text:
NetBoss Technologies, Inc. Provides Advanced Network Management System for Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia
Ensuring service quality with next generation NetBoss XT
What really attracted us to NetBoss XT is its extensive functionality
Sebastian, Florida (PRWEB) February 16, 2016
NetBoss Technologies, a leading provider of Right-Time Correlated Network Analytics and Operational Support Systems (OSS) to communication service provider (CSP), government, large enterprise, transportation, and utility customers worldwide, announced today that through its work with local partner Tecnocom, NetBoss XT has become the centralized OSS for managing the rapidly expanding Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia network. Tecnocom also collaborated with Azteca in the implementation of its full stack BSS OSS solution to support its operations in Colombia.
Azteca utilizes NetBoss XT to standardize network operations and service quality initiatives throughout the Colombian company. Acting as the umbrella network and service management system, NetBoss XT interfaces to equipment supplied by numerous manufacturers and brings a comprehensive end-to-end view of network health and status to Azteca's staff in their network operations center. NetBoss XT is also integrated with Azteca's trouble ticketing system enabling operators to rapidly open and update tickets without logging into the trouble ticketing system. For insight on "How's my business running?", Azteca's managers and executives now have easy mobile access to the NetBoss XT Executive Dashboard which is used to deliver Key Performance Indicator (KPI) summaries and critical Service Impact information in real time.
The NetBoss XT system is already undergoing expansion at Azteca to cover newly added network infrastructure and to perform automated correlation. Alejandra Olmos, Azteca's IT Manager, stated, "What really attracted us to NetBoss XT is its extensive functionality and how easy it was for inexperienced personnel to learn and benefit from the product. The implementation process went smoothly and quickly. Tecnocom and NetBoss Technologies will continue to expand its business." Miguel Ángel Ariza, Tecnocom General Manager in Colombia, expressed that "the Tecnocom Telco team in Colombia is proud to collaborate with its knowledge and experience in the successful delivery of this solution. We are delighted to collaborate in projects like this one that offer such a clear value to our customers."
"NetBoss Technologies, Inc. is proud to have partnered with Tecnocom and Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia to support their deployment of high speed fiber optic communications throughout Colombia and their efforts to ensure rural areas have access to a wide array of services," said Jim Odom, President and CEO of NetBoss Technologies. "Our flagship NetBoss XT product supports the efforts of Azteca Communications to provide unparalleled management of their complex next generation network, reducing time to market, and mean-time-to-repair. The focus is on offering the highest quality state-of-the-art services to the citizens and enterprises of Colombia."
About NetBoss Technologies, Inc.
NetBoss Technologies, Inc. provides an end-to-end portfolio of right-time correlated Network Analytics and Operational Support System (OSS) to communication service providers, improving their operational efficiency and quality of service by putting their Customers at the heart of their organization. Providing precise and actionable "anywhere, anytime" information on networks and associated services as well as customer experience, our products ensure revenue is protected through improved end-user quality of experience. NetBoss Technologies has hundreds of installations worldwide addressing the telecommunications, utilities, government, and public safety industry segments and is an active TeleManagement Forum member supporting open standards-based solutions. Visit us at http://www.netboss.com.
About Tecnocom
Tecnocom is one of the top five IT Market companies in Spain (around 400 M euro revenue) widely experienced in high level technology operations such as telecommunications systems, banking payment systems or automation systems. Its regional presence includes Spain, Portugal, The United States and Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, and Dominican Republic). For additional information about Tecnocom, visit the company's website at http://www.tecnocom.es/
About Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia
For additional information about Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia, visit the company's website at http://aztecacomunicaciones.com/
Tim Keithahn, Chief Financial Officer
NetBoss Technologies Inc
+1 (772) 618-4225 Ext: 1001
@NetBossTech
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Anyone who has spent much time in the saddle knows how crucial a properly fitting saddle is.
The innovative idmatch measuring system by Selle Italia helps you discover the perfect saddle with a four stage examination that first looks at experience and riding style, then our specialists take specific measurements to determine the ideal fit. Using the idmatch Smart Caliper, a kind of sophisticated pelvic gauge with an internal algorithm, the experts at Big Ring Cycles measure the distance between the head of each femur, thigh diameter and the inclination/rotation of the pelvis. The correct width of the seat area is determined by the width of the pelvis or the distance between the seat bones while the width of the saddle nose is determined by the circumference of your thighs. Whether the saddle should have a recess in the perineal area depends on how much the pelvis rotates forwards.
An algorithm calculates the perfect saddle for your body shape. Padding variations based on your riding style practically makes your Selle Italia a "made-to-measure" saddle!


It also provides backwards compatibility with standard minecraft tracks if the mod author so chooses to allow it.
Nice mod! I want to use this API in my mod; is there documentation available somewhere?
In general all you need to do to have your ents follow track is check if the block or tile entity you are sitting on implements ITrackBlock or ITrack.
The only change I may make to TrackAPI in the next year is adding getTrackGauges and deprecating getTrackGauge along with adding gauge to the getNextPosition as overlapping track may expose different paths for different gauges. Not sure if I'll actually do that though.
Another example is TrainsMod which has been written by Alemax who uses TrackAPI as an optional dependency.
The best way to reach me is on discord in the ImmersiveRailroading server.
Edit: It worked after I waited a few minutes. No idea why it didn't work previously.


An ideal candidate will come to with experience and background in ERP implementation projects. Candidates should be able to demonstrate the ability and desire to implement an ERP, CRM, or other business system on an as-needed basis. Their ERP implementation projects range from being the primary implementation leads for complex multi organizational projects to smaller implementation projects where we support other implementation partners. They are software vendor agnostic, so having experience with more than one business system implementation is preferred.
They generate many of their implementation projects from software evaluation and selection projects. The ideal candidate will be a versatile and effective business analyst and project manager that can contribute in software vendor evaluations, through to ERP implementation and ongoing support.
They have clients in a wide range of industries from Higher Education to Manufacturing and Distribution to Marketing and Advertising. A candidate who will be able to operate in any industry would be ideal.
They are looking for candidates with all ranges of experience, from junior to senior level experience and will review any candidate with varying degrees of match to this position description. The key driver to whether a candidate will go far in the process is their match to the culture and company values.
Make sound software selections & recommendations on behalf of our clients, with adequate buy-in from both SMEs and organizational leaders.
Use all major Microsoft Office applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio)  Use Google applications in an organized fashion.
Bachelor's degree required; preferably business, technology or analytical focus. Preferred number of years' experience is 2 – 10 years. This is subject to change depending on suitability of candidate and the experience, knowledge, and skills they bring to the team.
Minimum of two references provided upon request, related to ERP or CRM software vendor evaluation experience.
Possess knowledge of SDLC, Agile and process improvement methods/approaches.


text:
Ракетный удар по Виннице был нанесён Вооружёнными силами РФ утром 14 июля 2022 года по людной центральной части города. В результате удара погибли по меньшей мере 27 человек (в том числе двенадцать гражданских женщин, семь гражданских мужчин, семь работников и посетителей медицинского центра «Нейромед», трое несовершеннолетних детей, и 3 офицера ВСУ).

Президент Украины Владимир Зеленский назвал атаку военным преступлением и в очередной раз призвал признать Россию страной-спонсором терроризма. Министерство обороны России признало нанесение удара, безосновательно заявив о поражении военной цели.

Руководство Винницкой областной прокуратуры начало досудебное расследование в криминальном уголовном производстве по фактам нарушения методов и средств ведения войны, связанного с умышленным убийством (ч.2 ст. 438 КК Украины). 15 июля в Виннице и Винницкой области объявлен днём траура по погибшим в результате удара.

Хронология
14 июля 2022 года около 10:10 в городе прозвучала воздушная тревога. Приблизительно в 10:42 начали появляться сообщения от местных жителей о трёх взрывах. Перед этим местные жители заметили ракету, пролетавшую над Бершадью и Винницей.

Государственная служба Украины по чрезвычайным ситуациям и глава Национальной полиции Игорь Клименко сообщили, что в 10:45 три ракеты попали по парковке вблизи девятиэтажного дома быта «Юбилейный». В результате удара также пострадали находившиеся рядом офисное здание, Дом офицеров, жилые дома и медицинский диагностический центр. Образовавшийся пожар перекинулся на стоянку автомобилей, в результате чего, по сообщениям украинской стороны, сгорело около 50 машин. Согласно данным полиции, частная клиника сгорела полностью.

16 июля завершился разбор завалов; 24-я жертва удара умерла в больнице с 85 % ожогов тела. К вечеру того же дня были опознаны все тела погибших.

К 21 июля в больницах скончались ещё две жертвы, среди них 20-летняя Ольга Лысенко, получившая 98 % ожогов тела. 2 августа от ранений скончался детский невролог Павел Ковальчук.

Обстоятельства
Удар был нанесён тремя российскими крылатыми ракетами «Калибр». Согласно заявлению спикера Командования воздушных сил Украины Юрия Игната, ракеты были запущены с подводной лодки из акватории Чёрного моря, при этом две ракеты были сбиты. По другим данным, всего из Чёрного моря было запущено семь ракет, и четыре были сбиты. Ракетный удар произошёл во время конференции в Гааге, посвящённой военным преступлениям России.

Оказавшаяся на месте событий внештатная корреспондентка BBC сообщила, что на площади, по которой ударила ракета, было много людей. Они проигнорировали сигнал тревоги и не проследовали в укрытие. Большое количество людей объясняется тем, что в расположенном на площади офисном центре находились клиника, кафе, ателье пошива одежды и детские кружки. Корреспондентка также сообщила, что Винница до этого считалась безопасной, из-за чего сюда часто прибывали беженцы.

Принадлежащий Воздушным силам Украины Дом офицеров, который, согласно утверждению Минобороны России, являлся целью и в котором якобы должно было быть собрание украинского командования, давно использовался как центр творчества, в здании располагалась студия звукорежиссёра Андрея Музона, а в концертном зале Дома офицеров вечером в день удара должна была выступать поп-исполнительница . В сводке за 16-17 июля Conflict Intelligence Team отметили, что в условиях подготовки к концерту и проведения саунд-чека организовывать гипотетическое собрание было бы «странновато», но даже если такое совещание было, нанесённый ущерб несоразмерен поражённым военным целям, и потому обстрел остаётся военным преступлением.

Разрушения

В результате ракетного удара были повреждены и уничтожены 55 многоквартирных и частных жилых домов, 40 автомобилей и 2 трамвая. Полностью выгорела частная клиника «Нейромед», находившаяся на первом этаже дома быта «Юбилейный».

Жертвы

По данным украинских властей, всего погибло 27 человек, в том числе 3 ребёнка. 183 человека получили ранения, 82 человека был госпитализирован с разной степенью тяжести ранений. 19 июля издание «Медиазона» и Руслан Левиев из Conflict Intelligence Team сообщили, что при ракетном ударе по Виннице погибли трое офицеров Воздушных сил Украины: Константин Пузыренко (временно исполняющий обязанности начальника военно-научного отдела штаба командования военно-воздушных сил Украины), полковник Олег Макарчук (начальник отдела организации ремонта вооружения и военной техники, начальник службы вооружения и логистики командования) и Дмитрий Бурдико (начальник отдела эксплуатации и ремонта вооружений зенитно-ракетных войск и заместитель начальника командования логистики вооружений ВСУ).

Согласно сообщению корреспондентки BBC, значительная часть погибших на автомобильной стоянке — таксисты. Кроме того, находясь в припаркованном автомобиле от огня погиб 8-летний Кирилл Пяхин. Ранее Кирилл вместе со своей семьёй выехали из оккупированного Херсона. Мальчик находился в машине вместе с дядей, который был госпитализирован. Тело ребёнка идентифицировали благодаря ДНК-экспертизе.

Украинская поп-исполнительница Roxolana, которая должна была выступать в городе вечером того же дня, сообщила, что все члены её команды были ранены в результате удара, а 25-летний звукорежиссёр Евгений Коваленко — погиб от взрывной волны.

Погибли и получили ранения пациенты и персонал сгоревшей клиники «Нейромед». Среди погибших: администратор Екатерина Гула, менеджер Татьяна Харченко, 29-летняя жительница Львова, которая привела по записи своего семилетнего сына, и семилетний Максим Жария вместе со своей матерью Викторией Рекутой, которые находились в клинике для обследования. Тела Максима и Виктории сильно обгорели и были опознаны по ДНК-тестам. Детский невролог Павел Ковальчук и невролог Наталья Фальштинская находились в тяжёлом состоянии в реанимации. Наталья Фальштинская 19 июля скончалась от полученных травм, ранее у неё были ампутированы обе ноги. Павел Ковальчук скончался 2 августа от полученных ожогов и ранений. Семилетний мальчик из Львова, мать которого погибла при атаке, получил 45 % внешних ожогов тела, 35 % — внутренних, закрытый перелом левой руки, а несколько осколков ракеты остались в его черепе.

21 июля стало известно о том, что в больнице скончалась 20-летняя Ольга Лысенко. Согласно сообщению главы Винницкой областной военной администрации Сергея Борзова, 14 июля Ольга возвращалась от стоматолога, и в момент удара находилась на площади Победы; она получила ожоги 98 % тела.

Реакция

Украина
Президент Украины Владимир Зеленский назвал событие террористическим актом, написав в своём канале Telegram:

Винница. Ракетные удары по центру города. Есть раненые и убитые, среди них маленький ребёнок. Каждый день Россия уничтожает мирное население, убивает украинских детей, направляет ракеты на гражданские объекты. Где нет ничего военного. Что это, как не открытый теракт? В людях. Страна убийц. Страна террористов".
Позже Зеленский призвал демократические страны мира признать Россию страной-террористом.

Советник главы Офиса Президента Украины Михаил Подоляк заявил в своём аккаунте Twitter, что удары по мирным украинским городам являются не ошибкой, а «утверждённой военной стратегией», добавив, что «Россия не способна победить ВСУ в бою, и поэтому прибегает к варварству: терактам, уничтожению инфраструктуры и расправам над гражданскими».

Международное сообщество
Генеральный секретарь ООН Антониу Гутерреш сообщил, что он потрясён ракетным ударом по Виннице. Генеральный секретарь осудил нападения на гражданское население или гражданскую инфраструктуру и призвал к ответственности за такие нарушения.

Посол ЕС на Украине Матти Маасикас заявил, что удар по Виннице свидетельствует об усилении атак России по гражданскому населению.

Россия
Представитель Министерства обороны России Игорь Конашенков в своём ежедневном брифинге никак не прокомментировал удар по Виннице. Владимир Соловьёв заявил, что удар был нанесен по военной части в Винницкой области. Позже поправил себя и заявил, что атакован был Дом офицеров. Версию с Домом офицеров озвучил и представитель России и старший советник постпредства при ООН Евгений Варганов. Глава российского канала Russia Today Маргарита Симоньян в своем Telegram-канале заявила, что Министерство обороны объяснило нанесение удара по Виннице тем, что Дом офицеров якобы служил военной базой. Крупные российские СМИ — «Интерфакс», «Первый канал», НТВ, Вести.ру, «Коммерсантъ» — к 19:20 молчали об атаке. РИА Новости, ТАСС, РБК, Russia Today, Lenta.ru, «Ведомости» цитировали либо Симоньян, либо Варганова.

15 июля Министерство обороны России в своём телеграм-канале впервые прокомментировало и признало нанесение ракетного удара, безосновательно утверждая о поражении военной цели. В сообщении не упоминается гибель троих детей.

Память

Через дни после трагедии на месте гибели Лизы жители Украины создали импровизированный мемориал и возлагают цветы и детские игрушки.

Видео с Лизой было показано 20 июля 2022 г. в Конгрессе США.

См. также
 Хронология вторжения России на Украину (с 2022)

Примечания

2022 год на Украине
События 14 июля
Июль 2022 года
Массовые убийства в ходе вторжения России на Украину
История Винницы
Ракетные удары в ходе вторжения России на Украину

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The End of the Tour [Blu-ray + Digital]
The Millions Interview
Writing for the Moment: The Millions Interviews Zoe Whittall
Claire Cameron
I've been trying to think how I'd describe The Best Kind of People. The novel has been compared to Judith Guest's Ordinary People for the depiction of an affluent family trying to cope with trauma. I'd add in The Ice Storm by Rick Moody for the close critique of WASP culture in Connecticut. But Zoe Whittall's novel is also completely contemporary, taking some of Meg Wolitzer's ability in The Interestings to show the feelings and motivations of a large cast of characters, with Claire Messud's willingness, in The Woman Upstairs, to tackle discomfort, or Margaret Atwoods's ability, in A Handmaid's Tale, to show how a wider culture influences individual behavior.
Reading The Best Kind of People felt like a kind of compulsion—I stayed up way past my bedtime because I had to finish. It tells the story of the Woodbury family. When the father, George, teacher at the prep school and local hero, is accused of sexual impropriety, his wife, daughter, and son face isolation from their community as they struggle to reconcile the accusations with the man they know. "I miss who I thought he was," says the mother, Joan. The characters are flawed and human as they struggle, some of them achingly so, but Whittall is also generous towards them. There is a warmth and kindness to the story that, at times, make it feels like a gossipy, insider dish about a prominent family—the one who lives in the big house, who seem to have lots of money, but everyone in town is always trying to guess exactly how much. At the same time, the novel takes a big topic: It shows the link between rape culture, patriarchy, and privilege. The balance between these two sides of the book is perfectly judged.
I talked to Whittall by email and in person about timely novels, rape culture, selling film rights to Sarah Polley, and what a novel should be.
The Millions: The Best Kind of People was first published in Canada in 2016, before the Bill Cosby trial, but just as several high profile sexual misconduct cases were in the media. What prompted you to start writing this book?
Zoe Whittall: The book began with the character of the mother, Joan, who came to me after listening to a radio program about a high-profile murder and sexual assault case, where the wife of the killer didn't know anything about the crimes. After finding out her husband was a monster, she faced so much stigma, because everyone assumed she had to have known. I'm always drawn in by news stories of extreme marital deception or the lives of con men and women. I think that fascination began after I had a year-long relationship with someone who told me they were in remission from cancer, but it became clear to me near the end of our relationship that she was lying—about the illness and a whole lot of other things. It was nothing like Joan and George's marriage, but the feeling of being blindsided, and loving someone who could be that manipulative, of not knowing what the real truth is while someone you love is looking you in the eye and trying to get you to believe them, that was my way in to figuring out who Joan might be and how she might feel, even though her life is so different from mine.
In terms of the timeliness of the book, I had no idea that it would be published at the same time a massive cultural conversation about rape was happening in the media. Women have always talked and written about sexual assault but what's new is that people are listening right now.
The first piece of literary work I had published was a poem about rape culture—though it wasn't called that in 1995. I was 15 when the Montreal massacre happened in my city, and I was a young feminist who came of age during the era of 1990s No Means No campaigns. Back then to talk about rape was to have conversations on the margins—campus radio, riot grrl zines, with likeminded activists—but the idea of discussing it in the mainstream media, or creating art that could reach beyond the festival circuit or the small press world seemed highly unlikely.
My other novels are about queer and trans people, and they have done really well but never beyond the indie literary market. I'm very surprised at how well The Best Kind of People has done commercially in Canada and very happy that it's contributed to this wider conversation. I'm hopeful it might also be of interest to readers in the U.S.
TM: It takes a long time to write a novel. Were you worried while you were writing that you might miss the moment?
ZW: I wasn't worried it would miss the moment, I was just hoping it would have its own moment. It took me so much longer to write this novel than my first two—I thought it was done in 2011, 2012, 2013—each spring I gave it to my agent, and she handed it back with excellent notes and calmly explained it wasn't quite there yet. By 2014 I wanted to bury it in the yard, I was convinced it was absolute garbage and no one would want to publish it. By the time it was done, I was just grateful that my publisher was interested in putting it out at all.
I wasn't really aware of the moment—that people might want to discuss this book in a way that felt timely and coincided with major news stories—until it was done, and my editor said oh, this is exciting and is going to potentially have a lot of interested readers given what's going on right now. We were editing it during a big celebrity assault trial in Toronto. So I kind of realized it after it was already finished, but I had so many pre-publication anxieties that I tried not to think about it.
TM: And then Cosby was acquitted and here we are. Still. It doesn't feel like much has changed? But the one upside—and I say this with some regret—is that your novel, it is published in the U.S. today, feels every bit as relevant as it did when it came out in Canada. I got so much from it because it shows how rape culture works. Not just as a theory, but in a life. Is this what you set out to do?
ZW: I didn't set out to write a novel about rape culture. In terms of novels about sexual assault, there are crime novels, survivor memoirs, books about false accusations—and I wasn't interested in writing those. I wanted to look at what it feels to be impacted by the issue from the point of view of the family of the accused and the stigma they face. That was something I hadn't read before.
I did want to explore, through overlapping narratives, how complicated issues of power, youth, and sexuality can be. Andrew's storyline, the brother, was my way of looking at age and consent through a gay male lens, which cannot be properly understood using heterosexual norms. I wanted Sadie's crushes, relationships, and sexual experiences to be varied and chaotic in a way that felt true to my memories of what it feels like to be a teen girl. Because of the form, it all had to happen at the level of life.
It doesn't feel like much has changed, no. There's a lot of hysteria in the media about false accusations as though they are suddenly a common occurrence, when really what is common is what happened with Cosby, or with Brock Turner, or a million other powerful men. They are not held accountable, even when the proof is undeniable—they are on film and there was a witness, or 60 people are accusing someone of the same crime— it doesn't really matter. So the conversation has changed, in that we're even having a conversation, but it doesn't feel like there has been a real shift in how rapists are held truly accountable.
What's different is that young women are able to refuse to take some of bullshit that women of my generation had to live with. It's exciting to see how willing young women are to speak up about sexual assault and sexism in general. That's a change.
TM: The novel begins with an epigraph:
[Rape Culture's] most devilish trick is to make the average,
non-criminal person identify with the person accused, instead of the
person reporting the crime…
—Kate Harding, Asking for It
Did you include this quote at the beginning or end of your writing process?
ZW: I included it at the end because I was aware that once your book becomes an object that no longer belongs to you, it is read in ways you cannot anticipate. I had fears about feminists reading the book and being angry or annoyed that it wasn't what they'd hoped it would be. I had fears that people would read it and get a message that wasn't intended. (This has happened—a woman approached me to say my novel was "so realistic" because "teenage girls do lie!" and I was so shocked. That is not the book I wrote or the way I hoped it would be read.)
Before I sold the film rights to Sarah Polley, I met with quite a few older male film producers who wanted to make a did-he-or-didn't-he type of film, and it became clear they could only relate to the accused, not the accuser. A young man sent me a long (so long!) email teaching me about feminism, because even though the MRA plotline was clearly meant to be fairly satirical, he interpreted me as someone who was sympathetic to MRAs. But as a novelist, I cannot present characters one-dimensionally, so thus, in the Men's Rights Activist plotline for example, there is a character named Dorothy. Even if we see her through the daughter Sadie's discerning eyes, Dorothy still has to be a full-blooded person. You can't create art any other way. It was complicated to do this since the plot involves many characters who don't believe the young women accusing George, and I didn't want it to be read, right off the bat, as a book that is about questioning the veracity of teen girls. That book—and article—has been written a million times and I had no desire to write it again. (Though I will say that an excellent book on false accusations is The Blue Angel by Francine Prose, which I think is a masterful novel.)
So the Kate Harding quote—who also generously contributed a blurb for the book—was my way of stating at the start that the automatic assumption of who is telling the truth when a man is accused, is part of the problem, and a question I kept in mind as I wrote it. And this is, if you can think about it after the fact, part of why I felt the novel needed to be written.
TM: The idea of rape culture can be confusing to some in that can be hard to see. This book lays it all out. I had a frustrating conversation the other day and I found myself tempted to hand over a copy of your book and walk away. But some of my least favorite, heavy-handed novels read like an author sets out to explain an issue. Your book avoids this. How did you write with a light touch, while delving deep?
ZW: It was sometimes difficult to pull back on my own beliefs about sexual assault and let my characters have their own thoughts and feelings as the events unfold. You're right, no one wants to read a polemical novel or a story where the authorial voice intervenes clumsily in order to educate the reader. I learned so much about the world by reading fiction as a young adult, in a roundabout way. The same way I hate exercising but I love dancing or riding my bike. It's always so much more interesting to learn through story. I approach plot through character and I was interested in the emotional arcs of the family, Joan, Sadie and Andrew, after the arrest of their father/husband, and how it might feel to be the bystander who is implicated by virtue of who they are to the accused. I wanted to write about how it feels to love someone accused of sexual assault and not know what to do, not know how to process it and understand it.
I think a lot of the problems we have in situations like this come from having been lead to believe that rapists are strangers, monsters, and not real people in our communities. That they can't be rapists and also good friends, fathers, teachers, mentors, at the same time. People often say, "Well, he was a great professor to me, so it's impossible," even though we have had the hard data on who commits sexual crimes for decades, and it's mostly people who are known to the victim. We know the majority of women and men who are assaulted never report. We know that those who report rarely ever get justice through the court system, or even get that far in the process, if they report to the police. We know who the police tend to believe. And when white men with power are accused it is customary to believe they are being honest when they say they're innocent. We owe a lot to the violence against women movement who have done the labor on these issues with no support for decades. We know what we know because of them.
It was hard to keep that light touch, as you describe it. In some ways I was attempting to write a social novel, but a non-polemical one. It was my first attempt at literary realism with a close third person narration and I had all sorts of clumsy failures while trying to set the scene and go deep into it that way. Sometimes I look at the book and it looks like a clump of dirt or a bunch of string. I can't believe it's an object in the world provoking discussion.
TM: The book is a perfect balancing act between an issue and, dare I use the word, entertainment? It feels odd given what the book is about, but that's what I think when, in her blurb, Kate Harding compares this novel to Ordinary People. This book captures a moment. Issue driven versus entertainment—what do you think a novel should be?
ZW: What a novel should be? Some of my favourite novels are long poems or plotless diversions, so I don't really have an answer for what a novel should be. As a writer who has tried to do different things with each one of my novels, I think I'm still figuring it out. I never feel that they are finished and long to rewrite them forever.
The Best Kind of People was my experiment with realism, with a social novel and a family novel, all mixed up. In terms of the art versus entertainment set-up, I'm a literary reader and poet who enjoys challenging books, but I'm also a television writer who loves and appreciates pop culture. I don't think those two interests need to be in opposition anymore, and I think that is due to a shift in how we consume culture, and the elevated artistry of auteur-lead television, which sounds trite to mention, but it's really been a gift to storytellers. I think it has shifted how I write. If I had all the money and time in the world, I'd be working on non-linear novels written in poetic fragments, that's where my heart is. But learning how to write for television has ignited a new love of action and clarity, and that bled into the writing of this novel. So, I suppose I'm a recovering snob.
Learning to write sketch comedy (on IFC's The Baroness Von Sketch Show) has really taught me about tone and sitting in those excruciating awkward moments. I deeply related to the moment in The End of Tour where David Foster Wallace can't stop watching TV. I don't drink or do drugs much anymore and my sedative of choice is Netflix, and I've developed a real interest in telling stories on screen and the craft of scriptwriting. This has affected my prose, but in a way that has been a gift, in terms of brevity, clarity, pacing.
TM: The story centers on a white wealthy family in Connecticut. In many ways, they individuals are harmed by the system of power that they also uphold. We get to see how rape culture works on them, all while they continually struggle to see it themselves. But the story doesn't undermine the characters. It would have been easy to lay blame, or present a binary balance of power. As I said before, as an author you are generous to the characters. You slowly show the complexity of their situations. Can you tell me more about how you found and held this balance?
ZW: It's funny—I just read a bad review of the book on Goodreads that complains the book contains "mixed messages," which I kind of like, because who wants a book with a "message?" That's not a novel, that's a political pamphlet. I tried to come at each character's story with compassion and curiosity. Sexuality is not simple, especially not in a repressed world like the one the Woodbury's live in, especially not for teenagers. Given the complexities of human desire and behavior and problems with communication and honesty, a book with a message is just not what I was going for.
It wasn't a balance that came easy. With third person, you can't really step in with your authorial voice and lay blame in a pedantic kind of way, it doesn't work. You can only show what the characters do and say, and through that action, you can understand what their struggle is.
TM: Without spoiling the plot, I will say that the end of this novel is an incredible kick in the gut. It drives home everything that came before. Can you tell me something about your thinking around it the end?
ZW: I agonized over the ending, and continued to even after I wrote the final sentence, which took a long time to write. It was based on discussions I had with a woman whose father is in jail for molestation, and how her mother feels about him now, what she wishes for her life and their relationship. (My friend the filmmaker Chase Joynt made a documentary called Between You and Me for the CBC about her story.) The circumstances are different, but what Joan does at the end made sense to me.
I wanted the conclusion to be realistic, not aspirational, in terms of where the country is at with regards to sexual assault. And a lot of people feel mad about that, but I wanted it to be an accurate portrait of the time we're living in, and who the characters really are.
Another Mask: On Jhumpa Lahiri's 'In Other Words'
Hannah Gersen | 1
I started Jhumpa Lahiri's new memoir, In Other Words, expecting to find a story about the joys and struggles of learning Italian as an adult, and as a writer. I thought there might also be elements of travelogue, because I knew Lahiri had moved to Rome to master the language. But Lahiri did not write the book I was expecting — and which I think many other readers might be primed for. Instead, she has written an elegant, if somewhat oblique, memoir about creative crisis.
Let me be clear: Lahiri never uses the word "crisis" in her memoir, and I don't mean to invoke it in an overly dramatic way, or to imply that Lahiri is in the midst of any kind of personal turmoil. I mean crisis in the sense of a turning point, and this book seems most animated by questions of change — specifically, Lahiri's desire to "take another direction" in her fiction. Immersing herself in Italian for three years was her way of forcing herself to change her relationship to language and storytelling. And it was a dramatic immersion: while living in Rome, she did not speak, write, or read in English. Additionally, she stopped reading in English for six months before her departure. It's this last deprivation that struck me as most radical. To live in an English-speaking country and not partake of its literary offerings seems difficult for anyone, let alone a writer. Lahiri uses religious language to describe this choice:
From now on, I pledge only to read in Italian. It seems right, to detach myself from my principal language. I consider it an official renunciation. I'm about to become a linguistic pilgrim to Rome. I believe I have to leave behind something familiar, essential. Suddenly none of my books are useful anymore. They seem like ordinary objects. The anchor of my creative life disappears, the stars that guided me recede.
The above excerpt is translated from Italian, the language that Lahiri has been writing in for the past three years. Her memoir was first published in Italy, last year, and is now being released in the U.S. in a dual-language format, with the English translation by Ann Goldstein (best known for her translation of Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels). Initially, Lahiri thought that she might translate her own work, but after translating one of her lectures from Italian, she found that her English was too strong, and that it was too tempting to rewrite everything. In her author's note, Lahiri explains that she wanted the translation to "render my Italian honestly, without smoothing out its rough edges, without neutralizing its oddness, without manipulating its character."
The problem with Lahiri's Italian is not that it is odd; instead it is sometimes smooth to the point of vagueness. In English, she is a wonderfully precise writer, but in Italian that precision is gone and her sentences can feel watered down. When she's getting into complicated issues of identity and exile, I often wished she could switch to English. At the same time, her Italian has a simplicity that is very appealing — and revealing. With so many linguistic limitations, Lahiri has nowhere to hide. When she first moves to Rome, she was compelled to write a diary in Italian, even though her written Italian was still rudimentary:
I write in terrible, embarrassing Italian, full of mistakes. Without correcting, without a dictionary, by instinct alone. I grope my way, like a child, like a semiliterate…I don't recognize the person who is writing in this diary, in this new, approximate language. But I know that it's the most genuine, vulnerable part of me.
Throughout In Other Words, Lahiri works toward this "genuine, vulnerable" state. One reason she's attracted to Italian, and to the project of learning a new language, is that it makes her feel childlike, and it makes writing feel "secret" and special. Another reason she's attracted to Italian is that it's a language that she chose for herself. Lahiri grew up learning two languages, Bengali and English. At home, she spoke Bengali to please her parents, who also spoke English but wished to preserve their native tongue. At school, she excelled in English to please her teachers. The two languages rarely overlapped, and when they did, they clashed. Although her parents spoke English well, their accents were strong, and Lahiri found herself speaking for them in public; at school, her ability to speak Bengali went unnoticed and unquestioned — until her parents called at a friend's house, and her private life was revealed. When she finally encountered Italian, the language represented a freedom from duty:
I had to joust between those two languages until, at around the age of twenty-five, I discovered Italian. There was no need to learn the language. No family, cultural, social pressure. No necessity.
Learning Italian also represents a kind of freedom for Lahiri in terms of her writing career. She became famous when her first book, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize. The award changed her life, but it also changed her relationship to her creative process:
Since then I've been considered a successful author, so I've stopped feeling like an unknown, almost anonymous apprentice. All my writing comes from a place where I feel invisible, inaccessible. But a year after my first book was published, I lost my anonymity.
Reading those lines, I found myself thinking of the recent film The End of the Tour, which I reviewed favorably for this site, in part because I thought it did such a good job of discussing literary fame. That movie addresses the impending worldwide renown of David Foster Wallace, who, having just spent several weeks playing the part of Famous Author during his book tour for Infinite Jest, has to figure out how to get back to the oblivious, giddy part of himself that loves to make up stuff. The drama (and comedy) is in watching him try to escape himself while a reporter sticks a microphone in his face.
Lahiri's memoir is also haunted by the dream of escape, especially in the two short pieces of fiction that she includes as stand-alone chapters. They are by far the most emotionally resonant pieces of writing in the book, which goes to show how well the mask of fiction works for her. Lahiri says that writing in Italian is another mask for her, and it's interesting to note how her stories in Italian differ from her stories in English. With only two very short fictions it's hard to draw conclusions, but I think it's fair to say that they are much more dreamlike than her previous work. In a brief passage in which Lahiri analyzes the autobiographical elements of her past stories and novels, she says that writing in Italian has allowed her to "move toward abstraction:"
The places are undefined, the characters are so far nameless, without a particular cultural identity. The result, I think, is writing that is freed in certain ways from the concrete world. I now construct a less specific setting…Writing in Italian, I feel that my feet are no longer on the ground.
For Lahiri, leaving the concrete world means leaving behind her parents' experience, and the world they lived in. It's a world she says she has tried to reconstruct in her fiction as a way of bridging the divide between India and America, the past and the present. She admits that it took her "a long time to accept that my writing did not have to assume that responsibility." As a reader, I've always felt that sense of responsibility lurking in her stories, though I wouldn't say it's been detrimental. It may be what gives her prose its clarity and depth. Still, it's refreshing to hear that Lahiri felt the need to break free. She describes In Other Words as "the first book I've written as an adult, but also, from the linguistic point of view, as a child." That's probably the best description of this book that anyone can give; it captures its in-between, searching qualities, and the way that it hints at new work to come.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Food is a small part of the portfolio at PZ Cussons, the UK-based FMCG group better known for brands including Imperial Leather soap and Charles Worthington shampoo. However, the company is a major olive oil manufacturer in Greece and today (21 July) indicated how it is navigating the country's ailing economy.
Announcing its results for the year to the end of May, PZ Cussons said its revenue in Greece had fallen year-on-year but it had managed to increase profits with "good growth" across its local range edible oils, cheeses and spreads.
PZ Cussons said its portfolio of "staples" had helped, while earnings were boosted by the company's acquisition in December (first revealed today) of local vinegar brand Top.
However, finance director Brandon Leigh said PZ Cussons was receiving payments in cash from its retail customers and was also paying its suppliers that way.
"It's a bit challenging operationally, but we're actually being paid a bit quicker," Leigh said in a report carried by The Daily Telegraph.
Elsewhere, PZ Cussons gave some indication of how its recently-acquired food assets in Australia had performed in its last financial year.
In the last couple of years, PZ Cussons has made some steps to expand further into food with two acquisitions in Australia. In 2013, the company bought Australian baby food business Rafferty's Garden and last year it snapped up local yoghurt maker Five:Am. (You can read our analysis of the Rafferty's Garden deal here and our take on the Five:Am transaction here).
In today's announcement, PZ Cussons said the food businesses had "performed extremely well" and were helping to offset "challenges" in its larger home care division in Asia, as well as currency challenges.
During the year, Rafferty's Garden was launched into New Zealand and China. The Five:Am brand, meanwhile, saw its range widen with new products such as granolas. More "range extensions" are planned in the coming year, PZ Cussons said.


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Think Carrara, think colour, for this suburb is home to the Gold Coast's most popular markets which have been operating for 30 years and have become a tourist destination in their own right. Boasting more than 500 stalls, the Carrara Markets offer everything imaginable from farm fresh produce and meat to fashion, toys, jewellery and homewares. The popular Family Fun Lane has face painting, pony rides, a merry-go-ground and balloon-wielding clowns, Luke's Reptile Kingdom features three interactive shows every hour, and there's even two King Tutt's Putt Putt 18-hole mini golf courses. For those who take their golf a little more seriously, Carrara is home to three large golf courses with challenging greens, great views and stylish clubhouses. Sporting and event enthusiasts will also appreciate Metricon Stadium, homeground of the Gold Coast Football Club or Suns as they are more affectionately known. Perhaps this vast expanse is why local Aborigines named this area "long flat".


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text:
Sounds of the sixties showcased as school celebrates 50th anniversary in style
Two of the oldest pupils in the school cutting one of the many celebration cakes with the youngest pupil at the celebratory event. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
It was a memorable occasion that was celebrated in style.
Miss Saunders and Mrs Payne after the finale of the National Anthem at Elm Tree's celebratory event. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
The chance to reminisce and look forward to the future as a primary school marked a special anniversary with a celebratory event.
The sun beamed as staff and pupils at Elm Tree Primary School in Lowestoft were joined by families and friends for a picnic and proms birthday party last Friday, June 28.
Carol Moore, who has been involved with Elm Tree Primary School for over 30 years with Grandson Max at the celebratory event. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
The celebratory event was held as the school in Elm Tree Road - which is part of the Evolution Academy Trust - marked its 50th anniversary.
Celebrations began with families and friends arriving for a picnic lunch with their children, and there was a chance for the youngsters to enjoy photo opportunities at the selfie station, as well as playtime with their friends.
Lucy and Lily Moore enjoyed the celebratory event at Elm Tree Primary School in Lowestoft. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
After lunch, each class performed songs from the era in which the school was first unveiled - 1969 - or the number 50, with the chance to showcase some of the arts experiences that the children have been involved in during the academic year.
With the school's youngest children singing 'Happy Birthday,' other performances included the pupils' own versions of Hound Dog, Sweet Caroline and One Step on the Moon.
Elm Tree Primary Dance Festival children performing one of their routines at the celebratory event. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
The Hearing Impaired Unit, which is based within Elm Tree Primary School, recently took part in the sign2sing event and shared with the audience their signed performance of "Greatest Day" by Take That.
Carol Moore, pictured with her grandson Max, has been involved with the school as a parent and member of staff with the Speech and Language Unit for more than 30 years.
Year 4 and their rendition of "Hand Jive" at the celebratory event at Elm Tree Primary School in Lowestoft. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
Mrs Moore said: "It was the highlight of the year for the four generations of my family who attended.
"Watching every child enjoy performing with energy in front of the large crowd, including the Speech and Language, and Hearing Impaired Unit was quite emotional".
Year 6 performing at the celebratory event at Elm Tree Primary School in Lowestoft. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
The afternoon concluded with birthday cake for all 374 children, which was kindly paid for by the school parent teacher association (PTA), and was cut by the oldest and youngest children in the school.
A finale of Land of Hope and Glory, and the national anthem was conducted with pride by all the children as a sea of Union Flags were waved.
A school spokesman said: "It has been real pleasure to see familiar faces of pupils from years gone by, who have children at Elm Tree today."
Lucy Moore was one of Elm Tree's leavers whose daughter is a current pupil. In addition to the role of parent, Lucy is also actively involved as Chair of Governors.
The Davey family enjoying the picnic together as Elm Tree Primary School turned 50. Picture: Elm Tree Primary School
She said: "Having been a former pupil at Elm Tree I am delighted that my daughter is now a pupil and that we have been able to enjoy the school's 50th anniversary celebrations together.
"I am also proud to be an Elm Tree school governor and recognise the hard work of the staff and children in providing a positive learning environment within the local community."
Leading up to the event all children across the school participated in a treasure hunt organised by Elm Tree staff where 50 personalised Elm Tree hand painted stones had been hidden around the school.
The stones were kindly donated by Paul Branch to commemorate the school's 50th birthday. The names of the first 50 children to find and return their hunt were announced during the picnic and they each received a commemorative stone as a keepsake of the occasion.
Headteacher Julia Halliday said: "It has been a wonderful day.
"Everyone has played a part in making it very special.
"I am very proud of all the pupils and staff.
"Elm Tree is a fantastic family and we look forward to the next 50 years with great excitement."


Like millions worldwide, I have been following the events unfolding in Egypt with great interest and concern. Having grown up in Pakistan in the 1960's I experienced numerous outbreaks of rioting and coups that often kept us out of school for weeks due to bomb threats, so reading about the turmoil in Cairo has brought back some interesting memories. This evening a headline from Reuters particularly caught my eye: Governments scramble to fly citizens out of Egypt.
Governments started arranging for planes on Sunday to bring home citizens stuck in Egypt, where violent protests of the rule of President Hosni Mubarak have given way in some parts of Cairo to looting. The United States and Turkey offered to evacuate citizens wanting to leave and major airlines including Lufthansa and Air India said they would send additional planes to Cairo and Alexandria…..U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice Jacobs said on CNN television that U.S.-government sponsored flights will be leaving Cairo on Monday.
Our family's experience of the war was primarily being on the receiving end of nightly air raids conducted by the Indian Air Force. Fortunately, our house wasn't near any strategic installations, so we weren't terribly worried about a bomb landing in our neighborhood — unless it was dropped by accident, of course. Nevertheless, when the air-raid sirens sounded each evening we dutifully turned out the lights to comply with the forced black-outs and hauled our bedding and radio to the floor space underneath the stairs (we'd been told it was the strongest part of the house) to settle in for a long night.
As soon as the sirens stopped the anti-aircraft guns began firing, lighting up the sky with tracers and explosions. There weren't always enemy aircraft in the skies, but if they were up there, the troops in charge of defending the city were determined to blanket the sky with flak, just in case. More than one night we had casings of shells land in our yard. Fortunately, they were Not un-exploded.
After a few days of fighting, the US State Department decided to mount an evacuation of American citizens from Pakistan. We were told that a Pan Am plane (raise your hand if you remember that airline!) would arrive to ferry us all to the safe city in the region, Teheran, Iran. All we had to do was show up at the airport.
The Pan Am 747 came and scooped up almost everyone else in our ex-pat community: our teachers and classmates from Karachi American School, businessmen and their families, and 'non-essential personnel' from the Consulate. Ours was one of only 5 or 6 American families that stayed.
We quickly settled into a war-time lifestyle. A curfew was imposed on the city and only lifted for a few hours in the afternoon during which my dad would jump into our little blue VW Bug and head off in search of food and other supplies. My mom decided that the best way to kill time and keep our minds off the air-raids and occasional dog-fights (as in air-to-air combat) that played out in the skies above our house near Hill Park was to bake Christmas cookies. So we baked Christmas cookies. All day, every day. For about a week. I got so sick of Christmas cookies that to this day I cannot eat one. At night we would again retreat to the floor underneath the stairs, with our trusty short-wave radio so we could learn what was going on from the BBC. The local media only had one main narrative: WE ARE WINNING, WE ARE WINNING, which we were fairly certain wasn't true.
The 4th day of the war saw a particularly devastating bombing raid on the city that hit the oil storage tanks at the port, sending a black cloud of smoke into the air that eventually obliterated sunlight and covered the entire city. Things did not seem to be quieting down.
Two days later an official from the US Consulate called to tell us that they had intelligence reports that India was planning to launch a ground invasion against Karachi. He said that the British and the Canadians were planning one more round of evacuation flights to get out the remaining foreign nationals and strongly urged my father to take this opportunity to get out. The plan was for the evacuation flight to be over a two-day period, with the Canadian Air Force flying out women and children the first day, and the British Royal Air Force flying the men out on the second day. The reality was that the timing was such that they were not certain the British RAF would get in/out on the second day.
The curfew was lifted in the early morning and the remnants of the ex-pat community flooded the airport. The scenes I am seeing now on TV are reminiscent of the scenes at the airport that morning. My mom, sister, and I said good-bye to my dad and boarded the Canadian Air Force plane.
It was a tough departure because we didn't know when (or where) we would see him again.


About time Sega. No Denuvo this time, okay?
YES. Anyone who said this would never happen want to chime in now? Never bet against Shenmue.
Finally! Holly #!@#$%#!!! Finally! Yeeeessss!!!
Very, very awesome! Im looking forward to another playthrough!


Cucidate, the Italian Fig cookie from Sicily is a tribute to my grandfather.
He came to America twice before he actually decided to stay, and I can understand his tripidation to settle in he states. I visited the family in Isnello outside of Palermo seven years ago. I walked around a village with one of the most beautiful mountain backdrops I've ever seen, while the ocean was only twenty minutes away.
It's an earthy place of tradition, created by many visiting cultures over centuries of acquisition. The people are humble, and yet rich in a food culture that is probably the most flavorful and robust of Italian cuisine.
Cucidate, the little fig cookies, while appearing quite demure in appearance, hit the senses, as a true Christmas cookie, first with an aroma of the dried fruits soaked in a liquor and then combined with nuts, cinnamon, and honey, wrapped in a delicate pastry.
My grandfather was never part of any organized crime, so please scratch your ideas about the people of Sicily. He was a kind soul who invited everyone who knocked on our door in for coffee. The family joke would be that we might find him serving coffee and cake to a burglar that tried to rob the house.
His daughter, my mother (Retro Rose) has that Sicilian spirit. I can't tell you how many times, I go to her apartment and she's feeding the maintenance men. She's making someone a pot of meatballs at least weekly. Last night when I gave her some of these cookies, her first words were "can you make these for one of the elders at church." I emphatically said no, these are just for the family.
Today, I had to think about that because aren't Christmas cookies something we make to give away, to show our love for others? After researching these cookies, I read many stories about how often these cucidate are given away as gifts, and it got me thinking that I should plan to make several batches.
These cucidate excude the heart of the Sicilian culture. The dough is sweet; the fig filling full of flavor and life, and they make the perfect Christmas cookie gift, because they hit the heart.
There are many ways to roll the cookies. I did some triangles, but found these to be the easiest. Some will turn the seam on the bottom, so you can't see it. You can choose your own way.
I made an orange glaze and poured this over the cookies when hot, then sprinkled with these Italian cookie sprinkles I found in an Italian grocery store.
So tell me do you have a traditional cookie you like to give away as a gift? Have you ever had cucidati, the ultimate Sicilian fig cookie?
An Italian Christmas Cookie from Sicily made with figs, dried fruit, liquor, nuts.
2 tablespoons orange juice) I used juice of one satsuma.
Soak Raisins in bourbon for an hour up to overnight.
Add to the rest of the ingredients.
Grind all ingredients in food processor or Vitamix. The mixture should be ground enough to spread in the cookie. I substituted fig jam for dried figs and dried plums for dates.
Mix flour, baking powder, sugar together.
Cut butter in. I used the Kitchen Aid Mixer. You could cut in with pastry blender or use a food processor also.
Beat eggs and milk to together. Reserve 1 tablespoon milk. You may not need it.
Add to flour mixture, and form a dough. Add the extra milk of it's too dry.
Separate dough in 4 sections. Wrap each in plastic wrap.
Mix confectioner's sugar with orange juice. Add water a little at a time, until you have a thin glaze.
Work with one section of pastry dough at a time.
Roll each section into a tube. Divide into two sections to make it easier to work with.
Flatten out each tube. Put mixture in center. Pull sides up to reach. Cut into 1½ inch cookies.
Spoon glaze over each cookie. Top with sprinkles.
My family to was from Italian/Sicilian descent. My Mother and Aunt used to make these and biscottis for Christmas. I remember them being a lot of work, this was long before food processors. My grandmother had a hand meat grinder that they use. ( I am in my seventies) and there were not many appliances to make things faster or easier.
Can these fig cookies be frozen?
Yum! These sound so good. Figs are delicious and the cute sprinkles will make them fun for the kids!
Thanks, Scarlett. It's a first try and they came out so good.
Lovely cookies! That filling must taste amazing.


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text:
import axios from '~/lib/utils/axios_utils';

export default {
  createNewDraft(endpoint, data) {
    const postData = { ...data, draft_note: data.note };
    delete postData.note;

    return axios.post(endpoint, postData);
  },
  deleteDraft(endpoint, draftId) {
    return axios.delete(`${endpoint}/${draftId}`);
  },
  publishDraft(endpoint, draftId) {
    return axios.post(endpoint, { id: draftId });
  },
  addDraftToDiscussion(endpoint, data) {
    return axios.post(endpoint, data);
  },
  fetchDrafts(endpoint) {
    return axios.get(endpoint);
  },
  publish(endpoint) {
    return axios.post(endpoint);
  },
  discard(endpoint) {
    return axios.delete(endpoint);
  },
  update(endpoint, { draftId, note, resolveDiscussion, position }) {
    return axios.put(`${endpoint}/${draftId}`, {
      draft_note: { note, resolve_discussion: resolveDiscussion, position },
    });
  },
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
March 23, 2017 DONATE
Spotlight-on-a-Member
The IAFN's Spotlight-on-a-Member Project provides a befitting recognition to some of our forensic nursing colleagues and what motivates their dedication and commitment to forensic nursing.
Please join the Membership Committee in recognizing Khara Breeden
LOCATION: Houston, Texas, USA
WORK SETTING: She currently is full-time in academia educating future nurses
FORENSIC NURSING EXPERIENCE: Khara has been a forensic nurse for 4.5 years
YEARS OF IAFN MEMBERSHIP: 4.5 Years
Do you know another IAFN member who is extraordinary? A member who makes a difference in their patients' lives? Go ahead and nominate them for IAFN's Spotlight-on-a-Member Project.
Congratulations to the Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence!
We are proud to announce that the Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence's 40-hour Adult SANE course is officially approved by IAFN! Prospective students can confidently register for this course, knowing that it fully meets the IAFN Education Guidelines. Submit your own course for expert review and approval today.
Did you hear? 2017 Award nominations are OPEN
Submit your nomination no later than April 28, 2017. Nominate someone today.
Need help deciding which award your nominee qualifies for? Checkout the Association's Awards Purpose and Criteria and to see a listing of previous award winners, please visit the Awards and Recognition webpage.
A Dispatch special report: The last step before murder
When she opened the door, he shoved his way into the house. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the floor. When he came to a stop, he wrapped both hands around her throat and began to squeeze. He squeezed until she began to lose consciousness. He told her how easy it would be to kill her — to kill her family — like this. READ MORE
Re-Issued: Solicitation for Grants to Tribal Governments to Exercise Special Domestic Violence
April 19, 2017: Registration due
May 3, 2017: Applications due
Eligibility: Indian tribal governments with jurisdiction over Indian Country
Download the solicitation, and read it carefully.
Video: The National Sexual Assault Policy Symposium
NIJ
Learn about the NIJ National Sexual Assault Policy Symposium held in September 2016 from its audience members and organizers. The Symposium focused on how the nation is moving forward and finding solutions to the complex issues that arise in sexual assault cases and in testing sexual assault evidence. READ MORE
What kind of laws do we have for marital rape in the world?
The Ladies Finger
oreign Policy has a new map of countries that permit marital rape, or offer rapists a way to avoid punishment (including by marrying the rape survivors). It's based on data taken from 'The World's Shame: The Global Rape Epidemic,' published by Equality Now, which surveyed lawyers from 82 jurisdictions across the world. READ MORE
Best practices in communicating with survivors of sex trafficking
NCJTC
Provides an overview of trauma-informed techniques for communicating with victims and survivors of sex trafficking. Gather strategies for building rapport and fostering open communication for the various professionals that victims of sex trafficking interact with in justice, advocacy, and recovery. READ MORE
US Naval and Military academies see rise in sexual assault
Reports of sexual assault increased last year on two out of three military college campuses in the U.S., according to data recently obtained by the Associated Press. Reported instances of sexual misconduct also spiked across all three military academies. The two campuses that experienced a rise in reported assaults — the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York — also saw the largest increases in sexual misconduct. READ MORE
Artificial intelligence is learning to predict and prevent suicide
For years, Facebook has been investing in artificial intelligence fields like machine learning and deep neural nets to build its core business — selling you things better than anyone else in the world. But earlier this month, the company began turning some of those AI tools to a more noble goal: stopping people from taking their own lives. READ MORE
Lawmakers consider bill to help fund evidence testing in sexual assault cases
For victims of sexual assault, ensuring law enforcement has enough evidence to identify their attackers can be a distressing and painful process. "It's traumatizing, humiliating and incredibly lengthy," said Kristen Lenau of The SAFE Alliance, an Austin-based resource for victims of child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. READ MORE
UK Govt changes laws, to allow rape victims to pre-record evidence
The Hans India
The U.K. government is overhauling its rape laws to allow alleged rape victims to pre-record their evidence and spare them from cross-examination in open court. U.K. justice secretary Liz Truss said that such schemes of pre-recording testimony before the trial piloted in three cities showed they led to a higher level of "early guilty pleas". READ MORE
Effects of Child Maltreatment, Cumulative Victimization Experiences, and Proximal Life Stress on Adult Crime and Antisocial Behavior (NCJRS)
Forensic exam made available to domestic violence victims (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The feds would rather drop a child porn case than give up a tor exploit (Wired)
Jessica Taylor, Senior Medical Editor, 202-684-7169 | Contribute news


text:
57 million Uber accounts hacked; $100,000 'ransom' paid to conceal breach
Updated Nov 23, 2017 | 17:50 IST | Reuters
Uber Technologies Inc paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million accounts of the ride-service provider
The Uber logo is seen on mobile telephone in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspReuters
Uber Technologies Inc paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million accounts of the ride-service provider, the company said on Tuesday.
Discovery of the company's cover-up of the incident resulted in the firing of two employees who led Uber's response to the hack, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named CEO in August following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick.
Also read: Uber's data breach collides with launch of SoftBank deal
Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of the breach, which happened in October 2016.
"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said in a blog post on the company website.
The company's admission that it failed to disclose the breach comes as Uber seeks to recover from sexual harassment allegations and multiple federal criminal probes that culminated in Kalanick's ouster in June.
The company said two hackers gained access to proprietary information used by Uber and stored on GitHub, a service that allows engineers to collaborate on software code. The two people downloaded the data, which included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of Uber users around the world and the names and driver's license numbers of 600,000 U.S. drivers, Khosrowshahi said.
"While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi said. "We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers."
Bloomberg News first reported the data breach on Tuesday.
Khosrowshahi said Uber had begun notifying regulators. The New York attorney general has opened an investigation into the data breach, a spokeswoman said.
Uber said it fired its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook Inc and a federal prosecutor, served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber.
Sullivan declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Clark could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kalanick learned of the breach in November 2016, a month after it took place, as the company was in negotiations with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data.
A person familiar with the breach said a board committee investigated the matter and concluded that neither Kalanick nor Salle Yoo, Uber's general counsel at the time, were involved in the decision not to disclose the stolen data. The person did not say when the investigation took place.
Kalanick, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
Although payments to hackers are rarely publicly discussed, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have told Reuters that an increasing number of companies are paying thieves to recover stolen data.
Uber has a history of failing to protect driver and passenger data. Hackers previously stole information about Uber drivers and the company acknowledged in 2014 that its employees had used a software tool called "God View" to track passengers.
Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday that he had hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency, to restructure the company's security teams and processes. The company also hired Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by FireEye Inc, to investigate the breach.
The new CEO has traveled the world since replacing Kalanick to deliver a message that the company has matured from it earlier days as a rule-flouting startup.
"The new CEO faces an unknown number of problems fostered by the culture promoted by his predecessor," said Erik Gordon, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.
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text:
Legal Q&A: MUP
Legal Q&A: 2020
Legal Q&A: 2013 and before
Scottish Licensed Trade News
Utilising good connections
EPOS systems can boost sales and grow your business, say suppliers
FROM smartphones to iPads, we live in an increasingly connected world.
And it's not just consumers that are benefitting from the latest technology.
• Contactless payments are on the rise and customers prefer to use them, say EPOS firms.
Pub and bar operators are increasingly using cutting-edge electronic point of sale (EPOS)systems to control all manner of things in the day-to-day running of their business, say suppliers, from remotely monitoring sales activity, to inventory management, to live booking availability.
EPOS suppliers told SLTN that the right system can pay dividends over the festive season, too.
Owen Chen, president of Posiflex Technology, said that the widespread adoption of mobile technology by customers has led to a "new breed of customer" who is "constantly connected and increasingly demands not only convenience but also an engaging customer experience at the point of sale".
To meet these changing demands, Chen reckons licensees should not only embrace electronic point of sale, but consider embracing mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions, which he said can facilitate the tasks of a fixed device but also provide staff with flexibility and improve customer satisfaction.
"Equipping staff with hand-held POS devices means they can move around taking orders from table to table without trips to the kitchen," said Chen.
Robin Knox, co-founder of Intelligent Point of Sale, took a similar stance to Chen.
Knox said another big advantage of mobile POS is the facilitation of quick, flexible card payments, claiming that 70% of customers now prefer to pay by card, and 75% consider contactless to be easier than the traditional chip and pin.
He warned that operators who don't offer the option of easy card payments could be missing out on a fair chunk of trade, stating that 20% of customers will go elsewhere if they can't pay by card.
"These stats show how essential a modern, mobile POS system is to the hospitality sector," said Knox.
And the Intelligent Point of Sale co-founder reckons the right system can pay dividends during the busy festive trading period.
"With the festive season a hectic period for any establishment, customers will be hoping for quick and easy transactions when they're out for a meal or a drink," said Knox. "Competition is tough at Christmas so it's essential your POS system provides a quick, painless transaction to ensure regular traffic to your business."
Another benefit EPOS systems can bring to operators, especially at Christmas, is a streamlined and intuitive online booking system, according to Zonal's sales and marketing director, Clive Consterdine.
"In order to maximise the opportunity that Christmas presents, operators need to have a highly responsive website, featuring live availability, an easy to use online booking system on any device, together with an engaging offer, loyalty and feedback programme, all of which are channelled into a central EPOS system," said Consterdine.
This view was echoed by Olivia Fitzgerald, managing director of online bookings firm LiveRes.
Fitzgerald said most bookings are no longer made between the standard hours of 9am and 5pm, claiming the most popular booking times are now between 5.30pm and 6pm and 8pm until 8.30pm.
This, she said, makes online reservations a priority for operators.
And with Christmas reservations in mind, Fitzgerald stated that a booking system "needs to be easy to use on any device, and an engaging Christmas menu that really resonates with diners is a must".
Another benefit of EPOS systems is the opportunities they can present regarding customer loyalty, according to Consterdine at Zonal.
He said that customer demographics, booking history and purchasing preferences all form "rich customer data" which then allows operators to tailor their offers to encourage trade post-Christmas.
"Creating experiences through personalised promotions that actually reward customers for their loyalty, rather than blanket discounted offers, is the way forward," said Consterdine.
Mike McCabe of Markadis agreed that collecting customer data can help operators tailor an experience for guests, and he suggested data capture should be one of the key considerations for operators when upgrading their EPOS system.
"Gather as much data as you can," said McCabe.
"Email addresses, phone numbers, dates of births; this can be used for communicating and rewarding."
For those thinking of upgrading their EPOS system, suppliers emphasised that operators must consider the growth of their business.
Lesley Corr, European sales director of Posera, said: "Operators should ensure that they invest in an EPOS solution that will 'grow' with them as their requirements increase or change.
"Low-end or low-cost solutions do not offer this flexibility; they are very restricted in terms of functionality."
Knox, of Intelligent Point of Sale, took a similar stance to Corr.
"Operators should be upgrading POS systems based on growing an efficient, easy to manage business," said Knox.
He added that his biggest piece of advice to operators is "don't settle for mediocrity".
"Speak to your provider about what you think your system could be doing better and what features you'd like to see," said Knox.
"A good POS system is one which is built with customers' needs for easy and remote business management at its heart."
Posera
Posiflex Technology
SLTN
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SLTN is the leading publication for Scotland's licensed trade and hospitality industry. Established in 1964, SLTN remains the respected go-to source for the whole of the Scottish on-trade, with all the latest news, views, analysis, products and advice for everyone owning, running and working in pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels right across Scotland. SLTN also organises the annual SLTN Awards, recognising the best people and places in the Scottish trade. Published by Peebles Media Group. Audited by ABC UK.
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There has recently been much interest in exploiting the unusual properties associated with fluorocarbons to modulate the physicochemical properties of proteins. Here we present a detailed investigation into the effect on structure and stability of systematically repacking the hydrophobic core of a model protein with the extensively fluorinated (fluorous) amino acid l-5,5,5,5',5',5'-hexafluoroleucine (hFLeu). The starting point was a 27-residue peptide, alpha(4)-H, that adopts an antiparallel 4-alpha-helix bundle structure, and in which the hydrophobic core comprises six layers of leucine residues introduced at the "a" and "d" positions of the canonical heptad repeat. A series of peptides were synthesized in which the central two (alpha(4)-F(2))(,) four (alpha(4)-F(4)), or all six layers (alpha(4)-F(6)) of the core were substituted hFLeu. The free energy of unfolding increases by 0.3 (kcal/mol)/hFLeu on repacking the central two layers and by an additional 0.12 (kcal/mol)/hFLeu on repacking additional layers, so that alpha(4)-F(6) is approximately 25% more stable than the nonfluorinated protein alpha(4)-H. One-dimensional proton, two-dimensional (1)H-(15)N HSQC, and (19)F NMR spectroscopies were used to examine the effect of fluorination on the conformational dynamics of the peptide. Unexpectedly, increasing the degree of fluorination also appears to result in peptides that possess a more structured backbone and less fluid hydrophobic core. The latter only occurs in alpha(4)-F(4) and alpha(4)-F(6), suggesting that crowding of the hFLeu residues may restrict the amplitude and/or time scales for rotation of the side chains.


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Washington|U.S. Had Doubts on North Korean Uranium Drive
U.S. Had Doubts on North Korean Uranium Drive
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD MARCH 1, 2007
Christopher R. Hill, an assistant secretary of state who brokered the nuclear deal, said it would be unwise for North Korea to "pretend to disarm." Credit Susan Walsh/Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 — Last October, the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device, the fruition of decades of work to make a weapon out of plutonium.
For nearly five years, though, the Bush administration, based on intelligence estimates, has accused North Korea of also pursuing a secret, parallel path to a bomb, using enriched uranium. That accusation, first leveled in the fall of 2002, resulted in the rupture of an already tense relationship: The United States cut off oil supplies, and the North Koreans responded by throwing out international inspectors, building up their plutonium arsenal and, ultimately, producing that first plutonium bomb.
But now, American intelligence officials are publicly softening their position, admitting to doubts about how much progress the uranium enrichment program has actually made. The result has been new questions about the Bush administration's decision to confront North Korea in 2002.
"The question now is whether we would be in the position of having to get the North Koreans to give up a sizable arsenal if this had been handled differently," a senior administration official said this week.
The disclosure underscores broader questions about the ability of intelligence agencies to discern the precise status of foreign weapons programs. The original assessment about North Korea came during the same period that the administration was building its case about Iraq's unconventional weapons programs, which turned out to be based on flawed intelligence. And the new North Korea assessment comes amid debate over intelligence about Iran's weapons.
The public revelation of the intelligence agencies' doubts, which have been brewing for some time, came almost by happenstance. In a little-noticed exchange on Tuesday at a hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joseph DeTrani, a longtime intelligence official, told Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island that "we still have confidence that the program is in existence — at the mid-confidence level." Under the intelligence agencies' own definitions, that level "means the information is interpreted in various ways, we have alternative views" or it is not fully corroborated.
"The administration appears to have made a very costly decision that has resulted in a fourfold increase in the nuclear weapons of North Korea," Senator Reed said in an interview on Wednesday. "If that was based in part on mixing up North Korea's ambitions with their accomplishments, it's important."
Two administration officials, who declined to be identified, suggested that if the administration harbored the same doubts in 2002 that it harbored now, the negotiating strategy for dealing with North Korea might have been different — and the tit-for-tat actions that led to October's nuclear test could, conceivably, have been avoided.
The strongest evidence for the original assessment was Pakistan's sale to North Korea of upwards of 20 centrifuges, machines that spin fast to convert uranium gas into highly enriched uranium, a main fuel for atom bombs. Officials feared that the North Koreans would use those centrifuges as models to build a vast enrichment complex. But in interviews this week, experts inside and outside the government said that since then, little or no evidence of Korean procurements had emerged to back up those fears.
The continuing doubts prompted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday to declassify a portion of the most recent, one-page update circulated to top national security officials about the status of North Korea's uranium program. The assessment, read by two senior intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in a joint interview, said the intelligence community still had "high confidence that North Korea has pursued a uranium enrichment capability, which we assess is for a weapon."
It added, they said, that all the government's intelligence agencies "judge — most with moderate confidence — that this effort continues. The degree of progress towards producing enriched uranium remains unknown, however."
In other words, while the agencies were certain of the initial purchases, confidence in the program's overall existence appears to have dropped over the years — apparently from high to moderate.
It is unclear why the new assessment is being disclosed now. But some officials suggested that the timing could be linked to North Korea's recent agreement to reopen its doors to international arms inspectors. As a result, these officials have said, the intelligence agencies are facing the possibility that their assessments will once again be compared to what is actually found on the ground. "This may be preventative," one American diplomat said.
American intelligence agencies had long known of North Korea's nuclear program employing plutonium, which can make compact weapons but requires large, easily detected reactors. By contrast, uranium warheads tend to be larger, but the technology for enriching uranium is much smaller and easier to hide.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, declined to discuss the decisions to confront North Korea in 2002 or the quality of the intelligence behind that decision, though both have noted previously that North Korea purchased equipment from Pakistan that could only have been intended for use in producing weapons fuel. One former official said that it was Ms. Rice, in a meeting at the C.I.A. in 2004, who encouraged intelligence officials to soften their assessments of how quickly the North Koreans could produce weapons-usable uranium.
"She asked, how did we know about the timing, and they didn't have answers," said the former official. "Did they have Russians and Chinese helping them? No one was sure. It was really a guesstimate about timing."
Different players in the 2002 debate have different memories. John R. Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, who headed the State Department's proliferation office at the time of the 2002 declaration, said in an interview on Wednesday evening that "there was no dissent at the time, because in the face of the evidence the disputes evaporated." Mr. Bolton, one of the most hawkish voices in the administration and a vocal critic of its recent deal with North Korea, recalled that even the State Department's own intelligence arm, which was the most skeptical of the Iraq evidence, "agreed with the consensus opinion."
But David A. Kay, a nuclear expert and former official who in 2003 and 2004 led the American hunt for unconventional arms in Iraq, said he had found the administration's claims about the North Korean uranium program unpersuasive. "They were driving it way further than the evidence indicated it should go," he said in an interview. The leap of logic, Dr. Kay added, turned evidence of equipment purchases into "a significant production capability."
But the doubts were on full display on Wednesday, when Christopher R. Hill, the chief American negotiator with North Korea, testified on Capitol Hill. "If we determine that there is a program, it's got to go," Mr. Hill said, words that were far more tentative than American policy makers have used about the program in the past. Expressing his resolve to get to the bottom of the mystery, he added: "We cannot have a situation where we — you know, they pretend to disarm and we pretend to believe them. We need to run this into the ground." He said that while there was no doubt that North Korea had bought centrifuges from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani engineer, there was doubt about "how far they've gotten."
John E. McLaughlin, a former director of central intelligence and the deputy C.I.A. director in 2002, defended the initial North Korean findings as accurate. "At the time we reported this, we had confidence that they were acquiring materials that could give them the capability to do this down the road," he said in an interview. But no one, he added, "said they had anything up and running. We also made clear that we did not have a confident understanding of how far along they were."
That confidence has dropped further because inspectors have been banned from North Korea for four years, nearly as long as they were out of Iraq before their readmittance just before the 2003 invasion. In Iraq's case, intelligence analysts extrapolated from the last information they had to assess what kind of weapons Iraq might be producing.
Outside experts, including David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear arms, have suggested in recent days that something similar happened in North Korea's case. "The evidence doesn't support the extrapolation" to the judgment that North Korea was making crucial strides in its uranium program, Mr. Albright said in an interview. "The extrapolation went too far."
He said administration analysts were right in thinking that Dr. Khan had sold North Korea about 20 centrifuges. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, confirmed that in a memoir published last year. But, Mr. Albright said, intelligence agencies overstated whether North Korea had used those few machines as models to construct row upon row of carbon copies.
His report zeroed in on thousands of aluminum tubes that the North Koreans bought and tried to buy in the early 2000s. The C.I.A. and the Bush administration, the report said, pointed to these tubes as the "smoking gun" for construction of a large-scale North Korean plant for the enriching of uranium. It was assessments about the purpose of aluminum tubes that were at the center of the flawed Iraq intelligence.
In the North Korea case, intelligence analysts saw the tubes as ideal for centrifuges. But Mr. Albright said the relatively weak aluminum tubes were suitable only for stationary outer casings — not central rotors, which have to be very strong to keep from flying apart while spinning at tremendous speeds.
Moreover, he added, the aluminum tubes were "very easy to get and not controlled" by global export authorities because of their potentially harmless nature. So that purchase, by itself, Mr. Albright added, was "not an indicator" of clandestine use for nuclear arms.
David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and William J. Broad from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Concedes Uncertainty On Korean Uranium Effort. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
U.S. Discusses Releasing North Korean Funds MARCH 1, 2007