text:
Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, April 11, 2019
Launching a cyber attack by exploiting vulnerabilities has always been a go-to attack vector for malicious actors. Lately, security researchers have disclosed a group of new vulnerabilities that impact the recently launched WPA3 Wi-Fi standard. Collectively dubbed as 'Dragonblood', the flaw would allow an attacker within the range of a victim's network to steal the Wi-Fi password and infiltrate the network.
Intel has released a security advisory for the recently revealed non-Spectre 'Spoiler' attack vulnerability that leverages a weakness in Intel CPUs to leak secrets from memory. The security advisory highlighted the impact and CVE-ID of the vulnerability along with mitigation measures. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2019-0612 and scores 3.8 out of 10 on a CVSS severity scale.
Coming to malware attacks, security experts have discovered a new variant of the powerful Emotet trojan. This new variant has been found infecting a total of 176 users in Chile in an attempt to exfiltrate their financial credentials.
Mailgun's WordPress site hacked
Email automation and delivery service Mailgun has suffered a massive cyber attack. The attack was executed by exploiting unpatched cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in a plugin named 'Yuzo Related Posts'. The vulnerability allowed hackers to inject code into the Mailgun's WordPress site, which later redirected the visitors to all sorts of spammy pages. The company has removed the plugin and is back in operation within two hours of detecting the problem.
Hacker steal credentials of Dark Web users
A US man named Michael Richo was found guilty in a Bitcoin phishing scheme designed to steal cryptocurrencies and credentials from dark web users. By using the scheme, Michael was able to steal more than $365,000 as well as run away with 10,000 usernames & passwords. He posted fake links on online marketplaces on dark web forums, which would redirect users to fake login pages of various dark web marketplaces.
Privacy 'Poisoning' attack
A new type of cyber attack known as Privacy 'Poisoning' can pose a major risk for companies using blockchain technology. The attackers can leverage the attack to load unwanted data into a blockchain, thereby putting the network in conflict with local laws. The attackers can load private data such as names, addresses, and credit card numbers or illegal material into the blockchain.
LimeRAT spotted in the wild
Cybercriminals are using a unique infection chain process that originates with an LNK file to defeat traditional security defenses and spread LimeRAT. The malware has a set of powerful and dangerous capabilities that includes infecting all files & folders on USB drivers, using evasive startup methods to avoid detection and downloading a keylogger module. It can also steal cryptocurrency wallets and passwords.
Emotet infects 176 Chileans
A new variant of the infamous Emotet trojan has been detected in a new phishing campaign. The variant has infected a total of 176 users in Chile. The campaign was carried out between March 18th and 26th of 2019. The malware was distributed via malicious documents or URL links that disguised as an invoice or PDF attachment.
HOPLIGHT backdoor trojan
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have released a security alert about a new malware strain dubbed HOPLIGHT. The malware has been linked to the notorious HIDDEN COBRA threat actor group. Once installed, the malware is capable of collecting system information such as the OS version, volume information and system time. It can also inject malicious code into running processes.
Dragonblood vulnerability
The researchers who discovered the KRACK attack on WPA2, have also uncovered a set of vulnerabilities on the recently launched WPA3 Wi-Fi security standards. Dubbed as 'Dragonblood', the vulnerability would allow an attacker within a range of victim's network to steal the Wi-Fi password and infiltrate the target's network.
CVE identifier for Spoiler Attack
Intel has assigned a CVE identifier for the recently found 'Spoiler Attack' vulnerability. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2019-0162 and scores a rating of 3.8 out of 10 on a CVSS severity scale. Like Spectre v2, Spoiler is not a speculative execution side-channel attack, which could leak secrets like passwords.
PoC for a bug in Windows released
Security researchers have published a proof-of-concept exploit code for a privilege escalation vulnerability, affecting Windows systems. The vulnerability is designated as CVE-2019-0841 and is triggered by improper handling of hard links by the AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC). An attacker, with low privileges, could use this bug to run processes with increased permissions on Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, and Server Core Installation.
Fake employee emails
The New Zealand Police is warning business owners and payroll operators about a new phishing scam where scammers are attempting to gain access to employees' bank accounts. In this scam, the attackers create a false email address in the name of a company employee and then email the payroll provider, asking to change the bank account. Once this is done, the scammers easily carry out fraudulent bank transactions and other nefarious activities without the knowledge of the owner.
New extortion email scam
A new extortion email scam that involves scammers threatening recipients of hiding their tax documents from the IRS, has been doing the rounds lately. The fraudsters send a phishing email to the target informing that their computer has been hacked and tell that some secret documents related to income tax have been found. The scammers then demand 2 Bitcoins for not revealing the secret to the IRS department. Failure to meet the demand can result in a DDoS attack on the network or an infection with the WannaCry ransomware.
dark web users
privacy poisoning attack
limerat


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text:
An Evening with Paul Claudel's Works
Публикувано:
08:44ч / 09.11.2018г
Брой прочитания:
Брой коментари:
Albena Charbanova, Andrey Manolov, Dr. Tony Nikolov
Снимка: www.evropaworld.eu
Paul Claudel (1868-1955) is one of the favorite French authors of the translator Andrey Manolov. He has been translating Claudel's works throughout his youth, and it has been a real pleasure for him. The same pleasure is experienced by the readers when they are immersed in the whirlwind of Claudel's Cinq grandes Odes (Five Great Odes) which was published in 2004 by Prozoretz Publishing House.
This book was mentioned on October 31 at the French Institute in Sofia, where a meeting of the Open Book cycle was dedicated this time to Paul Claudel. The talented French author was presented by his translator and Dr. Tony Nikolov, a philosopher, university lecturer and journalist. The meeting was moderated by Albena Charbanova.The trio talked in a very fascinating way about significant moments of the author's biography. It turned out that 1886 was particularly important for him when, during the Christmas service at the Notre Dame fe Paris, he had a revelation and discovered God. In the same year he made another fateful discovery that marked him for life – in a Parisian bookstore he found magazines with poems by Arthur Rimbaud, which for him was tantamount to divine enlightenment.
Paul Claudel is not well-known in Bulgaria as a writer. Probably the majority of Bulgarians associate him with his sister, the sculptor Camille Claudel, whose tragic love with Auguste Rodin was the subject of a popular movie. In his homeland, the writer is not loved. They find him retrograde because of his zealous Catholicism. Moreover, he could never be part of the literary life in his country, because his diplomatic career led him to long-term residency abroad. However, Claudel remains one of the best stylists who has influenced many French authors. His plays continue to be played in France, his books are reissued, and connoisseurs can taste the beauty and variety of his style.
Definitely, in this country Paul Claudel will continue to find his fans, thanks to the magnificent translations of Andrey Manolov.
More photos of the event can be found on the Europe and the World Foundation page on Facebook.
Източник: www.evropaworld.eu
The 196th anniversary of Brazil's independence was marked in Sofia
The First Diplomatic Cultural Salon in the Residence of H.E. Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui
Moroccan Women Activists Visited Sofia
Fighting Fires in Amazonia
към новините
A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY II by David Clark
W. B. Yeats Celebrated at Europe House in Sofia
SOZOPOL BEACH BY DAVID CLARK
към рубриката

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Colombia ›
June 17, 2018 Held
Republic of Colombia
Invalid Votes:265,857
Iván DUQUE Márquez10,373,080
Gustavo PETRO8,034,189
Colombia: President, 17 June 2018
The office of the President of Colombia
Chief of State: President Juan Manuel SANTOS Calderon
Head of Government: President Juan Manuel SANTOS Calderon
Assembly: Colombia has a bicameral Congress (Congreso) consisting of the Senate (Senado) with 102 seats and the House of Representatives (Camara de Representantes) with 166 seats.
The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term. Presidents are limited to two four-year terms.
Election Note:
If no candidate receives a majority of votes on 25 May, a runoff between the two top candidates will be held on 15 June.
Main candidates in this presidential election:
Party: Progressive Movement / Movimiento Progresista
Vice-Presidential Running Mate: Carlos Caicendo
Iván DUQUE Márquez
Party: Democratic Center / Centro Democratico
Vice-Presidential Running Mate: Marta Lucía Ramírez
Last election:
The first round of presidential elections in Colombia was held on 27 May 2018. In the first round, Gustavo Petro of the Progressive Movement party received 25.1 percent of the vote, while Iván Duque Marquez receieved 39.11 percent. Both candidates were below the 50 percent threshold to win the election outright, and will therefore face each other in a runoff on 17 June. In the second round, SANTOS received 50.98 percent to ZULUAGA's 44.98 percent and was declared the winner.
· Is Colombia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)
· Has Colombia ratified CEDAW: Yes (19 January 1982)
· Gender Quota: Yes
· Female candidates in this election: No
· Number of Female Parliamentarians: 33 (House of Representatives); 23 (Senate) (following 2014 elections)
· Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)
· Is Colombia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
· Has Colombia ratified CRPD: Yes (10 May 2011)
· Population with a disability: 7,168,708 (est.)
Elections in Colombia
Colombia President 2018 (Round 2)
Colombia House of Representatives 2018
Colombia Senate 2018
Colombia FARC Peace Accord Referendum 2016


text:
Q: While making a game launcher/updater I encountered a strange error: java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException While making a game launcher/updater I encountered a strange error. The issue full error can be seen here:
java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -9
    at java.lang.String.substring(String.java:1911)
    at com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher.Updater.getLatestVersion(Updater.java:18)
    at com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher.RMLauncher.main(RMLauncher.java:10)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:134)

Process finished with exit code 0

This is the code that I had:
RMLauncher.java:
package com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher;
/**
 * Created by afroraydude.
 * This Class runs the game
*/
public class RMLauncher {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    String[] cmds;
    cmds = new String[]{"Game.exe", "CUSTOM_LAUNCHER"};
    try {
        System.out.println(Updater.getLatestVersion());
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
    }
    //Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmds).waitFor();
    }
}

Updater.java:
package com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * Created by afroraydude
 */
public class Updater {

    private final static String versionURL = "http://afroraydude.com/rpgupdate/version.html";

    private final static String historyURL = "";

    public static String getLatestVersion() throws Exception
    {
        String data = getData(versionURL);
        return data.substring(data.indexOf("[version]")+9,data.indexOf("[/version]"));
    }
    public static String getWhatsNew() throws Exception
    {
        String data = getData(historyURL);
        return data.substring(data.indexOf("[history]")+9,data.indexOf("[/history]"));
    }
    private static String getData(String address)throws Exception
    {
        URL url = new URL(address);

        InputStream html = null;

        html = url.openStream();

        int c = 0;
        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer("");

        while(c != -1) {
            c = html.read();

            buffer.append((char)c);
        }
        return buffer.toString();
    }
}

While making a game launcher/updater i encountered a strange error. The issue full error can be seen here:
java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -9
    at java.lang.String.substring(String.java:1911)
    at com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher.Updater.getLatestVersion(Updater.java:18)
    at com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher.RMLauncher.main(RMLauncher.java:10)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:134)

Process finished with exit code 0

This is the code that I had:
RMLauncher.java
package com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher;
/**
 * Created by afroraydude.
 * This Class runs the game
*/
public class RMLauncher {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    String[] cmds;
    cmds = new String[]{"Game.exe", "CUSTOM_LAUNCHER"};
    try {
        System.out.println(Updater.getLatestVersion());
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
    }
    //Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmds).waitFor();
    }
}

Updater.java
package com.afroraydude.rpg.launcher;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * Created by afroraydude
 */
public class Updater {

    private final static String versionURL = "http://afroraydude.com/rpgupdate/version.html";

    private final static String historyURL = "";

    public static String getLatestVersion() throws Exception
    {
        String data = getData(versionURL);
        return data.substring(data.indexOf("[version]")+9,data.indexOf("[/version]"));
    }
    public static String getWhatsNew() throws Exception
    {
        String data = getData(historyURL);
        return data.substring(data.indexOf("[history]")+9,data.indexOf("[/history]"));
    }
    private static String getData(String address)throws Exception
    {
        URL url = new URL(address);

        InputStream html = null;

        html = url.openStream();

        int c = 0;
        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer("");

        while(c != -1) {
            c = html.read();

            buffer.append((char)c);
        }
        return buffer.toString();
    }
}

Allow me to state what should be happening. The application should print the version from the html file. But instead it is giving this error. I hope this is an issue on my part and not just some random weird thing that can't be fixed.

A: To find the value between a history tag, you could use something like
String data = "<history>hello</history>";
int openPos = data.indexOf("history");
if (openPos >= 0) {
    int closePos = data.indexOf("/history", openPos + 1);
    if (closePos >= 0) {
        String str = data.substring(openPos + 8, closePos - 1);
        System.out.println(str);
    }
}

Output is
hello

Personally, I would prefer to use a regular expression Pattern like
String data = "<history>hello</history>";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("<history>(\\S+)</history>",
        Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
Matcher m = p.matcher(data);
if (m.matches()) {
    System.out.println(m.group(1));
}

Output is (also)
hello

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
<?php

/**
 * twSubscriptionListInvitation module helper.
 *
 * @package    subscription
 * @subpackage twSubscriptionListInvitation
 * @author     Your name here
 */
class twSubscriptionListInvitationGeneratorHelper extends BaseTwSubscriptionListInvitationGeneratorHelper
{
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
<?php

/*
 * This file is part of php-cache\cache-bundle package.
 *
 * (c) 2015 Aaron Scherer <aequasi@gmail.com>, Tobias Nyholm <tobias.nyholm@gmail.com>
 *
 * This source file is subject to the MIT license that is bundled
 * with this source code in the file LICENSE.
 */

namespace Cache\CacheBundle;

/**
 * A class to normalize cache keys.
 *
 * @author Tobias Nyholm <tobias.nyholm@gmail.com>
 */
class KeyNormalizer
{
    /**
     * Remove all characters that is not supported by PSR6.
     *
     * @param $key
     */
    public static function onlyValid($key)
    {
        return preg_replace('|[^A-Za-z0-9_\.]|', '', $key);
    }

    /**
     * Remove all characters that are marked as reserved in PSR6.
     *
     * @param string $key
     */
    public static function noInvalid($key)
    {
        return preg_replace('|[\{\}\(\)/\\\@\:]|', '', $key);
    }
}


text:
Memories of Ali Farka Touré
by Corey Harris
I first heard Ali Farka Touré perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1994. At that time many North American audiences were beginning to learn about the man and his music, often through Ry Cooder, one of his early American collaborators. I remember crowds flocking to hear their set, the fans talking about some African guy who plays with Ry Cooder. Seeing the two perform onstage together, it was immediately obvious who was the teacher and who was the student. Cooder, thrilled to play with Ali Farka, backed him up dutifully, supporting each song with carefully placed licks and riffs tossed from his slide guitar like small bombs. In his long boubou, Ali Farka carried himself like the royalty that he was, striking to behold yet immensely approachable. With his easy smile and humble, gracious manner, he was at home in the world.
After his performance, he attended a question and answer session. American audiences had heard of this African bluesman and repeatedly asked him questions about his encounters with blues music and how he began to play. His responses often surprised, like when he answered that blues meant nothing to him, since it is only a color. Even though he was continually typecast as the Malian bluesman who learned guitar listening to John Lee Hooker, this was far from the truth. In fact, Ali Farka's music sounded like blues because it came way before the blues, spirituals, slavery, and the European conquest of the Americas. He embodied the deep roots of centuries of African music; many couldn't see the tree for the leaves, fixated as they were on the record company's marketing of him as the African John Lee Hooker. When asked about his main profession, he would simply say that he was a farmer. To him, music seemed to be something one did anyway, in addition to living one's life and going to work. Many recognized him as a great musician, but it was not his music that made him great, but rather his commitment to others, his town, his country, and his roots which made him great. Even his middle name, Farka, evokes the donkey that carries everyone's burdens on his back. Ali was always ready to help his fellow man, or to make a stranger feel welcome in his desert home. This star did not shine in some far away galaxy, but right here among us, as one of us.
In 2001 we met again in his hometown of Niafunke, near Timbuktu in Northern Mali. This time I traveled with a film crew dispatched by director Martin Scorcese (who did not travel to Mali). We played music together under trees on a hot afternoon on the banks of the Niger. During our five days together I observed a man who was regarded as a king at home, but who moved about with humility, dignity, and respect for all, nobly born or not. A descendant of ancient Tukulor rulers of Northern Mali (originating in Morocco), Ali had a firm grasp of history from ancient days through the present, being able to recount his family's origins in Fez centuries ago. He also loved Black American music. When I flew into Niafunke in August 2001, he picked me up in his Land Rover, blasting the music of Otis Redding, Ray Charles and Bobby Blue Bland as we bounced through the dusty streets of Niafunke, past goats, chickens and donkeys. He often told me, 'Vous avez quitter chez toi pour arriver chez toia!' (you have left home to come home). He believed that even though our cultures were separated by hundreds of years of slavery, and many had lost their language, culture, and religion, Black Americans still maintained the African spirit in the music that had sustained them through slavery to the present day. 'There is no difference–we are from the same mothera?' he would say. 'There are no Black Americans, but there are Blacks in America.' He recounted his impression the first time he heard the music of John Lee Hooker: 'This is something that belongs to us–how did they come about this culture?a?' He says he was surprised that African American music could sound so familiar, yet it had been so long since slavery had taken them away. The blues meant that African culture had survived even slavery, emerging like sweet fruit from long-dormant transplanted seeds.
In Niafunke, children flocked around him, locals looked to him for leadership, advice, employment and financial support. Indeed, while African music fans the world over hungered for his live shows, Ali Touréd infrequently, having been elected mayor of his hometown of Niafunke in 2004. He committed himself to community and commercial development, and even played shows in France to fund initiatives to develop the town. A reasonably well-off man, he nonetheless spoke of poverty ('pauvrete') as being the true path to happiness, meaning that one should not waste energy on material wants, but live simply. It is alright to have means, but use them wisely and help others. He exemplified this philosophy with his life. His music reflected this brilliantly. I still have film footage of Ali walking the grounds of his hotel with a bird gun, taking shots at the pigeons perched on the roof as we ate breakfast in the courtyard of his small hotel, Hotel Campement. I can still taste the desert dust in the air, dry from the seasonal Harmattan winds which sweep down from the Sahara across the whole of West Africa.
I returned to Niafunke in 2002 to record an album called Mississippi to Mali (Rounder). We set up our portable recording equipment inside one of his houses on the banks of the river. Since electricity was available only between 5pm and midnight, we chose to record between 5pm and 7pm, five nights in a row. I will never forget the changing hues of the desert sunset, the distant cries of birds flying across the Niger, the sounds of children playing, amid the backdrop of cows, goats and donkeys roaming the dusty roads of Niafunke. Listening to the recording, one can hear all of these sounds. They blend together seamlessly with the music as if it were one big orchestra where everyone had their part to play. I learned that you can't isolate the music from everyday life. In fact, it is this same everyday life that gives us something to sing and play about. Life makes the music.
A devout and spiritual adherent of Islam, I remember Ali Farka kneeling to pray towards Mecca as the day ended and his vast herd of cattle marched in under the gaze of the red desert sunset. When we weren't recording, we took our meals at the hotel, watching Malian TV in the courtyard under the desert stars. Another night we ate at his house. His wife prepared porcupine, riz caisse (broken rice) with red sauce and vegetables. For dessert we ate the freshest homemade yogurt that I have ever tasted. Ali talked about his youth and the resistance he faced when he began to take an interest in music. As a noble, it was deemed unbecoming for him to take up musical instruments, usually the domain of griots who accompanied nobles such as Ali and his family. For some time, his family became convinced that Ali was mentally unstable or possessed by demons. He endured traditional medicines and being bound by healers for a full year, all in an effort to make him stop wanting to play music. Eventually his elders saw that he would not stop his pursuit of music and they relented. The spirits were in him and they had to come out.
When I last saw Ali Farka Touré, I was touring Southern France with my six year old son and heard from a friend that he was nearby. Early the next morning, we all piled into a little Peugot and drove the hour and a half to a small medieval-era town to greet him. Soon after we arrived, Ali came through the door, all height and majesty, accompanied by a film crew and representatives from his record company. I noticed immediately that he looked thinner, even slightly gaunt. His dark skin looked ashen, grey, despite the ever-present warmth in his smile and his easy laughter. He told us that he had just emerged from a dire illness and had come very close to death. He even laughed as he recounted his battle, knowing that he had cheated death. A natural with children, Ali and my son Isaac hit it off immediately, playing, wrestling, and laughing, despite the language barrier between them. Soon Ali and I were outside, talking about our work together, and his plans for Niafunke. I showed him the stone pendant made by Mali's Tomashek people that was given to me as a gift during one of my visits to Mali. Ali examined it and told me to keep it; the marks on the pendant gave me protection from harm. I still wear the stone today–.
Before we parted company, Ali invited me and my son to visit him in Mali. He kept telling me to leave Isaac with him and he would teach him all that he needed to know. Sadly, this was not to be. I was in Portugal nearly one year later, sharing the stage with a traditional, electric group from Mali, the Symmetric Orchestra. From them I learned of the precarious state of Ali's health. A little while later I was in Conakry, Guinea, right next door to Mali. I knew Ali didn't have long, but I lacked the funds to travel the long distance overland to see him. I later learned that he had already stopped receiving visitors and had traveled to the Dogon country to consult traditional healers to kill the cancer inside him. Renowned for their discovery of Sirius (the Dog Star) long before western astronomy, the Dogon held onto their ancient, magical ways and were one of the few groups to resist the conversion to Islam. When I heard the news, I wasn't shocked by his passing, but I felt his absence immediately. A master is gone. Let us remember the lessons he taught us by keeping his music and wisdom close to our hearts. Ali Farka Touré's example reminds us all that showed his greatness was much more than the virtuosity of his music. He was a king. His crown was his humanity. May his soul rest in peace.
COREY HARRIS's most recent cd's are Mississippi to Mali and Daily Bread. He can be reached through his website.


text:
Philadelphia Prepares for International Day of Peace, 9/21/2011
United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia (UNA-GP)
Project for Nuclear Awareness (PNA)
The Africa Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Mayor Michael Nutter
Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, for GPA -- "What will you be doing to choose peace and create better communities on Peace Day?" asks Dr. Dan Gottlieb, host of WHYY's Voices in the Family program.
On Monday September 12, Dr. Gottlieb joined the coterie of distinguished local and international voices to promote a spirit of peace and tolerance in preparation for United Nations' International Day of Peace – September 21, 2011.
For the first time in Peace Day's 30 year history, people and organizations across Philadelphia will be participating in this global day of ceasefire, non-violence, and community-building through a variety of events and activities that explore and encourage the various meanings of peace.
A detailed roster of Peace Day events can be found here on the Peace Day – Philly 2011 webpage. "Peace Talks" during the day will include South African musician and Philadelphia resident Sharon Katz and nuclear non-proliferation/arms expert Bill Hartung. Other programs include a videoconference discussion on multiculturalism between university students in Philadelphia, Norway, and Egypt, and an evening program of intercultural music led by Udi Bar-David, a Philadelphia Orchestra cellist.
Public activities offered by participating organizations and groups will include morning meditations, an anti-violence youth forum, a prayer gathering/walk in support of ending the illegal sale of guns and a Peace sing-a-long. Area schools will participate in creative activities, discussions and "One Day One Goal" soccer games.
The Peace Day – Philly 2011 initiative is being sponsored by the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia (UNA-GP), a Global Philadelphia member. In addition, several programs throughout the day are sponsored by the following Global Philadelphia members: Project for Nuclear Awareness, The African Studies Center at The University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University.
Notably committed to a peaceful Philadelphia is its Mayor Michael Nutter. "William Penn imagined Philadelphia as a community where all people can live together in peace," said the Mayor. "As we look forward to the United Nations International Day of Peace, we must focus on creating a unified community where people feel safe. Peace Day is an opportunity to participate in events across the city that promote peace and non-violence."
Not only has Mayor Nutter offered to use the reach of his public persona to tweet about Peace Day before and on September 21st, the Mayor also took time to record this public service announcement calling for Philadelphia residents to actively participate in the day:
This summer, the Mayor also unveiled his iPledge campaign, a media campaign aimed at reducing the incidence of violence in the City. According to the iPledge website, "The iPledge campaign encourages Philadelphians to make personal or community pledges that will have a positive impact on the city and will encourage societal ownership of problems or concerns."
The Mayor's initiative draws attention to the fundamental tenet of Peace Day, which according to Peace Day – Philly 2011's Coordinator Lisa Parker, comes down to this basic question: "What can I do to create peace in my life and connect in a spirit of unity to the wider world?"
According to Ms. Parker, Peace Day's value goes far beyond events, activities, talks, forums and one day of activity – Peace Day is an opportunity for each person to reflect upon the idea of peace - personally, locally and globally - and what actions in our daily lives will help to further peace in all of these spheres.
Global Philadelphia Association is proud to support our member organizations as they actively join with the global community in promoting peaceful, respectful and compassionate living.


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Obama and Democracy: The iPad is Hardly the Problem
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, May 10 2010
Yesterday, President Obama gave a commencement address at Hampton University where he offered graduates some tempered thoughts about the ways that new technologies like the iPod and iPad were affecting the democratic discourse. Unfortunately, those remarks have been blown up, by selective quotation, by some on the Right, into assertions that Obama had "declared war on technology" (NY Post cover story today) or that he had asserted that "The iPad threatens democracy" (Patrick Ruffini). (To my regret, yesterday I retweeted Patrick's tweet without comment; when I went back to read the full text of Obama's speech, I realized my mistake.)
Here's the gist of Leonard Greene's over-the-top report in the Post:
BlackBerry buff President Obama declared war on technology yesterday — singling out Apple's super-popular iPods and iPads for criticism.
Obama — whose election was credited, in part, to his skillful use of modern media, from smart phones to Twitter to Flickr -- yesterday told college graduates that high-tech gizmos and apps are straining American democracy.
"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said at Hampton University in Virginia....
Obama also lamented the spread of social media and blogs through which "some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction."
"All of this is not only putting new pressures on you," Obama said. "It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."
"We can't stop these changes," Obama said, "but we can adapt to them. And education is what can allow us to do so. It can fortify you, as it did earlier generations, to meet the tests of your own time."
....Yet in a speech before members of a generation that never knew life without a computer, Obama came close to declaring technology -- and the information it spawns -- the enemy.
"With so many voices clamoring for attention on blogs, on cable, on talk radio, it can be difficult, at times, to sift through it all; to know what to believe; to figure out who's telling the truth and who's not," Obama said.
"Let's face it -- even some of the craziest claims can quickly gain traction. I've had some experience with that myself. Fortunately, you'll be well positioned to navigate this terrain."
Let's start with the obvious; this is hardly "a declaration of war on technology." Even the partial quotations included in the Post's story make that clear. (But what else should we expect from the NY Post?)
But is Obama saying that the iPad in and of itself "threatens" democracy? As I read his remarks, he isn't saying that, he's raising an older argument: that the more we are distracted by entertainment, and the less we work at fully informing ourselves, participating in self-governance and holding our leaders accountable, the greater the threat that our democracy will perish. The iPad (and other toys like xBox and PlayStation), he says in this speech, can be "a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation." Quoting Jefferson, Obama noted, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free," he wrote, "it expects what never was and never will be." He added:
What Jefferson recognized, like the rest of that gifted founding generation, was that in the long run, their improbable experiment –- called America –- wouldn't work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy who those -- to those who didn't have the best interests of all the people at heart. It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged; if we held our government accountable; if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship.
This is all pretty inarguable. If all you do with your gizmos is play games, and ignore the big public questions facing the country, democracy withers. The only thing that Obama maybe should have said, but didn't, was that he recognized that these new technologies could also be tools for being better informed. But here's what bothers me more: in his Hampton speech he repeated what is becoming a familiar critique from him, one that treats blogs, cable media and talk radio as one undifferentiated mass:
With so many voices clamoring for attention on blogs, and on cable, on talk radio, it can be difficult, at times, to sift through it all; to know what to believe; to figure out who's telling the truth and who's not. Let's face it, even some of the craziest claims can quickly gain traction. I've had some experience in that regard.
Obama, New Media and Democracy
While I think the Right has completely misconstrued Obama's remarks about the iPad, there's a deeper question still worth discussing, which is how Obama is trying to frame our thinking about technology's impact on public life, and how he views the free flow of information in a democracy.
I think it's fair to say at this point that Obama's view of new media is pretty well settled, and badly skewed by how many elites see the democratization of communications. That is, he doesn't see much good about it. His campaign and his communications operation in the White House both see it as 1) a delivery system for messages they want to project directly to supporters, getting around commercial media filters ("like television, only better" in David Plouffe's words) and 2) an adversarial environment where negative messages often thrive that they must combat with more of 1).
While Obama is right to raise serious questions about how our new, hyperconnected media system may be dumbing down democratic discourse, he--and the people advising him--seem to have no understanding of how the networked public sphere can collaboratively filter information in positive ways, strengthening democracy in the process. If they did, his remarks about marvels like the iPad would be more nuanced.
A strong democracy certainly requires an active, informed citizenry. It also requires elected leaders who believe in the free flow of information. Unfortunately, when someone becomes President, he also enters a world that values control of information and secrecy above freedom of discussion and debate. While one side of Obama's administration is trying to foster openness, transparency and participation (the geeky side; you know who I'm talking about), another side is turning out to be as bad or worse than his predecessor.
Obama's Justice Department recently indicted a Bush-era NSA whistleblower for leaking information that exposed serious problems with waste and bad analytical work at the agency (this is only the fourth time in US history that a government worker has been prosecuted for leaking facts to the press); at the same time he insists that we all look away from much more serious crimes against democracy committed through illegal wiretapping and torture of detainees in recent years; and he has chosen to cut secret deals with various industries in pursuit of legislative goals like health care reform instead of conducting the business of government in the open, as he had promised during the campaign. To take just a few examples of Obama's approach to sensitive information.
And other than a few experiments early in his term in using the Internet to open up greater give-and-take with the public, we haven't seen Obama using the web for much more than broadcasting his message (like posting his weekly radio address on YouTube). His heralded plan to involve the public in watch-dogging government stimulus spending via Recovery.gov has also gone nowhere. So much for reinventing the bully pulpit for the networked age.
While Obama offers lectures to the next generation about its role in strengthening American democracy and how they use technology, I think it's fair for us to also ask him: will you use the presidency like all of your predecessors, and manipulate information to suit your ends, or will you usher in a more open and accountable government, even when that means losing control and risking sharing power with others, like your fellow citizens?


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The Trend Books
Peeping Tom: in Mother's name
|By Araso
Moeder. The Mother. There always comes a time in life when parents and children switch roles. The parent becomes the child with that same need for care and support till the end of life. In the meantime, one may try to be building their own life, sometimes whilst giving birth.
Following Vader (Father) in 2014, which takes place in a nursing home, Peeping Tom dance company reaches a new level of creativity with this new opus, characterized by a wild sense of humour and enhanced by their usual creative genius. They establish a compressed time zone that puts each generation and their neurosis on an equal footing.
Moeder, Peeping Tom, illustration by Araso
A museum attendant just like his father who also works with him, the boy has to face simultaneously his mother's death, his father's widowhood and the birth of his first child, a daughter permanently placed in an incubator, a box that becomes too tight as the girl turns seven.
In this quicksand of hospital and museum, anything can happen at any time. A drawing of a heart suddenly starts bleeding from the wall, a living sculpture turns into a zither player and a kleptomaniac heiress makes mad love to the coffee machine.
In the world of the Peeping Tom, shady and sparkly are never too far apart.
Moeder was seen at the Théâtre de l'Onde in Vélizy-Villacoublay on April 22nd 2017.
© 2021 800 Signes All rights reserved


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Common summer injuries that drive children to the hospital
by: Chantel Batista
Doctors see a significant increase in the number of children admitted into the hospital during the summer.
Some say that is due to the increased in risk factors while children are out of school.
"We see everything from minor bumps and bruises, all the way up to very serious trauma," said Dr. John Schweitazer, a Pediatric Hospitalist. "Usually most serious trauma tends to involve people's heads."
Dr. Schweitazer says the most common injuries that lead children to Niswonger Children's Hospital in the summer include drowning, fractures, sprains, and even dog bites.
Doctors at Niswonger Children's Hospital have seen injuries that result from of kids riding ATV's, skateboards and bicycles.
Dr. Schweitazer says the most common and single most cause of death in children under the age of four is drowning. According to the CDC, three children die each day as a result of drowning.
"I think the most important thing to keep in mind is water safety," Schweitazer said. "I think it's probably paramount for everybody. You know it really only takes a few seconds to drown, even in just a litle bit of water."
The CDC recommends parents supervise children in or around water and teach kids how to stay safe.
Parents in the community like Lydia Lammons fear the idea of drowning. Lammons is already teaching her 19-month old son how to swim.
"Kid's as young as or fourteen months can start to learn survival swimming skills, said Lammons. "So that is what we are working on with my son, just how to blow bubbles, how to flip over and float on their back."
Dr. Schweitazer suggests supervision of their children and if a traumatic injury does occur call 9-1-1 right away.
More Local Stories
by Anslee Daniel / Jan 20, 2020
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) - It was a step back in time this Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Hal Henard Elementary school for Greeneville High School's basketball games.
The George Clem school was the African American public high school from 1932 to 1965. When segregation ended, the school became the central office for Greeneville City Schools. On Monday night, alumni and people in Greene County were able to celebrate the history of the school.
by Pheben Kassahun / Jan 20, 2020
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) - A nationwide police officer shortage is affecting local law enforcement. Police departments here in the Tri-Cities are struggling to fill open jobs.
A new program at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology is working to change that.
by Bianca Marais / Jan 20, 2020
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) - The Carver Recreation Center was packed Monday night as community members celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The dinner was the last of many events at the center to honor the late King, and the celebration included food, laughter, and prayer.


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Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour Public Ticket On-Sale Canceled 'Due to Extraordinarily High Demands'
todayNovember 17, 2022 1
Those hoping to snag tickets for Taylor Swift's 2023 Eras Tour during Friday's public on-sale got some bad news on Thursday (Nov. 17), when Ticketmaster announced that it has since been canceled.
"Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled," the ticketing service tweeted.
Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022
The cancellation is just the latest in a string of messy circumstances surrounding ticket sales for Swift's highly anticipated tour. On Tuesday (Nov. 15), after an unprecedented number of fans went to Ticketmaster with presale codes in the hopes of buying tickets, Ticketmaster's website experienced mass outages and extreme delays that caused some to wait for several hours in a virtual queue, just to walk away empty handed.
Ticketmaster then shared a statement shortly after 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, about three hours after the East Coast venue presales began, noting that the company wasn't prepared for the "historically" large demand for tickets, and postponed presales for West Coast venues and Capitol One cardholders scheduled for later that same day.
The wild demand for Eras Tour tickets had been apparent even leading up to the ticket sale, leading the "All Too Well" pop star to add 25 additional shows to her 27 original dates in the past couple weeks. Swift hasn't hit the road since 2018, when she toured in support of her album, Reputation. She had planned to go out again after dropping 2019's Lover for a series of stadium shows she dubbed Lover Fest, but the gigs were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phoebe Bridgers Drops 'So Much Wine' Holiday Cover Benefiting the Los Angeles LGBT Center
Happy holidays, Pharbz. Phoebe Bridgers has released her annual holiday song cover, this time performing The Handsome Family's "So Much Wine" and donating proceeds to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The 28-year-old musician recorded and produced the track with longtime collaborators Tony Berg, Ethan Gruska, Marshall Vore, Harrison Whitford and Sebastian Steinberg, with Andrew Bird credited for contributing vocals, violin and whistling. Normal People star Paul Mescal, Bridgers' boyfriend and […]


Selecting one coffee table for your house can be extremely complicated. You should think about the vast array of selection for a coffee table. It has lots of forms, designs, and also made from various products. One of one of the most pre-owned products is iron for making the iron coffee tables. Besides coffee tables made from wood, this sort of coffee table is among the most common kinds you will find in homes as well as furniture shops. It is additionally a prominent choice for people to buy for their living-room. It becomes popular due to its modern-day look and other advantages of having one.
One of the other advantages in having iron coffee tables is that it is possible to be lighter compared to timber or glass coffee tables. It can be lighter since the structure can be shaped by any means we want to and it makes the table lightens. As an example, the legs of an iron coffee table can be made slim and also consequently it will certainly reduce the weight of the whole table. Iron is likewise stronger compared to any kind of materials that can be utilized to earn coffee tables. Hence, you do not need to fret that it may fall down one day, because it will not.
Not only as creating materials, iron can also be created the surface area of the table. There are some advantages for having iron coffee tables with iron surface. It is stainless totally free and has a high resistance to water, to name a few advantages. It will certainly be simple for you to clean up the discolor on the table if you splash water or coffee on it. It is simple to clean this sort of coffee tables as well as it does not call for much upkeep either. It will certainly additionally offer the living room, where coffee tables are generally in, with a sense of modernity.
Coffee tables made from iron are very preferred to utilize in residences around the world. There are many variations of these tables, iron coffee tables are the prominent ones due to the fact that of the advantages that they have.
Various other compared to coffee tables made from wood, this kind of coffee table is one of the most typical types you will certainly discover in residences and also furnishings stores. One of the various other benefits in having iron coffee tables is that it is possible to be lighter than timber or glass coffee tables. The legs of an iron coffee table could be made thin and therefore it will lower the weight of the entire table. There are several variants of these tables, iron coffee tables are the popular ones since of the advantages that they have.


The new Beaufort County administrator loves eating grits, reading books and kayaking. She sounds like the perfect match!
South Carolina native Ashley Jacobs was recently selected as Beaufort County's new administrator, beating out 70 other candidates in a nationwide search. Jacobs has more than 20 years of local government experience in the state, most recently serving as assistant county administrator for Aiken County. She is the first female to step into Beaufort County's top position.
We asked a few questions we feel her future friends and neighbors might find interesting heading into her first day on April 15.
Ashley Jacobs with her mom and sister.
What will you miss most about Aiken County? The people. It's a close knit community, and there are so many people who are dear to me.
What excites you the most about Lowcountry life? I love being outdoors, especially on the water, so I'm excited about all the beautiful places to kayak.
Do you have any superstitions? I must use a particular Clemson mug at breakfast on game days.
Which of your vices or bad habits would be the hardest to give up? Staying up past my bedtime to read a good book.
Book or movie? Book. Always the book.
NEW RESIDENT: Ashley Jacobs is shown with League of Women in Government board members.
the League of Women in Government.


Attempting to create birthday invitations yourself can be super easy and fun. Creating your own printable birthday invitations using photos, graphics, and clip art gives you the freedom to completely customize your invites, as well as save some money by printing them yourself from your own printer. If the idea of designing invitations from scratch seems like a nightmare to you then fret no more. I have an easy solution! And that solution is digital scrapbooking!
Both of my children's birthdays are within less than a month of each other. So when I decided to throw them a tandem birthday party, I knew right away that I would have a bit of a dilemma coming up with party supplies. Both children's favorite thing is the Nick Jr. TV show "Yo Gabba Gabba". When I went to the party store to ask them if they had any Yo Gabba Gabba party stuff, the clerk looked at me like I had 3 heads. "Yo Gabba Wha?...".
I wanted ot make an invitation (and party) that would stand out and incorporate both of my kids so I set out to design birthday invitations from scratch. I also needed something very simple to create and fast. So I turned to online digital scrapbooking! More precisely, I visited Scrapblog.com!
I decided I wanted to incorporate photos of both of my children to create birthday invitations that they would really love. I actually cropped my photos way down to make it look like my kids were sort of hanging out with the Yo Gabba Gabba characters. And boy did they ever LOVE them. To crop the photos down I first uploaded the pictures and opened them into a porogram called Photoshop. If you do not have Photoshop, or do not want to buy it, any photo editing software should do, so long as it has a paint or erase tool. A great free program that is available on the web is Paint.net.
Basically I cropped the photos close around my children. I then zoomed WAY in and erased the entire background from around them. I then uploaded the cropped pictures of my children into my Scrapblog.com account. I also went on the hunt for some Yo Gabba Gabba clip art. When I found some good images they were all on one file, so I had to use Photoshop to crop each character down individually and upload them into Scrapblog. To do this I simply cropeed the image, then chose "save as" and gave the file a new name, and then re-opened the original file and started over again.
Once I had everything in uploaded to my Scrapblog page, all I had to do was start re-arranging and creating a design that suited my needs. I chose a very bright birthday themed set of backgrounds, stickers, and borders, all in bold colors to suit my Yo Gabba Gabba invitations. They even have some pages pre-set for you so that all you have to do is add or subtract whatever you want to and then save it. You can also crop picture, graphics, and images, within the actual scrapblog builder using a nifty crop tool. I used it on all of my Yo Gabba Gabba charachters due to the white border they all had around them. Using their cropping tool you simply move the dotted lines to the borders of where you would like them to crop and it does the work for you and even smooths everything out too.
You can place a text box straight onto the page and type with it to add your invitation wording and details. I opted for printing mine on the back of the invitation. I designed a separate backing using photoshop. I found a font that reminded me of the TV show, and downloaded a font to create birthday invitations with a branded look. I even tried to match the wording to how they talk on the show. "Hey everybody! It's time for a birthday party!!"
To finish up and print the invitations you must first publish the scrapblog page. Don't worry, you can set your page to private! You can choose to either print it right from you Scrapblog page or save the entire design page as a Jpeg file.


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Fastnachtspiel (plural fastnachtspiele, English "shrovetide play") was a type of play performed on Shrove Tuesday or fastnacht during the sixteenth century during pre-lenten carnivals. Extant examples mostly originated from the city of Nuremberg (although they were performed widely) and Hans Sachs was considered the most prolific in this form. Though sometimes performed on stage, fastnachtspiele were most often performed on the street or town square as a part of the carnival celebration. Productions usually lacked props and only had simply scenery. Fastnachtspiele typically used preexisting stories from ancient or medieval works which were adapted to contemporary conditions. Playwrights like Sachs took major inspiration from the Decameron and earlier burlesque stories.

List of Works
Hans Sachs:
 Der fahrende Schüler im Paradies (1550)
 Das Wildbad (1550)
 Das heiss Eisen (1551)
 Der Bauer im Fegefeuer (1552)

References

Literature of the German Renaissance
German plays
German literature
Performance art

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home English Between the protests and Resignation – The Catholic Church and the women
Between the protests and Resignation – The Catholic Church and the women
At their spring General Assembly in Lingen, deep in the North-Western German province, want to show the German bishops that preceded it in the position of women in the Church. Lingen, Christoph Strack.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, comes with two women to the press conference. The three digits Numbers from the years 2013 and 2018. Really impressive the development is not. In 2013, the proportion of women on the top Executive level nationwide, with 13 percent. Five years later, at 19. This is not, says Bode, "far from satisfactory".
Andrea agony brink from the diocese of Essen, who wrote on the topic of women in positions of Church leadership your PhD thesis, called the obstacles to the advancement of women in the first place, "the occupation of management functions with clerics". The Express will of the respective diocesan leadership was "of crucial importance for the increase in the share of Women".
Armed to the consecration
In the discussions it is not officially, even to questions of the Church's ordination of women – but Bode can be seen on demand on the topic of "ordination of deaconesses". Many of the women were long "social and diaconal activities, which should reflect also sacramentally". The Bishop promotes the diaconate of women, the many at the base, and also by some theologians for a long time. And "even if there are strong determinations of a dogmatic nature", but today, the "question of women in ecclesiastical Offices in General".
Now Bishop Bode is almost something like a single fighter in the Church in Germany. A number of bishops, shares his analysis when he speaks of a dramatic "loss of confidence and a credibility crisis". But the specification in the case of sensitive questions, with currently only a single loud.
"Power of light!"
The night before: The opening service of the Episcopal Assembly in the Lingener main Church comes to an end. Behind many Acolytes 65 bishops through the center aisle of the Church to the main portal, into the uncomfortable cold night.
Almost: the German bishops in the Church
Is waiting for you outside the flickering light of hundreds of flashlights – a Demonstration. "Power of light! Makes light!" contrary to echoes it to the shepherds. Of the 300 women received the statement of the bishops. It Catholic are of different generations, members of the Catholic woman community of Germany (kfd). For some, it might be the first Demo of your life.
"The bishops did measure"
"I don't want to put a sign that abuse is absolutely," said protester Renate Dombert. "It is always just talk. But to be bishops, their deeds are measured, not words." And in the next sentence, the Lingener kfd-member of the diaconate of women, is overdue calls, "a very important story." And it also refers to the obligation of the priests to celibacy, you need to talk.
Three of the bishops, including Bode, enjoy the women. On you boxes waiting with almost 30,000 post-cards. Members of the kfd, the largest women's Association in Germany, demand that in order for reforms. In the crush of the kfd-Federal Chairman Mechthild Heil reports. "It is our children and grandchildren that we have entrusted to them," she says on the subject of abuse. A set that goes under the skin.
"Then it's too late"
And healing stresses the receivables to the bishops: comprehensive investigation of the abuse scandal, a "responsible and liberating approach to one's body and sexuality" in the Church's education and community work, a "structural renewal of the Church" without the clerical-authoritarian power structures. The tough increase to 19 per cent women in Executive offices and fits exactly.
Sub-critics: German bishops outside the Church
If the Protest takes place in the case of the bishops? Renate Dombert doubts and describes later, the glances of some of the bishops. "I don't know if we will be taken seriously." But the Church is no longer something that "a lot of time. And if the women break, then it is too late."
The call for Church strike
The Protest against the bishops in Lingen was for some of the women only a stage. For the middle of may, a Catholic call from Münster to the week-long "Church strike" and want to protest against the exclusion of women in the Church. The house of God not to enter, not in the sacristy to help, not cleaning, possibly together, in front of the Church to pray.
The idea of the "Church strike" under the Motto "Maria 2.0" was created in January Locally in the münster community. Meanwhile, Lisa Koetter, which instigated the action gets inquiries from Austria and Switzerland.
The protesters carry their demands in front of
As the initiator, says the freelance artist Kötter, could you help with materials and ideas. But then it'll be on every single Catholic, says Deutsche Welle. And some of the question quite anxiously: "What our Pastor says, if I place myself on the forecourt of the Church, and then there's my our father pray?" Kötter know of a Church staff informed the Church strike call on their Facebook page and then from the chief of staff of your diocese to the interview convened.
At the least, encouragement of associations Kötter gets now. The kfd and the second major Catholic women's Association, the Catholic German women's Federation (KDFB), encourage its members, the "Church strike" from the 11. to 18. To support may.
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LMC music recital highlights talent
Brenna Enos, benos@lmcexperience.com
The Los Medanos College Recital Hall was filled with the sounds of piano and vocals from Luis Zuniga's Musical Recital students Thursday, May 3 at 7 p.m. For an hour, students Tyrell Burks, Tayadi Bush and Jonathan Haislip performed songs they had practiced throughout the semester for an audience made up of LMC students, faculty and guests.
First to take the stage was music student and vocalist Tyrell Burks, who hit the night off with his rendition of "The Colors of My Life" from the 1980's musical "Barnum."
Next up was Tayadi Bush who sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from musical and movie "Wizard of Oz." Like Burks, Bush was also accompanied by piano.
After Burks' performance, pianist Jonathan Haislip took to the stage. As a third year LMC student, Haislip had a fair share of experience with performing, and chose to challenge himself with various types of music.
His first song was "The Well-Tempered Clavier: Prelude and Fugue in C Minor" by Bach. Haislip followed this song with two Chopin songs, "Prelude Op. 28, No. 20 in C minor" and "Waltz Op. 69, No. 1 in A-flat minor." His three songs varied in tempo, however, his Bach songs had a somber feel with the "Prelude," dubbed as the "Funeral March," sounding very slow, to the "Waltz" which is a song about Chopin saying goodbye to his love interest.
Burks came back for his second song, "There's Been A Change In Me" from "Beauty and the Beast." Bush followed Burks once more with "Once Upon A Dream" from "Jekyll and Hyde," which was his final performance of the evening.
Haislip came back for another set of songs including "Fantasy K.397 in d minor" by Mozart, "Nocturne Op. Posth No. 20 in c-sharp minor" again by Chopin and popular song "Somewhere," from the musical "West Side Story."
When Haislip finished his set and Burks joined the stage once more, he also brought with him a friend from his church, Isaiah Glasper who played the piano while Burks sang. A personal favorite of his, Burks sang "Grateful" which is a song by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir.
"I was fully able to express who I am," Burks said following his performance of the song, adding that gospel music is his favorite genre to sing.
Haislip came back to the stage for his final set, performing another three pieces including "Claire De lune" by Debussy, which was his favorite piece of the night and brought the crowd to silence, as they took in the familiar tune.
"It's a song that everyone recognizes when it's played," said Haislip, adding that he enjoys playing the piece.
The night finished with Burks and Glasper taking the stage once more to perform another gospel song, filling the room with a soulful sound.
Brenna Enos, Features Editor


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Q: save classes in dict with class.name as key I have a couple modules loaded on startup. Every module has a name and a send function. To access the imported modules I store them in a dict and access by the dict key.
m1 = Module1()
m2 = Module2()
modules = {m1.name: m1, m2.name: m2}
# now access a function
modules["m1_name"].send()

this approach works pretty well but seems a bit ugly to me.
Is there an "official" way?
EDIT:
I define a list of priorities, say prios = ["signal", "telegram", "txt"], the program tries to send the message to each user of a group, always trying to use the module with highest priority.
Only modules in the prio list will be imported.
EDIT:
my import function looks like this:
for modul_name in prios:
    modul_import = importlib.import_module(("modules." + modul_name))
    modul = modul_import.Modul(self.inbox)
    modul.start()
    modules[modul_name] = modul

A: Are you accessing m1 and m2 from the same module that imports it in your example? If so, it seems unnecessarily indirect to access it by name.
Otherwise, having m1, and m2 in the importing module's scope makes it accessible to other modules importing that module, in which case you can just access it using the module objects themselves which is more direct and Pythonic - see this pattern.
You might want to declare these exports explicitly and hide the rest of m1 and m2 like
__all__ = ['m1_send', 'm2_send']

m1_send = m1.send
m2_send = m2.send

Finally, are you sure you're not duplicating __name__ with your name? Search __name__ in the docs here.

A: Could you give an example of how you use modules dictionary? Is it necessary to call send function indirectly giving module name?
Anyway your approach is clean for me but maybe you would prefer to use AttrDict described here: Accessing dict keys like an attribute in Python?
class AttrDict(dict):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(AttrDict, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.__dict__ = self

modules = AttrDict(m1.__name__=m1, m2.__name__=m2)

modules.m1.send()
modules.m2.send()


Around this time every year, farmers and economists look to India's skies, hoping for the arrival of the monsoon rains.
Late and less rain hurts crops and triggers inflation, goes the traditional worry, so every day of delay or deficit in downpours threatens to derail the country's fragile growth.
The problem with this annual, rational worry, however, is that it's just, plain wrong.
Good and bad monsoons in recent years have had limited effect on growth or even on food inflation, according to a report this week from Nomura. What is much more important in determining how fast food prices rise, the report says, is the minimum support prices New Delhi sets for certain crucial commodities.
So instead of looking to the skies, central bankers and other inflation fighters should be looking to New Delhi.
This year the monsoon is predicted to be above normal but much more importantly, the weather over the capital is looking promising. On Thursday, India's weather department upheld its monsoon forecast and said it expects rainfall to be 106% of the long-term average.
On Wednesday the government announced the minimum support prices for the most basic Indian staples–dal and rice—and capped the increases at less than 10%. In some years when the government looked to help farmers it has ratcheted up the prices more than 15%, triggering inflation.
This shows a very positive for India, and confidence in Mr Modi's Administration.


Velma Young Project: Creating Jobs?
Meridian Mayor Percy Bland says the city has received some good news from the governor.
Bland said a letter from Gov. Phil Bryant confirms Meridian will get a grant to help with constructing a new community center at Velma Young Park.
The $600,000 grant is coming from the Mississippi Development Authority. The city has pledged $750,000 in matching funds.
Bland says securing the grant was a joint effort.
"The Mississippi Development Authority has had the application on their desk and they reviewed it," said Bland. "East Central Planning (and Development) District to help us with the grant. We are just excited they reviewed it. We scored very high and we're ready to go through everything we need to do to go through the process to get started."
Meridian City Council president, Dustin Markham, calls the latest development historic. He says the center will benefit locals in many ways.
"We're going to be able to hire individuals from the housing authority," says Markham, "and surrounding areas to help build that community center. So, it's truly going to be a community center in Velma Young Park."
The city has also received other funds from the Boys and Girls Club, from Lauderdale County and the Meridian Housing Authority to meet the estimated cost for the project, which is $2 million. Bland projects that construction for the project will start during the first quarter of 2015.


text:
More Unemployment Tax Refunds Coming, IRS Says
The Internal Revenue Service says it's not done issuing refunds for tax paid on COVID unemployment benefits. Another 1.5 million taxpayers are now slated to get refunds averaging over $1,600 as part of the IRS adjustment process in the wake of recent legislation.
It all started with passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called ARP, that excluded up to $10,200 in 2020 unemployment compensation from taxable income.
The exclusion was limited to individuals and married couples with modified gross income less than $150,000.
Refunds by direct deposit started in late July; paper check refunds start in early August.
So far, the IRS has gone through four rounds of refunds due to the unemployment compensation exclusion. So far, the IRS has issued nearly 9 million unemployment compensation refunds, totaling more than $10 billion. More, the IRS says, are on the way.
The IRS gets ahead of the curve.
The IRS says its efforts are focused on helping lessen the burden on taxpayers. The net result is most taxpayers won't have to take any additional action to get a refund.
Most taxpayers impacted by the change in the law won't have to file an amended return because the IRS has already reviewed their return and automatically adjusted the tax return for them. If a taxpayer overpaid, the agency either refunds the overpayment, or applies it to other outstanding taxes or other federal or state debts that are owed.
In this fourth round of refunds, the IRS says it found some 1.7 million taxpayers deserved an adjustment. Roughly 1.5 million of them are expected to get a refund, which are averaging around $1,600.
Processing has been on a sliding scale; simple returns were processed first, and more complex returns followed. In this fourth round of processing—part of the "more-complex" category, refunds are higher, because an adjustment to the Advance Premium Tax Credit or APTC was also included in the calculation.
To amend or not to amend, that's the question …
In the vast majority of cases, the IRS says there's no reason for taxpayers take any action or call the IRS. That said, there may be instances where taxpayers become eligible for deductions or credits because of the newly excluded income, tax breaks they weren't eligible for prior to the IRS review.
If that's the case, the IRS says those taxpayers need to file a Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return in order to claim those additional benefits.
These taxpayers should file amended returns:
There are other cases where the IRS considers an amended return to be the best course of action. These include:
Taxpayers who did not submit a Schedule 8812 with the original return to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit and are now eligible for the credit after the unemployment compensation exclusion;
Taxpayers who did not submit a Schedule EIC with the original return to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (with qualifying dependents) and are now eligible for the credit after the unemployment compensation exclusion; or
Taxpayers who find they are now eligible for other credits or deductions not mentioned here. They should make sure to include any required forms or schedules.
These taxpayers don't need to file amended returns:
Conversely, these taxpayers do not need to amend their return. They include:
Taxpayers who already filed a tax return and didn't claim the unemployment exclusion; the IRS will figure the correct taxable amount of unemployment compensation and tax;
Taxpayers who have an adjustment because of the exclusion, that will result in an increase in any non-refundable or refundable credits reported on the original return;
Taxpayers who didn't claim the following credits on their tax return but are now eligible when the unemployment exclusion is applied: Recovery Rebate Credit, Earned Income Credit with no qualifying dependents or the Advance Premium Tax Credit. The IRS will calculate the credit and include it in any overpayment;
Taxpayers who filed a married-filing-joint return, live in a community property state, and entered a smaller exclusion amount than entitled on Schedule 1, line 8.
After the IRS makes an adjustment in a taxpayer's return, the taxpayer gets a letter informing them that the adjustment was made and what kind of adjustment was made – whether they got a refund, or the adjustment went to pay a debt to the IRS or a payment offset for some other kind of authorized debt.
These letters, generally sent out within 30 days of the adjustment, also confirm the amount of the adjustment.


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Posts tagged 'Nuclear War'
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Nuclear Theory
By Taylor Marvin
[This post contains spoilers for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol]
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a very entertaining movie. Particularly interesting is the film's depiction of nuclear conflict, which unfortunately doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
The film's villain — renegade Russian nuclear strategist Kurt Hendricks — is motivated by the idea that stagnent world civilization can be revitalized by the disaster of a nuclear conflict, as long as the damage is distributed "evenly". To trick the US and Russia into nuclear war, Hendricks clandestinely destroys the Kremlin with conventional explosives, and then uses stolen Russian nuclear launch codes to order a Russian ballistic missile submarine to launch a single nuclear missile at San Francisco in hopes of provoking a US retaliatory nuclear attack on Russia.
For this plan to work, senior American officials have to believe that the initial Russian missile launch was ordered by the Russian government. On the surface, this is credible; the missile is delivered by a submarine-launched ICBM after all, which are only possessed by a handful of nuclear states. However, Hendricks' actions don't make sense in the framework of nuclear theory.
Hendricks intends American officials to view the initial Russian missile launch a retaliatory strike by Moscow, under the assumption that the Russian government mistakenly believes that the destruction of the Kremlin was ordered by Washington. Limited retaliatory punishment strikes are an accepted part of nuclear war. For example, one state could, purposefully or accidentally, launch a limited nuclear attack on another. To prevent their opponent from retaliating with a civilization-destroying unlimited response, the original aggressor could consent to "sacrificing" assets of comparable value to their opponent's losses. This limited retaliation would inflict enough destruction to satiate the original victim, while avoiding a wider nuclear exchange.
Hendricks' plot's efficacy rests on two deceptions: that the American leadership believes the strike on San Francisco to be an authorized Russian attack — rather than a loss of Russian control over their weapons — and responds with a multiple nuclear strikes of their own (of course, Ethan Hunt could have attempted to warn the US government that the immanent nuclear strike was not authorized by Moscow; the film never suggests this possibility). However, the missile launch isn't a credible Russian response because its target — a nuclear strike on an American city — is not comparable to the conventional destruction of the Kremlin in a terrorist attack.
Is their any reason to believe that Russia would respond to a perceived American conventional attack on a symbolic target with a nuclear strike on an American civilian target? In short: probably not; the escalation risks of such a hugely unproporitonal retaliatory strike are clearly not worth the signaling value of such a strike. There is the faint possibility that Moscow would authorize a nuclear response if it felt that a ICBM strike was the only retaliatory action available to a unprecedented American aggression. However, land-attack cruise missiles launched from air or submarine platforms likely do give Russian forces the ability to hit continental US targets on short notice — most likely a 3M-14E missile launched from a submarine offshore. This conventional strike capability gives Moscow the ability to responde in kind to an American attack on a high-profile symbolic target; Moscow would have nearly zero incentive to escalate to a nuclear response.
Of course, this disproportion is the entire point; Hendricks wants the American president to not accept the Russian strike as a valid retaliatory action, and respond with a unlimited strike against Russian targets. However, the problem with Hendricks scheme is that it's so unproportional as to be an unbelievable Russian action. Rather than launch a retaliatory strike, it's entirely possible that US leaders would judge the strike on San Francisco as evidence that Russia had lost control of at least a portion of it's nuclear forces, especially considering that the Kremlin had been destroyed by an unknown actor the day before. If this judgement was made US leaders would not initiate their own launch. Whether in the heat of the moment American leaders are this discerning is an open question, but it is a major flaw in Hendricks' plan.
The success of Hendricks' plot depends on giving the Russians believable reason to launch a retaliatory limited nuclear attack on the US, but simultaneously prompt the US government to respond with a broad nuclear attack on Russia. But the film fails of both counts: the (perceived) terror attack on the Kremlin is not severe enough to suggest that the Russian strike on San Francisco was ordered by a rational actor in Moscow, and the Americans are unlikely to respond to a single missile launched on a US city with broad retaliation. If Hendricks was actually interested in starting a nuclear war, it would make more sense to dupe the Russian submarine commander into launching general strike on the US rather than one intended to be construed as a retaliatory strike, which is inherently deescalatory.
However, it is possible to argue that Hendricks wants a nuclear war, but not a countervalue exchange that would decimate civilization; after all, he talks about humanity emerging from the rubble stronger. In this case, framing the manufactured conflict as an escalating series of retaliatory strikes makes sense. A series of counterforce strikes on Russian and American nuclear infrastructure and military targets would kill huge numbers of people — both through the exchange itself and the ensuing environmental damage — but might not be fatal to human civilization. But again, the film's nuclear logic fails: if Hendricks is seeking a counterforce exchange, the Russian retaliatory strike shouldn't hit a US civilian target.
Of course, none of this makes sense. The film dwells on the fact that Hendricks wants a nuclear exchange whose damage is distributed "evenly" across the globe; but an American-Russian nuclear exchange would inherently focus its damage on the northern hemisphere. A counterforce exchange would be even more discriminating in its devastation. Ultimately, these flaws don't matter: if your plan rests on defeating the Impossible Missions Force, you're already out of luck.


The Grading Line is a pieces of Veneer warehouse software which an automatic sorting line, on which veneer is sorted mechanically according to their qualities onto pallets. As a result of the intelligent composition and processing of the veneer packages, they do not have to be scanned sequentially. A scan tape can be added for automated length and width measuring.