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Democracy is nothing else but the will of the majority. Today, the dominant form of democracy is representative democracy, where citizens elect government officials to govern on their behalf, such as in parliamentary or presidential democracy. Countries have their own unique models of democracy that suit their respective national conditions. That democracy is in trouble, stagnant at best, and declining in many places. The deterioration of democratic elections, parliaments, and independent courts has led to problems in safeguarding the rule of law and holding politicians to account. Formal institutions like legislatures are weakening. Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades, and the majority of the countries suffered net declines in political rights, civil liberties, and global freedom. Political rights and civil liberties around the world deteriorated to their lowest point. The reasons for democracies collapse are governmental instability and foreign involvement. The causes of the failure of democracy include economic inequality, culturally con-servative reactions to societal changes, populist or personal politics, and external influence from great power politics. Many states that seemed like promising success stories are sliding into au-thoritarian rule. And the world's most powerful democracies are struggling with problems at home, including social and economic disparities, partisan fragmentation, guarantees of free and fair elections, freedom of the press, the rights of minorities, the rule of law, influxes of refugees, terrorist attacks, and ethnic cleansing, all of which come under attack around the world.
The rise of right-wing populists who appeal to the narrowing of fundamental civil and political liberties and appeal to anti-immigrant sentiment. Right-wing populists gained votes and parlia-mentary seats in Argentina, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. They succeed in weakening established parties on both the right and left. Populist leaders and groups reject plural-ism and demand power to advance the particular interests of their supporters at the expense of mi-norities. The very idea of democracy and its promotion among young people is contributing to a dangerous apathy for the future. The spread of antidemocratic practices around the world poses economic and security risks. When more countries are free (including the U.S.), they are safer and more prosperous. Democratic governments allow people to have a say in the direction of their lives and work and to help set the rules, to which all must adhere. While more countries become autocratic and repressive, nations and entire regions become unstable, giving more room to vio-lent extremists. Democracy scores declined in many countries, from Central Europe to Central Asia, in 2023, yet civic activists and democratic leaders continued to strive for better governance across the diverse region.
Democratic norms eroded within the U.S. and damaged its international credibility in terms of good governance and human rights. Over the past decade, the United States has experienced a se-ries of setbacks in the conduct of free and fair elections and criminal justice under the leadership of both major political parties. Many institutions of the U.S. government are dysfunctional and getting worse. In the state of democracy in the U.S., many expert opinions and media comments reveal that an American democracy is in chaos at home and that havoc and disasters have been left behind as the U.S. imposed democracy around the globe. Despite the rising problems at home, the U.S. continues to behave with a sense of superiority, point fingers at others, and usurp the role of the lecturer of democracy.
The U.S. serves the interests of none other than itself and is acting to split the world into (of what it defined) 'democracies and non-democracies. A silent civil war has taken root in the U.S., and repairing damaged democracy requires a sense of nation and public interest, both of which are currently lacking. Ian Bremmer, president of Euro-Asia Group, writes that America's dysfunction-al politics raises fears that the 2024 presidential election will again provoke deadly violence in the country. More than a third of Democrats and Republicans believe violence is justified to achieve their political ends. American politics has increasingly revealed its nature as the 'game of the rich'; the top rich families making political donations contributed millions of dollars, and billion-aires provided 16% of federal election funds. Politics is controlled by the rich and politicians to serve their own interests.
The public has a right to vote but does not have real sway over politics. Average citizens matter, but generally only when their public policy desires align with those of the elite or organized inter-ests. And when it comes to issues that don't have a direct impact on the elite's well-being, such as social security, medical care, or unemployment insurance, The general public has no independent impact on policymaking. In short, 'What the elite want, the elite get'. The main American media firms are privately owned and serve the powerful and the rich. The U.S. uses social media to ma-nipulate international public opinion. Capital and interest groups can basically get anything they want when it comes to public opinion. Agencies affiliated with the US Department of Defense had long interfered in public opinion in the Middle East through propaganda on social media (Twitter, X).
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article about the explosion of the North Stream natural gas pipeline, but American and European mainstream media, known for their sen-sitivity to such scoops, stayed eerily quiet on this piece of explosive news. The judicial system is also blind to public opinion. Americans are increasingly disillusioned with American democracy, and Americans' pride in their democracy has dropped sharply. The U.S. needs to show more global support for justice and peace as American politicians have a high tolerance for killing, which is now being seen vividly on screens every day. The Chinese government states that China is a'so-cialist democracy' and a 'people's democratic dictatorship. Under Xi Jingping, China is also termed a 'whole-process people's democracy'.
Pessimism dominates in Germany these days, not only because of the wars in Ukraine and Isra-el/Palestine but also because of certain parallels between the concerns of today's Germans and what happened in Germany 100 years ago. And this is due to inflation, high energy prices, eco-nomic stagnation (growth close to zero), the rise of the extreme right, political paralyses, falling exports to China, the lagging of the German automobile industry, high property inequality, imper-fect assimilation of the foreign population, and complete political dependence on America.
The world's largest Indian democracy—with nearly 2 billion people—is retreating, and its demo-cratic foundations are floundering. Indian democracy is under pressure like never before, where there is more injustice to cover up. Experts and critics say that trust in the judiciary as a check on executive power is eroding. With increasing assaults on the press and free speech, religious mi-norities are facing attacks by Hindu nationalities and the jailing of activists for peaceful protests. Modi's ministers say India's democratic principles are robust, even thriving, and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said that 'there was a time when in this part of the world, we were the only democracy'. ' And if there is sense in the world today that democracy is in some form the future, then a large part of it is due to India. But experts accuse Modi's populist government of using un-bridled political power to undermine democratic freedoms.
Although Europe remained the world's highest-performing region, there have been significant de-clines in democratic performance in many established democracies, including Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and the U.K. France declares itself an indivisible secular, democratic, and social republic. The British political system is a multiple-party system. Democracy Index 2023 ranks 2023 as the 22nd most electorally democratic country in the world. Norway is a parliamentary, democratic, and constitutional monarchy. Switzerland is a direct de-mocracy. Alongside the usual voting rights accorded in democracies, the Swiss people also have the right to vote on specific issues.
While countries like Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, and Turkey are performing well below the Euro-pean average across most indicators of democracy, And most countries in the Americas continued to have a mid-range performance across categories of democracy and managed to hold credible elections, like El Salvador and Guatemala. And surprisingly high rates of political participation and deceasing levels of corruption in Africa.
In non-democratic countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Ara-bia, and Vietnam, there are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all religious activity is controlled, dissent is not permitted, civil rights are curtailed, and elections occur under a single-party authoritarian political system.
The global democracy index score showed the percentage of the global population in a state of democracy around the world. Only 8% live in full democracy, 37% live in some type of flawed democracy, 37% live in authoritarian regimes, and 18% live in hybrid regimes, while 55% of the world does not live in democracy at all, based on the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) latest Democracy Index Report.
The EIU measures democracy by assessing many indicators across five key categories: electoral process and pluralism, political culture, political participation, functioning of government, and civil liberties. Only 12% of countries in Africa are operating as some type of democracy (aside from Mauritius, the only full democracy). In the Americas, only a few countries are considered full democracies: Costa Rica, Canada, Uruguay, and one of the best performers year-over-year, Chile. And some of the world's worst performers year-over-year are El Salvador and Haiti, which are associated with high crime rates and corrupt governance.
In Asia the highest democratic index score have South Korea 8.3%, Taiwan 8.99%, India 7.04%, then Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand 6-7%, and the lowest in Myanmar 0.74%. In China, it is 1.94%, and Hong Kong's state of democracy continues to decline as China increasingly restricts civil liberties. The democracy index score in Australia is 8.71%, and in New Zealand, it is 8.71%. In Central Asia and the Middle East, the democracy index is among the lowest; there are no full democracies at all. In Iran, it is 1.96%, Saudi Arabia is 2.08%, the UAE is 2.9, Lebanon is 3.66, Jordan is 3.17%, Pakistan is 4.13%, Armenia is 5.63, and Georgia is 5.2%. Afghanistan rapidly became the lowest-scoring country following the exit of US forces and the subsequent takeover by the Taliban. Elite-constraining activities peaked at the end of the Soviet period and declined af-terwards. The lack of constraints on elites has led to a failure of democracy in Russia.
Are we witnessing the death of capitalism and facing the tyranny of big tech today? Surveillance is a reality; we already live in the era of surveillance capitalism.
Surveillance capitalism is a concept in political economics that denotes the widespread collection and commodification of personal data by corporations. And surveillance is an attempt at a radical and ominous automated manipulation of behavior that is undermining sustainability, democracy, and human dignity. Surveillance capitalism is a 'new economic order' and 'an expropriation of critical human rights'. Defending privacy Shoshana Zubof analyzes the digital economy era in her book, The Age of Surveillance. Capitalism says that personal data from millions of social net-work users has been harvested without their consent, used for political purposes, and monetized. The danger of surveillance capitalism is that platforms and tech companies claim ownership of private information because it is free for them to access, but there is very little supervision or ac-tual laws by governments and users themselves.
Surveillance is an assault on human autonomy and a threat to freedom and democracy. Surveil-lance capitalism hinges on the appropriation and commercialization of personal data for profit-making. Google is the foundation of general surveillance. People are generating huge amounts of personal data every second; your whole life will be searchable. Automated machine processes not only inform but also massively shape our behavior in a state where production is focused on con-trolling brains and automatically directing people's movements. How can a system of democracy function in that state—in which man kept his word?
Yanis Varoufakis, former Minister of Finance of Greece, wrote in his book 'Techno-feudalism, Who Killed the Capitalism' that people are entangled in networks of digital capital that train us how to train it to control us. Life in the clouds Social democracy is unthinkable in a world that re-duces the proletarians in the world of cloud capital to automation. Yanis Varoufakis believes that in order for each of us to regain individual ownership of our own minds, we must collectively take ownership of the capital in the cloud and not leave it to a few feudal lords. It won't be easy, but it's the only way that the artifacts stored in the cloud now used to modify offensive behavior will be-come a means of emancipation. Private capital has made unprecedented progress in the sale of the world's material wealth, and today's cloud capital is selling off parts of our brains. Sometimes they used to address you as a reasonable being with the status of a citizen for fear that a citizen after all decides on something. Today there is no longer that fear, because any 'good-for-nothing' can come to power and use that power that comes from banking, corporate, and screen agendas. Those who rule rely on AI (artificial intelligence) and work as they were already connected to the 'Davos computer'. The desert of anti-humanity is large, but the world is also large, and perhaps all that vastness of difference and human elusiveness cannot be instrumentalized by one group of powerful people, (as they hope.)


In its long tradition of enquiring on the thriller genre, the festival has presented a complete panorama of Italian genre cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s; a fresh look at renowned masters such as Alfred Hitchcock, Pierre Chenal, Orson Welles, William Friedkin, Jules Dassin and Robert Wise; and new filmmakers such as Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, Takashi Miike (in 1999 his first Western retrospective was in Courmayeur, at the festival), Sabu and Park Chan-wook.
Noir has also spotlighted renowned documentary filmmakers like Emile De Antonio and Fred Wiseman; films by literary giants such as Friedrick Durrenmatt, Joseph Conrad, Philip K. Dick; and masters of the genre that include Cornell Woolrich, Mickey Spillane, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, Edward Bunker and Scott Turow.
Film guests across the years have included: Paul Verhoeven, Dario Argento, Sergio Castellitto, Diablo Cody, Maria de Medeiros, Isabella Ferrari, Abbas Kiarostami, Val Kilmer, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Christopher Lee, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Laura Morante, Michele Placido, Amanda Plummer, Gillo Pontecorvo, Gabriele Salvatores, Jerzy Skolimowski, Bob Swaim, Filippo Timi, Charlize Theron, Johnnie To, Margarethe von Trotta, Peter Weller, Michael Winterbottom, Stephen Frears.
The many hits screened at the Noir in Festival include the television series Alias and Lost by J.J. Abrams, Chris Carter’s X Files and Fallen Angels by Sydney Pollack. As well as films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs; Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave; In the Mouth of Madness by John Carpenter; David Fincher’s Seven; Taylor Hackford’s The Devil’s Advocate; Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers; Alien IV starring Sigourney Weaver; Tony Scott’s Enemy Mine, with Will Smith; Sam Mendes’ American Beauty; Phillip Noyce’s The Bone Collector with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington; Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead; M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson; Gore Verbinski’s The Ring; the Hong Kong trilogy Infernal Affairs, on which Scorsese based The Departed; David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence; The Chronicles of Narnia; Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog; the Oscar-winning The Last King of Scotland; the returns of Tony Scott (Déjà Vu) and George Romero (Diary of the Dead); the Oscar-nominated Frozen River. In the last few years the festival premiered, among others: Vengeance by Johnnie To; Dario Argento’s Dracula in 3D; The Killer Inside Me by Michael Winterbottom; Margin Call starring Kevin Spacey; Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins.
For its Raymond Chandler Award, the festival has hosted and awarded the best names in the genre, including Donald Westlake, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, P.D. James, John le Carré, John Grisham, Andrew Vacchs, Mickey Spillane, James Crumley, James Grady, Ian Rankin, George P. Pelecanos, Scott Turow, Alicia Giménez-Bartlett and recently Michael Connelly and Don Winslow. Literature at NoirFest is not just prizes. It features presentations of books, public debates with foreign and Italian writers and filmmakers, launch of editorial series and magazines. In all these years, the festival has also proudly hosted, among others, the writers: Robert Bloch, Mary Higgins Clark, Jean-Claude Izzo, Robin Cook, Giancarlo de Cataldo, Giorgio Faletti, Carlo Lucarelli, James Ellroy, Anne Perry, Walter Mosley, Michael Tolkin, Juan Madrid, Arturo Perez-Reverte, Joe Lansdale, Nicholas Evans, Raymond Benson, Kathy Reichs, Matthew Pearl, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, Jean-Christophe Grangé, Jason Goodwin, Amitav Gosh, Jean-Cristophe Grangé, James W. Hall, Michael Marshall Smith, James Sallis, Richard Price and Patrick Raynal.


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1 definition found:
98 Moby Thesaurus words for "gym":
agora, amphitheater, archery ground, arena, athletic field, auditorium, background, badminton court, baseball field, basketball court, bear garden, billiard parlor, bowl, bowling alley, bowling green, boxing ring, bull ring, campus, canvas, circus, cockpit, coliseum, colosseum, course, court, cricket ground, croquet ground, croquet lawn, diamond, fairway, field, floor, football field, forum, glaciarium, golf course, golf links, gridiron, ground, gymnasium, hall, hippodrome, ice rink, infield, links, lists, locale, marketplace, mat, milieu, open forum, outfield, oval, palaestra, parade ground, pit, place, platform, playground, playing field, playroom, polo ground, pool hall, poolroom, precinct, prize ring, public square, purlieu, putting green, racecourse, racket court, range, ring, rink, scene, scene of action, scenery, setting, site, skating rink, soccer field, sphere, squared circle, squash court, stadium, stage, stage set, stage setting, stretch, tennis court, terrain, theater, tilting ground, tiltyard, track, turf, walk, wrestling ring
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thesaurus]
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domain: sports


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Track info & Remix navigation
I was looking for something to start my day session and here was a fresh one from Martin. What is the mood today? Begin with a "Hard" Rock rhythm part An adaptation of one I've already recorded 10 years ago. Another piece of me... for you
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domain: artistic


bring me the horizon… seriously. bring it!
Music for you to enjoy. Enjoy :P
7 track album
Check out our new video!! More waveform spectrum stuff. This time in a circle.
Listen to our new remix :D
Source: SoundCloud / ASPYR3
Aspyre - Lights [Original Mix] (by AspyreTV)
This one’s special, its our only song on the album with singing, which was fun to record. Presented some challenges in mix and master but it was worth it. :D The only problem is the video had some minor sync issues… ahh well its not like we’re monstercat or anything so yeahh :P


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The guide represents offers up-to-date information on taxation in 22 European countries, including labor costs, corporate profit taxation, and transfer pricing. The guide serves long-term investment decisions by analyzing long-term taxation trends and fundamental changes in the tax regimes, both in comparison with each other and to previous years.
In addition to the Visegrad Group, the guide analyses the tax regimes of the South-Eastern European countries, Germany, Austria, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Baltic States, focusing on changes and trends in the tax regimes.
- The region's tax wedge remains relatively wide, ranging between 15 and 51%.
- Countries maintain a characteristically different approach to income taxation and tax relief for families with children.
- VAT remains the prime source of tax revenues in the listed countries; digital technologies have visibly improved the efficiency of tax collection
- There are still significant differences in the approach to corporate taxation in the region. Only one country reduced its corporate profit tax rate from last year.
We hope and trust that our readers will find this summary useful and inspiring. We also included the contact information for Mazars offices and experts.
Download the guide in English by clicking the link below.
Please visit the interactive online platform of the Mazars CEE Tax Guide 2022:

domain: economics


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Date Published: April 18, 2017
Tim and Susannah have ordinary lives on the surface, he’s a mortician for whom death is a serious business, and she’s a chef who really knows her way around a knife, but if the neighbors in their small Midwestern town knew of her dark hobby, they’d run for the hills.
Raised by an apathetic mother and a cruel father, Susannah was bullied and pushed to her breaking point long before she met mild-mannered Tim, and has learned to channel her murderous impulses into a strange form of art, which keeps her clueless husband safe…for now.
As strange events occur, and Susannah’s eccentric behavior becomes more dynamic, Tim starts to wonder about his wife. Will he be too perceptive for his own good?
This twisted, psychological, serial killer thriller will sear your psyche and rattle your soul, so buckle up, you’re in for a terrifying ride.
CONTENT WARNING: If you are a reader of Summer Prescott’s Cozy Mysteries, please be advised that this book depicts the actions and mindset of a serial killer, contains some adult language and adult circumstances.
Chapter One: Susannah
Susannah Guntzelman was invisible. Not in the traditional sense of the word, of course, but in the far more painful translation where all of humanity simply failed to notice her existence. She’d been overlooked and unnoticed her entire life, whether at home, by parents who worked too hard to care, or in public, where strangers merely saw a plain, overweight girl, if they saw her at all. Today was no different, as she shuffled to class in last year’s jeans and sensible shoes, her mass of dry, frizzy hair carelessly piled atop her head in an unruly bun.
Being invisible had its advantages of course. It allowed her to get through nearly every day of her dreary existence without having to interact with other human beings. Teachers never called on her, no one said hello when they passed her in the hall, and she sat alone during every unending lunch hour, methodically eating the interesting assortment of foods that she’d stuffed into her bright blue insulated lunch pack. The bag was an intrusive spark of color in her otherwise beige existence. She hated it, but her mother, Greta, the long-legged, perfect-haired china doll who loved her job more than her daughter, had said that the store didn’t have any black or grey ones, so she would ‘just have to deal with it.’
Susannah trailed behind a gaggle of giggling girls, entering the calculus classroom with perhaps less trepidation than the twittering twats in front of her. She was good at math, it came easily to her, and the teacher seemed to know that she might just spiral into a panic attack if she were forced to participate in a way other than quickly scribbling out correct answers and turning them in. Math was orderly. She liked things to be orderly. She was glad, for the teacher’s sake, that he somehow understood her need for invisibility.
Early parent/teacher conferences had pegged little Susie as an angry child who didn’t get along with others, which led to wretched things. The punishments at home for bad reports were worse than the punishments at school, so she’d learned to keep her seething resentment to herself. She’d kept it to herself for so long, in fact, that she’d grown numb emotionally. Even when battered and taunted mercilessly by thoughtless and cruel classmates, she compressed her mouth into a thin line and kept her head down, waiting until she got home to pick the spitwads from her colorless and tangled hair, and to dab a cold cloth on the welts made by well-aimed rubber bands.
At home, she taught herself to withhold tears from the monster who tried his best to encourage them. When she was stripped naked and whipped with kitchen utensils, belts, shoes, or any other handy device, when she was locked into the chicken coop for days at a time, not even allowed to sleep in her bed or relieve herself in private, and even when she was denied food after the beast who spawned her poked at her soft, white flesh, declaring her to be a fat pig, she’d bite the inside of her cheeks, dig her nails into her palms, or even hold her breath if necessary…but she Would. Not. Cry.
Her goal was simple, wait for the herd of cattle to get out of her way, and get to her seat without bringing any attention to herself. She’d had a rough morning at home, and her nerves were sprinkling dark sparks into her psyche. Susannah was more than ready to immerse herself in the orderly realm of math, glorious math. So focused was she on getting to her seat, that she never saw the furtive foot, encased in an expensive running shoe, darting out like the tongue of a serpent, tripping her.
Arms full of books, the gawky teen hit the ground hard, her head knocking against the metal leg of a desk. There were a few gasps, and more than a few giggles, and when Susannah turned over, stunned, still clutching her books, the concerned frown of Mr. Davis loomed over her.
“Susannah…are you okay? What happened here?” he asked, the cuff of his polyester pants brushing against her arm.
She sat up slowly, dazed, a trickle of defiantly crimson blood running down her forehead, and over the soft round of her cheek. Her heavy glasses were askew, and she pushed them up absently, horrified that every eye in the class was upon her. She flushed bright red from the base of her neck to the roots of her hair, as she heard the guffaws and soft pig sounds of her classmates. Humiliation was an overwhelming emotion that couldn’t be stopped, even with years of conditioning. It slammed into her with brute force, threatening to steal the very breath from her lungs. Her head throbbed with it, her mouth turned to cotton, and beads of sweat sprung out on her forehead as she worked to control the tremors which rippled through her. It took her a couple of tries, while the teacher blathered on with his concern and his questions, asking if she needed to go to the nurse, but she rolled herself onto her knees, and leaning on the desk that had struck her, she rose shakily to her feet.
Debbie Moran. Smug, snooty, Debbie Moran was smirking at her, enjoying the result of her sly move. Until this moment, Susannah hadn’t loathed her more than any of the other simpering American princesses who glided through the halls as though their nimble feet didn’t even touch the chipped linoleum, but now…it was different. Now, dainty little Debbie Moran made something dark rise up inside Susannah the Sow, as her classmates called her, something darker than the judgmental little bitch was prepared to deal with. So dark that it made her heart pound. So dark that it made her mouth water. Soon, Debbie Moran, soon.
Susannah lumbered from the classroom, with Mr. Davis saying something about it being good that she was going to the nurse, but once out of his sight, she bypassed the office and walked out of the school unchallenged, breathing hard, but not from exertion. She huffed and puffed as she walked, striding fast and far as she made her plans, the need for order and justice in her world burning like a hot coal within her.
Teeth clenched, hair blowing in the chill autumn breeze, Susannah swiped absently at the tickle on her cheek, fascinated when she saw blood smeared on her fingers. She turned her hand this way and that, focused on the blood – the rude red color of it. The blood made her think, the blood made her feel, the blood made her hunger. She brought her fingers to her mouth, sucking the crimson liquid in, the metallic blast of it invigorating her. She licked and sucked her fingers until every last trace was gone, and surveyed her pale hand with a slight smile playing about her lips. Soon, Debbie Moran, soon.
Susannah Guntzelman was not a joiner. Participation in school activities was just not something that she did…ever, but when the Student Athletics Association put up a flyer saying that they needed servers for the State Finals Pancake Breakfast, she jumped at the chance. The breakfast was scheduled for mid-November, just before Thanksgiving, so she had just over a month to put her plan into action. She would assimilate…briefly, because it was necessary.
Food was Susannah’s solace, and often times her only pleasure. It didn’t merely provide her with sustenance, it provided her with an outlet for her sometimes odd creativity. She was usually able to grab a hasty breakfast before her father woke up, although, if she wasn’t quite fast enough, he would see her at the table eating, pick up her cereal bowl and dump its contents into the sink. Dinner at the Guntzelman house was a tense affair, where the beast measured every spoonful that was placed on her plate and watched her like a hawk so that she didn’t take seconds. But lunch…lunch was Susannah’s salvation. She would prepare her noon feast at night, after her father went to bed, and stash it in a cooler in her closet. Experimenting with all sorts of delicious combinations from the refrigerator and pantry, she gorged herself on her creations as she sat in her lonely corner of the lunchroom.
The high school offered cooking classes, and she took every single one, so it seemed quite natural when she volunteered to help out with the athletic club’s breakfast, despite her extreme aversion to social situations. She prepared for the event by doing things that she had to do to fit in. Her plan would require some degree of trust from her fellow volunteers, which she knew she’d never obtain by skulking around, sharing her thoughts with no one.
For the first time in Susannah’s life, she paid attention to her hair, finding that, when she conditioned it with avocado, it fell into smooth, bouncy ringlets. The determined young lady also went on a strict diet, much to her father’s grim satisfaction, and started working out in the beast’s basement gym after school, taking great care to wipe down his equipment afterwards, to spare the wrath that would inevitably come if he knew that she had touched something that belonged to him.
Pounds melted away, revealing a figure that prompted more than one double-take from the boys who passed her in the hall. Susannah’s overall appearance had changed dramatically in a matter of weeks, and she’d gone to a local thrift store in order to finish off her assimilation process by purchasing snug-fitting stylish jeans, low-cut tops like the other girls wore, and shoes that were the polar opposites of her sensible oxfords. Between classes, she pilfered makeup, a curling iron and hair products from gym lockers, and spent hours in front of her mirror at home, teaching herself how to use them. Her mother would have been pleased to see the changes, if she hadn’t been too busy to notice.
The morning of the athletic club breakfast dawned, cheery and bright, matching Susannah’s disposition. She had waited and planned for weeks, and finally, the day had arrived. She dressed with extra care on that lovely morning, wearing a flattering outfit that would help her fit in with her peers until the deed was done. Once her revenge had been exacted without mercy, she could go back to being comfortable and fading into the woodwork socially.
Susannah checked in with Coach Nickerson in the cafeteria kitchen, noting with disdain the long looks that she was getting from people, boys in particular, who had never noticed that she lived and breathed prior to this morning. She put on a happy face however, and affected a cheerful demeanor much like the one that her mother adopted for parties and other social events. She smiled, she volunteered, she was quiet, but she was present, and she made certain that she had one of the serving positions.
Debbie Moran bounced into the cafeteria, shiny ponytail swishing, with a cluster of lesser cheerleaders surrounding her. Susannah had known that her royal bitchness would be there with bells on, to accept what was rightfully hers. All of the high school elite had come out to be seen and appreciated by a fawning staff, and their inferior classmates. The annual breakfast practically existed to remind the lesser beings that they were fortunate to be allowed to attend the same institution of learning as these tanned, immaculate demi-gods.
Plating the fluffy hotcakes with care, while desperately hoping that Debbie Moran actually ate such things, Susannah loaded up a tray with several plates and delivered them to the table, setting each one down in front of the squad of debutants with a brilliant smile. Her mother would have been proud.
“Umm…helloooo,” Debbie blinked at her in utter disbelief while dangling a pitcher of warm maple syrup from two perfectly manicured fingers.
A dark scenario suddenly flashed through Susannah’s mind, culminating in gelatinous goo bubbling from the cheerleader’s eye socket after she stabbed a fork into that pretty blue orb, but she quickly quashed the thought and smiled.
“I’m sorry, is something wrong?” she asked sweetly, still savoring the brief image.
“Uh yeah,” Debbie replied, clearly offended. “This may be enough syrup for everyone else, but I’m going to need my own pitcher. Don’t be so stingy…how do you expect me to eat pancakes without enough syrup? I mean really, what would be the point?” she asked nasally, raising her eyebrows.
“Oh wow, of course,” Susannah nodded. “I feel the same way,” she smiled brightly. That part, at least, wasn’t a lie. “Sorry about that, I’ll be right back.”
When she turned to head back to the kitchen, pleased that Debbie had played right into her hands, she heard the vile creature speak in a stage whisper that was clearly meant to be overheard.
“I swear, she’s probably back there drinking the stuff,” she snickered. “Soooey, Susannah, oink, oink, oink.” The fact that Susannah had lost enough weight that her body now rivaled that of some of the cheerleaders surrounding their queen bee had apparently escaped Debbie Moran’s notice.
Feeling the heat rise in her face, Susannah concentrated on taking some deep breaths and maintaining her mother’s social façade. Her plan was almost complete. If she lost her cool now, she wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing things through, so she collected her thoughts, pasted a lovely smile on her face and reached under the counter when no one was looking. She’d been force-fed syrup of ipecac often enough by her father, that she knew it’s sweet taste was incredibly similar to thick maple syrup, and she had arrived early enough at the breakfast to have had time to prepare a special “syrup” just for dirty Debbie Moran, mixing in just a touch of maple syrup to mask the ipecac.
She stood in the kitchen, holding the pitcher for a moment, savoring what was about to happen, and wishing that she could film it, so that she could watch it over and over again, giggling all the while. Filming was out of the question however, for all sorts of reasons, so she’d just have to be content with having created a delightful amount of chaos and humiliation, and replaying it in her mind. She took a deep breath, and grinning broadly, she presented Debbie with her own personal pitcher of syrup, which the cheerleader poured liberally over her stack of pancakes. What happened after that would become a story that would be whispered about in the halls of the alma mater for years to come.
About the Author
Summer Prescott is well-known in the Cozy Mystery realm, having written and published several Best-Sellers in the genre. An avid reader of Thrillers, Horror and Suspense, the author has decided to follow her passion with the debut of her Thriller, The Quiet Type, which launched in the top 50 of the Serial Killer category on Amazon. The novel has received high praise in its reviews, and Summer is considering a possible trilogy or series to continue the story.

domain: literature


text:
Planted Impatiens From Seed
Planted impatiens from seeds and they came up but seem to have stopped growing. Should I keep them in the lights or move them away from the lights?
Keep them under the lights, and give a one-quarter strength fertilizing. Alternate water and fertilizer, keep plants barely moist to help prevent root problems and fungus gnats.

domain: agronomy


text:
The Cactus League: A Brief History
By Rodney Johnson
Pre Cactus League Years
The Chicago White Sox were the first big league team to play a game in Arizona in 1909 as they barnstormed back to east after holding training camp in California. For the next three decades, the White Sox, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates played spring exhibition games against local teams in Arizona nearly every spring.
In 1929 the Detroit Tigers became the first club to hold their spring training in Arizona. They played several games against local teams and two exhibitions against big league competition at Phoenix Riverside Park. But in 1930 the Tigers moved their spring camp to California and never returned to Arizona.
Beginnings of the Cactus League
Bill Veeck, who owned a guest ranch near Tucson, purchased the Cleveland Indians in June 1946. The following year he convinced New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move his club’s spring training operation to Phoenix while the Indians would train in Tucson. Cleveland trained at Tucson’s Randolph Field (later renamed Hi Corbett Field) while the Giants set up shop at old Phoenix Municipal Stadium located at the corner of Central and Mohave.
In 1948 Larry Doby, who joined the Indians during the 1947 season, arrived for spring training in Tucson becoming the first African American to play in the Cactus League. That October Cleveland became the first Cactus League team to win the World Series.
One of the more interesting trades in baseball history occurred in 1951 when the New York Yankees and their cross-town rivals swapped spring training sites. The Giants trained in St. Petersburg, FL while the Yankees trained in Phoenix. The one-year-only swap was at the request of Yankees co-owner Del Webb who wanted to show off his World Series champion Yankees in his hometown. Phoenix fans were treated to seeing the first spring season of Mickey Mantle and the last of Joe DiMaggio. The Giants and Yankees met in the World Series that year.
In 1952 the Chicago Cubs became the third team to take up residence in Arizona when they moved their spring training base from Catalina Island off the California coast to Mesa’s Rendezvous Park. The Cubs have spent every spring since in Arizona except for 1966 when they trained in Long Beach, California.
The St. Louis Browns had trained in California since 1948. When the franchise moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season and became the Orioles, they shifted their spring training camp to Yuma, Ariz. to become the fourth Cactus League team. Their stay was a short one however as they moved their operations to Daytona, Fla. the next season.
October of 1954 saw the first all-Cactus League World Series when the Giants swept the Indians in the fall classic.
After playing as a three-team circuit in 1955, the Cactus League got back to four teams when the Orioles returned in 1956, this time to brand new Scottsdale Stadium. The O’s remained the tenant there for three years before returning to Florida to train in 1959. Their stay in Arizona saw the start of Brooks Robinson’s Hall-of Fame career.
Scottsdale Stadium wasn’t to remain empty for long. The Boston Red Sox took up residence there from 1959-65. Cactus League fans were treated to the final two seasons of Ted Williams career and the beginning years of Carl Yastrzemski’s.
Major League Expansion Grows the Cactus League
When the Major Leagues added teams through expansion in 1961-62, the Cactus League benefited with its own addition of two teams. In 1961 the American League Los Angeles Angels set up camp in Palm Springs, CA near the California-Arizona border. The Angels played half of their games in Palm Springs and half in Arizona. The following year when the National League expanded, the Houston Colt 45’s opened spring operations in Apache Junction, AZ at newly constructed Geronimo Park as the Cactus League swelled to six teams.
While the Angels continued to train in Palm Springs though 1992, the Colt’s lasted only two years in Apache Junction before moving to Florida in 1963.
In 1964 the Giants moved from “old” Phoenix Municipal Stadium to a new Phoenix Muni. Willie McCovey inaugurated new $891,380 park with the first hit there and Willie Mays hit the stadium’s first home run.
The Cactus League Shrinks, Then Sees New Round of Expansion
After the spring of 1965, the Cactus League reached a low point when the Cubs left Arizona to train in Long Beach, Calif. and the Red Sox moved closer to home by leaving Scottsdale for Winter Haven, Fla. Only the two original teams, the Indians and Giants, remained in Arizona with the Angels and Cubs having bases in California.
In 1967 after just one season in Long Beach, the Cubs came back to Arizona, but instead of returning to Mesa, they moved into Scottsdale Stadium.
In 1967 the Cactus League once again benefited from Major League expansion. In 1969 the American League Seattle Pilots (Tempe) and the National League San Diego Padres (Yuma) joined the ranks of teams training in Arizona. Charlie Finley’s A’s became the third addition to the league that year when they brought spring training back to Mesa, The A’s would win World Series titles three straight years (1972-74) while training there.
The Pilots showed up to spring training in 1970 wearing one uniform and left to wear another. During the spring the bankrupt Seattle team was sold to Milwaukee businessman and future MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. When the club left spring training, they left as the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brewers played two more springs in Tempe before moving to Sun City in 1973. Tempe wouldn’t find another tenant until 1977 when expansion would once again benefit the Cactus League. Ironically, it was another Seattle club that would call Tempe their spring home. The American League Mariners would play at Diablo Stadium from 1977-92.
New Stadiums Drive Competition With Grapefruit League and Growth
The Oakland A’s got a new ballpark in Mesa when Hohokam park opened on March 11, 1977 and Rendezvous Park was razed. The A’s only spent two springs at the new park before they swapped locations with the Cubs. In 1979 the Cubs returned to Mesa and the A’s became the fourth team to call Scottsdale their spring home. Then in 1984, the A’s and Giants traded places when the San Francisco club moved to Scottsdale and Oakland took over Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
A shiny new Compadre Stadium in Chandler lured the Milwaukee Brewers away from Sun City in 1986. Two years later on March 26, 1988, 9,812 fans packed the new ballpark to see the Cubs play the Brewers, setting a new Cactus League attendance record.
Enticed by a new stadium and complex, the Indians left Tucson for Florida in 1993. Once again, it was expansion that softened the blow as the Colorado Rockies took up spring residence at Hi Corbett Field. That same year, the Angels left Palm Springs for a renovated Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Scottsdale Stadium was razed following the 1991 spring season and replaced by a beautiful new ballpark designed by famed architects HOK who also designed Baltimore’s Camden Yards.
In 1994 a new era began when the city Peoria opened a new $32M complex and the San Diego Padres relocated from Yuma to share the new facility with the Seattle Mariners. The idea of shared facilities was one that would drive ballpark construction for the future.
As teams demanded bigger, better facilities, a new Hohokam park would replace the smaller park of the same name in 1997. The new park would set a Cactus League single game record for attendance that year when 12,833 fans saw the Cubs play the Rockies on March 28.
In 1998 the Arizona Diamondbacks were born and so was a new-shared complex with the Chicago White Sox in Tucson. Brand new $37M Electric Park opened that spring giving Tucson three teams and swelling Cactus league membership to ten.
Even though Compadre Stadium was only 12 years old, the Brewers were lured to a new $23M complex in Maryvale for the 1998 spring season.
In 2003, The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers relocated their spring operations from Florida and moved into a new $48M shared complex in Surprise as Cactus League membership grew to 12 teams.
The Cubs set a new single game attendance record when they drew 12,917 to a game in Mesa against the Diamondbacks on March 30, 2007. The Arizona Office of Tourism estimated that the Cactus league added more that $300M to Arizona’s economy that spring.
In 2006, the White Sox and Dodgers announced that they would be moving their spring operations to a new complex to be built in Glendale. The Dodgers moved from their Vero Beach Grapefruit League complex while the White Sox relocated from down the road in Tucson in 2009. Camelback Ranch in Glendale opened to rave reviews. Featuring the largest (13,000) seating capacity in the Cactus League and a 1,300-foot lake system. The campus became a model for spring training bases.
That same year, the Cleveland Indians returned to the Cactus League at a new complex in the town of Goodyear. The Cincinnati Reds joined the Indians in Goodyear in 2010.
With the addition of the Dodgers, Indians and Reds, the Cactus League now boasts a 15-team circuit. Half of all Major League teams now train in Arizona and for the first time, the Cactus League is equal to Florida’s Grapefruit League in size.
The growth of the Cactus League is bittersweet for Tucson as the move of the White Sox to Glendale triggered clauses in the Rockies and Diamondbacks contracts that allowed the clubs to get out of their leases. In 2011 the two clubs opened a fabulous new facility at the Salt River Indian Community in Scottsdale. The move left Tucson without spring training baseball for the first time since 1947. The Phoenix Metro area now hosts all 15 Cactus League teams in close proximity to each other; another distinct advantage over the rival Grapefruit League. The Rockies and Diamondbacks have set Cactus League attendance records as they host a game nearly every day all spring.
In 2014 Mesa opens a new ballpark for the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland A’s move into Hohokam Park in 2015. Phoenix Municipal Stadium will be turned over to the Arizona State University Sun Devils storied baseball program. The move closes the book on Phoenix Muni as a spring training park. It opened as the jewel of the Cactus League in 1964. Tempe Diablo Stadium, which opened in 1969, becomes the oldest park still hosting spring training.

domain: history


Community Conservancies can be more profitable than farming. This depends upon where they are located and what they offer.
I personally feel radical measures should be adopted by the County Government of Taita Taveta in order to stop the rampant cases of Human-wildlife conflict. One of the best measures is setting up community conservancies or helping the existing ones achieve their intended goals, and start seeing the benefits from them.
The new Wildlife Conservation and Management Act of 2013, has already recognized community conservancies as a positive form of land use which can be adopted by communities or a group of land owners living in areas where wildlife naturally occurs. This makes me wonder why political leaders in the areas prone to human wildlife conflict don’t support such initiatives? Surely, supporting these kinds of projects would be more profitable than growing corn in such areas with unreliable rainfall.
The Mbulia Conservancy electric fence is being completed thanks to US Fish and Wildlife African Elephant Conservation Fund, the Eden Trust, Disney Conservation Fund, and private donors. The fence will make the land continuous with Tsavo West National Park creating a safe haven for the wild animals, and mitigate conflicts experienced in the area. The lodge will bring in money and create more jobs for the community.


text:
Ahoy there! Liam Hemsworth's rumoured love interest Eiza Gonzales simmers in sexy sailor outfit at Halloween bash
She was thrust into the limelight after she was snapped kissing Liam Hemsworth shortly after he and Miley Cyrus ended their high profile engagement.
Since then, Eiza Gonzales has been spotted out and about in Hollywood where her star is very much on the rise.
On Saturday, the Mexican born actress and model attended the Roosevelt Hotel's annual Halloween bash where she turned heads in a sexy sailor ensemble.
Sailor girl! Eiza Gonzales attends the annual Halloween party at the popular Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday
The 23-year-old showed off her slim
model physique in the risque get-up that consisted of a pair of teeny
tiny dark dungaree shorts which gave a nod to the sailor theme with their white
nautical- inspired trim and gold buttons.
The model paired the flattering high waisted shorts with a short sleeved blue and white cropped top that showed off her tiny waist.
The skimpy sailor top had a cute red bow placed strategically over the deep V-neck, which drew attention to her cleavage.
Love interest: The 23-year-old Mexican model is rumoured to be dating Liam Hemsworth who was engaged to Miley Cyrus
The Mexican beauty wore a white sailor hat perched over her long cascading honey locks, finishing off the look perfectly.
In keeping with the colour scheme, the young starlet sported a bright red pout and a white manicure.
Eiza was at the party with friends and posed happily for photographers for solo pictures as well as a shot with her close friend Rudy Torres.
Pondering: Eiza poses coquettishly as she perhaps ponders the state of her romance with Liam Hemsworth
But not to be seen was Liam, whom she is rumoured to be dating.
The two have not been pictured
together since they were first linked in September and it is unclear if they are still together.
It may be that their dalliance was somewhat of a
rebound for Hemsworth who had been in a serious
relationship with Miley Cyrus for two years that resulted in their high
profile engagement and equally high profile split.
But one thing is for sure, photogenic Eiza looks set to be grabbing headlines, with or without Mr Hemsworth by her side.
Posing: The pretty starlet poses alongside her friend Rudy Torres
Tribute: Paris Hilton was also seen at the Roosevelt's Halloween party and paid homage to Eiza's love rival Miley with a tongue in cheek costume poking fun at her VMA appearance
Party goers: Jack Osbourne and Cheryl Burke, still in the game on Dancing With the Stars, took time from rehearsing the quickstep to hit the party at the Roosevelt Hotel
Great get-up! Leave it to Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier to arrive with the best costume of the night
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domain: entertainment


Follow The Money
- The political hacks will steal from any pot of cash they can find in order to fund the train to nowhere and keep the $$$$ flowing to their campaign contributors.
(AP) — California regulators did not abuse their discretion when they decided to pay for the state's high-speed rail project with money from a greenhouse gas emissions program, a Sacramento County judge said in a ruling made final on Monday.
The Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, which opposes the bullet train, argued that constructing the $64 billion project would create more pollution than it would eliminate for at least a decade.
The state has argued high-speed rail will help it meet its greenhouse gas-reduction targets.
But the lawsuit by the group based in San Rafael contended that the California Air Resources Board underplayed the bullet train's harmful environmental effects and exaggerated its environmental benefits. The board relied on the California High-Speed Rail Authority's environmental analysis and failed to account for the tons of cement to be used in construction, the lawsuit argued.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ruled that the decision by the California Air Resources Board was not arbitrary and capricious.
Read More . . . .


text:
Doing morning exercise for 30 minutes can help lower blood pressure among obese and overweight people for throughout the day, says a study.
Furthermore, the women who add short intervals from sitting the entire day could benefit, even more, said the researchers of the study.
As per Michael Wheeler, the lead author of the study, the magnitude at which the blood pressure lowers among men and women both after morning exercise as well as brief intervals from sitting was somewhat similar from the results expected from an antihypertensive medication.
However, benefits of morning exercise on blood pressure reduction was seen more among women than men, Wheeler added.
For the study, the researchers took the help of 67 people, aged between 55 to 80 years. All of the participants were either obese or overweight. The researchers then performed three distinct laboratory sessions on each participant in any order and maintained a gap of at least 6 days.
The first session included a continuous sitting session for 8 hours. The second session included sitting for 1 hour before a 30mins moderate walk on a treadmill followed by a prolonged sitting time of 6.5 hours. And lastly, the third session included sitting for 1 hour before a 30mins treadmill session followed by a sitting period which was intervened in every 30mins along with 3mins of light intensity walks for a total of around 6.5 hours.
The study was carried out in a regulated laboratory setting and all the participants were given the same standardized food during and before the study. The researchers measured the adrenaline and blood pressure levels of the participants repeatedly in every 8 hours.
By analyzing the results of the study, the researchers discovered that average diastolic and systolic blood pressure was lower in both men as well as women who performed the morning exercise in comparison to those who didn’t.
For women, there was an added benefit as their average systolic blood pressure lowered, even more, when they merged morning exercise along with brief intervals from sitting the entire day.
The reasons for the difference in results among both the genders are not clear. However, it could possibly be because of several factors like their distinct adrenaline response towards the exercise. Additionally, women involved in the research were post-menopausal which increases their risk of suffering from heart disease, said Wheeler.
Well, further research is indeed required to learn if morning exercise, as well as brief breaks from sitting, can also offer similar benefits to young people as well as the ones who aren’t obese or overweight.
The study appears in the Hypertension journal of the American Heart Association.

domain: medical


text:
This pet blanket will not fade colors or shed hair, and it is made of coral fleece of high quality. This pet blanket is sure to make your furry friend whether dog or cat comfortable anywhere. This stylish and comfortable pet blanket is designed with contrasting paw prints. The Ultra-Soft Pet Blanket is machine washable and durable. This multi-purpose blanket is ideal bedding for pet carriers and bed or to lay out on furniture, your couch, your car or simply on the floor.
Size S: 76*52cm, L: 104*76cm. Colors: pink, purple, brown.
Size S: 76*52cm
Material: coral velvet
Soft pet blanket for small cats and dogs
Perfect for the couch or inside your car or RV
Machine washable for easy cleaning

domain: pet


With wide applicability of flash memory in various application domains, reliability has become a very critical issue. This paper is motivated by the needs to resolve the lifetime problem of flash memory and a strong demand in turning thrown-away flash-memory chips into downgraded products. The authors propose a set-based mapping strategy with an effective implementation and low resource requirements, e.g., SRAM. A configurable management design and wear-leveling issue are considered. The behavior of the proposed method is also analyzed with respect to popular implementations in the industry.


Uber won’t stop operating in Ottawa while it waits more than five months to be street legal.
“We plan on continuing operations within the City of Ottawa prior to the bylaw coming into force on September 30, 2016,” according to an email Uber Canada general manager Ian Black sent to Coun. Diane Deans late Monday.
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“This is consistent with other jurisdictions where ride-sharing regulations have been created and is a recognition that Uber is an integral part of many residents’ transportation plan(s).”
During a two-day committee meeting last week, some councillors demanded to see some goodwill from Uber before allowing the international ride-ordering company to legally operate in Ottawa. They wanted a commitment from Uber that it would halt operations until a new bylaw kicks in.
“I think there is some goodwill in there,” Deans said in an interview Tuesday, referring to Black’s response to questions she sent him.
“It’s not entirely surprising to me, either.”
After all, she said, Uber has been operating illegally in the city since October 2014.
Deans likes that Uber wants to comply with the requirements of the proposed bylaw before the regulations begin. Uber wants to meet with city officials on a monthly basis to update them on its compliance.
The city will continue cracking down on Uber drivers if council on Wednesday votes in favour of a dual licensing system, Deans said.
“We certainly won’t lighten up on that,” she said.
Deans wanted answers from Uber on two items: The company’s plan to operate after council’s vote and its plan to meet the city’s insurance requirements.
Councillors have been skeptical about Uber’s insurance scheme. The city wants to require both cabbies and Uber drivers to have $5 million in coverage. Cabbies seem fine with the requirement. In his response to Deans, Black committed Uber to complying with the insurance conditions.
Lobbying by the taxi industry and Uber continued Tuesday at city hall.
With few options remaining, the debate over requiring cameras in Uber cars has become the taxi industry’s Waterloo. The city requires only taxis to have in-car cameras under the proposed bylaw.
A motion at committee last week calling for cameras in Uber cars failed with only three out of 10 councillors supporting College Coun. Rick Chiarelli’s revision.
The topic was still hot Tuesday.
Uber’s Chris Schafer wrote in an e-mail to council “there’s a possibility that this issue might be brought up again” on Wednesday, while providing examples of jurisdictions that don’t require cameras in Uber cars.
Cabbies argue the city should mandate cameras inside Uber cars to protect public safety. Deans doesn’t buy it. It’s just a barrier the taxi industry wants to throw in front of Uber, she said.
“Don’t try to hide behind the veil of a safety issue that’s not there,” Deans said.
Deans said she expects an amendment tabled at council asking the city to reconsider the camera issue next year during a regular compliance update.
Otherwise, it looks like there will be enough votes on council to make Uber legal.
If approved by council, Uber and other alternative ride services would fall under a new licensing category called “private transportation company,” or PTC.
A company the size of Uber would need to pay the city a $7,253 annual licence fee, plus an 11-cent commission on each ride.
To help cabbies, the city wants to reduce licence fees, eliminate standard taxi training, wave a licence fee for accessible taxi drivers and stop making them conform to “uniform” rules. The bylaw would also be more lenient on taxi sizes.


text:
~ Press release issued by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Office, Western District of Virginia
HARRISONBURG, Dec. 17 — A Luray woman, who police stopped for driving with a suspended license and found to be in possession of methamphetamine and other drugs, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to a pair of federal drug charges, Acting United States Attorney Daniel P. Bubar announced.
Amanda Marie Catoe, 32, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and one count of possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Catoe faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison.
She will be sentenced on April 21, 2021.
“Methamphetamine continues to plague communities in the Western District,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bubar stated. “Prosecuting those that distribute meth and therefore perpetuate the destruction caused by it continues to be a top priority of this office and I appreciate the hard work of our federal and state partners that went into this case.”
According to court documents, on January 8, 2019, officers stopped Catoe’s vehicle for driving with a suspended license. A narcotics canine arrived on scene and alerted to the vehicle. Upon searching the vehicle, officers found several bags of methamphetamine, marijuana, and cash.
A search warrant was executed at Catoe’s residence in Luray. Officers found methamphetamine hidden under the stairs, hallucinogenic mushrooms, morphine, psilocyn, documents detailing prior drug transactions, and at least ten firearms, including four shotguns and four rifles.
The investigation of the case was conducted by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm, and Explosives, Luray Police Department, and Page County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Jeb Terrien is prosecuting the case for the United States.

domain: news


The Forum Dirigieren (formerly Dirigentenforum) of the German Music Council was established for talented young conductors and promotes young orchestral and choral conductors. Artistic encounters of the young generation with nationally and internationally renowned conducting experts as well as with renowned orchestras is the central task of Forum Dirigieren. In addition, workshops on career planning, public relations, etc. are organized. Furthermore, the organisation and execution of the “German Conducting Award”, which Martijn won in 2021, is in the hands of Forum Dirigieren.
Since 2018, Martijn has been a scholarship holder of Forum Dirigieren and attended courses with Gabriel Feltz, Pavel Baleff, Simone Young, Marko Letonja and Enrico Delamboye. He conducted the Dortmund Philharmonic, the WDR Funkhausorchester, the Bremen Philharmonic and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz.
In June 2021 he was nominated to the artist list “Konzertförderung Forum Dirigieren” (formerly “Maestros von Morgen”).


On Oct. 19, Jones used the da Vinci robot to perform mitral valve surgery on Melancon at Lafayette General Medical Center. A week later, Melancon was up and around, then released from the hospital. This was a significant change from her first cardiac surgery, where her recovery took about a month. "We wanted to avoid going through her breastbone because of her prior surgery, because of the scar and adhesions," Jones says. "And, that's big stress on anybody, much less an 85-year-old. So, we were able to go through the side of her chest, and she did really well. With the other surgery, her recovery would have been much more severe, much harder."
Today, Melancon is doing just fine. "I feel better," she says in her Cajun accent. "Before the surgery, I was hurting, and I'm not hurting anymore."
Jones performs two closed-chest valve procedures which are new to this area. The first is aortic valve surgery through a small incision in the upper chest. Most heart surgery is performed through sternotomy, which involves dividing or cracking the breastbone. Jones' technique uses small, 5-centimeter incisions through the chest to reach the aortic valve. Since moving to Lafayette two months ago, Jones has performed six aortic valve replacements using this technique.
The other minimally invasive procedure is the one he performed on Melancon, mitral valve surgery with the da Vinci robot. Jones was the first surgeon in the state to use the robot for cardiac procedures and has the most experience with a variety of robotic heart procedures nationwide. With this technique, the surgeon places instruments into the patient's chest through small "poke holes." At a console, the doctor uses two "joy sticks" to operate the arms of the robot, which are actually inside the heart. The instruments have two small hinge points, allowing the surgeon to move the instruments with a wrist-like motion to do whatever is necessary ' dissect, cut, sew ' to repair or reconstruct the valve.
While this all sounds like science fiction, Jones says this technique is perfectly safe. Since the da Vinci uses a state-of-the-art camera in 3-D and high definition, the surgeon's vision is much better with the console. "You just have finer details when you are operating with the robot, as opposed to the standard way," he says.
Most significantly, the recovery time is drastically reduced. "We are not breaking or cutting any bones," Jones says, "so patients really can get back to work in two or three weeks, as opposed to eight weeks."
After surgery, patients' limitations are what he calls "miniscule." Within a week, they have few, if any, physical restrictions. Jones cites the example of a 79-year-old Nebraska farmer who was hauling 25-pound buckets of feed to his cattle just 10 days post-surgery. "You just can't do that if you have the sternotomy," he says. "We've shown that the recovery time in the hospital is quicker as well. We've had people go home on post-operative day number two and post-operative day number three, as opposed to being in the hospital four or five days."
Additionally, the resulting scar is minimal. Open-chest procedures typically leave an 8- to 10-inch gash down the center of the torso, while closed-chest surgeries produce just a slight incision mark. In Melancon's case, she was left with small scars under her right arm and on her breast.
While robotic mitral valve surgery is relatively new ' the first case was performed in May 2007 ' the reports are encouraging so far. "We've had anecdotal results and five-year results," Jones says, "and those results, to date, are very, very positive, and show just as good a result as surgery done the old-fashioned way."
Another advantage is that just about anyone with isolated valve problems is a candidate for the surgery. Jones has used the robot on three morbidly obese women in Nebraska and performed the closed-chest valve procedure on a 400-pound man in South Carolina. "I think anyone who needs mitral valve surgery should at least be evaluated for a minimally invasive approach," he says. Currently, Jones performs 14 different cardiac procedures with the da Vinci. In fact, he did the first robotic tricuspid valve repair in the country. The tricuspid valve is located between the right atrium (top chamber) and right ventricle (bottom chamber). Its role is to make sure blood flows in a forward direction from the right atrium to the ventricle, but if it does not function properly, blood can leak backwards across the valve.
Jones is optimistic about the future of robotics, anticipating that they will expand to lung surgery. "I think the techniques will get better, and the software, the robot and the computer will get better," he says. "It will just become more of a standard of care. Five years or 10 years from now, the technology is only going to get better. The number of programs offered for robotic cardiac surgery is expanding. So, it's a technique that people need to know. [Patients] need to look at the Internet, and see what's out there for options. Because not all facilities offer this, and probably not all cardiologists are going to offer this. And patients need to know that it is available for them, and to ask for it."
Word of mouth might be the best way to educate the public, as patients like Melancon aren't shy about talking up the procedure. "Because it works ' it works good," she says emphatically.
Casual cool for Thanksgiving
Shop Lafayette goes strong
The fight to clean up Lafayette Parish could get some added ammunition with two ordinances up for votes Tuesday by the City-Parish Council targeting litter-bugs.
A divided 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal reversed a Lafayette district judge’s ruling absolving the co-owner of a New Iberia accounting firm of liability in an embezzlement case.
Our View: It’s reasonable, temporary and invests in Lafayette’s future.
Acadiana's nightlife guide.
By striking a deal to lessen the blow of health insurance changes on state workers, school employees and retirees, Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration lowered the volume of criticism but gave itself and local school boards a new budget headache.
With the airport tax coming up for a parishwide vote in about a week, the Broussard City Council and its mayor have come out in support of the proposal.
Protesters rallied peacefully in several Louisiana cities in the wake of the Missouri grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the fatal shooting of Michal Brown.
Three bedroom in Port Barre or two bedroom in Opelousas
US cities bidding on Olympics; Guard prevents more Ferguson riots; storm threatens travel and more national and international news for Wednesday, November 26, 2014.
Wednesday's Blogs from the Bog!
The U.S. rep billed LSU for work allegedly performed on the same days Congress voted on major legislation and held important committee hearings on energy and the ACA.
“I am only getting a little nervous about two projects — the proposed Sasol GTL facility [not the new ethylene plant] and the proposed G2X facility — both in Lake Charles. They need a hefty difference between oil and natural gas prices to make sense.”
Abysmally low participation by the public has prompted the council to scuttle the 2014 survey with plans to simplify it and try again next year.
The village now says the ordinance will likely be overturned and authorities will more vigorously enforce existing leash laws.
Lower oil prices also might slow the growth of oil production in parts of the U.S., Canada and elsewhere because it will no longer be so profitable.
Bill Cassidy cast an early ballot Tuesday, seeking to draw renewed attention to a race that has fallen off newspaper front pages and away from people's minds as they plan holiday meals and shopping schedules.
A Lafayette woman faces up to 20 years in prison for running up more than $1 million in unauthorized charges to her company credit card.
Signs that our state’s banking industry is undergoing a downsizing in 2014 were further confirmed today with the FDIC’s latest figures showing a third straight quarter in which Louisiana lost more banks and earned less money.
Acadiana's nightlife guide.
State police say a 47-year-old Lafayette man, who collected more than $83,000 in disability benefits, is accused of operating two businesses out of his home at a time when he claimed he had no income.
Battered all night by Baltimore's relentless pass rush, Drew Brees could feel his protection collapsing and Terrell Suggs getting ahold of him as he urgently unloaded a pass to the right flat toward tight end Jimmy Graham.
After a convincing defeat at the polls on Nov. 4, Earl “Nickey” Picard has decided to let bygones be bygones with his former right-hand man Brian Pope, announcing his support for his former employee’s runoff bid to become Lafayette’s next city marshal.
Saturday the athletic department did everything possible to ensure the 2014 Ragin’ Cajun seniors remembered fondly their last home game. Rain and lightning never arrived but turbulence did in the form of the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
Even stranger than the Republican Party’s decision to hold a “unity rally” earlier this month for Congressman Bill Cassidy in a Baton Rouge bar, Huey’s Bar, was the fact that the establishment was named after Louisiana’s most famous Democrat.
Bar Code is not a gay bar.
After failing to pass a medical marijuana bill last year, state Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, is telling supporters he will return in 2015 with legislation that focuses on different applications like oils and pills.
Voters, obviously, are not yet tuned into the 2015 ballot, despite the intriguing races it will host.
Acadiana's nightlife guide.


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Outskirts neuropathy is an impeding condition for which there are couple of competent medications, basically in light of the way that we don’t thoroughly comprehend the focal sub-atomic instruments, say specialists whose most recent disclosure seems to reveal new information here.
The social occasion, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, reports the exposure in The Journal of Neuroscience. They trust the disclosures will impel new research to help patients with suffering from fringe neuropathy or neuropathic torment.
As per the National Institutes of Health, around 20 million individuals in the US have some sort of fringe neuropathy – harm or torment wickedness to the outskirts substantial structure that causes shortcoming, deadness or anguish. It can effect individuals with diabetes, advancement, distinctive sclerosis and different assorted conditions.
The fringe unmistakable structure is the colossal game plan of nerve strands that sends signs between the focal material system (the mind and spinal line) and each other piece of the body.
In fringe neuropathy, the hurt nerve strands have a hoisted reaction to standard flags and send wrong messages to trouble focuses in the mind – a strategy known as “outskirts and focal refinement.”
The relentless anguish condition can introduce in particular structures and take after distinctive representations. For example, in a champion amongst the most extensively saw, diabetic neuropathy, nerve devilishness happens in a climbing case. Trouble and deadness from time to time are felt symmetrically in both feet took after by a predictable advancement up both legs.
The new disclosure conceals the action of a cerebrum’s piece called the front cingulate cortex (ACC), thought to be the extent most reliably joined into torment dealing with.
Blocking HCN channels may assist calm with unendinging anguish
Senior creator Philippe Séguéla, an educator in the branch of neurology and neurosurgery, and associates found new data around a sort of channel that controls the transmission of destruction signs to the ACC.
From lab tests on rats, they found that hindering these channels – called hyper polarization-actuated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels – diminished over-artificiality of the ACC and certainly decreased finishes of wretchedness.
“Our study has uncovered one key system partner unending hopelessness to unusual advancement of the ACC and it gives a cell and sub-atomic explanation for the overstimulation of neurons in the prefrontal cortex,” says Prof. Séguéla. “This gives us new points of view on remedial frameworks that could focus on the HCN channels to help ease perpetual torment.”
All the additionally beginning late, utilizing mind breadths of the prefrontal zones of the cerebrum, agents have in like way found that lively, mental and mental variables can impact torment understanding in neuropathic torment.
Prof. Séguéla explains these have displayed that the ACC is essential for subjective points of confinement joined with memory, suppositions and feelings, and we no doubt comprehend that patients who bear persevering wretchedness have issues with working memory and concentrating on errands, and they might in like way experience the shrewd effects of trouble and tension. He closes:
“Our exposures open better ways to deal with explore conceivable treatment of these harming signs that are connected with perpetual pain”.


U. S. Court of Appeals for 6th Circuit, 613 U.S. Post Office Courthouse, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45202
As a long-time subscriber but small-time collector, I always look forward to the arrival of GEM and find enjoyment in scanning its pages from cover to cover. It doesn't take long to absorb news concerning the engines in my small collection, of which an excellent Foos Jr., on trucks, is my favorite. However, I find the articles on tractor restoration to be of particular interest. It occurred to me that my own experience in that area might be of interest to other readers.
I own an 80 acre tract in a nearby county which some might call junk land-but they'd better not let me hear them say it! Having had difficulty keeping a couple of acres mowed around the house and outbuildings on what I laughingly call my 'farm', a friend gave me an old Harvester International Cub with a Woods mower which was nearly as decrepit as the farm itself. That poor old tractor, which had spent its best days being abused by highway department employees of a rural county, had been left outdoors, untouched by human hands, for some years. Getting it into operable shape proved to be a prolonged and not inexpensive undertaking, but the old fellow did its level best to do a job for a dozen years.
Last year two of my sons convinced me that I was waging a losing battle with my vintage machine, and one of them located an identical Cub at a so-so price. It had been used exclusively for snow plowing and was equipped with a blade rather than a mower, but the engine had been recently ovehauled, and in general it enjoyed better health than my creaking invalid. I bought it, and Jim and Ched began the slow process of converting the two machines into one excellent tractor and another not so good-but not so bad either!
The 'boys' (I call them that, but no one except a father or an elderly uncle would) undertook the chore, intending to simply put all the best parts on one tractor, the more worn on the other. For example, the rear wheels and draw bar of the second tractor were badly pitted by the salt used in snow removal, so they went on the 'not so good' unit, while the tires stayed on the better machine. As work progressed, however, my sons' enthusiasm in the pursuit of excellence got the better of them, and they went far beyond original expectations.
Both tractors were totally disassembled, and I do mean totally. All parts, from big ones like fenders to little ones the size of your thumb, were sandblasted and sanded, then spray painted with primer, and followed by several final coats. The hood of the better tractor ended up with a finish competitive with that on any luxury automobile.
The color is authentic original HI red, and this might be a good time to mention that, like that paint, every part needed was found to be available through a local implement dealer. These tractors were 1949 (Serial #94769) and 1951 (Serial #142566) models and I was pleased to find that every part we needed, no matter how important or insignificant, could be purchased either over-the-counter or by catalogue. It should be added, however, that son Jim has a basement machine shop superior to that of most hobbyists, and was able to turn or otherwise fabricate some of the needed parts. In reassembling the better tractor, and in most instances in the other one also, all new bolts and nuts, bushings, gaskets, seals, bearings and other such parts were used. New batteries and belts were provided, and new front tires (largely for cosmetic reasons) were put on the better unit. A brand new electrical harness was installed, and both generators and starting motors were redone. One headlight lens and one rear lens were needed, and again, duplicates of the originals were found to be over-the-counter items.
An acquisition of considerably greater importance may be worth mentioning. The old tractor's muffler projected straight up from a pipe extending direct from the manifold through a hole in the hood. This position of the muffler was a considerable nuisance wherever low hanging branches existed, and made mowing in my small orchard plot a virtual impossibility. As a questionable remedy, I had put in an elbow so that the muffler lay back just over the hood. However, since this directed the emission right at the operator's face, it would be understatement to say that the cure was worse than the disease. Jim procured from the implement dealer a fascinating pre-formed exhaust pipe with more dips and bends than a chorus line. It barely missed a lot of things on the way down, but repositioned the muffler under the floorboard. The hole in the hood, incidentally, was fiber glassed over and is now entirely undiscernable on the beautifully finished hood mentioned above.
Neither engine needed a full overhaul, but both were pretty well worked over. Both transmissions were opened and all of the gears checked. Interestingly, even after all those years of use, and hard use, after being cleaned up, most of those gears, even on the older unit, could have passed as brand new. Rather surprisingly, neither clutch required serious attention.
The Woods mower was in even worse shape than the older tractor. One skid was broken and half gone, and we replaced both while we were at it. The pulley and clutch assembly were in sorry condition, and somewhere in history a marginal mechanic had improvised repairs out of his junk box. Once again, however, our implement man came up with parts. This might be a good time to give a tip of the hat to the men in that trade. We had to cross the Ohio River to Campbell County, Kentucky, but like other farm implement dealers we've dealt with over the years, this one went far beyond the call of duty in offering suggestions, providing answers, and being generally cooperative. It would be great to find an automobile supply house half as friendly!
I have no illusions about the Cub as a work-horse. I have a '52 Ford with a Mono trailing mower which will of course run rings around the Cub when it comes to heavy work, and I also have two Sears tractor/mowers (one 11HP, one 12) and a Jacobson (12HP) which will go through far heavier grass and growth than the Cub. Just the same, for plain old fun I'll take the Cub any day. Cruising along on its bouncy seat high above the flying severed leaves of grass gives one a 'King of the Mountain' weekend feeling that relegates the frustrations of the preceding five days to the forgotten past.
I mentioned earlier that restoring the first tractor turned out to be 'not inexpensive,' and certainly this more recent procedure was not cheap. The older unit was priced for a quick sale so didn't bring top dollar, and parts cost money. Truthfully, I am never going to try and figure out just what my 'new' tractor has cost, and when I dwell on the matter I have the sinking feeling that for my total investment in the two tractors I might well have been able to purchase three. But I have no regrets. We have had a lot of fun out of all of this, and, like a kid at Christmas, I have a nice bright and shiny new toy! When it goes to work this spring on my 'farm', remote from the view of human eyes, the creatures of the woods and fields will be simply dazzled by its brilliance!


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This week’s new Dustinland comic is about the kinds of TV shows I like to watch. I won’t reveal the joke to you now, but I will say there is one exception to what I mention in the comic: Stranger Things. Man, I do love that show. But as for the rest, the comic is pretty on point.
Tag Archives: tv
It’s pretty hard to have anything new to add to the overwhelming election coverage media blitz that goes on every four years, so here’s a fun distraction—mostly.
My wife thinks Pro Abba Abba is a bit of a stretch but I like it. Abo Abo just doesn’t sound right. I also really wanted to do Swiftboat Willie but that was a movie, not a cartoon.
Hey, I admitted it in this week’s Dustinland, it’s hard to not enjoy Jersey Shore. It’s just entertaining. But it’s also sad. MTV has basically become the “Watch Our Youth And Despair” channel. It’s all just so depressing. Everywhere you look, idiots — and not just unfortunate idiots. Idiots that are proud of being ignorant. That’s the US for you these days. The land of the free, home of the dumb.


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If everybody reading this were to copy & paste this post in its entirety and email it to everybody on their contacts list and ask them to do the same, as well as post it on all of their social media sites, we could wake up hundreds of millions of Americans and turn this country around in short order.
From the video description:
When Idaho Legislator Curtis Bowers wrote a “letter to the editor” about the drastic changes in America’s culture, it became the feature story on the evening news, people protested at the Capitol, and for weeks the local newspapers were filled with responses. He realized then… he’d hit on something. Ask almost anyone and you’ll hear, “Communism is dead! The Berlin Wall came down.” Thought the word communism isn’t used anymore, this film will show the ideas behind it are alive and well. Join Bowers for a fascinating look at the people and groups that have successfully targeted America’s morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. It’s a well documented AGENDA.
The following is a list of American Communist Party members currently serving in our nation’s congress. The Congressional Progressive Caucus is now what the American Communist party call themselves; intended to deflect what they really stand for.
Source: Their own website
Congressional Progressive Caucus Members
First Vice Chair
Sheila Jackson Lee
Special Order Hour Conveners
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Lisa Blunt Rochester
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Joe Kennedy III
Mary Gay Scanlon
Bonnie Watson Coleman
- Video: Newly-Elected Denver Councilwoman Promises To Force Socialism ‘By Any Means Necessary’
- Patriotic Marine vet vows to fight socialism in Congress, gets accused of threatening AOC with firepower
- Sorry Democrats, Socialism Is Antithetical To America’s Judeo-Christian Tradition
- Video: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Shows What Happens To Your Brain On Socialism
- CNN, millennials think socialism is cool, forgets history
If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. You can also follow us on Twitter at @co_firing_line. Facebook, Google and other members of the Silicon Valley Axis of Evil are now doing everything they can to deliberately stifle conservative content online, so please be sure to check out our MeWe page here, check us out at ProAmerica Only and the new social site, Hardcore Conservatives.

domain: politics


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How to Create Your Own Reading List
How to Create Your Own Reading List from Overstock.com. Learn how to choose books that you'll enjoy and create a useful, engaging, and fun reading list.
Easy reading but very basic. Further discussion by arthur of book would have made it better. Tarot Cards were nice....
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Lo Scarabeo's Tarot decks have been acclaimed all over the world for originality and quality. With the best Italian and international artists, each Lo Scarabeo deck is an exceptional artistic value.
Commited to developing innovative new decks while preserving the rich tradition of Tarot, Lo Scarabeo continues to be a favorite among collectors and readers.
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Dating back to fifteenth-century Florence, the Minchiate is a fascinating form of tarot. Composed of 97 cards instead of the usual 78, this historic deck features an expanded set of major arcana. In addition to the traditional tarot trumps, you'll find the Grand Duke, the Eastern Emperor, and cards representing the four elements (fire, water, air, earth), the twelve astrological signs, and four more virtuesprudence, faith, hope, and charity. This beautiful eighteenthcentury edition is designed to delight the most exacting collector. Each cardetched and painted by handis a true artistic jewel, rich in symbols and refined allegory.
Includes 97 full-color cards and companion guide.
|Genre||BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Divination / Tarot|
|Publisher Date||2011-09-08 00:00:00.0|
|Publisher||Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd|
|Unit weight||1.05 lb|
|Subtitle||Firenze, Secolo XVIII|
|Country of Origin||United States|
Easy reading but very basic. Further discussion by arthur of book would have made it better. Tarot Cards were nice.Read More
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text:
Annual Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1979-June 30, 1980 (Classic Reprint)
Excerpt from Annual Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1979-June 30, 1980 The Institute devotes special attention to young people of accomplishment and prom ise, and offers them membership at a stage in their careers when independent work is of the highest importance to their intellectual development. These younger members then return to or join the faculties of universities all over the world and share what they have learned as a result of their stay at the Institute. This might be termed the invisible work of the Institute; its visible work is contained in the publications of the Faculty and visiting members. Both serve to reinforce in highly significant ways the quality of scholarship and research throughout the world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- Paperback | 126 pages
- 152 x 229 x 7mm | 181g
- 23 Feb 2018
- Forgotten Books
- 17 Illustrations; Illustrations, black and white

domain: library