text:
Crypto is a topic that polarises. People tend to have strong feelings about the nascent industry, either proclaiming it the future of finance, or else slamming it as hype — or worse.
Indeed, some pundits even experience an inner struggle when it comes to their feelings about cryptocurrency and/or the blockchain. “My rational self says that most people neither know nor care about crypto,” says Ammar Akhtar, founder of Shoreditch-based fintech start-up Yobota. “My idealist self is passionate about crypto as a force to drive fundamental change.”
When it comes to the impact of crypto on the bank account specifically, it is even harder to find consensus. The big banks, which began ploughing resource into blockchain labs and crypto research teams a few years ago, seem to be pulling back (all save the traders, who enjoy speculating on the volatile currencies).
“My rational self says that most people neither know nor care about crypto. My idealist self is passionate about crypto as a force to drive fundamental change.”
According to Akhtar, this is because crypto and traditional finance are uncomfortable bedfellows for two main reasons. “Most banks operate in silos with a high degree of privacy,” he explains. “Rightfully so: it’s people’s money and they want a high level of privacy. But if you think about blockchain and the distributed ledger, it requires lot of anonymised participants to agree that transactions have taken place and open up the process. It’s a completely different mindset and the infrastructure itself is incompatible with traditional banking systems.
“It also takes an arbitrary amount of time for cryptocurrency transactions — especially bitcoin — to be processed,” he continues. “ Does anyone really want to pay for a cup of tea and then four hours later be called back because the payment didn’t clear for whatever reason?”
Bitcoin, the most well known of the blockchain technologies, has achieved widespread renown because of the meteoric rise in its value since its inception in 2009 — yet the average man on the street is unlikely to own the cryptocurrency or have any idea how to get one. Yet there must be some people frequenting all the bitcoin ATMs that cropping up all over the place. There are now more than 3,000 worldwide, up from 1,000 at the start of 2017.
Over the years, many respected business leaders — from Bill Gates to Richard Branson — have commented on the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency to bring about revolution. Yet these technologies remain on the fringes of the finance world. Stripe, the payments processor, stopped allowing bitcoin transactions earlier this year, and you still can’t pay with cryptocurrencies in most major retailers — or even on the biggest e-commerce platforms.
Insiders from the crypto industry argue that this is symptomatic of crypto being in its infancy — any new technology takes a while to mature and become mainstream.
According to Kevin Murcko, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinMetro, change is round the corner. He claims that cryptocurrencies are now being embraced by the new wave of banking start-ups as a point of difference with the old guard.
“The ability to trade and exchange cryptocurrency is already a core feature of one popular app-based challenger bank,” he says. “I think it’s likely that in the coming years — for fear of being left behind — we’ll see other challenger banks, and indeed, well-known high-street banks, following suit.”
George Bevis, the founder of challenger bank Tide, has a different opinion. “Cryptocurrencies definitely won’t be around by 2030,” he says. “Crypto has had 10 years to prove itself and no one’s using it for anything except money laundering and speculation.”
His comment shows that cryptocurrencies have two major problems right now. The first is price volatility. If you look at the price performance of bitcoin over the past year, the stalagmitic graph shows that, after hitting a peak of $20,000 at Christmas, bitcoin’s value has sunk to $6,479 at time of writing.
The second problem is one of reputation. The irony of this is probably not lost on Satoshi Nakamoto, the quasi-mythical founder of bitcoin, who invented the currency as a reaction to widespread mistrust of fiat currencies and the financial establishment.
Nakamoto is quoted as saying: “The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts.”
Yet repeated hacks and ICO scams have marred the cryptocurrency industry in recent years, prompting many finance pundits to dismiss it completely.
Lord Adair Turner, former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, now adviser to new small business bank OakNorth, comments: “When I look at bitcoin, it is two things — neither of which the world needs. It’s an arbitrary store of value. Its price is what people think it is at that time but it has no economic function.
“Separately, bitcoin allows the anonymity of a store of value within the digital space. You don’t see who owns the coin. That’s fine but what is the social impact of having that? The only people who want an anonymous store of digital value are criminals, tax avoiders, terrorists and criminals. I’m perfectly happy to have a traceable store of value because I pay my taxes and I’m not a terrorist. These crypto currencies aren’t adding anything to society. They are interesting as a technology but that doesn’t make them useful. I don’t think that cryptocurrency will transform our economy.”
Yet the success of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies does not depend on the faith and support of the establishment. On the contrary, these technological treasures were created to circumvent the existing financial system entirely.
Future generations may decide to dodge having a bank account altogether, opting instead for crypto wallets, where they can accept and send payments, safe in the knowledge that no bank is tapping their balance and making money out of their savings. But the pace of change will be slow — possibly much slower than our time horizon of 2030.
Most people are very risk-averse when it comes to their money, after all. As Yobota’s Akhtar notes: “If all your money was suddenly turned into cryptographic hashes and you were told it was only stored in a digital wallet on your phone, you’d probably be horrified.”
Adam Ludwin, founder of San Francisco firm Chain, which builds cryptographic ledgers for the financial industry, argues that the moniker “cryptocurrency” is a fallacy because technologies like bitcoin aren’t comparable to the pound, euro or yen. He says that cryptocurrencies are, in fact, an entirely new asset class.
“Crypto assets are a new asset class that enable decentralized applications,” he explains. “A decentralized application is a way to create a service that no single entity operates. [It] allows you to do something you can already do today (like payments) but without a trusted central party.”
Ludwin believes that the potential applications of this powerful technology have yet to be realised — mostly because we’ve all been so distracted by the crazy values realised by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and all the noise around hacks and scams.
Antony Jenkins, former Barclays boss, now founder of fintech start-up 10x, agrees that crypto has not yet had its day. He says: “I suspect that many of these new cryptocurrencies will not exist in their current formats in future, but it is not inconceivable to me that we will see a V2 or V3 of crypto having significant impact on the world, especially in international payments, and through the internet of things, which may require machines to pay each other for services without human interference.”
Blockchain, despite being the foundation of cryptocurrency, needs to be treated as a separate phenomenon. For the uninitiated, think of blockchain — also called the distributed ledger — as a virtual whiteboard that stretches into infinity, on which every transaction is noted — albeit with the data totally anonymised — in indelible ink.
Over the past decade, blockchain has been hailed as a revolutionary technology that could disrupt every industry. But that revolution hasn’t quite materialised yet. According to Lord Turner, this may be because it hasn’t been applied in the right way yet.
“Blockchain technologies are useful for achieving assurance about who counterparties are and how they transact in a way that is safe and double-checks the integrity of your counterparty,” he explains. “This technology is likely to significantly reduce transaction costs in payments and trading. However, one mustn’t overstate how important that is in the bank payments space.
“For most individuals, their payments are provided for free as a by-product of the bank account. If you are an SME sending £1,000 to a supplier in France, you get charged £25 for the payment, which is not insignificant. But new players now move that money for £1 instead of £25, removing that charge without blockchain. And now HSBC is saying it won’t charge anything for international transfers. People like to talk about how they are getting ripped off of transfers but when you run the figures they are not huge.”
CoinMetro’s Murcko believes that the application for blockchain extends beyond transfers, however. “Regulators are now seeing that transaction monitoring on the blockchain is far more substantial than with traditional payments,” he says. “Thus, in the future, they may actually push banks to utilise blockchain in their payment infrastructures.”
One of the standout case studies is Etch, a new payments system that allows companies to pay their staff as they work, through the use of crypto tokens. The system plugs into the existing payroll network, and allows employers to release a steady trickle of wages to its staff.
Over the past few months, we have been on the hunt for companies that are using crypto or blockchain as part of a radical new business model that improves on the existing bank account model. The catch is that it must have widespread appeal and a clear business case — beyond altruism, worthy though the endeavour may be.
One of the standout case studies is Etch, a new payments system that allows companies to pay their staff as they work, through the use of crypto tokens. Founder Euros Evans explains that the system plugs into the existing payroll network, and allows employers to release a steady trickle of wages to its staff. “You can come in on a Monday with a bank balance of zero and, by lunchtime, have enough money to buy lunch,” Evans explains. “In competitive industries with staff shortages, something like this could radically help with attraction and retention of staff.”
Etch has created a “smart contract” which details the rules of these transactions. Put simply, the employer pays the wage and Etch converts into a proprietary token called Pier, which is anchored to the value of a UK basket of goods (using either the Consumer or Retail Price Index). This system should make the token more stable than those linked to the pound, euro or dollar, Evans argues, and also accounts for inflation, meaning that workers are actually better off when their wages are converted back from Pier.
Etch makes its margin through the trading of Pier tokens but their underlying value in the real-world remains unchanged. Stability is paramount in this industry; you do not want the value of your wage to drop 10pc overnight. Finally, the token is converted back into a fiat currency and deposited, in real time, in the employee’s bank account as they meet criteria set by the business.
“The first few pounds may hit their account when their vehicle pulls into the company car park, or when they log in to their work email account,” explains Evans. The cash stream can also be diverted overseas to dependents and loaded onto prepaid cards anywhere in the world without being subject to transaction fees.
The system is complex but opens up a world of possibility for both employer and employee alike, Evans claims. “Our first client is a cleaning company called JPC in London,” he says. “They have 3,000 staff in the UK. Because of the nature of the industry, to be competitive, many staff are on minimum wage. But because JPC is a family company, started by a former window cleaner, the company sees any opportunity to help its staff manage their finances as a no-brainer.
“Some 80pc of staff are migrant workers so many need send money home quickly for emergencies. But when you do that, you can be clobbered with high fees. We do that seamlessly as well in real-time so it’s an added benefit.”
Etch has also been approved by the Construction Blockchain Consortium, which boasts members such as Laing O’Rourke, Balfour Beatty and Skanska.
Companies need to have at least one month’s worth of wages in accessible cashflow at any time in order for this system to work for them. “Just by using Etch, they are reassuring employees that they are on firm financial footing,” says Evans. “For the employees, bills could be paid in real time as they earn, reducing interest payments and giving them access to more favourable rates.”
Evans believes that his company will spawn what he terms “the Etch economy”. At the moment, wages are transferred into a traditional bank account but could easily go into a wallet or entirely new cache of value. “What I’m hoping is that people will come along and build their own systems on the Etch platform for payroll or energy supply or any industry where payments or transfers are made,” he says.
For the longest time, a major argument against crypto has been that while the technology appears to be a solution to something, the precise problem has yet to be articulated. Yes, it could democratise money and move power away from the established financial institutions — yet those same powerful organisations can also stand in the way of its progress. Almost a decade on from the birth of bitcoin, companies like Etch are finally using this technology in a meaningful way. Only time will tell if the revolution is finally here.


text:
8 Oct 2019
Since the beginning of September, four European airlines have ceased trading, three in the last week alone. Two of these airlines were over 50 years old, demonstrating that it’s not just the newcomers who are struggling.
Former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Youth Development to Senator Dr Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, Hon. Austine Ogude, has urged Deltan citizens residing in Kogi and the state indigenes to vote massively for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Dino Melaye, in the November 11 election in the State.
3 mins ago
The UN stressed on Tuesday it was opposed to most dress codes for women after France barred its Olympic athletes from wearing the Muslim hijab during the 2024 Paris Games.
7 mins ago
To drive it's poverty alleviation and humanitarian response agenda, the federal government has set up a 13-man think tank charged with restructuring the Social Safety Net Programme (SSNP) to address the expanded mandate of the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.
14 mins ago
An Ethiopian opposition leader has been arrested in the capital Addis Ababa and his home and office searched, his party said on Tuesday.

domain: sociology


text:
Clues to brain changes in depression
Using light-sensitive proteins, researchers study the brain's reward memory response
- November 30, 2018
- University of Maryland School of Medicine
- In new pre-clinical research, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), led by Scott Thompson, PhD, Professor of Physiology, have identified changes in brain activity linked to the pleasure and reward system.
In new pre-clinical research, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), led by Scott Thompson, PhD, Professor of Physiology, have identified changes in brain activity linked to the pleasure and reward system.
The research, published in the journal, Nature, provides news insights into how the brain processes rewards, and advances our understanding of addiction and depression. The research, which was conducted by Tara LeGates, Ph.D., a Research Associate in the Department of Physiology, discovered that the strength of signals between two brain regions, the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens, is critical for processing information related to a rewarding stimulus, such as its location.
"These two parts of the brain are known to be important in processing rewarding experiences," said Dr. Thompson." The communication between these regions is stronger in addiction, although the mechanisms underlying this were unknown. We also suspected that opposite changes in the strength of this communication would occur in depression. A weakening of their connections could explain the defect in reward processing that causes the symptom of anhedonia in depressed patients." Anhedonia is the inability to enjoy normally pleasurable experiences, such as food, being with friends or family, and sex.
This research uncovered a key circuit in the brain of mice that is important for goal-directed behaviors and shows that the strength of the signals in this circuit are changeable, a process referred to as plasticity. Reward circuits and the molecular components that underlie their plasticity represent new targets for development of treatments for disorders like addiction and depression.
Using Light-Sensitive Proteins
To activate or inhibit this connection, researchers used special light-sensitive proteins introduced into specific neurons in the brains of the mice. In mice with the light-sensitive protein that stimulated the neurons, just four seconds of light exposure not only activated this hippocampus-to-nucleus accumbens pathway while the light was on but persistently reinforced the strength of the signals along this pathway, creating an artificial reward memory.
A day later, the mice returned to the place where the artificial memory was created, even though they never experienced an actual reward there. Researchers then used light to silence the same pathway in mice with the light-sensitive protein that inhibited the neurons and found that this pathway is required for associating a reward with its location. The mice no longer showed a preference for the place where they had interacted with another mouse.
The researchers also examined this circuit in depressed mice. This pathway could not be enhanced using the stimulating light-sensitive protein. After receiving anti-depressant medication, the researchers could enhance this pathway using the light-sensitive protein and create artificial reward memories in the mice.
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Whitehall Foundation, and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD Young Investigator Grant).
"These exciting results bring us closer to understanding what goes wrong in the brains of clinically depressed patients," said UMSOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also the Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor.
- Tara A. LeGates, Mark D. Kvarta, Jessica R. Tooley, T. Chase Francis, Mary Kay Lobo, Meaghan C. Creed, Scott M. Thompson. Reward behaviour is regulated by the strength of hippocampus–nucleus accumbens synapses. Nature, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0740-8
Cite This Page:

domain: biology


text:
The Czech Film Fund will spend CZK 64 million on supporting eight upcoming feature films. The largest amount, some CZK 14.5 million, will help fund an upcoming biographical film about Václav Havel. According to the fund’s director Helena Bezděk Fraňková, the films cover a wide range of genres including historical pictures, those covering present day issues and a film for children.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš launched a bilateral Czech-Moroccan Business Forum in the city of Casablanca on Wednesday. In his speech, Mr. Babiš said that Morocco could become the Czech Republic’s largest trading partner on the African continent and that the two countries are currently discussing cooperation in the automobile, aircraft and armaments industries.
Tuesday saw representatives of the National Wine Centre and a special evaluation committee announce the best Czech wine of 2019. The winner is the Rulandské bílé, a special Czech form of Pinot Blanc from Castle winery Bzenec, specifically the late harvest collection 1508 from 2017. The winning vintage was selected out of a pool of 400 finalists.
The Czech Statistical Office reports that the average monthly salary in the Czech Republic is now at CZK 31 516, an 8.5 percent year-on-year increase. Indeed, growth in salaries will experience a 15-year high in 2018 overall. However, experts say that wage growth in the private sector should decrease next year.
Andrej Babiš and his ministers are promising to introduce a so-called “national investment plan”, which will summarize countrywide infrastructure improvement needs as well as the schedule when they will be carried out. While detailed numbers are yet to be released, the prime minister has said that the 17 000 projects envisaged in the plan are to cost CZK 3.45 trillion.
The number of foreigners working in the Czech Republic has more than tripled since the country’s accession to the European Union in 2004. At the moment, there are more than half a million foreigners working in the country, according to Czech Statistics Office data and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
A Czech-US start up called DOT Glasses could help millions of people all over the world, who are in need of glasses but can’t afford them, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Tuesday. The start-up, which plans to produce affordable 3D-printed glasses, has just completed a crowd-funding campaign on Czech site Hithit, collecting 450,000 crowns for further development.
Czech Republic ready to “normalize” travel with twenty European countries
Czech government reopens borders sooner than planned, special regime with Slovakia
June 1990: When Billy Bragg and Michael Stipe played Olomouc’s outdoor cinema
Official: Covid-19 not primary cause of death in 60 percent of those who have died with disease
“Having 10 percent of guests does not even cover running costs” – Czech hotels face year of low demand

domain: politics


PHOENIX (KSAZ) - One postcard is raising lots of questions. On the front, it says, "Do You Want to vote? Only Republicans Vote in the Presidential Preference. Do not miss this opportunity!", and on the back it says, "Independent voters are not allowed to vote in the upcoming Republican Presidential primary unless your registration is updated."
Some who got the mailer were upset and confused. FOX 10 spoke with the senders at the Arizona GOP to get some clarification.
"Obviously a mail piece, people look at it quickly, the front side is going to catch your attention. The back side you're going to read it, it's just a two-sided postcard so we do hope people will read the front and back, we do hope it gets their attention," said Chad Haywood.
Some legislative analysts believe the wording could cause confusion.
"I think it's just the word primary, I think that maybe perhaps voters are thinking that they're talking about the actual primary election in August, and again we're trying to reiterate that this is a Presidential Preference Election, and it's not just Republicans, if you want to register as a Democrat you can do that as well," said Elizabeth Bartholomew.
The Presidential Preference Election is not a primary election; the preference election is essentially for Arizona voters to vote who they want the Arizona Delegates to vote for at the National Convention.
"It's very confusing, I think a lot of voters don't realize that we do have this Presidential Preference Election, and we do try and stress that in a Primary Independents can vote, but in a Preference Election you have to be part of one of the two registered parties," said Bartholomew.
The Arizona Primary isn't until August 30; the Preference Election takes place on March 22. It's why both major political parties are encouraging voters to get registered now.
Arizona's GOP officials say they did not mean to offend anyone with the post card, that they were trying to create awareness.


FIRE UPDATE: Firefighters gain upper hand but for how long?
AFTER 10 days of frantic activity, Rural Fire Service crews have managed to contain the Middle Creek Rd fire that had been burning in the Clarence Valley since July.
The blaze has so far burned around 5,700ha, and is one of 16 fires burning within the Clarence Valley area.
RFS crews will continue to monitor and patrol the fire ground and blackout where required. With worsening conditions over coming days, particularly increasing winds, residents should monitor conditions, take advice from firefighters in the area and follow their bush fire survival plan.
The success has come before another challenging period for the RFS, as tomorrow a very high fire danger has been declared tomorrow for the North Coast, Far North Coast, New England and Northern Slopes areas.
A reminder to all landholders and land managers to check previous pile burns and make sure they remain completely extinguished. If your area is now in the Bush Fire Danger Period you will need to obtain a Fire Permit before lighting up.
Smoke from a fire burning in the Shark Creek and Tyndale area, roughly 37ha in size, was blowing smoke across the Pacific Highway in the area, but is currently being controlled.
RELATED STORY: Fire permits now required
Other bush fire activity in the region includes:
- A bush fire is burning in the Barretts Creek Area. The fire is currently 1289 hectares in size and is being controlled utilising Aircrafts.
- A bush fire is burning in the Chambigne Area. The fire is currently 912 hectares in size and is being controlled.
- A bush fire is burning in the Wombat Creek Area. The fire is currently 113 hectares in size and is being controlled.
- Check and follow your Bush Fire Survival Plan.
- Monitor conditions.
- Leaving early is the safest option.
- Monitor conditions in your area.
- Check and follow your Bush Fire Survival Plan. If you do not have a plan, decide what you will do if the situation changes. Leaving early is your safest option.
- Updates on this fire are also available at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au or by calling call 1800 NSW RFS (1800 679 737).
- Find out the latest Fire Danger Rating in your area at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au or by calling 1800 NSW RFS (1800 679 737).
- For information on road conditions or closures, please call the NSW RMS on 131 700 or check LiveTraffic NSW. Remember roads may be closed without warning.
- For information on closures of National Parks associated with this fire, please visit the National Parks and Wildlife Service website.
- If you need to report a new fire or require urgent assistance, dial triple-0.


text:
In early January, a 2 Live Crew interview video of Jay-Z was dug up on Reddit. The video is dated to 1997, Jay-Z was probably there to promote In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 but the interview very quickly takes a turn for the extremely NSFW. In the first second of the video the viewer is presented, not with Jay discussing his work with DJ Premier, but instead a woman preforming oral sex on another woman. An obviously uncomfortable HOVA sits next to them as 2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell eggs the women on. This was a startling reminder of how hip-hop has evolved beyond this low and into a more open-minded era where women aren’t objects or eye candy. Apparently no one informed Overdoz.
Late last year these guys released “Killer Tofu”, an uproarious track that clocked in at just under two minutes. This came along with an announcement that the group would be touring with Childish Gambino. With the promise of a mixtape, Boom, Overdoz. seemed primed to burst out in spectacular fashion. Instead Boom delivers a bland and casually misogynistic set of tracks devoid of the energy that made their first single so entertaining. It’s probably best to go into what made “Killer Tofu” so great to better contrast it to the rest of the album. “Killer Tofu” was an all-out blitz of a song, with fantastically spit lines, crazy internal rhymes, and soulful production similar to other hip-hop genre mixers like JODY. The song was made out of pure hyperactivity so how did the rest of the album become such a slog? Songs like “These Niggas” and “De$tabil” have cough syrup like flows that reveal how vapid Overdoz.’s lyrics often are. Their lyrical content is dominated by molly, weed, and strippers. Oh yeah, and having sex with their friend’s girls. “Never let your homegirl kick it with no Desto’s/Cause we fuck those, yeah, we fuck those.”
The production is the least offensive component of Boom. With the exception of “Killer Tofu”, producing duo THC’s beats mostly fall between club beats and trap rap. “These Niggas” has some excellent keyboard and synth action and cleanly produced tracks like “Underground” and the opening of “Lois Lane” are the duo’s best moments, but when they dabble in harder and dirtier sounds the tracks become murky and muddled. L.A. based Iman Omari easily lays down the best backing tracks here. His bouncy and colorful production calls for a fully instrumental version of Boom. But a non-instrumental hip-hop album is defined by its rapping and Boom is seriously lacking in that department. It’s not just the lyrics that make most of the songs banal, the flows throughout are lazy, repetitive, and predictable. The weed-smoke bars on “Hiroshima” lack any charm and “Thinkin'” has a flow liable to put any listener to sleep.
Still, the main detractors from Boom are the lyrics. Overdoz. demand that “groupies bow down” and in “Last Love Song” the old cliché of “fuck bitches get money” is intoned ad nauseam as the line “Trying to fuck my girl? I’m trying to fuck the world” is rapped. “Lapdance” has solid feature from Juicy J but the awkward chorus goes “Imma make a bitch pay me for a lapdance.” The painful skit before “Desto’s don’t stress hoes” is the worst offender. Overdoz. member Cream starts the song by saying “She better not be fucking with Dom, I’ll slap that bitch. / I’ll slap that bitch if she trying to fuck with Dom, Ima fuck all her homegirls.”
In an ironic twist the second to last song (and second best song on the album) “Babysteps” has some of the album’s realest lines and actually wades into some somber territory. The second verse has crew member Sleazy spitting “You Splenda sweet, seems like a front when you say you love my momma/But you ain’t finna fill my life with bullshit and pointless drama.” It seems like a pretty touching and emotional song until Sleazy raps “Stay in yo’ place and suck mo’ dick until I get my bread right,” only to hilariously make a counterpoint in the next line with “I try my best to treat you nice but nah, that ain’t enough.” Considering the way he and the rest of Overdoz. treat women on Boom, it shouldn’t be such a surprise that his relationship is on the rocks. The best way to deal with “life’s a bitch and I’ll fuck her” outlook is to simply quote Aesop Rock: “Life’s not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman/You only call her a bitch because she won’t let you get that pussy/ Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests /Or maybe you’re just an asshole who couldn’t sweet talk the princess.” That last option seems pretty likely.

domain: entertainment


text:
Not like individuals, they have to be in optimum physical condition to try and do their crucial capabilities,
Running a animal is an excellent responsibility since. In order that our domestic pets to remain wholesome, it is vital we look after them. Although more manual workload may be tiring, attending to house animals is a superb practical experience and another that a lot of people love carrying out. On the other hand, for quite a few, it is difficult to select somebody that can correctly care for animals because they are out of town the entire day. But don’t worry!
If you have any concerns pertaining to where by and how to use can dogs drink pineapple juice, you can get hold of us at the web site.
Approximately you need to be with your pet when he desires you, there may come a time if you should go away him at the rear of. So, rather then neglecting the point that he has lost you, why not try to find trustworthy resources that can provide correct facts? It is highly recommended to search for online veterinarian products and services to help you get precise information about your cat’s predicament and essential cure. You know what to prepare for for the duration of unexpected emergency veterinary clinic goes to together with what medicines work in your puppy, therefore. They’re invaluable primarily when you need to bring your canine friend to your veterinary center offshore or even a further metropolis.
When you want to capture good care of puppies, you can test signing up for your pet dog compliance classes that will help teach your pet to be obedient. The objective of these classes is usually to assist in the dog learn how to be described as a very well-behaved puppy. This can be useful because you look at to keep up dogs and cats in the future. There are several follow educational facilities which you could join your puppy and attain its know-how about keeping relaxed when all around persons along with other pets.
Yet another way to higher animal’s attention is to manage yourself and your obligations when taking good care of pets. If you feel that it is actually excessive obligation just to keep up household pets you are completely wrong. You have to be aware that dogs and cats have to have friendship, consideration and love much like humans. Make certain you always have plenty of time to care for your four-legged friend so that you have adequate power and investment to doing this. Be careful ample to admiration your canine’s needs. Understand that pets are not just very simple pets but are alternatively true lovers who ought to be cured with highest health care.
An excellent tip once and for all animal care and attention is making sure that that you are conscious of your animals health issue and maintain by yourself kept up to date with it. Prevent your household pets from buying illnesses and sicknesses specially when these are by now within the early stages of getting them, if you can ,. One of several health conditions that tend to fight pets is heartworms. After each year to be certain that they can be from hiring heartworms.
Several other beneficial furry friend health care strategies offer your pets with vaccination in opposition to widespread illnesses and vaccines to counteract microbe diseases a good idea is that you have your canine’s overall health inspected. In case there are little ones coping with the identical house with the pet, it is important that you may have the family pet undergo inoculations to stop bacterial conditions for the reason that there may be critical damage not just in your pet and also to your family members particularly. In any other case taken care of in time, the price tag on vaccination may differ with regards to the kind of vaccine that your household pets wants.
Rabies is a second hugely transmittable disease that problems puppies and can cause loss of life. Keep your doggy includes a every year heartworm analyze to make certain that he’s resistant to receiving this ailment. If you have the cat or perhaps a pet dog, you should know that worms are transmittable to cats and dogs equally and can lead to lethal health issues. Rabies however is critical but can also be remarkably transmittable.
For those who have many animals then helping your household pets covered by insurance is essential. You can opt for to get it one at a time have the option to just buy one puppy treatment insurance policies which will handle almost all of the requirements of your pets. This will help help you save quite a bit on veterinary payments and as well make it easier to deal with vet fees superior. They’re worth need to worry about the prescription medication as well as the vet’s prices that you could be responsible for investing in bankruptcy lawyer las vegas animal obtains sickly. Insurance for your pet would deal with all of these bills for you personally.
If you are you looking for more regarding https://www.barkzine.com/can-dogs-eat-pineapple/ take a look at our page.
Even more strategies from advisable publishers:

domain: pet


text:
I was fortunate that, for most of my Advertising career, I traveled very frequently and almost inevitably, first class. My clients generally hailed from places where great restaurants were few and far between. Whenever they would get to world-class cities, they reveled in staying in the best hotels and eating at top-rated restaurants. It was heaven on an expense account.
Meeting the Producers and Cooks in Paris - A tasting of French cheese, charcuterie, wines & produce in Paris on the rue du Nil, home of Frenchie restaurant & Terroirs d'Avenir.
1 day ago

domain: food


text: Back in January, Tory Lanez released Chixtape 4 and The New Toronto 2 projects at the same time. After that, he's consistently released new music practically every week and is getting fans ready for the release of his forthcoming Memories Don't Die album. As a follow up to his past singles, he decided to drop off I Sip. The track is a little on the sombre side and Tory sings about his addiction to smoking and drinking and failing to stop. Hopefully Tory will be releasing more music to keep fans entertained as they wait for the album because considering that it doesn't have a release date yet, this seems like it's gonna be a long wait.

domain: news


text:
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in the November 18 GovernorshipÂ election, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu has saluted the Supreme Court verdict which gave the partyâ€™s structure to the Markarfiâ€™s led faction of the party.
Obiogbolu described the ruling on the protracted intra party crises that had rocked the PDP as a welcome development.
The PDP governorship aspirant said that the verdict would permanently take care of impunity and recklessness, the twin devil which he noted rubbished the fortune of the party in the country.
Obiogbolu said emphatically that the ruling yesterday is a victory for democracy, rule of law and decency.
The Anambra state guber hopeful however called on the faithful party men and women who left the party because of the endless intra party crises to make a return noting that the judgement would restore peace and stability to the PDP which according to him. is the biggest political party in Africa.
He said that with the unity and peace the judgment is expected to usher into the PDP, the party will return to its winning ways under one big umbrella where genuine interests of every party faithful would be taken care of even as he commended the PDP governors,members in the National Assembly and Board of Trustees(BoT)members for their steadfast and examplary roles while the litigation lasted.
L-R: Chief Administrative Officer, Cway Good and Beverages Nigeria Limited, Mr. Peter Che; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mickey Excellency Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Abdulazeez Babatunde andÂ the General Manager, Cway Group (Nigeria), Mr. Figo Zheng at the Nutri Milk 10th years anniversary celebration at Oriental Hotel, Lagos …yesterdayÂ


text:
Best Health Insurance For Self Employed Reddit
Here are the options for getting the best care.
Best health insurance for self employed reddit. Find out about the plans and policies cigna offers. Best advice on health insurance for self employed heres a video on getting health insurance. Health insurance for the self employed. A few dos and don ts for making smart coverage decisions.
We can help you choose a cigna health insurance plan that s right for your needs and your budget. A self employed health insurance policy can be purchased by filling out the health insurance marketplace application or utilizing a private broker for assistance. Okay as someone who s self employed you re also doubling up as your own human resources director. Best self employed health insurance providers.
As the largest health insurance provider in the u s unitedhealthcare offers a range of plans including aca. 7 write how you talk. Ehealthinsurance best pick for 2019 rating 9 7 10 ehealthinsurance is one of the most affordable health insurance options for self employed people. Today freelancers have many more protections and many even qualify for a tax credit to subsidize the cost of coverage.
Cigna health plans make sense for self employed people like you. This seems to be a big hold back for people when they are deciding to leave their 9 5 ect. The affordable care act now allows a self employed health insurance deduction on premiums of 100 meaning that you can reduce your adjusted gross income by the total amount of health insurance premiums you pay in a calendar year. Insurance for the digital revolution forget everything you know about insurance.
You re wondering how you ll quickly transition your team to remote work. We ve stepped in to give you a few pointers if you re self employed and shopping for health insurance. The 6 best ways to get health insurance when you re self employed for entrepreneurs finding good health coverage can be difficult. If you are self employed it is likely that your best health coverage will be found through a self employed insurance policy.
Self employed health insurance tips. People are stressed work feels scattered projects are slipping and it s tough to see manage everything. But health insurance is still a huge expense for many self employed workers.
- Health Insurance For Small Business Uae
- Health Insurance Companies New York City
- Health Insurance Companies Nearby
- Erie Insurance Near Me Hours
- Do You Need Medical Insurance For A Chiropractor
- Health Insurance For Dogs Cost
- Healthcare Insurance Companies In Tampa
- Health Insurance Companies In Usa Top 10
- Erie Insurance Knowledge Park Address
- Do You Need Medical Insurance
- Home Insurance Companies For Louisiana
- Do You Need Insurance For Self Employed
- Health Insurance Open Enrollment Exceptions
- Do You Need Medical Insurance In Nz
- Homeowners Insurance Companies In Wisconsin
- Health Insurance Companies Etf
- Health Insurance Tpa Form
- Group Insurance West Midlands Police
- Find Insurance National Producer Number
- Health Insurance For Dogs

domain: medical


Badminton: Unstoppable Chen defeats Lee again
Top seed Chen Long proved unstoppable as he retained the singles crown at the badminton world championships on Sunday, with Lee Chong Wei suffering an agonising fourth straight defeat.
There were back-to-back championship victories in the women’s singles too, with world number one Carolina Marin of Spain beating India’s Saina Nehwal to defend her title.
Lee entered the final hungrier than ever for his elusive world title but could not unsettle the Chinese world number one, who stormed to a 21-14, 21-17 victory in just over an hour.
An overjoyed Chen, who has already won four titles in a stellar season this year, wept and kissed the court as his final triumphant smash sailed home.
“Last year I also cried, but this year I maybe cried more,” he said via a translator.
“This was a very difficult tournament to play. Every match was very difficult. Every opponent was very strong. I’m so happy to win this men’s singles, not just for myself but the China team.”
Barely anything separated Chen and Lee as they sparred at electrifying speed in the first set.
But at 12-all Chen turned up the heat with a series of blistering smashes that left Lee trailing.
After being steamrollered 21-14 the Malaysian put up a brief fight early in the second. But Chen refused to yield, taking seven unanswered points and establishing a comfortable lead.
The speed and accuracy which Lee utilised to deadly effect against lesser opponents in the tournament failed to have an impact until later in the second game, when the gap between the two narrowed to 17-15.
But in the end Chen was unrelenting and outmanoeuvred the Malaysian at every turn, ending Lee’s dreams of gold with a smash directly at his feet.
“Today he played so well,” Lee, 32, said of his rival after the match.
“I tried to adapt and all the way he defended. I tried to play a rally and he ran with me.”
Lee entered the competition unseeded for the first time in years after returning from an eight-month doping ban. His comeback had pundits tipping he would take gold in Jakarta.
– History made in mixed doubles –
Earlier top-seeded Marin charged to a 21-16, 21-19 win over Nehwal to take home her second successive gold medal.
The Spaniard was brimming with confidence in the first game, pumping her fist and screaming in triumph.
But the Indian shuttler was not intimidated, retaliating early in the second game to take an 11-8 lead before Marin responded with seven unanswered points to put Nehwal back on the defensive.
The pair were neck-and-neck at 18-18 but the European champion proved too strong for Nehwal, the first Indian to reach a world championship final.
The Spaniard burst into tears and collapsed on the court as Nehwal’s final shot sailed out, delivering Marin the title she was not sure she would ever defend.
She nearly missed the world championships entirely after suffering a foot injury just a month ago, and had refused to speculate about her chances of retaining her crown.
“This time was more difficult than the first time,” she said.
Badminton’s governing body later apologised to Marin for an “unfortunate mistake” that saw the wrong national anthem played as the Spaniard took to the winner’s podium.
History was made earlier in the day as defending champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei became the first pair ever to win three gold medals in the mixed doubles, with a routine victory over Chinese teammates Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin 21-17, 21-11.
The winners of the men’s and women’s doubles will be determined later Sunday.


When Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson signed with the Angels in December, it was only the first shot.
Since then, almost every other A.L. contender has made a bold move to improve itself, while young and talented Tampa Bay kept a pat hand.
So this would be a good year to add an extra wild-card team to the playoffs. And we'll find out March 1 if that format will be used in 2012.
Here's a look at how the balance of power has changed, going into spring training next month.
Contact the writer: MWhicker@OCRegister.com. Follow on Twitter: MWhickerOCR
- 32 people missing in China landslides following typhoon
- 3 Orange County schools win Blue Ribbon awards
- O.C. man convicted in scam that took $1.5 million from homeowners
- The cause of skin irritations at Lake Forest school still a mystery
- Veterans David Booth, David Jones and Sean Bergenheim have no job guarantees


text:
"This place is pretty good. The prices are reasonable and the service is average. It's not the best, but far from the worst."
"My whole family loves this restaurant we go there every year on our vacation. We always try new places when we go to Cocoa Beach but, we eat ..."
"This restaurant has some of t he best service I've ever seen. My husband and I have eaten there several times now, so I know it wasn't just ..."
"The workers at this particular Sonny's are great. They are very polite (which is hard to find these days). This place just has an all around great atmosphere. ..."
"My in-laws love this place and frequent it often. Every time we go to visit we enjoy a meal at Yen Yen's. We never know what kind of ..."
"Party of 10 and 2 kids. Dinner-14th of Feb'09. Stinking of reclaimed water. Ran out of toilet paper.Server did not ask what we wanted to drink. Water was ..."


text:
Special House Committee to hear Gas company reps
By Gagani Weerakoon and Methmalie Dissanayake
Representatives of LP gas companies will be summoned before the Special Consultative Committee in Parliament, scheduled to meet today (1) to discuss the recent chain of explosions related to gas leaks reported islandwide. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena yesterday (30) informed the House that the committee will meet at 9.00 a.m. today (1). The Speaker made this order following requests by MPs of both the Government and Opposition.
He said that everyone including the Committee members, MPs, ministers and gas companies representatives should be presented at the meeting. The MPs from both the Government and the Opposition raised concerns regarding the recent gas explosions for the second consecutive day this week. Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena requested the Speaker to order an emergency meeting of the committee as the recent explosions reportedly due to gas leaks have become a national concern. “This is about the safety of the people.
Everyone agrees that this situation is unusual. Therefore, I request the Speaker to summon a meeting of the Special Consultative Committee to discuss this matter,” Gunawardena said. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, however, requested Gunawardena to propose to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the explosions.
Premadasa: “You can propose it now and I will second it.” Gunawardena: “I proposed the meeting of the Special Consultative Committee as the first step to solve the current issue. We can appoint a PSC as well. The consultative committee meeting can be considered as the immediate measure. I will submit the proposal regarding appointing a PSC.”


RMS is now taking care of Apple. Now, I can’t help but smile at the idea of this
picture where we see RMS carrying his laptop on his shoulder. Surely he wasn’t
listening to music on iTunes. Note too that the list of criticisms made of
Microsoft is much shorter (fair enough), but the same is true for Google who
only gets two dozzns of bad marks!


U.N. staffers to share insights on organization’s future
As the United Nations celebrates its 70th anniversary, two of its staffers will share their insights on what lies ahead for this vast global institution during a panel discussion scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28.
“The U.N. at 70: Taking Stock and Future Challenges” will be held at 7 p.m. in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall. The discussion is sponsored by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy and the Office of International Programs as part of International Education Week.
The U.N. was founded in the wake of World War II by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security and promoting better living standards and human rights. Now encompassing 193 member countries, the U.N. reaches every corner of the globe and is faced with an array of global challenges requiring a redoubling of effort.
Panelists will include:
- Matthias Klettermayer, public information officer in the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Division for Sustainable Development
- Jean Viktor Nkolo, senior program officer in the U.N.’s Office of the Special Adviser on Africa


Friday June 26, 2020 – The Registrar of Political Parties (RPP), Anne Nderitu, has ordered Amani National Congress (ANC) to organise elections as soon as possible.
In a statement to Kenyans, Nderitu has also ordered the party to provide timelines for the elections as pressure to kick out party leader Musalia Mudavadi mounts.
“In light of the above, kindly avail information on timelines and notification of the ANC elections in line with Articles 18, 22 and 26 of the ANC constitution,” the registrar said in a letter written to Secretary-General Barrack Muluka.
The wrangles within Amani National Congress (ANC) have taken a new twist, with the focus centred on Musalia Mudavadi’s position of Party Leader.
For over a month, the ANC management has been embroiled in a public war of words with Nominated MP, Godfrey Osotsi, who claimed that the term of current officeholders had expired.
The MP demanded that fresh elections be conducted in the party and a letter from the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu has piled up more woes on the party.
Nderitu ordered Mudavadi to avail timelines for elections in a letter dated Tuesday, June 23rd, addressed to ANC Secretary-General Barrack Muluka.
“In light of the above, kindly avail information on timelines and notification of the ANC elections in line with Articles 18, 22 and 26 of the ANC Constitution.”
“Section 7 of the Political Parties Act provides that the composition of the governing body should reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of special groups” Nderitu directed.
ANC youth leader, Angela Gathoni, had petitioned the Registrar to declare the National Executive Council (NEC) and all other party organs vacant.
She argued that Mudavadi and other NEC members were in office illegally.
On Friday, ANC kicked Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala out of the party and may even lose his seat if Nderitu approves the ANC decision.
The Kenyan DAILY POST


Eterna Watch Kontiki Date - Sellita Calibre SW 200 - 1126.96.36.1993
Swiss Automatic Cal. Sellita SW 200 - 26 Jewels.
Luminous hands and triangular indexes
Polished and brushed stainless steel.
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
Alligator style leather
The striking dial face combines practical features with a modest lesson in geography. Mechanical features like the 38h power reserve and the 28,800 v.p.h. frequency, give this Eterna the right fit.
A perfect wrist watch that offers a style with elegant and sporty details. The case diameter is 42mm.
It offers a polished and brushed stainless steel case and a white dial with embossed Raroia atoll structure. It comes with a screw-fitted with KonTiki medaillon case back and a screwed crown.
The Sellita Cal. SW 200 and the water resistance to 200m, makes this watch an outstanding and robust timepiece.
The legibility in the dark of this Eterna Kontiki Date is possible thansk to the four luminous triangular indexes and the luminous hands.
This Eterna watch comes with the original box and the official warranty of the brand, which covers the piece for 2 years.
Liquid error (line 223): Could not find asset snippets/limespot-related-product.liquid
Liquid error (line 224): Could not find asset snippets/limespot-recently-viewed.liquid
Liquid error (line 225): Could not find asset snippets/limespot-you-may-like.liquid


text:
Anyone who’s anyone was in New York City on Monday night, attending the buzzed-about 2014 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art — including plenty of A-list couples!
From longtime pairs like Beyonce and Jay Z, to rarely …Read article
The Oscars are a long show — what better way to get through it than pregame a little bit on the red carpet?! Jimmy Kimmel Live’s red carpet correspondent, Guillermo, helped the stars do just that with his trusty …Read article
On Sunday, a new group of actors, actresses, films, directors and more will be recognized as the best in the business at the 2014 Academy Awards. Of course, the show is about so much more than just the trophies — …Read article
The Golden Globe Awards gave us a decent idea of how this awards season will go, but of course, it won’t be until March 2 that the year’s biggest winners are finally revealed at the Academy Awards! On Thursday, Chris …Read article
The announcement of the 2014 SAG Award nominees on Wednesday gave us a general idea of which films would be getting a lot of recognition this awards season. Now, just one day later, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has revealed …Read article
Tonight’s Met Ball marks one of the most important and memorable nights in fashion of the year, and with tons of A-List celebs from all different realms attending, there’s going to be some major competition for the red carpet’s best …Read article


Label: Ocium - OCM 0020 • Format: CD Compilation, Reissue, Remastered, Mono Enhanced • Country: Spain • Genre: Jazz • Style: Swing, Bop
· Tracks Recorded in Paris, on June 9, Tracks Recorded in Paris, on J. Tracks Recorded in New York City, August /5(1).
Buy Wild Driver by Roy Eldridge on Blue Sounds Store. Released by Ocium Jazz. Login/Register Subscribe! Ain't No Flies On Me () The Man I Love () Easter Parade () Wild Driver () CHR CD Out of stock. Johnny Letman Quartet & Quintet · .
· Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Wild Driver - Roy Eldridge on AllMusic - Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Wild Driver - Roy Eldridge on AllMusic - Ain't No Flies on Me. Roy Eldridge. Roy Eldridge: Amazon: 6: The Man I Love. George Gershwin / Ira 8/10(1).
· Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesAin't No Flies on Me · Roy EldridgeLittle Jazz℗ Smith & ed on: Music Publisher: Vogue E.
· Ain't No Flies On Me. by Zappology. Topics Jazz. Gas it up with Roy Eldridge (). Little Jazz himself and his swinging trumpet are here to raid on your parade.. Here's a mess of Jazz from the 30's to the 50's. 16 - Wild Driver. 17 - Warmin' Up. 18 - Tippin' Our. 19 - Someone To Watch Over Me.
When You Go - Various - Riddim Rider - No Vacancy (CD, Album) And I Worry Fade Up


text:
Pursuant to this Finder Agreement (this "Agreement") entered into
November 19, 1999, (the "Effective Date"), between Lakaro BioPharmaceuticals,
Inc., a company organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, having a
place of business at 000 Xxxxx Xx., Sha'arei Ha'ir Xxxxxxxxx, Xxxxxx 00000 (the
"Company") and Paramount Capital, Inc., having a place of business at 000
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, 00xx Xxxxx, Xxx Xxxx, Xxx Xxxx 00000 (the "Finder"), the parties
1. In connection with the offering (the "Offering") by the Company of
Units consisting of 1,000 shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, stated
value $100.00 per share (the "Preferred Stock"), the Finder will introduce the
Company to third parties (the "Introduced Parties") with the hope and intent
that the Introduced Parties will purchase Units in the Offering (an
2. In the event that during the term of this Agreement, an Introduced
Party makes an Investment in the Company, then the Company shall pay to the
Finder, immediately following the closing of the Investment and the transfer of
the proceeds to the Company, a placement fee in cash equal to five percent (5%)
of such Investment. In addition, the Company, immediately following the closing
of the Investment, shall grant to the Finder and/or its designees, three (3)
year warrants to purchase a number of shares of Common Stock equal to three
percent (3%) of the aggregate number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon
conversion of the Preferred Stock purchased by purchasers of Units in the
Offering at an exercise price equal to $2.91 per share.
3. It is understood by the parties that the Finder may utilize the
services of one or more selected dealers that are members of the National
Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., or are located outside the U.S. (a
"Selected Dealer"), locate Introduced Parties. It is further understood by the
parties that any placement fee payable by the Company in connection with such
Introduced Parties shall be payable solely to the Finder. The Finder shall be
solely responsible for any financial arrangements it might make with such
Selected Dealer and the Company shall have no liability whatsoever therefore.
4. The Company agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Finder and
its respective partners, affiliates, shareholders, directors, officers, agents,
advisors, representatives, employees, counsel and controlling persons within the
meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") (a
"Finder Indemnified Party") from and against any and all losses, liabilities,
claims, damages and expenses whatsoever (and all actions in respect thereof),
and to reimburse the Finder Indemnified Party for legal fees and related
expenses as incurred (including, but not limited to the costs of giving
testimony or furnishing documents in response to a subpoena or otherwise, the
costs of investigating, preparing, pursuing or defending any such action or
claim whether or not pending or threatened, whether or not resulting in any
liability, and whether or not the Finder or any Finder Indemnified Party is a
party thereto), insofar as such losses, liabilities, claims, damages or expenses
arise out of, relate to, whether or not resulting in any liability, are in
incurred in connection with or are in any way a result of (i) the engagement of
the Finder pursuant to this Agreement and in connection with the transactions
contemplated by this Agreement and the Confidential Private Placement
Memorandum, the Subscription
Agreement, the Units and the securities underlying such Units (collectively the
"Offering Documents") (the "Engagement"), including any modifications or future
additions to such Engagement and related activities prior to the date hereof,
(ii) any act by the Finder or any Finder Indemnified Party taken in connection
with the Engagement, (iii) a breach of any representation, warranty, covenant,
or agreement of the Company contained in this Agreement, (iv) the employment by
the Company of any device, scheme or artifice to defraud, or the engaging by the
Company in any act, practice or course of business which operates or would
operate as a fraud or deceit, or any conspiracy with respect thereto, in
connection with the sale of the Units, or (v) any untrue statement or alleged
untrue statement of a material fact contained in any of the Offering Documents
or the omission or alleged omission therefrom of a material fact necessary in
order to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which
they were made, not misleading. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company will
not be liable in any such case if and to the extent that any such loss, claim,
damage, liability or expense (A) arises out of or is based upon an untrue
statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made by
any Finder Indemnified Party unless the Finder Indemnified Party's statement or
omission is consistent with information found in the Offering Documents; or (B)
arises out of or is based on information furnished to the Company by the Finder
in writing specifically for use in the Offering Documents.
5. Unless sooner terminated by either party at their option at any
time upon ten (10) days written notice and without the payment of any penalty,
this Agreement shall remain in effect for a period of 90 days from the date of
inception, and may be renewed, upon mutual consent, for additional 90 day
periods thereafter. This Agreement shall automatically terminate in the event of
its assignment without the express approval of both parties.
6. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement of the parties
pertaining to the subject matter hereof, and the parties have made no
agreements, representations or warranties relating to the subject matter of this
agreement that are not set forth herein or therein. This Agreement supersedes
and replaces any and all prior agreements or understandings between the parties
hereto, whether written, oral or otherwise.
7. The provisions set forth in this Agreement shall be severable. If
any provision contained in this Agreement is found to be invalid, illegal or
unenforceable, such provision shall be limited to the extent possible to render
it enforceable, and the validity of the remaining provisions contained herein
shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.
8. This Agreement may not be modified, amended or waived in any
manner except by an instrument in writing signed by each of the parties hereto.
The waiver by either party of compliance with any provision of this agreement by
the other party shall not operate or be construed as a waiver of such party of a
provision of this agreement.
9. All notices and other communications by either party shall be in
writing and deemed to have been duly given if delivered by hand or sent by
telecopier or facsimile transmission to the parties hereto at the addresses set
forth above, or to such other address as any party hereto specifies to the
9. Neither party may assign its rights or obligations hereunder.
10. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance
with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to the conflicts of the
law principles thereof. The parties agree to settle any disputes through binding
arbitration in the city, county and State of New York.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this
Agreement of Introduction to be executed by their respective duly authorized
representatives as of the day and year written above.
PARAMOUNT CAPITAL, INC.,
By: /s/ Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxx, M.D.
Name: Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxx, M.D.
LAKARO BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
By: /s/ Xxx Xxxxxxxxx
Name: Xxx Xxxxxxxxx

domain: law


Ride On bus fares in Montgomery County have been free since March 2020 and the Montgomery Better Buses coalition, organized by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, has won an extension of free fares four times. Right now, fares will stay free until June 2022. But we’d like to see free fares extended until at least October 2023, when the county’s study to redesign Ride On and Metrobus routes will be complete.
COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH
For Immediate Release
July 21, 2021
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, 703-599-6437
Transportation Planning Board Re-Vote on Governor Hogan’s Toll Lanes
Governor Hogan’s strong-arming further exposes biases and flaws in Beltway/270 study, and the distortions of the P3 approach
Today, the regional Transportation Planning Board voted to reinstate the Beltway/I-270 toll lanes project in the long-range transportation plan for air quality modeling. The revote followed a massive political campaign by Governor Hogan, including threats to cut projects, removals of toll road opponents and appointments of supporters, and weak promises of additional investment in transit.
“Rather than establishing the merits of his toll lanes project, Governor Hogan has reinforced the serious bias and flaws in his approach to the Capital Beltway and I-270,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “He started with the conclusion that he wanted private toll lanes and has failed to analyze comprehensive alternatives.”
“The toll lanes would reinforce the East-West economic divide in our region condemning Prince George’s commuters to either paying very high tolls or sitting in the general-purpose lane traffic that the toll road companies depend on to generate their profits. A far better alternative is Maryland investment in transit-oriented development on the east side of the region, which would increase jobs, shorten commutes, even out the flows on the Beltway and Metrorail, and help address the E-W economic and racial divide,” said Schwartz.
“The P3 process in Virginia and Maryland is resulting in undue influence by multinational corporations, prejudging and biasing the outcome of environmental and alternatives studies,” said Schwartz. “The premature approval of 495Next in Virginia created a threat of a bottleneck at the American Legion Bridge, which has become a way to force concerned Virginia and Maryland jurisdictions to support the further extension of the toll lanes into Maryland.”
“Not only are we not getting objective evaluation of alternatives, these projects also fail to adequately fund good, effective transit, and include non-compete clauses that potentially block important transit investments such as future Metrorail or light rail at the American Legion Bridge.”
“It is astounding to see our local and state leaders pressing forward with massive highway expansion in the face of the existential threat of climate change. In the past weeks, we have heard more about the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctica, massive fires in the Western US, deadly flooding in Europe, the US and China, and shellfish cooking on the beaches of Canada amid record heat waves,” said Schwartz. “As this vote took place today, the DC region has a Code Orange, unhealthy air due to particulate pollution from the haze from massive Western wildfires.”
“Going forward, we are urging the Maryland Board of Public Works to delay action on contracts until completion of the environmental impact studies and the addition of a TOD/transit/demand management alternative,” concluded Schwartz.
Our thanks to the following elected officials and their jurisdictions who stood up for fighting climate change, and for transit and sustainable, equitable communities: Mayor Patrick Wojahn (College Park), Mayor Emmett Jordan (Greenbelt), County Executive Marc Elrich ( Montgomery County), Mayor Bridget Newton (Rockville), Councilmember Kacy Kostiuk (Takoma Park), Mayor Pro Tem Adrian Boafo (Bowie), Delegate Marc Korman (MD House), and Councilmembers Brooke Pinto, Charles Allen, and Christina Henderson (DC).
Mr. Tim Smith
State Highway Administration
707 North Calvert Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Dear Mr. Smith,
We, the undersigned, request the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) implement pedestrian and bicyclist crossing improvements at highways MD-212/Riggs Road and MD-410/East West Highway which intersect M-NCPPC Sligo Creek Trail and highway corridors near the park trail.
These popular Sligo Creek Trail crosswalks at state highway intersections present a significant threat to vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists as a consequence of inadequate signal facilities, excessive driver speed for conditions, substantial crossing distances, several multi-threat travel lanes, exposure from high vehicle volume, lack of shoulders and center median (MD-410), and obstructed crosswalk visibility. In short, these crosswalk systems are compromised.
We request the following suite of Safe System elements be implemented by MDSHA to provide adequate crosswalk safety:
- Narrow Travel Lanes
- Remove Visibility Obstructions and Barriers
- Build a Pedestrian Island Refuge (MD-410)
- Extend Bike Lanes (MD-212)
- Implement a Road Diet (MD-212)
- Implement Context-Driven Safe Speed
- Upgrade the Crosswalk Beacons
These Safe System elements work together as an ensemble to keep vulnerable crosswalk users and drivers safe. These recommended Safe System elements are summarized in Table 1.
This is a major safety issue.
- Vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists on key trail crossings, which include school children, are currently exposed to high speed, high volume (23,000 vehicles per weekday) traffic, crossing several dangerous multi-threat lanes with inadequate or non-existent shoulders. The crossing systems are also compromised by obstructed sightlines from the presence of blind (sag) curves, utility poles, and bridge wall visibility blockages.
- These compromised trail crossing systems have resulted in numerous documented Maryland State Police crashes resulting in the crossings being identified as medium to high pedestrian and bicyclists crash “crash hot spots” in the MDOT Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2019).
The design ignores equity and land use contexts.
- These highway corridors serve a highly disadvantaged and chronically underserved majority-minority community and included within Maryland Equity Emphasis Area, Priority Funding Area, and Health Outcomes SocioNeeds Area.
- These trail crossings serve a dense urban community (10,000 residents per square mile) with extremely high percent of no-car households (30%) satisfying demand created by numerous nearby (<0.25 mile) amenities including elementary schools, park and recreation centers, and shopping centers.
Sligo Creek Trail is a major part of our transportation system.
- These trail crossings are an integral component of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System (ATTS) serving seven regional and national trail systems thereby helping Maryland promote its rich and diverse cultural, historic, and environmental, and heritage.
- These trail crossings provide 23,000 residents critical links six transit stations from four rail lines (WMATA Purple, Red, Green, Yellow Lines and MVA/MARC Camden Line) meeting growing demand for accessibility within the region’s multi-modal transportation system which include significant Transit/Trail Oriented Development, upgraded nearby bicycle facilities (MD-500, MD-193, Ager Rd), and the 670 bicycle fleet Prince George’s County Bike Share Program.
Our request is consistent with MDOT/MDSHA’s “context driven” engineering guidelines. These MDSHA guidelines include safe speed limits, continental crosswalks, and specialized signals. Similar Safe System elements are being implemented by MDSHA through the MD-500/Queens Chapel Project. Prioritizing Sligo Creek trail crossings is also congruent with MDOT policy goals promulgated by the Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2019).
Finally, our Sligo Creek Trail crossing Safe System recommendations are consistent with Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) recommendations, MDOT/MDSHA urban mobility-focused streetscape policy, and MDSHA cost-effective pedestrian safety countermeasures currently being undertaken.
Thank you for your urgent attention to making the M-NCPPC Sligo Creek Trail crossings safe.
Capital Trails Coalition
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Table 1. Crosswalk System Deficiencies, Risks, and Recommended Safe System Elements
|Crossing System Deficiency||Risk||Recommended Safe System Element||MD212 /Riggs Road||MD410 /East West Hwy|
|Excessive Crossing Distance, Pedestrian & Bicyclist Exposure, Streetscape Encourages High Driver Speed||Pedestrian & Bicyclist Exposure, Unsafe Driver Speed especially with presence of blind curves and obstructions||Narrow Travel Lanes, Decrease Exposure, Encourage Drive Safe Speed, Decrease Stopping Distance||X||X|
|Crosswalk Barriers, Utility Poles, Bridges, Walls, and Blind Curves||Drivers and Vulnerable Crosswalk Users fail to see each other, increasing risk of crashes||Remove obstructions and barriers, improving visibility||X||X|
|Speed Limit Excessive for Trail, School, and Shopping Urban Environment||Likelihood of death for Pedestrians and Bicyclists struck by vehicles traveling faster than 30 mph is High||Implement Safe Speeds consistent with Context-Driven multimodal, urban conditions||X||X|
|Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, Excessive Crossing Distance, Streetscape Encourages High Driver Speed||Drivers Vision of Vulnerable Users Blocked, Significant Exposure to Vulnerable Users, Streetscape Encourages High Driver Speed||Build a Pedestrian Island Refuge (24 inch wide) in Median, Reduce Exposure from Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, Encourage Driver Safe Speed||X|
|Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, Excessive Crossing Distance, Poor Driver/Vulnerable User Vision||Drivers Vision of Vulnerable Users Blocked, Significant Exposure to Vulnerable Users, Streetscape Encourages High Driver Speed||Extend Bike Lanes on MD212 from Sargent to MD410/East-West Highway Intersection, Reduce Exposure from Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, Encourage Driver Safe Speed||X|
|Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, Excessive Crossing Distance, Poor Driver/Vulnerable User Vision||Drivers Vision of Vulnerable Users Blocked, Significant Exposure to Vulnerable Users, Streetscape Encourages High Driver Speed||Implement Road Diet (6 ->4 Travel Lanes), Extend Crossing Queuing Area using Curb Extensions/Bump-Outs as supported by highway Volume/Capacity, Encourage Driver Safe Speed||X|
|Crosswalk Width (6ft) does not provide early warning of presence of Vulnerable Users in Crosswalk||Drivers speed and braking distance is excessive for conditions; risk of collisions elevated||Widen Crosswalk width from 6ft to 10ft, an, Encourage Drive Safe Speed||X|
|Existing Circular Yellow Beacon Provides Inadequate Vulnerable User Crosswalk Safety for Highway Speed, Crossing Distance, Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, High Vehicle Volume and Vulnerable User Demand, Lack of Shoulders and Median, and Obstructed Visibility||Number of Crashes at and near crosswalks is high, risk of serious injuries and fatalities is significant||Upgrade crossing signal to Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon / HAWK or Full Signal (preferred) to provide adequate crosswalk safety for Vulnerable Users||X|
|Existing Circular Yellow Beacon Provides Inadequate Vulnerable User Crosswalk Safety for Highway Speed, Crossing Distance, Multi-Threat Travel Lanes, High Vehicle Volume and Vulnerable User Demand, Lack of Shoulders, and Obstructed Visibility||Number of Crashes at and near crosswalks is high, risk of serious injuries and fatalities is significant||Upgrade crossing signal to Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB), Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon / HAWK (preferred) or Full Signal to provide adequate crosswalk safety for Vulnerable Users||X|
July 1, 2020
Mr. Greg Slater
Maryland Secretary of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center Drive
Hanover, MD 21076
Mr. Tim Smith, Administrator
Maryland State Highway Administration
707 North Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
RE: Shared Streets Treatments on Maryland State Roads in Montgomery County
To: Tim Smith MD SHA Administrator
Dear Secretary Slater and Mr. Smith,
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we would like to offer a list of State Highways that would benefit greatly from a “Shared Streets” approach as is being used by Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Recently, SHA itself coordinated with MCDOT and Councilmember Tom Hucker’s office in the closing of the right northbound lane on MD-97 in downtown Silver Spring to facilitate outdoor dining.
We are proposing a similar treatment of longer stretches of some State roads to promote greater connectivity for bicyclists and pedestrians and make it safer for those who do not want to drive or do not have access to a car to make trips throughout Montgomery County walking or by bicycle. These could be commuting to work trips, or shorter ones to go buy groceries, visit the doctor, connect with trails or do other errands. It is vital to provide alternatives to cars that are safe, affordable and are useful in getting people between different parts of the County or even within a short radius of where people live.
The list below amounts to almost 19 miles of state roads. We understand that SHA may want to pilot this concept of partial closures to cars and suggest that the stretch on University Boulevard is a good place to start as it would connect the Wheaton CBD with Sligo Creek Parkway and neighborhoods east of the Parkway as well.
We look forward to your response and hope that you can work with MCDOT and members of the Maryland House and Senate and the Montgomery County Council.
Here is the list of roads we propose as candidates for a Shared Streets approach:
- University Blvd/MD-193 from Colesville Road/MD-29 to Viers Mill Road/Md-586 (3.0 mi) (Connects from Four Corners neighborhood to Sligo Creek Parkway and Trail to Wheaton CBD)
- Viers Mill Road/MD-586 from MD-193 to Matthew Henson Trail (works best in pairing with no. 1 above (2.7 mi) (Connects Wheaton CBD to Matthew Henson Trail)
- Frederick Road/MD-355 from Germantown Road/Md-118 to MIddlebrook Road (.8 mi) (Connects Montgomery College/Germantown Campus and Holy Cross Hospital/Germantown)
- Piney Branch Road/MD-320 from Sligo Creek Pkwy to New Hampshire Ave/MD-650 (1.4 mi) (Connects Sligo Creek Parkway and Trail, New Hampshire Elementary School, Flower Ave and Northwest Branch Trails)
- Old Georgetown Road/MD-187 from I-495 to Executive Blvd (2.6 mi) (Connects Bethesda Trolley Trail, Ratner Museum, Wildwood Shopping Center, Josiah Henson Museum and White Flint)
- Georgia Ave/MD-97 from Norbeck Road/MD-28 to OlneySandy Spring Road/MD-108 (3.5 mi) (Connects Leisure World, ICC Trail and Olney CBD)
- Georgia Avenue/MD-97 & 16th Street/MD-390 from I-495 Overpass to Colesville Road (1.5 mi) (Connects Forest Glen Metro and Montgomery Hills Shopping Center)
- East-West Highway/MD-410 from Georgia Ave/MD-97 to Connecticut Ave/MD-185 (3.2 mi) (Connects Silver Spring CBD, Rock Creek Trail, and Chevy Chase)
Paul Goldman, President, Action Committee for Transit
Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Alison Gillespie, President, Forest Estates Community Association
Kristy Daphnis, Chair, Pedestrian Bicycle Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
Peter Gray, Vice President, Board of Directors, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
cc: Montgomery County State Delegates and Senators, Montgomery County Council, Director MCDOT
June 1, 2020
The Coalition for Smarter Growth shares in the deep sadness and anger over racial inequality and injustice. We remain fully committed to furthering racial equity and justice through our work on housing, land use, and transportation. We also stand in solidarity with those leading the much needed work being done to eliminate all cases of police violence and abuse of power.
Our mission is to create walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities to confront the environmental, economic, and equity challenges we face. Our communities cannot be inclusive until our streets, public spaces, and neighborhoods are safe and welcoming for everyone. This requires actively dismantling racism embedded in our public and private institutions.
We seek to be allies in the greater fight for a more just and equitable world, and we hope to help address the legacy of generations of racial discrimination and segregation. Among our efforts are to advocate for affordable housing options that prevent displacement and create more integrated neighborhoods and to advocate for better, more equitable bus service. We will also soon host a series of “Courageous Conversations” on the history of racial segregation in Montgomery County, facilitated by our partners at Challenging Racism.
We are seeking to do better at coming together with and incorporating the voices of people of color, and welcome your feedback and guidance as we all work to move forward together.
For immediate release
May 20, 2020
Transit advocates call on MTA and Purple Line constructors to negotiate an agreement
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is urging an agreement between PLTC and MTA that will ensure timely completion of the Purple Line. On May 1, 2020, the Purple Line Transit Constructors (PLTC), the group of constructors responsible for building the Purple Line, announced that they will be exiting the project due to delays and cost overruns.
“The project is already a year behind schedule due to many factors, including lawsuits that have now been resolved. However, failing to negotiate an agreement and having to find a new construction team will undoubtedly result in even more delays and costs,” says Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“The Purple Line already has and will continue to spur economic investment along the corridor, including major investments in affordable housing. New economic activity will bring residents new shops, restaurants, and other amenities,” said Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“The timely completion of the Purple Line will yield many transformational economic benefits, such as establishing an east-west connection between job centers; creating new employment opportunities; and providing people a quick and reliable way to access schools, retail, and other important services,” said Lyons.
“We urge the State to do all it can to negotiate an agreement that keeps the Purple Line’s construction on track. The Purple Line remains of great value for the over 230,000 Marylanders who live along the corridor, and public investment in this project will be repaid many times over by the economic activity it supports,” said Schwartz.
“We thank Maryland and PLTC for the hard work and dedication they have invested in this project so far. Both parties have invested significant amounts of time and resources into the Purple Line. The longer the project is put off, the longer it will take for both the state and its residents to fully see and feel the economic benefits that the completion of this project will bring,” concluded Schwartz.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington, D.C. region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.


text:
NEW! Chamber Gift Card Program!
sponsored by the HG&E
Each year the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year Committee combs through numerous candidates and votes for outstanding small business professionals from around the Greater Holyoke area.
see list view
Tweets by Holyoke_Chamber
Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce
177 High Street
Holyoke, MA 01040-6504
Tel: (413) 534-3376
Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved. Site provided by MicroNet - powered by ChamberMaster software.

domain: economics


text:
By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
-William Regal announced that the NXT Tag Titles have been vacated by the team of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. The move was made due to Burch suffering a dislocated shoulder during a tag title match against Karrion Kross and Finn Balor on last week’s NXT television show. Regal wrote on Twitter that he will provide an update on the NXT Tag Titles during Wednesday’s NXT television show.
-The NXT television show is expected to move to Tuesday nights. Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reports that the production schedule now lists NXT television shows for Tuesdays beginning April 13. WWE has yet to officially confirm the move.
Powell’s POV: There’s no word yet as to how long Burch will be sidelined, but it’s obviously long enough that NXT officials felt the need to make a change. Meanwhile, NXT moving nights is obviously good news for AEW, as they will have prime time without direct competition. For that matter, MLW Fusion may get more attention since it won’t be followed by two shows on Wednesdays. On the flip side, it’s not good news for Impact Wrestling, which airs its weekly television show on Tuesday nights. It will be interesting to see if Impact changes nights, moves to a later slot on Tuesdays, or stays put at 7CT/8ET on AXS TV.
I can confirm this incredibly unfortunate news and make the difficult decision to vacate the #WWENXT Tag Team Titles. Furthermore, I will address the state of the titles further tomorrow night on @WWENXT. https://t.co/z3iQdC1Ruc
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) March 23, 2021


text: 6. TRADITION DEVELOPMENT MAKES STRIDES In January, the Tradition Center for Innovation took huge strides toward becoming a world-class bioresearch hub when scientists with the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida began working from a new 100,000-square-foot building after sharing space for nearly two years with the nearby Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. The Mann Research Center also is gearing up to construct a $10 million, 44,000-square-foot building at the Tradition Center for Innovation. The two-story building, designed for clinical research and trials, will be connected to Martin Health Systems new Tradition Medical Center, which is slated to open in January 2014. The 22-acre Mann Research Center complex eventually is expected to be 410,000 square feet and will have medical offices, research and development facilities and retail space.


KNBA News: Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022
- OneWeb communications satellite still scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 8.
- More weather records set in December, this time for Juneau.
- The Fairbanks Northstar Borough is doing some serious recruitment to fill job vacancies that including thousands of dollars of cash incentives.
- A new Hawaiian film, The Wind and the Reckoning, will be screened in Anchorage.
We had help today from KUAC’s Dan Bross in Fairbanks, KTOO’s Anna Canny in Juneau and KNBA’s Jill Fratis in Anchorage.


text:
The Supreme Court justices have finished hearing oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, and the early word wasn't unlike what we heard and read Tuesday on Proposition 8: The Roberts Court might have concerns on ruling in the case of United States v. Windsor. Then came the big part of the hearing, with SCOTUSblog and others reporting we might get the big impression many were anticipating — the Court may vote this thing down, but Anthony Kennedy's argument about states' rights may spell trouble for the California marriage ban and gay marriage on a wider level.
Latest Politics Posts:
The big news comes from the valuable wonks over at SCOTUSblog who are predicting that there's an 80 percent chance (Nate Silver are you listening? Do you agree? Call us.) that DOMA gets struck down.
Final update: #scotus 80% likely to strike down #doma. J Kennedy suggests it violates states’ rights; 4 other Justices see as gay rights.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 27, 2013
The four justices (which should come as no surprise) are Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan. And HuffPo's Ryan Reilly has a similar perception :
But Jeffrey Toobin, as always, puts that "good" news in context, with the reality check from the swing vote, Kennedy:
The first impressions of the first portion of the DOMA hearing sound like the questions which dominated Tuesday's Prop 8. arguments — whether the Court should take up the federal benefits portion of the law because the two sides essentially agree and House Republicans don't have the so-called "standing" to defend it. The bigger part of DOMA — whether the 1996 law is constitutional — is being heard now, and that could lead to direct revelations about benefits for same-sex couples in the nine states (along with D.C.) where they are recognized as married.
But as for taking up the case, the justices may be as troubled by the Obama administration's turning its back on a law signed by President Clinton as they were when they hired a lawyer to argue this side of the case. And it could be an elaborate bluff by the conservative justices (remember the surprise of Obamacare and Kennedy not being the swing vote?). But SCOTUSblog sent out this message:
...Reuters ran this message on its wire service Wednesday morning during the Court's first break:
- U.S. SUPREME COURT CONSERVATIVE JUSTICES SAY TROUBLED BY OBAMA REFUSAL TO DEFEND MARRIAGE LAW
The all-caps make it seem ominous right?
And then came this from The Wall Street Journal:
Chief Justice Roberts repeatedly expressed irritation at the Obama administration, telling Ms. Jackson, the court-appointed lawyer, and without specifically mentioning the administration, that perhaps the government should have the "courage" to execute the law based on the constitutionality rather instead of shifting the responsibility to the Supreme Court to make a decision.
"It's very troubling," Justice Anthony Kennedy is quoted as saying by Reuters. Kennedy followed up and broke down the argument, basically stating that presidents shouldn't be enforcing things they don't think are constitutional, reports The WSJ:
Justice Anthony Kennedy cited the controversial and "questionable" practice of presidential signing statements as an example. He said if the president doesn't think a law is constitutional then he shouldn't sign it. And said the same principle perhaps applied in this case — meaning if the president believes the law is unconstitutional, he shouldn't enforce it.
That isn't unlike what we heard leaking out Tuesday—that Justices Kennedy and Roberts clearly stated their concerns about "standing," aka letting a private citizen defend public law, aka questioning whether the private citizen has any standing to defend a law that doesn't injure them and doesn't threaten to.
There's no real way to tell if the justices today are more or less "troubled" Wednesday than they were Tuesday. And to be clear, it's not like these justices are voicing their concerns out of the blue—the first portion of the Court's hearing Wednesday morning was supposed to focus on the jurisdiction: "Legal experts differ about the more general effect of a ruling that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction, but most agree that such a decision is unlikely and would, one way or another, effectively spell the end of the challenged part of the 1996 law," reported The New York Times's Adam Liptak.
Reporters and justices are now back listening to the second, and perhaps more intriguing part of the DOMA argument: whether the law is constitutional. Stay tuned.


Research and development of compliant micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)
Date of Issue2001
School of Mechanical & Production Engineering
This project investigates the fabrication and characterization of two-dimensional resoant micromirror device actuated by sol-gel deposited PZT thin films. The piezoelectric PZT thin films with silicon micromachining technology provide the advantages of high scanning frequencies and low driving voltages.
Nanyang Technological University


Mazda has laid claim to developing the first capacitor-based regenerative braking system for a passenger vehicle, dubbed i-ELOOP - intelligent Energy Loop.
The technology has shown up in racing cars before (see Toyota's Supra HV-R), but Mazda's project marks its first appearance in a regular passenger car.
The system works like a regular regenerative braking system, but the energy is stored in a capacitor rather than the more common battery arrangement.
The i-ELOOP system is made up of a 12-24V variable voltage alternator, a low-resistance electric double-layer capacitor and a DC/DC converter.
Like most systems, i-ELOOP recovers kinetic energy as the vehicle is decelerating, which the alternator uses to generate electricity that is then sent to the capacitor.
The stored energy is used to power the vehicle's climate control, audio system and other electrical features. The system will also charge the vehicle's battery when necessary.
Mazda says the advantage to using a capacitor its ability to be charged and discharged rapidly, and, compared to batteries, a stronger resistance to deterioration.
The big win for the driver however is that because the system does not use a dedicated motor or battery to operate and is therefore using less power, the vehicle's fuel economy is improved by "approximately" 10 percent.
The system is designed to work alongside Mazda's i-stop idle-stop technology, allowing the engine to remain switched off for longer periods.
- Interested in buying MAZDA ? Visit our MAZDA showroom for more information.


text:
This photo in from Topfoto who were exhibiting at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012 last week in the “The Image Zone” area along with three other UK based photo libraries Arcaid, Mary Evans Picture Library and Nature Picture Library.
John Balean at Topfoto told PAN: ‘We did well promoting TopFoto with our guides “The Book Covers’ Tale” and “TopFoto: Working with the EU, Europeana Photography 1839-1939”
Fair round up and visitor stats from the organiser:
‘In all, around 7,300 exhibitors from approximately 100 countries were present, and the more than 3,400 events attracted 281,753 visitors. The presence of international publishers in Frankfurt is growing, and industry observers judged the mood among the publishers as more open and adventurous than it was a year ago. This also includes the integration of new players from the fields of technology, film and games into the Book Fair universe; and it means the relationship between publishers and readers is becoming ever closer.’

domain: literature


text:
Duke Electric Asks Citizens to Help Clear Downed Power Lines
SETH THOMAS AP Science Writer
Boston, MA – After record snowfalls in the Northeast, residents are digging out. Aside from the challenge of clearing driveways and sidewalks, many New Englanders are finding themselves without power. Extreme snowfall coupled with high winds has knocked down much of the area’s power lines. Commuters are being waylaid by roadways blocked by fallen power lines and electric infrastructure.
Rather than simply choosing another route, citizens are being urged to take an active role in clearing these routes.
“If people could take a moment to get out of their cars and move these downed lines, it would go a long way to getting life back to normal,” says City of Boston Public Works Director William Haney. “Don’t be lazy and just call the power company or 911. Take swift action.
Concerned for public safety, officials are urging caution when handling downed lines and poles.
“Citizens should observe proper lifting techniques as they move these obstructions,” says Duke Electric Assistant Director of Operations Dan Black. “Some of our transformers handling in excess of 750,000 volts can weigh over 100 pounds,” he warns. “It would be pretty easy to throw your back out if you’re not careful moving that.”


text:
Coronavirus information: Fort Bend ISD follows the guidance and expertise of national and local health officials to help protect our students and staff from all communicable diseases. The District is aware that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. While there are no reports of this illness in our area, families are encouraged to visit CDC website for more information and travel guidance regarding the Coronavirus.
No additional precautions have been advised for Fort Bend ISD at this time, but we will continue to be in communication with our local partners and stand ready to take all appropriate measures.
A statement has been posted on the FBISD School Health Services webpage regarding Coronavirus. The direct link to the site is as follows: https://www.fortbendisd.com/Page/1238
FBISD School Health Services program is dedicated to creating a culture of wellness that supports student success.
A Registered Nurse is assigned to each elementary and middle school campus while a Registered Nurse and Licensed Vocational Nurse are assigned to each high school campus.The school nurse assists students' physical, mental and social growth by providing a health services program that assesses, evaluates and improves the health of students and staff.
Please contact your school nurse regarding your student's health issues and concerns, hospitalizations and/or treatment changes.

domain: health