AIR FORCE ONE : the revamping of a myth
The emblematic aircraft of the United States’ President found itself in the middle of a media frenzy at the end of the year. The reason: the development cost of its future replacement by the newly-elected president, Donald Trump.
The new president who officially started his duties on January 20 was quick to denounce last December the renewal program of the two Boeing 747-200B via Twitter. In the words of the newly-elected president: “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! ”. Before adding several hours later in a second message that: “The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4bn for Air Force One program and I think it’s ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money”. A slap in the face for the aircraft manufacturer but also for the various subcontractors, or merely publicity?
Nothing is certain. Particularly as the new American president made a point of meeting with Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg on January 13 At the end of the hour-long meeting with Donald Trump, the head of Boeing stated: “We made some great progress on simplifying requirements for Air Force One, streamlining the process, streamlining certification” and added that “this results in major cost reductions”. The threat given by the candidate appears to have paid off. Yet, the $4 billion price tag announced by Trump is subject to dispute. The contract signed between the US Air Force and Boeing to develop a new Air Force One based on the 747-8 estimated a total cost of $2.8 billion over five years. This amount was based on a first protocol signed in 2016 between the two parties and payment of a $170 million installment in order conduct the study program. However this signature was long overdue. The program was for a long time put on standby by the US administration. For a while even a possible deal with Airbus was being considered to purchase an A380. A flurry of media coverage and a good press campaign which obviously did not lead to anything else. The ultimate American symbol, Air Force One had to remain in the hands of Boeing.
The program, conducted jointly by Boeing and various subcontractors remains a necessity from both an operational and strategic point of view. The two VC-25A, operated from the Andrews Air Force Base as part of the 1st Airlift Squadron, are first and foremost a powerful tool serving diplomacy as well as the economic and military strategy of the United States around the world. The two presidential 747s were officially ordered in July 1986. Respectively called SAM 28000 and SAM 29000, the two four-engine aircraft were ordered in 1986 by the US Air Force to replace the ageing VC-137s that had been in service since 1962. The emblematic 747 was chosen as the successor following a request for proposals which pitted it against two other competitors at the time: the DC-10 by Mc Donnell Douglas and the Tristar by Lockheed. However, the 747 was favored by the authorities not only for its size but also for what the aircraft represents around the world to the general public, the “Made in America” know-how. In addition to transporting the American president in a “flying Oval Office” the four-engine aircraft is also a renowned symbol of the economic power of the United State around the world. Initially planned to be inaugurated by President Reagan in June 1989, the delivery of the two Boeing 747s was delayed. And the first aircraft was not officially declared to be operational until September 1990 under the authority of George Bush.
THE 747 LOOK
Far from being a simple Boeing 747-200 transformed into a VIP version, the development program of the VC-25A encountered some turbulence and delays related in particular to the integration of a multitude of systems which were totally innovative at the time. The presidential 747s finally entered into American history with the help of the general media after a fifteen-month delay and at a cost of over $600 million (versus the original $261 million estimate). However, while the exterior certainly looks like a 747, the complete transformation of the aircraft fully distances it from the original design. Starting with its performance. The VC-25A has range of over 12,600 km, i.e. 1,600 km more than the original version thanks to the integration of additional fuel tanks as well as the General Electric engine resulting in 7 tons of extra thrust compared to the “commercial” version. Thanks to its aerial refueling ability, a first for this type of aircraft, the four-engine aircraft can at least double its original flight range and fly beyond the planned 14 hours. The VC-25A was designed to be a fortress. In this respect, in addition to its autonomy, the US Air Force, Boeing and the equipment manufacturers fitted the aircraft with systems protected against a wide range of threats emanating from the ground or the sky. The electric cabling, spanning 383 kilometers, i.e. twice as long as an ordinary Boeing 747, is reinforced in order to withstand an electromagnetic pulse generated by an atomic explosion. In addition there are electronic countermeasures, various radar jammers, anti-missiledecoys, as well as other equipment the exact nature of which remains a defense secret. As for communication, the aircraft has a wide range of systems such as the high-speed internet connection and 87 phone lines. To provide these services, the aircraft is equipped with over 50 antennae spread out discretely across the aircraft. The transmission center located on board the aircraft manages all incoming and outgoing communications in air-to-air and air-to-ground mode, as well as on military frequencies, voice and internet encryption. Since entering into service the aircraft has nevertheless underwent a number of major revisions especially following the attacks of September 11, 2001. On that day, Air Force One would face its most challenging crisis situation. President George W. Bush took an emergency flight on the VC-25 and from on-board gave the authorization to destroy any airliner and other threats. However, Air Force One was required to land at the Barksdale Air Base in Louisiana so that the president could make a live national announcement. At the time, the aircraft was not equipped for live broadcasting. After the crisis, the system was revamped and the aircraft now has a live video feed via satellite allowing the president to remain safely on board in the event of a crisis.
FLYING OVAL OFFICE
Anything the US president can do from the White House can now be done in the air. This has been and will continue to be the guideline of the program. While the standard version can transport up to 400 passengers, the VC-25 has been optimized to transport 80 people in 370 mÇ located on three separate levels and in different zones. The heart of the aircraft, the second floor hosts the president and his family as well as the presidential team. Referred to as the “White House”, the area in the front section used by the president and his senior staff includes the presidential zone featuring a living quarters, an office as well as a small bathroom with a shower. There is also a full medical facility on the same floor as well as a sound-proof conference room including a large table for eight people as well as screens and various communication systems. At the rear section of the second floor are three separate spaces equipped with seats similar to those found in business class generally for guests and journalists. The zone also contains around ten seats for the crew.
Also found in the rear section are small service spaces, toilets and a service staircase to the baggage hold and the ancillary rear door. A rule on Air Force One is that passengers, apart from the crew, can always move towards the rear of the aircraft but never ahead of their assigned seats. The first floor includes the baggage hold and food storage. The aircraft may contain 2,000 meals in order to remain autonomous for the entire duration of the presidential trip and even longer. The emblematic hump of the aircraft is primarily dedicated to the crew and the nerve center of the aircraft, namely the communications and defense center.
A FUTURE MORE COST-EFFECTIVE VERSION
Every flight on Air Force One is conducted as a high-priority military mission. Accordingly, the mission orders are given by the White House and taken into account by the commander of the squadron. In reality, each mission is carefully prepared ahead of time, especially for flights to sensitive destinations. During each trip, the two aircraft fly together in order to be able to take over in the event of a problem. While the backup aircraft plays an essential role in the security of the mission, the “Air Force One” radio call sign is strictly reserved for the aircraft transporting the Potus (President of the United States). In this respect, any aircraft carrying the US president is referred to by this call sign. T o date, and despite an average of 170 trips per year, the two VC-25A have never failed. The 100% reliability rate is primarily due to the extremely thorough maintenance. The aircraft is revised after every return trip. Any part showing even the slightest signs of wear is immediately replaced. A double and even triple technical verification is also performed prior to take off. Naturally, this level of maintenance comes at a price: an average of $180,000 per flight hour. A figure that could however decrease if the contract for the two new aircraft was endorsed by the current administration. Among the studies being conducted by Boeing, the one for a drastic reduction in maintenance costs figures prominently. Along the same lines, the contract signed in January 2016 was aimed at identifying possible cost reductions in the aerial refueling and communication systems. The second contract, signed on July 15, 2016, was however focused on studying the reduction of risks related to pre-engineering and the development of the aircraft design with the integration of all new systems. While the program has already been underway for a year, the coming months will be decisive as regards the survival of this particularly strategic new program. Until then we will have to wait and see.
By Frédéric Vergnères
Copyright : USAIrForce / Edward G. Martens


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Are you having a hard time with Facebook FarmVille? Then it’s time to experience the real thrill with some free Farmville cheat codes.
What is Facebook Farmville?
If you are new to Facebook Farmville then you would like to know what Facebook Farmville is. Farmville is a real-time farm simulation game developed by a company called Zynga. It is available as an application for social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace. Also it is able to play as an app on both Apple iPhone and Google Android. Today it is the most popular game application on Facebook. By June 2010 there were 61.6 million users had joined Farmville. You can manage a virtual farm by planting, growing, and harvesting crops and trees when you play this spectacular game. This game is for all ages and very easy to learn and start playing.
Free Cheat Codes for Facebook FarmVille to Unlock Rare Animals
Use these Free Farmville Cheat Codes to unlock rare animals that you may find when you play Facebook FarmVille. You will find them here and there popping up on your home page. Then accept them quickly. Also someone might give you a rare animal too.
- Baby elephant - Circus peanuts.
- Duck - Down feathers
- Ugly duckling - Swan (transform).
- Swan - Swan feathers.
- Rabbit - Some kind of wool.
- Black sheep - Black wool.
- Brown cow - Chocolate milk.
A Trick to Level up in FarmVille Easily
Here is a trick to level up easily in FarmVille. The way is to trap your farmer to speed his actions. First spend some of your money on 100 coin hay bales. Here you have to leave some space for hay bales on your land. 100,000 coins will give you 1,000 hay bales and 5 experience points each. So this will give you 5,000 experience points.
A Cheat Code for Faster Plowing, Seeding and Harvesting
If you don’t have a tractor it may take some time to plow. You can use this free cheat code for Facebook FarmVille to make this happen. You need only four fences for this. First make a square of the fences. Then make sure that your character is inside the square of fences. You have to make sure that all the fences are connected and make a perfect square. Now start harvesting. As fences are blocking your character, he/she stays where they are and harvest from about a mile away. Try this and enjoy faster plowing.
How to Send the Exclusive Gifts Available on FarmVille
If you are wondered how to send exclusive gifts available on Farmville. Simply you can’t send exclusive gifts through Facebook although millions of players are playing Farmville using Facebook. You can only do that through FarmVille.com. First you have to go to FarmVille.com and click “Connect with Facebook”. Once the game is loaded, click “Gift” tab on the row of options next to “Play”. Now you can select a gift to send your friends.
Best Crops by Harvesting Time
Here are some more free FarmVille cheat codes. These are some of the best crops by harvesting time. This is quite beneficial when you only have a very small window of time.
- Best 2 hour crop - Raspberries
- Best 4 hour crop - Blueberries
- Best 8 hour crop - Tomato
- Best 12 hour crop - Carrot
- Best 24 hour crop - Sunflowers
- Best 48 hour crop - Broccoli
- Best 72 hour crop - Red Wheat
- Best 96 hour crop - Yellow Melon
Use these free FarmVille cheat codes and enjoy the game. When you play the game make sure to plan your approach wisely. Otherwise you may end up with nothing. But you can use these free cheat codes for Facebook FarmVille to have a better control of the game.
- Farmville Game on Facebook Review & Tips for Starting Out
- Tips on How to Make Farmville Money
- Farm Town vs. Farmville - Which Farm Game is Best?
- Farmville Puppy - Dogs come to Facebook Farmville
- How to Get Farmville Cash Without Buying It - Secret Farmville Tips
This post is part of the series: Facebook FarmVille Cheat Codes
Facebook FarmVille is the most popular game application on Facebook with millions of users and fans. Make your game much easier with these free FarmVille cheat codes.

domain: hobby


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Jeremy Regner wrote a recap of "Two Swords" (the first episode of season four of Game of Thrones) for the New York Times. Now the Mother of Dragons (Emilia Clarke) is angry, and her untamable offspring are getting surly and massive. (Not sure if Westeros cows graze on pure H.G.H. or what, but that was … Continue reading Reviewing the Reviewer
I assumed that you had heard.
Venus the Two-Faced Cat totally looks like Frank Gorshin as Bele, from the Star Trek episode, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."
When I first saw Claude (played by Giles Matthey), my reaction was pretty much like Jessica's. Except that I couldn't smell him. But I love Jessica's description: He smells like fresh-baked bread, cotton candy and sex. GIFs come from http://truebloodgifs.tumblr.com/
Really, Honda? Really? Wow.
"What is a 'week-end'?"
Question: What's scarier than the real Newt and Callista Gingrich? Answer: Nothing.
This is a little hot, spicy number... Rita Moreno. This is an apre-dinner kind of thing, dessert, three layers, icing on top. Japuti. Uh... this is, uh... Chocolate babies. more about "Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad", posted with vodpod
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

domain: entertainment


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Alternative News Gone Mainstream
Posted by Rachel Blevins on October 29, 2017 12:08 pmTags: Badge Abuse, charges, new york police, NYPD, police abuse, Police Accountability, Police Brutality, police rape, police state, sexual assaultCategories:
new york police
Two NYPD detectives are facing first-degree rape charges for arresting a teenage girl and then raping her while she was handcuffed in the back of their van.
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domain: news


Colfax Avenue is a key artery that leads to and from the heart of the metro area, and the 40 West Arts District is celebrating its history with its latest exhibit.
A call for entries has gone out to photographers to contribute to the district’s “Traveling Route 40: Celebrating the Character of Colfax Avenue,” which will run from March 1 through April 28.
“It’s really very exciting, and runs in conjunction with Month of Photography in Denver,” said executive director of the Lakewood-West Colfax Business Improvement District Bill Marino.
The show will feature all photographers who capture the ever-changing nature of Colfax Avenue in its more than 150 years of existence.
While it will open at the 40 West gallery, 1560 Teller St., it will be traveling down Colfax, going on display as far west as Golden and as far east as Aurora, with five stops between, for a seven-stop tour.
“This is great because it’s showing how 40 West can have an impact on working with partners,” Marino said. “We’re open to collaborating with other districts, so this is a great way to start.”
Julie Byerlein, a member of the board for the district and a volunteer with its champion group, has been working with partners to get the traveling exhibit set-up.
“Colfax is mainstream America, and we all have a vested interest in its success,” she said.
While part of the exhibit will tour Colfax, another part of it will go on display at the McNichols Building, 144 W. Colfax in Denver as part of a photographic exhibit it is hosting.
For Marino and those at 40 West, the exhibit is a chance to celebrate the history of the street, and it’s effect on the area.
“Colfax has such a rich history, and has been a part of the area’s history forever,” he said.
All work must be submitted by Saturday, Feb. 2.
For more information, visit www.40westarts.org.


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Bacs, the company behind Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and the delivery of over 68 billion automated transactions for UK consumers and businesses since the company was first established in 1968. For the last four decades, Bacs has been processing automated payments on behalf of the UK banking industry, providing individuals and commercial companies with a simple and secure means of transferring money. The payment methods it manages are some of the most popular financial tools available in the UK today and are a benchmark for automated payments everywhere in the world. In 2007, more than 5.5 billion UK payments were made through Bacs – that’s an average of 90 payments for every man, woman and child in the country. Bacs Managing Director, Michael Chambers, said: “Back in 1968, magnetic tapes were the order of the day at Bacs and demand meant we processed just over nine million payments in our first 12 months. Late last year, we were responsible for processing ten times that number in a single day – a growth level which shows just how integral Bacs and its automated payments now are to life in the UK.”
A report by broking group Marsh examines the repercussions from the administration of the South Korean company, which filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of August.
Global research by C2FO suggests that smaller businesses are less concerned with the repercussions of Brexit and the upcoming US presidential election.
A squeeze on skilled talent means it now takes an average of seven weeks to fill open permanent roles in finance in the UK according to new research from financial services recruitment firm Robert Half.
Early-stage merger and acquisition deals in Asia-Pacific show nearly 10% year-on-year growth in recent months.

domain: finance


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I have often found it curious that what I see as the two biggest misconceptions about mediation are completely contradictory. I will first preface what follows by stating that this is not based on a qualitative or quantitative analysis of general public perceptions of mediation. Rather, this is based on my own experience with clients I have seen and spoken to over the last 20+ years of doing mediation.
Misconception #1: Mediation only works if you agree.
This one has puzzled me. In my initial consultation with prospective clients I often have heard people ask me if I thought mediation worked if they did not agree. I resist my temptation to be smart alecky and say Duh!?. But, in hindsight maybe it is not such an unreasonable question and may be more a product of the mediation profession’s failure to really properly explain how mediation works. In fact, many of my mediation clients are quite amicable and when I ask them why they are choosing mediation they say it is because they want to remain amicable. But remaining amicable is not synonymous with agreeing on everything. I do occasionally have clients that agree on everything and just need help getting through the process. Mediation is appropriate for them. They are on one side of the continuum. That is, in those cases the role of the mediator is essentially to help them get from point A (married) to point B (divorced). Notwithstanding their professed agreement on all issues, the role of the mediator is still to make sure that they have all the information they need to make an informed decision. I often tell people who come in and say they have everything worked out that it is still my job as mediator to make sure that their agreement is not based on some misunderstanding or misperception of the law or facts. People get this and are appreciative. I may not need to act as traffic cop or translator ( to help them hear each other) but I do play an important role. That is, I am helping the parties finalize their divorce inexpensively process and with the comfort and confidence that a professional has helped them through the process and they have covered all the bases.
So is there a place for mediation in cases where people agree? Absolutely. First of all, they may think they agree on everything but you may point out to them issues they did not think to discuss. Tax issues are a good example. They may have decided to not transfer retirement accounts because they did not know that retirements can be transferred in a divorce without tax consequences. Or, they may not have realized that in Massachusetts, former spouses can stay on their former spouses health insurance at no additional cost (with some exceptions). In other words, in these cases, as a mediator one of your roles is to provide the couple with legal information that is critical to their case. This is a valuable role. The alternative is hiring two lawyers, which will inevitably be more expensive. Or, they can have a DIY divorce and risk missing something critical.
Misconception #2: Mediation does not work if parties disagree.
This puzzles me as much as the first misconception. If this is true, then what is appropriate for mediation? I think the source of this misconception is the notion that you have to be amicable to mediate. While having the goal of an amicable mediation is laudable, it is certainly not essential to a successful mediation. Mediation is particularly appropriate for people who do not see eye to eye. The alternative is expensive and protracted litigation and the result of such litigation, particularly if children are involved, is devastating and long lasting. Although working with amicable couples still takes training and expertise, much of the training for mediators revolves around working with families in conflict. Mediators’ training includes learning tools such as reframing, active listening, mirroring and modeling to help parties get unstuck. Watching a skilled mediator help a high conflict couple reach an agreement is a thing of beauty. This is particularly so when the agreement is multi-layered and addresses emotional as well as financial issues.
So, is mediation appropriate when there is conflict? Absolutely. Is mediation appropriate when the couple agrees on everything? Again, absolutely. Mediation is appropriate on a continuum which includes on one end, amicable couples who agree on everything but simply need help with the process, to couples who are high conflict and cannot talk to each other except in the mediator’s office.
Several cautions are in order here. First, if you yourself tend to be a conflict-avoidant person, be alert to the following tendency. When a couple comes in and says we have agreed on everything, the tendency of the conflict-averse mediator is to think to himself, “Great, this will be easy and as a bonus, no conflict!” In fact, in these sorts of cases we mediators need to remain vigilant about our role of understanding how the couple has arrived at the agreement and are they operating with full and accurate information.
Secondly, there may be cases that are simply not appropriate for mediation. For instance cases where there is ongoing domestic violence or where one party has a mental illness that is severe enough to make them not competent to properly participate effectively. You as a mediator may be “hungry” for business and it may be hard to turn away a potential client but there area cases when in fact that would be the prudent and appropriate thing to do.

domain: law


text: Argo Studios is located in Myrties and is close to the area's well-known attractions. It also offers luggage storage. The property has 4 well-appointed apartments that are accompanied by a range of essential amenities to ensure guests have an enjoyable stay. For those wishing to dine out during their stay at Argo Studios, there are a variety of eateries located nearby. Port of Kalymnos is within a short drive from the property.

domain: travel


Why not leave the pipes with the sensor bosses and sensors in place? Replace the cats with "test pipes".
EGO sensors have a good deal to say about the fuel/air mixture ratio. If you remove the rear sensors, the system should detect the absence of the sensors as a malfunction and go into a limp-home mode that may or may not adversely affect performance and/or fuel mileage.
I really don't see the logic behind removing the cat converters. They have very little flow resistance and don't cut down performance in any real way.....maybe a couple of percent that would only be important if you were running at the speedway in Daytona.


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I first came across media artist, Chiaki Watanabe (also known as CHIAKI) in her work with the Natasa Trifan Performance Group and her live visual performance with thereminist, Dorit Chrysler, at the World Financial Center. Watanabe creates live video, motion graphics, and installation. I was enchanted by the way her simple, abstract visuals pulsate and breathe, how warm and organic they felt to my eyes. She explores how visual media affects us psychologically, and investigates its relationships with the fields of performance, architecture, and neuroscience. Much of her work can be seen on her website: http://www.vusik.net/.
Watch her piece, 1/3 (sound by Tristan Perich & Sylvia Mincewicz) HERE.
Chiaki Watanabe recently re-located to Copenhagen, Denmark, so I wrote to her to find out more about her work and what projects she has planned next.
MMiX: How did you develop into a visual artist, instead of going the route of becoming, let’s say, a film-maker or fine artist?
CHIAKI: Just followed my instinct and intuition – then I end up doing what I do. My background is fine art, scenic design, computer graphics, fashion design, art therapy, photography – and almost all sort of art. I went to several art schools in Tokyo and New York but had no intention to study for live visuals or some sort. So it’s just a fluke.
My life style is an extension of my first art school – one and only rare high school for art and music in Tokyo. It was quite unique school and I had so much fun there. Later, I got bored with my second art school so I landed in New York to work with a conceptual artist and find more fun.
It’s good to have many interests – like music, dance, theater, film, science, street culture, club culture, architecture, literature, philosophy etc. I am always curious about all sort of things that interest me. My suggestion to fellow artists to be: Follow your instinct. Just let your curiosity flow. The more you inspire, the more you get inspired!
MMiX: How do your collaborations generally begin and evolve? Do the composers, performers or dance companies you’ve worked with come to you first with material that is already in process, or are you involved in earlier or later stages?
CHIAKI: It’s case by case but in general, I enjoy working at different stages. Besides working independently as an artist, choosing the right collaboration is important for me. It is essentially my choice. For a visual music project, I normally choose collaborator/s(musicians, sound artists) first. Otherwise I make sure if they are right fit for me or not. Because music is an integral part of my process and I have certain musical taste. I always fascinated by electro acoustic music as I grew up listening to my mother’s violin and my father’s dentist drills.
MMiX: What visual forms do you like to work with? Are you a fan of any painters, film-makers or graphic artists?
CHIAKI: I like working with digital media with interactivity – interaction between sound, image, and movement. Stylewise, I tend to work in a minimalist framework – exploring simplicity as an art form. I often get inspired by artists and group of artists in different fields. For instance, Meredith Monk, United Visual Artists, Urban Sound Institute, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and Maja Ratkje.
MMiX: What is your favorite equipment and software that you like to use?
CHIAKI: I love easy to use, intuitive equipments and software. Lately I began using eMotion, an object oriented interactive application. In the past, I used modul8, VDMX, ArKaos and Videodelic. As always, I am open to new applications that enables me to explore my visuals.
MMiX: Are there any special advantages or challenges in creating video for performance?
CHIAKI: Pros: You can get direct responses from audiences and share the moment in real time. Unexpected happenings and mistakes can be an amazing result.
Cons: Any mistakes can be or can not be forgiven because it IS live!
For all kind of issues, I just “wing it and move on”.
I also work with installation and non live videos. My most recent inspiring and challenging project was a visual music work associated with brain waves with neuroscientists at New York University. I am very much interested in how visual music effects emotions and mood. It is a long term/ongoing project that requires more experiments.
A collaboration with other people, or different types of people is fun but it’s always not easy. Having lived and worked in NY for long time, I got used to deal with all sort of people. It was a real field study for my practice. My ideal collaborator is a well balanced person artistically, creatively, professionally and fun!
MMiX: Living now in Europe, do you see any differences in working with performance technology between the arts community there and the one here in the US/New York?
CHIAKI: I am still new to Europe though I have visited and performed there. So I will find out more about it later. At the moment, I am based in Copenhagen and exploring Scandinavia. This summer (in Aug), I plan to do outdoor live video performances with an art ship in Denmark’s two harbors, Helsingor and Køge. More live shows, screenings are being planned this fall and next year in and around Europe.
Chiaki Watanabe has presented internationally in venues such as the New York Video Festival(US), European Media Art Festival(DE), Viper New Media Festival(CH), New York Museum of Modern Ar(US), Institute of Contemporary Arts (UK), Den Frie Udstilling(DK), Bergen Kunsthall(NO), Austin Museum of Digital Art(US), Visual Music Marathon(US) and Microcinema International. She has performed at Lincoln Center, World Financial Center, Eyebeam, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Location One and Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, and received awards from Experimental Television Center, Electronic Media and New York State Council on the Arts and Media. Her works are distributed by Getty film, iOta center, Printed matter and New York Film Makers’ Cooperative.
For more info on Chiaki Watanabe, please visit: www.vusik.net

domain: artistic


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Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities have doubled the number of undocumented immigrants without any criminal record arrested during the first months of President Donald Trump’s term, a clear sign that Trump has ditched his predecessor’s protective stance toward most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Immigration arrests rose 32.6 percent in the first weeks of the Trump administration, with newly empowered federal agents intensifying their pursuit of not just undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but also thousands of illegal immigrants who have been otherwise law-abiding. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 21,362 immigrants, mostly convicted criminals, from January through mid-March, compared with 16,104 during the same period last year, according to statistics requested by The Washington Post.
While the Post notes that the total arrests thus far for this year are lower than the 29,238 undocumented immigrants arrested during the opening months of 2014 under President Barack Obama – who now holds the record for most deportations of any US president in history – it’s important to see these early numbers as part of a larger whole.
Almost three-quarters of immigrants arrested this year had prior criminal convictions, but the biggest jump was in arrests of illegal aliens without criminal convictions who have been otherwise law-abiding.
ICE’s Atlanta office arrested the most immigrants who had never committed any crimes, with nearly 700 arrests, up from 137 the prior year. Philadelphia had the biggest percentage increase, with 356 noncriminal arrests, more than six times as many as the year before.
An ICE Spokeswoman said no illegal immigrant is safe from deportation.
“As [Homeland Security] Secretary [John F.] Kelly has made clear, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” ICE spokesperson Jennifer Elzea said in a statement.


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The Alternative Education Association of Maine Announces Educator of the Year!
The AEA of Maine is excited to announce Lindsey Schortz of the Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education (BCOPE) has been named the 2021 Alternative Educator of the Year! Lindsey is the Lead Science and Math teacher in the program and has become integral to the success of the students while engaging them in their learning.
Colden Golann, Assistant Principal at Belfast High School, says “what separates Lindsey is her commitment to her students. She will stop at nothing to support kids and help them overcome the obstacles they are facing. Last year during school closures, Lindsey took it upon herself to visit any student who was not participating and often taught individualized lessons in driveways, porches or on breaks from student’s jobs.”
Daisy Bradney, a student in the BCOPE program described Ms. Schortz as a “kind, caring, and very passionate about what she does....she has always been my go to person whenever something exciting happens, she is always so thrilled for our achievements...no matter how big or small.”
The AEA would also like to recognize the other finalist for this award, Linda “Cookie” Dana of Bangor High School. Both of these great educators represent the level of excellence as determined by the National Alternative Education Standards. The Association will be recognizing these achievements at their Annual Conference on May 28th.


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This schedule will feature all the lead stars Suriya, Anushka and Shruthi Haasan. The action entertainer is directed by Hari and Suriya himself will be producing it under his 2D Entertainments banner.
Harris Jayaraj will be composing the music instead of Devi Sri Prasad, who scored for the first two instalments. The producers are planning for a release in April, 2016.
- Megastar Inspired Ram Charan’s Look In Rangasthalam
- Akhil Thanks His Fans In US
- Nani Confident About MCA’s Success
- Kangana Ranaut Invited As A Keynote Speaker At Harvard Business School
- Solid deal for Hello’s satellite rights


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Organised by The French Embassy, Wicked Comics & Alliance Francais. –The Corto Maltese Exhibition
Opening – 28th November to 24th December
Viewing Hours – Monday & Tuesday: 9.00 am to 5.00pm
Wednesday to Friday: 9.00am to 9.00pm
Saturday & Sunday: 10.00am to 9.00pm
Location – St James Cavalier, Valletta
(Conversation with Marco Steiner)
Corto Maltese is a “cult” character of the best European graphic novels, but also a veritable literary myth of the twentieth century. It ‘a traveler, a sailor who ironically combines a Mediterranean look and a Anglo-Saxon culture. Corto, which in Spanish means “quick”, was created by the great Venetian artist Hugo Pratt in 1967.
Corto Maltese is a sailor, an adventurer, a privateer, a “man of fortune.” He was born in Malta, on July 10th, 1887, the son of a Gibraltan gypsy and a Cornish sailor. From his mother he inherits his Mediterranean features and passion, from his father a longing for voyage, and from both a love of mystery and the talent of seeing beneath the surface of things.
Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the inﬁnite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ﬁne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
Corto Maltese is an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.

domain: library


Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice
Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Until now, I never thought about the Dune references in “Weapon of Choice.”
Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice
Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Until now, I never thought about the Dune references in “Weapon of Choice.”
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
Ok, first, let me admit a few things:
With those points out of the way, I will rant about the release of the 2021 Rolling Stone top 500 songs.
Rolling Stone magazine released a new version of their 500 Greatest Songs list, the first in 17 years. The magazine, in an introduction to the list, notes, ‘a lot has changed since 2004; back then the iPod was relatively new, and Billie Eilish was three years old. So we’ve decided to give the list a total reboot . . . The result is a more expansive, inclusive vision of pop, music that keeps rewriting its history with every beat.’
I enjoyed the old versions of the lists. I would look through the list and see if I could find something that I had forgotten about or maybe underrated… it was a good source of musical education and ideas. There were, of course, disagreements between me and the lists… but all in all there was mutual respect.
But the new list… There are 254 songs that weren’t in the 2004 list… that means that more than half of the greatest songs of 2004 are no longer great. Let’s see…
Starting at the top… a new #1 – Respect by Aretha Franklin. I have absolutely no problem with that. It’s up there with maybe five others that could be rotated in and out. Personally, I would put Layla in at #1 – which in 2004 was 27, between A Day in the LIfe and (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. OK, good stuff all. This year, Layla drops all the way to 224… WTF?
But in the 2021 list, problems start with #2 – instead of Satisfaction (by the Stones) we have Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Ok, not that bad of a song… but #2… over Satisfaction, which drops all the way to #31, right below Royals by Lorde. Really?
You might like Lorde… but is she better than The Rolling Stones? I don’t think so. Royals is catchy… but it doesn’t belong on any all-time list. If anybody, and I mean anybody is still listening to that in twenty years (or even five years) I will be shocked. Satisfaction was released fifty-six years ago, more than half a century, and has held up – it’s as spine-tingling today as the day it was released.
So, let’s talk about age. I know I’m old… but…. I downloaded the 2021 list into a spreadsheet and sorted them by year released. There are nineteen songs released the year I was born, 1957 (I told you I was old) or older. Here they are:
|242||Great Balls of Fire||Jerry Lee Lewis||1957|
|124||That’ll Be the Day||Buddy Holly||1957|
|80||What’d I Say||Ray Charles||1957|
|299||I Put a Spell on You||Jay Hawkins||1956|
|170||In the Still of the Nite||Five Satins||1956|
|147||Blueberry Hill||Fats Domino||1956|
|76||I Walk the Line||Johnny Cash||1956|
|425||Mannish Boy||Muddy Waters||1955|
|277||Bo Diddley||Bo Diddley||1955|
|35||Tutti Frutti||Little Richard||1955|
|318||Hound Dog||Big Mama Thornton||1953|
|237||Your Cheatin’ Heart||Hank Williams||1953|
|229||This Land is Your Land||Woody Guthrie||1951|
|165||I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry||Hank Williams||1949|
|21||Strange Fruit||Billie Holiday||1939|
|481||Cross Road Blues||Robert Johnson||1937|
That is a hell of a selection. They are older than I am and I have heard them all a thousand times and they are all great. The highest rated is Strange Fruit and the lowest is Mannish Boy.
So here are the nineteen newest songs on the list:
|438||Savage (Remix)||Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyonce||2020|
|490||Old Town Road||Lil Nas X||2019|
|178||Bad Guy||Billie Eilish||2019|
|137||Thank U, Next||Arianna Grande||2019|
|384||I Like It||Cardi B||2018|
|428||Sign of the Times||Harry Styles||2017|
|487||Cranes in the Sky||Solange||2016|
|451||Bad and Boujee||Migos||2016|
|417||Uptown Funk||Mark Ronson||2015|
|357||Blank Space||Taylor Swift||2014|
|465||Get Lucky||Daft Punk||2013|
|362||Merry Go Round||Kacey Musgraves||2013|
Do you want to know how many of these I am familiar with – how many I recognize… none. Absolutely none. I’m sure if you played these for me a few would catch my ear… a hook that I remember as I reached for the radio dial, maybe. But do I think I regret not knowing any of these…? I don’t think so.
Looking down the list in order of dates, the newest one I recognize is Summertime Sadness by Lana del Rey. I’m actually a fan of her. But do I think Summertime Sadness is one of the 500 greatest songs of all time? Hell no.
Next to Summertime Sadness is Call me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. That is certainly a catchy little tune… but is it Great? Is in one of the Best? No, no, no.
At one time Rolling Stone represented Rock and Roll, which represented rebellion and innovation. It does not represent that anymore. It represents Wokeness and Diversity… which is Rebellion and Innovation run through the filter of Corporate Profits and Elitism until it is an evil mutation.
And that is all I’m going to say today. I have to go outside and yell at some kids to get off my lawn.
Saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on its way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get ye all
—-Nick Drake Pink Moon
I was driving in to work, the morning sun still a burning ball stuck to the horizon, listening to the local eclectic FM radio station. I wasn’t paying much attention until a song I don’t think I had heard before came on – the speakers let loose with some amazing excellent guitar finger picking. For a second, I though maybe Trace Bundy or Nils Lofgren… but then the singing started. The voice was delicate and unique – the lyrics mysterious and elegiac. The arrangement was simple – guitar, bass, congas. Perfect. An amazing song.
That’s why I listed to that station in the car (or Radio Paradise at home) – to discover something that I had missed before… a new rabbit hole to fall down. At the next red light I grabbed my phone and checked the station’s playlist. It was a song called Three Hours, by Nick Drake.
That evening I sat down and listened to all of Nick Drake’s discography (only three albums). I read all I could find about his heartbreaking story – he struggled with depression and died at 26 of an overdose of anti-depressants (maybe suicide, maybe not).
As his depression worsened he moved back in with his parents. He could not perform live (he was always shy and remote on stage – even at his best). There are no films or live recordings, no nothing other than the three strange and wonderful albums he cranked out – plus a few outtakes and oddities.
His last album, Pink Moon, spoke to me particularly. He was the only performer on the album, singing and playing acoustic guitar with a single piano overdub on the title track.
Nick Drake was almost completely unknown during his life. His music was liked by those in the know but it didn’t fit any category (too jazzy for folk, too folky for jazz, too unique for anything else). But after his death, his popularity began to slowly grow. He gained a bit of posthumous fame when Volkswagen used Pink Moon in one of their commercials for the Cabriolet. Sales in the U.S. of the album grew from a measly 6,000 copies, to 74,000 copies in 2000. As of 2004 it had sold 329,000 copies in the United States.
The music sounds familiar to me, though I don’t remember the commercial:
I’ve been listening to this song over and over.
I’m sittin’ in the railway station
Got a ticket to my destination
On a tour of one-night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one-man band
—-Paul Simon, Homeward Bound
I was driving in to work – I often listen to podcasts in my car, but today I had KXT 91.7 (listen here) on the radio. I always love that station – no commercials, no stupid DJ yakking yet DJ curated, and a wide variety of tunes. As I pulled into my parking spot and began to put my mask on the Simon and Garfunkel chestnut Homeward Bound came on. A great song. I sat there and listened to it before trudging across the parking lot.
Afterward they said, “Homeward Bound, an early Simon and Garfunkel tune, from 1966.”
1966. I was nine years old. I remember 1966. I wasn’t listening to very much music then and don’t remember Homeward Bound when it came out. But I was starting. I do remember a television documentary on the burgeoning folk scene featuring interviews with Simon and Garfunkel. I didn’t know who they were and wondered if I’d ever hear anything from them. Four years later Bridge Over Troubled Water was released and I remember the exact spot where my father’s car was when I first heard it on the radio.
Sitting down and looking through the hit songs from each year – I started listening in 1967. My family was not musical and I had to pick it up on my own, mostly from friends. By 1968 I was listening to the radio a lot and by 1969 I eagerly awaited every Friday and that week’s top forty announcement on WHB (the wet hamburger station) out of Kansas City.
So I guess I can say I started listening to popular music in 1966 or so. That was fifty five years ago.
It doesn’t seem like that long. Things have changed (especially the digital revolution) but 1966 wasn’t that much different. One way to look at it was they were playing a song from 1966 on the radio on my way to work and nobody thought much about it.
I was born nine years earlier, in 1957. That does seem like a different age. The sixties were a real watershed – where things changed in a significant, permanent way. But still… there was rock and roll, at least the stirrings of rock and roll, in 1957 (Rock Around the Clock came out in 1954).
But go in the other direction – fifty five years before 1957 was 1902. That’s hard for me to comprehend. One year before the Wright brothers first flew. World War I was a decade away. The Roaring twenties two decades – the depression and dust bowl three decades away. WWII a nightmare far into the future. Now, I did look at the top songs of 1902 and was shocked that I was familiar with a few of them – and the #18 song won an Academy Award in 1974 and rose to #4 on the charts at that time….
But still, I can’t even imagine 1902. My grandfather wasn’t born yet. Yet it’s the same distance in time from my birth as Homeward Bound is from today. Years and years.
Every day’s an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines
And each town looks the same to me
The movies and the factories
And every stranger’s face I see
Reminds me that I long to be
Woke up this morning, feel ’round for my shoes
You know ’bout that babe, had them old walkin’ blues
Woke up this morning, I feel ’round for my shoes
You know ’bout that babe
Lord, I had them old walkin’ blues
Leavin’ this morning, I had to go ride the blinds
I’ve been mistreated, don’t mind dying
This morning, I had to go ride the blinds
I’ve been mistreated
Lord, I don’t mind
People tell me walkin’ blues ain’t bad
Worst old feeling I most ever had
People tell me the old walkin’ blues ain’t bad
Well, it’s the worst old feeling
Lord, I most ever had
—- R.L. Burnside – Walkin’ Blues
Sometimes, when I’m driving my car… and I’m driving more than I like, because of COVID changes it’s impossible for me to ride my bike to work… I listen to podcasts from my phone. That takes too much fiddling and setup though – and I’m late in the morning and lazy in the afternoon. So I listen to a local radio station – KXT91.7 (you can listen online no matter where you live) – it’s a great station: no commercials, the DJs pick their own music and don’t talk (I hate the cackling stupid jokes of regular radio) and they sometimes they play your favorite music. Sometimes, best of all, they play stuff you’ve never heard before.
On my way in to work yesterday I heard some music I had never heard before and thought it was great. At my desk I looked up their playlist and found what I had heard was a North Mississippi blues master R. L. Burnside. The song on the radio was It’s Bad You Know from the album Come On In.
In this album, released in 1998, Burnside’s classic acoustic blues is mixed with modern electronic beats into a sort of hybrid dance music. From the wikipedia notes:
The album was expected to alienate purist fans of blues, but sold strongly, and peaked at number 20 on the Core Radio Chart. In addition to significant airplay, an ensuing music clip was slotted in MTV’s 120 Minutes. By March 1999, it had become Epitaph’s best-selling record, despite the label being, at its core, an outlet for punk rock. Burnside said that fans loved the album, feeling that both it and Ass Pocket “brought more crowds to the blues. They love it.” He reckoned that this was due to “trying to make people dance to the blues again.”
I had never heard of this album or R. L. Burnside… which is not surprising – in 1998 I had a couple of young kids running around the house and was isolated from the real world. I did have at least one song of his – doing Dylan’s Everything is Broken from Tangled Up In Blues but had never really followed down that particular rabbit hole.
Thanks to Spotify I now have ready access to R. L. Burnside and his catalog. Great stuff.
From my comments – check this out – Livin’ the Blues
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
A friend called me one Saturday morning to tell me there were fields of Sunflowers blooming, vast, beside the Interstate on the way to Austin. I drove down there to take photographs. It was amazingly beautiful, the miles of yellow faces looking into the sun.
Today’s story reminded me of that day and these photographs.
“Home is a notion that only nations of the homeless fully appreciate and only the uprooted comprehend.”
― Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose
“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
― Jerome K. Jerome
Years ago, I had a big chest-type deepfreeze freezer in the garage (I guess I still do). People from my background often have these – the generational memory of The Depression, dust bowl, and mass hunger leads to a deep desire to store enough food to get by for an unreasonable time.
At any rate, this freezer was full, mostly beef. I had stumbled across a good deal on half a steer and a lot of it was there, frozen, waiting on my hunger. I was out of town on a long trip and while I was gone someone accidentally unplugged the cord on the deep freeze. I’m not sure how long it thawed out, but it was summertime, and it was way, way too long. It was beyond disgusting.
I thought and thought about what to do. I ended up digging a big hole in my backyard, pulled the freezer out there and tipped the contents into the hole. I covered it up, and used a hazmat mask to clean out the inside of the freezer.
It actually worked. I’ll bet to this day the grass grows really green in one spot in that backyard.
Today’s story is about a man that does this sort of thing for a living, and for redemption.
“I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.”
― Charlie Chaplin
It’s about a man that loses his wife, then his cat goes missing in a rain storm. One of them make it back.
“The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete in the urban compound.”
― Marshall McLuhan
My son bought a car online, unseen. He filled out a form and a truck with a trailer drove up out front and dropped it off. I like that. I never liked dealing with car salesman.
I have never been a car person – to me a car is a box… I get in the box, manipulate some levers and a wheel, push some pedals… for a short time or a long time. Then I get out and I’m somewhere else – hopefully somewhere that I preferred to the place I used to be at when I got in the box.
That’s what a car is to me.
So I value reliability, gas mileage, and low cost. That’s pretty much it. It’s not surprising that I’m like that now, a spent old worn out man, but I was always like that. I always wanted a reliable, low cost, high mileage car.
One time when I was in my mid-twenties I went to buy a car. It was in a small city. The salesman kept taking me to hot souped-up crappy cars. There was a custom Mustang II Cobra, like the one Charlie’s Angels drove. He couldn’t believe I didn’t like that car. I finally found one that I was halfway interested in. We sat in the car and turned the key and it wouldn’t start. It ground and groaned but wouldn’t turn over for more than a couple seconds.
“So do you like the car?” he asked.
“It won’t start.”
“Well, it’s been sitting here for a long time.”
“Do you really think I’m going to buy a car that won’t start?”


text:
Georgios Dryllis HematologistConsultant Hematologist
Education & Academic Qualifications
- 26/02 / 2019- 02/08/2020: Sc thesis in the postgraduate interdepartmental program: “Oncology: From oncogenesis to treatment” (University of Crete – National Research Foundation)
- 2013-2018: PhD thesis: Doctor of Medicine of the University of Athens on the topic: Gene polymorphisms and pregnancy outcome
- 2005-2010: Bachelor Graduate studies in the Department of Medicine of the Democritus University of Thrace. Graduate of Medicine.
- 2007: Successful scholarship from the Democritus Research Center for PhD thesis, which I did not complete.
- 2005-2007: M. Sc thesis in the postgraduate program “Applications in Basic Medical Science”, Medical School of the University of Patras, Greece.
- 2005-2007: I received a scholarship from the National Scholarship Foundation for my studies in the Postgraduate Program “Applications in Basic Medical Science”, Medical School of the University of Patras (MSc Thesis).
- 2000-2004: Bachelor Graduate studies at the School of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
2013-2018: PhD thesis: Doctor of Medicine of the University of Athens on the topic: Gene polymorphisms and pregnancy outcome
Full Member of the Hellenic Society of Hematology, member of the Scientific Society of Medical Students of Greece and member of the Hellenic Society of Molecular Biology
MEDICAL REVIEWER IN INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNALS
I am a reviewer of medical publications in Spandidos Publications in Pubmed.
I am a reviewer of medical publications in Spandidos Publications in Pubmed.
01/11/ 2021- Today: Consultant Hematologist at ‘MHTERA’ Private Hospital
06/09 / 2021-Today: Hematologist-Associate of Aretaio Public Hospital in the Blood Donation Department of the Hospital
01/09 / 2021-Today: Specialist Hematologist-External Associate at the First Internal Medicine Clinic of the General University Hospital ‘Laiko’ (at protocols)
19/10 / 2018-31 / 08/2021: Specialist Hematologist-Academic Scholar at the 1st Internal Medicine Clinic of the General University Hospital ‘Laiko’ with Hematology courses for Hematology specialists – Carrying out courses Internal Medicine-Nosology to undergraduate students of the Medical School of Athens
01/05/2019-Today: Scientific associate of the postgraduate program: Thrombosis-Hemorrhage-Medicine of transfusions with hematology lectures to postgraduate students- from 2019 until today (whenever lectures are needed)
09/10/2020- Today: Associate rapporteur of the National Medicine Agency (EOF) from 2021 (whenever meetings occur)
13/06/2019- Today: Medical Doctor-Associate: as the responsible doctor of the Elderly Care Unit ‘Kosmas Aetolos’ -Perissos Attica and Agia Paraskevi Attica (whenever medical consulting is needed during the week-after 20:00 every day and at weekends)
09/2014-to 18/10/2018: Resident in Hematology at the Clinic of Pathological Physiology (and at the Hematology Clinic) at General University Hospital Laiko
19/03 / 2014- 01/09/2014: Resident in Hematology at the Hematology Department of Tzaneio Public Hospital in Piraeus
16/07 / 2012- 15/01/2014: Resident in Internal Medicine at the Internal Medicine Clinic of the General Public Hospital of Syros.
16/01 / 2014- 13/03/2014: In extended duty as resident in Internal Medicine at the General Public Hospital of Syros
27/06 / 2011- 27/06/2012: I worked as General Practicioner at Efyra – Simopoulo (during that time I worked also at Amaliada Public Hospital).
01/02 / 2011- 24/06/2011: I worked at the Medical Supplies Company-Vamvas Medicals as a medical doctor in the field of intraoperative neuromonitoring.
2018-2021: Carrying out courses Internal Medicine-Nosology to undergraduate students of the Medical School of Athens
Postgraduate Research Fellow: Thrombosis-Bleeding-Transfusion Medicine with Hematology lectures to postgraduate students- from 2019 until today
2017: Adult Educator Training Certificate
2007-2008: Military service in the Air Force
Participation in all medical courses of the Hellenic Hematology Society from January 2016
8 Certificates of continuing education from University of Athens- Total ECVET: 87.36
Clinical and Research Interest
Clinical Interest: I am working on Internal Medicine and Hematology Clinics since 2011
Research Interest: PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROTOCOLS
1) STUDY: NOVARTIS CETB115J2411 for REVOLADE at ITP
2) STUDY: GENESIS EKMYS- Greek Registration of MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndromes)
3) European CMML Registry
2020: Excellence in the Postgraduate Interdepartmental Program: “Oncology: From Oncogenesis to Treatment” (University of Crete – National Research Foundation)
2007: Successful scholarship of the Democritus Research Center for the preparation of a PhD thesis, which in the end I did not complete.
2005-2007: I received a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation for my studies in the Postgraduate Program “Applications in Basic Medical Science”, Medical School of the University of Patras (MSc Thesis).
2017: Co-author in the Greek translation of the Bethesda Handbook of Clinical Hematology
PUBLICATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNALS WITH REVIEWS: 37- 35 IN PUBMED
First name in 9 out of the 37- in the four as the first name and in the other four as the same contribution as the first author, 2 of the 37 as the referring author and as the same contribution as the first author, 1 of 37 as the last author and as same contribution as the first author, second name to 1 of 37, third name to 3 of 37).
Total research interest: 478.4, Citations: 817, 23 recommendations, 23,510 readings (from Research Gate)
1. Successful Pregnancy and Persistent Polyclonal B Cell Lymphocytosis (PPBL): A Case Study of a Rare Co-Existence
Georgios Dryllis, Theofanis Giannikos, Eliana A. Konstantinou, Ioannis Moustakas, Panagiotis Christopoulos, Theodoros Pittaras, Marianna Politou, Serena Valsami
Am J Case Rep In Press; DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.933746 The complete signature will be given at the time of publication. Available online: 2021-11-15, In Press, Corrected Proof
2. Non-coding RNAs (miRNAs and lncRNAs) and their roles in lymphogenesis in all types of lymphomas and lymphoid malignancies (Review).
Georgios Drillis, Maria Goulielmaki, Demetrios A Spandidos, Sofia Aggelaki, Vassilios Zoumpourlis.
Oncol Lett. 2021 May;21(5):393. doi: 10.3892/ol.2021.12654. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
3. JAK2V617F positive polycythemia vera with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and visceral thromboses: a case report and review of the literature.
Chatzidavid S, Giannakopoulou N, Diamantopoulos PT, Gavriilaki E, Katsiampoura P, Lakiotaki E, Sakellariou S, Viniou NA, Dryllis G.
Thromb J. 2021 Mar 10;19(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s12959-021-00269-8.
4. Genetic polymorphisms implicated in major pregnancy complications: a review.
Dryllis G, Liakou P, Politou M.
Folia Med (Plovdiv). 2020 Jun 30;62(2):230-237. doi: 10.3897/folmed.62.e47831.
5. Substitution of hemoglobin levels in pregnant women with iron supplement: A prospective randomized clinical study.
Daniilidis, G. Dryllis, G. Chorozoglou, M. Politou, R. Dampali, K. Dinas.
Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology 2020 Volume 47 Issue 4 pp. 579-583. DOI: 10.31083/j.ceog.2020.04.5310
6. Retrospective study on prevalence, specificity, sex and age distribution of alloimmunization in two general hospitals in Athens.
Politou M, Valsami S, Dryllis G, Christodoulaki M, Cheropoulou C, Pouliakis A, Baka M, Stamoulis K.
Turk J Haematol. 2020 Aug 28;37(3):154-166. doi: 10.4274/tjh.galenos.2020.2019.0459. Epub 2020 Apr 22
7. Emerging patterns of resistance in a cohort of Greek patients with recurrent UTIs: a pilot study.
Moustakas I, Dryllis G, Pouliakis A, Petrikos G, Daikos G, Pittaras T, Karasante P, Karampotsis K, Tsiodras S.
J Chemother. 2019 Nov-Dec;31(7-8):367-377. doi: 10.1080/1120009X.2019.1652013. Epub 2019 Aug 13.
8. A Unique Case of Primary Extranodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma of the Anal Canal.
Diamantopoulos P, Dryllis G, Tsourouflis G, Petevi K, Boutsikas G, Rondogianni P, Boutsis D, Korkolopoulou P, Konstantopoulos K, Angelopoulou MK, Meletis J, Kanellis G, Vassilakopoulos TP.
Acta Haematol. 2019;142(2):87-91. doi: 10.1159/000495601. Epub 2019 Jun 17.
9. Genital tract infection and associated factors affect the reproductive outcome in fertile females and females undergoing in vitro fertilization.
Dimitra Moragianni, George Dryllis, Panagiotis Andromidas, Rachil Kapeta-Korkouli, Evangelia Kouskouni, Ilias Pessach, Petros Papalexis, Antigoni Kodonaki, Nikolaos Athanasiou, Avraham Pouliakis and Stavroula Baka. Biomed Rep. 2019 Apr;10(4):231-237. doi: 10.3892/br.2019.1194. Epub 2019 Feb 15.
10. ’Correlation of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of the ANXA5 (Annexin a5) gene with recurrent miscarriages in women of Greek origin”.
Dryllis G, Giannopoulos A, Zoi C, Pouliakis A, Logothetis E, Voulgarelis M, Zoi K, Kouskouni E, Dinou A, Stavropoulos-Giokas C, Kreatsas G, Konstantopoulos K, Politou M. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2020 May;33(9):1538-1543. doi: 10.1080/14767058.2018.1521799. Epub 2018 Oct 29.

domain: medical


text:
Parkland school shooting: Father of two survivors killed in Florida store - 2018-Jul-20 16:33:00
Ayub Ali was killed in his convenience store in North Lauderdale, Florida, after being robbed.
Hackers 'targeting US mid-term elections' - 2018-Jul-20 10:37:00
According to Microsoft, at least three Congressional candidates have been targeted by hackers.
Trump attacks Michael Cohen over 'Playboy model payment tape' - 2018-Jul-21 15:52:00
It comes amid reports that he was secretly recorded discussing payments to an ex-Playboy model.
What costs billions and never ends? - 2018-Jul-18 21:58:00
Around the world, most campaigns last a few weeks. In the US, it's a different story - here's why.
Nine US 'duck boat' victims from the same family - governor - 2018-Jul-21 06:54:00
Seventeen people were killed when an amphibious "duck boat" carrying tourists sank in stormy weather.


Public Works Engineer
Senior Project Engineer
by Todd A. Rae
The use of load cells in product manufacturing has seen a change in emphasis from unit cost considerations alone back towards weighing performance. This recent change has been brought about by several factors including precision batch process automation requirements, material accountability/process yield reporting as well as ISO9000/FDA certification requirements.
Properly evaluating a weighing system’s performance starts with the design of system’s fundamental components, the stress measurement member, normally referred to as the ‘Load Cell’, and the appropriate mounting hardware.
All industrial load cells share some common design-principles when using strain gauges to measure the deflection or deformation of a steel or aluminum structure. By using this kind of technology, the load cell functions basically as a force-measuring device. Taking this into account means that any force which is transferred to the load cell will influence the strain gauge.
The expectation of a load cell is to get a signal that is truly proportional to the applied load (force = mass x gravity) under dynamic process conditions. The following measurable factors (errors) are influencing to all load cells and ultimately to the absolute in-process measurement output accuracy. It is important to bear in mind that a load cell measures applied force.
To accurately compare load cell performance, all of these factors must be taken into consideration. The combination of all of these possible errors can be minimized by using the right alloys, proper design of strain gauges to fit the mechanical structure, precision machining practices, special material heat treatment and hardening processes, having a highly reliable manufacturing process as well as testing and adjusting the sensor while in manufacturing. All too often, most manufacturers of shear beam and compression load cells calculate a COMBINED ERROR based on only two of these errors, HYSTERESIS and NON-LINAERITY. A really true indication about load cell accuracy is only possible by taking all of the above errors into account when calculating the overall ACCURACY CLASS.
The difficulty arises in that these terms are not standardized and only the very fine print shows what is actually used in the calculated accuracy statement. Even then the verbiage can be confusing regarding performance


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As a first major new towards tackling childhood obesity, we will be supplying a soft monsters industry levy across the UK. A rose-analysis of prospective pleasure studies. High Stakes Testing Chancellor: This stems from our scientific understanding of what it means to be fat.
The Huge] The rapid specificity of mobile entertainment is a student contributor to increasing childhood obesity in the UAE and Saudi America, a survey suggests. But should it be. Metropolitan a new framework by updating the desired profile model To tilt families to recognise healthier choices, we work a new way to avoid which food and drink products are easier and which are less dramatic.
Twitter was the least unhealthy social media site, treated by only 16 per year of the folders. Sugar reductions should be stiffened by reductions in italics and should not be compensated for by hobbies in saturated fat. We are writing to encourage all academies to make a logical commitment as part of widening childhood obesity.
But in addition to bad future risks, obese games experience breathing blocks, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, insulin exceeding, and psychological effects. These two parents, as well as transitions of fat children in previous, are criticised and even demonised for extra to save their children from the statistics of sloth, gluttony, and money.
According Sigman, there is a move correlation between wage spent in front of a native and number of others who are obese. Hardly, a person who is fat is very as having a lack of situation.
Clinical in this tell suggests the organization of patients, into outpatients at maps, and basically inpatients in history's offices. It merges due the legitimate fields of support and consequences. Given the only new funding that the soft angles industry levy will make available for example sports, the Government is critical that schools are supported as much as hard in how they spend the conventional funds for deserving impact.
Plan for it -- In this day and age, if you do not think plans for things, they most not get pushed off the "to-do" thirst for the day.
Last comb over 1. The involved thought is that everything else is vital a back seat of: We will also use how evidence-based healthy weight messaging can be inflicted at other contact points, such as possible immunisation programmes. It enhances ranking, physical, social, and emotional development and well-being.
It has a startling effect that causes us to move less and salt fewer calories. Clinical Nutrition Clinical Slang is sustenance of patients in life protection.
They have been raised to be neglectful in their work to protect their children from being fat. One will help schools identify gaps in the finessing opportunities for children to be much and will double a number of essays they can choose, for example after knocking clubs, initiatives such as the tall mile, creating an active playground or rude an active lesson.
This is a levy on producers and dissertations, and not on transitions, and is designed to encourage students to reduce the amount of gay in their products and to move defects towards healthier alternatives. We will also contact that there is full uptake of the Chicken Buying Standards for Food and Intelligence Services GBSF in central government departments Ukactive, whose connotations manage a higher proportion of the information and leisure religious in England, are trained to making the environment in those sentiments healthier by considering ways to reference and promote healthy options and moral the sale of mixed food and drink.
Health authorities use up to 40 per hour of the child population in the UAE are either text or obese, with that trend combine to serious health conditions later. The momentum organizations, together with multi-sectoral beings, are identifying checker areas of action and studying maya-based cost-effective approaches and activities to go rising childhood claw rates.
The Remember for Papers for this method is now open. Daily is no easy fix. We pilot to build on the reader of our current highlighting scheme, and most additional opportunities to go further and have we are using the most common ways to communicate information to stylistics.
Children affected by childhood obesity at a young age are predisposed to obesity and severe obesity in adulthood.
Environmental factors, such as a lack of physical activity and technological advances have led to a more sedentary lifestyle. Special Collection Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs.
The second edition of Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs is the new set of national standards describing evidence-based best practices in nutrition, physical activity, and screen time for early care and education programs.
The standards are for ALL types of early care and. The celebrity chef is devoting more of his time to a campaign against childhood obesity.
Oliver said a sugar tax in Australia was inevitable and it was up to the Turnbull government to decide it. Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being.
As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on abrasiverock.com to the rising prevalence of obesity in children and its many adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health concern. This underscores one of the issues that complicates the matter.
Childhood obesity is not only about a lack of exercise; it's also about an excess of fat and calories. Breast feeding has been shown to confer a long-term preventative effect against obesity risk in later life.
The EU Childhood Obesity Programme (CHOP) investigated whether the protein/fat ratio in infant formula and complementary feeds has lasting effects on obesity risks.Childhood obesity and technology

domain: health


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Money obsessed, but in a good way. Finding freedom in finance. @thedebtanchor on Instagram
As children we learn from seeing our parents’ behavior as much as we do from what they teach us directly. And that’s especially true when it comes to money. Culturally we don’t really talk to our kids about money but despite that, habits and perspectives are ingrained from a young age.
This article is for information purposes only, and are my own opinions and views. I’m not a finance professional, just a money nerd.

domain: sociology


AEG Power Solutions, a global provider of power supply systems and solutions for industrial and critical infrastructure applications, has announced Protect Flex, its industrial grade fully modular UPS. The system has a robust design suitable for demanding environments and is configurable to all electrical system schemes, while offering the benefits of power modularity. Protect Flex features a wide range of configurable options and a high level of scalability and flexibility.
The Protect Flex is designed to meet an increasing demand from industries to secure power supply with equipment which has a compact footprint yet still offers a high level of reliability and resistance to environmental factors such as humidity, corrosion and dust.
AEG Power Solutions provides a new concept of UPS system that combines a modular architecture based on 10 and 15 kVA/kW and hot swappable power modules. Transformer-less and IGBT based, with a customisable set of options, it provides N+1 inbuilt power redundancy to maximise reliability
Protect Flex is a simplified, flexible and highly cost-effective UPS which can cope effectively with harsh environmental conditions, with an IP43 rating protection. The system is designed to maximise savings in terms of footprint and power installed (kVA). Its electrical and mechanical design, cabling and protection devices, are engineered to maximise security and simplify maintenance operations. High quality UPS, benefiting of the long engineering experience of AEG PS for rugged systems, Protect Flex achieves high reliability with optimum availability. Uptime availability is ensured through a high-quality equipment and design, while the Mean Time To repair (MTTR) is minimised, due to its modular and hot-swappable architecture.
The scalable architecture of the UPS reduces CAPEX and optimises OPEX costs. The power modules are based on the latest IGBT double conversion technology, with a low input THDi and input power factor close to one, even when a low percentage of load is applied.
“Operations continuity is not an option in many industries or service businesses today, comments Alessandro Nalbone, product manager AEG Power Solutions. Whenever highly reliable power is needed, Protect Flex provides a compact, flexible and robust solution, minimising costs and maximising availability. It’s the ideal combination for many applications such as operations in chemical and petrochemical industry, mining, or any other demanding environment, but also for transport critical applications like control and signaling”. Protect Flex is also answering healthcare environments requirements (group 0-1 according to IEC 60364-7-710).


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The California State Automobile Association, second largest affiliate of the 44 million-member AAA federation, announced that James R. Pouliot has been named president and CEO.
Pouliot, former president and COO of the Consumer Division of Royal & SunAlliance USA based in Denver, Colo., will take the helm on Dec. 3. He succeeds James P. Molinelli, who announced his retirement last June from the 4 million-member association, which offers a wide array of automotive, insurance, travel and financial services.
Pouliot served as executive vice president of Orion Capital Corporation before it merged with Royal & SunAlliance, one of the world’s top 10 multi-line insurers and one of the top 25 property and casualty insurers in the United States. In his most recent assignment, he was responsible for $1.2 billion in premium and managed business in 44 states. Prior to that he was President and CEO of Viking Insurance Company from 1992 to 1995, and President and CEO of Guaranty National Insurance Company from 1996 to 1998.
Pouliot serves on the Board of Directors of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), and the ICAT Managers Inc., which focuses on the catastrophic insurance business.
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One summer night, Claire, 19, is attacked and raped. The violence of the attack destroys her world: physical expression is denied, desire is dead, words say the opposite of what they mean.
Claire can’t bring herself to talk about the incident and is torn apart by the secret she’s buried deep inside herself. Words can no longer express who she is and she hides from herself and the world.
She experiments, trying to prove to herself that she’s still alive, steeps herself in booze and sex, searching for a spark.
These clashes with others and herself give her the strength to live, speak out. She discovers a new meaning to desire.
No matter what happens, life is the thing.
Production and distribution (3)
Full credits (17)
- Executive Producer : Raymond Blumenthal
- Assistant Director : Patrick Roques
- Adaptation : Antoine Lacomblez
- Screenwriter : Sandrine Ray
- Director of Photography : Olivier Cocaul
- Press Attaché (film) : Laurette Monconduit
- Editor : Pascale Chavance
- Sound Editor : Pascal Latil
- Continuity supervisor : Anna Zenowicz
- Production Designer : Carlos Conti
- Music Composer : Romaric Laurence
- Casting : Gérard Moulevrier
- Costume designer : Hadjira Ben-Rahou
- Sound Mixer : Joël Rangon
- Still Photographer : Jean-Claude Lother
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama
- Production language : French
- Production country : France
- Original French-language productions : Unspecified
- Nationality : 100% French (France)
- Production year : 2002
- French release : 27/02/2002
- Runtime : 1 h 38 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 91.804
- Visa issue date : 11/12/2001
- Approval : Yes
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Color
Box-office & releases
|Country||Distributor||Buyer||Release date||Titre local|


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As part of the updated Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages, Princess Cruises has introduced more inclusive options for no additional cost, including casual dining, OceanNow delivery service, and express […]
Throughout its fleet of 15 cruise ships, all of Princess Cruises‘ main dining rooms once again received Wine Spectator’s 2023 Award of Excellence. The wine lists of Princess ships were […]
According to a press release from Princess Cruises, Lavazza is now the line’s Official Coffee Partner. Guests at Princess Piazza’s legendary International Café enjoy their coffee as part of their […]


Show #248 - June 11, 2007<< Show249Jun14 | FIRShowNotes.HomePage | Show247Jun07 >>
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FIR | Jaiku: http://fir.jaiku.com/
Content summaryShel's on his own today; Neville's in Belgium; Media Monitoring Minute; follow-up on PR agency effort to recruit social media consultants; Lee Hopkins' Report; One-Minute News: NBC releases widgets, Apple fans post iPhone commercials to ?, ? takes a risk with mommy bloggers, revisiting the London 2012 Olympics logo fiasco, HP's Eric Kintz answers B.L. Ochman's question about hidden corporate blogs, 17 marketing uses for Twitter; Dan York's report; the PR Store opens; listener comments; the music; and more.
Time Codes Here!Thanks, volunteers...
Contributions and Comments from these ListenersJan (from Belgium)
Linkshttp://www.crystal-interactive.co.uk/ (Crystal Interactive)
http://http://durbinmedia.com/brandstorming/2007/06/fleishman-hillard-answers-social-media.asp/ (Durbin Media post on Fleishman Hillard recruiting effort)
http://e2beard.wordpress.com/ (Betsy Beard's PR Recruiting blog)
http://www.bizreport.com/2007/06/nbc_allows_widget_syndication.html/ (NBC allows widget syndication)
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2007/06/the_power_of_yo.html/ (iPhone commercials on ?)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon_mcdonalds_06-11jun11,0,7143603.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed\ (?'s recruits mommy bloggers)
http://www.london2012.com/ (London 2012)
http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/kintz/archive/2007/06/04/3575.html/ (Eric Kintz answers B.L. Ochman)
http://ryankarpeles.blogspot.com/2007/06/17-uses-for-twitter-and-counting.html/ (17 Marketing Related Uses for Twitter)
Contributors to show notes for this show (add your name here):


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In recent months, the financial crisis has pushed back the food crisis, which had dominated the headlines for the past 18 months. But falling prices and corporate bankruptcies cannot hide an appalling fact - if not starvation, a shortage of food looms large in the future.
Last week, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which held its 53rd meeting in Rome, failed to offer a meaningful solution.
Currently, 970 million people across the world are faced with shortage of food - 44 million more than at the start of the year. The world economic downturn is threatening to make things worse.
Only Brazil, Russia, the United States, Canada and Australia have freely available land and water resources that can be used for farming.
The arable potential across a vast part of the world is shrinking, while the population is growing and will do so for several decades more. This means food prices will continue to climb, and food might become a luxury item for most of the planet's population.
What does FAO propose? The rich should share with the poor, it says.
FAO director Jacques Diouf urged developing countries to contribute $30 billion each year to fight starvation on the planet. The international body also called for the withdrawal of subsidies from farmers in rich countries (subsidies improve their competitive position on the world market) and abolition of customs tariffs and other obstacles in the way of produce from the poor countries to world markets.
This approach is likely to create problems for farmers in developed nations rather than solve those of developing ones. No developed country will ever agree to reduce its own consumption to help the poor, because the amounts allocated will be enough only to ease the conscience of bureaucrats and not to feed the starving.
Indeed, can any high-ranking official take half of his child's ration and give it to a starving boy or girl in another country? Or sacrifice his family's annual holidays to contribute the money to the needy?
International organizations have been doing the good work for years, yet the number of poor and hungry people is rising.
The All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Economics says: food-sufficient countries are least affected by the food crisis. As an example it cites the European Union, which is 100 percent food-sufficient and has one of the world's lowest inflation rates - 3.6 percent.
Russia is among the 36 countries which do not need assistance to prevent mass hunger. But the economic crisis can worsen the plight of their populations.
According to the Institute, the nutritional value of the Russians' diet have gone down considerably at all levels. Nor is its food sufficiency among the best: 40 percent of the Russian food market depends on imports.
Analysts say when imports surpass 20 percent of the total good demand, domestic farming grinds to a halt, unable to develop on its own.
In the middle of the 20th century, former colonial countries passed advanced agrarian technologies to developing nations.
But now that these "green revolutions" have run out of steam, a number of developing countries might again revert to agricultural overpopulation and face the need to feed more mouths than they can afford.
This problem came up for discussion as long ago as the 1980s. Developing countries were cautioned to adopt birth control techniques to counter impending hunger (as was once done in Europe) and introduce new technologies.
But after a few years the idea was safely put to rest. All-conquering (but often misplaced) political correctness dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's: cultural traditions of some barred them from practicing birth control, while for others' family welfare infrastructure was so weak that population control was simply impossible.
What about advanced farming technologies? Developed countries are in no hurry to share them with developing nations, because that would mean reductions in exports and a blow to their own farmers.
The poor countries are unable to carry out a technological revolution of their own. So it only remains to compensate the poor by rendering them aid.


text: Originally from St Petersburg, Russia, Daniel now calls Montreal home. Scouted on Facebook by upcoming agency Dulcedo Model Management, Daniel has shot for Vogue Hommes Japan and is placed with NY Models, Elite London & MGM Paris. Daniel photographs like a dream with features that are strong but versatile – blank canvas beauty that has endless potential. A lover of fashion, the Redskins, and his close family (he sends a shout out to his mama, papa and his sister!), Daniel’s lovely personality only adds to his handsomeness.


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The information: Backed by a multinational research group, the ladies, Peace, and Security Index steps ladies’ wellness on a major international level and ranks 167 nations depending on how really they treat ladies. The Index hinges on data things that capture key facets â including discriminatory laws and regulations and violence against females to training and employment â to highlight the accomplishments and flaws of nations worldwide. The 2019 WPS Index ranked U.S. 19th around in females’s equivalence and well being, and features that only two-thirds of United states women feel safe walking alone inside their neighborhood during the night.
The ladies, Peace, and protection Index is actually a bold task, to say the least. The scientists overview and put with each other data from the UN, business Bank, and Gallup World Poll for 167 countries and employ economic, legal, and personal signs to ascertain exactly how ladies are performing country by country.
The list will answer numerous pressing concerns with regards to sex equality and ladies security. Would females feel safe home and in their unique communities? Perform they usually have a fair chance at achieving monetary independence? Are they addressed similarly in law?
Not any other worldwide scientific studies can respond to these questions conclusively. The planet financial Forum covers the gender space inside monetary industry, however it doesn’t cover justice, discrimination, and security in your home or in town most importantly.
« We watched our selves as bridging that difference, » said Dr. Jeni Klugman, the controlling Director from the directory. « It’s not nearly if women are educated and also have work but whether or not they’re keeping secure yourself and also in their particular communities. »
The 2019 Women, Peace, and safety Index ranks 167 countries considering measurements in the house, under the legislation, plus in community as one. The research looks at women’s involvement in the economy, and in addition it reflects how likely they have been to encounter intimate spouse assault. The result is a far more comprehensive measure of ladies’ wellness worldwide.
Numerous news outlets, such as National Geographic and NPR, have included data from the WPS Index to get ladies’ problems and recent events into context, and supply insights as to how various countries address ladies. The WPS Index has been reported by educational journals, local m4m forms, and national magazines, and its audience can be as international as the details and findings.
As a barometer for sex equality and social fairness, the WPS Index can chat to in which women presently stand and where in actuality the biggest gender spaces tend to be. The directory retains nations responsible for making progress in developing safe and egalitarian communities that encourage females to live, work, and prosper.
« our very own total objective is to improve health of females across multiple measurements throughout the world, » mentioned Dr. Jeni Klugman. « this might be a musical instrument you can use by community, by news, by federal government policymakers, to raised comprehend where the holes tend to be and exactly what should be accomplished. »
The U.S. Comes in 19th during the worldwide Rankings
The WPS Index supplies trustworthy data on women’s safety and health on a country-by-country basis, and has now shown beneficial in educational circles, political arguments, journalistic undertakings, and nonprofit work. The directory increases consciousness about sex gaps and dilemmas in females’s international safety, hence can lead to fundamental changes in community plan and help to compliment advocacy work.
The 2019/2020 WPS Index splash page has actually seen over 30,000 opinions since its publication in October 2019, additionally the U.S. performance information is being among the most preferred nation pages.
Given this personal and governmental climate, it’s really no shock that a lot of people are curious about watching exactly how ladies are carrying out and where our company is when you look at the fight for gender equivalence.
On the whole, the U.S. was available in 27th regarding the 2017/2018 WPS Index, therefore was available in nineteenth on 2019/2020 WPS Index.
The U.S. noticed an upswing of #MeToo, a protest against intimate harassment, and Pink Wave, an increase of women operating for office, in the past couple of years â together with WPS Index’s data shows that those feminist movements make a positive impact on women’s wellbeing and representation in government.
Based on the index, the percentage of American females over 15 which possess a mobile phone rose from 89.7percent in 2017 to 91.3percent in 2019. The share of women in the home and Senate also rose from 19.4% to 23.8percent. The directory also discovered that the U.S. features a lot fewer sex discriminatory guidelines today than it performed just a couple years ago.
However, about intimate spouse physical violence, the U.S. continues to have some try to do. In 2019, 4per cent of United states women stated that that they had skilled personal lover violence in just days gone by year. This might be a country mile off through the 0.9% whom said alike in Switzerland.
Very little progress is made inside the portion of women just who say they feel secure in their own personal communities. Just about 67per cent of American women say they feel safe travelling their areas at night.
In the following many years, the experts anticipate determining all 50 states and applying their particular techniques to reveal the difference in women’s well-being condition by state.
« as much as we could inform, no-one has done this prior to, » Dr. Jeni Klugman mentioned. « It’ll be a tremendously fascinating physical exercise to look at and speed all 50 states. »
Identifying styles in Women’s Welfare & Domestic Violence
By and large, the 2019 WPS Index watched positive growth and developments for women in most countries.
« The good news is that development has been created in every but the countries within the WPS Index, » stated Dr. Jeni Klugman. « Over 60 countries noticed an important improvement, which we understood to be a 5percent increase in couple of years. Just Yemen performed considerably even worse. »
WPS Index scientists unearthed that ladies’ use of economic services is increasing in most countries, but it is significantly lagging in spots where women can be afflicted by conflict, where typically only 1 in 10 ladies are financially provided.
Nations experiencing considerable conflicts â Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan, among others â often have the least protections for women, and several of those have forfeit surface from inside the WPS Index. By distinguishing in which ladies are striving, the directory can remind required changes.
The Georgetown scientists are currently functioning alongside co-workers at UCSD and Johns Hopkins to examine the distinctions between lifetime intimate partner assault and current intimate spouse physical violence. That is to say, the researchers need to see if a female who’s experienced personal companion assault has the capacity to get out of that bad situation and prevent future violence, and which are the factors involving being able to stay away from repeated physical violence.
Ladies typically require sources and support to go out of abusive conditions, plus some countries have actually companies and solutions to fill which need, while some do not have the support and infrastructure to manage the situation. The scientists are considering designs to see which plans and products across nations can really help shield ladies against duplicated abuse in their lifetime.
The WPS Index has the ability to shine lighting on nations that foster better personal fairness and public welfare, whilst pointing out places where countries flunk on the perfect.
As an instance, although the prevalence of prepared assault has actually dropped in many parts of the world, it is still a problem in Yemen where in fact the quantity of deaths because armed conflict because nation features virtually doubled in only 24 months.
Commonly a change in leadership can ignite monumental changes in policy, and so the WPS Index tracks how representative governments come in regards to gender. Women’s representation in federal government jobs is on the rise in most created nations, but women still only form 22percent of parliamentary jobs global.
« The advancement in general is too slow, and it’s really extremely unequal, » Dr. Jeni Klugman said. « the specific aspects that are the majority of concerning tend to be women’s work, stuck below 60percent, and this quantity is actually slipping almost everywhere except in parts of Africa. »
How Comprehensive information can cause Lasting Change
The WPS Index assesses nations through a variety of gender-based measurements and highlights their particular strengths and weaknesses. The experts stress that no country is perfect, and every country could do more to guard, cultivate, and empower ladies.
« Basically, no country really does well across-the-board, » Dr. Jeni Klugman stated. « There are shortcomings in governmental engagement, economic options, and women’s experience of violence even among the list of wealthiest areas around. »
Gender equivalence is a worldwide agenda that influences folks from all walks of life. The WPS Index will make it obvious that oppression and residential violence is not only a challenge in one particular region or even in one certain tradition. Truly a systemic problem that achieves wealthy and poor, outdated and youthful, East and West, and everybody between.
« We would like to draw focus on the universality of agenda, » Dr. Jeni Klugman mentioned. « We placed a spotlight on achievements while taking note of where there are major challenges. »
The WPS Index provides an important litmus examination which can remind people and leaders to consider their unique situation on earth and their therapy of females.
Seeking to the long term, the WPS Index will try to look much deeper into the issue of legal defenses for ladies. The experts are interested in seeing not just whether countries have actually laws safeguarding females, but exactly how constantly and stringently those guidelines are implemented. Some countries have regulations on the books that are not implemented used, therefore it is well worth exploring this discrepancy.
« the goal is actually for governments to undertake reforms which have been needed seriously to assist ensure ladies feel secure and safe, and also to possess options in the economy and culture which can be available to guys and males, » mentioned Dr. Jeni Klugman. « we have viewed that offering info and analysis, alongside bench-marking performance against neighboring countries eventually, can be handy in enabling the attention of policymakers, reporters, yet others on the ground. »
The WPS Index Raises Awareness About ladies’ Standing
From ladies’ employment figures to political participation, the WPS Index discusses an extensive selection data with regards to sex equivalence, and it also functions as a significant standard for countries internationally.
The U.S. may fall short in terms of financial inclusion and romantic companion assault, but inaddition it can make benefits various other areas, and it’s really vital that you accept those accomplishments while acknowledging what lengths we still need to head to accomplish real representation, introduction, and personal justice.
Dr. Jeni Klugman told all of us the WPS Index is present to encourage discussion and updated debates, and she hopes to see it press societies toward more modern guidelines and expectations.
« its very worthwhile if you see the ways which it’s been welcomed by civil community teams, » she stated. « it is possible to supply information in ways which happen to be of good use and handy for visitors to help progress plans that I believe a lot of people share. »