text:
Turbulent investment landscape pushes PartnerRe to $433mn Q1 loss
8th May 2020 - Author: Luke Gallin
Bermuda-based reinsurer PartnerRe has announced a net loss of $433 million for the first-quarter of 2020, as COVID-19-induced financial market volatility and fading equity markets significantly impacted the company's investments in the period.
PartnerRe's Q1 2020 net loss compares with net income of $497 million a year earlier, and includes net realised and unrealised investment losses of $27 million on fixed maturities and short-term investments and $130 million of net foreign exchange gains.
In addition, PartnerRe notes that its first-quarter 2020 results also reflects a huge $610 million of unrealised investment losses driven by the economic impacts of widening credit spreads and declines in equity markets, as result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, PartnerRe has reported a net investment loss of $503 million, which included the significant level of realised and unrealised investment losses and also losses from equity method investments, partially offset by net investment income of $103 million. In comparison, PartnerRe recorded a net investment return of $600 million in the first-quarter of 2019. The company does add that from the end of the quarter, its investment portfolio has recovered significantly.
As well as the hit to its investments, COVID-19 also had a negative impact on the firm's underwriting performance in the quarter, albeit to a lesser extent.
In total, PartnerRe incurred losses of $18 million from two event cancellation claims associated with the current crisis in Q1 2020, which, combined with adverse prior year reserve development of $95 million, contributed to the deterioration of the Specialty segment's combined ratio to 121.1%, versus 116% a year earlier.
Sticking with non-life operations, and PartnerRe has revealed that its P&C segment reported a combined ratio of 94.3% in Q1 2020 compared with 87.7% in Q1 2019. The company notes that in Q1 2020 its P&C combined ratio included $26 million of favourable prior year reserve development, compared to $49 million for the same period in 2019.
Despite P&C underwriting remaining in profitable territory during Q1 2020, the decline in PartnerRe's Specialty segment more than offset this, and resulted in a non-life underwriting loss of $46 million and a combined ratio of 103.8%, compared with an underwriting gain of $24 million and a combined ratio of 97.7% a year earlier.
Premiums also declined in non-life for PartnerRe during the period, by 6% year-on-year, driven by a 7% decrease in P&C, partially offset by 1% growth in Specialty as the firm continued to focus on portfolio optimisation at the January 1st, 2020 renewals. Non-life net premiums earned increased by 14% when compared with the same period in 2019.
PartnerRe's President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Emmanuel Clarke, commented: "The COVID-19 pandemic is a test for our industry and a reminder of the potential severity of systemic events, and the value of strong reinsurance partnerships. Our priorities in responding to the rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic through the first quarter have been the safety of our staff and the continuous, seamless servicing of all our business partners. I have been impressed by the speed and agility with which the PartnerRe organization worldwide has adapted to a full work from home mode, while maintaining highly responsive interaction with our business partners.
"In our first quarter, we delivered positive underwriting results in our P&C and Life & Health segments, which was offset by loss activity in our Specialty segment. I am confident that the actions we have taken throughout last year to improve our portfolio performance, combined with strong underlying rate increases in the loss affected classes, will start to show a positive impact. We continue to execute on our growth strategy for Life & Health to maintain a well-diversified and profitable book of business.
"With the strength of our balance sheet and our high quality investment portfolio, we have the resilience to weather this pandemic and changed economic cycle, and we are well-positioned for the hardening of reinsurance pricing."
Turning to the reinsurer's Life and Health operations, and net premiums in this segment of the business increased by 7% in Q1 2020 when compared with the previous year, while net premiums earned jumped 10%.
The allocated underwriting result was a profit of $18 million in Q1 2020, which is down on the $30 million profit posted a year earlier, primarily driven by a $23 million adverse impact in the guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB) line of business following declines in equity markets.


This match may be inconsequential in terms of the Six Nations title but the result of this encounter is nevertheless hugely important for both sides.
The respective teams head into the final round of the competition with identical records having won two and lost two. Although Warren Gatland and Jacques Brunel have reasons to be pleased going into this contest, neither will be happy should they end with a defeat.
For Wales particularly, a loss would be especially disappointing. Gatland and his charges always go into Europe's premier tournament with ambitions of claiming the championship so, having seen that dissipate, a victory is vital.
Despite their internal frustrations of failing to get close to Ireland this year, the New Zealander will be satisfied with the development of their attacking game.
Certainly, their ability to create chances has developed immeasurably and, while the performance against Italy was scrappy at times, it was a display which gave credence to the suggestion that Wales' squad depth has improved.
Les Bleus will be another interesting challenge, however. Unlike Scotland, Ireland and England, who have on occasion shown an element of fallibility in aspects of their defence, Brunel's men have remained reasonably stout throughout.
Their ability at the breakdown to both slow play down and win turnovers means that it has been difficult for their opponents to gain consistent front foot ball.
Scotland came closest to truly unpicking this French rearguard by playing at pace, scoring two well-worked tries and tiring the larger forwards out by the final quarter. As a result of the Murrayfield outfit's success, starting at tempo and manoeuvring the visitors around will no doubt be the plan for the home side.
It will not be easy as France, in their current guise, can make any match a turgid affair, but the clash of styles may well suit the Welsh. In the pack, with Taulupe Faletau at number eight providing plenty of power and athleticism, they have enough ball-carriers to win the gain-line battle.
Should Gatland's men dominate the physical confrontation then the backline looks plenty good enough to benefit. The inclusion of Dan Biggar is perhaps a slight surprise following the criticism post-Ireland but the Ospreys man, despite reservations from some observers, does have the ability to get their attack moving.
For France, their triumph over England was a huge fillip and, on the second-half display alone, it was thoroughly deserved, but Brunel's next task will be to improve their set-piece and threat behind the scrum. Not much then.
Les Bleus, whether through their own issues or the interpretations of referee Jaco Peyper, struggled in the scrum and were even worse at the line-out. With Guilhem Guirado's absence adding to those woes, there are plenty of potential weaknesses for Wales to exploit.


text:
package com.dtolabs.rundeck.core.storage;

import com.dtolabs.utils.Streams;
import lombok.Builder;
import lombok.Getter;
import org.rundeck.storage.api.PathUtil;
import org.rundeck.storage.api.Resource;
import org.rundeck.storage.data.DataUtil;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

/**
 * Storage Manager implementation backed by StorageTree
 */
@Builder
public class TreeStorageManager
        implements StorageManager
{

    @Getter private final StorageTree storage;
    private final List<StorageManagerListener> listeners = Collections.synchronizedList(new ArrayList<>());

    @Override
    public void addListener(final StorageManagerListener listener) {
        listeners.add(listener);
    }

    @Override
    public void removeListener(final StorageManagerListener listener) {
        listeners.remove(listener);
    }

    public boolean existsFileResource(String path) {
        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        return getStorage().hasResource(storagePath);
    }

    private String cleanPath(final String path) {
        return path.startsWith("/") ? path : ("/" + path);
    }

    public boolean existsDirResource(String path) {
        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        return getStorage().hasDirectory(storagePath);
    }

    /**
     * List the full paths of file resources in the directory at the given path
     *
     * @param path path directory path
     */
    public List<String> listDirPaths(String path) {
        return listDirPaths(path, null);
    }

    /**
     * List the full paths of file and dir resources in the directory at the given path,
     * dir resources will end with "/"
     *
     * @param path    path directory path
     * @param pattern pattern match
     */
    public List<String> listDirPaths(String path, String pattern) {
        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        Collection<Resource<ResourceMeta>> resources =
                getStorage().hasDirectory(storagePath)
                ? getStorage().listDirectory(storagePath)
                : new ArrayList<>();
        String outprefix = path.endsWith("/") ? path : path + "/";
        Pattern pat = pattern != null ? Pattern.compile(pattern) : null;
        return resources.stream()
                        .map(
                                (res) -> res.getPath().getName() + (res.isDirectory() ? "/" : "")
                        )
                        .filter(
                                (pathName) -> pat == null || pat.matcher(pathName).matches()
                        )
                        .map(
                                (pathName) -> outprefix + pathName
                        )
                        .collect(Collectors.toList());
    }

    /**
     * Return config file contents
     *
     * @param path
     */
    public Resource<ResourceMeta> getFileResource(String path) {

        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        if (!getStorage().hasResource(storagePath)) {
            return null;
        }
        return getStorage().getResource(storagePath);
    }

    public long loadFileResource(String path, OutputStream output) throws IOException {

        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        Resource<ResourceMeta> resource = getStorage().getResource(storagePath);

        return Streams.copyStream(resource.getContents().getInputStream(), output);
    }

    /**
     * Update existing resource, fails if it does not exist
     *
     * @param path  path
     * @param input stream
     * @param meta  metadata
     * @return resource
     */
    public Resource<ResourceMeta> updateFileResource(String path, InputStream input, Map<String, String> meta) {

        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        Resource<ResourceMeta>
                res =
                getStorage().updateResource(storagePath, DataUtil.withStream(input, meta, StorageUtil.factory()));
        listeners.forEach((a) -> a.resourceModified(path));
        return res;
    }

    /**
     * Create new resource, fails if it exists
     *
     * @param path  path
     * @param input stream
     * @param meta  metadata
     * @return resource
     */
    public Resource<ResourceMeta> createFileResource(String path, InputStream input, Map<String, String> meta) {

        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        Resource<ResourceMeta>
                res =
                getStorage().createResource(storagePath, DataUtil.withStream(input, meta, StorageUtil.factory()));

        listeners.forEach((a) -> a.resourceCreated(path));
        return res;
    }

    /**
     * Write to a resource, create if it does not exist
     *
     * @param path  path
     * @param input stream
     * @param meta  metadata
     * @return resource
     */
    public Resource<ResourceMeta> writeFileResource(String path, InputStream input, Map<String, String> meta) {
        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        if (!getStorage().hasResource(storagePath)) {
            return createFileResource(path, input, meta);
        } else {
            return updateFileResource(path, input, meta);
        }
    }

    /**
     * delete a resource
     *
     * @param path path
     * @return true if file was deleted or does not exist
     */
    public boolean deleteFileResource(String path) {
        String storagePath = cleanPath(path);
        if (!getStorage().hasResource(storagePath)) {
            return true;
        } else {
            boolean result = getStorage().deleteResource(storagePath);
            if (result) {
                listeners.forEach((a) -> a.resourceDeleted(path));
            }
            return result;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Recursively delete all files from the root path
     *
     * @param root root path
     * @return true if successful
     */
    public boolean deleteAllFileResources(String root) {
        return StorageUtil.deletePathRecursive(getStorage(), PathUtil.asPath(root));
    }

    public static TreeStorageManager createFromStorageTree(StorageTree storageTree){
        return TreeStorageManager.builder().storage(storageTree).build();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The End of Women By Mrs Vera West
Race, Culture, Nation Genderism
Feminists have cheerfully proclaimed the end of men:
https://www.amazon.com/End-Men-Rise-Women/dp/1594488045
However, with artificial wombs, the shoe could be on the other foot:
https://www.technocracy.news/scientists-artificial-wombs-could-replace-women/
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Xing VK Pinterest Reddit Pocket
Banning Martial Arts Now By John Steele
Constitution and Law Race, Culture, Nation Politicians and Candidates
The movement to ban martial arts, and leave ordinary deplorables defenceless against home invaders, knife attackers, you name it, is on. The Fight Prefect channel has been removed, for who knows what reason … oh, it debunked nonsense.
https://www.reddit.com/r/martialarts/comments/e5f5nf/what_happened_to_fight_perfect_tv/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Y4B6AQm0c
The US state of Virginia is moving ahead of the wave with an implicit banning of martial arts, showing that the elites never stop at just guns, they want the deplorables crushed like insects under the jackboot:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-11-27-tyranny-alert-virginia-to-outlaw-krav-maga-brazilian-jiu-jitsi-kickboxing-firearms-instruction-sb64.html
Feminism and Genocide By Mrs Vera West
Many here do not like the writings of Affirmative Right.com's Colin Liddell, all that much, but what I have read in his critique of feminism really hits the mark, straight to the point, on target we like to say. Feminism in the West is the philosophy of white genocide, no conspiracy, it is embodied in the ideology, a demographic death camp:
https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-demographic-death-camp-of-feminist.html
"What happened in the West was simple: Men started hating women, and women started hating children. In other words the natural order, which underpinned our hi-tech society, disintegrated. Women are no longer prepared to sacrifice themselves for children—even the two or three needed to keep things on an even keel—and men are no longer willing to sacrifice themselves for such women, especially when the divorce courts will gut them financially. MGTOW is the zeitgeist and incel the ambience. Of course, the Left have nice names for what is essentially a genocidal process—"female empowerment" and "pro-choice" spring to mind. Yes, you go, girl! ...Straight to the graveyard of your race and civilisation! The poison of feminism doesn't just affect blue haired cat lady freaks, who refuse to shave their shaggy armpits because it's "natural"—as if they ever cared about anything natural! It cuts across all of society, effecting even sensible, happily married women.
The Environment and the Dissent Right By James Reed
Constitution and Law Race, Culture, Nation Environment, Climate Politicians and Candidates
I have been hammering environmentalism in my columns, even though they run across the page, this year, but others from the Dissent Right think that there is a role for environment issues, while I am happy living surrounded by nothing but concrete, which is really a rather sexy substance, once your face hits it enough, from drunk encounters:
https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2019/12/02/racial-ecologism-an-environmental-position-paper-for-the-dissident-right/
"It was not by chance that the modern conservation movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was founded and led by men such as Theodore Roosevelt and Madison Grant who possessed a strong sense of ethnic identity. Although the Left took over the environmental movement by the 1960s, an ecological perspective is inconsistent with the Left's global universalism whether animated by neo-liberalism or neo-Marxism. Instead, there is a natural congruence between ecology and the particularism of the Dissident Right, an ideology that never loses sight of man as a biological entity belonging to a specific ethny or race requiring certain physical and cultural conditions to survive and thrive. The Dissident Right emerged in opposition to conventional American conservatism that has failed to conserve much of anything. We want to conserve the genetic heritage of our European-American people, the best of our cultural legacy, and the physical environment that promotes our health and wellbeing. Our environmental concerns include both natural ecosystems and the manmade physical and social environments. Humans, with their comparative lack of instincts, need the support of cultural institutions such as stable families, communities, and states. In lieu of innate behaviors Homo sapiens requires the guidance from these institutions for beneficial socialization.
Fires Expose Green Folly By Viv Forbes
Race, Culture, Nation Environment, Climate
Green Folly locked up 11% of Australia in a tinder-box of bushfire fuel, much of which is now burnt or burning. Green Folly closed forest tracks and gates, expelled foresters and timber-workers and prevented property owners from removing flammable fuel from their own land and adjacent roads, parks and forests. Those responsible for these follies should face Class Action. Green Folly promotes electric vehicles but not one fire truck, dozer, water bomber, helicopter, ambulance or naval vessel ran on batteries. They all used hydro-carbon fuels - diesel, petrol or avgas. And with so many power lines down, electric toys could not have recharged their batteries anyway. Green Folly believed that widely scattered wind turbines, solar panels and their spider-webs of transmission lines would continue to produce power in gale-force firestorms and thick smoke. Many will be burnt. Blackouts are inevitable. Green Folly promotes "green" building materials like timber which adds fuel to fires while using fake CO2 scares to denigrate steel and concrete which won't burn. For decades, Green Folly opposed every new dam proposal and wasted stored water on another Green Folly – "Environmental Flows". Dams were emptied, farmers suffered, towns ran out of water, food prices increased and some fire-fighting water bombers had to take water from private dams. It was criminal Green Folly that babbled on about "the Climate Emergency" while they sponsored forest conditions that caused agonizing deaths for so many innocents - residents, firefighters, live-stock, koalas and other native animals, birds and insects. Australia cannot afford any more Green Follies. Politicians must stop sacrificing Australians on the Green altar.
Letter to The Editor - It is a new idealism, based on the mystery of the holy rather than on ecclesiastical dogmatism
To The Australian Steve Chavura rightly focuses on "a deeper uneasiness about what we stand for" and on public confusion about what is in the best interests of Australians as a whole and the best deliverer of harmony in our political order ("Religious bill to test our identity", 8/1). He contrasts the pre-1960s "strong Christian underpinning of public morality" with "a post-Christian humanism" that has tended more and more to undervalue freedom of speech. He asks how a religious freedom bill can possibly reconcile the adherents of these two very different worldviews. The answer is that it should be based on a third option - a radically different and reformed understanding of Christian sacred tradition. Antiquated and exclusivist theology needs to be abandoned. Legislation needs to be based on what Rene Guenon called "the transcendent unity of religions." Such a perennialist approach can safeguard us from the twin evils of relapse into inquisitorial mediaevalism and sinking into the mire of hedonistic and ultimately repressive selfishness. It is a new idealism, based on the mystery of the holy rather than on ecclesiastical dogmatism, that can protect our free way of life and unite Australians.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
Subject: Australia's Hottest Day on Record 1828
It is a pity that our knowledge of History and Science is at such a low level in the community that we are being led to believe that we have a climate emergency and that CO2 is the villain! Australia's Hottest Day on Record 1828. Not 2019, BUT 1828 at a blistering 53.9 °C. Back before man-made climate change was frying Australia, when CO2 was around 300ppm, the continent savoured an ideal pre-industrial climate... RIGHT? This is the kind of climate we are spending $10bn per annum to get back to... Right again? We are told today's climate has more records and more extremes than times gone by, but the few records we have from the early 1800s are eye-popping. Things were not just hotter, but so wildly hot it burst thermometers. The earliest temperature records we have show that Australia was a land of shocking heatwaves and droughts, except for when it was bitterly cold or raging in flood. In other words, nothing has changed, except possibly things might not be quite so hot now! Silliggy (Lance Pidgeon) has been researching records from early explorers and from newspapers. What he's uncovered is fascinating! It's as if history is being erased!
For all that we hear about recent record-breaking climate extremes, records that are equally extreme, and sometimes even more so, are ignored. In January 1896 a savage blast "like a furnace" stretched across Australia from east to west and lasted for weeks. The death toll reached 437 people in the eastern states. Newspaper reports showed that in Bourke the heat approached 120°F (48.9°C) on three days.
Letter to The Editor - Constitutional recognition would not create a third chamber of parliament
Constitution and Law Race, Culture, Nation
To The Australian Andrew Bragg, a supporter of Aboriginal constitutional recognition, states that it must "strengthen national unity" ("Let's get this job done on indigenous recognition", 7/1), but nowhere in his discussion is there any indication of how that could possibly be. There is ample evidence on the public record that this project is seen by key players as a means to eventually establishing two nations on this continent, something that can only be done by massive injustice to the majority of Australians, those who make no claim to Aboriginality. Bragg favours the establishment of "local and regional bodies for the various indigenous communities around Australia", this to be followed by voluntary affiliation "to create a national body." No one else, he adds, "should tell these people how to set up their bodies." However, the Australian people as a whole are no doubt expected to foot the bill for costs. Finally, Bragg is setting up a straw man when he claims that constitutional recognition would not create a third chamber of parliament. It might not, but it would certainly give undue power and influence to a mere tiny majority of Australians, many of whose claims to indigenous status are questionable anyway.
Letter to The Editor - High time that the Australian Government terminated any restrictions on Irving's entry
To The Age A key player in the exposure of the fraud of the fake Hitler diaries ("Editor who took the rap for fake Hitler diaries", 7/1) was David Irving. It is a pity that this is not mentioned in the New York Times obituary you have republished. Its unworthy omission of reference to his dramatic intervention at a German press conference is no doubt a result of the current disgraceful taboo on this distinguished historian's writings. Which reminds us that it is high time that the Australian Government terminated any restrictions on Irving's entry into Australia. Those restrictions, some of which were enacted precisely to keep him out, were never justified. The fact that a UK High Court decision later found some errors in some of his works does not change that reality.
Australian Needs 400 Million Chinese Refugees, Not, Today, No, Yesterday By James Reed
Constitution and Law Race, Culture, Nation Environment, Climate
Global warming is a truly amazing thing, it leads to the elimination of a meat diet, and everything else about the West including … us. Get ready now, along with the African exodus, for 400 million Chinese climate refugees:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/by-2070-heatwave-could-force-up-to-400-million-chinese-to-find-refuge-in-the-south/news-story/8857ecf48576fb2f35eb2bf1e87fba8b
London Bridge Knifings: White Racism the Ultimate Cause, Of Course By Richard Miller
I just knew it; if I looked long enough I knew that I would find the claim that white racism led to the London Bridge knife jihad! How could it not, since it is also well known that white racism led to the extinction of the dinosaurs (reverse causation and time travel of course):
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/12/uks-guardian-london-bridge-jihadi-was-reacting-to-racism-muslims-are-the-real-victims-of-his-massacre
Liberals Freely Advocate Murder of Deplorables By Chris Knight
You are not paranoid if they really do want to kill you, and the liberal Left are quite open about it:
https://americanactionnews.com/articles/liberal-teacher-calls-for-targeted-killings-of-trump-supporters
Germany: Take Away Free Speech So There will be "Freedom" Merkel Style By Richard Miller
Banking and Finance Constitution and Law Race, Culture, Nation Politicians and Candidates
Yes, the old bag lady of globalism is still there working to bury what remains of traditional Germany.
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Bundestag recently to warn the German parliament about the dangers of free speech. "We have freedom of expression in our country," Merkel argued. "For all those who claim that they can no longer express their opinion, I say to them: If you express a pronounced opinion, you must live with the fact that you will be contradicted. Expressing an opinion does not come at zero cost." In 2018, Germany enacted a strict ban on certain speech that elites of the day consider "hateful." Under the new law, sites can be fined up to 50 million euros, around $55 million, for not promptly removing so-called "hate speech" from their platform. "But freedom of expression has its limits," Merkel warned. "Those limits begin where hatred is spread. They begin where the dignity of other people is violated. This house will and must oppose extreme speech. Otherwise, our society will no longer be the free society that it was." Merkel's speech was considered unusually emotional for the German chancellor and also confusing to everyone who knows that you either have free speech in a country or you have politicians with the power to ban whatever speech they don't like. Merkel's concerns over free speech have everything to do with silencing critics of Merkel's open-door immigration policies."
New Zealand Shape Up! By Robert J. Evans
New Zealand is small, but is run by a socialist, so we do our best to keep up with the rest of the West in the politically correct steeple chase. Like this:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/sports/2019/11/29/Rugby-Crusaders-keep-name-but-change-logo-after-Christchurch-massacre.html
Income Redistribution, the Global Warming Way By James Reed
Banking and Finance Race, Culture, Nation Environment, Climate
One part of the global warming agenda, to destroy the West, is to make universal income redistribution … no, not to poor deplorables like you and me, but to the non-West:
https://www.technocracy.news/global-warming-swindle-a-scheme-to-redistribute-wealth/
Big Tech Loves Commo China By James Reed
Have a guess who is propping up China's surveillance state? It is those lovers of freedom, globalist Big Techy:
https://www.technocracy.news/western-tech-giants-propping-up-chinas-surveillance-state/
"A bombshell follow-up report to a major document leak which confirmed and detailed China's vast Uyghur Muslim Xinjiang prison network and system for monitoring communications and whereabouts has named names. Names that is, of US tech giants that are actually aiding and abetting China's multibillion-dollar surveillance industry being used to impose a total electronic police state on the communist country. And it's not just Google and IBM, but a growing list of recognizable names. "U.S. companies, including Seagate Technology PLC, Western Digital Corp. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., have nurtured, courted and profited from China's surveillance industry," the scathing report begins. "Several have been involved since the industry's infancy." These American companies gained greater scrutiny after the US Treasury recently targeted up to eight Chinese surveillance companies, blocking their ability to export US technology through which they could help the Chinese state in committing human rights and individual privacy violations. This included a federal ban on US agencies purchasing video surveillance equipment manufactured by Dahua, Hikvision, and Hytera Communications.
Three Cheers for Global Systematic Ecological Collapse! Yes, Please, Three Bags Full of It! By James Reed
Here is some more fantastic news about the coming environmental apocalypse from Professor doomsday himself, who has been wrong about doomsday since the 1960s.
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/a-lot-of-suffering-grim-3000yo-warning-about-to-come-true/news-story/84274e09f8cc1ae708bfb0b43947d297?type=curated&position=6&overallPos=6&utm_source=AdelaideNow&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial
"It's happened before, now some claim it's happening again. In 1200BC, the world's most advanced civilisations — Egypt, Assyria, Cannan — were burnt to the ground all at once. It was the era of the Biblical Exodus and the poet Homer's Trojan War. A convergence of catastrophes made these nations weak. And it's happening again. "We're f**ked," says eminent biologist, Paul Ehrlich, whose 1968 book The Population Bomb triggered international debate. Speaking to news.com.au, Professor Ehrlich was pulling no punches. "We've talked for a long time about the coming collapse. Now we're in it. Every sign says so." He has joined with Flinders University ecologist Professor Corey Bradshaw to present their global systems change modelling to Australia's politicians. And the predictions are not pretty. "We can limit the damage, but we can't avoid it," Professor Bradshaw says.
Impeach the Demo-rats! By Charles Taylor
It was so predictable that probably no bookie would have take money for it, but the Democrats are charging ahead with impeachment against Trump, even compounding impeachment articles in the hope of getting something to stick. The Republicans responded by denying any wrong doing from Trump.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-intel-panel-releases-trump-impeachment-report
Put Foresters back in the Forests By Viv Forbes
There was a time when Australian foresters kept Australian forests safe and productive. They maintained access tracks bridges and fire breaks, undertook prescribed burning, cleared flammable litter from the forest floor, cut suckers, manned fire lookouts and maintained their own fire-fighting crews in decentralised districts. University-trained professional foresters were supported by tough experienced rangers who learned their job in the bush. Almost every advance in bushfire management in Australia, from the science of fire behaviour to aerial burning was thanks to our foresters. Into the 1980's they were regarded as international leaders. To pay for good forest management, sections of the forest were logged, allowing ground space and sunlight for the swift re-growth of new trees. And those fading die-hards still beating alarm drums about man-made global warming should be reassured - the use of hardwood and softwood timber in power poles, telephone poles, bridges, wharves, posts, sleepers, haysheds and houses provided long term sequestration of the dreaded carbon. Moreover, growing trees extract CO2 more quickly than mature trees. Win, win, win.
Then we entered the Green Era. Foresters and timber-getters were demonised by urban greens, their tame bureaucrats and academics, and their ABC mates. State forests were converted to National Parks and Wilderness Areas and John Howard created the hated Kyoto Protocol Forests on private land. Timber imports rose. Every locked-up, un-managed, un-burnt forest inevitably breeds disastrous wild-fires. The combination of heavy fuel load, poor access for fire fighters, drought, hot winds, arsonists and dry lightning has only one assured outcome – a bushfire tragedy for the forest and the neighbours. (Why are no greens chaining themselves to trees now?) This must change. No enquiries are needed. Anyone without green blinkers can see the evidence daily. So, cut the locks, open the tracks and remove the trash. Then call tenders from local people to use recreation, tourism, timber getting or hunting feral animals to fund proper care and maintenance of our forests. A well-managed forest can pay for its own management and also keep the community safe and happy.
Steven von Moger
Fire Fiasco
Brilliant! Succinctly says it all!
Fighting Fires with Fire By Viv Forbes
The Power of the Torch
"There can be few if any races who for so long were able to practice the delights of incendiarism."
Geoffrey Blainey "Triumph of the Nomads – A History of Ancient Australia." Macmillan 1975.
The Fire-lighter was the most powerful tool that early humans brought to Australia. Fires lit by aboriginal men and women created the landscape of Australia. They used fire to create and fertilise fresh new grass for the grazing animals that they hunted, to trap and roast grass dwelling reptiles and rodents, to fight enemies, to send smoke signals, to fell dead trees for camp fires, to ward off frosts and biting insects, and for religious and cultural ceremonies. Their fires created and maintained grasslands and open forests and extinguished all flora and fauna unable to cope with frequent burn-offs. Early white explorers and settlers recorded the smoke and the blackened tree trunks. They admired the extensive grasslands, either treeless or with well-spaced trees, and no tangled undergrowth of dead grass, brambles, branches and weeds. Making fire without tinder boxes or matches is laborious. So, most aboriginals tried to keep their fires alive at all times. When on the move (a common situation), selected members of the tribe were charged with carrying a fire stick and keeping it alight. In really cold weather several members may have each carried a fire stick for warmth. When the stick was in danger of going out, the carrier would usually light a tussock of dry grass or leaves and use that flame to rejuvenate the fire stick (or light a new one). As they moved on, they left a line of small fires spreading behind them. They have been observed trying to control the movement of fires but never tried to extinguish them.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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