text:
The Duterte administration’s chief economic manager has called on lawmakers to support temporary increased in pork imports at lower tariff rates to address the scarcity in the domestic supply of hog meat.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the lower import tariffs and higher the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) on pork will ensure that meat remains affordable to Filipino families already reeling from the economic impact of the pandemic.
Dominguez, chairman of President Duterte’s Economic Development Cluster (EDC), said their policy on pork importation went extensive deliberations and consultations among concerned agencies and the public.
He added they also considered all the tradeoffs in the cost benefit analysis done on pork imports.
In a letter addressed to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Dominguez said that as EDC chair, he was taking full responsibility for supporting and recommending that the President sign Executive Order (EO) No. 128, which temporarily modified the rates of pork import duties.
“I would like to take this opportunity to urge the Senate to support this measure so that some 100 million Filipinos who eat pork, especially the poor, will not be penalized by high food prices. If left unresolved, poverty and malnutrition will increase,” Dominguez said in his letter.
“Elevated pork prices will add another problem to households whose incomes have already been heavily strained by the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance chief said.
“With African Swine Fever (ASF) raging through farms for almost two years, data show that domestic supply will remain inadequate for the needs of consumers,” he added.
Pork prices in Metro Manila have already reached as high as P327 per kilo in March, which is 59 percent higher compared to last year.
In March 2021, meat inflation increased to 20.9 percent and was the top contributor to overall inflation of 1.4 percentage points, even higher than the one percent contribution to inflation of rice at the height of the 2018 rice crisis.
Dominguez said that to resolve the ASF crisis gripping the domestic hog industry, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has put in place several programs.
Among them, Dominguez said are repopulating the swine population, compensating producers for losses in culled hogs, and investing in long-term solutions to the problems of the swine industry.
He pointed out though, that these are medium-term and long-term solutions that will not immediately address the current price pressures affecting pork consumers.
Contrary to misperceptions, the DA does not intend to rely on importation alone to solve supply issues in the long haul, Dominguez said.
“Even with increased imports, a large part of domestic demand is expected to be covered by domestic production, which the DA will aggressively support with improved implementation of its hog production assistance and repopulation program,” he said.
Dominguez said the proposed pork import program will only cover 22.8 percent of total domestic consumption.
“The EDC fully understands that its ongoing efforts to support the domestic industry in overcoming ASF and other issues are critical,” he said.
Dominguez said the DA has been helping the hog industry recover since 2019 through various programs including.
“To allay the fears of our local hog raisers, the MAV Management Committee (MMC) can also issue additional rules and regulations for the MAV allocation to be subject to a quarterly review as an additional measure to avoid imported pork flooding the market and depressing local prices below profitable levels,” Dominguez said.
He said that to immediately address the needs of consumers, the EDC recommended as an emergency measure the temporary increase in the MAV and decrease in tariff rates, which will then be gradually adjusted upward and completely restored to original rates after 12 months. The move to recommend this emergency measure was not done overnight but underwent a series of executive actions beginning January this year, he said.


text:
Performance charts for iShares US Mortgage Backed Securities UCITS ETF (QDVP – Type ETF) including intraday, historical and comparison charts, technical analysis and trend lines.
In late September, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon walked into the. The Department of Justice trumpeted its settlement as a big step toward.. U.S. to pay $15 minimum per acre to farmers hurt by China trade war.
JPMorgan Chase Reaches Settlement With The President’s Task Force On Residential mortgage-backed securities november 19, 2013 JPMorgan Chase Reaches An Agreement With 21 Institutional Investors To Resolve Repurchase And Servicing Claims
Senators craft extended mortgage relief for military MBA economist sees home price recovery, but hurdles remain Trends that will drive the title business in 2018. HomeNews.. MBA’s Chief Economist and senior vice president for Research and Industry Technology.. With rising home values and a stronger.
Yet none of the acknowledgments by JPMorgan in that document hurt the bank. The wording of the settlement agreement was awkward at times, too. It said the Justice Department had investigated the.
Servicers Not Doing Enough for Troubled Borrowers, Consumer Group Says Consumer groups like the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) say Mulvaney aims to dismantle a unit that returned more than $750 million to student loan borrowers victimized by predatory practices.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s record $13 billion settlement with the U.S. government over past mortgage practices is undermining the current market, according to BlackRock Inc. .
Mortgage rumors: fannie mae and Principal Reductions. by Elizabeth K. from Holiday, FL and by Liz T. from NY, NY Ask Kate if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ever plan to grant principal reductions on behalf of underwater borrowers: As of February 2015, mortgage reductions for seriously underwater homes that are financed with money backed by Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FHMLC) have stubbornly.
March home sales increase in almost all metros: RE/MAX The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) gave back its entire March increase in April, falling to 95.5 from 101.1 one month earlier, the National Association of Realtorsreported Wednesday. The March index was revised downward from the originally reported 101.4, adding to the gloomy report.
The most notable news regarding the company recently was a potential $13 billion settlement with the U.S. Department for Justice for engaging in misleading practices in regard to mortgage-based.
· JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s record $13 billion settlement with the U.S. government over past mortgage practices is undermining the current market, according to BlackRock Inc. .
Nameless, formless crisis enveloping nation’s home price indices A "nameless, formless crisis" is enveloping the housing market. Home values in 25 major cities have fallen to the lowest level in eight years, according to the RPX Composite Index.. That’s a.
With the exception of BlackRock Index Services, LLC, who is an affiliate, BlackRock Investments, LLC is not affiliated with the companies listed above. Neither FTSE nor NAREIT makes any warranty regarding the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITS Index, FTSE NAREIT All Residential Capped Index or FTSE NAREIT All Mortgage Capped Index; all rights vest in NAREIT.
JPMorgan Chase looks set to leapfrog State Street to become the world’s No 2 custody bank after picking up $1tn of new assets from BlackRock. The mandate, one of the largest in the industry’s.

domain: news


BMW is recalling 7,600 of its 3 Series sedans for front-seat head restraints that can move downward more than the law allows when they are adjusted to the highest position.
Federal regs limit potential downward movement to 25 mm (just shy of an inch).
The recall covers 2012-model 3 Series cars built from last Oct. 19 through March 18 this year (your car’s build date is on the plate on the driver’s door opening).
If the head restraint is fully extended, it “may unexpectedly move down slightly” in a crash, increasing risk of injury, according to documents on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Owners will be notified this month. Dealers will put a clamp on the restraint to restrain its range of adjustment


text:
- Place where the work was made
New South Wales
- Media category
- Materials used
- charcoal, watercolour, gouache on ivory wove paper
- 68.2 x 94.2 cm sheet; 83.0 x 108.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "John Olsen/ 60".
- Gift of Terry Clune and the artist 1960
- Not on display
- Accession number
- © Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Artist information
Works in the collection
"If the bow is properly pulled a line will not only have a vitality of its own but will embrace the void of the paper. The line shall ask questions; push and pull me this way and that, find a force that will compliment or contrast. A good drawing is the reconciliation, a bad drawing is the waste of it". (John Olsen, quoted in Deborah Hart 'John Olsen – encounters with drawing', Sydney: Australian Galleries, 1987)
This drawing was made the year John Olsen returned to Sydney after a period living in rural Spain; he found the city an invigorating contrast to the culture in which he had immersed himself. Included among many distinctive characteristics he noted on his return was the quality of light, the energy of the people and the urban landscape. He made a number of exuberant, complex drawings and paintings at this time, expressing his imaginative response to the vitality of life in Sydney.
© Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004
Where the work was made
Shown in 7 exhibitions
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1960, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Mar 1961–23 Apr 1961
John Olsen retrospective (1991-92):
- National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne 01 Nov 1991–02 Feb 1992
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 08 May 1992–28 Jun 1992
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent:
Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s:
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
John Olsen: Goya's Dog:
- National Art School, Darlinghurst 11 Jun 2021–27 Nov 2021
- Ngununggula Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, Bowral 19 Mar 2022–15 May 2022
Referenced in 9 publications
Jean Campbell, Australian watercolour painters: 1780 to the present day, 'The 1950s and 1960s: Sydney and the abstract painters', pg. 198-213, Sydney, 1989, 211 (colour illus.).
Jean Campbell, Australian watercolour painters 1780-1980, Adelaide, 1983, 197 (colour illus.).
Dennis Colsey and Hal Missingham, One hundred years of Australian landscape painting: Art Gallery of New South Wales Travelling Art Exhibition 1968, Sydney, 1968, 27 (illus.). cat.no. 34
Deborah Hart, Brought to Light: Australian Art 1850–1965 from the Queensland Art Gallery collection, '"Come with me on this journey". John Olsen Journey into the You Beaut Country no. 2', pg. 280-285, Brisbane, 1998, 282.
Deborah Hart, John Olsen, Sydney, 1991, 56 (illus.). fig.no. 12
Hendrik Kolenberg, Twentieth century Australian watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1989. cat.no. 60
Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Sydney, 1995, 88-89 (colour illus.), 123. cat.no. 79
Barry Pearce and Haruo Arikawa, Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 154 (colour illus.). cat.no. 97
Virginia Spate, John Olsen, 'John Olsen', pg. 1-14, Melbourne, 1963, 9, 18, (illus.). plate no. 17
Other works by John Olsen
See all 131 works

domain: artistic


text:
Last year, diversified business Jumbo Group, which is the UAE’s leading distributor of IT and consumer electronics, launched a new business dedicated to 3D printing called Jumbo 3D Manufacturing. Now, the company is partnering up with Modern Bionic Limb Solutions (MOBILIS) Medical Manufacturing to enable 3D manufacturing in healthcare in the UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions.
“3D Manufacturing is transforming the world we live in – especially healthcare where its benefits are tremendous. Traditionally, most of the products are either manufactured manually or through machines, which takes a lot of time and drives up the cost. Our partnership with Mobilis will help reduce this substantially and improve patient outcomes,” Latik Gupta, Head of Jumbo Enterprise, stated in a press release sent to 3DPrint.com.
Together, the two companies will work to remotely 3D print prosthetic covers, hand and leg splints, sockets, orthotics, and other medical devices at the advanced Jumbo 3D Manufacturing development center in Jebel Ali, which was set up last year and uses HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, in addition to other 3D products focused on applications in the dental and medical sectors.
Jumbo 3D Manufacturing is aligned with the famous Dubai 3D Printing Strategy to help drive economic growth in the UAE, and the facility, which also includes finishing, post-processing, and painting equipment, has helped facilitate easy 3D printing adoption across the region for multiple applications.
“We are pleased to partner with a like-minded organization like Jumbo that is committed to improving the lives of people through technology,” said Makram and Sofyen Tebbi, the Orthotic and Prosthetic Specialists who established MOBILIS. “3D printing technology enables the creation of new designs which cannot be achieved through conventional methods. Jumbo’s use of HP Jet Fusion technology ensures that clients get the medical support they need when it comes to producing prosthetics and other devices, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with them.”
Dubai-based MOBILIS is a growing startup that manufactures and distributes high-quality custom orthotics, prosthetics, seating systems, and other solutions on-demand. The company actually created a smart factory concept in the UAE specifically for orthotics and prosthetics, which uses an assembly line model and was designed for one-flow manufacturing; it is supported by 3D printing, cloud computing, electronic data exchange technologies and electronic line assembly, and robotic manufacturing.
Prosthetics are a patient-specific product, which means that customizing these devices is important so individual patients can get the most out of them. Using 3D printing to fabricate prostheses and prosthetic implants makes the development process easier, shortens production time by 35% when compared to conventional methods, decreases how long the patient is in the operating room, and even improves their outcomes post-surgery.
Already, MOBILIS and Jumbo 3D Manufacturing have worked on 30 pilot cases and prototyping projects together. While it typically takes Jumbo somewhere between 20-30 hours to complete a case using traditional methods of manufacturing, 3D printing has helped bring that time down to just 12-16 hours. The company believes that 3D printing, especially in terms of scalability, has a bright future ahead in the GCC.
Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.
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domain: design


text:
Reading the City: Historians on Melbourne
Who better than historians to uncover the true identity of the city?
SBS-TV’s Sam Pang chair’s this backward-looking dig into Melbourne’s past with panel members Robyn Annear, Peter McPhee, Jane Rhodes and LM Robinson.
Sam Pang is a writer, presenter and broadcaster. His television credits include the hugely popular Santo, Sam and Ed’s Cup Fever and SBS’s coverage of The Eurovision Song Contest.
Best known for her books Bearbrass: Imagining Early Melbourne and A City Lost and Found: Whelan the Wrecker’s Melbourne, Robyn Annear is also the author of an unpublishable novel set in the city in 1893.
Peter McPhee is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, specialising in the social history of France since 1780.
Jane Rhodes works as the Assistant Exhibitions Coordinator for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
LM Robinson has worked as a tutor, university lecturer, freelance writer and teacher.

domain: library


text:
After practice on Saturday in Oakland, I saw RJ Hampshire and asked his status for the day. We knew RJ had crashed hard twice at the last 250SX West race in Anaheim, but few really knew how bad it was.
“Come on you don’t know?” asked Hampshire?
No sir, I did not.
He had successfully kept some serious injuries close to the vest. Hampshire has long been known as one of the toughest riders to ever line up, often coming back early from gnarly injuries. From a massive concussion years ago, to a three-month return from ACL surgery to a Pro Motocross moto win in 2020, to last year when he…when he fell down a hill at Hangtown and ended up getting stabbed by a stake way off the side of the track. After that one, he attempted to check himself out of the hospital in California and go straight to the next race at Thunder Valley! But no, that wasn’t allowed, so he waited one whole week and then raced the next one at High Point, where he placed 7th overall.
Hampshire is tough, but he doesn’t want that to be the story anymore. Finally, he explained how bad it was after Anaheim 2:
“No one really knew other than my team,” he said. “I separated my shoulder pretty bad at A2, thought that was it. Flew home, slept in my own bed Sunday night and wasn’t feeling right. Checked myself into the ER and had some internal bleeding that was feeling pretty bad. Got transferred and spent a night in the hospital and yeah, after that was pretty brutal. Couldn’t even sleep for a few nights. I’d go to bed and my body would be sweating, nonstop. Yeah, it looked like Oakland wasn’t even happening, but we did all we could and showed up tonight.
“I didn’t ride for two weeks, I didn’t even leave my house for a week. It was questionable if I was going to race, but on Monday I made the call, “Look, we’re going to go racing.” But Aldon [Baker, trainer] wasn’t really going to let me race unless I did a main event. So, I did one Tuesday and at the end of it I was pretty weak, but we got through it. I knew we needed to execute a start, but I knew I wouldn’t have 15 in me.”
Like Hampshire, fellow 250SX West contender Cameron McAdoo has a tough-guy rep, rooted in his go-for-it style by punctuated by his wild week in Atlanta a few years ago, when he went flipping under his motorcycle, but lined up for a red flag restart and salvaged points. A few weeks ago, a similar story, as McAdoo went down hard in Anaheim 2 practice and smashed his arm. He lined up for the Triple Crown and managed 8-7-5 scores for 6th overall.
Hampshire and McAdoo were back and podiumed at Oakland, taking second and third, respectively. Like Hampshire, McAdoo didn’t want that to be the story.
“It was obviously a long few weeks of getting my arm back to being healthy but I don’t want to highlight that,” he said. “I’m still struggling with that a little bit, but I was the third best guy tonight. I’m proud we were able to get me back healthy enough to race, but, yeah, we’re back up here, so it feels good.”
McAdoo wouldn’t quite let on how bad he’s hurting, but we did hear he had to have his arm drained four times during the three-week 250SX West break. He would only say that he’s still dealing “with stuff” but otherwise put the focus on the race. He got into a big battle for the podium with Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas rider Pierce Brown and ended it in a corner.
“It was one of those things we were going back and forth [in the whoops], jumping or skimming,” said McAdoo. “I usually skim as long as I possibly can. Yeah, he got me in the turn before and I think I kinda ran him high after in the turn before the dragon’s back. I assumed he went down because I didn’t hear him behind me after that. Yeah, that’s about all that happened.”
McAdoo held on to finish third.
Hampshire, meanwhile, started the race up front. Oddly, that’s actually not what he had in mind.
“Of course, you always want to get a good start but tonight I almost actually was really hoping I didn’t get the holeshot,” Hampshire said. “Just because I knew it was going to be a tough main event for me with the way I felt. But I ripped the holeshot. I felt pretty good, but I knew I didn’t have that for the whole 15. I just went into that rut, caught a rock and there went my front. Just had to reset after that. Clicked it off and did what I could.”
After the race, both Hampshire and McAdoo were laboring pretty hard. Hampshire was in some real pain, with tape holding his separated shoulder down, and a big chest protector under his jersey to protect those sensitive internals. But that was the end of that. Now, the focus goes back to somehow trying to challenge Jett Lawrence for this title.
“It’s time to start winning,” said McAdoo. “Our season is nine rounds, pretty short. Got to close that gap to the front.”
“Yeah, what Cam said, we both want to be better, and I think we both can be,” said Hampshire. “Jett’s got us on speed right now and A2, yeah, that hurt us pretty bad. I think this four-week break, hopefully we can come back in Seattle and have a little more fight in us.”

domain: sports


text:
After hair transplant, when is it OK to cut hair?
Doctor Answers 3
After 4 weeks it should be ok to cut your hair but if you are concerned it is always a good idea to contact your doctor.
When is it OK to cut hair
you may cut hair or get any serve from hair dresser. After 4 weeks it does not affect hair viability at all ..
Hair cut after hair transplant
You might also like...
These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.

domain: medical


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Contact us today to learn more about our airboats.


text:
September 27th, 2021 | Newbie gains
Really into swimming these last few days. Trying to hit the triathlon distance of 2km. Initially, I thought it would be easy. "2km? Come on, I have ran a marathon. And I regularly run 10km and it's so easy." Around a week ago I went to the sea to give it a try. The beach here is coincidentally exactly 2km from end to end. I start from the one end of the beach and I'm ready to see how far I can go. I'm curious. And... 150 meters was all I could do. What the fuck man. Swimming is hard. I went back home and started researching online. "Ok, I'm doing every basic mistake in the world." Corrected my swimming technique. Ordered better swimming trunks and goggles. Saw a fuckton of youtube videos on triathlons and open water swimming. This was my progression over the last week: - 150 meters - 200 meters - 200 meters - 300 meters - 1,000 meters Seems like I'm making newbie gains!

domain: hobby


■ Wide application scope and approved by CE,ETL
Apply to household, commercial and industrial air-conditioning , floor heating for the room , domestic hot water and comprehensive energy demand application site, the best choice for public places hot and cold applications demand, and got the CE,ETL certificates.
■ Patent product with Multi-usage function
multi-function patent with five modes : air heating, air cooling, domestic hot water, air heating &domestic hot water at the same time, air cooling+ domestic hot water at the same time.
■ High efficiency and energy saving
Using energy efficient scroll compressors and 2 plate heat exchanger to improve energy efficiency. When it is cooling + hot water, the COP will be more than 6.
■ Three-core design
Heat pump, electric auxiliary heat and solar heater integrated together (optional), super energy, which can meet all-weather hot water supply
■ Advanced water technology control
. WILO water pump built-inside, protect operating, with automatically filling water and water level control, automatically water pressure test and pressurize control,
■ Direct heating and Circulate thermal insulation
Tap water is one-time heated directly up to 55℃, when stop using water in a long time and the water temperature drops, unit will heat circle for thermal insulation automatically.
■ Integrated design, multiple protections. and reliable
Integration design, system sealed welding completely, built-in Multiple protections.
■ Quiet running
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Using a touch screen, dot matrix LCD display control, rolling language menu, easy to operate. Parametric design, display and monitor the unit operational status
■ Working environment
can be used at anywhere and anytime, no matter weather, ambient temperature, day or night .
□ Function with hot water only/ cooling or heating / multi-function with available hot water and cooling at the same time for option .
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Product Specification / Models
Geothermal ground source heat pump
Floor heating,hot water,cooling,heating
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widely used for room radiant,floor heating,schools,factories,apartments,sauna，SPA association,beauty salon,fitness center,gueshouse,hotel,senior resiential,swimming pool,fams,etc.
Macon Cooling & Heating Energy-Saving Equipment Co., Ltd is 6-year specialized supplier of air source /ground source/ double source heat pump,obtained 3 patent of invention and established OEM business relationships with lots of overseas enterprises.


text:
Author's knitted plush toy made of yarn animal coloring. Filler hollofayber. Fashionable tiger cat Neo in scarf, it is a lovely toy for children 0 and older. Cute gift to baby. Funny little animal Tiger cat.
How to keep
Delivery on agreement
Ask the seller for more details on shipping before making a purchase


text:
T H A N K G O D !
Books have their dedications, this is my THANKSGIVING…
I am GRATEFUL to:
Andy Seltzer and his beautiful wife Wendy: Thank you for a decade of positive psychology. You inspire me to “exit through the gift shop.”
Anthony, Anthony & Steve, MMI: Thanks guys!
Anton Domansky: Thank you for inspiring “Dancing Bug” in word and soul.
Antonis: Thank you for waiting on me.
Andrew Paulus: Thank you for Amigo.
Arlene Uss, Director, Center for Early Care & Education, Bank Street: Thank you for approving my application and sharing your enthusiasm, when I needed it the most.
BUBALA: Thank you for Bubalaing me, and suggesting I take care of my husbands first wife, ME.
Charlie’s, West 169th St, NYC- Thank you for inspiring me. I needed a new place.
C. Kneller: Thanks anyway. I decided to live off my own trust fund; I trust God and it’s FUN!
Cheryll Y Greene: Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs,…It was “dole” that did it for me! Thank you for being my instructor and editor.
CONNIE: Thank you for being my “otherMother,” my fan, my encouragement, motivation and the kick in the ass to get out there.
Danny Rhodes: Thank you for being in my corner. Still.
David Beyda, www.DavidBeyda.com: Thank you for all the fun photography. I can picture it.
Diana Nazar: Thank you for inspiring a sense of art & community…and suggesting I write “Peace, Love and Lasagna”
Dr. Alain Buttler: Thank you for operating on my heart. You are an astounding surgeon, but it’s never to late to be a rock star, or goat farmer and purveyor of goat cheese. Your articulacy is unmatched.
Ester Olvera: Thank you for supporting my interest in poetry and co-faciitatiing our Poetry Workshop. You are sweeter than sugar. I am deeply grateful for your sincerity.
Florence: You say “oddest” I say “artist”. Thanks.
G o d : Thank you for guiding me, leading me, and saving me, and inspiring me and helping me, and saving me again, and reassuring me, and blessing me and….
Gramps: Tinkering on your computer…you advised me to do the same. I suppose I started writing when you became my pen pal. Now that you’ve passed to Heaven, my pen is my pal! And, thanks for suggesting I quit biting my nails too- red polish looks much better on the keyboard. Thank you.
Henry Gerard Clark: Thank you for my desk. You inspired my “Dr. Barista” pasquinade.
Mallone, James: You saved my home, built my studio and taught me how to paint. If it wasn’t for your Mother’s down south, home-made, crushed pecan, chocolate frosting, chocolate cake—I probably wouldn’t have had the energy to write, anything. I am so thankful to be blessed by both of you.
Jason J Cross: Thank you for calling my Christian radio station “graveyard music”! I’m so thankful, you like it now too!!
Jean-Giovanni -Battista: I’d rather be cutting hair with you. And tell Ann Marie, I said thank you for tips-tips! And, please thank your Mom and Dad- you and your family loved me through college.
Linda Aksomitis: Thank you for the CyberWelcome to becoming a Netizen, and for sharing your CyberKnowledge.
Marc Micali: Thank you for always forgiving me when I never return your calls. I don’t talk much on the phone, that’s why I think I have some things to write about!
M i k e C u r r y : Thanks for being my BIKE PAL, inspiring me to
edit finish, “Dr. Barista”, thank you for embracing my frugalista, and thank you for sharing your BRILLIANT writing with me.
Mike Fitelson, Associate Publisher, ManhattanTimes: Thank you for publishing my first story, and remembering me for the other work I do.
Mommasitta: Thank you for being my biggest fan, my only fan, and my best fan!
Monk: Thanks to you.
Mother Theresa: Thank you
NARRATIVE WRITING FRIENDS: Thank you for your supportive listening, inspiration, and ideas! I am grateful you shared your art, pain, writing and joys. Thank you for being my role-models & mentors, I aspire to be…and I write thanks to all of you. http://www.narrativemedicine.org/
NYC: I love New York. And New York loves me back! Thank You
Niecy T’s: Thank you for departing from heaven to be my sweet, sweet nieces. You inspire my silly songs…and my imagination…
Nick Yayger: Thank you for doing my laundry. I’d rather write than clean!
Notastarvingwriter.wordpress.com: reallyrandomraymond, thank you for being the first blogger to like my blog!
PS 5 Head Start: Vanessa, Maria, Margenys; Rommy, Mayra, Luz; Marinela, Yvette, Rosa; Ms. K, Carmensitta, Jackie; Rosario, Roberto, Maribel, Daisy, Alida, Vicky, Josette, all the parents & every child Muchas Gracias!
Reverend Jack Bomar & http://www.unitedpalacecathedral.org/http://www.revike.org & Thank you for validating the TRUTH: Jesus came so that we may have LIFE! And have it more ABUNDANTLY! Thank you for sharing RICH thoughts and paths to PROSPERITY....
Robert Friedman, http://www.drumming-event.com, – we work to the beat of our own drum. Thanks.
RON: Thank you for all the reminders of a good God! Bananas, oranges, chocolate at 3:30- the constant help cleaning up my constant mess and most importantly the List. Thank you for sending Marilyn Monroe to whisper in my ear.
SIMON, Forever Simon Jeweler, NYC: I’ve got “rocks in my head, thanks to you!”
Sistersita: Thank you for leading the way to going away, grad school, NYC and…?
St. Teresa of Avila & St Theresa of Lisieux: Thank you…
Tanya: www.TanyaTorres.com: Your art inspires mine. Thank you, for being my ANGEL…
teamCONTINUUM: Thank you for your generous donations, sponsoring “INSPIRATION” and supporting Narrative Medicne- you have helped heal my heart and move forward in life. I am truly honored. And a thank you to anyone and everyone who runs, works, writes, anything in the effort to fundraise for teamCONTINUUM. It helped me. I have a new life, thanks to you.
Tommy: Thankx for the exchange of slang
Victoria Sherrow, www.ChildrensInstitute.com: Thank you for being my editor when I did not have a computer, my work was late and all I could do was try.
www.girlfriendsinGod.com: Thank you for the divine, virtual friendship & support.
www.theartistsway.com, Julia Cameron; Thank you for introducing me God as Artist. The Great Creator. Not by brain, but by spirit.
www.UptownWriters.com, Kathleen Crisci & Sarah Durham; Andrea, Barry, Don, Donetta, Javier, Lara, Pam, Peter, Rachel, Rita… Thank you for sharing your ideas & editing. I learned how to be a writer from you.
“ZELLY” – http://www.milliontreesnyc.org: Thanks a million! You have domesticated me— adopting a tree! Everyone in NYC could have a tree, like you. Thank you for stewarding me.

domain: literature


This video depicts how used game trading will work on the PlayStation 4.
Basically, it’s going to work exactly how it has for years, unlike the Xbox One, which features an over complicated account locking content system, publisher optional used game blocking and online DRM checks.
Sony is known for creating hilarious “console war” style advertisements, but this one has to be the best they’ve put out in a very long time.
Two Sony execs taking a direct shot at Microsoft? It really doesn’t get much better than this when it comes to marketing. There really is no way for Microsoft to respond to this.
Follow me on Twitter: @Patrick_ORourke.


“…almost nine out of 10 people aged 20-29 have no will in place according to research by the financial adviser comparison site unbiased.co.uk”
“…almost two-thirds of 40-49 year olds and 60 percent of 50- 59 year olds have no will – so if they died now, they would die intestate, which means that their wealth would be dispersed according to state rules.”
According to Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk. ‘We confirmed that people really do want to ensure their loved ones are taken care of after they’ve gone – but that most aren’t doing anything about this.’ (Source: Moneywise)
These findings, reported in Solicitors for the Elderly magazine, indicate that many people don’t understand what will happen if they die without a will.
For guidance, help and a cost effective personal will service please contact


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Partnership with a brand that is trusted globally by millions of consumers.
A unique partnership that guarantees success
Benecol is the only brand in its class available for licensing. Together with its partners, Raisio has launched Benecol in nearly 30 countries on four continents since 1995. If you enter into partnership with Raisio, you will get access to the knowledge and key insights of the cholesterol-lowering category. We will share our expertise, practical tools and materials in the fields of consumer and health care professional marketing, product development, science and both regulatory and clinical studies.
The Benecol partnership model is unique; Benecol partners from around the world gather together yearly to share best practices and learn from each other.
Profitable business with loyal consumers
Partnership with Raisio delivers value added products for your own market that offer clear and proven health benefits to consumers. The cholesterol-lowering business is based on consumer need; consumers seeking to lower their cholesterol tend to be loyal, and they will pay a premium price to get an effective cholesterol-lowering benefit by dietary means.
A brand that is globally trusted by millions of consumers
Benecol is an expert brand in cholesterol lowering which is why millions of consumers around the world trust Benecol every day. Benecol is a benefit brand, and the cholesterol-lowering ingredient in Benecol foods and dietary supplements, Plant stanol ester, can be added to a large variety of products. With Raisio’s help, you can develop cholesterol-lowering products that are right for your market.
Launching the cholesterol-lowering Benecol brand on your market will improve your brand image, as consumers and investors will see that you are a responsible company that has a desire to contribute to the country’s wellbeing.
Plant Stanol ester: a unique cholesterol-lowering ingredient with proven efficacy
All Benecol products contain Plant stanol ester as their active ingredient. The efficacy of Plant stanol ester has been proven in over 70 clinical trials around the world. Plant stanol ester has also been proven effective in many kinds of food products and for different groups of people.
Plant stanol ester works by safely blocking the uptake of cholesterol from the digestive tract. This means that far less cholesterol gets into the blood, leading to a significant reduction in blood cholesterol levels. The results can be seen in just two weeks and will be maintained if Benecol products are consumed on a daily basis.
Plant stanol ester has been endorsed by food safety authorities in Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Russia, and it has received Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the USA. In addition to this, Benecol products have been on the market since 1995 with no reports of adverse effects.
Plant stanol ester is one of the few ingredients that have received approval from the European Commission to make disease-reducing health claims of lowering the risk of heart diseases.
One of the greatest discoveries in nutrition during the last 30 years
The safe health benefits of Benecol products have been recognized by the scientific community and expert bodies globally.
In 2009, Plant stanol ester was identified as one of the ten greatest discoveries in nutrition, by a panel of leading international nutritionists. The review, published in the “European Journal of Clinical Nutrition” , chose the top nutrition discoveries over the last 30 years based on solid research data.
Plant stanol ester is also recommended by numerous expert bodies, such as the American Heart Association, the International Atherosclerosis Society, the Australian Heart Foundation and the American Diabetes Association. It is also approved by food safety authorities, such as the US Food and Drug Administration.
1Katan et al. (2009), Which are the greatest recent discoveries and the greatest challenges in Nutrition? European Journal Clinical Nutrition, vol. 63, pp. 2-10 (Available at: www.nature.com/ejcn)
An ingredient that is easy to add to different food products and dietary supplements
Plant stanol ester, the unique cholesterol-lowering ingredient in Benecol products, is made from plant stanols and vegetable oil extracts. The resulting ingredient has a smoother texture and no discernable flavour or odour, making it ideal for adding to a wide range of foods, beverages and dietary supplements.
The technical properties of Plant stanol ester are
- Tasteless and odourless
- Kosher and halal certified

domain: food


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USI jewelry instructor Jane Case Vickers will teach the art of glass enameling on copper. Students will start off creating sample tiles to experiment with color and move on to using more advanced enameling techniques such as stenciling and sgraffito. Watercolor enamels and stamp enameling with embossing ink also will be covered. Glass enamel powders and metal will be supplied. We will end with a mini critique of each other’s work. Students may bring the following optional supplies: a few favorite stamps, a pad of embossing ink, pencil, highlighter, small watercolor brushes.
Dates & Times: Friday, August 3, 6 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, August 4, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: Sarah Campbell Blaffer Potter’s House
Registration Fee: $200


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|Born||Ronald Sydney Embleton|
6 October 1930
|Died||13 February 1988 (aged 57)|
|Oh, Wicked Wanda!|
Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 – 13 February 1988) was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada and the USA. He was a member of the London Sketch Club and the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, and in 1960 was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
Following Embleton's death at age 57, his obituary in The Times described him as "responsible for some of the finest full-colour adventure series in modern British comics ... a grandmaster of his art." David Ashford and Norman Wright, writing in Book and Magazine Collector (March 2002), note that "his work for such diverse periodicals as Express Weekly, TV Century 21, Princess, Boys' World, and Look and Learn have earned him the respect of every practitioner in the field and the gratitude of all of us who admire the art of the comic strip."
His younger brother is fellow illustrator and comics artist Gerry Embleton.
Embleton (who, in his early career, simply signed his work "Ron") was born in London and submitted his first cartoon at the age of nine and, aged 12, won a national poster competition. He trained at the South East Essex Technical College and School of Art, where his tutors included David Bomberg, who would prove a great influence on Embleton's subsequent work as a painter of both figures and landscapes.
On the completion of his training he worked in a commercial studio for six months, during which time he began freelancing comic strips to independent publishers. "Ron" was beginning to establish himself when Embleton turned 18 and was called up for his National Service, during which time he served in south-east Asia during the Malayan Emergency.
In 1950, Embleton returned to freelancing, setting up a studio with a schoolfriend, Terry Patrick, and James Bleach, whom Patrick knew from life-drawing classes. The three quickly established themselves with various independent publishers — Scion, TV Boardman, Norman Light, DCMT and others — and Embleton also began contributing to Amalgamated Press's Comet, Comic Cuts, Cowboy Comics, and Super Detective Library.
Embleton's finest work during this period was for Mickey Mouse Weekly where he drew Rogers' Rangers (1953), Strongbow the Mighty (1954–57) and Don o' the Drums (1957), and Express Weekly, where he took over the artwork (and subsequently the scripting) of Wulf the Briton. It was on the latter that he developed his techniques for working in colour, creating over 300 pages of meticulously painted artwork during his four-year run on the strip (1956–60).
His fascination with historical characters and settings served him well with later strips, Wrath of the Gods (Boys' World, 1963) and 'Johnny Frog' (Eagle, 1964), although Embleton was equally at home with contemporary adventure strips (Biggles, TV Express, 1960) and science fiction: his artwork for Stingray in TV Century 21 led to the show's creator, Gerry Anderson, inviting Embleton to provide artwork to grace the closing credits of his new show, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. His ten paintings depicted Captain Scarlet in various states of peril and appeared under the closing credits at the end of every episode. After shooting they were stored in producer Reg Hill's safe where they remained in perfect condition for more than thirty years. In 2003, all ten works were sold by Reg Hill's estate at Christie's auction house in South Kensington, fetching between £2,500 and £3,500 each. Shortly afterward, publisher Iconagraph produced limited-edition versions of the art, each signed by Francis Matthews, the voice of Captain Scarlet.
In the 1960s, Embleton was also a prolific contributor to Look and Learn, producing illustrations for numerous series, including The Bath Road (1962), Pioneers Across the Atlantic (1962), The Travels of Marco Polo (1964), Men of the Jolly Roger (1965), Rogers' Rangers (1970) and Legends of the Rhineland (1972–73) amongst others; in 1969, Embleton illustrated a fill-in story in the long-running Trigan Empire strip. During this period, Embleton also provided illustrations for titles aimed at younger children, amongst them Playhour, Once Upon a Time, The Storyteller, and numerous books.
In 1971, he became a frequent contributor to IPC's World of Wonder magazine, a similar publication to Look and Learn which also relied on painted illustrations by a roster of British artists. Embleton provided artwork for long-running features such as Men of Waterloo (1971), Ships of the Seven Seas (1971), The Winning of the West (1972) and Mutiny! (1972), as well as contributing a number of cover paintings (issues 118, 124 and 131). Late in 1973, he returned to World of Wonder to illustrate an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was the increasing demand for his comic work that led Embleton to largely cease exhibiting his oil paintings at around this time.
During the late 1970s, Embleton was commissioned by This England magazine to draw what became a total of forty-three characters from Dickens and the Classics which were published quarterly throughout the 1980s. All these coloured illustrations in large A2 format are now in private ownership.
As well as providing illustrations for historical books and prints, Embleton spent much of the remainder of his career illustrating full-colour comic strips for Penthouse. Oh, Wicked Wanda! (1973–80) was written by British author Frederic Mullally and poked fun at politics and sexual mores; it was followed by Sweet Chastity, written by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione.
Embleton died of a heart attack at his home in Bournemouth on 13 February 1988. As well as The Times, obituaries appeared in a number of other national newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, the latter noting that whilst Embleton was "internationally famous"' for his Penthouse comic strip, "he was also a fine illustrator whose penchant for historical accuracy and detail went beyond mere craft". In The Guardian he was lauded as "a comic strip artist of extraordinary energy and versatility, so wide-ranging in what he did that he might seem on the face of it to have straddled the void —or pit — which [George] Orwell saw gaping between the "gentle" English tales and the sadomasochistic "Yank mags" in the famous essay on Boys' Weeklies."


Presenter: Jim Brady
A web application load test performed correctly can be a valuable tool for identifying bottlenecks, determining resource consumption levels, and quantifying system capacity. One done incorrectly is revealed as a waste of time and effort when the system under test (SUT) goes live with completely different performance characteristics than the load test indicated. One problem with load test quality, almost always overlooked, is the potential for the load generator’s user thread pool to sync up and dispatch queries in bunches rather than independently from each other like real users initiate their requests. A spiky launch pattern mischaracterizes workload flow as well as yields erroneous application response time statistics. This talk describes what a real user request timing pattern looks like, illustrates how to identify it in the load generation environment, and exercises a free downloadable tool which measures how well the load generator is mimicking the timing pattern of real web user requests.
Most web application load testing professionals assume their load generator’s virtual user thread pool precisely mimics the request timing that a comparable set of real users produce. However, a traffic generator is one computer initiating web requests with a large fixed set of user threads operating in closed loops while real users each have their own computing device and make queries independently from each other as a dynamically changing subset of a larger population. The simulator’s heavier workload, the think time method it uses, and the feedback produced by its fixed closed loops may cause the user thread pool to sink up and offer unrealistic surges of traffic to the SUT. Few practitioners think about user thread synchronization, and those that do find the problem difficult to quantify when it occurs. This talk describes the request pattern produced by real users and provides a measurement methodology for evaluating request pattern quality. The approach taken is illustrated with a free downloadable tool I developed: the web-generator-toolkit. It can be found at Dr. Neil Gunther’s GitHub location: github.com/DrQz/web-generator-toolkit.
We plan a set of approximately 15 Microsoft PowerPoint slides as a medium for presenting the material and, although this topic involves some queueing theory concepts, no complex or subtle equations are planned. We use intuitively appealing illustrations subsidized with a few simple algebraic expressions. Presentation flow:
1. Real User vs Virtual User Request Timing – The differences between Real Users vs Virtual Users (load generator user threads) as described above are illustrated pictorially with contrasting images of how each makes web requests to a server.
2. Request Timing Illustration – A simple timeline with independent (real user) query start times marked is used to illustrate that the number of queries per fixed time interval is Poisson distributed and time intervals between queries are Negative-Exponentially distributed. Histograms, not equations, are used to show these “Poisson Process” attributes.
3. Request Timing Simulation – Given these basic ideas, the results of a simulation consisting of two-hundred independent start times drawn across a one-thousand second time interval are shown. Again, histograms summarize the results and highlight the fact that for the Poisson distributed start times per fixed interval their mean number equals its variance and for the Negative-Exponentially distributed time intervals between start times the mean time interval equals its standard-deviation.
4. Request Timing Evaluation – These statistical properties of real user requests are exploited to evaluate request timing pattern quality. The Negative-Exponential’s properties are chosen because its time interval between events statistic is more straight forward to compute than the Poisson’s count per fixed (arbitrarily long) interval numbers. Given the fact that the Coefficient of Variation (CoV) is defined as the ratio of the standard-deviation to the mean, the following guiding principle is stated when deciding if the load generator is producing “Real Web User Request Timing.” To determine if the load generator is creating web requests independently from each other like real users, sort the launch times in ascending order, calculate their differences, and compute the CoV of those differences. If the CoV is approximately equal to one, CoV ~ 1.0, real user request timing is being produced. If the CoV > 1.0 requests are being launched in bunches and if the CoV < 1.0 they are too evenly spaced. Note: the web-generator-toolkit performs this calculation and generates a time interval between requests report containing the CoV statistic.
5. Load Generator Launch Time Distortions – Armed with this guiding principle and the tools for its implementation, we take a look at some of the ways launch time distortions can occur focusing on three of the most common situations where time interval between requests CoV > 1.0. The three listed in the introduction expanded upon here are heavy workload, think time method used, and closed loop feedback.
6. Heavy Workload – We use a diagram to show that under heavy load there can be a significant amount of launch time bunching caused by the large number of user threads sharing processor execution resources. That diagram also illustrates that when a user thread’s think time expires it does not execute immediately, but waits in a queue at its assigned priority before launching its query.
7. Think Time Method Used – The think time method used can also be a source of launch time distortion. The choice that usually causes this problem is fixed think times because, under those conditions, user threads are more likely to queue up and cluster behind the long response time events. Drawing think times from a probability distribution reduces the severity of this lining up behind the long latency tasks in the test suite situation. In fact, the desired independent request times can be drawn using any probability distribution if the number of user threads is sufficiently large. This “Principle of Superposition” is symbolized with a diagram showing multiple Uniform distributions from which think times are drawn for individual user threads that produce a Negative-Exponential distribution of time intervals between requests for the thread pool. Uniformly distributed think times are used in the example load test as well.
8. Closed Loop Feedback – A lower percentage of think time in the closed loop’s round-trip time (think time + response time) lessens the think time probability distribution’s ability to maintain the desired asynchronous user thread pool with time interval between requests CoV ~ 1.0. This is because response times are primarily composed of time in the SUT which can vary widely across the set of web events being tested. Applying data from the example load test discussed in number 9 to 12 below, a pie chart is created to show how large the response time percent of round trip time needs to be before a time interval between requests CoV > 1.0 is produced.
9. Example Load Test – The load test included with the web-generator-toolkit is used as the example for this talk. The toolkit documentation shows the practitioner how to set the load generator’s (JMeter is used) data collection options, what test run output reports contain, and which report provides the time interval between requests CoV information. Seven test runs are performed at increasing traffic levels using two-hundred user threads for all tests. Load is increased from test to test by reducing the mean think time of the Uniform distribution used. This testing setup is intended to answer the question; â€œHow many user threads does it take for the time intervals between requests to become statistically independent from each other, CoV ~ 1.0, when each thread is drawing its think times from a Uniform distribution.â€ It also shows under what circumstances the CoV diverges, CoV > 1.0, as the user thread count increases.
10. Load Test Description and Results â€“ Images are shown that contain a tabular list of web events being tested, a topological layout of the test environment, and a JMeter testing script snapshot. A summary of results table is also provided that includes think times used, request rate achieved, and response time observed for the seven tests performed. Network link latency is not a significant factor in any of the tests performed.
11. The Number of User Threads Required for CoV ~ 1.0 â€“ Two tables and corresponding graphs are provided which show convergence of time interval between requests CoV ~ 1.0 as a function of thread count. The first table/graph combination illustrates convergence to CoV ~ 1.0 for the lowest traffic volume test with time interval between requests mean, standard-deviation, and CoV included in the table. The second table/graph pairing contains just the CoV values as a function of user thread count for all seven tests. This table and graph show a divergence away from CoV ~ 1.0 for the two highest traffic volume tests where response time is a large percent of round trip time.
12. Closed Loop Feedback Issues and Nuances â€“ the divergent situation for the highest traffic volume test is analyzed in detail with a bar chart and table that show this test has the largest response time percentage of round trip time across all the tests as well as a â€œresponse time CoVâ€ (as opposed to a time interval between requests CoV) that is significantly greater than 1.0. This large response time CoV indicates wide variability associated with time in the SUT across the set of web events being tested that is adding to the divergent situation. The last column of this table shows that the number of user threads can be computed by multiplying the request rate by the mean round trip time. This calculation can also be used to estimate number of real active users supported if the userâ€™s web page rate is substituted for the load generatorâ€™s GET/POST request rate.
13. Summary â€“ Some summary remarks and insights gained are listed including an observation that the divergent case, CoV > 1.0, raises an important question. How robust is the pure virtual user model so many load testing professionals rely on when request independence is such an important factor in the real world? Unfortunately, few practitioners are aware of the time interval between requests CoV and how significant it is for determining the quality of traffic produced by the load generator. Reporting time interval between requests CoV as a standard metric in load test results would add significant credibility to the effort and if the CoV ~ 1.0 the test results are much more likely to match live application performance.
About the Presenter
Worked for 40 years in the telecommunications and computer industries for GTE, Tandem Computers, Siemens, and am currently the Computer Capacity Planner for the State of Nevada. At GTE I applied my skills to both Data Center Capacity Planning and Digital Switching Traffic Capacity determination. While at Siemens I obtained EU and US patents for a traffic overload control mechanism used in an Advanced Intelligent Network platform and a VoIP switch. State of Nevada responsibilities include Capacity Planning for the IBM Mainframe, a large virtualized Unix environment, and the State’s data network. In addition, I load test new and existing web applications and am the author of several Computer Measurement Group (CMG) technical papers regarding load testing techniques and system performance data analysis methods. I hold BS and MS degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University.


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Kenya – The unholy alliance
We have eleven months until Kenya’s General elections, but given the height of politics in the country, one would think the polls are tomorrow. As the hour cometh, we will be treated to theatrics as politicians rush for gold (votes). We are likely to see coalitions of convenience emerge, as noted with the grand coalition bringing the orange democratic party members together with Hon Raila Odinga as the flag bearer (if others concede).
And as coalitions go, do keep an eye on the 3rd and most sensible coalition of former UNCTAD boss Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi with Makueni Governor Kibutha Kibwana ( known for his stellar management of Makueni county), former Justice Minister under Kibaki’s administration and Narc Flag bearer Hon. Martha Karua. This coalition has notable Mount Kenya leaders, Hon Ndiritu Muriithi ( Governor Laikipia County), CS Peter Munya Minister Agriculture and Livestock and Hon Justin Muturi (Speaker National Assembly).
Politics & Pulpit
With public rallies restricted, funerals and churches have become the new battlefield for politicians. Hefty cash donations to churches and the clergy secures the best pew in church or a speaking slot at a funeral. This unfortunate trend shows money, ethnicity and religion are still important in Kenya’s politics. The last time the church meddled in Kenya’s politics did not end well, remember 2007/2008 elections which were followed by the worst post election clashes resulting in over a million displaced and 1300 and more killed. Many Kenyans will never forget the deaths of innocent children and women who sought refuge in Kiambaa church (Eldoret) only to be burned alive as locals watched. The church was so compromised having been in bed with politicians and could not intervene. The catholic and Anglican church leaders have warned politicians to keep off the pulpits but the popular evangelical church which has a large following in Kenya has welcomed the politicians with open arms, they are raking in cash promising politicians blessings and prayers for ‘God loves a cheerful and generous giver’. The Deputy President has the 1st seat in these churches based on his donations’ records.
The battle for Mr Kenya Votes
With 6 million votes, Mt Kenya is a key region in determining the next President for Kenya. The gloves are off and despite intervention by the State House to unite the region and consolidate the votes, politicians allied to the Deputy President are not holding back. The fallout by the president and his number 2 ( whatever happened to these two?) only yesterday they were dressed in coordinated suits and ties, holding hands to meetings) seems to work in favour of the deputy for now. The hustler movement with its bottom up economic policy and what has become famously known as the ‘wheelbarromics’ seems to be attracting sympathy votes from Mt Kenya and elsewhere. If he can secure the 6 million votes here (impossible), however a split Mt Kenya vote is good enough for the Deputy. This and the Rift Valley bloc vote is an indication that a likelihood of a Ruto presidency is more likely.
What are his policies going to look like? Will he be able to address the issues of graft ? The deputy President is famously known for his role in the Y2K92, a youth wing of the Kanu Party under the late President Moi, who is his political father, one would guess that his politics/policies are to be influenced by Moi’s. I could be wrong but if this be the case, as one prominent politician told me, ‘Kenyans will be lining up in Kakuma camp’.
Will Ruto, Uhuru and even Raila ever reconcile? When maybe hard to predict but certainly yes. Both Uhuru and Raila believe or not are more focused on legacies and the unity of the nation and if working with Ruto brings that, then they will. Didn’t the two (Uhuru and Ruto ) come together in 2013 ( united by the ICC case) ?. In politics there are no permanent friends.Uganda
The region and the entire international community has moved on, forgetting Uganda’s elections which were marred with allegations of rigging and voter intimidation and Yoweri is back courting the west particularly as he knows very well where his bread is buttered. His move to give 2000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban a home in Uganda augers well with both the European Union and America. He is also busy playing the regional kingmaker ( recently hosted Kenya’s deputy on a private visit), he also has been called to support IGAD as they struggle to make sense in the South Sudan crisis. Given the weak opposition, Museveni is stronger politically today than he ever was. After losing the support of the Catholic conservatives and the Kingdom of Buganda (Central Uganda). Museveni’s new found territory is the Northern and Eastern Parts of the country. The appointment of Jacob Oulanyah as the speaker of the National Parliament ( Northerner) and Deputy President Jessica Alupo (From the Eastern region) further confirms efforts by M7 to cement the support of these regions. For businesses, opportunities in the Agriculture, manufacturing and services sector await, these are some of the fastest growing regions and after years of war, the locals are tired and are ready to ‘live’. The outlook for the business environment is positive despite a decline in the PMI (last 3 months) which is partly due to lockdown prompting businesses to scale back on employment and purchasing activity.One drawback however, is the rising insecurity, kidnappings, murders have been on the rise. Areas most affected are Masaka ( area between Mbarara and Kampala). Worth noting this is Baganda territory that voted overwhelmingly for the opposition.
And the Nobel peace Prize recipients call citizens to arms against the TPLF.
The Ethiopian crisis is escalating and diplomats and expats in Addis Ababa and beyond are beginning to feel the effect of this war; water shortages, internet outages and poor access to healthcare as hospitals are full to capacity, increasing numbers of civilians – death, sexual violence, illegal detentions, documented hunger and the outflow of refugees to neighbouring Sudan and Djibouti cannot be ignored. Prompted by the alliance between the Tigray forces and the Oromo Liberation forces, who vowed to work together against Ethiopia’s military, PM Abiy held a national address to ask all Ethiopians who were able to join in the war to protect their nation. Ethiopians in the Diaspora allied to the administration have been fundraising towards the grand renaissance dam.
Response from the business community in Addis Ababa has been muted. Citing intolerable environment, South African telecom MTN confirmed it would not participate in the second round of Ethiopia Telecom Licence. The situation in the capital remains stable for now but if the Tigray crisis continues, businesses will struggle to operate.
Writing an open letter to the PM Abiy and TPLF, 50 African intellectuals from Africa and the diaspora are demanding an end to the war. Familiar and notable Kenyans in this African list include Kenya’s economist David Ndee, Maina Kiai ( former
- Maina Kiai, Former Chair, Kenya National Human Rights Commission, Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
- Willy Mutunga, Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Kenya 3. Makau Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor, SUNY Buffalo Law School


|one of us|
I have listed on eBay UK an early Colt Manual for the 1911 plus, with it, some other manuals or leaflets on early Colt pistols and a Browning 1910. I'd estimate they date from before 1919? As on one it is stamped for an address the gunmaker Linsley Brothers of Leeds, Yorkshire occupied from 1900 to 1919.
Search eBay UK on item number 143656975187 or search using words Colt 1911 .45 Government. Listing ends Sunday 19 July 2020. I am happy to send those items in that listing to the USA. The card that says Oyster is a London Underground travel pass of credit card size for size comparison.
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Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia


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Police: Couple offer children rides, candy
Adel police warn of a couple in a minivan offering rides home and free candy to children.
The van was spotted Tuesday at the corner of North 14th and Grove Street in Adel around 5 p.m.
There, an 11-year-old boy was approached by the couple, refused the offer and ran to tell his mother who later called the police.
Police say the van may have been spotted in the Waukee area an hour and a half later around 6:30 p.m.
They spoke with two young girls about the couple, but it is uncertain if they had contact with the same van.


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Former Bigg Boss contestant and Naagin actor Aashka Goradia has officially resigned from acting for a while. Yes, the actress will no longer be seen in any television show now. In a recent interview with ETimes, she said that entrepreneurship is a path that she has always wanted to pursue. She added that business is in her blood. Adding to this, she said that acting happened by chance and she got along with it. She shared that she was only 16 when she moved to Mumbai and started acting. However, this virus for business has always been in her blood. She said that acting, for now, is going on a break as she wants to pursue her other dream.
Naagin Actor Aashka Goradia Quits Acting | Set to Explore Another Career
She said, “Of course. What is a story without ups and downs and what’s lifewithout good and bad days? It’s the low points that teach you a lot, they are your biggest teachers in life. I was someone who couldn’t sit at home, who wanted to constantly be working, sometimes due to responsibilities, many times because I was a workaholic. But in recent years, I learnt to divert my energies towards what really matters. I learnt to be patient, to not always expect, to continue working — not with the motive to stay busy, but rather to create something bigger.”
She was also asked if she would take up acting after some time. To this, Aashka said that she is unsure if she would return or not. She is relying on time to answer this. However, she knows that she will not take up any acting projects in the future.
She added yoga that was re-introduced in her life by her husband, Brent Goble. Yoga brought a different kind of peace in her life.
Stay tuned to Bollywood Hush!


Heavy snow caused trees and power lines to come down in many neighborhoods.
A large tree was blocking Peter Cheeseman Road in Sicklerville, Camden County where power was also out early Thursday.
Huge tree down along Peter Cheeseman Road in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. Use caution as you leave your neighborhood. pic.twitter.com/RpncZv4nmm— Gray Hall (@GrayHall6abc) March 22, 2018
Officers were directing traffic as crews worked quickly to get power back up and running.
Not far away, along Brantley Way, the Action Cam captured another smaller tree down.
Atlantic City Electric is reporting around 50,000 customers - mostly in Gloucester, Cumberland, and Salem counties - are without power as of Thursday morning.
"Our entire Emergency Response Organization has been mobilized with all company resources dedicated to restoring service for customers as safely and efficiently as possible. To report an outage or downed wire, call 1-800-833-7476," Atlantic City Electric tweeted Wednesday night.
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Small-pox is an epidemic which isvery'old, extending back into the past as far as the records of history, but in no century has it ever been known to be worse, or more fatal, than in the seventeenth, after the thirty years war in Europe there seemed to be no stopping its ravages. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, an Eng lish lady learned that the Asiatic tribes inoculated themselves with Small-pox virus with a view to escape the disfiguring of their faces from pitting; and the inoculation with Small-pox virus soon became inaugurated in Britain. But the con sequences resulting from it were of such a char acter, that it soon came to be considered as a dangerous proceeding. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Jenner introduced vaccination substituting cow-pox lymph for human Small-pox lymph. Since that time, which is nearly one hundred years, vaccination has been the only preventive known, and has been most thoroughly employed. But notwithstanding, Small-pox makes its appearance, and at the present time is very.
|Category||Health and Fitness|

domain: history


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The 52nd Regimental String Band will play period music and call dances at the Target Jefferson Civil War Ball on May 6, 2017 at the Diamond Don Event Center located at Diamond Don RV Park, 1602 State Hwy 49 East; Jefferson, TX. The Saturday evening ball, 7:00pm-11:00pm, is open to the public ($10 cover charge) and reenactors (included in registration).
Formed in 1990 and based in Memphis, TN, the 52nd Regimental String Band has provided Civil War era music and entertainment to audiences from Iowa to Georgia and Virginia to Louisiana. Dressing in reproduction Civil War era clothes, these talented re-enactors use “period type” instruments and vocals to perform a variety of songs of the 19th century including military songs, parlor songs and minstrel songs. The band has an experienced dance caller to instruct guests in period dances. They are known as “The Most Entertaining Dance Band in Civil War Re-enacting.”
The 52nd Regimental String Band is a very talented group…
(To continue reading this article, please contact us today for a print or email subscription to the Jefferson Jimplecute! — (903) 665-2462, JIMPLECUTE1848@GMAIL.COM)


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Join Couchsurfing to see rory’s full profile. It’s free!
I'm an illustrator and 3d artist currently roaming around and looking for somewhere nice to stay.
I like to find cool places to hangout and draw and meet new people and creators. Seeing as much live music while travelling as my budget will allow.
vegetarian with no known allergies. suffers migraines. otherwise healthy.
Why I’m on Couchsurfing
Staying with people is always nice and a good chance to learn things about where im staying.
- red wine
- video games
- board games
- tabletop rpgs
Music, Movies, and Books
Last gig: Unleash the Archers in Edinburgh
Next gig: ideally beck in melbourne if i can afford it.
Just finished Reaper Man by Terry Pratchet and currently playing Oracle of Seasons.
Will talk about star trek alot if prompted.
One Amazing Thing I’ve Done
I have seen a man decide the new York public library was the best bathroom he'd seen all day and children sniffing the road in toronto.
Teach, Learn, Share
I will teach you to draw. If you want.
What I Can Share with Hosts
drawing, music. wine.
Countries I’ve Visited
Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States


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is encouraging to see more books (either fictional or non-fictional) being written about the Acadians and their lives and way of life before and after 1755. That was the year of “Le Grand Dérangement” when they were the victims of … Continue reading
Mi’kmaq Elder Daniel Paul is an outspoken champion for First Nations People. His first book, We Were Not the Savages, is now in its third edition.
Chief Lightning Bolt is Mr Paul’s first foray into fictional history and is … Continue reading
was by sheer happenstance that I came across Rick Revelle and his two historical novels: I am Algonquin and Algonquin Springs (2013 and 2015, Dundurn Press). I was in Kingston (Ontario) visiting family when an article in that day’s edition … Continue reading
Kingston (Ontario) area author Rick Revelle has authored two books now in his Algonquin Quest series, I am Algonquin (2013, Dundurn Press) and Algonquin Spring (2015, Dundurn Press). While they are in the Young Adult (YA) genre, they are very … Continue reading


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Forged in the fires of dial-up internet, Stan took an early shine to digital video. Below are some examples of video production work from his career.
Newgrounds Winter Festival Opening Animation
Directed, storyboarded and edited by Stan, this animation was created for the opening ceremonies of the Newgrounds Winter Festival 2022. Featuring 28 artists and animators, this production highlights the spirit of the Newgrounds community.
Stanpai Channel Sizzle Reel
A sizzle trailer for the Stanpai Youtube Channel featuring various snippets from his video catalogue.
Stan is also available to produce original promotional content, assets and more for your brand. Below you can find some examples.
Custom Event Labels Promotional Video
A promotional video for Custom Event Labels, LLC.
Video production & VO Narration by Stan.
Senpai Sim-Date: Forever With You
An experimental video designed from the ground up to resemble a dating sim video game from the 90s. Directed, edited and produced by Stan, all visual assets in this video are 100% original.
See credits for more information.
Stanpai JJBA Video Bumper
Stanpai Springtime Special "Loading Screen"
If you would like to reach out to Stan for video production work, please visit the CONTACT page.
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It’s with a certain level of excitement we announce that our Three Kings House located beside the Houhora Harbour in Northland was ArchiPro’s April Project of the Month.
Project Video by ArchiPro
Watch the interview with Alan Simpkin and take a tour of the Three Kings House with him below.
Being An ArchiPro Project of the Month
Every year, the team at ArchiPro select 12 special residential architecture projects around New Zealand to feature per month in their ‘Project of the Month’ feature. This is used as a feature to showcase the products and services used in a stunning house design, digging into the ‘who did what’ and ‘who supplied what’ of the project.
Products & Professionals Used
As with all substantial house builds, there’s a number of key professionals involved in ensuring the design is constructed just right. See below a list of (some) of the products and professionals used in the Three Kings House.
Cladding, Tiles, Flooring, Paint: Jacobsen
Photography: Mark Scowen
Kitchen Designer: AVEORA Design Studio
Louvre Roof: Louvretec
Roofing: Metalcraft Metdek 500
Roofer: Rogers & Rogers
Plumbing: Kaitaia Plumbing
Low E Double Glazing: Metro Glass
Switches: PDL by Schneider
Stair Handrail Brackets: Halliday & Baillie
Garage Door: Glideaway Doors
Appliances (some): Gaggenau
Fireplace: Stoke, Escea
Outdoor Grill: Warmington
Pool: Stonecraft NZ


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Adobe in partnership with HackerRank recently concluded one of the largest hackathons for young developers and programmers in India till date. The event witnessed massive participation with over 8,000 programmers registering for the event from top colleges across the nation. The closely-fought competition saw Harshil Shah from IIT Indore crowned champion winning a cash prize of 1.5 lakh followed by Anurag Anand from IIT Kharagpur in second place and Utkarsh Saxena from IIT-Indore third respectively.
With an increasing number of Hackathons being conducted online, global technology giants like Adobe, are able to identify potential world class coders from India and around the world while contributing to the development of a rich learning environment that challenge passionate young and upcoming professionals to grow and develop the skills needed to help build successful careers in the IT industry “By creating an online, efficient and fast process of coding evaluation, HackerRank has simplified the talent identification process for large organizations enabling them to save significant costs and resources. HackerRank is also providing opportunities to coders at different locations in India to compete on a common platform, increasing their competitiveness and coding skillsets”, says Harishankaran Karunanidhi, co-founder, HackerRank.
Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources India, Adobe stated, “Adobe’s focus on creating world class digital experiences are driven by the creativity and innovation that our young technology professionals bring to the table. Hackathons such as these, not only offer students an opportunity to be a part of this process but also provides aspiring developers and programmers the ideal platform to test their skills against their peers. We are thrilled with the overwhelming response for the event and hope to continue to provide students in India with similar platforms to enhance their skills.”
The contest saw participation from 16 IITs, including IIT Roorkee wherein 272 students participated, followed by IIT Bhubaneswar, registering 263 participants from the college. Overall the event witnessed participation from over 260 colleges pan India.
HackerRank, through their coding community has been helping to bridge the gap between organizations and top tech talent talent. With over a million programmers in the community, companies often partner with HackerRank as they see this as an opportunity to showcase their technology capabilities in front of an eager, competitive programming crowd as well as to attract the best upcoming talent.


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The middle ground between ASRock’s Taichi and Taichi Ultimate isn’t a Taichi at all! We put its Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 to the test!
It’s not cheap and it’s designed for expanded onboard storage plus overclocking. But the Maximus XI Gene packs a lot of new and interesting features.
One of the pieces of the puzzle that often gets overlooked when building or buying a new PC is the chipset. We compared Intel's Z390 and AMD's X470.
The Ultimate version of ASRock’s Z390 Taichi adds 10GbE without taking away any of the cheaper version’s integrated networking. Is it worth the cash?
The idea of jamming a HEDT Threadripper CPU into the compact ASRock X399M Taichi seems strange. But we found value and opportunity with this mATX board.
The ROG Maximus XI Hero targets the gaming crowd with its high price and overclocking capability, but can it match any of its rivals in value?
Need a feature-packed AM4 motherboard? For Cyber Monday, Amazon has MSI's X470 Gaming Plus marked down to $94.99.
The X399 Phantom Gaming 6 is the first AMD motherboard to come out of ASRock's Phantom gaming sub-brand.
Designed for connectivity and productivity, can the inconspicuous Desginare match its flashier gaming-themed rivals in performance, overclocking, and value?
According to a new DigiTimes report, Intel is expected to cut its desktop CPU shipments by two million units in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Asus CEO Jerry Shen says the company has seen shipments to the builder community, including motherboards, impacted by Intel's current CPU supply status.
ASRock’s latest Mini ITX motherboard takes on ATX rivals in features, price, performance, and efficiency. It's an exceptional compact board for an Intel build.
Can Super Micro pack the hot new LGA 1151 Core i9 into Mini ITX without doubling down on the “hot” part? We find out!
Gigabyte revealed the new X299-WU8 server motherboard for use with Intel's 7th and 9th generation processors.
With aggressive style and enhanced features (including a 10Gb NIC), can the ASRock X399 Professional Gaming pull gamers into the Threadripper fold?
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Javier Zanetti has been around the block a little. He's witnessed up close and personal some of the biggest and best that the Beautiful Game has to offer. Serie A titles, Champions League finals, and two World Cups. He's seen it all.
In a 22-year career, the Argentinian made 815 appearances for Inter Milan, a record for a non-Italian, and captained the Nerazzurri to Champions League glory in 2010.
"The ball can go in or miss by a centimetre. So often luck can change the fate of a club and a player." - Gennaro Gattuso
But, for all his success and individual accolades, one game in particular stands out above all the rest. And it ended in defeat.
"I remember when the referee blew his whistle, I began to cry," he says. "Because it was a game my team-mates and I felt deeply."
The game he's referring to is, of course, Inter Milan's Champions League semi-final defeat against fierce rivals AC Milan in 2003. Zanetti, alongside his opponent that day Genarro Gattuso, has been reliving that fateful night at the San Siro as part of Sony Xperia's superb "Road to Milan: Milan Rivalries" film.
Check out two of the games' greatest legends discussing one of the most memorable Champions League moments ever below.

domain: game


Fast growing Chinese firm, Xiaomi, has announced the launch date of its upcoming Xiaomi Mi Max Phablet.
During an event at the Beijing National Convention Centre, Xiaomi announced that the anticipated phablet will be launched on the 10th of May 2016. The firm added that tickets for the event are available for interested Mi fans.
‘Xiaomi Max’ was first heard of when Xiaomi ran a poll in its home country, asking its fans and users what the name of its next smartphone should be.
Out of the four options available to users, ‘Xiaomi Max’ received the highest number of votes.
According to a leaked image from KKJ.CN (pictured below) the unannounced Xiaomi Max phablet will sport a design similar to the company’s Mi 5 flagship.
Much like the Xiaomi Mi 5, the Mi Max features a home button on which a fingerprint scanner is expected to be integrated.
Apart from the front panel, the rear camera setup on the Xiaomi Mi Max phablet also looked identical to the Mi 5.
The Xiaomi Mi Max in addition has been spotted on a GFXBench listing ahead of the May 10 launch event.
The listing revealed several details of the upcoming phablet including the presence of a fingerprint sensor.
The handset is expected to feature an ample 6.4 inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) full IPS HD display. It will run Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with MIUI 7 on top.
An hexa-Core Snapdragon 650 (4x 1.4GHz ARM A53 + 2 x 1.8 GHz ARM A72) 64-bit processor accompanied by Adreno 510 GPU will power the Xiaomi Mi Max according to the listing.
The listing added that the Xiaomi Mi Max phablet will come in two variants. There’ll be a 2GB RAM with 16GB internal storage model and a 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage model.
Users will be able to expand the internal storage of both variants via a microSD card. In addition to this, there’ll be a 16MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash on the device with a 5MP camera embedded in front for selfies.
Connectivity options on the device include 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4 / 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS + Glonass.
Battery life is still a mystery, but it could pack a huge 5000mAh battery and Xiaomi Mi Max is likely to come with a fingerprint sensor on the back.


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The European Union has regularly expressed concerns about the radical labour reforms Ukraine has been trying to implement since 2020, openDemocracy has revealed. The controversial reforms seek to deregulate what the Ukrainian government considers the outsized role of trade unions in the workplace and excessive red tape on hiring, firing and management. But briefings dating from before and after the Russian invasion show the EU has urged the government to conduct reforms in line with international labour standards and in consultation with trade unions.
European Commission documents obtained through freedom-of-information arrangements expose an apparent divergence between Ukraine’s reforms and the EU’s ‘social market economy’. The findings come as Ukraine seeks to adapt its legislation to EU regulations as part of its candidacy and existing association agreement—a political, trade and economic reform deal designed to bring the country closer to EU standards.
But Ukraine’s homegrown reforms—which are separate from the EU harmonisation process—have been criticised by European and Ukrainian trade unions for breaching workplace conventions set by the International Labour Organization as well as European labour norms. ‘The Ukrainian authorities have made persistent attacks on trade union rights and sought to write them and workers out of the reform process,’ said Jan Willem Goudriaan, general secretary of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU).
Taking advantage of the war
According to a report prepared for a key EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on February 3rd, Ukraine’s legislation on socio-economic reform is at an ‘early stage’. Experts say the government is taking advantage of the war to pass otherwise difficult legislation dating from 2020 and 2021.
The country is currently under martial law, meaning protest is forbidden. But behind the scenes, EU officials have sounded a critical note on Ukraine’s proposals. Ahead of a high-level meeting to discuss the EU-Ukraine association agreement in 2021, officials were briefed to ‘urge Ukraine to ensure’ that the country’s labour-law reforms were ‘conducted with respect to social dialogue’ and in line with ILO conventions.
That meeting followed months of increasing tension between trade unions and the Ukrainian government in 2020 over a proposed new ‘Law on Labour’ which made a radical break from social-dialogue. After large-scale trade union protests, the draft law was dropped. But the draft law has since been put back on the table, as the government in Kyiv and the ruling Servant of the People party have pushed ahead with labour and social-policy reforms amid Russia’s invasion, which has put unprecedented pressure on the Ukrainian economy and state finances.
Other measures passed by the Ukrainian government in the past year include the introduction of zero-hours contracts and a wartime suspension of collective agreements between employers and trade unions. Parliament has also passed powers permitting the state to confiscate trade union property—despite the fact that the ILO is overseeing two complaints over disputed union property.
One new labour law, first mooted in 2021 and passed by parliament in July 2022 and signed into law in the following months, has come under particular criticism. It provides a ‘parallel regime’ for Ukraine’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—which employ up to 70 per cent of the country’s workforce—to the national labour code, allowing them to use minimal employment contracts which treat employees and employers as ‘equal sides’ during negotiations.
The law also permits ‘at-will termination’ of employment and the ‘unilateral change by the employer of essential terms and conditions’—both of which breach ILO conventions and EU directives, according to a joint EU-ILO project. A last-minute change, brought about amid pressure from national and international unions, means the legislation, which was drafted without union input, is applicable only during wartime.
Lyubomyr Chorniy, a consultant who was an expert contributor to the law, said the extreme pressures of Russia’s invasion on Ukrainian businesses had made it possible to pass the law: ‘It seems to me there is a window of opportunity now. It’s very difficult for business at the moment.’ To give business ‘some kind of break, there was this idea to pass this draft law’. Chorniy argued that the law actually gave workers at Ukrainian SMEs more—not less—protection over their working hours, rest breaks, overtime and prompt payment of wages, by bringing more people into official employment, and bypassed ‘unjustified’ bureaucracy for employers.
Some Ukrainian politicians have been dismissive of what they see as overregulation of the country’s workplaces—even if regulation is part of the country’s international commitments, as with ILO conventions. Halyna Tretiakova, a Servant of the People MP and head of the parliamentary committee on social policy, has criticised the ILO, claiming its focus on collective rights is a barrier to Ukrainians striking over individual employment agreements, preventing the protection of their employment rights through more flexible means. The United Nations agency, Tretiakova said on February 15th, was ‘pushing the dying theories of Marx and Lenin’ on to Ukraine.


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Gaps in bus laws are safety risk
State inspections on 'honor system'
By R. G. Dunlopand, Peter Smith
Gaps in federal and state regulations could be putting bus passengers at risk.
Although buses are required by state and federal law to undergo annual inspections, for instance, no proof of inspection is required at registration, The Courier-Journal has found.
And it was a Louisville church bus with no record of ever being inspected that was responsible for sickening half a dozen children earlier this month. Emergency workers said the children suffered symptoms consistent with carbon-monoxide poisoning.
In addition, neither the state nor the federal government tracks the number of privately owned buses in Kentucky that need inspections or whether they are being inspected, the paper found.
The result is that a bus that does not undergo an inspection or fails is unlikely to be caught unless it has a chance roadside encounter with law enforcement, a random safety audit or a complaint.
"As far as state inspection is concerned, it's basically an honor system," said Maj. Glynn Powers of the Kentucky Department of Vehicle Enforcement. "We can't go behind these vehicles to make sure they got the inspection done. There's a whole lot more buses than there are of us."
• Judge orders church not to alter bus until investigators check it [7.20.06]
• Church's use of bus investigated [7.19.06]
• Lax again on bus safety [7.16.06]
• 1st on bus to fall ill just start of woes [7.16.06]
• Church's bus fleet overdue for inspection [7.14.06]
• Bus with sick kids had safety violations [7.13.06]
• 7 children on church bus fall ill during trip [7.11.06]

domain: law


Washington Sundar breaks Suresh Raina's long-standing record with his unbeaten 37 in 1st ODI vs NZ
India is taking on New Zealand in the first ODI of the three-match series at Eden Park, Auckland. It was Kane Williamson who won the toss and decided to bowl first. India got off to a fast start, with both openers contributing 100+ runs together.
Both Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill added 124 runs for the opening stand and also scored their respective fifties. Gill made his 4th ODI half-century and scored 50 off 65, while Dhawan made his 39th ODI fifty and scored 72 off 77 balls.
After the first-wicket partnership was broken, India lost another three wickets quickly. But then, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson added a 94-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take India past the 250-run mark. Samson got out for 36 off 38, which brought spin all-rounder Washington Sundar onto the crease.
Then he, along with Iyer, started playing some shots. Iyer maintained his ODI form, scoring his 13th ODI half-century and sixth 50-plus score in the last eight ODIs before being dismissed for 80 runs off 76 balls.
But in the end, it was the cameo from Sundar that helped India pass the 300-run mark. At one time, India was looking to get to 280 runs. But Sundar played some really good knock and made an unbeaten 37 runs off just 16 balls, with three boundaries and three sixes.
Sundar's blistering cameo also broke the long-standing record of former Indian star Suresh Raina for the fastest 30-plus score by an Indian on New Zealand soil. Raina batted for 19 balls and 38 runs in the third ODI in 2009, with a strike rate of 211.11.
While Sundar also went past the legendary Indian all-rounder and 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev's record of 206.25 strike rate in 1992.
After his knock, Sundar said, "It really worked today, it was great to get some runs. I have to let my instincts go through, I also plans my shots, there's a program. It's important to get the timing right, along with the power."


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I am not just your wedding photographer, I am also your boutonniere pinner, bobby pin replacer, dress bustler, schedule keeper, veil remover, nerve soother, tie straightener, flyaway fixer, family wrangler, garter/bouquet coordinator, cake cutting expert, sparkler/bubble instructor, and smile producer. And I love being every single one of those things for my brides.
Your wedding day is such an important day in your life, it’s the day you will commit yourself to the person you love more than anyone else in this world. And on that day, you are surrounded by your closest family and friends. I believe that your photographer should be included in that group. They should be one of your friends, someone you completely trust and want by your side all day. And like every good friend, they will make you laugh, keep you looking good, and help you when you need it.
So, hi! My name is Ashley McCormick and I am a wedding photographer. I am twenty-seven years old and have been married to my best friend, Zachary, for seven years now. We live in the tiny town of Mt. Dora with our three slightly deranged (and fuzzy) kitties.
I have an obsession with sushi, statement necklaces, stripes and my iPhone. I read design blogs like its my job, and because of that, I am forever redecorating our house. I was born on New Year’s Eve and I’ve played the piano since I was five years old; I am currently trying to memorize some John Mayer (my favorite). I adore traveling and always have, and sometimes my job even allows me to do that (see below!). I absolutely love my job and I am so glad that I get to do something I truly enjoy on a daily basis. My clients are incredible people who have become close friends, and I am so honored that they have trusted me to document such important events in their lives.
Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope to hear from you soon!
Ashley McCormick Photography is based in Central Florida and is available for travel nationally and internationally. She has photographed weddings in the following locations outside of Central Florida: New York City, Washington DC, Miami, Pittsburgh PA, Auburn AL, Charlotte NC, Nashville TN, Vermont, Savannah GA, Little Rock AR, Richmond VA, Macon GA, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Miami FL. Ashley McCormick has also been published in Southern Weddings magazine and has been featured on sites such as Weddings Unveiled, Southern Weddings, Glamour & Grace and Every Last Detail.