A recent Internet blog posed the predicament of many medium/long-term relationships: At some point couples run out of historical stories or even topical things to say. After all, there are only so many Trump tweets you can talk about, and you've long since agreed to disagree about the meaning of life. The blog suggested inventing some new philosophical brainteasers to keep the conversation alive. Having written Investment Outlooks for over 30 years now, I thought it apropos to follow the same approach, so here are my twisters and summary comments following each. Spoiler alert: please think of your answer before reading the "comments".
1) If forced to choose between killing your favorite pet or an anonymous human being, what would you do?
Comment: In a USA TODAY survey from a decade ago, the majority of responses seemed to favor killing the person and saving the pet!
2) Would you rather be "interested" or "interesting"?
Comment: Most say "interested", (as would I), but it's a close vote.
3) If you were offered one year of quality life in addition to how long you would have lived anyway, would you give up your cellphone for it?
Comment: This one creates the most controversy. Young people do not give up their phones. Older people jump at the chance for that additional year. They don't know how to use a cellphone anyway!
4) If you were stranded on an island with a totally repugnant looking and abusive human being, would you entertain romance with him (her)?
Personal Comment: Maybe at 22, not 72!
5) If offered the certainty of a second life after your current one, but it would be a life of misery with no moments of happiness, would you take it?
Comment: A few actually say yes, suggesting that their misery might in some way lead to happiness for others.
6) Is there an emotional distinction between saying "Luv you" and "I love you"?
Comment: Almost certainly. Inserting the "I" signifies a much stronger – and riskier – personal commitment.
Can the Trump Agenda recreate 3% growth?
Well, now, that is the investment question of the hour/day/decade and its conclusion, unlike romance on a desert island, will determine the level of asset prices across the investment spectrum. 3% growth leads to a levered rate of corporate revenue/profit increases and a significantly higher P/E ratio, all else equal. 3% growth also sends a green light/all clear signal to high yield bonds and other risk assets that are leveraged and growth dependent. It may also, although not necessarily, lead to higher real interest rates and a future bond bear market. So what's the answer?
Northwestern's Robert Gordon has long argued that lower productivity may now be a function of having picked all of the "low hanging fruit" such as electrification and other gains from 20th century technology.
Well, growth is productivity dependent, and the experts are in a tizzy trying to explain why productivity in the last five years has averaged only .5% versus a prior pre-Lehman "old normal" of 2%+. Fed Chair Janet Yellen, speaking on April 10th, said that no one really knows the answer, which was her way of saying that the past five years' experience has been three standard deviations outside of the Fed's model. But others, such as Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon, have long argued that lower productivity may now be a function of having picked all of the "low hanging fruit" such as electrification and other gains from 20th century technology. Then there is the obvious connection between recent years' low levels of private sector investment, which perhaps begs another as to why that is so low. Optimists claim that the future benefit of smartphones and medical technology have yet to have an impact and that eventually – much like the introduction of the automobile – they will lead to a resumption of historical trends.
But in a detailed report by the IMF, their economists argue that the current trend is an offspring of the financial crisis. Slowing business investment/trade and an ongoing level of low to negative interest rates have resulted in a misallocation of capital to low risk projects and a slowdown in small business creation. Longer term secular demographic factors such as an aging population also play a significant part since older consumers consume less of almost everything except health care. So Chair Yellen may just be sticking to her old models and her educated but "common sense" deficient staff that claims that no one really knows the answer. She may need to "tease" her brain that is so focused on historical but dated economic models. There may be answers and solutions that other organizations are coming to grips with.
The same IMF study suggests that unless there is an unforeseen technological breakthrough, productivity growth is unlikely to return to the higher rates of the 1990's for advanced economics or the early 2000's for emerging economics. In other words, their warning speaks to a global productivity slowdown, not just a U.S. based phenomena. They warn that increasing tariffs and developing restrictions on immigration will only exacerbate the slowdown. Global growth, and of course U.S. growth, will be lower than average, they forecast.
And if so, what are the investment conclusions? Well here's where a two handed economist might fall back on the conclusion of my six original brainteasers: There is no right or wrong answer. But since I have two hands but have frequently been accused (praised) of not being an economist, I'll post my own comment. Equity markets are priced for too much hope, high yield bond markets for too much growth, and all asset prices elevated to artificial levels that only a model driven, historically biased investor would believe could lead to returns resembling the past six years, or the decades predating Lehman. High rates of growth, and the productivity that drives it, are likely distant memories from a bygone era. If you're "interested" in investment performance, hopefully you'll find these conclusions somewhat "interesting". Now pick up your cellphone and know that the only real way to have one more year of extended life is to feast on blueberries instead of Oreo cookies and to exercise daily instead of heading for your couch and widescreen.


An issue that has divided neighbors in the well-to-do suburban Chicago villages that make up the New Trier High School District has been settled--at least for now.
After two years of weighing the alternatives for accommodating an expected overflow of students, the New Trier school board has voted for a compromise plan that will shift freshmen only to a separate campus.
Enrollment at the nationally renowned Winnetka, Ill., school is expected to grow by 1,000 students over the next decade, too many for the 3,100-student school's existing quarters.
The seven-member board's unanimous decision puts off a more contentious one about whether to create a second four-year school in the district.
Superintendent Henry Bangser praised the board's June 8 decision. "It addresses the overcrowding as soon as we can. It re-creates a program we had back in the '80s, and this time we can do it even better. And it provides an opportunity for a later board to take a look at new demographic data," he said in an interview last week.
Under the plan, which is subject to voter approval in a referendum in the fall, freshmen will move to the former New Trier West campus in nearby Northfield, starting in 2001 or 2002. Then, as late as 2003, the board will use demographic updates to choose among the long-term options: two comprehensive high schools, an expanded Winnetka campus for as many as 4,600 students, or a continuation of the freshmen-only campus.
Board member Frederick Miller said that even though some residents were disappointed with what amounts to half a decision, the alternative was to force people to swallow an option they were dead set against.
"As a board, we were irreconcilably divided," with three members favoring two high schools and three favoring an expanded New Trier, Mr. Miller said.
The division seemed a reflection of the community, where a survey last winter showed that, among those responding, opinion for and against a second school was almost evenly split.
"It was the right decision for where the community is now," said board member Phyllis C. Myers, who has proposed creating a 1,000-student school with voluntary enrollment in addition to the existing New Trier.
"Options for New Trier Facilities Change" lays out the various facilities options. It includes projected enrollment through the year 2012, from New Trier High School.


text:
St. Louis County Executive Indicted in Federal Pay-for-Play Sting
Steve Stenger lied in public statements and took other actions to cover up the crimes, prosecutors said.
by Tribune News Service | April 30, 2019 AT 7:15 AM
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger resigned on Monday. (AP/Jeff Roberson)
By Jeremy Kohler
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, a target of a U.S. government investigation into political favors traded for campaign contributions, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges of bribery, mail fraud and theft of honest services.
Stenger also resigned as county executive on Monday in a letter to County Counselor Peter Krane, writing that "it is in the best interest of our County and my family."
Is Government Corruption More Common, or Are We Just Better at Finding It? Public Corruption Cases Are Harder to Prove Than Ever What Corrupt States Spend Their Money On
The council plans to convene an emergency meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday to vote on a successor, Council Chairman Sam Page said in a statement.
In a copy of the indictment unsealed on Monday, prosecutors said that from October 2014 to Dec. 31, 2018, "Stenger and various individuals and companies schemed to defraud and deprive the citizens of St. Louis County of their right to his honest and faithful services, and the honest and faithful services of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership's Chief Executive Officer, through bribery and the concealment of material information."
Stenger also helped a Rallo company, Wellston Holdings, LLC, obtain options to purchase two properties in Wellston, Missouri which were held by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.
Stenger also helped a company that is not named in the indictment get a 2019 -- 2021 state lobbying contract from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.
Stenger lied in public statements and took other actions to cover up the crimes, prosecutors said.
He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Monday at 1 p.m.
At a Oct. 23, 2014 dinner while Stenger was campaigning, Rallo complained that "he was tired of giving money to politicians and not getting anything in return," the indictment says. He had no such problems with Stenger, according to the indictment.
Rallo repeatedly made political donations to Stenger before his election with the understanding that he would get contracts from the county or associated entities, and continued to do so afterwards.
A Post-Dispatch investigation in 2017 and 2018 put a spotlight on the deals with Rallo. The indictment noted that when a reporter sought information in August 2017 about the Wellston deal, Sheila Sweeney, the CEO of the Partnership appointed by Stenger, instructed Rallo not to talk to the reporter.
"No don't meet him," Sweeney texted back. "Trying to make the Steve & you connection."
Sweeney instructed Rallo to remove his name from public filings connecting him to Cardinal Consulting as a way to cover Stenger and, she added, "me too!!!"
In May 2018, Stenger also told Rallo not talk talk to Post-Dispatch reporters, according to the indictment. The indictment did not make it clear whether the conversation was in texts or if it was a recorded phone conversation.
"You can't talk to the f---ing press," Stenger told him. "I bent over f---ing backwards for you, and I asked you one simple f---ing thing, don't talk to the f---ing press. And I'm telling you, you're gonna f---ing kill yourself, alright, you're gonna kill yourself with this shit."
Stenger told Rallo the paper's interest would die down after he won his August primary.
"Our goal is not to give him anything. This is just a rehash of what he already has. Rehash of that same old story. It's gonna pass in August, because the reason for what they're doing is gonna die ... I'm winning in the polls .. ilt'll go away."
The indictment also revealed why Rallo's Cardinal Consulting had been paid $130,000 on a contract for which he had bid $100,000, an inconsistency explored by the Post-Dispatch.
According to the charges, Stenger directed Sweeney to have Rallo forward the $30,000 balance to another individual, identified by the initials "JC," who had helped with Stenger's political campaign. Rallo did not know JC, and JC did not do any work for the payment, according to the indictment.
Lawyers for Sweeney and Rallo said Monday they would not comment.
The indictment also demonstrated Stenger's disdain for subordinates who refused to carry out orders to direct county business to his donors. He described Mike Chapman, one of his earliest policy advisers, as a "major pain in the ass." And when Director of Administration Pamela Reitz would not go along with awarding an insurance contract to Rallo, Stenger wrote to adviser Jeff Wagener that "I am absolutely done with her. As soon as a replacement can be found I want her gone."
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said Monday that Stenger made the right decision to resign.
Despite a bitter cold war with a bipartisan majority on the County Council, Stenger appeared to be at the top of St. Louis' political world as recently as weeks ago, enjoying wide support from unions and business leaders. After raising an unprecedented $4.4 million for his reelection, he narrowly vanquished a deep-pocketed primary foe in Mark Mantovani and easily dispatched Republican Paul Berry III in the general election.
He was sworn into his second term on Jan. 1, promising "transformational" change in affordable housing, access to medical care and unemployment. Days later came news that the nonprofit advocacy group Better Together was planning to launch a campaign to put a merger of St. Louis city and county on a statewide ballot in November 2020. The plan called for Stenger to emerge as the metro city's first mayor.
Even so, clouds were building over his political future. Post-Dispatch investigations pointed to several instances, including the deals involving Rallo, where county contracts went to Stenger's political donors. Stenger's council rivals launched an ethics probe and called for state and federal investigations into the county's long-term lease for office space at the former Northwest Plaza, which is owned by developers who gave Stenger's campaign $365,000.
Stenger repeatedly denied any quid pro quo and complained about the newspaper's coverage of his administration and its "misleading and tiresome" focus on the county's relationships with his campaign benefactors.
In July, two council members said their sources told them federal agents had tailed Sweeney. The Partnership board forced her out following Post-Dispatch investigations into low staff morale and high turnover at the Partnership, the agency's procurement practices and the awarding of contracts to Stenger's campaign donors. Several former employees told the Post-Dispatch that Stenger essentially ran the office through Sweeney.
A federal subpoena issued to St. Louis County on March 21 sought records of every contract and grant issued by the county since Stenger took office on Jan. 1, 2015. It also sought personnel files for five people he hired as well as records of all his communications.
St. Louis County Council Chairman Sam Page revealed the subpoena's existence to a Post-Dispatch reporter in an interview on March 24, a Sunday morning. That same day, Better Together executive director Nancy Rice told Post-Dispatch metro columnist Tony Messenger that the statewide ballot initiative was being redrawn to remove Stenger as the metro mayor.
The Partnership confirmed later that week that it was cooperating with three federal subpoenas served to itself and two county agencies it staffs -- the St. Louis County Port Authority and the St. Louis County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Agency.
Stenger attempted to spin the bombshell as a routine event in the course of an executive's political career, noting that the U.S. government had previously commanded St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and former St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley's administrations to turn over records, and that he wasn't the target of the subpoena. But Slay and Dooley immediately rebutted his comments, saying the government had never subpoenaed records of their communications.
Days later, assistant U.S. attorney leading the investigation, Hal Goldsmith, clarified in a letter that the county should start by turning over records from a list of grants and contracts -- most of them involving Stenger's campaign donors.
As the county began producing records to comply with the subpoena, the ranks within Stenger's inner circle began to thin. Chief of staff Bill Miller quit on April 12, followed by senior policy advisor Lance LeComb on April 16. Other senior staff members in his office, Tom Curran and Linda Henry, also decided to retire.
University of Missouri-St. Louis political scientist Dave Robertson said some politicians feel bullet proof after getting into office.
"It's easy for people who have their validation from voters to feel that they are entitled to use a lot of power and some of those individuals use that power for things that are illegal -- that's what's at stake here," he said. "Ask a few former Illinois governors about that."
He said the Stenger case forms at a time time in politics when candidates want "massive election war chests."
"Hubris," he added, "makes you dumb."
Ed Rhode, a spokesman for the merger campaign Unite STL, said Monday in a statement: "While the reunification effort is unaffected by today's development, we do believe that it underscores the need for change and the potential benefit of reforming and streamlining St. Louis Government."
It was a stunning end to a political career that saw Stenger rise from two terms on the council to oust a seemingly entrenched county executive Charlie Dooley in the Democratic primary in 2014, then narrowly defeat Republican Rick Stream in the general election.
The day of Stenger's announcement that he intended to challenge Dooley, he told a reporter in an interview that his top priority was "restoring integrity to St. Louis County government."
David Hunn and Jesse Bogan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
(c)2019 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Comgest Growth Japan
Comgest Growth Japan is a concentrated portfolio of only 30-40 high quality long-term growth companies that are either head-quartered, or carrying out their predominant activities, in Japan. Each holding has been bought with a three to five year outlook. The managers believe that Japan is full of under-researched companies with great capital discipline, barriers to entry and growth. Their mission is to find them.
Our opinion
Comgest Growth Japan uses the same well-defined process that the company has used successfully for all its strategies over more than three decades. But at the same time, the company allows its managers to run their funds with complete freedom, in turn letting their stock-picking skills to shine. The team has an unconstrained approach and has demonstrated good active management in a region which has, in the past, made it difficult for managers to show their edge.
Comgest was founded in 1985 and is entirely owned by its employees through a partnership structure. Equity is not restricted to senior managers and the company is proud that approximately 75% of Comgest employees are shareholders. Comgest is set up to do one thing – manage quality growth equity portfolios for the long-term. In this, it has been extremely successful and it now runs around $30 billion of assets. All Comgest funds have the same philosophy and process, which is applied to different parts of the world and each one is high conviction and concentrated, unconstrained by any benchmark. Comgest believes continuity - of their team, style and approach - is its greatest asset. Comgest was awarded the Elite Provider for Equities rating in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
This fund is run by the five-strong team of Chantana Ward, Richard Kaye, Makoto Egami, Junzaburo Hyuga and Heyang Ping. Chantana and Richard are co-lead managers on the fund. Chantana is based in Paris but travels regularly to Tokyo. She has an MSc in Finance from Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business in New York and has managed this fund since 2008.
Richard became co-manager in 2013 and Makoto in 2015. Richard is a graduate of Oxford University, with a degree in Oriental Studies and had previously worked at Merrill Lynch, Industrial Bank of Japan and Wellington Management Company. He is based in Tokyo with Makoto who started his career with JP Morgan Chase and has also worked for US-based Taiyo Pacific Partners and Macquarie as well as being a senior industry analyst at Google Japan. He graduated from Keio University with a BA in Economics and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (USA), as well as the CMA from the Securities Analysts Association of Japan.
They are joined in Tokyo by analysts Junzaburo and Heyang. Junzaburo joined Comgest in 2018. He has had previous role at Rakuten Securities and JP Morgan Chase and holds a degree in Political Science as well as an MBA from New York University. Heyang joined Comgest in 2022 having previously worked at Sparx Asset Management and Macquarie Group as a Japanese equity analyst. She started her career in 2011 at J.P. Morgan. Heyang holds a Bachelor's degree in Management from Yokohama National University and a Master's degree in Technology Management for Innovation from the University of Tokyo.
You can spend half your life in a country and still find something new every day; that's how Japan investing feels for us, a set of world-leading companies waiting to be discovered.
Richard KayeFund manager
In line with the broader Comgest business, Comgest Growth Japan invests in high quality, long-term growth companies. The team believes that markets fail to correctly price a company's sustainable competitive advantage, which should help it generate above average earnings growth. In order to find these companies, the team will perform fundamental research, with the goal to obtain a better understanding of the stock than the wider market.
To find these companies, the managers look for six factors to determine quality. These are the business model, financial criteria, organic growth, barriers to entry, sustainability of the business and quality of management.
They will then search for certain desirable criteria that will demonstrate quality characteristics, such as strong earnings growth, high levels of returns and solid cash flows. They will want to identify businesses with strong competitive advantages, high barriers to entry to new entrants, and earnings visibility.
This reduces the universe down to around 150 investment candidates, from which they will perform more detailed analysis. This will include a review of the financial statements and production of a five year earnings forecast, as well as verifying this analysis in meetings with corporate management, competitors, customers and suppliers. The decision as to whether to proceed with an investment needs to be unanimous. At this point, stocks are valued with a five-year conservative outlook.
The final portfolio will consist of 30-40 stocks. Positions are sized between 1%-5%, with an average of around 3%. This is based on a view of current valuation, the growth opportunity and the visibility of success. The average holding period is between three and five years, but is often longer as their businesses continue to outperform.
ESG - Integrated
Comgest considers ESG issues as integral to the investment process, with each of the Environment, Social and Governance elements all given equal importance when performing stock analysis - from discovery to decision making. The managers look for companies exhibiting sustainable growth characteristics, which leads them to assess many non-financial criteria as part of their research process, such as corporate culture, governance structure, innovation, stakeholder relationships, environmental impact and policies. They then assess each company using their in-house ESG assessment tool, resulting in a rating from 1-4 (1 being an ESG leader, 4 being a laggard where they have identified need for improvement). This rating then impacts the discount rate they use in their proprietary valuation models. As impacting the discount rate leads to greater or lesser upside for the stock, ESG is hardwired into portfolio construction and the decision-making process.
Risk analysis is integrated into each part of the process. During the fundamental analysis, the managers will identify the impact of the additional stock selection on the overall portfolio. They look for diversification on multiple levels, including in individual stocks and for exposures to certain geographies, business activities, markets and currencies. There are no hard limits on sector allocations or geographic regions. The team heads and CIO monitor portfolio construction and performance deviation from the benchmark to assess relative risk. The process is naturally risk averse as all managers are shareholders of the wider company and are therefore acutely aligned with investor outcomes.
Japan funds
Comgest funds
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How we calculate risk
Asset type Equity funds
Sector Japan
Fund Size
Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF)
Annual Management Charge (AMC)
Annual Income (Historic)
Fund Manager Start Date 1 Jan 2008
Payment Date(s) N/A
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The information, data, analyses, and opinions contained herein (1) include the proprietary information of FundCalibre, (2) may not be copied or redistributed without prior permission, (3) do not constitute investment advice offered by FundCalibre, (4) are provided solely for informational purposes and therefore are not an offer to buy or sell a fund, and (5) are not warranted to be correct, complete, or accurate. FundCalibre shall not be responsible for any trading decisions, damages, or other losses resulting from, or related to, this information, data, analyses, or opinions or their use. The Elite Fund rating is subjective in nature and reflects FundCalibre's current expectations of future events/behaviour as they relate to a particular fund. Because such events/behaviour may turn out to be different than expected, FundCalibre does not guarantee that a fund will perform in line with its FundCalibre benchmark. Likewise, the Elite Fund rating should not be seen as any sort of guarantee or assessment of the creditworthiness of a fund nor of its underlying securities and should not be used as the sole basis for making any investment decision. FundCalibre disclaims any responsibility for trading decisions, damages or other losses resulting from any use of the Elite Fund rating. All performance data, as well as fund size, OCF, AMC, annual income (historic), share price discount or premium, is sourced directly from FE Analytics, and will change periodically.


This is a sponsored post, but all opinions stated are 100% my own.
Now is the perfect time to stock up on Crest toothpaste thanks to the $2 off Crest (3 oz.+) coupon in the P&G insert of this Sunday's (7/30) paper.
Stack the coupon with the current sales and promotions going on now at Walmart and Target for even greater savings!


text:
webGuinée/Etat/Capitaine Moussa Dadis Camara/Guinea: Inside Intel / Bloody business in Africa
Yossi Melman
Guinea: Inside Intel / Bloody business in Africa
Haaretz — Israël — December 31, 2009
The Defense Ministry is investigating suspicions that Maj. Gen. (ret.) Israel Ziv, his company CTS Global and his business partners have broken the law regarding military exports.
The investigations unit of the security division of the ministry, the export supervisory wing, and the ministry's legal advisor are involved in the probe, which has one main focus: the suspicion that Ziv signed a $10 million contract to train and supply Guinea's army without first obtaining the proper permits.
The story of Ziv's involvement and that of his partners and other Israelis (including former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami and former Tel Aviv police commander David Tzur) in Guinea appeared in Haaretz in Hebrew last Friday.
Ziv and Tzur became involved in Guinea following a military coup d'etat by Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, who took power in December 2008 after the death of previous ruler Lansana Conte. Camara, who suspended the constitution, clamped down on freedoms in the country and would later be a victim of a failed assassination attempt by one of his generals.
Wary of both his gendarmerie and the old presidential guard, Camara began looking for a security expert who would train his own guard of loyalists.
Mining contracts
Guinea, located on the west coast of Africa, is rich in diamonds, iron ore, bauxite, uranium and salt mines. Since achieving independence in 1959, it has been controlled by corrupt dictators.
Although there are no official diplomatic ties with the country, some Israelis frequent Guinea for business, including international diamond dealer Benny Steinmetz, whose company, BSGR, received a concession to mine iron ore in the country. Steinmetz has received further concessions from Camara.
To consolidate his influence in Guinea, Steinmetz took former prime minister Ehud Olmert with him during one of his visits to the capital Conakry, where they met with Camara. Against that background, stories were reported in the international press that Steinmetz was involved in bringing Israeli military experts, led by Ziv, into Guinea. Steinmetz denied the stories and threatened to sue any media outlets which printed them.
Olmert ignored the foreign ministry's advice not to travel to Guinea, which is under sanctions imposed by the European Union and African nations.
The truth is that it was not Steinmetz that paved the way for Ziv, but Israeli Victor Kenan, who has lived in Guinea for several years.
In March 2009 Ziv and some of his people went to Guinea, met the president and convinced him to grant them a contract to establish and train his new presidential guard and arm it with more sophisticated equipment. Before he went to Guinea, Ziv approached the Defense Ministry and requested permission to contract with Guinea to train forced there.
Ziv and Tzur told Haaretz that they had all necessary papers from the Defense Ministry in hand, and as soon as the ministry ordered them to cease their involvement, they did so immediately. But sources in the defense and foreign ministries are offering a different version of events. Ziv approached the Defense Ministry, as required by law, and requested permission to conduct negotiations with Guinea to train military forces there. But the ministry refused to grant permission, only allowing for Ziv to carry out a preliminary survey in which the exporter could hear out the customer's needs, though he could not discuss a deal or suggest prices.
According to the information that reached the foreign and defense ministries, Ziv did not make do with a survey, but conducted negotiations and signed a contract according to which Global would supply two services to Guinea.
'Strategic' workshops
The first was the establishment and equipping of the presidential guard unit, and a larger force composed of members of the president's tribal loyalists.
The other element of the contract was that Global would teach Guinean decision-makers in a 'strategic' workshop, for the stated purpose of increasing awareness of democratic values. Responsibility for the workshops was to have been placed in the hands of former foreign minister Ben-Ami and former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh.
Later on, Ben Ami and Ziv sent former MK and former ambassador to France Nissim Zvili to Guinea to survey the country for the possibility of introducing democracy.
When asked by Haaretz why a security consultant like Ziv would send him for such a mission he replied, "I was told that Ziv is a political adviser to the Guinean president."
The contract between Global and Guinea bears the date May 4.
Global representatives claimed to the foreign and defense ministries that they were not forbidden to negotiate and sign a contract at that time.
Both state offices think otherwise, and say that Ziv and his people were forbidden to do so.
UN investigation
In September, the president's soldiers slaughtered demonstrators who had gathered in the soccer stadium in Conakry. According to human rights organizations, 157 people were killed in the massacre, dozens of women were raped by soldiers and hundreds of demonstrators were beaten. The French government and the United Nations approached Israel with a request to examine the involvement of Israeli military advisors in Guinea.
Three days after the slaughter, Ziv, Ben-Ami and Sneh held a discussion with deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and other senior officials in the ministry.
Veteran officials at the ministry were especially surprised by Ben-Ami's participation in the session.
"We couldn't believe that a social democrat sensitive to the matter of human rights would be involved in this type of situation, and even more so, in a country like Guinea," one of them said.
The three tried to overturn the decision not to allow any security-related exports to Guinea.
"If we had been there, we could have prevented the massacre," they claimed.
The discussion became heated when Ayalon rejected their assertion that they were working for Israel's interests, and supported the professional ranks of the ministry. Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon confirmed to Haaretz that "It was a difficult meeting, but I don't comment on matters of private business in foreign countries."
A month ago the Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint against Global with the Defense Ministry's enforcement committee, whose role is to decide how to deal with someone who breaks the law and bypasses export permissions. At their disposal are reprimands, the imposition of fines or transfer of the matter to a police investigation, if a criminal offense is suspected.
At the Defense Ministry, a decision has not yet been made, and they are continuing to investigate the matter.
The Defense Ministry spokesman responded to an inquiry by Haaretz that "the ministry is prohibited from releasing details about enforcement activities it takes in the case of one exporter or another."
Global said in response that as far as it knows, there is no investigation. Rather, they say, it is a technical process of clarification regarding business norms and they add they are cooperating with the process.
Sékou Touré


In Mumbai 47 resident doctors at the civic-run Sion hospital fell ill, after consuming a tricoloured sweet served in the canteen on the occasion of Independence Day.
Around 20 resident doctors complained of stomach cramps, giddiness, bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea. They were admitted to ward no 2 as a few showed signs of severe dehydration. "Some had to be started on intravenous fluids," said a doctor on duty. While taking the medical history, it was found that they had all consumed a tiranga barfi that was served during breakfast. "Students who had eaten the breakfast but not the barfi did not have any problems," said a doctor admitted with stomach cramps.
A member of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors said the mawa used to prepare the sweet was bought on Thursday evening. "It is possible the mawa became stale by the time it was used. It could also be fungal infection commonly seen in monsoon," he said.
Dean Dr Avinash Supe said the Sion police and public health department are both probing the matter. "We admitted 47 resident doctors, including 24 women, for observation in our wards. None of them were serious as they were managed on time. Those investigating the incident have found out that the mawa used in the sweet was procured from Koliwada". He said the colour used to make the sweet could have also caused the poisoning. The FDA may collect samples for testing from the police, who have lodged a complaint against the canteen caterers. "The contractor who provided the mawa regularly supplies food to the canteen," said senior inspector Baburao Gavit.


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HomeOutreach Opportunities
The DVAA has a long and proud history of public service, through outreach, for all sorts of institutions and groups (i.e. schools, libraries, churches, civic institutions, etc.). In 2020 and 2021, we were a bit slowed down due to the pandemic but still staffed 21 events in 2021 with over 700 attendees:
3 DVAA pubic star parties at Valley Forge National Historical Park
11 star parties with libraries, community groups, scouts, and others
2 solar viewings
5 astronomy presentations to groups (scouts, schools, etc.)
If you are holding an event and would like to include an astronomy component, please email our Outreach Chair at outreach@dvaa.org.
VFSP June 2022


The abbreviation of the journal title "AIMS molecular science" is "AIMS Mol. Sci.". It is the recommended abbreviation to be used for abstracting, indexing and referencing purposes and meets all criteria of the ISO 4 standard for abbreviating names of scientific journals.
AIMS AIMS Rule 4.4: Acronyms shall be retained in the abbreviated title.


Moose Camp was constructed in summer of 2016 and needs some "TLC" to make it complete. Located in Toll Canyon, this 1-mile long hiking only trail is the latest addition to Basin's trail network. Join Basin Recreation Trails and Open Space team and help put the finishing touches on this new hiking-only gem!
Event takes place on Saturday, October 15, 2016 from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Meet at the Gorgoza Park trailhead (3863 Kilby Road, Park City, 84098). Due to there being no parking on site, volunteers will be shuttled into Toll Canyon via Basin Recreation vans.
The team will be building stone steps, installing drainage, and improving trail sustainability. Be prepared to hike 3-6 miles, work in remote backcountry conditions, and spend the full 4 hours on site.
Please bring work gloves, sturdy closed-toed shoes, water & snacks, and weather appropriate layers (long work pants recommended). Lunch will be provided.
RSVP REQUIRED! Sign up HERE!
Contact Jess Kirby at jessica@basinrecreation.org for more information.


Simplicity and minimalism – it's the beauty and genius behind Scandinavian design. And for those who live and breathe interiors, there's no better place to be than the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.
With the amount of work that goes into a plan, it's vital that the effort can be seen with the completed rendering. After all, the presentation of a design is more often than not the most important part! That's why it's so important for us to continually develop and improve the integrated render engines in pCon.planner – to ensure the highest-quality results every time. It should come as no surprise then that we've implemented some great new features into the latest planner release!
Whether it's to drop a few pounds or a promise to yourself to see more of the world, the New Year is always filled with exciting new experiences and resolutions. It's always fun to see what the next year will bring with it: new styles, new challenges and, yes, new interior design trends! That's right, with the New Year here, we can expect an extension of some of last year's hottest trends and some exciting new ones. Join in on the fun as we take a look at what the world of interiors has in store for us in 2017!


Central Point, OR – Microvellum, Inc., a leading cabinet design and manufacturing software provider, specializing in AutoCAD based CAD/CAM/CIM technologies, announced that Microvellum, Inc. is taking a more active and direct role in the sales, service and support of Microvellum software products worldwide. The former responsibilities of Roger Shaw & Associates for Microvellum sales and support are now being handled by Microvellum, Inc. "These changes will have an immediate and positive impact on our forecasted growth and supports the long term goals of our organization." said Dave Peel, President of Microvellum, Inc.
"We are parting ways with Roger Shaw & Associates, but we wish them well in their future endeavors," continued Peel.
Microvellum, Inc.'s decision to assume a more direct role in the sale and service of Microvellum products is part of Microvellum, Inc.'s overall drive towards improved customer service worldwide. The company's corporate sales and marketing team has a renewed focus on service and growing both existing and new partnerships within the woodworking community.
This announcement comes on the eve of Microvellum's Technology Tour event that will be held in Los Angeles, California on Friday, November 22, 2013 and three weeks before their event in Central Point, Oregon at their headquarter facility on December 13th and 14th. Microvellum encourages all its customers, partners, and those interested in learning more about this change to attend one of these informative events.
To learn more about these events Click Here!
Founded in 1991, Microvellum Inc. is a leading cabinet design and manufacturing software provider, specializing in AutoCAD based CAD/CAM/CIM technologies. Microvellum is headquartered in Central Point, Oregon and has offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia and China. Microvellum offers a single-source solution for 2D & 3D drawings, production reporting, labeling, job management, estimating, nested optimization, direct g-code generation and more. For more information, visit Microvellum.com.


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Chapter 24: It takes backbone to ask for money
Chapter 24: It takes backbone to ask for money Original and most updated translations are from volaretranslations.
Long Feiye's suspicion filled gaze was quite intimidating, but Han Yunxi had a strong heart and didn't waver. After staring for a while, Long Feiye recognized the calmness in her eyes and turned to leave. When she was convinced he'd gone, Han Yunxi quickly stood up, feeling bewildered. This guy couldn't have found the three ingredients she wanted so quickly, right? Exactly what kind of antidote was he looking for?
The Han Yunxi who'd gotten out of the bath was like a lotus blossom appearing just above the water[1], elegant and refined. She was just a touch more ethereal than usual, especially with her clean, clear eyes that resembled icy pools from distant lands of snow. Long Feiye looked at her before walking over, his eyes darkening slightly. He retrieved a bloodstained cloth from the study and said, "This blood has poison, come, have a look."
The detox system alarms had gone off in her head long ago. Han Yunxi accepted the object and took an experimental sniff. She couldn't tell anything from the smell, so it didn't seem to be a commonplace toxin.
"I can't tell what it is by odor alone. Help me fetch a bowl of clear water," she said earnestly. Not that that she needed any--it was just a pretext to get Long Feiye out of the way. This fellow was already so shrewd with his suspicions, it'd be nigh impossible to sneak a blood sample past his eye into her detox system dimension for analysis. When she was treating his poison that night, he'd been heavily wounded and less alert. She had also slipped away into the bedroom to get her needles and medicines.
Long Feiye didn't understand poisons and left without any argument. When Han Yunxi was sure he'd left, she took out an acupuncture needle and collected a drop of blood from the cloth, before placing it in her detox system for chemical analysis. The results revealed that it was a plant-based poison made from various poisonous flowers. Alone, their effects weren't very dangerous, but in high enough quantities they turned toxic. Very quickly, Long Feiye returned carrying a bowl of water. Han Yunxi made a show of placing the cloth in the water before dipping her needle in the bloody liquid and taking a sniff.
"This is a flower poison, the Confusion Stupor Fragrance," she said confidently.
"Make an antidote, I want it now," Long Feiye said callously. She found his tone of voice highly disagreeable. Did he think she was an antidote-making machine? Gathering her wits together, she extended a graceful hand.
"Sure, just give me 50 taels of silver first for your consultation fee."
Long Feiye's eyes flashed in annoyance, but he didn't budge. This woman was flat out asking him for money? When he stared at her in disgust, Han Yunxi knew that she was making a very dirty deal at the moment. But she really was poor! Her own family hadn't even given her a copper coin when they married her off. The Duke of Qin's estate was managed by Grand Concubine Yi, with Murong Wanru helping with the money affairs. Even now, she still hadn't gotten her monthly stipend, and it was doubtful whether she would get one at all.
Although she could live and eat for free here, things such as buying clothes, paying the servants, going out to manage affairs and collecting ingredients for medicines all needed silver. Even without all of that, money was needed to award the servants. The help in a big household were the snobbiest of all types, who loved to wag their tongues and gossip! A smooth and steady life needed her to placate them and control their mouths first.
Long Feiye didn't say much, but tossed a pouch of silver on the table. Just by the sound alone, she could tell it was more than 50 taels. Han Yunxi got the bag, took out 50 taels of silver, and pushed back the rest without hesitation. "Your highness, I said I deserved 50 taels for the consultation fee. You can take back the rest."
She might be poor but she wasn't a beggar. She still needed to keep her backbone.
When that was done, she picked up the brush to write out the prescription for the antidote. Her face was just like the time when she treated his poison, conscientious and bright-eyed. That delicate body wordlessly emanated an indescribable charm that beckoned her watchers closer, as if to invite them for a look into her world to see just what kind of woman she was. The displeasure in Long Feiye's eyes faded away to be replaced by a pondering look as he silently took back the money pouch.
When she was finished writing, Han Yunxi handed over the paper with both hands and asked curiously, "Your highness, have you found those three ingredients yet?"
"Not yet," Long Feiye only said two words without any further explanation. Han Yunxi wondered where he got the time to worry about other poisons when he was poisoned himself. Just what kind of person had succumbed to the Confusion Stupor Fragrance? Of course, she only remained wondering. Curiosity killed the cat was a logic she understood all too well.
She thought Long Feiye would leave as soon as he got the prescription, but he actually handed it to his guard, Chu Xifeng, to take care of matters while remaining behind himself. If it were anyone else, they'd be working nonstop until they acquired the antidote ingredients. This fellow only had a 10-day window before the poison acted up again, but he didn't seem to cherish his life at all.
Fine. Since he was here, she'd just have to sleep in the study again.
Except Long Feiye was walking towards the hot springs, not even turning around as he spoke, "Han Yunxi, get out."
Seriously? It was the dead of night... Where did he want her to go? If he lowered the curtains, then these bedchambers could be partitioned into multiple rooms. She didn't mind it so why should he? She caught up to him and suppressed her temper beneath an appeasing smile.
"Your highness, how have you decided to arrange for chenqie's[2] quarters?" Other wives all got their own courtyards, but an official wife like her didn't even have a place to sleep.
"Go ask the steward to do it," Long Feiye was indifferent in his reply.
The steward…
Han Yunxi's lips twitched. Finding the steward was equivalent to giving Murong Wanru another chance at her. All the affairs in the Duke of Qin's estate were managed by the grand imperial concubine or her adopted daughter. Long Feiye's Hibiscus Courtyard was the only place in the household where no one dared to control things, so she'd meet with plenty of difficulties if she left this place. Thinking here, Han Yunxi tried another smile.
"Your highness, you can live in the bedroom while I live in the study. We won't have to interfere with each other at all, how's that?"
Long Feiye stopped his steps. He still hadn't turned to look back, and his voice was as cold as before. "His lordship won't be used to it. Hurry and get out."
Even though he saved her life, what a cruel and heartless man!
You won't be used to it? Your auntie, I'm not used to it, either!
But the house belonged to him. Without a choice, Han Yunxi could only leave, carrying along a lantern as she strolled through the Hibiscus Courtyard. After moving in for two days, she hadn't even gotten the chance to look around yet. Very quickly, Han Yunxi grasped the particulars of this place. It covered a sizeable area but only contained the main sleeping quarters and a small side building. This building was originally built for the servants, but the Hibiscus Courtyard had no such help.
After checking to see that it was unoccupied, Han Yunxi rejoiced and hung her lantern on the wall. From now on, she could just stay here instead! The first floor could be her study and guest room while she slept in the room upstairs. If this was the modern era, it'd be a single-person apartment. After everything else, Han Yunxi had long forgotten the unhappy events at the general's house. She carried the 50 taels of silver in her robes, musing over how to furnish her rooms before slowly falling asleep.
When daylight broke, Long Feiye had already long disappeared. Han Yunxi wanted to ask after him, but there was nobody else in the Hibiscus Courtyard besides herself. It'd be best if they didn't meet up. Then they'd wouldn't have a chance to get sick of each other!
Very good. He'd live his life while she lived hers, unfettered and carefree.
Han Yunxi went to move her two dowry chests into the new house. Although they were filled with old things, they were still precious treasure for something who had nothing else. While organizing the items, she discovered a pale purple pouch made from cloth. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a homemade medical bag, small but filled with all the necessary pockets to allocate different medicines. There was even a special case for acupuncture needles, designed to hold needles of all sorts of sizes. The little pouch was brand new, and a small character for Xin (?) had been sewn in the back right hand corner. Without a doubt, this was something left behind by Lady Tianxin.
It was probably meant for her.
Han Yunxi imagined Lady Tianxin with her round belly, waiting for her child to be born as she sewed the pouch. Her eyes suddenly turned a little red as sadness overtook her heart. After nearly ten months carrying the baby, did Lady Tianxin ever think that a divine doctor like herself would die from a difficult labor? She didn't even have a chance to see her daughter's face. For all her aspirations, did she ever imagine her child would become useless trash that was bullied and humiliated in the Han household?
Lady Tianxin, don't worry. The Han Yunxi of today definitely won't disappoint you!
Han Yunxi took out a complete set of acupuncture needles from her detox system, along with some commonplace medicines, cotton swabs, gauze and so on, before methodically storing them in the little cloth pouch. From now on, this would be her official medical kit. The detox system she carried around was located in an imperceptible "dimension" that no one else could see. She could take things in and out of it freely, but it'd raise questions if others saw. Modern people would think it was magic, while the ancients might treat it as demon arts or sorcery.
Conveniently enough, this mini medical kit could be her cover while she worked. She placed it in her robes and resolved to carry it on her at all times.
When everything was organized and put away, Han Yunxi left to purchase some more necessities before making her new house clean and homey. She thought she could have a good sleep afterwards, but trouble came knocking on the door as soon as she lay down.
Mu Qingwu hadn't woke up, so General Mu came to find her personally!
In disbelief, a shocked Han Yunxi hurried to the receiving hall. Murong Wanru was already there, sitting in the hostess' seat of honor as she chatted with General Mu. Seeing her enter, General Mu's temper flared.
"Han Yunxi, you liar! You said Mu Qingwu would wake up, but he still hasn't opened his eyes! Not only that, his high fever's back again! Explain yourself or else I won't be finished with you!"
General Mu had Gu Beiyue overlooking everything. When this happened, even the imperial doctor was at a loss. He couldn't tell the origin of the illness at all and suggested consulting Han Yunxi again. General Mu didn't trust Han Yunxi and called in multiple poisons experts instead. Strangely enough, none of them could figure out the cause either. With no other choice, he had to find Han Yunxi again and depend on her.
"Impossible! His poisons were already expelled!" Han Yunxi's face was a little pale. She refused to believe that she had made a mistake. Murong Wanru had gotten the details of what happened already and hastily rose to her feet.
"Sister-in-law, when did you ever learn medicine? How come I don't know?"
Murong Wanru, are you trying to touch a sore spot?[3]
Han Yunxi was too lazy to pay her any attention, but spoke earnestly. "General Mu, I can guarantee that the poison in his stomach has been treated. As to why he's still unconscious with fever, I've never met someone I couldn't diagnose. Why don't I go back with you?"
"Hmph, of course you're coming back with me! I'm telling you, Han Yunxi, if Qingwu doesn't wake up, I'll use your life to preserve his!" General Mu's rage reached to the skies.
Murong Wanru's face looked both alarmed and stricken. She rushed to pull Han Yunxi behind her back, angrily saying, "General Mu, it was just someone who incidentally saw my sister-in-law pull a knife on him! It was just her trying to wake him and failing! This doesn't prove anything. Even though my sister-in-law knows nothing about the medical arts, I still believe she wouldn't act so recklessly!"
Blunt…!
Murong Wanru, you white lotus[4], can't you just shut up?!
[1] lotus blossom appearing just above the water (出水芙蓉) - chushui furong, a saying to depict a beautiful woman, poem, or painting.
[2] chenqie (臣妾) – a humble form of self-address for females equivalent to 'your subject' or 'your servant'. In this case, used by a wife to her husband.
[3] trying to touch a sore spot (哪壶不开提哪壶) - nahu bukai ti nahu, literally "to mention the pot that doesn't boil", or to talk about someone's weak point.
[4] white lotus (白莲花) - bai lianhua, refers to a woman who is two-faced.


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The Role of Digital Identification for Healthcare: The Emerging Use Cases
By DIAL Research
Identification is crucial for the efficient and effective delivery of health services and public health management and is therefore instrumental for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. A secure, inclusive and responsible method of uniquely identifying and authenticating healthcare users over time and across facilities is central to each of these needs and the goal of achieving universal healthcare.
The goal of this paper is therefore to synthesize selected examples of how foundational systems are used for healthcare in a variety of countries. We hope that this initial effort at framing the utility of foundational identification for healthcare and providing early lessons and key considerations will help guide future work in this area by practitioners, donors, and researchers.
The authors would like to thank Samuel Lantei Mills, Chiho Suzuki, and Dominic Haazen from the World Bank and Kate Wilson from the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) for additional comments and feedback, and Vyjayanti Desai (ID4D Manager) for her supervision. Funding and direction for this paper were also generously provided by DIAL.
Getting stronger together: Promising signals that international digital cooperation can accelerate digital transformation in Africa
Over the past two weeks, newspapers have been filled with progress made by the international scientific community to trial and release global vaccine candidates to inoculate us against COVID-19. While this…
Procurement of Digital: Can We Simplify Complexity
In July this year, DIAL and Deloitte began work on the development of a toolset to support governments in low resource settings to improve their digital technology…
Accelerating National Digital Transformation: Announcing the First in DIAL's New Series of Leadership Briefs
Today, DIAL released the first in our new series of Leadership Briefs, which set out our takeaways on key digital development topics. DIAL's first brief covers national digital transformation, a central…


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Q: PyQt/PySide QGraphicsView cannot be translated I would like to subclass a Python-Qt QGraphicsView object to display some images, and I want to be able to pan with mouse dragging.  However, the methods QGraphicsView.translate(x,y) and QGraphicsView.CenterOn(x,y) don't work.  Here's a simple sample code fragment (for simplicity I left out mouseMoveEvent):
import sys
from qtpy import QtGui, QtCore, QtWidgets

class MyView(QtWidgets.QGraphicsView):
    def __init__(self):
        QtWidgets.QGraphicsView.__init__(self)

        self.scene = QtWidgets.QGraphicsScene(self)
        self.item = QtWidgets.QGraphicsEllipseItem(-20, -10, 160, 160)
        self.scene.addItem(self.item)
        self.setScene(self.scene)
        self._drag = False
        self._pos = QtCore.QPointF(0.0, 0.0)

    def wheelEvent(self, event):
        if event.angleDelta().y() > 0:
            self.scale(1.5,1.5)   # Increase zoom
        else:
            self.scale(0.75,0.75) # Decrease zoom

    def mousePressEvent(self, event):
        self._drag = True
        self._pos = event.pos()

    def mouseReleaseEvent(self, event):
        if self._drag:
            self._drag = False
            newPos = event.pos()
            delta = self._pos - newPos
            # What the docs say work to translate:
            self.translate( delta.x(), delta.y() )

            aff = self.transform()
            print( 'isTranslating: {}, dx: {}, dy: {}'.format(aff.isTranslating(), aff.dx(), aff.dy()) )
            print( 'hozScroll: {}, vertScroll: {}'.format( self.horizontalScrollBar().value(), self.verticalScrollBar().value() ) )

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
    view = MyView()
    view.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Substitute PySide2 or PyQt5 for qtpy if needed.  In order to enable translation, you first have to scroll in with the mouse wheel.  Then you try dragging you can see that while the affline transform matrix is changing, but the view doesn't translate.

A: Because QGraphicsView:
http://pyside.github.io/docs/pyside/PySide/QtGui/QGraphicsView.html
is a child class of QAbstractScrollArea:
http://pyside.github.io/docs/pyside/PySide/QtGui/QAbstractScrollArea.html
QGraphicsView.translate() does move the scene, but then the parent class is called and the signals connected to the scroll bars move the scene back to the scroll-bar indicated position.  One solution is to turn off the scroll bar signals:
self.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy( QtCore.Qt.ScrollBarAlwaysOff )
self.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy( QtCore.Qt.ScrollBarAlwaysOff )
self.horizontalScrollBar().disconnect()
self.verticalScrollBar().disconnect()

If you want to retain the scroll bars, you have to set them directly:
self.horizontalScrollBar().setValue( self.horizontalScrollBar().value() + delta.x() )
self.verticalScrollBar().setValue( self.verticalScrollBar().value() + delta.y() )

Or possibly you could replumb the signal/slots going into them.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
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Networkcar Named Finalist in Three Awards for Communications Services
SAN DIEGO, CA., Sept. 30, 2008 - Networkcar®, a leader in wireless fleet management, today announced that it has been chosen as a finalist in three award programs for technology and business innovation. The three awards include the AeA High Tech Award, the CONNECT Most Innovative Product Award, and the Dealmakers of the Year honors.
Networkcar's patented technology, Networkfleet®, has been selected as a finalist in the 15th annual AeA High Tech Awards in the category of communications products and services. Networkfleet is a wireless fleet management system that combines patented remote diagnostic systems with GPS-based location technology to reduce fleet operating costs. Fleet managers receive alerts and log on to a secure Web site to manage vehicle information.
Networkfleet was also selected as a finalist in the CONNECT Most Innovative Product program in the category of clean technology. Networkfleet's continuous emissions monitoring, combined with the system's ability to reduce fuel usage, lower idle time, reduce vehicle speed and miles traveled, is having a significant impact on reducing harmful emissions. In California, Networkfleet customers are wirelessly "smog checked" to immediately identify out-of-compliance vehicles.
Networkcar was named a finalist in the Dealmakers of the Year honors by Point Loma Nazarene University's Fermanian School of Business and Business Center. The Dealmakers award honors San Diego individuals and firms that create significant, long-term value for the region. The awards recognize unique area individuals, firms, and events that exemplify creativity, value, innovation, success, and ethical practices that set the standard for the San Diego regional business community.
"It is rewarding to watch Networkcar receive recognition for all the hard work and dedication by everyone on our team," said Keith Schneider, president of Networkcar. "This is an exciting time for Networkcar. We are expanding and working with a growing customer base to provide much needed services that help fleets reduce fuel costs and consumption as well as have a positive impact on the environment."
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Aaron Parks: Make Me Believe a Melody
By Frank J. Oteri
Video presentation and photography by Alexandra Gardner
I first became aware of Aaron Parks when he was still a teenager. His mother handed me a CD featuring his trio at a gathering of the Jazz Journalists Association. Called The Promise, the disc featured two originals and a bunch of jazz standards. Although listening to the recording was hardly a life-changing experience, Parks's piano playing was already extraordinarily sensitive and his improvisations had a remarkable fluidity that sounded as if he had a lifelong immersion in this music. This seemed odd given that he hadn't lived that long up until that point and that he grew up outside of Seattle in the final decade of the 20th century, a time when most of his contemporaries were into grunge rather than straight-ahead jazz.
But Aaron Parks, who recently turned 30, was not a typical kid. He was playing both jazz piano and classical bassoon by age 10. At age 14, he skipped high school to enroll at the University of Washington and, by the age of 17, he was named a National Merit Scholar and a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Soon after that, he transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with legendary pianist Kenny Barron and continued to record albums with groups he led, one a year. Before his 20th birthday, he had released a total of four CDs, the most impressive of which was The Wizard, which consisted exclusively of original material performed by a trumpet/alto sax/piano/bass/drums quintet.
"There are a few of the songs from that record which I still really like," said Parks when I spoke to him last month at his Brooklyn apartment. "In particular I really like 'Planting Flowers'; that's even in my current repertoire. I just pulled it out to give it a go again. [Ed. note: It was part of the quartet set he played at the NYC jazz club Smalls on April 2 and 3.] I feel mostly disconnected [to that music], but I look back every now and then. I smile to myself listening to those old records. … In retrospect, sometimes I feel a little bit goofy about having all of those records out there. The whole child prodigy thing can be dangerous. When everybody around you is sort of telling you [that] you're special, you're like, 'Oh, well, maybe I need to be special.' It makes you feel like you can't just be. You can't just be a person. You need to live up to this idea of the story others have been telling you."
So despite his very clear abilities and his artistic drive, he decided to sit in the back seat for a while after the fourth of these albums, Shadows (2002), which included a cover of the Radiohead song "Knives Out." "I knew that I wasn't ready," Parks admitted. "I knew that I wanted to get some real experience. I could have kept on going and doing stuff as 'the young piano guy,' but I knew that I needed some more depth."
What wound up happening is the stuff of legend. Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, whom Parks had met only briefly a year earlier, called him up and invited him to attend a live XM radio show moderated by Wynton Marsalis on which Blanchard was scheduled to perform with a group that also featured pianist Chick Corea. Parks skipped his Afro-Cuban Big Band rehearsal at MSM and rushed downtown. It turned out that Corea couldn't make the gig, so Blanchard asked Parks to play with the group. He wound up being Blanchard's pianist for five years, touring the world and releasing three albums on Blue Note, among them the 2008 Grammy Award-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Although he remained a sideman, each of these albums featured one of his own compositions.
"Terence was really interested in compositions from all the band members," Parks remembered. "That became one of the hallmarks of that band. Most of the guys wrote music for it, carrying on the tradition of Art Blakey mentoring young musicians. That's a trip because Terence is such a heavy composer."
A pensive Aaron Parks at the piano.
One of the pieces Parks contributed to the repertoire of Blanchard's group was "Harvesting Dance," an unusual tune largely derived from the harmonies of Arvo Pärt Fratres. "I like these chords so I think I'll take them," Parks acknowledged. "I love Arvo Pärt; he's one of the deepest. I listen to whatever crosses my path and whatever I feel some sort of connection to. I don't really make distinctions between genres."
That open-mindedness has led Parks to participate in a wide array of musical endeavors in the years since he left Blanchard's outfit, working in groups led by musicians as diverse as guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, drummer Kendrick Scott, saxophonist Justin Vasquez, vocalist Gretchen Parlato, and Danish bassist Anders Christensen in whose trio he played alongside the late Paul Motian. Parks even appears on the indie rock album Dreams Come True, the debut studio recording by CANT, a group fronted by Grizzly Bear member Chris Taylor. But perhaps the most unusual project Parks has been involved with thus far is a collaboration with South Korean-born vocalist Yeahwon Shin and accordionist Rob Curto combining traditional Korean melodies and free improv; they are about to embark on a nationwide tour in support of their debut album Lua ya, which was released last November on ECM. Almost anything is fair game:
I like music and I like songs and I like sounds. … I like to put myself in situations where I'm a little bit out of my comfort zone. I do also want to have some sort of entry point to the music, though. I want to be challenged all the time, but I don't want to only be challenged in my head. So music which is purely cerebral, or feels that way to me, I don't tend to have quite as much of an attraction towards. But if it's cerebral and I can dance to it, or it makes me feel something, there's more of a chance.
All of these projects have also fed back into his own creations as a composer and bandleader in his own right. Shortly after leaving Blanchard, Parks recorded an album of all originals for Blue Note called Invisible Cinema for which he assembled a quartet of guitar, bass, and drums in addition to himself (here not only on piano, but also on glockenspiel and mellotron). "Harvesting Dance," the aforementioned Pärt-inspired piece, made a re-appearance here but in a completely new guise. Another one of the album's tracks, "Nemesis," showed how deeply he had internalized the ambiguous harmonic language of Radiohead by that point. All in all, this first album as a leader in six years (since the last of his four youthful efforts) was worlds away from the mostly straight-ahead approach of his teens.
"I was pretty consciously trying to make something that didn't have traditional jazz rhythms," Parks explained. "I wanted to try to find some sort of rhythm of our time. At the time I was making that record, I had been scouring blogs for tracks by indie rock bands and was hearing all these new textures and different ways of structuring songs aside from a typical jazz thing. People had been doing that for a long time in the [jazz] scene, but for me it was pretty much brand new and I was just discovering it."
It would be another five years before an additional two albums got released under his name, two albums that are almost polar opposites. One, Alive in Japan, was simply a lo-fi recording of a December 2012 trio date at a club in Japan combining originals and standards that harken back to his roots. He has made it available for free download on Bandcamp where he states, "If for some reason you feel compelled to contribute something, consider donating to a charity in Japan (or elsewhere in the world), or buying someone else's record with the money you didn't spend on this one." The other, Arborescence, is an introspective series of solo piano improvisations recorded in the extremely resonant Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 2011 and released two years later on ECM, a label treasured by audiophiles for its pristine sound.
"I was recording it with a friend of mine just to see what happened," Parks acknowledged. "They were just things that happened. We had the recording equipment up and we were there for a few days. I did all sorts of stuff while I was there: I played some of my pieces, I played standards, and I played a bunch of these improvisations—listening back to it, those were the things that felt the most as if they were being inhabited, like I was fully present for them."
For Parks, being present in the moment of performance is ultimately more important than creating a great original melody or playing it back perfectly. It's something he tries to do in whatever context he is put in. And it's something he wishes more musicians would be given the opportunity to focus on in today's overextended working environment:
One of the problems with the scene today is everybody is so busy doing so many different things. Most people are pretty proficient at doing a lot of things; you can give somebody some music and they'll read all of the notes and it'll be great. But then they're onto the next gig. I don't want music to just be information like that. … There's a focus on being an individual; you've got to do your own thing at all costs, being original so to speak. But they focus on that one particular side of what original means. Originality is not only creating something new, it's also having authentic presence—being fully present in the interpretation of what you're doing. … I want people who can play a part—inhabiting it fully—and make me believe a melody. I don't want you to play the melody; I want you to sing it to me. That's a rare thing.
An excerpt from the leadsheet for Aaron Parks's composition "Siren" Copyright © 2009 by Aaron Parks and reprinted with his permission.
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► ▼2 thoughts on "Aaron Parks: Make Me Believe a Melody"
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bongo June 12, 2014 at 1:25 am
I really like Aaron Parks' music. And he's a super cool dude, not conceited at all and very honest + open minded. These are the kinds of folks I like to see representing jazz of the next generation. Go Aaron!
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You probably use sunscreen to protect yourself from the harmful rays of the sun. You will doubtless have had days when you forgot to use it and ended up with painful sunburn. Exposure to the sun can damage your skin and will increase your chances of suffering from skin cancer. You should also be aware that your horse can get burned too and so requires sun protection.
Horses are particularly vulnerable in areas of exposed light skin around the nose and muzzle and also in areas where they have white body markings. Excessive exposure to the sun can lead to Squamous cell carcinomas which are small tumours that can form on pink skin. They are most likely to form around the eyes.
It is important that you protect your horse from the sun but this requires a little thought and the right accessories. Obviously it is best to keep you horse out of the sun if at all possible. It really helps if your paddock had a shady area or a covered area to which your horse can retreat. You should also consider dressing your horse in a fly mask as many feature a flap to cover the muzzle and/or UV protection. A summer sheet will also be useful for greys or horses with light markings on their body.
The aforementioned vulnerable areas greatly benefit from the application of equine sun cream or sun block. This can be a little messy but it is well worth taking the trouble to provide this protection. No matter how careful you are accidents do still happen and so it is always good to have after sun lotions on stand-by.
At Equi Supermarket we offer both barrier sunburn soother and Nettex sun block. The good news is that you can use the sun block yourself! These carefully formulated products could save your horse from a great deal of pain and from developing more serious health issues after exposure to the sun.


Anything! What happened to it? Got any pictures? Did your Dad own the Magnum turbine which was used in the advert?
I thought that having more patience was a result of my getting older. Turns out that I just don't give a sh*t.
Just found this one. Circa 1974ish. Taken from Durlston Head.
Great shot! What a beautiful boat - Don Shead´s idea of incorporating the turbine exhaust into the overall shape was genius!
Here is how the Outerlimits looks under the hatch. With the exhaust coming out under the swim platform, you can actually have a conversation in the cockpit without even yelling.
How's it going - hope it's not too cold over there! Are you going to Miami for the boat show?
OMG - I am *totally* in love!!


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text:
Q: What websock library does action cable use? Does Rails action cable use a custom websocket library or does it use an open source one?

A: ActionCable uses the Faye Websocket Driver. You can find this information in the Gemspec for ActionCable, which is available as part of the Rails project on Github.


text:
Effect of solubility of multicomponents from semi-anthracite coal on coal structure
Recent market demands have created an acute need for unconventional gas. More so, coalbed methane, a peculiar kind of unconventional gas, has become of much interest owing to the increasing pressure for supplying conventional gas and reducing greenhouse effect. Since coalbed methane is embedded in coal, studying the nature of coal itself has become a priority. Unfortunately, it is difficult to employ a single technique when exploring the chemical nature of coal owing to its heterogeneous and intricate nature. Solvents treatments have provided a way to research and study the structure of coal. However, up to date, an assessment of the existing plethora of literature has revealed that very few researchers have attempted to choose varied solvents with different properties to study composition and structure of semi-anthracite coal in detail.
Recently, Henan Polytechnic University researchers led by Professor Xiaodong Zhang assessed the effect of major functional groups and microcrystalline structure under the solubility of multi-components from semi-anthracite coal, through different single solvent treatments, including: tetrahydrofuran, carbon disulfide, hydrochloric acid, chlorine dioxide and combined solvents treatments. Of utmost importance, they explored the variations in the change characteristics and treatment mechanisms with two independent techniques, namely: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for identification of functional groups and X-ray diffraction for determination of microcrystalline structure. Their work is currently published in the research journal, Fuel Processing Technology.
In brief, the research method used by the scientists commenced with the collection of the semi-anthracite coal samples. They then selected the previously named solvents and proceeded with the treatment experiments. Next, they engaged in X-ray diffraction measurements where four microcrystalline structure parameters of the samples were acquired. Lastly, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements were performed.
The authors observed that the extraction yields of organic solvents were significantly greater than the dissolution yields of inorganic solvents, and the solubility of hydrochloric acid was relatively higher than that of chlorine dioxide. In addition, they noted that the main functional groups in coal, including aliphatic, aromatic and oxygen-containing functional groups, possessed a decline tendency to different degrees under the treatment of organic solvents. Furthermore, they saw that the main microcrystalline structure parameters increased in vertical direction but reduced in parallel direction of the aromatic carbon network layer with the swelling effect, regardless of an organic solvent or inorganic solvent treatment.
In summary, Xiaodong Zhang and colleagues successfully presented a detailed examination of the impacts of different solvents on coal structure. In general, they observed that the main functional groups and microcrystalline structure in coal showed relatively intricate features within the combined solvents treatment because of the phenomenon of pore-blockade, pore-expansion or slight solvent retention. Altogether, their study established the chemical structure models of semi-anthracite coal on pre and post solvent treatments and could therefore act as a stepping stone and reference for studying the chemical structure of semi-anthracite coal.
Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of experiments.
Fig.2. Characteristics of microcrystalline structure parameters.
Fig.3. Characteristics of functional groups in coal
Fig.4. The structure model of semi-anthracite coal at the combined solvents treatment.
Dr. Xiaodong ZHANG is a professor and doctoral supervisor in School of Energy science & Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University (HPU). He obtained his master degree in 1999 from HPU and PhD degree in 2005 from China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT). Prof. Zhang have worked in HPU since 2005.
He is mainly engaged in the exploration and development of unconventional natural gas, coalbed gas geology and the mechanism and prevention of coal and gas outburst.
Shuo ZHANG was born in 1991. She is studying for her Ph.D. in School of Energy Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University(HPU), China. She received her bachelor's degree and master's degree from HPU in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Her research interests are focused on coalbed methane geology and engineering, coal geochemistry.
Xiaodong Zhang, Shuo Zhang, Pengpeng Li, Zhe Ding, Zongchao Hao. Investigation on solubility of multi-components from semi-anthracite coal and its effect on coal structure by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Fuel Processing Technology, volume 174 (2018) page 123–131.
Go To Fuel Processing Technology


text:
NEWTON, LEWIS WILLIAM
David Minor
NEWTON, LEWIS WILLIAM (1881–1965). Lewis William Newton, teacher and historian, son of John Milton and Elizabeth (Autry) Newton, was born in Smithfield, Texas, on May 2, 1881. After attending Polytechnic College in Fort Worth from 1898 to 1901, he studied at the University of Texas, where he received B.A. (1904) and M.A. (1907) degrees. Newton taught history at Bonham High School and in San Antonio for a year, and then in Fort Worth for eight years, before becoming superintendent of the Fort Worth school system in 1916. During the summers of 1915–18 he taught at the University of Texas. In 1919 he joined the history department of North Texas State Normal School (now the University of North Texas) in Denton. Six years later he became chairman of the department, a position he held until his retirement in 1951.
During his thirty-two-year association with North Texas, Newton assisted the school's president, Robert Lincoln Marquis, to acquire accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, received a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago (1929), and wrote a number of textbooks for use in Texas high schools. One of these, A Social and Political History of Texas (1932), coauthored with Herbert P. Gambrell and edited by Eugene C. Barker,qqv sold close to 1½ million copies. Newton also produced twelve history and geography workbooks for public school use, was the editor of a Texas map series for high schools, and wrote What America Has Done and America Yesterday and Today, books designed for high school history and political science classes.
Newton was a Methodist and a Democrat. He married Jodie M. Short on June 14, 1903, and they and their three children were active in a variety of Denton community organizations. Newton died in Denton on September 16, 1965.
Sam Hanna Acheson, Herbert P. Gambrell, Mary Carter Toomey, and Alex M. Acheson, Jr., Texian Who's Who, Vol. 1 (Dallas: Texian, 1937). Dallas Morning News, September 18, 1965. Denton Record-Chronicle, January 13, 1941, September 17, 1965.
Handbook of Texas Online, David Minor, "NEWTON, LEWIS WILLIAM," accessed January 17, 2020, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fne25.


The governing board of the STEM school meets for a board meeting attended by staff and parents April 5.
When they sit down to review results from this spring's PARCC tests, staff at the John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School at Aurora University will have to request their students' scores from the surrounding public schools.
That's because, unlike traditional public schools, information specific to the STEM school is not reported to the state, so it does not receive a traditional school report card. While the school is set to annually undergo a wide-ranging evaluation from an outside firm, detailed, comparative data about the school can be hard to find.
STEM school test scores are directed to the public schools in the four districts that formed the STEM school and are counted among their home schools' state data.
The STEM school is a partnership between Aurora University and four school districts – Indian Prairie School District 204, East Aurora School District 131, West Aurora School District 129 and Batavia School District 101.
Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Amanda Simhauser said scores are not reported to the state board specifically for the STEM school because federal funding for those students is tied to their home schools, where they remain enrolled. Officials call the STEM school an "attendance center," accountable to its governing board and the four school districts whose administrators sit on the board.
Sally Glavin, a Naperville resident who has repeatedly criticized District 204 for spending money on the STEM school instead of lowering class sizes within the district, said she tried to search for test results for the STEM school to see whether those students outperformed students enrolled in a gifted education program in Indian Prairie.
"Since we are paying for (the STEM school), at the very least we should be able to see how that school is performing," she said.
Many say the STEM school, now in its second year, is unique in Illinois .Focused on hands-on education using new technology, it serves about 200 third- through eighth-graders generally selected by lottery. Teachers from the four districts rotate through the school in a move designed to provide them training and allow them to bring knowledge back to their home districts. It operated and funded by the four districts and Aurora University, working with corporations and non-profit organizations.
Some districts raised concerns while details about its operation were still being ironed out. Oswego-based Community Unit School District 308 rejected a pitch to join the partnership, citing the school's cost and relatively small size.
Traditional public schools and districts have state report cards, including detailed state test data, student demographics and information about teachers, enrollment and finances. Instead, the STEM school relies on an outside evaluator's report based on surveys, interviews, student tests and observations.
After Glavin's request, the school posted the evaluation on its website.
The nearly 30-page report includes some basic information about the school, as well as information about how the various partners in the school work together. Student demographics are listed in a paragraph about halfway through, and once PARCC scores became available last year, a summary of results was created listing the percent of students school-wide who met or exceeded expectations on the exam. It also includes information about other student tests and a rubric, according to the school.
"I don't think we provide any less information than any other school district provides to their parents before they make a decision to come to a particular school," said Sherry Eagle, executive director of Aurora University's Institute for Collaboration and a member of the school's governing board. "If anything, (we) provide more."
STEM School Director Arin Carter said staff "absolutely" look at PARCC scores, after they get them from each of the school districts. Parents also receive their child's score report.
She said the exam is new, so it's difficult to see how it aligns with state standards. But she said the results "show that our students are being successful at our school."
Parents looking for information about the school call "all the time," Carter said. Eagle said the school also has parent information meetings.
"Everything's working fantastic," Carter said. "We're completely seeing positive results in our students and we really feel like what we're doing is working. And the students enjoy coming to school."
When making PARCC scores public, the STEM school must be careful not to double count them at the state level since they are already counted as part of their home schools, Carter said.
Kane County Regional Superintendent Pat Dal Santo compared the PARCC reporting process to that of a special education cooperative.
Some of the STEM school partner districts said they can look at STEM students' PARCC scores. In East Aurora, spokesman Matt Hanley said the district could make scores available to parents looking for information about the school if students' identifying information is removed.
In West Aurora, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Brent Raby said he doesn't typically break out the STEM school scores because the test is brand new. He discourages parents from basing any decisions about the STEM school on test scores because he said it's not a gifted program and shouldn't be compared to one.
Instead, he encourages parents to think about whether a child likes math, science and technology, and whether a less traditional form of education could work for them and to attend parent night, search the district's website or visit the building for more information.
It is the STEM school's responsibility to track the effectiveness of student programs, teacher training and other aspects of the school, he said. He looks at the big picture based on parent, student and teacher feedback and reports from the STEM school, he said.
"They pretty much created a curriculum from scratch," he said. "And with their uniqueness of corporate collaboration, I hope that the parents who decide to go there want that learning environment for their kids. But they will be held accountable, just like any other school, for how their kids produce."
But Glavin, a District 204 parent and resident of Naperville, would like to compare STEM school students' performance to those in the district's gifted education program, Project Arrow. "Is the STEM school in Aurora markedly outperforming the (Project Arrow) students at the elementary and middle school levels?" she said. "Where are those test scores?"
Downstate, Paris Cooperative High School operates on a similar model. The boards of two school districts have equal control over the school, which is considered two separate high schools by the state, Director Dave Meister said. The state requires the school to report test scores separately for each member district.
Meister said he publishes his own version of a state report card as a way to track the high school's progress as a whole. As with the STEM school, the state tracks each district separately for money reasons, Meister said. While parents can track how the school is doing through his report and from local media coverage, he said it is a problem that the state isn't tracking the school's performance as a whole.
"It becomes problematic for multiple reasons," he said. "It's a bureaucratic nightmare."
Freishtat is a Beacon-News reporter. Baker is a Naperville Sun reporter.


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Aesling is a minor Norscan Tribes faction in Total War: Warhammer and Total War: Warhammer II.
They do not appear on the map by default, and must be awakened by the Warriors of Chaos. In order for them to be awakened, the Warriors of Chaos must win a battle against a settlement in the Mountains of Hel. It doesn't matter who currently controls the settlement.
If the Aeslings are wiped out, the Warriors of Chaos can just awaken them again by winning another battle against a settlement in the Mountains of Hel.
This page was last edited on 2 October 2018, at 18:02.