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Merkel says no country will have to leave euro zone
Jul 5, 2013, 4:44 pm SGT
http://str.sg/ZQJw
BERLIN (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed her view that no country will have to leave the euro zone, despite the fiscal and economic crisis that has rocked the 17-nation currency bloc, in comments published on Friday.
Asked by national news agency DPA whether, amid the ongoing debt and recession woes hitting several southern member states, any of them will have to leave the euro, she said: "No, I don't see that happening."
Pushing her message of the need for greater fiscal discipline, structural reform and strengthened competitiveness, she said: "All of us have to jointly become better, and for that we need European unity."
Dr Merkel, who faces elections on September 22 in Europe's biggest economy, has long championed fiscal discipline that has forced painful spending cuts in countries such as Greece and Spain.
More recently, she has focused on the need to help the victims of the crisis, almost six million jobless under-25-year-olds, and repeatedly said that "Germany will only do well if Europe does well".
Asked whether she had switched emphasis too late and made mistakes in the past, she defended her initial focus on orderly public finances.
"Greece, Portugal and other countries were in a position where they could no longer raise funds because of their high debts," she said. "Because this threatened the euro as a whole, we agreed to help these countries under the condition that they reduce their deficits.
"After all, that (deficits) was what triggered their crises."
Dr Merkel added: "As soon as the countries affected by the crisis return to a path of solid finances, there is a need to also improve competitiveness and to promote new - now sustainable - growth and employment."


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Directed by: Michael Crichton
Written by: Michael Crichton
Sgt. Jack R. Ramsay: Tom Selleck
Officer Karen Thompson: Cynthia Rhodes
Dr. Charles Luther: Gene Simmons
Jackie Rogers: Kirstie Alley
Overview: Sometimes cheese can be enjoyable. Michael Crichton's movie, Runaway, is filled with too many straight-up Hollywood clichés to be taken seriously, but it's still fun. Maybe it's just because I'm a Die-Hard Magnum PI fan, or perhaps I love to see Gene Simmons' evil glare. Runaway has some fun ideas, but the movie's not great. It's one of those movies where the bad guy can magically get anywhere and automatically knows everything. It is more fun than it deserves to be though.
The Story: In near-future, society has taken full advantage of micro-electronics and robot technology. Many basic jobs, such as taking care of corn fields, are now carried out by robots. Robots even fulfill surrogate nanny roles for children stuck at home. In this world, Sgt. Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) is a specialist on disabling malfunction robots. Ramsay and his new partner, Karen Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes) get enmeshed in a series of incidents where robots have gone wild, sometimes with deadly results.
In investigating the faulty robots, they find that they have been modified with a special "assassin" computer chip that turns normal robots into man-killing death machines. The trail leads to Dr. Charles Luther (enjoyably played by Kiss rock star, Gene Simmons), and over-the-top evil genius who will stop at nothing to develop and sell these chips to the highest bidder. Ramsay and Thompson stop Dr. Luther by intercepting a chip delivery from his girlfriend, played by Kirstie Alley, and capture Luther's chip design template for making new copies.
As the plot thickens, Dr. Luther brings out his toys. The most impressive gadget which the movie is most known for are mini-spiders that can jump 6 feet in the air, and deliver shots of acid. Luther also has heat-seeking bullets that can be targeted to an individual body heat profile, and mini-homing bombs on wheels called "lock-ons." Things get tense when Luther kidnaps Ramsay's kid to exchange for the chip template.
The Acting: The acting is nothing special in Runaway, and certainly lacks originality in any of the assigned roles – virtually every character is cookie cutter Hollywood fare. Tom Selleck basically plays his Magnum PI character, so if you like that guy, you'll probably like his performance here. Cynthia Rhodes plays a shallow but cute sidekick who wants nothing more than to get it on with Selleck. Kirstie Alley's role consists mostly of looking hawt. With that said, Gene Simmons is the really fun one to watch. All he really does well is "look evil" but he does this so well! This coupled with the fact that Simmons' character is almost magical – he always knows where everyone is, and can infiltrate any location including a busy police station to log on to Ramsay's computer with virtually no disguise. Again, we're not talking high quality here, but it is fun.
The FX: Runaway provides us with a number of low-budget cyberpunk toys, but probably the best effect employed was the use of the fish-eye lens to give us the perspective of the missile bullet. This simple camera effect makes the heat-seeking bullet far more believable than it should. But it's the spiders which everyone recognizes. For some reason, these seemed far more believable to me when I watched this movie in the 80s. Now, they just sort of seem to sit there and wiggle. Still, when watching the ending sequence in Matrix Revolutions, where Neo walks through the tunnel with the high-quality CG spider-bots traveling everywhere, I was reminded of Runaway. So in that sense, Runaway's toys have outlasted the movie itself.
Evil Chips: I'm not really sure what this even means, but Runaway is predicated on the idea that "assassin" chips can be made. These chips provide an alternate instruction set which appears generic enough to work on virtually any robot. In looking at this, the idea reeks of Hollywood cheese. Wouldn't it be cool though if someone could design an instruction set that could self-organize its commands based on its environment? I suppose Java does this in some ways in that its platform independent, but robot independent seems a bit more complicated.
Dr. Luther is just another Dr. Evil: It's amazing how a character can change the world of film. Ever since Austin Powers' Dr. Evil character came onto the stage, it's virtually impossible to take incoherent evil guys seriously. The moral of this story is had Dr. Charles Luther just paid off his henchmen, he would have escaped scott free. But since he had to come up with craaazy deaths for them, our hero had to come to the rescue.
Full and Free Access by the Newsies: In Runaway's future, the news organizations have the right to wherever they want, whenever they want. So much so that they're allowed access during a police operation to save an infant from a crazed robot. This comes off as being fairly silly in the movie, as its hard to imagine them ever getting this type of access. This is more an indication of the perception folks had of news organizations in the 80s. How time changes things. Now the perception is that news organizations pretty hang out to wait for their stories to be hand-fed. They still excitedly arrive at standoffs and the like, but outside of a few brave souls who prowl the streets outside the green zone in Iraq, it's hard to imagine news organizations today even bothering to investigate the most obvious of events.
The Bottom Line: One has to wonder how a decent story teller like Crichton ends up taking some interesting ideas on technology and society and embedding them into a cookie-cutter Hollywood storyline. Things certainly happen in the production so who knows. Watching Runaway, you get the feeling that this should have been a better flick. But while the movie isn't great, the spiders are fun, as is Gene Simmons' glare. And if you're a Magnum PI fan, chances are you'll like it even better than one of the weekly episodes.
This post has been filed under 5 Star Rated Movies, Android Movies, Cyberpunk movies from 1980-1989 by SFAM.
Sean Huxter said:
Your take on "Runaway" is spot-on. I first saw this not long after release and was very taken by it as a fun piece of fluff, but even to this day I return to it from time to time for its concepts, its special effects and its baddie, Gene Simmons.
Great film it may not be, but fun film it definitely is, and sometimes that's enough.
I usually find myself recommending this to people, even over objections by people who have seen it and not "gotten" the fun of it.
Sometimes it's fun to watch robots run amok, and Tom Selleck (who now does a great job playing Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone) was definitely well-cast in the role. Basically like you said, he plays Magnum, and that's what people wanted to see at the time.
sandra said:
cynthia hello, my name sandra am an admirer of yours and I love all your movies, you're a great actress penalty ke ke you've retired, I would like a photo of yourself signed a kiss too big for you and your children and richard. greetings
Cyberpunk Review » Westworld (Not cyberpunk, but a proto-cyberpunk influence) said (pingback):
[…] With Michael Crichton's death earlier this month (04-Nov-2008), I'd thought I'd review one of his most classic movies because of its influence on cyberpunk. Though mostly known for his books-turned-movies like Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain and the television series ER, he has also written and directed several movies including Looker and Runaway. […]
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ePals Corporation Announces Best Efforts Private Placement
April 10, 2012 15:58 ET | Source: ePals Corporation
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 10, 2012) -
ePals Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SLN) ("ePals" or the "Company"), an education media company and leading safe social learning network, announces that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of agents led by Cormark Securities Inc. ("Cormark") and including National Bank Financial Inc. and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (collectively the "Agents") to offer for sale, on a best efforts private placement basis, voting common shares of ePals ("Shares") at a price of C$0.41 per Share for gross proceeds of between C$8 million and C$10 million (the "Offering").
Upon closing of the Offering, the Agents will receive a cash commission equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of the Offering, subject to reduction in respect of certain subscribers as agreed to between Cormark and ePals.
The Offering may close in one or more tranches with closing of the first tranche anticipated to occur on or about April 19, 2012. Closing of the Offering is subject to the receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Shares issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to resale restrictions for a period of four months from the closing date(s) of the Offering.
The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The securities described herein have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless registered under the Act or unless an exemption from registration is available.
About ePals Corporation
ePals Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SLN) is an education media company and the leading provider of safe social learning networks. Focused on the K-12 market, ePals offers elementary and secondary school administrators, teachers, students and parents worldwide a safe and secure platform for building educational communities, providing quality digital content and facilitating collaboration for effective 21st century learning. ePals' award-winning products include: the ePals Global Community™; SchoolMail®365; LearningSpace®; In2Books®, a common core eMentoring program that builds reading, writing and critical thinking skills; and popular children's educational publishing brands including Cricket® and Cobblestone®. ePals customers and partners include the International Baccalaureate, Microsoft Corporation, Dell Inc., IBM Corp., National Geographic and leading school districts across the United States and globally. ePals serves approximately 800,000 educators and reaches millions of teachers, students and parents in approximately 200 countries and territories. For the ePals Global Community, visit www.epals.com. Corporate information is available at www.corp.epals.com.
ePals Corporation
Aric Holsinger
aholsinger@corp.epals.com
E.vestor
Cory Pala
cpala@corp.epals.com


It looks like a sump pit, not a sinkhole.
Are you talking about both holes? The one picture by itself is a second hole. I thought that one might have looked like a sump pit, but the other pictures that show the larger hole seems a bit deep and irregular shape. Do you think it could have been a sump pit and fallen apart over time?


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Better Work-Life Balance Starts with Managers
Company policies can only do so much.
Marcello Russo
Gabriele Morandin
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Buy Copies
Summary.
Around the world, more and more employees are seeking flexible work arrangements, and as a result, companies are increasingly offering a variety of family-friendly policies. Yet, a study of over 400 working parents in Italy reveals that these policies may not be the answer to helping employees achieve better work-life balance. Rather, companies should focus their efforts on two areas: training supervisors to be more supportive of the policies put into place, and creating organizational cultures in which employees feel comfortable using them.
We all want to live rich and meaningful lives — at work and at home — without sacrificing aspects of either. Around the world, more and more employees are seeking flexible work arrangements as a result, and companies looking to meet these expectations are increasingly offering a variety of family-friendly policies. In Europe, remote work, flextime, compressed work weeks, (paid or unpaid) leaves of absence, and sabbaticals are the most common. Yet, as great as these policies sound on paper, many have unintended consequences on workers:
Flexibility does not always translate into better work-life balance. Remote workers often experience high work intensity and reduced autonomy due to their ability to communicate with colleagues through their devices at any time. This constant connectivity can blur the boundaries between work and non-work activities.
Paid family leaves and/or childcare support can raise perceptions of unfairness in the workforce. Such policies are typically reserved for workers with caregiving responsibilities, and are much less accessible to workers who desire the same level of work-life balance but lack urgent family responsibilities.
The majority of employees who do have access to flexible work arrangements are reluctant to use them. Many fear that doing so shows low work commitment and will have a negative impact on their career.
To figure out how organizations can overcome these drawbacks, we conducted a study examining the experiences of over 400 working parents in Italy — 58% men and 42% women at an average age of 43 years old. We asked participants to rate their work environment, direct supervisor, and organizational culture on a scale of one to five, with five being the most family supportive and one being the least. We also asked them how often they use family-friendly policies available at work (if any) as well as the number of hours they work per week.
Through our research we discovered that companies need to focus their efforts in two main areas if they wish to create a healthy work-life balance for their teams:
1. Train Supervisors
Employees who work with a supportive supervisor — someone who offers emotional and practical support, who acts as a positive role model, and who is a creative problem-solver — experience reduced work-life conflict, improved health, and increased fulfillment on the job and at home.
This is because supervisors — regardless of how close they are to the C-suite — represent the organization at large in the eyes of their teams. They have the power to encourage (or discourage) employees from using family-friendly policies through their attitudes and behaviors, which can signal (or not signal) that there will be consequences for those who prioritize or provide equal importance to family and work responsibilities. A supervisor who has expectations that are at odds with the personal goals of their employee can have a detrimental impact on their work-life balance. (Research has shown the impact of the supervisor is especially great among younger generations.)
Take, for example, the case of John: a business school graduate who values both his career and personal life. Due to his heavy workload, John struggles to find the time to actively participate in his community. Technically, he can take advantage of work policies that will allow him to be more involved (like flexible work hours) and still do his job effectively. But his supervisor expects him to be on call 24/7. Because John likes his job and hopes one day to get a promotion, he chooses to forgo the policies in order to make himself more available at work and impress his supervisor.
Unfortunately, this scenario is not unique. In fact, it is common. Around 63% of the participants in our study rated their supervisor moderately-low (a score below or equal to 3.25 out of five) when asked how family supportive they were.
Based on our findings, we believe that companies that educate their leaders on the organizational benefits of providing employees with a healthy work-life balance will see better results than those that focus solely on designing formal policies. Organizations can start by training supervisors on how to provide their teams with performance, family, and personal support, and informing them why it is important to do so: nonwork activities allow employees to broaden their network, build news skills, and gain a greater sense of purpose (in both their personal lives and their work roles).
2. Seek to Have a More Supportive Company Culture
Training supervisors to become more supportive of family-friendly policies indirectly impacts organizational culture. The predominant culture in most Italian companies is built upon something called the "ideal worker framework," which depicts the ideal worker as someone who is physically present in the office, who is available to work 24/7, and who is ready to sacrifice personal life in favor of work when needed — i.e. the classic corporate warrior. Although this model may fit both men and women, in Italy, the "ideal worker" is often expected to be a man with a stay-at-home partner, or in rare cases, a single woman.
Therefore, it is not surprising that our research reveals companies are much more supportive of women who request family leave than men. Fathers of young children often prefer to take an anonymous day off over a longer family leave — even when they are entitled to do so — in order to avoid negative consequences. In fact, 81% of our subjects rated their organizational culture as unsupportive of their personal life (with a score below or equal to 3.25 out of 5).
In contrast, we found that employees who work at organizations that support, as opposed to penalize, workers who do not fit into the traditional framework tend to have better work-life balance and reduced work-family conflict. These employees also are more likely to take advantage of flexible work arrangements, and if they have a supportive supervisor, work less hours. As a result, they tend to be more satisfied in their roles and more loyal to their organizations.
Given these findings, we believe that, in addition to training supervisors to set the tone of the larger company culture, creating Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) is a valuable way for organizations to offer support and resources to those workers who may feel underrepresented within it.
How to take the first step
Though these changes seem simple enough to make, many companies — and workers themselves — struggle to do so. This is largely because they require both parties to change their mindsets and redefine what it means to be an "ideal worker," regardless of how many flexible work polices and trainings their company offers.
Today, many of us have an innate desire to protect the "happy" workaholic identities we have construed for ourselves over the years and to avoid our fear of what a novel and more balanced professional identity looks like. This fear is largely born out of the fact that many of us do not know what to do when we are not working. Scholars argue that because we give significantly less consideration to how we spend our free time than how we spend our work time, we have begun to think of free time as a waste of energy, when, in fact, data shows the opposite. Another study suggests that our overworked culture is, in part, caused by modern organizations that are crowded with insecure workers who still require objective data, like the number of hours worked per week, to demonstrate their value, contribution, and performance.
The real first step towards achieving work-life balance, then, needs to happen at the individual level. We believe that it is important for us as workers and leaders to cultivate broader professional identities, ones that leave space for family, community, and that find meaning in activities beyond work. Once we begin to value our leisure time, we will more easily be able to find balance between — and separate — who we are at work and who we are outside of the office. We need to start viewing free time as time for rest, recharge, and the cultivation of new skills and interests, some of which may eventually benefit our work roles as well. Once we make this change, the flexible work policies, trainings, and EGRs put into place may actually make the impact they were designed to.
Leading People Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning's online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Leading People. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
What you need to know about being in charge.
Read more on Leadership development or related topics Organizational culture, Work-life balance and Management
Marcello Russo is the global MBA director at Bologna Business School in Italy and an Associate Professor of organizational behavior at the University of Bologna. He is an expert on work-life balance, with a focus on what individual strategies and organizational factors can help individuals accomplish their ideal model of work-life balance.
Gabriele Morandin is a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Bologna and an associate dean at Bologna Business School. His research is focused on sustainable relationships at work and off-work and the conditions that allow them to flourish within organizational contexts.


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Piłka  (German Pielkau) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Koszęcin, within Lubliniec County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately  west of Koszęcin,  south-east of Lubliniec, and  north-west of the regional capital Katowice.

The village has a population of 75.

References

Villages in Lubliniec County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Organic Burgundy linen front with premium cotton knit backing. Also features two press studs for growth making it perfect for everyday dribblers or a stylish baby must have.
Why note get all three colours in our linen range. Three for $30. Mustard, burgundy a green.


text:
Tesla energy storage helps couple use almost all of the energy they generate from solar
Devon's first Tesla Powerwall reduces amount of electricity Mike and Jan buy from their energy company by 86%
A Devon couple have reduced the amount of electricity they buy from their energy company by 86%, after receiving Devon's first Tesla Powerwall energy storage device to compliment their solar panels.
Devon's first Tesla Powerwall, installed in Torquay by SunGift Energy
Mike and Jan Lister, who live in Torquay, were looking to reduce their reliance on the national grid and were among the first homeowners in the UK to have the Tesla Powerwall designed and installed to accompany their solar PV system.
This allows Mike and Jan to store the electricity that the solar panels on the roof of their house generate during the day (when the sun is shining), rather than feeding it all back to the grid when it is not used. They can then use the energy stored in the Powerwall whenever they most need it to power lights, computers, televisions and many other devices. Monitored directly from a simple app on their phones and computer, the Listers can see how much energy their solar PV system generates and how this directly stores energy into their Tesla Powerwall.
Now, with news that the Tesla Powerwall 2 – with double the storage capacity – is be available in February, households with higher energy demands will also be able to hugely reduce their need to purchase electricity from the grid.
Keeping the energy that is generated
"We have been fans of solar panels for a long time," said Mike, "but it seems such a waste to generate all that energy and then send the majority of it back to the grid. Our Powerwall now means that we are now much more self-sufficient, spend much less on our electricity bills, and could power our house even if there was a powercut or grid issues. This makes the very best use of the solar electricity that our panels generate."
Devon-based SunGift Energy is a certified Powerwall installer. The company installs many different solar-electricity-storage devices, but the US-manufactured Tesla Powerwall is the one that has gained the most attention recently. From February SunGift will have access to the next stage of the technology – the Tesla Powerwall 2 – which will have double the storage capacity of Mike and Jan's battery.
"We've already carried out a high number of installations of the Powerwall," said Ollie Gibbs, solar specialist at SunGift Energy, "and the feedback has been tremendous. Not only does it hugely reduce reliance on the grid, but also it looks modern and attractive."
Solar energy available at night
"Energy costs are forecast to rise significantly over the next few years and there are limited fossil fuel resources, so it's crucial that homeowners get the maximum benefit from their solar panels," added Ollie. "We designed Jan and Mike's Tesla Powerwall to work alongside solar PV system, giving them peace of mind that they can produce and use their own electricity supply, with backup so that electricity is available in the evening.
No maintenance required
"Homeowners are increasingly looking for simplicity, so the Powerwall is ideal because – once we've installed it – the battery is completely automated and requires no maintenance.
"The Tesla Powerwall 2, which we will have in stock from February onwards, will make it possible for houses with larger energy demands to massively reduce their reliance on the grid too."
The Listers have a 6.6kWp solar PV system, which was installed on the roof of their house by SunGift. The system includes 20 BenQ 330W Modules, a SolarEdge inverter, and a 6.4 kWh Tesla Powerwall battery. The couple can also fully monitor the performance of their solar panels and Tesla Powerwall through their SolarEdge StorEdge software.


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Cognos joins AppExchange but isn't going SaaS
BI vendor Cognos joined Salesforce.com's AppExchange marketplace this week, but that doesn't mean it's embracing SaaS, oh no. Nor does its acquisition yesterday of dashboard vendor Celequest.
By Phil Wainewright for Software as Services | January 18, 2007 -- 15:28 GMT (07:28 PST) | Topic: Tech Industry
BI vendor Cognos has followed in the footsteps of its rival BusinessObjects in joining Salesforce.com's AppExchange marketplace this week, but that doesn't mean it's embracing SaaS, oh no. UK-based title IT Week reports:
"Graham Walter, vice president of Cognos in the UK, Middle East and South Africa, ... said that although Cognos had a SaaS programme in place, it would not be offering Cognos apps as a fully hosted offering through AppExchange. He argued that offering hosted BI functionality alongside Salesforce.com would not resolve the problem of ensuring firms' standardised BI systems can report on data held in both hosted and proprietary apps."
It's been a busy week for Cognos, which yesterday announced it has bought business activity monitoring vendor Celequest. There's a SaaS spin on that story too, but it's more of a SoSaaS story than the real article.
Ken Rudin, CEO of on-demand business intelligence pureplay LucidERA (a rival of Cognos and BusinessObjects) sent me an email that spells out why the Cognos/Celequest deal won't rock any boats in the SaaS market (my emphasis added):
"My main comments are:
"Celequest was not built to be a SaaS solution. It was built for on-premise use. The SaaS offering was a last-minute attempt to reposition the company. It has been shown many times that taking traditional on-premise software, hosting it, and then calling it On Demand is like putting wings on a car and calling it an airplane. Just hosting a traditional solution doesn't make it any easier to deploy, easier to manage, or easier to use. I experienced this first-hand when I managed the Siebel CRM On Demand division at Siebel. We ended up having to rewrite most of the application to make it work as an on-demand solution.
"The SaaS attempt by Celequest was half-hearted at best, because they also continued to offer their solution as an on-premise appliance, and as a managed service where the appliance was still in the customer's data center, but managed remotely by Celequest.
"Celequest professional services were required for every deployment, meaning the product was not simple to set up. In my mind, this violates one of the three key pillars of a successful on-demand service (the other two are that the service also has to be simple to use and simple to buy.)
"I wish them luck. But, this acquisition isn't going to make Cognos any simpler to set up, simpler to use, or simpler to buy. Celequest will certainly help Cognos in the Business Activity Monitoring market, but it won't help them in the SaaS market at all."
More from Phil Wainewright
Sourcing reinvented: cloud supply chain and spend management
Big data ascends the learning curve
Cloud providers working with big data
Digital innovation at Tech City Croydon


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Christ the Word Catholic School, Rhyl, Wales
This new-build school replaced two pre-existing buildings from the 1950s and featured a centralised library and extensive glazing. The focus was very much on a community focused environment which was brough to life through CGI and visualisations for the client AHR Architects.
Visualisations of the new building and its grounds, gave a clear snapshot of how pupils could transition easily and safely around the building, whilst showing how internal classrooms and communal areas would look and feel.
© 2023 Collective Agency
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This sleeveless, hooded dress is comfy, casual and far from boring. It is detailed with a drawstring hood, a slightly high-low hem, and exposed side zippers. It feels just as comfy as your gym hoodie, but has much more style. It's cozy, sporty and the perfect Fall transition piece.


SANDOWN: Future Stars On Show In Tolworth Hurdle…….
WINCANTON: Three LIVE Races To Take In……..
TQ UPDATE: A Cracking Start to 2019………..
We hope you had a good one – can you believe it's 2019?? It only seems like yesterday that we were welcoming in the new century!!
Anyway, we start a new year fresh and raring to go and there's a lot to look forward to. Yes, January and February might not be everyone's favourite months but one we get these two out the way it's full steam ahead to the Cheltenham Festival in March.
We got it spot-on last week too in the Challow Hurdle as the exciting Champ won his fourth race over hurdles and is now as short at 5/1 for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at the Festival, while some are even talking about this novice contesting the Champion Hurdle – we'll see!
Anyway, as long as the cold weather stays away there is still a fair bit to look forward to over the next few months and we get going with the first Saturday in 2019 this weekend with LIVE action from Wincanton and Sandown.
We've seven races to take in across the two venues, with the Grade One Tolworth Novices' Hurdle the weekend's highlight – don't forget last year we saw Summerville Boy land the prize before going onto glory in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival so this is always a race to look back on in a few months time.
With eight wins between them in the last fourteen runnings then the powerhouse yards of Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson should always be respected in Saturday's Tolworth Hurdle.
Have a Great Weekend and we hope you have a top 2019!
This Week At Trainers-Quotes: Yards Start 2019 In Style…………….
The consistent Gino Trail, who was second in this race last year, can be expected to go well and is a proven course and distance winner here at the track. However, he's not getting any younger at 12 years-old and having not been out for 268 days then there is every chance he might just need this – 11 of the last 12 winners of this race had raced in the last two months. Overtown Express was third in the race last year but hasn't quite fulfilled his potential so the safe bet here is to stick with the in-form CAPELAND, from the Paul Nicholls yard that has a good record in this race. This 7 year-old has won three of his last four starts and despite being up another 7lbs here has been winning with a tad more in-hand than the official margins suggest. Of the rest, CD winner Tara Bridge and the Lucy Wadham-trained Movie Legend are other consistent sorts that should run their races.
A decent renewal of this Novice Hurdle and with three winners since 2006 going onto land a race at the Cheltenham Festival that same season then this is a contest to look back on in a few months. Last year's winner – Summerville Boy – was the latest of those winners after he went on to take the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on the opening day of the 2018 Festival. Plenty of key trends to take into the race too and it's been a good contest for favourite backers with 7 of the last 14 market leaders winning, while 10 of the last 14 jollies were placed. The Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson yards have good record in the race too with 4 wins and 5 wins to their names. Nicholls has Grand Sancy, who needs to bounce back from a recent fourth at Ascot, and Southfield Stone, who has done little wrong in winning his last three. However, Henderson had several entries for JP McManus earlier in the week so with Barry Geraghty picking RATHHILL then it's hard to ignore his chance. He was a good winner on his hurdles debut at Newbury last time out and looked to have a lot more to come. That win also came on soft ground and with quotes of around 16/1 (odds are subject to chance) for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle then he's clearly well regarded. The Tizzard-trained Elixir De Nutz is another that's sure to be popular after winning his last two at Cheltenham – plus the yard won this prize in 2017. But with six career runs he might just be prone to an improver, while those last two wins came on much quicker ground than his going to get here. I'll stick with Henderson, who is looking for his sixth success in the race with his Rathhill looking as if he's got a bit more scope for improvement.
Some old faces on show here. The Charlie Longsdon pair of Loose Chips and Pete The Feat, who won this in 2017 are respected but at 13 and 15 years-old are no spring chickens. Buywise is another past winner of the race (2018) and is back down to that winning mark here but has been well below-par in recent runs. The consistent Exitas, Band Of Blood, Cultram Abbey and Rathlin Rose are others to note, while the 2017 Bet365 Gold Cup hero Henllan Harri can't be discounted either as he's returned in good form of late. However, the Venetia Williams yard are in top form of late, so it might be worth chancing her pair – HOUBLON DES OBEAUX (e/w) and TENOR NIVERNAIS (e/w). The former is extremely well-handicapped on old form – once rated in the 160's – and has run with credit twice already this season. He was sixth in the race last year too, but is now 8lbs lower. Tenor Nivernais is also looking well-handicapped at the moment and should be a lot fitter for two recent runs at Sandown and Ludlow.
With 11 of the last 13 winners aged between 5-7 years-old then this is a decent trends to apply to the race – yes, good news for most, but it will help knock a few out. The lightly-raced Demopolis with Barry Geragthy riding is another punters are sure to latch onto, while the same can be said for the Paul Nicholls-trained Saintemilion, who is returning from a 740 day break. But 8 of the last 13 winners also won with 10-12 or less in weight so Thistimenextyear and MONSIEUR LECOQ (e/w) make plenty of appeal. The last-named gets the nod though after catching the eye with a smooth 7 length win at Ffos Las last time out. He acted well in soft/heavy ground that day and with just five career runs should have more to offer. This 5 year-old also gets in here with just 10-9 to carry and Lizzie Kelly helps by taking off a further 3lbs. Finally, OUR MERLIN bounced back to form last time out at Wincanton and even though he's up 8lbs he ran well at this meeting last year and won't mind the softer ground – he rates the main danger to the selection.
WINCANTON: Three LIVE Races To Enjoy…………..
With a 33% record with his chasers at the track then it's hard to get away from the Nicky Henderson-trained – KUPATANA – here. Yes, he needs to bounce back from unseating last time out but was in the process of running a good race and prior to that had shown some nice promise. Barton Knoll and The Dellercheckout are others to consider.
Anything the Paul Nicholls yard run should be respected as they've a decent 38% record with their hurdlers at the track – at this stage they've got Magoo entered. But with the Tom George yard having won this race in 2017 with KK LEXION (e/w) looks the most interesting. He returned to the track last time with a fine third at Doncaster and with that coming off a 188 day break then he can be expected to have improved for it. He's only 3lbs higher than when winning this prize a few years ago and acts well in all ground types. Of the rest, recent winners Earlofthecotswolds and Dark Episode head into the race in great form and can go well, while it's hard to ignore the Henderson-trained Wallace Spirit, who returned with a fine third last time out at Kempton.
Course winner Catamaran Du Seuil wasn't disgraced when running eighth last time out in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham and is one for the shortlist. THEINVAL (e/w) is generally a consistent performer and should be thereabouts too. He should strip fitter for two recent runs at Ascot and Cheltenham and represents the in-form Nicky Henderson yard – he looks the safest option in an open race. Paul Nicholls has Copain De Classe and being a proven course winner then he enters the mix too with Bryony Frost riding. The in-form Venetia Williams team have Calipto, but having unseated in two of his last three that would be a concern. Sizing Platinum can't be ruled out either on his best form but at 11 years-old isn't getting any younger and also needs to defy a 188 day absence from the track.


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text:
Q: Greasemonkey if/else timeout with dates I'm trying to write a script that refreshes a page every 10 seconds, but I want to have a different page every hour. Here's a simplified version of what I have so far using only two hour periods:
// ==UserScript==
// @name        RCS testing 12 - 21
// @namespace   cat1788@gmail.com
// @include     *
// @version     1
// @grant       none
// ==/UserScript==

setTimeout(function () {
  var today = new Date().getHours();
  //console.log(today);
  if (today >= 12 && today <= 13) {
      window.location.href = 'http://google.com';
  } else if (today >= 13 && today <= 14) {
      window.location.href = 'http://bing.com';
  }
}, 10000);

What's happening, though, is that only the first page ever starts on it's refresh cycle: what have I done wrong?
I'm new to Greasemonkey so maybe I've made a very basic mistake here, I hope you can help!
Thanks for your help,
Cat

A: Thanks to @JaromandaX and @ShadowRanger, I don't need to use a period of time, I can just use the hour integer:
setTimeout(function () {
  var hour = new Date().getHours();
  //console.log(today);
  if (hour === 12) {
      window.location.href = 'http://google.com';
  } else if (hour === 13) {
      window.location.href = 'http://bing.com';
  }
}, 10000);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Category: Hill's Cafe
Songwriters Across Texas Supper Club (04/05/2018)
Songwriters Across Texas and Hill's Cafe have been hosting the Supper Club for almost a year now and it's always a fun thing to do. But, it's also a lot of work…especially for Hill's manager and staff! So, for April, the honoree was Hill's Cafe manager, Marianna Marchesini…with a special thanks to all of her staff. While it was supposed to be a surprise, someone told, but it was still special! And the music by two of our favorites, Leeann Atherton and Jim Stringer, just made it even more fun. 😊
Author Carole BPosted on April 5, 2018 April 27, 2018 Categories Hill's Cafe, Songwriters Across TexasTags Jim Stringer, Leeann Atherton
What a party was had!! Songwriters Across Texas honored Lane Gosnay for her continuing support of songwriters and musicians at The Bugle Boy in LaGrange, TX. What a sweet lady she is!! The music was by none other than Shake Russell and Michael Hearne accompanied on bass by Mike Roberts!! All we can say about these guys is…WOW!!! You've got to hear them! And, while you're at it, stop in at The Bugle Boy and say "Hi" to Lane! And, I got a new theme song…check it out in the video below!!!
Author Carole BPosted on March 1, 2018 March 2, 2018 Categories Hill's Cafe, Songwriters Across TexasTags Lane Gosn, Lane Gosnay, Michael Hearne, Mike Russell, Shake Russell, The Bugle Boy
Every month, when Songwriters Across Texas features a couple of songwriters at a special show, the historic Hill's Cafe really goes all out to help spotlight the entertainers and honor the special guests.
This month, the focus was on the "Young Guns"…..talented young musicians just getting a foothold in the music scene.
Lucas Sousa is 17 and writes songs to rival more experienced writers. His singing and presentation reminds you a very young George Strait.
Lucas Johnson is 19 and has that "blues" touch to his songs and playing. But, not only can this young man write songs and sing, he's awesome on guitar and fiddle.
With young musicians like these coming up, we don't have to worry about the future of our music. 😉
Author Carole BPosted on January 4, 2018 January 19, 2018 Categories Hill's Cafe, Songwriters Across TexasTags Lucas Johnson, Lucas Sousa


mod_evasive is a very simplistic module to limit connections per IP.
limits the number of connections per IP.
In this case, default sites get 1 connections, example.com 2 and example2.com unlimited.
doesn't log blocked ips in error.log if enabled.


RFA Sir Galahad after being set ablaze by bombs dropped from Skyhawks during the Falklands War.
Four British warships were sunk by bombs dropped from Skyhawks, including RFA Sir Galahad, a troop carrier that was set ablaze while anchored in Bluff Cove, killing 48 sailors and soldiers. Simon Weston, the badly burned veteran, was among the survivors. Another four ships were damaged by Skyhawks.
A book published in Argentina in 2011 exposed how Israel armed General Galtieri's junta, dispatching weaponry to Buenos Aires on secret cargo flights routed through Peru. The Foreign Office files provide further evidence.
The documents state that Israeli military exports to Argentina continued after the Falklands War and were still happening in 1984. By then, Israel had abandoned its previous policy of denying that any weapons sales were taking place.
The document, released by the National Archives and dated Nov 16, 1984, adds that Israel was, at that time, poised to sell Argentina spy planes designed to gather electronic and signals intelligence. The document states that Sir Geoffrey Howe, then foreign secretary, had personally asked Israel's government not to go ahead.
But Mr Long thought Israel would pay no attention. "I do not believe the Israelis are to be moved on this issue," he writes.
In his book, Operation Israel, the Argentine journalist Hernan Dobry writes that Israel provided the spare parts and long range fuel tanks needed to keep these aircraft in action against the Task Force. When British diplomats confronted their Israeli counterparts with evidence of arms sales, they were met with blanket denials.


text:
01/03/2017 3:42 PM AEDT | Updated 01/03/2017 4:27 PM AEDT
Bogut And LeBron Are Going To Be Besties Now, And That's No Tall Story
Seven foot Aussie Andrew Bogut is bound for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
By Anthony Sharwood
NBAE/Getty Images
He looked so nice in blue too. Oh well.
Andrew Bogut is off to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The ink is not dry yet, but it's a deal which should be completed by Friday, and will give the 213cm Aussie a serious shot at a second NBA title.
Bogut is 32 now. Famously, he was selected at number one in the 2005 NBA draft, which meant he was rated by keen judges as the pick of the annual crop of new talent. Did he go on to become the biggest thing in the sport? He did not. But he's still had himself one heck of a respectable career.
REPORTS: Andrew Bogut has committed to sign with the @cavs. (via @TheVertical)
MORE: https://t.co/mueWpUDGOppic.twitter.com/GqQvT397Gl
— NBA TV (@NBATV) 1 de março de 2017
You only had to watch Bogut in action for Australia at the Rio Olympics last year to understand the big man's worth, especially in defence. While Patty Mills was the Boomers' best, Bogut was this great big presence in the middle of the court who frustrated all opponents. He was handy in attack too, as you'd expect for a bloke who averages 10 points per game in the NBA.
Bogut spent the last few years alongside the NBA's current best player Steph Curry at the Golden State Warriors, with whom he won an NBA ring in 2015. This season, he moved to the Dallas Mavericks. Without getting bogged down in the minutiae of trade deals, the Mavericks had their eye on a particular young player, and were happy to shed Bogut as part of the deal.
The fact he hadn't played since January due to a hamstring injury was perhaps instrumental in the Mavericks' thinking.
Noah Graham via Getty Images
Would you please stow your large golden trophies in the overhead locker.
So now he's off to Cleveland, who just happen to be the reigning NBA champs, and who just happen to have the other best player in the league in LeBron James. Bogut will be earning a reported $1.55 million a year, which is the minimum for a veteran.
And so, the stage is set. The way the standings look this year, it's looking fairly likely that the Cavs and the Warriors could meet in the NBLA finals for the third straight season (the Warriors won in '15, the Cavs in '16). If it comes to that, Bogut may have to tap himself on the shoulder to remind himself which dressing room to go to.
Anthony Sharwood Sports Editor, HuffPost Australia
MORE: Andrew Bogut basketball cleveland cavaliers nba sport
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The S Note app will come pre-installed on your Samsung Galaxy S5 and is a quick and convenient way to take both typed and handwritten notes on the go. You can even sync them with Evernote if you choose so they're available everywhere.
When you go to create a new note in S Note, you'll see a pen tool in the upper left hand corner. To toggle between free hand writing and typed notes, just tap either the T next to the pen tool or expand the pen tool menu and select the type of writing utensil yo'd like, color, and more. Some writing utilities have thicker tips than others.
Also notice that you have a decent formatting bar along the top too which lets you undo and redo actions. Tap on the menu button in the upper right hand corner — it looks like three dots. From this menu you can perform even more actions. This is where you'll go when you want to add a page to your note. You can also share your notes from this menu.
S Note comes complete with lots of different templates including checklists, meeting agenda notes, blank sheets, and more. When you launch S Note for the first time you'll be asked to choose a default template. You can always change it later and on a case by case basis but this is the template S Note will default to for new notes.
Inside any page of a note, tap the menu button to access even more options. You can even record a sketch, magnify notes, and more.
Do you use S Note or something else?
If you have a Samsung Galaxy S5 or another Samsung device, do you ever use S Note or S Memo? Why or why not? I personally prefer just using Evernote but I can see why some of the templates and options in S Note may be more convenient to some folks. Let me know what you use in the comments!


text:
Winners Calls
A series of social-ready animations to prompt people to enter the O2 Priority prize draws.
The lottery. The school raffle. That time you guessed how many jelly beans were in the jar at that village fete and never got a call back. These are the moments that shape us and make us all think "What's the point? It'll never happen to me…"
Our mission was to work with O2 to develop a bunch of vids that help shine a light on the winners of the O2 Priority Prize Draws—proving that age old notion of "you gotta be in it to win it."
Using a bunch of phone calls with actual prize draw winners, we assembled six videos that show off the breadth and scale of the prizes you can win through Priority, as well as showcasing the actual winners themselves. It's all about the fact that people actually do win this stuff, like two Mini Coopers and a trip to Dubai. Noice.
After playing around with some concepts, we decided that focusing on a kinetic typography approach, along with some character animation, would be a nice mixture of social-ready, sound-off content, but also not falling down a text-only route. Nice to have a bit of personality to them and to humanise the whole idea, reinforcing the fact these are real people who've won the prize draws, prompting others to enter.
With a suite of clips that were rolled out through social channels and through the Priority app, the client had a bunch of ammo with which to get users on-board and throwing their hat into the ring to win some cool stuff.
Jess Gardner
Eryn Creed
Alex Bull
Sian Westcott


included. All sessions captioned for communication access.
n Language and Interpreting Practice Tapes; Sign Enhancers, Inc.
Signing Treasures: Excerpts from Signing Naturally Videos; Dawn Pictures.
Advanced ASL Stories; Gallaudet University, 30 min.
One Interview: Transliterating; Job Interview; Sign Enhancers, Inc.
Blind Communication and Community, Getting Involved: A Conversation; T.
College. (Set: 1 text plus 2 videos. Text available in large print upon request.), 2001.
J) 60 min. each. Live studio audience.
Interpreting the Miranda Warnings; Sign Media Inc.
Training Program. 2002, 17 min.
Working with a Sign Language Interpreter, Sign Media Inc.
School for the Deaf, UALR, 1999.
An Introduction to American Deaf Culture, By MJ Bienvenu and Betty Colonomos; Sign Media, Inc.
Deaf Culture Autobiographies, Sign Enhancers, Inc.
UCSF Center on Deafness, 35 min.
Specialty Tapes, Children Signers, Sign Enhancers, Inc.
Sports Sign Series, Sign Media, Inc.
Fingerspelling Practice Tapes; Sign Media, Inc.
ASL Numbers: Developing Your Skills; Sign Media, Inc.
provides a unique and unparalleled access to how deaf people talk to each other about their work.
Pah! I'm in College...Now What?; Western Oregon University, 1998, 29 min.
THE DEAF IN RUSSIA" (A.
Russian written and manual alphabets).
the Russian written and manual alphabets).
Internal Discussions: An Appointment in Cardiology; RSA Region V, The College of St.
RSA Region V, the College of St.
By the Book: Interpreting an Intake in a County Jail; RSA Region V, The College of St.
d Inflection Guide, NTID/RIT, 2000.
Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. (1994).
(Annotated Bibliography. Alexandria, VA: Deaf Family Research Press.
Cartwright, B.E. & Bahleda, S.J. (2002).
. Washington D.C.: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc.
D.C.: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc.
KS: Johnson County Community College, Regional Interpreter Training Project.
Cornett, R. O. & Daisey M. E. (Eds.) (1992).
. Hillsboro, OR: Butte Publications.
Hairston, E & Smith, L. (1983).
Silver Spring, MD: TJ Publishers.
, J.M. & S.J. Rawlinson. (1999).
Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. (2000).
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. (2002).
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. (2004).
Self Help for the Hard of Hearing. (2000).
. Nashville, TN: Tennessee Council for the Hearing Impaired.
Edition. Burtonsville, MD: Linstock Press.
. Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media Inc.
edition). Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media Inc.
Sternberg, M., Tipton, C., & Schein, J. (1973).
. Burtonsville, MD: Linstok Press.
Stuckless, E. R., Avery, J.C., Hurwitz, T.A.. (Eds.) (1989).
. Hillsboro, OR: Butte Publications, Inc.
. RSA Region V, College of St. Catherine/SLICES; MN.
. Washington D.C.: Alexander Grahm Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc.
. Silver Spring, MD: TJ Publishers.
Humphries, T., Padden, C., & O'Rourke, T. J. (Eds.) (1991).


text:
Q: unexpected behavior in moment js when converting string to datetime in nodejs I want to convert '03/08/2017  01:00:01 'to datetime object in node.js so that I can get the specific day and month in the date. eg : month is 08 and day is 03 for above example.
please refer the below code snippet, it gives me below result.
const myDate = moment('03/08/2017  01:00:01 '.trim(),  ['DD/MM/YYYY  hh:mm:ss'], true).utcOffset(0).toDate();
console.log(myDate); //result 2017-08-02T19:30:01.000Z
console.log(myDate.getUTCFullYear()); //result 2017
console.log(myDate.getUTCMonth()); //result 7
console.log(myDate.getUTCDay()); //result 4

further, I tried below code snippets. here I couldn't able to use .toDate() function to convert it to datetime object.
let date = moment.parseZone(myDate).format('YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss');
console.log(date); // result 2017-08-03 01:00:01

here it gives the correct date but I couldn't able to extract the month from it.
let date_ = moment(new Date(date), 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:mm:ss').format('LLL');
console.log(date_); // result August 3, 2017 1:00 AM

below code snippet also give the first result. I executed all of these lines in a single file
let _date = moment(new Date(date)).utc().toDate();
console.log(_date);// result 2017-08-02T19:30:01.000Z
console.log(_date.getUTCFullYear()); //result 2017
console.log(_date.getUTCMonth()); //result 7
console.log(_date.getUTCDay()); //result 3

A: As the documentation states:

By default, moment parses and displays in local time.
If you want to parse or display a moment in UTC, you can use
  moment.utc() instead of moment().

so one possible approach would be to work in UTC and do:
const myDate2 = moment.utc('03/08/2017  01:00:01',  ['DD/MM/YYYY  hh:mm:ss'], true).toDate();
console.log(myDate2.getUTCDate());
console.log(myDate2.getUTCMonth() + 1);
console.log(myDate2.getUTCHours());

Note that in order to get the day number, one has to call getUTCDate, the getUTCDay/getDay returns the day of the week instead. Also, the month number returned by getMonth/getUTCMonth is in the range 0-11 so one has to increment the result by one.
Alternatively, one can work in local date and do:
const myDate1 = moment('03/08/2017  01:00:01',  ['DD/MM/YYYY  hh:mm:ss'], true).toDate();
console.log(myDate1.getDate());
console.log(myDate1.getMonth() + 1);
console.log(myDate1.getHours());


text:
Home Expert Reviews 'Agnipath Scheme': Why India's "Highly Criticized" Modernization Drive For Its Military Is...
'Agnipath Scheme': Why India's "Highly Criticized" Modernization Drive For Its Military Is A Historic Decision By Modi Govt
India's cabinet, headed by PM Modi, has cleared the Agnipath scheme and termed it a "transformative reform." Agnipath roughly translates to Firepath and Agniveer means Fire Warriors or Fiery Warriors.
Prakash Nanda
As the Indian government cleared the "Agnipath" scheme for recruiting youth in the Armed Forces, purists or conservatives among the military veterans appear to be unhappy with the decision.
Forty-six thousand young persons in the age group of 17.5 to 21 years will be recruited this year (2022) and will be called "Agniveers."
India's cabinet, headed by PM Narendra Modi, has cleared the Agnipath scheme and termed it a "transformative reform." Agnipath roughly translates to Firepath and Agniveer means Fire Warriors or Fiery Warriors.
The Agnipath scheme will provide "A unique opportunity to the youth to serve the country and contribute to Nation Building"; make "Armed Forces profile to be youthful and dynamic"; offer "Attractive financial package for the Agniveers"; train "Agniveers in the best institutions and enhance their skills & qualifications"; offer "Adequate re-employment opportunities for those returning to society and who could emerge as role models for the youth"; and ensure "Availability of well-disciplined and skilled youth with military ethos in civil society."
After the scheme's implementation, the average age profile of the Indian Armed forces, which is between 30 and 34 years at the moment, will come down by about 4-5 years, making the Indian military "young and fit," it is said.
But the scheme is for personnel below officer rank (PBOR) recruited for four years. They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces, different from any other existing ranks.
Upon the completion of four years of service, based on organizational requirements and policies promulgated by the Armed Forces from time to time, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces.
These applications will be considered centralized based on objective criteria, including performance during their four-year engagement period. Up to 25% of each batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in regular cadres of the Armed Forces.
They would be required to serve for a further engagement period of 15 years. They would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior Commissioned Officers/Other Ranks in the Indian Army and their equivalent in the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, and Non-Combatants enrolled in the Indian Air Force, as amended from time to time.
According to the scheme, Agniveers will be given an attractive customized monthly package (Rs. 30,000 in the first year with annual increments to have Rs.40000 in the fourth year) along with "Risk and Hardship allowances" as applicable in the three services. Each month they will be providing a fixed sum to a "Corpus Fund," and the government will equally match this amount.
On completion of the engagement period of four years, Agniveers will receive a one-time 'Seva Nidhi' package, which shall comprise their contribution, including accrued interest thereon and a matching contribution from the government equal to the accumulated amount of their contribution, including interests. The 'Seva Nidhi' will be exempt from Income Tax. However, there shall be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits.
The Indian Army hoists the country's national flag at Galwan Valley, eastern Ladakh, on New Year 2022. (via Twitter)
The government says that after their stint of four years, the Agniveers will foray into the civil society, where they can contribute immensely to the nation-building process. Agniveers will receive a certificate for the skills gained.
"The avenues and opportunities that will open up for their progress in the civil world (government and private jobs) after Agniveer's tenure would certainly be a big plus towards nation-building.
Moreover, the 'Seva Nidhi' of approximately Rs 11.71 lakh would aid the Agniveer to pursue their future dreams without the financial pressure, which is normally the case for young people from the financially deprived strata of society", according to the announced scheme.
Agnipath Scheme – Criticism Galore
However, the scheme is not without criticism. Many veterans such as Lt. Generals KJ Singh and Jaishankar Menon and Major Generals like V K Madhok and Raj Mehta have argued against Agneeveers.
They are concerned that a combat soldier cannot be trained in four years, and the scheme thus compromises national security.
As Colonel Rathore agrees with these veterans, "the idea of shortened training spell indirectly trivializes the skill-sets for which the armed forces train their cadres so diligently. For instance, the Army alone has over 150 trades, which is peculiar.
The tenure of a soldier or sailor or airman under the Agnipath scheme would be chock-a-block with activities. In his four-year tenure, the recruitment training, authorized leaves, and temporary duties would eat up to 90 weeks.
Is it possible to groom a green soldier as a missile pilot, a tank and artillery gunner, a machine gunner, a vehicle driver, or even a scout who moves ahead of an infantry section in the remaining period and then loses him?"
Thirdly, they argue that retrenching youth from the armed forces after four years will create security problems. Given the experience of retired soldiers at the age of 38, it is complicated to get absorbed into the paramilitary forces. In other civilian sectors, mostly the retired armed forces personnel get jobs as guards in the private security agencies. Mostly, they cannot find respectable employment and are dependent on their pensions and other post-retirement benefits.
However, in the case of Agneeveers, so run the arguments, as they will be leaving the armed forces at a tender age of 21 to 25, they can, if unemployed, fall prey to the lure of crime syndicates, radical political outfits, and worse the foreign intelligence agencies.
Trained in handling weapons and explosives and having the basic knowledge of military establishments functioning, such a person can be a real security threat. Some of the more enterprising ones could join the overseas mercenary groups and private military contractors (PMCs). After all, in Ukraine today, many PMCs are fighting for that country.
Agnipath Scheme For Indian Army
But then, these are the criticisms, in some form or the other, have been there ever since the idea, called Tour of Duty then, was mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2015 and pursued vigorously by late Defence minister Manohar Parrikar and late Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat (he was highlighting it even as the Army Chief).
Parrikar and Rawat believed the idea should be first applied to the Indian Army. Though the scheme announced will cover all three services, the Army will be tested the most for all practical purposes.
A significant concern of the government has always been that "manpower costs are also eating into the capital allocation of the armed forces to cover revenue demand." budgetary constraints happen to be a significant factor in this decision. For instance, India's defense budget for 2022-23 is Rs 5.25 lakh crore, of which Rs 1.2 lakh crore is for the pension component, let alone the salaries.
As Amit Cowshish, a retired senior defense ministry official, says, of the total defense budget this year, 44.37% is earmarked for the services' revenue expenditure, 29.01% for meeting their capital requirement, and 22.79% for defense pensions. And salaries plus pensions account for 55.3% of the services' total revenue budget.
In the Indian Army, the largest of the three services, salaries account for an even higher share of the revenue budget. From 69.16% in the current fiscal, this goes up to 70.78% in the FY23. To put it in perspective, it was 60.92% in 2010-11.
Cowshish's point is that salaries and pensions of the three services (armed forces personnel, auxiliary forces, and the civilians working in defense establishments) have been increasing steadily as a revenue budget. It has risen from 61.98% in FY22 to 64.1% in FY23.
Against this background, it is reportedly estimated that the "prospective life-term saving" in the cost of engagement of a jawan who leaves after 17 years of service with pension and other benefits, as compared to an Agniveer, will be Rs 11.5 crore.
National defense budget management is essential. There has to be a significant percentage for Capital acquisitions. No major country can afford to have adverse capital to revenue expenditure and pension bill ratios. The modernization of the forces is essential.
And one of the best ways to achieve the above is to reduce the workforce. In fact, in the last 25 years, all major armed forces have cut the workforce.
Leaner, Meaner Army
In 2003, China decided to trim down its then 2.5 million-strong force. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly talked of reorganizing China's military to create a leaner army. At the moment, its Army is 2.3 million strong. Xi reportedly wants to bring it under 1 (one) million.
File Image: A Z-8 helicopter with the flag of PLA (Wikimedia Commons)
On the other hand, China would like to increase its Navy and Air Force size and make all the forces high-tech, depending on robots or Artificial Intelligence (AI). Xi recently said, "quantity should be reduced, quality improved to build a capable and efficient modernized standing army."
In 2012, Great Britain announced a 20% cut, reducing its strength of the Army to 82,000 combatants by the end of the decade. And going to the UK 2021 Defence Review, entitled 'Defence in a Competitive Age,' the United Kingdom's Army is about to shrink further to 10,000 soldiers to augment and modernize technological investments.
The Defence Review says that £23 billion has been set aside for funding in such specialized areas as the new National Cyber Force, Autonomous weapons Systems (AWS), and Space.
Rejecting the theory of classic hard power and troop size, Russia under President Vladimir Putin has turned its military into a lean and quick-strike force. Nowadays, Russian soldiers fight out of brigades, not large divisions.
Similarly, the United States has decided to have smaller and leaner armed forces, given the financial constraints that the country is facing right now. The Pentagon has been asked to massively cut its budget by several hundred billion dollars.
File Image: US Soldiers with Indian Troops in Alaska
The US Army is reportedly preparing to downsize 40,000 more active-duty personnel from 490,000 to 450,000. However, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force will experience much smaller force reductions. At the same time, care will be taken to ensure that the decrease in manpower will not compromise the fighting capabilities of the US military.
Similarly, the Modi government stresses that a leaner military, like the downsized armed forces of the world's four foremost military powers, will not mean a weaker military.
The reduced workforce will leave more resources for the capital expenditure to have new technologies and more intelligent systems such as ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) and unmanned systems in space, particularly in cyberspace capabilities.
The Indian armed forces can be more agile, flexible, lethal, innovative, and creative with better hardware. Its extended technological edge can be more destructive than the numerical strength of the enemies.
Viewed thus, the time for the Agnipath scheme had come indeed!
Author and veteran journalist Prakash Nanda is Chairman of Editorial Board – EurAsian Times and has been commenting on politics, foreign policy on strategic affairs for nearly three decades. A former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Scholarship, he is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. CONTACT: prakash.nanda@hotmail.com
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Author and veteran journalist Prakash Nanda has been commenting on Indian politics, foreign policy on strategic affairs for nearly three decades. A former National Fellow of the Indian Council for Historical Research and recipient of the Seoul Peace Prize Scholarship, he is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He has been a Visiting Professor at Yonsei University (Seoul) and FMSH (Paris). He has also been the Chairman of the Governing Body of leading colleges of the Delhi University. Educated at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he has undergone professional courses at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Boston) and Seoul National University (Seoul). Apart from writing many monographs and chapters for various books, he has authored books: Prime Minister Modi: Challenges Ahead; Rediscovering Asia: Evolution of India's Look-East Policy; Rising India: Friends and Foes; Nuclearization of Divided Nations: Pakistan, Koreas and India; Vajpayee's Foreign Policy: Daring the Irreversible. He has written over 3000 articles and columns in India's national media and several international dailies and magazines. CONTACT: prakash.nanda@hotmail.com


A new diagnosis can be overwhelming and often leaves us with many questions. You are wise to seek information. Prediabetes is when your blood sugars are high, but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. This term is phasing out the former description "borderline diabetes," giving it a more direct connotation. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 84 million American adults have prediabetes, and of these, 90 percent don't know they have it.
The good news is you can prevent prediabetes from becoming type 2 diabetes by making lifestyle changes. Some estimate you can reduce the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 40-70 percent.
An A1C level of 5.7 percent to 6.4 percent. Your A1C is a 3-month average of blood sugar levels.
Fasting glucose level of 100 – 125 mg/dl. Fasting means you haven't eaten for at least eight hours prior to the glucose test.
Two-hour oral glucose tolerance test of 140-199 mg/dl. This test is used to diagnose gestational diabetes.
Ethnicity- Prediabetes rates are higher in African American, Hispanic and Native American ethnicities.
Of these risk factors, there are two things you can change: weight and physical activity. If you need to lose weight, do it. While in clinical practice, I would encourage patients to try a new health plan for 30 days. This is the toughest time because you are making changes in behavior, but might not see results yet. Once you start seeing the fruits of your labor, it motivates you to carry on.
Beware of food plans that are too restrictive, both in calories and food groups. A program that is too restrictive only makes us feel deprived and who needs that? Furthermore, it sets you up for failure. You are more likely to say "to heck with it," and eat everything in sight. It's hard to get back on track after that.
Exercise is as important as eating healthy when it comes to prediabetes. Physical activity moves blood sugar from your extremities to your core where it can be utilized. Again, don't overdo it. If you haven't been exercising, start with a half-mile walk three times a week, then increase slowly to reach a goal of 150 minutes per week. The good thing about exercise is it makes us feel better, so we keep doing it.


Did Prince Harry break American actress Juliette Labelle's heart? Was Juliette expecting more than a fling only to find out Harry is engaged to a British mystery woman?
Kate Middleton's brother-in-law certainly does enjoy partying! If Us Weekly sources are to be believed, then the ginger prince enjoyed a bit of a romance with Juliette while on holiday in Los Angeles recently. For Harry, it may have been a fun fling. But Juliette may have thought it was more than a quickie hook-up.
The beautiful blonde former Dior public relations assistant reportedly found out that Prince Harry has a girl back home in Britain. There are whispers that Harry is engaged to a currently unnamed British beauty. However, sources say Harry and Juliette are still texting each other.
There are all kinds of stories linking Harry romantically to Pippa Middleton, Princess Diana's niece Lady Kitty Spencer, distant cousin Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece, and English model Suki Waterhouse. Except for Kate Middleton's sister Pippa, the ladies are certainly Prince Harry's type! Juliette, Suki, and Kitty are all gorgeous, leggy blondes. Is the fifth-in-line to the throne really ready to settle down and be a husband and father?
It's unlikely that Queen Elizabeth would approve of any of the ladies Prince Harry has been allegedly dating – or just hooking-up with – lately.
Royal insiders have said that Queen Elizabeth and Kate Middleton would love to see Prince Harry reunited with long-time love Chelsy Davy. Harry dated Chelsy for seven years before the couple split up in 2011. There was even talk that Harry and Chelsy had reunited for a short time in 2015.
Cressida Bonas is another of Harry's exes that the Duchess of Cambridge and Queen Elizabeth would prefer Prince Harry choose as a Royal bride.
Let's face it – Lady Kitty is not an appropriate choice despite her aristocratic breeding. And there's even less of a chance Prince Harry will marry an American actress. If Lady Kitty isn't acceptable Royal bride, then Pippa Middleton is definitely not going to snag Prince Harry. But that's not to say Carole Middleton wouldn't do whatever it takes to grab another Royal son-in-law!
We're still wondering – who is this mystery lady in Britain to whom Prince Harry is engaged? Is there such a lucky lady? Let us know what you think in the comments section below and come back to CDL for the latest Royal Family news.
Princess Diana Deserved a Fairytale Ending with Dodi Fayed: Author Frances Collins Makes Royal Dreams Come True in First Novel!
Prince Harry, Cressida Bonas Dating – Couple Reunites Despite Hollywood Famewhoring: Royal Family Furious!
Prince Harry and Prince William Demand Queen Elizabeth Reinstate Princess Diana's 'Her Royal Highness' Title – Queen Furious?


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