text:
By Trisha Marczak @TrishaMarczakMP
(Photo/Debra Sweet via Flickr)
A group of journalists and academics is crying foul after a federal appeals court ruled they had no case against the federal government for provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act that could put American citizens at risk of indefinite detention.
On Wednesday, a lawsuit filed by journalist Chris Hedges and political philosopher Noam Chomsky, among others, was thrown out, in part because those who filed the suit could not prove they were in danger of detention, according to the court's decision.
"We conclude that plaintiffs lack standing to seek pre enforcement review of Section 1021 and vacate the permanent injunction," the ruling states. "The American citizen plaintiffs lack standing because Section 1021 says nothing at all about the President's authority to detain American citizens."
The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes just one year after a federal judge ruled NDAA provisions that allow for indefinite detention of U.S. civilians unconstitutional. The judge found, in part, that plaintiffs' fear of indefinite detention under the law was a real concern, allowing them the right to challenge the constitutionality of the act.
At issue are two sections of NDAA that would allow the military to indefinitely detain any person who has consorted with terrorists or who carries out "belligerent acts" against the U.S.
The circuit court's decision used the same rationale the Supreme Court employed earlier this year when it struck down a lawsuit launched by Amnesty International regarding the government's warrantless wiretapping, which was first launched under the George W. Bush administration. The Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs' concerns were based on "highly speculative" fears.
The issue among the journalists, including Hedges, in the NDAA case is that they could fall under the law's definition of those who would qualify for indefinite detention if, for example, they interviewed a person considered a terrorist by the government.
"This is quite distressing," Hedges wrote after the decision was released. "It means there is no recourse now either within the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branches of government to halt the steady assault on our civil liberties and most basic Constitutional rights."
While the plaintiffs can challenge the ruling, and likely will, there is no guarantee the Supreme Court will take up the case.
"The Second Circuit panel did not distinguish itself in upholding civil rights in America," the plaintiffs' attorney, Carl Mayer, told the Huffington Post. "I think the decision is imminently appealable because it reverses a very solid and comprehensive lower court opinion, and frankly I think it's time for the Obama administration to stop supporting these statutes like the indefinite detention law."
The NDAA and ongoing fight for change
The NDAA is normally passed once a year, and its chief function is to dictate the budget of the U.S. Department of Defense. But funding for the department also comes along with policy stipulations.
On Dec. 3, 2011, President Barack Obama signed a new version of the NDAA. The controversial legislation awarded the government broad-sweeping powers and defined criteria for indefinite detention of both terrorists and civilians.
The complaint filed by the plaintiffs labels the indefinite-detention power as a key violation of the Fourth and Sixth amendments to the Constitution, claiming it eliminates the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure while also axing the right to a fair and speedy trial.
"The act fails to give reasonable notice of the acts and conduct that will render a person liable to military detention and is overbroad, thereby chilling and impinging upon protected expressive and associated rights," the complaint states.
In addition to Hedges and Chomsky, the plaintiffs include journalists Cornel West, Alexa O'Brien and Daniel Ellsberg, Icelandic politician Birgitta Jonsdottir and Occupy London co-founder Kai Wargalla.
In a U.S. District Court hearing held in New York in March 2012, Hedges argued before Judge Katherine Forrest that he and his colleagues had a legitimate cause for concern, saying the policy could have severely hampered his ability to interview suspected terrorists.
At the same hearing, Hedges claimed he was put on a government watch list when flying from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. for work, further evidence that he had a reasonable fear that he could be detained under the NDAA for doing his job.
Even after after a federal court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the Obama administration claimed Judge Forrest's ruling was not a sweeping victory for Americans, as it only applied to those plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.
This goes against Obama's initial reaction to the NDAA. As noted in the complaint filed by the plaintiffs, Obama expressed reservations upon signing the bill.
"I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists," Obama said.
Targeting NDAA anyway
Despite the most recent court ruling, communities around the country are launching grassroots campaigns that are leading state legislatures to act to prevent federal enforcement of NDAA.
Ignited by concerns on both the right and the left side of the political aisle, state legislators are grabbing hold of a political issue constituents can agree on.
In June, the California Liberty Preservation Act, which seeks to exempt Californians from any federal law that would allow them to be detained indefinitely without trial, was approved by the state Senate's Public Safety Committee. It goes to the Appropriations Committee for approval Aug. 12.
Arizona was seen as a real hope for grassroots opponents of the NDAA when HB 2573 was passed by committee by a 6-2 vote in April. The bill intended to enact real protections for Arizonans against federal laws that allow for indefinite detention of Americans.
In Texas, NDAA opponents are pushing for HB 149, which was created to "counter the indefinite detention provisions, sections 1021 and 1022, of the National Defense Authorization Act," according to People Against the NDAA, an advocacy organization.
The movements among state legislatures to protect their residents from indefinite detention is not new, but the most recent action makes clear that it's an issue that's not going away. By March 2012, 13 state legislatures had already taken a look at anti-NDAA legislation, according to The New American.
The movement, which has also included demonstrations throughout the U.S., has united two key political forces in the U.S.: the Occupy and Tea Party movements, which together held rallies in the leadup to congressional debate over the most recent NDAA, which included the same indefinite detention provisions.
"While the misguided mainstream media uses elements of the Tea Party and Occupy movements to divide us, the time has come to unify," a People Against the NDAA press release regarding the event states. "We cannot let the mainstream media divide us through perceived differences and keep us from working together. We cannot stand idle while our constitution and bill of rights are trampled on."
Following Wednesday's court ruling, the group sent an email to supporters, largely thanking those in the Occupy movement who have stood vigilantly against the NDAA and worked to inform fellow Americans of its dangers.
"The Occupy movement has played a key role in awakening America to the dangers of the 2012 NDAA," founder Dan Johnson wrote. "The first protest against the new law, in Grand Central Station, was organized by Occupy. It was followed by several others around the country. We are reaching out to anyone currently in the Occupy movement to join forces in this struggle against government tyranny."
This article originally was published on July 19, 2013.
Podcast: Chris Hedges on the Collapse of US Empire, Liberal Suicide and the Rise of Fascism


text:
Q: How To Reference a Specific Column In an Event Handler I'm using the default ActionBeginHandler to determine what action to take after a user has selected Add, Edit or Delete in a Blazor Syncfusion datagrid. My aim is to make the component reusable with generic type parameters. Ahead of doing that, I can get it to work when i use a specific entity model class in the ActionEventArgs but not when I pass in a generic TItem type parameter for the entity model class. In other words:
This works fine and it retrieves the value of args.Data.EmployeeName:
        public async void ActionBeginHandler(ActionEventArgs<**Employee**> args)
        {
            if (args.RequestType.Equals(Syncfusion.Blazor.Grids.Action.Save))
            {
                if (args.Action == "Add")
                {
                    if (args.Data.**EmployeeName** == null)
                    {
                        return;
                    }
                    else
                        ... add the record;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

but I don't know how to reference the column name for another (generic) entity model (say Products). How do I reference the same args.Data column generically.
I initially thought something like this might work but it didn't and there doesn't seem to be any way of referencing either the name or index of an args.Data column, other than by hard-coding it.
    public async void ActionBeginHandler(ActionEventArgs<**TItem**> args)
    {
        if (args.RequestType.Equals(Syncfusion.Blazor.Grids.Action.Save))
        {
            if (args.Action == "Add")
            {
                if (args.Data.[Columns[generic column name or index] == null)
                {
                    return;
                }
                else
                    ... add the record;
                }
            }
        }
    }

I am still learning Blazor so if there are fundamental concepts I'm missing I'm happy to take any advice to help me resolve the issue.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Kristen Torres-Toro
Jewish | Muslim | News | Prayer
Mission trip taught her dependence on God
Topics: Jewish, Muslim, News, Prayer
Marcela, age 34, from Longchamps, Argentina had wanted to go to Israel ever since she was a teenager. In preparation, seven years ago, she started studying Hebrew. When her classes ended, she continued to dream about Israel, even finding friends in the Jewish community in Buenos Aires.
Then she discovered a 26-day mission trip to Israel with OM.
As an industrial engineer, years ago Marcela offered her holidays to God. Instead of vacations, she goes on mission trips. "Every year, I plan the next mission trip. It's not a sacrifice for me; it's really a special thing in my relationship with God. I enjoy going on holidays, but I enjoy doing mission trips more," Marcela said.
Marcela has been on mission trips to other provinces in Argentina, but this year she felt she was supposed to serve in a foreign country. Then she found out about a short-term trip to Israel with OM. She'd known about OM for about two years, having first heard about it at a summer camp in Cordoba. She saw an OM stand and got some literature for children, which she used at her ministry in children's hospitals in Buenos Aires. So when she heard of the trip to Israel, this was her first choice.
Then the time came—to see her dream of going to Israel come true. But even better than a vacation, Marcela's trip allowed her to share the gospel in the very land where Jesus lived, died and rose again.
"It was so wonderful to be where Jesus was, where He lived." Marcela remembered. She especially enjoyed being in places mentioned in the Bible. "I felt something very special there."
Her team, made up of people from 10 different countries, mainly focused on evangelism. They had a lot of conversations, which was initially difficult for Marcela. "It was my first time sharing the gospel in English, and I didn't remember it all at first. But I had wise leaders, who showed me a good way to do it, and I got to where I could do it on my own. It was weird at the beginning, I got scared sometimes, but it was really exciting at the same time."
She was also surprised by being able to interact with both Jewish and Muslim people. "Before the trip, I only thought about Jewish people in Israel. I only pictured speaking with Jewish people, but during the trip I was able to talk with people from both religions, and that was a beautiful thing."
One day, Marcela and a teammate met up with a woman named Farah*. They talked for over an hour, first about her studies, then about life, and finally religion. Farah told them that she didn't consider herself a religious person, even though she practiced the traditions of her family, because culturally she is Muslim.
"She said she didn't have a chance to choose her religion," Marcela remembered. "Then she asked about our experiences, because she thought we didn't have a choice, either. So we got to explain our faith: how one day we heard about Jesus and our lives changed. Then I shared my testimony with Farah about how I was born in a religious family, too. I told her about how as a child, I didn't believe in God, but my grandmother always told me about Jesus. And one day, I felt alone and sad. I'd been betrayed by one of my best friends, and in that moment, I remembered everything my grandmother told me about Jesus. In that moment, I started a relationship with Him, and have never felt alone again."
When she finished sharing her testimony, Marcela noticed Farah's face changing. She agreed with them that there was a difference between a religion and a relationship with God. Marcela's teammate offered to send her more information about Jesus, and Farah gave them her contact information. "I loved this conversation," Marcela reflected, "because I could see how this lady could understand the difference, and I realised many Muslim people are searching for God, searching to live in a right way."
Even though Marcela grew in her ability to share the gospel in English, one day God surprised her by leading her to an Argentinian woman—in Israel! Ana* only spoke Hebrew and Spanish. Marcela was able to talk with her about the gospel in her own language. "I was really happy," Marcela shared, "because that day I needed to speak in Spanish with someone. I felt like that day was a gift of God. I was able to share with her about the gospel and Jesus. Ana told me she had two Messianic Jewish friends, and that she knew how difficult it was for one of her friends to become a Christian. This friend was from an Orthodox family, and it caused a big problem when she converted. She also knows what it means that Jesus is the Messiah; she knows what happens when someone accepts Christ. We were able to pray for her and give her a New Testament."
Now back from her trip, Marcela says her time in Israel taught her complete dependence on God. "It was my first time sharing the gospel in English, and I also didn't know anything about the culture. Everything was new for me. I learned to be more humble because I had to depend on God for everything.
In Argentina, because I know the language and culture, there have been times I could have relied on myself. But in Israel, I had nothing but Him. If I didn't ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I didn't have anything. I want to be humble like Jesus."
As for future mission trips, Marcela is praying about where she will go next year. For now, she is focusing on sharing the gospel in her local community, in the children's hospital and with her colleagues at work. Prayer has also become a huge ministry for her. "I like praying for Israel and I think it is part of the mission too—praying for others who are in other countries and provinces doing the will of God. I'm still in contact with workers from Israel, asking how I can pray for what God is doing there."
Marcela might have returned from Israel, but her impact there continues.
*Name changed for security
Kristen Torres-Toro loves to tell stories about what God is doing in the world. She currently serves as the Field Communications Facilitator for OM Argentina.
Interested in going to Israel?
Other Resources about Jewish, Muslim, News, Prayer
Mission trip to France, better than Chanel perfume! OM Transform
Evangelism, News, Transform
Continuing to plant seeds
Caring for people, Evangelism, News, Recruiting, Training
Short Term Outreaches with OM Russia
Kids, Youth and Students, News
Talamanca: a land of opportunity
Costa Rica, Ships
News, Ships
Hugs, encouragement and 120 children under umbrellas
Evangelism, News
Ending isolation
Caring for people, Evangelism, Kids, Youth and Students, News, Relief and Development
Other Resources by Kristen Torres-Toro
Worth the risk
Investing time, not wasting it
News, Servant Spotlight
Visiting an underground church
The door is wide open
Muslim, Recruiting
This is how God showed His power
Our opportunities for going to Israel
Voices In The WildernessVisit Opportunity 30 April 2020 - 7 May 2020To get to know and minister to local Israelis and travelling hikers, to share the Gospel.
Hope of Israel Summer 2020 (2 week option)Visit Opportunity 28 June 2020 - 12 July 2020To bring the Gospel to the various people groups of Israel—Romans 1:16.
I2N – Israel 2 the NationsJob Opportunity Start: September 2019I2N - Israel 2 the Nations, is looking for people to make this pioneering opportunity a reality. The vision is to send a team focused on evangelism to young Israelis traveling in Argentina/Chile, New Zealand and South Asia, then following up with some of them after returning to Israel at the end of the program. A two-month period of training in Israel will prepare participants before they travel. For outdoor enthusiasts, hiking & rock climbing with Israelis are available ministry opportunities.
2020 Prayer Journey: IsraelVisit Opportunity 29 November 2020 - 6 December 2020Come along side front line Workers, pray and use your skills to bless the land, advance His ministry, exalted the love of Christ in cultural appropriate manner in Creative Access Nations.
Evangelism: Share your faith in the Middle East!Job Opportunity Start: As soon as possibleISRAEL: What comes to mind? Beautiful mountains? Mediterranean beaches? Deserts? Biblical locations? War? Terrorists? Bombings? We want you to share the hope of Christ to the hopeless.
We are reaching out to Jews and Arabs. You can learn Hebrew or Arabic and use some English to communicate the Gospel of Jesus.
Church Planter/Disciple MakingJob Opportunity Start: As soon as possibleOur team in Israel is looking for people with a passion to see new churches planted among the least-reached, churches that are making disciples who are in turn making other disciples. Experience in this area is valued, but not necessary to join. Training can be provided by those on the team with experience in this area. We are working among both Jewish and Arab communities, especially in the Galilee.
All Job Opportunities
All Visit Opportunities
Address:PO Box 118 Kerrimuir VIC 3129
Phone:+61 (03) 8820 3200
Saved Go Options
Copyright 2020 - Operation Mobilisation Australia Ltd. ABN 66 010 759 270
Visiting Options
To OM
To a Worker
To Aid & Relief
For OM
For the Muslim World
Our Roots & Vision
Local Ministry
At Least Once

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package cc.twittertools.post;

import java.util.Map;

/**
 * An immuatable tuple
 * @author bfeeney
 *
 */
public final class Pair<L,R> implements Map.Entry<L, R>
{ private final L left;
  private final R right;

  public Pair(L left, R right) {
    super();
    this.left = left;
    this.right = right;
  }

  /**
   * Convenience method to allow pairs to be created without specifying generic
   * types
   */
  public final static <K, V> Pair<K, V> of (K left, V right)
  { return new Pair<>(left, right);
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    return left + " \t-\t " + right;
  }

  @Override
  public int hashCode() {
    final int prime = 31;
    int result = 1;
    result = prime * result + ((left == null) ? 0 : left.hashCode());
    result = prime * result + ((right == null) ? 0 : right.hashCode());
    return result;
  }

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    if (this == obj)
      return true;
    if (obj == null)
      return false;
    if (getClass() != obj.getClass())
      return false;
    Pair<?,?> other = (Pair<?,?>) obj;
    if (left == null) {
      if (other.left != null)
        return false;
    } else if (!left.equals(other.left))
      return false;
    if (right == null) {
      if (other.right != null)
        return false;
    } else if (!right.equals(other.right))
      return false;
    return true;
  }

  public L getLeft() {
    return left;
  }

  @Override
  public L getKey() {
    return left;
  }

  public R getRight() {
    return right;
  }

  @Override
  public R getValue() {
    return right;
  }

  /**
   * Not supported. Pairs are immutable.
   * @throws UnsupportedOperationException as this is an immutable
   * pair.
   */
  @Override
  public R setValue(R newValue) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Pairs are immutable, values cannot be changed");
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Humans Season 2: Will the Conscious Synths Bring the End of Humanity?
Synth alert! They have awakened and it probably won't be too good for humanity.
That's the dark turn that Humans, AMC's critically praised series about the lifelike robots living among us in the not-too-distant future, takes when it returns in February. And it's no surprise, executive producer Jonathan Brackley reminded a full house at the show's New York Comic Con panel on Friday night.
In last season's cliffhanger a "family" of AI's created—by linking their minds—a "consciousness code" that would give so-called Synths a human self-awareness that would allow the sophisticated machines to feel emotion and be free to make their own choices. Niskia (Emily Berrington), the angriest of the group, was last seen leaving on a mission to share the code (now hardwired into her components) with her fellow synths.
The speculative fiction's first season focused on two families: the human Hawkins, and the synth "siblings" of Anita, aka Mia (Gemma Chan), the domestic robot they owned. Season 2, as demonstrated by a clip previewed at the NYCC panel, paints a broader picture as the new consciousness spreads.
Tom Goodman-Hill, aka Joe Hawkins, the paterfamilias who blew his marriage apart when he cheated with Anita/Mia, says he and the rest of the Hawkins are very much still in the picture. "The family is making a fresh start with a new larger home outside town, but there are emotional scars after the departure not only of Mia, but of the whole Synth family. "It would be foolish if we didn't find a way to bring them back together," noted executive producer Sam Vincent.
Though the producers and most of the actors on the panel were guardedly optimistic (or at least sanguine) about the rise of machines, Goodman-Hill was the doom and gloom spokesperson. "This scares the willies out of me," he admitted.


text:
Home / Music News / Mötley Crüe Releases New Song from upcoming Biopic "The Dirt"
Mötley Crüe Releases New Song from upcoming Biopic "The Dirt"
02/22/2019	Music News, Top Stories Comments Off on Mötley Crüe Releases New Song from upcoming Biopic "The Dirt" 393 Views
The band debuts their new song "The Dirt" from upcoming biopic of the same name.
Mötley Crüe released a new single from their upcoming biopic The Dirt:The Unbelievable Story of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band featuring Machine Gun Kelly, who plays Tommy Lee in the film. The video highlights clips from the film juxtaposed against raw live footage of the band in action.
The Dirt:The Unbelievable Story of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band comes to Netflix March 22nd. Watch the official trailer here.
Biopic Machine Gun Kelly Motley Crue The Dirt The Dirt: The Unbelievable Story of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Tommy Lee	2019-02-22
Tags Biopic Machine Gun Kelly Motley Crue The Dirt The Dirt: The Unbelievable Story of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Tommy Lee


In October 2017 I've been visiting the Transylvanian city Sibiu in Romania and share my experiences in fulldome filmmaking with professionals from film and documentary industry. But also with inhabitants of this historical, beautiful city.
"Hello Earth" found its audience among the children and enthusiasts of the fulldome cinema which year after year meets new places and spectators all around the world. Thank you very much for this opportunity, especially Big Thanks to Adela Muntean who made it possible.


Private real estate financing helps investors buy, renovate or refinance a property or home using a short-term mortgage loan from a privately owned business or an individual. Unlike loans from banks, Vermont private mortgage loans are fast closing, easy qualifying and accessible to self-employed customers.
Thus, even if you don't have good credit, having a real estate opportunity with promise for profits, a sizeable down payment, previous real estate experience, and a well-defined exit strategy are far more crucial in regards to being qualified for private money for a real estate loan. What's more, Vermont private real estate mortgages close fast to provide you with financing without delay, letting you close on a deal within a few short weeks.
They're looking for capital to renovate a property and offer it at a higher price point or to rent it out at a higher monthly amount.
As an example, one of our clients owned a twin-home / duplex. He'd already built considerable equity in the asset and the rent payments was a routine source of income. He sought to do some improvements to the units to help keep his rents high, but a poor credit score of 520 meant that a bank would doubtless turn down his mortgage request. And so he reached out to Read Rock Capital to obtain a cash-out refinance and obtained financing at 65% LTV.
They have numerous debts and need to combine them.
Multiple unsecured debts with a variety of lending rates are quite overwhelming and challenging to keep tabs on. In order to make the situation more manageable, some people merge their unsecured debts into an individual line of credit with just one monthly payment.
They prefer to take advantage of their home's equity for some other purchase.
By way of example, one of Island View's borrowers located in Hawaii had a home appraised in excess of one million dollars. While it was challenging for him to get a buyer for the house, he had identified someone who was ready to lease it having an option to purchase it. The rent checks were sufficient to handle his regular mortgage payment, taxes and homeowner's insurance obligations. Additionally, he received a $200k non-refundable deposit for the 3-year contract. With these sureties handling the property's bills on a recurring basis, he approached Read Rock Capital to get a 70% loan-to-value private mortgage loan for his upcoming purchase of an investment property. The financing helped him cover the cost of a different investment property as well as repay his original mortgage.
The balloon payment for a previous mortgage is due and they can't handle it.
If a borrower is not able to pay a balloon payment because of unanticipated causes, he can try and refinance his loan with another mortgage company. A refinance can help the person hit the due date for the balloon payment and avoid penalty charges.
Are you searching for a private mortgage lender in Vermont to fund your investment purchase? Submit the contact form or call us to talk about the property or properties you have in mind.


After a tragic car crash claims the life of her father and shatters her legs, 10-year-old Sunny Mathews shuts out everybody around her. But when she meets a one-time rodeo star named Ben and his mean-spirited, crippled horse, Ginger, miracles happen. Based on a true story, this family video will move you to tears and to laughter.
Region 1 DVD - United States, Canada, and US Territories.


Confio Software has announced availability of Ignite 8, a major expansion of its database performance solution. Ignite 8 expands the Ignite for SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and Sybase products to include comprehensive performance monitoring in combination with the response-time analysis for which Ignite has been known.
In past product versions, Ignite was often used in conjunction with other database monitoring tools to track server health and monitor current session activity, with Ignite providing advanced analysis based on its response time monitoring capability. With this latest release, Ignite now captures both the conventional health statistics and the more advanced response time data and provides intelligent correlation to deliver insight on the database condition and how it is affecting end-user experience. With this combination of response time, server health, and real-time session data, Ignite delivers a comprehensive monitoring and analysis solution for database administrators, developers and IT managers across the enterprise. "Ignite 8 is, from a feature standpoint, and an expansion of user capabilities, the biggest release that we have ever seen as a company," says Don Bergal, chief operating officer at Confio.
Ignite 8 offers four key new features, Bergal notes. The product can analyze historical trend patterns ranging from 1 second to 1 year, with performance intelligence mining the history to find clues about problem sources. The product does systematic analysis of those patterns over those periods and identifies what might be changing, what might be interesting from a performance standpoint, notes Bergal. "There are many tools to do here-and-now analysis and tell you what is taking place very recently, but the other tools don't go back and do this systematic analysis of detailed data over long periods and cover everything from a second to a year."
Second, Ignite 8 also provides correlation of response time with health and session data, to show how server condition and session activity directly impacts query delays and how end-user response is affected.
And third, with Ignite 8, expert analysis and recommendations is automatically provided following the rules established by Confio's expert DBAs to find and prioritize the causes of bottlenecks hidden in the large volume of data. "We have taken those standard rules and baked them into the product so that it runs the analysis automatically over a long period, going way back in the history, and immediately identifies what our expert DBAs would advise."
And the fourth key element of the new release is an "alarm trail" which Bergal describes as "a path through the forest of all the different indicators" that leads DBAs from high-level views down through detailed root cause information simply by clicking alarm icons to follow the correct path to resolution.
Ignite 8 supports Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g, 10g; SQL Server 2000,2005, 2008; DB2 LUW 8 and above; and Sybase ASE 12.5 and above. Free trials can be downloaded here.


The life of cartoonist John Callahan seems tailor-made for an awards-friendly biopic: Paralyzed in a car accident at age 21, Callahan triumphed over adversity on multiple fronts, as a quadriplegic and an alcoholic, and created work that was provocative and often controversial. Writer-director Gus Van Sant delivers a disjointed portrait of Callahan's life in Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (based on Callahan's own memoir), but his fractured approach doesn't mitigate the cheesiness of the story. Instead of a straightforward narrative, the movie plays like a series of disconnected Oscar clips.
A lot of those clips involve John (Joaquin Phoenix) speaking to fellow addicts at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which provide convenient contexts for dramatic revelations and emotional outpourings. It's clear that John's drinking is responsible for his accident (he's completely wasted when he gets in the car driven by his equally intoxicated friend), but part of the movie's problem is that its nonlinear structure obscures the timeline of John's life, making it tough to tell how long John kept drinking after sustaining his injuries, when he decided to get help, and whether his drinking continued once he started going to meetings.
Since John's sobriety is the movie's primary focus, that lack of clarity proves increasingly frustrating, and it extends to other aspects of the story as well (even basic info like John's age). Tracking John's cartooning career (which he launches seemingly without any anticipation around the middle of the movie) is far too difficult, and Van Sant doesn't spend much time depicting John's rise to success or the response to his often deliberately offensive cartoons.
For a movie about an artist, Don't Worry has very little interest in John's art. The occasional animated interludes based on his cartoons point to a looser, more creative movie than this often stodgy production, but they're too insubstantial and infrequent to make a lasting impact.
Instead, Van Sant digs into John's relationship with his AA sponsor Donnie (Jonah Hill), a rich dandy who offers heartfelt platitudes about recovery and eventually dies soulfully offscreen to provide John with an opportunity for personal growth. At least Hill fully commits to his performance (including one extremely abrupt scene of emotional vulnerability), even though Donnie is more of a plot device than a character. That's more than can be said for Rooney Mara, who sort of floats in and out of the movie as Annu, a Swedish flight attendant and good Samaritan of some kind who first visits John in the hospital and then becomes his girlfriend (although the exact nature of their relationship is kept vague).
Van Sant often elides the passage of time with montages that look like he's swiping through video clips on a smart phone, and the entire movie leaves the impression of glossing over the everyday moments that tie someone's life together. Phoenix gives a more contained performance than he's typically known for, but he still captures the rage and resentment that John keeps trapped inside following his accident. Van Sant traces almost all of that negativity to John's feelings of abandonment over being given up for adoption, but John's quest to find his birth mother culminates in the movie's most shamelessly sentimental moment, with a vision of John's mother's ghost accepting his forgiveness.
As a director, Van Sant has shown equal interest in experimental art films and manipulative crowd-pleasers, but in Don't Worry, both of those instincts fail him. The movie is too scattered to be an effective tearjerker, but not radical enough to leave those conventional elements behind. It never gets itself out of the awkward middle ground.


St. Rose High School has a shop for spirit clothes and St. Rose sundry located near the cafeteria. This shop is open during school days and at some parent functions. Everyone is invited to visit and purchase items from our online store.
St. Rose High School has begun a partnership with Land's End as our school uniform provider. Land's End will provide our students with a quality product and our parents with exceptional customer service experience. All uniforms will be ordered on-line through the St. Rose portion of the Land's End website. All uniforms will then be shipped directly to the student. Please click here to enter the Land's End Website. Below are links to further directions for ordering on-line.


Evolution over successive generations isn't always noticeable. Not so in the world of Google. The search engine results page has made great leaps in the past year alone, but some of the adaptations might have gone unnoticed.
Universal Search elements now dominate the majority of search queries. In fact, 80 percent now include at least one form of these entities, whether they be images, videos, news or maps. The bad news is that more integrations are translating to more competition for consumer eyeballs and clicks. The good? These new elements provide a great opportunity to digital marketers who are hungry to test out new tactics.
• There are an increasing number of answer boxes in the SERP.
• There is a significant and growing difference between results for smartphones and desktop.
• Extended Search integrations are an opportunity to garner additional organic traffic.
Previously, Google's classic-looking SERP consisted of primarily 10 "blue links," emphasized by descriptions and a URL. At one point, they further streamlined the look and feel by deemphasizing right-rail ads, thereby bringing the desktop more in line with what's visible on a mobile screen. It makes sense, since more than half of Google searches now originate on mobile.
This year, the number of organic search results fell to 8.5 from 10 of years past. It's clear Google is looking to enrich and speed up the user experience by providing more rich answer boxes that give searchers instant answers to their queries and/or what it deems to be related subjects.
The bottom line? Google is integrating various types of answer and informational boxes into the search results. The classic Universal Search integrations (images, videos, news and maps) are among the most frequent. But newer elements are emerging, known as Extended Search (Knowledge Graph, App Packs). They're becoming increasingly ubiquitous to the SERP landscape.
SEOs and savvy marketers might have already seen this, but it's also becoming clear that mobile and desktop results are on different paths. This is largely due to the fact that, by definition, users on these two different devices are looking to accomplish different things. Specifically, mobile users are often served maps and/or App Pack results on their SERP, whereas App Pack results would be largely irrelevant for the results shown on a desktop PC.
Ultimately, this means digital marketers need to have a greater awareness about which devices their target audience prefers in order to be both strategic and thoughtful about the type of content being created. These subtle types of information boxes sprinkled throughout the SERP are designed to enhance the user experience and cleanly encapsulate an answer that is related to and helpful in answering the query.
Let's briefly clarify the difference between Universal Search elements and those that pertain to Extended Search. Universal Search elements have been fully integrated into the Google SERP since 2007. Extended Search elements appeared in 2012 and continue to evolve.
While these new opportunities exist, traffic and CTR to your domain – should your content appear as one of these elements – is never guaranteed. Still, I like to focus on the opportunity to improve. On the positive side, appearing as a Direct Answer means your content is featured prominently at the top of the SERP without competing for attention amidst paid ads. Credit goes to your URL for providing the answer. If nothing else, there is a halo affect by being positioned at the top of the page in this way.
In 2007, Google integrated several vertical search engines to provide further filtering for search queries. Universal Search elements can be manually and individually selected via the menu at the top of the search area.
Competition is becoming increasingly fierce for page 1 real estate on the "All" vertical. That makes other vertical search engines a much more attractive area to focus optimization efforts to capture rankings.
By contrast, Extended Search elements are not based on vertical search engines, but on an analysis of the organic results (especially for Direct Answers) or on internal /external data sources (such as company profile information, in the form of a Knowledge Graph). Since Google is continuously developing new types of Extended Search integrations, the signals used and information sources continue to be subjective.
Consequently, a business can enter all of their relevant information into Google+, doing so will likely result in a specific integration (Knowledge Graph) when a user searches for the business name. However, it is much harder to appear for the various Extended Search elements because, unlike mark-up language (Schema.org) that can be used to show crawlers the intricacies of what is on the page, it's technically impossible to employ markup language to content. Doing so would mean even more people would end up hyper-focused on making technical SEO tweaks when the real aim is to focus on what the user wants.
Digital marketers and content writers alike should be connecting website content to what is relevant to the audience and serves the needs of what searchers are looking for.
With more than 200 ranking factors for Google and technical SEO aspects to balance, it's easy to overthink and try to do everything. But the priorities can be distilled down into three areas: content, links and RankBrain. In a nutshell, the latter is machine learning that's now part of the algorithm designed to learn about what users want, and connect them to the most useful content that satisfies their predicted need.
Understand which devices contribute the majority of your domain's organic traffic. Then, you can create or improve upon existing content that meets the needs of what is relevant to searchers. The end-game is not to tunnel vision on keywords or always being in position 1. Focus on a single word: quality.
Concentrate on what is best for the type of audience you actually want coming to your domain. Only by improving the lives of searchers with valuable content and good user experience will your website stand out from the crowd. For more from me on the subject, tune in as I chat about it Oct. 19.
Google just aquired a company to read articles with AI! All those non sense article people write to fool the search engine will fail very soon!
But tell me a bad back linking strategy that Google is penalizing and we will all buy for our competitors so we can ruin their ranking!
I really like your informative blog posts its a great credit to your company. I do seo myself and i have found some brilliant information on here and has helped my own knowledge a lot lately thanks very much for keeping this going. The 2016 info is especially good and relevant and finally its great to see someone making a difference like yourself.
Very helpful and straightforward article!
I totally agree with your ideas. While all of us know the importance of content, many traditional sites or site creators haven't yet paid enough attention to optimizing their sites on mobile devices. This definitely causes them a big loss. I guess those who are neglecting the importance of mobile device optimization or those who ignore quality content will learn a lot from your article.


Harvey E. Yates III was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He graduated from the Albuquerque Academy High School and for several summers in his high school years, he worked in the oil fields as a roustabout. After high school he attended Boston University, where he graduated with honors.
Since he graduated from Boston University he has worked for Jalapeno in various positions. He is in charge of Jalapeno's field operations, analysis of drilling and investment opportunities and its financial planning.


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De Hyundai Getz is een automodel in de compacte klasse van de Zuid-Koreaanse autofabrikant Hyundai.

Geschiedenis
De Hyundai Getz werd in 2002 geïntroduceerd en destijds beschouwd als een goede aanbieding. Een strakke, moderne koets met heldere lichtunits rondom, een modern dashboard en relatief veel interieurruimte zorgden ervoor dat de auto ook in Nederland mocht rekenen op de warme belangstelling van het koperspubliek.

De auto was verkrijgbaar met twee benzinemotoren, een 1,1 liter-viercilinder met twaalf kleppen (63 pk bij 5500 o/m, 99 Nm bij 3200 o/m), een 1,3 liter viercilinder met twaalf kleppen (82 pk bij 5700 o/m , 119 Nm bij 3200 o/m) in 2006 vervangen door een volledig aluminium 1,4 liter-viercilinder met zestien kleppen (97 pk bij 6000 o/m, 125 Nm bij 3200 o/m), 1,6 liter viercilinder met zestien kleppen (DOHC) (105pk bij 6000 o/m 144Nm bij 3200tpm) en een dieselmotor, de motor heeft een gietijzeren motorblok en een aluminium cilinderkop. Deze 1,5 CRDi-viercilinder met 16 kleppen van de Hyundai Kia Automotive Group is verkrijgbaar met twee vermogensversies, één met 88 pk bij 4000 o/m en 215 Nm bij 1900 o/m, de ander met 110 pk bij 4000 o/m en 235 Nm van 1900 o/m tot 2750 o/m. Deze diesel maakt gebruik van een gemeenschappelijke inspuitbuis (common-rail) van de tweede generatie en een variabele turbo.

Facelift
In 2005, drie jaar na de introductie, onderging de Getz een facelift. De auto kreeg een iets ander front, nieuwe lichtunits en een centraal geplaatste mistlamp achteraan. Het interieur kreeg een opfrisbeurt met nieuwe kleuren, eventueel een tweekleurig instrumentenbord, hertekende wijzerplaten en een aantal aangepaste ergonomische elementen. Ook werden in het interieur hoogwaardiger materialen gebruikt.

In december 2008 werd de Hyundai i20, de opvolger van de Getz, in productie genomen. Wel bleef de Getz voorlopig leverbaar als prijskraker net zoals Peugeot deed met de 206 Forever, Fiat met de Punto Classic en Renault met de Clio Campus. De i20 was qua design vrijwel compleet veranderd ten opzichte van de Getz. De levering van de Getz werd in West-Europa in 2009 gestaakt.

Getz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Interview with the OMDC about For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known for the Trillium Book Award
Interview about Too Much on the Inside with Mayank Bhatt (author of Belief) for Living Multiculturalism on Tag TV
NEWS AND INTERVIEWS WITH DANILA BOTHA
CBC Books, ReLit Short list announcement
http://www.cbc.ca/books/zoe-whittall-jordan-abel-among-writers-shortlisted-for-relit-awards-1.4611186
National Post, Vine Awards
http://nationalpost.com/entertainment/vine-awards-drawing-mainstream-attention-to-canadian-jewish-literature
Quill & Quire, Vine Awards Finalists announcement
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2017/08/17/danila-botha-matti-friedman-among-2017-vine-awards-finalists/
Open Book: Vine Awards for Jewish Literature Short lists
http://open-book.ca/News/The-Vine-Awards-for-Jewish-Literature-Shortlists-Announced-feat.-Botha-Behrens-More
Koffler Arts: Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature announcement
http://kofflerarts.org/programs-events/vine-awards-for-canadian-jewish-literature/winners/
Quill & Quire, Trillium Award Finalists News
http://www.quillandquire.com/awards/2017/05/09/andre-alexis-kamal-al-solaylee-and-danila-botha-among-finalists-for-30th-trillium-book-award/
Toronto Star, Trillium Finalists Announcement
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2017/05/09/trillium-book-award-shortlist-includes-andre-alexis-kamal-al-solaylee.html
Globe and Mail, Trillium Finalists Announcement
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/trillium-book-award-finalists-announced/article34929525/
Interview with Tightrope Books
http://tightropebooks.com/catching-up-with-trillium-book-award-finalist-danila-botha/
International Festival of Authors Interview: What Makes a Good Story
http://ifoa.org/2017/blog/makes-good-story-danila-botha
All Lit Up, ReLit Shortlist
https://alllitup.ca/Lists/ReLit-Award-Nominees-2016
Interview with Open Book Toronto & Ontario: On Writing
http://www.openbooktoronto.com/interviews/writing_with_danila_botha
Interview with All Lit Up: on Inspiration and Writer's Block
https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2016/Women-s-Writer-s-Block-Danila-Botha
Interview with Daniel Perry of Brockton Writer's Series
https://brocktonwritersseries.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/bws-11-01-17-danila-botha/
Interview with Guelph MFA: Fall Reading
http://guelphcreativewritingmfa.com/news/2016/10/11/fall-reading-danila-botha-owain-nicholson
Interview with the Toronto Star, Music to Write By
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2016/03/12/music-to-write-by-authors-name-their-playlists.html
Interview with Metro News Canada
http://quattrobooks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Metro_DB_Too-Much1.jpg
Interview with Open Book Toronto, The Proust Questionnaire
http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/proust_questionnaire_with_danila_botha
Interview with the Chronicle Herald, Halifax
http://thechronicleherald.ca/books/1305438-too-much-on-the-inside-botha%E2%80%99s-book-born-on-public-transit
Interview with the Times and Transcript, New Brunswick
http://quattrobooks.ca/the-times-and-transcript-reviews-too-much-on-the-inside/
Interview with author Alix Hawley
http://www.alixhawley.com/blog/storybrain-eight-questions-for-danila-botha
Interview with The Miramichi Reader
http://miramichireader.ca/2015/07/the-danila-botha-interview/
Interview with the Literary Lollipop
https://theliterarylollipop.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/too-much-on-the-inside-in-conversation-with-danila-botha/
Danila Botha reading from For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known at the Trillium Book Award Readings
REVIEWS OF FOR ALL THE MEN (AND SOME OF THE WOMEN) I'VE KNOWN
Quill and Quire
http://www.quillandquire.com/review/for-all-the-men-and-some-of-the-women-ive-known/
The Toronto Star
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2016/10/16/love-in-a-time-of-tinder.html
Atlantic Books Today
http://atlanticbookstoday.ca/for-all-the-men-and-some-of-the-women-ive-known-your-companion-on-loves-gravel-road/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-short-story-collections-from-clea-young-and-danila-botha/article33455603/
http://winnipegreview.com/2017/01/for-all-the-men-and-some-of-the-women-ive-known-by-danila-botha/
BookClubbish.com
http://www.bookclubbish.com/new-short-story-collections-for-the-shorter-autumn-days/?hootPostID=28a0512946f36920c5fd5d1b30fd4423
The Miramichi Reader
http://miramichireader.ca/2016/09/men-women-ive-known-danila-botha/
The Literary Lollipop
https://theliterarylollipop.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/he-loves-me-with-all-his-heart-i-know-because-he-tells-me-every-day/
REVIEWS OF TOO MUCH ON THE INSIDE :
http://www.quillandquire.com/review/too-much-on-the-inside/
The Literary Review of Canada
http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2015/06/new-neighbours/
http://www.bookclubbish.com/celebrate-canada-day-with-these-debut-novels/
http://www.brokenpencil.com/news/book-review-too-much-on-the-inside
The Ottawa Review of Books
http://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/#!Too-Much-On-The-Inside-by-Danila-Botha/cu6k/560c98a80cf2f0ed7a2a3176
Farzana Doctor's Review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1480554838?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Carole Giangrande's Review
https://carolesbooktalk.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/three-books-in-three-days-1-danila-bothas-too-much-on-the-inside/
The Book Shelf, Guelph
http://bookshelfreaderreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/review-too-much-on-inside.html
http://skinnydip.ca/too-much-on-the-inside-other-truths
Giver on the River, New Brunswick
http://www.giverontheriver.com/2015/08/book-review-too-much-on-the-inside-by-danila-botha/
https://theliterarylollipop.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/too-much-on-the-inside-by-danila-botha/


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Lleó d'Atenes (en llatí Leo o Leon, en grec antic ) fou un militar atenenc que va ser enviat amb deu vaixells el 412 aC per col·laborar amb l'esquadró de Diomedó durant la guerra del Peloponès.

L'any 411 aC els dos generals es van unir tant en operacions navals com en actuacions polítiques al moviment revolucionari de l'exèrcit atenenc a Samos contra el govern dels Quatre-cents.

Segons Xenofont va ser un dels deu generals nomenats el 407 aC per substituir a Alcibíades, i era amb Erasínides i Conó quan els perseguia l'almirall espartà Cal·licràtides i es van haver de refugiar a Mitilene.

Xenofont però, en un altre passatge es contradiu i no menciona Lleó sinó a Lísies com un dels deu generals substituts, i Diodor de Sicília menciona a Lisànies, potser un error per Lísies, com un dels generals substituts, sense mencionar Lleó, i després parla de Lísies com un dels que va tornar de la batalla de les Arginuses. La teoria de l'historiador i bisbe Connop Thirlwall és que Lleó va ser nomenat inicialment un dels deu, però poc després va caure en mans de Cal·licràtides a Mitilene i Lísies el va substituir.

Referències

Militars atenencs del segle V aC


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You are here: Home / Darkwave producer, Verasect, releases 'Sleep Stories' EP
Darkwave producer, Verasect, releases 'Sleep Stories' EP
September 28, 2018 No Comments 100 Views
Darkwave producer, Verasect, has released his EP Sleep Stories today which is currently available on all major platforms. Sleep Stories is a 4-track EP that will transform any listeners ear as you become under the control of his electric production and musicianship.
Although Verasect is originally from New York City, you can find him creating music all over the world, spending a great deal of his time in London, or on international busses, aeroplanes and trains, producing from his iPad and gleaning inspiration from the world around him. The name Verasect rolls beautifully off the tongue and is a name that alludes to the depth and intelligence of not only the musician himself, but also that of the music. The name was inspired by the Latin phrase "Veraciter Sectari", which translates to "hunt the truth", a fitting name for music that produces an unparallelled honesty and rawness for the listener.
Verasect manages to combine both classic and modern elements flawlessly with his sound, ultimately creating something that is at once both old-school industrial in its delivery, as well as crisp and modern. The sound can be compared to legendary dark electronic household names such as Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails but also brings to mind the contemporary experimentation and bombastic energy of Crystal Castles and Purity Ring. Verasect's unique sound also has its place in the underground wave scene and can be held up with darkwave royalty CHVRN, as well as the likes of Klimeks.
Sleep Stories kicks off with the powerful 'Stitch', setting the tone for what's to expect. Cinematic and dramatic in nature, it's a strong start for Verasect's debut EP. As you the pulsating bass carries you forward, you find yourself in the hypnotic and broody 'Tragedy'. Dark and melancholic verses are undercut by an upbeat almost trap-like beat, bringing the song full circle. The third track is 'Catch Your Breath', arguably the most experimental song on Sleep Stories. A slow hard-hitting bass pushes you forward as dreamy and ethereal vocals carry you through the glitchy production. The closing track on Sleep Stories, 'Aeon' differs from the previous three instalments. With its house-influenced driving beat, it's a perfect final track to keep lingering in your mind as it makes you long for a dancefloor.
Listen to Verasect's Sleep Stories below:
Sleep Stories EP Tracklist:
1. Stitch
2. Tragedy
3. Catch Your Breath
4. Aeon
Follow Verasect:
Tagged with: darkwave EP music producer new music
Swedish electronic producer Ocxone drops Wave-induced hit 'Andromeda'
Q&A with Hard Rock guitarist Chris Carvache
Interview with Elfenberg


Zoe did another circuit of the kitchen table, just to be sure. Today was their third anniversary, so this was important. She straightened a spoon, just a fraction of an inch, but it made all the difference. The bowls were bone china, the glasses crystal, and each place setting was finished off with a neatly pressed white linen napkin. Small details, perhaps, but those small details showed how much you cared. The box of Raisin Bran was for Daniel, the cornflakes for her. Orange juice for Daniel, a jug of mineral water for her.
She did one more slow circuit, but couldn't see anything she wanted to change. Daniel was moving around upstairs, which meant he was out of the shower. He had a big meeting today, so he would be wearing his best suit, and probably the new red silk tie. Whichever tie he chose, it would definitely be red. He claimed that red was a power colour. On that basis, all his ties were red. Zoe wasn't sure if this was an actual fact or something he had read on the internet.
The bedroom door rattled opened. This was her cue to put on the toast and pour his coffee. The combination of smells was like heaven. Daniel appeared a short while later. Like she thought, he was wearing his best suit and the new tie. The combination was impressive. He had been handsome when they first met; if anything, he was even more handsome now. Zoe suspected that Daniel was one of those men who would get better looking with age, like George Clooney. And there was a definite passing resemblance: both had brown eyes and dark hair, and that easy way of smiling that made you feel as though you were the only person in the room. Daniel stopped at the work island and looked at the table, eyes moving from his place setting to hers, then back again. Zoe walked over to join him.
She nodded again. And they would. The earrings were from Tiffany's, eighteen carats and inlaid in white gold; the dress was a Dolce and Gabbana. Carmichael's was one of Portland's most exclusive restaurants, a place for being seen, and, as such, appearances were important. Whenever there was something to celebrate, this was Daniel's first choice of venue. The toast popped and Zoe went to get it. She put it in the rack and carried it over to him, then took her seat again, carefully because she hated the way it screeched against the tiles. The sound reminded her of fingernails on a blackboard, and had much the same effect; the disquieting itch that ran the length of her spine got right into her bones.
Lizzy was talking behind her hand like they were back in high school. The whispering was for the benefit of the customers. It was a slow Tuesday at the end of the month and there were only two, a woman and her grown-up daughter, who were currently occupying a table in the middle of the dining area. The scene being played out there smacked of obligation rather than enjoyment. Lizzy might have been whispering, but she was still too loud. Everything she did was too loud; that was just who she was. Her hair was currently dyed bright red, there were piercings in her tongue, nose and ears, and last week she had gotten yet another tattoo. Zoe wished she could be so reckless, but that wasn't going to happen, not in this lifetime. Instead of red hair, hers was a boring preppy brown, and the only thing she had pierced were her ears. They were opposites in so many ways, yet somehow they fit. Lizzy Slater was the loud to her quiet, the confident to her crippling viper's nest of insecurities.
'I have not been smoking grass,' Zoe whispered back.
Lizzy shot her a cynical look.
'Then there's the fact that he's been in my room going through my stuff,' Zoe said.
Zoe kept staring and Lizzy let out a long sigh.
The mocking smile made Zoe feel as though she might actually be crazy after all. But she knew she wasn't. Popeye had been in their apartment. Again.
'Maybe I left it up,' Lizzy said.
Before they could get any deeper into this, chef called over to tell them the meals were ready to go. Lizzy gave Zoe a look then shooed her towards the plates. Giovanni's was one of those places where the kitchen opened into the dining area. Some people liked that; Zoe didn't. She preferred life to have a little mystery.
Lizzy was winding her up, but this was nothing new. Zoe had figured she would react like this and almost hadn't said anything. Now she was wishing she hadn't. It would be a different story if Lizzy suspected Popeye was going through her room. If that happened she would probably punch him out first and ask questions later. She wouldn't just let it go, that was for damn sure.
As infuriating as Lizzy could be, Zoe found it impossible to stay mad at her for long. They had shared a dorm room in their first year, and it had been a blast. They were both new to Portland so they got to discover the city together. Lizzy was currently in the final year of a fashion degree, while Zoe was on the home stretch of her creative writing course. One of these days Lizzy would be ruling over a New York fashion house like it was her own personal kingdom. That was inevitable. And while she was out there making things happen, Zoe reckoned that she'd probably be shivering in an attic, starving for her art.
Zoe laughed and Lizzy's face suddenly fell.
Before Lizzy could respond, the door swung open and two businessmen walked in. Zoe barely noticed the guy on the left because something about the guy on the right made her do a double take. He was in his early thirties, and handsome. Not quite model-handsome, but not far off it. That wasn't what made her look twice, though. After all, this wasn't the first guy who looked like they should be on the cover of GQ who'd walked in here. He was wearing a suit that was so neat it must have been tailored to fit; his shirt was dazzlingly white, his black leather shoes were shone to a high gloss, and the tie was made from red silk. And that wasn't it, either. Again, well-dressed businessmen weren't exactly font-page news around here.
No, the thing that made her look again was the way he seemed to own the room the second he stepped through the door. Some people could do that. Presidents, movie stars, pop stars. It wasn't as though they were trying to draw attention, they just did. Part of it was confidence; but a bigger part was an absolute certainty about where they fitted into the world. Zoe reckoned she stood at the opposite end of the spectrum. When she walked into a room she doubted anyone noticed.
'I have not,' Zoe replied, even though she knew she had. Her cheeks felt as though they were on fire and her stomach had that freefall sensation you got when you were caught in a lie. Lizzy started pushing her towards the two men.
Before Zoe could say anything else, Lizzy was off.
Zoe watched the second hand ticking slowly around the face of her Rolex and wished it would move faster. It had just turned twenty after one, so there was still another forty minutes to go. The last twenty would be like torture; the last five would be the worst of all. They always were. Those were the minutes where the hunger was so pronounced it seemed to eclipse everything else; the minutes where all she could think about were the plastic containers waiting in the refrigerator.
Experience had taught her to wait until two. It was all about pacing herself. Daniel had told her to be ready for seven thirty, but he might call just before that to tell her their dinner reservation had been moved to nine. It wouldn't be the first time. That extra hour and a half of hunger would be hard, but she could manage it. Usually she was ready for lunch by ten, but if she had eaten it then that extra hour and a half later would be more than unbearable.
To start with she had kept the cravings at bay by shoplifting food. Candy bars, bags of chips – anything to fill the empty space in her stomach. The way she looked had worked to her advantage. Who would suspect someone so well dressed of stealing a Hershey bar? Her overconfidence had been her downfall. The store owner hadn't called the police, but Daniel was a regular customer and he'd had a quiet word. Her punishment had been two days without food, just so she could understand what real hunger felt like.
After that she had stopped shoplifting food. What was the point? Somewhere along the line she would get caught again, and this time she might not get off so lightly. Maybe this time the police would be called. If that happened, she hated to think what her punishment would be. Instead, she had been forced to get creative. Eating toothpaste, but not so much that Daniel might notice; stealing sugar and ketchup sachets from fast food restaurants; keeping a small Ziploc bag hidden at the bottom of the trash can for scraping Daniel's leftovers into. On one occasion she had been so desperate she had eaten dirt from the backyard, but that made her throw up. Some of the things she had been forced to do left her feeling ashamed, but the short respite she got from her hunger made up for the humiliation. You did what you had to in order to survive. When you got down to it that was all she was doing here, just trying to survive.
Cooking Daniel's dinner was its own kind of hell. Standing at the stove, all those mouth-watering smells wafting around her, it was too much. On the few occasions where she dared to steal some, the guilt and paranoia had almost killed her. She had sat there at dinner slowly driving herself crazy, because he must have known what she had done. How could he not have? But he hadn't said a word, and she had breathed a silent sigh of relief and promised herself it would never happen again. Except that was a lie, because eventually it would reach the point where she couldn't help herself and the cycle would start all over again, need battling guilt like she was a junkie.
The big hand moved slowly past the nine, and the ten, and then the eleven. She wanted to eat, wanted to eat now, but she made herself wait. Five minutes today would be ten tomorrow; by this time next week it would be an hour. It just wasn't worth it.
Zoe counted the second hand through the last thirty seconds then got up from the table. Her refrigerator was the small under-counter one. On the top shelf were two plastic containers containing her lunch. Usually everything she needed to prepare Daniel's dinner would be on the middle one, but because they were eating out tonight this was empty today. This was the smallest of mercies, but when hope was in such short supply you took what you could get. Seeing the ingredients sitting on the shelf, being able to look but knowing that was all she could do, was a whole other circle of hell.
Lunch was the same every day, just like breakfast was always cornflakes and water, so, even without looking, she knew what she would find. In the first container there would be five sticks of cucumber, a two-inch square of chicken and ninety-nine grains of brown rice. The soup was in the second container, although to call it soup was a stretch. It was thin and watery, and totally tasteless. Daniel made a new batch every Sunday evening and split it into seven containers, each marked with a day of the week. The Monday one was left in her refrigerator; the rest were locked in the freezer.
She put the food onto a plate and there was more white china than food, like nouvelle cuisine, albeit a twisted version. The temptation was to hurry, but she made herself take it slowly, chewing each mouthful properly before moving on to the next. She ate the two-inch square of chicken first. It had been boiled, and it was as though the process had leached all the flavour away. Next she moved on to the sticks of cucumber, eating them one at a time to make the meal last as long as possible.
Before eating the rice, she counted the grains. She had watched Daniel put them out onto the kitchen island yesterday evening. He did it the same way each time. When he was finished there would be nine neat piles containing ten grains each arranged in three rows of three. Off to the right there would be a single lone pile of nine. She had considered asking him why he did this, but she wasn't sure she wanted the answer.
Zoe heated the soup in the microwave, poured it into a bowl, then sat back at the table. She ate a spoonful and it was like eating boiled water. Even though it was disgusting, she knew that she would finish every last drop. It might not be filling, but it warmed her stomach, and that was something at least.
As she ate her soup, she wondered how she had ended up here. It was a question she must have asked a thousand times, usually during those long hours when sleep seemed to have deserted her altogether. Like all the really tough questions there was no simple answer. In hindsight she could see how her path had been set back in Montana when she was still a kid. She had never been one of the popular girls at school. She would try to fit in, but then it got to the point where it just wasn't worth the effort. It didn't matter what clothes she wore, they were never going to be cool enough; it didn't matter what she said or did, it was never quite going to be the right thing. Her parents would tell her she was amazing, that she could be anything she wanted, that she could do anything, and for a while she believed them. She had this whole future mapped out for herself, one where she would escape from Great Falls and become rich and famous, and that would show everyone.
Except it hadn't worked out the way she imagined. Life never did. First her mom died, and then her dad, and somewhere between those two events her dreams shrank to the point where she lost sight of them. And then Daniel had entered her life and encouraged her to dare dream again, and for a short time her dreams had burnt brighter than ever, like fireworks. The trouble with fireworks, however, was that they always burned out too quickly. If she had been a stronger person she would have found some way to leave him, but who was she trying to kid? There was no way to get away from someone like Daniel, not when they'd gotten their hooks into you.
Zoe shut her eyes and ate another spoonful of soup. With them closed, she could almost imagine she was in a restaurant, maybe even Giovanni's, eating a late lunch with Lizzy after the last customers had left. When she opened them again her life was the same as ever; the same as it would always be from now until the day she died. The kitchen really was beautiful, like something you might see in an interior design magazine. Until you looked a little closer. How many of those perfect kitchens had a padlock on the pantry door? Or the refrigerator? There might not be any bars on the windows, but this was still a prison. She finished eating and for a while just sat there staring into space. Three years of marriage. How had that happened? It felt like three hundred.
She tidied away her lunch things then went upstairs to change. Daniel had left her gym clothes on the bed. Today he had chosen the black leggings with the pink waistband, and a black Nike top. She got dressed and went downstairs. Her car key was on the board that hung above the ornamental table at the front door; her cell phone was in the dish. The bright red Mercedes SLK on the driveway was a guilt present, one of many. She put her gym bag in the trunk, then climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. This was the sort of day her mom would have called a Goldilocks day. Not too hot; not too cold. The sun was shining and, aside from the occasional wisp of cloud, the sky was an endless blue. They were halfway through April. This had once been Zoe's favourite time of year. She had loved the colours, and the way everything felt so optimistic. These days she felt so distanced from that person; it was as though she had no concept of what optimism was any more.
Their house was on Fairfield Boulevard, one of Portland's more exclusive streets. The neighbourhood was made up with large clapboard houses that had spacious, well-kept yards front and back. The street was wide, the trees tall, the air clean and fresh. Today it was as quiet as ever. The soccer moms had already dropped their kids at school and gone off to the gym or a coffee house; their husbands had gone out to work. In some respects she wasn't that different from those women; in others, her life was about as different as it was possible to get.
Driving past Carmichael's, the reality of her situation suddenly caught up with her. Here she was driving an expensive sports car, and living in a beautiful home, and tonight she would be eating here, and for a short while the ache of hunger deep in her belly would abate. But what about now? Because the reality was that for most of the day that ache would constantly be there.
Any other person would go to a store or a diner and buy something to eat, but she couldn't do that because she had no money or bank cards. Daniel controlled the finances, just like he controlled every other aspect of her life. A homeless person could beg a few dollars for a McDonald's, but she couldn't even do that. Why would anyone give her money? She clearly had plenty.
Daniel had taken her to Carmichael's on their first date. It had been a complete disaster. The second she sat down, she knew she shouldn't be there. Her clothes were all wrong, and it felt as though everyone was staring. She had been totally overwhelmed and out of her depth, and Daniel had been so understanding. He had noticed her discomfort and offered to take her somewhere else, anywhere – she just had to say the word. They ended up at the Marrakesh, which was her favourite coffee house in Portland. This was her secret place, somewhere she went when she needed to get off the merry-go-round. It was also a place she had never shared with anyone. That was how sure she had been about Daniel back then. They might only have just met, but she had known that he was the one.
She pressed the gas pedal and drove on. Carmichael's shrank in the rear-view mirror, and that seemed like an appropriate metaphor for her life, because that too had shrunk and disappeared to nothing. As she drove, she wondered what had happened to the man she had fallen in love with, the one who had laughed and joked over lattes and muffins, the one who, for a short while at least, had made her feel as though she was the bright star at the centre of the universe.
And then she wondered what had happened to that naive young girl who had once believed that a happy-ever-after might actually have been possible.


text:
South Africa–China Relations
Between Aspiration and Reality in a New Global Order
Phiwokuhle Mnyandu
In South Africa-China Relations: Between Aspiration and Reality in a New Global Order, Phiwokuhle Mnyandu analyzes South Africa-China relations in the context of South Africa's quest to reduce unemployment and transform its economy to ensure lasting social stability. Mnyandu uses trade patterns, analyses of governmental organizations and initiatives, and other socio-economic data to determine the extent to which developmental change or stasis has taken place as relations between South Africa and China have deepened. Tracing South Africa's changing attitudes and policies towards China's involvement, the impact of programs involving commodities trades on unemployment, and the prospective outcomes of an endogenous developmental policy, Mnyandu concludes by proposing a quadri-linear model as a tool for more comprehensive analyses of China's relations not only with South Africa, but other African countries as well to avoid disinformation on Africa-China issues.
978-1-7936-4450-3 • Hardback • October 2021 • $95.00 • (£73.00)
978-1-7936-4451-0 • eBook • October 2021 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Political Science / World / African, Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / World / Asian
Phiwokuhle Mnyandu holds joint teaching positions in the Department of African Studies and the Department of World Languages and Culture at Howard University.
Chapter 1: Dynastic Era–1949: From Allusive to Attenuated Contact
Chapter 2: 1949–1998: Contested China, Contested Liberation
Chapter 3: South Africa, China, and the African 'De-naissance'
Chapter 4: A Farewell to Alms?: Pretoria Looks East
Chapter 5: China's Economic Growth and South Africa's Unemployment
Chapter 6: Yiwu: Can it Make a Dent on South Africa's Unemployment?
Chapter 7: Prospects for a Developmental State in the Time of China
A timely examination of dynamics that shape the relationship between China and Africa with particular reference to South Africa. It is a must-read for those seeking new insights into this epochal relationship.
— Siphamandla Zondi, University of Johannesburg
China and South Africa have formed comprehensive strategic partnership, yet there are few studies on the history of the bilateral relations. This work comes up at the right time. South Africa has played a very important role in the South-South cooperation as a regional power and member of BRICS. Phiwokuhle Mnyandu has explored the bilateral relations of South Africa and China and exchanged ideas with scholars of both sides, thus providing us with this solid work with field research and theoretical approach combined. It will serve as an excellent guide to anyone interested in China-South Africa relations.
— LI Anshan, Peking University
In the growing sub-field of China—Africa studies, few monographs have focused on bilateral ties between a single African country and China. Phiwokuhle Mnyandu's new book begins to fill this gap with an ambitious work that begins with South Africa's ties to dynastic China and a long period of what he calls "attenuated ties" during South Africa's colonial and apartheid periods. The remaining five chapters focus on the growing "love affair" between Pretoria and Beijing, Pretoria's version of a "Look East" policy," and an analysis of South Africa's prospects of successfully become a developmental state modeled on and assisted by China. As more and more scholars focus on African agency vis-à-vis their relationships with China, Mnyandu offers an honest, detailed examination of the myriad challenges facing the South African state in its efforts to make the most of their strategic ties with China.
— Yoon Jung Park, Georgetown University and executive director of the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network


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He is very friendly and great at directing the kids and older members of your family, He creates nice bright clear photos and sends them to you quickly (we had ours after one month). he also sent us a few teaser photos with the first two weeks and a really nice slideshow. Great work John!
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text:
Anushka bats for pet-safe, noise-free Diwali
Concerned about animals and birds being scared by high decibel crackers, the actress is campaigning for a 'noise free' Diwali for her pet dog , a Labrador named Dude, and his canine friends.
Last month, Anushka Sharma got an aww-inducing farewell hug and a kiss from her "one true love" at the Mumbai airport before she flew off to London to start shooting for her next film. Later on, the actress recreated the moment, painting "Anushka hearts Dude" on a lock, and throwing the key into La Seine on the 'love-lock' bridge in Paris.
For all those who are wondering who Dude is, let us clarify that it's not the cricketer who is currently the captain of the Indian Test side and the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Virat Kohli comes a close second to her "ideal movie partner", who happens to be her pet Labrador, Dude.
Now, Mirror has learnt that the 27-yearold actress is taking her commitment to Dude one step further. This Diwali, Anushka launches 'Pawsitivity,' a campaign aimed at sensitising people about the adverse effects of noise, air, water and soil pollution on animals.
"The focus of the initiative is to generate interest amongst the youth and children through innovation and technology. Animals make the world a better place and it is our responsibility to be sensitive towards them as they don't have a voice," she explains. "When someone bursts a firecracker, they don't realise how badly it affects animals and birds. I want people to care and avoid making noise."
Anushka also points out it's a proven fact that in most Indian cities, noise pollution levels go up to 80-100 per cent around Diwali, as bursting crackers is an accepted ritual everywhere. "But the noise created by these crackers scares animals, destroys their everyday life patterns and causes death in some cases," she adds.
So ahead of Diwali, the actress will launch an extensive social media campaign which several Bollywood stars are expected to join. The larger goal is to bring down the decibel levels in residential areas and reduce noise pollution in general.
"Diwali is a festival of lights and happiness. It can be celebrated in a safe, healthy manner. Spare a thought for our voiceless friends," she pleads.
The actress, who turned producer earlier this year with NH10, had lashed out against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival of China in June. She also started a campaign on Twitter to put an end to the festival, that centres around the slaughtering of thousands of dogs every year in Southern China. The campaign was supported by Alia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha and Jacqueline Fernandez.
"Animals don't have a voice, you do. Help end this cruelty," she had reiterated, pointing out that celebrity figures should be prominent advocates of animal welfare and constantly campaign for animal rights.
In the West, Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey had flown to Louisiana in 2005 to support the rescue of 70 deserted pets through his initiative 'Growing Up With Pets,' which teaches parents the importance of a pet in a child's life.
Similarly, Leonardo DiCaprio has campaigned to protect wild elephants with the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Africa while Anne Hathaway has proposed "Allvegan celebrity weddings" and "Custom vegan heels," which supports the cruelty-free movement by making sure no animal products are seen on celebrities, even on screen.
Anushka herself turned vegetarian in 2014 and now is out to ensure that every Dude has his day, even on Diwali!


You have been asked to fight Cerberus with just your Alliance friends so only pick a team with Kaiden/Ashley and James. You can even do it solo if you wish.
This challenge is not difficult if you use the same tactics as in previous challenges. Make good use of any tech powers and the match soon becomes a formality.
If you manage to get a Gold Token in any of those matches, use it to unlock Super Elites at your earliest convenience. After the fight, your Reputation will increase by 5.