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Home National KP CM directs timely completion of mega uplift scheme
KP CM directs timely completion of mega uplift scheme
PESHAWAR, Dec 26 (APP): Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed all the provincial departments to ensure timely completion of all the ongoing mega developmental projects in the province and made it clear that any kind of unnecessary delay in the timely completion of these schemes will not be tolerated.
He was chairing a high level meeting to review the progress made so far on mega developmental projects here the other day, said an official handout issued here Saturday.
Besides, Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir, administrative secretaries of concerned departments and other relevant authorities attended the meeting.
Briefing about the progress on developmental projects, the forum was informed that extension of health insurance scheme (Sehat Insaf Card) 100 percent population of the province would be completed by the end of January next year.
The Chief Minister on this occasion directed the health department for necessary steps on urgent basis to get liver transplant covered under the Sehat Insaf Card Scheme further directing the department to ensure all types of emergency medicines in all the hospitals of the province.
The meeting was informed that a PC-1 for the revamping and strengthening of Basic Health Units and conversion of 200 Basic Health Units into 24/7 health centers has been prepared and submitted to Planning & Development department for approval.
ALSO READ KP CM directs DCs for good governance strategy
The meeting was further informed that work was also in progress on the outsourcing of seven different hospitals of merged areas with the aim to ensure provision of standard healthcare facilities to the people of merged areas.
Briefing about the various developmental schemes in Elementary & Secondary Education department, the forum was told that a total of 117 schools had been identified for launching of double shifts adding that the double shift in these schools would formally be started by the upcoming academic year.
Furthermore, it was informed that significant progress on various projects of communication sector had been ensured adding that physical work on the Phase-II of Swat Motorway Project would be started by August next year.
Similarly, PC-1 for Khyber Pass Economic Corridor Project has also been approved by ECNEC whereas hiring of consultant for this project was in progress.
Furthermore, PDWP has approved PC-1 of Peshawar to D.I. Khan Motorway which would soon be sent to CDWP for further approval.
The meeting was also informed that feasibility study has also been conducted for construction of Barang Tunnel in District Bajur whereas PC-II for Chashma Right Lift Bank Canal Project has been approved by the relevant forum.
The Chief Minister termed this project as of vital importance for food security in the province, and directed the authorities concerned to ensure progress on the implementation of the proposed project.
Briefing about the progress made so far on power projects, the forum was told that PC-1 for 300 MW Balakot Hydel Power Project had been approved by ECNEC whereas Management Consultant for the project has also been hired. Similarly, selection of consultant for 88 Mega Watt Gabral-Kalam and 157 MW Medan Hydro Power Projects was in progress.
It was informed that Rashakai Special Economic Zone project was ready for inauguration whereas plots have been allotted to 106 applicants for setting up of Industrial Units in Mohmand Marble Industrial Zone.
In order to promote tourist activities in the province, work on access roads to tourists sites of Hazara and Malakand Division was in full swing adding whereas more than 93 camping pods have been established in different districts of the province, it was informed and added that a project has been approved for establishment of 50 more camping pods in the different areas of the province.
KP CM directs DCs for good governance strategy


in 2017, we teamed up with the local non-profit organization, Tasveer during the 12th south asian film festival, and collaborated in putting together the himalayan peak as part of festival program. himiff presented two tibetan films - one from inside tibet and another from exile (produced in the us) that were warmly received by the audience.
himiff is honored to have the opportunity to work with tasveer this year and we hope to continue our relationship with this amazing organization.


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The search for answers
By Dan Carney
"Measuring the payback"
"Unlocking history at State"
Energy strikes it rich with knowledge portal
Nowhere is the challenge of data retrieval felt more keenly than in the government, where information is the primary product of many federal agencies.
"There has never been a market more tailor-made for a technology, because of the amount of data the government has," said David Appelbaum, general manager for North America at software developer Autonomy Inc., San Francisco. In fact, government research programs, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, funded a lot of early search-software development and deployment in the government, said Rita Joseph, Autonomy's vice president of public-sector operations. From those early days until recently, only highly skilled people searched databases. "Five or 10 years ago, the searchers were trained professionals" who were fluent in computer languages and could tell the computer exactly what they wanted, said Susan Feldman, director of the document and content technologies program for IDC.
But today, wor.kers throughout government need to search for data relevant to their jobs, even though they are not database experts. And many federal agencies provide some access to their records to citizens who connect to the databases using the Internet.
That has increased pressure on developers of search-engine technology. Ineffective searching — whether it happens because nonprofessional searchers don't know the best way to phrase a query or because the computer can't read the natural language it is analyzing — wastes time.
The three primary means of searching for documents and data are the full-text search, the taxonomy search and the metadata search.
The full-text search is rather self- explanatory: The computer reads every word of every document entered into the system and then records the words' locations in an index. To perform a search, the engine takes the user's keywords and looks for matches in the index, then indicates the source files from which they came.
The problem is that words have multiple meanings, and a basic keyword full-text search doesn't differentiate between them. Computer terms such as Java and Windows, for example, have other common meanings. A person searching for information on new thermal panes for the home isn't much interested in Microsoft Corp. operating systems.
With some added intelligence, a full-text search can look for a variety of associated words that provide clues to the intended definition of the word sought, filtering out hits for other meanings. "The more information you can give a search engine, the better," Feldman said, because additional search terms provide a clearer picture of the information sought. Some even permit users to copy and paste entire documents on the topic, so the engine can seek similar documents.
Another approach is to analyze relationships between documents for a taxonomy search. The indexing process works by classifying documents into a hierarchy. The indexing can take a few days to a few weeks, but once done, provides a quick way to find information.
"We go in, spend a week learning how [clients] do business, learn their processes and their content," said Roger Phillip, vice president of marketing and business development for Semio Corp., San Mateo, Calif., which offers a taxonomy search product. The U.S. Postal Service uses Semio's search technology to find documents, especially those employing terms unique to the service, referred to internally as "postal.speak." "There is a 100-page glossary of postal terms," said John Gregory, USPS marketing specialist. "So we put that whole thing into the taxonomy."
With a metadata search, on the other hand, each file has its own mini- database describing important aspects of the file, such as the author, creation date and keywords relating to its content.
A metadata search can be more selective than others. It can be limited to files created on specific dates, for example. It is also quick, because the search engine doesn't need to read the whole document, only its metadata. Proponents liken this to the card catalog in a library, except the metadata is contained in the file itself so there is no central repository to be protected and maintained.
Metadata searches presume that every file has associated attributes, but that is not always the case. Federal agencies may require users to record such information when creating documents, which can be done with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. However, older files may lack the required metadata.
One solution, available from companies such as Hiawatha Island Software Co. (HiSoftware), Concord, N.H., is software that not only performs metadata searches, but also creates metadata tags for existing files. HiSoftware's Hi-Search software works in conjunction with other search tools, such as products from Verity Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. "We can take your classification engine and provide tags for text and nontext documents," said Rob Yonaitis, HiSoftware president and CEO.
Finally, security is an important aspect of search technology, said Hadley Reynolds, the director of research for the Delphi Group, Boston.
Agencies with users holding different clearance levels must have a search engine that screens the query results before showing them to the user. Even if the documents are secure and cannot be viewed by those lacking the clearance to read them, simply acknowledging the existence of some documents could com.promise security, Reynolds said. An advanced search tool will display only those results that a particular user is cleared to read, he said.
Current data- retrieval tools are far from perfect, and faced with the daunting challenge of merging human languages with computer processing power, vendors are tackling the problem in different ways.
"People are working in every conceivable area of this space right now because the current state of the art is so poor," Reynolds said.
Carney is a freelance writer based in Herndon, Va.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


How to bypass google verification FRP archos 70b neon ac70bne 2019?
Easy step by step method Bypass FRP archos 70b neon ac70bne device. See full manual for Lock, and Remove Google account verification by Factory Reset Protection on your device.


Sometimes I do really feel like my dog is my best friend. We go most places together, and our favorite place to be is by each others' side unless there's a squirrel or other dog nearby, or a bike ride I want to go on. My husband and I live in a camper with our medium-sized mutt, a Boston Terrier/Boxer mix named Major Tom, who's almost 11 years old. On a lot of RV forums, people post concerns over getting a dog or hitting the road with their favorite pooch, but it really isn't too hard to keep everyone happy as long as some steps are taken. Heck, some folks even travel successfully with cats.
Make sure your dog's food is widely available. Chain pet stores carry a wide variety of foods these days, and our dog is on a specific diet of limited ingredients for a small older dog. We buy in bulk when we see a Petco, and break it up into smaller, more manageable containers. For treats, we give Major Tom peanut butter in Kong. It goes a long way for calming his nerves, and is cheap and easily found in just about any store. If we are going on a long drive, I will treat him to a stick of rawhide to help distract him. Just don't leave your pooch alone with rawhide, because they are potential choking hazards.
Make time for exercise. A tired dog is a happy dog. Even our senior pooch gets restless on drive days, so I make sure to take him for walks in the morning before hitting the road, even if that means doing a few loops of the Walmart parking lot. When he was younger, long runs were a must, but his legs get tired more quickly nowadays. Additionally, we stop at least every two hours for potty breaks and to get exercise. It's good for us humans, too, because it keeps our blood flowing by going on quick runs back and forth across a truck stop lawn or playing some tug-o-war. Once you are stopped for a while, treat your pup to a trip to the dog park. The app "Paw Parks" is a helpful tool to find the closest one to your temporary home.
Dogs are creatures of habit, and can get stressed out if they suddenly go for house pet to road dog. Make the transition easier for your canine bff by going for car rides together leading up to your epic voyage. When the time comes to take off, bring creature comforts like her favorite blanket or toy, as well as articles from the house that will remind her of the home she knows. Major Tom instantly calmed down once he got to nap on our comforter and eat from his own food bowl. Additionally, give your dog her own space where she can feel safe. Whether that's a bed or a crate, as long as your dog has a place to go where she can feel safe, that will save everyone a lot of stress.
Finally, set your dog up for success. if your dog always goes to the bathroom in the house now, or tears up the furniture, and needs to be crated, continue crating your dog. If your dog has separation anxiety, make sure you are setting yourself up for a lifestyle where you can take your dog with you most places, whether it's to pet-friendly campsites or pet-friendly cafes and bars. Most importantly, think critically about your pet as an individual and what she wants in life. Is this going to be a good life change? Major Tom loves car rides and basking in the sun. The longer drives can get a little tiresome, but the payoff of meeting other dogs, hanging out with his favorite people all the time, and sunbathing in the American Southwest rather than being holed up in a cold city in the Northeast is worth long naps between points A and B.


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What is the most difficult word in English?
Shahed
It's hard to say. Chemical compounds can be very hard to pronounce, and many of the species Latin names and classification can be. Two that come to my mind are: pteradactyl and apteryx (both dinosaurs). Another word that comes to mind is tsunami (the tidal wave after an earthquake). Another is the word loch (a sort of small lake). What all of those have in common are unusual sounds that are not found in English as a whole. The ts in tsunami, the ch in loch, and the pt found in the dinosaur names (but the ps sequence may be odd, it's much more common). Most of the difficulty in English is from its rich heritage of foreign words from all over the world. (For example, loch is Irish and tsunami is Japanese.)
Forum>What is the most difficult word in English?


The Long-Waterman mansion is a model of Queen Anne Victorian architectural style. It was built in 1989 for John S. Long. The second, and most famous, owner was Robert Whitney Waterman, 17th governor of California. Gov. Waterman was well-liked and was nicknamed "Old Honesty." Years before moving to our state Waterman helped establish the Republican Party and nominated Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate to the Presidency. The Long-Waterman house is now a private residence owned by John and Allegra Ernst.


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Q: Own reference structure to DOT language I creating decision tree in C# where nodes are objects and branches are references and I wounder If I can use some tool to change this structure into DOT language graph to use it in graphviz?
If there any better way to build this graph?

A: Assuming your node looks like this
public class Node
{
    public Node(string name)
    {
        ChildNodes = new List<Node>();
        Name = name;
    }

    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<Node> ChildNodes { get; set; }
}

you can create dot file with this code:
private static void PrintInDotFormat(Node root)
{
    // 1. Create graph
    var nodes = new HashSet<Node>();
    var openList = new Queue<Node>();
    var references = new List<KeyValuePair<Node, Node>>();

    openList.Enqueue(root);
    while (openList.Count > 0)
    {
        var current = openList.Dequeue();
        nodes.Add(current);
        foreach (var child in current.ChildNodes)
        {
            references.Add(new KeyValuePair<Node, Node>(current, child));

            if (nodes.Contains(child))
                continue;
            openList.Enqueue(child);
        }
    }

    // 2. Print it to console
    Console.WriteLine("digraph DecisionTree {");
    foreach (var node in nodes)
        Console.Write($"{node.Name};");

    Console.WriteLine();

    foreach (var pair in references)
        Console.WriteLine($"{pair.Key.Name}->{pair.Value.Name};");

    Console.WriteLine("}");
}

Usage:
var root = new Node("root");
root.ChildNodes.Add(new Node("a"));
root.ChildNodes.Add(new Node("b"));
root.ChildNodes.Add(new Node("c"));

PrintInDotFormat(root);

This code will print grap in dot file format:
digraph DecisionTree {
root;a;b;c;
root->a;
root->b;
root->c;
}

After processing by dot.exe:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


July Skies will perform at Café Oto, Dalston, London on Saturday 4 June 2016. This will be a 50 minute set in support of Darren Hayman's Thankful Villages band.
Set your hearts for 18-22 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL. Doors open at 8pm.


of paths — diane powers *•✿.
That very day, must also die.
Across the visible sky is run.
The little while that we may last.
Should you exaggerate or exclude.
In the least you ever do.
Is reflected in each pool.


The PP1000 was designed to be extremely portable and just as effective as a table top unit. Weighing only 16lbs, the PP1000 is the lightest microdermabrasion machine on the market today. The PP1000 is perfect for technicians on the go. The sleek design and superior performance of the PP1000 offers the power, reliability and durability every professional desires, and at the same time is economically priced. Designed and manufactured in the U.S.A, the PP1000 comes standard with Platinum Lifetime Warranty.


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Q: How to change "Potentially dead Methods" CQLinq to be useful in a WPF MVVM project Just started NDepend on a WPF project. Changed the "potentially dead types" built-in query to include our System.Windows.Application derived class instead of the class called Program:
// <Name>Potentially dead Types</Name>
warnif count > 0
let canTypeBeConsideredAsDeadProc = new Func<IType, bool>(
   t => !t.IsPublic &&
        (t.BaseClass == null || t.BaseClass.FullName != "System.Windows.Application") &&
        !t.IsGeneratedByCompiler && ...

After tackling these, I would still need to deal with lots of dead methods found by NDepend that are actually used in a WPF Binding. Any ideas how to start on this without marking all such view-model properties with an attribute?
Unfortunately all methods used by only those properties also seem to be dead code, so this query "leaks" into parts of the model, too.


If you ask me, Marvin and Rochelle Humes are the power couple of 2018. They're on the radio, they're on the telly, and even in the shops after she launched a fashion collection with New Look this summer. On July 27, they celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary, but they've actually been a couple for eight years. But where did their love story begin? How did Marvin and Rochelle meet?
Well, it all started back in 2010. Both were dominating the pop charts at the time — The Saturday's debut album Headlines! was released that summer, propelling Rochelle to new heights within the pop-sphere, meanwhile JLS' second record Outta This World was released in the autumn.
Mixing in the same circles, the couple inevitably met after their "paths crossed at music bashes and award ceremonies," according to OK! magazine. However, it wasn't a smooth ride from the get-go. Both Rochelle and Marvin's music careers were at an all-time high, meaning their schedules were jam-packed, which nearly prevented the couple from taking their relationship further.
Making matters even more complicated, The Saturday's management team was allegedly wary about the girls dating boyband members. Rochelle told the Metro: "We got a talking to from our A&R at our record label. [They] said, 'You're really lucky because girls like you, they can relate to you — just don't date anyone from a boyband."
Sheesh. Can you imagine your line manager telling you who to date? Obviously, Rochelle didn't pay any attention to her team's word of warning and ended up falling head over heels for Marvin. However, they didn't tell a soul at first about their "secret kiss[es]" as she "didn't want [her] bosses to know."
Rochelle was also cautious when it came to the beginning of her relationship with Marvin, as she'd only recently broken up with footballer Darren Rudolph, her "childhood sweetheart", according to The Mirror.
Admirably, Rochelle didn't want to make Rudolph feel bad about her dating Marvin "so soon after [they'd] broken up", but her friends reportedly convinced her to go on a date with Marvin which in turn began a beautiful relationship. Destiny? I think so.
There was an obvious spark between the musicians as soon as they begun dating, as Rochelle reportedly moved in with Marvin four months after they began dating, according to OK! magazine.
A year or so into their relationship, Marvin popped the question to Rochelle whilst on holiday in the Maldives (not jealous at all), reports the Daily Mail, and the pair were married in July 2012 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
The following spring, the couple welcomed their first child into the world, a baby girl they named Alaia-Mai. "This morning we welcomed our baby girl Alaia-Mai Humes," Marvin posted on Twitter. "Mum is doing great & baby is amazing! We are both overjoyed! Thanks for your love X."
And it doesn't stop there — the couple had another spring baby in March 2017, extending their family with their second daughter Valentina Raine. "Our world is now complete," Rochelle wrote on Instagram. "Valentina Raine Humes — Happy birthday little one..."
Thought you'd run out of tears? Think again, as Rochelle posted the cutest dedication to her bae for their recent anniversary, including shots of their wedding, and some holiday snaps.
"Happy Anniversary My Love," Rochelle captioned the post. "Almost 9 years together, 6 married, made 2 incredible little humans and through all that you're still my best friend. Forever and ever, Wifey for Lifey."
Marvin also posted a snap that Rochelle included in her post, with the caption: "6 years to the day I married the woman of my dreams...it was the best day of my life..looking forward to the next 60 years @rochellehumes I love you."
Hopefully there will be some insight into their family life on Marvin's upcoming episode of Who Do You Think You Are, because I seriously cannot get enough of this family.
Marvin's episode of Who Do You Think You Are airs on BBC One on Monday at 9 p.m.


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National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)
About the NTMA
You are here: Home » News » Archives for 2018
NTMA Funding Statement for 2019
13 December 2018 - The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) plans to issue €14 billion to €18 billion of bonds over the course of 2019.The NTMA will issue a statement at the beginning of each...
Ireland sells €500m of Treasury Bills by auction
13 December 2018 - The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has today completed an auction of Irish Treasury Bills, selling the target amount of €500 million.Total bids received amounted to €1.185 billion which was 2.37...
NTMA cancels €500 million of the Irish Floating Rate Treasury Bond 2049
10 December 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) announces the cancellation of €500 million of the Irish Floating Rate Treasury Bond due to mature on 18 June 2049.The bonds, which were issued in connection...
Auction of Irish Treasury Bills
10 December 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) announces an auction of Treasury Bills ('Bills') on Thursday 13 December 2018. The NTMA will offer €500 million of Treasury Bills with a twelve month...
Ireland sells €750 million of bonds maturing in 2023 and 2028 by auction
8 November 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has today completed an auction of €750 million of the benchmark Irish Government bonds, 3.9% Treasury Bond 2023 and 0.9% Treasury Bond 2028. Details are as...
NTMA to auction two bonds on 8th November 2018
5 November 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) announces that it will hold a bond auction on Thursday, 8th November 2018. There will be two bonds offered in the auction. The details of the...
NTMA Institutional Investor Presentation, October 2018
25 October 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has published the latest version of its presentation for institutional investors. You can view the full presentation here and watch this short introduction from NTMA Chief...
24 October 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) announces the cancellation of €500 million of the Irish Floating Rate Treasury Bond due to mature on 18 June 2049. The bonds, which were issued in...
NTMA raises €3 billion through syndicated sale of Ireland's first-ever Sovereign Green Bond
The original version of this press release was subsequently updated to include the press release issued by the joint lead managers for the transaction termsheet. 10 October 2018 – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has today...
Ireland Sovereign Green Bond 12 Year Mandate Announcement
9 October 2018 – IRELAND, rated Standard & Poor's A+ (Stable), Moody's A2 (Stable), Fitch Ratings A+ (Stable), has mandated BARCLAYS, BNP PARIBAS, CITI, DANSKE BANK, HSBC, J.P. MORGAN, as joint lead managers for a...
Twitter Policy
© 2019 National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)


Bud Cort, American actor/comedian, was born Walter Edward Cox in New Rochelle, New York. From early childhood on, Bud displayed a remarkable acting ability and appeared in countless school plays and community theatre. Also a talented painter, he earned extra money doing portraits at art fairs and by commission to the people in Rye. However, he knew acting was his real dream and began riding trains into New York City at the age of 14 to begin studying with his first teacher Bill Hickey at the HB Studios in Greenwich Village.
Upon graduation from Iona Prep School run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, Bud applied to the NYU School of the Arts, now known as Tisch. Unfortunately, the acting department was full but after seeing Bud's art portfolio he was admitted as a scenic design major in 1967. Bud continued to study with Bill Hickey and secretly began to work in commercials, - off Broadway Theater, and the soap opera, "The Doctors."
He formed a comedy team with actress Jeannie Berlin, and later with Judy Engles, performing Bud's original comedy material all over Manhattan's burgeoning nightclub scene. Bud and Judy won first place during amateur night at the famed Village Gate and were signed to a management contract with the club's owner. Soon after, while appearing at the famed Upstairs at the Downstairs in the musical revue "Free Fall", Bud was spotted by Robert Altman who was in New York looking for actors for his film "M. A. S. H." Bud was hired and from that went on to play the title role in Altman's next film "Brewster McCloud".
A quirky May-Dec. love story, "Harold and Maude", next saw Cort opposite Ruth Gordon in arguably his most famous role. After a confused reception, the film went on to become not only one of the most successful cult movies in history, but eventually was crowned an American Film Classic. Bud was also awarded the French equivalent of the Oscar, the Crystal Star, for Best Actor of the Year. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award.
Resisting type casting, Bud turned down the role of Billy Bibbit in Milos Forman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" and returned to the theater. He made his Broadway debut opposite Donald Pleasance in Simon Gray's "Wise Child" at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1971. Again he resisted being type cast by Hollywood and finally made his first film five years after "Harold and Maude", in the political thriller "Darkness of the Brain" or "Flash" opposite Marcel Bozzuffi (The Conformist).
Title roles in "Why Shoot the Teacher?" (one of the most successful films in Canadian history), "The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud", (a comedy with Klaus Kinski and Carol Kane), and "She Dances Alone" (a documentary/fantasy about the real life daughter of Vaslav Nijinski, with Max Von Sydow) followed and led to countless more films. His latest films being the Wes Anderson comedy "The Life Aquatic" (with Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett) as well as "The Number 23" (with Jim Carrey). Besides his film and theater work, Bud has sung all over the world from Carnegie Hall in New York, to the Alcazar in Paris. He was the youngest actor ever given an homage at the Cinematheque in Paris in an evening hosted by the great comedic actor, Jacques Tati.
Bud lived as a house guest for many years with his dear friend Groucho Marx. In 1979 Bud survived a near fatal car crash on the Hollywood Freeway. He continued working in film and theater and co-founded the LA Classic Theatre Works with, among others, Richard Dreyfuss and Rene Auberjonois. Bud performed the entire J. D. Salinger novel "The Catcher in the Rye" live in-studio, as well as the one man show, "An Evening with Truman Capote" for the radio station KCRW. He appeared with Tom Waits in the L.A. Premiere of Thomas Babe's "Demon Wine" and was nominated for the LA Theatre Critics Best Actor award for his performance in Samuel Beckett's "ENDGAME", which he first played in New York at the Cherry Lane Theatre. For his performance as Clov, Bud was awarded the Dramalogue Award as Best Actor.
Recent films include Kevin Smith's "Dogma", Ed Harris' "Pollock", and his own controversial film, "Ted and Venus" (Col. Tri Star Home Video) which Bud directed, co-wrote, and starred in with Woody Harrelson and Gena Rowlands and which initially, like "Harold and Maude" disturbed some critics and yet was hailed as a "tiny masterpiece," and "a courageous film, Bud Cort's finest performance".
Bud is a member of the Director's Unit of the Actor's Studio. Besides Bill Hickey, he has studied extensively with Stella Adler, Joan Darling, David Craig, and Del Close of 2nd City. Bud recently starred in televisions "Arrested Development", "Funny or Die Presents", the highly regarded "Mosley Lane" episode of "Criminal Minds" and Chris Elliot's "Eagleheart" ("Exit Wound the Gift Shop).


text:
Q: Regex : Match first 15 characters but the matcher.start() should point to the 16th character Here I am using regex to catch first 15 characters to match, and while using substring I have to use (0,matcher.start()) only wherein I should get 15 only, kindly help me out.
   String test = "hello world this is example";
        Pattern p = Pattern.compile(".{15}");

    //can't change the code below
    //can only make changes to pattern

        Matcher m=p.matches(test);
        matcher.find(){
            String string = test.substring(0, m.start());
        }

    //here it is escaping the first 15 characters but I need them
    //the m.start() here is giving 0 but it should give 15

A: You should be using Matcher.end() instead of Matcher.start().
String test = "hello world this is example";
            Pattern p = Pattern.compile(".{15}");
            Matcher m=p.matcher(test);
            if(m.find()){
                String string = test.substring(0, m.end());
                System.out.println(string);
            }

From API:

*

*Matcher.start() ---> Returns the start index of the previous match.

*Matcher.end()   ---> Returns the offset after the last character matched.

A: If possible, I agree with @jlordo's comment: Use String string = test.substring(0, 15);
If you are forced to pass through the bottom code snippet which you marked as unchangeable, there is a workaround.
(Well that depends... If you are stuck with an unchangeable code snippet does not even compile... You're gonna have a bad time)
If you really need a regex that always returns 15 for m.start() you can use the regex lookbehind concept.
        String test = "hello world this is example";
        Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(?<=.{15}).");

        Matcher m=p.matcher(test);
        m.find();
        System.out.println(m.start());

Granted that the test input string is at least 16 characters long, this will always return 15 for m.start().
The regex is supposed to be read as "Any character (the last .) preceded by (the (?<=) lookbehind operator) exactly 15 any characters (the .{15})".
(?<=foo) is a lookbehind operator specifying that whatever regex comes after must be preceded by "foo".
E.g. the regex: (?<=foo)bar
Will match the bar in: foobar
But not the bar in: wunderbar


text:
Nieszpory efeskie – masakra Rzymian i Italików w Azji Mniejszej, do której doszło w 89 lub 88 r. p.n.e.

W początkowej fazie wojny z Rzymem, król Pontu Mitrydates VI Eupator wezwał ludność Azji Mniejszej do powstania antyrzymskiego. Z jego inspiracji mieszkańcy klienckich państw Rzymu w regionie wymordowali przebywających w Azji Mniejszej Rzymian i Italików. Antyczni dziejopisarze twierdzili, że w trakcie tych wydarzeń tych zginęło 80 tysięcy lub nawet 150 tysięcy Rzymian. Liczby te są z pewnością znacznie zawyżone, w sposób typowy dla starożytnej historiografii, jednak dzisiejsi badacze zgadzają się, że liczba ofiar była ogromna.

Używana przez nowożytnych historyków nazwa "nieszpory efeskie" czy "nieszpory azjatyckie" została utworzona przez francuskiego historyka Théodore'a Reinacha jako analogia do tzw. "nieszporów sycylijskich".

Geneza wydarzeń
W połowie II w. p.n.e. Rzymianie podbili Grecję, a w następnych latach uczynili Azję Mniejszą swoją strefą wpływów. W dekadach poprzedzających nieszpory efeskie w miastach Azji Mniejszej osiedlało się wielu Rzymian, przeważnie kupców, przedsiębiorców i poborców podatkowych. Ich aktywność ekonomiczna, w szczególności na polu handlu niewolnikami, budziła niechęć miejscowej ludności. Przybyszów utożsamiano z państwem rzymskim, które oskarżano o opresyjną politykę fiskalną i wpędzanie mieszkańców Azji Mniejszej w długi, nieraz prowadzące do sprzedaży dłużników w niewolę.

Nienawiść wobec Rzymian wykorzystał król Pontu Mitrydates Eupator. Będąc zagrożony rzymską interwencją, która mogła pozbawić go panowania nad Kapadocją, postanowił uprzedzić atak i zająć rzymskie posiadłości w Azji Mniejszej. Prawdopodobnie motywem, dla którego władca Pontu postanowił wymordować Italików mieszkających w azjatyckich miastach, była chęć zapewnienia sobie wierności sojuszników, czyli państw dotąd zależnych od Rzymu. Według kalkulacji Mitrydatesa po takim czynie państwa te nie miałyby już drogi odwrotu i nie mogłyby układać się z Rzymem, ale musiałyby z nim walczyć.

Przebieg masakry
Według Appiana Mitrydates nakazał objąć czystką Rzymian, Italików i wyzwoleńców pochodzenia italskiego, a także ich żony i dzieci. Ciała ofiar miały pozostać niepogrzebane. Połowa majątku zabitych miała przypaść mordercom, a druga połowa królowi. Wyznaczono nagrody dla donosicieli, a kary miały czekać tych, którzy próbowali grzebać ciała pomordowanych. Niewolnikom, którzy wydadzą swoich panów lub ich sami zabiją, Mitrydates obiecał wolność. Dłużnicy, którzy zabijali swych wierzycieli, mogli liczyć na umorzenie połowy długu.

Według rzymskich dziejopisarzy dla napastników nie liczyło się uświęcone tradycją prawo azylu. W Efezie, Pergamonie i wielu innych miastach nie oszczędzono nawet tych Rzymian, którzy szukali schronienia w świątyniach; jedynie na wyspie Kos darowano im życie. Kaunijczycy odrywali od posągów ludzi chroniących się w świątyni Westy, zabijając na oczach matek dzieci, następnie matki, na koniec - mężów. Mieszkańcy portowego miasta Adramyttion mieli topić niektóre ofiary w morzu, natomiast mieszkańcy Tralles wynajęli kata, który w świątyni Zgody dokonał rzezi, a ofiarom stawiającym opór i trzymającym się kurczowo posągów odrąbywał ręce. Podobne sceny miały miejsce w wielu innych miastach.

Plan Mitrydatesa w pełni się powiódł, gdyż w wyniku czystki społeczność Rzymian mieszkających w Azji Mniejszej została praktycznie unicestwiona.

Następstwa
Masakry w Azji Mniejszej stały się dla Rzymu casus belli i zapoczątkowały serię wojen między Rzymianami a królestwem Pontu. Wojny te trwały aż do śmierci Mitrydatesa w 63 r. p.n.e.

Przypisy

Bibliografia

 Mayor A., The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy, Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2010, .

Zobacz też
 nieszpory

Wojny starożytnego Rzymu
Efez
Republika rzymska

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This is a whistle-stop tour of the rapidly changing world of open source software. It is intended to give you an idea of some of the arguments in favour of open source software. Obviously open source has its critics too. However this article does not cover these criticisms. If you are interested in the counter arguments then please visit the Microsoft FUD (fear uncertainty & doubt) site, amusingly entitled "Get the Facts".
Why should my organisation consider open source software?
Open Source software could save you a lot of money!
What are the advantages of open source over proprietary products?
Development tools are much cheaper – often free.
More openly documented – open source developers tend to be more honest about their products' shortcomings.
Standards-based – offering high level of compatibility with existing systems.
More secure – certain popular proprietary products are notorious for their security flaws.
More flexible – in my case, my web systems will run on any operating system, not just Microsoft Windows.
Faster development – end-user products can be developed much more quickly.
More appropriate – products can be built and configured exactly as people need them.
Is open source software also open to hackers?
No! The better quality open source software is standards-based. Its bugs are a matter of public record and therefore tend to get corrected quickly due to feedback from the open source community.
Proprietary software manufacturers tend to be rather slower to admit security problems and the quality of their source code cannot be examined publicly. So open source products can actually be more secure than comparable proprietary products.
Do I have to dump all my proprietary Microsoft (MS) software in order to "go open source"?
Many open source products are also available for several operating systems including Linux, Macintosh and Windows. For example mySQL relational database system: http://dev.mysql.com/ & PHP, a powerful web-programming language: http://www.php.net/ – both used extensively in interactive websites.
The output from open source, web-based software generally works on any modern web browser running on any modern operating system.
Can I use my Microsoft Office documents, JPEG photos, MP3 music files, MPEG2 videos etc. on Linux?
Does that mean small organisations or individuals make their own Linux?
What public sector organisations are using or considering open source?
Article entitled "Governments vote against Microsoft"
I admit that to a certain amount of bias here. I believe that certain proprietary software manufacturers have made huge sums by charging us for products that should be free by now. And I am astonished at the bugs and security flaws that still exist in certain proprietary products despite the massive resources available to the company concerned to rectify them.
Moreover, I am stunned by the high quality and rich diversity of today's open source alternatives. And I am thrilled by the vast array of features I have been able to add to this and other site at absolutely no cost by adopting all open source.


text:
Hilarious Sleepover Games
By Carl Hose
Carl Hose
Carl Hose is the author of the anthology "Dead Horizon" and the the zombie novella "Dead Rising." His work has appeared in "Cold Storage," "Butcher Knives and Body Counts," "Writer's Journal," and "Lighthouse Digest.". He is editor of the "Dark Light" anthology to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Sleepovers hold many special memories that often carry over into real life. Letting your child have a group of her friends over for a slumber party is an effective way to help her with social skills while having fun in the process. Part of the fun associated with a sleepover is staying up late and playing games that make the kids laugh. Help your child prepare some of these games ahead of time to help ensure that her slumber party is a success with all her friends.
Blindfold Games
Blindfold games are always fun to play and are ideal for sleepovers. Blindfolded guests at a girl's sleepover can take turns putting makeup on each other or wearing lipstick and kissing posters of favorite celebrities. Blindfold tag is ideal for boys and girls. Musical chairs and pillow fights are fun sleepover games that can be made even more fun with the addition of a blindfold. For pillow fights, it's a good idea to do it in a room where the game can be played without knocking things over.
Relay Racing Games
Relay racing games can be fun when you add challenges to the mix. Pillowcase or sleeping bag races are two ways to turn a sleepover into a funny affair. Relay races where partners tie their legs together and have to work as a team can be fun as well, with kids falling down as they try to work together to compete. Relay races on a slip and slide in the backyard can be fun during warmer months.
Guessing Games
Guessing games are ideal for making kids laugh as they try their best to get teammates to guess what they try to portray. Kids can either use hand signals and actions to act out a person, place or thing or draw clues on poster board while the other kids take turns trying to guess what it is. Put a time limit on each child's turn to make it more challenging. Watching each other make goofy faces and actions while trying to get others to guess can result in a lot of laughable moments. Karaoke and lip synch challenges can be fun to watch, with sleepover guests taking turns competing to see who can sing along best with their favorite artists.
There are quite a few board games that are meant to make kids laugh. These games include timer games that require kids to give answers to questions with little time to think, which can result in some funny answers. Baffle Gab, Mad Gab, Balderdash and 5 Second Rule, Just Spit It Out are games of this nature.
Pajama Company: 10 Sleepover Games
Christian Christmas Adult Games
Birthday Party Games for a 12 Year Old Boy
Ice Breakers to Get People Talking
Games for a Mother/Daughter Banquet
Sleepover Ideas for 12 Year Old Girls
Pajama Party Games for Adult Women


Who has never wanted to feel like a princess? Who has not felt like he was bleeding to death when love abandoned him? Who has not needed their Prince Charming to show up, but he never did?
But we often fall into the mistake of believing certain imaginary ideas, as if they were totally true and real, when this was never the case and never will be.
Our imagination is wonderful for fairy tales, but obviously real life is quite far from resembling a fairy tale.
Nowadays, we have a problem with the subject of love. We have convinced ourselves that finding love is one of the most important goals in our lives because without this love, we will never be able to be happy people.
Society and culture tell us that without our soul mate, we will be incomplete people, unlucky people condemned to unhappiness and solitude. And the problem is that we have bought these ideas and this is why we are suffering so much for love.
So great is our fear of being alone, of not having someone at our sides who loves us unconditionally, that we fall into the trap of certain irrational and harmful behaviors that will hurt us and our partners alike.
Where do these hyper-romantic ideas come from?
In films and books, people in love even sacrifice their own lives for love, as if this were the only source of gratification in existence.
Since childhood, we have seen the princesses anxiously awaiting the arrival of their Prince Charming so that he could save them from such an unhappy life.
If that prince never arrived, they could not enjoy life under any circumstance. This has filled us with the harmful idea of dependence on others.
I do not deny that they are precious songs that we can enjoy, but I insist that our imagination has to have a limit.
We are neither princes nor princesses and we are not in a fairy tale. This is real life and if we want to be happy, we have to cling to what there is around us.
Love is neither more nor less than a combination of chemical reactions that one day, whether we like it or not, stops being produced. And this is neither good nor bad; it is normal.
Feelings do not last forever; they are not eternal like songs tell us. The figure of love forever, unbreakable and perfect does not exist and if we become obsessed by the idea we will suffer incredibly on the day that some crack shows up in our relationship.
These ideas create many possibilities to fall into emotional dependence, irrational jealousy, and depression.
We will suffer great anxiety looking and looking for that special someone who has to "pull us from the depths," which will lead us to many letdowns and failures, and feeling as if we are unlucky.
If we have already found that special someone, we will always be very nervous about the possibility of losing them, which will make it more difficult for us to enjoy that relationship.
We must become aware that nobody needs anybody else to be happy. Mature, lasting, and healthy relationships are not made of people who tell each other that either they are together forever or they are a failure.
They like each other, they want each other, they love each other, but they do not need each other at all. If things do not go well tomorrow, life will offer them thousands of other opportunities.
This is true love and this is what we should be telling ourselves: "I love you but I do not need you. I love you freely, because I like to be with you, because we have a good time together. Not because you have to complete me, for I am already a whole person, with my flaws and my virtues.
I do not care if you are present or absent. I do not need you, I just love you.
I love you, but I am the most important person for me. I will give you many things, but I will take care not to lose myself in the process. If we are happy walking side by side, helping and supporting one another, great, and if not, that is okay, too.
I just want it… but I do not need it at all.


Small bottle containing four salt tablets. The bottle is full but the cap is rusted and stuck on the bottle (maybe it can be opened with some TLC). This was in late war K rations and the accessory packet (see additional photos).


Certiprep for Adobe® Certified Associate is designed to accurately replicate the certification testing environment for Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop CS4, maps directly to exam objectives.
Certiprep for Adobe® Certified Associate is designed to give students a simulation of the exam experience. This practice experience will reduce their test anxiety and help them become familiar with the testing format.
The Certiprep for Adobe® Certified Associate questions are mapped to the Adobe® Certified Associate standards and are similar to the actual Adobe® Certified Associate Exam questions, so they will help you easily evaluate your students' readiness.
Reviews your performance and tells you when you are ready for the exam.
Track your progress. There are a number of reports and tools that keep track of your progress and suggest a proper course of action.


text:
Jordan Morgan might play against Indiana on Saturday
By Terrence PayneFeb 1, 2013, 8:57 PM EST
When Jordan Morgan went down with what looked a serious ankle injury in Sunday's 74-60 win over Illinois. Although it looked a lot worse than it turned out to be. No break, only a sprain for the Michigan junior. After missing the win against Northwestern, the 6-foot-8 forward could be available for Saturday's marquee matchup against Indiana.
According to reports, Michigan head coach John Beilein has not ruled out Morgan, at least not yet.
"I want to do what's best for the team and best for him," Beilein said before Friday's practice. "You're looking long-range — at the same time, you never know if he can give us a few minutes. We don't want to experiment with him. Let's see what he does. I don't hold this high regard for who starts."
Michigan was waiting to see how Morgan he looked six days after suffering the sprain. If Morgan can't go with the injury, Jon Horford is slated to start in his role, like he did on Wednesday, with freshman Mitch McGary coming off the bench. Even if he doesn't start, Beilein could still use Morgan off the bench.
In Wednesday's win against Northwestern, Horford and McGary combined for 16 points and 18 rebounds. Whether Morgan can go or not, Michigan will obviously need strong play from its bigs on the road in one of the toughest places to play against one of the best big men in the country, Cody Zeller.
"We have more length when Jon or Mitch is in there," said Beilein. "Cody's a load no matter who you have in there."
Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne


Birch Moon Midwifery is a independent midwifery practice providing comprehensive midwifery care to people and families in Maine. Founded on the belief that education and informed choice are the basis of high-quality, cost-effective care, Birch Moon Midwifery has had the pleasure serving Maine people and families since 2005.
Holly Arends Murphy, CPM Birch Moon Midwifery. Holly earned a Bachelors of Arts from Saint Mary's College in 1999 with a double major in Religious Studies and Philosophy. In 2005 she graduated from Birthwise Midwifery School and passed the NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) exam to become a Certified Professional Midwife.
Your midwife Holly has taken care to provide you with the very best birth kit she could prepare and it's our pleasure to put it together for your special day! Holly Arends Murphy is located in Illinois.
Birch Moon Midwifery — Comprehensive midwifery care. Mon.-Fri. 9AM-5PM by appointment. Holly Arends Murphy, 1518 Castine Road, 522-6043, [email protected] , www.birchmoonmidwifery.com Dr. Joan's Veterinary Service — Integrative medicine & surgery, homeopathy.
Holly ('05) earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary's College and, the year she graduated Birthwise, opened Birch Moon Midwifery and began educating a new generation of midwives at her alma mater.
Birch Moon Midwifery is a private midwifery practice providing comprehensive home- and office-based midwifery care to women and families in Maine.
The place for birth kits, cloth diapers, midwifery supplies, and cloth products at everything birth. Natural parenting and baby products are our specialty.
[email protected] via telephone: 207.522.6043. Please also visit our website at www.mainecpms.org . Join Our Chapter. Note: If you are not currently an active NACPM member, you will need to join or renew your national membership in order to join the Maine State Chapter.


text:
Błażej Marczak — Grey City
My Documenting Britain project is a personal story of Aberdeen, my subjective impressions of this Northern city bounded by two river mouths, the North Sea and green stretches of land. Some call it the Granite City, others say it is silver, though it is also known as the Energy Capital of Europe. The label I think is the most accurate is the Grey City.
High Rise Aberdeen
"Only one large municipality in the UK—the City of Aberdeen—managed to bypass completely the political and professional rejection of high flats, and carry on building them right until the very end of public housebuilding on any significant scale in Britain"*
"Couple on the bank of a river Don-modernist pastoral" Donmouth, Aberdeen, 2014
Seaton, Aberdeen, 2014
Balnagask, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2013
"We are not going to build tenements, but something we will be proud of, and something I hope that may win another Saltire Prize…" - Baillie Frank Magee, the city's Housing convenor, 1950**
Upper Denburn Central Development Area, Aberdeen, Scotland
"The inner city blocks at Chapel Street (…) were built on the site of slum clearances, and transformed their neighbourhoods. Although old granite buildings which were retained where possible, the towers dominate. Aberdeen was slow to begin its programme of high rise construction – and it was the last city in Scotland to build a high-rise council block, in 1985."**
View from the Chapel Street. Gilcomstoun Land, the slab block in the foreground rising above old Victorian granite structures and more recent residential buildings. Denburn Court and Hutcheon Court high rises are visible in the background.
Gilcomstoun Land, Aberdeen, Scotland
Public housing project started in 1961
Castlegate, Aberdeen, Scotland
* From Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius (1994). Tower Block; Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Hong Kong: Yale University Press. p322.
** Urban Realm


A while back I wrote that I'd been working on a video piece for a theatrical arts festival called Lydia Fair, sponsored by the Greater Boston Vineyard of Cambridge. Now you can see my video on YouTube!
It is what I would call a video narration, or maybe an audio visualization—or maybe one of you can suggest a more elegant name—of the prologue to Sunborn. I recorded the narration and blocked out the basic image storyboard. Then a talented fellow named Adam Guzewicz worked video and sound wizardry on it, animating parts of it from still images (which I gleaned from various NASA websites), and adapting other animation (ditto on the source). I'm lucky, I guess—that I wrote a prologue that actually could be set to astronomical images.
For best effect, set the viewer to full-screen and high-quality mode, and turn up the sound a bit. Enjoy!
What a beautiful and mysterious introduction to Sunborn, a great way to set the stage for a complicated, wonderful story.
Thanks, Fran! It was an interesting challenge, and I like the way it came out.
That was cool! Beautiful imagery.


Teambuilding is available all year. Both with dogs and without dogs. It is always a lot of fun!
So if you are looking for something fun, and a quality, unique experience for your group, get in touch and get started!


text:
Trump Facebook
Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States. He served from 2017 to 2021. Prior to becoming president in 2017, he was a TV public figure and a businessman.
Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States on January 20 2017. In his first term, he introduced significant policy changes and had a profound impact on the country's social and economic life.
In his tenure as president, he was responsible for the largest financial relief package in US history and enacted numerous record-breaking regulations cuts. He also secured Social Security and Medicare, reduced drug prices and cut corporate tax rates.
Two times, President Trump was impeached by Congress during his tenure. The House of Representatives approved both the impeachment resolutions. Trump was cleared of all charges during the Senate trial.
Throughout his term, President Trump had to conquer an intense partisan divide in the Nation's Capital. He was met with a fierce opposition by the Washington Establishment and special interests. But he delivered remarkable results and the longest-running economic expansion in American history, and a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East.
Trump was clearly a leader after his election to the presidency. He pledged to secure the country by reducing taxes and boosting job creation. He stressed the importance of placing America first in foreign policy and imposing border controls. His administration also put a high priority on reforms in the criminal justice system, the appointment of federal judges and increased budgets for military.
One of the most famous people in the United States is President Donald Trump. He is an entrepreneur and real estate entrepreneur. He is also a TV star who was the host of The Apprentice, a reality TV show.
As a child, Donald Trump was a rough and tumble sort who was often in trouble. However, he was a man with a number of accomplishments to his name which included obtaining an undergraduate degree and attending Fordham University.
For a brief period of time, Trump also owned a Miss Universe pageant. The pageant was eventually relocated to the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City. The Trump family also received an exemption from taxes for 40 years to the hotel as part of this event.
Another notable achievement was the renovation of the Commodore Hotel near Grand Central Terminal in the year 1976. He had a black and white photograph taken in 1986 of himself and Miss Universe contestants.
The image's lack of details makes up for its style. In the year of the image, the annual trust fund income was four times the average American family income.
He is wearing a suit and tie in the photo. He was actually busy eating hot dogs.
Donald Trump is a businessman as well as a tv personality. He was the 45th President of the United States, serving from January 20, 2017 until January 2021. The Trump Organization is a real estate conglomerate. It is among the largest conglomerates in world, with assets ranging from hundreds of millions to hundreds of millions of dollar.
Trump has several golf courses in the United States, Ireland, and Scotland. His Mar-a-Lago estate can be found in Palm Beach, Florida. He also owns two Virginia properties, which are located just from one of his golf courses. These properties are worth $2 million.
Donald Trump has a net worth of $3 billion. This figure is based on his assets, liabilities and his personal brand. His net worth is not an exact estimation.
In 2006, Forbes valued Trump Tower at $318 million. The 58-floor structure is worth between $400 and $500 million. The three highest floors are his private residence, with gold and marble fixtures. There are also a number of first-floor retail businesses.
Trump also owns other important real estate properties. They include 40 Wall St. in New York and 555 California St. in San Francisco.
Donald and Fred were among the 400 wealthiest Americans in 2010. However, financial issues in the 1980s caused them to fall off the list.
A federal House committee found that foreign governments paid millions of dollars to the Trump hotel during the time President Trump was in the White House. These documents raise questions over whether Trump violated the Constitution's foreign clause on emoluments.
Mazars USA, an accounting firm that was closely associated with Donald Trump's, provided evidence that proved that foreign countries had deposited money at the hotel. Particularly interesting was the expenditures of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Saudi Arabia. These three countries were seeking to influence US policy during the Trump presidency.
These countries spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the Trump administration. While he was president, the Trump Organization's hotel in Washington, DC, was the ideal venue for lobbyists.
In addition, the Trump hotel was also home to an elevator that was one of the most technologically advanced in the world. It also hosts Trump's "Trump Kids" program, which offers free meals and other services for children.
The hotel also featured fitness facilities as well as a spa that was full-service and a business center. Guests could relax in "lavish rooms" throughout their stay. However, the biggest benefit was the "no-fuss" concierge service.
The hotel's swimming pools have an elevated deck that offers stunning views of the city. It also has a mini-bar with a selection of drinks.
Melania Trump, the first lady of the United States has become a champion for children. She has had a positive effect on vulnerable communities both in the United States and overseas. This includes working with FEMA, Red Cross, FEMA and the National Park Service.
Before becoming a First Lady, Melania worked as model. Her modeling career started at the age of 16 when she began working for Stane Jerko. After her first job she decided to pursue modeling careers in Europe. In 1996, she relocated to New York City. Her name was later changed to Melania Knauss.
In January 2005, the couple was featured on the cover of Vogue in which they were accompanied by husband Donald. They later tied the knot in Palm Beach, Florida. She was naturalized at the time.
Following her husband's election in the year 2016, Melania continued to reside in New York City for a number of months. She traveled to a variety of countries during this period including India and Egypt, Finland, Belgium and Kenya. She was also invited by Vatican City.
She became more prominent role following the election of Donald Trump. She visited children in shelters and attended natural disaster tours, and also spoke about the issue of addiction to opioids. However she retreated from the public eye after she left office in January 2021.
The possible 2024 presidential run of former President Donald Trump will be the next major political event. A campaign has been running for about three weeks and Trump has yet officially announce his intentions to run.
While Donald Trump has no actual adversaries, he does possess an aggressive conservative agenda. Alongside that, he would like to take away America's liberties and borders and silence the American voice.
His political website provides a handful of rally dates before the midterms. The campaign has recruited a number of long-time Republican political agents. But he hasn't yet hire a campaign manager or other prominent campaign figures.
Many Trump advisers have expressed doubts about his plans for the 2020 campaign. He's been accused of being unmotivated and reverting to right-wing bomb throwers. Some doubt his ability to be elected to another term.
Trump's stock has suffered an impressive decline in the last few months. His popularity has waned within the GOP, and he's been attacked for his dinner with Nazi supporters. Some possible 2024 Republican opponents have expressed doubt about the dinner.
Trump is the star of the show However, his campaign has also been impacted by legal setbacks. One of the biggest scandals that involved the Trump Organization was a major tax-fraud scheme.
Recently the president announced he will be publishing an album of photos. The photos include ones taken during his time at the White House. The book also includes captions by President Trump.
The book, "Our Journey Together" is the latest book written by the former president. It will be published by Winning Team Publishing. Sergio Gor, an imprint that is conservative, founded it. The book will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and 45books.
According to the publisher, "Our Journey Together" will include more than 300 images. The president chose the photos and wrote the captions. Some captions are considered unbridled hilarious satires of political foes.
The book isn't a comprehensive analysis of Trump's time in office, but it does include beautiful photos. Its sales have surpassed $20 million in just two months.
However the publisher is experiencing supply chain issues. They're not able get enough paper to print additional copies. The publishing company is planning to print an additional 300,000 copies in three locations.
Despite all the challenges, the book is still an enormous success. As of this writing the book has sold 200,000 copies. The signed copies, which are selling by the tens of thousands, are not included.
Trump Praises Putin
Trump Pants Video


Our highway budget has been significantly reduced over the last few years. Therefore all repairs and improvement works that are carried out are based on key criteria such as safety. See below for further details.
More than > 40mm A risk assessment will be made and a priority for repair, depending on the hazard, will be actioned.
Less than < 40mm A risk assessment will be made to determine if the defect is a hazard for repair.
Provide as much information as possible that will help the inspector find the pothole you are reporting.
All potholes reported by members of the public are inspected.
How long does it take to make a pothole repair?
How do we know where the worst ones are?
Why are some potholes repaired temporarily, wouldn't it be cheaper and safer just to repair them properly the first time?
Why don't you resurface all the roads and stop potholes forming in the first place?
Less than < 40 mm A risk assessment will be made to determine if the defect is a hazard for repair.
**the repair starts from the point of inspection.
Less than 25mm A risk assessment will be made to determine if the defect is a hazard for repair.
Potholes - how and why?
Larger or more complex works (such as major resurfacing of roads or pavements) are generally scheduled separately.
A pothole is formed as a result of a failure of the top surface of the road or footway.
When the surface ages, it becomes more porous and rainwater penetrates it through cracks and other flaws.
In wet conditions the pressure created by car tyres passing over the area forces water further down into the road surface weakening it. In cold and wet weather conditions a phenomenon known as 'freeze-thaw' occurs. This causes a faster deterioration of the surfaces, because the water which had filled the cracks freezes and expands, loosening chunks of the surface material. Once a pothole has formed it will grow in size as traffic continually dislodges and removes weakened and broken pieces of the surface.
When a surface has deteriorated over a larger area, potholes continue to reoccur. Often the entire surface needs to be repaired or completely replaced under our Highway road surfacing programme.
We have a team of highway inspectors who regularly patrol Milton Keynes roads to identify defects and problems in line with Code of Practice for Highway Safety Inspections guidance. Main roads and pedestrian areas are inspected more frequently than minor roads. Potholes can develop very quickly between inspections and reports from the public help us to prioritise these and deal with them promptly.
This is a common and understandable view, but one with several explanations. First of all, if road conditions are wet or icy, a permanent repair wouldn't actually work; the hot bitumen would instantly cool before adequate compaction could be achieved and the ice or water would also prevent the repair bonding to the existing road.
Secondly, permanent repairs take a good deal of time and, depending on their location, may require temporary traffic lights to be brought in or a road closure. This requires more equipment, staff and planning; particularly at times when the resource isn't available immediately – perhaps because the crews covering that area are on gritting duty or have more urgent potholes to fix – a temporary repair is still better than leaving it.
Thirdly, the pothole, or cluster of them, may actually be symptomatic of a more general, underlying problem on the stretch of road, requiring further investigation and potential resurfacing of an entire section. Again, this is a much larger job which cannot be done on the spot, so we'll ensure the holes are temporarily filled to keep the area safe in the meantime.
It would be impossible to eliminate potholes as they appear randomly all the time. Our regular inspections and our routine maintenance and resurfacing programme aim to target priority areas across Milton Keynes. As our roads get older, they will be repaired as part of this programme.
In addition to responding to the public our inspectors also identify potholes whilst carrying out routine safety inspections.


Despite efforts to reduce plastic waste, the world's rubbish pile continues to build.
A closer look at key topics in the spot, rack and retail markets of the downstream petroleum industry.
2018 was one of the odder years in recent oil price memory for several key reasons.
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The idea for this concept came while working on IFUs (Instructions For Use) for a drug dispensed by a gravity-fed intravenous line (IV). I realized that nurses had to do complicated calculations to turn a dose in milliliters over time into drops per minute, and then set drop count visually while looking at their watch.
The DropMaster concept , developped with Matt DeNardo using an optical sensor (tested using an Arduino board), is a clamp that mounts on any pole and that monitors the rate of drops in current drop chambers, while adjusting the roller clamp to ensure the right flow rate in real time. DropMaster's transparent and symmetrical LCD screen allows the nurse to reverse the readout, ensuring the clamp can be read whichever bedside configuration it is in.
DropMaster is in effect turning a gravity fed IV into a low-cost IV pump, available to all patients all the time.


The National Ignition Facility (NIF) team conducted 408 shots in FY 2017. Of these, 165 shots explored stockpile stewardship high-energy-density (HED) science and 135 advanced the prospect of demonstrating inertial confinement fusion (ICF) ignition and energy gain. Other shots supported diverse national-security applications, pursued discovery science, and helped scientists develop new experimental capabilities.
Campaigns of HED science experiments at NIF explored wide-ranging physical phenomena central to stockpile stewardship. Researchers gathered information about the properties of materials at extreme conditions, radiation hydrodynamics and transport, and material mixing. These issues are critical to understanding nuclear weapons performance and improving the predictability and results of fusion ignition experiments. Researchers achieved excellent results in the second material dynamics experiment examining the strength of plutonium at extreme conditions, and they continued a series of high-Z (high-atomic-number) diffraction shots to study plutonium's equation of state at extreme pressures. A team of NNSA researchers has also launched an experimental campaign to study radiative opacity—how opaque a hot, dense material is to transporting photons. Their first experiment was NIF's 2,000th shot since becoming operational in March 2009.
Cryogenic systems operator Sean Brum installs an opacity target in the NIF target positioner. The target consists of a shielded hohlraum (top), a collimator to produce parallel laser beams, and a plastic shell as a backlighter for producing x rays. The experiment used a spectrometer to measure opacity through the hohlraum.
Achieving fusion ignition and energy gain at NIF is a grand scientific challenge. Scientists are making progress on several fronts. In a two-shot series, experimenters at NIF nearly doubled the previous record for number of fusion neutrons generated. The first shot on June 2, 2017, produced 1.7 x 1016 neutrons (48 kilojoules of energy). Fired on August 28, 2017, the second, with higher laser energy, reached 2.0 x 1016 neutrons (57 kilojoules of energy), the highest yield to date. Full data recovery and analysis is ongoing. Results are approaching the "burning plasma regime," in which the hot spot in the deuterium–tritium (DT) fuel is heated more by fusion-created alpha particles than by energy from fuel compression.
These experiments benefited from lessons learned in many supportive NIF campaigns over the last two years, which studied options to produce much "rounder" implosions. Assessments of the pros and cons led to the choice of a high-density carbon (HDC) capsule to contain the DT fusion fuel. HDC matches well with use of a depleted uranium hohlraum (the case enclosing the fuel capsule) and a low-density helium gas fill. For these shots, the target fabrication team was able to shrink the capsule fill tube diameter from 10 to 5 micrometers (a human hair is 100 micrometers thick) to reduce perturbations in the implosion. Symmetry control is vital for ignition and remains an important focus area for the research team.
The Discovery Science program enables a broad user community to perform HED experiments under conditions that only NIF can generate. These experiments include studies of material properties, hydrodynamics, and the interactions of intense radiation fields with matter. The focus of one campaign has been iron, the core material of Earth and Earth-like exoplanets. A team of researchers is investigating whether a giant rocky planet could have an Earth-like magnetic field, which is needed to harbor life. The experiments are measuring iron's melting at pressures from 5 to 20 megabars (1 megabar equals 1 million atmospheres). An initial shock melts the iron (at about 2.5 megabars); then the material is slowly compressed to determine at what pressure iron re-solidifies. Data will indicate whether the core of a giant planet has enough liquid iron in its outer regions to generate an Earth-like magnetic field.
Target area operators prepare a TANDM for a NIF shot. The 9,000-kilogram mechanism is about 8.5 meters long with a boom that can extend nearly 6.8 meters. TANDMs enhance NIF operational efficiency. They allow a special target positioner to be dedicated to growing cryogenically cooled target layers, while TANDMs and other manipulators position targets for other scheduled experiments.
New technologies and equipment are increasing operational efficiency and experimental capabilities. In December 2016, the NIF team fielded an experiment utilizing the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC). A high-energy, high-intensity laser, ARC produces brighter, more penetrating x rays than standard NIF backlighting techniques. The ARC- generated radiograph showed, in never before seen clarity at such extreme conditions, an imploding shock driven by x rays in a NIF hohlraum interacting with a deliberately machined groove in a copper foam ball. The experiment was an important step toward applying this new capability to generate high-quality radiographs in support of the Stockpile Stewardship Program.
The target for the ARC experiment was held by NIF's first of two new Target and Diagnostic Manipulators (TANDMs), which was installed in June 2016. Use of TANDM to insert targets for experiments has become routine. In February 2017, the second TANDM was moved to the NIF target bay and is being used for manipulating diagnostics. The TANDM positioners were designed to enhance NIF's capabilities and operational efficiency. Now, NIF has two cryogenic target positioners, three dedicated diagnostic positioners, and the two TANDMs, which can insert either non-cryogenic targets or diagnostics.
Damage-Resistant Technologies for NIF Optics Laboratory chemical engineer Marcus Monticelli inspects the anti-reflective coating on a NIF grating debris shield. The coating reduces NIF-energy loss and damage to the laser and the shield. LLNL researchers have also developed a patented chemical process that makes the surface of optics more damage resistant by removing impurities and absorbing microfractures. These important breakthroughs cut the cost of repairing or replacing damaged optics and present opportunities to boost the energy of NIF.


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First new antibiotic in 30 years discovered in major breakthrough
The first new antibiotic to be discovered in nearly 30 years has been hailed as a 'paradigm shift' in the fight against the growing resistance to drugs. Teixobactin has been found to treat many common bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, septicaemia and C. diff, and could be available within five years. But more importantly it could pave the way for a new generation of antibiotics because of the way it was discovered. Scientists have always believed that the soil was teeming with new and potent antibiotics because bacteria have developed novel ways to fight off other microbes. But 99 per cent of microbes will not grow in laboratory conditions leaving researchers frustrated that they could not get to the life-saving natural drugs.
Now a team from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, have discovered a way of using an electronic chip to grow the microbes in the soil and then isolate their antibiotic chemical compounds
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11331174/First-new-antibiotic-in-30-years-discovered-in-major-breakthrough.html
Teixobactin has been found to treat many common bacterial infections such as tuberculosis
Filed under: Uncategorized, antibiotic, C. diff, life-saving, new antibiotic, septicaemia


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April 8, 2015 Action Films / Best Cinematography Winners / Best Original Score / Classic Films / Dramas / Epic / Fantasy
Posted by Jeff DeLany
Directed by Peter Jackson
Based on The Lord of the Rings novel series by J.R.R. Tolkein
Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, John Rhys-Davies, Viggo Mortensen, and more…
After inheriting a mysterious and powerful ring from his uncle (Holm), Frodo Baggins (Wood) is forced to leave home on an epic trek to Mount Doom. He's joined by an unlikely team that's seeking to destroy the ring before it can fall into the hands of the dark lord Sauron.
This is the opening installment of Peter Jackson's epic series, pulled from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. Jackson (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) directed the series, and wrote the screenplay with Philippa Boyens (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and Fran Walsh (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies). The film would earn a total of 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The massive cast features dozens of talented actors including Elijah Wood (Green Street Hooligans), Ian McKellen (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Orlando Bloom (New York, I Love You), Sean Astin (Rudy), and Cate Blanchett (Cinderella). The cast also includes Sean Bean (National Treasure), Christopher Lee (Hugo), Ian Holm (Ratatouille), Andy Serkis (The Prestige), Viggo Mortensen (The Indian Runner), Liv Tyler (Empire Records), John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and Hugo Weaving (Captain America: The First Avenger).
It's always a challenge to bring a known literary work to the big screen. The chances for failure exist from the very beginning. There's also the challenge of doing justice to a novel that has a massive following. (In this case it's a series of novels.) To complete the task, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh worked alongside Tolkein scholars to make sure that they got things right. This didn't mean taking the story as it was. There are several major changes made to assist with pacing and time. This doesn't mean that the story doesn't work. The writing does a good job setting the tone of the film early. (Which really set the tone for the following two films. (Five if you're going to include The Hobbit series.)) Being the first of a series, the writing also introduces a huge number of characters to the audience. Thankfully the story allowed them to be introduced in ways that make sense with the overall plot. The writing also manages to boil down the events leading up to The Lord of Rings series really nicely.
Like the story in general, the dialogue in the film brings out a mix of comedy, adventure, drama, and fantasy. There are some lighter moments that help to highlight the characters and their personalities. There are also some great dramatic moments that set things up for later in the film and the series. The action sequences are nicely built into the story as well. Overall, the writing really balances out the highs and lows of the story. The film also ends on a note that doesn't leave too much unfulfilled, but still has enough questions to drive fans a little crazy.
The acting in this movie is good across the board. All of the stars are uniquely transformed into characters that have such interesting qualities. Elijah Wood leads the way with a great performance as the naive Frodo. This naivety evolves into wisdom throughout this film. Wood also finds great chemistry with all of his co-stars. Of his co-stars, Ian McKellen is my favorite. His performance as Gandalf gives this movie something special. It's one of the more important relationships in the film, and these two bring it to life in all the right ways. McKellen was eventually nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work on this one. The work done by Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, and Viggo Mortensen is also great. These actors were part of the central cast that really drives this film. Bloom and Rhys-Davies have excellent chemistry and create some of the more comic and memorable moments in the movie. Mortensen was the right choice to play the conflicted and thoughtful Aragorn.
The list of good performances continues with Ian Holm, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, and Hugo Weaving. There are surely a dozen more actors I'm not mentioning who did their part in making this a really good movie. The tone of the film benefits tremendously from the understanding the actors seemed to have for the story. The acting was likely further complicated by the physical demands of the story as well as the makeup and costuming. Still, the cast does a really good job with this one.
Even with good writing, this film needed great visuals. Jackson and his production crew were tasked with understanding and bringing the elaborate world of Middle Earth to life. This meant great sets, locations, costumes, and digital effects. Thankfully the film delivers on every count. As a fan of the Tolkein books I had high hopes for this one. The writing of Tolkien painted such a great picture of the world he was creating, and the crew translated this wonderfully.
This movie earned Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction, Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing. The film won three of its Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects. All of these nominations and wins were clearly deserved. The movie also earned nominations for Best Sound and Best Original Song. In addition, the score by Howard Shore (The Silence of the Lambs) is the perfect accent to the film. He earned his first Academy Award, for Best Original Score, for his work on this one.
This film marked an excellent start to one of the more ambitious film projects attempted. The movie was a box office smash and ranks among the highest grossing films of all-time. The critics were generous with their praise of this movie. Richard Corliss of Time said, "His (Jackson) movie achieves what the best fairy tales do: the creation of an alternate world, plausible and persuasive, where the young — and not only the young — can lose themselves. And perhaps, in identifying with the little Hobbit that could, find their better selves." I think this pretty much sums up the experience I had seeing this for the first time.
This film does so many things right and has great repeat value. One of the best aspects of the film is the great ending. Without spoiling it, this movie leaves you wanting more to come. (Thankfully it did.) If you're a fan of fantasy or adventure films, this is one you need to see. I also suggest checking out the extended version of the movie since it provides further insights into the characters that the theatrical release didn't include. I give this one 4.7 out of 5 stars.
2001Elijah WoodFran WalshIan McKellenJohn Rhys-DaviesMovieOrlando BloomPeter JacksonPhilippa BoyensReviewSean AstinSean BeanThe Fellowship of the RingThe Lord of the RingsViggo Mortensen
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Voting Tips for Nov. 3 Election
WUWF | By Dave Dunwoody
Published October 6, 2020 at 2:45 PM CDT
As registration ends Tuesday in Florida, elections supervisors in the Panhandle are urging voters to have their ducks in a row when casting their ballots for the Nov. 3 election.
Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the state's voter registration deadline an extra day, after heavy traffic crashed the state's online system, which could have prevented thousands from casting cast ballots in next month's presidential election.
"It's working now but as you know, if 500,000 people descend at the same time, it creates a bottle neck and that's what we see," said DeSantis. "There were people who couldn't get through, then they would try again and they would get through. But it obviously wasn't smooth because you had so much traffic. Hopefully, it'll be fine."
David Stafford of Escambia County, Santa Rosa's Tappie Villane and Paul Lux from Okaloosa County appeared together Thursday to go over procedures and rules.
Stafford expects to reach record vote-by-mai levels in Florida — thanks in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, the voting methods were evenly divided statewide.
"We had a third of the votes that were cast early; a third that were cast by mail, and a third that were cast on Election Day," Stafford said. "Correct me here, but I suspect that percentage of vote-by-mail ballots is going to be higher than a third when you look statewide. We'll have to see what comes of that."
If you plan to vote by mail, the supervisors say it's a good idea to devise a plan. Stafford says that plan should begin with the basics after requesting your ballot online, on the phone.
"The United States Postal Service recommends that you allow no less than one week for it to arrive at its destination," said Stafford. "That would be a week in advance of Election Day [Oct. 27]. So if you get beyond that, you really want to look at hand-delivering that ballot either to an early voting site, or to our office."
All ballots must be received by the 67 county elections offices no later than 7:00 pm on Election Day. The exceptions are the small number of overseas voters. The other point from Stafford — and perhaps the most important — is the signature on your mail-in ballot.
"You would be surprised at the number of [ballots] that come back unsigned," said Stafford. "Florida has a process where we will reach out to the voter and let them know there's an issue with their signature. Take some time to sign it – don't just put your initials on there. Sign your name as you normally would sign it; we verify that against your signature that's on file."
The supervisors spoke on various voting topics. For Santa Rosa's Tappie Villane, it was early voting and protecting against the coronavirus pandemic.
"For our poll workers we provide masks, gloves, face shields, Plexiglas four our check-in tables," Villane said. "Lots of hand sanitizers, not only for our poll workers but also for voters. So we've also had to go back and do a lot of training with the folks that work Election Day and during the early voting sites."
Social distancing is also a key to a safe election experience.
"Making sure that the voting room is not getting too crowded; that voting booths are spread apart, and if the room is getting too crowded, making sure that we hold people at the door until that crowd subsides."
Early voting is set up for 7 a.m-7 p.m. Oct. 19-31 in Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa.
View your sample ballot today on https://t.co/n63rQYaNw3#BeElectionReady #EscambiaVotes pic.twitter.com/oJMnJo6BmW
— EscambiaVotes (@EscambiaVotes) October 6, 2020
"Early voting is different from Election Day because you can go to any one of the early voting and cast a ballot; on Election Day, you have to go to the precinct where you live," said Villane. "The number of sites vary from county to county, so you can visit any one of our websites and that will give you that information."
Many will forego mail-in and early voting, in favor of showing up at their precinct on November 3. Okaloosa County Supervisor Paul Lux started off his talk with the ballot they'll be handed at their polling place. Nearby was a three-page sample, and at the top is the highest-profile race for the White House.
"But then all of your local races are going to follow right behind that," said Lux. "then you have the judicial merit retention questions. Any other local races of a non-partisan nature will fall right after those – city races or fire districts, things like that. And then you get to start in on the amendments."
Six proposed constitutional amendments are on the ballot, covering issues such as raising the minimum wage; who can vote, ending the current primary voting system and reducing local property taxes. Lux advises voters to show up prepared.
"We have generic sample ballots for everybody that are also available on the website that you can download," said Lux. "Take it with you; use it as a 'cheat sheet' to make marking your ballot faster. Read those amendments ahead of time; study them, figure out how you want to vote, mark your sample ballot and take that with you when you go vote."
And while individual county election offices have different ways of running things in some respects, Lux says some common threads run through all 67 county offices.
"Election Day is the last chance, it's the last day you can vote – and that is Nov. 3 – it's on Tuesday," Lux reminded everyone. "Ignore all those Facebook warnings about voting on other days – that's all nonsense – everybody votes on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the last day to vote. All of our polling places, by law, open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m."
More information is available at your county's supervisor of elections office, and at the Florida Division of Elections website.
Local News2020 electionvote-by-mailEarly VotingSupervisor of Elections
Dave Dunwoody
Dave came to WUWF in September, 2002, after 14 years as News Director at the Alabama Radio Network in Montgomery, Mobile and Birmingham and a total of 27 years in commercial radio. He's also served as Alabama Bureau Chief for United Press International, and a stringer for the Birmingham Post-Herald.
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Voting By Mail? The Earlier The Better Says Experts


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Let's make India a Democracy again!
By Bharat Bhagya Vidhata on January 10, 2020 • ( 1 Comment )
Ishaan Joshi writes about why it is imperative to regain India's lost democratic value.
Disclaimer: The reader is expected to accept this column as an opinion which highlights the author's hypothesis on an exemplary representative government.
This might sound very despotic and inconceivable but we are no longer a democracy. For ages now there have been numerous battles fought for democracy. The idea has been to not just attain it, but preserve it, nurture it and grow it. If Democracy was a tree, it is welcomed by the sovereigns as an ovule of prerogatives which promised liberty, equality, fraternity and most importantly freedom, the fruits it must deliver in return of the constant efforts to water it though discourse and dialog.
This brings us to a very important argument. The essence of a constant discourse and dialog, to which the parliament stands as the undisputed intermediary. The idea is to have a dialog which can accommodate admiration and constructive criticism of the highest order. An atmosphere like this requires the quantitative participation of the people which could both appreciate and criticize.
Now in a democracy like India where the quantity of like-mindedness supersedes the quality of impartiality, its important to worship the quantum.
Not surprisingly we have witnessed this devotion of quantum destroying the doctrine of check and balances. The fact of a single party relishing a monstrous majority inside the parliament is a result of the ostensibly populistic ideology that distribution of accountability is destroying the democracy wherein the latter is completely purposeless without the former. It's high time we accept the fact that we aren't living in a democracy anymore. The current composition of the Indian Parliament, especially the house of the people stands as the biggest affirmation to this argument.
Indiscipline and disruptions have been an eccentric part of our parliamentary system and its day to day function. Not only these disruptions are considered to be a waste of Parliament's valuable time, but these are known to have significantly tainted the image of this esteemed institution. Out of all the different flavours in which it can come in, the most plausible one certainly has to be a result of difference in opinion on a matter taken into priority. And that's what differentiates an opinion from domineering. An argument can never be an opinion if it doesn't have anyone to criticise it. Today those opinions have taken the embodiment of adjudication because no one is there to question it. And even if there are some, they are too less to criticise so no one can hear them.
Sadly, the Indian parliament itself is the biggest threat to all the customary, fundamental and constitutional rights that it promises to bolster, if not protect. Even more agonizingly, we are to be blamed for it, not the politicians or the parties that are eccentric to this democratic system of ours. The wisdom and a fair sense of judgement to ponder upon the repercussions of lending absolute power to someone lies on the kingmakers and not the king. And if we blindly render this absolute power to someone, we might gloat on being highly educated but have no right to call ourselves civilised. The most taken for granted fundamental right, the right to vote is pivotal to diminishing the possibility of the society becoming a jungle, where strong often prey on the weak.
So the next time we vote, let's do it judiciously. Our votes can surely reinstate the dignity and morality of the parliamentary system which is becoming bleak because of the lack of dissent.
Let's make India a democracy again.
Jai Hind!
Categories: Guest Writers
दिवस पहिला – अभ्यंग स्नान
NOT A CAGED PARROT ANYMORE
Musafir Anupam says:
Sad but truth, India was known as "Sone Ki Chiriya" but continuous practice by leaders to acquire power and their greed to remain in power makes our A questioner Nation, where there is no one ready to answer to anyone.