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Follow the Bouncing Ball
Cleveland's Rock
Mario Zucca
The End of the Hoop Dream: A Journey to the Extreme Fringe of International Basketball
Fueled by desperation and long-shot hopes, a twentysomething huckster agent leads 10 end-of-the-line players on a European exposure tour. It could be their final chance at basketball glory, but will anyone buy what he's selling?
by Jordan Ritter Conn on August 6, 2015
Jon Solomon has the same birthday as Michael Jordan. "Do you want me to prove it?" he asks. He'll pull out his passport if needed — anything to show that he's not lying. Solomon will do whatever it takes.
It's important to Solomon that people know about his birthday. He's a high-octane huckster and a low-level basketball agent, someone whose very handshake inspires suspicion. But as much as anything, Solomon is a storyteller. And the story he tells most is his own.
"I was the real-life 'Rudy.'"
"I took T-Mac to China."
"I been to Vegas."
"Did I ever tell you about that lady on the plane?"
This one is good, he says. It was 2011. He was flying from Dallas to Tucson when an older woman tapped him on the shoulder. "You're the chosen one," she told him, or at least that's how Solomon tells it now, riding shotgun in my rental car.
Solomon is small and white, with the energy of a Chihuahua, a face that sprouts hair quickly, and a late-twenties paunch. It's September 2014. We're in Germany, flying down the Autobahn, trailing two vans full of American basketball players and a German coach named Hans Beth. We're near the beginning of a journey through the fringe of professional basketball: two weeks, nine games, 10 cities. The players want jobs. Hans wants wins. Solomon wants all of that for everyone, plus something more — something that will end with him on a stage in Springfield, Massachusetts, accepting his induction to the Hall of Fame.
"You look at all the pieces," he says. "This trip, the lady on the plane, same birthday as Michael Jordan. It might be in the cards for me to put a dent in the game."
I first learned about Solomon on YouTube. He'd posted the rough cut of a segment that Philadelphia's Comcast SportsNet had produced about his life, and the video felt more like a five-minute advertorial than a work of broadcast journalism. It begins with grainy camcorder footage of a scrawny high school basketball player. This is Solomon: an "underdog" running the floor, making a free throw, floating off the court on his classmates' shoulders, all without explanation. Seconds later, Solomon's voice comes in, booming impassioned platitudes about dreams pursued and obstacles overcome. It sounds as if he grew up in the Philly suburbs but took speech therapy lessons from rappers Freeway and Beanie Sigel. "I wanted to get better; I wanted to prove everybody wrong," he says to the camera. "And I think it kinda has the same flow in this business."
As the video rolls on, a few facts emerge: Solomon is a worldwide basketball impresario, founder of something called the Self Motivated Athletic Agency, and a dogged worker shown one moment leading aspiring pros through drills and the next barnstorming through China alongside Gary Payton and Tracy McGrady.
Solomon's niche, I soon learned, is connecting overlooked American players to low-level professional leagues around the world. He says things like, "I gotta hit my Mongolia connect"; "Let me reach out to my man in Hungaria"; and, "Once you convert it to pesos, that's a whole lotta bread." He spends his mornings Skyping to Europe and his late nights texting contacts in Asia. "What I really want to do," he says, "is take MJ to Dubai."
The first time I met Solomon, in February 2014, he turned his video camera on me at the moment he shook my hand. "It's for the reality show," he said, as if that should explain everything. Solomon wanted me to follow him to Germany and Mexico, to Delaware and Taiwan. He spoke of a player with one leg and another with three fingers, of the world's best dribbler and the world's best dunker. "I got stories for you, dawg," he said. "I got stories for days."
Even as he boasted, something about Solomon was sweet. He never wanted to get off the phone. He always wanted me to listen just a little longer as he discussed his plan to change the game. I was fascinated by the circle in which he ran — a global network of vagabond ballers from no-name schools, barely earning a living to play in remote hoops outposts, subsisting on pirated DVDs and mediocre cheeseburgers. Solomon was a gateway to a little-known basketball underground, a world that exists in the space between ambition and delusion.
So I flew to Germany to follow one of Solomon's exposure tours. And when I arrived, I found 10 American players wondering what the hell they'd gotten themselves into.
Those players had grown up with the dream of playing pro ball, and with the NBA out of reach, they'd heard it was possible to play overseas. But how? That's where Solomon came in. Months before, he'd sent a mass Facebook invitation to "a few thousand players," he said, including almost every outgoing senior at almost every college in the country — from high-major Division I all the way to NAIA Division II. Come to Newark, Delaware, it said, and try out for a tour of "serious basketball players" pursuing a "professional career." Some ignored it. Players with good stats at good programs don't need the unsolicited services of an agent they'd never heard of.
But what about the benchwarmers, the coaches' scapegoats, the academic nonqualifiers? Solomon was offering them a chance. The details were vague, but still, it was something: a tour, an agent, scouts. The players had to cover their own travel expenses and pay $250 to try out, but if they could get there and prove themselves, who knew what might follow?
So they traveled from across the country and paid their fees to hear Solomon sell them a dream. About 50 players tried out. Seven made it to the tour, and they would have to pony up another $1,000 for airfare and $350 to help cover food, gas, and hotels along the way.1
Now, on a Tuesday night in a near-empty gym in Magdeburg, Solomon's team is streaking up and down the court against a team of German pros. Each player has two weeks to impress a European club enough to get a job offer. It's the second quarter, and the Americans, despite jet lag, are dominating.
"Good shit, baby! Good shit!"
That's Brian Freeman. Six-foot-eight, nimble, and entirely unskilled. Three colleges in five years, from the Atlantic 10's Fordham all the way down to D-II Bowie State. He's an aspiring writer and a loner off the court, but during games, he's among the loudest on tour.
"Move off the ball! Don't stand still!"
That's Nick Brown. Three years at Division II powerhouse West Liberty, then one in NAIA. Six-foot-seven, a shooter and a coach's son — he's already been named captain. Brown played a few months in Bolivia, which makes him one of three players on tour with prior experience in overseas leagues.
"Clap your teammates! Motivate positive! Don't play shit ball!"
That's Hans, the coach. German, middle-aged. Organized and efficient and prone to shouting. He rarely smiles, but when he does, it's with his entire body and often in response to something he's just said.
There are eight more players, from Karl Moore, a 6-8 power forward who averaged nearly a point per minute his senior season at Culver-Stockton College, to Sam Wallace, a 29-year-old 6-10 center taking a stab at a pro career. The group stays at budget hotels and often eats at Burger King or KFC. The gyms are tiny. The locker rooms are cramped and stale. The team has no official name. Solomon says they represent the Self Motivated Athletic Agency. Hans says they represent a German charity called Basketball Aid. The players say they represent themselves.
When the final horn blows, they've won, 108-51, a blowout by a group of misfits who've spent their basketball lives in search of a place on a cohesive team. Tonight, in this East German city, it feels like they've found it.
Jordan Ritter Conn Coach Hans Beth addresses the SMAA team in a locker room in Heidelberg.
If you start with the NBA and begin working your way down, you'll find a basketball netherworld that is vast and multitiered, home to the rich and the underpaid, to outrageous talents and to barely mobile stiffs. Start with the Spanish ACB League, the best in the world behind the NBA. Then there's the rest of the Euroleague elite: big-budget clubs like Besiktas in Turkey (former employer of Deron Williams and Allen Iverson), or the Greek club Olympiacos (onetime home to Josh Childress), or, down in Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv, where Cavaliers coach David Blatt worked before Cleveland. In Asia, the Chinese Basketball Association lacks local talent but pays handsome salaries to marquee imports like Stephon Marbury and Andray Blatche. Bounce around the continent and you'll find other countries that pay well like Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Down in Australia, American players can find decent money, a Western lifestyle, and no language barrier. Closer to home, the Puerto Rican league tends to attract NBA washouts. The same goes for moneyed clubs in Lebanon and Iran (where ex-Laker Smush Parker played in 2012).2
Then there are the hinterlands. American players earn money from Uruguay to Cambodia, El Salvador to Indonesia, in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan. In Europe, second-, third-, and fourth-division teams all import talent from the States. These teams pay — not much, but it's something. Most of their games aren't televised, and their crowds are sparse, but they cover their jerseys in sponsors' logos and plaster their gyms with banner ads. This nets enough revenue to offer imports food and housing, plus $500 to $1,500 per month.
Overseas leagues typically restrict the influence that foreign players can have on the game by limiting the number of non-locals who can be on the court at once. This means that American players aren't competing for just any roster spot. They're competing for import spots, and most clubs expect them to be the best players on the team.
Here in Germany, Solomon's team won't face well-known clubs like Bayern Munich or Alba Berlin. Instead, they'll play teams from the second through fourth divisions: ProA, ProB, and the semipro Regionalliga. After their dismantling of ProB Magdeburg, Solomon is brimming with optimism. "We keep doing that," he says, "and all these motherfuckers getting jobs."
At first, Solomon seems like more of a personality than a person, even though the basic facts of his life are unremarkable. He grew up 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia, where he warmed the bench at Hatboro-Horsham High, then again at Division III Arcadia. In college, he met Jason Hall, a talented player who was born with three fingers on each hand. Solomon worked with Hall as part trainer, part life coach, and part PR rep. "The three-fingered player was gonna be my first million-dollar ticket," Solomon says. "He didn't want to be famous though. That was the big difference between me and him."
Still, Solomon followed Hall to Division II Kentucky Wesleyan, where they found a routine. Wake up, work out, rest, work out, repeat. "I saw them in the gym one day," says Kwan Waller, a former Kentucky Wesleyan player who's now on Solomon's tour. "And Jon is just running around like crazy. Just sprinting everywhere, chasing every rebound, going full speed. I saw this passion in Jon. I swear I've never seen that before. So I'm like, Who is this guy? And how do I get him to start doing this with me?"
In Waller, Solomon found his muse. While Solomon is all careening, self-aggrandizing ambition, Waller is more contemplative and introverted. Both, however, were gym rats. Back in Philly they met Percell Coles, a former Cleveland State guard who had played in Ukraine and Estonia. Coles proposed a plan: Take a group of Americans to China and arrange games against local teams, with the possibility of visiting players getting signed by trip's end. Solomon coached. Coles and Waller played. The team went 8-2. No players earned contracts, but Solomon relished the adventure. He had found his hustle.
Solomon returned to China in 2012, where he says he helped former UConn recruit Nate Miles earn a contract, and in 2013 he got a call from a Chinese businessman who needed help organizing a "legends tour" — a string of exhibitions featuring retired NBA stars. Solomon tapped his already vast collection of colleagues, acquaintances, and random business cards he'd coaxed out of strangers, and in short order he secured commitments from Tracy McGrady, Gary Payton, Jason Williams, and Bonzi Wells. "He was a wild, little crazy, wired-up kid," says McGrady's bodyguard, Harveaire Berrien, of Solomon. "But he handled his business. Everything was professional and smooth."
Solomon came home with new contacts and newfound credibility. He was no longer just another huckster in a business full of them. Now he had a little clout and some connections to parlay. Now, he could say, as he did to me the first time we spoke on the phone: "You know that trip where T-Mac and Jason Williams and all them went to China? I'm the motherfucker who did that."
Jordan Ritter Conn Nick Brown listens on the bench as Hans Beth addresses the team.
More than a year after that trip to China, I'm wandering around Magdeburg with Solomon and Hans in search of a drink. The two met in 2013, when Solomon was on a similar trip. Hans suggested they run another tour together and split the responsibilities: Solomon would organize tryouts and recruit talent in the States, and Hans would pitch sponsors, schedule games, and coach once the team arrived in Germany. "Who you think could get a job?" Solomon asks Hans as we sit down at an outdoor café. Solomon may be the agent, but Hans has the local connections.
Hans goes down the list. There's Karl Moore, the crafty left-handed power forward, and Nick Brown, the 6-7 shooter with Bolivian-league experience. With the right fit, Hans says, they both could play in ProA. A few others can play ProB, and some might manage to catch on in the fourth-tier Regionalliga.
Then, the rest: Springy but raw Brian Freeman, big but immobile Sam Wallace, and jump-shooter-gone-cold Fred Williams. "They cannot perform," Hans says. "They have no chance." It's the fourth night of the tour, and already their head coach believes that these players have wasted their time and money by coming to Germany in search of a job.
"No chance at all?" Solomon asks.
This dynamic — Hans saying no and Solomon begging him to say yes — has been simmering since the tour began. They have competing goals. Solomon wants to get players contracts and to film the whole tour. His ultimate plan, he admits, is to turn these trips into a reality show. Hans, meanwhile, has pitched the tour to sponsors as a way to support Basketball Aid. "It is for cancer kids," he says.
Minutes later we ask for separate bills. The waitress drops them off, and Hans and I each pay our €4 checks. Solomon never ordered a beer, but the waitress brought him one anyway. He drank it without protest, but now he looks at but does not touch his bill, in shock.
"I can't pay for this," Solomon says.
"What are you talking about?" Hans says. "You drank it. You pay for it."
They go on like this for a few minutes, until finally Hans throws down four more Euros. As we leave, Hans wags a finger at Solomon: "You pay me money. You owe me."
Solomon looks down as we cross the street, back toward the hostel we've booked for the night. His body slumps. "I don't have any money," he says.
It's true. Solomon has connections and passport stamps. He has ideas and desire and passion. But he has less than $800 in his bank account, he says.
This comes as a surprise. Upon meeting Solomon, it's easy to assume he's a scam artist. Yet con men, at least successful ones, have money. Solomon is broke. The tryout fees for this tour yielded about $11,000, he says, nearly all of which Solomon spent on tour-related expenses. Most agents earn commissions from their clients, but at the time of this tour, Solomon only represents one player with a paying job. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his mother in the Los Angeles suburbs. This is fine, he says. He just needs time to sell the reality show pilot. For now, he's an incubating mogul, subsisting on hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Some meals, he eats only bread.
Hans would prefer that his partner have money. To be clear, Hans would prefer that Solomon have several things: decorum, calmness, humility. Most of all, Hans seems to want to be in charge. According to Hans, Solomon is "a child." According to Solomon, Hans is "an asshole."
Solomon's flaws are out in the open. "He drowns you," says Freeman, "in his own ambition." Hans, meanwhile, presents himself as polite and exceedingly competent, a coach who deserves respect. Yet he sneers at dissent. He often cracks jokes at Solomon's expense, and then he scans the room with a doughy smile oozing across his face, seeking approval. The players regard Solomon with kind bemusement. Hans scorns him with gleeful malice.
More than one player on tour will call Hans the best coach he's ever had, but the German's tension with Solomon has already threatened to derail the trip. "We're trying to be professionals," says Sam Wallace, the 6-10 center, after a Hans-and-Solomon squabble in a Burger King parking lot. "How we supposed to be professionals when the dudes running this thing act like little kids?"
A couple of days later, before a game against USC Heidelberg, Solomon calls a players-only meeting. Well, players, plus him, plus me, so it's really an everyone-but-Hans meeting. They sprawl out across his hotel room, sitting on the two queen beds, the dresser, the floor. Solomon begins: "I just wanted to come in here and ask y'all: Do you have any concerns?"
Fred Williams, the struggling shooter, speaks: "Everyone in this room has the exact same concern. Are we getting looks from coaches? What's going on with the contracts?"
When it comes to finding players deals, no one knows who should be doing what. Solomon hands out business cards and has in past years marched up to German coaches to call their best players bums compared to his own clients. Hans is less aggressive. He's a coach, not an agent.
Williams's question is a fair one. The players were promised a showcase in front of coaches and scouts. Solomon told them to book round-trip tickets but to be prepared to skip the return flight if they got signed. "I came here with the mind-set: I am not going back," Waller says.
But we're almost a week into the tour and it looks as if everyone will be going home when it's over. No player has had a serious conversation with a team manager. "You just never know," Solomon says. "The call could come at any time." He pauses, then segues to the real reason he called the meeting. "And, you know," he says. "As for everything with him—"
"Who's 'him'?" Freeman asks. "Hans?"
"I'm not naming names," he says, though Hans is the only person on tour not in the room. "I'm just saying, if we beat this team by 50, I'ma beat his ass."
A collective laugh ripples through the room. This seems like an empty threat, more of Solomon's bombast. "Y'all's relationship is interesting," Williams says. "We see that. Truthfully, we don't like it from either end."
Solomon seems to consider this, the possibility that both he and Hans could be in the wrong in various ways. He nods, as if he's carefully choosing his next words, then says: "He's a fucking dickhead."
Karl Moore jumps in. "This could come back on us," he says. "If you get mad at him, and then you don't film a game or don't talk to a coach or something, that hurts us."
"If you're in a group and you see somebody getting picked on, you're supposed to stand up for that person, right?" Solomon says. "Well, right now I'm getting picked on."
This opens up another piece of Solomon's story. Growing up, Solomon was, according to his friend Matt McCollum, "the worst basketball player I have ever seen." He could barely dribble or make a layup, much less a jumper. Yet Solomon craved improvement. He worked a part-time job to pay for private lessons. "Everything was wrong with him," says Sam Rines, Solomon's former coach. "He was small, unathletic, and fundamentally unsound. But he wanted to be good. He was determined. He was obsessed."
Solomon developed a jumper and a handle. He added muscle and quickness. He made the team at Hatboro-Horsham High School and would stay in the gym for hours each day, shooting until he was sore, working to earn minutes and success that would never come.
Many of those around him found Solomon's tenacity hilarious. Teammates challenged him to do the "impossible sit-up" — defined by the premise that if you put a towel over someone's eyes, then hold them down, they will be incapable of sitting up. Solomon took the dare. One teammate covered his eyes, then another pressed down on his shoulders. Solomon struggled to move, pushing with everything he had, and then his teammate released Solomon's shoulders. Suddenly, he rose, the towel fell off, and Solomon's face smacked right into another teammate's naked ass. The boys howled with laughter.
There were countless humiliations. "He had to be one of the most picked-on kids in any school's history," says Solomon's former classmate J.D. Hemminger. Yet Solomon stuck with basketball and somehow made the team at Arcadia. His college teammate, Eric Elliot, recalls one bus ride during Solomon's freshman year when the team's seniors asked if Solomon thought he could make the NBA.
"Anything is possible," Solomon replied.
The seniors laughed. "Come the fuck on," Elliot remembers them saying. "You really think you can make the NBA?"
Solomon looked straight ahead and repeated himself: "Anything is possible."
Later that night, when Elliot was in the locker room, getting ready to head home, he heard sneakers squeaking in the gym. He walked in to find Solomon, crying as he ran suicides, all alone. Elliot told him to go home, but Solomon refused. He wouldn't stop.
Now, sitting with the players in his hotel room, Solomon reveals none of this. After a life of being mocked, he refuses to project weakness or vulnerability. His fear has calcified into defiance. "He's being an asshole," Solomon says of Hans, "because I'm not being his bitch."
Freeman stands, shakes his head, and walks out of the room. Other players follow, done with whatever this is, until eventually only Solomon and I remain. "That was good," Solomon says. "I let them know I ain't playing."
That night in the huddle, out near half court, away from Hans and Solomon, Fred Williams speaks. "We control our destiny," he says. USC Heidelberg is ProA — the SMAA group's stiffest competition, on their biggest stage, at the end of a day when the entire tour has begun to feel like a waste. "This is our time," Williams says. "Put everything else aside. This is us."
Moments later, against high-level opposition, the Americans look like an actual team — communicating on defense, passing and cutting on offense, screaming for each other from the bench. Except for Tyler Burse. He has struggled since day one — missing jumpers, fouling without purpose, forcing shots. "FUCK!" he shouts after a miss, and the invective booms through the gym. As a German player goes for a layup, Burse swats down at the ball from behind, making light contact. A whistle blows. Flagrant.
"Fuck this bullshit!" he yells on his way to the bench. "I hate this European shit! They soft! In America, I would bust all their asses!" Burse was supposed to be the best player on tour. Both Hans and Solomon saw him as a future pro, a thick-chested 6-7 slasher who averaged 20 points per game at Tennessee Wesleyan. He could guard multiple positions and score from the post and the perimeter and all places in between.
Burse wasn't sure if he could afford the trip to Germany; he made it here after his church took donations to cover his ticket. He clearly has the talent to play pro ball, but now here he is with a contract on the line, blowing it. When he reenters the game in the second half, things get worse. While trying to get around a screen, he hyperextends his knee. "Ohhh!" he cries. "I can't play no more! Oh my god, I can't play basketball no more!"
The injury turns out to be less serious than it looked, but watching him writhe and yelp on the floor casts a pall over his teammates. It dawns on them that this tour may not end like they'd hoped. They are thousands of miles from home, with no contract offers in hand, entrusting their futures to a man most of them met through Facebook. "It can all be over," says Waller, "just like that."
Some players are already thinking about what's next. Before this trip, Burse had been considering grad school for physical therapy. Williams had interned at law offices and was starting to make plans for the LSAT. Brown dropped out of college for a short-term contract in Bolivia; he's already wondering if he'll have to return home and finish his criminal justice degree. Waller has been on four tours with Solomon. He's done stints in Mexico and with the $100-per-game Lake Michigan Admirals of the Premier Basketball League. He believes he'll someday make the NBA. But he's wondering if this path — alongside Solomon — is the way to get there.
And then there's Freeman. He dreams of becoming a screenwriter, but that can wait. "I'm not done with this game," he says. But he hasn't been a standout on tour. "I'm probably not going to get a contract out here," Freeman says. "I'm fine with that. … This game can be the best thing that ever happened to you, or it can just be something you chase. And then someday you look back at it all and say, 'Shit. Where did all the time go?'"
Solomon thinks Freeman is good enough to get a contract. Maybe not in Germany's upper divisions, put perhaps the Regionalliga or some other market. He blames Hans for not inviting more coaches to games. That afternoon, Solomon calls another team meeting, this time to say Hans has failed to look out for the players. "We all came here to get guys contracts," Solomon says. "I feel Hans's agenda is not that."
The players start nodding. They've played. They've won. They've proved themselves to be better than some Americans who already have spots on German rosters. But the trip is winding down, and right now, it looks like everyone is going home.
That night, at dinner, Solomon tells Hans he'd like to hold a meeting. Then, as Solomon and I climb in the car to head to the hotel, he becomes delirious at the thought of their impending confrontation. "Shit's going down!" he says. I ask if he's scared. "I ain't scared of that motherfucker! I should just go straight to him — 'I'ma smack the shit out you, Hans!'"
At the hotel in Wiesbaden, the players follow Hans and Solomon to a group of cowhide couches in the lobby. "Everyone came here for one reason and one reason only," Solomon tells Hans. "That's to get a contract. These guys have done their part. So you need to do your part." Before the trip began, Hans sent an email to every coach in Germany, notifying them of the dates of the tour. In his mind, that's enough. "This is not my job," Hans says. "This is your job."
"I try!" Solomon shouts. "And every time you tell me not to do it!"
Now Waller steps toward Solomon. He's the only person here who has known Solomon for years. He's seen him in fights. He's seen him confused, scared, unhinged. "Be civil, man," Waller says. "Be civil."
Solomon is not civil. Standing up, he arches his back and points at Hans, eyes growing as he screams: "You're not my boss!"
When Solomon quiets down, Hans looks up from his oversize chair and addresses the players. "I am not calling coaches for you," Hans says. "I am not your agent. He is your agent. I am 100 percent happy with everyone on tour. I'm hoping coaches come to the next game. I have talked to coaches. No one has said, 'I want to speak to this player,' or 'I want to speak to that player.' I don't want to force it."
Solomon starts yelling: "Tell them the truth! This isn't about them! It's about Basketball Aid! Cancer kids!"
"If someone gets a contract," Hans says to the players, "I am so happy. But Jonathan — he knocks on every door. He hands out business cards. People do not like this."
"He's lying!" Solomon shouts. "He's lying, he's lying, he's lying!"
"Jon!" Brown says. "Talk like a human being."
"Right now, Jon, none of us want to sign with you," Freeman says. "None of us want anything to do with this."
"I was thinking of ending this tour," Hans says. "I was worried about ruining my name because of dealing with Jonathan. I am still here. I am still with everyone. I have trouble saying, 'Take this player.' That's my name if you don't perform."
Solomon points at Moore. "Look at him!" he says. "He is dying for a chance. Dying! He's doing everything right. He's performing every single game. He paid to get here. They all paid to get here." Solomon is shouting again, but now the players let him speak. "If you're not on the phone talking about Nick, who's performed the whole time, or Sam, who had a great game last night, or Karl Moore, who's been great the whole tour, then what are you doing?"
The players wait for Hans to respond, and again he says that he's not their agent but that he's rooting for them and giving his honest evaluations to coaches. He repeats his concern that working with Solomon could ruin his reputation. As Hans talks, Solomon inches toward him, almost feral in his rage, until he's standing directly before Hans with a raised fist.
Freeman and Wallace — the two biggest players on the team — move to separate Solomon and Hans. Finally, Brown, the captain, ends the standoff. "Let's all come together," he says, giving Solomon an opportunity to lower his fist. The team gathers in a circle with their hands in the middle. Nick motions to Hans to break the huddle.
"Team!" Hans calls.
"Ball!" they reply, and with that, the players return to their rooms.
A half hour later, Solomon meets Hans in the lobby to apologize: "Not for what I said but for the tone and the anger I used to say it." Later, in private, Solomon is still high on confrontation.
"That shit was crazy, right?" he asks me. "You think he was scared?" Before I can respond, he answers his own question.
"Yeah," he says. "I think he was scared."
Jordan Ritter Conn Hans Beth coaching the SMAA team in Heidelberg.
Hans and Solomon don't make up, but they move on, and before long the players notice a change. Everywhere we go, Hans is constantly on the phone, gauging possibilities, offering scouting reports, and seeking referrals. Interest is growing. Perhaps contracts are coming soon.
With four days left on tour, the team's route doubles back toward Berlin, stopping to play in three cities along the way. Hans keeps the phone glued to his ear as he drives. The requests continue: for game tape and highlight reels, for general managers to talk with players, for wings who can rebound and for bigs who can guard the 5 but play the 4.
After we arrive at a hotel near Mainz, Hans calls Brown, the sharp-shooting Bolivian-league veteran, down to the lobby. A third-division team needs an import who can play both forward spots. This is the chance he'd hoped for. But there's one hitch. "This coach," Hans says, "he says he has no money. He can offer a shared car, one meal per day, and a shared apartment. But no money."
Nick sits, mouth flat, eyes shrinking. No money? He's here to become a professional basketball player. He wasn't planning to get rich, but still — nothing?
"What should I tell them?" Hans asks. "Are you interested?"
Nick takes a quick breath: "I'm interested."
That night, the first hard offer comes. It's for Wallace, the big man — $750 for a four-week tryout, then $900 a month if he makes the team, plus a shared apartment, a shared car, and three meals per day. Wallace is the oldest player on tour, a Brooklyn native who walks slow and talks slower. Hans thinks he's lazy. Solomon thinks he's entitled. But he's skilled and strong and he's played well enough to earn a chance. Yet it comes with a warning: For a 29-year-old from Division II Elizabeth City State, this is about as good an offer as he can expect.
Wallace turns it down. He says he has to return to New York, where his mother says she needs him. "You came here to get a chance, dawg," Solomon says later that night. "You're gonna be making a huge mistake if you say no to this. You're 29 years old. You're not getting many more chances."
"You keep talking age, age, age," Wallace says. "I got boys my age getting jobs. I got boys with good agents getting jobs that pay serious money. I got a boy in Puerto Rico—"
Here Solomon interrupts: "They want NBA on the résumé in Puerto Rico."
"He ain't been in no NBA."
"He's probably Puerto Rican then. So he's not an import."
"He's half–Puerto Rican."
"See!" Solomon claps his hands. "I know the way this business works. You guys hear stories from your boys, talking about crazy money, saying you can get on, and it ain't like that. If you could really get on, you wouldn't be here."
"I was hearing about Korea," Wallace continues. "The KBL. Crazy money over there."
"KBL?" Solomon says. "You ain't playing in no KBL. I don't sell nobody a pipe dream. That's a pipe dream." He knows the market. He knows Wallace's value. "There's other guys on this tour who would kill to be in your shoes," he says. "They would do anything for an offer, and you're sitting here about to turn one down."
One of those guys is Karl Moore. He's been the best player on tour. He gets high-quality shots against defenders big and small. He runs the floor and finishes in traffic. He seems to get better every game. He has a daughter named Heaven and a quiet certainty that someday he'll make the NBA. A pastor once sent him a text message predicting he would begin his career in Europe before ascending to the league. "A prophecy," Moore calls it. But with two days left on tour, he still hasn't gotten an offer.
When we head to Kaiserslautern for the second-to-last game, Hans finally pulls Moore aside. He says that a third-division team from the southwestern corner of the country needs a 4 who can score, rebound, and defend. Tonight, the GM will be in the stands to scout Moore.
He dominates. He gets a steal and goes coast to coast for a bucket, plus the foul. He finds cutters from the high post. He throws a bounce pass from half court in transition that hits Burse, perfectly in stride, for a dunk. The Americans win — in overtime, at the buzzer, on a tip dunk by Freeman. Afterward, Moore walks away from the celebration and asks me: "Did you see him? Did he see me? Do you think I played good?"
After the game, the GM meets with Hans, and after about 15 minutes they invite Moore to join them. He sits with them in a university classroom, knees scraping the desk attached to his chair. "I have a good feeling about you," the GM tells Moore, as Hans translates. "I look in your eyes and I see something good." They want him — at least for a tryout. They can offer an apartment, a car, and three meals per day. For the four-week trial period, they'll offer $750. If he makes the team, they'll pay $1,000 a month. It's not a very good team, and it's not a lot of money, but it's something.
An hour later, back in the hotel lobby, Hans mentions one other issue. Typically, an agent receives 10 percent of a player's salary. At this level, teams often pay this fee, but sometimes it comes out of the player's pocket. When they were negotiating in German, Hans told the GM that the team wouldn't have to pay Solomon. Solomon never agreed to this — Hans just made the offer.
"So," Hans says, "I will let you two figure that out."
Solomon nods. Moore earned this opportunity, but Solomon put him in a position to get noticed. As an agent, Solomon earned his 10 percent. Yet now, Solomon makes no attempt to fight for his cut. "I mean, Karl's got a daughter," he says. "I ain't trying to take no money from a man like that."
After Hans and Solomon leave, Moore stays in the hotel lobby, not quite ready to go to bed. When he joins his new team, he'll be earning poverty-level wages and playing for a losing club in a third-tier league. He'll be far from his daughter and everyone he loves. He will just barely meet the definition of a "professional basketball player."
He leans forward, his short braids swaying as he shakes his head. "I can't believe it," he says. "It's like a dream come true."
Viermalzehn Karl Moore, right, and Hans Beth after Moore signed with Saarlouis Royals.
More good news. The team that had offered to sign Brown for room and board but no salary has decided to pay him: a few hundred dollars for the tryout and a few hundred more per month if he makes the team. We roll into Berlin, ready for the final game, against a fourth-division team called Lokomotive Bernau. "Last one," Waller says before tipoff. "Last dance."
"Damn, this is probably the last game of my career," Burse says. He laughs. "I hope not, but shit."
He's not exaggerating. For some of the players on tour, this is how their basketball lives end: not at their college senior day or an NBA retirement ceremony, but on a Wednesday evening in a Berlin suburb, with the teammates who've beaten them out for jobs, wearing jerseys that bear the logos of a two-bit agency and a charity they'll likely never hear of again. Their dreams have been fading slowly. Here, they finally die.
Sam Wallace, who turned down his offer; and Brian Freeman, who questioned how long he would be willing to chase a contract; and Tyler Burse, who days ago lay screaming on a hardwood floor, will all go home. So will four others.
Kwan Waller will stay. Hans has spent the last two days calling more than 10 teams, asking if they have a spare room, a budget for food, and if Waller can stay and practice with them for free. Twelve hours before the scheduled flight home, Hans finds a taker. When everyone else disperses, Waller will stay right here, on a practice contract with Lokomotive Bernau. But after three months he'll still have no paying opportunities. He'll decide to come home. In summer 2015, he will follow Solomon back to Germany, and this time he'll earn a contract with an English team.
Nick Brown will stay. Tomorrow he'll board a train to Recklinghausen, where he'll join Citybasket. In a week, they will cut him. The next week, he'll go to a fourth-division club that will offer him a roster spot but nothing else — no money, no apartment, no food. He will decline and come home to finish his degree and figure out what's next.
Karl Moore will stay. Tomorrow he'll get on a train to Saarlouis, where he'll join the Royals. He will earn a roster spot and go on to average 16 points and six rebounds, good enough to hope that he might sign a better contract next year. About 50 players tried out for Solomon's tour. Ten made the team. Only Moore earned a steady job.
But when the final game tips off, no one seems disappointed. These are their last moments together, their final romp through a mostly empty German gym, the last chance to indulge their dream. During warm-ups they throw lobs and dunk with delight, and once the ball is live they play loose and fast, cruising to an easy win. Afterward, they drape their arms around each other for a final team photo, and when they walk to the locker room, Moore, the tour's lone success story, asks aloud, "Is this the part where we get our money back?"
They laugh. "Hell yeah," Burse says, but there are no refunds on spent ambitions. Solomon collects the uniforms to use for another tour, with another group of pro-hoops hopefuls eager to play basketball and dress-up in pursuit of a bare-bones contract. A trip to Taiwan is coming soon. In the coming months he will shift his attention away from tours and toward staging stationary tryouts that feature more players and fly in coaches from out of town. More than a dozen clients will earn jobs from a tryout he'll run in Mexico. Five more will get signed from a camp he'll organize on his next trip to Berlin.
But none of that matters now. For now, for these players, it's time to go home.
Just before his flight back to the States, Solomon tells me one last story.
"Listen to this shit, dawg."
This one takes some imagination. It hasn't happened yet, but it's coming, he says. First he'll finish this tour. Then he'll sell the pilot for the reality show. With enough invites, enough tryouts, enough tours, Solomon believes he'll redefine the way talent gets discovered. "The game," he says, "will be forever changed."
And then, years down the road, he'll get a call from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They will want to induct him — not as a player or coach but as a contributor to the game. "You know you can get it in that way, right?" he says. "All you gotta do is put a dent in the game."
So he will fly to Massachusetts and he will stand at a lectern and speak. "All my coaches, all the dudes from my teams who made fun of me, all them cats who ever did me dirty — I'm putting all of 'em right there on the front row," Solomon says. Anyone who abused him or doubted him, who made him feel inadequate. With the rest of them, right there, will sit Hans.
Solomon will go down the row. One by one, he'll call them out: "I'm blasting all them cats." He'll mock them for the way they mocked him. "You made a mistake," he'll say, and now they'll laugh because they'll know he's right.
In truth, Solomon isn't cynical enough to run a scam. None of the players say they regret going on his tour. He doesn't prey on their dreams. He dreams along with them, only harder. This is why his teammates mocked him when he tried out for varsity, and why his contemporaries do the same when he talks about his schemes. He fails to grasp how frightening it is to try.
If Solomon's fantasy sounds familiar, it should. In 2009, when Michael Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he did the same thing. He was at turns charismatic and bitter, an outsize hero made impossibly small. Solomon watched that speech. He loved it. And did he mention they have the same birthday? February 17. Jordan was born in '63, Solomon in '86.
"Dawg," he says. "That's 23 years to the day."
In addition to the seven players chosen from tryouts, three more were given direct invites.
The last five years of Parker's career have been nothing if not prolific: He won a CBA title with the Guangdong Southern Tigers in 2010, and has since played in Russia, Iran, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Venezuela, and Mongolia.
Filed Under: International Basketball, Professional Basketball, International Basketball Agents, Tracy McGrady, Stephon Marbury, Gary Payton, German Basketball, European Basketball, Euroleague Basketball, Jon Solomon
Jordan Ritter Conn is a staff writer for Grantland. He wrote The Defender: Manute Bol's Journey from Sudan to the NBA and Back Again, a multimedia e-book published by The Atavist.
Archive @ jordanconn
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The best flooring for your space, lifestyle and budget!
Larsen Carpet is a second-generation, family owned business, offering a large selection of flooring products, both in stock and special order!
Stop in and work with us to find the product that can take care of all your flooring needs. Our professional, in-house personnel can walk your through the design and then can provide expert installation.
Creating a feeling of warmth and comfort to any room, elegant or casual, carpeting is one of the most affordable floor coverings available today. Performance, options in colors and texture, and styles for any home or office make carpeting the right choice for any project.
Natural solid wood or engineered wood offers warmth and beauty in a classic, timeless look. The use of hardwood in your home will highlight your other design elements well when you choose to invest in this flooring type. With a wide range of finishes, its durability and ease of maintenance, Hardwood flooring is an excellent choice for any project.
Considering vinyl for your home or business? This easy to clean, durable flooring is the top choice for high-traffic areas. Flexible and stylish with more choices of patterns and colors than ever before, vinyl remains a popular choice. Today's vinyl combines luxury, cushioned resilience and affordability for any flooring need!
Today's luxury vinyl features some of the most innovative, versatile, and high-performing flooring available. LVT offers the richness and texture of more expensive natural materials, such as hardwood, ceramic tile, and stone, without maxing out your budget. Offered in tile, plank, and sheet formats, this flooring boasts easy installation, and a high level of comfort with a soft step. This high quality long lasting flooring option is a great choice for your project.
Today's laminate flooring options combine realistic looks with carefree maintenance. The wide range of design choices, affordability and durability options make this flooring a #1 choice in high traffic areas and active households or business offices. Get the look of excellence at a great price!
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Rounding out their true family team is son Matt, who has been doing installations for over 12 years, and brother-in-law Joe, who has been doing installations for over 20 years.
Larsen Carpet is a 4-time "People's Choice" award winner and with so much experience you know they can handle any flooring job.
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Q: Как изменить ориентацию устройства в горизонтальное положение при запуске кода в PyQt5? Мне нужно при запуске кода в PyQt5 изменить ориентацию (с вертикальной в горизонтальную), проще говоря активировать поворот экрана, мой код:
from PyQt5 import QtWidgets, QtGui, QtCore
from PyQt5.Qt import *
MyApp = QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
V = MyApp.desktop().screenGeometry()
h = V.height()
w = V.width()
try:
    from PyQt5.QtWinExtras import QtWin
    myappid = 'mycompany.myproduct.subproduct.version'
    QtWin.setCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID(myappid)
except ImportError:
    pass
class StartWindow(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
    ex = StartWindow()
    ex.setWindowTitle('MyApp')
    ex.showFullScreen()
    ex.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Вот пример, как я хочу это реализовать:
Код, что я привел просто создаёт окно, дабы вам было легче взять код и продолжить работу. Я хотел сделать простенькую игру на телефоны, для этого и нужно было повернуть экран, потому что в вертикальном положении не очень удобно было бы играть

A: С мобильной разработкой не сталкивался, но подозреваю, что надо оставить из доступных ориентаций только landscape
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
    app.primaryScreen().setOrientationUpdateMask(QtCore.Qt.LandscapeOrientation)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Starting with a complimentary lunch for attendees at 11:30 a.m., followed by a 45-minute presentation by Shane Jones, Allied ASID and Designer Account Executive with The Sherwin Williams Co., 2018 Colormix® color forecast predicts colors that will drive future design innovation and three distinct palettes representing a global collision of influences.
From vivid blue and digital green, to high-def yellow and rusty auburn, the Sherwin-Williams 2018 Colormix® Color Forecast exhibits three unique color palettes that draw from emerging global trends. The collection predicts the colors that will drive conversation and inspiration for the coming year, offering new perspectives on societal influences and their impact on color and design trends. The Sherwin-Williams Color Forecast team, led by Sue Wadden, director of color marketing, identified 36 colors drawing from fashion, nature, pop culture and global design, to create the Colormix® palettes Sincerity, Connectivity, and Unity.
This complimentary event is open to all market attendees, however guests must RSVP at [email protected] as limited space is available.
The Colormix® presentation will be given by Shane Jones, Allied ASID and Designer Account Executive with Sherwin Williams Co. serving markets of North Carolina. She serves as President-Elect of ASID Carolinas Chapter and is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BFA in Interior Architecture. She is responsible for educating residential interior designers and architects about products, color tools, and online resources.
Abbyson unites stylish designs and statement looks through an integrated model to fulfill savvy costumers that seek value, speed and quality. With our strength and experience in supporting today's largest e-commerce retailers, we offer a state-of-the-art infrastructure and customer service to enable today's demanding multi-channel retail models. As a family company, Abbyson believes our relationships and strategic partnerships are of the highest value.


We analyze interaction effects of birth weight and the business cycle at birth on individual cardiovascular (CV) mortality later in life. In addition, we examine to what extent these long-run effects run by way of cognitive ability and education and to what extent those mitigate the long-run effects. We use individual records of Swedish birth cohorts from 1915–1929 covering birth weight, family characteristics, school grades, sibling identifiers, and outcomes later in life including the death cause. The birth weight distribution does not vary over the business cycle. The association between birth weight (across the full range) and CV mortality rate later in life is significantly stronger if the individual is born in a recession. This is not explained by differential fertility by social class over the cycle. Ability itself, as measured at age 10, varies with birth weight and the cycle at birth. But the long-run effects of early-life conditions appear to mostly reflect direct biological mechanisms. We do not find evidence of indirect pathways through ability or education, and the long-run effects are not mitigated by education.


After being awarded her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1989, Ms. Foner began her career with the general practice law firm of Lebson, Prigoff and Baker, LLP.
After being awarded her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1989, Ms. Foner began her career with the general practice law firm of Lebson, Prigoff and Baker, LLP. During her 14 years at that firm her practice included the areas of employment law, insurance defense, defamation, health care law, product liability, negligent security, guardianships, real estate and banking law.
In July 2003 Ms. Foner opened a solo practice concentrating in employment law, primarily representing plaintiffs in actions involving discrimination, wrongful discharge, harassment, hostile work environment and civil rights violations. In 2004 she became a qualified mediator of the New Jersey Superior Court and as such has mediated numerous matters in the employment law area. She continued with her solo practice until May of 2008, when she joined Hyderally & Associates, P.C. as an associate. Ms. Foner is admitted to practice in New Jersey State and Federal courts.


Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down played several kickass shows in Austin this year. Her set on Friday night at Momo's was one of the most packed that I personally attended, with a huge line outside left unsatisfied. I squeezed my way in nimbly up to the front and wow — that woman is ferocious and fearless in her music and her stage presence. She knows how to wield a guitar and craft a song with all the right balances.
A new album is expected from Thao this year.
Tagged with sxsw, thao nguyen.
Yes! I vote for Denver, Wednesday May 6th! And with Samantha Crain, who I missed at SX. Come on down.
I was at this show and was completely blown away by her the boundless energy of her performance. I had already liked many of the songs off her record, but this really sealed the deal for me.
I was talking to her after she played, and I noticed she was holding YOUR CARD, which was kind of funny. I would have liked to have thanked you for writing such a great blog, and also for geeking me to Everything Absent Or Distorted, who I would never have known to check out and play on my little nickel and dime college radio show.
SXSW sure is the best overwhelming thing ever, isn't it?


Snowdrops (Summer Snowflake lilies) in my Garden!
I love late winter in Houston. Especially when I start seeing the little white bell shaped flowers I call Snowdrops poking their heads up from the mass of bright green leaves. It is a sure signs that spring is nearly here! A couple of years ago my husband gave me a mossy boulder as a gift. He saw it at Cowboy Trucking and sent me a picture saying do you want me to get you a big rock! I said yes of course and honestly I do prefer natural boulders to diamonds. He was actually just teasing me but I kept asking him if it was still there? One day he said do you still want that boulder? If you can find a place for it I will get it for you. Knowing moving it was not going to be easy I decided to put in in our right of way strip between my lovely old sycamore trees.
In the fall I planted bulbs around the boulder. Here you see them in their second year. Those are my Snowdrops in the foreground and Daffodils behind. I planted 3 varieties of daffodils so they would bloom in succession. We just had a month of bright yellow blooms that were so cheerful during all the grey rainy days. The daffodils are almost done now. But the Snowdrops are just beginning. Our neighborhood is full of walkers of every kind; couples, some with children and most with dogs. I always hope they enjoy the ever changing display around my big mossy boulder.
Many flowering bulbs don't do well in Houston because of our mild winters and hot humid summers. I found a wonderful company out of Southern California that sells bulbs that do well in hot climates. Easy to Grow Bulbs. That is where I got my Snowdrop bulbs. I planted them in November. Snowdrops are also known as Snowflakes. The botanical name is Leucojum. They are considered heirloom bulbs because they have naturalized in many old Southern gardens. They can handle our heavy clay soil and even do well in shade. They are wonderfully rewarding as they come back every year in ever increasing numbers. You can divide them and spread around your garden or shared some with friends.
Like little bells that dance in the wind.
These are Leucojum Gravetye Giant. Here is the description from the Easy to Grow website.
Those are probably the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. I am thrilled they can grow in Texas.
I have similar tastes to you it seems. When my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said: rocks, wood, dirt, plants, manure …. any of those will do. hahahaha He thought I was kidding. Men are such fools.
Debra, happy to meet a kindred spirit! I hope you try some snowdrops in your garden. The Easy to Grow Bulbs company is very helpful and they have the healthiest bulbs I have come across. Cheers!
My favorites stones are boulders, too. Spring bulbs have an affinity for rocks, too.
I once got a huge boulder for my birthday. I loved it and planted a Birch circle round it. The trouble is that when we moved I couldn't take it with me; boulders arern't very easy to move. Now I really miss my great big rock.
Well, the snowdrops are quite nice, but that boulder is awesome!
Maybe you can come tour my garden when you are in Houston. We are not far from the Community garden that is on the tour.
Love that so many of you love boulders too!


Join us for a respectful and illuminating discussion on how young people of different faith backgrounds experience life in Melbourne amidst a time of heightened media and public discourse about what it means to be an Australian in 2017. Come participate in the conversation and share your perspectives on faith, spirituality and belonging in Australia today.
Facilitated by Moreland Together, a coalition of people committed to creating caring and inclusive communities for people of all identities and faiths, and the United Religions Imitative (URI), the world's largest grassroots interfaith network dedicated to cultivating peace and justice.
The event is supported by Moreland City Council, Uniting Through Faiths and Moreland Together.


More than 700 people attended Rise Church's Eggstravaganza where kids got the ultimate easter egg hunt experience.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hundreds of children in southeast Fresno got the chance to celebrate Easter a week early.
More than 700 people attended Rise Church's Eggstravaganza where kids got the ultimate easter egg hunt experience. 20,000 candy-filled eggs were scattered across Sequoia Elementary.
The free event featured bounce houses, face painting and an obstacle course.
"We want to be a place where we're able to provide a service or atmosphere to love on the community and the kids so they can just have a blast,"
Rise Church holds weekend service and worship at Sequoia Elementary.


Set includes a 11-inch Nonstick Induction Square Grill Pan and 11-inch Nonstick Induction Skillet. The Skillet will become your go-to kitchen tool. Whether you're whipping up your go-to Southwestern omelet for breakfast or baking a mouthwatering skillet brownie in the oven, this fry pan is sure to meet all of your needs. Grilled foods just taste better and Swiss Diamond can help you realize your dream of grilling every meal with the help of the Square Grill Pan. The ribbed bottom of the grill pan cooks steaks, vegetables, pork chops, and chicken with nicely seared grill marks of caramelized goodness.
https://www.cutleryandmore.com/swiss-diamond-xd/nonstick-induction-fry-pan-grill-pan-set-p137128 37128 Swiss Diamond XD 2 Piece Nonstick Induction Fry Pan & Grill Pan Set https://cdn.cutleryandmore.com/products/large/37128.jpg 274.9500 USD InStock /Cookware/Cookware Sets Set includes a 11-inch Nonstick Induction Square Grill Pan and 11-inch Nonstick Induction Skillet. The Skillet will become your go-to kitchen tool. Whether you're whipping up your go-to Southwestern omelet for breakfast or baking a mouthwatering skillet brownie in the oven, this fry pan is sure to meet all of your needs. Grilled foods just taste better and Swiss Diamond can help you realize your dream of grilling every meal with the help of the Square Grill Pan. The ribbed bottom of the grill pan cooks steaks, vegetables, pork chops, and chicken with nicely seared grill marks of caramelized goodness.


Recently, Kanye West released his new music video for Bound 2, which quickly became a trending topic all across the internet. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is for your enjoyment. Enjoy!
Peep this new video out by Chox-Mak for his single, No Weapons. Enjoy!
Check Out the latest video from the homie, Nino lewis for his single, Extra. Enjoy!
Schoolboy Q drops a brand new video for his club banger, "Banger (MOSHPIT)", from his upcoming Oxymoron album. Directed by Jerome D. Enjoy!
A$AP Rocky has released his new music video for 'Angels', which was a bonus track from the debut album Long.Live.A$AP.Directed by Luke Monaghan & A$AP Rocky. Enjoy!


text:
HomeNewsWHO says it seeks facts, not blame as China green-lights virus probe
WHO says it seeks facts, not blame as China green-lights virus probe
An international team of experts is heading to China to study the origin of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, but not to assign blame for the pandemic, World Health Organization (WHO) leaders said on Monday.
The WHO officials spoke after Chinese authorities confirmed that the experts were set to arrive on Thursday, after a long, strained application process that had irritated the WHO in Geneva.
"Studies will begin in Wuhan, China to identify the potential source of infection of the early cases," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said earlier on Monday that "China supports scientists around the world to conduct global scientific study on the origin and transmission roots of the virus."
The search for the origin of the virus is politically sensitive, as China fears being fingered as the culprit for the global spread of the novel coronavirus and the Covid-19 disease that it causes.
"Understanding the origin of disease is not about finding somebody to blame," WHO health emergency chief Mike Ryan said in Geneva.
Rather, it was about finding out how exactly the virus crossed from animals to humans, he said. Factors could include climate change, urbanization, the exploitation of forests, or policy decisions that were taken decades ago, Ryan added.
"Let this mission and let other missions be about the science, not about the politics," Ryan said.
"Since the outbreak of the pandemic, China has been open and transparent in communicating and cooperating with the WHO on the origin tracing work, showing a responsible attitude," Zhao said on Monday, pointing to previous WHO expert visits last year.
For months, Chinese authorities have been casting doubt on whether the virus originated in China at all.
They point to unconfirmed reports that there may have first been possible infections in other countries. They also say traces of the virus on imported frozen goods are evidence that the virus could have come from abroad.
On Monday, Zhao reiterated that "the WHO needs to conduct similar studies in other countries and regions."
READ ALSO: COVID-19: Virus is spreading fast with mild symptoms, NCDC alerts Nigerians
However, many researchers suspect bats from southern China as the original source of the disease.
After their arrival, the experts from 10 countries, including the United States, Australia and Japan, will have to spend two weeks in quarantine before their work on the ground can continue.
They are also expected to travel to the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first discovered over a year ago.
Members of the team lowered the expectations of their mission, pointing out that the main goal was to have exchanges with Chinese colleagues, in order to determine the investigative path.
"The first trip serves to look at all the existing data, to look at the work that is going on, and to make a plan for phase two," German team member Fabian Leendertz told dpa.
The epidemiologist who works at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin added that phase two would serve to fill in remaining gaps, to create the foundation for developing hypotheses and, possibly, "to present a conclusive scenario."
The post WHO says it seeks facts, not blame as China green-lights virus probe appeared first on Vanguard News.

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text:
Home » News & Guides » Bank of England pours scorn on early recovery hopes
Bank of England pours scorn on early recovery hopes
The Bank of England has today fuelled speculation that the UK economy is still some way off a solid recovery with expectations that the quantitative easing program could be extended beyond the £200 billion fund confirmed so far. This would indicate that maybe the Bank of England is aware of economic information which is not yet in the public domain?
Only a few days ago the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, had been talking up the prospects for the UK economy and mentioned that he was cautiously optimistic for the future. The fact that the Bank of England appears willing to increase the £200 billion quantitative easing program is a worry in itself as is the sluggish performance of the UK economy over the last few weeks.
This will do nothing to calm the nerves of traders and investors, both in the UK and outside of the UK, who are praying for a short-term recovery. Interestingly, it does appear as though more and more business leaders and consumers in the UK are turning positive on the economy with a recent opinion poll showing that the Labour Party has cut the Conservative Party's lead in the polls to a mere seven percentage points.
Why are the Yorkshire and Chelsea building societies talking?
As speculation mounts this evening that the Yorkshire building society and the Chelsea building society will soon announce a merger of their operations, many are wondering why the ailing society sector appears to be the next merger and takeover hotspot. What is it which has prompted these two building society giants to even discuss the possibility of getting together? Back in February the Build... Read More
Northern Rock's New Chief Executive Announced
In a move which has been on the cards for some time Northern Rock has announced the appointment of a new chief executive to take over the reigns from Andy Kuipers who will be leaving the group at the end of September. Kuipers was one of the few original Northern Rock directors to avoid the chop and his place will be taken by Gary Hoffman who is currently the vice chairman of Barclays Bank.
Revised government statistics dampen recovery hopes
With news that the Office for National Statistics has today revised the fall in construction output for the first quarter of 2009, there are real concerns of the UK economy is performing worse than previously thought. The construction output figure for the first quarter of 2009 has been revised from fall of 2.4% to a fall of 9% which in itself would knock a further 0.3 percentage points off GDP fo... Read More
Wild cat strikes reported across the UK
After yesterday's walkout at a UK oil refinery there are reports of wildcat strikes across the country in support of UK workers allegedly barred from employment with a number of overseas companies in the UK. This is a serious situation which is developing in the UK as a number of "illegal" strikes are reported in many areas of the country. The massive Grangemouth oil refinery has been hit this mor... Read More
UK debt crisis could affect millions
30/12/2013 The number of people using more than half of their disposable income on debt repayments could almost double from 600,000 to 1.1 million by 2018 if interest rates rise to 3% according to the Resolution Foundation. The Resolution Foundation used the latest 5-year growth projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility to make these predictions. Furthermore, the Resolution Found... Read More
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text:
Bellingham Politics and Economics
MAKE SURE TO REGISTER YOUR NEW ADDRESS AFTER YOU MOVE! See all your voting information and Ballot Status in WA at www.votewa.gov Same Day Registration is the law in WA now!! Same Day Registration info here!!
Fwd: 5 more days to submit your GPT scoping comments!
From: "Coal Train Facts" <info@coaltrainfacts.org>
Date: Jan 17, 2013 10:00 AM
Subject: 5 more days to submit your GPT scoping comments!
To: "Ryan" <rferrisx@gmail.com>
Coal Train Facts is a registered 501(c) non-profit organization. We aim to to provide clear, verifiable and easy-to-access information about the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal.
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KEY FACTS LIBRARY NEWS SCOPING
Scoping comment period closes 1/22/13
5 more days to submit your scoping comments! Because of the observation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, comments will be received until 5pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013.
Template letter for addressing Treaty and Archaeological Concerns
Please cut, paste and edit as you see fit, and submit to comments@eisgatewaypacificwa.gov. If you are including any of the relevant support documents, please use the online form, where you can attach either JPEG or PDF files.
My name is _____________________ and I live in ___________________________. I respectfully request that various impacts upon tribal nations be given due consideration. Please study:
Potential damages to the Nooksack River, to Salish Sea ecosystems and fisheries, and to Cherry Point itself; and impacts on traditional livelihoods, natural resources, food sources, culture and religion.
Possible infringement of international and treaty rights, and the consequences of such infringement.
Any disturbance of archaeological sites, burial sites, and sites of cultural importance.
As recognized in the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Plan, the Lummi Nation and other tribes have treaty rights in the Salish Sea, as usual and accustomed fishing grounds. How might damaged fisheries; polluted waters, lands and air; altered ecosystems; and increasingly industrialized, crowded waterways impact traditional Native culture and spirituality; employment and livelihoods; natural resources and safe food sources? How might the construction and operations of GPT, and the transport and storage of bulk commodities, including coal, affect the full and proper observation of all relevant rights and treaties?
Xwe'chi'eXen (Cherry Point) is known to have deep spiritual and cultural significance. A burial ground and a sacred site, it is associated with the creation story of the Lummi People and the First Salmon Ceremony. For over 175 generations, Lummi ancestors lived and fished at Xwe'chi'eXen, and it was part of the (now much smaller) Lummi Reservation as established by the Point Elliott Treaty. It was the first site in Washington State to be listed on the Washington Heritage Register and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, supported by the President of the United States, includes the right to maintain and protect archaeological and historic sites. I request that a third party archaeological study of cultural significance at Cherry Point be done in accordance with Lummi tribal code, and approved and accepted by a Lummi Nation cultural commission.
As a non-indigenous person, I can't accurately articulate GPT's current and potential damages to culture and spirituality. That is why third-party studies done in collaboration with the Lummi Nation and other involved tribes are necessary. However, I do understand that the impacts would be serious, and that some would likely be irrevocable and impossible to mitigate. I do understand that we in the United States, as citizens and as a nation, have a legal obligation to uphold treaties and other accorded rights, and a moral obligation to help respect and protect the sanctity of Lummi Nation's holy ground.
Signed ___________________________________________
Note: In the summer of 2011, SSA Marine illegally graded and cleared land without permits on the site for their proposed Gateway Pacific coal terminal at Cherry Point. Both Whatcom County and the U.S. Corps of Engineers required SSA to reach agreement on land disturbances with local Tribes. Five months later, at the time SSA submitted the new GPT application, SSA still had not resolved these outstanding violations. A description, with appendices, of these events can be found here.
Relevant Documents:
Point Elliot Treaty
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Announcement of the U.S. Support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples & Initiatives to Promote the Government-to-Government Relationship & Improve the Lives of Indigenous Peoples
Information on Cherry Point
Sovereignty and Treaty Protection for the Lummi Nation
Copyright © 2013 Coal Train Facts, All rights reserved.
Coal Train Facts
info@coaltrainfacts.org
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Posted by Ryan M. Ferris at 12:06 PM
1,586 Challenged Ballots in Whatcom County as of 11/03/2020
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text:
A Historical City Went From Boom to Bust in the Blink of an Eye
The dining room of 260, where hundreds of family members and friends gathered over the years. (Salena Zito)
December 2, 2020 Updated: December 2, 2020
MT. LEBANON, Pa.—It was never supposed to be my forever home.
Last week, I took one last look at what has been home for most of my adult life and decided to say thank you instead of goodbye.
Thirty-one years ago, I crossed the threshold of 260 with a 6-day-old infant and a boisterous 3-year-old.
Home is never really a place as much as it is a kaleidoscope of experiences that range from soaring highs to heartbreaking lows, with plenty of ordinary in between. If you embrace those moments, they never go away, despite leaving the structure where you hung your hat every night.
My practical engineer father winced the first time he and my mother came to see the house, because I had dared to find a place to live outside the neighborhood in which they and my sisters lived. And because the house was old, with creaky windows, crooked floors, and ancient plaster that dimpled the wallpaper the previous owner desperately used to cover flaws.
My father saw work; I saw potential. He saw endless trips with his toolbox; I saw a home ready to be loved. It took 31 years and a lot of elbow grease. The wall-to-wall carpeting was torn out, the floors sanded, the wallpaper ripped down and every room painted a vibrant color to bring out the character.
It was here my daughter, Shannon, hit her first baseball over the roof, kicked the soccer ball endlessly off the back of the foundation and fell asleep sitting straight up in her walk-in closet while listening to a yoga CD.
It's where my son, Glenn, wore holes into two fence slats while practicing baseball pitches. He also overshot the basketball hoop, landing the ball on the bakery roof next door. And he used to open his bedroom window and crawl onto the sunroom roof to read a book.
All in all, a score of windows fell to the children playing a sport of some kind. My favorite moment was the roller hockey game in the driveway that led to a hockey puck sailing through the stained-glass front-door window and landing at my feet in the living room.
It was the home both children's friends—sometimes their entire sports teams—came to "carb up" with great big bowls of homemade pasta and sauce the night before the big game. It was here all the children's friends came after a big win or loss to celebrate or commiserate the moment.
I always thought it was funny that, despite all the homes in Mt. Lebanon, the children came to ours. There was no game room, fancy television or sofa in our basement. It was literally a basement with a couple of used couches pushed together.
Things were tight in our home. We may have lived in one of Pittsburgh's wealthiest suburbs, but we didn't have much. Clothes shopping for them was not Abercrombie & Fitch at the mall; it was Goodwill. When they had soccer, baseball or football camps or tournaments, my father kept a ledger of the times I had to borrow money and pay him back so they could attend.
There were plenty of times I silently cried on the landing between the first and second floors after the children were asleep, wondering how we were going to get by on the little amount left in the checkbook.
The children never complained about their clothes. They never complained when we couldn't eat out with the other families after every soccer or football game. And they kind of enjoyed looking for spare quarters to fill up the gas tank.
They never complained, because we had this place called home. It was a place where, for 31 years, we hosted the Feast of the Seven Fishes for the entire extended family. It meant an early-morning trip to the Strip District to get our fish from Wholey's, our Italian delicacies from Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. and our great big cups of coffee from La Prima Espresso Co. to keep us going.
Constructed in 1929, 260 is a Dutch colonial. The first owners were the Sumters, who lived a soap opera life filled with infidelities, intrigue, and a questionable suicide. It set the tone for scores of owners who never lasted longer than a few years.
The Bradfutes were some of the more extended owners. He was the local justice of the peace and served as an air-raid siren captain during World War II. In 2018, when I redid the attic, I found a portfolio of his daughter Carol's charcoal drawings—hundreds of them—which she had done as a student at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), revealing a very rare view of the 1930s Pittsburgh landscape and fashion.
When I left, I knew the only appropriate thing to do was leave the drawings with the new owners. They belonged there in all their historic beauty. They were part of the house, not part of my home.
My father was right: 260 was a lot of work.
I was right, too. She lived up to her potential. So much love passed that threshold. So many dreams realized. So many struggles, heartbreaks, and failures as well.
She gave shelter to the three of us for a very long time. She was a gracious host for proms, graduations, birthdays, and family gatherings with uncles and aunts who have long passed. She also served as the place for the annual Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newsroom Christmas party and even several Burns suppers.
My son-in-law, Michael, picked Shannon up for their first date there. And Glenn hugged me goodbye there when he left for Colorado to make his way in the world. The note he left me in the attic came to the new home, as did the memory.
My parents always taught me to leave a place better than you found it. They weren't really talking about a house, but the sentiment applies.
They always taught me to be grateful and to show grace, no matter the situation. As I pulled away from 260 last week, I thanked her for letting us love her and for loving us back, and told her to take good care of her new owners.
Salena Zito has held a long, successful career as a national political reporter. Since 1992, she has interviewed every U.S. president and vice president, as well as top leaders in Washington, D.C., including secretaries of state, speakers of the House and U.S. Central Command generals. Her passion, though, is interviewing thousands of people across the country. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through the lost art of shoe-leather journalism, having traveled along the back roads of 49 states.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.


Are you a Missouri resident with hernia mesh complications?
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Wednesday, March 28, 2018.
There are many types of surgical procedures that can prevent hernias from happening. While many of these treatments have proven successful, the hernia mesh surgery has been linked to incidents of adverse effects post- surgery.
Does bullying happen in college?
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Friday, March 16, 2018.
The cliche of the high school bully is well-known. Read any Stephen King novel with children as the main characters, and it's very likely you'll find a young child, around 13 years old, getting bullied by the older, meaner high school characters.
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Friday, March 9, 2018.
A report from Restaurant Opportunities Centers United has found that 80 percent of women in the restaurant industry have been harassed in the workplace by customers. This is a shocking number, and a sign that something needs to be done about workplace harassment, especially in the service industry.
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
In the state of Missouri, it is against the law to engage in any type of discrimination in the workplace. This law includes racial discrimination. It is upheld by the Missouri Human Rights Act, and legally protects discrimination that has a basis in race, color or religion.
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.
For many women in the workplace, gender discrimination stretches beyond sexually inappropriate behavior, affecting their opportunities and privileges in the workplace. While many of the headlines in the last year involve women coming forward to allege sexual misconduct against former employers or colleagues, gender discrimination encompasses many more kinds of unacceptable workplace behavior.
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Tuesday, February 6, 2018.
It's one thing if an employee gets sexually harassed one day with unwanted sexualized comments. It's another thing if an employee gets sexually harassed every day for a year with sexual comments, unwanted touching and threats.
On behalf of Holman Schiavone, LLC posted in blog on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
When you got pregnant, you wanted to tell all your coworkers. You've never had a problem, and you thought everyone would be happy for you. For the most part, everyone was.


A renowned Irish Insurance company, based in a highly convenient city centre location, is looking a Senior Litigation Claims Handler. As a Senior Claims Handler, you will be responsible for investigation, negotiation and resolution of litigation claims.
MCC qualified, CIP minimum/Relevant professional and /or 3rd level qualification.
Not ready to apply yet? Call Neringa on 01 4744 633 to discuss in confidence.


We believe that freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture. These are not simply American values or Western values; they are universal values.
Published by Simon Constantini on 11th April 2015. Last update on 14th February 2019.
Previous PostPrevious Islam e Sudtirolo.


People could play plenty of games from the applications stores. There are users who can't spend real money on game currencies. Also, there are gamers who play the game with all their efforts. A different type of gamer uses hacks. The hacks do not make the games simple to play but rather it reduces the effort in getting coins and other needed items. A few games become too difficult to finish since the rare diamonds and other gems are too hard to earn.
There are several things to follow if you want to hack appropriately. Apart from the long procedure, there can also be security threats. However, you do not have to experience which mainly because Fifa Mobile Hack hack tools are abundant online. Be it a puzzle or a war game, there's a hack tool online for it. Finding the top service provider of the hack should be you first concern.
There are two kinds of hacks - those that minimize the difficulty of the game and kill the challenge of the game; and those that allows the gamer to simply acquire some premium privileges. Keeping that in mind, the hack you will choose should suit your preference as a player. It's also important to check if the hack tool is updated to its new edition. Outdated versions may have viruses aside from being unable to function.
The best way to learn about hack tools is by conversing with your fellow players. There is always a chance that a few players you know may have used the Fifa Mobile Hack successfully. Just in case you don't know anyone who has tried hacking, you could check out the web. You can check out reviews about hacking tools from their own sites. In order to get more extensive and detailed information, you can view online videos about hacking.
After you get enough details about hacking, start looking up safe sources for hack tools. Start using your newfound knowledge from reading reviews and begin from there. If there has been no mention of websites, try asking from professional players who have used the Fifa Mobile Hack. You will be able to receive answers and even ideas. There are gamers who use an anti-virus software to ensure their devices would be free of malware.
Installation will take place right after the file has been downloaded to your mobile. You can find some hacks that programmed as an application. Read first the instructions just before installing an app. Following these steps would be easy because they are direct to the point. Being banned from the game is possible in case you install the tool improperly. Be reminded to refresh the game to ensure your hack works.


Just a quick post today folks :) I reviewed the white polish from Nubar's Polka Dot duo in this post, but here are both of them together. White Polka Dot has satin opal hex glitters and iridescent tiny glitter. The Black Polka Dot has black hex glitters and tiny black glitter.
I layered the White Polka Dot over Wet n' Wild Black Creme and I layered the Black Polka Dot over Wet n' Wild French White Creme. You can get the polka dot lacquers in a set from www.bynubar.com for $20.


We're pleased to announce that FinTech Global has named Electronic Identification one of the 100 most innovative tech companies in the world. The decision was made by a panel of experts and analysts from the tech industry from a pool of 460 companies.
The list contains the 100 regtech companies which all financial institutions should keep their eye on to help them solve challenges and take advantage of the opportunities popping up all the time.
There are currently over 400 of this companies worldwide, most of them are located in the US and the UK, followed by Switzerland and Ireland. Although, the centre of gravity of global RegTech deal activity has shifted from the US to Europe and looks set to progress to Asia.
The global RegTech market is expected to exceed $70bn in 2020, and the investment in RegTech companies has tripled over the last five years. Half of them offer solutions focused on compliance management, onboarding or transaction monitoring functions, this make a total of 2.0 US dollars invested since 2012.
On average, members of the RegTech 100 anticipate revenue growth of 61.4% CAGR supported by employee growth of 8.3% CAGR over the next five years, which is great. However, there is still the need to overcome some major industry challenges – resistance to innovation within financial institutions and slow procurement processes.
Around three-quarters of RegTech companies are looking to sell their solutions to banks, which clearly occupy the largest client segment of the RegTech market.
Thanks to our artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithm (IAML), our video identification technology allows remote IDing that before had to be done in person at the office.
Today there are two possibilities for procedures that call for maximum security like opening a bank account or taking out life insurance: videoconference and video identification (synchronous and asynchronous).
We offer all of those possibilities but our star product is videoID, which makes it completely unnecessary to go to the office to identify yourself or making a call to another person in the back office to confirm the person's identity. We offer an asynchronous process that allows video identification to increase the conversion rate, reducing time spent right down to a minimum and drastically cutting cost per customer. The entire process takes a maximum of three minutes.
This disruptive technology we developed has also been recognised by the major world player Gartner, which named us cool vendor after just 10 months of production, recognising that we have created a new category in the Internet thanks to our video identification.
We're very proud of Electronic Identification's extended family and of the fact that we're sure that together we'll continue garnering success.
If you'd like to see all of the 100 companies that every financial institution should know about in 2018, click here to buy the full report.


Please Help My Raspy Voice.
I often wake up with a raspy voice (due to a cold, or acid reflux, or a late night of singing), but I have to talk all day at my job. What are some exercises or tricks to help me get my raspy voice ready for the day?
"Morning voice" is a common complaint. Even in the absence of reflux or a cold, many of us wake up with a husky voice.
And performing the night before, especially in a noisy, possibly smoky, environment surely doesn't help!
There are many factors to consider, and incorporate into your management of "morning voice".
First, I would certainly address the issue of reflux. If this is a problem for you, do the usual things: avoid irritating foods, late meals and excessive alcohol or coffee.
Also take your reflux medications, such as proton pump inhibitors, regularly, and not only when you feel the reflux.
Finally, you may consider adding an antacid (such as liquid Gaviscon or Maalox)—one tablespoon on going to bed.
An often neglected cause of morning hoarseness is a dry throat secondary to nasal obstruction.
Snoring is a tip-off, but even if you don't snore, you might breathe through your mouth at night.
If your nose gets blocked, think about using Breathe-rite nasal strips to flare your nostrils open or having your nose examined for an anatomic obstruction (deviated septum).
If you just breathe with your mouth open for no reason, use a humidifier in your bedroom.
Consider the possibility of allergies causing nocturnal nasal obstruction. Dust, dust mites or feathers (or that cat sleeping beside you) are all possible culprits.
Dehydration of the throat is another area of concern.
Limit your alcohol intake the night before, and aggressively rehydrate: drink plenty of water during your evening revels and keep a big glass of water beside your bed during the night.
Colds are often accompanied by excessive thick mucus, which worsen the hoarseness.
Wash your nose with salt water, drink plenty of water, and consider taking a decongestant. Keep in mind, however that antihistamines (and to a lesser degree decongestants) are also drying.
Finally, in the morning- drink a big glass of water on awakening, then hop into a hot steamy shower—this should clean the junk off your vocal folds.
Many singers vocalize in the morning (even if you are just going to your day job), and this might be a good routine.
Work on flexibility and range rather than your high notes- do your sirens, lip trills and other exercises to get the larynx moving.
A last word: try to schedule your voice lessons or auditions for later in the day, if possible.
You want them to hear your best voice, not the morning growl!
Luckily for me I've never had an early morning gig. My voice has ALWAYS taken many hours to "loosen" upon waking in the morning. For me, hydrating before bed and right from the get go in the morning help the most. Especially in the winter months living in a cold climate. "Sound" advice!


text:
Australia's first 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray player is now in stores courtesy of Samsung
By Cybershack
In Cybershack News
Samsung's UBD-K8500 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) Blu-Ray player is now on sale locally, making it the first device of its kind to be available on Australian shores.
The UBD-K8500's claim to fame is that it can play back UHD Blu-Ray, a new disc-based standard that facilitates higher resolution video, and support for 10-bit colour and high dynamic range (HDR) content. While UHD Blu-Ray discs offer up much greater colour expression than a standard Blu-Ray, users require a wide-colour gamut TV (ideally, one that supports the HDR10 standard) to get the most out of this functionality. Any 4K TV will still be able to playback 4K Blu-Ray through the UBD-K8500 – it just might not be as colourful.
In addition, Samsung also announced that the UBD-K8500 recently passed UHD Alliance Premium certification, meaning it will precisely reproduce the information found on UHD Alliance certified UHD Blu-Ray discs. The UHD Alliance Premium certification was created by a plethora of TV manufacturers, movie studios, and tech companies, including Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Disney, Fox, Netflix, Amazon, and Dolby. It is designed to help customers identify top tier products that have been engineered for optimal playback of 4K HDR content.
Samsung Australia Group Product Manager for Audio Visual Simon Howe told CyberShack that the UBD-KB500's local release opens up 4K content to a much wider audience that streaming.
"How many households can actually stream 4K?" said Howe. "With a 4K Blu-Ray player, anyone with a 4K TV can watch 4K movies regardless of bandwidth."
The UBD-K8500 can also playback regular Blu-Ray, DVDs, and CDs.
The UBD-K8500 has a recommended retail price of AUD$599.
A small range of 4K UHD Blu-Ray discs are already available locally, priced around AUD$50 a pop for new release titles. These include Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Martian, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Life of Pi. So far, all available UHD Blu-Ray discs are bundled with a regular Blu-Ray and digital download code as a bonus.
Samsung's announcement follows news that Panasonic will bring its own 4K UHD Blu-Ray player to Australia in September. Panasonic's player will likely come in at a steeper asking price of around AUD$1,000, but offers a number of features intended for high-end audio enthusiasts.
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text:
<?php

namespace Solid\Http;

use Solid\Collection\Enum;

/**
 * @package Solid\Http
 * @author Martin Pettersson <martin@solid-framework.com>
 */
class UploadedFileError extends Enum
{
    const UPLOAD_ERR_OK = UPLOAD_ERR_OK;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_INI_SIZE = UPLOAD_ERR_INI_SIZE;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_FORM_SIZE = UPLOAD_ERR_FORM_SIZE;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_PARTIAL = UPLOAD_ERR_PARTIAL;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE = UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_NO_TMP_DIR = UPLOAD_ERR_NO_TMP_DIR;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_CANT_WRITE = UPLOAD_ERR_CANT_WRITE;
    const UPLOAD_ERR_EXTENSION = UPLOAD_ERR_EXTENSION;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub