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Category Archives: government
FBy Con George-Kotzabasis
The following is my contribution to a lecture given by Professor Vrasidas Karalis in the Greek Community Centre, in Melbourne, two years ago.
Bravura performance professor Vrasidas! Papaioannou's head would lift from the grave in approval with a big smile on his face, unlike the skulls of Communism, which according to the ex-Marxist Polish philosopher, Leszek Kolakowski, will never smile again. Papaioannou was a bright star amidst a constellation of co-stars, like Raymond Aron, Ernst Nolte, Ayn Rand, and Hannah Arendt, not to mention others, who had foreseen, identified, and exposed the murderous traits of Communism. However, the cocottes of the ideology of Marxism were able to allure with their bawdy charms and false historical promises nipple-fed intellectuals, whom Lenin had dubbed "useful idiots," into the ranks of the Communist mirage. Intoxicated by the brilliant form of Marx's writings they were blind to its toxic content.
The dragon's teeth spawned by Marx on the cerebral landscape would give rise to the monstrous leadership of Stalin, Mao, and the Althusserian trained ideologues of Cambodia, who would try to build their utopia on Gulag Archipelagos and killing fields. And when Communism would be achieved on these brutal homicidal grounds, then human concerns would take over: man fishing in the morning, playing the flute in the evening and writing romantic poetry in the night. Thus, the Marxian birth of the "all-sided man," of the "politropos Anthropos!"
Marxism is not merely tragic drama, it is worse: it is kitsch, a pretentious worthless play staged on history. And the wrathful hallucinations and platitudes of Marx became murderous instruments in the hands of the epigones of Marxism.
Presently, a repeat of Marxist omniscience is to be re-enacted in Greece. The Tsipras Government, a politically arriviste, incompetent bungling blend of a withering crop of epigonistic Marxists, pseudo intellectuals, and populist sycophants, are pushing Greece into the abyss of their own "killing fields". Failure in negotiations with the Troika will lead to the debt default of Greece and return to the drachma, with annihilating consequences to the standard of living of the ordinary people and to a political danger by the rise of dictatorship. Marxism is the opium of the intelligentsia.
Posted in government, ideology, politics, thoughts.	Tagged ayn rand, constellation, ideologues, intelligentsia, landscape, mirage, opium, performance
"The beginning is the sign". David Hilbert, German mathematician
In the doom and gloom of the political and economic landscape of Greece, a spectre haunts the country, the spectre of Marxist dictatorship. There are ominous signs that Prime Minister Tsipras and some of his closest associates are working on a sinister secret plan that would prolong their staying in power beyond the date of the expiration of their tenure. There are several signs (they will be identified and explained below) and all of them are showing clearly, like lighted roads that lead and meet at a central junction, that this central square is named dictatorship.
All the latest polls are indicating that the Tsipras government will get a merciless thrashing at the next election, to be held in 2019, in the hands of the electorate, as back payment for the historically unprecedented deceptive promises and prodigious lies that Syriza had told the people, for the purpose of winning the 2015 election, as well as for the severe cuts in pensions and increase of taxes that Tsipras, by breaking all his promises to the contrary, had imposed relentlessly and with no compunction, even upon the most indigent parts of society. Tsipras, therefore, and his bosom comrades are realising with great panic that their proud slogan of "First Time Aristera" (Left Government) is to be transformed into the terrified shameful "Never Again Aristera." Therefore, to prevent this from happening, they will not hesitate to extract the most nefarious means from the arsenal of Bolshevism so they can remain in power. And as the game is up for them, politically and electorally, they have nothing to lose by taking these extreme measures, since they are fated to be consigned into the graveyard of history.
Yet this coup d'état of Tsipras will not occur under the rattling of the tanks but under the scratching of the pens. By making changes to the political processes of the country, apparently by abiding the Constitution, that would open the road toward dictatorship. (Not that he has any moral scruples in using the tanks–after all his ideological kin the Soviet Union, used them in Czechoslovakia–but only because he has no direct control over the armed forces.) However, before he comes to the real McCoy, i.e., the setting-up of a Marxist dictatorship, he will initially postpone or suspend the next election. And to do this he will use as proschema, pretext, a contrived national threat or a real one, such as provoking a military incident with Turkey. Hence by creating a casus belli he will render to himself extraordinary powers enabling him to suspend normal constitutional processes and govern the country by plebiscite.
What methods will Tsipras use to achieve his goal? Whether he will fabricate a fictitious internal enemy such as an association of so called right-wing politicians of New Democracy, and even involve its president, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with big corrupt business and bigwig criminals involved in the importation of vast quantities of heroin, or whether he will create a real enemy by provoking a military clash with Turkey, Tsipras will use the rationale, by which he will attempt to convince the people, that in order to fight either of these enemies successfully he must be given the right to make the necessary amendments to the Constitution and hence will call the people to agree to them through a plebiscite. It is hard to imagine, that in conditions of great dangers to the country, in the first case, the importation of heroin, with its deleterious effects upon the wellbeing of Greece's children, by a so called evil combination of politicians, businessmen, and criminals, or a takeover of the country by a rapacious cabal of right-wing politicians and big commerce and industry, which will profit at the expense of the ordinary people, or the threat of war with Turkey, that it will be difficult for the people to be convinced of either of these dangers and will therefore render to Tsipras the right to make the appropriate changes to the Constitution. Furthermore, the crescendo of violent demonstrations by anarchist extremists of the left, in which the minister of public order deliberately refuses to take a strong stand against this disorder, as todays incidents in the heart of the retail trade centre of Athens shows, whose shops were broken and vandalized, may also be a part of the conspirators plan that will facilitate them to declare emergency measures or even martial law.
Tsipras therefore is confident that there will be no mass reaction to his moves, and rests this trust on the passivity of the people as well as on the passivity and indifference of the armed forces, which, since the experience of the Junta, stand at arms-length from politics. What other forces therefore could oust Tsipras from power, when all the key posts of government will be held by people of his own ilk?
However, it will not be easy for Tsipras to convince the guardians of the Constitution, the Judiciary, of the necessity or correctness of these changes to the political processes of the country. This is the reason why from the beginning of this year there has been a concerted and vicious attack against the Judiciary by some ministers of the government, and even by the Prime Minister himself, who has stated in public, that the Judiciary is a "hindrance" to some of the policies of his government. And the primo uomo of this attack is the Minister of Health Polakis, whose cursing cacophonous mantinades (Cretan couplets) against the Judiciary, may sound noetically jarring and stupid but they hide behind them a clever purpose, i.e., to degrade, erode, and weaken its authority. Also, the involvement of the Minister of Defence, Kammenos, in the investigative operations of the police in regards to this huge quantity of heroin that was smuggled into the country by criminals, which is a blunt violation of the separation of powers, i.e., of the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislative, has also the same aim, that is, to debilitate the Judiciary and its personnel. All the above are lucid signs of the Tsipras government plot to disparage it and wear down its authority. As it perceives, that the main obstacle to turn itself into a proletarian dictatorship, is a robust and independent Judiciary, that espouses the separation of powers and checks that the actions of government are in tangent with the rules of the Constitution. The conspirators, however, will be attempting to make 'tailor-made' interpretations of the Constitution so that they will suit their actions which will creepily lead to their dictatorship.
But the most significant revealing sign is the appointment by Tsipras, of the former Chief Justice of the High Court, Vasiliki Thanou, as head of his Legal Office. Mrs. Thanou, is known for her skills as a lawyer as well as for her political credentials of being a left-wing supporter of long standing. She served, with the support of SYRIZA, as interim prime minister prior to the election of Lukas Papadimou in Government. It is obvious that Thanou, will be advising Tsipras on changes in the legal and political processes of the country and on possible changes to the Constitution that would facilitate him to consummate his secret plan. Indeed, she will be knitting, with her skilful fingers, the regal toga that Tsipras will be wearing as dictator of the proletariat. Since her appointment, she launched a vehement attack against New Democracy for its audacity to criticise her appointment.
The question rises with no easy answers. How can one kill the plan of Tsipras at the initial stages of its incubation? But there is an answer, and it comes from an unusual quarter, by which the Tsipras plan will be dead in its first breath: Ancient Greece comes to the rescue of modern Greece, Iphigenia in Aulis: Since it is impossible presently for the Opposition to force an election, the only way that would impel an election is by the resignation of Prokopis Pavlopoulos from the presidency. The reasons for his resignation would be plausible and cogent, that is, that he is unwilling and it is repugnant for him to preside under the fiendish machinations of the Tsipras government to undermine the Constitution, and its attacks against the Judiciary, that would lead to the subversion of democracy. Hence, Pavlopoulos will be summoned to be the modern Iphigenia whose sacrifice would release the storming winds that will sweep Tsipras and his comrades from The Maximou House (The White House of Greece). In this solution time is a crucial factor, and those persons who are close to Pavlopoulos will have to move swiftly and persuade him to accept this summons and go to the Euripidean Aulis, to his rendezvous with destiny. The question is: Will Prokopis Pavlopoulos have the spiritual and moral fortitude and intellectual insight and strength to sacrifice himself for the sake of Greece?
PS There might be within SYRIZA some righteous people. But if they do not oppose this insidious plan of Tsipras, they will suffer the Aeschylian fate. "A righteous man by himself is formidable. But a righteous man conjoined with the wicked perishes with them."
Posted in government, greece, ideology, politics, Uncategorized.	Tagged crucial, formidable, greece, haunts, iphigenia, judiciary, landscape, marxist dictatorship, righteous, spectre, tsipras government
Democracy Being a Free Good Endangers its Existence
September 15, 2016 by kotzabasis
Breathing democratic freedom is neither easy nor free; it entails both rights and obligations and most importantly knowledge of current fundamental issues. But in most democracies their constituents tend to uphold and demand more their rights than their obligations, and more deplorably, a sizable number of them exercise their rights in a state of ignorance. This imbalance, however, between rights and obligations, as well as lack of knowledge of the real issues, puts in jeopardy the functioning of a politically just and economically productive democracy, and indeed endangers its existence as a form of government.
Moreover, it makes its voters who are uninformed of the points at issue captive to populist slogans and to that everlasting traducer of democracy, identified by Aristotle, demagogy, that appeals to the hopes and fears of the electors and by propagandistic lies and false promises opens the doors of power to demagogues. This is exemplified by two recent political events in our times: Alexis Tsipras and his party of Syriza winning the elections in Greece on a wave of populism and unprecedented lies and false promises in the political history of the country, and of the plebiscite of the UK, whose two leaders of Brexit, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, with a farrago of lies and dire fictions were able to hoodwink a major part of the populace to vote for the exit of Britain from the European Union. On a smaller scale this also has happened in the Australian elections, when the Labor Party by its scare campaign that the Liberal Coalition would privatize Medicare, succeeded in convincing a large part of the electorate of this fictitious threat with the result of Liberals losing so many seats that brought the country on the edge of a hang parliament.
How can one remedy the weaknesses of democracy and protect its constituents from becoming victims to populism and to demagogy with catastrophic results to the well-being of society and to its continued economic prosperity? Some people believe that the answer lies in bringing cultural and ethical changes among the people that would make them immune to this toxic virus of populist-demagogy; and thus leading gradually to the cashiering and inexorable dismissal of all demagogic and populist leaders from the domain of politics. The difficulty and danger of such a solution however is that cultural change is a slow process and during its gestation and vicissitudes in a long run may in the meantime unhinge democracy from its door of freedom, by the actions of feckless, inept, and irresponsible politicians, and incarcerate it within the dungeon of dictatorship. A safer and faster solution would be to enact radical changes to the electoral voting system by suspending in certain circumstances temporarily parts of the electorate from voting.
On what principle could one suggest such an unequal voting system that would discriminate so deliberately between social groups in the ambience of democracy, and which group would be the unequal part in the democratic process? The guiding principle of the first part of the question must explicitly aim to the continued viability and stability of a democratic system, in the context of which, the economic well-being of society depends and guarantees the further expansion of wealth that renders to the people a wide choice where to employ their talents and skills that would push their living standard onto higher plateaus and make their lives congenial to their desires. The second part, i.e., the social group that would be unequally treated, would be identified as that part that depends on welfare for its living and as a 'debtor' client of the government easily succumbs to populist slogans and rabble rousing; also, due to its low educational level and lack of interest in important matters, it deprives it from having adequate knowledge of the issues involved and hence is completely unqualified to make a sober judgment on these issues. It is mainly this social group that brings to power demagogues and millenarian ideologues that imperil the stability of the polity and its economic system. And, indeed, ironically pits this same social group into absolute poverty, and in turn destabilizes democracy itself, as it has happened with the political rise of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela; where its people after a contrived false prosperity are presently hunting dogs and cats to feed themselves. The same has happened with the Marxist Alexis Tsipras in Greece, where the pauperization of many of its ordinary people is exacerbated every day and has reached unprecedented high levels under his totally inept, ideologically barren and irresponsible government.
The enactment of this radical legislation would specifically suspend from the right to vote any person who had been on social welfare or unemployed for more than a year, and only with his/her ceasing on being on welfare or unemployed his/her right to vote would be restored. Such legislation would not only strengthen and secure the viability of democracy and the prosperity of its economic system, but would also deprive populist demagogues and political parties of a constituency upon whose existence they depend. Moreover, it would substantially reduce the spending of the welfare state and make it less precarious to the fiscal policy of the state and hence to the well-being of the country. This radical enactment takes a leaf from the cradle of democracy in classical Greece, Athenian democracy. The latter disenfranchised and suspended from voting citizens who had failed to pay a debt to the polis. Likewise, in a modern democracy people who were in debt for their living to the government, that is on welfare, would be suspended from casting a vote.
Needless to say, such a radical proposal, to occur in the ambit of the 'spoils' of the welfare state that has spoiled at least two generations of people by our carefree and stand at ease democracy, will not be easy to implement as it will rouse all the wrath and opposition of the 'progressive' bien pensants and the 'good fellows' of the dole. It will require extraordinarily strong and sagacious political leadership that will unite parliamentary opposition parties into a gigantic wave that relentlessly will sweep away this 'progressivist' praetorian guard of the human rights, without responsibilities, of the dole takers, and throw this defiance of the sanctimonious goody-goodies into the dust bin of history.
Posted in government, nations, politics, thoughts.	Tagged freedom, government, political leadership, populist, radical proposal, sanctimonious, welfare state
Smart Politicians Stand Naked before Labor's Master: Ideological Stupidity
August 4, 2016 by kotzabasis
Since the economically profligate Whitlam era, the only Labor government that was bracketed off from Labor's inveterate stupidity was the Hawke-Keating government. The present leadership of Shorten-Bowen taking a leftist turn in its politics, like the Rudd-Gillard administrations had done, as adumbrated in its pre-electoral commitments of "big-government," is repudiating the prudent policies of Hawke-Keating and wilfully adopting, retrogressively, the stupid and disastrous paradigm of European socialism that had sunk Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus into the abyss of bankruptcy, economic crisis, and political instability. Moreover, it is doing so in the face when even the Scandinavian haven of the social democratic Welfare state is severely clipped of its largesse, as at last has been realised to be no longer economically viable. Anders Borg, the wunderkind as finance minister of Sweden, initiated the incremental dismantling of the Welfare state, lowered taxes in the private sector, which has galvanized the creation of new jobs.
But returning back home. The leftist political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Kenny, is forecasting "dire trouble" for Labor on the debt and deficit front. Terry McCrann, of The Daily Telegraph, ominously declares "Shorten would plunge the country into greater debt". And Henry Ergas, of The Australian, claims that even the latest backflips of Labor will not be sufficient to close the deficit gap and its "mythmakers" will be tempted "to conjure revenue increases out of thin air, just as the Rudd-Gillard governments did pointing to a golden future time when receipts would soar."
But to believe in myths and tales of future increases in revenue, when The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund slash hopes of economic growth in the near future, is highly precarious, as it would lead the country into complacency and prevent it from taking the necessary measures to countervail a looming long recession. Furthermore, such a possibility is strengthened with the present event of Brexit, which could ominously beget both the dismemberment and the disintegration of the UK and the European Union, whose widespread ramifications upon the geopolitical and economic spheres of the world would devastate any prospects of economic growth for many years. And it is most unlikely that there will be, like in 2008, another China to save Australia from woeful economic distress.
Further, Labor with egregious lack of imagination and foresight is not factoring-in such imponderables as a precipitous fall in world prices of minerals in a context of world recession and the calamitous consequences that would follow, hitting public finances to smithereens and engendering a seriality of deficits with no hope of being reduced, with the outcome of plunging the country into the abyss of bottomless debt and insolvency. Is Bill Shorten going to be the "Maduro" of Australia, who, as the world price of oil dropped to lower depths, as a socialist president of Venezuela, continued the dissolute economic policies of his predecessor, Chavez, that turned the country from contrived prosperity to real poverty, once the government coffers were emptied, and indeed, into a hunting ground for dogs and cats to feed his people?
It goes without saying, of course, that this is an exaggeration and one could hardly imagine Australians shooting dogs and cats to feed themselves. It is merely used as an example to emphasize the dangers overshadowing an economy, when its Stewarts, the government, insouciantly do not take in consideration future possible events that could dramatically affect the economic course of a country and do not take prospective measures that would shield the country from such catastrophic effects.
One asks the question why the smart as they come politicians of Labor, such as Andrew Leigh, the assistant shadow treasurer of Labor, let their guard down and are reluctant to prepare themselves for these uncertainties of the future, believing that Australia somehow is protected by divine mandate from the ills of world recession and that Australia's "economy is indestructible", to quote Rex Connor, a minister in Whitlam's government? For people who have studied the policies of Labor over a number of years the answer is simple and obvious. All their major policies are motivated by their passionate belief in the socialist utopia. And the implementation of these policies requires, according to this ideological schema, big and interventionist government and hence, high taxes; and the redistribution of wealth and not its greater increase are their priority. Despite the glaring evidence showing that augmenting the size of wealth is the only and sure way to enhance the standard of living of the ordinary people. The latter proposition has indisputable historical precedents, as it was the flourishing and ever increasing wealth of capitalism, that for the first time in history, pulled millions of people from the hovels of poverty onto peaks of prosperity. But Labor is blind before this historical fact. Like a drug addict Labor is fixed to its socialist doctrine and lives in a stupefied world of unreality and wishful thinking.
The matchsticks foundations of socialism are collapsing all over the world, especially in Europe, yet Bill Shorten's Labor continues adamantly to believe that from this wreckage one could still build the just and equal society as envisaged by Labor's quixotic visionaries. It is under this standard of socialist ideology that Shorten undermines and repudiates the prudent and pragmatic policies of the Hawke-Keating government, whose "Accord" between employers and workers engendered a congenial milieu for investments and the creation of new jobs with the consequence of increasing the living standard of Australians. Bill Shorten's silence about these productive structural reforms and fiscal frugality of the Hawke-Keating era that had put Australia on a track of prosperity is a contemptuous affront to the two architects of these reforms. It was therefore rather surprising and amusing to have seen the two conductors of this inimitable political and economic performance sitting on the front-row of Shorten's Launch of the Labor campaign, clapping at a leader who had mockingly renounced their wise policies. For Paul Keating, especially, standing next to Bill Shorten who had adopted and announced policies that would lead to a "Banana Republic," it must have been an exceedingly painful occasion. Perhaps as painful as replacing Placedo Domingo with rock-and-roll.
I rest on my oars: You turn now
Posted in australia, economics, government, ideology, Uncategorized.	Tagged anders borg, bill shorten, european socialism, inveterate, kotzabasis, labor government, placedo domingo, welfare state
Marx and his Reincarnation Continue to be Hotbed of Gross Errata
April 17, 2016 by kotzabasis
The following is a very brief reply to professor of economics Kostas Lapavitsas, and former member of Parliament with the Party of Syriza, to his thesis, that Greece can achieve its national sovereignty only by going back to its own currency, i.e., the drachma, delivered at the Ithacan House, Melbourne, on April 15, 2016. The three first paragraphs were omitted from my response as I assumed regrettably wrongly, that the time allotted to the questioners at the meeting would be too short and hence I did not include them.
Professor Lapavitsas, allow me to make a short comment before I come to my question, as at the start I want to point out what I believe to be the roots of your erroneous proposition.
Dialectical materialism even in its modern reincarnation of neo-Marxism, which you espouse, is a hotbed of gross errata, not to say terata (monsters), and hence a fallacious doctrine.
Yet the ghost in the machine of Marxism, despite its irreparable breakdown, continues to churn-out apparitional panaceas for the ills of global capitalism. One such quack panacea is your own proposition.
My question is: Show us one country in the world hit by absolute poverty, which, your implied return to the drachma entails, that by adopting your proposal has achieved national sovereignty and kept it; If you cannot show us such a country, then your proposal is a mirage, a will-o'-the-wisp, an occult fancy.
But what is more worrisome is that you are asking the Greek people, after the botched Tsipras-Varoufakis experiment, to be also the guineapigs to your own theoretical experiment which has hardly better odds of success than the Varoufakian one.
National sovereignty is the result of prosperity not of poverty.
Posted in european union, government, greece, ideology, Uncategorized.	Tagged errata, marx, poverty, professor lapavitsas, proposition, reincarnation, theoritical experiment


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package kafka.examples.common.serialization;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.Map;

import org.apache.commons.lang3.SerializationUtils;
import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.Deserializer;

public class CustomDeserializer<T extends Serializable> implements Deserializer<T> {

	@Override
	public void configure(Map<String, ?> configs, boolean isKey) {
	}

	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	@Override
	public T deserialize(String topic, byte[] objectData) {
		return (objectData == null) ? null : (T) SerializationUtils.deserialize(objectData);
	}

	@Override
	public void close() {
	}

}

/**
 * $Log$
 *
 */

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Western & Southern's Award-winning Print Shop Moves to New Site
Western & Southern Financial Group • October 28, 2019
Western & Southern Financial Group's in-house print shop has moved from the company's headquarters in Cincinnati to a building in Newport, Kentucky. The print shop had outgrown its old 23,000-square-foot location, and after a years-long search, it settled this summer into a 33,000-square-foot building vacated by a commercial printer just over a mile away.
Western & Southern started moving the print shop's inventory in early June, marking phase one of the relocation. In the next phase, the company used a flatbed truck to haul 18 tons of its heaviest print shop equipment – the weight of 12 cars – to the new facility.
Western & Southern used the opportunity to upgrade its equipment, enabling the print shop to be more productive, reduce inventory and produce higher-quality materials. The new equipment includes a new Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 and several other new printers.
In the final phase of the move, the print shop's office area and associate workstations were relocated. All 32 print shop associates began working full-time in Newport on June 24 – a week earlier than planned.
With associates, equipment and materials operating in two locations and equipment torn down or in transit, the relocation posed significant logistical challenges. Even so, no work was outsourced and there were no injuries to associates or outside personnel.
The print shop move was recently featured in In-plant Impressions magazine. The editor wrote that our print shop "has seen more changes in the past couple of months than most in-plants will experience in a lifetime…This major investment in the in-plant's future is a testament to the tremendous respect the operation has earned from Western & Southern."
In-Plant Impressions also ranked Western & Southern's printing operation third in the nation in sales per employee, a measurement of efficiency and productivity.
The print shop won Print Excellence Awards from Graphic Media Alliance two years in a row: a best-of-show award in 2018 for digital printing on-demand and a best-in-category award in 2019 for specialty finishing.
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WS20191028121503 • Last Updated 12/17/2019
Western & Southern is the marketing name for a group of diversified financial services businesses composed of Western & Southern Financial Group and its seven life insurance subsidiaries. Life insurance and annuity products may be issued by The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company, National Integrity Life Insurance Company or Gerber Life Insurance Company. Products and services referenced in this website are provided through multiple companies. Each company has financial responsibility only for its own products and services, and is not responsible for the products and services provided by the other companies. Not all products and services are available in all states. All companies are members of Western & Southern Financial Group and are located in Cincinnati, OH with the exception of National Integrity, which is located in Greenwich, NY.
This site is intended to provide a general overview of our products and services. Please review the details of each product with your financial representative to determine which options may best fit your needs.
Western & Southern Financial Group does not provide tax or legal advice. Please contact your tax or legal advisor regarding your situation. The information provided is for educational purposes only.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Researchers deployed in Puerto Rico after earthquake
Meet the team of USGS scientists who were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020.
Attribution: Natural Hazards
Inspecting boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.
House marking in Puerto Rico
Houses were damaged during the M6.4 earthquake that struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Houses were tagged by local officials for whether they were safe or not.
Lateral spread in Ponce, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread near a stream in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Rockfall in Ponce, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of rockfall material in the yard of a house in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
House damaged by Rockfall in Ponce, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a rockfall damage to a house in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Landslide in Ponce, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a landslide near Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Liquefaction and lateral spread near stream in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Lateral spread and damage to boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Damaged curb caused in Ponce, Puerto Rico caused by M6.4 quake
Liquefaction and lateral spread from M6.4 earthquake in Puerto Rico
Lateral spread along road caused by M6.4 earthquake in Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread along a residential road in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Landslide triggered by M6.4 earthquake in Puerto Rico
USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a landslide failure along a residential road in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Secuencia del Terremoto en Puerto Rico, 2020 (hasta enero 16, 2020)
Secuencia del Terremoto en Puerto Rico, 2020
Terremotos detectados entre diciembre 28, 2019 hasta enero 16, 2020. Sujeto a actualizaciones.
>300 M3+ terremotos* registrados
desde dic 28, 2019 (dentro de 40km) suficientemente fuerte como para ser sentido
10 M5+ terremotos* registrados
desde dic 28, 2019 (
Attribution: Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program
2020 Puerto Rico Earthquake Sequence (as of Jan. 16, 2020)
2020 Puerto Rico Earthquake Sequence
Earthquakes detected between December 28, 2019 as of January 16, 2020. Subject to updates.
>300 M3+earthquakes recorded*
since Dec. 28, 2019 (within 40km) strong enough to be felt
10 M5+ earthquakes recorded*
since Dec. 28, 2019 (including M6.4) large
Banu at Fire Island
Attribution: New York Water Science Center
USGS & Chester County PA cooperate on long-term hydrologic monitoring
Screenshot of the Chester County (PA) Monitoring Network web app.
Attribution: Pennsylvania Water Science Center
Analyzing Earthquake Data in Puerto Rico
USGS scientists Thomas L. Pratt and Alena L. Leads, along with Dr. Elizabeth Vanacore, associate research professor at University of Puerto Rico, analyze data in earthquake monitoring and recording equipment amid aftershocks across the island's southern coast.
2020 January Public Lecture Flyer
The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration: How the Astrogeology Science Center is integral to the past, present, and future investigation of the Solar System
By Justin J. Hagerty, Director of the Astrogeology Science Center
Every astronaut to set foot on the Moon trained with the USGS in
Installing a temporary seismometer
Photo (L-R) Jose Cancel of Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN), Alena Leeds of USGS and Javier Santiago of PRSN install a temporary seismometer at Sabana Yeguas in southwestern Puerto Rico on Jan. 10, 2020.
Barren ground at Monument Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
View of Monument Geyser Basin looking NE. Dozens of steam vents occur in this area and form fumaroles, frying pans, mud pots, and in some cases have built silica-rich "monuments" (which lend the basin its name). This is an isolated area dominated by steam vents.
Attribution: Volcano Hazards Program Office, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, Yellowstone
Imperial Geyser looking south, Yellowstone
Imperial Geyser hot spring pool in Yellowstone National Park is about 30 m (about 100 ft) across and contains alkaline-Cl waters with a steam vent in the pool and mudpots outside the pool area (in the upper right part of this photo). USGS Photo by Pat Shanks, 2019.
Large microscope used for counting microplastics found in water sample
Large microscope used for counting microplastics found in water samples
Measuring streamflow through ice
Hydrologic technician Ryan Moore measures streamflow through ice at USGS streamgage station 13131000, Antelope Creek near Darlington, Idaho.
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
An Aleutian Eruption, Day and Night
The Shishaldin Volcano on the eastern edge of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain erupted with activity in January of 2020.
Attribution: National Land Imaging Program
MSL SAM Sol 2639
MSL Sol 2639: SAM Image
Attribution: Astrogeology Science Center
Black and white ruffed lemur of the genus Varecia
Black and white ruffed lemur of the genus Varecia.
Attribution: Climate Adaptation Science Centers
On board the IODP vessel JOIDES Resolution
Several instruments visible on board the research vessel JOIDES Resolution. Photo taken from the ship bridge roof. USGS logo visible on one of the pieces of equipment. Research cruises taken on the JOIDES Resolution are often interdisciplinary and collaborative across many universities, scientific agencies, and other research institutions.
Attribution: Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
The Yukon River, Alaska
The Yukon River near St. Mary's, Alaska.
Attribution: Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center
Taking water quality samples in Alaska
Earl Alstrom and Carol Hasburgh taking water quality samples near St. Mary's, Alaska.
Yukon River Basin graphic
A graphic overlay of the Yukon River Basin in Alaska as compared to the size of the continental United States. Credit: Laris Karklis (public domain)
Solar Powered Lake Profiler
Lake profiler deployed on Detroit Lake, Oregon, to study harmful algal blooms in the reservoir.
Attribution: Oregon Water Science Center
Head of the Meadow Beach, MA
Head of the Meadow Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts
Attribution: Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Region 1: North Atlantic-Appalachian, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attribution: Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
USGS employees point out the newly installed thermal camera
USGS scientists Adam Baldwin and Chris Gazoorian (USGS New York Water Science Center) point out the newly installed fixed-mount thermal infrared camera installed on the USGS Platte Kill at Dunraven NY streamgage in the Neversink River watershed. The camera is positioned to
Attribution: Water Resources
Photo of a camera system that will be tested to measure water level an
Example of a camera system that will be tested to measure water level and surface velocity at the East Branch Brandywine Creek below Downingtown, PA. Photo Credit: USGS staff. This technology is part of the
USGS employee prepares unmanned aerial vehicle for takeoff
USGS employee John Fulton prepares an unmanned aerial vehicle for take off. This particular drone referred to as "Q-Cam" measures surface water stream velocity. Combined with a second drone, non-contact discharge measurements can be made. This technology is part of the
USGS scientists collect data from the surfaced Ecomapper AUV
USGS scientists collect data from the surfaced Ecomapper after a mission to understand stream mixing near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Penn. This technology is part of the
Photo of an Ecomapper autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), and crew
USGS scientists load and check the mission path onto an Ecomapper autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), while other crew members collect vertical profile information using a multiple-parameter water-quality meter. This technology is part of the
Photo of an installed fixed-mount thermal infrared camera on a gage
Photo of a newly installed fixed-mount thermal infrared camera installed on the USGS Platte Kill at Dunraven NY streamgage in the Neversink River watershed. The camera is positioned to track focused groundwater discharge along a bedrock contact on the opposite side of the


There is nothing like losing a loved one. Sometimes it is hard to express what you are feeling other than grief. Sending flowers with a beautiful message to the funeral home can help you overcome this sadness. By writing down a heartfelt funeral flower message you will express how much you love them and what they mean to you. 1-800-Flowers Clark in Clark, NJ is here to help you find the perfect message for your funeral flowers.
If you are sending flowers to the family you can always include a message offering you're your thoughts and prayers. For instance, send them the Yellow & White Sincerest Sorrow funeral flower arrangement and alongside, write down an uplifting prayer or your wishes of healing of their heart. This gesture of sympathy will help them go through grief.
Sometimes it is hard to find funeral flowers message ideas. In times of sorrow it seems harder to express what one feels. We at 1-800-Flowers Clark in Clark, NJ are ready to help you find the most beautiful funeral flowers and guide you to express the love you have for them. In times of sorrow we are here to help!


The first new nuclear power station in a generation has moved a step closer to reality, as the European Commission announced that it has approved the Hinkley Point C State aid case.
The government is now working on the Hinkley project with EDF Group – which, alongside other investors, will be responsible for funding the project through energy bills like all other electricity supplies.
According to Davey, building a new fleet of nuclear power stations could significantly reduce household bills by 2030. Moreover, for the first time ever, the operator of the plant will be responsible for the full costs of decommissioning and its share of the costs of waste management.


The areas of practice we cover speak for itself but what we are interested in is how we can improve your situation so that we can both see added value in a mutually beneficial relationship. Value should not be measured in time so we do not time cost for our work but rather tailor the costs to meet individual circumstances to ensure that we both see value in what we are doing.
ARE WE THE BEST LAWYERS FOR YOU? Well, that question should never be one that you have to accept from any lawyer but rather a decision that you come to after you meet and discuss because it can never be just good for one but beneficial to both. But if you are asking ARE WE GOOD VALUE then the answer is Yes.
When you enjoy what you do and who you are working with then that is as close as you are going to get to not working. In short, we want you to enjoy the process as much as we enjoy being part of it with you.


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Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock It Takes Two:
New York rappers Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock released their hip hop single It Takes Two on August 2, 1988. The song quickly became a top forty (40) hit and was later certified platinum by the RIAA.
It Takes Two has been covered and sampled by various recording artistes over the years and has been argued to be the greatest hip-hop single ever made.
The infamous introduction of the song is spoken over a sample of Space Dust by The Galactic Force Band (1978).
© 1988 Profile Records.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4ttltxd7o59ppx/Rob%20Ease%20%26%20DJ%20E-Z%20Rock_It%20Takes%20Two.mp3
Download Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock It Takes Two HQ mp3
1988, Hip Hop, It Takes Two, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – The Message
Lighthouse Family – Run


Benjamin Karsch hired from Cigna after departure of Julia Goldin to Lego last month.
NEW YORK—Revlon has named Benjamin Karsch as its new consumer CMO, following the departure of Julia Goldin to Lego last month.
Karsch joins from Cigna, where he was SVP and CMO for the past six years, helping usher in a more consumer-centric marketing focus at the health insurance company.
"In our extensive search, we wanted someone who could passionately inspire a deeper engagement with our brands, our consumers and the strategy of value creation of our company," said Revlon CEO Lorenzo Delpani in a statement.
In prior roles, Karsch led global marketing at Las Vegas Sands, served Fortune 100 packaged goods clients at McKinsey & Company, and held brand management leadership roles in both the U.S. and overseas markets at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.
As a member of Revlon's global leadership team, Karsch will lead Revlon consumer division's global brand marketing, product development, consumer engagement and public relations.
His arrival follows the departure of Goldin, who is now EVP and global CMO at the Lego Group.


Defective premises: how will a court assess damages?
Ramsey J has provided a helpful summary of the principles that apply in deciding the type and level of damages to be awarded in cases involving defective premises.
He did so in a case involving claims by freeholders of homes built at a development at Eden Park in Hartlepool during 2002 to 2004 (Harrison and others v Shepherd Homes Ltd and others  EWHC 1811 (TCC)).
A number of the properties had suffered serious cracking due to settlement of un-compacted landfill in the land on which the affected houses were built.
The trial involved ten lead properties. The hope was that the judge's findings for those ten would enable the parties to resolve similar claims on many other properties.
In breach of their contract of sale and implied terms of contract.
Liable under section 2 of the NHBC's Buildmark warranty and section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 (DPA 1972).
Turning to the question of damages, Ramsey J decided that there was no distinction to be drawn in this case between the approach to damages for liability under the sales contracts, the NHBC Buildmark or under the DPA 1972.
The court will generally make an award of the cost of reinstatement, provided that reinstatement is reasonable. Reinstatement will be unreasonable if the cost would be out of all proportion to the benefit to be obtained. The question of reasonableness can only be answered in relation to the particular contract.
In order to recover the cost of reinstatement, it is not necessary for the claimant to show that it will actually reinstate the property. However, the claimant's intention to reinstate may be relevant to reasonableness.
If reinstatement is found to be unreasonable, the measure of damages will generally be diminution in value.
Where reinstatement is found to be unreasonable and there is no diminution in value, the court may still award damages for loss of amenity.
As a general rule, a claimant cannot recover damages for injured feelings for breach of contract.
However, where the object of the contract is to award pleasure, relaxation, peace of mind or freedom from molestations, such damages are recoverable.
In cases not falling within the exception, damages may be recovered for physical inconvenience and discomfort caused by the breach and mental suffering directly related to physical inconvenience and discomfort.
The cause of that inconvenience or discomfort must be a sensory (sight, touch, hearing, smell) experience.
Any damages awarded for loss of amenity will be modest.
Ramsey J went on to award damages to each of the claimants in the ten lead cases by applying these principles to the particular facts and circumstances of each claim.
On the basis of the expert evidence, he found that the claimants in the lead cases were not entitled to damages based on reinstatement, but were entitled to damages for diminution of value. He assessed the diminution in value for each property based upon valuation evidence.
He also awarded damages for distress, inconvenience and loss of amenity in sums varying from £250 – £2,500, for the period up to the date of trial (and similar sums in relation to the future).
Shepherd Homes' request for leave to appeal against the judgment was turned down. So, unless the Court of Appeal is asked and agrees to reconsider the decision, this judgment is likely to provide a welcome clarification of the way in which the complex law in relation to damages for defective buildings should be applied.


For the 2016 Projections program, click here.
The New York Film Festival's Projections section presents an international selection of film and video work that expands upon our notions of what the moving image can do and be. Drawing on a broad range of innovative modes and techniques, including experimental narratives, avant-garde poetics, crossovers into documentary and ethnographic realms, and contemporary art practices, Projections brings together a diverse offering of short, medium, and feature-length work by some of today's most vital and groundbreaking filmmakers and artists.
Projections is curated by Dennis Lim (Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center), Aily Nash (independent curator), and Gavin Smith (Editor, Film Comment, Senior Programmer, Film Society of Lincoln Center).
The entanglement of the psychological and physical worlds, as reflected in architecture, domestic space, and everyday objects. Works by Samuel M. Delgado & Helena Girón, Blake Williams, Wojciech Bakowski, Scott Stark, and Riccardo Giacconi.
The raw and the cooked: from elemental particles and nature vs. culture to doomed transcendental urges and, out of the ashes, renewal in fresh visions of the material world. Works by Charlotte Pryce, Vincent Grenier, Laura Kraning, Heather Trawick, Emmanuel Lefrant, Janie Geiser, Jodie Mack, and Alexandre Larose.
Disorienting visions, both near and far, of an apocalyptic world reveal the warped landscapes of the Anthropocene. Work by Ben Rivers, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Mike Stoltz, Ana Vaz, Ben Russell, Ernst Karel, Verena Paravel, and Lucien Castaing-Taylor.
When the worlds of fantasy and desire collide in a dissociative dance of bodies in motion, what's love got to do with it? Work by Jared Buckhiester, Dani Leventhal, Curt McDowell, Alee Peoples, Lewis Klahr, and Peter Tscherkassky.
Work by Chick Strand and Saul Levine.
Nicolas Pereda and Laida Lertxundi in person!
Works by Nicolas Pereda and Laida Lertxundi.
Modern conflicts of labor and race, traced from their complex origins to the chaotic present. Works by Simon Fujiwara, Beatrice Gibson, Louis Henderson, Peggy Ahwesh, Fern Silva, and Ephraim Asili.
Life in the Cloud: What are the material and emotional consequences of a digital world that has altered our bodily existence? Works by James Richards, Louis Henderson, Michael Robinson, Jon Rafman, Sara Magenheimer, and Cécile B. Evans.
Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpour, and Parastoo Anoushahpour in person!
Works by Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpour, Parastoo Anoushahpour, and Basim Magdy.
Jim Finn, Katherin McInnis, and Michael Gitlin in person!
Free screenings on loop in the Amphitheater featuring works by Jim Finn, Katherin McInnis, and Michael Gitlin.
Calum Michel Walter in person!
Free screenings on loop in the Amphitheater featuring works by Calum Michel Walter and Lois Patiño.
Michael Bell-Smith, Victoria Fu, and Takeshi Murata in person!
Free screenings on loop in the Amphitheater featuring works by Michael Bell-Smith, Hannah Black, Victoria Fu, and Takeshi Murata.


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Texas: Ted Cruz Defeats David Dewhurst
Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz was endorsed by Sarah Palin on Facebook on Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
By Abby Livingston
Updated 9:43 p.m. | Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a virtual political unknown only a year ago, has shocked the Texas political system and defeated Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, according to the Associated Press.
Cruz had 53.6 percent of the vote to Dewhurst's 46.4 percent at the time the AP called the race, with just 22.5 percent of precincts reporting. Although that result was widely anticipated in the final days of the campaign, it cannot be emphasized enough how much of a stunning development this is.
Texas is not akin to GOP Sen. Dick Lugar's loss in Indiana or in states where a tea party insurgent knocked off a party favorite in 2010.
The media market is one of the most expensive in the country, and the money needed to travel the geographic expanse sets the Lone Star State apart from other states. And yet, Cruz and his coalition of national tea party figures and groups such as the Club for Growth and Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) Senate Conservatives Fund beat the odds.
Nearly every GOP state Senator and Gov. Rick Perry (R) backed Dewhurst. Perry campaigned vigorously on his behalf. Republicans in the state disagree over whether Perry's failed effort for Dewhurst will show weakness.
Cruz is all but assured he will be elected to the Senate in the fall.
Updated 9:43 p.m.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, praised Cruz in a press release shortly after the race was called.
"Ted believes, as I do, that we need to make Washington DC look a little more like the great state of Texas, and that starts with restoring common-sense, conservative values in our nation's Capital," he said.
"With a strong, hard-working ally in Ted Cruz, we will work to pass a balanced budget amendment, remove the federal government's boot off the neck of our small businesses, and repeal-and-replace ObamaCare," he added.
Chris Chocola, president of the Club for Growth, said in a press release that Cruz "clearly articulated the pro-growth message that Republican voters across the country have responded to."
The Club for Growth PAC spent more than $5.5 million in independent expenditures on the campaign, according to the release.


Current approaches aimed at improving the efficacy of radiation as a cancer treatment modality involve the development and application of molecularly targeted radiosensitizers, a strategy that requires a thorough understanding of the fundamental processes comprising the cellular radioresponse. Recent data indicating that radiation modifies gene expression primarily through translational control rather than transcriptional events suggests that mRNA translation contributes to cell survival after irradiation. The overall goal of this project is to determine whether the regulatory/rate-limiting components of the translational machinery provide targets for tumor cell radiosensitization. The majority of translation in mammalian cells occurs in a cap-dependent manner and is highly dependent on eIF4E. As such, we investigated a regulatory role for eIF4E in cellular radiosensitivity. eIF4E knockdown enhanced the radiosensitivity of tumor but not normal cells. eIF4E knockdown inhibited the dispersal of radiation-induced γH2AX foci. Furthermore, radiation was found to increase the binding of >1000 unique mRNAs to eIF4E, many involved in DNA replication, recombination, and repair. S6 kinase 1 (S6K1), also an important regulatory component of the translational machinery, enhances the translation of specific mRNA subpopulations, independent from eIF4E, and mediates ribosome biogenesis. The role of S6K1 in determing cell survival after radiation was determined in several tumor cell lines and one normal cell line. S6K1 knockdown enhanced the radiosensitivity of all 3 tumor lines. In contrast S6K1 knockdown had no effect on the cellular radiosensitivity of the one normal line tested. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a critical kinase in the regulation of gene translation and has been suggested as a potential target for radiosensitization. Importantly, it plays a major role in regulating eIF4E availability as well as S6K1 activity. The radiosensitizing activities of the allosteric mTOR inhibitor rapamycin with that of the ATP competitive mTOR inhibitor PP242 were compared. Based on immunoblot analyses, whereas rapamycin only partially inhibited mTORC1 activity and had no effect on mTORC2, PP242 inhibited the activity of both mTOR containing complexes. In the two tumor cell lines evaluated, PP242 treatment 1h before irradiation increased radiosensitivity, whereas rapamycin had no effect. PP242 had no effect on the cellular radiosensitivity of a normal lung fibroblast line. PP242 exposure did not influence the initial level of γH2AX foci after irradiation, but did significantly delay the dispersal of radiation-induced γH2AX foci. Finally, PP242 administration to mice bearing U251 xenografts enhanced radiation-induced tumor growth delay. A next generation analog of PP242, INK128, is currently undergoing analysis in clinical trials. Given our data showing ATP-competitive mTOR inhibition is a strategy for tumor radiosensitization as well as the fact that radiotherapy is a primary treatment modality for locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the effects of INK128 on pancreatic cancer radiosensitivity were determined. In three pancreatic cancer cell lines addition of INK128 immediately after radiation resulted in radiosensitization. Consistent with the effects of PP242 on other cell lines, INK128 exposure did not influence the initial level of γH2AX foci after irradiation, but did significantly delay the dispersal of radiation-induced γH2AX foci. Furthermore, in pancreatic tumor xenografts INK128 inhibits mTOR activity as well as cap-complex formation in a time-dependent manner. Lastly, INK128 treatment significantly prolonged the radiation-induced tumor growth delay of pancreatic tumor xenografts. In summary, the data provided in this thesis have begun to characterize the role of the translational machinery in determining the cellular response to radiation.
Hayman, Thomas John, "The Translational Machinery as a Target for Radiosensitization" (2013). Graduate Theses and Dissertations.


Angel Haze and aspiring model Ireland Baldwin are more than just friends, the rapper clarified in a recent interview with British newspaper The Independent.
The "Dirty Gold" rapper made sure there was no ambiguity in describing her relationship with Alec Baldwin's daughter.
Haze, who says she resists labels, also claims she has had to defend her sexuality in the past. "Excume sir, i like what i like!" she tweeted last year in respond to a fan who complimented her on her looks and advised her to "go straight."


Tetragonia implexicoma (Miq.) Hook. f.
Tetragonia implexicoma is a scrambling subshrub that forms dense leafy patches of up to 13 feet (4 m). The stems are long and trailing, often succulent and colored red or pink when young, maturing to dark green to brown-black and becoming woody. The leaves are alternate, clustered and fleshy. The yellow flowers are solitary. The fruits are pink to dark red, succulent berries up to 0.3 inch (8 mm) long.
It is found mainly in coastal regions of New Zealand and southern Australia as well as on many nearby island groups.


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Nanaimo RCMP seek help to identify male in $70,000 fraud
Nanaimo RCMP is asking the public for help to identify a male who allegedly committed financial fraud from two Royal Bank locations in Nanaimo. Photo courtesy Nanaimo RCMP.
Nanaimo RCMP is asking for the public's help to identify a male who allegedly has obtained $70,000 from Royal Bank (RBC) clients in numerous communities.
Police say the suspect male allegedly committed financial frauds at two RBC locations in Nanaimo Dec. 11
Investigators say nearly $11,500 in currency was illegally obtained at the Brooks Landing and the Commercial Street branches Dec. 11.
On Dec. 12, Nanaimo RCMP says the suspect was reportedly involved in another incident that saw $8,000 taken in Parksville.
According to police, the suspect gained possession of the identification of existing RBC clients and attended five different branches in Quebec starting in March of last year.
RCMP say another eight fraudulent transactions were allegedly committed by the same person between Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 in Surrey and Langley.
Nanaimo RCMP says the suspect male is described as being Caucasian and between the ages of 45 and 55, with a heavy set and dark hair and was wearing glasses.
Police ask anyone who can help identify the person to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345, or Crime Stoppers.
Look south: Study finds comparisons for future climate of U.S., Canadian cities


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Sunflowers, August 1888
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Van Gogh, Vincent , 1853-90, postimpressionist painter, b. the Netherlands. Van Gogh's works are perhaps better known generally than those of any other painter. His brief, turbulent, and tragic life is thought to epitomize the mad genius legend. Ten years before his death Van Gogh decided to be a painter. During his lifetime, Van Gogh's work was represented in two very small exhibitions and two larger ones. Only one of Van Gogh's paintings was sold while he lived. In 1886 he joined Theo in Paris, where he met the foremost French painters of the postimpressionist period. The kindly Pissarro convinced him to adopt a colorful palette and thereby made a tremendously significant contribution to Van Gogh's art. In 1888, in ill health and longing for release from Paris and what he felt was his imposition upon Theo's life, he took a house at Arles. At Arles he was joined by Gauguin for a brief period fraught with tension, during which he mutilated his left ear in the course of his first attack of dementia. His paintings from this period include the incomparable series of sunflowers (1888; one version: National Gall., London); The Night Cafe (Yale Univ.); and The Public Gardens in Arles (Phillips Coll., Washington, D.C.). During his illness he was confined first to the Arles Hospital, then to the asylum at Saint-Remy, where, in 1889, he painted the swirling, climactic Starry Night (Mus. of Modern Art, New York City).
Van Gogh's last three months were spent in Auvers near Pissarro, painting the postman Roulin and the sympathetic, eccentric Dr. Gachet, a physician and collector who watched over him. Vincent's consciousness of his burden upon Theo, by then married and a father, increased. His work tempo was pushed to the limit; one of his last paintings, Wheat Field With Crows (Van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam), projected ominous overtones of distress. He despaired and shot himself, dying two days later in the arms of his brother. Theo died shortly thereafter.
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text:
March 25, 2018 June 26, 2019 Green__Jenny
Accountable Care ding ding round 2
A few weeks ago, Calderdale TUC passed the Motion 'Oppose Accountable Care Systems'.
Since then, the government and NHS England have been ducking and diving. Apparently sidestepping the contentious Accountable Care Organisation contract, at least until after the public consultation on the contract, they are pushing "informal" Accountable/Integrated care arrangements instead.
They've also decreed the word "Accountable" should be dropped and replaced with "Integrated".
Unimpressed, campaigners are battling on to protect #NHS4All.
We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on. And here is how.
Accountable Care Organisation Contract seems to be on hold
Pending the two Judicial Reviews of NHS England's Accountable Care Organisations/Models contract and NHS England's ACO contract consultation, NHS England has apparently decided NOT to promote/authorise Accountable Care Organisations and NOT to authorise any use of the Accountable Care Organisation/Models contract with the capitated Whole Population Annual Payment mechanism.
(A capitated Whole Population Annual Payment means Commissioners would pay the Provider on the basis of a fixed amount per head for the whole population – rather than paying for the actual treatments that patients receive. Combined with harsh financial controls, this shifts financial risk to providers – and therefore to patients, as it would increase current pressures to restrict patients' access to elective (planned) care. This would accelerate the development of a two tier health system, where those who can afford to pay go private and the rest are left with limited NHS care. Its use by Accountable Care Organisations in other countries has led to cherry picking patients whose treatment offers the best value for money, rather than providing healthcare on the basis of patients' clinical need. The 999 Call for the NHS Judicial Review challenges the lawfulness of this payment mechanism.)
Northumberland, Devon, Cornwall, Sunderland, Scarborough and Ryedale and N. Tyneside, for starters, have announced that they're not looking to go down the Accountable Care Organisation route at least for now. Greater Manchester and Dudley, the two areas that were to have piloted the Accountable Care Organisation contract, have said they are delaying this.
This has not stopped the first wave Accountable Care Systems from bashing on.
Opposition to "Informal" Accountable Care Systems/Integrated Care Systems
It looks as if these will operate by setting up some kind of Integration Agreement or Alliance Agreement about how the various statutory NHS organisations and local authorities will work together, while finding ways to align or possibly pool their budgets. But opposition is growing.
Impelled by a strong Devon Save Our Hospital Services campaign, Devon Health Scrutiny Committee has told the Council Cabinet to defer any decision on implementing the new shadow Integrated Care System until the Scrutiny Committee have been given full disclosure of the governance, management and checks and balances that would be a part of the proposals.
How wrong can Simon Stevens get?
This was shortly after after Simon Stevens, NHS England Chief Exec, told the House of Commons Health & Social Care Select Committee that the Devon Integrated Care System was now "motoring".
Apparently unaware that Devon Council Scrutiny Committee had called in the very paper he was praising, Simon Stevens said (Q 314)
"For those of you interested in Devon, there is an excellent paper from the chief executive of Devon County Council explaining what it is all about, reviewed by their cabinet last week. It makes the case very clearly that staff are working across organisations and that, if people need to be admitted to hospital, they will be supported to get care at home more quickly, and the NHS and local authorities are now working more closely together than ever. That is what Devon County Council is saying. That is an example of where I think people are now motoring."
It is unclear whether fixed 'per head' budgets have been put on hold
This is a key murky area that needs a strong light shining on it.
NHS England's headlines about NOT authorising any use of the Accountable Care Organisation/Models contract with the capitated Whole Population Annual Payment mechanism, until after the public consultation on the contract, say one thing. The small print of what Clinical Commissioning Groups are actually DOING seems to say another.
Here's an example. Last November Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group awarded an out-of-hospital "integrated care" MultiSpecialty Community Provider contract, due to go live on 3rd April. This is a variant of the Accountable Care Organisation contract and is based on capitated payments. Since January, the Clinical Commissioning Group has been "mobilising" the contract to go live. But a Freedom of Information response on 23 March from the Clinical Commissioning Group stated that they have reverted to the standard NHS contract, pending the outcome of NHS England's ACO contract consultation. However, it's unclear what this reversion to the standard NHS contract means. Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group's Freedom of Information response also says,
"The CCG has…ensured that all materially relevant sections of the ACO contract have been incorporated within the standard version."
Here's another example. Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Groups have appointed South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust as lead provider for community services in south Warwickshire, Rugby and north Warwickshire, and Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust as lead provider for community services in Coventry. The community services contract is based on a capitated payment.
So who knows what's really going on?
Glen Burley, South Warwickshire Foundation Trust and Wye Valley Trust chief executive, told the Health Services Journal in article published on 15 March that this means the Trust "have technically become, albeit in a small way, an integrated care organisation." They are now responsible for commissioning/subcontracting elements of the area's community services and are looking to create a gain share agreement with GPs, so that if GPs don't reduce the number of patients they refer to hospital, they don't get all or some of the incentive included in the capitated contract.
NHS England has rebranded Accountable Care as Integrated Care
In an attempt to detoxify Accountable Care by removing the pesky connotations of the USA's Medicare/Medicaid system, the government and its quango NHS England have re-branded Accountable Care as Integrated Care.
The spin changes nothing, they are still the same cuts- and privatisation- driven dismantling of the NHS. Just with a better-sounding name.
As the Calderdale TUC motion explains, Integrated/Accountable Care Organisations or Systems' "new care models" are based on cutting hospital services and replacing them with out-of-hospital services, with considerable reliance on the voluntary sector, patients themselves and families and friends to provide care. AKA Care Closer to Home. Private health companies like Totally Ltd have told their shareholders this creates a "massive market opportunity" for them.
Put your elected representatives on the spot – be like Devon Save Our Hospital Services!
An example of the start of a successful fightback is the Devon Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee's clear statement that Councillors have no idea what is going on with the Devon shadow Integrated Care System- and now they are going to use their powers to remedy that lack of information and determine what is carried out.
We all have to put our elected representatives – Councillors and MPs – on the spot. Do they have any kind of clue about what they're going along with (if they are)? Make it clear we don't agree with this course of action (and why). We also need to constantly challenge our local NHS organisations about what they're doing – in particular the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership leaders and Board and local Health and Wellbeing Boards.
Two new Judicial Reviews of acute hospital cuts
Two new Judicial Reviews are challenging the lawfulness of proposed acute hospital cuts and closures, that are key parts of Sustainability and Transformation Plans.
Simon Stevens may have told the House of Commons Health & Social Care Select Committee on 20th March that:
"Dorset…had a clear plan, and I think they are able to push on with that. We have backed it with capital and they are progressing well."
But back in the real world, the upcoming Defend Dorset NHS's Judicial Review of Dorset Sustainability and Transformation Plan challenges the lawfulness of proposed hospital bed cuts, Poole A&E downgrade and closure of Poole maternity services.
Hands Off HRI's upcoming judicial review challenges the plan to knock down Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and replace it with a small planned care clinic to serve both Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale, plus an urgent care centre (that would not treat children under 5) – leaving Huddersfield people without an A&E or any acute hospital services. This is a key part of West Yorkshire and Harrogate STP.
Across England, campaigners are fighting unevidenced cuts, closures and centralisation of hyper acute stroke services.
You can see why we need to challenge at every level
Some questions to start the process can be found on our #NHS4ALL Councillors page.
Accountable Care Organisation contract
Devon Integrated Care System
Integrated Care Systems
SImon Stevens
South Warwickshire Foundation Trust integrated care organisation
Previous Urgent questions about our hospitals' SubCo plan – please sign letter to Trust Directors & Governors
Next West Yorkshire GP practice confused by private online Push Doctor treatment of a patient
loobitzh says:
Keep up the good work! Thanks for all the info…..


text:
Afghan Renewable Energy Association launched in Kabul
Wadsam	May 6, 2014
More than 40 companies operating in the field of renewable energies met Monday in Kabul to launch the Afghan Renewable Energy Association. The private sector companies discussed how they can play a greater role in promoting use of renewable energy
Work on 7 NSP projects started in Kandahar province
With a cost of more than 1,600,000 AFN, work on 7 sub-projects of the National Solidarity Program (NSP) of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) recently started in Kandahar province. According to the Provincial Manager of NSP in
China and Turkey offer aid after Afghanistan landslide
Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation continued to deliver humanitarian aid to families affected by the devastating landslide in Argo district of Badakshan. Challenging terrain conditions made the aid and rescue teams use "primitive methods" to deliver the aid packages containing food,
India pledges USD 1mn in aid to Badakhshan victims
The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh called the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai today to offer India's condolences to the people of Afghanistan over the loss of lives in Badakshan because of the landslide. Dr


text:
A microservice to return Google calendar events in JSON format.

[Download the latest release for your platform here](https://github.com/danesparza/calendar-service/releases/latest)

### Starting and testing the service
To start the service, just run `calendar-service`.

If you need help, just run `calendar-service --help`.

There are a few command line parameters available:

Parameter       | Description
----------      | -----------
authEmail       | The OAuth 2.0 [service account email address](https://developers.google.com/console/help/new/#serviceaccounts), as listed in your project in the [Google Developer's console](https://console.developers.google.com)
authSubject     | The email address to impersonate.  The request will be made on behalf of this account, so you need ownership of this user account
keyFile         | The location of the PEM encoded keyfile to authenticate your service account
port            | The port the service listens on.
allowedOrigins  | comma seperated list of [CORS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-origin_resource_sharing) origins to allow.  In order to access the service directly from a javascript application, you'll need to specify the origin you'll be running the javascript site on.  For example: http://www.myjavascriptapplication.com

Once the service is up and running, you can connect to it using
`http://yourdomain.com:3000/calendar/calendarid` where `calendarid` is the Google calendar id you'd like information for.

Example: `http://yourdomain:3000/calendar/mg2l41ag8ua062trmktgdq6v90@group.calendar.google.com`

To test your service quickly, you can use the [Postman Google Chrome Extension](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/postman-rest-client/fdmmgilgnpjigdojojpjoooidkmcomcm?hl=en) to call the service and see the JSON return format.

Calendar information will be returned as a [JSON payload outlined on the Google Calendar developer website](https://developers.google.com/google-apps/calendar/v3/reference/events).

### Building
#### Prerequisites
*To build, make sure you have the latest version of [Go](http://golang.org/) installed.  If you've never used Go before, it's a quick install and [there are installers for multiple platforms](http://golang.org/doc/install), including Windows, Linux and OSX.*

#### Quick Start

Run the following commands to get latest and build.

```bash
go get github.com/danesparza/calendar-service
go build
```


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text:
Q: Registration Form with name & password - Binding and securty I need to create some simple form that will be use to registration a user.
The form include 2 fields
      1. User name
      2. Password.
So, i decide to create a class that derivative from ChildWindow.
I created also a class call 'UserInstance' that have 2 fields
   name, password.
The question that i have

*

*To make the application more secure - i don't want to make the field 'password' to be sting in the class instance ( security reason ) - is there some alternative ?

*I using the object 'system.windows.controls.PasswordBox' in the silverlight GUI - how can i make the binding between the PasswordBox and the Password object in the class instance ?
Thanks for any help.

A: regarding the binding. You can use it in the same way as for a TextBox.
<PasswordBox Password="{Binding MyProperty, Mode=TwoWay}" x:Name="MyPropertyTextBox" />

MyProperty is a property of the DataContext of the PasswordBox.
Unfortunately there is nothing like SecureString in SL. You have to encrypt it by your self. Have a look here(Cryptographic Services in Silverlight) or here(MD5) or here(SHA256Managed).
Hope this helps!
BR,
TJ

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Graybeard Distillery has announced Bedlam Vodka.
Bedlam Vodka is a rice-based vodka, designed to avoid any burn, the company says.
Bedlam Vodka will be available at North Carolina ABC stores, as well as various bars and restaurants across the state, beginning in May, followed by launches nationwide.
The suggested retail price is $21.95 per 750-ml. bottle.
Located in Durham, Graybeard is the largest grain to glass distiller in North Carolina, the company says.