Centering on plastic molding, we handle all kinds of processes, from project involvement and development support to assembly, shipment, and distribution.
Through our versatile techniques and capability, Kuroda Kagaku handles a wide variety of molding and project involvement processes, from development cooperation to product design, material selection, analysis, prototyping, mold making, and assembly. We also actively work to develop processing methods, as well as to produce processing facilities and testing equipment.
We are guided by the goal of harmonizing with the global natural environment through wholesome business activities, and have acquired ISO14001 certification at all of our locations.
We reduce product weight and minimize runner size using CAE analysis. We also achieve weight reduction through product design (e.g. using plastics in place of metal). In addition, we work to promote the recycling of waste materials (e.g. using compounds made from discarded PET bottles). Our other environmental conservation activities include reducing energy consumption by improving molding methods, reducing CO2 emissions by using electrically driven molding machines, and making efforts toward longer equipment lifespans.
Quality is built into products through consultation with the customer, starting from the development stage, regarding product shapes, production processes, and other details.
The quality assurance and production departments work closely together to properly manage the four Ms (men, machinery, methods, and materials). The know-how accumulated in the mass production process is incorporated in the product design and process planning processes. The inspection and evaluation processes involve the use of various equipment, including a three-dimensional measuring device, a surface roughness measuring instrument, a contour measuring instrument, a roundness measuring instrument, and a three-dimensional scanner. We also proactively introduce inspection systems that do not rely on manual operation or human senses. All of our locations within Japan and overseas have acquired ISO9001 certification, as well as proceeding with acquisition of IATF16949 certification. All of our overseas subsidiaries feature the same level of quality control systems as in Japan.
We manufacture and deliver products according to customers' needs.
We strictly adhere to scheduled delivery date for all products. We can also handle items manufactured at overseas locations.
We can rapidly and flexibly construct optimal production lines.
Our production engineering teams develop processing methods, fabricate production tools, install processing facilities and testing equipment, and conduct other related work, allowing us to flexibly build production lines and quickly have mass production up and running.
We can handle complex products composed of numerous parts, while flexibly setting up dedicated production lines.
We can handle complex products comprising more than 200 components, and can procure metal parts and electronic products. We are also flexible when it comes to setting up dedicated production lines.
We can rapidly produce various prototypes, including models to evaluate appearance, or models with embedded mechanisms.
We make prototypes using various methods, including CAD/CAM-based machining and laser beam cutting. We can produce various prototypes, including models to evaluate appearance, or models with embedded mechanisms.
We make optimal molds in-house, leveraging our cutting-edge mold design techniques and know-how.
We make optimal molds in-house for each production process, leveraging our cutting-edge mold design techniques and accumulated know-how. By using 3D CAD software, integrating 3D data from different processes, and using CAE analysis and our experience in molding processes, we can help your mass production start more rapidly.
We have the technological capability to handle a wide range of materials and molding methods.
With our wide variety of molding technology and equipment, we can handle a wide range of products and materials. We can also mold plastic integrally with other materials, such as metal or glass. We are also constantly working on new molding technologies, including MuCell® microcellular foam injection molding, which is excellent for weight reduction and dimensional stabilization.
We can handle a wide variety of plastics, from commodity plastics to super engineering plastics.
We have accumulated a wide range of processing know-how related to engineering plastics, and we are always studying new materials.
Accumulated mass production know-how is reflected in product design.
We apply our accumulated mass production know-how to product design, allowing us to minimize defects. Using 3D CAD systems, we achieve short lead times in product design.
We achieve desired performance through high-accuracy simulation techniques and our accumulated know-how.
We make full use of our database to perform high-accuracy simulations for flow analysis, structure analysis, strength calculation, thermal analysis, interference checks, assemblability checks, and other calculations.
We join projects from early stages to support their development.
We join our customers' development projects from the design stage. Taking advantage of our accumulated know-how, we help select materials, design mechanisms and appearances, examine mass production capability, and provide other support and proposals.


text:
West Wing's post-Scalia solution: Two cats on the Supreme Court
February 17, 2016 Commentary
"Oh my God, you're putting my mother's cats on the Supreme Court."
That line was uttered by a fictional character, Donna Moss, on a fifth season episode of The West Wing, called "The Supremes."
In the episode, a deeply conservative Supreme Court Justice had passed away unexpectedly, leaving a vacancy on the court to be filled by a Democratic president.
This presented a problem, because a liberal replacement would have been blocked by the Republican Senate, which drove the president toward a number of moderate nominees whom he thought he could get confirmed.
The staff, enamored with a liberal candidate played exquisitely by Glenn Close, becomes depressed that political realities will mean they will have to settle for a milquetoast judge who has no inherent judicial ideology.
It was a chance conversation that changed everything.
Donna, played by Janel Moloney, was talking to Josh Lyman, the president's deputy chief of staff, when he noticed a picture of two cats that Donna's mother had sent her. After making fun of her parents for being "cat people," Donna explained that they had two because the single cat they previously owned had died, and they couldn't agree on a new cat.
"My mother liked the Abyssinian, my father the gray and after 39 years of marriage they've outgrown compromise, so they got both," she explained.
As so often happens on television, this unrelated story caused an epiphany in Josh, and an idea was born.
That idea? Ask a liberal justice to retire, opening a second seat, and compromise with the Republicans, allowing them to handpick a conservative nominee, while the president would handpick a liberal nominee.
Martin Sheen, who played the fictional President Jed Bartlet in the show "West Wing." Photo by Brian McGuirk. Available through Creative Commons license.
Fictional President Jed Bartlet was a tough sell, particularly when he learned who the conservative nominee would be. Yet after seeing him passionately debate with his chosen liberal justice, and after meeting with him in private, Bartlet considered the idea.
In an Oval Office exchange between the president and the conservative jurist Christopher Mulready, played by William Fichtner, Bartlet, played brilliantly by Martin Sheen, registered his skepticism and argued for putting a center-left moderate on the court.
"Plenty of good law written by the voices of moderation," he said.
"Who writes the extraordinary dissent?" replied Mulready. "The one man minority decision whose time hasn't come, but 20 years later, some circuit court clerk digs it up at 3 in the morning. Brennan rallying against censorship. Harlan's jeremiad on Jim Crow."
The argument was plain. People with deeply held convictions on both the left and the right are necessary to have a truly robust and important debate about the law.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
Over the weekend, the country learned of the tragic passing of the last true giant on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia. For three decades, he served as the voice and intellectual guardian of the court's right wing, penning some of the most intelligent and thought-provoking opinions in the court's history.
This profound loss immediately became political. A Democratic president and a Republican Senate are already facing off about what to do about the seat. President Obama is vowing to nominate a successor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising to block that nominee until after the election.
But what if this eerily prescient fictional story provided the blueprint for a very real compromise idea?
What if the president approached Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oldest of the liberals on the bench at 82 years, and pitched her an idea? Obama would meet with McConnell and hammer out a deal, whereby the president would nominate two justices, one deeply liberal and one deeply conservative, to replace Scalia and Ginsburg. If a deal can be struck, Ginsburg announces her retirement, and the Senate confirms both nominees.
But, the president has a historic opportunity to reshape the court in a liberal direction, you might say. Maybe. Assuming the Republican Senate cracks and confirms his nominee. But they almost certainly won't.
So what do you do? Let the seat sit vacant and hope Hillary Clinton — the worst candidate in modern political history — can win the presidential election and fill the seat? That is a pretty big gamble to take.
The alternative would maintain the ideological balance of a court that has upheld Obamacare and legalized same-sex marriage.
It would prove that compromise is still possible, and a government divided between the parties can function.
It would give Obama a third liberal appointee on the court, and would preserve the fictional Mulready's desire to have two brilliant ideologues there to write the "extraordinary dissent" that Justice Scalia was so famous for.
It is such a brilliant idea, that there is no way it will ever happen.
← I'm not excited about any of the GOP candidates for president	The ridiculously stupid way we pick presidents →

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In Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), the Supreme Court held that rules of judicial conduct that limited what judicial candidates could say during electoral campaigns violated the First Amendment. Thus judicial candidates are now able to discuss more widely the controversial issues on which they might rule.
Traditionally, campaign speeches or statements made by judges running for office have been subject to significant regulation in order to promote judicial impartiality. In Minnesota, the state board that regulated judicial conduct had issued a rule — Canon 5 — that prevented candidates running for a judicial office from announcing their views on controversial issues that might come before their court. Canon 5 also prevented judicial candidates from seeking political party endorsements or affiliations, and from personally soliciting political contributions.
In 1998 Gregory Wersal, a candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court, challenged the Canon 5 rules, contending that the announce, affiliation, and solicitation clauses violated his First Amendment free speech rights. In Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, the Court struck down the announce restriction — a provision that nine states had on their books.
Writing for the Court, Justice Antonin Scalia declared that the announce clause imposed a content-based restriction on the First Amendment that must survive strict scrutiny review. He rejected promoting impartiality as a constitutionally compelling justification for the announce clause. He also maintained that trying to hold elections while limiting what can be discussed prevents candidates from discussing what elections are about — issues and policy. Thus the announce clause violated the First Amendment, and the Court remanded the case to the lower courts for further deliberations.
A few years later, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals used similar reasoning in Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2005), and held that the affiliation and solicitation rules also violated the First Amendment. Faced with the courts' decisions in these cases, several lower courts struck down similar state restrictions.
The announce clause was based on the 1972 Code of Judicial Conduct of the American Bar Association (ABA). In 1990 the ABA issued its Model Code of Judicial Conduct and replaced the announce clause with the "commitments" clause, which generally prohibits judicial candidates from committing themselves on legal positions likely to come before their court. But some lower courts have determined that the Court's reasoning in White also invalidates the commitments clause. Others question whether the Court's rea- soning dooms another provision common to state judicial codes — the pledges and promises clause, which prohibits judicial candidates from pledging to act in certain ways in cases.
Although some observers laud the White decisions as providing more debate in judicial elections that will help voters make decisions, others see the potential for these type of elections to become more partisan and political.
Cheek, Kyle, and Anthony Champagne. Judicial Politics in Texas: Partisanship, Money, and Politics in State Courts. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2005.
Schultz, David. "Judicial Selection in Minnesota: Options after Republican Party v.White." Bench and Bar of Minnesota (2005): 17–21.


I firmly believe in discipleship. But it's a separate issue from grace. Discipleship and grace should not be tied together like it often is. Grace is grace. You either have it or you don't. It is a gift and cannot be earned.


text:
Prince Harry's wife Meghan returns to Canada amid royal storm
In this file photo taken on January 07, 2020 Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex react during their visit to Canada House in thanks for the warm Canadian hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada, in London. – Prince Harry's wife Meghan has returned to Canada following the couple's bombshell announcement that they were quitting their frontline royal duties, their spokeswoman said on January 10, 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent an extended Christmas break in Canada with their baby son Archie, before returning to break the news that they wanted to "step back" from their roles as senior members of the Royal family. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / various sources / AFP)
By Alice Ritchie
LONDON, UK (AFP) — Prince Harry's wife Meghan has returned to Canada following the couple's bombshell announcement that they were quitting their frontline royal duties, it emerged Friday, as the monarch held urgent talks with her family to resolve the crisis.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent an extended Christmas holiday in Canada with their son before returning to break the news this week that they would "step back" their royal roles.
The Daily Mail newspaper reported that Meghan flew back on Thursday, having never intended to be in Britain long. She left baby Archie behind in Canada with his nanny, and "she may stay there for the foreseeable future", it said.
"I can confirm reports that the duchess is in Canada," the couple's spokeswoman told AFP.
She declined to provide further details, or confirm the Mail's report that Harry was likely to join his wife and son in Canada shortly.
Senior royals were caught off guard by Wednesday's announcement that the Sussexes wanted to seek a "progressive new role" and divide their time between Britain and North America.
Queen Elizabeth II's office issued a terse statement the same evening, saying there were "complicated issues that will take time to work through".
But a palace source on Thursday said the queen had instructed aides to work "at pace" with Meghan and Harry and the government "to find workable solutions".
The process was expected to take "days, not weeks", the source said.
Media reports said the queen held a series of calls on Thursday involving Harry, his brother Prince William and their father Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.
Harry and Meghan said they intended to continue to "fully support" the queen and "collaborate" with senior royals.
They also want to keep their home on the queen's Windsor Castle estate as their British base, while aiming to become financially independent.
But questions are being raised about what this means in practice, as their security is paid for by the state and they receive funds from the queen and from Charles.
– Finding a role –
William and Harry have always held a special place in many Britons' hearts because of their mother, Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.
With their wives, Kate and Meghan, they have been viewed as the modern face of the royal family, hailed for bringing fresh energy into the institution.
But the younger prince, who has always struggled with his role, last year revealed he has been growing apart from his brother, who as second in line to the throne is increasingly pursuing a different path.
Harry has been open about his mental health issues and he and Meghan last year admitted to struggling with the spotlight following their wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018 and Archie's birth a year later.
The couple have also lashed out at negative news coverage, with Harry calling some of it racist. They have recently taken several newspapers to court — a highly confrontational approach by royal standards.
Royal media expert Peter Hunt, who has interviewed Harry several times, told AFP that he thought the prince feared "the media might play a part in him losing her" through their critical reporting.
"Prince Harry's relationship with the media went bad and has got progressively worse ever since his mother died," he added.
The decision by the couple, who recently registered the trademark Sussex Royal, to effectively resign their royal roles follows a turbulent year for the Windsors.
Harry's uncle Prince Andrew announced he was retiring from public duties after a disastrous TV interview about his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Harry and Meghan make pitch for mental health on S.African tour
Watch: Newlyweds Harry and Meghan make first appearance at 70th bday of Prince Charles


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Michigan Radio - $5,000 for good ideas in Grand Rapids
$5,000 for good ideas in Grand Rapids
Tonight two Michigan entrepreneurs will give away $5,000 in a competition devoted to creating buzz around good ideas. Rick DeVos and Bill Holsinger-Robinson are trying to help make the best ideas a reality.
Listening...On the last Tuesday of each month, Pomegranate Studios (a business incubator DeVos and Holsinger-Robinson founded in Grand Rapids two years ago) offers 5 people 5 minutes to pitch their idea for a business, an organization, art project, anything really.
A panel of 5 judges then awards up to five thousand dollars to those with the best ideas.
Bill Holsinger-Robinson says they want to give people a platform for their ideas to grow.
"The event is really less about the grant making and is more about people sharing ideas and then getting people to act on those ideas within a community."
Unemployed "mercenary" chef Brian Gerrity's underground supper club idea got the most money. He wants to offer a temporary venue where chefs don't have to worry about normal constraints like food costs holding back their creativity.
"Every chef has those dishes that just don't work. They just don't work and when we sit around and talk about them you know it's always kind of this game of one-up-manship – 'oh yeah well what about this dish? What if we did this? Well what if we did this?' – and it grows to this point where it's completely nonsensical. It doesn't make sense in a restaurant, but it would be so fun to do for people."
Benefits beyond the money
Holsinger-Robinson suspects even those who don't win the cash will benefit from the process of fleshing out their idea.
"If in this process we can help those thinkers and dreamers connect with people who are you know more skilled on the execution side of things it means more cool stuff gets done in the city."
Holsinger Robinson hopes the monthly event will make people more open to sharing their ideas and less afraid of rejection and failure. He thinks some people just need a little confirmation that they should go for their dreams.
Josh Leo competed in the first "5x5 night" last month. He did not win $5,000, but the judges did award him $750.
At a party after the contest, Leo flashes the business cards he picked up from people who want to help him create the smart phone app he pitched. He imagines people downloading his 'Grand Rapids walking tour app' and spending an afternoon exploring downtown neighborhoods and learning the history of the city.
Leo says the contacts could prove better than cash.
"You know the money is just the start, especially for my project. It's people power, its time and just, passion and interest."
Inspiration from similar projects elsewhere in the U.S.
The Awesome Foundation, Sunday Soup, and TED conferences have been operating similar programs for years. They all offer micro-grants to help fund grass-roots projects and ideas.
DeVos says "5x5 night" is just one way to build a culture of entrepreneurship in West Michigan.
"I think the Midwest struggles with thinking very monolithically and kind of big about things and we lose sight of the individual and the power of the individual to create products, services, non-profits, whatever, that can be really transformative."
Entrepreneurship is in DeVos's family's DNA. His grandfather started Amway – one of the world's largest direct selling businesses.
Join the conversation during "5x5 night" in person, or online
Tonight, 5 different people will present their ideas. Among them is Nicole Infante.
"I didn't think anyone would actually think my idea was a good idea and so I'm very excited that of all those ideas they picked me."
Infante's idea – without giving away too much – is a challenge to area chefs to come up with a signature sandwich tasty enough to put Grand Rapids on the culinary map.
Right now, Infante is unemployed and she's never considered becoming an entrepreneur. But if she wins, she'll likely warm to the idea.
The public is welcome to attend tonight's "5x5 night". It starts at 5p.m. at the Grand Rapids Arts Museum. You can stream it online live and check out the other pitches from the event last month at 5x5night.com.


(Zip Code 98028) is 63 km. distant from Catania, 33 km. from Messina, which province it belongs to, 292 km. from Palermo.
The municipality has 8.166 inhabitants and an area of 813 hectares for a population density of 1004 inhabitants per square kilometre. It rises along the coast on a flat area and is 6 metres above sea-level.
The centre is prevalently agricultural and is based upon production of lemons, wine-grapes, olives, fruit.
"Tamarito" is the name given by Phoenician to trade colony founded in this area. Santa Teresa di Riva is mentioned in some documents of half of the XVIII century as "novello paese", (spring village), in 1854 it became an autonomous commune thanks to Federick II of Bourbon.
To pay homage to him inhabitants of the place named it with his second wife, Teresa of Austria. Only in 1861 it was added "Riva"to diffentiate it from different homonymous communes.
The most interesting monuments are several towers present in the territory among them Saracen tower stands out; remains of tower of Catalmo (now National monument) and of tower of Bagli (rural farms) and of tower of Avarna.
Besides there are the church of Madonna del Carmelo and the church of Porto Salvo. Appreciable and very particular are murals and various sculptures situated in the squares of the village.
Native of Santa Teresa di Riva is the singer Lucia Alberti one most famous and asserted soprano of international level.


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Q: What is the preferred way to organise and model svelte systems from an object oriented perspective? I am working with Svelte to create an in-browser audio sampler. I typically work with object oriented (Ruby) code, so I tend to gravitate towards that approach when modelling systems. So in my system I have a Group class, and a Sample class. Groups manage the playback of samples and I want to indicate when a group is active i.e. it's playing a sample.
I have created a contrived example to demonstrate (see the REPL). The main App component looks something like:
<script>
  import Group from './group.js'
  import Sample from './sample.js'
  const groups = Array(4).fill().map((_, i) => new Group(i))

  const sample = new Sample([], groups[0])
</script>

{#each groups as group}
  <input type="checkbox" bind:checked={group.active} disabled />
{/each}

<button on:click={() => sample.play()}>
  Play
</button>

The four checkboxes represent groups, and should be checked once active. Pressing Play "plays" a Sample via Group 0, and activates that group. However due to its object oriented nature, this happens outside the component code, and therefore the UI is not reactive—so the checkbox does not update.
What is the preferred way to organise this code? (Given that I these models might be passed around various components etc)
Any pointers or advice to get me thinking in a more idiomatic Svelte way would be appreciated!

A: Once potential approach is to move the checkboxes to a GroupActive component, and make the Group's active property a store:
// GroupActive.svelte
<script>
  export let id
  export let active
</script>

<input name="group_{id}_active" type="checkbox" bind:checked={$active} disabled />

// group.js
import { writable } from 'svelte/store'

export default class Group {
  constructor (id) {
    this.id = id
    this.active = writable(false)
  }

  play (buffer) {
    this.stop()
    this.source = this.createSource(buffer)
    this.source.start()
    this.active.set(true)
  }

  stop () {
    this.source?.stop()
    this.source = null
    this.active.set(false)
  }
  // …
}

The active store gets passed in via deconstruction, and so can be bound:
{#each groups as group}
  <GroupActive {...group} />
{/each}

Here's a REPL to demonstrate this approach

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


After multiple viewings, I realized it was time to talk about the 4th instalment in the current James Bond franchise with Daniel Craig, Spectre. The movie is the 24th "official" James Bond film, and the 26th movie made about the iconic secret agent. Some have complained it is too long, and wasn't as good as some of the previous 3 movies. My only complaint is that it was following the "Bond out of bounds" motif yet again, but otherwise I found it to be classic Bond.
SPOILER ALERT: In this piece I discuss important plot points that may give away the ending. Read at your own risk.


text:
Q: Variance of present value of annuity Let $Y$ be a present value of whole life annuity that pays $1$ for year of each $x$-years old. We know that $\ddot{a}_x=10$ for $i'=1/24=e^\delta-1$ and $\ddot{a}_x=6$ for $i=e^{2\delta}-1$. I want to calculate the variance of $Y$. To be honest I don't know where to start.
I want to use the equation:
$$VarY=\frac{^2A_x-(A_x)^2}{d^2}.$$
Where: $$A_x=\sum_{j=0}^\infty v^{j+1} {}_j| q_{x};$$
$$^2 A_x=\sum_{j=0}^\infty (v^2)^{j+1} {}_j| q_{x}$$
Also we have: $\ddot{a}_x=\frac{1-A_x}{d}$ where $d=\frac{i}{1+i}$
The definition of $\ddot{a}_x=\sum_{j=0}^\infty v^j\  _{j}p_x$ and $v=\frac{1}{1+i}$.
All I can think of is to calculate $\delta$ and other constants as $v$ and $d$  for $i'$ and $i$ but I don't really know where it should go from there.

A: You can solve for $A_x$ and ${}^2 A_x$ using the formula $\ddot{a}_x = \frac{1-A_x}{d}$ with the two given values for $\ddot{a}_x$.  Then you can solve for $\delta$ using the given $e^\delta - 1 = 1/24$ and use that to solve for $d$.


text:
The new 'Star Wars' film has been given a 12A rating for 'sex and nudity' and now Twitter wants the juicy details
What's going on here then?
By Harvey Day
Ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on 15 December, film authorities have given the new movie a 12A rating. While the British Board of Film Classification pointed out its 'moderate violence', it was the Irish film body that somewhat surprisingly warned about mild 'sex and nudity'.
This, obviously, has taken many die-hard fans by surprise and they're now speculating about the racy scenes that could have led to the classification.
On Twitter, JediPrincessTWD said: "Sex/Nudity????? Damn Star Wars gettin freaky." Another user said: "I'm going to guess the nudity in Star Wars is because Chewbacca doesn't wear any pants."
Ricky Travers wrote: "We're finally going to see Chewbacca's arse?" Another person added: "If it's not Poe/Finn related nudity I'm boycotting Rian's new trilogy."
While there haven't been any outright sex scenes in earlier Star Wars films, there have been some moments that hinted at sexual content. In particular, there was the scene where Princess Leia was chained up by Jabba the Hutt while wearing a skimpy bikini, presumably so she could be used a sex slave (pretty dark, really).
But we'll have to wait until the new movie comes out to find out just what has warranted this 'sex and nudity' warning.
It's also been revealed that Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be 152 minutes – the longest film in the franchise's history.
We'll see everyone from The Force Awakens return - except for Harrison Ford's Han Solo - including Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, and Andy Serkis as Snoke. This is the final film appearance for Fisher, who died in December.
Speaking about the new film, Ridley told Good Morning America: "I was more surprised with this one because there's a few storylines that [are] sort of coming together and connecting. Rey is trying to find out about herself and about the universe and those questions don't entirely fall to the good nor do they fall entirely to the bad.
"It was wonderful because obviously I was very lucky to be able to work with Harrison [Ford] and Carrie [Fisher], and when I worked with Mark for the first time, we went for dinner with his family," she said. "And then we had time for rehearsals and we're shooting with him a lot, which was really amazing."
(Image: LucasFilm / Disney)
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Anyone know of something going on with them?
I ordered a harness a month ago and get get a response back regarding the status. Seems they took my money and ran.
Thought they were considered a reputable dealer around these parts.
Did you e-mail Missy and ask? I got my harnesses shortly after I ordered them and one was a rush order due to an upcoming show (made and shipped in a week).I think that normally it takes 20 days to get a harness made and shipped.I don't know of anyone not getting their harnesses so just e-mail or call and see what happened.
She finally emailed me back. It's still due to ship, which is fine. I wasn't in a rush for the harness - I just wanted her to respond, which she finally did.
I saw you check-in on FB, Missy. Glad you guys are ok ... stay safe!


The first new herrings of the 2018 at Café the Plaza!
The first new herrings of the 2018 season were presented to Eddy de Veer of executive management of MetaCorp and Fabian Latinga, director of operations of Aruba Wine and Dine last Friday afternoon. Both gentlemen pronounced the herring `delicious, fat and tasty'. The `haring happen', a traditional happening, took place at `home of the Dutch, Café the Plaza'. The new herring, containing a fat percentage between 21 and 23 percent, is of outstanding quality. A bit later this month the herring that is brought in, will be at its peak at 26 percent.
Of course a herring should be eaten rare, without chopped onions or pickles (an Amsterdam variety). The taste should come through loud and clear while the fish glides through your troat, delightful and full of flavor. From now on the 2018 catch of herring is available and it is warmly recommended to all herring lovers.


The Mavic 2 Enterprise (M2E) is DJI's latest addition to their Enterprise portfolio and a first for the industry. Taking everything they have been able to accomplish on the consumer electronics side of their business and embedding key commercial and industrial features into their proven Mavic airframe has allowed them to do what has never been done before - create a small, portable, powerful Enterprise tool that can be deployed in seconds, at-will, on any mission.
The Mavic 2 Enterprise is not only the smallest, most portable and powerful sUAS in the industrial market, it is also the safest.
AIRSENSE. Avoid hazards in the sky thanks to DJI's AirSense technology, which enhances airspace safety by providing the operator with real-time positioning alerts of nearby aircraft through the M2E's built-in ADS-B receiver.
APAS. DJI's Advanced Pilot Assistant System utilizes the onboard obstacle avoidance system, which is made up of eight high-resolution vision and two infrared sensors placed on the sides of the aircraft, to intelligently navigate through even the most congested areas with minimal input from the operator.
IMPROVED FLIGHTAUTONOMY. Not only are the M2E's advanced obstacle avoidance sensors used during flight, but they are also constantly monitoring the environment, which yields the most stable flight and hover performance of any DJI aircraft to-date.
DATA SECURITY. Simply enter your password to gain access to your device and your data. This intuitive way of logging into your device ensures secure access to your drone, its features and functions, and its onboard data storage, thus preventing leakage of sensitive information.
DJI understands that there isn't one drone or one tool for every job, but there is A drone or A tool for any job. This is evident by the release of three new critical attachments that compliment the Mavic 2 Enterprise - the Beacon, Speaker, and Spotlight.
BEACON. For any agency or operator that needs to fly at night, collision avoidance lighting is a must. Not only is it best practice and standard in aviation, but it's also required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the M2E Beacon is designed specifically to satisfy that requirement and to ensure safe operations at night.
By integrating through the Mavic 2 Enterprise's expansion port, the Beacon can be fully controlled through the DJI Pilot App. Whether you are flying as part of a tactical mission and have the need to disable the LED while on the ground as to not attract the attention of suspects or persons of interest, or if you just want to leave the Beacon attached and turn it off when flying during the day, it's as simple as tapping a button on the screen.
SPEAKER. When a natural disaster is imminent, getting the word out to the public is not only critical, but it can be incredibly challenging and time-consuming. Police officers and firefighters drive around neighborhoods talking through their PA systems to warn residents of an impending situation that may warrant either their attention or in some cases, that they evacuate their homes due to the risk. Now, instead of tying up numerous human resources, a single aircraft can be deployed and either flown manually through a neighborhood or sent on an automated mission while broadcasting the message. This frees up critical personnel to focus on other preparation tasks such as assisting the elderly, distributing emergency supplies, assisting the flow of foot and vehicle traffic and so much more.
The M2E Speaker doesn't just come into play in a large scale emergency - it's useful in a smaller scale, tactical mission or on rescue missions where communicating with your victim or patient is critical to the mission's success. With the Mavic 2 Enterprise's live video feed, operators are not only able to provide verbal cues and guidance, but they can see exactly what is going in the scene in real-time, providing them with live, actionable data to take care of business.
With the M2E Speaker, the operator is able to interact with it directly through the DJI Pilot App. Either by speaking through your mobile device's microphone to talk directly to somebody or by recording messages and then playing those messages during flight - either a single time or repeatedly.
SPOTLIGHT. Arguably the most important part of any mission is the ability to see. It sounds elementary, but far too often public safety personnel can find themselves unable to effectively navigate or investigate a scene due to poor lighting. The M2E Spotlight was designed as a tool to allow you to keep working, even in total darkness.
With a massive 2,400-lumen maximum output, the M2E Spotlight is not just the only integrated spotlight for a commercial sUAS platform, it's also the brightest light we have ever seen small enough to attach to a platform as small and nimble as the Mavic 2 Enterprise.
Integrated through the Mavic 2 Enterprise's expansion port, the operator is able to not only toggle the light on and off, but they are also able to control the intensity. Bright lights at night are great, but as tactical operations personnel will tell you, you can also very easily blind yourself if you don't take your environment into account. By controlling the intensity of the M2E Spotlight, you are able to get your aircraft perfectly positioned on your subject and then adjust the brightness according to the action you need to take. Maybe your SWAT team is about to make entry into a courtyard and your job is to light up the yard the moment they breach the gate, or perhaps you're merely providing scene lighting at night while the team gears up for the next run into a building on a rescue mission - you can do that and so much more, thanks to the M2E Spotlight and the Mavic 2 Enterprise.
With the addition of not only a new, industrial drone to your toolbox but also mission-specific attachments, the number of applications for the Mavic 2 Enterprise is endless.
FIREFIGHTING. Fight fires and save lives with greater ease and mobility across your site.
LAW ENFORCEMENT. Use captured data to maintain public safety and safeguard your community.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE. Locate missing people and tactically respond in emergency situations.
POWERLINE INSPECTION. Safely conduct inspections on critical infrastructure, expediting routine maintenance tasks and minimizing overall expense.
TOWER INSPECTION. Perform inspections with added safety and enhanced efficiency to maximize system uptime.
BRIDGE INSPECTION. See the bigger picture in complex structures without getting too close to the asset.


If you are thinking of moving to Acton or just want to know a what the area is like, the statistics on this page should give you a good introduction. They cover a range of socio-economic factors so you can compare Acton to figures for Ealing and nationally. These statistics can tell you if Acton is an economically deprived area and how hard it might be to get a job.
Social grade is a classification based on occupation and it enables a household and all its members to be classified according to the job of the main income earner. Acton has 20% more Higher and Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional households than the national average.
Acton has a lower rate of home ownership (via a mortgage or owned outright) than the national average, which suggests that Acton is an economically deprived area.
These figures on the claiming of benefits in Acton come from the Department for Work & Pensions and are dated . They can often be a good indicator of the prosperity of the town and possible indicator of how hard it would be to get employment in the area. The rate of unemployment in Acton is both higher than the average for and higher than the national average, suggesting that finding a job in this area maybe hard.
These statistics are for the highest level education obtained by the residents of Acton and are from the UK Census of 2011. Acton has a lower level of residents with either no qualifications or qualifications equal to 1 or more GCSE at grade D or below, than the national average. Acton also has a high level of residents with a higher education qualification (level 4) than the national average, suggesting that the residents of Acton are better educated than the average England citizen.
The respondents of the 2011 Census were asked to rate their health. These are the results for Acton. The percentage of residents in Acton rating their health as 'very good' is more than the national average. Also the percentage of residents in Acton rating their health as 'very bad' is less than the national average, suggesting that the health of the residents of Acton is generally better than in the average person in England.


text:
An anonymous professional landlord has written a book claiming to lift the lid on the world of buy-to-let for the first time.
Parasite: The Secret Diary of a Landlord is a warts-and-all account of everyday life in the sector, drawing on two decades in the business.
The author, known only as The Secret Landlord, admits to being a large-scale portfolio landlord with properties nationwide, and explains it was prompted by her recent experiences.
She tells LandlordZONE: "While you get used to the hostile environment, this era of Government intervention and public hatred ushered in by Covid-19 feels new.
"There have been moments where I've wondered is this the right time to share the truth the other side of the door, but now more than ever, I think it's important for people to hear the landlord's side of the story.
"I think other landlords, potential landlords, tenants, potential tenants, in fact anybody who's interested in other people's lives will enjoy reading it."
The book claims to reveal what it's really like to be a landlord and the shocking reality of renting out a property.
The Secret Landlord reckons the real life of a professional landlord is very different to the public perception; dealing with burglaries and break-ins, drug raids, police warrants, crazy tenant antics, bailiffs, squatters, lawsuits, wrecked properties, interfering council officers and game-playing freeholders.
She adds: "It's not just misbehaving and non-paying tenants you're up against, you've also got errant tradesmen, local councils and ever-changing Government regulations to contend with. There are some good times, but nowadays they're few and far between."
Parasite: The Secret Diary of a Landlord is published on 15th October by Alethea and is available to pre-order on Amazon.


Yesterday, I returned after nearly 4 years in deep freeze.
Can anyone shed some light on the status of the Placid region and the Intaki people? When I was last awake, Intaki and the surrounding systems were very much neglected by the Gallente and overrun by pirates and other questionable folks. Seems after all this time the security status of our systems never changed.
Being gone a while it seems I have missed many events over the years. The Gallente and Caldari are even at war now? Very unsettling since various Caldari used to be sympathetic to the plight of the Intaki people.
Yes, the Caldari are so concerned about the Intaki people they wish to forcibly remove our right to self-determine. Apparently they don't think we can be trusted with it.
I am afraid my own personal knowledge of the situation with Intaki is negligible.
I would direct you to this particular thread as it seems to have some relevance for your inquiry.
I do know that the State and the Federation are still at war.
Thanks for the info Raze. The scope and depth of the current situations is a little beyond my understanding. As I've said I have been gone a very long time and it seems much has changed.
I've never heard of this "Eleutherian Guard" Corporation, in fact the "Intaki Liberation Front" is the only corporation on the thread you linked that would be familiar to me. Back before my deep freeze the Corp I am in (Which now seems to be dead) worked with them as we both had some common ground. We both also worked with various Caldari Corps in the past that helped us run both medical and humaitarian supplies to Intaki. They also helped us combat the various security shorfalls that the Gallente refused to address...and later the Intaki Assembly from what I have heard. This was a very long time ago, much before the current wars.
Captain Ixiris, Before I left, the Caldari helped us because our situation somewhat mirrored thier own before they broke off from the Gallente. I assume if they are trying to occupy us this is no longer the case and this is the price of their support?
Sorry for all the questions, it seems far too many things are very different now.
Mr. Sylvannathas, just so you're aware, Mr. Ixiris is a Federal partisan's partisan's partisan; he's an unabashed extremist who thinks anyone who has anything remotely nice to say about the Amarr is automatically a terrible person; and, if it isn't already clear enough from what I've already said, he's also a fool.
I advise taking any statements he makes about political realities along the war front with a cubic meter of salt.
If you will ignore Aria Jenneth's fact-free alarmism for a minute, yes, you are basically correct in your assumption. Caldari occupation of Placid (which, as you will no doubt recall, is primarily inhabited by Intaki) played out as a series of mounting humanitarian and financial catastrophes, spiced with the forcible supression and replacement of local governments. Intaki, one of the most prosperous and well-to-do systems in the Federation, was thrown into an economic crisis by a sustained Caldari blockade.
There's nothing good about the Caldari invasion except those who are opposing it.
Fact-free alarmism? That seems a stretch.
Andreus, you're a Gallente Federal firebrand. You take pride in it. There's nothing counterfactual or alarmist in noting that.
Furthermore, you've gone so far as to state my second observation outright.
And yet the thing I did that apparently lost me your oh-so-dear regard is that I can think of something nice to say about the Amarr.
Which is what happens when you defend the most dangerous, second-to-least defensible political entity in the cluster.
Do you even begin to understand how bizarre that reaction is?
It's perfectly logical. Criminal activity and clinical insanity is common. Wanting to destroy humanity is pretty rare (and most people who want it are amusing and a little bit pathetic; see Koronakesh).
Now, given all of this, about the only thing that seems paintable as "fact-free alarmism" is my assertion that you are a fool. That is an opinion, yes, and, though grounded in certain facts, is not itself factual. As opinions go, however, it's not particularly alarmed.
You are a fool, Andreus Ixiris.
This man is a Gallente nationalist and an enemy of Intaki independence, as you will find if you dig into his background even a little. To understand what sort of person you are dealing with here, I refer you to a recent thread on the Amarr.
While not all his words are lies, his statements are half-truths intended to open diplomatic rifts. The Intaki system has reached something of a separate peace with the Ishukone corporation and Mordu's Legion. While it remains formally in the war zone, and formally reoccupied by the Gallente, security and trade remains at least partly in the hands of Caldari and associated interests invited and/or permitted by the Assembly.
This came about after, among other things, the Gallente Federation chose to exclude then-occupied Intaki from the last election.
Be assured that these facts chap Mr. Ixiris' hide something fierce, since he considers himself a loyal Intaki. Whether he can bring himself to lie outright, or just propagandize using partial truths, I do not claim to know or care to find out.
What you can rely upon is that if you desire a free Intaki, this man is your enemy, and recognizes himself as such even if you do not.
I advise that you treat his statements with appropriate caution.
These two statements are absolute, easily-disprovable falsehoods, and the fact that she would attempt to push them despite how easily disprovable they are shows enough contempt for the truth that I am remain confident you will dismiss the rest of her claims as the spurious bull**** they are.
I am in an open alliance with easily the most high-profile Intaki seccessionalist movement in the cluster. Mammal Tafren will vouch for this.
Have you, then, changed your mind on the subject? I remember you going on and on, every time the issue has come up, about how the majority of Intaki wishes to remain with the Federation.
Admittedly, I haven't been keeping very close track of what has become a bit of a diplomatic knot in Intaki. The question is, assuming all you've said is true, whether it's an alliance of principle, or one of convenience.
Did you change your mind, Andreus?
Why can't it be both? Even if I think they're doing it for the wrong reasons, the IPI are doing good work. They're keeping pirate scum (you know, like that two-bit organisation you work for - what's it called again? The Angel Cartel?) out of the system and encouraging legitimate business and trade. No matter what your view on seccession, that's good for the system.
I don't know, Aria. From where I'm standing it must be pretty depressing to be you. I mean, let's face it, you cold-bloodedly murdered a member of your own family, causing yourself to become a despised exile from the planet and nation of your birth. Your best friend betrayed you to work with a more successful, competing pirate organisation. Your dream of a post-human utopia didn't just never get off the ground, it never even underwent the first planning stages. Everything you've ever been a part of has either failed outright, or only become successful after you leave. Hell, I love him as one of my closest friends, but even I was shocked when Vincent Pryce managed to run a more successful pirate organisation than you. That's gotta sting.
And here you are, stuck bickering with me, Andreus Ixiris, because no-one more prestigious or important has enough pity to listen to you.
Aaaaah, there we go, Mr. Sylvannathas. It's an alliance of principle (that Intaki should be kept safe from pirates, something the Federals appear to care about a little bit more now that the system lies in a war zone) and practicality (that brings otherwise-hostile forces together).
That should do a fair job of telling you what sort of angle he'd prefer you see the universe from-- that is, one that will bring your side and his together to face another allegedly mutual enemy.
... you cold-bloodedly murdered a member of your own family, causing yourself to become a despised exile from the planet and nation of your birth.
Exile, yes. Despised, probably. Planet, yes. Nation, not so much.
And yes, it was a damned stupid thing to do.
Your best friend betrayed you to work with a more successful, competing pirate organisation.
Actually, she betrayed me for love. Twice, though only the second was after we founded PRETA. I have more trouble getting around that than I like to admit, even if I can't be entirely sure I wouldn't have done the same in her place.
So, yes, fairly depressing, that one.
Your dream of a post-human utopia didn't just never get off the ground, it never even underwent the first planning stages.
Ah-- now, that's untrue on two points. First, it was never going to be a utopia. Second, it did get through the planning stages; it was actually in pursuit of it that I got entangled with the Cartel. Also, it didn't get off the ground at least partly because I opted to ground it.
Our future, or at least our immediately foreseeable future, lies here alongside humankind. We will have to weather whatever storm comes; Exodus is sadly not feasible within the likely timeframe.
It might not even be desirable if it were.
even I was shocked when Vincent Pryce managed to run a more successful pirate organisation than you.
Vincent's done a fine job. He was being a pirate. I was always mostly a thinker, tinkerer, and dabbler-- mostly in nanotech, presently.
I'm not much of a pirate, Andreus. Never was. I'm not sure that's a flaw. And I've always been a better adviser than a leader.
Perhaps we'll see whether that remains the case, going forward.
Peculiar argument. "Look at you, arguing with someone as pathetic as me!" ... I'll pass on hammering the easy cheap shot any harder than I have by noticing it.
Andreus, I'm arguing with you for two reasons. First, it annoys me to see you serving half-truths to an Intaki separatist as though they were a full meal of facts. Second, you unnecessarily made an enemy out of me, and I'm inclined to make you feel the stupidity of that act just a little.
Call it petty revenge for my injured feelings if you like.
From where I'm standing it must be pretty depressing to be you.
Actually, I'm cheerier at the moment than I've been in months. Maybe a year or so. The reason will become apparent at a later date.
I'm confused. You're trying to spin an alliance with the goal of safety and prosperity for a region between organisations with differing opinions on a single political subject as... an alliance with the goal of safety and prosperity for a region between organisations with differing opinions on a single political subject.
Well, um, mission accomplished, I guess? Because it's an alliance with the goal of safety and prosperity for a region between organisations with differing opinions on a single political subject.
The long and short of all that, good sir, is stay the **** out of Placid.
You never did quite understand my purpose, Andreus.
I do not care for personal success, nor possessions, nor power. My path is spiritual. What I seek is wisdom, to see the flow of the universe and know my part in it.
Communication, to me, is a method of revealing truth and creating insight. As such, it is sacred, and to tell half of a truth while obscuring the rest so as to twist others' perceptions is as good as to lie outright.
I'm not trying to bring Mr. Sylvannathas around to a particular point of view. I simply find your propagandizing offensive, so I aim to fill in what you're leaving out and to expose the purpose behind your various inclusions and omissions.
I'm not spinning. I'm counter-spinning.
You are associated with the ILF, it seems, in an alliance against the Serpentis. While I consider that a pity, considering the relatively friendly relations my faction has with the Intaki Syndicate, I can well understand the Intaki desire to protect their streets from the perceived threat of boosters. Certain of the ILF's comments elsewhere seem to imply that they may also see the Caldari as invaders who would deny Intaki its sovereignty.
Being as Intaki has made arrangements with Ishukone (which holds "development rights" in the system under Caldari corporate contract), it appears that very little would actually change even if the Caldari did invade. There'd be a good deal of shooting, of course, but the end result would still be a system trading through and guarded by Ishukone and Mordu's Legion, respectively.
... But, if that happened, of course, the Federation's claim to the system might be weakened. So it is strongly in your interest, and perhaps in that of the Intaki as well (though to a much lesser degree, if at all), to bring the separatists in on the Federals' side in the war.
Which is what you've been trying to do here, yes?
But that is scarcely fair to Mr. Sylvannathas. He's about four years out of date, and could use an update from a source whose interests, if not necessarily neutral, are at least aligned with his own.
Hopefully, he'll find one of those. At any event, I have confidence that he understands by now why you might make an unreliable advisor for someone in his position.
And so, a very good morning to you both.
There was a lot of boring stuff about your culture that I didn't read.
You are associated with the ILF, it seems, in an alliance against the Serpentis. While I consider that a pity, considering the relatively friendly relations my faction has with the Intaki Syndicate, I can well understand the Intaki desire to protect their streets from the perceived threat of boosters.
It's not "perceived", it's real and if you think otherwise you're a moron.
The Serpentis are using a notorious local death cult as enforcers on the homeworld. I would suggest if you believe the threat the Serpentis pose to the decent people of Intaki is anything other than real, you take it up with Saxon Hawke, who lost his son because of them.
Certain of the ILF's comments elsewhere seem to imply that they may also see the Caldari as invaders who would deny Intaki its sovereignty.
Being as Intaki has made arrangements with Ishukone (which holds "development rights" in the system under Caldari corporate contract), it appears that very little would actually change even if the Caldari did invade.
And we're meant to trust the word of a nation that has lied to us and abused our trust more times than we can easily count?
But, if that happened, of course, the Federation's claim to the system might be weakened. So it is strongly in your interest, and perhaps in that of the Intaki as well (though to a much lesser degree, if at all), to bring the separatists in on the Federals' side in the war.
No. Your understanding of my motivations behind the alliance with the IPI are as lacklustre as your understanding of nearly every other subject.
Ah, dear me. Such a pity.
You'll excuse me if I don't actually seek your opinion on the motivations involved, Andreus. I might ask Mr. Tafren about it ... though, in the end, it's really none of my business beyond giving Mr. Sylvannathas a clearer understanding of your quality as an informational resource.
My work here is done. Take care, and I'm sure we'll speak again soon.
Ah yes, Aria Jenneth the self-appointed "voice of unbiased truth and reason" who loves inserting herself into others' business, muddying the waters and in general being a provocateur. I think Captain Jenneth that you're as enamored of your own voice and words as some accuse Jade Constantine of being.
Be that as it may, how is it that you-- a criminal, murderer, member of a group affiliated with the largest criminal enterprise in the cluster, gets to sit in judgement of others? Am I the only one who feels how incongruous this is?
Sorry, but your heritage doesn't give you a free pass. Sansha Kuvakei was an hugely successful entrepreneur before he became a megalomaniacal mass murderer. That doesn't mean I'll turn to him for business advice.
Be that as it may, how is it that you-- a criminal, murderer, member of a group affiliated with the largest criminal enterprise in the cluster, gets to sit in judgement of others?
Well, for one we tend to be decidedly more honest about it than most; are aren't under any illusions that we are nice people.
Ah politics, after being reborn through several lives before becoming a pilot it still gives me a headache.
Personally, all I have ever wanted it the safety and security of the our people and systems. This is why I gave up my spiritual teaching and hopes of ever becoming an Idama to be a pilot and protect our space.
I never have had much of an opinion whether to remain with the Federation, declare an independent Intaki State, or side with the Caldari. I would support any of them depending what would offer the best for our people. Although after reading various past news articles, the actions of the Caldari leave much to be desired and many questions.
It seems a lot can change over 4 years, and sometimes not for the better. The more I read on these threads and in the news, it saddens me to see our situation has not changed much at all. If anything, it seems to be even worse than before.
Ah yes, Aria Jenneth the self-appointed "voice of unbiased truth and reason" who loves inserting herself into others' business, muddying the waters and in general being a provocateur.
Ah. A fair line of criticism; I'll try to answer as best I can.
I am not unbiased. Though I no longer claim any great loyalty to the State, I still have a terrible time living in non-Caldari stations or flying non-Caldari ships. No matter how long I'm there, and no matter how much effort I put into training to use the equipment of other cultures, it always feels ... alien.
This, and other factors like it, inevitably taint my perspective. It doesn't mean I shouldn't try to see things from other people's point of view; it does, however, mean that I will most likely express views to which I am sympathetic better than views to which I am not.
I think Captain Jenneth that you're as enamored of your own voice and words as some accuse Jade Constantine of being.
It's possible. I'm a proud creature, Mr. Bete, and it is more difficult to shrug off pride than just to say that you should.
Arrogance is dangerous, and perhaps I will one day suffer for mine. Though in search of wisdom, I remain, at best, a clever fool.
Nausea does have a point. At the least, we generally do not suffer overmuch from self-righteousness.
Qualified to judge the morality of claims and acts, I am probably not, Mr. Bete, at least from a "human" point of view. After all, I am missing a sizable slice of the moral compass the human "me" was born with.
But if you look closely, I think (or hope, at least) that you'll find that, when I judge, it's not morality that I'm judging, if I'm judging at all.
Am I the only one who feels how incongruous this is?
People speak up about it from time to time. I don't object. It is good to be reminded of what I have lost, even if I no longer care very much. It helps to keep me careful, and mindful of what others see.
Sorry, but your heritage doesn't give you a free pass.
I don't ask for one.
What my heritage gives me is purpose and dedication. It instructs me to recognize truth when I find it, and to embrace it, never looking away.
If the truth is that I am a demon, that we are all demons, and that it is not within us to be anything else however hard we try, then I will play a demon's part.
Correspondingly, if I am human, then I am bound by the rules of human society. If that is so, I have misunderstood my role, twisted it with my own prideful illusions, and made a wreckage of my life. My best course, then, would be to recognize the shame and sorrow I have brought upon my family, and do some small amount of penance by slitting my own miserable throat.
Probably, though, we're something else. What that is, and whether it can exist, lastingly, in this world, is what I am trying to learn.
You'll excuse me if I don't actually seek your opinion on the motivations involved, Andreus.
You don't seek my opinion... on my motivations.
Are you quite literally a clinical moron?
So you're asking other people about my motivations.
Ah. Well. Question answered, I guess.
Let me answer that question with one of your own recent statements.
I have the ability to back my arguments up, but I no longer find myself possessing enough respect for you [Aria] to be willing to take the time and effort to elucidate my reasoning. It will be a lot of work for no real gratification.
The first sentence explains why I no longer expect you to explain yourself. The last could easily be my own explanation of my lack of enthusiasm for prying your reasoning out of you.
If you won't volunteer your own motives, I see no reason to chase you for them.
No matter how much they might think of themselves, no-one other than myself is going to be able to give you an accurate illustration of my motivations.
Perhaps if you stopped making stupid assumptions (and, apparently, stopped making stupid decisions), I'd have enough respect to elucidate things that you apparently need elucidating.
Being gone a while it seems I have missed many events over the years.
Siv, It's good to see you again, unfortunately this thread seems to have become rather cluttered. I'd like to invite you to join the ILF channel FREEINTAKI the next time you are able. We'd be more than happy to bring you up to date.
Andreus, to be blunt, some perspectives and motives are more interesting than others.
I'm not going to bother.
Mr. Sylvannathas, on the other hand, seems to be someone worth talking to, but it appears that we've driven him off.
... and, in any case, it seems someone's arrived who can bring him up to date properly.
This is the second sighting of a Placid Reborn pilot that I've had in the last week. Perhaps a resurgence is in the works?
At any rate, you can catch up on some of the recent happenings in and around Placid by checking out the Arcadia News Network.
Ah Mr. Hawke I remember you, very good to see you are still around. I shall drop in next time I am on.
Ms. Jenneth, I am still here. I did reply to the thread but it seems to have got lost and overlooked in the various arguments.
Walk the path of Ida and you will find true enlightenment.
I did see it, Mr. Sylvannathas, but presumed, erroneously, it seems, that your comments on politics reflected the sort of head-shaking that usually immediately precedes departure.
I apologize for my presumption.
The path of Ida is an interesting faith to me; it seems to have so many similarities to my own Achur beliefs, and yet to differ greatly. I would like to talk with you about your beliefs at some point, if you would be willing.
To be quite honest, after spending several days back in space I find BOTH side's arguments in this conflict irrelevant and without merit.
Neither the Gallente nor Caldari assert any control or ownership over Intaki or its neighboring systems. Just because the systems control bunker says "Gallente" or "Caldari" means absolutely nothing.
Pirates own the systems, and anyone, including all the corps arguing here either cannot or will not do anything about it.
I saw the occasional "Ishuk-Raata" corp. member flying around but one had their ship destroyed and others I saw get chased away under heavy fire from, you guessed it, pirates.
The stance of the Intaki Assembly after the Gallente "liberated" Intaki is also quite a joke, typical ignorant politicians in their true form. There is no protection or security from anyone and almost all trade through Intaki and its neighboring systems is disrupted. I am surprised Ishukone can make any money there with the current situation, almost any trade convoy gets pillaged the minute it enters the systems. Ishukone security forces? They are about as non-existent as CONCORD in Intaki space.
The war is irrelevant to any Intaki wanting a safe and secure home and the "control" each of you think your side has is an illusion. All I see is pirate gate camps, station camps, pirates roving through asteroid belts, scanning down mission runners and a lot of pilots cowering in stations with their tail between their legs.
Pirates are the only ones asserting any type of control. Sorry if my message offends anyone but in my time back so far, that is all I have seen.


Can you model retaining walls in Slope?
In the Analysis Method table, which Method of Analysis should I use?
In the Analysis Method dialog, which Factor of Safety should I use?
How do you model an artesian water basin or perched water table in Slope?
Does Slope consider the Morgenstern-Price or Spencer's methods for both force and moment equilibrium?


text:
Marjorie F. Brown
Recommend Marjorie's obituary to your friends
Obituary of Marjorie F. Brown
Please share a memory of Marjorie to include in a keepsake book for family and friends.
EAST LIVERPOOL - Marjorie F. Brown, 93, of East Liverpool, passed away Monday, January 2, 2023, at The Orchards of East Liverpool.
She was born January 9, 1929, in Toronto, the daughter of the late Charles V. and Flo (Myers) Scott. In addition to her parents, Marjorie was preceded in death on August 16, 1982, by her husband, Paul "Rex" Brown, whom she married February 25, 1950. She was also preceded in death by her son-in-law, Mike McVay, and nine brothers and sisters.
Marjorie graduated from Toronto High School in 1947. She was employed as a waitress for thirty years at Meades Restaurant, Waterford Inn, and Coachman Restaurant. She enjoyed playing cards with her friends and was a sixty year member of the Shanghi Card Club. Marjorie was active in the Wellsville First Christian Church where she had been a member since 1960. She was also active in the Christian Women's Fellowship. Family was everything to Marjorie, and she always wanted her family to be together. She also enjoyed finding and sending the perfect greeting cards to her family and friends.
Survivors include two daughters: Dianne (Joe) Hager of East Liverpool and Connie McVay of East Liverpool; and one son, Charles (Patrice) Brown of East Liverpool. Also surviving are four grandchildren: Larry Madison, Nick (Erica) Brown, Bryan (Heather) Brown, and Lauren (Larry) Higgins; and eight great-grandchildren: Jude, Aubrey, and Deacon Brown, Rorie Jo and Carrie Ann Hager, and Reed, Alice, and Autumn Higgins.
The funeral service will be held at 1:00 PM Friday, January 6, 2023, at the Wellsville First Christian Church with Pastor Mark Blakeley of the church officiating.
Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery.
Family and friends may call two hours prior to the service on Friday at the Wellsville First Christian Church, 831 Main Street in Wellsville.
Roberts Funeral Home in Wellsville is entrusted with Marjorie's arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in Marjorie's name to the Wellsville First Christian Church, 831 Main Street, Wellsville, OH 43968.
Wellsville First Christian Church
Wellsville, Ohio, United States
Spring Hill Cemetery
10th Street Extension
Marjorie Brown


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Benjamin Leigh Smith (* 12. März 1828 in Whatlington, Sussex; † 4. Januar 1913 in Hampstead) war ein britischer Polarforscher.

Smith entstammte einer wohlhabenden liberalen Familie. Er war der außereheliche vierte Sohn des Whig-Politikers Benjamin Leigh Smith (1783–1860) und der Modistin Anne Longden (1801–1834). Seine ältere Schwester Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon war eine führende viktorianische Frauenrechtlerin.

Leigh Smith studierte am Jesus College in Cambridge und schloss sein Studium 1857 mit dem Master-Titel ab. Er war nun berechtigt als Rechtsanwalt zu arbeiten, übte diesen Beruf aber nie aus. Er beschäftigte sich hauptsächlich mit Naturwissenschaften und rüstete 1871 eine geografische und ozeanographische Expedition mit dem eisverstärkten Zweimastsegler Samson nach der Nordküste Spitzbergens aus. Mit Hilfe des norwegischen Eispiloten Andreas Ulve (1833–1896) gelang es ihm, die gesamte Nordküste der Inselgruppe bis zum heute nach ihm benannten Kap Leigh Smith im Osten von Nordostland zu befahren. Er kartierte mehrere kleine Inseln und führte eine Reihe von Temperaturmessungen des Meerwassers in verschiedenen Tiefen durch.

Am 13. Mai 1872 brach er zu seiner zweiten Arktisreise auf. Er untersuchte mehrere Vulkankrater auf Jan Mayen, bevor er sich erneut in den Norden Spitzbergens begab. Die Eisverhältnisse waren schlechter als im Jahr zuvor, und die Samson wurde im Wijdefjorden beschädigt, so dass Leigh Smith gezwungen war, frühzeitig nach England zurückzukehren. So entging er dem Schicksal von 57 norwegischen Robbenfängern, die im Herbst am Ausgang des Wijdefjorden mit ihren sechs Schiffen vom Eis eingeschlossen wurden. 17 von ihnen starben, als sie versuchten, im Svenskhuset am Kap Thordsen zu überwintern.

1873 hatte er zusätzlich zur Samson das Dampfschiff Diana gechartert. Er wollte Spitzbergen mit beiden Schiffen umrunden und das noch wenig erforschte König-Karl-Land erreichen, musste aber am Kap Platen im Norden von Nordostland umkehren. Dadurch, dass er den finnlandschwedischen Polarforscher Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, der an der Mosselbukta überwintert hatte, mit frischen Lebensmitteln versorgte, rettete er das Leben mehrerer an Skorbut erkrankter Teilnehmer der schwedischen Expedition.

1880 fuhr Leigh Smith, diesmal mit der Eira, erneut nach Jan Mayen und Spitzbergen. Die Eisverhältnisse erlaubten diesmal kein Vordringen an die Nordküste. So besuchte er Amsterdamøya und den Magdalenefjorden und passierte am 31. Juli 1880 das Südkap Spitzbergens Richtung Osten. Am 14. August erreichte die Eira Franz-Josef-Land, wo Leigh Smith zunächst auf der kleinen May-Insel landete. Es war das erste Mal seit der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Nordpolexpedition, dass wieder eine Expedition eine Insel Franz-Josef-Lands betrat. Leigh Smith benannte und kartierte anschließend die Northbrook-Insel mit Kap Flora, die später Ausgangspunkt mehrerer Arktis-Expeditionen war. Als das Schiff den Archipel verließ, war der Verlauf von 176 km bis dahin unbekannter Küste der Inseln McClintock, May, Hooker, Etheridge, Bell, Mabel, Bruce und Northbrook aufgenommen. Die Royal Geographical Society verlieh ihm daraufhin die Patron's Gold Medal des Jahres 1881 .

1881 kehrte Leigh Smith mit der Eira nach Franz-Josef-Land zurück. Eines der Ziele war, nach der verschollenen Jeanette von George Washington DeLong Ausschau zu halten. Die Eira geriet am 21. August vor Kap Flora zwischen ein starkes Treibeisfeld und das küstennahe Festeis und wurde dabei so stark beschädigt, dass sie sank. Die Mannschaft war aber in der Lage, einen Teil der Ladung, darunter vier Boote, zu bergen und sich auf die Northbrook-Insel zu retten. Sie errichtete ein provisorisches Haus und ergänzte den knappen Proviant mit dem Fleisch gejagter Eisbären und Walrosse. Im Juli 1882 ruderten die Männer in den Booten 800 km nach Nowaja Semlja, wo sie auf die Willem Barents trafen. Leigh Smith kehrte auf der von Allen Young (1827–1915) befehligten Hope nach Schottland zurück, die ausgeschickt worden war, um nach der vermissten Expedition zu suchen. Während seiner Überwinterung hatte Leigh Smith nicht einen Mann verloren.

Im Alter von 59 Jahren heiratete Benjamin Leigh Smith die mehr als dreißig Jahre jüngere Charlotte Seller. Ihr Sohn Philip Leigh Smith (1892–1967) heiratete 1933 Alice Prebil (1907–1987), eine Schülerin von Marie Curie und die erste britische Frau mit einem Doktortitel in Kernphysik.

Leigh Smith veröffentlichte keine Einzelheiten seiner wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten. Er schrieb auch keine Reiseberichte oder Memoiren. So war er schon weitgehend vergessen, als er 1913 starb.

Im Archipel Franz-Josef-Land sind die Leigh-Smith-Insel sowie die Leigh-Smith-Straße zwischen Prinz-Georg-Land und Arthur-Insel nach ihm benannt. Er ist darüber hinaus Namensgeber für das Kap Leigh Smith und den benachbarten Gletscher Leighbreen der Insel Nordostland (Spitzbergen).

Literatur
 Peter Joseph Capelotti: Shipwreck at Cape Flora. The Expeditions of Benjamin Leigh Smith, England's Forgotten Arctic Explorer (PDF; 41,2 MB). University of Calgary Press, Calgary 2013, ISBN 978-1-55238-712-2 (= Northern Lights Series 16,  (Druckversion),  (online), englisch), ISBN 978-1-55238-705-4

Weblinks
 Leigh Smith, Benjamin (1828–1913) auf "Freeze Frame: historical polar images" des Scott Polar Research Institute (englisch)
 Leigh Smith Expeditions on board the Eira 1880, 1881–82 auf "Freeze Frame: historical polar images" des Scott Polar Research Institute (englisch)

Einzelnachweise

Entdecker (19. Jahrhundert)
Polarforscher (Arktis)
Seefahrer
Brite
Geboren 1828
Gestorben 1913
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


THURSDAY, Jan. 23, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Efforts to curb cesarean birth rates in the United States might be working, with health officials reporting a 2 percent decline in the number of first-time surgical deliveries between 2009 and 2012.
Cesarean delivery rates in 19 states reporting to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention averaged 21.9 percent in 2012, the CDC said in a report released Thursday. This represented a return to the rate last recorded for those states in 2006.
Report co-author Michelle Osterman, a statistician at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, said the turnaround was significant. "The rates had been going up every year, but in 2009 they either stabilized or started to come down," she said.
The real impact might be felt in the overall cesarean rate, Osterman said.
"Because primary cesareans are starting to decline, the overall cesarean rate will be impacted because there is only a 10 percent chance that a woman who has had a cesarean is going to have a vaginal birth afterward," she said. The overall rate has stabilized at about 33 percent of all births in the United States, Osterman said.
One expert said the report indicates slight progress.
"At least the rate stopped going up," said Dr. Mitchell Maiman, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. "After decades of climbing, there seems to be a hold to it. But we could do a lot better."
The risks to the mother and baby are much higher in a cesarean birth than in a vaginal birth, Maiman said.
"Once you have the first cesarean, you're overwhelmingly likely to have repeat cesareans," he said, noting the odds for complications and death rise dramatically with each additional C-section. "It's also worse for the baby as multiple studies have proven."
Risks to the mother include infection, excessive bleeding and blood clots traveling to the legs or lungs. Risks to the baby include injury during delivery, breathing problems and the potential need for intensive care.
"Vaginal delivery is the preferred method for having a baby," Maiman said. "Cesarean should only be resorted to when it's absolutely necessary."
Maiman said the cesarean rate is so high because doctors fear malpractice lawsuits.
"The pressure is on physician practices because it takes so much time and energy to stay with a patient for hours for a vaginal delivery, compared to the quickness of a cesarean," he said. "Most of the lawsuits are for the failure to do a cesarean in a timely fashion."
In a separate reporting region, the researchers found that in 28 states and New York City, the first-time cesarean rate dropped from 22.1 percent in 2009 to 21.5 percent in 2012.
Declines were reported in 16 of those 29 areas, while the remaining states' rates remained the same, according to the report.
Some areas reported dramatic declines. C-sections in Delaware, North Dakota, Oregon, New York State and New York City decreased by 5 percent to 10 percent from 2009 to 2012. In Utah, the rate fell by 15 percent.
Cesarean rates also varied depending on the stage of pregnancy. Each week from 37 weeks' gestation and beyond saw declines in C-sections, with the biggest drop at 38 weeks, when the baby is nearly ready to be born. Full term is usually considered 40 weeks.
The researchers said these findings cannot be generalized to the entire country, because the reporting states aren't a random sample of U.S. births.
Putting financial pressure on hospitals could reduce the cesarean rate further, Maiman said. "If you introduce financial incentives or disincentives to hospitals for overall cesarean rates, then they will pass that on to the physicians," he said.
Changes regarding medical malpractice laws could also make a major impact on the cesarean rate, he said.
For more information on cesarean delivery, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.


A new video...and a new name.
Benjamin Blower and the Army of the Broken Hearted will be supporting Birmingham's veteran apocalyptic punk theologians Maccabees, previously known as Dissident Prophet (and not to be confused with The Maccabees, of international fame). Tickets are £5.


Finance minister Mthuli Ncube's recent pronouncements that Zimbabwe will revert to using its own currency, a decade after it abandoned the local dollar in favour of a basket of currencies is not feasible unless macro-economic fundamentals are addressed.
Ncube last week said Zimbabwe will introduce its own currency within the next 12 months as part of a raft of measures to arrest the economic meltdown.
"On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years," Ncube said ahead of his trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum next week.
This would entail abandoning the bond currency, which has rapidly lost value against the United States dollar on the thriving parallel market. Critics have been quick to shoot down Ncube's proposal, saying if the local currency is brought back, it would suffer the same fate as the bond note, which has rapidly lost value against the greenback despite the rather strange insistence by government that the surrogate currency still traded at par with the firming US dollar.
The bond notes have been equated to the now defunct Zimbabwean dollar, evoking nightmares of the 2008 hyperinflation and economic ruin. Back then, inflation peaked to a record high 79 600 000 000% per month, forcing the authorities in Harare to abandon the local dollar.
Introducing the bond note was also viewed as government's attempt to print local currency via the backdoor and fund its ballooning civil service wage bill currently gobbling up about 90% of its revenue.
That is even expected to widen an already yawning budget deficit. Ironically, although the government insists that the fiat currency is trading at par with the US dollar, President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week announced new fuel prices pegged in varying currencies but for the same quantities -- in a clear admission that the bond currency, derisively known as "zollars" or "bollars", was inferior to the greenback, among other currencies of choice.
Even before then, the surrogate currency had been gradually depreciating against the greenback since inception in 2015, before it hurtled to a predicted crash against the US dollar. This is after Ncube had announced a raft of austerity measures, which he used to reassure the nation that it was the remedy to the deep-seated economic malaise.
As effects of austerity measures begin to set in, it is becoming clear to all and sundry that the two currencies are not trading pari passu. It is worth noting that the same conditions which are existing now are similar to the same deficiencies which existed when Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency in 2008 at the height of the hyperinflationary era. Back then, inflation soared to unprecedented levels.
What triggered the spectacular collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar in 1997, on a day infamously known now as "Black Friday" was a culmination of government's reckless spending, punctuated by the decision to award each of the veterans of the 1970s liberation struggle ZW$50 000 which had not been budgeted for.
In the preceding year, the then president Robert Mugabe, without parliamentary approval, deployed the military in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to secure the presidency of the late Desire Kabila who was under siege from rebel movements supported by Rwanda. The then defence minister, Moven Mahachi, famously retorted: "We cannot sustain expenditure of this magnitude."
A decade later, Zimbabwe's weak macro-economic environment, characterised by dwindling exports, government's reckless spending, a ballooning domestic debt, inflationary pressures and low industrial productivity, among a myriad of evils, saw Harare abandon the local dollar in favour of currencies of choice in 2008.
The same conditions exist now. Inflation quickened from 31% in November to 42% in December. And, while the argument for reintroducing the local dollar is plausible, the prevailing macro-economic environment would not support the initiative. The reintroduction of the local dollar cannot be done in months, let alone in the prevailing macro-economic environment.
The country is trapped in a similarly intractable economic crisis. A case of a step forward and two steps backwards.
With official inflation hovering around 42,1% (although economist Steve Hanke puts it at 235%), an acute foreign currency crisis, widening budget deficit (triggered by government's propensity to spend beyond its means), a ballooning domestic debt of US$10 billion and a manufacturing sector that is teetering on the brink of collapse, Zimbabwe's dream to restore its currency-minting status and monetary policy control is doomed and will likely end up like that forgettable 2008 nightmare. Efforts to attract meaningful foreign direct investment (FDI) have been futile.
Coupled with that, Zimbabwe's external debt has soared to US$12 billion, dampening prospects of attracting fresh lines of credit from international finance institutions.
Zimbabwe's import cover, crucial towards anchoring the reintroduction of the local dollar, is marked at two weeks against the prescribed six-month timeline (Rand Monetary Area requirements). Gold production remains depressed and cannot be used to anchor the proposed currency.
Critics who have advanced the notion against the reintroduction of the local currency under the prevailing circumstances, draw similarities to the same stringent requirements that make it impossible for Zimbabwe to join the rand union although the idea has found traction in some quarters.
Some of the requirements that prospective member states should satisfy before joining the elite rand club include firstly having an independent currency and six months' import cover.
Bindura University commerce lecturer Felix Chari said it would be the height of fiscal imprudence to reintroduce the local currency in light of the prevailing macro-economic environment.
Economist John Robertson said the path towards reintroducing the local currency would require Zimbabwe to first take bold steps such as "firstly restoring the value of land" on the market, a decade after the country rolled out chaotic agrarian reforms that decimated the country's once vibrant agricultural sector.
"It would be feasible (to reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar) if he (Ncube) addresses the key challenges.
Firstly he has to put back the land on the market. While the land has no value, it has no collateral.
"The other fundamental is for Zimbabwe to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). For now, investors cannot trust government," Robertson said, noting that Harare's hostile investment laws scuttled efforts to attract fresh capital," he said.


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Researchers recover a 'lost' Ancient language spoken 8,000 years ago
Scientists have managed to bring back to life a lost language from 8,000 years ago. T
he sounds of languages that died thousands of years ago have been brought to life again through technology that uses statistics in a revolutionary new way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0L-K3SQTNk
Researchers have posted a fascinating study where you can actually hear how our ancestors spoke 8,000 years ago.
Scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford have managed to reproduce some of the words that originated from a language which disappeared from the face of the Earth thousands of years ago.
The Proto-Indo-European language is believed to have been a mother language that would give birth to hundreds of languages on planet Earth including Roman, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, and Indo-Iranian. The mother language was spoken sometime from 6000 to 3500 BC by ancient people inhabiting the region of the Caspian Sea, in the territories of what are now Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.
Since there is no written evidence, researchers have had to work for centuries to rebuild the original mother language that gave rise to a number of different languages.
According to an article posted on the website of the University of Cambridge: "No matter whether you speak English or Urdu, Walloon or Waziri, Portuguese or Persian, the roots of your language are the same. Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the mother tongue – shared by several hundred contemporary languages, as well as many now extinct, and spoken by people who lived from about 6,000 to 3,500 BC on the steppes to the north of the Caspian Sea."
So far no one was able to figure out that this language sounded like. However, scientists from the British universities of Oxford and Cambridge have applied a methodology of acoustic-phonetic statistical processing, called 'statistical forms' which allowed them to recover LOST sounds of words and how they sounded like 8,000 years ago.
This is how scientists were able to reproduce the origin of some of the words still in use today, as the number ONE in English that comes from the word 'OINOS' from the PIE language. They were also able to reconstruct some words used in modern Romance languages tracing back their origin to Latin.
According to writings on the website of the University of Cambridge: The longest path of development simulated so far goes backwards 8,000 years from English one to its PIE ancestor oinos, and likewise for other numerals. They have also 'gone forwards' from the PIE penkwe to the modern Greek pente, modern Welsh pimp and modern English
five, as well as stimulating change from Modern English to Anglo-Saxon (or vice versa), and from Modern Romance languages back to Latin.
"We've explicitly focused on reproducing sound changes and etymologies that the established analyses already suggest, rather than seeking to overturn them," says Coleman, whose research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Scientists say it is possible to extrapolate the languages into the future, although they note that considerable changes in spoken language will hardly take place over the next couple of centuries.
Interestingly, the statistics of shape are not just being used to show how different languages relate to each – they are also being used to improve the analysis of medical images.
Time travelling to the mother tongue
Featured image credit


Heather Holland, 38, a second-grade teacher in Texas, came home early from work last month feeling mildly sick with flu symptoms and fatigued. Over the next few days, she decided not to pay a $116 co-payment for medication, and within a week, she had died.
Not taking medication or taking it incorrectly is responsible for 125,000 deaths per year and costs the American health care system between $100 billion and $289 billion a year, a study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine found.
People often skip medication for financial reasons. One in five people have opted not to fill a prescription because it is too expensive, according to a poll from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Association, and the numbers are even higher for low-income Americans, with 30 percent of people who make less than $40,000 per year saying cost has prevented them from getting prescription drugs.
The problem is more pronounced in populations with chronic illness, as 50 percent of medications are for chronic disease, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In January, he appointed Alex Azar, an ex-pharmaceutical industry executive, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services and directed him to lower drug prices. Some critics have expressed skepticism that Azar will come through on those promises because of his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
The budget proposal released by HHS on Friday made suggestions for a number of cost-cutting measures including allowing up to five states to collectively negotiate drug prices for Medicaid, cutting Medicare payments to discourage doctors from prescribing higher price drugs, and putting a cap on out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees.


R&G Racing is proud to announce the first application in the new 'Under Body Frame Protection' category. Specially developed for the 2009 kawasaki ER-6F 'Ninja 650R', these sliders are designed to sit just behind the fairing panels and hold them out in the event of a crash. While the fairing may get scuffed the panels will hold preventing further damage to the frame and ancillary bits. This is a tried and true form of frame protection used in AMA, World Superbike, and MotoGP. This is also a viable alternative for customers who prefer not to cut their fairings and in most cases will be a lower cost option.