Raising money is a part of most organized recreational and competitive sports programs and creative sport fundraising ideas are crucial to a team's financial campaign success. While some money raising events are repeated year after year with success, most sport organizations are looking for fresh sports fundraiser ideas that will generate excitement about the organization and the needed income to continue the program. But, before jumping into a new method of raising dollars, athletic directors and coaches will want to consider fine tuning their current programs to increase capital potential.
A major contributing factor to any sport fundraising ideas is organization. Too often, the easiest campaigns are chosen because it is simple to hand a youth a brochure or catalog with products for sale. Selling products is not a problem, but a planned approach to selling various products could help in obtaining more sales. Most sports fundraiser ideas meet success when the donors know in advance that there is a promotion in the works. It may be a good idea to ask previous buyers, new parents to the team, and others in the community to budget for an upcoming sale. When asked at the last minute, often buyers select the least expensive items in a catalog, just to help with the campaign. But, if buyers are aware that certain items are being made available in the near future, they might plan to spend more money, making necessary adjustments to their budgets. Specific time lines and ample information will always make a money raising event run more smoothly.
Existing sport fundraising ideas may also benefit from an increase in involvement. When financial growth is dependent upon the youth within the organization to sell items or raise money, programs can lack the needed enthusiasm and ultimately, the needed funds. Recruiting excited adults to help in the fundraising campaign can bring great motivation to the entire project. Children and youth should take part in all aspects of support for their teams, including raising money, but the driving force of any successful campaign is dedicated and motivated adult involvement.
And, when there is excited adult involvement, there are also new sports fundraiser ideas brought to the table. Keeping a large pool of volunteers to recruit from can have enormous benefits to any athletic program. Booster clubs often take on the responsibility of raising money for sports teams, removing financial stresses from coaching staff. A coach or team leader can easily share the vision and define the specific needs to a group of supporters, then ask the support team to get creative with new sports fundraiser ideas for the project. The bigger the involvement, the greater potential for success. Driving energy can be brought about by campaign teams that host adequate numbers of workers. Nothing can kill a fundraiser quicker than the stress and burn-out that is the result of a few volunteers doing all of the work. So, before taking on any new sport fundraising ideas, make sure that there are enough workers to carry the load of a well, organized event.
Some of the great ideas that have evolved from brain storming events include sports tournaments and celebrity sports days. With tournaments, a soccer team or baseball team could host a weekend competition for several teams to take part in. Funds are raised by charging admission fees, parking fees, and foods and products sold during the tournament. With a celebrity sports day, teams host a day when a celebrity in athletics teaches a day camp for youth, or competes against locals, for entertainment. Admission fees are charged and revenue is generated from food and product sales, as well. Events like these are also great ways to promote the team and build team spirit. Great sports fundraiser ideas should always promote information about the team or project and increase community awareness.
There are many more innovative sport fundraising ideas that can be found online. On the Internet there are companies that can introduce newcomers to the art of fundraising, and there are businesses that will practically run a capital campaign for various sports programs. Log on to the World Wide Web today, and discover more about raising the dollars needed for team success.
One of the best magazine fundraising ideas around can be found on the worldwide web. Selling magazines online is one of the simplest and most effortless ways to raise money for nonprofits, schools, youth groups, and clubs; and in most cases, there are no fees or upfront costs. The Internet has fast become the premier way to generate income. Online advertising has the potential to reach millions of consumers on domestic and foreign shores. And almost anyone over the age of 18 can capitalize on a soaring consumer trend to shop online. Although magazine and newspaper publishing companies have experienced a decline due to the popularity of the Internet, the web can be utilized to boost sales and drive consumers to subscribe. People still like to read; and studies indicate that more than 80 percent of U.S. households subscribe to one to four publications per year. Savvy fundraisers can take advantage of America's love for reading and trend for surfing the web by selling subscriptions effortlessly on line. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30).
The process for implementing magazine fundraising ideas that include online sales is relatively easy. Church groups, schools, committees, groups, and clubs simply sign up on vendor sites to start an online subscription "store." Picture a digital store as a virtual newsstand full of popular publication titles. Hundreds of issues are available that appeal to all ages and interests -- from children's magazines, senior adult gardening and travel rags, women's health and beauty books, and men's mechanics and golf tabloids. A wide range of brand name issues appeals to a broader audience. Once the virtual store has been created using the fundraising group's logo, text, and unique password-protected identification code; sellers can drive potential subscribers to the site.
Unique online magazine fundraising ideas can include sending out emails to everyone on participants' address books; posting campaign information in church or school bulletins and flyers; advertising fundraisers in direct mail and e-newsletters; or even printing and handing out cards advertising the online store from door to door! People are always interested in a bargain, and subscriptions offered through sites that promote online magazine sales may be discounted by as much as 80 percent. Subscribers can save over buying publications at newsstands, neighborhood grocery stores, or through existing subscriptions. And in a woeful economy, cost-conscious consumers are watching every penny.
Other great magazine fundraising ideas include visiting local doctors' offices, hospitals, health clubs, lawyers' offices, and dentists to offer discount online subscriptions for use in their lobbies. While some businesses may have even thought to curtail waiting room literature to cut costs, offering discounted publications that can be purchased online is a win-win situation for fundraisers, supporters, and business owners. Hospitals, doctors, dentists, and lawyers have the opportunity to continue providing popular publications for clients at a considerable savings. Area businesses may also consent to point-of-purchase displays of popular tabloids or allow fundraisers to post flyers or post cards directing customers to the online store inside of each issue in the waiting room.
Once fundraising groups establish an online store and invite supporters and potential customers to subscribe, the process becomes even easier. Interested parties simply log onto the web-based store, select from several hundred titles, and sign up for subscriptions online. Cyberspace vendors process the orders, collect payment electronically, ship the magazines, and pay the fundraising group a certain percentage of sales; 40 percent is not uncommon. By utilizing online magazine fundraising ideas, groups simply pocket the cash while continuing to generate subscriber sales via emails, blogs, direct mailers, newsletters, bulletins, or any other method of letting people know about the online store.
What's the advantage to electronic sales? By implementing successful magazine fundraising ideas, such as selling subscriptions via an online store, nonprofits, churches, schools, youth groups, and other fundraising organizations can make money with very little effort. There are no door-to-door encounters that lead to negative results; no expenditures for gas driving all around town to hawk subscriptions; and no handling orders, making telephone calls, or collecting money. Fundraising groups never have to have face-to-face contact with subscribers; and there are no stressful moments having to collect initial payments or trying to convince disinterested parties to order subscriptions that they may not want. Supporters that subscribe at the fundraiser's virtual store do so willingly and not with coercion, high-pressure sales techniques, strong arm tactics, or bait-and-switch schemes. Subscribers can leisurely browse through titles and decide to order as few or as many publications as they wish. Payment online with a major credit card enables individuals to have orders processed promptly with little delays; and vendors are totally responsible for timely delivery of each issue.
Magazine fundraising ideas also include forming competitive teams and soliciting the aid of family members and friends to advertise and sell online subscriptions. Teams can compete for prizes for generating the most sales. Winners can be awarded cash incentives, free T-shirts or ball caps, or treated to complementary meals at fine dining establishments. Some team members may want to compete for a small percentage of overall sales for the month; or a chance to have their photo displayed in the group newsletter or bulletin. Family and friends can also have the opportunity to receive cash incentives or prizes for referring someone to the fundraiser site. The key to making magazine fundraising ideas work is to explore options and vendor offerings online; make sure that the percentage of profits is well worth the investment of time and energy; stay well organized; keep up the momentum of fundraising; and provide incentives for team members to exert their best effort in driving potential subscribers to the virtual newsstand.


text:
Q: Spring 4 hibernate 4 @Transactional(read-only="true") does not work I use hibernate 4, spring 4, and I want to use @Transaction annotation, but it doesn't work.
The user object still saved on sqlServer.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[applicationContext.xml]

<tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="transactionManager" />

<context:component-scan base-package="SpringDAO"/>
<context:component-scan base-package="SpringTest"/>
<context:component-scan base-package="service"/>

<bean id="transactionManager"
    class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.HibernateTransactionManager"
    p:sessionFactory-ref="sessionFactory" />

<bean id="sessionFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.LocalSessionFactoryBean">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
    <property name="configLocation">
        <value>hibernate.cfg.xml</value>
    </property>

    <property name="hibernateProperties">
        <props>
            <prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">true</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.format_sql">false</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.generate_statistics">true</prop>
        </props>
    </property>
</bean>

<bean id="dataSource"
      class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource">
    <property name="driverClassName">
       <value>com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver</value>
    </property>
    <property name="url">
        <value>jdbc:sqlserver://127.0.0.1:1433;databaseName=test</value>
    </property>
    <property name="username">
        <value>XXX</value>
    </property>
    <property name="password">
        <value>XXX</value>
    </property>
 </bean>

[hibernate.cfg.xml]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE hibernate-configuration PUBLIC
"-//Hibernate/Hibernate Configuration DTD 3.0//EN"
"http://hibernate.sourceforge.net/hibernate-configuration-3.0.dtd">

<hibernate-configuration>
    <session-factory>

        <mapping class="SpringDAO.User" />

    </session-factory>
</hibernate-configuration>

package SpringDAO;

@Repository("UserDAO3")
public class UserDAO3 {

SessionFactory sessionFactory;

@Autowired
public void setSessionFactory(SessionFactory value){
    this.sessionFactory = value;
}

public SessionFactory getSessionFactory(){
    return this.sessionFactory;
}

@Transactional(readOnly = true)
public boolean insert(Object user){
    Session sess = this.sessionFactory.getCurrentSession();
    sess.save(user);
    return true;
}
}

package service;

@Service("UserService")
public class UserService {

    public boolean addAction(User user){
        boolean result = true;
        UserDAO3 dao = (UserDAO3)SpringUtil.getBean("UserDAO3");
        List<User> users = dao.searchAllUser();

        for(User selectedUser : users){
            if(selectedUser.getName().equals(user.getName())){
                result = false;
                break;
            }
        }
        result = dao.insert(user);
        return result;
    }
}

A: From the docs,

This just
  serves as a hint for the actual transaction subsystem; it will not
  necessarily cause failure of write access attempts. A transaction
  manager which cannot interpret the read-only hint will not throw an
  exception when asked for a read-only transaction.

Whether the isolation level of the transaction can change depends on the implementation. Depending on the driver different things might occur, no guarantees, it does not enforce the failure.

A: POJO:
@Id
@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
@Column(name = "id")
private Integer id;

Modification:
@Id
@Column(name = "id")
private Integer id;

It works after eliminating @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)

A: have a look at @Transactional read-only flag pitfalls on ibm.com, the explanation there is really great. Your question is answered there.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Get access to our best features
Show Grayscale Images
News about Bosnia and Herzegovina
Stay current with all the latest and breaking news from Bosnia and Herzegovina, compare headlines and perspectives between news sources on stories happening today. In total, 167 stories have been published about Bosnia and Herzegovina which Ground News has aggregated in the past 3 months.
Local News Publishers
No sources with tracked biases.
Untracked bias
See less detail
Suggest a source
Looking for a source we don't already have? Suggest one here.
Top Bosnia and Herzegovina News
Europe · Bosnia and Herzegovina
Balkan river known for its breath-taking scenery becomes floating rubbish dump
50% Center coverage: 30 sources
Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries end up accumulating behind a trash barrier in the Drina River in eastern Bosnia during the wet weather of winter and early spring.See the Story
Europe · Sarajevo
Ex-Bosnian Serb commander given 15 years for war crimes
56% Center coverage: 9 sources
Former military commander Boban Indjic has been sentenced to 15 years' jail for war crimes during the country's 1992-95 interethnic war. Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina ruled that he participated in a 1993 atrocity in which 20 non-Serb civilians were hauled off a train in Strpci, near the Serbian border.See the Story
Sarajevo · Sarajevo
Bosnia: Indian businessman charged with organised crime
Indian businessman Pramod Mittal charged in Bosnia with heading an organized crime group. Mittal was head of the supervisory board and co-owner of a coke plant in Lukavac. Seven others, including two Indian and 5 Bosnian former members of the company's management, have been charged with Mittal.See the Story
Vladimir Putin · Sarajevo
Bosnian Serb leader awards Russian President Putin medal in absentia
The Bosnian Serb separatist leader on Sunday awarded Russian President Vladimir Putin with the highest medal of honor for his "patriotic concern and love" for the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia.See the Story
US & Canada · Sarajevo
Sarajevo's agony echoes as Ukraine braces for a dark winter
Russia has targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure as winter weather sets in. Prosecutor general: Russia's deliberate targeting of Ukraine's essential utilities is genocide. To make civilians suffer and die as a way to force their government to yield isn't a new wartime strategy. Families, neighbors and entire communities band together, brainstorm and resist.See the Story
Bosnian children's gifts to Ukraine evoke parents' memories
38% Left coverage: 8 sources
Hundreds of Bosnian children have been filing small boxes with gifts to be delivered to children of Ukraine in time for the New Year. For parents and educators, the experience has awakened rare happy memories from the time when they were on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers while growing up in constant fear of death.See the Story
Europe · Brussels
EU member states agree to give Bosnia candidate status
41% Left coverage: 32 sources
EU leaders agree to make Bosnia and Herzegovina a formal candidate to join the bloc. Bosnia will join Albania, Moldova, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine in the process. The process can take many years and involves complex negotiations on adjusting local laws.See the Story
NATO seeks to ease war impact on Bosnia, Georgia, Moldova
NATO turned its attention on Wednesday to three countries shaken by Russia's invasion of Ukraine — Bosnia, Georgia and Moldova — as the military alliance struggles to extend its security umbrella across Europe.See the Story
Veteran Bosnian Croat politician named as prime minister-designate
Borjana Kristo accepted the role of prime minister-designate after 23 lawmakers in the 42-seat lower house voted to approve the appointment. She has 35 days to form a Cabinet. Lawmakers from 10 political parties that together won 24 seats during the country's October election agreed to endorse a multi-ethnic coalition government.See the Story
Chechens Travel to Bosnia to Dodge Russian Draft, Set Eyes on EU
The group is from Russia. They are trying to get into the European Union. They want to enter the Schengen zone, which allows visa-free travel to the EU. The group is trying to reach Croatia, which is part of the EU, and then on to other countries.See the Story
EU Leaders Grant Bosnia Candidate Status to Join the Bloc
Bosnia and Herzegovina have been in talks with the European Union for years. The EU last admitted a new member, the Balkan nation of Croatia, in 2013. The path toward membership is a lengthy process, as countries must meet a host of economic and political conditions.See the Story
Central Bosnia Canton Srebrenica Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Mostar Banja Luka
Central Bosnia Canton
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
Breaking News Topics Related to Bosnia and Herzegovina

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Lawsuit: Google, Facebook CEOs colluded in online ad sales
Posted: Jan 14, 2022 / 02:10 PM PST / Updated: Jan 14, 2022 / 01:58 PM PST
FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks in Washington. Newly unredacted documents from a state-led antitrust lawsuit against Google accuse the search giant of colluding with rival Facebook to manipulate online advertising sales. The CEOs of both companies were aware of the deal and signed off on it, the complaint alleges. The original redacted lawsuit, filed in December 2021, accused Google of "anti-competitive conduct" and teaming up with the social networking giant. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
(AP) — Newly unredacted documents from a state-led antitrust lawsuit against Google accuse the search giant of colluding with rival Facebook to manipulate online advertising sales. The CEOs of both companies were aware of the deal and signed off on it, the lawsuit alleges.
The original, redacted lawsuit, filed in December 2021, accused Google of "anti-competitive conduct" and of teaming up with the social networking giant. But the unredacted version offers details on the involvement of Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in approving the deal. Facebook has since renamed itself Meta.
According to the lawsuit, Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, was "explicit that 'this is a big deal strategically'" in a 2018 email thread about the deal that included Facebook's CEO. While the names of the Facebook executives are still redacted in the suit, their titles are visible.
Tech companies spend millions on California political gifts
When the two sides hammered out the terms of the agreement, "the team sent an email addressed directly to CEO" Zuckerberg, the lawsuit states.
"We're nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward," the email read, according to the complaint. Zuckerberg wanted to meet with Sandberg and his other executives before making a decision, the complaint states.
In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said the lawsuit is "full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit."
In September 2018, the complaint says, the two companies signed the agreement. Sandberg, who was once the head of Google's ad business, and Pichai personally signed off on the deal, per the states' complaint.
Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said Friday that the company's ad bidding agreement with Google and similar agreements it has with other bidding platforms "have helped to increase competition for ad placements."
"These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all," Sgro said.
Internally, Google used the code phrase "Jedi Blue" to refer to the 2018 agreement, according to the lawsuit. Google kept this code phrase secret.
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Alphabet
Google's Schottenfels said the lawsuit's allegation that Pichai approved the deal with Facebook "isn't accurate."
"We sign hundreds of agreements every year that don't require CEO approval, and this was no different," he said, adding that the agreement "was never a secret."
The lawsuit is led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and was joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.
by Sonseeahray Tonsall, Katelyn Stark / Jan 19, 2022
SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. (KTXL) — It's hard to address a problem if you don't know how big it is. That's why homeless advocates in Sacramento County are looking forward to this year's count of just how many people are living on the streets.
But. they need the community's help with the biennial Point-In-Time count. To learn more about volunteering, click or tap here.
NEW YORK (AP) — André Leon Talley, a towering figure who made fashion history as a rare Black editor in an overwhelmingly white industry, has died. He was 73.
The death Tuesday of Talley, the influential former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine, was confirmed on his Instagram page early Wednesday. No details were given as to his cause of death, but he was known to have had health struggles in recent years.
New York AG accuses Trump's company of fraud
Biden to give away 400M N95 masks starting next week
Coronavirus / 2 hours ago
National and World News / 2 hours ago


Beautiful retail storefront steps from the Granada Theatre in a very well maintained building. The space is wide open with high ceilings offering an attractive space for a host of retail uses. Steps from the Granada parking garage making for ease of access.


This recipe is in two parts. The first part slow cooks the pork. The pork can then be shredded and eaten, using one or more of Kermit's barbeque sauces as dipping sauces. Alternatively, the pork and one of Kermit's barbeque sauces can be combined and slow cooked (either baked or in a crock-pot) to infuse the barbeque sauce flavor into the shredded pork.
This recipe yields about 15 servings.
1 Pork roast, either a fresh ham or a pork shoulder.
1 cup Kermit's Key Lime Barbeque Sauce; either Hot & Spicy, Medium Mannered, or Sweet & Tasty according to individual taste.
Note: If unsure which level of Kermit's Key Lime Barbeque Sauce to use, try using the Sweet & Tasty for cooking and provide all three sauces on the side for dipping with the meal.
1 cup Kermit's Golden Key Lime Mustard Barbeque Sauce.
Note: While this sauce is also great for dipping, it is best when baked or slow cooked with the shredded pork, as described in the second portion of this recipe.
Put roast in a large pot and cover with water.
Add onions, celery, carrots, and peppercorns.
Simmer slowly until the roast is very tender and about to fall off the bone - - three hours or longer. If foam forms at the top of the pot, skim off and discard.
Remove roast from the broth. Reserve the broth.
Cool the pork enough to handle, so you do not burn your fingers.
Cut or shred the pork.
At this point, the pork is ready to eat, using one or more of the barbeque sauces for dipping.
Place the shredded pork in a large baking dish or in a crock-pot or slow cooker.
Combine the barbeque sauce and 1/4-cup of clear broth from the meat and pour over the meat.
Bake at 300 degrees for at least one hour.
Combine the barbeque sauce and 1/4-cup broth from the meat and pour over the meat.
Turn the crock-pot or slow cooker on low for several hours or leave it all day.
Use a long tined fork to shred the pork. Rake the fork along the grain of the muscle. The pork will come loose in shreds.
Removing the foam or gray scum from the surface of the cooking pot is an important step. If the scum is not removed, it will eventually be reincorporated back into the liquid. When this happens, the liquid will be cloudy and have an off taste.
For lunch or dinner, serve pork barbeque on a roll or bun, with coleslaw and potato chips.
As a main meal, serve the pork barbeque with coleslaw, green beans, and dinner rolls.
For all meals, warm and serve extra Key Lime Barbeque Sauce on the side for adding more flavor to the barbeque sandwich or for use as a dipping sauce.
If unsure which level of barbeque sauce to use, try using the Sweet & Tasty for cooking and serve all three sauces on the side for dipping.
Kermit's Key Lime Barbeque Sauce infuses a sweet flavor into the pork, similar to a Sloppy Joe. When initially trying this recipe, first try using the plain shredded pork with the three barbeque sauces for dipping.
Kermit's Golden Key Lime Mustard Barbeque Sauces is also great for dipping, but it is best when baked or slow cooked with the shredded pork.


text:
Home » Chevrolet » 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date, Redesign, Price
2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date, Redesign, Price
June 28, 2020 · Chevrolet, Silverado by Christopher B. Conner
2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date, Redesign, Price – The 2021 Chevrolet Silverado has really been teased way in advance of routine. Get started, Chevy. We understand you choose to receive a jump start on points, which competitive strategy is precisely what helps make everybody like you, nevertheless teasing a brand name-new truck two years upfront is merely vicious.
2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Redesign
The 2021 truck readily available is considered to be the after that-technology of Silverado Hi-def. Chevy only is known as it by its characters and failed to position any phone numbers like 1500, 2500, or 3500 alongside it. Could it imply they will be abandoning the numeric system to indicate the measurement of their previously considerable moderate-obligation range of organization trucks? Almost certainly not, plus more probably the pushing person was only also sluggish to issues such as them. Precisely what we perceive is a big honking truck encounter that conforms with on the exact same developing as a good deal of the new Chevy variations.
There is the Chevrolet brand bisecting the massive grille, and despite the fact that the image stays in black and white there is enough beaming steel that people could tightly believe the entrance-stop could have a large amount of stainless. There is also a big, honkin' atmosphere inside of tale on the hood together with LED lamps on the area decorative mirrors as well as on the roof structure as befitting a method-obligation manufacturing truck. This is the 3rd big truck show Chevrolet has in fact provided in the previous 18 a few months, the initiative which is the 2021 Silverado 1500. In a straight comparison for all this durable metallic, the 2021 Silverado 1500 is basically about lightness, are available in at 450 pounds lighter in weight than the outward limited team-cab V8 design.
2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date and Price
Predicted: More details are created after this year. Even so, it is considered that the new Silverado could release in the center of 2021 at 1 of the considerable auto shows; Detroit or NY City. Costs are supposed to keep regular, possibly enhance relatively, regardless of the simple fact that engine requirements could impact that. Base model costs for Silverado 2021 is going to be about $30,000 for the 1500 model.
Gallery of 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date, Redesign, Price
Tags: 2021 chevy silverado, 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500, 2021 chevy silverado 1500 diesel, 2021 chevy silverado 2500, 2021 chevy silverado 2500 diesel, 2021 chevy silverado 2500hd, 2021 chevy silverado 2500hd release date, 2021 chevy silverado 3500, 2021 chevy silverado concept, 2021 chevy silverado diesel, 2021 chevy silverado duramax, 2021 chevy silverado engines, 2021 chevy silverado hd, 2021 chevy silverado hd 2500, 2021 chevy silverado hd 3500 z71, 2021 chevy silverado hd engines, 2021 chevy silverado hd gas engine, 2021 chevy silverado hd pics, 2021 chevy silverado hd release date, 2021 chevy silverado interior
Related Post to 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 Release Date, Redesign, Price
2021 Chevy Impala Release Date, Redesign, Price, Interior
2021 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Concept, Release Date, Rumors


text:
Frontline's 'Gang Crackdown': How Trump Uses MS-13 To Justify Unlawful Detention Of Undocumented Teens
12 Feb 2018 Kevin Gosztola
Frontline's 'Gang Crackdown': How Trump Uses MS-13 To Justify Unlawful Detention Of Undocumented Teens Kevin Gosztola 2018-02-12
President Donald Trump's administration contends undocumented immigrant children are afforded plenty of due process, and in the administration's effort to crackdown on MS-13 in the United States, there is little reason to be worried about their treatment by law enforcement.
In a new documentary from FRONTLINE, "The Gang Crackdown," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is asked if he is concerned about statements from lawyers that kids are "accused of having gang affiliation with very flimsy evidence and held in detention for months." Rosenstein brushes off the question.
"I think that's probably a very unfair characterization. The reason I say that is that what we see within the Department of Justice is an extraordinary level of due process that illegal aliens receive. That's why we have a backlog of more than 600,000 cases," Rosenstein states.
He later adds, "So based upon what I've seen, I think we have pretty substantial due process rights for people who are in the United States unlawfully, much more so than you see in many foreign countries."
The attitude is not unique to Rosenstein. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Thomas Homan is "increasingly troubled by orders from federal judges halting the deportation of individuals, all of which appear to ignore the fact that each alien in question was lawfully ordered removed from the United States after full and fair proceedings, many of which lasted several years or longer, at great taxpayer expense."
"These orders hinder ICE's efforts to address the clear public safety threat posed by many of these aliens—the majority of whom have criminal convictions. […] Of course, entering the United States illegally is, itself, a crime," Homan told the New York Times.
That mirrors the sentiment of federal and local officials in "The Gang Crackdown," which premieres on PBS on February 13. It examines how the violent gang became a focus of the Trump administration and the impact a police crackdown in Long Island, New York, has had on immigrant teens.
Timothy D. Sini, who was the Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner from 2015 to 2017, is confronted with concerns about police designating high school students as associates of MS-13 because they wear a certain color of clothing or they wear a Chicago Bulls sweater. He refuses to describe the criteria for designating someone an MS-13 associate.
"We don't publicly disclose the criteria because if we did, when our officers and detectives are attempting to generate intelligence, MS-13 would be one step ahead of us," Sini argues.
Producer Marcela Gaviria, who is conducting the interview, replies, "But that's what advocates and lawyers complain about. They say, 'What if I suddenly showed up at school with a certain color shoe and didn't know that that was the criteria?'"
Sini interrupts. "We're not rounding people up based on the color shoe they're wearing, and they know that," he claims, bobbing his head assertively to punctuate his answer.
Such dismissal of alleged rights violations exemplifies the indifference the Trump administration promotes toward the rule of law.
The documentary opens by introducing viewers to MS-13, particularly a gruesome example where two girls in Long Island were murdered. The police respond by escalating their operations in communities. They go door-to-door to find any suspects responsible. However, as Patrick Young of the Central American Refugee Center points out, the Suffolk County police must deal with the "climate of fear" they created, where Latinos feel "intimidated" about going to them with information.
Sergio Argueta of S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, which is a gang violence prevention organization, recalls how Commissioner Sini stood in front of a helicopter, a police tank, and armed police officers and made a "grandiose announcement that for every officer that stands in front of those cameras there are dozens and hundreds that are going to make the annihilation of MS-13 their number one priority."
"This idea that you're going to sort of launch this repressive attack and you're going to annihilate this gang—violence meeting violence is not going to solve this issue," Argueta declares.
As the documentary progresses, FRONTLINE highlights multiple cases. They are both of individuals from the immigrant community, who fear MS-13 and also are swept up in crackdown unlawfully.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Suffolk County in April 2017 and met with law enforcement officials. He said MS-13 recruits "unaccompanied minors. And every time they convert a young person to their depraved life of violence and crime, they steal those young people's future and our nation's future."
The film depicts Sessions' visit as a turning point. Law enforcement receive the signal from the federal government that they can do whatever it takes to remove immigrants they suspect of alleged ties to MS-13. The federal government will fully back them. That is when a kind of frenzy takes over high schools in the county, where officers label immigrant teens as dangerous. They treat the presence of "unaccompanied minors" as a part of the MS-13 threat, even though several are refugees who fled gang violence in Central America.
It falls on attorneys from the New York Civil Liberties Union and other firms to step in defend undocumented immigrant teens, who have their constitutional rights violated. They have to help teens transferred to highly restrictive prison facilities because they are inappropriately labeled gang members.
Fortunately for many of the detained teens, the Trump administration loses a major class action lawsuit that results in some justice. But the Trump administration also maintains that judges have no authority to order the release of undocumented immigrant teens held in detention with little-to-no evidence.
What the FRONTLINE documentary quite clearly shows is no matter how much the judicial branch attempts to rein in abuses of power, the Trump administration will hold fast to its cruel deportation agenda. They see MS-13 as ample justification for widespread criminalization of innocent and nonviolent immigrants.
The Trump administration punishes individuals and their families, who in several cases fled gang violence, because their appearances and ethnicity make them look like the people MS-13 targets for recruitment. Much more resistance and opposition will be required to coerce the Trump administration into respecting the dignity and rights of undocumented immigrant children.
Tags:Film ReviewFrontlineGang policingimmigrationMS-13Youth Justice
In Washington State, Incarcerated Organizers Build Community With Youth To Fight For Releases
We'll All Eventually Think 'Don't Look Up' Is Laughing At Us If Nothing Fundamentally Changes
For Migrant Families, COVID-19 Made Precarious Housing Much Worse
The Many Times The Trump Administration Exploited The Coronavirus Crisis
The Gang Crackdown investigates how a slew of killings linked to the MS-13 gang led to a crackdown that has swept up immigrant teens. Law enforcement is trying to stop the gang, but some immigrant teens have been unlawfully detained in the process. (Photo by FRONTLINE/iStock)


text:
The X Factor Australia Kicks Off Top 12 Live Shows Tonight
Aug 10, 2014 Mirex Sebastian Television, X Factor Australia 0
It's Live Shows on The X Factor Australia tonight!
The much awaited live performances from the Top 12 of The X Factor Australia will happen tonight, August 10, 2014.
The twelve contestant including — Adrien Nookadu, Tee and Dean of the Boys group; Marlisa Punzalan, Caitlyn Shadbolt and Sydnee Carter of the Girls category; Jason Heerah, Rochelle Pitt and Reigan Derry of the Over 25s; Boy Band, Girl Group and Trill of the Groups category — will perform tonight for Australia's vote.
Tonight's performances will be based on the judge's song choice. Danni, Nat, Redfoo and Ronan will personally pick the songs for their acts and will coach them to bring out the best of their singing talent.
The X Factor Australia will air tonight at 6:30pm, results show will be on the following day, Monday at 7:30pm.
Excited for the show tonight? Tell us if who is your favorite on the comment section!
We will be doing a recap tonight, you might want to bookmark or follow our Facebook page and Twitter for updates.
Dingdong Dantes Proposed To Marian Rivera
Jason Heerah performed 'Sing' on The X Factor Australia Live Shows


text:
// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.

using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives;

namespace HtmlGenerationWebSite;

public class SignalTokenProviderService<TKey> : ISignalTokenProviderService<TKey>
{
    private readonly ConcurrentDictionary<object, ChangeTokenInfo> _changeTokens
        = new ConcurrentDictionary<object, ChangeTokenInfo>();

    public IChangeToken GetToken(object key)
    {
        return _changeTokens.GetOrAdd(
            key,
            _ =>
            {
                var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
                var changeToken = new CancellationChangeToken(cancellationTokenSource.Token);
                return new ChangeTokenInfo(changeToken, cancellationTokenSource);
            }).ChangeToken;
    }

    public void SignalToken(object key)
    {
        ChangeTokenInfo changeTokenInfo;
        if (_changeTokens.TryRemove(key, out changeTokenInfo))
        {
            changeTokenInfo.TokenSource.Cancel();
        }
    }

    private class ChangeTokenInfo
    {
        public ChangeTokenInfo(IChangeToken changeToken, CancellationTokenSource tokenSource)
        {
            ChangeToken = changeToken;
            TokenSource = tokenSource;
        }

        public IChangeToken ChangeToken { get; }

        public CancellationTokenSource TokenSource { get; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Steve McQueen (1930 – 80). One page contract from 1971 (Board of Directors Astral Productions International) dated 31st March 1971. Signed by McQueen, William Maher (McQueen's Financial Advisor) and Gerald Breslauer. Signed boldly by McQueen in full, "Steven T McQueen". A fine example.


text:
Scritch Scratch (Hardcover)
By Lindsay Currie
Available from our distributor; usually Ships in 1-5 Days
"This is a teeth-chattering, eyes bulging, shuddering-and-shaking, chills-at-the-back-of-your-neck ghost story. I loved it!"—R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series
For fans of Small Spaces and the Goosebumps series by R.L Stine comes a chilling ghost story based on real Chicago history about a malevolent spirit, an unlucky girl, and a haunting mystery that will tie the two together.
Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour…he's gone.
Claire tries to brush it off, she must be imagining things, letting her dad's ghost stories get the best of her. But then the scratching starts. Voices whisper to her in the dark. The number 396 appears everywhere she turns. And the boy with the dark eyes starts following her.
Claire is being haunted. The boy from the bus wants something...and Claire needs to find out what before it's too late.
Pick up Scritch Scratch if you are looking for:
A book for middle school students, 5th grade to 9th grade
A story with a strong female protagonist that explores bravery, friendship, and family
Mystery books for kids 9-12
Chilling ghost stories and ghost books for kids (perfect for Halloween!)
Historical mysteries and Chicago history books for kids
Lindsay lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and three kids. She loves coffee, Halloween, Disney World and things that go bump in the night! She is the author of Scritch Scratch, What Lives in the Woods, The Girl in White, and The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street. Visit her online at lindsaycurrie.com
"Scritch Scratch brims with eerie thrills and nail-biting chills that are sure to keep readers turning pages. Don't dare read this at night!" — Kate Hannigan, author of Cape, book one in The League of Secret Heroes series
"The historical details are fascinating...Mary Downing Hahn fans will enjoy this just-right blend of history and spooky." — Kirkus Reviews
"Delightfully chilling and rooted in history, this haunting thrill ride will keep you hooked." — Jess Keating, author of Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray
"A spooky mystery with a sweet heart. Readers will be gripped by Currie's storytelling, and encouraged and excited to look into the history of their own cities and towns." — Jarrett Lerner, author of the EngiNerds series
"This is a teeth-chattering, eyes bulging, shuddering-and-shaking, chills-at-the-back-of-your-neck ghost story. I loved it!" — R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series
"[Offers] a ghost-hunterly blend of reality and chills that should appeal to many readers with creepy interests, and this dive into spooky Chicago history will keep them scarily happy until they're ready for Selzer's Just Kill Me." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A spine-tingling blend of hauntings and history." — Publishers Weekly
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Juvenile Fiction / Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural
Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Friendship
Juvenile Fiction / Thrillers & Suspense
Juvenile Fiction / Ghost Stories
Kobo eBook (September 1st, 2020): $8.99
Paperback (August 3rd, 2021): $7.99


text:
Home Bulgarian properties by region Ruse properties
Properties for sale in Ruse
The historic city of Ruse is located on the banks of the Danube river and is known as the Little Vienna. It has historic and well-preserved architecture, stunning countryside, and good access to main roads and airports.
Some of the nicest villages are in and around the Nature Park - "Rusenski Lom", though almost all the villages in the region share similar attractions for the property-buyers seeking rural tranquility.
Our listings include old rural houses in need of total restoration and newly built villas for sale.
Read information about Ruse
Rural house for sale close to Ruse (ID: 15403)
District: Ruse
House for sale with a spacious yard in a peaceful village in Ruse region. The village is only 9 km from the Danube River and 46 km from Ruse. The place is ideal for relaxation and rest. The house is on 2 floors with an area of 80 sq m.... more
Rural property for sale close to Ruse (ID: 13166)
We are selling a brick, rural house located in a quiet village in Ruse municipality. The village is very well organized, with good infrastructure, having several shops, taverns and a newly built community center. The village has a population... more
House for sale near Byala (ID: 16376)
A property for sale located in a pretty and cozy village in Ruse region. The settlement is just 15 km from the town of Byala, 24 km from the town of Svishtov and 42 km from the city of Ruse. The village is located on the banks of the Yantra River... more
Vacation house for sale in Ruse (ID: 14588)
House for sale just 7 km from the center of Ruse. The total living area of the house is 40 sq m. The size of the garden is 900 sq m. The villa has two floors with the following layout inside: First floor - living room, corridor, kitchenette... more
House for sale close to Danube (ID: 12618)
We are selling a single-storied house with a nice yard, located in Ruse district. The property has excellent location and flat terrain. The village lies 40 km away from the town of Ruse. It is very lively, with all amenities necessary for... more
We would like to offer you this solid, rural house, located in a picturesque village in the countryside south of Ruse. It is a lovely and tranquil village, situated about 14 km from the town of Dve Mogili and 52 km from Ruse. It is near the... more
House for sale near Ruse (ID: 14564)
For sale is a house in a beautiful village just 45 km south from Ruse. The house has a total living area of 120 sq m, on two floors, built in year 1956. The distribution inside is very functional It comprises of the following: First... more
Rural house for sale near Ruse (ID: 12352)
Two-storey house with large yard within minutes from Danube River. The offered house is brick construction and with total living area of 120 sq m. The first floor consists of a large L-shaped kitchen with a dining area, two bedrooms (one 11... more
House for sale close to Ruse (ID: 15740)
We bring to your attention a rural property located in a quiet village in Ruse district. The property is built on a plot of land of 481 sq m and its total living space is 45 sq m. The property comprises of a solid residential building,... more
House for sale in Ruse (ID: 13483)
We are selling a vacation home, located 9 km away from the town of Ruse. The house consists of two rooms, located one above the other with separate entrances. There is also an inside and outside bathroom and toilet. The house is furnished,... more
Rural house for sale in the town of Borovo (ID: 12397)
This is a lovely, two-storey, house located in the town of Borovo, close to Ruse. The house is solid, brick, with a concrete slab between the two floors. It has a built area of 86 sq m and comprises with the following distribution inside:... more
Property for sale near Ruse (ID: 12862)
The offered house is located in a nice village in the picturesque canyon of the Cherni Lom River, in the Rusenski Lom Nature Park. The village lies at about 40 km south from Ruse. The settlement is nestled in an ecologically clean area, with... more
This rural property is situated in northern Bulgaria, about 40 km south from Ruse. The house has a total living area of 250 sq m, spread on two floors. The yard is 1830 sq m. The premises inside the house is spacious and the distribution –... more
House for sale close to Svishtov (ID: 16041)
House for sale located in a large village in Ruse region. The house is brick construction, on two floors. It has a very functional distribution inside: First floor - two rooms with a spacious corridor. Second floor - two rooms with a... more
Old, rural property for sale in a developed village in Ruse region. The village lies 43 km south-west from the center of Ruse, 8 km south from the town of Dve mogili, 201 km north-west from town of Varna and 269 km north-east from city of... more
Cozy house for sale close to Ruse (ID: 15172)
For sale is a house with a yard in a peaceful and picturesque village along the Beli Lom river, 29 km southeast from Ruse. The property is located very close to the Rusenski Lom Nature Park and directly overlooks the unique Pisan Bridge. The... more
This is a house for sale in close vicinity to the town of Ruse and the Danube River. The property is situated in a large village with developed infrastructure, easy access and all communications. The village lies 16 km east from the town of... more
The below advertised property is located in northern Bulgaria, Ruse region. It is a two-story, solid house with an area of 200 sq m. On its first floor there are 2 rooms, a kitchen, a large corridor and a closet. On the second floor there... more
House for sale near the town of Byala in Ruse region (ID: 16351)
Sunny, well-maintained, two-story house in a cozy village just 14 km from the town of Byala (Ruse district). The total living area of the house is 90 sq m, distributed on two floors. The first floor consists of a corridor, a living room, a... more
House for sale in a cozy village in Ruse region (35 km southwest from Ruse). The house has a total living area of 90 sq m. The price also includes a garage of 34 sq m and few additional farm buildings. All this is built on a large piece of land... more
The following offer is regarding a rural property located in the countryside near Ruse and the Danube River. It is set in the central part of a cozy village, 16 km from the town of Russe. The property comprises of a two-storey house, farm... more
Office Property Market In Bulgaria To Continue Growing Report 12/03/2008
Though it was unpopular until 2003, the Bulgarian office property market is growing and is expected to evolve further, Landmark Property management board chairman Richard Macdonald said. Macdonald took part in the first ever property international press tour in Bulgaria. Sofia Echo Media and... more
Construction In Bulgarias Coastal Resorts Banned During Summer Season 12/03/2008
Bulgarian government will impose a construction ban in all Black Sea coastal resorts during the summer season. The draft law for Bulgarian Black Sea coastal development was approved on second reading on April 19. The ban will include all resorts and vacation villages and will be valid in... more
Properties for sale in Ruse, land, villas, houses, property for sale on Danube river


text:
Le 374th Airlift Wing (374th AW,  Escadre de transport aérien), appartenant aux Pacific Air Forces de l'United States Air Force est stationné à Yokota Air Base au Japon.

Notes et références

374 AW
374 AW
Unité de l'United States Air Force de la guerre de Corée

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: CSS Positioning of button with empty text I have three simple html buttons styled with height - min-width - and border. One with text, second with non braking space, and last with empty text.
My nob problem is on browser view, the last button with empty text is printing in different place.
CSS:
.test {
    height: 27px;
    border: 1px solid #b4b1ff;
    min-width: 54px;
}

HTML:
<button class="test">Text</button>      <!-- with text -->
<button class="test"> </button>    <!-- with Non Breaking Space -->
<button class="test"></button>          <!-- Empty ?? -->

see fiddle

A: Button elements are, I believe inline by default so you would need to vertically align them
JSFiddle Demo
CSS
body { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
.test {
    height: 27px;
    border: 1px solid #b4b1ff;
    vertical-align: top;
}


text:
Whitepapers // Ushering in a New Era of Internet Connectivity with Thread Networking Protocol
Ushering in a New Era of Internet Connectivity with Thread Networking Protocol
Thread is the future of wireless mesh networking and is poised to become a pivotal technology for connecting "things" to the Internet. "Things" can be loosely defined as power-sensitive, space-constrained devices that incorporate microcontrollers (MCUs), sensors, RF technology, and software. Wireless connectivity bridges these devices to the Internet, which then can be remotely controlled and automated. Multiple wireless technologies exist in the market that support such interconnectivity, but Thread uniquely serves the specific needs of the Connected Home. It fills a critical technology gap in the Internet of Things (IoT) by providing a low-power, secure, and scalable IP-based wireless mesh networking protocol based on proven standards.
The analyst firm IHS Technology predicts that the IoT will grow to 75.4 billion connected devices by 2025. Such an unprecedented level of connectivity is the result of remarkable advances in technology tracing back to the early 1970s when Intel released the first commercially available microprocessor, the 4004. Ten years later, desktop computing reached the state of the art, ushering in an era of unprecedented personal productivity. Laptop computing emerged in the 1990s and, coincident with expansion of the Internet, marked the beginning of connected mobility. However, it wasn't until the advent of the smartphone in the mid-2000s did we truly realize an untethered Internet experience. Smartphones put the power of personal computing combined with Internet connectivity in the palms of our hands. Advances in low-power computing, sensing and communication have led to a new class of connected devices. These small, resource-constrained, battery-powered "things" no longer just focus on personal productivity, but rather serve to sense, interact, and automate our surroundings at home, in the workplace, and throughout our urban environments in radically new and useful ways. Figure 1 shows these changes over the evolution of connected devices.
Figure 1: Emergence of the Internet of Things
Why IP Matters
Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol of the Internet. IP provides the core mechanism for relaying datagrams across IP networks, and its routing capabilities enable internetworking. After decades of rapid expansion of the Internet, IP has become ubiquitous. Networking technologies that do not natively support IP must first be adapted to IP at a gateway. This process involves mapping of the local network addresses and repackaging of the network-level payload into an IP datagram. As you can see in Figure 2, local packets that are encrypted must be decrypted at the gateway and then re-secured in the IP datagram.
Figure 2: Networks without Native IP Support
By contrast, local networks that natively support IP, such as Thread and Wi-Fi can forward and route application payloads without intervention. Packets encrypted in the local network can remain secured end to end, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Networks with Native IP Support
IPv6 versus IPv4
IPv4 supports 32-bit addressing. It became evident in the 1990s that an address space of 4.3 billion (2^32 = 4 294 967 296) was going to be insufficient to support the anticipated growth in Internet connectivity. IPv6 increases the address size to 128-bits and the resulting address space to approximately 240 undecillion! Local devices with IPv6 Globally Unique Addresses (GUAs) can be addressed directly by the wide area network (WAN).
6LoWPAN
6LoWPAN is an acronym for IPv6 over Low Power Wireless Personal Area Networks. It was designed to enable the efficient transmission of IPv6 datagrams over 802.15.4 links and thereby enable resource-constrained devices, such as "things" to be able to natively participate in the IoT. It supports three key functions:
Packet Size Adaptation: The smallest IPv6 Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) supported is 1280 bytes. A typical application payload size in an 802.15.4 packet using User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) is 63 bytes. 6LoWPAN provides a fragmentation and reassembly mechanisms to adapt IPv6 datagrams to these smaller 802.15.4 payloads. IPv6 packets that do not fit are split into fragments and sent over the air via 802.15.4. Not all fragments may be received in the correct order. However, 6LoWPAN only requires that all fragments are received and will reorder fragments during reassembly if needed.
Header compression: To minimize the overhead of sending IPv6 messages in 802.15.4 frames, 6LoWPAN provides stateless compression mechanisms for both IPv6 and transport headers that take advantage of cross-layer redundancies between protocols, such as source and destination addressing, payload length, traffic class, and flow labels. Thread utilizes Improved Header Compression (IPHC) and Next Header Compression (NHC). IPHC is used to compress the IPv6 header. NHC is used to compress the UDP header.
Layer Two Forwarding: Thread uses IP routing to forward packets. The IP routing table is maintained with each destination and the next hop to it. The 6LoWPAN mesh header is used to do link level next hop forwarding based on the IP routing table information.
A diverse set of wireless technologies exists in the networking marketplace. For the long term, three primary solutions are seen emerging as leading protocols in the connected home and IoT: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart, and 802.15.4 mesh networking protocols. Wi-Fi is a wireless powerhouse that is adept at transporting audio, video, and data throughout the home. The high data rates and output power that it supports, however, demand a lot of power. As such, its utility for battery-power applications is limited. Bluetooth® Smart is ideal for connecting point solutions to smartphones and for bulk data transfers on battery-powered devices. Although existing solutions do not natively support IP, the introduction of Bluetooth Core Specification 4.2 lays the groundwork by adding support for IPv6 and 6LoWPAN. Mesh technologies, such as ZigBee PRO and Thread form the backbone of a connected home.
These self-healing networks have been optimized to support low bandwidth control and automation applications where multi-year battery life is critical. ZigBee PRO has been the dominant 802.15.4 mesh networking solution for well over 10 years. It offers a robust, secure, and scalable mesh network supporting more than 250 nodes as well as extensive support for sleepy end devices for battery-backed operation. Thread builds upon the foundation of ZigBee® with advances in security, routing, and fault tolerance. It also addresses the long-awaited pull in the market for mesh networking technology that supports IPv6 and 6LoWPAN, bringing much-needed IP connectivity to each individual end node in the IoT. Table 1 lays out the features of the various networking protocols.
Wi-Fi Bluetooth Low Energy
Bandwidth 150 Mbps+ 1 Mbps 250 kbps 250 kbps
Low Power Consumption No Yes Yes Yes
Native IP Addressability Yes No No Yes
Simple IP Bridging Yes No No Yes
Mesh Networking No No Yes Yes
Practical Network Size Limit 32 10 250+ 250+
Security Support AES-128/256 AES-128 AES-128 AES-128, ECC
No Single Point of Failure No No No Yes
Table 1: Wireless Technologies for the Internet of Things
Why Thread, Why Now?
The Thread Group was formed on July 15, 2014, to collaborate, pool expertise, and develop a solution to meet these needs. One year later, the Thread Group released the Thread specification. The founding members of the organization include Silicon Labs, Nest Labs, Yale Security, Samsung Electronics, Freescale Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans, and ARM.
Thread's focus on low-power consumption and native support for IP delivers on the promise of seamless connectivity between "Things" and the Internet. It affords not only efficient communication between low-cost, battery-backed devices but also a simplified interface to the cloud and mobile devices. Thread offers a compelling and new wireless mesh networking solution designed to meet the needs of the connected home:
Standards-Based Protocol: Open standards-based protocols reap the benefits of technical peer reviews, cross-vendor interoperability, and competition. Thread is based on a foundation of existing IEEE and IETF standards including IEEE 802.15.4. The official Thread Specification was published by the Thread Group on July 13, 2015.
Simplified Configuration: Thread does away with some of the complexities of prior mesh networking standards. There are only two different node types: Router Eligibleor End Device.
Router Eligible nodes become routers if needed to support the mesh. The first Router Eligible node to form the network will be autonomously designated a router as well as the Leader. A Leader performs additional network management tasks and makes decisions on behalf of the network. Other Router Eligible nodes in the network can autonomously assume the role of a Leader but there is only one Leader per network at a given time. Nodes that join as End Devices do not support any routing capabilities. Instead, they send messages to a router designated as its "parent" and the parent performs routing operations on behalf of its "child." End Devices route communication through parents and can be programmed to be "sleepy" to reduce power consumption. End Devices that are unable to communicate with their parent after multiple attempts will autonomously search and attach to a new parent. Figure 4 shows a Thread node network with Router Eligible End Devices (REEDs), a Leader, and Thread Routers.
Figure 4: Thread Node Types
IP-Based Messaging
Thread provides native support for IP. All devices in a Thread network have an IPv6 address and can be accessed directly by local devices on the Home Area Network (HAN) or off-network using Thread-capable IP routers called Border Routers. Figure 5 illustrates a typical Thread networking setup.
Figure 5: Thread Network Connectivity
Nodes on the network form IPv6 global addresses from prefixes assigned by border routers, or locally by a self-assigned prefix to form a Unique Local Address (ULA). Routing IDs for use in the network are assigned by the Leader. Thread leverages User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for messaging instead of its heavier weight alternative, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Unlike TCP, UDP is a connectionless protocol that forgoes TCP features, such as error checking, packet sequencing, and retransmissions in exchange for faster and more efficient transmission. This efficiency equates to less overhead which is extremely important for battery-backed, resource-constrained devices. Thread utilizes the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) with UDP to remain lightweight but overcome some of the limitations of UDP. CoAP reincorporates support for retries and packet sequencing. CoAP further provides support for lightweight versions of GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE methods that can be easily translated to HTTP for simplified integration with the Web. Utilizing off-network CoAP to HTTP proxies, Thread makes it possible to query IoT devices directly from a browser.
Low-Power Operation
Thread provides extensive support for low-power operation using sleepy end nodes. As the name suggests, these sleepy devices are meant to spend the majority of their time in a low-power sleep state. With Thread, sleepy devices are not required to check in with the network, enabling prolonged battery life. Messages for sleepy devices are buffered by their parents. Message transmission is triggered only after a sleepy device wakes up and polls its parent for any inbound messages.
Scalable and Resilient
Thread was architected with the specific goal of supporting networks of 250+ nodes. With this constraint, features and capabilities were adapted to maximize throughput and minimize resource requirements. In a Thread network, the maximum number of active routers is 32. A direct and important consequence of this is that routing information can be efficiently distributed across the network and all routers are able to maintain visibility of all routes within the network. As nodes are added to the network and the topology changes, the network adapts by exchanging Mesh Link Establishment (MLE) messages. Additional routers can be autonomously added if there are Router Eligible devices operating as end devices. Such Router Eligible end devices or REEDs, listen to routing messages and will petition the Leader of the network to become a router if determined necessary to improve the overall performance of the network.Thread is a robust, self-healing mesh network that offers no single point of failure. If a router fails, the network will dynamically re-route traffic around the failed node. If a Leader fails, another router on the network will be autonomously elected the new Leader. Multiple border routers can be used to provide fail-safe redundancy for off-network communication.
The Thread Group has contracted a standard test harness to be used for certification of all Thread stacks as well as final Thread products. This test harness will be provided to all Thread member companies to allow high quality development and testing of software prior to Thread certification testing. All Thread components (ICs or software stacks) must be certified as Thread compliant before being used in an end product by a customer. All end product devices that want to carry the Thread logo must submit their devices for laboratory certification at an approved test lab.
Secure and User-Friendly
Thread networks are built to be simple to use, yet extremely secure. Thread uses AES-128 to protect all networking transactions at the MAC level and a combination of ECC and J-PAKE algorithms to securely add devices to a network (i.e., commissioning). Applications have the option to utilize standards-based IP security protocols (e.g., DTLS) to additionally secure application payloads.The Thread network assumes a commissioning device is available for a user to designate to add new devices to the Thread network. Thread makes it possible to designate both off-network devices, such as smart phones and computers and on-network Thread devices to become Commissioners. Off-network devices must first petition with a Thread Border Router to become a registered Commissioner using a secure DTLS authentication handshake specified by Thread. Once registered, the Border Router performs arbitration with the Leader on behalf of the Commissioner candidate to become an authorized Commissioner. On-network devices do not require registration, but may need to perform arbitration with the Leader to be authorized. The Leader ensures that only one commissioner is active on the network at a time. Once authorized, the active Commissioner will be made known throughout the Thread network. To join, a user instructs the commissioning device that a new devices is to be added and inputs a unique passphrase associated with the joining device. This passphrase is used to establish a secure DTLS session to authenticate and authorize the joining device. Only then is the device provided access to the Thread network. After the device is added to the network, the commissioning device is no longer active.
Accelerating Time to Market
With the rapid proliferation of devices for the Internet of Things, it's even more critical to get products from the idea stage onto store shelves as quickly as possible. The following are two ways in which Thread and Silicon Labs help accelerate time to market.
Thread does not specify an application layer but instead provides basic messaging services such as unicast and multicast message services using UDP and CoAP. Similar to Wi-Fi, Thread focuses on the secure and reliable transport of information but rather by using a low-power mesh network instead of a high-powered star network. Tools such as Silicon Labs AppBuilder simplify the use of these IP messaging services by abstracting away stack level details through the use of easy-to-use callbacks and plug-ins. Application code development in this framework is highly portable and can be reused across supported 802.15.4 devices. AppBuilder provides a simple GUI to configure devices and networking parameters, such as device type, commands, network forming and joining behaviors, as well as security modes and operation. Silicon Labs provides a sample application for Thread to get started quickly that can be easily customized and extended.
Networking Debug
Understanding, adapting and tuning network level behavior is an important development phase in developing applications for mesh networks. Traditional solutions use wireless sniffers to remotely capture over-the-air networking transactions. Silicon Labs networking ICs build this capability in using a unique two-wire interface called Packet Trace that outputs every packet sent and received by the device appended with link quality information. This information can be aggregated across all nodes in the network into a single view using a tool called Desktop Network Analyzer, providing a complete and comprehensive view of all networking activity. Desktop Network Analyzer correlates all traffic into events and can decode Thread messages. Network activity can be logged over extended periods of time to identify issues that may be infrequent or occur intermittently in the network.
This is a new era of Internet connectivity. The Internet of Things will eclipse the historic peaks of desktop computers, laptops, and smartphones combined. Small, resource-constrained devices will drive this growth in an incredibly wide array of applications. From home automation to building security sensors, from farming irrigation to industrial process automation and from healthcare to personal hygiene. It will touch multiple aspects of our lives and change how we interact with our environment. Most of these devices will be wirelessly connected. Multiple wireless technologies exist that can provide IP connectivity, but three solutions are expected to dominate the connected home: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart, and 802.15.4 mesh networking protocols. Thread is the future of mesh networking. It delivers on the promise of an IP-based mesh networking solution that is secure, reliable, scalable, and optimized for low power operation.
Thread Networking Product Page
Thread Learning Center


These HO scale, 6"x12" strips are sold in 24" (610 mm) long pieces.
NOTE: This product was sold under the part number B128B24 in the Mt. Albert Scale Lumber catalog. The Fast Tracks part number for this product is now STB-HO-6x12-24.
Model Size Imperial 0.069" 0.138"


Sal first learned the American standards at his grandmother's knee and his passion grew further when he discovered his hidden vocal talent in his teenage years. "Sal the Voice," as he is known by everyone from Brooklyn to Bayshore, can be found on most Sundays sipping cappuccino at the café, telling stories, making jokes and planning his next move – to bring back to American pop culture the consummate, classy, old-school entertainer with a heart of gold.
When his grandmother passed away, her music was all Sal had to remember her by. He had previously tried out for season 14 of American Idol, where he successfully made it past the auditions but did not proceed to the live shows. On Season 11 of Americas Got Talent Sal wowed the judges and won Heidi Klum's golden buzzer. He then made it past the Semi-Finals and will be competing in the Final Show.


Here's a bunch of photos from the weekend, at the Dogman Symposium at Defiance, Ohio - some shots from the drive there, from the meet-the-speakers event, the gig itself, dinner on the Saturday night, and a visit to the site of the 1972 creature/"werewolf" encounter in town at the old railroad tacks. An excellent time, and many thanks to good mate Ken Gerhard for all his hard work in putting the conference together!
Interesting. Looking forward to hearing Mr Redfern speak in Southern Cali August 17.
Interesting. Looking forward to hearing Mr Redfern here in Southern California tonight.


Thanks for your interesting question. I don't think there's anything fallacious about it. But I do think that, at bottom, it's an empirical question -- one that we can't expect to answer just by thinking hard about it. What you say in answer to it seems plausible to me: If all that I ever receive at my auditory organs is a totally undifferentiated sound, no matter what I do, then it's hard to see what function my auditory organs are performing for me or why I would even be aware that I had them. But I think that a confident answer to your question depends on properly gathered empirical data. You might look into the psychology literature to see if anyone has investigated this topic.


text:
Franz Kafka, the Ultimate Self-Doubting Writer
On the Emotional Resonance of Kafka's Diaries
By John Sherman
One night not long ago, on the phone with a college friend, the conversation turned to what we'd been reading. He was cramming for an exam so hadn't had much time, and I'd just finished the most recent of New York's unspoken book club, when you and every third person on the subway seems to have gotten the same recommendation. Sprawled across my bed, I stared idly at the bookshelf and pulled down a beat-up volume I'd had since college, when my friend and I had shared a microwave: The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1914-1923.
Published in English by Schocken Books, now a Knopf imprint specializing in Jewish literature—my Diaries is a third printing, from 1971. The text was translated by Martin Greenberg with the aid of Hannah Arendt, of all people. (The diaries also exist online in the unabridged original German, from the comprehensive Kafka Project.) I'd picked it up at the Book Barn, a rambling used bookstore in Niantic, CT, a short drive from my campus apartment. I took a Kafka seminar one semester, and thought the
Diaries might make an enlightening companion piece.
Kafka died on June 3, 1924, in a sanatorium outside Vienna, a month shy of his 41st birthday. He had been living with tuberculosis for nearly seven years, and by summer 1924 the state of his throat had made it too painful to eat or drink, sentencing him to death by starvation. According to Kafka's friend and biographer Max Brod, at the time of his death Kafka was working on his short story, "A Hunger Artist," about a man whose art form is starvation—one of the grimmest Kafka analogues, in a very competitive field.
Sitting up now, I flipped through and read selections from his diaries into the phone. "April 8, 1914: 'Yesterday incapable of writing even one word. Today no better. Who will save me?' … November 25, 1914: 'Utter despair, impossible to pull myself together; only when I have become satisfied with my sufferings can I stop.'… July 1, 1914: 'Too tired.' (That's the whole entry.) … September 22, 1917: 'Nothing.'" We laughed at the total Kafka-ness of these entries, the "utter despair" that seemed such a predictably pervasive mood, even in private.
The "nothings" and "sufferings" are some of my favorite sections of the Diaries, but it isn't schadenfreude; if anything, it's a different German word, Einfühlung—empathy. I enjoy the Diaries because they contain emotions I've felt myself.
In college and in the years since, I've handled depression with varying success. After graduation, I spent a year unemployed and living at home, Millennially adrift to an almost cliché degree. I read David Foster Wallace and
Catch-22 and a bunch of Camus, marinating in nihilism and then returning to Barnes & Noble to sit on the floor in front of the GRE prep books, dreaming up applications to graduate programs I would never apply to. I found it impossible to get through anything light or unserious without spiraling into comparative self-pity, but with nothing to do all day I tried to be at least somewhat mentally accountable. I managed a bit of Vonnegut, buoyed by his absurdism but disappointed by its ultimate hope. I found I couldn't truly enjoy much of anything that didn't have the unrelenting, pointless pain of living as a central theme.
The comfort I find in Kafka's brand of weary defeatism is like the kindness of a friend who says, "That really sucks" instead of "Everything will be OK." Because when everything sucks, cheerfulness sucks the most.
The pages of my own diary from this time share the hopelessness of Kafka's, but what in my handwriting reads like empty self-pity is from Kafka somehow inspiring.
Einfühlung and literary hindsight lighten the emotional load of his words, holding a mirror up to to my own self-doubt, anguish, and frustration.
Kafka's self-doubt has long since been vindicated, due in no small part to the efforts of Max Brod, who published Kafka's three novels, The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika after Kafka's death. (Kafka appointed Brod the executor of his will, and instructed him to burn everything. Brod didn't, reportedly saying that if Kafka had truly wanted everything burned he should have appointed a different executor.) We have Brod to thank for the existence of the diaries, as well; originally spread across several volumes in a complexly disordered chronology, Brod untangled, reordered, and repackaged them for the purposes of publication. In a postscript, he describes the process:
The bulk of the diaries is contained in 13 notebooks of quarto size. The first, third, fourth, and fifth notebooks Kafka numbered himself, in Roman numerals (the second notebook bears no number). Pages are numbered consecutively throughout, although a second pagination, also by Kafka, makes for some confusion. There was further difficulty in arranging the material chronologically in the fact that Kafka would occasionally, in the same notebook, write from the last page backward as well as from the first page forward, so that the entries met in the middle.
Brod's efforts at chronology were successful insofar as the entries are arranged in order, but a linear reading does the reader little good. The entries are erratic and inconsistent, including often-mundane daily records; notes on trips planned or avoided; doodles; painfully drawn-out vacillations over his on-again, off-again relationship with Felice Bauer; one lengthy and (to me) pointless exposition of a book about Napoleon's military career; and sketches of short stories and other works that often continue for several pages before being broken by an unrelated thought or a new entry. Entire stretches of time are unrecorded in the Diaries—all of 1918, for instance—and some story fragments are so brief or undistinguished from the rest of the diary that they read like schizophrenic asides.
I have only managed (or bothered) to read the Diaries from beginning to end once, and have instead come to see it as an ad hoc devotional, to be opened at random and savored in smaller bites.
For all Kafka's apparent lassitude, Brod maintains in his postscript that there was to Kafka's social presence "a gay ingenuousness one would scarcely credit to the author of the Diaries," and that the entries therein "show up as the darkest band of the spectrum." Moreover, he writes, "One must in general take into consideration the false impression that every diary unintentionally makes… Diaries resemble a kind of defective barometric curve that registers only the 'lows,' the hours of greatest depression, but not the 'highs.'"
Anyone who has kept and reread a diary can attest to this, and to the strange experience of looking back at years that look sunny in recollection, only to find in their handwritten record a list of petty gripes and irritations that faded as quickly as the ink dried on the page, while triumphs and satisfactions exist nowhere but in unrecorded memory.
In one atypically meta entry on writing about depression while depressed, from September 19, 1917, Kafka writes:
Have never understood how it is possible for almost everyone who writes to objectify his sufferings in the very midst of undergoing them; thus I, for example, in the midst of my unhappiness, in all likelihood with my head still smarting from unhappiness, sit down and write to someone: I am unhappy. Yes, I can even go beyond that and with as many flourishes as I have the talent for, all of which seem to have nothing to do with my unhappiness… And it is not a lie, and it does not still my pain; it is simply a merciful surplus of strength at a moment when suffering has raked me to the bottom of my being and plainly exhausted all my strength.
Kafka's "suffering" (Schmerz) is at times so extreme—whether brought on by noisy neighbors or an inability to work—that it seems almost solipsistically removed from the landscape of Eastern Europe in the nineteen-teens. An entry from August 2, 1914, reads: "Germany has declared war on Russia. –Swimming in the afternoon."
But of course this is the nature of diaries. Few diarists set out to record history with the wide-angle lens of the everyman. A diary is history as solipsism, the minute concerns of the diary's protagonist the only concerns of the narrative.
For this reason writers' diaries are especially tantalizing, offering a view of history through the eyes of a revered thinker. As a writer, I read diaries of writers I admire with complete self-interest—Did this writer think the things I think? Did this writer ask the same questions I ask myself? Kafka's diaries feel especially rewarding because of his obscurity, and his frustrations with writing itself are particularly resonant:
August 21, 1914: "Began with such hope and was then repulsed by all three stories; today more so than ever… I start
The Trial again. –The effort wasn't entirely without result.
August 29, 1914: "The end of one chapter a failure; another chapter, which began beautifully, I shall hardly—or rather certainly not—be able to continue as beautifully, while at the time, during the night, I should certainly have succeeded with it. But I must not forsake myself, I am entirely alone.
Reading entries like these about a work as formidable as The Trial is like watching a supermodel pop a zit—it hardly seems possible that the same crises of faith should afflict a genius and an amateur alike. On August 6 of the same year, Kafka writes predictively of his career:
What will be my fate as a writer is very simple. My talent for portraying my dreamlike inner life has thrust all other matters into the background; my life has dwindled dreadfully, nor will it cease to dwindle. Nothing else will ever satisfy me… Thus I waver, continually fly to the summit of the mountain, but then fall back in a moment. Others waver too, but in lower regions, with greater strength; if they are in danger of falling, they are caught up by the kinsman who walks behind them for that very purpose. But I waver on the heights; it is not death, alas, but the eternal torments of dying.
Passages like this are as bereft of hope as they are filled with beauty, and the effect can be heart-rending. Kafka had a circle of intellectual friends and other writers in Prague, Brod among them, but other than his diaries (and perhaps theirs), there is no other record of his daily life. The voyeur's impulse is strong, begging entry to even the blandest recollections in hopes of accessing some secret door in Kafka's mind, an understanding beyond the ken of ordinary readers.
These are diaries-as-decoder ring. But the decoder ring is warped, and doesn't present a true picture of much of the author's life. It may be authentic in its emotion, in its record of events and interactions, but it is mediated by the private and interior writing of an unreliable figure: the self-regarding self. A June 19, 1916, entry reads: "Forget everything. Open the windows. Clear the room. The wind blows through it. You see only its emptiness, you search in every corner and don't find yourself."
One of my favorite passages in Kafka's Diaries has to do with this sort of reading, from May 4, 1915:
In a better state because I read Strindberg (Separated). I don't read him to read him, but rather to lie on his breast. He holds me on his left arm like a child. I sit there like a man on a statue. Ten times I almost slip off, but at the eleventh attempt I sit there firmly, feel secure, and have a wide view.
This is much the same reason that I read and reread Kafka's diaries—not to study the course of his life, or pore over intimate critiques of his peers, but to soak in the emotive weight of his prose, to "sit there firmly, and have a wide view." Kafka's Diaries are as informative as they are cohesive—that is, not very—but they exist as a record of something ineffable, an experience of life as psychic frustration.
advicediariesFranz KafkaJohn ShermanjournalsMax Brodschmerzself-doubtwriters
John Sherman is a writer and copy editor in Brooklyn. He has written for BOMB Magazine online, The Billfold, The Daily Dot, Brooklyn Magazine, and The L.
Lit Hub Daily: June 1, 2017
Dick Whitman Reads Walt Whitman and Two Great Lit Movie Trailers
On the queer literary origins of Wonder Woman, from Sappho to Charlotte Perkins Gilmore… | Literary Hub All about...


If you are looking for a nice and original domain name for your website, one of the top-level domain name extensions that you may consider is .IN. The TLD can be used as a preposition or as a part of an actual word, such as vitam.in, adrenal.in, bring.in, come.in and so on – it really depends on the phrase you want and on what your site is about.
The dot IN country-specific top-level domain extension was introduced and given to India in 1989, but only a few thousand domain names were booked during the first fifteen years of its existence. The reason for the low number was that there were many regulations and prerequisites, so even local people and commercial entities preferred the generic TLDs. In 2005, however, the registration process was liberalized significantly and the prerequisites were lifted. There was even a registration expansion – more than 1,000,000 new domains were secured in merely a couple of years! A dot IN domain will give you the chance to reach the ever growing Indian market and will guarantee you a lot better local search engine rankings. India has one of the quickest developing economies and the IT sector in particular is booming rapidly.
You can purchase your dot IN domain through our company and start using it almost immediately. The registration time interval is between one and five years, and you will have full control over the domain through our Hepsia Control Panel. You'll be able to alter its WHOIS information and to edit its DNS records. You can also move your existing dot IN domain over to us if you have its EPP transfer authorization code, which you can obtain from the present registrar firm. We will renew your domain once the transfer is done.
Control all of your .IN domain names, and also any other domain names that you have, from a single place effortlessly, thanks to our time and effort saving Domain Manager interface. Available for free with every new domain registration, it offers all the software instruments you need to effectively manage your domain names, and much more. It is possible to instantly access all the important DNS controls, to quickly assign URL redirections, to get unlimited parked domains and to manage many domain names simultaneously. Frankly, you will be hard-pressed to find a better home for your domain names.
And, in case you also have a hosting account here, you will be able to manage your domain names and your websites from the very same Control Panel - no extra domain name or billing management interfaces are needed.


text:
Asia Times|Opinion
Missing from the Singapore Summit: Iran
By Stephen Bryen
No matter what you think of the Singapore Summit – and opinion is deeply divided – one country was definitely missing and its absence is of deepest concern. That country is Iran.
There isn't much point in denuclearizing North Korea if the end-result is that the technology, know-how and key personnel are shipped off to Tehran.
For years now, probably 20 or more, North Korea and Iran have been actively cooperating on both missiles and nuclear technology. Iran's longest-range missile, the Shahab 3B, is based on North Korea's Nodong-1 series and has been much improved. The missile now has a new re-entry nose assembly and is capable of changing course to evade intercepts using rocket nozzle steering.
The missile can not only hit targets in most of the Middle East, it can strike as far as southern and eastern Europe, Russia and India. The Shahab 3B can carry a single warhead of 1 metric ton, or multiple warheads. With this size payload, the Shahab is capable of carrying small nuclear weapons.
It should come as no surprise that North Korea had been testing small nuclear warheads, aside from the last blast, which may have been a plutonium-fueled nuclear test. The small-weapons tests look like enriched-uranium atomic bombs. From what has been observed about North Korean rocket tests, the biggest obstacle facing deployment of nuclear-capable missiles is a competent re-entry vehicle.
The Ryongchon disaster
Iran extensively cooperates with North Korea. Both countries built a Yongbyon-reactor clone in Syria, which was destroyed finally by Israel in 2007. Cooperation with Iranian and Syrian scientists became clear in the Ryongchon train disaster in 2004. While most now believe that the disaster was an accident triggered when trains containing incendiary materials collided, some harbor suspicions that the train was bombed using an explosive device tied to a mobile-phone trigger. Such a phone was found near the site and North Korea banned mobile phones for some five years after the explosion.
The intent of the alleged attack most likely was to kill Syrian (and likely Iranian) personnel who may have been shipped home on a Syrian military plane with the bodies of the Syrian scientists killed, who were probably heading into North Korea from China.
What changed the overall dimension of the train explosion was the fact that in addition to the scientists the train was carrying explosive materials, most likely ammonium nitrite, which is used as a fertilizer, as a replacement for TNT as a rocket fuel and for explosives. Ammonium nitrite was used in the Oklahoma City truck bomb that destroyed the entire front part of the multi-story Alfred P Murrah Federal Building.
In Ryongchon the blast not only destroyed the train but caused significant damage in the surrounding area, killing some 160 people and injuring 1,300. Most notably, the bodies of the Syrian scientists were shipped home in lead-lined coffins, suggesting the bodies were highly radioactive. If the reports are true, then along with explosives the train (or the scientists) were transporting a large amount of enriched uranium or plutonium.
If there was enriched uranium on board the Ryongchon train and proximate to the Syrian scientists on board, and since the train was coming from the Chinese border, it follows that the uranium was being brought by the scientists for use in tests carried out in North Korea. Syria has neither uranium nor uranium-enrichment capabilities. Iran has set up centrifuge "farms" to enrich uranium.
Uranium vs plutonium
In early June, Iran signaled to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it intended to step up production of feed-stocks for its centrifuges, something it can do under the so-called nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The feed-stock for a centrifuge is uranium hexafluoride.
Yongbyon can produce plutonium (Pu-239) from uranium (U-238). How much plutonium it can produce isn't known, but until recently a plutonium-fueled bomb seemed out of reach for both Iran and North Korea. If this assessment is right, then the quickest way to get workable nuclear weapons is with a uranium bomb, similar to what was dropped on Hiroshima. The fact that all but the most recent North Korean blast were in that category means that what the North Koreans were doing is exploding uranium (atomic) bombs and that the fuel for them was likely coming from Iran.
As a historical footnote, the US had only one uranium bomb, which was never tested and was used against Hiroshima. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was a plutonium device, and it had been tested. The US had other plutonium atomic weapons in its early arsenal before hydrogen bombs were developed. There was in 1944 and 1945 a major shortage of enriched uranium, which is why the plutonium bomb became the expedient way to get an atomic weapon. Iran, however, is in pursuit of both uranium and plutonium weapons.
As far as Syria, Iran and North Korea are concerned, they are partners. The al-Kibar reactor destroyed by Israel was financed by Iran (an investment of at least US$1 billion).
There are a number of reasons to take the uranium route. Iran has the hardware to produce highly enriched uranium (typically 90-95% enriched U-235). It is far simpler to make a uranium than a plutonium bomb because a U-235-fueled bomb requires only a gun-type mechanism to set off an atomic blast, while a plutonium-fueled bomb requires a complex triggering mechanism and very high-precision assembly.
It would seem with the Singapore agreement that North Korea could turn around the deal with Iran and ship its technology to Iran along with its scientists. The ballistic missiles that hit Saudi Arabia fired from Yemen allegedly by the Houthis (but probably by the Iranians) are full of electronics and other components manufactured in Iran. The alleged Houthi missiles were shipped in sections to Yemen and welded together in the field, probably to conceal the transshipments from satellite observation.
What this means is that North Korea could continue its nuclear development and work on improving its missile technology situated in Iran. At any moment in the future, North Korea could bring home its nuclear weapons and even its missiles and re-emerge as a significant nuclear power. Likewise, it means that Iran can do the same thing.
Consequently, the Singapore deal must include prohibitions on North Korean cooperation with Iran or with any other dangerous state, such as Syria or even Iraq or Lebanon, especially if Iran gains significant political and military control of these countries (which already seems to be the case in Syria and Lebanon).
The US must consider pushing the Iranians out of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon as urgently as it can, and it needs to get ironclad assurances that North Korea will stop all missile and nuclear cooperation with Iran or its partners.
Asia Times is not responsible for the opinions, facts or any media content presented by contributors. In case of abuse, click here to report.
OpinionJCPOAnuclear proliferationDenuclearizationNorth Korean missile programIran-North Korea tiesYongbyonKim-Trump Summit
Dr Stephen Bryen has 40 years of leadership in government and industry. He has served as a senior staff director of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the deputy under secretary of defense for trade security policy, as the founder and first director of the Defense Technology Security Administration, as the president of Delta Tech Inc, as the president of Finmeccanica North America, and as a commissioner of the US China Security Review Commission.


This year I decided not to write a resolution for the new year. Whether the past was a good one or bad, I don't want it to hold me back.
I'm gonna let my past be a stepping stones to my next success – not an anchor in which I think I have to stay. It's time to get over the past, no matter how good or bad, and start focusing on the future.
I did dare dare to dream big. Think big and not let negative people discourage me.