the innerText of the top element, not the childs using the function getElementText
        var elementText = getElementText(element.children[i]);

        //if the texts length is greater than 0 put the text on the page, else skip.
        if (elementText.length > 0)
        {
            //indent the text one more tab, end with new line.
            documentDOMConsole.innerHTML += (indenting + indentor(1) ) + elementText+ "\n";
        }

        if (element.children[i].children.length > 0)
        {
            //when the element has children call function recursiveWalker.
            recursiveWalker(element.children[i], (indent+1));
        }

        //if the start tag matches the end tag, write the end tag to the console.
        if ("<"+element.children[i].nodeName.toLowerCase()+">" == elementEndTag.replace(/\//, ""))
        {
            documentDOMConsole.innerHTML += indenting + elementEndTag + "\n";
        }
    }
}

function getElementText(el)
{
        child = el.firstChild,
        texts = [];

    while (child) {
        if (child.nodeType == 3) {
            texts.push(child.data);
        }
        child = child.nextSibling;
    }

    return texts.join("");
}

    recursiveWalker(documentDOM, 1);

http://jsfiddle.net/f2L82m8h/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Leadership Team in Fiji
The members of the Columban Leadership Team in Fiji are:
Columban Leader Fiji: Fr. John McEvoy
Fr John McEvoy was ordained on Easter Sunday of 1972 and arrived in Fiji on November that same year. Upon arrival, he learned the Fijian language, culture and customs.
He worked as Assistant Pastor at St Agnes Parish-Samabula, St Joseph the Worker Parish-Tamavua from 1975-1977. and Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Vatukoula. After that, he was assigned back to Ireland for five (5) years to do Mission and Vocation Promotion work.
He returned to Fiji in 1987, and worked in Tamavua again until 1990. During this time, he also looked after the parish of Vanuakula, for a year while the Parish Priest, Fr John Mahoney was on study leave in the States.
He was appointed Parish Priest of Christ the King Parish-Ba where he remained until he was elected --- Regional Director of the Missionary Society of St Columban-Fiji Region from 1995 until 2001.
In 2001, he returned to Ireland. The first four years were spent as a manager of the Dalgan Farm. It was followed by pastoral work in the parish of Rahan in his native Co. Offaly. But after 14 years of mission in his home country, Fr John returned to Fiji.
On his return to Fiji in 2015, he was appointed Parish Priest of St Pius X Parish, Raiwaqa, as well as being elected vice director of Fiji. In 2018 he was elected Regional Director again for one year (last Regional Director of Fiji) As on the 23rd Nov 2019, the Regions of ANZ and Fiji would have amalgamated and become the New Region of Oceania. On the 23rd Nov 2019 he became the Columban Leader, Fiji – while still parish priest of Raiwaqa Parish.
Vice Country Leader/ Formator: Fr. Frank Hoare
Fr. Frank served as a deacon in London before his ordination in April 23, 1973. He studied psychology in Rome, social anthropology in London and practical theology in Chicago. He learned the Fijian and Hindi languages and worked in parishes in Fiji and. He taught at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva for 5 years. He was a member of the General Council from 2001-2006, based in Ireland. He was the Vocation Director in Fiji from 2011 to 2016 and CCIM Coordinator for Fiji for two years.
He is now the person in charge of the Columban Formation House in Suva. He is the Vicar for Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Suva since 2015.
Council Member & Vocations Director: Fr. William Lee
Fr. William Lee was ordained in Labasa on the 2nd August,2008. He was assigned to Chile after his ordination, he worked in San Matias, Santiago for eight years. He was asked in 2016 to return to Fiji take the role as the Vocations Director. After a short course in Mary Mount in Sydney, he then moved to the Columban Formation house in Suva. He is in charge of Columban Vocations in Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati and Solomon Islands. He is also the Chaplain of the Catholic students at Fiji National University (FNU).
Council Member & Lay Missionary Coordinator: Naanise Mo'unga
Naanise Pola Mounga is from Tonga. She joined the Columban Lay Missionaries in 2007. She was assigned to the Philippines and worked in Immaculate Conception Parish in Barreto, Olonagapo. She was involved in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Basic Ecclesial community (BEC) and Youth.
In her second term, she worked in Our Lady of Remedies Parish in Malate, Manila from 2010 - June, 2017. She was attached with Mabadan/ Parish Social Services and mainly worked with Street Children, BEC, Youth & Children, Scout, Care for the Earth ministry (CEM) and Education Ministry. She was also LMLT rep for Luzon and was the CLM Finance Officer for Philippines from 2016-2017.
She returned to Fiji June, 2017 to take up the role as Lay Missionary Coordinator. She is now the Columban Lay Missionary Coordinator for the Oceania Region.


Shumaker Consulting Engineering and Land Surveying, D.P.C. is a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise. We offer professional services to public and private sector clients throughout the northeastern United States.
Our corporate headquarters is located in the City of Binghamton, NY. Additional offices are strategically located in the cities of Utica, Albany, NY, and Montrose PA.
Under the leadership of Linda M. Shumaker, P.E., President and Managing Principal, we will meet demanding schedules and accommodate limited budgets to successfully complete your most difficult project assignments.


H.O.M.E. members have been invited to participate in the official National Geographic Geography Bee for Homeschoolers. It is being hosted by REACH East and occur at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Bellevue on Dec 8th.
Cost is $8.00 for non-REACH members. For more info and to register contact deborita1@juno.com.


text:
(In theatres, December 2009) Expectations ran high for Avatar, James Cameron's first fiction film since 1997's blockbusting Oscar-winning Titanic. Promises of revolutionary 3D technology and one of the biggest budgets of all times did nothing to calm down fans and foes. Fortunately, the film lives up to most of the hype. If it isn't quite a revolution in the film business, it is still an unprecedented and astonishing piece of work on many levels. First and most impressive would be the world-building shown in the film: up until now a pleasure left to written-SF fans, Cameron manages to produce a completely new environment in a film with no media tie-ins: Much of the stuff on-screen actually holds together at a glance, which is more than most other "Science Fiction" films manage to do. The immersion into the world is helped along by innumerable small details that reinforce the tactile reality of the world, and by a fully mature use of 3D cinematography: Cameron simply moves his camera through 3D-space and tickles our sense of place rather than repeatedly poke us in the eyes. The production design of the entire film is a source of wonder, and so is the confident way in which Cameron directs the action: After years of shaky-cam confusion, here's a film that does it right, maintaining our sense of space while delivering the action and explosions. Every single dollar spent on the film is on-screen, and the result is as good as blockbuster entertainment can aspire to be. Visually, it's irreproachable. Which makes the relatively simplistic nature of the story a bit harder to tolerate: Gleefully adopting the overused "contemporary stand-in learns all about the noble savage" plot template, Avatar usually feels obvious and unsurprising –especially when the characters start talking. (Where to start? The human caricatures? The new-age pablum spoken by the Na'Vi? The way our hero become The Leader rather than An Advisor?) It's not an entirely bad script (structurally, it's competent to a level that would leave less screenwriters crying) and it does manage to make the most of what it's given as premise, but it is a tired and sometimes-exasperating plot template. But story is less important here than spectacle, and so there's more to see here than a single viewing can appreciate, which is just as well, because Avatar looks destined to do brisk business and earn a solid place in genre film history. There's a lot more to say about the film and how it works, but the conclusion seems unavoidable: Avatar is one of the best SF films of the decade, a remarkable visual achievement and a movie experience so comforting in its professionalism that it raises the bar for everyone else.
3DJames Cameron
The Brethern, John Grisham
Dell, 2002, 368 pages, C$45.00 hc, ISBN 0-385-49746-6
Since I'm already on record as being a big fan of Grisham's post-Runaway Jury career largely because of Grisham's experimentation with new ways of telling the same stories, I might as well take apart The Brethren and explain why it doesn't work as well as it should even if it does playfully experiment.
Like many Grisham novels, it largely takes place in the south-eastern United States. This time, we're off to Florida, to a minimal-security federal prison in which three incarcerated judges (the titular brethren) have decided to be proactive in their forced retirement. We first meet them as they dispense courtyard justice to their fellow convicts, but it doesn't take a long time until we're shown their real game: an extortion scam in which they entrap rich men through personal ads placed in newspapers of interest to the gay community, then threaten them with exposure once the pen-pal relationship deepens.
So far so good, but there's another more surprising side to the novel as well: While the judges are conducting business from prison, a young federal congressmen is tapped by the CIA to become a presidential candidate on the single issue of national security. They provide him with funding, and the assurance that national security will be a hot topic in the coming months. The candidate simply has to go through the motions, and pretty soon he's seen as the favourite come election time.
There's a snag, though: As you may expect, the judges have snagged the congressman in their scheme, and the attempts of the CIA to protect their handpicked candidate ironically make matters even worse. Pretty soon, the CIA is trying to exert leverage on the incarcerated judges, but it's not clear who's got the advantage…
As the above plot summary may suggest, the book's biggest problem is that there are no obvious characters to cheer for. Sure, the congressman is being exploited for minor personal foibles; but he's solidly at the mercy of his CIA puppet-masters. The CIA characters are far too powerful to be interesting, while the Brethren are just con artists with fancy résumés and their pet lawyer is too corrupt to be pitied even when bad things happen to him. This accumulation of unlikable characters doesn't make the novel uninteresting, but it certainly lessens the readers' involvement in taking sides and hoping that it wins at the end. Which such unpleasant forces at play, it feels like a demonstration of clever plotting more than an actually story to enjoy.
So it's relatively good news to find out that, despite an uninvolving plot, The Brethren remains as readable as anything else Grisham has done. There are some amusing plot turns as the CIA's own incompetence (and acts-of-God such as a plane nearly crash-landing) ends up making a fairly simple situation even worse. It's not as much of a page-turner, but it sustains a definite narrative momentum, and readers won't have any trouble following the twisted conclusion as unlikely characters are rewarded for their brinkmanship. Ironically, this may be one of Grisham's happiest ending yet… at least for the characters in the story.
For those following the evolution of Grisham's career, there are a few points of interest in The Brethren. For the first time, Grisham tackles political process issues: much of the novel is dedicated to a demonstration of how massive campaign contributions can alter the course of a presidential candidacy, how the CIA deals with the political apparatus (or rather how it would like to deal with it) and how a political campaign goes. This novel spends a lot of time in Washington, and that in turn sets the stage for later more overtly thriller-oriented novels like The Broker. Meanwhile, the emphasis on money once again reflects one of Grisham's perennial themes.
For those who criticize Grisham for "the same old plot" over and over again, The Brethern seems custom-designed to earn the author a bit of leeway, prefiguring the even more dramatic departures from formula that would follow this novel. It may not rank as one of his finest efforts, but it manages to be interesting, which is already not so bad.
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
(In theatres, December 2009) It had to happen sooner or later: a retelling of Sherlock Holmes (suspiciously absent from the big screen since 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes) in the mode of the action thriller. No, it's not even trying to be an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories: This Sherlock Holmes knows how to fight, has abandoned deerstalker hat restraint for debonair nonchalance and enjoys the company of a hot ex-girlfriend. Pre-made for slash fiction writers, explosion connoisseurs and steampunk enthusiasts, Sherlock Holmes has little to say about its character, and a lot about modern blockbuster filmmaking. It generally works, despite Scooby-doo plotting and inconsistent use of dramatic devices. At least we're spared an origin story, as the story picks up well into Holmes' career. Robert Downey Jr. seems to be channelling Tony Stark with an irresistibly arrogant portrait of a super-genius (it works because he's charmingly roguish rather than super-nerdy) while Jude Law does his job as the level-headed foil. Rachel McAdams, for some reason, always look better in historical movies (must be costumes), while Mark Strong turns in another performance as the bad guy. Director Guy Richie reigns in some of his usual tricks but manages to deliver a satisfying action film. Only the sound seems a bit soft (the mumbling doesn't help): viewers without an ear for soft English accents may want to wait for DVD subtitles or sit closer to the screen. The CGI-enhanced portrait of 1880s London is suitably grimy, mechanical and interesting. Sherlock Holmes may be a travesty of the original stories and a by-the-number mainstream thriller, but it's pretty good as such. Bring on the sequel, and let's see Holmes square off against Moriarty.
Guy RichieJude LawLondonMark StrongRachel McAdamsRobert Downey Jr.
The Game, Neil Strauss
Harper, 2005, 452 pages, $C46.50 tp, ISBN 978-0-06-055473-6
I seldom think twice about buying books I want to read, but even after loving Neil Strauss' Emergency, I admit that I hesitated a bit before getting his best-known work The Game.
Sure, it's an expensive book. But the way it looks did more to drive me away than its cover price. Dressed in imitation leather, clad in gilded rounded edges, sporting a red cloth bookmark and cover silhouettes of exotic dancers, The Game affirms its personality before you even crack open its golden-edged pages. If it was a person, The Game would be your mysterious and seldom acknowledged uncle from San Francisco who picks you up on your 18th birthday, slaps you heartily on the shoulder, stuffs a lit cigar in your mouth and says "Let's go to the strip club, son. Tonight, I'm gonna teach you how to be a man."
This, as it turns out, is pretty much what The Game wants to teach you anyway. Billed as an exploration of a secret society of pick-up artists, it's an autobiographical memoir of Neil Strauss' years in the seduction underground. Learning from the masters, Strauss sheds his geeky writer's persona to become Style and eventually becomes a master of seduction. It's a lively story filled with hilarious anecdotes, a compelling narrative, sharp characters, celebrity cameos and growing doubts about the power of picking up women at will. He even cracks the threesome code.
Let's not try to pretend otherwise: The sole reason why The Game is so expensive and as over-packaged as a peacock is that it's being sold as a summary of the rules of seduction. Pick it up, promises everything in the book's physical appearance, and you too will learn everything you need to know about seducing women. It's all about confidence and interesting patter, but members of the pickup-artist community tend to be from geeky backgrounds and so many of the hints become about routines and scripted encounters –as if you could hack the human interaction algorithm.
Amusingly enough, it seems to be working: As Strauss details techniques and openers and steps to follow, it's easy to deride those who attempt to boil down seduction to a flowchart… but no one will deny that the traits meant to be bolstered by the routines are those that do make you a more interesting person: A bit of fearlessness, a few useful talents, some verbal wit and a lot of self-confidence. The Game is geared toward singles bar pick-ups and I'm definitely not a player, but I can recognize that when I'm at my most charming (whether it's one-on-one or giving speeches to an entire room), I end up independently running through many of the techniques that Strauss outlines.
But I'll let other AFCs (Average Frustrated Chumps, in The Game's highly specialized jargon) take advantage of the book's didactical aims, because the real reason to read the book isn't the bag of tricks as much as Strauss' storytelling and the unbelievable adventures in which he finds himself. His path from geek-writer to a model for an entire community is richly told, compulsively readable and frequently hilarious. The community attracts its share of characters and since much of the action takes place in Los Angeles, celebrities sometimes pop up in the narrative: Tom Cruise ends up teaching Strauss a few lessons in natural pick-up ability, while Courtney Love has an extended role as a mad dervish. Meanwhile, Strauss finds out that his seduction techniques serves him well when comes the time to interview Britney Spears, while one of the book's secondary characters successfully picks up Paris Hilton using Style's scripted routines.
Better yet, though, are Strauss' clear-eyed epiphanies about the monster he has helped create. After everyone comes to adopt his techniques, after anti-seduction mechanisms start being used against him, he comes to the most basic realization of all: Learning how to pick up women is supposed to be a mean to an end, and no rote repetition of bar encounters will help him in building a stable relationship. The Game may end on a strikingly traditional note, but it does manage to sweeten what could have been an unbearably misogynistic book. (Not that Strauss has given up on the game: A look at his web site shows that he's still involved in teaching other how to improve their pickup skills.)
There's no use pointing out that The Game is very much a young man's book or that it outlines ways of handling interpersonal relationships that may curdle into dishonesty and exploitation. It is borderline reprehensible (especially if you stop reading before the end) and can empower twisted minds. Which is why my recommendation for the book comes with a kilogram of salt: Try to think of it as a book of good stories, not a way of life.
(In theaters, December 2009) A film by Terry Gilliam is usually quite unlike anything else, and so it is that The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is, at the very least, unique in its own way. The title is probably the most normal aspect of a film that allows the writer/director to fully indulge in his obsessions, from skewed images to wide-angles to midgets to stylized animation. The story may be about choices and imagination, but the result is pure visual spectacle for fans of special effects, imaginative dream worlds and cinematic fantasy. There are more than a few visual and thematic links to previous Gilliam films from The Fisher King to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This being said, there are a few strong performances to admire as well: Much has been made of Heath Ledger's final role and the way other actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell) are used to complete his scenes set in imaginary worlds, but the result feels both appropriate and seamless. Also worthwhile are Verne Troyer (given surprisingly level-headed dialogue), Tom Waits (as, appropriately, the Devil), Lily Cole (an unconventional beauty balancing out the rest of the male-dominated cast) and Christopher Plummer as the titular doctor. Alas, the story is a bit more muddled: As with his latest Brothers Grimm, Gilliam delivers fantasy that seems to make it up as it goes along, never setting out rules or sticking to them: it makes the experience of seeing the film a bit tortuous if viewers are trying to do more than admire the pictures. But for Gilliam fans, this won't be much of an issue: Overall, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a worthwhile effort, perhaps the single best Gilliam (and Gilliamesque) film in more than a decade.
Heath LedgerLily ColeTerry GilliamTom WaitsVerne Troyer
(On DVD, December 2009) This "Part III" has a bad reputation only when it's compared to its two classic predecessors. While it's pretty good filmmaking, it's just not up to the standards set by its prequels. It's not bad when considered as a straight-up epilogue, but then it runs into the vexing issue of being nearly three hours long, which really isn't appropriate for the type of story it tries to be in the Godfather universe. Part of the problem is that by going to Italy and spending a lot of time dealing in Vatican business, The Godfather III gets farther and farther away from the all-American core that made the success of the first two films: The issues get more abstract and diffuse, and the plot seems to over-complexify itself. There is a noticeable lull near the middle of the film, and all of it contributes to the feeling of an overlong experience. Acting-wise, it's Al Pacino and Andy Garcia's show: Sofia Coppola may be the most attractive performer in the entire trilogy, but her much-derided performance, all mushy-mouthed and indifferent, is another of the reasons why she's become a far better director than actress. More happily, though, the film works more often than it doesn't, and while some elements that made the first film now feel familiar (the opening celebration/introduction scene; the final operatic barrage of violence), it's handled with a lot of lavish skill by director Francis Ford Coppola. Conventional wisdom is correct: Not a bad film, but a let-down compared to its lineage.
Al PacinoAndy GarciaFrancis Ford CoppolaSofia Coppola
(On DVD, December 2009) I may not entirely agree with assessments that this sequel is superior to the first film (which seems just a bit more focused that the follow-up), but there's no denying that the two Godfather films feel inseparable: The first flows into the second one with fewer differences than one would expect, and the second one actually makes the first one feel even better when taken together. Once again, a really young Al Pacino runs the show, although he's joined (in entirely separate sequences) by an equally-young Robert de Niro. Acting both as a prequel and sequel to the original, this "Part II" creaks at more than 200 minutes: the entire prequel alone could have been spun off in its own film. The Godfather II itself has the feel of a vast epic, with multiple plot lines, grand lavish scenes (including another lengthy party sequence that acts as essential scene-setting), multiple locations, a bit of historical drama and a large cast of characters all headed for destruction. Even then, there's a lot that simply isn't shown, and when the film ends, it feels as if it does so a few scenes too soon. It's the nature of the charm of the films that betrayal and violent death is always somewhere in the assumed background of the character's action: one wrong answer and goodbye! What may be The Godfather II's most astonishing achievement is that it actually makes its predecessor even better, by presenting a story with even-bigger implications, digging into the characters and tying off a few grander arcs. This is big, big-scale filmmaking by Francis Ford Coppola, and it's a bit of a shame we don't get such movies anymore.
Al PacinoFrancis Ford CoppolaRobert de Niro
(On DVD, December 2009) It's easy to think that you know The Godfather without having actually seen The Godfather: Few movies have become as integral to American pop culture as this one: You have seen the parodies, heard the references, watched the rip-offs, caught bits and pieces of the TV broadcasts, maybe even played the video game. But nothing replaces a good lengthy sit-down with the film from beginning to end: Clocking in at slightly less than three hours, The Godfather is a sumptuous piece of work. Finely mastered, superbly written and featuring a cast of characters that directors would kill for (most notably an impossibly young Al Pacino), it remains an impressive piece of work even after nearly forty years of cultural impact. Although the innovation of presenting gangster protagonists can't be properly felt now compared to 1972, The Godfather keeps making an impact through sheer film artistry: All the pieces selected by director Francis Ford Coppola click together in a satisfying fashion, and the much-quoted segments only add to the film. With a large cast of character and a story that sprawls over a decade following WW2, the script makes few concessions to inattentive viewers. (It also takes risks that would doom other films, such as setting much of its first half-hour at a wedding reception.) Most curiously, it's also a film that feels more rounded by its equally masterful sequel. Why is it that they don't make movies like that anymore?
Al PacinoFrancis Ford Coppola
Nine Dragons, Michael Connelly
Little, Brown, 2009, 377 pages, C$34.99 hc, ISBN 978-0-316-16631-7
Michael Connelly likes to do something a bit different with every novel, but in Nine Dragons, the master of police procedural takes on a well-worn thriller plot and gives it a whirl. Not simply content to give recurring protagonist Harry Bosch a murder investigation in an Asian-dominated area of Los Angeles, he eventually sends him around the world to track down his kidnapped daughter.
It's a busy novel, and it starts efficiently. Ten years after the climactic riots of Angels Flight, Bosch is back in the ghetto to investigate a liquor store murder. It looks like a robbery gone wrong, but Harry is trained to look beyond the obvious: Soon, elements of the murder don't add up, and a few crucial clues lead Harry to think that the murder may be gang-related. Working through the cultural barriers of a murder set in L.A.'s Chinese community, Bosch eventually comes to arrest a suspect. That's when his real problems begin: by phone, he gets threats to back off and a video clip suggesting that his daughter (now living in Hong Kong with her mother, recurring character Eleanor Wish) has been kidnapped.
Through the wonders of modern air travel, Bosch takes a very long day off work to investigate in Hong Kong. That's when Nine Dragons surprisingly turns into a thriller, as Bosch teams up with his ex-wife and a local operative to track down his daughter. Harry is out of his element, and Hong Kong is far less friendly to a Los Angeles policeman than Harry is used to. It's no big spoilers to reveal that things don't go well for anyone. They even get worse when Bosch gets back home.
One of the dangers in writing serial fiction is that novels may come to blend together. There's little risk of that happening for Nine Dragon, which will probably be remembered as "the one where Harry goes vigilante in Hong Kong". The whole kidnapped-daughter plot device has become a bit of a cliché, even when it's handled in a somewhat muscular fashion (such as the recent film Taken) and so one hopes that Connelly has used his once-in-a-decade opportunity to try that particular story. On the other hand, it is handled relatively well. Throwing Bosch in an alien environment where his badge isn't worth anything is something different, and the pacing of the novel does seem more urgent in this middle section, not-so-subtly named "The 39-Hour Day". The back cover photo shows Connelly standing in front of the Hong Kong skyline, and his field research definitely lends some flavour to the result. Even before getting to Hong Kong, Nine Dragon already has a lot to show about conducting criminal investigations in the insular Chinese LA community.
On the other hand, one can't forgive every single annoyance of the novel. Aside from the somewhat arbitrary nature of the premise (Bosch is supposed to investigate special homicides, but it's a quirk of fill-in scheduling that gets him to the same liquor store that protected him at the end of Angels Flight), Connelly makes a few choices that are bound to annoy readers. Two recurring characters don't make it out of the novel alive, and the second death is handled in a detached flashback that describes a bad character making a mistake and paying for it. More troubling is one of the novel's closing ironies, which does goes against the grain of standard thriller plotting, but end up cheapening many of the story's consequences, and giving Bosch an extra load of guilt. All of these quirks are intentional, but they don't necessarily make the novel more pleasant to read of satisfying to think about.
This being said, Nine Dragons does offer much to the faithful Connelly readers. When Bosch requires some legal help late in the book, he turns to his half-brother Mikey "Lincoln Lawyer" Haller. Journalist Jake McEvoy is briefly mentioned, and the consequences of Bosch's troubled relationship with his newest partner continue to play out. One thing that gets almost no mention, though, is that Bosch is getting old: Perhaps Connelly didn't think it useful to mention this again in a story where Bosch gets to play a thriller action hero, but it marks a bit of a discontinuity with previous instalments that acknowledged that fact.
As a first full Bosch novel since 2007's The Overlook, it's a solid comeback for one of the best-known characters in contemporary crime fiction. The idea to switch genre gears for the novel's middle third will not please all readers, as is the decision to rely on the old kidnapped-daughter plot driver, but both of those choices give a bit of energy to the instalment at a time where the series' biggest potential issue is stale repetition. Given how Connelly manages to keep things interesting and not affect his usually readable style, the net result can't be dismissed.
Hong KongMichael Connelly
Trick 'r Treat (2007)
(On DVD, December 2009) This straight-to-DVD horror feature may not aspire to sophistication, but It does manage to hit most of its targets as a horror film made for horror fans. Trick 'r Treat's most distinguishing featuring has to be its playful non-chronological interweaving of separate short stories (four main ones, plus a prologue), into a tapestry of Halloween-themed gags. Some of them are trite and obvious, while others have one or two surprises in store, but they're all handled with a decent amount of skill, and the visual aspect of the film is as good as anything else in the genre. Don't look for redeeming social values, though: The "morals" of the film are ones that only gore-hounds will like, what with serial killers being set against each other, and people apparently being killed for not following a set of entirely arbitrary social conventions. This being said, c'mon: It's a self-consciously exploitative horror film about Halloween: it would be surprising if it wasn't about gruesome deaths first, and everything else after. Nonetheless, there are a few nice touches here and there as the acting talent slums a bit: Anna Paquin and friends are cute as not-so-innocent girls on the prowl, while Brian Cox and Dylan Baker turn in worthwhile performances. Special credit also goes to midget scarecrow "Sam", as close an iconic creation as the film gets. Trick 'r Treat all wraps up to a slickly-made, somewhat genre-centric horror film, not noteworthy in any way, but competent enough to warrant a Halloween party viewing or somesuch.
Anna PaquinBrian CoxDylan Baker
Making Mr. Right (1987)
(On DVD, December 2009) This romantic comedy may feature a fully-working android built for the purpose of space exploration, it's really a disservice to call it a science-fiction film. To do so subjects Making Mr. Right to much higher scientific scrutiny than it deserves as a fluffy comedy about a woman dealing with an emotionless nerd and his trainable invention. The SF elements are so wrong that it's hard to know where to start, so let's avoid the issue entirely and focus on the comic results of the premise. Ann Magnuson delivers a fearless performance as a PR expert who has to sell an android to the world at large, which also means interacting with the android's inventor –a frighteningly plausible Frank Malkovich. The screenplay itself is generally by-the-numbers, instantly familiar to anyone who has ever seen an "alien discovers human society" society: a succession of idiot moments briefly interrupted by excruciating sequences of social humiliation. But the performances are charming enough, and the increasingly retro charm of mid-eighties Miami (wow, those clothes!) does a lot to heighten the absurdity of the entire film. There are enough hints of mild subversion (such as a tropical beach photo backdrop used on a beach) and unusual screenwriting choices to set Making Mr. Right apart from other fantasy-based romantic comedies. It could have been worse.
Ann MagnusonFrank Malkovich
Food, Inc. (2008)
(On DVD, December 2009) The past decade has seen an unprecedented boom of interest in the way we eat, and after conquering TV networks and bookshelves, those ideas are dripping onto the big screen as well. In this case, the kinship between books and documentary is obvious: Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) are two main interview subjects and if Pollan is merely credited as a special consultant, Schlosser also co-produced the film. Food, Inc takes on the task of exploring the less attractive aspects of the secretive food production industry, from corn to cattle to burger. Along the way, it explains a number of troubling realities that will be familiar to Pollan and Schlosser's readers: How family farms are a charming relic of the past; how (de)regulation is having a disproportionate impact on our health; how food production is being controlled by very few entities; how those entities have captured governmental agencies and are given extraordinary rights to silence their critics. Discussing food, it increasingly becomes obvious, quickly comes to touch other crucial social issues such as migrant work, copyright reform, and the role of government in industries. As a documentary, Food, Inc is up to current standards, with a mixture of interviews, infographics, location footage and archival footage. It's not always pleasant to watch, but it's informative, and gives added context to the growing amount of information about the food supply. Though heavily US-centric, it describes issues at play in Canada as well -although I'd be curious to see a comparative examination of our regulatory regimes. Well-made, provocative, stirring and (eek) important, it's well worth watching as another warning light on our modern dashboard.
Eric SchlosserfoodMichael Pollan
Bienvenue chez les ch'tis [Welcome to the Sticks] (2008)
(On DVD, December 2009) It's probably best not to focus on the fact that Bienvenue chez les ch'tis is one of the highest-grossing French films of all times, otherwise it's almost de rigueur to question what makes this film so special. The answer is close to "not much": As with so many fish-out-of-the-water comedies in which sophisticated characters are thrust in rustic locations for an extended period, you can almost see the clicks of the well-worn plot mechanics at work in this film as scene after scene does its job. Of course, the much-derided place is full of heart-warming characters with real qualities and problems. Of course, the lead character comes to love the place. Of course, there are a few complications. Perhaps the most amusing element of Bienvenue chez les ch'tis is the excessive setup in which "Le Nord" is depicted, via the usual stereotypes, as a horrible place; the flip side of that setup is the elaborate deception that the lead character ends up entertaining in order to placate his incredulous south-bound family. Props also go to the willingness to show the epilogue of the tale, something that other films would have avoided. Otherwise, it's by-the-number comedy filmmaking. Well done, amusing and mechanical. Kad Merad and Dany Boon make up a decent comedic pair, playing off southern/northern stereotypes with energy. This isn't a strikingly original film, especially not when every regional cinema seems to have a variation of the same story (For French-Canada, check out La Grande Séduction). But reasonably well-made films can be a joy to watch even when they follow familiar templates, and this is another one of them. Millions of Francophones can be unadventurous, but in this case they're not necessarily wrong. (But they will want to turn on the subtitles.) The DVD contains an overly long blooper reel, and a slightly amusing featurette in which the film's two leads try to go back incognito to the village where the film was shot.
Dany BoonKad Merad
Låt den rätte komma in [Let the Right One In] (2008)
(On DVD, December 2009) "Cold and restrained Swedish film" may seems like an oxymoron, but when it comes to vampire movies, ice-cold restraint can work wonders at telling us a vampire story we haven't seen before. There's no glamour or sublimated eroticism here in the snows of wintertime Sweden, alongside a troubled boy-protagonist who befriends a tween vampire who looks about 12 (but acts 200). There's little comedy either as we follow a caretaker who kills strangers to get blood for his vampire protégé, or the bullies who pick mercilessly on the lead character. But there's a lot of skill in the way the story is presented, sometimes obliquely, sometimes ironically, sometimes brutally. (The ending is a pure nightmare, simply due to a camera angle.) At a time where vampire films glitter in the sunlight, Let The Right One In is a welcome reminder that it only takes a bit of imagination to rekindle interest in the sub-genre. While the film isn't an unqualified success (it's slow, it has its share of silly scenes such as the cat-attack one or indeed that entire subplot, and I can't imagine willingly re-watching this film for fun in anything less than five years), it's good enough to be noticed, and striking enough to earn modest praise from genre and non-genre audiences alike.
The Mist (2007)
(On DVD, December 2009) Stephen King's "The Mist" having been a favourite story of mine ever since reading it in Skeleton Crew, I was apprehensive about seeing a big-screen adaptation. Despite the track record of screenwriter/director Frank Darabont, what would become of the story? As the film gets going, a number of things don't quite seem to work: The dialogue seems forced, the intensity of the drama seems to jump prematurely, seemingly driven by anticipating the next plot beat rather than evolving organically. But at the mist engulfs the characters and the monsters slowly appear, The Mist settles down and the bigger problems fade away. Smaller problems remain: characters make stupid decisions (why, gee, golly yes: insects are attracted to light during night-time), keep making stupid decisions (when you hear "something" in a murderously monstrous environment, the time has come to run) and then make some more stupid decisions. I also had mixed feelings about the film's human antagonist, which goes so far into pious-evil territory that she becomes exasperating more than threatening: there's a difference between hating a character and wanting other characters to hit her on the head with a shovel. But the film gradually redeems itself with better and better material as it goes along, culminating in a pitch-dark ending that manages to one-up the novella's original conclusion. It all amounts to a fairly decent horror film, filled with disgust and terror and bleakness, not to mention tentacled monsters jousting for disgust with dangerous humans. As an adaptation, it respects the original despite a few early issues. While those flaws are a bit too annoying to make The Mist anything more than a modest success, the overall result is a respectable entry in the Stephen King adaptation canon. The DVD has a charming audio commentary by Darabont as well as a featurette on artist Drew Struzan that eventually becomes quite pretentious, but skimps short on the special effects documentaries.
Frank DarabontStephen King


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text:
New season, new coach, new players, but no Muldoon
Linley MacKenzie Galway Advertiser, Thu, Aug 30, 2018
Connacht's Jarrad Butler has big boots to fill this season, having taken over the captaincy from the retired John Muldoon.
Connacht open the 2018/19 Guinness PRO14 Championship campaign with a host of changes, but what remains the overriding goal is to qualify for Champions Cup rugby next season.
Three pre-season games and a trio of wins is certainly a step in the right direction, while the addition of a host of quality players and the availability of new coach Andy Friend, now in his ninth week after a solid pre-season, all add to the current feel-good factor at the Sportsground this week.
The visitors for a third successive season on opening day (Saturday 3pm ) are Glasgow, and they will certainly test Connacht's credentials. And it does not get any easier, with a return of Michael Bradley's Zebre and a visit to Edinburgh, before another two championship winners, Scarlets and Leinster, arrive in Galway.
Friend says Connacht are in a "comfy spot" but they have yet to be tested in a competitive environment of the league.
"We are now at the start line, it is what we do now we are here. We have a healthy squad, a good understanding about the way we want to play and it is now how we put that on the park, and make sure we turn those pre season wins into the competition."
Friend, a former Australian Sevens coach, who has made Galway his "18th home in 23 years", remains committed to playing ambitious rugby, while also adding some "sevens" rugby to the mix.
"What is important is that Connacht express themselves. They have an ambitious style, they play with real ambition and belief, and there are some really skilful footballers," he says.
"Sevens tend to be fitter, faster and leaner athletes, and our boys are as well this year. There are a few different things about our game this year -our restarts and our breakdown - when you watch you might see some new stuff which has come from the Sevens and we are adding that to our game."|
Certainly Connacht looked comfortable with ball in hand in pre-season. Good interplay and handling, energy and commitment, and communication, were the results of a profitable pre-season.
Outhalf Jack Carty continues to gain in maturity, and he believes Connacht have the ability to not only qualify for Europe, but also make it to the semi-finals.
"European football is the main goal, and this month of September is hugely important to us. We have a couple of home games and this first one against Glasgow is going to be a big test - massively important to us to show where we are. Initially we want to get into Europe and, if we are playing well, I can't see why we cannot make the play-offs.
"We are an ambitious group, we've had a good pre-season, and if we get the ball rolling on Saturday, it will be a good step for the year."
Glasgow will be tough
Ireland's Bundee Aki and Kieran Marmion are unavailable, but Tom Farrell, who stood out last season, has already formed a strong midfield partnership with new recruit Kyle Godwin. Cian Kelleher and Matt Healy have excelled in pre-season, while youngster Paul Boyle has shown his talent in the back row. New captain Jarrad Butler (ribs ), Eoin McKeon (shoulder ) and Sean O'Brien (calf ) missed last weekend's fixture due to knocks, Gavin Thornbury is back training (shoulder ), while it is likely to be too soon for Tom McCartney (ankle ) or new recruit Colby Fainga'a. Still to arrive is Sevu Reece, the Waikato winger from New Zealand, who is still involved in the Mitre 10 Cup.
Of course, missing from this year's squad after 17 years is Mr Connacht, John Muldoon, now with Pat Lam's Bristol as an assistant coach. His boots will be hard to fill, but Carty believ's Muldoon's absence is a "huge opportunity for other players to express themselves in their leadership capabilities"- such as captain Jarrad Butler, Dave Heffernan, and Quinn Roux.
Without doubt Connacht have matured as a team in the last two seasons, and some key signings have boosted the ranks. But Glasgow will be tough - winners in this corresponding fixture for the last two seasons. After a year in charge, coach Dave Rennie returns with greater ambitions for this Scottish outfit, and has placed considerable emphasis on the contact area in pre season. However, he is hoping the weather will be kinder than last season's opener at the Sportsground.
"Worst conditions I have ever seen for a game of rugby - horizontal rain," he says. "Peter Horne had a shot at goal and it managed to go back over his head - however we managed to squeeze the win out.
"It's a tough competition, Connacht are on our side of the draw, and you need to win away game to feature at the business end, so it's a big game for us.
"We are in really good nick, it's hard to fire on all cylinders for nine months, so we have already selected our team for the next four weeks, and we need to transition our internationals back in when they are fresh.
The former boss of the Chiefs, where Kieran Keane was his assistant, says he was surprised and disappointed with Keane's departure from Connacht after a season in charge, but believes Connacht will be better this season.
"I feel for him [Keane] because I was lucky I made a commitment a year out, so I could influence contracts. We made 16 changes that year and I got to make all the decisions, along with our support staff. When you sign like KK did a little bit later, the team is picked for you and you are pretty much stuck with that group.
"He was heavily involved in all the contracting for this season, and I think they will be a better team this year, no doubt. I just think if you ask someone to move across the other side of the world, you make a commitment to them and then a few months later tip them out and send them home, it's fair to say I was not impressed."
John Muldoon English footballers Conn Ireland Sports Captain Europe energy coach Pat Lam Kieran Marmion New Zealand Quinn Roux Edinburgh Tom Farrell Jack Carty assistant Sean O'Brien Eoin McKeon John Muldoon Dave Heffernan Tom McCartney Matt Healy Glasgow Bristol assistant coach Michael Bradley Muldoon Aki Cian Kelleher Kieran Keane Waikato Dave Rennie Gavin Thornbury Jarrad Butler Peter Horne Paul Boyle Kyle Godwin Champions Cup Andy Friend Waikato winger Pete Muldoon Sevens coach Colby Fainga'a Certainly Connacht
TG4 to cover all Connacht home matches
Tough Euro draw for Connacht
Unbeaten Tribesmen now face the champs
Ruane pays tribute to late Sean Calleary
Fijian flyer Reece joins Connacht
Tribesmen launch rugby league season with dominant display
New-look Connacht squad takes shape
Butler takes top honours at Connacht Rugby awards
Keane may well be 'ticking' now after Connacht cut his contract
Connacht Rugby giant prepares to say goodbye
Another home-grown stalwart to leave Connacht
Galwegians grab surivival win, but no luck for others
Connacht return to France with nothing to lose, but much to gain
Aki and Carty back to lead Connacht against French aristocrats
Connacht will need to play smart to limit damage against rampant Leinster
Connacht prepare for Christmas cracker in battle for top spot
Connacht's Champions Cup hopes on the line


As per World Bank's logistics performance index (LPI), transport and logistic infrastructure in New Zealand has improved over the last two years with an improvement in rank from 37th in 2016 to 15th out of 160 countries in 2018.
The NZX 50 Index, widely considered a benchmark of the overall performance of stocks listed in the New Zealand Stock Exchange, has exhibited an increasing trend. As of March 15, 2019, the NZX 50 Index stood at 9,473.27, compared to 8,467.33 in March 15, 2018.


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Q: Why this statement is evaluated to False even it is true? I started learning python but I've noticed something unsual, something that I do not understand, why the expression provided below it's evaluated to false even it is true??
l = [1,2,3,4,5,"Hi"]
"Hi" in l  # returns True
"Hi" in l == True # returns False

A: "Hi" in l == True is evaluated as ("Hi" in l) and (l == True) which is False.
Explanation from documentation:

Comparisons can be chained arbitrarily, e.g., x < y <= z is equivalent
  to x < y and y <= z


STABILicers™ Powder Straps are intended for use in deep and crusty snow. They can be added to the STABILicers™ Walk, or purchased as replacement straps for the STABILicers™ Hike.
Hook and loop strap secures Walk or Hike to boots for deep snow performance.


Apple's $1 billion victory over Samsung in the companies' recent patent trial was tainted by the jury foreman's bias and should be thrown out and the case retried.
That's the gist of a new legal filing by Samsung today calling for a new trial in its pitched battle with Apple over smartphone IP. In it, Samsung argues that jury foreman Velvin Hogan never told the court that he was sued in 1993 for breach of contract by Seagate, a company in which Samsung is a major investor. That suit ultimately forced him to file for personal bankruptcy, and Samsung contends that Hogan's feelings over it could have influenced the verdict in its trial with Apple.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the attorney who sued Hogan on Seagate's behalf is married to a partner at Quinn Emanuel, the law firm that represented Samsung in the case at issue here.
Why is this only coming out now?
But as Groklaw notes, the transcript of Hogan's voir dire makes no mention of that limited time frame.
Sounds pretty open-ended to me.
Samsung has not yet replied to a request for comment on its filing. Apple declined to provide one.


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Gov. Greg Abbott slams Biden administration over vaccine mandate for employers
Federica Narancio/AP
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on its website that it had received permission from the Food and Drug Administration that they can enroll children as young as 12 in its COVID-19 vaccine trial. (Federica Narancio/AP)
By: BY JOSHUA FECHTER AND NEELAM BOHRA
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blasted President Joe Biden on Thursday after Biden ordered large employers to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — or get tested frequently to prove they don't have the virus.
Abbott — who has resisted making vaccinations mandatory in any form in Texas, going as far as to bar local governments and school districts from enacting their own vaccine mandates — dubbed Biden's move to compel businesses with more than 100 employees to make their workforce either get the shot or submit a negative COVID-19 test result each week a "power grab." The sweeping order would cover an estimated 80 million American workers.
"The federal government needs to stop trying to run private businesses," Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said in a statement. "Texans and Americans alike have learned and mastered the safe practices to protect themselves and their loved ones from COVID, and do not need the government to tell them how to do so."
Abbott has encouraged Texans to get vaccinated but insists that they shouldn't be forced to do so. At the governor's request, state lawmakers will consider legislation to bar local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for their residents when they convene later this month for a third special session.
"Biden's vaccine mandate is an assault on private businesses," Abbott tweeted on Thursday evening. "Texas is already working to halt this power grab."
In the meantime, the governor's office and Attorney General Ken Paxton already are hammering out a course of legal action against the Biden administration, Eze said.
There's legal precedent in Biden's favor that establishes the federal government's authority to mandate vaccinations, said Larry Stuart, a Houston employment lawyer — pointing to a 1905 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled that states could enforce mandatory vaccinations against smallpox.
"I think that the reality is that this is going to become much more normalized and widespread," Stuart said. "People who have been opposing it for political reasons or based on information that may or may not be scientifically based are going to find themselves with some hard choices about either getting vaccinated or being unemployed."
Despite this, Glenn Hamer, the CEO of the Texas Association of Business, said he felt the policy set a "frightening precedent" that could justify any kinds of regulation on businesses.
"While certain special interests have a direct line to the White House, our nation's employers have been left out," Hamer said, but did not specify the special interests to which he was referring.
Bob Harvey, CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, applauded Biden's decision to mandate vaccines, but also said the "details matter" so the government doesn't place "an undue burden on businesses." Harvey emphasized the importance of allowing employees to be frequently tested instead of being inoculated.
Less than half of Texans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Nationwide, that percentage stands at about 53% — a figure that has frustrated the Biden administration in light of the widespread availability of free vaccine doses.
"We've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin," Biden said during remarks at the White House. "And your refusal has cost all of us."
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/09/vaccine-mandate-greg-abbott-joe-biden/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.


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Major General Benjamin F. Butler
Major General Benjamin F. Butler, circa 1860–1865
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Significance:
Made the 'Contraband Decision' which enabled thousands of enslaved people to seek refuge behind Union Lines
Deerfield, New Hampshire
Place of Death:
Place of Burial:
Cemetery Name:
Hildreth Cemetery
Born in New Hampshire, Benjamin Franklin Butler served as a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War. Prior to his Civil War service he was a laywer and served in the Massachusetts state legislature.
Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler, who had arrived at Fort Monroe only two days before, determined that the U.S. Constitution and the Fugitive Slave Act did not affect another country, which Virginia claimed to be. Given that the freedom-seekers were property of a rebel colonel and were about to be used against the United States, Butler resolved that he would hold the slaves, hence property, as he "would for any other property of a private citizen which the exigencies of the service seemed to require to be taken by [him], and especially property that was designed, adapted and about to be used against the United States."
Butler was a shrewd military leader and lawyer. His decision, which came to be known as the "Contraband Decision," enabled thousands of slaves from states in rebellion to seek refuge behind Union lines. However, no existing law or policy supported his clever reasoning, which supplied the Union with able-bodied men capable and willing to support the Union. Despite the impact of his decision on slavery, Butler was not an abolitionist; he had voted for Jefferson Davis at the 1860 Democratic National Convention. Tellingly, his decision did not challenge the fundamental premise of slavery (people as property) and neglected a key question: Were these freedom-seekers now free?
Enslaved men who found their way to Fort Monroe quickly became known as "contrabands," a term that marked their provisional state of being neither free nor enslaved. In subsequent months "contraband" was adopted into common use and signaled changing views of slavery in America. In the following years, Butler's decision had resounding military, political, and social implications as well. It served as a forerunner to the First (1861) and Second Confiscation Acts (1862), the Militia Act (1862), the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), and, ultimately, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1865), which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States.
After the Civil War, Butler served as a Congressman and Chairman for the House Committee on Reconstruction. As committee chair, he authored the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871 and co-authored, along with Senator Charles Sumner, the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
It was also after the Civil War he became the president and treasurer of the Board of Managers for the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In 1870, he suggested a new branch be opened in the South to accommodate the U.S. Colored Troops and proposed that the location be near Fort Monroe. The Board of Managers' search committee selected Butler's land for the new branch. The Southern Branch is located at 100 Emancipation Dr. in Hampton, VA. The Southern Branch has been documented by the National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey.
Tags: Civil Rights Civil War Fort Monroe Contraband Decision Klu Klux Klan Reconstruction Disability History Military Travel VA National Homes generals military leaders


The Foundation was founded by the European Ramblers' Association the 27 September 2004 in Germany, in the country of the ERA seat, to support the objectives of the European Ramblers' Association, for example to create and maintain the European long-distance footpaths, which are crossing the frontier over the Europe or to protect the countryside, environment and the European cultural heritage.
The Foundation pursues primarily these aims of the ERA.
The assets of the Foundation consist of the ERA members' donations as of donations from other specific gifts or subsidies from various organisations, associations and other third parties, as well.
The Foundation Forum consists of the persons/organizations who contributed to a minimum of 3,000 EUR. The Foundation Council is appointed by the Presidium of the European Ramblers Association and its members are from the group of donators that contributed at least 6,000 EUR. Higher amounts than 3,000 EUR can also be donated in smaller instalments. All those donators are mentioned on the Foundation Forum's List of the ERA Foundation.
The organisations, associations and other third parties are still very welcomed to become the member of the Foundation Forum and in this way support the work in the ERA. Their name will be recorded into the Honorary list. The contributions to the Foundation are not limited by a minimum value. Any amount you want to contribute to the ERA activities will be very welcomed.
In some countries is possible to deduct expenses as sponsor gift to the Foundation from the tax base.
Feel free and be proud of sending any financial donation to the ERA Foundation. Even by collecting a very small amount from individuals makes the donation at the end an important support of the Foundation value.
You might to collect the money from the individuals and send to the Foundation as a group.
The leaders of the German Wiehengebirgsverband Weser-Ems, in cooperation with the Sauerländischer Gebirgsverein, make for its members a lottery every year. A profit of this action is sent to the Foundation account.
The Spanish Federation Mountanismo de la Region Murcia started a project with the member cards. From each sold card a small amount belongs to the ERA Foundation. The new members are not only the owners of the membership in the walking group, but are also little donors for a good thing.
The Foundation gets also assets from the bigger events, where the money collection for this occasion is managed generally by organizers or group leaders.
Verband Deutcher Gebirgs-und Wandervereine e. V.


Cooling Eucalyptus, Mint and a hint of Pine.
Imagine rough woollen socks stuffed into warm leather boots, crisp bright mornings and tramping along a forest path strewn with fallen leaves beneath sparkling frosted pines and the earthy scent of the springy forest floor.
Each hand made, hand cut bar is a minimum of 100g, usually more, and will arrive hand wrapped in mulberry paper with full ingredients listing and product label.
Sodium Sunflowerate, Sodium Olivate, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoa Butterate, [Peppermint] Mentha Piperita, [Cedarwood] Cedrus Atlantica, [Eucalyptus] Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, [Pine] Pinus Sylvestris, [Juniper berries] , [Titanium Dioxide - White] CI77891, Cosmetic grade micas.


Woman trying new pink dress in front of mirror in slow motion. Visiting designer shop trying out new dress made exactly in measures.
Moscow, Russia - July, 7, 2012: Moscow historical festival "Times and epoch" in Colomna. Young female spinning yarn. Vintage color graded.
Woman shopper in fresh vegetable area of store 4K 851. Super market, grocery store and market. Shoppers buy products for meals, clothing, hardware, home care and entertainment. Walking point of view. 4K HD video footage. Despain Rekindle Photo.
Shopping school supply row cart walk POV 4K 874. Super market, grocery store and market. Shoppers buy products for meals, clothing, hardware, home care and entertainment. Walking point of view. 4K HD video footage. Despain Rekindle Photo.
Young woman putting lei garland of pink orchids around man's neck at Hawaiian beach. Handsome male is in Aloha clothing. Happy couple is enjoying their summer vacation.
This video shows a side view of a cute italian greyhound in a colorful outfit typing frantically and working on a laptop computer with bitcoin on the computer background.


text:
Thailand. Efforts to get Thailand out of its economic crisis began to produce results. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Thailand. Two stimulus packages totaling almost seven billion dollars were intended to clean up the property market and create jobs in the countryside. The latter package included tax cuts for small businesses and low-income earners, lower energy taxes and temporarily reduced VAT. While the measure contributed to raising the budget deficit to 6% of GDP, it was supported World Bank.
A special bankruptcy court was set up in an attempt to recover the huge sums of outstanding loans that slowed the economic recovery. These so-called bad loans represented more than 45% of the total loan amount.
In September, the government said it was expecting growth of up to 4% in 1999 and that therefore it was not necessary to utilize the entire $ 17 billion credit granted by the International Monetary Fund in 1997. About three billion remained to be withdrawn.
In July, the Social Action Party, Kij Sangkhom, left the coalition government, weakening government support in parliament by 20 votes.
Economic miracle
Thailand's economy is now growing even stronger, reaching 89 percent in annual growth of 10.5%. At the same time, both the EC and the US made a difference. In the first case, Thailand criticized the extensive Community subsidies for agricultural products competing with Thai on the world market. Ifht. The United States was conflicted that Thailand would not accept the North American Intellectual Property Guidelines. This was particularly the case with trade in programs.
The Chatichai government concentrated mainly on foreign policy and did not tackle the domestic policy problems that the severe absolute poverty experienced by most of the population or the increasing destruction of the environment. The increasingly rapid deforestation in 89 led to floods that assumed catastrophic dimensions due to the importance of the forest for regulating the humidity and destruction of the trees along the rivers. The government had to ban further deforestation to prevent further damage. The government, in cooperation with the World Bank, encouraged extensive planting of eucalyptus trees, but this was counteracted by the poor peasants who regarded the new commercial forests as a serious competition for their traditional municipal forests.
In March 91, the military, led by General Sunthorn Kongsompong, conducted a new coup, and presented a draft new constitution to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This approved the draft, defended the military coup with "the rising corruption" in the civilian government, and agreed with the military in printing new elections. As an indirect consequence of the military coup, peace talks in Cambodia were more or less stalled as the country's government condemned renewed Thai support for Cambodia's armed opposition. Through 91, Thailand was subject to the National Peace Conservation Council (NPKC) – a military body led by General Sunthorn. In December, the king proposed a new constitution, which required elections within 120 days to replace the NPKC board. Still, the military reserved the right to appoint 270 UF of 360 senators, giving it full control of the new government.
In the March 22 election, the opposition got most of the votes. There were 15 parties with 2,740 candidates and out of the country's 57 million inhabitants, 32 were eligible. In early April, General Suchinda Kraprayoon was inaugurated as Prime Minister. He had been chief of staff until then and his government rested on a small coalition of 5 pro-military parties. Out of his 49 ministers, 11 were accused of financial fraud under the Chatichai government.
The following week, 50,000 people took part in a demonstration called by 4 opposition parties demanding the resignation of the government. At the same time, opposition leader Chamlong Srimuang and 42 other opposition politicians launched a hunger strike. In late May, the government-hostile demonstrations ended in a massacre of hundreds of killed and wounded. The military shot directly into the crowd gathered at the Democracy Monument in the middle of Bangkok. The demonstrations continued until King Bhumibol surprisingly appeared on TV and called for national reconciliation. At the same time, Suchinda gave his support for a revision of the Constitution that would make it necessary for the Prime Minister to be a member of Parliament. Such a change would itself be disqualified as prime minister with this change. Furthermore, Srimuang was released, and amnesty was given to the many who had been arrested during the street fighting. While there was a curfew in Bangkok, parliament initiated the debate over the constitutional amendment, and the king appointed General Prem Tinsulanonda to oversee this process.
AsiaThailand
Armenia 1999
The 10 most beautiful sights in China


text:
Jack the Astronaut
Jack the Astronaut for CITV's Share a Story
Children's channel CITV runs a popular competition, 'Share a Story', where children are invited to create a storyboard for an animation they would like to see developed and professionally produced for television. Bottletop was asked by CITV to bring the story of Jack the Astronaut to life for Isabelle Dumbarton who was one of the eight competition winners.
Jack the Astronaut was one of the animations which won a Children's BAFTA in the Short Form category for CITV in November 2013. In April 2014 Jack the Astronaut was nominated for for Best International Short at the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (taafi).
Jack the Astronaut is a CITV Share a Story which tells the tale of Jack's search for the perfect engagement ring. Bottletop's expertise in broadcast TV graphics was called on by CITV to bring Jack's story to life.


T30 is a task chair which combines functionality with a simple yet dynamic design.
The double raschel mesh focused on the back area provides excellent ventilation and improved tension. It firmly supports the user's back, whilst softly cushioning the shoulder to provide utmost comfort even after extended periods of use.


Addresses topics none of the other vaccination books cover!
This updated edition, written by Tedd Koren, D.C., is chock full of the latest information on the vaccination controversy – which continues to mushroom – and now includes more material on what really caused polio plus a whole section on autism and junk science from medical journals. Irrefutable information that cannot be denied. You'll want the exclusive updates contained in this up-to-the-minute book.
Shot or no shot? Don't even think of vaccinating a child before reading this book!
For parents, patients and doctors. This newest edition, written by Tedd Koren, D.C., is full of the latest information on the vaccination controversy. Dr. Koren asks, and answers, the critical questions that need to be raised when making vaccination decisions. The information in this book will help readers make one of the most important healthcare decisions that a parent can make.
Although this is our latest product we now carry, I initially purchased the first edition due to the cover of the book which is the same as Tedd Koren's provocative poster featuring a shockingly stark picture of a bullet with the statement above the bullet reading, "Would you shoot your child with this?" and below the bullet, "Then why would you shoot them with this...." followed by a list of noxious ingredients that slowly fade out.The newest edition has a less provocative cover and is updated with the recent information. The Koren posters are available in 50 sheet format.
Tedd presents his material in a question and answer format that makes it so amazingly EASY for parents to grasp. In fact, he goes a step further and encourages parents to pose these same questions to their pediatricians, now that they know the answers, and find out what is their response.
What parents usually discover is that their pediatricians are no more than vaccine sales people (glorified drug pushers) who actually know very little about their products. Once parents are armed with this knowledge, it is much easier for them to say "no" and seek healthcare elsewhere. So what are these questions that parents need to know the answers to? They are as follows, and answered with clear citations in each case.
2. Do vaccines have any long-term side effects or damage that may not surface for months or years?
3. Does research show vaccines are safe?
4. Can vaccines cause cancer or fertility problems?
5. Do vaccines cause SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome also known as Crib Death)?
6. What are the chances that my child may be hurt or killed by a vaccine?
7. Do the assumed benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks?
8. Didn't vaccines get rid of acute infectious childhood diseases?
9. What about polio? Wasn't it eliminated due to vaccination?
10. Was the polio shot given in the 50's and 60's contaminated with monkey virus? Is it causing cancer?
11. Is vaccination why we have so much cancer today?
12. Are there benefits to a child having acute infectious childhood diseases?
13. Are the ingredients in vaccines safe?
14. How do vaccines work on a cellular level? How do vaccines affect the immune system/nervous system on a cellular level? How do vaccines cause damage on a cellular level?
15. Do vaccines affect genetic material? Are we hurting future generations?
16. Is there a conflict of interest in vaccine policy decisions?
17. Can a person legally avoid vaccinations?
18. Is there hope for the future?
Tedd Koren has been a true champion of health freedom and is a well-respected author of chiropractic literature and truthful vaccine information. He has also developed his own chiropractic technique, KST - Koren Specific Technique, and travels around the country teaching other chiropractors how effective this adjustment technique truly is and how it can benefit their patients.


How to wear all black? It's simple really, it's all about how you layer; mixing textures and shapes to take a basic black outfit into something amazing. I wore this outfit to the Nicholas Kirkwood presentation on my last day in Paris, the Arc de Triumph made the most incredible backdrop to photograph against.
I couldn't visit Paris without taking Mila, my Sophia Webster heels with me. I really don't get to wear them enough so Paris Fashion Week was a great excuse to pack them into my case. If you're looking for a budget friendly option then these public desire laser cut heels are identical with a sightly higher heel.
This is for sure one of my fave looks from you ever! I LOVE the all black, and the dress looks amazing over the trousers! SO perfect!
Classic chic! Adore your bag!
these looks are absolutely stuh-ning!
Looking so elegant. Love wearing black for autumn and winter!
Check out my new blog about my life in Ibiza, fashion and lifestyle!