text:
The Sensational Isadora Duncan
I finished Isadora: A Sensational Life by Peter Kurth on the train ride home on Monday. I loved this book, and have suddenly become very interested in learning more about Isadora, the pioneer of modern dance. Even reduced to still photos and the remains of her letters and autobiography, she has an amazing charismatic, hypnotic presence.
The dancer began her life in San Francisco, but after a brief career touring as a dancer/pantomime actor in the US, she left with her family for England, and then Paris where she became recognized for her progressive work in natural movement dance. She was inspired by Neo-Classicism, and created a great controversy when she began dancing to concert music--music not written for dance, such as Chopin, Liszt, and Beethoven.
The descriptions of her dancing by her contemporaries are fantastic. They hailed her for her lightness of movement, the way she floated over the stage. The pictures that were taken of her during her life do not do her justice, I am sure, but they do capture some of the magnetic qualities of her appearance.
While Isadora was quite talented as a dancer and artist, in her personal affairs she was eccentric, and toward the end, quite self-destructive. She had many, many lovers in her lifetime, a few long-term attachments, and two of them produced children. When her children died in a freak car accident, Isadora suffered a severe breakdown, and she never truly recovered. She often descended into drinking binges, spent money she didn't have, and lived recklessly.
In reading the story of her life, I pitied the way that she ended her life, with her disastrous marriage to a Soviet poet and the ruin of her school in Moscow. Isadora experienced quite a lot of misery, and the fact that she was able to continue her art nearly until the end is a triumph of her amazing will. I was completely fascinated by her personality, her determination, and her Art; in the beginning, Isadora was an amazing entrepreneur, and I think today she would be fully capable of manipulating New Media into a self-marketing machine.
Sadly, Isadora died in 1927 without ever being filmed dancing. She did leave a legacy of students who carried on her dancing, and today exists a foundation of dancers dedicated to honoring her art.
Categories: art, history, women


Cummins has partnered with a college in Melbourne as part of a program to develop the future generation of apprentices.
The new Trade Training Centre at Point Cook Senior Secondary College in Melbourne is equipped with diesel engines and other equipment donated by Cummins.
"Our aim is to influence the career pathways of students and recruit some of these students directly to Cummins' apprentice program," says Kate Evans, apprentice program manager at the Cummins Laverton branch in Melbourne.
Cummins South Pacific staff in front of the plaque recognising Cummins Australia pioneer Clarrie Malvern. From left: Neil Kinder (technician) Fallon Te Paa (intern), Leigh Travis (3rd year mechanical apprentice), Rachael Reinheimer (manager – marketing and events), Mick Cristaldi (branch manager – Laverton), Penelope Walter (director – workplace and community environment), Vicki Pafumi (corporate responsibility contractor), Matt Smakman (4th year mechanical apprentice), Kate Evans (apprentice program manager).
Cummins employs over 200 apprentices in the South Pacific region and considers the new Trade Training Centre vital to encouraging apprentices to the industry.
The diesel engines donated by Cummins – one of which is a fully operational training module – are housed in the Trade Training Centre's heavy diesel training room named after the late Clarrie Malvern, a Cummins pioneer in Australia.
Malvern's career with Cummins spanned 1955-1984 during which time he established the foundations for Cummins' outstanding service support network in Australia which remains the benchmark in the diesel engine industry today.
Andrew Penca has been appointed managing director and general manager of leading heavy-duty diesel engine supplier Cummins South Pacific.
Cummins South Pacific, which operates close to 40 sales and service facilities in Australia, New Zealand and PNG, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cummins Inc., the world's largest independent manufacturer of diesel engines.
Penca joined Cummins Inc. in the USA in late 2007 as assistant to the president and COO, a role in which he led a number of key strategy and operations-related projects.
The latest issue of Cummins Commentary features a story on Australia's largest cotton producer, Cubbie Station, which has switched to the Cummins QSK19 for longevity and fuel economy in its irrigation pumping operations. There's a host of other stories on customers in mining, trucking, marine, and rail plus a flashback to the Cummins Diesel Special, one of the world's most famous race cars.
The latest issue of Cummins Mining magazine features a host of equipment info from four Australian mine sites, including how the first Hitachi EX8000 backhoe excavator in the world – powered by dual Cummins QSK60 Tier 2 engines – is performing at Meandu coal mine in south east Queensland.


Today, I am happy to make my completed doctoral dissertation available to the public. The dissertation examines what drives, and hinders, wireline network practices that are enabled by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) routers. Such routers are in wide use by Internet service providers (ISPs) in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, and offer the theoretical capacity for service providers to intrusively monitor, mediate, and modify their subscribers' data packets in real or near-real time. Given the potential uses of the routers, I was specifically interested in how the politics of deep packet inspection intersected with the following issues: network management practices, content control and copyright, advertising, and national security/policing.
Based on the potential capabilities of deep packet inspection technologies – and the warnings that such technologies could herald the 'end of the Internet' as it is know by citizens of the West – I explored what has actually driven the uptake of the technology in Canada, the US, and the UK. I ultimately found that though there were variations in different states' regulatory processes, regulators tended to arrive at common conclusions. Regulatory convergence stands in opposition to the divergence that arose as elected officials entered into the DPI debates: such officials have been guided by domestic politics, and tended to reach significantly different conclusions. In effect, while high-expertise regulatory networks reached common conclusions, elected political officials have demonstrated varying degrees of technical expertise and instead have focused on the politics of communications surveillance. In addition to regulators and elected officials, court systems have also been involved in adjudicating how, when, and under what conditions DPI can be used to mediate data traffic. Effectively, government institutions have served as the primary arenas in which DPI issues are taken up, though the involved government actors often exhibited their own interests in how issues were to be taken up or resolved. The relative role of these different state bodies in the case studies arguably reflects underlying political cultures: whereas regulators are principally involved in the Canadian situation, elected officials and courts play a significant role in the US, whereas the UK has principally seen DPI debates settled by regulators and elected officials.
Ultimately, while there are important comparative public policy conclusions to the dissertation, such conclusions only paint part of the picture about the politics of deep packet inspection. The final chapter of the dissertation discusses why the concepts of surveillance and privacy are helpful, but ultimately insufficient, to appreciate the democratic significance of deep packet inspection equipment. In response, I suggest that deliberative democratic theory can provide useful normative critiques of DPI-based packet inspection. Moreover, these critiques can result in practical policy proposals that can defray DPI-based practices capable of detrimentally stunting discourse between citizens using the Internet for communications. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this research can be advanced in the future; while I have sought to clear away some of the murk concerning the technology, my research represents only the first of many steps to reorient Internet policies such that they support, as opposed to threaten, democratic values.
Surveillance on the Internet today extends beyond collecting intelligence at the layer of the Web: major telecommunications companies use technologies to monitor, mediate, and modify data traffic in real time. Such companies functionally represent communicative bottlenecks through which online actions must pass before reaching the global Internet and are thus perfectly positioned to develop rich profiles of their subscribers and modify what they read, do, or say online. And some companies have sought to do just that. A key technology, deep packet inspection (DPI), facilitates such practices.
In the course of evaluating the practices, regulations, and politics that have driven DPI in Canada, the US, and UK it has become evident that the adoption of DPI tends to be dependent on socio-political and economic conditions. Simply put, market or governmental demand is often a prerequisite for the technology's adoption by ISPs. However, the existence of such demand is no indication of the success of such technologies; regulatory or political advocacy can lead to the restriction or ejection of particular DPI-related practices.
The dissertation proceeds by first outlining how DPI functions and then what has driven its adoption in Canada, the US, and UK. Three conceptual frameworks, path dependency, international governance, and domestic framing, are used to explain whether power structures embedded into technological systems themselves, international standards bodies, or domestic politics are principally responsible for the adoption or resistance to the technology in each nation. After exploring how DPI has arisen as an issue in the respective states I argue that though domestic conditions have principally driven DPI's adoption, and though the domestic methods of governing DPI and its associated practices have varied across cases, the outcomes of such governance are often quite similar. More broadly, I argue that while the technology and its associated practices constitute surveillance and can infringe upon individuals' privacy, the debates around DPI must more expansively consider how DPI raises existential risks to deliberative democratic states. I conclude by offering some suggestions on defraying the risks DPI poses to such states.
My formal dissertation research focuses on deep packet inspection technologies, and how they serve as a nexus for competing political interests. Today, I'm making available a draft chapter from my dissertation. In this first chapter I trace the lineage of deep packet inspection (DPI) systems; how do shallow and medium packet inspection systems function, and what were their limitations, and what is novel about DPI itself?
Chapter one serves as an introduction to the theoretical capabilities of the systems; I am not making a claim that all DPI appliances are capable of achieving all, or even half, of the various use cases that I outline. As such, this writing builds on a much earlier working paper that I produced several years ago; core differences between the past work and current chapter surround the detail given to various uses of DPI and a more limited argumentative position. This limit was imposed because this is the first chapter of the dissertation; my analysis and broader theoretical conclusions about the technology and its applications will come in the last two chapters (six and seven).
Parsons, Christopher. (2013). "(Draft) Chapter One: Deep Packet Inspection and Its Predecessors, v. 3.5," Technology, Thoughts, and Trinkets (blog). Published February 6, 2013. URL: https://www.christopher-parsons.com/Main/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/DPI-and-Its-Predecessors-3.5.pdf.
This chapter traces the lineage of contemporary packet inspection systems that monitor data traffic flowing across the Internet in real time. After discussing how shallow, medium, and deep packet inspection systems function, I outline the significance of this technology's most recent iteration, deep packet inspection, and how it could be used to fulfill technical, economic, and political goals. Achieving these goals, however, requires that deep packet inspection be regarded as a surveillance practice. Indeed, deep packet inspection is, at its core, a surveillance-based technology that is used by private actors, such as Internet service providers, to monitor and mediate citizens' communications. Given the importance of Internet-based communications to every facet of Western society, from personal communications, to economic, cultural and political exchanges, deep packet inspection must be evaluated not just in the abstract but with attention towards how society shapes its deployment and how it may shape society.
Lawful access legislation is upon Canadians. Introduced by Minister Toews as 'with the government or with the child-pornographers' legislation, lawful access will radically expand the scope of Canadians' personal information that government authorities can collect without a warrant. Personal information would be turned over to the government under new powers regardless of whether an individual's actions had violated the Criminal Code. Lawful access powers will be granted to formal policing organizations, including municipal, provincial, and federal police, to Canada's spy agency, CSIS, and to the Competition Bureau. Since the legislation has been tabled, media and experts alike have been scratching their heads to understand the significance of changes between the previous and current versions of the bill. In a subsequent post, I'll be writing about how the delimited subscriber information fields that authorities want to access is excessive, and I will demonstrate how these fields will be used and can be abused.
In this post, however, I am taking a step back from the legislation proper. Rather than talk about lawful access, I want to make available a book chapter, written for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, that unpacks some of the surveillance capacities within Canada's current telecommunications networks. The chapter, titled "Is Your ISP Snooping On You?" (.pdf) first appeared in The Internet Tree: The State of Telecom Policy in Canada 3.0. Specifically, the chapter focuses on a technology that is popularly called 'deep packet inspection.' Canadian network agents, such as Internet Service Providers, have deployed these technologies to manage their networks, throttle some kinds of data traffic (e.g. P2P file sharing-related traffic), and track subscriber usage of the networks. This same technology, however, has significant privacy and surveillance implications, insofar as it examines the depths of a data transmission: it is the metaphorical equivalent of not just looking at a postcard, but examining the photo and colour of ink on the postcard to make decisions about how to deliver/treat the message on the card. It is with these network-based technologies in mind that we should reflect on the significance of expanded police access to digital transmissions.
Why is deep packet inspection significant? Because lawful access in Canada might be understood as 'level one' of a three-stage surveillance process. The United Kingdom is arguably at 'level two' at the moment, on the basis that it possesses an embedded surveillance culture and infrastructure that sees over half a million requests for 'transactional' (i.e. everything but the words/pictures of a postcard) data each year. The third level, also being contemplated in the UK, would see deep packet inspection devices repurposed/installed by law enforcement and national security organizations to monitor, mine, and mediate data transmissions between UK citizens in near-real time. Canada isn't at level three – we're not even at level two just yet – but our ISPs have experience with embedding technologies that make level-two and -three scenarios possible. Thus, to understand the potential surveillance trajectory associated with lawful access, Canadians must understand existing Canadian network configurations to recognize that this legislation is the first of many stages, and question whether we really want to start down this path in the first place.


text:
package scala.build

import sbt._

/** This object defines keys that should be visible with an unqualified name in all .sbt files and the command line */
object BuildSettings extends AutoPlugin {
  object autoImport {
    lazy val antStyle = settingKey[Boolean]("Use ant-style incremental builds instead of name-hashing")
    lazy val baseVersion = settingKey[String]("The base version number from which all others are derived")
    lazy val baseVersionSuffix = settingKey[String]("Identifies the kind of version to build")
    lazy val mimaReferenceVersion = settingKey[Option[String]]("Scala version number to run MiMa against")
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
<!DOCTYPE project SYSTEM "../dtd/Project.dtd">

<project name="Clustering smoke test" default="webtest">
  <target name="webtest" depends="webtest.utf8, webtest.utf16" />

  <target name="webtest.utf16">
    <webtest name="Clustering from UTF8 file">
      <clusterFromFile fileName="../src-test/xml/carrot2-kaczynski.utf8.xml" />
    </webtest>
  </target>

  <target name="webtest.utf8">
    <webtest name="Clustering from UTF16 file">
      <clusterFromFile fileName="../src-test/xml/carrot2-kaczynski.utf16.xml" />
    </webtest>
  </target>

  <macrodef name="clusterFromFile">
    <attribute name="fileName" />

    <sequential>
      <invoke url="/" description="Get quick start page" />
      <setRadioButton htmlId="source-from-file" />
      <setFileField name="dcs.c2stream" fileName="@{fileName}" />

      <!-- Wait for AJAX stuff to load -->
      <sleep seconds="5" />
      <clickButton name="submit" />
      <!-- As long as we get 200 code, it's fine. We have more coverage in unit tests. -->
    </sequential>
  </macrodef>
</project>


How a Dentist Visit Saves You Money and More in the New Year!
There are many resolutions people make come the new year. Losing weight, eating better, spending less money and spending more time with family are just a few notable choices. But did you know that committing to routine dental visits can also make a big difference? In fact, regular visits have the potential to do favors for your other resolutions as well.
If one of your resolutions is to save money or stay healthy, there's no reason why preventive checkups and cleanings can't be a part of them!
Saving Money in the New Year?
If there's one thing families wish they could save money on, it's healthcare costs. The good news is preventive care is largely considered to be the cheapest form of care out there, whether it's a physical from a general practitioner or a routine exam from a dentist. The fact is if you want to avoid spending more on restorative or emergency dental care costs, (or most costly care for that matter), then preventive treatments are the most effective way to do so.
Furthermore, emergency and restorative costs are some of the most expensive forms of dental care you can buy. If you're goal is to save money, then it shouldn't involve skipping preventive visits. Routine exams are proven to reduce your risk of needing an extensive treatment, whether it be a root canal or custom-made crown.
A routine visit entails a thorough examination, but it also involves a comprehensive cleaning of your teeth, gums and other oral structures. This works to remove not just plaque, but it's calcified form known as tartar (or calculus.) This form of plaque is far more difficult to remove and requires the aid of a professional to do so.
While the removal of plaque is crucial to preventing tooth decay and gum disease, removing it isn't only doing your mouth a favor. Research over the past several years has only solidified the fact that oral health is linked to systemic health. For example, those with chronic gum disease have shown to be more likely to develop other conditions, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. By keeping a professionally-cleaned mouth and making time for exams, you work towards achieving whole-body wellness.
If there's one thing families hate, it's sacrificing time with the family for doctor's visits. After a long day at work, the last thing you want to do is be stuck in the dental chair for an extraction or root canal treatment. Furthermore, those with chronic dental problems are more likely to miss work or take vacation time in order to complete dental treatments.
However, those who visit regularly (as well as practice at-home care) are significantly less likely to spend as much time in the dental chair because their risk for dental issues is lower.
This new year, it's easy to make dental appointments a part of your routine. Schedule an appointment today and achieve whole-body wellness!
Dr. Alex Martin earned his DDS degree from Creighton University. He keeps up-to-date on the latest advancements in dentistry, ensuring that your visit only includes the most effective dental care possible. If you need a routine exam or cleaning performed, feel free to contact him through his website.
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France to 'strongly reduce' movement to slow spread of virus
Associated Press News
LORNE COOK and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — France is imposing nationwide restrictions on how far from their homes people can go and for what purpose as part of the country's strategy to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. French President Emmanuel Macron said that "movements will be very strongly reduced" for 15 days starting at midday Tuesday. He says residents will only be permitted to leave their homes for necessary trips such as going to work or the supermarket. Macron said in televised remarks that the government decided to order the restrictions because people haven't complied with earlier public health measures and "we are at war." Macron added that any violations will be penalized, without elaborating how. As of earlier Monday, France had reporte
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Sweden halts approved COVID-19 vaccine use for people under 30
Riverside County sees drop in COVID hospitalizations
UC Riverside to hold 2 weeks of remote classes due to COVID concerns
First 5 Riverside County accepting nominations for 2023 Champion For Children...
Max Homa Wins Farmers Insurance Open By Two Strokes
Pala Casino Spa Resort to present Spyro Gyra & Peter White...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Chief Havoc: considered by some as the greatest ever
Thursday 6th August 2015 12:37 pm. Duncan Stearn
WHEN the Australian Greyhound Racing Association (AGRA) introduced honorary membership to the Group Racing Hall of Fame, the first three greyhounds inducted as honorary members were Highly Blessed, Zoom Top, and Chief Havoc (Trion x Thelma's Mate). The latter was the first truly great greyhound to appear on the racing scene in Australia following the end of the Second World War in 1945, and was quickly considered as the greyhound equivalent of the mighty racehorse Bernborough, his racing contemporary.
Chief Havoc was a white and fawn dog, one of a litter of eight puppies (six dogs and two bitches) whelped in Gunnedah in September 1944. The future Chief Havoc, or Patches as he was known at home, was sold for eight guineas to Jack Millerd, a storekeeper of Carrol, a village near Gunnedah, at six weeks of age.
Millerd had been a champion amateur jockey around the Gunnedah district but developed a liking for greyhounds, an affection not shared by his father, Herb Millerd, who was the village blacksmith and a racehorse trainer.
Jack Millerd's wife wasn't keen on greyhounds either but allowed him to purchase the future Chief Havoc and soon became fond of the pup. Jack knew nothing about training greyhounds and at first considered keeping Patches simply as a surrogate watchdog. That all changed with a visit to the Werris Creek track one Sunday morning.
Trainers were trialling their charges and one looked as if it would be going around on its own. The owner invited Jack to give Patches a match with his charge. Although he had not been trained to race, Patches won by six lengths. When Millerd discovered the greyhound he'd beaten was the local star performer he realised Patches had the makings of a racer.
So, aged 19 months he began his career in a heat of the Grafton Easter Maiden over 440 yards (402 metres) on April 20 1946. He won by five lengths. He then took out the final two days later, leading all the way to win by five lengths in the 10-dog field and running 24.7, just 1/10th outside the track record.
After scoring by four lengths over 430 yards (394 metres) at Maitland he then contested the Tamworth Derby over 490 yards (448 metres). On a wet track he blitzed his opposition, scoring by 10 lengths in 26.9, just 4/10ths outside the track record.
He then won by 10 lengths over 525 yards at Cessnock (480 metres) running 28.0 to equal the track record held by Double Rib.
On July 18 Chief Havoc suffered his first defeat in six starts when beaten a head by the smart Wooden Mein the July Cup over 440 yards at Grafton. Wooden Me ran 24.7 to equal Chief Havoc's track record.
Two days later Chief Havoc made amends with an all-the-way five lengths victory at Grafton over 440 yards, running 24.6 to set equal the track record.
On 10 August, Chief Havoc was unplaced for the first time, running fifth behind Uberousin a heat of the 430 yards Maitland Derby after striking interference.
He quickly bounced back, winning his next five straight. He scored by eight lengths at Parkes over 545 yards (498 metres) on August 31 in 31.0, just 1/10th outside the track record. He then equalled Ribbie'strack record with a 29.7 win over 530 yards (485 metres) in the Gosford Championship, defeating the smart Young Signby four lengths.
His next two starts were at Casino. He scored by 10 lengths each time, the first over 520 yards (475 metres) in a record 27.7, taking a massive 6/10ths off the previous mark and in the second, over 440 yards (402 metres), he ran 23.3, setting a new track record. A Sydney syndicate made Millerd an offer of a then-whopping £1,000 ($2,000) for the dog. Millerd declined.
At Lismore on October 5 Patches faced just three opponents (including the track record holder Havoc Boy) and won by 10 lengths, running 26.5 to take 4/10ths off the track mark for 488 yards (447 metres).
The same Sydney syndicate again offered to purchase Chief Havoc, this time increasing their offer to a phenomenal £1,500. At the time a King's Cross investment property, returning an annual income of £610, was being offered for sale for £6,000. Wages for unskilled labourers were around £4 per week. Millerd again rejected the offer.
On October 26 Chief Havoc raced over 325 yards (297 metres) at Parkes in a match race against the flying machine Beau McGeefor a £500 ($1,000) side wager. That amount was a record for a race in New South Wales.
Beau McGee jumped quickly and soon led by two and a half lengths. This was down to a length at the halfway mark but Beau McGee held on to defeat Chief Havoc by a head, equalling the track record of 18.1. For Beau McGee the win was his ninth in 13 starts.
Chief Havoc contested the four-dog Champion of Champions Stake over 530 yards on a heavy track at Gosford against Beau McGee, Jean's Dream and Young Sign (who would later become Australia's highest stakes winner). On a wet track, Chief Havoc jumped in front and led from Jean's Dream, Beau McGee and Young Sign. In the back straight, Jean's Dream wrested the lead from him and led by a length into the home straight. In the run to the judge Patches came again on the outside and raced away to down Jean's Dream by two lengths in a record-equalling 29.7.
Chief Havoc made his long-awaited city debut, running over 500 yards (457 metres) at Harold Park, on November 16. He was placed straight into top grade and opposed by track record holder Blonde Glen (who had raced 12 times at Harold Park for nine wins, and held the track record at 26.8), Jean's Dream (eight wins and eight placings at Harold Park from 17 starts) and Terracena (who had won eight races on end in 1945).
Drawn in box two, Chief Havoc went out as favourite. Terracena jumped to the lead but was quickly headed off on the rain-affected track by Chief Havoc who raced away to down Terracena and Blonde Glen by six lengths in a fast 27.0.
On November 24, Chief Havoc had his first run under lights with an outside hare, over 500 yards at Wollongong. He again defeated Jean's Dream, this time by three lengths, running 28.0, a new track record. The previous record had been set in 1939. Local star Raider's Profit was among the unplaced division.
Next time out, in the Champion of Champions Stake over 430 yards at Maitland, Jean's Dream gained a measure of revenge by leading all the way to defeat Chief Havoc by two and a half lengths.
At his final start for 1946, on December 26, Chief Havoc raced first-up over 550 yards (503 metres) at Wentworth Park. Running in the top-grade NCA Stake, Chief Havoc downed Tuan Besar by four lengths with Jean's Dream third, and setting a new track record of 30.2.
From 19 starts he had scored 15 wins and three seconds and set or equalled nine track records. In an interview after the race Millerd said, "I know little about training dogs, and if I tried I would be likely to ruin Chief Havoc. The dog looks after himself and keeps himself in condition. I wanted to send the dog to Sydney and have him trained by an expert, but my wife is so attached to him she won't let him leave home."
Chief Havoc had his first race for 1947 on January 11 over 300 yards (274 metres) at Muswellbrook. In the field of three he finished third behind Golden Flag. Chief Havoc's litter brother Double Link was second. The winning time of 17.5 was comparatively slow
One week later, on January 18, he had his first distance start, contesting a four-dog 740 yards (676 metres) race at Maitland. Despite facing the track record holder Mystery Rocca, who had her previous four starts, Chief Havoc cruised home 12 lengths clear of Mystery Roccain 40.7, knocking 4/10ths off the track mark.
On January 27 Chief Havoc debuted over the gruelling 800 yards (732 metres) at Harold Park to contest the Harold Park Championship against six others. Chief Havoc scored by four lengths in 44.5, a time equal to Robert Kent'strack record.
Just five days later he returned to the sprint distance, over 430 yards at Maitland, against four opponents, including the joint track record holders Silent Mirth and Highland Hope. On a rain-sodden track Highland Hope led Chief Havoc by three lengths as the field entered the home straight, but Patches stormed home to score by a length in 23.8, 6/10ths outside the track record.
On February 8 he raced over 480 yards (438 metres) at Armidale but was beaten half a length by Enid's Joy, who led all the way to hold off the fast-finishing Chief Havoc with Double Link third. It, along with Muswellbrook, were the only two tracks he failed to win on during his career.
Patches quickly bounced back, scoring by six lengths over 350 yards (320 metres) at Tamworth in a record-equalling 19.5.
Then on May 7 he then won a Harold Park Stake in 26.9 by three lengths, the first time he had faced a full 10-starter field.
He set or equalled his 13th track record in 27 starts when taking 1/10th off the Dapto 500 yards track mark, running 27.8 to defeat the South Coast star Speed Cash by five lengths.
On May 24 1947 Chief Havoc drew a massive crowd, estimated at 17,000 people, for an exhibition run over 800 yards at Harold Park. It was announced he would be attempting to break a number of distance records and special lights were installed at each relevant mark to indicate whether or not he had achieved the feat.
On a track not rated as fast, Chief Havoc elicited a number of cheers from the capacity crowd as he broke the 440 yards record, equalled the 500 yards mark and then lowered the 660, 700, 750 and 800 yards records. The sensational performance earned Millerd a substantial £475.
Millerd then dropped a bombshell: announcing the retirement of his champion after just 13 months of racing. The white and fawn dog was only 32 months old and had raced 27 times for 21 wins.
He was offered to breeders at the incredible figure of £25 per service, the highest ever for a sire in Australia. The average at the time for a top-class racer was £10. Between June and October he was sparingly used and served just 45 bitches before Millerd decided to bring him back to racing.
Chief Havoc resumed on November 5 1947 in a match race over 345 yards (315 metres) at Dubbo against Top Rank, the track record holder. Top Rank led by half a length from the start until the home straight before Chief Havoc proved too strong in the run home to score by three-quarters of a length in 18.8, equalling the track record.
Jack Millerd announced that English interests had offered to buy Chief Havoc for £6,500. Millerd had intended to race Chief Havoc in England, but after being told the greyhound would be quarantined for six months, he scrapped the idea.
Three days after his Dubbo match race victory, Chief Havoc made it five wins on end with success over 550 yards at Bathurst. He ran 30.8 to take 1/10th off the record, scoring by four lengths from Miss Rainbird (his only opponent as his other two rivals had been scratched) and starting at the shortest price of his career: 1/10 ($1.10).
His return to city racing took place in the Sprint Championship over 500 yards at Harold Park on December 6 on a heavy track. Chief Havoc was fairly away from box three but copped a bad check soon after and was back in fifth place near the Leger. Minda Forme led on the home turn where Chief Havoc had moved into fourth place. He collided with Super Fortress on the swing and trailed home in sixth place, five and a half lengths behind the Victorian star Glorious Ninth. The winner clocked a slow 27.4, a testament to the muddy conditions, in downing Friendly Tom and Beau McGee.
On 17 December, Chief Havoc contested a President's Stake over 750 yards (686 metres) at Wentworth Park against four other runners. He led for most of the way, defeating Rocca's Gemby five lengths with track record holder Mystery Rocca third in 42.3, 2/10ths outside the track record on what was a rain-affected course.
Just three days later he came to a sprint event, running in an eight-starter Harold Park Stake over 500 yards. Only sixth away he didn't start to make ground until the home straight and was beaten three lengths into third place by Super Fortressand Beau McGee in a fast 26.9.
His last start for 1947 came on December 27 in the Distance Championship over 800 yards at Harold Park. Although opposed by nine others, including the seasoned Rocca's Gem, a winner of her last three starts, and Glorious Ninth, Patches gave nothing else a chance, leading almost all the way from box two to score by six lengths. He smashed the track record by a massive 5/10ths to clock 44.0 and earn an extra £75 for Millerd. Many pundits called this victory the most impressive of his grand career.
In 1947, Chief Havoc raced 14 times for 10 wins, one second and two thirds, setting or equalling seven track records.
The champion raced just once in 1948, on January 10, contesting a 500 yards Harold Park Stake against six others, including Glorious Ninth and Super Fortress. Chief Havoc exited box two and settled in third place behind All Radiance and Steel Flash. In the straight Chief Havoc made attempts to pass All Radiance, but the latter severely hampered the champion, who managed to get clear near the post and score by a neck in a fast 26.9.
A few days later Jack Millerd announced he was retiring Chief Havoc. Jack Millerd brought Chief Havoc back to the racetrack just one more time, 13 months later on April 16 1949 when he contested a 480 yards (439 metres) race at Tamworth. Patches was considered unlucky to be beaten a half-length into second place by Laranite Ladin 26.5, the best time of the meeting. Millerd decided the dog had done enough and sent him into permanent retirement.
All told, Chief Havoc raced 35 times for 26 wins, five seconds, and two thirds. He won on 14 of the 16 tracks at which he competed, all first up. Chief Havoc raced twice at Wentworth Park, once over 550 yards and once over 750 yards, for two wins and contested seven races at Harold Park for five wins and one third.
His average winning margin was 5.5 lengths and was so versatile he won from 345 yards (315 metres) to 800 yards (732 metres). In fact, he was unbeaten in 11 races from 520 yards (475 metres) to 800 yards.
He raced four times as a stayer for four wins, three in equal track record or track record times.
He set nine track records and equalled seven others for a total of 16. There is some argument that Chief Havoc set 20 records, but this is not borne out by the evidence. Nonetheless, 16 track records in 26 wins means Patches equalled or set a new time standard two times in every three wins, something that has never been achieved before or since. For many years Chief Havoc was viewed as the greatest greyhound to have raced in Australia, with only Zoom Top mentioned in the same breath.
Chief Havoc officially sired 453 litters and became one of the most dominant stud dogs in Australian history. Greyhounds of the calibre of Macareena, Black Top, Zoom Top, Acclaim Star, Benjamin John, Bold Trease, Brother Fox, Chariot Supreme, Fernando Bale, Half Your Luck, Kate's A Scandal, Lizrene, Miss High Lo, National Lass, New Tears, Pharaoh's Mask, Pretty Fearless, Promises Free, Satan's Legend, Sunview, Tegimi, Temlee, Tempix, Winifred Bale and Worth Doing to name but a few, can trace their lineage back to Chief Havoc.
He died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 13 in 1957. In 1963 he received the singular honour of being inducted into the American Hall of Fame.
Jack Millerd was sadly killed in a road accident in March 1966. His 21-year-old son Craig Millerd also met the same fate, being killed in a road accident in May 1980.


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For the sake of the argument, let me concede at the outset that it is a plausible fact that the US does not directly supports the Syrian militants, it only sets the broad policy framework and lets its client states in the region, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey, do the actual financing, training and arming of the Syrian militants. For instance, although the US openly provides the American-made antitank (TOW) weapons to the Syrian rebels but it had strictly forbidden the aforementioned clients from providing anti-aircraft weapons (MANPADS) to the militants, because Israel frequently flies surveillance aircrafts and drones and occasionally carries out airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon and had such weapons fallen into the wrong hands, it could have become a long term threat to the Israeli Air Force. Lately, some anti-aircraft weapons from Gaddafi's looted arsenal in Libya have made their way into the hands of the Syrian militants but for the initial years of the civil war there was an absolute prohibition on providing such weapons to the insurgents.
More to the point, the declassified Defense Intelligence Agency's report  of 2012 that presaged the imminent rise of a Salafist principality in north-eastern Syria was not overlooked it was deliberately suppressed, not just the report but that view in general that a civil war in Syria will give birth to the radical Islamists, was forcefully stifled in the Western policy making circles under pressure from the Zionist lobbies. The Western powers were fully aware of the consequences of their actions in Syria but they kept pursuing the policy of financing, training, arming and internationally legitimizing the so-called "Syrian opposition" to weaken the Syrian regime and to neutralize the threat that its Lebanon-based proxy, Hezbollah, had posed to Israel's regional security; a fact which the Israeli defense community realized for the first time during the 2006 Lebanon war during the course of which Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel. Those were only unguided rockets but it was a wakeup call for the Israeli military strategists that what will happen if Iran passed the guided missile technology to Hezbollah whose area of operations lies very close to the northern borders of Israel? The Western interest in the Syrian civil war is primarily about ensuring Israel's regional security.
Unlike al Qaeda which is an anti-West terrorist organization, Islamic State is basically an anti-Shi'a sectarian outfit. By the designation "terrorism" it is generally implied and understood that an organization which has the intentions and capability of committing terrorist acts on the Western soil. Though, Islamic State has committed a few acts of terrorism against the West, such as the high profile November 2015 Paris attacks, but if we look at the pattern of its sabotage activities, especially in the Middle East, it generally targets the Shi'a Muslims in Syria and Iraq. A few acts of terrorism that it has committed in the Gulf Arab states were also directed against the Shi'as in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia and Shi'a mosques in Yemen and Kuwait. Moreover, al Qaeda Central is only a small band of Arab individuals whose strength is numbered in a few hundreds, while Islamic State is a mass insurgency whose strength is numbered in tens of thousands, especially in Syria and Iraq.
More to the point, Syria's pro-Assad militias are comprised of local militiamen as well as Shi'a foreign fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and even the Hazara Shi'as from Afghanistan. And Sunni Jihadists from all over the region have also been flocking to the Syrian battlefield of jihad for the past five years. A full-scale Sunni-Shi'a war has been going on in Syria, Iraq and Yemen which will obviously have its repercussions all over the Middle East region where Sunni and Shi'a Muslims have coexisted in relative peace for centuries. But the neocolonial powers will conveniently deny all responsibility by simply asserting that: "It isn't our fault, the Muslims are killing each other," an absurd claim made by the Bush Administration during the occupation years in Iraq. However, had the US not invaded Iraq in 2003 for its 140 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, would things have reached such a point of crisis? And the victim-blaming neoliberals will point fingers at Islam as a religion and some of its decontextualized Jihadist verses for all the violence and bloodshed without understanding anything about the underlying politics behind the Sunni-Shi'a conflict in the region.
Notwithstanding, after the Russian involvement in Syria, when Russia claims that it will fight the Islamic State, the assertion at least makes sense. But how can US claim to fight a force that is an obvious by-product  of its own policy in the region in the first place? Let's settle on one issue first: there were two parties to the Syrian civil war initially, the Syrian regime and the Syrian opposition; which party did the US support since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011 to June 2014? Obviously, it supported the Syrian opposition, and what was the composition of that so-called "Syrian opposition?" A small fraction of it was comprised of defected Syrian soldiers who go by the name of Free Syria Army, but the vast majority has been comprised of Islamic jihadists who were generously funded, trained, armed and internationally legitimized by the NATO-GCC alliance.
All the Sunni jihadist groups that are operating in Syria are just as brutal as ISIS, only thing that differentiates ISIS from the rest is that it is more ideological and independent-minded, and it also includes hundreds of Western citizens in its ranks who can later become a national security risk to the Western countries, this fact explains the ambivalent policy of the US towards a monster that it had nurtured in Syria from August 2011 to June 2014 until it threatened the US' strategic interests in the oil-rich, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) controlled Northern Iraq. Thus the US-led "war against Islamic State" since August 2014 has less to do with finding an expeditious solution to the Syrian crisis or the threat that ISIS poses to Iraq and Syria and it is more about the threat that ISIS poses to the Western countries in the long run, a fact that has now become obvious after the November 2015 Paris attacks.
According to this NY Times report , there are more than 30,000 foreign fighters in Syria from over 100 countries that are fighting alongside the Sunni jihadist groups to topple the Syrian regime; 4500 of those foreign jihadists are from the Western countries and France is the single largest European contributor of foreign jihadists with 1800 fighters, Britain is a distant second with 750, and the number of American jihadists fighting in Syria is relatively small, approximately 250. Although the report claims that most foreign jihadists fight for the Islamic State but corporate media, being a mouthpiece of the Western political establishments, has a vested interest in selectively singling out the Islamic State and giving a carte blanche to all the other Sunni jihadist groups, in line with the stated Western policy and objective of toppling the Assad regime in Syria.
The reason why Syria and Iran have been more willing to form an alliance with Russia against the Sunni jihadists is that the US-led "war against Islamic State" is limited only to ISIS while all other Sunni jihadist groups are enjoying complete impunity, and the coalition against ISIS also includes the main patrons of Sunni jihadists like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Jordan. But the Russian-led offensive in coalition with the aforementioned Shi'a regimes has been more comprehensive against all the Sunni jihadist outfits which are just as much of a threat to the Shi'a regimes as ISIS.
Moreover, the Western corporate media is trumpeting these days that the Assad regime has been unwilling to fight ISIS. I don't know what kind of spin-doctors come up with preposterous and counterfactual theories such as these, but it's a fact that the military resources of the Assad regime were stretched thin, therefore, its first priority has been to defend itself around the densely-populated urban areas from Damascus and Homs to Hamah, Idlib and Aleppo and around the coastal Latakia. However, does anyone remembers the Hasakah Offensive of August 2015 in which the Syrian military successfully defended Hasakah and then routed ISIS in alliance with the Syrian Kurds? The corporate media will never tell you about the previous alliance that existed between the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian regime against the Syrian opposition.
In order to understand the Kurdish factor in the Syria-Iraq equation, we should bear in mind that there are four distinct types of Kurds: 1) the KDP Kurds of Iraq that are led by Masoud Barzani; 2) the PUK Kurds of Iraq led by Jalal Talabani; 3) the PKK Kurds of Turkey; and 4) the PYD/YPG Kurds of Syria. The first of these, i.e. the Barzani-led KDP Kurds of Iraq have traditionally been imperialist collaborators who have formed a strategic alliance with the US and Israel since the '90s, i.e. the first Gulf war. All other Kurds, however, have traditionally been in the anticolonial socialist camp and that's the reason why PKK has been designated as a terrorist organization by NATO because Turkey has the second largest army in the NATO and the separatist PKK Kurds are the traditional foes of the Turkish establishment.
Unlike the Barzani-led Kurds of Iraq, however, the PYD/YPG Kurds of Syria, who are ideologically akin to the socialist PKK Kurds of Turkey, had initially formed an alliance with the pro-Russia Assad regime against the Sunni jihadists in return for limited autonomy – the aforementioned alliance, however, was not just against the Islamic State but against all the Sunni jihadist groups that are operating in Syria some of which have been supported by NATO and Gulf Arab countries. It was only last year, after the US' declaration of war against ISIS, that the Syrian Kurds switched sides and now they are the centerpiece of the US policy for defeating ISIS in the region.
One can't really blame the Kurds for this perfidy because they are fighting for their right of self-determination, but once again the Western powers have executed their tried-and-tested divide-and-rule policy to perfection in Syria and Iraq to gain leverage and to turn the tide despite the dismal failure of their stated policy for the initial three years of the Syrian civil war, i.e. from August 2011 to August 2014.
Until August 2014 when the declared US policy in Syria was regime change and the Syrian Kurds had formed a defensive alliance with the Assad regime against the Sunni jihadists to defend the semi-autonomous Kurdish majority areas in Syrian Rojava; that equation changed, however, when ISIS captured Mosul in June 2014 and also threatened the US' most steadfast ally in the region – Masoud Barzani and his capital Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan, which is also the hub of Big Oil's Northern Iraq operations.
After that development, the US took a U-turn on its Syria policy and now the declared objective became "the war against Islamic State." That policy change in turn led to a reconfiguration of alliances among the regional actors and the Syrian Kurds broke off their previous arrangement with Assad regime and formed a new alliance with NATO against the Islamic State. Unlike their previous defensive alliance with the Syrian regime, however, whose objective was to protect and defend the Kurdish majority areas in Syria from the onslaught of the Sunni jihadists, this new Kurdish alliance with NATO is more aggressive and expansionist, and its outcome is obvious from this Amnesty International report  on the forced displacement of the Arabs and the demographic change by the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds.
Moreover, after the US' initiative of training and arming the so-called "moderate Syrian rebels" in Turkey and Jordan to battle the Islamic State fell flat on its face, it is once again trying desperately to put all of its eggs in the Kurdish basket in order to resuscitate its failed Syria policy. The so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces" is nothing more than the Kurdish YPG militias with a tinkering of a few hundred parochial Syrian Arab tribesmen in order to make it appear more inclusive and representative in the eyes of the international audience. However, this face-saving effort, too, is falling apart after the Russian involvement in the Syrian theater.
As I have already mentioned that the PKK-allied, PYD/YPG Kurds of Syria have historically been in the pro-Russia camp just like the Syrian regime; therefore, the reports are now surfacing that the Syrian Kurds might actually be more willing to join forces with Russia and the Syrian regime against the Sunni Arab jihadists who are supported by the Western powers, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states. For instance: this Fox news' report  mentions that the Russians are surveying to expand a regime-held airfield in the Kurdish-controlled Qamishli in northeastern Syria along the Turkish border. Recently, a lot of backchannel diplomacy has been going on between the Russians and the Syrian Kurds; the only fierce opponent of this natural alliance between the Syrian regime and the Kurds against the Sunni jihadists, including Islamic State, is none other than the lackey of the US and Israel, Masoud Barzani, who has been exerting his political influence to keep the Syrian Kurds in the Western-led Sunni Arab camp.
The only difference between the Afghan Jihad back in the '80s, that spawned the Islamic jihadists like the Taliban and al Qaeda for the first time in history, and the Libyan and Syrian Jihads 2011-onward, is that the Afghan Jihad was an overt Jihad – back then the Western political establishments and their mouthpiece, the mainstream media, used to openly brag that CIA provides all those AK-47s, RPGs and stingers to the Pakistani ISI which then forwards such weapons to the Afghan Mujahideen (freedom fighters) to combat the erstwhile Soviet Union. After the 9/11 tragedy, however, the Western political establishments and corporate media have become a lot more circumspect, therefore, this time around they have waged covert jihads against the hostile Gaddafi regime in Libya and the anti-Zionist Assad regime in Syria, in which the Islamic jihadists (aka terrorists) have been sold as "moderate rebels" with secular and nationalist ambitions to the Western audience.
It's an incontrovertible fact that more than 90% of militants that are operating in Syria are either the Islamic jihadists or the armed tribesmen, and less than 10% are those who have defected from the Syrian army or otherwise have secular and nationalist goals. As far as the infinitesimally small secular and liberal elite of the developing countries is concerned, such privileged classes can't even cook breakfasts for themselves if their servants are on a holiday and the corporate media had us believing that the majority of the Syrian militants are "moderate rebels" who constitute the vanguard of the Syrian opposition against the Syrian regime in a brutal civil war and who believe in the principles of democracy, rule of law and liberal values as their cherished goals.
It is a fact that morale and ideology plays an important role in the battle; moreover, we also know that the Takfiri brand of most jihadists these days has been directly inspired by the Wahhabi-Salafi ideology of Saudi Arabia, but ideology alone is never sufficient to succeed in the battle. Looking at the Islamic State's spectacular gains in Syria and Iraq in the last year and a half, one wonders that where does its recruits get all the training and sophisticated weapons that are imperative not only for the hit-and-run guerrilla warfare but also for capturing and holding vast swathes of territory? Even the Afghan National Army, that has been trained and armed by NATO's military instructors, is finding itself in trouble these days to hold territory in Afghanistan in the face of the unrelenting Taliban insurgency.
Apart from the training and arms that are provided to the Islamic jihadists in the training camps located on the Turkish and Jordanian border regions adjacent to Syria by the CIA in collaboration with the Turkish, Jordanian and Saudi intelligence agencies, another factor that has contributed to the spectacular success of Islamic State is that its top cadres are comprised of the former Baathist military and intelligence officers of the Saddam regime. According to this informative Associated Press report by Dawn , between 100 to 160 ex-Baathists constitute the top and mid-tier command structure of the Islamic State who plan all the operations and direct its military strategy.
Moreover, these days the US State department seems to be quite worried that where does Islamic State's jihadists get all the sophisticated weapons and especially those fancy, white Toyota pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns at the back, colloquially known as "the technicals" among the jihadists? I think that I have found the answer to this riddle in this news story  from a website affiliated with the UAE government which is highly biased in favor of the Syrian opposition: it is clearly mentioned that along with AK-47s, RPGs and other military gear the Saudi government also provides machine gun-mounted Toyota pick-up trucks to every batch of five jihadists who have completed their training either in the border regions of Jordan or Saudi Arabia. Once such jihadists cross over to Daraa and Quneitra in Syria from the Jordan-Syria border then those Toyota pick-up trucks can easily travel all the way to Raqaa and Deir Ezzor and thence to Mosul and Anbar in Iraq.
The only thing that differentiates Islamic State from all other insurgent groups is its command structure that is comprised of professional ex-Baathists and its state of the art armory that has been provided to all the Sunni jihadist outfits that are fighting in Syria by the NATO-GCC alliance. However, a number of Islamic State affiliates have recently been springing up all over the Middle East and North Africa region that have no organizational and operational link, whatsoever, with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, such as, the Islamic State affiliates in Afghanistan, Sinai, Libya and even the Boko Haram in Nigeria now falls under the umbrella of the Islamic State. It's understandable for the laymen to mistake such ragtag militant outfits for ISIS but how come the policy analysts of the think tanks and the corporate media's spin-doctors, who are fully in the know, have fallen for such a ruse? Can we categorize any ragtag militant outfit as Islamic State merely on the basis of ideological affinity and "a letter of accreditation" from Abu Bakr al Baghdadi without the Islamic State's Baathist command structure and superior weaponry that has been bankrolled by the Gulf's petro-dollars?
The Western political establishments and their mouthpiece, the mainstream media, deliberately and knowingly fall for such ruses because it serves their agenda of creating bogeymen after bogeymen to keep the enterprise of the Fear Inc. running. Before acknowledging the Islamic State's affiliates in the region, the Western political establishments had also similarly and "naively" acknowledged the al Qaeda affiliates in the region, too, merely on the basis of ideological affinity without any organizational and operational link, such as, al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.
While we are on the subject of Islamic State's weaponry, it is generally claimed in the mainstream media that the Islamic State came in possession of those state of the art weapons when it overran Mosul in June 2014 and seized huge caches of sophisticated weapons that were provided to the Iraqi armed forces by the Americans. Is it not a bit paradoxical, however, that the Islamic State conquered huge swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq before it overran Mosul when it supposedly did not had those sophisticated weapons and after allegedly coming into possession of those weapons it is continuously losing ground? The only conclusion that can be drawn from this fact is that Islamic State had those weapons, or equally deadly weapons, before it overran Mosul and that those weapons were provided to all the Sunni jihadist groups in Syria, including the Islamic State, by the intelligence agencies of the Western power, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states.
The dilemma that Turkey is facing in Syria is quite unique: in the wake of the Ghouta chemical weapons attacks in Damascus in August 2013 the stage was all set for yet another no-fly zone and "humanitarian intervention" a la Gaddafi's Libya; they were waiting for a finishing blow and Ahmet Dovutoglu and the Saudi intelligence chief, Bandar bin Sultan, were shuttling between the Western capitals to lobby for the military intervention. Francois Hollande had already announced his intentions and David Cameron was also onboard.
Here it should be remembered that even during the Libyan intervention Obama's policy was a bit ambivalent and France under the leadership of Sarkozy had played the lead role. In the Syrian case, however, the British parliament forced Cameron to seek a vote for military intervention in the House of Commons before committing British troops and Air Force to Syria; taking cue from the British parliament the US' Congress also compelled Obama to seek approval before another ill-conceived military intervention; and since both these administrations lacked the requisite majority in their respective parliaments and the public opinion was also fiercely against another Middle Eastern war, therefore, Obama and Cameron dropped their plans of enforcing a no-fly zone over Syria.
In the end, France was left alone as the only Western power still in favor of intervention; at this point, however, the seasoned Russian FM, Sergei Lavrov, staged a diplomatic coup by announcing that the Syrian regime is willing to ship its chemical weapons stockpiles out of Syria and subsequently the issue was amicably resolved. Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states – the main beneficiaries of Sunni Jihad in Syria, however, had lost a golden opportunity for dealing a major blow to the Shi'a alliance comprising Iran, Syria and their Lebanon-based proxy, Hezbollah.
To add fuel to the fire, the Islamic State, one of the Sunni jihadist outfits fighting in Syria, trespassed its mandate in Syria and overran Mosul in northern Iraq in June 2014 and threatened the capital of America's most steadfast ally in the oil-rich region – Masoud Barzani's Erbil. The US had no choice but to adopt some countermeasures to show to the world that it is still sincere in pursuing its schizophrenic and hypocritical "war on terror" policy; at the same time, however, it assured its Turkish, Jordanian and Gulf Arab allies that despite fighting a symbolic war against the maverick jihadist outfit, the Islamic State, the Western policy of training and arming the so-called "moderate Syrian militants" will continue apace and that Bashar al-Assad's days are numbered, one way or the other.
Moreover, declaring a war against Islamic State in August 2014 served another purpose too – in order to commit the US Air Force to Syria and Iraq, Obama Administration needed the approval of the US Congress which was not available as I have already mentioned but by declaring a war against Islamic State, which is a designated terrorist organization, the Obama Administration availed itself of the "war on terror" provisions in the US' laws and thus circumvented the US Congress.
But then Russia threw a spanner in the wicked schemes of NATO and its Gulf Arab allies in October by its surreptitious military buildup in Latakia that was executed with an element of surprise unheard of since Rommel, the Desert Fox. And now Turkey, Jordan, the Gulf Arab states and their Sunni jihadist proxies in Syria find themselves at the receiving end in the Syrian civil war. The shooting down of the Russian jet by Turkey in November last year, which is also a member of NATO, seemed like a desperate attempt by Turkey to provoke Russia into a military encounter and thus invoke NATO's treaty obligation of "collective defense" in the face of "aggression" against any of NATO's member states.
In order to create a semblance of objectivity and fairness, the American policy-makers and analysts are always willing to accept the blame for the mistakes of the distant past that have no bearing on the present and the future, however, any fact that impinges on their present policy is conveniently brushed aside. In the case of the rise of Islamic State, for instance, the US' policy analysts are willing to concede that invading Iraq back in 2003 was a mistake that radicalized the Iraqi society, exacerbated the sectarian divisions and gave birth to a Sunni insurgency against the heavy handed and discriminatory policies of the Shi'a-dominated Iraqi government; similarly, the "war on terror" era political commentators also "generously" accept that the Cold War era policy of nurturing the al Qaeda, Taliban and myriads of other Afghan so-called "freedom fighters" against the erstwhile Soviet Union was a mistake because all those fait accompli have no bearing on their present policy.
The corporate media's spin-doctors conveniently forget, however, that the rise of Islamic State and myriads of other Sunni jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq has as much to do with the unilateral invasion of Iraq back in 2003 under the previous Bush Administration as it has to do with the present policy of Obama Administration in Syria of funding, arming, training and internationally legitimizing the Sunni militants against the Syrian regime since 2011-onward in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa region, in fact, the proximate cause behind the rise of Islamic State, al Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham and numerous other Sunni jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq has been Obama Administration's policy of intervention through proxies in Syria.
If the Obama Administration decides today to stop providing arms and training to the so-called "moderate rebels" and declares them terrorists (Islamic jihadists,) the insurgency in Syria will fizzle out within months, at least, in the densely-populated urban Syria from Damascus and Homs to Hamah, Idlib and Aleppo and the coastal Latakia. The northern Syria under the control of Kurds and the central and eastern Syria from Raqqa to Deir Ezzor which is dominated by the Islamic State, however, is a whole different ball game now and it will take years to subdue the insurgency in those rural-tribal areas of Syria, if at all.
Leaving the funding, training and arming aspects of the insurgencies aside, but especially pertaining to conferring international legitimacy to an armed insurgency, like the Afghan so-called "freedom struggle" of the Cold War, or the supposedly "moderate" Libyan and Syrian insurgencies of today, it is simply beyond the power of minor regional players and their nascent media that has a geographically and linguistically limited audience to cast such armed and brutal insurrections in a positive light in order to internationally legitimize them; only the Western mainstream media, that has a global audience and which serves as the mouthpiece of the Western political establishments, has perfected this game of legitimizing the absurd and selling the satans as saviors.
Finally, for the whole of the last five years of the Syrian proxy war the focal point of the Western policy had been that "Assad must go!" But what difference would it make to the lives of the ordinary Syrians even if the regime is replaced now when the civil war has claimed more than 250,000 lives, displaced half of the population and reduced the whole country of 22 million people to rubble? I do concede that Libya and Syria were not democratic states under Gaddafi and Assad, respectively; however, both of those countries were at least functioning states.
Gaddafi was ousted from power in September 2011; four years later, Tripoli is ruled by the Misrata militia, Benghazi is under the control of Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by the Zintan militia, and Sirte is under the effective suzerainty of the Islamic State's affiliate in Libya. It will now take decades, not years, to restore even a semblance of stability in Libya and Syria; remember that the proxy war in Afghanistan was originally fought in the '80s and today, 35 years later, Afghanistan is still in the midst of perpetual anarchy, lawlessness and an unrelenting Taliban insurgency. It's very unfortunate that the haughty and myopic politicians and diplomats do not learn any lessons from the history, otherwise all the telltale signs are there that Syria has become the Afghanistan of the Middle East and its repercussions on the instability of the energy-rich region and the security threat that the Syrian militants pose to the world will have far reaching consequences for many decades to come.
Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, blogger and geopolitical analyst who has a particular interest in the politics of Af-Pak and MENA regions, energy wars and Petro-imperialism.


Overall, my experience with AMD was acceptable, never really had any problems and didn't mind it. It was fine for years, keeping the same drivers, from about 2015. A Windows Update from Windows 10 updated the drivers for my AMD parts, the APU and GPU that is integrated. It updated the integrated graphics, and after that I've been getting this stuttering that is so unusual. It freezes about every 5 seconds, without me doing anything. Even after restarting, launching nothing. The problem could be with the low power PSU equipped in my laptop. The mouse and screen keep freezing and it gets really annoying, and unplayable for any games and even watching YouTube.
I have tried multiple fixes for this and I only see a few working to help me.
The problem might be the power supply that it gets and doesn't have enough for the new drivers.
Currently, I'm trying to use the Clean Install listed, downloading the DDU.
I doubt this will fix anything, and yes I was using the correct way and followed all directions.
The two fixes that I believe in the most are getting Outdated Drivers, or reinstalling Windows 10.
There's only one that I really like, and want to do, the other one I don't really want to do.
Getting Outdated Drivers for my NoteBook Graphics with the CPU A6-5200 integrated with HD 8400 Graphics would be the best. If there is any way to download older drivers please tell me. The best ones would be from about 2015 or 2016.
This is about the only option that isn't too long or requires a lot of experience.
The last and final option is reinstalling Windows 10 which I am truly against since it takes so long and I have no experience with it that could help me at all. I don't even know if I need to get a new activation code, and I don't really want to lose everything, this option would probably work but is very time consuming for me. I do not want to do this until it is the last option.
I have tried almost everything else, rolling back drivers. Doesn't work. Twice I tried to do a System Restore, but it failed twice, using different dates with my AV off.
If there is any way to get outdated drivers, which is not available on the AMD website as far as I know, it would be very nice. I can't find them anywhere else from a safe website that I can trust.
Thank you for reading, and if you find anything that can help me (Link to Outdated Drivers) then please tell me, if I can't get outdated drivers anywhere, then please tell me how to reinstall Windows 10 without needing a new activation code for my Laptop.
I already did that, it seems like everyone with the latest driver for this GPU integrated graphics is having the same exact problem.


When buying or selling an investment property it is important to have the right professionals to contact in order to get the best advice.
So who are the professionals you need when investment properties are involved?
Everyone should have an Accountant who understands property and all the implications regarding Tax, GST, CGT and Land Tax. Ownership structures such as Trusts and Superannuation Funds are equally important as it can affect what you may have to pay in land tax and other taxes if setup incorrectly. It is always best to talk to your accountant first so that you have the correct information for when you are ready to sign a contract. This can save you lot of money as if it is done incorrectly there could other implications that you may have not thought of.
A good broker or banker makes sure that your finance is all in place and ensures the transaction goes through smoothly. It is really important to check your financial situation and find out what your lending capability is. Talk to them before you even go looking for a property so that at least you know how much you can afford to borrow and accordingly the maximum value you can buy a property for.
The right agent can make your life so much easier if you are selling an investment property (or any property for that matter) so select this person carefully. Getting the wrong real estate agent could make or break the profitability of the transaction and you may not achieve the sales you are after. Your agent needs to have all the "right" information for the Contract and Form 1. The relationship you have with your real estate agent is really important so that you achieve the best result in a timely fashion so find someone that you are comfortable talking with and one that you can trust.
Your property will manage the property for and find the right tenants so that you can achieve the maximum income from your investment. They need to care about you and your property and will know if the area popular with tenants. They will also know how the rental market is at the time you are looking to purchase so it will be a good idea to talk to them before you purchase a property.
As you are buying an investment it always a good idea to talk to your financial planner. They can assist in how to setup your investment so that it works for when you retire and can discuss the benefits of having property with a self managed superannuation fund. If you are selling they will be advise the best time for you to sell and point you in the right direction of where the proceeds are best invested for your future.
Your conveyancer will work with all the other professionals you have as part of your team and will make sure everyone is on the same page. Getting them on board before you sign is the best thing you can do. Make sure that you talk to a conveyancer and discuss everything before you start the process of looking for a property so that everything can be setup in readiness. This will ensure the process is a seamless one for you.
In all property transactions it is in your best interest to discuss with your lawyer about having a will and powers of attorney in place to protect your family' interest in the event of a disability or death. Succession planning is a vital part of you owing property as without these documents your estate could end up in the hands of someone you do not want to have it.
As a purchaser or a vendor of an investment property at some stage you should have discussed your venture with most if not all of these professionals.
Communication is the most important part of getting it right! Therefore, everyone will need to be on the same page and be able to understand what you are trying to achieve. You are the integral pat=rt of this after all it is you who is doing the buying or selling!
Remember to talk to them before you start the process of even looking for property. Being fully informed before you sign will save a lot of headaches and should ensure a seamless stress free process.


AMG Packaging & Paper Limited (AMG), which makes cardboard boxes, suffered from reduced profits arising from increased paper prices on the global market.
The company experienced a 24.5 per cent rise in direct costs associated with manufacturing over three months ending February, rising to $34 million when compared with $27.3 million a year earlier.
The pass-through to consumers occurred in the subsequent quarter.
The company earned $0.01 per share during the quarter, compared to $0.03 a year earlier.


This couple came to Hawaii and to have wedding portraits done while they were here with a wedding planned later in Japan. They had portraits done at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort, a great location with endless backgrounds and possibilities. The Hilton Waikoloa is located 30 minutes north of Kona on the west coast of the Big Island.


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U. buys Congress, offers new courses to policymakers
By Daily Princetonian Staff | Jan 9, 2018
In a move that few expected, President Christopher Eisgruber '83 announced that from Jan. 32 onwards, the U.S. Congress will be owned by the University and will operate as a branch of the University.
"We have over $22 billion in the bank," said Eisgruber. "Rather than continually engaging in lawsuits with the government and dealing with tax-exemption headaches, it just seemed cleaner to buy it all out."
University Director of Government Affairs Joyce Rechtschaffen '75 was not available for comment. However, Assistant Vice President for Communications Daniel Day said that he expected Rechtschaffen's job to be much harder now, as she will be serving as acting majority shareholder.
Dean of the Wilson School Cecilia Rouse was also pleased with the University's actions.
"We're almost going to outgrow our current spaces in Robertson Hall," said Rouse, "So it's wonderful that we now have more room for faculty and precepts in a building that's almost as nice as our current one, and almost as old as this institution."
The original Capitol was finished by 1800, over half a century after the University's founding.
The Wilson School plans to offer new courses, including "Policymaking for Beginners" and "Making Government Work: Sharing is Caring." These courses will be taught in the new satellite campus in Washington, D.C. All current members of Congress can receive auditor credit for any courses taught there.
"It's so exciting to finally make a difference," said Nicholas Wu '18, a Wilson School major. "Princeton has taught us so much about the real world, and its vibrant support of internships and summer jobs will really be bolstered by this expansion." Wu further noted that he expects his Wilson School task force to soon be able to pass legislation.
Wu is Head Opinion Editor of The Daily Princetonian.
The news of the University's newest political acquisition follows the announcement that Harvard Law School will now be sponsoring the Supreme Court.
A Harvard spokesman said, "Well, you know, we feel this will help with our networking potential and alumni donations greatly. Plus we can use the chambers as overflow room for CS50."
Yale University has also attempted to buy the Library of Congress, but the school was outbid by the University of Chicago, which came out of nowhere to snatch the purchase.
Members of Princeton Model Congress also expressed excitement at the University's direction.
"Suck it, Model UN" said Samuel Garfinkle '19, referencing the sister organization of Model Congress. "Everyone makes fun of [Model Congress] for having a conference that's not even in D.C., but now we'll be able to take all of PMUNC's staffers and run deficits, and no one will care!"
Garfinkle is a Managing Editor for the 'Prince.'
Laura Hausman '20, an officer of the MUN team, did not respond to the 'Prince' knocking on her door.
Day added, "Princeton's motto has been to be in the nation's service, and we feel our strong commitment to financial aid and a no-loan guarantee will be popular with the American people."
Sarah Sakha '18 was more circumspect. "It'll be nice, I guess," she said, "to not have to deal with racist iconography on the new campus."
Sakha is the Editor-in-Chief of the 'Prince.'
Texas senator and new University auditor Ted Cruz '92 did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
This article is part of The Daily Princetonian's annual joke issue. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet!


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Abolishing The Electoral College Could Have Many Unintended Consequences
Nonpartisan Reformers Are Ready for Another Historic Year
Amber McReynolds
National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers
With under 3 months until election day, enthusiasm for nonpartisan election reform has hit monumental levels. NANR members are on track to make 2020 another historic year for reform.
That's why NANR is partnering with Open Primaries to present the second NANR Spotlight of the year! Mark your calendars for September 9 at 2pm ET for a virtual conversation with leaders on the front-lines of election reform -- from Alaska to Florida.
The NANR Spotlight is our opportunity to educate legislators, journalists, and reform practitioners on the growing nonpartisan calls for a more fair, honest, and representative election process. Don't miss out!
Missed the first NANR Spotlight? Check it out:
There's also some good news at NANR. We are looking for a new Executive Director to help our members build common resources, partnerships, and strategies that serve the reform industry. View the full description and apply on DemocracyJobs.org.
Stay tuned for another exciting announcement between NANR, L2 Political, and Citizen Data, to give nonpartisan organizations access to data and digital tools like never before.
Finally, the Board has put together a grant proposal for funders who understand the critical role the association can play in providing and facilitating institutional resources that advance our members' goals. Contact us for more information.
Thank you for your support and your participation. We're just getting started!
Latest Unrig It! Podcast Episode
Independent Voter Podcast · "We're Throwing a Punch at the Bipartisan Establishment"
Independent Voter News Editor Shawn Griffiths interviews NANR Board Member and Open Primaries President John Opdycke on the combined efforts to pass historic nonpartisan reforms in 2020. They discuss not only primary reform efforts, but the state of nonpartisan reform movements across the country -- successes, lessons learned, and what we can still work on as we look toward the future. Listen above.
Reform Spotlight...
VOTER CHOICE MASSACHUSETTS
Voter Choice for Massachusetts 2020's "Yes on 2" campaign has announced its list of honorary co-chairs for its campaign to bring ranked choice voting to state elections. The campaign added 7 high-profile individuals as honorary co-chairs, including former Massachusetts governors Deval Patrick (D) and Bill Weld (R). "Yes on 2" is also hosting a virtual fundraiser on Tuesday, August 25, called "Women Leading the Way on Democracy Reform," a conversation with Leadership Now CEO Daniella Ballou-Aares, NANR honorary co-chair Katherine Gehl, and campaign honorary co-chair Danielle Allen. Get your tickets here.
Open Primaries is starting up its virtual discussion series again, starting on September 9 at 2pm (Eastern) when it partners with NANR to showcase all the campaigns working to pass nonpartisan primary reform in their respective states or cities, including campaigns in Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota, Alaska, and St. Louis. Open Primaries will continue to take a comprehensive look at these reforms and more as we go into the 2020 election and beyond. Check out all the virtual discussions Open Primaries conducted over the summer here.
NATIONAL VOTE AT HOME INSTITUTE
The National Vote at Home Institute launched its Election Official Communication ToolKit this month, a groundbreaking resource to help public elections administrators connect with their communities and get voters the information they need in an unprecedented election year. Vote at Home created a template for election offices to easily develop a communications plan for cohesion, and provides a strategy for how to talk with voters. You can check out the toolkit here.
PROPOSITION D FOR DEMOCRACY
The STL Approves campaign to bring nonpartisan, approval voting elections with a top-two runoff (Prop D for Democracy) continues to gain momentum and support. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board published a glowing editorial in support of Prop D, and two new endorsements were secured from Rep. Steve Butz (D-St. Louis), and Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler.
BUSINESS FOR AMERICA
Business for America (BFA) recently hosted a virtual panel with leaders in the business community who are calling on Congress to provide states with the funding they need to provide safe, secure, and credible elections. BFA is building a strong coalition of businesses urging US lawmakers to ensure every American can vote safe in November. Their letter to Congress, with over 200 companies signed on, has been introduced to the official record of the Senate Rules Committee. Read the letter here.
REPRESENTUS
With so much confusion and disinformation, RepresentUs has launched a nonpartisan resource for all Americans to know how to cast their ballots by mail. The interactive online tool walks voters in every state through voting by absentee ballot, including application and mail-in deadlines. The group is also hosting a virtual "gala" fundraiser on August 30 at 8pm (Eastern), featuring celebrity guests like Ed Helms, Jennifer Lawrence, Dave Matthews, and more. Follow RepresentUs for registration details.
FAIR VOTE
FairVote released a new report on the effectiveness of using ranked choice voting in the presidential primaries, which found that in the 4 states that used ranked choice voting in the primaries this year - Alaska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Hawaii - voters turned out in greater numbers, took advantage of the alternative voting method, and had greater confidence in their vote. The group also recently commissioned a poll that notably showed Kamala Harris as the head-to-head winner against every other candidate speculated to be on Joe Biden's list of potential running mates.
AMERICAN PROMISE
A recent American Promise webinar—featuring several current and former elected officials as well as democracy reform advocates—focused on how we build support among people on the conservative side of the spectrum. The organization believes building bipartisan support for a 28th Amendment is crucial to the success of the movement to reduce the influence of money in politics. In celebration of Constitution Day, the group is also hosting its Quarterly Bookclub with Elaine Weiss, author of "The Woman's Hour," on September 15 at 8pm (Eastern). Follow American Promise to get registration details.
CENTER FOR ELECTION SCIENCERE
The Center for Election Science (CES) is hosting a virtual conversation on how approval voting can help the environment movement on Thursday, August 13, at 12 pm (Pacific). CES will be joined by Michael Ruvinsky, CES board member, and Christine Morshedi, Group Leader for the San Diego County North Inland Chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby. Register for the event here.
ANTI-GERRYMANDERING REFORM
The Fair Maps Virginia amendment to end single-party control over the political redistricting process has been endorsed by the state's largest newspapers, including The Virginian-Pilot, The Washington Post, Daily Press, The Roanoke Times, and others. Most recently, the amendment was endorsed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Have an update we missed? Submit your reform update!
What is this story missing? Let us know. >>What is this story missing? Let us know. >>
Amber is CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute and a co-author of "When Women Vote." She also previously served as the Director of the Denver Elections Division, which oversees the administration of elections in the city and county.
The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) is a member-led Association dedicated to structural election reforms in the public interest.
Get our exclusive Nonpartisan Reform Report delivered to your inbox twice a month.
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A small exhibition recently opened in the German Historical Museum in Berlin all about Germany's love of saving money. It might have had a mundane sounding title, "Saving – History of a German Virtue", but it provides an interesting insight into what is a deep-rooted national obsession.
As well as an opportunity for self-reflection for visiting Germans, the exhibition also provides a window into the historical roots of German morality when it comes to being financially prudent and the country's attitude towards European policies and its partners.
Saving has a long history in German society. The first savings bank opened in 1778 in Hamburg. By 1836, there were more than 300 of these savings banks operating in the then German Confederation, allowing Germans to save their hard earned income for some interest.
There is plenty of evidence in the exhibition that the concept of saving was established as a virtue from this period, through the Weimar Republic, which followed World War I, then in the Nazi era and after World War II on both sides of the Berlin Wall. Saving became an essential part of the country's tax planning, welfare provision and social policies.
The legacy of this virtue has made Germans the top savers in the world. Households consistently saved more than 8% of their disposable income over the last two of decades, according to OECD data. The last time UK households came close to the German savings rate was in 1995. Two decades later, in 2015, German savers keep an equivalent of 9.96% of their disposable income in the country's 400 savings banks, while the British were merely at 0.16%.
Germans not only save more than their UK counterparts, but the deep rooted national habit has more implications than those numbers would reveal.
Understanding the German obsession with savings is important when one wants to understand German attitudes towards domestic and European policies. For example, since 2012 the main European Central Bank interest rate has been below 1%, and in March 2016 was reduced to 0%. The reason for these low interest rates, along with large programmes of quantitative easing, was to stabilise the European banking sector and to encourage lending, spending and economic recovery.
The virtue of saving in Germany is not limited to households or companies, but to state finances too. A good state does not live beyond its means and saves money where it can. The state, seen as the virtuous and prudent Swabian housewife, is at the centre of the German pro-austerity narrative, which has not only affected domestic but most of all European policies.
In the aftermath of the European sovereign debt crisis the implementation of austerity policies in the southern periphery, specifically Greece, was justified with the necessity to reduce spending and increase savings. It is no surprise that Germany was one of the leading advocates of these fiscal policies. To the German psyche, austerity was the necessary antidote to a country that had lived recklessly beyond its means up until 2008.
It is an undisputable fact that excessive state spending has led to unsustainable levels of debt and deficits that now threaten our economic welfare … Governments in and beyond the eurozone need not just to commit to fiscal consolidation and improved competitiveness – they need to start delivering on these now.
Schäuble was seen as a stickler for rules. So much so that he became a hate figure in Greece for emphasising austerity policies.
But, with the history and importance of saving in Germany in mind, it is unlikely that Olaf Scholz, Schäuble's successor as finance minister, or the country he represents, will change its mind on this any time soon.
By Imko Meyenburg, Lecturer in Economics and International Business, Anglia Ruskin University.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Photo courtesy Pixabay.


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Platypire Updates
November 1, 2020 UPDATE:
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Title: Strapped (Strapped Series) Released: 8/1/2013 Genre: Erotica/Suspense
By all appearances, Shyla Ball has an enviable life: a loyal boyfriend, a great job, and family that loves her. She doesn't realize how deeply unsatisfied she is until she has an embarrassing encounter with a handsome stranger at a coffee shop. Taylor Holden, a successful businessman, takes a sudden special interest in her and offers her a job she cannot refuse. Soon after, she learns there is much more to this intensely private man than meets the eye. He is hiding many painful secrets, including why it is that he has seemingly plucked her out of obscurity for such a lucrative position. Her "perfect" world is turned upside down by her infatuation towards Taylor and in just a couple of months, her life looks nothing like it did before. While she is frightened by the changes she sees in herself, she cannot resist the lure of Taylor Holden. As Shyla slowly gains Taylor's trust, she learns of his complex history and how it has molded him into the person he has become. When elements of Taylor's secret past resurface and threaten to destroy them, Shyla finds out there may be more to Taylor's story than even he is aware of. Strapped is a story of passion, manipulation, obsession, and family secrets.
Strapped (my first book): http://amzn.com/B00E9GH1T4
Strapped Down (released 2/1/14): http://amzn.com/B00I65MS8S
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strapped-down-nina-jones/1118468682?ean=2940148208990
"I have a mask just like the one that Taylor wears. It allows you to walk the earth pretending you are like all the others. I had worn it for so long and so well, I had almost forgotten. When we bumped into each other that first day, he recognized it. He could see right through the flimsy veneer. And so, we measured each other, tried to see if they other recognized our darkness. Bit by bit, we chipped away at each other's facade. Then this dance, this masquerade culminated today. When someone has the whole picture of who you are, it it a powerful weapon that can be used against you. You spend your life guarding the darkness until someone comes along who makes it no longer possible. The exposure is maddening and exhilarating all at once."
Nina G. Jones was born and raised in Bronx, NY and currently resides in Milwaukee, WI with her husband and two crazy Boxers.
She is the author of the Strapped series, and is currently working on a novella, Gorgeous Rotten Scoundrel, slated to be released in Spring 2014.
Nina lives a pretty wholesome life, but is fascinated with the dark side of things. She loves watching true crime TV shows and it creeps her husband out to no end. Nina has a degree in Psychology and uses her characters as a vehicle to explore the human psyche.
She also totally gets it if you want to throw your Kindle at her when you reach the end of Strapped, but let her know so she has a chance to duck.
Connect with Nina:
Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Website
We're just a gaggle of hoodlums with a reading addiction.
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Can the Nokia N810 run Drupal?
The Nokia N810 is due to come out on October 23 (next Tuesday). It runs a variant of Linux Debian. It was even made to work in Arabic by M Sameer.
I guess all that is needed is to have PHP, SQLite and Apache (or Lighttpd) on it, then it can run Drupal, and perhaps be the smallest platform that can run Drupal (with a display). Or will the iPhone beat the Nokia N810 to that honor?
I will get one. With a 400MHz CPU and quite some amount of RAM I am eyeing mysql-server. It's available in Debian ARM.
has anyone seen this work?


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SAIF Golden Charter
Funeral director celebrates 190 years
Download a pdf of the magazine featuring this article
Independent funeral director A B Walker has celebrated its 190th anniversary with the opening of a new branch in Maidenhead.
The branch in Bridge Road marks a milestone in the history of one of Berkshire's oldest family businesses.
It was formally opened by Mr James Puxley, the Lord-Lieutenant for the Royal County of Berkshire. Prayers of dedication were offered by Revd Margaret Bird, the Area Dean.
A B Walker is a fifth generation family business now run by brothers Julian and Matthew Walker and the Maidenhead branch is their seventh location.
"We have been growing steadily and we believe that is because of the quality and independent service we offer," said Julian.
"The funeral industry is changing but the need for caring, compassion, quality and trust will always stay the same. That's how we have built our reputation for generations."
The past and the future come together in the new branch in Maidenhead. The design reflects A B Walker's recent rebrand. But on the wall is a picture of Alfred Blyth Walker who took over the business in 1882.
"While we celebrate our heritage we are mindful of the need to innovate and develop the services we provide," said Julian. "Memory Giving is a sister company to A B Walker that collects millions of pounds of funeral donations for funeral directors throughout the UK. We have a bereavement care programme called The Link and an integrated partnership with Golden Charter, the leading independent provider of funeral plans in the UK.
"We are very much looking to the future."
Tags: A B Walker, anniversary, Berkshire, care, Julian Walker, Maidenhead, Memory Giving, Walker
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The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) is a trade association whose members are all independent funeral directors. A large proportion of our members' funeral homes have been run by the same family for generations.
Click here to visit SAIF
Golden Charter
Golden Charter is the leading independent provider of funeral plans in the UK. We work on behalf of over 3,000 funeral directors across the country and have over 500,000 customers.
Click here to visit Golden Charter
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