text:
Q: C# - Launch Invisible Process (CreateNoWindow & WindowStyle not working?) I have 2 programs (.exe) which I've created in .NET. We'll call them the Master and the Worker.  The Master starts 1 or more Workers.  The Worker will not be interacted with by the user, but it is a WinForms app that receives commands and runs WinForms components based on the commands it receives from the Master.
I want the Worker app to run completely hidden (except showing up in the Task Manager of course).  I thought that I could accomplish this with the StartInfo.CreateNoWindow and StartInfo.WindowStyle properties, but I still see the Client.exe window and components in the form.  However, it doesn't show up in the taskbar.
   Process process = new Process
      {
          EnableRaisingEvents = true,
          StartInfo =
              {
                  CreateNoWindow = true,
                  WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
                  FileName = "Client.exe",
                  UseShellExecute = false,
                  ErrorDialog = false,
              }
      };

What do I need to do to let Client.exe run, but not show up?

A: The problem is with UseShellExecute = false, set this to true and the process will be started as hidden.  Using the shell to start the process understands how to make the application hidden, where as starting the process directly with UseShellExecute = false starts the process directly, and as Chris Schmich mentioned, you'd have to handle hiding the window from inside the client application.  This might be more desirable if you want the option of running the application manually for debugging or testing purposes.

A: Your usage of CreateNoWindow/WindowStyle works fine on my system with notepad.exe (e.g. it is hidden but running in the background), so it's probably something the WinForms app is doing.  Some ideas:
Option 1: If you control the WinForms worker process, you can override Control.SetVisibleCore to always hide the form.  If you don't want to always hide it, you can pass a command-line argument to it, e.g. /hide that will cause it to be hidden.  Example (assuming there's already code-behind for the form):
public partial class MyForm : Form
{
    public MyForm()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void SetVisibleCore(bool value)
    {
        // You'd probably want to parse the command line.
        if (Environment.CommandLine.Contains("/hide"))
            base.SetVisibleCore(false);
        else
            base.SetVisibleCore(value);
    }
}

With this, running MyForm.exe results in a process with a visible form.  Running MyForm.exe /hide results in a process with a hidden form.  You could pass the /hide argument from your master process, so then normal users running the application will still see it.
Option 2: You can hide the application after it starts by doing a P/Invoke to ShowWindow.  More info on this here.  This has the drawback that you can sometimes see the worker window flicker into existence before being hidden.  Example:
class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo()
        {
            FileName = @"C:\windows\system32\notepad.exe",
        };

        Process process = Process.Start(psi);

        // Wait until the process has a main window handle.
        while (process.MainWindowHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            process.Refresh();
        }

        ShowWindow(process.MainWindowHandle, SW_HIDE);
    }

    const int SW_HIDE = 0;

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
}

A: You have to add base.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden; in Win Form application constructor.

A: Since my reputation is too low, i can only post my answer, ubable to comment Chris Schmich's answer.
Before start process, you can set WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized to avoid window flicker.
Here is my code:
private const int SW_HIDE = 0;

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hwnd, int nCmdShow);

public int RunWithoutWindow(string exePath)
{
    var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(exePath)
    {
        WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized
    };

    var process = Process.Start(startInfo);

    while (process.MainWindowHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
    {
        process.Refresh();
    }

    ShowWindow(process.MainWindowHandle, SW_HIDE);

    return process.Id;
}

Finally thanks good answer provided by Chris Schmich, while ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden sometimes not work.


text:
Home Microsoft
Microsoft Started Blocking Non-Microsoft Web Browsers
The tech giant Microsoft seems to have now found a new way to control the web browsers that run on Windows Operating System. Hence, Microsoft is now blocking them whenever they are in accounts covered by the Microsoft Family service filters. Yes, sounds really weird.
The present browser war is regularly and increasingly getting fierce, several recent cases of services that crash browsers in the competition are known. Tech giant Microsoft seems to have now found a new way to control the web browsers that run on Windows Operating System. Hence, Microsoft blocking them whenever they are in accounts covered by the Microsoft Family service filters.
Since Edge came with Windows 10 that Microsoft seeks to make it the default for users, thereby eliminating the competition and gaining market share. The success of this measure has been down and the Edge continues to use very low values.
But Microsoft is now focusing on a new play, in which it wants to blocks its competitors' browsers, thus ensuring that the Edge and Internet Explorer are the only alternatives. In the accounts that are in the Microsoft Family service, Microsoft is applying these rules, as it can be read on the information provided.
Many of the commonly used browsers have Web filtering. To keep smaller safer, these browsers will be automatically blocked on the devices. You can always choose to allow the lowest use other browsers.
The lack of content filters is the reason given for these locks, but Microsoft does not mention specifically which browsers that are preventing it from being used. As it is known that Edge and Internet Explorer are the only Microsoft's browser that can be used now.
Despite these locks browsers and other applications can be allowed to be used by simply users need to add to the list of allowed applications, but this is a step that not everyone can do.
It is not known exactly when this change was applied, but it is speculated that it has come with the Anniversary Update, released at the beginning of August 2016.
Microsoft assumes that this major step to protect younger users and children will give them a web filtering, but what actually Microsoft is doing, yes, ultimately Microsoft indirectly want to remove all its competing browsers, so that its own web browsers Edge and Internet Explorer could make it there way as fluent as they can.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


E-911 requires that house numbers be attached to all residences in a conspicuous place.
Remember this is for your safety.
Article 1. To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.
Article 2. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $8,000.00 for Sidewalk Snow Removal for 2014.
Article 3. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $17,682.00 for the Town of Limerick's Winter Maintenance Agreement for 2014. (This includes additional fuel charge and salt costs).
Article 6. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $2,937.00 for 224 additional hours for Tawny Mann (Jeri's Assistant) to catch up on the new re-valuation, LAC Sales, extra work that has come in due to General Assistance and the ongoing litigation parties and the town.
Article 7. To see if the Town will transfer $6,300.00 from the Capital Project Reserve Account to the Brick Town Hall Capital Project Reserve Account for the installation of the hard wired and monitored smoke detection for the Brick Town Hall.
Article 8. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $5,156.00 for the Recreational Department additional equipment requested.


Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade, you probably are aware that your personal data and privacy is under constant threat online. This is exactly where virtual private networks (aka VPNs) come into play as they encrypt your traffic and conceal your real IP address for safe and private Internet access.
If you missed your chance to snag a good VPN deal on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, fret not as all hope isn't lost! PureVPN, one of the most reliable names in the VPN industry, has gone one step ahead of the competition and extended their amazing discount.
You can save a whopping 88% on the 5 year plan and pay just $79 instead of $657. This translates to $1.32 per month, making PureVPN the most pocket-friendly VPN out there currently. But given the deal is available for a limited time only, act now before you miss out!
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PureVPN gives you complete access to all the VPN essentials (and more) for 5 whole years at an amazing cut-price with its Cyber Week VPN deal. So, grab it before time runs out and experience the Internet on your terms!
iOS vs. Android Battle: Which is better for gaming?


A carbon cloth coated in a conducting polymer is a potential route to stable supercapacitors when coated in ruthenium oxide.
Reproduced with permission from reference 1. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag.
A novel storage solution using woven cloth devices that can store electrochemical energy with a longer life than batteries has been fabricated by researchers from KAUST1.
Finding storage solutions for energy created by wind and solar technologies is an important step in sustainable power. Yet there are many constraints. Solar cells only work in daylight and turbines require wind. Current ways to store power when the generators stop have limitations. Batteries, while relatively cheap with a large capacity, have a short lifetime.
So Husam Alshareef and colleagues from KAUST's Physical Science and Engineering Division, including Ph.D. student Chuan Xia, are following an alternative strategy using supercapacitors. Capacitors store energy in the form of electric fields between two conductors separated by a dielectric. Supercapacitors can attain a much higher storage capacity by replacing the dielectric with an active electrochemical spacer.
Building on previous research, Alshareef's team made a supercapacitor from a woven carbon cloth coated in a conducting polymer called polyaniline, which was clad in a thin layer of ruthenium oxide.
Previously polyaniline was considered a promising supercapacitor material: cheap, easy to process and with a high capacitance. But, polyaniline has a propensity to swell and contract when it is charged and discharged, causing cracking and reducing a device's capacitance over time.
To stabilize the polyaniline, and increase the supercapacitor's longevity, the KAUST researchers surrounded the device by ruthenium oxide. This acts as a scaffold to hold the polymer together, simultaneously assisting injection and extraction of the charge in and out of the device.
The researchers placed a carbon cloth into solution containing aniline monomer and an oxidant. A polymerization process coated the carbon strands in vertically aligned polyaniline nanofibers. They then used a low-temperature process, called atomic layer deposition, to coat the cloth in ruthenium oxide and prevent degradation of the polymer.
"Our device has one of the highest capacitance values reported for polyaniline electrodes," says Alshareef. Importantly, they showed that this capacitance dropped by only 12 percent after 10,000 charge–discharge cycles — which is lower than the 35 percent in a similar supercapacitor made without the ruthenium-oxide surface layer.
The device demonstrates a new approach to prepare metal-oxide/conducting polymer hybrid electrodes that also exhibit excellent electrochemical performance.


text:
Q: Device Firmware Update Never Success: XPS 15 9570 Precision 5530 Every one or two weeks, my ubuntu 18.10 will popup a software upgrading window asking  me to update device firmware of my laptop. The firmware is XPS 15 9570 Precision 5503 System Update.  But every time after I clicked the 'update' button, it seems nothing happened, and the next time when the newer version of the firmware  arrive again, i can see my version still stay in the original state.  I believe the updating was not happening every time.  But why? How to make the updating success?
Thanks in advance!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Own your own robot sex picture!
February 9, 2007 by Joe
OK, the subject really should be "Technical Ecstasy Lost Artwork Found!!", but my title is more attention grabbing. :) Seriously, there's a very cool piece of Black Sabbath art currently for sale, and I wanted to make sure I drew your attention to it.
St Paul's Art Gallery in Birmingham is selling prints of the Technical Ecstasy artwork. These prints are signed by Tony Iommi and Storm Thorgerson. Mr Thorgerson is well known as an album cover artist, having done such iconic other cover art as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (plus over a dozen other Floyd covers), AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, a few Led Zeppelin albums, Anthrax's Stomp 442, Bruce Dickinson's Skunkworks, Alan Parsons.. I think you get the idea. The man is iconic in rock cover art. You can visit Storm's website here.
St. Paul's Gallery has issued a press release with some details on the art sale. Check it out:
TECHNICAL ECSTACY LOST ARTWORK FOUND!!!!
Technical Ecstasy has been subject to much discussion musically, but what about that great cover artwork by legendary album cover artist Storm Thorgerson? St. Pauls Gallery in Birmingham approached both Storm and Tony Iommi to see if they could reproduce this great artwork as a limited edition fine art print signed by them both. They both said this would be a great idea but the original artwork had been lost for the last 30 years, (!) and so the hunt was on to find it. After many weeks of phone calls and false leads it was finally found in a basement in Hull (UK), how? when? or why? was not even discussed it was taken directly to the screen printers and before the week was out a fine art edition of only 195 prints was underway.
Both Tony and Storm have hand signed these stunning rare prints in pencil, this edition is a real Sabbath fan investment YOU CAN OWN ONE TODAY.
Each print comes with a certificate of authenticity showing Storm & Tony Signing along with the print edition number. This is a one off edition which will NEVER be repeated, so act straight away if you want one. Here are some particulars about the artwork:
Medium: Silkscreen print using 28 colours and spot glazes on Somerset Tub 400gsm
Artist: Storm Thorgerson
Date: Published 2006 (1976)
Signed By: Storm Thorgerson and Tony Iommi
Edition: 195 World Wide
Atelier: Corriander Studios, London
Dimensions: Paper Size 32 x 27″, Image 19 x 19″
The folks over at St Paul's have been kind enough to send me some pictures to use of Tony Iommi & Storm Thorgeson signing some copies of the Technical Ecstasy prints. Check 'em out – you can click on any of them for a larger image.
This all looks really cool, so if you're into art, and into Black Sabbath, you might want to check into this. It's quite a unique piece of history.
I do have a personal connection to this album, I'd like to share. As you may or may not know, my "day job" is working for a computer games company in Texas. Many years ago (1994), we were working on a game called "Rise of the Triad". I was one of the game's level designers, and one of the characters in the game was a robot. It didn't look like either of the robots on the Technical Ecstasy cover, but I did use a lot of them in this particular level's design. So much so that I named the level "Technical Ecstasy". Due to game limitations at the time, we were unable to make the robots go up an escalator (or even stairs), but it was something I tried to work in anyway. :)


Writers Block general members meetings will be an hour long gathering in which writers come together to write and share ideas in order to further develop our passions for writing.
I love writing and I feel this is the coolest way to meet new fellow writers.
I expect them to in turn help write amazing articles like on https://freeaccount.org/ that would change the industry.


In Egyptian mythology, Kuk (also spelt Keku) was the deification of the primordial concept of darkness, in the Ogdoad cosmogony, his name meaning darkness. As a concept, Kuk was viewed as androgynous, his female form being known as Kauket (also spelt Keket), which is simply the female form of the word Kuk. Like all 4 dualistic concepts in the Ogdoad, Kuk's male form was depicted as a frog, or as a frog-headed man, and the female form as a snake, or a snake-headed woman.
As a symbol of darkness, Kuk also represented obscurity, and the unknown, and thus chaos. Also, Kuk was seen as that which occurred before light, thus was known as the bringer-in of light.


text:
Q: Does the snowflake $X^\alpha$ allows isometric embeddings into $L_1$ if $X$ does?
Question: Suppose that finite metric space $X$ allows isometric embedding to $L_1$. Does it mean that a snowflake space $X^\alpha$ allows isometric embedding to $L_1$ for every $0 < \alpha < 1$?

For a metric space $X = (X, d)$ and $0 < \alpha < 1$ the $\alpha$-snowflake of $X$ is a metric space $X^\alpha$ on the same set of points with the distance $d^\alpha$.
In other words for $x,y \ \in X$ we have $d^a(x,y) = (d(x,y))^\alpha$.
The classical work by Shoenberg provides that's this is true for $L_2$.
UPD: I think the answer is YES and can be found in "9.1 The Schoenberg Transform" in geometry of cuts and metrics. But I haven't read it carefully yet.


text:
Game Preview: Westports Malaysia Dragons vs Mono Vampire Basketball Club
Mono Vampire Basketball Club looks to stay in the picture for a top 2 finish in the ABL Playoffs, as they take on the Westports Malaysia Dragons in their final match of the regular season.
At 13-6, Mono Vampire needs to get the win in order to put themselves in the best position to finish with a twice to beat advantage in the 1st round of the Playoffs. Their fate will also depend on what happens with Hong Kong Kong Eastern and San Miguel Alab Pilipinas' remaining games, that's why they need to handle their business and get the win.
It was a high scoring showdown at the Southorn Stadium, as the visiting Mono Vampire had its revenge on Hong Kong Eastern for their early loss this season, winning 119-111 on the road . Hong Kong struggled to stop the red hot Mike Singletary, and Sam Deguara also dominated in the paint against the defending champions.
Mike Singletary was absolutely unstoppable in his first match against Hong Kong Eastern this season, as he registered 36 points on a scorching 5/7 clip from beyond the arc. He also had 8 rebounds and 2 assists in the big victory. Singletary was able to attack from everywhere on the floor, and and adjusted his attack to find success against any defender that stood in his way. Singletary is one of the best offensive players in the ABL, and he showed that against the defending champions.
Meanwhile, the Dragons hung around all game long versus the Saigon Heat, but Saigon's firepower overwhelmed the Dragons in the end. As a result, the Heat prevailed 115-103. Malaysia struggled to find the range from long distance, and also weren't able to move the ball around, finishing with only 6 assists.
Chris Eversley did his best to keep the Dragons within striking distance of the Saigon Heat in their Sunday night matchup, finishing with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. But it wasn't enough in the end, as the Heat had all of the answers led by Maxie Esho and Akeem Scott.
It was a high scoring shootout the last time these two teams went head to head in the ABL, as the home team Mono Vampire was able to eke out a 115-111 victory against the Dragons. At the time, Malaysia still had Marcus Marshall and AJ West. With Eversley and fellow World Import Bryan Davis now in the lineup, will that make a difference as they take on the visiting Mono Vampire?
mono-vampire westports-malaysia-dragons
Dragons finish strong, upstage Wolf Warriors
Mike Singletary Gets ABL Player of the Month Distinction


You don't have to spend a lot of money to make your apartment look cool. Make an apartment look cool with help from an interior design professional in this free video clip.
Bio: Based in Los Angeles, CA, Tisha Morris designs home and spaces to match the personality of the occupants by using the energy of the environment to develop a space that allow for positive energy flow.
Series Description: When it comes to interior design, you always need to take the room itself into careful consideration before spending even a dime on items. Learn all about interior design and decor with help from an interior design professional in this free video series.
lame and condescending. try talking to an actual "hip and cool" person to find out what they need and can AFFORD on an apartment budget. "i got this calligraphy brush from my travels" i want to gag.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Speakers from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will share their views on the latest development in the regulatory landscape in Hong Kong.
Brian Ho is a member of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). He is also an Executive Director with responsibility for the Corporate Finance Division. That Division is responsible for regulating takeover and merger activities, administering corporate conduct under the Securities and Futures (Stock Market Listing) Rules and overseeing listing policy matters. Mr Ho has been working in the SFC for more than 20 years. Before joining the SFC, Mr Ho practised as a solicitor in Hong Kong.
Mr Ho also sits on the Public Shareholders Group (Chairman), the Nominations Committee, Committee on Real Estate Investment Trusts and the Executive Committee of the SFC, and the Listing Nominating Committee of the Stock Exchange.
Megan Tang, Senior Director, heads the Post-IPO team of the SFC's Corporate Finance Division. Ms. Tang joined the SFC after almost two decades in private legal practice. Ms. Tang was previously a partner at an international law firm and was recognised as a leading lawyer by Chambers Asia-Pacific for both equity and debt capital markets work.


For this week's SFTO episode features an artist I was introduced to last year – Brandon Heath. His first hit was "GIve Me Your Eyes". We did that in church last year and I bought the CD to learn the song. It turns out the CD is really good and quickly became one of my favorites. I'm now a fan and will watch for his next album. They recently began playing his song, Love Never Fails, on the radio. I predict this will become a standard at weddings.
This is actually a sneak peak at the song we'll be playing this Sunday to wrap up our pastor's sermon series on Love. We'll be adding a few more instruments for that. Until then, I hope you'll not only enjoy this acoustic "live-rehearsal" of the song, but also the well-composed song itself!


John Mason spent a day in May 2000 visiting eight home gardens as a guest of the Calgary Garden Club.
What do you do when the climate is against you, and gardening is your passion? Gardening in Alberta, Canada is certainly a challenge, but one which the Calgary Garden Club meets and overcomes with enthusiasm.
With over 20,000 members, the Calgary Garden Club is actually one of the largest and most active garden clubs in North America. Check out their web site at http://www.calhort.org. Apart from regular meetings, the club organises tours, workshops and garden shows, produces a regular newsletter, and has published a couple of excellent books, The Calgary Gardener Vols I and II, which are full of ideas about how to garden in adverse conditions.
What Are The Conditions In Calgary?
Summer days can actually be quite warm, not unlike a summer's day in Tasmania or even Melbourne; but the winters can be extremely cold, not only with snow covering the ground, but with everything in the top layers of the soil also freezing. Temperatures can fall to minus 30 degrees Celsius. Spring and autumn can see some mild days (you wouldn't even need a jumper), but can also see occasional frosts as late as mid-May (late spring in Canada). The soil is generally alkaline, winds can be strong, and the air is very dry (humidity is virtually zero). Without some form of protection, tender vegetables or annuals can be grown for little more than the three months of summer, regardless of the variety being grown.
During summer, they grow all the same vegetables and annuals we grow in southern Australia.
Conifers are the most common evergreens. In this part of the world, there are only a handful of flowering evergreens that will survive without some protection.
Deciduous trees, including apples, prunus, birch, and maples.
Container plants are very popular – they can be taken inside over summer.
Greenhouse and indoor gardening is popular.
Bulbs are widely grown. Tulips, daffodils and other cool climate bulbs will grow very well, and can even flower through a thin carpet of snow.
Herbaceous vegetables, bulbs and perennials do grow rapidly through summer; but due to the shorter growing season, trees and shrubs are often much slower growing than you will find in Australia. Calgarians take great pride in showing a plant that is 2 metres tall and a decade or two old, which a Melbournian might consider to be a two-year-old plant, and nothing special.
One unexpected advantage of a cold climate is that the winter cold each year helps strongly control pest and disease problems. Slugs and snails do occur; but they are not the problem that they are in Australia. Hostas are easier to grow, because populations of these pests are knocked back hard every winter. The dry air also helps with disease control – many fungal diseases do not thrive in such low humidity.


This comfortable and pleasant property has an air conditioned bungalow with a view of the sea, three spacious suites, equipped with super king size beds, comfortable bathrooms, amenities, 100% cotton towels, hairdryer, safe, wifi, and a daily room cleaning service.
We are located on the seafront of Hanga Roa, a few meters from Pea beach, restaurants, shops, banks and recreational areas.
Enjoy the sunset and peaceful local life from your welcoming terrace. Let your mind relax as you gaze at the most isolated horizon on the planet.
© 2013 - 2017 La Pérouse Rapa Nui GestHouse. All rights reserved.


text:
British aristocrat found guilty of calling CAA chief 'Jewish scum'
Sep 10, 2021 | Christians Against Anti-Semitism, News
A British aristocrat has been found guilty of making anti-Semitic remarks towards the Jewish head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism organisation.
Piers Portman, 50, the second son of the late 9th Viscount Edward Portman, was found guilty of making the remarks in June 2018.
The incident took place after the trial of Alison Chabloz, a notorious Holocaust denier and anti-Semite who is currently serving time in prison for expressing her views.
Portman reportedly followed CAA head Gideon Falter out of the courtroom after he testified against Chabloz and confronted him. After initially extending a hand to Mr Falter, which Falter refused, Portman became "very enraged" and said, "I have written to you before. Come after me, you Jewish scum. Come and persecute me. Come and get me".
Portman was apparently referring to a letter he sent to CAA where the aristocrat denounced his former wife's divorce lawyer Baroness Fiona Shackleton calling her a "greedy, grasping and lying manipulator of the system that happens to be Jewish." He also accused her of "playing the Talmud inspired 'Tyrant posing as a victim.'"
Speaking in court, Portman claimed he attended Chabloz's hearing to "learn more about my own circumstances" because he was being "persecuted by Jewish tyrants posing as victims". He also said that he felt that the conviction of Ms Chabloz was "unfair".
We are not sure if his anti-Semitic views came about because of the situation of his divorce or if these were deeply held views which his divorce brought out further, but it is clear Portman has a dangerous attitude towards the Jewish people. His apparent support for Alison Chabloz, who has been found guilty of anti-Semitic hate crimes, also adds to those concerns.
We are sure these things were taken into account when the jury at Southwark Crown Court, by a majority decision of ten out of twelve jurors, found Portman guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm and distress. Portman will be sentenced in October.
The judge warned he was "not ruling any sentence out". The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it will be seeking a hate crime sentence uplift, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Sati Dhadda, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Antisemitism has no place in our society and will not be tolerated. Piers Portman's conduct was disgraceful and utterly audacious in a courthouse. No one should be subjected to such abuse based on their race or religion."
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: "This is a good result for British justice and British Jews. This despicable, unrepentant antisemite instructed his lawyer to tell the court that he is an honourable man being framed by lying Jews. The jury saw straight through Mr Portman, whose hatred of Jews speaks for itself. This verdict reaffirms my belief in the justice system of our country. It shows that even the wealthiest and most privileged cannot escape British justice and will face the consequences of their anti-Jewish racism."
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NextIsrael's population rises to over 9.3 million


text:
Tsitsipas father Apostolos looks back on 2022 season: "There are certainly improvements to be made and we are open to continuing to grow"
Stefanos Tsitsipas had a pretty solid 2022 year where he won some trophies but also disappointed in many ways.
His father Apostolos Tsitsipas was there for all of his good and bad moments and he reflected upon his year in a Facebook post. Apostolos struck a grateful tone for the season but explained that his son has many things to improve for the next step.
Dear fans, tennis players and sponsors. I would like to express my gratitude for your support and helpful comments during this year. There are certainly improvements to be made and we are open to continuing to grow. We are working to offer better tennis and inspiration to all those who love tennis and life itself. We are happy that you are supporting us on this path, with your passion and your love for what you do, which does not go unnoticed.
Raducanu makes New Year Resolution: "Wish I could just make my mouth with my food and drinks"
Thank you for helping us thrive in our craft and pursue our dreams with a team of committed and hardworking people who are at our disposal whenever we need them. Let's fasten our seat belts and fly to 2023 higher and more stable.
We wish everyone good health, love and success."
Fernandez-Clijsters and Sock-Querrey set for Champions Series event in Orlando
ATP Stefanos Tsitsipas


Paris Mashego, NUM's energy sector coordinator, told Reuters that wage talks with the utility were in deadlock over the weekend. Eskom provides almost all the power to Africa's most industrialised economy but it was not immediately clear what impact the strike may have on its ability to keep the lights on.
An Eskom spokesman said operations had not yet been impacted and reiterated the utility's view that its members are prohibited by law from striking.
"Across all of our 27 power stations everything is operating as normal at this stage," spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said.
"And no one from Eskom is allowed to go on strike because we are defined as essential service providers. Technically anyone who is not at work today will have to explain themselves to their bosses," he said. He added that Eskom did not feel that negotiations had collapsed.
The utility is offering pay hikes of 7 to 9 percent while NUM is looking for increases ranging from 12 to 13 percent.
Phasiwe also said NUM members early on Monday morning had blocked roads leading to the Arnot power station east of Johannesburg but police had been called in and the roads were now clear.
NUM has around 15,000 members at Eskom, close to a third of its workforce. The stoppage coincides with a wage strike by around 15,000 workers in the petrochemical industry that has led to some shortages and was entering its second week on Monday.


CUTTYHUNK — The Cuttyhunk ferry pulled up to the rural island at 10 a.m. on Thursday, carrying a load of people and supplies.
Longtime residents and visiting day-trippers lined the benches, and racks of Portuguese bread were stacked on the floor of the main cabin, en route from a New Bedford bakery. And riding along with the captain in the pilot house was a stack of boxes and bags: the day's incoming mail.
The ferry provides a postal link from the mainland to the island, delivering letters and parcels two days per week in the winter and every day but Sunday in the summer.
"You use it to order your groceries, you use it to send money back and forth from the businesses — it's your lifeline," island resident Bonnie Veeder said.
When the boat arrives at the docks, ferry owner and captain Jono Billings loads the day's deliveries onto the back of a golf cart and drives them up the hill to the island's lone post office.
Now, however, that tiny, shingled post office is among the 43 Massachusetts locations being studied for possible closure by the U.S. Postal Service.
On Thursday, residents worried that losing the post office could make it harder for islanders to get everything from Netflix DVDs to food and prescriptions.
Cuttyhunk is the most remote of the Elizabeth Islands, a chain of islands that trails off from Woods Hole, separating Buzzards Bay from Vineyard Sound. With a year-round population of only a few dozen people, the island has just a handful of social meeting places: the ferry docks, the market, the church and, traditionally, the post office.
"It will really change the character of the town if it closes," said Gail Blout, a selectman for the town of Gosnold, of which Cuttyhunk is part.
The first post office opened on the island in 1877, according to an account written up for the Cuttyhunk Historical Society by a longtime local resident. Mail was brought from the docks to the post office by horse. The office changed locations at least two times in the intervening years, before settling into its current spot in the 1950s.
Throughout the years, the post office had been a place for residents to meet and chat. Former Postmaster Carlyn Nunes — whose mother, uncle and niece have all also served as Cuttyhunk postmaster — remembered the office as a bustling, social place.
In recent years, however, the post office has lost some of that atmosphere, many residents reported.
"In the past, the postmistress was more social and consequently the post office was more social," summer resident Nancy Wilder said.
But the importance of the post office to Cuttyhunk life has not changed. Now, as throughout the post office's history, there are no alternatives to postal service on the island.
Frances Veeder, Nunes' sister, owns the house the post office is located in and rents the space to the U.S. Postal Service. But the first she heard about a possible closure was when she read a news story online, she said.
Postmaster Janet Burke declined to comment on the record, but said that it is too soon to be writing obituaries for her office.
The post office has not announced any definite closures yet — only studies. The U.S. Postal Service will be gathering information about each targeted location, including customer feedback, employee workload and what other post offices are in close proximity, said Dennis Tarmey, spokesman for the postal service's Greater Boston district.
Final decisions about the fates of individual locations should be made by December, he said.
The postal service also put forth the possibility that some communities could end up with "Village Post Offices" — limited postal-service operations located inside retail businesses. These locations would sell stamps and flat-rate envelopes and boxes and could also operate post office boxes.
Some on the island were skeptical that such an option would be a solution for Cuttyhunk. None of the island's stores are currently open year-round, and all occupy small spaces.
"The market barely has room for what they're already trying to sell," Wilder said.
Tamsin Hewes, owner of The Corner Store gift shop, said she might be willing to offer postal services in her shop, if she could figure out the logistics of running a year-round operation from her seasonal shop.
"It would definitely be something I would consider," she said.
Many islanders were optimistic that Cuttyhunk would retain postal service in some form, even if the official post office were shut down.
This story was published in the Cape Cod Times on July 29, 2011. Read the story and see a photo gallery at CapeCodOnline.com.


text:
Captain Marvel Concept Art Suggests a Major Marvel Character is a Skrull
by Ana Dumaraog
Captain Marvel concept art suggests that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) may be a Skrull. The former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a major driving force in assembling the Avengers, recruiting its members since Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) revelation that he's Iron Man. But he may not be the ally that fans thought him to be if a new illustration from the upcoming MCU film comes to fruition.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel will take fans back to 1995 with the origin story of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson). Given the timeline, the movie will feature young (still two-eyed) Fury and fan-favorite Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) back when they were still S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. Both will deal with the mystery that is Danvers, who is a member of the Kree elite squad known as the Starforce. At this point, Earth was caught in the middle between the ongoing brutal conflict between the Kree and Skrulls - a shapeshifting extraterrestrial race who are looking to take over the planet. Infiltration has already begun with Skrull leader, Talos (Ben Medelsohn) successfully blending in with people in the agency. But there may be another poser in the movie with Fury possibly also an imposter.
Related: New Captain Marvel TV Spot Reveals Annette Bening's Second Character
A page from Captain Marvel: The Art of the Movie found on Reddit (via CBR) shows Fury's Skrull transformation. Interestingly, however, he morphs into the character's most recent look - with his signature all-black get-up and eye patch - and not his desk jockey aesthetics from the 1990s that he's sporting in the Larson-starrer. Check out the illustrations below:
Since Skrulls were officially announced to be arriving in the MCU via Captain Marvel, conversations about who among the current roster of personalities may secretly be an imposter have started. It's difficult to imagine that anyone from the beloved heroes are Skrulls, considering what most of them have gone through in the last decade. Revealing that Fury may be one of them makes it much more interesting since he's one of the first characters introduced in the MCU, not to mention the fact that he's been in a position of power in S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long. He's also the one person that the Avengers have unequivocally trusted. In hindsight, it doesn't really make sense given his arc thus far, but if this is the case, maybe it's something that will play a purpose in the franchise's future storytelling.
Of course, this concept art is by no means a confirmation that Fury will be revealed as a Skrull. There's a possibility that he was impersonated as part of Skrull's plans to take over Earth. From a storytelling perspective, it makes sense that they will attempt to imitate him considering that he's working closely with Danvers, who's known to be a Kree. That said, the panel using his contemporary look makes it trickier to decipher how this supposedly fits in Captain Marvel's story given the film's timeline. Luckily, fans won't have to wait that long to find out with the movie hitting theaters all over the globe at the end of the week.
More: Why Captain Marvel's Review Embargo Is Lifting So Late
Source: Sergio Prism (via CBR)
Captain Marvel (2019) release date: Mar 08, 2019
Tags: captain marvel


With prom around the corner, you'll probably be busy shopping for a fancy outfit and, like your mates, making the big evening a grand affair. Instead of taking the familiar route by picking up your date in a limousine, imagine landing near his/her house in a private helicopter. It's surely one way of making your prom an unforgettable affair.
At High Flying Helicopter, our goal is to make stylish helicopter transport a reality for your prom. Whether you want a private ride with your date or a shared ride with your best friends, we'll pick you up and take you high above the countryside or sea. Following some breathtaking views, you'll land at your prom in spectacular fashion.
Whether you call it the school formal, the prom, or anything else, there's nothing like finishing another year of school and celebrating in extravagant fashion. From elegant dresses and handsome suits to photo booths and limousine rentals, prom is also the one night to let loose and feel like you're on top of the world. With a private helicopter charter for your prom, you'll turn an already big evening into something truly unforgettable. Imagine picking up an unsuspecting date via helicopter and flying into the sunset as the preamble of your prom. You'll certainly have the most extraordinary ride of the night, and you and your date can enjoy each other's company as we take you on a one-of-a-kind prom night flight..
No matter the theme of the prom, we'll make sure to decorate the interior of the charter helicopter to set the mood. Moreover, we like to be as flexible as possible, and if you have any special requests, such as snacks and beverages during the flight or detours over specific landmarks and locations (Westminster Abbey, the Thames, the beach, your home, etc), please let us know and we'll deliver.
1) The land owner's permission.
2)The landing site needs to be wide enough and clear of obstructions to meet our specific helicopter performance criteria.
If you are unable to land near the venue, we'll find an appropriate location as close as possible and organise a limousine for the final leg of the journey. Although we pride ourselves on providing a custom, luxurious prom flight that anticipates all possibilities, we cannot provide a guarantee for the weather. As such, if poor weather conditions prevent the pilots from flying, we can help arrange a back-up plan for transport.
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text:
The Lee Saga
As a patriotic Singaporean, I am upset and appalled and what Lee Wei Ling (LWL) and Lee Hsien Yang (LHY) are doing to their own family, more importantly, to Singapore and to Singaporeans.
Treason – the offense of acting to overthrow one's government.
As intelligent and educated persons, doesn't LWL and LHY know well enough that they shouldn't wash the family's laundry in public. For goodness sake, you come from a politically infludential and politically sensitive family, you need to behave yourselves.
Today, you have shamed and hurt Singapore's reputation, you have damaged Singapore's economy, you have offended and betrayed Singaporeans. No wonder, you wish to migrate, you have chosen to condemn Singapore and hurt Singaporeans, why should you continue to stay in Singapore?
Your movitation is simply GREED. LWL obviously has a problem, after her father's passing, she has been posting degorative articles about our Singapore government, certainly she couldn't or wouldn't have been able to, as long as her father, Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) was alive.
In one of his last interviews, LKY told the reporter that he would prefer to demolish his home because he didn't want the government to waste monies to preserve his home as a Singapore heritage. LKY is a simple and very practical man, he didn't see the value of the government wasting monies preserving his home just as a memorabilia of him as the first PM and the man who built Singapore. In fact, he eluded that his neighbours are all condominiums and that it would be better to demolish the home, change the land planning use and sell for higher value.
Since LHL was working so closely with his father in government and in personal life, it was no surprise that 38 Oxley was bequeath to LHL separately from the rest of the assets which was divided amongs the three siblings. All the problems would have been avoided if LHL had kept 38 Oxley and then sell it to the government for the government to preserve it as a heritage memorabilia of LKY. Proceeds of the sale, LHL can donate to charity. Nice and clean.
However, as the eldest in the family, he wanted to be fair by his other siblings. So, he sold 38 Oxley to LHY and the sale proceeds he donated to charity. LHL did not benefit from it at all.
Why is LWL and LHY so insistent on demolishing 38 Oxley? If it's demolished it cannot be preserved as heritage. Then, they can submit a change of use to condominium status and sell for $$$$$$$$$$. So you see, it's GREED that is the motivating factor, and to use their father's name in vain, to malign the government and to maliciously attack their brother LHL………………….sigh…………such unfilial children and horrible siblings…………LHL is right, his parents will turn in their graves!
I am saddend that LWL and LHY are demolishing the reputation and establishment of the Lee family.
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Product added on April 29, 2017 at 2:52:59 PM CEST by tacite.
Last edit of product page on July 9, 2018 at 10:19:41 AM CEST by tacite.


No release dates at this stage for either that we can see. Though we tend to only get DVD release information from Universal Music.
Keep your eyes peeled on the New Release Schedule every Thursday, 'cause that's updated with the very latest information every week.
Is there any release date for 'Concert For George' on Bluray and the new 'Living End' album?
all will be done in America with the dates above. Australia should hear something around the same time.
Lets hope the new deluxe/collectors edition of LOVE? by JLo is out this week also.


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When we crossed the border between Zambia and Malawi, two things immediately became obvious. First, there are a whole lot more people in Malawi. Second, there wasn't any gas. A petrol shortage had been going on for weeks due to a shortage of foreign currency--which we were happy to help remedy in a small way (at a very advantageous exchange rate.) It also became immediately obvious that the above two factors were symptoms (causes?) of a country that was much more poor than any of the previous places we had visited.
Our first stop was Lilongwe where we were hosted by Jeff Robison (a former Columbia co-resident of Meg's), his wife Shima, and their adorable two boys Darien and Kian. We separated and spent the day in a world of two extremes. Meg went with Jeff to the local hospital, spending the morning at the "Under 5 unit" (which is the closest thing the hospital has to a Pediatric Emergency Room), and the inpatient wards- where it was not uncommon for 4-6 patients to be sharing a bed. The afternoon was spent at the University of Baylor funded HIV Clinic which while well-staffed and well-resourced, has a very heavy patient load (Malawi ranks 9th in HIV prevalence in the world.) Jed, on the other hand, spent the day eating cake (literally) at the British High Commission while discussing the efficacy of foreign aid. We had just read Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari,which explores aid in Africa, and our experiences in Lilongwe helped bring the issue to life as we think about our future work in Latin America.
We left Lilongwe and headed up to Nkhata Bay, a small town on the northern part of Lake Malawi. We found a direct bus, but unfortunately it was the local bus, which stopped (no exaggeration) every 1-2 minutes, thus taking 8 hours to complete a 250km journey. On the basis of dollars per hour of travel it was a great value ($5) and it did allow us to get a real taste of the Malawian people and countryside (and we didn't have to change buses!). When we finally arrived, we immediately jumped into the lake which made the trip worth it!
Following, an amazing sunrise and morning swim we were ready to begin another long bus journey. We got on the local bus (again) to the nearby town on Mzuzu (we hate repeating the same mistake); then hopped on a minibus which, despite being filled beyond capacity and having to sit with our knees to our chest, it took us to the border town of Karonga in a speedy 4 hours, making it the best bus trip in Malawi.
2. There was a second bus coming and the first bus would wait until the second bus arrived.
So we waited and waited until 1:30am when the second bus (finally!) arrived. (Turns out it had broken down shortly after the previous stop.) However, the second bus was also full. At this point, we had been at the gas station for 6 hours (at least it was a Total Gas station—see Namibian entry.) Seeing the looks on our faces, the bus man then told us we could get on the first bus and just to find any seat—unfortunately, this meant sitting on the edge of the window right by the door (not so much a seat, but we could not spend any more time on the gas station.) A very uncomfortable 600km later (made slightly better only by very soothing Zambian music and an elephant running out in front of the bus), we arrived at the Zambian border. From there, it was an easy bus ride to Livingstone.
In Livingstone, we met Chris Bradford and Pallen Chiu and immediately headed off to Livingstone Island where we were told we would swim in a "natural pool" overlooking the falls. (Meg pictured an infinity pool at the hotel.) It is hard to truly describe the experience—first walking up to see the falls with a complete lack of barriers and then swimming out to a pool at the edge of the falls and then dangling headfirst over the edge of the falls! It was truly a unique experience.
But in the end she jumped off the bridge like a champ. Not bad considering it is the 3rd highest bungee jump in the world.
After the falls, we began a series of long bus journeys through Zambia, getting to see some of Lusaka (in the rain and a power outage) and some of Chipata. While not as empty as Namibia, Zambia isn't crowded either, though one sees many more roadside huts (made of mud brick and straw). Zambia has a real and identifiable national cuisine, which was a tasty change from the more internationalized cuisine of South Africa and Namibia.
We ended up in Namibia a day early by accident (turns out that the town on the map on the South Africa side of the border isn't all it appears to be- which was a sign of things to come….). Luckily, we stumbled upon a rafting camp on the Orange River (which constitutes the border) in time for a beautiful sunset.
Both of these came into play when we got a flat tire in the middle of Fish River Canyon National Park with no one around. Fortunately, we were well equipped…..
Fortunately our stop that night was in the lovely town of Keetsmanshoop which is known for having the most petrol stations per capita (and therefore lots of tire places as well.) We set off the next morning to explore the dunes of Sosussvlei. Part of the bone-dry Namib desert, the dunes here are among the largest in the world. Spending (a slightly longer than anticipated) time walking through them one afternoon by ourselves (again, there is no one here), it really gave us the sense of what it would like to be stuck in a real desert in the old days. Thanks to the rental tent (surprisingly not as crappy as we first thought) we were able to experience the desert dunes at both sunset and sunrise.
After a night in the German/Namibian town of Swakopmund (staying in 2 bed "fisherman's shack" at the municipal rest camp), we did the 21st century version of desert exploration- on ATVs!
Our next stop was Windhoek, which is a very pleasant capital city, though not known for its nightlife (about on par with Des Moines, Iowa) or historical sites (also on par with Des Moines). The highlight there was our visit to the Zambian Embassy—we went there to explore transport options to Victoria Falls and left with much anticipation for the wonders of life in Zambia thanks to our new Zambian friends Tonnie and Kelvin (the "ambassadors"/bus ticket salespeople.) Among their best recommendations were to try rat and fried caterpillars; they also emphatically stressed that Zambian corn was far superior to the Namibian variety.
Given the bus to Victoria Falls didn't leave for two days we decided to head to Northern Namibia and meet the "Nam-Zam Express" there. We hopped on a mini-bus, which we discovered was also serving as a moving van for a Namibian family (we stopped approximately halfway at the new residence to unload the trailer.) We got off in the town of Tsumeb which is described in the Lonely Planet as "Namibia's loveliest town." While the town is perfectly nice and most Namibian "towns" usually consist of a couple of buildings at best (again, no people here), we quickly realized the guidebook author either had never been here or had a mistress in town (or some other reason for thinking the town so lovely).
With any luck we'll be in Victoria Falls in day's time- that is, if our new Zambian friends come through with our bus "reservation" (ie writing our first names down on a slip of paper and assuring us the bus would meet us in Grootfontein "at the gas station sometime between 8 and 9pm")….
We left the Middle East somewhat reluctantly but were very excited to start exploring a whole new region. We arrived in Johannesburg and spent a day at the African Leadership Academy, an amazing school founded by our friend Chris Bradford. We not only got to brush up on our high school physics and leadership skills, we also met students from all over the continent with remarkable stories and aspirations.
Next, we traveled up north to Kruger National Park where we enjoyed our first safari experience. The experience was truly magical. We stayed in a remote lodge where baby baboons and impalas greeted us on the walkways in the morning. During each game drive we were treated to a taste of the "Big Five"—including watching a herd of elephants give themselves mud baths, watching a female lioness walk right behind the jeep, and tracking a leopard in the bush for several minutes. Other highlights included rounding out the Big Five (with the Water Buffalo and Rhino), baby giraffes, a pack of wild dogs by the roadside, and a bush walk during which we learned about the different floral and fauna (including several trees that have apparent have medicinal properties for certain personal problems; Jed took careful notes, while Meg corrected the proportions- doctors…) And even though we were warned that the classic American "mistake" is to get really excited by a Zebra (which are considered quite common in Africa), we couldn't help taking several pictures--their faces are beautiful up close.
Next it was on to Cape Town where we had the pleasure of enjoying the city from a breathtaking seaside apartment in Clifton. We quickly fell in love with the city and all that it has to offer. We managed to hit the highlights—climbing Table Mountain (turns out it is a pretty hard climb), boating out to Robben Island, wandering in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, driving to the Cape of Good Hope, and the exploring the City Bowl. The excitement of the upcoming World Cup filled the air (as did dust from all of the construction) and the city felt very much alive and vibrant. We also met up with Sue Valentine (a friend of Jed's father) who told us about runs the Children's Radio Foundation, which supports amazing radio programs by and for children (check it out at www.childrensradiofoundation.org). She also took us on a tour of the Cape Town Children's Hospital (the only separate Children's hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa,) which was a definite highlight for Meg. Jed's highlight may have been the free dinner we got because he correctly answered a question about Egypt mythology; turns out the report he did in the 8th grade on the sun goddess Nut (and the recent refresher in Egypt) paid off!
The only disappointing part of Cape Town was discovering (after the fact) that the Cape of Good Hope is in fact NOT the southern most point in Africa. However since we (like all the other tourists there) took the picture, we feel we have to insert it here. Maybe someday we'll make it to Cape Agulhas.
Finally we headed out to wine country to learn about (and taste of course) the various South African wines. One of the highlights was trying various types of the Pinotage grape variety. Stellenbosch, and the other wineland towns, certainly rival those of California for beauty, culinary delights, and excellent vineyards!
Overall, South Africa is both an emotionally stimulating and draining country. We were wowed by the great natural, cultural, and human resources of the country, but also troubled by the contemporary effects of (recent) history. We continually had to remind ourselves that much of the momentous moments in the country's history happened during our lifetimes. Like parts of the middle east (Israel, for example), our visit to South Africa really brought history to life and gave today's headlines more perspective .


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All that changed when I was 7 years old. Suddenly, I was thrust into an all-girls convent school. I had to wear a dress or skirt in uniform. If I wanted friends, they would have to be … girls. I was enrolled in Girl Scouts. My classmates mostly came from traditional two-parent families and I started to learn about the differing societal roles of 'father' and 'mother'. I stood out as different, the odd one out and suffered peer ostracization throughout my time at that school, until the age of 16. I was still a 'tomboy' but trying to fit in with the other females of my age. I wore makeup, dated a couple of guys, swooned over the members of the Glam Rock bands of the early 70s and didn't understand exactly why I was seen as different. So, I was the only one in my class to excel at Math, or really understand Physics principles. Just meant I was smart, right?
At sixteen, everything changed again. My mother decided I should be sent to my father's old school for the last two years of high school. This was a typical British private school with a long history of producing naval officers. If you've seen the Harry Potter movies, that's exactly how the buildings looked – they could have almost been filmed there. They had started accepting girls as an 'experiment' just two years prior to my arrival, and at the time, the male:female ratio was around 20:1. And somewhere along the way, I had lost the art of beings friends with boys. I approached them now, not with the carefree camaraderie of my kindergarten self, but with the 'ZOMG BOYZZZZ I must have a crush on you' mindset of the other girls in my class. And of course, that was disastrous. The only successful interactions I had with my male peers were when I was providing emergency tutoring to them for the math and science classes that I understood better than they did.
And then came college. I naturally gravitated towards the more technical subjects, and ended up attending a university known for science and engineering where I obtained a degree in Systems Engineering, with a minor in French. Women were only just starting to be accepted in the field of engineering, and I was one of only three taking that major in my year, compared to over a hundred guys. Overwhelmed by the presence of males, I made the foolish mistake of dating and marrying the first one that showed interest – and yet that mistake freed me to finally return to my natural social state and I relearned how to become friends – true platonic friends – with the male gender. I was finally 'one of the guys'. To clarify – I did not want to be male, I was perfectly happy with a female body and a heterosexual attraction to the male gender – but oh, how much more comfortable those platonic friendships were with men than women. I seemed to have so much more in common with them. I understood how they thought.
After college, I spent over ten years working in the British automotive industry as a computer analyst working on conceptual designs. It was during this time that it was brought home to me how unusual I was as a woman in a man's world. During my apprenticeship, I spent time on the assembly lines, where I was cautioned not to wander too far from my assigned station. Why? Because the mere appearance of a female in the production area would cause the Typical British Male to down tools, let loose with a series of wolf whistles, and completely fail to tighten that vital engine bolt as it went by. They used to talk about buying a 'Friday Car', one with a multitude of failures, supposedly because it had been assembled on a Friday when the workers were ready to go home. NOT TRUE! They are much more likely to be a product of the sudden appearance of a female in the workplace. (If you ever bought an unreliable British car manufactured during the early 80s, you have my personal apology – sorry! It was my fault!) It was at this time that I erased curse words from my vocabulary – almost overnight, after an incident where I was enjoying a casual lunch with the rest of my assembly line workmates, and the foreman came up and reprimanded them strongly for using foul language in front of me – "Would you talk like that in front of your wives or girlfriends? Of course you wouldn't! So don't do it in front of her!". After that, I just wasn't comfortable using the colorful language that I'd never questioned before.
From there, my identity started to stabilize. I was able to leave my abusive marriage and moved to the US where I married my current spouse. Interestingly, we first 'met' in an internet-based roleplaying environment where I was the big strong knight in shining armor and he was the tiny female dryad whom my character would pursue relentlessly and eventually marry. Although we quickly came clean as to our real life genders, it was not a big issue for me – I fell in love with the person, not their gender. We are both at ease in a roleplaying environment as both male and female characters, though my selection tends to a 50/50 random proportion, whereas my spouse leans more heavily towards female roles. Our friends have always been mostly members of the GLBT community.
And my sexuality? Looking back over the people I have been attracted to of both genders, over the years, I can now see a pattern where almost all of them have been close to that androgynous middle line – the guys who were teased because of their lack of traditional male characteristics, the male teacher whose nickname reflected his high, female-sounding voice, the women who would easily fall into the 'butch' category. I've never had a lover with more body hair than I have!
And recently, I've been rediscovering my own female identity. I had somehow become entrenched in a place where I didn't consider my own gender. My workplace is now one where women are in the majority, although as I am in I.T., my co-workers are still male. But I am forging the beginnings of a bond with the woman with whom I've shared an office for the past couple of months, as well as a few others here. And getting to hang out with my friend Lori on a regular basis brings home to me how much I'm not doing to appreciate my own femininity too. 😉 I'm working on it!
So that is me. I don't have a neat, tidy definition to give you right now. I'm not MtF, or FtM. I'm not quite an 'SO of a trans person' even. But I know I'm somewhere off the gender-normative track, and I hope you all will accept my presence here based on that alone. I feel honored that Lori invited me to help run this valuable space with her.
Thanks so much for sharing your story! Lori and I have been friends for a long time and I know she considers you a friend too, which tells me that you're someone I'd like to get to know. This post was a big help in starting to make that a reality. Someday, maybe we can even meet in person.
Thank you Abby! It was so nice to talk to you 'virtually' tonight, and maybe we will have a chance to meet next weekend. Who knows!
I can appreciate all that you've written about here, and I thank you for sharing your history. I may be inspired to write my own autobiography along these lines sometime soon!
I've never thought of you as "crazy", Amber!


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School: --- All Schools --- A.B. Lucas S.S. Central S.S. Clarke Road S.S. Medway H.S. Montcalm S.S. Oakridge S.S. Saunders S.S. Sir Frederick Banting S.S. Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. South C.I. Strathroy D.C.I.
Sir Frederick Banting S.S. 0 2 A.B. Lucas S.S.
Location: Stronach A Notes: Regular Season.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 6 1 Montcalm S.S.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 4 6 Saunders S.S.
Location: Nichols C Notes: Regular Season.
Medway H.S. 2 0 A.B. Lucas S.S.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 4 3 Oakridge S.S.
Location: Kinsmen B Notes: Regular Season.
Clarke Road S.S. 1 6 A.B. Lucas S.S.
Location: Medway Arena Notes: Regular Season.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. 1 6 A.B. Lucas S.S.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 5 3 South C.I.
Location: Farquharson A Notes: Regular Season.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 5 0 Strathroy D.C.I.
Location: Gemini Green Notes: Regular Season.
Central S.S. 0 5 A.B. Lucas S.S.
Location: Stronach B Notes: Regular Season.
Strathroy D.C.I. 2 3 A.B. Lucas S.S.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 5 2 Strathroy D.C.I.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 4 3 Saunders S.S.
Saunders S.S. 1 4 A.B. Lucas S.S.
A.B. Lucas S.S. 1 2 Medway H.S.
Medway H.S. 6 1 A.B. Lucas S.S.


text:
Dietrich Ernst Heinrich von Linsingen (* 12. Februar 1687; † 19. Mai 1762 in Siebleben) war fürstlich-anhalt-zerbstischer Oberschenk, Wirklicher Geheimer Rat und Kanzler sowie Erb-, Lehn- und Gerichtsherr auf Burgwalde im kurmainzischen Eichsfeld.

Leben

Er stammte aus der eichsfeldischen Linie des Adelsgeschlechts von Linsingen und war der Sohn des für seine Schönheit bekannten Friedrich Heinrich von Linsingen (1669–1701). Friedrich Emanuel von Linsingen war sein jüngerer Bruder, der jedoch keine Nachkommen hinterließ.

Nach dem frühen Tod des Vaters im Jahre 1701 stand er gemeinsam mit seinem Bruder unter Vormundschaft. Gemeinschaftlich ließen sie zunächst den ererbten väterlichen Besitz verwalten, bevor er sich im Jahre 1723 zu einem Erbvergleich bereiterklärte. Durch Loswahl fiel das im Eichsfeld gelegene Rittergut Burgwalde an ihn, das mit Birkenfelde ein eigenes adliges Patrimonialgericht bildete.

Seine Schulbildung hatte Ernst von Linsingen am Gymnasium in Heiligenstadt erhalten. Im Anschluss daran schlug er eine Verwaltungslaufbahn bis zum Geheimen Rat und Kanzler am anhaltinischen Hof in Zerbst ein. Als Gesandter wurden ihm mehrere Aufträge im In- und Ausland übertragen.

Nachdem er aus Altersgründen in Zerbst seinen Abschied als Geheimer Rat und Kanzler genommen hatte, setzte er sich auf dem bei Gotha gelegenen Schloss Mönchhof zu Ruhe, wo er auch starb. Sein Leichnam wurde am 22. Mai 1762 in der Kirche in Siebleben begraben.

Familie
Er heiratete am 23. November 1719 Johanna Magdalena geborene von Avemann (* 1703) und hinterließ fünf Söhne, darunter Adolph Ernst von Linsingen und Ludwig Carl von Linsingen.

Literatur
 Adolph Ernst von Linsingen: Geschlechts-Folge der uralten Ritter- und Stiftsmäßigen Familie von Linsingen, Erfurt, 1774.
 Ludwig Carl Freyherr von Linsingen: Authentischer Beweis der Agnation beyder, der anno 1721 ausgestorbenen Hessischen und der im Eichsfelde blühenden Branchen der Ritter- und Stiftsmäßigen Freyherrlichen Familie von Linsingen, Heiligenstadt 1792.
 Detlev Freiherr von Linsingen: Zur Geschichte der Herren, Freiherren und Grafen von Linsingen zu Linsingen, Jesberg, Asphe usw. in Hessen, zu Birkenfelde, Udra, Rengelrode, Burgwalde usw. im Eichsfeld, zu Ricklingen, Adenstedt, Gestorf usw. im Hannoverschen sowie in Holland, Frankreich, England, Südafrika und Brasilien (= Schriftenreihe des Heimat- und Geschichtsvereins Jesberg e. V. Band 1), 2004.

Einzelnachweise

Hofbeamter
Geheimrat
Person (Zerbst/Anhalt)
Dietrich Ernst Heinrich
Deutscher
Geboren 1687
Gestorben 1762
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Stephen Allen Womack (Russellville, Arkansas; 18 de febrero de 1957) es un político estadounidense que se desempeña como representante de los Estados Unidos por el  desde 2011. Fue alcalde de Rogers antes de su elección al Congreso.

Biografía

Alcalde de Rogers
En 1998, fue elegido alcalde de Rogers y ocupó el cargo durante 12 años. Durante su mandato como alcalde, buscó tomar medidas enérgicas contra la inmigración ilegal asignando dos agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Naturalización al Departamento de Policía de Rogers. Como resultado, el Fondo Educativo y de Defensa Legal México-Estadounidense presentó una demanda colectiva contra la policía de la ciudad, acusándola de discriminación racial.

Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos
En 2010,  firmó un compromiso patrocinado por Americans for Prosperity prometiendo votar en contra de cualquier legislación sobre el calentamiento global que aumente los impuestos.

Era miembro del Comité de Asignaciones de la Cámara de Representantes cuando en 2014 los legisladores insertaron una prohibición en un proyecto de ley de asignaciones que impediría que el personal del USDA trabajara para terminar las regulaciones relacionadas con la industria cárnica.

En un episodio de 2015 de su programa Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, John Oliver criticó a Womack por bloquear la aplicación de las leyes propuestas por la Administración de Inspección de Granos, Empacadores y Corrales que fueron diseñadas para proteger a los criadores de pollos de ser amenazados o castigados por las empresas por las que ellos trabajarían si hablaran sobre sus experiencias agrícolas.

En 2015, condenó el fallo de la Corte Suprema en Obergefell vs. Hodges, que sostuvo que la prohibición del matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo violaba la constitución.

En diciembre de 2017, votó a favor de la Ley de Empleos y Reducción de Impuestos de 2017.

El 19 de mayo de 2021, fue uno de los 35 republicanos que se unieron a los 217 demócratas presentes en la votación para aprobar la legislación para establecer la Comisión del 6 de enero, destinada a investigar el asalto al Capitolio.

El 30 de noviembre, votó a favor de la H. R. 550: Ley de Modernización de la Infraestructura de Inmunización de 2021. El proyecto de ley ayudaba a crear bases de datos confidenciales basadas en la población que mantienen un registro de las administraciones de vacunas.

Hasta octubre de 2021, había votado de acuerdo con la posición declarada de Joe Biden el 15% de las veces.

En 2022, fue uno de los 39 republicanos que votaron a favor de la Ley de Modernización de la Tarifa de Presentación de Fusiones de 2022, un paquete antimonopolio que tomaría medidas enérgicas contra las corporaciones por comportamiento anticompetitivo.

Vida personal
Asiste a Cross Church Pinnacle Hills, una Iglesia bautista del sur en Rogers, Arkansas. Él y su esposa, Terri, tienen tres hijos y tres nietos.

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 Congresista Steve Womack sitio web oficial de la Cámara de Representantes
 Steve Womack para el Congreso

Alumnado de la Universidad Tech de Arkansas
Miembros de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos por Arkansas


text:
package org.traccar.protocol;

import org.junit.Ignore;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.traccar.ProtocolTest;
import org.traccar.model.Command;

public class HuabaoProtocolEncoderTest extends ProtocolTest {

    @Ignore
    @Test
    public void testEncode() throws Exception {

        HuabaoProtocolEncoder encoder = new HuabaoProtocolEncoder(null);

        Command command = new Command();
        command.setDeviceId(1);
        command.setType(Command.TYPE_ENGINE_STOP);

        verifyCommand(encoder, command, binary("7e81050001080201000027001ff0467e"));

    }

}


The Modelling and Policy Impact Analysis (MPIA) program assists developing country researchers in constructing models of their national economy to simulate the impact of macroeconomic shocks/policies on various dimensions of poverty and welfare. To do so, it applies a combination of macro-micro modelling and simulation techniques including, for the macroeconomic level approach, a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) framework. CGE models account for the structural aspects of a country's economy, i.e. the interactions among sectors and institutions, and their links with the global economy.
In recent years, however, MPIA leaders came to find that there was a need for reference models that were more elaborate and closer to real-life conditions than the ones that had been used so far. Moreover, policymakers face new challenges that call for impact assessments that look both forward in time and beyond national boundaries, to the global economy. And so lead researchers of the MPIA program (Bernard Decaluwe, Andre Lemelin, Helene Maisonnave, Veronique Robichaud) have devoted time and energy to creating a series of new standard CGE models that can respond to these needs.
The first of these models, PEP 1-1, designed for country-level studies, was developed as an operational tool for researchers to easily adapt a relatively standard model to their national economy. Building on this basic model, PEP 1-t was created to include evolution in time. Technically speaking, PEP 1-t is a «recursive dynamic» version of PEP 1-1 (which is a static or single-period model): it extends the analysis to multiple periods, linking each one to the past through variables inherited from the previous period.
Since the beginning of 2011, no less than 3 new PEP standard CGE models have been put online. PEP-w-1 is a single-period WORLD model and PEP-w-t is its recursive dynamic version. These new models are based on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) world-level data base. The latest innovation of the PEP-MPIA team is PEP-w-t-fin, which is, to our knowledge, the only recursive dynamic world model that includes international financial assets.
PEP-1-1 is to be our basis, from which to further deepen our understanding of CGE analysis and develop modeling techniques that will tackle new problems. But, both in sharing our experience and exploring new paths, we want to remain in the realm of operational model building. So our intentions are all at once pedagogical, experimental, and practical.
The present model differs significantly from Decaluwé, Martens and Savard's EXTER model, which has been used extensively in the past by PEP researchers who had been trained in one of the many modeling "Schools" held over the years in many parts of the world. In many respects, the PEP-1-1 model is richer than the more pedagogical EXTER.
First, the PEP-1-1 model distinguishes several categories of workers and of capital. Also, PEP-1-1 is capable of taking into account a broader set of tax instruments, and it models all possible transfers between institutions (agents). Finally, the GAMS code, presented in a separate document, has been written in a general form, thanks to the use of sets. This will facilitate the application of PEP-1-1 to variously aggregated SAMs, by means of a few simple steps to make the SAM directly readable into the GAMS program.
This document provides some hints to debug a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model written in GAMS. The aim of this document is to provide a methodology to help the readers debug their own errors. The document tries to be systematic and pedagogical.
Some errors have been introduced in the model. They are a sample of the type of mistakes that may be encountered while running the GAMS code, such as compilation errors, execution, calibration and specification errors. This document is not an exhaustive list of all the different problems that may be encountered. The intention is to guide the reader on how to debug his or her code using hypothetical examples.
The PEP-1-t model follows the PEP-1-1 single-country, single-period model. It is a recursive dynamic model, the second research tool of the Standard PEP Model project that emerged spontaneously from the long-standing association between the co-authors. With this model, we pursue the goals that we had initially set ourselves: to crystallize our joint CGE modeling experience, and to share the result with the PEP MPIA Network, and with the modeling community at large. In addition, PEP-1-t is one step towards a deepening of our understanding of CGE analysis and the development modeling techniques that will tackle new problems. We nonetheless persist in wanting to remain in the realm of operational model building. In that respect, we are fortunate that three members of the team have been involved in a Unicef-Financial and Fiscal Commission project set up to analyse the impact of the crisis on child poverty in South Africa. This was an opportunity to apply a version of PEP-1-t adapted to the South African context and the project objectives. The adapted model was subjected to extensive maltreatment; that flushed out a few bugs which we promptly corrected. In the end, all were quite happy with the model's performance. As usual, we have tried to eliminate as many errors and « misprints » as possible in this document. Needless to say, we welcome comments that will help us improve either the model or its presentation.
This paper documents the PEP-w-1 model developed by four members of the PEP research network. The PEP-w-1 model extends the PEP-1-1 single-country, single-period model to a worldwide multiregional model. It is the third research tool of the Standard PEP Model project that emerged spontaneously from the friendship and long-standing association between the co-authors. With this model, we pursue the goals that we had initially set ourselves: to crystallize our joint CGE modeling experience, and to share the result with the PEP MPIA Network, and with the modeling community at large. In addition, PEP-w-1 is another step towards a deepening of our understanding of CGE analysis and the development modeling techniques that will tackle new problems. In a sense, however, PEP-w-1 is a transitional model, a stepping stone towards the recursive dynamic PEP-w-t, and its successor PEP-w-t-fin, with international financial assets.
NEW VERSION! Version 4.0 replaces version 3.3. Changes from the previous version are considerable. First of all, PEP-w-1 version 4.0 uses the GTAP 8.1 database, whereas version 3.3 used GTAP 7. Other significant modifications include changes in the model itself and changes in the parametrization procedure. In several instances, formulations in the GAMS code were also altered to clarify, uniformize and streamline the code. The interested user will find details in the "What's new in version 4.0?" section of PEP-w-1 v4.0.pdf below.
The authors wish to thank the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP: www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu) for granting us permission to distribute our 14 region, 4 industry aggregation of the GTAP 8.1 data base. As usual, we have tried to eliminate as many errors and « misprints » as possible in this document. Needless to say, we welcome comments that will help us improve either the model or its presentation.
The PEP-w-t model extends the PEP-w-1 worldwide multiregional model to a recursive dynamic model. Its dynamics is similar to the dynamics of PEP-1-t, insofar as the GTAP database permits. PEP-w-t is the fourth research tool of the Standard PEP Model project that emerged spontaneously from the friendship and long-standing association between the co-authors. With this model, we pursue the goals that we had initially set ourselves: to crystallize our joint CGE modeling experience, and to share the result with the PEP MPIA Network, and with the modeling community at large. In addition, PEP-w-t is another step towards a deepening of our understanding of CGE analysis and the development modeling techniques that will tackle new problems.
Version 4.1 replaces versions 4.0 and 1.4. PEP-w-t version 4.1 uses the GTAP 8.1 database. Changes since version 1.4 have been considerable. With respect to version 4.0, version 4.1 is an update. For that reason, the version 4.0 document remains valid and has not been replaced. But we urge users to take a look at the document entitled "The PEP standard multi-region, recursive dynamic world CGE model: Update, with a reference scenario".
The authors wish to thank the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP: www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu) for granting us permission to distribute our 14 region, 4 industry aggregation of the GTAP 8.1 data base.
As usual, we have tried to eliminate as many errors and « misprints » as possible in this document. Needless to say, we welcome comments that will help us improve either the model or its presentation.
The PEP-w-t-fin model extends the PEP-w-t recursive dynamic world model to take into account international financial assets. PEP-w-t-fin is the fifth research tool of the Standard PEP Model project that emerged spontaneously from the friendship and long-standing association between the co-authors. With this model, we pursue the goals that we had initially set ourselves: to crystallize our joint CGE modeling experience, and to share the result with the PEP MPIA Network, and with the modeling community at large. In addition, PEP-w-t-fin is another step towards a deepening of our understanding of CGE analysis and the development modeling techniques that will tackle new problems.
PEP-w-t-fin has already been applied to examine some implications of the 2008-2011 financial and economic crisis. Preliminary results have been presented at the Thirteenth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Penang, Malaysia, 9-11 juin 2010 (Lemelin et al., 2010). The model has also been the object of an article in Economic Modelling (Lemelin et al., 2013).
Version 4.1 replaces all previous versions of our model with financial assets, and it introduces considerable changes, in addition to be based on the GTAP 8.1 database. Like PEP-w-t-fin2, version 4.1 of PEP-w-t-fin (we decided to drop the "2") takes into account the bilateral structure of international financial assets, on the basis of constructed data.
The Modelling and Policy Impact Analysis (MPIA) program assists developing country researchers in constructing models of their national economy to simulate the impact of macroeconomic shocks/policies on various dimensions of poverty and welfare. To do so, it applies a combination of macro-micro modelling and simulation techniques including, for the macroeconomic level approach, a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) framework. CGE models are usually built on the basis of data assembled in a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), which needs to be balanced. On this page, modelers will find SAM-balancing tools which have been developed or adapted by PEP researchers.
SAMBAL is a simple computer program to balance a SAM. Computable general equilibrium modeling requires a consistent and coherent benchmark data set, usually organized in the form of a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). These data generally come from quite diverse sources and correspond to different periods of time. As a result, they often present inconsistencies. SAMBAL makes it possible to reconcile this information in order to balance a SAM. The program minimizes the changes to the base data using one of two optimizing techniques, cross-entropy (the default) or least squares. The program is an attractive and easy alternative to the arbitrary and time-consuming manual and other haphazard methods sometimes used to balance SAMs.
GPCEMA stands for « General Purpose Cross-Entropy Matrix Adjustment ». The matrix adjustment program is based on the minimum information-gain principle (also known as minimum cross-entropy), as it has been extended to deal with negative entries by Junius and Oosterhaven (2003). In addition to handling standard matrix adjustment problems, the program automatically deals with situations where row sums, column sums, or both are constrained to zero. It is based on LEMELIN, André (2009), « A GRAS variant solving for minimum information loss », Economic Systems Research, 21(4), p. 399-408.
Robinson, Sherman, Andrea Cattaneo, and Moataz El-Said. 2001. "Updating and Estimating a Social Accounting Matrix Using Cross Entropy Methods." Economic Systems Research, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 47-64.