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Iran's student day vigils turn into regime change rallies
Every year, December 7 commemorates the deaths of three students who were killed by police during protests against a 1953 visit by then-U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
Amateur videos culled from YouTube show that this year's events quickly transformed into a demonstration opposing their government.
The following video from Dec. 7 shows a large group of passionate high school protesters demanding a change in Iran's government. Many of the young women are wearing green masks indicating their support for the "green movement."
The students are chanting: "Teachers with pride – we need your support! / I will kill, I will kill whomever kill my brother! / All political prisoners must be free! / Death to the dictator! / Death to this regime that kills its own people!"
In the video below from Dec. 7th, student protesters from Tehran Polytechnic University demand regime change: "You traitor Mahmoud (Ahmadinejad). We hope that you become a wanderer. You destroyed our homeland! You killed the youths of this country! You sent thousands into the graves! Death to you, death to you! Death to the dictator."
In the next video, also from Dec. 7th, a massive gathering of student protesters waves pre-Islamic Revolution Persian flags outside Tehran University and chants: "Death to the dictator" and "What has happened to the oil revenue? It has gone to the pockets of Basijis."
The last video, from Dec. 8th, displays students from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman demanding a new government, as well as the release of the 204 activists arrested during the Dec. 7th protests.
– Michael Ramirez
For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha'i faith and modern Iran.
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Tags: Ahmadinejad, conflict, December 7, free Iran, Iran, Michael Ramirez, Middle East, pro-democracy, protests, student day, Tehran University, Voices of Iran
Guinean military on prowl for suspected Camara shooter
According to news reports, the ruling junta in Guinea is continuing its manhunt for Lt. Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, who allegedly shot military ruler Moussa Camara in the head last week.
During the past several days, security officials have rounded up at least 60 people suspected of involvement in the assassination attempt.
Under the sub-headline "In search of Toumba Diakite, the army imposes a reign of terror," French-language Afrik.com writes:
Roadblocks, vehicle searches, armed raids, arrests and summary executions…The loyalist forces are resolute in their efforts to put their hands on Lt. Diakite, who left the the Guinean junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara with serious head wounds. This is a manhunt that has thrust the population into fear.
Idrissa Cherif, the junta spokesman, said that one of the men responsible for the attack, Mohamed "Begre" Camara, was arrested this morning as he tried to flee the country. Kenya's NTV has more on the arrest:
Worldfocus blogger Ayo Johnson offers his analysis on the recent turn of events in Guinea:
It is time that elections scheduled for January 2010 go ahead without fail. The shooting of Captain Moussa "Dadis" Camara only seems to confirm the lengths to which Guinean soldiers will go — in masking their acts of violence against civilians, solidifying their hold on power and plans to ignore the ballot box all together.
It was exactly a year ago that the death of ruthless dictator Lansana Conte sparked an opportunistic coup by a relatively unknown captain. Moussa declared himself leader of Guinea despite repeated calls from the international community for him to stand down…
A United Nations panel's visit to Guinea in November to investigate the killing of scores of civilians by Moussa's troops was the final straw on the camel's back for this ragtag army.
Moussa's insistence that he should be included in next year's elections spelled the end of this so called revolution. Moussa's credibility was compromised, as he refused to take responsibility for his army. He decided instead to blame Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, the officer in charge of the operation during the massacre. It is not surprising that a fire fight ensued, leaving Moussa with a bullet wound to the head.
Split elements within the army are now protecting Diakite, who is now in hiding. A second coup is very likely, as Moussa seeks medical attention in Morocco for his injuries. Whenever Moussa recovers from his injuries, he may find it difficult coming back into his country. What is clear is that an internal struggle is imminent, as the military fights an internal war with various top dogs trying to take control of this West African country.
The stakes are high as foreign companies, especially China who have only recently signed a $4.4 billion mining deal. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) will have to take a far tougher line against the military regime and ask for the regime to leave office immediately. The future and stability of fragile neighboring countries can be easily undermined if Guinea were to become unstable.
Gen. Sekouba Konate, the vice president of the military, is now in charge of the country. Diakite is now on the run and has been sighted heading for the Sierra Leone border area, covenanting in a heightened state of alert from the Sierra Leone border agency.
Watch Ayo Johnson's interview about the situation on Al Jazeera English:
– Ben Piven
Tags: Africa, afrik.com, assassination, Ayo Johnson, Ben Piven, Captain Camara, coup, ECOWAS, Guinea, junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, NTV, Toumba Diakite
The view from Afghanistan: corruption, illiteracy and loss
Merchants at fabric shop in Afghanistan. Photo: Khushbu Shah
Worldfocus contributing blogger Khushbu Shah lives in Kabul and conducts research for a consulting firm. She writes here about the pervasiveness of corruption in the war-torn nation.
While waiting for my driver outside my friend's house in Kabul the other night, I had a short but intense conversation with a friend who works in the security sector.
I recounted a recent trip to twelve different Afghan provinces to monitor survey on a corruption, or rather, as we have tactfully summarized the topic, "public and private services." Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming response from the urban population was to write corruption off as a social norm, a permanent cultural fixture. One police officer's response to our corruption query was, "If my commander asks me to go pick up the bribes he has been offered, what do you think I am going to do?"
My experienced friend scoffed at my naïveté and proceeded to tell me about the reality on the ground. As a security officer, he has had to acquire weapons over the course of the past few months, but the procedure is not as simple as going into a shop and registering a weapon. Apparently, weapons come through the black market via the Taliban and must be registered to the government. When asked if the government knows where most of these weapons come from, he said, "What? You think there is a Wal-Mart in Afghanistan where people go to buy guns?"
He then offered more disturbing examples. Even the bases that security companies construct in certain provinces are built with the approval of contractors who have ties to the Taliban.
Just a few months prior to my arrival, the only flight in from Dubai was with a ticket through Ariana Airlines, the Afghan national carrier, even if one had booked with another company. The CEO of Ariana Airlines has strong ties to the Taliban, and essentially, purchasing a plane ticket with Ariana was the only way to receive a visa for Afghanistan.
What I really find disturbing is that the insurgents battling with the international coalition are deeply enmeshed in the corruption. They have ties to reconstruction efforts. And the same insurgents also sell weapons to individuals and companies.
My last question to my friend — as my driver stood outside in the pouring rain — was one that might be better left unasked: then what are we doing here?
Worldfocus contributing blogger "K" — who was with a U.S. Marine Embedded Training Team in Kunar Province between November 2008 and August 2009 — posted an entry this week about his experiences with Afghan villagers who had suffered at the hands of the Taliban. Here's an excerpt:
The average Afghan has seen a lot of tragedy in his or her life. They usually don't feel compelled to share stories that are personal in nature, but I do recall one time when it happened. The mission was to visit a particular village, known for having a huge white house. The village was not far up the valley from our base. In fact, we could see the white house from the base, though it would take a good 30 minutes to walk over there.
Afghan women wait outside a market. Photo: Khushbu Shah
Upon getting into the village, we did the usual – looked around at the terrain and figured out how we were going to set up security with our sparse forces (two Marines and perhaps a dozen ANA) before looking around for the village elder to talk to.
We eventually got ourselves set up and found an elder, who invited me, my terp, and the ANA leader inside "The White House" for tea, nuts, and candies. No matter how poor, down and out an Afghan is, they'll always have some small provisions for guests. It was a pretty gloomy, rainy day and the old fella seemed kind of down, though it's never easy to really read people when you can't understand a word they are saying.
Eventually, his nephews, young men in their 20's, came out and proceeded to show us pictures of their father, who apparently had been the head man in the village, but had been killed by the insurgents just a few months before. At that point, the older gentlemen teared up and had to leave the room. The story was that the Taliban killed him because he had been a powerful figure in the local area, and wasn't showing enough support to them. It's those moments where you really realize how alone those people are. They may have had each other, living in a huge house built of stones fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle, but once we left the area that day they were really on their own.
Our base may have been less than a mile away, but we didn't really know what went on in that village at night. "Protecting the people" in Afghanistan is a tough thing to do.
Writer P.J. Tobia at True/Slant, who lives in Kabul, reacted with extreme skepticism to President Obama's speech. Tobia helped edit a report filed last month about young, illiterate teens who join Afghan security forces – an account that Afghan officials deny.
After listening to the President's speech, I'm still not sure what he thinks Afghanistan will look like by the time US forces withdraw in 2011.
Most of those security forces he wants to increase and train are illiterate and undisciplined. Afghan military and police leadership is corrupt, some of them having bought their ranks in order to get in on lucrative bribes from narco-traffickers.
The US and NATO have had eight years to train these men, what could possibly be done in 18 months to seriously professionalize them? Magic?
When the US withdraws from Afghanistan it will leave behind 400,000 well armed men with no education, lousy paychecks (that they sometimes don't receive), suspect leadership and very few options. This is not a recipe for stability.
Tags: Afghanistan, corruption, development, Kabul, Khushbu Shah, security, troops, war
Obama's gracious bow receives thumbs-up in Japan
Obama's popularity is high in Japan. Photo: Flickr user showbizsuperstar
Conservative columnists and bloggers in the U.S. castigated President Obama for bowing to the Japanese Emperor during his visit to the island nation earlier this month.
Yet, a recent editorial in the English-language newspaper The Japan Times argues that the gesture was seen positively in Japan:
American diplomacy is never without controversy, but who would have imagined that the standard protocol of a bow to the Japanese Emperor from U.S. President Barack Obama would have caused such a fuss?
Apparently, many right-wing critics in America complained that Mr. Obama bowed too low to the Emperor. Those America-centric conservatives took Mr. Obama's bow as a signal of America's weakness. Japan and most of the rest of the world saw that bow for what it was — a sincere gesture of respect and a step toward healthier relations.
Those who know Japanese culture even a little would not interpret this type of bow as subservience, much less as any indication of America's low status on the world stage. In Japan, bowing is as natural as taking off one's shoes when entering a home, though with more profound meanings. The conservative American critics of Mr. Obama would surely have found fault no matter how deep he bowed.
The arrival of a U.S. president who is aware of the importance of symbolic meanings and diplomatic gestures comes as a relief to most countries after the Bush administration's scarcity of interaction on any but its own terms.
As Mr. Obama well knows, a bow could have many different meanings within Japanese culture. It can be an everyday greeting, a simple thanks or a deep apology. Mr. Obama's bow carried less of these meanings than it did a sense of engagement. Stepping into another country's cultural complexities shows strength of character and self-assurance. Unlike the "cowboy diplomacy" of the former Bush administration, Mr. Obama clearly recognizes cultural realities…
In fact, Mr. Obama's gesture was not delivered as smoothly as are most of his speeches, which have become popular English-language study materials in Japan. Shaking hands at the same time as bowing nearly 45 degrees combines East and West in an uneasy single gesture. Usually, when East meets West, a bow precedes a handshake, or vice versa, or one is simply dispensed with.
No matter, most Japanese probably would not know the correct way to bow to the Emperor either, and the politeness inherent in his gesture is the key point. Mr. Obama's bow also indicated recognition that Japan is a unique and sovereign country that holds a large proportion of U.S. government bonds.
Another momentous stop on his Asian tour was the world's other massive economy, and another major holder of U.S. bonds — China. Mr. Obama's bow, then, certainly demonstrated a pragmatic element that extends to Asia more broadly. Mr. Obama brought a practical agenda to the tour and a desire to reaffirm connections with Asian governments and Asian economies. The way forward in Asia will only come through sustained and fair-minded negotiations that involve all the region's countries.
The Bush administration's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, undertaken with blind disregard for those cultures' realities, are unlikely to serve as a model for economic revitalization or cultural exchange, much less for spreading democracy. More important than small gestures is the harder work of concrete decisions and sensible actions. Finding common agreements that mutually benefit all countries in the Asian region is now the main focus. Bowing was the easy part.
Blogger Brad Rice reports that the Japanese were so enamored of the U.S. president that they coined a new Japanese verb obamu — to proceed optimistically despite challenging obstacles.
News footage on YouTube of President Obama's bow to the Japanese Emperor
Tags: bowing, Obama, The Japan Times
U.S. presidents seize political spotlight in symbolic Berlin
Berlin lies at the center of the German political imagination and was the focal point of the Iron Curtain that separated Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War.
So, Berlin has also played host to some of America's greatest presidential speeches. In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" address:
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered his "Tear Down This Wall" speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, imploring the Soviet leader to end the Cold War:
And most recently, in July 2008, Barack Obama spoke to 200,000 Europeans about re-establishing transatlantic bonds in one of his most memorable campaign addresses:
Tags: Berlin, Cold War, Germany, Gorbachev, JFK, Kennedy, Obama, presidents, Reagan, U.S., USSR
The view from abroad on the end of the Berlin Wall
On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Worldfocus staffers report on some of the reactions from around the world.
Ivette Feliciano translated the following blog posts from Venezuela and Cuba:
From Profeballa, a Venezuelan blogger: "It's been 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, when will Venezuela's wall come down? As I've said before, it will fall once more Venezuelans become aware of their rights and knock it down. When they destroy the mental wall that keeps us underdeveloped…"
From Elías Amor Bravo, an anti-communist political writer: "The fall of the Berlin wall 20 years ago is a very important event for all Cubans. We shared in their optimism and were happy to see how families were reunited after decades of communism that separated them. The fall also forced the Cuban government to make changes it never intended to make, due to the absence of political, ideological, and financial resources that formerly came to the Island from the USSR. The period after the fall of the wall allowed for the free circulation of money, the authorization of private activity, although it was under rigorous control, foreign investment, and tourism…It also allowed for Cubans on the island to have more contact with family members abroad, and in turn mobilized many to organize themselves as dissidents and opposed to the government, something formerly unheard of…."
A Berlin Wall commemorative stamp.
The Argentinian website INFOBAE makes note of the Cuban government's reaction to the date: "The official press in Cuba will ignore the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. They only recognized and celebrated the 92nd anniversary of the October Lenin revolution…"
Gizem Yarbil notes an interesting story from The Wall Street Journal about a red deer called Ahornia refusing to cross the old Iron Curtain. Ahornia inhabits the area along the border that once separated West Germany from Czechoslovakia. This area is now part of Europe's biggest nature preserve thriving with a lively combination of wild animals that roam freely across the once fortified border. But according to the article, Ahornia is the only species that stops and turns back once it reaches the barrier zone where once an electrified fence and barbed wire used to stand. It quotes a German producer of nature films who has worked in the area says, "The wall in the head is still there."
Contributing blogger Vadim Nikitin writes about where nostalgia is the strongest for the former Soviet Union — the Global South. Read the full post here:
According to a BBC poll published on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, "Opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided. Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way. But outside the developed West it is a different picture. Almost seven in 10 Egyptians say the end of the Soviet Union was a bad thing and views are sharply divided in India, Kenya and Indonesia".
This despite the fact that India and Indonesia, as well as Russia, have experienced unprecedented levels of economic growth since 1991.
What could explain such nostalgia? One factor might be a general disenchantment with free-market capitalism:
"More than 29,000 people in 27 countries were questioned. In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands. Almost a quarter – 23% of those who responded – feel it is fatally flawed. That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil".
Much of the global dissatisfaction with capitalism, the report suggests, stems from that system's production and exacerbation of income inequality. While economies based on high growth models may produce more wealth as a whole, its distribution is skewed overwhelmingly in favor of a small minority.
Tags: Berlin Wall, Cuba, Gizem Yarbil, Ivette Feliciano, Vadim Nikitn, Venezuela
Debating the shape of a neighborhood in Tokyo
Tokyo's neighborhoods straddle between the need for modern development and the desire to maintain historical buildings and structures.
For instance, Fujiizaka, affectionately named "the slope for seeing Mount Fuji," in the Nippori neighborhood, has been increasingly blocked by tall buildings that obstruct its view. Residents have banded together to push for preservation. The neighborhood cause is slowly gaining support as a growing desire to preserve historical places takes hold in Tokyo, reported the New York Times.
The city of Tokyo is geographically complex, with 8.5 million people living in 23 districts that span 620 kilometers. The history of the city's development is characterized by a continual process of restructuring and growth. It is a city that is renewed on average every twenty years, with few buildings surviving from the past.
This is due in part because as the capital of Japan since 1868, it has been used as a showcase for the Japanese modern age. It has also seen major development because of the need for new construction after World War II, earthquakes and the Olympics, according to the Goethe-Institut.
Chris Salzberg, a writer/translator living in Tokyo, Japan discusses the reaction to the recent development plan for the neighborhood of Shimokitazawa for Global Voices Online.
Tokyo has no lack of small, winding streets. Shibuya has its maze of criss-crossing shōtengai, Roppongi its club-lined back alleyways, Ueno its open-air street markets. But no neighborhood in Tokyo packs more complexity per square foot than Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood whose layout bears closer resemblance to a ball of thread than to anything an urban planner would come up with.
Shimokitazawa's spaghetti-like mess of streets and train lines evoke passion among some, frustration among others. The area has earned a name for itself as a breeding ground for creative young artists with its dozens of small theaters, art galleries and music venues. While eccentric characters like Rikimaru Toho fit perfectly into this urban environment, others see the maze of narrow streets as a dangerous fire hazard and a giant urban congestion knot in need of unwinding.
The entire area happens to lie in the path of a would-be thoroughfare running through Shimokitazawa to Shibuya, originally set forth in a "War damage revival plan" drafted all the way back in 1946. After several changes, that plan was brought back to life in 2003 and demolition and construction work has been slated to start in 2010. Should it be executed, the plan will split Shimokitazawa apart with a 26-meter wide expressway, Subsidiary Route 54 (補助54号線).
While the basic shape of those redevelopment plans had been known for some time, it was only a few weeks ago that the first glimpses of the new design finally emerged on the blog of Kuniyoshi Yoshida, a local landowner and head of the Shimokitazawa South [ja] shopowners' union. Comments which began to appear on the blog, blasting the new design for its failure to respect the Shimokitazawa atmosphere, were swiftly deleted, but hostility against the plans only grew.
See this video of the streets of Shimokitazawa neighborhood below:
Tags: city planning, development, Global Voices, historical preservation, Japan, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
Maldives underwater meeting to address climate change
Small island nations have much at stake at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The Maldives, along with other islands such as Seychelles and Tuvalu, is organizing a series of activities and events to pressure the international community to take action. On Saturday it will hold an underwater cabinet meeting designed to highlight the danger Maldives faces from rising waters and rising temperatures.
Global Voices Online posted a roundup of blogs from Maldives explaining what the small island nation is doing to publicize the urgency of the issue.
One of the first major events, run by Avaaz.org, was a Global Climate Wake-Up Call on Septemer 21 in Malé, the capital of Maldives.
The International Day of Climate Action, coordinated by 350.org, will be on October 24. Among the events of that day: 350 grounded motor vehicles and a 350 kilowatt reduction in energy consumption in Malé.
"350" signifies the safe upper limit (in parts per million) for carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. The current level is 389 ppm. Vroomfondel explains the movement's goals:
By having actions all around the world that day, 350.org plans to send a clear message to the world leaders (who will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark this December to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions) that 'the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the scale of the crisis.'
In addition, the Maldives Photographers Association together with the Maldives Science Society is planning to send 350 unique postcards to 350 world leaders and personalities who will be attending the Copenhagen conference (COP15).
350Postcards distributed a compelling YouTube promotional video for the photo campaign:
Zim, a blogger and diving instructor, describes the underwater rally and subsequent underwater cabinet meeting:
One of the key events on the international day of action is the 24 hour Underwater Rally organized by the Divers Association of Maldives (DAM). 350 divers, diving in teams are going to spend 24 hours underwater. The message DAM is giving is that Maldives is sinking and it's more than just a country being lost to the sea. A unique heritage is gone. An irreplaceable ecosystem is being destroyed…
The President of Maldives along with all the cabinet ministers are going to meet underwater while using scuba. Using hand signals and slates they are going to endorse and sign a message from the people of Maldives to the world leaders meeting at Copenhagen this December for the Conference of Parties (COP 15)…
We are on the edge. With just a couple of steps forward Maldives along with a number of other vulnerable countries will be lost beneath the waves. We ask everybody not to sign our suicide pact.
Climate change NGO Bluepeace explains in a blog why the world should pay attention to "Vulnerable," a photo exhibition in Maldives:
As one of the lowest-lying countries in the world, Maldives is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The proliferation of images in today's internet age is such that Maldives is known the world over as a stunning holiday destination. While Maldives has been the subject of many documentaries and news articles regarding climate change, to date no documentary has been produced by Maldivians for an international audience. This is a chance for Maldives to show vulnerability to the world as seen through our eyes.
Lastly, a Maldivian blogger Fenfulhangi asks some key questions about the December conference:
Will the new [Maldividan] President Mohammed Nasheed attend the [Copenhagen] summit with the talks of lack of funding in the government budget?
As one of the major contributors to Climate Change and its adverse effects, will the USA sign onto the new document that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol that USA previously refused to sign onto?
Will there be same or harsher penalties for developing countries that emit large amounts of CO2 or will it be the richer countries who pay?
Tags: climate change, Copenhagen, global warming, greenhouse effect, Maldives, sea level, United Nations
Violence in Guinea shocks international community
Victims of the September 28th events in Conakry.
A number of Western governments have stepped up their condemnations of recent violence and brutality in Guinea.
An estimated 157 died last week as government troops shot demonstrators who were voicing their disapproval of military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's decision to become a candidate in January's elections.
On Monday, a senior U.S. diplomat arrived in Guinea to scold the embattled regime for cracking down on the massive September 28th political protest in Conakry, the capital.
The U.S. envoy met with Captain Camara for two hours, blaming him personally for the violence and instructing him not to run in the upcoming elections.
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has urged international intervention and said that France would no longer work with the dictator.
But, for his part, Captain Camara defended the actions of his soldiers in an interview with a dozen foreign journalists yesterday night.
The government blames the opposition for the large death toll.
Senegalese French-language daily newspaper
Le Messager described Camara as having "responded to the reporters' questions…with pleasure." The article gives a detailed account of Camara blaming the opposition for the riots and subsequent deaths:
He placed responsibility for the killings on the political leaders who organized the demonstrations, despite the protest ban. [Camara] declared that the protesters "attacked police buildings…and burned cars. These are leaders who have told children to go take up arms."
[Camara continued], "That was a plot against me. It failed. The opposition believed that their protest would provoke the security forces to crack down on the civilian population, and that afterward, I would be overthrown. It was premeditated."
But the photo evidence may be stacked against Guinea's leader. An article in Monday's New York Times describes three cellphone snapshots of the sexual violence committed against women:
One photograph shows a naked woman lying on muddy ground, her legs up in the air, a man in military fatigues in front of her. In a second picture a soldier in a red beret is pulling the clothes off a distraught-looking woman half-lying, half-sitting on muddy ground. In a third a mostly nude woman lying on the ground is pulling on her trousers.
According to human rights groups, the rape toll was staggering, and Guinea's women seem to have borne the brunt of the military's repression.
Blogger Laura Sjoberg, a political scientist at the University of Florida, analyzes the riots from a female perspective:
There's an obvious point for those who would see [international relations] through gendered lenses here: women's rights. What happened to the women who were raped in Guinea is terrible, fraught with gender subordination, violent, and should never happen to anyone ever again.
It would be a mistake for gender analysis of this situation and the news stories portraying it to stop there, however.
Through gender lenses, I'm interested in the question of how it came to be that "rape is a fairly common tool of military repression" (the article adds "in Africa," but most research on wartime rape shows that the prevalence of rape as a weapon of war is not geographically or culturally limited). What is it about rape that makes it an effective tool of repression and war-fighting?
Tags: Ben Piven, Camara, Conakry, Guinea, international community, murder, protest, rape, riots
Guinea security forces crack down, kill more than 100
Conakry residents load a minibus. Flickr photo: martapiqs under a Creative Commons license.
Almost one year after a bloodless coup in December 2008 — during which Captain Moussa Dadis Camara took power several hours after the death of Guinea's 24-year leader — violence has begun to rock the West African nation's capital city of Conakry.
The regime's forces stormed a political rally held on Monday at a football stadium and dispersed the crowd of some 50,000 using tear gas and gunshots. Human rights groups have called for security forces to halt its violent crackdown on political dissidents.
The authoritarian military ruler had pledged to restore civilian rule 60 days after seizing power, but elections have been delayed until 2010.
Protesters are demonstrating against Captain Camara's presumed candidacy in the elections. A recent announcement proclaimed that the current ruling military council also intends to run.
Human Rights Watch quotes one witness describing the actions of security personnel:
I saw the Red Berets [an elite unit within the military] catch some of the women who were trying to flee, rip off their clothes, and stick their hands in their private parts. Others beat the women, including on their genitals. It was pathetic –- the women were crying out.
Blogger Konngol Afirik (translated here from the original French) also blames the elite Red Beret units for the violence:
Though the junta banned all demonstrations, the "Forces Vives" decided to have it anyway…The Red Berets are known for blind cruelty. Most of the dead and wounded fell at the hands of this elite unit better equipped and paid than the regular army…
Two of the main opposition leaders, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sydia Toure, are among the wounded. Once again, the African Union and CEDEAO and their international partners are revealed as ineffective against this putsch leader, who is ready to walk on corpses to remain in power.
Worldfocus contributing blogger Ethan Zuckerman writes in his blog, My heart's in Accra, that the African Union, which refuses to recognize military governments, should encourage Guinea to hold elections as soon as possible:
What's been interesting for me, in the short term, is watching the few comments mentioning #Guinea on Twitter are focusing on media coverage. Nasser Weddady, outreach director for HAMSA [Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance], offered this tweet a couple of hours ago: "In plain English: screw #Polanski, I am more interested in what's happening in #Guinea than that fugitive pervert." It's been retweeted several times, reflecting either a frustration at media coverage, or simply that lack of any other news out of Guinea at this point…
How Guinea could have emerged as a major power based on its (bauxite) mineral wealth is a sad, familiar, important and insufficiently understood story.
Tags: coup, Guinea, military, protest, violence
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Home Page » FAQs » Who Should I Talk To About My Case?
We advise against speaking with anyone about your case except your lawyer and doctors.
After your accident, it's important to get any immediate medical attention needed, then call us.
Your insurance company may ask you to talk about your case before they make a payout on your medical bills. The police may also ask you about the details of the accident.
Please refer them to us and pass on our contact information. We will do the talking for you.
Our personal injury lawyers will get all necessary information from you and any other necessary parties so you don't have to worry about that aspect. In the same vein, do not sign anything for anybody unless you speak to your lawyer first.
A good rule of thumb is to keep the details of your case to yourself and only divulge pertinent details to us, and your doctor only as it pertains to your injuries.
This means don't discuss your case even with friends and non-immediate family, and certainly not in a public way, especially over social media!
It is important to document all discussions you have about your case, which is why your lawyers should be the only ones to whom you talk about the case. We will provide you with more information on this and more during your free case evaluation, so call Kuzyk Law today.
Your free, no-obligation consultation awaits when you contact us at 661-945-6969. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.


text:
Take to the stunning neon city skyline in Elk Studios'flashiest and most futuristic video slot yet. Leave behind the bland monotony of other video slots with the same old bonuses and sound effects, and enter the world of Hong Kong Tower: the next level of immersion for online gambling. With one of the best bonus games in an online slot to date, you would be hard pushed to find a more exciting and rewarding game than Hong Kong Tower.
Elk Studios is an online casino game developer from Stockholm, Sweden. They have a wide variety of online slots and casino games, dominating the market in both desktop and mobile games. They attribute their success to a blend of advanced mathematical algorithms and ambitious art design. If you enjoy Hong Kong Tower, why not try other stunning offerings such as Wild Seas, Route 777, Sam on the Beach, and DJ Wild. You can find their games on Vegas Slots Online, Casumo, Casino Kings, and many more big name online casinos.
Hong Kong Tower combines oriental symbolism with the futuristic look of urban Hong Kong. Symbols comprise the four elements – fire, water, earth, and air – alongside lotus flowers, diamonds, yin and yang icons among more, all rendered in a sharp, neon art style straight out of an eastern sci-fi movie. The soundtrack involves a futuristic spin on the classic slot machine sound effects, complete with an epic cinematic score during bonus games and big wins. There is a slew of bonuses to keep gameplay engaging, including the mystery symbol: a game logo, which spins around to reveal another random symbol. Not only that but a revealed bonus symbol counts as 5 bonus symbols. Bonus symbols are golden yin and yang icons, granting one of the best bonus games seen on video slots when 3 appear on the reels. If 4 or 5 appear, you will also get an extra life or two respectively. Wheels of the Sky is Hong Kong Tower's incredible bonus game, which has you spinning giant wheels mounted on skyscrapers to win points. If your land on the level up section, you'll be upgraded to the second and third wheels, which award even higher prizes. That's where those extra lives come in handy.
Split between the main reels and Hong Kong Tower's bonus game Wheels of the Sky, this neo-classical video slot from Elk Studios is a master of a slot game. Everything from its stunning aesthetic to its gripping soundtrack represents the pinnacle of online video slots. Whether you're a casual or hard-core slot player, Hong Kong Tower should be one of your go-to games.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Two of the highest IQ scores ever recorded in the world, are owned by women.
All cheetahs living on earth now, are blood relatives.
Most penguins have only one partner for life. In some species, the male even makes an "offer" to the female, presenting a pebble as a gift.
The Sun and the Moon look about the same size to us, because of a surprising coincidence: the Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it is 400 times closer.
Tom Hanks came to the match with his friend Wilson.
At the South Pole is much colder than at the North. The average temperature at the South -49 C, while in the North it is -14 C.
The average smoker throughout the year gets a radiation dose equal to about 300 X-ray procedures. This is due to the fact that the radioactive isotopes are present in the smoke.


In the end of the quiz, the quiz-taker can print their results but can it be possible for a quiz taker to post or share the results of their quiz on their Facebook profile? It seems that integration with Facebook and other social networking websites might be very useful.
Thank you for your suggestion! I will pass it to our product development team. Perhaps one of the future versions will have this feature.


There may now be a glimmer of hope, however, as a U.N.-led effort in Libya starts to gain more traction. As an essential element of this leadership, the United States should return Americans, and a U.S. Embassy and ambassador, to Libya. An oversight board composed of Libyan technocrats and foreign experts would assess eligibility based on the actual behavior of the local actors. Counterterrorism would remain a top priority for the United States and other countries under the new approach. However, it would be pursued in a more nuanced way, with tighter standards about which local actors to choose as partners.


ISO 6145-4:2004 specifies a method for continuous production of calibration gas mixtures, containing two or more components, from pure gases or other gas mixtures by continuous injection of the calibration component(s) into a complementary gas stream by means of a syringe.
If pre-mixed gases are used instead of pure gases (see Annex A), much lower volume fractions can be obtained. The volume flow rates, from which the volume fractions are determined, can be calculated from the individual flow rates and can be independently measured by a suitable method given in ISO 6145-1.
The merits of the method are that a substantial quantity of the gas mixture can be prepared on a continuous basis and that multi-component mixtures can be prepared almost as readily as binary mixtures if the appropriate number of syringes is utilized, or if the syringe already contains a multi-component mixture of known composition. This method also provides a convenient means for increasing the volume fraction of the calibration component in the mixture in small steps. It is therefore a useful method for evaluation of other characteristics of gas analysers, such as minimum detection limit and dead zone, as well as accuracy. The relative expanded uncertainty in the volume fraction obtainable for a binary mixture (at a coverage factor of 2) is 5 % and the range of applicability is 10-5 to 10-2.


text:
Nevada pitcher Kali Sargent worked through some early control issues in the circle and threw a complete game, and the Wolf Pack offense scored at least once in five of the seven innings Thursday in the leadoff contest of the 2018 Puerto Vallarta Challenge.
Sargent allowed eight hits and struck out seven, throwing an effective changeup and also getting impressive play from her defense on several balls that were hit hard.
Louisiana Tech (0-1) scored the first run of the event, putting runners on first and third with no outs in the bottom of the first inning and executing a double steal on a bunt play that brought across a run. In the second, Nevada (1-0) took the lead on a two-run double from Aaliyah Gibson, and the Wolf Pack pushed the lead to 3-1 on a third-inning home run from Jessica Sellers.
Nevada loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning and brought two more runs across on a single up the middle from Kwynn Warner. The Techsters had a threat brewing in the bottom of the fourth, but Morgan Turkoly's scorching liner was caught and turned into an inning-ending double play.
Nevada built the lead to 7-1 in the fifth inning, with Jyllian Ahart punching through an RBI single and Louisiana Tech committing a throwing error that brought Ali Tedford across. The Techsters got those runs back in the bottom of the frame, making it 7-3 on a two-out, two-run homer from Ali Galaz to centerfield.
The Wolf Pack added some insurance in the top of the seventh on another two-out, two-RBI long ball off the bat of Sadaria McAlister. Jazlyn Crowder had two hits for Louisiana Tech.


text:
Sunny. High 29F. Winds light and variable..
Search / 118 results found Showing: 1-10 of 118
By Celebretainment
George Ezra will release his first new music since 2018 this week.
Tears For Fears 'stopped communicating'
Tears For Fears star Roland Orzabal has opened up on how he and bandmate Curt Smith reconnected through songwriting after a period of tension between the pair.
Iron Maiden plan tour playing Senjutsu in full for 'diehard' fans
Iron Maiden want to perform 'Senjutsu' in its entirety at some point.
Lana Del Rey to preview new song on next week's Euphoria
Lana Del Rey has recorded an original song for HBO's 'Euphoria'.
Jay-Z 'haunted' by second album
Jay-Z's second album, 1997's 'In My Lifetime, Vol 1', "haunts" him because he knows what it "could have been".
Avril Lavigne unveils new album, Love Sux
Avril Lavigne will release her new album, 'Love Sux', on February 25.
Sir Elton John bought Sam Fender a vintage guitar
Sir Elton John had his guitarist pick out a special vintage guitar for Sam Fender.
Post Malone's manager claims new album delayed by record label
Post Malone's manager says the star's new album is "done" and waiting to be released by the record label.
Timbaland compares The Weeknd to Michael Jackson
Timbaland - who worked on Michael Jackson's second posthumous album 'Xscape' in 2014 - has compared The Weeknd's new album to Jackson's 'Thriller'.
Avril Lavigne has recorded many collaborations for new album
Avril Lavigne's new album will feature "the most" collaborations she's ever had thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.


text:
All notable changes of the PHPUnit 8.5 release series are documented in this file using the [Keep a CHANGELOG](https://keepachangelog.com/) principles.

## [8.5.9] - 2020-11-10

### Fixed

* [#3965](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3965): Process Isolation throws exceptions when PHPDBG is used
* [#4470](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/pull/4470): Infinite recursion when `--static-backup --strict-global-state` is used

## [8.5.8] - 2020-06-22

### Fixed

* [#4312](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4312): Fix for [#4299](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4299) breaks backward compatibility

## [8.5.7] - 2020-06-21

### Fixed

* [#4299](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4299): "No tests executed" does not always result in exit code `1`
* [#4306](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4306): Exceptions during code coverage driver initialization are not handled correctly

## [8.5.6] - 2020-06-15

### Fixed

* [#4211](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4211): `phpdbg_*()` functions are scoped to `PHPUnit\phpdbg_*()`

## [8.5.5] - 2020-05-22

### Fixed

* [#4033](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4033): Unexpected behaviour when `$GLOBALS` is deleted

## [8.5.4] - 2020-04-23

### Changed

* Changed how `PHPUnit\TextUI\Command` passes warnings to `PHPUnit\TextUI\TestRunner`

## [8.5.3] - 2020-03-31

### Fixed

* [#4017](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4017): Do not suggest refactoring to something that is also deprecated
* [#4133](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4133): `expectExceptionMessageRegExp()` has been removed in PHPUnit 9 without a deprecation warning being given in PHPUnit 8
* [#4139](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4139): Cannot double interfaces that declare a constructor with PHP 8
* [#4144](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/4144): Empty objects are converted to empty arrays in JSON comparison failure diff

## [8.5.2] - 2020-01-08

### Removed

* `eval-stdin.php` has been removed, it was not used anymore since PHPUnit 7.2.7

## [8.5.1] - 2019-12-25

### Changed

* `eval-stdin.php` can now only be executed with `cli` and `phpdbg`

### Fixed

* [#3983](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3983): Deprecation warning given too eagerly

## [8.5.0] - 2019-12-06

### Added

* [#3911](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3911): Support combined use of `addMethods()` and `onlyMethods()`
* [#3949](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3949): Introduce specialized assertions `assertFileEqualsCanonicalizing()`, `assertFileEqualsIgnoringCase()`, `assertStringEqualsFileCanonicalizing()`, `assertStringEqualsFileIgnoringCase()`, `assertFileNotEqualsCanonicalizing()`, `assertFileNotEqualsIgnoringCase()`, `assertStringNotEqualsFileCanonicalizing()`, and `assertStringNotEqualsFileIgnoringCase()` as alternative to using `assertFileEquals()` etc. with optional parameters

### Changed

* [#3860](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/pull/3860): Deprecate invoking PHPUnit commandline test runner with just a class name
* [#3950](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3950): Deprecate optional parameters of `assertFileEquals()` etc.
* [#3955](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3955): Deprecate support for doubling multiple interfaces

### Fixed

* [#3953](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3953): Code Coverage for test executed in isolation does not work when the PHAR is used
* [#3967](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/3967): Cannot double interface that extends interface that extends `\Throwable`
* [#3968](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/pull/3968): Test class run in a separate PHP process are passing when `exit` called inside

[8.5.9]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.8...8.5.9
[8.5.8]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.7...8.5.8
[8.5.7]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.6...8.5.7
[8.5.6]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.5...8.5.6
[8.5.5]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.4...8.5.5
[8.5.4]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.3...8.5.4
[8.5.3]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.2...8.5.3
[8.5.2]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.1...8.5.2
[8.5.1]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.5.0...8.5.1
[8.5.0]: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/compare/8.4.3...8.5.0

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Patek Philippe's Grand Exhibition Has 119 Timepieces on Display
It's a spectacular exhibit and experience, to say the least.
By Paolo Chua | Oct 10, 2019
IMAGE PATEK PHILIPPE
Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe has a long history with exhibitions and fairs. Starting in the 19th century, it took part in many of these events to bring new products to a global audience. And up until today, Patek Philippe continues to uphold this practice which has turned into a tradition. In the past, the manufacturer has staged exhibitions in Dubai, Munich, London, and New York. This year, it picked Singapore for its largest exhibition yet.
Photo by PATEK PHILIPPE.
Patek Philippe's Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Singapore was in the making for two years, and the result is something every horology fan would appreciate. Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern said that while the free public exhibition is a reward for everyone who loves watches, it's the manufacturer's way of sharing its knowledge to the world.
More: The Best Watches to Invest in Right Now
The choice of Singapore was something that just made sense owing to the fact that it's the Singapore Bicentennial. "The region is where we have the fastest development, and maybe one of the most important potential," says Patek Philippe commercial director Jerome Pernici. "But it's not only a question of sales. It's a question of appreciation of the watches and what Patek Philippe is. We have a lot of knowledgeable customers in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, obviously, but also in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines."
The exhibition has 10 thematic rooms, starting with a tribute to the country through the Singapore and Southeast Asia Room. The room tells the story of Singapore and Southeast Asia along with pieces that were brought out from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva as well as donations and pieces on loan from collectors. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors are instantly taken into the world of Patek Philippe. The first room showcases the current collection which is filled with about 50 timepieces alone. Its interior was inspired by the historic salons on Rue du Rhône in Geneva.
The Rare Handcrafts Room where artisans demonstrate techniques including enameling, guilloché, and more is also a good look at the story of Patek and its ties to the region. "The Singapore story and the region's story is beautifully told in the Rare Handcrafts Room because that's something we started to work with Geneva for two years," said Patek Philippe Southeast Asia general manager Deepa Chatrath. "Every piece has been inspired from motifs and many other elements."
What collectors will love, of course, are all the limited editions on display namely the Ref. 5303R-010 Minute Repeater Tourbillon Singapore 2019 Special Edition, Ref. 5531R-010 World Time Minute Repeater Singapore 2019 Special Edition, Ref. 5930G-011 World Time Chronograph Singapore 2019 Special Edition, Ref. 5167A-012 Aquanaut Singapore 2019 Special Edition, Ref. 5067A-027 Aquanaut Luce Singapore 2019 Special Edition, and the Ref. 7234A-001 Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Singapore 2019 Special Edition.
"For Patek, you cannot just walk into our store and understand who we are. You cannot just read an article and know who we are. To visit means to see the passion of the family, you have to see our manufacturers. It's, as if, there's a different level that we all work toward within the company, which obviously comes from the family. When you come into something like this, then you can really feel the breadth of what we do," said Chatrath.
Another part of the exhibition is Patek Philippe's collaboration with the National Museum of Singapore. In celebration of the Watch Art Grand Exhibition, the manufacturer has pledged 100 percent of the proceeds from the limited-edition commemorative catalog to the museum. The catalog highlights hundreds of historical timepieces, current collection, Rare Handcrafts, and Grand Complications. The joint effort supports the preservation of arts and heritage in Singapore.
Patek Philippe's Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Singapore runs until October 13 in the Marina Bay Sands Theater. The free public exhibition is by reservation at patek.com. Take a look below:
More from EsquireMag.ph
To Own A Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Watch Means You Have Made It
Paolo Chua
Associate Style Editor
View Other Articles From Paolo
Chinese Child in Cebu City Tests Positive for Coronavirus; DOH to Confirm If Wuhan Coronavirus Has Entered PH
Confirmed cases have already occurred in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.
12 Stylish, Affordable Timex Watches You Can Buy Any Time
Michael B. Jordan's Watch Has A Very Complex Gym Routine


text:
Q: Google Cloud MissingSecurityHeader error While there is a thread about this problem on Google's FAQ, it seems like there are only two answers that have satisfied other users.  I'm certain there is no proxy on my network and I'm pretty sure I've configured boto as I see credentials in the request.
Here's the capture from gsutil:
/// Output sanitized
Creating gs://64/...
DEBUG:boto:path=/64/
DEBUG:boto:auth_path=/64/
DEBUG:boto:Method: PUT
DEBUG:boto:Path: /64/
DEBUG:boto:Data: <CreateBucketConfiguration><LocationConstraint>US</LocationConstraint></\
CreateBucketConfiguration>
DEBUG:boto:Headers: {'x-goog-api-version': '2'}
DEBUG:boto:Host: storage.googleapis.com
DEBUG:boto:Params: {}
DEBUG:boto:establishing HTTPS connection: host=storage.googleapis.com, kwargs={'timeout':\
 70}
DEBUG:boto:Token: None
DEBUG:oauth2_client:GetAccessToken: checking cache for key dc3
DEBUG:oauth2_client:FileSystemTokenCache.GetToken: key=dc3 present (cache_file=/tmp/o\
auth2_client-tokencache.1000.dc3)
DEBUG:oauth2_client:GetAccessToken: token from cache: AccessToken(token=ya29, expiry=2\
013-07-19 21:05:51.136103Z)
DEBUG:boto:wrapping ssl socket; CA certificate file=.../gsutil/third_party/boto/boto/cace\
rts/cacerts.txt
DEBUG:boto:validating server certificate: hostname=storage.googleapis.com, certificate ho\
sts=['*.googleusercontent.com', '*.blogspot.com', '*.bp.blogspot.com', '*.commondatastora\
ge.googleapis.com', '*.doubleclickusercontent.com', '*.ggpht.com', '*.googledrive.com', '\
*.googlesyndication.com', '*.storage.googleapis.com', 'blogspot.com', 'bp.blogspot.com', \
'commondatastorage.googleapis.com', 'doubleclickusercontent.com', 'ggpht.com', 'googledri\
ve.com', 'googleusercontent.com', 'static.panoramio.com.storage.googleapis.com', 'storage\
.googleapis.com']
GSResponseError: status=400, code=MissingSecurityHeader, reason=Bad Request, detail=A non\
empty x-goog-project-id header is required for this request.
send: 'PUT /64/ HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: storage.googleapis.com\r\nAccept-Encoding: iden\
tity\r\nContent-Length: 98\r\nx-goog-api-version: 2\r\nAuthorization: Bearer ya29\r\nU\
ser-Agent: Boto/2.9.7 (linux2)\r\n\r\n<CreateBucketConfiguration><LocationConstraint>US</\
LocationConstraint></CreateBucketConfiguration>'
reply: 'HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request\r\n'
header: Content-Type: application/xml; charset=UTF-8^M
header: Content-Length: 232^M
header: Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 20:44:24 GMT^M
header: Server: HTTP Upload Server Built on Jul 12 2013 17:12:36 (1373674356)^M

A: It looks like you might not have a default_project_id specified in your .boto file.
It should look something like this:
[GSUtil]
default_project_id = 1234567890

Alternatively, you can pass the -p option to the gsutil mb command to manually specify a project. From the gsutil mb documentation:
-p proj_id  Specifies the project ID under which to create the bucket.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"A week-long meditation retreat decouples behavioral measures of the alerting and executive attention networks." Elliott JC, Wallace BA, and Giesbrecht B (2014) Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:69. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00069.
"Intensive Training Induces Longitudinal Changes in Meditation State-related EEG Oscillatory Activity" Manish Saggar, Brandon G. King, Anthony P. Zanesco, Katherine A. MacLean, Stephen R. Aichele, Tonya L. Jacobs, David A. Bridwell, Phillip R. Shaver, Erika L. Rosenberg, Baljinder K. Sahdra, Emilio Ferrer, Akaysha C. Tang, George R. Mangun, B. Alan Wallace, Risto Miikkulainen and Clifford D. Saron, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 6:256. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00256, Accepted: 23 Aug 2012.
"Contemplative/Emotion Training Reduces Negative Emotional Behavior and Promotes Prosocial Responses," Margaret Kemeny, Jim Cavanagh, Phillip Shaver, Paul Ekman, Erika Rosenberg, Carol Foltz, Patricia Jennings, Janine Giese-Davis, and B. Alan Wallace, Emotion. 2012 Apr;12(2):338-50. Epub 2011 Dec 12.
"Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity Q1, and psychological mediators," Tonya L. Jacobs, Elissa S. Epel, Jue Lin, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Owen M. Wolkowitz, David A. Bridwell, Anthony P. Zanesco, Stephen R. Aichele, Baljinder K. Sahdra, Katherine A. MacLean, Brandon G. King, Phillip R. Shaver, Erika L. Rosenberg, Emilio Ferrer, B. Alan Wallace, and Clifford D. Saron, Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2011 Jun;36(5):664-81. Epub 2010 Oct 29.
"Enhanced Response Inhibition During Intensive Meditation Training Predicts Improvements in Self-Reported Adaptive Socio-Emotional Functioning," Baljinder K. Sahdra, Katherine A. MacLean, Emilio Ferrer, Phillip R. Shaver, Erika L. Rosenberg, Tonya L. Jacobs, Anthony P. Zanesco, Brandon G. King, Stephen R. Aichele, David A. Bridwell, George R. Mangun, Shiri Lavy, B. Alan Wallace, and Clifford D. Saron, Emotion. 2011 Apr;11(2):299-312.


Known for producing utility vehicles, Mahindra tapped into the sedan segment with Verito, earlier named Logan. The sedan has witnessed several changes over the years in a bid to improve in terms of looks to sustain cut-throat competition in the segment. Rugged looks, spacious cabin and a reliable diesel engine make Verito a dependable sedan.Priced affordably between Rs 7.27 lakh to Rs 8.21 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the muscular sedan was previously sold under the Logan nameplate. Verito was initially available in petrol and diesel fuel options, but currently it plonks a 1.5 litre, four cylinder engine good for 64bhp and 160Nm. There is ample space for occupants to be seated comfortably inside. Renewed styling, new dashboard and additional features add more comfort to the interior.
The Verito has generous dimensions and to differentiate it from the Logan Mahindra has changed the radiator grille which now carries the Mahindra Logo. Also new are the ski racks and side cladding which is a first for a sedan in the Indian market. At the rear the Verito gets a chrome rear appliqué and the rear spoiler. The rest of the car is identical to the Logan and the Verito is available Fiery black, Toreador red, Mist silver, Diamond white, Rocky beige, and Java brown.


Stay Kind – Kindness is everything. You really do need to treat people how you would like to be treated. As you make fun of someone for the outfit they are wearing (and you will), remember that they are owning their style just like you own yours. Remember they are human too and no one deserves to be made fun of. Being kind opens up doors to future opportunities. No one wants to hire a rude person.
Be Your Unique Self – You will fall into peer pressure. I have not noticed anyone who hasn't at one point in time. Please remember that you are the only you there will ever be. Exploit that. Show your style and your personality. Your friends like you because of who you are. If they are asking you to change or to do something you don't want to do and threaten your friendship because of it, then they were never your friends to begin with.
Hold On To Your Imagination – Tether this one to your heart. As we age and become adults, our imaginations tend to dwindle. When I was younger, I was an avid story and poetry writer. Then adulthood kicked in… work, bills, getting married, having a child… I lost a piece of me. I lost my imagination. It took falling into a black abyss of depression and anxiety to get that back and at this age, it isn't nearly as strong as it was. Crazy glue your creativeness to yourself. Don't ever lose that. It is what makes life interesting.
Keep Dreaming – Always aim to achieve your dreams and goals. It may not be a quick process but never decide to let go. You have seen me achieve my dream of becoming a published writer with being a contributor to two published collections. You see me currently writing my own book… a book that has been in the process for years but I am not giving up. Do not let others tell you to quit dreaming. They are not living within you. You are capable of anything you put your mind to.
Challenge Yourself – Do not take the easy way out on everything you do. Strive to be as good as you can be. Try to read those novels in high school and bypass the Cliff Notes, you will be surprised at all that is in the actual novel. You do not need to strive to be valedictorian, just try to be the best YOU can be. Challenge yourself by drawing more, writing more, reading just one more page. You won't regret it.
Loyalty Is A Blessing And A Curse – Always try to remain loyal to your friends and family, the ones that have your back, the ones that love you "to infinity and beyond". Loyalty is a tremendous gift but, it can backfire on you. Just be aware. You may put out way more than you will receive in certain relationships.
Remember Empathy – Empaths are rare. To truly be empathetic to a person is to "walk in their shoes". Everyone is going through something. It could be a physical illness such as cancer, a mental illness such as depression, neglect, prejudice, etc. No one, I mean, no one's life is easy even if it seems like it. I am glad that I passed on this gift of empathy to you. Keep using it in all situations, but try hard to not let it stick with you for long periods of time. Once you feel empathy for a person or a group of people, acknowledge it, digest it, and then do not dwell on it. It can take over your mind and cause you depression and grief.
Not All Friendships Last – Friendships can end due to many reasons. Sometimes you may have said or done something and sometimes a friend may have offended you. Honestly, most friendships that end is just from the simple fact that friends can grow apart. Schedules get busy. Common things get sparse. It happens, and baby, it hurts. There will be a grieving process to mourn the end of a friendship. You'll go through the stages of denial, disbelief, depression… and eventually, acceptance. What's important is to realize that they were in your life for a reason. It may have been the extra shoulder you needed, or the ear you lent them. Understand that although you feel like it ended because of you, it most likely didn't. With these friendship deaths, there are strengths. Friends you've had for years, decades, who are there for you. Friends you may not see or speak to often but when you do, it's like you were never apart. Hold on to them.
Common Sense Is Just As Important As Book Smarts – Always aim to be the best student you can be but that is in two fields in life, school, and common sense. Listen to your instincts. Sometimes common sense matters more than what you may have learned in class.
Love Unconditionally – Always let love in. It can be in the form of your father and I loving you, you loving your friends and them loving you back, finding your future spouse, love for your future children and love for a pet. If you have every really processed movies, you will realize love conquers all and it does. Love is what saved Harry from Voldemort. Love is what let Anna and Elsa take back their kingdom. Love is what brings Darth Vader back from the Dark Side to the Jedis. Love is what makes us live and want to live. There is always someone out there that loves you.
I know I have told you most of these things before, but I want you to understand all of them. You are getting to a point in your life where you will not listen to me anymore (or at least for a few years). You will think you know everything and Mommy and Daddy know nothing. I have been there. Your father has been there too. But you know what? After those years of being "above all" you will come to treasure everything your parents told you. You will read this letter and know exactly where Mommy was coming from. Please process these now and keep them with you. Know that I see you, I see the strong, silly, sassy, smart girl you are. I see your beauty, inside and out. I can see what you are capable of.
You are a beautiful and unique young lady. You are you.


text:
Varmonzey ist eine französische Gemeinde mit  Einwohnern (Stand ) im Département Vosges. Sie gehört zum Arrondissement Épinal und zum 2017 gegründeten Gemeindeverband Mirecourt Dompaire. Die Bewohner nennen sich Varmonzeyeilles.

Geografie
Die kleine Gemeinde Varmonzey liegt etwa 23 Kilometer nordwestlich von Épinal im Tal des Flusses Colon, der in Süd-Nord-Richtung durch das 2,57 km² große Gemeindegebiet fließt. Das Colonufer liegt auf ca. 290 m über dem Meer; westlich des Ufers steigt das Gelände allmählich bis auf 360 m an, am östlichen Ufer erhebt sich eine Steilstufe um etwa 100 Höhenmeter auf ein Plateau, das an der Westflanke des Haut de Chalmont an der Ostgrenze der Gemeinde mit 395 m über dem Meer den höchsten Punkt erreicht. In einer nach Westen geöffneten Bucht in der Steilstufe liegt das Dorf Varmonzey, der dazugehörige Weiler Le Faxal liegt am flachen Westufer des Colon. Der größte Teil des Gemeindeareals besteht aus Äckern und Weiden. Kleinere Waldstücke gibt es an den Steilhängen und als Auwaldreste an den Flussläufen von Colon und Ruisseau de la Tarpe. Im Südwesten der Gemeinde befindet sich mit dem Bois d'Ascensement ein etwa 14 ha umfassendes Waldgebiet. An den Weinbau in früheren Zeiten erinnert heute noch der Flurname Corvée de la Vigne westlich des Colon. Vereinzelte Reben zum Eigenverbrauch findet man noch östlich des Dorfes Varmonzey.

Umgeben wird Varmonzey von den Nachbargemeinden Ubexy im Norden, Évaux-et-Ménil im Osten, Gugney-aux-Aulx im Süden sowie Rapey im Westen.

Geschichte
Varmonzey tauchte im Jahr 1292 erstmals als Warmonzeyz urkundlich auf und war abhängig vom Nachbardorf Gugney-aux-Aulx, das den Äbtissinnen von Remiremont sowie den Herren von Ubexy und Mazirot gehörte. Auch kirchlich gehörten die Bewohner von Varmonzey zu den Pfarreien in Gugney-aux-Aulx und Évaux-et-Ménil. Eine Kirche wurde in Varmonzey nie gebaut.

Bevölkerungsentwicklung

Im Jahr 1881 wurde mit 69 Bewohnern die bisher höchste Einwohnerzahl ermittelt.

Sehenswürdigkeiten
 Wegkreuz an der Straße nach Évaus-et-Mébil

Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur
In der Gemeinde sind drei Landwirtschaftsbetriebe ansässig (Milchwirtschaft, Geflügelzucht).

Varmonzey ist durch Nebenstraßen mit seinen Nachbargemeinden verbunden. In der vier Kilometer entfernten Gemeinde Vincey besteht ein Anschluss an die autobahnartig ausgebaute RN 57 von Nancy nach Épinal. Der Bahnhof in Vincey liegt an der Bahnstrecke Blainville-Damelevières–Lure.

Belege

Weblinks

Ort in Grand Est
Ersterwähnung 1292

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


What Is The Difference Between Reactive & Proactive IT Support?
As an IT company in Oxford, we are perfectly placed to pick up on the burgeoning trend for companies to rely more and more on IT to support their day to day operations. This has obviously led to a greater reliance on IT support in Swindon, but some business owners don't know where to start when it comes to choosing such a company. Start-ups and small companies, for example, often find that budget restricts them from having an in-house IT person. Therefore, they may need to source external IT support that won't cost them an arm and a leg.
Our experience has shown us that when it comes to IT support, there are two kinds – reactive and proactive. Both obviously include a number of steps designed to avoid and/or fix technical issues, but one approach is definitely favoured over the other in order to make sure that all issues are fully under control.
This is pretty self-explanatory; the IT support you receive with this approach involves your IT support company reacting to a problem that has already happened. Now, this approach is fine if you don't have the cash flow to keep a specialist on board who can keep an eye on things at all times, but crisis management IT is not advisable in all instances.
As we have stated before, with technology underpinning many businesses today and the rise of cloud computing companies, any technical issues that occur can be devastating to the day-to-day running of a company – especially if you are a small or medium sized company. When a problem occurs, you may have to call someone in on their day off, or postpone a project until the problem is fixed.
Using a reactive approach, any problems will take a long time to fix, as you will have to go through several stages with your IT support company, such as logging the issue, waiting for the company to respond remotely or on site, company isolating the issue, company applies solution, solution is explained to you. This can be quite a frustrating situation for any business owner, especially if you have a deadline to meet – as every minute spent dealing with an IT problem could be better spent dealing with something else.
This is something that Agnito IT support in Oxford really believe in, as it means we are always prepared for any issues that may arise. We know that technology is not 100% fool-proof, and so we prefer to lay down an insurance policy against what might happen, rather than just waiting for something to go wrong. There are more steps in this approach than there are in the reactive approach, but the extra work is more than worth it to ensure that you have a well-functioning business.
One of the first things we do is to set out a strategic plan which includes the aims of your business and any boundaries you want to set. We then undertake regular maintenance checks on all of your networking infrastructures. We can also help with organising training sessions for you staff so that they are up to date with your IT Systems. As part of your plan, we will also schedule in regular software and firmware upgrades to be applied to your core infrastructure, as well as integrating software monitoring your system, so that the second anything goes wrong we will know about it. We will also request that you keep a log of issues so that we can start to identify any patterns that emerge.
For more information on Agnito, an IT company in Oxford and our proactive IT support services, please contact us.
By Marketing|July 5th, 2016|IT Support|Comments Off on What Is The Difference Between Reactive & Proactive IT Support?


Darlings! I completely forgot to show you my latest designer purchase. My beautiful Burberry Prorsum polka dot gauze dress. Isn't it just dreamy. Sonny was suitably impressed of course. Especially with my shapely pins. No Photoshop needed here thank you very much.


We feel it is important to provide those of you who are supporters of Zahal Disabled Veterans throughout the years, regular updates about the activities which take place at the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization and its Beit Halochem centres for the benefit of its members as well as to become more closely acquainted with those wounded heroes thanks to whom the entire Jewish Nation, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, can live safely.
There are many ways to support Israel, all of them reflect the same moral basis "hakarat Ha'Tov" – acknowledging the kindness received from another recognizing the great virtue in the existence of this wonderful country which we all care for and which belongs to all of us, Jews the world over.
The High Holydays is a time for renewal, connecting and knowing our roots, for this purpose I will use a quote by Eli Wiesel z"l who said: "When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, …it is a homecoming".
Shana Tova to all the Jewish People and to all Jews as well as the non-Jewish supporters of Zahal Disabled Veterans throughout the years – God Bless You.


Come join members of the 2016 Harbor to the Bay Ride at Club Café for a cabaret-style evening, filled with live performances of your favorite showtunes and musical hits to help support the fight to end HIV/AIDS. Drink and dine to the sounds of your favorite scores, all while helping to directly raise money for Harbor to the Bay, a Boston-based non-profit working to increase HIV/AIDS community awareness, prevention, care and services, and engage those impacted by HIV/AIDS.
Tickets are $15 before August 15, $20 after and at the door.


The world is full of love that goes unspoken. It doesn't mean that it is felt less deeply or that separation leaves a cleaner wound. Its beauty… and its pain are in its silence. Some of us are not blessed with revelations or confessions. Love cannot be spoken, only shown. And everything that makes the heart beat must be hushed.
It's the smallest and most discrete gestures that have the greatest resonance. The video sets out to discuss this and this brief yet heartfelt action; it speaks of care experienced as a need, perceived as an urgency, like an essential little rite, an absolutely universal experience, not exclusively female.


Speak Your Mind: Who's the unsung hero of the Blackhawks?
Warm summer days beckon, and the thoughts of many NIU faculty, students and staff have turned to, well, cold steel on ice.
What would you expect with the Chicago Blackhawks squaring off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup finals?
So the NIU Newsroom decided to ask the many knowledgeable Chicago fans on campus: Who's the unsung hero of the Hawks? Hear what they have to say in the accompanying Speak Your Mind video.
Next story Can You Feel the Love Tonight?


Hi. Wondering if anyone has any source of info on this development? It looks to encompass a large section of land, with several different segments of residential development, including houses, apartments, and condos, as well as retail. It should connect several roads, and create a couple others in the process, and straddles the southern border of Goodlettsville within Metro.
Sure hope they come up with a different name... this name is really, er, dry.
This is a new one on me. The date of the newsletter is July of 2007. The current market situation may have an effect on this and many other developments in Nashville and many other parts of the country.
A larger view of the development plan.
Section A: Mostly complete. Dry Creek Rd. is complete from intersection with Dickerson to the creek, with construction underway on the bridge over the creek, and the rest of the road (including the connection to Old Dickerson, which has just begun).
Sections B, H, & I: Some work has been done for filling in land, and some other infrastructure. It's hard to tell from driving by, but they've been "moving dirt" there for a couple months now.
An update: The apartments are done and open. The Dry Creek Rd. extension is complete with 2 bridges, but remains unpaved. The road was ostensibly open for a couple of months (one could drive on it anyway) but recently, it was blocked with "road closed" signs installed in the center of the road, indicating that it will likely not be completed any time soon. No progress has been made on the condo development project. My guess is that original plans have either been postponed or cancelled.


> Urban London Roof Top Beekeeping!
You can keep bees just about anywhere really. Here's a few photos of our London Roof Top Beekeeping. We have been keeping bees in central London for over 25 years with great results and lots of honey! The key point to a successful urban apiary is- Buy bees from a professional bee breeder. Pedigree bees mean calm, docile lovey bees, that make for a lovely beekeeping experience for both you and your neighbours.
Don't be fooled by people offering bees at knock down prices- you get what you pay for. Have an in depth talk with the bee breeder asking them what kind of bees they are, where they come from, how old is the queen bee. Interview the seller and ask lots of questions. Just because they have been keeping bees for 30 years does not mean that they are qualified to sell bees. Never buy a swarm of bees. They are of an unknown origin and of unknown attributes.
Next select your site and position the hive so that the flight pattern is pointing away from public foot paths, windows or any area where people will gather. Common sense advance planning is highly recommended.
The Hives Rule of Thumb: Out of sight, Out of mind.
If people can't see the hives they will not complain. Most urban disputes come from the public worried that, bees in an area mean stings. UNTRUE. Again common sense management of the hive i.e. pick a good time to open and inspect your hive when there are likely to be few people around. Avoid opening your hive at noon on a Sunday when all your neighbours will be in their gardens.
Take a beekeeping course, read lots of beekeeping books, search the web. After you understand what's involved with beekeeping, then its time to buy the beehives-not the bees! Get all your equipment assembled and in place. Get all your protective cloths, hive tools, gloves etc. Now that you have all the bits and pieces that make up your apiary, then you can plan to buy the live bees.
Best time to buy bees is in the spring, around May/June. This gives your bees plenty of time to build up and expand to a full colony before the winter sets in and the population begins to decline in preparation for the winter break ahead.
So why not give urban beekeeping a go. Its fun and interesting and bees will find the nectar, you don't need to plant any special food plants for them. They can fly up to a 3 mile radius. City beekeeping is one of the most practical urban farming pursuits around.
Subject: [Beekeeping with The Hive Honey Shop] New comment on Urban London Roof Top Beekeeping!.