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As we prepare for the year-end and usher in yet another new year, Kuala Lumpur (KL) is seeing the opening of new eating joints and Instagram-worthy cafes pop up like mushrooms. This is great to see because many locals have had to say goodbye to some of their favourite places due to the effects of lockdown.
As rules ease and things return to somewhat normal, we’re seeing new places foodies can explore. Our curated guide of new restaurants in KL includes various cuisines — from Asian fusion and Western bites to decadent desserts that will have you coming back for more. This list has something for everyone, so check them out before the crowd builds.
1. Raw Kitchen Hall, Else Retreats Kuala Lumpur
Raw Kitchen Hall is an extension of its sister brand, Raw Kitchen Bar, in Singapore. This modern eatery is inspired by the Latin-Asian concept and brings comfort food in a luxurious space. Tucked inside Else Kuala Lumpur boutique hotel, Raw Kitchen Hall offers an array of starter plates to share.
Some of them include tuna tartare, prawn toasties, and pad kra pao croquettes, guaranteed to satisfy your tastebuds. As for mains, try their Crab Meat Tagliatelle with the Warung Wagyu Beef Brisket — we promise you won’t be disappointed. Raw Kitchen Hall prides itself on creating dishes for sharing so you can bring along your family and friends for a delicious meal.
Address: Else Retreats Kuala Lumpur, Ground Floor, 145 Jalan Tun H S Lee, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6014 2672887
2. Burger and Lobster, KLCC
Great news for those who have been hankering to try Burger and Lobster but didn’t want to make a trip up to Genting Highlands — it’s now opened a second outlet in KLCC! This famous London-born dining spot features signature lobster rolls and burgers: The Mayfair Burger, The Original Lobster roll, and The Original Lobster.
If you’re looking for something fancier, we recommend the B&L Burger, which combines rich, succulent lobster meat and delicious beef slices drizzled with tarragon and truffle sauce. While you’re there, check out the outlet-exclusive Lobster Laksa, with Canadian lobster braised in a coconut broth topped with herbs, laksa noodles, and fried bean curd.
Address: Lot G46, Ground Floor, Suria KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +603 2707 5932
3. Pokok, Lalaport Bukit Bintang
If you have yet to get a chance to visit Pokok at MAHSA Avenue in Petaling Jaya, fret not! You can now head over to Lalaport Bukit Bintang to taste their menu. Step into a vast plant haven and soak in the industrial-meets-tropical interior. Located on Lalaport’s rooftop garden, customers can expect beautiful natural lighting seeping into the cafe, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The restaurant serves a variety of Western and Asian favourites, including Aglio olio, avocado toast, and nasi lemak; we hear the salmon salad is pretty good too. Sweet tooths, don’t pass up the chance to check out their pastries and desserts, especially their pavlova!
Address: Lalaport BBCC, Lot L4-04C, Level 4 Mitsui Shopping Park, Jalan Hang Tuah, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6016 406 5218
4. Kenny Hills Bistro, Fours Seasons Place
Local bakery chain, Kenny Hills Bakers has opened its first casual contemporary bistro in the heart of KL and is located within the exclusive Shoppes at Four Seasons Place. Kenny Hills Bistro comprises a bar, an al fresco dining area facing the Petronas Twin Towers, and a spacious dining room with a clear view of the kitchen. With such a setup, it’s truly a perfect place to share a meal or drink with loved ones.
Unlike its sister outlets, the bistro’s menu offers a more European-inspired fare. Sample their Spinach & Ricotta-filled Tortellini with soft egg yolk, brown butter, and ricotta salata. Other options include charred Basque-style Spanish octopus, seared-scallop ceviche, and beef wellington.
Address: Shoppes at Four Seasons Place, G-07 (B), Ground Floor, 145, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6017 230 8081
5. Nippori Cafe, Publika
Foodies will be familiar with Nippori Cafe and dance joyfully to the opening of their second outlet in Publika Shopping Gallery. Known for its warm and cosy ambience, Nippori has loyal fans who keep coming back for their delicious home-cooked-style Japanese food.
Order their signature smoked duck thin-crust pizza topped with sliced onion, cheese cube, and Japanese mayonnaise. Or indulge in the spicy Korean spaghetti using Korean miso paste cooked with premium Wagyu beef and topped with a sunny side up. For set lovers, try their Nippori home-cooked bundle with soup, pickled chawanmushi, and salmon sushi.
Address: Lot 58, Level G2, Publika Shopping Gallery, 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +603 6413 9953
6. Commons KL, Bukit Bintang
Commons KL is a new food haven home to a handful of cafes and restaurants such as Thai seafood AoDeeDee, Morning Wood, and Morning Wood, which serves specially brewed coffee, ranging from Spanish lattes to Okinawan black sugar lattes.
Pots and Trays may look like a plant nursery, but it doubles as a restaurant. To find it, you must look for the greenest spot in the modern hub, contrasted against warm wooden walls, and you’ll meet the entrance. The best part of Commons KL is that the outdoor seating is pet-friendly, so feel free to bring along your fur babies!
Address: 55, Bukit Bintang St, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +603 2148 3651
7. A Little Bud, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI)
A Little Bud had its humble beginning as a little florist shop but has now blossomed into one of TTDI’s most trendy cafes. Worry not, though, as they still sell flowers. As you step into the cafe/florist shop, you’ll be greeted by a Balinese-style cosy space decorated in pastel-coloured flowers and rustic rattan furniture.
The menu features aromatic coffee, artisanal fruit teas, home-baked pies, homemade cakes, and pastries by independent bakers, with more savoury options coming soon, so stay tuned.
Address: 24 Persiaran Zaaba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6012 322 2703
8. Last Project, Bangsar
If you’re looking for quick Japanese bites, head to the Last Project in Bangsar. It is a pork-free eatery and bar serving delicious hand rolls, yakitori, and alcoholic drinks. Take a pick from their range of comfort food, including maki rolls, kushiyaki, rice bowls, and other sharing plates. The most popular and exquisite Wagyu Off Cut roll is loved by many, and you can opt to pair it with an ice-cold mug of beer or even wine.
Address: 11-B1, Lorong Kurau, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6017 527 7285
9. Little Tee Cakes, Bangsar
Little Tee Cakes may sound very familiar, especially if you’ve ordered some of their sweet treats on Eat Cake Today. Now, you can finally visit their standalone store, which is both whimsical and pretty! Step into a candy store-meets-ice cream parlour and take all the fun pictures you need for your Instagram!
Little Tee Cakes’ signature Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookie Cake and Chocolate Nutella Cake are true favourites for many dessert lovers. Besides that, you can also try their strawberry shortcakes, taro cakes, scones, and tarts, to name a few. Remember to order a side of coffee with your dessert and enjoy the sugar rush!
Address: 5 Jalan Bangsar Utama 3, Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +6012 242 5669
10. Piccadilly Cafe
Recently opened near Masjid Jamek LRT in Downtown KL, Piccadilly Cafe aims to unleash your imagination with breathtaking exposed brick walls, beautiful arches, wooden furnishings, and mostly by elevating traditional cuisines to novel yet sophisticated meals.
Indulge in the carefully crafted menu for breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner; taste a wide selection of pasta specially prepared by a Chef de Cuisine who has more than 20 years of experience in the western food industry. Stop by for the ‘gram, and stay for the fantastic food, coffee, and desserts.
Address: 62 & 64, Jalan Tun Perak, City Centre, 50500 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: +603 2022 1102

domain: food


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|This article is currently being developed or reviewed. Some statements may be disputed, incorrect, unverified, biased or otherwise objectionable. Please read the discussion on the talk page before making substantial changes.|
Here's a link to the UK-based support group Mermaids, a support group for gender variant children and teenagers, and their families. The site also has links to a number of other organisations, support groups, information and information on treatment options. "Mermaids Site"

domain: sociology


One month after the hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island of Dominica, foodstuff,
Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has resumed scheduled service to hurricane-ravaged St Maarten yesterday, following the
A water cannon for crowd control will be among $4.
Two soldiers have been granted $.
A Chaguanas businessman is warded in critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex
A 26-year-old musician from Freeport appeared in the Couva Magistrates Court yesterday charged with the
The Central Bank failed in its role to regulate the exchange rate over the
Nicole Dyer-Griffith writes a weekly column for the Business Day.
The management of the CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) is appealing
Take That and Cool It booted SP Boys out of the “Big 8” on Saturday
Guaya United and Prisons FC will contest the final of the Caribbean Football Trust Limited
West Indies women swept the home leg of the One-Day International (ODI) series against
Kristi-Marie Madray (NYLO Intern)
On Sunday, Trinidad and Tobago’s athletes, Jarrim Solomon, Jereem Richards, Lalonde Gordon
The Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean) Music And Entertainment (TTCME) Awards is being touted as an
Further to our article on August 20 on the healing garden at UWI, we
They are small, but their message profound.
THE PROOF is in the thick sludge coating the waters off Chaguaramas.
IT IS THE most silent of killers.
It is a reminder of the power of fire: homes and bodies reduced to ash
THE EDITOR: The US footballers called the venue for the World Cup qualifier with TT
THE EDITOR: The newspapers recently carried advertisements by Udecott for “qualified entities to submit proposals
THE EDITOR: As a former deputy director of the NLCB, it is obvious to me
THE EDITOR: The shocking and disturbing video footage showing the level of bullying and violent
Today is reality, tomorrow a promise, yesterday was history.
IT IS extremely disturbing to see a Member of Parliament place the blame for school
THE PUBLIC SERVICE is a key element in the governmental system and therefore its
ARIMA IS STILL in high celebrity mode as the impact of its First Peoples celebrations


Since global warming came to the forefront as an environmental issue of great concern, the establishment of a low carbon society (LCS) has been a pressing task throughout the world. However, urbanized societies with their massive demand for energy and economic growth are struggling to find feasible solutions. Japan is an example of such a society.
At the G8 Summit held in Toyako, Hokkaido in 2008, the participating countries including Japan agreed to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 % by 2050. To meet such an ambitious target, the Japanese government has developed several visions and action plans for implementation of appropriate countermeasures (Onishi and Kobayashi 2011).
The Japan Low-Carbon Society Project was undertaken under sponsorship by the Ministry of the Environment in 2004, and a report was released with two narrative scenarios: Scenario A (“active, quick-changing, and technology oriented”) and Scenario B (“calmer, slower, and nature oriented”) (NIES et al. 2008, p. 5).
This research focuses on Scenario B by linking it with the study of “Satoyama,” the traditional rural landscape in Japan. The term Satoyama is derived from the Japanese words “Sato (Village)” and “Yama (Mountain)” and refers to the secondary forest attached to agricultural villages, which in the past provided wood, charcoal, and organic fertilizer to every household. From an ecological point of view, “Satoyama” recently came to be regarded as a collective unit of secondary forest and its surrounding elements such as cultivated land, grassland, small rivers, ponds, and reservoirs for irrigation that were once connected with the traditional agricultural system.
The collective body of work on Satoyama has revealed that constant human intervention in the past formerly provided great diversity in habitat for native Japanese species (Washitani 2004). However, these reports also signaled alarm at the shrinkage of rural populations and the loss of traditional agricultural practices, which have led to the danger of loss of biodiversity and traditional landscapes. The role of Satoyama as part of a low carbon society has not been a major strand in the discussion.
The reasons for this exception include the continuous decline of rural populations and the agricultural, fishery, and forestry sectors. Also, there is not enough evidence that the lifestyle in contemporary Satoyama leads to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.


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With tenants still enduring mold damage caused by Uri, Council pushes for more landlord regulation
Thursday, May 6, 2021 by Jonathan Lee
Though it has been several months since Winter Storm Uri damaged infrastructure and homes across the city, some apartment residents are still dealing with severe mold damage that landlords have failed to fix. Worse, when some tenants asked the city for help, their landlords deemed the homes unlivable and forced the residents to leave.
“We’ve had some residents reach out saying that now they’re getting notices that they have to leave because the conditions are too bad after they’ve reported it to the (code department),” said Council Member Greg Casar, who brought forth a resolution this week to address the issue. “That’s just horrible, because people don’t have a place to go.”
Household mold is known to cause a number of health problems, including allergies and respiratory diseases.
Casar’s resolution directs city staffers to report back to City Council with potential solutions, including adding new health and safety regulations, tenant protections and fines for landlords who are slow to make repairs. Council Member Alison Alter hoped to facilitate access to existing relief for mold remediation, such as FEMA disaster-relief funds. Council will vote on the resolution today.
“No one should be trapped living in an apartment full of mold and collapsing ceilings,” Casar said in a statement. “We must push landlords to provide temporary housing, and to allow their tenants to get out of their leases without penalties.”
Casar’s North Austin district experienced more code complaints related to Winter Storm Uri than any other district. “There is just such a concentration of older housing stock that hasn’t been kept up in District 4 in particular,” Casar said.
The city currently has limited power to make sure mold repairs take place in a timely manner. According to the resolution, “renters often rely on city enforcement to get their landlords to address health and safety issues in their homes,” even though “no city department has explicit authority to regulate mold and address tenant complaints of mold in their homes.”
Casar showed several images at Council’s work session on Tuesday underscoring the extent of the mold damage in some apartments.
Download (PDF, 845KB)
“Some of the conditions that I’ve seen still lately are just unthinkable,” he said.
“Many of the photos that you see aren’t a violation of city health or safety code in and of themselves,” Casar said. “Just mold itself isn’t a violation. Some of the underlying conditions are a violation, but that can be really hard to enforce.”
The city’s code department is working on a public dashboard to show which buildings have had complaints about code violations related to winter storm damage – both resolved and unresolved. The department hopes that the dashboard will help the public and Council determine which areas are suffering the most.
Photos taken by residents, courtesy of Greg Casar.
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domain: politics


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The Logitech DiNovo Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard
If you’re like me then you love your gadgets. You might well even have a dedicated PC system set up to serve as a media centre in your living room. That’s going to be my next project as the Xbox 360 I wanted to use for that purpose hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations. However, there’s always the question of what exactly you can use to control your media centre if you’re not fond of the small remote they often come with.
This is where the Logitech DiNovo Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard comes in. It is more of a small keypad than a full sized keyboard, as it’s quite a small, palm sized little thing. It comes however with a media remote and a ClickPad – so what is hasn’t got in physical size it more than makes up for in capabilities.
The ClickPad functions as both a touch pad and a directional pad, so you shouldn’t be too lost without it. It may well last longer than your standard remote too – as the Li-ion batteries have a life of a month between each charge. If you’re going to be doing any inputting when say watching a film in the dark, then don’t worry. The keypad is backlit to provide ease of use.
Naturally, as it has wireless, it comes with Bluetooth to allow reasonable distance control. The build quality is quite good and the design itself is a nice little package. Once you’ve used one for your media centre, I doubt that you’ll want to look back. I found the demonstrator easy to use, quick to set up and it looks quite nice with the clasp closed.
It is available now for around £79.99 ($140 dollars). You can read more about it here.

domain: hobby


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Walnut Broccoli Stir-Fry
Stir-fries are classic veggie dishes that can be simple or daring – it all depends on you!
- Ready In:
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup mushroom, such as fresh shittake, sliced
- 1⁄2 cup walnuts
- 1 cup water
- 1 head broccoli, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- salt and pepper
- Sauté onions and carrots with oil in a wok or large pot until onion is tender. • Add mushrooms, broccoli and nuts and stir for one or two minutes.
- Add the water, cover with a lid, and simmer for a few minutes until broccoli is bright green. Don’t overcook. • Add soy sauce, salt and pepper, and cornstarch dissolved in cold water (to thicken the sauce).
- Serve with brown rice or whole-grain noodles.
- Variations: Be creative! Experiment with different combinations of fresh veggies, tofu, seeds or nuts. For more flavour, try adding ginger, garlic, or miso.
- Source: Source: Vegetarian Tastes of Toronto, p. 71.
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This is a very satisfying stir fry that made a wonderful rice bowl dinner. We really liked the addition of the walnuts. I made as written cutting the water to 3/4 cup as we did not want too much sauce and did fallow the suggestion in step 8 and added some garlic and ginger. Will make again, thanks for the post.


Consider a block made up of number of molecules is subjected some to amount of externally applied force.
As the block is made up of number of molecules, molecules present in the block will be subjected to externally applied force. Molecules exert an internal force on each other within the block because of the externally applied force. The measure of internally developed forces acting per unit area is called as stress.
In other words, the resisting force or the internal resistance setup within the material is called as stress. Usually stress is denoted by σ.
The SI Unit of stress is N/m2.
Types of stress
- Tensile stress
- Compressive stress
- Shear stress
- Bending stress
- Thermal stress
We can also classify the stress according to the type of force acting on the component,
- Direct stress
Direct stress is the stress developed due force applied which is parallel or collinear to the axis of the component. Examples for this type of stress are tensile stress, compressive stress, shear stress, thermal stress.
- Indirect stress
If the stress is developed due to moment or torsion then it is called as indirect stress. Example: Bending stress, stress due to torsion.
Within elastic limit stress is directly proportional to strain.
Let us assume σ = stress, e = strain, E = Youngs Modulus.
Then according to hooke’s law σ ∝ e
or σ = E x e


Tax Statements Mailed by January 31
- MSRS Pension Plans: MSRS will mail you a Form 1099-R to report payments you received from your pension plan. The statement will be available online.
- Defined Contribution Plans - MNDCP, HCSP (beneficiary), Unclassified Retirement Plan, Hennepin County 1% Supplemental Plan:
- Great-West Retirement Services will report distributions.
- MNDCP participants and HCSP beneficiaries will receive a Form 1099.
- Hennepin County 1% Supplemental Plan participants will receive a W-2 (not a 1099).
- Statements are not available online.
- Duplicate statements available: If you have not received your tax documents by February 10, please contact MSRS to request a duplicate statement.
- Public Safety Premium Withholding. Premiums withheld from your pension or MNDCP are not reported on a 1099-R. You will receive a separate letter indicating the premium amount withheld during 2016. If you have not received this letter by February 10, please contact MSRS at 651-296-2761 or 1-800-657-5757.
- Health Care Savings Plan (HCSP). Contributions and reimbursements are not reportable on state or federal income tax returns. Exception: Reimbursements to a non-spousal or non-dependent beneficiary who inherited the account upon the death of a participant are taxed as ordinary income. A 1099-MISC is issued to the beneficiary by our recordkeeper, Great-West Retirement Services.


text: in an external database I have all user information and roles. Therefore I want to connect this with the user profile modules of jboss portal. I read the reference quide twice, but i'm at a loss. Could someone shortly explain what is the best way for this approach. Do I have to implement a custom UserProfileModule that implements the identity interfaces or is there a way to use the provided modules with or without hibernate ?

domain: design


- In a document obtained Wednesday by The New York Times, CDC Director Robert Redfield instructed state and local health officials to be ready to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as soon as Nov. 1, two days before the 2020 Elections.
- The following day, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the projected goal has “nothing to do with elections,” but concerns from health experts have persisted because President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for a vaccine ahead of the elections.
- Health officials have also expressed hesitation that adequate data will be available by next month, with Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that a vaccine by that time is “conceivable” but unlikely.
CDC Pushes Nov. 1 Vaccine Release
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has instructed state and local health officials to prepare to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine as early as Nov. 1.
The information was obtained by The New York Times Wednesday from a CDC document. In that document, which is dated Aug. 27, Redfield told health officials to prepare to distribute up to 3 million doses of vaccines by the end of next month, 20 to 30 million by the end of November, and 35 to 45 million by the end of the year.
In a separate document also released Wednesday, Redfield urged states to begin developing plans for how to proceed with early vaccinations. That includes determining which groups should be prioritized for the vaccine. Health-care workers and other at-risk groups would likely be up first.
Redfield said that the CDC “if necessary, asks that you consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities from becoming fully operational by November 1, 2020.”
Are the CDC and FDA Rushing a Vaccine for Election Day?
The November 1 goal, just two days before Election Day, has raised questions and concerns from experts, as many are worried that such a date might not be feasible.
Thursday morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar denied that the CDC’s goal date is politically motivated.
“It has nothing to do with elections,” Azar told CBS News. “This has to do with delivering safe, effective vaccines to the American people as quickly as possible and saving people’s lives. Whether it’s Oct. 15, whether it’s Nov. 1, whether it’s Nov 15, it’s all about saving lives but meeting the FDA standards of safety and efficacy.”
Criticism and concern that that President Donald Trump is pressuring agencies like the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to rush a vaccine by cutting corners is nothing new.
Both Trump’s admiration for hydroxychloroquine and plasma recovered from COVID-19 patients have been called into question, as neither have been proven to be safe and effective. Trump has also openly said that a vaccine could be ready as early as Election Day.
On Sunday, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told the Financial Times that the FDA could authorize a vaccine before clinical trials are completed.
“It is up to the sponsor to apply for authorization or approval, and we make an adjudication of their application,” Hahn said. “If they do that before the end of Phase 3, we may find that appropriate. We may find that inappropriate. We will make the decision.”
While Hahn indicated that benefits would still need to outweigh risks for that to happen, his willingness to do so — coupled with the previous concerns — led many to question whether he is potentially skirting the scientific process because of the president.
Still, Hahn has denied that his statement means the FDA will submit to Trump’s pressure.
Why There Is Concern About Vaccines Being Rushed
Hydroxychloroquine and plasma are therapeutics. While evidence of their safety and effectiveness is still important, therapeutics are generally given to people who are already sick and might not have any other options.
Vaccines, on the other hand, are given to people who are healthy to keep them from getting sick, so scientists need to have a much higher standard of proof that they’re safe.
There are currently three in the U.S. that have entered Phase 3 trials: the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines. Of those, Moderna is still in the process of recruiting subjects, and it’s unknown when it could start showing results.
AstraZeneca began its Phase 3 trial Monday, with the full experiment expected to last eight weeks because its vaccine must be given in two doses, each given a month apart. The company has stated that it does not expect preliminary results until around Thanksgiving.
Thus, as many experts noted to the Associated Press, they do not understand how adequate data will be available by Nov. 1 to prove that these two vaccines are safe and effective.
“Being ready is reasonable. Cutting short phase 3 trials before you get the information you need isn’t,” Dr. Paul Offit, an immunization expert who sits on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, told the outlet.
Is a Vaccine by Nov. 1 Possible?
It is possible that some preliminary results might be available as soon as next month. For example, Pfizer has said that it’s on track to seek government review in October.
On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told Kaiser Health News that clinical trials could be stopped early if they provide overwhelmingly positive results that show a vaccine is safe and effective.
Fauci said scientists would have a “moral obligation” to make the vaccine available to all participants in the study if that were the case, thus speeding up that vaccine’s ability to hit the public.
“If there are a certain amount of infections within a particular trial, it’s conceivable that you could have [a vaccine] by October, but I don’t think that’s likely,” Fauci told CNN on Thursday.
See what others are saying: (NBC News) (Politico) (Associated Press)
Mississippi Asks Supreme Court To Overturn Roe v. Wade
The Supreme Court’s decision to consider Mississippi’s restrictive abortion ban already has sweeping implications for the precedents set under the landmark reproductive rights ruling, but now the state is asking the high court to go even further.
Mississippi’s Abortion Case
Mississippi filed a brief Thursday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade when it hears the state’s 15-week abortion ban this fall.
After months of deliberation, the high court agreed in May to hear what will be the first abortion case the 6-to-3 conservative majority will decide.
Both a district judge and a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit had ruled that Mississippi could not enforce the 2018 law that banned nearly all abortions at 15 weeks with exceptions for only “severe fetal abnormality,” but not rape and incest.
If the Supreme Court upholds the Mississippi law, it would undo decades of precedent set under Roe in 1973 and upheld under Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, where the court respectively ruled and reaffirmed that states could not ban abortion before the fetus is “viable” and can live outside the womb, which is generally around 24 to 28 weeks.
When the justices decided to hear the case, they said they would specifically examine the question of whether “all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.”
Depending on the scope of their decision on the Mississippi law, the court’s ruling could allow other states to pass much more restrictive abortion bans without the risk of lower courts striking down those laws.
As a result, legal experts have said the case will represent the most significant ruling on reproductive rights since Casey nearly three decades ago, and the Thursday brief raises the stakes even more.
When Mississippi asked the justices to take up its case last June, the state’s attorney general, Lynn Fitch (R), explicitly stated that the petition’s questions “do not require the Court to overturn Roe or Casey.”
But that was before the court’s conservatives solidified their supermajority with the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett — who personally opposes abortion — following the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
New Filing Takes Aim at Roe
With the new filing, it appears that Fitch views the high court’s altered makeup as an opportunity to undermine the constitutional framework that has been in place for the better part of the last century.
“The Constitution’s text says nothing about abortion,” Fitch wrote in the brief, arguing that American society has changed so much that the previous rulings need to be reheard.
“Today, adoption is accessible and on a wide scale women attain both professional success and a rich family life, contraceptives are more available and effective, and scientific advances show that an unborn child has taken on the human form and features months before viability,” she added, claiming the power should be left to state lawmakers.
“Roe and Casey shackle states to a view of the facts that is decades out of date,” she continued. “The national fever on abortion can break only when this Court returns abortion policy to the states.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Mississippi’s sole abortion provider in the suit against the state’s law, painted Fitch’s effort as one that will have a chilling effect on abortion rights nationwide.
“Mississippi has stunningly asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and every other abortion rights decision in the last five decades,” Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the group said in a statement Thursday. “Today’s brief reveals the extreme and regressive strategy, not just of this law, but of the avalanche of abortion bans and restrictions that are being passed across the country.”
The Supreme Court has not yet said exactly when during its fall term it will hear oral arguments on the Mississippi case, but a decision is expected to come down by next June or July, as is standard.
An anticipated ruling just months before the 2022 midterms will almost certainly position abortion as a top issue at the ballot box.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Washington Post) (Politico)
Republicans Boycott Jan. 6 Committee After Pelosi Rejects Two of McCarthy’s Picks
The House Minority Leader said that unless House Speaker Pelosi reinstated the two members, Republicans will launch their own investigation into the insurrection.
Pelosi Vetoes Republicans
Republicans are boycotting the select committee to investigate the insurrection after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) rejected two of the five GOP members Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) picked to serve on the panel Wednesday.
In a statement, Pelosi cited the “statements and actions” of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) and Jim Banks (R-In.), whose nominations she said she was opposing “with respect for the integrity of the investigation.”
Jordan and Banks — both staunch allies of former President Donald Trump — have helped propagate the previous leader’s false election claims, opposed efforts to investigate the insurrection, and voted not to certify the election for President Joe Biden.
A senior Democratic aide also specifically told The Washington Post that Democrats did not want Jordan on the panel because he reportedly helped Trump strategized how to overturn the election and due to the fact he spoke to the then-president on Jan. 6, meaning there is a possibility he could be called to testify before the very same committee.
The aide also said that Democrats opposed Banks’ selection because of a statement he issued after McCarthy chose him.
In the statement, the representative compared the insurrection to the racial justice protests last summer, implied that the rioters were just normal American’s expressing their political views, and claimed the committee was a political ploy “to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”
Notably, Pelosi did say she would accept McCarthy’s three other nominees — including Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Wi.), who also voted against certifying Biden’s win.
McCarthy Threatens Separate Investigation
McCarthy, however, refused to select new members, and instead opted to remove all his appointees from the would-be bipartisan committee.
In a statement condemning the move, the minority leader said that Pelosi’s action “represents an egregious abuse of power.”
“Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth,” he said.
“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts.”
Pelosi defended her decision during a press conference Thursday, where she said that Banks and Jordan were “ridiculous” choices for the panel.
“When statements are ridiculous and fall into the realm of, ‘You must be kidding,’ there’s no way that they’re going to be on the committee,” she added.
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (The New York Times) (CNBC)
More Republican Are Pushing COVID Vaccinations, But the Party Remains Divided on Its Messaging
The renewed effort to encourage vaccination comes as the surge in COVID cases caused by the delta variant continues to disproportionately impact Republican-led states with low vaccination rates.
GOP Leaders Ramps Up Vaccination Push
In recent days, more Republican leaders and prominent conservatives have ramped up efforts to encourage members of their party to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the U.S. continues to see massive surges from the delta variant.
Some, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have been pushing Americans to get vaccinated for months — a call he reiterated again on Tuesday. Many others, however, have been reticent to do the same until recently.
Most notable on that list is Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), the no. 2 Republican in House leadership, who just got his first dose over the weekend after resisting vaccination, claiming he had antibodies from previously contracting COVID. Scalise explained he changed his mind because of delta and encouraged others to do the same.
“There shouldn’t be any hesitancy over whether or not it’s safe and effective,” he said.
The top leader is set to continue pushing that advice. Earlier this week, the GOP Doctors Caucus announced that it would hold a news conference Thursday alongside Scalise and the third-ranking House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), to encourage vaccination.
Rank and File Republicans Continue To Cast Doubt, Spread Misinformation
There are still plenty of Republicans working to undermine the renewed push to get their party vaccinated.
While many have painted vaccination as a matter of freedom of choice, others have sought to downplay the virus. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose state currently accounts for 40% of all new COVID cases, dismissed the spikes as the result of a “seasonal virus” on Monday.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk — who has had COVID twice — echoed that in a statement to reporters on Tuesday, where he argued that COVID is just something everyone has to live with.
“This is something we deal with in our lives on a daily basis; ever since I’ve been born, there’s sicknesses, there’s flu, there’s different diseases,” he said.
Some members of the GOP have used their positions of power to actively fight against vaccination. That includes Sen. Ron Johnson (Wi.), who has openly said he is not vaccinated. He has also been widely condemned for promoting unproven treatments and false information about vaccines during interviews and congressional hearings.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), who has repeatedly refused to share her vaccination status, has also drawn ire for sharing misinformation and continually comparing COVID prevention efforts to the Holocaust.
Greene was temporarily suspended from Twitter earlier this week for sharing false information on Monday, but she continued to utilize her spotlight to spread misinformation about vaccine-related deaths and side effects during a press conference the following day.
While those who downplay the coronavirus and spread false information about vaccinations are certainly not representative of the entire Republican Party, they are some of the most visible.
Greene and many of her counterparts who push anti-vaccine narratives have frequently been accused of acting in inflammatory ways to get more press — a strategy that more often than not tends to work in their favor.
As a result, Republicans who want to encourage people to get the jabs will have their work cut out for them. Even many of those who have not openly expressed skepticism themselves have still let it flourish in the party for so long by not publicly pushing back against claims from members who sow disinformation.
The GOP’s broader failure to unify around a singular message on vaccines shows clearly among the party’s base.
According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News, poll 86% of Democrats have received at least one shot, but just 45% of Republicans have done the same. While just 6% of Democrats say they are not likely to get the vaccine, 47% of Republicans said they probably will not, and 38% said they definitely will not.
Meanwhile, Republican-led states with low vaccination rates are suffering the most from the new spike in cases and the rapid spread of the delta variant.
Arkansas, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country at just 35%, is currently reporting the highest per-capita cases in the U.S. Hospitalizations have gone up 85% in the state in the last two weeks, placing some hospital systems on the brink of collapse — a problem also faced by parts of Missouri, which has the third-highest COVID cases nationwide.


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MANCELONA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan Authorities say they've contained a wildfire that consumed about 10 acres of grassland and woods in the northwestern Lower Peninsula.
The state Department of Natural Resources says the fire started about 1 p.m. Sunday at a site in Antrim County's Mancelona Township, about 30 miles northeast of Traverse City.
Fire supervisor Don Klingler from the DNR's Gaylord office tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle that there's a high risk of fires spreading because of dry conditions and strong winds. He says a quick response allowed the Antrim County fire's containment.
There are no reports of injuries or structure damage.
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or email@example.com.

domain: news


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Chinatown survey results are in
Tomorrow’s Chinatown Discover Phase report now available
Culture can be difficult to define. It can mean different things to different people. The City of Calgary’s Cultural Plan for Calgary defines culture broadly - as anything that describes the unique identity of a community or social group.
Using the Cultural Plan for Calgary as a guide, Tomorrow’s Chinatown is the first project of its kind, creating the first cultural plan for one of Calgary’s most culturally rich and historic communities - Chinatown. We’re also taking it one step further by creating a new local area plan for Chinatown that will be influenced by its own cultural plan. When completed the new local area plan will help guide where and how future growth and development should happen and improve on the now outdated 1986-version.
When we invite our citizens to the conversation, we hear a lot of thoughts about how and why Chinatown is important to our city. Engaging with our citizens is a first step for The City in ensuring Chinatown is a vibrant, culturally-rich place to live, visit, work and do business for years to come. It helps us define the vision and priorities for the community through a cultural lens.
More than 1,200 citizens responded to our Tomorrow’s Chinatown Discover phase survey, which closed in September.
“It’s been a wonderful experience reading the responses to our survey,” says Jennifer Brown, co-lead of the Tomorrow’s Chinatown initiative. “After looking at the responses, we summarized them into five themes, which we’ll use to help create the cultural plan and guide us as we begin work on the local area plan through 2021. We’re excited to share these themes with Calgarians through the release of our Discover phase report.”
The data collected in the Discover phase has been analyzed and summarized into observations, and a report. Here are the five themes that emerged and are included in the report:
- People, Voices and Experiences
- Food, Merchants and Tourism
- Culture, Creative and Learning
- Housing, Health and Social Purpose
- Places, Spaces and Natural Environment
These themes will give structure to the Cultural Plan, which we’ll continue working on with citizens over the next months in the Create phase.
The full Discover Phase Report includes a summary of the responses to our 10-question online survey that was open from June to September. It also includes research gathered from talking with community leaders and residents in Chinatown, to help us understand the values, strengths, weaknesses and hopes of the community.
“Our advisory group is made up community members from various backgrounds, ages and experiences,” says Brown. “They’re really an integral part of our project team and give a unique perspective about Chinatown’s culture.”
“My biggest hope when joining the advisory group was to aid in reshaping Chinatown, so future generations can cherish Chinatown the way I do,” says Kasia Nguyen. “I believe the results of the Discovery Survey show Chinatown is a unique community that desires growth and change. “
I’m excited by the responses to the survey,” Nguyen continues. “I see a willingness of the community to voice their opinions on the development of Chinatown. I believe the results of the survey will fuel the beginning of an impactful cultural plan that we’re developing through the advisory group and citizens involved with Chinatown.”
There are three phases to the Tomorrow’s Chinatown project. With the survey completed, we’re moving from the Discover Phase to the Create Phase. In this phase, we will continue meeting with the community to prioritize the most important goals. In the third and final Realize phase, we will work with the Chinatown community to combine all of the goals into the Cultural Plan and a new local area plan.
Continue the conversation!
The University of Calgary is researching how different elements of the built-environment, such as buildings, roads, sidewalks, parks, etc., give a sense of place and identity to Calgary’s Chinatown. If you’re interested in participating in this work, check out their poster for more information.
The University of Calgary will be sharing the results of their research with Tomorrow’s Chinatown to help with the culturally-based, local area plan.
Please visit Calgary.ca/Chinatown to read the report and to learn about the latest news on the project.


In June 2020 the central London Congestion Charge (a.k.a. Tax) was raised to £15 per day and made effective for 24 hours per day for 7 days per week. This was declared to be a “temporary” change to cope with the impact on TfL finances of the Covid pandemic and to discourage car use which might rise in the short term as people avoided public transport. Mayor Sadiq Khan blamed the Government for forcing him to make the change although Government Ministers said it was solely his decision.
But on the 26th April Khan said in a hustings meeting that “I will be negotiating with the Government so we don’t have to have it [the increased congestion charge] seven days a week or up until 10pm”.
But Conservative Mayoral Candidate Shaun Bailey said this to City AM in response: “Sadiq Khan is making things complicated. But the truth is very simple.
The Mayor decided to raise the Congestion Charge and the Mayor can choose to reverse it – today. The fact that he isn’t tells us everything we need to know.
Khan is trying to win votes by promising to cut the very taxes he raised. That’s like an arsonist trying to get out of jail by promising to put out the fire he started”.
Bailey went on to reiterate a pledge he made last June, saying: “As Mayor, I’ll reverse the Congestion Charge hike on day one, no consultation, no studies, no ifs, not buts. This is the fresh start that London needs.”
Comment: From my personal experience of driving into central London for hospital visits in the last few weeks, the raised congestion tax made absolutely no difference. When nobody was going to work in central London the traffic disappeared. When they returned the traffic was worse than it was before the lock-downs.
This looks like another attempt to win votes by bribing the electorate from Sadiq Khan which he has been so adept at doing in the past. But will he actually remove the “temporary” increase and extended times? His statement is ambiguous to say the least.
I suggest Shaun Bailey is more to be trusted on this than Sadiq Kahn, something to bear in mind when voting next week.
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Published on August 20th, 2013 | by clazy0
Inuhasa – 08
I hate to say it, especially because I was initially pretty excited about Gonzo doing another full-blown comedy anime, but this show has really gotten shitty over the past few weeks. I’m not all that sold on the hilarity of the MC being a dog and the fact that Kirihime is so enraptured by his character/identity that she doesn’t care about the species barrier isn’t all that funny anymore. This episode had some nice, touching moments with Kirihime’s reminiscing of the past and taking a picture together… but overall it was pretty much utter shit. I feel like the bath scene fanservice was supposed to distract us from the overall pointlessness of the so-called plot this week (which was just “omg shadow man in a coat” is targeting Natsuno), but they did an awful job of doing it. I would reccommend looking here for examples of other shows doing it right.
Anyway, I had to struggle to force myself through these past two episodes. I’m pretty disappointed that Maxi-sama is basically only used for that one increasingly cringy and unfunny SHINING gag, and not an actual featured character. So much potential just thrown down the drain. Also, the terrible, terrible plot device of sharpening scissors to increase Kirihime’s battle power… ugh. AND Maguro Eater returns? /facepalm
I’ve never sighed so much (reflecting on wasted time) after watching an episode of anime until now… which is pretty incredible since I watched, week-by-week, every episode of Robotics;Notes lmao.

domain: entertainment


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domain: game


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Inside view of the new Westgate Oxford shopping centre
|Opening date||1972 (original building) |
Tuesday 24 October 2017 (enlarged building)
|Architect||Original building: Douglas Murray Enlarged scheme: BDP, Dixon Jones, Allies & Morrison, Panter Hudspith, Glen Howells Architects|
|No. of stores and services||125|
|No. of anchor tenants||1 (John Lewis)|
|Total retail floor area||800,000 square feet (74,000 m2)|
The Westgate Centre (recently rebranded as Westgate Oxford) is a major shopping centre in Oxford city centre, England, that was extensively remodelled and extended between 2016–17. The original centre was built between 1970–72, designed by Douglas Murray and built by Taylor Woodrow. The centre was closed in February 2016 for comprehensive redevelopment, and reopened on Tuesday 24 October 2017.
Westgate is at the west end of Queen Street, facing onto Bonn Square where the medieval West Gate into the city of Oxford once stood. The shopping centre is named after this former gateway into the medieval city. The site is bordered by Bonn Square, St Ebbes Street, Norfolk Street, Abbey Place, Oxpens Road, Old Greyfriars Street and Castle Street, and is adjacent to the medieval Oxford Castle quarter to the northwest.
Plans for the redevelopment of the Westgate area were originally published in 2004. Over the next several years, the plan underwent several rounds of consultation and inquiry. The current plan was adopted in the early 2010s, and development permission granted in November 2014. Work on the development started in early 2015, and the original centre closed in 2016.
The new centre has almost 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of retail, restaurant and leisure space including a new John Lewis, a rooftop dining terrace with views across Oxford's iconic skyline, and a five screen Curzon Cinema. According to Oxford City Council, "the £500 million redevelopment of the Westgate Centre is a key part of the regeneration of Oxford city centre, creating high quality buildings designed by world-class architects and providing more than 3,400 new full-time equivalent jobs." The new centre reopened on 24 October 2017.
The new Westgate has features and facilities including:
- About 100 new shops including a John Lewis department store and various high street retailers
- Cafés and restaurants
- Leisure facilities including a cinema
- New landscaped walkway along Castle Mill Stream
- Two new public squares
- New pedestrian routes through the site
- Re-routed bus lane and new taxi drop-off / pick up
- Cycle parking
- Two-storey basement car park of between 900 and 1,100 spaces
- 59 new one- and two-bedroom flats (apartments)
When the original centre was built in the 1970s, excavations for the service basements destroyed archaeological remains of part of medieval Oxford.
Urban planning and architecture
In 2008 a local campaign group, called "Oxford Against Westgate Expansion", was formed to oppose the proposed redevelopment. The campaigners were critical of the consultation process that led to the approval of the plans and several aspects of the proposed design.
Inadequately positioned spaces for cycle parking and breach of planning conditions.
Queen Street closure
Oxfordshire County Council sought to ban buses from using Queen Street, which passes the Westgate Centre's main entrance. The council alleged that the increase in pedestrian numbers generated by the enlarged shopping centre would mean that it would no longer be safe for buses to use the street. The Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, declined the application, pointing out that the council had failed to provide evidence of its claim.
- Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Westgate Centre". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. London: Macmillan. pp. 495–496. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
- Campbell, Loughlan (29 October 2015). "Shops to shut for Westgate demolition". Oxfordshire Guardian. Taylor Newspapers.
- "The Westgate Partnership wins strong support for design proposals". Capital Shopping Centres. UK: Capital Shopping Centres. 14 December 2005.
- Sheldrick, Giles (5 December 2007). "Westgate inquiry under way". Oxford Times. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- "Our Plans". Westgate Oxford. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- "About Us". Westgate Oxford. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- "Westgate Oxford Alliance". Westgate Oxford. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- "Westgate". Oxford City Council. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- "Oxford's £500m Westgate Centre gets go-ahead". Architects Journal. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- "Westgate Oxford – The ultimate retail and lifestyle destination". Westgate Oxford. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- Hassall, Tom (1987). Oxford: The Buried City. Oxford Archaeological Unit. p. 7. ISBN 0-904220-09-5.
- "Westgate Oxford". Oxford Archaeology. 2017.
- Ffrench, Andy (25 May 2017). "Concerns over centre's 'stark' wall – Part of design for Westgate is critised". The Oxford Times. p. 7.
- "Cyclox » Westgate cycle parking statement Oct 17". Cyclox.
- "Minister declines bus ban request". BBC News. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

domain: history


text:
Poldark fans can now recreate Ross’s culinary delights with an official recipe book.
Based on Winston Graham’s series of novels, the hit Cornish period drama series premiered in March 2015.
The BBC’s beautifully designed Poldark Cookery Book is out now and features “ample homey recipes for traditional West Country fare.”
You can order the hardback book on Amazon.
And it’s also available to buy digitally for Kindle.
Highlights include “Figgy ‘Obbin Pudding” and “the Nampara staple of Baked Pilchards,” with both “inventively thrifty and sumptuously indulgent recipes aplenty.”
The new season of Poldark will air in the USA later this year on Masterpiece on PBS.
All four seasons of Poldark are available to buy on DVD on Amazon.


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Dragons have always fascinated me and I think I probably encouraged my children to love the topic. There is just something so magical about the beasts and whether they were real, are real or just from stories. And boy are there are many stories about them from different cultures and times in histories that you can't but wonder! Within the first few months of the year I haev read books about dragons from Chinese Culture as we learn about the Chinese New Year, and then as we move into Spring and St George's day comes around I liked to read more books about knights and dragons so I've put together my favourite Dragon Books to read together with your Toddlers and Preschoolers.
Dragon Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
I've tried to split this list up into different sections so that you can pick general dragon books as well as more specifically focused on different dragons that relate to celebrations and festivals in the year.
We have included affiliate links to books and resources we recommended if you make a purchase by this link we may earn a small commission.
Chinese Dragons Books for Chinese New Year
Dragons feature in Chinese Mythology and form part of the Chinese New Year celebrations and is one of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
Using the Chinese Dragon as inspiration in Red is a Dragon is a great way to explore colours through dragons and the Chinese New Year and Chinese Culture.
Discover more Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers on the Chinese New Year.
St George and the Dragon
As I am English and our patron saint is St George I grew up listening to stories about St George and the Dragon every April. How he fought the dragon and won. With my children I wanted them to learn a little about the story as well before they started school so we picked up a couple of books to read together from the library to learn a little more of the story of St George and the Dragon.
Dragon and Knight Books for Reading Aloud
Dragons have a pretty bad reputation - they were generally the bad guys stealing the princess, terrorising the kingdom and burning their way through the lands. So they became quickly associated with knights of old that wearing their armor like St George above would fight the dragons and free the princess, rid the land of them and live happily ever after. Not all stories though are about the fierce dragons and this mix of tales and stories contains some shy, friendly and less than fierce dragons.
Fun Dragon Books to Read together
As well as the more traditional dragon books featured above for Chinese New Year, St George's Day and with those Knights there are lots of books that just have dragons because they are such a fun theme for toddlers and preschoolers. Check out our favourites below.
Dragons are fierce and dragons are angry, RIGHT! But in The Angry Dragon: Childrens book about a Dragon Who Learns How To be Patient the little friend of the dragon a boy teaches him that being angry isn't the way to go. This book is great to read together either for the theme of dragons or when talking about emotions and feelings with toddlers and preschoolers.
More Themed Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Pin these Dragon Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers to come back to later
Share these Dragon Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers with others on Facebook

domain: literature


text:
Moody Lecture Series – Dr. Susan Landry
"Experiences with Others and the Environment: How They Support the Young Child's Brain and Behavioral Development"
Susan H. Landry, PhD
Director and Founder, Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Sponsored by the Robert and Russell Moody Lectureship.

domain: psychology


text:
Michael’s story In Michael’s honour, the hospital was renamed from Toronto East General Hospital to Michael Garron Hospital.
Also know, who is part of Toronto East Health Network? Michael Garron Hospital (Toronto East Health Network) Providence Healthcare (Unity Health Toronto) South Riverdale Community Health Centre. VHA Home HealthCare.
You asked, what type of hospital is Michael Garron? Today, MGH is a large, urban, full-service community teaching hospital, providing comprehensive care to a diverse population of 400,000 living within its primary catchment area, from Midland Avenue in the east to Bayview Avenue in the west and north from Lake Ontario to Eglinton Avenue.
Quick Answer, is Michael Garron Hospital part of UHN? As a community teaching hospital, MGH is affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, the University of Toronto Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and other educational institutions.
Correspondingly, how did the Garron family make money? Myron Garron, who is originally from Nova Scotia, made his fortune running a successful automotive manufacturing business. At Wednesday’s news conference, he told the story of the moment he first laid eyes on Michael, his first son, at Toronto East General back in 1962, but remained humble about today’s gift.
Is Vaughan north of Toronto?
Vaughan (2016 population 306,233) (/vɔːn/) is a city in Ontario, Canada. … It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto.
What are Ontario health teams?
Ontario Health Teams are groups of providers and organizations that are clinically and fiscally accountable for delivering a full and coordinated continuum of care to a defined geographic population.
Who is Garron family?
Myron Garron is originally from Westport, N.S. He and Berna spent their working lives building a successful auto parts business. They have a big family, but they will never forget the young son they lost to cancer. They wanted to give back in a big way, so they asked the IWK what they needed.
Is Michael Garron Hospital a teaching hospital?
Who are we? Nestled in the heart of East Toronto, Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), a division of Toronto East Health Network, is a vibrant community teaching hospital serving one of Canada’s most diverse communities.
Who is the CEO of Michael Garron Hospital?
Sarah Downey is a senior healthcare leader whose career spans 25+ years across a broad range of hospitals including community, academic, and complex multi-institutional organizations. In 2015, she was appointed President and CEO of the Michael Garron Hospital, a large community teaching hospital in Toronto.
Is Mt Sinai part of UHN?
Mount Sinai is the main hospital of the Sinai Health System, although it is linked by bridges and tunnels to three adjacent hospitals of the University Health Network (Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre). …
What hospitals are under UHN?
- Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (link is external)
- Toronto General Hospital (link is external)
- Toronto Rehab (link is external)
- Toronto Western Hospital (link is external)
Is St Joseph’s hospital part of UHN?
University Health Network (UHN) is partnering with St. Joseph’s Health System (SJHS) to implement the integrated care model pioneered by SJHS to support patients’ transition from the hospital to their home and community.
What is Toronto general known for?
Since it first opened in 1819, Toronto General is known for some “world firsts,” such as the first clinical use of insulin, the first successful single- and double-lung transplants, the first transplant using the Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion System, and the first successful direct stimulation of a heart that had stopped …
What is Mount Sinai Hospital known for?
In the U.S. News & World Report 2021-22 “Best Hospitals” rankings, Mount Sinai Hospital is designated with highest recognition and our institution is nationally ranked in 11 specialties including Geriatrics, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Gastroenterology & GI …
Who Is Garry hurvitz?
Garry Hurvitz is a businessman and philanthropist. He is the founding owner of the Garry Hurvitz Foundation. Moreover, the 66-year-old is famous for making millions of dollars to better people’s mental health. Recently, he donated $50 million to a health care foundation called SickKids.
Is Durham part of Toronto?
Durham Region is located just east of the City of Toronto and forms part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Durham is also part of the area known as the Golden Horseshoe.
Is Hamilton part of GTA?
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. It includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. … The area is also combined with the city of Hamilton to form a conurbation known as the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).
Is Vaughn in the GTA?
Just north of the city of Toronto, York Region consists of towns such as Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina. Toronto is made up of 44 Wards each with distinct cultural identities and communities.
What are the 24 Ontario health teams?
- Algoma OHT. Supporting a continuum of care with providers in Algoma District.
- All Nations Health Partners OHT.
- Brantford Brant OHT.
- Chatham-Kent OHT.
- Connected Care Halton OHT.
- Durham OHT.
- East Toronto OHT.
- Eastern York Region and North Durham OHT.

domain: medical


text:
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A monumental temple of Zheng Chenggong, the prince of Yanping. Zheng was a loyal Chinese Ming who resisted with a fearless heroic spirit the conquest of China by Qing in the 17th century, fighting them on the southeast coast of China.
Τhe central statue of the Chinese national hero is 54 meters high. The left and right guards are his subordinates: General Wanli and General Gan Hui. They were built at the end of 2016, each with 24 meters.
The main hall and the statue are 10 floors high. The interior is the Zheng Chenggong Memorial Hall. The museum presents the historical materials of the development of Zheng Chengong’s life and his sacrifices for the country, calligraphy and weapons.


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By Conservative Tribune. The role of federal law enforcement has come under great scrutiny lately, but an operation in California just showed how important the Department of Homeland Security can be.
Over 20 gang members that belong to the infamous Mara Salvatrucha group — better known as MS-13 — were just arrested on multiple charges on Friday.
“The charges included assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances,” reported The Washington Examiner.
It wasn’t that long ago that President Donald Trump came under fire for saying that MS-13 members were “animals,” and alluding to serious crimes like kidnapping and rape from suspects moving across the border. . .
“Additionally, two MS-13 members were also charged with with kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering, and three others were charged with conspiracy and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, according to two federal indictments,” continued The Examiner. (Read more from “Massive Federal Operation Captures Over 20 Dangerous MS-13 Gang Members” HERE)
MS-13 Gang Used California Farm Town as a Base for Crime
By AP. More than two dozen MS-13 gang members and affiliates were arrested and charged following a monthslong murder and drug trafficking investigation centered on a rural California farm city that the gang turned into a base for its operations, U.S. and state prosecutors said Friday.
MS-13 took advantage of limited resources in the city of Mendota and used it and other areas of Fresno County to “conduct their crimes, to hide out from crimes that they committed in other jurisdictions and to prepare to commit crimes in states as far away as New York,” Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said at a news conference in Fresno with state and federal officials.
Mendota has a population of roughly 11,000 people and lies 35 miles (60 kilometers) west of Fresno in California’s agriculturally rich Central Valley. Nearly the entire population is Hispanic, with many immigrants from El Salvador. (Read more from “MS-13 Gang Used California Farm Town as a Base for Crime” HERE)


2015 Ford Bronco Specifications and Features
2015 Ford Bronco will have some engine choices such as a 4.5 liter diesel engine, a 3.5 liter engine and maybe a more powerful engine for a higher model. Designed with manual windows, a three door structure and a sporty look, there is no denying that Ford Bronco will be one of the most favorite cars in 2015. A better fuel economy system is sure to be a great feature. This way, there is a lot of money car enthusiasts can save. Since its first production in 1966, Ford Bronco has gained a quite reputable history. Ford Bronco is expected to bring some similar characteristics compared to its predecessor such as short wheelbase and box like roof line
2015 Ford Bronco Release Date and Its Price
Since there is no official information released by the company, we are not sure when the car is finally released. Some sources claim that the new model is expected to be available in 2015. As for its price, many have guessed that the there is no huge difference in terms of price. Will it be one of the most favorite cars in 2015? Well, there is no exact answer but if you are looking for a car that is powerful and looks strong, Ford Bronco is without a doubt the best choice. One thing for sure that 2015 Ford Bronco is worth the buy.


The Loan Markets Association surveyed last February its almost 600 member institutions worldwide on the opportunities and challenges facing investors in Africa. “Developing markets present great opportunities. These vary from country to country, as do the challenges,” says Nick Voisey, director of the LMA. The results were presented on April 30, the day of their conference on the topic. GTR summarises the 5 major takeaways.
1. Local banks are key lenders. A majority of the respondents see local banks as the major sources for developing market lending, followed by multilateral banks and foreign banks lagging behind. The LMA introduced this survey point this year as it “believes it is important to understand where new liquidity is coming from,” says Voisey.
2. Energy and infrastructure present the best opportunities for growth. Energy and power and infrastructure are seen as the major sectors driving growth in Africa. According to Voisey, these are not affected by commodities or oil prices swings, as the sectors remain fundamental in any growing market.
3. Mozambique is the next big thing. Mozambique was voted as the country offering the best opportunity for growth in the continent, as its demographics and renewed stability after a turbulent time offer good conditions for investments.
4. Political risk needs to be monitored. External factors are considered to be the main challenge to growth in 2015, with political uncertainty and poor governance standards being the biggest worries for those investing in Africa.
5. Local market knowledge is crucial. Knowledge of the country you are dealing with is a first step towards mitigating risk. “There is a need to understand the local markets, society, and economy,” recommends Voisey. This is important in order to attract new borrowers, but also to perform appropriate due diligence and structure contract agreements correctly.


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While on earth, Jesus had a friend named Lazarus. This friend had two sisters – Mary and Martha. Because of His love for their family, He would visit from time to time, spend time with them, fellowshipping and teaching about the Kingdom of God. One day Lazarus fell sick, so his sisters (Mary and Martha) sent a message to Jesus. John 11:3 says therefore his sisters sent unto him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. One thing about this family is, despite Jesus’ relationship with them, they respected him. Do not look down on a man or woman of God because he or she is close to your family or because you now know one or two things about them. If a man of God frequently visits your home, do not take him for granted. Despite the fact that Jesus was close to this family, these girls still referred to him as Lord. Because your church pastor spent 45 minutes with your family at your place, is that why you now refer to him by his name when discussing with your wife? Instead of referring to him as pastor L, you refer to him as L. Some have even taken it to another level by nicknaming men of God. The Lord will have mercy.
Shortly after, Lazarus passed away. These girls were in pain. You can imagine how these girls felt, Jesus received the message that their brother, Lazarus, was sick and did not show up. Jesus, who had been there for total strangers, was nowhere to be found when his beloved Lazarus fell sick. The first day passed, Jesus did not turn up or send any message. The second day, the same. The third day, no sign of Jesus, even to come and mourn His beloved friend as custom demanded. Finally, on the fourth day, Jesus arrived at Bethany. When Martha heard, she went to him. John 11:32 says Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Instead of Mary to abuse Jesus, she worshipped him. Immediately she got to where Jesus was, she fell down at His feet. Mary could have cursed Jesus, she could have said things out of anger but she did not. Although she was in pain, she still called Him Lord. She did not ask Him any questions, she just bowed at His feet. When you are in pain, what do you say to Jesus? Do you threaten to stop serving Him? Do you talk to Him to rudely? Do you talk to Him as if He is your servant? Do you still call Him Lord when it seems that you have lost the battle? Do you worship Him after you must have prayed and prayed and nothing happened? Have you stopped going to church because He did not answer that prayer? Have you stopped paying your tithes because Jesus was nowhere to be found when you needed Him most? Jesus purposely waited so that Lazarus would die and raise him. Had it been, Martha had decided to curse Jesus out or stopped worshipping Him, she would have lost her brother for life and missed that miracle
NOTE: In pain worship God not denounce Him.
Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus.


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Tasty twist on a classic dish
1 whole mallard duck
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp duck fat
1 oven bag
¾ cup orange juice
1 whole orange, peel and juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ onion, sliced
¼ cup orange juice
6 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp runny honey
½ tsp allspice
1 tbsp balsamic glaze
¼ cup whole almonds
¼ cup sliced almonds
½ tbsp honey
Dehydrated orange slices (optional)
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Pat the duck dry using paper towels and season it with salt and pepper.
In a large hot pan add the duck fat and butter, and brown the duck, covering all sides.
Place the duck in an oven bag, carefully pouring in the hot juices from the pan and adding the orange juice. Tie and pierce the bag and place in the oven for two hours.
Turn off the oven and let the bird rest in the oven for a further 30 minutes.
While the bird is resting, make the marmalade.
Using a potato peeler, carefully peel the skin off the orange, leaving as much of the white flesh behind as possible (as it can taste bitter).
Using a sharp knife, slice the peel into thin strips. Put the peel into a large saucepan and add the juice from the orange along with the rest of the marmalade ingredients and mix together. Simmer the marmalade mixture for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the balsamic glaze and set aside to cool.
To toast the almonds:
In a hot pan, add the whole and sliced almonds and toast until golden brown. Turn down the heat to low, then add the honey to the pan and stir, ensuring the almonds are covered, and being careful not to burn them. Once the almonds are honey glazed, remove from heat.
To serve, pour the marmalade over the duck and sprinkle with the almonds. Decorate with dehydrated oranges slices.
Recipe extract from The Fish + Game Cookbook by Angelo Georgalli
Published by Beatnik Publishing


- Volkswagen recently unveiled the ID.Buzz, its electric minivan coming to the US in 2024.
- It’s a modern, electric version of VW’s iconic hippie bus.
- We saw the ID.Buzz up close and toured its many funky features.
Earlier this year, Volkswagen took the wraps off of the ID.Buzz, a new all-electric take on its iconic Microbus.
VW showed off the ID.Buzz at the New York International Auto Show in April, where we got up close and personal with the funky van.
The ID.Buzz takes the basic design of Volkswagen’s hippie van and updates it for the electric era. All in all, it makes minivans cool again.
The van has faux vents in the same spot as the original model’s real ones.
Its front wheels are pushed far forward and its rear wheels are pushed all the way back, affording lots of interior space. This is the European ID.Buzz. The US version will be longer and add a third row.
And a tall roof and boxy shape means there’s plenty of room inside for people and stuff. At 6 foot 1, I fit in the back seat with tons of headroom to spare.
Modern touches include a horizontal light bar that spans the rear of the van.
There’s a diamond pattern on the front of the ID.Buzz that’s carried throughout the interior.
Like lots of electric vehicles, the ID.Buzz gets special wheels meant to boost aerodynamics and help with range.
Inside, the ID.Buzz feels super open and features fun pops of color that match its paint job.
It seems like a place kids would really get a kick out of. And there are copious crannies and USB-C ports for sticking small items and charging devices.
If you ride in the back seat, you get a tray table and a handy cellphone pouch above it.
The ID.Buzz brings plenty of utility to front-seat passengers as well. There’s a nook above the glovebox that would be perfect for a wallet, glasses, or other small items.
There’s a spot by the steering wheel that’s meant for charging phones.
The ID.Buzz gets the same screen setup as Volkswagen’s ID.4 SUV, consisting of a small display for the driver and a larger touchscreen for things like the radio.
The driver sits nice and high, and it seems like there would be good visibility thanks to the van’s big windows and short hood.
The driver and and front passenger also get armrests, an underrated comfort feature that should come in more vehicles.
One quirk: The center console is removable. VW says it’s because some customers said they’d want to shuffle to the back seat from the driver’s seat.
Two dividers in the center console double as an ice scraper and a bottle opener.
As you might expect, the ID.Buzz offers no shortage of cargo space, particularly when you collapse the rear seats. An optional feature brings the loading floor up to the same level as the folded seats, enabling owners to lay down an air mattress.
The hatch is high enough to stand under, which could be great for camping or tailgating.
Volkswagen also packed the ID.Buzz full of little quirks and Easter eggs that add no benefit besides being fun and cute.
Look closely, and you’ll see little ID.Buzz renditions all over the place. Here’s one embossed into an armrest.
Here’s another on the rear window.
When it’s raining, the rear wiper reveals a little umbrella.
Here’s a little smiley face I found.
And the accelerator and brake look like play and pause buttons.
If you’re a fan of all this cuteness and you live in the US, you’ll have to wait a while. Commercial and passenger ID.Buzz models go on sale in Europe later this year, but it only hits US shores in 2024.
Read the original article on Business Insider


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Gloom and heartbreak take a glossy, anthemic turn with the brand new single Miseryout today via Greyscale Records from beloved alt-rockers The Beautiful Monument.
Following on from the group’s previous 2023 single, the razor-sharp electronicore delight Hellbound, Misery oscillates with lush and ominous synths, prowling, stripped-back verses and soaring choruses, before building to a salient breakdown as Lizi Blanco declares “I deserve better“.
“Misery is a theme song for those who are completely oblivious to their one-sided relationships. It is the painful reality of a profound sense of loneliness that an individual begins experiencing when their ‘perfect relationship’ begins to crumble and their metaphorical see-saw starts tipping. I wrote this song as an onlooker about a person I know who is very obviously blinded by their warp ed view of ‘love’. Originally my heart broke for them, but there’s only so many times a person can ignore the warning signs before your words turn into mumbled sounds of nothing.” says Lizi Blanco.
She adds, “People don’t always just say things to start fights or belittle you, most times they’re genuinely concerned for your happiness and want to make sure that you’re doing what’s right for you, not just what ‘societal norms’ expect of you.”
Produced by Callan Orr, Misery is a powerful exploration and declaration of heartache and full-blown misery, channeled with empowerment and an ultimately uplifting affect.Also accompanied by a brand new music video today, Misery comes to life using the theme of water as a symbol for cleansing, while also detailing the journey of an individual’s deluded state of mind coming to terms with an imbalanced relationship.
The Beautiful Monument released their emotive 2019 album, ‘I’m the Reaper’, showcasing the group’s genre-defiant rock aesthetics alongside their stylistic innovation. Hooking into emotions and fears felt by everyone in the room and offering fans a moment of catharsis and reflection without being alone. Its okay not to be okay, a theme that The Beautiful Monument has carried through their debut and softmore albums and that seems more poignant now than ever before
No strangers to the live circuit, they have previously toured alongside Tonight Alive, Architects, In Hearts Wake, I Prevail, Alpha Wolf and Void Of Vision and have performed at Download Festival, Unify Gathering in 2018, Good Things Festival in 2020, Knight & Day Festival and Alpha Wolf’s curated festival, CVLT FEST in 2022.
Most recently, The Beautiful Monument finished two Australian national tours supporting Escape The Fate and Sleeping with Sirens, and will embark on a headline run across Australia later this month for the ‘Misery Loves Company’ tour with special guests Eat Your Heart Out and Headstrong.
Destroy All Lines + Greyscale Records Presents
THE BEAUTIFUL MONUMENT
‘MISERY LOVES COMPANY’ TOUR
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
EAT YOUR HEART OUT
THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2023 – BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE
FRIDAY 23 JUNE 2023 – HAMILTON STATION HOTEL, NEWCASTLE
SATURDAY 24 JUNE 2023 – FACTORY FLOOR, SYDNEY
THURSDAY 29 JUNE 2023 – NORTHCOTE SOCIAL, MELBOURNE
FRIDAY 30 JUNE 2023 – LUCY’S LOVE SHACK, PERTH*
*Eat Your Heart Out & Headstrong not appearing
Tickets on sale now from destroyalllines.com
FOLLOW THE BEAUTIFUL MONUMENT
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE | TIKTOK | SPOTIFY
Thanks to Dallas Does PR

domain: artistic


Cross-posted on Google Cloud Platform Blog.
Cloud native technologies like Kubernetes help you compose scalable services out of a sea of small logical units. In our last post, we introduced Vitess(an open-source project that powers YouTube's main database) as a way of turning MySQL into a scalable Kubernetes application. Our goal was to make scaling your persistent datastore in Kubernetes as simple as scaling stateless app servers - just run a single command to launch more pods. We've made a lot of progress since then (pushing over 2,500 new commits) and we're nearing the first stable version of the new, cloud native Vitess.
In preparation for the stable release, we've begun to publish alpha builds of Vitess v2.0.0. Some highlights of what's new since our earlier post include:
- Using the final Kubernetes 1.0 API.
- Official Vitess client libraries in Java, Python, PHP, and Go.
- Java and Go clients use the new HTTP/2-based gRPC framework.
- Can now run on top of MySQL 5.6, in addition to MariaDB 10.0.
- New administrative dashboard built on AngularJS.
- Built-in backup/restore designed to plug into blob stores like Google Cloud Storage.
- GTID-based reparenting for reversible, routine failovers.
- Simpler schema changes.
We've also been hard at work adding lots more documentation. In particular, the rest of this post will explore one of our new walkthroughs that demonstrates transparent resharding of a live database - that is, changing the number of shards without any code changes or noticeable downtime for the application.
Sharding is bitter medicine, as S. Alex Smith wrote. It complicates your application logic and multiplies your database administration workload. But sharding is especially important when running MySQL in a cloud environment, since a single node can only become so big. Vitess takes care of shard routing logic, so the data-access layer in your application stays simple. It also automates per-shard administrative tasks, helping a small team manage a large fleet.
The preferred sharding strategy in Vitess is what we call range-based shards>. You can think of the shards as being like the buckets of a hash table. We decide which bucket to place a record in based solely on its key, so we don't need a separate table that keeps track of which bucket each key is in.
To make it easy to change the number of buckets, we use consistent hashing. That means instead of using a hash function that maps each key to a bucket number, we use a function that maps each key to a randomly distributed (but consistent) value in a very large set - such as the set of all 8-byte sequences. Then we assign each bucket a range of these values, which we call keyspace IDs.
In the sample app code, you'll see a
get\_keyspace\_id() function that transforms a given page number to the set of all 8-byte sequences, establishing the mapping we need for consistent hashing. In the unsharded case, these values are stored but not used. When we introduce sharding, page numbers will be evenly distributed (on average) across all the shards we create, allowing the app to scale to support arbitrary amounts of pages.
As you begin the resharding walkthrough,you'll bring up two new shards for the same keyspace. During resharding, the new shards will run alongside the old one, but they'll remain idle (Vitess will not route any app traffic to them) until you're ready to migrate. In the dashboard, you'll see all three shards, but only shard "0" is currently active.
Next, you'll run a few Vitess commands to copy the schema and data from the original shard. The key to live migration is that once the initial snapshot copy is done, Vitess will automatically begin replicating fresh updates on the original shard to the new shards. We call this filtered replication, since it distributes DMLs only to the shards to which they apply. Vitess also includes tools that compare the original and copied data sets, row-by-row, to verify data integrity.
Once you've verified the copy, and filtered replication has caught up to real-time updates, you can run the migrate command which tells Vitess to atomically shift app traffic from the old shards to the new ones. It does this by disabling writes on the old masters, waiting for the new masters to receive the last events over filtered replication, and then enabling writes on the new masters. Since the process is automated, this typically only causes about a second of write unavailability.
Now you can tear down the old shard, and verify that only the new ones show up in the dashboard.
Note that we never had to tell the app that we were changing from one shard to two. The resharding process was completely transparent to the app, since Vitess automatically reroutes queries on-the-fly as the migration progresses.
At YouTube, we've used Vitess to transparently reshard (both horizontally and vertically) nearly all of our MySQL databases within the last year alone, and we have still more on the horizon as we continue to grow. See the full walkthrough instructions if you want to try it out for yourself.
The promise of sharding is that it allows you to scale write throughput linearly by adding more shards, since each shard is actually a separate database. The challenge in achieving that separation while still presenting a simple, unified view to the application is to avoid introducing bottlenecks. To demonstrate this scaling in the cloud, we've integrated the Vitess client with a driver for the Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark(YCSB).
Below you can see preliminary results for scaling write throughput by adding more shards in Vitess running on Google Container Engine. For this benchmark, we pointed YCSB at the load balancer for our Vitess cluster and told it to send a lot of INSERT statements. Vitess took care of routing statements to the various shards.
The max throughput (QPS) for a given number of shards is the point at which round-trip write latency became degraded, which we define as >15ms on average or >50ms for the worst 1% of queries (99th percentile).
We also ran YCSB's "read mostly" workload (95% reads, 5% writes) to show how Vitess can scale read traffic by adding replicas. The max throughput here is the point at which round-trip read latency became degraded, which we define as >5ms on average or >20ms for the worst 1% of queries.
There's still a lot of room to improve the benchmarks (for example, by tuning the performance of MySQL itself). However, these preliminary results show that the returns don't diminish as you scale. And since you're scaling horizontally, you're not limited by the size of a single machine.
With the new cloud native version of Vitess moving towards a stable launch, we invite you to give it a try and let us know what else you'd like to see in the final release. You can reach us either on our discussion forum, or by filing an issue on GitHub. If you'd like to be notified of any updates on Vitess, you can subscribe to our low-frequency announcement list.
-Posted By Anthony Yeh, Software Engineer, YouTube


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Exploring Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy
Nestled at the base of the Matthews Mountain range, Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy is a testament to Kenya’s commitment to conservation and community development. Its establishment in 1995 marked a significant turn in the fate of the region’s wildlife and the Samburu community.
Location and the Samburu People
Encompassing the heavenly Matthews Mountain Range, Namunyak is located in the rugged expanse of Kenya’s northern frontier. This area is not just remarkable for its untouched wilderness but also for its custodians – the Samburu people. Semi-nomadic pastoralists, with a long tradition of living alongside the native wildlife, they are the heart of the conservancy’s success story.
A Remarkable Transformation
The conservancy’s lands which were once teeming with elephants and black rhinos experienced a period of turmoil during the Somali civil war in the 80s. Poaching was rampant, resulting in a tragic loss of wildlife. Recognizing the urgent need for action, the establishment of Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy became a beacon of hope.
A Future through Sustainable Tourism
By cooperating with the Samburu, the conservancy has paved the way for sustainable tourism. Notably, Sarara Camp played a significant role in the region, starting small in 1997 but growing to represent the power of community-driven conservation. Visitors now flock to the camp not just for its beauty but as a part of the conservation story—a story where the wildlife, including majestic elephants, have learned to trust and thrive once again.
Namunyak Today – A Sanctuary of Biodiversity
Today, Namunyak stands as a sanctuary for biodiversity. From the elusive De Brazza colobus monkey to the reticulated giraffe, the conservancy protects a wealth of species, some rare and endangered. It’s a place where the Northern Elephant populations move seasonally, following ancient migration routes between the Mathews Range and Mt. Kenya.
Accommodation – Where Comfort Meets Nature
For those looking to immerse themselves in this extraordinary natural environment, Namunyak offers superb accommodations. Visitors can stay at the renowned Sarara Camp, experience the unique Sarara Tree Camp, or retreat to the exclusive Reteti House.
Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy isn’t just a destination; it’s an ongoing story of conservation where each visitor becomes part of the narrative—a narrative that blends the beauty of nature with the spirit of the Samburu community.

domain: geography


N-wise testing has the aim of testing all the possibilities of any random combination of N factors.
The maximum value for N is equal to the number of parameters. In that case, the result is equal to the testing of the complete decision table: all the combinations of all the values of all the parameters. In practice, a value of 4 or higher is seldom applied. In order to apply N-wise testing tools are required.
The most common application of N-wise testing is pairwise testing. Pairwise testing is based on the phenomenon that most faults in software are the consequence of one particular factor or the combination of 2 factors. The number of faults that are caused by a specific combination of more than 2 factors becomes exponentially smaller. Instead of testing all the possible combinations of all the factors, it is very effective if every combination of 2 factors is tested.
The aim of pairwise testing is to test all the possibilities of any combination of 2 factors.
This delivers an enormous reduction in the number of required test cases, yet still gives a good fault-detection result.
The following example illustrates the meaning of pairwise testing.
In the system under test (for ordering books via the Internet), the following 3 paramete play a role. For each parameter, there are 2 equivalence classes to be tested:
Number of books Few; many
Sum Low; high
Membership card None; Gold card
In order to test all the combinations relating to these 3 parameters, 2x2x2=8 test situations are required, namely:
|Number of books||Sum||Membership card|
For pairwise testing, as few as 4 test situations will suffice, as shown below:
|Membership card||Sum||Membership card|
Of the 2 parameters [Number of books, Sum], all 4 existing combinations are tested (Few/Low; Few/High; Many/Low; Many/High). The same applies to the other combinations of 2 parameters, so for [Number of books, Membership card] and [Sum, Membership card]. Check it for yourself.
What is the point of this? If a fault exists in the system that occurs when one of the possible values of one of the parameters is combined with a particular value of one of the other parameters, then this fault is always found with these 4 test cases. That is the strength of pairwise testing.