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PostGIS presentations at Postgres Open 2014 in Chicago Monday, September 01. 2014 For those of you who will be attending either of our PostGIS sessions in Postgres Open 2014 in Chicago September 17th, we've put up a page where we'll be posting links to the data we'll be using as well as the examples so you can follow along and copy and paste. Page is http://www.postgis.us/pgopen2014. We ask that you bookmark the page before you come and try to install PostGIS 2.1 if you haven't already. Not much to see there yet. For those who haven't signed up, it's not too late. For those who will be unable to make it, we'll try to post all the content from the tutorials on the above page. What is six plus three?

Degree Programs Overview Areas of Concentration and Research Lines Adminstrative Staff Interaction with Non-Academic Institutions C&T Education and Popularization Solidarity Actions Remarkable Outcomes Qualifying Examinations Defence Presentations Current Selection Process Previous Selection Procedures Regiment and Norms -- Wrapper for slides --> Aldemir Branco de Oliveira Filho Graduated in Biomedicine and specialist in university level teaching; MSc and doctorate in genetics and molecular biology. In addition to being lecturer ant the Federal University of Pará, he is cientific collaborator at the Centre for Hematology and Hematherapy of Pará. Claudia Helena Tagliaro She holds a bachelor's degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1985), a Masters in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1992) and a Doctorate in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Pará (1997). She is currently an associate professor at the Federal University of Pará. She was a CNPq sandwich fellowship student during her Doctorate at Queens University of Belfast. She has experience in Genetics, with emphasis on Animal Genetics, working mainly on the following topics: Molecular Phylogeny, Population Genetics and Conservation, especially bivalves and primates. Colin Robert Beasley He graduated in Zoology from National University Of Ireland, University College Cork (1991), Masters in Ecology - University of Aberdeen (1992) and Doctorate in Biological Sciences: Ecology - The Queens University of Belfast (1996). Currently, he is an associate professor IV of Institute of Coastal Studies of the Federal University of Pará, Bragança Campus. He has didactic experience in Zoology, Ecology, Marine Biology and Freshwater and Biostatistics. Experience in research in Zoology, with emphasis on Ecology and Bivalve Reproduction. Currently, he is engaged in the following research lines: Ecology and Cultivation of Mangrove Oysters, Diversity and Ecology of Estuarine and Freshwater Benthic Macroinvertebrates, and diversity and ecology of Amazonian freshwater bivalves and their associated fauna. Cristiana Ramalho Maciel She graduated in biology from the Catholic University of Pernambuco (1989), obtained her Masters in physiology from the Federal University of Pernambuco and a Doctorate in aquaculture from the São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita FIlho (2007). Has experience in the fields of aquaculture, especially comparative physiology, and focuses currently on Crustaceans, especially Decapods, larviculture, Macrobrachium acanthurus and M. amazonicum. Has developed projects to implant and accompanie scientifically innovative technologies with fresh water shrimp farming companies. She coordinates the Amazon Freshwater Shrimp Research Project since 2011, besides conducting studies in occurrence and distribution of exotic Macrobrachium species along the coast of the Amazon. Cristovam Wanderley Picanço Diniz Tenured professor (Prof.Titular) of the Biological Sciences Institute of the Federal University of Pará and head of the Neurodegeneration and Infection Research Laboratory. Graduated in medicine from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA; in 1977), obtained his master degree in biological sciences/biophysics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1980) and his doctorate in science/biophysics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1987). Coordinated the UFPA post-grad program in Biological Sciences, has been head of post-grad courses and dean of the UFPA. Has experiences in the fields of neuroanatomy, electrophysiology and animal behaviour and their relationships with the nervous system (healthy and affected by Prion diseases), aging, infections, changes in perinatal nutrition and MeHg toxicity. Fabio Batagini Quinteiro Doctorate in entomology from the University of São Paulo and the University of Minnesota, master in zoology from the Animal Diversity program at the Federal University of Bahia. Graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo. Works with comparative biology of aquatic insects, with focus on the taxonomy, phylogenetic systematics and historical biogeography of Trichoptera, using molecular and morphological data. Fernando Araújo Abrunhosa He holds a degree in Fisheries Engineering from Universidade Federal do Ceará (1984), a Masters in Fisheries Engineering from Universidade Federal de Kitasato (1995) and a PhD in Biological Engineering / Aquaculture from Universidade de Ciências de Tóquio (1998). He is currently associate professor II at Federal University of Pará. He has experience in Fisheries Resources and Fisheries Engineering, with emphasis on Mariculture, working mainly in the following subjects: Morphology, Cultivation, Development, Crustacean Larviculture. Research Productivity Scholarship (PQ) of CNPq Level 2 - CA ZO - Zoology Grazielle Fernanda Evangelista Gomes Graduated in biological ciences (2003), she obtained her master's degree in Environmental Biology/Ecology of Coastal and Estuarine Ecosystems (2005) and her Doctorate in Biology of Coastal Zone Organisms of the Amazon (2010), from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Lectures at the UFPA since 2005. At the Institute for Coastal Research (IECOS) of the UFPA, she is head of the Applied Genetics Laboratory (LAGA) of the course in Fisheries' Engineering. Has experience in the fields of animal genetics, focusing especially in applied genetics in fisheries and aquaculture. Besides being member of the Environmental Biology Master and Doctorate Program (PPBA), she also is active at the Animal Science program (PPGCAN), at UFPA campus in Castanhal. She teaches Fundamental Genetics, Aquatic Zoology and Ecophysiology of Aquatic Animals. In the post-grad courses she offers lectures on Applied Forensic Genetics in Fisheries, Molecular Techniques in Theory and Practice and Research Methodology. Currently she is the coordinator of the PPBA. She holds a productivity scholarship (Bolsista de Produtividade) from the CNPq. Jonathan Stuart Ready Graduated in Biology (B.Sc.) from the University of Southampton (2000), he obtained his doctorate in biology from the University of Hull (2004). Worked in Sweden (Swedish Museum of Natural History) within the FISHBASE consortium and later with the INCOFISH project, coordinating research on predicting the distribution of marine organisms, and with the development of the AquaMaps system. Is lecturer at the UFPA since 2009; Has experience in the areas of General Biology, focusing mainly on genetics, morphology, evolution and ecology. Juliana Araripe Gomes da Silva She holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences (Bachelor) from the Federal University of Ceará (2000), a Masters in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Pará (2004) and a Doctorate from Emílio Goeldi Paraense Museum/ Federal University of Pará (2008). She has experience in Genetics, with emphasis on Population Genetics, Systematics and Molecular Phylogeny, working mainly on the following topics: Genetics applied to the management of Pirarucu (Arapaima), Population Genetics and Centropomus Phylogeography, genetics of aquatic mammal populations, Phylogeography and molecular systematics of birds, molecular genetics of new world primates. Luci Cajueiro Carneiro Pereira She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences from Federal University of Pernambuco (1995), Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from Federal university of Pernambuco (1994), a Master's Degree in Abiotic Oceanography from Federal University of Pernambuco (1998) and a Doctorate in Marine Sciences - Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (2001). She is currently an Associate Professor at Federal University of Pará, an Affiliated Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Young Doctor, 2008-2013), Member of the Paraense Academy of Sciences and Producer of CNPq. She has experience in the area of Oceanography, with emphasis on Coastal Management and Coastal Dynamics, working in the Amazon coastal zone. Marcelo Nazareno Vallinoto de Souza He holds a bachelor's degree in Bio-Medicine from Federal University of Pará (1995), a Master's degree (1998) and a Doctorate (2003) in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Federal University of Pará. He completed postdoctoral studies at University of Porto (2008). He is currently an associate professor II at Federal University of Pará. He has experience in Genetics, with emphasis on Animal Genetics, working mainly on the following topics: Phylogeny, Phylogeography and Vertebrate Population Analysis. CNPq Research Productivity Scholarship (PQ) Level2 - CA GE - Genetics Marcus Emanuel Barroncas Fernandes He holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Federal University of Amazonas (1985), a Master's Degree in Experimental Psychology (Animal Behavior) from University of São Paulo (1989) and a Doctorate in Biology from University of York (1997). He is currently an associate professor at Federal University of Pará (Campus of Bragança). He has experience in the area of Biological Oceanography, with emphasis on ecology of mangrove ecosystem, developing the following lines of research: primary and secondary productivity, fauna and flora interaction and socio-environmental issues. Marcus Vinicius Domingues He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences from Federal University of Paraná (1992-1995), a Master's degree in Zoology from the Federal University of Paraná (1996-1998), a Doctorate in Zoology from Federal University of Paraná (2000-2004) and a Postdoctoral at University of São Paulo (2005-2008) and the University of Adelaide, Australia (2008-2009). He is currently an associate professor III at Institute of Coastal Studies of the Federal University of Pará (Bragança University Campus). He was also deputy coordinator of the Environmental Biology Graduate Program of UFPA (2012-2014). He is an affiliated member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Young Doctor, 2012-2016). He is also an ad hoc consultant for the magazines: Systematic Parasitology, Folia Parasitology, Journal of Parasitology, Journal of Helminthology, International Journal for Parasitology, Acta Amazonica e Zoologia. Previously Revista Brasileira de Zoologia). He has experience in Zoology, with emphasis on Phylogenetic Systematics and Historical Reconstruction, working mainly in the following subjects: Parasitology of Aquatic Organisms, Systematics, Taxonomy and Historical Reconstruction of Monogenoid Plantarimmins. Maria Iracilda da Cunha Sampaio She has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Federal Rural university of the Amazon (1977), a Master's degree in Biological Sciences (Genetic Biology) from Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (1984) and a Doctorate in Biological Sciences from Federal University of Pará (1993). She is currently Associate Professor IV of Federal University of Pará, Instituto de Estudos Costeiros (IECOS), Bragança Campus. Since 2012 she has been the Graduate Programs Director of UFPA. She acts in Animal Genetics, in the following subjects: Molecular Systematics, Biogeography, genetics of populations of fish resources, genetics applied to aquaculture, genetic forensics and vertebrate phylogeny. CNPq Research Productivity Scholar (PQ) Level 1C - CA GE - Genetics Nils Edvin Asp Neto Nils Asp is an Oceanographer, having graduated in 1996 from FURG, with a Master's degree in Marine Geology from the Graduate Program in Geosciences of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1999) and a Doctorate in Coastal Geology from University of Kiel (Christian Albrechts Universitat) in Germany (2004). From 2004 to 2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow at UNIVALI with a focus on Coastal Geomorphology. He is currently an associate professor at the Federal University of Pará, where he has been working in undergraduate, graduate and research education since 2005. Nils Asp also works in collaboration with several researchers and institutions from Brazil and abroad in several projects, which have resulted in several publications in periodicals and dozens of works in events. He works in the areas of Physical and Geological Oceanography, Geology and Coastal / Marine Geomorphology. In 2014, he was elected as an affiliate member (2014-2018) of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences – ABC. Research Productivity Scholarship (PQ) of CNPq Level 2 - CA OC - Oceanography Péricles Sena do Rêgo He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Ceará (2000), a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Ceará (2000), a Master's Degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Pará (2003) and a Doctorate in Zoology MPGE/UFPA (2010). He is currently a professor of Zoology and Genetics at the Federal University of Pará. He is part of the faculty of the Environmental Biology Graduate Program (PPBA) UFPA and the Aquatic Resources and Fisheries Graduate Program (PPGRAP) UEMA. He has experience in the field of Animal Genetics, with emphasis on Bird Genetics, working mainly on the following topics: Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Evolution and Population Genetics. Rauquírio André Albuquerque Marinho da Costa He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1993), a Doctorate in Biological Sciences (Bachelor's Degree) from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1993), a Master's Degree in Biological Oceanography from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1997) and Doctorate in Marine Sciences - Universidad de Barcelona (2002). He is currently an Associate Professor III of the Federal University of Pará, where he heads the Laboratory of Plankton and Cultivation of Microalgae. He coordinated the Environmental Biology Graduate Program (Masters and Doctoral Courses) from September 2004 to January 2010. He completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Sydney (USYD) from January 2010 to June 2011 (CNPq Scholarship). He has experience in the area of Oceanography, with emphasis on Systematics and Ecology of Plankton. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Federal University of Pará. He presents relevant publications in international journals (JEMBE, Journal of Coastal Research, Ecological Economics etc.) and national (Tropical Oceanography, Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, etc). He coordinates and participates in some projects with funding from CNPq, CAPES and Petrobras and has acted as a member of editorial staff and as a reviewer of national and international scientific journals of wide circulation. Simoni Santos da Silva She holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Pará, Santarém Campus (1999), a Master's degree in Environmental Biology from the Federal University of Pará (2002) and a Doctorate in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Pará (2007). She is currently adjunct professor II at the Federal University of Pará. She was a Research Productivity Fellow at CNPq – Level 2F from 11/2010 to 10/2012. She has experience in the area of Animal Genetics, acting mainly with Population Genetics and Molecular Phylogeny of Fish. Ulf Mehlig He holds a Masters in Biology - Georg August Universität Göttingen (1996) and Doctorate in Natural Sciences - Universität Bremen (2001). He is currently an adjunct professor at the Coastal Studies Institute of the Federal University of Pará, Bragança Campus. He has experience in Botany, with emphasis on Ecophysiology, Ecology and Plant Taxonomy, working mainly on the following topics: Floristic Survey, Vegetal Taxonomy of Coastal Ecosystems, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Risk Analysis, Relational Databases and GIS. Zélia Maria Pimentel Nunes She holds a degree in Fishery Engineering from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (1985), a Master's Degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Agricultural Sciences of Gödöllö (1992) and a Doctorate in Ecology and Natural Resources from the Federal University of São Carlos (2000). She is currently an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Pará. She has experience in the areas of Ecological Fisheries, with emphasis on Aquatic Ecology, working mainly in the following subjects: Water Quality, Northern Brazilian Coast, Estuary, Grouper and Trophic Nets. Coastal Studies Institute University campus of Bragança, UFPA, Alameda Leandro Ribeiro s/n, Village. Bragança, Pará, Brazil-CEP 68,600-000

https://pragatiresorts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Final_01-1.mp4 No. Of plants variety of plants

The Life and Lies of Prashanthini Mande Posted byprashanthinimande December 23, 2019 August 14, 2020 Posted inAll Posts, Blog, Favourites, StoriesTags:publishing, short story, writer “When I grow up, I want to write a book, pa,” she said. “About a girl who saves rainbows.” “Why do rainbows need saving?” her father asked. “Because they get killed.” For someone who had always wanted to be a writer, she was very reluctant about taking up the apprentice job. She had applied along with her friends when they had seen the advertisement. “It’s a great learning opportunity!” they’d said. He was a bestselling author with a broken right hand. He needed someone to type his next book, ‘Adrenaline’. She was not a fan of his work. But the job paid well and he’d picked her from thousands of applicants. Standing in front of his apartment, though, she felt excited. She was about to meet a celebrity author. A published author. An author of books loved by tens of thousands. It has got to count, somehow. He opened the door with his left hand. He gave her a tight nod when she stated who she was. He had a workstation ready for her: laptop, ergonomic keyboard, notebooks, post-its, pens. As soon as she took her seat, his words flowed. He was describing a fight scene in a cathedral far far away. But the passion in his voice made it sound like a love poem. He tested sentences and words with skill. He had a keen sense of rhythm and limitless vocabulary. When her three-hour session ended, she asked to visit the bathroom before she left. He pointed at a door to her right without a word. She locked the door behind her and cried. She could never be as good a writer. The next day was the same, and the next, and the next. They never exchanged pleasantries. He nodded and she got to work immediately. When she asked him to repeat something or slow down, he listened. His silence signaled the end of the session. She coughed once and there was a glass of water on her desk every day after that. They completed three chapters that week. On the eighth day, she thanked him for choosing her. She told him she always admired him. He had a hint of a smile when he said his first words to her. “It’s no big deal.” His humility surprised her. Then, there were more words. “Where are you from?” he asked holding the door open. “You are not from here.” “I am not,” she said. “I am from down south.” “Did you always want to be an author?” she asked after a session. “Only since I learned that it’s where the money is,” he joked and winked. She laughed to hide the thrill she felt. Her friends were jealous. “What did she do to get the job?” She overheard someone saying once. “I heard he’s a big flirt. She probably did what she had to do,” said another. “I could never!” said the first one, outraged. “Why did you pick me?” she asked him the next day. “Because you are pretty.” He said simply. She blushed. Once she saw a woman walk out of his house. Her throat constricted so hard it pained. A number of women called him during their sessions. When they came to his apartment directly, he ended the sessions early. Her heart broke every time. “Who are all the women?” she asked one day. He put down the coffee mug he was holding in his right hand. It was still in a sling but it was getting better. “They bother you. I noticed,” he said. She turned away to hide her face. He bent down and pulled up her chin to make her meet his eyes. She held his stare with some effort. Whatever he saw in her face made him kiss her. Hours later, she placed her palm on his bare chest. His heart was still pounding. His eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply. He looked vulnerable. She knew she can weed out his secrets if she wanted. Instead, she told him hers. “I didn’t think you’d be any good.” “Mmm?” “I lied when I said I always admired you. But I admire you now.” He turned to look at her curiously. She continued, “Your love for words…” she smiled, “I don’t have words to describe it.” He scoffed. “My love for words? I thought you were a smart girl.” She pulled the sheets to her chest and sat up. “What do you mean?” He looked at her with pity. “I told you I was just in it for the money. But that was a lie.” He beckoned her closer and kissed her neck. “I am also in it for the women.” “But you have so many fans that love your work.” “My fans are fools. People are fools,” he said, with no hint of humor in his voice. This changed things, she thought. But she could detect none of the derision in his narration the next day. As always, he coaxed the exact word he needed from the depths of his brain. He cradled his favorite phrases with his smile. He repeated sentences he liked, enunciating a different part every time. It was like a caress or a kiss. An appreciation for being perfect. There was a different man behind the mask he was putting on, a man who loved his words. She knew it in her heart. She reacted to his words as she typed them and he noticed. He was pleased by her nods of approval. Her frowns made him rethink sentences. He laughed openly at her look of surprise when the big suspense was revealed. She was his date for the book launch party. She’d never been around so much adoration. Some of it was directed at her. She was his muse, his fans thought. ‘Adrenaline’ became his best bestseller and as a thank you, he took her to Paris. He called her his lady luck. When they returned, she started living with him. She had no possessions of her own. He provided for her. “What’s mine is yours,” he told her. She typed his next book too. “I like this arrangement,” he whispered and kissed her shoulder in the middle of a session. She typed that out and deleted it. “I am making mistakes,” she whined. “Let’s make more,” he said. Her friends were even more jealous. “They’re fucking,” she overheard one of them say. He was describing a wedding when she asked, “Am I your girlfriend?” She felt silly, but she wanted to know. He grabbed her face with both his hands and said, “You are so much more.” She agreed. He was so much more too. He was her whole world. “Have you ever thought about writing something different, something from your soul?” she asked as they took a midnight stroll in the city. “It’s not what I do.” One morning, she pulled him out of the bed to show him her manuscript. “I was up all night finishing it,” she said. “It’s about a girl who wants to save rainbows!” she said in a sing-song voice. His face was blank. “It’s a coming-of-age novel about a girl who wants to become a scientist,” she clarified. She’d used his laptop to write it, bit by bit, every night after he went to sleep. She was suddenly nervous. The words on that page hadn’t come to her as easily as it seemed to come to him. What if he hated it? “Say something.” “No one will read it,” he declared. His words stung. “Your hands must be so sore from typing so much,” he continued. He took her hand and kissed her fingertips. “You are my lady luck and I just want to protect you.” “People really are fools. Don’t you believe me?” He had published fifteen books. He was a veteran in the industry. Of course, she believed him. “We are a team,” he said, wiping away her tears. “My books are yours. My successes are yours,” he said as he deleted her manuscript from his laptop and shut it down. She had a sense of déjà vu as she typed the next book. It was different than the previous one but it was also the same. He still enjoyed narrating it. New words were used to prop up the same plot. The fight scene this time was set in an Aztec temple far far away. When it launched, it was sold out in a matter of minutes. “Why don’t you make the protagonist a woman in the next one?” she suggested when they were lying in bed. She’d overheard one of her friends calling him a misogynist. And he did. Same characters, different gender. Another fight scene, this time in the dark alleys of Mumbai. That book made him a millionaire. He was called a ‘feminist’ and a ‘game-changer’. He was invited to panel discussions on gender. In the privacy of their home, they read reviews lauding his progressive values and laughed. They watched videos of his fans gushing about the book. They made love to the voices of the fans he had no respect for. They churned out the next book in sixty days. But it did not sell out in minutes or hours. For the first time in many years, his name was not on the bestsellers list. The reviewers called him a ‘regurgitator’. “No one has plagiarized his work as much as he has.” He brooded and moped. He blamed himself. “I should not have edited that last chapter. I should have let your lucky fingers do it.” She massaged the back of his neck in the bed. “Luck’s got nothing to do with it. You are more popular now so your work is coming under more scrutiny.” “It’s the same dumb people reading it.” “We just need to write another,” she said and they brainstormed ideas. His fans turned against him in online forums. He saw them make cruel but accurate predictions of what his next book was going to be about and abandoned the project. She didn’t like his name being dragged through the mud. Not now, when they were tied in more ways than one. He had so much love for the words he wrote. His was raw talent. If she could just convince him to let his mask down… She put on her best persuasive voice, “Write something from here,” she said and pointed at his heart. “I can’t,” he whispered. “Your fans are telling you they want something different.” “My fans are fools!” “Then write for her,” she said tenderly and place his palm on her belly. She smiled and raised her eyebrows meaningfully. Comprehension dawned on his face and he jumped out of the bed, suddenly energetic. She knew this news would make him feel better. “What was the timeline? Was it in you during the last book launch?” Seeing her look of confusion, he explained, “The thing, the foetus, the baby?” “Yes, I was pregnant when our last book launched,” she said, confused. “While I was writing it?” “Yes, when we were halfway through the book.” He clapped his hand loudly and made her jump. “This is it! This is it!” “This thing is bad luck.” “It’s not about luck.” “I never failed before.” “She is not the reason we failed,” she said and made as if to touch him. He jumped out of her way. “You remove that thing. I don’t want it near me.” “I am not going to remove anything,” she said and stepped away from him protecting her belly. “I don’t want it!” He yelled. “You need to go. You and that. Get out of here.” He shooed her with a book as if she was contaminated. “Go… go…” he wedged the book painfully in the small of her back. Tears streamed down her face. She took one look at his deranged face and left. He’s just in a bad place now, she thought to herself. He would come to her one day. She came to his place every day, instead. Until he acquired a security guard to send her away. She was left penniless, possession-less. Years later, her daughter called out. “Ma, he’s finally written another.” She sat up in her chair. After he kicked her out, he’d written five books. ‘Same shit, different cover’ as reviewers had called it. All of them tanked. He last wrote a book ten years ago. “I saw it in the store today.” her daughter said and handed her a book colored like a rainbow. “It’s called ‘Rainbow girl’,” said her daughter. “I like the title.” She read the reviews on the backside. “An evocative, heart-warming story.” “What a comeback!” “A masterpiece, unlike any of his others.” She opened a page in the middle. She stared at the words. Her words. The only words she’d typed that she remembered from all those years ago. She still felt the pain it had caused her to write. Each word was a frustration. Each sentence, fleeting. She remembered the day she felt so much rage that she wanted to throw his laptop out the window. She’d cried when she finished her final draft. After what felt like an eternity of struggle, the words had felt just right and she’d shown him. He’d deleted it without reading them. She wondered if he’d kept her dedication too. That would be laughable. He’d hated his father. She flipped the pages. Copyright details, Praise for ‘Rainbow Girl’, Praise for ‘Rainbow Girl’, Praise for ‘Rainbow Girl’, and then: “To my fans, for showing me the right path. I love you.” She flung the book across the room. “THAT RAT BASTARD!” The Women of Ponniyin Selvan Ponniyin Selvan 1: Books Vs Movie Never Never – A Review Framework of life for anxious beings 7 Lies TV Perpetuates About Pregnancy and Childbirth 20 Things I Want to Tell My 20-Year Old Self As I Turn 30 Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal - A Review Everybody shush, we have a visitor

[ARCHIVED] Pre-Closure Library Items Now Due Last due date extension was to June 15 PASO ROBLES, CA – June 12, 2020 The Paso Robles City Library reminds patrons that items checked out prior to the library’s closure are due back to the library by June 15. All items can be returned to the outside book drop in the library parking lot or the one at the 11th Street entrance. Staff empties the book drops daily but items are not checked in for three days (72 hours). At that time, they are removed from patrons’ accounts and made available for requests. Curbside service, which began June 1, continues to be a popular way for patrons to obtain items from the Paso Robles Library, Monday-Saturday, 10am-4pm. For information on how to request an item for pickup, visit the library web page at https://www.prcity.com/944/Library-Curbside. Library staff is on hand to answer account and reference inquiries Monday-Saturday, 10 am-5 pm. Call 805-237-3870 or email [email protected].

Home»News»Gavin Haley Releases Video for New Single, “Show Me” Gavin Haley Releases Video for New Single, “Show Me” By Dom Vigil July 15, 2019 Emerging indie-pop singer and accomplished songwriter Gavin Haley has released his second single “Show Me”. The official music video directed by Carla Dauden showcases Gavin Haley alongside “America’s Next Top Model” star Cherish Waters in a emotionally-charged world of young love, providing the perfect compliment to the impassioned record. Gavin is just as much a storyteller as he is a musician. He wears his heart on his sleeve with his songs revealing raw emotion both lyrically and melodically. The new single “Show Me” is a follow-up to Gavin’s recent heartfelt song “96” and adds to his ever-growing repertoire of indie-pop songs. Gavin’s start in the music industry has been anything but traditional. Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky as one of seven siblings, Gavin spent most of his childhood and adolescence as a pro-cyclist. After an unfortunate cycling injury left him unable to compete, Gavin started diving into his love for music, eventually uncovering a drive to create his own music. In 2016, the 22-year-old singer moved to Los Angeles and has since written over 300+ songs, releasing multiple songs independently and most recently signed to Red Bull Records where he is slated to release an EP in fall 2019. Share. Facebook Twitter Email Reddit New Music That Doesn’t Suck Playlist – March 17, 2023 © 2023 Prelude Press

April 9, 2024 @ 9:30 am – 10:30 am « Bible Study for Pastors and Preachers Bible Study for Pastors and Preachers »

Ripoff Report on Stress and Negativity: Tuesday Evening to Crack the Healing Codes by Simon Yu, MD | Jul 15, 2015 | Self-Help We live in a society perpetually engineered by an artificially generated fear, stress, and negativity. Many people are unfortunately naturally attracted to the negative publicity. Sensationalism and fear mean making a fortune for those who can benefit from it. There are also many professionals, including physicians, who are afraid of negative reviews on the Internet, and, therefore, are willing to spend money to attempt to remove any real or unfair malicious reviews. I recently received an annoying letter in postal mail saying that my practice got a Ripoff Report with a bad review. The letter stated they could help me make the bad review disappear. The letter starts with, “The truth is that your listing on Ripoff Report is a silent business killer. Much like tabloids at grocery store check outs, this site’s sensational nature draws attention.” Furthermore, “Your listing on Ripoff Report not only makes you look poor, but has cost you thousands of dollars in lost business and will continue to do so. Fortunately, something can be done about it…the worst thing you can do is ignore them… Call xxxx Today to Make Your Ripoff Report Disappear!” I also get phone calls once in a while saying the same thing, that they can help make the Ripoff Report disappear from Google search for only a lump sum of money. I usually politely decline with the remark that everyone has a right to complain. I do not particularly like to broadcast the complaints. However, I do not want the complaints to disappear with computer tricks promoted with what I think of as deception and extortion. Some people choose their physicians based on Internet ratings. Most patients choose their physicians based on “word of mouth” from friends and family members. As a general rule, even though a patient has decided to see me, the more that he/she is attracted to negativity from the Internet or others, the less likely they are to respond to any therapies, no matter what I do. About four years ago, I wrote an article dealing with a very difficult, overweight, out of shape, emotionally toxic patient, Dandy PouPou (not his real name). He seemed familiar with alternative medicine and knew how to use the system, blackmailing, demanding money back, and essentially trying to get a free medical evaluation by berating the physician’s experiences. The title of the short article I wrote was, “The Original Incurable: The Gifted Village Idiot in the Holistic Medical Community.” Dandy said that he has seen many holistic doctors and accused me of not knowing what I am doing. He said if he didn’t get his money back, he will make my life miserable, bad mouth me all over his holistic community friends, cause appointments to be canceled, and disparage me all over the Internet. I told him, he is not a nice person, and that I do not make deals from extortion so he can do whatever he wants to do. These negative thoughts and emotions are often based on Fear, Blame, Anger, Shame, Guilt, Insecurity, or Victimhood. My message to you is: Do not surrender to Negativity! Negativity is an unseen force, like a whispering gossip or an Internet bully, that damages our lives and poisons our dreams. Every day, patients come to see me because of fear. Many fears are derived from the latest new disease promoted by media stories which are paid for by pharmaceutical companies in the name of “educational awareness.” The stories create a phobia of real and artificially generated fears about cholesterol, chest pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, allergies, ED, psoriasis, cancer, and other endless medical conditions. To calm my patients, I usually tell them, according to the latest data, old people with high cholesterol live longer than those with lower cholesterol, obese people are less prone to develop dementia, diabetic patients with very tight control of their sugar level do worse, as evidenced by an increase in overall mortality, than moderately controlled diabetic patients, and a slight rise in blood pressure with aging may not be as bad as we thought. Coffee, sea salts, alcohol, butter, eggs, chocolates, and red meats are actually good for you in moderation if you know what “moderation” means. I also remind them, we are going to die anyway and might as well enjoy ourselves in the present moment. Many medical doctors retire or die early due to conflicts between their love of the medical profession and their own stress, fears, and negativity. Here are some quotes from the wise ones to reflect and decompress your stress and negativity: “If you are depressed, you live in the Past. If you are anxious, you live in the Future. But, if you are at peace, you live in the Present” by Lao Tzu. To be Happy, you must follow F.A.C.T.S: “Forgive others. Accept your mistakes. Cry and move on. Thank God for everything. Smile always.” “If you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.” Richard Bach. Think of those people on the Titanic who declined their favorite desert that fateful night and worried about their appearance. Enjoy every moment of life. “God is dead, Said Nietzsche. Nietzsche is dead, Said God.” Once a month, Chaplin Paul Johnson and I conduct a group session with some distinguished speakers for the Prevention and Healing Wellness Support Group. This August 18th, I will cover a simple tool to help you and your family. It may radically open up your healing process and transform your health and wellness. This session will cover the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and The Healing Code by Alexander Loyd, Ph.D., ND and Ben Johnson, MD, DO, NMD. Everyone who is interested in self-healing is invited to attend and learn how to crack their blocked healing codes. Print 🖨 PDF 📄

Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness by Randal D. Pinkett, Jeffrey A. Robinson PhD, Philana Patterson Randal D. Pinkett eBookFirst Edition (First Edition) eBook(First Edition) 9.99 In Stock Discover how African-American professionals can combine their personal strengths with the wisdom of others to plant the seeds of a positive, lasting legacy in the workplace. Randal Pinkett was the first African-American winner on The Apprentice. When he won, he also became the only contestant to be asked to share his victory with a white woman. For generations, African-Americans have been told that they need to work twice as hard as everyone else to succeed. However, as millions of black Americans were reminded by Pinkett's experience, sometimes hard work is not enough. Black Faces in White Places is about "the game", the competitive world in which we all live and work. The book offers 10 revolutionary strategies for playing, mastering, and changing the game for the current generation, while undertaking a wholesale redefinition of the rules for those who will follow. In this book, you will: Expand yourself beyond your comfort zone Recognize and demonstrate the four facets of excellence Build beneficial relationships and powerful networks Identify different mentors and learn from others' experiences Discover ways of working with others to facilitate collective action Based on the authors' considerable experiences in business, in the public eye, and in the minority, the book shows how African-American professionals can (and must) think and act both entrepreneurially and "intrapreneurially". Black Faces in White Places not only explains shattering the old "glass ceiling” and changing the concept of success, but also examines the four dimensions of the contemporary black experience: identity, society, meritocracy, and opportunity. AMACOM HarperCollins Publishing Dr. Randal Pinkett has established himself as an entrepreneur, speaker, author, scholar, and leading voice for his generation in business, technology, diversity, and inclusion. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners, a multimillion-dollar research, training, consulting, technology, and data analytics firm headquartered in Newark, NJ. BCT’s mission is to provide insights about diverse people that lead to equity. The company has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms and has been named to the Black Enterprise BE 100 list of the nation’s largest African American-owned businesses. Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. is an award-winning business school professor, international speaker and entrepreneur. Philana Patterson is Money editor at USA Today in New York City where she leads business and financial coverage across all formats. Black Faces in White Places 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness By RANDAL PINKETT JEFFREY ROBINSON PHILANA PATTERSON Copyright © 2011 Randal Pinkett and Jeffrey Robinson Establish a Strong Identity and Purpose Thank you [God] for allowing me to see myself the way you see me. —Kirk Franklin, "Imagine Me" IDENTITY IS NOT particular to African Americans, but it can present some unique challenges. Everyone asks themselves certain general questions: What are my values? What principles do I stand for? What are the beliefs I hold near and dear? However, for African Americans, having specific answers to these questions is of paramount importance, especially when you inevitably find yourself in environments that challenge or attempt to define you based on racial stereotypes, baseless assumptions, or ignorance. Establishing a strong identity can be the difference between thinking that people who look like you can succeed at anything and knowing it to be the case. Learn more about us by visiting our websites: www.randalpinkett.com and www.jeffreyrobinsonphd.com. You can also subscribe to Randal's e-newsletter, "Elevate Your Game." You may be a Black youth growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, which was Randal's experience. Or you may be a recent graduate from a historically Black college or university experiencing your first foray into corporate America. Or you may be the sole person of color in a company or a city that lacks diversity. In each scenario, as you become more attuned with your identity, you fortify your ability to stay true to who you are in any situation, and you prepare yourself to effectively deal with any circumstance that challenges your core being. As the first dimension of Black faces in white places, identity is a complex subject. But we believe it is an important and appropriate topic to confront early on because establishing a strong identity is a vital component of the foundation on which you can build careers and businesses and undertake other activities that will transform your life and the lives of others. It is also an important consideration for parents raising children in a race-conscious society. To do this the right way, we'll need to start by defining a few things up-front. Your identity is comprised of all those things that make you, well, you. Identity represents all of the characteristics for which you can say, "I am . . ." When we talk about identity we are actually talking about three aspects of the same idea, as shown in Figure 1–2: * Personal identity (how you define yourself) * Social identity (how you define yourself in relation to society) * Identity negotiation (the interaction between your personal identity and social identity) Society may seek to define certain people as African American based on their physical characteristics (social identity). However, those same individuals may not define themselves as African American. By contrast, there are people who do not look Black (that is, they could "pass" for white) who still define themselves as African Americans (personal identity). The process of working through all of these considerations is the negotiation of identity. Personal identity represents the myriad things that make you unique. It embodies characteristics such as gender, height, weight, physical ability, and race. The formation of personal identity happens early in our lives, and parents play an important role. They tell us if we are a boy or a girl. Parents teach us language and are the first to tell us about our relationship to the world and to each other. These are defining moments that paint a picture of who we are. For African Americans, you can't underestimate the role of parents in the process of forming a positive racial identity early on. The Pinketts were among a small number of Black parents living in the mostly white and Jewish town of East Windsor, New Jersey, who decided not to leave the development of their children's racial identity to chance. They helped form a group called "Our Kids" that provided opportunities for their children to interact with other Black children through trips to museums and amusement parks and homegrown cultural events like Black History Month programs, where the children starred in short plays. Sometimes the activity was as simple as just getting together at someone's house to have a meal and hang out. The importance of their identity as Black people was further reinforced in the children through a Kwanzaa celebration. Between Christmas and New Year's, the family lit red, black, and green candles in a Kinara, with each candlestick representing one of seven principles (more on that later). Under the glow of the candlelight the family said out loud what each of those principles meant to them. It is these kinds of experiences—no matter where you live—that can help reinforce a positive self-image. Of course, there are things that we learn on our own as well. We learn that we are tall or short by comparing ourselves to others. We observe that some students are better at math while we may be better at science. We learn that we are faster or more athletic than other children our age. Both of us learned we had athletic ability, for example—Randal while pursuing several competitive sports from junior high school through college, and J.R. (Jeffrey Robinson) while playing basketball in a competitive league through church. What we learn about identity on our own is heavily shaped by communities, schools, friends, and extended family members. These influences—for better or for worse—are beyond our parents' control. Parental influence diminishes as we reach adolescence and the influence of peers becomes one of the most significant influences on personal identity, either serving to support a strong sense of who you are or making you question your identity. SOCIAL IDENTITY Your social identity defines how you view yourself in relation to other people. As you gain greater awareness of self, you are able to further define and position your identity within the context of the broader society. For example, it is intuitively obvious that you speak a language. But it is not until you hear someone speak another language that you begin to define yourself as English-speaking. Another way to consider social identity is to realize that we each have multiple social identities. Social identity includes, but is not limited to: * Cultural identity (membership in a cultural group) * Gender identity (the gender with which a person identifies) * National identity (membership in a nation) * Spiritual or religious identity (belief in a faith) * Professional identity (career affiliation) These broad categorizations, whether deliberate or not, help us decide with whom and where we spend our time and how we think of ourselves. What makes groupings distinct is that "members" of groups typically share certain characteristics, norms, and values. During our years as engineering students, our identities as academically talented, responsible African-American students were supported and celebrated at Rutgers where we joined the chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). NSBE cultivated a culture that promoted students working together. They'd say hey, we're doing study halls Tuesday night; you all need to meet there and start working on that physics exam because it's coming. We'd work on problems from old exams so that we'd be able to handle the ones we'd encounter on our test the next week. NSBE believed in recognizing academic performance. Through the first semester we both got "shout outs" for strong performance on our exams. At the beginning of the second semester members were asked to voluntarily share how the previous semester went. Randal stood and said, "I got a 3.9 (GPA). I got an A in almost all my classes." and then sat down. The decision to share came with a great deal of trepidation because he did not know if being academically excellent was going to make him more or less popular. Was he going to get stigmatized or stereotyped as an academic nerd, as a loser, as a geek? Well, it didn't end up being a problem—in fact, the opposite happened. Randal became a campus celebrity, or at least in Black engineering circles. People whispered on campus, "That's the guy that got the 3.9." or "Did you hear about the Black guy who got straight A's in engineering—him right there." Black students started to congregate around him. People wanted to study with him. They wanted to come to his dorm. The public nature of his academic performance allowed him to be accepted. It was academics, ironically, that became a conduit for his social connections. The affirming connections we made through our association with NSBE are just one of many examples of the groups that have helped shape our social identities over the years. We are members of, or are affiliated with, many different kinds of groups, including racial and ethnic, religious, educational, and geographic communities. For example, we are both African-American men, Christian, alumni of Rutgers University, and were raised in New Jersey. Identifying with a particular culture or nationality, for instance, likely means that you subscribe to the norms, customs, and/or values of that group. At the same time, it also suggests that in identifying with that group you are also helping to shape its ever-evolving norms, customs, and values. In other words, if being African American is part of how you construct your identity, then you not only reflect African-American culture, you also influence African-American culture. Did our academic performance help encourage a culture of striving for excellence among Black engineering students at Rutgers? We certainly hope so. IDENTITY NEGOTIATION There is an interaction between your personal identity and your social identity. They can reinforce one another or they can be in conflict. This negotiation takes place during our formative years, but it also takes place every time we find ourselves having a "Black Faces in White Places" moment. For example, if you believe you are intelligent and those around you believe you are intelligent, then your identity of being intelligent is reinforced. But what if you believe you are intelligent, but others tell you that there is no possible way that you are intelligent because people who look like you are not intelligent? This conflict poses a challenge to your identity. Do you really believe you are intelligent, or do you believe what others have said about you or people who look like you? The negotiation of identity is the reconciliation of how you define yourself in relation to society. You must take into consideration how society may seek to define you. Accordingly, there are several "social identifiers" or discernable characteristics by which society can seek to define people. The "Big 9" social identifiers are: race, class, gender, sexual orientation, physical/ psychological ability, ethnicity, language, age, and religion. These characteristics are the markers of human difference through which power and privilege have been differentially distributed and prejudice may accrue. Each dimension meters power and privilege in the dominant culture of America. To the extent that an individual is or is perceived to be white, wealthy, male, heterosexual, able-bodied and rational, European-American, English-speaking, young (or in the "prime" of one's life), and Christian, that individual has unearned advantages of which he or she may well remain unconscious. So it stands to reason that individuals who deviate from these norms have, in effect, unearned disadvantages of which they may or may not be aware. While a person who embodies the characteristics associated with privilege may enjoy easy success in some areas, a person who does not embody these characteristics likely faces a harder road. Redefining the game and reshaping America is fundamentally about moving toward a society where advantage and disadvantage are independent of identifiers. But to ignore or deny the gross and subtle effects of these identifiers and the role they play in generating and prolonging inequality, is to ignore or deny the very dynamics that underlie our society. The reality for Black people is that race and ethnicity continue to be among the most salient of these social identifiers in twenty-first-century America. Consequently, while it is important that we establish a strong identity, it is of paramount importance that we establish a strong racial and ethnic identity. Our race and ethnicity must engender a sense of genuine pride. The navigation and negotiation of identity that takes place in the lives of African Americans can carry a unique set of considerations. Among them is a fundamental decision about how your identity interacts with society. Will you completely assimilate—adopt the values of popular American culture—or will you negotiate—challenge these norms and leverage your AfricanAmerican identity in engaging others? Perhaps one of the best descriptions of the complexity of Black identity in America comes from activist and author W.E.B. DuBois in his classic work, The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois describes African Americans as possessing two "warring souls," one African and one American, a sort of "double consciousness" or a "veil." DuBois writes: It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. A strong identity finds harmony between these two perspectives. And while this identity may be informed by your history, it is not defined by your history. We must comfortably embrace our history as both descendants of Africans and residents of America. But we must also acknowledge that while America has come a long way in its perception and treatment of people of color, it still has a long way to go. Purpose is the remaining pillar of the first strategy for redefining the game and reshaping America. Your purpose is your reason for being. Purpose answers the question, "Why do I exist?" It explains your existence. It sheds light on what you are living for. It helps define your destiny. And there are a few considerations that can shape how you conceptualize and ultimately come to define your purpose. * You were made to serve multiple purposes. Your purpose could be to serve as a loving and responsible parent; to uplift and inspire others through music as a composer; and to mentor young people in your neighborhood. You are not confined to one purpose and, in fact, you may serve different purposes at different points in your life. For example, if you are diagnosed with sickle cell disease, you may dedicate your life thereafter to increasing awareness of how others can live the healthiest life possible with the condition. Life's circumstances, including tragedies, may change or redefine your purpose. * You have an individual purpose and one that is shared with others. Part of your purpose is particular to you, while in some instances it is intertwined with other individuals. For example, your individual purpose may be to serve as an advocate for quality education in urban schools, while your shared purpose may be to work with others to establish a charter school in an underserved community. We (the authors) have long believed that we have a shared purpose. Throughout this book you will learn about some of the products of our collective purpose, such as the businesses we have co-founded and the ways we have touched people's lives together. In fact, this book is one of those products! (Continues...) Excerpted from Black Faces in White Places by RANDAL PINKETT JEFFREY ROBINSON PHILANA PATTERSON Copyright © 2011 by Randal Pinkett and Jeffrey Robinson. Excerpted by permission of AMACOM. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Foreword....................XV Acknowledgments....................XIX Introduction....................1 PART I: LEARNING THE GAME....................21 Strategy 1: Establish a Strong Identity and Purpose....................28 Strategy 2: Obtain Broad Exposure....................48 Strategy 3: Demonstrate Excellence....................58 PART II: PLAYING THE GAME....................87 Strategy 4: Build Diverse and Solid Relationships....................92 Strategy 5: Seek the Wisdom of Others....................110 Strategy 6: Find Strength in Numbers....................126 PART III: MASTERING THE GAME....................157 Strategy 7: Think and Act Intrapreneurially....................165 Strategy 8: Think and Act Entrepreneurially....................183 PART IV: REDEFINING THE GAME....................213 Strategy 9: Synergize and Reach Scale....................219 Strategy 10: Give Back Generously....................233 Epilogue: Is Success the Standard or Is Greatness the Goal?....................253 Notes....................259 Index....................261 About the Authors....................267 African Americans - General & Miscellaneous Business Life - General & Miscellaneous Discrimination & Prejudice - General Ethnic & Minority Studies - United States Harassment & Discrimination in the Workplace

HomeReportsBureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices...Belarus 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Belarus Download [267 KB] Belarus is an authoritarian state. The country’s constitution provides for a directly elected president who is head of state, and a bicameral parliament, the National Assembly. A prime minister appointed by the president is the nominal head of government, but power is concentrated in the presidency, both in fact and in law. Citizens were unable to choose their government through free and fair elections. Since his election as president in 1994, Aliaksandr Lukashenka has consolidated his rule over all institutions and undermined the rule of law through authoritarian means, including manipulated elections and arbitrary decrees. All subsequent presidential elections fell well short of international standards. The 2016 parliamentary elections also failed to meet international standards. Civilian authorities, President Lukashenka in particular, maintained effective control over security forces. The most significant human rights issues included torture; life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and, detention; failure to provide fair trials due to executive interference in the judiciary and some trials being closed to the public and without the presence of the accused; interference with privacy; severe interference with freedom of expression and the press, including criminalization of libel and defamation of government officials; violence against and detention of journalists; severe restrictions on freedoms of assembly and of association, including by imposing criminal penalties for calling for a peaceful demonstration and laws criminalizing the activities and funding of groups not approved by the authorities; restrictions on freedom of movement, in particular of former political prisoners; civil rights remained largely restricted while the government failed to account for longstanding cases of politically motivated disappearances; corruption in all branches of government; allegations of pressuring women to have abortions; trafficking in persons; and suppression of independent trade unions. Authorities at all levels operated with impunity and failed to take steps to prosecute or punish officials in the government or security forces who committed human rights abuses. During the year there were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings and no reports of deaths from torture. During the year there were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities. There were no developments in the reportedly continuing investigations into the 2000 disappearance of journalist Zmitser Zavadski and the 1999 disappearances of former deputy prime minister Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasouski, and former interior minister Yuri Zakharanka. There was evidence of government involvement in the disappearances, but authorities continued to deny any connection with them. In May 2016 a Minsk court suspended the civil suit of Zakharanka’s mother asking for the court to recognize Zakharanka’s death until the criminal case regarding his disappearance was closed. The lawyer for Zakharanka’s mother told the court, “given the fact that for 16 years the investigation has produced no results, it deprives the citizen the opportunity to realize her rights. In fact it is a denial of justice.” In August 2016 a Minsk city court refused the request of Zakharanka’s mother to declare her son deceased. In order to obtain access to case materials and his property, Zakharanka’s mother has repeatedly asked authorities to declare him dead, suspend the investigation, or both. In June authorities extended the investigation into Zakharanka’s disappearance to December 24. The law prohibits such practices. Nevertheless, the Committee for State Security (KGB), riot police, and other security forces, often without identification and in plain clothes, beat detainees on occasion. Security forces also reportedly mistreated individuals during investigations. Police occasionally beat persons during arrests. Human rights advocates, opposition leaders, and activists released from detention facilities reported maltreatment and other forms of physical and psychological abuse of suspects during criminal and administrative investigations. On March 25, special police forces raided an apartment in which 58 human rights observers, experts, and foreign journalists gathered in advance of unauthorized protest in Minsk. According to eyewitnesses, when a doorbell rang and human rights advocate Aliaksei Loika opened the door officers assaulted Loika, who was hospitalized and diagnosed with a concussion the same day. On August 28, a Minsk district investigative committee turned down Loika’s request to investigate his beatings because it stated law enforcement officers did not apply excessive physical force. On March 29, a court in Minsk sentenced Mikalai Dziadok, an anarchist and opposition activist, to 10 days in administrative detention for resisting police and participating March 25 in unauthorized protests in Minsk. Dziadok was hospitalized after his detention with a concussion and minor facial and head injuries. In court he claimed that a police officer hit him in the head a number of times. Police testified that Dziadok shouted political slogans and resisted police during his detention, requiring officers to apply physical force. Dziadok’s father filed a complaint asking investigators to look into his son’s beating, but authorities turned it down. There were numerous reports of cases of hazing of conscripts into the army that included beatings and other forms of physical and psychological abuse. Some of those cases reportedly resulted in deaths. For example, on October 13, a senior official from the Investigative Committee announced a criminal investigation into alleged hazing and violence that preceded the discovery October 3 of the body of a 21-year-old soldier, Aliaksandr Korzhych, in the basement of his military barracks near Barysau. On October 16, the government also confirmed that soldier Genadz Sarokin died on September 2 while assigned to a military unit in the Brest region and that his case was under investigation. In a separate case, authorities reopened the investigation into a purported suicide on March 31 of another soldier, Artsiom Bastsiuk, at military grounds in the Barysau region. On October 12, Bastsiuk’s family received notification that his death was not the result of a criminal act, but the family continued to maintain that he was psychologically abused and harassed during his service. Authorities reported isolated cases of prosecution of suspected military offenders. For example, on May 30, a district court in Brest sentenced an army sergeant to three years restricted freedom, a form of house arrest, for abusing his powers and beating a younger soldier. The offender was also to pay 4,000 rubles ($2,050) in moral damages. Prison and detention center conditions remained poor and in many cases posed threats to life and health. Physical Conditions: According to local activists and human rights lawyers, there were shortages of food, medicine, warm clothing, and bedding as well as inadequate access to basic or emergency medical care and clean drinking water. Ventilation of cells and overall sanitation were poor, and authorities failed to provide conditions necessary for maintaining proper personal hygiene. Prisoners frequently complained of malnutrition and low-quality uniforms and bedding. Some former political prisoners reported psychological abuse and sharing cells with violent criminals. The law permits family and friends to provide detainees with food and hygiene products and to send them parcels by mail, but authorities did not always allow this. According to a May 26 report by independent survey organizations that questioned 130 individuals detained between March 15 and April 19 on charges related to unsanctioned demonstrations, approximately 79 percent of respondents stated that authorities failed to inform their families of their whereabouts, and 83 percent stated prison authorities had not properly informed them of their rights, obligations, and the detention centers’ regulations. Approximately 17 percent complained of a lack of medical care and 27 percent said they were denied access to lawyers. More than 50 percent of the detainees complained of unsanitary conditions. Only 21 percent of those surveyed were not impeded by prison authorities from appealing their sentences. Overcrowding of pretrial holding facilities, and prisons generally, was a problem. For example, individuals who were held for short periods in a holding facility in the town of Dziarzhynsk reported that they had to take shifts to sleep, as there were more inmates than beds in the cell. Authorities allowed persons sentenced to a form of internal exile (khimiya) to work outside detention facilities. These individuals were required to return at night to prison barracks, where they lived under strict conditions and supervision. Although there were isolated reports that police placed underage suspects in pretrial detention facility cells with adult suspects and convicts, authorities generally held juvenile prisoners separately from adults at juvenile penal colonies, arrest houses, and pretrial holding facilities. In general conditions for female and juvenile prisoners were slightly better than for male prisoners. According to human rights NGOs and former prisoners, authorities routinely abused prisoners. On March 23, a Minsk district court ruled in the case of the death of 21-year old Ihar Ptichkin that the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of holding facilities, should pay 20,000 rubles ($10,300) in moral damages to his mother, 10,000 rubles ($5,150) to his sister, and 6,000 rubles ($3,100) to cover the costs of his funeral. These damages were one third of what the family requested in a suit contesting his death in custody. After an alleged beating Ptichkin suffered a heart attack and died in a pretrial detention center in Minsk in 2013. In October 2016 a Minsk district court convicted prison doctor Aliaksandr Krylou, who was involved in Ptichkin’s case, of negligence and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. Credible sources maintained that prison administrators employed inmates to intimidate political prisoners and compel confessions. They also reported that authorities neither explained nor protected political prisoners’ legal rights and excessively penalized them for minor violations of the prison rules. In view of poor medical care, observers believed tuberculosis, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, and other communicable diseases were widespread in prisons. In 2014 a senior tuberculosis control officer reported that tuberculosis infection in prisons was quadruple the national average but claimed that only up to 4 percent of the 7,400 tuberculosis patients across the country were in prisons. Human rights NGOs reported that prison inmates and individuals held in internal exile often complained of lack of employment opportunities or low pay. In August 2016 the head of the Interior Ministry’s Corrections Department, Siarhei Daroshka, stated that of the average 510 rubles ($205) salary, inmates would get only 10 percent and the rest would go to cover the costs of their imprisonment and to repay any debts or damages ordered by the court. Administration: As in the previous year, authorities claimed to have conducted annual or more frequent investigations and monitoring of prison and detention center conditions. Human rights groups, however, asserted that such inspections, when they did occur, lacked credibility in view of the absence of an ombudsperson and the inability of reliable independent human rights advocates to visit prisons or provide consultations to prisoners. In July authorities approved the application of Aleh Hulak, chairperson of the human rights group Belarusian Helsinki Committee, to join the Ministry of Justice’s commission on prison conditions monitoring. In August the ministry organized a visit to a high security prison in Hrodna. The visit reportedly was closely monitored by the head of the prison administration. The commission, mainly composed of the ministry’s officials and representatives of progovernmental NGOs, failed to produce any comprehensive reports. Prisoners and detainees had limited access to visitors, and denial of meetings with families was a common punishment for disciplinary violations. Authorities often denied or delayed political prisoners’ meetings with family as a means of pressure and intimidation. Although the law provides for freedom of religion, and there were no reports of egregious infringements, authorities generally prevented prisoners from holding religious services and performing ceremonies that did not comply with prison regulations. Former prisoners reported that prison officials often censored or did not forward their complaints to higher authorities and that prison administrators either ignored or selectively considered requests for investigation of alleged abuses. Prisoners also reported that prison administrators frequently refused to provide them with copies of responses to their complaints, which further complicated their defense. Complaints could result in retaliation against prisoners who spoke out, including humiliation, death threats, or other forms of punishment and harassment. Corruption in prisons was a serious problem, and observers noted that parole often depended on bribes to prison personnel or a prisoner’s political affiliation. Independent Monitoring: Despite numerous requests to the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Justice, government officials refused to meet with human rights advocates or approve requests from NGOs to visit detention and prison facilities. In its 2015 response to Paval Sapelka of the human rights NGO Vyasna, the head of Interior Ministry’s Corrections Department claimed it would be “inexpedient” for him to visit detention facilities and monitor their conditions. The law limits arbitrary detention, but the government did not respect these limits. Authorities arrested or detained individuals for political reasons and used administrative measures to detain political activists before, during, and after protests and other major public events. The Ministry of Internal Affairs exercises authority over police, but other bodies outside of its control, for example, the KGB, the Financial Investigations Department of the State Control Committee, the Investigation Committee, and presidential security services exercise police functions. The president has the authority to subordinate all security bodies to his personal command and he maintained effective control over security forces. Impunity among law enforcement personnel remained a serious problem. Individuals have the right to report police abuse to a prosecutor, although the government often did not investigate reported abuses or hold perpetrators accountable. By law police must request permission from a prosecutor to detain a person for more than three hours, but police usually ignored this procedure and routinely detained and arrested individuals without warrants. Authorities may hold a criminal suspect for up to 10 days without filing formal charges and for up to 18 months after filing charges. By law prosecutors, investigators, and security service agencies have the authority to extend detention without consulting a judge. Detainees have the right to petition the court system regarding the legality of their detention, but authorities frequently suppressed or ignored such appeals. The country has no functioning bail system. Arbitrary Arrest: Authorities detained opposition and civil society activists for reasons widely considered politically motivated. In isolated cases authorities used administrative measures to detain political activists before, during, and after planned demonstrations and protests, as well as other public events. From February through April, authorities fined, detained, or arrested more than 950 protesters in Minsk and other cities. Protests largely stemmed from a presidential decree requiring Belarusian nationals, foreigners, and noncitizens permanently residing in the country who officially work less than 183 calendar days per year to pay an annual tax. Charges ranged from participation in an unsanctioned demonstration to minor hooliganism and resisting arrest. Of the detained, human rights groups estimated that authorities issued approximately 259 jail sentences of up to 25 days. At least 10 journalists were arrested and four were fined for working without accreditation, minor hooliganism, and participating in an unsanctioned demonstration. All those arrested were released by year’s end. For example, on March 28, courts in Minsk, Babruisk, Barysau, Brest, Vitsyebsk, Homyel, and Polatsk convicted 177 individuals (144 in Minsk and 33 in other cities) on various charges, including participation in unsanctioned demonstrations on March 25-26, minor hooliganism, and resisting police. Of the 177 individuals detained March 25-26, 74 were sentenced to between two and 25 days of detention and 93 were ordered to pay fines between 46 rubles ($25) and 1,840 rubles ($970). On March 27, Mikalai Statkevich, a former political prisoner and 2010 presidential candidate, stated that police apprehended him at a friend’s apartment in Minsk on March 23 and transported him to KGB detention facilities. Police reportedly had a warrant for his arrest and claimed that he and a group of unidentified individuals were suspects in a criminal case of preparing mass riots. Statkevich explained in his interview that while officers showed him some papers and accused him of plotting mass riots since 2011, they did not give him any documents nor allowed him to make telephone calls to his family or lawyer. Statkevich refused to answer questions or testify at holding facilities. Throughout the year Statkevich and Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, another 2010 presidential candidate, opposition activist, and former political prisoner, were arrested repeatedly and placed in administrative detentions, usually in connection with unauthorized gatherings and demonstrations. Pretrial Detention: Authorities may hold a criminal suspect for up to 10 days without filing formal charges. Prior to being charged, the law provides detainees with no access to their families or to outside food and medical supplies, both of which are vital in view of the poor conditions in detention facilities. Police routinely held persons for the full 10-day period before charging them. Police often detained individuals for several hours, ostensibly to confirm their identity; fingerprinted them; and then released them without charge. Police and security forces frequently used this tactic to detain members of the democratic opposition and demonstrators, to prevent the distribution of leaflets and newspapers, or to break up civil society meetings and events. Detainee’s Ability to Challenge Lawfulness of Detention before a Court: Detainees have the right to petition the court system regarding the legality of their detention, but authorities frequently suppressed or ignored such appeals. By law, courts have 24 hours to issue a ruling on a detention and 72 hours on an arrest. Courts hold closed hearings in these cases, which the suspect, a defense lawyer, and other legal representatives may attend. Prosecutors, suspects, and defense lawyers may appeal lower court decisions to higher courts within 24 hours of the ruling. Higher courts have three days to rule on appeals, and their rulings may not be challenged. Further appeals may be filed only when investigators extend the period of detention. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but authorities did not respect judicial independence and impartiality. Observers believed corruption, inefficiency, and political interference with judicial decisions were widespread. Courts convicted individuals on false and politically motivated charges brought by prosecutors, and observers believed that senior government leaders and local authorities dictated the outcomes of trials. As in previous years, according to human rights groups, prosecutors wielded excessive and imbalanced authority because they may extend detention periods without the permission of judges. Defense lawyers were unable to examine investigation files, be present during investigations and interrogations, or examine evidence against defendants until a prosecutor formally brought the case to court. Lawyers found it difficult to challenge some evidence because the Prosecutor’s Office controlled all technical expertise. According to many defense attorneys, this power imbalance persisted throughout the year, especially in politically motivated criminal and administrative cases. Courts did not exonerate criminal defendants except in rare circumstances. By law, bar associations are independent, and licensed lawyers are permitted to establish private practices or bureaus. All lawyers must be licensed by the Ministry of Justice and must renew their licenses every five years. In September a Ministry of Justice standing commission, which reviews lawyers’ performance, found that prominent independent lawyer Ana Bakhtsina had “insufficient professional skills” to be a defense lawyer. According to Bakhtsina, the template she used for concluding contracts with clients differed slightly from the ministry’s recommended one, and the commission also identified grammar mistakes in its review of her documents. On September 26, Bakhtsina appealed the commission’s decision revoking her license but her appeal was dismissed. Additionally, at least seven more defense lawyers were due to retake their bar exams within six months following the ministry’s determination that their professional skills were only “partially insufficient.” The law provides for the right to a fair and public trial, but authorities occasionally disregarded this right. The law provides for the presumption of innocence. Nevertheless, the lack of judicial independence, state media practice of reporting on high-profile cases as if guilt were already certain, and widespread limits on defense rights frequently placed the burden of proving innocence on the defendant. The law also provides for public trials, but authorities occasionally held closed trials frequently in judges’ chambers. Judges adjudicate all trials. For the most serious cases, two civilian advisers assist the judge. The law provides defendants the right to attend proceedings, confront witnesses, and present evidence on their own behalf, but authorities did not always respect these rights. The law provides for access to legal counsel for the defendant and requires courts to appoint a lawyer for those who cannot afford one. Although by law defendants may ask for their trials to be conducted in Belarusian, most judges and prosecutors were not fluent in this language, rejected motions for interpreters, and proceeded in Russian. Interpreters are provided when the defendant speaks neither Belarusian nor Russian. The law provides for the right to choose legal representation freely; however, a presidential decree prohibits NGO members who are lawyers from representing individuals other than members of their organizations in court. The government’s attempts to disbar attorneys who represented political opponents of the regime further limited defendants’ choice of counsel. The government also required defense attorneys to sign nondisclosure statements that limited their ability to release any information regarding the case to the public, media, and even defendants’ family members. Courts often allowed statements obtained by force and threats of bodily harm during interrogations to be used against defendants. Some defendants were tried in absentia. For example, on January 9, a court in the town of Svislach notified three For Freedom movement activists that they were fined in absentia for participating in an unsanctioned ceremony in October 2016 commemorating the 1863-64 anti-Russian uprising, during which Belarusians, Poles, and Lithuanians rebelled against Russian rule. The movement’s leader, Yuri Hubarevich, received a fine of 525 rubles ($260); an activist from Brest, Yuri Kazakevich, 210 rubles ($105); and an activist from Vitsyebsk, Vadzim Babin, 63 rubles ($32). Defendants have the right to appeal convictions, and most defendants did so. Nevertheless, appeals courts upheld the verdicts of the lower courts in the vast majority of cases. Local human rights organizations reported several different lists of political prisoners in the country. These included individuals who were facing criminal charges and others who were already incarcerated. Leading local human rights groups, including Vyasna and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, either recognized these individuals as prisoners of conscience or noted serious due process violations that merited, at the very least, a retrial. After President Lukashenka’s March 21 comments that some 20 militants were arrested for seeking to stir up unrest, KGB officers began detaining dozens of individuals across the country and charging them with such separate matters as training or preparing for participation in mass, potentially violent riots, or creating an illegal armed organization. Detainees were connected with the White Legion group (a now defunct radical opposition organization active in the 1990s); the registered “Patriot” educational and training camp for youth; or the Malady Front opposition youth group. Police searched their residences, and the KGB reportedly confiscated rifles, guns, grenades, and other weapons that, according to the KGB, were to be used during the March 25 demonstrations. Some families of the arrested individuals told the press that defense lawyers were denied meetings with detainees at KGB holding facilities. On April 11, a KGB spokesperson confirmed that 20 individuals were charged with the creation of an illegal armed formation and could face up to seven years’ imprisonment if convicted. The KGB spokesperson also confirmed that 17 individuals were charged with preparing a mass riot and faced up to three-years’ imprisonment if convicted. The official, however, did not specify how many of those detained faced multiple charges. The KGB confirmed 18 other suspects were also being investigated in connection with the case, four of whom were in custody. Some state media published articles concerning the criminal cases, describing suspects as members of extremist nationalist groups, and stated that the investigation began on March 21. On November 30, the Investigative Committee Chairman Ivan Naskevich announced that both charges and criminal proceedings against all those involved in the case had been dropped and that the investigation was now closed. Naskevich said the actions of the individuals involved posed no danger to the public or a threat to the constitutional order. On June 9, the Prosecutor General’s Office rejected a request filed by Ales Byalyatski, the chair of the human rights group Vyasna, to investigate allegations of torture made by some of the individuals detained in the White Legion case. Byalyatski highlighted the treatment of former head of the White Legion group Miraslau Lazouski, who was allegedly beaten during his arrest and had blood and bruises on his face when he appeared in a state television “documentary” regarding the White Legion. Byalyatski also stated that several individuals charged in the case were forced to take psychotropic drugs while in custody. In its reply the Prosecutor General’s Office called those reports mere allegations not supported by evidence or formal complaints from the detained or their lawyers. Former political prisoners released in August 2015 continued to be unable to exercise some civil and political rights at year’s end. For example, in July 2016 the Central Electoral Commission refused to register the initiative group supporting the candidacy for parliament of former political prisoner and 2010 presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich because any individual in prison or with a criminal record is prohibited by law from being a candidate. The law provides that individuals may file lawsuits seeking damages for a human rights violation, but the civil judiciary was not independent and was rarely impartial in such matters. To date, there are no laws providing for restitution or compensation for immovable private property confiscated during World War II and the Holocaust on its territory. The country also has no legislative regime for restitution of communal property or of heirless property. The government reported that, in the last 10 years, it did not receive any requests or claims from individuals, NGOs, or any other public organization, either Jewish or foreign, seeking compensation or restitution of any property. The law prohibits such actions, but the government did not respect these prohibitions. Authorities used wiretapping, video surveillance, and a network of informers that deprived persons of privacy. By law persons who obstruct law enforcement personnel in the performance of their duties may be penalized or charged with an administrative offense, even if the “duties” are inconsistent with the law. “Obstruction” could include any effort to prevent KGB or law enforcement officers from entering the premises of a company, establishment, or organization; refusing to allow KGB audits; or denying or restricting KGB access to information systems and databases. The law requires a warrant before, or immediately after, conducting a search. Nevertheless, some democratic activists believed the KGB entered their homes unannounced. The KGB has the authority to enter any building at any time, as long as it applies for a warrant within 24 hours after the entry. Security forces continued to target prominent opposition and civil society leaders with arbitrary searches and interrogations at border crossings and airports. For example, on March 14, border officials detained Ihar Barysau, a Mahilyou leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party Hramada, for three hours upon his arrival from Germany at the national airport in Minsk. A law enforcement officer searched his belongings and confiscated his flash drives. While the law prohibits authorities from intercepting telephone and other communications without a prosecutor’s order, authorities routinely monitored residences, telephones, and computers. Nearly all opposition political figures and many prominent members of civil society groups claimed that authorities monitored their conversations and activities. The government continued to collect and obtain personally identifiable information on independent journalists and democratic activists during raids and by confiscating computer equipment. The law allows the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, special security services, financial intelligence personnel, and certain border guard detachments to use wiretaps. Wiretaps require the permission of a prosecutor, but the lack of prosecutorial independence rendered this requirement meaningless. On March 12, Belarusian Christian Democracy cochair Paval Sevyarynets filed a complaint that the state Belarus 1 television channel illegally broadcast recordings of his private cell phone conversations in a news show. On September 12, police responded that the television channel received the tape from “an anonymous source,” and that the channel’s administration “did not make any deliberate effort” to obtain such information. Additionally, on September 26, the Ministry of Information claimed that the channel used materials from open sources as well as from law enforcement agencies, and did not interfere in Sevyarynets’ private life. The Ministry of Communications has the authority to terminate the telephone service of persons who violate telephone contracts, which prohibit the use of telephone services for purposes contrary to state interests and public order. Authorities continued to harass family members of NGO leaders and civil society and opposition activists through selective application of the law. The constitution provides for freedom of expression, including for the press. The government did not respect these rights and enforced numerous laws to control and censor the public and media. Moreover, the state press propagated views in support of the president and official policies, without giving room for critical voices. Freedom of Expression: Individuals could not criticize the president and the government publicly or discuss matters of general public interest without fear of reprisal. Authorities videotaped political meetings, conducted frequent identity checks, and used other forms of intimidation. Authorities also prohibited wearing facemasks, displaying unregistered or opposition flags and symbols, and displaying placards bearing messages deemed threatening to the government or public order. On April 27, anarchist activist Viachaslau Kasinerau was given a fine after a court in Minsk found him guilty of hooliganism for putting a rope around the neck of a sculpture of a city guard that stands in front of the Interior Ministry on March 12. Although the prosecutor asked for two years of “restricted freedom” (similar to house arrest), which independent human rights observers called incommensurate with his action, the judge instead fined him 115 rubles ($61). On June 6, a court in Minsk fined prominent graffiti artist Aleh Larychau and his associate Hanna Novik 690 rubles ($370) and 230 rubles (125), respectively. Police arrested the two on charges of using obscenities after painting political street graffiti in Minsk on June 3. Larychau, a member of a street art group known for painting and posting images that mocked government officials and police officers, claimed he was followed by unidentified individuals before his arrest. The law also limits free speech by criminalizing actions such as giving information that authorities deem false or derogatory to a foreigner concerning the political, economic, social, military, or international situation of the country. Press and Media Freedom: Government restrictions limited access to information and often resulted in media self-censorship. State-controlled media did not provide balanced coverage and overwhelmingly presented the official version of events. Appearances by opposition politicians on state media were limited primarily to those required by law during election campaigns. Authorities warned, fined, detained, and interrogated members of media. By law the government may close a publication, printed or online, after two warnings in one year for violating a range of restrictions on the press. Additionally, regulations give authorities arbitrary power to prohibit or censor reporting. The Ministry of Information may suspend periodicals or newspapers for three months without a court ruling. The law also prohibits media from disseminating information on behalf of unregistered political parties, trade unions, and NGOs. On March 14, the independent newspaper Nasha Niva and the most popular news portal TUT.BY received warning Ministry of Information letters informing the publications that they had violated the Law on Mass Media by distributing information that “could cause damage to the national interests of Belarus.” Nasha Niva’s editors reported that the ministry cited eight online comments made by readers that purportedly criticized the government, police actions, and detentions following protests that were immediately removed from the newspaper’s webpage after the warning. Nasha Niva also stated that it would more meticulously moderate its online forums in order to avoid any provocative statements or remarks. In the case of TUT.BY, the warning reportedly stemmed from the site’s February 15 article regarding Belarusian volunteers fighting in Ukraine. The article was immediately removed from the portal. Authorities did not take any further action against the two media outlets. Limited information was available in the state-run press concerning the September 2016 parliamentary elections, including on independent candidates. Although authorities did not generally censor the publication of candidates’ programs in print media, some opposition candidates complained that local television channels refused to televise their addresses. While no independent media outlets, including newspapers and internet news websites, applied for registration to the Ministry of Information, they continued to seek to provide coverage of events. They operated, however, under repressive media laws, and most faced discriminatory publishing and distribution policies, including limiting access to government officials and press briefings, controlling the size of press runs of newspapers, and raising the cost of printing. State-owned media dominated the information field and maintained the highest circulation through generous subsidies and preferences. There was no countrywide private television. The state-owned postal system, Belposhta, and the state distributor of printed press, Belsayuzdruk, allowed the distribution of at least nine independent newspapers and magazines that covered politics, including Novy Chas, Borisovskie Novosti, and Intexpress, which have been banned from distribution for 11 years. The exclusion of independent print media from the state distribution system and the requirement that private stores secure registration to sell newspapers and magazines effectively limited the ability of the independent press to distribute their publications. International media continued to operate in the country but not without interference and prior censorship. Euronews and the Russian channels First Channel, NTV, and RTR were generally available, although only through paid cable services in many parts of the country and with a time lag that allowed the removal of news deemed undesirable. At times authorities blocked, censored, or replaced their international news programs with local programming. Violence and Harassment: Authorities continued to harass and detain local and foreign journalists routinely. Security forces continually hampered efforts of independent journalists to cover demonstrations and protests in Minsk and across the country. The independent Belarusian Association of Journalists reported that, as of November 15, police fined, detained, and arrested at least 45 journalists while performing their professional duties in more than 184 separate cases. On March 31, police searched two Minsk offices of the Poland-based media outlet Belsat TV, confiscating television and computer equipment and reportedly detaining one journalist. The Prosecutor General’s Office authorized the searches, referring to a 2014 Supreme Court case that banned the outlet from using the Belsat TV trademark, allegedly because it was registered in 2001 by another entity called BELSATplus. On October 10, a Minsk district court sentenced Belsat TV camera operator Aliaksandr Barazenka to a fine of 920 rubles ($470) for violating trademark rights and ordered confiscation of his video and computer equipment. The government routinely denied accreditation to journalists who work with foreign media. As of November 15, at least 22 journalists were fined in 55 cases for not having government accreditation or cooperating with a foreign media outlet. For example, on April 5, a Minsk city court denied an appeal filed by Belsat TV camera operator Aliaksandr Barazenka. Police detained Barazenka at the March 25 protests in Minsk, where he was covering the protest with his colleagues. Authorities convicted him for using obscenities and sentenced him to 15 days in jail. Barazenka’s defense lawyer presented a video in court of his defendant being detained that showed he had not shouted any political slogans or obscenities and had informed police he was a journalist. Censorship or Content Restrictions: The government exerted pressure on the vast majority of independent publications to exercise self-censorship, warning them not to report on certain topics or criticize the government. The government tightly and directly controlled the content of state broadcast and print media. Local independent television stations operated in some areas and reported local news, although most were under government pressure to forgo reporting on national and sensitive issues or risk censorship. Authorities allowed only state-run radio and television networks to broadcast nationwide. The government used this national monopoly to disseminate its version of events and minimize alternative or opposing viewpoints. Authorities warned businesses not to advertise in newspapers that criticized the government. As a result, independent media outlets operated under severe budgetary constraints. Journalists reporting for international media that gave extensive coverage to the country, such as the Warsaw-based independent satellite channel Belsat TV and Radio Racyja, were denied press accreditation and received warnings from the Prosecutor’s Office and heavy fines. Libel/Slander Laws: Libel and slander are criminal offenses. There are large fines and prison sentences of up to four years for defaming or insulting the president. Penalties for defamation of character make no distinction between private and public persons. A public figure who is criticized for poor performance while in office may sue both the journalist and the media outlet that disseminated the critical report. On March 24, a district court in Minsk ended Aliaksandr Lapitski’s compulsory treatment for mental illness. In April 2016 Lapitski was for convicted of “committing socially dangerous acts” and violating Article 368 (“insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus”), and Article 369 (“insulting the authorities”), Article 391 (“insulting a judge or a lay judge”) of the Criminal Code of Belarus. The charges against Lapitski stemmed from his emails and blog posts that, according to authorities, insulted the president. Authorities stated that Lapitski suffered from mental illness and sentenced him to a period of compulsory psychiatric treatment. National Security: Authorities frequently cited national security as grounds for censorship of media. The government interfered with internet freedom by monitoring email and internet chat rooms. While individuals, groups, and publications were generally able to engage in the peaceful expression of views via the internet, including by email, all who did so risked possible legal and personal repercussions, and at times were believed to practice self-censorship. Opposition activists’ emails and other web-based communications were likely to be monitored. By law news websites and any internet information sources are subject to the same regulations as print media. Online news providers must remove content and publish corrections if ordered to do so by authorities and must adhere to a prohibition against “extremist” information. The law also restricts access to websites whose content includes promotion of violence, wars, “extremist activities”; materials related to illicit weapons, explosives, and drugs; trafficking in persons; pornography; and information that may harm the national interests of the country. Authorities may block access to sites that fail to obey government orders, including because of a single violation of distributing prohibited information, without a prosecutor or court’s mandate. In addition owners of internet sites may be held liable for users’ comments that carry any prohibited information, and these sites may be blocked. The amended law also mandates the creation of a database of news websites. If a news website receives two or more formal warnings from the authorities, it may be removed from the database and lose its right to distribute information. The law prohibits foreign states and foreign individuals from holding more than a 20 percent stake in the country’s media companies. Independent online media outlets generally were not blocked during the year. Authorities monitored internet traffic. By law the telecommunications monopoly Beltelekam and other organizations authorized by the government have the exclusive right to maintain internet domains. A presidential edict requires registration of service providers and internet websites, and requires the collection of information on users at internet cafes. It requires service providers to store data on individuals’ internet use for a year and provide that information to law enforcement agencies upon request. Violations of the edict are punishable by prison sentences. State companies and organizations that included the workplaces of up to 70 percent of the country’s workers reportedly had internet filters. In response to the government’s interference and internet restrictions, many opposition groups and independent newspapers switched to internet domains operating outside the country. Observers reported that the few remaining independent media sites with the country domain BY practiced self-censorship at times. On several occasions, cyberattacks of unknown origin temporarily disabled independent news portals and social networking sites. According to various media sources, the number of internet users reached more than seven million persons, of which approximately 90 percent used the internet daily or numerous times a month. Internet penetration was approximately 83 percent among users ages 15 to 50. The government restricted academic freedom and cultural events. Educational institutions were required to teach an official state ideology that combined reverence for the achievements of the former Soviet Union and of Belarus under the leadership of Lukashenka. Government-mandated textbooks contained a heavily propagandized version of history and other subjects. Authorities obligated all schools, including private institutions, to follow state directives to inculcate the official ideology and prohibited schools from employing opposition members as their principals. The minister of education has the right to appoint and dismiss the heads of private educational institutions. Use of the word “academic” was restricted, and NGOs were prohibited from including the word “academy” in their titles. Opportunities to receive a higher education in the Belarusian language (vice Russian) in the majority of fields of study were scarce. The administrations of higher educational institutions made no effort to accommodate students wishing to study in Belarusian-language classes. The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRYU), an official organization modeled on the Soviet-era KOMSOMOL, urged university students to join the BRYU to receive benefits and dormitory rooms. Local authorities pressured BRYU members to campaign on behalf of government parliamentary candidates and to vote early. Students from various universities and colleges reported to an independent election-monitoring group that their faculties were pressuring students into early voting by threatening them with eviction from their dormitories. Additionally, authorities at times reportedly pressured students to act as informants for the country’s security services. According to a Ministry of Education directive, educational institutions may expel students who engage in antigovernment or unsanctioned political activity and must ensure the proper ideological education of students. School officials, however, cited poor academic performance or absence from classes as the official reason for expulsions. In March the Mahilyou State University administration expelled Alena Kisel after she was fined 345 rubles ($180) for participating in unauthorized protests in the city. On May 24, a Minsk district court dismissed an appeal filed by Khrystsiyan Shynkevich challenging his expulsion from the Belarus State Teachers Training University after his detention on March 26 in Minsk. A university representative claimed in court that Shynkevich was expelled because he failed to attend 40 percent of his classes during the academic year. In some cases the government also restricted cultural events, selectively approving performances of what they deemed opposition music groups at small concert halls. Approvals required groups to go through cumbersome and time-consuming procedures to receive permissions. The procedures continued to force some opposition theater and music groups from public venues and into bars and private apartments by banning their performances. The government also restricted the activities of a nonofficial writers union, the independent Union of Belarusian Writers, and extensively supported the progovernment Union of Writers of Belarus. Authorities harassed distributors of books authored by critical and independent writers or written in the Belarusian language. Authorities did not allow local printing of books by Sviatlana Aleksievich, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, although her books were widely available in bookstores and online, primarily in Russian editions. The constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the government severely restricted this right. Authorities employed a variety of means to discourage demonstrations, disperse them, minimize their effect, and punish the participants. The law provides for freedom of association, but the government restricted it and selectively enforced laws and registration regulations to restrict the operation of independent associations that might criticize the government. Only registered political parties, trade unions, and NGOs could request permission to hold a demonstration of more than 1,000 persons. Authorities usually denied requests by independent and opposition groups. A general atmosphere of repression and the threat of imprisonment or large fines exercised a chilling effect on potential protest organizers. The law criminalizes the announcement of demonstrations via the internet or social media before official approval, the participation in the activities of unregistered NGOs, the training of persons to demonstrate, the financing of public demonstrations, or the solicitation of foreign assistance “to the detriment” of the country. Violations are punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. Organizers must apply at least 15 days in advance for permission to conduct a public demonstration, rally, or meeting, and government officials are required to respond no later than five days prior to the scheduled event. Authorities, however, generally granted permits for opposition demonstrations only if held far from city centers. Authorities used intimidation and threats to discourage persons from participating in demonstrations, openly videotaped participants, and imposed heavy fines or jail sentences on participants in unsanctioned demonstrations. In addition authorities required organizers to conclude contracts with police, fire department, health, and sanitary authorities for their services during and after a mass event. In some localities, local officials told permit applicants that they must first secure these contracts before a permit could be issued. During the year local authorities countrywide rejected dozens of applications for permission to stage demonstrations to protest a presidential decree requiring Belarusian nationals and noncitizens permanently residing in the country who officially work less than 183 calendar days per year to pay an annual tax. They also rejected applications to demonstrate on May Day on May 1. Opposition activists held dozens of unsanctioned rallies during the year and faced administrative charges and fines for allegedly violating the Law on Mass Events. Those who refused to pay fines, calling them politically motivated, potentially faced property confiscation and travel bans. Authorities regularly fined the same activists for their continuous political activity during the year. For example, on August 1, a Minsk district court sentenced Leanid Kulakou, an activist of the European Belarus campaign, to a fine of 690 rubles ($350) for participating in a July 7 unauthorized protest in Minsk against the September Belarus-Russia joint military exercise ZAPAD. On March 3-24, authorities detained, fined, or jailed for up to 15 days approximately 300 individuals for their participation in various unauthorized protests against a presidential decree across the country. Activists described continued abuse of force by police, including against Ales Lahviniec, a democratic activist who was hospitalized with a concussion and broken nose after being arrested on March 23. Authorities took various measures to prevent prodemocracy activists from celebrating Freedom Day, the March 25 anniversary of the country’s 1918 declaration of independence (an event the government does not recognize). The Minsk city authorities failed to respond to an opposition’s application for permission to hold a demonstration in central Minsk within the legally required five days prior to the demonstration. While the Mayor’s Office had originally scheduled a meeting with the Freedom Day organizing committee on March 20, it was postponed until March 24. The organizing committee argued it was too late to notify the public of the changed route requested by the city. In a police operation meant to prevent any unsanctioned demonstrations from taking place in the center of Minsk to celebrate Freedom Day, metro trains did not stop near the gathering point of the demonstration in front of the Academy of Sciences. Buses and other public transportation also did not stop in the vicinity. Police detained more than 600 participants throughout the city. The majority of those detained were released the same day; more than one hundred faced a variety of charges, including minor hooliganism, resisting police, or participating in an unsanctioned demonstration. All NGOs, political parties, and trade unions must receive Ministry of Justice approval to become registered. A government commission reviews and approves all registration applications; it based its decisions largely on political and ideological compatibility with official views and practices. Actual registration procedures required applicants to provide the number and names of founders, along with a physical address in a nonresidential building for an office, an extraordinary burden in view of the tight financial straits of most NGOs and individual property owners’ fears of renting space to independent groups. Individuals listed as members were vulnerable to reprisal. The government’s refusal to rent office space to unregistered organizations and the expense of renting private space reportedly forced most organizations to use residential addresses, which authorities could then use as a reason to deny registration or to deregister. The law criminalizes activities conducted on behalf of unregistered groups and subjects group members to penalties ranging from large fines to two years’ imprisonment (also see section 7.a.). The law on public associations prohibits NGOs from keeping funds for local activities at foreign financial institutions. The law also prohibits NGOs from facilitating provision of any support or benefits from foreign states to civil servants based on their political or religious views or ethnicity, a provision widely believed to be aimed at the Polish minority. Only registered NGOs may legally accept foreign grants and technical aid and only for a limited set of approved activities. NGOs must receive approval from the Department for Humanitarian Affairs of the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of the Economy for technical aid before they may accept such funds or register the grants. The government continued to deny registration to some NGOs and political parties on a variety of pretexts, including “technical” problems with applications. Authorities frequently harassed and intimidated founding members of organizations in an effort to force them to abandon their membership and thus deprive their groups of the number of petitioners necessary for registration. Many groups had been denied registration on multiple occasions. On May 15, the Ministry of Justice registered Tell the Truth as a public association. On April 11, the group has filed application for registration; it was the seventh time the group had applied for registration as an NGO. On July 21, the Justice Ministry denied an application to register the research and educational NGO known as “Dzeya (Act).” The main goal of the group was to monitor human rights and fundamental freedoms, track the country’s compliance with international agreements, and promote the rule of law, civil society, and development of democratic institutions. The ministry noted that the application missed a surname and had some other minor errors. On October 4, the Supreme Court upheld the Justice Ministry’s decision to deny registration to the Social Christian Movement, a new NGO affiliated with the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy party. In August the Ministry denied the registration because a component of one of the founders’ name was written incorrectly and because the NGO chairperson was not named in the application documents. This was the group’s second denial during the year. The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, but the government at times restricted the right of citizens, former political prisoners in particular, to foreign travel. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern. In-country Movement: Passports serve as a form of identity and authorities required them for permanent housing, work, and hotel registration. Police continued to harass selectively individuals who lived at a location other than their legal place of residence indicated in mandatory stamps in their passports. The law also requires persons who travel to areas within 15 miles of the border (aside from authorized crossing points) to obtain an entrance pass. Foreign Travel: The government’s database of persons banned from traveling abroad contained the names of individuals who possessed state secrets, faced criminal prosecution or civil suits, or had outstanding financial obligations. Authorities informed some persons by letter that their names were in the database; others learned only at border crossings. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and security agencies, border and customs services, and financial investigation departments have a right to place persons on “preventive” surveillance lists. Students required permission from the head of their educational institution to study abroad. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is also required to track citizens working abroad, and employment agencies must report individuals who do not return from abroad as scheduled. Exile: The law does not allow forced exile, but sources asserted that security forces continued to threaten some opposition members with bodily harm or prosecution if they did not leave the country, and many were in self-imposed exile. Many university students who were expelled or believed they were under the threat of expulsion for their political activities opted for self-imposed exile and continued their studies abroad. Access to Asylum: The law provides for granting asylum or refugee status, complementary and temporary protection to foreign citizens and stateless persons, with some exceptions. The government has established a procedure for determining refugee status and a system for providing protection to refugees. The law provides for protection against refoulement granted to foreigners who are denied refugee status or temporary protection but cannot be returned to their countries of origin. All foreigners except Russians have the right to apply for asylum. According to the terms of the Union Treaty with Russia, Russians may legally settle and obtain residence permits in the country based on their Russian citizenship. Overall, as of October 1, immigration authorities accepted 463 applications for asylum compared with 596 in 2016, including from 359 Ukrainians, 10 Syrians, 8 Afghans, and 12 Pakistani. In addition to refugee status, the country’s asylum law provides for complementary protection in the form of temporary residence. In the period January-September, 364 foreigners were granted complementary protection (333 Ukrainians, 14 Syrians, six Yemenis, seven Afghans, one Georgian, and three Egyptians). Freedom of Movement: Asylum seekers have freedom of movement within the country but must reside in the region where they filed their applications for refugee status and in a place known to authorities while their applications are being considered, including during appeals. Authorities reportedly often encouraged asylum seekers to settle in rural areas; however, the majority settled in cities and towns. Change of residence was possible with a notification to authorities. Authorities issue registered asylum seekers certificates that serve as documents to confirm their status of asylum-seekers and identity and protect them from expulsion. In accordance with the law, they also must register with local authorities at their place of residence. Durable Solutions: Adult asylum seekers have to pay for higher education as well as for nonemergency medical services while minors receive education and medical services free of charge. Free legal assistance, housing, and language training are not available to either asylum seekers or refugees. Temporary Protection: Although the government may provide temporary protection (for up to one year) to individuals who may not qualify as refugees, it did not do so during the year. STATELESS PERSONS As of July 1, the Ministry of the Interior and UNHCR listed 5,915 stateless persons in the country; all had permanent residence according to authorities. Permanently resident stateless persons held residence permits and were treated comparably to citizens in terms of access to employment, with the exception of a limited number of positions in the public sector and law enforcement that were available only to citizens. There were reports that stateless persons occasionally faced discrimination in employment, since authorities often encouraged them to settle in rural areas where the range of employment opportunities was limited. According to UNHCR, stateless persons could freely change their region of residence. There is a path towards citizenship for this stateless population. The main requirement is at least seven years’ permanent residence. Authorities have a procedure for expedited naturalization procedures but mostly for individuals born or permanently residing in the country prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, ethnic Belarusians, their spouses, and descendants. If a child is born into a family of stateless persons permanently residing in the country, the child is entitled to Belarusian citizenship. The decrease of the number of stateless individuals in the country was attributed to their naturalization. The law provides citizens the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage, but the government consistently denied citizens this ability by not conducting elections according to international standards. Since his election in 1994 to a four-year term as the country’s first president, Lukashenka steadily consolidated power in the executive branch to dominate all branches of government, effectively ending any separation of powers among the branches. Flawed referenda in 1996 and 2004 amended the constitution to broaden his powers, extend his term in office, and remove presidential term limits. Subsequent elections, including the presidential elections held in 2015 and parliamentary elections held in 2016, continued to deny citizens the right to express their will in an honest and transparent process including fair access to media and to resources. Recent Elections: The September 2016 parliamentary elections failed to meet international standards. For the first time in 12 years, however, alternative voices were seated in parliament. The elections were marred by a number of long-standing systemic shortcomings, according to the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe international election observation mission intermediate report. While the observer missions and the international community welcomed visible efforts by authorities to make some procedural improvements, a number of key long-standing recommendations by the OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe Venice Commission remained unaddressed, underscoring the need for comprehensive electoral reform as part of the broader democratization process. The OSCE report found that the legal framework restricts political rights and fundamental freedoms and was interpreted in an overly restrictive manner. While there was an overall increase in the number of candidates, including from the opposition, media coverage did not enable voters to make an informed choice and the campaign lacked visibility. As in past years, only a negligible number of election commission members were appointed from opposition nominees, which undermined confidence in their independence. The early voting, counting, and tabulation procedures continued to be marred by a significant number of procedural irregularities and a lack of transparency. Out of the 630 nominated candidates, 484 eventually stood for election, including a significant number from the opposition. No candidate was elected unopposed. Despite an overall increase in the number of candidates, the legal provisions for candidate registration allowed for selective implementation. The government did not permit 93 prospective candidates to register, mostly due to inaccuracies in asset and income declarations, an insufficient number of valid signatures in support of their candidacy, or the failure to submit supporting documentation. This approach was overly restrictive, posing disproportionate and unreasonable barriers to candidacy, the OSCE report read. According to the OSCE report, restrictions on fundamental freedoms of association, expression, and assembly narrowed the public space and negatively affected the environment in which the elections were held. Although a high number of candidates chose not to campaign actively, contributing to broad voter apathy, most were generally able to campaign freely within the restrictive confines of the law. Unequal access to institutions and resources skewed the playing field for candidates, the OSCE assessed. Several candidates stated that the abolition of government campaign financing in 2013 reduced their outreach capacities and therefore limited the choices available to voters and voters’ ability to make an informed decision. The majority of observers at local polling places appeared to be from government-sponsored NGOs. Many of them reportedly received instructions in advance to report to foreign observers that the proceedings were “in order” or to harass independent observers. These government-sponsored groups did not release any reports on their observation efforts or recommendations on how to improve the process. The OSCE observation mission reported that during the five-day early voting period, “in 8 percent of cases the ballot box was not sealed securely and in 45 percent it was not secured in a safe or metal box.” Contrary to the law, 16 percent of the observed precinct electoral commissions recorded the aggregated rather than the daily turnout figure in the daily protocols, in 17 percent of the precincts the daily protocols were not posted publicly, and in some 7 percent electoral commissions observers were not allowed to make photos of them. At the close of early voting, authorities announced a turnout of 31 percent. The report read that turnout was significantly higher in precinct commissions assigned to voters in state enterprises and public institutions, including student dormitories, where there were credible allegations and observation of voters being coerced to vote. The report also noted inconsistent completion of daily protocols and complaints made by independent domestic observers at a number of polling stations alleging discrepancies between the reported turnout number and the number of signatures in voter lists. According to the OSCE observation mission report, observers assessed the counting process negatively in 24 percent of polling stations observed despite authorities’ resolution to enhance observer access to the count. In 27 percent of precinct election commissions, observers were not allowed close to the counting table and to observe without restrictions, and in 8 percent they were not allowed to take photographs of protocols. In many instances international observers reported that the count was hasty and lacked transparency, and in one-quarter of cases observers could not follow the procedures and see voters’ marks on the ballots. In approximately 20 percent of polling stations observed, the final-result protocols were presigned, the validity of ballots was not determined in a consistent and reasonable manner, and spoiled ballots were not packed up and sealed. The tabulation process was observed in all 110 district electoral commissions and assessed negatively in approximately one-quarter of observations. In 12 percent of the precincts there was a delay in transporting precinct protocols to district commissions. In 16 percent of the precincts, the data from precinct protocols were not entered in electronic summarized tables, and in 60 percent the data were not entered in ink. In one-half of the district electoral commissions, observers were not close enough to see data being entered and in one-third of cases were not able to observe the entire process. The government did not permit independent organizations to conduct exit polls. Local human rights groups Vyasna and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee stated at a postelection press conference that based on their observation the election fell short of international standards and did not fully abide by the country’s legislation. They especially noted their concern regarding early voting procedures, the lack of transparency in the vote-count process, and the domination of election commissions by progovernment organizations. Amendments in 2013 to the electoral code introduced a simple majority system in the first round of elections for the National Assembly and ended government funding of campaigns while increasing the allowable amount of private funding. Some members of the democratic opposition stated that the amendments disproportionately targeted the opposition because it had little access to private funds given President Lukashenka’s public statements that businesses should not finance the opposition or face punishment. Additionally, the amendments prohibit citizens from campaigning to disrupt elections and referenda or to have them cancelled, postponed, or boycotted. Other changes included regulations on who may appeal for a vote recount and what type of questions may be put to public referendum. Political Parties and Political Participation: Authorities routinely harassed and impeded the activities of opposition political parties and activists. Some opposition parties lacked legal status because authorities refused to register them, and the government routinely interfered with the right to organize, run for election, seek votes, and publicize views. The government allowed approximately half a dozen largely inactive but officially registered pro-Lukashenka political parties to operate freely. During the year authorities fined and arrested a number of opposition political parties’ leaders for violating the Law on Mass Events and participating in numerous unauthorized demonstrations. For example, on March 13 in Maladzechna, courts convicted opposition protest leaders United Civic Party Chair Anatol Lyabedzka, cochair of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party Vital Rymasheuski, and For Freedom movement chair Yuri Hubarevich for 15 days. Volha Kavalkova, a Belarusian Christian Democracy party activist, was sentenced to seven days in jail. The four led a local protest on March 10. Authorities sentenced at least nine more opposition activists to up to 15 days in jail. The law allows authorities to suspend parties for six months after one warning and close them after two. Members of parties that authorities refused to register, such as the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party, continued to be subjected to harassment and arbitrary checks. The law also prohibits political parties from receiving support from abroad and requires all political groups and coalitions to register with the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice sent a warning dated March 29 to the Belarusian Popular Front, the United Civic Party, and the For Freedom Movement notifying the three groups that they had violated the Laws on Political Parties and on Mass Events by promoting the March 25 Freedom Day demonstration online before receiving final approval for the demonstration from the city authorities. Authorities continued to limit activities of the unrecognized Union of Poles of Belarus and harass its members. Participation of Women and Minorities: No laws limit participation of women or minorities in the political process but patriarchal social attitudes disfavored women’s efforts to achieve positions of power. In 2015 Tatsiana Karatkevich was the first woman to run for president, and on election day President Lukashenka told the press, “our president has numerous functions, from security to the economy. A person in a skirt is unlikely to be able to cope with them now.” He added that even if this were not the case, society was not ready for a female president. The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government regularly prosecuted officials alleged to be corrupt; however, reports indicated that some officials continued to engage in corrupt practices with impunity. The World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators reflected that corruption was a serious problem in the country. In September 2016 the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) released a summary of the interim compliance report that stated the government partially implemented only one of the 20 recommendations made by the Council of Europe’s anticorruption monitoring body in June 2015. GRECO noted the “lack of an evidence-based comprehensive strategy and a plan of action for the fight against corruption, and of a mechanism that does not only involve the law enforcement agencies to monitor its implementation independently, comprehensively and objectively.” Individuals dismissed for lower-level corruption face a five-year ban on public-service employment, while those found to have committed more serious abuses are banned indefinitely from government employment. The law also allows seizure of property worth more than 25 percent of a public servant’s yearly income for those found guilty of corrupt practices. The law provides for public monitoring of the government’s anticorruption efforts. Corruption: According to official sources, most corruption cases involved soliciting and accepting bribes, fraud, and abuse of power, although anecdotal evidence indicated such corruption usually did not occur as part of day-to-day interaction between citizens and minor state officials. The absence of an independent judicial and law enforcement systems, the lack of separation of powers, and a harried independent press largely barred from interaction with a nontransparent state bureaucracy made it virtually impossible to gauge the scale of corruption or combat it effectively. The Prosecutor General’s Office is responsible for organizing and coordinating activities to combat corruption, including monitoring law enforcement operations, analyzing the efficacy of implemented measures, supervising engaged parties, and drafting further legislation. In June the Prosecutor General’s Office reported that from January to May courts heard 584 corruption cases compared with 451 cases in the same period in 2016. The most corrupt sectors were state administration and procurement, the industrial sector, the construction industry, health care, and education. The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that authorities investigated 1,593 corruption-related crimes in 2016. Of those, 830 were cases related to accepting or giving bribes, 498 were cases of embezzlement, and 231 cases related to abuse of powers. There were numerous corruption prosecutions during the year, but prosecutions remained selective, nontransparent, and in some cases appeared politically motivated, according to independent observers and human rights advocates. On August 8, authorities sentenced at least 16 former customs officers in the framework of a corruption-related criminal case for up to 11.5 years with property forfeiture. On September 5, another group of 11 individuals was convicted on similar charges and sentenced to up to 11.5 years. Police opened the investigation in March 2015 and detained 58 officials of the Customs Office in the town of Ashmiany. Financial Disclosure: Anticorruption laws require income and asset disclosure by appointed and elected officials, their spouses, and members of households who have reached legal age and continue to live with them in the same household. According to the law, specialized anticorruption departments within the Prosecutor General’s Office, the KGB, and the Internal Affairs Ministry monitor and verify anticorruption practices, and the prosecutor general and all other prosecutors are mandated to oversee the enforcement of anticorruption law. These declarations were not available to the public. An exception applies to candidates running in presidential, parliamentary, and municipal elections. There are administrative sanctions and disciplinary penalties for noncompliance. There were a number of active domestic human rights NGOs, although authorities were often hostile to their efforts, restricted their activities, selectively cooperated with them, and were not responsive to their views. Two prominent human rights NGOs–the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Center for Legal Transformations–operated as registered entities. The government refused to register a number of others, placing them at risk under the criminal code that criminalizes organizing, or participating in any activity by an unregistered organization. The law also prohibits persons from acting on behalf of unregistered NGOs. Nonetheless, some unregistered NGOs, including Vyasna and Legal Assistance to the Population, continued to operate. Authorities harassed both registered and unregistered human rights organizations. They subjected them to frequent inspections and threats of deregistration, reportedly monitored their correspondence and telephone conversations, and harassed family members of group leaders and activists. The government ignored reports issued by human rights NGOs and rarely met with them. State-run media did not report on human rights NGOs and their activities. In February 2015 authorities expelled Alena Tankachova, a Russian citizen, from the country and stated she would not be permitted to return for three years. Tankachova, the chair of the Legal Transformation Center (also called Lawtrend), was a permanent resident for 30 years. Authorities accused her of traffic violations and stated she posed a threat to national security. Local human rights organizations asserted the case was politically motivated and that she was expelled for her human rights work. Authorities continued to deny her appeals to remove the re-entry ban against her. During the year the Belarusian Helsinki Committee’s bank accounts remained blocked due to long-standing tax arrears related to foreign funding in the early 2000s, but the government allowed the committee to operate without other interference. Authorities were reluctant to engage on human rights problems with international human rights NGOs or other human rights officials, and international NGO representatives often had difficulty gaining admission to the country. Authorities routinely ignored local and international groups’ recommendations on improving human rights in the country and requests to stop harassing the human rights community. Authorities may close an NGO after issuing only one warning that it violated the law. The most common pretexts prompting a warning or closure were failure to obtain a legal address and technical discrepancies in application documents. The law allows authorities to close an NGO for accepting what it considered illegal forms of foreign assistance and permits the Ministry of Justice to monitor any NGO activity and to review all NGO documents. NGOs also must submit detailed reports annually to the ministry regarding their activities, office locations, officers, and total number of members. The United Nations or Other International Bodies: In June the UN Human Rights Council extended the mandate of Miklos Haraszti as the special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus. During the year Haraszti released statements and a report on the situation of human rights in the country. Senior Foreign Ministry officials continued to assert Haraszti’s mandate was “politically motivated” and that his appointment was made “without consultations and approval from Belarusian authorities.” While the government continued to refuse any cooperation with his mission and allow him to visit the country in his official capacity, it let him attend the July 5-9 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk as a private individual by invitation from members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Government Human Rights Bodies: In October 2016 the government adopted a national human rights action plan and described it as “a political document and a kind of a road map to outline main activities for us to implement our international obligations” on human rights and published “the interagency plan to implement the 2016-19 Universal Periodic Review recommendations.” While independent human rights groups, including the human rights center Vyasna and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), welcomed the plan’s adoption, they also noted with concern that the documents lack specific target goals or results assessment mechanisms. Civil society groups noted that the government failed to include any of the concrete suggestions they recommended during the drafting of the plan that they believed would have made the plan more substantial. There were no substantial steps taken to implement the plan during the year. A standing commission on human rights in the lower chamber of parliament was ineffective. Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape in general but does not include separate provisions on marital rape. Rape was a problem. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 108 registered cases of rape or attempted rape from January to June 2017. Domestic violence was a significant problem, and the government took measures to prevent it during the year. The government directed efforts to combat gender-based violence mainly by preventing such crimes and not by protecting or assisting victims, although crisis rooms provided limited psychological and medical assistance to victims. The law on crime prevention establishes a separate definition of domestic violence and provides for implementation of protective orders, which are from three to 30 days in duration. The law requires authorities to provide victims and abusers with temporary accommodation until the protective orders expire. In addition, the code on administrative offenses prescribes a large fine or detention for up to 15 days for battery, intended infliction of pain, and psychological or physical suffering committed against a close family member. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment reportedly was widespread, but no specific laws, other than those against physical assault, address the problem. Coercion in Population Control: Women with disabilities, as well as pregnant women whose children were diagnosed with potential disabilities in utero, reported that some doctors insisted they terminate their pregnancies. Estimates on maternal mortality and contraceptive prevalence are available at: www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/monitoring/maternal-mortality-2015/en/ . Discrimination: The law provides for equal treatment of women with regard to property ownership and inheritance, family law, equal pay for equal work (although in practice women were often paid less), and in the judicial system, and the law was generally respected. Birth Registration: Citizenship is derived either by birth within the country or from one’s parents. A child of a citizen is a citizen regardless of place of birth, even if one parent is not a citizen. Births were generally registered immediately. Child Abuse: Authorities intervened to prevent child abuse stemming from domestic violence and identified families in vulnerable conditions, providing foster care to children who could not remain with their immediate families while preventive work was underway. Although the government increased prosecution of child abusers, its efforts to address the causes of child abuse were inadequate. The government instituted a 2017-21 comprehensive national plan to improve childcare and the protection of children’s rights, including for victims of child abuse, domestic violence, and commercial sexual exploitation, and acknowledged a lack of funding and inefficiency in executing certain protective measures. With assistance from NGOs that promote children’s rights, authorities extensively employed procedures for on-the-record, one-time interviewing of child abuse victims in the framework of investigations or criminal cases at specialized facilities under the direct supervision of psychologists. Courts used recorded testimony to avoid repeatedly summoning child abuse victims for hearings. Cases that affected the rights and legitimate interests of minors were generally heard by more experienced judges with expertise in developmental psychology, psychiatry, and education. The government failed to resume operations of a national hotline for assisting children despite various NGOs’ requests to support the hotline. As of January the Ministry of Education ran 138 social-educational centers nationwide for minor victims of any type of violence or minors finding themselves in vulnerable and dangerous conditions. General health-care institutions provided a wide range of medical aid to child abuse victims free of charge. Rape or sexual assault of a person known to be a minor is punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment. Sexual acts between a person older than 18 and a person known to be younger than 16 carry penalties of up to five years imprisonment. According to the Interior Ministry, from January to November authorities registered 533 pedophilia and related crimes, including 76 cases of rape of prepubescent children, 173 cases of sexual violence against minors and prepubescent children, 250 cases of sexual intercourse and sexual molestation of minors under age 16, and 34 cases of sexual molestation of minors, and identified 396 victims of these crimes. Early and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls is 18, although girls as young as 14 may marry with parental consent. There were reports of early marriage in which girls as young as 14 and boys as young as 16 married with parental consent. Sexual Exploitation of Children: The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. Prostitution of children was a problem. From January to November, the Internal Affairs Ministry investigated 63 cases of the production and distribution of child pornography. Twenty-nine minors were victims of sexual exploitation, including 25 in child pornography, and four in prostitution. The law provides penalties of up to 13 years in prison for production or distribution of pornographic materials depicting a minor. The law generally was enforced. Institutionalized Children: There was no system for monitoring child abuse in orphanages or other specialized institutions. Authorities did not publicly report on any child abuse incidents in institutions. There were allegations of abuse in foster families. The government opened or continued investigations into some of these cases. International Child Abductions: The country is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. See the Department of State’s Annual Report on International Parental Child Abduction at travel.state.gov/content/childabduction/en/legal/compliance.html. Jewish groups estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 persons identified themselves as Jews. Anti-Semitic incidents continued. Jewish community and civil society activists expressed concern regarding pan-Slavic nationalism professed by some extremist groups. Neo-Nazis such as the Russian National Unity group and supporters of similar groups were widely believed to be behind anti-Semitic incidents across the country. Anti-Semitic and xenophobic newspapers, literature, digital video discs, and videotapes, frequently imported from Russia were widely available. The government did not promote antibias and tolerance education. Authorities in Mahilyou convicted local 26-year-old resident Andrei Kuzmin of inciting ethnic hatred against Russians and Jews, including calling for their annihilation, and sharing ethnically and religiously hateful beliefs and Nazi symbols through his social networking pages, and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment. Kuzmin reportedly pled guilty in court. In July media reported that many Holocaust memorials built in Soviet times and more recently do not acknowledge Jewish victims. The Jewish community was working with local authorities to erect new monuments that specifically commemorate Jewish victims. On February 20, a Mahilyou district court sentenced three individuals for spraying black paint in November 2016 on a monument commemorating thousands of Jews who were killed by Nazis in the local ghetto during the Holocaust. Two of the three young men were sentenced to up to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and one received a two-year suspended sentence due to his minor age. All three pleaded guilty and admitted to expressing Nazi ideas and to belonging to a local skinhead group. A higher court dismissed their appeal to challenge their convictions on May 16. The law does not specifically prohibit discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, or mental disabilities; discrimination was common. The law mandates that transport, residences, and businesses be accessible to persons with disabilities, but few public areas were wheelchair accessible or accessible for hearing and vision-impaired persons. The National Association of Disabled Wheelchair Users estimated that more than 90 percent of persons with physical disabilities were unable to leave their places of residence without assistance and stated their residences were not suitable to accommodate persons with physical disabilities. While authorities claimed that 30 percent of the country’s total infrastructure was accessible, disability rights organizations considered this figure inflated although the situation slightly improved during the year. The country’s lack of independent living opportunities left many persons with disabilities no choice but to live in state-run institutions. Approximately 80 such institutions across the country housed more than 17,000 persons. Disability rights organizations reported that the quality of care in these facilities was low, and instances of fundamental human rights violations, harassment, mistreatment, and other abuse were reported. Authorities frequently placed persons with physical and mental disabilities in the same facilities and did not provide either group with specialized care. Public transportation was free to persons with disabilities, but the majority of subway stations in Minsk and the bus system were not wheelchair accessible. In September experts of the ACT NGO released a monitoring report indicating that 3.3 percent of all educational institutions across the country were accessible to persons with disabilities, including with vision and hearing disabilities, and most of these facilities were recently constructed. Disability rights organizations reported difficulty organizing advocacy activities due to impediments to freedom of assembly, censorship, and the government’s unwillingness to register assistance projects (see section 2.b.). Persons with disabilities, especially those with vision and hearing disabilities, often encountered problems with access to courts and obtaining court interpreters. Women with disabilities often faced discrimination, and there were reports of authorities attempting to take children away from families in which parents had disabilities, claiming that they would not appropriately care for their children. Women with disabilities, as well as pregnant women whose children were diagnosed with potential disabilities in utero, reported that some doctors insisted they terminate their pregnancies. National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities Governmental and societal discrimination against Roma persisted. According to leaders of the Romani communities, security and law enforcement agencies arbitrarily detained, investigated, and harassed Roma, including by forced fingerprinting, mistreatment in detention, and ethnic insults. Authorities continued to harass the independent and unregistered Union of Poles of Belarus, while supporting a progovernment organization of a similar name. Official and societal discrimination continued against the country’s 7,000 (according to the 2009 census) to 60,000 Roma (according to Romani community estimates). The Romani community continued to experience marginalization, various types of discrimination, high unemployment, low levels of education, and lack of access to social services. Roma generally held citizenship, but many lacked official identity documents and refused to obtain them. In July, Aliaksandr Burakou, a human rights advocate in Mahilyou, filed a complaint with a local prosecutor’s office asking it to study online reports from local police describing a number of suspects in various cases as Roma. Burakou asserted that such reports incited interethnic discord and hatred towards a certain minority group. The office forwarded Burakou’s complaint to Mahilyou police. On August 1, Mahilyou police dismissed Burakou’s claims and stated that the reports noted ethnicity in order to “promptly identify suspects and investigate their committed crimes and to raise the public’s vigilance.” There were also expressions of societal hostility toward proponents of the national culture that the government often identified with actors of the democratic opposition, repeatedly labeled by the president as “the fifth column.” Because the government viewed many proponents of the Belarusian language as political opponents, authorities continued to harass and intimidate academic and cultural groups that sought to promote Belarusian and routinely rejected proposals to widen use of the language. Consensual same-sex conduct between adults is not illegal, but discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons was widespread, and harassment occurred. Societal discrimination against LGBTI activists persisted with the tacit support of the regime. Police continued to mistreat LGBTI persons and refused to investigate crimes against them. On May 13, police disrupted a party organized by an LGBTI group at a nightclub in Minsk and wrote down everyone’s names as well as their places of employment or education. Police also briefly detained approximately 10 individuals who either refused to show identification or were identified by police as organizers of the party. Officers reportedly claimed they received notices of possible drug trafficking and abuse of minors at the club. All those detained were released without charge. The government provides transgender persons with new national identification documents but retains old identification numbers that include a digit that signifies gender. Transgender persons reportedly were refused jobs when potential employers noted the “discrepancy” between the applicant’s identification number and the stated gender. Banks also refused to open accounts for transgender persons on the same grounds. Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS remained a problem, and the illness carried a heavy social stigma. The Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS reported there were numerous reports of HIV-infected individuals who faced discrimination, especially at workplaces and during job interviews. There were also frequent reports of family discrimination against HIV/AIDS-positive relatives, including preventing HIV/AIDS-positive parents from seeing their children or requiring HIV/AIDS-positive family members to use separate dishware. The government continued to broadcast and post public service advertisements raising awareness concerning HIV/AIDS and calling for greater tolerance toward persons infected with the virus. Although the law provides for the rights of workers, except state security and military personnel, to form and join independent unions and to strike, it places a number of serious restrictions on the exercise of these rights. The law provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively but does not protect against antiunion discrimination. Workers who say they are fired for union activity have no explicit right to reinstatement or to challenge their dismissal in court, according to independent union activists. The law provides for civil penalties in the form of fines for violations of the freedom of assembly or collective bargaining, which, according to local worker rights advocates, were not sufficient to deter violations. The government also did not enforce these penalties. The government severely restricted independent unions. The government-controlled Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus is the largest union, claiming more than four million members. It largely resembled its Soviet predecessors and served as a control mechanism and distributor of benefits. The Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU), with four constituent unions and approximately 10,600 members of independent trade unions, was the largest independent union umbrella organization, but tight government control over registration requirements and public demonstrations made it difficult for the Congress to organize, expand, and strike. Government did not respect freedom of association and collective bargaining. Prohibitive registration requirements that any new independent union have a large membership and cooperation from the employer continued to present significant obstacles to union formation. Trade unions may be deleted from the register by a decision of the registrar, without any court procedure. The registrar may remove a trade union from the register if, following the issuance of a written warning to the trade union stating that the organization violates legislation or its own statutes, the violations are not eliminated within a month. Authorities continued to resist attempts by workers to leave the official union and join the independent one. The legal requirements to conduct a strike are high. For example, strikes may only be held three or more months after dispute resolution between the union and employer has failed. The duration of the strike must be specified in advance. Additionally, a minimum number of workers must continue to work during the strike. Nevertheless, these requirements were largely irrelevant, since the unions that represented almost all workers were under government control. Government authorities and managers of state-owned enterprises routinely interfered with union activities and hindered workers’ efforts to bargain collectively, in some instances arbitrarily suspending collective bargaining agreements. Management and local authorities blocked worker attempts to organize strikes on many occasions by declaring them illegal. Union members who participated in unauthorized public demonstrations were subjected to arrest and detention. Due to a persistent atmosphere of repression and the fear of imprisonment, few public demonstrations took place during the year. The Law on Mass Events also seriously limited demonstrations, rallies, and other public action, constraining the right of unions to organize and strike. No foreign assistance may be offered to trade unions for holding seminars, meetings, strikes, pickets, etc., or for “propaganda activities” aimed at their own members, without authorities’ permission. Authorities across the country continuously denied applications for permission from independent trade unions to hold authorized demonstrations to highlight labor-related issues. On March 17, a Homyel district court sentenced in absentia prominent trade union activist Andrei Stryzhak to 10 days in jail for a February 21 protest outside the courthouse. A group of activists gathered to demonstrate support to a local resident suing the government regarding a presidentially signed decree enforcing unemployed individuals to pay an annual tax. On October 3, Minsk city authorities refused the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Union’s application to march through the outer boroughs of the city to hold a demonstration marking October 7 World Day for Decent Work. Government efforts to suppress independent unions included frequent refusals to extend employment contracts for members of independent unions and refusals to register independent unions. According to BCDTU leader Aliaksandr Yarashuk, no independent unions have been established since a 1999 decree requiring trade unions to register with the government. Authorities routinely fired workers who were deemed “natural leaders” or who involved themselves in NGOs or opposition political activities. On August 2, the State Control Committee’s Financial Investigations Department raided offices, confiscated equipment and financial documents, and interrogated leaders and members of two independent trade unions, the Radio and Electronics Trade Union (REP) in Minsk and the Trade Union of Miners and Chemical Industry Workers in Salihorsk. Authorities also raided three REP leaders’ private residences, seizing printed materials and digital equipment. REP Head Genadz Fedynich and REP accountant Ihar Komlik were charged with large-scale tax evasion. Authorities placed Komlik in pretrial detention but released him on October 2. Fedynich and Komlik continue to face charges and were banned from leaving the country. Belarusian human rights organizations considered the charges to be politically motivated. The government requires state employees, including employees of state-owned enterprises, who constituted approximately 70 percent of the workforce, to sign short-term work contracts. Although such contracts may have terms of up to five years, most expired after one year, which gave the government the ability to fire employees by declining to renew their contracts. Many members of independent unions, political parties, and civil society groups lost their jobs because of this practice. A government edict provides the possibility for employers to sign open-ended work contracts with an employee only after five years of good conduct and performance by the employee. Opposition political party members and democratic activists sometimes had difficulty finding work due to government pressure on employers. In 2014 the president issued Decree No. 5 On Strengthening the Requirements for Managers and Employees of Organizations, which the authorities stated was aimed at rooting out “mismanagement,” strengthening discipline, and preventing the hiring of dishonest managers in new positions. Among other subjects under the new decree, managers may reduce payment of employee bonuses (which often comprised a large portion of salaries) and workers may be fired more easily. An independent trade union lawyer told the press that workers have fewer rights under the new law. The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor, but the government did not effectively enforce its provisions. Parents who have had their parental rights stripped and are unemployed, or are working but fail to compensate state childcare facilities for the maintenance of their children, are subject to forced employment by court order. Individuals who refuse forced employment may be held criminally liable and face community service or corrective labor for a period of up to two years, imprisonment for up to three years, or other freedom restrictions, all involving compulsory labor and garnishment of 70 percent of their wages to compensate expenses incurred by the government. In January 2010 the government enforced procedures for placing individuals suffering from chronic alcohol, drug or other substance abuse in so-called medical labor centers when they have been found guilty of committing criminal violations while under the influence of alcohol, narcotics and psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances. Such offenders may be held in these centers by court orders for a period of 12 to 18 months. They are mandated to work and if they refuse, they may be placed in solitary confinement for up to 10 days. On July 31, the deputy head of the Supreme Court, Valer Kalinkovich, justified operations of the medical labor centers, saying there was no alternative for alcohol addicts who also “violated rights of other people.” An April 2015 presidential decree, On Preventing Social Parasitism, which aims to force individuals to find employment, established a supplemental tax on persons who worked less than six months during the year of up to 360 rubles ($200) annually, depending on how much they paid in taxes when working. The decree applies to all permanent residents, with senior pensioners, legal minors, persons with disabilities, and certain other groups exempted. In 2015 the lower chamber of the parliament introduced penalties for failing to pay the so-called “social parasitism” tax, ranging from a fine to short-term detention that can include court-ordered public community service. Minsk authorities required officially registered unemployed individuals to perform paid community service two days a month from May to September and one day a month from October to December and January to April. In addition they were banned from receiving an unemployment benefit of up to 46 rubles ($24) a month, depending on their length of unemployment, if they performed less than 22 working days of community service during a year. Individuals with disabilities, single parents and parents of three and more children, as well as parents of children with disabilities and under age 18 were exempt. Regulations against forced labor were seldom enforced, and resources and inspections dedicated to preventing forced and compulsory labor were minimal and inadequate to deter violations. Penalties for violations included forfeiture of assets and sentences of five to 15 years’ imprisonment. The government rarely identified victims of trafficking, and prosecution of those responsible for forced labor remained minimal. Government efforts to prevent and eliminate forced labor in the country did not improve. The government continued the Soviet practice of “subbotniks,” (Saturday work) that requires employees of government, state enterprises, and many private businesses to work on some Saturdays and donate their earnings to finance government social and other projects. Employers and authorities intimidated and fined some workers who refused to participate. Authorities reportedly forced military conscripts to perform work unrelated to their military service. Prison labor practices amounted to forced labor. Former inmates stated that their monthly wages were as low as three to four rubles ($1.5 to $2). Senior officials with the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry stated in November 2015 that at least 97 percent of all work-capable inmates worked in prison as required by law, excluding retirees and persons with disabilities, and that labor in prison was important and useful for rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates. Authorities also continued to employ unpaid agricultural labor, ordering university and high school students to help farmers during the harvesting season. The minimum age for employment is 16, but children as young as 14 may conclude a labor contract with the written consent of one parent or a legal guardian. The Prosecutor General’s Office is responsible for enforcement of the law. Persons under age 18 are allowed to work in nonhazardous jobs but are not allowed to work overtime, on weekends, or on government holidays. Work may not be harmful to children’s health or hinder their education. The government generally enforced these laws and penalties ranging from fines and reprimands to 12 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficient to deter most violations. Nevertheless, schoolchildren in isolated cases were induced to help local collective state-owned farms with the August to October harvest. On July 12, a district court in Maladzyechna sentenced two local teachers to two years of “restricted freedom” and a fine of 4,600 rubles ($2,300) each on charges of negligence that resulted in the death of a schoolgirl helping with harvest in September 2016. The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, language, or social status. These laws do not apply specifically to employment or occupation. The government did not effectively enforce these laws or secure any effective penalties to deter violations. Discrimination in employment and occupation occurred with respect to ethnicity, gender, disability, language, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and HIV-positive status (see section 6). In addition some members of the Romani community complained that employers often discriminated against them and either refused to employ them or did not provide fulltime jobs. The government did not take any action during the year to prevent or eliminate employment discrimination. Employment discrimination happened across most economic sectors and in both private and public workplaces. The law requiring equal pay for equal work was not regularly enforced, and the minister of labor and social welfare stated in June 2016 that on average women were paid 24 percent less than men. Very few women were in the upper ranks of management or government, and most women were concentrated in the lower-paid public sector. Although the law grants women the right to three years of maternity leave with assurance of a job upon return, employers often circumvented employment protections by using short-term contracts, then refusing to renew a woman’s contract when she became pregnant. A government prohibition against workdays longer than seven hours for persons with disabilities reportedly made companies reluctant to hire them. Local NGOs reported that up to 85 percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed. Authorities provided minimal welfare benefits for persons with disabilities, and calculations of pensions did not consider disability status. Members of the country’s Paralympic teams received half the salaries and prize money of athletes without disabilities. As of October 1, the national minimum monthly wage was in excess of the poverty line. The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours and provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week. The law provides for mandatory overtime and nine days of holiday pay and restricts overtime to 10 hours a week, with a maximum of 180 hours of overtime each year. The law establishes minimum conditions for workplace safety and worker health, but employers often ignored these standards. Workers at many heavy machinery plants did not wear minimal safety gear. The state labor inspectorate lacked authority to enforce employer compliance and often ignored violations. The number of inspectors was insufficient to deter violations. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare was responsible for enforcement of these laws. Information regarding resources, inspections, remediation, and penalties was not available. The government reported that approximately 400,000 persons worked in the informal economy. The law did not cover informal workers. The Labor Ministry reported 120 persons killed at workplaces in 2016. The ministry reported the majority of workplace accidents occurred in the heavy machinery production industry and were caused by carelessness, poor conditions, malfunctioning equipment, and poor training and instruction. The law does not provide workers the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their employment. 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Home Magazine Cutting the Poor a Break Cutting the Poor a Break San Francisco pioneers a program to reduce the fees and fines that keep people from succeeding. by Rebecca Nathanson During the year she spent in the Orange County jail in Southern California, Amika Mota wrote letters to her oldest kids, aged fourteen and eleven. That wasn’t an option for her six-year-old—she needed to hear her mother’s voice. Amika Mota So once a month, the former midwife called her children, who were then living in the Bay Area with Mota’s father. She had fifteen minutes for these calls; the kids would set a timer to make sure they each got five. It was 2008 and, despite having been in and out of the criminal justice system, Mota had never before been away from her children for such a long time. But each fifteen-minute phone call cost at least $15, so once a month was all Mota and her family could afford. After county jail, Mota served a seven-year prison sentence for vehicular manslaughter, for killing a man after running a red light while high on meth. When she got out, she owed $12,000 in restitution and had been charged about $4,000 in other costs. Until she paid, she could not return to the Bay Area to reunite with her children. “One of the requirements for getting an out-of-county transfer was that a certain amount of your fines and fees had to have been paid off already,” Mota explains in an interview in the Oakland office of the Young Women’s Freedom Center, where she now serves as policy director. “At that point, I was panicking, thinking I wasn’t going to be able to get to my kids.” Mota, however, was lucky. She managed to borrow the money and headed north to her children. “Fines are never going to be an appropriate solution for somebody who’s homeless and has no money.” The Young Women’s Freedom Center is a leadership and advocacy organization for women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. It works with a population disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system and the financial burden it puts on all who come in contact with it. A 2015 report found that 83 percent of family members responsible for care and visitation costs for an incarcerated person are women. “Every single one of us is dealing with this stuff,” Mota says. “We know what it looks like to be dealing with these systems that continue to trip us up when we’re trying to get on our feet.” So a few years ago, when Mota’s group was approached by the Financial Justice Project of the San Francisco Treasurer’s Office to join its campaign to eliminate fees on phone calls and end markups on commissary items in San Francisco County jails, it was a no-brainer. “All of us are individually impacted by this,” she says. “We know the story. And then when we hear the movement is happening, it’s like, ‘Yes!’ ” It is an issue that gains more urgency in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting poor people and communities disproportionately, even as it requires a new level of civic sacrifice and engagement from citizens throughout the land. In this time of global crisis, saddling the poor with onerous debt is the last thing that will help anyone. In 2015, when the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division released its report on Ferguson, Missouri, after the police shooting of Michael Brown, Anne Stuhldreher was working at the California Endowment, an organization focused on improving health. Anne Stuhldreher The report found that fines and fees comprised the city of Ferguson’s second-greatest revenue source. Stuhldreher approached her connections to grassroots organizations in California. “I started asking them: ‘Is this happening in California or San Francisco? Please tell me that it’s not happening.’ ” It was. “People would get out [of jail] and get this bill for thousands of dollars, and I just was flabbergasted,” Stuhldreher relates. “I started seeing this pattern all over the state: courts suspending people’s driver’s licenses when they couldn’t pay traffic tickets, money bail, people getting their cars towed and not being able to get them back.” Stuhldreher, who had previously worked in the governor’s office, approached City Treasurer José Cisneros. The Financial Justice Project—a two-woman operation tucked into a corner in the treasurer’s office—was the fruit of their conversation. Since creating the project in 2016, Stuhldreher and project manager Christa Brown have worked with a web of community organizations and city departments to eliminate or reform many of the charges that, taken together, work to keep low-income communities in debt at every turn. The project’s accomplishments are manifold: It has eliminated criminal justice administrative fees and canceled $32.7 million in debt owed by 21,000 people; ended fees on calls from county jails and markups on items in jail stores; cut or eliminated car-towing fees for low-income people; cleared 88,000 holds on driver’s licenses for people who missed traffic court; forgiven overdue library fines and waived $1.5 million in debt from overdue books; allowed free entry to museums for people with a public benefits card; launched payment plans and community service options for low-income people who receive parking citations; and created a new ability-to-pay process with the city’s traffic court to allow low-income people to apply for discounts. The difference between fees, which aim to recoup costs, and fines, which are punitive monetary sanctions, can get lost when one is handed a bill with multiple line items that total in the thousands. A sample 2017 bill received by someone in the San Francisco Public Defender’s Clean Slate program lists probation costs, a restitution fine, a booking fee, and a court operations assessment, among many other charges. The total comes to $5,020. The largest item—and a feature on most bills of this type—is $1,800 for probation. Stuhldreher’s general operating principle is to eliminate fees and make fines income-based. “These fees, they weren’t meant to be an additional layer of punishment, but they are,” she explains, speaking in the treasurer’s office at City Hall while, just outside, a newly married couple poses for pictures at the top of a regal staircase. The fines hold people back but most go unpaid: “The collection rate on the largest fee, the probation fee, was just 9 percent.” Of course, these efforts to cut fees and fines have not come without costs, nor have they always been easy sells to the courts or city departments. “If we’re talking about a reduction of thousands, or likely tens of thousands, or possibly even hundreds of thousands of dollars, which typically would go to cover the costs of running their department and providing valuable services, naturally they’d be crazy not to be concerned about that,” says Cisneros. But the project has worked closely with the mayor’s budget office to make losses more manageable. The Financial Justice Project has no ability to make changes—it can merely bring the relevant stakeholders together, compile research, and present compelling arguments. “A lot of [the success] is due to just opening up that conversation the right way: not being accusatory, not being insulting, not being blaming, but rather saying, ‘We probably have the power to fix this because it’s our organization that is controlling it,’ ” says Cisneros. “And we’ve seen, more often than not, people are interested in doing that.” Juthaporn Chaloeicheep has spent a lot of time around San Francisco’s City Hall. Homeless and addicted to drugs for about fifteen years, she slept in the Tenderloin, the downtown neighborhood next to the government building. Juthaporn Chaloeicheep Born in Thailand, Chaloeicheep moved to the Bay Area with her family when she was a child; her relatives ran Thai restaurants. She claims San Francisco is the only place where a person could survive without money for as long as she did, thanks to an array of social services and nonprofits. She was even able to drastically reduce the $20,000 she owed in restitution after a jail stay, and transition into stable housing. Chaloeicheep now lives in a one-bedroom apartment in the Tenderloin with her four-year-old son and is on track to graduate from San Francisco State University with a degree in liberal studies this spring. These days, her time around City Hall has a different feel. “I’m speaking on behalf of the other homeless people and drug addicts,” she says, during an interview at an outdoor cafe near City Hall. “It feels good to be able to be part of something bigger than yourself.” It has also proven effective: Providing space for people directly impacted by fines and fees to share their stories with officials who have decision-making power has been one of the Financial Justice Project’s best tactics in convincing others to adopt its suggestions. The building where Chaloeicheep lives is run by Community Housing Partnership, a San Francisco-based group that houses formerly homeless people and provides supportive services. The Financial Justice Project contacted the group early on, looking for impacted people. The partnership became a member of a coalition called Debt Free SF, which began working with Stuhldreher at the outset of the project. “It can get very wonky on the legislative end, but someone tells their story and officials who are drowning in paperwork can better understand the magnitude of the issue,” says Javier Bremond, an organizer with Community Housing Partnership. The effort to reduce fines and fees on the poor has drawn vital energy from community organizations and activists throughout the state, especially in Los Angeles, where officials discharged nearly $90 million in juvenile justice system fees. The results have been tangible, particularly for people leaving jail or prison. Willard Birts Jr. Willard Birts Jr., sixty-two, is an organizer with All of Us or None, a grassroots organizing project that does legal and policy advocacy and is part of the Debt Free SF coalition. Birts, following a complicated legal battle and a long history of incarceration, had to pay $25 a day for a court-ordered ankle GPS device; after a year, it totaled more than $10,000, which on top of multiple bail payments brought his bill closer to $20,000, which he ended up having to pay in full. “It’s all a game to keep you in debt,” he says, sitting under a large black banner in the organization’s Oakland office. “So I commend San Francisco.” Word of San Francisco’s reforms has spread throughout California, inspiring a state bill to eliminate criminal justice fees and the creation of a national Fines and Fees Justice Center and a National League of Cities program focused on this issue. There are campaigns to adopt similar measures in numerous other cities and states: Chicago ended driver’s license suspensions for unpaid parking tickets; New York City eliminated fees on jail phone calls; and in the juvenile justice system, New Jersey stopped using fines as penalties and Nevada ended the use of fees. The Fines and Fees Justice Center is currently working to end driver’s license suspensions and eliminate court fees in Florida and New York State. Stuhldreher considers the Financial Justice Project to be a replicable template, noting the frequent calls she receives from other curious cities. “There is a methodology to this that I think starts with listening to community groups and people who see this problem up close,” she says. That prompts some key questions: “What is the purpose of this fine or fee? Who is getting it? What happens when they can’t pay?” From there, Stuhldreher usually applies her standard prescription: eliminate fees that predominantly hit low-income people and scale fines proportionally to income. “We also think hard about non-monetary alternatives,” she adds. Research shows that courts often misuse ability-to-pay processes, when they exist at all, and still charge people with fines and fees they clearly cannot pay. Some argue that fines can be an alternative to incarceration; others say unrealistically high fines remain too punitive and that abolition is the only way forward. A 2017 report from the Policy Advocacy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law looked at the impact of fees on the juvenile justice system. Students interviewed financial evaluation officers in Alameda County, which includes Berkeley and Oakland, and asked the officers how they make determinations about what a family can afford. One officer based her decision on whether she thought the child’s mother was lying. The student followed up: How can you tell? The officer said she could tell by “mom’s handbag.” “So that was what due process looked like and ability to pay looked like in Alameda County, one of the bluest counties in one of the bluest states in the country,” says Jeffrey Selbin, director of the Policy Advocacy Clinic and clinical professor of law at UC Berkeley. A September 2019 report from the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School suggests an alternative found in some European countries: day fines. Under this system, courts and legislatures assign a certain number of “units” to every offense, corresponding to its severity. The individual is then assessed a cost per unit based on ability to pay. This process is applied to everyone, which explains how a Finnish businessman ended up getting a $58,000 bill for a speeding ticket in 2015. In the United States, however, the context is more complicated. “As opposed to Europe, we have tremendous income inequality in this country, and we have people who really can’t afford to pay anything,” notes Joanna Weiss, co-founder and co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center. “So there also have to be alternative ways that we hold people accountable and deter behaviors we as a society don’t want when fines aren’t appropriate. Fines are never going to be an appropriate solution for somebody who’s homeless and has no money.” But while the minutiae of fines and fees may bring out varied opinions, the new approach has generated a surprising level of popular and public support. Most of the opposition met by the Financial Justice Project has stemmed from budgetary concerns, not political disagreements. There was, of course, some of the latter—most frequently in regard to public safety and accountability—but support for reform has also come from surprising corners, including a supportive resolution from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and an article by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. “Everybody’s concerned about safety,” says Mota at the Young Women’s Freedom Center office. She wishes people thought through how criminal justice charges impact communities in this regard. “There’s this saying: ‘We’re all coming home. We’ll be your neighbors one day. We will be living next to you, working next to you,’ ” she says. “And I think it’s a public safety benefit to have people really have some economic opportunity when they come home and not carry this incredible burden.” Poverty April/May 2020 Prisons Magazine Coronavirus San Francisco Rebecca Nathanson Rebecca Nathanson is a freelance journalist in New York. 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THE IMPACT OF THE GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN REGULATING THE ACTIVITIES OF INSURANCE COMPANIES IN NIGERIA The purpose of this research is concerned on the impact of the government policies in regulating the activities of insurance companies operating in Nigeria. The government responsibility to supervise, regulate and control the activities of insurance companies and intermediaries is to protect the interest of the insuring public and to save them from exploitation by unreliable insurers. Because of the intangible nature of insurance product, the government wants to make sure that those engaged in it must be competent person who will fulfill their promise and pledges when the need arises. Also because of the complexity of insurance business, it is necessary that the government regulate it to protect the policy holders. Also because of violation of public trust that occurs in insurance transistors, the government has found it necessary to regulate insurance industries so as to control such violations. The project attempts to appraise the effectiveness of government policies in regulating the insurance companies in Nigeria. The insurance industry in Nigeria has acute shortage of high level of manpower for most classes of insurance, also many Nigerians suffer financial loss due to lack of knowledge in insurance. Due to this problem, government should introduce programs regarding to insurance to the public as to highlight them on the benefit accrued to insurance due to constant financial loss they encounter as a result of lack of insurance knowledge. “Risk is a phenomenon which has been in existence since the beginning of the world. Risk exists whenever the future is unknown” (Lemon 1989: 17). This means that the word implies some element of doubt about the future and the outcome may be worse than what it had been at the moment. This man in his daily operations could be viewed as a risk manager, in that man does his best possible to reduce, eliminate, avoid, retain or share risk where they are present. Though there were some forms of risk management before the advent of insurance companies in Nigeria such as the extended family system, age grade association and others. Insurance in its modern form was introduced into Nigeria by British. In 1921, the Royal Exchange Assurance Company was established and it was the first insurance company to open full branch in Nigeria. In 1949, three other companies emerged. In 1958, Africa insurance company. By 1965, the number of insurance companies rose to 70. In 1977, the Nigeria Re- insurance company was established as a federal government owned insurance company. Nigeria was however under the British colonial rule up to 1960 when she gained her political independence and as a developing country. From 1960 to date a lot of insurance companies came into operation. Insurance is a modern method of sharing loss or spreading risk lightly over a great number of people so that the few unfortunate ones or persons who sustain or suffer loss do not heavy financial loss as a result of their misfortune to the community. The insured pay premium into a common pool outcome of which the unfortunate few who suffer loss are compensated. The secondary function of insurance companies includes: 1. Provision of loans for building on the security of a life policy. 2. Encourage and promote commercial enterprise men and industrialist 3. The accumulated sum of money by insurer reinvested to state approved securities and this helps to provide the state with a steady flow investment funds with which the state can provide development and promotions to the local industries which will be of benefit to the community. Insurance is a contract whereby a person called the insurer or assurer agrees in consideration of money paid to him or her known as premium by another person called the insured or assured to indemnify him against loss resulting to him on the happening of certain events. However, it was known that risk exist whenever the future is unknown and therefore insurance exist primarily to combat the adverse effect of risk. The purpose of insurance is to compensate or indemnify the victim for his financial loss. It should be noted here that the insurance neither eliminate the loss nor stops the disaster from happening, what insurance does is to soften the blow in a purely financial sence by offering monetary compensation to the victim whereby placing him in the same financial position after loss as he was before though within the terms of the policy. Re- insurance is the transfer of insurance business from one insurance company to another. The original insurer who obtain the insurance contract from the insured or assured is called the direct insurer or the ceding company. Re- insurance arose form the need of the original insurer to spread the risk he has undertaken. Under re- insurance contract is between the ceding company policies. Therefore in the event of a loss, the insured cannot enforce the re- insurance contract. However, the effect of re- insurance contract on the ceding company includes: i Re- insurance reduces the probability of the ceding company’s ruin by assuming his catastrophe risk. ii Re- insurance stabilizes the ceding company’s balance sheet by taking on apart of his risk of random fluctuation risk of change and risk error. iii Re- insurance increases the amount of capital effectively available to the ceding company by freeing equity that was tied up to cover risk. iv Re- insurance enlarges the ceding company’s underwriting capacity by accepting a proportional share of risks and by providing part of the necessary reserves. The insurance sector is made up of a large number of companies with varying sizes, among which the NAICOM was established. The government uses this commission to regulate the insurance industry. The government uses this commission to regulate the insurance industry. It was established in 1997 by NAICOM decree N0. 1 of 1997. Prior to the establishment of National insurance commission, the insurance business regulation and supervision were done by the insurance department of the Ministry of finance. The national insurance supervisory board (NISB) was established in 1991 to take over the supervision of insurance from the director of insurance. National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is the head by the commission finance and administration and deputy director for insurance technical. NAICOM Decree 1 of 1997 stated the functions of NAICOM as follows: 1. To ensure the effective administration, supervision regulation and control of insurance business in Nigeria. 2. Establishment of standards of the conduct of insurance business in Nigeria. 3. Approval of rate insurance premium to be paid of all classes of insurance business. 4. Regulation of transactions between insurers and re- insurance in Nigeria and those outside Nigeria. 5. Ensuring adequate protection of strategic government assets and other properties. 6. To act as adviser to the federal government on all insurance related matters. 7. Approve standards, conditions and warranties applicable to all classes of insurance business. 8. To protect insurance policy holders and beneficiaries and third parties to insurance contract 9. To publish for sale and distribution to the public, annual reports and statistics on the re- insurance industry. 10. To liaise with and advise federal ministries, extra ministerial departments, statutory bodies and other government agencies on all matters relating to insurance contained in annual technical agreements to which Nigeria is signatory. 11. To contribute to the educational program of the chartered institute of Nigeriaand the West African insurance institute. 12. To carry out such other activities connected or incidental to its other functions under the decrees. The insurance industry in Nigeria has acute shortage of high level manpower for most classes of insurance and re- insurance business. The Nigeria insurance industry does not enjoy the required public goodwill and reason for this has to do with the damage done to practice of the profession by the get rich entrepreneur who goes about the business of insurance with the little regard to the principle of the profession. As a result of this, the government has come up with so many policies aimed at the study though will save the insurance industry. The extent to which all those government policies affect insurance companies and provides solution to ensure the survival of these insurance companies is another thing. The research therefore, is indicated to examine the impact of various control measures as promulgated by government to regulate the activities of the insurance industry. 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this research is essential in a direct investigation on the impact of government policies on the insurance industry in Nigeria. * To look into the factors hindering the performance of insurance companies through the various government regulatory policies. * To determine the impact of those government policies on the insurance companies and the insuring public. * Since the insurance industry is the second largest deposit mobilization institution in the country, it therefore encourages saving which plays an important role in the social and economic well being of the country. * To evaluate the performance of the industry therefore, is necessary for the growth of the economy. i To enlighten the Nigerian populace about the benefit that they could drive by taken up insurance cover. ii To guide the policy makers when they are enacting laws concerning insurance. iii Ascertain the need or otherwise for government intervention through regulatory body in the insurance industry. i To determine the impact of government policies in regulating the activities of the Nigerian insurance industry. ii The study therefore will concentrate on the Nigeria insurance industry. 1.6 DEFINITION OF THE TERM i INSURER / ASSURER: This is the insurance or assurance company that issue out policy to the policy holder. ii INSURED / ASSURED: This are policy holders in the insurance business iii PERIL: This is known as a prime cause or what gives rise to the loss. iv PREMIUM: This is periodic consideration payment by the policy holder to the insurance company which will necessitate compensation by the insurer to the insured. v POLICY: This is a written contract of insurance which is issued to the policy holder. vi RE- INSURANCE: This is an insurance company re-insuring again a risk that had already been insured to another insurance company. vii CEDING COMPANY: This is the direct insurer or the original insurer who is re-insuring the risk to another insurer. viii UNDERWRITING: This is a process by which an insurance company determine weather or not on the basis it will accept an application for insurance. FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHT IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF INSURANCE COMPANIES TO... CREDIT RISK MODELLING TECHNIQUES FOR LIFE INSURERS INSURANCE COMPANY IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA THE ROLE OF INSURANCE IN MINIMIZING BUSINESS RISK (A... HEALTH INSURANCE – AN EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF... SOCIAL MEDIA: EFFECTS ON MARKET SHARE IMPROVEMENT IN... THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN REGULATING THE... IMPACT OF INSURANCE BUSINESS ON THE ECONOMIC... EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS THAT... THE EFFECT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ON INSURANCE BUSINESS... THE EFFECT OF RISK SURVEY IN A MANUFACTURING FIRM

Study Reveals How Novel COVID-19 Manipulates Cells to Replicate Photo: Orlando B. Scudero/ICB-USP An article published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology reports a study by researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil showing how a human protein interacts with a SARS-CoV-2 protein, and describing one of the ways the virus that causes COVID-19 recruits cells to replicate. In laboratory tests, the researchers inhibited interaction between the molecules using a drug and thereby reduced viral replication by 15–20%. They expect their findings to contribute to the development of treatments for COVID-19. "The human protein known as PCNA [proliferating cell nuclear antigen] interacts with the SARS-CoV-2 protein M [matrix], one of the molecules that make up the virus's membrane and give it shape. The discovery itself shows one of the ways the pathogen manipulates cell function for its life cycle to proceed," said Fernando Moreira Simabuco, a professor at UNICAMP's School of Applied Sciences (FCA) in Limeira and principal investigator for the study, which was supported by FAPESP. The group used a range of in vitro techniques to investigate how the presence of the viral protein M in the organism makes PCNA, a protein involved in DNA repair, migrate from the cell nucleus, where it is normally found, to the cytoplasm, a cellular region containing organelles responsible for important cell functions. According to the researchers, this migration shows that the viral and human proteins interact, a conclusion corroborated by other methods, such as use of compounds to inhibit migration of proteins from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In cells treated with both a specific compound for PCNA and another that inhibits migration of different proteins including PCNA, viral replication was reduced by between 15% and 20% compared with untreated cells. "If we'd been thinking about treatment, perhaps this reduction wouldn't have been significant, but our main aim was to demonstrate the interaction and show that it could be a future therapeutic target," Simabuco said. In collaboration with researchers in the Pathology Department of USP's Medical School, they analyzed samples of lung tissue obtained during autopsies of deceased COVID-19 patients. Expression of PCNA was found to be above normal in these samples, as was expression of the protein gamaH2AX, a marker of DNA damage, reinforcing the results. "This finding may point to yet another consequence of infection by the virus," Simabuco said. The first author of the article is Érika Pereira Zambalde, a postdoctoral researcher at FCA-UNICAMP under Simabuco's supervision. Protein News The protein M is anchored, with proteins E and S, in the membrane that envelops SARS-CoV-2, and is the most abundant of its four main structural proteins, called structural because they give it shape. For this reason, it has been considered a potential target for medications and vaccines. S, the viral spike protein, is well-known because it binds to the ACE receptor in human cells, a role that has made it the target for most current COVID-19 vaccines. The human protein PCNA is widely studied in the context of cancer research, as exemplified by a project conducted by Simabuco at FCA-UNICAMP. Little is known about the role of PCNA in viral infections, however. The recently published article, therefore, offers a way forward for further research on this interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and PCNA, facilitating the development of therapies. A next step would be validation of the discoveries in animal models, although this has not yet been programmed.

Отель Гостевой Дом Шале Эсто Садок Room stock Features of rest with children Attractions and other interesting places nearby 3 stars, Hotel overview, Hotels, Ski Russia>Estosadok 1 week ago by Alina Abramova From the guest house “Chalet” will be delighted by those who can not imagine their lives without skiing and snowboarding. It was built in 2007, but improves every year. Thanks to attentive guidance, there is everything you need to relax both with family and in the company of friends. The hotel belongs to the group of three-star. 1 Where is it? 2 Room stock 3 Restaurants & Cafes 4 Entertainment 5 Features of rest with children 6 Attractions and other interesting places nearby Booking.comHotellook.com Guest House Chalet is located in the village of Esto-Sadok (Adler district of the resort city of Sochi). It is surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains, so it offers a very beautiful view of nature. According to tourists, this place is one of the best in order to forget about the daily hustle and bustle. For example, at one of the forums Svetlana from Moscow says that she lived in the “Chalet” for about a week, and did not regret a drop. Especially the girl liked the ennobled area near the hotel, a clean pool and a truly professional staff who tried to please even in small things. The advantage of the Chalet Guest House is that it is so close to the ski slopes and cable cars that most of them can be reached on foot. Thus, it is not necessary to call a taxi or wait for public transport. The peaceful atmosphere does not mean that the “Chalet” is removed from the infrastructure: to the airport — 38,1 km; the train station is 0.7 km away. Staff are always ready to arrange a transfer. The service is paid. The total number of rooms in the hotel is 38. They fall into three categories: Studio. It is one room, which is divided by a partition into two parts: a living room and a bedroom. Despite the fact that the studio is the smallest room in size, it has a large bed. It will be comfortable to sleep both alone and together. Also in the studio TV, telephone, safe and mini-mar. “Standard”. It differs from the previous version in that it includes two full-fledged rooms: a living room and a bedroom. There are two types: with two separate and with one joint bed. Also, like the studio, “Standard” has a TV, telephone, safe and mini-bar. “Luxury”. Ideal for those who want to feel at home. In the “Suite” there is an individual air ventilation system, albeit small, but its own kitchen, a variety of personal hygiene products (bathrobes, slippers, towels of four pieces for each guest, shampoos, balms, etc.). Regardless of which room you choose, the rest will be unforgettable in the good sense of the word. So, Elena from St. Petersburg writes that she managed to visit both “Standard” and “Lux”. In both cases, everything was on top: clean, no extraneous sounds from neighbors, food was delivered quickly. The Chalet Guest House has its own restaurant and dining room. The restaurant is decorated in alpine style, so it resembles a rural house in the Alps. It has a lot of natural materials, especially wood, which creates the feeling that you are in a fairy tale. The food is no less beautiful: both classic dishes and delights are served. The restaurant allows celebrations, including weddings. Its capacity is 65 people. The dining room no less vividly conveys the spirit of the mountainous terrain. On its ceiling are attached skiing, and the bar counter is decorated with snowboards. In the dining room, less expensive, but no less delicious food is prepared. We are talking about soups, roasts, salads, snacks, etc. Attention! If you do not mind spending time on the shore of the pond with a fishing rod and catch trout or some other fish, then the chefs will gladly cook it. If you wish, you can eat outside the hotel. Not far from it there is a food court “Good place”, Cafe-fast food “Sushilk” and others. You can’t get bored at the hotel. For connoisseurs of skiing and snowboarding there are several zones: “Mountain carousel”. “Laura”. “Alpika”. “Sledge”, etc. Those who have taken a break from visiting the ski slopes are offered: Pool. Its plus is that it is covered and heated, so it is allowed not only in summer and winter. Agree that swimming is nice not only when it’s warm. SPA-center. It provides body, face and hair care services. For example, you can do evening makeup. Wellness center. It provides health services. For example, you can book a massage. Turkish bath and Finnish sauna. It is scientifically proven that visiting baths and saunas has a positive effect on the state of the body, in particular, normalizes blood pressure and accelerates metabolism. And that’s not all. Also in the hotel there is a billiards and a bar with a truly wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and round-the-clock operation. As mentioned earlier, the guest house “Chalet” is suitable for families with children. But you need to remember a few rules: You can come with a child of any age, but if he is older than 5 years, then an additional fee is charged for him. If necessary, you can ask for a baby cot. It’s free. Importantly! In advance, even before booking a room, check the availability of a baby cot. This will help to avoid unpleasant moments. Regardless of whether you are resting with children or without them, the sights and other interesting places near the hotel are definitely worth a visit. These include: Village“Krasnaya Polyana”. Ski resort«Rosa Khutor». Park waterfalls “Mendelikha”. Bzerpinsky cornice. Husky Center. Sovarium. Museum of Archaeology. Museum of Entertaining Health. Cultural and Ethnographic Center “My Russia”. Monument “Grey Eveni”. Village “Krasnaya Polyana” A balloon where you can spend a romantic date, virtual reality, a rope park, a water park, a tent camp… continue the list of interesting places and activities in the village “Krasnaya Polyana” can be endless. Well, if not infinitely, then definitely a few hours. Here everyone will find entertainment to taste. Ski resort “Rosa Khutor” Ski resort “Rosa Khutor” is part of the village “Krasnaya Polyana”. It will have something to do for both adults and children. For example: Climb to the observation deck to a height of 2320 m. Here takes your breath away from the charm of our planet at any time of the year. Ride a sleigh gliding on rails on a route with three rings at speeds up to 40 km / h. Swing on the swing hanging above the clouds. Entertainment is not for the faint of heart! Visit the deer farm, get to know the animals and feed them. Learn to sculpt from clay at a master class in pottery. Also there are many restaurants and cafes with unusual interiors and non-standard dishes and no less shops with funny souvenirs. Mendelicha Waterfall Park It includes several waterfalls, including “Golden”, “Snow Channel”, “Mishkin Grotto”, etc. The first is the highest and has an observation deck. Note! The route to the park of waterfalls “Mendelikha” is considered simple (its length is about 3 kilometers, and the height difference does not exceed 200 meters), so you do not need to take special equipment for a walk and you can go with children. By the way, scientific and educational excursions are organized for children over 9 years old. Bzerpin cornice Bzerpinsky cornice is another simple route (length – about 4.5 kilometers, height difference – up to 500 meters). You can go here for one day (but keep in mind that in this case you should not stop too often), and for two, three, four or even five days. From the houses, which are located on the Berlin cornice, there is literally a fascinating view of the mountains, the gorge of the Mzymta River, the Olympic facilities, and if you are lucky with the weather, then the Black Sea! In addition to unforgettable landscapes, here you will enjoy the cleanest air. Husky Center Ideal for families with children. However, it will be fun for parents, which is confirmed by the reviews of tourists. Visiting the husky center, you will learn a lot of amazing things about the life of the peoples of the North of our country and, of course, make friends with their reliable friends – Siberian Huskies. Each visitor will be told about the traditions of the peoples of the North. Most of the time will be devoted to the story of the mutual friendship of a person with incredibly active and at the same time kind dogs. If you go to the husky center in the cold season, when there is snow outside, then you will have the opportunity to ride in a dog sled. A child of any age will definitely appreciate the site “Archaeological excavations of dinosaur skeletons”, as well as a game in the form of a quest “Gold Rush”. Sovarium Sovarium is unique in that it contains all the birds outside the cages. Yes, they have houses made by caring employees, but their freedom is not limited (as much as possible). And this approach has led to amazing results: birds from time to time fly into the sky for their business, but always come back, and are not at all afraid of human hands. Importantly! With the inhabitants of Sovarium, it is allowed to take pictures, but it is forbidden to use the flash. When a child hears the word museum, he thinks that he will be bored. The Museum of Archaeology is designed to debunk this myth. Opening the doors, you seem to get into a time machine and go back in time: learn about the history of the area “Rosa Khutor” and the basin of the Mzymta River, starting with the Stone Age and ending with the New Age. The Museum of Archaeology has: a large number of exhibits, forty of which are recognized as artifacts; interactive objects, in particular, “live” models of animals of the Stone Age; castles of the Middle Ages, books of Baron Tornau; 3D exhibits and models with augmented reality. Thanks to this, you will not just go from hall to hall, but immerse yourself in the old days. Museum of Entertaining Health The Museum of Entertaining Health is part of the all-Russian program. It is built in the form of a playground, on which more than ten exhibits are installed. Each of them promotes their own theme – the importance of proper nutrition, the harm of smoking, etc. Cultural and Ethnographic Center “My Russia” Almost all visitors call it “Russia in miniature”. And this is not surprising, because in this place only a couple of steps separate Siberia from the Caucasus, and from the Kazan tower you can see the St. Petersburg roofs. The cultural and ethnographic center “My Russia” includes eleven pavilions with a total area of more than three hectares. They depict the architecture of such regions as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, the Urals, Siberia, etc. in all colors. On each site there is an information board, so you can easily understand the monuments, as well as learn many facts about domestic architecture. Monument “Grey Eveni” And the last attraction that I would like to tell potential guests of the guest house “Chalet” is the monument “Grey Yeti”. If you like stories about Bigfoot, then be sure to go to the zone “Rose Peak” at the ski resort “Rosa Khutor”. Note that it is very high, so you will have to use the lift and cable car. Those who are not afraid of heights will be able to see the entire resort from the observation deck and, of course, take a picture for memory with a gray Yeti – a modern bigfoot who is not averse to snowboarding. Thus, the guest house “Chalet” is a great place for those who prefer a winter holiday. Staying in this hotel, you will have the opportunity not only to go skiing and snowboarding, but also to visit many attractions on the “Krasnaya Polyana” and in its vicinity. The hotel itself has everything you need for a comfortable stay, ranging from a minimum set of self-care (towels, bathrobes, etc.) and ending with a SPA-center with a wide range of services. Tags: Russia Alina Abramova Be travelers, not tourists. Try new things, meet new people, and go beyond what's right in front of your nose. These are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in. (c) Andrew Zimmern Rosa Khutor hotels in the ski resort of Russia The best hotels in Krasnaya Polyana for the New Year with a show program Best hotels in Krasnaya Polyana: top 10 stunning hotels in the ski resort in Sochi Esto Sadok – hotels in the ski resort of Russia Best Ayia Napa BeachFront Hotels

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Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions Jennifer Beecham, James Law, Biao Zeng, Geoff Lindsay Although Warren, Fey and Yoder (2007) have described the key components of “dosage”, one needs to go beyond description if one is to understand “optimal” dosage, specifically one needs to relate the characteristics of the intervention to the size of the intervention effect. This study examines the association between dose, intensity, and effect size in 20 randomized controlled studies taken from a few systematic reviews focusing on interventions aiming to ameliorate vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. Reporting of dosage characteristics is an important issue. Our analysis shows that “teaching episodes” and “dose form” are rarely reported in the included studies. The other dosage characteristics are present but not always reported in a transparent fashion. Session length and cumulative intervention intensity is lower for phonology interventions than it is for vocabulary intervention. Dosage, however defined, is not directly associated with outcome, although the level of association varies across the three interventions, for example appearing stronger for vocabulary and phonology than syntax. Taking the three interventions together the dosage components are related to the intervention effects size, but the sample is small and the association is not statistically significant. This study concludes that, while the framework suggested by Baker (2012) and adapted from Warren et al. (2007) is useful but without reference to the effect size of a study, it can only ever tell half the story. One needs to be able to relate dosage to outcome, asking questions about the relationship between the different dosage characteristics and the intervention effect size. Given the available data, it is not, at this stage, possible to make recommendations about optimal dosage. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders Dive into the research topics of 'Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint. Language Intervention Arts & Humanities 100% Vocabulary Medicine & Life Sciences 68% Language Medicine & Life Sciences 43% Effect Size Arts & Humanities 33% phonology Social Sciences 19% Phonology Arts & Humanities 16% Beecham, J., Law, J., Zeng, B., & Lindsay, G. (2012). Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 47(5), 477-486. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00157.x Beecham, Jennifer ; Law, James ; Zeng, Biao et al. / Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions. In: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 2012 ; Vol. 47, No. 5. pp. 477-486. @article{11e7e9605c654d698a72e2e4ab53e1b5, title = "Costing children{\textquoteright}s speech, language and communication interventions", abstract = "Although Warren, Fey and Yoder (2007) have described the key components of “dosage”, one needs to go beyond description if one is to understand “optimal” dosage, specifically one needs to relate the characteristics of the intervention to the size of the intervention effect. This study examines the association between dose, intensity, and effect size in 20 randomized controlled studies taken from a few systematic reviews focusing on interventions aiming to ameliorate vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. Reporting of dosage characteristics is an important issue. Our analysis shows that “teaching episodes” and “dose form” are rarely reported in the included studies. The other dosage characteristics are present but not always reported in a transparent fashion. Session length and cumulative intervention intensity is lower for phonology interventions than it is for vocabulary intervention. Dosage, however defined, is not directly associated with outcome, although the level of association varies across the three interventions, for example appearing stronger for vocabulary and phonology than syntax. Taking the three interventions together the dosage components are related to the intervention effects size, but the sample is small and the association is not statistically significant. This study concludes that, while the framework suggested by Baker (2012) and adapted from Warren et al. (2007) is useful but without reference to the effect size of a study, it can only ever tell half the story. One needs to be able to relate dosage to outcome, asking questions about the relationship between the different dosage characteristics and the intervention effect size. Given the available data, it is not, at this stage, possible to make recommendations about optimal dosage.", author = "Jennifer Beecham and James Law and Biao Zeng and Geoff Lindsay", journal = "International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders", Beecham, J, Law, J, Zeng, B & Lindsay, G 2012, 'Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions', International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 477-486. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00157.x Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions. / Beecham, Jennifer; Law, James; Zeng, Biao et al. In: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, Vol. 47, No. 5, 01.09.2012, p. 477-486. T1 - Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions AU - Beecham, Jennifer AU - Law, James AU - Zeng, Biao AU - Lindsay, Geoff N2 - Although Warren, Fey and Yoder (2007) have described the key components of “dosage”, one needs to go beyond description if one is to understand “optimal” dosage, specifically one needs to relate the characteristics of the intervention to the size of the intervention effect. This study examines the association between dose, intensity, and effect size in 20 randomized controlled studies taken from a few systematic reviews focusing on interventions aiming to ameliorate vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. Reporting of dosage characteristics is an important issue. Our analysis shows that “teaching episodes” and “dose form” are rarely reported in the included studies. The other dosage characteristics are present but not always reported in a transparent fashion. Session length and cumulative intervention intensity is lower for phonology interventions than it is for vocabulary intervention. Dosage, however defined, is not directly associated with outcome, although the level of association varies across the three interventions, for example appearing stronger for vocabulary and phonology than syntax. Taking the three interventions together the dosage components are related to the intervention effects size, but the sample is small and the association is not statistically significant. This study concludes that, while the framework suggested by Baker (2012) and adapted from Warren et al. (2007) is useful but without reference to the effect size of a study, it can only ever tell half the story. One needs to be able to relate dosage to outcome, asking questions about the relationship between the different dosage characteristics and the intervention effect size. Given the available data, it is not, at this stage, possible to make recommendations about optimal dosage. AB - Although Warren, Fey and Yoder (2007) have described the key components of “dosage”, one needs to go beyond description if one is to understand “optimal” dosage, specifically one needs to relate the characteristics of the intervention to the size of the intervention effect. This study examines the association between dose, intensity, and effect size in 20 randomized controlled studies taken from a few systematic reviews focusing on interventions aiming to ameliorate vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. Reporting of dosage characteristics is an important issue. Our analysis shows that “teaching episodes” and “dose form” are rarely reported in the included studies. The other dosage characteristics are present but not always reported in a transparent fashion. Session length and cumulative intervention intensity is lower for phonology interventions than it is for vocabulary intervention. Dosage, however defined, is not directly associated with outcome, although the level of association varies across the three interventions, for example appearing stronger for vocabulary and phonology than syntax. Taking the three interventions together the dosage components are related to the intervention effects size, but the sample is small and the association is not statistically significant. This study concludes that, while the framework suggested by Baker (2012) and adapted from Warren et al. (2007) is useful but without reference to the effect size of a study, it can only ever tell half the story. One needs to be able to relate dosage to outcome, asking questions about the relationship between the different dosage characteristics and the intervention effect size. Given the available data, it is not, at this stage, possible to make recommendations about optimal dosage. JO - International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders JF - International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders Beecham J, Law J, Zeng B, Lindsay G. Costing children’s speech, language and communication interventions. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 2012 Sep 1;47(5):477-486. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00157.x

Star Wars Movies What is the original title of the first Star Wars film released in 1977? The original title was simply titled "Star Wars". It was later changed to "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope". where exactly is yoda from Who is yodas father Q: What is the original title of the first Star Wars film released in 1977? When did Star Wars first come out? The first film was released in 1977 When did def leppard start? Def Leppard formed in 1977. Their first songs were released in 1979 on a UK EP titled "The Def Leppard EP" (very original). The first full album as released in 1980, titled "On Through The Night". In which year was the first Star Wars film released? Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977. When was the original star wars movie first screened? 1977 thanks me for helping Eric A proud Australian What year was the first Star Wars movie made? The first star wars movie was released in 1977. When was Forever and Always released? Forever and Always was released by Shania Twain in 2002 from the album Up. There is also a title called Always and Forever that was first released back in 1977. Was Star Wars around in the 1970's? Yes. The first film, "A New Hope" was released in 1977. But the other 2 films of the original trilogy were released in 1980 and 1983. What month in 1977 did the star wars movie first show? It was first released on May 25, 1977. When was starwars made? The first film was released in 1977. What year was Star Wars the original in theaters? The first Star Wars film was released in theaters on May 25, 1977 When was the original Star Wars movie screened? The original Star Wars was first screened on May 25, 1977. When was the original Star Wars movie screened in? Who first sang moondance? Van Morrison-charted in 1977, but was on his 1970 album of the same title What movie first came out in 1971? No Star Wars movies were released in 1971, the first one was released in 1977. What was released on may 25th 1977? The original Star Wars movie. I believe it was at Mann's Chinnese Theatre. How do you add mods to Star Wars empire at war? In Star Wars episode 3 Who in the jedi order escaped the exterimation? What next movie is after The Empire Strikes Back? How do you solve X3 x X4? How many quarters are there in 3 whole ones? A brick has a mass of 3500g .How many such bricks will be needed to make 6.4 tonnes? Asked By Paul Omurume What is conversion for 163 cc to horsepower? What else equals 30? Asked By Sanaa Carney What is 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 equals? What is 12 plus 12 plus 12 plus 12 equals? What is 24 plus what equals 48?

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You can download the software free from the QuickBooks website. After you download the software, you’ll need to create a QuickBooks account. You can use your own name or a business name. After you create your account, you can start using the software. To start using the software, you’ll first need to create a book. A book is a collection of your financial records. You can create a new book or open an existing book. To create a new book, click the New Book button on the Home screen. To open an existing book, click the Open Book button on the Home screen. To create a new account, click the New Account button on the Home screen. To open an existing account, click the Open Account button on the Home screen. To start using the software, you’ll first need to create a book. A book is a collection of your financial records. You can create a new book or open an existing book. To create a new book, click the New Book button on the Home screen. To open an existing book, click the Open Book button QuickBooks Download: Pros and Cons QuickBooks Download Pros and Cons QuickBooks is a great way to keep track of your finances, but there are some cons to using it. Here are the pros and cons of using QuickBooks: QuickBooks is easy to use and pretty intuitive, so you should be able to get up and running quickly. It offers a lot of features for keeping track of your finances, including tracking expenses, tracking income, and more. It offers a lot of options for exporting your data, so you can easily import it into other programs if you want to. Some people find the interface to be clunky and outdated. There are also some compatibility issues with some programs, so be sure to check before you buy. Overall, QuickBooks is a great tool for tracking your finances, but there are some downsides to using it. QuickBooks Download: How to Get Started When you open QuickBooks, it will try to connect to the databases that are already on your computer. If you have more than one database, QuickBooks will ask which one you want to use. If you don’t have a QuickBooks account, you can create one on our website. Once you have an account, you can use it to connect to your databases. If you have an existing QuickBooks account, you can connect to your databases by opening QuickBooks and clicking the File icon. In the File menu, select Connect to Database. We’ll show you a list of the databases that are already on your computer. If you want to connect to a different database, click the name of the database and then click the Connect to Database button. If you have an account on our website, QuickBooks will try to connect to our databases. If you don’t have an account on our website, or if you don’t want to use our databases, you can connect to your databases by entering your login information. On the Connect to Database dialog box, you can choose to connect to an existing QuickBooks database, or you can create a new QuickBooks database. If you want to connect to a different database, enter your login information and then click the Connect to Database button. QuickBooks Download: Tips and Tricks If you’re looking for a comprehensive guide to using QuickBooks, look no further. In this blog post, I’ll provide you with tips and tricks to help you get the most out of QuickBooks 2012. QuickBooks is a great tool for small businesses and home-based entrepreneurs. It’s simple to use, and it can help you keep track of your finances and activity. To get the most out of QuickBooks, you’ll need to know how to use its features. In this blog post, I’ll provide you with tips and tricks to help you get the most out of QuickBooks 2012. 1. Use QuickBooks to Track Your Finances One of the main benefits of using QuickBooks is that it can help you track your finances. This is great for keeping track of your cash flow and making sure that you’re spending your money in a responsible manner. To track your finances in QuickBooks, you’ll need to first set up your accounts. In QuickBooks, there are several types of accounts that you can use to track your finances. These include cash accounts, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and inventory. Once you’ve set up your accounts, you can begin tracking your finances in QuickBooks. To track your finances, you’ll need to first enter your transactions. Transactions include everything from purchases to cash withdrawals. You can also use QuickBooks to track your expenses. This is great for keeping track of QuickBooks Download: Troubleshooting When you download QuickBooks 2012 for the first time, you will be prompted to create a new user account. This account is used to access the QuickBooks 2012 software, and is also the username you will use to log in to the software. You can create another user account if you want to use the software on more than one computer. If you have already created a user account, you can access the QuickBooks 2012 software by clicking the Start button and then clicking the QuickBooks 2012 icon. You can also open the software by clicking the File tab and then clicking Open. If you have not yet created a user account, you will need to create one before you can access the QuickBooks 2012 software. If you’re having problems with the QuickBooks 2012 software, there are a few things you can try. First, make sure you have the latest version of the QuickBooks 2012 software. You can download the latest version from the QuickBooks 2012 website. If you’re using a Windows PC, try reinstalling the QuickBooks 2012 software. You can reinstall the software by clicking the Start button and then clicking the QuickBooks 2012 icon. In the QuickBooks 2012 window, click the Install button. Click the Next button to continue. Click the Finish button to reinstall the software. If you’re using a Mac, try repairing the QuickBooks 2012 software. You can repair the software by clicking the Apple icon in the menu bar If you are looking for a good accounting software to help you manage your business, QuickBooks 2012 is a good option. It is easy to use and it has a lot of features that will help you keep track of your finances. Previous: Quickbooks Support – Resolved [Get Quick Help] Next: Quickbooks Error 80070057 – Resolved [Get Quick Help]

QUIZ: Can We Guess Your Age Based On The Skills You Know? Can you comfortably add up a total without using a calculator? Thanks to technology and the rise of automation, a lot of things are pretty much already done for you these days. A quick swipe of a screen or a search on the web and you’ve found the answer to anything within minutes. This means a lot of classic skills are going out of fashion like, you know… doing things for yourself. Unless you’re a youngster who favours the old ways, it’s safe to say that a lot of younger people might not know how to do traditional things, like sew on a button or know how to properly use a pay phone. Answering yes or no to the following skills, let’s see if we can guess your age!

Gurido The puzzle game Gurido, which can be played online for free, has a simple aesthetic. The 10x10 grid has them at the very top, with an uneven shape and color. Drag cells of the same color into an empty section of the grid to form sets of five or more. Once groups of five or more cells of the same hue have been formed, connected cells can be removed. If you have a large network of connected tiles and a little bit of luck, you can catch powerful items to clear additional tiles. Are you ready to go on this journey? Sign up for Gurudo now. It's easy to get started. The design is adorable and vibrant. Thrill-seeking gameplay that's fun to play. The app is portable and may be used on any smartphone or tablet. Asymmetrical in shape and color, they sit at the top of the 10x10 grid in the middle. When you have five or more cells of the same color selected, you can drag them to an empty space on the grid to form sets of that color. Once groups of five or more cells of the same color have been generated, connected cells can be eliminated. If you have a large network of interconnected tiles and a little bit of luck, you can catch powerful objects to remove additional tiles. Wishing you all the best!

I think when you've lost an election by 179, there's going to be a period of time after eighteen years in government when you can't do anything right, and people just kick you for the sake of it, will never… Quote by Jeffrey Archer Topics: Conservative Quotes Whenever you analyse anyone who has had any success and they're in the headlines, you... I'm passionate again about writing. This is important to me; it's got to be the... Actually, Sydney is my second favourite city on earth, I love Sydney, but this is... But I certainly made mistakes, for which I regret, I think most human beings in... We all make mistakes but one has to move on. I've loved art for more than 30 years. I feel I have had a very interesting life, but I am rather hoping there... We go on a lot in this country about offences being caused by drugs. The... I do greatly admire Australian artists. I'm not taking any interest in politics. I'm not involved in politics in any way.... I learnt a lot about myself, I learnt a lot about other people and the... And I did wonder - because it's now three years ago since I left prison... I think my attitude to human beings has changed since leaving prison. I've been doing nineteen hours a day on London, nothing else, I mean this has... Sixty per cent of people entering prison today are illiterate. I was allowed to ring the bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly.... In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he... When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let... Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up... Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with...

Francis J. Braceland “We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining equilibrium in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.”

Guest Author: Grady Harrington -- July 14, 2020 I’m Grady Harrington, a citizen of the 3rd Ward and a member of the Peoples Defense group of activists and community organizers. I’ll begin with a quote from the late economist Milton Friedman, no hero of mine but an individual whose words held incredible power in rooms like these: “Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”1 Health Department Cuts With the joint crises of Covid-19 and police brutality I assure you, whether you realize it now or not, we are in a moment where the politically impossible has become the inevitable. My friend Mr. Mesfin will be speaking on one such policy proposed by our group while I devote the rest of my time to laying out just a handful of reasons for why the past, present, and proposed future budgets have been inadequate in rising to and addressing the crises at hand. First, I’d like to highlight a recent report from KBIA by Sebastián Martinez Valdivia (July 6, 2020) titled Columbia Cut Health Department Budget Five Times in Ten Years.2 As Valdivia states, “The reduced investment in public health has left many local health departments stretched in their response to COVID-19.” This is illustrated in our city as our health department seeks out volunteers for contact tracing3 and in our city’s plea for donations to nonprofits on July 17th.4 The call for donations is in response to ComoHelps receiving “over $2.5 million in funding requests to meet rising needs in the wake of the pandemic.” I bring up this number because in this ten year period the Public Health and Human Services budget decreased, the police department’s budget was raised by $6.6 million,5 significantly more than what the city says it needs to support the community in the pandemic. CPD Funding & Effectiveness Logically, when you hear that the budget for a certain department is increased year after year, you would think that department must have been pretty successful. But what have the last ten years looked like for the Columbia Police Department? Failed implementation of community policing;6 national attention drawn towards abuse of civil asset forfeiture,7 police shooting family dogs,8 and dealing with the fallout of the Ryan Ferguson case;9 as well as recent allegations of allowing sex trafficking in our town.10 And these are just the issues that are easy to find out. I know that largely the events I’ve referenced occurred under different leadership for both the police department and the city at large, but at what point has the pattern been forced to change? How can we keep giving more and more money to a department that continues to make mistakes that become national news, while funding for other departments has been neglected? The response I predict to hear comes from page 14 of the city’s 2020 budget: in the annual citizen’s survey, public safety is named the most important core service provided by the city.11 But has the public’s feeling of safety increased in the last ten years along with the police department’s budgets? I’ll let our city’s recent shooting deaths and the state government’s special session on violent crime answer that. Federal Funds to Local Policing And here’s the thing: the money allocated by the city is not CPD’s sole source of resources. In the most recent meeting of the Citizen’s Police Review Board that took place on July 8th, Police Chief Geoff Jones was asked a series of questions from the members of that board. One question that was asked was how much the department is funded by federal grants. Jones responded, without hesitation, that he couldn’t answer that question. This information is important because money from federal grants places incentives on our local police force. What kind of police work gets done and where their attention goes to is based on the amount of resources the police get in return. For example, information obtained from other police departments show a clear pattern of federal funds pushing local departments towards increased drug arrests. A 2001 report from the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin lays this out: “Each year the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance disburses millions of dollars in federal funds to Wisconsin drug task force units, which routinely work hand in hand with SWAT teams. A fifth of that money is calculated on the basis of drug sales arrests, creating a powerful incentive to focus on the aggressive pursuit of drug activity. Here's how it works. Justice Assistance determines what federal funds are available for law enforcement and allots 20 percent -- a little over $740,000 a year -- to agencies based on drug sales arrests. That 20 percent serves as a guideline for the Office of Justice Assistance when it determines agencies' actual awards. Once the money is distributed to the task force, it trickles back to individual law enforcement agencies in the form of reimbursements for overtime costs related to drug enforcement. Police departments can request reimbursement for drug-related activities ranging from a full-fledged SWAT team raid to a traffic stop during which illegal drugs are found. Overtime costs stemming from non-drug related policing, such as a stake-out for a burglary case, are not eligible for reimbursement.”12 As a result, one county in Wisconsin quadrupled its drug arrests between 1999 and 2000, leading to a quadrupling in its federal subsidy.13 Clearly there are a lot of resources and funding to be gained from federal grants, but how much is going to the Columbia Police Department? If Chief Jones can’t answer then hopefully my recent Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Justice can, but where is the transparency? Proposed City Budget 2021 And that brings us to the proposed budget for 2021. First, I want to commend the city manager on increasing the budget for Health and Human Services by over $300,000, bringing it back to the funding levels of 2010.14 It’s also great that the proposed budget introduces the development of a public safety mental health collaboration with the Health Department and CPD.15 However, I see more problems arising from this budget as a whole than solutions. This proposed collaboration between CPD and the health department will be funded with a little more than $600,000.16 This change will be radical and, let’s be honest, is going to be expensive. If the city can set aside over $9 million for a new police building17 and $2 million for a new park,18 then a new idea that will save lives and affirm the city’s stated vision of being the best place for everyone, not just the neurotypical and white, to live, work, learn, and play, should receive more funding. Losing Focus of Community Policing While we and I’m sure you all haven’t had the time to dig into the entirety of a 538 page document released a little over a week ago, I want to focus on another radical change proposed by the 2021 budget. The Parking and Traffic Enforcement budget is being deleted from the Transportation Department, with the Columbia Police Department taking over Parking Enforcement19 and the money for this change coming from the city’s Parking Fund.20 A popular chant coined by the Peoples Defense goes like this: “Too many what? Cops. Too little what? Justice.” This fact is only emphasized by this proposed change of bringing more police downtown. While the budget states that this is meant to bring about increased community policing,21 at the end of the day it adds even more unnecessary responsibilities to the police. Setting aside the idea of building a positive relationship with someone while writing them a parking ticket, some of the fundamental problems with policing stem from too much being asked of police officers that are paid far too little.22 Asking these police officers to now be the sole city employees responsible for writing parking tickets along with everything else expected of the police only compounds this issue. Unity in Community I don’t have time to talk about all of the problems and solutions we’ve learned from going through these immense documents. But before I go, I want to close with an important point: Most of us, whether you are a part of the Peoples Defense, City Council, the police, or are a concerned citizen listening in, probably have the same goal in mind: We want to establish and maintain a community where everyone feels safe and can thrive. While our philosophies and backgrounds are incredibly varied and give us different ideas on how we can get there, we can not forget that we are all working towards the same goal. We must always maintain a dialogue and work together, even if the ideas given may seem too radical or, dare I say, politically impossible. I and the Peoples Defense will continue to take our message throughout the community with daily direct actions, continue to speak truth to power at these meetings, and continue to hope you all will be willing to work with us. See you all at 9 am on August 13th. 1 Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine (Metropolitan Books, 2007), pg. 6 2 Valdivia, S. M. (July 6, 2020). Columbia cut health department budget five times in ten years. Retrieved from https://www.kbia.org/post/columbia-cut-health-department-budget-five-times-ten-years#stream/0 3 Patterson, D. (July 10, 2020). Volunteers try to fill contact tracing gaps but Boone County lacks resources. Retrieved from https://www.komu.com/news/volunteers-try-to-fill-contact-tracing-gaps-but-boone-county-lacks-resources/article_99e89c72-cd9e-5dfa-b05b-08393d614f2b.html 4 Hollis, S. (July, 17, 2020). CoMo Helps seeks donations to provide community aid due to COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.como.gov/CMS/pressreleases/view.php?id=6937&tbiframe=1 5 Martinez Valdivia, S. (July 6, 2020). Columbia Cut Health Department Budget Five Times In Ten Years. Retrieved from https://www.kbia.org/post/columbia-cut-health-department-budget-five-times-ten-years#stream/0 6 Pratt, P. (January 12, 2019). CPD community policing report now ‘dead on arrival.’ Retrieved from https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20190112/cpd-community-policing-report-now-dead-on-arrival 7 Oliver, J. (October 5, 2014). Civil Forfeiture: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks, minute 8:40-10:01 8 Balko, R. (April 3, 2014). A dog's breakfast of an argument. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/04/03/a-dogs-breakfast-of-an-argument/ 9 Campbell, C. (July 10, 2017). Ryan Ferguson awarded $10 million in damages after vacated conviction. Retrieved from https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/ryan-ferguson-awarded-10-million-in-damages-after-vacated-conviction/article_b694d516-65ca-11e7-aa57-3bb21d1f7d6a.html; as well as documentary Dream/Killer on Netflix 10 McManus, C. and Somers, J. (March 3, 2019). Columbia police looking into allegations in 'Pimp' documentary. Retrieved from https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/columbia-police-looking-into-allegations-in-pimp-documentary/article_a1e3e624-3617-11e9-b4ae-874ddfb78e38.html 11 City of Columbia (FY 2020). Adopted Budget. Retrieved from https://www.como.gov/finance/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2019/10/FY-2020-Final-Adopted-Budget-Optomized.pdf, pg. 14 12 Elbow, S. (August 18, 2001) Hooked on SWAT. Retrieved from https://madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/hooked-on-swat/article_f1bc13e6-b29b-5ab0-a7cf-ba46 b1b3860c.html 13 Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow (The New Press, 2011), pg. 77-78 14 City of Columbia (FY2021). Proposed Budget. Retrieved from https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/columbiamissourian.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/fb/dfb5ce44-cdd4-11ea-8181-8b0f0011f556/5f1b1da1d6093.pdf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR15EXRfNiqZdS8DU4ZSfyhY1cxT7nMCK415e8cIs4NjARLkcypwlhRvZ4o, pg. 48 16 City of Columbia (FY2021). Proposed Budget. Retrieved from https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/columbiamissourian.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/fb/dfb5ce44-cdd4-11ea-8181-8b0f0011f556/5f1b1da1d6093.pdf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR15EXRfNiqZdS8DU4ZSfyhY1cxT7nMCK415e8cIs4NjARLkcypwlhRvZ4o, pg. 183 18 Turley, J. (May 7, 2019). Council passes Flat Branch Park expansion. Retrieved from https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20190507/council-passes-flat-branch-park-expansion 22 McCartney, R. (June 22, 2020). Police critic says officers need more money and less stress, along with greater accountability. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/police-critic-says-officers-need-more-money-and-less-stress-along-with-greater-accountability/2020/06/21/dee93ebe-b23c-11ea-8f56-63f38c990077_story.html (shared with permission to https://racemattersfriendsmissouri.org)

Team WFRE Christopher Bell Kyle Busch John Andretti Erik Jones Denny Hamlin Richard Petty Chris Quinten Michael Jordan Darrell Wallace Jr. Joe Gibbs Richard Childress Aric Almirola Sports Automobile manufacturing Consumer product manufacturing Consumer products and services Business Automobile racing NASCAR Truck Series NASCAR Christopher Bell Kyle Busch Erik Jones Denny Hamlin Darrell Wallace Jr. Aric Almirola Jones lands iconic No. 43 with Richard Petty Motorsports By JENNA FRYER - Oct. 21, 2020 11:56 AM EDT FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2020, file photo, Erik Jones celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Busch Clash auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. The pandemic only accelerated the inevitable: The driver market bubble, pushed to its limit with multi-million dollar salaries for nearly two decades, is about to burst. A major reset has arrived and team owners have all the power. They can pick and choose between drivers who bring sponsorship dollars (Bubba Wallace) or drivers who have won races (Erik Jones). (AP Photo/John Raoux, FIlre) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Erik Jones will drive NASCAR's iconic No. 43 next season for Richard Petty Motorsports, a pairing of a driver and a team both in need of fresh starts. Jones in August was dropped by megateam Joe Gibbs Racing after six seasons, while Bubba Wallace and RPM are splitting at the end of the year. Wallace’s social activism this year became the defining characteristic of the storied Petty organization. “They still have something to prove and I have something to prove," Jones told The Associated Press. “We are both motivated to write a new chapter. It’s just a really clean slate, a chance to start from scratch and do something completely different." Wallace, NASCAR's only full-time Black driver, this season has been outspoken on racial inequality and injustice. He ran a Black Lives Matter paint scheme on the No. 43 and RPM adopted Wallace's “compassion, love, understanding” platform. Wallace's recent prominence helped the driver sign millions of dollars in new sponsorship, but the funding will follow him next season when he moves to a new team formed by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. The loss of Wallace could have crippled RPM, the cash-strapped team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty. Instead, a volatile free-agent market helped RPM land Jones, a 24-year-old considered among the top young talent in NASCAR. RPM chairman Brian Moffitt said there was “no fear at all” the organization would not survive splitting with Wallace. “We've been here since it started in 1948 and we plan to be involved for many, many years,” Moffitt told the AP. “It's a passion of the family and we want to keep things headed in the right direction. I think Erik gives us an opportunity to get back to our winning ways.” RPM will again field a Chevrolet next season in partnership with Richard Childress Racing. Jerry Baxter will return as crew chief of the No. 43. Wallace applauded the hiring. “Great choice to keep the needle moving! Awesome people to be around at track and away!" Wallace tweeted. Jones begins a new journey outside of Toyota for the first time in his career. He was a longtime developmental driver for the manufacturer and his career was fast-tracked when as a 16-year-old he beat Kyle Busch in a late model race. Toyota helped Jones land a full-time ride in the Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports, then moved him through NASCAR's national ladder with Gibbs. Jones won rookie of the year in the Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series, as well as the Truck Series championship. Jones' 18 national series victories include a pair of Cup Series wins at two of NASCAR's most storied tracks. He won the July race at Daytona International Speedway in 2018 and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway the next year. Both victories locked Jones into the playoffs. Jones has not had the same overall Cup success of his Gibbs teammates, and he failed to make the playoffs this year. The team in August decided to replace Jones with Christopher Bell, another longtime Toyota development driver, a swap Jones said “blindsided” him because he believed he was working on a contract extension with Gibbs. It made Jones a late add to the free-agent market, and despite his potential and young age, Jones was passed over for many of the open seats. He brings no sponsorship with him, which made him a tough sell for team owners in need of funding. RPM has long struggled to raise the cash needed to consistently contend for wins, but Moffitt said some of its sponsors are staying with the organization and won't follow Wallace. Moffitt said some new partners are expected to be announced in the next few weeks, but he acknowledged the organization is in search of additional funding. The No. 43 is a hallmark in NASCAR tied to the Petty family since the 1950s. Richard Petty — “The King” — won 192 of his record 200 Cup victories driving the No. 43. The late John Andretti drove the car to its final win under the Petty Enterprises banner in 1999. Richard Petty took on a series of different investors beginning in 2009 for re-branded Richard Petty Motorsports, which last put the No. 43 in victory lane in 2014 with driver Aric Almirola. Wallace became the full-time driver in 2018, and although he's winless through three seasons, he's been adequate in a car that lacks the funding to consistently race for wins. It will be a significant change for Jones, a fixture since he was a teenager in the Gibbs pipeline. The four-car JGR fleet is Toyota's flagship and its well-funded cars consistently challenge for championships. RPM is a single-car operation accustomed to stretching every dollar in its quest to catch the big teams. Jones wants to be the driver guiding an RPM resurgence. “I'm going to have the opportunity to really know everybody. I knew a lot of people at JGR, but they've got almost 500 employees,” Jones said. "Looking at what RPM is and what they have, it's a comfortable situation for me because it's how I grew up, I worked on a lot of my own stuff. “I'm going to be able to get in there and be around those guys, get in the shop, and really get to know the people who have a piece in putting the car together. It's going to be a more inclusive experience for me.” More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Why Radiant Pre Nursery Play & Pre School Are You Looking For The Best Preschool And Daycare In Indore? Best Preschool And Daycare In Indore A welcoming, warm environment is usually the first thing people notice when entering this playschool. Smiley faces greet children when they enter the building while welcoming them to school each day. They arrive at school with a smile while parents marvel and discover how easily they can adapt and adjust to their routine once they join the school. This seamless transition is the result of the efforts of teachers and parents as an entire team, as we believe that they work hand-in-hand with parents as well as their child’s requirements and routines. Every aspect of development is examined and a relationship based on trust is built between the school and the parents. The playschool’s rooms are designed to be attractive and exciting for youngsters. They offer comfort and appeal to the kids’ curious and inquisitive nature. The library corner a workstation, and an area for play with puzzles and toys form an integral component of the classrooms. The toys and books are suitable for children of all ages and offer indirect learning for youngsters. Explore some of the best play schools in Indore in order to give a healthy environment from the start. Children are encouraged to learn to read and spend a couple of minutes committed to reading in silence each day. Puzzles and toys are set up so that children are able to easily choose the one that they prefer, offering them the option of choosing. After having fun, the books and toys are returned by the children, teaching them the skill of maintaining things in their proper position. Each classroom is fitted with heaters, air conditioners, and air purifiers to ensure the comfort of the kids. Classrooms are well-lit as well as flooded with plenty of sun! The windows of the classrooms are decorated in accordance with the theme for the month, and they enhance the perception of the world. Children thus learn indirectly. The learning process through the senses is considered to be of top importance since children learn best using their five senses. They also learn with fun. A schoolbag is supplied by the playschool, and the kids proudly take it each day to school. They hang their bags on the wall and get their water bottles and diaries and put them in the appropriate location. This ability to place items in their proper places will help them in their lives as they acquire an understanding of order in their heads. What is the Importance of Preschool for My Child? What is the Significance of a Balanced Diet for a Child? Tackling the Homework Assignments Points to Remember While Sending Kids to School on Rainy Days PrevPreviousWhat is the Importance of Preschool for My Child? The founding of Radiant Pre-School was made possible by the uncommon union of a person’s love of nature and their true affection for young children. Sector - A,Bakhtawar Ram Nagar, near TilakNagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh - 452016 [email protected] Copyright © Radiant Pre-School. Website Designed and Developed by Reliable Digital Expert

RADIO BIAFRA VIDEO STREAMS BIAFRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE: UK denies interfering in local politics, sponsoring instability in Nigeria. By Jeffrey Agbo Published On The Biafra Post The Government of the United Kingdom says it does not interfere in the political affairs of Nigeria, a sovereign state which gained independence from it in 1960. The UK’s position followed a mail sent by a columnist with TheNiche, Peter Omonua, on August 25, 2022, to the UK Government, accusing it of fuelling instability in most populous country for political gain. Omonua made public his grouse with the UK in an opinion article published on September 24, 2022, in TheNiche with the title “Britain, take your knee off our necks; Nigerians can no longer breathe“. Catherine Maguire from Whitehall Nigeria Unit of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office responded on behalf of the government in a letter dated September 27, 2022. According to the letter, the UK Government acknowledged that Nigeria and the UK share a “long and complex history, including the period of colonial rule that ended in 1960.” It added, “Nigeria is a troubled partner of the UK, but we do not share the view set out in your correspondence that the UK seeks to interfere with Nigeria’s political affairs. Nigeria is an independent, sovereign nation, and the UK Government respects this. Additionally, the question of who Nigerians elect as their next President is a matter for the people of Nigeria, and the UK Government remains neutral and impartial on this matter. “We also do not share your view that the UK has engineered instability in Nigeria for political gain. As Africa’s largest economy and democracy, the UK Government wants to see a stable, secure and prosperous Nigeria that delivers jobs and opportunities for all Nigerians. Recent successful bilateral initiatives, including our Security and Defence Partnership and the Economic Development Forum, have affirmed our commitment to supporting Nigeria as it deals with a number of economic and security challenges that stop the country reaching its full potential. “This work not only responds to the needs of Nigerian people, but it supports UK interests by building the prosperity, security and resilience of an important partner.” The UK Government, however, said it shares Omonua’s concern about the worsening security challenges across Nigeria, and its impact on Christian communities. “The UK Government is committed to helping Nigeria as it tackles this insecurity, and as part of our Security and Defence Partnership, we committed more support to help Nigeria tackle its security challenges, including police reform, tackling serious and organized crime, and countering terrorism,” it noted. “In the North East, we provide stabilisation and humanitarian assistance to support communities affected by terrorism, and in the Middle Belt, we support local and national peace-building initiatives to tackle intercommunal violence.” The UK added that it “has also provided £425 million in humanitarian aid to North-East Nigeria over the last 5 years, which has reached around 1.5 million vulnerable people.” About the author: radiobiafrao Tell us something about yourself. BIAFRA HISTORY BIAFRA REFERNDUM RADIO BIAFRA ONTARIO BIAFRA TELEVISION TELEVISION BIAFRA Copyright © 2023 Radio Biafra Ontario. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Podcast Theme

Age of Enlightenment (Redirected from Enlightenment) Weimar's Courtyard of the Muses. In a global context: Ideological roots Rights (Human rights) Liberty and Equality Libertarianism‎ Conservative liberalism Fiscal conservatism Social liberalism Modern liberalism Liberal feminism Civic nationalism The New Liberals Adjacent ideologies Liberal conservatism Liberal socialism Centrism (In Europe) Thinking hardly or hardly thinking? Major trains of thought The good, the bad, and the brain fart Intrinsic good Non-Overlapping Magisteria Consequentialism Come to think of it “”Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. (...) Sapere aude! [note 1] Have courage to use your own understanding! That is the motto of Enlightenment. Original in German: Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. […] Sapere aude! Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! ist also der Wahlspruch der Aufklärung. —Immanuel Kant, Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?[1] The Enlightenment or The Age of Enlightenment (an approximation of the German Aufklärung) was an era in the 17th to 18th century that occurred following the Renaissance, and describes the period when Western philosophy switched to advocating reason as a primary source of authority. Its impact on Western thought, and indeed Western civilization in the long term, can hardly be overstated, although some people sort of missed out on this period. It marks a time when philosophers across Europe as well as in the North American colonies presented a fundamental challenge to many long-held beliefs and traditional dogmas, resulting in significant societal upheaval, most notably the American and French Revolutions. 1 Key concepts 2 Influences 2.1 Human rights 2.2 Politics 2.3 Education and science 3 Limits of reason 4.1 Notable Enlightenment thinkers 4.2 Notable contemporary thinkers 6.1 Citations 6.2 Sources Key concepts[edit] Enlightenment philosophy is an umbrella term for many divergent schools of thought, and being philosophers, those who adhered to it loved nothing better than to quibble with each other. It is nevertheless possible to make out some general features of this broader trend: at the center of Enlightenment thought is the human capacity for critical reasoning, an ability which philosophers of the time considered to have so far been underutilized and rendered impotent by unquestioning adherence to tradition and superstition, as well as deliberate suppression at the hands of traditional elites.[note 2] This leads directly to the fundamental importance of freethought as well as the ability to voice one's opinions freely in the public square, without having to fear repercussions from those in power. An important goal of the Enlightenment was to offer opportunities for education to the broader populace, so they might be empowered to engage in free and public debates as well. Historian Johnathan Israel differentiates between two forms of Enlightenment thought: Baruch Spinoza's radical ideals of "democracy; racial and sexual equality; individual liberty of lifestyle; full freedom of thought, expression, and the press; eradication of religious authority from the legislative process and education; and full separation of church and state," and Rene Descartes, John Locke and Isaac Newton's moderate take on the religious and political establishment of the time, believing that they should be reformed from within, rather than quickly destroyed (the influence of which could be seen in the advocacy of constitutional monarchy over the excesses of the French Revolution).[citation needed] Influences[edit] Human rights[edit] See the main article on this topic: Human rights Enlightenment philosophers, most notably John Locke, developed the modern form of the notion that all human beings possess certain universal and unalienable rights that are independent of the society in which they live. Drawing on the work of Thomas Hobbes and his concept of the social contract, Locke argued that humans have a natural right to life, liberty, and the ownership of property.[2] Spinoza identified the concept of right with power or capability to do something, and saw this as a fundamental aspect of citizenship and believed that outcomes were better when reason played a larger role in political decision-making. While the establishment of a sovereign government is in the rational interest of the would-be subjects, it can only be legitimate if it serves to uphold and defend these rights, and is therefore constrained by them. In the USA, this sentiment was echoed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the subsequent constitutional Bill of Rights, as far as US citizens are concerned. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 takes a more explicitly universalist approach.[3] Thomas Paine, American political activist. Politics[edit] The aforementioned notion of natural human rights, most importantly liberty, that exists independently from the state has sweeping implications for the legitimacy of any government. Both Locke and Thomas Paine argued that revolution is permissible if a government does not respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.[4] This served to justify both the American and French revolutions and subsequent successful (at least in the US) attempts to establish orders based on the explicit consent and participation of the governed, an important precedent in the development of modern democracy. Enlightenment thinkers were not unanimously in favour of this development; notably, Immanuel Kant rejected any right to a revolt against even a dictatorial government and praised the "enlightened absolutism" of his native Prussia. Other influential philosophers of the time supplied additional underpinnings of modern liberal democracy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau put forward the notion of popular sovereignty and reaffirmed a republican model of the state,[5] while Montesquieu developed the doctrine of the separation of powers as a safeguard against tyranny.[6] Montesquieu's analysis was that each of the differing types of governments – democracy, monarchy, and despotism – had strengths but were subject to specific weaknesses, and that the best way to remedy the weaknesses with each type was to combine elements of each into a republican form of government, with checks and balances among the different branches. Georges Buffon, author of the Histoire naturelle. Education and science[edit] “”Modernism began in the mid-nineteenth century as a response not only to the restrictions and hypocrisies of everyday life, but also as a reaction to the Enlightenment's emphasis on the rationality of human behavior. ...The founders of the Royal Society thought of God as a mathematician who had designed the universe according to logical and mathematical principles. The role of the scientist—the natural philosopher was to... decipher the codebook that God had used in creating the cosmos. —Eric Kandel, American neuropsychiatrist.[7] While the scientific revolution predates the Age of Enlightenment, this period saw significant advances in the circulation and availability of scientific knowledge, mostly due to the rapid proliferation of books and newspapers among an increasingly literate populace.[8] Debate societies, book clubs and coffeehouses sprang up in the cities, exposing broader social strata to the newest ideas and bringing the academic ideals of open debate into the public sphere. In their role as salonnières, women began to participate and play an important part in these debates, although only a small number of them had this opportunity. The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published in 1768 and became an instant hit despite its severely constrained editability. First attempts were made to apply the scientific method to the study of patterns in human behaviour, most notably by Adam Smith, generally considered to be the father of economics. Limits of reason[edit] A French intellectual society—a salon—discusses the works of Voltaire. Although the Enlightenment is often associated with the rigorous application of logic and scientific principles to all areas of human life (this is the premise of critiques such as Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment, as well as many contemporary defenders of Enlightenment principles), most enlightenment thinkers were concerned with identifying the limits of rationality, establishing where reason could and could not be applied, and what other methods were available to understand the world and make judgments about science, morality, and art. While early proto-Enlightenment thinkers like Spinoza and Descartes typically applied rationality and mathematical models to all areas of thought, from the mid 18th century this was critiqued by figures such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason claimed that human reason is based on sensory data but constrained by innate mental structures. He deduced that reason could not be usefully applied to areas not directly accessible to perception, such as the human mind or soul; cosmological questions and metaphysics; or God.[9] Particularly in Britain and Ireland, many philosophers such as Adam Smith, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, and somewhat Hume, believed human beings have an innate moral sense which allows us to tell what is right or wrong without the application of reason.[10] Many philosophers applied similar ideas about the existence of an aesthetic sense to the appreciation of beauty, although few people even today would claim the assessment of art is based purely on reason. Much of David Hume's work was focused on setting out what we could not know. His skepticism extended to denying we could have knowledge of cause and effect or certainty about any thought process involving induction. Hume concluded that we must rely in our everyday lives on beliefs that we cannot prove, including the connections of cause and effect and the supposition that the future will resemble the past.[11] Hence, the Enlightenment model of the human mind is far from naive scientism or positivism. Romanticism—the antithesis of enlightenment.. Notable Enlightenment thinkers[edit] Pierre Bayle Baron d'Holbach Jean le Rond d'Alembert Pierre-Simon Laplace Émilie du Châtelet Notable contemporary thinkers[edit] John Wilmot —the father of libertinism. ↑ The more natural translation is “Dare to be wise!” ↑ Seriously, read Kant's essay. It's among the most powerful words ever written. Citations[edit] ↑ An English translation of Kant's essay and the original in German. ↑ Project Gutenberg: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government ↑ de Lafayette, M., 1789., Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. English translation ↑ Thomas Paine,The Rights of Man. ↑ Rousseau, J., J., The Social Contract ↑ Constitution.org: Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law ↑ The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain Erich Kandel. ↑ International World History Project: The Age of Enlightenment ↑ Williams, Garrath, "Kant's Account of Reason", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Moral sense theory. ↑ C. M. Lorkowski, "David Hume: Causation", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Primary sources[edit] Kant, I., 2013. An answer to the question:'What is enlightenment?'. Penguin UK. Locke, J., 2015. The second treatise of civil government. Broadview Press; Project Gutenberg link; Internet Archive link. de Lafayette, M., 1789., Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. Approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France, August 26, 1789. Paine, T., 2011. Rights of man. Broadview Press. Rousseau, J.J., 2018. Rousseau: The Social Contract and other later political writings. Cambridge University Press. Secondary sources[edit] Israel, J., 2011. A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy. Wilmot, J., 2002. A Satyr against Reason and Mankind. The Debt to Pleasure: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, in the Eyes of His Contemporaries and in His Own Poetry and Prose. New York: Routledge, pp.98-103. Steinberg, J., Summer 2019 Edition, "Spinoza’s Political Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Project Gutenberg: The rights of man. Retrieved from "https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Age_of_Enlightenment&oldid=2487205"

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ReactOS Forum - Terms of use By accessing “ReactOS Forum” (hereinafter “we”, “us”, “our”, “ReactOS Forum”, “https://reactos.org/forum”), you agree to be legally bound by the following terms. If you do not agree to be legally bound by all of the following terms then please do not access and/or use “ReactOS Forum”. We may change these at any time and we’ll do our utmost in informing you, though it would be prudent to review this regularly yourself as your continued usage of “ReactOS Forum” after changes mean you agree to be legally bound by these terms as they are updated and/or amended. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where “ReactOS Forum” is hosted or International Law. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned, with notification of your Internet Service Provider if deemed required by us. The IP address of all posts are recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that “ReactOS Forum” have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should we see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered to being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent, neither “ReactOS Forum” nor phpBB shall be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

That time I ran the Tallinn Half Marathon without finishing my training schedule… Posted byRobin Henry November 15, 2022 November 1, 2022 Posted inReaderly on Writing In September, I had been on a training plan to complete a half marathon in October. I signed up for a 10k here in Tallinn as part of that training. However, I also made a date with a friend to go to the symphony on the same day. I didn’t think it mattered, since races all start in the morning, right? Wrong! The 10k was supposed to start at 5 PM and the symphony started at 7 PM. I am a slow runner, so the only way I would make both is to go to the symphony in my sweaty running clothes, which was a nonstarter. The half marathon started at 9 AM, though, which was totally doable. The only problem? The longest run I had done so far in my training was about 6 miles. I figured I could finish, but I would probably have to walk a lot of the second half. Here’s the thing, though. Once you start, there is a lot of positive pressure to keep going. Even if you are near the end of the group of runners, the first aid people and all the volunteers at the water stations are cheering, so you don’t want to let them down. The result? I finished the race, I ran most of it, and my time was only a little off my usual time for a half marathon. Full disclosure: I walk and ride my bike almost everywhere here, so running isn’t all the training I had been doing. My bet is that you’ve been doing some writing training like character sketches and outlines, too. What does this have to do with writing? Well, sometimes we start a program, like NaNo or a writing group or something and the momentum helps, even if we haven’t put all the work into the preparation that we would like to have. That can be a good thing! Having a draft is the first step to having a book. I wasn’t ready to set a personal record at this half marathon, but I enjoyed the run—it was a beautiful day, the course was lined with lovely people and views and I did finish. Maybe you don’t have a completed outline for your NaNo manuscript. Maybe, like me, you are going to need to walk a little, which means you won’t get 50,000 words in one month. That’s okay! Set a goal to finish and use the motivation you gain from the positive pressure to power your drafting. You may not actually finish the draft until a few months later. By the time I finished the race, the awards were all given out and the crowds at the finish were pretty thin, but I still got a medal and the chance to keep working on my running. If you finish the manuscript in January, you will still have a draft to revise. Just in case you need help figuring out what a realistic writing goal is, I made something for you. It is a Choose Your Own Writing Adventure Goal Calculator. Figure out how many words or scenes you need to produce for each writing session to hit a finished draft in a specified amount of time. Get your copy of the Calculator here Guest Post from Debra Borchert, author of Her Own Legacy NaNoNowWhat?

Why I’m Having Sex Until Marriage Thoughts - Aug 27, 2019 By: Editor SexMarriageDoing The Right Thing I know some people want to wait to have sex until marriage, but by the time I emerged into adulthood, the choice for me was clear – I wanted sex with my future husband to be special, and I wasn’t going to risk that by not learning how to have sex in the meantime. You see, my parents raised me to have too much self-respect to deny myself sexual pleasures in the many years that could come before marriage. I wasn’t going to disrespect myself – or my body – by handing it over to just one guy who may or may not be any good at sex. I have higher standards than that. And that’s why I’m constantly, relentlessly having sex before marriage. Between family, most friends and some coworkers, so many relationships are already focused on not having sex. Why would I need another? Just to wait until marriage to find out that someone who doesn’t know how to go down on me? I’d rather base my relationship on a variety of interests that includes making each other come regularly and find that out as early as possible. I’m currently with a guy who I think could be “the one.” And part of why I feel that way is because he’s never pressured me into not having sex for years on end. He let’s me do what I want with my body, which includes fucking him, sometimes for hours at a time if we’re up for it. And I can tell you: It’s almost never worth the wait. I know some people think it’ll be awkward to honeymoon with a man who already knows the ins and outs of your body, and knows that you know them as well, but I trust that when the time comes, we’ll work through the non-mystery of it all together. Figuring out how to traverse that smooth and easy road, will be part of our bonding experience as husband and wife. There won’t be any learning curve, and that’s fine. Because right now, I’m having all the sex until marriage. Others can judge me, but this is just something special I want to do for me, a person who is currently having lots and lots of sex. Why I’m Waiting Until Marriage For Everything Why I’m Waiting Until Marriage To Get A Divorce Why I’m Freezing My Kinder Eggs I LIVED IT: I Am Sick We Opened Our Relationship Because We Support Ethical Non-Monogamy, and Still Have 10 Months On Our Lease

12 Years After His Death, Eddie Guerrero’s Legacy as a Fronterizo Still Resonates Remembering Eddie Guerrero, WWE’s Latino Pioneer, On What Would Have Been His 50th Birthday Rey Mysterio Looks Back on the 1998 Eddie Guerrero Speech That Launched the Short-Lived Latino World Order

When to Leave a Job: 12 Signs to Watch Out For Deciding to leave a job is an important event in your professional career. While it is natural to have difficulties at work, experiencing a profound and ongoing discontent with your job is worth considering. It’s critical to differentiate between when you should work through a problem and when to leave a job. There are numerous legitimate personal and professional reasons to resign. So when to leave a job? Here are the signs to watch out for: 1. You are not maximizing your skills. While it is often convenient, a job that does not challenge you or your skills should be one of the reasons why you should leave. Maintaining this state may limit your possibilities for progress and result in feelings of complacency or frustration. This is especially true if your manager or senior leaders have denied you the opportunity to use diverse skill sets. 2. Your work is not aligned with your passion. When someone is passionate about their work, they develop a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment. Additionally, it usually results in increased rates of productivity, improved outcomes, and occasionally the feeling of not working at all. Without this, work can become tedious and resemble more of a job than a profession. Furthermore, you may feel that you are squandering your potential by failing to apply your skills to something you are passionate about. If you are dissatisfied with your job or the work of your company, try seeking another role. 3. No opportunities for growth. When your company’s growth opportunities have decreased, it’s usually time to move on. Opportunities for growth in a company are not restricted to promotions or vertical advancement. Moreover, opportunities may present themselves through employment on a new project, learning in a new part of the business, mentoring by a senior leader, or taking on a mid-level leadership position. Engage your manager and make a formal request for this type of opportunity before resigning. If your company cannot consider any kind of growth opportunity, this is a sign that you should leave. 4. You are grossly underpaid. While individuals may occasionally take a lower salary in exchange for a unique opportunity or non-monetary fringe benefits, you should consider quitting if you are considerably underpaid for your role. Being underpaid can indicate a misalignment between your perceived value and growth potential and that of the company. This incompatibility might have various consequences for the duties you are assigned and your time with the organization. Remaining in this situation can also result in dissatisfaction or resentment due to the logistical lifestyle consequences of a low salary, substandard healthcare, or other benefits. 5. You are incapable of fulfilling your job responsibilities. If you are incapable of fulfilling your job responsibilities due to a physical illness, sudden changes in your personal life, or structural changes within the company, you should think about leaving. Continually working in a position where your capacity to perform your job responsibilities is jeopardized puts you at risk of termination. Along with the immediate financial consequences of termination, getting laid off might negatively affect your capacity to find work elsewhere. Therefore, consider leaving the job if your efforts to modify your job responsibilities or the circumstances causing the difficulty are pointless. 6. You detest the thought of going to work. It’s natural to feel sad when the weekend is over or look forward to days off/vacation time. However, if you experience a pit in your stomach when you think about work or cannot sleep at night due to anxiety about going to work, it may be better to leave. While work does not have to be satisfying or enjoyable, you should feel at ease there. You spend a substantial chunk of your day at work, and if your time off is spent dreading your return, your physical and mental health are likely to suffer. 7. You cannot see yourself staying there in the long run. Like seeing no room for growth, if you cannot envision yourself staying at the company in the long run, it may be time to consider other possibilities. It can take anywhere from a few months to a year to find a new and more suitable job, so if you cannot see yourself working at your current employer a year from now, consider commencing your job hunt immediately. 8. Your ethics are compromised. When to leave a job? When you are forced to compromise your ethics or decision-making, it is time to quit. This is especially true in professional situations, where the potential long-term consequences for your career are significant. Even if the compromise is necessary to maintain your current job, it can have a detrimental effect on your capacity to obtain future employment as well as your morale and sense of pride in the process. 9. Work environment is toxic. A toxic work environment has consequences for your professional and personal satisfaction and is a red flag that you should consider quitting. Punitive and controlling management practices, mistrust and deception among senior leaders, public humiliation and/or harassment of employees, and inefficient communication are all indicators of an unhealthy work environment. Indicators of a toxic work environment sometimes include significant employee turnover, physical symptoms linked with coming to work, and employees fearful of punishment. If you find yourself in this situation, discover possible coping mechanisms and put them into practice as you look for a new job. 10. Your values do not coincide with the company’s. In connection with following your passion and compromising your ethics, if your personal beliefs do not fit with your company’s, this is likely a sign that you should leave. If this imbalance has not already resulted in pressure to violate your ethics, it is quite probable that it will happen in the future. Misalignment with corporate leaders, on the other hand, has consequences that extend beyond ethics. This can result in divergent approaches to work, conflicting prioritization of assignments, divergent methods of staff management, and different viewpoints on critical policies and tactics. Consider changing jobs before this misalignment develops into a serious conflict. 11. You require a greater sense of work-life balance. While a strong work ethic is a great trait and some extra labor is unavoidable, it may be time to resign if you find yourself working nonstop. Working an excessive amount of hours each week without maintaining a healthy work-life balance can have a detrimental effect on your health and well-being, as well as your productivity and job quality. If you cannot set limits with your management or establish more realistic expectations, explore career possibilities that offer a better work-life balance, and then quit your current role. 12. Everything is just overwhelming. Work can be stressful; this is an inescapable fact of life. However, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed about every minor setback or issue that arises, this may be an indication that you’re on the verge of burnout. Additionally, if projects or professional duties that formerly brought you joy are now unpleasant or heavy, it may indicate that you’re overworked, and it’s time to move on to another opportunity. Krizzia Paolyn is an SEO Specialist and holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She started her professional career as a writer for various digital magazines and renowned publications. It has always been her passion to share her voice, and at the same time, to encourage other people to speak up. Colleague vs. Coworker: What’s the Difference? The Best Answers to “Why Do You Want to Work For Us?” 10+ Best Hardwork Beats Talent Quotes for Your Office Wall 10+ Work Life Balance Quotes To Remind You To Take A Break

College of Aeronautics Showing 1 out of a total of 1 results for community: College of Aeronautics. (0.001 seconds) Note on the application of the linearised theory for compressible flow to transonic speeds  Robinson, A.; Young, A. D. (College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, ) Robinson, A. (1) Young, A. D. (1)

Browsing by Subject "Faculty of Education Review -- 2007" Education professional standards in Thailand (Assumption University, 2007) Methi Pilanthananond ; Assumption University. Graduate School of Education Education shall be based on the principle that all learners are capable of learning and self-development, and are regarded as being most important. The teaching-learning process shall aim at enabling the learners to develop themselves at their own pace and to the best of their potential. Education can be provided through formal, non-formal, and informal approaches, with emphasis on knowledge, morality, the learning process, and integration of the following factors depending on their appropriateness for each level of education

Myths, legends and fairy tales London : Harrap & Co (x) › London : Harrap & Company (x) › English (x) The Maastricht University (UM) owns more than fifty fairy tale books from the end of the nineteenth to the beginnings of the twentieth century. They are often beautifully illustrated. And they are also invaluable as a source for research and education at our university. Not only for children Fairy tales are usually seen as stories for children, but that is not the case originally. They often have a dark side, which is also interesting for scientific education and research. What do they tell us about time spirit and social constellation? What can we learn about plot, character and structure from myth and fable? What is the psychological dimension of fairy tales? Analysing can enrich various aspects of our knowledge level. Discover some of the finest works of art ever created The fairy tale books are precious pieces in the UM’s Special Collections. All major authors are represented: Shakespeare, Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens. The majority of these books is printed in English. Forty-eight are richly illustrated in Art Nouveau style. Consult this extensive range of tales from the Golden Age of illustrations. Investigate the dark worlds of the occult to twisted fairy tales. Discover some of the finest works of art ever created for children’s literature. You can also visit the University Library (Inner City Library) to have a look at the original books. More information on how to request books from the closed stacks. .

Can’t Get You Out of My Head: The Effects of Avoidance Eliciting Anti-tobacco Warning Messages Jazmyne Sutton, University of Pennsylvania BACKGROUND: Previous observational and longitudinal analyses have shown that smokers’ intention to avoid pictorial warning messages (PWMs) on cigarette packs is associated with later quit attempts. However, little research has explored the theoretical and causal mechanism by which avoidance elicitation increases message effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: This dissertation systematically characterized the avoidance elicitation of a large set of anti-tobacco pictorial warning messages (PWMs) and then determine the effects of avoidance elicitation experimentally. METHOD: In the first study, a content analysis procedure for a set of 319 PWMs was conducted. Then ratings of intentions to avoid and perceived effectiveness were gathered from a sample of current smokers. In the next study, a subset of PWMs were used to develop an avoidance elicitation. A new sample of current smokers participated in a variety of tasks with the PWMs and the scores from these tasks were aggregated to create a validated avoidance elicitation measure. In the final experimental study, a set of high and low avoidance eliciting PWMs were selected. Participants were randomly assigned to an exposure session with high or low avoidance eliciting PWMs. Then measures of beliefs about smoking, message recognition, attitudes towards smoking, and intentions to quit were assessed. A follow up survey 10 days later reassessed these measures. RESULTS: Analyses showed that when exposed to high avoidance eliciting PWMs, current smokers had higher levels of recall and recognition of not only the images from the PWMs but also the textual warning statements compared to low avoidance eliciting PWMs. Furthermore, recognition of the images and text statements had lasting effects up to 10 days after initial exposure. Recognition of both images and text statements was also positively associated with negative beliefs about smoking, attitudes towards smoking, and intention to quit. CONCLUSIONS: Avoidance elicitation is an underlying message characteristic that can be efficiently assessed. Moreover, high levels of avoidance elicitation can be integrated into cigarette pack messages as well as other warning messages in order to increase message processing. Sutton, Jazmyne, "Can’t Get You Out of My Head: The Effects of Avoidance Eliciting Anti-tobacco Warning Messages" (2019). Dissertations available from ProQuest. AAI27663323.

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Gulf.gov Council-Selected Restoration Component Spill Impact Component The official website of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council The Gulf Coast ecosystem is vital to our Nation and our economy, providing valuable natural resources, abundant seafood, extraordinary beaches and recreational activities, and a rich cultural heritage. Its waters and coast are home to one of the most diverse environments in the world-- including over 15,000 species of sea life. More than 22 million Americans live in Gulf coastal counties and parishes, working in crucial U.S. industries such as oil and gas production, commercial seafood, recreational fishing, and tourism. The region also boasts of a significant shipping industry, including 10 of America’s 15 largest ports, accounting for nearly a trillion dollars in trade each year. Much of this value is built upon the Gulf Coast environment and the many benefits it provides. Despite this richness, the region’s ecosystem has endured significant natural catastrophes and other factors that have threatened the natural resources of the region over the past decade. The loss of critical wetland habitats, erosion of barrier islands and other coastal areas, imperiled fisheries, water quality degradation and significant coastal land loss due to natural forces, the alteration of hydrology and other human activities are just a few examples. Against this backdrop, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, cost 11 men their lives and set into motion one of the largest environmental disasters in our nation’s history. For months, thousands of people worked to stop the flow of oil from the wellhead and to protect our shorelines, wildlife and coastal communities. We also looked to the future, understanding that an event of this magnitude would take the collective thinking and cooperation of the entire region. This would ensure that the Gulf recovered not only from the effects of the spill, but from natural and other catastrophes that threaten the natural resources, as well as the people who rely on those resources for their food, fun, and livelihoods in the region. In recognition of both the severity of the spill as well as the challenges facing the region, on June 15, 2010, President Obama issued a request to the people of the Gulf and the rest of the nation to commit to the recovery of the region not only from the spill, but to address broader ecosystem challenges brought on by storms, development pressures and other stressors. He called on Ray Mabus, then Secretary of the Navy, to develop a long-term restoration plan for the Gulf Coast, entitled: America’s Gulf Coast: A Long Term Recovery Plan after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The recommendations from that initial effort laid the groundwork for passing legislation to fund restoration efforts, as well as the development of strategies and plans to guide the region toward a comprehensive approach to restoration that takes into account the environmental, economic and cultural value of the Gulf Coast region. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force On October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13554, which established the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (Task Force) “to coordinate intergovernmental responsibilities, planning, and exchange of information to better implement Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration and to facilitate appropriate accountability and support throughout the restoration process.” The primary charge of the Task Force was to create a unified, strategic approach to restore the region’s ecosystem. In October 2011, Task Force members published a Gulf of Mexico Regional Ecosystem Restoration Strategy (Strategy) and the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Science Assessment and Needs that articulated an overarching vision for restoration. The Task Force developed the Strategy with the input of local partners, scientists, tribes, and the public. The foundation of the Strategy document consists of four ecosystem restoration goals to facilitate long-term restoration: Restore and Conserve Habitat Restore Water Quality Replenish and protect living marine and coastal resources Enhance community resilience Learn more about the Task Force. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council In 2012, the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act) established the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for recovery. In Executive Order 16326, President Obama dissolved the Task Force and charged the Council with incorporating the Task Force’s work into their continuing work to guide restoration efforts in the region. In July 2012, the RESTORE Act established the Council, comprised of the governors of the States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, as well as the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, the Army, Commerce, Homeland Security and the Interior, and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At that time, the Gulf States recommended and President Obama appointed the Secretary of Commerce as the Council’s first Chair. In March 2016, the Secretary of Agriculture became the Council Chair, and in January 2018 the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency became the Council Chair. Learn more about the current Council Members. One of the Council's primary responsibilities was to develop a comprehensive plan to restore the ecosystem and the economy of the Gulf Coast region. The Council approved the August 2013 Initial Comprehensive Plan: Restoring the Gulf Coast's Ecosystem and Economy (Initial Comprehensive Plan), which provided a framework to implement a coordinated, Gulf Coast region-wide restoration effort in a way that restores, protects and revitalizes the Gulf Coast. Since the release of the Initial Comprehensive Plan, the Council has conducted numerous public meetings to collect feedback on the Initial Funded Priorities List. On September 14, 2022, the Council voted to approve the 2022 Comprehensive Plan Update: Restoring the Gulf Coast Ecosystem and Economy. This is the second updateto the 2013 Initial Comprehensive Plan: Restoring the Gulf Coast's Ecosystem and Economy. This update continues to build upon it's commitments to ensure that the Gulf's natural resources are sustainable and available for future generations. Learn more about the Comprehensive Plan. Council Selected Restoration Component Receiving RESTORE Council email updates Our Restoration Partners About the RESTORE Act Initial Response to the Spill Annual Reports to Congress Annual Performance Plans and Reports Planning Framework Council Documents (FOIA Library) Funded Priorities List 3a Funded Priorities List 3b 2017 Funded Priorities List CPS 2015 Funded Priorities List Spill Impact Component Rule RESTORE Education Opportunities Series Best Available Science RestoreTheGulf.gov Site Notices & Plugins

Exclusives for I.T’s 30th anniversary Staff Writer November 19, 2018 I.T has collaborated with an array of influential brands to offer a selection of exclusive merchandise as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations.…

There is a saying that goes “May you live in interesting times” and depending on who you ask it is meant either as a blessing or as a curse. I have always considered it a blessing. After all, who wants to be bored? It is also “interesting” that although the saying has often been attributed to Chinese culture, there appears to be no solid evidence of this.[1] The application to today’s situation – and the parallels of attribution – are worth noting for a moment, though not dwelling on. That COVID-19 originated in China seems to be effectively certain. That it has anything to do with Chinese culture is not (in a country with almost 1.4 billion people how can we designate any one practice as national culture?) That it has thrust us into interesting times is clear. How we behave is going to be something we learn from and talk about for the rest of our lives. I like breaking down my own experience into two categories: Fear and Opportunity. I’ll talk about both. The fear. Well this is an obvious one, right? I am afraid the virus will overload our health care system. I am afraid of getting the virus. I am afraid that my loved ones will get the virus. I am afraid that myself or someone I love will need hospital care for some other reason and not be able to get it. This is first and foremost. Like almost everyone reading this, I have loved ones who are vulnerable. I cherish them. I want to protect them. But even for my loved ones who are not vulnerable, I don’t want them to get sick. The threat of COVID-19 is something we can’t see, and it travels on our network – the very network we turn to for much of what we consider a happy existence. Humans are a social species. We rely on our pack to survive and thrive. And the virus uses that exact connection to spread. So, we are in a time where we must go against our culture and our very human instincts and disrupt the network. This naturally creates more fear. We are programmed to find safety and security in our social connections, and these are the very connections we must sever in order to break up the network. There is no human alive who has lived through a time like quite this, though there are certainly those who have lived through arguably worse. In modern memory though, this kind of reaction to pandemic exists only in history books and in movies. So, it’s scary for sure. But the fear also creates the opportunity. If forced to select a time in my life where this was going to happen, well this is the time I would select. There is no human alive who has lived through a time like this – a time where connectivity is so easily established without physical presence, where we have successfully created a new network on which a biological virus can not travel. A time where respect and understanding has been pushing itself more and more to the forefront of our considerations in how to deal with each other. A time where mental health issues like anxiety and depression have become something we are no longer expected to conceal and endure in isolation, but rather to share and explore so that we can help each other grow and be better. And while much has been discussed about the dangers of this non-physical connectivity, we are now faced with the opportunity to show how we can overcome those dangers and use it for immeasurable good. We are feeling isolated – we can connect. We are feeling anxious – we can share. We have been feeling exploited and tainted by social media – we can exploit it right back and use it in ways we always wanted to but instead allowed it to deteriorate into a morass of rage and AI marketing. Most importantly, we can connect with those who we are still face-to-face with. Our families. As a teacher, my plan is to use what I know and what I am learning about connectivity to continue this year’s delivery of curriculum. It won’t feel exactly like being in class. I have done some experimenting already and I can tell you this – while inferior in ways, it is also superior in other ways, and we will allow ourselves to see it, to embrace it, and to grow. Patience is key, but so is enthusiasm. And I am happy to tell you that swirling around with the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety that I’m having about this pandemic and the measures we are taking, is a maelstrom of enthusiasm that is unyielding. We’ll make it work. As a human, my plan is to continue to exercise proper caution, in the hopes that months from now there will be a whole slew of people who will be able to criticize what we have been doing as overreaction, using evidence of a less severe outcome to back their claims. I will wait as we all settle into this temporary new normal, and as our politicians perhaps speed up the recognition and acknowledgment of what experts have been saying since the outbreak started. We will have food. We will have our prescriptions. And with care and some healthy paranoia, we will have access to health care when and if we need it. None of us signed up for this, but we can handle it. Humans have weathered worse, under much less optimal conditions! [1] From Wikipedia, citing Garson O-Toole: “Despite being so common in English as to be known as the “Chinese curse”, the saying is apocryphal, and no actual Chinese source has ever been produced. The most likely connection to Chinese culture may be deduced from analysis of the late-19th-century speeches of Joseph Chamberlain, probably erroneously transmitted and revised through his son Austen Chamberlain.” Author Rich DlinPosted on March 17, 2020 Categories COVID-19, Family, Health, Mental Health, Miscellaneous musings, Philosophy, PoliticsTags coronaovirus, COVID-19, interesting times, online learning, pandemic, perspective, TeachingLeave a comment on Interesting Times Recently I have been thinking a lot about why so many people seem inconvincible of certain things which I hold to be true. And while I could certainly make a list of some of these things, that is not the intention of this blog entry. Instead, I have been reflecting on open-mindedness and wanted to share. Many people – myself included – often enter into discourse with someone of a differing opinion with the intention of convincing them to change their mind. For example, maybe your friend Paul thinks all trees in your neighborhood that are taller than 12 feet should be pruned to 12 feet or less, so as not to obstruct anyone’s view of the lakefront. You know that he’s clearly wrong! You get into a discussion. Only it’s not really a discussion – it’s an argument each of you is trying to win. Maybe out of frustration you start incorporating personal attacks. Maybe you get so angry at Paul’s refusal to capitulate, as well as the horrible things he is saying about you, that it ends your friendship. Maybe in the middle of the night, Paul prunes all of your tall trees. Maybe the next night you erect a 30 foot statue on your lawn directly in Paul’s line of sight to the lake … and so on. It’s sad, and you don’t even like the statue, but what choice is there? Paul must be taught a lesson. I wish this was hyperbole. Sadly, it is not. And the conclusion is clearly suboptimal. Well … let me construct a basis for discussion with some (hopefully) fair assumptions. In doing so I’m going to have to use a little bit of math terminology, and it occurs to me that some people might not know precisely what I mean, or even be put-off by some of my more mathematical references. If you think this might be the case, I ask you to bear with me. The concepts and symbols I use are the best way for me to illustrate my point, and I’ve included here a bit of a math lesson, in case it is not something you’ve encountered in your life – it will clarify some of the words and concepts I use for the rest of this article. Of course, if you feel there’s no need for you to read this section, by all means scroll past it and keep reading (I won’t feel bad). Some Math concepts Mathematicians like to talk about collections of values that are somehow related, and when they do, they use the word set. We use curly brackets to list the objects (known as elements) of a set. So for example the set is a set I have named , and just so you know, it is the set containing all the fruits I might bring to work with me in my lunch. A subset of a set is another set that only contains elements from . So for example is the set of fruits I brought to work in my lunch on Monday, and is a subset of . On the other hand, is not a subset of . A Little Bit of Algebra (Apologies to the Arithmophobic) Consider this simple algebra equation: The and are understood to be symbolic of numbers, but the use of symbols mean that they vary – which is to say, they are variable. The equation is a statement. In this particular statement, would be a valid solution (i.e., the equation becomes true), since So would would not be a solution (i.e., the equation becomes false), since which is not 7. In math and philosophy, a statement is a sentence that must either be true or false (but not both, and not maybe). Very often the truth value (i.e., “true” or “false”) of the statement depends on values for variables contained in the statement. The algebra equation above is a statement. Another example is the statement “I like cheese”, which contains two variables: “I”, and “cheese”. If the “I” refers to “Rich Dlin” (i.e., it is me speaking and not you), and the “cheese” refers to “Havarti”, then the statement is true. If the “I” is “Rich Dlin”, and the “cheese” is “Cambozola”, the statement (I promise you) is false. Notice that if the “cheese” were to refer to “gingerbread cookie” the statement would be nonsense, since “gingerbread cookie” is not a cheese – even though it is true that I like gingerbread cookies, it is irrelevant in the context of this statement. A mathematician would say “gingerbread cookie” is not an element of the set of all cheeses. Going back to the algebra example, {(1,1),(3,-2)} is a subset of the set of solutions to the equation given. The actual set has an infinite number of solutions in it, but that’s more than I need to talk about here. What I will say is that the truth value of the statement “Three times John’s favorite number plus four times Gail’s favorite number will yield seven” is: True if (“John’s favorite number“, “Gail’s favorite number“) belongs to the set of solutions of 3x + 4y = 7, False if (“John’s favorite number“, “Gail’s favorite number“) does not belong to the set of solutions of 3x + 4y = 7, and Nonsense if, for example, John claims his favorite number is “cinnamon“. Be on the lookout for nonsense – it is surprisingly common. The Assumptions Ok. Welcome back. Here are the assumptions I was talking about: All questions have a right answer … … when the answer is justified properly with a well framed statement. The truth value of the statement may be subject to variables that change which answer is correct, but with a fixed set of values for the variables, there is a right answer. For example, the question “Should all trees taller than 12 feet in our neighborhood be pruned?” could be answered “Yes”, justified with the statement “It is unacceptable for some trees in our neighborhood to block sight lines to the lakefront”. Note that here the answer to the question is “yes” if the statement is true, and “no” if the statement is false, and may reasonably depend on whether or not the tree is also so wide, or part of a grove, as to make it impossible for a resident to see the lakefront from a different angle standing on the same property. It may also depend on whether 12 feet is a reasonable height with respect to whether or not sight lines get blocked. In this case these variables need to be introduced into the statement, or else agreed upon as not being variable. The right answer may well not be knowable … … even with the variable values fixed – which doesn’t mean there is no right answer! As an example, consider the question “How many humans are alive on Earth right now?” The number changes many times in a short span of time. So the truth value of the answer depends on what time it is indexed to. The answer is subject to a definition of “alive”, and the answers to whether or not some organisms are living humans are in dispute. “On” Earth needs to be defined. If I am in an airplane, am I on Earth? What if I am in low orbit? However there is an answer, if we fix the variables. There is currently no way, even with the variables fixed, to know the answer. Knowing the truth is inherently valuable. This is a big one. Many people demonstrate by their behavior that they do not adhere to this assumption. A simple example is the person who refuses to go to the doctor about a problem because they are afraid of what they might find out. In some ways, not wanting to know the truth is a human quality, especially in situations where a false belief has spawned an entire tree of values and beliefs we have been living by. If the root belief is false, what happens to the tree? When it Comes to Truth, What We Want Doesn’t Matter So with these assumptions, my position is that for any belief I hold, I am either right or wrong, and that I may not be able to tell. So then what am I to make of someone who disagrees? Can I immediately conclude that they are wrong? Clearly not. However I freely admit I want them to be wrong, so that I don’t have to be. After all, being wrong has some negative implications. On a fairly benign end it means I have been somehow deluded, which injures my pride. On an extreme end it may mean I have to discard an entire tree of conclusions that were premised on my error, leaving behind a buzzing hive of uncomfortable questions and observations about my previous behavior. But if the root belief is actually wrong, what choice do I really have? Since it is rooted in falsehood, the whole tree is an illusion anyway. Here is a hard truth: What we want has nothing to do with what is true. I want there to be peace in the Middle East. But there is not peace in the Middle East, and no amount of wishing on my part, no matter how fervent, can alter the truth value of this or any other statement. On the other hand, what is true can and should definitely impact what I want. What we all want. Ok. Here is another statement that is tautologically true: In the set of things I hold to be true, some might be false. And from a probability perspective, I am also comfortable saying that in the set of things I hold to be true, some are true, and some are false. I want to say “most are true and some are false”, but I am honestly not sure I have a reasonable argument to claim that, so we’ll leave it there as a desire more than a fact. Now I will focus on statements where the truth depends on fixing values for the variables in the statement., which to me is the core of the shades of gray argument: In cases where there is a continuum of possibilities between true and false, almost everything in the set of things I hold to be true lies somewhere within the boundaries of the continuum, rather than on one of the ends. Here a philosopher or mathematician might (and should!) argue that there can be no continuum between true and false, since those are binary options. My response is that I am talking about a sphere of reasonable answers centered on the truth, where anything outside the sphere is easily demonstrated to be false (or worse, nonsense), but things get a little more touchy inside the sphere. This is a consequence of my point about the truth of a statement depending on fixing values for variables the statement depends upon. To elaborate on this, I am going to define something called an assumption set. Assumption Set Suppose a statement depends on a set of variables. For example, consider the statement “Running is good for you.” The truth of this is not absolute. It depends on some variables: How much running (the quantity of the running)? How intense (the quality of the running)? What preconditions do you have that running would exacerbate (e.g, bad knees, asthma, heart problems)? Where do you plan to do your running (road, track, beach)? So before we could discuss whether the statement is true, we would have to fix values for these variables. I call these fixed values the assumption set. So for example an assumption set for this statement could be Notice that one of the elements (the preconditions) in this assumption set is itself a set – that’s completely acceptable. On the whole, I would judge this assumption set to be a reasonable one – which is to say, the elements of the set have a probability associated with them that makes them not unexpected in the context of discussing the claim that “Running is good for you.” Another assumption set could be On the whole, I would judge this assumption set to be very unreasonable – which is to say, it is highly improbable that this would be an assumption set on which the claim “Running is good for you” would be a relevant discussion. Reasonable Answers (Approximately True?) A reasonable answer to a question can be defined as a statement that is true when evaluated with a plausible assumption set. That is to say, the assumption set is comprised of elements that have probabilities high enough that if we observed them we would not be surprised. In situations where the variables are in constant flux, the approximate truth value of a statement may be argued as the one that holds given the most likely assumption set. In cases like this, we may generalize a statement as true, while being willing to challenge it in the face of a game-changing assumption set. We maybe won’t talk about who gets to define “plausible”, even though there are times when that becomes the most relevant thing. Arguing(?) With an Open Mind Here I have chosen to use the word “arguing”, even though in truth I prefer the word “discussing”. That’s because most people seem to think that discussions between people in disagreement need to be arguments. I disagree. Remember the assumption that we are not right about everything? And remember the assumption that knowing the truth is inherently valuable? These two should premise every discussion we enter into. So when discussing the answers to questions, or the truth about statements, we need to do our best to remember that what we are trying to do is get as close to the center of the sphere as possible, because that is a good thing to do, and because we may not be there yet. Of course, we all think we are closer than an opponent. If not, we wouldn’t be having the discussion in the first place. But keeping in mind that if two people are in disagreement, one of them must be wrong, a productive conversation is one where at the end of it the parties have converged on something they both hold to be as close to true as they can see getting. When this happens, the world gets a win. I’ll list some techniques for true open-mindedness. Discussing With an Open Mind Remember that you might be wrong. Put another way, be willing to change your mind, or adjust the approximate truth of what you believe. See, you believe that you are probably right. You may even believe that you are certainly right (although for the truly reflective, certainty is a pretty difficult thing to attain). But your opponent has the same thoughts. Both of you probably have many reasons for these. And they probably have a lot to do with assumption sets, and which one of you is applying the most plausible set. Sometimes the discussion is not about the truth of the statement but on the plausibility of the assumption set. Keep that in mind. Yours may be the less plausible. Or maybe both assumption sets are equally plausible, in which case the statement can be split into two (or more) more detailed statements that include some of the differing assumptions explicitly. But keep in mind that emotional attachment to an assumption set can and will blind you to the plausibility of an alternate set, and ultimately cause you to refute a statement with unreasonable (even fanatical) obstinacy. Have higher expectations for yourself than you do for your opponent. This means you need to challenge yourself to inspect the assumptions and claims of yourself and your opponent objectively, even if they are not doing the same thing. When you do this – and do it out loud – they hear that. Look at elements of the assumption sets and objectively evaluate their probability. Also evaluate whether they change the truth value of the statement or not. And be prepared to evaluate whether or not they render the statement as nonsense – this happens surprisingly often but it’s not obvious until it is isolated. Discussing things this way models a behavior that is necessary for the two of you to converge on a conclusion you both agree with. And if you are consistent with it, your opponent will often adopt the same style, if only because they think this is the way to convince you they are right. Thank your opponent, regardless of the outcome. I don’t mean this as a politeness. I mean this in the most sincere sense. Any opportunity we get to reflect on our set of beliefs is valuable. Sometimes your opponent and you will converge. Sometimes you will not, and they leave the exchange completely unmoved, perhaps even claiming “victory”. This is sad, since the only true victory would be a convergence of opinion, but ultimately it is not relevant to your own experience. Make it so that if you have moved on a topic, it is because you discovered something you were not considering, or were considering incorrectly, and now you are closer to the center of the sphere of truth. If you do not move, make it because you were not presented with any strong evidence that you needed to. In either case your beliefs will have been strengthened in some way, either because you changed to something as a result of new insight, or because you were challenged in some way, and it was unsuccessful. For this you have your opponent to thank. How to Spot Real Open-Mindedness Many people claim to be open-minded. It may be true, or it may be a trick (some people say it so that when you fail to convince them of something it will prove they were right). True open-mindedness doesn’t mean you are ready to believe anything. It means you are willing to change your mind when presented with evidence that objectively compels you to do so. If you know of (or are) someone who has changed their mind in the moment, during rational discourse, but who was fairly slow to do so, they are probably the type of person I am describing. This goes back to my point that we are probably not right about everything we believe. Which means mind-changing can occur. Which means if you’ve seen it occur, it occurred in someone with an open mind. Author Rich DlinPosted on October 29, 2017 November 30, 2017 Categories Argument, Debate, Math, Miscellaneous musings, Open-Mindedness, Philosophy, PoliticsTags Argument, assumptions, belief, Debate, Humanity, math, mathematics, morality, opinion, peace, Philosophy, reflection, relationships, skepticism, social media, thinking, thought, truthLeave a comment on Open-Mindedness Politicians Don’t Win Elections Last night the Liberal party got elected to a majority government in the province of Ontario. This means Kathleen Wynne remains the Premier of Ontario. I am disgusted. To be fair, there was no outcome that would not have resulted in my disgust so no need for Liberal party freaks to go all ballistic on me – unless you think it will make you feel better in which case go ahead. It’s a free internet. Anyway … today I’ve seen countless pictures of Wynne doing the fist pump victory pose. Kathleen Wynne after being elected Premier in 2014 Each time I see one of these photos I get more and more irritated, and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why that is. Contrary to the obvious reason, it is not because I wanted someone else to get elected, because I really don’t think anyone who was running was going to be worse than anyone else. It is also not because I feel let down in general, although I do. No, I’ve come to realize that I am irritated by what it represents. It represents victory, and getting elected is not a victory. At least that’s not what it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be an assignment. It is absolutely disgusting that politicians celebrate an election as though they won a lottery, or some kind of major sports championship. In sports, skill, long hours of practice, unwavering dedication to excellence and gritty determination in competition lead to victory. In sports you have to best your opponent and the championship is the reward for doing so. It is meaningful because it represents the culmination of all the work that went into winning, and it warrants celebration as a way of saying “Yes! Look at what we have accomplished!” In politics getting elected does not mean you have accomplished anything of significance. It means you managed to convince a population that you are the right leader, who, in theory, intends to accomplish a great deal. These days that means you were the best liar with the most effective propaganda campaign, who most successfully demonized the other candidates, along with a mainstream media that shoveled your lies for you. How admirable. Dalton McGuinty after being elected Premier in 2011 The big celebrations politicians have make me wonder – really, deeply wonder – if they realize that what they have “won” is the burden to lead responsibly and to follow through on the promises to their constituents, as opposed to advancing their own personal goals of fame, power and money. It means they have been given a chance to accomplish great things. Getting elected to public office is the beginning of a long season. It is not a championship. But politicians sure act like it is. They prance around and accept the praise of the minions as though they have earned some great personal victory. As though they have WON. See how victorious they are? See how they accept the love and praise of the crazed masses? A political victory is not a trophy. It’s a gigantic group of people saying “You said you could make this world better for us. We believe you. we trust you. Please do it.” I can hear the arguments now. People will say “They are celebrating the opportunity to follow through on campaign promises and to make positive change. They are celebrating with the constituents because they believe, more fervently than anyone else, that their getting elected is the best thing that could happen for the population and they only want what’s best.” To those people I say “Do you really believe that? Do you really believe the celebration is not a great big self-congratulation on how awesome the person is?” Our society and our politicians have forgotten what it means to elect a leader in a democracy. We’ve forgotten that it means we just hired someone to do an important job. That they work for us. What other job has the bosses throwing giant adoration parties for the new hire? It’s absurd. In any company a boss celebrates an employee only after they have made good on the promise they showed in the interview process. They don’t attend parties thrown by the new employee and cheer rabidly as the person they just hired raises their arms in victory. If it were me having been elected I would not be celebrating. I would be scared to death in much the same way I was when my kids were born, or the first time I had to go into a classroom and be an educator and mentor to a room full of other people’s children. I would be looking forward to celebrating the successes of my tenure in much the same way I celebrate my kids’ successes as they grow, or my students’ successes as they learn. I would be standing in front of my constituents, humbled, acknowledging that I understand the burden of the trust they have placed in me, and then I would get to work. I would save celebrations for times when something was accomplished that made their lives better. I would not have a party to kick it all off, simply so political junkies could hoist me on a pedestal and proclaim my greatness. Maybe that’s a character flaw of mine, but I don’t think so. And I would not pump my fists. My fist pumps would come later. After I had actually accomplished something people could celebrate. Author Rich DlinPosted on June 13, 2014 Categories PoliticsTags corruption, dalton mcguinty, election, greed, kathleen wynne, lies, ontario election, ontario premier, political victory, politicians2 Comments on Politicians Don’t Win Elections

9027 Columbia Road | Olmsted Falls, Ohio 44138 Meet the Riverview Pointe Care Center Team Our management team is dedicated to overseeing the day to day operations of resident care. Each member of our team brings passion and dedication to the work that they do. Individually, each manager's education and expertise help make a well balanced and experienced team. Mallory Boss - Administrator Mallory has been the Administrator at Riverview Pointe since 2017. She graduated from Ohio University in 2010 and started her career in long-term care. After watching her mom work as a nurse growing up, she knew she wanted to work in healthcare. Mallory worked in Admissions and Marketing before overseeing her first facility in Huron, OH, at Admirals Pointe – a Foundations facility. Mallory is a natural-born leader and takes pride in making sure her residents are comfortable and cared for. In her free time, she enjoys working out, spending time with her friends and family, and her dog, Moe. Christina Williams - Director of Nursing Christina brings 16 years of Nursing experience to Riverview Pointe. She began her long-term care career 20 years ago. This experience includes working in many facets such as activities, dietary, and housekeeping roles. Christina became part of the Foundations family in 2011. In 2013 she started a path in Nursing Leadership, and she fell in love with it. Christina prides herself in building and maintaining a strong nursing team by providing ongoing education and guidance. She is honored to be able to help residents and families obtain the highest level of care in a skilled nursing setting. Christina is married with three children and two pups. She is also a Hockey Mom and enjoys cooking and spending time with loved ones. Theresa Weiss - Assistant Director of Nursing Theresa has been with Foundations Health for over 10 years! She is currently working to become a Registered Nurse from an LPN. She manages our rehabilitation unit, The Greens, and is also our Wound Nurse for the facility. She became a nurse to help people and says her favorite about her job is the amazing team I work with and continuously learning new things every day. Theresa said the best part about her job is caring for her residents and supporting the residents and families through their difficult times. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family and working towards furthering her education. Jackie Santos - Assistant Director of Nursing Jackie has been a Registered Nurse for nine years. She has been with Riverview Pointe for six of those years and oversees two of our long-term care wings, including our Memory Care unit, Serenity Circle. Jackie loves spending time getting to know the residents and enjoys making their days as bright as they can be. Outside of work, she has started raising chickens and currently has six that lay eggs for her. She also has two boys, a husband, and they all love to be outside as much as they can! Ashley Montalvo - Unit Manager Ashley has been a part of the Riverview family since 2009 and oversees Kingston Gardens and Comfort Lane as Nurse Unit Manager. Ashley started as an STNA and later obtained her nursing license and has worked as a charge nurse since 2012. Ashley is very outgoing and is always excited to learn new things. She is always willing to help anywhere she is needed and will put a smile on anyone's face. Ashley loves spending time with her family, especially her baby girl, Lucy, and her two pups. She enjoys spending her summers in Catawba Island fishing on her pontoon boat. Sarah Cochrac - Transitions Nurse Sarah has been a Registered Nurse at Riverview Pointe Care Center since 2017. She began working with the elderly when she started volunteering in a nursing home at the age of 12. Her role is to focus on residents' admission into the facility as well as their discharge back to the community. She is one of five siblings and has an adorable 9-year-old pup named Jazzy. Sarah has traveled to Australia and enjoys spending free time with her family. "I feel blessed to have started my nursing career at Riverview Pointe Care Center-I have certainly grown over the years. I love working with my amazing coworkers and spending time with residents. I enjoy being able to use my knowledge and skills to improve the lives of others." Monica Bruggeman - Director of Admissions Monica has been with Riverview Pointe since January of 2018, prior to that, she worked with our sister facility, Huntington Woods, doing Admissions and Social Services. She has been working in long-term care since she graduated from college in 2012 from Bowling Green State University. Monica enjoys spending time with the residents. Making connections and relationships is important to her. She was also an STNA throughout college on an Alzheimer's Care Memory Unit at a skilled nursing facility in Kirtland, OH. Monica has a wonderful husband and two children that she loves to spoil. She also has a Golden Retriever named Piper that she brings to work that all of the residents love to see! Sara Mallery - Admissions Assistant and Medical Records Sara spent time at Riverview as an intern from August 2020-March 2021 and accepted her current role in July 2021 doing Admissions and Medical Records. She likes learning new things about each position as they are very different. Sara graduated from Kent State University before doing her internship and obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare Administration. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her boyfriend and dog, Kobe, going to different parks. Katie Kachmyers – Director of Social Services Katie attended Bowling Green State University (go Falcons!), where she obtained my Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology. It is really important to her that she is in a field where she can make a difference on a personal level, and that is what drew her to the field and to Riverview. When she is not working, she is spending time with her two dogs, cat, husband, and her baby, Margie. They love traveling and spending time exploring new places. Tracy Clark - Licensed Social Worker Tracy started her social work career at the Alzheimer’s Association Cleveland Area Chapter as a dementia care coach and support group specialist. This is where Tracy found her passion to provide assistance to caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Since then, she has worked in the long-term care setting assisting families with navigating facility care for their loved ones. She also serves on the board of LIFE: A Dementia Friendly Foundation. Utilizing her bachelor’s degree in social work from Youngstown State University and her certification as a dementia practitioner, Tracy brings compassion and empathy while advocating for others. Tracy’s vast knowledge of community resources is an asset everyone can appreciate when navigating the care needed for your loved ones. In her free time she enjoys reading and cooking, spending time with her family, and her 2 dogs and 4 cats. Christine Singler - Director of Therapy Christine has been with Riverview Pointe since 2020, bringing over 27 years of experience with her as a PTA. After graduating from the University of Toledo, she began a travel therapist position going across the United States and working in different levels of care as a PTA. Her favorite assignment was at a skilled nursing facility in Connecticut, so when she was assigned a similar position in Cleveland, she decided to stay and began her career in managing a therapy department. In her free time, Christine loves to travel the world – most recently to Kenya and Tanzania. When she is not traveling, she loves to play volleyball and spend time with family. Her favorite thing about working with our population is watching someone progress, and finds it so rewarding to help someone along their journey to return home. Chris Belford - Business Office Manager Chris has been with Riverview Pointe since March of 2018 as our Business Office Manager. She has spent many years working with accounts payable and receivable and with residents and their trust funds. Chris plans to retire in a few years and continue making her own wines. She enjoys taking long rides on her motorcycle with her husband and is always up for trying new things. She especially loves to spend time with her four grandsons. Sue Varnis - Director of Human Resources Sue oversees our Human Resources Department and is also an LPN. She became a nurse because she knew she wanted to help people. Human Resources highlights her strengths: communication, organization, problem-solving, and quick thinking. Outside of work, Sue loves spending time with her family, reading, and singing. Sam Jacullo – Director of Environmental Services Sam is the Clinical Staffing Coordinator, Central Supply, and Environmental Service Director here at Riverview Pointe Care Center. Sam started here in 2008 as an STNA and moved into a management role in 2016. Sam became an STNA because she wanted to help people and make a difference in someone's life. Being a part of the wellbeing and care of the Residents here is why she comes to work every day. She feels she has a knack for learning and the knowledge to lend a hand in all aspects here at Riverview Pointe. Outside of work, she raises three very wonderful boys that keep her on her toes. Her boys have spent a lot of time here and my hope is they to grow up to want to help people and make a difference the way she has. Mary George-Potting - Activities Director Mary has been a part of Riverview since nearly the beginning! She started in 2007 in housekeeping and laundry and then joined the activities department where she has grown ever since. She said that activities has been the best job she has ever had. Mary enjoys spending time with her large family and special friends, taking drives, and taking pictures. Going to church and time spent with her Lord is very important to her. She also animal sits for families and friends. Rebecca Lawrence – MDS Coordinator Rebecca went to school at the University of Toledo and graduated from the LCCC RN program in 2008. She has worked in long-term care as an STNA for four years and then as an RN. Over the past 12 years, she has had experience as a charge nurse, restorative nurse, Director of Nursing, and currently MDS coordinator. She loves working in the long-term care setting because of the interactions she has with the residents and learning about them, their families, and their past. She is looking forward to many years here at Riverview Pointe Care Center, helping the elderly live out the rest of their lives with love, care, support, dignity, and pride. Outside of work, she likes spending time with her husband of 10 years and her daughter and son. Growing up, she raced Jr. Dragsters and to this day, she and her family enjoy spending their summer weekends watching her brothers race. Leland Jernigan – Director of Dining Services Leland Jernigan comes to us with over 20 years of experience in different dietary roles. The last three of them were in healthcare, and prior to that, he worked as a Restaurant Manager. Outside of work, you can catch Leland spending time with his wife and children doing anything his youngest daughter wants. He also enjoys taking care of his mom, who is also his whole world. "I love to have a purpose, and we make a difference. I have a real passion for cooking, people look forward to eating my food, and I love that people can enjoy something that I created." Kim Nolan – MDS Coordinator Kim is our MDS Coordinator and has been a part of the Riverview family since 2008. She has experience working on many specialty units including Alzheimer’s/Dementia Care, Ventilator Care, Pediatric/MRDD care, MS care and skilled nursing. She really enjoys helping families and residents. Kim is married with two kids who she loves to watch play sports, soccer and lacrosse. She also enjoys going to her parents lake house and vacationing with her family. Amy Collins – Registered Dietitian Amy has been a Registered Dietitian for over 30 years, working in a variety of positions since doing her internship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Her experience has ranged from foodservice management, meal delivery system implementation to commercial foodservice equipment sales and, finally, a return to clinical dietetics in long-term care. Amy found that she loves working in long-term care and having the opportunity to work with clients over time, and observing the impact and benefit of interventions that are put in place. Amy has many interests outside of work! She teaches water aerobics at the Lakewood YMCA, owns and manages a rental property in Old Brooklyn, owns a seasonal walking restaurant tour business in Lakewood, OH, called the Lakewood Dish Dash, and serves on the film selection committee for the Cleveland International Film Festival. Mark Uline - Maintenance Director Mark has been the Riverview Maintenance Director since 2017. Prior to that, he retired, after 35 years, from doing Maintenance in all 10 Westlake City Schools buildings. He has expert knowledge of heating and cooling and remodeling, as that is what he originally went to school for. You can find Mark fixing just about anything at Riverview. He loves to spend time with his beautiful wife, two daughters, three grandkids and his many pets at home! Atticus - Official House Dog Atticus is a rescue from GRIN (Golden Retrievers in Need), and his family found out they were selected for him while attending a Cavs VS Raptors game that the Cavs won. He was originally named Harley, but his name was changed to Atticus by his furever family to match the "To Kill A Mockingbird" theme of his furry sisters, Calpurnia and Scout. His favorite person in the world is his human sister, Margie. She feeds him all his meals and takes him for walks every day. He really loves coming in to Riverview to see his extended family and spins in circles when he’s waiting at the car door! Admissions Documents 24/7 Skilled Nursing Riverview Pointe Care Center 9027 Columbia Road Olmsted Falls, Ohio 44138 © Copyright 2023 Riverview Pointe Care Center. All Rights Reserved.

Rockers The Movie Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace Leroy HORSEMOUTH Wallace is considered, in real life as in the movie ROCKERS, one of Jamaica’s greatest drummers. Born in poverty, he was brought up by the nuns of Alpha School, an institution with a reputation for toughness and for molding musical talents. Horsemouth began playing professionally at age of 15 and struggled many years, first playing for Coxsone’s “Studio One”, the birthplace of ska and reggae. He has played with just about every recording artist in Jamaica, and is credited with laying many of the percussive foundations of reggae music. Marjorie "Sunshine" Normal Marjorie SUNSHINE Norman, who plays the beautiful young daughter of Mr. Marshall, comes from a small village near the reed hut of Higher, the holy man and healer. It was while visiting Higher that the producer and director of ROCKERS discovered her. After the movie, she chose to return to a quiet life at home rather than pursue a screen career. Jacob "Killre" Miller Jacob KILLRE Miller was noted for his athletic, dynamic style as lead singer of the Inner Circle band. His promising career was cut short by his tragic death in an auto-mobile accident. It is with the Inner Circle Band that Horsemouth is seen performing on the song “Tenement Yard” in Mr. Marshall’s night club. Gregory "Jah Tooth" Isaacs Gregory JAH TOOTH Isaacs is seen in the film both as a vocalist, performing his own composition “Slave Master”, and as a motor bike salesman, lock specialist, and cracking safes. Through his Cash and Carry company, he has produced countless local hits, And his understated, smooth crooning style has made him popular with audiences around the world. * After a long battle with lung cancer, Isaacs died on 25 October 2010 at his home in south London. Home Media and Digital [email protected] MVD Entertainment Group Screening, Licensing and any inquiries about the film: [email protected] Blue Sun Film Co.

Posted on November 1, 2013 by run4joy59 How to enjoy a successful NaNoWriMo (Photo credit: nuanc) That crazy, wild, frenetic dash to finish 50,000 words in one month has begun. I didn’t get up early like I’d planned to this morning. Heck, I did well to roll out of bed when the alarm went off at 5:30. I had to be at work at 7 and had so much to do. I managed to accomplish most of what was on my list today and I didn’t feel like I was going to have to drag myself up the stairs when I got home, so that’s a good thing, right? I stopped at Pet Smart and had a nice conversation with a complete stranger in the cat food aisle, caught myself pulling some of their merchandise forward on the shelves (hey, those retail habits are hard to break), then decided to stop at Kroger to pick up a frozen pizza. Well, I tell you, when I pulled into that completely full parking lot, I decided I didn’t really want pizza enough to fight my way through the hordes of shoppers. So pulled back onto the road and headed toward home. Clara had to come over before she went out to trick or treat (it was postponed here because of the severe storms that were moving through the area last night…never heard of that before, but hey….). I’m not sure what she was supposed to be…a Disney princess wearing Mickey Mouse ears maybe? Of course, she was cute as a button. And I was the first person to give her some treats. Then I decided to sit down and get in my first writing stint. Wrote just over 1000 words and decided to take a break. Did dishes and checked out what all was happening with my friends. Then sat down and wrote about 1700 more words to finish the day with 2713 words. Now those of you who are familiar with NaNoWriMo might think that’s a pretty good start, but I decided to go all nuts this year and up my goal to 70,000 words instead of 50,000. So, instead of 1667 words/day, I need 2333. But I made it! I have tomorrow off work and I’m aiming for at least 4000 words…whew! I wish I could say the words just flowed from my fingertips, but it didn’t happen that way today. Had to force myself to keep going up until just about where I quit. I was going pretty good about then. But I’ve figured out something that works for me, not sure if it would work for anyone else or not, but I stop writing in a good place, a place where I’ll be able to pick up the story and keep it moving at a good pace. At least that’s the theory…I’ll let you know how it works tomorrow. So how was your writing today? Dear NaNoWriMo: Day 1 (lisenminetti.wordpress.com) I Was a NaNoWriMo Virgin (czwrighting.wordpress.com) Filed under: NaNoWriMo | Tagged: National Novel Writing Month, pizza, writing | « Post 700…or so Cat on the run » celestedimilla, on November 2, 2013 at 9:54 am said: Good luck!!!! 🙂 run4joy59, on November 2, 2013 at 1:37 pm said: Thanks, Celeste! Pix Under the Oaks, on November 2, 2013 at 4:33 pm said: I am not a writer but I am rooting for you! Thanks so much…now I need to get back to writing since I have to work six days next week. pattisj, on November 8, 2013 at 1:55 am said: I’ve seen that advice written numerous times, stop when things are flowing so you can pick up where you left off. Good job!

Faisal Chibsah Faisal was discovered juggling a ball at the side of the road in Accra, Ghana, and was invited to join a trial the next day. He made the most out of this opportunity and received a full scholarship to the University of Delaware (NCAA DI). After a successful College Soccer Career, Faisal received his Bachelor’s degree and changed roles to become the Assistant Coach of the Men’s Soccer program at the University of Delaware. After several years at UDel he joined Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer as the Head of Academy Recruitment. Now, Faisal is working for FIFA as a High-Performance Specialist. Faisal is eager to help others to get the opportunity he once received that changed his life.

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SAABIRAH LAWRENCE Lifestyle | Empowerment | Wellness Posted on August 4, 2022 August 4, 2022 by Saabirah Lawrence · 3 Comments Why I Started Blogging Trigger Warning: This blog post speaks about suicide so feel free to skip this post or I have put an (*) beside the paragraph where it is mentioned for you to skip. It has been so long since I have done this. The best way for me to come back and to wrap up my… Posted on August 26, 2021 August 24, 2021 by Saabirah Lawrence Why You Don’t “Fit In” Recently realised that I don’t think I am meant to “fit in” I guess if you ever feel like you don’t really fit in somewhere, it’s time to create the space for you to be yourself in instead of fitting into spaces that you have outgrown, or spaces that just aren’t meant for you to… 12 Months of Therapy: What I Loved, Lessons Learned & Moving Forward In total I have had 12 months of therapy, 6 months of CBT in 2019 and 6 months of Psychotherapy which finished in March. Both experiences we very helpful and now that I have had some time to reflect I see now what I can take away from both experiences and what things I may… Posted on July 29, 2021 July 20, 2021 by Saabirah Lawrence · 2 Comments 5 Things To Do If You Hate Your Day Job I haven't really enjoyed most of the jobs I have had because they have only worked for my lifestyle and I haven't been passionate about a lot of the jobs I have had. I started working after finishing years in college mainly because I wanted to help out at home, and entering my twenties with… Grief, Guilt & Regrets Trigger Warning: This is a very raw post, on the topic of bereavement. I made my return back to this space speaking about loss, the idea of loss in many ways, not just the loss of a loved one and here I am again speaking about loss. I never thought so soon after that post… Posted on July 1, 2021 June 22, 2021 by Saabirah Lawrence Learning to be Kind to Ourselves There are several reasons why we all struggle to be kinder to ourselves, here are some things to consider when thinking about what creates those barriers to being kinder to ourselves; culture, learned behaviours, habits, lack of self compassion, self sabotage, and sometimes it could come down to not really paying attention to how we… Follow SAABIRAH LAWRENCE on WordPress.com

MPSCB Recruitment 2023 MPSCB Recruitment 2023 The Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Bank (MPSCB) has released a job notification for the recruitment of 638 Branch Managers across various grades. As per the notification, interested and eligible candidates can apply for the vacancies through the online application process available on the official website of MPSCB. The online application process will be open from 10th March 2023 to 9th April 2023. The recruitment drive aims to fill the vacancies for various posts including Computer Programmer (Senior Management Grade-2), Financial Analyst (Senior Management Grade-2), Marketing Officer (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Auditor (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Inspector (Middle Management Grade-1), and Office Superintendent. The vacancies are spread across different branches of the MPSCB located in various regions of Madhya Pradesh. To apply for the MPSCB Branch Manager recruitment 2023, candidates must fulfill the eligibility criteria specified by the bank. The eligibility criteria include educational qualifications, age limit, and work experience as per the specific post for which the candidate is applying. The candidates should have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in the relevant field from a recognized university or institution. The selection process for the MPSCB Branch Manager recruitment will be based on a written examination followed by an interview. The candidates who clear the written examination will be called for an interview round. The final selection will be made based on the candidate’s performance in both the written exam and the interview. Interested candidates can apply for the MPSCB Branch Manager recruitment 2023 through the online application process available on the official website of MPSCB. The candidates will have to register themselves by providing their basic details and creating a login ID and password. After the registration process, candidates can fill in the online application form and upload the required documents, including their photograph and signature. Before submitting the application form, candidates should carefully review all the details provided in the application form and ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria for the post they are applying for. They should also ensure that all the information provided in the application form is correct and accurate. In conclusion, the MPSCB Branch Manager recruitment 2023 is a great opportunity for candidates who are looking for a challenging and rewarding career in the banking sector. Interested and eligible candidates should apply for the vacancies through the online application process available on the official website of MPSCB. The selection process will be rigorous, and candidates are advised to prepare thoroughly for the written exam and interview rounds to increase their chances of getting selected. Quick Information About MPSCB Recruitment 2023 Department Name: M.P. Rajya Sahakari Bank Mydt Name Of The Vacancy: Computer Programmer (Senior Management Grade-2), Financial Analyst (Senior Management Grade-2), Marketing Officer (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Auditor (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Inspector (Middle Management Grade-1), Office Superintend Posts Application starting Date: 10.03.2023 Application Ending Date: 09.04.2023 Official Website Link : http://www.apexbank.in/ Vacancy Name =Computer Programmer (Senior Management Grade-2), Financial Analyst (Senior Management Grade-2), Marketing Officer (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Auditor (Senior Management Grade-2), Internal Inspector (Middle Management Grade-1), Office Superintend Posts Education criteria : All candidates must have 10 th to Any Degree for this recruitment. Full details for this MPSCB Recruitment 2023 Title: Career Opportunities in the Banking Sector The banking sector is one of the most important sectors in any economy. It plays a crucial role in the development and growth of a nation by providing financial services to the people. With the increasing demand for banking services, the sector has opened up a wide range of career opportunities for individuals with different educational qualifications and work experiences. This article will discuss various job roles available in the banking sector and the educational qualifications required for them. Job Roles in the Banking Sector Computer Programmer (Senior Management Grade-2) A computer programmer in a bank is responsible for developing, testing, and implementing computer software programs. They also provide technical support and maintenance of the software systems. To become a computer programmer in a bank, one should have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or MCA with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade from any recognized university. Candidates having work experience from any RBI Licensed Bank are given preference. Financial Analyst (Senior Management Grade-2) A financial analyst in a bank is responsible for analyzing financial data and preparing reports on investment opportunities. They also provide advice to clients on investment decisions. To become a financial analyst in a bank, one should have a CA/ICWA or MBA (Finance) with two years’ regular course from any Govt. recognized University along with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Candidates having work experience from any RBI Licensed Bank are given preference. Marketing Officer (Senior Management Grade-2) A marketing officer in a bank is responsible for developing and implementing marketing strategies to promote the bank’s products and services. They also conduct market research to identify potential customers and their needs. To become a marketing officer in a bank, one should have an MBA (Marketing) with two years’ regular course from any Govt. recognized University along with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Candidates having work experience from any RBI Licensed Bank are given preference. Internal Auditor (Senior Management Grade-2) An internal auditor in a bank is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the bank’s internal control systems and procedures. They also identify and mitigate risks associated with the bank’s operations. To become an internal auditor in a bank, one should have a CA/ICWA or MBA (Finance) with two years’ regular course from any Govt. recognized University along with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Candidates having work experience from any RBI Licensed Bank are given preference. Internal Inspector (Middle Management Grade-1) An internal inspector in a bank is responsible for monitoring the bank’s operations to ensure compliance with regulatory and internal policies. They also conduct investigations to detect fraud and other irregularities. To become an internal inspector in a bank, one should have an MBA (Finance) with two years regular course from any Govt. recognized University along with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Office Superintendent (Middle Management Grade-1) An office superintendent in a bank is responsible for managing the administrative functions of the bank’s office. They also supervise the support staff and ensure smooth functioning of the office. To become an office superintendent in a bank, one should have an MBA (Finance) with two years’ regular course from any Govt. recognized University along with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Career Opportunities in the Banking Sector: Exploring Middle Management Grades The banking sector is an ever-growing industry that offers a plethora of job opportunities to aspiring individuals. With the increase in globalization and the development of new technologies, the banking sector has been expanding its operations, thus creating a high demand for skilled professionals. This article explores the various middle management grade positions in the banking sector and the educational qualifications required to secure these roles. Branch Inspector (Middle Management Grade-1) The Branch Inspector position is a middle management grade job that requires an MBA in Finance from any government-recognized university, with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. A Branch Inspector is responsible for monitoring and supervising the bank’s branches, ensuring compliance with the bank’s policies and procedures. They are also responsible for conducting audits and investigations into any irregularities or non-compliance issues. Branch Manager (Middle Management Grade-1) A Branch Manager is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of a bank branch, including customer service, sales, and employee management. To secure this middle management grade position, one must have an MBA in Finance from any government-recognized university, with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Branch Managers are also responsible for maintaining the branch’s profitability and ensuring compliance with the bank’s policies and procedures. Asstt. Chief Supervisor (Middle Management Grade-2) The Asstt. Chief Supervisor position is a middle management grade job that requires an MBA in Finance from any government-recognized university, with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade, or an M.Com. with Statistics as one subject passed with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Asstt. Chief Supervisors are responsible for supervising the bank’s operations, including ensuring compliance with the bank’s policies and procedures, conducting audits, and analyzing the bank’s financial statements. Sub Engineer (Middle Management Grade-2) Sub Engineer is a middle management grade position that requires a degree in Civil Engineering from any recognized university. Sub Engineers are responsible for designing and overseeing the construction of the bank’s buildings and infrastructure. They are also responsible for maintaining the bank’s premises and ensuring that the building complies with all the necessary safety regulations. Statistical Officer (Middle Management Grade) A Statistical Officer position is a middle management grade job that requires a degree in Computer Science or Information Technology from any recognized university. Statistical Officers are responsible for analyzing the bank’s data and providing insights that can help improve the bank’s operations. They are also responsible for developing statistical models and conducting data analysis to support the bank’s decision-making process. Accountant (Middle Management Grade-2) An Accountant position is a middle management grade job that requires an MBA in Finance from any government-recognized university, with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade, or an M.Com. with Statistics as one subject passed with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Accountants are responsible for managing the bank’s financial accounts, including preparing financial statements and conducting audits to ensure compliance with the bank’s policies and procedures. Computer Programmer-2 (Middle Management Grade-2) The Computer Programmer-2 position is a middle management grade job that requires an MBA in Finance from any government-recognized university, with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade, or an M.Com. with Statistics as one subject passed with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grade. Computer Programmers are responsible for developing and maintaining the bank’s software applications, including designing and implementing new systems and debugging existing ones. The banking sector offers a range of middle management grade positions that require specific educational qualifications. These roles require individuals who possess the necessary skills, expertise, and knowledge to manage the bank’s operations, finances, and technology systems effectively. Age Limit and Selection Process for Various Posts in MPSCB 2023 The Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Bank (MPSCB) has announced the age limit and selection process for various posts in its 2023 notification. The bank is inviting applications for the posts of Computer Programmer, Financial Analyst, Marketing Officer, Internal Auditor, Internal Inspector, Office Superintendent, Branch Inspector, Branch Manager, Asstt. Chief Supervisor, Sub Engineer, Statistical Officer, Accountant, and Computer Programmer-2. The minimum age limit for all the posts is 18 years, and the maximum age limit is 40 years as of April 19, 2023. However, candidates can avail of relaxation in the upper age limit as per government rules. The selection process for the various posts will consist of an online exam followed by an interview. Candidates who fulfill the eligibility criteria will have to apply online through the MPSCB website. General, OBC, and EWS candidates will have to pay an application fee of Rs. 500, while SC, ST, and PH candidates will have to pay Rs. 250. Additionally, an 18% GST will be charged on the application fee, and the fees submitted will be non-refundable. The salary details for the various posts have also been mentioned in the notification. The salary for the posts of Computer Programmer, Financial Analyst, Marketing Officer, and Internal Auditor (all Senior Management Grade-2) will be Rs. 42,700 – 1,35,100/-. The salary for the posts of Internal Inspector, Office Superintendent, Branch Inspector, and Branch Manager (all Middle Management Grade-1) will be Rs. 36,200 – 1,14,800/-. The salary for the posts of Asstt. Chief Supervisor, Sub Engineer, Statistical Officer, Accountant, and Computer Programmer-2 (all Middle Management Grade-2) will be Rs. 32,800 – 1,03,600/-. Candidates who are interested in applying for the MPSCB posts are advised to go through the official notification for more reference. They must ensure that they fulfill the eligibility criteria before applying for the posts. The bank will not accept applications through any mode other than the online mode. Official Notification & Application MPSCB Recruitment 2023 MPSCB Recruitment 2023Official Website Link CLICK HERE MPSCB Recruitment 2023 Official Notification Link CLICK HERE MPSCB Recruitment 2023 Official Apply Link CLICK HERE Tagscentral government jobsgovernmentjobpermanentjoibstategovernmentjobtnebtngovernmentjobstnjobsvaojob IIM Raipur Recruitment 2023 NBCC Recruitment 2023 Assistant Manager

Kimono and Tea Ceremony Trying on a Furisode Kimono The International Institute for Ritual Culture Education (IRCE) gave me the great honor of trying on a furisode kimono. A kimono is a traditional Japanese garment that is worn on special occasions and during festivals. Wearing a kimono is very polite and formal, though they used to be worn on a more daily basis. There are several types of kimono, each with their own reason to be worn. The type that I tried on was in the furisode style. A furisode kimono is the most expensive type of kimono that can be worn by an unmarried woman in Japan. The furisode is most commonly given to a woman by her parents as a gift on her 20th birthday, which is the Coming-of-Age Day in Japan. The very literal translation of ‘furisode’ is “swinging sleeves.” This is because the furisode is unique for having sleeves that almost touch the floor. Furisode are often very colorful and covered in beautiful detailed patterns. A furisode can cost anywhere from $10,000 to over $20,000 USD. When a woman in Japan needs to wear a kimono for an event, it is most common she will rent one rather than buy it. Trying on the furisode was an incredible experience. It took three women working actively in order to dress me in the kimono. Putting on a kimono is a long and very detailed process. I couldn’t help but wonder how the women dressing me put on their own kimono and whether or not it can be done alone. The kimono was constructed on to me in multiple layers, with pieces of plastic, cardboard and even towels being placed within the fabric to create the desired shape and to keep the kimono in place. I attempted to keep track of how they were putting the kimono on, but it quickly became apparent that it takes a great deal of education and practice to understand. The women who were helping me were making sure every little detail was perfect, a trait that is not uncommon for Japanese people. They were comparing fabrics and adjusting how the pieces laid until they were absolutely satisfied. Once I was finally dressed, the women asked me to take a seat for the tea ceremony. One of the women performed the tea ceremony rituals for us, first bringing us a soft mochi dessert that resembled a purple flower. The woman then sat by a large pot of water and prepared matcha tea for everyone. The process of how she prepared the tea was unbelievably precise. I watched as she carefully placed each finger in the proper position, scooped the matcha and slowly filled a ladle with water. Each bowl that she made tea in had a beautiful picture on it. When she presented each person with their bowl, she turned the bowl slowly so that they could admire the picture. When I received my bowl of tea, I was instructed to slowly turn it once more so that I did not place my mouth where the picture was. The women gave me the chance to attempt making the tea myself, and they showed me the steps. They told me that they had been learning for a long time just to understand the ritual. The precision and detail that goes into every Japanese ritual is incredible. I find it so beautiful that the Japanese people put so much care and effort into everything that they do. I had always known that this was true, but I did not fully understand until I watched the tea ceremony. I feel truly fortunate to have been able to go through this experience and I am incredibly grateful to the IRCE for giving me the opportunity. The International Institute for Ritual Culture Education (IRCE) What is Zazen? Sitting cross-legged on the ground and looking down, half focusing on the black line that... Read More Shakyo Hand copying sutra is called “Shakyo” in Japanese. Sutra copying is the East Asian practice... Read More What are Goshuin? If you plan on visiting many temples and shrines in Japan, I recommend purchasing... Read More Buddhist Cuisine There are many factors that go along with becoming a Buddhist monk. It is generally... Read More Not a Bad Lesson in Martial Arts Martial arts: the popular image that this phrase conjures is one of sage masters, fast... Read More “Kamakura – The Coexistence of Old and New” – Sanpai Japan 2016-10-06 | […] The Houkokuji Temple is also famous for a beautiful bamboo garden. If you walk through the property, you will be able to see the bamboo, which is famous for being beautiful even overseas. When you pass through the bamboo and walk along the stone path, a traditional tea ceremony “Kyukoan” appears. The tea ceremony takes place in a classic Japanese house with a unique atmosphere. You can participate in the tea ceremony for just 700 Yen which is including entrance fee. (You can enjoy Japanese green tea. If you want to know proper tea ceremony, check it out here.) […] Can a feudal era General and famed military strategist act as a modern day Cupid?(Episode Five:Visiting Zendouji with the General’s direct descendent) Blue Skies in the Floating World Nogi shrine

After I had my third child I weighed 303 pounds and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the weight off by myself. I’d always been an active person, but there was so much now that I just couldn’t do. I couldn’t do things with my children that meant a lot to me. What makes Dr. Baranov special is how he sees bariatric surgery as a way to help others. He wants to see you succeed, and he puts everything he has into that effort. This becomes such a tremendous benefit for his patients. The results that you get from gastric bypass surgery, honestly, you can’t put a price on them. Sure, there is a lot of work involved. It’s not a magic pill. But the outcome is really and truly priceless.

For Idealism in Youth Author(s): Gordon, J. Citation: Gordon, J. (1989). For Idealism in Youth. Journal of The Freshman Year Experience, 1(2), 105-110. This essay is a reminiscence of a life-shaping experience from my own freshman year and an attempt to draw certain lessons from that experience for the freshmen of the eighties, for whom the essay was written and to whom it is addressed. I describe a personal discovery I made at the "March on Washington" in 1963, the march in which Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I have a dream" speech, and I use this experience as a basis for reflection on the spiritual distance American youth have traveled since that time. The theme of the piece is the need in a fully human life for devotion to the world outside the suffocating boundaries of self-interest: the need for idealistic commitment.

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Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, Elizabeth J. D’Amico, Bonnie Duran, Dedra Buchwald Multilevel and community-level interventions that target the social determinants of health and ultimately health disparities are seldom conducted in Native American communities. To contextualize the importance of multilevel and community-level interventions, major contributors to and causes of health disparities in Native communities are highlighted. Among the many documented socioeconomic factors influencing health are poverty, low educational attainment, and lack of insurance. Well-recognized health disparities include obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Selected challenges of implementing community-level and multilevel interventions in Native communities are summarized such as the shortage of high-quality population health data and validated measurement tools. To address the lack of multilevel and community-level interventions, the National Institutes of Health created the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) program which solicits proposals that develop, adapt, and test strategies to address these challenges and create interventions appropriate for Native populations. A discussion of the strategies that four of the IRINAH grantees are implementing underscores the importance of community-based participatory policy work, the development of new partnerships, and reconnection with cultural traditions. Based on the work of the nearly 20 IRINAH grantees, ameliorating the complex social determinants of health disparities among Native people will require (1) support for community-level and multilevel interventions that examine contemporary and historical factors that shape current conditions; (2) sustainability plans; (3) forefronting the most challenging issues; (4) financial resources and time to collaborate with tribal leaders; and (5) a solid evidence base. Prevention Science Accepted/In press - 2 Jun 2018 Multilevel, community-level interventions Dive into the research topics of 'Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint. North American Indians Medicine & Life Sciences 100% Social Determinants of Health Medicine & Life Sciences 24% Population Groups Medicine & Life Sciences 18% Indigenous Peoples Medicine & Life Sciences 12% Policy Making Medicine & Life Sciences 10% determinants Social Sciences 10% Blue Bird Jernigan, V., D’Amico, E. J., Duran, B., & Buchwald, D. (Accepted/In press). Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities. Prevention Science, 21, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0916-3 Blue Bird Jernigan, Valarie ; D’Amico, Elizabeth J. ; Duran, Bonnie et al. / Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans : Challenges and Opportunities. In: Prevention Science. 2018 ; Vol. 21. pp. 1-9. @article{9802dc9e64b94d66a5bb89a0cb4c6d7b, title = "Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities", abstract = "Multilevel and community-level interventions that target the social determinants of health and ultimately health disparities are seldom conducted in Native American communities. To contextualize the importance of multilevel and community-level interventions, major contributors to and causes of health disparities in Native communities are highlighted. Among the many documented socioeconomic factors influencing health are poverty, low educational attainment, and lack of insurance. Well-recognized health disparities include obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Selected challenges of implementing community-level and multilevel interventions in Native communities are summarized such as the shortage of high-quality population health data and validated measurement tools. To address the lack of multilevel and community-level interventions, the National Institutes of Health created the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) program which solicits proposals that develop, adapt, and test strategies to address these challenges and create interventions appropriate for Native populations. A discussion of the strategies that four of the IRINAH grantees are implementing underscores the importance of community-based participatory policy work, the development of new partnerships, and reconnection with cultural traditions. Based on the work of the nearly 20 IRINAH grantees, ameliorating the complex social determinants of health disparities among Native people will require (1) support for community-level and multilevel interventions that examine contemporary and historical factors that shape current conditions; (2) sustainability plans; (3) forefronting the most challenging issues; (4) financial resources and time to collaborate with tribal leaders; and (5) a solid evidence base.", keywords = "Community-based participatory research, Health disparities, Indigenous, Multilevel, community-level interventions, Native American", author = "{Blue Bird Jernigan}, Valarie and D{\textquoteright}Amico, {Elizabeth J.} and Bonnie Duran and Dedra Buchwald", note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, Society for Prevention Research.", journal = "Prevention Science", Blue Bird Jernigan, V, D’Amico, EJ, Duran, B & Buchwald, D 2018, 'Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities', Prevention Science, vol. 21, pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0916-3 Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans : Challenges and Opportunities. / Blue Bird Jernigan, Valarie; D’Amico, Elizabeth J.; Duran, Bonnie et al. In: Prevention Science, Vol. 21, 02.06.2018, p. 1-9. T1 - Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans T2 - Challenges and Opportunities AU - Blue Bird Jernigan, Valarie AU - D’Amico, Elizabeth J. AU - Duran, Bonnie AU - Buchwald, Dedra N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018, Society for Prevention Research. N2 - Multilevel and community-level interventions that target the social determinants of health and ultimately health disparities are seldom conducted in Native American communities. To contextualize the importance of multilevel and community-level interventions, major contributors to and causes of health disparities in Native communities are highlighted. Among the many documented socioeconomic factors influencing health are poverty, low educational attainment, and lack of insurance. Well-recognized health disparities include obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Selected challenges of implementing community-level and multilevel interventions in Native communities are summarized such as the shortage of high-quality population health data and validated measurement tools. To address the lack of multilevel and community-level interventions, the National Institutes of Health created the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) program which solicits proposals that develop, adapt, and test strategies to address these challenges and create interventions appropriate for Native populations. A discussion of the strategies that four of the IRINAH grantees are implementing underscores the importance of community-based participatory policy work, the development of new partnerships, and reconnection with cultural traditions. Based on the work of the nearly 20 IRINAH grantees, ameliorating the complex social determinants of health disparities among Native people will require (1) support for community-level and multilevel interventions that examine contemporary and historical factors that shape current conditions; (2) sustainability plans; (3) forefronting the most challenging issues; (4) financial resources and time to collaborate with tribal leaders; and (5) a solid evidence base. AB - Multilevel and community-level interventions that target the social determinants of health and ultimately health disparities are seldom conducted in Native American communities. To contextualize the importance of multilevel and community-level interventions, major contributors to and causes of health disparities in Native communities are highlighted. Among the many documented socioeconomic factors influencing health are poverty, low educational attainment, and lack of insurance. Well-recognized health disparities include obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Selected challenges of implementing community-level and multilevel interventions in Native communities are summarized such as the shortage of high-quality population health data and validated measurement tools. To address the lack of multilevel and community-level interventions, the National Institutes of Health created the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) program which solicits proposals that develop, adapt, and test strategies to address these challenges and create interventions appropriate for Native populations. A discussion of the strategies that four of the IRINAH grantees are implementing underscores the importance of community-based participatory policy work, the development of new partnerships, and reconnection with cultural traditions. Based on the work of the nearly 20 IRINAH grantees, ameliorating the complex social determinants of health disparities among Native people will require (1) support for community-level and multilevel interventions that examine contemporary and historical factors that shape current conditions; (2) sustainability plans; (3) forefronting the most challenging issues; (4) financial resources and time to collaborate with tribal leaders; and (5) a solid evidence base. KW - Community-based participatory research KW - Health disparities KW - Indigenous KW - Multilevel, community-level interventions KW - Native American JO - Prevention Science JF - Prevention Science Blue Bird Jernigan V, D’Amico EJ, Duran B, Buchwald D. Multilevel and Community-Level Interventions with Native Americans: Challenges and Opportunities. Prevention Science. 2018 Jun 2;21:1-9. doi: 10.1007/s11121-018-0916-3

Home > UBLR > Vol. 51 > Iss. 3 University of Baltimore Law Review, Volume 51, Issue 3, Summer 2022 (2022) "University of Baltimore Law Review, Volume 51, Issue 3, Summer 2022," University of Baltimore Law Review: Vol. 51: Iss. 3, Article 1. Available at: https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/ublr/vol51/iss3/1 Issues to Watch All Issues Vol. 52, Iss. 2 Vol. 52, Iss. 1 Vol. 51, Iss. 3 Vol. 51, Iss. 2 Vol. 51, Iss. 1 Vol. 50, Iss. 3 Vol. 50, Iss. 2 Vol. 50, Iss. 1 Vol. 49, Iss. 3 Vol. 49, Iss. 2 Vol. 49, Iss. 1 Vol. 49, Iss. 0 Vol. 48, Iss. 3 Vol. 48, Iss. 2 Vol. 48, Iss. 1 Vol. 47, Iss. 3 Vol. 47, Iss. 2 Vol. 47, Iss. 1 Vol. 46, Iss. 3 Vol. 46, Iss. 2 Vol. 46, Iss. 1 Vol. 45, Iss. 3 Vol. 45, Iss. 2 Vol. 45, Iss. 1 Vol. 44, Iss. 3 Vol. 44, Iss. 2 Vol. 44, Iss. 1 Vol. 43, Iss. 3 Vol. 43, Iss. 2 Vol. 43, Iss. 1 Vol. 42, Iss. 4 Vol. 42, Iss. 3 Vol. 42, Iss. 2 Vol. 42, Iss. 1 Vol. 41, Iss. 4 Vol. 41, Iss. 3 Vol. 41, Iss. 2 Vol. 41, Iss. 1 Vol. 40, Iss. 4 Vol. 40, Iss. 3 Vol. 40, Iss. 2 Vol. 40, Iss. 1 Vol. 39, Iss. 3 Vol. 39, Iss. 2 Vol. 39, Iss. 1 Vol. 38, Iss. 3 Vol. 38, Iss. 2 Vol. 38, Iss. 1 Vol. 37, Iss. 3 Vol. 37, Iss. 2 Vol. 37, Iss. 1 Vol. 36, Iss. 3 Vol. 36, Iss. 2 Vol. 36, Iss. 1 Vol. 35, Iss. 3 Vol. 35, Iss. 2 Vol. 35, Iss. 1 Vol. 34, Iss. 3 Vol. 34, Iss. 2 Vol. 34, Iss. 1 Vol. 33, Iss. 2 Vol. 33, Iss. 1 Vol. 32, Iss. 2 Vol. 32, Iss. 1 Vol. 31, Iss. 2 Vol. 31, Iss. 1 Vol. 30, Iss. 2 Vol. 30, Iss. 1 Vol. 29, Iss. 2 Vol. 29, Iss. 1 Vol. 28, Iss. 2 Vol. 28, Iss. 1 Vol. 27, Iss. 2 Vol. 27, Iss. 1 Vol. 26, Iss. 3 Vol. 26, Iss. 2 Vol. 26, Iss. 1 Vol. 25, Iss. 2 Vol. 25, Iss. 1 Vol. 24, Iss. 2 Vol. 24, Iss. 1 Vol. 23, Iss. 2 Vol. 23, Iss. 1 Vol. 22, Iss. 2 Vol. 22, Iss. 1 Vol. 21, Iss. 2 Vol. 21, Iss. 1 Vol. 20, Iss. 2 Vol. 20, Iss. 1 Vol. 19, Iss. 3 Vol. 19, Iss. 2 Vol. 19, Iss. 1 Vol. 18, Iss. 3 Vol. 18, Iss. 2 Vol. 18, Iss. 1 Vol. 17, Iss. 3 Vol. 17, Iss. 2 Vol. 17, Iss. 1 Vol. 16, Iss. 3 Vol. 16, Iss. 2 Vol. 16, Iss. 1 Vol. 15, Iss. 3 Vol. 15, Iss. 2 Vol. 15, Iss. 1 Vol. 14, Iss. 3 Vol. 14, Iss. 2 Vol. 14, Iss. 1 Vol. 13, Iss. 3 Vol. 13, Iss. 2 Vol. 13, Iss. 1 Vol. 12, Iss. 3 Vol. 12, Iss. 2 Vol. 12, Iss. 1 Vol. 11, Iss. 3 Vol. 11, Iss. 2 Vol. 11, Iss. 1 Vol. 10, Iss. 2 Vol. 10, Iss. 1 Vol. 9, Iss. 3 Vol. 9, Iss. 2 Vol. 9, Iss. 1 Vol. 8, Iss. 3 Vol. 8, Iss. 2 Vol. 8, Iss. 1 Vol. 7, Iss. 2 Vol. 7, Iss. 1 Vol. 6, Iss. 2 Vol. 6, Iss. 1 Vol. 5, Iss. 2 Vol. 5, Iss. 1 Vol. 4, Iss. 2 Vol. 4, Iss. 1 Vol. 3, Iss. 2 Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Vol. 2, Iss. 2 Vol. 2, Iss. 1 Vol. 1, Iss. 1 Tweets by UBaltLawReview

Double Intussusception in Dog K. Valiei and R. Beheshti A 1 year old nondescript dog with history of vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, dehydration, prolapsed of rectum and developed a double intussusception which affected the ileum. Celiotomy revealed the intussusception to be swollen and congested with adhesions between the serosal surface of intussusceptum and intussuscepiens. After surgical treatment and post operative care with ringer solution, cefazoline, patient status had been well. Received: March 06, 2011; Accepted: June 21, 2011; Published: August 08, 2011 K. Valiei and R. Beheshti, 2011. Double Intussusception in Dog. Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 6: 971-976. The term intussusception is used to describe a condition in which a part of the bowel (the intussusceptum) prolapsed or invaginates into the lumen of an immediately adjoining part (the intussuscipiens) (Cina et al., 2009; Han et al., 2008; Joy and Patterson, 1978). Commonly the intussusceptum is a proximal segment of bowel (i.e., closer to the mouth) which slides into a distal (closer to the anus) segment. This pattern follows the normal direction of peristalsis (Levitt and Bauer, 1992). It occurs at any location in the gastrointestinal tract from the stomach to the large intestine; however, previous studies have indicated that the majority of intussusceptions in small animals are enterocolic (Han et al., 2008; Levitt and Bauer, 1992). Intussusceptions were classified according to their location in the bowel (Lewis and Ellison, 1987). In young dogs other forms of intussusceptions have been reported that include: Gastroesophageal, pylorogastric, enteroenteric, enterocolic and colocolic (Han et al., 2008; Levitt and Bauer, 1992). This disorder more often occurs before the anastomotic site or the plicated section of the bowel (e.g., ileocolic orifice or gastroesophageal junctions) (Ellison, 1986; Siegmund, 1973). Several conditions or disease that effective on the intestine motility are predisposing to intussusceptions. Intussusception is seen more commonly in puppies with intestinal masses (Runyon et al., 1984), parasites such as hookworms, whipworms and roundworms (Wilson and Burt, 1974), intestinal foreign bodies such as bones, plastic toys, etc. (Larsen and Bellenger, 1974) and abdominal surgery (Kipins, 1977). Gastroenteritis or acute viral-induced enteritis has been reported as the general predisposing factor for intestinal intussusception in young dogs (Han et al., 2008; Reed and Catcott, 1975). Puppies and kittens are the most likely ones to develop intussusceptions (Han et al., 2008). Although it can occurs in any age or species but more than 80% f intussusceptions occurs at first year old puppies (Hedlund and Fossum, 2007). Rate of male animals compared to female animals suffering intussusceptions is twice. The common clinical signs associated with intussusceptions are associated with referable to partial or complete intestinal obstruction and the affected bowel may be palpable as a sausage-shaped intra abdominal mass (Kirk and Bistner, 1975; Larsen and Bellenger, 1974). If intussusception untreated, the blood supply to that section is greatly reduced and the bowel tissue begins to ischemia and necrosis. There are limited published data that explain the influence of location of the intussusception, time from beginning of clinical signs and presence of adhesions on the severity of clinical signs and outcome (Joy and Patterson, 1978). HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS On March 30, 2011 a one year old intact female nondescript dog referred to Specialized Small Animal Clinic of Islamic Azad University (Science and Research Branch) due the 6-day history of anorexia, depression, vomiting and diarrhea which had become more severe. During physical examination no mass was palpable in the abdomen. Because of tenesmus, a part of rectum was prolapsed (Fig. 1). Plain radiographs showed areas of reduced serosal fluid and of increased soft tissue opacity in the abdomen. At the time celiotomy was performed, there was one intussusception involving a segment of ileum (Fig. 2). Fig. 1: Prolapsed part of rectum Fig. 2: A double intussusception in ileum Fig. 3: Congested part of ileum Fig. 4: Ileum serosal adherence Fig. 5: Engorged blood vessels The intussuscepted segments were edematous, congested and showed cyanosis (Fig. 3). The serosal surfaces of the intussuscepted parts were adherent to one another (Fig. 4). The blood vessels in the rest of the intestines were engorged (Fig. 5). Fig. 6(a,b): Resection of intussuscepted bowel Pre-operation the patient was given one liter of ringer’s solution and in preparation for surgery. Puppy premedication was made with 0.1 mg kg-1 acepromazine, 1 mg kg-1 xylazine and then anesthesia was induced and maintained with 10 mg kg-1 of a 10% solution of ketamine and maintained. As well, the dog received 2 mg kg-1 of dexamethasone and 10 mg kg-1 cefazoline intravenously. The intussusception was readily reduced by manipulation and gentle traction of intussusceptum and pressure on the intussuscepiens. The bowel involved in the intussusception was resected along with some bowel proximal and distal to it (Fig. 6 a,b). The resected bowel represented 30 centimeter of ileum. Adhesions between serosal surfaces of the intussusceptum and intussuscipiens were well formed. These adhesions could be broken down manually and washed with 0.9% NaCl solution (one liter solution containing 50 mg dexamethasone). Postoperative management made with infusion of 5 days ringer solution, cefazoline 10 mg kg-1 tid. Intussusceptions more commonly found in small animal, especially in German shepherd dogs and Siamese cats. It formed as a result of abnormality within the intestinal wall (nonhomogeneity) that alters the intestinal pliability and motility (Hedlund and Fossum, 2007; Sivasankar, 2000). Some authors have reported that incidence of intussusception in puppies and kittens were higher than adult animals (Levitt and Bauer, 1992). In the study of Wilson and Burt, 80% of affected animals were less than one year of age (Wilson and Burt, 1974), also Weaver (1977) reported that 73% of dogs in his study were less than six months old. The signs of intussusceptions in small animals are varied and include vomiting, diarrhea or bloody mucoid diarrhea, cylindrical abdominal mass in the cranial to mid-abdomen depression and anorexia (Butler, 1972; Lewis and Ellison, 1987; Joy and Patterson, 1978; Okewole et al., 1989; Rosin, 1985). Levitt and Bauer (1992) reported that diarrhea was the common sign in dogs and cats but abdominal pain are not regular sign of disease. Intussusception must be distinguished from several condition, include intestinal volvulus or torsion, intestinal laceration or obstruction; foreign bodies and tumors, abscesses, granulomas and congenital malformations (Han et al., 2008). Diagnosis of intussusceptions with survey of plain radiographs may be difficult and patients may reveal obstruction. The efficacy of contrast radiography in confirmation of diagnosis was higher. In human infants, barium enemas are used to reduce enterocolic intussusceptions (Levitt and Bauer, 1992). Ultrasonography was considered the accurate method for detection of intussusceptions (Hedlund and Fossum, 2007; Manczur and Voros, 2000). Commonly, the sliding of a segment of bowl is defined, whereas, very rarely, two separate parts can prolapsed into the same distal segment, giving rise to double intussusceptions (Han et al., 2008). To our knowledge, double intussusception is a very rare surgical problem. Surgical treatment consisted of either simple reduction, simple reduction with plication, intestinal resection/anastomosis, or intestinal resection/anastomosis with plication. Intussusception may occur in dogs with intestinal masses, parasites, intestinal foreign bodies such as bones, plastic toys and abdominal surgery. Animal those suffering from intussusceptions have been having episodes of anorexia, depression, vomiting and diarrhea. Patient animals should be immediately undergoing surgery. Butler, H.C., 1972. Surgery of the small intestine. Vet. Clin. North Am., 2: 160-161. Cina, M., F. Rahim and M. Davudi, 2009. The accuracy of ultrasonography technique in detection of the intussusception. J. Applied Sci., 9: 3922-3926. Ellison, G.W., 1986. Nontraumatic Surgical Emergencies of the Abdomen. In: Contemporary Issues in Small Animal Practice, Bright, R., (Ed.). Vol. 2, Churchill Livingstone, New York, pp: 127-173. Han, T.S., J.H. Kim, K. Cho, J. Park, G. Kim and S.H. Choi, 2008. Double intussusceptions in a Shih-tzu puppy. J. Biomed. Res., 9: 55-58. Hedlund, C.S. and T.W. Fossum, 2007. Surgery of the Digestive System. In: Small Animal Surgery, Fossum, T.W., (Eds.). 3th Edn., Mosby Elsevier, Missouri. Joy, C.L. and J.M. Patterson, 1978. Short bowel syndrome following surgical correction of a double intussusception in a dog. Can. Vet. J., 19: 254-259. Kipins, R.M., 1977. A case of postoperative intussusception in a dog. J. Am. Anim. Hosp. Assoc., 13: 197-199. Kirk, R.W. and S.I. Bistner, 1975. Handbook of Veterinary Procedures and Emergency Treatment. 2nd Edn., W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, London, Toronto, pp: 79-81. Larsen, L.H. and C.R. Bellenger, 1974. Stomach and Small Intestine. In: Canine Surgery, Archibald, J., (Ed.). 2nd Edn., American Veterinary Publications, Santa Barbara, California, pp: 583-585. Levitt, L. and M.S. Bauer, 1992. Intussusception in dogs and cats: A review of 36 cases. Can. Vet. J., 33: 660-664. Lewis, D.D. and G.W. Ellison, 1987. Intussusception in dogs and cats. Compend. Contin. Educ. Pract. Vet., 9: 523-534. Manczur, F. and K. Voros, 2000. Gastrointestinal ultrasonography of the dog: A reviewe of 256 cases (1996-1998). Acta Vet. Hungarica, 48: 9-21. Okewole, P.A., P.S. Odeyemi, T. Cole, A.E. Itodo and M. Odugbo, 1989. Double intussusception fatally complicated by clostridial infection in a dog (a case report). Br. Vet. J., 145: 291-292. Reed, J.H. and E.J. Catcott, 1975. Intestinal Diseases. In: Feline Medicine and Surgery, Catcott, E.J., (Ed.). 2nd Edn., American Veterinary Publications, Santa Barbara, California, pp: 163-164. Rosin, E., 1985. Small Intestinal Surgical Disorders. In: Textbook of Small Animal Surgery, Slatter, D.J., (Ed.). Vol 1, W.B. Saunders, Toronto, pp: 748-749. Runyon, C.L., D.F. Merkley and W.A. Hagemoser, 1984. Intussusception associated with a paracolonic enterocyst in a dog. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc., 185: 443-443. Siegmund, O.H., 1973. The Merck Veterinary Manual. 4th Edn., Merck and Company Inc., New Jersey, pp: 153-154. Sivasankar, M., 2000. Recurrent intussusception in a 14-month-old, spayed, female German shepherd cross. Can. Vet. J., 41: 407-408. Weaver, A.D., 1977. Canine intestinal intussusception. Vet. Rec., 100: 524-527. Wilson, G.P. and J.K. Burt, 1974. Intussusception in the dog and cat: A review of 45 cases. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc., 164: 515-518. The Accuracy of Ultrasonography Technique in Detection of the Intussusception

Home » mineral transformations in aluminium rich fireclays Mineral Transformations In Aluminium-Rich Fireclays 17, July 2018 | Last Updated: 14, March 2020 At the present time, aluminium-rich clays with kaolinite and/or pyrophyllite are the most important raw materials in refractory ceramics and to manufacture high-quality stoneware and ceramic pavements. For this reason, to determine the mineral transformations that take place in these clays during a ceramic process is of great interest. To carry out a study about these mineral and textural transformations, three samples were selected from a shale outcrop in the Iberian Range (NE Spain). These materials belong to the Silurian Period: Upper Aeronian to Lower Ludfordian (440-423 myr). How was the study carried out? Taking the under-400 µm fraction of the milled samples, cylinders were manufactured by pressing. Then, these cylinders were fired at different temperatures from 800ºC to 1300ºC under oxidizing conditions where the increase in temperature was 200ºC/h and the maximum temperature was maintained for 2h. Once all the cylinders were fired, they were studied by X-ray diffraction. First, a qualitative study was conducted in order to determine the mineral phases present in the samples at each temperature, and then a mineral quantification of these phases was carried out using Reference Intensity Ratios values in relation with corundum. After determining the percentage of the different mineral phases, the vitreous phase proportion was determined by difference (until 100%). Later, the samples were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. These techniques allowed us to identify the mineral transformations with much higher resolution than the optical microscope. What does this study show? The study reveals significant mineral transformations with an increase in temperature in the studied fireclays. The mineralogical qualitative study indicates that the three samples are initially formed by silicates such as illite, pyrophyllite, kaolinite, quartz, and orthoclase. Their patterns and mineral quantification at different temperatures show that similar mineral transformations occur with the increase of the temperature in the three studied samples. Mineral quantification at different temperatures % mineral phase Raw clay 800ºC 900ºC 1000ºC 1100ºC 1200ºC 1300ºC kaolinite 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pyrophyllite 17 9 6 3 0 0 0 Illite 52 55 33 13 0 0 0 Orthoclase 5 6 5 4 0 0 0 Hematite 0 0 2 3 5 2 3 Mullite 0 0 0 18 33 22 31 Quartz 12 18 11 12 9 4 2 Organic matter/vitreous phase 8 12 43 47 53 72 64 As the table above shows, with the increase in temperature, all the mineral phases were destabilized. The organic matter disappeared with the firing process and clays were not detected from 1000ºC. Furthermore, despite the fact that orthoclase and quartz remained until 1300ºC, they were destabilized with temperature. On the other hand, new mineral phases, such as hematite from 900ºC and mullite from 1100ºC, crystallized and a vitreous phase also formed from 1000ºC due to the destabilization of all the phases present in the raw sample during the firing. Microscopy results show that the mineralogy is simplified and the texture of the samples is more homogenous when the temperature increases. Furthermore, compositional images allow for the observation of mullite crystals which are immersed in the vitreous phase, so it can be deduced that it crystallizes from it. Chemical analyses of mullite indicate that its composition is not stoichiometric since it presents lower Al content (24%) and higher Si content (22%) than the theoretical mullite (38%Al and 13.18%Si). Nevertheless, with the increase of the firing temperature, its composition is closer to the theoretical one. This can be explained by the Al diffusion, which increases with the temperature and it can substitute Si in the mullite structure. Finally, the study shows the coexistence of mineral phases present in the raw clays with those formed with the firing process. This can be explained by the incomplete mineral reactions that take place due to the short duration of the ceramic process. These findings are described in the article entitled Mineral and textural transformations in aluminium-rich clays during ceramic firing, recently published in the journal Applied Clay Science. This work was conducted by Elisa Laita and Blanca Bauluz from the Universidad de Zaragoza.

Home > Opinions > Sokol v. Public Utilities Commission Citation 65 Cal.2d 247 Sokol v. Public Utilities Commission Sokol v. Public Utilities Commission , 65 Cal.2d 247 [S. F. No. 22187. In Bank. Sept. 29, 1966.] EDGAR J. SOKOL, Petitioner, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, Respondent; PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, Real Party in Interest; THOMAS C. LYNCH, as Attorney General, etc., Intervener. Marshall W. Krause and Leo E. Borregard for Petitioner. Mary Moran Pajalich, Roderick B. Cassidy and Timothy E. Treacy for Respondent. Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, John A. Sutro, Noble K. Gregory, James F. Kirkham and Walter R. Allan for Real Party in Interest. Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, Albert W. Harris, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, John F. Kraetzer and Daryl Granberg, Deputy Attorneys General, for Intervener. MOSK, J. Petitioner seeks review of an order of the Public Utilities Commission which reaffirms a commission rule requiring a communications utility to summarily discontinue service to a subscriber if advised by any law enforcement agency that the service is being used for unlawful purposes. We conclude that inherent in this naked rule is a constitutional infirmity, but that the defect is not necessarily incurable if the rule is appropriately amended. Petitioner operated a club which, for dues of five dollars, supplied its members with predictions as to the fleetest horses at local racetracks, an activity which the parties concede violated no state or local law. This information was communicated to the members by telephone. In a letter dated October 11, 1961, and addressed to Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company (hereinafter Pacific), the San Francisco Chief of Police asserted that he had reasonable cause to believe that the telephones supplied to petitioner were being used in connection with illegal bookmaking activity. The letter further stated, "In accordance with the order of the State of California Public Utilities Commission decision number 41415 ... it is requested that you disconnect [the] telephone service." Decision No. 41415, cited in the letter, requires that a communications facility discontinue service to any subscriber the utility has reasonable cause to believe is using the service in connection with unlawful activity. A written notice from a [65 Cal.2d 250] law enforcement official that a telephone is being used for such purpose is declared to be sufficient to constitute reasonable cause. The decision also sets forth procedure by which the subscriber may file a complaint with the commission after the removal of the telephone; it further provides that the action before the commission shall be the exclusive means of challenging the termination of service, and thus insulates the communications utility from civil damage actions. fn. 1 Petitioner's telephones were disconnected on October 13, 1961, and five days later he filed a complaint with the commission seeking restoration of service.pursuant to an interim order of the commission, service was temporarily restored on October 27, 1961. A hearing subsequently took place, and in January 1962 the commission issued Decision No. 63178, which held that there was insufficient evidence in the record to support the allegation that the telephone facilities had been used for illegal purposes and ordered the interim relief to be made permanent. The decision found that Pacific had "acted upon reasonable cause in disconnecting said facilities." In October 1962 petitioner filed an action in superior court against Pacific, certain of its employees, and various police officers, seeking damages for the wrongful discontinuance of service. In Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Superior Court (1963) 60 Cal.2d 426 [34 Cal.Rptr. 673, 386 P.2d 233], we granted Pacific's petition for a writ of prohibition restraining the trial of that action. We found that an essential issue in the case was the validity of Decision No. 41415 and concluded that it was beyond the jurisdiction of the superior court to pass upon the validity of Public Utilities Commission decisions. However, we noted then that petitioner had filed the proceeding presently before us with the commission and stated (at p. 430), "The validity of [Decision No. 41415] and the power of the commission [65 Cal.2d 251] to rescind it may be determined in plaintiff's proceeding before the commission subject to review by this court." Petitioner's complaint requests that the commission retroactively repeal Decision No. 41415 or declare it to be unconstitutional, and modify Decision No. 63178 accordingly. That complaint resulted in Decision No. 69510, in which the commission found its prior decisions to be constitutional and reaffirmed the procedures established by those decisions. While chronology has brought Decision No. 69510 before us for review, the substantive issue involves the validity of the basic rule promulgated in Decision No. 41415. At the threshold we meet Pacific's contention that the principle of res judicata bars us from reaching the substantive issue presented in this action.pacific insists that Decision No. 63178 conclusively established that the company had reasonable cause to terminate petitioner's telephone service and that petitioner waived his right to challenge the finding of reasonable cause by permitting the decision to become final. [1] We cannot overlook the fact that Decision No. 63178 involved only petitioner's right to permanent restoration of telephone service, and the relief which he sought was granted in full. The proceeding was brought pursuant to the procedure established in Decision No. 41415, the purpose of which was to afford petitioner the opportunity to obtain prospective relief without undue delay. It would be incompatible with this purpose to require him to raise issues other than those relating to his demand for restoration of service. His right to such relief turned not upon the issue of probable cause as of the time service was terminated, but upon whether the facts presented at the hearing demonstrated that he had used the telephones in connection with an illegal activity. Since the finding of reasonable cause was not a necessary element of the commission's order, petitioner is not barred from raising that issue in the instant proceeding. (See Albertson v. Raboff (1956) 46 Cal.2d 375, 384-385 [295 P.2d 405].) fn. 2 [2] We next face another preliminary procedural problem raised by the Attorney General, who has intervened in this proceeding. He argues that a petition for rehearing was filed [65 Cal.2d 252] with the commission on August 20, 1965 (and not denied until December 7, 1965), that the petition for rehearing should be deemed to have been denied 20 days after it was filed even though it had not yet actually been denied (see Pub.Util.Code, § 1733), and that the petition to this court was required to be filed within an additional 30 days, or by October 9, 1965 (see Pub.Util.Code, § 1756). The petition was filed on November 12, 1965.public Utilities Code section 1733 provides that 20 days after a petition for rehearing has been filed, it "may be taken by the party making the application to be denied. ..." (Italics added.) The language of the section is permissive rather than mandatory, and appears to have been enacted solely for the benefit of the party making the application. We find no authority in support of a contrary interpretation. Thus the proceeding is properly before us and we reach the merits of the commission's decision. No California case has dealt with the precise issue whether the procedures established in Decision No. 41415 are constitutionally infirm because they deprived petitioner of property without due process of law, first because they did not provide him with an opportunity to challenge the allegations of the police department until after his telephones had been removed and his business had been destroyed, and second, because the decision denies him any action against the telephone company for the wrongful discontinuance of service. The holdings in other jurisdictions, to the extent they are apposite, are conflicting. Two New York cases upheld the right of communications companies to remove telephones at the request of the police. (Dente v. New York Tel. Co. (1944, Sup.Ct.) 55 N.Y.S.2d 688, 692; People ex rel. Restmeyer v. New York Tel. Co. (1916) 159 N.Y.S. 359 [173 App. Div. 132, 134].) However, neither case involved a statute or administrative order requiring that service be terminated at the request of the police, and in People ex rel. Restmeyer v. New York Tel. Co., supra, the court relied in part on the fact that the subscriber did not deny he had used his telephone for unlawful purposes. The New York courts appear to have treated the issue as one of private contractual rights. In Taglianetti v. New England Tel. & Tel. Co. (1954) 81 R.I. 351, 357-358 [103 A.2d 67], the court held that guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment could not be invoked by the subscriber because the removal of his telephone did not constitute state action, even though the company acted at the express request of the police. [3a] Here, Decision No. 41415 requires the company to remove any telephone which the [65 Cal.2d 253] police request be removed. In such circumstances, the involvement of state officials is not obscured by the act of the telephone company employee who physically disconnects the telephones. (See Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority (1961) 365 U.S. 715, 725 [81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45]; Mulkey v. Reitman (1966) 64 Cal.2d 529, 541-542 [50 Cal.Rptr. 881, 413 P.2d 825].) Cases from other jurisdictions contain statements to the effect that hearing is required prior to discontinuance of service, but in many of these opinions the language is dictum. In some, the subscriber was notified prior to the termination of service and the action was brought to enjoin the impending termination. (Andrews v. Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co. (D.D.C. 1949) 83 F.Supp. 966; Tollin v. Diamond State Tel. Co. (1960) 39 Del.Ch. 350 [164 A.2d 254].) Telephone News System, Inc. v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co. (N.D. Ill. 1963) 220 F.Supp. 621, 633-635, involved the validity of a federal statute permitting the removal of telephones being used for unlawful interstate commerce. (18 U.S.C. § 1084, subd. (d).) Since the federal statute requires notice prior to the termination, it was unnecessary to decide whether such notice is required by the Constitution. The statute is significant, however, in its indication that the federal government has apparently discovered no impediment to law enforcement in the insistence upon advance determination of the probable cause for service cessation. This should tend to allay the fears expressed by the intervener Attorney General that such a determination inevitably produces insurmountable difficulties in the enforcement of gambling laws. We are not without the help of numerous cases dealing with the right to hearing in factual contexts somewhat analogous to that involved here. Ewing v. Mytinger & Casselberry (1950) 339 U.S. 594, 599 [70 S.Ct. 870, 94 L.Ed. 1088], held that the federal government could commence legal proceedings against a company by executing multiple seizures of an allegedly misbranded food or drug product; the opportunity to appear at the subsequent court proceeding was held to satisfy the requirements of due process. It is also the law that an emergency price control regulation may take effect prior to a hearing (Yakus v. United States (1944) 321 U.S. 414, 439-440 [64 S.Ct. 660, 88 L.Ed. 834]), that a person's driver's license may be suspended prior to hearing if he fails to post security following an accident (Escobedo v. State of California (1950) 35 Cal.2d 870, 876 [222 P.2d 1]) or is convicted of drunk driving [65 Cal.2d 254] (Hough v. McCarthy (1960) 54 Cal.2d 273, 285 [5 Cal.Rptr. 668, 353 P.2d 276]), that commodities which are falsely labeled as to weight may be ordered off sale (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 12211), and that a serviceman may be discharged prior to a hearing concerning the conditions of discharge (Reed v. Franke (4th Cir. 1961) 297 F.2d 17, 27). On the other hand, Matter of Lambert (1901) 134 Cal. 626, 629-630 [66 P. 851, 86 Am.St.Rep. 296, 55 L.R.A. 856], held that a person may not be committed to a state mental institution if he has been denied the opportunity to challenge the commitment before being placed in the institution. Silver v. New York Stock Exchange (1963) 373 U.S. 341, 363 (fn. 15), 365 [83 S.Ct. 1246, 10 L.Ed.2d 389], stated that one may not be deprived without a hearing of a communications service essential to his business by action of the state or of a private agency subject to mandatory self-regulation. The various conflicting cases demonstrate that there is no rule of universal application concerning the right of an individual to present his views at a hearing prior to the institution of action affecting his substantial rights. [4] What is due process depends on circumstances. It varies with the subject matter and the necessities of the situation. (Holmes, J., in Moyer v. Peabody (1909) 212 U.S. 78, 84 [29 S.Ct. 235, 53 L.Ed. 410].) Its content is a function of many variables, including the nature of the right affected, the degree of danger caused by the proscribed condition or activity, and the availability of prompt remedial measures. All the authorities cited above are distinguishable from the matter at hand in one way or another, and little purpose would be served by examining the distinctions minutely. The Attorney General attributes the effectiveness of the procedure set forth in Decision No. 41415 to the fact that most bookmakers rely almost exclusively upon the telephone to contact their customers. It is said that notification before termination of service would permit a bookmaker to arrange by subterfuge for other telephone service and to notify his customers of the new telephone number when they contacted him during the period between notification and termination of service. The abrupt discontinuance of service without advance notice obviously precludes such course of action. Unfortunately, the sword is double-edged, for the procedure is as effective in destroying a legal business as it is in suppressing an illegal enterprise. [5] In modern commercial society, telephone communication is indispensable to legitimate [65 Cal.2d 255] business operations, and the discontinuance of service for even a limited period of time is capable of causing a company to fail; the instant case is a prime illustration. It is also significant that the disconnection of telephones not only may deprive the subscriber of the monetary value of his economic venture, but in such circumstances denies him an essential means of communication for which there is no effective substitute. Hence, this restraint upon communication by the subscriber also affects his right of free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the federal Constitution. [6] "Inasmuch as the rights of free speech and press are worthless without an effective means of expression, the guarantee extends both to the content of the communication and the means employed for its dissemination." (Weaver v. Jordan (1966) 64 Cal.2d 235, 241-242 [49 Cal.Rptr. 537, 411 P.2d 289].) Had the police desired to search the premises occupied by petitioner or to seize his property, they would have been required to first satisfy a magistrate that there was probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant. (U.S.Const., Amend. IV; Cal.Const., art. I, § 19.) The Fourth Amendment of the federal Constitution is binding upon the states only because the right protected is "implicit in 'the concept of ordered liberty' and as such is enforceable against the States through the Due Process Clause." (Wolf v. Colorado (1949) 338 U.S. 25, 27-28 [69 S.Ct. 1359, 93 L.Ed. 1782] overruled on other grounds in Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643, 655 [81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081].) In the absence of an arrest or other special circumstances (see People v. Grubb (1965) 63 Cal.2d 614, 618 [47 Cal.Rptr. 772, 408 P.2d 100]), these requirements apply even though the consequent delay may increase the risk that the property which the police seek will be destroyed or used in the commission of a crime; both the state and federal Constitutions have subordinated such risks to the right of freedom from arbitrary police intrusion. [7] Moreover, due process requirements of law are not for the sole benefit of an accused. They are the best insurance for the government itself against those blunders which leave lasting stains on a system of justice. (Jackson, J., dissenting in Shaughnessy v. United States (1953) 345 U.S. 206, 224-225 [73 S.Ct. 625, 97 L.Ed. 956].) The letter issued by the San Francisco Police Department requesting that petitioner's telephone service be terminated is dated October 11, 1961, but the telephones were not in fact disconnected until two days later. We perceive no insuperable [65 Cal.2d 256] obstacle to a procedure which would permit the police to secure authorization for the termination of service within an equally brief period of time. However, even if some additional delay necessarily eventuated, the law enforcement risks involved would certainly be no greater than those resulting from the requirement that a warrant be obtained prior to a search. In view of the importance of the fundamental rights affected, we would be justified only by the most compelling considerations in permitting the deferment of all procedural safeguards until the fait accompli: termination of the telephone service. We have looked in vain here for any justification for applying standards of due process substantially less exacting than those pertaining to searches. [3b] Therefore, we conclude that the rule promulgated in Decision No. 41415 does not conform to the due process requirements of the state and federal Constitutions in that it provides for no review of the bare allegations of the police prior to the termination of service. Although the commission has reopened the case in which Decision No. 41415 was issued, the rule promulgated in that decision has not yet been superseded by action of the commission or the Legislature and is presently in effect. Thus, it would be speculative for this court to pass upon the constitutionality of any proposed or hypothetical procedural arrangement, since a plethora of constitutionally valid solutions are conceivable. [8] However, whatever new procedure is hereafter devised must at a minimum require that the police obtain prior authorization to secure the termination of service by satisfying an impartial tribunal that they have probable cause to act, in a manner reasonably comparable to a proceeding before a magistrate to obtain a search warrant. In addition, after service is terminated the subscriber must be promptly afforded the opportunity to challenge the allegations of the police and to secure restoration of the service. A procedure incorporating these measures would provide substantial protection to the subscriber without hindering the enforcement of gambling laws. [9] Having found Decision No. 41415 unconstitutional, we come finally to the question whether an action for damages should lie against the company, which could have refused to remove the telephones only by posturing defiance of an order of the commission, thus subjecting the regulated utility to discipline. (Pub.Util.Code, § 2107.) Technically, the issue of damages is not before us since the present action is to review a decision of the Public Utilities Commission and the commission [65 Cal.2d 257] has awarded no damages. However, the parties have invited us to decide the issue; they have discussed it at length in the briefs and it is central to the related superior court action brought by petitioner. The question is one of law, and the failure to consider it now would serve no purpose other than to exacerbate the burdens of the litigation. Decision No. 41415 provides that the utility must act upon reasonable cause but that written notice from any law enforcement agency that the service is being used in connection with illegal activity "is sufficient to constitute such reasonable cause." (47 Cal.P.U.C. 853, 859-860.)petitioner argues that the quoted language is permissive rather than mandatory and that liability of the utility may arise from its failure to conduct an independent investigation of the facts where such an investigation would have disclosed the falsity of the charges. In the decision now before us the commission interprets the quoted language as providing that reasonable cause for the utility to act is conclusively established on receipt of the described communication from a law enforcement agency. This interpretation appears to be more tenable than that proposed by petitioner. The latter alternative would impose upon the utility the investigative functions of a law enforcement agency and the decision- making duty of a judicial tribunal. To suggest the vesting of such powers and duties in a private corporation is to reject it. Therefore, the question is whether a private entity may be held liable for complying with a mandatory order of the Public Utilities Commission valid upon its face, if that order is later found to be unconstitutional. Peterson v. Robison (1954) 43 Cal.2d 690, 697 [277 P.2d 19], held that no damage action lies against a private citizen who assists in making an arrest pursuant to the request of a police officer, even when the information upon which the arrest was made proves false. The court noted that the refusal to provide such aid would constitute a misdemeanor, and declared (at p. 697), "It would be manifestly unfair to impose civil liability upon the private person for doing that which the law [requires]." (See also, Mackie v. Ambassador Hotel etc. Corp. (1932) 123 Cal.App. 215, 222 [11 P.2d 3].) The principle set forth in Peterson v. Robison, supra, would seem to be equally applicable to the case at hand. (See Telephone News System, Inc. v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co. (N.D. Ill. 1963) supra, 220 F.Supp. 621, 635.) A contrary rule would not only be inequitable but would discourage cooperation with law enforcement [65 Cal.2d 258] agencies. [10] We hold, therefore, that Pacific should not be held responsible for damages caused by its compliance with Decision No. 41415. In view of our holding that the rule promulgated in Decision No. 41415 is unconstitutional, Decision No. 69510 is annulled. Traynor, C. J., McComb, J., Peters, J., Tobriner, J., Peek, J., and Burke, J., concurred. ­FN 1. The order provides in relevant portion that "any communications utility ... must discontinue and disconnect service to a subscriber, whenever it has reasonable cause to believe that the use made or to be made of the service, or the furnishing of service ... is prohibited under any law, ordinance, regulation, or other legal requirement, or is being or is to be used as an instrumentality, directly or indirectly, to violate or to aid and abet the violation of the law. A written notice to such utility from any official charged with the enforcement of the law stating that such service is being used or will be used as an instrumentality to violate or to aid and abet the violation of the law is sufficient to constitute such reasonable cause. ... [A]ny person aggrieved ... shall have the right to file a complaint with this Commission in accordance with law. This remedy shall be exclusive. Except as specifically provided herein, no action at law or in equity shall accrue against any communications utility because, or as a result of, any matter or thing done ... pursuant to the provisions of this decision." (47 Cal.P.U.C. 853, 859-860.) ­FN 2. It should also be noted that the commission appears to have based its finding of reasonable cause upon the rule established in Decision No. 41415. Therefore, it seems that the only finding of fact actually made was that Pacific had received a letter from the San Francisco Police Department requesting that telephone service be discontinued, for Decision No. 41415 declares that receipt of such a letter constitutes reasonable cause for discontinuance of service. Date: Citation: Category: Status: Thu, 09/29/1966 65 Cal.2d 247 Review - Criminal Appeal Opinion issued 1 EDGAR J. SOKOL, Petitioner, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION (Respondent) 2 ; PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, Real Party in Interest; THOMAS C. LYNCH, as Attorney General, etc., Intervener. (; PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, Real Party in Interest; THOMAS C. LYNCH, as Attorney General, etc.) 3 EDGAR J. SOKOL (Petitioner) 4 PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION (Respondent) Sep 29 1966 Denied SCOCAL, Sokol v. Public Utilities Commission , 65 Cal.2d 247 available at: (https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/sokol-v-public-utilities-commission-30040) (last visited Monday March 20, 2023).

‘Wonder Woman 2’ Scheduled for Christmas 2019 Release Matt Singer Published: July 25, 2017 It’s official: Wonder Woman is coming back. Warners Bros. made the announcement today (weirdly, they did it a few days after Comic-Con, the kind of place people tend to sort of kind of like this kind of announcement) that Wonder Woman 2 is on the release calendar. Expect Gal Gadot to return to theaters on December 13, 2019. (Technically, you’ll see her later this year in Justice League. But this will be her next major appearance, unless something changes in Warners’ plans.) The announcement is something of a formality; barring the complete collapse of the motion picture industry, there was no way Warners wasn’t making a Wonder Woman 2. The film is already the top-grossing movie of summer 2017 in the United States, and it’s continued to draw huge crowds for weeks thanks to great word of mouth. It’s completely revitalized the DC Extended Universe after the first films were met with tepid receptions. And it made Gadot an instant movie star. The big remaining question is whether or not Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will return for WW2 as well. Previous reports indicated that she was already working on the potential story for the film, but Warner Bros.’ release date announcement didn’t explicitly list a director, and according to Variety, the studio still won’t confirm whether she is making the movie or not. Someone throw the Lasso of Truth around one of those executives and see what they say. Wonder Woman Is the Biggest Hit of the Summer Filed Under: Gal Gadot, Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 Categories: Movie News, Superheroes

Liz Keller By Renee Twyford ’20, Contibutor The newest addition to the Harry Potter series was nothing short of exceptional. Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them opened in the United States on November 18, 2016, after being announced by Warner Bros. in 2013. Avid Harry Potter fanatics, myself included, were astounded find out that J. K.’s twitter post in 2014 was an anagram relating to the movie: “Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My wand won’t tolerate this nonsense.” The anagram was later solved as “Newt Scamander only meant to stay in New York for a few hours.” J.K. Rowling wrote the original Fantastic Beasts book to give the readers of the Harry Potter series an example of what one of the students at Hogwarts’ books would be like. It consisted of many descriptions of the beasts that one would find in the magical world, as well as annotations in the book that were supposedly done by Ron and Harry. The movie takes an entirely different spin, telling the tale of the author of the Fantastic Beasts book. The book’s “author” was Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who has a huge heart and a few secrets hidden in his case. The case is (excuse the reference) bigger on the inside, for reasons that can only be guessed at. Newt is accompanied on his adventures by a “no-maj” (the American word for muggle) named Jacob. The movie is filled with unexpected villains, plot twists that will baffle, and scenes where Eddie Redmayne’s acting is so perfect you’ll wonder if he really is Newt Scamander. About half of the film is, unsurprisingly, special effects and time with the magical creatures, and there is a considerable lack of plot development until the end; it is self-explanatory as to why the movie is 2 hours 13 minutes long, and why some of the reviews of the movie haven’t been so spectacular. But, it’s part the Harry Potter series, so it has to be good, right? And hey, even if you don’t like the movie all that much, hearing the theme song at the beginning and seeing the Warner Bros. logo just one more time makes it all worth it. renee twyford How to Draw Bap Silent the Night Goes (Scholastic Winner) CCD’S Tick Tick Boom Production Jon’s Perspective on Tick, Tick… BOOM! Disintegration Album Review Cheat Codes Album Review

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Home Way of Life Food for Thought The Resegregation of America The Resegregation of America Image NPS, The woke left has largely abandoned the call for colorblindness advocated by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., whose monument presides over West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore a growing, insidious ethos overtaking America’s most powerful institutions. Individual merit and reasoned debate are out. “Lived experience” and the hierarchy of group grievance are now what matter most. Even truth is considered meaningless. Narratives are everything. The concept of fundamental human equality, derived from ideas at the heart of America’s founding and famously rearticulated by civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech, is now being replaced by the enforced “equity” of the woke. Want to keep up with the 24/7 news cycle? Want to know the most important stories of the day for conservatives? Need news you can trust? Subscribe to The Daily Signal’s email newsletter. Learn more >> The end result, ironically, is the resegregation of America. This new woke ideology, building on critical race theory, not only rejects the concept that people should be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, it increasingly also embraces actual governmental race-based discrimination. The evidence of this shift is everywhere. To no one’s surprise, segregation is popular on modern college campuses, where these ideas originally bubbled up. Many schools, such as New York University, have been besieged with demands for racially segregated student housing, despite that being likely illegal. Columbia University is now offering segregated graduation ceremonies for various racial and gender identity groups. Columbia, an Ivy League school, insists that these segregated ceremonies are all voluntary and in addition to the larger, integrated ceremony, but who’s to say that will continue? By next year, would it be a surprise to see schools all over the country copy this practice? Such ideas are coming to corporate America, too. Proposition 16 in California, which would have officially brought back race-based affirmative action to the state, was rejected by voters. But it was widely supported by a gaggle of corporations, nonprofit groups, and well-connected billionaires. Voters may balk at race-based discrimination, but woke corporations are seemingly happy to inject racial categories in their business models. Open up an app for food-delivery services, such as Uber Eats, for instance, and you will likely see a section for “black-owned businesses.” Are we now going to start choosing our dinner by racial group rather than by cuisine? Such moves to create a more racialized society would be bad enough if they were only limited to college campuses and the practices of woke businesses, but they are disturbingly being incorporated into government policy, too. Two Democratic senators recently said that they would no longer vote to confirm “non-diversity” nominees for federal government posts. “I am a ‘no’ vote on the floor, on all non-diversity nominees,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., “You know, I will vote for racial minorities, and I will vote for LGBTQ, but anybody else, I’m not voting for.” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, concurred with Duckworth. “We’re not just calling for [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders],” Hirono said. “This is not about pitting one diversity group against them. So, I’m happy to vote for a Hispanic or black person and LGBTQ person and AAPI person.” So, they’d vote to confirm any nominee—as long as he wasn’t straight and white. Duckworth and Hirono eventually backed down from that stance, but the threat was telling. Qualifications are irrelevant. Racial discrimination is good, as long as you discriminate against the right people. The efforts to place identity before all other considerations do not just stop at those who can serve in government. Several senators have floated legislation to create race-based programs that would direct funding toward specific racial groups. The Biden administration isbacking the creation of a commission to investigate the possibility of reparations for slavery. Cities are experimenting with race-based laws, too. Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland, California, announced that the city will be creating a universal basic income program in partnership with a nonprofit organization that will only give money to “black, indigenous, and other people of color,” according to KPIX-TV, the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area. The program, which will give $500 a month to 600 low-income families for 18 months, was justified by supporters as based on statistical poverty disparities among racial groups. The money for the program will come from Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic organization. That opens up a few questions, beyond just its legality. Will American citizens now need to take a genetic test to qualify for government services? After all, we live in an age where gender is supposedly “fluid,” but race and culture, we’re told, are absolute. Also, what exactly does a group disparity or statistic mean to anyone living in poverty who doesn’t qualify as a “person of color”? You won’t receive aid, but there’s good news: You’re helping the government create more equity by being poor. Congratulations! As my colleague Mike Gonzalez wrote for City Journal, many of these proposals are likely unconstitutional and illegal violations of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and Titles VI and VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That clearly won’t stop the woke from pushing them on Americans anyway. “The woke Left understands that, as written and amended, the Constitution stands in the way of many of the things that it wants to do,” Gonzalez wrote. “This is why the Left has set about to cast the Constitution as illegitimate by, for example, purposely mischaracterizing the three-fifths compromise, pretending that the document perpetuated slavery, or calling it, as Kendi does, a ‘colorblind Constitution for a White-supremacist America.’” That’s a reference to Ibram X. Kendi, a so-called anti-racist intellectual who has become massively popular in media and in higher-education circles. Kendi aims to redefine racism as a collective, systemic act, rather than an individual one; denounces the concept of a colorblind society; and argues that racial discrimination can be good—as long as it’s pointed in the right direction. Whether you’ve heard of Kendi or not, his ideas are now everywhere and are being delivered in a steady and growing dose to Americans and other people throughout the West. America hasn’t always lived up to the promise of equality laid out in the Declaration of Independence. Slavery and segregation ran alongside our institutions and culture of liberty. But the founding generation designed our system to bend toward justice and the truth. In time, we have built upon our cornerstone of freedom and corrected our flaws as a nation. The intellectual vanguards of wokeness and critical race theory demand that the most fundamental aspects of self-government and preservation of individual rights be abandoned to serve the cause of destroying “systemic racism.” Arguing to the contrary may be racist and, if Kendi gets his way, practically illegal—at least illegal for anyone in a position of power. So, not only is America to be resegregated, but unlike in our past—when the American people were persuaded and freely chose to abandon and prohibit race-based policies—this time we will have no choice, and will simply be at the whim of woke apparatchiks. Today, we may be debating whether our national origin is 1776 or 1619, but if our current course continues, our future will look more like 1917, the year of the communist Russian Revolution. For one group to rise, another must come down. Race will simply replace class as the prime motivator of the revolution and eventual tyranny. What we will end up with is misery, recriminations, and segregation now, tomorrow, and forever. JArrett Stepman is a contributor to The Daily Signal and co-host of The Right Side of History podcast. Send an email to Jarrett. He is also the author of the book “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past.” Reproduced with permission. Original here. Previous articleThis MRE From Kazakhstan Is HUGE! ? Next articleSupply Shortages: Remain Prepared for Anything Ex-Google VP on the ‘One Skill’ She Looked For at Job Interviews Above All Others—That Only 15% of People Have How Two Private Citizens Developed Standard Time Latest culprit from the climate guys: Moose

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SFILEN is a collaborative of 13 community-based organizations. Dolores Street Community Services (DSCS) provides fiscal leadership for the network, and SFILEN coordinating staff are housed along with SF and Bay Area Rapid Response staff in DSCS’s Immigrant Rights & Community Empowerment program. Gabriela (Gaby) Rodriguez, SF Rapid Response Network Coordinator Contact: [email protected] Gaby is a proud first-generation Salvadoreña raised in Chicago, Illinois. She learned to fight and advocate for herself and others while experiencing the socioeconomic and educational inequalities challenging her community after migrating with her family to the U.S. at the young age of 8. Following her passions for economic and social justice, she pursued two Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2020. She hopes to continue her commitment to empower immigrant communities by uplifting the message of Power, Not Panic alongside the Rapid Response Team. David Imhoff, SFILEN Program Coordinator Contact: [email protected] David joined DSCS as SFILEN Program Coordinator in October 2019 and currently oversees grant management, internal facilitation, and event and workshop coordination for the network. Previously, David worked for several years with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala, where he coordinated international support for social and environmental justice campaigns led by Guatemalan grassroots organizations, first as an international human rights accompanier with Indigenous and campesinx land defenders, and then as U.S. Operations & Programs Coordinator. He is also involved in anti-racist organizing and political education as a collective member of Catalsyt Project. David grew up on Susquehannock territory in rural Pennsylvania and earned a self-designed B.A. in 2012 from the Evergreen State College, where he studied Political Economy and Critical Pedagogy. Aurora Gonzalez, Lead Dispatcher & IRCE Program Assistant Contact: [email protected] Aurora Gonzalez is a Mexican immigrant who came to this country with enormous dreams of continuing her studies, knowing that she would have opportunities here that weren’t available to her in her country. Shortly after arriving, she began studying English as a Second Language, International Business, and Business Administration at San Francisco Community College. Aurora is happy to have had the opportunity to collaborate with non-profit organizations such as the Regional Policy Council of We Yee Children’s Services, where she served as Chair of the Family Leadership Committee, assisting with strategy, encouraging parents, and enhancing their ability to be their children’s voices and advocates. Currently, she continues her voluntary advocacy as secretary of the parents’ committee in her daughter’s elementary school. Aurora first worked with DSCS in 2019 and 2020 as a temporary administrative assistant for SFILEN. She rejoined the team in November 2021 as a program assistant for SFILEN and SFRRN, also serving as lead dispatcher on SFRRN’s 24-hour immigrant rights hotline. SFILEN Statement of Mourning and Solidarity Against Anti-AAPI Racism Download Publication:

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Nicholas St. John (2021) Nicholas St. John Candidate for Senator of the Graduate School Applied Science: Physics PhD I am the current, and would like to continue the work I have started. I was in student government during my undergraduate experience, and now I am continuing in graduate school. I workout Monday-Thursday at the rec center on campus, and am the co-president of the college democrats. Last year, I founded and ran a students for Bernie group on campus too.

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Home Blog What is primary market in finance? on September 5, 2019 September 5, 2019 Blog What is primary market in finance? 1 What is primary market in finance? 2 What is primary market and role of primary market? 3 What is difference between primary and secondary market? 4 How do primary markets raise funds? 5 What are examples of secondary markets? 6 Which of the following is a difference between primary and secondary capital markets? 7 What is the role of the primary market? 8 What kind of securities are in the primary market? The primary market is where securities are created. It’s in this market that firms sell or float (in finance lingo) new stocks and bonds to the public for the first time. After the initial offering is completed—that is, all the stock shares or bonds are sold—that primary market closes. What is primary market and role of primary market? The primary market is a type of capital market that deals with the new issue of stocks and securities. The main functions of a primary market include origination, underwriting and distribution. Origination is to identify, assess and process new securities for the issue. What is the role of primary and secondary markets in capital market? The primary market is where securities are created, while the secondary market is where those securities are traded by investors. In the primary market, companies sell new stocks and bonds to the public for the first time, such as with an initial public offering (IPO). What is the role of financial market in the market? Financial markets function through the interaction of buyers and sellers that determine the price of traded assets. Financial markets provide a sign for the allocation of funds in the economy based on the demand and supply through the mechanism called the price discovery process. What is difference between primary and secondary market? 1. A primary market is defined as the market in which securities are created for first-time investors. On the other hand, the secondary market is defined as a place where the issued shares are traded among investors. The buying and selling of shares takes place among the investors and the companies. How do primary markets raise funds? In a primary market, companies, governments or public sector institutions can raise funds through bond issues and corporations can raise capital through the sale of new stock through an initial public offering (IPO). This is often done through an investment bank or finance syndicate of securities dealers. What are the objectives of primary market? The key function of the primary market is to facilitate capital growth by enabling individuals to convert savings into investments. It facilitates companies to issue new stocks to raise money directly from households for business expansion or to meet financial obligations. What are the functions of primary and secondary market? Difference Between The Primary Market & Secondary Market Primay Market The function of primary market is to originate, distribute and underwrite new securities for issue. The function of secondary market is to create an available market for trade of securities between investors. What are examples of secondary markets? Examples of popular secondary markets are the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the NASDAQ, and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Which of the following is a difference between primary and secondary capital markets? In the primary market, the investor can purchase shares directly from the company. In the Secondary Market, investors buy and sell the stocks and bonds among themselves. In the primary market, security can be sold only once, whereas in the secondary market it can be done an infinite number of times. What are the 5 roles of financial markets? #1 – Price Determination. #2 – Funds Mobilization. #3 – Liquidity. #4 – Risk sharing. #5 – Easy Access. #6 – Reduction in Transaction Costs and Provision of the Information. #7 – Capital Formation. What are examples of financial markets? Some examples of financial markets include the stock market, the bond market, and the commodities market. Financial markets can be further broken down into capital markets, money markets, primary markets, and secondary markets. What is the role of the primary market? Primary markets enable firms to raise capital through the sale of financial assets. Businesses are able to access potential investors that are outside its immediate influence. Businesses have to meet stringent market standards to issue securities at the primary market. What kind of securities are in the primary market? The primary market is the financial market where new securitiesPublic SecuritiesPublic securities, or marketable securities, are investments that are openly or easily traded in a market. These securities are either equity or debt-based. How do companies raise funds from the primary market? Below are some of the ways in which companies raise funds from the primary market: 1. Public Issue This is the most common way to issue securities to the general public. Through an IPO, the company is able to raise funds. The securities are listed on a stock exchange for trading purposes. Who are the players in the primary market? The major players of the primary market are large institutional investors, and the market requirements are stringent. Therefore, the company as an investment potential is evaluated on multiple levels. The primary issue is traded in the secondary market by individual investors. Previous Article How do I reissue a MoneyGram? Next Article What is the common factor for 56?

Stanley, Falkland Islands Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,460. King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is the islands’ main hospital. About Stanley, Falkland Islands in brief Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,460. The entire population of the Falkland Islands was 3,398 on Census Day on 9 October 2016. Stanley has four pubs, 11 hotels and guesthouses, three restaurants, a fish and chip shop and the main tourist office. The town hall serves as a post office, philatelic bureau, law court and dance hall. The police station also contains the islands’ only prison, with a capacity of 13 in the cells. King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is the islands’ main hospital, with doctors’ practice and surgery, radiology department, dental surgery and emergency facilities. Several bus and taxi companies operate out of Stanley. Stanley Racecourse holds a two-day horse racing meeting every year on 26 and 27 December. The Christmas races have been held here for over 100 years. The Anglican Christ Church Cathedral is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, and the Roman Catholic St. Mary’s Church. A bomb disposal unit in the town is a legacy of the 1982 Falklands War. During the Second World War, a hulk in Stanley Harbour was used for interning British Fascist and fascist prisoners of war. The only way to travel between the two parts was by boat; the town was cut in two in 1879 and 1886, the second time a black mass, killing two people, was moving forwards at a rate of four or five mph. In 1849, 30 married Chelsea Pensioners were settled there to help with the defence of the Islands and to develop the new settlement. The settlement soon grew as a deep-water port, specialising at first in ship repairs; before the construction of the Panama Canal, Port Stanley was a major repair stop for ships travelling through the Straits of Magellan. Later it became a base for the coaling and sealing and sealing in the South Atlantic and Antarctic. This led to it being involved in the First World War and the Battle of the River Plate in the First World War. It was named after Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time. You want to know more about Stanley, Falkland Islands? This page is based on the article Stanley, Falkland Islands published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence. Falkland Islands United States Census Bureau Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield Augustus Owsley Stanley Tags: Stanley, Falkland Islands Next story Louisiana’s 5th congressional district Previous story Jesus in Islam

How to Do Diamond Casino Heists Whether you’re a diamond casino heist veteran or you’re just starting out, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your heist is successful. These tips will help you to stay silent and … Whether you’re a diamond casino heist veteran or you’re just starting out, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your heist is successful. These tips will help you to stay silent and sneaky, and also help you to stay on the right side of the law. Silent and Sneaky Taking down Diamond Casino security is not an easy task. In order to complete your mission, you’ll need to take out two guards at the front desk and the metal detector fuse box at the back of the building. Then, you’ll need to unlock the door with a keypad. After delivering buyers, you can finally do your heist. Depending on your approach, there are different tactics and techniques you can use to get the maximum payout from your heist. The best method is to pick the one that fits your playstyle the most. If you’re a gung-ho player, it’s probably the Aggressive approach, while if you’re more careful, you might opt for the Silent and Sneaky method. These methods both have their own pros and cons. The Silent and Sneaky method is a great way to go if you’re looking for a stealthy way to earn some extra cash. You’ll need to complete 10 set-up missions to accomplish this trick, and you’ll be rewarded with an Undetected bonus, which means that you’ll have an added $200,000. Another method is the Big Con approach, which involves wearing disguises and hiding in the dark to evade detection. This is a popular option in the GTA gaming community. It’s not as simple as it sounds, however, and you’ll need to work with your team to pull it off. The final approach is the Team Approach, which will require more team work, constant communication and a bit of testing. You’ll also need to choose a team that works well together. The crew will have to be given a certain percentage of the loot, but they’ll have better vehicles and weapons. Choosing the best approach for your heist can be a challenge, but it’s worth it if you’re looking to get the most payout. The best approach will depend on your style of play, so it’s a good idea to do practice missions to determine which method works best for you. The best approach for your heist will depend on your game’s difficulty level, the amount of cash you want to take out, and the contents of the vault. Getting the best diamond casino heist payout is a combination of a number of factors, and the right approach depends on your personal style. There are three main approaches to stealing from the rich and famous. The Big Con, the Silent and Sneaky and the Aggressive approach. Each has its own pros and cons. The most important thing is to choose the right approach to fit your game. The Big Con is a large scale heist that involves sneaking into the casino. Then, nabbing as much loot as possible while avoiding being caught. It is also the most complex of the three approaches. It has a few mandatory set up missions, as well as several optional ones. It is also the most expensive of the three. It also requires a hefty amount of disguise, and a good support crew to make it all happen. The Silent and Sneaky approach, on the other hand, is more focused on stealth and concealment. It is also the most clunky. It is not recommended for beginners. It does, however, net you the most monetary reward. The Aggressive approach, on the other hand, is the most straight forward. It is not quite as complex as the Big Con, but it does involve blowing the vault open with thermal charges. It is not a heist that you can play twice. It is not as fun as it sounds, but you get a pretty penny in the process. The best diamond casino heist pays off with a lot of money. You can pick up cash and other valuable items such as Gold and Artwork in the vault. The contents of the vault will affect how much you get paid. The best way to get the most money from your heist is to get a support crew. A better one will give you a higher share of the total take. It is best to select a crew with a high reputation, and a reputable thief. You can also choose an expert hacker, but the best option is to stick to a more standard crew. The Big Con Amongst the various routes for a Diamond Casino Heist, there are three basic approaches that players can choose from. These include the Silent and Sneaky Approach, the Aggressive Approach, and the Combat Approach. The first two approaches have their own set of missions and are mandatory, while the third route is not. The Silent and Sneaky Approach is known for its stealth, and requires players to disguise themselves. This route also has several optional missions to assist players in achieving their goal. For example, the player can pretend to be an infiltrator or maintenance staff. This makes it easier to enter the Casino and to avoid being spotted. The Aggressive Approach involves blowing open a vault door with explosives or thermal charges. This strategy is very popular in the GTA Online community. This route is very difficult to complete, and the total payout is limited. The Big Con is a middle ground between the Silent and Sneaky Approach and the Aggressive Approach. This route allows players to sneak into the vault and bag the loot before the timer runs out. The Big Con also includes a disguise, and is one of the easiest routes to complete. The Big Con has eight optional missions. These can be purchased from the heist planning dashboard. These missions will increase the chance of success and provide an alternative in case things go awry. The most important aspect of any route is preparation. Players should always consider their overall approach, and select the best support crew. A good support crew will make the heist easier to accomplish, and will give a higher cut of the total take. When deciding on a support crew, consider their skill level and weapons. A gunman will be more effective than a hacker, for example. This is a very important factor for a successful heist. Another important consideration is the vehicle. For instance, a better driver will get better cars, and a higher rank will give you better weaponry. It is important to stay away from security cameras and alarms. In addition, players will have to avoid the highway that leads to the Casino. Cancel the heist During last week’s GTA Online update, Diamonds were added as a reward for a heist at The Diamond Casino & Resort. The diamonds are only available for a limited time. Rockstar added the diamonds to the game as part of a Valentine’s event. These diamonds were spawned at a 18% rarity. They can be found in the casino vault. The Diamond Casino Heist has changed the way it operates. Instead of rolling the dice for diamonds, you have to move the camera through the casino vault to find diamonds. You also have to avoid getting damaged during the heist. In addition, you have to pay a $25K setup fee for each new heist. If you fail to find any diamonds in the vault, you can call Lester and tell him to cancel the Diamond Casino Heist. This will revert the mission to the beginning, and will allow you to see what the contents of the vault are. If you are satisfied with the contents, you can proceed with the heist. You can also reroll the contents of the vault without repeating the mission. After calling Lester to cancel the Diamond Casino Heist, you can then change the contents of the vault. If the vault contains cash or gold, you can go to the setup board and change it to diamonds. If the contents are not satisfactory, you can also call Lester and let him know. This will allow you to reroll the contents and reset the mission. The Diamond Casino Heist has a maximum payout of $2,714,250. On Hard Mode, the payout will be 10% higher. The diamonds spawn at a 18% rarity, and the chance for diamond spawns increased for Independence Week. In addition, the health of the enemies will regenerate slower on Hard Mode. If you want to reroll the contents of the vault without restarting the mission, you can do so by going into creator mode and starting an invite-only session. This will cost you 25k, and you will receive eight rerolls to get the next best vault contents. If the contents are not satisfactory, you may also cancel the heist and go back to the setup board to reroll the contents. How to Visit Lower Antelope Canyon? How To Spend a Day In Sydney?

ShowVela GM joint venture to receive $2.5B government loan for U.S. battery plants – TechCrunch The U.S. Department of Energy is reviving an old loan program and its first recipient is the joint battery venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution. The $2.5 billion loan issued to GM and LG Energy will be used to help finance the construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities. Reuters was first to report the news. The loan to Ultium Cells, the name of the GM-LG joint venture, is expected to close in the coming months and will be used for its upcoming facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. GM and LG have plans to invest more than $7 billion to jointly build three battery plants. Production at the Ohio factory is expected to begin in August. In Tennessee, production is scheduled for late 2023, and in Michigan for 2024. Ultium told Reuters the facilities will create 5,000 new high-tech jobs in the U.S. The loan agreement requires Ultium to offer employees local prevailing wage and fringe benefits. The funds come from the government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, which was tasked with issuing up to $17.7 billion in federal loans and hasn’t funded a new loan since 2010. Tesla was one of the last automakers to receive a loan back in 2009, when the DOE loaned the EV-maker $465 million to help build its Model S sedan. To date, the program has dolled out $8 billion for products that have supported the production of more than 4 million advanced technology vehicles, according to the DOE. Ford and Nissan also received $5.9 billion in 2009 and $1.4 billion in 2010, respectively. While the plan is the first time the DOE will issue a loan exclusively for a battery cell manufacturing project under the vehicle program, it’s not the first time we’re seeing governments get involved in securing battery supply. Joint ventures between automakers and battery chemistry and cell manufacturers have been cropping up regionally in recent years in response to a de-globalizing post-COVID world. Governments in Germany, South Korea and China have already begun financially backing local battery manufacturing to help shore up supply chains. The resurrected DOE loan program suggests the Biden Administration is also keen to secure its supply chain as part of its plan for half of all new passenger vehicles sales to be EVs by 2030. The DOE did not respond in time to TechCrunch’s questions about whether it would continue to fund battery projects. In April, the agency said it had issued a conditional commitment for a $107 million loan to Australian graphite miner Syrah Resources to expand en EV battery parts plant in Louisiana. Graphite is a crucial piece of the anode of lithium ion batteries. The agency said in February it plans to provide $3.1 billion in funding from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make more batteries and components in America, boost domestic supply chains and create jobs. The DOE told Reuters the department has received more than $18 billion in loan requests from the auto program and expects another $5 billion to come through. The department also said more loans will be issued, but did not provide a specific timeline. Mexico’s teams have struggled with issues on and off the pitch. Can it correct the ship ahead of the World Cup? Houston Astros’ Hector Neris, manager Dusty Baker suspended after dust-up with Seattle Mariners Online Casino Echtgeld in Deutschland | Vulkan Vegas Vulkan Vegas Casino Online Website Mostbet Portugal 2023 Mostbet – это бренд с более чем 10-летней историей. 1win зеркало официального сайта рабочее на сегодня Wesley_Hornbeck Copyright © 2023 ShowVela

Using thermal cameras to treat mental disorders Home » Research and Development • Technology • Viento • Viento-10 » Using thermal cameras to treat mental disorders This case study describes a March 2019 survey of Sierra-Olympia Technologies (SOTI) Customer, Jeffrey A. Carmen, Ph.D., owner of Olde Barn Technologies in Manlius, NY. (https://www.stopmymigraine.com). Dr. Carmen is a licensed psychologist who developed a novel neurofeedback technique in 1998 called Passive Infrared Hemoencephalography (pIR HEG). pIR HEG is used frequently to treat migraine headaches, but is also very effective at treating a variety of other disorders involving excessive rate and magnitude of response to relatively benign stimuli. In plain English, people who over react to things will react less strongly and less quickly. pIR HEG is now used worldwide to treat a variety of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD. It continues to be a predictable method of treating people with migraine headaches. This is especially useful for women who want to become pregnant or are already pregnant because they cannot safely take any migraine medications. There are over 1,000 of these systems in use currently. The mechanism of action of this system is to make the Prefrontal Cortex dominant, which keeps the fight/flight/freeze response relatively quiet. It also inhibits the brainstem migraine generator from generating high quality migraines. People still get the migraine headaches but have a relatively difficult time telling that they just had one. Shortly after developing the pIR HEG system, Dr. Carmen searched for a way to monitor prefrontal cortical brain activity. There are many ways to do this, including monitoring brain waves (EEG), but he needed something fast as well as reliable. To this end he refined the use of infrared imaging so that it could produce an image of the brain activity in the prefrontal cortex. Baseline images could be gathered at the start of each session and tracked over time, correlating with symptom changes. He found that while the average thermal output through the forehead remained relatively stable, the extreme highs and lows reduced as symptoms improved. He has a database of over 30,000 infrared images that he has acquired in his office. Worldwide clinicians have captured in excess of 100,000 images. According to Dr. Carmen, pIR HEG does not measure brain temperature. In fact the brain carefully guards and regulates its own temperature to preserve cell health. pIR HEG does measure the thermal waste product of these cells. Some of that thermal waste passes through the forehead and is captured by the pIR HEG system. It is also captured on an infrared camera that can track the heat patterns over time, correlating with symptom improvement. Most of this thermal transfer is managed by increased blood flow, although the increase in blood flow is not the goal. Increased cellular metabolism is the goal. The pIR HEG system monitors brain activity while the patient watches a movie. When the movie generates a strong emotional response, the prefrontal cortex goes offline, reducing the output and causing the movie to pause. The patient then must quiet emotions and concentrate on a bargraph that has appeared on the screen. This dual process causes the bargraph to respond upwards and the movie to restart. The following images represent treatment for depression: Dr. Carmen uses very expensive infrared cameras in his office. Many people have asked him about the cost of purchasing such a system, but only a few have been able to manage the cost. The VIENTO line of cameras is now available at a price point to enable people to set up a complete thermal imaging system in a relatively small office and a reasonable cost. The system represents “office grade” hardware and software. “research grade” would require a much more substantial investment. A relatively unique aspect of the VIENTO is that it is thermally very stable which is essential to making repeated images meaningful. Dr. Carmen now assembles and markets a complete system that includes a specially configured VIENTO G camera with a lens that allows the camera to capture a full screen image while remaining roughly 3 feet from the patient. This is important to eliminate the image distortion created by allowing the camera to move too close to the patient. He also uses special software and signal acquisition hardware to interface with a computer. That is only the beginning. Acquiring meaningful images is a complicated process. He conducts special training in acquiring and interpreting these thermal images and provides ongoing support for people who decide to take the plunge into infrared imaging.

← Money Management 101: 3 Age-Appropriate Stepping Stones 5 Pre-Summer Checks for a Well-Insulated Home → Simple Ways to Make Your Older Home More Energy Efficient Posted on May 18, 2016 by Signature Realty Associates By Keith Loria While older homes are full of charm, characteristics and nuances that won’t be found in a newly constructed home, the odds are good that unless there have been some major upgrades over the years, its energy efficiency rating will be nowhere near that of a new home. Still, older homes appeal to many buyers, and it’s easier to incorporate eco-friendly elements into an older home than it is to add charm to a newly built home. If you’re attempting to sell an older home, and want to attract the eco-minded buyer, there are numerous things you can do to make the house more energy efficient. To start, hire someone to come in and conduct an energy audit, or check with your utility company to see if they’re offered for free. During the audit, a professional will analyze the home and recommend a set of measures to improve energy performance, alerting you to areas of the home that are most vulnerable to energy inefficiency. One of the easiest things you can do to increase an older home’s energy efficiency is better insulate the space. Purchasing insulation won’t break the bank, and a novice handyman can most likely handle the job. If you’re interested in going this route, there are plenty of DIY videos on YouTube to help guide you through the process. Be sure to pay attention to attics, crawl spaces, basements, heating and cooling ducts and the area around water pipes, as these spaces are typically lacking when it comes to insulation. It’s also a good idea to cover your water heater with an insulated water heater blanket so the heater retains more heat and consumes less energy to heat the water. Windows are another important area that can’t be overlooked when it comes to making an older home more energy efficient. If installing energy-efficient windows is out of your budget, another alternative is to use interior window Low-E (low-emissivity) films. Energy films block 97 percent of UV rays and 70 percent of thermal infrared light. Not only will this keep heat from getting in during the summer months, it will do wonders when it comes to retaining warmth during the colder months. Ceiling fans are another great alternative for older homes. During the summer months, fans should circulate in a counter-clockwise direction to push cool air down. During the colder winter months, fans should rotate in a clockwise direction to produce a gentle updraft, forcing warm air near the ceiling down into the occupied space. As far as upgrading appliances, adding energy-efficient refrigerators, dishwashers or washers and dryers will ultimately make the home more attractive to prospective buyers, however, it’s up to you and your agent to decide if the money spent updating appliances will lead to a faster sale. And last but not least, if your foundation has cracks or your windows have holes, these should be fixed by a contractor, as repairing these items will help save money on heating and air conditioning bills. If you want to handle the job yourself, seal any areas where you feel air infiltrating your home. To learn more about incorporating energy-efficient features into your home, contact our office today.

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The Smashing Pumpkins - We Only Come Out At Night: Vocal Range & Original Key The Smashing Pumpkins (artist vocal range) We Only Come Out At Night

7 Ways an IT Helpdesk Can Help You Achieve Maximum Business Efficiency August 29th, 2018 Single Point Global Are your employees spending more time trying to resolve irksome IT problems than handling their core responsibilities? Or are they demotivated by obtrusive loading screens and long periods of unscheduled downtime? If either of those scenarios sound familiar, then it might be time to get technology back on your side with the aid of a managed help desk. It comes with several benefits, probably some you never even considered. #1. IT that’s always up to date On the one hand, you can’t expect to get the most out of technology if you’re stuck with outdated and incompatible systems. On the other, spending countless hours every month dealing with basic hardware and software updates and patches is hardly the best use of your time. Outsourced IT help desks ensure that your IT is always current, since your managed IT services provider (MSP) budgets time for proactive maintenance and tasks. #2. Improved security Most business leaders realize that cybersecurity should be at the forefront of their technology strategies, but struggle to implement everything that it requires. A help desk provider can take care of all your security and compliance obligations to free up internal IT resources or to provide expertise that you can’t afford. Many of these tasks integrate perfectly with the routine updates mentioned in the last point. #3. Enhanced collaboration Effective communication is a pillar of every successful business, particularly since more organizations are taking advantage of remote workers. Managed help desks specialize in remote support that is delivered over the internet, which means both office and mobile employees will have access to the same apps and data. This supercharges collaboration and efficiency by eliminating physical barriers to doing business. #4. Minimized downtime IT outages are some of the biggest threats to the continuity of your business. If a website or email server goes offline, chances are a prospective customer will look elsewhere without a second thought. In other situations, employees will be left twiddling their thumbs when mission-critical back-office systems go offline, leaving customers with subpar service. By partnering with an MSP, you can reduce, if not eliminate downtime by guaranteeing all your systems have quick-response support 24/7. #5. Increased mobility Employees who are chained to office desks are becoming a thing of the past. More than ever, the internet is accessible from almost everywhere and on a greater variety of computing devices. A help desk provider with the right qualifications can set up cloud and virtualization solutions that drastically reduce the hardware requirements of company-provided devices. Employees can use low-cost computers, or even their own devices, to accomplish more than they can with expensive desktops. #6. More business intelligence Data is everywhere, and even small businesses generate several terabytes of data in a matter of days. You don’t want to let that data go to waste, which won’t be the case if certified IT technicians are installing and supporting customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. An managed help desk ensures this data is always centralized and running smoothly, thereby helping your company generate insight and capitalize on lucrative new opportunities. #7. Proactive maintenance Help desk staff don’t just react to problems—they also help your employees maximize the technology available to them. To that end, help desk staff should offer proactive maintenance and educational resources to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. That’s a whole lot more reliable and cost-efficient than having to call in a pay-by-the-hour consultant whenever something goes wrong. At SinglePoint Global, our team of experts are on hand around the clock to proactively monitor, manage, and update your systems. Support is available whenever you need it. Call us today to learn more about our managed help desk services. Want to learn more? Discover all the benefits of managed help desk in our ultimate guide.

Should you teach it to your employees? By Russell D. Radtke on September 10, 2021 Learning Process Rear view of a head teacher discussing a class with a large group of students. AI is becoming strategic for many companies around the world. Technology can be transformative for just about any part of a business. But AI is not easy to implement. Even the top companies have challenges and failures. So what can we do? Well, one strategy is to provide AI training to the workforce. “If more people are proficient in AI and can begin to participate and contribute to the process, more problems large and small can be solved across the organization,” said David Sweenor, Senior Director of Marketing produced at Alteryx. “We call this the ‘democratization of AI and analytics’. A team of 100, 1000 or 5000 people working on different issues in their areas of expertise will certainly have a greater impact than if it were left in the hands of a few. Just look Levi Strauss & Co. Last year, the company implemented a comprehensive portfolio of corporate training programs, for all employees at all levels, focused on data and AI for business applications. For example, there’s the Machine Learning Bootcamp, which is an eight-week program for learning Python coding, neural networks, and machine learning, with an emphasis on real-world scenarios. “Our goal is to democratize this skill set and to integrate data scientists and machine learning practitioners across the organization,” said Louis DeCesari, global head of data, analytics and research. ‘AI at Levi Strauss & Co. “In order to achieve our vision of becoming the best digital clothing company in the world, we must integrate digital into all areas of the business. Certainly, corporate training programs can easily become a waste. This is especially the case when there is not enough buy-in at the upper levels of management. It is also important to have a training program that is more than just a set of lectures. “You need to take results-oriented training,” said Kathleen Featheringham, director of artificial intelligence strategy at Booz Allen. “Focus on how AI can be used to advance the mission of the organization, not just training to learn more about AI. In addition, there should be role-based training. There is no single approach to training, and different people within an organization will have different training needs. AI training can certainly be intimidating due to the many complex topics and concepts. In fact, it might be better to start with basic topics. “A statistics course can be very helpful,” said Wilson Pang, chief technology officer at Appen. “It will help employees understand how to interpret the data and how to make sense of the data. This will allow the business to make data-driven decisions. There should also be some coverage of how the AI ​​can derail. “There has to be training on ethics,” said Aswini Thota, who is senior data scientist at Bose Company. “Bad and biased data only exacerbates the problems with AI systems.” For the most part, effective AI is a team sport. So it should really involve everyone in an organization. “Accelerating adoption of AI is inevitable – most of us experience AI every day, whether we realize it or not,” said Alex Spinelli, CTO at Live person. “The more companies educate their employees about AI, the more opportunities they will provide to help them stay up to date, as the economy increasingly relies on AI-shaped roles. At the same time, training a workforce that is ahead of its time when it comes to understanding and managing AI will be invaluable in improving overall business efficiency and productivity. To M (@ttaulli) is an advisor / member of the board of directors of startups and author of Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction, The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide to Implementing RPA Systems and Implementing AI systems: transform your business in 6 steps. Hhas also developed various online courses, such as for the COBOL. Hy-Vee partners with young lemonade entrepreneur Learning Center Renovation Plans Approved by Charles City School Board | Education What is the next step in the search for the new director of schools in Philly MSU Announces New Teacher Leadership Degree Approvals

In China, Female Pilots Strain To Hold Up Half The Sky Thus started a unprecedented 27-12 months relationship between China’s only female emperor and the lady whose family she had destroyed. I have been working with Britain’s BBC tv to make a documentary sequence on the history of women. Many Chinese women seem shy, submissive, demure, harmless and sweet when they are younger, and turn into rough, loud, and pushy after they get married. Taking cues from #MeToo activism overseas and China’s personal historical past of feminism, some Chinese women have staged road protests and campaigns on social media for larger rights. One 2012 survey by Horizon China, a research firm in Beijing, discovered that 70 percent of married women contributed financially to the household’s purchases of actual property however that lower than a 3rd of residence deeds included the woman’s name. Researchers at Nankai University in Tianjin in 2017 examined 4,253 property deeds and located the wife’s name listed on solely about one in five. Women In Traditional China Driven by the popular perception that a woman will only marry a person if he owns a house, households usually save for years to help their sons buy an condo. Experts say the high court was responding to fears that girls had been using marriage to swindle their in-legal guidelines out of their savings. As a result, Chinese women are being squeezed out of the office by employers who penalize them if they have youngsters, and by get together https://yourmailorderbride.com/chinese-women/ officers urging them to concentrate on home life. At the same time, those that have managed to keep working are increasingly earning much less relative to men. But as an alternative of constructing it simpler for ladies to both work and have youngsters, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has led a resurgence in traditional gender roles that has more and more pushed women back into the home. “Chinese feminism” imbeds more delicate undertones than the feminism I’ve come to know as a white British woman, and it’s arguably a motion in its personal proper. That is to not say that global feminist and gender equality movements ought to be impartial our bodies. The challenges confronted by Chinese women are underpinned with historic and cultural meaning. The truth, irrespective of how unpalatable, is that foot-binding was experienced, perpetuated and administered by women. The Emancipation Of Chinese Women «The policy of encouraging women’s contributions within the workforce was part of total nationwide development plans during the period,» the report stated. «Public sector domination of the economic system played a key position in implementing gender equality policies when China was a centrally controlled system.» “The position of women in up to date society has changed from the previous, and public verbal assent to propositions about the equality of the sexes and of little children seems common. Day and evening, winter and summer season, start and death, certainly all pure processes happen although processes of interplay of yin and yang. Conceptualizing the differences between women and men in terms of yin and yang stresses that these differences are part of the pure order of the universe, not a part of the social establishments artificially created by human beings. In yin yang concept the 2 forces complement each other but not in strictly equal ways. The pure relationship between yin and yang is the explanation that men lead and women comply with. If yin unnaturally features the upper hand, order at both the cosmic and social stage are endangered. It occurred during a section on the social changes that affected Chinese women within the late 13th century. An essay about Korean women’s role in society and its speedy change in the final century. It is often said that the status of women started to decline within the Song period, just when Neo-Confucianism was gaining sway. ‘Women’S Work’ In the cities woman typically have an effect on a specific amount of physical helplessness. The status of a Chinese woman is often decided by her success at being a spouse and a mom, usually measured by efficiency of her youngsters in school. Women have traditionally been expected to be loyal, trustworthy and modestly dressed. Many women regard themselves as gentle on the surface but sturdy in their hearts. Some have mentioned the normal identify of a Chinese woman is outlined when it comes to two female archetypes—the “loving type angel” and the “working warrior”—which are virtually diametrically opposed and difficult to reconcile. Though totally rejected in China now—the final shoe manufacturing facility making lotus shoes closed in 1999—it survived for a thousand years partly due to women’s emotional funding within the apply. The lotus shoe is a reminder that the history of girls did not observe a straight line from misery to progress, nor is it merely a scroll of patriarchy writ giant. In a current survey, 85% of respondents mentioned they noticed that, for girls they knew, juggling their jobs with their households was troublesome. More than eighty five% believed that having kids would negatively influence a girl’s career advancement. At the identical time, a decline in state-supported childcare services forced many ladies to stay house to take care of their kids, in accordance with the PIIE report. That pattern has come as fewer married couples now live with their parents, who could have helped with childcare obligations, it added. Times People Were Happily Surprised By A Designer’S Love And Care In China from very early occasions, men have been seen as the core of the family. The ancestors to whom a Shang or Zhou dynasty king made sacrifices were his patrilineal ancestors, that is, his ancestors linked completely through men (his father’s father, his father’s father’s father, and so forth). When women enter the early historic record, it is often because they triggered men problems. But with the advent of foot-binding, their religious descendants have been in the West. Meanwhile, for the following 1,000 years, Chinese women directed their energies and abilities towards achieving a 3-inch version of bodily perfection. She was born the year that her grandfather, the chancellor to Emperor Gaozong, was implicated in a political conspiracy in opposition to the emperor’s powerful spouse, Empress Wu Zetian. After the plot was exposed, the irate empress had the male members of the Shangguan family executed and all the female members enslaved. Nevertheless, after being informed of the 14-year-old Shangguan Wan’er’s distinctive brilliance as a poet and scribe, the empress promptly employed the girl as her private secretary. The two indicators of this decline most regularly talked about are the pressure on widows to not remarry and the apply of binding young girls’ toes to prevent them from rising more than a few inches long. In the centuries after Confucius, it became frequent for writers to debate gender in terms of yin and yang. Yin was delicate, yielding, receptive, passive, reflective, and tranquil, whereas yang was hard, energetic, assertive, and dominating.

Monday Reads: In Search of the American Dream Posted: June 30, 2014 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: American Dream, Baby boomers, Blackwater, golden age of capitalism, inequality, joseph stiglitz, plutocrats, polls, post-WWII boom, State Department, Thomas Picketty | 78 Comments Whatever happened to the American dream? Did it ever exist in reality? We baby boomers can look back to the post-WWII years, when the economy was humming along and the GI Bill made it easier for our dads to get college degrees, find good jobs, buy houses for their families. In those days, one salary was enough to support a couple and several kids. My dad did it on a college professor’s salary. It was a struggle early on, but those government programs for veterans gave us a push into the professional class. Eisenhower was President then–a Republican who wouldn’t even recognize his fellow Republican today. Later on, after John Kennedy was murdered and Lyndon Johnson was brought down by the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon presided over the end of the good times. After about 1973, it was over; and since then, wages have essentially remained stagnant. That was when we entered a new America, in which it took two salaries to support a family. Women went to work, not just because they wanted to, but to keep their families afloat. Children went to day care. So many thing changed. What happened to the American dream? Were those post-war years just an outlier, a brief period of prosperity that meant nothing in the greater scheme of things? Yesterday, I read a piece by Joseph Stiglitz–in Politico of all places–that addressed some of these questions: The Myth of America’s Golden Age: What growing up in Gary, Indiana taught me about inequality. Stiglitz was born in 1943. Growing up in the industrial “company town” of Gary, he was able to observe the underside of the “golden age” of capitalism–“discrimination, poverty, and bouts of high unemployment.” The big steel companies deliberate brought in desperately poor African Americans from the south in order to keep wages low–to divide and control the work force. Stiglitz writes that he never bought into the notion of the free market as the answer to all ills. Nearly half a century later, the problem of inequality has reached crisis proportions. John F. Kennedy, in the spirit of optimism that prevailed at the time I was a college student, once declared that a rising tide lifts all boats. It turns out today that almost all of us now are in the same boat—the one that holds the bottom 99 percent. It is a far different boat, one marked by more poverty at the bottom and a hollowing out of the middle class, than the one occupied by the top 1 percent. Most disturbing is the realization that the American dream–the notion that we are living in the land of opportunity–is a myth. The life chance of a young American today are more dependent on the income and education of his parents than in many other advanced countries, including “old Europe.” American Dream, by Skip Hunt Stiglitz points to Thomas Picketty’s research as evidence. Picketty’s work shows that capitalism leads inevitably to inequality. The post-war era of my childhood and early adulthood was an “aberration.” Today, inequality is growing dramatically again, and the past three decades or so have proved conclusively that one of the major culprits is trickle-down economics—the idea that the government can just step back and if the rich get richer and use their talents and resources to create jobs, everyone will benefit. It just doesn’t work; the historical data now prove that. [….] Ironically enough, the final proof debunking this very Republican idea of trickle-down economics has come from a Democratic administration. President Barack Obama’s banks-first approach to saving the nation from another Great Depression held that by giving money to the banks (rather than to homeowners who had been preyed upon by the banks), the economy would be saved. The administration poured billions into the banks that had brought the country to the brink of ruin, without setting conditions in return. When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank engage in a rescue, they virtually always impose requirements to ensure the money is used in the way intended. But here, the government merely expressed the hope that the banks would keep credit, the lifeblood of the economy, flowing. And so the banks shrank lending, and paid their executives megabonuses, even though they had almost destroyed their businesses. Even then, we knew that much of the banks’ profits had been earned not by increasing the efficiency of the economy but by exploitation—through predatory lending, abusive credit-card practices and monopolistic pricing. The full extent of their misdeeds—for instance, the illegal manipulation of key interest rates and foreign exchange, affecting derivatives and mortgages in the amount of hundreds of trillions of dollars—was only just beginning to be fathomed. American Dream, by Gordon Wendling I can’t quote any more, but I hope I’ve whetted your appetite enough that you’ll go read the whole thing. While you’re at that link, you might also take a look at this article by “zillionaire” Nick Hanauer, The Pitchforks are Coming for Us Plutocrats. Here’s just a small taste–it’s a long read. The most ironic thing about rising inequality is how completely unnecessary and self-defeating it is. If we do something about it, if we adjust our policies in the way that, say, Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression—so that we help the 99 percent and preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the pitchforks—that will be the best thing possible for us rich folks, too. It’s not just that we’ll escape with our lives; it’s that we’ll most certainly get even richer. The model for us rich guys here should be Henry Ford, who realized that all his autoworkers in Michigan weren’t only cheap labor to be exploited; they were consumers, too. Ford figured that if he raised their wages, to a then-exorbitant $5 a day, they’d be able to afford his Model Ts. What a great idea. My suggestion to you is: Let’s do it all over again. We’ve got to try something. These idiotic trickle-down policies are destroying my customer base. And yours too. It’s when I realized this that I decided I had to leave my insulated world of the super-rich and get involved in politics. Not directly, by running for office or becoming one of the big-money billionaires who back candidates in an election. Instead, I wanted to try to change the conversation with ideas—by advancing what my co-author, Eric Liu, and I call “middle-out” economics. It’s the long-overdue rebuttal to the trickle-down economics worldview that has become economic orthodoxy across party lines—and has so screwed the American middle class and our economy generally. Middle-out economics rejects the old misconception that an economy is a perfectly efficient, mechanistic system and embraces the much more accurate idea of an economy as a complex ecosystem made up of real people who are dependent on one another. Which is why the fundamental law of capitalism must be: If workers have more money, businesses have more customers. Which makes middle-class consumers, not rich businesspeople like us, the true job creators. Is it possible that because these articles appear in conservative Politico, even a few powerful people in Washington might read them and stop for a moment to think about what what is really happening to America? American Dream by Matt Sesow Also in the news today: NBC NEWS: Yes, Perceptions of Washington Are Even Worse Than Last Year. This is a six-month report card time, and it’s failing grades for all of Washington. President Obama’s approval rating stands at 41% in our recent NBC/WSJ poll, his fav/unfav is upside down (at 41%-45%), and a majority of Americans (54%) no longer think he’s able to lead the country and get the job done. Republicans and Congress are in even worse shape. The GOP’s fav/unfav in the NBC/WSJ poll is 29%-45% (versus the Democratic Party’s 38%-40% score). Just 7% of the country has confidence in Congress (compared with 29% for the presidency and 30% for the Supreme Court, per Gallup. And when it comes to congressional productivity, the 113th Congress (2013-2014) has passed just 121 bills into law — fewer than at this same point in the historically unproductive 112th Congress (140 bills into law). Maybe it doesn’t FEEL worse, because there hasn’t been an epic showdown or confrontation like the government shutdown. But the numbers tell a different story — it has gotten worse. From James Risen at the NYT, scary revelations about the murder of 17 civilians by Blackwater thugs in Iraq in 2007: Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater. Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports. American Embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater rather than the State Department investigators as a dispute over the probe escalated in August 2007, the previously undisclosed documents show. The officials told the investigators that they had disrupted the embassy’s relationship with the security contractor and ordered them to leave the country, according to the reports. After returning to Washington, the chief investigator wrote a scathing report to State Department officials documenting misconduct by Blackwater employees and warning that lax oversight of the company, which had a contract worth more than $1 billion to protect American diplomats, had created “an environment full of liability and negligence.” “The management structures in place to manage and monitor our contracts in Iraq have become subservient to the contractors themselves,” the investigator, Jean C. Richter, wrote in an Aug. 31, 2007, memo to State Department officials. “Blackwater contractors saw themselves as above the law,” he said, adding that the “hands off” management resulted in a situation in which “the contractors, instead of Department officials, are in command and in control.” I have a few more links, but I’m going to put them in comments; because I’m having terrible issues with WordPress today. I hope you’ll also post your thoughts and links in the thread below.

Moving the camera further away from the hummingbird feeder shows the flying pattern of lesser long-nosed bats as they approach for a quick drink. Posted August 17, 2020 by Meagan Bethel https://skyislandalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Lesser-long-nosed-bats-swoop-past-feeder.mp4

Posted on March 6, 2023 March 9, 2023 by Louise B. Delia Manufacturing has been around for centuries, and it plays a crucial role in the global economy. With the rise of new technologies, the future of manufacturing is changing rapidly. In the coming years, we can expect to see a number of changes in the way products are made, from the materials used to the production processes. One of the biggest changes we can expect to see is the use of 3D printing. This technology has already revolutionized the way products are made, allowing for the creation of complex objects with minimal waste. 3D printing is expected to become even more widespread in the future, with the potential to replace traditional manufacturing processes for some products. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is also expected to become more commonplace in manufacturing. AI can be used to analyze data from the production process and identify areas of improvement. This can help manufacturers increase efficiency and reduce costs. AI can also be used to automate complex tasks, such as quality control, which can help reduce labor costs. The use of robotics is also expected to become more widespread in manufacturing. Robots are already being used in many factories, but their use is expected to increase in the future. Robots can be used to automate mundane tasks, such as assembly and packaging, which can help reduce labor costs and increase efficiency. Another trend we can expect to see in the future of manufacturing is the use of sustainable materials. Many manufacturers are already using recycled materials and renewable energy sources to reduce their environmental impact. This trend is expected to continue, as consumers become more aware of the need to reduce their carbon footprint. Finally, the use of digital technologies is expected to become more commonplace in manufacturing. Digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), can be used to connect machines and products to the internet, allowing for the collection of data and the optimization of processes. This can help manufacturers increase efficiency and reduce costs. The future of manufacturing is changing rapidly, and we can expect to see a number of exciting changes in the coming years. From the use of 3D printing and AI to the use of sustainable materials and digital technologies, the way products are made is sure to evolve. These changes will help manufacturers reduce costs and increase efficiency, allowing them to remain competitive in the global market. Previous Post Are Industrial Engineer Salaries on the Rise? Experts Weigh In Next Post The Growing Role of Robotics in Manufacturing

I need a letter of resignation as soon as possible. I need a letter of resignation as soon as possible. The letter needs to state that the resignation is effective immediately due to health reasons. The short back story if needed: I have been a CNA in a hospital setting for 12 1/2 years. I was taken off work by my physician last May and I underwent spine surgery in September. Due to my condition, I am unable to return to those same duties and the employer is not willing to accommodate me. Hope this helps.

IT Outsourcing: Instructions for Use IT Outsourcing: Instructions for Use In recent years, the pace of digitalization of business has increased significantly. This was facilitated by the transition to an online environment. However, m…

Attitude of Gratitude: Things I’m Thankful For

Now That You Know, Who Do You Tell? Posted on September 22, 2009. Filed under: General Info, Watchdog Tools | Tags: Acorn, Andrew Breitbart, Citizen Tools, Citizen Watchdog, concerned citizen, Connect the Dots, fight corruption, fishy.gov, fraud hotline, freedom, Glenn Beck, Government Abuse, government corruption, inspector general, liberty, Michelle Malkin, report corruption, report fraud, take back America | I recently published a large list of tools for citizen watchdogs hoping to aid those who wish to join the growing multitudes of citizens who wish to stamp out government corruption. If you did not see the list, you may access at : http://tinyurl.com/m33mtw That’s all well and good, but.. what do you do if you find something “fishy”? Without a flashy website like [email protected] (now defunct) to report it to, what should you do with the information. There are several columnists that will act as loudspeakers for you. Michelle Malkin (http://michellemalkin.com/), Glenn Beck (www.glennbeck.com ), Andrew Breitbart (http://www.breitbart.com/), World Net Daily (http://www.wnd.com/) and many more. I would not necessarily trust your local paper, but use your judgment on local issues. For national issues you need to contact someone who could actually do something about it. I certainly would not trust any network affiliates at this point, either. There are also sites like Newsbusters http://www.newsbusters.org/ and Media Research Center http://www.mrc.org/public/default.aspx. You can also report directly to the following people: Federal Inspector(s) General can be reached at : http://www.ignet.gov/igs/homepage1.html#a They are listed alphabetically by Division. Each has a hotline number and some have websites of their own. You may be interested to know there are several that investigate subject’s dear to any watchdogs heart. Namely: * TARP fraud: http://www.sigtarp.gov/ or tip website: http://sigtarp.gov/contact_hotline.shtml#theform * Corp for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps, National Civilian Community Corp, VISTA, etc) http://www.cncsig.gov/ Hotline Number: (800) 452-8210 * Dept of Education Hotline Email: [email protected] or Hotline Website: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/hotline.html?src=rt * Election Assistance Commission http://www.eac.gov/eac_ig Hotline Number: (866) 552-0004 or http://www.eac.gov/eac_ig/report-to-ig/anonymous- report * Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/fecig/fecig.shtml Hotline Number: (202) 694-1015 (collect calls accepted) * Dept of Energy Website: http://www.ig.energy.gov/ email:[email protected] Hotline Number(s): (800) 541-1625 or (202) 586-4073 * Federal Housing Finance Agency Hotline Number(s): (202) 408-2900 or (800) 276-8329 * Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) http://www.fincen.gov/mortgage_fraud.html * Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Fraud Information – www.stopmortgagefraud.com * Federal Trade Commission http://www.ftc.gov/oig/contactus.shtm Hotline Number: (202) 326-2581 * General Services Administration: http://oig.gsa.gov/index.htm?CFID=111797&CFTOKEN=96972035 Hotline Number: (800) 424-5210; (202) 501-1780 or http://oig.gsa.gov/form.htm * Dept of Labor http://www.oig.dol.gov/ (includes racketeering and organized crime) Hotline Number: (800) 347-3756; (202) 693-6999 or http://www.oig.dol.gov/contact.htm#olrfi or tp://www.oig.dol.gov/contact.htm#hotline * Dept of Veterans Affairs Hotline Number: (800) 488-8244; email: [email protected] or http://www.va.gov/oig/contacts/hotline.asp For State Issues, contact your Attorney General – a complete directory can be found here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php For State and Local Prosecutors Offices Check this Directory http://www.eatoncounty.org/Departments/ProsecutingAttorney/ProsList/PA-Associations.htm Be careful whom you report findings to. There are soooo many “watchdog” organizations that you do not want to divulge information to. They are not your friend. If you have any questions, while I am not an expert, I will do all I can to help you. Contact me on my twitter account at www.twitter.com/DesireePaquette. News for 09/04/2009 Flag of China Over White House, Health Choices Czar, 3 Tales of Leftist Venom Posted on September 4, 2009. Filed under: Soapbox | Tags: 9/12, China Flag Over White House, Connect the Dots, Do Your Homework, freedom, Health Choices Commisioner, Heath Choices Czar, HR 3200, liberty, March on Washington, Montel - Bachman, Obama Supporter Bites, Root Out Socialist Agenda, Van Jones Republicans | Twittered orders from Glenn Beck Watch Dogs: FIND EVERYTHING YOU CAN ON CASS SUNSTEIN, MARK LLOYD AND CAROL BROWNER. Do not link before burning to disc. We must find what we can find on these people while we still can. The socialist agenda is being played upon us without our consent. Please devote what time and talent you can to the cause. Check out the czars and appointees.. and really, why stop there. Find what you can about all those with decision making or influential power. Report by clicking on the Watchdog alert link of the home page at www.glennbeck.com Have you heard the “Born Again American” song? http://www.bornagainamerican.org/index.php Inspiring and wonderful. Give it a listen. China’s Flag to Fly at the White House September 20 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/13/content_8422505.htm The national flag of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will be hoisted at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on September 20, media reported Sunday. Chinese associations in the United States had applied to hold a ceremony in front of the US President’s residence to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of PRC. Chen Ronghua, chairman of Fujian Association of the United States, told reporters that their application was approved not only because of the sound Sino-US relations but also because China is a responsible country. “Many Americans admire China due to the success of last year’s Beijing Olympics,” said Chen. More than 1,000 people will attend the ceremony and the performances held after it, according to Zhao Luqun, who will direct the performances. Zhao said the performances will demonstrate the friendship, magnanimous spirit and kindness of modern Chinese people. JOIN US IN WASHINGTON ON SATURDAY 9/12! www.912dc.org OR IN A TOWN NEAR YOU! Times are tight, not everyone who would like to can make it to Washington to make their voice heard. People will be gathering in towns all across the country that day. Fox News will be carrying it live. They will not be able to deny this one. Come join us, where ever you can! Peaceful protest against big government and anti-constitutional legislation. (this pointed out on Soldier for Liberty in a two part article last weekend) Help us take a stand, America! Health Care Bill Gives Obama Power to Appoint Government ‘Commissioner’ With Sweeping Power to Dictate Health Coverage from CNS News http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=53461 The health care bill under consideration in the House of Representatives would give President Obama the authority to name a new federal “Health Choices Commissioner” who would have sweeping power to govern the health insurance plans offered in a so-called “exchange” where millions of Americans would get their health insurance if the bill is enacted. These powers would include deciding which treatments are covered, which companies can participate, which states can run their own exchange, and enrolling individuals into the public exchange. Though the bill, House Resolution 3200, faces many political hurdles, it has passed three House committees and could be ready for a floor vote after Congress returns from recess. The overhaul package calls for establishing a health insurance exchange where people earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will be able to purchase health insurance with the help of federal subsidies. This exchange would include a “public option” government-run health care plan as well as private plans that provide a minimum benefits package dictated by the government. The Health Choices Commissioner would establish “the benefits to be made available under Exchange-participating health benefit plans during each plan year,” according to page 84 of the 1,018-page bill. That means the commissioner would determine what benefits the participating insurance companies must offer participating customers in the exchange. View the bill: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/show Obama Supporter Bites Off Finger of Protester http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/sep/03/healthcare-reform-opponent-loses-part-of-finger/ An opponent of government healthcare programs had part of a finger bit off during a fight at a pro-healthcare-reform rally this week in Thousand Oaks. The incident was reported at 7:26 p.m. Wednesday at Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive, where more than 100 people gathered for the pro-healthcare-reform vigil. About 15 people opposed to President Obama’s healthcare reform stood across the street from Moveon.org’s group. Members of Code Pink: Women for Peace also were there, authorities said. Rice got involved in a heated discussion with a member of Code Pink, said sheriff’s Capt. Ross Bonfiglio, a department spokesman. After the argument, Rice returned to where his group was standing. An unidentified man then walked from Moveon.org’s area toward the opponents and verbally confronted Rice, allegedly calling him names and acting aggressively, Bonfiglio said. Rice told investigators he felt threatened by the man and punched him in the nose, Bonfiglio said. A fight ensued, during which part of Rice’s finger was bitten off, Bonfiglio said. Rice drove himself to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. Another man found the bitten-off portion of the finger and took it to Rice at the hospital, Bonfiglio said. Doctors told Rice the pinky, severed near the second knuckle, could not be reattached because of high bacteria levels from a human bite, he told the Ventura County Star. Montel Tells GOP Rep. Bachmann To Slit Her Wrists http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/09/03/montel_tells_gop_rep_bachmann_to_slit_her_wrists.html Air America Radio host Montel Williams tells GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann to slit her wrist. He instructed her to go even further and “start right at the collarbone.” Obama Czar Van Jones: Republicans are “Assholes” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt66eWnjoTo Oh, yeah, he officially apologized for this. Not for being a communist, not for seeking to redesign “the system”, not for his racist comments, not for his anti-capitalist stance, not for anything that really matters. The White House has not apologized for any of it. I find the silence interesting. In my mind it means the President, The Senate, The Congress, The Mainstream Media all condone the socialist takeover of America. Guess what? I have a feeling the American People DON’T. Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far ) News for 09/02/2009- Exactly Who Were the Groups on That Secret Conference Call, Anyway? Posted on September 1, 2009. Filed under: Enemies of The State, General Info, Soapbox | Tags: 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Acorn, Acorn 8, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Campus Progress, CCI, Census, Citizen Consulting Inc, Color of Change, Community Action Partnership, Comnunist Radicals, Connect the Dots, constitution, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Environmental Justice, FEC, Free Exchange on Campus, Friends of the Earth, Green Jobs Czar, Hip Hop Caucus, HR 718, Joint Coalition on Black Civic Participation, liberty, Mobilize.org National Black Police Association, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League, National Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federaton, Obama, Obama Agenda, racist government, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rathke, Rockefeller, S.245, SEIU, Shout America, Social Justice, Socialism in America, Soros, Structural racism, Tides Center, Tides Foundation, Treason by Government Officials, Van Jones, Vernon Jordan, Young Democrats of America | On August 11th, President Obama held a conference call with all his special interest allies in order to push renaming 09/11 as our National Day of Service instead of keeping the day for strict remembrance of those who perished in the awful and unjust terrorist attacks on our country. Their feeling is that the Republican Party owns this day, according to some reports, and this would be a way to “capture” the day for the Democrats. What horrendous thinking, illustrative of what is wrong with this country. The resolution, introduced in the Senate by Charles Shummer (D-NY) as S.245, then in the House as HR 718, by Doris Matsui (D-CA) was being furthered by the President by consulting this hand-picked assemblage. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Color of Change, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, Young Democrats of America. Who are these organizations and why were they given a seat at the table? ACORN- Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI To understand the nature and extent of Acorn’s radicalism, an excellent place to begin is Sol Stern’s 2003 City Journal article, “ACORN’s Nutty Regime for Cities.” (For a shorter but helpful piece, try Steven Malanga’s “Acorn Squash.”) Sol Stern explains that Acorn is the key modern successor of the radical 1960’s “New Left,” with a “1960’s-bred agenda of anti-capitalism” to match. Acorn, says Stern, grew out of “one of the New Left’s silliest and most destructive groups, the National Welfare Rights Organization.” In the 1960’s, NWRO launched a campaign of sit-ins and disruptions at welfare offices. The goal was to remove eligibility restrictions, and thus effectively flood welfare rolls with so many clients that the system would burst. The theory, explains Stern, was that an impossibly overburdened welfare system would force “a radical reconstruction of America’s unjust capitalist economy.” Instead of a socialist utopia, however, we got the culture of dependency and family breakdown that ate away at America’s inner cities — until welfare reform began to turn the tide. While Acorn holds to NWRO’s radical economic framework and its confrontational 1960’s-style tactics, the targets and strategy have changed. Acorn prefers to fly under the national radar, organizing locally in liberal urban areas — where, Stern observes, local legislators and reporters are often “slow to grasp how radical Acorn’s positions really are.” Acorn’s new goals are municipal “living wage” laws targeting “big-box” stores like Walmart, rolling back welfare reform, and regulating banks — efforts styled as combating “predatory lending.” Unfortunately, instead of helping workers, Acorn’s living-wage campaigns drive businesses out of the very neighborhoods where jobs are needed most. Acorn’s opposition to welfare reform only threatens to worsen the self-reinforcing cycle of urban poverty and family breakdown. HERE ARE JUST A FEW ISSUES INVOLVING ACORN http://www.rottenacorn.com/activityMap.html Acorn is charged with several counts of voter fraud within 14 states. Here is the map and the charges. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-acorn-voter-fraud/ There is a history of voter fraud charges envolving Acorn. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_606173.html A group of dissident members is seeking a federal investigation of ACORN for alleged criminal violations stemming from an embezzlement scandal that rocked the organization last year. The splinter group, ACORN 8, released a 24-page document in January, 2009, that asks federal investigators to consider fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy charges, and criminal civil rights violations relating to the embezzlement of nearly $1 million from the nonprofit’s accounts and an alleged cover-up of the theft for almost a decade. “Moreover, due to the admission that a felony has been committed, other federal offenses may have also been committed … ,” states the document signed by 14 members of ACORN 8, including recently expelled members of ACORN’s national board of directors. http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2009/05/embezzlement-of-dale-rathke.html Starting sometime in the late 1990’s and ending sometime in the early part of this decade, Dale Rathke, brother of founder Wade Rathke, was involved in embezzling somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million from the ACORN accounting and financial services arm Citizen Consulting Incorporated. At the time, Dale Rathke was heading up CCI. CCI has acted as the weigh station for all financial funds for ACORN and all of it’s affiliates. In other words, any money earmarked for any activity within the ACORN network starts out at CCI. http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2009/01/inside-story-of-acorn.html ACORN has hundreds of affiliates though no one, outside the insiders, knows exactly how many. It likely receives hundreds of millions of Dollars from the government. Though again, no one is sure because all of it is hidden by using the private CCI as an initial weigh station. It works with HUD, HHS, and the Department of Labor along with a host of philanthropies in order to continue its operations. All of it is done in the shadows through a very sophisticated network of affiliates and one private company, CCI, doling out the money. By doing this, it becomes nearly impossible to track its activities. What I have brought to light is only scratching the surface but should give everyone an idea of just how powerful and dangerous ACORN is. http://moneyrunner.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-acorn-helped-housing-crisis-harm.html The truth is that the root cause of the mortgage mess is found in Washington and with organizations like ACORN which have long pushed and used extortion tactics to force banks to make bad loans. All the while, collecting millions of dollars in grants and “donations” from banks that paid them protection money. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/lawmakers-concerned-role-acorn-census/ The U.S. Census is supposed to be free of politics, but one group with a history of voter fraud, ACORN, is participating in next year’s count, raising concerns about the politicization of the decennial survey. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now signed on as a national partner with the U.S. Census Bureau in February 2009 to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the United States — currently believed to be more than 306 million people. ACORN’s partnership with the 2010 Census is worrisome to lawmakers who say past allegations of fraud should raise concerns about the organization. “It’s a concern, especially when you look at all the different charges of voter fraud. And it’s not just the lawmakers’ concern. It should be the concern of every citizen in the country,” Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland, R-Ga., vice ranking member of the subcommittee for the U.S. Census, told FOXNews.com. http://democracygone.blogspot.com/2009/08/acorn-funded-by-bailout-tax-dollars.html Acorn, funded by bailout tax dollars, working against our Second Amendment and our Constitution! CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6968 Largest radical group in America, with more than 400,000 dues-paying member families and more than 1,200 chapters in 110 U.S. cities Was implicated in numerous reports of fraudulent voter registration, vote-rigging, voter intimidation, and vote-for-pay scams during recent election cycles Pressured banks to lend money to underqualified minority borrowers Maintains close ties to organized labor Opposes capitalism Calls for more government control over citizens and the economy Favors a government monopoly in healthcare Advocates an open-door immigration policy. THE APOLLO ALLIANCE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80zzW6Osyhs http://captkarl.blogivists.com/2009/08/27/socialist-communist-organization-apollo-alliance-has-big-corp-sponsors/ …The Apollo Alliance is Socialist / Communist radical group that is being sponsored by many Big Corporate sponsors and, of course, huge Unions. The Liberty Tree Lantern believes it is important for all of us “so far” free Americans to know who we are stacked up against in the “Fascist” Corporate world who have joined forces with the Socialists and Communists to form the “hybrid” leading to a One World Order and enslavement through near total taxation, in the form of withholding, payroll, fees and all sorts of taxes, on our common working man earnings. Besides both houses of the U.S. Congress and The Obama Administration, who are domestic enemies of and directly usurp and infringe upon The Constitution, here is who We The People are up against in it’s defense and to protect our INDIVIDUAL freedom, unalienable rights, finances and property according to the Socialist / Communist Apollo Alliance’s own website. Be warned people, these are enemies of The Constitution and our very FREEDOM. May God help us! CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7490 http://mdowmdowusa.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/20/3173746-colorofchangeorg-uses-nazi-like-tactics-to-censor-free-speech Isn’t it interesting that just as Glenn Beck exposes Van Jones the Green Job Czar in the Obama Administration as an avowed Communist ex-con, his group which he co-founded ColorofChange kicks into high gear to try to silence Glenn Beck’s voice. Let’s face it, no news organization out there does their homework anymore. Everyone is afraid to speak the truth. It is no surprise that when Glenn Beck starts going after the big boys in the Obama Administration that thug-like reprisals begin to appear. No matter what Glenn Beck says, he has the right to say it. What about all the times that MSNBC called George Bush a racist? http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/politics-lounge/9341886-2.html Its a racist organization screaming about racism. What else is new? If the advertisers suffer from hypogonadism then I guess they just miss the opportunity to get their message out to a few million folks each night. Can you imagine the outrage if you took out the word “Black” and replaced it with “White” in the following passages? http://colorofchange.org/ Colorofchange.org: Our goal is to empower our members—Black Americans and our allies—to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone. What they do: Using the Internet, we will enable our members to speak in unison, with an amplified political voice. We will keep them informed about the most pressing issues for Black people in America and give them ways to act. We will lobby elected representatives using email, the telephone, and face-to-face meetings. We’ll bring attention to the needs and concerns of Black folks by holding coordinated events in different parts of the country, running TV and print advertisements, and demanding that the news media cover our issues. We will also work with other groups—online efforts and other organizations that are doing related work—to magnify our impact. When we come together and speak with one voice, we cannot be ignored. CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Hollywood%20Hit%20on%20Glenn%20Beck.html Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are nonprofit private and public organizations established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to fight America’s War on Poverty. Community Action Agencies help people to help themselves in achieving self-sufficiency. Today there are approximately 1000 Community Action Agencies, serving the poor in every state as well as Puerto Rico and the Trust Territories. http://www.communityactionpartnership.com/ …Structural racism explores the causes of the enormous racial disparities that exist in income, wealth, education, housing, employment, and crime throughout our society. The lens of structural racism points out the interrelated causes of persistent poverty. For example, inadequate housing and a weak local economy result in a low tax base which leads to poor schools that do not prepare people for the workplace adequately and thus they cannot make a livable wage in this economy. Using the structural racism lens helps explain why siloed approaches to reducing poverty may not reach the goals we desire. This prestigious national project of the Community Action Partnership and funded by the Ford Foundation is exploring the assumption that place-based strategies to reduce poverty and enhance economic security are more effective when they take the racial inequalities that are a result of structural racism into account in their program design. Deep South Center for Environmental Justice http://www.dscej.org/ Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced, and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things. A major goal of the Center has been the development of minority leadership in the areas of environmental, social, and economic justice along the Mississippi River Corridor. The DSCEJ has become a powerful resource of environmental justice education and training. A major aim of the Center has been the development of curricula that are culturally sensitive and tailored to the educational and training needs of the community. This group recieves funding from US Government under US Dept of HUD and US Dept of Labor. Founder, Beverly Wright, Ph.D., is also author of the book: Race, Place, and Environmental Injustice After Hurricane Katrina 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs The current economic crisis is hurting America’s youth more than any other generation. Our national unemployment is 17.3%. We graduate college with an average of $27,000 in student loans. We are uninsured and victims of predatory lending. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Congress has yet to act or even discuss the impact of the economic crisis on young Americans. 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs is a coalition of leading youth organizations committed to addressing the crisis by uniting the Millennial generation to own and direct our economic future. CONNECT THE DOTS: This is coalition made up of the following organizations: http://80millionstrong.org/content/coalition , including the Hip Hop Caucus, ShoutAmerica, Campus Progress, Voto Latino and Mobilize.org Friends of the Earth– A Rockefeller Family Fund At Friends of the Earth, you will find a group of committed people who fight daily for a healthy and just world. http://www.foe.org/ Friends of the Earth knows regulation, legislation, taxes, and banking have a big impact on our environment. We hold our elected officials accountable and work to expose unnecessary funding for environmentally destructive projects—saving taxpayers’ money and the planet. CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5208&category=79 The Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF) was incorporated in 1967 by Martha, John, Laurance, Nelson, and David Rockefeller. Its principal beneficiaries are leftwing environmentalist organizations. Several RFF Board members formerly worked for the now-defunct San Francisco-based TechRocks company, which provided information-technology support and development for a number of anti-corporate, non-profit organizations. One RFF representative sits on the steering committee of the Peace and Security Funders Group. Recipients of RFF philanthropy include: the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; Alliance For Justice; the People for the American Way Action Fund; the American Civil Liberties Union‘s Women’s Rights Project; the Sierra Club; Friends of the Earth; the NARAL Pro-Choice America, Environmental Media Services; the League of Conservation Voters; the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund; the Waterkeeper Alliance; the Environmental Working Group;Planned Parenthood; the Proteus Fund; the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund; MoveOn.org; Defenders of Wildlife; Environmental Media Services; the Greenpeace Fund; the Brennan Center for Justice; Project Vote; the Center for Community Change; the Center for American Progress; the National Wildlife Federation; the NAACP National Voter Fund; the New World Foundation; Earthjustice; among others. Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Center_for_Political_and_Economic_Studies Founded in 1970 to provide training and technical assistance to newly elected black officials, the Joint Center now explores a range of public policy issues of concern to African-Americans and other communities of color. According to its mission statement, the Joint Center, through research, analysis and publications, seeks to “improve the socioeconomic status of black Americans and other minorities; expand their effective participation in the political and public policy arenas; and promote communications and relationships across racial and ethnic lines to strengthen the nation’s pluralistic society.” Mobilize.org Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people to increase our civic engagement and political participation. We work to show young people how public policy impacts our lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public policy. Current Staff includes James Bernard, who is currently working in the Community Strength Department of SEIU, going back to his labor roots. He launched The Source and XXL, two hip-hop magazines, and has written about popular culture. CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7285 Describing itself as a coalition of “student, faculty and civil liberty organizations,” Free Exchange on Campus (FEC) defines its mission as “advocating for the rights of students and faculty to hear and express a full range of ideas unencumbered by political or ideological interference.” FEC was co-founded by Campus Progress (a project of the Center for American Progress), the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association’s Student Program, the American Association of University Professors, the American Civil Liberties Union, People For the American Way (and its “Young People For” program), the United States Student Association, and the Center for Campus Free Speech. The foregoing organizations are also part of the coalition’s current membership. Additional FEC coalition members include the American Library Association, the Free Press, the AFL-CIO (and its Department for Professional Employees), the Association of College and Research Libraries, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Mobilize.org, the Modern Language Association, the National Women’s Studies Association, the National Writers Union, the Progressive States Network, the Roosevelt Institution, the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, and the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs). FEC’s contention that leftwing political bias does not thoroughly pervade university faculties is debunked here, here, here, here, here, and here. Free Exchange on Campus is a well-funded coalition. As of 2005, FEC member Campus Progress held assets of $1.25 million; U.S. PIRG, $6.2 million (in 2005); the American Association of University Professors, $5 million (in 2004); People for the American Way, $3.1 million (in 2004); the National Education Association, $89.3 million (in 2004); the American Federation of Teachers, $67.6 million (in 2004); and the ACLU Foundation, $196.1 million (in 2005). FEC is also funded by George Soros‘s Open Society Institute and the American Federation of Teachers. National Black Police Association According to their website: http://www.blackpolice.org/ The National Black Police Association was established: To improve the relationship between Police Departments as institutions and the minority communities; To evaluate the effect of the policies and programs within the Criminal Justice System upon the minority community; To serve as a mechanism to recruit minority police officers on a national scale; To work toward police reform in order to eliminate police corruption, police brutality and racial discrimination; and To educate police officers to perform with professionalism and compassion. National Coalition on Black Civic Participation http://www.ncbcp.org/ The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) is a 501©3, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing Black civic engagement and voter participation. NCBCP was founded on May 6, 1976. For thirty-two (32) years, the NCBCP, through its 80 member organizations, 12 state and local affiliates, and strategic partners, has served as an effective convener and facilitator at the local, state and national levels of efforts to address the disenfranchisement of African Americans and other marginalized communities through civic engagement. National Council of Negro Women http://www.ncnw.org/ According to their webiste, their mission is to lead, develop and advocate for women of African descent as they support their families and communities. We fulfill our mission through research, advocacy and national and community-based health, education and economic empowerment services and programs in the United States and Africa. Through section and affiliate volunteers in 34 states, NCNW addresses local needs while impacting communities nationwide. National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/ Their Mission Statement Says: Inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. But the organization is best known for these stances: Opposes U.S. oil drilling in Alaska, Supports the ban on DDT, Seeks to restrict land-development projects NWF recently endorsed a document called the Earth Charter, which blames capitalism for many of the world’s environmental, social, and economic problems. The National Wildlife Federation receives financial support from the Bank of America Foundation, the Beldon Fund, the Bullitt Foundation, the Compton Foundation, the Energy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Turner Foundation. Rainbow PUSH Coalition http://www.youtube.com/user/rainbowpushcoalition The RainbowPUSH Coalition is a progressive organization fighting for social change. Best known for : Civil rights organization formed by merger between two groups founded by Jesse Jackson Supports race preferences, alternatives to incarceration, and bigger government Drives much of its agenda through frivolous, unsubstantiated charges of institutional and corporate racism CONNECT THE DOTS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6431 Rainbow/PUSH is the result of a 1996 merger between two groups founded by Jesse Jackson. One was People United To Serve Humanity (PUSH), established in 1971, which advocated race preferences in the form of affirmative action. PUSH also helped sponsor a massive June 12, 1982 rally, organized by the Communist Party USA and the Soviet-supported U.S. Peace Council, advocating the dismantling of America’s military arsenal. The other organization was the Rainbow Coalition, formed in 1985 to counter policies enacted during President Reagan’s second term which Jackson deemed discriminatory against African Americans. Today Rainbow/PUSH maintains its national headquarters in Chicago, and has branch offices in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Silicon Valley, New Orleans, and Washington, DC. Characterizing the United States as a nation rife with discrimination against African Americans and other minorities, Rainbow/Push lists its major issues as: “Jobs and Economic Empowerment; Employee Rights and Livable Wages; Educational Access; Fair and Decent Housing; Voter Registration and Civic Education; Election Law Reform; Fairness in the Media, Sports, and Criminal Justice System; Political Empowerment; Trade and Foreign Policy; Affirmative Action and Equal Rights; Gender Equality; and Environmental Justice.” NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE http://www.nul.org/mission.html The mission of the Urban League movement is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. In 1971, Vernon Jordan, who had previously headed the United Negro College Fund and would eventually, two decades later, become an advisor to President Bill Clinton headed the National Urban League. Jordan expanded the organization’s activities in the areas of equal housing, education, and minority business development. He also instituted the Urban Leagues’s State of Black America Report. During his tenure, Jordan demonstrated an inclination to blame white racism for even the most egregious black-perpetrated outrages. In the wake of a 1980 black riot in Miami, for instance, he suggested that the city’s “white power structure” — political and judicial — had created a racial atmosphere in which refraining from rioting was “too much to ask of any [black] human being.” Over the years, Urban League reports and public statements have frequently condemned the United States as an intractably racist nation.The National Urban League has received funding from: the American Express Foundation; the AT&T Foundation; the Carnegie Corporation of New York; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Fannie Mae Foundation; the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; the Joyce Foundation; the W. K. Kellogg Foundation; the Sara Lee Foundation; the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Pew Charitable Trusts; and the Verizon Foundation. Young Democrats of America www.yda.org/ Designed to deliver valuable information about how to become part of a new generation of Democratic political activists. The Young Democrats of America has been the official youth arm of the Democratic Party since 1932. Since 2002, YDA has operated independently of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as a nonfederal 527 political organization.

U.K. – FCA Updated Position Limit Contact Information On 14 September 2021, UK FCA updated the commodity position limits webpage with contact email. On 29 June 2022,... On 25 November 2021,... On 7 October 2021,...

Spring 2009 Catholic Action May 27, 2008 by soulforce RECAP of our actions at the Vatican’s embassy In December, 2008, France introduced a Declaration to Decriminalize Homosexuality at the United Nations Assembly in New York City. The Statement condemned violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemned killings, executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights noting that in 77 member countries, homosexuality is illegal; 7 countries declaring it punishable by death. Almost immediately following the Declaration’s introduction, the Vatican issued a statement opposing it and suggesting that it could lead to same gender marriage acceptance. In response, Soulforce pulled together a team to confront the Vatican. We sent a letter to the Ambassador’s office asking them, to withdraw its opposition to the Declaration and to meet with us in order to begin a dialogue on the destructive nature of heterosexism. By late March, Soulforce had negotiated a meeting with two of our representatives with Father Bene, an assistant to Archbishop Migliori, the Ambassador. Fr. Bene, while friendly, appeared surprised to hear that American gays and lesbians experienced any kind of discrimination. During the meeting we pressed for a meeting directly with the Ambassador and were told they would get back to us, which they never did. Our Soulforce team decided to vigil at the Vatican’s embassy in late April. For two days, the Vatican’s response was to shut down the embassy. We were told by people in the neighborhood that they had never seen the offices closed down in the middle of the week and were offered no explanation by Vatican officials. Several weeks later, as we persisted in trying to meet with the Ambassador we were able to persuade the Ambassador to sit down with our representatives. The meeting was again, cordial and the Ambassador indicated that he would be discussing the Statement with the UN when they meet in Switzerland this summer for their summer sessions. This meeting was significant in that after eight years of trying to negotiate with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church this was the first time we were able to sit down with a high ranking representative of the Vatican. Given the years of hostile rhetoric between the Vatican and the LGBT community, we are hopeful about the improvement we have made in helping the Vatican understand the sacredness of LGBT lives. Soulforce will continue to monitor the situation and will keep people up to date. See video footage of April 22, 2009 and April 23, 2009 Please join us this spring in calling on the Vatican to support the safety and well being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We are working to gain support from the Roman Catholic Church for the United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The United States, as of Wednesday March 18th, has signed on to the declaration. This is a great shift in U.S. policy, and we hope that you will work with us to continue the focus on the Vatican. There are many ways to participate, if you are not able to join us in New York City. Send us your story! We will be delivering the personal testimonies of those who want to share why it matters to them that the Vatican support LGBT by endorsing the UN’s declaration. We will be delivering all our stories to the office in New York City, and we would be honored to include your story. Contact Alexey Bulokhov at [email protected] with your statement. If you want to join us on the ground in New York City, next week, read details and register here. Our introductory training will be on Tuesday, April 21 from 8 to 10pm at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, www.spsanyc.org, 263 West 86th Street @ West End Avenue. Subway 86th Street on the 1, B or C line. If you have questions, contact Alexey Bulokhov at [email protected] or 212-203-5774. You can join the growing group of local leaders organizing solidarity actions where they live. We will work with you to support efforts in your hometown. All are welcome at any experience level. If you are interested in being a local leader or a participant, click here for a list of participating cities, ideas for action and contact information. You or your organization can also join the campaign by signing onto the following statement of support. Click here for contact information, the text of the statement, and the growing list of supporters. The background of this campaign: For the first time ever at the United Nations in December 2008, a statement was heard on the support of equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. French Minister of Human Rights and Foreign Affairs Rama Yade began the effort in early 2008 to create U.N.-backed protections for LGBT people. The Netherlands signed on as a co-sponsor on behalf of the European Union, and on December 18, 2008 Ambassador Jorge Arguello of Argentina read out the first declaration on LGBT rights in the General Assembly. Unfortunately, some countries have not yet signed on in support of safety for all. The Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, was among the first to oppose: "If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations. For example, states which do not recognize same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an object of pressure." Read the official statement on the declaration from the Holy See here. We have sent a letter to the Archbishop in New York City, calling on him to take a personal stand against defamatory language regarding LGBT people and work in open and good faith to bring the Vatican toward supporting safety for all humans. We are inviting you to work with us this spring in solidarity actions across the country and internationally to unite our voices. Based on the idea of pilgrimage, we are looking for local leaders and participants who want to help create conversations about faith and LGBT equality and get active in their community. No experience is required – just the desire to work in solidarity with activists in a localized action with global impact to make justice the standard. Download the text of the declaration Read some of the actions and statements of the Roman Catholic Church With questions or feedback about the campaign, please contact: Haven Herrin at [email protected] or Kara Speltz at [email protected] Filed Under: Roman Catholic Church Tagged With: catholic action, Christian Supremacy, declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, Gay Christian, Homophobia, LGBT activism, LGBT history, lgbtq, LGBTQI, Queer activism, rama yade, Religion-based violence, soulforce, united nations, vatican

Trowell St Helen One of the clock faces The clock mechanism The clock at St Helen’s, Trowell was transferred from the Old Nottingham Exchange Building in 1927. There has been some confusion about this clock in that many people believed it was the clock made by James Wooley, Derbyshire in 1726. However, that clock was moved to St Nicholas’ Church, Nottingham. The clock at Trowell was the third one made for the Old Exchange in 1881 by G & F Cope of Nottingham. The clock is a Turret Clock and a description of one was given in the quotation for the second clock made by Messrs Whitehurst and Son of Derby in 1829 for the Exchange: “A new eight day clock, of magnitude and power calculated to strike the hours upon a bell from 6cwt to 10cwt and show the hours and minutes upon the present dial. Made of the best materials and workmanship, wheels of brass, the pinions and pallets hardened and to be made to go during the time of winding up with Weights, Ropes and Pullies” At Trowell the clock works are fixed on the east wall, with a clock face on that wall and another on the north wall. Gearing connects the clock itself to the face on the north wall, operating the hands. The striking hammer works on the tenor bell. The weights of this clock had to be pulled up twice a week. This was carried out until 1970, when the Parish Council paid for an overhaul and fitting an electric winding motor at a cost of £500. It had been overhauled in 1956 at a cost of £100. The clock is now maintained by John Smith & Sons. Introduction | Location | History | Archaeology | Contacts

High-Tech Coordination on the Battlefield by Jeremy Singer July 18, 2005 January 19, 2023 Ever heard the term “network centric operations” and not been entirely sure of what it means? You’re not alone. Military visionaries explain the concept to the uninitiated using an example of fans waiting for a celebrity at an airport, according to Dean Cash, director of the network centric operations enterprise priority at Raytheon’s corporate offices in Arlington, Va. Some of those fans are carrying cameras that shoot pictures on film that can be printed later, while others are carrying digital cameras where the photos can be viewed immediately, said Cash, a retired U.S. Army major general who began working on the concept during his career as a senior Army officer. A third type of fan is carrying a cellular phone capable of taking digital photos. These fans can take pictures of the celebrity and immediately share them with friends, who can discuss the photos instantaneously through voice conversations or text messages, Cash said. These fans illustrate some of the basic tenets of network centric operations — putting information into the hands of more troops and using the data for new purposes, Cash said. This involves the use of a variety of satellite and terrestrial imaging and communications assets, GPS navigation signals, and a willingness to look at using satellites and other systems in ways not previously considered. Network centric operations is intended to replace the narrow or “soda straw” view that each soldier may have of the battlefield and provide a far wider, common perspective to U.S. forces, said Jon Armstrong, director of net-centric integration at Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions in Gaithersburg, Md. Troops can share information to build a complete picture of what is happening in an area and identify errors that would degrade the quality of the information, he said. Another way to envision what network centric operations will enable for the military involves a dismounted soldier fighting in urban combat, Cash said. The soldier, equipped with a helmet-mounted display, lightweight communications gear and an M-16 with special sensors, can hide behind a wall yet see an approaching enemy tank by holding his gun just past the wall (see artist’s conception at right). Without exposing himself to the vehicle, the soldier can destroy the tank with a click of the trigger on his M-16, Cash said. Network centric operations will not improve the firepower of an M-16 to enable its shells to destroy a heavily armored vehicle. What this new approach to technology and information sharing will do is use sensors on that M-16 to recognize the tank, share that information with other weapons systems in the area, and determine which is close enough and capable enough of taking the tank out , Cash said. For example, a nearby aircraft could be called upon to fire a precision-guided missile at the tank , he said. That’s one example of network centric operations that Raytheon hopes will be possible in the near future, Cash said. The Pentagon already is using network centric concepts to put more information in the hands of troops on the battlefield as well as decision makers based in the United States. The most important aspects of this information is letting troops know their own location, the locations of other friendly forces, and that of nearby enemies, according to Mike Gianelli, vice president for national security communications programs at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo, Calif. Once they have that information, troops also may want more detailed information about their enemy’s intentions and capabilities from eavesdropping and imagery assets, he said. The Pentagon already has developed and begun using in Iraq a system that gives troops basic information about the position of friendly and enemy forces, called the Force 21 Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), which is installed in Army vehicles and built by Northrop Grumman Corp. Neil Siegel, vice president of technology and chief engineer of command, control and communications programs at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Reston, Va., said that he would like to beef up the level of information that troops in FBCB2-equipped vehicles can receive, but doing so requires caution. Sending a live video feed from unmanned aerial vehicles would dramatically increase the information that troops in ground vehicles have at their disposal, but it would not necessarily help them, Siegel said. A soldier in the vehicle might not be able to glean much from watching video of several moving trucks, for example, and the video could prove to be a distraction as well, he said. To the untrained eye, even high-resolution video may not suggest much about a vehicle’s purpose, Siegel said. However, sending the video feed to intelligence analysts could enable them to quickly discern considerable information, such as whether the trucks are an enemy reconnaissance patrol or logistics squadron, and send that data back to the troops on the ground, he said. That type of information can significantly alter the decisions made during battle, he said. One of the first steps in network centric operations during combat in recent years was the targeting missions handled by U.S. Special Operations forces in Afghanistan, where troops on horseback used laser-range finders, GPS devices and communications gear to locate enemy targets for B-52 bombers, Gianelli said. Those troops generally performed this mission with several separate devices, and occasionally ran into problems when they entered the wrong GPS coordinates for transmission to the bombers, said Gianelli, who envisions the development of a single piece of equipment that is easier to carry and automated to reduce user error. Increased information sharing and more timely updates, coupled with precision-guided bombs and missiles, has helped U.S. aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan strike multiple targets during a single sortie, rather than requiring several sorties to destroy a single target as had been the case in the past, Armstrong said. Military commanders often complained after Operation Desert Storm that they did not have sufficient access to information from classified intelligence sources, but the Pentagon has made considerable progress in this area during Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Air Force Maj. James Armor, director of the National Security Space Office. The difference between the intelligence information available to commanders between the two wars has been “night and day,” Armor said. The military has done a good job supplying commanders with this information, but still struggles to get it to individual troops in combat vehicles, Armor said. However, the services are addressing this issue with programs like the Army’s Future Combat System, a fleet of relatively lightweight combat vehicles linked by space and airborne communications systems, he said. Other possibilities that can be enabled by network centric operations include tapping sensors on a variety of weapons for unorthodox purposes, Armstrong said. If a missile-warning satellite detected the launch of a Scud-type missile, and commanders wanted additional information to confirm the threat, they might find that aircraft cannot reach the area in question in time, he said. However, a networked system could indicate that a cruise missile that had been launched nearby the launch site could reach the area much faster, and take a look with its own sensors, Armstrong said. With confirmation of the threat, commanders could choose to have the cruise missile intercept the rocket if they decided that was a higher priority than the cruise missile’s initial target, he said.

Below you will find information and resources on Australia's Indigenous culture and history. Indigenous.gov.au - Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Connects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with Australian Government policies and programmes and raises awareness about the initiatives that affect them most. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Conducts, facilitates and promotes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies, especially through research, collections and publications. Provides information about their archives, library and Native Title Research Unit. Indigenous Arts and Language Funding - Ministry for the Arts Provides funding that supports Indigenous visual arts, languages and culture. NAIDOC Week - Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet A celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. NAIDOC Week (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) is an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields. The Little Red Yellow Black Website Provides an introduction to the rich history and contemporary culture of Indigenous Australia. An online gateway to The Little Red Yellow Black Book: An introduction to Indigenous Australia. Torres Strait Regional Authority Supports the economic, social and cultural development of the Torres Strait to improve the lifestyle and wellbeing of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people living in the region.

New main library branch coming to Uptown Charlotte PUBLISHED 9:42 AM ET Jul. 02, 2021 PUBLISHED 9:42 AM EDT Jul. 02, 2021 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s been years in the making, but Charlotte will soon get a new main library. The current main branch in Uptown will be demolished in a few months to make room for a new five-story building. In November 2019, Charlotte Mecklenburg Libary unveiled renderings for its new main library The library will cost $135 million Mecklenburg County has already committed $65 million to this project, while the John S. and James L. Foundation committed $10 million The libary's foundation is still in the process of raising the rest of the money to fund this new branch On the second floor of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is where you’ll find Mimi Curlee. Curlee has spent the last three decades working as a reference librarian at the main branch. “I went and got my master's, and I got hired here in 1991, and I’ve been here ever since,” she said. Her time inside this building is slowly coming to an end though. “It will be 30 years, and now they are tearing down the building that I’ve basically been in for most of my career,” Curlee said. On the third floor sits Jenni Gaisbauer, the woman in charge of raising $135 million for the library system’s new main branch. After years of talks, in 2019 renderings were unveiled showcasing a new five-story, state-of-the art library. “I think everyone is really excited,” Gaisbauer said. “Our heads are very much still down trying to get everything ready and make sure that the community is really happy about this building, and they’ll use it and feel proud about it.” So far Gaisbauer been able to raise just over $101 million with just $34 million left to go. “It is just raising more than just the capital for the new main library,” she said. “It’s programming and technology for our system, and so there’s a lot of needs throughout the community that we are trying to fulfill.” This new building is expected to be completed in early 2025, replacing the current main branch on North Tryon Street. Curlee knows this new building is needed, but she won’t forget the people and moments she’s experienced in the place where her career started. “I hope there are a lot of people in Charlotte who will have good memories of this building and the services and the resources they found here,” she said. The demolition of the current main library on North Tryon Street in Uptown is planned to happen by the end of this year. The library will hold a public send off so that the community can come out and say goodbye to the building before it's demolished.

Aces beat Lynx for 3rd time this season, 91-85 Jul 1, 2022, 7:39 AM | Updated: 7:40 pm MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chelsea Gray scored 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, A’ja Wilson had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Minnesota Lynx 91-85 on Friday night. Minnesota took its first lead of the game with 5:54 remaining in the fourth quarter but Las Vegas answered with a 16-6 run. Jackie Young sank a 3-pointer from the corner to extend the Aces’ lead to 89-81 with 1:19 left. Kelsey Plum had 18 points and 10 assists, Dearica Hamby scored 16 points and Young finished with 10 for Las Vegas (15-5), which has won three straight against the Lynx this season. Gray also had six rebounds and five assists, and Wilson reached 2,500 career points. Rachel Banham scored 11 of her season-high 24 points in the third quarter for Minnesota (6-15), which plays Las Vegas on Sunday. Moriah Jefferson, coming off a triple-double on Tuesday, scored 20 points and Sylvia Fowles had 12 points and five rebounds. Banham was 6 of 8 from 3-point range. More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […] Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […] Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […] Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […] Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […] Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’ GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

Dowd, 12, given LPGA exemption for sick mom: A great story on SportsCenter this morning. I hope she does well. posted by dbt302 to golf at 11:14 AM - 14 comments Its a beautiful thing for the sports world. I hope she makes enough. posted by defrag3x at 11:18 AM on April 23, 2006 what a great dream come true for both mother and daughter! i wish the mother well and hope she becomes a cancer survivor posted by michael g at 12:41 PM on April 23, 2006 absolutly mike g so do i as a cancer widower posted by FrankySP at 04:00 PM on April 23, 2006 I heard her on a radio interview a week or so ago. Very mature for her age, great girl. posted by wingnut4life at 06:47 PM on April 23, 2006 I heard that interview as well, and like y'all, hope that God offers up a little change in luck. But we ALL know what's coming...ain't NO illness that can't be fodder for the right group... Sorry, just being real... posted by wolfdad at 10:47 PM on April 23, 2006 class act and move by the lpga......it's absolutely the right thing to do. memories are all we have...and at the least...that's what dakoda will have from this. hopefully more, when her mom pulls through...but if not...at least the great memories of this and sharing it with her mom. posted by tommybiden at 12:36 AM on April 24, 2006 Did anyone actually read the article? Or does "advanced incurably" have a different meaning I'm not picking up on? posted by JJ at 04:12 AM on April 24, 2006 It is refreshing to hear some good news ! In the face of circumstances far beyond our control, people actually do respond with compassion, and that is the kind of thing we need to hear more of. And maybe, just maybe, this eample and PROPER COVERAGE will encourage others to follow suit. posted by CRAB at 07:39 AM on April 24, 2006 I would hope that behaviour like this needs no encouragment. It's a reward in itself. How'd she do? (Can't look it up at work.) posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:34 AM on April 24, 2006 Her practice round is tomorrow with Paula Creamer and the first round is Thursday. posted by dbt302 at 11:10 AM on April 24, 2006 So when an unqualified person gets a spot in a golf tournament, some people have a cow about it. ...but not all the time. Interesting. posted by grum@work at 12:09 PM on April 24, 2006 grum, the way I see it, the protest against Wie is that the LPGA is so desperate to crown her as the new Queen of Golf, their very own Tiger Woods with ovaries, a photogenic, minority champion that will thrill the masses and make the tour more relevant than it's been in years, that they're greasing the skids for her. People see that as unfair. In the Dowd case, they see a cute 12-year old kid whose mother is probably going to be dead within the next six months, and the LPGA giving mother and daughter a chance to share in something beautiful before the mother passes, a la the Make A Wish Foundation. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, fair or unfair, and I could be completely off base as far as my interpretaion is concerned; that's just the way I read it. Nobody ever said you humans were logical. posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:32 PM on April 24, 2006 T_B_H: I was just being a bit of a sh*t disturber with that comment. One of the complaints people make about these exemptions is that players that deserve to be in the tournament are being shut out for these "media friendly" options. I'm pretty sure that if they went to a Q-school-level pro who is scraping by on the tour and told her that she was going to lose her spot to this 12 year-old, she might not be so happy with the idea. That said, I'm perfectly fine with this (and almost every other) golf exemption that tournaments hand out. It's their decision and they can do whatever they want with it. One of the complaints people make about these exemptions is that players that deserve to be in the tournament are being shut out for these "media friendly" options. It makes my blood boil when people come out with that shit. It is not, never has been and never will be the case that a sponsor's exemption is "bumping" anyone else out of the tournament, least of all the struggling, borderline pro. The field is set up to have the top X players from the rankings plus Y number of invites. The only thing likely to bump the last placed pro in group X is if Tiger suddenly decides he has had enough of bungee jumping for this week and he wants to play in the tournament after all. The sponsors inviting Michelle Wie, Dakoda Dowd or Mickey fucking Mouse doesn't have the least impact on the number X, only the number Y. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: if people getting bumped out of tournaments by Wie (or anyone else) getting an invite were really an issue, why has no journalist found the disgruntled bumpee? You're not logged in. Please log in or register.

Keeping Up With All The Industry Press Releases Fox Sports1 NFLN MLBN NHLN Sirius/XM You are here: Home / Comcast / NBC / OPENING DAY! PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON KICKS OFF TODAY AT 1 PM ET ON NBCSN OPENING DAY! PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON KICKS OFF TODAY AT 1 PM ET ON NBCSN NBC Sports Gold’s “Premier League Pass” Presents Three Exclusive Games Tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET & More Than 1,000 Hours of Content Throughout the Season Commentary Teams Set for First Week of the Season Coverage Continues Tomorrow, Saturday, August 12 at 7 a.m. ET on NBCSN STAMFORD, Conn. – August 11, 2017 – NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the 2017-18 Premier League season kicks off today, August 11, with the first Friday night opener in the 129-year history of English football’s top tier, when Arsenal host Leicester City at 2:45 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN with a special one-hour season preview show followed by Premier League Live. Coverage continues throughout the season on the networks of NBCUniversal, streamed live on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, and with NBC Sports Gold’s “Premier League Pass.” NBC Sports Gold – NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product – debuts “Premier League Pass” this season, which features 130 exclusive Premier League matches live and on-demand, an extensive suite of daily and weekly news shows, plus classic archive programming never available before in the U.S. The first three matches exclusive to “Premier League Pass” are at 10 .m. ET on Saturday: Crystal Palace v. Huddersfield Town, Southampton v. Swansea City, and West Bromwich Albion v. Bournemouth. “Premier League Pass” will feature more than 1,000 hours of content throughout the season. Fans can purchase today by visiting NBCSportsGold.com for the 2017-18 season of “Premier League Pass,” priced at $49.99. Click here for more information. NBC Sports Group’s U.S.-based Premier League team opens the season on the road for the first time, as the entire announce team works together on-location in the United Kingdom. Similar to NBC’s full in-stadium presentation of the season-opening NFL Kickoff Game for the past decade, immersive Premier League coverage will be presented on-site from the U.K. across the season’s opening three days from three different grounds, featuring on-site studios for pre-match, halftime and post-game shows as well as pitch-side locations just a few feet from the playing field. The full schedule for week one, including matches broadcast by the Premier League using the World Feed: Date Time (ET) Match Network Commentators Fri., Aug. 11 1 p.m. Season Preview from Emirates Stadium NBCSN Fri., Aug. 11 2 p.m. Premier League Live from Emirates Stadium NBCSN Fri., Aug. 11 2:45 p.m. Arsenal v. Leicester City NBCSN Arlo White, Kyle Martino Sat., Aug. 12 7 a.m. Premier League Live from American Express Community Stadium NBCSN Sat., Aug. 12 7:30 a.m. Watford v. Liverpool NBCSN Jon Champion, Jim Beglin Sat., Aug. 12 10 a.m. Chelsea v. Burnley NBCSN, Universo Jim Proudfoot, Matt Holland Sat., Aug. 12 10 a.m. Everton v. Stoke City CNBC Ian Crocker, Keith Andrews Sat., Aug. 12 10 a.m. Crystal Palace v. Huddersfield Town NBC Sports Gold Gary Taphouse, Tony Gale Sat., Aug. 12 10 a.m. Southampton v. Swansea City NBC Sports Gold Tony Jones, Don Goodman Sat., Aug. 12 10 a.m. West Bromwich Albion v. Bournemouth NBC Sports Gold David Stowell, Andy Walker Sat., Aug. 12 12:30 p.m. Brighton & Hove Albion v. Manchester City NBC, Universo Arlo White, Robbie Earle Sat., Aug. 12 2:30 p.m. Goal Zone NBC Sun., Aug. 13 6:30 a.m. Match of the Day NBCSN Sun., Aug. 13 7:30 a.m. Premier League Live from Old Trafford NBCSN Sun., Aug. 13 8:30 a.m. Newcastle United v. Tottenham Hotspur NBCSN, Universo Jon Champion, David Prutton Sun., Aug. 13 11 a.m. Manchester United v. West Ham United NBCSN, Telemundo Arlo White, Robbie Mustoe Sun., Aug. 13 1 p.m. Goal Zone NBCSN Sun., Aug. 13 12 a.m. Match of the Day II NBCSN Mon., Aug. 14 1 a.m. Match of the Week NBCSN For NBC Sports Group’s Premier League television schedule for the first two months of the season, click here. –NBC SPORTS GROUP– Filed Under: NBC, Uncategorized Rob Hoffmann on Tata IPL Playoffs Begin Tuesda… Rob Hoffmann on ESPN to Air Monday Night Footb… Sarah Jean Close on NBC SPORTS PRESENTS LIVE COVER… richard j boucher on NBC SPORTS PRESENTS LIVE COVER… Omari on Patrick Mahomes & Lamar Ja… Archives Select Month March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 Copyright © 2023 ·News Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Powered by WordPress.com.Log in