text:
Voter Canvassing 2020 Election – Defend Florida.org
Defend Florida.org, a volunteer citizens group, is conducting an audit of 2020 mail-in votes through in-person canvassing and using publicly available election data. The results so far are quite concerning with irregularities noted in 39% of mail-in votes. Read their report below.
Representative Colleen Burton Announces Her Intention to Run for FL Senate Seat in 2022.
Representative Colleen Burton (House District 40) announced her intention to run for Kelli Stargell's (District 22) Senate seat, both of whom are term limited in their current seats, at the September meeting of the Republican Club of Lakeland.
The Republican Club of Greater East Polk County.
September 11, 2001 What Have We learned?
Freedom Farm with Mike Zarzano researcher into September 11 events tells the Rest of the Story…
Date and time: Sat, August 14, 2021, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Location: 380 Patterson Road Haines City, FL 33844
Sponsored by The Praying Patriots and The Republican Club of Greater East Polk County.
Meeting begins with Opening Ceremonies and Potluck Meal – Bring a covered dish to share, at 5:30 PM.
Come and Join fellow Americans as our Eyes have been opened to criminal activities of September 11, 2001. Mike Zarzano, an incredible researcher on the 9/11 Events reveals the Rest of the Story.
Free of Cost
School Advisory Council Training
School Advisory Council Training – Next Workshop – Tuesday, August 10, 6:30-8PM – Special Guest Keith Thompson (SAC)
Republican Executive Committee (Inman Park Baptist Church) 1800 6th St NW, Winter Haven
For all of us who are frustrated with the direction of education, this is the answer. Very important training session on School Advisory Councils and School Improvement Plans. During this training, you will learn about school board and SAC bylaws, statutes, policies and procedures. This is going to be extremely valuable in launching our county-wide SAC committees. Having a child in school is not a requirement to be on the SAC and dads are encouraged as well!
Steve Larsen, Secretary
Workshop Director
FOLLOW THE WORKSHOP ON THE TELEGRAM, @POLK PRECINCT: https://t.me/joinchat/5zGUL7motGg0YTM5
Polk County GOP 2021 Patriot Day Dinner
The Polk County GOP annual Patriot Day Dinner returns.
Join us on May 8th at the beautiful Lake Eva Convention Center in Haines City as we award the"Patriot of the Year
Join us on May 8th at the beautiful Lake Eva Convention Center in Haines City as we award the"Patriot of the Year" to a deserving Polk county conservative Republican. Past winners have included Sheriff Grady Judd and Sam Killebrew.
Dinner will be a delicious no-contact buffet style dinner served by catering staff, all safety precautions will be taken by catering staff. Cash Bar on site.
Confirmed speakers this year are:
Sheriff Grady Judd
Representative Greg Steube – US House District 17
Representative Scott Franklin – US House District 15
Cost is $75 per person.
Sponsorships Available:
Group Table Sponsorship! $ 1,000.00; Covers all 8 tickets for your table plus recognition of your group or business.
Individual/Business:
Gold: $ 5,000.00 – name included in the Program, signage, recognition from podium, inclusion in radio ads and specific banners at the event
Silver: $ 2,500.00 – name included in the Program, signage, recognition from podium
Bronze: $ 1,000.00 – name included in the Program
$500.00, $250.00 & $100.00 sponsorships also available.
For more information Contact Event Coordinator:
Glynnda White
E-mail: glynndaw@hotmail.com
MIKE MUSICK RUNS FOR LAKELAND CITY COMMISSION SOUTHEAST DISTRICT D SEAT
Meet Mike Musick –
FAMILY IS HIS CORNERSTONE.
Mike and his wife, Niki, have lived in Lakeland for more than 40 years. They have three college-aged children: Parker, Britain and Remington. Mike is a '91 graduate of Lakeland Christian School. Niki is a '92 graduate of Lakeland High School. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Southeastern University.
The Musick family enjoys traveling, sports and their three dogs – Sasha, Captain and Tyler.
HE'S A LAKELAND SMALL BUSINESS OWNER.
Mike established Musick Construction & Roofing more than 20 years ago. His goal is to give his customers a construction experience beyond their expectations.
As a small business owner in Lakeland, Mike's goal as a commissioner would be to help eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape so that other local business owners can thrive in their professions.
HE WAS A STATE CHAMPION TRACK ATHLETE AND NOW SERVES AS A HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING COACH.
As a high school track athlete at Lakeland Christian School, Mike won multiple state championships in the half mile. Athletics helped Mike to learn the importance of discipline and hard work. For the past 12 years, Mike has coached cross country and track with the goal of passing on the same love for sports to future generations like his dad did as his coach.
Mike will use this strong work ethic as he fights for the citizens of Lakeland.
HE IS COMMITTED TO SERVICE, LOCALLY AND AROUND THE WORLD.
Mike, Niki and their kids have been on dozens of missions trips to more than 20 countries around the world.
Mike is currently a deacon at Heritage Baptist Church where he also serves on the missions committee. He is on the board of Camp Gilead in Polk City, Florida, and the founder of Leverage Ministries.
Mike's love for people and his desire to help is the reason he seeks out opportunities to serve.
The City of Lakeland Special Election will be held on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.
Please vote Mike Musick to fill the City Commission Southeast District D seat.
Lake Wales Commissioner Al Goldstein Runs for Re-election to Seat 4
Al Goldstein was first elected in April 2019 to Seat 4, District 27
"I'm finally understanding the job of a city commissioner," Goldstein said. "Either you're dedicated to the job, as some of us are now, or you just go in and show up."
"Accountability – that should be our motto right now," Goldstein said. "We have a mission statement coming out, but I think we should use the word accountability. I jumped all over that word.
"Accountability. That's us. That's what we stand for."
Since commissioners are not allowed to discuss city business with each other outside of official meetings, Goldstein said the workshops have been eye opening and have promoted better decision making and open communications.
"We don't always agree – when we get into conversations and get down deep in problems we are able to see things we weren't able to see before," said Goldstein, who strongly opposed the city's mask mandate that was approved by a 3-2 vote. "Even if they get upset with one another, that's fine, we just work things out."
Goldstein stops by city hall several times a week and meets with City Manager James Slaton and some of his key staff to better understand city operations.
Goldstein said he is pleased with the city's progress during his first 16 months in the job, including road paving, park improvements, purchasing the YMCA, sale of the historic 1919 building to the Lake Wales Charter Schools and work on better police community relations.
"I really want to be proud of my city. We're on the right track now," Goldstein said. "We have a good board that understands each other."
Goldstein said he has learned a lot this year serving on the Florida League of Cities Federal Action Strike Team and was pleased to recently be named chairman of the league's legislative committee on land use and economic development.
"I wish I was 50 years old right now – now that I see how political action works it gives me incentive to work harder," said Goldstein, who just turned 79. "There are programs I didn't even know were available to our city – dollar savings programs. I don't want to be behind other cities in the county or in the state."
Growing business, jobs, affordable and executive housing are all important to Goldstein, who says he is upset about the deteriorating condition of the Eagle Ridge Mall, and because "the mall is a disgrace, I'm glad we don't have a sign 'Welcome to Lake Wales' at the north end of our city."
He expresses concerns that corporations have chosen to bypass Lake Wales for nearby communities, like Frostproof. He also wants more accountability for the funds the city pays the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Committee and Lake Wales Main Street to attract business.
"I'm not only challenging the Chamber of Commerce, but I'm challenging us on the commission," Goldstein said. "We shouldn't take criticism personally – we have to think of criticism as building blocks."
Goldstein frequently speaks about his commitment to the city's northwest community and wants the city to develop a Black music and cultural center to help minority children have pride in their heritage. But he often reminds commissioners that they must consider needs throughout the city.
"We're going to be a great city – I think we have some great years ahead of us," he said.
Goldstein has cultivated relationships at the local, state and national level, receiving endorsements from state Rep. Melony Bell, Sheriff Grady Judd and Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell.
"Al is a man of unwavering principle with a strong conservative foundation," Braswell wrote in an endorsement letter addressed to the citizens of Lake Wales. "He is an asset to the community and has shown to be a leader during his first term in office. Al is committed to his community and can be counted on to make the tough decisions required of a city commissioner."
Goldstein chairs the Florida League of Cities Land Use and Economic Development Committee and serves on the Federal Action Strike Team, which visits Washington DC to discuss legislative issues at the national level. He has worked closely with Bell and other lawmakers to advocate for Lake Wales.
Bell said she was honored to endorse Goldstein for re-election.
"He has shown strong leadership from the time he was sworn into office by hitting the ground running. He began by educating himself on the budget and the needs of the city," Bell wrote in her endorsement. "Al has been a positive voice for Lake Wales by advocating at our Capitol in Tallahassee. He is a true believer in "home rule" when elected officials from Municipalities should rule by making policy on a local level instead of the State of Florida. He is always demanding that Tallahassee Legislators do not put any unfunded mandates on municipalities."
In his endorsement of Goldstein, Judd wrote: "Commissioner Goldstein is honest and ethical. He listens to his constituents and makes decisions in the best interest of all the city residents, rather than rendering knee jerk positions out of emotion. That is why I support Al for reelection."
Goldstein said he is thankful for the endorsements from Bell, Judd and Braswell and "for all those who have supported me and the folks who didn't know or support me previously are finding out that I am a commissioner that works for all our city and will continue to do that.
"My exposure working with county commissioners, state representatives and all the FLC has been educational and has contributed to my growth as a representative of our city, and I believe it is helping guide the growth of our city."
Meet Al Goldstein :
Goldstein and his wife of 31 years, Shirley, moved to Lake Ashton six years ago, returning to his home state. His family traces its Florida roots back to 1845, and Goldstein grew up in Hollywood in South Florida. He served as a U.S. Marine, worked in government and contract services and owned his own business prior to retiring in 1995. Al was the former 1st Vice Chair of the Polk County Republican Executive Committee.
"I've had my years of playing golf," Goldstein said. "I fished as a kid. Maybe if I'm alive and well by the time my time is over with the city I can go back to doing some fishing."
Reporting from LakeWalesNews.Net
Ken Kipp, Polk County Republican Party 2nd Vice Chair, is running for the Haines City Commission, Seat 5.
As I look back on my life, I try to focus on the positive changes that have come about because of my involvement. I know without a shadow of a doubt that all of us are placed in positions in life where the most good can be accomplished. I have gotten to invest years of my life into the lives of our Haines City youth in my position at Haines City High School. What a blessing it has been to look back on the journey. You can see the path so clearly.
I'm looking forward to taking a seat once again on the Commission to serve our great citizens!
Meet Ken Kipp –
Ken Kipp moved to Haines City in 1992. He and his wife Rebecca (Becky) of 43 years and have two children and 5 grandchildren. Ken is unapologetically a Christian. He loves Haines City. He has spent 8 years working at Haines City High School.
Fiscally, Ken describes himself as "old-fashioned" and doesn't want to borrow money without a really good reason. Ken is an experienced former Commissioner and he knows the job. Ken wants Haines City to return to great customer service and be business-friendly. Ken, as a sitting Commissioner will vote on the city budget and hire city manager, attorney, police and fire chief.
Do you want your voice heard in Haines City? Vote Ken Kipp – Ken promises to represent all of Haines City well!
Lockdown States Like California and New York have higher all-cause mortality rates
Florida Remains Below the National Average
Under the steady leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, and despite being faced with challenges as a result of the COVID pandemic, Florida was able to safely reopen– allowing students to return to school and Floridians to go back to work. Businesses started reopening safely and Florida's economy is recovering. Additionally, an aggressive vaccination effort which has been underway in Florida since December, has resulted in more than 2.4 million Floridians being vaccinated against COVID.
Florida continues to outperform lockdown states like California and New York on all metrics – from lower mortality, to availability of in-person education, to a lower unemployment rate.
Below we have included several graphs that will provide you with a true picture of Florida's outcomes based on Gov. DeSantis' smart and science-based policies.
A Tale of Florida vs. Lockdown States – California, New York have higher all-cause mortality rate
"Lockdown Deaths" – California (and New York) had significant increase in all-cause mortality per capita from 2019 to 2020
Compared to Florida, 34 states had a higher rate of all-cause mortality from 2019 to 2020, per capita. States with higher-than-average increases almost assuredly saw increased deaths resulting from lockdown policies, not just from COVID.
Compared to Florida, 38 other states rank higher for COVID mortality among seniors 65 and older, per capita.
Florida has fewer pediatric COVID-19 cases while having the highest rate of in-person instruction offered.
Kids belong in school and Florida's decision to keep schools open was the right thing to do.
Schools have been open in Florida and thankfully Florida has fewer COVID-positive cases among kids. When compared to other large states, Florida has fewer pediatric cases per capita. (Please note: New York doesn't make pediatric cases publicly available).
From the beginning, Governor DeSantis got it right on nursing homes and protecting the most vulnerable.
California and New York had significantly higher rates for new COVID-19 cases compared to Florida, per 1 million.
California and New York had significantly higher hospitalizations compared to Florida, per 1 million.
The mainstream media was so desperate to vilify the Trump Administration and Governor DeSantis that they emboldened lockdown states like California and New York. Turns out, Governor DeSantis was ahead of the curve with his actions early on during the pandemic to protect the state's most vulnerable and his actions saved lives:
Governor DeSantis established 23 COVID-19 dedicated nursing facilities across the state to prevent spread within long-term care facilities, help with hospital decompression and protect long-term care patients. The Governor also required hospitals to test all individuals discharged to long-term care facilities and required these facilities to transfer COVID-19 positive residents if the facility was not equipped for appropriate care.
Governor DeSantis issued an executive order putting Seniors First and prioritizing seniors 65 and older to receive the vaccine. To date, 40% of Florida's nearly 4.5 million senior population have received a vaccine.
Governor DeSantis deployed Florida National Guard and Florida Department of Health Strike Teams to nursing homes and assisted living facilities for testing throughout the pandemic, and now for vaccine distribution.
Governor DeSantis launched a pilot program for homebound seniors, including Holocaust survivors, WWII and Korean War veterans and anti-communist Bay of Pigs veterans, to prioritize and protect our Greatest Generation.
Florida's economic recovery is leading the nation.
Florida leads the nation's most populous states in unemployment rate for December 2020, and Florida was well below the national average.
Home sales in Florida continued to increase during the height of the pandemic as Americans fled lockdown states.
U-Haul migration data shows that Florida ranks 3rd in the nation for one-way rental moving vans. California ranks 50th (the worst!) and New York ranks 42nd.
PAID FOR BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF FLORIDA. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. WWW.FLORIDA.GOP
Newt Gingrich believes the 2020 election may be the "biggest presidential theft" since 1824 and is urging state legislatures to "demand recounts."
Newt Gingrich tells Brietbart that "The more data comes out on vote anomalies that clearly are not legitimate the more it looks like 2020 may be the biggest Presidential theft since Adams and Clay robbed Andrew Jackson in 1824," the former House speaker said in a Friday tweet:
On Saturday morning, Gingrich encouraged Republican state legislators to read an analysis from Patrick Basham, founding Director of the Democracy Institute and senior fellow of the Cato Institute. Basham lists ten "peculiarities" which he believes lack "compelling explanations," including swing states halting their ballot counts on election night and removing observers, statistically abnormal vote counts, and "historically low absentee ballot rejection rates."
"Basham makes clear the election was almost certainly stolen in 5 states. Every Americanm [sic] should be worried by the theft," he added:
President Trump and his team have vowed to press on in their fight for election integrity despite the critics. His team outlined their case in a press conference last week, which Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis framed as their "opening statement." During the presser, Trump's lawyers — well as Sidney Powell, who is not part of Trump's formal team — presented highlights in building their respective cases, as Breitbart News detailed. Rudy Giuliani detailed affidavits alleging nefarious behavior and blasted the media for continuing to claim that the campaign has not presented evidence.
"It's your job to read these things and not falsely report that there's no evidence. Do you know how many affidavits we have in the Michigan case? Two hundred twenty affidavits," he said.
"They're not all public, but eight of them are," he added.
Trump's lawyers are expected to participate in a hearing on election integrity with Arizona legislators on Monday, Ellis announced on Friday.


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Q: Ajax Request that Post back a new page instead of loading partial I have this HTML code in my view
@using (Ajax.BeginForm("AddJoke", "Home", new AjaxOptions { HttpMethod = "GET", UpdateTargetId = "MyfriendsJokes" , InsertionMode= InsertionMode.InsertAfter}))
{

        <textarea placeholder="Post New Joke" id="newJoke" name="joke" rows="3" cols="50" style="float:left;position"></textarea>
        <button type="submit" id="postnewjoke" style="float:left"> Post </button>

        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.fileContent, new { type = "file", id = "fileuploaded", name = "fileuploaded" })

            <input type="checkbox" name="geo" id="geo" style="width: 100%; float: left; display: block">
            <input name="longitude" style="display:none"/>
            <input name="latitude" style="display:none" />
            <input name="user" style="display:none" value="@Model.user.Id"/>
            Include Location

}

    @Html.Partial("_NewJoke")

and this code in my controller
       [HttpPost]
    public PartialViewResult AddJoke(string joke, string user, HomePage page,HttpPostedFileBase fileuploaded, string longitude, string latitude)
    {

        Joke newJ = new Joke();
        newJ.Key = Guid.NewGuid();
        newJ.body = joke;
        newJ.facebookID = user;
        newJ.rank = 0;
        newJ.time = DateTime.Now;
        newJ.longitude = longitude;
        newJ.latitude = latitude;
        db.Jokes.Add(newJ);
        HomePage page1 = new HomePage();
        page1.user = Session["user"] as MyAppUser;
        //db.SaveChanges();
        return PartialView("_NewJoke", page1);
    }

but instead of adding elements to the targeted div, it reload the page with a new whole page with just the elements of the partial view which is this
@using Jokes.Models
@using Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Facebook.Models
@model HomePage

    @Model.user.Name

can someone help and say what's wrong here to append elements to div instead of loading a new whole page?

A: Make sure that the jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.js script is referenced in your page. This is what AJAXifies all the output generated by the Ajax.* helpers. Without this script you only get a standard <form> element generated by the Ajax.BeginForm with a bunch of data-* attributes. The jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.js script analyzes those data-* attributes and subscribes to the submit event of the form, canceling the default action of making a full postback and sending an AJAX request to the server based on the data-* attributes.
It's important to mention that this script must be included AFTER jquery.js because it depends on it.
Also you seem to have some file input in your form and your controller action is taking an HttpPostedFileBase parameter. You should realize that you cannot upload files using an AJAX request and once you include this script your file uploads will simply stop working. In order to be able to upload files using AJAX you could either use some plugin such as jquery.form and Blueimp file upload or you could directly use the new XMLHttpRequest object that's built into modern browsers. The advantage of the plugins is that they do feature detection and will fallback to other techniques depending on the capabilities of the client browsers.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Hostal Marbella is a small and cosy hotel with 25 rooms owned and managed by a Swedish couple.
The hotel has 4 floors with a lift and the majority of the rooms have a balcony or terrace.
wireless internet, security boxes and bathroom en-suite. It has a full drinks license.
In the reception the staff are all multilingual and speak Spanish, English and the Scandinavian languages.
They are all focused on giving you the best possible service to make your stay enjoyable.
On the ground floor there is a new lounge where we serve breakfast and drinks.
Enjoy the sun or the moon on our roof terrace!
an independent traveller might want.
….and it's much quieter! It is also 100 meters from the main square with banks, bars, restaurants, launderettes etc.
The bus station and train station are similarly within 5 minutes' walk.
Our English-language website www.hostalmarbella.info gives full details.
Welcome to Hostal Marbella or as we say in Swedish....Hjärtligt välkomna till Hostal Marbella!


Everyone seems to be jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon. The reasons behind this diverse and ultimately, good for business. Cloud computing provides more flexibility and faster response to page loads. Businesses only have to pay for the services they use, lowering overall server costs and letting businesses tailor their services to their budgets. Businesses with few needs and small budgets can afford to get more services through cloud computing than they could if they attempted to rent a dedicated server. Going green is another huge movement in business today, with companies more worried about their carbon footprint than ever.
For businesses committed to sustainability, cloud computing is basically a must.
Cloud computing isn't often thought of as a leader in environmental sustainability, but it provides many green benefits to companies by allowing them to reduce their IT footprint, obtain higher performance without purchasing their own hardware and by giving them access to on-demand scaling.
Before cloud computing became viable, companies would have to rent dedicated servers or, more often, run their own dedicated servers on-premise. This required them to purchase and install hardware, pay IT staff to support it and provide power for the servers, regardless of their load. Switching over to cloud computing removes all of those requirements and shifts them over to the hosting provider. Multi-tenancy, or the ability for multiple clients to make use of the same hardware, reduces the amount of additional power consumed when adding a new client to a cloud environment. Staffing needs are also reduced, because one data center can serve many clients.
• More than 90 percent for small deployments of about 100 users.
• 60 to 90 percent for medium-sized deployments of about 1,000 users.
High performance dedicated servers cost a large amount of money and require a great deal of electricity and manpower to maintain. Further, in order to maintain top-of-the-line servers businesses must upgrade their servers every year, further increasing the cost. Cloud computing environments eliminate the need for businesses to purchase and upgrade their hardware, while still allowing them access to a high performance environment. Because they don't need to purchase new hardware, businesses save money on their server environment while fewer electronics have to be manufactured, reducing waste and pollution. Businesses can increase the performance of their server environment easily, without paying the cost for new hardware. By pooling resources, cloud computing hosts can offer better performance for lower prices than dedicated servers, save energy and prevent the manufacturing of excess electronics.
In the past, when a spike in demand was expected, businesses would overprovision their IT infrastructure, resulting in underutilized networks, servers and storage. Because it can be incredibly difficult to properly predict growth and peak loads, IT managers were encouraged to use their entire yearly budgets to maintain application availability. One of the main benefits to cloud computing is that more resources are available to clients as they require them. Businesses don't need to try to anticipate future demands on their systems, because the cloud environment can be used to scale available resources when demand spikes. This prevents companies from spending money on servers that will sit idle for a majority of their life cycle, saving both time and energy.
Cloud computing offers many operational benefits to companies of all sizes, while at the same time providing them with a more sustainable, ecologically-friendly alternative to traditional IT infrastructure.
Because they do not have to maintain servers in-house or manage dedicated servers, companies that use cloud computing services can concentrate their IT staff on developing software. Not having dedicated servers sitting idle means that less energy is wasted, because multiple clients can make use of the same hardware as their needs change. Cloud computing, by definition, makes heavy use of virtualization, which means that fewer physical servers are required to perform the same functions as dedicated servers. Though this could lead to decreased performance, most often it leads to a more efficient use of resources. This is because most businesses' activities don't utilize 100% of a server's resources. The ability for cloud computing clients to increase the power of their services as they require allows them to save both money and energy by not running expensive, power-hungry hardware when it will not be utilized. Cloud computing's main benefits, both to clients and the environment, are a result of the fact that it pools resources and provides only what a company needs at any given time, drastically improving efficiency over that of a dedicated server.


text:
Who We Are and How We Got Here
Book by David Reich
David Reich
Human population genetics
Who We Are and How We Got Here is a 2018 book on the contribution of genome-wide ancient DNA research to human population genetics by the geneticist David Reich. He describes discoveries made by his group and others, based on analysis and comparison of ancient and modern DNA from human populations around the world. Central to these is the finding that almost all human populations are mixtures resulting from multiple population migrations and gene flow.
Several reviewers have praised the book for clearly describing pioneering work in a cutting-edge field of study.[1][2] It has been criticized by numerous scientists and scholars for its handling of race,[3] though other commentators observe that nothing it says should give racists any comfort.[4][5]
2.1 Publication
Context[edit]
David Reich is a geneticist who has studied ancient human genomes, comparing their patterns of mutations to discover which populations migrated and mixed throughout prehistory.[6] He was mentored by the population geneticist Luca Cavalli-Sforza, who from 1960 pioneered the attempt to match the study of human prehistory by archaeology and linguistics, using the limited genetic data available at that time.[4]
Book[edit]
Kurgan model of Indo-European migrations from c. 4000 to 1000 BC. Magenta: origin; red: up to 2500 BC; orange: by 1000 BC
Yamnaya culture spread westwards around 3300–2600 BC, documented by archaeology and genomics, bringing Indo-European languages with it.
Yamnaya Corded ware culture, including this pot, corresponds to a stage in the westward migration.[4]
Publication[edit]
Who We Are and How We Got Here was published by Oxford University Press in 2018, ISBN 978-0-19-882125-0. It is credited to David Reich alone, but he explains in the acknowledgements that the book grew from a detailed collaboration with his wife, Eugenie Reich.
The book is illustrated with monochrome maps, diagrams, and timelines. There are no photographs.
Summary[edit]
Since 2010, population geneticists have been able to sequence ancient human DNA, recovering complete genomes,[4] in contrast to earlier approaches which relied on the far more abundant (and hence more easily recovered) mitochondrial DNA, which is present in many copies in each cell, and transmitted only via the maternal line. That early work gave what Reich calls the "exciting" result that all modern humans are related to "Mitochondrial Eve", a woman who lived in Africa only about 160,000 years ago.[7][8]
The whole genome recovery technique, using the especially hard bone from the inner ear of ancient skeletons — along with the genomes of modern people from different parts of the world, including especially some isolated populations — has made it possible to reconstruct prehistoric migrations and mixing of populations in the past 5,000 years, and to make reliable inferences about mixtures from much further back in time.[4] The new knowledge from genomics has overthrown many old assumptions about human origins.[4]
Much of the work has focused on Western Eurasia, where in 1786 Sir William Jones discovered that Sanskrit and ancient Greek were related languages. Linguists came to recognise the Indo-European family of languages, spanning Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Iranian and northern Indian languages, but without explaining how these came to be. Reich showed that modern populations in Europe and north India derive from mixing of native populations with Yamnaya people from the steppes north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea some 5,000 years ago, in separate migrations to the west and the east.[4][9] Corded ware culture described by archaeology corresponds to a stage in the westward migration.[4]
Reich observes that similar migrations and population mixtures characterise human prehistory on all continents.[4] Reich shows that people in Japan and Korea share some 80% of their DNA, implying migration; Polynesians migrated relatively recently, in just the past few thousand years, from the region of Taiwan. The evidence can upset long-held beliefs: Native American skeletons from 10,000 years ago do not appear to be related to the tribes living in those regions today who have been asking for the ancient bones to be returned to them for burial.[7]
The Neanderthals are extinct, but part of their genome survives: Reich notes that all present-day non Sub-Saharan Africans have at least 2% of Neanderthal ancestry. Reich explains that somewhere between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, modern humans mated with Neanderthals, and their descendants carried those genes all over the world. An ancient skeleton from Romania had up to 9% Neanderthal DNA, so natural selection has been removing Neanderthal genes since those matings.[7]
Reich notes in the book that some castes in India have effectively been reproductively isolated for many centuries by their practice of endogamy.[10]
Author and intellectual Jared Diamond, in the New York Times, notes that geneticists can now go far beyond studying the personal ancestries of participants in National Geographic's Genographic Project, which looked at small sections of their parents' DNA, namely their mother's mitochondrial DNA and their father's Y chromosome. By looking at DNA from ancient bones, Reich can recover whole genomes. Diamond warns readers not to expect an oversimplified story:[7]
Population genetics is a complicated, fast-moving field with many uncertainties of interpretation. To tell that story to the broad public, and not just to scientists reading specialty journals, is a big challenge. Reich explains these complications as well as any geneticist could; others rarely even try.[7]
Peter Forbes, in The Guardian, calls the book "thrilling in its clarity and its scope."[4] In Forbes's view, Reich handles racist abuses of human origin stories, such as Nazi ideology, "commendably". Forbes writes that Reich explains how ancient DNA teaches a single general lesson, that the human population of any particular place has repeatedly changed since the last ice age. Any supposed "mystical, longstanding" link between some people and a place based on some kind of racial purity (as reflected in the Nazi slogan of "blood and soil"), is in Reich's words "flying in the face of hard science".[4]
Clive Cookson, in the Financial Times, writes that one of the first and most surprising impacts of genomics is in human prehistory, and Reich is the first leading practitioner to write a popular book about this. Cookson calls the book[1]
a marvelous synthesis of the field: the technology for purifying and decoding DNA from old bones; what the findings tell us about the origins and movements of people on every inhabited continent; and the ethical and political implications of the research.[1]
Cookson notes that Reich dismisses worries that DNA evidence of differences between populations is "racism in genetic clothing",[1] and that on the contrary, the "unsuspected degree of mixing"[1] in every part of human history makes old ideas of racial purity "absurd".[1]
Bell-shaped Beaker pots, found in Western Europe c. 2900–1800 BC
The archaeologist and geneticist Turi King, in Nature, writes that Reich's laboratory "has developed some of the most sophisticated statistical and bioinformatics techniques available. Using computers, they painstakingly reconstruct genomic information from fragments of DNA from ancient individuals. They then drill down in search of a new understanding of human history." King notes that Reich's group helped to show that "Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of all modern humans descended from Europeans, Asians and other non-Africans." Their work is showing the "tremendous degree to which populations globally are blended, repeatedly, over generations." King notes, too, that Reich reflects on the dangers of misinterpretation by racists, who "pick and choose results", or others who opt to "sweep [genetic] differences under the carpet". But, King argues, echoing Reich, we do need "a non-loaded way to talk about genetic diversity and similarities in populations", and Reich has begun to do that.[11]
The economist Tyler Cowen calls the book "truly excellent, readable and informative". Cowen insists it is "a science book, not a 'race book'", stating that although it has engendered "some public controversy", he is confident that no attentive reader could feel "affirmed in racist beliefs".[5]
The educator Darcy Moore of the University of Wollongong calls the book "highly recommended" but finds some of Reich's conclusions "puzzling and in need of much more research and explanation." A case in point is Reich's statement that the population of Britain was 90% replaced by the incoming Indo-European-speaking people at the start of the Beaker period. Moore comments that he and the archaeologist Barry Cunliffe (who along with the archaeologist Colin Renfrew praises the book on its back cover) agreed in an email discussion that such a radical change was difficult to understand.[12]
Admixture plot of Western African Pygmies and their Bantu neighbours
A review by Razib Khan, who is cited in the book, recommends the book to a wide audience, arguing that it "catches [one] up to the state-of-the-art knowledge that we have in terms of human history, deep and prehistoric." He includes experts in that audience: "I've talked to plenty of people who work in evolutionary genomics who are not totally up-to-speed on the ancient DNA revolution. They too would benefit from reading Who We Are and How We Got Here front to back. I know people who work in the field of cultural evolution, who would also benefit from reading Who We Are and How We Got Here. I know behavior geneticists who would benefit from reading Who We Are and How We Got Here. And so forth." Khan concedes that the book "is not rich with the same stylistic flourish and engagement as one might find in a popularization by Steven Pinker or Richard Dawkins" but that it is a "serious book that is earnest in focusing on the substance of the science first."[2]
The paleogenomics researcher Maria C. Avila Arcos reviewed the book in Science magazine, arguing that "troubling traces of biocolonialism undermine an otherwise eloquent synthesis of ancient genome research."[13] She calls Reich's account graceful, combining his personal opinions with "hard science"[13] (Reich's phrase). She accepts that the book is "scientifically solid and comprehensive",[13] but argues that it "raises some concerns",[13] since in her view Reich overlooks the conflict of interest between the needs of researchers to gather ancient human DNA specimens and the rights of the often marginalised populations that descend from those ancestors.[13]
The anthropologist John Hawks, writing in the Wall Street Journal, observes that Reich was surprised that the "concordance of near-mythological history with genetic fact"[14] in the migrations in India was "a potential political bombshell";[14] he notes that Reich avoided it by not talking about "Indo-European invaders at all",[14] writing only that "No group in India can claim genetic purity".[14] In Hawks's view, Reich "seems a contradiction: Rising to the pinnacle of human genetics, he nonetheless exhibits incredible naiveté"[14] in affairs such as when German scientists withdrew from a paper that seemed to them "uncomfortably close to pre-Nazi racial theories",[14] or when Native American specimen donors wished to limit the use of their DNA. Hawks argues that science needs to help people to see the humanity of the dead ancestors, and finds Reich's approach potentially dehumanizing.[14]
An open letter titled "How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics" by a group of 67 scientists and scholars criticizes Reich's use of the term "race" in this book.[3] The group welcomes Reich's challenge to the "misrepresentations about race and genetics"[3] made by the science writer Nicholas Wade and the molecular biologist James Watson, but warns that his skill with genomics "should not be confused with a mastery of the cultural, political, and biological meanings of human groups."[3] The list of signatories includes geneticists Joseph L. Graves Jr. and Erika Hagelberg, biologists Anne Fausto-Sterling and Robert Pollack, biological anthropologists Jonathan M. Marks, Agustín Fuentes and Alan H. Goodman, and sociologists Alondra Nelson, Troy Duster and France Winddance Twine.
According to computational biologist Hussein Mohsen, Reich's examples "conflated ancestry with race, relied on the quantitative reductionism of averages, and failed to address the everyday ramifications of pathologizing socially constructed (racial or ancestral) categories to which millions of human beings belong or were historically forced to."[15] In contrast to Reich's analysis, Mohsen cites the open letter "How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics" as an accurate representation of "the complexity of the race concept and stark limitations of quantitative genetics to grasp its fluid histories."[15]
^ a b c d e f Cookson, Clive (23 March 2018). "Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich — out of Africa and back again? | How ancient DNA is showing early human migrations to be more complex than once thought". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2018-03-24. Retrieved 2018-05-07. (subscription required)
^ a b Khan, Razib (18 March 2018). "A preview review of Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past". Gene Expression. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
^ a b c d Kahn, Jonathan, and 66 other signatories. "How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Forbes, Peter (29 March 2018). "Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich review – new findings from ancient DNA". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
^ a b Cowen, Tyler. "*Who We Are and How We Got Here*, by David Reich". Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^ Callaway, Ewen (17 December 2015). "365 days: Nature's 10 | DAVID REICH: Genome archaeologist". Nature Magazine. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
^ a b c d e Diamond, Jared (20 April 2018). "A Brand-New Version of Our Origin Story | 'WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE GOT HERE' Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past By David Reich". The New York Times.
^ Reich 2018, pp. 4–5.
^ Haak, Wolfgang; Lazaridis, Iosif; Patterson, Nick; et al. (2015-03-02). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature. 522 (7555): 207–211. doi:10.1038/nature14317. PMC 5048219. PMID 25731166.
^ Reich 2018, pp. 140–146.
^ King, Turi (13 March 2018). "Sex, power and ancient DNA | Turi King hails David Reich's thrilling account of mapping humans through time and place" (PDF). Nature. 555 (7696): 307–308. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02964-5. PMID 32094709.
^ Moore, Darcy (27 April 2018). "Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich #review". Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^ a b c d e Avila Arcos, Maria C. (17 April 2018). "Troubling traces of biocolonialism undermine an otherwise eloquent synthesis of ancient genome research". Science. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
^ a b c d e f g Hawks, John (10 April 2018). "'Who We Are and How We Got Here' Review: Ghosts in the Genome". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
^ a b Mohsen, Husein (27 March 2020). "Race and Genetics: Somber History, Troubled Present". Yale Journal of Biological Medicine. 93 (1): 215–219. PMC 7087058. PMID 32226350.
Reich, David (2018). Who We Are and How We Got Here. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-882125-0.
David Reich on Radio Boston
Reich interview on BBC
"How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics"
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Who_We_Are_and_How_We_Got_Here&oldid=1058782230"
2018 non-fiction books
Genetics books
Oxford University Press books
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Do your students enjoy playing hide-and-go-seek? Do you know how to make this game educational? Hide-and-go-seek is the perfect game for practicing prepositions of place. If you haven't already introduced these little words and phrases to your English learners, check out Tanya's useful post. It's full of teaching tips on prepositions of place (and directions), including this FREE handy handout.
After you've introduced prepositions of place to your students, you can review them by showing this funny series of visuals. Simply ask this question: Where is the child hiding? Go over some of the different prepositions from the pictures.
Next, have your students stand up and have a little fun in your classroom! Since it's difficult for students to hide in a small classroom, try hiding a classroom mascot or toy. If you don't have a mascot, why not use Sprout? Sprout English's mascot is…you guessed it, a sprout! It could be a bean sprout or a pea sprout. Let your students decide!
Show your students a picture of Sprout, and ask them what they think it is. Ask your students why a bean sprout is a good symbol of a language learner.
Tell two students to go out into the hall. The students in the classroom think of three possible places to hide Sprout.
Student 1: Let's hide him in my desk.
Student 2: Let's put him in the shoe closet.
Student 3: Why don't we tape him on the board?
Vote for the best idea, or choose the student whose suggestion was worded correctly. You may need to introduce the expressions "Let's…" (let us) and "Why don't we…?". Have another student hide Sprout in the spot that was chosen.
You can cut out a few samples of Sprout, in case he gets lost or goes missing, or in case you want to hide more than one at a time.
Invite the students who were in the hall to come back and find Sprout. Before physically looking, they have to ask a question using a preposition of place.
Is Sprout in the closet?
Is Sprout under the mat?
Is Sprout behind the pillows?
Continue playing until everyone has had a turn to look for Sprout. Try to encourage your students to find different places to hide Sprout.
Sprout says, put your pen on the desk.
Sprout says, put something in your backpack.
Sprout says, put your hands behind your back.
*If you want your students to practice a variety of prepositions, write all of the prepositions on the board that Sprout has to use, and cross one out each time it is used. Here's a list.
**If you don't want to exclude students from the game after they make a mistake, tell them they have to shout out an example sentence with a preposition of place to get back into the game.
You can find daily tips from Sprout on our Facebook page. Why not print out some "Sprout Says" tips for your classroom or staff room? Here are a few to start with.
It is always useful for young learners to know the directions between their own home and their school. If you want your students to practice giving directions, invite them to teach Sprout how to get to their home. You could get your students to write out a short script to do in front of the class. One student can hold Sprout on the popsicle stick, and the other student can give the directions.
Sprout: How do I get to your house?
Student: First, take a left on Main Street.
Student: Then, walk on Main Street for three blocks.
Student: Turn right at the traffic lights on Rock Ave.
Student: My house is just on the left. #2 Rock Ave.
Speaking of sprouts, another fun hide-and-seek game that I love to play with my kids is "Peas in a Pod" (a.k.a. "Sardines"). This game requires at least three people (the more, the merrier). Peas in a Pod is like traditional hide-and-seek, except that instead of one person seeking, one person (the pea) hides. After counting to 20, everybody else breaks up and starts searching. When somebody find the "pea", instead of shouting "Found you!" she hides quietly with the pea to form the start of a pod. Gradually, more people try to join the pod (it gets squishy!). The trick is to be as quiet as possible, so that the last person has to look for a long time! For fun, tell your students that they have to play hide-and-seek (peas-in-a-pod style) with their family members for homework! The next day at school, ask your students to share the hiding places the "peas" used.
My dad hid in the bathroom.
My brother hid in the closet.
My sister hid under the blanket.
Grandma was hiding behind the plant!
You may also want to share the English expression "We're like peas in a pod" (closely connected friends or relatives).
Find this week's Spotlight lesson in the Library – Present Continuous Stories.
Tara Benwell is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry. She is the media director and head writer for ESL-Library, and a contributor to its sister site Sprout English. Tara is the author of an iPad storybook series for kids called Happy Campers Books. Her debut novel, The Proper Order of Things is available on Amazon and in the iBookstore.
Thanks, Shabeen. Keep visiting our blog for more ideas.
Of course I remember you, Shabeen! Glad you found me here.


text:
I belong to Burngreave: Kim Streets
Kim Streets
Interview by Fran Belbin | Photo courtesy of Museums Sheffield.
Kim Streets is the Chief Executive of Museums Sheffield, and says: I'm from Selby and came to Sheffield in 1986 to do a history degree.
The first thing I remember of Sheffield was the big black walls of Forgemasters as you drive through Brightside. Pitsmoor seemed really cosmopolitan and I liked the anonymity of feeling tiny in a massive city. The friends we've made; great food; fantastic shops; lovely houses, parks and green spaces are all components that make me love the place. The collections in Sheffield's museums are all about our place in the world. The origins of collections are often linked to people who have gone out and brought things back to tell a story. Living in Pitsmoor makes me think about whose stories are currently missing in those collections. Whose voices and experiences aren't represented and how can we change that? One exhibition I worked on was called Picture This, with Richard Hanson. I did a series of interviews in the Messenger and Richard took the photographs, then we displayed the photographs and quotes alongside pictures of Sheffield. It was really nice to have the people of Pitsmoor talking about their aspirations, where they'd come from, where they lived and what they loved about the city.
In thinking about what to collect, the big question is always, "how do objects tell stories?" We don't just collect objects for the sake of it, but because they have something to say. I did a project called Memory Gems with the Kelvin Afro-Caribbean Lunch Club, a lovely group of mainly older people. They came to the museum to meet an artist called Yinka Shonibare, which was really touching because Yinka was so respectful of them and they were so proud of him. They brought things from home to represent "memory gems", which they remembered from being at school in the Caribbean. It made me feel really proud that the museum could bring people together.
I'd like to change people's perceptions about our area. If you don't know a place or you're new, you have to get under the skin of it, and that happens because you bring your kids up there, you meet your neighbours; you eat in a particular café or shop locally, or get involved in local projects. I feel hopeful about the future of the area. You can't be blind to the things that make it hard; there is grinding poverty and some people are having a tough time. But we can change that bit by bit. This year I'm excited about a series of exhibitions about protest and activism to mark the centenary year of the Representation of People Act 1918, when some women first got the vote. Hope is Strong explores how art can help us question and challenge our world, and includes Jeremy Deller's work inspired by the miners' protests at Orgreave. Changing Lives: 200 Years of People and Protest in Sheffield will look at recent movements like Women Against Pit Closures, but also further back at James Montgomery and Sam Holberry, and people who have stood up for issues they feel really passionately about.
I belong to Burngreave
Seventh Day Celebrations
'Reach up' reaches out


For years there have been rumors that the Soviet Union was behind the shooting of John Paul II. Now an Italian panel has "closed" the case. It doesn't have any further legal implications, it simply wraps up the investigation.
Originally, Mehmet Ali Agca, the shooter, pointed the finger at the Soviet government. However, he quickly changed his story. My take: he was threatened. A photograph reveals that a Bulgarian man, who was acquited of involvment in the shooting, was present on the day of the assassination attempt. At the time he was acquited, the image in the picture was unclear, but further work on it has yielded more conclusive results. It is well known that the Soviet government was employing the Bulgarian secret service at that time. The commission concluded that the Soviet government was involved "beyond any reasonable dout." Here's the full story.
The real story of the shooting, however, was the great forgiveness and kindness John Paul showed to his would-be killer.
John Paul would later say that 'One hand fired, and another guided the bullet.' It was a confession of miraculous intervention that the most secular soul might have been tempted to concede. Agca, a professional assassin, had fired at point blank range. Yet the bullet that struck the Pope missed the main abdominal artery by the merest fraction of an inch. Had the artery been struck, John Paul would have bled to death before being transferred from the Pope-mobile to the ambulance. Moreover, the bullet, which might have paralyzed him, missed his spinal column and every major nerve cluster in its potential path. Agca's shot had evidently deflected off the Pope's finger, which was broken. On exiting the body, the spent bullet fell to the floor of the Popemobile, from which it was eventually recovered. A second shot grazed John Paul's elbow before wounding two American pilgrims.
The Pope remined in the Gemelli's intensive care unit for another four days. He had received Holy Communion on the day after his surgery and began concelebrating Mass from his bed on May 17. On the 14th, when he was coming back into full consciousness, he asked Monsignor Dziwisz if they had said Compline, the closing prayer of the liturgical day, yet. Dziwisz gently explained that it was already the next afternoon, but from that point on, John Paul always prayed the entire Liturgy of the Hours, which was recited for him until he gathered the strength to pray it with Dziwisz or his other secretary, Father John Magee.
The Pope was an active patient, determined to understand what was happening to him and to have a say in his care. He had Dr. Crucitti explain the anatomy and normal workings of the intestine and the way in which the colostomy compensated for his temporary disability. When the doctors gathered for a consultation in the meeting room of his suite, he would poke fun at them afterward: 'What did the Sanhedrin say today? What did the Sanhedrin decide on my behalf?' He was joking but the joke had an edge on it. Part of the struggle of an illness, he once told his doctors, was that a patient had to fight to become 'the 'subject of his illness' instead of simply remaining the 'object of treatment'.' The dignity of the human person was not surrendered at the hospital door (413-415).
Weigel goes on to describe how John Paul II's condition prevented him from being with his dying friend, Cardinal Wysynski of Poland. He tells of John Paul II following funeral ceremones by radio, "stopping to say his own Mass at the same time as the funeral Mass was being celebrated" (415). His death was "another sharp blow for John Paul II" (415). His health was severely deteriorating.
"While John Paul was mourning the [Polish Cardinal] and pondering the question of [his] successor, the papal doctors were becoming worried about their patient's condition. On May 27, the day before Wyszynski's death, the Pope had difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and chest pains, in addition to the fever. The situation improved somewhat during the next few days, and the medical team agreed that John Paul could return to the Apostolic Palace on June 3 to continue his convalescence at home. The Pope, for his part, wanted to participate in the solemn commemoration of two ecumenical councils on June 6 and 7... It was too much to ask of himself. He could only manage a five minute appearance and message from the loggia of St. Peter's on June 6. A taped message was sent to the celebrations at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on June 7.
By June 10, his fever was rising close to 104 [degrees] Fahrenheit (39.5 [degrees] Celsius) and then falling. He had an infection in his right lung, but that could be treated by antibiotics and did not account for the spiking fever and his failure to regain his strength. Fear for his life once again stalked his staff and doctors. The gray-faced Pope looked terrible. His eyes, sunken in dark sockets, had lost their customary intensity and sparkle - and no one knew what the problem was... By June 20, the situation had deteriorated to the point where a return to Gemelli for more tests was imperative... John Paul's system had been invaded by a cytomegalovirus, which had been transmitted to him through a tainted blood transfusion on May 13. The 'second agony' as Gabriel Turrowski described it, was the result of his tremendous loss of blood between the shooting and the surgery. The cytomegalovirus has a twenty-four-hour cycle and there would have been no problem if the donated pint of blood had been kept for a day. The urgeny of the situation at the beginning of the surgery had required the use of freshly donated blood. Once the cause of his persistent illness was clear, John Paul characteristically wanted to know what the virus looked like. The doctors showed him the slide form which the diagnosis had been made.
Toward the end of July, John Paul began lobbying his doctors to reverse his colostomy sooner than they had planned. The medical team had proposed waiting until cooler weather in the fall; there were also concerns about risking another tainted blood transfusion so shortly after the cytomegalovirus had been beated. John Paul insisted that he was strong enough to withstand the procedure. He told a meeting of the 'Sanhedrian' that, while they were the technical experts, he had a right to explain his problems as their patient. Among other things, he didn't want to go back to the Apostolic Palace until he was completely well and could put the entire assassination episode behind him. All his life, he said, he had defended the rights of man; 'today,' he said, 'I myself am 'man.'' Dr. Crucitti was impressed. The Pope had reminded his doctors that they were not oracles, and that an individual knew things about himself that clinicians could not measure with their instruments and tests (415-416).
Throughout the story Weigel tells of the news of the various days and goes on to describe the intense political drama that was playing out between the Soviet Union, Poland and the Vatican. The story is absolutely riveting and highly worth reading. It is amazing to read the propaganda the Russian goverment was spouting about the Pope. They were calling him "a cunning and dangerous ideological enemy," implying that he was even involved in the Nazi campaign to destroy the Polish people during World War II (423). (I laughed aloud when I read that!) He concludes by analyzing Agca's intentions and says that it is virtually certain that Russia was involved with the assassinaton attempt.


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Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Most Read: Contributor India, December 2022
India: Class Action Suit Vis-A-Vis Indian Laws
by Vijay Sirohiwal (Gurgaon) and Rahul Pandey (Gurgaon)
S&A Law Offices
Your LinkedIn Connections
with the authors
The conception of Class Action Suits is one of the many improvement introduced in the Companies Act, 2013 vide Section 245. The concept of Class Action is not new but in Indian context it has found recognition and enforceability now only by means of Companies Act, 2013. The class action suit first time came to the highlight in the context of securities market was when the Satyam scam broke out in year of 2009. Subsequently, the Indian investors in India couldn't take any legal remedy against the company while their counterparts in USA filed class action suit claiming compensations from the company. This mechanism evolved to overcome the well known `Collective Action' problem, where suits by smaller stakeholders are not cost effective, and so may never get filed. As such, this is applicable not just in corporate law, but across the board.
CONCEPTUALIZATION IN INDIAN SCENARIO
It gained its momentum with "India's Enron"- Satyam Fiasco case: where lakhs of shareholders of Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) came together and sued the company. The shareholders claimed damages worth Rs.5000 Crore but India had no law enabling class action lawsuits (where a large group collectively¬ brings a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is sued). The shareholders went from the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to the Supreme Court, and had their claims rejected. But the US Investors who owned American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) demand a settlement to the tune of USD 125m (about 700 Crore) by mounting a class action suit. Shareholders of Satyam were able to claim $125 million (about Rs 700 Crore) from the company.
WHO CAN FILE CLASS ACTION SUITS?
As per Section 245(1) r/w Section 245(3), the suit may be filed:-
a) In case of a company having share capital, member or members:
not less than 100 members of the company or
not less than 10% of the total number of its members, whichever is less or
Any member or members singly or jointly holding not less than 10% of the issued share capital of the company. Provided that the applicants have paid all calls and other sums due on their shares.
b) In case of a company not having a share capital, member or members:
Not less than 1/5th of the total number of its members.
The number of depositors shall not be less than 100 or
not less than 10% of the total number of its depositors, whichever is less or
Any depositor or depositors singly or jointly holding not less than 10% of the total value of outstanding deposits of the company.
WHO MAY BE SUED THROUGH CLASS ACTION SUITS?
A class action suit may be filed against the following Authorities
A company or its directors for any fraudulent, unlawful or wrongful act or omission;
An auditor including audit firm of a company for any improper or misleading statement of particulars made in the audit report or for any unlawful or fraudulent conduct.
An expert or advisor or consultant for an incorrect or misleading statement made to the company.
WHICH RELIEFS MAY BE CLAIMED THROUGH CLASS ACTION SUITS?
Any member or depositor on behalf of such members or depositors may file a class action suit before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to:
(a) To restrain the company from committing an act which is ultra vires the articles or memorandum of the company;
(b) To restrain the company from committing breach of any provision of the company's memorandum or articles;
(c) To declare a resolution altering the memorandum or articles of the company as void if the resolution was passed by suppression of material facts or obtained by mis-statement to the members or depositors;
(d) To restrain the company and its directors from acting on such resolution;
(e) To restrain the company from doing an act which is contrary to the provisions of this Act or any other law for the time being in force;
(f) To restrain the company from taking action contrary to any resolution passed by the members;
(g) To claim damages or compensation or demand any other suitable action from or
(i) The company or its directors for any fraudulent, unlawful or wrongful act or omission or conduct or any likely act or omission or conduct on its or their part;
(ii) The auditor including audit firm of the company for any improper or misleading statement of particulars made in his audit report or for any fraudulent, unlawful or wrongful act or conduct; or
(iii) Any expert or advisor or consultant or any other person for any incorrect or misleading statement made to the company or for any fraudulent, unlawful or wrongful act or conduct or any likely act or conduct on his part;
WHAT ACTION WILL BE TAKEN BY NCLT ON A CLASS ACTION SUIT APPLICATION?
1. On receipt of a class action suit application, the Tribunal will look into the following before admitting it:
whether the member or depositor is acting in good faith in making the application for seeking an order;
any evidence before it as to the involvement of any person other than directors or officers of the company on any of the matters on which an order can be passed;
whether the cause of action is one which the member or depositor could pursue in his own right rather than through an order under this section;
any evidence before it as to the views of the members or depositors of the company who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the matter being proceeded under this section;
where the cause of action is an act or omission that is yet to occur, whether the act or omission could be, and in the circumstances would likely to be—
authorized by the company before it occurs; or
ratified by the company after it occurs;
Where the cause of action is an act or omission that has already occurred, whether the act or omission could be, and in the circumstances would be likely to be, ratified by the company.
2. If an application filed under sub-section (1) is admitted, then the Tribunal shall have regard to the following, namely:—
(a). Issue Public notice shall be served on admission of the application to all the members or depositors of the class in such manner as may be prescribed;
(b) All similar applications prevalent in any jurisdiction should be consolidated into a single application and the class members or depositors should be allowed to choose the lead applicant and in the event the members or depositors of the class are unable to come to a consensus, the Tribunal shall have the power to appoint a lead applicant, who shall be in charge of the proceedings from the applicant's side;
(c) Consolidate all similar applications prevalent in any jurisdiction into a single application and the class members or depositors shall be allowed to choose the lead applicant and in the event the members or depositors of the class are unable to come to a consensus, the Tribunal shall have the power to appoint a lead applicant, who shall be in charge of the proceedings from the applicant's side
Not allow two class action applications for the same cause of action.
1. A copy of every application made under this section shall be served on the Regional Director and Registrar of Companies.
4. The Tribunal shall give notice of every application made to it under this section to the Central Government and shall take into consideration the representations, if any, made to it by that Government before passing a final order under those sections.
1. Where any application filed before the Tribunal is found to be frivolous or vexatious, it shall, for reasons to be recorded in writing, reject the application and make an order that the applicant shall pay to the opposite party such cost, not exceeding Rs. 1 Lakh, as may be specified in the order.
PENALTY FOR NON-COMPLIANCE OF ORDER PASSED BY TRIBUNAL
Any company which fails to comply with an order passed by the Tribunal under Section 245 shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than Rs. 5 Lakhs but which may extend to Rs. 25 Lakhs and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and with fine which shall not be less than Rs. 25,000/- but which may extend to Rs. 1,00,000/-.
Under Section 425 of the Companies Act, 2013 the Tribunal has also been conferred the same jurisdiction, powers and authority in respect of contempt of its orders as conferred on High Court under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
Other points relating to Class Action Suits
The cost or expenses connected with the publication of the public notice shall be borne by the applicant and shall be defrayed by the company or any other person responsible for any oppressive act.
Any order passed by the Tribunal shall be binding on the company and all its members, depositors and auditor including audit firm or expert or consultant or advisor or any other person associated with the company.
Provisions relating to class action suits do not apply to a banking company.
Difference between application for prevention of oppression and mismanagement u/s 241 to 244 and Class Action Suits under Section 245 of Companies Act, 2013.
It may be concluded that class action suits will be a beneficial platform for members and depositors to raise their grievances against the management of a company including directors, advisors, consultants, auditors etc for acts or omission that is prejudicial, unlawful or wrongful to the interest of the company. Class action suits may be undertaken as a redressal tool by minority shareholders having common interest for promotion of transparent corporate governance.
Vijay Sirohiwal
Rahul Pandey
India Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration Class Actions Trials & Appeals & Compensation
POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration from India
Discretion Cannot Override Express Term Of The Contract
Singhania & Partners LLP, Solicitors and Advocates
In the matter of contracts, whether executed between two private parties or between the parties one of which is a government entity, the terms of the contract bind the parties.
'Public Policy' – Scope Of Judicial Interference Under Section 34 Of The Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 Arbitration And Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015
Karanjawala & Company
The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards also known as the New York Convention itself lays down that recognition and enforcement of an Arbitral Award may be refused...
Ethical Duties Of Party-Appointed Expert(s) In Arbitral Proceedings
The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration imposes ethical duties on arbitrators, most notably the obligations of impartiality and independence and the related duty of disclosure.
Circumstances Falling Under Schedule V: Automatic Disqualification Of An Arbitrator?
Schedule V and VII of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ( "the Act") provides a list of circumstances, which led to the disqualification of an Arbitrator from an arbitration proceeding.
SC Rules That Arbitrators Cannot Unilaterally Fix Fee As It Violates Party Autonomy
AZB & Partners
The SC in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd NGC v. Afcons Gunanusa JV[1] has held that arbitrators do not have the power to unilaterally issue binding orders...
Without Prejudice Correspondence: Intend, Ambit And Evidentiary Value Thereof
Clasis Law
The provenance of 'Without Prejudice' correspondences under Indian Law can be traced back to the provisions under Section 23 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 ("Evidence Act").
Class Action Suits: Notified Yet Ambiguous PSA
Get Ready For Class - Action JSA
CLASS ACTION SUITS IN INDIA : Government Notifies Thresholds For Filing Class Action Suits Obhan & Associates
Some Recent Trends In Oppression & Mismanagement Cases Under The Companies Act, 2013 Factum Law
Enforceability Of Provisions In Contracts Restricting The Right To File Class Action Suits In India* Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
What The Singapore Court Of Appeals Ruling In Westbridge Means For Transactions With Indian Parties? Khaitan & Co LLP
Choosing The Right Arbitral Seat Khaitan & Co LLP
Dispute Resolution & Arbitration - January 2023 HSA Advocates
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Comparative Guide LexOrbis
Does The MSME Act, 2006 Override The Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996?: Analysing The 'Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd. Vs. Mahakali Food Private Limited S&A Law Offices
Arbitration, Litigation and Conciliation


text:
HomeNewsFears baby missing with aristocrat and rapist 'sleeping in tent' - police...
Fears baby missing with aristocrat and rapist 'sleeping in tent' – police release new pics
'First us, now you': Waspi woman's warning as Sunak plots state pension age hike
Waspi stands for Women Against State Pension Injustice,...
The Metropolitan Police are urgently appealing to the public to help them find a newborn baby who they believe has been sleeping in a tent in freezing temperatures. A team of officers are "working around the clock" to track down Constance Marten, her baby and partner Mark Gordon, who have a substantial amount of cash allowing them to live off-grid. They have established they went into Argos on Whitechapel Road, E1, at 6.19pm on January 7 to buy camping gear.
Gordon entered the store alone and bought two big bags full of items, paying in cash, including a blue two-man tent, two sleeping bags and two pillows. He left the store at 6.40pm.
The couple are then believed to have spent more than three hours walking around the Whitechapel Road area, where they tried to unsuccessfully flag down three black cabs.
They then left the area on foot and were last seen making their way down Brick Lane, towards Bethnal Green Road at 10pm. Gordon is often seen walking alone ahead of Constance and the baby. That was the last official sighting of the family.
Gordon had spent 20 years in prison in the US after being convicted in Florida of kidnapping and sexual battery, according to US law enforcement records. He was deported from the country after his release.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, who is leading the investigation, said: "We are extremely concerned that a newborn baby – less than a week old at the time on January 7 – has been exposed to sub-freezing cold temperatures if Mark and Constance have been camping out somewhere as our evidence suggests."
"No child, especially a tiny, newborn baby, should be forced to endure such dangerous, potentially life-threatening, conditions.
"This is why it is absolutely vital that anyone with information about their whereabouts contacts us as a matter of urgency – whether it is with a recent or older sighting. Every piece of information is crucial to enabling us to find the baby and ensure it is okay.
"My officers will continue working tirelessly behind the scenes to piece together the family's movements and current whereabouts. It could be that they are trying to blend in with homeless communities, either here in London or further afield, or they could be camping in more rural or wooded areas.
"They could be absolutely anywhere in the country. Please keep your eyes peeled, especially while you are out and about in waste ground or beauty spots, or while you're walking the dog, and report any information, no matter how insignificant you think it is, to us."
On January 5 at 6.33pm, police were called to a car that was on fire on the hard-shoulder of the M61, near junction four (Farnworth, Bolton), but the occupants were not at the scene.
Officers believe believed most of their belongings were destroyed in the car fire.
Marten and Gordon were quickly identified as the occupants of the car and that she had very recently given birth, possibly one or two days before, but had not been assessed by medical professionals.
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Princess Eugenie joy as she reveals she is pregnant with second child
Putin's plan backfires as £30m worth of Russian helicopters obliterated in just 30 minutes


Hostel - Hostel Casa del Parque in San Jose, Costa Rica is a calm and relaxed guesthouse for the budget traveler perfect for backpackers as base point to explore Costa Rica and other parts of Central America.
Hostel - Hostel Van Gogh - The best Hostel of San José!! Truly!!!
Hotel - Our hotel is located at the most historical spot in downtown San Jose,Costa Rica, with a colonial style arquitecture , the charming place to stay in Costa Rica.
Hostel - Beautiful renovated historic mansion at the heart of San Jose, very competitive prices for brand new amenities in very central location!
Hostel varaus, opiskelijoiden matka, ja suosittu Backpacking hostellit San Jose, Costa Rica - Hostel Traveler.


In the present times, it is quite important to get acquainted with technology. Technology influences all the aspects of people's lives. Particularly when it comes to the professional aspect, it is important that one should possess basic knowledge about it. However, talking the areas that require a technical specialization, the scenario is totally different. Nowadays, if you wish to find a career in the technical field, just the theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Getting good grades in the technical course is not sufficient. You need to have a certification which validates your skills and expertise in the required area. The vlsi course is a major course which has huge importance when it comes to securing strategic positions in multinational companies. If you wish to enroll yourself in the course, then Bangalore is the city to look out for. Known as the silicon valley of India, there are some of the best vlsi project institutes in Bangalore which can prove to be great for your career.
The vlsi course or which is an acronym for very large scale integrations is a comprehensive program that is dedicated to teaching the inquisitive students everything about working with the circuits. The course is highly demanded by most of the top companies in the world and it is for this reason that every year, an increasing number of students wish to apply for the course. If you are someone who holds a degree in one or the other technical course, then you can easily take up the course to strengthen your CV and also gain knowledge about working with the circuits. The course adopts an integrated approach to teaching whereby the theoretical and practical aspects of the topic are clubbed together and the topics are chosen in a manner so as to give maximum knowledge to the students.
The course is a certified one which seeks to validate and specialize your skills and knowledge. The entire curriculum is chosen in a manner which helps the students to know about more and more topics in a lesser time. If you plan to take up the course, always make sure to select an institute that gives a certificate which is affiliated to the concerned authority. Although being the technical hub of the country, the city actually has plenty of institutes that offer the course, yet you must be careful about the choice of the institute and only apply to a certain institute after retrieving information about it. The requirements for the vlsi course are quite basic. If you have an inclination towards the subject and have a degree in one of the technical courses, you can easily apply for the course. Moreover, these institutes and the certificates issued by them are all recognized by all the companies.
Thus, with the help of vlsi coaching institutes in Bangalore, you can easily find a suitable institute to enroll and begin your training as soon as possible.


More than 750,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled military attacks in Myanmar remain in Bangladesh camps as future repatriation and resettlement plans remain unclear.
Across the sprawling camps in Cox's Bazar, close to a million Rohingya Muslim refugees remain in limbo — without a clear future.
Voluntary repatriation plans last month were postponed amid security concerns about ongoing abuses and a lack of international monitoring.
The Myanmar government has allowed tightly controlled trips for international media in recent months, but access to areas where alleged atrocities were carried out has been denied.
In Bangladesh, published footage of a resettlement compound on the remote Bhasan Char Island was also being viewed with concern.
"The UNHCR has not been let on the island to do a risk assessment of the flood conditions but many say the island is prone to flooding and dangerous that means that thousands of Rohingya refugees could potentially be on a flood prone island and that's a very dangerous situation," said John Quinley III, a human rights worker for Fortify Rights.
The concrete compound with barred windows awaits an estimated 100,000 refugees who will be transferred from Cox's Bazar onto the remote silt island, built up by Chinese construction crews and the Bangladesh navy.


Fernando Triana runs the Litigation Department of the Firm. He has extensive experience in trademark and patent related prosecution,intellectual property, domain name and unfair competition litigation. He has been Plaintiff's counsel in major litigation and several of the most well known cases in Colombia, regarding these fields.
Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia (General Coordinator of the Legal Research Center, 1983-1985).
Brigard y Castro, Bogotá, Colombia, (Associate, 1985-1989).
Cavelier Abogados, Bogotá, Colombia, (Associate, 1989-1990, Partner and Director of the Litigation Department, 1990-1992).
Vernot Abogados, Bogotá, Colombia, (Founder, Partner and Director of the Litigation Department, 1993-1995).
Current Professor in the Specialization of Intellectual Property at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
President of the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI) (2009 – 2012).
Current President of the Colombian Subcommittee of Electronic Commerce of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
Member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and currently member of its Panel of Neutrals and its Law Firm Committee.
Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).
Member of the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC).
Member of the Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators of the World Organization of Intellectual Property (WIPO).
Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the National Arbitration Forum (NAF).
Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Arbitration Center WAQALAT.COM.
Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI).
Member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Center of Arbitration and Conciliation of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá (CCB).


Many of our clients are relying more and more on the use of Webcasting conferences in Toronto, or Live Video Streaming at events throughout Ontario or various other ares of their business communications. Webcasting is best suited for use in situations where you need to distribute information quickly and effectively to large audiences in different locales; this may include conferences, training and development, or emergency communications.
While a DIY solution is an option for some business ventures, this is one area that is easy to get overly complex and have embarrassing or awkward technical issues without professional technicians consulting and running the equipment.
While the above captures the information to be shared, a platform must be utilized to broadcast to your audience. This will take into account the length of the Webcast, the number of viewers involved, and how long you would like it archived in order to be accessible after the event is over. In addition to having it archived online, having a hard copy recording of your Webcast in DVD format is also beneficial.
Our staff here at Metrocom are webcast experts who can consult with you and assist you in making all of the necessary arrangements for your upcoming Webcast. We can provide all of the recommended equipment rentals in addition to a strong platform, and will also include a high-quality DVD recording of your event. Call or contact us online for a quote today!


Just a few hours drive from Vienna, Milan, Munich and Salzburg, Schloss Velden is an Austrian boutique-hotel for affluent travellers, which is open all year round. It is situated beside Europe's largest and warmest Alpine lake, the Wörthersee, near to Carinthia's finest ski resorts. Its crowning jewels are the 3,500m² Auriga Spa and the "Seespitz" lake-side restaurant.


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Ofcom plans key radio spectrum release
31 January 2008 in News, Telecommunications
Government agencies could release a large amount of their spectrum holdings
UK comms regulator Ofcom has released plans for government agencies and public organisations to share, trade or release radio spectrum they currently use solely, a development which could boost the take up of more efficient mobile wireless services.
Ofcom pointed to an independent study carried out by Analysys and Mason which concluded that "an additional 2.5 GHz of spectrum could be required below 15 GHz for new and existing technologies by 2025". The report also found that: "Spectrum shortages are likely to be a constraint which could prevent the future optimal deployment and growth of a wide variety of services."
Ofcom pointed out that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) holds about a third of "the most sought-after public sector spectrum below 15GHz", and plans to consult by May 2008 on its plans to release "a significant proportion of its spectrum holdings".
The most useful spectrum currently held by the MoD will have a detailed audit planned to be completed by the end of 2008. These include the following under 4GHz : 137–154 MHz, 230–400 MHz, 400.15–406.1 MHz, 430-450 MHz, 590 – 598 MHz, 870-960 MHz, 960-1215 MHz, 1215-1350 MHz, 1375-1400 MHz, 1427-1452 MHz, 1559-1626.5 MHz, and 2310-2450 MHz.
Ofcom said that, "Commercial respondents tended to agree with our initial assessment that the bands 406.1 - 430 MHz, 2.7 - 3.4 GHz and 3.4 - 3.6 GHz were likely to prove most attractive for alternative uses." Mobile wireless broadband services like WiMax, amongst others are expected to benefit from this spectrum release.
But there could be problems with spectrum release if multiple government departments say they want to manage particular radio spectrum bands, Ofcom said, adding that more discussions between the MoD and other bodies like the Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime Coastguard Authority are needed before tradable radio spectrum becomes available.


text:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION Count_Parents(_NodeID integer)
RETURNS bigint
LANGUAGE plpgsql
AS $$
DECLARE
_Count bigint;
BEGIN
SELECT COUNT(*)
INTO  _Count
FROM Edges
INNER JOIN Nodes ON Nodes.NodeID = Edges.ParentNodeID
WHERE Edges.ChildNodeID  = _NodeID
AND   Edges.DeathPhaseID IS NULL
AND   Nodes.DeathPhaseID IS NULL;
RETURN _Count;
END;
$$;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Direct from The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, this is a first for the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
The Outback Stockman's Show is not to be missed! Join experienced Head Stockman, Lachie Crosser and his animals in this one of a kind show.
The live Outback Stockman's Show is a tribute to the skills of the past and present stockmen – a true depiction of the unique quintessential Australian character.
This show is true Country, so this Festival head to the Indoor Arena at the Tamworth Showground for an experience not to be missed! Pedestrian access is via Gate 2, parking is on street. Take Festival Bus Route 6.
This event will go off sale with Entertainment Venues at 12 noon each day.