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Submission: National Energy Guarantee needs to enable energy transition
March 9, 2018 at 7:43 am Andrea Bunting	Leave a comment
Climate Action Moreland has made a submission to the Energy Security Board on the National Energy Guarantee. Our criticism/suggestions revolve around: the need for Demand Response to be prioritised; no undermining or restrictions on state emission reduction targets; Voluntary action must be considered additional to targets; no offsets should be allowed for the electricity sector; Flexible Compliance – Limit the Carrying Forward of Over-achievement; and Setting Emissions Target as an Absolute Value vs Percentage.
The Guarantee was considered by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council at its last meeting in November 2017 which agreed that further development work and public consultation should be conducted.
We think, in it's current form, the National Energy Guarantee will embed coal and gas fired generation and restrict the growth of renewables, holding back the energy transition.
We need a rapid transition of the electricity sector as this sector is more easily decarbonised than other sectors, and will also enable the transport sector to then be decarbonised through electrification and battery power.
Our submission follows:
Submission from Climate Action Moreland
Energy Security Board National Energy Guarantee Consultation Paper
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the Energy Security National Energy Guarantee Consultation Paper
Climate Action Moreland (CAM) is a group of people living in Moreland (northern suburbs of Melbourne) who are working locally to push for strong action on climate change in all spheres and levels of our government, economy and society.
As a climate action group, our main concern is how we can transform our energy system to one with zero carbon emissions, while maintaining the security and reliability of the system and keeping electricity affordable.
Demand Response Must be Prioritised
A sustainable electricity system is not only one that relies on zero carbon energy sources, but also one that uses less resources for infrastructure.
Our electricity system has developed over the past century as one that is almost entirely supply-side focused. Consequently, we have wasted innumerable resources in building poles, wires, generators and other infrastructure that are barely utilised. Demand response is also an effective way of meeting the energy trilemma – reducing emissions, improving affordability, and maintaining a secure and reliable electricity system,
While it is pleasing that AEMO is now giving some attention to demand response, this is insufficient to compensate for over a century of neglect. Demand response needs affirmative action.
Unfortunately, the consultation paper seems to assume that demand response and new generation are equivalent, and that the NEG could stimulate investment in either. Yet, in the recent Health of the National Electricity Market, the ESB recognised that "demand response schemes are only in their infancy". Unless they prioritised, it is likely they will remain insufficiently utilised.
No Undermining States Pushing for Stronger Action on Emission Reduction (Sect 3.7.2)
Australia has signed up to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and has thus agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 deg C to avoid the worst impacts of dangerous climate change. Yet Australia's current emission reduction target (reducing emissions to 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030) is consistent with much more warming. This target is also substantially lower that the target recommended by the Climate Change Authority.
Several state governments are well aware of this contradiction and are therefore trying to increase Australia's reduction in emissions beyond the inadequate target of 26-28%. It is therefore very concerning that the consultation paper seeks to undermine those states that would push for higher targets. States that set higher emission reduction targets should be permitted to do so, without this reducing the emission reductions achieved in other states.
Voluntary Action must be Additional (Section 3.5)
Many people wish to pursue voluntary action on emission reductions. Their aim is to achieve reductions additional to those current specified in Australia's target. The only voluntary activity mentioned in the consultation paper is GreenPower.
We are very concerned about the statement "The emissions requirement could be designed such that voluntary programs like GreenPower are additional to the emissions requirement". The previous Labor Government had put in place mechanisms to ensure that voluntary action from GreenPower was additional. (Indeed, not making GreenPower additional would undermine the whole system.) It is important that the Government clarify that all GreenPower purchased represent additional emission reductions.
However, GreenPower is no longer the major source of voluntary action. There are now many other voluntary actions that households and communities undertake. Examples include installing solar power and retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient. While we acknowledge the difficulties of ascribing emission reductions to energy efficiency reductions, Australia has had much experience in this through the various state energy savings schemes.
We suggest that the Energy Security Board treat all such voluntary action – not just GreenPower – as additional to the emission reduction targets, and explicitly describe the types of voluntary actions that will be allowed, and seek robust methodologies to determine the emission reduction from specified activities.
No Offsets for the Electricity Sector (Sect 3.4.3 and 4.4)
We are aware that many concerns have been raised about the integrity of international carbon credits, and that the Australian government has delayed its decision on whether these can be used, pending international discussions.
Aside from the question of whether the integrity of international carbon credits can ever be guaranteed, we believe their use should be ruled out in the electricity sector. If Australia uses international offsets in the electricity sector, this will just delay its transformation towards a sustainable society. Buying offsets is counterproductive. Indeed, the electricity sector is probably the easiest sector to transform to zero carbon.
We also have concerns about the use of Australian Carbon Credit Units, particularly from projects related to land-use carbon sequestration. There is broad acceptance that the world will need to drawdown CO2 emissions (such as through land use sequestration) in addition to stopping further emissions from fossil fuels. Given the limited opportunities for drawdown, it is inconceivable that we would waste such land-use carbon sequestration on extending the use of fossil fuels.
Flexible Compliance – Limit the Carrying Forward of Overachievement (Sect 3.4.1)
We argue that there should be severe limits on how much overachievement in emissions reduction can be carried forward from one year to the next. Retailers who achieve more emissions reduction that they expect could do so for a variety of reasons, including rapid technological change in sustainable energy technologies, and greater voluntary action.
If retailers can carry this overachievement to the next year, there will be less incentive for low emissions generation. This will become a brake on new investment in renewable energy technology.
Setting Emissions Target as an Absolute Value vs Percentage (Sect 4.2.2)
Section 4.2.2 describes the experience of the RET, where a target was set as an absolute volume of emissions. Subsequently the electricity demand was lower than forecast and so the absolute volume became a higher percentage than originally specified. The RET was subsequently reduced.
The effect of this was to slow the pace of transformation. Such a mistake should be avoided in the future. Given the urgency of climate change, we cannot afford to slow the transformation just because electricity demand forecasts are wrong. We are in a time of rapid technological change. Future electricity demand will decline due to greater energy efficiency, and increase as transport and heating activities switch to electricity. The combination of these trends means that the direction of future electricity demand is uncertain.
To deal with this uncertainty, we propose a combination of an absolute value in emissions reduction and a percentage amount. Depending on how future electricity demand pans out, the target that results in the higher amount of emissions reduction should be used. So if electricity demand were to be higher than forecast, the percentage emission reduction target would apply. If electricity demand were lower than forecast, the absolute value of emissions reduction would apply. Incorrect forecasts of electricity demand would therefore not become a curb on emission reductions.
Entry filed under: climate change info, National Electricity Market, Policy. Tags: electricity, electricity generation, Energy Security Board, National Energy Guarantee, NEG, submission.
Study finds Heart attacks more likely due to extreme temperature variation	Carbon emissions and footprint of different transport types


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How VR is changing the game beyond consumer value
Christine Persaud· May 21, 2019
IDC reports that global shipments of VR headsets reached 1.9 million units during Q3 2018, and its Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker reports that two-thirds of all headsets will be shipped into the commercial segment in 2023.
Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst at IDC, says adoption in the commercial sector is on the rise "for a range of use cases, including training, design and showcasing." But we unearthed two interesting ways that VR can alter the way we perceive situations.
Let's do the time warp
Researchers at the University of Waterloo are testing how VR can treat patients suffering from neurological disorders like autism, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease by shifting their perception of time. Individuals with such disorders perceive time differently, which can influence the way they interact with the world. By readjusting that internal clock, their perception can be adjusted in turn.
To test this theory, the research team used a VR game called Robo Recall to encourage the recalibration of time perception. The study was conducted with 18 females and 13 males with normal vision and no sensory musculoskeletal or neurological disorders. The goal was to couple the speed and duration of the visual events to their body movements. The actual and perceived durations of a moving probe were measured. It was found that the VR manipulation was associated with "significant reductions" in patients' estimates of time by about 15 percent.
Seamas Weech, a post-doctoral fellow in kinesiology and co-author of the study, says the results suggest that the perception of time is flexible and that VR offers a valuable tool for recalibrating time in the brain.
Michael Barnett-Cowan, a neuroscience professor in the Department of Kinesiology and senior author of the paper, says that VR is "enabling basic research in perception to inform our understanding of how the brains of normal, injured, aged, and diseased populations work, and how they can be treated to perform optimally."
A longitudinal study would be required to determine how long such effects might last and if the signals are observable in the brain. But the results are promising.
Crime scene recall and recovery
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world at the University of South Australia, researcher Carolin Reichherzer is looking at how VR can influence how jurors recall crime scenes. They compared experiences in "real life", through photos and in VR. The question was if jurors are given an immersive crime scene experience, will they have better recall than those who are simply shown photos?
Reichherzer staged a fake burglary and had 30 test subjects view the scene for four minutes each. Ten subjects entered the actual room, 10 saw pictures and 10 surveyed the crime scene through a VR headset, designed from a 3D camera and a computer representation. They asked each participant to recall the scene, including the location of different objects, and to connect written details they were given prior to visiting the crime scene (like the names of those involved in the investigation) with what they saw.
Jurors sometimes visit crime scenes, but this can be costly, time-consuming and delayed… And let's not forget that visiting a crime scene can be a traumatic experience.
Not surprisingly, those who physically entered the room had the best recall. But interestingly, those who saw a 3D reconstruction of the room using a VR headset had better recall than those who only saw two-dimensional photos. Those who used VR could also more accurately connect written information with what they viewed than those who only saw photos. "Those who viewed the photos…couldn't understand where they were and what the layout of the room was," says Reichherzer.
Keeping it real: Preserving the humanity of customer experience in the age of AI
VR, suggests Reichherzer, could be more helpful in court than things like sketches, photographs, and videos. Jurors sometimes visit crime scenes, but this can be costly, time-consuming and delayed. It can also leave jurors frustrated and overwhelmed, says Reichnerzer. And let's not forget that visiting a crime scene can be a traumatic experience.
At first glance, VR is a fun, new technology for consumers, with some obvious benefits for industries like retail, entertainment venues, and real estate. But the technology's reach extends far beyond that, deep into our understanding of the human brain.
As these examples show, VR is about a lot more than just fun and games. It has the potential to truly make a difference in the way we perceive the world around us.
entertainmenthealthcareresearch and developmentuse casesvr
Christine Persaud
Based in Toronto, Christine Persaud has been a writer and editor specializing in the consumer technology business for the last 17 years. Today, she writes for a number of magazines, websites, and professional clients on a breadth of topics ranging from consumer and emerging tech to lifestyle, entertainment, marketing, business, and parenting.
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Creative Play Retailer
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Playing games teaches children everything from analytical skills like spelling, reading, math, and critical thinking, to social skills like collaboration, negotiation, and good sportsmanship. Best of all, such games can teach children these skills while they're having fun. At Knightweaver Games, we are dedicated to inventing games that tap into a child's sense of fun to create great learning experiences.
However, games should be interesting for adults as well, so a fun family activity doesn't become another parenting chore. The ideal game elegantly combines simple tactical play for younger, less experienced players with deep strategic play for more mature players.
Unfortunately, most people only play games they learned as kids, like Monopoly™, Scrabble™, and Risk™ - games that dominated the department store shelves in the 60's and 70's. In the last two decades, a rush of spectacular game invention has created a world of wonderful games that most people never explore. To encourage people to venture forth into this world of games, we believe what's needed are "gateway games" – games whose simplicity harkens back to the golden age of board games, but whose novelty and uniqueness captivates the player's desire for new gaming experiences.
All Knightweaver Games products were invented with these goals and principles in mind. Dr. Daniel Weaver, the founder and owner, draws upon a lifetime of gaming experience and a decade of exploring game theory and design in introducing the company's first commercially available games: Patchwork™ and PatchWord™. Both are fun for kids, fascinating for adults, and based on a novel take on the traditional playing card.
Knightweaver Games, LLC was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boulder, CO. The company's products are available online at www.knightweavergames.com and in a broad array of independent toy stores.
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For the first time during Minsk process, official Kiev set a precedent for not agreeing a truce on the eve of holidays
A meeting of the working group on security issues and the Contact group via video-conference was held today. The only and most important agenda issue was an agreeing the parameters for renewing the parties' obligations to introduce a comprehensive, unconditional truce on the eve of the Easter holidays.
The efforts of the other participants were ignored by official Kiev - its representatives in the working group on security issues continued their previous destructive line: they refused to discuss and coordinate with representatives of the Republic specific additional measures for strengthening and controlling the truce, which should be included to the text of the Contact group's statement on renewing the parties' obligations on compliance with the cease-fire. At the meeting of the Contact Group the Ukrainian negotiators even refused to discuss the statement proposed by the OSCE, which contained some additional measures.
Unfortunately, the frank inadequacy of the Ukrainian party, which in its fantasies continues to fight with the Russian Federation, did everything possible not to reach a consensus in solving the most important task - to ensure a comprehensive and stable ceasefire, thereby creating a precedent for not reconciling the truce.
Any unilateral statements are nothing more than an imitation of real practical steps aimed at achieving the effectiveness of peace initiatives. Of course, we are interested in the earliest possible coordination of an effective truce on the eve of the Easter holidays, however, it is clear that this is possible only if additional measures are taken to strengthen and control it.
We hope that at the upcoming meeting in Minsk on April 24, the Ukrainian party will scale back its political ambitions and support peace initiatives to introduce the current, not fictitious, Easter truce.


The Ghostbusters are on live tv at the tomb of Al Capone where his ghost is supposed to appear at midnight. Something does happen and the guys get transported to the other side, getting involved with Al Capone and supernatural criminals.
This page was last edited on December 29, 2012, at 20:08.


The Current Revenue for 2019 is 5.6 percent or $34.9 million higher than the budgeted Current Revenue for 2018. The improved Revenue performance is attributed mainly to an anticipated pickup in real economic activity in 2019 and administrative improvements at the main revenue agencies.
Revenue from tax sources is expected to contribute $568.4 million to the Consolidated Fund in 2019, while Non-tax Revenue is estimated to gross $88.2 million.
Tax Revenue is expected to grow by 6.8 percent driven mainly by strong growth in Taxes on International Trade and Taxes on Goods and Services which are projected to increase by 12.5 percent and 9.3 percent respectively.
Taxes on Income and Profits which is projected to grow by 1.8 percent to $158.6 million is the third largest source of government revenue.
Together these three sources of tax revenue are expected to contribute $515.3 million to the consolidated fund or 78.5 percent of the estimated total current revenue for 2019.
The $88.2 million budgeted for the collection of Non-Tax Revenue in 2019 is expected to come mainly from Sales of Goods and Services which is projected to generate $71.0 million in revenue.
Revenue from Non-Tax sources will also benefited from inflows from Property Income and Other Revenue.


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Blue Dragon - Volumes 5 & 6
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Blue Dragon Vol.1-2
Naruto Unleashed: Complete Series 4 (6 Disc)
Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 2
A Lull in the Sea Part 2
Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods Collector's Edition
Dragon Ball Z: Season 9
MCM Expo News and Anime Review Roundup
Akira Toriyama, Anime, cartoon, Dragon Ball Z, DVD, Japanese, jetix, Manga, Naruto, Nintendo DS, Toonami, X-Box 360
Blue Dragon Vol.5 & 6 Double Pack (2 Disc)
Running Time: 3hr 20mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date: 05/10/09
Content Type: TV Series
Based on the Microsoft Xbox 360 RPG, with character designs by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball Z!
Long ago, a great battle raged between the forces of Light and Darkness. Each possessed great strengths, above all, the power of Shadow. With courage and might, The Seven Soldiers of Light defeated the forces of Darkness and sealed the Shadow power away forever.
Now the power of Shadow has resurfaced. The evil Nene, ruler of the Grankingdom, is bent on conquering the world, combining Shadow power with the power of machines. In a quest to stop him, Zola and Jiro set forth to find the scions of the Seven Soldiers of Light. Soon after arriving at the peaceful Talta Village, they are attacked by Nene's army. Young villagers Shu and Kluke find themselves in the center of combat. In the face of imminent destruction of all he holds dear, Shu awakens the Legendary Blue Dragon, a Shadow of immeasurable strength and fury.
Joining forces with Zola and Jiro, Shu sets forth on a quest to master his Shadow powers. But will he and his newfound friends stop Nene and rescue the world from the forces of Darkness?


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Skip to contentHome » Top 10s » (2021) Top 20 Strongest The Beginning After The End Characters Ranked
(2021) Top 20 Strongest The Beginning After The End Characters Ranked
June 23, 2021 by Simran
The Beginning After The End is a fantasy-based novel written by TurtleMe. Currently, there are 8 volumes with a total of 338 chapters, with a new chapter releasing every weak on Tapas.
This novel received a webcomic adaptation in 2018 illustrated by Fuyuki23. This series is a treatise for those who are sucker for epic war drama filled with fantasy and a dash of romance. In all, this series is a package deal tending to the needs of many.
King Grey is the pinnacle of power in his kingdom. After ruthless campaigns and military conquests, he sat on the throne but at the cost of his loved ones.
However, one fine day he is transported to the mystical continent of Dicathen, where he is reborn as Arthur Leywin. An infant with the consciousness of a middle-aged man- a perfect recipe for disaster or the only hope against the impending danger.
Dicathen is a land full of magic and mana beasts. Three separate kingdoms of humans, dwarfs, and elves reside on this continent.
However, when tragedy strikes in the face of the powerful Vitra Clan of Alacrya, they are forced to forgo their differences and form an alliance. As the war brews, Arthur vows to protect his loved ones and not repeat past mistakes.
Things get interesting with the entry of Asuras- deity like mighty beings as the war between the two continents is the remnant of war fought between the Asuras and the Vitra Clan Leader Agrona.
Mages can manifest magic due to the help of mana particles found abundantly in nature. Depending upon the strength of the individual and continued growth, the mana core progresses further, allowing the individual to cast more monstrous magic spells.
The mana core becomes purer as impurities are filtered out over time, with the stages for each color being dark, solid, and light. The colors of the mana core include Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Silver, and White.
Here we have compiled a comprehensive list of Top 20 Strongest the Beginning After The End Characters, which might come as a shock to those who haven't read the novel.
Top 20 Strongest The Beginning After The End Characters-
Strongest The Beginning After The End Character-
Honorary Mention-
20. Lucas Wykes –
Image Source: @Noname (Pinterest)
Lucas is a half-bred between a human and an elf slave. He belongs to the prestigious Wykes family who is notorious for using any unethical means to breed stronger heirs.
Lucas is an arrogant, pompous fellow who considers everyone trash. He is Class A conjurer with fire affinities. He is usually hated by everyone as he treats everyone as mere filthy peasants and uses brute force to threaten people. Eventually, he was killed by Arthur when he tried to kill Tessia.
19. Kaspian Bladeheart –
Image Source: tbate.fandom
Kaspain is the guild master of the Xyrus Adventurer's Guild. He is an AA Class augmenter with strong wind affinities. He fought with Arthur during his rank evaluation exam.
He is a quick-witted person who's an expert in reading between the lines. At first glance, he knew something is strange about Arthur and wanted to test his theory. Later, he helped Arthur to escape the judgment against Lucas Wykes.
18. Jasmine Flamesworth –
Image Source: @Vellam (Pinterest)
Jasmine is a member of the Twin Horns and is an AA Class mage with wind attributes. Belonging to the mighty Flamesworth Family, famous for contributing many strong fire attribute mages, she was shunned by the family for having wind attributes.
She is a reserved person but is highly observant of her surroundings. She, along with her dual daggers and stealth, is a force to reckon with.
17. Helen Shard –
She is the current leader of the Twin Horns and is a wind attribute mage. She is a composed person who does not lose her calm when faced with danger. She is an avid archer whose arrows don't seem to miss no matter the constraints.
16. Tessia Eralith –
Image Source: @Z3RO (Pinterest)
She is an elf princess and the childhood friend of Arthur. She specializes in plant magic. Once receiving the corrupted Beast Will of the Elderwood Guardian she was able to break through the silver core stage, however, her body could not keep up with the changes as the Elderwood Guardian began to take control of her body. With correct training, she can use the borrowed powers and can shoot vines and shards with monstrous velocities.
15. Elderwood Guardian –
Elderwood Guardian is an S-class mana beast whom Arthur encountered during his dungeon raid. The Guardian is a more humongous and intimidating version of 'Groot.'
He uses mist to create illusions and then captures the enemy devouring the whole. It has explosive regeneration abilities and shoots deadly wines. However, he was killed by Arthur only when Arthur unleashed his Beast Will.
14. Mica Earthborn –
Mica is a dwarf hailing from the kingdom of Drav. She is one of the six lances sworn to protect the continent of Dicathen. Mica is a white stage mana core mage and has affinities to earth-based magic. She is also one of the few dwarfs who are powerful enough to manipulate gravity.
13. Bairon Wykes –
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Bairon is the elder half-brother of Lucas. He is one of the six lances who pledged allegiance towards Dicathen. He is a white-core mage who specializes in electricity type of magic.
His animosity with Arther grew when the latter killed Lucas. However, due to the looming war, they decided to corporate with each other.
12. Olfred Warend –
Olfred is a dwarf from the kingdom of Drav and also, one of the six lances sworn to protect Dicathen. He is a strict disciplinarian and is highly obedient towards his superiors.
He specializes in the earth and fire attribute of magic. He can make stone golems in form of soldiers and can control magma which is hot enough to destroy everything in the path. However, he betrayed the Council to aid in the sinister plot of Rahdeas.
11. Aya Grephin –
Aya is an elf from the kingdom of Elenoir and is one of the six lances sworn to protect Dicathen. She is a white stage core mage specializing in wind and sound attributes. She manipulates sound to sound more captivating grabbing the attention of the speaker. Also, she likes to torture people through her illusions.
10. Sylvie –
Image source: @Ginto62 (twitter)
Sylvie is the daughter of Sylvia and Agrona Vritra and also the bond of Arthur. While she was an egg she was given to Arthur by Sylvia to protect her from Agrona. Sylvie is an arura of the Indrath clan .
She is a mighty dragon with black scales and two pairs of horns. She can shapeshift and usually remains as a white fox-like creature. Since the return from Epheotus, the abilities have grown at an alarming rate.
She can shapeshift into a human form now. The mighty dragon is so powerful that even a glance at the beast gives many a scare of a lifetime.
9. Cynthia Goodsky –
Image Souce: tbate.fandom
Cynthia is the director of the Xyrus Academy and a late silver core mage with wind and sound attributes. She is the master of these elements as she commands exceptional control over them.
She can make huge vortexes, soundproof barriers, and high shrieking sounds. She was a former spy of Alacrya sent to Dicathen for reconnaissance purposes. However, she fell in love with the continent and vowed to protect it.
She was bound by a curse if she told anything about her being a spy. Later, she was killed by Cadell- a schyte of the Alacryans forces.
8. Cylrit –
Cylrit is one of the retainers of the Alacryan forces – next to the position of Scythes. He is a deviant who specializes in black fog. He releases vast quantities of black sooty fog reducing the visibility to zero. He then uses it to attack his enemies. Initially, when Arthur met Him, his caliber and power were beyond the former.
7. Varay Aurae –
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She is one of the six lances of Dicathen and represents the kingdom of Sapin. She is considered the strongest amongst the lances and no one dares to override her authority.
She is a white core stage mage specializing in the ice attribute. Her deadly magic and intimidating aura make her a formidable opponent on the battlefield.
6. Elijah Knight –
Image Source : tbate.fandom
For as long as he could remember, Elijah was brought up by Rahdeas of the kingdom of Drav. He had no recollection of his memories. He befriended Arthur and attended the Xyrus Academy with him.
He was kidnapped by the Alacryan forces and taken to the continent of Alacrya. Later, he returned as one of the Scythe of Alcryan forces harboring great animosity towards Aurthur.
He has a strong affinity towards the earth and black metal attributes. He can conjure massive weapons out of thin air and can also make massive boulders out of the earth.
5. Uto –
Uto is one of the retainers of the Alacryan forces – the second deadliest warriors after the scythes. He was the one that after torturing Alea left her to bleed. In a battle between Aurther and him, he was defeated by Seris. Later on, he was captured and kept in a dungeon for interrogation.
4. Arthur Lewin –
Image Source: u/nani9 (reddit)
He is the main protagonist of the story. Arthur is a quadra elemental mage with strong affinities to wind, water, fire, and earth. Along with them, he can control the higher forms of the elements like gravity, lightning, ice, & sound. On receiving Sylvia's beast will, Arthur possessed the ability to manipulate time and space.
He is an avid swordsman due to his memories of past life. After shattering his white stage mana core he was able to utilize Aether– a mana kind of substance used by the Asuras. The aether core gave him monstrous abilities along with that he became a human-asura hybrid.
3. Cadell –
Image Source: u/meme_mam64 (reddit)
Cadell is one of the deadliest Scythes of the Alacryan forces working directly under the command of Agrona. His body is covered in black armor with two horns protruding out of his head.
He is the one Arthur encountered when the former tried to kill Sylvia. He has infiltrated the castle many times and there is some suspicion that he is the one that killed Cynthia Goodsky.
2. Seris –
She is one of the Scythes of the Alacryan forces who defeated Uto easily when the latter fought with Arthur. However, it is not clear whether she is a friend or a foe.
She is a formidable opponent and can shoot powerful beams of explosive light. She can conjure strong barriers to nullify the enemy's attack. Seris can change the form of her Mana sword into a whip and can deliver deadly blows with it.
Image Source: netflix.com
Must Read:(2021) Top 15 Most Powerful Bungou Stray Dogs Characters Ranked
1. Agrona Vritra –
Agrona is the main antagonist of the series. He is an asura belonging to the Basilisk race- famous for their serpentine appearance. In Epheotus, his race was concerned with knowledge, doing countless experiments to disclose the secrets of the world.
But when this obsession grew they began human experimentation on the Alacryan people to revenge from the Asuras and to rule the two continents wielding the highest power. We have to wait a little longer for the author to unveil the true extent of his powers and abilities.
Asuras –
Aruras are all mighty deity-like beings residing in the continent of Epheotus. Unlike mana, they manifest aether which provides them with power unfathomable by any human, elf, and dwarf.
These beings have looked after the inhabitants of the two continents since the Age of Beasts. They bestowed the artifacts to the royal families who provide deadly capabilities to the Lances.
Firstly, Arthur met Windstom, who told the former about the asuras and later took him to Epheotus for further training.
There Kodri and Wren Kain mentored him to use and manifest aether. Sylvia was a member of the Indrath clan and also the mother of Sylvie. She gave her beast will to Arthur and even knew about Arthur being King Grey.
Here was our list of Top 20 Strongest the Beginning after the End Characters, according to the novel. Many entries in this list might not make sense as these characters or their powers have not been revealed in the webcomic yet.
With so many secrets and mind wrecking twists, this series is a must-read. One can read both the novel and the webcomic on Tapas. As the story progresses, only time will tell what all changes would be made to this list. Till then, stay tuned to know more.
Q1- Who is Caera Denoir in The Beginning After The End?
Ans- Caera is an Alacryan high blood noble of the House Denoir. After her Vritra blood manifested she trained under Seris who gave her a relic that helped her to hide her identity and escape.
Q2- How old is Arthur in The Beginning After The End?
Ans- Currently, in the web novel, Arthur is around 17 years old. However, King Grey was in his mid-thirties.
Q3- Did Arthur die in The Beginning After The End?
Ans- Arthur is very much alive in The Beginning After The End. Though after the war with Alyacra came to an end many assumed that he died. He let people believe it as he planned to covertly unearth all the mysteries surrounding him and Alacrya.
Q4- What happens to Tessia in The Beginning After The End?
Ans- After the war between Alacrya and Dicathen slowly came to an end, Elijah and Cadell tried to capture Tessia without hurting her. Elijah made numerous attempts to capture her and finally succeeded. Tessia forgoes her rights to the throne in exchange for freedom for her subjects.
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For as long as I can remember I was introduced to the beautiful world of anime when I was in 6th standard. The first anime I ever saw was Gakuen Alice. Suddenly a new world of possibilities and hope opened and since then I have never looked back. As a proud otaku, the thing that interests me the most about anime is its never-ending genres- it caters to the emotions and fantasies of millions. An alternate reality where one can let loose their wings and fly.


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Q: Prove that $2^{2m}\sin^{2m} x = \sum\limits_{k=0}^{m-1} (-1)^{m+k} C^{2m}_k \cos (2m-2k)x + C^{2m}_m$ So I've been doing some complex analysis in uni and I don't see how to approach this:
I have to prove that $2^{2m}\sin^{2m} x = \sum\limits_{k=0}^{m-1} (-1)^{m+k} C^{2m}_k \cos (2m-2k)x + C^{2m}_m$.
So far I tried to represent $\sin^{2m}x = (\frac{z-1/z}{2i})^{2m}$, but I don't know what to do next. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

A: Use Euler's formula
$$ \sin^{2m} x= \left(\frac{e^{ix}-e^{-ix}}{2i}\right)^{2m}$$
$$\Longrightarrow (2i)^{2m}\sin^{2m} x= (-1)^{m}2^{2m}\sin^{2m}= (e^{ix}-e^{-i})^{2m} \tag{1}$$
Expand the right hand side with the binomial theorem
$$(e^{ix}-e^{-ix})^{2m} = \sum_{j=0}^{2m}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j} e^{ix(2m-j)}e^{-ijx} = \sum_{j=0}^{2m}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j} e^{ix(2m-2j)} \tag{2} $$
Now, using Euler's formula again
$$e^{ix(2m-2j)} = \cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \tag{3}$$
From (1),(2),(3):
$$(-1)^{m}2^{2m}\sin^{2m}x = \sum_{j=0}^{2m}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right] = \underbrace{\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right]}_{A} +\underbrace{\binom{2m}{m}}_{B} +\underbrace{\sum_{j=m+1}^{2m}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right]}_{C} $$
Note that in $C$:
$$\binom{2m}{j} = \binom{2m}{2m-j}$$
Hence
$$ C = \sum_{j=m+1}^{2m}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right] = \sum_{j=m+1}^{2m}\binom{2m}{2m-j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right]$$
Do the following chang of variable $k = 2m-j$
$$ C = \sum_{k=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{k}(-1)^{k}\left[\cos(-x(2m-2k))+i\sin(-x(2m-2k)) \right] $$
Therefore
$$(-1)^{m}2^{2m}\sin^{2m} x = \underbrace{\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j}(-1)^{j}\left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+i\sin(x(2m-2j)) \right]}_{A} +\underbrace{\binom{2m}{m}}_{B} + \underbrace{\sum_{k=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{k}(-1)^{k}\left[\cos(-x(2m-2k))+i\sin(-x(2m-2k)) \right]}_{C} =  \sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j} (-1)^{j} \left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+  \cos(-x(2m-2j))\right] + i\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j} (-1)^{j}\left[\sin(x(2m-2k)) + \sin(-x(2m-2k))\right]+ \binom{2m}{m}$$
Note that given that $\sin(x)$ is odd and $\cos(x)$ is even:
$$ \left[\cos(x(2m-2j))+  \cos(-x(2m-2j))\right] = 2 \cos(x(2m-2j))$$
$$ \left[\sin(x(2m-2k)) + \sin(-x(2m-2k))\right] = 0$$
Therefore
$$(-1)^{m}2^{2m}\sin^{2m}x = 2\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j} (-1)^{j} \cos(x(2m-2j))+ \binom{2m}{m}$$
Hence
$$\boxed{\sin^{2m}x = \frac{1}{2^{m-1}}\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}\binom{2m}{j} (-1)^{j+m} \cos(x(2m-2j))+ \binom{2m}{m}} $$

A: Yes, go ahead
$$2^{2m}\cos^{2m} x=(e^{ix}+e^{-ix})^{2m}=\sum_{k=0}^{2m} {2m \choose k}~ e^{-ikx} ~e^{i(2m-k)x}$$
$$2^{2m}\cos^{2m} x=\sum_{k=0}^{m-1} {2m \choose k} ~e^{i(2m-2k)x}+{2m \choose m}+\sum_{k=m+1}^{2m}
 {2m \choose k} ~e^{i(2m-2k)x}.$$
In the third term on the RHS let $k=2m-j$ , then
$$2^{2m}\cos^{2m} x=\sum_{k=0}^{m-1} {2m \choose k} ~e^{i(2m-2k)x}+{2m \choose m}+\sum_{j=0}^{m-1}
 {2m \choose 2m-j} ~e^{-i(2m-2j)x}.$$
$j$ being dummy replace it with $k$ to get
$$2^{2m}\cos^{2m} x=\sum_{k=0}^{m-1} {2m \choose k} ~[e^{i(2m-2k)x}+e^{-i(2m-2k)}]+{2m \choose m}.$$
$$\implies 2^{2m}\cos^{2m} x=\sum_{k=0}^{m-1} {2m \choose k} ~ 2\cos (2m-2k)x+{2m \choose m}.$$
Finally replace $x$ by $x-\pi/2$, to get
$$\implies 2^{2m}\sin^{2m} x=\sum_{k=0}^{m-1} (-1)^{m+k} {2m \choose k} ~ 2\cos (2m-2k)x+{2m \choose m}.$$
Note that $(-1)^{m-k}=(-1)^{m+k}$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Publication Information: Pam Krauss Books. 2015. 272 pages.
Opening Sentence: "America's food system is broken."
Favorite Quote: "'How do we change the food system?' is a question that cannot be directly answered. ... But 'How do I change my relationship to food' is a question you can answer yourself, now, in a continuing manner."
Mark Bittman is a food expert - an expert on preparing and cooking food and an expert on the "business" of food. He is a long time food columnist for the New York Times. He is, in fact, the only opinion column writer who focuses on food for the New York Times. A quick search on the New York Times website shows almost 2,700 articles written by Mr. Bittman!
I am a huge fan of Mr. Bittman's work - both his cookbooks and his articles. I own several of his books and have read his columns as they appear in the New York Times. This book is a compilation of some of his writings. The articles come from work previously published in The New York Times, either in his weekly opinion column or in the Sunday Magazine.
For a reader wanting to learn about the food industry, its problems, and possible solutions, this book provides a well organized and well researched introduction.
For a reader who is being introduced to or is a fan of Mr. Bittman's work, this book provides a great compilation.
What is Food? And What is Not?
The compilation format means that it can be read cover to cover or a reader can choose to focus topics on interest.
Mr. Bittman's work is very clear on the need for change. He has strong, well researched, and well supported opinions that will educate you on our food system, and he is not afraid to express them, taking on food producing giants, pharmaceuticals, and the government.
This book does not introduce any new writing. The articles included can all be found on the New York Times website. The articles date from 2011 to the present. Unfortunately, the older ones included in this book do not include an update as to where we are today. Admittedly, that may be because we are no further in resolving the issue, but even that would be valuable information to share and would in fact make the message stronger.
The review copy I received does not have an index or a further reading list. I hope the final version of the book does. That would be invaluable to a reader looking to delve further into any topic.
Change does need to happen. Mr. Bittman's message is a powerful one and a critical one. It will make you think - really think - about what you choose to buy and what you choose to put in your mouth. Read this book for an introduction if you need one to his work or to the issues plaguing our food supply. Then, follow his new writings and become a part of the change.
I love Mark Bittman and will have to pick this one up!
My reason exactly for reading the book. It's a great compilation of his writings. Let me know what you think when you read it.


Hutton – Jennie M. (Harrigan) born March 18, 1911 in Happy Valley, passed away February 24, 2003 at Burnaby, B.C. Predeceased by husband Jim, as well as several brothers & sisters. Survived by sons Allen, Dennis & Russell. No Service by request.


Religion, the Occult, Mystic matters, all these things beyond the physical plane; the history of art is full of great works based on these themes, and sometimes the magazines in this field have great art as well.
One of the basic categories of pulps, and the one category aimed at women, was the Romance or Love Pulp. They are just about what you might expect, but sometimes the stories and the covers transcend the genre. Some believe that RANCH ROMANCES had the honor to be the last pulp magazine published in the US, with issues containing new stories still coming out in the late 1960's.
Technology enthusiasts of a century ago were just as enthusiastic as the computer developers of today. But they worked on different technologies, such as radio, aircraft, chemistry, mechanics, and transportation.
There are magazines that are far outside the normal distribution. Here is the Category for the odd and unusual in magazine publishing; if it doesn't fit anywhere else, you'll find it here.
Plenty of pulps were very specialized in their interest and appeal. In this category we might put GHOST STORIES, RAILROAD MAGAZINE, MOVIE ACTION, COLLEGE STORIES, and so on.
Almost everybody lives somewhere, so there's a ready market for magazines which supply ideas about how to improve your home, your garden, and your community life. A lot of these ideas involve art (design, photographs, pictures, drawings, sketches) and the magazines are still fun to read. They're full of things that clearly illustrate our past ways and show how we got to where we are today (for good or ill).
During the 1930's the paranoid streak of American culture had its day in the, well, sun. Month after month a few dedicated pulp titles fed the desire for stories that made you feel horrified at the world and terrified by little tiny things like men in monks' habits and strange people by the side of the road. Their covers were like nothing else! See a few here.
For many people, heroes like Doc Savage and the Shadow, which ran in long series and featured a primary character with better-than-human capabilities, was what pulps were all about.
Magazines about your health and physical fitness have been popular since the last years of the nineteenth century. Here are a few to start with: YOUR BODY, a 1920's Hugo Gernsback magazine which popularized health research and presaged his barrier-breaking title SEXOLOGY. Or PHYSICAL CULTURE, probably the original model for both these other titles.
You all know what this is all about, so there's not much to say. Magazines about music, and stage, opera, musicals, drama, comedy, ballet, and the singers and players and musicians who fill our lives with joy, sorrow, and entertainment.
Most general magazines carried fiction, along with articles, editorials, short filler pieces, commentary, and what-all. But a few magazines explicitly concentrated on fiction.
Many American magazines in the 19th and 20th centuries were aimed at farmers and ranchers, and rural people in general. At the time the rural population was a majority, and their work and cultural life was sufficiently different from that of the city dwellers that it made sense to publish magazines focused on these things. It made money, too; some of the magazines with the longest publishing history were Farm magazines.
Pulps dedicated to crime and mysteries were among the first specialized pulps to be published. DETECTIVE STORY had its first issue in October 1915, and MYSTERY MAGAZINE by 1917. By the 1930's, crime pulps (if you include super-detective and crime-fighting hero pulps) were almost synonymous with "pulp" in the American mind.
Business and finance magazines sometimes had great covers! Here are some of them. Not exactly Trade Journals, not exactly News and Current Events magazines, somewhere in their own world.
This Red Circle pulp is not to be confused with ADVENTURE TRAILS 1, of a decade earlier, which was published by Clayton as a continuation of DANGER TRAIL 1. Three issues 1938-9. Source: AHGTTP.
Not famous, but with active covers; from Chesterfield Publications. Originally titled SMASHING NOVELS MAGAZINE (4 issues in 1936), became ADVENTURE NOVELS, then ADVENTURE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES (6, MAYBE 7 ISSUES 1937-9). Two more 1938 issues were purportedly titled ADVENTURE YARNS. Hurts one's head. Source: AHGTTP.
Buy land; they ain't making any more of it. Well, they are; but not so's it matters. Ads for it. Leave where you are and come to somewhere else!
Get to work! We don't pay you to sit around moping in front of the computer! Maybe you should try this small business at home? Or, if you want to learn a new trade, there are plenty of ways to do that.


For healthy and glowing skin, healthy lifestyle and proper skin care routine is very necessary. Healthy and well nourished skin begins from the inside out, but skin damage starts from the outside in.
Pollution, dirt, and other factors in the air affect our skin, so our skin requires special care and nourishment at night. There are many natural ways to protect our skin and reduce the impact of pollution and apple is one of the best fruit that can nourish, revitalize and refresh our skin naturally.
Apple is rich in vitamins A, B, C and antioxidants. Consumption or face masks of apple help in maintaining a healthy skin and glowing complexion, it also helps in regeneration of skin cells. Red apples are rich in elastic and collagen that reduces wrinkles, the appearance of fine lines and it also tightens the saggy skin. A green apple contains vitamins A, C and antioxidants, which also lessens the probability of developing skin diseases.
Apple is natural toner and astringent, it is also very beneficial in lightening the dark spots, dark circles, eye bags and cam treat sun burned skin. The antioxidant in apple promotes healthy, glowing skin and re-energized the dull skin. Apple contains malic acid, which is an alpha hydroxyl acid, this acid works as natural exfoliate and gives you soft and smooth skin.
For the best, fast skin benefits of apple and to get rid of various skin problems like dull skin, wrinkles, acne, pimples, oily, dry skin, dark spots, under eye dark circles and skin tightening effects try following homemade apple night cream.
1. Cut the apple into small pieces (remove the seeds). Try to use green apple, if not available, then you can use red apple also.
2. Grind the apple pieces in the grinder or blender using 5 tablespoon of rose water. Make smooth paste of it.
3. Then add 2 tablespoon of Olive oil or vitamin E oil, turmeric and 2 tablespoon of honey in this apple paste and again grind them all together properly to make very smooth and semi thick paste of it. Remember, paste should be very smooth.
4. Store this mixture in the glass container and keep it in the refrigerator. This homemade cream will be last long for 6-7 days, so, finish it within a week.
1. First of all cleanse your face and skin around neck with natural or ready made gentle cleanser. You can use lemon juice and milk to cleanse your skin naturally. Simply mix 1-2 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice with 2 teaspoon of milk. Apply this mixture on the skin and gently massage your skin for 4-5 minutes, then wash off with water.
2. Now take 1-2 teaspoon of the apple cream and apply it on the face, neck and gently massage your skin with finger tips in upward and circular direction for 5 minutes. Then apply 1 teaspoon of apple cream again on the face after massage and leave it on overnight.
3. In the next morning, wash it off with normal or lukewarm water and pat dry. If you fill dry skin, ten you can also apply natural or mild moisturizer afterwards.
Olive oil, vitamin E oil and rose water improve skin tone and reduce the skin pigmentation naturally. Olive oil is known as wonderful natural skin moisturizer, it contains nutrition and antioxidants such as vitamins A and E. These properties of olive oil are very beneficial in anti aging and removal of wrinkles. Whereas rose water gives you soothing effects and relaxes your skin.
Rose water helps to maintain pH balance of our skin; it also fights acne, pimples and revitalize, moisturize the skin.
Honey is known as great anti aging agent and natural moisturizer; it is also rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, which protect our sensitive skin from harmful UV rays.


Up for consideration is this cool pair of white plastic sunglasses reminiscent of the 1960s and 70s much like super model Twiggy would have worn. Smoke tinted lens with UV protection. Unused and ready to wear. Sorry, Irene the Mannequin is not for sale.


text:
Q: Mechanize to make post request on behalf of Selenium / WebDriver? Because Selenium can traverse javascript websites (which Mechanize cannot), and Mechanize can make post requests (which Selenium cannot), in some cases it would be powerful to use the two in conjunction.
The answer by +Zarkonnen to this question suggests that one would use Selenium initially, then Mechanize would step in to make the post request and than pass that back to Selenium.
How would one integrate Mechanize post method into Selenium?
I am using the Ruby versions of these libraries, but any information would be useful.

EDIT Here's a Venn Diagram to hopefully clarify the functionality I am seeking.
"Javascript website" in this case simply means a website whose functions in question will not work without javascript enabled. Meaning, say I needed to traverse a website to get to a form on that website. Along the way I ran into buttons which didn't work without javascript enabled. Then, in order for the form to work the way I wanted, I had to do a custom post. In this case scenario, neither Selenium WebDriver nor Mechanize can handle it by themselves - they need help from each other.
How would you accomplish this? Would you use Selenium and then have Mechanize step into to help when you had to do the post? Would you use some other method to make a post within Selenium? Would you use the Capybara gem? I get there are limitations with WebDrivers making Posts, but I know there must be a workaround.

A: The question is a bit vague, but both Selenium (WebDriver) and a good non-interactive HTTP library (like Mechanize) are crucial elements in a tester's armoury.
In general I say that if you need to simulate a human being in an interactive scenario, then you can't beat WebDriver. However, the web is built upon HTTP, everything Selenium does is HTTP, and so the less interactive your scenario, the less you need to simulate a real user, and the more performance matters, the more you should look to Mechanize, and possibly even lower-level HTTP libraries.
Because of that, although the two technologies are complementary in a sense, I can't think of all that many good reasons to use them in conjunction. But perhaps the following:

*

*WebDriver manages a user on a web site, Mechanize is used to query REST endpoints to dump metrics, clear caches, run usage reports, kick off simultaneous requests to simulate concurrency.

*Mechanize is used to seed/prepare test data prior to a WebDriver run.

Those are both examples where WebDriver could be used for everything, but where it would be vastly easier and more efficient to use a non-interactive tool.


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Amazon has a bad reputation for doing business with because they only care about customers, not suppliers, and because they manage both customers and suppliers with lots of automation.
But if you think that is bad, you should check out what some of Amazon's tenants have been saying.
The retail giant is investing heavily in South Lake Union, a Seattle neighborhood. It has been building office towers by the truckload, and complimenting all the new offices with restaurants, bars, and other eateries. And since it's an office district, there's not a whole lot of nightlife (downtown Phoenix, AZ is the same way).
Lease requirements for restaurants in its Doppler Building property stipulate that venues must stay open late on weekdays and on weekends. That makes some tenants grumble.
Two former employees at Henderson's now-defunct Bar Noroeste said it was cheaper to close early if sales were low.
On several Saturday and Sunday nights, revenues amounted to only about $100, not even enough to cover the cost of staffing, so management sent the staff home and called it a night, a common practice in the restaurant industry.
Henderson confirmed the restaurant got in trouble after Amazon's security took note of the early closure, and the company then threatened to fine Noroeste for breaking the lease terms. Henderson said that's no longer an issue at its new iteration, Kiki Ramen.
Two former employees there were less conciliatory, complaining that Amazon security guards micromanaged and created an uncomfortable working environment by tracking their every move and reporting what time they closed up shop.
Yes, Amazon is using its security guards as its private goon squad. Said rent-a-cops intimidate both tenants as well as press and anyone who passes by on the street.
This kind of behavior is typical of security guards in private developments, where a development company owns the buildings as well as the sidewalk and roads, but this happened on a public street in downtown Seattle.
Amazon is acting like it owns the city, where it is merely a leading employer. Can you imagine how it is going to act in any of the cities that are currently bidding to become Amazon's second HQ?
Some of the cities such as Chicago and New York City already have records of repeated and systemic human rights violations. Mix in Amazon's willingness to behave like a feudal lord and we have a recipe for disaster.
How Amazon treats its tenants is a good indicator of how they'd treat their customers if they thought they could get away with it.


When I left Wannamal with my family in the winter of 1944, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I was leaving behind the shackles which had kept me chained to the Moore River Native Settlement, that institution which had played such a major part in my life since I was ten years old. I was not sorry to see the last of it. Rose and I had left friends behind who were very dear to us, yet concerns for our own wellbeing and that of our children were paramount in our minds. We could no longer live in an environment where our every move was monitored and our very thoughts suspect. After Mr Neal and his wife, Matron Neal left the Settlement, it had become a shambles with superintendents coming and going. There seemed to be no air of permanence to the place anymore. It was as if its days were numbered - as if it was in the final throes of death, just awaiting oblivion.
As far as I was concerned, I did not care if I never saw the Moore River Settlement again. As I waited at the Wannamal siding for the train to arrive from Moora, I felt relieved that the days of incarceration and supervision were finally over for Rose and me. I knew we would still be accountable to the Native Welfare authorities and our lives would still be subject to checking, but it would not be as harshly regulated as it was when we actually lived within the confines of the Settlement. Living at Wannamal and working for Mr Troy had given us a taste of what it could be like to be independent and responsible for ourselves. While on the farm, Mr Troy was the boss, the one to whom I had to report to find out my duties for the day. Or if I was working in some place doing fencing for example, and the job was not yet finished, I would go straight to that place and continue with what I was doing the day before. I did not have unseen eyes monitoring my every move nor would I be reprimanded for not reporting in to the superintendent. Life was much freer. It was good for me and it was good for Rose and our children too.
So when Louis Walley, my wife's older brother, wrote a positive response in answer to Rose's letter enquiring about conditions and work in Pinjarra, we both felt that it was time to make a move away from the restrictions placed on us by the Moore River Native Settlement and its rigid controls. We wanted to get right away from its environment. We thought about Wannamal and the surrounding farmlands as well, and we wanted to go where any influences of the Moore River Settlement would not be felt. Although working at Mogumber and Wannamal gave respite from the rigours of living at the Settlement, they were too close for comfort and were reminders of a life we wanted to forget. I thanked God that the authorities in Perth gave us permission for the shift. I felt as though a new world was opening up for me and my family, a world where we could at least live like human beings away from the ever-prying eyes of the Settlement and the government bureaucracy.
I could feel my wife's excitement as we waited at that little siding. Rose was so happy to be seeing her brother again. It had been years since she had seen Lou, so her elation at going to Pinjarra and staying there permanently was like a tonic for her. She would see Lou and his family; I would meet my brother-in-law for the first time and our six children would meet their uncle and aunt and cousins. They would grow up knowing their mother's people. It was a good feeling, a feeling of belonging, I guess. I must admit that I felt a measure of excitement too, for although we had our friends at the Settlement, we were finally going to people we called family. We would stay with Lou until I could get a job on a farm somewhere. Perhaps the boss would let us stay on his land while I worked for him. The possibilities seemed endless.
However, just thinking about my wife's family made me stop and consider the loss of my own. Here I was, a thirty-three year old man who had left his mother and extended family at the age of six. I would be thirty-four in a few months time and since 1917, twenty-seven years ago, I had not seen my mother. I had grown up bereft of family until I married Rose and we had children of our own. Having an extended family would be good for all of us. At least our children would grow up knowing their maternal relatives, unlike myself, who did not know my people. Children needed to know their roots and I was happy that mine would know their mother's roots through Rose and her five brothers.
As I stood at that railway siding waiting for the train to arrive, I couldn't help but wonder what lay in store for us. And as I gazed at my wife nursing our youngest son and at our other children playing around, I hoped that our lives would change for the better. As I heard the train whistle in the distance and helped my wife gather up our brood, I knew that any life would be better than living in and around the confines of the Moore River Native Settlement.
Pinjarra is steeped in history. Long before the first Europeans ever saw the area, it was a meeting place for the Aborigines who inhabited the south-west corner of this land mass, the Nyoongah people. Their territory ranged from the north, where the township of Geraldton was established by early settlers, to boundaries east of Albany on the south coast and, diagonally, encompassing the country beyond where Merredin now stands. Between the Nyoongah lands and their neighbours, the Wangkis to the east and the Yammitjis to the north, was a corridor where people could communicate without being accused of trespassing on others' lands. Land ownership was recognised between the Aboriginal people and permission was needed to enter another's territory. The corridor was like a "no man's land" where negotiations could take place without fear of being thought of as intruders.1 The different groups respected territorial ownership and bartering for commodities from distant areas was conducted at meetings held for this purpose. Pinjarra was one such place.
To the Europeans who explored, annexed and colonised this country, Australia was "terra nullius", a land without owners or ownership.2 This was a gross misrepresentation of the Aboriginal people whose cultural ideologies were so intrinsically tied to the land. Europeans designated the indigenous people 'natives' or 'blacks' and lumped them all into these categories. They did not understand that there were hundreds of different language groups comprising the total population, or that the Aboriginal people were as diverse as their land. If there was a fundamental link which joined the Aborigines across this country and made them one people, it was their spiritual belief in the Dreamtime.
According to archaeologists and historians, the Aboriginal inhabitants settled in this country forty thousand years ago, or more, having sailed across the seas from mainland Asia.3 This is pure conjecture on the part of those academics, for there is no concrete evidence to prove that the Aborigines crossed the seas from Asia. Perhaps, alternatively, the cradle of civilisation began in Australia. Perhaps, a cataclysmic event occurred which tore the people apart. Those who remained maintained their old lifestyle, while those who departed were made to seek new and innovative ways to survive in a harsher environment than that found in this land. Perhaps those who left had to build fortresses for shelter and protection against the elements and the wild animals found in other lands. Perhaps, as a necessity, agriculture was developed because it was more viable than hunting and gathering, and growing, harvesting and storing crops for sustenance became a means of survival, especially during the months when the ground was snow-bound or covered with ice. Of course, this is all conjecture, but the point is, nobody really knows the origins of humankind. People can ask, where did the first Aborigines come from? The Aborigines will answer that their creation began with the Dreamtime, but once again, who knows when that state of being happened?
To reiterate, the Dreamtime was the link which joined the Aborigines together and made them one race. Throughout this land, the Dreamtime and the Dreaming were the spiritual beliefs inherent in the people. To the Nyoongahs of the south-west of Western Australia, the Rainbow Serpent created their universe. It was responsible for forming the topography of the land. As it wended its way over the countryside, its body created the curves and contours of the hills and gullies, and the rivers, lakes and springs. As it moved over the earth, its scales scraped off to become the lush, green forests and rolling woodlands of the south-west, covered with wildflowers in all the colours of the rainbow. The Rainbow Serpent created the Nyoongah people to care for the land and the wildlife, and when its work was finished, it delegated the Wagyl (a mythical serpent) to be the keeper of the fresh water sources. The Wagyl, a lesser, but nonetheless powerful, deity, protected the rivers, lakes and springs and the wildlife which abounded around, and in, these areas. It had to ensure the people, being humans, did not become greedy and deplete the animal, bird and marine life, for every living thing had the right to regenerate, as did the humans. The Wagyl and the people worked together to look after the environment. The Nyoongahs respected the Wagyl, heeded its warnings and lived in harmony with nature. In essence, the Rainbow Serpent was the creator, the Wagyl was the keeper of the rivers, lakes and springs, and the Nyoongah people were the guardians of the land. That was the Creation.
The Murray River region was always rich in wildlife and edible vegetation, which is why the Aborigines of the region gathered there. According to Green,4 the Binjareb was the name of the local group of Aborigines who inhabited this area. One of the leaders was Calyute, a fierce and warlike warrior who disliked the whites coming to his territory and taking over ownership of the land. His resistance caused terror to the settlers.5 However, before colonisation began, the Nyoongah people of the Pinjarra area adhered to the traditional lifestyle they practised. They were semi-nomadic, yet kept to their own haunts. As they moved from area to area, they built mia mias for shelter from inclement weather or for privacy. Their needs were simple as they roamed the waterways or bush in search of food, which was in plentiful supply for most of the year. They were lucky; the country comprising the Murray River basin was rich in food sources.
The Murray River's source began in the Darling Plateau, south-east of Boddington. Its serpentine course would pass through deep gullies and hills of dense jarrah forests, before making its descent onto the coastal plains where the future townsite of Pinjarra was to be situated.6 Then it wended its way, growing wider and wider, until it reached its mouth at the Mandurah estuary. The North and South Dandalup Rivers converged just before flowing into the Murray River, making this conflux wider upstream from the Ravenswood bend. Countless small streams and creeks also flowed into the river, creating an ecological system from which all benefited.
From time to time, the Murray was prone to flooding and watermarks could be seen high on the river gums or paperbark trees which clung to its banks. The waters of the Murray teemed with fish, edible shellfish, freshwater crustaceans and turtles. When these were in season, the Aborigines never starved. Along certain sections of the riverbank were freshwater springs, bubbling up amidst the brackish water and reed-filled shallows. As well, clear water trickled down the banks in other places, adding to the supply of drinking water. On the land, kangaroo, emu, opossum, reptiles, birds and edible roots, other vegetation and honey added extra flavour to the Nyoongah diet. Regardless of what early historians wrote concerning the Aborigines' lifestyle, they lived an idyllic existence around the Murray River region.
2	Reynolds, Henry, Frontier: Aborigines. Settlers and Land. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1987, 176.
3	Flood, J.,Archaeology of the Dreamtime. Sydney: Collins, 1983, 39.
4	Green, Neville, Broken Spears: Aboriginals and Europeans in the southwest of Australia. Cottesloe: Focus Education Services, 1984, 8.
6	Anderson, June, "Between Plateau and Plain: Flexible Responses to Varied Environments in Southwestern Australia." Diss. Canberra: Australian National University, 1984.


Politics is like the weather. Every day something new. Economic principles, however, are more like the mountains. They don't change much, even though they might be momentarily clouded by the weather.
I am an advocate of gold-based money. "Gold-based" means, specifically, a currency whose value is linked to gold. One way to do this is to literally make coins out of gold and silver, and that was common in the sixteenth century. However, since 1850 or so it has mostly meant banknotes with a value linked to gold, and other subsidiary instruments like bank deposit accounts. In U.S. history, the dollar was linked to gold at a ratio of 20.67 dollars per ounce of gold, from 1834 to 1933. It was just like any other fixed-value system, such as the one that links the Danish krone to the euro at a rate of 7.46038 krone per euro today.
The United States, and most every other developed country within the Bretton Woods arrangement, had gold-based money up until 1971. The countries whose currencies were most reliably gold-based — in other words, were not devalued and did not float — tended to be very successful economically, and also became world financial centers. This was true of the United States until 1971; Britain before a series of devaluations beginning in 1914; the Dutch between 1600 and 1800, and so on back about as far as you want to go, even to Babylon and Sumer around 2500 B.C.
Nevertheless, despite this multi-century global track record of success, for some reason people think this is a bad idea, and that the floating currency arrangement that appeared by accident in 1971 is a good idea. Even a brief look at the data shows that this has no support whatsoever. According to the U.S. government's own laughably lipstick-applied statistics, the median full-time male income (chosen because it eliminates issues relating to increasing paid work by women, household size and other factors) is less today than it was in 1972, over forty years ago. This is probably the first time that income has fallen over a forty-year period in U.S. history.
Before 1971, incomes had a roughly 2%-per-year growth trend going back a century to 1870. Over forty years, this would have meant an increase in income of 121%. Getting paid double. Not a decline.
During our forty-plus-year experiment in floating currencies since 1971, we've had a decade of punishing inflation (1970s), a constant patter of currency blowups (Latin America in the 1980s, Mexico 1995, Asia, Brazil and Russia in 1997-98), and a string of asset bubbles (continuously since about 1998) followed inevitably by asset-bubble-busts. Alongside these more dramatic events, we've had a constant grind of debilitating monetary chaos, plus an economy that hasn't been very healthy since about 2000.
Hardly anyone would disagree with this assessment, and yet people think I am silly and the floating currency people are smart. Obviously, this has nothing to do with economic reality. It is a matter of politics.
Whenever you have an environment of monetary instability, the overall economy suffers but some entities benefit. In an environment of rampant devaluation, for example, exporters of manufactured goods can often do well because they can take advantage of the collapse in worker's salaries that accompanies a collapse in currency value. Domestic industries, however, dry up and blow away because the impoverished workers don't have any money to spend on anything but bare necessities.
Thus, over time, the exporters become relatively wealthy and the domestic industries become poor or disappear altogether. With wealth comes influence, and the exporters are thus able to promote all kinds of arguments that what the country really needs is more devaluation, to keep afloat the export industries which, by that point, are the only healthy part of the economy.
Between 1990 and 2000, the value of the Russian ruble fell from about 4/dollar on the black market to about 25,000/dollar. (They eliminated three embarrassing zeros along the way.) And yet in 2001, after the ruble has enjoyed a bit of stability, many Russian exporters (and the academic economists in their thrall) complained that what they really needed was: more devaluation! Their business model depended on it.
I hope I don't have to convince you that hyperinflation is a bad idea. That's an economic principle. But the politics of the situation were that: Russia really, really needed more currency devaluation – according to some influential people. Even after they just had a lost decade of disastrous hyperinflation, this was still taken seriously.
The situation today is a little different. We haven't had hyperinflation, but today's floating currency environment tends to favor financial/speculative sectors and disfavor industrial production and domestic services. This is no surprise. Andrew Carnegie warned that such a thing would happen back in the 1890s, when there was a discussion about devaluing the dollar. Indeed, it was even noted in the De Moneta by Nicholas Oresme, written around 1375 A.D. – the first tract on monetary topics in the Western world.
Today, it's not the exporters that are favored by monetary conditions, as it was in Germany in 1922 or Russia in 1994. It's the financial sector, which is supposed to be a minor intermediary between saving and corporate investment, but has morphed into a giant parasite.
A lot of arrangements that date from the postwar period – Social Security, healthcare, pensions, the university, owning a 2500 square-foot suburban house with two cars – are in the process of falling apart. They were appropriate for the world of fifty years ago, but not for today. However, people today have a sort of death-grip on this sinking ship, because they don't see an alternative. They want to get their Social Security payments, make the payments on their mortgages, car loans and student debt, and retire on their 401(k) plans stuffed full of junk-bond ETFs or their woefully-underfunded defined-benefit pension programs. They certainly don't want government defaults and bank bail-ins.
As one asset bubble after another turns to bust, and sovereign governments everywhere creep closer to the brink of default, people see that central banks have had something to do with keeping this sinking ship afloat a little longer than would have otherwise been the case. True, the ship is sinking in the first place in part because of this funny-money environment, and the asset bubbles and stagnant incomes it has engendered. If people had stuck to the economic principles (including gold-based money) that made America great over two centuries, we might be sailing happily into a prosperous future.
And, if the "ship had sunk" on all these decrepit postwar arrangements, let's say around 2012, accompanied by sovereign defaults and bank restructurings, we might be well on our way to creating new arrangements that are much more appropriate for today – to everyone's benefit.
But that is a little too abstract. Just kick the can a little longer, please.
Obviously, this is short-term expediency for personal benefit — perhaps the single most common element of human affairs. But, most people have a hard time telling lies, so it is much easier for them to embrace the self-delusion that they are expressing great principles.
Now, let me explain this: the Bank of Japan is now purchasing Japanese government bonds at a rate of 16.3% of GDP per year. Which is a good thing, because the Ministry of Finance has to sell 170 trillion (34.6% of GDP) in bonds this year, to finance rollovers and new deficit spending, without letting prices fall and yields rise. Other governments are doing much the same thing, or did, or are getting ready to do it again. Monkey-see-monkey-do has always been the first principle of government.
You can buy a heck of a lot of can-kicking for this kind of money. And, since the beginning of 2013 or so, there doesn't seem to have been a lot of consequences. Measures of inflation are actually lower than many would like. So do more of it! That is the politics.
However, I don't think this money-for-nothing environment is going to last too long. It has already lasted a lot longer than it should, in my opinion.
I could be wrong. Maybe the printing press really is the ultimate path to economic salvation and worldwide commercial dominance. Funny how no other government discovered this previously.
Eventually, the weather will change. I think that the old principles of economic management – like Stable Money linked to gold – will become a lot more popular. Maybe, popular enough to put into practice. This would probably be a little while after people lose hope that all of today's unsustainable things can be sustained just long enough for it to be someone else's problem.


Sustainable concept recommended by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, ECOCERT and Vegan Society.
Concerns about the environment are driving consumers to be more sustainably-minded, making recyclable materials and sustainable credentials of interest. Therefore we developed a sustainable household and personal care range, named Waves, which can be certified by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, the French ECOCERT and the Vegan Society – a range that places sustainability and natural ingredients as its main focus.


One of the world's most invasive software weapon distributors, called the NSO Group, has been exploiting three zero-day security vulnerabilities in order to spy on dissidents and journalists.
The NSO Group is an Israeli firm that sells spying and surveillance software that secretly tracks a target's mobile phone.
A memory corruption vulnerability in WebKit that could allow hackers to exploit a device when a user clicks on a malicious link.
You can install the security update over-the-air (OTA) via your iPhone or iPad's settings.
You should check out this article about xnspy monitoring application.


Helicoverpa armigera is one of the most significant pests of agriculture across Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. The recent invasion of H. armigera into South America and detections in North America now make this pest a truly global species. Australia has many decades of experience managing this pest and the recently completed H. armigera and H. zea genomes allow a much more detailed examination of the two species across their native ranges and in the new environment for H. armigera in South America. H. armigera has developed resistance to almost all of the conventional pesticides deployed to control it. Since 1996 genetically modified cotton containing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis have been introduced. We have recently used resistant lines to identify Bt resistance alleles and have made significant progress in characterising a number of different Bt resistant lines and developing molecular tests. With any pest species, knowledge of the population genetics is vital to understand the movement of the pest; over its geographical range, between host plant species and during incursions into new areas. H. armigera and the closely related New World species, H. zea have been shown to hybridise in the laboratory and are now present in the same environment. We show that the two species are indeed hybridising and that there is currently a 'hybrid swarm' where different individuals possess different degrees and locations of hybridisation. The consequences of this are not yet clear but the potential implications for agriculture are discussed.


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Global Citizen Quiz
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