From the author of Bread Alone comes an intimate tale of a woman, given up at birth, piecing together her mother's identity.
After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to wonder about the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night at a party in the home of a wealthy Santa Fe art dealer when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself.
Avery has found her mother, Isabel Colinas, an artist who died eight years earlier in a tragic accident. Slowly but inevitably, she is compelled to discover all she can about the woman. Searching for Isabel -- in her work, in the stories of friends, rivals, and lovers, in Isabel's own journal, and in what's left of Querencia, the old miner's cabin that was her haven -- Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother. And the unexpected reappearance of Will Cameron, the boy Avery loved in high school, further complicates matters. As she draws together the threads of her mother's artistic heritage, her grandmother's skills as a curandera, or healer, and her own talent for cooking, Avery learns that, while discovering Isabel provides a certain resolution in her life, it's discovering herself that brings lasting happiness.
Beautifully observed and insightful, with Isabel's Daughter Judith Ryan Hendricks delivers a moving portrait of familial love -- a bond that transcends time and place.
The first time I saw my mother was the night she died. The second time was at a party in Santa Fe.
Once in history class I made a time line. It was a thick, straight black line, intersected by crosshatches representing dates and events. The teacher claimed that you could tell by studying it how events were related to each other, the causes and effects. The problem is, time isn't a straight line. I think of it more as a huge arc, curving gently into space, keeping not only the future just out of sight, but the past as well. You never really know what might have caused something to happen, and the effects ripple outward in ever widening circles.
Even though Avery has never met her mother, are there any parallels in their lives?
When Avery runs into Will at the café, why isn't she more receptive to his suggestion that they get together and talk about the past?
Why is Avery so casually cruel to Rita at times, even as she acknowledges how much she owes her?
What significance does Avery's mixed blood have for her? For the story?
Why is Avery so reluctant at first to learn about her mother, after all the years of wondering?
At times, Isabel's Daughter borders on predictable. However, Avery's clairvoyant visions prevent overdone details of obvious resolutions between characters. Hendricks' novel is an engaging read, which adds a little extra to an ordinary story.
This wonderful read offers an escape the reader will be reluctant to return from. It's warm-hearted and realistic with just enough humor to keep it from getting too heavy. And, if you are a devotee of Santa Fe, N.M., you will love the author's descriptions of day-to-day life in this artistic community.
Hendricks' easily readable style combined with a pacing that pulls the reader in without lingering too long in any single place, results in a novel that is heartening and not heavy, a thoughtful summer read.
The climax involves a heady dose of feel-good melodrama, but Avery's no-nonsense toughness keeps the saccharine at bay.
Readers of this fine novel won't want to tune out any part of Avery's life.... ... calls to mind Barbara Kingsolver in her affinity for wise women and the power of close female friendships.
Beautifully written and charged with a sublime wit, the novel brings to vibrant life a cast of characters that no reader will forget.


Girl thanks for being brave enough to share this!! I am a fellow SAD sufferer, though mental health in general has been a struggle for me for a long time. It's truly amazing what a big difference we can make, and how much happier "normal" can be when we take care of ourselves and take steps to balance our brains! High fives for a happier winter this year!
SAD is so real. I notice it starts as soon as the sun dips low by 7:30. For me, I'm not to any point where I can't do all the things, but should it get that way, it's so nice to know that there's help available. Thank you so much for sharing!
There's such a spectrum- I think it affects way more people than most realize!
I am indeed known for having major ladyballs.
I sleep really well most of the year… But come fall and I can't fall asleep. I also get REALLY anxious at night (like afraid of the dark, convinced I hear noises, etc.). I feel like an idiot, but it is what it is and it happens EVERY year!
I have a lot of those same symptoms! I always feel silly when it hits but like you, it happens like clockwork haha.
I'm glad you brought this up. Not that we need to make all our personal details public, but by showing that there is no shame in getting help you're setting a positive example for others. Thank you for that.
I really like your approach–you'd go see a doctor if you had the flu, why not for seasonal affective disorder? SAD isn't as much a thing in Texas because winter here is less sucky, but I think this advice could go for any mental health issue!
"you'd go see a doctor if you had the flu, why not for seasonal affective disorder." YES. THIS. Could not have said it better myself.
I have it a bit, too, but not as severely as you. Up here in the Great White North (aka Wisconsin), during the winter there are so few hours of daylight. And I'm in a new job this year where I don't have access to natural light during the day, so I will at most get to see the sun for about 30 minutes during my morning drive in…oh no I'm getting depressed just thinking about it. Thankfully my boss is very flexible with my schedule so I can hopefully get in morning rides some days and enjoy fresh air and sunshine (WHEN IT'S NOT -20 DEGREES OF COURSE). Good for you for making a positive change!
Gahhhh the coldddddd. Fingers crossed that you'll be able to get those morning rides- what a perfect way to start the day with sunshine and pony love!
You're a badass or not only sharing, but being so strong! I'm looking forward to reading about all your winter adventures with the Frankenator.
I think as riders, mental help is one of the few things we tend to forget about in the grand scheme of things. But really, it's one of the most important I think, so thank you for sharing and bringing this to light! It's so hard to admit something might actually be wrong sometimes, and seeing others acknowledge that is helpful.
I get something very similar- my schedule keeps me basically inside sunrise to sunset year-round, and I get STIR CRAZY not seeing the sun, particularly not seeing the sun while on a horse. Lots of curling up in bed, sleeping, aches, and pains. I need the caffeine because my schedule doesn't let me sleep as much as I should, but I try to eat clean and care for myself. It's definitely frustrating. The light box is an interesting idea!
I seriously can't recommend the light box enough- I've been using it since college and it makes SUCH a difference in energy levels!
Thank YOU so much for sharing your story. Love the honesty and the bravery. I bet you have helped many people by sharing. There are so many 'things' in this life that can make a person feel alone and knowing that someone feels the same way sometimes makes a BIG difference. Mental health is as important or more important than all other aspects of health. Not just for us riders, either. Thank you!
I've struggled with mental health since my teens, in various shapes and sizes, and the best thing I ever did for myself was do whatever I needed to feel better. I don't have diagnosed SAD, but winter is always tougher for me than summer.
I think you're absolutely right- different approaches work for different people, and at the end of the day, you have to find what works for you as an individual!


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Q: How do i maximize the color blue to 255 in python(JES)? ive written this code to clear blue from a picture:
def clearBlue(picture):
  for p in getPixels(picture):
    setBlue(p,0)

Now i need to maximize the blue in the image(255), how can do that with this code?

A: Your function is called clearBlue which insinuates that you don't want the blue element, but you're asking to maximize the Blue component, which is confusing.
You were on the right track, but to maximise the blue to the greatest possible value (in 24-bit colours) is:
def clearBlue(picture):
  for p in getPixels(picture):
    setBlue(p, 255)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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February 20, 2016: Pandemic: It's Not Just For Gamers Any More
Whenever I'm in my Friendly Local Game Store, anyone who is not playing a Steve Jackson game is likely to be playing Pandemic. It has long been a favorite among board gamers, partly because its cooperative nature makes it particularly easy to teach. Not surprisingly, a game that popular is producing sequels and expansions. The latest is Pandemic Legacy. It has become so popular that even TV news reporters are discussing it! But what is really fun is when non-gamers try actually playing a game.
Check out this report where four real-life epidemiologists try out Pandemic Legacy!
-- By W. Glenn Kirkconnell, MIB 1617

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


General accessory rule of thumb: pick a theme and go for it! For example, if your handbag is boho, then your shoe should be boho. So for a fringe bag, I would recommend a bohemian-type flat sandal or a wedge. Or if you have a structured bag, then your shoe should generally follow suit. I love a clean single sole pump (a must-have!) with a structured or more classic shaped bag. If you want to color block (another big trend this summer!), pick one place to do it. For example, if your handbag has three colors, pick solid colors that work back to the bag for the rest of your ensemble. Or if your shoe is yellow/blue/white, you can still carry a yellow bag; just be sure that your outfit isn't busy. Remember, simplicity in your clothing will make your statement accessory piece pop more – don't overwhelm your audience.
The studded "Affair" bag by Rebecca Minkoff is a new "it" bag. I especially love it in white for an over-the-top look! The bag is a nod to some of the amazing rock 'n' roll stud embellishments you'll be seeing this fall. I recommend pairing this bag with the new must-have single sole pointy-toe pump in black. Since the bag is so fabulous, I love that the shoe is so clean and classic; the trick is the pointy toe, which gives the studs (on the bag) the edge they deserve! Overall, black and white is so fresh and chic, offering the perfect tuxedo look!
Finally, stripes are also a great trend for summer. I love this chic version of nautical, which offers a new twist on a fashion staple. For a night out, I recommend pairing these pumps with a white clutch instead of basic black to switch things up!
Always remember to choose wisely – if the bag is the "star," then the shoe can pick up one color but should be toned down. Or, if the shoes make the outfit, don't steal the focus with an over-the-top bag.
BROOKE JAFFE, BLOOMINGDALE'S Brooke Jaffe is Bloomingdale's Director of Fashion Accessories, responsible for setting the trends and selecting stylish merchandise for the company's stores nationwide. Overseeing handbags, shoes, jewelry, watches, intimate apparel and hosiery, Jaffe brings the markets of New York, Milan and Paris to life for Bloomingdale's shoppers. She has been with the company since 2007. Previously she was the accessories editor of InStyle magazine and got her start in the accessories department of Vogue.


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Charlottesville veteran John Leys receives French Legion of Honor Award
Published Monday, Jul. 21, 2014, 10:51 am
Front Page » News » Breaking News » Charlottesville veteran John Leys receives French Legion of Honor Award
Congresman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) attended a ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. in honor of World War II veterans who received the French Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France, for their service on D-Day. Captian John Leys of Charlottesville was awarded with the Legion of Honor today for his role in liberating France from Nazi German occupation.
The Consul General of France, Olivier Serot Almeras, hosted the ceremony where Captain Leys was honored. A native of Lynchburg, Captain Leys lived in Norfolk at the conclusion of World War II and later returned to Lynchburg. He now resides in Charlottesville with his daughter and son-in-law. During the war, he was a Commanding Officer of U.S.S. Landing Craft Infantry LCI (L) 510 with a crew of 31, which landed hundreds of soldiers on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He then went on to lead his crew in ferrying soldiers, nurses, and equipment to and from Omaha Beach and England, ultimately joining all 31 in his command in returning home safely from the war.
Captain Leys also served as Captain of the University of Virginia (UVa) football team in 1935, and today, at age 100, he is the oldest living captain of a UVa athletic team. He holds the record for longest reception at UVa (97 yards).
Following the ceremony, Congressman Hurt said, "It was an honor to witness this event today, and I extend my most sincere congratulations to Mr. Leys upon receiving this recognition for his bravery and service to our nation and the world. We are forever grateful for the selfless sacrifices he has made in the name of liberty."


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Master was one-hundred-and-ten in 1949, and following the annual Spring Precept Period, he returned to Yun Men (Cloud Gate) Monastery, where he had crafted a full set of more than eighty sacred images. Later, he went to Hong Kong to expound Sutras, and one day met Ts'en Hsueh Lu29, who asked, "Where can I go to attain peace in this ever-changing world?" The Master answered, "For a student of the Way, wherever he goes is his home. Letting go of everything is just the Bodhimanda. Don't worry about it so much." Ts'en insisted the Master stay in Hong Kong to propagate the Dharma, but he said, "There are already people here who can do so. My responsibility lies in holding together the several tens of thousands of bhikshus on the Mainland."
To hold together and protect the Teaching, he saved the Sangha members.
Vowing to repay the Buddha's kindness, he would go through scaldings and fire.
With fearlessness and unfledging vigor, his samadhi was energetic.
The practice of his magnanimous vows extends through thousands of kalpas.


An 81-year old man who won £1 million from the Euromillions UK Millionaire Maker draw on December 15 spent Christmas as normal. At that age, that is real restraint!
A glitch in one of their games have left South Carolina Education Lottery officials red-faced, and a lot of players terribly disappointed.
A computer error affected the Holiday Cash Add-A-Play game from 5:51 p.m.
A heavily indebted Thai rice farmer won 12 million baht in the lottery and promptly made a promise to donate a sum to the hospital treating his wife.
This week a lottery win saved a UK couple from having to sell their home and a retired couple form New Glasgow won $1.75 million to sweeten their sunset years.
Each December 22, school children from Madrid schools sing probably one of the most joyous songs ever – the winning numbers for the El Gordo Lottery.
After winning £1million from the National Lottery, 55-year old car assistant Patricia Aldridge did not really have to work anymore. But she still did a 12-hour shift this past Christmas!
One year after the lottery made them millionaires Steve and Jill Walsh have not changed much, and that's the way they like it.
When she won her million pounds just shy of Christmas last year, Jill Walsh was working long shifts as a nurse in the cardiology unit of Castle Hill Hospital.


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ArticlesEditorials
Editorials, Featured, Gaming, GPUs, Graphics Cards
SLI. Crossfire. These terms evoke images of Multi-GPU overclockers setting world record benchmarks, gamers going far beyond the boundaries of conventionality and pushing their gaming performance to new heights. Frame rates which the mere mortal single GPU owners can only dream of and if nothing else, the ability to go on to ebay when the next gen came out and get a relatively cheap performance boost by doubling up on an existing card with someone who jumped to the newer gen.
Enthusiasts adored it, comment sections raged with benchmark glory hunters attempting to squeeze another few MHz of overclock out of their chips and everyone looked down on the peasantry of the console world. All was right and good in the world of PC Master Racedom.
The thing is though, there are some of us who missed out entirely on the point of multiple GPU. Yes, for outright performance chasing headline numbers, nothing could touch a system with 2, 3 or even 4 graphics cards, but at what cost?
MGPU: Welcome to the Land of Plenty
Yep, but aside from all the positive connotations associated with the land of plenty, things we associate with benchmark scores and high frame rates, there are plenty of negatives too and these were well publicised and many.
Games often launched without MGPU support.
Day 1 drivers often didn't handle MGPU.
Scaling ratios were quite variable with 2 cards and significant diminishing returns kicked in above 2.
MGPU game profiles were often hit or miss being based on the base engine rather than tuned to the specific game.
If you managed to get everything working, micro-stuttering, flickering and other technical glitches would regularly manifest.
It's fair to say that there have historically been a lot of issues with multi-GPU implementations, whichever your chosen brand of poison. If you can live with the shortcomings, it's true that you could often get amazing performance, but we're definitely seeing a shift away from the MGPU concept even from the manufacturers.
NVIDIA, AMD Taking a Break from Multi-GPU
We're seeing both manufacturers slowly shift their stance away from multi-GPU, whether it's the gradual decline in production of dual-GPU on a single card aimed at gamers (they're still somewhat produced by AMD, but the focus is definitely shifting away from gaming and gamer oriented budgets, NVIDIA hasn't made one since the disastrous Titan Z), or the slow reduction in supporting technologies such as NVIDIA dropping generic support for up to 4 cards down to 2 and with their new Titan V which launched late last year, dropping SLI and NVLink altogether (although admittedly this is more of a pro card than previous Titans).
Arguments abound, chief among them that the real reason these edge case pushing scenarios are disappearing is that with the advent of DirectX 12 and the API natively supporting the possibility of multi-GPU implementations without the need for the traditional manufacturer backed offerings, the traditional view of multi-GPU is no longer required. A GPU power utopia of logic which just magically matches the relative performance levels of any given combination of cards will just sort out any issues which occur and lead us all to the promised land of consistent and smooth high frame rate gaming performance…
There May be Trouble Ahead
Engine manufacturers are indeed (slowly) updating their engines to allow for DX12 explicit multi-GPU support but something odd strikes me at this point.
If relatively closed ecosystems with tightly controlled hardware specifications can't achieve the kinds of performance without compromises that we want from multiple graphics cards, why would we imagine that an open API which allows for significant performance variations in graphics cards should be able to do a better job?
In many ways, it's the classic Apple vs. Android or Apple vs. Windows argument. As much as many of us hate one or the other, each side has its adherents. The point is that the SLI and Crossfire implementations strike me as the Apple approach to MGPU. Controlling the requirements of the hardware and software to attempt to create the best user experience possible and any but the most ardent fanboy will admit there were problems with that approach.
The approach of externalising it to the API simply allows for a less tightly controlled environment which logically will suffer from increasing performance disparity, particularly when AFR which is still the likeliest method of handling MGPU is applied.
The Crux of the Issue
Gamers are a funny bunch. We chase frame rates as the holy grail of our experience. The difficulty is that in many ways, this is fast becoming an outdated mode of thinking. A friend of mine attempts to go multi GPU pretty much every generation and quickly ends up regretting it and returning a card. Another still swears by it. Arguments rage between the two about how much better their given approach is and I was struck by a recent comment where the MGPU fan effectively said "screw you guys, I'm going to game on my awesome dual GPU setup" and the other said "what game are you gonna play, 3D Mark?"
What we really want is the best gaming experience we can get. As the owner of a Titan X (GP102-400 version) card, I get pretty good performance in many games. I sometimes need to compromise on settings at 4k, but it's not that bad. Even so, I was avidly awaiting the Titan Volta until…
I got a G-Sync monitor. And I have to say, I'm amazed with the results. From almost constantly watching the frame rate in the bottom right hand corner of my monitor when I'm in game, for the first time ever, I've actually turned the counter off (OK, that's a lie, I haven't really, but I could if I wanted to, honest). The thing is, although I'm a performance geek and chase headline numbers as much as anyone, now it doesn't matter as much. Sure, I'll still benchmark a game if it has one and play around with settings but in all honesty, the difference between Assassin's Creed Origins at 35FPS and 60FPS isn't particularly noticeable to me anymore.
Visual anomalies associated with low frame rates simply disappear so the question really is, are we witnessing the zenith of the constant chase for more power, the edge case handling for a handful of fans wanting to argue over benchmark scores? I believe we are, and when gamers realise this for real the market for MGPU will continue its inexorable decline and go gentle into that good night.
DirectX 12multi-GPU
RX 560 2GB vs GTX 1050 2GB: Showdown of the budget cards
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided updated with official DX12 and mGPU support


Privacy is a hot topic nowadays, and that's for a good reason. Nobody wants their data stolen, personal info accessed, or addresses exposed. A boy band, B-Brave, together with Microsoft, showcased how easy it is to get your personal information stolen just by posting a picture on the internet.
It all started when the boy-band-member, Dioni Jurado, "accidentally" leaked the phone number of his bandmate, Kaj van der Voort. Over 600 phone calls and 4'000 WhatsApp messages were made and sent to his number. But this was no accident. This was a stunt, made to trick the Dutch teenagers to show them how easy it is to get into trouble.
The video explains that you should think twice before posting an E-mail address, phone number, or racy picture on the internet because it could lead to unwanted consequences. Results of a survey have also been revealed, showing that over 60% of all Dutch teens had the same password across all devices and services, a quarter have shared their login information with friends, and almost one in five have experienced someone logging into their account(s) without their permission.
These are serious numbers that the dutch teens, me, you, we need to make sure get lower and lower. Let us know in the comments whether or not you take better care of your own information.
Do you think you have good privacy measurements?


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MEXICAN INVENTORY
LATIN AMERICA INVENTORY
WORLD INVENTORY
ANCIENTS INVENTORY
CURRENCY INVENTORY
Collecting Central American Republic
By Carlos Jara
The Central American Republic, also referred to as the Central American Federation, formed by the five countries of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, and officially established in July 1, 1823 was a failure from the political point of view, with numerous conflicts and wars undermining its stability until its final demise in 1838. However, from a numismatic point of view, it issued what it universally acknowledged as one of the most beautiful designs among 19th Century world coinage. The rendition in the obverse of a rising sun (for the silver issues) or a radiant sun (for the gold issues) over a range of five volcanoes representing the five republics mentioned previously, with a Ceiba tree representing the tree of liberty with the motto "Libre Crezca Fecundo" (Grow free and fruitful) is truly a striking one, and a joy to behold on a high grade coin. Official issues were issued by three different mints:
The Nueva Guatemala (NG mintmark) mint, issued coins with the CAR design between 1824 and 1851. All gold denominations (½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 Escudos), plus the ¼, ½, 1 and 8 Reales in silver were struck, although not all denominations or years exist.
The Costa Rica (CR mintmark) issued four gold and five silver denominations ¼, ½, 1, 2 and 8 Reales between 1828 and 1850 (again, not all years/denominations exist.
The smaller Tegucigalpa mint in Honduras (T mintmark) only produced ½ 1 and 2 Reales coins between 1830 and 1832.
Since the initial master dies were all produced at the Guatemala mint for all of these three issues, they form a homogeneous and coherent group, which few people have attempted (and even fewer, naturally, have succeeded) to complete. This is a shame because this series really has it all in for a discerning collector: as mentioned before, a beautiful design, an extremely interesting background (as a witness to all the political turmoil that took place among the Central American republics after Iturbide's Mexican empire was disintegrated), and from the purely numismatic point of view, a very rewarding yet still surprisingly affordable experience. Although some type gold coins are well recognized key rarities and expensive as such (such as the NG 8 Escudos, only minted in the years 1824 and 1825), many sleepers are still to be found in the gold series considering their true rarity versus the very reasonable prices at which collectible specimens can be obtained. While completing a date set in the gold series is probably a task impossible to accomplish, a nice type set remains within the reach of the enthusiast collector.
The situation in the silver series in even more tempting. For example, pleasant specimens from the 8 Reales series, although always popular, remain reasonably priced. All dates are in fact available in high grade (which is not the case for other Latin American crown series), although true MS specimens are now expensive. XF coins are relative bargains, particularly since they still show the beauty and artistry of the design. Some dates are truly elusive in or above XF and should deserve a strong premium from the date collector. The rarity of some of those scarce date/grade combinations is not acknowledged in the current catalogues and many sleepers exist within this series. In addition, high grade specimens of the minor denominations can still be picked up at low prices relative to their rarity (in general, MS minors are much more elusive than MS 8 Reales), which the market has yet to reflect. A small hoard of beautiful MS specimens of the ¼ Real was discovered a few years ago, but has not yet been absorbed by the market, and prices remain very reasonable.
Last but not least, this series has not been plagued by modern counterfeiting to the extent of other popular ones (i. e. the Spanish Colonial or the Mexican Revolutionary series to name two). Available published information, although not complete, is sufficient for the average collector. Mintage figures exist for most of the issues, but are mostly unpublished. In addition, exact rarity relative to grade is not universally known, in particular within the MS category. A relevant piece of information that has remained unknown until now has been the identity of the NG assayers. Let us make a small contribution by finally revealing their identities: the "M" assayer initial corresponds to Miguel Muñoz, the "B" initial to his son, Benito Muñoz, and the "A" initial to Apolinario España.
Other fascinating facts, such as the overstriking of coins within the CR 8 reales series (similar to the Brazilian 960 Reis series) have not been given their true importance. Interested parties wishing to discuss this or any related topics (the provisional series, on which I published a volume a few years back, for example) are welcome to contact me.
Carlos can be reached by email or phone at:
carlos@latinnumismatics.com
US number in his Chile office at 480-999-0260
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"Movies by actor: Greg Cipes"
And They're Off...
A comedy centered on a failed horse trainer who desperately wants to be back in the winner's circle.
DC Super Hero Girls: Legend...
Dive deep into adventure with the DC Super Hero Girls in this an underwater epic. Sisters of the sea, Siren and Mera catch the students of Super Hero High off guard in a surprise attack to steal a very powerful relic – the Book of Legends. With the book in her possession and harnessing more power than ever, Siren aims to raise an army from the depths of the ocean's trenches. It's up to Wonder ...
Deep Dark Canyon
After a hunting accident leaves a town's beloved mayor dead, two teenage brothers break out of jail and go on the run. Handcuffed together with the whole town chasing down the fugitives, they must outrun police and survive the elements to escape with their lives. Action-packed with an explosive climax, Deep Dark Canyon will have you looking over your shoulder at every twist and turn!
Do You Wanna Know a Secret?
As a night out on the town turns into a nightmare, six young college students must fight for their lives as a killer hunts them down.
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed! When fugitive Dominic Toretto (Diesel) returns to Los Angeles to avenge a loved one's death, it reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Conner (Walker). But, as they race through crowded city streets and across international lines, they must test their loyalties by joining together to bring down a shared enemy. From big rig ...
Holla 2
Six years ago Monica (KIELY WILLIAMS) narrowly escaped death at the hands of her mentally ill sister. Eager to leave this trauma behind, she moves to the South with her mother, Marion (VANESSA BELL CALLOWAY), and falls in love with the man of her dreams. On the eve of her wedding, Monica invites her friends to spend the night at Douglas Plantation, unaware that the estate is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of ...
Killer Pad
When three pals find a sweet deal on a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, they think they have struck party gold. But their dreams of sexy Hollywood ladies are quickly thwarted when they realize that their dream pad is also a direct portal to hell.
LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: B...
The DC Super Girls go LEGO® in this animated adventure brimming with brain-twisting action! The mind games are only beginning when Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl have no recollection of a series of wrongdoings that they were responsible for. Who can the girls turn to when even Bumblebee, Katana and other members of Super Hero High are also up to no good? It will take more than super powers to untangle this mental mix-up and ...
LEGO DC Super Heroes: Justi...
Batman faces his greatest challenge yet: VACATION! The caped crusader reluctantly agrees to let Batgirl and Nightwing take him on a long overdue vacation from crime-fighting, while Superman and the Justice League watch over Gotham City. Neither operation goes as planned when Batman's vacation is cut short by dangers from his past and invaders from the center of the earth, and Superman and the other Leaguers quickly realize just how much Batman usually has his ...
LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes: ...
Maximum Overload features LEGO Spider-Man and some of Marvels most popular heroes and villains, offering an original look at the Marvel Universe on a LEGO scale. The 22-minute animated special is a comedy-adventure in which the mischievous Loki challenges the Marvel super heroes yet again but this time, he's putting together an army of super villains to conquer the Earth. Iron Man, Thor, Iron Fist, Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Falcon, Wolverine and many ...
National Lampoon's Pledge T...
When a national men's magazine puts out a competition for the hottest sorority in the country, the beautiful women of the University of South Beach's Gamma Gamma step up -- no, clamor -- to be in the running.
Ring of Darkness
When the lead singer of a band mysteriously disappears, a nationwide talent search is held to replace him. Ryan Starr in her feature film debut plays Stacy, the devoted girlfriend to Shawn a talented young musician waiting for his big break. When Shawn makes it to the finals, he and Stacey are flown to an exotic island with the other finalists, but it soon becomes clear that something is wrong as each finalist begins to ...
When the Teen Titans go to the big screen, they go big! It seems to the Teens that all the major superheroes out there are starring in their own movies—everyone but the Teen Titans, that is! But de facto leader Robin is determined to be seen as a star instead of a sidekick. With a few madcap ideas and a song in their heart, the Teen Titans head to Tinsel Town, certain to pull off ...
Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo
America's coolest heroes, the Teen Titans, go to Tokyo to track down the mysterious Japanese criminal Brushogun.
Go wild with the hysterical adventure the New York Daily News calls "truly infectious!" Disney uncages the laughs in the hip and hilarious comedy The Wild. When a band of furry friends escape from the city zoo, they discover that New York City is the biggest, craziest jungle of all. Now, faced with a new journey and the challenge of a lifetime, they must work together if they are going to survive on the outside. ...
A group of strangers finds themselves imprisoned in a house. Unsure why they are there or who is behind it the group is soon enlightened by a video advising them there is a way out! But the threshold they must cross is one of excruciating pain and – in the face of torture – not everyone is willing to play by the newly created rules. The group is ripped apart by infighting, secret alliances, double-crosses ...


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A Wall Street sign is seen next to surveillance equipment outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on Oct. 5, 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)
'Retire' the Word 'Transitory': Powell Inflation Testimony Shakes Stock Market
By Benzinga
November 30, 2021 Updated: November 30, 2021
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust traded lower by 1.8 percent on Tuesday after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell changed his tune on the outlook for U.S. inflation.
In testimony to the Senate, Powell said he will no longer be using the term "transitory" to describe the environment of elevated U.S. inflation.
"The word transitory has different meanings for different people. To many it carries a sense of short-lived. We tend to use it to mean that it won't leave a permanent mark in the form of higher inflation," Powell said. "I think it's probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what we mean."
Powell also said the Fed will be discussing a potential acceleration of its monthly asset purchase tapering. The Fed reduced its monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities from $120 billion to $105 billion in November.
"At this point, the economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are higher, and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases … perhaps a few months sooner," Powell said.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced he will be re-nominating Powell for a second term as Fed chair. Powell and the Fed face an extremely challenging economic environment heading into 2022. U.S. inflation levels have been at multi-decade highs for months, but the economy is still struggling with labor shortages and supply chain disruptions.
Meanwhile, the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 has once again raised concerns about the potential ongoing economic impact of the pandemic. On Monday, Biden said there is no need for Americans to panic about the Omicron variant and said U.S. lockdowns are off the table "for now."
Benzinga's Take
Federal Reserve tapering is removing a massive monthly stimulus to the U.S. economy, so it's understandable why concerns over a more aggressive tapering would trigger weakness in stock prices. However, assuming the omicron variant is not significantly more deadly or vaccine resistant than previous COVID-19 variants, Powell's commentary on the health of the U.S. economy is actually good news from a fundamental perspective.
By Wayne Duggan
© 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Home›Abramovich›Vaccination rate in New South Wales: Prominent anti-vaccine cuts social media after family donned infamous anti-Semitic symbol
Vaccination rate in New South Wales: Prominent anti-vaccine cuts social media after family donned infamous anti-Semitic symbol
A well-known anti-vaccine has deleted his social media accounts after posting extremely disturbing photos of his family online.
A well-known anti-vaccine has deleted his social media accounts after posting a disturbing photo of his family online.
Sarah Mills, an NSW-area mother of three with a collective following of more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, posted the images to her accounts as Greater Sydney emerged from lockdown yesterday.
In the photos, she can be seen smiling with her children while wearing yellow Star of David patches. A proud symbol of Judaism, a version infamous by the Nazis for identifying the Jewish people and branding them as an "enemy of the people".
Where the Nazi patches featured the word "Jude" (German for Jew), Ms. Mills wrote "no vax" before pasting the stars on her and her children's T-shirts.
"From today, I can no longer enter restaurants, cafes, theaters, cinemas, concerts, museums, sporting events, swimming pools, clothing stores or whatever is judged. not essential ", she wrote in the caption.
"I live in the NSW area so we've been living freely for quite some time now, until today. Yesterday I was safe in public, today I am a threat.
Alluding to the Star of David in the image, she went on to say that "history is repeating itself."
She compared the plan to reopen the government of New South Wales to the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime.
"This is NOT our freedom day," she wrote. "This is history repeating our mistakes, and if you've wondered what you would have done in the past, take note of it because you are doing it now."
In another image posted yesterday, she can be seen wearing striped pajamas similar to Jewish inmates at Nazi death camps.
The image was captioned: "Prisoner 385968 showing up for work"
It appears Ms Mills has deleted all of her social media accounts. However, the footage was captured and shared by members of the Australian Jewish community.
They reacted with horror to what they saw.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, a leading civil rights organization, said the images were "beyond ugly and offensive," and constituted "a trivialization and degradation of the Holocaust"
"While Sarah Mills certainly has the right to express her strong opinions on the actions taken by state governments in response to the Covid-19 epidemic, it is more than scandalous to compare them to the monstrous laws enacted by the Third Hitler's Reich, "he said.
"Nothing in Australia equals or even comes close to the indescribable atrocities perpetrated on an industrial scale by Hitler.
"That Mrs. Mills use her children and exploit the infamous yellow star that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis during the Holocaust to first identify them, then dehumanize them and ultimately murder them, simply for the purpose of marking a political point on compulsory vaccination is scandalous. and obnoxious.
He said wearing the yellow stars showed ignorance of what really happened in Nazi Germany, and called on Ms Mills to apologize and "stop fussing over the debate."
"Such stupid equations demean the murder of millions of Jews and others and are historically inaccurate and extreme," he said.
Mr Abramovich also said the conduct was disrespectful to the Diggers who fought against Nazi Germany as well as Holocaust survivors.
"Maybe if she met a Holocaust survivor, she would understand how wrong she was. "
News.com.au has contacted Ms Mills for comment.
Her social media pages are down, but on her website Ms Mills describes herself as a single mother of three who has been "relentlessly bullied online" for her opinions.
"I am opinionated and outspoken, but I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and we should just argue that we all make our own choices in life," she wrote on the site.
On the website, she has a "wall of shame" where she posts pictures of those who tried to "force her to shut up."
Despite opposition to Covid-19 vaccines from parts of the community, NSW is on track to become one of the most vaccinated jurisdictions in the world.
Leaked figures show a massive increase in the number of vaccinations in the state this week – meaning it is now very likely that NSW will hit its 80% target by the weekend, with more rules to loosen Monday.
A Channel 9 reporter shared figures on Tuesday showing that 75.23% of adults in the state are now fully vaccinated and 90.77% have received a dose.
The numbers show a staggering 1.26% daily increase in jabs, meaning it is now very likely that the state will hit 80% over the weekend – a critical milestone that would allow crowds to come back in. state stadiums and nightclubs.
Timing matters as Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet has said he is unlikely to move the goalposts for the reopening when the milestone of 80% fully vaccinated vaccines is reached – meaning that if NSW does not not reach the milestone by Monday, residents could wait another two weeks to ease restrictions.
If the goal is met on Monday October 18 or later, the rules of the roadmap state that further changes can only take place on the following Monday, which is October 25.
Starting Monday after NSW hits the 80% double-dose vaccination target, relaxed restrictions will allow those who are fully vaccinated to have up to 20 people to visit their homes and participate in community sport.
Worrisome Chelsea statistics could force Roman Abramovich to sanction Harry Kane's £ 150million signing | Football | sport
Deputy Commissioner Col. Blanch said police were working to 'eradicate' anti-Semitism in Perth
Man City owner Sheikh Mansour to fund fans' trip to Porto for Champions League final with Chelsea – RT Sport News
Harry Kane transfer: Which teams would suit Tottenham's star striker best?
France and Germany in talks with Vladimir ...
Increasing escalations from China to Taiwan and ...
Ukraine boss Andriy Shevchenko plays golf with John Terry and Gianfranco Zola, watches Chelsea with Roman Abramovich and his son ...
Cristiano Ronaldo masterclass proves Roman Abramovich's record Chelsea call was right – Daniel Childs
'Werner's support shows Chelsea's team spirit' – Geremi sees same mentality as Mourinho title winners
Champions League 'heartbreak' may take Chelsea to greater heights – Beth England
'He deserves it' – Ruud Gullit advises Chelsea star for Ballon d'Or glory
Melbourne ultra-Orthodox school vandalized with 'Free Palestine' graffiti
International coalition joins call to ban 'surveillance advertising' – TechCrunch
Manchester United in talks over major overhaul of Old Trafford
Supporters of Russian activist Navalny gather in central Moscow to form Valentine's Day "Solidarity Chain" (PHOTO, VIDEO)


Do you remember when vinyl was not just the hipster choice but the only choice of music format? Do you remember the time before smoothies and when the only late night TV was The Open University? Do you remember Spangles, Housecoats, Jeux Sans Frontières, when the notes and coins in your pocket were huge, clackers, bell-bottoms....with actual bells on, park keepers, pea shooters, public information films.....?
If so this could very well be the band for you.


The collections below contain short problems about Geometry and Measures.
You may also be interested in our longer problems on Geometry and Measures.
A collection of short problems on Angles, Polygons and Geometrical Proof.
A collection of short problems on construction and loci.
A collection of short problems on 3D shapes.
A collection of short problems on transformations.
A collection of short problems on vectors.
A collection of short problems on Pythagoras's Theorem and Trigonometry.


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Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse - Report of the Secretary-General (A/74/705) [EN/AR/RU]
UN Document
UN GA
Download document (PDF | 459.23 KB | English version)
Download document (PDF | 450.15 KB | Arabic version)
Download document (PDF | 372.32 KB | Russian version)
The present report was prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolutions 71/278, 71/297, 72/312 and 73/302. It contains updated information on measures to strengthen the United Nations response to sexual exploitation and abuse.
In 2017, I put forward a strategy to combat sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel in my first report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (A/71/818 and A/71/818/Corr.1). My strategy prioritizes the rights and dignity of victims, ending impunity, increasing partnerships with Member States, building a network of support with civil society and improving strategic communications for education and transparency. The present report provides updates on progress in the implementation of that strategy, focusing on how I have prioritized accountability measures in areas under my control and realized a victim- centred approach throughout the United Nations system through institutional and policy measures and concrete action on the ground.
Sexual exploitation and abuse are not inevitable. The majority of the more than 190,000 uniformed and civilian personnel across more than 30 United Nations entities serve with professionalism and dedication, often in difficult or dangerous environments. When these wrongs occur, however, they harm those whom we seek to assist and protect, tarnish the values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and, by breaching trust, undermine our mission and programmatic goals across the humanitarian, peace and development sectors.
I promised to put the United Nations "house in order" and have done so by introducing systems in areas within my authority directed at holding our leadership and personnel throughout the Organization personally accountable for creating an environment in which the prohibitions on sexual exploitation and abuse are known and understood. This has resulted in sustained engagement at the most senior levels, in the field and at Headquarters, and heightened awareness among personnel of their obligation to adhere to required standards of behaviour. There is also increased understanding of the consequences of a breach of these standards, which include dismissal and a bar to reemployment in any part of the United Nations system. The United Nations cannot institute judicial processes to hold individuals civilly or criminally accountable, but I have deepened cooperation with Member States so that those who perpetrate these wrongs are held to account.
While I am gratified that much has been achieved in terms of alignment and coherence in approaches to prevention and response throughout the United Nations system, as well as in raising awareness and changing attitudes, I acknowledge the significant challenges that remain. The high turnover of personnel, combined with the vulnerable environments in which the United Nations operates, require constant vigilance to ensure that systems are in place to identify and mitigate risk, screen and train our personnel and respond in a victim-centred, timely and robust way to allegations when they are received. Ultimately, we, as an international community, must address the root causes of sexual exploitation and abuse, including gender inequality and the deep power imbalance between our personnel and those whom we are mandated to protect and aid, if we are to combat these shameful and harmful behaviours effectively.
UN General Assembly
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
Global: Launch of new funding tool scales up support for women human rights defenders, peace activists on the front lines
Govt. Germany
Govt. Norway
World + 4 more
Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security - Protecting Participation: Addressing violence targeting women in peace and security processes - Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Islamic Relief: Advocacy in Action - Making an impact through social cohesion
Islamic Relief


Mix up your sauce in the bottom of your baking dish, coat the chicken thighs and bake at 450° for 40 minutes.
Happy New Year! I wish I could say that 2014 was a stellar year for my knitting, but honestly for much of the year my heart just wasn't in it. I did do a little bit, however, and I am feeling much better about knitting in general after Christmas knitting and finishing a few things. All of the information for the pictured finished objects can be found on my Ravelry page, of course.
Not pictured is the stack of dish towels I started back in June as a kind of motivation to keep me knitting (and also to use up a bunch of scraps) which actually worked haha! I made 4 since I created the project on Ravelry and I'm probably just going to keep the project going to see how many I can make. It's a fun pattern, quick to knit up and very portable, but my favorite part is since you are knitting in wedges, it has a lot of stopping points along the way so you can put it down any time, or decide, like often I did, to knit just one more section.
Also not pictured is the Teeny Tiny Santa I made for T's tree this year, for which I somehow completely neglected to create a Ravelry page or even take a picture! You'll have to rest assured it is exactly as cute as the one I made back in 2011.
So that was my knitting year. Not too horrible, I think, and I definitely got more done in 2014 than in 2013. Well. If you count the stuff that I'm not counting for this post haha. Oh well. Here's to a great 2015!
Check it out, I made a sweater! Maybe I am getting my groove back?
It's a winter coat for my toddler! She might even get to wear it if the temps ever drop below 75° (which is the point at which I start to feel cold. Yes, I am a tender-footed Floridian now, apparently). I'm so happy with the way it turned out, even though it felt like the damn sleeves were cursed. I had more trouble with garter stitch in the round than I thought I would. Silly.
If you're interested, please check out my Instagram for details and read the info under the photo with the text "Sale Terms".
Day 217: Destash sale continues!
And even a couple of Wollmeise skeins. Check out my Instagram to get yours.
Day 216: Sale Starts tomorrow!
I've been getting ready y'all! My destash sale on Instagram starts tomorrow at noon. Wollmeise, Yarn Pirate, and others. Come check it out!
I honestly don't know if there's anyone out there reading this blog any more but I figured this was as good a place as any to put this out there. I am going to start destashing some of my premium yarns, Wollmeise, Yarn Pirate, etc. as well as some other woolen detritus I've got languishing in my stash (probably some of my own hand spun too!).
I just… Well, I just do not knit as much as I used to (wool + South Florida = bad combo) and frankly I can use the money. So. If you aren't already, follow me on Instagram. I am hoping to start putting things up on Monday. I've got some really good stuff hanging out back there, so spread the word! Tell your friends! And don't forget to check out my Twitter for updates.


Fingers crossed I'm off to see this on Sunday at the Glasgow Film Festival, and although I'm not sure how the film is going to turn out at all, I am rather excited to see it after the rather cool trailer that I've just seen.
Jo Nesbø's novels have been doing really well, I can attest as my wife has a number sitting on her book shelves and has read a fair few, and so it's no surprise to see films picking up on them, perhaps the surprise is that they've not come out sooner.
Headhunters is the adaptation of the Jo Nesbø film by the same name, a thriller that promises to make a strong transfer to film and has already done so in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia, arrives tomorrow at the Glasgow Film Festival, and release across other European countries in the following months.
I don't think it'll be long before it reaches America, although it'll probably have to be remade in order to get a wide release.
The charismatic Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), a successful corporate headhunter by day and prolific art thief by night, is lured into a dangerous game of cat and mouse when he goes after the biggest heist of his life.
The film stars Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Julie R. Ølgaard, was adapted by Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg and directed by Morten Tyldum.
Now, here's the trailer which comes through TrailerAddict. It's rather a good trailer, and I'll report back from the GFF screening on Sunday, if I can get tickets.


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Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby?
Young Volcanoes might be about the freedom that the band feels through their music. The song might be a representation of how they are different than they were before the hiatus. This song was written by Pete Wentz. The figurative language in the lyrics points to a way of being victorious and an opposition.


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Large crowds at Waste Pits meetings discuss well water
July 21, 2016 Star-Courier News Index - Front Page 0
OVER 150 residents who live near the San Jacinto Superfund Waste Pits
HIGHLANDS – Jackie Young, president of the new organization THEA and the San Jacinto River Coalition, held two meetings to update the public on the status of work on the Superfund Waste Pits.
Last Thursday she met with interested parties at the J. D. Walker Community Center in McNair, and this week on Tuesday night she met with the public at the Highlands/San Jacinto Community Center. Each meeting had about 150 attendees, with only a few at both.
Young said that attendees were evenly divided from affected neighborhoods around the Waste Pits, including Channelview, Lynchburg, Highlands, McNair, and Baytown.
Young spent a lot of time on technical and chemical information, explaining to the interested crowd how Harris County tests had discovered possible contamination, even dioxin, in the well water samples it drew in June. She said that Harris County Polution Control had sampled and tested 100 wells. Of these, 28 had shown to be contaminated, and the well owners had received letters from HCPC telling them "Don't Drink the Water" until retesting had been completed. Young explained that she understands when the samples were tested, other samples were open nearby, and may have compromised the well water samples.
Harris County is using money from the lawsuit settlement to pay for the testing. Each test, if searched for all contaminants, costs $2000 and therefore the whole testing program cost $200,000. This was paid for out of the $10 million dollars that the county received from the lawsuit. Precinct 2 has said that all the money will be spent on environmental projects within 5 miles of the Waste Pit site. They have not currently decided how the rest of the money will be spent, but there is under study a proposal to provide water and sewer lines in some of the affected areas.
Young explained that even though the lawsuit awarded $29.2 million to the plaintiffs, including the county, this money cannot be used for individual relief from health problems or well water contamination. These situations must be settled in private lawsuits against the responsible parties, she said.
It was noted that a number of attorneys were present at the meeting, to talk with interested residents that had a claim. These included high-profile firms such as Smith & Hasler, and the Mithoff Law Office.
CONGRESSMAN GREEN CALLS FOR REMOVAL
In a speech on the floor of the House in Washington, Congressman Green called attention to the health problems created by the Waste Pits, and told Congress the only acceptable solution was to remove the contaminated material completely. In part he said "This is no way to live. We need to take the strongest measure available to clean up the site."
BAYTOWN VOTES FOR
City Council in Baytown last week passed a resolution calling for the full removal of the material in the Waste Pits. They directed their Parks Department to work on this.
Young said that many people had asked her for a method to use filtration to make the water safe. She said that reverse osmosis, and most filtration systems, are not satisfactory. Although she could not recomment one, she advised the audience to look into Catalytic High Activated Carbon filters, which have shown some success.
The audience had a number of questions, concerns and opinions.
These included why the letter from the county said bathing in this well water was okay;
What affect hurricanes and floods might have on the integrity of the temporary cap;
Would a barge strike release dioxins;
Why is money allocated for a park north of Lake Houston, so far away;
What is an acceptable level of dioxin in the water (30 picograms per litre).
COMPETING PROPOSALS
Young mentioned that another organization, San Jacinto Citizens Against Pollution, has a website keepitcapped.org, and is against the plan to remove all the contaminated material. Their theorgy is that the so-called "dig and haul" method exposes and spreads more dioxin than a cap would ever disperse.
However, Young says the technique should be cofferdams, drainage of the fill site, and then dry removal of the contaminated material in a safe and proven method.
BUY-OUTS POSSIBLE?
The federal government has used a buy-out progam in Banana Bend and Rio Villa to eliminate potential flood properties. The question is whether some type of Buy-Out program would compensate well owners for their potential losses, and health risks.
Young had a sign-up sheet at the meeting, to learn who might be interested in this type of program. However, she cautioned that no money is currently available for any type of relief in a buy-out program.
She did note that "I've heard that property values are dropping" in affected areas, such as Lynchburg.
Audience comments included Sean Matula, who advised well owners to file Freedom Of Information requests with the County to learn what the tests show is in their water;
Sam Sledge, who complained about not knowing if his water is safe;
and Mr. Hunt, who said that in his opinion the dioxin could never be totally eliminated and would always pose a threat, even if most was removed.
The next regular meeting of the San Jacinto River Coalition is scheduled for August 2.
FROM THE STAR COURIER FILES HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
Highlands accident leaves 2 dead


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Q: D3js : How to convert svg text to path? Is there a D3.js way to convert a text element into a path element?
So when I grasp the generated svg, I could keep my the texts shapes.

A: There is no way in JavaScript (d3 or any other tool) to access the vector path information about the shape of individual letters in system or web fonts.  It's a requested feature for SVG 2, but there are no firm proposals for how it would work.
The Raphael method described in the question linked by Lars Kotthoff uses a font object that has already been converted to JavaScript, using the Cufon font generator utility.  Unfortunately, Cufon was designed for the old IE VML language, not SVG, so you would need to add an extra conversion (or use Raphael) to convert to SVG path data.
For working with SVG, it might be just as easy to use a general font-converter tool to convert to SVG fonts, then extract the glyph data and transform it (to the correct size and to flip the y-axis).  Alternately, if you're working on a server you could look into using a low-level graphics library such as Cairo which can do text-to-path conversion.  Unfortunately, SVG font support in browsers is so poor that you can't use it to embed the font data directly.  (Even assuming you had the rights to distribute the font, but were not using web fonts because of other reasons).
Update:  The mention of Inkscape in the comments reminded me that Inkscape also has a command-line interface to convert/export SVG files.  You may be able to use it in a server workflow; text-to-path is one of the export options.  You'd have to figure out a way to set it up so the Inkscape program on your server has access to the complete font, and then shuttle the SVG created by your d3 routine through Inkscape with options like:
inkscape TEMP.FILENAME --export-plain-svg=FILENAME --export-text-to-path

The only text-to-image option in the DOM is HTML canvas; you can write on the canvas and then grab the image data.  But that would be a PNG image, not a vector.
However, I would also urge you to consider whether you really need the exact shapes of the letters in a specific font, and if it is worth losing the functionality, accessibility, and SEO benefits that come from using text as text.

A: All these text-to-svg node modules mentioned above use opentype.js
I decided to use it directly with great success:
https://github.com/opentypejs/opentype.js#pathtosvgdecimalplaces

A: There is a node module called text-to-svg that claimed to do so:

Convert text to SVG path without native dependencies.

Example
const TextToSVG = require('text-to-svg');
const textToSVG = TextToSVG.loadSync();

const attributes = {fill: 'red', stroke: 'black'};
const options = {x: 0, y: 0, fontSize: 72, anchor: 'top', attributes: attributes};

const svg = textToSVG.getSVG('hello', options);

console.log(svg);

A: Try my lib - svg-text-to-path

*

*support otf/ttf fonts;

*integrated with Google Fonts;

*support tspan;

*different fonts library;

*support CSS text-anchor and dominant-baseline properties;

*support nodejs and browser runtime;


I studied photography at college in the early 90's, after which came a long period of jobs including Colour 061 and Chromagene.........which were film and digital imaging companies.
With the arrival of my first child, any ideas niggling in my mind had to go on the back burner and my family became a priority over work and anything else had to wait.
A chance came to buy a DSLR camera and at first it was a bit daunting because the last one I had was film. After a few months I tried taking pics of my friend's band in a pub.
They were a disaster but a couple were okay. So I kept at it and slowly got better. My sister arranged for me to shoot SPACE at Factory and I went on from there.
Fast forward to 2014 and I keep trying to progress my skill for gig pics. I sometimes work for Manchester Rocks and other online review sites and also make sure I'm busy in between.


London: Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino says winning the FA Cup would not change the club even though it would end a decade without a major trophy.
Spurs take on Manchester United in a blockbuster semi-final at Wembley on Saturday and will be hoping to take a step closer to winning their first silverware since 2008.
But Pochettino said lifting the FA Cup next month would be a stepping stone to bigger things for the club, who look set to qualify for the Champions League for the third straight season.
"It's fantastic if Southampton, Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham will win the FA Cup," he told reporters at his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
"Is it going to change our life? I don't believe, I don't believe. Who needs it more, I don't know. We are going to try and fight to win.
"It would be fantastic to finish the season with a trophy. I don't think it's about need or not need."
The Argentine has always insisted that success in the Premier League, and as a result the Champions League, is a better gauge of how well teams are doing and he repeated that message.
"If we are capable to win the Premier League and the Champions League it is a moment you say the team has improved and reached the next level," he said.
"Until that, win the FA Cup or the League Cup, it will be fantastic for our fans but is not going to move the club to a different level."
Tottenham take on United at a ground they have played at all season while their own stadium is rebuilt but which this weekend is classed as a neutral venue.
The Spurs boss said the match would feel different, with his side in the away dressing room, but downplayed any advantage to his side.
"I don't believe (it's an advantage) because Manchester United have the experience to play in Wembley too," he said.
"It's not an advantage for us, not a disadvantage for them. I think it will be a game that will be typical FA Cup at Wembley."
Pochettino is set to bring Dele Alli back into the side after his midweek rest at Brighton and he will decide whether to include Michel Vorm in goal as he has done for the FA Cup this season or stick with Hugo Lloris.
The other semi-final, on Sunday, sees Chelsea take on relegation-threatened Southampton.


Laura, Nancy, and Leslie discover that the water in their upscale neighborhoods is bad. They set out to fight the private water company — not an easy proposition even when you have resources and free legal services. Should private companies ever be allowed to control our drinking water?


The first obstacle that will come toward you when you want to make contact with bisexuals is where to do it. Well, the answer is easy. You need to join with the right bi curious dating site, create a high profile, badabing badaboom, and VOILA; you get a new friend. But in practices, it is not that simple. You will need to be governed with the necessary knowledge and rules of bi curious chat with bisexuals. Here are quick tips to get you on the right track.
If you have experienced inconvenient things online, you'll agree that many people can become disrespectful so quickly while they are communicating online in bi chat room. No matter what the sexual orientation of a person, you should always treat them with respect. That is the ground rule that you need to be compliant to. That means you talk without rudeness, insults, or other inappropriate things. Communicating online is a challenge for many people because some bi curious dating jokes in real life might not work on the online site. So, always make sure you've checked your message before sending it.
Compliments do always work. These are the grand gestures which will bring the conversation to another level. Chatting with bisex online will be interesting when you make compliments. Not only women, but men also love to be complimented on their appearance. But keep in mind that some respects are not working. Try to mix something up, and don't do cliche unless it is necessary for specific circumstances. You are an adult already; you will know what compliments will work, and which ones do not.
Don't be hard for yourself and the other party.
People don't appreciate it when you are too hard on yourself and them. If you keep making such weird and stressful conversation, you could back off and give you both time and space. Don't try to solve the problems too soon because often the conclusion will not be the firm one.
Having a positive conversation is good. More people will respect you if you keep the bi curious chat rooms environment positive. That means no rude things, no abuses, no talking dirties, and so on.
Some people overcome their nervousness by telling the story until they realize that they are overwhelming the conversation in the bisexual chat rooms. It does not hurt at all to ask questions. If you find a bit lost around the other party, you can ask her or him the taste in music, hobbies, interests, and many other topics.
Talking with bisexuals online is fun and easy if you know how to do it the right way. Re-read this article if you need to know more.
Copyright© 2018-2019 BiCuriousChatRooms.com All rights reserved.


Tucked on the fringe of Melaka's famed Portuguese Settlement, along Jalan Ujong Pasir where many popular food spots are located, is The Settlement Hotel.
Seeing the hotel now, one wouldn't realise that it was once a government building back in the 1960s. This fresh look is the result of two years of restoration work.
It has successfully captured and preserved Melaka's illustrious history, weaving guests through an evolution of cultures and hospitality.
I recently had the opportunity to be hosted at The Settlement Hotel for two nights. I can honestly say that I have no complaints at all – yes, fussy me was totally satisfied with my stay at this intimate boutique hotel.
The Settlement Hotel boasts a five-storey residence block with 45 rooms. Additionally, there are three luxurious villas to cater to couples who wish to spend a more intimate vacation in Melaka.
Although The Settlement Hotel does not have a sprawling compound, it does not lack green spaces as you can see from my photos. Also, a lavish traditional spa facility with three therapy rooms are housed in a Malay-style villa, facing a dip pool.
In the evening, the hotel's Rooftop Garden is the best hangout spot. Obviously, Melaka's skyline is nothing compared to a city like Kuala Lumpur, but it is a wondrous feeling to be sitting "on top of the world" with the wind blowing into our hair, as we chat over a drink.
Guests would not ask for more, with these amenities and the warm hospitality offered by the staff. For more information, check out the official website HERE or make a reservation via contact details below.
Add: 63, Jalan Ujong Pasir, 75050 Malacca, Malaysia.
5 Responses for "The Settlement Hotel, Melaka"


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John Steinbeck Timeline
Birth of John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck III is born in Salinas, California. He is the third of four children (and the only boy) born to John Steinbeck, Sr., the treasurer of Monterey County, and his wife Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, a schoolteacher. As an older boy, Steinbeck will work summers on the nearby Spreckels Farm.
Graduation from Salinas High School
John Steinbeck graduates from Salinas High School and enrolls at Stanford University. When not at school, he works odd jobs at ranches, shops, farms and factories.
After six years as an on-again, off-again student, Steinbeck leaves Stanford for the last time. In November he travels to New York City to start his life as a writer. He never receives his degree.
Steinbeck returns to California and settles in Lake Tahoe. He works as a handyman at a local resort.
Cup of Gold
Cup of Gold, Steinbeck's first novel, is published. The book focuses on seventeenth-century pirate Henry Morgan's adventures in Panama. Two months later, in October 1929, the U.S. stock market crashes, sparking the Great Depression.
Marriage to Carol Henning
Steinbeck marries his first wife, Carol Henning. They move into a small cottage in Pacific Grove, California owned by Steinbeck's father. Steinbeck will complete much of his life's work in this cottage.
Prolonged drought in the first part of the 1930s has wreaked ecological havoc on the American Midwest. Crops have died, and with nothing to hold down the soil the region has become plagued by catastrophic dust storms. Steinbeck is moved by the plight of the thousands of farmers moving west to seek work and escape devastation at home. On 14 April, also known as Black Sunday, a dust storm of monumental proportions strikes the Midwest. The next day reporters coin the phrase "the Dust Bowl."
Tortilla Flat, a novel about a group of young drifters in post-World War I Monterey County, is published. The book garners Steinbeck's first real critical and commercial success, earning him his first California Commonwealth Club medal for best novel by a Californian.
In Dubious Battle
Steinbeck continues to probe his signature theme of the struggles of the common man. In October he publishes both In Dubious Battle, a novel about striking workers, and a San Francisco News series about migrant workers entitled "The Harvest Gypsies." Steinbeck is appalled by the living conditions of the workers he interviews, and later publishes the series as a book entitled Their Blood Is Strong.
On 6 February, Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men is published. The stage v version of the book, also authored by Steinbeck, opens in New York on 23 November, earning him a New York Drama Critics Circle Award. In the same year, Steinbeck for the first time travels to Europe—including a stop in Russia—as a journalist.
The Long Valley
The Long Valley, a collection of short stories set in and around Salinas, is published. It includes the story "The Red Pony."
The Grapes of Wrath is published. It is Steinbeck's greatest critical success. The book is wildly popular with readers, but also attracts virulent critics who decry the book's "vulgar" language, brutal depiction of Dust Bowl life, and alleged socialist bent. Several libraries ban the book.
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award
John Ford directs the film version of The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. Steinbeck receives both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for the novel. He also produces a documentary about rural Mexico entitled The Forgotten Village, and spends six weeks on a marine expedition in the Gulf of Mexico with his longtime friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts.
Separation from First Wife
Steinbeck separates from his first wife, Carol, and moves to New York with a woman named Gwyndolyn Conger. He also publishes Sea of Cortez, a travelogue co-written with Ed Ricketts.
The Moon is Down
Steinbeck publishes The Moon is Down in March. The play version of the book opens in New York two months later.
Marriage to Gwyndolyn Conger
His divorce from Carol Henning final, Steinbeck marries Gwyndolyn Conger. He later travels to Europe and North Africa to cover World War II as a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune newspaper.
Oscar Nomination for Lifeboat
Steinbeck is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for his work on the Alfred Hitchcock picture Lifeboat. The Oscar ultimately goes to another writer, however.
Birth of First Son
Steinbeck's first child, son Thomas Steinbeck, is born.
The novel Cannery Row is published.
Birth of Second Son
Steinbeck's second child, John Steinbeck IV, is born.
Travels through Russia
Steinbeck travels through Soviet Russia as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, accompanied by the photojournalist Robert Capa. The trip helps fuel suspicions that Steinbeck is a socialist. He also publishes The Wayward Bus, a novel set in post-World War I California, , and The Pearl, a morality tale based on a legend Steinbeck heard in La Paz, Mexico.
Tragedy and Divorce
In a year of personal tragedy and professional accomplishment, Steinbeck's close friend Ed Ricketts is killed in a car accident. A few months later, Gwyndolyn Conger divorces Steinbeck. He publishes a non-fiction account of his tour of Russia entitled A Russian Journal and is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Marriage to Elaine Anderson Scott
Steinbeck marries his third and last wife, Elaine Anderson Scott.
East of Eden is published. Steinbeck considers it his finest work, saying that "Always before I held something back for later. Nothing is held back here. . . . I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."
From September to November, Steinbeck tours the United States in a camping van named Rocinante, accompanied only by his pet poodle, Charley. The road trip becomes the basis for his 1962 memoir, Travels With Charley.
The Winter of Our Discontent, Steinbeck's final novel, is published.
John Steinbeck is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Tour of Europe
Steinbeck embarks on a two-month tour of Western Europe with playwright Edward Albee as part of a cultural tour with the United States Information Agency.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, a personal friend of John Steinbeck, presents the writer with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Steinbeck had helped LBJ draft his acceptance speech for the Democratic National Convention a month earlier.
America and Americans
America and Americans is published. The book is a collection of photographs of American life, accompanied by essays written by Steinbeck. It is the last book published in his lifetime.
Death of John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck dies of a heart attack in New York City. His ashes are later interred in his hometown of Salinas.
More on John Steinbeck Navigation
First Novels
Political & Personal Life


Today when the global, integral world around us demands mutual decision making and cooperation we realize that we are incapable of finding mutuality, a common ground as we all perceive reality today when the global, integral world around us demands mutual cooperation.
Who Else Wants to Develop a Broader Perception of Life?
Our perception of everything depends entirely on the number of discernments we make of everything, and on the resolution. The number of discernments depends on the extent to which we consist of opposites, the contrast that we detect in things, and the ways we can use them as building blocks, like Lego bricks.
Thus, we analyze what everything is made of and how this complexity differs from other complexities. When I absorb emotions from others and they become included in me, I am enriched. I become a collection of opposites, by which I begin to perceive the world in such a versatile manner that, compared to my previous, superficial perception, it's as if I have shifted to another perception.
This is truly the psychology of a new perception, a new world. With it, we transcend the limitations of the body, the boundaries of time, motion, and place, because we have become included with all humanity, acquiring the collective emotions and perceptions of the whole of humanity, a single intelligence operating in the whole of humanity.
We begin by being included with others and discovering their collective feelings and perceptions, which actually come to us from Nature. We have the ability to reach what is hidden inside of Nature, that "heart and mind" from which all developments in this world arise. By so developing, we return to that same place, the root from which the whole chain of still, vegetative, animate, and the speaking (us), emerged. We return to the beginning of evolution and thus complete the circle.
By rising above the ego into general concern, I discover the design and purpose of Creation, Nature's intention. Here, nothing evolves by chance, but all occurs according to a plan. I become able to see the plan the minute I rise into integral vision, when I begin to connect myself to others. This is when I begin to perceive that integral vision. It is a completely different degree from the one at which I currently exist.
It is not that I receive from Nature anything for my own body, such as food or rest. I am past that level. Now, I look at life regardless of my body. I look at Nature as if I'm not in my body. I judge, examine, and scrutinize life with the mind and heart of the whole of humanity. It is a completely different degree from the one at which I currently exist.
At present, I'm just like any other animal. I may be slightly more developed, but it's uncertain whether it's for better or for worse. But when mingling with the whole of humanity, I arrive at a new dimension; I qualitatively change my perception of the world I am in, and that change becomes my real world. I don't look out at life through my narrow, selfish crevice, seeing what is to my benefit so I may pull it in through a crack in the wall—some food, some rest, some other pleasures, and that's it.
Instead, I go out through that crack and live outside, in the world. And there, in the world outside, the outlook is completely different. It is no longer through an egoistic filter of "What's good for me?" where all I see are either what is good for me or what might harm me. Rather, I see the world regardless of me. This is called the "new dimension," the "speaking dimension." I discover the "mind and heart" that exist in that enlightened state outside my body, outside this wall. I come out through the crack and discover the entire process, the very purpose of Creation.
Currently, we only discover a fraction of what might be beyond that wall, like the dark matter in the universe. Yet, although we cannot ordinarily perceive it, the dark matter constitutes over 90% of all the matter in the universe. Likewise, we have not discovered the inclusive mind and heart of the universe.
Scientists often talk about it, however. Cosmologists say that this mind and heart is something huge, but we can't feel it. It's like sounds we can't hear with our natural senses because they come from a dimension above our own. And yet, through our new, global senses we will discover that dimension.
And this is not a dream, or mystical teaching. Each and every one of us are capable of entering this new, unprecedented dimension by the appropriate practical education method, Integral Education.


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Brand Snapshot | SS19 at The Conran Shop – a tribute to 100 years of Bauhaus design
Over the course of the year, The Conran Shop will be marking the Bauhaus centenary with a series of exclusive product collaborations, installations and events.
To pay homage to this influential design movement, the brand is launching a curated collection of iconic pieces influenced by the era, including an all-‐new lighting series, homeware and gifts from international designers whose work continues the Bauhaus legacy.
The Conran Shop's SS19 range also includes UK exclusives from German brand TECTA, such as the iconic D4E Folding Chair, designed by Marcel Breuer's, F42-‐1E Chaise Longue, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Bauhaus Cradle, by Peter Keler's. The brand will also embark on a Bauhaus inspired window installation inside of its iconic Michelin House store in Chelsea.
Set to launch on the 22nd of February, the window features the most iconic architectural motifs from the Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany. Specially designed to showcase carefully select pieces from The Conran Shop's collection, the installation mirrors the building's statement staircases and giant gridded windows recreated as a true to scale three-‐dimensional screen-‐print. When asked to describe this ambitious project, Betsy Smith, Head of Creative Presentation, at the brand's Chelsea store, said: "the team carefully considered which pieces should be elevated onto plinths to highlight their sculptural forms and attention to craftsmanship."
Watch as The Conran Shop's Bauhaus-inspired window takes shape throughout February and follow along on Instagram for more information about the latest news and upcoming events.
www.conranshop.co.uk


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'A hot mess': Americans face…
'A hot mess': Americans face testing delays as virus surges
Police officers and healthcare workers are stationed outside a public housing tower that is locked down as a Coronavirus hotspot in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a shutdown of the nation's second-largest city is necessary and promised continuing financial support for businesses that fear they won't survive a second lockdown. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
PUBLISHED: July 8, 2020 at 9:59 a.m. | UPDATED: July 9, 2020 at 9:30 a.m.
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and SOPHIA TULP
LOS ANGELES — For two weeks, Rachael Jones has stayed home, going without a paycheck while waiting and waiting for the results of a COVID-19 test from a pharmacy near Philadelphia.
"I'm just so disappointed. I just don't know how — with the resources and the people we have and the money we have — we can't get this right," she said.
Four months, 3 million confirmed infections and over 130,000 deaths into the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, Americans confronted with an alarming resurgence of the scourge are facing long lines at testing sites and going a week or more without receiving a diagnosis. Some sites are running out of kits even as testing is ramped up.
Labs are reporting shortages of materials and don't have enough workers to process the tests, leading to severe backups that could worsen as economies reopen and new infections emerge.
Scenes of testing sites turning away people and motorists waiting in the summer heat in long lines separated into numerous lanes by traffic cones have left Americans frustrated and wondering why the U.S. can't seem to get its act together, especially after it was given fair warning over the past several months as the virus spread from China to hot spots such as Italy, Spain and New York.
"It's a hot mess," said 47-year-old Jennifer Hudson of Tucson, Arizona. "The fact that we're relying on companies and we don't have a national response to this, it's ridiculous. … It's keeping people who need tests from getting tests."
It took Hudson five days to make an appointment through a CVS pharmacy near her home. She managed to book a drive-up test on July 5, more than a week after her symptoms — fatigue, shortness of breath, headache and sore throat — first emerged. The clinic informed her that her results would also probably be delayed.
The number of tests per day in the U.S. is up to about 640,000 on average, an increase from around 518,000 two weeks ago, according to an Associated Press analysis. Newly confirmed infections per day in the U.S. are running at over 50,000, breaking records at practically every turn.
In an especially alarming indicator, the percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus is on the rise across nearly the entire country, hitting almost 27% in Arizona, 19% in Florida and 17% in South Carolina.
As more people are tested, an increase in the raw number of positive tests is to be expected. But if the virus is being brought under control, then the percentage of positive results relative to the total number of tests should be coming down.
In other developments:
— While the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. hit 3 million Wednesday according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University, health officials have said that because of inadequate testing and the many mild cases that have gone unreported or unrecognized, the real number of infections is about 10 times higher. That would amount to almost 10% of the U.S. population.
— Most New York City students will return to school in the fall two or three days a week and learn online the rest of the time under a plan announced Mayor Bill de Blasio. He said schools can't accommodate all their students at any one time and maintain social distancing. The school system in New York is by far the biggest in the nation, with 1.1 million students. It has been closed since March.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week said it will open free "surge testing" sites in three cities that are seeing significant increases in cases and hospitalizations — Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Edinburg, Texas. Each site will be able to conduct as many as 5,000 tests a day, with results coming back in three to five days, officials said.
In Georgia, one of the states where cases are surging, officials are rushing to expand testing capacity as demand rises sharply and threatens to overwhelm six major sites around Atlanta, said DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond.
"If you project this out over the next three weeks, we can't handle it," he said.
New Orleans residents on Wednesday were turned away from a free testing site for a third consecutive day after it reached its daily allotment of tests. Health care providers are running low on trays and chemicals needed to run machines used in the tests.
"There are still supply chain issues with getting these products from China and other places," said the city's health director, Dr. Jennifer Avegno.
Tests are still being done at a daily rate well above the number needed to meet federal standards for a community the size of New Orleans, she said. But Avegno said she fears that the progress New Orleans — an early hot spot in the outbreak — made in flattening its curve could be reversed.
Jon DiMuzio underwent a test 10 days ago at a walk-up site in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ahead of a planned July Fourth trip to see his family in Philadelphia. He ended up canceling the visit because the results didn't come in time and he didn't want to put his relatives at risk.
He still had not received a diagnosis on Tuesday.
"Last Wednesday, they told me I should know by Friday or Saturday," DiMuzio said. "Yesterday, they said, 'You should know today or tomorrow,' and they said the same thing today."
Residents of minority communities say there is a severe shortage of testing in their neighborhoods, far from middle-class areas where most chain pharmacies and urgent care clinics offering tests are found. In Arizona hundreds of people lined up last week for a large-scale testing event in a low-income area of Phoenix that is heavily Hispanic and Black.
North Carolina now will allow residents to undergo coronavirus testing without a doctor's referral, a move made to encourage more Black, Hispanic and Native American residents to get tested. The state is also creating of up to 300 free temporary testing sites throughout July.
Testing delays forced baseball's defending champion Washington Nationals and reigning American League champion Houston Astros to call off training camp practices on Monday after the teams didn't receive test results from Friday.
Patrick Friday, a United Methodist minister in Alabama, went to several hospitals and clinics in Birmingham this week to get checked after his middle-school-age son tested positive for the virus. But he was told that unless he had a preexisting condition, he didn't qualify.
Finally, through word of mouth, he ended up at a site offering rapid-result tests. His negative result came back quickly, but he found the experience frustrating.
"We are several months into this. How can it be that we can't go in and get a test?" he asked Tuesday. "At this point it seems like we have a lot of gaps that need to be closed in a hurry."
Tulp reported from Leawood, Kansas. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed to this report.
Alhambra offering free COVID-19 tests at YMCA West San Gabriel Valley


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Fire At A Dubai Hotel Engulfs 40 Stories, But The Cause Is Still Unclear – PHOTOS
by Jenn Rose
A fire has broken out at The Address, a five-star hotel located in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, according to Al Jazeera. Officials have said that the fire, which reportedly broke out on the 20th of the hotel's 63 floors, affected only the outside, and that no casualties have been reported. The city still plans to continue its New Year's Eve celebration and fireworks tonight at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, even as terrifying photos of the Dubai fire emerged.
The Address, which hosts nearly 200 rooms and over 600 residential apartments, has been evacuated, according to Russia Today. Residents and guests were relocated to the nearby Dubai Mall. Although officials said there have been no injuries, photos and videos shared on social media depicted a terrifying scene, with hundreds of people fleeing the area to escape as the blaze raged, raining down burning debris.
The BBC reported Thursday afternoon, the cause of the fire is unknown. A tourist, Michelle Duque, described seeing the 1000-foot tall building go up in smoke, according to the BBC:
All of a sudden, we saw this huge black plume of black smoke coming between the Khalifa tower and the hotel. The flames burst out really big and before we knew it, the whole of The Address hotel was covered in orange flames.
Photos of the fire are terrifying and beg the question about its cause.
Image: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images (2)


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Home News Whatsapp Introduces a New Feature
Whatsapp Introduces a New Feature
Yesterday WhatsApp announced that it will now indicate to users which messages have been forwarded to them. The change was implemented to restrain the spread of misinformation and spam on the platform and to help users determine whether a message was actually written by a contact.
"WhatsApp cares deeply about your safety," the company said in a blog post. "We encourage you to think before sharing messages that were forwarded."
The "forwarded" label will apply to all text, image, audio, and video messages forwarded to users.
WhatsApp has also launched a new group setting for admins where only admins are able to send messages to a group.
This option can be enabled by opening Group Settings and enabling the "Only Admins" setting under "Send Messages".
"One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools," said WhatsApp.
"We've introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases."
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Automatically generate easy-to-understand, written analysis in your Tableau dashboards.
10,000+ agents, 250+ field sales leaders, 40+ territory sales leaders, all spread across 14 regional markets. That's the breadth of Allstate's massive sales organization, as laid out during their Tableau Conference session: Empowering leaders with Natural Language Generation.
Allstate's analytics team relies on Tableau to share valuable data and sales information to this group; however, even leveraging Tableau, working to support all of the Allstate sales field can be a challenge. The sheer amount of data, insights, and end-users provides analysts the near-impossible task of supporting each and every individual user of their dashboards.
Having access to the data displayed in Tableau was never an issue for Allstate's sales field. Where the sales field ran into problems was knowing exactly what to do about it because the amount of data was too overwhelming for them. As a result, Allstate's analytics team noticed low adoption and engagement with their dashboards.
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By integrating the Wordsmith for Tableau Extension with their existing sales quota dashboard, Allstate was able to automatically turn their data into clear, natural language—all directly in Tableau. With this new integration and approach to Tableau, Allstate flipped the traditional reporting process on its head. Instead of creating a dashboard with visualizations to broadly support thousands of different people, Allstate now leverages the Wordsmith for Tableau Extension to create that same dashboard to individually support each agent, field sales leader, and territory sales leader with insights and action items tailored to their specific performances and goals.
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Matt Hunter is a Marketing Manager at Automated Insights, where he's responsible for brand, content strategy, and strategic demand generation initiatives. He's passionate about solving problems with storytelling, creativity, and design.