text:
Q: Is it possible to use a file as Filesystem? Here is the origin of my question:

*

*I'm running Linux containers with LXD snap version at Ubuntu 22.04 on a VPS. The root file system of the VPS is Ext4 and there is not additional storage attached. So the default LXD storage pool is created by the dir option.

*When I'm taking a snapshots of these LXCs, the whole data is duplicated - i.e. the if the container is 6G the snapshot become another 6G.

*I think if it was LVM filesystem the snapshots will be created in a different way.
So my question is:

*

*It possible to do something like fallocate -l 16G /lvm.fs, then format it as LVM, mount it and use it as storage pool for LXD? And of course, how can I do that if it is possible?

Some notes:
The solution provided by @larsks works as it is expected! Later I found, when we are using lxc storage create pool-name lvm without additional options and parameters, it does almost the same. I didn't test it before I published the question because I was thinking the lvm driver mandatory will require be in use a separate partition.
However in both cases this approach, in my opinion, has much more cons than pros, for example:

*

*The write speed is decreased with about 10% in comparison of the  cases when we are using the dir driver.

*Hard to recover situations when no space left on the disk, even when the overload data is located in /tmp... in contrast, when the dir driver is used, LXD prevents the consumption of the entire host's file system space, so your system and containers are still operational. This is much conviniant in my VPS case.

A:
It possible to do something like fallocate -l 16G /lvm.fs, then format it as LVM, mount it and use it as storage pool for LXD? And of course, how can I do that if it is possible?

Start by making your file. I like to place it in a directory other than /, so I created a /vol directory for this purpose:
truncate -s 16G /vol/pv0

(As @LustreOne notes in comments, using truncate rather than
fallocate doesn't preallocate blocks for the file, so it starts out
using zero bytes and only consumes as much disk space as is written to
it).
Configure that file as a block device using losetup:
losetup -fnP --show /vol/pv0

That will output the name of a loop device (probably /dev/loop0, but if not, adjust the following commands to match).
Set up LVM on that device:
pvcreate /dev/loop0
vgcreate vg0 /dev/loop0
lvcreate ...

Congratulations, you have a filed-backed LVM VG!
Unfortunately, if you were to reboot at this point, you would find that the VG was missing: loop devices aren't persistent, so we need to add some tooling to configure things when the system starts up.
Put the following into /usr/local/bin/activate-vg.sh:
#!/bin/sh

losetup -fnP /vol/pv0
vgchange -ay

And make sure it's executable:
chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/activate-vg.sh

Add a systemd unit to activate the service. Put the following into /etc/systemd/system/activate-vg.service:
[Unit]
DefaultDependencies=no
Requires=local-fs.target local-fs-pre.target
After=local-fs-pre.target
Before=local-fs.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/activate-vg.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=local-fs.target

Enable the service:
systemctl enable activate-vg

Now your file-backed LVM VG should be available when you reboot.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Usage statistics for Special Menu Items
Special Menu Items project page
August 7th, 2021 99 99
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1.x-1.0.1 39 38 39 40 45 44
1.x-2.1.1 5 4 5 5 5 5

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Address:NEXT Industrial Park ,Gangsheng Road , Shajing Town, Baoan District, Shenzhen , CHINA.
Shenzhen NEXT Plastic Electronics Co.,Ltd is an integrated enterprise, which mainly design, R&D, produce and sell computer speakers, computer peripheral accessories and IT products shell etc. Through our unremitting efforts and progress, now, we have two our owns brands: Ifang, Twins, and won a number of patents and industry top brands honorary title. Our company also accept a variety of ODM / OEM orders, welcome new and old customers inquiries, we will try our best to serve you!


Suffering From Folder Fatigue? Here's the Cure!
Buying Local: The Doggie Edition!
The Perfect Viewing Angle For the iPad?
TV in the Home Office: Suitable or Major Distraction?
Reader Survey: What's Your Handmade Skill?
Final Frame: Gotta Share, Gotta Share!


text:
Британското военно гробище () в Зейтинлъка, Солун е създадено през ноември 1915 година по време на Първата световна война до британска военно-полева болница в града. В него са погребани 1 648 британски войници и офицери и 44 българи.

Български войнишки гробове
 01. Иван Тр. Младенов, редник от 13-и пехотен полк, починал на 6.10.1916 г., гроб 455
 02. Стойко Д. Малинов, редник от 13-и пехотен полк, починал на 6.10.1916 г., гроб 526
 03. Васил Христов, редник от 3-ти пехотен полк, починал на 9.10.1916 г., гроб 541
 04. Петър П. Шанов, редник от 3-ти пехотен полк, починал на 8.10.1916 г., гроб 542
 05. Ценко К. Каменов, редник от 3-ти пехотен полк, починал на 12.10.1916 г., гроб 577
 06. Стойчо Ат. Стойков, редник от 13-и пехотен полк, починал на 12.10.1916 г., гроб 578
 07. Петър Христов, редник, починал на 15.10.1916 г., гроб 591
 08. Мончо Ст. Магарев, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 2.12.1916 г., гроб 718
 09. Цветко К. Радулов, редник от 3-ти пехотен полк, починал на 2.12.1916 г., гроб 719
 10. Йосиф З. Сталичевски, подпоручик от 34-ти пехотен полк, починал на 14.12.1916 г., гроб 729
 11. Димитър Гарванов, редник от 64-ти пехотен полк, починал на 30.10.1916 г., гроб 752
 12. Серафим Ст. Ризов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 15.04.1917 г., гроб 958
 13. Коста Ст. Арнаутски, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 22.03.1917 г., гроб 1002
 14. Цветко С. Доков, редник от 17-и пехотен полк, починал на 7.06.1917 г., гроб 1063
 15. Петър Н. Генов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 17.06.1917 г., гроб 1081
 16. Злати П. Вуков, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 1.07.1917 г., гроб 1082
 17. Стефан Лазаров, редник от 22-ри пехотен полк, починал на 26.07.1917 г., гроб 1108
 18. Санде Н. Джамбазки, ефрейтор от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 18.07.1917 г., гроб 1111
 19. Никола Ст. Ватахов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 15.03.1917 г., гроб 1151
 20. Юрдан З. Беличинов, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 28.08.1917 г., гроб 1157
 21. Митър Хр. Петрин, редник от 34-ти пехотен полк, починал на 28.08.1917 г., гроб 1158
 22. Никола Ат. Дюлгерски, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 24.09.1917 г., гроб 1209
 23. Иван Т. Илиев, редник от 85-и пехотен полк, починал на 28.09.1917 г., гроб 1211
 24. Яким А. Войнов, старши подофицер от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 12.10.1917 г., гроб 1224
 25. Никола Г. Кочев, редник от 3-ти пехотен полк, починал на 19.10.1917 г., гроб 1236
 26. Петър Бл. Лейчинов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 24.11.1917 г., гроб 1289
 27. Заре В. Иванчев, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 4.12.1917 г., гроб 1303
 28. Борис П. Мончев, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 20.12.1917 г., гроб 1319
 29. Никола Хр. Шавков, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 30.12.1917 г., гроб 1328
 30. Александър М. Пешов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 2.02.1918. г., гроб 1358
 31. Яким К. Тютюнов, редник от 68-и пехотен полк, починал на 10.02.1918 г., гроб 1364
 32. Минко Хр. Минков, подпоручик от 62-ри пехотен полк, починал на 12.04.1918 г., гроб 1397
 33. Стоил П. Атанасов, ефрейтор от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 5.05.1918 г., гроб 1404
 34. Стоян Атанасов, редник от 54-ти пехотен полк, починал на 29.05.1918 г., гроб 1415
 35. Христо Карабашки, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 19.06.1918 г., гроб 1424
 36. Яким Г. Янев, редник от 34-ти пехотен полк, починал на 3.09.1918 г., гроб 1564А
 37. Тано М. Ташков, редник от 64-ти пехотен полк, починал на 7.08.1918 г., гроб 1478
 38. Иван М. Якобарски, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 29.08.1918 г., гроб 1498
 39. Димитър Г. Инлигийски, редник от 14-и пехотен полк, починал на 31.08.1918 г., гроб 1500
 40. Петър З. Йовев, редник от 22-ри пехотен полк, починал на 2.09.1918 г., гроб 1504
 41. Георги Петров, редник от 58-и пехотен полк, починал на 6.10.1918 г., гроб 1559
 42. Георги Петров, редник от 17-и артилерийски полк, починал на 5.10.1918 г., гроб 1560
 43. Димитър Стойчевич, редник от транспортна рота, починал на 11.10.1918 г., гроб 1578
 44. Никола Ан. Николов, редник от 5-и пехотен полк, починал на 15.10.1918 г., гроб 1583

Бележки

Зейтинлък
Паметници в Солун

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Mahindra Holidays, India's leading player in the leisure & hospitality industry, has been awarded the grand prize of 'India's Favorite Resort Chain' by HolidayIQ. The award was received by Mr. Arun Nanda, Chairman and Founder of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, at the award ceremony held in the Capital today.
The award ceremony was attended by a host of dignitaries including Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon'ble Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Mr. Priyank Kharge, the Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) Tourism & Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, Shri A K Manocha, Chairman & Managing Director IRCTC and Mr. Umang Bedi, Managing Director, Facebook (India & South Asia).
"I also want to take this opportunity to thank our over 211000 member families who have supported us in this journey. We are committed to continue our efforts to delight them through unique and immersive family experiences specially curated only at Club Mahindra," he added.
Club Mahindra is the largest leisure hospitality company in India providing immersive family experiences to its members when they holiday at its 46 resorts across India and abroad. The acquisition of Holiday Club Resorts, Oy, Finland, has added another 31 picturesque properties across Finland, Sweden and Spain, to its repertoire, making Club Mahindra the largest vacation ownership company in the world, outside of U. S.
Club Mahindra has been actively promoting sustainability and local livelihood, with focus on education, health, skill development, local economic development and environment conservation. Over the past 20 years, Club Mahindra has worked with local authorities and NGOs in locations where they operate to bring about overall inclusive growth and awareness towards conserving & maintaining the bio-diversity of the region.
The Better Holiday Awards are instituted by HolidayIQ, which has created a platform where Indian travellers can share their experiences and help each-other make informed travel decisions. The awards are considered as the most credible in the Indian tourism sector as they represent the authentic voice of the Indian traveler. Winners are chosen through reviews and ratings given by customers.
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL), India's leading player in the leisure hospitality industry, offers quality family holidays primarily through vacation ownership memberships. While Club Mahindra is the flagship brand, the other brands offered by the company are – Club Mahindra Fundays and Svaastha Spa. As on June 30, 2017, MHRIL has ~222K vacation ownership members and operates 50 resorts across India and abroad and its subsidiary, Holiday Club Resorts Oy, Finland, a leading vacation ownership company in Europe has ~ 50K members and 32 resorts across Finland, Sweden and Spain.


text:
All the Easter Eggs in Taylor Swift's 'ME!' Video: Hints at the New Album Title, Her Next Single & More
There's a basket full of Easter eggs in Taylor Swift's new 'ME!' video, and she's waiting for us to find them all.
By Ashley Iasimone
Ashley Iasimone
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There's a basket full of Easter eggs in Taylor Swift's new "ME!" video, and she's waiting for us to find them all.
Before the playful new video featuring Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie premiered at midnight on April 26, Swift already had fans ready for the serious detective work ahead of them.
"Okay regarding Easter eggs.. there are a lot of them in this video. Some you'll find out right away and some will take a minute to reveal their meaning (omg why am I talking like a sorcerer)," she first revealed during a YouTube Q&A with her fans in the hours leading up to its debut.
Taylor Swift's 'ME!' Tops YouTube Record for Most-Watched Video in 24 Hours by a Solo or Female…
In a 15-minute Instagram live video with Urie that streamed Friday (April 26), Swift further teased: "The biggest Easter egg of this entire thing has been missed. But the whole thing … it's literally the most obvious one I put in the video and nobody has guessed it yet."
Later that night, she shook things up with a bigger bombshell: "So… the new album title is actually revealed somewhere in the video AND so is the title of the second single, but I haven't seen people finding them yet."
So… the new album title is actually revealed somewhere in the video AND so is the title of the second single, but I haven't seen people finding them yet…
–???–??? #MEmusicvideohttps://t.co/cdxQ6dFiar
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 26, 2019
Has the case been cracked as of Saturday? Have any fan theories from this weekend actually guessed the title of her new album or next single? Swift hasn't said, so get ready to press pause more times than you can count as you ruminate the meaning behind the Easter eggs below, presented (mostly) in chronological order of their appearance in the "ME!" video.
The Sidewalk Chalk-Colored Pavement
Swift's countdown to "ME!" ended up being a series of subtle nods to the video itself, and one of those previews zoomed in on the pastel pavement first seen in the opening snake-bursts-into-butterflies scene.
The pale pinks, blues, yellows and greens are pretty, going along with the overall breezy aesthetic of this era of Swift — but more significantly, this could be a reference to Swift's "Why She Disappeared" poem, printed in one of the magazines she released alongside Reputation and recited as an interlude between songs on her Reputation Tour. The poem's opening reads: "When she fell, she fell apart/ Cracked her bones on the pavement/ She once decorated/ As a child with sidewalk chalk." (On a possibly related note, on July 13, 2018, Swift posted a photo of herself on Instagram with the caption "Take me home." In the snapshot, she's seen holding a photo album depicting herself as a child surrounded by her sidewalk chalk drawings.)
Hints at themes of nostalgia/childhood on TS7 — The opening scene of the ME! music video has pavement decorated with what appears to be sidewalk chalk
When she fell, she fell apart
Cracked her bones on the pavement
She once decorated
As a child with sidewalk chalk pic.twitter.com/ynJ5xPgeim
— Lena ——–? (@goldentattoo13) April 26, 2019
That Christmas Tree: Strategically Placed, Or Just Another Set Prop?
Riding on the nostalgia train, a silvery Christmas tree stands innocently in the corner of Swift and Urie's apartment in "ME!" The thing is, no one in this music video is dressed for winter weather, things look awfully bright and summery outside and there's no other indication that the duo is in the midst of celebrating the holiday season. Swift has said she was a raised on a Christmas tree farm, so could this be a token of her past? Or, fans wonder, is she hinting at the ultimate gift coming this summer: her new album?
CHRISTMAS TREE AND PALM TREES = CHRISTMAS IN JULY
ALBUM WILL COME IN JULY
ALSO SHE WAS RAISED ON A CHRISTMAS TREE FARM– pic.twitter.com/oO8fsxiSeP
— Kaleidoscope– (@_redlipswiftie) April 26, 2019
The Dixie Chicks Are the Centerpiece of All the "Cool Chicks"
A collection of quirky art depicting chicks in sunglasses adorn one of the walls in "ME!" — a detail that made a little more sense when paired with the single's "And there's a lot of cool chicks out there" lyric. In the middle of them all hangs what seems to be a painting of the Dixie Chicks themselves — the ladies even nodded at their apparent cameo with a tweet to Swift — and they're conveniently front and center just after she name-dropped them in a recent essay she penned for Elle.
"To this day, when I hear 'Cowboy Take Me Away' by the Dixie Chicks, I instantly recall the feeling of being twelve years old, sitting in a little wood paneled room in my family home in Pennsylvania," she wrote in the piece, which also happened to mention Panic! at the Disco.
— | "And there's a lot of cool chicks out there!" – A photo of the Dixie Chicks appears on the wall #MeOutNow pic.twitter.com/1U0mkMy04U
— Taylor Swift News / ME! (@TSwiftNZ) April 26, 2019
Chicks stans never unstan.
One of These Books Is Not Like the Others
Below the Chicks lies a stack of three red books. Two of them have no visible text, but one of them definitely has a title. Hit pause, zoom in, squint really hard and you might see the title on the spine matches that of a published book called Cartier in the 20th Century. The point of this is murky, but it turns out that the Cartier book has seven chapters, and this upcoming album is Swift's seventh. For what it's worth, chapter seven is — according to a U.K. Amazon listing — Icons of Style. Swift's own "Style," a song on her 1989 album with which she inexplicably opened her short set at the TIME 100 gala this week, features the repeated lyric "Take me home." Could this be another hint to the album's theme?
GUYS my friend found the BOOK that's in the ME! music video!! It's called Cartier in the 20th Century!! Does this mean something?? —@taylornation13 @taylorswift13 #MeMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/RfjV7upsaS
— ———— (@jesuiscalmswift) April 26, 2019
Is That a Speak Now-Era Shadow of Taylor?
"There was a huge shout-out out the window in the first hallway scene of me walking. Just gonna leave it there," Swift teased in her Instagram live video this week. Out the window you can see palm trees, but on the opposite wall is Swift's shadow as she struts down the hall. And in one millisecond of a frame, as some skilled sleuths captured, you can supposedly see the outline of a version of Swift that has much longer, curly hair, reminiscent of her old style.
I DIDNT NOTICE IT UNTIL NOW BUT THERES A SPEAK NOW LIKE SHADOW AND THEN ONE OF HER WITH SHORT HAIR IN THE HALLWAY SCENE AND SHE SAID TO PAY ATTENTION TO THAT SCENE ANDJKAJS #MEmusicvideo pic.twitter.com/JHHDMZ1UqL
— ash (@mintswift) April 27, 2019
The Numbers Game: Briefcases & Clouds
"We do a lot of numerology around here," Swift also said during her live stream on Instagram. "Maybe make a point to count the briefcases circling around my head in the briefcase scene. Maybe make a point to count the clouds in the lobby/thunderstorm scene."
That's seven briefcases and 13 clouds, which has many guessing that something big could happen on July 13, but who's counting? (Just kidding, who isn't?)
there's 13 clouds and 7 briefcases
7th album
13 years of career
on the 13th of july there's a stamp
i think we're getting ts7 on 7.13 or maybe a huge announcement pic.twitter.com/siJPgsryrg
— • —— • (@badtayswift) April 26, 2019
A Clock Set to 8:30
Speaking of numbers: Swift doesn't seem to do anything unintentionally, and it's clear that a small clock on the "ME!" video set is set to 8:30. Might this indicate another date to pencil in, or could it be the length of an extended version of a certain song?
GUYS. THE CLOCK IS ON 8:30. AUGUST 30. ITS A FRIDAY AS WELL. #MeOutNow @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/hT77yb18c0
— maya (@taIlpaintedbIue) April 26, 2019
The Cat Outside the Door
Swift really loves cats (spoiler: she has three of her own now!), so the hanging of cat paintings on her walls is probably not the most revelatory thing — but it does seem a bit peculiar that two different paintings depict a cat facing a closed door.
I wonder if it's titled "Black cat sits in front of door" haha But i wonder if there's any significance here – both paintings in the apartment are literally just a black cat sitting in front of a door — pic.twitter.com/I2TNDkyGJG
— Jasmina (@Just_Mina_80) April 27, 2019
A Neon 'Lover' Sign
One of the most obvious Easter eggs in the entire "ME!" video is a bright pink "Lover" sign, with a heart in the place of the "O." Considering Swift actually said the title of both her album and the next single can be found somewhere in this video, an obvious possibility for one of them is "Lover." (Of course, she also uses the word "lover" in a lyric of "ME!")
Look at the sign guys… Could 'Lover' be the album title??? It has the same type of heart Taylor's been using a lot recently — @taylornation13 @taylorswift13 #MeOutNow pic.twitter.com/uPakojmyza
— Andrew (@irishtswift) April 26, 2019
Meet Benjamin Button
It's less of an Easter egg and more of an introduction to the newest member of her family, but Swift kept it under wraps that she'd adopted a cat until his debut in her new video, where Urie's character offers her the pet as a token of his love. As she explained in her Instagram live video, "He just starts purring, and he looks at me like, 'You're my mom and we're gonna live together.'"
The kitten, named Benjamin Button, joins big feline sisters Meredith and Olivia.
This is Benjamin Button. He's a good boy.
A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Apr 26, 2019 at 3:20pm PDT
'Kaleidoscope of Loud Heartbeats Under Coats' Makes a Comeback
In one especially cool scene of the "ME!" video, a "Welcome to New York" lyric sees the light of day: "We did the kind of reflecting back on an old lyric when he [Urie] opens up this heart door in his chest," she said in her live chat. "I have a lyric on an an earlier song that says 'kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats,' so he pulls his coat to the side, there's a heart and it goes through a kaleidoscope."
This scene happens to fall at the 2:14 point in the video. If you're really falling down the TS7 theory rabbit hole, two plus one plus four does equal seven. (Numerology is fun, right Taylor?)
She really brought "kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats" to life didn't she???? @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 #MeOutNow pic.twitter.com/6gmHXcG9So
— your AMARAcan Queen ™ | NEVER ME(!)T TAY??—— (@pommomara) April 26, 2019
Cowboy Boots — Enough Said
Will Swift make a return to form on her new album? Between the Dixie Chicks shout-out and this pair of white cowboy boots — a departure from her personal style over the past several years — many are speculating that the new album could feature at least some of her country roots.
Dude I know everyone is obsessing over Me! and TS7 but I'm pretty sure the new album is going to be country because of the Dixie chicks and Taylor wearing cowboy boots pic.twitter.com/0YTPSQ9Snc
— Peter-pan with a plan (@Peter46425104) April 27, 2019
Hearts … All the Hearts
Sometimes, the writing's on the wall. "ME!" has the heart in the neon "Lover" sign, Urie's "kaleidoscope" of hearts, heart earrings, a sequinned heart minidress, a band of winged members (Cupids?) with hearts on their drums and cymbals and what kind of looks like a heart-shaped guitar. Also of note: Swift's new merch is being shipped with heart-shaped confetti.
I am pretty sure the album title is "Heart" yall. Two many hearts in that video and her instagram posts. Did I crack it, @taylorswift13? @taylornation13 #MEmusicvideo #MeOutNow #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/Pr9mB6nTYx
— ME! Helaman — (@brazilswiftie13) April 27, 2019


Flaunt your February birth attributes by wearing this beautiful and dainty piece of Jewellery which was Handmade By Artisans Using Our Fine Brass. Hand Plated, Hand Cut, Hand Polished, Hand Brushed and Plated with 20kt Real Gold Plating for its Beautiful Golden Colour. Minimalistic jewellery, perfect for gifting occasions.
Featuring one bar with 4 different angles with words- February/ Good Listener/ Sincere/ Imaginative.


Starbucks reports lower profits matching lower predictions, seems like a Grande Bean Issue!
Seattle, Washington (WiredPRNews.com) — Prominent coffee house giant, Starbucks, has reported that the company's profits have plummeted by 28% in the second quarter of 2008. The nationwide chain has commented that the drop in profits has resulted from CEO Howard Schultz's effort to alter the performance of the company which affected the profits severely.
Schultz commented that 2008 was a "transitional year" and said that there would be an improvement in the company's growth in the long term. Starbucks is a Washington-based company situated in Seattle. This company has said that the net income dipped up by 15 cents per share.
Analysts had anticipated that the company would be able to earn profits of 21 cents per share, but the Starbucks had lowered the expectations of its profits to 15 cents per share in the second quarter. Analysts had also predicted that the company would be able to earn sales revenue of $2.55 billion in the second fiscal quarter but the company came in just shy of that goal with a recorded revenue of $2.5 billion.
According to research studies conducted by the coffee company about its performance, Starbucks has said that its customers are not opting for their competitors such as Dunkin' Donuts, but instead aren't spending as much money as they previously used to spend on their Starbucks beverage.


We recently celebrated a legal victory—NCL filed the only amicus curiae brief in the case—that recognized harm to consumers whose health plans' websites are hacked and personal information is stolen because the plan failed to provide adequate security measures to protect its insurees' data.
Hotels used to let customers cancel their reservations up to 6pm on the day of arrival. This was the accepted norm for more than a decade. But this policy, which allowed flexibility for travelers, took a blow in 2015 when two big hotel chains, Marriott and Hilton, put into effect a penalty for last-minute cancellations. According to the new rule, cancellations later than 24 hours before the scheduled arrival date would result in a fee of one night's room rate. There is no umbrella rule for cancellation fees for the hotel industry, which allows hotels to arbitrarily determine the cost. Depending on the destination and star-ratings, hotels are known to have charged up to three-night rates for resorts—or even allow no refund at all for the entire reservation.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against payday loans through a series of new regulations that will limit certain lending and fee practices. The proposal aims to protect borrowers from falling into endless cycles of debt by making predatory lenders liable for their excessively high interest rates.
According to Fortune, the combined CEO salaries of America's six biggest banks totaled a whopping $123 million in 2015. With an average pay of $20.5 million per executive, that is estimated to be 455 times the salary of the average American worker. While millions of Americans are still struggling to overcome the financial crisis, Wall Street CEOs have continued to stockpile greater wealth over time. The average pay for Wall Street CEOs rose nearly 10 percent last year in contrast to the meager 1.6 percent increase in wages for the average American worker.


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Sydney dad's thrilled feeling after winning jackpot in a lottery
This happy news comes to us from Sydney, Australia
We have all heard several lottery win stories but this one is surely unbelievable. This dad from Sydney is making big plans for himself and his family after becoming the record holder for the second biggest individual lottery winner. People, please hold your breath because he won a whooping $96 million mega jackpot price.
Yes, that's absolutely true. Residing in Chatswood, the lottery man preferred not to disclose his identity and he said that he was informed about the mega win while at work. In the first instance, he didn't believe it to be true but when he confirmed about the big win, he was stunned.
You're s–ting me!" said the man after breaking his silence. "I'm shaking. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me I'm being punked." he exclaimed.
The Tuesday's Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot draw had their last jackpot winner around three years back when a young woman from Sydney had won $7.48 million. The record for the Australian highest individual lottery win is held by a Sydney woman who took back home a whopping $107 million in Powerball.
This Sydney man said that being a travel lover, he would definitely plan a lavish travel for himself and explore the places he always dreamt of visiting. A world tour is on his cards next. He would also work upon setting a bright future for his children. He thought of calling up his wife and informing her about the mega win but being a prankster, he was sure that his wife would not trust him. He also said that there are several people who would be so elated upon knowing about his great win.
The Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot price after this win has been reset to $1 million.
Image Source: The New Daily
Australia	Australia news, big win, happy news, jackpot, lottery, lucky lotteries mega jackpot, mega jackpot, Sydney news
Local Australian men saved a toddler fallen underneath a train
Brave Australian man wins a fight with a croc
Missing at Sea, Dad and Daughter found


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DeLeon Tequila Hosts Screening & After-Party of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Them Softly'
Ben Mendelsohn, Vincent Curatola, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
New York – On Monday night, DeLeon Tequila (along with Men's Health and The Cinema Society) hosted a star-studded screening and after-party of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Them Softly' featuring Brad Pitt, at the SVA Theater in Manhattan.
Brad posed with his cast-mates Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, James Gandolfini, Ben Mendelsohn, Sam Shepard, Vincent Curatola and Max Casella on the red carpet and was the last to be introduced by Director Andrew Dominik before the screening began. The film based on the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade was positively received with a big applause from the crowd, followed by an immediate rush to the even more star-studded after party at NYC's No. 8 in the Meatpacking District.
Hollywood's A-Listers including Jack McBrayer, Amy Adams, Rose Byrne and Chris Noth enjoyed DeLeon Tequila cocktails as they congratulated the cast and crew who were all in attendance. Guests mingled with friends, family and other party-goers, cheers-ed with DeLeon cocktails and posed for pictures all night long.
Celebrity guests included Kanye West, Jack McBrayer, Amy Adams, Chris Noth, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Carpenter, Georgina Chapman, Katharine McPhee, Steve Buscemi, Russell Simmons, Archie Panjabi, Sia Furler, Maggy Grace, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Weinstein, Patrick Stewart, Amy Sacco, Lorraine Bracco, Peggy Siegal, Francisco Costa, Michael Shannon, Taraji Henson, Sante D'Orazio, & Bella Heathcote.
Inside Scoop:
Chris Noth, the life of the party, was spotted posing for photos with co-star of The Good Wife Archie Panjabi while sipping on DeLeon Tequila and enjoying the hors d'oeuvres at his table. He was bouncing from table to table talking to other friends, fans and congratulating the cast and crew.
Although positioned at a hidden table off to the side at the after-party, Brad Pitt let fans get passed the body guards to pose for pictures with him, as he mingled and chatted up fans and celebrated with his cast-members.
Bridesmaids star Rose Byrne posing for pictures with Dexter star Jennifer Carpenter, while laughing with funny actors Amy Adams and Jack McBrayer.
Amy Adams, Darren Le Gallo, & Jack McBrayer – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
Mark Armstrong & Christopher Noth – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
Kanye West – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
Harvey Weinstein & Georgina Chapman – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
Rose Byrne & Jennifer Carpenter – The Cinema Society with Men's Health & DeLeon Tequila Host a screening of The Weinstein Company's 'Killing Me Softly' – photo by Patrick McMullan
Tags: Amy Adams, Amy Sacco, Archie Panjabi, bard pitt and killing them softly premiere screening with deleon tequila, Bella Heathcote, Ben Mendelsohn, Bobby Cannavale, Brad Pitt, Chris Noth, Francisco Costa, Georgina Chapman, Harvey Weinstein, Jack McBrayer, James Gandolfini, Jennifer Carpenter, Kanye West, kanye west at killing them softly after party, Katharine McPhee, killing them softly after party at no. 8 in meatpacking district new york, Lorraine Bracco, Maggy Grace, Michael Shannon, Patrick Stewart, Peggy Siegal, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Rose Byrne, russell simmons, Sam Shepard, Sante D'Orazio, Scoot McNairy, Sia Furler, Steve Buscemi, Taraji Henson, tipsy diaries and deleon tequila, Vincent Curatola and Max Casella, weinstein company killing me softly screening new york
Frighteningly Delicious Halloween Cocktails!
IGN & CapCom Present Resident Evil 6 Launch Party at LURE Nightclub
Warming Winter Cocktails to Keep You Toasty on Cold Nights
by tips6247 November 27, 2012


These high-yield healthcare stocks have what it takes to protect your principal during a market downturn.
The fourth quarter of 2018 was downright terrifying for retired investors with stock market exposure. Mounting trade tensions with China, sinking oil prices, and rising interest rates in the U.S. made it a terrible quarter for stocks across the board.
The benchmark S&P 500 index has fallen around 14% since the beginning of October, but these top retirement stocks have emerged unscathed. Some investors might not find these businesses as exciting as tech-driven titans that grab headlines, but their resilience during market downturns makes them perfect for retirees.
All three of these companies are real estate investment trusts (REITs) that serve a rapidly rising population of older adults that need more healthcare services than the average person. They're perfect stocks for retirees because REITs can avoid paying corporate taxes by distributing nearly all their profits to shareholders as regular dividend payments.
Omega Healthcare's real estate portfolio includes 720 nursing homes and 116 assisted living facilities spread throughout the U.S. and the U.K. It doesn't operate its facilities, but instead rents them out using long-term triple net leases. This arrangement usually leads to steady cash flows because all the variable costs of building ownership become the tenant's responsibility.
Right now, Omega offers an eye-popping 7.8% dividend because Omega recorded a $172 million loss allowance in 2017 related to 38 facilities leased by Orianna Health Systems, a nursing home operator that filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year. Omega's transitioned enough former Orianna facilities to other operators that management lowered the loss allowance to just $76 million, which suggests a return to regular dividend raises could be around the corner.
Omega Healthcare Investors raised its payout for 22 consecutive quarters before freezing its dividend in place in 2018 after the Orianna debacle began unfolding. It looks like shareholders can reasonably expect the dividend to thaw in 2019. Funds from operations (FFO) reached $3.03 per share in 2018, which is more than enough to cover dividend payments that currently work out to $2.64 per share annually.
It doesn't look like a handful of leftover Orianna facilities will stop the company from returning to regular payout bumps in 2019. In the years ahead, a rapidly rising population of older Americans will provide a steady push in the right direction.
Check out the latest Omega Healthcare Investors earnings call transcript.
In 2012, there were 19.2 million Americans over the age of 75, and the U.S. Census Department thinks this population will grow to 44.3 million by 2040. This age group spends a lot of time inside medical office buildings (MOBs) that healthcare providers lease from Physicians Realty Trust.
This REIT has geared its portfolio toward medical office buildings leased on a triple net basis to leading health systems. Physician's Reality prefers leasing MOBs to big health systems because they tend to be steadier with payments during tough times. This helps explain how Physicians Realty Trust's portfolio is 96% leased out, a rate that leads the industry.
From 2018 through 2022, lease expirations are expected for properties representing just 3.5% of total rent payments Physicians Realty collects annually. With years of reliable cash flows ahead, this REIT shouldn't have any trouble making and raising dividend payments in the years ahead. Physicians Realty generated $1.16 per share in funds from operations over the past year, which is more than enough to pay a dividend that offers an annualized $0.92 per share at the moment.
Check out the latest Physicians Realty Trust earnings call transcript.
Extra cautious retirees nervous about too much concentration in any one aspect of a shifting healthcare landscape will appreciate the diversity Ventas provides. We don't need to look further than Ventas' most recent quarterly results to see the benefits of having fingers in more than one pie.
In the third quarter, net operating income (NOI) from the senior housing properties Ventas operates fell 2.7% compared to a year earlier. Luckily, moderate growth from university-based life science properties in its office portfolio, and triple net leased properties allowed overall NOI to rise 1.3% on year.
Investors will want to keep their eye on Ventas' expanding university-based life science business. The University of Pennsylvania campus officially opened in September and Ventas expected 90% occupancy at the end of 2018. With a robust development pipeline of similar projects ready to go, the office segment could be an important growth driver in the years ahead.
Ventas expects 2018 normalized FFO to land between $4.03 and $4.07 per share. The company shouldn't have any trouble covering dividend payments, which currently work out to an annualized $3.17 per share.
Though Ventas barely nudged its dividend forward in 2018, significantly lower interest payments could inspire much larger increases this year and beyond. During the year-ended September, Ventas lowered its outstanding debt by 8% to $10.5 billion, and since the end of 2017, the company's refinanced or repaid $3.2 billion of debt.
Check out the latest Ventas earnings call transcript.
These high-yield healthcare REITs aren't going to make anyone rich overnight, but reinvesting modestly growing dividend payments can lead to market-beating gains over the long run. With an unstoppable wave of older adults coming to visit and reside in their facilities, these stocks are poised to maintain steady dividend payments throughout any stock market downturn.


Discover solutions in dealing with the disease.
Space is limited. Please RSVP to 905.823.6700.
For more information and resources regarding caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or other dementias please visit www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com.


Today is April 25, 2017. That means in exactly 13 days I will (hopefully) graduate from the University of Connecticut with a degree in mathematics-statistics. It also means that, come May 7, I will have spent 1,353 days as a student at UConn. 1,353 days is a long time to stay in one place and in those almost 1,500 days a lot of things have happened and many of those things have been positive. I have had the ability to take courses with some of the most qualified people in the country and I've had the opportunity to pursue my hobbies and grow my passion in both photography and journalism as a whole. But unfortunately (or fortunately) I also came to UConn as minority and being a minority on campus has certainly been a challenge. So UConn, for my final column you're the one on the chopping block. For everyone reading, consider this my review of UConn.
Thirty thousand people. That's about how many students UConn has on the Storrs campus. It's a fairly large campus and it is nice to see there is diversity across both majors and cultural organizations. In every department you have professors who come from different walks of life with the sole purpose of training the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators. The cultural centers are some of the greatest organizations to ever grace this campus and they are open and inclusive to whether you are native to that culture or not. Additionally, there are so many wonderful clubs and organizations on campus that allow for all students to pursue their interests. For example I decided to "sell my soul" to the Daily Campus and have never looked back. Unfortunately, I can only dedicate one paragraph of my review to the good things about UConn.
It wouldn't be UConn if there weren't some kind of big incident to mar what could have been a great and productive year. My freshman year (fall 2013-spring 2014) there were the Title IX allegations and lawsuits against the university and, for some reason, UConn decided to hide behind lawyers at the beginning and hope that everything would just go away.
My sophomore year was, of course, the time of the infamous event involving a historically white fraternity, a historically African-American sorority and the "Spirit Rock." At least this time there was some justice with Pi Kappa Alpha being removed from campus.
My junior year things really came to a head with the post-Paris attack racism. Notes were left on Middle Eastern students' doors calling them terrorists. African-American students were told they should be lynched on Facebook pages and apps like Yik Yak. My mom told me to shave my beard so nobody got any ideas about who I am and what my background is. It seemed as though campus was going to explode in civil war.
This year was clearly marred by the election of Donald Trump and UConn finally got the answer right by voting to make the campus a sanctuary city.
Many of you are going to say these incidents are few and far between and don't accurately represent the culture and place that UConn is. You'll say the UConn community isn't divided and you can clearly see that when you go to a sports game and see everyone cheering together. You'll also probably say all of this from the privilege of being a white male who's never experienced discrimination in his entire life. And for your sports example, I pose these questions: How many women's sports games have you gone to? Did you know that aside from women's basketball, we have nationally-ranked teams in women's soccer and field hockey? Have you ever made any jokes about a student-athlete of color's intelligence or mentioned that whatever sport they are playing is the only thing they are good at? Congrats, your privilege is showing.
UConn, as a school, remains as divided as our nation. We are not some bubble in the northeast where nothing goes wrong and everyone is going to live happily ever after. What all of this simply means is we, as a campus community, need to do better. Everyone single one of you so-called allies who says they support minorities needs to show it by coming out to every protest and every single sit-in. You can no longer hide behind the blanket statement, "well I didn't do it." If you want to support minorities' fights then you need to join the fight.
Now don't get me wrong. I love UConn and this student body like it's my family but something has got to change and soon. For now I can only give the school a 3/5. I give UConn a solid 'D.' Sure it's passing, but just barely. Now's the time Huskies, fix yourself so we can move forward into the future.


How Were You Blessed this Year?
Home \ Blog \ E-News \ How Were You Blessed this Year?
With the economy slow to recover and the elections recently behind us, blessings are just not getting any press time. Sometimes we need to be encouraged to think about the ways that we have been blessed. Before you can be thankful, you need to be "thinkful." (My new word: Spell Check didn't know it either.) Without pausing to think about our blessings, it's not possible to be truly thankful.
If you are reading this, you have the blessing of eyesight that my friend Linda Woodbury doesn't have. We each have so many blessings and among them are the ability to see, to hear, to taste, to feel, to move, to laugh and to love. These were gifts to most all of us on the day that we were born. These most precious blessings can't be bought or earned, that's why we call them gifts.
Being born in the United States of America is a blessing. To live in a country where you can worship God as you chose and use your bright idea to start your own business are blessings that aren't options everywhere in the world. Be glad that you are here!
As you work on your personal list of blessings, I hope that it is long and meaningful.


The new Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet is turning heads. The device is Nokia's first Windows RT 8.1 tablet, and retails for $399.99.
This 10.1-inch tablet boasts a Full HD display and a battery that can reach an 80% charge in just one hour. But should you buy one? Let these reviews help you make the call!
The Guardian's Samuel Gibbs ran his review of the Lumia 2520 with the headline "Nice Hardware, Shame About the Software." While he praised the tablet's excellent battery life, sturdy form factor, and vivid display, he was less than complimentary about the limitations of Windows RT 8.1.
"The biggest disadvantage of Windows RT – and it's a doozy – is that it cannot run full Windows applications. That means no Adobe Photoshop, no web browser other than Internet Explorer, no music software like iTunes, no syncing cloud-storage services such as Dropbox.
While praising the quality of the speakers and the delightful feel of the tablet, Seifert also noted that the tablet didn't work as well with the optional $149.99 Power Keyboard cover deployed.
"It adds a full keyboard, trackpad, two USB 2.0 ports, and an included battery to give the tablet even more time away from an outlet. There are no pairing headaches and there's no Bluetooth nonsense to mess with — you just snap it on and it works. It can prop the 2520 up and accommodates working on your lap a bit better than the Surface 2, but the angle is fixed and much like the original Surface, it's a bit too upright.
TechRadar's Kane Fulton gave the tablet a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. While praising the battery life, display, and built-in LTE, Fulton disliked features of the Lumia 2520 such as Windows RT, and the lack of both a full-sized USB port and a kickstand.
While Engadget's Dana Wollman may have felt that the Lumia 2520 was "not the best for typing," she did have nice things to say about the tablet's "unprecedented" camera.
"Considering the Lumia 2520 is Nokia's first Windows tablet, the company produced a strong product its first time out. Because it's so lightweight, the 2520 is easier to use in tablet mode than the Surface 2, and that stunning 665-nit display makes the experience even sweeter. Add to that long battery life, a high-quality camera and some generous pricing ($499 with LTE and 32GB of storage), and it's pretty clear Nokia did good.
TechnoBuffalo's review of the Nokia Lumia 2520 includes the video review above.
In the written portion of their review, TechnoBuffalo had a few issues with the tablet's design, including the fact that the charging port is next to, and nearly identical to, the 3.5mm headphone jack.
"It's really impressive that Nokia crammed an 8,000 mAh battery in it considering the device is just over 8mm thick.
The new Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet is turning heads. Should you buy one?


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Android News / All News / Play Store Offline Notification Feature Is Still Rolling Out
Play Store Offline Notification Feature Is Still Rolling Out
In what may be one of the longest roll-outs in the history of Android, some Reddit users are now reporting a new feature in their Google Play Store application. The update includes a feature that offers to let users know when a page within the app has finished loading – which is usually instantiated after the connection is lost during a Play Store search and is accompanied by the usual "can't load page" message. Essentially, rather than having to continue opening up the Play Store manually, checking to see if the page has loaded yet, a notification will pop up from the app itself once the connection is restored. The feature appears to be part of a larger roll-out which has slowly incorporated similar features across several of Google's core applications – such as Google Now. More generally, it marks yet another improvement in Google's long quest to improve its Play Store.
The goal of the update is obviously to save users time and effort in checking for things such as web pages or app pages to have finished downloading when on a sub-optimal connection. Users can opt in to be notified and can come back to what they were doing in the Play Store after it has had a chance to load the content completely. The feature should be a welcome respite for users who live in areas where their mobile connection is spotty or where Wi-Fi speeds aren't necessarily as good as they could be.
While it may seem really strange is that it has taken so long to roll out – at least one Redditor has pointed out that it started months ago. There are a lot of mobile devices out there that run Google's software. Beyond that, they all run substantially different versions of the OS and most have their own manufacturer software laid over the top of that. Throw in a couple of other factors, like the fact that features like these are being applied across a number of very different Web-connected applications, and it becomes easy to see how difficult it can be to implement features in a stable manner across the board. So users shouldn't worry too much if they haven't seen the update yet, but, as of this writing, this update does appear to be taking a bit longer than normal.


Antique Mail Slot for Doors - Victorian Style (Lacquered Brass Finish) - measures 9 inches long - with ornate detailing. Solid brass construction and comes complete with the mounting hardware. This mail slot also has an opening of approximately 7 inches wide and 1 1/4 inches tall. This is sold as a front plate only - with an optional matching rear plate. This ornate style mail slot is also available in a Polished Brass (shown), Antique Brass, Oil Rubbed Bronze, Polished Chrome, Brushed Nickel and Antique Nickel finishes.


Stay stylish throughout the day and into the evening with this elegant dress. Made from an always comfortable jersey fabric, it features a flattering wrap style with a self-tie fastening around the waist and an elegant v-neckline.
A versatile and easy-to-style option, we love the stretchy fabric.


The Australian Thermographers Association (ATA) has engaged an independent consultancy group to conduct a comprehensive scoping study into the industry with an aim to provide in-depth insight into the current use of thermal imaging cameras and covering all industries, users and the diverse range of non-accredited courses.
The review, which is being overseen by the Haystack Group, will identify operators, industry sectors using thermal imaging, as well as the size and projected growth of the industry in Australia.
The ATA said the review will also aim to establish current skill sets across all thermographers, non-accredited training courses and the hazards and risks associated with thermography in a non-regulated industry. With concerns about unqualified operators, the ATA is calling for urgent introduction of national competency standards and vocational qualifications for Australia's thermal imaging industry.
The ATA will also approach relevant industry bodies, government departments (both federal and state) and regulatory bodies to provide input to the scoping study.
According to the ATA, thermal imaging is a rapidly emerging industry yet remains the only unregulated trade skill industry in Australia. Not only is the quality of work an issue, but safety considerations are a significant concern.
"The crossover of thermal imaging into multiple other regulated trade industries has created a hazardous environment that needs to be brought under control," a spokesperson for the ATA said.
The ATA reports that the inability to use thermal cameras due to a lack of skills provides for poor interpretation of results and may lead to improper interpretations of thermograms.
National competency standards will provide for skilled thermographers and, most importantly, will ultimately protect customers, providing them with a degree of assurance that they are receiving services from a trained professional.
To access the survey, visit www.thehaystackgroup.com.au or www.thermalimaging.asn.au.


This Fusion Living Iconic Vanilla Plastic Dining Chair is part of our eye-catching designer seating collection. Perfect for any modern, contemporary, home or commercial setting, this cosmopolitan piece is constructed with both style and comfort in mind. The steel legs and frame, powder coated in black, provide such a contrast to the vanilla seat and also serve to bring the whole dining chair together. This chair is a real winner, with its attractive curved and moulded seat supported by a strong and sturdy interlocking frame and leg design - just imagine sitting around your own dining table in such style and comfort! Do be sure to browse our full range of colourful plastic seats and range of leg bases.


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Cynometra craibii är en ärtväxtart som beskrevs av François Gagnepain. Cynometra craibii ingår i släktet Cynometra, och familjen ärtväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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Ärtväxter
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Junket journalism is taking off in China
China's attempts to woo foreign journalists and bloggers in bid to control conversation
BY FLO MARKS AND JOHN MERLIN
A screenshot from one of The China Traveller's videos on Xinjiang. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4tDRXMhE4UVPZ_9-QPiPw
Twenty-three years after writing his best known work, Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow returned to China in 1960 to investigate claims that a radical agrarian reform programme had resulted in devastating famine. "I diligently searched, without success, for starving people or beggars to photograph … I do not believe there is famine in China," Snow wrote.
Snow was wrong. The famine in China was both real and devastating. It is estimated as many as 30 million died in it. Snow's bias lens had ghostly echoes with Walter Duranty's reporting from Ukraine, during the Holodomor, the mass famines engineered by Stalin. Only when faced with overwhelming evidence did he eventually concede that the genocide occurred, "to put it brutally – you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" he said.
In information vacuums, common during times of conflict such as the civil conflict in Syria, as well as in areas controlled by authoritarian regimes, reporting from independent journalists can quickly define or redefine the public's perception of a regime or situation. While journalists can play a powerful role in challenging censorship and propaganda from the state, they can also act as the state's servants. Such was the case for both Snow and Duranty, whose rose-tinted views of the countries impacted global perceptions. Herein lies the point – those who claim to be independent reporters can be incredibly useful to the state, sometimes more so than those working within state media, because the notion that they are independent carries with it a level of authority and weight.
The use of "junket journalism" to obscure reporting on crimes against humanity has only grown in prominence and sophistication. Nowhere has this been more evident than in China where the government has co-opted a range of journalists and social media influencers to help strengthen the CCP's control over its narrative and obscure legitimate scrutiny of a number of important issues, most notably the genocide of the Uyghur population. Recent party documents and officials have emphasised the need to bolster the CCP political line, and inject positivity into the CCP and China's image. Current President Xi Jinping said, "Wherever the readers are, wherever the viewers are, that is where propaganda reports must extend their new tentacles".
A recent International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) survey confirmed that "China is conducting a media outreach campaign in almost every continent" with the 31 developed and 27 developing countries that participated in the survey similarly targeted. The researchers told the Guardian, "China is also wooing journalists from around the world with all-expenses-paid tours and, perhaps most ambitiously of all, free graduate degrees in communication, training scores of foreign reporters each year to 'tell China's story well'".
While many other countries, including established democracies, have sought to influence and shape independent reporting through tours, capacity building opportunities and other tactics, the CCP's overt prioritisation of journalism that "depends upon a narrative discipline that precludes all but the party-approved version of events" raises significant concerns as to its intentions.
In this effort to shape global news, the CCP is advantaged by its huge pockets. It has spent around $6.6 billion since 2009 on strengthening its global media presence, supposedly investing over $2.8 billion alone in media and adverts. Sarah Cook, NED reporter and researcher, emphasised that "no country is immune".
This ambition is best summarised by the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN), which includes 182 media organisations from 86 countries as members, and a Council, which includes 26 countries, including Spain, France, Russia, Netherlands and the UK. The launch of the BRNN was announced in a paid advertorial in The Telegraph produced by People's Daily. In September 2019, BRNN hosted a workshop for international journalists in Beijing as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the People's Republic of China, which was organised in partnership with the State Council Information Office of China. It included a visit to the offices of People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and other "central media units", as well as trips to "Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Guangdong provinces for interviews and researches in order to personally experience China's unremitting efforts and fruitful results in poverty alleviation, ecological civilization, big data industry, urban planning, and independent intellectual property rights."
While the workshop was attended by representatives from 46 mainstream media outlets from 26 Latin American and African countries, it would be overly simplistic to suggest that China is only focusing on countries from the global south. Since 2009, the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) has taken 127 US journalists from 40 US outlets to China. This foundation has been identified as working with China's United Front as highlighted by US Senator Ted Cruz, in a letter to the President of the University of Texas at Austin, who stated that "[t]oday, CUSEF and the united front are the external face of the CCP's internal authoritarianism".
The IFJ report notes that "the Chinese Embassy has sought out journalists working for Islamic media, organising special media trips to showcase Xinjiang as a travel destination and an economic success story." Xinjiang and the treatment of Uyghur communities is a prominent area in which the CCP has focused its efforts. After a visit to Xinjiang, Harald Brüning, author and director of the Macau Post Daily, stated that "the anti-China forces' allegations of genocide are preposterous judging by what the Macao journalists, most of whom had not visited the region before, saw and heard in Xinjiang." In his piece, Brüning did not disguise the genesis of his trip, exclaiming in the third paragraph "[t]he extraordinarily well-organised tour took place at the invitation of the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region." The piece is heavily framed around rebutting existing reporting – labelled in the piece as lies – including the use of forced labour in the cotton fields of Xinjiang, as well as decrying the "brutality the religious extremists and separatists [have] resorted to".
However an all-expenses paid junket does not guarantee full control of a journalist's coverage. Olsi Jazexhi (below), a Muslim Canadian-Albanian journalist and historian sought a way to travel to Xinjiang because he was sceptical of the dominant narrative in the West that Muslims were being oppressed in China. He approached the Chinese embassy in Albania who invited him on a trip to Xinjiang with other "China-friendly journalists". Once in Xinjiang, Jazexhi was shocked by the detainees' testimonies of having been jailed for simple expressions of their religious identity, such as reading the Quran or encouraging others to pray. In Urumqi, he was lectured by state officials who equated Islam with terrorism and was shocked by the number of empty mosques or those repurposed into stores.
Olsi Jazexhi (right) listens to a handler during a tour of a mosque in Aksu city, Xinjiang in August 2019. Photo: Provided by Olsi Jazexhi
Other journalists who have tried to move away from the organised tours have faced a number of difficulties. When journalists have attempted to film camps that the government has not previously cleared for access, they have been turned away by local authorities. Road works or car crashes suddenly block their way and when the journalists attempt to return the next day, the roadworks suddenly reappear again. Members of a Reuters crew reported being tailed by a rotating cast of plain-clothed minders and "within an hour of the reporters leaving their hotel in the city of Kashgar through a back gate, barbed wire was erected across the exit and fire escapes on their floor were locked."
While influencing journalists can sometimes be difficult, the expansion of blogging and social media influencing has opened up another avenue for state intervention. Travel vloggers who visit authoritarian countries say they just want to educate their viewers and avoid politics. Irish travel vlogger Janet Newenham told Al Jazeera after a controversial visit to Syria that "every country deserves to be shown in a different way and in a positive light even if most stuff about there has always been negative". However, what can seem innocuous can take on more explicit political implications. "A lot of these vloggers are saying they're apolitical in this and I'm sure that they are but the issue is, when you're entering a conflict zone, your direct presence there becomes political," researcher and adjunct professor, Sophie Kathyrn Fullerton told Al Jazeera.
A similar trend is increasingly evident in China. "I'm here because lots of people, right now, outside of China, want to know what Xinjiang is like," says British vlogger, The China Traveller, at the start of a video, which focuses on him sampling a variety of local food while Uyghur women appeared to spontaneously dance behind him. Videos of this genre can be seen as part of what has been labelled the CCP's project to "Disneyfy" Xinjiang. Uyghur culture has been co-opted by the state and amplified as a tourist attraction to change the narrative and drown out reports of genocide against the Uyghur community. In another video, The China Traveller praises the central government for rebuilding sections of the city, while failing to address the government's other influence on the Xinjiang skyline: the mass demolition of religious institutions.
While Chinese culture is celebrated by The China Traveller and other vloggers in Xinjiang, French photographer Andrew Wack had a different experience when he returned to the region in 2019. Speaking to Wired a year after his trip, Wack commented on the stark absence of "men aged 20 to 60, many of whom had likely been rounded up and herded into indoctrination camps". Throughout his visit, he was followed by plain-clothes police officers "and at checkpoints he was sometimes asked to show his photographs. On one occasion, he was asked to delete images".
Many vloggers and journalists obscure any coordination or funding from Chinese bodies, or underplay how it may affect their coverage. Lee Barrett, a British vlogger, states in a video, "we go on some sponsored trips to places … our accommodation is paid for, our travel is paid for … nobody tells us what to say, nobody tells us what to film". Due to the opaque nature of these relationships, it is impossible to interrogate the influence this type of support has on the vloggers' reporting. However at times this veil is lifted. In a number of popular videos, minders sent by the Chinese state to monitor another vloggers' trip can be clearly seen monitoring their behaviour.
When the BBC's lead China reporter, John Sudworth, was invited into Xinjiang's 're-education' camps, he was presented with a highly choreographed and Disneyfied presentation of Xinjiang culture, which apparently even moved the Chinese officials accompanying the BBC crew to tears. However, Sudworth's commitment to "peer beneath the official messaging and hold it up to as much scrutiny as we could" led him to scrutinise everything, including scraps of graffiti written in Uyghur and Chinese. This approach has had lasting consequences; he now reports on China from abroad, having had his visa revoked.
In modern day China, independent reporting from foreigners is one of the few avenues left in order to scrutinise power beyond the dominant state narrative. However, through the funding and coordination of junkets, training opportunities and other tactics, the Chinese state has followed in the footsteps of Assad's Syria to try and control the message these foreigners send out into the world. This turns the principles of journalism against itself and manipulates the free expression environment in favour of the state.
Edgar Snow remains venerated in China. In 2021, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying proclaimed on Twitter: "China hopes to see and welcome more Edgar Snows of this new era among foreign journalists". John Sudworth provides a powerful counterweight, reminding us that we must "peer beneath the official messaging and hold it up to as much scrutiny as we could".
The authors approached The China Traveller and Lee Barrett for comment for this article. No response had been received by the time of going to press.
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Junket journalism is taking off in China - 16 November


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text:
package agentShell;

import rlVizLib.dynamicLoading.Unloadable;
import org.rlcommunity.rlglue.codec.AgentInterface;
import org.rlcommunity.rlglue.codec.types.Action;
import org.rlcommunity.rlglue.codec.types.Observation;

/**
 * @deprecated, use org.rlcommunity.rlviz.agentshell.AgentShell
 * @author btanner
 */
public class AgentShell implements AgentInterface, Unloadable {

    private final org.rlcommunity.rlviz.agentshell.AgentShell as;

    public void agent_cleanup() {
        as.agent_cleanup();
    }

    public AgentShell() {
        as = new org.rlcommunity.rlviz.agentshell.AgentShell();
    }

    public void refreshList() {
        as.refreshList();
    }

    public String agent_message(String theMessage) {
        return as.agent_message(theMessage);
    }

    public void agent_end(double reward) {
        as.agent_end(reward);
    }

    public void agent_init(String taskSpecification) {
        as.agent_init(taskSpecification);
    }

    public Action agent_start(Observation observation) {
        return as.agent_start(observation);
    }

    public Action agent_step(double reward, Observation observation) {
        return as.agent_step(reward, observation);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Learn How to Shop
A Midsummer Shoenista's Dream: Sam & Libby for Target in May 2013
Winter has barely set in, and yet we're already headlining summer season fashion prospects. While we seriously hate jumping the (fashion) gun as much as the next person, we can't help but feel giddy about Target's announcement of an exclusive partnership with footwear hubby-and-wife team Sam and Libby Edelman. They were part of our shoe racks while growing up in the late 80s, so any opportunity to revisit the decades-old brand definitely deserves a welcome mat. Plus, when a well-loved brand like Sam and Libby promises "elevated designs" and "celebration of contemporary fashion", we know that they intend to deliver.
We don't think the partnership is much of a stretch of imagination–after all, Sam & Libby has been known for its affordable range of everyday shoes with a distinct designer appeal. In fact, we think that the powers-to-be at Brown Shoe Company couldn't have picked a better market for their shoe brand relaunch: Target has been synonymous with oft excellent designer-mass market capsule collections over the years. The best part? Target says the partnership is ongoing, so chances are great that we'll be seeing the brand in the Bull's Eye retailer long after summer has come and gone.
The Sam & Libby for Target line is slated for a May 2013 release. The expected price point starts at just $24.99, and will offer 20 styles of footwear, ranging from sandals and flats to patterned wedges and pumps.
Target promises samples of the collection this coming January, and we'll be sure to share them with the readers as soon as they're available.


text:
Q: Why is variable being calculated twice in an async promise? CURRENTLY
I have the following function IN AWS that utilise Textract SDK async functions:
async function textParse(config) {
  const AWS = require("aws-sdk");
  let textract = new AWS.Textract();

  let analysisResults;
  console.log("Before Try");
  try {
    console.log("Start Document Analysis");
    analysisResults = await textract
      .startDocumentAnalysis(config, function (err, data) {
        if (err) {
          console.log("There was an error during doc analysis...");
          console.log(err, err.stack);
        } // an error occurred
        else {
          console.log("Doc analysis successful!");
          console.log(data);
          return data;
        } // successful response
      })
      .promise();
  } catch (e) {
    throw "Doc Analysis Error!" + e;
  }
  let JobId = analysisResults["JobId"];
  let textractResult = await textract
    .getDocumentAnalysis({ JobId: JobId })
    .promise();

  console.log("End!")

  return textractResult;
}

ISSUE
The console log is showing that analysisResults is being calculated twice. Note Doc analysis successful! appearing twice in the logs.
INFO Before Try
INFO Start Document Analysis
INFO Doc analysis successful!
INFO { JobId: '3a1e00c9b5ca9123124hhfdfdsdd02f2053c38ec5249e822c9e95f' }
INFO Doc analysis successful!
INFO { JobId: '5ef298d3a9123124hhfdfdsddsdssdsdsdds689580642a6346' }
INFO End!

I've spent a few hours trying to debug this and I suspect it's something to do with how I'm handling promises.
Any ideas on what changes I need to make?

A: Don't know the textract library, but this is what the OP code appears to be trying to say in a singular (promise, not callback) style.
async function textParse(config) {
  const AWS = require("aws-sdk");
  let textract = new AWS.Textract();
  console.log("Before Try");
  try {
    console.log("Start Document Analysis");
    let analysisResults = await textract
      .startDocumentAnalysis(config)
      .promise();
    console.log("Doc analysis successful!", analysisResults);
    let textractResult = await textract
      .getDocumentAnalysis({ JobId: analysisResults["JobId"] })
      .promise();
    console.log("End!", textractResult);
    return textractResult;
  } catch (err) {
    console.log("There was an error during doc analysis...");
    console.log(err, err.stack);
  }
}

I worry about answering this way, because it doesn't seem to address the symptom described (two success logs), but even if there's another problem in the code, I think this is still a valid rewrite, form-wise.


text:
World's oldest footballer 'King Kazu' joins new football club at 54
Patricia January 12, 2022 2 min read
Last Updated on 12 Jan 2022 10:55 am (UK Time)
Kazuyoshi Miura, fondly known as 'King Kazu', has extended his playing career by joining Japanese side Suzuka Point Getters on loan.
Miura will celebrate his 55th birthday in February, but he is proving age is just a number as he joins the fourth-tier side managed by his older brother.
Now into his 37th season as a professional footballer, Miura has played 765 times in his distinguished club career, scoring 216 goals.
276 of those appearances would come for Yokohama FC, who the Japanese legend has played for since 2005, however, he only managed a single minute for the club last season when they were relegated from the J1 League.
But his very brief cameo vs Urawa Reds in March, at the age of 54 years and 12 days, saw him make further history as the oldest active player.
The forward represented his country for a decade long spell between 1990-2000, scoring an impressive 55 goals in 89 caps, and in 2012, at the age of 45, Miura made his Futsal debut for the national team.
In 1982, he travelled alone to Brazil at the age of fifteen to become a professional footballer there. He signed with the youth squad of Sao Paulo side Juventus, and in 1986, Miura signed his first professional contract with Santos. He played for several other Brazilian clubs, including Palmeiras and Coritiba until his return to Japan in 1990.
'King Kazu' has continued to break records all his life, becoming the first Japanese player to feature in Italy, following a loan spell to Genoa in the 1994/95 season.
On 5 March 2017, Miura became the oldest ever player to feature in a professional match when he started in Yokohama's 1–1 draw against V-Varen Nagasaki. With 50 years and seven days, he surpassed the previous record held by Stanley Matthews from 1965 by two days. Seven days later, he broke Matthews' record for the oldest goal scorer in professional football when he struck the only goal of a 1–0 win over Thespakusatsu Gunma.
On 5 August 2020, he started in a J.League Cup match against Sagan Tosu, becoming the oldest player to take to the pitch in Japan's league cup competition, at the age of 53 years, 5 months and 10 days. By doing so, he surpassed the previous record of 42 years, 10 months set in 2017 by Yukio Tsuchiya.
On 23 September 2020, he started in the J1 League match against Kawasaki Frontale and in doing so became the oldest player to take to the pitch in a J1 League match and the oldest player ever in a football match in the highest national division worldwide. Miura played 57 minutes in this match.
Tags: club Football footballer joins Kazu king oldest Worlds
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text:
"Have a seat, and explain to me why you're still aboard this ship," the Captain said.
Lieutenant Pars Kheeilan walked into the Captain's office and took a seat. The office was large, with several chairs sequestered near the walls. In front of Pars was the Captain's large desk, covered with datareaders, and beyond it his personal chair, its seat far more worn than its arms. To one side there was a global recon table that, when activated, would project a 3D hologram. The window behind the desk and the Captain's chair was capable of displaying any manner of vids, both army and private, but now showed nothing but the blackness of space. To another side was an unobtrusive door connected to the Captain's own living quarters. The Captain himself was standing behind his desk, with an immobile expression, and his arms clasped behind his back.
"I wonder that myself sometimes, sir," Pars said. When he saw the Captain's expression, he rubbed his eyes and added, "Sorry, sir. It's been a long day." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small datakey, leaned foward and put it on the Captain's desk. "These are the people named in the riot. We're treating everyone as a suspect, but there are only a handful who got so involved that they had to be thrown into the brig. The rest were returned to their duties."
"Any more trouble?"
"No, sir. People are keeping quiet and waiting to see what we do."
"Well then, Lieutenant Kheeilan," the Captain said and leaned forward, resting his outstretched arms on the desk for support, his knuckles on its surface, "Seeing as how this happened in cafeteria E-1, which was occupied by your Delta unit, staffed with Delta men, and damaged with Delta weapons, what is the leader responsible for Delta going to do about it? And why were there weapons out in the cafeteria at all?"
"To be fair, sir, the weapons damage was one discharge of an emergency weapon located on-site, fired by a man who'd never handled a gun but nevertheless got the clever idea to break it open and fire a warning shot. He wanted to calm the crowd, I'm told, but managed to fire the gun directly through three adjoining walls. The bullet stopped at the inner shield."
"What is this man's present status?"
"Sick bay. He barely missed the head of Ensign Mjern in the head, and Mjern proceeded to knock him out flat on the spot."
When the Captain didn't comment, the Lieutenant continued, "Sir, it's been a hotbed recently. When it's like that, it only takes one person to light the fuse. I'm not one to single out my men for blame, but I've spoken to several people and in this case it's obvious who's the main party responsible for this."
The Captain stared at him for a while. Then he sighed, lifted his arms from the table and sat down heavily into his chair. His knuckles had gone white from the pressure.
"It's that bloody nitwit Crayan again, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you spoken to him?"
"I have, sir. One of the other Deltas made the usual lunchtime comment about sexual relations with someone else's blood relative, and Crayan took it personally, electing to stab the offending party with his fork and beat him severely over the head with his tray. In his words, his hometown hero never took no shit from no Matar and neither will he. He apparently feels this should count to his benefit."
The Captain grimaced. "I've been reading up on your man, as it happens. Found out some interesting things. This isn't the first time he causes trouble, Lieutenant."
"No sir, it isn't."
"He's a race-barker. Beat up some Minmatar Ensign, and when the man dared file complaints, Crayan drugged and stripped him, took a handheld laser to his tattoos, and defaced them in such humiliating ways that the Ensign dropped charges, lest he be seen and photographed like that. Crayan got a month in the brig for that. Didn't teach him much."
"No, sir. Nor did his other stay in the brig after he torched another Ensign's pet fedo and left it on the Ensign's food tray. He spent much of his solitary time singing songs he learned back home, and talking loudly about this hometown hero of his. Apparently they're distant relations."
"So what do you recommend?" the Captain said.
"Summary dismissal, sir."
The Captain leaned back in his chair and knitted his hands behind his head. "As I recall from the last incident involving your man, Crayan is on a five-year contract, low interest, three years locked in service. Do you propose to break this contract? Because if you do, I know quite a few Lieutenants, Lieutenant-Captains and Captains who will be after your blood."
"But still-"
"These contracts were created for a reason, Lieutenant. How do you think we keep people in the Navy these days?"
"God only knows, sir," Pars said, and winced in regret the second the words were out.
There was silence in the room. Eventually Pars added, "How bad are things, sir? Truthfully?"
The Captain said nothing.
"Sir, we've served together for a while. We're in this to stay. I'm seeing more riots and less signups, and the people we do get aren't anywhere near the old standard. Something has gone very wrong. What happened?"
The Captain turned in his chair, rotating it so that he could look sideways and see out the window. Their vessel was stationary, but anyone looking out into empty space for too long would likely start to feel that the blinking stars were slowly moving by. "It's a nice view," the Captain said. "I've always liked it. Usually it makes people sick after a while, which is good when I'm tired of strategic planning and want them out of my office."
He turned back to Pars. "You seem to be doing fine," he said with a wry smile.
The Lieutenant returned the smile and said, "If it did that to me, sir, I shouldn't even be here."
The Captain nodded. He frowned, then seemed to make up his mind about something; got up, and walked slowly over to the recon table. He activated it and a flat green panel lit up in the air in front of him. Its surface was covered with various tactical display options. The Captain selected one, and the display changed to a space map, highlighting various nearby constellations. "Since our area is one of the Navy's fleet accumulation points, it's a decent representation of all other such locations," he said. "These dots here are the outlying points, frontlines in case of skirmish."
Several points on the display lit up, and the rest darkened. The Lieutenant stood up and walked over to take a look.
"Do you know who's manning these?" the Captain said. "The points of utmost importance in case we get called on for anything more than capsuleer patrol? The Matari." A disc expanded around each point, its area pie-sectioned like a flower blooming with petals purple and green. Each circle was composed of far more purple sections than green. "Distribution of troops according to race. Matari outnumber us and everyone else."
"Those guys have always sought out the army," Pars said.
"And now we're putting them in the line of fire. Doesn't it strike you as odd that the people supposed to die for this empire are the ones who probably came here to find a better life?"
"It's the way of the Navy, sir," Pars said and shrugged.
"It was, Lieutenant," the Captain said. "Except now our own people beg off serving there, in the apparent belief that the Navy should offer them a nice, safe working environment, preferably with a corner office. Look at this." The entire map was lit up and each Captain point sprouted a disc, this time sectioned into greys and greens. There were vastly more grey sections everywhere.
"Don't tell me those are non-Gallente, sir," Pars said.
"Those are non-humans, Lieutenant, though likely a step over some in Delta squad. They're drones. Those are our defense capabilities, measured in drone and human output. I hardly need tell you that we're allocating record funds to drone tech manufacturers, money that is not being equalled in our recruiting departments." The Captain sighed. "Long and the short of it, Lieutenant, we're not getting the people we need, nor the type of people we need. Everyone has it too good planetside. They'd much rather do a terraforming project or two and settle down in a bungalow somewhere than risk their necks in a fleet that's going nowhere fast. All we're getting these days is the hotheads and the idiots, and we're having trouble even holding on to them. Even the Minmatars - who're fine workers and decent people, don't get me wrong - even they don't join up anymore. Some of the tougher ones still show up in the army, and I expect we'll always have a steady trickle of Brutors happy to fight anyone we put in their way, but by and large they treat this as a land of opportunity, with a stable government, and they work hard and make their own way, leaving us stuck with what remains. I just hope we can stay out of trouble, Lieutenant."
Pars blinked a couple of times, then stammered in surprise, "We're the Navy, sir."
"Exactly," the Captain said, and sat back down at his desk. He knitted his hands behind his head, put his feet up on the desk, leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Pars sat back in his own chair, waiting patiently.
Eventually the Captain seemed to reach a decision. "I'm not going to put you through hoops, Lieutenant," he said, "because frankly, there's no point. You're no more responsible for this mess than I am. Delta is what we have to work with, they and everyone like them, and regular punishment won't cut it. If all we do is push people, we'll eventually push them out. We need to get back to our roots as a proper fighting force, which includes the break-and-rebuild tactics. And Crayan is a perfect example of that. If we can remould him, the rest are going to follow. We only need to find the right entry point, something that'll unsettle him enough that he'll be easy to shake to pieces after that."
"What do you suggest, sir?"
"The problem with Crayan is that he's got an ego complex. Breaking and rebuilding him won't get rid of that; it'll only push those things so deep we'll never reach them. And this hometown hero thing of his is another anchor. He clearly believes that he's going to achieve the same fame, and it keeps him going. So we'll take that away from him." The Captain smiled again, but without warmth. "Ops contacted me recently, as a matter of fact. They're starting in on one of their outreach programs for young recruits, where they pick someone and make him our spokesperson in ads shown all around the empire. Crayan wants to be famous; we'll make him famous."
Pars raised an eyebrow. "There's a catch to this, sir, and I'm waiting to hear it."
"Of course there is," the Captain said and gave him a big, bright smile. "Ops have given up on the usual macho stuff and are going for those weird ads again, the surreal ones some marketer cooked up to grab the eyes of our shellshocked, vidwatching youth. So this isn't some guy going," the Captain's voice shifted down an octave, "'It's great to be in the navy. Be a man in the navy.' It's something else entirely. It was suggested a while back and was quickly shelved due to being too stupid, but Ops is feeling the pressure same as me, and they're digging up any old idea and dusting it off. Personally I don't think it'll help a bit, but it wouldn't do my career or yours any harm to show a little spirit for once."
"What'll Crayan have to do?"
The Captain's smile widened even further. He spoke slowly, as if enjoying the passage of words. "He'll have to dress up as a Fedo and talk nonsensically about synthetics for ten seconds, after which we'll flash our logo and something about a different life. He'll be in full costume, but even so, his voice will be unaltered, recorded separately. I imagine that eventually someone in his hometown will recognize it."
"That's ... insane."
"That's what we need to show our civilians, apparently. Shock them a bit, so they'll pay attention to the final image."
"He'll never go for that," the Lieutenant said. "He'll be shot into space rather than do this."
"Funny you should say that," the Captain replied. He stood up and walked to the door, and the Lieutenant followed. "As I said, it's all about breaking points. You find one, and you push it hard, knowing that something will give way. Once he's done with this ad, he'll crawl over broken glass to do anything else instead, and that's when we'll start him in on proper retraining. To make him do the ad itself, all you need is to create enough uncertainty that you can manipulate him into it. Cut him off from his anchor, his idol."
"His hometown hero," the Lieutenant said.
"Precisely," the Captain replied, ushering Pars out the door. "I looked through Crayan's records, same as you, and same as others, I'll venture. But I looked one further. And this guy he so worships, the one who drew him into service, the one in whom Crayan's belief has seen him through the roughest of times?"
Before the door closed, the Captain said, "He never made it to deployment. Old tale spread to his people back home to preserve the poor boy's integrity. He barely crawled through basic training, got drunk as a dog on the way to base, landed himself in all sorts of trouble and ended up jettisoning himself into space by accident. Might want to mention that to Crayan, right before you give him the one big chance for his own grab at fame."
The door closed on an astonished Pars.


text:
https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-culture/2020/11/12/this-beaming-sound-device-plays-music-right-in-your-head-no-headphones
This "Beaming" Sound Device Plays Music Right In Your Head, No Headphones Needed
There is a new "sound beaming" device that allows users to listen to music without a single headphone in sight. While this may sound like the start of a sci-fi horror film about mind control (or a Doctor Who episode), the logistics of this creative device does sound intriguing. And a little mind-melty.
The latest in futuristic audio technology comes by way of Noveto Systems, a company hailing from Israel. On Friday, the company is poised to debut its prototype to the world, a desktop device that is designed to "beam" sound directly from the device in question, directly into the ears of the listener.
Called SoundBeamer 1.0, this device offers a 3D sound experience that fills the auditory senses wholly: front, sides, behind...you name it. According to the company, a major factor behind this device's creation is productivity and convenience, citing that office workers will be able to listen to their favorite music tracks, podcasts, and more without disturbing a single colleague around them.
Noveto also says that because this device allows for its "beaming" sound technology to be internal rather than external via headphones, the user can still hear outside sounds perfectly without obstruction. According to AP News, who had an exclusive demo with this product, "The technology uses a 3-D sensing module and locates and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user's ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360 degree sound around the listener."
The concept is awesome, but the beaming technology with zero obstruction of sound from the surrounding areas feels a little hard to believe, a concept that even CEO Christophe Ramstein agrees with. "The brain doesn't understand what it doesn't know," he told the site.
He added, "You don't believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it…it's supporting you and you're in the middle of everything. It's happening around you."
SoundBeamer also allows for a setting where the listener can have the music, podcast, etc follow them as they move, keeping the sounds in their head the way they are meant to be heard. The person that was able to demo the product also noticed that it was possible to hit blind spots with the beam, affectively cutting off all sound abruptly, making for a "surreal experience."
"This is what we dream of," added product manager Ayana Wallwater. "A world where we get the sound you want. You don't need to disturb others and others don't get disturbed by your sound. But you can still interact with them."
So why no headphones? What makes SoundBeamer so different? The CEO added, "I was thinking, 'Yeah, but is it the same with headphones?' No, because I have the freedom and it's like I have the freedom of doing what I want to do. And I have these sounds playing in my head as there would be something happening here, which is difficult to explain because we have no reference for that.
"You know, I was trying to think about how we compare sound beaming with any other inventions in history. And I think the only one that came to mind is… the first time I tried the iPod I was like, 'Oh, my God. What's that?' I think sound beaming is something that is as disruptive as that. There's something to be said about it that doesn't exist before. There's the freedom of using it. And it's really amazing."
The hope is to have this product in the hands of consumers no later than the holiday season of 2021.
It will be interesting to see this product in full action with a demo that expected to go live sometime on Friday. So what do you think? Are you sold on the SoundBeamer 1.0, or do you want to keep your brain as-is? Creepy, or genius? You decide in the comment section below!
[Source: AP News]


text:
Q: Decoding arabic string Is there a tool to help me convert/decode such a link https://www.yamsafer.me/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A9/%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%82-%D8%B1%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%B5%D8%A9
to its original arabic wording?

A: The URL is percent-encoded.
There are online tools  which allow you to decode the string.
In this example it yields https://www.yamsafer.me/مصر/القاهرة/فنادق-رخيصة
Happy holidays.

A: السلام عليكم
Here's an issue exactly like yours have a look on it.
for notice: You're looking for using "UTF8 URL" which includes Arabic.
so if you searched for solution search for this title not what you've mentioned. you'll find lot of topics about it.


text:
La Coppa del Re di pallavolo maschile 2014-2015 si è svolta dal 6 all'8 febbraio 2015: al torneo hanno partecipato sei squadre di club spagnole e la vittoria finale è andata per la quarta volta al Club Voleibol Teruel.

Regolamento
Le squadre hanno disputato quarti di finale (non hanno partecipato la prima e la seconda classificata al termine del girone di andata della regular season di Superliga de Voleibol Masculina 2014-15, già qualificate alle semifinali), semifinali e finale.

Squadre partecipanti

Torneo

Tabellone

Risultati

Quarti di finale

Semifinali

Finale

Note

Collegamenti esterni

Pallavolo nel 2014
Pallavolo nel 2015
 2014-2015
Competizioni sportive a Teruel


text:
Californian Charged in Foreclosure Scheme
Walter Bruce Harrell of Montara, Calif. has been charged via indictment with eight counts of bankruptcy fraud and two counts of making false statements in bankruptcy proceedings. The Indictment alleges that Harrell devised and executed a scheme to defraud creditors who were attempting to lawfully foreclose on numerous properties, and that he did so by delaying and obstructing foreclosure sales through the improper use of the federal bankruptcy process. According to the indictment, Harrell is alleged to have arranged for property owners to grant fractional interests of between two percent and 20 percent of their properties to individuals whom Harrell had paid to file bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. These actions invoked the automatic stay provision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which halts foreclosure sales until the creditor seeks relief from the stay or until the bankruptcy case is dismissed. The indictment alleges that Harrell's scheme forced creditors to file motions to lift the automatic stays, or to wait until the debtors' bankruptcy cases were dismissed, in order to proceed with the foreclosure sales. A number of the creditors affected by the scheme were recipients of funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The indictment identifies at least six properties involved in the scheme, one of which was occupied by Harrell. The Indictment also charges Harrell with making false statements in bankruptcy proceedings with respect to two bankruptcy cases that Harrell paid an individual identified as "T.W." to file. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 157, and each count of making false statements in bankruptcy proceedings, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 152(3), is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. • 3553.
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