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Tag Archives: Ville-Marie Expressway
Perspectives on the City
City hypocrisy re: wood burning ban?
January 21, 2016 Taylor C. Noakes
I snapped the photo above in Place Jacques Cartier a few days back. It is a fire pit, one of several located near Rue de la Commune and intended to provide a place to warm up for all those out enjoying the many and diverse activities on-going throughout the Old Port and Old Montreal this winter. It was a quaint scene, doubtless intended to remind tourists of our hearty Colonial past. Nearby, a calèche driver enrobed in a buffalo hide stood next to his massive, steaming steed, educating passersby that his was the original Uber. Adirondack chairs of fresh-cut pine surrounded the flaming hearths. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
So naturally the powers at be want this to end… or so I thought. The city has plans to ban fireplaces and other wood burning stoves and fire pits because they pollute.
While the ban is still two years off, I was a touch perplexed. This was all happening within eyesight of City Hall and both major parties seem to be really gung-ho on expediting the ban. Wouldn't they have at least thought about ensuring there aren't any fire pits at public events in the lead-up? What kind of message does this send to the people? Are they bad for the environment or can fireplaces distinguish between private use and public? Perhaps burning wood emits less particulate in the context of being decorations to support our tourism industry?
Banning things is, unfortunately, just about the only thing municipal and provincial governments seem to be good at these days. In addition to the fireplace ban, the province recently decided to ban cigarettes from outdoor patios and e-cigarettes from anywhere indoors. E-cigarettes, by their very definition, do not involve any burning tobacco whatsoever.
The bans are all intended to improve air quality and make us healthier, but they're illogical when put in context of what's causing far, far worse air pollution. Even if everyone in Montreal decided to light up a smoke and their fireplaces simultaneously, the pollution still wouldn't even come close to what's produced by all the cars, trucks, busses and airplanes going in and out of our city every single day. You and everyone else living in this city could get cracking on being pack-a-day smokers for the rest your lives and it will wouldn't come close.
This type of legislation tends to get near unanimous approval from other politicians and, even though people do grumble and complain these bans are invasive and unnecessary, it's unlikely public opposition will be so strong there'll be any street protests.
In other words, it's a safe bet everyone will go along with the plan and whomever's in power looks like they're doing something productive.
Banning cars and trucks, no matter how effective a solution to the air-quality and smog problem, would be political suicide. So that's not going to happen.
In the end, what we really need is the political will to secure massive investments in public transit, like a new light-rail system and (not or) a major expansion of the Métro.
It would also be great if all the highway trenches were covered over too, given much of our local smog is generated by ground-up salt and sand used to clear the streets after snowstorms. Covering over the Decarie and Ville-Marie Expressways wouldn't just ensure they'd be permanently clear and unaffected by the elements, but further wouldn't require snow clearance. And the exhaust within can be sucked out and cleaned too.
But in order for any of this to be possible, we have to get comfortable with the knowledge small, bandaid feel-good solutions won't do an iota of good to improve our local environment and cut down on smog.
The idea that your fireplace is a major contributor to environmental degradation is, apparently, not even really taken seriously by whichever city department was responsible for setting up these hearths.
bancalechesDecarie Expresswayfire pitsfireplacesMontréalOld MontréalOld PortpollutionRue de la CommunesmogVieux MontréalVieux-PortVille-Marie Expressway
A modest proposal, Commentary, Cultural commentary, Economic commentary, History and Culture, Kondiaronk - My Montréal Experience, Let's make this an election issue, Montréal Architecture, Montréal Landmarks, Social commentary, Unrealized development projects, Urban Redevelopment, Worth reconsidering
Covering Over Modernity
March 12, 2014 Taylor C. Noakes	Leave a comment
This here's a photo of what Montreal looked like back in the early 1930s.
To situate yourself, first you're looking 'Montreal east' – that's the Jacques-Cartier Bridge under construction, and by my guess I think the airplane was flying near the intersection of Rue de la Montagne and Boulevard Saint-Jacques, or Mountain and St. James as it was colloquially referred to back then.
This is Montreal right before the Depression really began to be felt in Canada, and right after about fifty years of considerable and near constant economic growth for our city.
This is Montreal back when Canada had but one metropolis.
This is Montreal back when it defined what metropolis meant in the Canadian context.
If you stare at this photo long enough you'll see all that remains, and there's a lot all things considered.
But consider as well that just about everything in the lower half of the photo is gone.
You can see the transition here (not my work, but hat's off to the responsible party).
In the contrast you can see the effect of monumental construction projects and just how much space is actually eaten up by the Ville-Marie Expressway.
The depopulation of the central core of our city is clear, but so too is the amount of space we demand on an individual level also glaringly apparent. Back in the 1930s there was a lot more happening, so much more life, packed tighter together. At the top of the picture is more-or-less the limit of the 'urban' montreal of the day, and it wouldn't have extended much father in other directions either.
This is back when NDG was the suburbs.
Montreal's population was recorded at just under one million people in 1931, and you can imagine the majority of those people would have lived and worked in the area photographed above.
Montreal witnessed a steady decline in population between 1971 and 2001, from our all-time high of 1,766,000 to 1,583,000 at the start of the new millennium. The city lost 183,000 people, largely to suburbanization, during that thirty-year period. Concurrently, the city deindustrialized (as other major North American cities did at the time) and gave up considerable tracts of land to highways and parking lots, facilitating the new white collar workers who worked in the new corporate office towers of the urban core.
It's unfortunate, because we'll never have this kind of urban density again, and as a consequence I doubt we'll ever be able to truly replicate the urban lifestyle aesthetic of our first metropolitan era.
René Lévesque Boulevard as it appeared circa 1962, looking east from about Bishop
This is downtown Montreal at the beginning of the 1960s. Here you can see the effect cars had on redesigning the city, as what was once an elegant and small street (Dorchester) was transformed into a major urban traffic artery. Dorchester, now Boul. René-Lévesque, was widened starting in the mid-1950s to make way for the new commuter class driving in from neighbourhoods located much farther away than had ever previously been convenient. As 'Gilded Age' mansions were torn down they were replaced with massive new buildings, such as the Tour CIBC (seen above, the slender slate-grey tower), Place Ville-Marie etc.
In all the renderings of exposed highway trenches developed for the city, they all sort of look like this – like canals in an American Venice
Hand-in-hand with the redevelopment of Dorchester came the construction of a major east-west highway, today known as the Ville-Marie Expressway. The Ville-Marie was a success in one manner of thinking because so much of it was put underground (as opposed to above ground, such as Metropolitan Boulevard north of the mountain), meaning it could be eventually covered over again. Unfortunately this took a lot longer and had a more deleterious effect than city planners had imagined. In the 1960s, when planning and construction of the Ville-Marie began, there was this idea, as you can see in the above rendering, that the new 'sunken' highway would take the form of a post-modern canal, stimulating new growth immediately next to it. This didn't really happen as developers were disinclined to build right next to an open highway trench. Moreover, planners back in the 1960s failed to realize just how unappealing an open highway trench would actually be for all the people walking around above.
View of exposed sections of Ville-Marie Expressway, from the Tour de la Bourse, circa 2000
This is what the Ville-Marie looked like right before the first serious efforts to recover the lost land actually began. Notice that parts weren't completely open – the tunnel roof is visible – but that for whatever reason no efforts had been made to reclaim this space. This would change at the start of the new century with the planned redesign of Victoria Square and the development of the Quartier Internationale.
The exposed section, recovered. Notice the CDP Capital building lower left corner, and the enlargement of the Palais des Congrès, over the former exposed tunnel
During 2002-2003 the square was completely redesigned, concurrently with the construction of the CDP Capital Centre, the enlargement of the Palais des Congrès and the construction of Place Riopelle between the two. All of this was located atop the tunnel. The CDP Capital Centre is particularly impressive (and I'd encourage you to visit it during normal business hours) as the architect designed a building that sits atop the tunnel but doesn't place any weight on it – the atrium is in fact located directly above the tunnel, with the weight of the building pushed off on to either side.
At around the same time, the Underground City was extended to connect the once separate eastern and western axes through this area. Arguably the most impressive and least used parts of the RÉSO can be found here.
So clearly it is possible to build on top of the tunnel/trench.
The question comes down to cost.
The last remaining exposed part of the trench – a prime location for new construction
This is the remaining open part of the Ville-Marie Expressway, between the new CHUM superhospital and the Palais des Congrès. As you can see, it's a considerable amount of space. Mayor Denis Coderre wants to build a park atop the highway trench on the easternmost portion. Transport Quebec, the provincial transport ministry, has said, unequivocally, no. They argue it will cost too much without giving any idea as to what they think it will cost.
This is called 'convenient political obstructionism. It isn't the plan they don't like, it's that the Mayor of Montreal is planning it and, for reasons that still make no sense to me, a highway used almost exclusively by Montrealers is outside the jurisdiction of City Hall.
When the mayor can't decide to build a park on top of a highway trench without running it through the often anti-Montreal Québec government, you know there's a problem.
And as to the other two-thirds of the trench, well, there's enough space here to build an entirely new Palais des Congrès (not that I'd advocate for another convention centre in the same space, but simply to illustrate just how much area we're actually talking about).
It strikes me as odd the city, province and various private developers couldn't get together and devise a plan to cover over this remaining section. If costs are as prohibitive as the province seems to believe, then perhaps the recovering job ought to be a public-private partnership. Get private developers to front part of the cost so that they can get the rights to build above. Something tells me this would be an excellent location both for office towers and condominiums, given that this open hole happens to be in the middle of just about everything. I can imagine living and working here would appeal to a lot of people.
The next phase – this is passed for a park on top of a highway in 1982; neat idea, poor execution, worse location.
And just in case there's any doubt it can be done, it has been done before. The Agora pictured above is probably one of our city's least used (and enigmatic) public spaces because it's terribly uninviting. Moreover, due to its design and the relative poverty of the surrounding area for far too many years, it was taken over by local homeless people. My first apartment in Montreal was right in front of it and throughout the summer the entirety of Viger Square was a makeshift homeless campground. The single biggest problem with the public spaces created above the Ville-Marie in the late 1970s and early 1980s is that lines of sight across the spaces are blocked by walls and hedges.
I don't want to see the Agora torn down because I think it might work very well in another part of town, but the fact remains, these places aren't being used as best they can.
Especially considering the creation of the Ville-Marie Expressway caused the stately Viger Square to be destroyed.
What I'd like to see is large, green, urban parks with clear sight lines across, much like Viger Square before it was demolished to excavate for the Ville-Marie. Given the new housing built in the area in the last decade, I think it would be wiser to create a more traditional green space in this area and move the post-modern agora a little closer to the city centre. I think the agora would work much better in an area in which thru-traffic can be guaranteed and stimulated. This is simply impossible where it currently stands largely because it's bounded by two major boulevards and there's not much going on in its current location to stimulate the much needed 'ballet of the streets'.
All that said – this is our city, our highway, our public spaces and ultimately our problem. The effort to remove the scar left by our efforts to modernize fifty some-odd years ago has only been partially achieved. In order to build a more cohesive city, and further to beautify it and increase population density, we must be given the tools to be masters of our own domain.
Maitres chez nous…
CHUMDowntown MontrealHighways of MontrealProjet MontréalRichard BergeronTraffic planning in MontrealTransport in MontrealUrban design issuesUrban Redevelopment IssuesUrban Renewal in MontrealVictoria SquareViger SquareVille-Marie Expressway
A modest proposal, History and Culture, Kondiaronk - My Montréal Experience, Let's make this an election issue, Montréal Architecture, Montréal Landmarks, Political commentary, Québec sovereignty, Social commentary, Sovereign Socialist, Unrealized development projects, Urban Redevelopment, What were they thinking?, Worth reconsidering
Reconstruction & Obstructionism – the Case for Greater Autonomy
February 28, 2014 Taylor C. Noakes	Leave a comment
Early one morning late last week Mayor Coderre announced that a portion of the Ville-Marie Expressway will be covered over in time for the city's 375th anniversary and by the end of the day the idea was shot down in a terse email written by the transport minister's press attaché.
There it goes.
In the blink of an eye a reasonable, straightforward civil engineering and city beautification project gets shot to shit by a man who neither lives nor works here in our city.
And it serves to illustrate a point about Montreal; we're not actually in control of much in terms of how our city is built, developed, renovated, designed etc.
Montreal can't build a park over a highway used almost exclusively by Montrealers.
We don't have the jurisdiction to plan and expand the Métro.
If an adjacent community, such as Montréal Est or Montreal West, wanted to join the city of Montreal, we couldn't arrange it amongst ourselves – we actually don't have the authority.
Same story schools and hospitals; the city can't do anything to help the fact that the CSDM has to immediately close 82 schools due to contamination. The school board deals with the province on such matters. And the city can't be expected to do anything about our hospitals – which remain open, which will be closed, who the buildings are sold to and how they're repurposed. Nada. The city of Montreal has no say in any of it.
Our municipal politicians, of all stripes, suffer the consequences. All too often they are blamed directly for all the problems we have on these and other fronts. Because local politicians – those closest to the people – are impotent to effect any lasting change to the operational status quo, they become disinterested at best and corrupt at worst.
And the people, realizing that which is supposed to be the most accessible level of government is in fact nothing more than a hindrance to the political process, disengage from said process.
Disenfranchisement via political impotence.
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter who you happen to be aligned with because this city is political poison to both the current provincial and federal governments. They know they can't win here so they sew the seeds of discord in an attempt to divide and conquer the people of this city. We have no 'pull' for the moment, and given the Duplessis-like tactics of both levels of government we're going to continue being pushed around, with development dictated to us.
Unless of course we do something about it.
Let's get back to the details that spurred this article, for a moment.
The mayor proposed a scaled-back version of a Projet Montréal plan to recover the 500 metre open trench running from the Palais des Congrès to the new CHUM superhospital, between Viger and St-Antoine.
What Coderre is proposing is more modest in scope, focusing on 'segment 1' as illustrated above. The covered section would be turned into a large open space. Projet Montréal even proposed naming the space after noted Québec visual artist Marcelle Ferron, who designed the stained glass windows at Champ-de-Mars station.
Best of all Mayor Coderre has put Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron in the driver's seat. Bergeron is in fact going to delay his retirement to oversee the project.
I think this is where things began getting interesting.
The campaign wasn't that long ago and these two men could not have been more different in their approach. They were rivals in the truest sense of the word and represented vastly different interests. And yet, after a bit of time, they seem to have come to see eye-to-eye on this specific project. Coderre recognizes Bergeron's obvious talents and clearly respects at least one aspect of the Projet Montréal platform.
Cover a highway, build a park. What could possibly go wrong? Two political rivals cooperating to build something bigger and better than themselves.
So when the transport minister told his press handler to fire off an email to shoot down a fundamentally good idea (and I mean good for our local democracy, environment, urban quality-of-life good) I can't help but imagine it was done to remind the mayor of his place, of the limits of his political authority. Maybe there was more to it than that.
I believe that a Quebec run by the Parti Québécois is one which is fundamentally set in opposition to the wants, interests and needs of Montreal and the people of the greater region. The PQ is looking to win a provincial majority government by ruthlessly exploiting the politics of division, ignorance, fear and intimidation. They are hoping the politics that put Rob Ford and Stephen Harper in power would work just as well here in Quebec and I believe it was a wise gamble.
We're Canadian after all… clearly the politics of fear work here just as well as anywhere else.
Unfortunately for the people who live here and drive on our roads, anything and everything to do with the biggest and most important ones are all conveniently outside our jurisdiction.
Keep this in mind as traffic grinds to a halt with the redesign of the Turcot Interchange. It's a provincial area of jurisdiction. Even if we had a better idea, we can doing about it. Those aren't city streets.
Our highways and our bridges aren't actually 'our own'. You'd think a city of nearly two million people could take care of such things by itself – and indeed we once did.
But over time we have had responsibilities taken away from us, and when you lose those your rights aren't far behind.
It's not just that the city of Montreal lacks responsibility in key areas, it's that we don't have the right to be involved, by provincial decree.
It wasn't always the case, we were once a little more autonomous, though only because certain political and social circles happened to once interact here.
Our fall from our former glory as a metropolis is not a language issue or a culture issue, it's mostly a taxation and efficiency issue.
We were once in charge of our fate and now legislation exists that cripples our city's ability to perform and succeed. Our failures are quite simply not our own – they are imposed. The people of the city of Montreal – the citizens of Montreal – must have control over all key areas of municipal governance and expected public services. We can manage our own house. We must become masters of our own domain.
The future political divide in this province is not between languages or culture or where you were born. It is between Montreal, as it is and for its own sake, in opposition to a Quebec that feels it must define its culture through legislation. Montreal would simply prefer to be left alone, we are not interested in having our culture, our identity, screwed around with.
The Parti Québécois has made it abundantly clear, Montréal is increasingly a distinct society from the hegemonic cultural identity espoused by the PQ.
When the mayor of Montreal can't even build a park, with his chief rival fully cooperating no less, the citizens must realize that we lack local political sovereignty in our own affairs.
And this is something that must change, forever.
We can no longer afford to run a city with our hands tied behind our backs.
Denis CoderreHighway TrenchHighways of MontrealMontréal-Québec RelationsPolitical autonomy for MontrealPolitics of MontrealPolitics of QuébecProjet MontréalRichard BergeronUrban Planning in MontréalUrban RedevelopmentUrban RenewalVille-Marie BoroughVille-Marie Expressway


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California-based hospitality company Paligroup announced its first expansion out of California today—including a 96-room hotel in a historic Downtown Seattle building.
Palihotel Seattle will set up shop in the Colonnade Hotel building at First Avenue and Pine Street, right by Pike Place Market. The building, first built in 1898, is both a city landmark and on the National Registry of Historic Places, so Paligroup tells us their development team will preserve the façade.
They'll make a few additions, though: As a nod to features removed from the Pine Street side from a street widening, they'll be adding two window awnings. The entrance to the hotel will feature a lit metal canopy and another striped awning.
The First Avenue storefronts, Paligroup tells us, will be preserved, also with new awnings. The new hotel's room count matches up to the original, which could mean that some details will stick around the interior, too.
The Colonnade Hotel building operated for quite some time as Plymouth Housing Group's Gatewood Apartments, which also housed their rental offices. Plymouth sold the property back in March for $2.5 million, county records show.
The Palihotel opening comes with The Hart and the Hunter restaurant, which our colleagues at Eater Seattle tell us is supposed to have incredible biscuits.
The company, first founded in 1998 by Avi Brosh, currently operates three hotels in the LA area: two Palihouse luxury hotels, which feature larger guestrooms and one- and two-bedroom suites, and one Palihotel, which features smaller, less expensive rooms.
Palihotel Seattle will be their first project outside the Los Angeles area. It's set to open in Summer 2018.


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A Nobel Prize-winning German developmental biologist called the transgender movement's claims "unscientific" and "nonsense," and their plans to let teenagers determine their own gender "madness."
(Article by Michael Tennant republished from TheNewAmerican.com)
In an interview published last week by the German feminist magazine EMMA, Dr. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard cited hard scientific facts to counter the trendy notion that there are multiple genders.
"All mammals have two sexes, and man is a mammal," she explained. "There's the one sex that produces the eggs, has two X chromosomes. That's called female. And there's the other one that makes the sperm, has an X and a Y chromosome. That's called male." (English translation courtesy of Google Translate.)
While there are animals that produce both sperm and eggs, such as snails, and thus can create offspring without having to mate, this "does not change the fact that there are two germ cells, eggs and sperm, and therefore two sexes," said the 79-year-old winner of multiple scientific awards, including the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Asked about recent assertions by Germany's Commissioner for the Acceptance of Sexual and Gender Diversity, Sven Lehmann, that belief in only two genders is "unscientific," Nüsslein-Volhard replied, "This is unscientific! Perhaps Herr Lehmann missed the basic course in biology." (Emphasis in original.)
Nüsslein-Volhard did not deny that there is variation within the sexes. "There are very 'feminine' men and very 'masculine' women, which not only has to do with cultural factors, but also with different hormone levels, among other things," she said. "There's a huge spectrum."
She did, however, insist that one cannot change from male to female or vice versa. Referring to the idea that an individual is whatever gender he or she claims to be, she declared, "That's nonsense! It's wishful thinking. There are people who want to change their gender, but they can't do it" because it's built into every single chromosome in the human body and affects each individual's development from the moment of conception.
"Nonsense" is also the word she applied to the German Federal Constitutional Court's 2017 ruling that "gender … is also determined by social and psychological factors." "How you feel," she observed, "can be changed by social and psychological circumstances. But not biological sex. Wherever science is really practiced, this is also completely indisputable."
Furthermore, "irreversible interventions" in a futile attempt to change a person's sex can have serious consequences, she stated. Surgically removing a girl's breasts or replacing a boy's sex organs with fake female ones is, of course, permanent. "But the hormones also add something to the body that is not intended there," causing changes "both physically and psychologically…. The body cannot handle it well in the long run. Every hormone you take has side effects. Taking hormones is inherently dangerous."
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the eminent scientist is opposed to the government's push to let children as young as 14 choose their own gender.
"This is madness!" she exclaimed. She recalled that, like "many girls," she "was also unhappy at 14 and preferred to be a boy," especially since she wanted to enter a field then dominated by men. Fortunately, she grew up at a time when common sense and the current state of medical technology — not to mention her own country's recent experience with conducting medical experiments on humans — dictated otherwise, and she learned how to cope with her feelings and eventually became comfortable in her own skin.
Nüsslein-Volhard is, naturally, aware of the fact that science has become increasingly politicized in recent decades, particularly when it comes to sex and gender issues. For example, Berlin's Humboldt University canceled a lecture by biology doctoral student Marie-Luise Vollbrecht after a group of law students complained "that the institution was turning a blind eye to her transphobic assertion that there are only two biological sexes" and other trans activist groups mounted a protest, reported 4W.
"Do they now want to abolish biology classes as well? Do we no longer want to know who we are and how gender is determined?" asked Nüsslein-Volhard.
"It's not okay to ban a lecture because you think there might be something wrong with it," she said. "This mixture of sensitivity and moral arrogance paired with ignorance is simply fatal."
Read more at: TheNewAmerican.com
Tagged Under: biology, culture wars, gender, gender confused, left cult, LGBT, lgbtq, science, society, stupid, wokies


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Before the Origin (Kobo eBook)
By F.S Bala
Much has changed. Climate change has inspired a new generation of discrimination - one where the mutation of a hereditary gene has become the greatest crime. The others - a minority kept silent for years are now up to something sinister.
Agent Amy Taff has moved through the world unnoticed until the recent disturbances in an otherwise perfect utopia require her expertise. Desperate to make her mark, Amy is hurled into a world of mystery and magic, deeply rooted in ancient African folklore. Discoveries that threaten her life and could not only change her reality but hold far-reaching implications for everyone on the face of a lone continent. Follow her into an epic tale that begins with accepting a new job at Scythe. Where it ends could swing the scales of balance toward life or death.
Publisher: Tablo Publishing
Paperback (October 2nd, 2020): $16.49
Hardcover (October 2nd, 2020): $23.09


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AI War Beta 4.028 — The First Light of the Spire Beta — Released!
Posted by Chris Park on November 4th, 2010
This update fixes a few small things for the main game, and then includes the first of the new content for Light of the Spire! Also, preorders are now open for Light of of the Spire (it's a full expansion, so $9.99). Right now it's just available through the Arcen store, as is generally the case during our preorder/beta periods, but in December it should be available through all the usual suspects that carry AI War products.
The Spire are coming…
Ravaged by their recent encounters with the same AIs that pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, the Spire
are an alien race that have also been all but destroyed. However, while the AIs were successful in their surprise
attack against the Spire, the Spire are far more powerful than even the AIs seem to have realized. The Zenith were
broken-down and ancient when humanity encountered them, but the Spire were at the height of their deadly power
until quite recently.
Now the splintered
remains of their race are regrouping, and entering the galaxy with a vengeance. Their attitude toward humanity,
who after all spawned the AIs that harmed the Spire so, is unclear. Proceed with caution.
If you'd like to read about what features have been implemented or announced so far, please see
this page on the wiki.
This Expansion Is Still In Beta!
Beta means it's not finished, and that you should expect bugs and balance issues until it gets out of beta. But
we're making it available to folks early, because there's already some seriously cool stuff in here that we think
you'll enjoy, and we'd also love feedback on it all. Light of the Spire will be released in the first week of December
or thereabouts, so the development time schedule is very short on this one — we're leveraging a lot of groundwork
that we put in place in 4.0, as well as picking the features that go into this very carefully, in order to make this
possible.
But, even so, we're obviously concerned about scope creep and want to avoid having to go back on a feature we promise.
So with that in mind, we're being rather uncharacteristically secretive about the features in this expansion until
they come out. Basically, the only stuff we'll talk about in concrete terms in advance are things we know
we can without a doubt accomplish in this timeframe. Stay tuned over the next three weeks or so, and all will
be revealed as that time passes. If you want to wait until after that period to order or preorder this one, we
quite understand. We think you'll agree that this is the best expansion yet to AI War when you see it, though.
Again: stay tuned!
Key Features That Will Be Coming
* 100+ new ships, including new "spirecraft" ships (larger than starships, smaller than golems).
* 2 new campaign types: Defender and Construction.
* Exciting new Fallen Spire "minor" faction.
* New in-game music tracks.
* Other new stuff not yet revealed. :)
What's In This Beta Version For LotS So Far?
The exciting new Defender mode, as well as the Vanilla and Everything AI types make their
debut. As a warning, Defender mode is extremely preliminary, so will
probably need a lot of tweaking to be in balance. But it's pretty fun
already, if you like getting beat up. ;)
Also bear in mind that we do still need to teach the AI a few
new tricks for this mode. It's not used to working on a timer, it's
used to thoroughly crushing you. When it's on the clock, it needs to do
a better job of prioritizing your quick defeat, rather than obliterating every last trace of you.
In short, if you play with too few planets the AI will crush
you; too many, on too short a time schedule, and it won't have time to
crush you so you'll likely win despite the thousands of high-level ships
slowly scouring you from the galaxy. We'll be working on that in
future releases, but for now we suggest you use maybe 4-5 planets as
perhaps a sweet spot. Or, feedback on what seems to work best (and what
doesn't) is also welcome. Part of the point of the beta, after all
More to come soon!
« AI War Beta 4.025 Released!
One Response to "AI War Beta 4.028 — The First Light of the Spire Beta — Released!"
EmperorPenguin says:
Woooooooooooooooo!
*deep breath*
Woooooooooooooooo! Sounds great!


Anita and Winnifred Wompananny are kitchen witches who spend their days whipping up all kinds of delicious treats. Rarely do the Wompananny Witches venture outside, for they have a crippling fear of the wild children in their neighborhood. One day, a run-in with a few particularly rambunctious kids sends the witches into a panic, so they blow off some steam by cooking up their very favorite meal: a good old-fashioned pizza pie.
But they've unintentionally baked their anxious, fearful, freaked-out feelings right into the crust and created one mean pizza! The pie escapes the kitchen, wreaking havoc across town, until one group of hungry children devises a plan to show the pizza what they're made of.
A deliciously saucy tale of friendship and courage, The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza is a wacky Halloween story that packs laughs all year long.


text:
Lindsey: Do You Want a House of Cards Season 5 Election?
by Ryan LindseyMarch 17, 20204 min read
This article originally appeared on the blog of Heretic, the magazine of We Are Libertarians.
(The following contains spoilers for the show House of Cards.)
I am a huge fan of Netflix's House of Cards (minus that last season – we don't talk about that here). For anyone who watched the show, one of the arcs that must stand out the most is the hotly contested-election between the incumbent South Carolina Democrat, President Underwood, and the Republican challenger from New York, Governor Conway. This election was set in the year 2016 and took place in Season 5 of the show.
To put it simply, the House of Cards 2016 election made our real 2016 election look like an incredibly boring, run-of-the-mill exercise in well-oiled democracy.
Underwood fostered fears of terrorist attacks and bio-weapons to centralize, disrupt, and discourage voting. He strained the electoral systems of many states to their breaking points so that several governors and state election boards were unable to certify the results, leading to a months-long constitutional crisis, from which he ultimately rose as the victor.
Now, I do not think that President Trump has nearly enough political acumen to pull something so Machiavellian off (though some of his surrogates might). But I still think there is a lesson to be learned from the fictional House of Cards election. There are warnings to heed.
Consider today's scheduled Democratic Primary election in Ohio. It cancelled by the governor, then un-cancelled by a judge, and then re-cancelled again (more forcefully) by the governor. For the poll workers, election officials, and voters it was chaos.
(I wrote yesterday about this conflict between public safety and reliable elections.)
But let's say that there wasn't this confusion and Ohio elections weren't cancelled: the COVID-19 pandemic alone causes enough strain on the integrity of today's elections. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of volunteer poll-workers are elderly retirees – surly it's not in their health's interest to help at the polls today? Think about the many thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of voters who would be discouraged from turning out today to vote. Think about how the closure of polling places in many locations (due to their proximity to particularly vulnerable people) causes an inadvertent centralization of voting locations and voter suppression?
Let's say that – as many experts have warned – the COVID-19 pandemic fades in the Summer but resurges worse than it is now in late Fall and Winter (right around the November election).
Apply all the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic that I laid out in the previous paragraphs (and the many I certainly didn't mention) and apply to them the hotly contested November general election between Biden and Trump.
Is it not plausible to think that – given all these COVID-19 considerations – chaos could overwhelm and break America's already untrusted and fragile electoral process? Is it absurd to think that some states might not certify results? Is it ridiculous to imagine Democratic swing-state governors and secretary of states refusing to certify results to deny Trump a clear victory?
Is it absurd to think that a President who fancies himself a king might even postpone the election if it was looking like his defeat was likely?
And then postpone it again?
And maybe even again?
An obvious solution to this problem would be online and mail-in voting. But the reality is that America does not have that sort of electoral infrastructure, either at the state or Federal level. And the amount of legislation that would go into making that take effect – again, both at the state and Federal level – would need to be passed soon in order to change that. Aside from those concerns, both of those alternatives provide nefarious actors even more opportunities to sew hijinks in the process and leave more opportunities for incompetence to disrupt results (see the 2020 Iowa Caucuses).
No, the unfortunate truth is that America's 2020 election could easily turn into a completely illegitimate, easily-hijacked, easily-manipulated sham of a procedure. Is it a certainty? Of course not. Is it a plausibility that should not be dismissed? I think so.
Ryan Lindsey
Founder & Editor of WAL Reader |
Christian Anarchism, Star Wars, and Pizza Enthusiast |
Southwest Missourian, Book Lover, Writer
Two Big Changes at We Are Libertarians!
We are making a couple of essential branding changes. Nothing is changing despite labels, and we are just clarifying our messages. First, our Patreon...
Can Riots be stopped without police?
By Vaughn Spargur In a recent newsletter/article my friend Chris Spangle worried that libertarianism does not have an answer to what he has observed...
Your Guide to Voting and Ballot Security in 2020
Over the last month, we've been working to bring you information on the upcoming election at We Are Libertarians, specifically when it comes to...


Crypto investment and infrastructure platform, Layer1, announced on Wednesday it secured $2.1 Million through its latest seed funding round, which was backed by various investors, including Peter Thiel, Digital Currency Group, and Jeffrey Tarrant.
Layer1 added it wants to be the category-defining investment company for cryptocurrencies: an engineering organization that directly engages with open-source protocol development. It is currently deeply involved with a promising privacy-focused cryptocurrency called Grin and intends to build critical technology to support its growth. Launching in early 2019, Grin is scalable with privacy features.
This entry was posted in Blockchain & Digital Currency and tagged crypto asset, cryptocurrency, digital currency group, investment, layer1, peter thiel, seed funding. Bookmark the permalink.


"Virulent and avirulent strains of Toxoplasma gondii which differ in th" by Sebastian Niehus, Terry K. Smith et al.
Glycosylphosphatidylinositols (GPIs) from several protozoan parasites are thought to elicit a detrimental stimulation of the host innate immune system aside their main function to anchor surface proteins. Here we analyzed the GPI biosynthesis of an avirulent Toxoplasma gondii type 2 strain (PTG) by metabolic radioactive labeling. We determined the biological function of individual GPI species in the PTG strain in comparison with previously characterized GPI-anchors of a virulent strain (RH). The GPI intermediates of both strains were structurally similar, however the abundance of two of six GPI intermediates was significantly reduced in the PTG strain. The side-by-side comparison of GPI-anchor content revealed that the PTG strain had only approximately 34% of the protein-free GPIs as well as approximately 70% of the GPI-anchored proteins with significantly lower rates of protein N-glycosylation compared to the RH strain. All mature GPIs from both strains induced comparable secretion levels of TNF-alpha and IL-12p40, and initiated TLR4/MyD88-dependent NF-kappaBp65 activation in macrophages. Taken together, these results demonstrate that PTG and RH strains differ in their GPI biosynthesis and possess significantly different GPI-anchor content, while individual GPI species of both strains induce similar biological functions in macrophages.
© 2014 Niehus et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Niehus, Sebastian; Smith, Terry K.; Azzouz, Nahid; Campos, Marco A.; Dubremetz, Jean-Francois; Gazzinelli, Ricardo T.; Schwarz, Ralph T.; and -Grockiego, Francoise Debierre, "Virulent and avirulent strains of Toxoplasma gondii which differ in their glycosylphosphatidylinositol content induce similar biological functions in macrophages" (2014). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 438.


1554 Coffee inside Sheffield Cathedral serve local Sheffield food, working with a local deli and bakery to offer a fresh and daily changing menu.
Our food is locally sourced. We work with a local deli and bakery, serving up a fresh, delicious and daily changing menu. Treat yourself to a light lunch or something more filling... The 1554 Ploughman's platter is renowned and our savoury deli plate has become a firm favourite.
For our younger customers we offer kids munch boxes with a sandwich, fruit, packet of crisps, drink and a cupcake.
The range of cakes we serve at 1554 have become a talking point across Sheffield and our lemon drizzle, sticky toffee and ginger cakes have become regulars on the menu. We also have Our Cow Molly ice cream and a range of Breckland Orchard posh pops for those hot summer days.


Our tax dollars help pay for street sweeping in our community. This is an expense that benefits us four to five times a year. Cleaner streets make the whole neighborhood look more attractive. But it costs money - lots!
Our township does not provide leaf pickup at the curb and never has. What the township does provide is weekly yard waste pickup by Rumpke. We are expected to bag our leaves and yard waste for Rumpke using paper lawn waste bags or trash containers only - Rumpke will not accept yard waste in plastic bags.
Sweeping your own street gutter after mowing and raking leaves is always a good idea. It improves the appearance of the neighborhood and ultimately helps to eliminate clogged sewer drops (which are costly to clean out). Keeping debris from going down the sewer drop helps the environment and MAY PREVENT FLOODING should the sewer get clogged.


text:
#ifndef _KERNEL_INTERRUPTS_H
#define _KERNEL_INTERRUPTS_H

#include <stdint.h>

/* Types and attributes for IDT entries */
#define IDT_ATTR_PRESENT        0x80
#define IDT_ATTR_UNPRIVILEDGED  0x60 //Descriptor Priviledge Level=3
#define IDT_TYPE_TASKGATE       0x5
#define IDT_TYPE_INT16GATE      0x6
#define IDT_TYPE_TRAP16GATE     0x7
#define IDT_TYPE_INT32GATE      0xE
#define IDT_TYPE_TRAP32GATE     0xF

typedef struct {
    uint32_t offset;    // pointer to ISR
    uint16_t selector;  // GDT code selector
    uint8_t type;}      // type and attributes
idt_entry;

void pack_idt_entry(idt_entry entry, uint8_t* dest);
void* load_idt(idt_entry* descriptors, unsigned int number, uint8_t* dest);

void* kernel_load_idt(void);
void isr_keyboard(void);

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Franklin Street Brokers $1.4M Sale of Aspen Dental
CONYERS, GA — Franklin Street Real Estate Services has brokered the sale of a 3,200-square-foot Aspen Dental at 1450 Highway 138 in Conyers, about 20 miles east of Atlanta. The freestanding asset sold for approximately $1.4 million.
CONYERS, GA — Franklin Street Real Estate Services has brokered the sale of a 3,200-square-foot Aspen Dental at 1450 Highway 138 in Conyers, about 20 miles east of Atlanta. The freestanding asset sold for approximately $1.4 million. Mac McCall of Franklin Street represented the seller, a local developer, in the transaction. The buyer, a California-based entity, purchased the property through a 1031 tax-deferred exchange. The buyer was represented in-house. The sale included a 10-year double-net lease with 10 percent rent increases every five years, as well as shared area access with Wells Fargo Bank. Download PDF


Support this volunteer-led service helping us link people to practical helping agencies to help them feel stronger sooner.
£60 Pays for ongoing training and development programmes to help our team learn new skills to improve their professional skills.
The term '1point' or 'us' or 'we' refers to the owner of the website whose registered name and office is 1point (north west) limited, Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street, Bolton, BL1 2AS. We are registered with the FCA as a Community Benefit Society. Our registration number is 31648R. The term 'you' and 'your' refers to the user or viewer of our website.


Is your pet your best friend? Do you have questions or concerns about your pet's health? The Doctors and staff of World of Animals Inc. are pet owners too, and our patients are part of the World of Animals family. That is why our veterinary team strives to help educate our clients so that they can understand all aspects of pet health and Preventative Care. We understand from our own experiences that your pets are a truly important part of your family, and we are dedicated to keeping them with you, as healthy and happy as possible for as long as possible. At World of Animals, Inc. at Bethayres, our licensed veterinarians, Dr. Tanya Kameneva, Dr. Tamara Borland, and Dr. Jeffrey Stupine are here to keep your pets healthy and your mind worry-free.
World of Animals, Inc. at Bethayres is a full-service animal hospital for the Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia areas. We offer a full range of veterinary services, including, but not limited to: Physical Examinations, Spaying/Neutering, Vaccinations (for Both Cats and Dogs), Flea and Tick Control, Allergy Testing/Relief, Dental Care, Surgical Care, Heart Worm Prevention, and Boarding. As always, in the case of an emergency, we are reachable for you and your pet by contacting us at 215-947-5110.
At World of Animals, Inc. at Bethayres, our main goal is to provide the highest quality care for your pets. We know that raising an animal can be both a day-to-day challenge and a learning experience. Our veterinarians are here to share their vast array of knowledge and expertise, allowing you to embrace all of the benefits of owning a pet.
Throughout our website, you will find educational articles containing valuable information. Our hours are very accommodating, including week night hours till 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday hours until 1 pm. We welcome you and your pet to our easy to locate clinic. You can find directions on our Contact Us page. Feel free to email us at any time for a quick and informative response to any question or concerns that you may have.
*new clients must have records from previous veterinarian; staff must be notified at time of check out; exam fee only is waived – all other charges will apply.
Our veterinarians and staff at World of Animals, Inc. at Bethayres look forward to meeting you and your furry family members, so we may provide high-quality health care to them with convenience and compassion.
At World of Animals, Inc. at Bethayres, We Treat Your Pets like the valued family members they are.


text:
Posted by Gary .....at 12:52 AM
Weekend News
US and European Union officials reacted with dismay to Saudi Arabia's forecast that oil prices will remain at between $40 and $50 a barrel for the rest of this year, the Financial Times reported. Egyptian President Mubarak will allow parliament to amend the constitution to allow direct presidential polls, AFP reported. European regulators oppose Microsoft's proposed changes to its Windows operating system, Intl. Herald Tribune reported. The "BTK" serial killer suspect arrested by Wichita, Kansas, police confessed to at least six murders, the AP reported. Iran's ability to enrich uranium is "non negotiable," Hassan Rohani, the country's chief negotiator told European officials on a trip last week, Agence France-Presse reported. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half-brother of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, has been arrested, Fox News reported. Electronic Data Systems is likely to win a $7.6 billion contract for the UK's Ministry of Defense, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Billionaire investor George Soros plans to invest $3.8 billion in the commercial property market in London, the Observer reported. Reuters Group Plc, which owns 62% of Instinet Group, may receive $1.3 billion from the sale of its stake in the US-based electronic brokerage and trading business, the Telegraph said. CIA officers are increasingly fearful of punishment in connection with their interrogations of suspected terrorists, the NY Times reported. Martha Stewart is expected to return to work at the company she founded on March 7 after her release from prison, the NY Times reported. Medical malpractice lawyers will be the next target in President Bush's efforts to curb litigation, the NY Times reported. At least 13 states have agreed to raise graduation requirements at US high schools to better prepare students for college and the workforce, the AP reported. China announced measures for capital flows across its boarders designed to stem gains in the yuan, the Financial Times reported. PepsiCo, maker of food brands Pepsi-Cola and Doritos chips, is setting voluntary limits to advertising aimed at children due to obesity levels in the US and western Europe, the Financial Times said. Shanghai Baosteel Group, China's largest steel producer, expect national growth in production of the metal to slow by half this year as mills focus on high-quality steel for shipbuilding and trim output of steel for construction, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported. Universal Music and Sony BMG are among music labels that may be in talks with online retailers to raise wholesale prices for digital music downloads in the wake of the success of Apple Computer's iTunes service, the Financial Times said. Wal-Mart Stores said February sales at US stores open at least a year rose about 4%, at the high end of estimates, as shoppers purchased more groceries, Bloomberg reported. President Bush said he will intensify his campaign to win public support for his plan to restructure Social Security, and he called on lawmakers to share ideas on improving the system, Bloomberg said. OPEC isn't likely to raise output when it meets in Iran next month, the Qatari oil minister said, even though crude in NY has pushed through $50/bbl. and demand forecasts for 2005 have been revised upwards, Bloomberg reported. The US National Weather Service expects a "significant nor-easter" to begin showering snow and sleet on the mid-Atlantic region tomorrow morning, Bloomberg said. Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's second-largest oil company, signed a contract to build a $7 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar as it seeks to profit from surging global demand for the fuel, Bloomberg said. European pharmaceutical stocks, the region's worst performers last quarter, are poised to rise on reduced speculation about an increase in acquisitions, Bloomberg reported. North Korea's government told South Korean officials the communist country is willing to return to international disarmament talks in June, the Sankei newspaper reported. Yellow Roadway, the biggest US trucker, agreed to buy No. 2 regional carrier USF Corp. for about $1.37 billion to add next-day regional transportation services, Bloomberg reported. Federated Department Stores agreed to buy May Department Stores for about $36/share and may announce the deal tomorrow morning, Bloomberg reported. Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Mirage submitted bids to develop a resort in Singapore that may include the city-state's first casino, Bloomberg said. France's Areva SA, US-based Westinghouse Electric and Russia's AtomStroyExport will bid for contracts to build nuclear reactors in China, Bloomberg reported. Templeton Asset Management's Mark Mobius is betting corporate governance improvements in South Korea and political stability in Taiwan will help drive stock prices in those markets higher, Bloomberg reported. Qwest Communications would amend its latest offer for MCI if necessary, the Wall Street Journal reported. China should widen the yuan's trading band against the US dollar to 5% before shifting to a peg against a basket of currencies, China Business Post reported.
Weekend Recommendations
-Bulls and Bears: Had guests that were positive on MO, MON, UN, NVS, TMX, RIO, SYY, TWX, RL, CAG, mixed on MCD and negative on RGC, MSO.
-Cashin' In: Had guests that were mixed on GLG, DUK and negative on RHAT.
-Cavuto on Business: Had guests that were positive on FDX, HOC, TOL, RYL, WPPGY and negative on FNM.
-Barron's: Had positive comments on GYI, CVCO, GM bonds and energy stocks. Had negative comments on tech and banks.
-Goldman Sachs: Reiterated Outperform on AVP, PAYX, BSX, WAG, AMGN, DNA, CL and EBAY.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are higher, +.50% to +1.0% on average.
S&P 500 indicated unch.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.03%.
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Before the Bell Video(bottom right)
Asian Indices
European Indices
Top 20 Business Stories
Bond Ticker
Analyst Actions
Macro Calls
CNBC Guest Schedule
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
CTIC/-.53
DY/.18
HNZ/.59
MVSN/.26
OVTI/.27
TIF/.79
UVN/.20
- AAPL 2-for-1
- Personal Income for January is estimated to fall 2.6% versus a 3.7% increase in December.
- Personal Spending for January is estimated to rise .1% versus a .8% increase in December.
- The PCE Deflator for January is estimated to rise 2.2% versus a 2.4% gain in December.
- The PCE Core for January is estimated to rise 1.5% versus a 1.5% increase in December.
- New Home Sales for January are estimated to rise to 1125K versus 1098K in December.
- The Chicago Purchasing Manager for February is estimated at 60.2 versus a reading of 62.4 in January.
BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to open modestly higher in the morning on optimism over merger activity, strong economic reports and gains in Asia. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.
Monday Close
Mid-day Report
Economic Week in Review
Thursday Close
Between the Hedges Wins Best Financial Industry/In...
Wednesday Close
Tuesday Close
Between the Hedges 1 Year Anniversary


CQUni Bachelor of Learning Management alumnus Shontelle Lewis is one of the hardest-working teachers in the Bundaberg region. Not only is she currently completing her Masters of Education at CQUni, she is also inspiring dozens of youngsters at Sharon State School through technology. Her work with the school children in the area of robotics recently earned her a Lego Education Teacher Award – an award granted to only one Australian teacher per year!
Winning the Lego Education Teacher Award which means I am flying to Legoland in Billund, Denmark, in May to accept the award and present at the Lego Symposium.
Dr Rosie Thrupp has made the biggest impact on my life. She was a lecturer at the Bundaberg campus when I started my degree and she is still my guide in the education industry.
The staff. The staff at Bundaberg Campus volunteer at the Robotics and Coding Challenge that I organise. They are amazing people and very supportive of things that benefit the local community. They are the biggest asset to CQUniversity Bundaberg.
I want to help others see their own potential. We will never try anything new with a negative attitude. One thing I have seen on my journey is the lack of confidence in people, even my own. Unlock their potential, and show them how amazing they are. This is how my lecturers taught me. They showed me that I can be whatever I want to be. (Did I just state the University motto?) But it's true.
Every day you wake is a new day. Live in the now and project to the future.
Great to see Shontelle, Congratulations from Brea and myself.
Thanks I just saw this comment.


Another year has gone. Are you feeling frustrated? Are you still grappling with the same challenges you were a year ago? We all tend to get down on ourselves for not being "better." Change isn't easy. You need to be aware of what needs to change. Then you need to decide to make it happen. Then you need to act. These five strategies will help make this your best year yet.
Develop a scaffolding of routines and rituals. Build consistency into your life by creating anchors and supports. You will still have plenty of freedom to create, to innovate, and be spontaneous. The "trail markers" let you see progress, give you hints that it's time to take care of yourself, and prevent chaos.Many creative geniuses don't believe they can create routines or rituals. Have you tried adopting routines and failed? Or does the idea of adopting a routine make you feel ill? Do you worry routines will stifle your creativity and your spontaneity? Building and adopting routines does not lead to a boring life. It reduces chaos. It'll take less time to do the things you find boring. Then you can do things that excite you and ignite you.
You will never be completely free until you've adopted routines. Routines allow you to have time and energy to enjoy the rest of your life.
Contrary to popular belief, your brain is better than normal. It works faster, it's more creative, and it's energetic. The problem isn't with how your brain goes, the challenge is getting your brain to stop. Dr. Ned Hallowell compares it to a Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes. To work at its best your brain needs special care.
Get enough sleep to be well rested every night; this is non-negotiable. Drink water; your brain works better when you are well hydrated. The effects are almost immediate and amazing.
You need to exercise daily. Cardio exercise is essential to keep your body fit. More important, exercise releases the very hormones your brain needs most.
Your brain runs on glucose. Do not skip meals. Eat healthy, low-carb, high-protein foods. The amount of glucose your brain needs for peak functioning is astounding. Food high in simple carbohydrates delivers inconsistent amounts of glucose. They don't help; they make it hard to think.
All work and no play makes your brain a dull brain. Most of us spend our day staring at a screen. We work at a computer. We spend our evenings watching TV or playing video games. Any spare minute, we're checking our phone. We're surfing the Web or on social media.You're a Creative Genius. Creative Genius needs a real life to manifest itself! Stop living through other's social media feeds. Engage your brain by engaging your body in real life. Get out in nature. Connect with people face-to-face. Engage in creative activities. Create something! Draw a picture. Cook a meal. Knit a scarf. Build a bookcase. It's not important what you do as long as you love it. Express your creativity!
Develop your strengths and passions. Do it on purpose. Do it every week. Identify your top five strengths – no more. Pick an activity that exercises one or more of those strengths. Make a plan to integrate it into your life. Now this may mean giving up another activity. You may even need your family's help.Be prepared, you will face a lot of resistance to change. Enroll in a course, find a mentor, or join a team. Make it a consistent part of your life.
Learn to work with your brain instead of against it. Many Creative Geniuses adopt strategies that work for neurotypicals. Unfortunately those neuro-typical strategies don't always work for Creative Geniuses. You have unique brain wiring, so you need different strategies.How do you work with your brain instead of against it? You build awareness about the way you work best. Many Creative Geniuses are not aware when they focus best. Unless you understand how your brain works, you can't optimize how you use your time. When you know, you can create the right conditions to focus so you can be more productive. You can get the right things done at work and at home, and still have time and energy left over to have an awesome life.
You're a Creative Genius surrounded by neurotypicals. Society's rules work for neurotypicals. Adopt these 5 strategies and live your life on your terms. Celebrate who you are. You have untapped potential. These simple adjustments will create the conditions that will unleash that Creative Genius.
Great video Linda! Thank you and Happy New Year!


text:
Review ~ Shield Of Winter by Nalini Singh @nalinisingh
Shield of Winter by Nalini Singh
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Series: Psy-Changeling #13
Published by Berkley on June 3, 2014
Amazon B&N Apple Books Audible Audiobooks.com BAM
Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he's done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.
For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…
Having rebuilt her life after medical "treatment" that violated her mind and sought to stifle her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she'll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy's fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…
Now that I've listened to Shield of Winter, I can't say Heart of Obsidian is my favorite anymore. It is too close of a tie!
Vasic is a character we have seen off and on throughout the series. He has been the cold, Arrow. He takes his orders from Aden who now seems to be siding up with Krychek. Vasic doesn't believe he has long to live, so he has no fear. Arrows don't really have fear, but Vasic has been colder than the rest. But now that he's found this woman, he is looking at his diagnosis a little differently.
Ivy Jane is a spit fire. She falls for Vasic and is determined to draw him out. She knows with someone as hard trained as an Arrow is not going to be easy. However, there may be something happening between the Arrows and the Empaths. This phenomenon helps Ivy Jane to get through to a different side of Vasic. She is a determined character and is not going to give up now that she's found her mate.
The world around Ivy Jane and Vasic is falling to pieces with attacks on major cities. The only help that can be offered for the people are the skills of the E-Psy. The problem is that this designation has just been brought to light and have not had the training they need for such large scale attacks. Ivy Jane and her friends must push themselves to use skills they've been hiding all their lives to save the people of their race from destroying the world around them. The E-Psy have all been assigned an Arrow as they try to overcome this attack. Working together may be the only way to save the cities.
I loved Ivy Jane and Vasic's story. Vasic's whole change throughout the book just grabbed me. I think with all that has been going on, even the Arrows were already losing their silence. To see Vasic as an example to the rest of the Arrows was amazing. I fell in love with Vasic and I couldn't get enough. Ivy Jane and her persistence and patience with him were what he needed to survive his mental stability coming apart.
The action in the world was crazy exciting. The disease that was overcoming the world was so powerful I didn't know how they were going to contain it with such weak E-Psy. Every time there was a break out, I was glued to the book scared to death of who may get caught up in the wave.
I don't know how I would choose between these later books in the series. They have gotten better and better. The characters are going through changes on their own, not just because they meet their mates. Everyone is feeling safe enough to come out of hiding and the stories are now showing how each of the main characters is evolving. It is truly great and I'm loving every minute of it!
About Nalini Singh
I've been writing as long as I can remember and all of my stories always held a thread of romance (even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). I love creating unique characters, love giving them happy endings and I even love the voices in my head. There's no other job I would rather be doing. In September 2002, when I got the call that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.
I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I also spent three years living and working in Japan, during which time I took the chance to travel around Asia. I'm back in New Zealand now, but I'm always plotting new trips. If you'd like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page (updated every month).
So far, I've worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher and not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency but I call it grist for the writer's mill.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
By Nalini Singh
Psy-Changeling Series
Review ~ Eternity Embraced by Larissa Ione
Review ~ Archangel's War by Nalini Singh @NaliniSingh @BerkleyRomance @TantorAudio
Review ~ How To Tame A Beast In Seven Days by Kerrelyn Sparks @KerrelynSparks
Review ~ Archangel's Sun by Nalini Singh
Review ~ Archangel's Storm by Nalini Singh @nalinisingh
Review ~ Archangel's Prophecy by Nalini Singh @NaliniSingh @BerkleyRomance
Review ~ Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh @NaliniSingh @SignetEclipse
Review ~ Wild Embrace by Nalini Singh @NaliniSingh @BerkleyRomance
Review ~ Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh @NaliniSingh
Review ~ Caressed By Ice by Nalini Singh
Review ~ Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh
Review ~ Mine To Possess by Nalini Singh
Review ~ Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh @nalinisingh @signeteclipse


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in Newswire Published on May 21, 2021
'Constantly Listening': Class Action Claims Amazon's Alexa Makes 'Secret Recordings' of Users' Conversations
by Erin Shaak
Terpening v. Amazon.com, Inc.
Filed: May 18, 2021 ◆§ 5:21-cv-03739
A lawsuit claims Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant secretly makes and stores recordings of conversations even when consumers do not intend to activate the device.
Wiretap Act Washington Consumer Protection Act
Amazon.com, Inc. faces a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the tech giant's Alexa virtual assistant secretly makes and stores recordings of conversations for the company's benefit, even when users have no intention to interact with the device at all.
The 21-page lawsuit alleges Amazon has deceived users of Alexa-enabled devices, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Sub, Echo Show, Echo Input, Echo Flex, and Echo Dot Kids, by falsely representing the extent to which the products record users' interactions and how the company uses the recordings. Although Amazon represents that Alexa will respond and begin recording only when it "hears" a "wake word," such as "Alexa" or "Echo," customers, the case says, have discovered that their devices will sometimes misinterpret a purported wake word and activate, even when users do not intend to interact with the device.
According to the suit, customers understand based on Amazon's representations that recordings of their interactions with Alexa will be sent "to the cloud" for the purpose of determining the user's "intent" and how best to respond to their request. What consumers are not told, however, is that the defendant uses human and artificial intelligence analysts to "listen to, interpret, and evaluate" the recordings for business purposes and in violation of consumers' privacy rights, the case charges.
"Amazon never disclosed its widespread creation, storage, and use of those records for its own business purposes that extend beyond improving or personalizing Alexa's services," the complaint alleges. "Amazon's conduct in surreptitiously recording consumers has violated federal and state wiretapping, privacy, and consumer protection laws."
When a user addresses an Alexa device using a wake word, the case explains, it automatically begins recording and captures the following question or command, such as "Alexa, turn on the lights" or "Alexa, play I Am the Walrus by the Beatles" or "Alexa, what is the number for the suicide hotline?" The recordings are then sent to Amazon's Alexa Cloud, a cloud-based storage and manipulation service, the lawsuit says. The Alexa Cloud then "translates" the text from the recording into an "intent," or a language statement understood by the computer, after which the "intent" is sent back to the Alexa device with instructions on how to act on the intent using a functionality known as a "skill," e.g., playing music, unlocking a smart lock, performing an internet-based search, or turning on the lights through a smart outlet, the case says.
Though Amazon represents to consumers that Alexa will only activate and begin recording upon "hearing" a wake word and that its recordings are only streamed to the Alexa Cloud to respond to the users' command, the defendant has failed to disclose that it keeps recordings of consumers' interactions to be used for training and improving its artificial intelligence and other business purposes, the case alleges.
Further, the lawsuit attests that Alexa device users are unaware that Amazon records and stores conversations and other sounds "that users never intended for Alexa to hear." Per the case, an Alexa-enabled device may activate without any legitimate prompt from a user by "mishearing" speech that it interprets as a wake word. For example, the suit says, Ars Technica has reported that devices like Alexa are incorrectly triggered by thousands of words, including, in Alexa's case, "unacceptable," "election" and "a letter." When Alexa is incorrectly triggered by mishearing a conversation or even a TV or radio program, the device automatically begins recording and stores "conversations, speech, and other sounds that are private in nature and not intended for Alexa—or Amazon's—'ears,'" the lawsuit alleges.
"Thus," the complaint reads, "not only are [sic] Amazon unlawfully and deceptively storing recordings of intentional interactions with Alexa, but also speech and other sounds never intended to be 'heard' by Alexa at all."
Per the case, the data recorded and stored by Amazon can be aggregated with details from other sources to "create fulsome profiles of information that may include deeply personal and private information" about consumers that can then be used for Amazon's business purposes. The lawsuit claims such clandestine recording of user's private information presents serious privacy risks:
"Not only does this covert recording, storing, and analyzing of consumer information entail a profound violation of privacy, but given the increasingly all-encompassing scope of Alexa Devices' ability to interface with aspects of a consumer's life (e.g., controlling home security features such as locks and lights, and providing access to personal medical or identity-related information) this storage—unnecessary to the functionality of Alexa Devices—creates a risk from hacking or other unauthorized leveraging of consumer data and processes by third parties (or Amazon personnel)."
The case claims the recordings, including conversations and other data produced by children, are indefinitely stored by Amazon regardless of whether the person recorded has a contractual relationship with the company.
The only way to stop Alexa devices from making and storing recordings is to turn off or unplug the device, which defeats the product's utility, the suit says. Moreover, although Amazon in 2019 gave users the functionality to delete the information obtained through a smart speaker, a user cannot stop an Alexa device from making recordings in the first place, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit looks to cover all U.S. citizens who owned or used an Alexa device or downloaded and used the Alexa app within the past four years, or the longest applicable statute of limitations period, and until the date of judgment in the case.
Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org's newsletter here.
Last Updated on May 21, 2021 — 4:43 PM
Erin Shaak
erin@classaction.org
Erin works primarily on ClassAction.org's newswire, reporting on cases as they happen.


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Too many calories (sugar). The bites were tasty. The bar chewy and tasty. The cereal has too much sugar and calories.
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Fighting BackHarry Styles Testifies In Court Against Stalker: 'I Felt Unsafe At Home'
Fans are sending Harry Styles their support after he reportedly testified in court against a stalker on Monday, October 14. The One Direction singer revealed he felt unsafe in his own home after Pablo Tarazaga-Orero allegedly left him notes in his mailbox, followed him to a bar and tried to grab him. Things got so bad that the "Sign Of the Times" crooner said he had to put a panic lock on his bedroom door.
"I felt unsafe at home," he reportedly said during the trial. "I always felt safe at my house and despite the environment from any work engagements, I would always manage to have an intact sense of normality at home up until this point."
The 25-year-old explained that at first, he pitied Pablo because he was homeless.
"I thought it was sad someone so young was sleeping rough, that anyone was sleeping rough at a bus stop, when it was cold," he continued. "I felt sorry for him. I pulled up in my car next to the bus stop and offered him some money so he could get a hotel or some food, but he told me he couldn't accept money for religious reasons."
Harry even brought Pablo some food. But when the man wouldn't leave Harry alone, he started to feel uncomfortable.
"He made me feel pretty uneasy, I felt watched and I could feel him watching me as I entered and exited my residence," he allegedly told the court, adding that he noticed the man was "following him around."
The 1D heartthrob then said that he was going for a jog one night when Pablo "lunged" at him.
"I would like him to get some help but I would also prefer to have no contact with him going forward," Harry added. "I would like to feel safe at home."
Uncovered What Is Harry Styles' New Song 'Lights Up' About? We're Breaking Down The Lyrics
*Heart Eyes* Harry Styles Poses Shirtless for 'Rolling Stone' and Fans Are Going Wild
Two Worlds Collide Harry Styles and Millie Bobby Brown Dance Together at an Ariana Grande Concert
#HS2 Is Coming Harry Styles Is Spotted Filming What Appears to Be a New Music Video
King of Fashion Harry Styles Reveals What Gave Him the Confidence to Start Dressing More Fun
Special Bond Are One Direction Members Still Friends? See All The Times They Hung Out After Their S...
Ouch Are Zayn Malik and One Direction Still Friends? All the Shade They Threw After He Left...
Breaking it Down Are Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde Dating? What We Know About Their Rumored Romance
Breaking It Down Harry Styles' Love Life: A Complete Guide to His Exes and Rumored Relationships


Acupuncture is a drug-free way to relieve pain and helps to improve the bloody supply to the area of discomfort. With the increase of blood supply; toxic build up in the muscle tissue can be flushed through and eliminated allowing the muscle to be healthier. Acupuncture can be used to help with frozen shoulder, headaches, arthritic pain, tennis and golfer's elbow.


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Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad)
Revolutionaries and Activists
خليل الوزير أبو جهاد
10 October 1935, Ramla, Palestine
16 April 1988, Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
Khalil al-Wazir was born on 10 October 1935, in the town of Ramla, Palestine. He was forced to leave his hometown in July 1948 when Zionist militias occupied Ramla and evicted its inhabitants. He and his family made their way to Ramallah and Hebron before settling in Gaza.
His parents, Ibrahim Mahmud al-Wazir and Fawziyya Khalil Shaikhu, had four sons (Ghalib, Munzir, Zuhair, and Khalil) and three daughters (Zahira, Nabila, and Zainab). Khalil and his wife, Intisar Mustafa Mahmud al-Wazir (who was also his cousin), had three sons, Jihad, Basim and Nidal, and two daughters, Iman and Hanan.
He attended an UNRWA elementary school in Gaza and graduated from Palestine School in 1954.
In 1955, he enrolled at the Faculty of Arts, Department of Journalism, of Alexandria University but did not complete his university education. In the summer of 1957, he moved to Saudi Arabia where he worked for a few months as a teacher in the town of Qunfudha, in Asir Province. In the fall, he left Saudi Arabia for Kuwait where he worked as a teacher until 1963.
His Life as an Activist
In 1952, Khalil al-Wazir joined the Muslim Brotherhood and was secretary of its Gaza student branch; he left the group when its leadership refused to endorse a proposal he had submitted to it regarding armed struggle. He then began to organize military cells that carried out several operations involving explosives in occupied Palestinian lands adjacent to the Gaza Strip; one of these operations destroyed the Zohar water cistern near Beit Hanun (on 25 February 1955). Among his colleagues during that period were Kamal Adwan, Abu Yusuf al-Najjar, Said al-Muzayyan, Abd al-Fattah al-Hamud, Ghalib al-Wazir, Abdallah Siyam, Muhammad al-Ifranji and Hamad al-Aidi.
Israeli forces attacked the Gaza Strip on 28 February 1955, in retaliation for the Zohar operation, killing and wounding many Egyptians and Palestinians. In response, al-Wazir helped to lead a mass demonstration, which started from the Palestine Secondary School in Gaza. Demonstrators carried signs that read "Enlist us in the army and save us" and "Train us and you will help us" in addition to slogans that rejected the scheme to resettle Palestinian refugees in the Sinai Peninsula.
During the attack on Gaza in the autumn of 1956, he left the university and joined a training camp set up by the League of Palestinian Students in Egypt; there he met Yasir Arafat. By the following year, the two men (who were then in Kuwait) had agreed to establish a secret organization with the aim of liberating Palestine through armed struggle. In November 1959, the two men met with many young Palestinians in Kuwait who had arrived from several Arab countries. At that meeting the Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine (Fatah) was established. Al-Wazir was chosen as a member of the first central committee of the movement and continued to be a committee member until his assassination.
In October 1959, he edited a periodical called "Call of Life-Our Palestine," published in Beirut, which came to reflect the views of Fatah.
Between 1960 and 1962, al-Wazir participated in the formation of secret cells of Fatah in West Bank cities and in buying and stocking weapons for these cells.
In November 1963, he moved to Algeria and (in his capacity as a Fatah member) opened the first Palestine bureau in Algeria and began to organize military training tours for Palestinian volunteers in the Algerian Military Academy. He also edited two periodicals: "The Cry of Palestine" and "News of Our Palestine."
In March 1964, he travelled to China with Yasir Arafat. China's leaders allowed them to open an office for Palestine in the capital, Peking, and agreed to support the Palestinian revolution as soon as it began. He then went on to North Vietnam and North Korea and later visited Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic.
Khalil al-Wazir took part in the Palestinian National Council held in Jerusalem at the end of May 1964, at which the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was announced. He was a member of the political committee of that council.
In 1965 he left Algeria for Damascus where he set up a military headquarters and was made responsible for contacts with guerrilla cells inside Palestine, especially after al-Asifa (the military wing of Fatah), carried out the first symbolic operation in occupied Palestine on the night of 31 December 1964. This took place in a water-course called the Ilbun tunnel, where an Israeli water network was blown up; two Israeli soldiers were injured and one of the men who carried out the attack, Ahmad Musa Salameh, was killed.
In February 1966, al-Wazir, Yasir Arafat, and ten other comrades were arrested for a short while in Damascus, charged with killing a Palestinian officer in the Syrian army called Yusuf Urabi.
When Israel attacked Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in June 1967 (and in the process occupying east Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula), Khalil al-Wazir organized several military operations against the Israeli forces in the Upper Galilee, in northern Palestine.
Following the violent clashes between the Palestinian guerrillas and the Jordanian army in September 1970, which resulted in the departure of the PLO forces from Jordan, al-Wazir and his colleagues moved to Lebanon, where he spent his time in Beirut and Damascus.
After assuming control of Fatah's organization and then media activities, he became a member of the general command of al-Asifa; later he supervised Fatah activities inside Occupied Palestine (referred to as the Western Sector), taking that responsibility after the assassination of Kamal Adwan, the person in charge of that sector, at the hands of an Israeli military group which infiltrated into Beirut in April 1973.
At the fourth congress of Fatah, held in Damascus in May 1980, Khalil al-Wazir was elected deputy to the commander in chief, Yasir Arafat. He played a leading role in resisting the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982 and in the steadfast resistance put up by the joint Palestinian-Lebanese forces in Beirut when the capital was besieged by Israeli forces.
After the departure of the PLO forces from Lebanon, al-Wazir moved with Yasir Arafat to Tunis and was then appointed, in 1984, head of the Palestinian delegation in the Palestinian-Jordanian Joint Committee to fortify resistance inside the occupied territories. He worked to support the institutions of civil society and to build up the organization; he was behind the establishment in the occupied territories of the Youth student movement and the Women's Committees for Social Work as well as the labor unions. He supported the resistance of Palestinians in all walks of life.
He headed the Fatah delegation at the sessions of the Palestine National Dialogue held in Aden and Algeria in Summer 1984.
In the summer of 1986, al-Wazir moved to Baghdad after the breakdown of the Palestinian-Jordanian Joint Action Agreement that was reached By Arafat and King Hussein in February 1985.
Khalil al-Wazir was one of the principal architects of the first popular intifada, which broke out in December 1987. He took part in leading it and in supporting it right until the time of his martyrdom.
An Israeli military unit called Sayeret Matkal, led by Major Moshe Yaalon (who later became chief of staff and then Minister of Defence) assassinated him in his house in the Sidi Bou Said neighborhood in Tunis, on 16 April 1988.
His body was taken to Damascus where tens of thousands of Palestinians and Syrians walked in his funeral. He was buried in the Martyrs Cemetery of the Yarmuk refugee camp.
Posts Occupied by Khalil al-Wazir
Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) occupied a number of posts throughout his activist career. He was a member of the Palestine National Council, the Central Council of the PLO, and the Higher Military Council of the Palestinian Revolution and deputy to the General Commander of the forces of the Palestinian Revolution.
Khalil al-Wazir had a calm and gentle personality, exemplary in his altruism and humbleness. He succeeded in building friendships with many leaders of national liberation movements throughout the world.
حمزة، محمد. "أبو جهاد: أسرار بداياته وأسباب اغتياله". القاهرة: مكتبة الأسرة، ط 1، 1989.
"خليل الوزير يقيّم مختلف مراحل النضال الفلسطيني". "شؤون فلسطينية"، العدد 152-153، تشرين الثاني-كانون الأول 1985، ص 3-26 .
"شهادات عن الاحتلال والتهجير. الشهادة الأولى: خليل الوزير (أبو جهاد)". "مجلة الدراسات الفلسطينية"، العدد 34، ربيع 1998، ص 93-96.
"الكرامة الجديدة". "شؤون فلسطينية"، العدد 77، نيسان 1978، ص 23-29.
محمود، معين أحمد. "أمير الجهاد خليل الوزير: الولادة، فتح، الانتفاضة، الاستشهاد". بيروت: بيان للنشر والتوزيع والإعلام، 2009.
الوزير، خليل. "حركة "فتح": البدايات". "مجلة الدراسات الفلسطينية"، العدد 104، خريف 2015، ص 51-130.
معلومات خاصة من ابنه الدكتور جهاد الوزير.
Fatah Opens Its First Office in Algeria
Soon after the independence, Algerian leaders agree to Fatah's request for opening an office in Algiers. The office, named the Palestine Office, is officially opened on 23 September and is headed by Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad).
Assassination of Khalil al-Wazir in Tunis
Israel assassinates PLO military leader Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Tunis. A three-day period of mourning is declared in the occupied territories and in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Israel suppresses the demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza, in the process killing 19 and wounding more than 100.
Thematic Chronology
Israeli Assassination Campaign Beyond Palestine Borders
The March 1955 Outburst in the Gaza Strip
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement – Fatah (I)
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement – Fatah (II)
Yasir Arafat


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Masdar voted sustainable city of the year
Abu Dhabi's new 'green' city constructed under the gov't has won a global award for its sustainability efforts.
The Abu Dhabi government-led Masdar Initiative has won an international sustainability award.
Masdar was named "Sustainable City of the Year" in the Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards 2007 at the 9th Annual Global Renewable Energy and Finance Forum (REFF) in London, UK this week.
This is the second award to be presented to Masdar in recent months; in June it was singled out for the first World Clean Energy Award by the Swiss-based Transatlantic21 Association.
Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said the award shows the centrality of the Masdar Initiative in the global renewable energy sphere.
"This is a valuable recognition of Masdar's commitment to and vision of a clean energy future for the world, and provides a significant impetus for us to move forward," commented Al Jaber.
The Masdar Initiative is driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC). It is a comprehensive government programme that was established to address the issues of sustainable energy sources and environmental practices.
REFF is Europe's largest and most established event for the renewable energy finance sector. Conference delegates include public and private investors, project developers and senior executives from the renewable energy, technology and corporate funding sectors worldwide.