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At the top of Potohar
Travelling the length and breadth of Chakwal district, visiting its well known sites and exploring the unknown secrets of the area
By Awais Manzur Sumra
About a decade back my job took me to Chakwal where I spent just over 18 memorable months. While in Chakwal, I had the opportunity of travelling the length and breadth of the district, visiting its well known sites and exploring the unknown secrets of the area. In Chakwal, there was Kallar Kahar, a popular lake-side attraction for those travelling on the newly built (at that time) Lahore-Rawalpindi Motorway, and the not so well-known, but equally impressive, Choa Saidan Shah, with peacocks roaming its lush green vegetation. There was also the breathtaking Malot temple, perched on a precipice overlooking Lilla, and the unkempt temple of Katas, reputed to be one of the holiest sites for Hindus.
More fiction than reality
Contrary to what some eminent travel writers are trying to prove, the Silk Road did indeed run through Pakistan
By Aziz Ali Dad
Until the explosion of information technology and developments in communication in the late 20th century, the genre of travelogue remained a vital source to acquire knowledge about exotic lands, customs and people. That is why travelogues fascinated curious minds and historians for centuries.
However, travelogues, with a few exceptions, also proved to be a source of myth-making. Salman Rashid, an eminent Pakistani travel writer, in his recent articles in English newspapers, including this newspaper, has ventured into a domain of history to prove his argument that the Silk Road did not run through Pakistan. Despite the fact that he is dealing with history, he has evinced evidence for his argument from travellers like Marco Polo and Wilhelm of Rubruck whose itinerary did not take them to the region of Karakoram. As a result, he ends up creating another myth that is diametrically opposite to what is proved by historical research on the Silk Road.
It was in Chakwal that I befriended Safdar Shah, a native of the district who had spent years looking for and visiting historical and interesting sites in and around the Salt Range. He became my source of information on many of the lesser known places of the area and accompanied me on some of my forays into the interior of the district. One journey, on which Safdar Shah accompanied me, took us to the top of Potohar on a hot and sunny day in May.
Having left Chakwal under a blazing sun, we drove to Sarai — just short of Choa Saidan Shah — and then turned left onto the single and winding road leading up into the hills and the valleys beyond. We were in the Salt Range. Avoiding the daredevil local drivers and the occasional potholes, we soon drove past the town of Basharat — a town with a sizable population at that time of Afghans who worked in the myriad coal mines that dotted the area — and then through some eye-catching valleys.
I found the drive from Basharat to Ara, a village on the eastern extremity of the district, particularly scenic with hills covered with dense vegetation interspersed with huge boulders. At places streams came cascading down from the hills and at others wild flowers, bright red in colour, brightened up the milieu. Numerous tiny villages clung to the hillside, their inhabitants busy in their daily chores in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
Ara is located in an area of the Salt Range that is generally known as Jhangar. The portion of the Salt Range falling within District Chakwal extends from Diljabba in the east, overlooking the Grand Trunk Road between Rawalpindi and Jhelum, to close to the Sakesar hills to the west in District Mianwali. The area falling in District Chakwal is further subdivided into three distinct regions – Jhangar, Kahoon and Wanhar. Jhangar is the eastern most region and, out of the three, is considered to be the best suited for agriculture. Jhangar is also rich in wildlife as urial, chinkara, wild boar, jackal, fox and various species of partridges are found there in abundance, while leopard and wolf also reported to have been sighted.
It was just outside the village Ara that we came across the old Civil Rest House. A stone erected at a central place in the back lawn of the rest house transported me, momentarily, to some battle front in France with the WWI continuing to ravage the heart of Europe. The stone was carved into a yellow plastered masonry wall no more than three feet by six feet in size. It had the following inscribed on it in fading black letters: "Sacred to the memory of Major Arthur Ian Fraser DSO, 9th Hodson's Horse, who fell in action in France on 30th November 1917". And the following words adorned the lower portion of the stone, "This stone was erected by members of his squadron who live in this neighbourhood".
The Civil Rest House stood at a vantage point a few hundred metres outside the village. The road wound down the Salt Range beyond the rest house. Another stone laid in the front wall stated that the rest house was established in 1917 and was raised from ruins in 1995 by the then Deputy Commissioner, Chakwal and the Assistant Commissioner, Choa Saidan Shah with the support and help of local people. That was, however, not totally true, according to Safdar Shah, whose native village lay just half an hour's drive away. According to him, the walls were intact, and so was the roof. The rest house had simply been repaired and given a facelift. After that facelift, the exterior walls were adorned with rough stone, pale yellow in hue.
The vantage point at the rest house afforded an exhilarating view of the plains of Jhelum and Pind Dadan Khan below. There was the light blue line of the majestic River Jhelum running from east to west far in the hazy distance. The railway track from Gharibwal to Malikwal made its way through the brown fields, wheat having been freshly cut, towards the river. The ruins of the famous Nandana Fort could just be made out on one of the smaller hills to the southeast. Safdar Shah informed me that, on a clear day, the town of Mandi Bahauddin could also be made out in the distance. As we stood there, admiring the sights below, the breeze picked up. The breeze was slightly warm but the sun was not unbearable, even on the May afternoon.
We left the rest house and continued our journey to — Chehl Abdal — the highest point in the Potohar. Chehl Abdal was located at an altitude of somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 feet above sea level and was said to be named after 40 elders who were believed to have come down from somewhere in Central Asia centuries ago and chosen that place to meditate.
We took the road back from Ara to Basharat. Just short of Basharat lay the tiny village of Lari Shahnawaz. We turned right from the main crossing in the village to the road leading down the hills to Choa Gunj Ali Shah. To our left loomed the green hills upon which was perched Chehl Abdal. Soon we turned onto a kuccha road littered with stones of varying shapes and sizes. I had planned to take a jeep on the journey, but decided to stick to my car on the advice of Safdar Shah. The advice was, for once, wrong. The upshot, we had to disembark and walk most of the way up past the myriad coal mines. The last hundred metres or so comprised the steepest portion and had to be hiked up. The kuccha road was left below as it skirted the hills and led to the villages on the western side.
We followed the edge of the hill in order to afford a better view of the valley to the east and south. The pale evening sunshine diffused into the vastness that lay before us. Basharat lay immediately below us, its brown coloured mud houses forming a remarkable pattern. We skipped over huge boulders, trying to avoid the small shrubs that sprouted out of the rocky crevices. Almost half an hour after abandoning our car, we were on the top. There was vastness all around, veiled somewhat by hazy sunshine. The view was simply enthralling.
To the north and west were the plains of Chakwal. The waters of the Kot Raja Dam and the Khokhar Zer Dam down in the distance gleamed in the evening sunshine. To the south and east lay countless villages that dot the Salt Range. Flecks of clouds loitered aimlessly in the sky. Cool breeze made it difficult to believe it was May.
At the top itself, a small mosque stood close to an open area enclosed within a whitewashed boundary wall. Inside the open area, a platform about two feet high had been constructed. Pieces of multi-coloured cloth hung at places and the rusting steel gate was shut but not locked. Nearby was a row of dilapidated small rooms, about ten in number, the likes of which are more easily associated with the ruins of Taxila and Takht Bhai. The elders who were believed to have come down from Central Asia to pray and meditate probably used the same place to meditate and those rooms served perhaps as their living quarters. But there was not a soul to be seen at the time of our visit. Immense vastness and eerie silence were our only companions.
However, more than its history, which probably is unverified, it was the location, the drive and the hike up to Chehl Abdal that I found truly fascinating. I found the place ideal for those fond of hiking and trekking, providing something different from the much visited areas in the north of the country.
Chehl Abdal can be easily visited by those spending a day or two in Kallar Kahar or Choa Saidan Shah. At the top of Potohar, there is immense serenity and calmness, coupled with the relatively pleasant weather even in summer. There is the ruggedness of the rocky hills, the occasional pungent smell of the coal mines and the extraordinary view of the Salt Range and the plains of Punjab on a clear day. Surely a place not to be missed.
In order to get a proper understanding of the Silk Road, it is imperative to take into consideration historical research that is based on the accounts of old travellers who traversed the region as well as archaeological findings. Unfortunately, the seasoned travel writer of Pakistan does not mention the former and employs the latter to furnish his argument — that none of the rock carvings along KKH mentioned silk. Taking cue from this, he argues that it proves that no silk ever came this way. Therefore, Rashid declares, KKH being Silk Road is a fiction created by an unknown "pigmy" bureaucrat.
In fact, there were two major routes of the Silk Road spreading westward and southward. The Western route went through Central Asia to Mediterranean Sea. The Southern route has many arteries that led to Taxila and Indian heartland. Among these arteries, the Kashgar to Gilgit route was shorter and a major one. After studying new findings of archeological research on human records in Chilas and Oshibat along KKH, an eminent Indian historian Aloka Parasher-Sen in her research ''Beyond Boundaries — Travellers along the Karakorum' claims that "scholars now fully agree that this was a crucial artery of communication for centuries."
Well before Marco Polo and Wilhelm of Rubruck, three famous Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hian, Sung-yun and Hiuen Tsang traversed the region in A.D.400, 518 and 630 respectively. They have described in detail people carrying valuable goods and gems while travelling. Fa-Hian describes a function in the region where an assembly was decorated with "silken streamers and canopies are hung out in it and water-lilies in gold and silver are made and fixed up behind the places where the chiefs of them are to sit."
It is illogical to assume that the traders and pilgrims chiselled 30,000 petroglyphs and 5000 inscription on the rocks and boulders but did not carry silk with them on the trading route with other goods. An important point to note is that Buddhism in the valleys of Karakorum became a great trading religion. Andre Wink in 'Al-Hind The Making of the Indo-Islamic World' writes "in the seventh and eight centuries we become aware of the presence of Indian Buddhist traders along the southern silk route, and Buddhist contacts were maintained between some valleys of the Upper Indus (e.g. Gilgit) and the Tarim Basin."
Contrary to Salman Rashid's views, historians on the Silk Road employed the very rock carvings to prove that southern Silk Road passed through the region of Gilgit-Baltistan. For example, renowned historian Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani in his book 'Human Records of Karakorum Highway' declares Gilgit-Baltistan the centre of southern route of the Silk Road that opens a passage for trade to the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Aloka Parasher-Sen asserts that historically the region of Karakorum "saw a continuous stream of people of diverse origin and languages flock her through the high altitude passes and along the banks of the river Indus diverting to various destinations after that." Unlike Salman Rashid who finds sub-continental Silk Road in India, this Indian scholar claims that among southern routes of Silk Road, the route of Karakorum was major one on which "trade continued unabated".
Until the conquest of Hunza by the British, the state of Hunza arranged marauding parties to plunder the caravans plying from Kashgar to Gilgit and other regions. I have fond memories of listening to my grandfather's stories about selection of strong men from villages to prepare a posse for attacking the caravans on the Silk Road. This was almost an annual ritual called 'breaking of Qaratang'. If they weren't attacking caravans, what were they out to loot in the snow-clad mountains?
The Silk Road in Gilgit-Baltistan was not only a trading route but also a major conduit for cultural and religious exchange between South and Central Asia. To sift facts about the Silk Road from fiction, we ought to take into consideration oral history, artistic and religious symbols, collective memory and modern historical research. If we ignore these, we are condemned to rely on modern travellers who spawn more fiction than reality.
The writer is a social scientist based in Islamabad. Email: [email protected]
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Feeling close to nature is food for the soul but inspiring people to protect it is food for the planet. When Matt Porteous launched Ocean Culture Life, he turned his passion for ocean storytelling into a veritable feast for the senses.
Jersey-born photographer Matt Porteous grew up surfing waves; amid the plunging breakers is where he learned a deep respect for the ocean. In 2015, his wanderlust took him to Hawaii for El Nino season, and the tropical islands' progressive attitude towards ocean conservation led him to establish Ocean Culture Life; a global community of ocean storytellers whose mission is to effect change by creating engaging conversations around ocean conservation.
"We've been building a recognised storyteller platform for years, and now we're opening it up to everyone," says the accomplished freediver. "It's only when you get enough people talking about a subject that society really starts to listen."
Working with 'ocean guardians' – from Blue Marine Foundation to Six Senses in the Maldives – Porteous has created stories around sustainable fishing, sea grass protection and even the biggest marine park in Europe. With his trusted Fuji in hand when on land and his Canon when in water, Porteous captures and frames compelling stories within a single image.
He has spent over a decade honing his skill as a commercial photographer – Harpers Bazaar place him as one of the world's best! – but below the breaking waves is where he feels comfort.
"On the surface it's like a storm, but when you're deep beneath the waves there's a certain calm that most people never realise is there. That's where I like to be."
Matt Porteous
www.oceanculture.life

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Barnes & Noble debut Samsung Galaxy Tab E NOOK
Barnes & Noble and Samsung on Wednesday announced the latest in a collaborative electronic book reader effort. Specifically, the pair introduced the Samsung Galaxy Tab E NOOK, a $250 eReader with a 9.6-inch display.
Available immediately, the tablet runs Android under the hood and features 16GB internal storage with microSD expansion card slot (up to 128GB). The rear houses a 5-megapixel camera while the front offers up a 2-megapixel lens for selfies and video chat.
The aforementioned 9.6-inch screen has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution image; it's larger than the more expensive Tab S2 Nook but considerably lower resolution.
The Galaxy Tab E NOOK comes loaded with a suite of Microsoft Office apps and also includes access to a number of Google apps. Like other NOOK devices, this one comes with free NOOK Cloud storage, lifetime in-store support at Barnes & Noble, and the ability to read NOOK Books free inside of B&N retail stores.
Purchase the Samsung Galaxy Tab E NOOK from Barnes & Noble
samsung galaxy tab e nook
In addition to smartphones and mobile gadgets, Scott has a deep appreciation for film, music, and sunflower seeds. A husband and father, he likes spending down time riding his mountain bike or binge-watching TV. Scott has overseen the day-to-day activities of AndroidGuys since 2007.


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Share this Story: Medicine Hat mayor banned from driving for 1 year; pleads guilty to drunk driving
Medicine Hat mayor banned from driving for 1 year; pleads guilty to drunk driving
CP • The Canadian Press
Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston, at a Chamber of Commerce function in 2014. Photo by Facebook /Calgary Herald
The mayor of a city in southeastern Alberta has been banned from driving for one year after pleading guilty to impaired driving.
Ted Clugston entered his plea today in Medicine Hat provincial court.
Medicine Hat mayor banned from driving for 1 year; pleads guilty to drunk driving Back to video
He was also fined $1,000.
Court heard police observed a vehicle drifting between lanes and said Clugston exhibited signs of impairment, such as glossy eyes, a red face, and slow speech after he was pulled over on Feb. 13.
Earlier this week, Clugston's lawyer entered a not guilty plea in court, but a few hours later, the mayor sent out a statement saying he changed his mind against the advice of his lawyer.
Clugston apologized in his statement , saying he "exercised very poor judgment" and had to take responsibility for his actions.
The mayor also said his lawyer told him he had a good chance of being acquitted, but Clugston said he wanted to save his family and city from the humiliation of a trial.
"I will take time to reflect and learn from this in the coming months and years. Hopefully some good can come of this. Since this incident occurred I have continued to work and attend all public events and functions where possible and I intend to continue to do so."


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Elon Musk Got a Posh "Billionaires' Dinner" With Jeffrey Epstein
September 10th 19 __Kristin Houser__Filed Under: Future Society
Marco Verch via Flickr/Victor Tangermann
Exclusive Gathering
In 2011, Elon Musk joined some of the biggest names in tech for the "Billionaires' Dinner," an annual event organized by prominent New York literary agent John Brockman.
After the dinner, Brockman's intellectual club Edge published a series of photographs of the event's attendees, which included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
But the name — and face — of one diner was conspicuously left off the site, according to a new investigative story by BuzzFeed News: convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In July, while Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, The New York Times published a story briefly noting his presence at the 2011 dinner, which is confirmed by photographs in which he can be identified in the background.
On Monday, Buzzfeed published a deeper dive into the event, asking Musk and other attendees about their relationships with Epstein — who had finished a 13-month prison term for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl less than two years prior to the dinner.
According to Buzzfeed, Tesla declined to make a statement regarding Musk's presence at the event alongside Epstein, instead choosing to question the "journalistic integrity" of the Pulitzer-cited publication.
As for the other attendees Buzzfeed reached out to, most either didn't respond at all or had the same — expected — response: they don't remember Epstein being at the dinner and they certainly didn't speak to him.
READ MORE: In 2011, Jeffrey Epstein Was A Known Sex Offender. The Founders Of Amazon, Google, And Tesla Dined With Him Anyway [Buzzfeed News]
More on Musk and Epstein: NYT Writer: Jeffrey Epstein Told Me He Advised Tesla, Elon Musk
Up Next__Russia Complains That Assassins Are Getting Paid in Cryptocurrencies >>>


This bokken has been selected Appalachian hickory, air dried for five years but using only a very small selection of material that has taken a natural sword curvature on its own. The result is a quarter sawn wooden weapon with grain the follows a deep koshi-zori (curvature), otherwise known as "bizen-zori." In this example, the effect is further augmented by the heartwood grain line that runs the entire length as a natural temper line.
To maximize density and hardness, Enhanced kenjutsu bokken 5414 has been processed through our unique "enhancement" technique where acrylic resin is drawn completely through the wood structure. This stabilizes the wood and compliments the phenomenal impact strength and mechanical properties of the base material. This bokken is incredibly strong and has all of the aesthetic features of a historic tachi. With a length of nearly 45", a weight of over 24.4oz and a curvature depth of 1in, it has a feeling of tremendous presence.
Inscriptions and tsuba are available options.
This bokken is unique, to say the least. While we have a few blanks of similar quality, they've been selected from thousands of billets over a many year period. At most, only a few will be made - each one distinct from the other.


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Q: Databricks: how to convert Spark dataframe under %r to dataframe under %python I found some tips about converting a pyspark dataframe to R, but I need to perform the opposite task: convert a R dataframe to pyspark
Anyone knows how to do it?

A: You can use the same approach as for other languages - use createOrReplaceTempView function to register your dataframe, and then use spark.sql from another language to access its content.
For example.  If R side looks as following:
%r
library(SparkR)
id <- c(rep(1, 3), rep(2, 3), 3)
desc <- c('New', 'New', 'Good', 'New', 'Good', 'Good', 'New')
df <- data.frame(id, desc)
df <- createDataFrame(df)
createOrReplaceTempView(df, "test_df")
head(df)

  id desc
1  1  New
2  1  New
3  1 Good
4  2  New
5  2 Good
6  2 Good

then you can access these data from Python:
df = spark.sql("select * from test_df")
df.show()

+---+----+
| id|desc|
+---+----+
|1.0| New|
|1.0| New|
|1.0|Good|
|2.0| New|
|2.0|Good|
|2.0|Good|
|3.0| New|
+---+----+

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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* Added CNNorth Region
* Change SignV2 to SignV4
* V4Signer.canonicalQueryString empty value must append "="

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Jack Omstead: TikTok, 'Pink Whitney', and Dynamic Sounds
Orchee Sorker | February 13, 2021
The positive, energetic hip-hop pop artist Jack Omstead is a "jack of all trades" who is doing much more than just songwriting and singing. He also records, produces, mixes/masters, and creates his own cover art/videos for every released song. With over 41.2k followers on TikTok and nearly 570k likes, Jack is looking to influence a larger audience through his captivating upbeat lyrics. Some of his top hits include "Pink Whitney", "Back", "Cookie Monster", and "AEIOU", which was released on January 26.
Calling his parents Mama Omer and Big Omer, he refers to himself Little Omer and his older sister as Mere Bear. This Amsterdam-born and Toronto-raised artist speaks passionately about the connection with his family. Their constant support has allowed him to grow as a musician. Through the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, his family has gotten closer. Jack says, "family is not something I take for granted. Having their support is everything. And I know that not all musicians and people in the artistic world can say that. They've always been by my side." Through his music, he wants to continue to express his family's love through his music.
Growing up, if he wasn't doing schoolwork or in sports (specifically baseball and hockey), music was always his passion. Jack remembers the first song he wrote in fifth grade. He mentions the first line was "sitting on my dirty bed..so cold, dry, and wet". Throughout middle school, he played around with GarageBand and began using Logic when he started high school which he still uses to create his music. Jack indulges in music outside of the type he creates with influences like Justin Timberlake, Andy Timberland, Mike Posner, Frank Sinatra, and Doja Cat.
His creative process begins with creating the instrumental first. Then, he feels the vibe and writes to that emotion. He tries to write scenarios that everyone can relate to by creating storylines that appeal to all ages. He loves to play around with his voice by creating dynamic sounds like in his songs "Cookie Monster" and "Apples".
His daily routine encourages him to keep his creativity flowing. It involves waking up early around 4 o'clock in the morning and editing music until lunch. After lunch, he takes his dog, Cooper, out for a walk. During his walk, he writes his lyrics. He comes home, takes a nap, eats dinner, works out, and uses the rest of the night to create content for TikTok. Jack explains how TikTok has helped how artists write and approach their creative process. When creating content for TikTok, he states, "Personally, I usually think about how my lyrics might catch people's attention. When you do post, you get instant feedback on whether or not people interact with your ideas."
Currently, his most-streamed song is "Pink Whitney" with over 200,000 streams on Spotify. Ironically, he mentions that never drinks and isn't big on alcohol. Jack wrote this song with his best friend, Callan. In the concept of "Pink Whitney", they used Whitney as a metaphor for a girl.
His new collaboration song "Better With U" with DJ Diddy & Parker Bata released on February 12. For the making of this song, DJ Diddy reached out, and they worked remotely on it. They worked on countless versions of the song and were very satisfied with the final version.
In 2021, his goals include reaching a larger audience with his music through Spotify and TikTok and pursuing his music full-time. He would love to go back to the Netherlands and Europe to tour one day.
If Jack could leave the world with a piece of advice, he reveals the importance of "staying true to yourself. Whatever that means to you. Just be the authentic you because everybody else is taken. Be the best you, you can be."
As Jack keeps releasing new music and reaching more people, be sure to stream his songs and make his dreams come true. Go check out his newest collaboration "Better With U" with DJ Diddy & Parker Bata.
NFSHE: NFT Technology in Fashion & the Future of Authentication in the Luxury Market


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By Betsy Shirley
SENSING HER spiritual life is lacking a certain oomph, Jana Riess tries an experiment: 12 spiritual practices in 12 months. Guided by the writings of folks such as Richard Foster, Phyllis Tickle, and Brother Lawrence, Riess attempts everything from centering prayer and fasting to lectio divina and welcoming the stranger. "We can't really hear what God is saying, or let it sink into our souls and beings, until we have tried to do what God is saying," she explains. "The practice precedes the belief, not the other way around."
At least, that's the theory. But as she chronicles in Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving my Neighbor (Paraclete Press), Riess' crash course in spiritual discipline is punctuated by more flopping failure than soaring success. By the time her year is up, Riess concludes that her holy experiment was more "delusional" than ambitious.
Known to the Twitter community as "The Twible Lady" for tweeting the entire Bible in snarky, 140 character summaries (Proverbs 27: "As iron sharpens iron, so friends sharpen each other. Please note that this is only a metaphor. Do not carve your friends."), Riess leavens the pages of Flunking Sainthood with the same delightful irreverence. Mincing no words, she calls St. Benedict "a crafty old coot" and St. Thérèse of Lisieux a "first-class diva." She swears during silent meditation. And when trying to find God in the daily tasks of life, such as cleaning, Riess considers whether "a quicker route to genuine religious experience would be to snort the spray cleaner and get high on fumes."


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Home assam and northeast No genuine Indian Gorkhas will be left out of NRC: Assam chief secretary
No genuine Indian Gorkhas will be left out of NRC: Assam chief secretary
Assam chief secretary Alok Kumar assured the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) that no genuine Indian Gorkhas would be left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
However, "it might take time", Kumar said.
Chief secretary Kumar also assured the BGP of considering formation of an empowered committee to address the woes of the Gorkhas who were left out of the final NRC.
Informing this, Nanda Kirati Dewan, the national secretary of the BGP, said Kumar made the assurance during a meeting with a delegation of the BGP at Janata Bhawan in Dispur on Saturday.
The BGP delegation, led by Dewan and Lakpa Lama, NE zone secretary of BGP, appraised the chief secretary of the issues of Gorkhas, who were left out of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Now, the left out Gorkhas will have to appear before the Foreigners' Tribunals (FTs) despite the fact that an order from the Union Home Ministry had exempted the Gorkhas and the Gorkhas marked as D-voters from appearing before FTs.
The final NRC for Assam was published on August 31, 2019 with exclusion of over 19 lakh names.
Informing about the meeting, Dewan said "the FT Monitoring Cell of Gauhati High Court" in a case No. I. A. (Civil) 4322/2018 on December 20, 2018, directed the Assam government to "file a fresh writ petition in Gauhati High Court seeking permission to withdraw cases against Gorkhas in FT following MHA clarification on Gorkha D-Voters".
These issues were thoroughly discussed with the chief secretary, who, as suggested by the BGB, "considered" to form empowered committee at the District and Sub-Divisional/Circles to "dispose of" such cases, said Dewan.
He also said the civil society organisation should play a vital role as it is a judiciary monitored process.
The BGB stated: "The Gauhati High Court directed the government of Assam represented by the commissioner & secretary (Home, Political Affairs, Passports & Borders) to file a fresh writ petition before appropriate bench in order to legally implement the MHA Notification BB/PK/SS", issued on October 10, 2018 by the PIB.
However, even after several months, the Assam government is yet to file a fresh case in the Gauhati High Court.
"This has jeopardized the cases of thousands of Gorkhas who seek redressal in getting their names removed from the list of D-Voters and from the FT," Dewan said.
Lakpa Lama, the NE zone secretary of BGP, said, "We urged the chief secretary to take appropriate measures so that a fresh case is filed at the earliest in the Gauhati High Court and Gorkhas are delivered justice."
The delegation also urged the chief secretary to implement the instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division), to the chief secretary of Assam in a letter No. 25022/74/2010 on September 24, 2018 regarding the Gorkhas' cases in reference to trials at Foreigners' Tribunals.
The BGP delegation also requested the chief secretary to send written communications to the deputy commissioners of all districts, the Director General of Police of Assam and all appropriate authorities of the government to validate the MHA communication.
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Q: Convert legacy HttpWebRequest POST to HttpClient async POST class (VB) I have a .net (4.7.2 or 4.8) console app that uses an HttpWebRequest to POST JWT style authentication data in order to retrieve JSON output.  I'm running into issues with TLS 1.2 sites on a Windows Server 2012 box (works fine on Windows 10), and I've been advised to upgrade to the HttpClient async class.  I am struggling to find HttpClient POST examples that use VB.... short of converting the code to C#, what would an HttpClient async POST look like in place of the HttpWebRequest?  The GetAccessToken method is where the issue with HttpWebRequest lies.
Any assistance appreciated!
Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Configuration
Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq
Imports System.Security.Cryptography

Module Module1

    Public Class myAPIClass

        'API info
        Private API_ClientKey As String = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("API_ClientKey")
        Private API_ClientSecret As String = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("API_ClientSecret")
        Private FullURL As String = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("URL")
        'Quotation Mark Character for substitution
        Private q As Char = Chr(34)
        'JWT Claim Set Parameters
        Property iss As String = API_ClientKey
        Property aud As String = FullURL
        Property AccessToken As String

        Public Sub New()
            GetAccessToken()
        End Sub

        Public Sub GetAccessToken()
            System.Net.ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = Net.SecurityProtocolType.Tls12
            Dim uriAddress As New Uri(FullURL)
            Dim wRequest As HttpWebRequest = DirectCast(HttpWebRequest.Create(uriAddress), HttpWebRequest)
            Dim strPostData As String = ""
            Dim bytPostData As Byte()
            Dim stJWT As String
            'Get JWT
            stJWT = CreateJWT()
            'Post Data ---
            strPostData = "grant_type=urn%3Aietf%3Aparams%3Aoauth%3Agrant-type%3Ajwt-bearer" & "&assertion=" & stJWT
            'Post Data --- to byte()
            bytPostData = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(strPostData)
            'Set Web Request Properties
            With wRequest
                .Method = "POST"
                .ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
                .ContentLength = bytPostData.Length
            End With

            'Post Request and Get Response
            Using postStream As Stream = wRequest.GetRequestStream()
                postStream.Write(bytPostData, 0, bytPostData.Length)
                Dim rawResponseFromServer = ""
                Try
                    Using response As HttpWebResponse = wRequest.GetResponse()
                        Dim reader As New StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream())
                        rawResponseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd()
                        Dim o As JObject = JObject.Parse(rawResponseFromServer)
                        Me.AccessToken = o.Item("access_token").Value(Of String)()
                    End Using

                Catch wex As WebException
                    If Not wex.Response Is Nothing Then
                        Console.WriteLine(wex.Message)
                        Console.WriteLine("Resulting Error --- " & wex.Message & vbNewLine & wex.StackTrace)
                    End If
                End Try
            End Using
        End Sub

#Region "HelperFunctions"
        Private Function CreateJWT() As String
            Dim JWT As String
            Dim EncodedJWT As Byte()

            'Build Header and Claim Set String
            Dim strHeader As String = Strings.Replace("{'alg':'HS256','typ':'JWT'}", "'", q)
            Dim strClaimSet As String = Strings.Replace("{'iss':'" & iss & "', 'aud':'" & aud & "', 'exp':" & exp(600) & ", 'iat':" & iat() & "}", "'", q)

            'Build JWT String
            JWT = ToBase64URL(strHeader) & "." & ToBase64URL(strClaimSet)

            'Convert Client Secret to UTF8 Byte()
            Dim bytKey As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(API_ClientSecret)

            'Encode JWT String
            Dim hmac_encode As HMACSHA256 = New HMACSHA256(bytKey)
            EncodedJWT = hmac_encode.ComputeHash(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JWT))

            'Sign and return JWT
            Dim signature As String = ToBase64URL(EncodedJWT)
            Return JWT & "." & signature
        End Function

        Private Function ToBase64URL(Text As String) As String

            Dim b As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Text)
            Return ToBase64URL(b)

        End Function

        Private Function ToBase64URL(byt As Byte()) As String

            Dim result As String
            'Convert to base 64 string
            result = Convert.ToBase64String(byt)
            'Make URL Friendly
            result = result.Replace("+", "-").Replace("/", "_")
            Do While result.Chars(result.Length - 1) = "="
                result = Strings.Left(result, result.Length - 1)
            Loop
            Return result

        End Function

        ReadOnly Property exp(ExpirationSeconds As Integer) As Long
            Get
                Return iat() + ExpirationSeconds
            End Get
        End Property

        ReadOnly Property iat() AsLong
        Get
                Dim StartDate As Date = CDate("1/1/1970")
                Dim EndDate As Date = Now.ToUniversalTime
                Dim val As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Second, StartDate, EndDate)
                Return val
            End Get

        End Property

#End Region

    End Class
    Sub Main()
        Console.WriteLine("Getting token...")
        Dim myif As New myAPIClass()

        Try
            Console.WriteLine("Token received:  " & myif.AccessToken)
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to SQL Server and inserting authentication token...")
            Dim con As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("ConnectionString"))
            con.Open()
            Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("INSERT INTO MYDB (InsertDate, AuthenticationCode, Length) VALUES ('" & DateTime.Now.ToString() & "', '" & myif.AccessToken & "', 40)", con)
            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
            Console.WriteLine("Done!")
        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
            Console.WriteLine("Resulting Error --- " & ex.Message)
        End Try

    End Sub

End Module

A: Your GetAccessToken method should look like this :
Public Sub GetAccessToken()

    System.Net.ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = Net.SecurityProtocolType.Tls12

    Dim tokenHttpClient As New HttpClient()
    tokenHttpClient.BaseAddress = New Uri(FullURL)

    Dim HttpRequestMessage As New HttpRequestMessage()
    HttpRequestMessage.Method = HttpMethod.Post
    HttpRequestMessage.Headers.Accept.Add(New MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"))

    Dim stJWT As String = CreateJWT()

    Dim parameters As New Dictionary(Of String, String)
    parameters.Add("grant_type", "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer")
    parameters.Add("assertion", stJWT)

    Dim encodedContent As New FormUrlEncodedContent(parameters)
    encodedContent.Headers.ContentType = New MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
    HttpRequestMessage.Content = encodedContent

    Dim response As HttpResponseMessage = tokenHttpClient.SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage).Result

    If response.IsSuccessStatusCode Then
        Dim rawResponseFromServer As String = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result
        Dim o As JObject = JObject.Parse(rawResponseFromServer)
        Me.AccessToken = o.Item("access_token").Value(Of String)()
    End If
End Sub

Note that all functions used in httpClient are async, the .Result force it in a syncronous way instead of having to await them
I'm not sure that it will solve your tls issue. You will perhaps need to add an httpClientHandler
Dim httpClientHandler As New HttpClientHandler()
httpClientHandler.SslProtocols = Authentication.SslProtocols.Tls12 Or Authentication.SslProtocols.Tls11
httpClientHandler.ServerCertificateCustomValidationCallback = AddressOf TrustAllCertificatesCallback

tokenHttpClient = New HttpClient(httpClientHandler)

Private Function TrustAllCertificatesCallback(sender As Object, certificate As System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate, chain As System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Chain, sslPolicyErrors As SslPolicyErrors) As Boolean
    Return True
End Function

Property HttpClientHandler.SslProtocols is available in Assembly System.Net.Http, Version=4.2.0.0


text:
Q: How to create Date placeholder in SQL? In the following code:
SELECT
"date placeholder"
FROM table_name

what should be written instead of "date placeholder" in order to have a date placeholder which does not have a hard-coded assigned value?

A: cast (null as date) as mydateplaceholder


text:
22 May 1859, Edinburgh M.D., Kt, KStJ, D.L., LL.D., Sportsman, Writer, Poet, Politician, Justicer, Spiritualist Crowborough, 7 July 1930
Prof. Challenger
Brigadier Gerard
Sir Nigel
Captain Sharkey
All fictions
Essays, Articles
Prefaces
His Handwriting
Pastiches
Search SH stories
and receive a nice ACD lapel pin.
View source for Sir A. Conan Doyle. Rudi Schneider Defender
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
← Sir A. Conan Doyle. Rudi Schneider Defender
''Sir A. Conan Doyle. Rudi Schneider Defender'' is an article published in the [[Daily Mail]] on 2 december 1929, including a letter written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]. == Sir A. Conan Doyle == [[File:daily-mail-1929-12-02-p15-rudi-schneider-defender.jpg|150px|right|thumb|[[Daily Mail]] (2 december 1929, p. 15)]] '''Rudi Schneider Defender''' '''A Reply to Mr. Maskelyne.''' Mr. Harry Price is continuing his séances with Rudi Schneider, the young Austrian medium, at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, South Kensington, S.W., and he still refuses to accept any challenge to test the medium by other means than those that are now imposed. Mr. Noel Maskelyne, the conjurer, who on Friday offered £100 to Charing Cross Hospital if Rudi Schneider could produce genuine spirit phenomena under test conditions imposed by himself, has heard nothing from Mr. Price. He said yesterday: "As a reasonable time has mow expired since I issued my challenge, one can only assume that Mr. Price refuses to have Rudi Schneider tested to ascertain if there is any trickery." In regard to Mr. Maskelyne's challenge Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has sent the following letter to the Editor of ''The Daily Mail'':— : Sir, — Captain Noel Maskelyne is reported in your columns as having said that his family had exposed many mediums. I am fairly conversant with the history of spiritualism and I am not aware that the Maskelynes have ever at any time exposed any medium. : The family have always been parasitic upon spiritualism, and have gained money and advertisement by more or less clever imitations of real psychic phenomena. That was what the elder Maskelyne did to the Davenports, and the tradition has carried on. : Does it not stand to reason, and is it not perfectly obvious, that if the Davenports had been conjurers they would have announced themselves as such and made money from their tricks? : Now that Rudi Schneider is showing his perfectly honest phenomena the family are at their old game again, and we shall probably see an imitation Schneider performance upon the stage. To call these imitations "exposures" is as if a forger "exposed" the Bank of England by making bogus notes. — Yours faithfully, : ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. : 15, Buckingham Palace Mansions, S. W. 1. Mr. John Nevil Maskelyne and his friend, Mr. G. A. Cooke, exposed the Davenport brothers in 1865. The latter claimed to be able to produce spiritualistic manifestations. ---- * [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:Complete Works|Back to Complete Works]] * [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Back to Conan Doyle]]
Return to Sir A. Conan Doyle. Rudi Schneider Defender.
Retrieved from "https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Sir_A._Conan_Doyle._Rudi_Schneider_Defender"
About The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
© arthur-conan-doyle.com


text:
Watch or buy on:
Disney Toon Studios, Toon City Animation
Tarzan II (2005)
Directed by Brian Smith
Genres - Children's/Family | Sub-Genres - Animated Musical, Jungle Film | Release Date - Jun 14, 2005 (USA - Unknown) | Run Time - 72 min. | Countries - United States | MPAA Rating - G
AllMovie Rating
Cast & Crew ↓
Related ↓
Synopsis by Perry Seibert
The direct-to-video sequel Tarzan II continues the story started by Disney in the 1999 animated feature Tarzan. This story involves Tarzan deciding to get away from his family out of concern that harm may come to them simply because of all the interest in him. Thanks to a series of adventures with his animal friends, Tarzan learns the true value of family. The film contains new songs by Phil Collins, who was awarded an Oscar for his work on the original 1999 film.
Survival in the Wilderness
jungle, apeman, animal, elephant, family, gorilla, values
Preceeded By
See All Related Movies


A practical sponge applicator allows the liquid to be applied to the tire bead very simply - without smudging fingers. When inflating, the tire bead slides easily into the correct position on the rim. The liquid evaporates completely after about 10 minutes!


text:
Q: Convert this sql statement to ORM or Query Builder select distinct id from  (SELECT
   distinct books.id,name
FROM
    authors,books,store.favorites,writers,users
        where
     authors.writer_id = writers.id and

     books.id = authors.product_id and
     users.id=favorites.user_id and
    books.id=favorites.product_id

order by  name asc) as newval

can someone please convert this sql statment to Eloquent ORM or Query Builder ?

A: Your query is look like
DB::table('authors')->distinct()->select('books.id')
     ->join('books', 'books.id', '=', 'authors.product_id')
     ->join('store.favorites', 'books.id', '=', 'favorites.product_id')
     ->join('writers', 'authors.writer_id', '=', 'writers.id')
     ->join('users', 'users.id', '=', 'favorites.user_id')
 ->orderBy('name', 'asc')

P.s. Laravel gives good documentation about Eloquent ORM


Vineyard people are funny. They have very unique senses of humor.
Some people send you an e-mail with the word "funny" in the subject line, and you open it, and you get a picture of a kitty with an uzi (a Kuzi?).
More the sort of thing you'd find taped to a wall in the back room of a doctor's office. Taped up with an old piece of scotch tape. An old piece of scotch tape that has a sad strand of secretarial hair trapped under it.
Take today, for example. Today, I got an e-mail from vineyard people. And the subject line was "Inversion Layers are Funny." That's vineyard people humor.
Today's e-mail was from William The Conqueror Thomas, our Viticulturist at Lytton Springs.
He was on an early morning sojourn up Spring Mountain, to the York Creek vineyards. The Burger Knoll, specifically, which is adjacent to where our Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah comes from. At the base of the hill, the temperature was 54 degrees. And it was foggy. Up at the knoll? 84 degrees. At 8:15am.
Now THAT'S funny. Vineyard people funny.
For those who may be unaware of the term, "inversion" in this case is a deviational atmospheric occurrence in which cooler air is held to lower altitudes, with heat rising with height. In a "traditional" climatic environment, the lower region, near the earth's surface, is warmer than the air above it, because it's being heated from below, courtesy of the sun's radiation warming the Earth's surface, which in turn then warms the layer right above it. This happens via a process called convective heat transfer. However, in an inversion, this model is "inverted," such that heat increases with altitude, leaving the lower layer as the colder by comparison. In Northern California, this phenomenon occurs courtesy of coastal ocean upwelling, an oceanographic phenomenon which essentially drops a warmer layer on top of the cooler layer. Probably the most notable visual cue that all this is happening is the fog layer; this is essentially the bifurcation point between the lower and upper layers. You can see it in the photo above quite clearly.
And that, is Vineyard People Funny.
‹ Zap! You Love Zinfandel! – Kablam! You Love ZAP!


text:
Home World US to resume military training programme for Pakistan: State Department
US to resume military training programme for Pakistan: State Department
The Trump administration has approved a resumption of Pakistan's participation in a coveted US military training and educational programme more than a year after it was suspended, the State Department said on Thursday.
The decision to resume Islamabad's participation in the International Military Education and Training Program, or IMET — for more than a decade a pillar of US-Pakistani military ties — underscores warming relations that have followed meetings this year between US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Washington also has credited Islamabad with helping to facilitate negotiations on a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The talks recently resumed between the United States and the Taliban, who US officials say receive sanctuary and other aid from the Pakistan's military-led intelligence agency. Pakistan denies the charge.
The State Department administers IMET. It was a small facet of US security aid programmes for Pakistan worth some $2 billion that remain suspended on orders that Trump abruptly issued in January 2018 to compel the nuclear-armed South Asian nation to crackdown on militants. Trump's decision, announced in a tweet, blindsided US officials.
A State Department spokeswoman said in an email that Trump's 2018 decision to suspend security assistance authorised "narrow exceptions for programmes that support vital US national security interests." The decision to restore Pakistani participation in IMET was "one such exception," she said.
The programme "provides an opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation between our countries on shared priorities," she added. "We want to continue to build on this foundation through concrete actions that advance regional security and stability."
A second US official said on condition of anonymity that Pakistan was in the process of selecting officers to send to the United States.
The restart of the programme, however, is subject to approval by Congress. Republican and Democratic aides for the Senate and House of Representatives committees with jurisdiction over the process did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
IMET affords spaces to foreign military officers at US military education institutions, such as the US Army War College and the US Naval War College.
Pakistan's suspension from the programme in August 2018 prompted the cancellation of 66 slots set aside that year for Pakistani military officers in one of the first known impacts of Trump's decision to halt security assistance.
The US military traditionally has sought to shield such educational programmes from political tensions, arguing that the ties built by bringing foreign military officers to the United States pay long-term dividends.
Previous article PTA Approaches Whatsapp, Demands Explanation on Hacking Incidents
Next article Pakistan fight back after Shaheen's five-fer in second Test against Sri Lanka


Previous message: [Beowulf] 10 GbE vs. Trunked 1 GbE performance?
broke every program I use that reads sequence data through that interface.
touched since Oct 2002.  Apparently that library must now be rebuilt.
3.4.5, so I guess it's time to update to that.
Anybody else seen this particular PVM/linker issue?
rebuilding PVM (applications and library)?


TONKAWA — Best-selling author David Grann will be appearing at Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa Oct. 17 as part of the NOC Lectureship Series.
The case became among the FBI's first major homicide investigations. The FBI sent in a team of undercover agents, including one of the only Native Americans in the bureau. They eventually caught one of the masterminds. But, as Grann discovers, there was deeper and darker conspiracy that the bureau never exposed.


text:
Home Campus News Climate change: An everlasting issue as 2020 election nears
Climate change: An everlasting issue as 2020 election nears
Wyatt Kopelman
With just two weeks away from the 2020 presidential election, many climate change activists and American citizens long for a resurgence in proactive climate initiatives after what has felt like an eternity.
"I think it's one of the biggest issues in our society," University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. candidate Marybeth Arcodia said. Her role as a RSMAS Ph.D. candidate is to investigate climate change from an academic standpoint to understand the theory, math and physics that factor into the global issue.
"Especially in Miami where climate and climate change are playing such a role even in day-to-day life, I think it's one of the biggest issues that could be on the ballot in the upcoming election," Arcodia said.
But the available climate change solutions will likely not dissolve the world's ongoing concerns immediately after the election.
Katherine Mach, an associate professor in the Department of Marine Ecosystems and Society, said she believes that climate change remains an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.
"Solving climate change cannot happen overnight or even in a year," Mach said. "There are a lot of levers that need to be pulled as soon as possible in order to address such issues."
The threat of climate change is noticeable all around the world. Homes and communities nationwide continue to be flooded, burned, swept away and piled with debris as wildfires increase, droughts extend and tropical storms amplify in intensity.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in 2019, there were 7,860 wildfires that burned through about 259,800 acres of land in California. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that Hurricane Dorian was the strongest hurricane to impact the northern Bahamas region in modern history, causing about $3.4 billion in damage.
"Everyone and everything on every continent are seeing the intensifying impacts from climate change," Mach said. "Many global solutions are at hand already, but it remains a matter of deploying them accordingly."
One solution in the Paris Agreement— a target towards effective response to climate change through mitigating greenhouse gas emissions— remains a concern for many given President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the country from the agreement on June 1, 2017.
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden looks to change that decision, among others, should he get elected on Nov. 3. He, along with vice president nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, aspires to make well-informed decisions that will benefit the future of the country on a sustainable level.
"It is a factual observation that the Trump administration has dismantled climate policy, steering the country's focus away from effective climate change solutions," Mach said.
The effects of climate change, however, remain alive and well while Trump still muddles over its existence.
"It is definitely important to view because it's our future, and it's inevitable, and we have definitely seen history of it becoming a lot worse," RSMAS undergraduate student Will Neugebauer said about climate change. "[It is] issues of the ozone being depleted and rising global temperatures that will melt polar ice caps and then raise sea levels. Miami might be underwater soon, or in the next few hundred years even."
Similar to the shared viewpoint of some climate researchers and activists, Neugebauer said he believes that the climate system's tipping point— an irreversible change in the Earth's ecosystem— has now been far exceeded.
"I think we're definitely overstepping the boundary that should have been passed," Neugebauer said. "I've heard some statements saying that we [have] irreversibly done damage to the Earth that we can't undo. But I think that shouldn't stop us from trying to prevent any further damage."
Whether or not climate change can actually be solved remains up for debate. Some researchers believe that humanity has not passed the deadline to mitigate the impacts of climate change through individual actions.
"I do not like the mentality that it's too late, and 'let's give up,'" Arcodia said. "Now that being said, there is already an inherent amount of climate change in our climate system that we will experience even if we shut off every sort of fossil fuel burning machine that exists right now."
Arcodia said that action should be taken immediately to stop further damages.
"There's a lot of different levels that this could be taken to, and I don't want any individual to be thinking, 'I am not making any sort of change,'" Arcodia said.
Mach, on the other hand, said she thinks that a firm answer doesn't exist as to whether or not climate change can be mitigated or even prevented.
"It is not much of a yes-or-no question," Mach said. "Climate change is already happening, and its impacts are widespread. The challenge originates from global warming of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions being trapped into the atmosphere and how we as a society can combat this effectively with the solutions available."
But when it comes to voting in a presidential election, climate change awareness is where it all starts.
"The more aware that your standard voter is going to be of environmental issues, then the more likely they are to vote for a candidate who puts environmental issues at the forefront of their agenda," Arcodia said. "This growing concern is making people that maybe weren't even aware of what was happening, even in their local communities, now start to understand the terminology and also start to notice what's changing, and usually it's for the worse."
What has also remained clear leading up to Election Day is each of the presidential candidates' positions on the climate crisis.
"Joe Biden has environmental crises and monitoring fossil fuels much higher on his list of priorities than Trump, and I think we've already seen the impact that Trump's presidency has had on the environment," Arcodia said. "The result of the election will have a very strong outcome on climate change that we'll see in years to come."
The future of climate change remains uncertain and daunting for the time being. Millions fear about the stability of their communities due to previously witnessed impacts. One thing is clear— this year's election is crucial to what will happen to the planet in years to come.
"I realize there's a lot of steps here but the fact that [Biden] already said that he wants to make this a primary issue and listen to climate scientists and get expert opinions and then take the science that's happening and implement this into policy," Arcodia said. "If all of these things that he's saying can actually happen, then I think we'd be on a much better trajectory than we are right now, which is this kind of 'business as usual' and even business getting worse."
Previous articleWide receivers put on notice, Lashlee continues to produce and why there are no energy vampires this year
Next articleAbsentee voting: Why it's so important


^ De Witte, Ludo (January 9, 2016). "Congolese oorlogstranen: Deportatie en dwangarbeid voor de geallieerde oorlogsindustrie (1940-1945)". DeWereldMorgen.be. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
Cana, Frank Richardson (1922). "Belgian Congo" . In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York. p. 429.
^ Hunt, Nancy Rose (2002). "Rewriting the Soul in Colonial Congo: Flemish Missionaries and Infertility" (PDF). Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Antwerp University Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-06-13.
^ "CONGO: Boom in the Jungle" (PDF). Time. 16 May 1955. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2017-10-28. Lay summary.
^ "BELGIAN CONGO;: Too Late, Too Little?" (PDF). Time. 23 December 1957. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2017-10-28. Lay summary.
^ "BELGIAN CONGO: If Blood Must Run" (PDF). Time. 19 January 1959. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2017-10-28. Lay summary.
^ "THE BELGIAN CONGO: Return of the Mundele" (PDF). Time. 12 October 1959. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2017-10-28. Lay summary.
^ "BELGIAN CONGO: Now Now Now" (PDF). Time. 16 November 1959. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2017-10-28. Lay summary.


Despite strong reviews and a fan petition, Netflix said today that it is cancelling "Daredevil" after three seasons. This is the latest Marvel series, after "Luke Cage" and "Iron Fist," that Netflix has cancelled recently, and is a sign that Marvel TV and Netflix's multi-series agreement, signed in 2013, may be hitting some bumps.
Centered around a blind lawyer-turned-superhero in New York City, played by Charlie Cox, "Daredevil" was the first series released as part of the Marvel -Netflix deal in 2015. This leaves "Jessica Jones" and "The Punisher" as the two remaining Marvel series on Netflix.
The streaming service added that the three seasons will remain on Netflix for years, while "the Daredevil will live on in future projects for Marvel," leaving open the possibility that the character might appear in "Jessica Jones" or "The Punisher." Another possibility is the series moving to Disney's upcoming streaming service, Disney+, expected to launch late next year (the Walt Disney Company owns Marvel Entertainment).
The abrupt cancellations of three Marvel series over the last new months may point to hiccups in the partnership between Netflix and Marvel TV. Potential conflicts between the two include the cost of producing Marvel-Netflix shows, the success of Netflix's own original content, and disagreements about the length of seasons. The Marvel seasons had 13 episodes each, but newer Netflix shows are only 10 episodes per season.


According to several listings, it looks like the owners of 3823 Magazine Street are looking to lease the 3,450 square foot property for $25 per square foot on a triple net basis.
We found new architectural drawings filed with the city that show a completely renovated building into what looks like a high-end space for retail or possibly an art gallery.
A tipster pointed us in the direction of some facade renderings at Albert Architecture…and what do you know – one of them shows a J Crew retail store!
Could it be? Is J Crew coming to Magazine Street?
Check out the full plans and renderings below courtesy of Albert Architecture & Urban Design.
One Response to Is J Crew Coming To Magazine Street?


This laser cut part is produced for a bespoke range of automotive parts for a high-end sports car. The flexibility of laser manufacture allows the production of low volume parts to be cost effective. About 120 mm long this automotive part has an "adequate" activator gear at one end for a low volume sports car.


We've got various different types of fragrances available across both our Home and Classic ranges, but one that we really love is fresh citrus. This type of scent is ideal for the summer months because it can make everything seem bright and clean.
One of our favourite ingredients for creating this type of fragrance is grapefruit.
Not only does grapefruit essential oil smell amazing, it also offers a number of benefits that you can make the most of by enjoying our Grapefruit Home products or Greentea and Grapefruit scent.
Adding home fragrance products to your house that use grapefruit can help to boost your mood. You can change a bad mood or make your brain feel less tired by enjoying a burst of grapefruit scent.
This means that grapefruit is the ideal choice for room mists, as you can spritz a room a couple of times to help transform your mood.
Fresh, citrus scents help your home to feel nice and clean, which is perfect when the hot summer weather is leaving you feeling a bit muggy. Walking into a room scented with grapefruit will help you feel fresh and ready for anything.
To make the most of this effect, add a Grapefruit Reed Diffuser to your home this summer, which will allow you to enjoy a clean fragrance all season long.
Whether you've had a long day, struggle to wake up in the morning or just need to cool down, a soap that features grapefruit essential oil will certainly do the trick. Not only is the oil great for deep cleaning and lifting all dirt and excess oil from your skin, the scent will instantly refresh you.
Our Citrus Grove Soap is just the thing, as it combines grapefruit with other citrus oils to create an effective cleanser that also smells amazing. In fact, using the soap in the morning will leave your bathroom smelling great for a few hours.
Spring is here: What does the season smell like to you?


text:
Q: Displaying an outline on top of an image I am trying to draw a face outline and overlay it on top of a webcam image.
But towards the end, I think I am using addWeighted in a wrong way, because my program crashes.
Could you please help me understand what I am doing wrong with imshow and addWeighted?
int main( int argc, const char** argv )
{
  VideoCapture camera;
  camera.open(0);

  if( !camera.isOpened() )
  {
    cerr << "Could not access the camera!" << endl;
    return  1;
  }

  while( true )
  {
    Mat cameraFrame;
    camera >> cameraFrame;

    if( cameraFrame.empty() )
    {
      cerr << "Could not grab a camera frame!" << endl;
      return  1;
    }

    Mat gray;
    cvtColor( cameraFrame, gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
    Size size = cameraFrame.size();
    Mat faceOutline = Mat::zeros( size, CV_8UC3 );      // Draw a black canvas.
    Scalar color = CV_RGB( 255, 255, 0 );               // Yellow
    int thickness = 4;
    ellipse( faceOutline, Point(320, 240), Size(320, 240), 0, 0, 360, color, thickness, CV_AA );
    addWeighted( gray, 1.0, faceOutline, 0.7, 0, gray, CV_8UC3 );
    imshow( "final image", gray );

    char keypress = waitKey(20);
    if( keypress == 27 ) break;
  }
}

A: *

*why not just draw the ellipse into the cameraFrame ?
ellipse( cameraFrame , Point(320, 240), Size(320, 240), 0, 0, 360, color, thickness, CV_AA );

*and if you want to use addWeighted,

*

*the type of both input images has to match ( you can't add a color to a grayscale image )

*the factors have to sum up to 1.0

*the last argument is depth, not type ( i.e you could convert it to float here, but not change the number of channels)

addWeighted( cameraFrame , 0.7, faceOutline, 0.3, 0, cameraFrame );

A: I suppose your gray image is single-channel and your faceOutline image has 3 channels.
From the documentation:

src2 – second input array of the same size and channel number as src1.

Try mixChannels to switch a single channel of a multichannel image

A: This works fine:
int main( int argc, const char** argv )
{
    VideoCapture camera;
    camera.open(0);

    if( !camera.isOpened() )
    {
        cerr << "Could not access the camera!" << endl;
        return  1;
    }

    while( true )
    {
        Mat cameraFrame;
        camera >> cameraFrame;

        if( cameraFrame.empty() )
        {
            cerr << "Could not grab a camera frame!" << endl;
            return  1;
        }

        Mat gray;
        cvtColor( cameraFrame, gray, cv::COLOR_BGR2GRAY );
        Size size = cameraFrame.size();
        Mat faceOutline = Mat::zeros( size, CV_8UC3 );      // Draw a black canvas.
        Scalar color = Scalar( 255, 255, 0 );               // Yellow
        int thickness = 4;
        cvtColor( gray, gray, cv::COLOR_GRAY2BGR );
        ellipse( faceOutline, Point(320, 240), Size(320, 240), 0, 0, 360, color, thickness );
        addWeighted( gray, 1.0, faceOutline, 0.7, 0, gray, CV_8UC3 );
        imshow( "final image", gray );
        char keypress = waitKey(20);
        if( keypress == 27 ) break;
    }
}


Many travellers are searching for Thing To Do At Bangkok Airport,Bangkok can well be described as a city of humble beginnings. In fact around 200 years ago, it was simply a small trading center and port community. Despite the fact that the city had grown rapidly and become renowned for being a modern and vibrant place, it has impressively retained its splendid and enchanting glory. That's why a visit to Bangkok should be on everyone's bucket list. You can find Thing To Do At Bangkok Airport travel information.
Also called Wat Chetuphon, this really is a temple which had been developed for King Rama in Bangkok a huge selection of in the past. It is actually believed to be a spot where people can receive feelings, and was considered one of the first pharmacies in most of Bangkok. Also, it is the position of the first university which was started with a descendent of King Rama, an area where you can now get not simply traditional medicine but a foot massage at highly affordable prices. It is actually known mostly for the Temple of your Reclining Buddha which is actually a Buddha that is resting perched on his arm. It really is enormous, roughly 15 m high by 45 m long, and might just be viewed in sections due to the size. There are several beautiful gemstones which have been in lead inside the soles in the feet, an overall amount of 108 stones total. This really is a number linked to procession, the wobble of the earth, an issue that is made into a lot of the temples throughout Thailand.
It is an absolutely beautiful structure which includes a substantial amount of history, and it is the house of what is called Wat Phra Kaeo. It can be here that this emerald or jade Buddha are available, within this palace internal 1782, the residence from the royalty that were in control of the land during the time. This palace includes a couple of hours of not simply the palace itself but the Wat Phra Kaew Tour. Our recommendation is that you begin early each morning to make the most of everything that you will be able to see, or just conduct a half day sightseeing tour to discover either one.
You can see a wonderful representation from the ancient battles that employed to occur between Burma and Siam. This is certainly a mixture of Royal Palace and Chapel, and if you are able to climb to the peak before sunset, you will realize sunlight setting to the Chao Praya River, a wonderful sight to behold.
Before what is called Wat Suthat is the thing that the locals call the giant swing. It is actually a 27 m high structure, use for religious ceremonies, and its purpose is to go through a ritual which involves teams of three people visiting the top and walking across on the narrow board. There have been a significant quantity of fatal accidents during the 1930s which make them not use this as being a ritual again. However, this is a beautiful sight to discover, especially before Wat Suthat.
This is certainly literally something from the movies, a true floating market that is certainly about an hour or so beyond Bangkok. It is considered by some being the Venice of your East, similar to exactly how the folks that a part of Italy do so numerous things about the water. It is additionally a tourist trap as a result of how everyone is wanting to check this out market that is certainly completely floating on boats manned by people selling their goods. However, if you do go, you may be treated to among the most delicious food which is absolutely fresh, served in a authentic way.
In case you have time, you are able to check out Lumpini Park that is a literal oasis in the middle of the architecture and buildings of Bangkok. There are lots of lawns that you could hang out at, Chinese pagodas, and you will find a small lake you could take a boat out on. Is great for relaxing as the park is so tranquil, despite every one of the skyscrapers that are surrounding it in every directions. The park has been a place where antigovernment protests have occurred, so just be certain that if you decide to go there, it's just people chilling out to relax.


text:
Synegia plumbea är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av W. Warren 1906. Synegia plumbea ingår i släktet Synegia och familjen mätare. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

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plumbea

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
| Motorsports
21st Rev Speed Tsukuba Super Lap Battle - Event
Site: Shimotsuma, Japan
Dino Dalle CarbonareWriter
Now in its 21st year, the Rev Speed Super Lap Battle has become one of the most definitive Japanese tuning race events. Every year, demo cars that have been built through the course of the season come to prove themselves on the famed Tsukuba Circuit.
Unlike time attack events in other parts of the world, the Rev Speed Super Lap Battle never really attracts much attention from the public, probably due to the fact that it has always been held on a weekday. The event organizer, Rev Speed magazine, isn't interested in organizing a profitable show it does that every April with the Hyper Meeting. Rev Speed approaches the whole Super Lap Battle from a technical point of view to create a very in-depth report a month later, highlighting every car that participates. As editor Tsukamoto-san tells us, this has always been a big hit with Japanese readers, most of them trying to make their own cars perform better on track. For that reason, this is one of the most relaxed events of the year, with the paddock totally open to anyone who feels like dropping by and chatting with tuners and drivers.
Much like in previous years, all eyes were on the full carbon-bodied Revolution RX-7, which was sporting all-new Hankook livery this year. The car has had a long time to develop, and since swapping out its old turbo for a better-performing GCG unit from Australia, it hasn't stopped going faster. On its first outing early in the morning, the car managed a 54-second lap with driver Kikuchi Yasushi at the wheel. A few hours later during the second Open class session, the fastest time of the day came, an impressive 53.673 seconds, just shy of Nob Taniguchi's record with the HKS CT230R. The HKS car has never run in the Rev Speed challenge, but it holds the track record, so this means Revolution not only set the fastest time for a RWD car but also the best time ever set during the Rev Speed event. Happy with its performance, Revolution didn't take the FD out a third time, but instead concentrated on its impressive and all-new, three-rotor-powered RX-8, which recorded a 1:00.260 lap.
Hot on the tail of the Revolution FD3S was Panspeed with its RX-7, managing a 55.970-second lap, the second fastest time of the day. With the Cyber EVO, the winners of last year's event, and other famous 4WD cars not participating this year, the competition wasn't as fierce as it has been in the past, but there were still some special cars present that deserve mention. Avo Turboworld, for example, was the fastest Impreza at the event with a 58:298-second lap, a great time that the car achieved by not only fine-tuning the 650hp Cosworth EJ25 that powers the GDB but also fabricating a custom rear subframe to allow the car to put down power more efficiently, eliminating the bumpsteer problems it suffered from last year.
Happy with its performance, HKS didn't go out a third time, but concentrated on its equally impressive all-new, three-rotor-powered RX-8, which recorded a 1:00.260 lap.
A hot favorite for another record was the Varis/G-Force/Sunbeam EVO X that last year managed to dip to 57 seconds. This year, with Nob still driving, it came a little short with a 58.028, still an impressively fast time for a new-generation 4B11-powered EVO. Tarzan Yamada was hired to drive the fastest NSX Japan has ever seen, the widebody Esprit demo car. The car is nothing short of incredible with a longitudinally mounted twin-turbo C32B, running a sequential transaxle gearbox pretty much a Super GT replica! The car had mechanical issues on its first attempt, managing only a 1:02.128 lap before being retired for the day. Tarzan then took out the other Esprit demo car, the only R35 GT-R at the event, which, with its upgraded turbos, managed to post a 59.348-second lap one of the fastest times a new-gen GT-R has recorded at Tsukuba. The savage low-end torque of the VR38 and instant shifting dual clutch transmission, however, is still not enough to have the upper hand against the older generation of Skyline GT-Rs, not that there were many at this event.
In the Open class, it was only the Garage Yawata and Pro Stock Racing BNR32s running the flag for the R-enthusiasts, with a best of 57.071 and 58.779 seconds, respectively. One car that really deserves a mention is the 5Zigen FD2 Civic Type-R that, with its 580hp turbocharged K20, managed to become the fastest FWD car in Japan, thanks to driver Ooi Takashi, who lapped in 58.222 seconds.
Rank Time Garage Class Car
1 53.673 Revolution Open FD3S
2 55.970 Panspeed Open FD3S
3 56.039 R-Magic Open FD3S
4 57.071 Garage Yawata Open BNR32
5 57.660 Garage Shimaya with Ti-R Street S-tire Exige
6 57.826 Outerplus with Ti-R Open Exige
7 58.028 Varis/G-Force/Sunbeam Open CZ4A
8 58.047 Advance Auto Open C6
9 58.222 5Zigen Open FD2
10 58.298 AVO Turboworld Open GDB


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text:
Q: Is it possible to find a common supertype on type-system level in Scala? Is it possible to make a type-alias (or something equivalent) in Scala that takes two parameters and returns their common supertype? In other words, I'm trying to find something with this signature:
type CommonSupertype[A, B] // can't be more specific

where these hold true: (pseudocode)
CommonSupertype[String, Int] = Any
CommonSupertype[JButton, JPanel] = JComponent

etc.
I haven't been able to find it myself, but I can't use alternatives like adding an extra parameter, since I have to follow a pre-specified interface.

A: (Not a complete solution, but might give some ideas)
One impressive feature of Scala is its ability to return a list of Fruits when an orange is appended to a list of apples.
It's fine with values, precisely because you let the generic type be inferred.
import scala.reflect.Manifest

def CommonSuperType[A, B >: A : Manifest](a:A, b:B) = manifest[B]

It works (kind of) :
scala> CommonSuperType(new JButton, new JPanel)
res42: Manifest[javax.swing.JComponent with javax.accessibility.Accessible] = javax.swing.JComponent with javax.accessibility.Accessible

Next step would be to lift this trick to higher kinded types (not tested).
An half baked solution consists in creating values from types (cf this answer) :
class CommonSuper[A:Manifest, B:Manifest] {
   def make[T:Manifest] = manifest[T].erasure.newInstance.asInstanceOf[T]
   val instanceA = make[A]
   val instanceB = make[B]
   def getType = CommonSuperType(instanceA, instanceB)
}

But I'm stuck in this unintuitive inconsistency :
scala> val test = new CommonSuper[JButton, JPanel]

scala> test.getType
res66: Manifest[Any] = Any

scala> CommonSuperType(test.instanceA, test.instanceB)
res67: Manifest[javax.swing.JComponent with javax.accessibility.Accessible] = javax.swing.JComponent with javax.accessibility.Accessible

Anyway, whereas I'm fond of this type of questions (questions about types), here it smells like an XY Problem.

A: I can give you a trait CommonSupertype[A, B] and an implicit generator function, so you can just require an implicit instance of this trait wherever you need it, and it will contain the common supertype (as a dependent type).
This is not my idea, it's actually adapted ever so slightly from this post by Miles Sabin.
The only change I've made is that, while he is using ¬¬[C] <:< (A ∨ B) as evidence that a type C is a subtype of either A or B, I've reversed the subtyping direction (so: (A ∨ B) <:< ¬¬[C]) to check that both A and B are subtypes of C.
import scala.reflect.ClassTag

object Main extends App {
  type ¬[A] = A => Nothing
  type ∨[T, U] = ¬[¬[T] with ¬[U]]
  type ¬¬[A] = ¬[¬[A]]

  trait CommonSupertype[A, B] {
    type λ
    def tag: ClassTag[λ]
  }
  // The ClassTag is only so I can get ahold of the type's name at runtime
  implicit def commonSupertype[A, B, C : ClassTag](implicit C: (A ∨ B) <:< ¬¬[C]): CommonSupertype[A, B] { type λ = C } =
    new CommonSupertype[A, B] { type λ = C; def tag = implicitly[ClassTag[C]] }

  trait Pet
  class Dog extends Pet
  class Cat extends Pet
  def check[A, B](implicit x: CommonSupertype[A, B]) = {
    // This just prints the common type, but you could use the type (x.λ) directly
    println(x.tag.toString())
  }
  check[Dog, Cat]
  check[Dog, Double]
}

Gives us:
Main.Pet
Any

A: You can obtain typeTag of least common supertype and then extract its type (see How to capture T from TypeTag[T] or any other generic in scala?)
import scala.reflect.runtime.universe._
import scala.util._

def t[A, B] = (null.asInstanceOf[A], null.asInstanceOf[B])
implicit class RichTuple[A: TypeTag](a: (A, A)) {def common = typeTag[A]}

implicit class RichT[T: TypeTag](a: T) {//just helper for working with typetags
   def asInstanceOfT[U](t: TypeTag[U]) = a.asInstanceOf[U]
   def hasSameTypeWith[U](t: TypeTag[U]) = typeTag[T] == t
}

Usage
scala> t[String, String].common
res87: reflect.runtime.universe.TypeTag[String] = TypeTag[String]

scala> t[String, Int].common
res88: reflect.runtime.universe.TypeTag[Any] = TypeTag[Any]

scala> ("aa" : String).hasSameTypeWith(t[String, String].common)
res105: Boolean = true

scala> ("aa" : String).hasSameTypeWith(t[String, Int].common)
res106: Boolean = false

scala> ("aa" : String).asInstanceOfT(t[String, Int].common)
res109: Any = aa

scala> ("aa" : String).asInstanceOfT(t[Int, Int].common)
java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.String cannot be cast to java.lang.Integer

For isInstanceOf see How to know if an object is an instance of a TypeTag's type?
The only restriction is that you can't obtain common supertype of type parameters - it will always be erased to Any.


The pattern persisted of dramatic lows for him (& us!), followed by cries for help, then off to rehab or hospitalization, which led to some new level of education and knowledge. We learned that his addiction was actually a disease, and chronic.
This revelation completely started a change in us, from constant anger over our son's "bad decisions", to wanting to learn more about how the disease could overpower his judgement, regardless of his intentions.
We learned at his first rehab, this was a family disease, and I began to seek my own recovery, through an Al-Anon program for parents of addicts. This led me to believe I had to begin to detach from control, to let my son be in control of his life and his addiction, knowing his sickness could get much worse, and he could even die.
After my son had several very dark episodes, brief recoveries and subsequent relapses, I began to pray for a different recovery option, in case his addiction took him one more time, to the basement of hopefulness & despair, enough so, to cause him to reach out to us or others for help.
When that moment came this past July, I was able to just pass along a referral number to my son to try, and then let him go. He had reached his "bottom", not wanting to go on with his unmanageable life course, and desperate & ready to go away to somewhere he could get help to start a new life.
He took the number, made the call to the founder for some questions with answers, and made the decision, "his decision", to go that very day, to The Last Resort!
Right away, with the help of a very willing attitude, and a staff of passionate, caring case managers, especially Frank, they began inspiring my son by sharing their own experiences of personal recovery and spiritual awakening.
My son became very serious about his recovery plans, from that day forward. They took him and his fellow brothers through a rigorous daily routine of healthy habits, humility, gratefulness, accountability, and the 12 Steps of recovery from addiction.
His life was reborn during his 90 day stay at The Last Resort, and my wife and I are forever grateful for the transformation he acquired!
Since leaving TLR, he moved into a sober living home in our hometown, and has continued his active, healthy recovery habits through each day. He, and the friends he has made in recovery, help each other in honest accountability, and aid their health by seeking community service to reach back and help others.
His life has changed so much in the last 6 months, through his daily prayer and meditation, activities with TLR alumni, and his growing adherence to his healthy habits and structure, begun at The Last Resort, that are allowing the roots of recovery to grow deeper and stronger in him every day.
My wife and I are reminded of how often the darkest times of his addiction, always led to a new light and revelation in his life, and ours, and we are thankfully humbled by the goodness and grace of God!


Spammers, phishers and other Internet bottom-feeders, be warned. A key Internet standards body gave preliminary approval on Tuesday to a powerful technology designed to detect and block fake e-mail messages. It's called DomainKeys Identified Mail, and it promises to give Internet users the best chance so far of stanching the seemingly endless flow of fraudulent junk e-mail.


text:
5 examples of amazing frontline employee handbooks
by Paige Magarrey | Oct 28, 2021 | Employee Communication
Often the punchline of office jokes, employee handbooks have gotten a bad rep over time. But for frontline and deskless organizations, these handy little books can do a lot of heavy lifting. They share crucial information about brand vision and mission. They reinforce SOPs and core mandates. They can even boost employee engagement and create a sense of community. And in the quest for staff (hello, labor crisis!) they can even act as employer branding, enticing more applicants to your organization. As Inc puts it, "Your employee handbook is more than a necessary legal document. It's the baseline for your brand culture. (And yes, you really do need one)."
And especially now that virtual handbooks can be seamlessly integrated into a digital communication platform, it's never been easier to keep all company information corralled into one easy-to-access place.
Now the question is… will your staff read it? That's where we need a little inspiration.
Here are 5 examples of amazing frontline employee handbooks 👇
1. Zingermans' "keys to the organizational culture"
Don't think of Zingerman's Staff Guide as a manual. The Michigan-based food business group likes to think of it more as a resource for its 700+ employees.
"It grew out of our belief that everyone benefits when information is shared lavishly," explains Maggie Bayless, founding partner of ZingTrain (Zingermans' training and consultation offshoot). "We want everyone who joins our organization to have the keys to the organizational culture and the tools that will help them succeed."
The 88-page guide includes everything from a timeline of the company dating back to 1902 and a 5-step plan to handling a customer complaint to to why a sandwich costs what it costs (that nugget of info gets referenced often.) The guide is part of a robust onboarding program offered to new staff, which includes classes and other orientation sessions that reiterate the information in other ways. "I think they appreciate that the Staff Guide is designed to be fun to read and not just pages and pages of text," says Bayless. "Mostly though I think people appreciate that there is an overview of pretty much anything they can think of – and info on where to go for additional information if they need it or have questions."
Oh, and there's a wordsearch. You're after our heart, Zingermans.
2. Nordstrom's legendary one-liner
The luxury retailer's handbook has become somewhat legendary for its brevity. It includes one single rule: use good judgement in all situations. In one sentence, Nordstrom is doing something that retailers are desperate to achieve: empowering their staff to drive amazing CX.
"That's the one rule we hand out to each of our employees when they start with us," explained a spokesperson in SHRM. "We want them to feel empowered to take care of the customer, and this is one of the ways we do that."
3. Patagonia's bite-sized book
The outdoor clothing retailer's online employee handbook is broken into bite-sized nuggets of information that don't overwhelm the employee. Here, the focus is moreso on core values versus compliance. There's a playfulness woven through the handbook, with an earnest mission statement sitting alongside 10 fun facts about founder Yvon Chouinard.
4. JetBlue's magazine-style handbook
The airline's "Crewmember BlueBook" reads more like a magazine, with clear, simple values and guest experience "promises" up front, and more complex details on benefits, policies, and additional resources toward the back. The whole book is easy to read and engaging – sure to retain the attention of any employee.
5. Brinker International's on-theme code of conduct
The hospitality brand behind Chili's and Maggiano's Little Italy has a code of conduct handbook that is delightfully on-brand. Each page has a "Check Please!" section with additional resources and links, while "Something to Chew On" sidebars provide real-life situations and how to handle them in a Q&A format. The "Playing Restaurant" section, which outlines the rules and guiding principles for the company's frontline staff, is focused on actionable tips and easy-to-follow guidelines. All in all, the employee handbook manages to pack a ton of information into a fun and easy-to-follow format.
What can we take away from these 5 stellar examples? Thinking outside the box and offering your frontline and deskless staff information in an easy-to-consume, engaging way can do wonders for info retention, engagement, and execution. Especially when you keep your handbook in a central hub, like a digital communication platform, your staff will always have a go-to place to find information, review the core mission, and much more.


While three men died in North 24 Parganas' Amdanga block in clashes between two political parties, the fourth man, a TMC worker, died of injuries in a Siliguri hospital.
At least four people were killed and 17 injured in two districts of West Bengal late on Tuesday in clashes that erupted over the formation of panchayat boards following the elections to the rural bodies in mid-May, taking the death toll to ten since August 25, officials said on Wednesday.
Three men died in North 24 Parganas' Amdanga block, about 35km from Kolkata, in clashes which broke out allegedly between two parties. Nasib Halder, 25, and Kuddus Ghani, 33, were members of ruling Trinamool Congress and Mujaffar Ahmed, 31, was a Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker.
Trinamool Congress worker Khairul Haque, a resident of North Dinajpur district, was admitted to a hospital in Siliguri's North Bengal Medical College on Tuesday with injuries and died later in the night.
"CPI(M)-backed goons launched the attacks in Amdanga. I was told they even have assault rifles in their possession. We will ask the police to conduct searches in every house to unearth these weapons," alleged state food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.
"Police could not enter the villages for more than two hours. At least 16 to 17 persons were injured. They were admitted to hospitals and nursing homes in Barasat (headquarters of the district) and Kolkata," Mullick, who is also the party president of North 24 Parganas district, said.
"Power connection was severed to take advantage of the darkness and mount the attacks," said the local MLA.
Mullick also alleged that CPI(M) workers are smuggling firearms into North 24 Parganas district from Bangladesh with the help of the BJP. The district shares a border with the country.
Police arrested more than half a dozen people, including CPI(M) district committee member Ahmed Khan, from the hospital premises in Barasat. Some locals claimed they left their homes after the clashes, which started at around 7pm, and spent the night in the fields.
Leaders of the CPI(M), however, alleged that the ruling party's supporters attacked them to prevent them from forming the board in Taraberia gram panchayat.
The formation of panchayat boards in Taraberia, Bodai and Maricha under Amdanga were postponed by the administration. Schools in the area remained closed on Wednesday.
A large number of policemen were deployed in the area on Wednesday and several crude bombs were recovered from the area in the morning.


Mojoy: Some sweet memories made over the weekend.
Some sweet memories made over the weekend.
Here we are at nighttime. And Gabs has discovered that acutal music will come out of the computer and into those headphones, and she LOVES it!
ANd perhaps she has "inherited" her singing voice from her mother... just sayin'! And it is NOT my area of giftedness! For SHO!
However, drawing and art IS in my strength zone. And how about THIS!!??
Ellie drew that entire owl picture entirely by herself!! I was pretty dang impressed.
In the meanwhile, Gabbi was still pounding out her tunes.
And Ellie was hard at work at another masterpiece. Does anyone else bring an entire collection of activities to bed?!
Finally, bedtime. And Gabs was determined she would try to contain Twilight Sparkles (who she has recently renamed "Lemon"). TS wasn't having it!!
ANd I decided we'd just lie in the bed and watch cartoons and do a whole lotta nothing! I am having surgery Monday, so I know I'll be outta mama commission for about a week, so we needed a little bonding here and now.
ANd this one isn't going to understand it when she can't snuggle up and love all over mama for a few days. I'll be hurting, I am afraid, due to a hysterectomy! UGH!
And so, tonight, as I wait for the Magnesium Citrate to take effect, I remember those sweet moments from the weekend. These girls are precious to me! What a gift!!
Hopefully, I'll be able to blog tomorrow, but if not, know that I'll be wishing I could, all "uterus-less" in my bed recovering. Peace out, boy scouts!
Wishing you many quick healing thoughts. Happy you had many special moments this weekend to help carry you and the girls through the next few days. Never fun when mommy isn't feeling well and can't cuddle. Luckily you have a huge support system and a great husband that are always there for you. Rest easy, take care of yourself, and let those special moments fill your mind.
Elite Sue's owlish quite impressive. Best of luck on your surgery. I had the same surgery laparoscopic over the summer. The recovery was quick. I needed magnesium citrate a week after surgery. Once it started "working" it really really started working.
Love and prayers to you! And one week is not enough recovery lol.
Wishing you an easy surgery and speedy recovery!
I can't sleep, so I'm up and "lurking" on the net. Praying for your swift and totally uneventful recovery.
Prayers going out to you for your surgery.
You're in my thoughts and prayers for a smooth surgery and recovery.
Prayers to you this morning! Hope surgery is going well and you have a great recovery!
Praying for you first and foremost, BUT also..... holy moly!!!! Ellie's drawings are AMAZING!!!!
Praying for a speedy recovery for you Mo!!!
Praying for you, Mo! Hope that you have a speedy recovery!
Sweet girls and lovin' time!
I pray everything went well, and that you're doing well, considering.
I know what you're dealing with, having had that surgery in 2007. Emotional, yes, but the best decision, health-wise!
Unsolicited advice: take ALL the help you can get, "SuperWoman", and stay ahead of the pain with the meds.
I didn't get to read yesterday! So, I hope your surgery went well and I pray for a speedy recovery! Take it easy girl, and heal!
Praying for you, Mo. Hope you are healing well.