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(Bloomberg) -- When Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill last year, lawmakers questioning him were roundly criticized for their ignorance of basic social media and technology.
Elizabeth Warren says she has a plan for that.
The Democratic presidential candidate rolled out a proposal Friday to re-establish the Office of Technology Assessment, which, from 1972 to 1995, provided members of Congress and their staffs with analysis of complex scientific and technology issues.
Warren said the move would allow Congress to make decisions without relying on lobbyists, who are at the core of her anti-corruption efforts. Lawmakers, she said are increasingly being asked "to climb steep learning curves on these technical subjects without much help other than from corporate lobbyists whose goal isn't to find the right policy answer but rather to secure the most profitable outcome for their companies."
A Warren administration also would increase funding for agencies that provide support and information to lawmakers by creating the Lobbying Defense Trust Fund, financed by taxing those who engage in "excessive lobbying." She also vowed to increase pay for congressional staffers to competitive salaries as a motive to attract and retain talent in those positions.


This summary comes on the eve of arguably one of the most unprecedented and historical American elections, where for the first time a female president could be elected. With that as the backdrop to my nightly reading it is with no surprise that this book has profoundly taken ahold of me. I have to admit rather embarrassingly I had never heard of Annette Verschuren before seeing her book as a suggested top summer read by the WXN Network. This book is a top read for all business leaders, at every level, and particularly for women. Verschuren is a wildly successful business leader in Canada who very candidly lays out the foundation to her success in an incredibly relatable and tangible manner. This is a book of gems: page after page of practical and actionable advice demonstrated through personal story. There is no sugar coating in here, just straight up real talk. I hope the gems below will do it justice!
"You make your decisions right by adhering to your values and then executing them well."
The author has built a reputation and legacy of kindness, honesty, and fairness, through purposeful and consistent results. The core of this stems from her upbringing and childhood, but also her unwavering determination to not lose sight of her values. Ego in check. The start of the book talks about finding your baseline, your core values, your true self, whatever you want to call it, that reminds you of who you are and what you want to be. I know this sounds soft, but it really is the foundation that allowed the author to take risks, ask for what she wanted, believe in herself, say no, say yes, have hard conversations, and make even harder decisions. Getting clear on what the author refers to as your baseline, and trusting your gut instinct, is the first step towards becoming and staying a successful leader. Verschuren speaks frequently about not taking the easy path and making the right decision, not the easy one. She did this successfully because she didn't waiver or back down from her values and the type of leader she proudly wanted to be (and quite frankly is).
"Resist the urge to do other people's thinking for them – even if it feels like the quickest route."
Involve: Your team in decisions making, planning, and feedback to allow them to take ownership.
Delegate: If you're doing the above correctly, delegating will come more naturally. Teams will know the vision and expected outcome.
Recognize: Praise both results and effort equally.
Using these three tactics will put the leader back in a position to devote their time to leadership development activities. Less time will be spent managing individual tasks (or monkeys), as the team will be more engaged and involved.
"Sometimes the pursuit of the perfect sequencing of events can prevent you from taking the actions that will deliver the results you are looking for. One way to get around this is to make it about the outcomes you are pursuing."
I love this gem because I often feel that business related books focus more heavily on how to approach problems through the lens of process, instead of emphasizing the importance of producing outcomes. The author suggests that if you are in a leadership role (upper management) you should spend at least eighty percent executing and twenty percent planning. This isn't to discount thoughtful decision making, but rather placing importance on building strong relationships and communication with your team and stakeholders in order to ensure you will execute well. Using the three actionable steps from Gem #1 (involve, delegate, recognize) will set you up for success whether you're a proposing a new idea or rolling out significant change management.
Annette Verschuren is a giant in the Canadian business landscape who has had tremendous success in leading Home Depot Canada, Michaels Canada, various Crown Corporations and now an energy start-up. She is a leader who cares deeply about doing what is right—not always an easy or popular approach. Her advice is pragmatic and useful for all types of leaders—no fluff. If you want to feel like you need to have a mentor in your back pocket, this is the book for you.


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A Triptych on Displacement and Destruction
Entropy, It's Just Another Dragon, and Broken by Chang Yu-sung, Taymour Boulos, and Nan Khin San Win
On paper, the three shortest films in the 2021 Yamagata Documentary International Film Festival may seem the furthest away from each other: with each filmmaker hailing from three different film schools in three different countries. But upon further examination, these filmmakers each craft a story that attempts to make sense of a violent milieu, and the results of what they've captured become a potent source of discussion. When screened together as a 39-minute triptych, the selection becomes a poignant mosaic that reflects and refracts truths about displacement, isolation, and political negligence in the increasingly divided and globalized world.
The first of the films, Chang Yu-sung's Entropy, observes a dying coal mine in Poland on its last leg of operations. The black-and-white images of machines, minerals, and men slowly fade into one another, constantly transforming, paralleling the changes in the topography made by the industry. In creating visual overlaps between the environment and its occupants, the film merges the destroyer and the destroyed, becoming a surprising form of self-mutilation by humans onto the mountain.
Deprived of dialogue, the film uses a heavy soundscape—whispers in the air, static from the radio, the pitter-patter of a flurry of pebbles falling—reminiscent of the sustained, anxiety-inducing humming that underscores every successful horror film. A disorienting yet eerie synesthetic experience, Entropy creates fractals of the mining industry, turning landscape and all its components into visual snowflakes, symbols of pollution. Previously the ninth largest coal producer in the world, Poland has begun phasing out its mines in solidarity with climate and health movements. But as the film concludes, as the screen fades to white and the sound of a heartbeat stops, we are reminded that the death of the industry also means a death of the people who rely on it.
The second of the films, Taymour Boulos's It's Just Another Dragon, is much harder to decode than the first. Divided into eight chapters, a prologue and an epilogue, the film follows an unseen Hungarian oral storyteller and a Lebanese filmmaker who entrust each other with their stories. Each chapter is a series of static shots: a river flowing, a subway station, a nearly empty tanning salon, the Chinese Dragon created by Gábor Miklós Szőke, the platform lifts at a Hungarian railway station, a pair of fencers dueling, three girls practicing a dance routine in front of a store's glass window, an image of a king's epitaph, a pingpong game, an eerie park in the nighttime, and a man in a cloak burning wood in the forest.
Perusing the internet reveals that dragons have had a drastic change in meaning in Hungarian literature. Initially a symbol of unity that was, in some regions, born through the transformation of another being, these later on became a symbol of evil to be vanquished. However, in postmodern Hungarian literature, the dragon is no longer treated like any beast but rather as a delicate and emotional being or, at times, an outcast.
The visuals are layered with a rhythmic form of oral storytelling from the two protagonists, each narrating their backgrounds: the 1970s civil war that caused the rail transport system in Lebanon to cease, the 2020 ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut, the ethnic conflicts between Hungary and Romania. The images are peaceful compared to the stories being told, stuffing the voiceovers with an almost fairytale-like quality. The epilogue acknowledges that the subjects are aware that they are being filmed, consenting to the process of retelling these stories, a dialogue across space and time.
The final film, Nan Khin San Win's Broken, is the most straightforward of the three: both in its narrative and its form. Taking on many elements of traditional documentary filmmaking, it gives a voice and a body to the people, specifically the women, in the Kayah State—survivors of domestic, economic, and sexual violence due to the area's intense militarization. Fathers step on landmines, statues are defaced and damaged, girls are safeguarded to no avail. Even in their sleep, they dream of violence, their subconscious absorbing and manifesting the violence around them.
War reveals itself differently to men and to women, and they relish their momentary sources of peace: sitting on tree stumps in the middle of clearings created through deforestation, submerging themselves in the river, or lying down in the mud until there is a need to get up. Their behaviors and self-perceptions as individuals and as a community have inevitably changed. And though wounds of the body heal over time, the wounds of the spaces and the mind stay forever. Escape here is seen as an impossible salvation, but to a certain extent, filmmaking is itself a form of escaping the local environment. Storytelling to a camera that is willing to listen can offer comfort, even if it is momentary, to a troubled soul and a troubled body.
In a way, the triptych is a reminder that documenting tragedies has value because it humanizes the subjects and creates an opportunity not only to empathize, but to educate ourselves and to act. But in order to narrate the tragedies with our lives and in the lives of others, we must survive them first. And the process of surviving and narrating the story enables some kind of freedom too.
Jason Tan Liwag

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ricoh launches RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit
PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the launch of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special…
PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the launch of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit. Available in a limited quantity of 3,500 units worldwide, the kit combines the RICOH GR III camera body, finished in a metallic gray color, with a compact, detachable viewfinder and a genuine-leather hand strap, both designed exclusively for this package.
Offering the same high image quality as the standard RICOH GR III, the small, lightweight camera body has been treated with a metallic gray finish designed to appeal to a street photographer, evoking the asphalt pavement in the city. The finish features an elegantly grained texture that is smooth in appearance but helps improve camera grip. It's accentuated with an orange-yellow lens barrel ring, reminiscent of traffic lines painted on streets.
In addition to the camera, the kit includes a pair of exclusive accessories: a compact, detachable viewfinder featuring the identical metallic gray finish and a genuine-leather hand strap. The viewfinder has the number 28 imprinted on its top panel to highlight the camera's angle of view, while the strap's stopper is finished in orange-yellow identical to the camera's lens barrel ring.
This camera allows the photographer to instantly activate the Full Press Snap feature* with a single touch on the LCD panel. This feature shifts the lens to a preselected focal point the moment the shutter release button is fully pressed. It can also be assigned to the LCD screen, assuring the photographer of flawless point-and-shoot photography to capture once-in-a-lifetime shutter opportunities. One of the strong points of the GR series, this feature comes in handy when taking snapshots on the street and will be available in the standard GR III via a firmware update that is scheduled for release later this year.
The RICOH GR III Street Edition, a high-grade digital compact camera that doesn't include the viewfinder and the strap, is also scheduled to be launched in the autumn of 2020.
| Pricing and Availability |
The RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit will be available mid-July at www.us.ricoh-imaging.com as well as at select Ricoh Imaging-authorized retail outlets nationwide for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1199.95.
| Main Features of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit |
The camera body has been treated with an attractive metallic gray finish that designed to appeal to a street photographer, symbolizing the asphalt pavement in the city. It's also accentuated with an orange-yellow ring encircling the lens barrel. The exterior finish features an elegantly grained texture created by repeatedly spraying droplets of a coating material onto the camera body. Although smooth in appearance, this special paint also helps improve camera hold.
The camera comes with a pair of exclusive accessories: a compact, detachable viewfinder featuring the identical metallic gray finish, and a genuine-leather hand strap. The viewfinder has the number 28 imprinted on its top panel to highlight the camera's angle of view, while the strap's stopper is finished in orange-yellow identical to the camera's lens barrel ring, to enhance the product image.
This camera allows the photographer to instantly activate the Full Press Snap feature* with a single touch on the LCD panel positioned on the camera's back panel. This feature shifts the lens to a preselected focal point the moment the shutter release button is fully depressed. It can also be assigned to the LCD screen positioned on the camera's back panel, assuring the photographer of flawless point-and-shoot photography to capture once-in-a-lifetime shutter opportunities. One of the strong points of the GR series, this feature comes in handy when taking snapshots on the street.
* This feature can be added to the standard GR III model by installing function expansion firmware, which is scheduled to be released after the time of the camera's launch.
When the camera's power is turned off, the camera displays an original termination screen consisting of the specially designed product logo and a street-view image that symbolizes the camera's «street snapshot» concept.
• The camera's other specifications are identical with those of the standard GR III model.
• The design and specifications are subject to change without notice.
| About Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation |
Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Company Ltd. Is part of Ricoh Group, which operates in about 200 countries and regions.
The company operating now as Ricoh Company Ltd. was originally founded in 1919, under the name Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co. and launched its first SLR camera in the 1950s under the PENTAX name. Today, the company continues to produce the heritage-rich, award-winning line of PENTAX DSLR cameras, lenses and sport optics equipment as well as Ricoh's offering of stylish and compact digital cameras, known for their wide-ranging, rich set of features.
For further information, please visit www.us.ricoh-imaging.com
© 2020 Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ricoh-launches-ricoh-gr-iii-street-edition-special-limited-kit-301073851.html
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University of North Texas Puts Engineering Grad's Invention to Use at Mean Green Practice Facility


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India to Bangladesh by road – step by step guide
South Asia has many common features, yet each country has its own peculiarities and culture. There are so many people who travel from India to Nepal by road, but there is almost none information about another interesting Indian neighbor – Bangladesh. Nevertheless, we are not scared to experiment if we don't find info on Google, are we? So I packed my stuff and headed to a new destination with no expectations of what is going to be like.
This post is about traveling from India to Bangladesh by road and vice-versa. Here are the specific points I will focus on:
Border crossing points between India and Bangladesh
India to Bangladesh by bus via Petrapole Benapole border
India to Bangladesh by train
Bangladesh visa on arrival at Benapole border
Last tips
Note: For the accurate information there are two currencies in the post INR (Indian Rupee) and Taka (Bangladesh currency). INR tends to fluctuate around 65 for 1 USD and Taka around 85 for 1 USD.
There are several official border points between India and Bangladesh. If you travel by train around Eastern Bangladesh, you will see the rail track going just near the border with Tripura(a state in India), so at some points, you are just 300 meters away from India. The borders are:
Petrapole – Benapole border connecting southern part of West Bengal(India) to Southern part of Bangladesh.
Dawki – Tamabil border connecting Meghalaya state(India) to North-East Bangladesh.
Agarthala – Akhaura border connecting Tripura state (India) to East Bangladesh.
Burimari border crossing connecting West Bengal (India) to North-West Bangladesh.
Sonamasjid border crossing that splits the ancient capital of Bengal and connects Bangladesh to West Bengal state (India).
Darshana – Gede border which Maitree Express train is crossing to West Bengal (India).
Note, if you need a visa to Bangladesh on arrival, you can only get it at the Petrapole-Benapole land border (and at the airport of course, but this post is about land border crossing).
Some fields look so green that you want to come closer and check if they are real…
India to Bangladesh by bus through Petrapole – Benapole border crossing
Bus is the most popular way to reach Bangladesh from India. There are two ways to go about it:
Take a direct bus from Kolkata to Dhaka
Take the bus from Kolkata to Petrapole (Indian border town)
If you are a Bangladesh citizen or have a Bangladesh visa in your passport, you can take a direct bus to Dhaka which will make your border crossing a bit more organized and faster. If you need Bangladesh visa, I strongly recommend taking ticket only till the border. The visa process can extend because of the bureaucracy and queue. The buses have a certain schedule to follow, so they might not wait long hours for one person.
I made a Google map with the most important cities mentioned in this post (marked with yellow stars) :
Where to get bus tickets to Bangladesh in Kolkata?
On Marquis Street in Kolkata, you will see several bus operators as the buses mostly leave from that street only. It is located in the famous Park Street area, close to Sudder Street.
Since most of the buses leave in the morning, it makes sense to stay in this area only to save time on commuting. There is accommodation for any budget there, though it's quite a hectic and noisy area. Somehow I could relate it to Paharganj in Delhi.
Bangladesh AC bus sample
How much does it cost to go from India to Bangladesh by bus?
The most famous companies are Green Line bus and Shyamoli. There are also other vendors, though, as you can see, prices tend to be plus minus same.
Bus schedule and pricing with Shyamoli:
Kolkata to Benapole – 300 INR
Kolkata to Dhaka – 1400 INR
The first bus from Kolkata is at 5.30 a.m., the bus runs every three hours. The last bus is at 3 p.m.
Bus schedule and pricing with Green Line:
Bus schedule: 5.15 a.m., 6.30 a.m., 7 a.m., 12 p.m.
Both companies are good. I've chosen Green Line, though I've traveled a lot with Shyamoli around Bangladesh. My bus left from Kolkata from here (22.556541, 88.355842). It's near Green Line office.
All the passengers received a water bottle and a pack of cookies at the beginning of the journey.
How much time does it take to reach Bangladesh border from Kolkata?
Petrapole side of the border
It takes around 3-4 hours to reach Petrapole (Indian border town) from Kolkata. Everything depends on your starting time and traffic. Well, in my case, the tire got punctured, so the driving speed also became a factor. I found the road quite smooth from Kolkata till the border.
Here are three ways you can go about it:
Take a direct train from Kolkata to Dhaka.
There is a train (Maitree express) connecting West Bengal (state in India) and Bangladesh. In Kolkata, you can buy tickets at the train station. Maitree Express goes from Kolkata to Dhaka on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday.
The train runs on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Dhaka. Price for Maitree Express from Dhaka is 3400 Taka for personal cabin and 2500 Taka for AC chair cabin. If you know already that you will be going by train, I recommend buying tickets 2 weeks in advance. When I was at Kamalapur train station in Dhaka, the next available seats were after 10 days. There is a separate counter where is written in English – Dhaka to Kolkata.
Important note: This route is suitable only for people who have permission (e.g. Visa) to travel to both India and Bangladesh and don't need to open a Bangladesh visa at the border.
Interesting fact: there is also now a project happening that tries to connect North-East India to Kolkata through Bangladesh (YES, PLEASE, it takes at least 1.5 days to come from states like Mizoram(state in India) or Manipur(state in India) to Kolkata by road). The plan is to build a line that connects Agarthala (Tripura, India) with Akhaura at Bangladesh side. There are also a few other interesting road projects between India and Bangladesh that will come up within a few years.
Take a direct train from Kolkata to Khulna (City in Bangladesh).
In 2017 there was renewed the link between Khulna to Kolkata by Bandhan train. It takes around 4.5 hours and starts from Kolkata at 11.00 and from Khulna at 11.30. This train crosses Bangaon – Benapole border.
Benapole side after the customs
Take a train till the border
You can take a train from Kolkata to Bangaon station (the closest station to Petrapole – Benapole border). If you are starting from Bangladesh, the closest big station is Jessore(city in Bangladesh). Jessore is well connected with other places in Bangladesh. When I crossed the border by bus, I've seen several local trains going to Benapole in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, you have to find the schedule from local people.
In my opinion, it is an extra hassle to take a train from Kolkata to the border. Firstly, they run from Seldah station(Kolkata) and if you are not staying around the area, you need to wake up very early to reach there for the morning trains. Trains go almost every hour. If you have luggage you will have to take a personal auto from Bangaon (train station in India near the border) to Petrapole(Indian border town). Overall, you will save around 100 INR versus bus experience (300 INR by bus from Kolkata to Petrapole). If it's worth it or not, you have to decide.
At the same time, in my opinion, if you are in Chittagong (a city in Bangladesh) or other places, it really makes sense to go by train closer to Benapole (a border town in Bangladesh) border to avoid traffic jams.
Benapole Bangladesh
I read plenty of immigration stories and was quite stressed out when I came to the border. Summary:
The line is really long. I haven't seen this overloaded border ever, though I've traveled a lot by land. When police person saw my lost face, he redirected me to the running queue, allowing to jump the waiting. I was the only foreigner there and no one was minding. Just ask police people nicely and they will direct you.
The running queue is not the actual queue. Most of the people (to read hundreds) were waiting in a separate area under the roof.
The queue was really well organized. Whenever you are unclear, there will be plenty of people to direct you.
After TripAdvisor reviews, I was prepared for some challenging experience on Indian border. I've put up the best smile on my face and greeted the officer when my turn came. He asked me what my purpose of visit in Bangladesh was. I told I'm a tourist. He stamped my passport and told to visit India again (I will ;).
Bangladeshi officers were very friendly. The detailed procedure is below.
Foreign nationals from Europe, US, Canada and also countries that don't have Bangladesh Embassy can avail visa both at the airport and land border in Petrapole. Please call to Bangladesh Embassy and confirm if you can avail visa at the border.
Can I apply for Bangladesh visa in India?
View from the bus on the way to Khulna
Indians: yes. Moreover, despite the embassy website says you can do it only in Delhi, you can also file visa in the consulate in Mumbai and Kolkata. I personally know Indian friends who opened visa in Mumbai. Though, it takes longer. Note, there is an agreement between India and Bangladesh of 0 visa fee.
You can also hire an agent who will file visa for you for 1000-1500 INR commission.
Foreigner nationals besides Indians: If you belong to the category of people who can get a visa at the border, Bangladesh Embassy most probably will not entertain you, especially in Kolkata. This is understandable, once you see their queues, plus the process takes around one week.
How to get Bangladesh visa on arrival
Pink ferry where my bus boarded to Dhaka (I'm trying to entertain you during bureaucratic procedures)
Once a bus drops you at Petrapole station (Indian border city), keep walking straight till you see Indian border point at your right side. There are many police people, so you will not miss it. There is one convenient thing about this border. It's all interconnected. Means you don't need to walk and look for another border point. Just be patient and follow the queue.
As mentioned earlier, I was friendly with Indian officers, they were friendly to me. Note, I'm from a developing unknown country and I'm used to get always plenty of questions at the Embassies and borders. Attitude matters!
After this, there was a long line through several corridors and buildings to Bangladesh border. People started smiling and whispering ("Angreji, angreji"). If it's obvious you are a foreigner, you might attract attention, welcoming questions from different sides. People in Bangladesh are not habitual to tourists. Moreover, in the record books, I was the 92nd foreigner who received a visa at the land border during 2 months span.
Which documents do you need to get Bangladesh visa on arrival?
Hotel reservation. They asked me for it, but more as a formality to attach to a file to my application. I started in Khulna, so I made a reservation there. They are specifically interested in the first hotel where you will be staying.
Note: Tourism is not that much developed in Bangladesh and you can get just a handful of hotels on booking which are mid to upper-range. If you are planning to get a visa on arrival, it's hard to find a place where you can have free cancelation if you change your mind. I called to several hotels and made a reservation by phone. I saved the contact person and the number.
Return tickets from Bangladesh. I wasn't sure about time or my point of departure because it's quite challenging to plan your trip with lack of info. A travel agency from India helped me book a ticket that is valid for a certain time and you can cancel it/modify afterward. It is another document which was attached to my file with no questions.
Bank statement. I printed out my PayPal statement in Kolkata. It was another formality, though the officer was content I had everything he was asking for.
Application form. A visa officer will provide you with one at the border. It's quite standard (contacts, places you intend to visit, how much cash and card money you have, where you will stay, etc.)
Note: wait till the officer asks you for the documents before you hand them to him.
Bangladesh visa on arrival process
There is a counter for foreigners (Indians, you are also foreigners in Bangladesh) in the Immigration hall of Bangladesh. It's just near the entrance.
You get an arrival file there. You will be redirected to a table with visa applications. The application has general questions. In money point, it's good to indicate also ATM card.
After you fill up the application form and arrival file, you just need to wait. The visa officer will start filling in numerous forms from their part. After everything is completed you need to pay the visa fee.
Visa costs 50 USD for one month. You need to mention that you want a one-month visa. Once visa procedure is completed, you will have to put your bags through a scanner and you are free to go. Just outside of the customs there is a street with different travel agents from whom you can buy tickets to Khulna, Dhaka, Jessore.
I got a ticket for the non-AC bus from the Benapole (border town in Bangladesh) to Khulna (city in Bangladesh). Travel time is around three hours and the cost was 150 taka. You can also get a sim card in the same street.
At the Indian side, there are also plenty of travel agents in Petrapole (border town in India) from whom you can buy tickets to Kolkata.
You can see numerous ferries transporting vehicles through big rivers
You can get a sim card after crossing Benapole border if you don't come with direct transport. The sim cost 300 Taka (of course it's too much, but if you need to be always connected like me – it's ok). It comes with 100 Taka talk time. You can activate additional internet connection in 80 Tk (1 GB) or 129 Taka (2 GB) valid 7 days. The sim card starts working instantly. They haven't asked for ID card or any documents. If you decide to buy a Sim card in a proper way in a city– it costs 50 Taka + add as much credit as you want. You need a copy of the passport.
Note, Indian visas are not available on the land borders. Unless you are a citizen of India, you need to have a valid Indian travel visa in your passport to come to India.
Take some snacks with you if you have certain food restrictions. After you cross the border you get several café options in Benapole. The food was delicious, though very oily and chili. I liked it, though my stomach couldn't stand it. Nevertheless, Indians and Bangladeshi were enjoying a lot.
It took me overall 1.40 hr to cross both Indian (~30min) and Bangladesh (~1 hour) border and it would be so much more if I didn't skip the queue.
While leaving Bangladesh you need to pay 500 Taka departure tax and 40.70 Taka to enter the border. Note, if you go by direct bus that will take you through the border, they might charge you an extra convenience fee as they have special arrangements with border people to fasten the process. It comes around 50 -150 Taka extra. You can also pay 500 Taka tax in advance in one of the branches of Sonali Bank. If you are planning to leave through another border than Petrapole-Benapole or Airports, you are advised to pay this tax in advance as you might not find the bank branches near some borders.
Yaaay! This post is stuffed with research and valuable information to make traveling transparent and easier. If you know about any changes with time, don't hesitate to get in touch 🙂
Have you done this journey? What else would you advise for land travelers?
Share the post "India to Bangladesh by road – step by step guide"
Avisek Das
Written in a completely understandable and detailed way. And I hope you are one of the good persons who has not given a bribe which both side of the border ask for 😉
Thank you for reading and feedback, Avisek. I am against bribing. From personal experience, I found border crossing process crowdy, but quite transparent (e.g. no hidden fees) on both sides of the border and officers were friendly.
I paid only usual visa fees (as a foreigner) and got a receipt for every sum. If you had a different experience, don't hesitate to share more information.
Though I am a foreigner still I speak the same language as the Bangladeshi people do and maybe because of that shamelessly they were asking for bribes if not then threatening to make me wait for a long time to fulfil the procedure and yes, that happened across both sides of the border. More than me, the Bangladeshi people were scared and they won't even talk about these.
The journey is no doubt very pleasant but this kind of ugly experiences makes it horrible and after coming back from there I didn't recommend a single person to follow this route to Bangladesh.
Anyways, my experience is of 4 years back. Hope things have changed for the better.
I am sad to hear about your experience.
Though I had a smooth journey, as mentioned in the post, there was a big line at the border and it took time to get through. There were people at the border who guided others irrespective of their nationality. I would like to believe that this change is permanent and the border crossing/visa process has improved significantly in past few years.
Thank you for sharing your experience here. I encourage fellow travelers reading posts on my blog to share views and experiences, so there are more diverse opinions to form a big picture.
Last updated on November 3rd, 2018


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News / Walmart Illegally Retaliated Against Workers Speaking Out For Higher Wages, Against Income Inequality
Walmart Illegally Retaliated Against Workers Speaking Out For Higher Wages, Against Income Inequality
The National Labor Relations Board issued the largest-ever complaint against Walmart today for breaking federal labor law by violating workers' rights. The complaint alleges Walmart illegally fired and disciplined more than 117 workers, including those who went on strike last June to speak out for better jobs.
The NLRB asserts illegal activities in 14 states at 34 stores and shows that company executives conceived—and oversaw implementation—of an unlawful retaliation policy for store managers to execute. The complaint—the largest ever against Walmart in both size and scale—names 63 individual store managers and company spokesperson and vice president of communication David Tovar's illegal threats made to employees.
Walmart workers, part of the national organization OUR Walmart, have been taking the country's income inequality head on by standing up for better wages at the country's largest employer. While the majority of Walmart associates are paid less than $25,000 a year, Walmart makes $17 billion in annual profits and the Waltons—the richest family in the country—have a combined wealth of $144.7 billion.
"Walmart thinks it can scare us with attacks to keep us from having a real conversation about the poverty wages we're paid," said Barbara Collins a fired Walmart worker from Placerville, CA, who is one of the 117 workers named in the complaint. "But too much is at stake—the strength of our economy and the security of our families—to stay silent about why Walmart needs to improve jobs. Now the federal government is confirming what we already know: we have the right to speak out, and Walmart fired me and my coworkers illegally. With a new CEO taking over in a few weeks, we hope that Walmart will take a new direction in listening to associates and the country in the growing calls to improve jobs."
The complaint details the Board's decision to prosecute the company for its illegal firings and disciplinary actions against workers standing up for better jobs.
The Board's action will provide additional protection for Walmart's 1.3 million employees when they are calling for Walmart to publicly commit to paying workers a minimum of $25,000 a year for full-time work. The complaint addresses threats by managers and the company's national spokesperson for discouraging workers from striking and for taking illegal disciplinary actions against workers who were on legally protected strikes.
If Walmart is found liable, workers could be awarded back pay, reinstatement and the reversal of disciplinary actions through the decision; and Walmart could be required to inform and educate all employees of their legally protected rights. While historic, the complaint alone is not enough to stop Walmart from violating the law. Since the start of the year, Walmart has continued to retaliate against workers who speak out for better jobs.
"Shoppers, workers and activists all stand with Walmart workers calling for a decent day's pay so they can support their families and contribute to the economy. We've never seen a complaint against Walmart of this size or scope, and we're glad the NLRB is taking action. Walmart's attacks on its own employees and cannot go unchecked," said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice. "We are proud to stand with workers calling for respect from Walmart."
"Walmart workers are bravely leading the national movement to end low wage work," said Bill Fletcher Jr., chairman of the Retail Justice Alliance. "Walmart is a major driver of the widening income inequality gap with its low wages that set the standard for retail jobs. We cannot get our economy moving again when the largest employer breaks federal law in an effort to keep wages down. Walmart needs to start following the law and improve jobs by paying workers a living wage."
Today's complaint addresses charges filed one year ago in advance of Black Friday 2012, when Walmart managers escalated their efforts to threaten and discourage workers from going on legally protected strikes. David Tovar, spokesperson for the company, even went so far as to threaten workers on national television, saying "there would be consequences" for workers who did not come in for scheduled shifts on Black Friday.
"Walmart workers like me are calling for better jobs for all Americans," said Colby Harris, a fired worker from Lancaster, TX. "It's not right that so many of us are struggling to get by on less than $25,000 a year while the Waltons have more wealth than 42% of American families combined. Today the federal government confirmed that Walmart is not above the law, will be held accountable, and I have rights."
Additionally, the complaint covers the illegal firings and disciplinary actions that occurred after 100 striking Walmart workers took their concerns to the company's June shareholder meeting in Bentonville. Support from investors, Walmart workers and the general public continued to grow after tens of thousands of shareholders heard from workers who are OUR Walmart members at the company's annual shareholder meeting.
When these workers returned to work, Walmart systematically fired and disciplined them despite their legally recognized, protected absences. This included disciplinary action against at least 43 workers and the firing of at least another 23 worker-leaders.
Prior to the extended strike in June, American Rights at Work/Jobs with Justice released a white paper documenting Walmart's extensive and systematic efforts to silence associates. At that time, there were more than 150 incidents in stores across the country, with few signs that Walmart would soon stop targeting those who speak out and act collectively.
In other labor charges against Walmart, workers have been winning. In California alone, the National Labor Relations Board recently decided to prosecute Walmart for 11 violations of federal labor law from some threats made around Black Friday in 2012.
In Kentucky, one settlement was reached between Walmart and Aaron Lawson in which Walmart fired Lawson after he distributed flyers and spoke out against the company's attempts to silence those who called for better wages and consistent hours. As part of the settlement, Walmart agreed to rehire Lawson and provide full back wages for the time that he was out of work.
UFCW Local 1546 represents workers in Illinois and Indiana in a diverse range of industries including grocery and drug retailers; meat cutting, processing, and packing; chemical works; nursing home and healthcare facilities, and many others.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.


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2019 elections: Mamata Banerjee asks EC to ensure impartial polling in Bengal in last phase of vote
The West Bengal chief minister lashed out at the EC for allegedly taking decisions that were 'illegal, unconstitutional and biased' during the elections.
May 19, 2019 · 10:48 am Updated May 19, 2019 · 11:00 am
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. | PTI | File photo.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asked the Election Commission to ensure that the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections in the state on Sunday are "peaceful and impartial". Banerjee requested the poll panel to ensure that voting takes place without the "undue interference of the central government", PTI reported.
Elections are under way in Kolkata North and South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jaynagar (SC) and Mathurapur (SC) seats.
"In the final phase of the election tomorrow [Sunday], I would request your good office to kindly ensure that election is completed peacefully, impartially and without any undue interference of the Central government and any intervention by the ruling party at the centre," Banerjee wrote in the letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.
Voting will be held in nine Lok Sabha constituencies in and around Kolkata. The state has witnessed several episodes of violence in the prior phases with three poll-related deaths so far. The Election Commission had deployed 770 companies of central security forces, which is the largest security detail until now, News18 reported.
However, Banerjee also lashed out at the Election Commission for allegedly taking decisions that were "illegal, unconstitutional and biased" during the elections. She said that the poll body should "protect democratic institutions" and the "federal structure of the country" and extend due to the Opposition, according to PTI.
The West Bengal chief minister also mentioned the roadshow of Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, which led to violence in Kolkata. "The roadshow was itself a deliberate, intentional and a criminal conspiracy to vandalise the culture and heritage of Kolkata and West Bengal and also to defame the West Bengal government and its people," she wrote.
Banerjee also questioned the appointment of two retired government officers as the Election Commission's special observers. "These two special observers have shown partisan attitude and have always complied with the instructions given time and again by the central government and the ruling party at the Centre," she wrote. "All these issues were brought to the notice of the Election Commission of India but no justice has been done."
On May 14, clashes broke out at Shah's roadshow. Student activists associated with the Left Front, Trinamool Congress, and the BJP got into a scuffle and stones were pelted near a college hostel on Bishan Sarani street in Kolkata. The statue of Bengali philosopher Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar near Vidyasagar College was vandalised and protestors set the college gate on fire. Both Banerjee and Shah strongly condemned the incident and blamed each other's parties for being behind it.
On May 16, the West Bengal government appointed a Special Investigation Team to investigate the vandalism of Vidyasagar's statue. At a rally in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to erect another statue at the same spot where it was vandalised. However, Banerjee refused the offer saying that her party does not need the money to build the statue. She said that the BJP will never be able to restore the 200-year-old heritage.
Lok Sabha polls: Row after DMK's expenditure affidavit reveals it donated Rs 25 crore to CPI, CPI(M)


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Services on Track: Over Two Crore Women Beneficiaries Registered with MCTS
By Dr. Ankit Rajvanshi May 12, 2012
Varun Bhardwaj*
Motherhood is a divine feeling, a wonderful experience, but it brings with itself tremendous responsibilities which call for proper care for both mother and the child. For a healthy mother and child, it must be ensured that required medical care is provided to pregnant woman and full immunization course is administered to the child. It is with this spirit in the mind that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) in December 2009. The focus in MCTS is on the Beneficiary Based Monitoring of the delivery of services to ensure that all pregnant women and all new born receive 'full' maternal and child health services. The MCTS utilizes Information Technology and seeks to capture details of every pregnancy in the country in a centralised data base. It is a generic system which aims to provide information of different health services received at the individual level, by monitoring all service deliveries that an individual benefits from.
MCTS Coverage
The MCTS database primarily comprises of
· All new Pregnancies detected/ registered from 1st December, 2009 at the first point of contact of the pregnant mother with the health facility/health provider.
· All Births occurring from 1st December, 2009.
Unique Identification Number
The record of each mother and child is tracked through a 16 digit unique identification number. The 16 digit unique number contains state code, district code, Block PHC/CHC Code, Health Sub-Centre Code, Pregnant Woman code, child code and the serial number given to each mother/child.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare endeavoured to have a central data repository for quick reference of validated data for all pregnancies and births in India. Such a Central Database seeks to facilitate grassroots level health functionaries like ANM, ASHA, Anganwadi workers etc. in performance of their duties by enabling more effective transformation and utilization of information. It is envisaged to implement a Beneficiary Centred Approach so as to ensure delivery of maternal and child health services from conception till 42 days after delivery in the case of pregnant women and up to five years of age in the case of children so as to ensure that all pregnant women and all new born receive full maternal and immunization services.
Further, MCTS would enable roll-out of targeted health programs and schemes, for controlling of external cost and time spill-over and ensure tracking of full immunisation course for all children. It shall also lead to validation of information collected from each block/district/state at the central level, for figuring out authenticated situation at respective functional levels.
Furthermore, efficient need-based planning of allocation and management of health resources can be done at ground-level. For example a fair idea about drug stock and inventory can be made once number of pregnancies have been recorded at a particular level. Thus, it leads to improved supply chain management of vaccines and drugs .Also, MCTS can provide vital clues for making improvements in the system for better service delivery. The bottlenecks at the implementation level which hinder effective implementation of Government initiatives can be known and provide valuable inputs for public policy implementation. Not only this, MCTS is expected to facilitate qualitative improvement in the delivery of services to pregnant women and children of the country and thus facilitates an accelerated reduction in maternal, infant and child mortality.
Architecture of MCTS
The operationalization of the MCTS is achieved by clear cut role allocation at different levels viz. village level, Sub Centre level, PHC level, CHC level, District level, State Level and the National Level.
Village Level
Identification of pregnant women and new born is done at the Village level. The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been given the responsibility of informing theAuxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) about the details of the pregnant women and new born in the village every month.
Sub Centre Level
The delivery of maternal and child health services according to the agreed service delivery protocol is done at the sub centre level. At the Sub Centre level the ANM is responsible for Contacting all pregnant women reported by ASHA and preparation of the Pregnant Woman Card( One copy to be retained by the ANM and the other given to the pregnant woman).Services are delivered according to the agreed service delivery schedule and the ANM updates the Maternal Health Card.The ANM Contacts parents of all new born and prepares the Child Health Card.
The above data is entered into a Central Database at Primary Health Centre /Community Health Centre where internet facility is available. This registers pregnant women and the details of services due (example ANC orantenatal care) to the woman along with the dates are captured in the database. The name and contact details of associated ASHA worker/ANM are also entered into the database .In fact, two distinct fields in the data base viz. Services administered and Services overdue help in monitoring and tracking service delivery at field level.
Primary Health Centre (PHC)
The Medical Officer at PHC is responsible for organizing training of ASHAs in the identification of pregnant women and children below five years of age; organizing fortnightly/monthly meeting to review the records maintained by ANM with a view to improve the quality of the record; visiting all villages in the PHC at least once in a month to supervise the activities of ASHA and to provide her necessary support; on the spot verification of the data entered in MCTS using a standard sample design.
Finally, the Medical Officer also identifies gaps in the context of providing 'full' maternal and child health services to all pregnant women and all new born recorded in MCTS.
Community Health Centre( CHC)
The Block Program Manager at the CHC is responsible uploading the data on pregnant women and new born in the MCTS software and generating reports related to the implementation of MCTS at the PHC level within the CHC. He is also responsible for tabulation and analysis of the verification data available through the cross checking of the records entered in the MCTS system.
District Level
MCTS performance review is done at the district level to fill up the gaps in the health care delivery institutions within the district in the context of delivering 'full' services to all pregnant women and all new born.
State Level
Monthly reports of the implementation of MCTS for all districts within the state are generated and state level monthly meetings are organized to review the implementation of MCTS at the district level and identify and address bottlenecks and constraints in implementing MCTS.
MCTS cell is responsible for monitoring and analysis of the progress of MCTS in terms of data entry status, identification of low reporting States/districts and identification of districts/facilities not reporting.
The Quality of data reporting is known through data of performance of state and district indicators and cross analysis of data and services provided. This helps in identification of abnormalities and and discrepancies in MCTS data.
Also National level meetings are organized to review the implementation of MCTS at the state/UT level and to identify and address the bottlenecks and constraints in implementing MCTS. Besides, the MCTS Cell also prepares Quarterly Research Note using the data available through MCTS.
Thus, the states can take action at their own end to ensure that services reach those for whom they are meant. This is possible since the contact details of all beneficiaries to whom services are overdue along with the associated ANM/ASHA are available at the click of a mouse. As on 1 May, 2012, a total of 2,07,55,732 women have been registered with the Mother and Child Tracking System.
The Central Government on its part regularly intimates Mission Directors of NRHM in states on the progress made and gaps which remain in provision of services to beneficiaries. In addition, a call centre has been established in the Ministry of H&FW to directly contact pregnant women and parents of the new born registered under the system to verify the services that they have received. A Toll-Free facility which provides information to beneficiaries registered with the MCTS server has also been started. At present the data of MCTS is available only through private login to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and various State Governments. Although, a full fledged MCTS portal is expected to be launched so that the data is available in Public Domain. In a nut shell, MCTS not only facilitates closer monitoring and regular check-ups of pregnant women and reduces avoidable complications but aids strategic decision-making and need based allocation of resources also.
Source : Press Information Bureau
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The super 8 camera is an interesting camera choice for those who want to bring a different style of shooting into their movies. With limitations such as short shooting time cutting at just two minutes and thirty second and working with film itself, Super 8 can be a bit intimidating to approach to beginners. The truly revolutionary part of these cameras where not only the style that your recording would come out it in, but also that you could insert recording film inside without having to feed them through and instead of feeding the film through the camera in a dark room.
In the documentary Superstonic sound, Don Letts and his son Jet a dubstep producer take a look at music influences from their origins and cultures around them. Shot partially in super 8 and HDV, we are given looks at the British music scene and how music effected both a father and son. We are taken to scenes such as the Notting Hill Riots to the Club Roxy where he first began. The shots that are taken in super 8 give a feeling of the past and present connecting by mirroring the footage of some areas in HDV and also with the super 8 camera.
The real test here is how you choose to use it. While digital can be way more forgiving, the true test of using limited film footage can push a film crew to their limits and produce films out of their comfort-zone. Alot of common scenes that use super 8 are dream sequences or scenes in the past. Super 8 cameras like any tool serves its own purpose and what that purpose will be is totally up to the director.


text:
require 'spec_helper'

describe "cms_users", dbscope: :example do
  subject(:site) { cms_site }
  subject(:group) { cms_group }
  subject(:item) { create(:cms_test_user, group: group) }
  subject(:index_path) { cms_users_path site.host }
  subject(:new_path) { new_cms_user_path site.host }
  subject(:show_path) { cms_user_path site.host, item }
  subject(:edit_path) { edit_cms_user_path site.host, item }
  subject(:delete_path) { delete_cms_user_path site.host, item }

  it "without login" do
    visit index_path
    expect(current_path).to eq sns_login_path
  end

  it "without auth" do
    login_ss_user
    visit index_path
    expect(status_code).to eq 403
  end

  it "#index" do
    login_cms_user
    visit index_path
    expect(current_path).not_to eq sns_login_path
  end

  context "with sns user" do
    it "#new" do
      login_cms_user
      visit new_path
      within "form#item-form" do
        name = unique_id
        fill_in "item[name]", with: name
        fill_in "item[email]", with: "#{name}@example.jp"
        fill_in "item[in_password]", with: "pass"
        check "item[group_ids][]"
        check "item[cms_role_ids][]"
        click_button "保存"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq new_path
      expect(page).not_to have_css("form#item-form")
    end

    it "#show" do
      login_cms_user
      visit show_path
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq sns_login_path
    end

    it "#edit" do
      login_cms_user
      visit edit_path
      within "form#item-form" do
        fill_in "item[name]", with: "modify"
        click_button "保存"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq sns_login_path
      expect(page).not_to have_css("form#item-form")
    end

    it "#delete" do
      login_cms_user
      visit delete_path
      within "form" do
        click_button "削除"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).to eq index_path
    end
  end

  context "with ldap user" do
    it "#new" do
      login_cms_user
      visit new_path
      within "form#item-form" do
        name = unique_id
        fill_in "item[name]", with: name
        fill_in "item[uid]", with: name
        fill_in "item[ldap_dn]", with: "dc=#{name},dc=city,dc=example,dc=jp"
        check "item[group_ids][]"
        check "item[cms_role_ids][]"
        click_button "保存"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq new_path
      expect(page).not_to have_css("form#item-form")
    end

    it "#show" do
      login_cms_user
      visit show_path
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq sns_login_path
    end

    it "#edit" do
      login_cms_user
      visit edit_path
      within "form#item-form" do
        fill_in "item[name]", with: "modify"
        click_button "保存"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).not_to eq sns_login_path
      expect(page).not_to have_css("form#item-form")
    end

    it "#delete" do
      login_cms_user
      visit delete_path
      within "form" do
        click_button "削除"
      end
      expect(status_code).to eq 200
      expect(current_path).to eq index_path
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The Straight-Tusked Elephant (Wikimedia Commons).
Understanding the Straight-Tusked Elephant requires a quick primer in modern elephant classification. Living elephants are represented by two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas; the former comprises two species (Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis) of African elephants, while the latter contains but a single species: Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant. Long story short, most paleontologists consider the Straight-Tusked Elephant to be an extinct species of Elephas, Elephas antiquus, though some assign it to its own genus, Palaeoloxodon antiquus. As if that's not confusing enough, this prehistoric relative of the Asian elephant was native to western Europe!


text:
Marine kidnapped over facebook posts speaks out (interview)
In his first public comments since being kidnapped by authorities over political posts on Facebook, former Marine Brandon Raub tells John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute that he is scared for his country.
[youtube height="400″ width="550″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5dA1N3S9Es[/youtube]
Raub's case went viral on the Internet earlier this month when on August 16, the former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was kidnapped from his home by police, FBI and Secret Service agents and forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric ward by authorities in Virginia in response to Facebook posts which the FBI deemed "terrorist" in nature.
Raub was released after a week when a judge concluded that the original petition ordering him to be detained contained no information whatsoever on the reasons behind Raub's incarceration.
Raub explained that one of his main concerns in being publicly vocal about his concerns with the activity of the U.S. government was executive orders that allow the state to seize dictatorial power in a time of crisis, including the seizure of private property, communications and the institution of forced labor camps.
Raub explains how he set up a Facebook group with his brother and sister which was based on the Illuminati card game, which contextualizes some of the comments that the FBI dubiously claimed were "terrorist" in nature, including a reference to Raub 'sharpening his axe'.
Raub said the quote was a metaphor, adding, "The truth is very powerful and it has the ability to cut, truth is not always nice," pointing out that Jesus would have probably also been investigated as a terrorist for encouraging his followers to sell their cloak and buy a sword.
Relaying the sequence of events that led to him being kidnapped by authorities, Raub said that two FBI agents initially came to the door to talk to him while police who looked like they were attempting to conceal their presence lined the road.
"At the beginning it was very vague, it was almost as if they wanted me to volunteer information," said Raub, adding that he had to draw out of them the reason for the visit, which eventually turned out to be the content of his Facebook posts.
Raub then stepped outside to speak to a Secret Service agent who quizzed him about his political beliefs.
"I mentioned the Bilderberg Group and their violation of politicians in this country meeting with them and specifically the Logan Act," said Raub, adding that the Secret Service agents were taking notes to research the topics further at a later time.
After around 15 minutes of conversation, the police surrounded Raub and grabbed him, failing to read him his MIranda rights. When Raub appealed to the police to allow him to put some clothes on, even at gunpoint, the cops refused.
"I realized that they weren't going to read me my rights and they weren't arresting me, so I basically just decided to make it more difficult for them to take me," said Raub, explaining why the video shows him dropping to the floor.
After his detention, Raub was given a hearing date and moved to a psychiatric ward three hours away from his family and legal team. Shortly before his eventual release, a psychiatrist threatened to forcibly medicate Raub in order to "brainwash" him.
Asked what he thought of the whole experience, Raub responded, "It made me scared for my country, the idea that a man can be snatched out of his property without being read his rights should be extremely alarming to all Americans."
John Whitehead emphasizes how 20 people in the same county as Raub have been similarly "disappeared" so far in the month of August alone.
Raub responded by referring to George Orwell's 1984 and how former President Bill Clinton recently called for a ministry of truth similar to that depicted in Orwell's dystopian classic to monitor content on the Internet.
It remains to be see whether the authorities will again target Brandon Raub given the outpouring of support he received from the Internet community. However, as we highlighted last week, Americans across the country and particularly veterans are being targeted for psychiatric kidnappings and evaluations by the state as part of a system that increasingly resembles the infamous psikhushka psychiatric prisons in the former Soviet Union, where dissidents were sent to be isolated, brainwashed, and have their political ideas discredited amongst the general public.
Source: http://www.infowars.com/marine-kidnapped-over-facebook-posts-i-am-scared-for-my-country/
US military to search through 350 billion social media messages
Facebook admits it works with government, as efforts to blame Russia for everything intensify
List of globalists attending Bilderberg 2017 and their agenda
Facebook publishes full-page ads in UK newspapers warning of 'fake news' ahead of general election
'New World Order under enormous strain' – war monger John McCain


text:
Study: Oral Hygiene Can Save Patients' Lives
KPBS | By Pauline Bartolone, Capital Public Radio
Published March 3, 2014 at 1:16 PM PST
Nurses at private hospitals, Veterans Affairs and a university teamed up to look at the rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia in patients who aren't on ventilators.
Sacramento State University's Dian Baker says those cases are not widely reported.
"Hospitals weren't going to be paid if patients on ventilators got pneumonia," she says. "Meanwhile, the other patients that weren't on the ventilators were also getting pneumonia, but not receiving the same amount of attention."
Baker says the team designed a year-long program of basic oral care for patients at one hospital system. At the end of the year, pneumonia rates went down by 37 percent.
"Oral health care was the most modifiable. We felt it would be the easiest to implement, and its basic nursing care, and should be happening," says Baker. "So we just thought, let's start with that! And we had these wonderful results."
The nurse team estimated that eight deaths were prevented, almost two million dollars were saved, and 500 hospital days were averted.


text:
Firefighter issued same badge number as father who died in line of duty
Justin Leon paid homage to his dad, Cleveland Police Department Officer Wayne Leon, who was shot and killed in 2000
By News Staff
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new firefighter paid homage to his father, who died in the line of duty, by using his badge number.
FOX News reported Justin Leon recently took the oath of office after graduating from the Fire Training Academy Class.
Fire Training Academy Class cadet Justin Leon paid homage to his father, who died in the line of duty, by using his badge number. (Photo/Cleveland Fire Department)
Leon's father, Cleveland Police Department Officer Wayne Leon, was shot and killed in 2000 when Leon was 5 years old.
"I don't remember a whole lot from my dad, I was 5 when he passed," Leon told FOX8. "I've always been told that he was very generous and very helpful and he was always just wanting to do the right thing and that he was always the guy to call when someone needed help."
Leon paid homage to his father 19 years later and was issued the same badge number he wore, 1338. His mother pinned the new badge in a tear-jerking ceremony, which was also attended by Lt. Mike Norman, who was a colleague of Leon's father and was one of the first to respond when he was shot.
"To be 19 years later and to have his son come join us on the Cleveland Fire Department, his family being so dedicated to the citizens and visitors of Cleveland that they continued that service, I think it's really important, it says a lot about Justin and his family," Norman said.
Leon said he's always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a first responder.
"I've always wanted to do something to help people and I've wanted to do something with safety forces," he said.
Leon said he understands the significance of wearing his father's badge number.
"It's almost just like the legacy kind of lives on in a way," he said.
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Gail Albert Halaban @ Edwynn Houk Gallery, NYC - Out My Window
Gail Albert Halaban: Out My Window
Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York
Through 9 August 2019
Edwynn Houk Gallery presents a solo exhibition of recent work by GAIL ALBERT HALABAN, from her ongoing series Out My Window. The show is composed of eleven photographs, selected primarily from her 2018 George Eastman Museum exhibition, many of which have never before been presented by the gallery. It features an array of international destinations from Paris to Istanbul, as well as several cities illustrated in Gail Albert Halaban's newly published book, Italian Views, including Venice, Rome, and Naples.
Gail Albert Halaban: Italian Views
Photographs and vignettes by Gail Albert Halaban
Essay by Francine Prose
Aperture, 2019
11 ½ x 14 in. (28.6 x 35.6 cm)
128 pages, 55 four-color images
Clothbound
Out My Window originated in 2007 after Gail Albert Halaban moved to Manhattan. Fascinated by the interpersonal dynamics of urban dwelling and the unspoken social contract between neighbors who observe each other's domestic lives through their apartment windows yet appear to be strangers in public, she anticipated experiencing the quintessential paradox of life in a densely populated metropolis- that of feeling lonely while constantly surrounded by people.
In fact, she discovered that windows could function not only as barriers, but also as bridges connecting neighbors. She began collaborating with residents across New York City, directing them within the frames of their windows as if they were actors on a stage. Although these images evoke a sense of voyeurism and the transgression of peering into the private lives of others, it was critical to the artist that all of her subjects were willing to take part. Rather than shooting from street level, she photographed the view from the window of one participant into that of another, thus recreating the intimate but removed experience of city living in her photographs, as well as introducing two neighbors in the process.
This initial endeavor sparked what has become a twelve-year project spanning cities across the globe. Gail Albert Halaban has allowed the series to evolve organically through the relationships she develops with her subjects, and the resulting bodies of work are uniquely shaped by the particular characteristics and customs of each city and its inhabitants. Each one is a story in its own right, illustrating the nuanced relationship between that city's inhabitants and its architecture, as well as a chapter in the artist's continuous exploration of the universal question of what it means to be part of a community.
Over the course of creating Out My Window, Gail Albert Halaban has become increasingly conscious of the importance of community building in her practice; it has become a specific intention, rather than a byproduct of her art making. The past decade has seen rapid globalization and digitalization, amplifying questions of social isolation in modern life. Gail Albert Halaban's latest book, Italian Views, is her first to feature text from her subjects, describing their perceptions of the neighbors they have been quietly studying from afar, often for years, and the elaborate narratives they're woven in their minds from clues gathered from their windows. By engaging in Gail Albert Halaban's collaborative process in which neighbors meet and work together, these imagined relationships grow into real human connectivity.
GAIL ALBERT HALABAN holds an MFA in Photography from Yale University. Three monographs of her work have been published to date: Out My Window (PowerHouse, 2012), Paris Views (Aperture, 2014) and Italian Views (Aperture, 2019). Gail Albert Halaban's photographs are in the collections of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO; Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA; and Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS. The artist currently lives and works in New York City.
EDWYNN HOUK GALLERY
745 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10151
www.houkgallery.com
Tags 2019, american, art, art show, artist, book, contemporary art, Edwynn Houk Gallery, exhibit, exhibition, Gail Albert Halaban, New York, NY, NYC, photographer, photography
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Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony on SB 549, a bill that would require the labeling of food and food products derived from genetically engineered (GE) organisms. My name is Michael Hansen and I am a biologist at Consumers Union (CU), the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, whose headquarters is located in Yonkers. I have worked on the issue of genetically engineered foods for more than 25 years and have been involved in the decisions/debate about these foods at the state, national and international levels. We strongly support SB 549.
The primary reason GE food should be labeled is that genetically engineered food is fundamentally different. Industry and their allies argue that GE is just an extension of traditional breeding, which humans have been doing for thousands of years. However, GE represents an advance of monumental proportions beyond traditional breeding—the ability to move genetic material from any organism to any other organism as well as the ability to create genetic material that has never existed before. Traditional breeding involves transfers of genetic material between closely related organisms. In contrast, GE has been used to move artic flounder genes into tomatoes, human genes into rice, and spider silk genes into goats. Indeed, many of the GE plants that have been commercialized have genetic material for viruses and bacteria inserted into them, including genes for antibiotic resistance; such traits could not be transferred via traditional breeding. GE techniques, which were first discovered only a few decades ago, have been used in agriculture primarily to create commodity crops, including soy, field corn, canola, sugar beets and cotton, that can withstand herbicides, produce their own insecticides, or do both.
Many processes used in food production are required by law to be labeled, including food that is frozen, made from concentrate, irradiated, or pasteurized. In addition, labeling is also required for ingredients, additives, and for nutritional content (e.g. calories, fat and protein content). All such labeling is of interest to consumers.
In our view, FDA should have required labeling of GE foods under the "material fact" provisions of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which state that information of importance to consumer should be on the label. However, FDA has not acted. Therefore, Rhode Island should act, and under the Constitution is free to do so.
An important reason to require labeling is that genetic engineering could result in new food allergy responses. A significant number people have life-threatening allergies to particular foods, such as peanuts and shellfish. They manage their condition by systematically avoiding the foods that trigger a reaction. Through genetic engineering, however, genes that could provoke an allergenic response could be unintentionally introduced into another food, without that fact being apparent. Only through labeling could an allergic consumer distinguish an engineered food which might be causing an allergic reaction, from a non-engineered food, and avoid the reaction-causing food.
In addition to adding an allergenic substance via GE, the process of GE could also increase the existing allergenicity of a food. The process of GE involves randomly inserting new genetic material into the genome of the new organism. One study found that the process of GE turned on a known corn allergen gene in a GE corn that was not turned on in the non-engineered corn. In one study submitted to FDA, salmon genetically engineered to grow to market size faster had a statistically significant higher allergenic potency compared to the non-engineered salmon, i.e. blood from people allergic to salmon reacted more strongly to the engineered salmon compared to the non-engineered counterpart. Thus, to protect people with food allergies, all GE food should be labeled, so that allergy sufferers can be aware of any new reaction they might have to such a food and have the ability to avoid it.
Safety is not the primary reason for labeling genetically engineered food, but given current gaps in safety assessment, safety is not adequately assured and labeling could help identify any safety problems that might possibly arise. There is global agreement that GE differs from conventional breeding, and that safety assessments should be completed for all GE foods prior to marketing. Codex Alimentarius, the food safety standards organization jointly run by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization (both UN bodies), has developed a set of documents on how GE safety should be assessed7 including whether there are increased levels of toxins or allergens in the foods, or if there are any unexpected effects. Premarket safety assessments are now mandatory in most developed countries, including all of Europe, Australia, Japan and China. However, they are not required in the United States.
The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) original policy on GE (or GM, for genetically modified) plants, developed in 1992, requires no safety assessments; although companies may go through a "voluntary safety consultation." To date, there have been some 99 "voluntary safety consultations." However, after a consultation, the FDA makes no conclusions about the safety of the GE food, but says it is up to the companies to determine safety of any GE food.
The inadequacy of FDA's policy can be seen in the letter FDA sends to the company after completion of a "safety consultation." For example, the letter sent to Monsanto on September 25, 1996 about one of their first Bt-corn varieties, MON810, states, "Based on the safety and nutritional assessment you have conducted, it is our understanding that Monsanto has concluded that corn grain and forage derived from the new variety are not materially different in composition, safety, or other relevant parameters from corn grain and forage currently on the market, and that they do not raise issues that would require premarket review or approval by FDA" (bold added).
The letters for all 99 "safety consultations" contain basically the same language. This clearly shows that the FDA has not made a conclusion about the safety for GE plants or the safety of the technology as a whole. In addition, FDA also does no monitoring of imported food for GE status, and does not require any studies of long term effects. Indeed, FDA has no idea if GE foods are being imported from foreign countries. Furthermore, the US has publically stated that they don't test a single import for GE status because they think there is no safety issue.
In January, a peer-reviewed article, "No scientific consensus on GMO safety," was published in Environmental Sciences Europe. Some 300 scientists have signed on saying they agree with this article.
But even if all reasonable safety testing were required, certain individuals could still have unusual allergic responses that would not be detected beforehand. Finally, there can be unexpected effects–just as there are sometimes to pharmaceutical products, despite extensive premarket testing. For these reasons, it is important to label genetically engineered food, so negative effects can be noticed and identified, and so consumers who simply want to avoid these news foods can do so if they wish.
Some consumers make food choices based on the environmental impact of food production systems, and mandatory labeling of GE foods would give consumers more complete and accurate information to use in making such choices. Although the biotech industry claims significant environmental benefits to GE crops, many of these claims appear exaggerated or erroneous.
One key environmental issue is the use of glyphosate, a weed killer. Almost all GE food crops have been engineered to withstand the weed killer glyphosate. As a result, the use of herbicides has increased vastly. In the period between 1996 and 2011, during which GE crops were introduced into U.S. agriculture, herbicide use increased by 527 million pounds compared to their non-GE counterparts. Indeed, in 1995 some 20 million pounds of glyphosate were used in US agriculture; by 2012 that figure had increased to an estimated 280 million pounds.
Just last month, 17 experts from 11 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and unanimously agreed to re-classify glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (e.g. Group 2A). This classification was based on limited evidence from case control epidemiology studies (which found a link with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in studies from US, Canada, and Sweden) and sufficient evidence from animal studies (2 studies in mice, 2 studies in rats). In addition, there was strong evidence for mechanism of action (or how glyphosate may lead to cancer), e.g. genotoxicity and oxidative stress.
The vast increase in herbicide use associated with GE crops, virtually all due to glyphosate (trade name RoundUp), has also caused a drastic increase in glyphosate-tolerant weeds. A survey of farmers in 2012 found that almost half of U.S. farmers had glyphosate resistant weeds on their farms, up from 34% in 2011. The biotech industry's answer to this problem has so far primarily been to develop crops (corn and soy) that are resistant to other herbicides such as 2,4-D and dicamba, herbicides that are considered to be more toxic than glyphosate. Widespread herbicide use on GE crops throughout the Corn Belt also appears primarily responsible for a large decline in monarch butterfly populations, due to wiping out most of the milkweed on which the Monarch butterfly depends for food.
Biotech companies often claim that genetic engineering increases yield, and is needed to feed the world's hungry. However this doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, the yield increases in GE crops in the U.S. range from very small to nonexistent, with most of the increases in crop yield being due to conventional breeding. GE crops have been adopted by U.S. farmers primarily to simplify weed control rather than increase yield.
Meanwhile, in terms of fighting hunger, the world already produces more than enough food to feed all its inhabitants. Hunger, whether in the U.S. and or other parts of the world, is no longer caused by an insufficient quantity of food being grown. Rather it is caused by disparities in wealth (which means some people have more than enough food, while others haunt soup kitchens), wars, and waste and by problems getting crops to market. Engineering crops does nothing to address the root causes of hunger in the world today.
Opponents of labeling cite industry-funded studies to suggest that mandatory GE food labeling would cause food prices to soar, boosting a typical family of four's spending by $400 to $800 or more, on average, per year. Such studies, such as the one released last year by a Cornell University professor, which came up with a figure of $500 per family per year, make a number of unreasonable assumptions to come up with the supposedly large cost of labeling GE foods. I should point out that the Washington Post Fact Checker feature just gave this Cornell study a rating of three Pinocchios (significant factual error and/or obvious contradiction) out of a possible four. A recent analysis of existing studies commissioned by Consumers Union and conducted by the independent economic research firm ECONorthwest found that the median cost that might be passed on to consumers was just $2.30 per person annually, less than a penny a day—or $9.20 for a family of four.
Consumers can currently avoid genetically engineered foods by buying food labeled as USDA Organic, which does not allow use of GMOs, or foods labeled Non-GMO Project Verified, which are certified to have no more than 0.9% engineered content. However these labels are not sufficient to meet consumer needs. Organic foods are only about 5 percent of the total market, and because they are grown according to rules that also prohibit pesticides and antibiotics and have other requirements, are often more expensive. The Non-GMO Project label is growing rapidly, but is also a small percent of the market and has very limited availability. Further, voluntary labeling but puts burden of labeling in wrong place. Consumers want to know about all the food they are buying, not just a small percentage.
A 2014 nationally representative poll by Consumers Union found that 92% of consumers would like genetically engineered food to be labeled. A New York Times poll last year got an almost identical result, 93% in favor. This is starting to be translated into law in the United States. In 2014 Vermont because the first state to require mandatory labeling. Maine and Connecticut passed laws the previous year that will go into effect when a total of five northeast states have similar requirements. Alaska has a law on the books to require labeling of GE fish. Finally, 64 countries, which together include more than half the world's population, (including all European Union, China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, Russia, Brazil and South Africa), require labeling of GE foods.
Bottom line, CU strongly supports mandatory labeling of GE foods and so supports SB 549.


text:
Q: SQLAlchemy: session.close() or session.commit() I am newbie to SQLAlchemy. And now I need to query some data, as follows
def get_xx():
    sess = Session()
    return sess.query(xx).filter(
        xx.id == 3, xx.status == 1
    ).first()

The isolation level is repeatable read and autocommit is off; So I always get the same result even the value has been updated.
And now, the question occur, sess.close() and sess.commit(), which method should I use?
The final solution I attempt to use as follows, however I am not sure if it is good enough (close after commit)?
@contextmanager
def auto_session():
    sess = Session()
    try:
        yield sess
        sess.commit()
    except:  # swallow any exception
        sess.rollback()
    finally:
        sess.close()

And the source code changed
def get_xx():
    with auto_session() as sess:
        return sess.query(xx).filter(
            xx.id == 3, xx.status == 1
        ).first()

A: Your session commit and close is absolutely right what you have done. And in your source code you can try this..
from operator import and_
def get_xx():
    with auto_session() as sess:
        return sess.query(xx).filter(and_(
            xx.id == 3, xx.status == 1
        )).first()

A: after commit you can refresh the session and then close the session.
@contextmanager
def auto_session():
    sess = Session()
    try:
        yield sess
        sess.commit()
        sess.refresh()
    except:  # swallow any exception
        sess.rollback()
    finally:
        sess.close()

from operator import and_
def get_xx():
    with auto_session() as sess:
        return sess.query(xx).filter(and_(
            xx.id == 3, xx.status == 1
        )).first()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange