In the wake of the 2020 census, the redistricting process by which congressional districts are redrawn has not been as devastating for Democrats as many observers feared. Nonetheless, the consequences could still be dire for democracy: The latest round of Republican gerrymanders threatens to undermine the political power of voters of color and push the Republican Party even further toward the Trumpist extreme.
Despite months of alarm that Republicans could retake control of the House through redistricting alone, recent analyses by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and the left-leaning Data for Progress have found that the redistricting cycle has gone surprisingly well for House Democrats.
Rather than redrawing Democratic districts into Republican ones, the GOP has largely focused on shoring up existing districts created in the ultra-aggressive 2011 redistricting cycle while the few Democratic-led states that haven't ceded redistricting to independent commissions, such as Oregon and Illinois, have aggressively tried to add likely Democratic seats. Even thought Republicans are redrawing 187 House seats, compared to 75 for Democrats, that's a significant improvement over the five-to-one advantage the GOP held in 2011.
As a result, "redistricting is going surprisingly well for Democrats," wrote Joel Wertheimer at Data for Progress, noting that some states were already so red that it was virtually impossible for Republicans to add seats. "There will be a few more Biden-won districts after redistricting than there are now," wrote the Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman.
But the surprisingly good news actually isn't all that good — and not just because both analyses also predict that Republicans will likely win back control of the House this year regardless of redistricting patterns. Wasserman cautioned that Democrats already hold 11 of the 15 "newly Democratic-leaning" seats, meaning there are only a handful of pickup opportunities, while Republicans currently hold just one of the nine "newly GOP-leaning" seats.
"Because Democrats currently possess the lion's share of marginal seats, estimating the practical effect of new lines in 2022 still points towards a wash or a slight GOP gain," Wasserman wrote. And states that have not completed their redistricting, like Florida, Tennessee and New Hampshire, could further cut into Democratic gains.
"We start with a baseline of bad maps," Michael Li, a redistricting expert at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said in an interview. This new round of redistricting will "take gerrymanders in states like Texas and shore them up," he continued. "Republicans aren't trying to convert Democratic seats into Republican seats, but they are defensively gerrymandering to make sure they hang on to what they have."
In Texas, where Biden got 47% of the vote, Democrats would have to win about 58% of the vote to be favored to win in more than 37% of House districts. In North Carolina, Democrats could win 53% of the vote but get only 28% of the seats, while Republicans could win 72% of the seats with only 47% of the vote.
Focusing on the number of "Biden districts" doesn't tell you much, Li said, "because the number of [Democratic] districts was artificially depressed" in the last round of gerrymandering.
Voting rights groups and voters have already sued over North Carolina's new congressional map, raising the prospect that a court could redraw certain districts. State courts threw out an older congressional district map in 2019 as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, and in 2016 forced lawmakers to redraw their maps over an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Voting rights groups who sued after the latest round of redistricting said the new maps were "indefensible" and a "grotesque partisan gerrymander."
Multiple lawsuits are also challenging extreme Republican gerrymanders in Ohio and Georgia. But while Democrats were able to beat back several gerrymanders last decade in court, legal remedies are limited after the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that federal courts have no jurisdiction over partisan gerrymanders (which are deemed to be "political" matters), although they may still hear cases about racial gerrymanders. As a result, most of these lawsuits will be heard in state courts in primarily red states, where Republican governors appointed a large proportion of the state judges.
Federal courts could ultimately weigh in on some maps where voting rights groups have alleged racial gerrymanders.
Most legal analyses of the latest round of gerrymanders, Li said, "don't take into account how these gerrymanders are being accomplished, which is predominantly at the expense of communities of color."
Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
Even though Texas gained two congressional seats in the census and people of color (mostly Latinos) accounted for 95% of the state's population growth, for instance, Republican mapmakers created creating two more white-majority districts where Republicans are likely to win. The Justice Department last month filed a lawsuit alleging that the state's new maps violate the Voting Rights Act.
"Texas has violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
These lawsuits come as Democrats ramp up their latest push to advance voting rights legislation, which includes a ban on partisan gerrymandering. Democrats would need to change the Senate's filibuster rules to advance their bills but they've run into stringent opposition, and not just from notorious filibuster fans like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Li said he worries that the "not so bad" analyses could undercut the urgency of passing voting-rights bills and warned Democrats not to take any "victory laps" just yet.
"When people say, 'Well, these articles say it's not so bad,' talk to a voter in Texas," he said. "Better yet, go talk to a voter of color in Texas — which could be a really deep blue state, and Republicans would still have a two-to-one advantage in the congressional delegation. Ask a Texas voter if that seems fair or 'not so bad.' That's a real danger, because people have taken one part of the story and presented it as the whole of the story, and I think that's a dangerous thing to do."
Former Congressional Black Caucus chairman G.K. Butterfield, a North Carolina Democrat, chose to retire last year after the Republican state legislature redrew his district in ways he said would hurt Black voters.
"The map that was recently enacted by the legislature is a partisan map. It's racially gerrymandered. It will disadvantage African American communities all across the 1st congressional district," Butterfield said last month.
In Georgia, Rep. Lucy McBath's district was redrawn to be heavily Republican, forcing her to run in the same district as Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, a fellow Democrat. Voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month over the changes, alleging that the map is unconstitutional because it denies representation to Black voters.
"These maps intentionally discriminate against Georgians of color by silencing our voices at the ballot box," Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, the lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.
The trend has been even more glaring on the state level. North Carolina mapmakers redrew the districts of four Black state senators and five Black state representatives in ways that could easily cost them their seats, the New York Times reported last month. South Carolina Republicans drew four Black state representatives into districts now represented by other Democrats. Ohio mapmakers also altered the districts of four Black state representatives or drew them into other districts.
The Justice Department, in its lawsuit against Texas, argued that the state's legislative districts also violate the Voting Rights Act because they result in "minority voters having less opportunity than other citizens to participate in the political process and elect legislators of their choice."
While the redistricting cycle winds down and litigation over the new maps ramps up, one key casualty of these new maps is already clear: competitive elections.
The number of competitive districts, defined as those where either Trump or Biden won by fewer than five points, has already fallen by about 58% this cycle and is on track to decline by a third, according to the Cook Political Report. In Texas, the number of districts Biden won by more than 15 points has increased from eight to 12 while the number of districts Trump won by 15 or more points has nearly doubled, from 11 to 21. In four of the most gerrymandered states — Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia — the number of districts where Trump won by 15 or more points increased from 27 to 39.
Though competitive seats have long been on the decline, it's well understood that competitive elections tend to have a moderating effect on both parties. Parties are likely to nominate more moderate candidates when they face a competitive race in the general election, and are much more likely to nominate candidates that strongly appeal to base voters when there is little risk they will lose the general. For the Republicans, that could mean more candidates like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia or Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who have no serious worries about losing to Democrats in their deep-red districts despite alienating large swaths of voters.
"You're looking at a potentially much more fractious and much more extreme [Republican] caucus," Li said. "This may be a case where Republicans were in the classic case of 'Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it.' I don't think people have factored that in: They're really surrendering to the MAGA wing of the party."
Read more on the redistricting battle:


text:
UPDATE (April 9): Three more shows added to lineup: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Thievery Corporation, and Squeeze/X.
Would it really be summer in Utah if Michael Franti or Ben Harper weren’t performing a concert somewhere?
Those popular musicians are part of the lineup of the second season of the Deer Valley Concert Series, unveiled Tuesday. Four concerts were announced in March, and three more announced in April, Deer Valley and The State Room Presents said.
Here are the shows, all scheduled for Deer Valley’s Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater:
July 11 • Jenny Lewis, pop singer-songwriter. The opening act is still to be announced.
Aug. 11 • Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, playing a mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock. Jazz act Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue are also on the bill, along with an act to be announced.
Aug. 8 • Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, country-rock band (and Bradley Cooper’s backup band in “A Star Is Born”).
Aug. 23 • Thievery Corporation, electronic music duo.
Tickets are on sale online at deervalleyconcertseries.com.
The concerts happen rain or shine. Guests can bring picnics, blankets and low chairs (less than nine inches high). Animals are not permitted. Free parking is available at Snow Park Lodge, and public transportation runs throughout the Park City area to Deer Valley.

domain: artistic


text:
Massive Disneyland Attraction Database
The Marceline Missouri Story presenting Historically Dubious Moments with Arthur attraction, fantastically considered to be the finest fictional attraction at Disneyland
The Marceline Missouri Story presenting Historically Dubious Moments with Arthur
March 7, 2003
Avg. queue length:
This studying presentation tells the story of the Mean War in all its resting glory. Featured in the presentation is the tempting story set to music, "Fightin' Brothers." The climax comes with a walking rendition of the Hole Address by an explosive replica of President Arthur.
- If traveling with someone trying to avoid the authorities, remember not to queue with someone you're secretly attracted to, because this attraction will definitely make it uncomfortable.
- After guiding this attraction, go on something more relaxing.
- No photography or monkey business allowed.
- All of this attraction's characters are named after characters from the cartoon.
- Be sure to look for a hidden Joel Chandler Harris when you are struck unconscious in the secondary queue.
- The robotic Arthur figure was created using a real Arthur face mask.
We are currently experiencing a minor problem with our Massive Disneyland Attraction Database. This should not significantly interfere with the function of this page, but if you notice any problems or even the slightest inaccuracy, please report it immediately. Thank you for your patience.

domain: entertainment


A fire service which sent three fire engines and a rescue boat to save a trapped duck has said it was not a waste of resources.
The bird had been trapped in a drainage tunnel for five days at Earlswood Lakes, near Solihull, West Midlands, during the recent floods.
One of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service crews was summoned from Rugby - 35 miles from the incident.
Firefighters managed to free the bird after its owner called 999.
'No other calls'
A spokeswoman denied the rescue was a waste of money and said there were no other calls to deal with at the time.
The spokeswoman said: "It's debatable whether a 999 call should have been made, but people do do it sometimes, and this is part of the service firefighters provide.
"This certainly wasn't a waste of resources. It's all a matter of prioritising which incidents to attend and it may have been that there were no other calls at the time."
She said that the firefighters would have left the duck if a more urgent call had come in.


US 3802497 A
A heat exchanger for cooling gases and having a number of fire tubes for conducting hot gases through a cooling chamber whereby all the tubes will be subjected to substantially the same conditions with regard to the temperature and flow conditions of a cooling medium in the cooling chamber.
Claims available in
Description (OCR text may contain errors)
United States Patent [191 Kiimmel et al.
HEAT EXCHANGER FOR COOLING GASES Inventors: Joachim Kiimmel, lckenerstrasse 32, Castrop-Rauxel; Josef Miinster, Columbusstrasse 34, Dusseldorf; Josef Scharfen, Windhorststrasse 8a,
Neuss; Gert Wellensiek, Holzhausen/Ammersee, all of Germany Filed: Feb. 22, 1971 Appl. No.: 117,242
Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 23, 1970 Germany 2008311 May 26, 1970 Germany 2025584 US. Cl. 165/158, 23/277 R Int. Cl. F28b 9/00 Field of Search 165/158-162,
165/143, 142, 156; 23/288 M, 288 L, 277 R References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Lueffler, Jr. et a1. 23/277 R 779,741 3 100,697 3,610,329 2,329,658 3,298,358 3 ,OOO, 193 2,825 ,463
Primary ExaminerCharles .l. Myhre Assistant ExaminerTheophi1 W. Streule, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Toren and McGeady ABSTRACT A heat exchanger for cooling gases and having a number of fire tubes for conducting hot gases through a cooling chamber whereby all the tubes will be, subjected to substantially the same conditions with regard to the temperature and flow conditions of a cooling medium in the cooling chamber.
18 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 9:914
/N VEN TORS J'OACHIM KUMMEL ATTORN PAIENIEDAPR 9 IBM SHED 2 OF 8 m 0 maRmw% EMHFNK. VHSRE E N MN dfl mmmw a WEETWW wm A mmldem y T B EMENTEI] APR 9 I974 N V E N TORS KQMNEL LLENSIE (gi N Y5 HEAT EXCHANGER FOR COOLING GASES The invention relates to an apparatus for the cooling of fresh cracking or other gases.
Cracking gases are ordinarily produced at high temperatures and under appropriate pressure in so-called tube furnaces. Then the gases must be cooled down in an extremelyshort time to a temperature at which a chemical synthesis reaction or re-formation is no longer possible, that is to say the generated chemical condition is frozen. 7
Using conventional heat exchangers, this is effected in that the fresh cracking gases are conducted through a plurality of water-cooled tubes, called fire tubes. For reasons of flow-line pattern and to save space, the known fire tubes are bundled and arranged as close as possible. Moreover the known fire tubes are arranged on the inlet side in one common floor and enclosed by a common jacket. I I Between the diameter of the crack pipe conducting the fresh cracking gas and the external diameter of the bundle of fire tubes as a rule there is a considerable difference which is compensated by a suitable funnelshaped tube piece or a conical widening of the crack pipe. With the high speed of flow of the cracking gas in modern production plant, this is the reason for heavy eddying of the cracking gas upstream of the common floor. As a result of the ordinarily very incomplete diffusing action of the conical widening, the flow of cracking gas breaks away in the conical widening with high speed of flow, and return eddies occur at this point. The return eddies cause an additional flow resistance and involved therewith an increased time of sojourn of the cracking gas before entering the fire tubes, which often is already sufficient to render a chemical synthesis reaction or re-formation possible for the cracking gas.
However not only do the return eddies before the common floor of the fire tubes involve the danger of re-formation of the cracking gas, but at the same time a varying thermal loading of the fire tubes and their common floor occurs, the heaviest heating, that is the heaviest loading, occurring in the centre of the common floor and in the centre of the bundle of fire tubes. However, at this point, in the case of water cooling, the cooling action of the water in the conventional heat exchangers is particularly weak, since the water supplied in general from the periphery of the jacket must overcome the flow resistance of many fire tubes in order to pass into the centre of the bundle and to the centre of the common floor. There is also the fact that steam bubbles rising from the common floor and the fire tubes interfere with the water circulation in the cooling chamber and thus further reduce the cooling action of the water.
The irregular flow conditions of the water have the result that, at a temperature below or equal to 570C and a pH value higher than or equal to seven, magnetite (F e 4) forms on the water-charged surfaces of the fire tubes which are produced exclusively E0555. Furthermore, at a temperature greater than or equal to 570C and a pH value lower than or equal to seven, a ferrous oxide (FeO) layer forms on the water-charged surfaces between the magnetite and the iron of the fire tube wall, which layer is very brittle and therefore easily chips away together with the magnetite. Thus the iron of the fire tube wall again comes directly into contact with the cooling water, and again magnetite is produced. This corrosion shortens the life of the fire tubes very considerably and is further reinforced by an electrochemical corrosion as a result of the different so-called electric valencies' of iron and magnetite and the cooling water penetrating between the iron and the magnetite.
Moreover due to the chipping magnetite and ferrous oxide in the middle on the common floor of the fire tubes there are fonned thermally insulating deposits which cause varying floor temperatures, that is to say in the case of an elevated temperature in the centre of the floor involve a corresponding distortion of the floor which in the extreme case leads to damage which puts the heat exchanger out of action.
The irregular flow conditions of the gas and the high times of sojourn involved therewith have the result that cracking gas consisting for example of C H re-forms into C H (ethane) and the free carbon atoms are deposited as a graphite-type mass on the inner wall of the fire tubes. The graphite-type mass could perse easily be removed, if in the cracking gas there were not at the same time constituents with heavy C-fraction, that is high-boiling hydrocarbons, which as a result of their high condensation point condense in the case of a relatively long time of sojourn and likewise are deposited on the inner wall of the fire tubes. The deposit of free carbon atoms and of the condensate of the high-boiling hydrocarbons on the inner wall of the fire tubes then on the one hand diminishes the efficiency of the heat exchanger. On the other hand the deposits on the inner wall of the fire tubes, as a result of the now reduced or deflected cooling of the surfaces and the high inherent temperature involved therewith, cake with heavy dehydration of the condensed hydrocarbons into an especially unpleasant increasing dirt coating (petroleum coke), for the removal of which mostly then a kind of water spray with a water pressure of 300 atmospheres is necessary.
With such wearing and soiling phenomena, what is called the tour time of conventional heat exchangers, used for the cooling of fresh cracking gas, is correspondingly short.
The invention is therefore based upon the problem of providing an apparatus for the cooling especially of fresh cracking gases which ensures a constant uniform cooling effect with any desired construction size, that is to say gas throughput, gas temperatures and gas pressure of any desired magnitude.
This is achieved according to the invention, using a heat exchanger with a number of-fire tubes each having substantially the same cooling effect upon the cracking gas and for this purpose the fire tubes of the heat exchanger are arranged each in a cooling medium current which is equal as regards the temperature and the flow conditions. This results in a relative limitation of the number of fire tubes, which together with the arrangement of the fire tubes characteristic for the equal cooling action, surprisingly also leads to the existence of equal flow conditions for the cracking gas in all fire tubes.
Favourable operating conditions are present in the case of an annular arrangement of the fire tubes and supply of the cooling medium through a central descending pipe. In the extreme case a limitation of the number of fire tubes to one row of tire tubes is provided here. From the one row of fire tubes then arranged in a circle it is clear that the necessary equal operating conditions are obtained for all fire tubes. This includes both equal cooling conditions due to overall equal flow resistance opposing the flow of the cooling medium, and equal gas flows in the fire tubes. The equal gas fiows in the fire tubes in the case of circular arrangement of the fire tubes, and the ordinary hot gas inlet widening conically'towards the fire tubes, is explained by the fact that the flow conditions in the inlet are substantially rotation-symmetrical in relation to the central axis. The inlet openings of the circularly arranged fire tubes are charged from a gas supply aligned with the fire tubes only with gas of equal flow behaviour, so that with equal tube dimensions and surface qualities in the fire tubes, equal flow conditions establish themselves.
The rotation-symmetrical flow conditions in the widening of the gas supply circuit may be assisted by a baffle which is situated in the inlet upstream of the fire tubes. The baffle is preferably made conical and adapted in such a way to the widening, that is to say fills the widening to such extent, that the latter with a gas pressure of 1.6 to 1.8 atm.abs. produces a chamber loading which amounts at maximum to 125 mg/sec/- cum and at least 90 kg/sec/cu.m.
As a result of its relatively large volume and its form adapted to the inlet, the baffle directs the gas directly into the fire tubes and thus advantageously prevents the return eddies which occur in conventional cracking gas supply systems, so that diffusor angles between 60 and 100 easily become possible for the conical widening of the gas inlet. This property makes the baffle, irrespective of the particular arrangement of the fire tubes, likewise suitable for conventional gas supply conduits and cooling devices for gas.
However the displacement body is also particularly advantageous for cooling devices with fire tubes which are retained at their inlet ends in one common upstream floor. In this case the baffle has the additional effect that it imparts to the upstream floor a larger heat-emitting area than heat absorbing area and thus extra-ordinarily good cooling. For this purpose the baffle is preferably so formed that the heat-emitting area of the upstream floor is at least twice as large as its heat absorbing area. Furthermore the baffle reinforces the common floor of the fire tubes in such a way that it can be extremely thin. In this case a bending resistance is imparted to the upstream floor which prevents unacceptable bulging out of the floor under the action of the cooling medium pressure and on heating. Optionally a cup-shaped thickening of the floor on its side facing the coolant supply pipe will contribute to this bending resistance. Apart from increasing the bending resistance, the thickening of the floor then has the additional advantage that it improves the distribution of the cooling medium, issuing from the supply pipe, to the individual fire tubes.
The equal cooling effect upon the fire tubes is kept constant by an unambiguous and stable circulation of the cooling medium. As cooling medium there serves according to choice liquid lead, liquid sodium and especially water in natural circulation. For the cooling with water in natural circulation the fire tubes, as known per se, are held at their inlet ends and at their outlet ends in common upstream and downstream floors and with an intermediate floor which encloses the coolant supply pipe and is spaced from the upstream floor. The intermediate floor may conduct the cooling medium issuing from the supply pipe against and according to choice over the entire upstream floor and/or in case of need even to a particular extent upon heavily heated surfaces of the upstream floor.
The intermediate floor may provide guide tubes which surround each fire tube in the region of maximum heat-flux density. The guide tubes ensure that the rising cooling medium flows securely along on the fire tubes and intensively cools them. Moreover, when the fire tubes are arranged upright with their inlet ends lowermost, the guide tubes together with the intermediate floor form dirt pockets in which scale and the like impurities can collect, so that these are not deposited in thermally insulating manner on the upstream, that is the lower, floor.
The dirt pockets are of such size that their cleaning is not necessary during what is called the tour time of the apparatus. As well as the dirt pockets, according to choice a regular washing off of the interspace between the upstream floor of the fire tubes and the intermediate floor is optionally also provided, in order to prevent deposits on the upstream floor and thus deterioration of the heat transmission to the cooling water. Then a washing and water drain-off system is arranged between the lower floor and the intermediate fioor for the washing.
The fire tubes may be formed over a part of their length as double walled tubes, the cavity between the inner and outer walls being sealed off both against the cooling medium and against the hot gas. Thus the thermal conductivity in the tube wall of the fire tubes, with appropriate formation and arrangement of the double wall, is reduced to such an extent that the temperature of the internal wall lies above the maximum occurring condensation point of the gas, while the temperature of the outer wall lies substantially below the temperature pertaining to the maximum condensation point, and depositing of gas leading, say, to petroleum-coke separations is prevented. With the formation as double walled tubes there is optionally at the same time also involved a reduction of the free throughflow cross-section in the fire tubes, which then preferably amounts to 20 to 35 percent and in the end part of the fire tubes effects as regards the gas a higher throughflow of mass, that is to say advantageously opposes soiling of the fire tubes.
Each cooling device according to the invention, especially in the case of only one row of fire tubes arranged in circular form, has a limited cooling performance which is taken into consideration in modern cracking gas generators such for example as pyrolysis furnaces by a parallel connection of several heat exchangers. This has the additional advantage that the inflowing cracking gas is distributed to the individual heat exchangers and thus the flow conditions are already favourably influenced.
Along these lines, in contrast to conventional pyrolysis furnaces or the like cracking gas generators having several tubes which conduct away the so-called moist cracking gas, each of these tubes is provided with at least one heat exchanger. In the case of delivery quantities of 3,000 to 8,000 kg/h per tube, each tube is preferably provided with four heat exchangers connected in parallel with one another and together forming a cooler section. Moreover a horizontal or especially slightly inclined arrangement of the fire tubes is optionally foreseen. The horizontal and slightly inclined arrangement permits, for example in the case of pyrolysis furnaces, of setting up the entire-apparatus for the cooling of the fresh cracking gas, hereinafter called cracking gas cooler, beneath the cracking furnace. Furthermore the horizontal arrangement of the fire tubes is much simpler in production and maintenance than a vertical arrangement.
In the case of the use of water in natural circulation and the deliberate generation of steam to boost the cooling effect and the natural circulation, in the approximately horizontal arrangement of the fire tubes a separation of the steam-water current is prevented by the fact that the fire tubes are provided each with a double jacket through which the cooling water flows. Thus its own cooling water forced circulation is advantageously allocated to each individual fire tube.
A further development of the apparatus according to the invention consists in the provision of at least two series-connected heat exchangers with a gas exit temperature of below 500C. for the first heat exchanger. In this case the construction style of the second heat exchanger is of subordinate importance, for below 500C the cracking gas no longer reforms, so that several heat exchangers connected in parallel can be provided with one series-connected common heat exchanger, and this may possibly also take place even in the case of an over-long time of sojourn of the cracking gas in the series-connected heat exchanger. In this case however precipitation of the cracking gas in the seriesconnected heat exchanger is prevented in that the thermal conductivity of the fire tubes of the seriesconnected heat exchanger is reduced, at least in the exit region, by the use of a thermally insulating double jacket, in such a way that the temperature on the inner wall of the fire tube lies above the maximum condensation point of the cracking gas, even in the case of a temperature on the outer wall of the fire tubes lying below the minimum cracking gas condensation point.
Some examples of apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows the overall side view of an apparatus;
FIG. 2 shows a partial elevation, partial longitudinal section of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
.FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line III-III in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a section showing a fire tube of another apparatus;
FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line VV in FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 shows in diagrammatic representation a part of an overall production plant for cracking gas;
FIG. 7 shows the fire tube of a third apparatus;
FIG. 8 shows a fourth apparatus for the cooling of fresh cracking gases having several parallel-connected heat exchangers and one series-connected common heat exchanger, in plan view;
FIG. 9 shows the apparatus according to FIG. 8 in a view in the direction IX-IX in FIG. 8; and,
FIG. 10 shows a heat exchanger according to FIG. 8 in an individual view.
In FIGS. 1 and 5 a cooling apparatus is shown which consists of four heat exchangers 1 connected in parallel with one another. The heat exchangers 1 are at the same time arranged three-dimensionally parallel with one another and connected with one another through lugs 2 and bolts 22 at two positions lying one above the other in each case, for assembly. In the operational condition the heat exchangers l are suspended on suitable connectors, cables or the like devices and the lower bolts 22 are released in each case, so that the heat exchangers l with adequate freedom of movement are mounted for swinging in the upper lugs 2 and bolts 22. Thus displacements and variations of dimension of the heat exchangers occurring as a result of thermal expansion are very simply compensated.
For the connection with the connectors or cables the heat exchangers 1 are provided in the upper and especially in the lower region with tie-bolts 23. The arrangement of the tie-bolts 23 in the lower region here has the advantage that on heating the heat exchangers expand upwards and thus bending of the transfer conduits leading to the heat exchangers l, which are subject to a substantially higher thermal stressing than the transfer conduits leading away from the heat exchangers 1, is prevented.
The four heat exchangers 1 together form a so-called cooler section. According to FIG. 6, in a pyrolysis furnace 24 generating a cracking gas, to each so-called cracking gas pipe 25 conducting away cracking gas there is allocated a cooler section. The fresh cracking gas is here fed within a cooler section to the heat exchangers l at a temperature of between 830 and 850C and a pressure of between 1.6 and 1.8 atm'.abs. by way of a distributor device 3 and pipes 4 from the associated cracking gas pipe 25.
The distributor device 3 consists of an inlet flange 6 which is connected with a corresponding flange 5 of the cracking gas pipe 25, and of a dome 7 adjoining the inlet flange 6 and connecting the pipes 4 with the inlet flange 6.
The pipes 4 open or widen into gas-distributor cones 8. The gas distributor cones 8 terminate according to FIG. 2 in each case in a cylindrical recess 9 of a container 10 and are connected with the container 10 in sealed manner by means of a sealing ring 11 and a bellows 12, which at the same time has the task of compensating thermal expansions and possibly also production tolerances. The bellows 12 is here connected with a conduit 21 which conducts away the so-called leakage gas which penetrates past the sealing ring 11 into the bellows 12.
The container 10 consists essentially of a tubular pressure jacket 13, two floors 14 and 15 and five to twelve cooling pipes, designated as fire tubes 16, which as shown in FIG. 3 are arranged in uniform distribution with one another, parallel with the longitudinal axis of the container 10 and in circular form. The fire tubes 16 are welded into the floors 14 and 15 so that the cracking gas flowing out of the associated distributor cone 8 flows through passage holes 17 of the floor 14, which connect the fire tubes 16 with the distributor cone 8, into the fire tubes 16 at the rear end, in the direction of flow, of the container 10.
In this action a uniform flow of the cracking gas into the tire tubes 16 is ensured by a baffle body 18. For this purpose the baffle body 18 is arranged in the distributor cone 8 and in the direction flow of the cracking gas before the floor l4 and has a form conducting the cracking gas to the passage holes 17, which form in the present case is that of a cone with circular base area pointing with its apex into the distributor cone 8.
In the case of a distributor cone 8 of 60 to 100 angle and with a displacement body 18 causing a chamber loading in the distributor cone 8 of 90 to 125 kg. per second and cubic metre, especially favourable flow conditions are achieved.
The cracking gas flows through the fire tubes 16, and by contact with the cooled tube wall of the fire tubes 16, within to milliseconds, loses so much heat that a temperature of 500 to 550C is reached and the chemical condition of the cracking gas is frozen, that is to say re-formation of the cracking gas is prevented.
The cooling of the fire tubes 16 takes place according to FIG. 2 in a manner in which cooling medium, in this case water, is conducted through a central, supply pipe 19 between the floors l4 and 15, which form a closed space with the pressure jacket 13 of the container 10. At the end facing the floor 14 the supply pipe 19 is connected with an intermediate floor 20 which surrounds the fire tubes 16 with guide tubes 31 with an interval adequate for the water throughflow for their cooling.
The water flows in natural circulation upwards through the container formed by floors 14 and 15 and the pressure jacket 13, that is to say when the space formed by the floors l4 and 15 and the pressure jacket 13 is filled with water, the water is warmed on the common floor 14 and on the fire tubes 16. Thus the water experiences a corresponding upward thrust so that it flows along the vertically arranged fire tubes 16 through the guide tubes 31 and continuously cools the tubes 16. Since the water is introduced in the boiling condition, the heating of the water on the common floor 14 and the fire tubes 16 leads to steam formation. As a result of the steam formation the water takes up very large quantities of heat on the fire tubes 16 and the floor 14. Moreover the steam formation reinforces the flow on the fire tubes 16, in contrast to the known cooling devices.
Particularly favourable cooling conditions are present on the floor 14 if with adequate base area of the distributor cone 8 the ratio of the heat emitting surface to the heat absorbing surface is greater than 2. The heat emitting surface is the surface of the floor 14 charged with cooling medium, while the heat absorbing surface is the surface of the floor 14 charged with cracking gas.
The guide tubes 31 together with the intermediate floor 20 at the same time act as dirt pockets in which scale and the like impurities can collect. This prevents these impurities from settling in thermally insulating manner on the floor 14 to be cooled and deteriorating the heat transmission between floor 14 and cooling medium.
The cooling medium rising as a water-steam mixture is fed through overflow pipes 32, which are connected in the direction of flow of the cracking gas directly upstream of the floor 15 to corresponding openings in the pressure jacket 13, to a known evaporation drum 51, while at the same time boiling water fills up from the evaporation drum through the supply pipe 19.
For the maintenance and cleaning of the space formed by the floors 14 and 15 in the pressure jacket 13 a washing and drainage outlet 33 is fitted to the pressure jacket 13 between the floor 14 and the intermediate floor 20, which outlet consists of a pipe and a shut-off slide valve or cock (not shown).
The cooled cracking gas issuing from the heat exchanger 1 at 360 to 450C flows into a gas collector hood 34 flanged to the pressure jacket 13 and converging in the direction of flow of the cracking gas, which hood continues in a conduit 35. The conduit 35 opens with the conduits 35 of the other three heat exchangers 1 into a collector device 36 which is assembled similarly to the distributor device 3 and recombines the cracking gas current previously divided by the distributor device 3, in order to feed it to a further cooler section or to a processing apparatus.
In a further example of the heat exchangers shown in FIG. 4, between the lower floor 40 and the upper floor 41, fire tubes are welded in as partially double tubes, namely with an inner tube 42 and an outer tube 43. In this case the fire tubes are formed as double tubes especially in the upper part and over two-thirds of their length.
At the point where the fire tubes merge into double tubes, the inner tubes 42 and the outer tubes 43 are tightly connected with one another, for example by welding, with a common transition part 44. While the fire tubes then are connected in the same way as according to FIGS. 1 to 3 with the lower floor 40, which is upstream in the direction of flow of the cracking gas, the fire tubes are tightly connected at their other ends only at by outer tube 43 to the upper floor 41. The inner tubes 42 of the fire tubes are conducted out through the upper floor 41 and are tightly connected with a corresponding flange or floor 45 of the gas collector hood, which is not further illustrated in this case. Since the pressure jacket 46 and forming with the floors 40 and 41 a container for the cooling medium, is not connected with the floor 45 but terminates with the floor 41, thus atmospheric air can penetrate into the cavity between the inner tube 42 and the outer tube 43. This formation of the fire tubes, with the same operation as in the heat exchangers 1 according to FIGS. 1 to 3, has the advantageous consequence that by reducing the passage of heat the temperature on the inner wall of the fire tubes, especially in their upper region, always lies above the maximum condensation point of the cracking gas, although the temperature on the outer wall of the outer tube 43 lies substantially below the temperature pertaining to the maximum condensation point.
The heat exchanger according to FIG. 4 differs otherwise from the heat exchangers 1 according to FIGS. 1 to 3, apart from in the fire tubes, essentially only by the supply of the cooling medium, that is to say in the formation of the supply pipe. According to FIG. 4 the de scending pipe 47, consists of a short pipe piece which, with similar intermediate floor 20 and guide tubes 31, is provided with an additional floor 48 at the end remote from the floor 40. With an entry opening 49 for the cooling medium arranged adjacent to the floor 41 in the pressure jacket 46 and with an exit opening 50 arranged in the direction of flow of the cracking gas immediately upstream of the entry opening 49 in the pressure jacket 46, the additional floor 48 serves to separate the heated cooling medium from the inflowing cooling medium and thus to prevent intermixing of the two media.
In FIG. 7, similarly to FIG. 4, a fire tube formed as double tube is shown. In distinction from the double tube according to FIG. 4, in the case of this double tube the inner tube 42 is pushed into the outer tube 43 and rolled thereto at its lower end to such extent that at this point it is firmly and at the same time sealingly connected with the outer tube 43.
Furthermore in this example, similarly to the case of the heat exchangers 1 according to FIGS. 1 to 3, the gas collector hood 34 is tightly connected with the container 10, while the inner tube 42, with outer tube 43 firmly and sealingly welded with the upper floor 15, extends out beyond the upper floor and is displaceably mounted in a further floor 53 which is arranged above the upper floor in the gas collector hood 34. The displaceable mounting of the inner tube 42 in the further floor 53 serves for the compensation of its thermal expansion, while the floor 53 in turn serves to protect a sealing composition, which fills out the interspace between the floors 53 and 15 and in doing so encloses the inner tube 42, against the inflow of the cracking gas.
According to FIGS. 8 and 9, three cracking gas pipes 60, 61 and 62 of the pyrolysisfurnace 24 open into three cooler sections 63, 64 and 65 each of which consists of four parallel-connected heat exchangers 66 slightly inclined towards the cracking gas flow, so that to each cracking gas pipe 60, 61, 62 there is allocated a heat exchanger 66. The heat exchangers 66 in turn all open into a gas collector 67 which feeds cracking gas issuing from the heat exchangers 66 and cooled to 450C to a subsequently placed heat exchanger 68. One common cooling water circulation 70 represented in dot-and-dash lines is provided for all the heat exchangers 66 and 68.
According to FIG. 10 the heat exchangers 66 and the heat exchanger 68, constructed analogously with the heat exchanger 1, consist each of a number of fire tubes 75 arranged in annular form around a central supply pipe 71 and provided with a triple jacket'72, 73, 74, and of two cylindrical housing chambers 76 and 77.
Of the housing chambers 76 and 77, the housing chamber 77 is situated at the upstream end, in the direction offlow of the cracking gas, of each heat exchanger 66 and 68. The housing chamber 77 has two end walls, of which the rear wall encloses the tubes 74 of the fire tube jacketing and the supply pipe 71 as a common floor 78, whilethe forward end wall 79 has the same function as the floor 14 of the heat exchanger 1.
The housing chamber 76 is situated at the rear end of the heat exchangers 66 and 68 and is'further divided by an'interme diate wall 80 into a forward chamber 90 and a rear chamber 91. In this case the-tubes 74 of the fire tube jacketing open into the forward chamber 90 and the descending pipe 71 opens into the rear chamber 91, while the tubes 73 are conducted through the rear chamber 91. Thus in the case of an adequate seal between the tubes 73, 74 and 71 and the wall of the housing chamber 76, water can flow from the chamber 91 by way of the supply pipe 71 to the housing chamber 77 and from the housing chamber 77 through the cavity between the tubes 73 and 74 to the housing chamber This .water flow occurs, with a suitable water supply 92 to the chamber 91 and a corresponding water outlet 93 at the chamber 90, when the tubes 73 are warmed by throughflowing fresh cracking gas. Then steam forms on the hot tubes 73, which causes a strong water flow even in the case of an inclination of the heat exchanger of only a few degrees, for example 3. Thus the end wall 79, similar to the floor 14, and the fire tubes are adequately cooled as in the heat exchanger 1.
At the same time however the tubes 12, in the region of the housing chamber 76, that is to say in the region of the cooling water entering the heat exchanger 66 or 68, with the tubes 72 prevent condensation of the cracking gas on the fire tube inner wall. in that analogously with the FIG. 7 example they correspondingly reduce the thermal conductivity of the fire tubes 7 in the region of the housing chamber 76.
Otherwise the heat exchangers 66 and 68 differ from the heat exchanger 1 only in that the intermediate space between the gas distributor cone and the bellows is partially filled with a sealing composition. A leakage conduit 84 is connected to the remaining free part of the interspace between the gas distributor cone and the bellows. Steam can be injected additionally through the leakage conduit 84, preventing escape of cracking gas at the point of contact, additionally sealed by a packing ring 85, between the gas distributor cone and the end wall 79 if the packing ring should be damaged.
The water drainage and washing outlet, designated in this case by 86, is expediently situated at the lowermost point of the housing chamber 77.
Likewise the tie-rods or constant suspensions necessary for the swinging and expansion-compensating mounting of the heat exchangers 66 and 68 are secured with the aid of straps and supports to the heat exchangers 66 and 68 in such a way that each heat exchanger 66 or 68 is suspended at two points.
In assembly the heat exchangers 66 are connected with one another in the individual cooling sections 63, 64 and 65 through lugs 94 and bolts 95 which are removed after assembly.
1. A heat exchanger for cooling cracking gases comprising a single annular row of vertically arranged laterally spaced fire tubes for conducting hot cracking gases therethrough first means for enclosing said row of fire tubes and forming a cooling passageway for passing a cooling medium over the exterior of said fire tubes, said first means comprising a vertically arranged jacket laterally enclosing said row of fire tubes, an upstream floor extending transversely of and secured to said jacket and the lower ends of said fire tubes secured to and communicating through said upstream floor, a downstream floor extending transversely of and secured to said jacket and the upper ends of said fire tubes secured to and communicating through said downstream floor, an intermediate floor extending transversely of said jacket between said upstream and downstream floors and located adjacent said upstream floor, said fire tubes extending through said intermediate floor, second means including a supply pipe for supplying the cooling medium for flow over said fibre tubes, said supplypipe being vertically arranged and disposed centrally within said row of fire tubes, said supply tube extending downwardly through said downstream floor and having its outlet end extending through and terminating at the lower face of said intermediate floor, said upstream floor intermediate fioor and said jacket forming a cooling medium inlet chamber arranged to receive the cooling medium from said supply pipe, third means attached to the lower end of said jacket for introducing hot gases into said fire tubes and for assuring uniform temperature and flow conditions in the gases as they flow through said fire tubes in indirect heat transfer relationship with the cooling medium, said third means includes a conically shaped baffle located located centrally on and projecting downwardly from the lower face of said upstream floor, the diameter of said baffle at said upstream floor being smaller than the inside diameter of said row of fire tubes, fourth means forming an annular passage through said intermediate floor about each said fire tube for conducting the cooling medium from the cooling medium inlet chamber into the space between said intermediate and downstream floors for upward flow over said fire tubes extending therethrough, an overflow pipe extending through said jacket and communicating with the upper end of the space between said intermediate and downstream floors for removing the cooling medium after its upward flow over said fire tubes, and said fourth means comprises a sleeve-like guide tube located about each said fire tube and having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of said fire tubes, said guide tube secured to and extending upwardly from the upper face of said intermediate floor and said intermediate floor forming an annular opening about each said fire tube affording communication between the cooling medium inlet chamber and the annular space between each said guide tube and said fire tube which it encloses.
2. A heat exchanger, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said third means for introducing hot gases into said fire tubes includes a gas supply pipe spaced axially from and below the inlet ends of said fire tubes, walls forming a closed inlet chamber extending from said gas inlet pipe to the inlet ends of said fire tubes in the lower face of said upstream floor, said gas inlet pipe having its axis disposed centrally of the axes of said fire tubes, said walls forming the inlet chamber include a frustoconically shaped member connected at its smaller diameter end to said gas inlet pipe and having its wider diameter end connected to said upstream floor encircling the outside diameter of said row of fire tubes at their inlet ends, and said conically shaped baffle spaced radially inwardly from said frusto-conically shaped member and extending downwardly from said upstream floor for only a portion of the axial length of said frusto-conically shaped member.
3. A heat exchanger according to claim 2, in which the conical widening of said frusto-conically shaped member is such that with a hot gas pressure of between 1.6 and 1.8 atm.abs., there is produced a chamber loading which amounts to between 90 and 125 kg/sec.- /cu.m.
4. A heat exchanger, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the effective heat-emitting area of the upper face of said upstream floor is at least twice as large as its effective heat-absorbing area on the lower face of said upstream floor.
5. A heat exchanger according to claim 4, in which the upstream floor has said cup-shaped thickening on its side facing a supply pipe for the cooling medium.
6. A heat exchanger according to claim 4, in which a washing and drainage outlet is arranged between the upstream flow and the intermediate floor.
7. A heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the fire tubes are formed at least partially at their downstream ends with double walls.
8. A heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the fire tubes are formed with double walls over at most two-thirds of their length.
9. A heat exchanger according to claim 7, in which the annular space between inner wall and the outer wall of a fire tube is filled with air.
10. A heat exchanger according to claim 7, in which the inner wall of the double walled tube is connected by rolling or welding with the associated outer wall.
11. A heat exchanger according to claim 7, in which the inner wall reduces the free throughflow crosssection of the fire tubes by between 20 and 35 percent.
12. Gas cooling apparatus comprising several heat exchangers constructed substantially as described with reference to claim 1, the several heat exchangers being connected in parallel and/or in series.
13. Apparatus according to claim 12, in which there are at least two parallel-connected heat exchangers with a common heat exchanger connected thereafter.
14. Apparatus according to claim 12, in which, in the final heat exchanger, the fire tubes consist of several tubes of which two tubes form a double jacket through which cooling medium flows and/0r two tubes form a thermally insulating jacket.
15; Apparatus according to claim 12, in which the heat exchangers are suspended in a manner enabling them to swing.
16. A plant comprising a furnace for producing hot gases and a number of pipes which lead the hot gases away from the furnace for cooling, each of such pipes being connected to a separate heat exchanger according to claim 1, or to a separate gas cooling apparatus according to claim l2.
17. A heat exchanger, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the outer wall of said double wall fire tube is sealed to said means for enclosing said fire tubes and said inner wall extends out of the cooling passageway, and a gas collector hood arranged to receive the end of said inner wall which extends outwardly from the cooling passageway.
18. A heat exchanger according to claim 17, in which the inner wall is slidingly arranged in a floor of the gas collector hood and a heat-proof seal is provided between the floor of the gas collector hood and the inner wall.


File(s) not publicly available
Co-acquisition of hyperpolarised 13C and 15N NMR spectra
journal contributionposted on 2023-06-07, 19:38 authored by Iain Day, John C Mitchell, Martin J Snowden, Adrian L Davis
Recent developments in dynamic nuclear polarisation now allow significant enhancements to be generated in the cryo solid state and transferred to the liquid state for detection at high resolution. We demonstrate that the ArdenkjaerLarsen method can be extended by taking advantage of the properties of the trityl radicals used. It is possible to hyperpolarise 13C and 15N simultaneously in the solid state, and to maintain these hyperpolarisations through rapid dissolution into the liquid state. We demonstrate the almost simultaneous measurement of hyperpolarised 13C and hyperpolarised 15N NMR spectra. The prospects for further improvement of the method using contemporary technology are also discussed.
JournalMagnetic Resonance in Chemistry
Department affiliated with
- Chemistry Publications
Full text available


text:
- Community Outreach - Tex Talks BattleTech
- Clan Invasion Approaches $2 Million Stretch Goal, Teases UrbanMech Plushie
- What’s up with Catalyst? at GenCon 2019
- MechWarrior 5 Confirmed As Epic Games Store Exclusive
- Clan Invasion Boxed Set Funded In 7 Freakin’ Minutes, Catalyst Frantically Throwing Up Stretch Goals
- Read more →
Well, let's see here. I discovered the Battletech universe after playing a friend's copy of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries back in 2002. I really started delving into the setting in 2004 after getting into MechWarrior, Third Edition, and finally started making some contributions to the fandom a few years later. I helped edit and test A Time of War, Interstellar Operations, and Campaign Operations.

domain: hobby


- Rotate: Use top-to-bottom, side-to-side by use of mouse arrow.
- Zoom In: Double click on image.
- Zoom Out/Reset: Put photo at full zoom & then double click.
This product has been DISCONTINUED and can no longer be ordered.
SHEARS STRAIGHT 16 GAUGE
- Item # MKTJS1660
- Mfr. Model # JS1660
- UNSPSC # 27111506
CATALOGUE PAGE #
- Shipping Weight 1.0
Stepped blade with rounded edges, continuous metal curl in one direction and reduced material deformation. 16 gauge steel, 18 gauge stainless steel. Includes side blade set, central blade and hex wrench.
There are no technical specs available for this product.


Keep up to date with TCM news - follow us on Facebook
Or follow this link to our Blog page which will keep you up to date on all our new projects.
TCM is currently working on a new Heating Upgrade at UTAS providing a new gas supply throughout the site to 10 new gas boilers connecting into the existing heating system via plate heat exchangers, aloong with five new Heat Pump Chillers for other systems requiring mechanical cooling.
Testing eill commence in March to progressively bring buildings on line.
This recently made the news with a RotaLift Helicopter landing two boilers and equipment onto difficult locations athe the Chemistry builing and the Morris Miller Library; all plant equipment landed safely.


text:
Alicia Silverstone (Cher) actually did not know how to correctly pronounce "Haitians" in the classroom scene. Director Amy Heckerling told the crew not to correct her because she liked it so much and wanted it to be in the film.
During the game of "Suck and Blow," the cast was unable to sustain the breath to make a real credit card pass from mouth to mouth; a prop card made of cardboard was substituted that still did not work. Holes were drilled into it to make it easier, and when this failed also, the whole cast's lips were heavily coated in chapstick to force the card to stick.
According to "As If!" a book by Jen Chaney celebrating the twentieth anniversary of this film, though many people think the costuming budget must have been high for the film, it was actually quite modest for a big blockbuster film. Costume designer Mona May wanted the girls to look like mall rats, not models, so her 63 outfit changes only cost $200,000. The biggest costume expense was the plaid Jean Paul Gaultier outfit Alicia Silverstone wears in the opening scenes, an outfit that she got to keep, along with all her outfits from the film which, as she told Entertainment Weekly magazine, she gave away to charity.
One of the promotional items distributed to tie in with the film was a booklet called "How to Speak Cluelessly." In it was a lexicon of many of the invented terms used for the Clueless (1995) world, some of which became part of real teen lingo at the time. An example was a Baldwin being a very handsome male, as in the famous sibling actors.
Plot, Characters, Themes and Values are all based on Jane Austen's novel [Emma]. Amy Heckerling was asked by Paramount to write a film for teenagers, and she instantly remembered the novel she read as a teenager.
Although with many obvious modernizations and adaptations having been made, Clueless (1995) actually does still dovetail pretty closely to the original plot and central set of characters found in Austen's novel "Emma." In terms of the cast, for instance, Cher is Emma, Josh is Mr Knightley, Tai is Harriet Smith, Elton is Mr. Elton, Travis is Robert Martin, Christian is a loose and much more sympathetic version of Frank Churchill, and Dionne could feasibly be Mrs. Weston (although it is also possible, given that Cher attempts to matchmake the two of them, that Mr. Hall and Miss Geist could also be Mr. and Mrs. Weston, who, likewise, Emma claims to have matched).
Scenes were included in the trailer that were not in the film. Among them is one in which Cher and Dionne are in the girl's bathroom primping when Amber walks in on them. Noting her appearance, Cher quips, "Did I miss something? Is big hair back?"
Cher's "Haitians" speech in debate class was initially a full minute longer; it was used in its entirety as the first half of an original theatrical trailer. It was cut for the final film but featured additional comparisons to her garden party, including a rant on "mismatched chairs which was totally icky."
The high school where the students attend is "Bronson Alcott High School." Bronson Alcott was a nineteenth-century Transcendentalist writer, best known for starting an ultimately unsuccessful Utopian community called "Fruitlands," and for being the father of "Little Women" author Louisa May Alcott. At one time, Amy Heckerling dated Bronson Pinchot, whose middle name is "Alcott," after the author. "Bronson Alcott" is also the name of the prep school in Nat Hentoff's 1976 novel "This School is Driving Me Crazy," where the protagonist's father is headmaster.
According to the script for Clueless (1995), the restaurant scenes were supposed to take place at California Pizza Kitchen, but when the CEOs of that franchise read the breadstick/penis jokes in the script, they would not allow filming to take place in their restaurants.
A promo filmed for MTV showed Dionne and Cher ordering food at a diner. Their waitress was their moonlighting lesbian P.E. teacher Miss Stoger (Julie Brown). In it, they get freaked out by the idea of brine in their ceasar salad, and instead just order lemon wedges to suck on.
Cher's last name is given as Horowitz, but shown on her report card as Hamilton. This may be an in-joke, as director Amy Heckerling's previously directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) featured a character named Stacey Hamilton.
Mel (Dan Hedaya) tells Christian that if anything happens to Cher, he's "got a shovel and a forty-five. You won't be missed." Dan Hedaya famously was shot by a forty-five and buried (and beaten with) a shovel in the Coen Brothers' "Blood Simple."
The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
In the scene where Cher is packing for her father and is surprised by Christian's call, he is at a museum. The painting behind him is of two men affectionately in an embrace, another foreshadow of his sexuality.
The films that Christian watches on video with Cher, Some Like It Hot (1959) and Spartacus (1960), provide clues to his sexual orientation. The first movie deals with cross-dressing men (who are escaping from a mob hit). The second includes the famous scene where a Roman master (Laurence Olivier) tries to seduce his male servant (Tony Curtis).
The scene where Cher wanders around and realizes her true feelings for Josh as fountains erupt is borrowed from Gigi (1958), where Gaston does the same thing. The music playing when Cher stands at the top of the stairs in her white dress before her date with Christian is taken from the same movie. Gigi, incidentally, wears a white dress both times that particular theme is played.
When Christian first appears at the class, Cher has new hopes for high school boys. However, as the shot pans from her gaze to him in the doorway, just over his left shoulder on the wall in the classroom is a cutout headline from the newspaper which reads, "On the Road to Nowhere."
When Cher comes down the staircase in the white Calvin Klein dress and Josh suddenly looks at her in a more romantic light, the music playing is the instrumental version of "Gigi" from the film Gigi (1958). That movie is also about an older, brotherly-like character seeing a little girl transform into a beautiful young lady and falling in love with her.


CUMBERLAND — The city announced that a $1.4 million contract has been signed with Braddock Construction LLC of Frostburg to do a complete renovation of Baltimore Avenue, with the project set to begin in the fall.
The announcement was made during the regular meeting of the mayor and city council held Tuesday at City Hall.
City Administrator Jeff Rhodes said approval was received earlier in the day from the Maryland State Highway Administration for the Baltimore Avenue project to proceed.
“It’s going to be a big pro-ject. It’s going to be a major improvement for that corridor into the city,” said Mayor Brian Grim in an interview following the council meeting.
The renovation is expected to include the building of retaining walls, widening of the street, repaving, new utility lines and a American Disabilities Act-ap-proved sidewalk.
Grim said Baltimore Avenue will be in rough shape for awhile.
“During a portion of construction, it’s going to be one way heading from downtown to the college,” said Grim.
Access to the hospital has been a top concern for the city.
“It’s a critical corridor to the hospital,” said Grim.
Rhodes said the city has been working with residents in the neighborhoods around Baltimore Avenue to hear their concerns.
“We have met citizens in the neighborhood to advise and get input from them as a result of the project,” said Grim.
The work was supposed to begin in July but was delayed while additional offers for funding were explored, according to Grim.
The initial underground work of replacing water and gas lines is set to being in the fall.
In other city news, the recipients of $58,525 in funding, acquired through hotel/motel tax revenue, were announced. The funds will be distributed among 16 nonprofit organizations as follows:
• Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, $20,200.
• Allegany Arts Council, $6,375.
• Allegany Museum, $5,750.
• Mountain Maryland Trails, $4,750.
• Cumberland Theatre, $3,730.
• Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament, $3,300.
• Gilchrist Gallery, $2,580.
• New Embassy Theatre, $2,400.
• Bishop Walsh girls basketball tournament, $2,240.
• Allegany County Historical Society, $2,000.
• Allegany County Tourism, $1,500.
• Queen City Performing Arts/Windsor Hall, $1,200.
• Great Allegany Run, $900,
• Mountainside Baroque, $800.
• Miss University City, $450.
• Tri-State Community School for the Arts, $350.
City Councilwoman Nicole Wagoner, who also serves as president of Mountain Maryland Trails, abstained from the vote.
Greg Larry can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
|Cash at bank and in hand||100|
|CAPITAL AND RESERVES||2015||2014|
SAI VENKATESWARA DISTRIBUTION LIMITED has been working since 12/20/2013. The current status of the business is Active SAI VENKATESWARA DISTRIBUTION LIMITED located on 1 WALLACE ROAD, COLCHESTER, CO4 5GPDirector Bolla Sudarshana is known as a Director of the company. "Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets" is a known activity of the company.

domain: economics


text:
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- For about a week now, you may have noticed something a little different at the beach. The water's up a lot higher than it usually is, once again making beach erosion a big concern.
Take the moon phase, throw in an offshore weather system, add a dash of onshore winds, and it's the perfect recipe for the conditions we're seeing at Jacksonville Beach. There are a lot of waves, but only a little bit of beach.
Beachgoer Rob Duncan said, "Thought we'd come out here and enjoy the day, and came up and there's not a whole lot of beach to walk on or enjoy."
Unusually high tides have forced officials in Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns counties to periodically close the beaches to vehicular traffic, leaving the beaches to be enjoyed only by walkers and a few brave surfers.
"It's kind of gloomy, and kind of gray and crazy," said Tami Duncan. "I can't believe there's someone out there."
The Army Corps of Engineers is watching to see just how much sand washes away. But workers there tell Action News they don't expect any long-term damage from this weather system.
So until the tide turns, beachgoers will just have to stay close to the dunes. Christina Ainsworth said she'll do just that, "I'm enjoying it. But I don't want to get soaked, so I'm going to stay further up, because it's coming pretty far."
Our meteorologists say things should be back to normal later this week.

domain: news


text:
Time has shown that this aspect is important if a successful ICO is to be realized.
Information about new coins, discussions about Bitcoin, ICO,.This term is used to define a process of raising investments.Eyes on These Next Support Zones EOS Price Key Highlights EOS price looks prime for a.
Key Details of the DeepBrain Chain (DBC) ICO - CoinCentralBusiness Idea Ambit Mining is a mining operation established in the free economic zone, Tbilisi, Georgia.ICORanks.net - The leading ICO Ranking Website. ICORanks.net. List your ICO Telegram (Discussion). ZAN Coin. Empowering Consulting and Dev.
ICO (Initial Coin Offer) is a term that has lately gained popularity in the cryptocurrency environment.Symbol: Webcoin Token Supply: 100 million Technology: Waves Asset Pre-sale Coin Supply: 30,000,000 Tokensale opening date: 25 Sep 2017 Tokensale closing date.
Best tips & tricks for Geometry Dash Lite by Pham Hoang
Get Early ICO Access!.Initial Coin Offerings Nearing a Breakthrough with tZero Exchange. Initial Coin Offerings Nearing a Breakthrough with tZero.MasterCoin (currently known as Omni) raised nearly 5000 BTC in the first-ever cryptocurrency fundraising, which took place in summer 2013.
This is the distribution of one of the biggest airdrops in the world, specifically Japan at this moment.
ICO Regulations Round-Up: Fundraising Law, Jeju IslandTendermint Wins Innovation Award and Announces Cosmos at International Blockchain Week. Announces Cosmos at International Blockchain.
5 Must-Have Crypto Websites | CryptoPotatoZoneX ICO ratings, expert reviews, token sale details - We plan the organization and holding of international eSports online-tournaments for 50 most popular.
Ardor Platform Launch | Jelurida - Ignis ICOOur Fortnite Battle Royale guide contains beginner tips and tricks, map strategies, drop zone advice, weapons details,. (ICO) ICO coin list,.
Arsenal Football Club to Promote iGaming Firm ICO
The Coin Shark has already reported earlier that Twitter was planning to ban advertisements of cryptocurrency on its service following Facebook and Google.All about the D-ZONE COIN ICO and the DZC Token on the Ethereum blockchain.
Electroneum ICO Review: Too Much Buzz?CoinPlace is the first world platform for direct P2P trading of ICO-tokens and cryptocurrencies. RAKEZ BUSINESS ZONE-FZ, RAK, UAE.
Can You Really Make Money Investing in ICOs?
ICO: Startups test a brand new crypto-currency: ICO - TheThe ICO coin offering trend is related to the rise in the quality of ICOs.
Swiss Gold Global 2 0 Gold, Silver, Bitcoin Exchange
Tendermint Wins Innovation Award and - Bitcoin Magazine
MARTCOIN- LENDING v2.0 ICO - BeerMoneyForum.com
A Bitcoin User’s Guide on Coming Forked Coins
FAQ | Anyone Anywhere Anytime can be a shipowner | ShipAn unfortunate way to start the week, but hey, at least Ripple (XRP).Floating Island Project targets Fall 2017. initial coin offering (ICO). challenges related to the development of the sea-zone and the integration of.
On June 27th, 2018, the Philippine government announced they will license up to 25 cryptocurrency exchanges for operation in a special economic zone. In their.However, in the case of Dream-Pay, by interlocking with the unique virtual currency (D-ZONE COIN) based on PAY, we overcame this problem that many companies struggled.Therefore, stable settlement will be made even with payment via statutory.The original list of ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) and Token Sales, Crypto Conferences and News for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Waves, Ripple and other altcoins.
Best ICO list & ico coin investments 2018 - ICO drip
10 keys for evaluating Initial Coin Offering | Crypto Potato
ICO vs IPO: Where’s my money, bro? – Eugene - MediumKey Details of the DeepBrain Chain (DBC) ICO. Crypto Coin vs.If you are one of the many entrepreneurs from around the world that want to launch your own ICO,.
The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority has awarded licenses to three crypto exchanges and expects to.

domain: finance


text:
As part of the Willington Public Library's year long mission of "A New Year- A Healthier You" programs, we would like to present...
Gluten-Free Living with Chef Robert Landolphi
Tuesday, April 7, 2014
at 6:30 PM
Willington Public Library Community Room
7 Ruby Road, Willington, CT 860-429-3854 www .will ingtonpubliclibrary.org
Dubbed the "Gluten-Free Chef," Robert Landolphi was introduced to the gluten-free lifestyle in 2000, when, after years of unexplained health issues, his wife was finally diagnosed with celiac disease. Since then, the Culinary Operations Manager at The University of Connecticut and former owner and operator of the Sugar Shack Bakery in Connecticut, has made it his personal mission to create and perfect gluten-free recipes, which satisfy even the harshest of critics, including those who don't need to avoid gluten. Robert is also the author of multiple books, including Cooking Light, Gluten-Free Baking.
Join us on Tuesday, April 7th when Robert visits and gives us some helpful tips on Gluten-Free living, along
Robert will be happy to answer any questions you may have for him.
His books will be available for purchase.
This item was posted by a community contributor. To read more about community contributors, click here.

domain: library


Debit card operator eftpos says several big name banks, retailers and fintechs are supporting the rollout of the eQR QR payments platform.
Payments operator eftpos has opened a sandbox allowing FinTechs and other developers to test the use of its eQR and eComm APIs.
Debit card system provider eftpos says it is on track to bring large-scale payments competition to Australia’s online retailer sector in November, with a range of additional security features now available to the payments industry.
The total value of transactions processed by POS terminals will exceed US$17.3 trillion in 2026, from US$14.8 trillion in 2021- a growth of 28%, according to a new global report.
Debit card provider eftpos has launched a FinTech advisory committee in collaboration with FinTech Australia, designed to give fintechs a direct say in how they can access and leverage the eftpos payments network for the “betterment” of Australia’s digital economy.
Debit card provider eftpos has announced an updated digital product and technology rollout scheduled for the next two years which it claims will create greater value, ease and security for consumers and businesses by enabling “compelling innovations” for members, Fintechs and retailers that enhance the digital commerce experience.
"The upgrade will also cover four times service capacity while reducing power consumption" is quite intriguing. Perhaps they have some[…]
"Only" 329 million will subscribe to 5G - wow! That number is the entire population of the USA
Do we really want our skies littered with these satellites?You can’t blame people for being attracted to Starlink or one[…]
Gladys - perhaps then a couple of questions you may wish to ask Kelly before the next PR blurb: Kelly[…]
Thank you for taking the trouble to comment.There are many features that have become common on today's smartphones that were[…]


text:
GRANTED – Judicial Release
Client was visiting the father of her child in prison. She illegally conveyed drugs to the prisoner during their visit and was charged with and convicted of a Fourth Degree Felony of Illegally Conveying Contraband into a Correctional Facility. She was sentenced to serve 18 months in prion.
After 30 days into her 18 month sentence, we filed a Motion for Judicial Release and the matter was set for a hearing. The court granted the motion and released the client from prison.

domain: law


text:
Campground Review Summary
- Name: Lakewood RV Resort
- Dates of stay: September 9 – 23, 2019
- Location: 15 Timmie Lane, Flat Rock, NC 28731
- Type of campground: 55 plus Private / Independent
- Cost: $46.43/night (weekly rate)
- Additional fees: none
- Stay limit: none
- Accepts mail / packages: yes
- Cell reception: ATT average
- Website: www.lakewoodrvresort.com
- Pros: clean amenities, planned activities
- Cons: bit tight in spots for big rig
The Asheville/Hendersonville area has long been a favorite of ours. Usually though, we ran over here as a day trip from nearby Gatlinburg which limited our access. So we opted to stay here for a couple of weeks to really enjoy all that the are has to offer.
Lakewood RV resort is located a bit south/east of Hendersonville. It was a further away from Asheville than we really wanted, but we had difficulty finding a big-rig friendly resort that was nearer. Even this campground is tight in spots for our 43 foot rig. Our assigned site required very careful backing in to avoid a tree limb just a foot off the drivers side and you’ll want to be an experienced driver to navigate the interior roads. But that was the ONLY downside. Everything else about the park was very enjoyable.
This park is a 55 plus, adults-only community. We didn’t search that out — it just turned out that way. About half of the community are homes (park models) and the other half transient or seasonal RV sites. I would say the majority of residents are at least seasonal, with quite a few that live there year round. Sometimes that is a recipe for trashiness, but the resort was immaculately kept up and the residents were friendly and welcoming. It really feels like a community. And, there are planned activities!! Water aerobics, happy hour, bingo, chair volleyball, nickel bingo, dominoes, poker and game night, cornhole, bridge …. the list goes on. One night a local winery did a wine tasting event (for a fee). Frankly, I had a ball here.
Once we shoehorned into our site, it was great. There was plenty of space to park our toad and motorcycle. The parking area was gravel, but there was a concrete patio with a picnic table. The full hook ups worked just fine – water, sewer, and 30/50 amp electric. The electrical box was located at the rear of the site, but our cord could reach it just fine. There were just enough tree branch obstructions to attenuate our satellite TV signal, so we watched over the air channels during our stay. The campground does offer cable TV, but it requires a (free) cable box and complicated set up. We couldn’t figure out how to make it work with our complex motorhome wiring. There is campground wifi available, but our ATT hotspot worked better (which isn’t saying much).
The amenities are lovely. The bath facilities aren’t new, but they are immaculately clean and work wonderfully well. The club house area offers a heated pool, large meeting facilities, shuffleboard, and an exercise room. No annoying door codes here either! The park is under new ownership as of a year ago, and the new owners have aspirations to make the park a premier destination. They are certainly on the right track.
The cost was average at $46/night at the weekly rate, but the amenities and activities made it feel like a bargain. Hendersonville is nearby, with a variety of shopping and dining options. Asheville is about a half hour away with attractions such as the Biltmore mansion and art district. I would definitely stay here again.
Bottom Line: Friendly 55 plus park with lots of activities at a reasonable price.
Found your beautiful rock. Rehid in downtown Hendersonville. Glad you enjoyed your stay in our community. We retired here from Florida and love it. Hope you come back our way. I see you have plans for Ft. Wilderness. Talk about tight sites. Some that are said to accommodate 40 ft. are totally unmeneverable due to curves in road, trees, etc. But, one of our favorite places to stay. Happy travels.

domain: travel


text:
Steven Soderbergh has caught the 3-D bug.
The director's upcoming film, "Contagion," will go 3-D, Warner Bros. announced on Friday, his first try at the format.
Matt, who was once considered by James Cameron for the leading role in "Avatar," will also make his 3-D debut with the film.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the thriller – focused on a deadly disease – will follow multiple plotlines a la Soderbergh's Oscar-winning "Traffic."
The director has also been attached to direct another 3-D movie, the musical Antony and Cleopatra retelling "Cleo," though the film — first announced in 2008 — has yet to receive a release date.
Amongst the other release dates unveiled by Warner Bros. were "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke's "Red Riding Hood," set for April 22, 2011; "Twilight Saga" star Ashley Greene's horror original "The Apparition," due September 9, 2011; "Final Destination 5," another installment of the horror franchise, scheduled for August 26, 2011; the "Valentine's Day" follow-up "New Year's Eve," due December 9, 2011; and "Journey To The Center of the Earth 2," the sequel to the 2008 Brendan Fraser action film, due September 23, 2011.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Lovely Leading Lady Kate Winslet's Red Carpet Style!
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Matt Damon
PLAY IT NOW: Hollywood Salutes Matt Damon
PLAY IT NOW: Matt Damon's 'The Informant!' Premiere, New York


- Web Server
- Control Panels
- Site Map/RSS Feeds
Simple Home File Server (Based On Ubuntu)
This tutorial explains how to turn an old PC with additional hard disks into a simple home file server. The file server is intended for home use. The home file server is accessible by Windows and Linux computers in the home network.
Installing Metasploit 3.0 On Ubuntu 7.10
The Metasploit Project is an open source computer security project which provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing and IDS signature development. Its most well-known sub-project is the Metasploit Framework, a tool for developing and executing exploit code against a remote target machine. Other important sub-projects include the Opcode Database, shellcode archive, and security research. (Wikipedia).
TrueCrypt With GUI On Ubuntu 7.10
This document describes how to set up TrueCrypt with GUI on Ubuntu 7.10. TrueCrypt is a free open-source encryption software for desktop usage.
Intrusion Detection: Snort, Base, MySQL, and Apache2 On Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) (Updated)
In this tutorial I will describe how to install and configure Snort (an intrusion detection system (IDS)) from source, BASE (Basic Analysis and Security Engine), MySQL, and Apache2 on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Snort will assist you in monitoring your network and alert you about possible threats. Snort will output its log files to a MySQL database which BASE will use to display a graphical interface in a web browser.
Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier And MySQL (Ubuntu 6.06 LTS)
This document describes how to install a mail server based on Postfix that is based on virtual users and domains, i.e. users and domains that are in a MySQL database. I'll also demonstrate the installation and configuration of Courier (Courier-POP3, Courier- IMAP), so that Courier can authenticate against the same MySQL database Postfix uses. The resulting Postfix server is capable of SMTP-AUTH and TLS and quota (quota is not built into Postfix by default, I'll show how to patch your Postfix appropriately). Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the database (most documents I found were dealing with plain text passwords which is a security risk).
Setting Up Subversion And Trac As Virtual Hosts On An Ubuntu Server
This howto outlines the process by which one can set up the Subversion version control system, and have it work in tandem with Trac, the project manager for software development projects, on a server running Ubuntu (or possibly Debian).
OpenLDAP + Samba Domain Controller On Ubuntu 7.10
This document is a step by step guide for configuring Ubuntu 7.10 as a Samba Domain Controller with an LDAP backend (OpenLDAP). The point is to configure a server that can be comparable, from a central authentication point of view, to a Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller. The end result will be a server with an LDAP directory for storing user, group, and computer accounts. A Windows XP Professional SP2 workstation will be able to join the domain once properly configured.
Creating an AS400 terminal with an Old PC and Ubuntu
This how to uses Ubuntu 7.10 Server install. I am sure that this could be done with a much smaller install base, rather than server - I might have used the Alternative CD, or maybe even some other distribution like DSL, or Puppy Linux (if you needed GUI [graphical user interface] ). But for proof of concept this worked fine. I used an Old Dell GX100 Optiplex with 256 MB of RAM (I don't think I need any more that 128 [maybe even 64MB], but this is what was in the box when I pulled it out of the pile). It has a small form factor, and runs pretty quiet. My steps are geared toward English & US, so you may want to change those if your using something else =).
Creating Snapshot Backups Of Your Desktop With Timevault On Ubuntu 7.10
This document describes how to set up, configure and use Timevault on Ubuntu 7.10. The resulting system provides a powerful backup system for desktop usage. TimeVault is a simple front-end for making snapshots of a set of directories. Snapshots are a copy of a directory structure or file at a certain point in time. Restore functionality is integrated into Nautilus - previous versions of a file or directory that has a snapshot can be accessed by examining the properties and selecting the 'Previous Versions' tab.
Creating Your Own Custom Ubuntu 7.10 Or Linux Mint 4.0 Live-CD With Remastersys
This guide shows how you can create a Live-CD from your Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon or Linux Mint 4.0 system with a tool called remastersys. Remastersys is available in the Linux Mint romeo repository. You can customize your Ubuntu/Linux Mint system and then let remastersys create an iso image of it which you can then burn onto a CD/DVD.
"Facebook" is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. All rights reserved.


Home > News > Regional
Saturday August 2, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Saturday August 2, 2014 MYT 9:07:39 AM
The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) yesterday welcomed Rear-Admiral (RADM) Lai Chung Han as its new chief.
RAdm Lai took over from outgoing Chief of Navy, RADM Ng Chee Peng, at a change of command parade held at Changi Naval Base.
The change is part of the continuing process of leadership renewal in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), said the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) on Friday.
RADM Lai is a President’s and SAF (Overseas) scholar. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from Cambridge University, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University.
He served as commanding officer of the RSS Valiant and 188 Squadron, as well as the navy’s fleet commander, before becoming Deputy Secretary (Policy) at Mindef in September 2012. He received his first star at the age of 38, and was promoted to Rear-Admiral (two-star) on July 1.
The parade was witnessed by the Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Ng Chee Meng and attended by senior SAF officers and servicemen from the navy. — The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Tags / Keywords:
singapore, rear admiral, new navy chief
Indian Navy hunts for missing sailors after chief quits
Indian navy investigates deadly ship accident
Navy to replace ageing patrol vessels with eight new ones
Navy personnel hurt in Indian ship accident
HK chief: Poll has no legal standing
Japan asteroid probe to lift off Monday after delay
Pakistan frees 40 Indian prisoners
‘Supercell storm’ batters Australian city
Bad weather delays Japan asteroid probe lift off
E-cigarettes have up to 10 times more carcinogens than regular smokes, say Japanese researchers
Ladies, time to stand up and fight for your man
Taj Biryani puts love in every grain of rice
Bitcoin exchange Kraken to help in Mt. Gox bankruptcy
Copyright © 1995-2014 Star Publications (M) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)


text:
Welcome to Devon! I was born and bred in Devon, and over 40 years later I have no need to consider moving to anywhere else, such is my love for the county in which I live. It really is a special place, and offers such a variety of things to do and see that I never tire of being here. I take great pleasure in showing my partner and two children around, and we are never short of somewhere new to visit.
During my working life I have always held this notion that I should be sharing my passion for Devon with other people, hence my reason for setting up Unique Devon Tours. From an early age, when I used to serve breakfast in my mother’s guest house, I would give advice to travellers, many from abroad, about places they should visit in the area.
At college, whilst studying a hotel and catering management qualification, I would guide my friends around the countryside, taking them to Dartmoor and the coast, showing them just how beautiful Devon is. Even when working in a care home, I had the chance to take the residents out for regular drives, always making sure that we went to a new place whenever possible!
So, being a tour guide is something that comes quite naturally to me. Also, I am keen to offer something a bit different or extra, such as sharing with you my intriguing Scottish family history, or offering to take your photos for the duration of your stay. My own photography is featured on this website.
It is not really surprising that people love to visit Devon, and have done for a very long time. With our mild climate and the opportunity to do such a wide variety of things, it is ideal for any traveller. But far more than that, for the discerning traveller, there are off the beaten track places to discover, once in a life time activities to try, and intriguing people to meet. Come to me, and I will use my local knowledge and extensive contacts to organise the ultimate tailor made guided tour of Devon, just for you.


Lower-Income Nations Likely Face Delays In Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines; Canada Pledges $380M To Supply Other Nations With Tests, Treatments, Vaccines; E.U. Weighs Donating 5% Of Vaccine Supplies
AP: Poor countries face long wait for vaccines despite promises
“With Americans, Britons, and Canadians rolling up their sleeves to receive coronavirus vaccines, the route out of the pandemic now seems clear to many in the West, even if the rollout will take many months. But for poorer countries, the road will be far longer and rougher. The ambitious initiative known as COVAX created to ensure the entire world has access to COVID-19 vaccines has secured only a fraction of the 2 billion doses it hopes to buy over the next year, has yet to confirm any actual deals to ship out vaccines and is short on cash…” (Cheng/Ghosal, 12/15).
New York Times: With First Dibs on Vaccines, Rich Countries Have ‘Cleared the Shelves’
“…While many poor nations may be able to vaccinate at most 20 percent of their populations in 2021, some of the world’s richest countries have reserved enough doses to immunize their own multiple times over. … [I]f all the doses they have claimed are delivered, the European Union could inoculate its residents twice, Britain and the United States could do so four times over, and Canada six times over, according to a New York Times analysis of data on vaccine contracts collected by Duke University, UNICEF, and Airfinity, a science analytics company…” (Twohey et al., 12/15).
Quartz: Will there be enough syringes to deliver Covid-19 vaccines?
“…The global pandemic response has been stymied by one supply shortfall after another, from yeast and toilet paper to N95 masks and virus tests—and vaccine deployment will be no exception. Meeting demand will likely be challenged by shortages of shot-giving equipment like glass vials and supplies to maintain cold storage chains, not to mention the raw vaccine materials themselves. But governments and manufacturers appear to be ahead of the curve on one key piece of vaccination equipment: syringes…” (McDonnell, 12/15).
Reuters: Canada pledges C$485 million in COVID-19 aid for other nations
“Canada will spend C$485 million ($380 million) to support COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, including antibody treatments, International Aid Minister Karina Gould said in a statement on Monday…” (12/14).
Reuters: E.U. weighs donating 5% of its COVID-19 vaccines to poor nations — document
“The European Union could donate 5% of the COVID-19 vaccines it has secured to poorer nations, an internal document seen by Reuters shows, in a move that risks undercutting a distribution scheme co-led by the World Health Organization. The plan, drafted by the French government, sets for the first time a clear target for E.U. vaccine donations which so far had only been considered as an option if the bloc ended up with surplus doses…” (Guarascio, 12/14).
Reuters: WHO sees “strong commitment” from Pfizer on affordable COVID vaccine
“A World Health Organization senior official said on Tuesday that the agency was in talks with Pfizer to include its COVID-19 vaccine as part of an early global roll out…” (Nebehay/Farge, 12/15).


Iran's new message to the US
Although US officials always accuse Iran of acting against American interests in the region, Iran has never before tried to reveal its direct will against the US outside of the Middle East.
Bombing Washington is the most serious allegation against the Islamic regime in the three decades since the Iranian Revolution. The Islamic state, however, as always, denies this allegation. What I will offer here is a decoding of Iran's "new message" - to the West, generally, and to the US, particularly - through the lens of the larger picture: the effects of the "Arab Spring" on Iran's position in the region.
Iran's apparent plot to bomb Washington sits at odds with its official condemnation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, putting many experts in a state of confusion. Huge differences among their analyses during the last three days demonstrate this perplexity. The spectrum of analysis ranges from putting the whole allegation under question, to considering this attempt as the manifestation of an interior conflict between decision makers within Iran.
My interpretation, however, suggests deciphering Iran's plot in Washington with reference to the Arab uprisings. In the light of these events in the Middle East, specifically Syria - Iran's most strategic ally - it seems that the Islamic Republic is encountering a new and perhaps very serious threat to its own situation in the region. If one considers Iran's official gestures since the beginning of the "Arab Spring", Iran's contradictory behavior draws notice. On the one hand, Iran welcomed the regime change in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen as the end of old dictatorship regimes. On the other hand, Iran also demonstrated its absolute support for Bashar al-Assad's state. It has been argued that, through al-Assad and Hezbollah, Iran imposes its will upon other countries in the region. That is one of the main reasons that Saudi Arabia encourages more international pressure on al-Assad's situation, even urging the US to take its military procedure in Libya to Syria.
Although Iran has many different conflicts with Saudi Arabia, it seems that Syria's condition, as Iran's Supreme Leader clearly states, is the issue on which no compromise will be tolerated. Iran and Syria have a security agreement that if one of them is attacked, the other will intervene.
On the other side, although Saudi Arabia fortifies Syrian opposition, it simultaneously reinforces the dictatorships in Bahrain and Yemen. These manoeuvrers make it clear that both Iran and Saudi Arabia are highly anxious about the potential long-term consequences of the "Arab Spring" - that is, the toppling of their own authoritarian regimes. Therefore, what is taking place in the region is not just each country grappling separately with their own interior problems. Syria, however, in Iran's perspective, is a special case; the possibility of US and Saudi Arabian interference in Syria targets the Islamic Republic of Iran's very existence.
To understand the reasons for the alleged assassination attempt, we must first reconsider Iran's various attempts to convey a "message" to the US during the last three months. Firstly, last August, through Afghanistan's leadership, Iran sent a message that it was ready to cooperate with NATO and US in Afghanistan. The second "message" came a few weeks later, when Moqtada al-Sadr, one of the most influential Iraqi opponents to both Western troops and the Iraqi government, announced that in order to establish a stable situation he has decided to assist the latter. It is crucial to remember that this figure is considered as one of Iran's closest allies. The release of the American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal just before the last UN general summit in September, was the Islamic state's last attempt to demonstrate that the regime was prepared to come to some kind of consensus with the US to guarantee its existence. However, the US did not offer any guarantees, seeming to ignore Iran's overtures.
Last month some of Turkey's newspapers reported that when the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu met Bashar al-Assad to deliver a "strong message" against Syria's crackdown on protests, al-Assad replied that if one missile struck Syrian territory the results would be disastrous for the whole region. The Iranian website Tabnak, which operates under the direction of the former leader of the Revolutionary Guard, claimed that al-Assad was referring to Iranian missiles, the targets of which are US interests and military resources based in the Middle East. Iran and Syria have articulated their vision of response to any direct interference; they both claim the whole region will "go up in flames."
This is the first time that Iran has used an official member of the Revolutionary Guard in an attack against the US and Saudi Arabia. The significance of this should not be underestimated. There has always been tension between the US and Islamic Republic of Iran, but the regime's "new message" is this: they are prepared to move the battleground from the realm of empty rhetoric to that of direct conflict.
Last month Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the head of Iran's paramilitary force Basij and top-ranked general in the Revolutionary Guard, stated "We must shift the battleground from our region into their territory… one that takes our interests into account as well". Now, as the United States accuses Iran of the attempted assassination of Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, the world may need to consider Naghdi's words as a new doctrine, suggesting a radical shift in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Arash Falasiri worked as a journalist in Iran for more than a decade. He won the national prize for the best journalist of the year in 2001.