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Emerging Civil War welcomes back guest author Neil P. Chatelain…
Nothing embodies New Orleans more than Mardi Gras. Crowds throng parades, balls, and costumed parties, marking final celebrations before the Catholic season of Lent. Organizations host parades, customizing throws of beads, metallic doubloons, and plastic cups, with all ages joining the revelry. Mardi Gras occurs annually, but the occasional crisis can halt festivities. This year’s Mardi Gras celebrations have toned down significantly, with cancelled parades and balls in attempts to combat the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic leaving many across Southern Louisiana struggling with how to celebrate the season. This mirrors the cancelling of Mardi Gras celebrations for other national crises including the Korean War, World War Two, the 1918-1919 Influenza, World War One, and the Civil War. The carnivals of the Civil War era can provide great clarity to today’s Covid-19 Mardi Gras, highlighting how even a cancelled or toned down celebration can reinvigorate the carnival spirit with lasting impacts on the future of Mardi Gras as a whole.
The first modern parade organization, the Mystick Krewe of Comus, began in 1857. Annually on Mardi Gras day, the Krewe, donning masks and costumes, would “march through the principal streets and … afterwards a grand ball would be given” featuring the city’s elite. Masked balls were a norm across antebellum New Orleans and Comus adopted this, sparking today’s modern Mardi Gras ball tradition.
By 1861, Comus was a standard of the carnival season, and other societies added their own balls. Louisiana’s secession did not stem the carnival celebrations occurring even as the Confederacy organized. Newspapers advertised Mardi Gras balls hosted by numerous societies, while the Krewe of Comus marched as usual. However, troubling signs loomed. Several balls were held by military companies as fundraisers and amidst the parading, and a collection of slaves formed a minstrel group and “marched around, having at their head a comical effigy of Old Abe Lincoln, riding a rail of his own splitting” which provided entertainment as costumed children threw bags of flour onto both one another and the city’s African American population, “according to the usual custom.”
By Mardi Gras 1862 things were different. In January and February, papers were choked with masquerade ball advertisements and guarantees that the Mystick Krewe of Comus would do “something to astonish the town.” This was not to be. Word arrived of Confederate battlefield setbacks and nine of the city’s regiments were dispatched north, later participating in the Battle of Shiloh. Concurrently, David Farragut’s naval squadron ascended the Mississippi River to assault New Orleans itself. Martial law was declared, local militia mobilized, and in consequence, Mayor John T. Monroe issued a directive cancelling all Mardi Gras festivities, proclaiming that “no masquerade procession or masked individuals will be allowed to parade the streets of the city of New Orleans on TUESDAY, the 4th day of March, 1862, the same being Mardi-Gras;” instead, the day after the cancelled festivities saw a full brigade of militia parading through the streets.
Union forces occupied the city by May 1862 and remained there for the rest of the war. With many military age men in the Confederate army, and the city under military occupation, 1863’s Mardi Gras passed with no parades or balls; the largest celebration was a show by a minstrel group of slaves and freedmen who performed Mardi Gras night at the Camp Street Theater. One prominent French-speaking woman lamented to her husband that “Il n’y a pas eu de carnival” – There was no carnival. Despite this, one Union soldier witnessed “people dressing themselves up and making fools of themselves generally;” a few masqueraders were even arrested the week after “for playing Mardi Gras out of season.”
1864 found a renewed Mardi Gras spirit embracing New Orleans. Occupiers relaxed rules and by midday on February 9, 1864, “considerable numbers, attired in every description of costume, in carriages and on foot, began roaming the streets” and an impromptu parade formed as men, “mounted on horses, asses, and mules” pulled carts “piled to the number of fifteen or twenty” down Canal Street. This improvised parade included “King and Queen, Princess, peasants, Satan and fair ladies, beggars and heiresses, clowns, nymphs, Friars, savages, dancing girls, sailors, soldiers, negroes, mulattos, Creoles, octoroons … all with one object in view, pure unalloyed, boisterous fun.”
Union soldier Carlos Colby wrote home that “all through the day we could see Men, Women, and Children dressed in all manner of styles and all had masks on their faces so you could not tell who it was;” another occupying soldier observed how sacks of flour were employed by children “to whiten any negro who might be found on the streets, with fine clothes.” Nathan Middlebrook, a Connecticut soldier, “saw more fun” because of the streets “full of Masked faces” at the 1864 Mardi Gras “than I have since I came in the army.” Three women took the relaxed circumstances to costume in their husbands’ old Confederate uniforms while another woman tore down a United States flag; all four were arrested.
Residents of New Orleans and military occupiers alike seemed anxious to continue the spirit of the carnival season that year, with one writing home a week later, “Some of the Dukes and kings haint got over Mardi-grassing yet.” Continuing these festivities and to commemorate the newly elected Unionist governor, on February 22, 1864, Washington’s Birthday, General Nathaniel P. Banks and his wife hosted “a bal masque at the Opera House.” Present was Acting French Consul Charles Fauconnet, who recognized Banks’s motives to “engender a rapprochement between the two races and serve as a vehicle for amalgamation.” Fauconnet remembered the ball as “brilliant with uniforms, dresses, and costumes,” but also one where “with very few exceptions, all of the Creole families were absent.”
With the war closing, Mardi Gras in 1865 was on February 28 and included more balls and celebrations. Among the revelry included costumed individuals: “King Richard III … walked upon the common pavement. Horace Greeley … followed his royal highness in haste while a Tribune peered forth, from the depths of his coat pockets. ‘Uncle Abe’ was following Greeley for the purpose of drafting him.” There were no organized parades, though a crowd did gather on Canal Street in the hopes that the Mystick Krewe of Comus would appear until an evening rainstorm dispersed everyone. Union General Edward R. S. Canby attended the evening’s masquerade balls. The celebrations were not without trouble however, and a freedman was stabbed on the street that day and the mayor “ordered all the drinking-houses closed” to prevent further unrest.
The war’s end renewed Mardi Gras, and the Mystick Krewe of Comus returned to its parading in 1866 since “enough of the Krewe survived the war to make another grand spectacle;” the year’s ball was themed “The Past, in which the horrors of war were depicted; The Present, which illustrated the blessings of peace; and The Future, over which peace and plenty presided.” Carnival grew postwar, influenced by the many former Confederate leaders that moved to New Orleans. In 1892, Winnie Davis, daughter of Jefferson Davis, became queen of Comus and her portrait for the organization that year marked “her rule simultaneously as the Princess of the Confederacy and the Queen of Comus.” Her portrait was used afterwards as a model for future portraits and ball gowns, connecting today’s Mardi Gras celebrations to those of the Civil War era.
Race continued to play a part in carnival celebrations. In 1916, the Krewe of Zulu formed, run by the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. It is famous for members, both black and white, donning blackface and costumes honoring the African Zulus and throwing coconuts to the crowd. This is an interesting turn, considering early Mardi Gras celebrations involved children pelting African Americans with flour, turning their faces white. Recently, arguments emerged over whether the blackface tradition should end, with one side claiming they are honoring racist white vaudevillian actors who dressed in blackface in times past, while the other claims that the Zulu tradition is continued to critique and discredit those very actors. Nonetheless, the tradition continues.
Finally, the recent movement against Confederate monuments has impacted Mardi Gras. In 2017, a statue of Robert E. Lee was removed from St. Charles Avenue. This statue sat astride what was called Lee Circle since its erection in 1884. With its removal, a prominent landmark along the parade route, Mardi Gras beads bearing the statue’s likeness began appearing at parades in protest.
Mardi Gras faced its first real challenge in the Civil War, and despite war, occupation, and cancelled festivities, the citizens of New Orleans maintained the carnival’s essence through improvised parading, costuming, and masked balls, albeit via an abbreviated format filled with commentary about the Civil War itself. Furthermore, this challenge helped to reinvigorate the carnival spirit postwar, impacting the celebration’s evolution. Though the 2021 Mardi Gras is also limited in scale thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic, we can learn from the Civil War’s festivities, keeping the carnival spirit alive however possible and using it to springboard renewed future celebrations.
Neil P. Chatelain is an Adjunct Professor of History at Lone Star College-North Harris and a Social Studies Teacher at Carl Wunsche Sr. High School in Spring, Texas. A former US Navy Surface Warfare Officer, he is a graduate of the University of New Orleans, the University of Houston, and the University of Louisiana-Monroe. Neil researches US Naval History, with a particular emphasis on naval operations of the Confederacy.
 B.W. Wrenn, Mardi Gras in New Orleans (Atlanta, GA: Barrow, 1873), 5.
 “Mardi-Gras,” New Orleans Daily Crescent, February 13, 1861.
 “Balls to Come,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 12, 1862; “Proclamation,” New Orleans Daily Crescent, March 4, 1862.; “Military Parade,” New Orleans Daily Crescent, March 5, 1862.
 Polyxene Reynès to Joseph Reynès, February 19, 1863, Joseph Reynès and Family Papers, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Kenneth E. Shewmaker, Andrew W. Prinz, and Henry R. Gardner, “A Yankee in Louisiana: Selections from the Diary and Correspondence of Henry R. Gardner, 1862-1866,” Louisiana History, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Summer, 1964), 290; “The Maskers,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 26, 1863.
 “Close of the Carnival,” New Orleans Daily True Delta, February 10, 1864; “Mardi Gras,” New Orleans Times-Democrat, February 10, 1864; W.S. Hemphill, Journal of a Trooper, Vol. 4, 352-353 in Elisabeth Joan Doyle, “Civilian Life in Occupied New Orleans” Thesis, Louisiana State University, 1955, 206.
 Carlos Colby to Catie Colby, February 16, 1864, Carlos W. Colby papers, 1821-1937, Midwest Manuscript Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois; “Correspondence of the Gazette,” Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Gazette, March 23, 1864; Nathan Middlebrook to Sue, February 12, 1864, Nathan Middlebrook Papers, Special Collections, US Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle Pennsylvania.
 Extract from Sam’s Letter, February 15, 1864, in John M. Stanyan, A History of the Eighth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers (Concord, NH: Ira C. Evans, 1892), 355; “The Masquerade Ball Given by Mrs. Gen. Banks,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1864; Dispatch of Acting Consul Charles Fauconnet, March 11, 1864, in Carl A Brasseauz and Katherine Carmines Mooney, ed., Ruined by this Miserable War: The Dispatches of Charles Prosper Fauconnet, a French Diplomat in New Orleans, 1863-1868 (Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press, 2012), 102.
 “’Mardigras Day’ in New Orleans,” Cleveland, Ohio Daily Leader, March 20, 1865; “Recorder Vennard’s Court,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 4, 1865; “The Close of Mardi Gras,” New Orleans Daily True Delta, March 2, 1865; “Mardi Gras,” New Orleans Daily True Delta, March 1, 1865.
 Wrenn, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, 19.; William H. Forman Jr., “William P. Harper and the Early New Orleans Carnival,” Louisiana History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Winter, 1973), 41; Elizabeth Leavitt, “Southern Royalty: Race, Gender, and Discrimination During Mardi Gras From the Civil War to the Present Day,” From Slave Mothers & Southern Belles to Radical Reformers & Lost Cause Ladies: Representing Women in the Civil War Era, February, 2015, https://civilwarwomen.wp.tulane.edu/.
 Brentin Mock, “Zulu Mardi Gras Blackface: Heritage or Hate?,” CityLab, March 4, 2019.
 Frederick Staidum Jr., “Robert E. Lee Beads Bring Mardi Gras’ Historic Racism Full Circle,” The Root, February 17, 2018, https://www.theroot.com/robert-e-lee-beads-bring-mardi-gras-historic-racism-f-1823080728.


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HIGH POINT — At least a dozen people worked to clear the debris from a fallen tree on Tuesday that blocked traffic on East Springfield Road, took out power and phone service, and crushed part of a home.
An approximate 75-foot tall oak tree fell on some power lines before crashing into High Point resident Martin Coble's kitchen where he has an active gas line.
"The oak tree in my front yard split in two," said homeowner Martin Coble. "One split went over my house, the other split and fell on Springfield Road. If you think back to all of the storms we've had for the last few days and nothing and then tonight it just sort of falls on its own. I guess it weakened over time."
The fire department responded quickly. The home never caught fire. The family said when the tree went down it not only rattled the neighbors, but the tremors caused local businesses alarms to go off.
"Tonight I'll be staying with my parents and then we'll see what the insurance company has to say about things," said Coble.
Crews worked through the day to clear the road and return power and phone service to neighbors. A quick fix for many, but a long road ahead for Coble and the repairs he will have to make to his home.

domain: news


Immediately after a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that would have allowed construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline to proceed, the Department of Justice interceded and released a joint statement with the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior calling for construction to voluntarily halt on the Lake Oahe segment of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
MAIN Coalition spokesman Craig Stevens released the following statement in response:
“The joint statement issued by the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior immediately after Judge Boasberg’s ruling is deeply troubling and could have a long-lasting chilling effect on private infrastructure development in the United States. Judge Boasberg had already issued a thoughtful, thorough decision agreeing that the Army Corps had done its job and had adequately consulted with and considered Tribal concerns; which in turn led to more than $1.4 billion in investments by Energy Transfer Partners – the pipeline construction company.
It is also concerning that the federal government would threaten the livelihoods of thousands of workers who rely on good governance to support a stable workplace. Based on the Administration’s actions today, these workers’ jobs are in peril.
Should the Administration ultimately stop this construction, it would set a horrific precedent. No sane American company would dare expend years of effort and billions of dollars weaving through an onerous regulatory process receiving all necessary permits and agreements, only to be faced with additional regulatory impediments and be shutdown halfway through completion of its project.
We hope and trust that the government will base its final decision on sound science and engineering, not political winds or pressure.”


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FARMINGTON – A Franklin County jury Tuesday found two Earth First! protesters guilty of failure to disperse at the conclusion of a 2-day trial in Franklin County Superior Court.
Willow Cordes-Eklund, 27, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Erik Gillard, 27, of Montpelier, Vt., were both sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $500 for their actions near the Gold Brook Road off Route 27 in northern Franklin County in July of 2010
The pair were among four arrested July 6, 2010, during an Earth First! protest of TransCanada’s wind turbine project on Kibby Mountain and trying to stop a similar development on neighboring Sisk Mountain.
Cordes-Eklund chained herself by the neck to an undercarriage of a truck that was hauling one of the blades to Kibby Mountain. Gillard was accused of stepping up on the running board of the driver’s side of the truck and trying to reach inside after a Border Patrol agent told him to stop.
In his opening statements Franklin County Assistant District Attorney James Andrews said the protest was a planned effort to stop the truck carrying the turbine blade after they were repeatedly told not to go near the truck.
Defense attorney Phil Worden, representing Cordes-Eklund, said the basic facts of the case were not disputed, but what is challenged is whether they committed the crime of failure to disperse.
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A simple and affordable way to feed indoor plants
Plant nutrition is an important aspect of plant care, especially for those grown in pots or containers. One of the most effective and affordable ways to feed is to use onions. We will tell you how to properly fertilize onions for irrigation.
Photo: flickr. com by Eunice is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
First you need to prepare a fertilizing solution. For this you will need onion peels. Put it together and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for several hours, then strain the solution and leave it overnight.
The next day you can start watering the plants. To do this, dilute the resulting solution with water in a ratio of 1:5. That is, for one part of the solution there are five parts of water. This will avoid waterlogging of the soil and burning of plant roots.
Water the plants with the resulting solution every week, instead of regular watering with water. Onion solution contains many beneficial microelements such as potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and others, which are necessary for healthy plant growth.
In addition, onion solution is also an excellent pest control agent. Its smell repels many insects such as aphids and ants. This way, you can not only feed your plants, but also protect them from pests.
Don’t forget that feeding onions is not the only way to feed plants. You can also use other organic fertilizers such as compost or humus. It is important to choose a feeding method that is suitable for your plant and not to overdo it with the amount of fertilizer.
Now you know how to make fertilizer for watering onion plants. This simple and affordable method will help you keep your plants healthy and beautiful. Do not forget to fertilize regularly and monitor the condition of the plants.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Pfizer Inc. PFE, +1.16% on Friday announced top-line results of its third Phase 3 clinical trial of tofacitinib in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis. Pfizer said the study dose met all primary endpoints and showed statistically significant changes versus placebo in reducing signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
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domain: medical


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Jack Brown: From reluctant sportsman to wheelchair rugby league star
The most surprising fact about Jack Brown, to many, is that it was possible for him to be non-disabled and still win the first international Golden Boot in wheelchair rugby league.
Brown, meanwhile, is simply astonished he is playing any sport whatsoever, let alone potentially propelling England to World Cup glory on home turf in just over two weeks’ time.
After all, despite Halifax roots which would suggest a lifetime commitment to the code, Brown’s reality was very much the opposite.
“I was never into sport. I was one of the kids who used to hide at PE whenever they were going outside,” he told the PA news agency.
“I’d only ever want to do the indoor sports, I hated the cold, I couldn’t handle it. That might be partly down to why I like wheelchair rugby league so much. You get to play inside where it’s warm.”
Brown has chased the warmth all the way to Australia, where he has lived and helped develop wheelchair rugby league, his unlikely life’s passion.
A staple of the England squad since 2005, Brown is also the most convincing poster-man for why his sport could be considered the world’s most inclusive, one of few where disabled and non-disabled athletes compete together at elite level.
Brown, one of two non-disabled players permitted per team, said: “I was allowed to play wheelchair basketball and things like that, but obviously not to international level, whereas wheelchair rugby league have sort of kept their inclusive ruling all the way through the entirety of the sport.
“That stands for men, women, children – there’s no restriction. When we start to think of non-disabled people playing in a wheelchair, when you watch the World Cup you’ll find it very difficult to work out who is disabled and who isn’t.
“Because the wheelchair is such a leveller. There’s some excellent non-disabled players and there’s some even better disabled players. The fact that it is just everyone on the same playing field, it makes it very easy not to see the disability.”
Viewers who find wheelchair rugby, aka ‘murderball’, too much of a departure from union may well prefer wheelchair rugby league, with rules like backward passing intact.
Brown’s younger brother Harry was the first to foray into sport, taking up wheelchair basketball aged 11. As Harry, who lost both legs to meningitis as a baby, tore up the court in his chair, Jack would sit idly in the stands.
One day, someone suggested Jack give it a go, too.
“That was the first time I realised I was allowed to, that it’s OK for me to be in a wheelchair, that’s alright,” said Brown. “We were the youngest ones there and we did everyone’s head in. The old folks didn’t like doing suicides (a training method) and things like that, and me and Harry would drop the ball on purpose so we could race each other.”
The man who initially proposed Jack join Harry was Malcolm Kielty, whose MBE-earning claims to relatively unsung fame include introducing seven-time Paralympic gold medal-winning wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft to para sport.
He was also instrumental in bringing wheelchair rugby league, a fledging game in the early 2000s, to England and recruiting the Brown brothers to play an early tournament in France “in this sport no one has ever heard of”.
“We got absolutely annihilated by everybody, but we had the best time,” said Brown. “After that, it was just all in.”
All in for Jack, at least. Harry eventually chose the more lucrative wheelchair basketball life, and won his second Paralympic bronze for Great Britain last September.
This could be Jack’s time to shine.
England, ranked second in the world, will take on fourth-ranked Australia in their opening match at London’s Copper Box on November 3, with holders France facing Wales at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield the following day.
This is the first time the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions will all be hosted under one World Cup umbrella. It is also the first time the wheelchair competition will offer prize money, something Brown agreed is “groundbreaking for the sport”.
And as for any sibling rivalry, Jack certainly would not mind being the Brown brother with a medal around his neck this time when everything wraps up on November 18 in Manchester.
“We definitely want to come back with some gold,” he added. “We’ve done all the hard work already. We’ve just got to get it done now.”


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The Origins and Rich History Behind Taekwondo
In honor of the upcoming addition to the Fujimini Adventure Series, Silver Bunny and the Secret Fort Chop, I took a peek into the rich history behind the Korean martial art. Viewed as both a martial art and a way of life, knowledge of the evolution of Taekwondo is extremely important when understanding the practice of the martial art itself.
The name is derived from the three Korean/Chinese words “Tae”, meaning foot, “Kwon”, meaning first, and “Do”, meaning way of- so Taekwondo literally means “the way of the foot and fist”. Although the name wasn’t used until 1955, elements of the art has been in existence for over 2,000 years. Many historians believe that the roots of Taekwondo originated from the martial art form known as t’aekyon. It began to evolve after the introduction of several Chinese and Japanese techniques following Japanese control in Korea. After liberation from the Japanese, martial arts flourished with combinations of both Japanese and Korean styles and techniques.
It was then that the style of Taekwondo we know today began to develop. During this time there were five major martial art schools, also known as Kwans. They were the Mooduk Kwan, Jido Kwan, Change Kwan, Chungdo Kwan, and Songmu Kwan. Within the schools themselves, there was a wide variety of styles that differed greatly from school to school.
So beginning in 1946, an attempt was made to unify and standardize training styles and methods. It was in April of 1955 that the unified style known as Taekwondo was born following a meeting between a board of instructors, historians, and prominent members of society. Then in 1962 the Korean Amateur Sports Association officially recognized the Korean Taekwondo Union, now known as the Korean Taekwondo Association.
To find the book series that inspires these stories, click here
Today, Taekwondo has grown to an international sport and art that is practiced in over 190 countries. 2000 was a very exciting year for Taekwondo after being recognized as an official event in the Olympics.
To learn more about the characters and world of Fujimini Island, click here

domain: library


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APA Hotel Kagoshimachuo-Ekimae2-21-22 Nishida, Kagoshima 3.0 out of 5.0
Located in the heart of Kagoshima, this hotel is steps from Amu Plaza Kagoshima and Amuran Ferris Wheel. Kagoshima Chuo Station Tourist Information Center and ...
Hotel Dormy Inn Kagoshima Natural Hot Spring17-30 Nisisengoku-mach, Kagoshima 3.0 out of 5.0
Situated in Kagoshima, this hotel is steps from Furusato Onsen, Senganen Garden, and Shiroyama Park. Jigenryuhyohousho History Museum and Xavier Church Shinseido ...
Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Kagoshima11, Chuo-cho, Kagoshima 3.5 out of 5.0
Situated in Kagoshima, this hotel is steps from Kagoshima Chuo Station Tourist Information Center, Amuran Ferris Wheel, and Amu Plaza Kagoshima. Museum of the ...
* Prices reflect the lowest "base rate" found over the next 30 days. Rates are subject to change and may not include taxes and fees, hotel service charges, extra person charges, or incidentals, such as room service. All rates are displayed in USD unless otherwise noted. Converted rates are provided for your convenience. They are based on today's exchange rate, but the hotel will charge you in the local currency.

domain: geography


Blue Bird school bus in the process of converting into a Skoolie. Roof raised 20” and exterior has been skinned with sheet metal. It needs one minor sheet metal finish (I have metal and tools). It is ready for windows, wiring, plumbing and insulation.
Included is new roof rail system that runs entire length of bus for mounting solar panels &/or rooftop deck.
Engine runs strong and it’s a huge plus that this is a diesel pusher (engine in rear) which results in a much quieter ride up front.
I am selling as I have a new venture that is taking up all my time.
I have bus rating plates, bus manual, Skoolie manual, Skoolie build manual, floor plans, and construction notes (project plan & sources for equipment/materials).
This is ready for someone to make into a Skoolie, Tiny Home, or unique VRBO home on a piece of property.
Blue Bird has an excellent reputation for bus construction and this creates a perfect foundation for any build out.
1994 Blue Bird, 35’ long (72 passenger), diesel pusher
Model # TC RE 3408
5.9L Cummins turbo diesel engine with Allison MT643 transmission
40-gallon fuel tank
Overall dimensions: Height = 11’6”, Width 7’8”, Length 35’
Blue Bird, BlueBird, Thomas,


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Industry leaders gathered at The Pierre hotel in Manhattan for the WWD CEO Summit to discuss the consumer, the state of business and the challenges of the fashion calendar.
The designer thanked his team, his family and WWD for the honor and support.
Diane von Furstenberg’s newest H.Stern collection, named Sutras, is inspired by 18th-century Indian mogul jewelry.
Bluefly’s latest venture features hundreds of scents from Chanel, Hermès, Bulgari, Calvin Klein, and others discounted by upward of 40 percent.
Kicking off with the Golden Globes on Sunday, Calvin Klein Inc. is adding a new layer to its Calvin Klein Collection media strategy — television.

domain: design


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About Petts Wood Snooker & Pool Club
At Petts Wood Snooker Club we have:-
- 10 Fullsize Riley Aristocrat snooker tables
- Private match room, Riley aristocrat match table and darts area
- 2 full size American pool tables
- Regular Poker night every Wednesday 8pm
- Fully air conditioned
- 2 £400 Jackpot Fruit Machines
- 2 large screen Sky + ESPN Tv's
- We can cater for Parties/Social Events details on request
- Numerous offers on a selection of bottled beers, fully licensed bar
- Extensive meal and snack menu, constantly changing menu. Aberdeen Angus 1/4 Pounders a speciality.
- We accept most major credit cards.

domain: hobby


Bruce, PJK and Babinsky, H (2007) An experimental study of unsteady separated shock wave boundary layer interactions. In: UNSPECIFIED pp. 13795-13806..Full text not available from this repository.
An experimental investigation of the unsteady interaction between a turbulent boundary layer and a normal shock wave of strength M∞ = 1.4 subject to periodic forcing in a parallel walled duct has been conducted. Emphasis has been placed on the mechanism by which changes in the global flow field influence the local interaction structure. Static pressure measurements and high speed Schlieren images of the unsteady interaction have been obtained. The pressure rise across the interaction and the appearance of the local SBLI structure have been observed to vary during the cycle of periodic shock wave motion. The magnitude of the pressure rise across the interaction is found to be related to the relative Mach number of the unsteady shock wave as it undergoes periodic motion. Variations in the upstream Influence of the interaction are sensitive to the magnitude and direction of shock wave velocity and acceleration and it is proposed that a viscous lag exists between the point of boundary layer separation and the shock wave position. Further work exploring the implications of these findings is proposed, including studies of the variation in position of the points of boundary layer separation and reattachment.
|Item Type:||Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)|
|Divisions:||Div A > Fluid Mechanics|
|Depositing User:||Cron Job|
|Date Deposited:||09 Dec 2016 17:58|
|Last Modified:||30 Mar 2017 10:17|


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Spayed and Neutered Dogs
No Females in Heat
Crate-Trained Dogs Only
Elaina (Ena) is a very sweet and compassionate person. She has worked for me as a groomer, and I can’t express enough how compassionate and caring she is with animals. She’s very responsible and will treat each pet as her own while they are in her care.
Patient, compassionate and direct
I'm the type of person who will greet your animal before I greet you. I'm communicative and alert about my surroundings and situations. I do great with written instructions and provide as many updates as needed. I also happen to be a great photographer too! I have many references and have been working as a dog groomer for 4 years. I have also worked alongside many vet techs and can identify things that may not ...
What Elaina would like to know about your dog
No breed preferences but if there are any behavioral issues heads up is required.

domain: pet


Learn these transformerless power supply circuits, use a capacitor instead, it smaller and lighter than transformer. There are circuits as follows.
If you are looking for 5-volts DC regulator without transformer. This circuit may help you. It is suitable for low current digital. Use the MOSFET is based.
This is Simple monitor turn on delay circuit, by use contact of relay acts as a switch. When entering an AC main to this circuit. The circuit will delay while Reduce the surge current protection with fuse.


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Food, Wine & History Tour with Cooking Class
Chef Forrest invites you to take the path less traveled; to see, touch, sip and taste the Undiscovered Charleston!
When giving as a gift, your recipient can choose a date at their convenience during a booking process. Otherwise, you can choose one after checkout and voucher redemption.
- Chef Forrest will demonstrate how to prepare three of his recipes with heritage Lowcountry ingredients then serve you lunch with carefully curated wine pairings from Bistro a Vin.
- Bistro Au Vin provides wine tasting pours paired with Chef Forrest's recipes. (Additional wine available for purchase on consumption.)
- 90-minute walking tour of Charleston's historic district
- Cooking Demonstration by Chef Forrest Parker
- Each guest will leave with copies of Chef Forrest's recipes.
- For those who do not wish to have wine, Charleston sweet tea and filtered water will be available.
If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met,
you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

domain: food


text:
Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects
Contributions from the perspectives of history, anthropology, cultural studies, political theory, and libraries pose questions ranging from how a concern with postcolonial and feminist questions of identity might reorient the field to how anthropological work on civil society and Islam in Southeast Asia provides an opportunity for comparative political theorists to develop more sophisticated analytic approaches. A vision common to all the contributors is the potential of area studies to produce knowledge outside a global academic framework that presumes the privilege and even hegemony of Euro-American academic trends and scholars.
About the Author
"Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects—a nice postmodern play on words—is concerned primarily with how, whether, and to what extent anyone can be said to 'know' the region (or perhaps anything else) with what needs to be called pre-postmodern assurance."—Journal of Asian Studies
Other Titles by Laurie J. Sears
Other Titles from Critical Dialogues in Southeast Asian Studies
Other Titles in HISTORY / Asia / Southeast Asia
Other Titles in Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies


text:
Science and Technology Current Events Archive News President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for.
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text:
Get 15% off - Dogpound Hydration Supplements with discount code SMASHCITY.
Better than Liquid IV or Pedialyte.
Export 8 ingredients for grocery delivery
Toss mix: In a large bowl, gently toss together the Cheerios, both types of Chex cereal, peanuts and pretzels. Set aside.
Melt chocolate: Add the chocolate and extract to the bowl of a double boiler (SEE NOTES). Use a rubber spatula to stir constantly until the chocolate is almost fully melted – avoid overheating the chocolate as it will harden! Remove the bowl from the double boiler and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth in consistency.
Pour chocolate over Chex mix: Pour the melted white chocolate over the Chex mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently toss the mixture well until it is evenly coated and covered in chocolate.
Add M&M’s: Add both M&M’s to the mixture. Toss until evenly combined.
Dry: Line two large baking sheets with parchment or wax paper. Spread the chocolate Chex mixture out evenly over the prepared baking sheets. Quickly sprinkle flaky salt and sprinkles all over the Chex Mix while the chocolate is still wet. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill until the chocolate is cool and set, about 20-30 minutes.
Serve: Break the holiday Chex mix apart into serving-sized pieces and enjoy!


text: We got up at 5am so we could try and spot some Condors flying in the Colca Canyon, we waited from 8.30 until and 10am and think we saw one but it was so far away we couldnt really tell!!!!! We saw some burial sites half way up a mountain that looked a bit like bee hives. We took an hour hike along the Canyon after trying to spot the condors. Then we headed back to Arequipa (stopping in Chivay again on the way to have lunch). We had dinner in a lovely little restaurant behind the Cathedral.

domain: travel


text:
Garden can be explained as the practice and craft of expanding and creating decorative and organic and natural flowers as an element of surroundings horticulture. In horticultural landscapes, ornamental plants are generally grown for their foliage, flowers, or flavor valuable vegetation, like medical flowers, are frequently harvested for his or her deliver. Landscaping is an extremely calming and satisfying experience for individuals that comprehend its fundamental principles. Growing plants can be performed inside an region of the home which you select, according to the time of the year, the plethora of plant life you intend to expand, as well as your amount of motivation. Garden can certainly be a great and satisfying activity for those keen on enhancing the environment and producing gorgeous gardens.
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There are a lot of various kinds of gardening, but the most prevalent sort is that of cultivation. Most horticulturists break down horticulture into two principal classifications, these are decorative and scenery. The elaborate plant is one that brings elegance and character to the situation. Scenery growing plants is certainly one the place that the flowers are cultivated to further improve the appearance of the key content, be it a setting up with a lawn, or even a back yard. The plants and flowers that are available in landscape design gardens are typically decorative fresh flowers, greens, herbs, grasses, plants and shrubs and in many cases certain kinds of fruit trees.
Herbal horticulture is a form of horticultural gardening that concerns the developing of herbal remedies to be used in drugs, beauty products and meal and pest management. Botanical herb back gardens can incorporate a number of plant life from herbs for creating meals, to medical plants, to decorative herbal plants and in some cases vegatables and fruits. Plants could also be grown for those only goal of growing the vegetables garden’s generate. Plant gardening may also be a pleasurable activity for individuals that truly appreciate horticulture and every one of the crops that can be bought in a very effort.
Another popular variety of landscaping is bottle garden. This is actually the most desired kind of garden since the majority plant life will thrive inside an surroundings that is similar to the surroundings which they increase in normally. Container garden can be achieved in numerous various conditions. The gardener purely has to make sure that the grow has plenty of home to move about and has area for air and water to flow when necessary. Vegetation that are not comfortable with having this kind of surroundings can struggle to prosper.
Gardening also can be held on ponds or lakes. In cases like this, the garden enthusiast will have to make sure that there are no hazardous factors current in your community that would injure the plants. A great illustration showing this would be the inclusion of pond unwanted weeds, which pose a risk to the sea food that stay in the pond. Other hazardous components that might be existing include poison oak, copperhead snakes, eelgrass, pond mites, and leeches. This has to be looked into cautiously.
Aquaponics is yet another way in which horticulture may be accomplished, and here is where flowers and fish are produced jointly inside a operated environment, although some plant life could be cultivated with success in ponds. Liquid is circulated with an aquaculture process, as well as the fish prey on the plants and flowers. This can be a extremely efficient approach to developvegatables and fruits, and blossoms in a very only a little space, without having the garden enthusiast being forced to matter theirselves with the things. Growing plants with aquaponics mandates that the garden enthusiast have plenty of knowledge so that you can create and look after the device. Aquaponics garden is highly useful to the environment.
When talking about garden and what types of plants and flowers perform the best included, both important points that spring to mind are either rose or vegetable gardens. Equally these types of horticulture approaches have their own very own distinct drawbacks and advantages, based upon what type of plant life you are wanting to expand. Floral home gardens might require loads ofsun and water, and a great deal of efforts to keep. Organic backyards usually are personal-preserving, need to have a lesser amount of room or space, and need a very little level of sun energy and standard water.
Each kind of yard possesses its own precise needs that must be noted before starting the garden of the variety. The moment proven, garden is a exciting, stress-free interest for those garden enthusiast. The benefits of horticulture are almost endless, and the delight of experiencing new development is frequently difficult to discuss. Growing plants is a great passion, the one which can make any person delighted.
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domain: agronomy


Inside the mind of Salvatore Ferragamo's new creative head (Independent)
"Creating a global wardrobe is just the tip of the role Giornetti was handed two years ago. Having been a menswear designer for the brand for 10 years, working his way up to head the division, Giornetti took over the helm of womenswear too in July 2010 after a series of creative directors had failed to make a lasting impact with their collections."
Simon Spurr Exits Eponymous Label (Huffington Post)
"The menswear designer has left the brand he co-founded in 2006... But 'what's gone on' might seem to imply that something has actually happened, rather than Spurr simply tiring of the job or deciding family matters were more important, as another major fashion figure has just done."
H&M Feb sales rise despite German consumer gloom (Reuters)
"Sales at world no.2 fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz' established stores unexpectedly grew for a third consecutive month in February despite gloom in its biggest market Germany."
Indian icon succumbs to charms of Louis Vuitton (Guardian)
"Fans of Fabindia, though much too mild-mannered to be outraged, have been really quite concerned to discover that the internationally known ethical retailer with an annual turnover of £65m is now part-owned by a private investment firm sponsored by LVMH."
‘Am I doing this right?’ (FT)
"Clare Waight-Keller became creative director of Chloé in May 2011, moving her young family to Paris from London, where she had held the same post at Pringle of Scotland. Jerry Stafford is stylist to Tilda Swinton and creative director at the film and advertising production company Premiere Heure."


We caught up with Anchalika Kijkanakorn Founder and Managing Director of AKARYN Hotel Group to discuss the rise of sustainable luxury.
Anchalika can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your current role at AKARYN Hotel Group (AHG)?
I am the Managing Director and Founder of Thailand’s AKARYN Hotel Group (AHG), as well as the first female Chairperson of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), serving on their Board of Directors. Prior to this, I spent 10 years with GE Capital in various financial leadership roles, having studied at Harvard Business School in the U.S.A. I now live in Bangkok with my two young sons, and I have developed a passion for eco-luxury hotels and hospitality.
Climate change is something that has been noticeable to all of us, due to extreme weather conditions around the world. Litter, especially plastic litter is something I hate to see, as these plastics will outlive me for thousands of years I and if we don’t do something about it now, we will be drown in them soon…literally. That is why I’m so passionate about ensuring our hotels are as sustainable as possible.
Luxury Sustainable travel is on the rise, what are the initiatives you have been taking at AHG in regard to sustainability?
We are trying to implement everything we can to make our resorts more sustainable. This began with akyra TAS Sukhumvit Bangkok last year, which launched as Asia’s first single-use plastic free hotel. This was a huge success, and since then we slowly began making eco-friendly choices in all of our hotels, and as of this month, all 6 hotels within the AHG group are now single-use plastic free.
One of my favourite initiatives that we implemented are the new Train & Sustain retreats at akyra Beach Club Phuket. This retreat combines beach yoga and Pilates with beach clean-ups and educational talks on the importance of cutting back on plastic, which has been a great way to involve guests of all ages in our environmental protection pledge. Children have particularly enjoyed helping to clear the beaches of rubbish after being educated on the effect this is having on our planet.
Another way that our guests can get involved is on the Elephant Day Care Package excursions offered through akyra manor Chiang Mai, where guests can interact with the elephants and contribute to their conservation and welfare. At Aleenta Hua Hin, we have also just launched a mangrove tree planting programme in the nearby Hao Sam Roi Yot National Park, encouraging guests to offset their carbon footprint.
I also helped to launch the Pure Blue Foundation charity through AHG in 2010, which helps to raise funds for marine conservation through turtle release programmes for example, and charity projects throughout Thailand.
Have you seen a shift when it comes to luxury travel and from your experience, have guests become more aware of sustainability and the environment?
The issue of plastic is no longer something we can ignore in the travel industry or in the world in general, and as the founder of AHG, I felt it was absolutely imperative to ensure our hotels were not contributing negatively towards the issue but instead raising awareness of It and doing all we can to help protect the environment and its life. Guests are definitely more aware of sustainability and seem to be increasingly choosing their holiday destinations based on what that resort can offer back to the environment, and younger travellers (millennials) seem to be particularly influenced by this. Whilst sustainable travel used to be a niche concept, now there has been a positive shift as the luxury market is bringing sustainable luxury travel to the forefront of the industry.
You have rolled out a fantastic initiative where you have set a goal of becoming completely single-use plastic free by June this year, can you tell us a bit more about the project
This began with the opening of akyra TAS Sukhumvit Bangkok last year, followed by akyra Manor Chiang Mai and now I’m proud that we have achieved making all 6 of our hotels and resorts in Bangkok, Phuket, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai plastic free. We offer all guests stylish stainless-steel, refillable water bottles on arrival, as well as refillable, organic toiletries and amenities using essential oil products, with biodegradable packaging. We even encourage guests to think of the environment outside of the hotels, with reusable shopping totes offered in every room, and no single-use plastic is used in the bars or restaurants.
What has the response been so far from guests as well as the travel industry?
The initiative from the luxury travel industry has been great so far. We actually received the ‘Green Steps’ award for responsible tourism in the Responsible Thailand awards, and we have seen an abundance of positive feedback on our sustainability initiatives, from both press and guests.
The Secretary of State from the Netherlands has visited us, and she complimented our effort. Ever since then, we have seen an impressive number of visitors from the EU visiting us even though we have very done very little promotion there. Many travel partners have contacted us and want to know how we did it. We are always happy to share best practice. If we can save one plastic bottle a day from being used, it’s one win for all of us.
What can guests do when staying at your hotels to make their stay as environmentally friendly as possible?
Guests can participate in things such as turtle release programmes, beach clean-ups, mangrove tree planting, eat food grown on the two Aleenta resorts very own farm, use refillable water bottles and refillable toiletries and go on an educational elephant conservation excursion. Additionally, guests can get involved in community outreach projects at Sangwan Wittaya School or marine conservation projects with the Pure Blue Foundation charity.
For more information visit https://www.akarynhotelgroup.com


text:
|Title||Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms|
|Category||Polymers & Textiles|
|Author||Robert B. Grossman|
|Number of Page||360|
|Last Read||2017-04-22 08:36:33|
|Tags||Writing Reaction Mechanisms In Organic Chemistry Pdf, Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms Sn1 Sn2 E1 E2, Reaction Mechanisms In Organic Synthesis, Reaction Mechanisms Organic Chemistry Pdf, Advanced Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms,|
Intended for students of intermediate Organic chemistry, this text shows how to write a Reasonable mechanism for an Organic chemical transformation. The discussion is organized by types of Mechanisms and the conditions under which the Reaction is exe...
The Art Of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms was added on 2014-10-23 has been download 8 which last down load at 2017-04-16 19:28:17
Writing Reaction Mechanisms in Organic Chemistry, Second Edition, is an invaluable guide to charting the movements of atoms and electrons in the Reactions of Organic molecules. Miller and Solomon illu...
Writing Reaction Mechanisms In Organic Chemistry was added on 2014-03-25 has been download 670 which last down load at 2017-05-04 20:04:55
This book, written explicitly for graduate and postgraduate students of chemistry, provides an extensive coverage of various Organic Reactions and rearrangements with emphasis on their application in ...
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This annual series on Organic Reaction Mechanisms research provides concise, comprehensive coverage of the year's literature as well as discussions of important results. The present volume either discusses or lists all published work dated from Decem...
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Reaction Mechanisms in Environmental Organic Chemistry classifies and organizes the Reactions of environmentally important Organic compounds using concepts and data drawn from traditional mechanistic ...
Reaction Mechanisms In Environmental Organic Chemistry was added on 2014-03-17 has been download 738 which last down load at 2017-01-05 09:28:23
This third edition retains the general level and scope of earlier editions, but has been substantially updated with over 900 new references covering the literature through 2005, and 140 more pages of ...
Reaction Mechanisms Of Inorganic And Organometallic Systems was added on 2014-03-19 has been download 52 which last down load at 2014-10-31 09:00:04
While continuous processes have found widespread application within chemical production, members of the research and development communities have historically favored the centuries old technique of iterative batch Reactions. With the exception of com...
Micro Reaction Technology In Organic Synthesis was added on 2014-10-21 has been download 10 which last down load at 2016-12-18 18:45:25
This book presents modern and synthetically useful Reactions to describe Reaction principles. It gives rules for the estimate of reactivities as well as tips and tricks for lab work. The two-color layout makes it easier to follow the mechanistic proc...
Organic Mechanisms was added on 2015-03-29 has been download 7 which last down load at 2017-05-06 09:14:20
The book provides illuminating insights into fundamental chemistry and also practical value for students who will go on to teach, research or be involved in other scientific roles.
Mechanisms In Organic Reactions was added on 2014-10-23 has been download 17 which last down load at 2017-04-15 19:05:38
Electrochemical Reactions make significant contributions to Organic synthesis either in the laboratory or on an industrial scale. These methods have the potential for developing more "green" chemical synthesis. Over recent years, modern investigation...
Electrochemical Reactions And Mechanisms In Organic Chemistry was added on 2015-04-19 has been download 4 which last down load at 2017-04-06 19:13:15

domain: chemistry


text:
Beer has flowed for nearly four years from Falling Sky’s brewing house off 13th Avenue in Eugene.
But a whole lot more will start flowing soon.
Falling Sky plans to add 10 new brewing and fermenting tanks to its Oak Alley brewing house next week, nearly doubling its brewing capacity.
The expansion comes as Falling Sky rushes to open its pub and pizzeria this spring in the University of Oregon’s Erb Memorial Union.
The added brewing capacity “is kind of predicated on getting ready for the new restaurant we’re doing in the UO’s EMU,” Falling Sky co-owner Rob Cohen said. “We don’t have enough beer at this point to provide for another location.”
Falling Sky’s current brewing tanks have the capacity to hold up to 4,225 gallons of beer. That’s equal to 33,800 pints, or about 136 barrels.
The new equipment would boost capacity to 7,295 gallons — or 63,400 pints, or about 235 barrels.
The equipment will go into the retail space at 30 E. 13th Ave. that used to house the brewery’s fermentation supply shop, selling small-scale equipment to home brewers. Falling Sky moved the supply shop around the corner to 1331 Willamette St. last month.
The new arrangement will give Falling Sky about 3,400 square feet of brewing space, up from 1,200.
A permit issued by the city of Eugene late last month values the expansion at $300,000.
The Oak Alley brew house, expanded brewing area and fermentation supply shop are all in the same 13th Avenue and Willamette Street building, which is owned by a Grants Pass resident.
Workers have cleared out the former supply shop space to make way for the new equipment: four horizontal lagering tanks, two open fermenting tanks, a double- and triple-size fermenting tank and two carbonating tanks.
Falling Sky also runs a brew pub and restaurant on Blair Boulevard, at the edge of Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood.
The planning followed the UO Board of Trustees’ February approval of a 25-year lease for Falling Sky to open in the remodeled EMU. The remodeling started in early 2014, and is expected to wrap up next fall.
Cohen said he hopes to open Falling Sky in the EMU in May.
“As soon as our proposal was accepted (by the UO), we started planning for the expansion,” he said.
The business is on track to brew about 1,200 barrels of beer in 2015. The expansion could boost production to around 2,200 barrels next year. That’s a far cry from the volume of larger brewers such as Ninkasi, which typically pump out more than 50,000 barrels annually. But while Ninkasi sells bottles and cans of its beer at grocery stores across the country, Falling Sky sticks to the Eugene market, besides limited stocks at pubs and beer halls across the state.
Cohen said their expansion doesn’t mark a new direction for Falling Sky, besides maybe leading to some new beer variations.
“This is a very small-scale expansion, we’re not looking to start bottling or anything,” Cohen said. “This is about providing us with more space.”
Follow Elon on Twitter @EGlucklich . Email firstname.lastname@example.org .

domain: economics


text:
The Pines' tour takes them to Lake City
Lake City welcomes atmospheric folk rockers The Pines, Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Oak Center General Store. The group is currently touring for their acclaimed release "Above the Prairie."
The Pines yield lush, layered sounds with vivid, imagistic lyrics and a filmmaker's eye for detail and framing.
Their songs are inspired by the Midwest. They explore the vast expanses around and above them, finding beauty in the isolated towns and farms that dot the landscape and the array of stars that fill the night sky. The core band features songwriters David Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey with keyboardist Alex Ramsey.
Surreal and sublime, they combine acoustic instruments against atmospheric keyboard backgrounds.
Rolling Stone's David Fricke has called the band "quietly gripping."
"Above the Prairie" is also a celebration of the community and history that gave birth to it. With the song "Here," the band is joined by Iowa friends and family, including Greg Brown, Iris DeMent, Pieta Brown and Ramsey patriarch Bo Ramsey, who co-produced the limited-play with The Pines. The album closes with "Time Dreams," a collaboration with the late American-Indian activist and poet John Trudell. More about The Pines at www.thepinesmusic.com.

domain: artistic


text:
'Bruce Lee In New Guinea,' Not Exactly As Advertised
The title of this quirky kung fu flick is virtually a textbook case of false advertising
For starters, the film doesn’t even star Bruce Lee. The leading man in this 1977 martial arts movie is actually Bruce ‘Li’ (born Ho Tsung-Tao) the actor thought by most kung fu flick aficionados to be the least horrible of the five or six professional look-a-likes that took to the screen after the tragic death in 1973 of the real Bruce Lee.
(Okay, okay. Bruce Li was really pretty good.)
Secondly, the film’s semi-exotic island locale doesn’t at all pass muster for Papua New Guinea. Anybody who knows even the teeniest tiniest smidgen about that place knows that five million Melanesians (i.e., “black islanders”) live there. But there are none to be found in this flick, and their conspicuous absence makes this film feel like something of a rip off. Well, that’s if you, as I did, decided to watch it with the expectation of seeing Bruce go toe-to-toe with kung fu fighting Papuan folk, i.e., Chinese actors in blackface and Afro wigs.
The irony of the previous statement isn’t lost on yours truly. Although I generally find actors in blackface to be racially offensive, it was — to my surprise — somehow even more offensive that nobody in Bruce Lee in New Guinea was wearing any. I mean…how else could a movie director semi-convincingly convey the film’s alleged “primitive and ancient” inhabitants of Snake Worship Island, a fictional isle situated off the east coast of Papua New Guinea?
Well, if you’re the, er…auteur responsible for the masterpiece that is Bruce Lee in New Guinea, you don’t even try. Instead, you cast a bunch of regular-looking Chinese guy’s (Bolo Yeung from Enter the Dragon among them), give ’em a choice of either red or blue hot pants, decorative headbands, leather muscleman wristbands, Greek-style lace-up sandals, and voilà! A perplexing-looking tribe of ‘high yellow’ New Guineans dressed up like gay-ass 1970s disco dancers.
If there’s room in your head for that senses-shattering visual, then you’re probably all set to watch and possibly even enjoy this brain-dead Bruceploitation film. I certainly did.
As the story opens, Wan Li — an archeologist and badass mofo — arranges with his associate Chuen Sing (Larry Lee Gam-Kwan) to go on a two-man expedition to Snake Worship Island. Both men want to study the island’s legendary Snake Tribe, particularly the Devil Sect. This infamous splinter group is apparently known to practice snake style martial arts, black magic, and even human sacrifice!
Shortly after their arrival on the island, where they are led all around by two pea-brained guides, Li and Sing chance upon a doomed sacrificial virgin as she attempts to flee the Devil Sect. The men make a vain attempt to rescue the distressed damsel but she soon dies from a dose of poison administered by the business end of a flying dagger.
Apparently death befalls all who seek to defy the Devil Sect and the will of its leader, the Great Wizard. This includes Chang Pow, an acquaintance of Cheun Sing who’s also on the island. He came to steal the tribe’s famed Snake Pearl, but has his life taken instead when he tangles with the Wiz.
Discovered by Li moments after a foolhardy fight, with his last dying breaths he tells Li the secret techniques used by the evil overlord in the hope that the tip will help Li to avoid falling for them too. But Li does more than fall, he falls off the friggin’ map.
Days go by and Cheun Sing has no idea of what happened to his Bruce Lee look-a-like archeologist pal. Knowing that Wan Li rushed off to confront the Great Wizard alone, the worst is feared.
After a few more days on the island with no trace of Li, Chen goes back home to give Li’s parents the bad news. But that bad news is promptly followed by a miracle, in the form of a phone call from Papua: Li has been found! He is eventually returned safe and sound to his family in Hong Kong, but without a ready explanation for his absence.
What happened when Wan Li went missing is first hinted at through whiffs of late night cigarette smoke in his bedroom: visions of a beautiful woman with long curly hair and a promise to return to her arms. But nothing more.
The next day Li receives a visit from a cute but really annoying cousin that has the absolute hots for him — an okay thing in China, apparently. But whenever she tries to get close to her blood-related-heartthrob, Wan Li appears to morph into a giant serpent.
Justifiably horrified by what she’s seeing, Wan Li’s cousin faints. Cheun Sing is there to witness her bizarre reaction and Li knows its finally time to share the events of his lost time on the island. This is done in flashback, that popular storytelling device of 1970s cinema.
The deathbed survival tips provided by Chang Pow weren’t helpful, and Li nearly gets himself murdered to death after running off to confront the Great Wizard (Sing Chan). During the fight he was hit with the poisoned ring that Pow tried to warn him about and the prognosis is no bueno (translation: not good). The Great Wizard tells Li, through a nasty snarl, that he has about an hour to live, and then leaves him to die in the jungle.
Minutes later, the languishing man is found by two handmaidens of Princess Ungawa, played by the singularly named actress Dana. Ungawa happens to be the rightful ruler of the Snake Tribe. After the death of her father, the Great Chief, the Great Wizard took control of the Snake Tribe and the princess has been powerless to reclaim her birthright.
Lucky for Lee, though, Ungawa does have the power to save his life when he’s brought to her hut.
The handmaidens tell the princess that if Lee is to survive the poison coursing through his system his body has to be kept warm. But —both of them being maidens— they are clueless as to how to accomplish this. The princess tells them to leave and begins taking off her clothes.
Princess Ungawa is well versed in the ancient art of keepin' a hot guy — er, cold guy’s body warm.
A few very unfortunate edits later (the free-to-watch ‘Wu Tang Clan Collection’ version posted to YouTube has the juicy R-rated part edited out), Wan Li and the princess are seen walking along a rocky island path like cooing lovebirds. She asks Wan Li if he feels any better.
Now, the fact that he's actually walking should make it obvious, seeing as how he had to be carried to her hut the day before. But you know how some women are: in constant need of reassurance. This might even apply to the curly-haired princess built like a 5-foot Barbie doll and wearing a slinky leopard skin dress with matching knee-high boots!
Anywho, as the couple strolls along they are seen by Sun Ba, the son of the Great Wizard. Prior to Lee’s arrival, Sun Ba had asked the princess if she’d take his hand in marriage and she said she’d think about it. She obviously wasn’t thinking about it anymore, though, so he runs to tell his daddy and the news makes daddy mucho furiouso (translation: very angry).
The Great Wizard wants Ungawa to marry Sun Ba so that he can consolidate his fraudulently gained power on the island. They soon head out with about twenty of their lackeys to put an end to the suave and debonair Wan Li.
Feeling frisky from his evening with the princess, Wan Li is all ready to rumble when the hunting party arrives. But the Great Wizard is much too powerful and beats Li down all by himself. Just as the Great Wizard is about to deliver the killing blow, the princess tells him that she’ll marry his bitch-ass, crybaby snitch of a son if Li’s life is spared. The wizard accepts her offer, but only on the condition that Li leaves the island.
The lovers both agree, but Li secretly vows to the princess to return. To help ensure that Wan Li does return, Ungawa offers him an elixir spiked with a black magic Love Potion Number 9. It’s a concoction that has the mystical power to deter any woman from getting too close to Wan Li — which explains those terrifying visions that his lusty cousin had.
Once the events of his lost days on Snake Island are revealed, Li knows that it’s time to honor his vow to Ungawa and he begins practicing his kung fu. With the help of Cheun Sing, he devises a fight strategy to combat the sneaky Snake Style kung fu of the Great Wizard.
Meanwhile, back on Snake island the evil overlord is overseeing wedding preparations when it is learned that Ungawa got knocked up with Wan Li’s unborn seed. Sun Ba reminds her that tribal law would forbid her from ruling the Snake Tribe if she bears a child out of wedlock, so she renounces the throne and leaves so that she can be what she desires most: Wan Li’s baby mama.
Sun Ba, however, still wants to marry the very pregnant Ungawa. So in an attempt to force the pregnant princess to marry his son, the Great Wizard puts a life-threatening curse on the soon-to-be-born child. If she doesn’t marry Sun Ba, sometime after his birth, her baby will die.
After delivering the kid, the princess is sitting in her hut fretting over having to soon become Sun Ba’s wifey. That’s when Wan Li returns to her arms and meets his newborn shorty. After learning about the curse on his kid, Li sets off to retrieve the famed Snake Pearl from the lair of the wizard, which is the only thing that can save the infant from the bad juju.
In the film’s climatic finale, we’re treated to the brief return of Ungawa’s guardian gorilla (did I somehow neglect to mention that there’s a #@$%ing gorilla in this movie?), a semi-thrilling fight on the edge of a pit filled with hundreds of snakes, and someone gettin’ their eyes gouged out their sockets, which is always fun to see (yes, pun intended) in a kung fu movie.
With its semi-exotic locale, simple good-versus-evil plot, tight martial arts choreography, beautiful babes, and…a guy in a gorilla suit, this trippy but entertaining flick has just about everything one could expect to see in a motion picture called Bruce Lee in New Guinea. Well, except anyone whose looks would suggest people who are, you know, native to New Guinea.
Rating: Three flying daggers

domain: entertainment


American Muslims have assembled at Iran’s interests section in Washington to commemorate the anniversary of the passing of the late leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini.
The mourners honored the life and legacy of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Press TV correspondent reported.â€œImam Khomeini â€¦ was not tainted by any Western ideological orientations or Western forms of governance,â€ Afeef Khan from the Contemporary Islamic Thought told Press TV.
Among the issues discussed at the gathering was the impact that Imam Khomeini had on world affairs and the global shift in power politics in favor of Muslims.
â€œHe showed that one person who motivates a society that may not necessarily have the military prowess [like that of] its adversaries, that, one person â€¦ can stand up to the entire world,â€ said Afeef Khan.
â€œHe made the mighty, great United States seem like the paper tiger,â€ said an American Muslim attending the ceremony.
â€œImam Khomeini has taught me as, like, a younger Muslim, how to stand up for what I believe in,â€ said another attendee.
According to the participants in the remembrance event, Imam Khomeini’s message of Muslim unity remains strong and resonates with the global Muslim community.
â€œNot only did he start, you know, the Islamic Revolution in Iran, but it was more importantly an Islamic revolution. â€¦ All Muslims now â€¦ celebrate the revolution of Iran just because of its more of an Islamic uprising,â€ said an American Muslim attending the event.
Similar ceremonies were also held in other parts of the world to honor Imam Khomeini’s demise anniversary.


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Artificial Intelligence in SurgeryUCD Medical Society
SurgSoc's next online event is this Thursday, and it's sure to be a fascinating one! We are thrilled to host "Artificial Intelligence for Tissue Characterisation in Surgery: Now & How" with Prof Ronan Cahill and Dr Pol McAonghusa.
All surgery is about decision-making, in series and often within moments. The surgeon, at the centre of a technology-rich environment including robotic instrumentation, has previously only had expertise and experience for guidance. AI can allow networked decision-support to aid interpretation of tissue appearances opening a new phase of surgery for the 21st century.


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The second edition of the Criminal Appeals Handbook is due for publication by Bloomsbury Professional Law next month. Co-written by our head of Criminal Appeals, Greg Stewart, this is a excellent introduction and overview of criminal appeals. In anticipation of the publication co-author Joel Bennathan QC of Doughty Street Chambers discusses criminal appeals here:
What are the first three things a lawyer should be thinking about when a criminal case has been lost?
What are the main issues to be thinking through when working on a criminal appeals case?
How do you start out in, or master, criminal appeals?

domain: law


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17 Avenue Du General De Gaulle, Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France
|Cheapest deals||Nightly base price|
|To Downtown||0.7 km|
|Nearest airport||Limoges Bellegarde|
|Distance to airport||7.4 km|
|Check-in time||2:00 PM|
|Check-out time||11:00 AM|
|Policy||Pets allowed on request. Charges may apply.|
|Payment & Cancellation||Policies vary by room type and provider.|
|Front desk number||+33 5 55 77 67 77|
In a retro-style hotel, Mercure Limoges Centre offers large bedrooms, some with balconies overlooking Place de la Republique or the city rooftops. Five meeting rooms, totaling 4,000 sq. ft; can accommodate your meetings and events. Enjoy regional produce at breakfast and meet us at the bar for a drink.
This former private residence of the 1930's is ideally situated between the two pedestrian historical areas in the town centre. The Best Western Plus® Richelieu is in the elegant area of the town hall, nearby the multimedia library, various administrative and university head offices and the faculty of law. We propose a business centre with free Wi-Fi Internet access, a bar in the lobby and 24-hour room service, as well as an onsite garage parking (only available upon request). Another private garage parking is situated close to the hotel (five minutes walking distance). Limoges is the capital of the arts of fire, combining tradition and ultra modern technologies, is also a historical town offering a wide variety of historical sites. The Adrien Dubouche National Museum of porcelain, the Eveche enamel museum, the Craftsmanship museum, the porcelain manufacturers and various gardens are not to be missed. Enjoy your stay.
Within a 20-minute stroll from Limoges-Benedictins Railway Station, Hotel Mercure Royal Limousin offers guests a convenient base when in Limoges. The various facilities this modern hotel offers include a bowling alley, free Wi-Fi and an express check-in and check-out feature.
This comfortable hotel in Limoges offers complimentary wireless internet, as well as a 24-hour reception and a swimming pool. It is surrounded by a variety of clubs and bars and is minutes on foot from Limoges-Benedictins Railway Station.
Hotel The Originals Saint-Martial is a comfortable base when in Limoges and is close to everything the area has to offer. It also offers a 24-hour reception, meeting rooms and luggage storage.
Ideally located in Limoges, the hotel offers charming accommodation within a short drive of University of Limoges. It is conveniently positioned for guests wanting to sightsee in the area.
Located in Limoges, the hotel is an easy drive from Limoges Cathedral and Chateau de Chalucet. It also offers a terrace, meeting rooms and a concierge.
Featuring free wireless internet access in all areas, P'tit Dej Hotel Limoges Nord is situated in Limoges and offers comfortable accommodation. It also provides a 24-hour reception.
B&B Hotel Limoges 2 is situated in Limoges and provides guests with free Wi-Fi. It also provides an express check-in and check-out feature, a vending machine and a 24-hour reception.
Ibis Budget Limoges Nord provides a comfortable setting while in Limoges. Those staying at the property can also make use of free wireless internet.


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Facebook’s Beat Saber VR game adds Linkin Park music pack
Virtual reality music game Beat Saber, now owned by Facebook, is continuing to explore premium artist packs of levels and tracks. The latest artist partner for the game is Linkin Park, with a new pack of 11 songs (and...
August 18, 2020
How to successfully livestream a music event
*Learn more about Music and Livestreaming: reaching fans AND making money Another day, another livestream. Well, probably another thousand of them. A year ago, livestreams were defined by their rarity, now they...
August 13, 2020
British band Miro Shot set off on a tour of virtual worlds
British group Miro Shot are certainly a product of the modern age: their most recent album is called ‘Content’ and they describe themselves as an ‘AR/VR band/collective’ that includes musicians,...
June 17, 2020
Virtual reality concerts startup Wave raises $30m funding
It’s been a difficult couple of years for many virtual reality startups, with VR headset sales slower than expected, and in some cases funding drying up as investors lost their appetite for immersive content. There...
June 11, 2020
Tomorrowland goes virtual with Around The World festival
Yesterday, we covered the news that the team behind Shangri-La at Glastonbury are running Lost Horizon, a ticketed VR event, next month. We can add Belgian dance festival Tomorrowland’s Around The World event to this...
June 10, 2020
Sandbox VR on lockdown impact: ‘100% of the revenue is gone’
Last October, we wrote about a startup called Sandbox VR, which had raised a funding round from investors including Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Will Smith. Its focus was on ‘location-based virtual reality’...
June 9, 2020
Team behind Glastonbury’s Shangri-La launches virtual festival
If you’ve ever lost yourself in the Glastonbury Festival’s Shangri-La zone, you’ll understand why for many people this year, the festival’s cancellation is carrying an extra tinge of sadness. However,...
June 9, 2020
Prospa held a livestreamed rave in a 3D virtual warehouse
Last week, we wrote about a livestreamed set by Dutch DJs W&W, for which they had a virtual stadium full of dancing fans created. Now British duo Prospa have put a different kind of virtual environment through its paces:...
June 1, 2020
W&W’s virtual concert was watched by more than 1m fans
Forget kitchen decks or wheels of steel in the living room. Dutch DJ duo W&W broadcast a livestream on Saturday (23 May) from a purpose-built virtual world – an animated stadium backdrop. The pair teamed up with Dutch...
May 26, 2020
Facebook’s Oculus Quest VR headset has sold $100m of content
Virtual reality has yet to become a wildfire success, but within the sector, Facebook’s Oculus Quest headset has been a bright spot. Now the company has offered some stats to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its...
May 19, 2020
Artists and tech firms explore livestream possibilities
We’re all very well aware now of the ease with which artists can sit in their homes, performing for and chatting to fans via Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch or various other livestreaming platforms. They can raise...
May 15, 2020


By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, Oct. 27, GNA-Madam Philomins Woolley, the Acting Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of Ghana, says the nursing and midwifery professional training machinery is at a crossroads with increasing student population, compromised quality institutions and programmes.
She said the student-lecturer interaction was important in determining the quality of the teaching and learning process and indicated that it was appropriate and important to monitor the process through quality assurance such as accreditation, support and supervision.
“We are at a crossroads in the training of nurses and midwives in Ghana because the Nursing and Midwifery Training institutions are busting at themselves with an increasing student population.
“The increase in student population has not seen a commiserate increase in infrastructure and human resources,” Madam Woolley said at an ongoing Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Conference of Heads of Health Training Institutions (COHHETI) in Bolgatanga.
Speaking on the theme: “Quality assurance and accreditation in the training of healthcare professionals: The anchor for quality education,” the Acting Registrar said training institutions overadmitted students to the extent that some did not have spaces to sit.
“I know that in some of the schools, a whole class says they are having online education in nursing. And I heard someone say that we are praying that one day, the NMC will understand that we are in the 20th Century, so we should do online nursing.
“We the stakeholders, therefore, cannot assure the public we serve, of the quality of some of our training institutions and programmes,” Madam Woolley said.
She said students on clinical attachment at various hospitals were more than the patients they attended to, “When you go to some of the hospitals, the trainee nurses and midwives are even more than the patients.”
The Acting Registrar said quality assurance in education and the accreditation of educational programmes required strict adherence to educational programme accreditation requirements and standards, adding that nursing and midwifery training could not be exceptional.
“Commencing nursing and midwifery training programmes without the due professional accreditation from the regulatory body which is statutorily mandated to undertake the accreditation is tantamount not only to being an enemy to the core tenets of quality assurance in nursing and midwifery education but also an enemy to the State,” she said.
Madam Woolley added that quality in nursing and midwifery education was a multi-faceted phenomenon that called for the joint efforts of all key stakeholders, insisting that “We need the quality.”
Professor Ahmed Abdullai Jinapor, the Acting Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), said in a world where the well-being of individuals depended on the competence and skills of healthcare professionals, who ensured the highest standards of education and training was not just a matter of choice but a moral imperative.
“The quality of healthcare education is the cornerstone upon which the foundation of any nation’s healthcare system rests. It doesn’t only affect the lives of individuals, but also determines the overall health and well-being of a society.
“In developing countries such as ours, where healthcare resources are often limited, the need for high-quality training of healthcare professionals is even more critical since it solves the human resource challenge of our healthcare system,” he said.
The Acting GTEC Director-General said the healthcare sector was a noble and vital one, as it concerned the health and well-being of individuals and communities.
“It is imperative that those who aspire to become healthcare professionals receive education of the highest quality to ensure that they are prepared to meet the challenges and complexities of modern healthcare,” he said.


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Theos is a Christian think tank which believes you can’t understand the modern world without understanding religion. We seek to inform the debate about the place of religion in society, challenging ill-informed thinking through our research, events and media comment.
Ben Ryan discusses why religion will be a critical identity marker in the 21st century. Read the article here
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What's wrong with the present "science and religion" debate? Tom McLeish will challenge popular assumptions at the Theos office
Our newest report argues that there's little evidence that religious charities proselytize as part of their community action.
Politicians express concerns about article that falsely claimed one in five British Muslims had sympathy with Isis recruits - Guardian

domain: sociology


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President William Ruto’s first-ever Cabinet meeting passed a resolution that gave blessings to an importation deal that has seen private firms import oil tax-free, then sell the commodity to a government agency at a higher price, an NTV investigation has revealed.
Documents in our possession show how companies associated with insiders of Dr Ruto were single-sourced to procure oil for the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) in a series of tricks where Kenyans stand to lose at least Sh6 billion.
Taxpayers, analysis shows, could lose another Sh10 billion in unlawful tax exemptions related to oil imports. The simple anatomy of the scheme is: A need is created to import oil tax-free. Then somehow, private firms get to import the oil, rather than have a government agency do that.
Those firms then sell the imports to the government agency. The agency then sells that oil through other private firms. Eventually, that imported oil is sold for more than the price of locally manufactured ones. Throughout these movements, massive wastage of cash happens.
Now, dozens of documents in our possession can now confirm that both the National Treasury and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) applied the wrong provisions of the law to approve the imports.
We have obtained a circular from Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u to the KRA that approved the duty-free importation. It was copied to Mr Kuria and Mr Linturi.
That, and an internal memo by KRA, are misleading by citing section 114 (2) of the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, and paragraph 20 (b) of the fifth schedule of the Act for the approvals.
The Treasury circular states in part: “In view of the above, the Cabinet Secretary, the National Treasury and Economic Planning on January 20, 2023, approved the duty-free importation of the above-mentioned products by KNTC in line with paragraph 20 of part (b) of the fifth schedule of the East Afri-can Community Customs Management Act.”
On the other hand, the KRA memo states: “The approval is in accordance with the provisions of sec 114(2) of East African Customs Management Act, 2004 and the provisions of paragraph 20 of part of the fifth schedule to the act.”
Departure from law
The leaked document is a departure from the law it purports to follow. Section 114 (2) of the East African Community Customs Management Act states: “Duty shall not be charged on the goods listed in part (b) of the fifth schedule to this Act.”
The mentioned part of the fifth schedule, however, relates to emergencies. It is specific to “relief goods imported for emergency use in specific areas where natural disaster/calamity has occurred in a partner state, goods for emergency relief purposes of such quantities and within a specified period imported by the government or its approved agent or a non-governmental organisation or a relief agency”.
At least with that, we see that there is no provision in the law that empowers the Treasury Cabinet Secretary to waive duty under the Act except for emergency relief goods.
And even then, it must be with the express approval of the East African Council of Ministers and published in the EAC gazette notice. Any such tax waiver must be expressly approved by Parliament.
NTV has also established that KRA wrongly used a notice in the Kenya Gazette of November 21, 2022, to give a nod to its officials to clear the imported oil.
But it is a misleading reference, given the fact that the gazette notice used was issued by the President under Order Number 2 of 2022 to form the National Steering Committee on Drought Response.
It is not clear why KRA, despite having this information, used the wrong gazette notice.
Prof Ndung’u had an answer when we asked about this. “We are complaining about the cost of living, aren’t we? So, that is one avenue of saying that in the short term, let us import duty-free so that we lower the cost, we bring in the supplies in the market while we wait for our season to come through,” he said.
Among the companies awarded the local purchase order were Shehena Trading Commodity Limited, Purma Holdings Limited, Multi Commerce FZC, and Charma Holdings Limited.
In the first consignment that arrived in Mombasa in early April 2023, the importers’ landed cost for a 20-litre jerrycan of cooking oil was $20 (Sh2,740). KNTC bought from the importers CIF Mombasa at a price of $26 (Sh3,618), excluding VAT.
In simple terms, the importers will pocket $6 per jerrycan of oil brought into the country. At the end of it all, they will earn a massive $41,500,000 (Sh5,651,250,000) from the import of the 125,000 metric tonnes.
Documents in our possession show that at the first delivery of 300 containers at the Mombasa port, KNTC paid 16 per cent VAT but not custom duty and other levies.
The cost per jerrycan to the KNTC, when VAT is included, amounts to Sh4,197. This is before adding other port charges.
If KNTC were to sell these products to the distributors, wholesalers and retailers as mandated, they would have to sell it to them at 4,197 shillings plus 16 per cent VAT, which amounts to Sh4,869.
It is worth noting that a 20-litre jerrycan of locally manufactured brands that are not exempted from tax retails at Sh4,100 in Nairobi.
Nation can confirm that two of the key distributors which were retained by the government to distribute the products in their online platforms – Twiga Foods and Market Force – listed Oki oil which was imported from Malaysia at Sh4,099, inclusive of VAT, last week. This is well below the cost to KNTC.
Which begs the question: At what price did Twiga and Market Force buy the product from KNTC?
Twiga’s net price without VAT will be Sh3,533, even without considering their margin. If KNTC sold the product to Twiga at Sh3, 533, and its cost is Sh4,869, the loss per jerrycan to the government through KNTC is Sh1,336 per jerrycan. If KNTC imports the entire 125,000 metric tonnes, taxpayers will incur a loss of over Sh9 billion. Both Twiga Foods and Market Force, two leading online distributors with a large retail network, pulled the product from their sites last week shortly after they started selling the product.
The Kenya Revenue Authority memo states: “The remissions and exemptions office shall facilitate the issuance of an exemption code to exempt 100 per cent import duty. The other taxes, fees, and levies shall be payable as per the applicable laws.”
However, the customs entry documents in our possession reveal that KNTC did not pay taxes that include: Customs duty (35 per cent), import declaration fees (3.5 per cent), railway development levy (2 per cent), and the Agricultural Food Authority levy (20 per cent). This amounts to 42.5 per cent in taxes.
The figures show that the whole import plan would generate nearly $76 million (Sh10 billion) waiver in taxes that the government granted to KNTC.
Shehena Trading Commodity Limited is 100 per cent owned by Invest Africa (FZCO), a company registered in a Dubai-free zone. It will supply Sh1.33 billion worth of oil. The company is said to be closely associated with a top cabinet secretary.
Purma Holdings Limited is owned by the chairperson of the board of the Communications Authority of Kenya, Mary Wambui.
In 2021, Ms Wambui and her daughter Purity Mungai were in long-running battles with the government over a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion case. They fought the case in court, through their lawyer Syslvanus Osoro, now the Majority Chief Whip in the National Assembly.
Multi Commerce FZC, a company registered in a Dubai free zone, won an LPO for a Sh8.12 billion supply. The company is reportedly owned by a prominent politically-connected businessman, said to be associated with a major new mall in Nairobi’s Eastleigh.
Charma Holdings Limited will supply Sh2 billion worth of oil.
For now, taxpayers will lose over Sh9 billion through the KNTC, its intention to provide cheaper commodities including cooking oil remaining a pipe dream.


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The UK medicines watchdog has issued guidance on fluoroquinolone antibiotics following some reports of ‘potentially irreversible’ side effects affecting multiple systems, organ classes and senses.
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) cautioned healthcare professionals on 21 March against prescribing the drug and to advise patients to stop taking it if they experienced side effects including muscle pain and peripheral neuropathy.
This is part of new restricted indications following an EU-wide safety review of the drug following ‘relatively few’ reports of serious side effects usually affecting the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. It is likely that the number of those adversely affected by the drug has been under-reported, the MHRA said.
Taking fluoroquinolone – which is prescribed for serious, life-threatening bacterial infections – by mouth, injections or inhalation can ‘very rarely’ cause these side effects for up to months or years, according to the MHRA.
It should not be prescribed for mild to moderate infections unless other antibiotics are considered inappropriate.
Some of the serious side effects reported include tendon rupture, depression, fatigue, memory impairment and arthralgia.