text:
President Paul Kagame has mobilised African spy chiefs to use any resources available and counter the growing threat of Universal Jurisdiction against the continent.
“Looking at the global state of affairs today, there is no longer any clear distinction between so-called strong and weak states,” Kagame said, adding that the level of inequality between Africans and people on other continents is no more.
The President was officially opening a 5-day 13th Conference for the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services in Africa (CISSA), challenged Spy chiefs to use available resources to resist any form of abuse.
The conference attracted heads of Intelligence and Security from across 51 African countries. Kagame reminded them that no country can ensure its security without working closely with others, calling for utilization of available resources to execute the task.
Erastus Mwencha, the deputy chairperson of the African Union told the spy chiefs that collaboration of all intelligence institutions in Africa is needed to outsmart the growing threats of insecurity across the continent.
“The enemies of peace effectively share information within borders, trans-nationally and globally hence beating out security apparatus. Conflicts have reduced but we face threats of terrorism, radicalization and social ills by enemies of peace,” Mwencha said.
He pledged African Union Commission’s commitment to work with CISSA in countering security challenges affecting the continent.
“CISSA must adapt to the changing realities and the need for more and stronger cooperation across the world is clear,” Kagame said, adding that innovative technologies are increasingly accessible and affordable; “This is why collaboration is paramount.”
According to the President, this will be possible because “Accountability for crimes is a principle that the African Union endorses without ambiguity.”
The conference follows the just concluded the 27th African Union Summit in Kigali where African leaders expressed concern against the growing threat by the western countries using universal jurisdiction to target Africa.
Africa has faced serious cases of abuse of universal jurisdiction by the West, especially the International Criminal Court that has been described as a ‘ghost’ tool used by Western countries to abuse African leaders.
The president said,“For a long time some parts of the world seemed more important than others and lives of the people there somehow more valuable.” He noted that Africans have had enough and no longer tolerate cynical manipulation imposed on them.
Last year, Rwanda was poked when the former Spy Chief, Lt. Gen. Karenzi Karake while on official duty was arrested by UK Police on his way to the Airport to board a flight back home.
This action by UK government was protested by not only Rwanda but also the African Union.
President Kagame said it was unthinkable to “pick an official with diplomatic status like any of other thugs on streets.”
Since Monday, Intelligence Chiefs and their staff have been locked up in closed session discussing security matters on the continent under the theme: “Countering the growing threat of abuse of Universal Jurisdiction against Africa.”
Launched in 2004, CISSA provides leadership with regard to intelligence and security matters in furtherance of peace, security, and stability in Africa and facilitates cooperation and interaction among Intelligence Services and the exchange of intelligence and coordination of strategies on all common security threats.


subscribe to news Low-rise housing construction on the agenda
Russian Industry Week 2024 hosts the 7th Conference on Low House Russia 2024. Its participants are President at the Russian Union of Designers Viktor Novoselov, President at the National Association of Construction Industry Participants, President at the Union of Construction Industry Enterprises Aleskandr Loshchenko, Chair at the Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Construction Sector of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Efim Basin, Chair at the Commission on Urban Planning, State Property and Land Use of the Moscow City Duma, President at NAMIKS Elena Nikolaeva, and others.
“Our industry continues to grow and develop despite the enormous sanctions and the withdrawal of a number of foreign companies. For the third year in a row, we have set records in housing commissioning. The plans for housing construction in Russia until 2030 assumed that low-rise construction would occupy 33%. But today we have already reached 54% of the total volume of housing construction. I hope this trend will continue,” said Efim Basin.
The conference agenda includes discussion of various aspects of low-rise construction such as architecture, construction technologies, issues of common property management of low-rise residential complexes, and much more.
In addition, the Salon of Low-rise House Construction was opened within Russian Construction Week. It provides an opportunity to see new materials and technologies in the construction and furnishing of country houses. The salon covers all segments of the construction industry and allows potential buyers to find individual and standard projects, innovative solutions, and high quality products.
Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO


2017 Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages JFST0017
A two-dimensional ship propulsion model using the Weis-Fogh mechanism is analyzed by the potential flow theory and the conformal mapping. The purpose of this study is to clarify the most effective operating condition in which the loss is minimum. The opening and the closing stages are carefully studied. In both stages, a fixed point of the wing moves in the direction perpendicular to the flow direction. The condition to prevent the vortex shedding when the wing separates from the wall is to equalize the both sides pressure at the trailing edge of the wing, and the acceleration of the wing motion satisfying the condition is clarified. On the other hand, in the closing stage the condition to satisfy the so-called Kutta condition is applied at the wing edge. This condition means that the wing prevents the separation nor generation of the jet which produces high thrust but more loss. The unsteady forces and the moment on the wing are also shown.


text:
When: Mon., July 3, 5-9 p.m. 2017
Spoonbar is hosting their annual 4th of July celebration with fireworks, music in the Plaza and a picnic party. Guests can dine inside the restaurant, or Spoonbar can pack up a picnic basket for the evening’s festivities. Spoonbar is highlighting a family-style spread of classic picnic offerings, including Chef Patrick’s Dry Creek Peach BBQ Chicken and Chef Casey’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler. The cocktails featured on the menu are a Watermelon Margarita and Blackberry Whiskey Sour.
Price: $49 per person | $20 for children under 12 (Cocktails not included in $49)

domain: food


text:
I've been teaming up with Beauty Struck LLC for quite sometime now. Brittanie is my Hair and Make up artist for my Maternity, Newborn,...
Suwanee, Georgia, Best Newborn Photographer.
Specializing in Maternity, Newborn, Milestone, Family Photography in Suwanee, Ga.
Nicole DeHoff Photography Serves Atlanta, Buckhead, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Buford, Flowery Branch and surrounding Areas.

domain: artistic


text:
Former U.S. President George W. Bush was not a man given to irony. Yet, when asked where he got his information, he replied, “The best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff.”
Sadly, for the United States and for the world, he was not being ironic— he actually believed what he said. The notion that people close to the king typically try to remain close to the king by telling the king what he wants to hear does not seem to have occurred to that remarkably unreflective man.
Woe betide the courtier who troubles his or her monarch with unpleasant realities. David Nutt must now understand this principle better than anyone. Until a few weeks ago he was the chairman of the U.K.’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs— an independent expert body that provides scientific advice to the British government on drug-related issues, including recommendations on how to classify the dangers of cannabis (marijuana), Ecstasy and other drugs of abuse. On Oct. 30, he was summarily fired from his position by British Home Secretary Alan Johnson for giving the government advice and then criticizing it for not taking it.
That advice concerned the thorny issue of reclassification, of cannabis in particular. Few subjects illustrate the divide between conservatives and liberals more starkly than drugs, and cannabis is the drug that provokes the most heated debate. People may argue about whether all drugs should be legalized, but they generally agree that heroin and cocaine are dangerous substances that can have severe psychotropic effects. Cannabis, however, is viewed so differently by liberals and conservatives that one’s opinion on its harmful effects could serve as a shibboleth for distinguishing the two philosophies. Most liberals consider marijuana a relatively harmless recreational drug, along the lines of alcohol but less addictive and not socially damaging, whereas most conservatives regard it as a tool of the devil— a drug that, in addition to producing all manner of terrible side-effects, is guaranteed to lead its user down a slippery slope to even more dangerous drugs.
In Britain, cannabis originally was classified in 1971 in The Misuse of Drugs Act as a Class B drug. The category was created specifically for cannabis and some other drugs (such as amphetamines), as a compromise between those who thought cannabis was as dangerous as heroin (Class A) and those who thought it was a “soft” drug like the benzodiazepines (Class C). After several abortive attempts to reclassify it as Class C, marijuana officially was downgraded in 2004. Nutt’s ACMD was the group that made the recommendation for that downgrading. (These classifications can have significant consequences: If cannabis is a Class B drug, people convicted of possessing it can face up to five years in prison.) However, in 2008, then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith rejected the advice from the ACMD to keep cannabis at Class C and moved it back to Class B, despite the council’s extensive review of evidence concerning its long-term effects, including any link to mental illness.
Nutt reacted angrily to this decision and earlier this year publicly accused ministers of “devaluing and distorting” the scientific evidence over illicit drugs by their decision to reclassify cannabis to Class B against the advice of the ACMD. In deciding to speak out, he was probably also stung by the government’s decision, in February, to veto another ACMD recommendation, after a review of 4,000 papers on the subject, that the drug Ecstasy be downgraded from Class A. This public criticism prompted his dismissal from his post as head of the committee, a government action that has ignited a firestorm of editorials and comment, including predictable references to the Catholic Church’s prosecution of Galileo in 1633. (For a set of links, see www.guardian.co.uk/uk/david-nutt.)
No one questions the government’s legal right to sack someone they appoint; the issue is the cause. It can’t be a question of competence: David Nutt is certainly well qualified. A professor at both the University of Bristol and Imperial College London, he is a specialist in the psychopharmacology of depression, addiction, insomnia and other psychiatric disorders. The stated reason for his dismissal was that, by going public with his dissent, he made it impossible for the government to send a clear and consistent message about drugs to the public.

domain: news


text:
This documentary-style cartoon tells of the development of the automobile in America and the comical effects of cars, traffic, and road design on various kinds of people. Written by
Kevin McCorry <email@example.com>
Did You Know?
Edited into Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes
I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
Music by Harry M. Woods
[Plays whenever the glasses man is lost on the cloverleaf highway] See more


- Open Access
Biomimetic patterned surfaces for controllable friction in micro- and nanoscale devices
© Singh and Suh; licensee Springer. 2013
- Received: 21 September 2013
- Accepted: 6 December 2013
- Published: 18 December 2013
Biomimetics is the study and simulation of biological systems for desired functional properties. It involves the transformation of underlying principles discovered in nature into man-made technologies. In this context, natural surfaces have significantly inspired and motivated new solutions for micro- and nano-scale devices (e.g., Micro/Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems, MEMS/NEMS) towards controllable friction, during their operation. As a generic solution to reduce friction at small scale, various thin films/coatings have been employed in the last few decades. In recent years, inspiration from ‘Lotus Effect’ has initiated a new research direction for controllable friction with biomimetic patterned surfaces. By exploiting the intrinsic hydrophobicity and ability to reduce contact area, such micro- or nano-patterned surfaces have demonstrated great strength and potential for applications in MEMS/NEMS devices. This review highlights recent advancements on the design, development and performance of these biomimetic patterned surfaces. Also, we present some hybrid approaches to tackle current challenges in biomimetic tribological applications for MEMS/NEMS devices.
- Contact area
In general, lubrication is the most promising solution to reduce friction. However, lubrication becomes difficult when the dimensions of machine elements decrease from macro- to micro/nano-scale. For example, as the size of the machine elements shrinks from 1 mm to 1 μm, the surface area decreases by a factor of 106 whereas the volume decreases by a factor of 109, yielding the surface area-to-volume ratio of 103. Hence, surface forces such as adhesion and friction become significantly influential at such small scales. Further in miniaturized devices, the gap (clearance) between the elements is small (< 1 μm), which prohibits the use of conventional liquid and/or solid lubricants. For example, a drop of liquid lubricant will be in millimeter size and the size of solid lubricants such as graphite or MoS2 is of the same order as the size of the miniaturized devices. In addition, retention of lubricants at the contact points between the moving elements could be a hurdle for further implementation. Thus, minimizing surface forces in miniaturized devices has remained a real challenge.
At micro/nano-scale, friction is in a regime where the contribution from intrinsic/inherent adhesion outweighs that from asperity deformation . Therefore, friction becomes naturally reduced while minimizing intrinsic adhesion, which arises due to the contribution of various attractive forces such as capillary, electrostatic, van der Waal, and chemical forces under different circumstances . Amongst these forces, the capillary force that causes the formation of meniscus-bridge arising from the condensation of water from the environment is strongest . From a material point of view, silicon is the widely used material for the fabrication of MEMS/NEMS, and in recent years SU-8 polymer has become an attractive material . Silicon is hydrophilic in nature and generates a strong capillary force, resulting in high friction that opposes easy motion of components (Figure 1) [4, 6]. Silicon is also brittle and undergoes wear (Figure 1) [2, 6]. In contrast, SU-8 polymer is hydrophobic, but exhibits high friction/wear due to its soft nature .
In the past, various chemical modifications of surfaces such as boundary lubricant thin films/coatings have been adopted to reduce intrinsic adhesion and friction by increasing hydrophobicity and lubricity of MEMS/NEMS materials. Examples include self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) , diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings , and also vapor phase lubricants . In order to overcome some of the limitations of chemical modifications, bio-inspired topographical modification of surfaces has recently emerged as an effective route to minimize friction at micro/nano-scale. Biomimetic patterned surfaces lower intrinsic adhesion and friction via hydrophobicity (i.e. reduction in surface energy) and decrease in physical contact area between surfaces. The biomimetic surfaces, when applied with nano-scale boundary lubricants, exhibit even more remarkable capability to reduce surface forces, as well as to enhance durability, i.e. wear resistance.
Water contact angle (CA) values, and friction properties of various biomimetic patterned surfaces at nano- and micro-scales
Nano-scale friction force (nN)
Micro-scale friction coefficient (μ)
Silicon flat surface
SU-8 thin film
DLC nano-dot surfaces
PMMA micro-patterns (Replicated Surfaces)
Silicon micro-pillars coated with DLC
Silicon micro-pillars coated with ZDOL
SU-8 micro-patterns coated with PFPE
SU-8 micro-patterns treated with Ar and coated with PFPE
SU-8 micro-patterns treated with O2 and coated with PFPE
Inspiration from Lotus Effect
Biomimetic nano-patterned surfaces
Polymers provide a fertile ground for biomimetic approaches as they offer a wide range of materials and easy fabrication routes capable of creating surfaces with controllable properties. In an earlier work, nano-scale polymer patterns resembling the protuberances on lotus leaves were created on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films spin-coated on silicon surfaces, using capillary force lithography (CFL) . Figure 2C shows a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the patterns fabricated at a holding time of 60 min. Such nano-patterns are hydrophobic when compared to silicon surface. Moreover, approximate calculation of contact area based on simple geometry reveals that the contact area can be lowered by 7 times in the case of nano-patterns as compared to silicon flat surface. By the virtue of their hydrophobicity and the capability to reduce contact area substantially, the nano-patterns reduced friction force by 14–24 times at nano-scale, when the friction force was measured using an atomic force microscope . In these measurements, when the applied normal load was kept zero, friction force in silicon was measured to be 20 nN, whereas for nano-patterns it was ~0.84 nN. It is worth noting that the friction force exists even at the zero applied normal load, at nano-scale. This is due to the influence of intrinsic adhesion on friction force . The large decrease in friction force induced by the nano-patterns in the absence/presence of an applied normal load is indicative of the ability of the patterned surfaces to significantly reduce inherent adhesion and friction.
In general, contact area plays an important role in defining friction at micro/nano-scale. Unlike at macro-scale where friction is independent of contact area between surfaces (Amonton’s law, [4, 14]), at small-scales friction is strongly dependent on contact area [4, 14, 15]. According to Bowden and Tabor, friction force directly depends on the real area of contact for a single asperity contact (Ff = τ Ar, where τ is the shear strength, an interfacial property, and Ar the real area of contact ). This law is effective at micro/nano-scale and any reduction in real area of contact directly reduces friction between surfaces at these scales. As a result, patterned surfaces directly reduce real area of contact as similar to the protuberances on lotus leaves.
Biomimetic micro-patterned surfaces
Taken together, the large scale inter-asperity distance and uneven heights of the asperities in the replicated surfaces retain the μ value at lower levels for the micro-patterns. Further, it is found that the surface topography of replicated surfaces follows the real leaves on a smoother scale (Figure 7), even though the real leaves have hierarchical roughness due to the presence of micro-scale protuberances and nano-scale wax on them. These findings have important implications towards controllable friction with topographically patterned surfaces. Specifically, a simple replication of the surface structures of natural water-repellent leaves would suffice in order to decrease micro-frictional property via the reduction in contact area. If one wants to reproduce the detailed surface topography of real leaves with high accuracy, it would be difficult, costly, and time-consuming, and further may not contribute to lower friction force at small scale.
Combination of nanolubricant and micro-patterned surfaces
In order to achieve low friction and delay the onset of plastic deformation/wear of polymer patterns, chemical anchoring/grafting of nanolubricant molecules onto micro-patterned surfaces is necessary. A recent biomimetic work reporting on the reduced friction for SU-8 polymer supports this argument . In this work, micro-patterns in the form of micro-bumps were fabricated by nano-imprint lithography on SU-8 thin films spin-coated on silicon surfaces. Results showed that the micro-patterns exhibited μ values 2 times lower than that of SU-8 thin film, but underwent plastic deformation in short time duration of t < 0.5 min (100 cycles).
Surface modifications were conducted to the SU-8 micro-patterns by coating perfluoropolyether (PFPE) nanolubricant in two different ways: (i) direct coating and (ii) coating after their separate exposure to argon (Ar) and oxygen (O2) plasmas. The modified micro-patterns showed a decrease in μ value by > 1.4 times in comparison to that of un-modified micro-patterns, and by > 2.7 times than that of SU-8 thin film. No plastic deformation/wear was observed on the modified micro-patterns when tested for the time duration of t > 8 hours (100,000 cycles), at 0.3 N applied normal load and 15 mm/s sliding speed. The modified micro-patterns exhibited enhanced durability by > 1000 times when compared to that of un-modified micro-patterns and polymer thin film. With an increase in load and speed to 1 N and 42 mm/s, although the modified micro-patterns showed low μ values (≤ 0.15), clear difference was observed in their durability responses. In detail, micro-patterns directly coated with PFPE had durability of 14 min, whereas those pre-treated with Ar and O2 plasmas before being coated with PFPE had durability of 32 min and 60 min, respectively. This is because Ar plasma generates carbonyl groups (C-O and C-O-O groups), while O2 plasma carboxyl groups (COOH groups), each altering the surface properties differently. Thus, the plasma-treated micro-patterns have polar functional groups on their surfaces, to which the hydroxyl groups of PFPE nanolubricant at both their terminal ends get strongly bound, promoting the durability of micro-patterns.
It needs to be further emphasized that the difference in the observed durability amongst the plasma-treated micro-patterns coated with PFPE is attributed to the type of bonding that occurs between PFPE molecules and chemically activated micro-patterned surfaces. In general, hydroxyl groups form covalent bonds with carboxyl groups, whereas with carbonyl groups they form hydrogen bonds. Covalent bonds are stronger than hydrogen bonds and thus when nanolubricant molecules are covalently bonded onto micro-patterned surfaces, they exhibit significant enhancement in their durability in terms of wear resistance capacity. Hence, it was observed that the micro-patterns treated with O2 plasma followed by coating with PFPE showed higher durability when compared to those treated with Ar plasma followed by PFPE coating.
Based on the numerous research outcomes mentioned until now, polymeric micro-patterns with low friction and enhanced durability would be the best candidates for small-scale devices. Also, in other applications such as optoelectronics and photonics, polymer patterns are increasingly employed  for engineering reliable mechanical motion.
As described earlier, the area-to-volume ratio is extremely large at micro/nano-scale, leading us to conclude that friction depends on surface properties rather than bulk material properties. On a comparative note, the difference between thin films/coatings and biomimetic patterned surfaces lies in their approach to reduce/control friction. While the former is based on chemical modification of surfaces, the latter relies on topographical/physical modification.
Contact area in the case of thin films/coatings can be estimated by using the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) contact mechanics model : Ar = π[R/K(Fn + 6πγgR + [12πγR Fn + (6πγR)2]1/2)]2/3. Here, R is the size of the counterface ball, K the effective elastic modulus (combination of elastic modulus of coating and counterface), Fn the applied normal load and γ the interfacial energy. For thin films/coatings, SAMs have low elastic modulus  and so the reduction in contact area is not significant. To reduce friction, a complex chemistry has to work such that the suitable selections of end groups, chain length and mixture of monolayers have to be taken into account . Further, achieving uniform coating of SAMs on large surface areas without defects or polymerization poses a great challenge. On the other hand, in DLC coatings, elastic modulus is relatively high so that reduction in contact area plays a supportive role in reducing friction . It is noted that lubrication in DLC coatings mainly occurs by the formation of ‘transfer layer’ . During the formation of transfer layer, not all the material that gets removed from DLC coating is transferred to the counter surface; rather most of it gets released in the form of loose wear particles. Such free wear particles could play an adverse role by interfering physically and/or chemically with the functioning components (DLC has high hardness, electrical insulation, thermal conduction and chemical inertness ). Regarding vapor phase lubrication method , it is necessary to ensure the presence of lubricant vapor at the interfaces for the entire duration time of device operation. Given this situation, it requires a provision to store lubricant vapor within the device and continuously re-supply it to the interfaces. This remains a challenging issue yet to be addressed.
Given the above-mentioned limitations/drawbacks of thin films/coatings and vapor phase lubrication, biomimetic patterned surfaces have some noteworthy salient features: (i) they provide a simple and easy route to reduce friction via the direct reduction in contact area. In addition, their performance can be further enhanced by applying boundary lubricant thin films/coatings. (ii) Lithography techniques used to make patterns are the same as those used to fabricate MEMS/NEMS, indicating that patterning the surfaces of device components can be easily conducted during their fabrication. This makes the process even more convenient and cost- and time-effective compared to other methods. (iii) The main aim to reduce friction in small-scale devices is not to eliminate friction completely, since with zero friction sliding components cannot engage each other. Instead, friction should be controlled in such a way that it should be low enough to support smooth motion, but sufficiently high to engage relative mechanical motion between components, e.g. micro-gears. Taken together, making patterns on component surfaces with varying sizes and shapes along with the application of a variety of boundary lubricants provides greater flexibility and strength to control friction at micro/nano-scale, for desired smooth operations of MEMS/NEMS.
Considering the theoretical modelling of biomimetic surfaces, it is focused towards understanding the effect of hierarchical roughness on adhesion force [36–40], especially ‘roughness induced superhydrophobicity’. The studies aim to support the design of low-adhesion, low-friction and non-wetting surfaces. Wetting involves interactions at different scale levels/sizes, namely macro-scale (water drop), micro-scale (surface texture) and nano-scale (molecules). Hence, understanding the role of hierarchical surface roughness, the transition between various wetting regimes and optimization of roughness etc., becomes important. Modelling has given some insights on solid–liquid interactions. As an example, studies on wetting of micro-patterned surfaces have shown that: (i) the wetting behavior depends on the spacing factor (a micro-scale non-dimensional parameter), and (ii) the contact angle hysteresis and Cassie-Wenzel transition are governed by micro- and nano-scale effects. These insights on the fundamental mechanisms of wetting are very useful in designing non-adhesive surfaces. It is to be noted that when compared to solid–liquid adhesion, dry solid-solid friction is a complex phenomenon that at times is influenced by wear, and so is rather difficult to model.
We have presented that the underlying principles in natural surfaces provide valuable insights towards solving intricate technological issues. Biomimetic engineering of surfaces is an exciting and practical way to control friction at small-scales. Examples presented in this review clearly indicate that by the design and development of biomimetic patterned surfaces, in combination with boundary lubrication, better solutions can be pursued to control friction at small-scales, for the efficient operation and application of miniaturized devices.
Arvind Singh received his doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India in 2003. In his doctoral research work, he consolidated a new approach to understand metallic wear based on dynamically evolved microstructure. As a Materials Scientist at the John F. Welch Technology Center (GE India), he investigated tribological systems in aircraft engines and on super-abrasives. During his tenure as a Visiting Scientist at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea, he proposed micro/nano-patterns as biomimetic surfaces for tribological application in MEMS/NEMS. He continued his research on biomimetics at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he formulated novel surface modification methods to functionalize SU-8 polymer for tribological applications in MEMS/Bio-MEMS and for indwelling biomedical devices. At Vestas Global R&D, he investigated tribology of wind energy systems. Currently, at the Energy Research Institute (ERIAN), Singapore, he is leading tribology and surface engineering R&D projects related to wind & marine renewables.
Kahp-Yang Suh received his doctoral degree from the Seoul National University (SNU), Korea in 2002. He specialized in micro/nano-patterning of polymeric surfaces using capillary force lithography/nanoimprint lithography, and made significant contributions to the field. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. In 2004 he joined as an Assistant Professor at SNU. He was an outstanding faculty and researcher in the field of fabrication of micro/nano-polymeric patterns, whose applications ranged from tribology to lab-on-chip devices. He won a number of awards, including TR100 Young Innovator Award by MIT Technology Review, Best Graduate Student Award by the Brain Korea (BK) 21 Program of the Korean Government, Korea Presidential Young Scientist Award and Young Professor Award by College of Engineering of SNU.
Arvind Singh and Kahp-Yang Suh, shared the ‘First Surface Engineering Best Paper Award’, given by the Society of Tribologists & Lubrication Engineers (STLE), USA (2007), for their pioneering work on biomimetic approach as a robust solution for tribological issues in micro/nano-scale devices.
Arvind Singh dedicates this review article to Kahp-Yang Suh, for his memorable contribution to the field.
- Adams TM, Layton RA: Introductory MEMS: Fabrication and Applications. New York: Springer; 2010.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Tanner DM, Smith NF, Irwin LW, Eaton WP, Helgesen KS, Clement JJ, Miller MW, Walraven JA, Peterson KA, Tangyunyong P, Dugger MT, Miller SL: MEMS Reliability: Infrastructure, Test Structures, Experiments, and Failure Modes. Sandia Report, SAND2000–0091, Sandia National Laboratories 2000.Google Scholar
- de Boer MP, Mayer TM: Tribology of MEMS. MRS Bull 2001, 26: 302–304. 10.1557/mrs2001.65View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Kim SH, Asay DB, Dugger MT: Nanotribology and MEMS. Nano Today 2007, 2: 22–29.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- MEMS [http://www.microchem.com/Appl-MEMs-SurfaceMod.htm]
- Carpick RW: Controlling friction. Science 2006, 313: 184–185. 10.1126/science.1130420View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Satyanarayana N, Sinha SK: Surface chemical modification for exceptional wear life of MEMS materials. AIP Adv 2011, 1: 042141. 10.1063/1.3662096View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Tambe NS, Bhushan B: Nanotribological characterization of self-assembled monolayers deposited on silicon and aluminium substrates. Nanotechnology 2005, 16: 1549–1558. 10.1088/0957-4484/16/9/024View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Grierson DS, Carpick RW: Nanotribology of carbon-based materials. Nano Today 2007, 2: 12–21.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Neinhuis C, Barthlott W: Characterization and distribution of water-repellent, self-cleaning plant surfaces. Ann Bot 1997, 79: 667–677. 10.1006/anbo.1997.0400View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Zorba V, Stratakis E, Barberoglou M, Spanakis E, Tzanetakis P, Anastasiadis SH, Fotakis C: Biomimetic artificial surfaces quantitatively reproduce the water repellency of a lotus leaf. Adv Mater 2008, 20: 4049–4054. 10.1002/adma.200800651View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Gould P: Smart, clean surfaces. Mater Today 2003, 6: 44–48.Google Scholar
- Yoon E-S, Singh RA, Kong H, Kim DH, Jeong HE, Suh KY: Tribological properties of bio-mimetic nano-patterned polymeric surfaces on silicon wafer. Tribol Lett 2006, 21: 31–37. 10.1007/s11249-005-9005-4View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Mo Y, Turner KT, Szlufarska I: Friction laws at the nanoscale. Nature 2009, 457: 1116–1119. 10.1038/nature07748View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Yoon E-S, Singh RA, Oh HJ, Kong H: The effect of contact area on nano/micro-scale friction. Wear 2005, 259: 1424–1431. 10.1016/j.wear.2005.01.033View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Bowden FP, Tabor D: The Friction and Lubrication of Solids. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1950.Google Scholar
- Zou M, Cai L, Wang H, Yang D, Wyrobek T: Adhesion and friction studies of a selectively micro/nano-textured surface produced by UV assisted crystallization of amorphous silicon. Tribol Lett 2005, 20: 43–52. 10.1007/s11249-005-7791-3View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Scherge M, Gorb SN: Physical principles of micro- and nanotribology. In Biological micro- and nanotribology. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer; 2001.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Pham DC, Na K, Yang S, Kim J, Yoon ES: Microtribological properties of topographically-modified polymeric surfaces with different pitches. J Korean Phys Soc 2009, 55: 1416–1424. 10.3938/jkps.55.1416View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Suh KY, Kim YS, Lee HH: Capillary force lithography. Adv Mater 2001, 13: 1386–1389. 10.1002/1521-4095(200109)13:18<1386::AID-ADMA1386>3.0.CO;2-XView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Suh KY, Jeong HE, Kim DH, Singh RA, Yoon E-S: Capillarity-assisted fabrication of nanostructures using a less permeable mold for nanotribological applications. J Appl Phys 2006, 100: 034303. 10.1063/1.2222071View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Burton Z, Bhushan B: Hydrophobicity, adhesion, and friction properties of nanopatterned polymers and scale dependence for micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems. Nano Lett 2005, 5: 1607–1613. 10.1021/nl050861bView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Na K, Yi JY, Lee KR, Yoon E-S: DLC Nano-dot surfaces for MEMS Tribology. Appl Surf Sci 2011, 257: 3153–3157. 10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.10.131View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Park SJ, Lee KW, Ko DH: Tribological behavior of nano-undulated surface of diamond-like carbon films. Diam Relat Mater 2005, 14: 1291–1296. 10.1016/j.diamond.2004.07.021View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Yoon E-S, Kim HJ, Kong H, Park S, Jeong HE, Suh KY: Enhanced tribological properties of lotus leaf-like surfaces fabricated by capillary force lithography. Surface Eng 2007, 23: 161–164. 10.1179/174327806X124681View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Yoon E-S, Kim HJ, Kim J, Jeong HE, Suh KY: Replication of surfaces of natural leaves for enhanced micro-scale tribological property. Mat Sci Eng C-Bio S 2007, 27: 875–879. 10.1016/j.msec.2006.10.007View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Bhushan B, Jung YC, Koch K: Micro-, nano- and hierarchical structures for superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning and low adhesion. Phil Trans R Soc A 2009, 367: 1631–1672. 10.1098/rsta.2009.0014View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Shafiei M, Alpas AT: Nanocrystalline nickel films with lotus leaf texture for superhydrophobic and low friction surfaces. Appl Surf Sci 2009, 256: 710–719. 10.1016/j.apsusc.2009.08.047View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Pham DC, Kim J, Yang S, Yoon E-S: Bio-inspired dual surface modification to improve tribological properties at small-scale. Appl Surf Sci 2009, 255: 4821–4828. 10.1016/j.apsusc.2008.12.004View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh RA, Siyuan L, Satyanarayana N, Kustandi TS, Sinha SK: Bio-inspired polymeric patterns with enhanced wear durability for microsystems applications. Mat Sci Eng C-Biomim 2011, 31: 1577–1583. 10.1016/j.msec.2011.07.006View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Park H, Cheng X: Thermoplastic polymer patterning without residual layer by advanced nanoimprinting schemes. Nanotechnology 2009, 20: 245308. 10.1088/0957-4484/20/24/245308View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Johnson KL, Kendall K, Roberts AD: Surface energy and contact of elastic solid. Proc R Soc A 1971, 324: 301–313. 10.1098/rspa.1971.0141View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- DelRio FW, Jaye C, Fischer DA, Cook RF: Elastic and adhesive properties of alkanethiol self assembled monolayers on gold. Appl Phys Lett 2009, 94: 131909. 10.1063/1.3111440View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Williams JA, Le HR: Tribology and MEMS. J Phys D Appl Phys 2006, 39: 201–214. 10.1088/0022-3727/39/12/R01View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Mattox DM: Handbook of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Processing. New York: Elsevier; 1998.Google Scholar
- Nosonovsky M, Bhushan B: Biologically inspired surfaces: broadening the scope of roughness. Adv Funct Mater 2008, 18: 843–855. 10.1002/adfm.200701195View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Nosonovsky M, Bhushan B: Patterned nonadhesive surfaces: superhydrophobicity and wetting regime transitions. Langmuir 2008, 24: 1525–1533. 10.1021/la702239wView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Nosonovsky M, Bhushan B: Energy transitions in superhydrophobicity: low adhesion, easy flow and bouncing. J Phys Condens Matter 2008, 20: 395005–395011. 10.1088/0953-8984/20/39/395005View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Nosonovsky M, Bhushan B: Biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces: multiscale approach. Nano Letts 2007, 7: 2633–2637. 10.1021/nl071023fView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Nosonovsky M, Bhushan B: Multiscale friction mechanisms and hierarchical surfaces in nano- and bio-tribology. Mat Sci Eng R 2007, 58: 162–193. 10.1016/j.mser.2007.09.001View ArticleGoogle Scholar
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Orbital ATK’s OA-5 mission, currently scheduled to launch between 8:03 – 8:08pm on Sunday, October 16, will be that company’s first flight of the upgraded Antares launch vehicle. Dubbed “Antares 230,” this rocket uses a pair of NPO Energomash RD-181 main engines to power its first stage, and a Castor 30XL solid rocket booster as its second stage, putting the Cygnus spacecraft into an orbit to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).
The road to OA-5
Workers on MARS Launchpad 0A are dwarfed by the upgraded Antares 230 rocket (click the photo for a larger view). Photo credit: Andrew Albosta / We Report Space
The last flight of Antares, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s ORB-3 mission to the ISS, ended in failure just seconds into the launch, due to an anomaly with the Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-26 engines previously used on the rocket.
Following the ORB-3 explosion, Virginia Commercial Space Authority, in conjunction with both Orbital ATK and NASA, undertook an 11 month, fifteen million dollar effort to rebuild and upgrade launchpad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, the cost being shared among those three partners.
Prior to launch, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility hosted a pre-launch briefing with representatives from Johnson Space ...


text:
Free Slot Games
There are many types of free slot games online, ranging from classic three-reel slots to 3D five-reel machines that come with bonus features. These games provide the same gameplay as the paid ones, but they don’t come with progressive jackpots. These games are totally free and don’t require you to register or deposit any money. You can play these games on your mobile or tablet. The graphics and sound will be fantastic regardless of where you’re playing.
A variety of free slot machines can be played online, without downloading anything. Some of these games can even be played on mobile devices using HTML5 technology. The most popular software providers in New Zealand are Microgaming, IGT, NetEnt, Betsoft, Aristocrat, and Play’n GO. You can play all these software providers’ no-cost slots for fun without risk. You can even play them in the privacy of your own home or any other location.
The free slot games don’t pay any prizes. They do however give you the chance to test your strategies and learn how to play the game. You can test your strategy and develop it when playing slots for free. You can also learn the specifics of bonus symbols, which affect the progressive probabilities. These are only one of the many reasons players should play free slot games.
Some of these slot games for free aren’t a good option if you don’t have the money to play. These games can be played for many reasons. The most popular reason is to keep busy. You can try your hand at and win without spending money. You could even win the lottery using these slots for free! This makes it simple for you to get cash and bonuses. Sign up for an account at a casino to receive free slots.
Free slots are available to everyone. They are available at many casinos online. If you’re interested in trying them, be sure to download the appropriate software first. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the app and have it installed, you’ll be in a position to access the website’s demo version of the game and try its features yourself. You’ll soon see that these websites can provide a lot of fun. Then you can start enjoying the games as soon as you can.
Many of these free slots are similar to real-money counterparts. You can pick the one that appeals to you. You can try the various features before you play for real money. You’ll have the chance to test the game’s payout speed and jackpot size as well as bonus features without placing your money at risk. You can play the game with Kartáč real money if you like it, and don’t have to worry about scams.
If you’re not sure about whether or not it’s a good idea to play for real money, it’s best to play for free first. You can also see the different options at different casinos before deciding which one to choose. Playing for free is a great way to test out the features of a casino’s site. You can also evaluate prices and play different games before you decide to make a decision. There’s no need to spend money to play.
You can enjoy the same benefits from free slot games as the ones that are paid for. You can play them for free, but they may not be worth the cost. So, it’s better to play for fun first to see which you enjoy the most. There’s no need to play for real money If you don’t want to lose your money. You can try your hand at playing for free. You’ll be amazed by the number of advantages you’ll gain when playing for the first time.
There are two kinds of online slot games that are video slots and traditional slots. While some of them are available for both desktops and mobiles but they are generally suitable for mobile users. There Леон казино are also free online slot games that do not require registration or downloading. You can then play them on your mobile or tablet. If you don’t have smartphones, you can still play them on your computer.

domain: entertainment


RingTV.com readers voted Robert Garcia the Trainer of the Year for 2011 on the strength of the two stars of his stable – Nonito Donaire and Brandon Rios – and the former junior lightweight titleholder has won the honor for the second year in a row in part because both young veterans continued their winning ways in 2012 under his guidance.
Garcia garnered 57.4 percent of the voters who took part in RingTV.com’s “Readers’ Choice” poll believed the 37-year-old trainer deserved to repeat. Garcia, who also trains younger brother Miguel Angel Garcia, Kelly Pavlik and Marcos Maidana, along with several prospects, beat out a strong field that included Virgil Hunter and the legendary Emanuel Steward, who passed away in October.
Hunter, whose fighters – including RING super middleweight champ Andre Ward and former 140-pound titleholder Amir Khan – were unbeaten in 2012, received 19 percent of the vote. Steward, who guided RING heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko to two of his three title defenses in 2012 (including an impressive six-round stoppage of capable Tony Thompson), received 18 percent of the vote.
Garcia, however, trained more world-class fighters than his competition and his boxers were busier than the other top trainers – especially Donaire, who is strong candidate for Fighter of the Year, after four significant bouts in 2012. The 30-year-old Filipino-American star made a successful jump from bantamweight to junior featherweight by unifying two major 122-pound belts with decisions over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Jeffrey Mathebula, then earned THE RING’s vacant title by stopping the magazine’s No. 1-rated junior featherweight, Toshiaki Nishioka, and ended the year by defending his belts with a third-round blowout of Jorge Arce.
Rios, who Garcia has trained since the amateurs, only fought twice in 2012, but his second bout – a Fight of the Year candidate against Mike Alvarado in October – more than made up for a disappointing start to the year. The relentless slugger, who was denied a high-profile showdown with Yuriorkis Gamboa when the talented Cuban pulled out of that matchup, was lucky to get a controversial split-decision over Gamboa’s replacement, Richard Abril, in April.
Taking on Alvarado, a welterweight-sized boxer-puncher unbeaten in 33 pro bouts, was a risky fight for Rios in his first “intentional” junior welterweight bout, but Garcia made sure the 24-year-old former lightweight beltholder was ready – in terms of technique and conditioning – for the phone-booth war of attrition that Rios won by seventh-round stoppage.
However, as impressive as Donaire and Rios were, Garcia’s best work as a trainer may have been with Pavlik and Maidana, both of whom had been written off by many fans and members of the boxing media.
Pavlik, who was thought to be “mentally shot” after losing his middleweight title to Sergio Martinez and checking into rehab for alcohol addiction in 2010, turned in three solid performances in 2012 – knockouts of journeymen Aaron Jaco and Scott Sigmon and a decision over fringe contender Will Rosinsky. Pavlik, who has added a strong left hook and body attack to his arsenal under Garcia’s guidance, is now in line to challenge Ward in February.
Maidana looked like a one-dimensional puncher who had hit his ceiling when he dropped a one-sided decision to Devon Alexander in his welterweight debut in early 2012, but the former 140-pound contender rebounded with Garcia’s help, scoring a hard-fought TKO over Jesus Soto Karass and a one-punch (body shot) KO of Angel Martinez. Maidana is working his jab more and keeping a higher guard under Garcia’s watch.
“Mikey” Garcia remained undefeated (30-0, with 26 knockouts), going 3-0 in 2012, with his older brother in his corner. The 25-year-old featherweight is a slight favorite against WBO titleholder Orlando Salido, who he challenges on Jan. 19.
The only world-class fighter trained by Garcia who didn’t win in 2012 was flyweight standout Hernan “Tyson” Marquez who lost his WBA title to Brian Viloria in a November scorcher. Viloria, who was trained by Garcia in 2008 and 2009, dropped Marquez three times en route to a 10th round stoppage.
After the third knockdown in the 10th round, Garcia, who was rightfully criticized for not keeping Antonio Margarito on the stool during the former welterweight titleholder’s one-sided drubbing against Manny Pacquiao in 2010, stepped in and stopped the fight at just the right time to spare the brave-but-outclassed Marquez unnecessary punishment.
In his lone high-profile loss of 2012, Garcia showed the kind of growth that promises many more Trainer of the Year awards.
Next year-end poll: Prospect of the Year
Photos / Al Bello-Gettyimages, Naoki Fukuda, Chris Farina-Top Rank


- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
Man Utd news: Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on David De Gea after the Young Boys win
Manchester United left it late to beat Young Boys 1-0 and secure their spot in the Champions League last-16.
Marouane Fellaini came up with the vital goal, turning in the box and firing home in second-half stoppage time.
Ferdinand highlighted how important Fellaini is to Manchester United and also the assist from Romelu Lukaku.
But the pundit singled out goalkeeper David De Gea after he pulled off a phenomenal save to keep the scores level earlier in the game.
David De Gea I think needs a special mention with a fantastic save. He clutched it from nowhere, the claw came out
The Spaniard somehow kept out a deflected shot from substitute Ulisses Garcia.
And Ferdinand paid tribute to his former team-mate for keeping his side in the match.
“It was (better late than never),” Ferdinand said on BT Sport.
“Listen, Fellaini, how many times have we seen him do that?
“He’s come up trumps at the end with a lovely finish.
“Lukaku with the assist, with the header.
“But David De Gea I think needs a special mention with a fantastic save.
“He clutched it from nowhere, the claw came out.
“We spoke about performances before the game and it was subdued, yes.
“But I think the result tonight is the more important thing.
“They got a good result, hopefully we can start seeing that famous old word momentum start kicking in.”


text:
Touristlink.com is the social platform for travel where you can meet fellow travelers,share information, suggest new attractions and create lists of your favorite destinations to share with friends.
Places To Visit in La Villajoyosa
Travelers are voting Ayuntamiento de Tarragona, Castalla Castle and San Jose Castle in Guadalest as the best of 14 places to visit in La Villajoyosa. There are 23 places to visit in Elche a city just 30 km from La Villajoyosa and 11 places to visit in Gandia which is 33 km distant. The most popular of these are Palmeral de Elche in Elche and Los Borja Ducal Palace in Gandia. You can find 110 places to visit in Region of Valencia and 1629 places to visit in the country of Spain. Our members favorite in Region of Valencia is Palmeral de Elche and Sagrada Familia is the top pick in Spain. Want more? Check out our map of places to visit in La Villajoyosa.

domain: geography


text:
The rich fabrics in this Take 5 quilt are so stunning, so regal yet equally soft & inviting. Perfect contrasts.
Aug 24: The quilt arrived. The fabric samples Dorothy sent some time ago do not do it justice but I can use them to test thread colors. She decided on Cardinals in the Pines while still piecing. Setting up.
Aug 25: Finished setup process. Quilting. Every photo has a different coloring so let me just say this quilt is very dark except for the cream & tan.

domain: design


text:
The Destiny Motor Inn in Nambucca Heads is a particularly beautiful and comfortable 3½ star motel complex with glorious water features and lush tropical gardens. It is conveniently located midway between Sydney and Brisbane on the Pacific Highway making it an ideal break point when travelling between these cities.Minutes to beaches shops river and clubs, plus golf just across the road.
Our glorious salt water swimming pool, spa and steam room facilities provide guests with a healthy and relaxing family recreational outlet throughout the entire year. Search below for Best Western Destiny Motor Inn Nambucca Heads reviews, photos,
map information and rates.

domain: travel


text:
Metal United World Wide is a community project for the Metal World. There will be shows all over the world on 5 May 2018 – metal shows in the same night under the same banner. A night of united metal! \m/
Alchemy Media – ARTES Negras Prod. – uy – Broken PromotionsCatafilaprod – Crossbones Denebola Producciones Desolation Dividing The Element Eastern Hammer Productions Emalyth Productions Familia Productions FLYzone Fusion Concert Agency Heavy and The Beast Immortal Productions Jam! Events Kaprikorn Promo Le La Hell Lemmy Productions Macabra Records Mad Hard Ride Promotions Metal 4 Africa Metal Road Metal-Roos Metalheads United Metallurg No Wasted Records Store Noches De Culto Noise Metal Fest One More Page Open The Road Agency Pan Promotions Pasuruan Under Division Pluteras Records Pub Metal Productions Rock Zona Kazakhstan Rockfest Mozambique Scarab Soulgrinder Zine Talent Nation The Primos The Sick Room Radio Thola THP Production Thrashirts Tritones Music Vent Box Productions Vilko Promotions Wacken Open Air
Asher Media Relations Black-Roos Entertainment Clawhammer PR Domino Media Agency Grand Sounds Promotion Plug Music Agency Rock ‘n’ Growl
Black Lion Records Inverse Records Ragnorök Records Sliptrick Records Worm Hole Death Records
Kaoteon is one of those bands whose shine never dims. Ok! That was a cliché, but it is true!
Imagine a band that hasn’t been active for years: no performances since 2009, a shy album release party in 2011, and some news on their page about progress in the album recording. Yet their name is, most of the times, brought up in every conversation about Lebanese Metal bands. Their legacy never faded and their fans are still as die-hard as they were during the band’s active years. Continue reading
On Saturday, April 23rd, 2016, Metal Blast festival shook the walls of Sawy cultural wheel and made a huge impact in the history of the metal scene in Egypt. It’s one of the best and most organized metal festivals that every Metal fan waits for impatiently every year.
But even the best festivals could have some pros and cons, and we are here to talk about that and review how the day went.
By Rock Era Magazine
At first, Metal Blast announced that the concert will be delayed for an hour due to technical difficulties, which was a disappointment for some, but everyone still maintained their excitement.
Let’s start off with the arrival of fans and metalheads before the concert. It was apparent that this concert will have one of the biggest audience ever in Egyptian metal history; the amount of people waiting in front of the cultural wheel’s door was huge! It really gave me a feeling of happiness to see all those metalheads gather for this historical event. There were metalheads of all ages and nationalities waiting to see their favorite bands.
After some waiting, the doors opened and everyone started entering. The bands were waiting for the meet-and-greet and to take pictures with the fans. Everyone cheered when Swallow the Sun arrived for the meet-and-greet and gathered around them to the extent that it was kind of annoying. The crew tried getting people to leave some space but to no avail. Some fans were able to take pictures with the band but the band left to get ready for the concert.
Then the curtains were opened and the fans started rushing towards the stage to stand in the front rows. The place was packed and there was barely any place to move. We were now seconds away from the first band!
By Rock Era Magazine
MEDIC: One of the fan-favorite bands in Egypt, they were the first to play and people cheered with anticipation. The first thing that everyone noticed is that the sound system wasn’t as good as last year’s Metal Blast, but the light system was top-notch. The band played some new and old songs, with the addition of a percussion player on one song, which added an oriental feel, and a jazz player on another song who is also Ehab’s brother (MEDIC’s vocalist). So the addition of those new instruments and different new touches really gave a unique performance. Ehab made the audience shout “hell yeah” multiple times, which really got them fired up. But on the other hand, it was noticeable that the band weren’t in their top shape; there were some off tones and Ehab’s vocals were a bit out of tune and felt weak. Without a doubt, everyone was waiting for their most known song, “Rise Above”, which they played last with a surprise guest vocalist from the band “Mephostophilis”. Overall, they gave an amazing show and a new unique sound, but they were a lot better last year.
By Rock Era Magazine
INNER MISSING: The Gothic/Doom two-person band hailing from Russia, the band had a guest drummer, “Usama Ahmed”, and a bassist to play with them. They had an amazing sound and a beautiful orchestral vocalist, but it appears that they were nervous as the band started their songs without even an introduction and they had a lot of issues in their timing and playing, or it could be due to not having a lot of experience in playing live in front of a big audience. Nonetheless, the female keyboardist was amazing and played some gorgeous-sounding tunes. Overall, the band gave a good performance but needs more accuracy in playing live.
ODIOUS: The band that a lot of people have been
By Rock Era Magazine
waiting for, this oriental black metal band was truly a one-of-a-kind experience. The addition of oriental music and instruments to black metal is just amazing! They delivered a solid performance and an amazing show, but unfortunately, there were some technical issues and the background music kept cutting that the band stopped one song and played another one. There was also a minor fuss in the audience but the crew acted quickly and took control to keep the flow of the concert and allow a safe environment for the audience. There were some moshpits that were going, but the crew also stopped them quickly as they are not allowed in the cultural wheel. Overall, the band delivered what the fans expected, but the sound issues weren’t on their side and the show could have been much better if those issues didn’t occur.
By Rock Era Magazine
DIMLIGHT: The Greek symphonic metal band was one of the best things in that night! They played with immense power and passion. The female vocalist had an amazing voice and the other guitarist/vocalist had a monstrous growl. They played perfectly great and most of their songs included Egyptian mythology which only made their performance even better. They added pictures and videos of Pharaohs and the Pyramids on the screen in the background, which made the audience feel their music as well as hearing it. One of their songs, called “Children of Perdition”, made the audience shout “United We Stand as One”, which was one of the best feelings in any metal concert in Egypt. The verdict? They were perfect!
SWALLOW THE SUN: The biggest band in this concert and the one most of the people came for, which obviously makes them the last to play. The audience cheered and hailed when they finally got on stage; it was the moment everyone was waiting for. They delivered an amazing performance with a mix of songs, some from their older albums and some newer material. One of the most awaited songs was “Cathedral Walls”, which they played perfectly and the audience was stunned with their beautiful sound. They also played other songs like “Hope” and “Abandoned by The Light” and truly lit the stage ablaze. The mix of heavy songs and some quieter sounding ones also gave a great feeling to their show. Unfortunately, due to the delays at the beginning of the concert, STS played really late and a lot of people had already left and some left in the middle of their show, which was pretty disappointing to find a lot of people who waited to hear STS live leave before they could see them or see their full show. We hope that, in future concerts, those delays are avoided to prevent such thing from happening. Overall, the band gave a stunning show and met the expectations of everyone and truly made some dreams come true in that historical night.
By Rock Era Magazine
In conclusion, the festival was a great success even though it had some sound and delay issues, but everyone enjoyed the night and surely will never forget it. We can’t wait till the next Metal Blast festival and maybe even see some of those bands again in Egypt in the coming years!
All photos used in this article are copyrighted to ROCK ERA MAGAZINE from Egypt. These photos are courtesy of Doaa M. Hamza and were taken on the night of METAL BLAST FESTIVAL exclusively to the photographer and the magazine. The photos are not for any commercial use.
BLAAKYUM fans have been waiting so long for this moment, and the excitement increased after the band announced their participation in TUSKA and recently their European THRASH MERCENARIES Tour 2016 with Onslaught as well as the extensive work on their long overdue upcoming album.
After years of only listening to the new material through live performances, today BLAAKYUM announced the release of the “never-before-heard” new single “Riot Against Riot” that has never been performed live either, and without doubt it is set to “rattle the foundations of the Earth”.
So who’s ready to Riot? This is BLAAKYUM louder than ever, this is the time of war.
Listen to Blaakyum’s Riot Against Riot exclusively on Metal Bell Magazine through the below Reverbnation widget: Continue reading
Eden, the Lebanese progressive thrash metal band that was formed in 2012 and that did not fail to deliver anything but robust performances throughout the recent years, has now announced the release of the first single “The Fall” from its upcoming EP titled” Sworn Obedience”.
Knowing that the band has played it often before, the last time being during “Rock for Reinabelle” charity concert, but it’s nothing compared to the one mixed and refined.
“The Fall” comprises loud and harsh vocals as well as a surprising clean part from Charbel Haddad, prog/thrash guitar riffs and solo from the mighty Nareg Vassilian, and of course the kick-ass drum line by Joe Nassar, and a whole lot of sick contribution from Jad Stephan on bass. You can give it a listen via SoundCloud and YouTube.
It is about time our bands get the attention they deserve. It is about time our scene goes international. It might not be the first time one of our bands plays international festivals, but this is getting bigger and bigger. Continue reading
DEATHLAM is a 3-piece Armenian Black Metal band from Lebanon, with Sam Kasparian taking charge of the vocals and bass, Yeghig Aroyan on guitars, and Sako Kasparian on drums. The band usually targets religions and certain philosophical, sociological, and political ideologies.
From Lebanon straight to homeland Armenia! Lebanese Black Metallers of Armenian origins DEATHLAM flew all the way to Armenia to take part in Metal Attack 2016 on March 5th to perform their first abroad show alongside: Tacit Fury(Death metal – Russia), Dismorial (Death metal – Georgia), Signs(Black metal – Georgia), Araspel(Pagan/folk metal – Armenia), Vril Ya(Death/thrash metal – Georgia), Perfect Legacy (Ethnic/groove metal – Armenia), Աշխարհակալ (Black’n’roll – Armenia), Blood Covenant (Symphonic black metal – Armenia), Illuminated (Blackened doom metal – Georgia).
The next day, upon the request of the organizers, they took a long trip to Georgia as well to participate in Georgian Metal Fest 2016 .
“we took a 7 hour bus trip with our equipment to Tbilisi Georgia with no clue that they would let us in at the border cause we had no visas, it was a surely a risky trip, but luckily after half an hour of interrogation we got the visas so we headed directly to the night office venue for the soundcheck.” – Deathlam
The journey didn’t end there. As the band returned to Yerevan, they were also invited to perform alongside ARASPEL,an Armenian folk band, on March 8 at The Venue Pub.
“Of course playing in Yerevan was a huge honour being an all Armenian band, and drinking with fellow Armenian metalheads. Georgia was fucking brutal.” – Deathlam
Let Kill Let Die
Reign of Terror
The Last March
DEATHLAM have recently released their EP, “Demonicorpus”, from which they performed the single “Maggot Remains” during “Metal Attack” concert in Armenia. The track has been released as a demo through a video on the band’s official Facebook page. You can listen to the song in the video below:
It is no surprise that the UAE Metal scene has been hosting international bands, especially in the last 2 decades, witnessing a hiatus for a few years until Circle II Circle came to Dubai and Black Sabbath to Abu Dhabi in 2014, followed by a series of locally organized events. Continue reading


text:
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has submitted its response to the government's white paper: AI regulation: a pro-innovation approach. The CMA supports the government's plan to build on existing regulatory regimes while establishing a central coordination function, which it believes will enable the context-specific regulation methods the government seeks. Furthermore, the CMA supports the idea of the principles being initially placed on a non-statutory footing and is considering how each principle will apply to our existing and future remit. The CMA also appreciates the need for a central coordination function as well as the importance of cross-regulatory coordination and coherence, something it is actively pursuing through the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF). Finally, the CMA confirmed its commitment to supporting AI innovators and will work with the government to establish a cross-regulatory AI sandbox or testbed through the DRCF.
What is this page?
You are reading a summary article on the Privacy Newsfeed, a free resource for DPOs and other professionals with privacy or data protection responsibilities helping them stay informed of industry news all in one place. The information here is a brief snippet relating to a single piece of original content or several articles about a common topic or thread. The main contributor is listed in the top left-hand corner, just beneath the article title.
The Privacy Newsfeed monitors over 300 global publications, of which more than 4,350 summary articles have been posted to the online archive dating back to the beginning of 2020. A weekly roundup is available by email every Friday.

domain: law


text:
That was as of two-plus months ago, of course. There may well be a prototype running around out there at this very moment, built from - and being used to test - factory production parts. In early February, the company said it would begin pilot production of a few Model 3s on Feb. 20, and presumably a beta car or cars would be chosen from that run. But keep in mind the company reiterated late last month that it intends to begin producing Model 3s in July - and that's right around the corner.
The beta-car mention in the annual filing with the Security and Exchange Commission is the second cautionary sign this week, after a Goldman Sachs analyst said the company is unlikely to meet its summer production goal and he downgraded the automaker's stock to "sell."
The California-based electric-vehicle maker reiterated in its investors note last week that Model 3 vehicles would start rolling off the production line as soon as July. Tesla said it would be producing 5,000 Model 3 vehicles a week by the end of the year and will double that pace to an annualized rate of more than a half-million Model 3 vehicles by the end of 2018.
Tesla shares, however, are off by $30 a share after hitting a 52-week high of more than $287 earlier this month, which was a 29-percent jump year over year. Goldman Sachs set a six-month price target as low as $185.
Tesla has been notorious with missing deadlines, and the Model 3 is particularly notable because of its advance interest. Within 24 hours of going on sale last spring, the Model 3 generated about 180,000 pre-orders, and the total is now closer to 400,000 - it's sold out through 2018. Unlike the Model S and Model X, the five-seat Model 3 is priced for the masses at about $35,000, and it offers a single-charge range of 215 miles.

domain: economics


text:
Betty Brinn Children's Museum, MilwaukeeA Halloween dance & costume party! Little monsters will want to dance the night away at the Museum’s popular annual Little Monster Bash! Tickets include: - A light dinner - Sweet treats - Tr...
Milwaukee trick or treat times 2013 events
Friday, Oct 24 6:00p
Friday, Sep 19 11:15a
Friday, Mar 13 7:30p
Friday, Oct 24 7:30p
Friday, Sep 26 7:00p
Boswell Book Company, MilwaukeePlease join us as we welcome parasitologist and local author, Christine M...
Friday, Nov 21 11:15a
Tuesday, Apr 28 7:30p
Friday, May 8 7:30p
Saturday, Nov 15 11:00a
UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, MilwaukeeIn this original storyline, Mickey and Minnie lead the audience on an exciting adventure that will have families rooting for their favorite pirate, Jake, and Disney's first little girl princess, So...
Saturday, Oct 4 7:30p
Friday, Sep 12 11:30a
Discovery World, MilwaukeeChanging the World, One Woman at a Time Join us for the Fall Transforum annual student scholarship fundraiser luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Lt. General Claudia Kennedy (Ret.)...
Milwaukee trick or treat times 2013 Related Topics
arts & crafts | community | business & tech | dance | fairs & festivals | food & dining | music | performing arts | sports & outdoors | visual arts | other | comedy | shopping | holiday | education/campus | artist | revealed margaret peterson haddix | wisconsin events september 12 2014 | juicy j milwaukee | milwaukee | folk | uso of wisconsin milwaukee | big band music milwaukee | master class milwaukee | borgore tickets milwaukee | the voice in milwaukee | its a wonderful life in milwaukee | the milwaukee masterpiece | taste of egypt -- oak creek , wi | music | musicians bands | the scene milwaukee | kelly markgraf milwaukee florentine opera | john williams milwaukee | don giovanni milwaukee symphony


text:
April 5, 2016
Working in the garden when you're not feeling well
As someone who has spent a LOT of time recovering from some illness, or injury, I like working in the garden when I'm not feeling well.
Somehow it appeals to me more than rearranging my stamp collection (no, I don't have a stamp collection) or doing all of those things that people recommend when you're not quite sick, or injured, enough to be in bed, but not quite well, either. And I suppose it has to do with how much effect can be obtained in the garden with such little effort.
I like planting things. I like preparing a tiny part of planet earth, planting something, and watching it grow. Mine is a garden of puttering, or "futzing".
I'm experimenting mostly, and most of my experiments have failed. But I just plant something else, and hope for the best. The effect over twenty years has been pleasing. My memory for my failures is poor, and I focus on what's in front of me, or what I have planned.
My garden is good medicine for me.
Posted by Brad Hall

domain: hobby


text:
I like Chocolate.
Sometimes I like Bananas.
I LOVE the three combined
and this recipe is too easy to resist
(prep time was under 5 minutes)
3 ripe bananas
6 ounces chocolate chips
Slice bananas into equal slices, top with peanutbutter (this is to taste- I probably used half a teaspoon on each banana slice). Melt chocolate chips (either in a double boiler -or- microwaving in 30sec intervals) Coat each banana/peanutbutter slice with chocolate.
Cover and place in freezer to harden overnight (or at least two hours)
Let sit for about 10 minutes


text:
Algora Art GalleryView Algora Gallery
Represented by The Collection Shop Updated on Sunday, May 09, 2021
Manuel and Vicente Sßnchez Algora are the names of the twin brothers who founded a ceramic figurine company called Algora in a small town in Madrid called Villaviciosa de Odˇn, which later went on to acclaim international recognition. These brave artists started their workshop in 1951, in a difficult postwar era and went on to open their first factory in 1975. They chose to keep production small and exclusive, producing a minimum number of the same pieces, and keeping a close control on quality by painting and finishing each figure by hand. With their creativity, hard work, and need for perfection they were able to reach the hearts of many and achieved recognition with their collection of cockfights, witches and classical cinema actors.


text:
New Player Class Option:
A new class 'Grenadier / Rocketeer' has been added. This new class has been given the majority of the explosive based weaponary, enabling server administrators to restrict this class granting better control over the use of RPG based weaponary and even allowing these weapons to be locked out from the server.
Possibly the most noticable of changes are those made to players movement. The sprint feature has been greatly reduced and standard movement speeds increased. The balance of walk vs sprint has been tested and tweaked repeatedly and now provides players with both a realistic and engaging rate of travel.
As a result of these changes players will also notice that 'warping' has all but been completely removed from gameplay which we're sure will make most people very happy.
We have spent a lot of time adjusting and testing the damage system so that players can not soak up a shower of rounds and still keep going. Damage ratio's are now far closer to those seen in the earlier title 'Vietcong 1' with most headshots killing a player in one shot and players who do manage to survive a volly find themselves with little health and no stamina, otherwise known as 'Sitting Ducks'
During testing we found the new damage system to be brutally harsh but in no way unrealistic. Combined with the changes made to weapons baliistics the new damage system is far less forgiving but then it should be.
Weight / Stamina
All weapons have now been given accurate weights and this has been linked into player class stamina. Making weapon loadout choices far more important as weapon choices will effect a players total stamina reducing/increasing the length of time a player can sprint for.
In addition this allows classes with more stamina to carry multiple weapons, picking up additional guns during game play. So pay close attention to the weapons weight stats when making your selections.
This also allows some classes to relocate some of the mounted guns, presuming they have sufficient stamina to pick up the weapon. In stops mounted weapon moving from being a class restricted feature.
4 new options for smoke grenades have been added, Red, Green, Yellow and Violet, in addition to the standard White smoke option. The smoke effect has been improved on all smokes to improve the tactical use of smoke grenades during games.
Improved Weapon FX
Several of the weapons have had a makeover, with new improved sounds, better modeling and muzzle flares. Most noticable of these is the M16 which has been completely replaced.
Another important change is that of the BAR, which now has two rates of fire allowing for better ammo managment and is more historically correct.
Some weapons, especially some of the pistols, have had their first person view angles and animation / motion improved, making for better gameplay and far more accurate targeting.
Finally a complete overhaul of weapon ammunition including text descriptions has been made, and now each weapon uses the correct ammunition.
Player Load Out
Weapons load out for all game modes has had some major changes. There are too many changes here to go into detail but in brief the weapons choices for all classes has been re-thought. In Death Match pistols have been given to all classes while in Team Death Match pistols are side specific.
Weapon choices for CTF modes now better represent the classes, for example: the Specialist (Commando) / Hero weaponary now represents his speed and agility and so does not have access to heavier weapon choices. These load out changes make the other, previously less used, classes more attractive to the player.
More detail on these load out changes will be published at a later date.
Level of Detail
Improvements have been made to the 3rd person player models LOD, which many people reported produced visual problems, 'Popping', of characters. This has been adjusted to resolve these problems as best as possible without dramaticlly effecting frame rates.
The choices for head gear and player voices has been expended to give players more choice when customising their player.
Additionally the player skins have been revisited, giving more choice and improved realism for jungle warfar. Skins for DM and TDM are now tiered, with better camoflauge for better players as well as some skins to create confusion amongst teams.
Hundreds if not thousands of small changes and fixes have been implemented. From minor graphics glitches to complete bugs. This is not to say that we have covered every bug, but we have addressed a large proportion of them as well as trying to address some of the realism issues.
There are a few features that may or may not make it into the release of Fist Bravo. At time of publication these features are still in the development stage, this includes the Throwing Knifes. While most of the work on this and other features is complete there is still work to do on them. Hopefully time allowing these will make it into the public release but for the time being we do not want to promise the inclusion of such features.

domain: game


text:
For the reason that debut of Rainbow Six Siege again in 2015, the sport’s season passes have all the time been one of the best ways to unlock all the brand new content material that Ubisoft brings to the sport. One buy unlocks all eight operators which might be launched for Siege every year, together with an entire host of extras, like skins for characters or weapons — or at the very least, that’s the way it’s speculated to work. However during the last two weeks, gamers who’ve bought the 12 months Three Cross on PlayStation four haven’t gotten many of the season cross content material that ought to have been unlocked.
The 12 months Three Cross grants gamers entry to all eight of the operators that might be launched all through 2018. It additionally comes with eight unique headgear and uniforms, meteorite Allure, 600 Rainbow Six Credit, seven days of early entry to new operators, a 10 % low cost within the in-game store, a 5 % renown increase and a zero.three % Alpha Pack increase.
Nonetheless, gamers are reporting in a number of posts on the official Rainbow Six Siege boards that PS4 prospects have solely been receiving the 600 Rainbow Six Credit after they have bought the cross during the last two weeks. It’s unclear if this is a matter that faces each participant that has purchased the cross, or only a choose few.
As for an answer to this challenge, Ubisoft has largely been quiet. The corporate has but to challenge an official assertion acknowledging this challenge, or warning gamers about it. Nonetheless, Ubisoft has responded to a majority of the discussion board posters which have skilled this challenge, saying that it’s engaged on an answer and is hoping to resolve the problem as quickly as potential. Polygon has reached out to Ubisoft for remark.
Up to now, the 12 months Three Cross must be granting homeowners entry to the 2 operators which have been launched up to now in 2018, Lion and Finka. It would quickly unlock early entry for the 2 operators which might be more likely to be launched initially of June.


text:
The play of children and the play of ensemble improvisers like the Grateful Dead share numerous co-identifying qualities. Definitions of play and improvisation precede a comparison of the Dead and the Beatles. These two bands have been exhaustively described, but herein is a focus on the quality of play and the play ethos they both inspired. This spirit of play as it emerged in other forms of 1960s rock and its implications for communitas bespeaks the potential for playfulness and music to advance society, not unlike the message of dada-Surrealism. Get the scoop here…Dead Beatles
My 2002 Bumbershoot
ATG=albums to get
IDK=I don’t know
Something about Bumbershoot just gets my gizzards a goin’, and I fall in love with music all over again. Clutching my $28 two-day pass, tightly sweatly, I tanked up on a big breakfast at the Mecca, established retreats in the homes of my two close friends in Lower Queen Anne, and girded myself for the celebration.
First of all, the people. There were lots of them. So many I just don’t know what to say.
Next, the music. I got to listen to musicians I consider old friends, though they have asked me to stop showing up at their homes. First was Dan Hicks, whose sonofabitch insults have mellowed slightly, but were there in good form. We need rascals over the age of sixty. A friend commented, “Funny how he gets older but the (female) backup singers stay so young”…though they did contribute. The set had ups and downs, it was overall an exceptional review of his amazing repertoire—the only vocal swing music written since 1960 to add anything to the genre. He IS the real thing as a vocalist, songwriter, rhythm guitarist, bandleader. All hail Dan Hicks [ATG: Strikin’ It Rich; Where’s the Money? Beatin’ the Heat]. But wait, it gets better.
With mild trepidation I headed out to see Ani deFranco. I’d checked her out once before on a bill with Maceo Parker (yes, I know, they’re friends, but the shared billing makes no sense). She’d been spirited, fun, not great. But lo, this time the girl rocked steady. She has got a rhythm thing goin’ with her guitar that has hotter licks than Richie Havens, but evokes his approach. She’s actually, on quite a few numbers, a funky bass player goin’ nuts on a guitar, with a political poet’s mission. If she’s not in sync with the audience, it could get tiresome. But thanks to the good vibes me and few thousand other (there they are again!) PEOPLE were sending her way, she rocked. Still, I left before it was over, silly me. In doing so, I missed out on the even MORE overtly political stuff she was puttin’ out. A friend gave me the summary: 1) George W. Bush was NOT elected president; 2) We no longer live in a democracy; and 3) (repeated three times) We will not be fooled by the media. She was the first of three artists to git their politics out. Well, we’ve got to get them somewhere. My friend who stayed said that fully two thirds of the audience cheered this. Do the math, friend—stop, children, watch that sign! ATG: IDK
Break. Retreat. Smoke a cigar. Back at night for . . .
Lou Reed. Lou Reed. Lou Reed. Lou Reed and Neil Young are the two artists from the Sixties who just keep getting stronger with age. His set behind New York, when I saw him last, like 1989-90, was more nuanced, but this show rocked loud and hard, and his insistence on doing whatever the f he wants is what keeps him so interesting. The band relied on a couple of rock ‘n’ roll tricks built around crescendos, and this is fine, standard stuff. But reciting the title cut off his new album The Raven (yes, based on Poe’s poem; another song was called Edgar Allen Poe) with a screaming and disturbing self-accompaniment, and the filthy potent lyrics of “The Rock Minuet” were what really did it for me. Lou was a nightcap that just kept me excited and ready for the next day (ATG: Rock ‘n Roll Animal; Transformer; Berlin; New York; Coney Island Baby; and I’m thinkin’ The Raven, and with The Velvet Underground: White Light, White Heat; Loaded; Banana Peel).
Day Two started with a favorite that held my Number One spot for a couple of hours. Mr. Dave Edmunds. Special connections: I saw him in Nick Lowe’s band in 1977 the night two buddies and I decided to start a band. A few years later we opened for him at Bill Graham’s club in San Francisco, Wolfgang’s. Our singer got lost in the underground parking lot with him. And I ate shrimp and cocktail sauce off the table Graham had set for him in his dressing room when we invaded it during his set (that still brings a guilty tear to my eye). But enough about me.
Edmunds, to my surprise (pleasant) played acoustic solo guitar the entire time, as in no band, baby (Okay, the encore was on an electric guitar, Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, with a drum machine). He played many of my favorites (although Bob Seger’s Get Out of Denver was not included): Queen of Hearts, I’m Ready, Crawlin’ From The Wreckage, I Hear You Knockin’, I Knew the Bride, and on and on. But mate, he has not stopped developing or improving his craft on the guitar. I never woulda thought, but Edmunds is becoming the Chet Atkins of our generation. And he can sing. His technique is not as clean as Atkins’ (whose is?), but he approaches that level of virtuosity, and is overall more creative and rooted in rock. But what I’m getting at here, is that almost a third of the material was instrumental. Dave said it was because one in the PM was too early for him. But amongst the instrumental DELIGHTS were a killer instrumental version of Lady Madonna, Mason Williams Classical Gas (that’s right, Classical Gas!), and after watching Milos Forman’s Amadeus, Dave got inspired, locked himself in the woodshed, and produced a solo guitar arrangement of the Allegro from Mozart’s 40th Symphony. I’m lovin’ this. Another Beatles cover (he’s never recorded one as far as I know), Here Comes the Sun, dedicated to George Harrison. Another Beatles connection for me is that I saw Rockpile, his band with Nick Lowe, at San Francisco’s Warfield on December 12, 1980, just a few days after Lennon was shot (They’d played Seattle on December 10]. The honoring was all in the playing then, just a brief mention from the stage.
But Edmunds was more than a sentimental favorite. He showed us just how entertaining an unaccompanied guitar strummer and picker with a half-decent rock and roll voice can be. And yes, he did Mystery Train and Blue Moon of Kentucky a la Elvis as well. No one honors Elvis’s rockabilly style with more class. I coulda died a happy man right then and there. [ATG: Get It. Twangin’. Rockpile. More Subtle Than A Flying Mallet. Or the 3-cd anthology looked pretty good.]
But nooooooooo. I had to stay for poor old Dave (not Ray) Davies. And he’s put some of the seminal Sixties guitar licks onto Kinks albums, one of my very most favorite bands of the Sixties (they rocked harder than the Beatles, popped better than the Stones, had the most intelligent lyrics and the worst of luck), the Kinks. But without the real thing, the opener Where Have All the Good Times Gone was probably the peak of the set and I headed for the door before the third song was done. The problem was following Dave Edmunds, no matter how loud Ray cranked it. Okay, he sucked. [ATG: Solo albums by Dave IDK, but by the Kinks: Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of the British Empire}; The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society; Something Else By The Kinks; Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround; and any of the myriad early greatest hits collection with their early singles on them
And I’m glad he did, cause I got to go check out Linton Kwesi Johnson, who paired every song with a political struggle that he quietly and courageously explained to the audience. He sang standing straight and proud, solemn, while a classic reggae outfit supported him, straight up the reggae alley, but distinguished by a superb electric violinist, who wove effects and solos. My reggae ration runneth over, and I have a new favorite reggae artist, though I believe he hails from England [ATG: IDK but get one].
And now. Presenting. The best music I heard at Bumbershoot 2002 (no, I doubt their drummer could produce much of a drum roll), but Sonic Youth, who I don’t follow much—I traced their earliest album to 1986—and I have Daydream Nation on a cassette somewhere, and I have Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star but haven’t listened to it much. Okay, fuck me, discredit me, do what you will. None of these Youth of Sonic even play their instruments that well, but as a unit they cook as fine as any. That is, they don’t just manage to get a sound out, but they are capable of incredible musical explorations as a collective mind. In this ensemble sense, they are absolutely superb musicians, and my spidey-sense says that they are a band maturing and hitting their creative peak. Bye bye cult status, hello mainstream stardom. They might even save one of those hopeless record companies along the way. They have three different lead singers. They have at least six different kinds of songs (SUCH a rarity these days]. They trade instrumental roles. Okay, their guitarist (the one on the left] is actually pretty good, then there is the outrageous woman [no I don’t know her name, and the album packaging isn’t helping me either] with her highly magnetic and violent thrashings, the center of the band. Except she sings only occasionally. There’s this other guy, I think his name is Dave Markey, and he has a great voice and unique approach to playing noise and notes on his guitar. He’s the lyrically, songish creative one. No compromises here, folks, and if you’ve got the energy, go with these folks. Tops I’m out [ATG: IDK but I will be giving both of mine (see above) much more listening in the immediate future].
But what better way to sign off on Sunday night than with the Ramsey Lewis Trio? Forget whatever he had to do to sell records and have a career (Wade in the Water; The In Crowd], Ramsey Lewis is a jazz pianist, plain and simple, or rather melodious, sophisticated and soaring. You’d usually have to pay big bucks to see him, so this was a treat. He didn’t understand the 15% of the audience who walked out early. “Maybe I should stop now” he asked the crowd. “No no no” protested the 85% who came to dig him and his great bassist and drummer. Folks, I’m gonna be a bad reviewer and just tell you: sweet. [ATG: IDK, but I like Les Fleurs, and I have a couple of his early albums on vinyl. Verve just put out Ramsey Lewis’ Finest Hour which is probably a good start. If you are not ready for the dissonant testifying of the jazz geniuses Davis, Coltrane, Parker, Monk, Mingus, Coleman, etc., but like the feel of jazz and want to hear someone who has really mastered his instrument and the idiom, get with Ramsey.


text:
It’s not merely a store; it’s a community that thrives on the shared love for futuristic beats and the artistic rebellion that Machine Girl embodies.In conclusion, the Machine Girl Store is more than just a place to purchase merchandise; it’s an invitation to dive headfirst into the mesmerizing world of futuristic beats. With a diverse range of products, from apparel to vinyl records and collectibles, fans can surround themselves with tangible representations of Machine Girl’s creative expression. Embracing the Machine Girl Store is not just a shopping experience; it’s an initiation into an artistic movement that continues to push the boundaries of electronic music.Machine Girl Merchandise: Elevate Your Cyber Sound ExperienceIn the ever-evolving world of music and art, Machine Girl has emerged as a pioneering force, pushing the boundaries of sound and aesthetics. With their innovative blend of electronic, noise, and punk influences, Machine Girl has carved a unique niche in the music industry, captivating audiences worldwide.
Beyond their groundbreaking music, the band has also cultivated a captivating visual identity, which has given rise to a range of compelling Machine Girl merchandise. These items not only serve as a testament to their dedicated fan base but also offer a transformative cyber sound experience like no other.Machine Girl’s merchandise transcends the conventional realm of band apparel. It delves into an immersive experience that draws fans deeper into the essence of their music. At the heart of this merchandise collection lies Machine Girl merchandise the synthesis of captivating artwork, striking visuals, and futuristic cyberpunk themes. T-shirts and hoodies become more than just clothing; they become canvases that display emblematic symbols and intricate designs representative of Machine Girl’s signature style.
Wearing these garments allows fans to embody the band’s rebellious and progressive spirit, creating a sense of camaraderie amongst like-minded individuals.One of the standout features of Machine Girl’s merchandise is its intersection of art and functionality. They go beyond traditional apparel, offering an array of accessories designed to enhance the cyber sound experience. Stickers, pins, and patches enable fans to personalize their belongings, turning everyday items into a canvas for self-expression. Furthermore, limited-edition posters featuring captivating artwork allow fans to bring the visual essence of Machine Girl into their living spaces, amplifying the immersive nature of their music.The most exceptional and cutting-edge element of Machine Girl’s merchandise lies in its foray into audio accessories. Elevating the cyber sound experience to new heights, the band offers custom-designed headphones and earbuds. These audio peripherals are not only engineered for impeccable sound quality but also adorned with Machine Girl’s iconic symbols, making them unmistakably unique.


text:
Today’s Morgan Poll shows the L-NP (56%, up 1% in a week) increasing their strong lead over the ALP (44%, down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis. The result comes as renewed leadership speculation involving former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has struck the Gillard Government only three months out from the announced Federal Election date – September 14, 2013.
Last weekend’s Morgan Poll shows support for the L-NP at 56%, up 1% in a week (since May 31-June 2, 2013) cf. ALP 44% (down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis according to the multi-mode weekly Morgan Poll.
The L-NP primary vote is 46% (up 0.5%) now further ahead of the ALP 31% (down 0.5%). Among the minor parties Greens support is 9.5% (unchanged) and support for Independents/ Others is 13.5% (unchanged). Support for Katter’s Australian Party is 3% while support for the Palmer United Party is 2.5%.
If a Federal Election were held today the L-NP would win the election easily according to today’s multi-mode weekly Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention, June 7-10, 2013 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,369 Australian electors aged 18+.
The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is unchanged at 98.5pts with 40% (unchanged) saying Australia is ‘heading in the right direction’ and 41.5% (unchanged) saying Australia is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.
Today’s Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence is 115.1 (down 1.3pts in a week, and down 4.2pts in a month). Full release out later today. Today’s Roy Morgan May Business Confidence is also down, dropping to 113.8 (down 6.2pts in a month).
Gary Morgan says:
“Today’s Morgan Poll shows the L-NP (56%, up 1% in a week) increasing their strong lead over the ALP (44%, down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis. The result comes as renewed leadership speculation involving former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has struck the Gillard Government only three months out from the announced Federal Election date – September 14, 2013.
“Although Rudd has consistently stated that he will not challenge Gillard for the leadership – Rudd was comprehensively defeated 71-31 the last time a leadership spill was put to a vote in February 2012, there is no doubt several Rudd supporters are still keen to see a change of leader before the Federal Election.
“However, the ongoing leadership speculation in the Federal Government will not impress Australian electors who have ‘seen it all before’, and will only serve to strengthen the lead of the L-NP which is heading towards a comprehensive election victory. The L-NP’s margin of victory looks set to be the largest since Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser won 54.6% of the two-party preferred vote in 1977 when the ALP won only 38 seats in the House of Representatives.
“However, what should be of greater concern to the Federal Government is that both Consumer Confidence and Business Confidence are down over the past month.”
View the full release here
Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan Research is Australia’s best known and longest established market research and public opinion survey company. Roy Morgan Single Source is thorough, accurate, and provides comprehensive, directly applicable information about current and future customers. It is unique in that it directs all the questions to each individual from a base survey sample of around 55,000 interviews in Australia and 15,000 interviews in New Zealand annually - the largest Single Source databases in the world. The questions asked relate to lifestyle and attitudes, media consumption habits (including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinema, catalogues, pay TV and the Internet), brand and product usage, purchase intentions, retail visitations, service provider preferences, financial information and recreation and leisure activities. This lead product is supported by a nationally networked, consultancy-orientated market research capability.
P: 03 9224 5332

domain: politics