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Android News / All News / Galaxy S6 Active 64 GB Version Now Available From AT&T
Galaxy S6 Active 64 GB Version Now Available From AT&T
By Diego Macias
Last year's Samsung Galaxy S5 introduced water and dust resistance for the company's flagship phone thanks to the IP67 certification. This year, Samsung changed the overall design of their flagship phones ditching their plastic construction for the first time, and while the phones look better, some compromises had to be made. Those include a non-removable battery and the lack of a Micro SD card slot for the first time, plus the IP certification is nowhere to be found. For those who want to get some of the most powerful internals out there or like how the company has optimized the software, but want a less fragile design, Samsung released the Galaxy S6 Active.
The Galaxy S6 Active was made official in June after many leaks and it was released shortly after. Still, the phone doesn't feature a Micro SD card slot, so those interested in this device would have to settle for 32 GB of internal storage. Now, AT&T is offering the Galaxy S6 Active with 64 GB of onboard memory and it's priced $100 more than the 32 GB variant, that means $299.99 in a two-year contract or $694.99 with no annual contract. Those looking for one of AT&T's Next plans, pricing starts at $23.17 per month on AT&T Next 24. You can check additional payment options and plans at AT&T's website. The phone is available in three color options including Camo White, Gray and Camo Blue.
As for the phone's specifications, it shares most internals of the regular Galaxy S6, including a 5.1-inch screen with QHD resolution and it's powered by an Exynos 7420 processor with 3 GB of RAM. The main camera features the same 16-megapixel resolution, and while it lacks OIS, it seems to produce good results. The camera in the front is a 5-megapixel one. The hardware is IP68 certified, making it water and dust resistant, plus it also features MIL-STD-810G certification making it resistant to vibrations and shock, among other conditions. There's a 3,500 mAh non-removable battery and a dedicated Active button to trigger some commonly used functions. Another difference compared to the regular version of the handset is that the Active doesn't feature a fingerprint sensor.
Diego Macias
I've loved technology ever since I touched a computer and I got to experience the transition to mobile devices which was amazing! I got into Android with the Samsung Galaxy S2 and I currently own a Sony Xperia Z3 and a Nexus 7 because I really like the look of vanilla Android. My interests include movies, music, art and mathematics.


Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from institutions in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States are invited to apply for the eighth International Summer School on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences, to be held June 25 to 30, 2017, in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Applications are due March 6, 2017. The summer school is sponsored by Compute/Calcul Canada, the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) and the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (RIKEN AICS).
Students from underrepresented groups in computing are highly encouraged to apply (i.e. women, racial/ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, etc.). If you have any questions regarding your eligibility or how this program may benefit you or your research group, please do not hesitate to contact the individual associated with your region below.
Applications closed March 6, 2017. Meals and housing will be covered for the selected participants, also support for travel will be given.
Thank you for your interest. Applications have closed for 2017. Notifications of acceptance will be sent near the end of March (early April for US participants).
When we began planning the IHPCSS more than a year ago, we could not have foreseen the current challenges caused by recent US immigration orders. For the IHPCSS, there are two primary challenges: the safety of our US students and instructors who may not be allowed back into the country if the IHPCSS was relocated, and the ability for students and instructors to travel to the US and return home from the US safely. Our ability to ensure both the safety of our students and instructors is of paramount importance to us.
The IHPCSS organizing committee is monitoring how to best ensure the safety of our students and instructors while maintaining guiding principals of inclusiveness and merit-based, peer-reviewed candidate selection. IHPCSS selects candidates in a blind selection process that ensures selection is based on merit and free from bias. We are committed to building a diverse,open, and accessible experience for all of our students.
Planning an event of this kind is a yearlong effort, and the location for the summer school was set many months ago, long before the current uncertain travel situation. It is unfortunately too late to change the location to another country, which would still create an uncertain situation for some of the participants returning to the US after the event.
Our current choices are to either proceed with the summer school at the planned location, or provide no one with the opportunity to attend. Given those choices, we will proceed the best we can to help as many students participate as possible.


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You can convert your trial to a paid Creative Cloud membership during the trial period or after the trial has expired. Get 2GB of cloud storage, free mobile apps, fonts from Adobe Typekit, and file sharing aeobe. Add or edit text and images on your iPad and Android tablet.
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Adobe does offer a collection of free mobile apps for both iOS and Android. Adobe does offer a collection of free mobile apps for both iOS and Android.
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Spotted on the noticeboard of a local church...
3rd Friday in Every Month:
Must drop in one Friday...
PLEASE REMEMBER!
Clocks in the United Kingdom go on one hour at 01:00 am Sunday morning...
Don't forget or you'll be LATE!!
And now I'm off to give the week's Entertainment Review on BBC Radio 2's Sunday Supplement at 11.30...
Images: Beryl Cook (obviously!) and Walt Disney Productions
Labels: oddities, religion
iPODS, LAPTOPS & LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER
Following on from my recent post about Rupert, I'm once again back in the realms of youthful nostalgia...
Sixty-six years ago, in 1942, Enid Blyton sent Dick, Julian and Anne Kerrin to the Devon coast to stay with Aunt Fanny, Uncle Quentin, their daughter Georgina (known always as George) and George's faithful dog, Timmy.
What followed was that thrill-packed summer-holiday adventure recounted in Five on a Treasure Island.
Twenty more 'Famous Five' volumes followed, published every year (except 1959) until 1962. Titles include: Five Run Away Together, Five Get into Trouble, Five Have Plenty of Fun, Five Get into a Fix and Five Have a Mystery to Solve. There was also a collection of shorter tales, Five have a Puzzling Time and other stories.
For many of us, these volumes (along with Blyton's 15 books about 'The Secret Seven') were essential childhood reading.
Now the Famous Five are setting off in search of a new adventure... That is, a second generation of FFs, because Disney has created an animated TV series entitled Famous Five On The Case, featuring the children of George, Dick, Julian and Anne - and Timmy the dog himself.
Here's the story as it was briefly reported by the Press Association...
Enid Blyton's Famous Five have been reconstructed for the 21st Century.
A new Disney TV series features the offspring of the original ginger beer-loving adventurers - and their dog.
But the Famous Five's children are now multicultural, their enemies include a fake environmentalist, and they are armed with modern gadgets.
The TV series, Famous Five: On the Case, features 12-year-old Anglo-Indian Jo, whose name is short for Jyoti, "a Hindu world meaning light". Countryside-dwelling Jo is the team leader and like her mother, George, in the original Famous Five - who was thought to be modelled on Blyton herself - a tomboy.
Other characters include Allie, a 12-year-old Californian shopaholic who enjoys going out and getting "glammed up" but is packed off to the British countryside to her cousins. Her mother was Anne in the Famous Five, the reluctant adventurer who has now become a successful art dealer.
The Famous Five was first published in 1942 and is a children's classic. [Five on a Treasure Island - Ed] The new animated series was given the seal of approval by Blyton's oldest daughter, Gillian Baverstock, before she died at the age of 76 last year.
In the new TV series, the children of the original Famous Five are brought together at their aunt George's house on the English coast.
The other characters are adventure junkie Max, who is 13-year-old Julian's son; Dylan, the 11-year-old son of Dick, and dog Timmy.
Producers say the characters embark on a series of adventures similar to those experienced by their parents and that the series is faithful to the original Famous Five books but with "a contemporary twist".
But while Blyton's original sleuths targeted kidnappers and smugglers, the enemies of Disney's Famous Five include Kyle - a DVD bootlegger on Shelter Island who is masquerading as an environmentalist.
The children, who wear iPods and use mobile phones, also discover subliminal messages in DVDs to brainwash children into buying Fudgie Fries sweets.
Many commentators have speculated how fast Enid Blyton is spinning in her grave, but - bearing in mind that these are new stories not updated re-hashes of the originals - I wonder if she would really be that distressed?
Blyton seized on every aspect of popular story-telling to grab and hold her young readers and I can't help thinking that if she had lived in the age of mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players they might well have figured in her stories.
Anyway, for more reports, opinions and horrified responses check out the media response to the FF's return.
After which, dig out your old FF books, open up a bottle of ginger beer and settle down for a ripping read...
For more about The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, Noddy, Mr Pink-Whistle, The Faraway Tree and much else besides, visit The Enid Blyton Society.
Labels: books, childhood, Disney, nostalgia, TV
A DANGEROUS AGE
WHAT? EVERY Tuesday??
Which is, I guess, a good reason to think about moving out of South West London if you were 22 on your last birthday - or, at least for travelling by tube.
Labels: news, signs
BACK TO NUTWOOD
One of the joys of the British Film Institute (and thank you, Ian for getting me back into the National Film Theatre-going habit) is the NFT's frequent retrospectives that embrace not just film but also television.
Last month I was enjoying two nostalgic hours in the company of Flanders and Swann; a few nights ago I was transported to the sleepy little village of Nutwood, the starting point of a series of incredible exploits and adventures featuring the one and only Rupert Bear.
Ceaselessly cheerful, tirelessly plucky and endlessly resourceful Rupert Bear is eighty-eight years old and yet as youthful as ever.
The NFT's 'Rupert Night' programme included a sketch from The Two Ronnies in which Ronnie Corbett appeared as Rupert Baird (a little fellow in red jersey, checked trousers and scarf who could only speak in rhyme!) and a clip from The Likely Lads with Terry and Bob arguing about whether one of Rupert's friends was called 'Edward the Elephant' or 'Edward Trunk'.
Also shown were a couple of episodes from Mary Turner's 'seventies TV puppet series (right) and the classic documentary about Rupert's longest serving artist, Alfred Bestall, made by Terry (Monty Python) Jones a quarter of a century ago.
Rupert first appeared in November 1920 in a comic strip created by Mary Tourtel for the Daily Express newspaper as part of its bid to win readers from their rivals the Daily Mail which featured a popular strip about Teddy Tail.
In 1935, when Mary Tourtel retired, the task of drawing Rupert - and writing his adventures - fell to illustrator and Punch artist, Alfred Bestall, and the following year he produced the evocative art for The New Adventures of Rupert - the very first Rupert Annual…
Out of respect to the Rupert's creator, Bestall - a modest, self-effacing man - didn't sign his artwork until after Mary Tourtel's death in 1948.
Alfred Bestall wrote and illustrated a staggering 273 Rupert stories (mostly for the daily newspaper publication but with others produced specially for the annuals) until his own retirement in 1965.
I only ever saw the newspaper strip when I visited my paternal grandparents, but I was given several Rupert annuals over the years, this being the first...
Heaven only knows where it is now!
What I really loved about Rupert was the format of the albums: the running headings that were a synopsis of each story with little figures in the top corner of each page; the four-frame picture-story, the rhyming couplets that told the story under each picture in not-very-sophisticated doggerel and then the prose telling of the tale that appeared at the bottom of the page just as it did under the panels in the newspaper.
Then there were the activities-pages with puzzles, origami models (which I never successfully made) and, in later numbers, magic painting pages.
And, for me, the highlight of ever annual: Bestall's wonderful full-colour wrap-around cover plus those enchanting endpapers showing the coutryside around Nutwood and other wonderful landscapes - sometimes seascapes - that combined the real and fanciful into a dreamworld that still haunt the memory…
Then, of course there were the stories - packed with wild escapades, amazing expeditions curious inventions and extraordinary characters that secure these little narratives a place among the most inventive writing for children in the twentieth century.
There were mysteries, too, such as why it was that inside the books Rupert had a white face, hands and boots but on the cover was a brown bear in brown boots!
The one exception (right) was the 1973 annual where someone at the Daily Express impudently altered Alfred Bestall's artwork for the cover in order to match the interior!
The dozen or so proof copies with a brown-faced Rupert (below) are greatly sought-after and hysterically valuable! In fact, it might just be worth checking your attics!
Another mystery, of course, was the way in which clothed animals and human beings - not to mentions giants, wizards, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, goblins, pixies and living toys - co-habited in a fantastical universe.
Indeed, Terry Jones, during a Q&A session following the screenings, recalled how, in one story Rupert encounters a talking cat and is utterly astonished by the fact as though he were not, himself a talking bear!
But then, in a way, Rupert isn't really a bear he is a boy - a young child - you and I, the reader - wearing a bear-faced mask!
Equally curious was the fact that the human characters wear a wide range of costuming: medieval doublets and hose, Georgian knee-breeches and buckle shoes, Victorian skirts and bonnets, 'twenties plus-fours and brogues and forties three-piece suits.
'Rupert Night' also featured the music video of Paul McCartney's 1984 hit, 'Rupert and the Frog Song', so there was even more nostalgia as we all remembered those lyrics about standing together…
The last Rupert annual cover Alfred Bestall ever painted was that one on which Rupert turned white, but other artists carried on the work including Alex Cubie, John Harrold and Stuart Trotter (right) who has recently taken over the care of the bear and who is a worthy inheritor of the Rupert legacy. Thanks to everyone who keeps Rupert on the track of new adventures.
And thanks to the NFT: meeting up with Rupert and his chums - Bill Badger, Algy Pug, Podgy Pig, Willy Mouse, Pong Ping the Pekingese and Edward Trunk (yes, that was his name!) - was an opportunity to be reunited with old and much-loved friends!
"Goodness," said Rupert, "it's been such fun,
Eighty-eight years and I've just begun!"
To learn more about Rupert's world, his creators and the annuals, visit The Followers of Rupert
And if you're in the market for some old Rupert Annuals, visit The Official Classic Rupert Bear Mail Order Shop
Labels: books, childhood, illustration, nostalgia, Rupert
EGGSPLANATION
Eaten you Easter eggs yet?
It's fascinating to think that long before the egg became the symbol of Easter it was a symbol of fertility and the rebirth of the earth in Spring following the long burial of winter.
Festivals and rituals marking the Spring equinox were celebrated by the Egyptians, Persians, Chinese, Romans and Gauls and part of those rites of spring involved the giving and receiving of dyed and painted eggs.
Among the many traditions concerning eggs was that of burying an egg under the foundations of buildings to keep evil at bay and pregnant which doubtless has the same origin as the French ritual which required a bride to step upon an egg before crossing the threshold of her new homes.
Christianity took this ancient symbolism and reworked it to represent the rebirth of the mankind, rather than the earth. So, the folk-tales and legends began...
Old Polish legend concerns the Virgin Mary. It tells of how Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the Cross. She wept as she begged them to be less cruel and her tears fell upon the eggs, spotting them with splashes of brilliant colour.
Another Polish legend tells how, when Mary Magdalen went to the garden tomb to anoint the body of Jesus early on the first Easter morning, she was carrying a basket of eggs in order that she would have something to eat. Arriving at the empty sepulchre, she uncovered the eggs and found that, miraculously, the pure white shells were now rainbow-coloured.
However you are celebrating this ancient festival
(and even if you're not)
Image: © Stephen Waterhouse
Labels: customs, Easter
Easter traditions differ throughout the world: we have chocolate eggs, but in Poland they have sugar lambs...
On Holy Saturday, baskets containing Easter foods (bread, eggs and sausage) are taken into church to be blessed. The baskets are traditionally lined with a white linen or lace napkin and decorated with ribbons and sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan), the typical Easter evergreen.
The baskets always contain the Baranek Wielkanocny - the Easter Lamb, representing the resurrected Christ. Made from dough or from butter, shaped using special moulds, the lamb is the last item to go into the basket in order that it can protect the contents. As a special treat, children's baskets contain a sugar lamb...
At the following day's Easter feast (Swiecone) the centerpiece of the table will be plaster lambs bearing a cross-emblazoned flag representing the Resurrection.
Desert can take the form of a lamb-shaped cake, iced cakes decorated with the greeting, "Wesolego Alleluja" or individual cakes decorated with flowers and pussy willow...
Oh, yes, and Buttons points out that some people have CHOCOLATE RABBITS!
Labels: Buttons, customs, Easter, food, religion
WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT IT
My old granny used to say "I don't know why they call it Good Friday! Hardly good for Jesus, was it?"
Well, that is the subject for a sermon and I am no preacher. But whatever your beliefs, the Christian allegory of death and resurrection represented by the cross and the empty tomb remains an eternal, universal and life-enhancing symbol of hope...
Joseph laid the body of Jesus in the tomb and it was closed up with a large stone rolled across the entrance.
My granny also believed that Good Friday was the day on which one could plant something in your garden with the sure and certain expectation that it would grow and blossom.
I've always remembered this piece of folklore every Good Friday and have wondered at its origin. Thanks to Google I've found the answer... er... answers!
* Good Friday was thought to be a good day for planting seeds inspired by interpreting the Parable of the Sower, in which seeds needs to be planted in the ground in order to bear fruit, as a metaphor for Jesus' necessary death and burial on this day.
* Gardeners and farmers considered Good Friday to be the best day of planting peas, potatoes and parsley because it was the only day of the year when the devil was believed to be powerless. Parsley is notoriously slow to germinate, and very often gardeners would make three sowings - two for the devil and one for the gardener - before getting a crop to come up. They even poured boiling water over the soil before planting to deter the devil and that technique may have actually helped, since parsley germinates faster in warmer soils.
* There was probably also the practical reason for working in the garden on Good Friday in that men were free to work for their own benefit. However, this was not true everywhere; in North Yorkshire in the 1860s, "great care (was) taken not to disturb the earth in any way; it were impious to use spade, plough or harrow… a villager… shocked his neighbours by planting potatoes on Good Friday, but they never came up."
* Many people in the upper Midwest of the USA religiously planted their potato crop on a Good Friday - even when Easter came early and they had to chop their way through icy soil in order to do so!
* Some people believe that the moon phases were important to the planting of crops and that potatoes thrive if planted under a full moon and there is always a full moon on Good Friday, or a few days before, or the Saturday/Sunday afterwards.
So, there you are: true or not, and whether you're gardening or not, may your day today be a good Good Friday!
The picture of the Garden Tomb is © Stephen Waterhouse and is from 50 Favourite Bible Stories written by myself, illustrated by Stephen and narrated on 3 CDs by Cliff Richard.
To see more images visit Stephen Waterhouse: Illustrator and Author.
Labels: books, Easter, illustration
"We have cards," said the sign in the window, "for every occasion!"
And, just to prove it here are two of them...
But, whilst I looked and looked, I couldn't find one From the Rabbit... Surely a missed opportunity if ever there was one...
Labels: bizarre, Easter
visionary, poet and explorer of the imagination
has - at the age of 90 - embarked on that odyssey
which has been called
the ultimate trip
"Then he waited, marshalling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something."
Farewell and God speed!
Labels: books, fantasy, film, obituaries
Brighton has added a new attraction to its not inconsiderable array of pleasures and amusements...
An EIGHT-INCH SQUARE CAST of
PART OF YOUR BODY
for just £50
(Or While-U-Wait Lip-Service - £10)
The ideal gift, I would say, with which to make an impression...
Labels: art, Brighton, windows
BY A NOSE
Being filmed for a DVD 'extra' the other day - and having been horrified by my resemblance to Quasimodo on my last such appearance - I asked the crew if they could film my 'best side'. Unfortunately, finding the 'best' side was easier said than done!
This embarrassing episode reminded me of a story I read in a recent obituary to David ('Wendy') Watkin, the legendary cinematographer of such films as Help!, Charge of the Light Brigade, The Devils, The Three Musketeers, Robin and Marian and Out of Africa.
Watkin was engaged to film Yentl starring (and directed by) Barbra Streisand. On meeting the star, Watkin daringly tapped Streisand on the Nose and commented: "I can see we're going to have a lot of trouble with THAT!"
Somehow, and rather surprisingly, he got away with it-- and more...
Later in the production - in the middle of a shot - Streisand suddenly yelled: "David, you're shooting me from my bad side!"
To which, Watkin calmly responded: "It's not your bad side, Barbra, it's your other side."
So you see, Barbra and I: two of a kind!
Labels: celebrities, film, put-downs
COME BACK, RAQUEL!
Little known historical facts learned from 10,000 BC - in descending order of earth-shattering importance...
1) A race of people with plaited pony-tails and gold finger-nail extensions built prototypes for the Egyptian pyramids using woolly mammoths to haul the building blocks.
2) Good prehistoric folk spoke impeccable English; baddies (wearing turbans and riding horses) spoke in subtitles.
3) Cave-people had first-rate dental hygiene and used beard-trimmers with variable settings.
4) 10,000 BC is mammoth bollocks.
If you doubt this newly acquired knowledge, the film opens nationwide today, so you can check for yourself.
If you want to save the cost of a ticket, just take it on trust...
Labels: fantasy, film, history, twaddle
HUMAN RIGHTS BE HANGED!
I am abandoning the usual, frivolous, light-hearted tone of this blog today in order to draw your attention to a story in yesterday's issue of The Times.
It begins...
A gay Iranian teenager faces deportation from Britain and execution in his home country after a Dutch court refused to hear his asylum claim. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, will be forced to return to Britain, where his asylum application was rejected last year.
He is then expected to be "removed" to Iran where his boyfriend was hanged two years ago for sodomy. The ruling will put the Home Office under renewed pressure to reassess his case — or face the possibility of sending a young man to his death. The department's own guidance concedes that Iran executes homosexuals but rejects the claim that there is a systematic repression of gay men and lesbians.
The emphasis is mine and is probably unnecessary since the patent absurdity of this statement is unlikely to have passed you by.
I would urge you to read the story in full: Gay teenager is facing gallows as his asylum bid is rejected; along with an earlier Times article from last year: Gays should be hanged, says Iranian minister.
And anyone doubting the likelihood of this young gay man ending his life on an Iranian gallows should contemplate the widely-reported accusation that 4,000 homosexual men and women have been executed in Iran in the last thirty years.
Labels: gay, religion
EYEING-UP
Brace yourself, gentle reader, for I am about to open your eyes to yet more GOOGLY-EYED HORRORS!
The other day, I posted - courtesy of my friend, JEN - one of a number of portraits by the artist, Iain Hetherington who, in addition to the usual painterly stuff, uses googly-eyes to catch the gallery-goer's eye...
Well, of course, Art is ART and part of its purpose is to Shock, but what are we to make of a flickr site which Jen also spotted?
American actress, writer and comedienne, Amy Sedaris (right), author of the best-selling i like you: hospitality under the influence, invited listeners to the Leonard Lopate Show on New York Public Radio to respond to a "craft challenge".
Amy's challenge was for people to Make Food Come Alive With Googly Eyes and then photograph the results and upload them to flickr.
The results are, believe me, truly terrifying! So much so, in fact, I can only bring myself to show you a handful of the resulting photos...
To view the entire hell's kitchen of 310 shocking images on 11 ghastly pages, visit the flickr Amy Sedaris Craft Challenge Pool
Or to see these culinary horrors as a slide show, click here
And to discover which monstrosities won and listen to Amy discussing the winning entries, click (if you really must!) here
Whatever (or whoever) you are eating today --- enjoy!
Click image to enlarge and reveal the full fearsome details!
Images (from top): lisacat, kellyc96, rachel is coconut&lime, crubantoast, staramaze, cvloehr, Carol Esther, Angie Naron
Labels: eyes, food, oddities, photography
EYE, EYE, EYE!
I could tell from the comments left on my last post that there were those among you who doubted that an unnatural obsession with GOOGLY-EYES is making insidious inroads into the fabric of modern society.
Fortunately, my good friend JEN has come to my defence by giving me a couple more examples of the way in which this ghastly disease is taking hold...
For example, Scottish artist Iain Hetherington has added them to several of his works such as this one, Welcome Alien...
Deny it if you like, but I say those eyes definitely follow you round the room...
If you have the nerve, you can look up some of the artist's other googly-eyed portraits on iainhetherington.com.
I have further appalling evidence to place before you, but I am, frankly, too shaken to write any more at the present and it will have to wait until another day when I am a little calmer...
Meanwhile, I hope you will now believe me when I say that the secret vice of sticking sticky-eyes on stuff is rife!
Image: © Iain Hetherington
Labels: art, eyes, oddities
GRUBBY GRUB
You are launching a new line in sensuous sweetmeats for people who are "obsessed with pleasure"...
You spend a lot of time and money to make sure you get your branding absolutely right and, in the process, come up with a lexicon of 'buy-words': Captivating... Kinky... Cheeky... Shamelessly... Disgracefully... Outrageously...
Then all you need is a brand name to beguile and entice the customer...
So you call your product...
...FILTHY??
Still, at half-price, they're clearly not just for the Filthy Rich but are, relatively speaking, dirt cheap!
Labels: branding, food, Language, shopping
TRIPPING HAZARD
Do you know what?
They still haven't fixed that Crack in the Floor of the Tate Modern...
However, the repair-men will be moving in on April 7th, so if you're going to have a look at the very real damage that can be caused by modern art, you'd best get along there soon!
BUT please be very careful because ART can also be DANGEROUS!!
Especially, if you happen to be....
...a rabbit!
Labels: art, bizarre, Buttons
PET LIKES
It's said that when it was suggested to Lillian Bayliss, the founder of The Old Vic, that she ought to be made a Dame of the British Empire she swiftly responded, in her characteristically forthright way, "It'll be none of your Dames for me!"
In Bayliss' time - and for some while afterwards - 'damehoods' (or 'ships'?) were primarily for 'classical' (meaning, chiefly, Shakespearean) actresses such as Sybil Thorndike, Flora Robson and Edith Evans. Today, happily, they are given to a broad range of entertainers and we can rejoice in having not just Dames Maggie and Judi but also Dames Julie and Shirley...
So, how come no one has got around to giving a Damehood to the actress and singer who began her career by being known as "Britain's Shirley Temple"?
I refer, of course, to...
In sixty-six years of performing, Petula Clark has done it all: radio, TV, film, stage and, of course dozens of recordings including many, many hit singles, four of which reached the No 1 top-spot.
Last July, the following story broke...
London, July 8 : Sir Michael Caine, Sir Tim Rice, Susan Hampshire and impresario Bill Kenwright are among celebrity fans of Petula Clark who have lent their support to an online petition on the Downing Street website for making the veteran singer-actress a "Dame".
The celebrities feel that the Petula should be honoured in recognition of her glittering career that has spanned more than 60 years. Petula is the most successful British female solo recording artist to date, and she is still touring and recording at 74. She holds the distinction of having the longest span on the international pop charts of any artist - 51 years - from 1954, when 'The Little Shoemaker' made the UK Top 20, through to 2005.
She started her career during the Second World War as a child singer entertaining the troops, moving into films including The Card, in the late 1940s and 1950s, and hit the height of her career in the 1960s when she became a pop success with songs such as 'Downtown'. Her career has continued in musicals like Sunset Boulevard and Blood Brothers.
"It is a travesty that Petula has not yet been honoured after such a long and distinguished career. The fact that these big names are lending their support shows how much she is regarded among the theatrical community," the Daily Express quoted an insider as saying.
Leo Sayer, lyricist Don Black, songwriter Tony Hatch, and former EastEnders star Wendy Richard are the other celebrities who are among the 500 names on the petition.
"Hopefully the petition will help bring Pet the damehood she so richly deserves," said the insider.
So, no pressure there, then, Gordon...
Anyway, as of today, the PET-ition has 1,102 signatures but could do with a few more before the deadline of 12 March, so if you have fond memories of our Pet in films like Finnian's Rainbow and Goodbye, Mr Chips or if you ever sang along to any of her discs (from the childhood 'They're Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace' to 'The Other Man's Grass', 'I Know a Place', 'Don't Sleep on the Subway' or any one of those other UK/US hits - or even that considerable discography of songs sung in French or German) now is the time to ACT!
So, with only 10 days to go, you should stop reading this and go to the 10 Downing Street Petition site and SIGN!
Then, when you've done that you can come back and watch Pet (on Esther Rantzen's TV show) singing just a handful of those numbers that have made her a much-loved star and, surely, a Dame-in-Waiting...
Labels: celebrities, music
ARTHUR C CLARKE1917-2008visionary, poet and explor...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance
Alim Baluch
Politics, Languages & International Studies
This book argues that the «international community» created and managed the dysfunctional state of Bosnia and Herzegovina by effectively rewarding ethnic cleansing, drawing up a transitional constitution which, in turn, generated a complex ethnifying polity incapable of independent reform. This constitution, which was only added as an annex to the Dayton Peace Agreement, has continued to encourage ethnification, understood in this book as the reproduction of imagined communities of descent.
While accepting that foreign interference was necessary to end the war in the late 1990s, the book offers a critical review of the actions of the Office of the High Representative of the International Community (OHR) and other foreign actors since that period. It includes meticulous examination of hundreds of OHR decisions, as well as secret diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks revealing how the US embassy intervened in the country's trade and foreign policy.
Drawing on a process-sociological perspective, the book interrogates the notion of ethnicity and offers a radical new perspective on post-war state-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien
Peter Lang Publishing Group
Nationalisms across the Globe
State Building
ethnification
multi-level governance
process sociology
https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/65742
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
ethnic cleansing Social Sciences
Bosnia and Herzegovina Social Sciences
governance Social Sciences
constitution Social Sciences
trade policy Social Sciences
interference Social Sciences
foreign policy Social Sciences
Baluch, A. (2018). The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance. (Nationalisms across the Globe). Peter Lang Publishing Group.
The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina : From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance. / Baluch, Alim.
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien : Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2018. 308 p. (Nationalisms across the Globe).
Baluch, A 2018, The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance. Nationalisms across the Globe, Peter Lang Publishing Group, Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien.
Baluch A. The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance. Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2018. 308 p. (Nationalisms across the Globe).
Baluch, Alim. / The Disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina : From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnified Governance. Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien : Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2018. 308 p. (Nationalisms across the Globe).
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text:
Q: How to rename a user safely? I've misspelled user name when installing Ubuntu and would like to rename if possible. How can I safely change my user name?

A: Safely? Don't rename at all. Instead, (make sure the user is logged out first) create a new user with the correct username, rename the old home directory to the new username and chown -R the folder to the new user.
This assumes that you're not using encrypted homes. That would require some different steps, but since I haven't done that myself, I'll leave that to someone else.

A: Use usermod like so:
usermod -l newname currentname

A: I have recently faces such problem and got working solution.

*

*Make backup of the users- and groups-related files
sudo cp /etc/passwd ~/passwd.bak
sudo cp /etc/group ~/group.bak
sudo cp /etc/subuid ~/subuid.bak
sudo cp /etc/subgid ~/subgid.bak
sudo cp /etc/gshadow ~/gshadow.bak
sudo cp /etc/shadow ~/shadow.bak

*We need to boot in Recovery mode (click Shift on boot, in GRUB select Advanced options for Ubuntu, select Ubuntu, with Linux ... (recovery mode))

*Select root    Drop to root shell prompt to access root-shell

*Enter your main user (usually GID = 1000, member of sudo group) password here when asked
Press Enter for maintenance
(or press Control-D to continue):

*Remount all filesystems with read and write
mount -o rw,remount /
mount -o rw,remount /home

*Rename user from  old_user to new_user, rename comment on user-name (field 5 in /etc/passwd) and move its home
OLDNAME="old_user"
NEWNAME="new_user"
usermod -l $NEWNAME $OLDNAME -c $NEWNAME -d /home/$NEWNAME  -m

*Rename user's group from old_user to new_user
groupmod $OLDNAME -n $NEWNAME

*Replace old_user to new_user in /etc/subgid and /etc/subuid
sed -i "s/$OLDNAME/$NEWNAME/g" /etc/subuid
sed -i "s/$OLDNAME/$NEWNAME/g" /etc/subgid

*Reboot the system and then login with new_user name and old password. Optionally change password with passwd

*If goes right - remove backed-up files:
sudo rm ~/passwd.bak ~/group.bak ~/subuid.bak ~/subgid.bak \
~/gshadow.bak ~/shadow.bak

Note: you can read about used options of usermod and groupmod on their man-pages.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Indian pharmaceuticals market is the third largest in terms of volume and thirteenth largest in terms of value, as per a report by Equity Master. India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally with the Indian generics accounting for 20 per cent of global exports in terms of volume. Of late, consolidation has become an important characteristic of the Indian pharmaceutical market as the industry is highly fragmented. India enjoys an important position in the global pharmaceuticals sector. The country also has a large pool of scientists and engineers who have the potential to steer the industry ahead to an even higher level. Presently over 80 per cent of the antiretroviral drugs used globally to combat AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) are supplied by Indian pharmaceutical firms. The UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool has signed six sub-licences with Aurobindo, Cipla, Desano, Emcure, Hetero Labs and Laurus Labs, allowing them to make generic anti-AIDS medicine TenofovirAlafenamide (TAF) for 112 developing countries.
The Indian pharma industry, which is expected to grow over 15 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2020, will outperform the global pharma industry, which is set to grow at an annual rate of 5 per cent between the same period!. The market is expected to grow to US$ 55 billion by 2020, thereby emerging as the sixth largest pharmaceutical market globally by absolute size, as stated by Mr Arun Singh, Indian Ambassador to the US. Branded generics dominate the pharmaceuticals market, constituting nearly 80 per cent of the market share (in terms of revenues).
India has also maintained its lead over China in pharmaceutical exports with a year-on-year growth of 11.44 per cent to US$ 12.91 billion in FY 2015-16, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Imports of pharmaceutical products rose marginally by 0.80 per cent year-on-year to US$ 1,641.15 million.
Overall drug approvals given by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to Indian companies have nearly doubled to 201 in FY 2015-16 from 109 in FY 2014-15. The country accounts for around 30 per cent (by volume) and about 10 per cent (value) in the US$ 70-80 billion US generics market.
India's biotechnology industry comprising bio-pharmaceuticals, bio-services, bio-agriculture, bio-industry and bioinformatics is expected grow at an average growth rate of around 30 per cent a year and reach US$ 100 billion by 2025. Biopharma, comprising vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, is the largest sub-sector contributing nearly 62 per cent of the total revenues at Rs 12,600 crore (US$ 1.88 billion).
The Union Cabinet has given its nod for the amendment of the existing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the pharmaceutical sector in order to allow FDI up to 100 per cent under the automatic route for manufacturing of medical devices subject to certain conditions. The drugs and pharmaceuticals sector attracted cumulative FDI inflows worth US$ 13.85 billion between April 2000 and March 2016, according to data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
India's largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has entered into a distribution agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation to market 14 prescription brands in Japan.
Syngene International Limited will be setting up its fourth exclusive Research and Development (R&D) center named Syngene Amgen Research and Development Center (SARC) for a US-based biotechnology company Amgen Incorporation in Bengaluru.
India's third largest drug maker Lupin Limited plans to file its first biosimilar Etanercept for approval in Japan, world's second largest drug market, in 2017.
Rubicon Research Pvt Ltd, a contract research and manufacturing services firm, is in advanced talks with Everstone Capital and a few high-net-worth Individuals (HNI) to raise up to Rs 240 crore (US$ 35.79 million), which will be used to increase the company's manufacturing capabilities.
Lupin Ltd plans to acquire a portfolio of 21 generic brands from Japan-based Shionogi & Co Ltd for Rs 10.08 billion (US$ 150.3 million), which will help to strengthen its presence in the world's second largest pharmaceutical market.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, plans to invest upto US$ 75 million in Glenmark, which is looking to raise around US$ 200 million for expansion and the launch of several new products in India and other emerging markets over the next three years.
Cipla Limited plans to invest around Rs 600 crore (US$ 89.47 million) to set up a biosimilar manufacturing facility in South Africa for making affordable cancer drugs and growing its presence in the market.
Rusan Pharma, a firm which specialises in de-addiction and pain management products, plans to invest Rs 100 crore (US$ 14.91 million) in a R&D centre and a manufacturing unit in Kandla, located in Kutch District in Gujarat.
Pink Blue Supply Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a clinical supplies provider, has raised Rs 1.5 crore (US$ 0.22 million) in a seed round of funding from TermSheet.io, a transaction-focused service provider for start-ups and investors.
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has signed a licencing agreement with six Indian drug makers for the generic manufacturing of four antiretrovirals (ARV) and hepatitis C direct-acting antiviral drug Daclatasvir.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, one of the major pharmaceutical companies of India, has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Turkey-based TR-Pharm, to register and subsequently commercialise three biosimilar products in Turkey.
Lupin has completed the acquisition of US-based GAVIS Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth US$ 880 million, which is expected to enhance its product pipeline in dermatology, controlled substances and high-value speciality products.
Cipla Ltd, one of the major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in India, has acquired two US-based generic drug makers, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc., for US$ 550 million, which is expected to strengthen Cipla's US business.
Emcure Pharmaceuticals has acquired Canada's International Pharmaceutical Generics Ltd and its marketing arm Marcan Pharmaceuticals in order to boost its global expansion drive.
Cipla announced the acquisition of two US-based companies, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc., for US$550 million.
Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals has started work on its largest greenfield tablet manufacturing facility in Vemgal in Kolar district, Karnataka, with an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 149.11 million).
Lupin has acquired two US based pharmaceutical firms, Gavis Pharmaceuticals LLC and Novel Laboratories Inc, in a deal worth at US$ 880 million.
Several online pharmacy retailers like PharmEasy, Netmeds, Orbimed, are attracting investments from several investors, due to double digit growth in the Rs 97,000 crore ( US$ 14.46 billion) Indian pharmacy market.
StelisBiopharma announced the breakthrough construction of its customised, multi-product, biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Bio-Xcell Biotechnology Park in Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia's park and ecosystem for industrial and healthcare biotechnology at a total project investment amount of US$ 60 million.
Strides Arcolab entered into a licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences Inc to manufacture and distribute the latter's cost-efficient TenofovirAlafenamide (TAF) product to treat HIV patients in developing countries. The licence to manufacture Gilead's low-cost drug extends to 112 countries.
The Government of India unveiled 'Pharma Vision 2020' aimed at making India a global leader in end-to-end drug manufacture. Approval time for new facilities has been reduced to boost investments. Further, the government introduced mechanisms such as the Drug Price Control Order and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority to deal with the issue of affordability and availability of medicines. Mr Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, has announced setting up of chemical hubs across the country, early environment clearances in existing clusters, adequate infrastructure, and establishment of a Central Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology.
The Government of India plans to set up around eight mini drug-testing laboratories across major ports and airports in the country, which is expected to improve the drug regulatory system and infrastructure facilities by monitoring the standards of imported and exported drugs and reduce the overall time spent on quality assessment.
Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), the professional association of pharmaceutical companies in India, plans to prepare data integrity guidelines which will help to measure and benchmark the quality of Indian companies with global peers.
The Government of India plans to incentivise bulk drug manufacturers, including both state-run and private companies, to encourage 'Make in India' programme and reduce dependence on imports of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), nearly 85 per cent of which come from China.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has set up an inter-ministerial co-ordination committee, which would periodically review, coordinate and facilitate the resolution of the issues and constraints faced by the Indian pharmaceutical companies.
The Indian pharmaceutical market size is expected to grow to US$ 100 billion by 2025, driven by increasing consumer spending, rapid urbanisation, and raising healthcare insurance among others. Going forward, better growth in domestic sales would also depend on the ability of companies to align their product portfolio towards chronic therapies for diseases such as such as cardiovascular, anti-diabetes, anti-depressants and anti-cancers that are on the rise. The Indian government has taken many steps to reduce costs and bring down healthcare expenses. Speedy introduction of generic drugs into the market has remained in focus and is expected to benefit the Indian pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the thrust on rural health programmes, lifesaving drugs and preventive vaccines also augurs well for the pharmaceutical companies.