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James Robert Smith's A Confederacy of Horrors was published by Hippocampus Press in January 2015.
Information about James Robert Smith:
James Robert Smith lives with his wife, son, and two requisite cats near Charlotte, NC.
He has made more than sixty short story sales, has had his comic scripts published by Marvel Comics, Kitchen Sink, Spyderbabies Grafix, and others. He is co-editor of the Arkham House anthology, Evermore. The Flock is his first novel.
Click here to visit the author's official website.
Information about A Confederacy of Horrors:
In recent years, James Robert Smith has emerged as a distinctive new voice in contemporary weird fiction. Melding a smoothly flowing prose style, powerful horrific conceptions, and a keen sense of character and locale, Smith has written dozens of stories that expand the boundaries of the weird tale and take it into new and dynamic directions.
This first collection of his short fiction displays the many virtues of his work. Several of his tales are set in the South, a region he knews well through long residence. Whether it be the alienated youths in “Toke Ghost,” the ruthless plutocrat of “Moving,” or the comic terror of “The Reliable Vacuum Company,” Smith depicts a South where the lush, kudzu-choked landscape breeds horrors both earthly and unearthly.
Monsters from the depths of space are the focus of “On the First Day,” while rats of a more than usual malignancy are featured in “Dope.” “Translator” tells of mysteries emerging out of World War II, while in “Love & Magick” a man battles occult creatures with magic of his own. The ecological horrors of “Symptom” are matched by the existential horror of “Wet.” The end of the world appears imminent in “One of Those Days,” and a vampire of an unusual sort stalks through the pages of “Just a Gigolo.”
With this collection, James Robert Smith presents a rich and diverse smorgasboard of weirdness and terror that will delight his many devotees and bring new ones into his fold.
A REVIEW OF JAMES ROBERT SMITH'S A CONFEDERACY OF HORRORS
James Robert Smith is a relatively unknown author to me. I've heard of him and I know who he is, but unfortunately I haven't had a chance to read many of his stories yet. It was interesting for me to read this short story collection, because it was an excellent introduction to his stories.
In my opinion James Robert Smith's A Confederacy of Horrors will most likely be the best weird fiction collection of the year, because it contains diverse and beautifully written stories. It's an exceptionally good and original collection that will please fans of horror and weird fiction stories. It's a bit difficult for me to imagine that another collection could somehow be better than it.
A Confederacy of Horrors has been divided into four sections and contains the following stories:
A Confederacy of Ghosts:
- Through Becky's Eyes
- Of Rodents and Sinking Vessels
- Toke Ghost
- The Pool
A Confederacy of Vengeance:
- On the First Day
- The Jawbone of an Ass
- Love & Magick
A Confederacy of Obsession:
- At Last, Longing Look
- One of Those Days
- The Call
- Just Like Jesus, He Said
A Confederacy of Blood:
- It's Not a Blessing, She Said
- Just a Gigolo
- The Old Man's Final Visit
- Ice Bounty
- The Reliable Vacuum Company
- Pure Southern
Here's more information about the stories without spoilers and my thoughts about them:
- The protagonist in this story is strangely captivated by a house and its occupant.
- A well written ghost story.
Through Becky's Eyes:
- A story about Becky who has taken in boarders from the VA hospital to her house.
- A beautifully written story that has touching bittersweetness in it.
Of Rodents and Sinking Vessels:
- A well written story about Erwin Moody Enwhistle who once professed to be an expert in supernatural matters. He has taken objects (trophies) as remembrance from each case.
- An intriguing story in which the author writes well about the protagonist and his life.
- One of my favourite stories in this collection.
- Bryan goes to see his marijuana garden and meets a girl there with unexpected consequences.
- An excellent and powerful story.
- In this story Harry's son, Tommy, has been in an accident and is hurt badly.
- A well written and interesting story about father's feelings.
- An intriguing story about Gordon who is used to getting what he wants. He wants to buy an old church and replace it with his new house.
- This story is interesting, because Gordon's plans don't work out exactly as he had planned.
- A well written story about Frank who goes swimming and watches ladies.
- A short, but memorable story.
On the First Day:
- A story about Norris whose daughter tells him that he can't go outdoors anymore because of a disturbing dream about spiders.
- An excellent story with a perfect ending.
- This is one of the best stories in this collection.
The Jawbone of an Ass:
- An interesting story about a half-Jew Ed and racism.
- This is an exceptionally good story about a difficult theme.
- In this story the protagonist has problems with rats.
- A good and well written story.
- In this story the author writes about Japanese POW camps in the USA.
- The author has chosen a challenging and interesting subject for the story.
Love & Magick:
- An intriguing story about magic.
- It's been a while since I've read about magic in this kind of a way.
- In this intriguing story Craig has trouble finding work.
- In my opinion this story was very interesting.
At Last, Longing Look:
- A fascinating story about a wandering soul who isn't actually human. The soul has fallen in love with a woman.
- This story is one of my favourite stories in this collection.
- A fantastic story about what kind of effects a mosquito poison has had on people.
- A well written story.
- Walter has a bit of problems with moisture and mildew, because he has noticed that the house isn't in a good condition.
- A short, but very effective story with a good ending.
One of Those Days:
- An interesting story about something weird that has spread around the country.
- The ending of this story is simply brilliant.
- A fascinating story about a young man who's obsessed about the sea.
- There was something wonderfully Lovecraftian about this story that appealed to me.
Just Like Jesus, He Said:
- A stunningly effective and strong story about violence and retribution in a rural community.
- This is one of my favourite stories in this collection.
It's Not a Blessing, She Said:
- A story about Ty who has a hole in him. He tries to fill the hole with various things.
- An interesting story.
Just a Gigolo:
- This is an exceptionally fascinating vampire story.
- I've read many vampire stories, which have been good, but this story is clearly among the top three stories I've ever read, because it's something different.
The Old Man's Final Visit:
- I'm only going to mention that this story is a fascinatingly touching and a bit different kind of a story, because I don't want to reveal too much information about this excellent story. It's good to know as little as possible about this story, because it's one of the best stories in this collection.
- A beautifully written story.
- A bit different kind of a story about bounty hunters who hunt a Chinaman.
- The author writes well about the hunters and what happens to them.
The Reliable Vacuum Company:
- A fun story about a couple and a vacuum cleaner salesman.
- Perfectly written comic horror.
- An excellent story about a World War II soldier and his love for killing.
- A well written and memorable story.
These stories have been written over a span of several decades. Some of them have been published before, but there are many new stories.
Here's a few extra words about some of the stories:
In "Of Rodents and Sinking Vessels" the author writes well about the protagonist's life and the ghosts that he sees. The descriptions are atmospheric and beautiful. The ending is perfect.
"On the First Day" is one of my favourite stories, because the author writes powerfully about what the protagonist has to endure when his daughter tells him not to go outdoors. This story is a good example of how well the author builds up tension bit by bit towards a perfect and satisfying ending.
"Just a Gigolo" is a beautifully told vampire story that is something different. It felt refreshing to read this story, because the author had written a totally different kind of a story. I have to mention that this story is one of my all-time favourite vampire stories.
"Just like Jesus, He Said" is a strong horror story about a rural community. In this story the author addresses violence and retribution in a memorable way. This is one of those stories that are difficult to forget once you've read it. It will linger on your mind for a long time.
James Robert Smith's prose is exceptionally good and descriptive. These stories are wonderfully literary and descriptive stories. This kind of well written weird fiction is, in my opinion, the best kind of weird fiction, because good literary prose deepens the reading experience on many levels.
In my opinion James Robert Smith's contemporary weird fiction is stunningly effective and powerful, because he has his own voice and he seems to love writing weird stories. The driving force behind these stories is clearly love for horror and weird fiction.
I'm sure that everybody who reads this collection will agree with me when I say that James Robert Smith is a talented horror author. There's no doubt about his writing abilities, because he writes excellent stories. He writes all kinds of stories and uses different elements in his stories in a good way. He writes his stories carefully and adds supernatural elements in an effective way to deepen and enhance tension.
What makes these stories special and unique is their diversity and also complexity. The author expands and pushes the boundaries of weird fiction into interesting directions, but never strays too far from its core concepts. It's great that he stays true to what weird fiction is, but isn't afraid of adding something new to it. His stories range all the way from ecological horrors to existential horrors.
James Robert Smith writes about sex and violence in an excellent way. It's great that he doesn't shy away from difficult material. In my opinion his descriptions of sex and violence are effective and powerful in the best kind of way.
The characterization in these stories is surprisingly powerful and complex. It is often difficult for authors to write good characterization in short stories, but James Robert Smith does it well. He doesn't have any kind of problems when it comes to creating good characters, because he manages to make his characters realistic and interesting.
Many of these stories are set in the South where that author has resided for a long time. The author writes beautifully about the South and brings it to life in his stories. His descriptions of the different places are beautiful and you immediately get the feeling that he knows how to create an evocative sense of environment and locale.
The cover art by Pete Von Sholly looks menacing and beautifully surreal. I liked it very much.
I sincerely hope that as many readers as possible will find James Robert Smith's A Confederacy of Horrors and spread word about it. It's full of beautifully written stories that will appeal to quality-oriented readers who appreciate good stories, beautiful prose and originality in their weird fiction. It's a stunning collection that deserves to be praised by horror readers (if you're a fan of horror and weird fiction stories, you should read this collection immediately).


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634 Short-term Apartments for rent in Bartlett, TN
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"I was walking in Memphis, walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale. Walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel?" Marc Cohn
Bartlett is technically a suburb of Memphis. Most people dont realize its its own city, though, since the area blends in seamlessly with the big city around it. However, Bartlett has its own distinct history and government, and it also has its own feel -- which is a little bit country and a little bit redneck. Bartlett was once an area called Union Depot and Green Bottom. It was a train stop on the way west from Nashville. In 1866, the town became its own city, even though it had less than 100 people living there. Today, Bartlett remains a small, country town, and it retains a lot of its original feel of a southern railroad town.. Bartlett has its own schools both public and private its own parks, libraries and arts institutions, too. In fact, you wouldnt even need to leave the area to live well and be entertained, even though you might want to, since nearby Memphis offers so many amenities and Bartlett is small enough that you might want some bigger fish to fry after a few years here. See more
Finding a short-term apartment in Bartlett takes some leg work to find the right location, price point, and lease terms. You may need to rent a short-term apartment due to a new job, a relationship change, or to explore a new city before committing to staying. Whatever the reason, short-term apartments can provide the flexibility that traditional leases don’t.
Before signing a rental agreement or short-term apartment lease, study all of the details thoroughly. Renters usually have more restrictions and rules to follow when renting a short-term apartment. For starters, you usually can’t make modifications like painting or hanging pictures.
Short-term apartments are ideal for flexibility, but also don’t protect the renter long-term. You could face the possibility of rent increases on a monthly basis. The landlord could also decline to renew your lease and leave you looking for another short-term rental.
If your main priority is flexibility, a short-term apartment is an ideal situation. However, ensure that you fully understand the rental agreement terms before signing.

domain: geography


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16.9m Gold 1 AW top 500 AQ ally LF 1-2 veteran players
Need 1-2 players with 7k+ prestige to replace players taking a break. We do map 5x5 and place between 400-500 in AQ and always finish towards the top of Gold 1 in AW. We are a low pressure group that doesn’t have crazy event minimums to make sure we keep the fun in the game. Contact me on Line at jfortner627 for more details.

domain: hobby


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Welcome to Harlands Community
Primary & Nursery School
All Emotions are part of human nature. Emotions give us information about what we're experiencing and help us know how to react.
We sense these from the time we're babies. Infants and young children react to their emotions with facial expressions or with actions like laughing, cuddling, or crying. When you are young you feel and show emotions, but they don't yet have the ability to name the emotion or say why they feel that way.
As we get bigger, we become more skilled in understanding our emotions, and emotions of others. Instead of just reacting like small children do, we can identify what we feel and put it into words. With time and practice, we get better at knowing what we are feeling and why. This skill is called emotional awareness.
Emotional awareness helps us know what we need and want. It helps us build better relationships. That's because being aware of our emotions can help us talk about feelings more clearly, this then help us to avoid or resolve conflicts better, and move past difficult feelings more easily.
Some people are naturally more in touch with emotions than others. However, everyone can be more aware of their emotions. It just takes practice. But it's worth the effort: Emotional awareness is the first step toward building emotional intelligence, a skill that can help people succeed in life.
At Harlands Jason Rhodes is visiting our school to share his book "Imagine Eating Lemons" to help us to try and understand our emotions. This book can be bought through many good bookshops.

domain: literature


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Stay Hydrated // How-to Make Infused Spa Water at Home - Tasty Yummies
Quinoa Veggie "Fried Rice" - It was pretty good. I also tried it swapping out the quinoa for Brown rice. You can add veggies to make it your own. Definitely add the Sriracha to spice things up.
Previous of of Tomato “Lollipop” Toasts We love how this recipe takes grilled tomatoes and cleverly tops them on ricotta toast. Recipe: White On Rice Couple Previous of 24

domain: food


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This page contains sponsored links, which means we may receive compensation if you complete a form.
How can you buy a car when you have bad credit and no money for a down payment?
It will not be easy. Improving a poor credit score helps over the long-term. But what if you need reliable transportation right away?
You need to find a company or dealer willing to finance the purchase or use of an automobile. In general, that means keeping your monthly installment amount as low as possible for the shortest period.
Drivers have four places to turn: subprime online loan companies, leasing instead of purchasing, buy here pay here lots, and no credit check dealers.
Bad Credit No Money Down Auto Financing
Bad credit no money down auto financing can help drivers buy now and pay later in larger installments. Affordable monthly payments are the key factor in any approval.
Start an auto loan request here. (Sponsored Link) Picking a low-priced vehicle is the remaining factor in your control and can help overcome your two qualifying drawbacks.
- A negative history on your consumer report leads to higher interest rates.
- After bankruptcy discharge (chapter 7 or chapter 13)
- After a voluntary repossession
- A zero down payment means that you finance a larger amount
- 100% loan to value ratio (LTV) means higher interest rates
- Bigger principal amounts mean larger (less affordable) installments
Repairing your existing car is often the most realistic option as the principal amount is much smaller. Even new cars need maintenance at some point.
No Down Payment Loans
No down payment auto loans for bad credit require drivers to work out an affordable monthly outlay amount. They can allow people to buy now and pay later in monthly installments that fit their budget.
Some lenders will look at more than just your credit report. This means you must overcome your poor FICO score by performing well on several alternative factors in order to qualify.
- Be able to verify employment and demonstrate stability by sticking with the same employer for an extended period – do not job hop
- Keep a low debt-to-income ratio by purchasing a cheaper car so that the monthly installment consumes a small portion of your monthly income
- Live at one address for an extended period to show stability in a second area and avoid alerting lenders that you may skip town if delinquent
- Maintain a checking account with a national bank and give the lender permission to automatically draft money every month
Getting approved for an auto loan with bad credit and no down payment without a cosigner is much more difficult. Having a co-signer can improve your qualifications in two out of the three key underwriting factors.
- Another person with better ratings cannot balance out your application. Without a cosigner, the lender will be less willing to approve your application. The application lacks a responsible person to step in should you encounter further financial difficulties.
- A second person cannot add his or her income and employment history to the equation. Without a cosigner, your application lacks a backup source of earnings to stay current on the obligation.
Guaranteed approval for auto loans for bad credit drivers with no down payment is not realistic. Be wary of any company promising that they will lend you money regardless of your age, income, employment history, and other monthly obligations.
No legitimate finance company can legally make an ironclad pledge to approve everyone. This claim is misleading. The online resources making this promise are not actual lenders. They operate affiliate programs (as does this site) and receive compensation for referring consumers whom the lender ultimately approves.
No Down Payment Leases
Leasing a car with bad credit and no money down is often easier because you are paying to use – not buy – the vehicle. All auto leases contain mileage limits, which place restrictions on the amount of driving and impose overage penalties to enforce the upper bound.
This means you are financing a smaller portion of the cost. This leads to smaller monthly installments that are more affordable even though the cap cost reduction amount is zero. This improves your chances of approval – but does not guarantee it.
- An underwater or upside-down trade-in does not help
- Most companies still consider your FICO or Vantage score
Keep an eye open for takeovers and the amount due at signing.
Lease takeovers do not have a down payment requirement. The person transferring the contract already did this. The new individual just has to assume the remaining monthly installments on the vehicle.
Bad credit drivers are more likely to qualify for a lease takeover because the remaining contract term is much shorter. Less money is at risk. The original driver already satisfied many of the requirements.
Takeovers allow you to use a reliable car for a short period. Take advantage of this opportunity to pay on time every month and improve your consumer report and score.
Amount Due at Signing
Do not overlook the amount due at auto lease signing (inception amount or drive out cost). You still must fund cash upfront before taking possession of the vehicle – even if you negotiated a zero down payment.
- Security deposit equal to one monthly installment
- Sales taxes
- Dealer preparation fees
Car Dealerships Bad Credit No Money Down
Finding a bad credit no money down car dealership near you often means cutting out the third party finance company or bank and accepting that you will pay more and have fewer choices. However, at least you can obtain reliable transportation in order to get to work.
Using a personal loan for a down payment can improve qualifications. As always, finding an affordable and reliable vehicle is the key to success. Therefore, a motorcycle or inexpensive used auto works out better than a pricier truck, jeep, or RV.
Buy Here Pay Here
Buy here pay here (DHPH) car lots exemplify dealerships that cater directly to bad credit drivers. A DHPH lot is a viable last resort for people with a negative history that includes an earlier bankruptcy, repossession, and other derogatory marks on their consumer report.
DHPH dealers often buy low-end vehicles at auction, fix them up, and sell them with high margins to consumers with few other options.
- Buy here implies that you can choose only from vehicles on one lot
- Pay here indicates that the local dealer processes the reimbursements directly
Low Down Payment
A local buy here pay here car lot asking for a low down payment such as $500 is more likely to result in a satisfying outcome for drivers with bad credit. Even a relatively small amount of money down can make a big difference in your risk profile and borrowing terms.
- Low deposits show that you have some “skin in the game”
- Even a tiny upfront sum shows the ability to handle future payments
- The small amount covers at least a portion of the wholesale vehicle cost
Some DHPH lots may even accept a trade-in for your low-value high-mileage clunker.
No Money Down
A nearby buy here pay here used car dealer promoting zero down for bad credit borrowers is more likely to surface the possible dangers of this financing alternative. People who are living check-to-check without any resources on reserve are often behind on payments already.
Therefore, buying a car through a DHPH dealer without making a down payment is more likely to trigger one or more of these common downsides.
- Higher interest rates needed to overcome defaults that are more likely
- Stricter late fee policies without grace period leniency
- More aggressive repossession policies
- May not report the positive behavior to consumer agencies
No Credit Check
Car dealerships with no credit check and no down payment cater to drivers with poor FICO scores as well as those yet to establish a history. Expect to pay more in interest to finance an auto if you have a negative history or you are a first-time borrower.
No credit check means that the dealer does not pull a copy of your traditional consumer report from Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion or consider your FICO and Vantage score. However, it does not mean that they approve every applicant.
The dealer may pull a non-traditional report that considers utility and rental payment information as well as other supplemental sources of data. In addition to affordability, they will impose other criteria as well.
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Earn a steady monthly income of at least $1,000 after taxes
- Have a checking account in your name
- Be able to provide work and home phone numbers, as well as a valid email address

domain: finance


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These monthly posts originated as the "Updates" section of the EA Newsletter. Organizations submit their own updates, which we edit for clarity.
Job listings that these organizations highlighted are at the bottom of this post. Some of the jobs have extremely pressing deadlines.
You can see previous updates at the "EA Organization Updates (monthly series)" topic page, or in our repository of past newsletters. Notice that there’s also an “org update” tag, where you can find more news and updates.
We’ve decided to cycle through the alphabet in order to showing the same organizations at the top of the updates every month (starting this month). So the organizations here are listed from G-Z, and then from A-F.
This month's update is for all of April and half of May. Going forward, the updates will probably be going out mid-month.
- GiveWell published a blog post about a major update to its views on water treatment as a promising area for funding.
- GiveWell has also published the following new research materials:
- A research report on interventions to improve water quality, such as chlorination, and an accompanying cost-effectiveness analysis that estimates a 6-11% reduction in under-five all-cause mortality from two chlorination interventions.
- A page on a $14 million renewal grant for Evidence Action's Accelerator, which scopes and scales potentially cost-effective interventions that lack implementing organizations.
- A page on a $9 million grant to Nutrition International to support vitamin A supplementation (VAS) campaigns in Chad.
- A page on an $8.2 million grant to Fortify Health, which supplies mills in three Indian states with equipment and materials to fortify wheat flour with iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12, with the goal of reducing illness from iron deficiency and anemia.
- A page on a $5 million grant to PATH to assist the governments of Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana in implementing the RTS,S malaria vaccine.
- A page on a $46.7 million grant to Helen Keller International to maintain and expand its vitamin A supplementation (VAS) work in nine countries.
- A page on a $9.4 million grant to New Incentives to expand its conditional cash transfer program in Nigeria.
- Two pages on grants to Malaria Consortium: $79.9 million to maintain or expand SMC programs in four countries, and $15.9 million to implement SMC in Nampula province, Mozambique.
- Two pages on grants to Against Malaria Foundation (AMF): $52.8 million to support long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN) distribution in Nigeria and two other countries not yet publicly announced, and $8.2 million for LLIN distribution in three Nigerian states primarily supported by President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding.
- Multiple pages on grants to support deworming-related activities, including $20 million to SCI Foundation, $4.8 million to Deworm the World Initiative, two grants to Sightsavers totaling $7.9 million (see here and here), and $111,000 to University of Washington researchers to plan a study on the medium- to long-term impacts of deworming.
- Notes from a conversation with Results for Development about its program to treat childhood pneumonia.
- Notes on why GiveWell deprioritized research into deworming pregnant people and unconditional cash transfers during pregnancy.
GiveWell's managing director, Buddy Shah, has been appointed CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a major global health organization. Read more in this blog post.
Giving Green recently released four new research reports, covering enhanced soil carbon management, restoring and protecting wetlands, cutting short-lived climate pollutants, and food sector emissions. The research team has identified promising areas for potential charity or offset recommendations, including: restoring and preserving coastal wetlands, reducing methane emissions from livestock, and alternative meats.
Giving Green also wrote a piece for the Stanford Social Innovation Review covering its research into the carbon offsets and removals market. The piece argues that net-zero is an unrealistic goal for most companies, and advocates instead for a focus on (a) sharp emissions reductions and (b) providing catalytic early funding to carbon removal technologies.
Giving Green spoke about its cost-effectiveness analyses and stance on net-zero in a recent webinar, which was quoted in Energy Monitor.
Giving What We Can
Giving What We Can was featured in a profile from Oxford University which covers the development of the organisation over time and the success that Giving What We Can has seen since it was started.
Head of Marketing, Grace Adams, delivered a presentation as part of EAGxOxford on “What we’re learning about spreading EA ideas”. This presentation and the results of the marketing testing that has been conducted will be available in May.
Giving What We Can has now given out over 800 books on EA in response to the Stuff You Should Know Podcast episode called “How Effective Altruism Works”.
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute
On April 13, Executive Director Seth Baum delivered a remote talk to EA UC Berkeley titled “Limits of the Value Alignment Paradigm” as part of the EA Berkeley AI Value Alignment Speaker Series.
Happier Lives Institute
The Happier Lives Institute updated their cost-effectiveness comparison of psychotherapy and cash transfers to include an estimate of the effects on other household members. They now estimate that StrongMinds is 9 times more cost-effective than GiveDirectly (a slight reduction from 12 times in their previous analysis).
HLI also published its 2021 Annual Review. Although the cost-effectiveness analyses of cash transfers, psychotherapy, and StrongMinds consumed most of their research capacity last year, they also published an updated research agenda and a new global priority report on mental health, to accompany their earlier report on pain.
Additionally, HLI is hiring for a Senior Researcher, a Grants Strategist, and an Operations Manager. If you want to get a better feel for what it’s like working at HLI, you may enjoy these blog posts on life as a researcher and an operations manager by members of their team.
The Humane League
The Humane League’s (THL) Restaurant Roast Campaign was a massive success. Bloomin’ Brands, Telepizza, Cheesecake Factory and Panda Express all released cage-free policies. Food Delivery Brands, parent company to Restaurant Roast target Telepizza, made a global cage-free egg policy along with Cheesecake Factory, which also released a global cage-free policy. By the end of this year, it commits to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs in its bakery operations (which account for the majority of its egg usage, while all remaining eggs will be cage-free by 2030). And Panda Express officially released its global cage-free policy.
Major retailers CVS — the 7th largest retailer in North America — and Walgreens committed to sell only cage-free eggs by the end of this year. CVS moved up the date on their commitment by three years first (and published its ESG report, see p. 67), and then THL decided to use this win as an opportunity to quickly take action to influence Walgreens — the closest competitor of CVS — to do the same. Less than one month after the CVS announcement, and after lots of news coverage and outreach by the THL Corporate Relations team, Walgreens announced that they will go 100% cage-free by the end of this year — also three years sooner than their original commitment.
In March, The Open Wing Alliance distributed over $2.1M in grants to 40 organizations worldwide who fight together for better treatment of chickens. Almost 15% of this year’s 40 grantees are first-time OWA grant recipients, representing Ecuador, Hungary, Portugal, India, Tanzania, and South Africa. Thanks to the support of generous donors, the OWA was also able to double the maximum grant size for renewal applicants, from $50,000 to $100,000.
IDinsight is hiring for a number of positions in Dakar, Delhi, Lusaka, Manila, Nairobi, Rabat, and Remote. To view open positions, click here.
IDinsight is also sharing its approach to measuring whether an impact evaluation is worth the cost based on the projected social benefit it may lead to. Read about the approach here.
Legal Priorities Project
LPP hired Mackenzie Arnold as Head of Strategy and Community Building, and David Espiritu as Operations Associate. Additionally, Jade Leung joined the board of directors. Former LPP Research Fellow Jonas Schuett joined GovAI as a full-time Research Fellow.
Longview is hiring for:
- A grantmaker to co-lead their newly launched Nuclear Security programme with Carl Robichaud
- A longtermist grantmaker to work alongside Kit Harris
- An Executive Assistant to the CEO, Natalie Cargill
Longview is delighted to welcome:
- Andrew Player, as Head of Grants Management & Compliance
- Conrad Kunadu, as Special Projects Associate
- Tildy Stokes, as Events Director
Momentum is hiring for several open positions in San Francisco, including a product manager, various software engineers, and a product designer. If you’re interested in having a large impact while working at a fast-growing tech-startup, they’d love to chat. You can read more about their recent updates here. They’re also excited to launch a series of fundraising campaigns this month, including a fundraising partnership with 15 Major League Baseball players and a number of political fundraisers.
One for the World
One for the World supported successful pledge drives at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill and Columbia University in April. They also started conversations about the next academic year with students from a number of UK, US and Canadian universities and EA Groups, following EAG London and EAGxBoston.
Anya Hunt published a post on Open Philanthropy’s hiring plans for 2022 (with an accompanying FAQ), and Claire Zabel published an update from the Longtermist EA Movement-Building team.
Open Philanthropy also announced grants including $13.3 million to MIT to support research led by Neil Thompson on modeling the trends and impacts of AI and computing, and $5 million to the Atlas Fellowship to support a summer program and scholarship funding for talented high school students.
Ought published three updates on its work:
- Supervise Process, not Outcomes describes Ought's theory of change and contribution to alignment.
- Elicit: Language Models as Research Assistants describes progress on Ought’s core project, Elicit, and roadmap for the future.
- Using Elicit Responsibly | How Elicit works details how Elicit is built, in the context of helping researchers understand Elicit's capabilities today.
Probably Good received a grant from Open Philanthropy to hire full-time staff, and has hired Dylan Balfour as a researcher and Anna Beth Lane as a copywriter. You can find out more details in their recent announcement post, and share your priorities for what career profiles or content they should work on here.
Rethink Priorities published several new articles:
- A panel of expert forecasters, assembled by Animal Welfare Senior Researcher Neil Dullaghan, and Longtermism Research Manager, Linch Zhang, estimated limited cultured meat production through 2050. RP also launched a Metaculus tournament, as explained here.
- Through randomized controlled experiments, Senior Research Manager Jacob Peacock found that a documentary created to reduce consumption of meat and animal products was only effective at changing viewers' intended eating habits, not their actual behavior.
- Researcher Holly Elmore’s report, The Rodent Birth Control Landscape, described the harms of rodenticides and the practicality of less inhumane alternatives. A follow-up report will determine how to most effectively campaign to reduce the use of rodenticides.
- Senior Researcher Ben Snodin outlined his thoughts on nanotechnology strategy research as an EA cause area.
The following outlets featured RP's work:
- Marginal Revolution: What is the Probability of a Nuclear War, Redux by Alex Tabarrok (references a 2019 study by then-Researcher and current-Board Member Luisa Rodriguez)
- The Inside View podcast hosted by Michaël Trazzi: co-CEO Peter Wildeford on Forecasting Nuclear Risk and why EA should fund scalable non-profits
RP recently hosted a conference on Interspecies Comparisons of Welfare with the London School of Economics and Political Science Foundations of Animal Sentience (ASENT) Project. Conference sessions were recorded and will be made available.
Luisa Rodriguez has written a blog post on her experience with imposter syndrome — and how to (partly) overcome it.
This month on The 80,000 Hours Podcast, Rob Wiblin interviewed:
- James Tibenderana on the state of the art in malaria control and elimination
- Chris Blattman on the five reasons wars happen
- Sam Bankman-Fried on taking a high-risk approach to crypto and doing good
- Bryan Caplan on whether lazy parenting is OK, what really helps workers, and betting on beliefs
- Joan Rohlfing on how to avoid catastrophic nuclear blunders
- Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions
In 2013, almost all eggs in every store in Poland came from laying hens kept in cages, including in major retailer Kaufland’s stores. After years of tireless campaigning by AI’s team in Poland, Otwarte Klatki, that is no longer the case. Kaufland announced its decision to phase out caged eggs in 2017 and as of now, that change has been realised in advance of the retailer’s own deadline. This will affect millions of animals for the better.
Sainsbury's, the UK's 2nd biggest supermarket, has pledged to adopt the stocking density of the European Chicken Commitment for all own-brand chicken by March 2023. This commitment will improve the lives of 120,000,000 animals every year by ending overcrowded living conditions. The retailer will then meet 5 out of 6 of the requirements of the ECC, continuing to use fast-growing breeds. AI will continue to campaign for Sainsbury's and all other UK supermarkets to adopt the policy in full. Many dedicated groups worked to achieve this progress, including AI’s Open Cages in the UK which released two high-profile investigations into Sainsbury's chicken farms (here and here.)
Animal Charity Evaluators
ACE’s Menu of Outcomes blog series explores different animal advocacy interventions and highlights real-world examples from charities across the movement. In their latest post, ACE looks at interventions to encourage and support individuals to decrease their consumption of animal products, and highlights some of the ways ACE’s Recommended Charities and Movement Grants recipients encourage people to spare animals' lives by consuming fewer animal products. Learn more here.
ACE is seeking a General Researcher to join its team in evaluating animal charities, assisting with our grantmaking, and keeping up to date with research relevant to ACE program decisions. This position will involve developing and implementing research project activities, executing research projects, and conducting data analysis and program evaluation. If you have strong reasoning, research, and communications skills, ACE invites you to apply! Apply here today.
The Animal Ethics website is available in 10 languages, now including Romanian. Concern for animals and animal advocacy has grown substantially in Romanian-speaking countries in recent decades. Animal Ethics is helping to speed up this process by adding the language to its website.
An increasing number of cryptocurrency donors will match other donations made in cryptocurrency, making donating with crypto very impactful. Not everyone is comfortable working with crypto, so Animal Ethics can walk donors through the entire process. Contact the organization if you would like to help them build an endowment for the future.
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative
In addition, BERI received a $135,000 grant from the Long-Term Future Fund to support their collaboration with the Interactive Autonomy and Collaborative Technologies Laboratory (InterACT) at UC Berkeley.
Center for Human-Compatible AI
On March 1, Brian Christian spoke with UC Berkeley students as part of the AI Value Alignment Speaker Series, organized by Mahendra Prasad. The talk was a Q&A about his book The Alignment Problem. Read more about the Speaker Series and Brain Christian’s talk here.
On March 29, the LAILEC Conference, co-located with the EUH4D Data Forum and the SAS Project Event, kicked off with parallel panel discussions. On the AI track, Prof. Tom Lenaerts spoke about the challenges of dynamic safety and security risks, the responses and impact of horizontal and sectorial legal instruments (such as the proposed AI Act, Cybersecurity Act, Machinery Directive, product safety legislation) and the need for adapted design approaches, certification/approval frameworks and monitoring requirements and process-oriented standards. Read more about the conference and its program here.
Center on Long-Term Risk
“Commitment games with conditional information revelation,” a paper on open-source game theory by Anthony DiGiovanni and Jesse Clifiton, was accepted at the “Games, Agents, and Incentives Workshop” at AAMAS 2022.
Centre for Effective Altruism
The events team recently ran EA Global London which, at ~1,400 attendees, was the biggest EA event ever. We’d like to thank everyone who attended and contributed.
Our next community event is EAGxPrague, which takes place on 13 - 15 May (applications have now closed). It’s been five years since the last EAGxPrague conference, which helped launch the Czech EA community. The organisers are particularly excited to welcome members of the EA community from continental Europe who didn’t attend any of the recent conferences in the US and the UK.
Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI)
GovAI has recently welcomed three new people to the team! Emma Blumke has joined as Research Manager, Georg Arndt has joined as Chief of Staff, and Sam Clarke will join next month to work on high-level strategy questions for the organisation. They are currently hiring for an Operations Manager and Operations Associate (Deadline: 15th May).
They will welcome a cohort of 12 Summer Fellows this June and will announce the first round of Student Research Prizes later this year. See more details and sign up to be notified when submissions open here. Toby Shevlane also recently published The Artefacts of Intelligence: Governing Scientists' Contribution to AI Proliferation.
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER)
CSER invites applications for a part-time Research Assistant (0.6 FTE) to support analysis of biological security policy, as well as emerging biological technologies and sectors in the bioeconomy. This appointment is fixed-term for 9 months. CSER supports flexible working, including finding a working pattern for this post that fits around the successful candidate's existing commitments.
CSER will host a public lecture on May 23. Matthew Adler (Duke) will talk about "Measuring Social Welfare, with Priority for the Worse Off". Professor Adler will talk about using social welfare functions and prioritarian principles to improve government policymaking, with a focus on fatality risk. He will argue that this approach offers considerable benefits over traditional cost-benefit analysis. Professor Adler will also give a workshop on the ethical foundations of fatality risk regulation prior to his lecture, please contact us directly at email@example.com if you are interested in attending.
Some other updates:
- Tom Hobson has led on submissions of written evidence to the UK Biosecurity Strategy Call for Evidence and the Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry on Tech and the future of UK Foreign Policy
- CSER researchers have issued a statement arguing that the IPCC's urgent warnings underscore the importance of climate change mitigation in defending against catastrophic risk. The statement also summarizes some of CSER's research on climate change and our commitment to improving the understanding and mitigation of its global catastrophic potential.
- Matthijs Maas has written up a post on the EA Forum, based on a previous talk, where he provides a personal overview of some recent lines of CSER research. The piece in particular focuses on the area of AI governance, but also covers and links to CSER’s extensive work in other areas of existential risk mitigation and policy work.
- Huw Price has written an opinion piece in the Financial Times about his decision to support an open letter asking universities to wean off fossil fuel funding.
- Tom Hobson and Anna Roessing (University of Bath) have published a chapter providing a critical exploration of the politics of human enhancement technologies as part of the recently released Routledge volume “Bioethics and the Posthumanities” edited by Danielle Sands.
Charity Entrepreneurship is scaling and focusing on doubling the quality and quantity of new charities started through their Incubation Program. They are now looking for 3 new team members – Research Analyst, Foundation Program Lead, Recruitment & Outreach Manager – to join them in the London office (remote work also possible, apply by May 8, 2022). The applications to the 2022 Incubation Program are now closed and the applications to the 2023 program will begin in October 2022. The program will take place in February-March 2023 and focus on animal welfare and human health. Fortify Health, a charity launched by CE in 2017, has just received an $8.2 million incubation grant from GiveWell that will support the expansions of the organization’s great work in India to improve health and reduce morbidity among people with iron deficiency and anemia.
Effective Institutions Project
The Effective Institutions Project recently published A Landscape Analysis of Institutional Improvement Activities to identify which of the world’s institutions offer the highest-leverage opportunities for philanthropists and professionals seeking to improve world outcomes over the next 10-100 years.
With new support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Survival and Flourishing Fund, EIP is expanding its team and network of experts. Recently added advisors include Jenny Xiao (expert on China-US relations and emerging technologies), Emma Belcher (CEO of the Ploughshares Fund) and Neil “Buddy” Shah (incoming CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative).
Family Empowerment Media (FEM)
FEM has completed its pilot campaign in northern Nigeria, reaching 5.6 million listeners with their evidence-based programs. The best estimate of the campaign's impact is that 16k women who previously had an unmet need for modern contraception now access the services.
Furthermore, FEM has received the Stars in Global Health Grant from Grand Challenges Canada. With this support, they have developed a new technological solution that makes it possible to conduct randomised controlled trials on radio-based interventions.
FEM is now hiring a Director of Operations to join the senior management team and build the organisation’s operational capacity as they scale to new locations.
Faunalytics celebrated their 22nd anniversary by highlighting 22 species that have been previously covered in their Research Library and Original Research. Other recent blog posts include a guest article by Allie Granger from Animal Welfare Institute on Extinguishing Barn Fires, and Including Animals in Health and Environmental Advocacy by NYU’s Animal Studies Program Director Jeff Sebo.
New library summaries include a look at bees surviving in urban ecosystems, noting that flower quality is more important than quantity for wild bees, and research on the aquaculture industry’s double threat of antimicrobial resistance and climate change. EAs can support Faunalytics’ research and resources by joining Faunalytics’ monthly giving program, the DataBASE.
Faunalytics is conducting their annual Community Survey and is requesting feedback from the EAA community. The survey is used to evaluate the impact of their research and learn how to improve the resources they provide. The survey should only take five minutes to complete, and participants have the option of entering to win a $100 gift card or animal charity donation.
Fish Welfare Initiative
In China, FWI recently co-hosted the Aquatic Animal Welfare Forum at the (virtual) World Conference on Farm Animal Welfare. To their knowledge, this is the first conference in China to feature a discussion of aquatic animal welfare, and at one point had over 15,000 attendees.
In India, FWI hosted two more fish welfare workshops for farmers. The purpose of these workshops is both to increase farmer interest and capacity to implement higher welfare practices as well as to increase institutional buy-in to fish welfare. Learn more here.
FWI was also honored to be one of the recipients of a substantial portion of Peter Singer’s $1 million Berggruen Prize.
Founders Pledge published a cause area report on longtermist institutional reform and has recently concluded re-evaluations of a number of its recommended funding opportunities, including the Innovation in Government Initiative, Teaching at the Right Level Africa, and Philip Tetlock’s second-generation forecasting work.
FP’s funds have also been active. In Q1, FP’s Global Health and Development Fund disbursed approximately $350,000, including a grant made at GiveWell’s recommendation to fund follow-up work on the DeWorm3 study. Johannes Ackva, manager of FP’s Climate Change Fund, delivered talks on climate philanthropy for the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative and at EA Global in London. FP will soon be hiring a researcher to work with Johannes on his climate research — keep an eye out for a job posting!
This month, Founders Pledge will release a new report on lethal autonomous weapons systems and the threat they pose to global stability, along with funding recommendations that could help mitigate that threat. For the remainder of the quarter, researchers at FP will be tackling research projects on oral health, lead remediation, and air pollution, and investigating potential funding opportunities to increase childhood vaccination rates, reduce neonatal mortality, and accelerate drug development.
Sorted by organizations, G-Z, A-H
Happier Lives Institute:
- Senior Researcher (Remote) (apply by 23 May)
- Grants Strategist (Remote) (apply by 23 May)
- Operations Manager (Remote) (apply by 6 June)
The Humane League:
- Partnership (Celebrity and Influencer) Specialist (Remote, US)
- Senior Donor Relations Officer (Remote, US - West)
- National Director of Organizing (Remote, US)
- Global People Operations Manager (Remote, US)
- Senior Director of People Operations (Remote, US)
- Database Administrator (Remote, US)
- Web Developer II (Remote, US)
- Nuclear Security Programme Co-Lead (Washington DC/ London)
- Longtermist grantmaker (London)
- Executive Assistant to the CEO (London) (Apply by 15 May)
- Product Designer (SF / Remote)
- Full-Stack Software Engineer (SF / Remote)
- Machine Learning Research Engineer | NLP (SF / Remote)
- Machine Learning Engineer (Intern) (SF / Remote)
- Operations (SF / Remote)
- Recruiter (SF / Remote)
- General Interest (SF / Remote)
Wild Animal Initiative:
- Graphic Design Short-Term Contractor (Remote) (Apply by 16 May)
- Grants Coordinator (Remote) (Apply by 31 May)
- Scientific Outreach Coordinator (Remote) (Apply by 31 May)
- Research Specialist - Physiology (Remote) (Apply by 31 May)
- Writer (London or remote) (Apply by 16 May)
- Popular Writing Consultant (Remote) (expression of interest)
Centre for Effective Altruism - Operations Team:
- Office Manager for the Boston Biosecurity Hub (Boston) (Apply by 31 May)
- In-House Legal Counsel (Remote) (Apply by 31 May)
- EA Hub Office Manager (Oxford) (Apply by 20 May)
- Research Analyst (London / remote) (Apply by 16 May)
- Foundation Program Lead (London / remote) (Apply by 16 May)
- Recruitment & Outreach Manager (London / remote) (Apply by 16 May)
Effective Institutions Project:
- Summer Intern/Fellow (Remote)
- Operations and Community Manager (Remote)
- Senior Research Collaborator (Remote)
Family Empowerment Media:
- Director of Operations (Remote/London) (apply by 15 May)
You can also see more job listings at the "Job listing (open)" topic.

domain: news


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I recently reviewed the book ” It’s Not You, It’s Brie” by Kirstin Jackson. This was just released this past November. To read my full review of the book, click here: It’s Not You, It’s Brie Book Review Kirstin has a bubbly personality and a great passion for cheese. She also has a popular blog by the same name as her book. Click here to check out the blog, It’s Not You, It’s Brie .
Vickie: Here at Make Life Special, we believe that great ingredients can really transform a dish. In your book, you describe over 50 artisan cheeses. How do using these artisan cheeses rather than mass produced cheeses transform a dish?
Kirstin: Well, I think that when you are using a mass produced cheese or something that is not made by hand, you need to use more of the cheese – or dress it up a bit. So when you are using artisan cheeses, that are made in a smaller production, they taste really really delicious on their own and you don’t really need to do much with the cheese to make it taste good. These are cheeses that can stand alone on a plate –on a dessert plate, on a cheese plate…and essentially can just be paired with bread or nothing at all . When you use mass produced cheese, you need to do things with them to make them taste better. Cooking them or melting them or serving them with a lot of preserves or jams. Artisan cheese can just be served as is or used in limited amounts as a flavoring. The flavors in artisan cheese are more refined and they pop a lot more.
Vickie: I know…Bruce and I took a trip to Vermont about two years ago and absolutely fell in love with the cheeses. We were given information on how to order the cheeses . Do you give any information in your book about how to order some of the special cheeses that you feature?
Kirstin: No, I don’t give any information about how to order them. I do discuss how available they are nationally. I do list several cheese shops in my book and a lot of places will be able to mail order and ship cheese directly to you. A fair amount of the cheeses I talk about in the book are available by mail order. Most cheese shops will work with you on that. Do you have a cheese shop?
Vickie: I would have to order online…or go to St Louis. I’m about 45 minutes outside of St Louis and they do have some excellent cheese shops there.
Kirstin: I’m a big fan of the artisanal websites too. Or, just contact the cheese maker directly. The cheese maker can often tell you where it might be in your area. People are shipping more these days and that might be the more convenient way to get these cheeses. Farmer’s Markets are also a great way to find artisanal cheeses that are local to your area that you can just pick up and enjoy.
Vickie: I’m just curious…How long have you had this passion for cheese?
Kirstin: I’ve had a passion for cheese for quite a long time. When I was younger, my parents lived in Northern California and we would go cheese tasting. This was when I was a teenager. I was also a vegetarian as a child and my mother worried about me not getting enough protein so cheese was a way to get that for me and I ate a lot of cheese. I grew up with a lot of different types of cheeses. We would have that block of cheddar that most people keep in their frig but we would also have a couple of goat cheeses and other cheeses from where we would visit. So cheese has always been in my life. Then I went on to work in cheese shops and in restaurants where I helped put together the cheese plates and it just kept on going from there.
Vickie: When I think about cheese, I can immediately come up with three that I absolutely love. What are your top favorites? I know that has to be hard for you with as many different cheeses that you have tasted!
Kirstin: It’s REALLY REALLY hard! I can’t limit it down to my favorites….but I can tell you three domestic cheeses that I really love. One would be Avalanche Goats Milk Cheddar. It’s from Colorado and it’s a cheddar that’s made in the traditional style that takes on these really great flavors. It has a lemon zest and caramel flavor. It’s really beautiful!
Another one that I’m a big fan of is the Saquachie Cove Dancing Fern from Tennessee. It’s a little bit harder to find but it’s delicious.
And then another one that’s a little bit easier to find is Laura Chenel Melodie. That’s a goats milk cheese that is soft and creamy.
Vickie: I had no idea there were so many cheese makers in America! How did you select the ones for your book?
Kirstin: I’ve been working in cheese for a while and eating a lot of cheese. I wanted to feature categories of cheeses in my book and familiarize people with what cheese makers are doing domestically. I talk about the major styles that are available. So I started there and I have 16 categories. I worked within those categories and I wanted to have at least three examples in each category. I also wanted to show the diversity within each category. Sometimes I asked my friends who are in the cheese business for advice as well. I tried to represent different styes from across the country. It came down to tasting a lot!
Vickie: I like how you give pairing suggestions in your book….and also recipes. The Gouda Almond Toffee in particular struck my eye. How did you come up with such easy and tasty recipes?
Kirstin: I went to Culinary School and I have cooked in restaurants for several years and I’ve always had a passion for cooking. I cook at home an amazing amount. I also go out and eat and I really like to think about new ways people can approached cheese. I like to be inspired by the cheeses flavors and then also what is seasonal. I taste the cheese and I see what’s going on with the flavors …..I also think people can use cheese by itself.… and I just thought about fun ways people could do that. The Gouda cheeses have a butterscotch flavor so that made me think of toffee and that’s the direction I went with that cheese. I also got some help from my friends.
Vickie: I bet you had a lot of fun putting this book together!
Kirstin: I did! It involved cooking and tasting and I involved my friends. I interviewed 48 cheese makers…I got to go to Vermont and California…Oregon..and some of the southern cheese makers as well. I loved talking to them and I learned a lot.
Vickie: I bet it’s a lot like talking to a wine maker. They are very passionate about what they do. That comes across and it’s exciting to talk to people like that.
Kirstin: Exactly! You learn so many of the nuances about it…there are so many things that you don’t think about…
Vickie: We talked briefly about a cheesemonger. I know there are a lot of people out there
who have only bought cheese from a local grocery store. For my readers who have never been to a cheesemonger, do you have any tips that you can pass on so they can have a good forst experience?
Kirstin: Yes, yes! A good cheesemonger is going to be excited about introducing you to artisan cheeses. Don’t be afraid to tell them the types of cheeses you like….they will be excited to see that you want to learn…For instance, you can tell them you really like the extra sharp cheddar you buy at the grocery store and they can start there with the styles and flavors and move you into some really great artisanal cheeses. They will slice you little pieces so you can sample..and see what you like. As you return and keep tasting your palate will expand . You will find you like flavors in some of the cheese that you never thought you would like. A good cheese monger not only treats the cheese well but they also really help to educate and surprise people with different flavors. If you can find a place that’s friendly and lets you sample cheese….that’s a good start. Being able to sample helps you decide what you like and you can leave happy knowing you are going to enjoy the cheese that you have tasted in the shop.
Vickie: I like to keep a well-stocked kitchen. What cheeses do you usually keep on hand in your home?
Kirstin: You mentioned you like goat cheese.
Vickie: I LOVE goat cheese!
Kirstin: I love goat cheese too and I try to keep a fresh cheve on hand. You can use it for appetizers, for main dishes…whatever you like. I like to have a good grating cheese that can add some subtle flavors to a dish. I also like to have a good finishing hard cheese around. I also like having fetas on hand. They are great for salads and for freshening up dishes. I also keep an Alpine style cheese for cooking and melting. I could go on because there is just so much you can do!
Vickie: Do you have cheese that you like to give as a hostess gift or a special gift for a friend?
Kirstin: I love the idea of a cheese gift! One of the ones that seems to be available nationwide is Pleasant Ridge Reserve and it’s a beautiful Alpine style cheese made in Wisconsin. They only make it during the spring and summer months and I think that would be fantastic one for gift giving. Or you could go with a cute little goat cheese made from a local dairy near you. They are small, they are cute…and they look great on a cheese plate! ….Keep in mind to pick a people pleasing cheese because your host may serve it that day.
Kristin agreed to let me include a link to her blog for a few of her recipes. Here is a post she did with recipes you are sure to enjoy: Cheese Recipes by Kirstin Jackson
It’s Not You, It’s Brie is available at Amazon.com
Note: I want to thank Kirstin Jackson and The Penguin Group for making this interview possible.


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Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Published by Feiwel & Friends on November, 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Re-Tellings, Sci-Fi
Book Depository | Bookworld | Booktopia
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.
Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana wonâ€™t approve of her feelings for her childhood friendâ€”the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isnâ€™t as weak as Levana believes her to be and sheâ€™s been undermining her stepmotherâ€™s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war thatâ€™s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?
Spoilers in full review. I really like this series, but I donâ€™t think I would class it as one of my favourites. The final instalment, Winter, was a great finish and a bittersweet farewell to the characters Iâ€™ve come to know and admire â€“ but to be honest, Iâ€™m so glad theyâ€™re ALL DONE WITH THE DRAMA. Wow, Marissa Meyer really knows how to put her characters through the wringer.
Â â€œWhat did you bring me today? Delusional mutterings with a side of crazy?â€
What initially daunted me about Winter was the whopping size. 800 pages!? What could possibly happen in 800 pages!? Well, let me tell you â€“ a whole lot.
Cinder, Kai, Iko, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Cress, Winter and Jacin (whew, have I missed anyone?) were put through trial after trial in this book. It was a double-edged sword for me in this respect. While I definitely think a FINALE book needs to up the stakes in all regards, I felt incredibly tired and weary after reading a handful of chapters. Just when one fight or problem was resolved, there was another. Queue break.
This, for me, made getting through Winter very difficult. I wasnâ€™t able to read this one in one or two sittingsâ€¦ I had to work to get through it. Saying that, however, when I did pick up the book again and read it, it was always incredible enjoyable and I couldnâ€™t wait to see how things were going to unfold.
Â â€œSheâ€™s our lost princess. And sheâ€™s coming home.â€ – Winter
Taking down Queen Levana once and for all was never going to be easy, and it wasnâ€™t. I would have felt cheated if Cinder and company merely snuck into Luna and overthrew her within the first few chapters. There was a lot of â€˜rallying the troopsâ€™, etcetera in this book and it was what was needed.
It was fantastic to see life on Luna a bit more in depth, and just how much evil Levanaâ€™s reign was doing both on her home planet and Earth. Iâ€™m so glad that I read the novella, Fairest, prior to diving into this one â€“ it really fleshed out the world and backstory of the characters such as Levana, Winter and Jacin. Winter gave so much more in the world-building department, as well as how all the governments were â€˜supposedâ€™ to work together in the big picture.
â€œI am your guard. I’m here to protect you and keep you out of trouble, and thatâ€™s it.â€
This book also lets us take a closer look at Princess Winter and her relationship with Jacin. I donâ€™t know why, but I never really warmed up to Winter herself. I thought her story may have come a little more full-circle in terms of the Lunar sickness, too, but we never really learned about how that was resolvedâ€¦ I mean, we had a hint about the direction it was going inâ€¦ but we have to assume whether or not that was successful. I wanted ANSWERS (but more on that later)â€¦
The Winter/Jacin relationship was nice and a little different from the others in the way that they were friends as children, too. Their friendship built a nice foundation for maybe something more. I liked how different their personalities were, tooâ€¦ but I never really found myself completely rooting for them to get together. Things were so back and forth with them.
â€œShe was going to have to train herself not to stare at him quite as often as she was used to. That would be no easy task.â€
My favourite relationship in The Lunar Chronicles remains to be Cress and Thorne. I just love their dynamic! She brings out the best in him, and vice versa. Kai and Cinder are nice, but more on the same level as Jacin and Winter for me. As for Scarlet and Wolf? I never really was a fan of the two of them togetherâ€¦ I just donâ€™t know why! It seems so forced.
There were a few times I thought things were coming to a crescendo action wise (OH MY GOD, IS THIS THE PART WHEN LEVANAâ€™S REIGN IS GOING TO COME CRUMBLING DOWN?!) but then Marissa Meyer threw us off again and our characters were back to square one. Characters were never safe, with some of them being captured, tortured, modified and controlledâ€¦. I really had no idea who would survive and who wouldnâ€™t.
All in all, it was an exciting bookâ€¦ each character was vital in the plan and the ending couldnâ€™t have been as it was without everyoneâ€™s input. Thatâ€™s probably one of my favourite thing about this series â€“ everyone was integral to the story and brought something new to the table. Teamwork, yay!
â€œOne should never save cake for later when it can be eaten now.â€
Without giving too much away, everything ended a little tooâ€¦ CLEANLY. I thought for sure we would lose more than we did, especially some of those side charactersâ€¦ I wanted to FEEL more, and I kind of just felt likeâ€¦ â€˜Oh, was that it?â€™
Thereâ€™s sort of an epilogue that isnâ€™t an epilogue, too. Things just werenâ€™t wrapped up to my liking in some regards. We always knew Cinder didnâ€™t want to be queen, but for her to just turn around and say she will abdicate as soon as everythingâ€™s in order? Hello? I felt a little bummed about that one. She didnâ€™t seem to have any real connection to Luna or its people, despite everything she went through in Winter. I understand her viewpoint that eventually another ruler would come along and do something like Levana did, but at least stay on and lead the people as much as you can without leaving the planet asap.
As for Winter and Jacin and what I mentioned earlierâ€¦ DID Winter overcome her Lunar sickness? Was the Lunar chip distributed? I guess we get to make our own minds up, but I LOVE it when we get a solid answer from the author, especially after a four-book series.
Ultimately Winter was a really great read, but the ending disappointed me. After so much action and trauma, I wanted to be rewarded with a great picture of how things ended up – I didnâ€™t want any unanswered questions.
This series is a great one to start if youâ€™re looking for something new and unique in the way of re-tellings. Iâ€™ll forever be able to recommend it to fellow readers just by telling them â€˜ITâ€™S ABOUT A CYBORG CINDERELLA.â€™

domain: artistic


Hard drives are getting so large these days, it's getting more difficult to manage and organise our data. When we buy a new drive, it generally ships pre-formatted, so you can simply replace an existing drive and you're ready to go. However, the drive is formatted with one large partition, which you might want to arrange in to smaller drives.
Partitioning software will enable you create a multi-partitioned drive or, if you want to change existing partitions, merge or even delete as required. Professional partitioning software doesn't ship within Windows, so you'll need to turn to third-party alternatives and there aren't too many around.
Paragon have very recently released Partition Manager 8, whilst V-COM have announced Partition Commander 10 (no trial version available). If you're looking for freeware, there are a couple of choices in Partition Logic 0.63 or the Ultimate Boot CD. Check them out and let us know which tool you prefer.
New light-guiding nanoscale device can control and monitor a nanoparticle trapped in a laser beam with high sensitivity
Optical traps are scientific instruments in which a focused laser beam is used to exert an attractive or repulsive force on a microscopic object to hold it in place
Scientists estimate that the exoplanet has already lost up to 35 per cent of its mass over its lifetime
The observations were made using the Atacama Array in the Chilean desert
J1043+2408 was observed for more than 10 years, and its radio light curve exhibited a periodic signal repeating in about 563 days


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William Rain Mountain was Born to Ted and Linda Ramirez at Saint Rose Hospital July 6,1970. In a small East Bay City called Hayward CA. Half Native American and half Celtic or what i like to call Celtamex are Mexacelt! Are even an Irish man with a dilemma! ! ! !
I have been writing Songs, poems and stories for about 20 years now. I won my first Writing contest in the Fifth grade. My writing stile is my own...! I write about what I see. I take my life and put it in other peoples stories!
I live a very full life for a man of forty! ! ! From Lead Singer in the bay area Metal scene To driving an Ambulance in the streets of Oakland....to Working Constitution on some of are major land marks in the bay... many of lives I have lived! I still learn much about myself every day!
William Rain Mountain


British researchers have built the world's first sonic tractor beams that lift and move objects using soundwaves.
A team from the universities of Bristol and Sussex, in conjunction with Ultrahaptics, a spin-off set up by Sussex Professor of Informatics, Sriram Subramanian, used high-amplitude soundwaves to generate an acoustic hologram that can pick up and move small objects.
Their research, led by PhD student Asier Marzo, was published in Nature Communications in October.
The device allows the manipulation of small spherical objects in mid-air by individually controlling 64 miniature loudspeakers to generate the acoustic hologram without physical contact. The loudspeakers are controlled at a frequency of 40 kilohertz (Khz), creating high-pitched and high-intensity sound waves to levitate spherical, expanded polystyrene beads of up to 4 millimeters in diameter.
The tractor beam surrounds the balls with high-intensity sound to create a force field that can keep the beads in place, move them or rotate them.
"What we have here is what we call an acoustic hologram - or what we have called an acoustic hologram because I think it's the first time it has been used," Marzo told Reuters. "A traditional hologram it's made of light and you have flat surfaces. Nonetheless it creates a 3D light field. If you remember Star Wars you can see the robot R2D2 and it's broadcasting a 3D spaceship, even from a flat surface. So this is exactly the same; we have a flat surface and we are creating a 3D acoustic field that can surround the particle."
The concept of tractor beams grabbing and lifting objects was created by science-fiction writers, but in recent years various teams of scientists have sought to create an actual version.
Previous examples of tractor beam technology have involved using light. According to Marzo, "I think the only real tractor beam that has been achieved before was with light; it was a very powerful focalized laser and it was able to trap the particles and move it towards the laser, towards the source. However, the particles had to be very small - like around the micrometers and you need to pump a lot of power into the laser. So this is the real first acoustic tractor beam and it's nice because acoustic tractor beam, acoustic manipulation, needs much less power and it's more powerful in terms of the materials that it can trap."
Marzo believes the new technique could be developed for many applications. The team is certainly thinking big.
He said: "Basically one of our future projects aims at levitating something that's like a beachball ten meters away and we think this could be very useful for zero gravity environments, like under water or in the International Space Station. If you check videos everything is floating around, water the nuts, screws, everything is adrift uncontrollably, so if you can create fake gravity with this device it would help a lot the astronauts."
A sonic production line could potentially transport delicate objects and assemble them, without physical contact. But the Bristol researcher's main goal is the revolution of surgery, with a miniature tractor beam transporting drug capsules or microsurgical instruments through living tissue.
"For me the major application, the best application, would be going smaller and levitating things inside your body and this could be drug capsules, this could be kidney stones, this could be clots or micro surgical instruments, a tiny scalpel, tiny scissors that you could control from the outside without any incision," said Marzo.
The team has used three different shapes of acoustic force fields to work as tractor beams. Firstly, an acoustic force field that resembles a pair of fingers or tweezers; the second an acoustic vortex in which objects become trapped at the core, while the third they describe as a "high-intensity cage" that surrounds the objects and holds them in place from all sides. Each system consumes just nine Watts of power.


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General Electric (NYSE:GE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The conglomerate reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.05, Bloomberg Earnings reports. The business had revenue of $28.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.26 billion. General Electric had a positive return on equity of 11.60% and a negative net margin of 4.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. General Electric updated its FY18 guidance to $1.00-1.07 EPS.
General Electric stock traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.54. The company had a trading volume of 188,686,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 71,814,032. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Electric has a 12 month low of $12.73 and a 12 month high of $30.38. The company has a market capitalization of $126,244.66, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.02.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 45.71%.
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.3% during the second quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 20,620 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.9% during the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 8,842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.8% during the second quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 18,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.9% during the second quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 16,610 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.3% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 54,208 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 56.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, December 28th. JPMorgan Chase reissued a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 target price (down from $17.00) on shares of General Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Vetr cut General Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $21.08 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank reissued a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of General Electric in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Vertical Research set a $18.00 target price on General Electric and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.86.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE: This piece was originally reported by Chaffey Breeze and is the property of of Chaffey Breeze. If you are reading this piece on another site, it was stolen and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright & trademark laws. The original version of this piece can be read at https://www.chaffeybreeze.com/2018/04/22/general-electric-ge-announces-earnings-results.html.
General Electric Company Profile
General Electric Company operates as a digital industrial company worldwide. It operates through Power, Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas, Aviation, Healthcare, Transportation, Lighting, and Capital segments. The Power segment offers technologies, solutions, and services related to energy production, including gas and steam turbines, engines, generators, and high voltage equipment; and power generation services and digital solutions.
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The aviation industry’s complex operations are under pressure as the industry moves toward net-zero 2050 targets, requiring greater efficiency. Aviation technology company Assaia has just published a report that delves into the dynamics of aircraft turnaround times. The company identifies opportunities to save airports, airlines, and passengers time and money. As a bonus, optimizing aircraft turn-around times will also improve aviation’s environmental footprint.
Key Findings: Aircraft Turnaround Times, Assaia Report
Assaia is an AI-driven pioneer in turnaround management. The company unveiled its inaugural Turnaround Benchmark Report at the World Aviation Forum in Lisbon, Portugal. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of how turnarounds impact the overall performance of both airports and airlines.
Three key insights emerge:
- Significant Disparities: A staggering 41-minute difference exists between the best and worst turnaround performances. This divergence translates to potential losses amounting to billions for airlines and airports annually, not to mention inconveniences for passengers.
- Turnaround Frequencies: The top-performing airlines and airports can execute three more turnarounds daily than their lower-performing counterparts.
- Environmental & Financial Costs: Avoidable Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) usage equates to the profit from 11 passengers and emits 86kg of CO2 for each flight.
What Goes Into An Aircraft Turnaround?
Carrying out the complete turnaround of an aircraft requires the coordination of logistics, often involving over 75 professionals. Time and resource-consuming tasks include:
- Disembarkation and embarkation of passengers
- Loading and unloading of baggage, cargo, and catering supplies
- Connecting ground power and ensuring the attachment of pre-conditioned air
- Aircraft refueling
- Meticulous cleaning
- Crew changes
How Tech Can Lead to Aircraft Turnaround Improvements
Max Diez, CEO of Assaia, emphasized the precarious nature of the industry, noting the razor-thin margins and escalating fuel prices. Recent disruptions, from tech glitches and unfavorable weather to staffing dilemmas, only underline the urgency of adopting technology that can drive positive change.
“Airlines and airports need to find all the efficiencies they can. Every aspect of airport and airline operations is monitored and managed to the highest degree. The exception, until very recently, has been the turnaround. Because it is made up of many activities performed by multiple entities, it has been very difficult to get a complete picture of the entire operation. And without measurement, effective management is impossible,” Diez said.
The Turnaround Benchmark Report delves into multiple facets: on-time performance, the efficacy of various turnaround tasks such as catering and fueling, and the environmental consequences linked to turnaround procedures. The report’s emphasis is on short-haul flights. These are particularly vulnerable to inefficiencies that ripple out, leading to canceled flights and aggrieved passengers.
Diez concluded, “The results are based on analysis of the worst-performing third, the middle-performing third, and the best-performing third. The differences between the best and worst performers demonstrate very clearly why monitoring and holistic management of turnarounds is so important.”
Harnessing AI for Seamless Turnarounds
Assaia stands out with its innovative approach. Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision technology, the Assaia platform gives airports and airlines an unparalleled perspective of turnaround operations. This is automated holistic oversight, monitoring, and ensuring that the myriad tasks conducted during a turnaround are visible, streamlined, and efficient.
The result? Airports and airlines are poised to optimize their operations, heralding a future marked by heightened efficiency, reduced delays, augmented safety, and diminished carbon footprints.
Curious readers can delve deeper into the Turnaround Benchmark Report.
Venturing beyond traditional aviation solutions, Assaia International AG champions integrating technology to refine the aviation sector. By combining Artificial Intelligence and computer vision, Assaia offers comprehensive insights into airport turnaround operations. Their forward-thinking solutions promise a future where passengers can be assured of punctual, safe, and sustainable travel. Discover more at Assaia.


When it comes to car repair, there isn’t much we don’t do.
We work on autos from A to Z and do services from A to Z.
Oil Changes with 30-Point Inspection Included,
Tune Ups, Engine Replacement & Repair,
Heating & Air Conditioning Service & Repair,
Electrical System Diagnosis & Repair,
Brake Replacement & Repair,
Factory Scheduled Maintenance 15K, 30K, 90K, 120K, Suspension & Steering Repair, Shocks & Struts, Cooling System Service & Repair, Exhaust Systems & Mufflers, Transmission Service & Repair, 100-Point Pre-Purchase Inspections, Maintenance & Inspections, Battery Replacement
We keep up with all the new tools
At McCoy’s we use factory diagnostic equipment for BMW, Mini Cooper, VW, Audi and Mercedes. And aftermarket diagnostic equipment for Porsche and all other makes of autos.
We try to make McCoy’s a one stop auto repair shop. While we don’t do painting, upholstery, smog testing, alignments or tires we are able to hook you up with trusted shops that I have personally checked out and used for years. So whether it’s a simple tire pressure check or a transmission repair we are able do it all.
We also do preventive maintenance to keep you off the tow hook and out of the shop with repairs due to neglect.
At McCoy’s we recommend getting a pre-purchase check out on any used auto you are thinking of buying. Wherever the vehicle may be coming from, a private individual or a car lot, have it checked out. Even if a Car Fax shows nothing wrong, have it checked out. Whether you bring it to McCoy’s or to another shop, have it checked out. I have seen many cars that were supposed to be perfectly fine with frame damage and poor service over all. At McCoy’s we go through the car in, out, under and over to check for in-op, faults and good things about the car. We look for any damage that may have occurred from wrecks etc. I have a good eye for repaints or prior collision damage. I currently have two car lots and one body shop that send me their cars for repair work and check outs. I could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars and hours of your time with one quick yet thorough pre-purchase check out.
For existing customers we have a lot of different sizes of snow chains available for free use.
Discounted prices for rental cars from Enterprise car rental


Letter from doctor Dimitar Anakiev about the need for support at the Bosnian/Croatian border.
Croatia: And yet another case of police violence while people try to reach the European Union.
Our correspondent Riot Turtle from Enough is Enough and Subversion 1312 was in a camp near the Bosnia/Croatia border, with Cars of Hope and SOS Team Kladuša building facilities for the camp and helping in whatever way they can. He is also doing interviews and reports and sent me this interview with an Iranian mother, who with her family is trying to reach Europe.
On July 19 two people of the Enough is Enough team will join the Cars of Hope collective in Bosnia to work together with refugees to provide mutual aid and to produce independent border monitoring reports from the Bosnian/Croatian border. In this article we first publish some details about our next stay in Bosnia and in the second part we reblog an article about the protests at the Bosnian/Croatian border. At the bootom of this page you will find a translation of the piece about our next stay in Castellano (Spanish).
In the past 2 months we focussed on the Bosnian/Croatian border, on July 19 two people of the Enough is Enough team will travel to Bosnia again with members of the Cars of Hope collective. On the Greek islands the situation is also getting worse and worse. The self-organized Pipka camp is under threat of eviction.
On Monday about 250 refugees protested for open borders on the Croatian(Bosnian border in Velika Kladuša, Bosnia. The Croatian police used tear gas and batons to stop people from crossing the border.
While German CDU/CSU factions in parliament are fighting each other in public about border closures in German media in a debate full of racism, other EU member states install apartheid rules on public beaches and torture people at their borders.
On Monday, 2 Cars of Hope activists came back from Bosnia. They supported refugees in the small border town Velika Kladuša. But there is really a lack of everything… On June 13, a Cars of Hope car drives from Wuppertal, Germany to Bosnia, there are still empty places left in the car.
Many EU states are escalating the war against refugees and migrants. Border closures and (state) violence against refugees and migrants (for me personally there is actually no difference between migrants and refugees, people are people) are “normal” in many EU states. A refugee child shot and killed by Belgium cops last month. Two refugee kids shot and severly injured by cops in Croatia last week are only the tip of the Iceberg. The new Italian government with the fascist Lega Nord will make things even worse. What a difference with Bosnia, although the Bosnian state doesn’t do much for migrants and refugees, many many local people do what they can to support people that came to Bosnia. A few thoughts…
The violence of Croatian cops continues to increase. Today we saw refugees with bruises and plaster again. On May 30 Croatian cops shot at a van with refugees inside. Seven people had to be treated in hospital, two of them were children and remain under intensive care.


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Beloved Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump met Monday morning to, as Trump put it, “discuss women in the workforce.” It was the first official meeting between the two since Trump took office last month.
Today I will meet with Canadian PM Trudeau and a group of leading business women to discuss women in the workforce. https://t.co/bFAHPRXHdP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2017
Women in the workforce may have been the agenda, but that’s not the takeaway most people got from the meeting. Instead, everyone’s talking about the super awkward handshake between Trump and Trudeau in the Oval Office. More specifically, when Trudeau recoiled from #45’s tiny hand.
Scroll down for the memes capturing the historic moment…


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U.S. stocks rose Thursday as the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits came in below expectations.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at a record high, increasing 1%, or 109.67 points, to 11108.07 in its fourth consecutive record close and continuing the strong run of technology giants this year. The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, or 21.39 points, to 3349.16 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 185.46 points, or 0.7%, to 27386.98.
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domain: economics


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KARACHI: The Sindh government has expressed its reservation over the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess and decided to approach federal government to distribute the collected money among the provinces under the Article 161 of the constitution.
This was decided in the meeting presided by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah at CM House Karachi here on Monday. Advisor to CM for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Secretary Finance Sohail Rajput, Secretary Energy Agha Wasif, Secretary Law Mir Muhammad Shaikh, Assistant Advocate General Sindh and other officers attended the meeting.
Advisor Syed Murad Ali Shah while briefing the meeting, said that Gas Infrastructure Development Cess was imposed by federal government through legislation in the National Assembly in 2011 and it was supposed to be utilized for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan- India (TAPI) gas pipe line and Pak-Iran gas pipeline.
He said that since 2011 to outgoing financial year, collected amount of Rs 131 billion have not been utilized because of the fate of projected gas lines as such this amount was lying with federal government, which must be distributed among the provinces under the Article 161 of constitution.
The chief minister Sindh addressing the meeting, asked the officers concerned to approach the federal government for getting provincial share from this cess with proper justification. He said that Sindh government would also use other forums and options to get its legitimate share from this levy of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess if it is not responded by federal government positively.