Commentary and reflections on the first portion of the supplication recited daily during the month of Ramadhan that begins with "Allahumma adkhil `alaa ahli-l-quboor as-suroor" (O Allah, give happiness to the people of the grave). Includes Part I and II.
O Allāh, Return Every Stranger.


Attitude about dating from the coolest chick I ever knew?
This would be about from 1988 give or take a year. I lived in Colorado Springs from about 1987-1989 before going to Vegas for my 5-6 years there.
Some of the coolest and most laid back people you'd ever get to know reside there, including my brother that moved there in 1972 after graduating from high school and going to college at CSU.
Anyhow this chick named Sandra had the following philosophy about dating. She was a pretty average looking girl herself, maybe a tad better than average.
People that live there tend to be very non judgemental and just coexist peacefully with other people.
Sandy's philosophy was she would give any guy one date to get to know him and give him a chance. Stuff like age, race, looks, wealth,etc. Meant zero to her, she certainly wasn't going out with you to get a free dinner.
life, lots of people like that in Colo rado.
But going back to Sandy, her attitude was just unique and amazing!
No other woman would do that.
Doug, I've recently received some criticism of your contributions from respected EOG members who feel your input is not sports-related.
They claim your topics on not relevant on a sports message betting board and merely distract from the ultimate goal of the website.
I don't have a problem with your input, but I respect the opinions of the contributors who are complaining.
This is a common complaint among control freaks on various message boards, they're quick to anger, but weak by nature( which is why they read threads that dont interest them).
Complaining gives them a feeling of importance, the best course of action is to humor them by implying you're monitoring the situation, yet do nothing. The whiners will feel they have your ear(and are thus empowered) , no one else will care either way.
I hate to control any contributions, especially when the Ignore feature is available with this software.
If you don't like someone's contributions, merely place their posts on Ignore.
Only one rule here: Free speech but no hate speech.
It's not all that important to me frankly, John !
This board has been pretty dead for many years anyway and tradionally off topic stuff gets posted a lot.
Yep go away. Take your fkn cat stories, women dating stories, and all of the other nonsense with you.


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Home » Other chronologies » Immanuel Velikovsky
Published 3 September 2011 | By Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews
Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1979)
Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1979) is the most notorious of all Bad Archaeologists by virtue of the scandal caused by the publication of his book Worlds in Collision in 1952. His main thesis – that the earth suffered a number of cataclysms in the second and first millennia BC as a result of near-misses by comets ejected from Jupiter that subsequently became the planets Mars and Venus – is essentially astronomical and is indisputably wrong. It was not the thesis of the book that gave Velikovsky his subsequent notoriety but the fact that when the book was ready for publication in 1950. A group of scientists whose work was distributed by the same publisher threatened to withdraw their work from the company's lists. As a result, Worlds in Collision was published by a subsidiary of the company and its author was correctly able to claim that the scientific establishment had sought to stifle his ideas.
The impact of basic mistakes…
Had it not been for these few scientists, Velikovsky's work might well have faded into obscurity, full as it is of astronomical speculation based on ancient mythology. However, in the Preface to Worlds in Collision, he announced an ambitious reconstruction of ancient history from the middle of the second millennium BC down to the time of Alexander the Great. This was necessary, he explained, because for Worlds in Collision, he had used "a synchronal scale of Egyptian and Hebrew histories that is not orthodox". The unorthodox synchronisations included an identification of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut (1490-1468 BCE) with the Biblical Queen of Sheba, who would have lived in the later tenth century BCE, and Tuthmosis III (1468-1436 BCE) with Pharaoh-Shishak (שישק), separated by five or more centuries on the conventional chronology. Velikovsky's method involved using the Biblical chronology to redate Egyptian history by providing links between the two histories, one assumed to be dated correctly, the other assumed to be dated wrongly.
Ra'messe II or the Biblical Pharaoh-Necho?
Although Volume 1 of a projected two-volume work, Ages in Chaos, was published in 1952, covering the Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty down to the time of Amenhotep III, it was not until the late 1970s that the remainder of the work began to appear, having now expanded into five volumes. When they did appear, there were surprises in store. Most readers had assumed that Velikovsky's reconstruction of history would involve the compression of the Third Intermediate period by allowing more dynasties to be contemporaneous than orthodox Egyptologists have usually done. Instead, the public was treated to an identification of Ra'messe II (1289-1224 BCE) with the Biblical Pharaoh-Necho (c 600 BCE), his Hittite opponent Muwatalliš II (1295-1272 BCE) at the Battle of Kadesh (c 1274 BCE) with Nabukudurriusur II (Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 605-562 BCE), and Ra'messe III (1184-1153 BCE) with Nechtnebef (Nektanebo, 380-362 BCE), one of the last indigenous rulers of Egypt before Alexander's conquest in the late fourth century BCE.
Needless to say, this reconstruction is entirely text-based. There is no stratigraphic evidence from Egypt or the Levant to back up these claims that not only down-date some pharaohs by as much as seven centuries but also reverse the sequence of numerous individuals. Some well-attested pharaohs (such as Ra'messe VI, 1142-1135 BCE)) are dismissed as controlling only small oases in opposition to the Ptolemies (305-30 BCE); some (such as Psamtik I, 664-610 BCE) are downgraded to Persian satraps. Even if (like Peter James) we accept that there is something not quite right with Egyptian chronology, it is unlikely to be this fundamentally wrong. Two centuries of archaeology have been devoted to working out the sequence of pharaohs (indeed, a valid criticism of Egyptology is that it has devoted too much effort to this enterprise!) and although there may be room for squeezing and stretching individual reigns or altering the degree of overlap between contemporaneous rulers, there is not the latitude to make Ra'messe III (1184-1153 BCE) a contemporary of Philip II of Macedonia (359-336 BCE)!
The religious and political bias of a Bad Archaeologist
As with so many Bad Archaeologists, Velikovsky's need to rewrite history stems from a fundamentalist viewpoint. He assumes the primacy of the Hebrew Bible; even if Genesis has to be taken as largely allegorical, he regards it as a detailed and accurate account of the history of the Middle East from the Exodus onwards. Anything that disagrees with it is therefore wrong and needs to be corrected. Velikovsky was clearly sympathetic to the Zionist cause, although it is not altogether certain that he would have regarded himself as a Zionist. Even so, the final sentence of Part II, Chapter VI of Worlds in Collision makes his feelings about his Jewish heritage clear: "from the desperate and heroic struggle for national existence on its narrow strip of land…, it became a nation chosen to bring a message of the brotherhood of man to all the peoples of the world". A reconstruction of ancient history written from so passionate a viewpoint cannot but be sidetracked down some bizarre roads leading to a town called Bad Archaeology.
13 Responses to Immanuel Velikovsky

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Stefan Duerr's comments on the milk market situation for the DairyNews News Agency.
The current situation in the raw milk market strongly resembles 2012. Raw milk prices are so low in relation to the cost structure that none of the producers are going to expand next year, and some of them will have to put their projects into cold storage. We are already considering shutting down one or two tie-stall farms.
The cost of milk is ok at the new operating dairies so far. But for tie-stall farms and dairies under construction the raw milk price today is not enough. Why? The price does seem high. But have a look at the cost structure and changes resulting from the exchange rate. Fertilizer, hybrid seeds, machinery, and spare parts prices have gone up. And it is already difficult to find a loan rate under 16% in banks and sometimes it goes up to 20%. Keep in mind that a lot of things have got more expensive: we purchase soybeans in US dollars, 700 USD for a tonne of soybean meal three months ago and 700 USD today are very much different.
Take a look at other products for comparison. Three months ago, sugar used to cost 22 rubles, now – 37 rubles. Pork used to cost 90 rubles, now – 150 rubles. These industries have responded promptly to the cost structure changes. But milk is still purchased at 23-24 rubles as before.
With such a shortsighted attitude the processors risk to end up without any milk next year. Unless the raw milk prices go up in the nearest time, the dairy herd can start decreasing. And we can keep this attitude if we do not aim at increasing milk production. But if we really want to increase the share of milk self-sufficiency, the price has to grow considerably. Under current conditions, we see 28-30 rubles for milk of VEMA (The East European Milk Alliance) Standard + VAT as a fair price.
I am an optimist, but at this moment, I have to admit that the industry is going downhill. I am sure that as a lot of other good enterprises we will get over it. We did survive year 2012 and we will survive this year as well. But I am also sure that a lot of businesses are giving up. And let the milk processors restrain their surprise when, in six months or in a year, they find themselves without any domestic raw milk at all.


Beautiful, gentle Kerala, has suffered a big disaster, caused by the worst flooding in a century. Huge numbers of people have been displaced and many have lost their lives.
We have been keeping in close contact with our colleagues there – over the years we have developed strong friendships with them and have got to know their families. Thankfully they are all safe, and right now our guides are out in the field helping with relief work.
Some of our guests, especially those who have traveled to Kerala with us, have asked how they can help or to whom they can make donations.
We have been hesitant to give recommendations as we can't personally vouch for any organization or that the monies would reach their intended cause.
We have been consulting with our local partners: The consensus seems to be that India and the state of Kerala have the means to deal with the immediate disaster. However the real challenge lies ahead. Tourism is the most important sector of the economy. Many communities, especially in the areas most affected by the floods, are dependant on tourism for their livelihoods. In order for them to recover and be sustainable, Kerala needs visitors.
Our land has been ravaged. Our people are in shock. But our spirit endures intact.
We have seen lives and property vanish before our very eyes. But resilience has raised its head. The Keralite has built societies in all parts of the world. The Keralite will now rebuild the state. Hard work has never been alien to us. The restoration of our amenities is our priority. The airport will open again next weekend. The businesses now shut will be up and running by the start of next month.
You can help us most by coming to Kerala, by being a part of our resurgence.
We add our voices to this. If you were considering going to Kerala, don't hesitate, be it with us or with another company or by traveling independently.
The best times to travel there, weather-wise, are from November to February. By then things will be running normally again. And you will be received and hosted in the most extraordinary way!


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Zewde or Zewdie is a male given name of Ethiopian origin that may refer to:

Alem Zewde Tessema (died 1974), Ethiopian military figure
Sahle-Work Zewde, United Nations official
Terefe Maregu Zewdie (born 1982), Ethiopian long-distance runner
Hailu Zewde (born 1974), Ethiopian male middle-distance runner at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Zewdie Hailemariam (born 1962 or 1972), Ethiopian female middle-distance runner at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Ethiopian given names
Amharic-language names

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Once you are well into a daily cleaning regime, a weekly cleaning will not be as daunting as it sounds. The main objective of weekly cleaning should be thorough cleaning of the house. It is not an overwhelming task and with regular and efficient cleaning habits your weekly task can be minimalized.
Here is a checklist to help you get things done at the weekend and still have lots of time to spend with your friends and family.
Organize the shelves and stack magazines and books lying around. Discard the ones you do not want to keep.
Dust all the surfaces along with the furniture, and light fixtures.
Wipe the kitchen surface including the backsplash, refrigerator, cabinets and cupboards.
Do not aim for perfection- do not pay too much attention to the details. If you are into weekly cleaning regime, be assured your home is clean. Wasting too much time on cleaning a certain corner would mean wasting your time.
Keep your supplies within reach-this certainly gets half the work done. Maintain a list of the things that you would need for cleaning around the house well within your reach while you are working. Carry them around in a bucket or a basket. If you are into natural cleaners, keep them ready and stored in plastic or glass spray bottles before you start cleaning. Keep an adequate amount of cloth and towels to be used as wipes. Keep rubber gloves, goggles and any other safety devices that you might need. Make sure that your cleaning gadgets are in working conditions and the tools are handy.
Plan strategically- it is best to work "top- down" and "outside- in". Always start from the higher places in a room keeping the floors for the last. This would mean you will not have to redo the floors after you clean the walls and ceilings. Working outside in helps you to avoid getting dirt from the outside being trafficked inside all over again.
You can follow this schedule and tailor it to fit your need and convenience. House cleaning like every other task is easy if a routine is maintained. Regular cleaning saves time and the money needed to pay a professional cleaner.


text:
class CreateProviders < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :providers do |t|
      t.string :brand_name
      t.text :description
      t.references :user, index: true, foreign_key: true

      t.timestamps null: false
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


It's a sad fact that no car can last forever. Even your most beloved car will eventually reach the end of its life, regardless of how much careful care you've put into its maintenance. It can be difficult to tell when your car has reached the end of its lifespan, particularly if you're feeling sentimental and can't differentiate your feelings from the facts. If any of these 8 warning signs ring a bell, it may be time to move on.
The repairs are destroying your finances. Not every car is worth repairing. If you've had your vehicle for as long as you can remember and keep paying out toward expensive repairs and part replacements, you're probably wasting a substantial amount of cash in the long term. When it gets to the point where you truly can't afford to keep patching up your old car, it's probably time to call nissan wreckers gold coast to talk about your options.
Nobody wants to buy it. Many people attempt to sell their car before giving a wrecking service a call. If your car has been listed on advertising websites and in your local newspaper all year but hasn't received much interest, you'll probably have better luck speaking to a scrap yard about selling it to them for cash.
The car is no longer safe. After a car has been on the road for many years and has undergone a fair amount of damage, it won't be as safe as it should be to drive anymore. This can become particularly concerning when you have children to drive around. When your car doesn't meet today's safety standards, consider junking it instead.
It's too small for your family. Many people upgrade to a newer, larger car when they have kids. Once your car is no longer spacious enough to accommodate your expanding family, you'll need to invest in something different. While selling an old used car can be a challenge, there are wrecking services who will happily take it off your hands and give you the cash you need to put toward your newer, larger vehicle purchase.
It's collected far too much rust. A little rust might go ignored for a few years, but if you've been neglecting it for some time then you may one day discover that the rust has completely taken over your car. If your old vehicle's rust has advanced to the point that it's weakening the support system of your car or damaging its brakes and fuel lines, then there's no way you can carry on driving your old favourite car around. It's irresponsible to sell a car in poor condition, so scrapping it for cash will be your best bet.
You can't face a long drive anymore. We all love a good road trip, but for drivers with a beat-up old car, the prospect of hitting the road can be daunting. When faced with a long-distance drive, many old cars will be at risk of breaking down halfway along the motorway. Your car should be working for you, not preventing you from doing the things you want to do. If you can't travel in your car anymore, it's time to take it to your local wrecking service and find something better.


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Q: Get date from string sqlite without date time I have a table which contains a column that stores dates but in the form of strings and not in date time format.I need to pull out only that values that match the same day and same month as the one i specify.How can this be done?The current format of the string that the date is stored in is like this 2015-12-30.
So if i wanted all the dates that match 30th of december irrespective of year this date should be in the result.

A: this question is related to Java Strings and solution is also present only there you can split the string as-
String string = "2004-12-23";
String[] parts = string.split("-");
String part1 = parts[0]; // 2004
String part2 = parts[1]; // 12
String part3 = parts[2]; // 23

then match day with part3 and match month with part 2 and that's it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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A Look At The Specific Intelligence Causing State Dept. Warning -Leave Iraq ASAP
by Jeff Dunetz | May 15, 2019 | Foreign Policy/Terrorism
The surprise announcement came from the State Department.
Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict.
U.S. citizens in Iraq are at high risk for violence and kidnapping. Numerous terrorist and insurgent groups are active in Iraq and regularly attack both Iraqi security forces and civilians. Anti-U.S. sectarian militias may also threaten U.S. citizens and Western companies throughout Iraq. Attacks by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) occur in many areas of the country, including Baghdad.
Per news sources, the United States told people to 'bug out" of Iraq because of "specific and credible" intelligence that Iranian forces and/or their proxies were planning to target U.S. forces in locations including Iraq. That was behind the Pentagon recommending a carrier strike group be moved to the region, and Secretary Pompeo's rush trip to Iraq last week.
Completing this poll grants you access to The Lid updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Investigative Journalist and Iran expert Ken Timmerman gave insight into the source of the Iranian threats last week. Timmerman explained there was recent intelligence that Iran was planning "imminent" attacks on U.S. persons or U.S. assets in Iraq. The intelligence came from an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) General in charge of information, who was fired by the supreme leader on April 19th and reacted to being fired by defecting to the west.
Iran Commentary, an online news portal that publishes information about Iran's human rights abuses and illicit activity provided some of the details behind Timmerman's Report. The defector, General Ali Nasir had a vicious argument with a superior officer, General Hossein Taeb. Nasari walked out of the meeting and left the country.
General Ali Nasiri (pictured above) is rumored to have taken refuge in a U.S. embassy or consulate in a nearby Persian Gulf state. And he brought gifts; including a large volume of documents recording the travels of senior IRGC commanders, intelligence personnel and operational units to foreign countries, all under cover of diplomatic missions. That intelligence information was given to the United States.
Per Timmerman, Nasiri knows where all the bodies are buried:
Nasiri is arguably the highest-ranking IRGC official ever to have defected to the West or Israel. As intelligence chief, he had access to the darkest secrets of Iran's nuclear weapons development program. He knows where the long-rumored secret uranium enrichment facilities were located because his men were in charge of guarding them.
It's rare for the U.S. government to cite recent intelligence information, but in this case, the intelligence appears to have been so specific and the threats so imminent that our senior-most national security officials felt confident in tipping their hand to the Iranians.
Along with troop movements and plans to attack U.S. assets in Iraq:
Nasiri access to the darkest secrets of Iran's nuclear weapons development program. He knows where the long-rumored secret uranium enrichment facilities were located because his men were in charge of guarding them.
He may also know the whereabouts of former FBI Agent Bob Levinson, who was kidnapped by the IRGC while visiting Kish island on March 9, 2007, and is long-rumored to be held in a secret IRGC prison in Iran or possibly Afghanistan.
The top-secret information from General Ali Nasiri is behind the recent increase in pressure from the U.S. on Iran. The American Government is not happy about what they've read in the documents provided by the General, and Iran is not pleased either, because they know what information the General gave the U.S.
The naysayers who contend that President Trump is just trying to provoke a war with Iran are wrong. Our government sees a legitimate threat and are trying to protect our troops in Iraq and our homeland.


With a Miami Airport 33142 taxi service you will be able to arrive to the airport early so you do not miss your flight. With our selection of Miami taxis you are going to be able to have the transfer service you need to get you from MIA transfer to Port of Miami, travel to one of the many hotels available in South Florida. With a taxi service for MIA you are going to have a transportation service that will be able to take you to the airport no matter how packed it is and at what time you need to get there. With our cab company in Miami you will be able to ride comfortably to your destination and not worry about missing your flight.
There are plenty of destinations that you will end up at with our selection of vehicles. Enjoy the ride from MIA transfer to Port of Miami 33132. You can arrive at Miami Airport and make your way to one of the many different hotels in South Florida. You can stay at the Hilton Miami Downtown in Biscayne Boulevard. Enjoy the Four Seasons Hotel Miami 33131 as you can take advantage of the treatments and deep soaking that the hotels provide.
Enjoy your stay at Conrad Miami and Viceroy Miami with an infinity pool. With so many luxury hotels in Biscayne Bay and throughout Miami-Dade County you will enjoy staying at one of these hotels. Viceroy Miami and Fortune House Hotel are just a few others that will make your stay in the city one that you will remember. Celebrating a birthday trip, anniversary, or just here on business you will get the opportunity to make it a great corporate event.
With a Miami Airport transfer you are going to be able to travel anywhere. Have our cab company in Miami provide you with the service that you need that very few other yellow taxi companies can actually accomplish. You will be able to ride in our sedan rental and black town car service to your destination anywhere around Miami-Dade County. With our Miami taxi cab service you will be able to ride comfortably from MIA to Port of Miami. With so much traveling taking place throughout between these two destinations you will be able to ride comfortably and receive the best Miami taxi rates. With MIA Airport being one of the most busiest airports in the world you will want to make sure that you have the vehicle that will get you to your hotel or transfer to Port of Miami.
Taxi service for MIA can be difficult to decide with but before you arrive to the airport give us a call and let us help you accomplish your transportation plans upon your arrival. Having a cheap taxi in Miami is important and receiving the best quality service is unmatchable by any of our competitors. Receive the best Miami taxi rates as you travel comfortably from MIA. With our Miami Airport taxi you will get the chance to travel to your destination and not worry about getting lost. With our professional chauffeurs you will get the chance to reserve the right taxi service in Miami.


Aorangi Peak Restaurant has been referred to as the most romantic restaurants by critics from different fields. The whole restaurant was built with woods and set in a traditional mood, lodgy and comfortable atmosphere. Over the years the restaurant has time and again received the Beef & Lamb Excellent Award together with other culinary prizes. The restaurant has also often received international delegates and it has been top in the list for international celebrities.
Opens daily from 10.00am, come and enjoy our organic coffee made from 300 year old underground water. Home-made Dates Scone and Blueberry Muffin are always the favourite. You will be stunned by the breath-taking view and feel the Real Spirit of Rotorua.
Discover an elevated experience with your loved ones at our Mokoia Room. Dinner serves French and Japanese Cuisine daily from 5.00pm till late.
Enjoy a sumptuous Christmas Day Lunch in a festive atmosphere complete with Christmas crackers, cheery decorations and an appearance from Aorangi Peak Restaurant.
There's no better way to celebrate Christmas Day than to indulge yourself with good food and drinks together with your loved ones. We prepare a degustation menu for this special evening.
Our countdown evening starts with bubbles and a feast of delicious cuisine. Come and join us for a beautiful evening, watching fireworks display from our spectacular vantage point high above the city and welcome the New Year.


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This is Guiyang
Why Guiyang
Investment Guide
Home/ Media Center/News
Guiyang leads in green growth
by Chen Yan (China Daily) | 2021-07-17
The Eco Forum Global Annual Conference in Guiyang, Guizhou province, is significant for sharing new practices and experiences on green urban development, as well as for exploring new modes and paths of low-carbon, green, high-quality economic development.
In the 10 years since the first Eco Forum Global Annual Conference was held, Guiyang and the rest of Guizhou province have been promoting green development and taking measures to build an ecological civilization.
President Xi Jinping, who pays special attention to ecological progress, including that of Guizhou, has asked us to uphold the bottom lines of both development and ecology. President Xi sent two congratulatory letters to the forum in 2013 and 2018, and during his visit to Guizhou on the eve of this year's Spring Festival, he approved the province's ecological civilization work, giving a new direction and setting a new mission for the future.
Guiyang is China's first ecological civilization demonstration city and the pilot zone of the national ecological civilization experimental area. In recent years, we (the city authorities) have been applying Xi Jinping thought on ecological civilization to our "ecological strategy", which has greatly boosted green development. Ecology has become the biggest comparative advantage for Guiyang, and clear water and green mountains the greatest source of well-being for the local people.
Guiyang's cumulative economic growth rate over the past 10 years is 284.3 percent, and economic aggregate 431.165 billion yuan ($66.623 billion), making it the provincial capital city with the highest GDP growth rate. In Guiyang, ecological protection and economic development are complementary. In terms of air quality, Guiyang ranked 10th among 168 key Chinese mainland cities and fourth among provincial capitals in 2020, opening a win-win path for economic development and ecological improvement.
We have also enhanced upstream awareness among people and built a strong green barrier along rivers. Located in the upstream of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, Guiyang and Gui'an give top priority to ecology and green development, and has been making great efforts to better protect the environment. For instance, during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the city authorities built 24 sewage treatment plants, and increased the daily sewage treatment capacity by 995,800 tons, ensuring untreated wastewater does not flow into the rivers.
Besides, thanks to the local authorities, the quality of water in rivers and lakes that are sources of drinking water has reached the required 100 percent mark. The city authorities have also greened and landscaped 230 hilltops, expanded the forest cover rate to 55 percent, built 1,025 parks of various types, ensuring people, no matter where they are in this area, can see green cover within 300 meters and a garden at every 500 meters. In fact, green is now the color of Guiyang residents' happy life.
We have been taking concerted measures to develop green industries, build parks, and promote green consumption, in order to transform production and consumption patterns. New energy, new materials and new industries have developed by leaps and bounds in Guiyang, with the green economy accounting for 46 percent of the city's GDP-prefabricated buildings accounting for 20 percent of the new buildings and new-energy buses comprising about 47 percent of all public buses.
Apart from enhancing awareness about reform, we have also made greater efforts to develop green finance and achieve breakthroughs in innovation, making good use of the Gui'an New Area as the National Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone, and established a green finance project database, while achieving a green credit scale of more than 190 billion yuan.
Moreover, Guiyang has used big data to full advantage and set up an ecological environment management system, while taking the lead in forming a complete legal system for ecological protection, and issuing the first local law and regulation in China to promote ecological civilization, which has greatly promoted low-carbon development.
Taking measures to better safeguard ecological security, we have also succeeded in eliminating many risks and hidden dangers, further promoted the "river chief" and "forest chief" systems, more strictly enforced polluted water- and waste-treatment laws. As a result, there has been a sharp drop in illegal activities and drastic increase in resolving outstanding ecological and environmental issues related to the vital interests of the people.
Standing at a new historical starting point, we will strive to achieve high-quality development and make new achievements in the construction of an ecological civilization.
First, we will promote a macro-ecological strategy, and take measures to prevent and control pollution, ensure different departments coordinate to better protect and restore the beauty and functionality of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, grasslands and lakes, consolidate our achievements in building a "City of a Thousand Gardens", and ensure the forest coverage rate stays above 55 percent and air quality is excellent.
Second, we will contribute to the country's efforts to peak carbon emissions before 2030-by reducing the use of fossil fuels and conducting trials of coordinated measures to control greenhouse gas emissions-and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060-by increasing the use of clean and renewable energy, and green and smart technology, promoting market-based carbon trading, and adhering to an intensive, economic, low-carbon and circular development model.
Third, we will endeavor to build a green economic system. Using the green development concept, we will implement across-the-board green planning, green design, green investment, green construction, green production, green circulation, and green consumption to pursue development based on the efficient use of resources and strict ecological and environmental protection norms, and establish an economic system of green, low-carbon and circular development to ensure the added value of the green economy accounts for at least 50 percent of GDP.
Fourth, we will promote cooperation among cities on green development, build a regional economic pattern with complementary resources and advantages, establish an international cooperation system for green development, and follow a path that accords priority to green, low-carbon, high-quality development.
The author is mayor of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, and vice-chairman of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Guizhou Provincial Committee. The Eco Forum Global Annual Conference opened in Guiyang on Monday.
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Walks about the City and Environs of Jerusalem.
London: Daldy Isbister and Co., circa 1844.
Zobeide. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden.
Mediolani (Milan): A. Minutianus, 1513-1514.
A Tour from Gibraltar to Tangier, Sallee, Mogadore, Santa-Cruz, Tarudant, and Thence Over Mount Atlas, to Morocco, Including a Particular Account of the Royal Harem, & c.
Les Bonnets, ou Talemik et Zinéra. Histoire moderne traduite de l'Arabe.
Mahmoud le Gasnevide, histoire orientale. Fragment traduit de l'Arabe, avec des Notes.
A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Consisting of Authentic Writers in our own Tongue, which have not before been collected in English, or have only been abridged in other Collections. And continued with Others of Note, that have published Histories, Voyages, Travels, Journals or Discoveries in other Nations and Languages, relating to Any Part of the Continent of Asia, Africa, America, Europe, or the Islands thereof, from the earliest Account to the present Time. Digested According to the Parts of the World, to which they particularly relate…And with great Variety of Cuts, Prospects, Ruins, Maps, and Charts. Complied from the curious and valuable Library of the late Earl of Oxford….
Travel: "the very excellency of man"
Voyage of the U.S. Exploring Squadron, Commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes, of the United States Navy, in 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842: Together with Explorations and Discoveries Made By Admiral d'Urville, Captain Ross, and other Navigators and Travellers; and an Account of the Expedition to the Dead Sea, Under Lieutenant Lynch.
Auburn (New York): J.M. Alden, 1850.


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Adult Contemporary is a chart published by Billboard ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market.  First published in 1961, the listing was compiled until 1965 by simply extracting from the magazine's all-genre chart, the Hot 100, those songs which were deemed of an appropriate style and ranking them according to their placings on the Hot 100.  In 1962, 15 different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine.  The chart was published under the title Easy Listening through the issue of Billboard dated October 27, after which it was renamed Middle-Road Singles.

Ray Charles was the only artist with more than one number one in 1962.  He reached the top with two tracks from his album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which is considered to have been a ground-breaking record.  "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "You Don't Know Me" spent a total of eight weeks in the top spot, the most for any artist.  "I Can't Stop Loving You" was one of a number of Easy Listening/Middle-Road number ones of 1962 to go all the way to number one on the Hot 100, and it also reached the top of Billboards R&B chart.

The longest unbroken run at number one on the Easy Listening/Middle-Road chart in 1962 was achieved by Acker Bilk, who spent seven consecutive weeks atop the listing with the instrumental "Stranger on the Shore".  The track also reached number one on the Hot 100, the first time this feat had been achieved by a British artist.  Bilk was one of two band leaders associated with the early 1960s UK jazz revival to top the Easy Listening/Middle-Road chart in 1962, as his number one came a month after Kenny Ball spent three weeks at number one with "Midnight in Moscow".  Ball was one of a number of acts with an Easy Listening/Middle-Road number one in 1962 who never topped the Hot 100 during their careers, along with The Lettermen, Burl Ives, Frank Ifield and Gene Pitney. The final Middle-Road number one of the year was "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence.

Chart history

References

1962
United States Middle Road


Rita Coupar was born in 1906. The people who knew her over the years, liked her. She was described as bright, cheerful, and dignified.
Rita married but never had children. Perhaps because of that, she was always very close to her nieces and nephews.
Her first husband died when Rita was sixty-eight years old. She remarried. Her second husband was named Earl.
Rita had money. Rita and Earl entered into a prenuptial agreement. They agreed to keep their property separate. Rita then signed a will, giving Earl $5,000, her furniture and personal effects, and the right to live in her condominium for five years following her death. Everything else in her estate was to go to her nieces and nephews.
Her estate ended up amounting to a million dollars or so.
Earl was described as being a man of great determination in all of his dealings. Rita became ill in 1997, and about that time Earl became determined that Rita would leave her million dollars to him or his children — not to her nieces and nephews.
Rita was hospitalized on June 25, 1997. Earl went to a lawyer fifteen days later to see if he could get out of the prenuptial agreement. When the answer to that appeared to be "no," Earl decided that Rita needed a new will. He went to a lawyer – not Rita's regular man – and started the ball rolling. Earl met with the lawyer repeatedly before meetings with Rita began. Rita never met with the lawyer alone.
First, they drew up papers to have Rita's condo put into joint names. If Rita died first, which was looking likely, then Earl would own the condo outright. She signed.
Then Earl had a new will prepared for her. It left everything to him. If he died first, then the will left every thing to his children. There would be nothing for the nieces and nephews Rita was so fond of. She signed that too.
Earl then surprised everyone by dying first. Rita followed him to the grave shortly afterwards on December 23rd, 1998, two days short of her 93rd Christmas.
Earl's kids came forward and claimed the million dollar estate. Rita's nieces and nephews hired a lawyer – one who practiced nothing but estate litigation.
They fought through a nine day trial. The judge concluded that the will leaving everything to Earl's children was invalid. There were two reasons.
First, the judge concluded that Earl placed Rita under undue influence and caused her to sign the new willagainst her wishes. You can persuade a person to leave their estate to you, you just can't force them. It is a fine line.
Second, Rita lacked the necessary mental capacity to do a will. It was up to Earl's children to satisfy the judge that Rita still had her marbles. They were up against two doctors. Both said she had lost the legal capacity to sign a valid will as soon as she first became ill. They were also up against Rita's regular family lawyer – he had spoken to her and kept notes detailing alarming failures of memory at the time.
Luckily for the nieces and nephews, Earl had brought a poor lawyer to the bedside to draft the will. He did not ask the right questions, follow the right processes, or take the right notes. This left Earl's children without any ammunition they might have used in defending the will. Legally, the onus was on them.
With the new will swept aside, the nieces and nephews inherited everything under the old will.
How much mental capacity does a person need before they can sign a valid will? They have to know what they own, who is in the family tree, and who among those family members might legitimately expect to inherit. They also have to understand what a will does. Finally, they have to be able to grasp all of those points simultaneously in their mind while deciding on the content of the will. Delusions are generally a bad sign.
Doing a bedside will for a person with diminishing mental capacity amounts to a specialty area of law. Attacking and undoing wills done by shoddy lawyers is another one.
All of the details in Rita's story are taken from the published decision of the court. Names have been changed to protect the family from embarrassment.
Next week's column: Whimsical wills.


Camels, long domesticated in Arabia and neighbouring lands, were unfamiliar in Anatolia in 546 bce when Cyrus (1)'s baggage-camels terrified the Lydian horses (Hdt. 1. 80). These may have been two-humped central Asiatic camels like those depicted at Persepolis; the one-humped Arabian camel was more generally known. Herodotus (3. 103) thought a full description unnecessary; but the camels captured by Agesilaus II in 395 bce were curiosities when brought to Europe (Xen. Hell. 3. 4. 24). In the Hellenistic and Roman periods camels were widely used in Asia and North Africa. Antiochus (3) III's army at the battle of Magnesia included Arab swordsmen mounted on fast camels (Livy 37. 40. 12), and the Romans employed dromedarii, but the chief military and civilian use of the camel was for transport.


In a break with tradition the KCPPA (Prep) held their first Christmas Bazaar today in the prep school hall. Girls from Nursery to year 6 spent the morning picking gifts for their loved ones and having them wrapped ready to put under the tree. The KCPPA Craft Team supplied a range of handmade craft items, Christmas stockings and dog treats lovingly made for the girls to purchase. The event was a sell-out and all the girls were delighted with their gifts.


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2019 Jeep Compass: Good looks, poor performance
[MUSIC] Compact crossover class is really crowded. You've got the fun to drive Mazda CX five. The Honda CRV is a pretty good choice and there's the stalwarts, Subaru Forester, and they are all vying for your dollars takes a very special vehicle to stand out here and it's got to be well rounded. So it's too bad that the 2019 Jeep Compass just doesn't give me 360 degrees of awesomeness. Let's pull over and I'll show you what I mean. [MUSIC] All right, let's start with the Grand and that's why I really like the way this compass looks. You can definitely see the influence of the larger Grand Cherokee here in the front, but it's not quite as squinty and off putting is what you find in the regular charity. I think it's one of the better looking cars in the segment and it looks like Exactly the way a Jeep should. One thing I can't handle though is this sensor down here. I just wanted to be in the middle and it's making me crazy. Regardless, let's check out the inside. [MUSIC] The good continues on the inside with a spacious cabin full of quality materials and the excellent you connect infotainment system with Apple Car plan Android Auto along for the ride. A seven inch touch screen is standard, but I'm liking the larger 8.4 screen with navigation. Now, optional, you can get a robust suite of driver's aids including full suite adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and blind spot monitoring. And when it comes to storage, well, the Compass could do a lot better. I mean [UNKNOWN] in front of the gear shift is a place to put My sunglasses and my keys and my phone and not have it be a bog old mess, and this is a big old mess. Behind the rear seats is 27 cubic feet of space, but you can fold down those rear seats and that expands up to 60. Well that sounds pretty good but when you look at class leaders like the Honda CRV and the Toyota RAV 4 four It's actually pretty small. [MUSIC] So on the road, I can really not care about the small storage space. If the driving experience were pleasant, but here, it's just not This thing weighs three 3,300 pounds and it's powered by a 2.4 litter, 4 cylinder engine. We're just putting on 180 horsepower and a 175 pound fuel talk. I mean it is a really slow. My daily driver at home has almost as much go go juice and it's 1000 pounds lighter and I yell at that all the time because it's too slow here. It's just really really frustrating. And you'd think with a car that has not a lot of power, maybe you'd get good gas mileage. Well the EPA says that I should be getting 25 miles per gallon combined, but I'm only seeing about 23, so no. [MUSIC] And you know, it's not helped by this nine-speed automatic transmission either. It is so lazy and sluggish. I mean, if I want to pass somebody, I gotta put my foot to the floor and then wait for a little bit until it finally wants to downshift. And then if I'm trying to accelerate, I got to keep my foot out of it a little bit. Otherwise it's off shifts way too quickly. Now you can get a six speed manual, which I imagine would help the driving experience a little bit. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] You want four wheel drive? You are SOL'd. It's kind of a misnomer. This is really an all-wheel drive system. Power defaults to the front wheels but I can throw 50% of it to the rear by pressing this four wheel drive lock button. And then I've got some drive modes here for better performance. Auto, snow, sand and mud Listen, if you know you're going to go off road just get the trail hot trim, it's going to give you better ground clearance and a low mode for better rock rolling. The 2019 Jeep Compass starts at about $22,000. Now that is a very competitive price. It's less expensive than similar offerings from Honda, Toyota and even keel which is known for undercutting the competition. This however is a top of the line limited trim. So it starts at $29,000. And once you add some packages and destination, this one is about $37,000. Yeah, sorry Jeep. I'm doing a 180 on this one. [MUSIC]
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India's War Plans lack Synergy without a Chief of Defence Staff
Apr,20 2019The Tribune
The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was among the major recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani that analysed the report of the Kargil Review Committee. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Vajpayee accepted the recommendation of the GoM to appoint a CDS but held its implementation in abeyance. Till today successive governments have not been able to appoint a CDS.
Three reasons are generally cited for this incomprehensible omission. Firstly, political consensus on the establishment of the post of CDS was lacking. Secondly, the civilian bureaucracy has never been in favour of the concept of CDS. And, thirdly, there has been some opposition even within certain sections of the armed forces to the idea.
The previous Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, had said that in 2016 that he would 'soon' recommend the creation of the post of CDS – which he considered "a must" – to the CCS. He had also said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was engaged in working out a mechanism for the post. Over three years later, there has been no further development on appointing a CDS and constituting integrated theatre commands.
It is well known that the operational plans of the armed forces lack synergy. In 1962, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was not given any role to play during the war with China when it could have made a huge contribution to the war effort. In 1965, the Indian Navy (IN) was not even informed about the plans to launch a three-pronged attack across the international boundary (IB) into Pakistan.
It is repeated ad nauseum that the 1971 war was a well-coordinated tri-Service effort that led to a grand victory. The rather limited coordination that was actually achieved during the war with Pakistan in 1971 was mainly due to the personalities of the Chiefs in position of authority and not due to any institutionalised arrangements. During the 1971 war, Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw was able to carry his naval and air force colleagues with him due to the personal rapport that he had established with them. Yet, there were several glitches in the planning and conduct of the land and air campaigns and it cannot be stated that India fought a coordinated "air-land" war.
The Indian intervention in Sri Lanka was undoubtedly a disaster from the joint planning point of view. The Kargil conflict of 1999 is the only real example of a coordinated tri-Service effort. Even here there were initial hiccups and it took the IAF several weeks to begin bombing the Pakistani intruders' sangars (ad hoc bunkers) on the Indian side of the LoC after the army had made such a request.
India's prevailing security environment is marked by regional instability with a nuclear overhang. More than ever before, it is now necessary for the national security decision makers to be given "single-point military advice" that takes into account the operational strengths and weaknesses and the inter-dependence of each of the armed forces on the other to meet complex emerging challenges in a nuclear environment. Such advice can come only from a CDS.
Besides giving such advice to the CCS, the CDS will streamline the operational readiness and employment of India's nuclear forces. While India's nuclear doctrine and policy are guided by the National Security Council and the CCS, their execution is entrusted to the Services and here a joint approach is mandatory. The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), constituted for the planning, raising and equipping and the command and control of India's nuclear weapons, will function directly under the CDS even while functional control over the nuclear warheads and the delivery systems comprising the "triad" remains with the civilian political leadership.
The CDS will also have several other responsibilities. Aerospace, information warfare, cyber-security and issues like the management of the electro-magnetic spectrum, including frequency management, electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC), electro-magnetic interference (EMI), electronic emission policy (EEP) and the offensive employment of non-communications devices such as radars for electronic warfare, will all be legitimately the domain of the CDS and HQ IDS. As and when tri-Service Space, Cyber and Special Forces Commands are raised to meet emerging challenges in these fields and to better manage all available resources, they will function directly under the CDS. A tri-Service Logistics and Maintenance command has also been long overdue.
On the non-operational side, training institutions such as the National Defence College, the College of Defence Management and the National Defence Academy and organisations like the Armed Forces Medical Services, Canteen Stores Department and a host of others will be placed under the direct command of the CDS for better synergy in their functioning and optimum exploitation of their potential.
The present Chiefs of Staff will still have a major role to play when there is a CDS. The three Chiefs will oversee the development and acquisition of weapons and equipment for their service, plan recruitment, guide and coordinate training at specialised training establishments and control administrative matters such as the annual budget, pay and allowances, maintenance support and medical services etc.
All other major democracies have opted for the CDS system. Most countries with large armed forces, including China, have established theatre commands. India cannot ignore these concepts any further except at great operational risk. These are ideas whose time has come. International experience shows that such reform has to be imposed from the top down and can never work if the government keeps waiting for it to come about from the bottom up.
The author is former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi.


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Lakers can't stop Kevin Love, Timberwolves in 143-107 loss
By Eric Pincus
Minnesota Timberwolves 143 - Lakers 107 (end of regulation)
The Lakers simply didn't compete on Friday night, getting blown out early by the Minnesota Timberwolves, 143-107
Minnesota scored 41 points in the first quarter and 74 by the half, building a 30-point lead the Lakers never recovered from.
Kevin Love notched a three-quarter triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Nikola Pekovic, returning from an ankle injury, scored 26 points in 21 1/2 minutes. Kevin Martin scored 17 points while rookie Gorgui Deng contributed 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
The Lakers were led by Kent Bazemore, who started for Wesley Johnson, with 21 points. The team had six-double-digit scorers including Jodie Meeks (19), Robert Sacre (14), Nick Young (11), Johnson (13), Hill (10) and Bazemore.
The Lakers' offense wasn't the issue, shooting 43.1% from the field as a team with just eight turnovers.
Defensively, the Lakers were awful, allowing the Wolves to shoot 67.1% and 44.4% from three-point range. Minnesota took 40 free-throw attempts while out-rebounding the Lakers 49-26.
The Wolves did turn the ball over 21 times, but it wasn't enough to give the Lakers any window to climb back in.
Steve Nash made a surprise appearance, playing 15 minutes while scoring four points with six assists. Xavier Henry was a scratch with a sore knee.
The Lakers (24-48) return home to host the Phoenix Suns (43-29) on Sunday. The Wolves travel to play the Brooklyn Nets (38-33), also on Sunday.
Timberwolves 111 - Lakers 77 (end of third quarter)
Kevin Love grabbed a last-second rebound to hit the triple-double mark through three quarters with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Wolves continued their offensive onslaught, scoring 37 points in the third. The Lakers' offense improved but trading baskets isn't the way to make up a 30-point halftime deficit.
Jodie Meeks led the Lakers with 15 points. Kent Bazemore scored 13 as the Lakers shot 40.0% from the field.
Timberwolves 74 - Lakers 43 (halftime)
The Lakers were demolished by the Timberwolves in the first half, falling behind by 31 after 24 minutes of play.
Nikola Pekovic scored 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting with a +/- of 31 points in just 13 1/2 minutes.
Kevin Love added 15 points with seven rebounds and six assists as the Wolves shot 64.1% from the field.
The Lakers didn't have much going on either offensively or defensively, shooting just 31.5% while giving up 41 and 33 points in the first two periods.
Nick Young led the Lakers with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting. Jordan Hill, scored six on 3-of-9 shooting, with a +/- of -31 in 17 1/2 minutes played.
Timberwolves 41 - Lakers 24 (end of first quarter)
The Timberwolves jumped out to an early lead, hitting six of their first seven shots.
Kevin Love led all scorers with 15 points. Nikola Pekovic, returning from an ankle injury, scored 12 on four perfect attempts from both the field and the line.
Minnesota shot 65.0% from the field and took 14 free throws in 12 minutes.
The Lakers struggled offensively until Nick Young gave a boost with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. His team shot 40.0%, with just two free-throw attempts.
Xavier Henry sat out with knee soreness. Kent Bazemore was promoted to the starting lineup in place of Wesley Johnson.
Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) returned to action with two points and an assist in 7 1/2 minutes.
Pregame
The Lakers (23-47) visit the Minnesota Timberwolves (35-35) on Friday night, playing their second game in as many days after a 108-105 loss Thursday in Milwaukee to the Bucks.
Neither Pau Gasol (vertigo) nor Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) is expected to play. Kobe Bryant (knee) and Jordan Farmar (groin) are also out.
The Timberwolves are unlikely to make the playoffs with a seven-game deficit behind the eighth-place Phoenix Suns (43-29).
For a more extensive breakdown, check out Preview: Lakers at Minnesota Timberwolves
Lakers drop close game to Milwaukee Bucks, 108-105
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Lottery prospect Aaron Gordon advances with Arizona to NCAA Elite 8
Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.
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Why securing your site is critical in 2017
Just how critical is it for a website to be secure? As it turns out, it's very critical. In this video I discuss why you should be upgrading to HTTPS if you haven't already.
Afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Sam. Before we begin, as we now have an online audience, I feel we should introduce them to a RocketMill tradition. Each month during the company meeting, we acknowledge my history of losing game shows by setting you all a Countdown conundrum. I think we should set that to the web as well. This month's SEO-themed Countdown conundrum, ITSGOOGLE, and your clue: an expert in organic science structures who knows nothing about SEO. I think this one's probably like a seven and a half out of ten difficulty, so you'll be doing well if you get it. An expert in organic site structures who knows nothing about SEO.
From one teaser to another: what do all of these brands have in common? You'll find out in a moment, but I will say, this might give you a clue. Today's presentation is called 'Why Securing Your Site is Critical in 2017'. I want to take you back in time. Do you remember the year 1990? Dom does. Dom was about 40. Most of you weren't born. It was the year that 200,000 protestors descended on London in the Poll Tax Riots, the Community Charge. It's the year that Gary Lineker and the rest of the England squad reached the semi-finals of Italia '90. Impressively, Gary Lineker, 16 years before Twitter was invented, invented Twitter trolling by pooing his pants on the pitch. On the 20th of December, 1990, as we enjoyed the sick beats and sickening clothing of Vanilla Ice at number one, an unassuming Briton called Tim Berners Lee was quietly changing the world.
Tim was a research fellow at CERN, who nowadays are probably best-known for the Large Hadron Collider, and to help researchers there share information, he proposed combining hypertext with the internet. By Christmas 1990, he'd come up with the World Wide Web, or a lot of the key points of the web. He'd come up with the addressing system, the URL; he'd come up with the language it was all written in, HTML; and he'd come up with the protocol over which we would share and retrieve information. You can see this in the address of the first public website, which went live the following year. This is still online if you want to have a look, http://info.cern.ch/. This quartet of consonants has been plaguing us ever since.
The thing with HTTP versus its secure successor, HTTPS, is it is fundamentally unencrypted. You can say, "Well, we've used it for 20-odd years and it's all right." Well, that's a bit like saying we spent years using fossil fuels or leaded fuels. Just because we're doing it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. But just how persistent is HTTP? Well, to find out, the other day, I ran a list of the 500 most popular websites in the UK according to the Alexa rankings through Screaming Frog, preceded by 'http://' and 'http://www.', because I wanted to see how many sent a 301 redirect to a secure HTTPS URL. 'http://' redirected on 127 out of 500 and with 'www.', it redirected on 140 out of 500.
When I had a look in the browser, I found some were doing slightly different things. Some were getting you there by different routes, but it goes to show this is by no means a universal adoption of the secure web. As Adam correctly guessed earlier on, my little teaser…on Wednesday, when I checked, presuming none of them migrated in the last 48 hours, all of these sites, or at least their homepages, were being served over HTTP. Now you might say, "Well, their carts or their banking systems were being served securely," and that's okay, but here are some reasons why it's not, and why even if you are already on HTTPS, you might want to just be aware of some of the opportunities which it opens you up to.
Issue number one: Goodbye carrot, hello stick. We found out in 2014 that HTTPS was going to be considered a ranking signal for Google Search, but a couple years later on our blog, I wrote the following: "Google take a carrot-and-stick approach to new ranking factors, and at first, taking advantage of a ranking factor results in a positive change, but eventually it becomes ubiquitous and they punish those who don't use it." We saw this before with Mobilegeddon, the mobile being a known ranking factor, being mobile-friendly, and then lo and behold, it became, well, if you aren't mobile-friendly, that's a bad thing. I think we're close to seeing that with HTTPS. If you have a look at Moz's data for HTTPS adoption, in the week after launch, it went from about seven percent on the first page of Google results to eight percent. Then, in two years, it went up to about a third of the web. When I checked again earlier this week, it was about 43%, so we're getting close to half the first-page Google results being served on a secure HTTPS URL. It's likely that we're at a point where, lo and behold, soon enough, it'll become a negative not to be secure.
Point two: even if the Google SERPs don't get you, the browsers are certainly going to. They're going to be frightening away your users. On our blog last year, I wrote, again, the following. "Pages served over plain HTTP could soon be demarcated with a big red X to highlight they might not be safe," and lo and behold, you'll have seen that Chrome 56, some of you are already getting this or you're seeing this if you've got various settings set up in your Chrome flags, is starting to put a "not secure" message if you have a log-in form on your page, if you have a credit card form on your page. If you've got mixed content, that message I've seen even more aggressive. I've seen that with a big slash through the HTTPS.
Basically, what's going to trigger these Chrome warnings? Well, in the short term, passwords and credit card details, but in time, you've got to consider that pretty much any personal information, if it's transferred non-securely, we're going to be discouraged from doing so on an HTTP page. It's really important to get across as soon as you can if you aren't already there. We're going to see that message live in regular web-users' browsers from this month, and it's not just Chrome. Here's a genuine user journey I had on the way to work recently. I wanted to have a look at something in the January sales, so I Googled 'sainsburys' and there they are in the Google results, https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/, all is well and good. Then I went through, and you'll notice my page is not secure. It's actually a mixed content page, so it's a page which has got HTTP content within an HTTPS page, which therefore means it's vulnerable.
Lo and behold, when I tried to do a search, I got a very scary message, and if I'm not particularly web-savvy, I'm not going to be submitting my information. Has my phone been hacked? As soon as you have a message like that on the screen being put there by the browser, it's likely you might not convert, so that's why it's so critical to think about HTTPS in this year. Moreover, you're just going to be missing out on the future. You can't adopt HTTP/2 on a non-secure page, so what does this mean? Here is how HTTP/1.1, which is the kind of still de facto, most popular, most common way of transferring data over non-secure works.
If this was a restaurant, it would be the following conversation. "Good evening, sir. May I take your order?" "I'd like the spaghetti please." "A fine choice, sir." A little while later, the waiter would come back and say, "Here's your spaghetti. Would you like anything else?" "Some grated cheese would be lovely on top of that." "I'll just fetch that for you, sir." Another request later, the waiter comes back. "Here's your grated cheese. Anything further?" "A little black pepper would be lovely." "I'll just get that from the kitchen." By now, your food's cold. That's why you have this waterfall chart if you go into "Inspect Element" in Chrome. That's why you get this row after row of HTTP requests that make the web seem so slow, whereas HTTP/2 is a bit more clever than that. It says, "Good evening. May I take your order?" "I'd like the spaghetti please." "A fine choice. You'll want grated cheese and black pepper, so I'll bring those at the same time."
If you'd like a real-world example, here's a little GIF. This is from Cloudflare, 2.5 seconds on HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 is about a quarter of a second, significantly faster and supported by all modern browsers. The link's in the presentation if you'd like to test this in your own browser. While HTTP/2 doesn't strictly require security, no modern browser supports it unencrypted. You have to be on HTTPS.
In summary, why is HTTPS critical in 2017? Because if you don't adopt it, Google's going to punish you, browsers will berate you, and you're going to miss out on the future, and no one wants to do that.
Google Algorithm Update: January 2020
Update: We have updated this article to reflect the Google January 2020 Core Update" Google announced that it is releasing a core broad update named the January 2020 Core Update. Google repeated their previous advice on core updates. Early analysis from the SEO industry suggests that impact was significant. Later today, we are releasing a […]
9 min read John Truong 17 Jan 2020
How to increase your organic traffic in 2019
The importance of optimising for people Videos and articles with this name, or similar, appear pretty much every year – they're about as routine as walking into M&S and buying your mum a Christmas cardigan whilst Noddy Holder plays over the speakers. I'm going to do something different. For more than 20 years, marketers have […]
6 min read Technical SEO 03 Jan 2019
Google speed update, July 2018: The new mobile ranking factor
Starting on 9th July 2018, Google began to consider how fast a web page loads when calculating its ranking in mobile search results. Site speed has been a ranking factor for desktop results since 2010. This new algorithm update reflects changing search habits on the modern mobile-centric web. The "Speed Update" will affect all businesses […]
10 min read Technical SEO 10 Jul 2018


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DIVORCE DEAL
What's a soft Brexit and how is it different to a hard Brexit?
What options are on the table for a deal between Britain and the EU over Brexit?
By Ellie Cambridge and Jon Rogers
Updated: 30 May 2019, 17:15
THE Tories have been bickering among themselves over whether or not the UK should opt for a a soft Brexit since the referendum.
Negotiations between the Government and the EU began on June 19 - but what is the difference between a soft and hard Brexit?
Brexit and what kind of a deal we will negotiate was a key election topicCredit: AFP or licensors
What is a soft Brexit?
A soft Brexit is generally the term to describe the UK maintaining close relationship with the European Union.
This could involve being part of a customs union, in which we would have common external tariffs with the EU and negotiate trade deals as one with them.
Some Tories, such as Nick Boles, have argued to a Norway-style soft Brexit in which the UK would have access to the Single Market.
Some senior Conservatives argued for closer links between Britain and the EU and also said Labour and other parties should have a say in the final deal.
The Tory manifesto vowed to withdraw Britain from the single market and the customs union, so that we can end free immigration and quit the EU court.
This would mean the country would still have access to the single market, while being able to make deals without the rest of the EU.
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hopes to pursue his plans for a soft BrexitA softer Brexit could see the UK making payments into EU budgets and accepting the "four freedoms" of movement of goods, services, capital and people.
Free access for European nationals to work and settle in the UK would also continue.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he is in favour of a Soft Brexit that includes a customs union and greater protection for workers rights.
How would it be different to a hard Brexit?
A hard Brexit would take Britain out of Europe's single market.
It could also see Britain leave the trade agreement completely, allowing us to strike up deals with other nations around the globe.
Anti-EU voices insist a hard Brexit must be met to satisfy the wishes of the Brexit referendum vote.
That would mean Britain severs all formal free trade ties with the continent, leaving it free to negotiate new trade links with countries including the USA, China, India and Commonwealth states.
Mrs May had also said no deal would be better than a bad deal, when planning to carve out a hard Brexit.
The Prime Minister tearfully announcing she is to quitCredit: Getty Images - Getty
What is the latest on Brexit?
Britain had been due to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019.
Theresa May was forced to stand down Prime Minister when she finally admitted there wasn't enough support for her Withdrawal Agreement.
She had managed to secured a delay to the original exit date until October 31 in a bid to secure backing from MPs for the deal.
After Mrs May's Brexit deal was been voted down three times in the Commons, she announced talks with Corbyn but they collapsed on May 17.
She had planned to bring the plan, which had been negotiated with the European Union, back to the Commons for a fourth time.
But she confessed she now had no chance of ever getting her Brexit deal through Parliament but insisted "I have done my best" to deliver on the referendum result.
Mrs May will stay in office for the next two weeks, allowing her to welcome Donald Trump to the UK on his state visit, and step down as party leader on June 7.
The prospect of there being more delays has now been raised.
As The Sun reported, European leaders are likely to grant more delays until a General Election or second referendum forces the issue.
More on Brexit
BREX APPEAL
BoJo's Brexit hardline panicks EU chiefs as they mull new divorce deal plans
Who are Extinction Rebellion and which UK cities are they protesting in?
BOO EU
New EU chief survives knife-edge vote after Brexit Party heckles her over delay bid
BLUES LOVERS
BoJo & Hunt leadership battle goes from all-out war to love-in at final debate
DEAL DOOMED?
Is No Deal Brexit still a possibility for the UK leaving the EU? Latest news
Brexit latest news: Why is there a delay and what happens next?
The prospect of a soft Brexit, more delays or a second referendum has led to the rise of the Brexit Party.
Nigel Farage's party was only founded six weeks ago but came out top in the recent European Elections with 31 per cent of the vote.
It campaigned to immediately leave the EU - whether there is a trade deal or not.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


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'We Fed Them, Had Coffees Going': McDonald's Workers Shelter People From Blizzard
Employees at a McDonald's in Buffalo opened their doors to the public during the blizzard.
The restaurant sheltered more than 50 people from the storm.
Jeffrey Spangler and Kristin Kosha / Credit: WKBW
It was around 2:00 p.m. on Friday when Jeffrey Spangler, Kristin Kosha and Amanda Kendall were closing up the McDonald's on Sweet Home Road in Amherst when the snow started coming down.
"It wasn't safe to drive," Kosha told ABC News. "We had to make the right choice for us and our other manager with us."
Knowing they had a warm place to stay, and plenty of food, Kosha opened up an invitation to anyone stuck on the streets to come to the McDonalds.
Credit: WKBW / ABC News
It wasn't long before Amherst Police and fire were dropping off stranded motorists at the McDonalds, and into their care.
"I didn't think it would go as big as it did. I thought 10-15 people, but we were full," she said.
More than 50 people throughout the Christmas weekend sought shelter inside the restaurant.
"We fed them, had the coffee's going," she said. "Hot chocolates. Saturday we had the Bills game on. They chatted amongst themselves, mingled and we kept them fed."
Watch the video below.


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Q: how do torrent clients circumvent router's firewall? Could anyone please explain me how the deluge torrent client can get incoming requests to my local machine from the Internet, while I'm behind router's firewall and do not have any port forwarding etc.?
Initially I was going to ask about a strange network activity in my LAN, namely continuous incoming requests to 6881 port from different ip addresses, whereas I'd already stopped my torrent client deluge. But while I was composing the question I spotted that these requests ceased, so I concluded that the reason was in the deluge torrent client and the requests continue to come for a while after program's quit. Then I changed ports in the program's settings and the destination port of these requests changed too. So the reason of these requests is deluge.
So here is the situation. I was trying to setup the deluge torrent client, and opened ufw.log file. And what it showed to me surprised me a lot. It was showing constant incoming requests from different ip addresses to 6881 port. Here is an output of tail -f /var/log/ufw.log (I've cut sensible data):
Dec 28 18:13:32 foo-host kernel: [44034.890870] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=xx:xx SRC=46.182.x.x DST=192.168.xxx.xxx LEN=131 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=50 ID=13882 PROTO=UDP SPT=59696 DPT=6881 LEN=111
Dec 28 18:13:32 foo-host kernel: [44035.682998] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=xx:xx SRC=111.240.x.x DST=192.168.xxx.xxx LEN=294 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=113 ID=4012 PROTO=UDP SPT=17621 DPT=6881 LEN=274
Dec 28 18:13:34 foo-host kernel: [44037.400502] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=xx:xx SRC=210.187.x.x DST=192.168.xxx.xxx LEN=131 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=55 ID=25753 PROTO=UDP SPT=57274 DPT=6881 LEN=111
Dec 28 18:13:47 foo-host kernel: [44050.142172] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=xx:xx SRC=118.81.x.x DST=192.168.xxx.xxx LEN=129 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=46 ID=29946 PROTO=UDP SPT=59765 DPT=6881 LEN=109
Dec 28 18:13:54 foo-host kernel: [44056.727176] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=xx:xx SRC=128.127.x.x DST=192.168.xxx.xxx LEN=131 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=113 ID=37504 PROTO=UDP SPT=13835 DPT=6881 LEN=111

So could anyone please give me an answer to this: how do torrent clients (may be only deluge) circumvent router's firewall?
Here is my router's configuration screen shot, so I suppose that the firewall is running. Also I cannot access a local webserver from the outside without port forwarding, so this convinces me more in this conclusion.

A: It's inside the function of network connections. Your client (deluge) perform a request to internet hosts and "publish" port 6881 for incoming requests. Your firewall blocks the incoming connections ([UFW BLOCK]) for your pc but the requests from external hosts to your port 6881 is normal.
There is nothing strange in this.
Moreover, some incoming connection are forwarded to your Pc because in your firewall configuration you have rules for "related" traffic. This means that a software starting the connection internally (deluge) is authorized to receive traffic coming from external ip for which you have started a communication.
You should not use a p2p software if you don't want to send traffic to external host or receive external requests.

A: Your router supports uPNP, which allows programs like deluge to automatically ask it to forward ports while the program is running.


Beginnings – Elias is 6!
Elias is six and at the beginning of so many wonderful adventures and discoveries. I love watching him grow and how his interests change from year to year. This year his interests are Star Wars, football and baseball. I think its so cool that he will be able to look back someday and see himself as a beginner, just figuring everything out for the first time. We were in a small park close to home, and we were able to photograph him doing all of the things he is excited about. And when we were done with the photos that he considered most important to him, we also photographed his little sister Leah and his family. As always, I am honored to be asked to tell the story of their family and how it changes from year to year!


SANS World-Class Information Security Training returns to Japan with SANS Secure Japan 2018, featuring 10 courses on Security Essentials, Pen Testing, Digital Forensics and Industrial Control Systems, among others.
Be better prepared for cyber-attacks and data breaches. At SANS Secure Japan 2019, we offer training with applicable tools and techniques for effective cyber security practices. Gain the skills you need to win the battle against the wide range of cyber adversaries who seek to harm your environment.
Register now and get practical training you can put to work immediately. Email japan@sans.org with questions.


PA-DSS acts as the parallel service to PCI DSS and focuses on security for payment applications such as point-of-sale (POS) systems, e-commerce shopping carts, or payment middleware and their role in helping merchants and service providers fulfill their PCI DSS obligations.
Schellman can perform PA-QSA, QSA (P2PE) and PA-QSA (P2PE) services both onsite and from our approved testing labs. The service also is complimented by Schellman's advanced penetration testing capabilities.
Discover the advantages of being PA-DSS compliant for retailers, service providers and other organizations and how it helps you fulfill PCI DSS obligations.
Our Schellman teams have experience performing hundreds of payment card validations.


Stroke is the most common cardiovascular disorder after heart disease, killing an estimated 5.7 million people annually worldwide. The prevalence of stroke in Europe has been estimated to be 9.6 million. Furthermore, stroke is a major public health issue among the leading causes of immobility and longterm disability in developed countries. During the last quarter century the management of acute stroke patients and prevention of cerebrovascular disorders has become the most challenging task for medical interdisciplinary research. This included interactive multi-professional management from emergency rescue and monitored intensive care through a primary care team as well as extensive public information about qualifying signs and symptoms of acute stroke victims coined in the phrase Time is Brain and Stroke is an Emergency in newspapers, television and the new media. Although mortality has decreased considerably since the 1990s, and early prevention is successful after transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) through better medical treatment in TIA Clinics or Comprehensive Stroke Centers, many patients still suffer from permanent dependency. Exciting new pathways have now been opened to improve the chance for full recovery and independence after brain network re-organisation that became available by very recent scientific knowledge about mechanisms active during rehabilitation. Not only for patients with sensori-motor but also more sophisticated cognitive deficits or and behaviour problems can be treated. In addition, the risk of dementia may be reduced.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the ESC and based on the merits of so many successful meetings in the past we decided to create the "European Stroke Research Foundation- esrf" as a registered, public controlled charity to support the European Stroke Conference, international workshops and meetings as well as individual and institutional activities and programmes of highly innovative stroke related basic science and challenging clinical topics ready to stimulate exciting new pathways and strategies for research, including those making use of in the Industry 4 Revolution world of internet and social media supported world wide innovative communication.
Researchers are invited to apply for funding for individual research projects!
Our goal is to promote research for better prevention and treatment and to improve the chance for full recovery and independence after stroke!


This month Lagos will play host to the Guaranty Trust Bank Lagos Fashion and Design Week from the 23rd of October to the 26th October; at the Ocean View Grounds by Eko Hotel, Ademola Adetokubo, Victoria Island Lagos. As part of the activities to culminate the week, Guaranty Trust Bank has teamed up with the founders of Lagos Fashion and Design Week, Style House Files to host the Fashion Business Series on October 24th by 9am at Ocean View.
Guaranty Trust Bank. Some of the other speakers include Bernice Kannor Balli from WIPO, Simdul Shagaya CEO Konga, Sarah Maino Edior of Vogue Talent and Simon Burnstien CEO of Browns, London.
• Funding Options For Your Fashion Business: SME Loans, Bank loans, Crowd Funding?
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) & Fashion: A detailed analysis on the need for IPR for Fashion.


Adecco is currently looking to hire a permanent, full time sales associates for a family run tool sales and repair business in Burnaby. Our client deals with contractors, tradespeople and the general public, and has been a family owned and operated business since the 70's. As a growing business, there will be opportunities for advancement for the right candidate. The wage for this position will be 20$ per hour.
Located right beside a skytrain station and just off of highway 1, this position is very accessible via car or public transit.


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За́нна (, ) — река на западе Австрии, течёт по территории округа Ландекк в федеральной земле Тироль. Левый приток реки Инн, с которой сливается на высоте 775 м над уровнем моря в городе Ландекк.

Длина реки составляет 7,1 км. Площадь водосборного бассейна равняется 727,7 км². Ледники занимают 15,48 км² от территории водосборного бассейна.

Занна начинается от слияния рек Розанна и Тризанна на высоте 870 м над уровнем моря на границе общин Штренген и Тобадилль.

Примечания

Притоки Инна
Реки Тироля


Mdm Kok Yoon Hin's active streak started when she was a child. From playing in the drain to getting caught stealing fruits from her neighbour's tree, her life was filled with adventures. Fast forward 80 years. Mdm Kok is still active – except that she is now 85 and does things a little slower.
When Mdm Kok's husband became ill when he was in his 60s , she struggled to care for him. When he had both legs amputated due to diabetes, she felt overwhelmed as his sole caregiver. He finally passed on at the age of 75 after battling a series of chronic ailments.
At 71, Mdm Kok was ready to move on with her life. With her two grown-up children staying elsewhere, she was on a look out for things to do – outside her home. One day she walked past TOUCH Senior Activity Centre (TSAC) at her neighbouring block in Geylang Bahru and heard seniors laughing. Since then she has spent more than a decade befriending seniors at TSAC and living life to the fullest. She goes to the centre twice a day. There, she interacts with others - both able-bodied seniors and those who are frail - and is kept engaged through a host of activities and outings.
Three years ago, she was approached by a centre staff to join TSAC's Seniors Caring for Seniors (SCS) programme. "I am so old already. I was worried I could not do a lot of things. I am only good at chatting," quipped Mdm Kok. Since then, she has taken care of two seniors with mobility constraints.
Mdm Kok takes her befriender role seriously. She would turn up every Monday morning, donned in her volunteer t-shirt, ready to start her home visit rounds. She practises what she was taught – to be observant, identify needs and provide emotional support.
"Some of my befriendees feel embarrassed. I can't blame them because I am more than a decade older than them! They feel they should be the ones helping me and not the other way around. But I do not feel old. As long as I can walk, I am ready to help others - and it feels great!" Mdm Kok added.
The SCS programme was conceptualised by TSAC in 2013 to empower seniors to move from recipients to givers as they step out of their comfort zone to support other needy seniors. Some 60 seniors have joined the programme. In 2016, TSAC was conferred the Service Quality Improvement Award at the Intermediate and Long-Term Care (ILTC) Excellence Awards by the Agency for Integrated Care for mobilising volunteers to impact the lives of seniors.


CMEPR is a forum for policy-relevant research using micro-economic and micro-econometric methods. Hosted by GMU's Schar School of Policy and Government, CMEPR organizes regular seminars through a series called the "Micro-Economic Policy Seminar" (MEPS). MEPS speakers include prominent micro-economists from inside and outside George Mason University, in particular drawing on the many universities, agencies, and research organizations in the DC area.
MEPS is sometimes organized as a micro-econometrics reading group, in which students present selected papers, with a focus on design of research question and the types of data and econometrics methods used to address the question.
If you would like to be included on the MEPS mailing list for seminar announcements, please write Kyung Min Lee (klee17@gmu.edu).


Get the Weather Report daily on 93.3 Jack FM radio. The weather is also broadcast on KPGE AM Country radio at 1340 AM.
Check the Lake Powell Water Levels here.
Lake Powell water temperatures cool significantly in the winter then rise into the high 70's in the summer. When it does snow at Lake Powell, the contrast of the white against red-rock cliffs and azure blue waters makes for beautiful photographs and memories.
Flash floods can turn deadly in Antelope slot canyons and other hiking trails in the Lake Powell, Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon areas. Local as well as distant storms can cause dangerous flash flooding in slot canyons, and expert guides advise avoiding hiking in them if there is any sign of rain. Even if there is very little rain falling in your specific location, a wall of accumulated water can suddenly appear and rush through the many small canyons in the area.


Our good friends at Otto production in Helsinki approached us with this idea for stopping abuse, and we thought it was a great way of bringing attention to a big problem. So we jumped on board with director Jonas Arnby, we helped supervise the shoot and finish all the postproduction. See the breakdown of the VFX work below!


Mystical Throne Entertainment has just released the Entropic Heroes: Science Fiction supplement for the core Entropic Gaming System rules. The book adds elements items like toolkits to create custom player character species, benefits heroes with sci-fi backgrounds (xeno species), high-tech equipment and technology-driven talents. GMs will find guidance on creating science fiction campaigns, across many different subgenres as well as toolkits of their own.
Geek Native asked Aaron T. Huss the President of MTE if he had time to answer a few questions about the Entropic Gaming System Sci-Fi Companion. Score! Aaron kindly stepped up and the Q&A for the first genre book in EGS follows.
Can you give Geek Native's readers a quick introduction to the Entropic Gaming System?
The Entropic Gaming System is a new universal set of tabletop roleplaying mechanics that puts the power of the mechanics into the hands of the player. By establishing a base set of options that can be mixed and matched as the player desires, the mechanics can conform to the whims of the character's concept by allowing the player and the character to define what actions and bonuses or possible given the nature of that character's abilities. This is done through a very flexible combination dice system whereas the player choose one Ability die type and combines it with one Skill die type to create the desired action. The combinations are extremely flexible, as no two characters need to perform the same actions in the exact same way. This allows each character to remain unique without forcing them to acquire specific skills in order to be useful. Additionally, instead of static bonuses, EGS uses a Hero Points system where a character's concept is turned into keywords or phrases called Qualities which can be used in-game to gain Hero Points that allow for a variety of bonuses to be applied. These two concepts combine to allow a character's concept to drive the use of the mechanics as opposed to the mechanics defining what's possible given a particular character concept.
How have the supplements and accessories for the Entropic Gaming System developed the game so far?
So far, the only supplement to develop the game is Entropic Heroes: Science Fiction. All other supplements have been mini-supplements that provide the players or GMs with some new content to play with, such as adventures or locations. Entropic Heroes: Science Fiction, however, adds a host of sci-fi focused mechanics, moving away from the universal application for developing awesome sci-fi characters. This includes the concept of "magic as science" which takes the base Talents system (that's the EGS name for magic/powers/etc) and applies them to science and technology. It doesn't change the underlying mechanics, but it does offer a new layer of options.
Entropic Heroes: Science Fiction is a little different, isn't it? What does the genre-focused approach bring?
It's only different in that it focuses solely on sci-fi from the standpoint of creating characters, sci-fi settings, and sci-fi adventures. It's based on the Mercenary Breed content for Savage Worlds and Legend as those books were already very generic sci-fi to begin with. I repurposed the content and made it even more universally applicable.
Are there any illustrations from the supplement you can share with readers?
I originally released Entropic Heroes: Science Fiction following my previously standard 6×9 simple format. I've come to realize this format isn't working very well and am moving to a 7×10 format. This new size not only gives me that extra 1″ back on the sides so that I can include my sidebars (that's part of my new formating that I really like), it provides additional space around the edges to explore a full color book and increases my per-page word count. The printed book will be available in full color, hardcover and a B&W, softcover. This allows for different purchasing options depending on how much one wants to spend. I've attached a look at this full color interior.
What are the plans for the Fantasy and Horror genre books?
Both Entropic Heroes: Fantasy and Entropic Heroes: Horror are on my development plan. However, before I start either one of those, I'm currently working on Entropic Guides: Warfare which adds large-scale combat options such as dogfights, space combat, and mecha.
Mystical Throne Entertainment is a member of the new Game Publishers' Guild. What does that mean for EGS fans?
As president of the Game Publishers' Guild, I've defined a set of goals for the Guild for the next two years. The first half of 2015 focuses on establishing a greater marketing presence for Guild members. For fans, this means I'm working to extend the reach of EGS throughout the greater industry. Future business campaigns include convention and hopefully retail support.
Can you tell us about any other projects due from Game Publishers' Guild members?
Sorry, but no; part of what makes the Guild so amazing is that we all work together and have an absolutely high level of respect for each other. To make the Guild official, all members signed a service agreement, and privacy is one of the clauses of that agreement. However, if looking at current projects from other Guild members, I'm a big fan of Cakebread & Waltons's Airship Pirates, Pirates & Dragons, and Dark Streets (especially Dark Streets). The first two are now available in OneDice versions, which is another rules-medium game system that I rather like, and are available in their previous version. I actually find the original Airship Pirates powered by the Heresy Engine to be an amazing setting and system and Dark Streets powered by Renaissance to be very unique.
Savage Worlds RPG setting, campaign or novel? What is the Twilight Continuum?


Build tools are at Cinnamox-gtk-theme.
Cinnamox-gtk-theme is a fork of Oomox-gtk-theme.
The Cinnamon themes in both Cinnamox-gtk-theme & Oomox-gtk-theme are authored by @smurphos.
GTK2, GTK3, GTK3.20 and Metacity themes in both Cinnamox-gtk-theme & Oomox-gtk-theme are authored by @actionless and contributors.
Menu in screenshots is the excellent Cinnamenu.
Icons in screenshots are from ePapirus.
The themes are also available via openDesktop.org or my Github repository.
Select the Cinnamox theme as your Desktop, Controls and Window Borders in the Cinnamon Themes module.
The theme includes an interactive bash script that allows end users to adjust the transparency of the Cinnamon Theme. The default is no transparency.
To access the tool open a terminal window (Ctrl-Alt-T) and use the following command to make the script executable and launch it.
If you are not happy with the end result simply run ~/.themes/Cinnamox-Kashmir-Blue/cinnamon/cinnamox_transparency.sh again to chose another option including the default.
The themes from the 25/11/18 release onwards have a new default styling for the window-list, panel and (in Cinnamon 4) grouped window list applet.
If you prefer the old styling a helper script is included to facilitate a switch to the old styling.
To revert to the new styling simply run ~/.themes/Cinnamox-Kashmir-Blue/cinnamon/cinnamox_toggle_cinnamon.sh again.
If you need HIDPI Support in GTK2 the theme includes a HIDPI version of the gtkrc theme file and a helper script to toggle between the regular and HIDPI version.
To run the script open a terminal window (Ctrl-Alt-T) and use the following command to make the script executable and launch it.
The GTK2 theme requires the package gtk2-engines-murrine or gtk-engine-murrine to be installed. The former is a default package in Linux Mint.
The repository at Cinnamox-gtk-theme includes instructions to utilise the tools provided to make your own unique Cinnamox based theme.
The Oomox app is a GUI app to design and build themes using the Oomox-gtk-theme. From version 1.60+ this app included a Cinnamon theme based on Cinnamox and has an option to export a Cinnamon theme.
Love the theme... where can I get the blue background with the stripes?
Awsome, same as the other Cinnamox themes.
The go-to theme on my main system. Outstanding work and appearance.
Love it, thank you !!!
Absolutely lovely ! I really enjoy this theme. Thank you kindly.
This theme looks really good, thanks. I'd like to include the background too but I can't see how to get it.