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Upper School Spanish instructor Cesar Robalino, who typically serves as the lead chaperone on the European trip during spring break, took five students abroad to Italy. Over the 10 days, the group — Maximillian Kostyashkin, Luke Markus, Gage Sears, Dominic Mazzone, and Matthew Hajek, along with Mr. Mazzone — visited Venice, Florence and Rome.
Mr. Robalino was kind enough to act both as a chaperone and historian, detailing the trip in a blog.
Before we left the States, the trip was already an adventure, but alas, we made the most of it. A quick breakdown — after different delays in Tampa and Miami on our first day, we eventually arrived in Venice — without the luggage for Mark, Luke and Mr. Mazzone.
Max was the only one very angry; the rest of us were just laughing. We spent the time talking about what we wanted to see first, what to eat, where to eat, what to buy.
To calm the waters, Matt immediately said, “Ok, no big deal. These things happen all the time. What we need to do now is make a report about our luggage and hopefully we will get it soon.” He paused. “…and let’s all buy the same shirt that says I ♥ Italy.” We all laughed.
Max, though, was still a bit upset. He said, “If I don’t get my luggage, I am going back to Miami.”
After some joking and laughing, Gage said, “Well, I guess we will all have to dress with Luke’s fashion — all in black.” Max smirked and calmed down after that comment and was relieved when the luggage finally arrived.
From here on the trip was amazing…
Days 1 -2: Tour of Venice’s Lido
We checked in at the hotel and had a tour of Venice’s Lido, a popular Adriatic beach resort. According to Europe For Visitors, Lido di Venezia–or simply the “Lido,” in local parlance–is a barrier island that separates the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. By vaporetto or public water bus, it’s only a few minutes from Venice’s historic center, which makes it popular as a dormitory suburb of Venice and a summer resort for tourists.
Day 3: Venice Sightseeing
We took a water bus ride to one of the most iconic town squares in the world, the Piazza San Marco. The Piazza San Marco — commonly referred to as St. Mark’s Square by Westerners — has been described by historians as “beautiful at all times of day or night and all seasons of the year, with architecture that has not been exposed or ruined by the plight of automobiles.” While there, we enjoyed a walking tour led by a local guide. During the tour, we visited the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica, two of the city’s main landmarks and seen in countless movies.
We went to the Rialto area, the financial and commercial center of Venice. While there, we visited the nooks and crannies of Old Venice and the lively Rialto Market.
We visited the Murano Glass Factory, where we viewed a glass-blowing demonstration and learned about the art of making the world-renowned Venetian glass.
We visited the Doge’s Palace, built in the 14th century. It reflects Venice’s Golden Age as a center of trade and exploration. Its lavish decoration includes priceless paintings, in particular Tintoretto’s Il Paradiso, the world’s largest painting on canvas.
Then, we went to visit St. Mark’s Basilica, which dates back to the 11th century and houses precious treasures behind its elaborate façade.
We finished the day by taking a gondola ride along the canals, past stately palaces — a unique Venetian experience, as extravagant and as unforgettable as the city itself.
DAY 4: Train to Florence, Accademia
In the morning we took a water bus ride to the train station, where we boarded a high-speed train that took us across the rolling hills of Italy’s hinterland to splendid Firenze, the “Jewel of the Renaissance.”
In the evening, we strolled along the River Arno, went over to the shop-lined Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence.
We also visited the Galleria della Accademia to view the best known of all Florentine treasures, Michelangelo’s monumental David. The statue of David was impressive, to say the least.
DAY 5: Florence City Sightseeing
On a city tour in Florence, we got acquainted with the Medici family and the art of politics. A local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Florence, accompanied the group.
We visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as Il Duomo. We went up the 450 steps to have a marvelous view of the city.
Then, we went to Giotto’s Campanile, the free-standing bell tower that is as iconic to Firenze as Il Duomo is. We were fortunate enough to climb another 450 steps.
Next, we visited the Basilica of Santa Croce, the final resting place of luminaries such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo. The church is filled with treasures and houses the Pazzi Chapel, a masterpiece by Brunelleschi noted for its original conception and skillful proportions.
The rest of the day was spent with free time to explore Florence.
DAY 6: Train to Rome
We enjoyed a scenic ride aboard a fast train headed to Rome, the Eternal City! We enjoyed the walk to the hotel and taking in the hectic pace of Rome.
We visited the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome’s most celebrated sights, which was the terminus of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct. The Trevi is at its best at night, when the fountain is illuminated. Throw a coin into the spray to ensure your return to this wonderful city!
We went to the Spanish Plaza to see the Spanish Steps and the Fontana della Barcaccia, or in English, the Fountain of the Ugly Boat.
DAY 7: Rome City Sightseeing
We set out on a sightseeing tour of Rome. A full-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Rome, accompanied the group.
We visited the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Vatican museums.
We were able to marvel at Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and brightly-colored ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
We went to visit St. Peter’s Basilica, which houses priceless works of art, in particular Michelangelo’s Pietà and Bernini’s Dove of the Holy Spirit.
We walked through the plaza known as Piazza Navona. Built on the site of Domitian’s Stadium and lined with grand buildings and trendy cafes, this oblong square is adorned with statues and fountains, notably Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers.
We entered the “Temple to All the Gods,” which is one of the better-preserved and most harmonious monuments of antiquity.
DAY 8: Rome, Free Time
We enjoyed free time in Rome. Some took in sights while others shopped, considering Italy is famous worldwide for its fashion designers such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianni Versace and Moschino.
DAY 9: Departure
Fortunately, the airplane trip back home went smoothly and everyone had a great time!


Bigger parks are not necessarily better for public health, according to recent findings from Peak Urban. There's a strong case for focusing on smaller parks and gardens, especially those encouraging physical activity.
This young activist believes that historic preservation shouldn't get in the way of making cities safer.
In one of Italy's most chaotic cities, neighbourhoods have long turned to self-government when institutions fail to protect them.
The challenge of keeping apart means public areas such as parks, plazas, markets and restaurants are all experimenting with ideas that keep people safe.
The Legacies of British Slave-Ownership project is mapping every British address linked to a slave-owner.
As coronavirus lockdowns ease, people are flooding back to parks – but not everyone has easy access to green space in their city.


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Ultimate Blog Design Guide | 5 Design Secrets To Improve Your Blog Design And Boost Conversions Right Now!
Ultimate Blog Design Guide | Design is a vital part of all the content you create, from your blog posts to your tweets. It’s also one of the most challenging tasks, especially for those of you who aren’t professional designers, or can’t afford to hire one. However, effective blog design goes far beyond a beautiful layout. Your goal should be to design a blog that gets more readers, improves engagement, boosts conversions, and helps you get found by your target audience.
Are you creating valuable, useful, and interesting content on a regular basis but are seeing small, flat or no growth to your subscriber base? If you’ve ever read a book at the beach, you’ll understand how the environment plays a vital role in how enjoyable it is to read. The same goes for your blog, with one exception: you can control every element that makes up the environment and makes your visitors decide to stick around or abandon your website altogether. Luckily, there are some fairly simple hacks that you can start using today without too much fuss that will instantly boost your subscriber numbers.
Use A Professional Blog Design | Ultimate Blog Design Guide
Running a blog is so much more enjoyable when you know people are reading and sharing your content. If the goal of your blog is to increase traffic and boost conversions, you should make sure the design is both appealing and practical. Your blog should convey the professional image that you want to project to readers. This will reinforce your brand, boost your credibility, and help increase the number of regular readers. Remember, your visitors should be able to browse your website without any effort at all, and the content should be well-structured and organized intuitively.
Simplify Navigation | Ultimate Blog Design Guide
If your visitor wants to read posts from a specific date, would they know how to get to them? What if they wanted to see all your posts with a specific tag? You want your website to look good, sure, but it must also be easy to navigate and generate sales. The latest trend is leaning towards hiding navigation behind the now ubiquitous three-line icon, which may become a space-saving go-to solution. However, make sure your visitors know where to click for more options, or keep spelling out the most vital navigation items.
Ensure Your Website Is SEO Friendly | Ultimate Blog Design Guide
Your website does not only have to appeal to your readers, it has to be easily understood by search engines so that they can crawl and index your content effectively. In addition to using the targeted keywords throughout your blog posts, you should make sure you optimize other content for search engines as well, including images. When robots scan your website, they look for every detail and when they come across an image, they do not recognize what the image is about. To let robots index each of your images you must add an alt tag. It provides a semantic meaning and description to images which can be read by search engines or be used to later determine the content of the image from page context alone.
For Font’s Sake, Limit Your Typefaces | Ultimate Blog Design Guide
Make sure you’re using easy to read fonts for simple and effective graphic design and better readability. It’s a general consensus that sans-serif fonts, such as Arial and Verdana, are best for the body content of a blog, because they’re clean and not as cluttered as their serif counterparts. You also need to keep in mind that the eye finds it difficult to scan too many fonts, so stick to a simple collection of fonts. It’s good to limit the number of fonts to no more than three: one for the post titles, one for the sidebar titles, and another for the post body.
Pay Attention To Your Calls To Action | Ultimate Blog Design Guide
Calls to action are a vital part of content marketing. You invest time in creating content hoping that it will help you accomplish your business goals, and your calls to action are what link those two elements together. If you want people to subscribe to your newsletter, you have to do two things: you need to ask, and emphasize the call to action. Your calls to action should look pretty much the same throughout all the pages. The wording can be different, but the overall design and style should be consistent. Consistency breeds familiarity. However, make sure you’re using the contrast color sparingly, and only for your calls to action to make them stand out.

domain: design


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Example of narrative essay about yourself home flashcards the color grey is used in the short story and it is another symbol for sadness. In your essay, it is vital that you present yourself as someone who loves to learn, can think critically and has a passion for things—anything. Writing introductions imagine yourself a freshman in high school it is perfect for short essays where space must be conserved or for . A good example essay for self introduction and will help u get through the interview with more confidence in yourself this will be shown through .
Essay scholarships scholarships with essays often have interesting topics which all of the below scholarships require an essay entry – some as short as only . How speedypaper essay writing service works our writers take on all types of written assignments, from short and sweet 5-paragraph essays to full-on phd theses. Colleges and even employers might ask you to write a career goals essay you want to stay as true to yourself as possible you can also look into short term .
How to write an autobiographical essay one of the worst things you can do when writing an autobiographical essay is to represent yourself in a write a short . Learn about personal essay writing, it is important that you provide yourself with lot of time to write the essay in most cases, . Know thyself: a short essay on the importance of knowing stop for a moment take a deep breath in, now breathe out slowly take a moment to find yourself.
Before starting working on your short essay assignment, be sure to look through 6 main rules and take them into consideration. Check out some tips and tricks to write a stellar personal essay an essay about myself: writing tips and writing about yourself can be one of the . Short essay on kindness dr meenakshi don't be harsh to yourself and give space to the trivial mistakes in life as, we only learn by committing mistakes. Read a guide on how to write a personal experience essay it's never easy to write about an important experience our writers can help. Does expository writing have you confused maybe you find yourself on this page because your instructor asked you to write an expository essay, and you aren't exactly sure what's expected of you—if so, you've certainly found the right place.
Read story be yourself by durrahsha (durrah) with 3,399 readsbe yourself, love yourself it was the year of turning into someone else it was the year whe. Describe yourself samples short lines ,sales experience 4 yrsjust i finish advance level i have done diploma in ticketing and reservation. Ideal college application essay as you revise your own essay, keep asking yourself what the admissions folks might be glad to get through a short essay .
Your job application essay turns your elevator pitch into an irresistible broad statement introducing yourself and stating the type of job that . Below is a pdf link to personal statements and application essays representing strong efforts by students applying for both undergraduate and graduate opportunities. Essay on topic believe in yourself you can use information from both sections and draft your essay or short speech he is also ceo and co-founder of teenatheart.

domain: literature


Transfer Rumours: Thursday July 15, 2010Rumour • Author: Mehmet Pozam • Thursday, July 15, 2010
In today's press scan, news reports from the Turkish and International press linking Fenerbahçe with transfer moves for Asamoah Gyan, Miloš Krasić, Grafite, Giovani dos Santos and others. Please note that Fenerbahçe Worldwide does not confirm any of the following transfer rumours.
The following transfer rumours were linked in Turkish and International media, although each is pure speculation unless the club issues an official statement. We do not hold any of the rumours to be truth.
Fenerbahçe Worldwide will publish one article of transfer rumours per day (as long as there is demand), and the list will be updated throughout the day as more are reported. Please check the article periodically for updates.
Asamoah Gyan (Rennes)
Striker - 24 years old
Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan, Habertürk, Fanatik
According to reports in the Turkish press, Asamoah Gyan is still Fenerbahçe's top priority. While it is reported that Fenerbahçe and Liverpool have the best offers for the Rennes striker, Premier League sides Sunderland and West Ham United look to be out of the picture. Milliyet claims that Fenerbahçe officials will conduct talks with the French club this weekend, increasing their former offer. Sabah and Vatan quote a Rennes official who says they are open to negotiate with Fener if there is an increased offer.
Miloš Krasić (CSKA Moscow)
Attacking midfielder - 25 years old
Sabah, Milliyet, Fanatik
While Sabah and Milliyet repeat Miloš Krasić's former statement of, "There is a concrete offer from Fenerbahçe. But with all respect to the Turkish club, it's not worth leaving CSKA for them", Turkish sports daily Fanatik claims that Fenerbahçe are still continuing their pursuit on the 25-year-old Serbian attacking midfielder. Rumours are that the Yellow Canaries are preparing to offer Krasić a hefty salary, hoping to finalize the transfer soon.
Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg)
Striker - 31 years old
According to a report in Fanatik, an agent for VfL Wolfsburg striker Grafite has told Radyospor that his client has not received an offer from Fenerbahçe. The agent stated his client has an ongoing contract with the Bundesliga side and he is expected to return from his post-World Cup holidays and join Wolfsburg's pre-season preparations.
Giovani dos Santos (Tottenham / Galatasaray)
Attacking midfielder - 21 years old
Sabah, Pas Fotomaç
A Pas Fotomaç report, also published in Sabah online, rumours that an agent for Mexican attacking midfielder Giovani dos Santos has sit down for negotiations with Fenerbahçe officials. Rumours are that 21-year-old Giovani dos Santos wants to play for the Yellow Canaries and could be joining ranks at the Kadıköy side on a loan. Giovani is no longer tied with Galatasaray, after the Istanbul club decided not to use the buyout option.
Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham Hotspur)
Striker - 30 years old, 28 years old
According to an exclusive Lig TV report on Thursday afternoon, Fenerbahçe officials have snubbed offers from Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Rumours are that agents have contacted the Yellow Canaries, stating that both players are keen on joining the Kadıköy side. However, Fenerbahçe have snubbed the offers and are reported to be looking to make younger signings.
AS Nancy-Lorraine striker Issiar Dia, Santos winger/striker Neymar and OGC Nice striker Loïc Rémy have also been linked with Fenerbahçe.
Disclaimer: Fenerbahçe Worldwide does not confirm any of the above rumours or state that they are anything else than mere speculation. Please wait for official announcements from the club management.
(Pictured above, Asamoah Gyan)


STI developed their DVC Competition Series for those who want a high quality competition gun, right out of the box. The latest in the series, the DVC Steel (pictured above in 9mm), brings the stellar performance of the DVC Open without the need for major power factor ammunition, making it a great choice for Steel Challenge. STI says you can run any off the shelf ammunition in the DVC Steel with zero problems.
The DVC Steel is a wee bit shorter than the DVC Open, to allow for the rapid target transitions necessary for Steel Challenge competition. The slide is finished in titanium nitride and the frame in a beautiful hard chrome that will surely be an attention grabber wherever it goes.
MSRP: $3999.The DVC Steel is available in .38 Super and 9mm models. Learn more at stiguns.com.
Earlier this year at SHOT Show, Timney Triggers unveiled the Calvin Elite Custom replacement trigger for the AR platform. Here in Atlanta, we were able to get a closer look at this drop-in unit geared towards 3-Gun and Multi-Gun competitive shooters.
Coupling the proven Timney AR trigger housing with a new internal design, the Calvin Elite Custom allows a high degree of trigger customization. The Calvin Elite Custom has a 1.5-lb. trigger pull and 5-lb. hammer spring. Four different shoes—curved, flat, heeled, and knurled—are standard. All of the necessary tools for fitting and adjusting shoes are also included. The shoes are fully-adjustable for length of pull, cast and height, allowing for a custom fit for any application.
That's SSUSA author Larry Case holding the new CZ-USA CZ 455 Ultra Lux rimfire rifle. The longest-barreled rimfire in CZ-USA's lineup, this rifle has a 28.6-inch barrel, giving a generous sight radius which can definitely improve accuracy with iron sights. A tangent rear sight that is quickly adjustable for elevation, beech stock with cheekpiece and 10-round magazine complete the package.
Armageddon Gear has improved their popular Precision Rifle Cases, pictured above are pre-production models. The final design will include a sling. Designed to be able to fit a precision bolt action rifle with suppressor attached, these cases can make going to the range a lot easier if you are a precision long-range shooter.
Generous storage pockets allow you to carry just about all the gear you need for a trip to the range with just one bag. There is even a smaller zippered pocket that you can store a copy of your Form 4 or other documents in. The company plans to start selling this new model in the next few weeks.
Another cool new item from Armageddon Gear is their new zippered Suppressor Covers. As we all know, after use, suppressors can reach extremely high temperatures that can result in nasty burns if you are not careful. With this handy zippered cover, you can easily unscrew a suppressor from your rifle while still hot, thanks to the thick kevlar lining inside. A zippered pocket is a handy storage place for a Form 4 or other documents.
The exhibit hall at the NRA Annual Meeting is something that must be experienced by every firearms enthusiast. With over 800 exhibitors this year, SSUSA spent opening day checking out the latest and greatest from some of your favorite companies. Take a look at the gallery above to see a small sampling of what we found on day one here in Atlanta, GA, at the 2017 NRA Annual Meeting.


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SuperHero vs Criminal is addictive video game where you are a SuperHero catching lawless & criminals on the speed roads!
How to play Hero vs Criminal :
- Swipe left and right to avoid the other vehicles
- Lift your finger up to protect yourself
- Get close enough to the criminals to catch them!
- Feel the action from this game
- Fun & long gameplay
- Interesting and original environment for all levels
- A lot of skins for upgrade view of SuperHero’s bike.
- Special soundtrack for immersive gameplay

domain: entertainment


Artificial Intelligence gets creative
We were warned that it would dominate our lives but instead it has quietly come to underpin more technology and parts of our lives that we might never have expected - from manufacturing, to maps and travel.
So where is the technology of Artificial Intelligence at, and where is it going? Should it be regulated, if at all? And will it end up reflecting its creators, for better or for worse?
Guests: Rae Johnston, SBS NITV Science and Technology editor & Dr Ollie Bown, Associate Professor UNSW School of Art Design, author 'Beyond the Creative Species'


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Whistling for Owls by Max Ferguson is a story of two parts; image and text; France and London, memoir and fiction; truth and lies. This is the first book by the Oval press imprint which will focus on quiet publishing on the edges of photography, literature and research.
In Whistling for Owls, oblique photographs and sometimes-poetic texts are combined create a loose narrative of love, loss and longing. The photographs depict observed details and imperfections of both domesticity and nature—an apple core on the ground, a broken window, a cluttered kitchen and carefully arranged dead butterflies.
Each image is heavy with implied narrative and symbolism—ripe nature just on the cusp of turning and the abandoned and rusting evidence of human presence. It’s unclear if the images signal an awakening or decay—or both—or neither. The text contributes to the ambiguity with the introduction of the enigmatic figure of the birdwatcher never making clear if she is a passing encounter or a pivotal figure in the narrative.
‘I first met the birdwatcher as she climbed over a style someway from the house we were staying at. She seemed startled to see me – as if I shouldn’t have been there. Maybe I shouldn’t have.’


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The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which was in charge of two children who died in custody this month, has been ordered to give all 700 children in its care medical checks, the AP reports. The sector includes parts of Texas and all of New Mexico. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died early Tuesday while in government custody. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) identified the boy as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez in a statement Tuesday. “The [Trump] administration’s policy of turning people away from legal ports of entry, otherwise known as metering, is putting families and children in great danger,” Castro, the chairman-elect of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in the news release. “Many questions remain unanswered, including how many children have died in CBP custody.” According to a CBP statement, the boy was hospitalized after he “showed signs of potential illness.” He was being detained at a checkpoint between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, New Mexico, because of overcrowding at holding cells in El Paso, a CBP official told The Washington Post. He is the second child to die this month while in the custody of the U.S. government, after 7-year-old Jakelin Caal.
TOP 10 RIGHT NOW

domain: news


Dingo Rotary Hoe for All Your Farming Needs in Ballarat Area23 March 2018
For farmers in Ballarat area that are seeking ways to control weeds and better prepare their land for farming, the Dingo rotary hoe is an effective solution, as it can meet all farming needs.
The small, yet effective, rotary hoe can dig to approximately 150mm into soil, and cut a full 1 metre width. The two pump system that is unique to the Dingo allows for infinite control of the rotary hoe ground speed, thus allowing the operator to choose a faster or slower speed as ground conditions require.
The Dingo rotary hoe is ideal for farms and gardens, as it can effectively dig garden beds, loosen topsoil, and is even used for concrete slab preparations for driveways. This is why the Dingo is the preferred choice among landscapers, farmers, and contractors in Ballarat area.
Dingo Rotary Hoe for Hire in Ballarat Area for Farming and Gardening
While Dingo rotary hoes are used commonly by landscapers to develop and maintain lawn and gardens, farmers in Ballarat can benefit from them as well. The Dingo can remove tree stumps, level soil, and clear land of debris to prepare for farming purposes. Preparing soil using a rotary hoe will produce the ideal texture of soil that is just right for seedling roots to grow and germinate, allowing these to easily seek out the moisture and nutrients needed for healthy growth.
When it comes to gardening and farming in the Ballarat area, there is no better equipment to use than a Dingo rotary hoe, for the following reasons:
Handles difficult types of soil – the Dingo rotary hoe has hardened, double-edged blades that can break down all types of soil using adjustable speeds as necessary. The blades are controlled hydraulically, allowing for precision adjustment to meet specific needs.
Suitable digging depth – reaching a suitable depth of 150 mm, the rotary hoe can prepare soil ideally for planting herbs and vegetables with only one pass.
1-metre wide cut path – standard tillers require multiple passes over an area to properly prepare soil for farming, but the Dingo rotary hoe attachment cuts a wide 1 metre path with only one pass. The rotary hoe can accomplish as much work as larger tractor attachments. This saves farmers a lot of effort, so that more planting can be accomplished in less time.
Melbourne Mini Diggers have Dingo rotary hoes for hire in Ballarat area. All Dingos for hire come with experienced operators that will make sure that all work is accomplished as effectively and safely as possible.
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Though many of the campaign affiliates of environmental groups groups do not yet have their final campaign spending totals tallied, the figures so far indicate that they will spend more than ever on the 2018 election:
- The League of Conservation Voters is planning to spend $60 million to help Democrats win back Congress and statehouses nationwide, breaking a record the environmental organization set in two years ago when it spent $45 million. “It will be by far the most money we’ve ever spent,” said the group's president, Gene Karpinski. “Our supporters around the country are stepping up in a big way because what they’re seeing is the most anti-environmental president in history.”
- The Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund said it will likely just about double its campaign spending from two years ago, from about $1 million to $2 million, “with the bulk of that going to targeted get-out-the-vote efforts,” spokesman Denis Dison said.
- The Sierra Club does not have a final campaign spending total yet, but a spokesman for the nation’s largest environmental organization said it expects to spend around $6 million. In 2016, the Sierra Club had planned to devote $3.8 million to campaigns. “It's not just about the millions of dollars spent," Ariel Hayes, the Sierra Club’s political director, said, "but about the millions of actions taken by our members and supporters who are volunteering on campaigns, knocking on doors, making phone calls, and engaging in any capacity.”
- Likewise, the Environmental Defense Action Fund has not nailed down its campaign spending total, but through a spokesman the group said it expects “our total spending will be surpass the more than $6 million we spent in 2016.”
Yet even with more campaign cash than ever, environmental groups still may face some of the same headwinds with voters they have in years past. Historically, polls have shown that environmental issues rank much lower among voters’ concerns compared to those that affect their pocketbooks. According to a Pew Research Center survey in June, only 4 percent of respondents named the environment as their No. 1 for candidates to address. Immigration, healthcare, education, the economy, guns, jobs and taxes all scored higher.
Indeed, LCV has a history of mixed success. In 2016, only 30 percent of the $19 million it spent on congressional races in 2016 went to winning candidates. But just a year later, across-the-board victories for endorsees like Democratic Govs. Phil Murphy in New Jersey and Ralph Northam in Virginia gave the group a 96 percent success rate in all races that year.
The League of Conservation Voters hopes to buck that trend by using to district-by-district polling to hone its messaging. The group’s internal polling has found that emphasizing the health repercussions of air and water pollution, as well as the need to protect public lands, plays particularly well with suburban women, a key voting bloc in many tight House districts at the edges of cities.
Read the rest of the story here:
Correction: This story originally and incorrectly referred to the Natural Resources Defense Council as the National Resources Defense Council.
|You are reading The Energy 202, our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment.|
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The president falsely denied in a Thursday tweet that thousands of people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria:
The facts: A George Washington University study published last month estimated there were between 2,658 and 3,290 “excess deaths” in the six months following the storm and Puerto Rico adopted the midpoint of 2,975 as its official death toll. Trump went on to blame Democrats for trying to “make me look as bad as possible.”
Again, this is wrong: It was Puerto Rico's Republican governor who revised the death toll upward into the thousands.
— Climate conference kicks off: Wednesday saw the start of the three-day Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, from where the Energy 202 is reporting this week.
Who's here: Days after signing major renewable energy legislation, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is convening business and government leaders to share ideas about reducing their organizations' impact on climate change and encourage other cities and corporation to do the same. Among the political bigwigs expected to speak are New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Who isn't: Trump, of course, or an representative from his administration. After the president declared his intent to pull out of the Paris climate accord conference, a number of governors and mayors pledged to adhere to the international agreement's emissions-reduction targets. Over the last year, 15 states and Puerto Rico have joined California to make that promise. The conference in San Francisco is their chance to reiterate that repudiation.
What's actually happening: Despite the state-level promises, the United States is on track to fall short of the Paris goals for 2025 set by former president Barack Obama, according to a recent assessment from the Rhodium Group.
— Hurricane Florence is barreling toward the Carolinas and is just about a day away from impact: Currently a Category 2 storm, it’s still likely to bring devastating damage and flooding to the Southeast, The Post’s Jason Samenow reports. “Landfall is expected Friday in southeast North Carolina, which may bear the storm’s brunt,” he writes. “The storm’s surge, the rise in seawater above normally dry land at the coast, could rise a story high. On top of that, a disastrous amount of rain, 20 or maybe even as many as 40 inches will fall.” As of early Thursday morning, Florence’s top winds were 110 mph, and the National Hurricane Center predicts the storm will maintain this intensity until landfall.
When it does hit, forecasters warn Florence could “shift to low gear and then meander unpredictably along the coast, sucking energy from the warm ocean as it pounds coastal communities,” The Post’s Kristine Phillips, Sarah Kaplan, Mark Berman and Joel Achenbach report.
People in Florence’s path could be without electricity for weeks. Duke Energy estimated up to 3 million people in the Carolinas could lose power because of the storm. There are also 16 nuclear reactors in the region that, with the one closest to landfall being prepared to shutdown, per Samenow.
After forecasts showed Florence shifting toward the southwest, Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency for all 159 counties in order to mobilize resources ahead of the storm. Gov. Nathan Deal’s (R) declaration cited the storm’s trajectory changes, per the Associated Press, as well as the “influx of evacuees coming to Georgia from the Carolinas.”
— If you’re in the Washington region, the latest forecasts suggest the storm will have little impact here: “We do not expect significant rain, more than showers, or strong winds through Sunday, because the storm is tracking so far south of us,” Samenow reports. “But next week, the storm may return north and deliver an uncertain amount of rain between Monday and Wednesday. When the storm probably makes landfall in southeast North Carolina on Friday, the most we’ll probably see are some showers and a bit of a breeze. The heaviest and most numerous showers are likely to fall in our far southern areas (toward Fredericksburg), but even there, we don’t expect it to amount to enough to cause flooding or significant disruption.”
Meanwhile, here’s a city-by-city forecast for what some of the more than 15 million people under storm watches and warnings can expect from the storm’s impact. Samenow notes to bear in mind that forecasts are ever-changing.
“We’ll handle it. We’re ready”: Trump has approved disaster declarations for the Carolinas and Virginia. In a video message Wednesday morning, the president urged residents to get out of Florence’s way. “Don’t play games with it,” he said. “The storm will come. It will go. We want everybody to be safe... We love you all. We want you safe. Get out of the storm’s way. Listen to your local representatives."
— Trump administration insists FEMA money didn't go to ICE: The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday pushed back after Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) shared documents indicating the Trump administration diverted $10 million from FEMA’s budget toward U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Department officials explained the money was “transferred from the department’s unspent operational accounts for training, office supplies and headquarters costs” and “cannot be spent on disaster response,” the Associated Press reports.
Department spokesman Tyler Houlton criticized a "sorry attempt to push a false agenda" at a critical time:
Meanwhile: FEMA administrator William “Brock” Long is the target of an investigation by Homeland Security’s inspector general into “whether he misused government vehicles during his commutes to North Carolina from Washington,” Politico reports. “The actions by Long, the U.S. government’s lead disaster official as the country braces for Hurricane Florence, have been called into question by the inspector general over whether taxpayers have inappropriately footed the bill for his travel, an issue that has tripped up a number of current and former top Trump administration officials.”
In other Florence-related news:
- Florence will be another test for the Trump administration. “It is the first big storm of 2018. FEMA and state and local officials have had days to prepare, and the agency has positioned considerable supplies and personnel in the areas most likely to be affected,” the New York Times reports. “Two months before the midterm elections, President Trump has put himself front and center in the government’s response, suggesting that the White House will be fully invested in providing the necessary resources.”
- Thousands of homes in Florence’s path don’t have flood insurance, as fewer homeowners in the Carolinas have flood insurance than five years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The widespread lack of flood insurance and low savings balances across much of the U.S. population will force hundreds of thousands of homeowners to seek federal disaster assistance in the form of grants and loans,” per the report.
- Six years ago, North Carolina passed a law to prevent policymakers and developers from using climate science to plan for rising sea levels on the coast, HuffPost reports. Now, the state is bracing for a devastating hit from Florence, made worse by a life-threatening storm surge. “And the rise in sea levels, experts say, is making the storm surge worse,” per the report.
- Florence could impact a struggling Virginia pipeline project: Crews are working to reinforce construction areas around the Mountain Valley Pipeline ahead of heavy rains from the impending storm, The Post’s Gregory S. Schneider reports, noting the project already faced an abnormally wet summer. “The situation places a spotlight on the unusually demanding environment being crossed by the Mountain Valley Pipeline, ” Schneider writes. “Work had resumed on the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Southwest Virginia at the end of last month after a federal agency lifted a moratorium…. Now, though, the company leading the effort said all work has stopped again and resources are being diverted to shore up construction zones against flooding and possible wind damage.”
— A year later, failure at all levels: As Florence barrels toward the East Coast, the president's remarks and warnings from officials have also been a stark reminder of the long-lasting impact of last year's catastrophic storms. In Puerto Rico, residents say they still struggle with seeing basic needs met nearly a year after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory. A new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 83 percent of people reported “either major damage to their homes, losing power for more than three months, employment setbacks or worsening health problems, among other effects of the storm,” The Post’s Scott Clement, Katie Zezima and Emily Guskin report. “Puerto Ricans say the lackluster response to the hurricane, which ravaged the island in September 2017, was due to a failure of government at all levels, from the president down to municipal authorities. Eighty percent of Puerto Ricans rate Trump’s response to Maria negatively.”
More from The Post’s series of stories based on the new poll:
- Fifty percent of Puerto Ricans say people in their households have had trouble getting enough water to drink, with 2 in 10 saying they have had to drink water from a natural source such as a stream or river. By the summer, 53 percent were worried about water quality where they live, per The Post’s Samantha Schmidt.'
- Schmidt and The Post’s Arelis R. Hernandez report from Naguabo, Puerto Rico where Maria’s aftermath is still crippling. "It is one of the numerous places in Puerto Rico where recovery has barely begun and routines are far from recognizable," they write. Across the islands, the poll found “25 percent of Puerto Ricans say their daily lives are still disrupted a year after Maria. Some 39 percent of residents here say their lives are largely back to normal, while 36 percent say their lives are almost back to normal.”
- The Post's series published one day after the president touted the response in Puerto Rico as an "incredible, unsung success." Meanwhile, the Post’s Josh Dawsey reports it’s a “frequent tactic of the president — elevate a widely perceived failure or mistake and defend it as a great triumph while attacking his critics. His detractors say it is shameless and sometimes comical gaslighting; supporters say he is just a master marketer who uses hyperbole and always shows strength.”
And in Texas, a dim light at the end of the tunnel: For children in Texas whose lives were upended by Hurricane Harvey last year, there is a small glimmer of hope as some schools were rebuilt after the storm – even if lives, and homes, were not. “With another monster storm, Hurricane Florence, swirling in the Atlantic Ocean, the plight of schoolchildren in Texas illustrates the enduring consequences wrought by major hurricanes,” The Post’s Kristine Phillips reports. “Nearly 69,000 students from Houston and surrounding counties displaced by Harvey were still not back in their homes in May, the end of the last school year, according to the Texas Education Agency. Some drifted between shelters or the homes of relatives and family friends. Others hunkered down in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds, cars.”
— Pruitt is gone, but news about his spending at the EPA is not: Former administrator Scott Pruitt faced mounting financial concerns while at the EPA, including from legal fees, The Post’s Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Josh Dawsey report. According to financial disclosure forms released Wednesday, Pruitt, who made $189,600 at the EPA, had between $115,000 and $300,000 in legal fees. “The form does not specify what the legal work was for: as Pruitt’s spending and management practices came under increasing scrutiny starting last fall he eventually hired private attorneys to represent him and established a legal-defense fund,” they write.
As for Pruitt’s next gig: Billionaire coal executive Joseph W. Craft III, has been considering whether to hire Pruitt, who’s been looking for a private sector job. Eilperin, Dennis and Dawsey note Pruitt is barred from engaging in “lobbying activities” for five years under an executive order, and worked on several policies at the EPA that had an impact for Craft, chief executive of the Tulsa-based Alliance Resource Partners.
— Oil-for-parks bill makes progress: The House Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on bipartisan legislation to direct money from oil production on federal land and offshore toward national parks and public land, The Hill reports. The bill, introduced by chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), would direct half of revenue from energy production into an account for the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Education.
— Saudi America: The Energy Information Administration estimates the United States overtook Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top oil producer earlier this year, Bloomberg News reports. The EIA said oil production surpassed Russia in June and August and Saudi Arabia in February and “expects U.S. oil output to continue to exceed Russian and Saudi production for the rest of 2018 and in 2019,” per the report.
- The House Science, Space and Technology subcommittees on oversight and on the environment hold a joint hearing on “Examining the Underlying Science and Impacts of Glider Truck Regulations."
- The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds a hearing on emerging transportation technologies.
- The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on U.S. LNG in meeting European energy demand.
- The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing on nuclear technology.
- The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the environment holds a hearing on the air quality impacts of wildfires.
— A monstrosity, even from space: NASA posted a video of Florence from a space station’s view, calling it “stark and sobering," per The Post's Reis Thebault.


Possible race condition in gnutls_x509_trust_list_verify_crt2
Description of problem:
Possible race condition leading to a memory corruption issue in
trust_list_add_compat called indirectly from
gnutls_x509_trust_list_verify_crt2 (see below) when handling outgoing (client) TLS connections from multiple threads. Or possibly I'm holding GnuTLS wrong.
Version of gnutls used:
Distributor of gnutls (e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL)
Arch Linux and compiled from source.
I'm experiencing a race condition leading to a memory corruption issue in dnsdist 1.7.0-alpha1 (developer here), when using GnuTLS 3.7.2 to handle outgoing (client) TLS connections from multiple threads, and I'm trying to understand whether I'm holding GnuTLS wrong or if this is an issue that needs to be fixed in GnuTLS itself.
Our design is that we create a single
gnutls_certificate_credentials_t object while parsing the configuration, in this particular case calling
gnutls_certificate_set_x509_system_trust to use the system CA store. PKCS11 support is enabled in this GnuTLS build, which will be important later.
Later we have several worker threads each creating several new TLS connections, a single
gnutls_session_t being only accessed by one thread, but the
gnutls_certificate_credentials_t is shared by all connections by calling
GNUTLS_CRD_CERTIFICATE. My understanding after reading the "Thread safety" and "gnutls_credentials_set" parts of the documentation is that it should be safe to do so, but perhaps I'm wrong and this is the root cause of my issue.
We also require certificate verification by calling
We are then experiencing a memory corruption when several handshakes are processed at the same time from different threads, in the certification verification code:
================================================================= ==82302==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: attempting double-free on 0x627000085100 in thread T19 (dnsdist/healthC): #0 0x5610da6eada2 in realloc (/work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist+0x12fcda2) #1 0x7fc1b573ab14 in _gnutls_reallocarray_fast /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/mem.c:63:8 #2 0x7fc1b57c6b03 in trust_list_add_compat /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/x509/verify-high.c:310:3 #3 0x7fc1b57c6b03 in gnutls_x509_trust_list_get_issuer /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/x509/verify-high.c:1165:10 #4 0x7fc1b57c732b in gnutls_x509_trust_list_verify_crt2 /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/x509/verify-high.c:1521:7 #5 0x7fc1b5755208 in _gnutls_x509_cert_verify_peers /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/cert-session.c:597:10 #6 0x7fc1b57541c0 in auto_verify_cb /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/auto-verify.c:40:9 #7 0x7fc1b5719148 in _gnutls_run_verify_callback /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/handshake.c:2972:10 #8 0x7fc1b5719148 in _gnutls_run_verify_callback /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/handshake.c:2938:5 #9 0x7fc1b571156c in _gnutls13_handshake_client /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/handshake-tls13.c:132:9 #10 0x7fc1b571cf41 in handshake_client /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/handshake.c:3012:10 #11 0x7fc1b571cf41 in gnutls_handshake /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/handshake.c:2855:10 #12 0x5610db811868 in GnuTLSConnection::tryHandshake() /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/tcpiohandler.cc:1103:13 #13 0x5610db81396b in GnuTLSConnection::tryWrite(std::vector<unsigned char, noinit_adaptor<std::allocator<unsigned char> > > const&, unsigned long&, unsigned long) /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/tcpiohandler.cc:1145:20 #14 0x5610da8af7ab in TCPIOHandler::tryWrite(std::vector<unsigned char, noinit_adaptor<std::allocator<unsigned char> > > const&, unsigned long&, unsigned long) /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/./tcpiohandler.hh:402:22 #15 0x5610da8a88b3 in healthCheckTCPCallback(int, boost::any&) /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist-healthchecks.cc:261:37 #16 0x5610db7d3bb4 in boost::function2<void, int, boost::any&>::operator()(int, boost::any&) const /usr/include/boost/function/function_template.hpp:763:14 #17 0x5610db84be27 in EpollFDMultiplexer::run(timeval*, int) /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/epollmplexer.cc:193:9 #18 0x5610da8a9f64 in handleQueuedHealthChecks(FDMultiplexer&, bool) /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist-healthchecks.cc:451:23 #19 0x5610db6d0ed9 in healthChecksThread() /work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist.cc:1907:5 #20 0x7fc1b55433c3 in execute_native_thread_routine /build/gcc/src/gcc/libstdc++-v3/src/c++11/thread.cc:82:18 #21 0x7fc1b568f258 in start_thread (/usr/lib/libpthread.so.0+0x9258) #22 0x7fc1b522f5e2 in clone (/usr/lib/libc.so.6+0xfe5e2) 0x627000085100 is located 0 bytes inside of 14000-byte region [0x627000085100,0x6270000887b0) freed by thread T6 (dnsdist/tcpClie) here: #0 0x5610da6eada2 in realloc (/work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist+0x12fcda2) #1 0x7fc1b573ab14 in _gnutls_reallocarray_fast /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/mem.c:63:8 previously allocated by thread T3 (dnsdist/tcpClie) here: #0 0x5610da6eada2 in realloc (/work/pdns/pdns/dnsdistdist/dnsdist+0x12fcda2) #1 0x7fc1b573ab14 in _gnutls_reallocarray_fast /data/sources/gnutls-3.7.2/lib/mem.c:63:8
We see that the certificate verification code is reallocating an array inside the cred's
trust_list_add_compat, after being called by
That happens only if PKCS11 support is enabled and the trust list's pkcs11_token field is set.
The documentation for
gnutls_x509_trust_list_get_issuer states that "the flag
GNUTLS_TL_GET_COPY is required for this function to work with PKCS#11 trust lists in a thread-safe way", but
gnutls_x509_trust_list_verify_crt2 does not set that flag.
Unfortunately that means that another thread might be trying to access the array at the same time, or even reallocating it, which leads to memory corruption (use-after-free).
gnutls_x509_trust_list_get_issuer was not called before e97a5f07, so this behaviour might have been introduced in 3.7.1.
No memory corruption.
I would welcome some help understanding whether I should be doing things differently in dnsdist in order to prevent this. Many thanks in advance :)


text: An homage to color and nod to the modern with a whimsical yet provocative orientation of magical, colorful cubes! The magic is in the light and the turn. Hold it up to the light, gently turn it and watch the colors change. It's gorgeous just sitting on a desk as well. Glass globe, white base. Keep your globe out of direct sunlight. Sunlight shining through the water is a magnifier and can cause a fire. Sunlight can also cause the water to discolor. Dust with a soft cloth. Glass cleaner is fine on the globe. CoolSnowGlobes are made of glass and are not toys for children.

domain: artistic


text:
Top 2 attractions you must visit in Yasothon
Contents in This Page
Yasothon is one of the smallest provinces in the lower northeast region of Thailand. Yasothon Province is famed for its Rocket Festival, which is celebrated at the commencement of the Rainy Season.
Attractions in Yasothon
Phra That Kong Khao Noi is an ancient stupa. It is a structure that enshrines holy Buddhist relics. Built during the 18th-20th century in the Ayutthaya period. It is 9 kilometers away from Yasothon town.
St Michael's Church, Songyae is a Roman Catholic parish church in the northeastern Thai village of Nong Songyae. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has designated the church as a unique cultural heritage site of the sort Unseen in Thailand.

domain: travel


text:
Real Estate Owners Associations under the new Law
Law no. 196/2018 regarding the establishment, organization and functioning of owners associations and administration of condominiums, advertised in the Official Gazette of Romania under no. 660 of 30th of July, 2018
This new piece of legislation will enter into force on the 28th of September 2018, when the previous law applicable Law no. 230/2007 regarding establishment, organization and functioning of owners associations, will cease its legal effects.
The main new matters addressed by this law, are mentioned as follows:
- Apartment owners within a residential building (condominium) are obliged to adopt and deliver House Rules (Condominium Rules);
- It is now mandatory for owners’ associations to have an annual repairs (maintenance) and working capital fund;
The rehabilitation of condominiums with several entrances / segments shall be done unitarily and not separately per entrance / segment;
- Administrators of Condominiums will need to be professionally qualified and hold a related certificate;
- Clarification of matters regarding usage, modification and maintenance of the apartment;
- The owner of an apartment who wants to change its designation (from residential to office, for instance) shall be required , in addition to obtaining express approval from the closest neighbours (obligation maintained from the old law), to sign an agreement with the same neighbours disclosing the exact activity that will be carried out in the space , as well as the number of persons who will work there;
- A majority of 2/3 of owner association members, as well as a duly obtained building permit will be required for any attachment made to the building’s façade for advertisement means;
- Clarification of, and an efficient approach to, the relationship between owners associations and public authorities.

domain: law


Weirton man sentenced
WHEELING - A Weirton man already on supervised release for racketeering has been sentenced to five months in prison followed by two years of supervised release on a state domestic battery charge, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II reports.
The defendant, 25-year-old Josh Smith, had originally been sentenced in July 2008 to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release for interstate travel in aid of racketeering.
U.S. Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr. remanded Smith to the custody of U.S. marshals pending his assignment to a federal prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard handled the revocation hearing.
County treasurer to mail tax bills
STEUBENVILLE - Jefferson County Treasurer Raymond M. Agresta said tax bills for the second half of 2012 are to be mailed on Thursday.
The last day for payment of this tax without penalty is July 10.
Persons not receiving a bill in the next several days should contact the county treasurer's office at (740) 283-8572.
Credit card payments are only accepted by telephone at 1-800-2PAY-TAX (1-800-272-9829) or online at www.officialpayments.com and use jurisdiction code 4577. Agresta said Official Payments, the service provider, charges a convenience fee for the service.
Checks can be mailed to P.O. Box 398, Steubenville, OH 43952, or dropped in the drop-off box located on the alley side of the courthouse. Persons wanting a receipt must return the entire statement along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Payments also can be made at the treasurer's office on the first floor of the courthouse or at the following banks: Huntington National Bank in Steubenville (Hollywood Branch), Bergholz, Richmond, Wintersville, Toronto and Tiltonsville; and Peoples National in Mount Pleasant.


BioCARS has completed a major upgrade to the 14-ID beamline. The new configuration extends the time-resolved crystallography capability to the 100ps time domain, while utilizing the standard 24-bunch mode of the APS storage ring.
The previous undulator A (U33) has been replaced by two new undulators (U23 and U27), used in a collinear configuration. For pink-beam time-resolved experiments, the new sources will provide more than 1010photons per single 100ps X-ray pulse (APS 24-bunch mode, ~4mA/bunch).
A newly installed Kirkpatrick-Baez mirror system will improve the focusing of the X-ray beam from the original ~1:1 to ~8.3:1(h)/5.2:1(v) and bring the beam size to 90 µm2(h) x 35 µm2(v). A new optics enclosure (14-ID-C SOE) was built to house the new mirror pair. Also, a new Kohzu monochromator (Si 111), installed in the 14-ID-A FOE, rounded out the optics upgrade.
May 2006 — Vertically-focusing mirror installed
May 2006 — Monochromator installed
September 2006 — Undulator installed (U27)
October 2006 — Horizontally-focusing mirror installed


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domain: food


I know it must sound overwhelming but finding your own care agency could be a much better solution for you. My feeling is when companies are getting all the work from the local authority, then chances are they are overwhelmed with work and that’s when quality can become an issue.
If you found your own care agency, you clearly explained your expectations to them and they agreed they could deliver that for the budget then you have what you’re looking for. If it then turns out they don’t meet the levels of service and quality you agreed then you could look at others. I know it’s not ideal but you could end being in a much better position in the end.
The local authority where I am has a directory of care agencies in the borough, so your not having to find that information yourself, ask your social worker or Adult Services to find out where your local authority provides that information.
Has anyone at Adult Services discussed a personal budget and direct payments with you properly, as that sounds like what they may be suggesting. People can use that to engage another care agency or a PA.
Along side personal budgets that there are usually care brokers or a care brokerage service they suggest, that manage all the administrative stuff for you. If you’re looking for a PA, they can get involved in supporting you with that too.
The important information missing from that webpage is the role of Care Brokers, who are independent. Ask your local authority for the details of the care brokers in your area.
You could also try googling the name of your local authority and the words personal budgets. That should bring up information on how things work in your area. If you just google personal budget you can see how lots of other areas manage their personal budgets which should give you some ideas.
I don’t underestimate how overwhelming it must feel to have to get involved in doing all this but if you can get the care sorted out that will at least be one bit of the load lifted.


text:
There’s no doubt that millennials have finally entered the housing market. In fact, they currently make up 35 percent of buyers throughout the U.S. Approximately 68 percent of all first-time home buyers fall into this age bracket as well. But what do they want inside their homes? Here, RISMedia uncovered the four main features millennials are seeking when it comes time to buy a home.
1. Separate laundry rooms
The majority of millennial home buyers are searching for homes with an additional room just for laundry. Roughly 92 percent of home buyers want a separate laundry room, coming in as the number one thing millennials are looking for.
2. Outdoor lighting
The second most desired feature for millennial home buyers is exterior lighting. Roughly 90 percent of all people searching for a home in the current market want exterior lighting to illuminate their landscape.
3. Energy-efficient appliances
Another aspect of home buying that cracks the top 10 for millennials is having energy-efficient appliances inside the home. Across every generation of home buyers, 90 percent of people are looking for this feature.
4. Hardwood flooring
Rather than choosing carpeting, approximately 82 percent of home buyers are searching for properties with open hardwood floor plans.


If the marketing term "entry-level luxury sedan," were something you could look up in a regular dictionary, you would undoubtedly be referred to an artist's rendering of the Lexus ES 330. Few cars throughout history have offered such a by-the-book interpretation of affordable luxury.
For Lexus, the near-luxury experience implies supreme comfort, capable performance and impressive fuel economy. And so like every ES sedan before it, the Lexus ES 330 was a softly suspended, front-wheel-drive sedan with a creamy V6 engine and an automatic transmission programmed to shift for smoothness and efficiency rather than maximum acceleration. Inside, the ES 330's midsize dimensions provided room for four adults to bask in leather seats cushioned to sectional sofa standards. Painstaking use of noise-dampening insulation ensured a serene highway ride for all.
Although it brought calm and relaxation to many a frazzled commuter, the Lexus ES 330 was not an entry-level luxury sedan for everybody. In its quest to deliver the most luxury possible, it sacrificed driver involvement and enjoyment. For anyone with enthusiast leanings, the un-sporty ES 330 was a dull drive.
It's no surprise, then, that Lexus made the ES 330's successor, the ES 350, quicker, more agile and a bit more engaging. For consumers who aren't worried about sport-sedan pretensions, though, the Lexus ES 330 is an excellent choice for a used car purchase, particularly when you consider its first-rate reputation for reliability.
Most Recent Lexus ES 330
Sold from 2004-'06, the Lexus ES 330 debuted during a mid-model-cycle refresh for the fourth-generation Lexus ES sedan. The last full redesign had been in 2002, and '02 and '03 models wore the ES 300 badge and were powered by a 210-horsepower 3.0-liter V6. With the name change to ES 330 came a new 3.3-liter V6 with 225 hp and considerably more low- and midrange torque. (Note that this engine was re-rated at 218 hp for the '06 model year in adherence with new SAE certification standards.)
Lexus also increased equipment levels in the ES 330 transition, as must-have items like leather upholstery and a moonroof became standard fare for the first time. On the safety side, larger side curtain airbags were fitted.
Other standard equipment on the Lexus ES 330 included 16-inch alloy wheels, 10-way power front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, a seven-speaker CD/cassette audio system and convincing faux walnut trim sprinkled throughout the cabin. Major options included a higher-wattage Mark Levinson sound system, a navigation system, heated front seats, a real wood/leather steering wheel, xenon HID headlights and a stability control system.
Chrome wheels were optional as well, though on '05 and '06 models they measured 17 inches in diameter. Ventilated front seats became optional in '05, and satellite radio joined the list for '06.
Like all ES sedans, the Lexus ES 330 was based on the Toyota Camry, so driving characteristics were similar, though Lexus buyers could look forward to an even plusher, even quieter ride. Zero-to-60-mph times were in the mid-7-second range on both cars. Those wanting firmer handling around corners had the option of ordering an adaptive suspension, which varied the shock absorber damping according to road conditions, vehicle speed and driver input.
Consumers shopping for a used Lexus ES 330 should feel free to select from any of the three model years, as substantive differences were minimal. Lexus did give the ES some cosmetic upgrades for the '05 model year: The front and rear fascias were revised and fitted with new lighting elements, while inside, buyers could opt for bird's eye maple wood-grain trim in lieu of walnut. In addition, prospective ES 330 buyers who want a factory-installed navigation system may want to focus on '05 and '06 models, as they had voice activation technology.


The Impact of Flooding
When will the summer arrive? July has seen unusually high levels of rainfall and widespread flooding across the UK. This has led to loss of power and water supplies and extensive damage to buildings and possessions. By Monday 23rd July, the BBC was reporting that '43,000 homes in Gloucestershire have no power, with power cuts also taking one of the county's main sewage treatment centres off-line' (BBC, 23rd July 2007a). Problems with power supplies have been caused as flooding occurs in key electricity sub-stations. Maintaining or restoring electricity supplies will rely on effective teamwork skills by the electricity suppliers. This is made much easier by prior contingency planning by the organisation.
The Times 100 case study looking at energy supplier Npower describes how a team-based approach to general planning helps minimise risk and could be used to respond to problems.
Whilst utility providers will see increased costs as the respond to the problems of flooding, other business areas are also seriously affected. Whilst the south east of the UK has managed to avoid any serious flooding, there are serious financial implications for the insurance companies that are concentrated within the area. Flooding occurring in June and July is expected to cost the insurance industry at least £2bn according to the British Association of Insurers (BBC, 23rd July 2007b). In addition to the enormous cost of paying out claims, the insurance companies face huge problems trying to administer the huge surge of enquiries. Despite the problems, rapid progress is being made in paying out claims for flood damage across the UK, with most claimants from earlier in the month having been processed (BBC, 17th July 2007).
Under a current agreement between the insurance industry and the Government, homes hit by flooding will still be offered insurance in the future by the same provider (BBC, 26th June 2007). However, there are growing calls for developers to provide flood insurance for the first 20 years after a house is built. This is a proposal reported to be under consideration by Gordon Brown (BBC, 14th July 2007). This might be a serious issue given the government has not ruled out building further homes on flood plains (BBC, 23rd July 2007c).
Suggested Study Questions:
What is meant by contingency planning?
Other than protection against flooding, what types of insurance are offered by insurance providers?
Given the problems associated with flooding, why do you think the government is still considering further building on flood plains?


Nile Gardiner has this to say about the Obama administration:
This week, thanks to unprecedented levels of Congressional and mainstream media scrutiny of the actions of the Obama administration, the American people have been given a powerful insight into the way in which this presidency has operated. For far too long, the Obama administration has acted like an imperial court rather than a government that is accountable to the nation. The White House’s culture of arrogance and impunity, coupled with a deeply unpleasant vindictiveness, is increasingly there for all to see. Suppression of political dissent, a callous disregard for the loss of American life in Benghazi, and the relentless rise of big government – these will be three of the most of enduring images of Barack Obama’s imperial presidency.
In some ways, however, one could argue that the thuggery, deviousness and unpleasantness of this administration – and let’s not forget the Fast and Furious scandal, which is arguably the worst of all of them – in some ways shows that Barack Obama and his colleagues are not particularly crafty men (and women). If they were really as smart as some think, they would not have allowed some of these disasters to have seen the light of day. Perhaps what the stories suggest is that – as Brian Micklethwait suggested in a comment thread note the other day – that years of enjoying a placid, supine MSM meant that Obama and his colleagues got cocky. They probably thought that no matter how bad behaviour was, whether it was the ACORN episode, the blame-the-other-side nonsense over the budget impasse, Fast and Furious, Libya, insults to old friends (the UK, Poland), failure to shut down Gitmo (as promised), the IRS harassments, the AP phone record stories, etc, etc, that nothing would happen. Jon Stewart would continue to mock mostly Republicans. The MSM would, at most, treat these and other episodes as distractions. (At Reason magazine, here is an example, nicely dissected.) But I think what the administration failed to see is that even in a situation like this, cockiness will lead to a series of disasters and scandals so bad that even usual allies wake up. There is a certain inevitability. The passing of time means memories of how glamorous and appealing Obama seemed have faded.
Another point is that when Obama was elected, the expectation was enormous, although commentators at the time, such as Glenn Reynolds in the US and James Delingpole in Britain pointed out the gulf between the rhetoric, the image, and the reality. That gap has become so vast, and so difficult to ignore, that the media coverage of Obama is getting worse and worse. And all the while voters in the US are understanding that the sort of people who run the IRS will be running healthcare. Marvellous.
Eventually, even Andrew Sullivan will slag him off. Then it’s all over.


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Welcome to The Nintendo Forum Site!
Some dusty old forums managed by a big nerd.
A Troupe based Vampire: The Requiem LARP game in Huntsville, AL
Online Gaming Community for COD4 Enthusiasts.
Free forum : The Home of Ruffians Leagues
Serenity Station & the Firefly Fleet are a fleet in the coming game Star Trek Online!
SAK clan is a stunters and deathmatchers clan, whose members mix those activities into one original and unique gameplay style.
Free forum : Forum for the Byond hosted RPG, JTTW: Awakening.
WE ARE A GROUP HERE TO HAVE FUN AND TO WIN BATTLESTRUE FAMILY, HARD CORE .CHECK US OUT!!!!
Free forum : A forum devoted to the Alpha Centauri Gaming Team Fortress 2 servers.
Free forum : Teh Slax began as a World of Warcraft Guild in 2005 and has evolved into a community of gamers across many platforms and competitive genres.
Largest Sonic fan site/fan forum on Forumotion. Created and founded by Sega of America members. The
Independent gaming clan.
Gaming community with interests in Xbox and Playstation. We play in FPS, sports and RPG games plus many more.
Kibatsuna-- nuclear warfare has changed the world, and enhanced humans to create better species and hybrids. A war wages between two groups. Are you a Survivor of this mayhem, or are you part of the W
The rebirth of the Pokemon Dream League that was once a popular site, now it's time to make it what it once was and more. A community dedicated to competitive gaming and fan art. We'll
An adult gaming community centered around great gaming experiences and a lack of asshattery.
A hacking site for MW3 Wii.


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Author(s): Iakovou I, Dangas G, Mintz GS, Mehran R, Kobayashi Y,
Abstract Share this page
Abstract Larger final lumen dimensions after percutaneous coronary interventions in native coronary arteries lead to lower restenosis rates. We sought to determine the impact of stent expansion, as assessed by intravascular ultrasound, on clinical results of stent implantation in saphenous vein grafts (SVGs). We identified 226 consecutive patients who underwent intravascular ultrasound-guided stenting of 234 de novo SVG lesions. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on the final stent cross-sectional area (CSA): group I (stent CSA <100\% of the reference lumen CSA, n = 176 patients, 182 lesions) and group II (stent CSA >/=100\% of the reference lumen CSA, n = 50 patients, 52 lesions). Baseline patient characteristics were similar between the 2 groups with the exception of smaller lesions in group II. More aggressive stent expansion (group II) was associated with (1) increased rates of in-hospital non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (29\% vs 17\%, p = 0.05), (2) any myocardial infarction (26\% vs 8\%, p = 0.003) at 1-year follow-up, and (3) no improvement in target vessel revascularization at 1 year (31\% vs 26\%, p = 0.3). Aggressive stent expansion in SVG lesions resulted in higher myocardial infarction rates and, unlike native arteries, no improvement in target vessel revascularization rate at 1 year. A less aggressive stent implantation strategy in SVGs than in native coronary lesions appears prudent.
This article was published in Am J Cardiol
and referenced in Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis

domain: medical


What is the Zeppelin NT? Information and History of Helium and Hydrogen-filled Airships
History of the Zeppelin
The company that makes the Zeppelin NT, Neue Technologie, first started making such airships more popularly known as blimps, in the 1930’s. They were designed as a rigid airship and patented as a design in the United States as early as 1899. They were designed for commercial flying and scheduled flights were made in the time before World War I. They saw military use as bombers and scouts during the war and though its production was halted after Germany’s defeat, it saw a revival in the 1930’s when transatlantic flights began operation from Europe to Brazil and the United States.
These rigid airships were made of a latticework of aluminum and metal frames and a number of bags containing either hydrogen or helium gas. They were powered by gas engines and as the fuel was the same density as air, use of this fuel did not in any way affect the balance of the airship.
The Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937 put a halt to the development of the Zeppelin and saw its almost complete halt with World War II.
What is the Zeppelin NT?
The Zeppelin NT is a semi-rigid airship that is almost 250 feet (76.2 meters) long and can remain airborne because it is filled with helium, which is lighter than normal air. The company who makes the Zeppelin NT is considered a successor to the earlier group of Zeppelin companies that made the blimp.
The new technology developed by the company lists the airship as semi-rigid. The framework built with aluminum and lightweight carbon fiber. This framework also carries the cabin, engines, and a tail assembly that is vital for maneuvering the airship. The high-tech nature of its framework construction leads to its weight being limited to just a ton (roughly 1,000 kilograms) even though its length rivals the length of a Boeing 747 airliner.
The helium gas, over 10,400 cubic yards (roughly 8000 cubic meters) of it, is contained in an envelope that is made of very strong and high strength multi-layer laminates. The engines on the Zeppelin NT are four cylinder gasoline powered engines. Zeppelin company has preferred to use engines that have proved their reliability by decades of use in the aircraft industry, especially by smaller planes. The airship has four propellers, three of which can swivel up to 120 degrees, greatly adding to the airship’s maneuverability.
The airship does not require runways and can take of in a vertical fashion and can even be maneuvered to go backwards. Speed is generally limited to about 37 mph (60 kph) although it can achieve speeds upwards to 78 mph (125 kph). This is because the airships main use at present is in sightseeing and generally used by tourists and not passengers seeking to travel long distances quickly. Currently the airship only seats 12 persons besides the crew but a larger version is planned, which will allow almost 20 passengers at a time.
Will the Zeppelin NT be a Winner?
The Zeppelin NT has received certification from the Federal Aviation Agency in the United States in 2008. This is expected to greatly increase its market in the US toursim industry. The company is always looking for more ways to promote it and the silent operation of the Zeppelin NT greatly helps. It is already a big attraction in Germany and Japan which are the main buyers.
USS Shenandoah. (Supplied by US Government; Public Domain; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/USS_Shenandoah_Bau.jpg)
Zeppelin NT, https://www.zeppelinflug.de/seiten/e/default.htm


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Someday I want to move to Pasadena. It’s simply gorgeous and all my Pasadena clients are amazing. This family is no exception! Mom contacted me weeks and weeks in advance of the holiday season – planning ahead makes my job so easy!
This year I shot several sessions at Lacy Park in San Marino. The rose garden and white trellises lend the perfect background to frame and highlight the love in this family.
During this whole family portrait session both little girls were a riot! I love the relationship between siblings. Big sister Abby was so funny and talkative! And little sister Ruby was so sweet! I can’t wait to see them again!
And a special thanks to Sara of Beauty Hairem for making this Mama look gorgeous!


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Architectural model making has been a fundamental part of the design process for centuries. Models offer an opportunity to visualize and understand spatial relationships, proportions, and materials. Over time, techniques for creating models have evolved to include new technologies and materials.
The earliest models were made by hand, using basic materials such as wood, plaster, and clay. Models were used to communicate designs to clients and builders, and to test and refine designs before construction. With the advent of industrialization in the 19th century, new materials such as metal and glass were incorporated into model making.
In the mid-20th century, architectural model making saw a significant shift with the introduction of plastic materials and injection molding. This allowed for greater precision and consistency in the production of models, and also allowed for the creation of larger and more complex models.
In the 1980s and 1990s, computer-aided design (CAD) revolutionized architectural model making. Computer programs such as AutoCAD and SketchUp allowed designers to create and manipulate digital models, which could then be used to create physical models using automated cutting machines such as CNC routers and laser cutters.
Today, architectural model making continues to evolve with the introduction of new technologies such as 3D printing and virtual reality. 3D printing allows for the creation of highly detailed and intricate models, and can also be used to create multiple copies of a design quickly and efficiently. Virtual reality offers a new level of interactivity and immersion in the design process, allowing designers to explore and experience their designs in a virtual environment before construction.
Despite these advancements, many designers still choose to use traditional hand-crafted model making techniques. Handmade models offer a level of tactility and craftsmanship that cannot be replicated by digital means. They also allow for greater creativity and flexibility in the design process, as designers can experiment with materials and techniques in a hands-on way.
In conclusion, architectural model making has come a long way since its early beginnings. From handmade models to the latest digital technologies, each era has brought new techniques and materials that have enhanced the design process. While new technologies continue to emerge, the importance of traditional hand-crafted model making remains as relevant as ever, offering designers a tangible way to communicate their ideas and explore their designs.


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FNARS (member of EAPN France): Will the fight against poverty still be a Governmental priority in 2014?
Launched in early 2013, the multi-year plan to fight against poverty and social inclusion, initiated a change in the consideration of the precariousness and the fight against poverty in our country. Inter became this struggle would then affect all public policies to finally get specific answers and multiplication associated devices . In this respect, the cancellation of the Interministerial Committee for the fight against exclusion to be held tomorrow is a bad omen. One year after the launch of the plan , where are we ? What are the consequences?Details

domain: sociology


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SAO PAULO -(MarketWatch)- The new five-year investment plan for Brazil's government-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR), will be ready in the coming weeks, and investments will remain "high," the company's chief executive, Maria das Gracas Foster, said Tuesday.
"Petrobras grows, and in the coming weeks, we will have details about our business plan for the period between 2013 and 2017," Ms. Foster said at an event in Sao Paulo. "Our business plan will provide you with clear and objective goals."
The company will keep its investment levels "high" and is on track to produce 6 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2020, the executive said, declining to comment further on the issue.
Petrobras operates with five-year business plans, which are revised and updated every year.
The official also said that there is no discussion over changing the rules which require its suppliers to produce a certain amount of services and equipment in Brazil.
"There is no discussion neither to reduce nor to increase local content," Ms. Foster said.
Ms. Foster said that the growth of Brazil's consumer market for gasoline makes up for any losses the company suffers by not passing on increases in international crude oil prices. The global oil market is volatile, and prices have fallen recently due to the outlook for the euro-zone crisis and weak growth in the U.S., she said.
"What has been very important is the sustainability of the Brazilian economy. What we are in the end is a seller of fuel," Ms. Foster said.
Petrobras aims to stabilize domestic fuel prices by keeping them low when international oil prices are high, but then doesn't lower prices when crude oil declines. Some investors complain, however, that Petrobras is missing out on some of the juicy profits that its rivals are making, and that's behind some of the share price declines.
Ms. Foster said Petrobras's shares have been punished by investors, but that much of the problem is the international crude oil prices.
"What I say to the company's shareholders is to believe in the growth of value of the shares of the company," Ms. Foster said. "We have been penalized by investors. But our reserves should grow with new discoveries. It's a question of time [for the market to see this.]"
--Matthew Cowley contributed to this article

domain: finance


See Press Release
Xsensio will lead the €2.4M XPATCH consortium funded by the European program Eurostars to develop, with its four European partners, the next-generation wearable skin patch for ultrasensitive real-time health & wellness monitoring. XPATCH will leverage Xsensio’s proprietary Lab-on-SkinTM wearable sensing platform. https://goo.gl/K6M5vm
Interested in tackling new, bold challenges? Become a Xsensio intern in biochemistry, material science, electrochemistry, microfabrication or microelectronics!


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Odium to the Core Switch Review by SwitchWatch
Publisher: QubicGames[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.6″]
Release Date: Out Now
Price as of Article: $4.99 USD, £4.49 GBP
Game code provided by QubicGames
Guide Odium through a music-fuelled adventure like no other while you aim to stop the evil corruption which is spreading out of control. Reach the core and save what’s left of your dying world![/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Gameplay” open=”on” _builder_version=”3.19.6″ use_border_color=”on”]
Gameplay reminds me of two games: one being Flappy Bird and the other is Badland – both pretty similar to each other with a few differences. Flappy Bird consists of pressing a button just enough to keep the bird in flight while avoiding pillars, while Badland is more about avoiding extreme hazards, like buzz-saws, vices, and lasers to name a few. Odium to the Core is little bit of both.
With the same mechanics as Flappy Bird and the extreme hazards of Badland, just throw them into a blender and add a killer soundtrack, some awesome visual flair, and Odium to the Core would pop out.
Get me to the Core!
There’s one main focus in Odium to the Core and that’s to get to the end of the level without dying. To get there, you’re only going to need one button. It’s a single control set-up, making this easy pick up but difficult to master.
But even though the controls are easy to use, the levels will definitely give you a run for your money. Believe me, it isn’t going to be an easy ride. There are 15 levels with increased difficulty, as well as 3 huge boss encounters that will test your skills and you patience to limit.
Each level has 3 things that you can opt to do or not.
+ first one is to collect all orbs in each level
+ second is to get the highest score
+ third is to find all secret paths located in level
However, it’ll be in your best interest to try and collect all extras, as you can trade in collectibles to unlock extra unlockable characters which you can use in the main mode as well as in the endless mode. This is a nice feature which promotes replaying levels again and again for higher scores.
There are even boss encounters which require quick reflexes to get through. Each one is a unique run through buzz saws and projectiles… just try not to die, ok?
One thing that is unique here compared to others, is how the screen moves with your character. Screen changes its angle as you move up and down. I thought this might have been an issue, as I do suffer from motion sickness on certain titles, but it wasn’t an issue here, thankfully. I thought it was good, as it added an extra flair to the title which made the game feel quite thrilling to play.
The colour palette is bright and vibrant. Add a shock of neon and the game looks fantastic on the handheld screen – it makes the game pop! The screen is also filled with instant death triggers, and with the added intensity of how levels play out, it is quite heart pounding!
This is definitely a great title to pick up and play for a few minutes on a train or on your lunch break.
There is another mode called endless which, again, is a great pick-up and play option. It’s a continuous run with a non-stop approach. One life to live and a new mechanics is thrown into the mix as the difficulty increases.
The less you move, the more points you’ll gain, but it can be difficult as your character has quite a big arch when moving up and down, so judging when to rise and fall can get tricky when spaces become tight and hazards fill screen.
One thing is certain, you will not be able to complete these levels quickly as each level is a test of patience and discipline. One hit by anything and it’s instant death. There are checkpoints to help you out, but other than that, you’re on your own here.
I found that collecting most of the orbs is really frustrating as each one is pretty small and missing them is a pretty easy thing to do while moving quickly through a stage. Only control you have here is rising and falling, the speed is all automatic.
The game is quite hard, so if you’re not very patient, then maybe give this one a miss. I did rage quit a few times on some of the latter levels as the difficulty increases ten-fold.
One of the cool features is trying to rank up to the highest score possible while pressing the button repeatedly to keep the character in the air and away from danger.
The less you press the button, the more points you’ll receive, and this is the way to achieve some of the higher scores. It’s difficult… yes, but satisfying once you’ve achieved it.[/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.17.6″][/et_pb_code][et_pb_toggle title=”Audio” open=”on” _builder_version=”3.19.6″ use_border_color=”on”]
The soundtrack was apparently specifically made for each level. Music can be quite machine-like; techo, club-like music which fits the high-octane levels well and keep you fixed at the goal at hand.
Visuals in Odium to the Core are really nice and pop off the screen with its neon tones and black silhouettes. Colours are bright and in your face with the animated backgrounds that can bring the screen to life. There are also cartoon-like FMVs through the game that tell the story of Odium to the Core which is a nice inclusion.
Performance has been smooth and everything works like it should. I’ve not experienced any issues to speak of.
Its game icon fits well on the Nintendo Switch’s home screen with its title displayed clearly in the centre, the main character behind the text, and a lime green hue surrounding background.
The game also supports screenshots and video capture.
For a small price of £4.49, you really can’t go wrong here. There is a main story mode with 15 levels, an endless mode, multiple collectables, and 20+ unlockables.
Update – The game is currently on sale for £2.99, 33% off, so it’s the best possible time to pick it up! Sales last till 27/01/19.
Pros[/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.19.6″]
Single button control[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.19.6″]
20+ to unlock[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.19.6″]
Unique monochromatic art style
Cons[/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#e6567a” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.19.6″]

domain: game


The Environmental Protection Agency’s mission statement reads: “to protect human health and the environment.” Ironically, while the EPA has done some strong work in the past, the agency has also helped corporations destroy the environment and threaten human health through pesticide usage and adding neurotoxins to our drinking water. These are only two of many examples of the EPA doing an inadequate job of protecting human health and the environment.
The EPA is known to hold strong ties to oil, gas, and chemical corporations, enforcing extremely lenient regulations that allow these companies to profit at the expense of our health and the environment. The Bioscience Resource Project and The Center for Media and Democracy recently teamed up to expose some of this corruption by publishing the Poison Papers, which contains thousands upon thousands of EPA, government, and chemical company documents.
What Are the Poison Papers?
Poison Papers is a project created by The Bioscience Resource Project and The Center for Media and Democracy in a joint effort to expose any corruption within the EPA or chemical companies that somehow evade or bend U.S. laws.
The organizations describe the project as follows:
The “Poison Papers” represent a vast trove of rediscovered chemical industry and regulatory agency documents and correspondence stretching back to the 1920s. Taken as a whole, the papers show that both industry and regulators understood the extraordinary toxicity of many chemical products and worked together to conceal this information from the public and the press.
So, what did the Poison Papers reveal?
This document exposes countless health issues allegedly caused by certain pesticides, like Tordon and Roundup, including many cases of cancer following the use of Tordon, and even speculates that there was a huge cover-up regarding how many people had cancer as a result of chemical exposure. Despite the overwhelming number of health issues reported, the EPA released a statement explaining that there were no health concerns related to Tordon or its active ingredient, picloram.
Another document was a letter written by Dr. Jack Griffith, a former EPA scientist, discussing the dangers of 2,4,5-T and a controversial experiment in Oregon. After being sprayed widely in Oregon, there was an extreme increase in the number of involuntary abortions. Chemical giant Dow tried to argue this, and the EPA scientist stated that their comments were “totally inaccurate.”
Another document from 1985 referred to TCDD, an extremely toxic contaminant in 2,4,5-T. The document is a transcript detailing how Monsanto allegedly sold a chemical high in TCDD to Lysol, which they then used in their disinfectant spray for an astonishing 23 years, despite the severe toxicity.
A Canadian House of Commons document from Ross Harvey, MP, further discussed Monsanto’s sale of the chemical Santophen-I to Lysol and addressed the fact that Monsanto found evidence of the toxicity of it and then suppressed that information.
There were also multiple documents outlining the relationship the EPA had to the pulp and paper industry; for example, here’s a letter addressed to the EPA from the VP of the American Paper Institute. You’d think that the studies conducted to determine whether or not companies are endangering us and the environment as a result of their chemical usage would be completely independent from said companies in question, but sadly, they’re often not.
In fact, another document from Greenpeace addressed the potential collusion between the pulp and paper industry and the EPA, referring to a federal judge ruling on an agreement between the EPA and the paper industry to “suppress, modify, or delay” studies on dioxin in relation to paper products and production processes.
Another document addressed to the U.S. House of Representatives reads, “since 1979, the EPA has acted to suppress and delay the validity and test results of a major human health study” in regards to the toxicity of dioxin.
Another document included a testimony from Monsanto’s Chief Medical Officer George Roush, who admitted under oath that Monsanto omitted pertinent information regarding the health effects of dioxin. The study found that 27 exposed workers got cancer, but these results were not included in the study. Roush stated that Monsanto “didn’t report truthfully.”
Companies like Monsanto, which make vast sums of money off of these chemicals, have a strong incentive to ensure that people feel safe when using or consuming them. It’s important to remember this when looking at where your information is coming from or who funds these studies.
I would highly recommend reading through some of these documents, as the EPA’s connection to many industries that contribute to the destruction of the environment runs deep. It’s important to note that the Poison Papers weren’t the first publication to address EPA corruption and collusion, and unfortunately they likely won’t be the last!
For example, another court case addressed the EPA’s ties to Monsanto, which involved bending laws and lying about the environmental and health issues involved with the company’s products (GMOs, herbicide Round Up, etc.). You can read more about that here, but please note that this was not the first time the EPA was accused of aiding Monsanto.
The best way for you to change this reality is to educate yourself and be the change you wish to see in the world. Start researching so you can understand the scope of these issues and make more informed decisions as a consumer. If you don’t like the way we’re treating the environment, then don’t contribute to it. We vote with our dollars and our words. Support companies you believe have strong values and educate other people on what you learn.
Together, we can create positive change in this world through education and action!