text:
"However, asthma is generally not compatible with service in the armed forces and potential recruits with a history of this condition would not be accepted for service".--[ Official Report , 8 December 1994; Vol. 251, c. 305 307 .]
He appears to be saying that no one who carries the gene could possibly have been in the Gulf. That is rubbish, particularly when we take into account all the civilians who were present. I questioned one of my constituents about whether there was any asthma or a tendency to hay fever in the family and the answer was yes. In a recent debate in the other place on 12 December, in answer to a question from the Countess of Mar, the relevant Minister, the noble Lord Henley, stated that full research on all the protective products had taken place at the Ministry of Defence's own establishment at Porton Down. That is the only place that does such research and much of its work, I think quite rightly, is classified.
Tests were conducted on healthy volunteers for two weeks at a time. They were then paid £200 and returned to their regiments. One must observe that that was hardly a sound basis for treating thousands of men and women who were taking tablets for months on end under battle orders. Given the amount of junk pumped into the soldiers, we should not be surprised if some developed illnesses, the symptoms of which have persisted long after their return from the Gulf. It would have made medical history if no side-effects had resulted.
In the United States of America, several investigations have been under way at Senate level. One conducted by Senator John D. Rockefeller of the Congress Committee on Veterans' Affairs recently branded the US Government's usage of the products in this way as "reckless".
I can appreciate the difficulties involved. The conditions that have been dubbed "Gulf war syndrome" seem to fall into various categories that tend, confusingly, to produce similar symptoms. Some illnesses appear to be associated with an infective agent. Dr. Vivien Lane, formerly senior medical officer at RAF Stafford, nursed a group of sick soldiers who had been invalided out of the Gulf. She fell seriously ill herself and required intensive care. She has since suffered from chronic sickness, weakness and fatigue, chest pains, skin sores and severe debilitation. Three years later, she is still poorly. A visit to America revealed the presence of large numbers of unknown bacteria in her urine. Intensive antibiotic treatment has helped. She never, at any time, visited the Gulf.
The Library informs me that some US veterans have been diagnosed as suffering from leishmania tropica. So far, 12 have shown evidence of a new strain-- viscerotropic leishmaniasis-- which does not show up in ordinary blood tests. It is at least possible that the bacteria mutated in the exotic circumstances that I have described. There are also psychiatric conditions: depression and intense anxiety. Some men seemed to get high when taking the NAPS tablets, while others developed explosive rages or bouts of uncharacteristic aggression. Some soldiers have been referred to psychiatrists and others were told that they were suffering from post- traumatic stress syndrome.
No one appears to have noted that these symptoms are the recognised results of organo-phosphoric poisoning. The fact that exposure to certain chemicals can cause
severe and persistent personality changes is known throughout the medical world, but not at the Ministry of Defence.
Still others seemed to have some form of neurological damage or a change to their immune systems. They reacted badly to something that they were given or to a combination of the vaccines, NAPS and other agents to which they were exposed. For some, the effect was immediate and catastrophic.
Corporal Robert Lake, formerly of the 11th Armoured Workshops, collapsed after an anthrax injection and was unable to breathe. He is now severely disabled. He is the first to receive a war pension because, in the view of the War Pensions Agency--although not yet of the Ministry of Defence--his condition was caused by the injections that he received.
Kevin Wilson of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers had a kidney infection, breathing problems and a persistent skin condition. Paul Ash, of the same regiment, was vomiting blood and still gets pains in his legs and sweats profusely on exertion. Eddie Blench, formerly of the 1st Armoured Division, also has aching joints, bruises easily, can walk only slowly and at one point lost his sight, which has only slowly returned. I was told that 20 of our local regimental band went out to the Gulf. In wartime, they are the field hospital orderlies. Four of the 20 have come back ill.
Yet, no one can tell those people what they are suffering from and no effective care pattern has been offered. Instead, medical records have been altered and, in several cases, requests for records have been ignored or denied.
To those men and women, the words of Colonel Box of the Defence Medical Services directorate are incomprehensible. I quote from correspondence with him, in which he said:
"There is absolutely no scientific or clinical evidence that a medical condition exists which is peculiar to the Gulf conflict." Colonel Box's statement, which I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will not repeat, is tantamount to saying that those veterans are mistaken. One soldier had "hypochondriac" written on his records. That is not merely deeply cruel and thus bad military practice--the wrong way to deal with sick soldiers--but bad medicine, too. The result of that extraordinary denial is all too apparent. The only people prepared to come forward are those who have left the armed forces. Those who wish to continue their careers face an impossible dilemma. If they seek help, they are officially branded as malingerers.
What should we do? Anecdotal evidence of the type that I have presented is clearly unsatisfactory. We need a proper inquiry, which could be conducted jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health. The objective would be to find out what the condition or conditions might be, as a first step towards treating the victims effectively. An investigation conducted by medical personnel of the highest standing would gain the confidence of all concerned. All the possibilities--infections, neurological conditions, psychological damage and all the multiple causes-- must be checked out thoroughly.
With the national health service, the United Kingdom is in a unique position to perform medical research of that calibre, but the research must be thorough. Only if we have access to the whole population of sick people and they are all dealt with honestly and with a genuinely open mind, will we get to the bottom of the matter. The Ministry of Defence can help by issuing regimental part I orders, insisting that anyone who has shown the symptoms must come forward. I am assured that, if they are ordered to do so, they will, and they will be secure in the knowledge that, by obeying orders, their future careers will be protected.
Sooner or later, the matter will be out in the open. More than 400 veterans are suing the Ministry of Defence and some have been granted legal aid. The Ministry is in the same position as the Department of Health found itself in over vaccine-damaged children and haemophiliacs infected by HIV. In both cases, Health Ministers recognised the inevitable. Treatment was guaranteed, compensation was paid and court cases, which are so distressing for all concerned and are of value only to the lawyers, were avoided.
My constituents tell me that all they want is diagnosis, care and treatment for the sick. I hope that Ministers can properly accede to that reasonable request. We could go a little further. In conjunction with the Americans, French, Canadians and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies, we could far better establish what precautionary treatment to give soldiers in the field of war and what to avoid. We will still need to protect our troops, but if we could develop better measures out of the current misery, all would benefit--the armed forces, the soldiers and their commanders and the causes for which they so willingly and bravely serve.
The Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr. Nicholas Soames): I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South (Mrs. Currie) for putting her case so powerfully and sensibly. I hope to deal with most of the points that she raised. She mentioned a number of very important matters, some of which she was good enough to inform me about in advance, for which I am grateful. I will do my best respond to those questions, but inevitably I shall take the opportunity to write to my hon. Friend on some of the details after the debate because of the time factor.
This is the first time that the matter has been debated on the Floor of the House, but it has been the subject of a considerable amount of interest in the past few years. I acknowledge the interest of my hon. Friend, whose constituent rightly came to see her to express concern.
First, I must say--my hon. Friend, who is a former and distinguished Minister at the Department of Health will know this--that the health of the members of our armed forces is clearly of paramount importance and a first and cardinal responsibility of the Government. I therefore want to begin by explaining the Department's involvement with the issue of what is alleged to be a medical syndrome which has become known as "desert storm syndrome" or "Gulf fever".
We first became aware of the claims that United States Gulf veterans were suffering from illnesses which they believed were due to their service in the Gulf conflict at the end of 1992. The symptoms claimed were numerous
and diverse, and covered many that are commonly experienced among the general population. They included diarrhoea, hair loss, bleeding gums, breathing difficulties, joint pains and fatigue, but it was not until some months later that media reports surfaced in this country alleging that similar unexplained illnesses were being suffered by our troops.
The causes alleged to be responsible for the illnesses were diverse. They ranged from the use of depleted uranium shells, sandfly bites and smoke from Kuwaiti oil fires--as my hon. Friend rightly mentioned--to the medical protective measures rightly administered to the troops against the clearly and definitively assessed threat of chemical and biological warfare agents in the theatre. All those theories were examined fully by my Department's scientific and medical specialists, and no evidence was found of any harmful exposure of troops to those agents. Nor were the symptoms reported of the type which would be expected to result from such exposure. From the outset, our medical specialists determined that the only way to establish whether there was a genuine health problem among the Operation Granby veterans that was peculiar to their service in the Gulf was by a systematic examination of all those complaining of the symptoms. Shortly after the initial reports, the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley), made vigorous public requests in the media for all those suffering from ill health which they believed to be due to their Gulf service to come forward at once for a medical examination. Those who had left the service were, for reasons of medical ethics, advised to seek referral through their GP. Service medical officers were also clearly directed to refer for assessment any serving patient who had been in the Gulf and was suffering from unexplained and inexplicable symptoms.
I should like to repeat that invitation once more. It is extremely important that concerned individuals come forward for examination. Despite the appeals, by the end of 1993 fewer than 20 veterans had come forward or had been referred by medical officers. By mid-1994--a year after the initial request--the figure had risen to about 50. All those examined were, however, found to be suffering from recognised medical conditions, none of which was peculiar to service in the Gulf.
Despite the initial findings of our investigations, reports of veterans suffering from unexplained illnesses have continued to surface, and those have been reinforced by allegations from the families of Gulf veterans who were also suffering from ill health. Thorough investigations of the continuing allegations have revealed them to be a mixture of unsubstantiated rumour, incorrect information or a repetition of earlier allegations which have been fully investigated and found to be unsupported by the facts.
My Department's approach has continued to be to subject all the allegations to rigorous medical and scientific examination. Only in that way can an objective database be built up, from which increasingly firm conclusions about the existence or otherwise of a Gulf illness can be drawn.
To date, our investigations of all those issues have failed to establish scientific or medical evidence of the existence of an illness among Gulf veterans, or their families, peculiar to their Gulf service.
Since the middle of 1994, increasing numbers of veterans have come forward for examination under those arrangements. Rather than a medical phenomenon, it appears to be the result of a specific request that we made to solicitors representing some 440 veterans who, as my hon. Friend said, are potential claimants against my Department in seeking compensation for ill health which they claim is due to their Gulf service.
I find it rather difficult to accept my hon. Friend's suggestion that we are not getting a true picture of the problem as those who are serving are reluctant to come forward because of their anxieties that their employment and promotion prospects will be adversely affected. Having said that, my hon. Friend related her views about why she believed that is so, and I therefore give her my absolute personal assurance that those who come forward with genuine concerns about their health will be treated fairly and sympathetically and that their future prospects will in no way be jeopardised. Medical officers in the services are much closer to their patients than a civilian GP, and if service personnel were suffering the debilitating symptoms claimed but not seeking help, their service doctors would soon become aware of it, as would, just as important, their immediate commanders who deal with them, see them and have them in the palm of their hands every day.
My hon. Friend suggests that one way of ensuring that more individuals come forward is to order them to do so. I understand her argument but do not believe that it is advisable or necessary to take such an extreme step. To do so would create unnecessary concern among service personnel and their families. We have said publicly, often and regularly that people will be treated sympathetically and in full medical confidence and I have repeated that assurance again today. I shall now give more details of the medical assessment programme which we have been operating since the middle of 1993. To date and to ensure consistency, all those coming forward for assessment have been examined initially by the service consultant physician at the Princess Alexandra's RAF hospital, Wroughton, although other service consultants will be employed on initial examinations at times when the patient load requires it.
Under the assessment programme, each patient is examined as an individual and the examination tailored accordingly. Approximately 208 people have now come forward to enter the assessment programme and 67 have so far been assessed. The majority of those now being seen are from the group of potential claimants to which I referred. I recognise that the rate of examination has not been as rapid as, ideally, it should have been, and have taken action to double the rate of assessments to 20 a week. The progress of the programme has, however, been hindered by a high proportion- -about half--failing to turn up for their appointments. That is not only foolish but risks slowing down the work rate as a consequence, as my hon. Friend will know only too well because of her experience in the Department of Health.
All patients have a thorough medical examination, which includes taking a full medical history, blood tests, urinalysis, X-rays, ultrasound scans, electrocardiograms and vitalograph studies. If considered clinically necessary, further tests or referrals to other civilian or service
consultants are then arranged depending on the patient's individual circumstances, and may include assessment of immune status or toxicological tests.
While the assessed patient sample has not yet been able to catch up fully with the recently increased numbers, there is still no evidence emerging of an unexplained illness peculiar to service in the Gulf. The symptoms complained of are varied, often unverifiable by objective tests and most of them are commonly suffered by the general population. The only observable pattern to the symptoms seems to be a commonality, in about half the patients seen, of vague tiredness, fatigue and depressive-type symptoms, but with no evident link to Gulf service.
A recently published survey of psychiatric morbidity in Great Britain clearly demonstrates how common these symptoms are in the adult population: 27 per cent. complain of fatigue, 25 per cent. complain of sleep problems, 22 per cent. complain of irritability and 20 per cent. of general worry. I have no wish to diminish the importance of such complaints when they arise in Gulf veterans, for all symptoms are very real to the patient and must be taken seriously, but I am bound to point out this day-to-day background of common symptoms so that the issue is seen in its proper perspective. There were 45,000 UK troops in the Gulf and it is a statistical inevitability that a proportion of them would have suffered illness, including the symptoms most commonly linked to the alleged syndrome, even if they had not gone to the Gulf.
Much concern has been expressed about the measures taken to protect service personnel from the assessed threat in the Gulf from Iraqi chemical and biological warfare agents. My hon. Friend dealt responsibly with that matter. To protect against nerve agents, servicemen were required to take one 30 mg tablet every eight hours from their nerve agent pre-treatment set, commonly known as NAPS. The constituent drug of NAPS, pyridostigmine bromide, has been used for many years in civilian medicine in much larger doses over longer periods without long-term adverse health effects. NAPS was fully tested for safety and efficacy and has been granted a licence by the Medicines Control Agency.
Mrs. Currie: My hon. Friend should be aware that it is licensed for use with very sick people suffering from myasthenia gravis. That is not exactly the same as giving it to healthy people.
Mr. Soames: I cannot deal with that point now, but I shall happily take it up with my hon. Friend when she comes to see me.
To counter the possible Iraqi use of biological warfare agents, vaccines to meet the assessed threat were offered to UK personnel on the basis of voluntary informed consent. I regret that I can neither give, nor confirm, details of the vaccination programme because they remain classified for operational reasons, in order to protect the position of our forces who might have to face a similar threat in future. I can assure my hon. Friend, though, that the vaccines had well-recognised civilian applications and were fully tested and cleared for use.
When judging our protective programmes, I ask my hon. Friend to recall, as I know she does, just how serious the threat from Iraq was at the time. I know she will agree that we owed it to our troops to give them the best protection against this threat and that it would have been indefensible for us to have held back from providing available measures that might well have proved life saving. We have also investigated the other causes which have been suggested for the alleged syndrome, but no scientific evidence has been found that our forces were exposed to any harmful levels of toxic substances or that the medical protective measures, either singly or in combination, could lead to long-term health problems. My hon. Friend asked that an independent inquiry be established. I have to say that in the absence of any confirmed scientific evidence that there is a health problem resulting from Gulf service, I do not believe that there are any grounds at present for such an inquiry. Having said that, I have some sympathy with the arguments advanced by my hon. Friend, and I can assure her that I will look again very carefully at the case for such an inquiry--we shall discuss that in more detail when we meet--should any evidence emerge, or indeed if there is anything else that my Department can reasonably do. In closing, I should like to emphasise that despite the lack of scientific evidence we keep a genuinely open mind. We shall continue our investigations based on a medical and scientific evaluation of the growing data bank resulting from our medical assessment programme and we shall monitor other developments closely, especially those in the United States of America.
My hon. Friend has raised an extremely emotive matter, which is clouded in debate in the press with so much nonsense and foolishness that it was a pleasure to hear her present her case with such clarity. It is a serious matter, to which we attach the greatest importance. We do not take it lightly, and we shall do everything possible to lay at rest the minds of those people who are concerned, but they must come forward for examination. They may come forward in full confidence that everything will be treated as they and their families would hope, and that it will certainly not affect any of the prospects of serving soldiers, sailors or airmen.
Road Safety (Urban Areas)
Mrs. Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough): This season intensifies all emotions. We have children around us, going over the top with excitement; loneliness becomes more intense; road accidents at this time of year become more tragic. It is therefore appropriate to discuss road safety in urban areas, because there are bound to be some tragedies throughout the country and along the way.
I have asked for this Adjournment debate because of a sad case in my constituency of a five-year-old boy called Ryan Monk, who was knocked down by a car on 11 July 1994 and was in hospital for many months, very severely injured. He may never quite regain all his capacities.
You can therefore imagine Ryan's parents' feelings, Madam Deputy Speaker, when they were told informally by the police that they were not prepared to prosecute the driver for any offence, especially as the parents had received a copy of the accident record of South Yorkshire police dated 21 July, which showed that the driver was travelling at about 39 mph on a main road that has a 30 mph speed limit. The brake marks extended 24.9 m and the accident report says that, had the vehicle been travelling at 30 mph, the braking distance would have been reduced to approximately 14 m. If the approach speed had been at or less than the permitted speed and the child had entered the carriageway at any spot between the origin of the marks and the limited braking distance, the impact would have been considerably less, and if the child had entered the road slightly outside that area, the impact would not have occurred.
Ryan's parents met me and said that they were very worried. I wrote to South Yorkshire police and was surprised to receive a letter from them saying that they had reviewed the case and were not prepared to prosecute, because
"in reality, we would rarely prosecute any driver for driving at 39 mph in a 30 mph area, even based upon accurate technological evidence."
Having received that reply, I pursued the matter because it seemed to me that if 30 mph was the appropriate speed limit on an especially dangerous main road in my constituency, 30 mph it should be. In that case, even though there was no question of the driver being at fault in the sense that the child ran into the road, the impact could not have occurred, had the speed limit been complied with.
A comparison of braking distances shows so accurately what we all know-- that the speed at which a motorist is travelling is probably the most significant factor in the severity of any accident. Therefore, I welcome the £2.5 million that the Government have recently put into the effective campaign urging people to kill their speed, not a child. If those are the facts and we are prepared to put that sort of money behind such a campaign, it should be part of an integrated programme to reduce accidents on busy roads in urban areas so that the £2.5 million is not wasted.
In pursuing the matter of the 39 mph figure with the police authority, I was told that the Association of Chief Police Officers suggests a 10 per cent. variable in its guidelines. However, 10 per cent. of 30 mph is 33 mph, not 39 mph. I understand that it is common to suggest another 3 per cent. variable in case the speedometer is wrong, and yet another 3 per cent. variable in case the
police monitoring is wrong. The Government have an opportunity here to act with much greater firmness by clarifying the speed tolerance and making it clear, rather than giving so much discretion to police officers, that if it is 10 per cent., that is the tolerance that should be accepted.
When I asked what was happening to prosecutions for speeding offences in police force areas around the country, I was surprised to find a remarkable drop between 1992 and 1993, mirrored almost police force by police force-- 161,352 in 1992 dropping right down to 110,571 in 1993. In Yorkshire generally, the number of prosecutions dropped from 12,447 to 7,117--a remarkable drop.
I accept that the bulk of the drop in the number of prosecutions is accounted for by the increased use of fixed penalties and cameras and that that may be a more cost-effective way of dealing with people who break speed limits than prosecuting them. But using spot fines and camera checks makes it easier to be clearer about speed limits and therefore to clarify that a speed limit of 30 mph means just that. In addition, having three sets of figures--for prosecutions, for fixed on-the-spot penalties and for motorists caught as a result of a speed camera--makes it more difficult, and unnecessarily so, to monitor the efficiency with which police deal with speeding in their areas. Simply collecting the number of prosecutions does not take account of the number of people whom the police know have committed a speeding offence but have not prosecuted.
Following on from that, my next assumption--it is possibly wrong--was that the reduction in the number of prosecutions might have been a convenient way in which to reduce the crime statistics, which, as Labour Members know, have been particularly embarrassing for the Government, as they have shown their appalling record on law and order over the past 10 years. I understand, however--I should like some clarification from the Minister on this--that motoring offences, certainly not offences such as speeding, are not counted in the crime statistics. That is the information that I have from the chief constable of south Yorkshire.
If motoring offences and speeding offences are not recognised as criminal statistics, it seems to me that the Government are saying that it is more of a criminal offence to have stolen a car than to be driving a car at a speed at which somebody could be killed or seriously injured. That is not necessarily an issue for the Department of Transport, but it is of concern to me. If somebody is sitting behind the wheel of a car and is driving outside the rules of the road, that person is a danger. If people are driving at excessive speeds, they are driving almost with criminal intent, because of the potential damage that they can do to the life and limb of other members of the public. I would like some clear answers from the Minister on that point.
Before I leave the question of enforcement, it is important to say that there is room to operate much more effective monitoring, to recognise, clarify and publish the motoring offences clearly, police force by police force, and to look at that matter of public safety in the same way in which we look at other crime statistics.
I have paid a lot of attention to the question of enforcement and prosecution in connection with road safety, because I think that it is possibly the simplest, most
sensible and easiest way to make a major contribution. I can remember the time when seat belts were not compulsory. There was much opposition before that legislation was enacted. As soon as the legislation was enacted, the opposition to it vanished and it made a major impact on the number of people who were badly damaged in road traffic offences.
I shall deal now, within the same theme of an integrated approach, with specific road safety measures. The Government have many ways in which they can make a positive impact on road safety. Burncross road in my constituency is a major road--the A629. It is built up on either side, as are many main roads in the outskirts of urban areas. It runs for perhaps two miles without any pedestrian crossing, without traffic lights at junctions with other roads that cross it and, therefore, without any natural break to ensure that cars travel at only 30 mph. Incidentally, that is another reason why, on roads where they have the necessary discretion, the police should make it clear that in such areas the speed limit must be adhered to. The police wrote to me as recently as April to say that 37 people had been injured on Burncross road since 1986. It clearly has an extremely poor accident record.
I recognise that local authorities, highways authorities and police authorities are working closely together to develop an approach to speed and road safety which emphasises the provision of breaks so that motorists have to reduce speed. Groups of constituents come to my surgery asking for road humps or pelican and pedestrian crossings but, when I put their case to the authorities, I am told that the prime reason why they cannot be provided, or at least not in the foreseeable future, is finance. I am aware that five or six road humps along a suburban street can cost several hundred thousand pounds. In Sheffield, about two pelican crossings are installed each year. Any other requests for such crossings have to join a queue, often for many years.
Will the Minister guarantee that there will be a redistribution of finance from the roads budget to road safety in urban areas? I am especially disappointed that Sheffield's road settlement, which it received last Thursday, does not reflect that notion. Sheffield asked for £750,000 for road safety measures but was offered only £350,000. Its road improvement budget also suffered a cut of £18,000, but without the necessary finance we can do nothing to increase the number of pelican crossings, road humps or school crossing patrols. There have also been cuts in the latter in Sheffield.
I put it on record that I welcome the reduction in spending on new roads. The fourth key criterion in road safety in urban areas is the need to encourage people out of their private cars and on to public transport. However, I cannot welcome what the Government have done to public transport in Sheffield in the past 10 years. The arguments have been well rehearsed in the House and I shall not repeat them. Sheffield had the best integrated public transport system in Europe but it has been destroyed by the deregulation legislation introduced in the mid-1980s.
I seek an integrated policy on urban road safety. The Government should back up their campaign against speed by issuing unambiguous guidelines to police authorities
about what a speed limit really means and ensure that prosecutions can be undertaken simply and efficiently, with fixed penalties for excessive speeding if necessary.
Finally, the Government must back that up by redirecting the finance for road safety measures to local authorities in urban areas, and they must work co-operatively on those issues with the Home Secretary, with local authorities and with the police authorities that must enforce such measures.
The Minister for Transport in London (Mr. Steve Norris): We have heard an interesting speech by the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Mrs. Jackson), articulating the view that we should reduce the road programme. That is a commonly held view, which has led me to define a new law of politics. It was Churchill who said that we are all in favour of reductions in general and of expenditure in particular. My new maxim is that we are all in favour of abolishing the road programme, except in our own constituencies. Anyone who listened to Question Time yesterday would have heard Labour Members urging the Secretary of State to build roads fast in their constituencies, because they recognised how vital those roads were to the economic regeneration of the parts of the world that they represent.
I tell the hon. Lady in passing that when I came to the Department of Transport two and a half years ago, I had the dubious pleasure of examining Sheffield's transport infrastructure. I came to the clear conclusion that nothing had destroyed the public transport infrastructure of the town so successfully as the efforts of Sheffield council. Much of what has happened there has been inflicted entirely by the local authority--in marked contrast with what is happening in other cities all over the country whose public transport infrastructure is excellent, and operates under exactly the same Government regulations as apply in the people's republic. However, let us deal with the serious points that the hon. Lady raised about road safety. First, I am sure that the whole House would want to send young Ryan Monk our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Let us hope that he can recover as completely and speedily as possible and enjoy a happy Christmas.
Much of what the hon. Lady said about the operation of speed limits and the way in which prosecutions are brought was entirely sensible and fair, and I want to underline one or two of the points that she made. First, whoever was responsible for the accident, and whether or not the young child ran into the road without giving the motorist sufficient notice--it is not for us to judge what none of us witnessed--suffice it to say that the more slowly the vehicle that hit the child had been travelling, the greater would be the prospect of the child's surviving, and of his suffering only minor injuries. As the hon. Lady said, that was one of the key messages of the campaign, and I am glad that she appreciates it. It is not a matter of politics but the result of hard work by the excellent officials in the Department who produced the campaign based on the slogan, "Kill your speed, not a child". I shall say something later about how that is developing as part of our integrated approach.
Prosecutions must be a matter for the appropriate chief constable and for the Crown Prosecution Service. However, I make it clear for the record that the speed
limit is the limit. Decisions about prosecutions--taken, essentially, in local circumstances, and having regard to the desirability of achieving convictions--do not disguise the fact that the limit is the limit, and remains the limit. If authorities wish to raise or lower limits, they are at liberty to do so. I am sure that the hon. Lady will appreciate the fact that it is dangerous to speculate on individual decisions.
I shall write to the hon. Lady about the relevance of speeding convictions in relation to overall crime statistics. I fully understand that although speeding offences may not be in the same category as other areas of criminality, I am advised that some categories of motoring offence are included in the national statistics. More to the point, though, I know that such offences can cause terrible tragedy. Indeed, if one were to try to evaluate such matters one would find that their consequences can be out of all proportion to those offences that are regarded as more serious in terms of penalties.
The hon. Lady spoke about enforcement. Let us develop that. She was right to see enforcement as an important issue, but even more important is changing attitudes and habits. The remarkably successful drink driving campaign started by telling people that drinking and driving was unlawful and that if they did it they were likely to lose their licence for a long time. That, indeed, was the case and remains the case. It is worth underlining that.
It is interesting that what changed people's habits was changing the message to a more subtle but much more powerful one. We told people that drinking and driving was anti-social and was not funny and that they might do something that would live with them for the rest of their lives. They certainly might be imprisoned, heavily fined and lose their licence, but that would be the least of the scars that they would bear. They would have on their conscience an avoidable accident which the driver allowed to happen by unwisely drinking. That remains the theme that we have adopted in this year's campaign launched on 6 December. We point out that normal, decent, law-abiding people can make an unwise decision about a Christmas drink.
Let me underline if I may, Madam Deputy Speaker, that by all means people should have a great Christmas party, enjoy it and have as many drinks as they like. But for goodness sake, at the end of it they should not go anywhere near a motor car. That remains consistently good advice.
The same message applies to speed. We have used the concept of inappropriate speed in an attempt to change mental attitudes. As well as going for enforcement, which the hon. Lady is right to highlight, we should induce in motorists the realisation that speeding is not about absolute speeds. Ironically, the speeding problem is a problem of urban areas, not motorways. Proportionately,
far more accidents occur in urban areas than on motorways. Through the campaign that we are running, we are trying to show motorists how they might well be operating within a legal speed limit but still be driving at a speed which is inappropriate to the conditions. The classic example that we used is that of a vehicle travelling past a school at the time of day when children are leaving school. To travel at 25 mph may be to be travelling far too quickly. It is important to underline that. The concept of appropriate speed is difficult to get across. We may not have succeeded entirely in our last campaign. I have received letters from people who are worried that we seem to suggest that someone who is acting lawfully and driving within the speed limit is none the less doing something wrong. We have had to explain that we are talking not about something that is criminal in the legal sense of the word but about something that is clearly inappropriate to the driving conditions.
As for resources, I have personally ensured that, in the past two years, we have maintained £50 million a year for local safety schemes throughout the country. I cannot comment on the amount for which Sheffield bid. Undoubtedly, it consistently bid for more than even it believed that it could spend. That money goes into local safety schemes and is effective. We have 130 20 mph schemes. I opened the 100th scheme in my constituency in Epping Forest in a rural context. It was an interesting variation of the usual urban scene. Such schemes are producing good dividends. We have achieved about 70 per cent. overall casualty reduction. Better news still, there has been an 80 per cent. reduction in child accidents. That is a good pointer to the future.
None of the measures works all the time. They all have to be seen in context. We have produced a new, user-friendly booklet entitled "Safer by Design", which includes a glossary of all the measures available to us. Speed control humps, speed cushions, chicanes, narrowings and so on all offer us an opportunity to take on even more work in speed control.
On the subject of casualty reduction targets, if the hon. Lady had been here on 25 November she could have participated in an excellent debate in which we made it clear that, although we have met our fatal and serious injury targets seven years in advance of the target date, we still have further to go. No one in the House is complacent about road deaths despite the fact that there have been fewer this year than at any time since records began in 1926. No one will be complacent as long as, sadly, approximately 80 people are killed on our roads every week. It is a challenge to us all--an all-party challenge and a challenge to both central Government and local authorities. I hope that Sheffield, as elsewhere in the country, will be willing to participate in that challenge so that we can do something about such dreadful and needless deaths.
Rural Community and Farmers
Mr. William Cash (Stafford): My constituency is in a predominantly rural area and contains some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain. We cherish and love our rural community, but we are constantly aware of the threats to it and to those practical farmers who work the land and are so industrious.
What I have to say is partly national and partly local. I shall first mention the scale of the problem and the pressures. Some 12 million people- -23 per cent. of the population--live in the countryside and there is inevitably much pressure from visitors who make 900 million trips a year to the countryside. We must take into account the desire of the millions who belong to the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, ramblers and others who want to use the countryside. We have constantly to strike a balance between providing facilities necessary to enable people to enjoy the countryside and ensuring that the countryside is not diminished by over-invasion and misuse.
It is also fundamental to our way of life, our culture and heritage to devote a significant amount of time and policy making to the countryside and the rural community. In that respect, village halls are immensely important. There are several in my constituency, including in Ashley, as well as the new Grosvenor centre at Gnosall, which was refurbished, voluntarily, by local people. I hope that some effort can be given, for example through the lottery, to help people who make such a positive effort to help others in their local rural neighbourhood.
People often associate crime primarily with urban areas. But Peter Cadbury- -a relation of mine--recently, and famously, commented on the problems of rural law and order. He is right. The problems have grown significantly worse in our area and elsewhere throughout the country. In many places-- even in some reasonably sized towns--local police stations have been closed so that one can obtain immediate help from the local police only by means of switches through the local police telephone network system, which causes much concern.
The House of Lords recently produced a report on rural housing. Some 39 per cent. of parishes have no shop, 60 per cent. have no primary school and 74 per cent. have no general practitioner practice. A great number of changes have been made, but I am trying to show that people who think that life in the countryside is some sort of idyllic Fragonard-style life are sometimes unaware of the fact that rural inhabitants do not always have brilliant communications. Sometimes, more elderly residents do not have facilities that people living in towns take for granted.
The Government have taken important initiatives in relation to using housing associations as a means of drawing money from the Housing Corporation and so forth. Between 1990 and 1993 those initiatives produced only 11 per cent. of the projected need. We must look again at the very important question of rural housing. The House of Lords report said that the issue was considered by some witnesses to be the most pressing of all in rural areas in the United Kingdom. We need to take careful note of that point.
Hunting, shooting and fishing are part of the culture and identity of the countryside. Many people associate those pursuits with elitism, but that is not the case. Fishing
is one of the most popular hobbies in the United Kingdom--I believe that as many as 3 million people go fishing. Before he moved to London, Izaak Walton lived in Stafford and wrote many of his great works with the area in mind. He left his estate to the burghers of Stafford with the proviso that, if they did not behave themselves, the remainder of his estate would pass to a rural area called Eccleshall.
Shooting is not an elitist activity by any means; it is now enjoyed by a broader section of the community than ever before. Hunting is a controversial issue. I have expressed my strong objections to hare coursing and badger baiting, but I believe that foxhunting is a traditional country pursuit which should be allowed to continue. We must reform the common agricultural policy and, in the process, reform the support that is given to farmers. Today the Council for the Protection of Rural England produced a new policy paper which shows that an extraordinary amount of public money is spent on farm support throughout rural England, but the quality of the English landscape--its flora and fauna--continues to decline at an alarming rate. It says that the farm support system must be changed. The balance of opinion in the agricultural community is shifting. British farmers must be given a fair and reasonable deal, not only by this Government but by the European Community and the general agreement on tariffs and trade. British farmers deserve a fair deal for their industry, high efficiency and the quality of their products. Although one welcomes reports such as this, it is important to make sure that they have the right emphasis and look after the British farmer as well.
The set-aside policy is not welcomed enthusiastically by farmers in general; they do not want it. There is something extraordinarily perverse about the scheme. As a result of European Community directives, land is compulsorily put to one side and farmers see their land, which they would prefer to use, covered in weeds. That practice is counter-productive to the wonder and the beauty of the countryside. Thistles and weeds spread from one field to another, which means that farmers must use more pesticides to eradicate them, and they may tend to use too many concentrated fertilizers on the remaining land to increase the volume of production. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way in which the scheme works.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, Shakespeare and Herriot drew inspiration from our countryside. We should examine to what extent rural life is destroyed by the vast amount of red tape which farmers face. Farmers in my constituency are tearing their hair out over the volume of paperwork about set-aside and so on with which they have to deal. It is exhausting to have to fill out paperwork late into the night when one has been up since 5 am. Most farmers are small business men and they have to contend with an enormous burden of paperwork.
The movement of livestock is very contentious. I have made my position clear. Farmers are being badly treated. As I told my hon. Friend the Minister in Committee the other day, they should not be put over a barrel because of the monopolistic activities of the ferry owners. I am glad to see that there has been some movement, but we still have a long way to go, as my hon. Friend knows.
Perhaps the code of conduct that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food agreed is a move in more or less the right direction, but the real problem is that farmers are up against it and need as much help as possible.
On the use of nitrates, it is highly inappropriate for European directives and rules to be applied throughout Europe when the water tables, aquifers and water supply systems are different in each country. Often, the person convicted or harassed about bad pollution did not cause it. The polluted water often seeps through the sandstone or whatever and percolates to another part of the countryside and the person held responsible is not the person who caused it. We must deal with problems of that type.
We should pay more attention to the new reed bed proposals, which will help to combat pollution and sewage in streams and rivers. I understand that that is a brilliant, simple and cheap way to reduce the sewage and other pollutants that get into our river system. As I am not much of a chemist, I do not know about sonochemistry, but I understand that it is a system designed in the United States, which is a highly effective means of cleaning up water in a cost-efficient manner.
Leisure is another important factor. The English tourist board should be encouraged to provide more help for getting the balance right. People know of my strong opposition to car boot sales. When 20,000 cars descend on Eccleshall in my constituency they cause pollution, destroy the environment and are a noise nuisance. The sales are also unfair to other small businesses. We have debated all those factors before and I hope that in the near future an hon. Member will take up the Bill that I tabled last year.
The criminal element is associated with such sales. We heard how Peter Cadbury found that articles were stolen from his and his friends' garages and outhouses. The relationship between car boot sales and the development of crime is important. It is a serious problem.
Also, we do not want the countryside to be turned into theme parks. I shall merely leave that as a general thought for my hon. Friend. Farmers need a proper economic return from agriculture and the rural economy must have the capacity to provide them with another source of income. Farmers in my constituency, whom I meet regularly, are deeply concerned about several issues, for example, the lack of sheep quota for developers. That means that young farmers who have taken on a larger farm cannot obtain milk quota or an increase in their allocation of sheep quota to match their increased acreage. The policy should be carefully thought through.
The proposed removal of the waste grant means that the smaller farmer, who has endeavoured to acquire sufficient capital to install a slurry management system, will not be able to proceed.
The problems associated with livestock exports are increasing, not decreasing. Despite some of the efforts that Ministers have made, the result will be an oversupply on the British market and a collapse in prices, which will affect small farmers who do not have milk quota. I shall refer to the 1994 Budget proposals. Farmers and rural communities are deeply concerned about the question of taxation placed on fuel in an attempt to


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Difference between revisions of "Gabe Newell's FAQ"
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#'''Will you ever fix the various errors found in the ''Half-Life'' HD Pack?'''
#'''Are ''Blue-Shift'' and ''Opposing Force'' considered canon?
#'''Who actually wrote the story to the ''Half-Life'' games? Is it a mix of results and ideas during development or is there a whole script existing with dialogues, scene explanation and the plot? If so, was it the creation of one person like the case of ''Metal Gear Solid'' (Hideo Kojima) or ''Max Payne'' (Sam Lake)? ''Max Payne 2'' is probably the better example since it contained every single thing in detail.''' ([[Wikipedia:Marc_Laidlaw|Marc Laidlaw]] is credited as the writer for the Half-Life series.
#'''Who actually wrote the story to the ''Half-Life'' games? Is it a mix of results and ideas during development or is there a whole script existing with dialogues, scene explanation and the plot? If so, was it the creation of one person like the case of ''Metal Gear Solid'' (Hideo Kojima) or ''Max Payne'' (Sam Lake)? ''Max Payne 2'' is probably the better example since it contained every single thing in detail.''' ([[Wikipedia:Marc_Laidlaw|Marc Laidlaw]] is credited as the writer for the Half-Life series.)
#'''What will Portal 2 use? VPK or GCF?
These are answers to questions I've recently received in email and at the bottom of this page.
By popular request, the line "plush headcrabs are backordered and will make a return!" has been added.
1.1 Sep 2006
1.2 Jun 2006
1.3 Jan 2006
1.4 Oct 2005
2 Yahn Bernier's FAQ
3 Questions for Gabe
3.1 Steam
3.2 Source engine
3.3 Valve games
3.4 Misc
Do you plan to add the portal technology from Portal to the SDK along with the Episode 2 SDK updates?
Are you in contact with ArenaNet, developer of Guild Wars?
Yes. They are really really smart.
Is the glass of water half full or half empty?
Half full.
Would you still like to do Prospero?
Yes. Right after TF-2.
Recalling the old rumor that Quentin Tarantino was interested in making a Half-Life movie, would you sign-off on a Half-Life movie? If so, would you attempt to convince Quentin Tarantino to direct it?
The first step isn't a director, it's having a script that is worth directing.
Would Valve ever consider releasing unused content, which they cut from their games during development, for use by community developers?
The criteria we use is whether or not it would be useful. If something were useful, yes, we would release it.
Can I use the upcoming snow shader for DOD:S in my MOD?
Yes. The snow shading makes use of two new material parameters (plus art) that will be usable in any source engine game when released.
Is it true Uwe Boll has the rights to make a Half-Life movie?
Uh, no. And whoever is winding people up with this rumor, please stop giving out my home phone number.
Are you giving out any information about Team Fortress?
No. (TF2 media has since been released.)
Will there be any new content for HL2:DM?
Yes. It's gated on a team finishing up work on an unannounced project.
Will the riot shield come back for CS:S?
Will Friends ever work again?
John Cook is finishing this up now. (Friends has since gone live.)
How many hours a day do you play videogames?
Typically about two hours a day. Mainly PC games.
And how many hours a day do you play valve´s games?
It depends upon where we are in the dev cycle.
When will DoD Source content be added to the SDK?
End of month, in theory. This week we are planning on adding the DoD FGD. (DOD content in the Source SDK has since gone live.)
How long is Episode 1?
I've been using Apple Cinema Displays for several years now with both nVIDIA and ATI display adapters, starting with the original 22" Cinema Display. I was tempted for a while by the Samsung 24" display, but it wasn't a big enough step forward and had problems running at its native resolution with DVI inputs. The 30" version is great, and I would recommend it as a significant improvement over the 22" or 23" versions. It works fine for games or movies. I run 2560 by 1600 for my desktop and for games that support that resolution (e.g. Source games, WoW, ...). I made a half-hearted attempt to get two Apple Cinema HD Displays working simultaneously, but the connectors interfered with each other. Most of the machines at Valve have Dell 24" LCD monitors, and a number of people have those set up in dual monitor configurations.
Yahn Bernier's FAQ
Yahn Bernier answered some questions in email that I thought people would be interested in.
Why did you choose to code your game with C++?
We are constantly evaluating all available tool options and language choice is just one of these tool choices. C++ was used because the team had experience with C and C++ in previous projects, because we could control the performance characteristics of the compiled code (a problem you run into with managed code like C# or other schemes like Java), and because it facilitated the Source engine's (COM-like) component requirements. Of course, we might change to other tools/languages in the future as we evaluate what will make us most efficient at producing the kinds of experiences we are trying to deliver.
What makes a good game developer?
This is a tough one, since we have developers who are really good in hard to quantify ways and developers who are good in ways that other developers on the team are not. I can tell you what we look for, generally, when hiring programmers. We tend to hire generalists rather than those with domain-specific knowledge, we look for strong problem solvers, we look for people who get things done, we look for people who are self-managers, we look for people who have worked on collaborative projects in the past, rather than always preferring to work by themselves. We don't have hard rules about number of years experience, computer science degrees, etc. We try to get a sense for where we think people will peak in their career trajectories. We like to hire people from our MOD community because they have shown an ability to create something new and ship it to the world.
What was the most important part of creating the Source engine?
There were a few important things, the most important, in my opinion, came down to building the right team. Other significant decisions included knowing what we wanted the products (HL2, CS:S, DoD, etc.) to be rather than just building up technology for the sake of technology. Other than that, allowing sufficient time for the good ideas to percolate throughout the game and the bad/unimportant ideas to fall away.
When you were still in the planning and concept phase of the Source engine project, what did you envision it to be?
I think we described it as the highest quality engine in existence that would allow us to create the "Best Game Ever".
Has it become what you envisioned?
That's up to our fans. Inside the company, we're pretty happy with where we ended up and where it's heading as we continue to extend the functionality of the engine and improve it.
Would you consider your engine to be a success or a failure?
I think we would definitely consider it a huge success, not just from a business and financial point of view, but in specific ways which we considered requirements, such as support for multiplayer gaming, support for MODs, integration with the Steam platform.
If you think it is a success, what made it one? If you think it is a failure, how could you improve it?
There is a huge list of improvements that we are working our way through. I don't think there is any large aspect of the engine that we would consider having failed. We had some tribulations the first few hours after launch where we hadn't prepared Steam for the incredible demand for Half-Life 2. That's probably not the worst problem to have, but we are always trying to improve the things that need improvement. Internally, we've never satisfied and we hope that translates into extremely high quality technology and games for our customers.
Which part of the engine are you most proud of?
There are a bunch of really amazing advances in the engine such as the physics, AI, acting support, improvements to the multiplayer networking layer, and amazing visuals from the renderer. The less visible thing is that the code for the Source engine is so extensible. We have a lot of internal work going on adding new features to the engine. This would have been a lot tougher with our previous technology. The other thing that I'm proud of is the sheer power we provide to MOD teams. We give out a significant portion of the interesting source code to MOD teams for them to tinker with. I think the area where we didn't get as much done as we would have liked is on the tools side. We had great tools, but we got to a point where we had to table a bunch of tool work just to get Half-Life 2 done. We're now going back and investing a bunch of time improving our tools. This will pay dividends not just to our projects, but to our MOD teams and to our licensees in the future.
Which programs/tools did your team use to create Half-Life 2 once you had the engine set up? Would you recommend these programs to mod teams?
The compilation tool we used at the time we shipped Half-Life 2 was MS Visual C++ 6.0 but we recently transitioned the team to MS Visual Studio .NET 7.1. A few years ago we moved our asset/code control from MS Visual Source Safe over to Perforce that was both painful and liberating at the same time. We continue to use IncrediBuild (a plugin for MSVC which allows for distributed compilation of C++ code). We have a bevy of internal tools we wrote including map compilation tools and a set of utilities for doing distributed processing to speed up compilation times for maps. We wrote our own facial animation tool, FacePoser, and our own world-building tool, Hammer. We mainly use XSI for modeling and animation, but some of the artists use other tools in their day-to-day work in the art pipeline.
Questions for Gabe
Has Valve checked out the Vapour Project which allows distribution of third party mods?
Source engine
Will Half-Life: Source and Half-Life Deathmatch: Source content ever be added to the Source SDK like DOD:S?
Are there any plans to port the Source games to another OS?
Do you have any advice for the people who cannot afford the recommended tools needed to create a MOD for Source?
Why are some features such as the MP3 Player not being revealed to the public?
Why you don't use parallax mapping in your games, e.g. for effects like in F.E.A.R.?
Would you make engine compatible with NVidia Stereo Drivers (Stereo Guide)?
Would you ever consider adding support for raster image compression schemes (Namely, those which would not require the payment of additional licensing fees, like JPEG, PNG, or MNG formats, and excluding GIF), even if said images are simply localized to Source standards upon loading? If so, would you enable this functionality for spraytags? How much (if at all) would you expect such a system to reduce download sizes for Mods and such?
Have you considered adding vector image support?
Any plans related with shader model 4.0 and DirectX 10?
Do you use DirectX Asm or HLSL in HL2?
Why did you change used graphic API to DirectX in Source (instead OpenGL in GoldSrc)?
Is using Hungarian notation really useful?
Will you ever include the demo editor from the TF2 Beta into the rest of the source games? As I hear it, it was better than the demo editors in the currently released engines.
Valve games
Any plans to include the old assault rifle that could be seen in the Condition Zero Demo Disk in Episode 3 or further games?
Any plans to include Hydra in Episode Three?
What are your plans for the game VALVe wants to develop for Nintendo's Wii? Since the Wii is said to be a console for children because there are no really good action games, why not develop a "hardcore game" similar to HL2 or even port HL2 to the Wii to fill this market gap?
Any plans to port Opposing Force, Blue Shift, or Decay to Source? (Fan conversion of Decay announced)
What's the word so far on bots for DOD:S, HL2:DM, & HLDM:S?
Will the Half-Life HD Pack ever be ported to HL:S and HLDM:S?
Will the issues brought up by the community in the Blue Shift section of the Steam forums ever be addressed?
What are the odds of a Counter-Strike 1.7 release?
Are there plans to improve the hostage AI in CS:S (a good example would be the Condition Zero hostage AI)?
Will you ever fix the various errors found in the Half-Life HD Pack?
Are Blue-Shift and Opposing Force considered canon?
Who actually wrote the story to the Half-Life games? Is it a mix of results and ideas during development or is there a whole script existing with dialogues, scene explanation and the plot? If so, was it the creation of one person like the case of Metal Gear Solid (Hideo Kojima) or Max Payne (Sam Lake)? Max Payne 2 is probably the better example since it contained every single thing in detail. (Marc Laidlaw is credited as the writer for the Half-Life series.)
What will Portal 2 use? VPK or GCF?
What is the best way to learn C++?
Can we expect Gabe to start posting in the Steam Powered Forums every once in a while?
How did your time at Microsoft alter your perceptions of IT and the world? How do you view Microsoft now?
I'm curious as to your take on Linux. Although Valve provides dedicated server software for Linux, it does not provide Linux versions of the games themselves. From the point of view of a developer (and independent of any possibility of Valve supporting Linux), what's wrong with it and what would need to happen for it to become a viable platform?
Since Valve uses their own in-house Steam system, that makes you the closest to a disinterested expert when it comes to third-party copy protection. Have you been keeping up on the more traditional copy prevention schemes? What do you think of the major players on the field (SafeDisc, SecuROM, StarForce, etc.) in terms of their effectiveness, their impact on the end user, and the behavior of both the product and those who made it? Aside from your own product, which of these would you favor for other developers?
What are the chances of Valve releasing the GoldSrc engine under GPL?
When not hiring from the MOD community, what kinds of commercial experience looks good for a programmer looking for hire at Valve or in the game developer community in general?
Do you answer these anymore?
Retrieved from "https://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/index.php?title=Gabe_Newell%27s_FAQ&oldid=137854"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Приём разорванного TCP пакета: ждать дальше или писать ответ Реализую на boost::asio сервер. Встала проблема с реализацией протокола. Вот тут и всплыл вопрос о разорванных пакетах. Не понятно, когда ждать следующую порцию данных, а когда ответить. Понятно, что TCP гарантирует доставку данных.
Допустим взять протокол XMPP. Вот как там организовано это? В нём нет никаких упоминаний на длину пакета. И тем не менее длинные пакеты, разорванные пакеты спокойно принимаются и передаются. Как можно реализовать подобное?
Я понимаю, что самое просто решение слать перед своим пакетом данных длину, но хотелось бы обойтись без подобных костылей.
A: @ReklatsMasters, в tcp нет пакетов. Конечно, с точки зрения программы (в сети они есть, переменой длины).
Tcp - это просто поток байт. Поэтому организация порций данных ложится на прикладной уровень. Можно слать длину порции, можно (как в SMTP) признак конца, можно (как в HTTP) совмещать оба способа.
В любом случае возникают определенные неудобства в программировании (еще не забудьте про таймауты).
Решайте сами в зависимости от Вашей задачи.
A:
Допустим взять протокол XMPP. Вот как
там организовано это? В нём нет
никаких упоминаний на длину пакета.

В XMPP и не может быть никакой длины пакета :) Протокол описывает ЧТО передавать и принимать, а КАК - это уже забота самой программы. В этом случе всё относительно просто: поскольку это XML, то в обязательном порядке должен прийти открывающий тег (auth, response, challenge, etc). И данные могут считаться полностью принятыми, если пришёл корректный закрывающий тег.
P.S. А в случае boost::asio смотрите в сторону handle_read.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Identical twins discuss the bonds they share, and the similar paths they have taken.
A computer science major talks about sacrifice, purpose and what it's like to be a twin.
In 1937, Christopher Yeh's maternal grandmother escaped the massacre of Nanking. She was 7, had bound feet and didn't know how to swim, but she managed to escape the city through sewer tunnels and walk hundreds of miles to safety. "For me, that's a really inspiring story," says Yeh, '18. "If my grandmother could make it out of sewer tunnels, then I should be able to do anything I want." He remembers another family story — that his father's father took out loans and used his life savings to buy his eldest son a plane ticket from Taiwan to the United States for graduate school, a gamble that would eventually enable the entire family to emigrate. Eighty years later, his grandmother is still alive, and Yeh, who grew up in Cypress, Calif., is pursuing a master's degree — and, one day, a PhD — in computer science.
"I wrote my application to Stanford about being an identical twin because it's so central to my identity — who I am, how I do things and how I think. Even with my closest friends, any time I get a text or a call from my brother, Ben, that's priority №1 above all else. Growing up with a twin, I actually didn't have a lot of friends. Looking back, it was really because I wanted someone else who was like [Ben], so I set the bar really high for what a close friend should be like.
"My dad is an electrical engineer. Really early on, my dad brought home a computer from his school that they no longer wanted. He gave that as a gift to me and Ben, and we were enthralled. 'Oh my gosh, we have a computer! What can we do on it?' So we learned DOS commands when we were 3.
"My current concentration is artificial intelligence. I just think there is so much you can do with it. More recently, I've found more passion for applying CS toward environmental science problems. That came out of a Sophomore College class I took in Alaska. I found this lab at Stanford, a sustainability and artificial intelligence lab, where I'm now doing research. The project I'm working on now is using satellite images to estimate poverty levels in sub-Saharan Africa.
Going deep into bioengineering, and 'getting good' at something.
Benjamin Yeh, '18, didn't mean to choose the same college as his identical twin brother, Christopher. But their independent choices led in the same direction. "We have similar ways of thinking, and the more that we're together, the more that our idea of what is optimal converges," Yeh says. During their undergraduate years, they both explored the sciences, studied abroad in Madrid and worked as residential staff in freshman dorms. Now they're both embarking on coterminal master's degrees in computer science.
"If you subscribe to the idea that undergrad is 'explore everything,' and then you narrow yourself in grad school, I made a perfect choice. Bioengineering did just that.
"You take all the natural sciences and put them together, and you find yourself at bioengineering. And it's also human-centered. One of my favorite classes was bioethics.
"The average person definitely does not know how gene editing works, or how antibody therapies work, or how new immunotherapies work. These are things that I can read a paper about now and understand. But I feel like I never really got good at anything. I think I've seen it all, but I've never really done any single project that's taken me deep enough where I feel like I can master it.
Jill Patton, '03, MA '04, is a senior editor at STANFORD.


text:
Spellman stays hot, takes down Farrell
By Christopher Barca
Spellman won its third straight by beating Monsignor Farrell. Denis Gostev
Malik Dixon believes that Cardinal Spellman will go only as far as its pitching staff takes it. If he pitches anything like he did Saturday against Monsignor Farrell, then the Pilots have a bright season ahead of them.
"We're playing very well as a team right now, especially our pitching staff," Dixon said. "We can ride this high for a long time if we keep playing well all around."
Coming off fellow hurler Chris Scholkoff's complete game, one-run masterpiece against Iona Prep on Friday, Dixon followed it up with a gem of his own. Like his fellow rotation mate, he also went the distance, giving up just two runs while striking out two, leading Spellman to a 3-2 victory over Farrell in CHSAA Class AA baseball in The Bronx.
Dixon not only dominated on the mound, he also helped his own cause at the plate by driving in what proved to be an all-important insurance run in the sixth inning after John Russo's second double of the game.
"I was looking for a first pitch fastball like yesterday," Dixon said. "I got the fastball on the second pitch, and I just put a good swing on it, that's all."
"Malik has had the winning hit two games in a row now," Spellman coach Lou Brescia added. "He can come up big in any role. I'm extremely happy with how hard he's worked this year and in the offseason."
The scenario for Dixon's run-scoring single may have been different if not for his high wire act in the top of the fourth inning. With the score at 2-0, Dixon temporarily struggled with his command and allowed three straight Farrell hitters to reach base. After Rob DeAngelis' RBI single, he buckled down and struck out Pete Kennedy for the second out. A walk loaded the bases but Dixon was able to escape the troublesome inning by inducing Joe Cannatella to fly out to center field.
"I told Malik to just throw the ball to the catcher and to trust yourself," Brescia said. "He did that very well today."
"All I tried to do was bear down and throw strikes," Dixon added. "I trust my defense behind me completely, too, which made it easier."
Aside from Dixon's performance, Tom Montilli went 2-for-3 with a third-inning, run-scoring triple in addition to Russo's two doubles to lead the strengthening Spellman (4-1) offense. Winners of four of its first five games, the Pilots are starting to emerge as a team to deal with throughout the rest of the season, but this is no surprise to Brescia.
"We've beat some really good teams so far this year," he said. "Kids like Scholkoff and Danny Panasiddi have become real leaders and I told my kids that we can be a very good team. We just have to keep it up all year."
While Spellman heats up with the weather, Farrell's struggles continue. Despite a solid pitching performance by Joe Liotta, who allowed only four hits over 5-2/3 innings, Farrell (2-3) now finds itself a loser of two of its last three games. DeAngelis' run-scoring single and Brett Bracco's RBI groundout in the seventh inning proved to be the sole amount of offense, leaving coach Bob Mulligan searching for an answer to the Lions' woes at the plate.
"When your pitcher gives up three runs, you should win most games," he said. "We're not a strong offensive club, but we'll keep working and stay positive. There's a long way to go and we'll get better as the season continues."
It's hard to start a season much better than Spellman has, which is off to its best beginning in nine seasons. While not getting too confident about their success, Dixon is certainly excited at what the 2012 Spellman season could become.
"If we keep getting timely hits, solid defense, and good pitching, we can have a great season," he said. "We can go as far as we want to go."
Looking back on Nets in New Jersey


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Ethiopia elected for a two years term Security Council non-permanent member states seat
June 28, 2016 United Nations general assembly elections to fill five non-member state seat on the Security council selected Ethiopia as one of the countries to fill the position. Bolivia from Latin America, Kazakhstan from central Asia and Sweden from Western Europe are also elected for the same position. Angola,from Africa, is currently holding the […]
ESFNA-Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America kicks off in Toronto this Sunday; What you need to know
June 27,2016 Ethiopian Sports Festival in North America (ESFNA),Ethiopian Community's biggest event in North America is set to kick off in Toronto on July 3,2016. The week long event draws Ethiopians, people of Ethiopian origin and friends of Ethiopia from Canada, United States, Australia, Europe and from Africa. The Crowne Plaza is the official hotel […]
Eritrean and Ethiopian Ambassadors to Kenya quarrel in KTN news room
June 17,2015 Last weekend war between Ethiopia and Eritrea broke out again in the border area. Both sides claim victory – the measure of it being the number of dead and wounded soldiers. No independent third party reported accurate figures so far. What is certain is that lives are lost on both sides. The two […]
National University entrance examination cancelled after exam booklets stolen in Oromia region of Ethiopia
May 30,2016 Ethiopian government announced that National Ethiopian School Leaving Examination is cancelled after exams were stolen before being administered and posted on Facebook page. Initially, ethnic Oromo activist group broke the news on facebook updates when one of the ethnic Oromo activists,Jawar Mohammod, who is based in the United States updated his followers that […]
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Left hand front door hinges to suit 2004 to 2010 Suzuki Swifts. NZ new and Japanese import models. checked and tested before been sold. 100 day part replacement warranty. ZA11S,ZC11S,ZC21S,ZC31S,ZC71S,ZD11S,ZD21S,models.
Right hand front door glass. for 2004 to 2010 Suzuki Swifts' suits New Zealand new and Japanese import models including the Sport model. there are 2 types of tint in the door glass. glass number is needed to supply the correct tint code. these codes are at the bottom of your door glass located at the rear. ZC11S,ZC21S,ZC31S,ZD11S,ZD21S,ZC71S,models.
left front window regulator. for Suzuki Swift 2004 to 2010. 2nd hand unit only. NZ and Japanese import models. tested and comes with a 100 day parts warranty. ZC11S,ZC21S,ZC31S,ZC32S,ZC71S,models.
right hand preloved front window regulator. for 2012 to 2017 Suzuki Swifts. NZ new and Japanese import models. 2nd hand unit only. tested and comes with 12 MONTH parts warranty. ZC72S,ZC73S.


The Shreveport Mayor's Women's Commission is seeking nominations for the HERA Award. Three HERA awards will be presented to honor unsung heroes who have made a positive difference in Shreveport in the areas of advocacy, education, and quality of life. The awards recognize the recipients' untiring and selfless volunteer efforts to be helpful, effective, and responsible advocates for Shreveport women and youth.
The deadline for submitting a nomination is March 18, 2019. A copy of the nomination form may be obtained online or by email. Please type Mayor's Women's Commission-HERA Awards in the subject line.
The HERA Awards are, at the Shreveport Convention Center-Red River Room, 400 Caddo St. This will be the seventh annual presentation of the awards by Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler and the Shreveport Mayor's Women's Commission. Please check back for time and date.


Insanely Loud Toyota Supra Anti Lag Revving!!
1200HP Toyots Supra w/ Hood Exhaust - Insane Accelerations!
INSANE Subaru Impreza STi 2.1L Stroker on the DYNO!! - 805HP @ 29psi BOOST!!
Mercedes-AMG C63S DRIFTING ON WET TRACK!
Toyota Supra Compilation 2018 - BRUTAL Sounds!
The BEST BMW Engine SOUNDS Ever!!


So, how did I actually quit?
Well, I had to learn how to quit. I studied and studied and studied each of my failed attempts. It took me years to finally get it right. Now, I say I got a "degree" in quitting … actually, a doctorate in quitting. That's right, I am now David "the quitter" Ross, PHD, when it comes to quitting. I bet you didn't even know you could get a degree in quitting, did you?
Now, if your brain has all sorts of programs, bells or alarms going off in your mind right now… "a degree? A doctorate? I don't have time for that! I cannot afford to go back to school" OR whatever is firing off in your head right now. These are just programs that YOU can rewire and YOU can control.
What do I mean about getting a PHD in quitting?
I heard someone talking about "Pig-Headed Determination" one day and how he used this philosophy to grow his business. He was talking about NEVER giving up. I realized I needed to have this "PHD", when it came to quitting.
I had to be determined like never before. I needed to make sure I never stopped quitting. Then, it clicked for me … kind of like a light switch turning on or off. I wanted to flip that switch to the 'off' position and never turn it back on.
I just had to be stronger than the action, behavior or inanimate object I wanted to quit, in this case a feeble cigarette. I knew tens if not hundreds of thousands of people had quit smoking. I knew I was every bit as strong-willed as they were, but my determination may had been lacking during previous attempts to quit. I need to have a NEW message playing in my head each time I wanted to smoke.
I re-programmed myself to think "I'm every bit as strong and capable as these other people" or "if they can quit, so can I" or "This is the silliest thing…a cigarette trying to get me, a 225 pound human to bend to its will…oh yeah, it doesn't have a 'will', because it's just a thing".
In order to help me with this, I wrote out a plan for myself. This plan morphed into what is now known as the 8 Step Action Plan to Quit Smoking. It helped me get my PHD and I think it will help you get yours, too!
Come get the 8 Steps to Quit Smoking Action Plan now and give it a chance … it just may work for you!


Esther reveals Ruby's plan to elope to the Osbornes so Ruby's grounded! While Jono distracts Jack and Frankie, Ruby climbs out of her bedroom window. But Bart lets everyone down when he's stoned and without any wheels to get them to Gretna. Neil is promoted to Best Man and Maddie sees a minibus with the engine running – it's now or never and the gang jump aboard. Meanwhile, Esther tracks down Bart – they need to stop the wedding! A stoned Bart drives furiously to catch up with the minibus, they race side-by-side but when Maddie tries to slow down she realises the brakes aren't working!
Myra tries to make Tony see that he's making a mistake marrying Cindy. However, he assures her, Cindy will get what's coming to her after they're married… Later, Rhys makes his excuses and leaves Jacqui at the wedding and Tony sees Cindy about to run away with him, until an out of control mini-bus crashes straight through the venue mowing down everything and everyone in it's path! Chaos ensues as the guests try to escape but when a pillar collapses and the roof caves in – who will survive?!


This goose-neck dispenser is great for those who have modern and contemporary or traditional and antique style kitchen faucets and décor. "The Little Gourmet" Instant Hot Water Dispenser line features spring loaded, self-closing handles as an added measure to minimize the risk of scalding.
Pair this faucet with your bar, prep, or kitchen sink and enjoy swift hot and cold water solutions for beverages, soaking, warming, rinsing, and anything else your brilliant mind can come up with! Hint: Heat the ice cream scoop before use.
*Note: This faucet is ONLY compatible with the MT641 heating tank, available for additional $345. MT641 Heating tank provides 60 cups of 190° water per hour.


80 Free Professional Resume Examples By Industry ResumeGenius Resume Examples Downloadable Professional Resumes Examples , Download this wallpaper for free in high resolution. 80 Free Professional Resume Examples By Industry ResumeGenius Resume Examples Downloadable Professional Resumes Examples was posted in October 12, 2018 at 2:05 am and This 80 Free Professional Resume Examples By Industry ResumeGenius Resume Examples Downloadable Professional Resumes Examples Wallpaper has viewed by 46 users. If you wanna have it as yours, please click full size and you will go to page download in full size, so you just choose the size above the wallpaper that you want in "Download", Click it and download the 80 Free Professional Resume Examples By Industry ResumeGenius Resume Examples Downloadable Professional Resumes Examples Wallpaper.


European – and global – investment in unmanned aerial systems continues to soar. The most recent news from the sector is that Norwegian company Robot Aviation – a producer of Unmanned Aircraft Systems – has acquired Sweden-based UAS Europe AB.
Headquartered in the Swedish aviation capital of Linköping, UAS Europe is considered to be a leading developer of small unmanned aircraft systems and subcomponents. The acquisition is part of Robot Aviation's long-term goal to provide its customers with long-endurance, safe and easy-to-operate UAS (drones) for Military & Commercial applications, increasing operational effectiveness and decreasing operational costs.
The take-over will also bring Robot Aviation an enriched R&D team with unique skills. The group's workforce has now increased to 50 people.
"During our collaborations with Robot Aviation we have been very impressed with the team's vision and energy. We are very happy to be joining the Robot Aviation team and to participate in the very dynamic growth of the company," says Paul Holmstedt, the founder and CEO of UAS Europe.
''The addition of UAS Europe's product line makes us an even more attractive provider of unmanned systems. The Robot Aviation product line has mission requirements ranging from the Arctic with its extreme challenging conditions, further down to the hot and dusty desert regions and with a high interest for maritime duties around the equator. Together with UAS Europe we provide a genuine Global Capability with maximum exportability,'' says Niklas Nyroth, Director of Sales at Robot Aviation AS.
Robot Aviation will complement its offering of the existing SkyRobot FX20 and SkyRobot FX450 unmanned aircraft systems with the proven Spy Owl 200 from UAS Europe under the name SkyRobot FX10.
Visit the Robot Aviation and UAS-Europe sites.
Or for more information on the European drones industry, visit the Drone Alliance Europe website.


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Daldinia govorovae är en svampart som beskrevs av Lar.N. Vassiljeva & M. Stadler 2008. Daldinia govorovae ingår i släktet Daldinia och familjen kolkärnsvampar.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Kolkärnsvampar
govorovae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The sun will not yet have risen when Lawrence Serrano will give a two minute warning. A second warning follows one minute later.
Next, the 10 second countdown starts. Finally, approximately 100 highly charged endurance riders and their mounts will head off across the desert just as the sun peeks over the eastern horizon. The Land of the Sun Endurance Ride will have begun.
Held at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum's Boyd Ranch, The Land of the Sun Endurance Ride is the longest standing endurance ride in the southwest division. The ride was originally started by Jan and John Creighton some 30 years ago.


Last month the PGA Tour announced it would scatter six swimming pools around the grounds of the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open so tournament-goers can have a quick dip while they watch some live golf. It's the latest initiative drummed-up by the powers that be to increase interest in the game. On Sunday, pictures of people playing in the pools surfaced on Getty Images.
Call me crazy, but I'm not sure these women just stumbled upon the pool.


The potcake dog is a mixed-breed found on several Caribbean islands. Its name comes from the congealed rice and pea mixture that local residents traditionally fed dogs. Although appearance varies,potcake dogs generally have smooth coats, cocked ears, and long faces. These little potcakes portrayed on this page are from the island of Grand Turk.


Grill up something new and delicious! Layer cheese and tasty fillings between tortillas, and serve it all up in 30 minutes.
Step 1 Heat gas or charcoal grill. Lightly spray one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. On unsprayed side of each of 4 tortillas, spread 1/4 cup beans. Sprinkle each evenly with 1/4 of the bell pepper, tomato, green chiles and cheese. Top each with remaining tortilla, sprayed side up; press down firmly.
Step 2 Place quesadillas on grill. Cover grill; cook over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until cheese is melted.
Step 3 To serve, cut each quesadilla into quarters. Serve with sour cream.
Calories200(Calories from Fat90),Total Fat10g(Saturated Fat5g,Trans Fat0g),Cholesterol20mgSodium610mgTotal Carbohydrate20g(Dietary Fiber3g Sugars2g),Protein9g;% Daily Value*:Vitamin A10%;Vitamin C8%;Calcium15%;Iron10%; Exchanges:1 Starch; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 1 High-Fat Meat; 0 Fat; Carbohydrate Choices:1 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Assemble these quesadillas on a large cookie sheet. The cookie sheet is convenient for transporting them to the grill. Use a broad pancake turner to turn the quesadillas.
Assemble the quesadillas up to one hour in advance. Slide them into resealable food-storage plastic bags until you are ready to grill.
To add more color and nutrients to these versatile quesadillas, add diced fresh vegetables or a scattering of leftover vegetables with the pepper and tomato.


Facebook vs. Twitter ... Who won #GivingTuesday 2015?
Facebook took the crown for top-performing social network. On #GivingTuesday, Facebook drove 19% of online donations made for good causes.
Love online donor metrics? So do we!
Our FrontStream #GivingTuesday Impact Dashboard captured real-time benchmarking information about online, social and mobile donors on December 1st, 2015. Today we're excited to share these fundraising insights with you!
Visit FrontStream.com/GivingTuesday to see the full infographic and share it with your friends and colleagues.
From average donation sizes, to mobile giving trends, to the impact of Facebook on fundraising, we hope you'll be intrigued by this deeper look at how your donors give to causes they care about.
How well do you know your donors?
The end of the year is often the busiest time for donations to charity. Some nonprofits receive 30% of their annual online gifts in December alone!
#GivingTuesday gives us great information about how donors give online that we can use to optimize our appeals and donation forms in advance of the hectic holiday period.
We love to chat fundraising stats, tips and tricks! Tweet us @frontstream or ask us a question on Facebook!


Just when you think Donald Trump is beginning to act more presidential, he goes off on a tangent again on Twitter.
This weekend it was something about the Obama administration and wiretaps on his phone in the Trump Tower in N.Y.C. last year.
There might be something to it, but ranting about it on social media isn't helping to earn him any presidential respect — especially when he didn't produce any evidence.
Some are saying he — and his pals at a certain right-wing publication — are doing all this to distract people from the allegations that Trump and the Russians have been more than cozy, and that the Russians may have somehow helped the Donald win the election illegally.
Honestly, when it comes to the dirty tricks of American politics, I neither believe nor trust anyone involved.
But I am wondering why Mr. Trump doesn't swiftly meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and make peace with Russia, thereby making all former meetings between various parties irrelevant.
Certainly, many in the world would feel more secure if these two countries were friends.
Unless, of course, you believe and are comfortable with what some are saying about Nostradamus predicting Trump would be elected and would, in fact, be the anti-Christ who would bring about World War III.
Next Next post: Resurrecting Mars: All aboard?
You're right. You would think his aides and peers would remind him of this, and encourage him not to use Twitter at all.


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DRPS : DPTs : School of Law DPTs
Degree Programme Table: Innovation, Technology and the Law (Online Learning) (LLM) (Full-time) (PTLLMINFTD1F)
Jump to: Year 1
Year 1 Academic year: 2022/23, Starting in: September
Students studying full time take three courses in the September semester and three courses in the January semester, followed by the dissertation at the end of the final semester. 120 taught credits must be completed before embarking on the dissertation.
Students must take a minimum of 100 credits and a maximum of 120 credits from the courses in Groups A, B and C. Please note that no more than 60 credits should be taken from either Group A or B, and no more than 40 credits should be taken from Group C.
A maximum of 20 credits can be taken from Group D. Please note that a course from this collection can only be taken with the approval of your Programme Director.
For further information on the core courses for this programme see: https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/study/online-masters-degrees/llm-innovation-technology-law#second/
The dissertation is compulsory and must be taken on completion of the taught element of the programme (ie 120 credits/six courses).
More information is available at: https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/study/online-masters-degrees/study-durations
You must take these courses
Dissertation LLM Innovation, Technology and the Law
Must be taken during Block 5 (Sem 2) and beyond
LAWS11177 60 credits
Select between 0 and 60 credits in this group.
Courses from School of Law- Innovation, Technology and the Law (Distance Learning) (LLM)- Level 11
Select between 0 and 60 credits of the following courses
Students must take a minimum of 100 credits and a maximum of 120 credits from the modules in Groups A, B and C. Please note that no more than 60 credits should be taken from either Group A or B, and no more than 40 credits should be taken from Group C.
Information: Control and Power
Regulation of autonomous systems: the law of robotics
International and European Law of the Media
Space Law and Policy
Courses from School(s) F - Innovation, Technology and the Law (Online Distance Learning) (LLM) (Full-time) - Level(s) 11
Please note that there are no Group B Intellectual Property Law courses running during 2022/23
Please note that courses LAWS11493 and LAWS11487 are co-requisites and must both be taken in the semester in which they run.
The Fundamentals of Law and Medical Ethics
Global Health: Law and Policy
Fundamentals in Bioethics
Law and Ethics at the Start and End of Life
Clinical Negligence and the Law
Biotechnology, Regulation and Society
A maximum of 20 credits can be taken from Group D. **Please note that a course from this collection can only be taken with the approval of your Programme Director.**
Contract Law in Europe
Dispute Resolution Methods
European Competition and Innovation
Corporate Compliance: Case Studies in Law & Ethics
Comparative and International Corporate Governance
International law, human rights and corporate accountability
Banking and Financial Law: Case Studies
Sustainable Capitalism and Investment
© Copyright 2022 The University of Edinburgh - 18 January 2023 8:27 pm


Fighting fine lines and wrinkles during the day, and puffiness and bags under the eyes at night. Anti-aging ingredients of Pro-Collagestine Fill Technology and Micro-Dermoxine Complex help to strengthen the structural fibers of the dermis, creating firmer skin and less wrinkles. Azarole Bud Extract improves micro circulation, reducing dark circles.
A creamy cleanser for dry skin, packed full of essential fatty acids to provide extreme nourishment to skin lacking sebum, while removing makeup residue and impurities.
Working deep in the skin, this intensive treatment serum containing Pro-Collagestine Fill Technology and Micro-Dermoxine Complex will increase collagen and elastin production, minimizing expression lines and wrinkles.
Works in the dermis to stimulate low molecular weight hyaluronic acid that swells between the collagen and elastin fibres, to smooth wrinkles on the surface of the skin. The Pure Retinol is encapsulated in an enzyme coating, powerfully renewing the cells to reduce deep wrinkles and sun damage.
A nourishing elixir packed full with essential fatty acids, providing exceptional regenerating power to stimulate collagen, firm skin and rejuvenate cells.


A swimmer has died after drowning in Hong Kong's cross-harbour annual race.
A woman in her 60s was also rescued and is reported to be in intensive care in hospital.
The 1500 metre race had around 3000 participants who swam between two piers on opposite sides of Hong Kong's famous harbour.
Local media have criticised the organisers for only having 10 extra lifeguards this year even though there were 500 more participants. A one-to-ten lifeguard-to-swimmer ratio is required by international criteria. Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association president Ronnie Wong defended the number of lifeguards, reassuring local media that the assigned number was sufficient.
The event was divided into two categories – racing and recreational groups. The deceased man and hospitalised woman were competing in the latter, which accommodates slower swimmers.
The annual race held its first race 110 years ago but was cancelled in 1978 due to deteriorated water quality. The event was again revived in 2011 as organisers insisted the water had improved even though some environmental groups warned of high bacterial levels.
Charles Peterson from the USA won the men's title in just 16 minutes 44 seconds. Rio Olympics 10k open water gold medalist Sharon von Rouwendaal from the Netherlands won the women's.


Two bedroom family home for sale in Harrismith.
This house has a very lovely spacious garden with two garages. Open plan living dinning room with a big farm style kitchen.
A one bedroom flatlet is also available for an extra income.
Also a big plot next to it for sale.