text:
Keller Rohrback Helps Steer Class Action Against Emissions Fraud in "EcoDiesel" Ram 1500 & Jeep Grand Cherokee
Keller Rohrback L.L.P. is investigating claims of emissions cheating in "EcoDiesel" Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles marketed and sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee light-duty vehicles use selective catalytic reduction ("SCR") to control NOx emissions. According to reports, these EcoDiesel vehicles can detect variables that are only present during dynamometer testing; the cars engage different emissions control profiles during testing than when on the road. This method may constitute a "defeat device" under the Clean Air Act, and owners and lessees of these vehicles may have been misled by Fiat Chrysler's representations that these vehicles had excellent fuel economy, and were environmentally friendly and in compliance with all applicable emissions requirements.
Preliminary Approval Granted
On February 11, 2019, Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California granted preliminary approval of the Proposed Class Action Settlement and authorized the notice program to begin, in order to educate consumers on their potential settlement options.
A Final Approval Hearing is scheduled to be held on May 3, when the Court will hear from the parties and others to decide whether to grant final approval to the Settlements. The Settlements, if approved, will collectively provide cash compensation, a vehicle repair, and a comprehensive extended warranty. If you are a current owner or current lessee, you must submit a claim and receive the repair to be eligible for compensation. You can have your vehicle repaired and receive the extended warranty prior to or after making a claim, but you will not be eligible for compensation until you submit your claim.
FCA will begin processing claims once the Court approves the Settlements. To learn more about options or being the process of submitting documents for the proposed Settlement, Class Members can visit www.ecodieselsettlement.com.
$307.5M Class Settlement with Fiat Chrysler, Bosch Will Compensate Owners and Lessees, Provide Repairs that Protect Environment while Maintaining Performance and Fuel Economy
January 10, 2019 — A class action settlement agreement filed today by the consumer plaintiffs in the Fiat Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep (FCA) "EcoDiesel" Litigation will, if approved, provide eligible owners and lessees with substantial cash payments in addition to government-approved emissions modifications and extended warranties. The proposed settlement totaling $307.5 million ($280 million from FCA and $27.5 million from Bosch) was filed in the United States District Court, Northern District of California as part of the multidistrict litigation overseen by Judge Edward M. Chen.
Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0-liter diesel vehicles from model years 2014 to 2016 are covered under the settlement. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) will approve emissions modifications that bring these vehicles into compliance with the standards to which they were originally certified, without materially reducing advertised performance or fuel economy.
"It is an honor to have been selected by the Court to represent consumers in this matter. When consumers buy or lease a vehicle, they need to be able to trust that they get what they paid for. Today's EcoDiesel settlement ensures they do," said Lynn Sarko, Managing Partner at Keller Rohrback L.L.P.
Upon completion of the repair, which consists of a software change, the class member will receive a cash payment. The amount will vary depending on whether the class member is a current or former owner or lessee. For example, an "Eligible Owner" who owned a subject vehicle on January 12, 2017 (Notice of Violation or NOV date) and completes the repair will receive $3,075. An extended warranty will also be provided that covers all parts and systems affected by the emissions modification.
"By holding FCA and Bosch accountable for their diesel emissions cheating, consumers will now receive the vehicle they were promised plus cash compensation, while protecting our environment," said Elizabeth Cabraser, Court-appointed Lead Counsel and chair of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, which negotiated the settlement on behalf of class members. "We look forward to presenting this settlement to the court, and once approved ensuring eligible owners and lessees take advantage of its benefits. We appreciate the guidance provided by Judge Chen, the Settlement Master Kenneth Feinberg, and the efforts of the Department of Justice, EPA, the California Attorney General's office and CARB."
Former owners and lessees who sold their vehicle after the NOV date can also file claims to receive a portion of the total cash compensation assigned to the vehicle if it receives the repair. Class members who sell their vehicle after today (the settlement announcement date) will not be eligible for compensation.
Under consent decrees with the DOJ (on behalf of the EPA) and CARB that are intended to be implemented in conjunction with the class action settlement, FCA will pay penalties for violations of the Clean Air Act. It could also face significant additional fines if it does not perform the approved emissions modification on a minimum of 85 percent of eligible vehicles.
The settlement is subject to Court approval; a preliminary approval hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2019. When and if the Court grants preliminary approval, the claims process will open to class members. The Court will hold a final approval hearing approximately three to four months later. Current owners and lessees will have 18 months from the date the Court issues final approval of the class settlement and enters the Consent Decrees (the "Effective Date") to submit a claim, and two years from the Effective Date to complete the repair and receive compensation. Former owners and lessees will have 90 days from the Effective Date to submit a claim.
Class members will receive more information about the terms of the settlement via mail and email. The full details of the settlement will also be available at www.EcoDieselSettlement.com. Additional information can also be found on the Court website: https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/emc/chryslermdl.
Consumer Plaintiffs File Consolidated Class Action Complaint in FCA Litigation
On July 19, 2017, consumer and reseller dealer plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint in the Northern District of California. This Consolidated Complaint brings together plaintiffs who have filed suit nationwide. This multidistrict litigation against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and others concerns the misrepresentations and omissions relating to the installation of emissions defeat devices in Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee "EcoDiesel" trucks and SUVs.
Keller Rohrback, a leading consumer protection firm, filed one of the first lawsuits against FCA related to these "EcoDiesel" vehicles. The firm represents clients across the country who retained Keller Rohrback because of the firm's consumer and environmental experience and commitment to holding defendants accountable for the financial and environmental harms caused by their conduct.
Managing Partner Lynn Sarko Appointed to Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles "EcoDiesel" Litigation
Keller Rohrback's managing partner Lynn Sarko has been appointed to serve on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the litigation to hold Fiat Chrysler Automobiles accountable to consumers for developing and marketing trucks with so-called "EcoDiesel" engines.
Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California, presiding over the FCA multidistrict litigation (MDL), selected Mr. Sarko to serve on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee. The case In re: Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep EcoDiesel Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 17-MD-02777-EMC, is pending in federal court in San Francisco. Judge Chen's order can be read here.
Mr. Sarko led Keller Rohrback, a leading consumer protection firm, in filing one of the first lawsuits against FCA related to these "EcoDiesel" vehicles containing a defeat device. The firm represents clients across the country who retained Keller Rohrback because of the firm's consumer and environmental experience and commitment to holding defendants accountable for the financial and environmental harms caused by their conduct.
Mr. Sarko is a nationally-recognized leader in complex litigation. He has been selected by federal courts nationwide to lead a wide variety of cutting-edge cases. Since 1991, Mr. Sarko has managed Keller Rohrback's diverse and accomplished Complex Litigation Group. He is widely recognized for his ability to direct complex litigation and his expertise dealing with high-stakes lawsuits.
JPML transfers "EcoDiesel" cases to Northern District of California
We are happy to report that, as Keller Rohrback and our co-counsel requested, the Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all of the EcoDiesel cases in courts across the country before Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California. A copy of the Panel's order can be found below.
The next steps are for Judge Chen to choose a group of lawyers to lead the litigation and to file a single, consolidated complaint on behalf of all consumers who purchased the affected vehicles. Keller Rohrback will continue to fight for and defend the rights of all Class Members who have been affected by this scandal.
Amended Consolidated Consumer Class Action Complaint – 09/29/2017
Pretrial Order – 06/19/2017
MDL Transfer Order – 04/05/2017
JPML Hearing Transcript – 03/30/2017
Consumer & Reseller Dealership Class Action Settlement Agreement and Release – 01/10/2019
State of CA Partial Consent Decree – 01/10/2019
State of CA 2nd Partial Consent Decree – 01/10/2019
Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Settlement – 01/10/2019
DOJ Proposed Consent Decree – 01/10/2019
Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Settlement – 02/11/2019
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the California Air Resources Board ("CARB") confirmed that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ("FCA") is in violation of the Clean Air Act by selling vehicles that are spewing excessive levels of harmful pollution into the atmosphere.
Read the full EPA Notice of Violation
Read the full CARB Notice of Violation
List of Affected Vehicles
Affected Fiat Chrysler Vehicles
Make and Model(s)
Ram 1500 – Model Year 2014
Jeep Grand Cherokee – Model Year 2014
Fiat Chrysler News From Around the Web
01/12/16 – E.P.A. Accuses Fiat Chrysler of Secretly Violating Emissions Standards
01/12/16 – EPA: Fiat Chrysler software enabled emissions cheating
01/13/16 – Fiat Chrysler Allegations Fuel European Emissions Scandal
$307.5M Class Settlement with Fiat Chrysler, Bosch Will Compensate Owners and Lessees, Provide Repairs that Protect Environment
A class action settlement agreement filed January 10, 2019 by the consumer plaintiffs in the Fiat Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep (FCA) "EcoDiesel" Litigation will, if approved, provide eligible owners and lessees with substantial cash payments in addition to government-approved emissions modifications and extended warranties.
Plaintiffs File Consolidated Class Action Complaint in FCA litigation
On July 19, 2017, consumer and reseller dealer plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint (link to document) in the Northern District of California.
Lynn Sarko Appointed to Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles "EcoDiesel" Litigation
Lynn Sarko has been appointed to serve on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the litigation to hold Fiat Chrysler Automobiles accountable to consumers for developing and marketing trucks with so-called "EcoDiesel" engines.
Case Update | JPML transfers "EcoDiesel" cases to Northern District of California
The Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all of the EcoDiesel cases in courts across the country before Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California.
Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Files Suit Over Defeat Devices in "EcoDiesel" Ram 1500 & Jeep Grand Cherokees
Keller Rohrback continues to work on behalf of owners of EcoDiesel Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles
Keller Rohrback Files Suit Over Defeat Devices in "EcoDiesel" Ram 1500 & Jeep Grand Cherokees
Keller Rohrback L.L.P. commenced litigation against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and others over the inclusion of defeat devices in their Eco-Diesel Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles.
EPA & CARB Issue Notices of Violation to Fiat Chrysler Over Defeat Devices
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board Issue Notices of Violation to Fiat Chrysler Over Defeat Devices In Eco-Diesel Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokees
Keller Rohrback Investigates Claims of Emissions Fraud in "Eco-Diesel" Ram 1500 & Jeep Grand Cherokee
Keller Rohrback L.L.P. is investigating claims of emissions cheating in "Eco-Diesel" Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles.
Settlement registration is available for 2014-2016 Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0-liter "EcoDiesel" vehicle owners and lessees at ecodieselsettlement.com.
Lynn Lincoln Sarko
Ryan McDevitt
Dean N. Kawamoto
Gretchen Freeman Cappio
Wondering if your vehicle is involved? Please contact us via email or call us toll free at 866.560.4043


Top 32 Canadian Books for Children, Canadian Children s Book Centre 100 Best Canadian Kids Books, Today s Parent Magazine Red is Best gets it right This is a true children s classic Ken Setterington, author, storyteller, Children and Youth Advocate for the Toronto Public Library Delightful School Library JournalYoung Kelly s mom doesn t understand about red Sure,Top 32 Canadian Books for Children, Canadian Children s Book Centre 100 Best Canadian Kids Books, Today s Parent Magazine Red is Best gets it right This is a true children s classic Ken Setterington, author, storyteller, Children and Youth Advocate for the Toronto Public Library Delightful School Library JournalYoung Kelly s mom doesn t understand about red Sure, the brown mittens are warmer, but the red mitts make better snowballs And the red boots aren t just for rain they take bigger steps in any weather And, yes a green cup does make a difference juice tastes better in the red cup No doubt about it, red is best.Kathy Stinson s classic tale of one toddler s obstinate color preference has been charming readers for 25 years now With over 275,000 copies in print, Red is Best has steadily marched its way to become a children s book classic Now a new generation of readers can discover Stinson s insistent young heroine, aptly captured in the simple drawings by Robin Baird Lewis, each punctuated by the right dazzle of red.With its plucky charm presented in a redesigned interior, and a special cover commemorating the book s 25th anniversary, the re release of Red is Best is sure to be a red letter day.
Kanadyjska klasyka z prostymi szkicami, operującymi tylko kolorem czerwonym. Opowiada o małej dziewczynce, która uwielbia czerwony kolor.
Delightful story, with sweet illustrations, that brought a smile to my face.
A delightful read of a child's preference why she prefers her red things over others.
This was one of my son's favourite books when he was young. Very simple, but he loved it.
Every once in awhile, we'll pull up the on Tumblebooks website(tumblebooks) and watch a book being narrated aloud. It's fun and entertaining and we've discovered some great stories there. This is a simple story of a child who prefers red. There's not much else to it, but it's a fun little tale that would certainly appeal to young children. Our girls are growing out of books like this, but we still enjoyed watching this one together.
Children in our school begin learning Spanish at age 3. We are always looking for books that are either bilingual or in simple Spanish. Not at age 3, but certainly before they outgrow their interest in this type of book, our students will be able to read most of this independently. Many of the words they might not know can be figured out by looking at the illustrations.The story is charming and right on target for this age group.
I remember reading this book in elementary school, and then being assigned to write my own version (which I cleverly entitled 'Blue is Best'!). I love the plot of this book - it really showcases the imagination of a child. The pictures are good too. They aren't my favorite style, but they don't have to be because they are perfect for really young kids.5 stars, mostly for the nostalgia.
This is a bit of a strange kind of book but I still really liked it (likely because it is unusual). I can totally relate to a child who sees the importance of colour. I like the images evoked, e.g. 'red barrettes make my hair sing'. The illustrations are a beautiful accompaniment to the story, literally highlighting the importance of red to the child.
Red is Best is a delightful story about a little girl who, much to her mother's dismay, only wants to wear clothes that are red. Whether they are too small, too old or too tattered, she doesn't care and politely insists that 'Red is best'. Strong minded children and parents everywhere will love this story. Age 4-8.
Red is my favorite color so I had no problem with the title. :) The book is short, cute, and straight from the mind of someone who understands kids. The illustrations made a good story even better. I'm now on the lookout to buy this one.
This is a cute story about how the little girl, Kelly, like her red "everything" better. She's obsessed with the color red! Very easy read for new readers and very nice illustrations to go along with the book!
I used to read this book to myself when I was pretty young, around 5-6 years old. My favourite colour at the time was red so the book was even better! I used to pore over the beautiful illustrations and story, I remember the book very fondly.
A cute classic, about a little girl who likes red things, despite her mother's protestations that her red mittens have holes, her red rainboots aren't meant for snow, use the other colour thing that is task appropriate, etc, etc. You get the idea. Very simple story, but nice.
I actually had a student in my first grade placement who was just like the character in this book! He wanted red everything and would throw a fit at the site of any other color! (: But overall, nice book for helping students understand the concepts of colors- recommended for younger grades.
I share Kelly's fondness for red things. Perhaps that is why I so enjoy reading this book. If only Kelly's mom could understand the emotion a colour can evoke in us life would be much simpler. A wonderful read for a preschool audience.
I love how well this book illustrates a child's passion for a particular color. The story is timeless.
I'm going to use this for this Sunday's family story time.
This is one of my very favorite children's books. Comes in board book edition now, which I give at every baby shower.
A book we borrowed from the library this week.I am hoping Sophie will choose it for her nighttime story tonight. I think the idea of preschooler's colour preferences is universal.


text:
There are 5 results for "framed by police two reuters journalists jailed for 7 years".
Myanmar: Court rejects appeal of two Reuters' journalists
The Myanmar Supreme Court today rejected the appeal filed by two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were sentenced to seven years in jail. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the decision and demands the journalists' immediate release.
Asia Pacific Bulletin: January
Welcome to the first IFJ Asia Pacific Bulletin for 2019
Asia Pacific Bulletin: OCTOBER
Government critic jailed for seven years in Myanmar
Former newspaper columnist has been jailed for seven years in Myanmar over Facebook post criticizing the country's leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has criticized the sentence handed down to Ngar Min Swe and called for the charges to be dropped and he be immediately released.
Framed by police: Two Reuters journalists jailed for 7 years

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


From your internet connection, to your phone system, to your conference room multimedia and site-wide surveillance... IP convergence gives you the ability to have a single network to transfer both voice and data.
Enterprise networks that are based on the Internet Protocol network technology are today in the forefront of answering businesses' requirement for a useful and cost-effective solution. These networks serve as the backbone for all enterprise communication needs.
Along with meeting the challenges posed by the physical integration of the network, APCI ensures that the aggregated flow of traffic meets the quality and functionality requirements of your business... often at significantly reduced costs.


56 Elegant Photos De Jardin De France Hatel Le Pradey Bewertungen Fotos Preisvergleich Paris Ale De France Tripadvisor Uploaded by on Monday, October 8th, 2018 in category 57 Unique Photos De Alinea Fauteuil Jardin.
See also 56 Elegant Photos De Jardin De France Marriott Village Dile De France Bailly Romainvilliers Allee De Lorme Rond 77700 from 57 Unique Photos De Alinea Fauteuil Jardin Topic.
Here we have another image 56 Elegant Photos De Jardin De France 55 Elegant Photos De Malle De Jardin Pdf Exposac featured under 56 Elegant Photos De Jardin De France Hatel Le Pradey Bewertungen Fotos Preisvergleich Paris Ale De France Tripadvisor. We hope you enjoyed it and if you want to download the pictures in high quality, simply right click the image and choose "Save As". Thanks for reading 56 Elegant Photos De Jardin De France Hatel Le Pradey Bewertungen Fotos Preisvergleich Paris Ale De France Tripadvisor.


I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called Tame Impala Shares New Song "Patience" (Listen Up) and is located at http://www.theminimalbeat.com/tame-impala-shares-new-song-patience-listen-up/.
Kevin Parker and Tame Impala are currently in the studio focusing on finishing the new album… They did just break and drop the new song "Patience" before they head out on the road this spring/summer. The song is the first new music in four years by Tame Impala and you can listen to it below!


text:
Lady Sandals
How does midsole resiliency affect my foot heath?
It should be fair to say that there's hardly anyone that stands or walks with perfect balance, putting equal weighting on both sides of the feet. Naturally, we can expect one side of a pair of shoes to flatten more than the other (i.e. unequal flattening), so it is crucial for the footwear midsole to revert to its original shape (i.e. resiliency) and equalize the body balance. Lack of or inadequate midsole resiliency would cause the body posture to misalign and result in pain in the neck, back, and joints.
Klas & Sylph understands the importance of midsole resiliency and develops Burlin Sole for that very reason. With a special formula of the finest Polyurethane (PU) imported from Germany, Klas & Sylph succeeds in producing quality footwear whose midsole is exceptionally flexible, resilient, and comfortable.
Please note, however, that PU as a midsole material is not the same material as normally short-lived PU fabric used in the making of shoes upper of other brands in the market. In fact, Klas & Sylph's PU-based Burlin Sole has a minimum life expectancy of 3 years, conservatively speaking.
2016-10-12T15:45:41+07:00September 3rd, 2016|Midsole|
KS Reward Points
© 2012-2019 Klas & Sylph. All Rights Reserved.


Be still my pumpkin and bourbon and cake-loving heart.
This sheet cake, you guys. Can I tell you something about it? It's pretty tasty. And I think you should make it for your Halloween-ing weekend.
I actually made this cake a few weeks ago for my friend Lauren of Keep It Sweet Desserts, who just had an adorable baby boy named Liam whose cheeks I want to squish through the computer screen. Sadly, I couldn't literally share this cake with her as we live a few hundred miles from each other (which is so unfortunate, considering all of the dessert yums that girl makes that I would happily take from her if we were neighbors). Instead, I gave it to my husband to share with his co-workers and apparently they loved it, said the three crumbs that came home with him later that day.
Anywho, about that baby. So Lauren can get in as many sweet snuggles with him as she can, I'm guest posting for her today with — you guessed it — this cake. So my suggestion? Drop everything and head over to her blog for the recipe. Need I remind you of the bourbon?
Happy (cake-eating, Halloween-ing) weekend, friends!
Oh my! This looks amazing but sounds out-of-this-world delicious! WANT!!
I only have one problem with this. I don't want to make it for my Halloween-ing weekend.
Because that is a WHOLE DAY AWAY. I want it for breakfast. Like the meal that I am going to eat in about an hour. That one. RIGHT NOW.
I adore the addition of butternut to this!
Bourbon-vanilla frosting?! I want it all!! This sheet cake looks like it's absolutely possible to resist. I want to eat it with/in my morning coffee!
Butternut and pumpkin?!?! Girl, you know my weakness. I love this recipe.
Bourbon vanilla cream cheese frosting?! Love!
oh man, that bourbon vanilla frosting is calling my name! this looks awesome!
Holy cow. This looks unbelievably insane. I would like to dive face first into this recipe!!! Perfect for fall and being festive. DEFINITELY trying this one out.
NEED this recipe!! It's so beautiful with such amazing flavors. That bourbon vanilla cream cheese frosting sounds incredible. Pinned!
This sheet cake looks amazing! I love all the different flavours you have in it!
Oh my, I love the flavor combo on this cake! YUM.
Oh wow this looks amazing!! I love the spice and the warmth of the flavour! ps. Happy halloween!
Stunning dessert! You simply can't go wrong with pumpkin cake. Love the twist on the frosting. Mmm….
This is the perfect cake for Halloween weekend. Mmm, bourbon!
OH MY GOODNESS! Those photos – too gorgeous! And I love the butternut addition, too – it's such an undervalued squash! Looks incredible!
Ahhh bourbon….Heading over to check out the recipe!
Thank you so much, Steph! I would have loved to sit and share this cake with you… one day (maybe with our little ones)!
This looks amazing! I just made a bourbon cream cheese frosting. I can't wait to go check this out!
I might be sweating it out in Australia, but for this pumpkin cake I would delightfully turn on the oven for a piece! Perfect!
I LOVE sheet cake. Totally actioning this over T-Giving!
What a great cake to share with friends!


The First Mermaid Atargatis. Find out how she was created.
In Ancient Roman times, Atargatis was a beautiful and powerful priestess who fell in love with a human shepherd boy. He, simply being mortal, did not survive her divine love making and died. She became pregnant with his baby and soon became distraught and remorseful. After the birth of a baby girl Semiranis on the shore, she threw herself into the Ocean to drown. Her beauty was so great that the Gods did not let her die, but changed her into a Mermaid. Not only did she become a mermaid, but a goddess of the seas. Half woman and half fish. Atargatis was depicted as having long, flowing hair like the water. She is the first mermaid.
During the Roman Era, she was worshiped at the shrine in Hieropolis, and had multiple temples dedicated to her. At her temples were ponds containing her sacred fish that only her priests were allowed to touch. Supposedly the fish knew their own names and would come when called. They even wore jewels and would snuggle up to people like a pet. In her day, worshipers would immerse themselves in her sacred waters to offer praise.
One way modern worshipers choose to honor and connect with the first mermaid Atargatis is to call out to her directly. Try sitting by a body of water and opening up to receive any messages that come through. You can hold a specific question in mind, or let the goddess' wisdom flow into the quiet. Afterward, write or draw what you experienced. Don't forget to leave a gift in her honor; consider leaving a treat for her sacred fish to enjoy.
Despite the legend of Atargatis being thousands of years old, people still worship and honor the mermaid even into modern times!


text:
//***********************************************************************//
//																		 //
//		- "Talk to me like I'm a 3 year old!" Programming Lessons -		 //
//                                                                       //
//		$Author:		Ben Humphrey	digiben@gametutorilas.com		 //
//																		 //
//		$Program:		ShadersIntro									 //
//																		 //
//		$Description:	Using GLSL we create a wavy sphere in wireframe	 //
//																		 //
//***********************************************************************//

// This is a compiler directive that includes libraries (For Visual Studio).
#pragma comment(lib, "opengl32.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "glu32.lib")

#include "main.h"										// This includes our header file

bool  g_bFullScreen = TRUE;								// Set full screen as default
HWND  g_hWnd;											// This is the handle for the window
RECT  g_rRect;											// This holds the window dimensions
HDC   g_hDC;											// General HDC - (handle to device context)
HGLRC g_hRC;											// General OpenGL_DC - Our Rendering Context for OpenGL
HINSTANCE g_hInstance;									// This holds the global hInstance for UnregisterClass() in DeInit()

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// *
//
// Welcome to the introduction of shaders.  You will find out from now on, as you
// continue to use shaders it is going to be a bit different than the programming
// you are used to; different but more powerful.  We will be using the GLSL shader
// language.
//
// * What are shaders? *
//
// Shaders are text files that are passed to the video card's GPU (Graphics Processing
// Unit), which enable extremely fast operations to be performed on each vertex and/or
// pixel on the screen.  Basically, shaders allow you to speed up computationally
// expensive operations like lighting, reflection, refraction, bump mapping, etc.
// It also allows you to morph your geometry in a quick way, like in this tutorial.
// Instead of having your computer's CPU get bogged down with these calculations,
// we want to use shaders to have the greatest amount of efficiency by using the GPU.
//
// * Who can run shaders? *
//
// Shaders are used with video cards that have a GPU.  Most of the video cards that
// you buy now will have a GPU.  Back in the day, NVidia's Geforce 3 was one of the
// first video cards to implement this technology.  You can get a capable video card
// for extremely cheap now days.
//
// * OpenGL Shader text files *
//
// In OpenGL there are 2 shader files.  There is a vertex shader and a fragment shader.
// Usually you will find the shaders labeled as .vert for vertex shaders and .frag
// for fragment shaders.  These are just text files, so you can call them what ever
// you want.  We create our own function for loading the text file into a char array.
//
// Right now, quickly open the .vert and .frag files to see what they look like.
// You will notice that it looks like a programming file.  It has a main() and
// a scope (the curly brackets).  The syntax for shader files is like the C++ language.
//
// Keep in mind that in Direct3D there isn't two files, but one .fx file.  You can check
// out our Direct3D shader tutorials for the differences between OpenGL and D3D.
//
// The vertex (.vert) file handles each vertex on the GPU, where the fragment file handles
// every pixel drawn by 3D objects, also known as a "pixel shader".
//
// * What this tutorial does *
//
// In this tutorial we draw a quadric sphere and apply a vertex and fragment shader to it.
// The vertex shader ("morph.vert") makes a wavy effect on each vertice using a cosine
// function, as well as using a fragment shader ("morph.frag") to color the sphere red.
//
// Now, this example doesn't make a huge increase in speed, but we do send some pretty
// intense computations for the function cos() to the GPU instead of calculating it on
// our CPU.
//
// *What is the difference between the GLSL and CG shader language? *
//
// The GLSL shader language is the recognized shader language by the OpenGL standards board,
// and works on both ATI and NVidia graphics cards.  The CG shader language was the first
// language to come out for OpenGL and just works on NVidia cards, but works with D3D
// and OpenGL.  HLSL (High Level Shader Language) is for DirectX and is the standard.
//
// It is assumed that by reading this tutorial you understand OpenGL/3D programming
// and you have read through the basic OpenGL tutorials on our CD.
//
// We created a CShader.cpp and CShader.h file to handle our shader code.  This CShader
// class included in the files is very basic.  In this file we just init our GLSL
// functions and then start using shaders!  Let's go to the code.  Be sure to look
// at the bottom of this file for explanations of each shader file.
//

// This is our global shader object.  We can create many shaders this way.
CShader g_Shader;

// This will be used to store a variable ID of "time" in our vertex shader file.
// We will change this to make the wavy effect.
GLint g_TimeLoc = 0;

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// *

///////////////////////////////// INIT \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*
/////
/////	This function initializes the program window.
/////
///////////////////////////////// INIT \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*

void Init(HWND hWnd)
{
	g_hWnd = hWnd;										// Assign the window handle to a global window handle
	GetClientRect(g_hWnd, &g_rRect);					// Assign the windows rectangle to a global RECT
	InitializeOpenGL(g_rRect.right, g_rRect.bottom);	// Init OpenGL with the global rect

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// *

	// Let's init our GLSL functions and make sure this computer can run the program.
	InitGLSL();

	// Here we pass in our vertex and fragment shader files to our shader object.
	g_Shader.InitShaders("morph.vert", "morph.frag");

	// Now we want to get the variable "time" in the morph.vert file so we can update it.
	g_TimeLoc = g_Shader.GetVariable("time");

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// *

}

/////////////////////////////// ANIMATE NEXT FRAME \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*
/////
/////	This function clamps a specified frame rate for consistency
/////
/////////////////////////////// ANIMATE NEXT FRAME \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*

bool AnimateNextFrame(int desiredFrameRate)
{
	static float lastTime = GetTickCount() * 0.001f;
	static float elapsedTime = 0.0f;

	float currentTime = GetTickCount() * 0.001f; // Get the time (milliseconds = seconds * .001)
	float deltaTime = currentTime - lastTime; // Get the slice of time
	float desiredFPS = 1.0f / desiredFrameRate; // Store 1 / desiredFrameRate

	elapsedTime += deltaTime; // Add to the elapsed time
	lastTime = currentTime; // Update lastTime

	// Check if the time since we last checked is greater than our desiredFPS
	if( elapsedTime > desiredFPS )
	{
		elapsedTime -= desiredFPS; // Adjust our elapsed time

		// Return true, to animate the next frame of animation
		return true;
	}

	// We don't animate right now.
	return false;
}

///////////////////////////////// MAIN LOOP \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*
/////
/////	This function handles the main loop
/////
///////////////////////////////// MAIN LOOP \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*

WPARAM MainLoop()
{
	MSG msg;

	while(1)											// Do our infinite loop
	{													// Check if there was a message
		if (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE))
		{
			if(msg.message == WM_QUIT)					// If the message wasn't to quit
				break;
			TranslateMessage(&msg);						// Find out what the message does
			DispatchMessage(&msg);						// Execute the message
		}
		else											// if there wasn't a message
		{
			if(AnimateNextFrame(60))					// Make sure we only animate 60 FPS
			{
				RenderScene();							// Render the scene every frame
			}
			else
			{
				Sleep(1);								// Let other processes work
			}
		}
	}

	DeInit();											// Clean up and free all allocated memory

	return(msg.wParam);									// Return from the program
}

///////////////////////////////// RENDER SCENE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*
/////
/////	This function renders the entire scene.
/////
///////////////////////////////// RENDER SCENE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*

void RenderScene()
{
	glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);	// Clear The Screen And The Depth Buffer
	glLoadIdentity();									// Reset The matrix

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// * ///////

	// In our RenderScene() function we will now start using the shader.  We added support
	// to create quadrics so we don't have to load any models, which makes the tutorials easy.
	// What we do is create a sphere and then have our shader make it wave.  When we loaded
	// the shader files it turned ON the shader, so we don't need to turn it on every frame.
	// Notice that we pass in our g_TimeLoc variable that we got in the Init() function above
	// to change the "time" variable in the vertex shader.  We also pass in a new waveChange
	// value to vary the wave.

	// Create a static float to hold our current wave value, then update and change it each frame.
	static float waveChange = 0.0f;
	g_Shader.SetFloat(g_TimeLoc, waveChange);
	waveChange += 0.06f;

	GLUquadricObj *pObj = gluNewQuadric();				// Get a Quadric off the stack

	gluQuadricDrawStyle(pObj, GLU_LINE);				// Draw the sphere in wireframe

	glTranslatef(0.0f, 0.0f, -6.5f);					// Move the sphere backwards from the camera
	gluSphere(pObj, 2.5f, 75, 75);						// Draw a decent poly sphere with a radius of 2.5

	gluDeleteQuadric(pObj);								// Free the Quadric

/////// * /////////// * /////////// * NEW * /////// * /////////// * /////////// * ///////

	SwapBuffers(g_hDC);									// Swap the backbuffers to the foreground
}

///////////////////////////////// WIN PROC \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*
/////
/////	This function handles the window messages.
/////
///////////////////////////////// WIN PROC \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\*

LRESULT CALLBACK WinProc(HWND hWnd,UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    LONG    lRet = 0;

    switch (uMsg)
	{
    case WM_SIZE:										// If the window is resized
		if(!g_bFullScreen)								// Do this only if we are NOT in full screen
		{
			SizeOpenGLScreen(LOWORD(lParam),HIWORD(lParam));// LoWord=Width, HiWord=Height
			GetClientRect(hWnd, &g_rRect);				// Get the window rectangle
		}
        break;

	case WM_KEYDOWN:
		switch(wParam) {								// Check if we hit a key
			case VK_ESCAPE:								// If we hit the escape key
				PostQuitMessage(0);						// Send a QUIT message to the window
				break;
		}
		break;

    case WM_DESTROY:									// If the window is destroyed
        PostQuitMessage(0);								// Send a QUIT Message to the window
        break;

    default:											// Return by default
        lRet = (long)DefWindowProc (hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam);
        break;
    }

    return lRet;										// Return by default
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// * QUICK NOTES *
//
// That was simple to use our shader object huh?  Notice that we didn't need
// to turn "on" the shader every frame.  This is because once we call InitShaders()
// it is already turned on.  In the following tutorials we will show an example of
// turning them on and off in RenderScene().  You would just need to call TurnOn
// and TurnOff().
//
// So, when we run this program you will see a wavy wire-frame sphere.  The color
// red is from the fragment shader.  We just did a simple usage of the fragment
// shader for now.  The following tutorials will use more complex fragment shaders.
//
// Check out the bottom of CShader.cpp for complete details on the loading and
// running of shader code.
//
// * Morph.vert shader file explanation *

/*
uniform float time;

void main()
{
	vec4 vertex = vec4(gl_Vertex);

	vertex.z = cos(4.0 * vertex.y + time) * 0.45;

	gl_Position = gl_ModelViewProjectionMatrix * vertex;
}
*/

// Above is the vertex shader, morph.vert.  Let's go over each line to explain
// what is going on.  Notice that the shader is similar to a normal program in C++.
//
// *** This line creates a variable called "time", of type "float".
// uniform float time;
//
// We can manipulate the variable to help make the wavy effect.
// uniform means that it is a made up variable that we can change/access.
//
// *** Just like in C++ we create a main with an opening scope {}
// void main(void)
// {
//
// *** Here store the current vertex in the GPU in a vec4 variable.
// vec4 vertex = vec4(gl_Vertex);
//
// "gl_Vertex" is the preset variable for the current vertex that the shader
// is dealing with.  Notice that we need semi-colons at the end of statements
// like in C/C++.
//
// *** Now we actually create the wave effect by doing some simple math and cosine.
// vertex.z = cos(4.0 * vertex.y + time) * 0.45;
//
// GLSL has many built in functions that is understands like cos(), sin(), max(), etc.
// The variable "time" is passed into cos(), which will make the wave move throughout
// the sphere.  Comment out the increase of "time" in RenderScene() and notice it
// doesn't move.  If you don't want it a flat wave just use:
// vertex.z = vertex.z + cos(4.0 * vertex.y + time) * 0.45;
//
// *** Last of all, we set the new position of current vertex.
// gl_Position = gl_ModelViewProjectionMatrix * vertex;
//
// We don't just set the gl_Position variable to vertex because we need
// to multiply the vertex by OpenGL's current modelview and projection matrix.
// This positions the vertex in the world where it should be, and according to the camera.
// gl_Position and gl_ModelViewProjectionMatrix are both built in variables for GLSL.
// You also have gl_ModelViewMatrix and gl_ProjectionMatrix.  You could also say:
//
// gl_Position = gl_ModelViewMatrix * gl_ProjectionMatrix * vertex;
//
// Finally, we close the scope with a } at the end of the shader.
// Remember, that you can actually put comments in the shader files like in C++,
// but I chose not to so it didn't confuse anyone.  I think it's easier to look
// at shaders for the first time without comments so you know how simple they are.
//
// Let's look really fast at the fragment shader, morph.frag:
//
// * Morph.frag shader file explanation *

/*

void main()
{
	gl_FragColor = vec4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
}

*/

// This file is easy to explain.  gl_FragColor is a GLSL variable for
// storing the color of the current vertex.  In this case, we set it to red,
// with (R, G, B, A) being what we pass into vec4().
//
// That's pretty much it.  Just remember, .vert files are for transformations
// of the vertices, and fragment files are for texture and color, among other things.
// While the vertex shader handles each vertex being drawn, the fragment shader is
// a "pixel shader", which means it handles each pixel that is drawn on the screen from
// 3D objects.
//
// That's all there is to doing a basic shader!  Pretty powerful huh?  You will be
// further impressed at shader's power as we go through the next tutorials.
//
//
// © 2000-2005 GameTutorials

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I gave my talk about privacy by design last Saturday at eth0 2014 winter edition, a small hacker get-together which was organised in Lievelde, The Netherlands this year. eth0 organizes conferences that aim at bringing people with different computer-related interests together. They organise two events per year, one during winter. I've previously given a very similar talk at the OHM2013 hacker conference which was held in August 2013.
I talked about privacy by design, and what I did with relation to Annie Machon's site and recently, the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence site. The talk consists of 2 parts, in the first part I explained what we're up against, and in the second part I explained the 2 sites in a more specific case study.
I talked about the revelations about the NSA, GCHQ and other intelligence agencies, about the revelations in December, which were explained eloquently by Jacob Applebaum at 30C3 in Hamburg in December. Then I moved on to the threats to website visitors, how profiles are being built up and sold, browser fingerprinting. The second part consists of the case studies of both Annie Machon's website, and the Sam Adams Associates' website.
I've mentioned the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, for whom I had the honour to make their website so they could have a more public space where they could share things relating to the Sam Adams Award with the world, and also to provide a nice overview of previous laureates and what their stories are.
One of the things both sites have in common is the hosting on a Swiss domain, which provides for a safer haven where content may be hosted safely without fear of being taken down by the U.S. authorities. The U.S. claims jurisdiction on the average .com, .net, .org domains etc. and there have been cases where these have been brought down because it hosted content the U.S. government did not agree with. Case in point: Richard O'Dwyer, a U.K. citizen, was threatened with extradition to the United States for being the man behind TVShacks, which was a website that provided links to copyrighted content. MegaUpload, the file locker company started by Kim Dotcom, was given the same treatment, where if you would visit their domain, you were served an image from the FBI telling you the domain had been seized.
This entry was posted in Intelligence, Internet, Surveillance, Talks, Technical, Tracking and tagged annie machon, domain seizure, ethical, integrity, intelligence, internet, Manning, NSA, PRISM, sam adams associates, Snowden, social networks, surveillance, tracking on March 11, 2014 by Sander Venema.
Last week I read an article about the plan by the National Police of the Netherlands to connect all CCTV cameras to the national camera network which is operated by the police. The upper echelon of the Dutch police is currently secretly writing their policy document entitled Sensing, in which the definite plans will be written out in further detail. It would be interesting to know the contents of this secret report, since I'm pretty sure all the standard, same old arguments about why this should be implemented will be brought to the table again. They will probably say that it'll prevent crime and deter hoodlums, etcetera. We've read the arguments for it again and again, but fact of the matter is that more cameras doesn't mean less crime, CCTV cameras have never stopped criminals from committing a crime, they are ineffective, and it's an invasion to our privacy, especially when it's all connected into a single, nation-wide network, recording all our movements. It's the Panopticon! This then gets stored indefinitely, because governments the world over only remember the 'delete' command ('rm -rf' if you will) when it's in their interest to delete stuff. All other stuff (like these camera images, but also information stored by our various intelligence agencies, financial information, the sites you visit, your e-mail, call records, medical records, etcetera) never gets deleted. That's why the NSA is building their new data-bunker in Bluffdale, Utah, to create more storage space so they get to keep storing all kinds of data about our lives that goes over a wire. And our intelligence agencies are all in on it. Dutch Home Office Minister Ronald Plasterk had a bit of a row with parliament, with MPs being angry about a tiny parliamentary technicality, namely that Plasterk lied to them, claiming the NSA collected metadata on 1.8 million phone calls in the Netherlands, while it was in fact our own intelligence service, the AIVD, doing it. The sad thing of our political system is that they put all the focus on this tiny parliamentary technicality, when they totally forget about the big picture, namely that 1.8 million phone calls were being tapped, and that we should do something about this. 1.8 million is an enormous number for a country of 17 million people. Even more scary is that the parliamentary commission which is supposed to provide oversight over the intelligence community, the Commisie van Toezicht op de Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdiensten (CTIVD), also known as Commissie Stiekem, had no knowledge about this, and didn't know that this was even happening. So much for oversight. The problem with oversight over intelligence agencies is that because of the very nature of these agencies they keep their information a secret, and they can lie to our elected representatives with impunity, and there's no way to check until someone brave enough to blow the whistle steps forward.
Also at the Oxford Union last week, the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence awarded Chelsea Manning their award for the year 2014, meant for people who display extraordinary integrity in intelligence. The group and award was named after Sam Adams, a CIA intelligence analyst, who in 1967 discovered that there were far more Communist forces under arms in Vietnam, roughly twice the number U.S. command in Saigon would admit to. This intelligence revealed that the Pentagon was vastly under-reporting the number of enemy forces. But I digress.. Chelsea Manning revealed, by releasing the Collateral Murder video to WikiLeaks, that U.S. forces were committing war crimes. This showed the crew of a U.S. Apache attack helicopter firing away at unarmed civilians, Reuters journalists, and a father who was bringing his children to school and stopped his van to help one of the Reuters journalists who tried to drag himself onto the curb, heavily wounded. The U.S. forces were yelling like it was some sort of snuff video game, it's absolutely horrific, and these people should be brought to trial and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Because that's what it is. Chelsea Manning displayed extraordinary courage in releasing these documents, and rightly deserves this award. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to the day the U.S. government and the crew of the Apache helicopter in question, are indicted for multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. At which point the United States will invoke the American Service-Members' Protection Act (also known as the The Hague Invasion Act). But that's another story.
This entry was posted in Civil Rights, Intelligence, Policy, Surveillance and tagged AIVD, CIA, integrity, Manning, NSA, Sam Adams Award, Snowden, surveillance, Tweede Kamer on February 23, 2014 by Sander Venema.
(Note: A version of this article also got published on Consortium News) In the last 6 months or so, Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor, came forward with revelations about the NSA, disclosing quite a few of the agency's surveillance programs, and revealing that the agency has the most blatant disrespect for civil rights and spies on everything and everyone, all over the world, in a Pokémon-style "Gotta catch 'em all!" fashion. The actions of the NSA are also having a real effect on the United States economy. Let's talk about the economic consequences the NSA's surveillance programs will have on the United States economy, and, more specifically, its tech industry. The actions of the US administration, and more specifically what the NSA is doing with their surveillance programs, are having a big impact on the US economy, especially in Silicon Valley. Why would I store my data on servers in the United States, where this data is easily accessible by the NSA, among others, if I can just as easily store it in Europe or some other, more secure place?
To understand the US hegemony when it comes to IT companies and services, it is good to have a look at the history of the investment climate. Why did these companies pop up in the United States? Why wasn't Google invented in, say, Germany, or Finland? The reason many of these cloud storage services and internet companies popped up in Silicon Valley as opposed to Europe, say, is because of the investment climate in the United States, which made it much easier to start an internet company in the United States. Large institutional investors, venture capitalists, are less likely to invest in a start-up in Europe. Also, bankruptcy laws are much more relaxed in the US as opposed to Europe. Whereas in the US, you can be back on your feet in a year or so after going bankrupt, in Europe, this is generally a much longer process. According to the Economist, it takes a minimum of 2 years in Spain, 6 years in Germany, and a whopping 9 years in France. In my own country, The Netherlands, it takes 3 years to be debt-free again after a bankruptcy, but if you go bankrupt in Paris, good luck, you've just ruined your future. This makes it far more risky to try new things and set up shop in Europe, because the consequences if things go bad are so much worse. Unfortunately, this has left us Europeans in the position that we currently don't really have a European 'Silicon Valley', we don't have a lot of viable, easy to use alternatives, and these desperately need to get developed. We depend too much on American companies right now, and I think it's good if we diversified more, so that we will get a healthy market with plenty of good alternatives, instead of what we have now, which is a US monopoly on web-mail (Gmail/Hotmail etc.), social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, etc.), internet search (Google), cloud storage (Dropbox, Microsoft, Amazon), and other things. Already, cloud storage providers in Silicon Valley currently see big drops in their revenues because of the disclosures of Snowden. Why would we store our data across the pond? This is the central question and this is having real economic consequences for the United States.
Cloud providers based in the US were experiencing significant profit drops when the NSA revelations were made public. People outside the United States suddenly began to question whether their sensitive data was safe on American soil. All these companies are subject to the PATRIOT Act, which requires them to hand over any information and data they have on their customers, and they are prohibited by the US government to tell their customers about it. So the conclusion can quite definitively be that no, your data cannot be trusted to stay secure if you send it over to the United States, by using 'convenient' cloud services like Dropbox, or Amazon, among others.
This is the critical criterion. It doesn't matter that the company tells you that they use the most high-end military-grade encryption, it doesn't matter that they thought of an interesting technical solution to try and circumvent surveillance, it doesn't matter that they write glowing blog posts solemnly promising not to hand over your data, all that matters is that it is a US company, required to obey US law, and required to hand over your data. Few companies will be able to resist the pressure and forfeit their entire business model to protect your privacy. This is also what strikes me as funny when I read about major US tech companies, like Google, Apple and Microsoft, who found out that their server-to-server connections were being intercepted by NSA. These intra-server connections were not encrypted, sent in the clear, probably on some private fibre optic cable. Of course this could be intercepted given the NSA's technical competence. So now these companies are trying really hard to sell the story to their overseas customers that their intra-server communications are now fully encrypted. This is a feeble attempt to keep some of their customers from switching to alternatives (of which there are not many, unfortunately), as these companies are still US companies, with offices and infrastructure in the US, and the need to obey the laws over there. So it's totally irrelevant that these tech companies are now encrypting their intra-server communications, as the US government can simply request the data via other, more official means. But these companies aren't just promoting irrelevant measures, they actively act against our interests. After the revelations done by Edward Snowden, Facebook is making data hand-offs to US authorities easier (fully automated, without judicial oversight). Facebook is also partnering with police to make protests harder to organise. And still we insist in using its social network. These are instruments of control and surveillance. We're not their customers, we're the product being sold. We have a distinct lack of viable alternatives which aren't based in the US, and it's important to remember that social networks have a social aspect. It isn't enough for you to change over to a competitor, you have to convince your friends to switch as well. This is what keeps social networks afloat for so long, because this is indeed very hard to do.
In October 2013, Congress raised the debt ceiling again, which will buy some time until January 2014. Then they will have the exact same problem. The United States is structurally spending more money than they have available, and current US national debt ($17 trillion dollars) can never be repaid. They are pretty much already in default. But since the financial system is based on trust and hearsay, smoke and mirrors, it takes a while for people to face the reality, wake up and smell the coffee. At which point the United States will be an irrelevant relic from the past. Here in Europe, we need to protect our own citizens' interests, and start developing viable alternatives for the US hegemony, because the US hegemony will be over one day.
This entry was posted in Economy, Internet, Media, Social Networks, Technical and tagged Apple, corporations, encryption, Facebook, Google, intelligence, internet, NSA, Snowden, social networks, Twitter, US on November 17, 2013 by Sander Venema.
Plasterk later denied saying that, but he did in fact say this during the debate. More evidence can be found here.
Is No Price Too High For Security?
Benjamin Franklin once said something like "They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." This quote has been used a lot, but it is applicable here. The question we need to answer is the following: When do security measures stop benefiting the greater good, and infringe on our privacy and liberty, which are values that used to define our very societies? When does the price we have to pay for that little extra security becomes too great? Combating terrorism certainly seems like a very noble goal, and while I do agree that there are some people out there who aim to change our societal structures through violent methods (although one has to note that one man's terrorist is the other man's freedom fighter; the definition of the term is a bit in the eye of the beholder), there does come a point where the price we have to pay for a little increase in security becomes too great, compared to the potential benefits.
If you're a higher-order primate living in the jungle and you're attacked by a lion, it makes sense that you develop a lifelong fear of lions, or at least fear lions more than another animal you haven't personally been attacked by.
We are conditioned to think: it happened once, so it's likely that it'll happen again. And you see politicians using that knowledge to their advantage. It is insightful to consider that most measures we've currently taken against terrorism, would never even be considered had the events of 9/11 not happened.
With regard to the comments made by Mr. Plasterk: I think a lot of politicians still think that the United States is one of the 'good guys', when there's more and more evidence coming out that politically speaking, it is not our ally, and certainly not our friend. They serve their own self-interests, just like any other nation on earth, and it's important to never forget that. I even heard some politicians say that we should demand that Dutch citizens shall be treated the same as Americans under US law. It is laughable to think that the Americans across the pond will say: "Oh no! We angered the Dutch! Quickly change our laws to treat them the same as we treat Americans before they start re-colonizing New York!" At most, what these politicians will get is a nice letter from the US Embassy in which they solemnly promise that it will never happen again, meanwhile not changing their laws or practices in the US. And the NSA happily continues to trample upon their NATO allies' rights. And our politicians are apparently very happy to accept that. We have to reconsider our position and alliances after the numerous disclosures of classified documents by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. For what good is a friend who spies on you behind your back? President Roussef of Brazil has taken decisive action by severing ties with the United States and even building new fibre optic cable connections that circumvent United States territory. Where is the outrage in Dutch society? Here, AMS-IX (the Amsterdam Internet Exchange, the second-largest Internet exchange in the world), sets up shop in the US, making it subject to the PATRIOT Act. Have these people been living under a rock these past months? Or are there other, commercial interests at play here? We need to start demanding answers while at the same time strengthening our own privacy protections. Privacy is a human right, nothing more, nothing less. We need to start using it, or risk losing it.
This entry was posted in Civil Rights, Intelligence, Internet, Policy, Security, Surveillance and tagged AIVD, debate, NSA, Plasterk, politics, Snowden, surveillance, terrorism, Tweede Kamer on October 19, 2013 by Sander Venema.
Yesterday I watched a public discussion (last link in Dutch) on Sargasso between Jeroen Wollaars, NOS reporter, and Arjen Kamphuis, futurist, writer, and co-founder and CTO at Gendo. During his talk at OHM2013 (titled: Futureshock), someone asked Arjen a question that went somewhat like this: "If we cannot trust the mainstream media anymore to supply us with the information we need to act as informed citizens, what is the alternative?" To which Arjen replied that, if you want to be better informed about what happens in the Western world, RT (Russia Today) is pretty good.
Now it is important to be very nuanced here. You probably shouldn't believe the RT reporting done on stuff that is happening in Russia, as RT is, just like any media organization, selective in the information they broadcast, and probably won't be objective when it comes to Russia, just like the Western media aren't objective on Western subjects. But on Western issues, and informing us about all the stuff the Western governments are doing, the RT reporting is very good because unlike the Western mainstream media, the Russians dare to ask the questions that need to be asked. Questions that you won't hear from the Western mainstream media, and the Dutch media in particular.
Why are the people who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in an attack helicopter during the Iraq War under the Bush Administration still allowed to walk free, whereas Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years for simply exposing those very same war crimes? How come Manning was sentenced to 35 years, while Anders Breivik was sentenced to just 21? Isn't that a bit off? A man who ruthlessly and pointlessly murdered 77 people gets less years in prison than someone who exposed the dirty laundry of the powers that be?
When exactly did Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende know about the contents of the Downing Street Memos? Remember, these were the memos that proved definitively that "facts were being fixed around the policy" and that Governor Bush was set in his ways on provoking a war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His administration claimed that Saddam had WMDs (which was a blatant lie, even then), and they even tried to connect Saddam to Al-Qaeda.
Where is the coverage about our own intelligence agencies, like the AIVD, MIVD etc. in relation to the revelations on PRISM? Do they have the same capabilities, do they request data on Dutch citizens from their UK and US partners? What kind of data sharing is done with these inter-agency cooperations? We know the Americans spy on Dutch citizens as well (just like they do on every person on the planet connected to the Internet or phone networks), but where are the critical questions from the media? Where are the tough talk shows and debates that really question a few high-ranking politicians about these very important issues? The Germans have at least asked these questions to their politicians.
What is the underlying reason for the massive nation-wide push for the RFID OV-chipkaart public transport ticket (at the expense of normal paper tickets), the ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras above the nation's highways (which are also used by police), or the fingerprints on the RFID chip on our passports? The government seems intent on tracking our every move.
And these are just a handful of questions the Dutch media didn't bother to ask and issues they didn't bother to cover.
The Dutch mainstream media are unfortunately excruciatingly bad at journalism. For instance, the whole Manning case is barely on the news here, but whenever the American presidential elections draw near, the whole Dutch mainstream media press corps gets their knickers in a twist in trying to report on the American 'elections' in excruciating and nitty-gritty detail.
There are more important things going on in the world than reporting on an election that is principally undemocratic to begin with. After the 2000 presidential election, Governor Bush squatted the White House for 8 years, while Al Gore won the popular vote. It sure was convenient that Bush's brother Jeb happened to be Governor of Florida when the electoral votes for that state were the deciding factor in who would win the presidency. And there's stuff like voter suppression and gerrymandering going on in the US as well, which can influence elections quite substantially. But this fixation the Dutch media has with the US elections has always surprised me, given the fact that the coverage is almost on par with our own elections!
The Dutch media stopped asking the critical questions, and are now almost exclusively broadcasting propaganda from Washington. No questions asked, no background stories, no critical analyses, no audi alteram partem. They now mostly copy-paste the press releases from PR departments, and I really miss the critical tone. Most articles are less than 3 paragraphs long.
I will gladly watch the NOS and other Dutch media again (online, for free, not behind a paywall, and using open standards to provide streaming video) when they start being critical of the government which decides on their budget, and start speaking truth to power.
And this is the main reason why I use RT (among others) to keep me updated on the stuff our Western governments are doing. Unlike the Western mainstream media, RT is asking the questions, they currently speak truth to (Western) power. And again, nuance is important: you shouldn't believe RT too much when it comes to Russia, just like you shouldn't believe the Western media too much when it comes to the West. It's both propaganda, one way or the other. The Russians are at least open and frank about where RT gets their money from; in the West they are much more indirect and subtle about these matters. It's always best to get your news from as many sources as possible, and make your own decisions on who is more likely to tell you the truth.
This entry was posted in Civil Rights, Intelligence, Media, Policy and tagged critical, ethical, integrity, journalism, Manning, media, Netherlands, NOS, PRISM, Snowden, US on August 26, 2013 by Sander Venema.
237 years ago, 56 traitors to their King and country signed a document which outlined a new philosophy, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights. That among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. This gave birth to a new nation, the United States of America. Funny how your perception can change depending on your viewpoint and background, isn't it? In 1776, these 56 signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence did something very brave indeed. They took a stand against the Empire on which the sun never sets, the British Empire, because it failed to embody and represent what they believed in: that it should be the task of the government to secure the above rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. And that whenever the government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. These men are considered patriots by many Americans, because in defying the King of Great Britain in 1776, they founded the United States of America, a nation once conceived on these noble principles. A nation that sadly no longer adheres to the philosophy laid down it its Declaration of Independence. Had history played out differently, these men could have been tried for high treason and hung, drawn and quartered. These men took a huge personal risk based on what they personally believed in. You have to remember, back in 1776, the British Empire was a superpower, quite similar to the roles the United States, Russia and China play today. But history is written by the victors, as they say.
Here in Europe, we saw politicians finally taking a stand against the NSA PRISM program, but sadly only because it was in their own self-interest to do so. It wasn't until Snowden released documents proving that the United States had been spying on European diplomats in Washington, New York and Brussels, as was published in Der Spiegel on July 1st, that we finally got some strong language from some European leaders, with François Hollande even threatened to suspend the trade pact talks with the US. This delayed reaction by European politicians seems to send the message to the European citizens that it's apparently perfectly OK to spy on European citizens (politicians here were awfully quiet when the story broke), as long as the Americans are not spying on our diplomats and politicians. Oh, and if you've heard the NSA's stories about 'metadata', and you're wondering what 'harmless metadata' really means, be sure to check out German Green Party Member Malte Spitz's six months of telephone records mapped on a moving map. It's quite a humbling experience. 🙂 Update: Since I wrote this article on July 2nd, 2013, things have changed even more dramatically, as long-established diplomatic principles in international law have been grossly violated by denying President Morales' plane access to French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese airspace, causing it to have to divert to Vienna when the president was on his way home from a summit in Moscow. Of course, this caused massive anger in Latin America. The real problem we now have in Europe are leaders with rubber knees. We have our brain, and our sovereignty. Let's start using it.
This entry was posted in Policy and tagged independence, intelligence, NSA, PRISM, Snowden on July 4, 2013 by Sander Venema.


(Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) said on Monday it would sell its Retail, Commercial and Small-Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) banking businesses in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to Kina Bank, to focus on institutional and large corporate banking in the region.
ANZ previously announced the sale of its retail and wealth businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam.
In a separate statement issued by Kina, it said it was buying the ANZ PNG businesses for PGK24.2 million ($7.19 million).


text:
Machine Gun University Tests Bulldog's Skills
By Maj. Vonnie WrightMarch 29, 2021
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Pvt. Robert Whitman, machine gunner, C Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment "Above The Rest", 1st Brigade Combat Team "Bastogne", 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), right, and Spc. Jakelin Freeman, assistant machine gunner, C Co., 1-327 Inf. Regt., left, firing their M240B machine gun on Range 11 during the culminating exercise of the Bulldog Machine Gun University on Fort Campbell, Ky. The Machine Gun University is a five-day course increasing lethality and proficiency of the battalion's machine gun teams. According to the Feb. 26 101st Abn. Div. memorandum, individuals on Fort Campbell are exempt from wearing a mask while firing on ranges. U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Vonnie Wright (Photo Credit: Maj. Vonnie Wright) VIEW ORIGINAL
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Staff Sgt. Evan Crittenden, weapons squad leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment "Above The Rest", 1st Brigade Combat Team "Bastogne", 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) providing direction utilizing hand and arm signals to establish his machine gun team in position on Range 11 during the culminating exercise of the Bulldog Machine Gun University on Fort Campbell, Ky. The Machine Gun University is a five-day course increasing lethality and proficiency of the battalion's machine gun teams. U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Vonnie Wright (Photo Credit: Maj. Vonnie Wright) VIEW ORIGINAL
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Staff Sgt. Evan Crittenden, weapons squad leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment "Above The Rest", 1st Brigade Combat Team "Bastogne", 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) providing direction to his machine gun team on Range 11 during the culminating exercise of the Bulldog Machine Gun University on Fort Campbell, Ky. The Machine Gun University is a five-day course increasing lethality and proficiency of the battalion's machine gun teams. U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Vonnie Wright (Photo Credit: Maj. Vonnie Wright) VIEW ORIGINAL
Machine gunners assigned to 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), trained on the fundamentals of their most casualty producing weapons in their platoons Feb. 22-26 during Machine Gun University.
The culminating event was hosted Feb. 26 at Range 11 where the weapons squad leader, machine gun teams and Soldiers within the class conducted a timed event showcasing the technical and tactical expertise with their M249 SAW and M240B machine guns.
First Lieutenant Dakota King, assistant operations officer, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-327 Inf. Regt., was in charge of operations on the range during Machine Gun University. During his tenure within the Above the Rest battalion, this is the best training he's witnessed and participated in on post.
King credited the success of the event to the noncommissioned officers.
"They led this from resourcing the training, validating the training and incorporating the action of the university," he said. "This university increases the lethality and proficiency of our machine gun teams and gives a more in-depth knowledge of their weapons systems and tactics for all of our infantryman."
The Soldiers put every skill they learned to the test during the final event. Machine gun teams raced down the range path along Market Garden Road for a timed event to showcase and prove what they learned through the university. Once the teams arrived at the range, Soldiers tactically moved into their machine gun positions at the strict direction of the weapons squad leader.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment "Above the Rest", 1st Brigade Combat Team "Bastogne", 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) run to Range 11 Feb. 26 on Fort Campbell, Ky. during their culminating exercise during the Bulldog Machine Gun University. The Machine Gun University is a five-day course increasing lethality and proficiency of the battalion's machine gun teams. According to the Feb. 26 101st Abn. Div. memorandum , individuals on Fort Campbell are exempt from wearing a mask while in engaging to moderate to to strenuous physical training activity. U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Vonnie Wright (Photo Credit: Maj. Vonnie Wright) VIEW ORIGINAL
Private First Class Jayden Moody, machine gunner, C Company, 1-327 Inf. Regt., enjoyed the training and learned a lot from the university. He felt he could've done more to achieve perfection, but was overall pleased with his team.
"This went really well today and all week," Moody said. "I shot really well today for the final event. The teamwork has been great. The assistant machine gunner, instructors and my squad leader really helped out a lot. It's a team effort."
The Soldiers were ecstatic to be training out on the range.
"Being out here feels great," said Pfc. Mario Flores, B Company, 1-327th Inf. Regt. "I love training in the job that I do."
December 14, 2022Team U.S. roster announced for 2023 Invictus Games
November 9, 2022Army announces upcoming 2nd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division, unit rotation
September 2, 2022Army announces upcoming 2nd SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division, unit rotation
September 2, 2022Army announces upcoming 2nd ABCT, 1st Infantry Division, unit rotation
April 23, 2020Army announces upcoming 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, unit rotation
April 23, 2020Army announces upcoming 2nd BCT, 1st Armored Division, unit rotation
September 21, 2018U.S. Army STAND-TO! | 16th Armored Brigade Combat Team
July 26, 2018Department of the Army announces upcoming 3rd ABCT, 1st Armored Division deployment
December 21, 2017Department of the Army announces upcoming 1st Stryker Brigade, 4th Infantry Division deployment
August 30, 2017Department of the Army announces 1st Armored Division deployment
December 8, 2016Department of the Army announces 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division deploy


The cleats come in two colorways, beige and dusty black, with a high top and cross strap. The colors don't align well with the official team colors of any NFL team—beige isn't exactly popular in the sporting set and the black worn by several franchises is a crisp hue, not a faded one—but that hasn't stopped players from adopting the style.
Still, the acceptance of Yeezy cleats on the field isn't the craziest fashion statement the NFL will see this year. Just two weeks ago Von Miller wore feathered cleats to warm up in that were reportedly inspired by roosters. We'll let you know when those get the NFL go-ahead, too.


text:
Counselling project helps 400 young victims to recover from abuse in its first year
THE equivalent of more than 12 school rooms of children and young people received free counselling in 2018/19 to help them recover from sexual and domestic abuse thanks to a countywide support service.
Launched in April 2017, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Prevention and Intervention service is funded through a successful partnership bid by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local authority to the Home Office's VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) Transformation Fund.
The project tackles the adverse childhood experiences of young victims and witnesses, aged 13-19 (24 with additional needs), of domestic and sexual abuse through community-based trauma-informed counselling. It also supports young people who use violence and abuse as a result of being themselves traumatised or victims of other types of abuse.
The service is delivered by the locally-based national charity Embrace – Child Victims of Crime (CVOC), under the banner Time4U. The charity works in partnership with the Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Partnership who deliver counselling services to young survivors as part of the project and the county's Youth Offending Service to ensure young people receive the right support for them.
Anne Campbell, Chief Executive, Embrace CVOC explains: "Time4U allows us to provide wrap around care to those supported through the programme. We have also used charitable funds to extend the remit in a creative and innovative way. From providing equine therapy to help build confidence in young victims, to using trainee therapists to provide free counselling therapy for parents which helps heal the whole family, I am pleased to see so many young people supported and reporting positive outcomes."
Jane is a north Cambridgeshire resident whose two daughters, aged 16 and 19, have benefited from the Time4U service
Jane's youngest daughter was the subject of a serious sexual assault which was not reported to police. This led to her feeling powerless, angry and afraid. Her eldest daughter too was impacted by the crime, feeling that she had been unable to protect her sister. Through the Sexual Assault Referral Centre both girls were referred to Time4U and placed with separate specialist counsellors. They received counselling over a number of weeks and, as a direct result, both now report feeling in control, more self-aware, and able to move on from what has happened.
The partnership model also enables a small number of survivors of sexual violence already engaged with the Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Partnership to have the choice to continue their recovery journey within their counselling services rather than being referred into Embrace.
Norah Al-Ani, Director of Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Partnership explains: "This project has enabled us to provide much needed safe and protected space and time for young people whose lives have been impacted by the experience of sexual violence. The specialist counselling we have delivered has enabled young people to begin to re-build their lives, take back control of their decision making and to go on to flourish and thrive and live the lives they choose. It has been a privilege to work with young survivors, to have them trust us with their stories and to invite us to travel alongside them on their journey to recovery."
18 year old Mina was referred to CAPRCP for counselling after being raped by an acquaintance.
Mina was referred to counselling by her college pastoral support tutor. She had been raped by an acquaintance at a party and hadn't felt able to tell anyone about it at the time. She felt confused and alone; her schoolwork was impacted and she had withdrawn socially because she felt too scared to go out with friends in case it happened again. In a routine meeting with her Tutor she couldn't stop crying and disclosed that she had been assaulted. She wasn't able to talk to her about what had happened because she felt too ashamed.
Issues of consent and sex and relationships had not been discussed either in Mina's home or friendship group. Consequently, Mina was unable to understand what happened to her. She was offered counselling to initially help her understand some of her emotions, by exploring the thoughts and feelings she had about the attack. Having the confidence to use the term 'rape' was a big moment for her and provided her with a sense of control that had been previously denied her.
Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite says:
"Reaching so many vulnerable children and young people in just one year shows just how innovative this partnership approach has been. I often talk about how important it is to work together to prevent situations from escalating out of control.
"This project is a great example where we can make sure the right support is provided at the right time, so that young people have the opportunity to live safer and brighter futures."
Previous Commissioner urges local people to have their say on his proposal for a new Southern Police Station
Next Could you be an Independent Custody Visitor?


text:
News Sweden
Displaying items by tag: Sweden
Cementa running trials on pilot water treatment plant at Slite
Sweden: Cementa is running trials on a pilot water treatment plant in the File Hajdar limestone quarry near its Slite cement plant in Gotland. The pilot plant has been running since September 2022 and the subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg materials describes the first results as 'promising.' The cement company plans to build and pay for a full-scale water treatment plant at the site. Engineering and design company AFRY has been collaborating with Cementa on the project.
Matilda Hoffstedt, the manager of the Slite cement plant, said "We can contribute to greatly strengthening the public water supply here in northern Gotland. The results from the pilot project are extremely promising and we see that a new water plant would really make a difference to the water supply throughout the year."
Cementa started work on the water project in 2021 with a feasibility study and plans for the pilot. The entire feasibility study is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023 and the goal is to be able to put a full-scale water plant into operation in 2027. However, Cementa says that it needs a long-term permit for its mining operations in Gotland in order to invest in the project. The cement producer has faced opposition to renewing its permit at the site since 2021. A perceived threat to the area's drinking water supplies has been a repeated concern made by groups against continued quarrying in the area.
Argos USA orders ship unloader from Bruks Siwertell
US: Argos USA has ordered a 490 M-type ship unloader from Swden-based Bruks Siwertell for cement and fly-ash handling at the Port of Houston in Texas. The unloader will have a continuous rated cement handling capacity of 800t/hr and is designed to accommodate vessels up to 65,000 dwt. It will be assembled on site and is planned for delivery in February 2024. Bruks Siwertell will also supply the complete screw conveyor system for transporting dry bulk material from the unloader to a storage dome, along with support structures and walkways.
Bruks Siwertell to supply ship unloader to project in Adelaide
Australia: Bruks Siwertell has received an order from Hallet Capital for an enclosed ship unloader for Port Adelaide. A gantry-mounted Siwertell 490 F-type unit has been ordered along with a jetty screw-conveyor system feeding a dome silo and individual screw conveyors for installation inside the dome. The unloader will be suitable for discharging bulkers up to 40,000dwt at a rated cement handling capacity of 500t/hr. It is planned for delivery in August 2023 and will be assembled on site.
Hallett Group announced plans in mid-2022 to build a slag cement grinding plant in Port Augusta, South Australia. The project will also include a new distribution facility at Port Adelaide.
Court grants Cementa four-year mining permit for Slite
Sweden: The Land and Environmental Court has granted Cementa a four-year permit to continue mining operations in Slite on Gotland. The latest temporary permit was set to expire at the end of 2022. Both the Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the county administrative board of Gotland recommended rejecting Cementa's application earlier in 2022. Prior to this the central government extended the cement company's mining licence by one year from late 2021.
The subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials said that it viewed the latest four-year permit as a 'bridge' until it is able to secure a long-term permit. It is aiming to submit an application for a 30-year permit in 2023.
KIMA Process Control to supply kiln cooling system for Cementa's Slite cement plant
Sweden: Germany-based KIMA Process Control has secured a contract for the supply of a kiln shell cooling system for Cementa's Slite cement plant in Gotland. 88 water jets will deliver centimetre-precision cooling for the 55m-long kiln, while IR pyrometers measure temperatures over areas of 10cm2. According to KIMA Process Control, the equipment can avoid unnecessary cooling of the kiln shell, conserving the heat energy supplied by the main burner.
The new cooling system will eliminate the use of energy intensive electric fans, slashing 1700t/yr in CO2 emissions, according to the supplier. It said that noise emissions will also 'drastically' decline as a result of the upgrade. The system's operating costs are reportedly 98% less than those of the plant's existing fan system.
The supplier said that the new equipment will 'bring the cement plant in Slite an economic benefit in the shortest possible time.' It said "For the cement industry, this project represents a new milestone in terms of best available technology in the operation of rotary kilns."
EU Carbiow project to develop new biofuel with CO2 captured from cement production
Europe: The Carbon Negative Biofuels from Organic Waste (Carbiow) project has received EU funding under the Horizon Europe initiative. Carbiow seeks to develop a dense, dry homogenous marine and aviation biofuel by carbonising gasification ash with oxygen and captured CO2 from cement plants. 12 consortium members from the Benelux, Germany, Nordic countries, Slovenia and Spain are participating in the project.
Bruks Siwertell to supply ship loader to Solusi Bangun Indonesia's terminal in Tuban
Indonesia: Solusi Bangun Indonesia has ordered a Siwertell screw-type ship loader from Sweden-based Bruks Siwertell via contractor Hutama Karaya (Persero). The ship loader will be used at Solusi Bangun Indonesia's Tuban terminal in Java. The HST 1000 1B-type ship loader has a continuous cement handling capacity of 1000t/hr and can load either open-hatched or conventional bulk carriers up to 50,000dwt. It will be assembled on site and is planned for delivery at the end of 2023.
Solusi Bangun Indonesia, a subsidiary of Semen Indonesia, has a cement production capacity of 15Mt/yr. It operates one cement plant on Sumatra and three on Java in Narogong, Cilacap and Tuban. The Tuban site is Solusi Bangun Indonesia's first new terminal construction.
Cementa facing further hurdles to extend operating permit for Slite plant beyond 2022
Sweden: The Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the county administrative board of Gotland have both recommended rejecting Cementa's application to extend its operating permit for its integrated Slite cement plant by four years. At present the current temporary permit will expire at the end of 2022, according to the Dagens Industri newspaper. The county administrative board has requested more information and Naturvårdsverket has found issues in the application with groundwater and nature protection area issues.
Cementa says that it submitted it application to the Land and Environment Court in April 2022 and that it was deemed complete by the court, which announced the application. In July 2022, opinions were received from around 10 authorities and associations, such as the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), Naturvårdsverket and the Norwegian Sea and Water Authority. Cementa added that it has now responded to this feedback.
"There are and must be high requirements for permit applications, so it is natural that there will be many views and questions in this type of examination," said Karin Comstedt Webb, vice president of HeidelbergCement Sweden. "We have now clarified the application further and are now looking forward to the main hearing in October 2022. We are confident that our application is complete and we have been keen to show even more clearly that the business can be conducted in coexistence with nearby residents, and surrounding environmental and natural values. We see good conditions for the timetable announced by the court to be kept, which is crucial for the Swedish cement supply not to be jeopardised in the coming years."
Further views on the application will be submitted in September 2022. The Land and Environment Court will then hold a hearing in October 2022 and a final decision is expected the end of 2022.
Continental to acquire NorrVulk
Sweden: Germany-based Continental has signed an agreement to acquire belt systems supplier and service company NorrVulk. NorrVulk employs 16 people and is focused on the Northern Swedish market. It will join Continental's 16-country, 5800-employee conveying solutions unit.
World Economic Forum and GCCA report identifies the countries that are prioritising green public procurement
UK: The World Economic Forum and the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), have released a Mission Possible Partnership Report which identifies the nations that are prioritising green public procurement. These are the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, the UK, and select US states. The report titled 'Low-Carbon Concrete and Construction - A Review of Green Public Procurement Programmes' identifies a framework for how these six countries are demonstrating leadership in green public procurement of concrete and construction.
The first component of the framework is the foundation, which includes establishing standards for reporting emissions, databases and tools for tracking emissions and establishes baselines. The second part of the framework, procurement polices, builds upon and reinforces the foundation by setting policies that require environmental disclosures, mandate carbon limits, and incentivise low-carbon design, and use of low-carbon materials.
Approximately 7% of global carbon emissions come from cement, and about half of the cement used globally is procured by the public sector. Governments also spend US$11tn/yr on procurement, about 12% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and regulate the construction industry via building codes. Therefore, governments play a critical role in driving demand to decarbonise the concrete and construction sector to achieve net zero goals.
Matt Rogers, the chief executive officer of the Mission Possible Project said "The demand signals in the market for green industrial products are among the most important opportunities to accelerate the path to net zero across industrial sectors. For material sectors like cement and concrete, government procurement practices will play an especially important role. This report summarises the current best practices in government procurement for green cement across multiple markets. Insights like these provide the government procurement professionals practical tools and technical insights that they can use today to create demand-pull for the most innovative low carbon cement and concrete offerings in the market."


text:
Q: Azure Website Reserved IP I've been trying to find an answer to this for a few days.
I want to host a new azure website in either the Basic tier or Standard tier.
The site will be calling a third party service.
I need to give this service provider an IP address that they will whitelist.
So when the new azure website makes requests to this service the IP address for the request needs to always be the same, as this will be the IP whitelisted.
I read that Azure offers "Reserved IPs" for cloud services and VMs but I wanted to know if something similar can be done with Azure Websites as I really don't want to go with cloud/VM.
My knowledge of networking is limited but as I understand it, if I were to get an IP SSL cert and apply that to my Azure Website then the website would have a static IP address.
If that is the case, would any requests to the third party service be hitting the service providers external firewall with this same static IP?
Thanks for any advice people can give.

A: An SSL cert with Web Sites will be tied to an inbound IP address. However, Web Sites does not provide a static outbound IP address.
If you need a static IP address to align with 3rd-party services, you'd need to have something residing in Azure (e.g. Application tier) running in a cloud service / VM that your web site accesses, and then have that app tier (with static IP address) communicate with your 3rd-party services.

A: As David Makogon's answer points out, applying an IP-based SSL certificate only gives the website a static inbound IP address.
However, the outbound IP address a website uses when making outbound network calls can be determined based on where your website is hosted. Microsoft has a list of the these IP addresses here. The third-party service would have to whitelist all of the IP addresses used by the scale unit your website is hosted in (e.g. waws-prod-am2-005).

A: Correct me if I am wrong, but the information shared by Brant Bobby above shows that, in fact:
All Azure websites (/Web Apps) already have a discoverable and published outgoing IP address.
This outgoing IP address will never be unique to their own site however. So one must keep in mind if they use it for a white-list, it will be allowing in a lot of other Azure visitors hosted on the same scale unit.
Simply get the so-called "scale unit" name for your site, which is the same as what's given in your site's FTP address (and so forth), which is in the format: "waws-prod-[3LetterVar]-[3DigitNum]", e.g. waws-prod-blu-007.
As an example from that article, all the East US region Azure websites can find the four IP addresses their site may rely on as follows (so if white-listing, all 4 should be white-listed):
East US Region
Outbound IP addresses for each scale unit, currently 4 for each. They said they may add more IPs to each scale unit in the future, but these should not change.

waws-prod-blu-001:  168.62.48.13,   168.62.48.19,   168.62.48.33,   168.62.48.122
waws-prod-blu-003:  137.117.81.128, 137.117.81.142, 137.117.81.181, 137.117.81.82
waws-prod-blu-005:  137.117.80.189, 137.117.81.52,  137.117.81.90,  137.117.80.178
waws-prod-blu-007:  23.96.33.205,   23.96.34.196,   23.96.35.20,    23.96.36.229
waws-prod-blu-009:  23.96.97.203,   23.96.97.233,   23.96.97.235,   23.96.97.238
waws-prod-blu-011:  23.96.112.60,   23.96.112.117,  23.96.112.152,  23.96.112.15
waws-prod-blu-013:  191.238.8.154,  191.238.9.80,   191.238.9.94,   191.238.9.170
waws-prod-blu-015:  191.236.19.222, 191.236.19.242, 191.236.21.165, 191.236.18.160
waws-prod-blu-017:  191.238.32.104, 191.238.32.154, 191.238.34.67,  191.238.35.12
waws-prod-blu-019:  104.45.138.197, 104.45.142.87,  104.45.128.144, 104.45.142.131
waws-prod-blu-021:  191.237.24.189, 191.237.30.36,  191.237.26.164, 191.237.28.161
waws-prod-blu-023:  191.236.50.206, 191.237.30.215, 191.237.25.148, 191.237.22.195
waws-prod-blu-025:  191.237.31.86,  191.237.26.176, 191.237.20.70,  191.237.18.239

A: Azure now supports having static outbound IP address as well.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/app-service-app-service-environment-intro/
If we do not want to go for costlier App Service Environment setup, we can directly use the outbound IP addresses mentioned in the Azure portal in properties section, Azure assures that it remain 99.9% static. Nothing really changes until there is some changes data center wide. Moreover, the reserved Ip what we use in IaaS is also not 100% reserved for us and azure provides SLA of 99.9% here as well. So, In my opinion, instead of going for ASE and hosting IaaS and using reserved IP, we can just use outbound Ip provided by azure, since we get same reliability in both cases.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange