If you've spent any time at ChocoVivo, Patricia Tsai's Culver City chocolate shop, you'll likely have eaten your fair share of chocolate. Tsai's stone-ground chocolate, which she sources from a farm in Tabasco, Mexico, comes in bars, which you can get whole or as part of a tasting menu. You can also get your chocolate in liquid form, as hot chocolate or sipping chocolate, in growlers (yes, growlers) or as part of her new "mylk" chocolate flights, which have hazelnut milk rather than dairy and coconut sugar or honey in place of traditional sugars.
For Valentine's Day, Tsai is now making chocolate-rose oil as part of her new chocolate apothecary bar, which focuses on the medicinal aspect of chocolate. (Some of us, of course, would say that all chocolate is medicinal.) This is "not recommended as a substitution for daily chocolate — that's what the chocolate bars are for," Tsai said the other day.
Tsai's chocolate-rose oil contains a blend of cacao butter, Bulgarian rose oil, sea buckthorn oil, sesame seed oil, and jojoba and coconut oils, and is good for both skin and hair. Yes, it is edible, technically, but that's not the point.
Tsai says she's expanding her apothecary component soon, to include chocolate masks and scrubs. And if you're worried that you'll be tempted to eat the stuff, maybe pick up some bars or a jar of chocolate butter — or a few of the tamales (not chocolate) that ChocoVivo carries Wednesdays through Sundays.
12467 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (310) 845-6259, chocovivo.com.


Wooden's Custom Upholstery Services was established in July 1979 as an upholstery workroom, which was located in our home in the village of Palmyra. At that time our business focused on residential upholstery.
In September 1980 we moved to 301 East Main St, as Wooden's Upholstery needed room to grow. Hundreds of decorative fabric, leather and vinyl samples required a larger setting in order to be displayed and viewed. Soon a custom drapery line was also added, followed by the addition of custom blinds and shades.
In 2002 we became a full service home decorating center when we purchased Drew's Paint Spot, a family owned paint and wallpaper business that had been a part of Palmyra for over 50 years.
As of March 1, 2017 we relocated our business back to our home in the village of Palmyra ... where it all began just 39 years ago! To say that we had a wonderful 37 years at our Main Street location is an understatement. With that said, we are not retiring... we are too young for that :) ... just slowing the pace down a bit. Our upholstery and window treatment business will continue, but now by appointment only. Please contact us by phone or email so we can help you with whatever decorating service you require.
Please know that what has sustained us all these years has been the dedication to, but also the loyalty of our customers. We look forward to many more years of bringing your redecorating projects to life!


Today's tag is more than just a gift tag…it would do a great job as a gift card holder too! (Watch the end of the video for that!) I'm picturing a bunch of these hanging on the family tree on Christmas morning with movie theater gift cards in them…a family outing, courtesy of Santa?!
Enjoy the video below, or click HERE to watch it in HD on YouTube.
If you've missed any of the previous tag videos in the series – I'm adding them all to one playlist HERE.
All white lights, with Glossy Accents….
And oh so pretty peacock feathers ink! YUM. And do you see that one bulb where it crosses over from one panel to another and the bulbs seem to align? That was totally unplanned, but WAY cool!
From the response thus far, it seems this tag series is going over quite well….couple more days to go!
Where can I purchase the stamp set used for these tags. The glowing lights and greets are beautiful. Please help!
I love these tags. The bulbs look like they are really glowing! You are so creative!
Cool gift card holders. I need several, how beautiful. I forget that you can curve those clear stamps. Neat technique! Thanks for sharing!!
Oh these are soooo cool! Love the effect with the white ink! Do you those absorbers dry or with some cleaner?
I haven't gotten any of the WPlus9 stamps yet, but every one I see looks better than the last. Adding them to my list.
I love these. The lights look so great.
Oh my! I want to make these! Can't wait for the stamps to get back in stock! I can't wait to make them – which means I'll actually get some of my tags done for next year done before December 2015!
Ok….which did I say is my favorite…thought it was day 6 ( since that is where I started)….OMG…I love them all so far…I am HOPELESS….OH WELL….they are all my faves…..MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! Thanks Sandy!!!
Very pretty and festive. I like that they double as gift card holders.
Love all the lights on the tags – cool!
I love white on Kraft. These lights take that concept up another notch. Gorgeous!
Love this tag and technique. I also love that it holds a gift tag! I would love to win one!


It's no secret that Kotaku and our sister sites at Gawker Media got walloped this week after our datacenter was flooded by Hurricane Sandy and our sites were knocked offline. We've taken to Tumblr, setting up alternative versions of our sites, where we've worked to give readers as much of a proper Kotaku, Deadspin, Gawker, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Gizmodo, io9 and Lifehacker-ish experience as we can. Through that, we've run a lot of our usual mix of content but also a lot on the storm and its aftermath, on its extraordinary moments and its most ridiculous.
Here is a sampling. We thank you all for sticking with us.


text:
Simplicity, scale and a safe brand environment underpin SCA's monetisation strategy: Grant Blackley #RDE19 | radioinfo
Simplicity, scale and a safe brand environment underpin SCA's monetisation strategy: Grant Blackley #RDE19
Sunday 07 April, 2019
Southern Cross Austereo CEO Grant Blackley spoke at a Radiodays session hosted by radioinfo's Steve Ahern, where he gave insights into the business strategies behind SCA's monetisation strategies for digital radio and podcasting.
SCA's digital radio strategy is to use the 50% of additional DAB+ spectrum that it owns to aggregate its audience around its two major networks, Hit and Triple M, and to bring all its regional stations into brand harmony with within one of the two networks.
This has allowed SCA to offer advertisers a larger audience and to make it simple for them to buy advertising across the metro DAB+ stations and across the regional networks.
In conversation with Ahern after his presentation, Blackley explained that advertisers are offered spots across the Metro FM and DAB+ stations, which allows more people to hear the advertiser's message. "We don't sell the DAB+ stations separately, we sell them all together, offering advertisers more audience, a simple package to buy and a guaranteed safe environment that reaches all segments of the listeners who use that brand."
Because advertisers trust the SCA brands, they are mostly willing to pay the extra 20% that is required to be on all the stations. "There were some who at first didn't understand the strategy and went to other networks, we had to live with that. But now that agencies understand our strategy better they want to be on all the brand channels and are willing to pay the extra price we are asking to reach 9% more audience… Most advertisers don't want to buy small, they are looking for reach, which we can give them."
Blackley also gave insights into the business strategy that SCA is using for podcasting.
He explained how the company has created new original content with podcasting, which he distinguishes from catch-up radio. Both forms of audio-on-demand are part of the SCA strategy, but he believes that podcasting has the most potential for audience and revenue growth in coming years. SCA has partnered with US company PodcastOne to bring a range of productions to Australia and to develop a suite of Australian produced podcasts. Currently there are 60 'original content creators' producing SCA podcasts.
Monetising the podcasts happens through ads delivered dynamically at the beginning and end, or inside the podcast. He also sees branded podcasts as a growth area in coming years.
"We have deep connections with our audience, we are creating scale and we are making it easy to buy our products," he said.
For monetising podcasts "the tipping point will be when advertisers have line items for the tv budget, the radio budget and the podcast budget, when that happens you watch the floodgates open," said Blackley.
Reporting: Grace Lech
46° 31' 10.7544" N, 6° 37' 56.1828" E
BBC explainer podcast is 'a dog's brexit' #RDE19
Brexitcast is the BBC's explainer podcast about the debacle that is...
Just 9 Words in an email could make all the difference
Peady's Selling Engagement Heard of the 9-word email? I'm a fan...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Why does my function only run once per page load? I'm writing a script that does a calculation with text inputs in a form. For some reason, my calculation is performed only once per page load. I have to refresh the page to get the function to run again when I press a "calculate" button.
Here's the HTML for my buttons:
<input type="button" value="Calculate" onclick="calculate(high, low, common);" />
<input type="reset" />

Here is the calculate function (the variables are defined elsewhere):
var calculate = function (high, low, common) {
   if (high.length < 1 || low.length < 1 || common.length <1) {
       document.getElementById('result').innerHTML="Please enter a number for all fields.";
   } else {
       if ((high - common) > (common - low)) {
           document.getElementById('result').innerHTML="Result 1.";
        } else if ((common - low) > (high - common)) {
        document.getElementById('result').innerHTML="Result 2.";
        } else if ((common - low) === (high - common)) {
        document.getElementById('result').innerHTML="Result 3.";
        }
      }
   };

Am I doing something that prevents the function from running more than once per page load?

A: Problem with your code is that you just setting high, low, common 1st time the page is loaded.
These values remain same all the time.
You should pass your values in onclick event.
Updated your - jsfiddle
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <title>Calculator</title>
    <meta charset = "UTF-8" />

Calculator

<form>
    Highest:<input type ="text" id="highRi" />
    Lowest:<input type="text" id="lowRi" />
    Common Point:<input type ="text" id="comm" />

    <input type="button" value="Calculate" onclick="calculate(document.getElementById('highRi').value, document.getElementById('lowRi').value, document.getElementById('comm').value);" />
    <input type="reset" />

</form>

Or you can simply get those element values in you function call.
<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Calculator</title>
<meta charset = "UTF-8" />

Calculator

<form>
    Highest:<input type ="text" id="highRi" />
    Lowest:<input type="text" id="lowRi" />
    Common Point:<input type ="text" id="comm" />

    <input type="button" value="Calculate" onclick="calculate();" />
    <input type="reset" />

</form>

Jsfiddle See it working

May be this will help you.

A: for me also, your code worked if i change the values high, low and common, try this method, it may work for you
<input type="button" id="button" value="Calculate" />

var button = document.getElementById("button");
var high = document.getElementById("high").value;
var low = document.getElementById("low").value;
var common = document.getElementById("common").value;
button.addEventListener(onclick, calculate(high, low, common));

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Bridget Marquardt Chooses Team Reality TV Over Team Jon Gosselin
by Hilton Hater at August 9, 2009 6:19 am . Updated at December 16, 2021 8:06 am .
In case you haven't heard, Jon and Kate Gosselin have filed for divorce.
The former has gone on to date every female with a pulse, though he claims he's always been with 22-year old Hailey Glassman.
Who is to blame for the dissolution of this marriage and Jon's subsequent actions? Not the medium of reality TV, says Bridget Marquardt.
"I personally don't think it necessarily had to do with the reality show," she told E! News over the weekend. "I think he was unhappy with his marriage and the situation to begin with... I think [reality TV] definitely is a stress-factor in a relationship, but I don't think it breaks it up. I think there have to be underlying problems."
Like Jon's extreme douchebaggery.
As for her relationship with Nick Carpenter, Bridget said they might test the reality show waters one of these days.
"We've talked about the possibility of doing a spin-off show similar to what Kendra [Wilkinson] is doing," the busty blonde said. "We'll see."
Tags: Bridget Marquardt
Bridget Marquardt Biography
Bridget Marquardt rose to fame as one of Hugh Hefner's three main girlfriends. She has starred in The Girls Next Door for five seasons.... More »
Tillamook, Oregon
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Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt Hold Halloween Seance, Contact Hugh Hefner
Bridget Marquardt Pretends To Care About Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson Fight
Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt: On Bad Terms?
Bridget Marquardt Photos
Bridget Marquardt Videos
Bridget Marquardt Interview


…-Laurent Aimard, that is (no offense, Mr. Boulez). In the microcosm that is new music, there are some radiant figures. One of them is a pianist occupying space in my mind (and undoubtedly in the minds of others) these days: the venerable Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Aimard (you can read his full bio here) first appeared on my radar screen while I was a doctoral student at Northwestern in the late 90s, studying with Ursula Oppens. It was in Ursula's "Piano Music Since 1945" class that I became aware of György Ligeti's Piano Études. There were a small handful of recordings at the time. One was by Volker Banfield, to whom the first etude, Désordre, is dedicated; but the disc everyone seemed to be listening to was Aimard's. Ligeti's music was so fascinating that I wasn't paying a lot of attention to Aimard's pianism, brilliant as it is in that recording. I was marveling at the inventive and utterly fearless way that Ligeti uses patterns - rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns - layering and overlapping them so that they seem to take on a life of their own, interacting in a way that is joyful, eclectic, and profound.
Several years later (2002, if memory serves me), I heard Aimard play a solo recital at Symphony Center, an ultra-marathon of a program that began with short works of Ravel and Debussy, moved through music of the Second Viennese School and the post-war era, to the present. Personal highlights from this concert, which lasted three hours (not including intermission) were Ondine from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Helmut Lachenmann's Guero (the performer scrapes along the white and black keys with the fingernails, except that Aimard used credit cards, to better project in the large hall), a very special version of John Cage's 4'33", in which Aimard's illuminating spoken introduction to the piece lasted precisely 4'33", allowing him to deliver that news and move neatly on to the next piece (to sighs of relief from the audience)…and of course, those Ligeti Études. I remember that there were two, and one was the formidable L'Escalier du Diable. I came away from this concert stunned, moved, inspired, a tad suicidal, and positively itching to get home to the piano.
Much to my regret, I missed what seems to have been the recital of the century: Aimard's performance (from memory) of the entire Vingt Regards of Olivier Messiaen. This concert happened sometime between 2003 and 2005 (anyone want to help me out here?), when I was living in San Diego and was only back in Chicago to play concerts, a few times a season. From all accounts (and I have heard many), it was a concert that changed lives. Several friends confided that it was the best concert they had ever attended. Damn!
I was fortunate to hear Aimard a few times over the last two seasons. One was a solo recital that featured Debussy, Kurtag, Ravel, and Schumann; another was the amazing Ligeti Concerto with Boulez conducting. His most recent recital, just a few weeks ago, with pianist Tamara Stefanovich and percussionists Daniel Ciampolini and Joseph Gramley was true to form. In this last concert, Aimard played a highly skilled game of connect-the-dots, drawing a sonic thread between works of Peter Eötvös, György Kurtag, Steve Reich, Conlon Nancarrow, György Ligeti, and Béla Bartók. The next-to-last set, which began with Reich's Clapping Music and moved through some Nancarrow Studies for Player Piano to a couple of Ligeti Études, was especially effective for me. He exposed a subtle rhythmic progression through the set, while introducing some new things – a spin-off of Ligeti's Symphonic Poem for 100 Metronomes, arranged for piano eight hands; and his use of an improvising percussionist (Ciampolini) on two of the Ligeti études (Fem and Fanfares). If I had any reservations, it was with these versions of the études. I wanted to hear every crisp note, every layer, and, for me, the percussion obscured the clarity of Ligeti's writing. On the other hand, it was a creative way to present repertoire…identifying a rhythmic idea, feeling it out, adding to it, taking it where it will go.
If it's not already apparent, here's why Pierre-Laurent Aimard is my favorite pianist on the scene today: he makes the music speak for itself. With Aimard, (to steal a phrase from Jonathan Safran Foer) "Everything is Illuminated." In his performances one hears the clarity, intention, and integrity of the score (oh yeah, have I mentioned that he has great taste in music?). His technique is formidable, but his appeal as an artist is not about dazzling virtuosity or showmanship. It's not about image, or marketing, or hype. Aimard has been called the "thinking man's pianist", and I do not disagree with that classification. It's clear that he has a deep intellectual understanding of this music and the skill to bring it across. But I would add that his intense emotional connection and commitment to this music is what make his interpretations exciting, illuminating, and joyful to witness.
I can confirm about 20 Regards Live by PLA. I heard it a few years ago in Frankfurt (Germany) and … well it was absolutely unbelievable, the intensity and also the dynamic range I had never heard from anyone else. I heard it again in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and again the revelation. Next autumn PLA plays it in Brussels where I live. I also heard him in other pieces, but with Ligeti & Messiaen, he has something special & the sound projection becomes totally different from other composers he plays.
In respond to your comments about your admiration of Pierre-Laurent Aimard , I agree with you his deep intellectual understanding of this music and the skill he brings it across. They are a very rare breed of pianist who has such commitment and intense emotional attachment to music.


text:
Explorer : Accueil » Urbanism » Building sustainable new towns for Egyptians
01/10/2013 · by Christian Horn · in Africa, Urbanism
Satellite view of the Cairo agglomeration © USGS EROS Data Center
Building new cities in the desert is an important issue for the future of Egypt and other desert countries. Egypt will have an estimated population of 123 million inhabitants by 2050 [1]. As Egypt's population currently stands at about 82 million residents, the country will need to provide housing for 40 million more inhabitants within 40 years, an incredible challenge. The metropolis of Cairo alone currently has about 20 million inhabitants, and housing developments continue to overtake the fertile land of the Nile Delta.
A new approach towards sustainable and affordable desert towns
Older communities, such as New Gourna Village, planned by the Egyptian architect Hasan Fathy and constructed between 1945 and 1948, are big sources of inspiration on a smaller scale. Today's fast-growing towns in some Arab countries, such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are interesting case studies, but can hardly serve as a model taking into account their social and environmental impact. Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, designed by the British architect Norman Foster, is an inspiring project, but built with substantial financial investments that are not available for most countries. Still, thoses examples should be analysed, as some ideas could be adapted to the local context, and today's cutting-edge technology might become more accessible and affordable in the future.
View of the Masdar Institute Campus in Masdar City © Jan Seifert
One of Egypt's important challenges is to develop a sustainable model of new desert towns for a population with limited financial means. Most of the country's recently built housing is too expensive for a large part of the population, and the state will not be able to subsidize affordable housing in the quantities needed. Egypt will need research, innovation, planning and cooperation to develop a general model or framework, which can then be adapted to specific sites, local climates and future populations. Applying generic master plans, without tailoring them to the geographic, environmental, cultural, and social contexts of each respective location, can not be successful.
As these will be entirely new towns, communities just beginning their history, it give the chance to integrate from the beginning essential future issues in the new towns' structure. For example, considering mobility: Who will be able to afford cars with combustion engines in 20 years, when petrol prices will be double or triple their current levels? Are solar-power and electric cars an alternative for desert towns and will they be affordable for a larger segment of the population? Or does the end of cheap fossil energy spell the end of the individually owned car? If car-based transportation recedes, will mixed-use neighbourhoods play an essential role in the layout of new towns and people's daily lives? How will street landscapes and their uses change? Copying urban structures from the 20th century, heavily reliant on cheap fossil energy, might not be a good starting point.
To tackle important challenges such as this one, an innovative and flexible research centre, could quickly develop international partnerships and contextualise at a local level, to nourish the work and discussions on desert cities, like the new town of New Fayoum in Egypt. Egypt is far from alone in this need. On the contrary, Egypt could become a major centre of innovation on this front. As the world's population continues to grow, both in rural and urban areas, other desert countries are currently facing similar questions—and through climate change, some of today's existing towns in semiarid climate zones might become desert towns in future. One example of similar research is the Young Cities project, based on the case study of Hashtgerd new town in Iran, situated 65 kilometres west of Tehran [2].
Transparency in the decision-making process
Housing construction in New Fayoum © Christian Horn 2012
Historically, cities were founded primarily for geographical reasons: a crossing of trade routes, a river or port, a territory with fertile land or a strategic area for defence, for example. Well-situated cities on the lucky side of history had significant advantages. Some modern cities have had centuries to develop at a much slower pace than Egypt's new towns will experience.
Seeing a city like New Fayoum for the first time raised a question: Why build a city here? Why should people move to a desert town and what will life be like in there in ten, twenty years' time? There are surely reasons to build at a specific site, but these motives do not seem to be linked to economy, agriculture or defence. Instead, the reasons seem to hinge on political, administrative, or financial influences [3]. But those "hidden" reasons often do not assure the good development of the town, in the readily apparent way that geographical advantages do. It seems the local population does not trust the intentions behind these decisions, and they express this by ignoring the partly constructed new towns and by not settling down in them.
The process of decision-making must change in order to address the missing answers. Establishing transparency in decisions, debates, and understandable arguments is necessary to convince and attract future inhabitants and to get valuable feedback from the population about the strategy of the project. State authorities may also need to make strong gestures of support, investing in the promising future of these towns. Egypt can draw conclusions from its own experience, as its history of new town development started in 1977, over forty year ago, with the Tenth of Ramadan City. Projects in this first generation of new towns didn't often succeed and some of them are still in development, signs that there is space for improvements.
Egypt for instance, is a highly centralized country. In 1996, 43% of the country's public employees, 40% of its private employees and 40% of its industrial employees all lived in Cairo. Also, half of Egypt's universities were concentrated in the capital city[4]. So what employment opportunities or education facilities will be offert in the new towns? Creating or relocating important public facilities from their beginnings would be a strong gesture that the state supports the success of these towns, together with the development of an efficient public transport system between those new centralities, leading slowly to decentralisation of Egypt and a more balanced development of the country. The project of New Fayoum and other third-generation new towns can and should play a leading role in a new way of working, with an emphasis on constructive discussion and transparent decisions—a necessary step to bring New Fayoum and other new towns to life.
Starting with a community
Busy street life in Cairo © Christian Horn 2012
Living towns are not simply built on concrete foundations but on the human need for interaction. The actual master plans of some new towns with their separated zones (residential, service, tourism, and so on), do not illustrate the complexity of human interaction. People move to towns to find new and better opportunities to work, and to share their lives with others. They hope that in a busy community, where many people are living and working together, they will find a service to offer, a product to sell, and a customer base. They hope to integrate or build up a local community for support, shared experiences, and guidance.
Such opportunities exist in a mixed town, where people work close to their living spaces, where shops are situated in ground floors of office buildings, and where small factories are inside dense urban fabrics, with all the conflicts that arise out of this proximity. It cannot be achieved through large-scale zoning and mono-functional areas. An essential ambition to follow should be the development of at least one local job for every family moving to the new town.
The construction process should not advance in consecutive layers (roads, green spaces, housing, industry, and so on), but instead start with a well-planned core, where the main elements of a new town are built and begin service. A central square with transport facilities, a town hall, a market, a restaurant, a place of worship—these ingredients establish a local community that people can identify with and trust. Residents often bond with a stable, reliable home community rather than variable local authorities with few means and often depending on central administrations in their decisions.
Even if there is an urgent need of homes for their growing populations, housing should no longer be thought of purely as shelter. In the development of liveable towns, housing is a strong instrument in delivering resilient and sustainable urban communities. Instead of being polarized and often mono-functional, any future housing strategy will need to offer complete and graduated housing plans on different planning scales, ranging from individual neighbourhoods to the entire town. Housing presents one of the major cornerstones of urban development strategies.
In New Fayoum, while the construction of technical infrastructure and streets is far advanced, and unoccupied housing space for about 18,000 people has been built in one residential zone, other spaces for offices, shops, and leisure and health facilities are still under construction or not in service. A starting point could be a mobile grocery shop [5]: selling fresh bread, vegetables, fruits and other groceries from a truck on a regular daily schedule, parked at a central spot. Other services could include a school bus, a mobile health service, a mobile movie theatre, and public concerts. A similarly helpful step would be a regular, reliable, and inexpensive public bus service linking New Fayoum to Old Fayoum and other interesting regional attractions such as Lake Karoum. Soccer teams could be created in the new urban communities, with organised competitions. The first families to settle would be supported by a reliable service infrastructure. They'd have opportunities for social interaction; these mobile facilities would also create a first round of jobs.
Recomposing the stakeholders' relationship
Research on stabilized earth buildings by the HBRC in Cairo © Christian Horn 2012
Until now, the process of developing entirely new towns in Egypt seems to be a successive and sequenced intervention of the different stakeholders, with limited interactions and an unbalanced relationship between them. The opinions of project developers, construction companies, institutions and influential individuals were favoured in this process, while the voices of the local population went unheard. Taking into account the new social and political landscape, the development of new towns should be transformed into a process of continuous collaboration and interaction, building a balanced relationship between the main stakeholders during the whole development process. Public authorities have to guarantee the inclusion of the public interest from the beginning of the process, while other stakeholders are successively integrated in the project. Establishing and maintaining this balance is a complicated but necessary task for sustainable development and needs independent and skilful institutions.
The post is an extract of an article published in "New Medinas: Towards Sustainable New Towns?", Peter Lang – International Academic Publishers, 2013
Author: Christian Horn is the head of the architecture and urban planning office rethink
[1] United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
[2] "The project's overall ambition is to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies, technologies, and methodologies for sustainable, energy-efficient, and resilient urban settlements in arid and semiarid regions, especially the Tehran-Karaj region."
[3] Officially New Fayoum was established by presidential decree in 2000 to accommodate a population of 120,000 inhabitants.
[4] Source: Pierre-Arnaud Barthel, «Relire le Grand Caire au miroir de la densité», Confluences Méditerranée, number 75, automne 2010; quoted in the book of Jean-Pierre Sueur «Villes du futur, futur des villes».
[5] In Germany, the company Heiko offers mobile grocery shops to about 1,600 villages in the rural regions of Cologne and Trier.
World Congress of Architecture Berlin – Germany
Étiquettes : Egypt, English, New Fayoum, New town, Urban planning
civil design · novembre 14, 2018 at 08:10:12 · →
You have mentioned the importance of town planning in your blog. Reading to your blog I got the idea about town planning . It can be a great career to pursue for civil engineers.
← Playtime, le corps dans le décor – France
The Baltic Pearl, St Petersburg – Russia →


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A Focused Light on the Opioid Crisis
Gary Seidler April 1, 2018
Kudos to media giants of the past and present Time magazine and Netflix for shining a focused and humane light on the worst addiction epidemic in US history: the opioid crisis.
According to the Huffington Post, In 2016, the annual overdose death count reached nearly 64,000, more than three times as many as in 1999. It surpassed the number of fatalities from automobile crashes and homicides, becoming the number one cause of death among Americans age fifty and younger (Vestal, 2018).
But statistics alone can't tell the story.
Time magazine, for the first time in its ninety-five-year history, devoted an entire issue, "The Opioid Diaries" (March 5, 2018), to one photographer's work. Veteran conflict photographer James Nachtwey travelled across the country to gather sto-ries from users, families, first responders, and others at the heart of the epidemic.
The editors of Time wrote, "We are in the midst of a national emergency that affects every state, every income group, and virtually every age. While the burden has fallen disproportionately on the least-educated Americans, tens of millions of us are no more than one degree of separation from someone struggling with addiction" (Goldberger, Pollack, & Vella, 2018).
An equally compelling portrait is the Oscar-nominated original short documentary film Heroin(e), produced by Netflix and cohosted by The Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Heroin(e) chronicles the once bustling industrial town of Huntington, West Virginia that has now become the epicenter of America's opioid epidemic—with an overdose rate ten times the national average. But within this distressed landscape, Pea-body Award-winning filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Hollow) shows a different side of the opioid crisis—one of hope.
The film highlights three women working to change the town's narrative and break the devastating cycle of substance use one person at a time. As America's opioid crisis threatens to tear towns and communities apart, Heroin(e) shows how the chain of compassion holds one town together.
Heroin(e) is the film we need now, because it gives us hope; it shows us that individuals, in practicing kindness and in treating this as a health issue, can and will make a difference; and it shows that there are solutions that work in this public health emergency (Feliz, 2018).
While "The Opioid Diaries" reflects a national warzone, like Heroin(e) it also shows signs of hope from the people who are dealing with the crisis at street level. As Nachtwey stated, "They are refusing to allow our country to be defined by this prob-lem. They are helping find solutions. We must join them" (Moakley, & Nachtwey, 2018).
And indeed we must.
Feliz, J. (2018). Partnership cohosts Heroin(e) Netflix documentary film screening in New York City. Retrieved from https://drugfree.org/newsroom/news-item/partnership-co-hosts-heroine-netflix-documentary-film-screening-new-york-city/
Goldberger, B., Pollack, K., & Vella, M. (Eds.). (2018). Our national crisis. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/opioid-addiction-epidemic-in-america
Moakley, P., & Nachtwey, J. (2018). The opioid diaries. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/james-nachtwey-opioid-addiction-america/
Vestal, C. (2018). Overdose deaths fall in fourteen states. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/overdose-deaths-fall-in-14-states_us_ 5a8ef368e4b05ffbefca1690
Dr. Jennifer Leslie Gray Golick, PhD
All of us at U.S. Journal Training, Inc. and Counselor magazine were shocked and saddened to learn of the death of colleague and respected faculty member Dr. Jennifer Golick.
The Jennifer Golick Memorial Scholarship has been established by Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services. Muir Wood founder and Executive Director Scott Sowle speaks for each of us:
"We live in an unfortunate reality where unspeakable gun violence is too often overlooked. I want Jennifer's incredible spirit to remain always in focus. Jennifer was integral in the development and the heart of the program at Muir Wood for many years. I've heard from so many boys and families since her passing who are devastated by this loss. Boys have told me that they are alive today because of her. If there is a place where the best of us go after this life, Jennifer is most certainly there."
Gary Seidler
Consulting Executive Editor
Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction & Behavioral Health Professionals,
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May I extend a warm welcome to you from the pupils, staff and Governors of Gulworthy School.
We all firmly believe Gulworthy is a unique school. We are situated in the heart of the beautiful Tamar Valley; the school is steeped in over 150 years of social, industrial and rural history. Gulworthy School has an established sense of "place" within both the local environment and community - something we consider a major strength in an ever-changing and fast-paced modern world.
The school has a crystal clear core purpose - to simply put children and learning at the heart of everything we do. Our aim is to establish a love of learning in our pupils by developing and building on their creativity and curiosity. Further details on how we achieve this can be found in our Vision and Aims statement - please use the link on the home page.
We are an inclusive school and we ensure all pupils are included in the life of the school whatever their age, ability, disability or ethnic background.
Our pupils are proud to attend Gulworthy and this is reflected in high standards of work, behaviour and attainment. All our staff are committed to ensuring the school continues to strive for excellence, for the best for all pupils and for that ultimate enjoyment and satisfaction gained from learning. Our school community including pupils, parents, governors, support staff and teachers works collectively to ensure we are a happy, hard working and successful team.
We strongly encourage all prospective parents to visit our school and see all the pupils and staff at work for themselves. Please contact the school office to make an appointment. We look forward to meeting you.
Mrs Melody Sterry
Goodbye Mrs Lane
St Paul's decorations
21st September, 2020


I saw this play first in one of the Victor Mollo "Menagerie" books, and so gave myself a mental "pat on the back" for recognizing an opportunity to play the role of Hideous Hog in real life. If gambit play intrigues you, there are also more advanced versions of the idea in Ottlik and Kelsey's marvelous book Adventures in Card Play. You can find more information about both these authors by clicking here, which will take you to an article where I describe my favorite books of all time.
Unfortunately, my play on this hand was far better than my bidding, so even with the success of my "gambit," I still had to go down one (this would never happen to Mollo's Hog, of course). But, even though this was a Flight A event, I received a surprisingly well above average score for -100, so there was some reward beyond the sheer fun of doing it.
Ideally you would like to make a penalty double here, but you are playing with a fine partner who plays in the modern style, so a double by you here would be for take-out. Probably I should pass, but at the table I decided to bid 5 Clubs, which ended the auction. This is a poor bid as it is unlikely I will be able to dispose of my many heart losers: East will certainly be able to over-ruff dummy.
Prospects are bleak. Dummy has some decent cards, but due to the blockages in spades and diamonds I'm completely cut off from them. The diamond lead is strange; if West had eight hearts she would have all the outstanding hearts, therefore a suit headed by the AKQ -- and so would never have opened a diamond. I'm guessing she has only seven hearts, perhaps headed by the AQJ10 with her partner having the singleton king. None of this helps me very much -- if I try to ruff hearts in dummy, East will surely overruff; if I try to draw trumps, they hold up their ace until the second round, then take four heart tricks. Either way I'm likely to be down three.
Now the key play -- instead of pulling East's last trump with my high trump I intentionally execute a "gambit" play by leading instead my 2 of trumps. East makes an unexpected second trump trick, and can cash her Ace of hearts, but has to concede the rest to dummy, as spades are splitting 3-3. I get to discard all three of my little hearts on the revived dummy -- I've gambited one trick and won back three!
Now that I look back on it, I notice an interesting symmetry to the hand, with myself having blockages in spades and diamonds with my AK doubleton and A singleton, but the defenders also suffering from the blockage of their singleton A of hearts. South couldn't get to North and East couldn't get to West and thus had to play the role of stepping-stone to allow declarer to cross the river.


Super Rich Thailand (Head Office Rajdamri Soi 1) near Big C on Ratchadamri Road is the place for best exchange rates in Bangkok. These people function like a bank. Currency exchange process here starts with taking a copy of the customer's passport. Photocopy machine is on the right side after entering. The customer is then asked to write his/her hotel name on the passport copy and sent on to stand in one of the queues. At the counter, they count the money and give a token to the customer. Wait again, this time outside the queue. At last they call the token number on a public address system and one gets the desired currency with a printed receipt. The extra money one gets because of the favorable exchange rate makes all the hassle worth enduring. The place is air conditioned, and cool drinking water is available. Monday – Friday open from 9.00am to 6.00pm and Saturday/public holiday 9.30am to 4.30pm. You can see the exchange rates offered by Super Rich (Thailand) on their website which is updated several times during the day. This is the link: Current Super Rich Thailand Bangkok Exchange Rates. Just remember that by the time you get to their office the rates may have changed again, so don't get alarmed.
At the time of updating this article, Super Rich Thailand had at least one branch and 12 other kiosk locations in Bangkok (see list below). They even have a kiosk at Phuket International Airport and one counter at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Airport Link train area. I have yet to verify their exchange rates at the airport locations but if you are going there after seeing the rates on their website, you will know if there is any difference.
Getting to Super Rich Thailand is easy. You can either get down at Chit Lom, Siam, or Ratchadamri BTS Skytrain stations. Ask someone for directions to Big C. It is walking distance from all the three stations but Siam and Chit Lom are a closer. Going from Chit Lom/Ratchadamri/Siam station, you will reach Big C as in the above picture. Walk past Big C and at the next main turn go right and again ask someone for Super Rich Thailand. It is very close from there.
18/4 Soi Vibhavadi 22, Vibhavadi – Rangsit Rd.
Super Rich (1965) has orange sign boards like you see in the picture above. Lately, the competition among these two exchange shops has increased so much that the staff of Super Rich (1965) stand opposing the entrance of Super Rich (Thailand) and try to call the customers to come to their shop instead. If that happens to you, you should just ignore them because the exchange rates offered by Super Rich (1965) are not as good. I have compared their exchange rates with those offered by Super Rich (Thailand) on different occasions and always found Super Rich (Thailand)'s rates to be better. For that matter I have compared Super Rich (Thailand)'s exchange rates with dozens of exchange shops & counters in Bangkok and never saw anyone beating Super Rich (Thailand).
5.00 pm. – 7.00 pm.
Address : 4 Pattanakarn 20, Pattanakarn Road, Suanluang, 10250.
Address : Thanya Park branch is open now, we are on 2nd Floor, B building. (Opposite Passport Office).
Phaya Thai Rd. Wangmai, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330.
10.30 am – 8.00 pm.
Phloen Chit Rd. Lumpini, pathumwan , Bangkok 10330.
Address : Central EastVille 69,69/1,69/2 Praditmanutham.Rd Ladprao Bangkok.
Sukhumvit Rd. Klongton, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110 .
Address : On BTS Skytrain, Nana station (Down stairs from the station).
Address : On BTS Skytrain, On-Nut station Exit 1.
Address : MRT Sukhumvit Station Exit 1.
Address : On MRT Subway, Petchburi Station Exit 1, on the connect line to Airport Rail Link.
Address :MRT Phra Ram 9 Station Exit 2, on the connect line to Central Plaza Grand Rama 9.
Address :Booth No. SVB RC29. Bangna-Trad Rd., Rachathewa Sub_Dist, Bangplee Dist, Samut Prakarn.
We are on Basement, near ARL Express Line.
06.00 am – 11.00 pm.
We are on the connection line between ARL & BTS Phayathai Station.
10.00 am – 8.00 pm.
Address : 36 Langsuan Rd. Lumpini Pathumwan Bangkok.
Money exchange shops and counter can be found everywhere in Bangkok and I know it will not always be possible for you to go to Super Rich (Thailand). If you are forced to change money elsewhere, just try to compare the exchange rates being offered to you with the Online Rates of Super Rich (Thailand). That way at least you will know how much extra premium you are paying.


With over 35 years of history in the Irish insurance market First Ireland has built up a strong relationship with many of the major underwriters in Ireland.
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Cover for: Punctures - Lost Keys - Petrol Shortages.
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Acceptance, terms and conditions apply.
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions.


text:
Q: Publish/Export Independent Modules in Angular I am having a business problem where i have multiple small applications running on Angular. Now Business wants to have one common Shell/application to open these small applications as modules. To be more specific i want to design a system where multiple small applications can be launch/hosted from one common application, for ex, i have Weather application, News Application and Music application built on Angular, now i want these small applications to be open from one common application much like in portlet and portal manner.
I am looking for approaches on how i can create and publish only modules from Angular and is this a good approach to implement Portlet-Portal concept in Angular.
Any reference/work/suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Nitin

A: I think you just make it a site, and all of your existing smaller applications become different pages in your Single Page Application, they would each be a component. You could use angular client side routing to go from page to page.


text:
Q: How to count number of rows in MySQL table (PHP PDO) This is my code
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT tmdb_movies.movie_title,tmdb_movies.tmdb_id, count (tmdb_id),GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT genres.genres_name) AS genres_name

FROM tmdb_movies

JOIN genres USING (tmdb_id)

GROUP BY tmdb_movies.movie_title,tmdb_movies.tmdb_id

HAVING find_in_set('$category1', genres_name) AND find_in_set('$category2', genres_name)

LIMIT $limit OFFSET $start");

     // Then fire it up
     $stmt->execute();

 // Pick up the result as an array
 $result = $stmt->fetchAll();

Since i cannot calculate total number of rows which include $category1 and $category2 in the same code, I added this code before it.
$sql = "SELECT count(tmdb_id),group_concat(genres.genres_name) AS genres_name

 FROM `tmdb_movies`

JOIN genres USING (tmdb_id)
GROUP BY tmdb_movies.tmdb_id
HAVING find_in_set('$category1', genres_name) AND find_in_set('$category2', genres_name) ";

$result = $conn->prepare($sql);
$result->execute();
$totalrows = $result->rowCount();
echo $totalrows;

But $totalrows echo 3 here. But their a lot more rows than 3.

A: you are overriding the $stmt after execute using fetchAll()
so instead try this
$stmt->execute();
 $totalrows = $stmt->rowCount();
 echo $totalrows;
 // Pick up the result as an array
 $result = $stmt->fetchAll();

A: Try rowCount() for count number of rows
$totalrows = $stmt->rowCount();

A: try this
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS tmdb_movies.movie_title,tmdb_movies.tmdb_id, count (tmdb_id),GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT genres.genres_name) AS genres_name

FROM tmdb_movies

JOIN genres USING (tmdb_id)

GROUP BY tmdb_movies.movie_title,tmdb_movies.tmdb_id

HAVING find_in_set('$category1', genres_name) AND find_in_set('$category2', genres_name)

LIMIT $limit OFFSET $start");

     // Then fire it up
     $stmt->execute();

 // Pick up the result as an array
 $result = $stmt->fetchAll();
 $conn->prepare('SELECT FOUND_ROWS() as COUNT');
 $conn->execute();
 $count = $conn->fetchColumn();
 echo $count; //here's your total count

A:     //This is the best answer ever to this questions since mysqli is deprecated
    //this is the code to get the total number of rows
         $handler = new PDO(DB_HOST, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD); $stmt = $handler->prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS totalRows FROM table_name ');
         $stmt->execute();
         $row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
         $totalRows = $row['totalRows']; ?>
         //this prints the total number of rows
        echo $totalRows;


text:
Godly Hunter Chapter 70
Previous Chapter | Project Page | Next Chapter
"Is there anyone else who has a speciality like yourself in Shadow City, Boss Boboa?" After learning Decomposition, Chen Mo furtively slipped a gold coin into Boboa's hands again.
He knew Boboa was a greedy NPC. Chen Mo wanted to try and see if he could get more information out of him since his human favour points seemed to be working well.
Boboa's eyes lit up again and he quickly pocketed the gold coin, but he sighed, "You are very sincere, Adventurer. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about this."
WTF? You don't know and you still took the coin?!
Chen Mo parted with yet another gold coin. The damn fatty pocketed it again without hesitation but this time, his words were different. "Please don't do this, Adventurer. I really don't know anything."
You fat, greedy bastard. Others probably would have cracked at two gold coins but he still wanted more!
Chen Mo gave Boboa another gold coin and he snatched it up like lightning, all the while saying, "You can't do this. How can you do this? Oh, you're putting me on the spot."
Damn it! Still not talking!
Chen Mo relinquished his last two gold coins unto Boboa, determined that if this fatty still kept mum, he would kill him given the chance and see it as a merit to humankind.
Boboa seemed to sense Chen Mo's killing intent, for this time, he finally glanced cautiously about himself, as though afraid of being seen, then quietly said to Chen Mo, "Since you're so very sincere, Adventurer, and seeing as you've learnt Medicine brewing, I'll tell you something. Be warned though, I am only telling you what I know and whether you succeed or not depends on your own ability. That wretch is a strange one and she ignores normal people, especially upstanding ones like yourself. I'm afraid she will chase you away on sight."
"What does it have to do with Medicine brewing?", asked Chen Mo curiously.
"Heh heh. You didn't know this but there are many types of medicine brewing skills in this world. The one you Adventurers learn is only a very basic skill. Of course, even if it's very basic it is also the easiest and most useful skill. That wench learnt a Medicine brewing skill that is detrimental to us humans so she has been ostracised. She now lives in the wilderness beyond the gates of Shadow City and over the years her personality has become warped." Boboa smiled impishly.
"If this skill is detrimental to humans, what is the use in me learning it?" Chen Mo felt cheated. His five gold coins might have just gone down the drain.
"I'm tens of years younger than that wench and I was still a butt-naked babe when she was kicked out of Shadow City. What I know is all from rumours and gossip so I can't answer you, but take the Decomposition skill I taught you as an example. It was banned because breaking down equipment reduces the number of equipment available to humans." Boboa smiled wolfishly as he explained.
The wench Boboa talked about was Elena. Chen Mo asked for her location and exited Shadow City.
Outside Shadow City was Forest of Shadows.
Those who'd never been to Forest of Shadows would think it was a gloomy forest.
Chen Mo also thought that way when he heard the name of the forest. However, when players went to Shadow City and to Forest of Shadows, they realised how mistaken they were.
This was not a forest but a grove of huge trees, full of light!
The trees grew out of ash-black ground and each tree had a diameter of four to five metres and measured over 100 metres high!
These trees were astoundingly huge and their roots coiled and intersected with each other, forming arches and bridges. In contrast, the leaves on the trees were pitiably little and only small scattered patches of green showed against the trunk of the huge trees.
If the human city were not at his back, Chen Mo would have thought that he'd come to a land of giants.
There were large spaces between trees but huge roots poked from the ground, intertwining on the ash-black ground, covering up the spaces and making the trees seem closer than they were.
Sunlight passed through these roots, and formed a halo of colour.
Monsters spawned around the roots and many players took advantage of the cover of the roots to kill monsters more easily. However, this only worked well for Level 11 to 13 monsters. After Level 14 and up, it was difficult to use the roots to block monster attacks.
Player levels were still low and it was very crowded around Shadow City, making it seem like another beginner village where many were going about kill-stealing. What was different was that PK (Player Kill) was now allowed. Chen Mo did not go far before spotting two or three teams fighting each other.
There were more people than monsters in the Level 11 to 13 range so no monster slowed Chen Mo's movements. Elena lived not far from Shadow City and he found a wooden hut under the arch of a giant tree root after about ten minutes of walking.
The wooden hut stood out. Even from afar, Chen Mo could see a group of players loitering in front of the hut.
Many players on the forums had unlocked hidden quests, and Elena's special abode looked like a place from which the players could not help but try their luck in getting a hidden quest.
"Get lost, all of you! I won't hold back if you keep bothering me!"
Elena's temper was as Boboa had said – bad. She had been harassed by the Adventurer newcomers these past few days and she was at her limit.
"Master Elena, we are deeply sincere in wanting to learn from you. We will help you wholeheartedly – we will do anything you ask of us!"
The group pleaded earnestly.
Elena was dressed in black magic robes trimmed with silver, lending her the mysterious air of someone with hidden depths.
"Shoo, or I'll kill you in three seconds!" Elena shouted, her face a cold mask.
"Master Elena, please trust our sincerity…" The group did not give up easily but some quietly backed away after hearing her words.
"Pah! I've warned you! I'll grant you your death wish!"
Elena lost her temper and released a cloud of blood-red powder at the players with a wave of her hand.
"Shit! I've been poisoned! This NPC can actually kill people!"
The expressions of the players who'd been hit by the blood-red powder turned sour.
-500 damage points floated above the 10+ players' heads one after another, forming a small cloud of -500 numbers. It was a sight to behold, indeed.
The players were only around Level 12 or so and their HP were in the 1000 range. The high poison damage felled them all in two or three seconds and they died.
"Holy shit. Good thing I moved away quickly."
"Forget it, let's go grind levels. Approaching that NPC is a waste of time."
The surviving players' expressions changed and they stayed away, glad to be alive.
The players quickly departed and soon, only Chen Mo was left.
It was only then that Chen Mo had a good look at Elena.
Then, he was struck dumb.
From Boboa's description, he'd thought Elena to be an old woman of 70 but he had to toss out that notion after seeing her with his own eyes.
The Elena he saw had no trace of advanced aging – she was a mature red-haired lady in her thirties.
Looked like Elena was not a normal NPC!
Elena was harder to deal with than Boboa had said. If it were anyone else, the five gold coins invested in Boboa would have gone to waste but Chen Mo had dealt with people like this before!
Chen Mo equipped his Hoodlum title in one quick move!
4 Responses to Godly Hunter Chapter 70
Seals says:
Lord Sioks says:
This damned shameless shop owner XD
Jorich was here
I thought it was the Degenerate title. LOL


This property has been featured all over the internet so I'm sure most of you have seen it already but it's really stunning and I want to keep a record of it for myself. In short, Michelle Bridges bought this with her now ex-husband and they did it up and sold it. Not sure if they ever even lived in it.
I don't care if Ms Bridges got a decorator in or did this herself because the end result is breathtaking. I'm told it sold this week for the mid-4 millions which is pretty impressive for a non-waterfront in Birchgrove. I'm particularly taken with the bathrooms but the whole place just really floats my boat.
Everything about this kitchen wins.


text:
Home » Global » Asia & the Pacific » Salute on the Communist Party of China's 100th Anniversary
Salute on the Communist Party of China's 100th Anniversary
By Sara Flounders posted on June 21, 2021
The following statement was written in collective consultation with the Workers World Party Executive Committee and editorial staff for the July 1, 2021 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Workers World Party, founded in 1959, is a Marxist-Leninist party in the U.S. From its beginning, Workers World has been a staunch supporter of the 1949 Chinese Revolution, with great appreciation for the guiding role of the Communist Party of China in that revolution. As a revolutionary working-class party in the center of world imperialism, we are determined to defend all the gains of our class on a world scale. We are making the following essay available to a broad audience so we have included some history not widely known in the U.S. that shows the differences between the U.S. and China.
For 5,000 years, China was one of the world's most advanced societies in culture, art and technology. It came under attack in the 18th and 19th centuries from powers whose rapid capitalist development gave them a temporary advantage in military and industrial power. This advantage led to several hundred years of the colonial looting of China and much of East and South Asia. Unequal treaties and military occupation reduced China to a country of staggering poverty, famines, social chaos, enforced underdevelopment and wars.
Most people brought up in the United States know little of the past intervention by the U.S. and other imperialist countries into China. They are unaware that, in the 19th century, armed units from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Japan imposed their will on Chinese cities. The U.S. Navy had fleets of armored ships patrolling Chinese rivers and coastal waters. This most brutal gunboat diplomacy imposed unequal treaties to reinforce their military occupations, while making China pay these imperialist countries huge indemnities. With U.S. participation, Britain unleashed two Opium Wars on China to enforce its "right" to sell opium. They called it "free trade."
When students mobilized against Chinese rulers who were compliant to the imperialists, they were repressed. A nationalist movement grew. Until 1921, despite the courage of its young participants, they were unable to coalesce into a movement that could mobilize the masses of people — one-quarter of the world at that time — and liberate China.
What changed in 1921 was the founding of the Communist Party of China. In the following century, the CPC led a great revolutionary upheaval of hundreds of millions of workers and peasants. By providing leadership, education and organization to the mass resistance, the CPC led the Chinese Revolution to victory. It drove out the imperialist occupying powers and broke the stranglehold of corrupt warlords, landlords and feudal elements.
Strengths of the CPC
Perhaps the most admirable characteristics of the CPC throughout its history have been (1) its ability to change strategy and tactics when confronted with new developments; (2) as a party with state power, the ability to plan far in advance, taking advantage of the socialist organization of the Chinese economy; and (3) its ability to mobilize the Chinese masses to support any changes in policy.
There have been several tumultuous historical eras since the founding of the Communist Party of China. Historic change never happens in a straight line. Change is dialectical, filled with contradiction, with sharp, sometimes unexpected twists based on material conditions. Throughout the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China has maintained its ability to move in a revolutionary direction, even through the most difficult periods.
The CPC overcame its first big challenge to adapt when, driven out of their base territory by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, its cadre went on a Long March of 7,000 miles and created a new base. Despite great casualties, this solidified the organization. Reacting to the Japanese invasion, the CPC gave priority to fighting Japanese imperialism over fighting the Nationalists. Reacting to the globe-shattering experience of World War II, the CPC took advantage of the contradictions among the imperialist powers — in particular, the war between the U.S. and Japan — to help liberate China.
With the end of that war, China was freed of the Japanese imperialists, but it faced a new would-be exploiter. The CPC, however, defied the victorious U.S. military and pressed a class war of the peasants and workers against the Nationalist (Kuomintang) government. The Red Army finally restored sovereignty to nearly all of the country in October 1949, placing the Communist Party in power in the People's Republic of China.
October 1949: People's Republic of China
The CPC chairperson, Mao Zedong, promised the new Communist government would ensure stable development and broad prosperity while resisting foreign intervention.
Mao declared: "[T]he Chinese people, comprising one-quarter of humanity, have now stood up! The Chinese have always been a great, courageous and industrious nation; it is only in modern times that they have fallen behind. And that was due entirely to oppression and exploitation by foreign imperialism and domestic reactionary governments. For over a century our forefathers never stopped waging unyielding struggles against domestic and foreign oppressors."
Mao warned: "Every day and every minute the imperialists will try to stage a comeback. This is inevitable and beyond all doubt.
"It is because we have defeated the reactionary Kuomintang government backed by U.S. imperialism that this great unity of the whole people has been achieved. . . . We shall emerge in the world as a nation with an advanced culture. Our national defense will be consolidated, and no imperialists will ever again be allowed to invade our land."
The role of the Communist Party of China was essential in reversing colonial ruin and imperialist occupation and looting. The CPC's firm leadership transformed the country into a united, well-organized developing society.
During the early years after the 1949 victory, an enormous reorganization took place at every level of society. The revolutionary changes in land distribution, collectivization, reorganization of industry and the Five-Year Plans made dramatic changes for millions still struggling to free themselves from a feudal class society. Infrastructure, literacy and health care were put on a new basis. This was a constant process of experimentation with rapid change.
The new republic faced U.S. imperialist hostility, which after 1949 imposed an embargo on all trade and investment in an effort to economically strangle the newborn People's Republic of China. The U.S. set up a Kuomintang government on China's island of Taiwan and, while invading the Korean peninsula in 1950, threatened invasion of the PRC. Despite this U.S. hostility, the PRC's successes were an inspiration to liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America and even inspired many revolutionary youth in the imperialist countries.
1979: Opening to foreign capital
While far from the only crossroad the CPC faced in the early decades of the PRC, the 1979 decision to open the country to foreign capital investment and to allow individual capitalist development had an impact that continues today. There were times that great surges of foreign capital and growing inequality within China appeared to threaten its socialist system. As it turned out, an organized and centrally planned focus on raising the economic level of the whole population, especially in rural and most underdeveloped areas, maintained a socialist direction.
There is no doubt that enormous economic development has taken place since 1949, accelerating in recent decades. China has met and exceeded the basic material needs of its 1.4 billion population. More than 800 million people have been pulled out of dire poverty, something without precedent in modern history. The lives and expectations of the average person have been transformed. This revolutionary accomplishment deserves to be celebrated and studied.
From an illiteracy rate of more than 80% in 1949, literacy is now universal. China graduates more students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) from their own universities than the rest of the world combined.
Nevertheless, the CPC leadership rightfully calls China "still developing."
While China's economy can now compete successfully on a world scale, the CPC advocates "building a community with a shared future for humanity." China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative provides infrastructure loans, equipment and training to countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America for a network of trade routes. It plans for new rail lines, ports, highways, pipelines, telecommunications facilities and energy centers linking more than 60 countries on four continents. It includes financing to promote urban planning, potable water, sanitation and food development. China is calling it the "plan of the century."
U.S. imperialism's strategists fear that China's huge, unfolding global infrastructure projects could challenge the U.S.-led world order. Unable to match Chinese aid, U.S.-funded nongovernmental organizations and media outlets are waging widely publicized scare campaigns against these sorely needed development projects. They are aimed at disrupting countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Defending equality, health and the environment
The CPC has taken the lead in finding solutions to two of the major issues facing humanity today: in the short term, the COVID-19 crisis; and in the long term, the environmental crisis. And the CPC has taken decisions that defend equality within China.
The Chinese working class now numbers 623 million people. Its social weight and political consciousness are growing. Thousands of job actions have consolidated new and steady gains in pay and working conditions. The capacity of the working class to organize all future society will be decisive. By comparison, in the U.S., despite constant growth in the productivity of labor, the pay scale has not increased in the past 40 years, and the level of unionization was forced down to 10.8%, via decades of union busting and offshoring work from formerly unionized industries.
On March 4, 2014, the 3,000 delegates to China's National People's Congress voted to reassert greater national control over development through conscious plans to reduce poverty, increase social programs and benefits, combat extreme pollution and build a sustainable environment.
Even the World Economic Forum says the world can learn from China's example. Some 90% of the world's estimated 385,000 electric buses are in China today. Only 1.6% of the world's electric city buses are in Europe, and less than 1% are in the U.S.
Today China leads the world in clean energy investment. Dramatic changes in major population centers show that it is possible, if decisive actions are taken, to begin to restore the environment and dramatically improve the quality of life.
Even three years ago an article in the Economist magazine of March 15, 2018, reported that China "through a combination of subsidies, policy targets and manufacturing incentives had spent more on cleaning up its energy system than America and the EU combined."
Learning more about what China is doing to clean the environment, and understanding why it is structurally and politically able to do so, should open the eyes of environmental activists about what is possible.
The problem in the U.S. that holds back and even reverses programs to mitigate pollution and climate change is that this highly developed country is dominated by a decaying capitalist system and a ruling class desperate to maximize its quarterly profits at the expense of any long-term planning.
COVID-19 confirmed difference in social systems
The starkest comparison between these two social systems is reflected in the global pandemic. China's success in containing the virus and providing vaccines to the world is an enormous scientific, social and medical accomplishment. Its containment of the disease, due to its centrally planned economy, has enabled China to become a force able to provide medical supplies and essential personal protective equipment on a global scale.
It is now able to provide hundreds of millions of doses of lifesaving vaccines. China is not only sharing the vaccines globally; more important, it is sharing the technology involved in making the vaccines with the world.
Capitalist private ownership is the biggest roadblock to solving any global problem that endangers the public good. This is confirmed by the COVID disaster in the U.S. The lack of free, accessible national health care and the compartmentalized, competitive, for-profit medical/pharmaceutical industry are a deadly combination.
It is of historic and decisive importance that the CPC leadership refuses to yield its direction of the development of Chinese society and the economy. China continues to be committed to using central planning to guide the development of essential infrastructure and central banks.
U.S. imperialism is incapable of matching China's incredible humanitarian effort. So it is hardly surprising that China's global aid is repeatedly criticized by the U.S. corporate media and Washington think tanks.
U.S. escalates economic and war threats
Every social relationship is subject to constant change, contention and struggle — in this case, a struggle between two contending social systems. The billionaire deciders and power brokers of U.S. imperialism are totally hostile to the dramatic improvements in the lives of hundreds of millions of people in China. Whether its stunning growth will continue — despite U.S. imperialism's determined effort to stop it with tariffs, a trade war and military encirclement — is now debated in U.S. ruling–class circles. As the Washington Post has explained: "The trade war isn't about trade. The trade war is about the United States trying to contain China and counteract its rise." (Sept. 24, 2018)
The corporate owners, their strategists and think tanks are forced to admit that most of their hopes and dreams that the Chinese government could be easily overwhelmed and that Wall Street would find an open road into China are now dashed by the reality of a stable government that has wide mass support amid growing prosperity.
U.S., British and other Western policy strategists have been unable to either overtake or overturn socialism in China. Their past machinations were based on the premise that the capitalist market would quickly overwhelm China's socialist revolution. That premise proved false.
Nevertheless, they have extended the trade war by imposing a ban on software and electronic components in an effort to block China's companies from all global markets. The implications are far-reaching.
U.S. warships have escalated their so-called "Freedom of Navigation" exercises, sailing through the busy waterways of the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy has sent guided missile destroyers through the narrow Straits of Taiwan. There are now regular monthly offensives.
The "pivot to Asia" is a major military reorientation of the Pentagon war machine to focus on China. Aircraft carriers with nuclear weapons, destroyers, nuclear submarines and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile batteries are being moved into place.
The Biden administration is escalating the Trump administration's hostility. It has asked Congress for more than $27 billion over five years to build a curtain of missile bases and satellite systems around China, including a constellation of radar on space platforms.
The bitter turmoil in Hong Kong stems from imperialism's effort to create a crisis to stop China's steady development. Hostile propaganda charging genocide in Xinjiang is another effort to attack China's international standing and justify a new round of U.S. sanctions.
Powerful forces in the U.S., both Republicans and Democrats, are determined to exert heavy political, military and economic pressures on China to undermine state planning and state-owned industries.
Opposing imperialist war and anti-communist propaganda is never a popular position in the imperialist center. In the capitalist U.S., every social relation is poisoned with systemic racism, deeply ingrained bigotry, competitive arrogance and anti-working-class bias. Class consciousness cannot be built without building working-class solidarity with all the struggling peoples of the world.
The historic loss of socialist planning for the working class in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has had global implications. This loss reaffirms that a communist party must provide an essential bulwark against imperialist overturn.
U.S. imperialism is attempting to maintain its faltering grip on world domination and prevent the rise of People's China — which offers an alternative world order based on multilateralism, mutually beneficial economic relations and noninterference in internal affairs, under the leadership of the CPC.
The past 20 years of U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have proven by every measure an absolute disaster for U.S. imperialism's dreams of conquest and recolonization.
China — with a population many times larger than all these countries combined — with advanced technology, internal cohesion and many trading partners, is now in a stronger position to resist arrogant U.S. demands. Nevertheless, clarity and militant working-class solidarity are still essential in opposing all threats to China from U.S. imperialism and its giant military machine. Its allies include those who oppose imperialism from within.
Workers World Party salutes the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. We have much to learn and a world to win. U.S. imperialism — Hands off China!
Market Elections: How democracy serves the rich


Back to School Brings Challenges, Blessings and Gratitude!
Every mom has the picture of her baby's first day of school. Proud and nervous he stands in his shiny new clothes with his shiny new backpack. Some pictures tell a slightly different story. Here's MY picture of my daughters' first day of school ever!
No new clothes or backpacks, they wouldn't let me drive them to school but shrugged off my hugs and trudged up the country lane to their bus stop. My big girls!!
Ok, they ARE in Junior High. But it was STILL their FIRST day of school - ever. We've always homeschooled - and liked the lifestyle and the flexibility it afforded us. We homeschooled for many reasons, including the ability to tailor the educational experience to the child. Well, and the fact that I would have made a HORRIBLE public-school parent.
Me: "Why are you teaching fractions to a child who can't yet add?"
"Why did you give her an "A" on this paper? She's mixed up their/there and has no subject-verb agreement on that last sentence."
"No, we're not going to cancel our plans this weekend so she can draw a picture of a turkey. That's not a good use of her time."
Trust me - the teachers would have put out a contract on me in no time. I would have seriously flunked out.
So....why are 2/3 of my kids now attending school? They wanted to go. One was more interested than the other, but after a tour and some serious grilling of the assistant principal they both decided to try the school adventure.
…so I thought the GPS was supposed to keep me from wandering around in circles?
I like maps. I like planning my route, calculating the best routes, rest stops and note worthy attractions. I like leaving a congested highway and making my way on back roads, with only the most basic of maps to keep me heading in the chosen direction. I'm famous for my "shortcuts" – and most of them involve dirt roads. Reading maps has given me an innate sense of direction (note: unless I'm in DC, then all bets are off). I can be on a dirt road surrounded by cornfields – and simply "know" which direction leads to home.
As a map connoisseur, I rejected the GPS with the conviction a Coke Classic lover showed for New Coke. I snickered over stories of hapless individuals driving into walls or off of bridges while following their electronic masters. Really? A little common sense, please! You see? This is what happens when we rely on electronics instead of our brains, people!
Pride goeth before a fall. And mine fell when I landed a training contract that required me to drive all around two states, making dozens of stops along the way. I started with my maps, of course. It took HOURS to plot my route. I eventually succumbed and bought a highly rated GPS – and I was on my way!
I took to my new GPS toy the way a dieter takes to dessert buffet. It was so easy! All I had to do was follow Lola's (yup, Lola!) rather annoying insistent vocal commands – and I magically arrived at my desired destination! So easy! I'll admit to feeling frustrated by her determination to keep me on the major intersections – I much prefer short cuts and back roads. And so, I would deliberately turn OFF Lola's preferred path – and when she got too vocal in her objections – I shut her off. I think everyone should come with an OFF button – don't you?
Plumbers, Mechanics and More. Oh Joy.
It's been one of those weeks. Everything in my life is making odd noises: the minivan, the pump, the children. (ok, the children's noises may have been due to the sheer number of kids involved.) Nonetheless, having to deal with a plumber AND a mechanic in the same day left me feeling quite sorry for myself (and my wallet).
As the mercury rises and we brace ourselves for yet ANOTHER stretch of nasty weather - it's time to ask ourselves..."Was all that hairspray of the 60's and 70's REALLY worth it???"
We all know the standard dangers of extreme heat - heat stroke, heart attacks, etc. (yada yada yada) - but for me, the dangers of heat are MUCH more, well, dangerous!
I hope everyone had a good Winter and Spring season. It is hard to believe another canning season has arrived. It seems like everyone at some time has a glut of cucumbers and the recipes that follow are some of my favorite ways to preserve them.
This is a recipe I have won a Blue Ribbon on at Cecil County Fair.
Wash cucumbers and cut off and discard a thin slice from each end. Slice cucumbers as thin as possible, either by hand or use a food processor. Layer cucumbers, onions, peppers and salt in a bowl. Let stand for 1 hour. Drain vegetables and rinse in cold water. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices in large kettle and bring to a boil. Add vegetables and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat. Pack pickles into clean jars, leaving ½ " headspace. Wipe jar rims. Seal.Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.Makes 4 pts.