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Fox News Hosts Are Horrified to Learn Their Own Polls Show People Want to Tax the Rich
The idea of raising taxes on anyone, even the obscenely wealthy who can most afford it, has been politically taboo for years, thanks to the dominance of junk ideas like "trickle-down economics." But apparently, outside of the world of pundits, politicians, and the super-rich, it's not that appalling a notion. Ever since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reminded people that the top tax bracket in this country used to be as high as 70 percent for decades—a period during which there was still economic growth and rich people—more and more polls are showing that Americans across the political spectrum are in favor of returning to that norm.
It turns out that even Fox News can't find a way to hijack those numbers. The network's own polls, conducted at the end of January, found a staggering 70 percent of respondents supported raising taxes on annual income over $10 million. In fact, 65 percent were down for raising taxes on those making over $1 million per year.
On Tuesday, a pair of baffled anchors referred to this trend as a movement "against capitalism." It is a dubious assertion, because by that definition the U.S. has only been a capitalist country since the 1980s, when Reagan knocked the top tax rate even lower and conservatives convinced enough legislators that "a rising tide lifts all boats" was a substitute for economic policy. But in their efforts to find an explanation for why so many people are turned off by unfettered, unregulated, and unaccountable capitalism, they turn to Charles Payne of Fox News Business. His explanation: Schools have brainwashed kids with lessons about "fairness."
In Payne's view, these deluded kids who were taught that fairness was important are now all grown up and voting. The counterargument—that the generation that grew up in the worst economic recession in decades, that is saddled with crippling student debt on a previously unheard-of scale, and that faces dramatically less economic opportunity than their parents would have a very natural and understandable aversion to policies that let the already rich hoard even more money—seems not to have occurred to him.
Blaming the abstract concept of "fairness" may seem like a reach, but it's not unprecedented in right-wing media. In last year's Mr. Rogers documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Fox News makes an unexpected cameo in a segment about conservative backlash to Rogers' show, when anchors complained that Rogers' recurring theme that "everyone is special" was inconsistent with American ideals that hold that people have to earn their value. If Fox News sees this kind of thinking—that "fairness" corrupts children's brains and kids are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay them—as the happy byproduct of capitalism, maybe they should be less surprised that young people are over it.

domain: finance


The application which you "install" to use the VPN service is local code. If that code is hostile, then you have lost: as soon as you run malicious code on your own machine, that malicious code can more or less hijack your whole machine.
Theoretically, if you run the code as a non-privileged user, and your operating system ensures perfect isolation against non-privileged local users, then you might recover from running malicious code without reformatting your complete hard drive. However, this is not a reasonable foundation, because no practical OS succeeded at enforcing such an isolation. All OS have local privilege escalation holes. Moreover, a VPN must hook itself in the OS network subsystem, which will require some non-trivial privileges, so the point is moot.
Assuming that the TunnelBear's application is not malicious, then the VPN, being a VPN, protects data only in transit, between your machine and the VPN exit point, on TunnelBear's servers. These servers, by construction, see all your data unencrypted. A VPN (when done properly) is like an armoured steel tube between your machine and the exit point; it does nothing whatsoever for traffic beyond that exit point.
If you want to protect your data against inspection by the VPN maintainers, then you must use end-to-end security with whatever machine you are trying to contact, which basically means SSL (i.e. HTTPS). This begs the question of why you would want a VPN in the first place, of course.


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Results of the paddle:
Departed Catalina ismuths/Bird Rock at 6:11 AM and arrived into LA Light-Long Beach harbor.
Time: 8 hours 30 minutes and 37 seconds.
Distance: 23.25 miles
I would like to give out a VERY special thank you to Wes and Mark - the crew of the White Light
“Paddle for Hope” is an effort by San Diego resident Chris Hernandez to bring attention to homelessness that encounters our city streets as well as neighborhoods across the nation. Chris will be paddling from Catalina to the mainland (Long Beach area / approximately 25 miles) with ONLY ONE ARM to signify the struggle of the homeless. He is doing this to light the plight, to magnify the ignored, and to bring hope to the hopeless. Men, women, and children can all be found on the streets on any given night, without adequate shelter, food, or clothing. There are only so many shelters and so many beds to house the homeless, but bringing attention to this problem as Chris wishes to do with the “Paddle for Hope” can help ensure a greater response to fix this problem now and into the future.
Chris and His Cause
On June 20, 2007, Chris will paddle from Catalina to the mainland with only one arm to call attention to homelessness in San Diego and ultimately, around the nation. Chris’ passion comes from years of seeing homeless men, women, and children living on the streets in downtown San Diego and other neighborhoods. Click here to learn more about Chris and “Paddle for Hope” or visit our donation page for information on how you can help.
Homeless in San Diego
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, it is estimated that 754,000 people nationwide live in emergency shelter, transitional housing, or on the streets on any given night. In California, the homeless population contains an estimated 188,300 people, including more than 24,000 veterans and more than 17,700 children under the age of 18. And, in the San Diego City limits alone, there is an estimated 4,200 people on the streets.
The Paddle Route
The “Paddle for Hope” on June 20, 2007 takes place over 25 miles from Catalina to the mainland. Chris will be paddling in a kayak with only one arm to signify the plight of the homeless and to confirm this cause.

domain: geography


By EVAN MCMURRY, ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Facebook became the latest social media platform to crack down on the fringe far-right conspiracy group known as QAnon on Wednesday afternoon."We’ve removed over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads... Read More.
By BEATRICE PETERSON, AVERI HARPER, JOHN VERHOVEK, and MOLLY NAGLE(WASHINGTON) -- After weeks of phone calls and Zoom meetings, former vice president Joe Biden's campaign released its much-anticipated results from the Biden-Bernie Sanders Unity Task Forces on Wednesday.The... Read More.
BY LUKE BARR and CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC NEWS(NEW YORK) -- Facebook announced the removal of 220 accounts, 28 pages and 106 groups that are associated with the little-known but emerging movement called "boogaloo."The company also said they removed... Read More.
On January 25 of 2018, Mayor Franklin issued a directive on community engagement, which outlined initiatives to improve access to City government and increase community involvement, among other items. On January 30th of this year, the City Council approved acquisition of an open data platform, and... Read More.


California lawmakers unveiled a plan Monday to create the country's first college aid program that would not only cover the cost of tuition for low-income students but also the living expenses for those with student loans attending public colleges and universities.
Roughly 55 percent of all college students in California reportedly graduated with debt averaging $21,382 from the 2014-2015 school year.
The new student aid program would make the California Student Aid Commission the most generous in the country by covering living expenses like books and transportation, which is estimated to account for 60 percent of the cost of attending University of California system schools, the Los Angeles Times reported. Other “free college” programs in Oregon and Tennessee were covering the full cost of tuition for low-income students but not living expenses.
More than 60 percent of Cal State students had their full tuition covered by the California Student Aid Commission, compared to roughly half of University of California and community college students.
California lawmakers said the new aid program, which was estimated to cost about $1.6 billion annually, will be given to students in the form of a scholarship. The new college aid program would cover the living expenses for University of California and Cal State students, but for not those attending community colleges.
Under the plan, the state would increase the number of grants given to community college students, covering the first year of tuition for those attending them full-time.
Despite receiving the scholarships, students’ parents who have an annual income of more than $60,000 would be expected to make a minor monetary contribution towards the student's tuition. The scholarship would cover the rest of the cost of college, which is estimated to be $21,000 at Cal State schools and $33,000 at University of California schools when living expenses are included.
“Lower-income students … are able to many times, through our great programs in California, get help to pay for tuition. But they’re still graduating with a tremendous amount of debt,” The assembly bill's sponsor, Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty told the LA Times. “The cost of living, the books, the transportation — that’s [what] we really need to tackle.”
Because students' living expenses were not completely covered by California's current financial aid program, the average low-income student receiving financial aid still graduated with an estimated average of $20,000 in debt in 2014, lower than the national average for students of all income levels, which was $28,950.


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As we move into the technology age we are becoming more and more attached to our devices and would like to bring them more places. Soultra has helped with this want and has announced plans for their solar powered Soultra XL sound system.
Being an ultra-rugged and splashproof speaker system, the Soultra XL is ready to handle the elements while you enjoy your music outdoors. The device is powered by a lithium ion battery which is charged by a 72 square inch enhanced monocrystal solar panel.
Sporting 8 speaker drivers (2x tweeters, 2x woofers, and 4x passive radiators) the system was surprising loud all while being incredibly clear. Performance wise we were told that the system will take 5 hours to fully charge in the sun, which would yield 4 hours of playback.
Last year’s Soultra is available now for $200 and is a more compact solution with Aspen Green and Crimson Graphite colors coming soon. The Soultra XL will be shipping the second quarter of this year for an estimated retail of $300.

domain: news


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Lost Transmissions streaming
Royal Road Entertainment, Underlying Tension, Pulse Films
|105 min||Drama||0 USD|
Download link for "Lost Transmissions" :
When an acclaimed music producer goes off his medication for schizophrenia, his friends chase him though the LA music scene to help commit him to a psychiatric hospital, revealing the troubling inadequacies of the mental health care system.

domain: entertainment


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You don’t have to have a masters in Interior Style or tons of funds to obtain a fabulous property interior. I feel pergolas are underutilized for architecture – yes, I did not now the origin – it tends to make sense. Fabrics are a huge element of the design story – Kuba, Adinkra, Kente and Adire are admired for their beauty, but also give a glimpse into tribal art and history. I like your style especially window glass of this Modern Home II. Could you please post the floor strategy of your design and style to get an idea when I create my own house quickly.
We’ll guide you by means of each step of the property design method from the initial concept to the final construct, we’ll make positive your property is specifically as you pictured it (and much more). The fundamental design could be a medallion-like, mirror image with two repeats (as shown here), or it may possibly be the round or star-shaped style with eight or sixteen repeats. Here are parties and blog hops this web page is linked to. Click on any of them to discover hundreds far more concepts, recipes, crafts, and a lot a lot more!
From inner-city and coastal apartments to contemporary and conventional residences you are going to uncover a wealth of inspiration by taking the lead from these that have transformed their space with a recent construct or renovation. Cari Buziak’s Creating Celtic Knotwork – the Simple Knot is a straightforward … READ MORE

domain: artistic


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Judy Wajcman, April 8, 2021
In our 7th edition of Rebalance Talks, we had the pleasure of speaking with Judy Wajcman. Sociologist and expert in the field of science and technology, she spoke about cultural expectations of speed, inherent biases embedded in technology and technological innovation, and the depth of inequality exposed by the pandemic. She addressed questions about the connection between speed and the making of a succinct narrative of our lives, and the possibility of technological solutions for social and environmental problems.
Judy Wajcman began the talk by stating that one of the greatest effects the pandemic has had is to further expose the grave inequality that exists in the world and expressed that temporal sovereignty should be a human right. She explained how wealthy New Yorkers and Londoners left their respective cities to wait out the pandemic in their summer homes in the countryside. A luxury clearly unique to those with a summer home. She also criticized the general presumption that “we all have more time to make bread!” asserting that this only applies to a portion of the population. Many others, such as parents with young children in need of proper homeschooling, have experienced a loss of time or at least a loss in control over their time. She also claimed that people working in the GIG economy such as Uber, Glovo, and Amazon, have actually experienced an intensification of work. For Wajcman, these two examples don’t allow for temporal sovereignty and this is wrong, as Wajcman believes that having control over one’s time is a human right. She also insisted that in a digital economy, high-speed broadband and access to devices is a human right that may have emerged or became more evident due to the pandemic. For Wajcman, one positive outcome of the pandemic has been the construction of bike lanes across European cities as people increasingly choose to ride a bicycle over public transportation or driving.
In a digital economy, high-speed broadband and access to devices is a human right that may have emerged or became more evident due to the pandemic.
CULTURE OF SPEED
As an expert in the fields of science and technology and a Sociologist of time and speed, Wajcman’s most recent book, Pressed for time, explores different socio-cultural dimensions of why time seems to be speeding up and to what degree we should blame technology for these phenomena. One of her main points is that it is not necessarily technological innovation in and of itself that is to blame for our collective sense of a loss of time, but rather the ‘culture of speed,’ that surrounds the use of these technologies. In her talk she explained that we live in a “culture of optimizing time,” and “a good value is to be active, efficient and make the most of time.” Wajcman provided the example of ever-faster delivery times. She said that in the past a 3-day book delivery from Amazon was a big innovation. Over time 3 days became 2 hours. She also explained that many food delivery services promise 10 minute food deliveries. (Click here to see the Glovo food delivery advertisement that promises food delivery within minutes.) For Wajcman, it is not simply that the technology exists to make this rapid speed delivery possible but rather the expectation of that speed, the speed of consumption. She asked us to reflect, how is the food getting there so quickly?
We live in a “culture of optimizing time,” and “a good value is to be active, efficient and make the most of time.”
In a speech she gave discussing her book, Wajcman explained that along with cultural expectations, social relations and power dynamics are also embedded within technology. For example, she writes about email arguing that
The fact that we feel the need to respond to email quickly is not due to the speed of data transmission, but because of collective norms that have built up about appropriate response times. An individual’s ability to resist the pressure of perpetual availability very much depends on the institutional context.
Whether its food delivery or email response times, Wajcman argues that we live in a culture of speed just as much as we enjoy the technologies that allow for that speed. Perhaps our need to respond quickly has less to do with the technological possibility and more to do with power relations. It is not only what technology exists but how we use it.
Wajcman’s point about email relates to how we experience leisure time. If we feel more busy than ever before, the question is, have we truly lost our leisure time? Anthropologist David Graeber writes in his book, Bullshit Jobs, that in 1930 John Maynard Kaynes, one of the father’s of modern day economy, predicted that, by century’s end, technology would have advanced sufficiently so that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a fifteen-hour work week. Graeber writes:
In technological terms, we are quite capable of this…Why did Keynes’s promised utopia—still being eagerly awaited in the sixties—never materialize? The standard line today is that he didn’t figure in the massive increase in consumerism…rather than allowing a massive reduction of working hours to free the world’s population to pursue their own projects, pleasures, visions, and ideas, we have seen the ballooning not even so much of the “service” sector as of the administrative sector…whole new industries like financial services or telemarketing, or the unprecedented expansion of sectors like corporate law, academic and health administration, human resources, and public relations.
For Graeber, we have not achieved this due to the increase in not only consumerism but also the increase of jobs in certain sectors that did not exist before. Wajcman writes about leisure time saying that in fact, “surveys indicate that people feel rushed and pressed for time, and share a widespread perception that leisure time is scarcer and more hectic. However…overall leisure time has not declined over the last 50 years…this gap between objective time and how we subjectively experience it, points to the importance of the quality or character of time, and not simply the amount of time we have. And this is where technology comes in.” Therefore, for Graeber we work more than ever and it is because of an increase of jobs in the administrative sector, whereas for Wajcman the sense of busyness comes from the quality or character of time we use. While perhaps their conclusions are different, both Wajcman and Graeber note similar outcomes that there is a general, collective sense of a loss of one’s leisure time. Wajcman stated that there is an anthropological need and desire to work, but perhaps that is not 40 hours a week. Wajcman explained that in a study on unemployed people, the desire was more for coordinated social time rather than necessarily an over abundance of free time.
There is an anthropological need and desire to work, but perhaps that is not 40 hours a week.
TECHNOLOGY IS INHERENTLY BIASED
Whether or not we have more or less leisure time and if we will ever get to the point where machines will perform a great majority of the work we will do, Wajcman makes one thing very clear: technology is inherently biased. She rejects technological determinism, stating that she does not believe that machines have any internal logic or autonomous agency, however, insists that what we need is for, “engineers, programmers and makers of technology” to be “much more diverse and representative of the population at large.” This is important because she explains that for example, the facial recognition technology has a far easier time recognizing white faces than it does black or ethnic faces. She went on to explain that the testing of seatbelts was done on the male body” and it actually meant that women had more injuries. This is because, according to Wajcman, “People design things according to their experience.” Therefore, she advocates for a more diverse population of engineers arguing that, “if we had a broader range of people designing technologies there’d be different sets of priorities, different experiences feeding in that technology.”
Technology is inherently biased: we need is for, “engineers, programmers and makers of technology” to be “much more diverse and representative of the population at large.”
The general assumption we have as a population that science and technology are unbiased, objective forces is false, and we need to become aware of all of the social, political and value-based decisions that are being made if we are to have a more equal society. Wajcman suggests the use of Citizens juries to discuss if people want various technological developments to go through, such as in vitro and genetically modified tomatoes. She believes that governments and business shouldn’t be the only actors with a voice in these conversations. She explained that people believe that science is objective and value free, however, “political, economic, and cultural decisions weigh in the whole time.” For example, in the pandemic we had to ask, who is funding the vaccine? Why does Psfizer cost more than Astrazeneca? How come they can suddenly make some of these things so quickly when there’s a lot of other problems that cannot be solved as quickly? This last question is a similar point Tim Creswell made when we talked about the ease with which London solved its problem with homelessness once they decided it was something to pay attention to. She also pointed out that during the pandemic we saw that the highest rate of death amongst elderly people in London was in Care homes. Is this for a purely scientific reason, or must we ask ourselves, why are they concentrated in Care homes? Is that the optimal way to look after people?
Judy Wajcman motivated us to ask ourselves important questions not only about speed and technology but to think deeper about the culture of speed and the biases that underlie science and upcoming technological innovations.
 Pressed for time; The digital transformation of everyday life, 2016
 Bullshit Jobs, 2018
“We need to move beyond thinking of mobility as strictly transportation”
Tim Cresswell, March 2, 2021 [...]
“We need to re-evaluate what we consider universal”
Jacques Lévy, February 22, 2021 [...]
“We have to stop expanding our big cities”
Saskia Sassen, February 18, 2021 [...]
Judy Wajcman is the Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology at the LSE and a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, where she is the Principal Investigator on the Women in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence research project. She is a Visiting Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute and a member of the AI100 Standing Committee. Expert in the field of technology, time, and speed.


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Monster Clay is that very tasty looking clay that looks like chocolate... but it isn't. It is a clay of interesting characteristics and, for me personally, of a very specific purpose, as I only use it to create the master that will lead to the mold that I will later on use to make resin casts of the original sculpture. It is, undoubtedly and for many reasons I'll specify below, my favorite clay. As I was writing this, I realized that the only half-sculpted pieces in progress I show are those made in Monster Clay. I don’t usually post pictures of the process of modeling polymer clay, and I think this is only because I enjoy working with Monster so much more that it makes me want to share the process.
Monster Clay is a sulfur-free clay, which is necessary if you want to make a silicone mold out of it. If the clay wasn't sulfur-free, the silicone wouldn't cure and the whole experiment would fail, as it would ruin both the mold and the original piece. Monster is a wax-based clay made with non-toxic ingredients that you can therefore work without gloves. The texture is quite lovely. It isn't tacky, it doesn't stick to your fingers and it doesn't stain your tools. Its best quality though, is that it is reusable. If you take good care of your clay, you will be able to reuse it for an indefinite time!
This reusable property implies that the state of the clay will always be reversible, unlike polymer clay - which once baked changes properties and you can't go backwards- or air dry clay. That is to say, monster Clay doesn't cure. This makes it useless for the originals I sell, but it is absolutely ideal to design all my future resin pieces. This is how it works:
The clay comes in a package of 2kgr approximately (4,5 l) in a solid state. You can choose the level of hardness of the solid clay, as it comes in three options: soft, medium and hard. I have only ever tried the medium, and this is just because I bought my pack of clay 6 years ago for around 30€ and I am still using that very same clay. In this sense, it is highly inexpensive. The clay softens by applying heat to it, which makes it even more chocolate like - recently they've released a gray version that makes you less hungry. The amount of heat and the way you apply it will determine the consistency of your clay. Let's see this in detail:
You can melt completely Monster Clay to a liquid state in a matter of seconds and then, let it harden back again by simply letting it cool down. This circle can be repeated over and over again, and this is why this clay is reusable. The more liquid it is, the hotter the clay will also be. Learning to control and apply the amount of heat you need is essential to learn to sculpt with Monster Clay and specially, it is essential to avoid injuring yourself by burning your hands while working with. I highly recommend trying this clay first with thermic gloves until you get the hang of it. In a liquid state, it can even be poured into molds, but I have never used Monster Clay this way. I barely ever melt it completely. Instead, I heat it to a point where it is soft and malleable enough for me to work comfortably with it.
To start sculpting your piece, you can take a chunk of clay, put it in a tray that can go into the microwave (I use the glass bowl you see below) and heat it for about 15 seconds. This is the way that it is advised in the clay's package and I think it's perfect to set all your sculpting clay to a soft enough state that will allow you to start working with it. However, when your piece starts taking shape, you will want to apply the heat in a controlled and directed way. If you were to put your whole sculpture inside the microwave, it would heat and soften the piece evenly, and some finished parts may suffer undesired changes. In top of this, the part that would be touching your bowl or microwave plate would heat more than the rest and it could even melt. Heating the clay in the microwave is effective only if you're planning on heating all your clay to start working on your piece, or heating extra pieces of it to add to your piece. It isn't effective though to heat the piece itself. In order to properly work on the piece, to start making details and to polish or to give it some texture, you will need to apply controlled and focused heat, and therefore, you may need a heat gun.
(The original of my whales, made in Monster Clay. Inside the bowl you'll see a heart being dramatically melted and reused.)
(Cat's skull, piece that I am currently workin on.)
I trust my dad when it comes to tools. He's a sort of MacGyver who can fix anything using only whatever is around him. He's very skillful and ingenious and knows his way around all kinds of tools. Despite we both work with our hands, we come from very different backgrounds, and this was obvious enough the day I asked him to help me choose a heat gun to sculpt. Instead of giving me one of the little ones for arts and crafts, he bought me a sort of industrial heat gun with 3 levels of heat. The first one resembles to a hair drier and the second one looses an insane amount of heat that softens my clay in about 3 seconds. The third level of heat reaches 600ºC and I guess it is used to melt glaciers. I use the first two modes, directing the heat at the desired power, which allows me to sculpt comfortably. Once the piece is finished, I simply let it cool down. A practical tip is to polish the surface of your finished piece and erase possible finger prints by smoothing the surface with white spirit. If ever you chose to keep working on your piece next day, or the next month, you will only need to heat it back again with your gun.
You can use Monster Clay to sculpt a master for your molds, or you can also use it to simply sketch in clay. Personally, one of the things I enjoy the most about this clay is that it is not necessary to make any sort of inside armature and, therefore, you can work with it by addition or subtraction - that is to say, you can add some more clay to your piece, as you would to with polymer clay, or you can take a big block of it and carve it until you find the hidden shape you where looking for.
(Up: Original moáis sculpted in Monster Clay. Middle: building the walls to make the molds. Down: silicone molds.)
(Up: finished pieces sculpted in Monster Clay - the painted Moáis is a resin, already painted cast. Down: resin casts, exact copies of the Monster Clay originals. Made using the molds that you can see in the previous picture.).
Polymer clays such as Sculpey are also sulfur-free clays and can also be used to make masters for mold making. Before I tried Monster Clay, I used to make all my masters in Sculpey - baked, so that it would be easier to demold-. It is still a very legitimate way to make a master, but it is likely that the piece will break when demolding it. This isn't too important - even if the original got broken, the mold would still be perfectly functional and you would be able to make casts with it. Actually, I advice to always keep a resin cast, so if your mold ever breaks, you'll be able to use your cast and make a new mold again. If you make a master with Monster Clay, it is also very possible that it will break when demolding it. The main difference is that if your Sculpey piece breaks, you will have to throw it away and it will be a waste of not-so-cheap clay, whereas if Monster Clay breaks, you will always be able to melt the piece and reuse the clay, without wasting any of it! It is therefore much cheaper in the long run to (re)use Monster Clay. It is also more ecological, as nothing will be a waste. Personally, I always keep this one resin cast, but I never keep my originals. I don't cling to them. Instead, they're all melted and transformed once and again, and this is how a Halloween pumpkin becomes a cat skull. I think there's something beautiful about this endless transformation. The 2kgr of Monster Clay I bought many years ago have given birth to all the mold designs I have made ever since. Monster clay is very worth it and they didn't even ask me to write this entry, so... it has to be true :)
(Process of sculpting the original Venus of Willendorf made out of Sculpey).
(Right: Original piece made out of sculpey. Left: first resin cast. Behind the two Venus: silicone mold.)
This blog is open and free for everybody to read, but you can help me to keep it going by supporting my work with a one time only or mothly pledge with the amount of your choice. Your contribution will help me directly to make more art and to keep sharing it with you!
(Little disclaimer :) : English is not my first language. This is the best translation I could come up with of my original entry, writen in Spanish. Thank you for understanding.)


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Tennessee, ignoring NCAA guidelines, will fine schools $10,000 for not following the new rules should the bill be passed.
The Bible Belt is at it again. A newly introduced bill in Tennessee would make students - regardless of age or gender - play sports based on the gender they were assigned at birth, that is, the gender stated on their birth certificates, CNN reports. As expected, the bill has been highly criticized by gender activists, many of whom have called it "demeaning." However, the bill's sponsors argue that it is simply "proactive." While proponents of the bill argue that it would maintain fairness, trans activists believe that the potential consequences are far worse; the "draconian" bill, they affirm, could result in gender dysphoria, which comes with its own hoard of dangers.
The bill was introduced last month by its sponsor, state Representative Bruce Griffey. He claimed that the bill would act as a "proactive measure" and that it was intended to "maintain fairness," especially for female athletes. According to the Representative, males have "larger hearts" and greater upper body strength, which could give trans women an upper hand when playing sports against cis women. "It's not intended to demean, degrade, or diminish anyone," Griffey asserted. "It's just trying to maintain fairness." When it comes to trans men, Representative Griffey does not have a "simple solution." He merely repeated that "males have a genetic advantage" and that it isn't "fair to put the burden on the girls."
However, not everyone sees it from Griffey's perspective. As per several gender activists, the bill is oppressive. Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, affirmed that the bill would prevent trans students from participating in sports. Furthermore, he argued that it would "force students to be something they aren't and portray a gender identity that isn't who they are." "That is demeaning," he stressed. He also noted that the penalties enforced for disregarding the rule are "draconian."
Should schools choose not to abide by the guidelines if and when they do become law, they would no longer receive public funding. In addition to this, the school in question could face a civil lawsuit and be liable to pay a fine upwards of $10,000. Finally, individual school officials could also face consequences. Should a school employee be found to have violated the rule, they can be fired and would be considered ineligible to hold public office or a position in school administration in the state for a period of five years. "That shows there's something more at work here than your run-of-the-mill, 'We want fair competition,'" Sanders stated. "This is a level of animus at transgender students that is unprecedented."
A similar bill was introduced in South Dakota in February 2019. The bill would have prevented trans high school students from playing on sports teams based on their gender identity, forcing them to play on sports teams based on the gender assigned at birth instead. Thankfully, the bill died in the South Dakota Legislature. One reason it did could be attributed to the fact that the bill, like the one introduced in Tennessee, did not follow the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s guidelines. The association lays out guidelines based on which gender a student is transitioning to and hormone use, both contradictory to the rules in the newly introduced bill. Tennessee's 2020 legislative session is set to begin on January 14. The bill is expected to be assigned to a committee once the session opens. Hopefully, state legislators will listen to the voices of gender activists and trans students, who for so long have been marginalized by oppressive policy.


XPO Logistics has ramped up its use of intelligent robotics ahead of the Christmas peak period. The robots, which XPO already uses in the US, work alongside XPO’s employees to help manage inventory for distribution during the seasonal peak. Manufactured by 6 River Systems, XPO’s US robotic technology partner, the mobile robots collaborate with employees and are capable of adapting quickly to changes in fulfillment. The robots guide employees to the correct inventory area, check the items picked and transport […]
XPO Logistics has won a new contract with air conditioning business Fujitsu General Air Conditioning (UK).
Eddie Stobart Logistics will replace XPO Logistics as the logistics partner for Aggregate Industries’ Concrete Products division.
Unite is warning of a UK beer drought as over 1,000 drivers and warehouse staff at XPO Logistics Drinks threaten strike action in response to a “paltry” pay offer of 1.4%.


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Jordan Travel Guide
Jordan Travel: General Information
Petra being voted as one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’ has indeed been a boon for Jordan tourism, but the tiny desert kingdom has always been a favorite travelers’ haunt. The once-lost Nabataean city is only an instance of Jordan’s antiquity and you will come across many such archeological ruins, equally spell-bounding in their beauty in Jerash, Umm Qais and even in the urban-center of Amman. Again, there are many medieval castles strewn all over in Jordan. Look beyond the ancient cities and citadels and you will not only have some spectacular natural scenery unfolding before your eyes in the red-sand deserts of Wadi Rum or the coral-filled Gulf of Aqaba but also stumble upon Biblical sites such as the Jordan River (where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist) and Mt. Nebo (where Moses had his last view of the Promised Land). You will not be done yet, for Jordan promises you much more – water-sports, hiking, wildlife viewing, fine-dining, great shopping – all these with assurances of safety and unparalleled hospitality.
Jordan Travel: Key Facts
Capital City: Amman
Area: 92,300 sq km
Monetary Unit: Jordanian Dinar
Official Language: Arabic
International Dialing Code: 962
Jordan Travel: Popular Tourist Destinations
- Amman: Amman, the capital city, has the best of both worlds – ancient and modern. Occupied since the Bronze Age or even earlier, Amman is full of archeological remains like an ancient citadel, a Roman amphitheater, a public square, a two-storey fountain, a Byzantine Church, etc. Modern architectural marvels like the Abu Darwish Mosque and the King Abdullah Mosque are good representations of Amman’s present. The city has many museums and galleries worth visiting. Westernized to some extent, Amman has some of the biggest malls in Jordan and you can do some brisk shopping before you proceed to explore other destinations.
- Petra: Petra is the greatest magnetism of Jordan. The ancient city carved mostly in rose-pink rock is divided into several segments – Siq (the chasm that acts as the entrance to the city), the Al-Khazneh or treasury (it is the grand Roman façade of the treasury that got Petra the recognition as one of the new wonders), the Royal tombs, the Monastery, the High Place of Sacrifice, etc. Visit Petra at night and its accompanying stillness best enhance Petra’s mystery.
- Aqaba: With its pristine sandy beaches and crystal clear waters, Aqaba is one of Jordan’s top tourist destinations. It is just the place to sit-back and relax, to escape the mad-rush of modern life; but if you are looking for excitement, Aqaba is ready with its lures of water sports. Go snorkeling in the Gulf of Aqaba for views of the underwater-world or go for a whale-watching trip. Try water-skiing or wind-surfing, there are multiple activities to partake in this aquatic playground.
- Other Popular Destinations: Jordan is small in size but it is full of must-see attractions and destinations. There is Jerash, the ancient Greco-Roman city. There is Madaba with its Biblical associations and famous mosaics. There is Wadi Rum with its breathtaking desert landscape, adventure sports and Bedouin populace. Jordan has some important Wildlife Reserves that house various bird species and wildlife like gazelles, hyenas, oryxes, etc. And if you go to Jordan, mud-baths at the Dead Sea is a must.
Jordan Travel: Economy and Infrastructure
Jordan is one of Middle East’s most liberal economies and the ‘business capital of the Levant’. With inadequate natural resources (except, oil shale, uranium, natural gas and phosphates) and a very weak agricultural sector (due to scarcity of water and low rainfall), Jordan relied on foreign-aid to a large extent in the past. The adoption of liberal economic policies in 1999, however, ushered Jordan into a new era of economic growth. Today, Jordan has emerged as a trade-center and many business-houses of its neighboring countries operate from Jordan (mostly from their offices in Amman). If this has increased employment opportunities, Jordan’s developed services-sector (that contributes more than 70% of the GDP) has helped reduce unemployment.
Jordan is infrastructure-wise and quite well-developed. Although the dearth of conventional energy resources like petroleum poses a challenge for the energy sector, Jordan’s telecommunications and transportation systems are quite strong and have well supported Jordan’s image as a trade and tourism center.
Jordan Travel: Culture
Jordan’s culture, like the other Middle Eastern cultures, manifests influences of the Islamic Arab world. Jordan’s state religion is Islam, with the majority of the populace belonging to the Sunni sect. They speak Arabic but English is widely understood and used, too. Jordan has rich culinary tradition, but the Jordanians are also famous for their hospitality and this is something to be savored along with Jordan’s tasty fare. Jordanian traditional music has very pronounced Bedouin influence. Belly-dancing is the other form of performing art practiced by Jordanians. Speaking of Jordan’s visual art, you find it depicted in various forms – as landmarks, frescoes, mosaics, calligraphy or as crafts including beadwork, jewelry, carpet-weaving, etc.
Things about Jordan you may be interested in
Recent Travel Guides from Jordan
Gone are the days when Beirut and Tel Aviv were the nightlife hubs of the Middle East. Although the capital city of Lebanon and the second largest Israeli-city continue to attract partying-crowds, other Middle East destinations like Amman, Damascus, Dubai, Istanbul and such other cities have become quite popular with night-owls.... Read more »
The city of Amman, like other Levantine cities of Beirut, Byblos, Damascus, Jericho, Jerusalem, Sidon, etc., is one of the oldest ‘continuously inhabited’ cities of the world. Different civilizations – Byzatine, Islamic, Roman and others have risen and declined during this almost continuous inhabitation, enriching the city architecturally, culturally and otherwise.... Read more »
The city of Amman, Jordan, is essentially an ancient city. Like other nearby ancient cities of Aleppo, Beirut, Byblos, Damascus, Sidon, Tyre, etc., Amman has seen several civilizations. Archeological excavations have established that the earliest of these was a Stone Age settlement in eastern Amman; this civilization is believed to have had very well-developed art and culture. ... Read more »
Amman, also spelled as Amman, is the capital of Hashemite Kingdom, Jordan and its population is around 2,125,400 as per a 2005 estimate. The city serves as a major commercial center and administrative capital for Jordan, it is the biggest city of Jordan and capital city of the Amman Governorate. ... Read more »

domain: travel


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Is there any woman on this planet who doesn’t love a sundress during the summers? The answer is a Hard NO. The knotted front gives a sassy touch to this otherwise very comfortable dress. Geometric designs, as we always say, are the most creative designs to go on any dress as they add versatility and boldness to any piece of clothing. Twirl around in these soothing sundress and sip on your glass of blue lagoon this summer and the next one too!
Kurti Fabric: Soft Cotton
Neckline: Round V-Neck
Model Size: Model is wearing S Size
Model Height: 5'6''
DISCLAIMER: Slight Colour variations may occur due to different screen resolutions.

domain: design


Alphonsine Nyiranzeyimana, a farmer from Cyahinda, in the southern part of Rwanda, says that learning new farming techniques completely changed her life. She’s not exaggerating. Today, Nyiranzeyimana is the leader of a farmers’ cooperative and the yield on some of her crops has more than doubled. The agricultural sector accounts for a third of Rwanda's GDP and more than 70 per cent of Rwandan women are engaged in farming activities since their childhood. Yet, they don’t have the same access to land, production inputs, finance or markets as men.
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Economy & poverty
On the International Day of Rural Women, UN Women calls upon the international community to work with rural women and girls everywhere and to invest in the sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection that can revolutionize their livelihoods, well-being and resilience.
On 15 October, the United Nations commemorates the International Day for Rural Women. This year’s theme, “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”, places empowerment of rural women at the heart of fulfilling the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Gender gaps in agriculture in Africa are holding back progress towards ending hunger and must be urgently addressed, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Director-General José Graziano da Silva said at a joint event with the African Union (AU) on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
Meet Kebele, one of the over 2000 women who benefited from the Joint Programme "Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women", who tell us the story of how thanks to the support received she has increased her income, but also improved the relationship with her husband.
When Trin Gim first started her biogas digester business, many members of her community raised their eyebrows. In the little district of Ung Hoa, located south of Viet Nam’s capital, Hanoi, villagers were not accustomed to seeing a woman take the reins of a business. But eight years later, Trin Gim has achieved not only financial success, but has played a role in a larger fight in Viet Nam against the devastating impacts of climate change.
By making jam, a woman-run organization is earning money to improve the inclusion of children with disabilities, while also building a whole community of support and encouragement.
Working closely with national stakeholders, through the RYM project on youth mobility, food security, and rural poverty reduction, FAO has promoted innovative pathways for decent youth employment and agricultural entrepreneurship in areas prone to migration. In particular, the project provided unemployed youth with training and equipment, helping them launch their own small agricultural enterprises, also by productively investing the remittances received form the diaspora.
For Cielo Gomez, every day is work day, starting with coffee 5:30 am. A mother of three, a wife, and now a coffee grower with her own land, it's a labour of love. Gomez and her family live in the municipality of El Tablón de Gómez, in the southeast of Nariño territory, Colombia.


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Using downloaded text from the website of Richard Foreman, this collaborative
work is a look at two people stuck somewhere between promise and dread. Movement
and dance derived from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ films accompany
a complex music score of tape loops. Set entirely within a 24’ by 8’
box, WATCH is a kind of vaudeville,
intimate and askew.
50 min running time.
Tina Kronis & Richard Alger
Met Theatre, Sacred Fools Theatre, 24th St. Theatre, Highways Performance Space
(click to enlarge image)


Acknowledging it will be difficult to reverse the Army's cancellation of the Comanche helicopter, Gov. John G. Rowland said Friday he will focus on convincing the military to take advantage of Sikorsky's new plant in Bridgeport.
Earlier in the day, Rowland met at the Pentagon with Les Brownlee, acting secretary of the Army, to talk about this week's announcement and explore opportunities to bring new work to the Sikorsky Aircraft plant.
The remodeled manufacturing space at the Bridgeport Sikorsky plant opened last year, intending to handle assembly of the joint Sikorsky-Boeing Comanche and Sikorsky's new S-92 helicopter. But Monday's cancellation announcement put the plant's future in doubt.
Rowland said he and Connecticut lawmakers will not "throw in the towel" on reinstating Comanche, but must be realistic and explore what he called a Plan B.
Monday, the Army announced plans to end the $39 billion Comanche program after spending close to $7 billion since 1983. Instead, Army leaders said they want to use the $14.6 billion in savings between now and 2011 to buy close to 800 new helicopters, including more Sikorsky-built Black Hawks, and upgrade about 1,400 existing helicopters to better meet the challenges they face today.
They also talked about several new programs, including an armed reconnaissance aircraft and a multiservice, multirole helicopter, programs that could provide new opportunities for Sikorsky, the Stratford-based division of United Technologies Corp.
Rowland said he wanted to make sure Brownlee and others in the Pentagon had a good sense of the capabilities at the Sikorsky operation and understood the benefit of maintaining those skills. Sending more military work to the plant could help tilt the balance toward keeping it open.
"The company has to make a tough decision, whether it is economically feasible to stay open with X amount of work and X number of employees," Rowland said. "We don't know the answer yet."
But he said the state could and should help, possibly with retraining or retooling aid, whatever it might take to help Sikorsky decide to keep the plant open.
A former congressman, Rowland said backers of Sikorsky programs and workers must make a convincing case for sending work to Connecticut or it will go elsewhere.
"The way this place works, you have to keep the pressure on," he said.


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The Evolution Of iPad And Its Thin Profile [Image]
We’ve just come across a brilliant GIF of how the iPad has evolved since its release in 2010. Fans across the world cannot help but marvel at how slim the iPad Air 2 actually is at 6.1mm, considering the firepower it carries in that sleek shell.
The animation is not something ground-breaking in itself, but gives the viewer a pretty slick recap into the evolution of the iPad. Apple has come a long way with its tablets in four years span, and this animation actually allows you to process that fact in a few seconds.
The iPad Air 2’s secret to this sleek silhouette is the Optically Bonded LCD, glass and touch sensor, and it even manages to beat how slim the iPhone is at 6.9mm. Apple has continued to make the iPad lighter with every new model, making sure that the tablets can truly fit into the portable list of devices. We know, a lot of users have replaced their laptops, in favor of newer iPads.
You can see the base models of all released iPads, with depth and weight measurements, listed below:
iPad 1: 13.4mm at 730g
iPad 2: 9mm at 601g
iPad 3: 9mm at 650g
iPad 4: 9mm 650g
iPad Air: 7.5mm at 469g
iPad Air 2: 6.1mm at 440g
iPad mini 1: 7mm at 310g
iPad mini 2: 7mm at 330g
iPad mini 3: 7mm at 330g
Where the iPad Air model seems to have really jumped up a generation, the iPad mini seems to be still starting out, and not much has changed as far as dimensions are concerned. Sadly, that holds true for what’s under that hood as well, and fans will love to see the iPad mini finally be more than just a shorter version of its larger sibling. The animation here, does not touch upon that rather soar subject for Apple right now, however if the Apple design team sees this animation, it would be pretty impressed with itself.
Earlier, the team that just released this animation of the iPad’s evolution, brought forth the same for the iPhone as well, showcasing a truly awe-inspiring transformation of the smartphone industry’s hottest selling device.
How cool is this animation? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!


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Inspired by Chef Jeff Sheer’s use of haole koa seeds in a brittle for the 13-course wild food-themed Modern Savage dinner in 2016.
2 cups sugar
¼ pound unsalted butter
6 Tablespoons brown rice syrup
1 ⅓ cups water
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups green haole koa seeds, soaked or unsoaked
1 ½ cups macadamia nuts, chopped
If your green haole koa seeds are wet, make sure they are fully dried before making the recipe. Dry them with a clean hand towel, or paper towels, if needed.
At this point add the baking soda (make sure no lumps before adding), then remove from heat and pour onto parchment paper.
Add the green haole koa seeds (make sure they’re dry), chopped macadamia nuts, and coarse sea salt. Place another layer of parchment paper on top and use a rolling pin to roll it out thin.

domain: food


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Hadapsar, 4th December 2013: There was an event held by Just for Hearts in an IT company for sleep management. The Speaker of the event was a clinical psychologist Dr. Sanjyot Deshpande and she was associated by our Dietitian Pooja Jadhav.
Sleeping properly for 6-8 hours is big task these days. Moreover these IT companies work according to shifts. So it is very difficult to maintain our routine. The topics which were covered in the event were importance of sleep, duration of sleep, how it affects physical and mental health.
As per our Speaker, it is necessary to sleep for at least 7-9 hours a day. Many people snore loudly after sleeping. Snoring is caused due to fat accumulation in your neck. This is mostly seen in alcoholic or obese people. If you snore loudly, snort, gasp, or make choking sounds while you sleep, or your partner notices that your breathing stops for short periods. It is known as sleep apnea. One can have a sleep chart or cover up their sleep in nap breaks.
A huge response was given by the employees of IT Company. It was a successful interactive session.
Just for Hearts – India’s fastest growing health portal – is here to help you manage your own and your family’s health & well-being as well as maintain good work life balance through personalized advice, specialist blogs, health tools & public forums. Online health portal also provides an opportunity to ask health questions and get answers from Health experts (Doctors , Specialists , Diet Experts etc. ) 24 x 7. They conduct many other events and health talks.
More information about the products and services of Just for Hearts is available on
View our events across the India and add yours for the celebration on

domain: medical


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There’s a concept in psychology that can be readily summed up with, “Name it and claim it.” In a nutshell, it says that once you figure out the emotion that lies beneath your frustration, pain or anger, as in “name it,” you can then deal directly with the emotion itself, as in “claim it.” In turn, this facilitates healing.
For example, beneath anger and frustration most often lies fear. Once you address the fear itself, your frustration and anger will generally evaporate, or at least be understandable.
Understanding then leads to the possibility of resolving whatever issue caused the anger or frustration in the first place. Thus, the value of “Name it and claim it.”
What if we used the same concept in reverse? What if we named the feel-good moments in our lives, and thus “claimed” them? Not just the incredible over-the-top events, but the small, ordinary pleasures that we experience all along our day.
That morning brew that tastes so good – what if you said to yourself, “This tastes good. It makes me happy.” Or really soak in the pleasure of your shower, of your partner’s smile, of your own smile at a child, a pet, a flower?
Science tells us that feeling happier leads to better physical health, in particular, to improved cardiovascular health and immune system responses.
Who doesn’t want better health, especially a stronger immune system, in these pandemic days? Plus, feeling happier increases your overall mental and emotional well-being, which in turn makes you more resilient in the face of everyday stresses and upsets.
But here’s the thing: how does one feel happier in this seemingly unending global pandemic, with all its consequences for our health, our finances, our children, how we live day to day, our societies – heck, everything?
There is a wealth of studies that show how gratitude is linked to happiness, which fortunately, is accessible to all of us, at no charge and with no harmful side effects.
Take the story of Alice Lawson, who at 98, is a stunning example of the benefits of gratitude in the midst of hardship. Rather than lament the pandemic which has challenged her as it has us all, Alice maintains an inspiring attitude of gratitude for everything that is going well.
For indeed, there is much that is going well when you think about it. There are still caring people in the world and those who are willing to help us find solutions to our Covid-forced misery. We still have nature and pets; we have whatever faith supports us.
Somehow, Alice managed to find sources of happiness in the midst of truly awful difficult times. Alice lived through WWII in Liege, Belgium. In those years, she and her family put together food baskets and delivered them to basements where people persecuted by the Nazis were hiding.
Alice became a nurse, and soon thereafter, a “war-bride,” having fallen in love with an American soldier. Alice and her new husband first lived in rural Alabama, a far cry from citified Liege. Alice had to learn a whole new culture in addition to a whole new language.
Not only did Alice survive and thrive, raising her children and loving her husband, but she kept her upbeat approach to life through it all – never holding a grudge, always being grateful for life and all it offers.
Now, if Alice could maintain a grateful heart and mind through so much change and crises, surely we can attempt the same. Not to mention the impressive impact of such an attitude on her health and longevity. At 98, Alice has the verve and enthusiasm of a young person.
So, go for it. Name and claim whatever happiness you can find in your life. Deliberately engage your sense of gratitude for as much as you can. Your mental, emotional, and physical well-being will benefit enormously.
Even during the pandemic, what are you grateful for? What are some of the small things in your day-to-day life that make you smile? Has the pandemic changed the way you think about what’s important in life? If so, how? Please share with the community.
Tags Being Grateful

domain: psychology


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July 10, 2014 - July 13, 2014
6:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Have you always wanted the experience of working with an opera director on staging a scene or aria, whilst also having the chance to work on it musically and technically? During this extended weekend course, renowned RCM voice teacher Rosa Mannion will guide you through the vocal preparation of your pieces whilst experienced opera director, Saffron van Zwanenberg, will direct you in a series of staged scenes culminating in a performance at the end of the course. They will also work together to help solve some of the problems of technique vs performance!
Each participant should offer one solo piece and 3 suggestions of roles they would like to tackle. They will then work on their solo and one ensemble piece, which will be one of their suggested roles IF POSSIBLE. (To make sure everyone has the opportunity to perform in an ensemble it may not be possible to allocate roles based on these suggestions, but every effort will be made, and if not then something suitable and mutually agreeable will be chosen.)


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They say you should clean your fish tank at least once a week, so how in the world did this guy not notice the giant sea worm that had been secretly living in his tank for the past two years? Your guess is as good as mine.
It wasn’t until YouTuber gurutek decided to break down the aquarium that the bristle worm made itself known — all 1.2 meters of it. That’s nearly four feet, by the way.
Apparently, it’s pretty common for bristle worms (also known as eunice worms) to hide inside places like this, only to emerge when they’re hungry. Sometimes, fish owners keep them inside their tanks because they help keep them clean, but when it comes time to remove them, their sharp spines can make things difficult.
Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/bristle-worm/

domain: hobby


Site: Freemans Reach, Durham
Technology: 100 kW Archimedes screw & Larinier fish pass
Role: Feasibility / Design / Hydro Engineering Support during construction / Commissioning / Monitoring / Fish Pass Design & Upgrades
Renewables First has played a key role in the development of the Freemans Reach hydro scheme, forming part of a wider riverside development in Durham city. The scheme incorporates an Archimedes screw turbine harvesting energy from the River Wear to drive a 100 kW generator. The turbine and generator have been designed to offset around 75 per cent of the total electricity demand of the new development.
The Freemans Reach hydro scheme is coordinated by the Freemans Reach development team and Durham City Council, with Carillion acting as the main contractor for the construction works. Renewables First was hired to undertake a full hydro feasibility study for the site, as well as designing and specifying the layout and technology used. It also provided hydro engineering support during construction of the scheme, as well as commissioning the scheme. It was also responsible for the new fish pass design, as well as upgrading an existing fish pass.
Located on the large diagonal Framwellgate Weir, the 100 kW Archimedes screw measures 13 metres in length and weighs in at 20 tonnes. The turbine exploits a net head of 2.83 metres and can use up to 6 cubic metres of the total mean flow in the river of 14 cubic metres of water per second (m3/s). This will generate an estimated 496, 000 kWh of electricity per year, enough to power the equivalent of roughly 113 UK homes, and will create a CO2 emissions saving of 248,000 kg/CO2/yr.
The screw and fish pass installation was specified and designed by the design team at Renewables First. Manufactured, supplied and installed by water treatment and power specialists, Spaans Babcock Ltd. The civil works and site development was carried out by Carillion Ltd. The scheme having been initiated under the joint management of the Freemans Reach Hydro Development team and Durham City Council.
The River Wear is an important Salmonid River, with salmon and sea trout passing both upstream and downstream of the site. Therefore, as well as generating clean power, the hydro scheme is designed to improve the ecology of the River Wear by allowing fish and elvers to travel upstream more easily in order to access the upper reaches of the river. This involved the installation of a new Larinier fish pass in close vicinity to the screw turbine, as well as upgrading the existing pass located on the main weir.
For fish heading upstream towards the hydro scheme, the entrance to the Larinier fish pass is located close to the turbine discharge point. The Larinier fish pass will accommodate a wide range of fish, is relatively resistant to blockages, and is appropriate for locations like Freemans Reach where the upstream water level is relatively stable.
Heading further upstream, the exit of the fish pass is located sufficiently upstream of the turbine intake. This ensures that fish exiting the pass will be a safe distance from the stronger currents in the intake channel, thus preventing them from being swept back through the turbine.
The Archimedes screw turbine used at Freemans Reach is suitable for use as a fish by wash. Therefore, a fish screen upstream of the turbine is not required, as fish can safely pass downstream through the turbine.
The Freemans Reach hydro scheme is now completed, although the development of the surrounding area is still proceeding.
As part of the scheme Renewables First also installed and commissioned two flood alarm systems for the new Passport Office and National Savings offices on the site.
The hydro scheme is being run and maintained by Durham County Council.
Are you considering a hydropower project ?
The first step to develop any hydropower site is to conduct a full feasibility study.
Contact us about a feasibility study today!
Once complete, you will understand the site potential and be guided through the next steps to develop your project. You can read more about hydropower in our Hydro Learning Centre.
Minimise manual cleaning of your intake screen, maximise the financial return of you hydropower system and protect fish and eels, with GoFlo Travelling Screens. Find out more here.


By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)
Chuck Berry practically invented the terms “rock god” and “rock icon”. Without his showmanship, catchy songwriting and pioneering guitar work, this whole rock & roll thing would not be known as it is today.
The rock world realized this at least as far back as 1986, when Chuck celebrated his 60th birthday in style with two epic concerts on October 16, 1986 featuring plenty of famous guests. Above is a live clip of Chuck’s cover of T-Bone Walkers’s “Mean Old World” with guest performances by Eric Clapton, Chuck Leveall and others.
Also among the guest performers during the concerts were Keith Richards, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, Julian Lennon, Etta James, and an uncredited Joe Walsh. Filmmaker Taylor Hackford filmed the whole thing as part of his documentary Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll celebrating Berry’s legacy in rock music.
Check out more clips from the concerts and the awesome performances from Clapton & Co. in the videos below.
“Rock & Roll Music” (feat. Etta James)
“Wee Wee Hours” (feat. Eric Clapton)
MORE ON CHUCK BERRY:
- Listen to Chuck Berry’s Posthumous ‘Big Boys’ from New Album ‘Chuck’
- Paul McCartney Pays Tribute to Chuck Berry
- Chuck Berry Once Incited A Riot In Boston; Rock Music Banned
- Chuck Berry’s New Album ‘Chuck’ Coming Soon
- Chuck Berry Receives Presidential Praise from Barack Obama and Bill Clinton
MORE FROM THE ROCK N’ ROLL DIARY EXTRA:
- Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, And More Announced For KABOO Festival
- 10 Questions With… Heavy Necker
- Frank Sinatra Thought Bob Dylan (And Anyone With Blue Eyes) Came From The Stars
- Former Boston Drummer Sib Hashian Has Passed Away At 67
- Chainsmokers, Keith Urban, Aerosmith to Play NCAA March Madness Music Festival


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For many adults, a good night’s sleep seems like a luxury. Whether you have trouble falling asleep, wake repeatedly in the night, or never wake up feeling refreshed, there are several solutions to improve your sleep quality.
It is well-known that limiting your caffeine during the day will help you fall asleep more easily at night. Simply avoiding caffeine later in the day is not enough to make a difference in your sleep quality. It is necessary to limit your total consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, soda, and energy drinks to an absolute minimum. From John’s Hopkins University School of Medicine, “Caffeine administered immediately prior to bedtime or throughout the day has been shown to delay sleep onset, reduce total sleep time, alter the normal stages of sleep, and decrease the reported quality of sleep.” Once you start sleeping better, your body will not need the caffeine to stay awake during the day. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms will likely plague you for a matter of days once you detox from your daily intake. Caffeinedependence.org suggests reducing your intake by a very small dose, perhaps half a cup of coffee per day, to decrease the severity of the symptoms at first.
Limiting your sugar intake will also increase your sleep quality. According to Doctor Murray, eating sweets triggers the “fight or flight” response in the body. Calming an alert body is quite a challenge to overcome at bedtime, so avoiding sugary foods throughout the day can ease the transition from wakefulness to sleep. If you are suffering from a sugar addiction, which has been researched to be a more real addiction than previously thought, then you may need some extra help in kicking the sweets habit. Books such as Connie Bennett’s “Sugar Shock!” and Kathleen DesMaisons’ “The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program” are a good place to begin.
Although your body is fatigued from lack of a good night’s sleep, it is not properly tired from physical exertion, so it will be a challenge for you to fall asleep after a day of not exercising. Physical movement brings oxygen to the tissues in the body and allows them to “breathe” and rejuvenate. Being mentally tired from a long and stressful day may make you want to sleep, but your body will not be convinced unless you are physically tired as well. A study published by the American Psychological Association showed a positive relationship between exercise and the amount of slow-wave sleep in an individual. Slow-wave is the deepest type of sleep from which it is very difficult to be awoken. So, the more you exercise, the better you sleep.
Having a bedtime may make you feel like a child, but routines and bedtimes greatly benefit adults. Set a nightly bedtime and wake up time that allows you to sleep approximately 8 hours per night. Scheduling yourself 8 hours is the first step in actually sleeping 8 hours. Sticking to your same schedule even on holidays and weekends will enhance the quality of your sleep as well. Performing a short nightly routine before bed each night will help your body to realize it is bedtime and can also help you sleep better in new or strange places.
The emotions you feel before you fall asleep stay with you throughout the night and can affect the quality of your sleep. If you are scared, angry, or over-excited you may wake more fully during lighter phases of sleep than if you are calm and relaxed before going to bed.
Try to reduce your body’s stress before bed by limiting stimulation. Meditate, practice deep breathing, or simply listen to calming music late in the evening. Mayo Clinic promotes massage as a stress relief as well as yoga. All of these methods inadvertently teach you how to discipline and focus your mind as you block out mental stressors.
Your sleeping environment should be dark, peaceful, and a comfortable temperature. Your bedding should be clean and most importantly, your pillow should be comfortable. Open your bedroom windows for a short time each day to oxygenate the room and keep it from becoming too stuffy. Plants also oxygenate a room while removing air pollutants. Researchers from UCSD found that increasing the level of oxygen in a room for individuals at high altitude made a significant difference in their sleep quality.
Improving your sleep quality is a completely attainable goal when following these tips for a better night’s sleep. Whether you need to break caffeine and sugar habits, increase your physical activity, make your routine predictable, discipline your mind or enhance your bedroom, a solution exists for your nighttime problem.
Mayo Clinic Staff, “10 Tips for Better Sleep”, Mayo Clinic
Doctor Murray, “Insomnia & Sleep-wake cycle disorder”, Doctormurray.com
Baekeland et al., “Exercise and Sleep Patterns in College Athletes”, APA PsychNet
John’s Hopkins, “Information About Caffeine Dependence”, caffeinedependence.org
Luks et al. UCSD, “Room oxygen enrichment improves sleep and subsequent day-time performance at high-altitude”, pubmed.gov


Welcome to ProjectiRadio, the premier online platform that brings you the perfect blend of music, videos, and entertainment. As the demand for quality content continues to rise, ProjectiRadio caters to the needs of music enthusiasts, arts aficionados, and party-goers around the world.
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text:
Musial, who died this week, was our Galahad, our Achilles, our Hector -- a modest, decent man who did more than anyone to raise St. Louis to its reputation as a good sports town where the fans even clap for the opposing team's players.
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Former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan reportedly has been tapped to be Kelly Ripa's full-time co-host.
Red Sox icon Johnny Pesky dies at the age of 92. The Yankees show their respect with a moment of silence before last night's game at the stadium.
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text:
Mankind has known coercion since its inception. A group of people, not to mention large tribes and eventually nations, obviously needs a hierarchy, someone to lead and the masses to follow the leader. The leader figure may be embodied by an individual or an elite. There must be a set of rules for society to function. Hence coercion. People are forced to abide by the commandments set proverbially from on high or merely agreed upon by a number of the more powerful leaders. The coercion meant that some worked, others divided the fruits of the work; that some spilt their blood in wars, while others declared those wars and concluded peace treaties; that some served while the others were attended to. Our age is no different and yet very much different: those who rule demand that all men and women tolerate, approve of, like – nay! – love each other. Hate – what do I say! – mere dislike, not to say disgust, disapproval, criticism are forbidden. We are entering the age of the dictatorship, the tyranny, the despotism of all-embracing, all-levelling love.
Think of all the hate-speech laws and the resultant penalties for raising an eyebrow at the sight of a tattooed individual, for looking twice at ostentatious behaviour only yesterday regarded as obscene. All such acts are microagressions to say the least and need to be nipped in the bud. The tyranny of love does not extend to its opponents who need to be reeducated, reshaped, remoulded; failing which, the opponents of the all-embracing love are fair game. Like those poor chaps tied to medieval pillories, with their faces and buttocks exposed to the projectiles of all kinds hurled at them by a passer-by who pleased to entertain himself in this way.
The ideology of the all-embracing love has not been born within the latest twenty-four hours, nor within the latest decades. It has been developing for three or so centuries, beginning at least in the Age of the Enlightenment. This ideology has worked its way from the theocentric to the anthropocentric view of the world, where now the working class, now women, now non-whites, now homosexuals are venerated. The same ideology is now intent on dethroning man and put nature – the planet, the Pachamama, the mother earth, the environment – in his stead.
It is the feature of ideology that it has nothing to do with logic, with thinking. Ideology invades and affects minds making use of evaluating terms and creating ideals. If reality belies them, so much the worse for reality. This man-cum-earth venerating ideology is the world religion of the 21st century, attempting to incorporate the other creeds. The 2019 Abu Dhabi Declaration signed by the leaders of the three Abrahamic religions and stating that it pleases God to have diversity in the form of the many creeds speaks for itself.
Gefira 55 traces back the birth of the modern ideology and doctrines that seem to be encompassing or be forcefully imposed on the world. It also conducts a comprehensive, if short, survey of the current critical points in world politics in an attempt to zero in on where the future Gavrilo Princip will fire the ominous shots in the Sarajevo of the future.

domain: politics


text:
Stonebwoy Delivers a momentous surprise to Black Sherif on his 22nd Birthday at his residence.
Black Sherif received an extravagant surprise on his 22nd birthday from the Afro pop, Dancehall musician,’Stonebwoy’, CEO of Burniton Music Group at his residence.
The BET winning rapper and songwriter known for numerous chat-topping hits in Ghana and globally shared a beautiful birthday experience arranged by “1GAD” for his wonderful day at his residence.
In the video, Black Sherif was received with a warm Happy Birthday song and a champagne pop by the legendary “1GAD”.
The celebration began with the release of Black Sherif’s first single of the year titled ‘9th January’ marking his 22nd birthday.
Black Sherif and Stonebwoy’s relationship has been an interesting one as the young talent pressed out that Stonebwoy’s music had a great influence on his musical career and mentioned Stonebwoy as one of his mentors growing up.Black Sherif and Stonebwoy collaborated on ‘DJ Breezy’s’ “Abonten” banger which became one of DJ Breezy’s well known songs.
Black Sherif couldn’t hide his appreciation for the lavish surprise as he never siezed to spread his beautiful smile across his face.
Stonebwoy did not only make Black Sherif’s 22nd birthday a memorable one but also showed the affection, devotion and tenderness that exist in the Ghana Music Industry.


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Asmodeus is more ancient than the gods.
The AD&D 2nd edition book Guide to Hell (2000) details the origins and true nature of Asmodeus.
The multiverse began in chaos, and from chaos arose law. The most powerful of these were the Cosmic Serpents: Jazirian and the winged Ahriman. The two formed the undefined chaos of reality into what would be known as the Outer Planes. Each held the other's tail in their mouth, and formed an unbroken ring that defined the (then finite) scope of the planes.
But as the concepts of Good and Evil gained power, the two took sides, and fought, and each bit off the other's tail. Each drop of blood from Jazirian's tail fell and formed a couatl, but the wingless Ahriman fell into the base of the Nine Hells where he has remained ever since, biding his time until he can heal.
Ahriman took the name Asmodeus, and conducts all of his business via avatars and go-betweens. even among the gods and the lords of the Nine Hells there are none who know his true identity.
Asmodeus intentionally encourages cults of all kinds. The souls of the dead travel to the plane of their deity, or that which most closely matches their alignment if they followed no deity. But the souls of those evil peoples who reject the worship of any deity—cultists of non-divine beings, or those who reject all belief in the divine—are claimed by Asmodeus, his right as one of the Ancient Brethren who existed before there were people to believe in gods, and whose power is not reliant on faith or worship.
Asmodeus' avatar in Guide to Hell is a giant humanoid with reddish skin (not unlike many tieflings), small horns, and a finely trimmed beard. His true form is that of a serpent hundreds of miles long.
The primary source on Asmodeus in D&D 3.5 is Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. It concurs with the AD&D description. His backstory is similar, although his relationship to the couatl god Jazirian is omitted. It is said that he bleeds perpetually from wounds.
D&D 4th edition makes Asmodeus a deity. He was already a greater deity in AD&D. Much D&D 4th edition lore is very different to earlier lore, and he was cast out by a deity he served in a manner reminiscent of the traditional story of God casting of Lucifer. Asmodeus in this edition is, as usual, described as a red-skinned humanoid with black horns and a confident, modest manner.
Asmodeus first appeared in the AD&D 1st edition Monster Manual, where he is depicted as a humanoid with small horns and a goatee beard. He is described as the most handsome, strongest and most cunning of all devils. Deities and Demigods upgrades Asmodeus to be considered a deity.
Outside of D&D 4th edition, Asmodeus has pretty consistently been described as the most powerful archdevil, and the ruler of the ninth level of Hell. The backstory with Jazirian is limited to AD&D 2nd edition (where it could be published in the year 2000 thanks to Wizards of the Coast relaxing the ban on words like "devil"), and alluded to in third edition.

domain: literature


text:
i'm a little bit speechless
McCain's behavior these past few weeks is just unbelievably disappointing to me. I used to think that either a McCain or an Obama presidency would be fine, because both of them are decent men who would try to the best of their abilities to make good decisions for America.
Not anymore. And it's no wonder that General Colin Powell just endorsed Obama. Why? At least in part because, as Andrew Sullivan puts it, "Powell also is horrified, as decent Republicans should be, by the attempt to equate Obama with "the other" and to delegitimize Muslim-Americans or urban Americans or gay Americans or Arab-Americans or anyone else as somehow not "pro-America" or integrally part of this country." Watch to the end of this video and listen to how clearly and powerfully Powell articulates the problem with such tactics:
McCain's use of race as a dividing factor in this campaign is horrifying, and I don't want to, nor can I support someone who engages in that kind of behavior, or who allows his supporters to openly do so. It's not patriotic, and it's certainly not the type of leadership we need in a country that is in trouble.

domain: sociology


text:
Pau Gasol has started running yet, but it’s not on the hardwood. In what marks a gradual approach toward rehabbing his knees, Gasol spent part of Thursday running instead on grass.
This evening I'm going to continue getting better. Weight room workout and then running on grass. Every day one more step forward.
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) August 29, 2013
Gasol underwent a procedure May. 9 on both of his knees, which suffered last season from both tendonitis and tendonosis. He has spent recent weeks on exercise bikes, in pools and in the weight room. But should Gasol make progress running on grass, he will increase his activity.
Gasol missed 33 games last season because of various ailments, including his knees, plantar fascia in his right foot and a concussion. But he’s expected to be fully healthy to play in the Lakers’ season opener Oct. 29 at Staples Center against the Clippers.
Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at email@example.com


Facebook is setting up a data center in Clonee, Ireland, which will be its sixth in the world and its second outside the U.S.
The new data center will be equipped with servers and storage from the Open Compute Project, a Facebook initiative that shares designs as open source with other data center operators to standardize and drive down the costs of equipment.
"We will outfit this data center with the latest OCP server and storage hardware, including Yosemite for compute," Facebook's Vice President of Engineering, Jay Parikh said in a post on the social networking website. Yosemite is an open source modular chassis for high-powered microservers, designed by Facebook.
The social networking company already has another European data center in Lulea in Sweden, which takes advantage of the icy cold temperatures there to cut the energy required to cool the data center.
The Clonee center will run entirely on renewable energy by taking advantage of the abundant supply of wind in the location, Parikh wrote. "This will help us reach our goal of powering 50 percent of our infrastructure with clean and renewable energy by the end of 2018," he added.
Ireland has been Facebook's international headquarters since 2009, and the new Clonee data center "will continue Facebook’s significant investment in the country and in Europe," wrote Tom Furlong, Facebook's vice president for infrastructure.
Having a data center in Ireland will also help Facebook meet any local demands that consumer data should stay within Europe. In October, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the 'safe harbor' agreement that governs personal data transfers between the U.S. and the European Union is invalid.


‘Significant weaknesses’ have been identified at the council’s tourism body Make It York, an internal report concludes.
The organisation runs York’s Christmas market, Shambles Market and other events to promote the city. It was found to be in £663,000 of debt in December 2020. Its income has been severely hit by the pandemic.
But auditors also criticised the organisation for not producing any performance reports since September 2018. Four updates are supposed to be issued each year for City of York Council to understand how well the company is working.
The auditors from Veritau said issues with Make It York producing reports had been discussed – but the actions the company has agreed to have not yet been taken.
Make It York is a separate organisation formed and owned by the council to promote tourism and the economy.
The auditors acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on the company – but highlight problems dating back to 2018.
They say the last narrative report produced by Make It York covered July to September 2018 – but did not cover all the measures of performance. The company last published an annual report for 2018/19 and highlighted its achievements but did not look at performance measures.
“There has therefore been no specific measure of performance throughout the current contract,” auditors say.
“The lack of performance data against agreed measures may result in a failure to identify poor performance and to introduce the appropriate mitigation strategies. The reasons for this lack of performance reporting are not clear and minutes have not been taken at client/contractor meetings.”
They conclude that “significant gaps, weaknesses or non-compliance were identified” at the company.
They acknowledge that the council has good control of financial monitoring at the organisation – but add: “However, no contract income has been received from MIY since quarter three of the 2019/20 financial year, and property rents, service charges and other contract costs have not been paid for during the financial year 2020/21.
“The level of debt (at end of December 2020) was in the region of £663,000.”
‘Not seen as transparent’
Greg Dyke, chair of Make It York said: “We are committed to working with City of York Council to ensure robust and transparent reporting measures are in place moving forward.
“The new service level agreement sets out clearly the strategic objectives for Make It York and puts us in the best place to continue to support the city in key areas such as tourism, events, culture and Shambles Market.”
Former Make It York managing director Sean Bullick left the organisation in March after two years as boss. The company has yet to announce his replacement.
The organisation was given a taxpayer-funded bailout by the council at the end of 2020.
Last month the council agreed to renew Make It York’s contract – but said it would be taking away some of its responsibilities.
The council will take over responsibility for inward investment – helping to bring new businesses to the city – and economic development, which aims to promote York as a business location.
Most businesses and organisations support the role of Make It York, according to a survey by the council, but some had concerns.
A report said: “It is clear that the company model is not well understood and that it is not perceived to be accountable and transparent.”
The critical audit report will be discussed at a council meeting on Wednesday.


text:
HAEM-MEDIATED DESTABILISATION OF HUMAN ALAS1 mRNA
Sadie J. Redding, AG Roberts and D Llewellyn
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology, Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK
Haem is the prosthetic moiety of numerous haemoproteins critical for the function of all aerobic cells. Its biosynthesis is a tightly controlled process since high intracellular haem concentrations are cytotoxic, whilst haem deficiency impedes the activity of essential haemoproteins. In the liver and probably all other non-erythroid cells, haem supply is regulated primarily through feedback regulation of the stability of the mRNA encoding aminolaevulinic acid synthase 1 (ALAS1), the first and rate-limiting enzyme in the haem biosynthetic pathway. However, the underlying mechanism is unknown and consequently our investigations have set out to determine exactly how haem regulates ALAS1 mRNA stability to control its own synthesis in non-erythroid cells.
The experimental approach to delineate the ALAS1 cis-acting element(s) has involved RT-PCRs and heterologous reporter gene assays to analyse the stability of ALAS1-fusion mRNAs in response to haem in the human HepG2 hepatoma cells. The data demonstrates that the sequences that confer haem-mediated instability reside within the ALAS1 mRNA coding region and translation through the coding region is required for haem-mediated destabilisation. A minor alternatively-spliced ALAS1 mRNA species is poorly translated and consequently resistant to haem-mediated decay. These results provide a basis for identifying both the cis- and trans-acting factors, and their interactions involved in haem-mediated instability of ALAS1 mRNA.

domain: biology


So I was reading over the docs on how to encrypt stuff https://docs.phalcon.io/en/3.3/crypt and also saw an example here on how to setup an encryption service. https://docs.phalcon.io/en/3.3/crypt#service.
I'm not in love (at all) with storing a global key in this manner. Just curious what others thing of my implementation.
So I have a key that I have stored encrypted in .phalcon/somekey.gpg. When the server starts up, (and memcached is started), I run this simple command to decrypt the key by entering a password I have in my head, set it to stdout store it in an environment variable, then store it in memcached.
$ ~ SOME_KEY=$(gpg -dq --no-symkey-cache .phalcon/somekey.gpg) php -r "\$m = new Memcached(); \$m->addServer('localhost', 11211); \$m->set('SOME_KEY', getenv('SOME_KEY'));"
Then in my
config.php file, I have a value for my key.
$m = new Memcached(); $m->addServer('localhost', 11211); return new \Phalcon\Config([ 'database' => [ // db stuff ], 'application' => [ // app stuff ], 'secret_key' => $m->get('SOME_KEY') ]);
Then in my crypt service, I reference
secret_key to be used. Thoughts? I'm trying to do what I can to prevent someone from gaining access somehow and then running
tar / to capture the key, and I'm not storing the key in the db, but in RAM. I'm also trying to do what I can to keep the key safe on the same server (instead of calling another server to do the encryption as that (I image) would cause a significant slowdown from making many calls within the model to decrypt all the fields individually.
Also curious on anyones thoughts on key rotation and how that would look in Phalcon? I have some models setup with
afterFetch() with automatically decrypting and encrypting variables so data is stored encrypted at rest, but also dynamically decrypted so I don't have to manually do it all the time. How would one go about rotating an encryption key on all the data that is at rest with the
afterFetch() events being set the way they are?


text:
All eyes turn to pro football on Super Bowl Sunday. More than 130 million viewers nationwide -- nearly 800 million around the world -- position themselves in front of television screens to watch the biggest single-day event in sports. Every pass,MoreAll eyes turn to pro football on Super Bowl Sunday. More than 130 million viewers nationwide -- nearly 800 million around the world -- position themselves in front of television screens to watch the biggest single-day event in sports.
Every pass, every run, and every tackle of the National Football Leagues championship game are captured by the cameras lens. Every statistical nuance is reported and dissected by the hundreds of media representatives assigned to cover the event. Far less understood is what transpires throughout the rest of the year to set the stage for the NFLs annual spectacle.
The NFL Experience takes you behind the scenes and into the inner sanctum of pro football from start to finish. Join veteran players and hopeful rookies toiling privately as they sweat their bodies into shape, and get an up-close look at exhausting, two-a-day practices as they compete for jobs in remote training camps. Ride a roller coaster of emotional ups and downs during the 16-game NFL schedule.
And feel the adrenaline rushes and bone-jarring collisions that define the do-or-die postseason. The NFL Experience, through words and pictures, captures the disparate elements, fascinating characters, and contrasting emotions that emerge as the NFL calendar unwinds and builds to a crescendo each season. This is a rare chance to observe the endless monotony of midsummer drills and the hair-raising excitement of game day, to relish in the joy of victory and understand the dejection that accompanies defeat.
You will see many of the same sights a player witnesses on the field, and be afforded an insight into the mind set that is required to play the game. Among the lessons shared are the words of former quarterback Boomer Esiason, who describes the role of the quarterback in the face of a fierce pass rush: Hes gotta hold the ball for a fraction longer, and when he throws it, hes gonna get hit underneath the chin. What the coaches are looking for is that guy whos going to stand in there and throw the ball accurately in the face of fire.
The NFL Experience is a unique insiders look at the faces of the men who play Americas favorite sport -- and a rare view of the long, winding path they travel to arrive at pro footballs defining moment.