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Chay Bowes: HSE Perpetuating Dysfunction
By Cassandra Voices on November 12, 2021 Science
In the controversy surrounding the leaking of a confidential document by then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last year, a key point has been missed regarding whistleblower Chay Bowes's motivations. As an insider and former head of the VHI Homecare division Bowes gained significant insights into the operation of the Irish health system, especially the HSE. This interview probes into the obstacles he faced in attempting to deliver an effective model of community care away from overcrowded hospitals. He argues the HSE perpetuates dysfunction to the benefit of the private system.
Daniele Idini explores continued challenges for Irish whistleblowers and interviews human rights lawyer David Langwallner now working on a private members bill.https://t.co/xDNigyJenY@BowesChay @paddycosgrave @j_reilly33 @broadsheet_ie @VillageMagIRE @WhistleIRL @PeterDooleyDUB
— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) June 30, 2021
Chay Bowes first interfaced with medicine through the Irish Army Medical Corps in 1988. This stoked a passion for healthcare which led him to take up a job as a phlebotomist, where he encountered an older generation of hospitals, such as St James's, where he worked with elderly patients in the country's public health system.
This experience coloured his view of the health system as it evolved to become, as he puts it, 'more focused on financial outcome rather than patient outcome,' and led him to set up his own company, focused on clinical work in people's homes.
He had found that general hospitals tended to be 'Victorian constructs, where we put all the sick people who are susceptible to infections, so that they can mix with other sick people.' He concluded 'that much of what happens in the hospitals doesn't really need to happen there, and a huge volume of those patients could be treated at home in a cheaper and safer holistic fashion.'
After the dismantling of small, community hospitals Bowes observed 'pressure building on the larger general hospitals to become the catchall for all kinds of diseases and complexities,' and that this 'contributed to the ongoing perpetual dysfunction which is today what we call the HSE.'
Taking out a bank loan, he purchased a van to move around the nursing homes, taking blood samples. By that stage he had observed thousands of elderly arriving into hospital in taxis and ambulances for routine blood samples. There they were catching flus and colds, so he said to himself: "why don't I develop a system to treat those people out in the community?" This was back in 2004-2005, but he was told that's not how things are done.
Undeterred, he decided to take an extended leave of absence from the hospital to set up a service doing these blood tests in the community, which proved very successful. The only limitation was that he was working alone.
At that point, he expanded his service to give vaccinations in the community too and took on a few employees. The first company evolved into another, leading to a contract with the HSE in 2007 worth €14 million. That business was focused on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chest diseases. Its rationale was to keep various types of patients in the community, who were repeatedly being admitted to hospital with lung diseases.
'So, they didn't go into a hospital, where people tend to get sicker, particularly those with lung diseases. It also helped these patients,' he says, 'that their social networks were intact.' Soon there were two hundred working for the company.
Resuscitation room bed after a trauma intervention.
Tara Healthcare
At that point he brought Dr. Gerry McElvaney on board, 'a really patient focused guy,' he says, 'who was highly intelligent and super-committed to doing things differently.'
Together, they pushed forward with what became Tara Healthcare. When patients were surveyed, he says, 'ninety-eight percent preferred to remain in the community under our scheme rather than go into hospital: all the data was saying that this was a much safer.' It was also cheaper to deliver, and the patients' families were delighted to remain with their loved ones.'
He argues that they had created a perfect example of how a community-based scheme could be delivered cheaper with better patient outcomes, and where staff were really happy too, as they could get out of the acute hospitals.
However, he encountered, 'an incredible level of scepticism around innovation in Irish healthcare.' In one case, he says, there was a hospital in Dublin, which 'wouldn't send patients to this new service, because they didn't like our medical director because he came from another hospital group. Professional rivalry is rife in Irish Medicine, sometimes to the detriment of patients.'
HSE Logic
Time and again he was met with the perverse HSE logic of 'it's doing really well, so let's shut it down and send all these patients back into the hospital.'
The HSE's reaction to the Financial Crisis of 2008 was just like its dysfunctional approach to COVID-19 he argues. They closed his operation down because hospitals 'which were in perpetual crisis wanted us to move this service into their area.' A senior HSE figure told him directly that '"what you've done in Dublin is almost too good. Everyone's going to want it. They're going to want it in Galway. They're going to want it in Limerick" So, they wouldn't fund it because they were already funding the dysfunction.'
Acute beds per capita in Ireland, March, 2020. Source: https://twitter.com/kevcunningham/status/1245060194356379648/photo/1
Essentially, Bowes argues:
The agency funds the dysfunction to a certain level of service with tens of billions of euros. And when something outside of the system comes along and demonstrates efficacy, financial viability, and good patient outcomes, that's irrelevant because they still have to fund the dysfunction. It's like trying to repair an airliner in mid-air – you don't want to land because it could expose the rottenness of the system.
So, we sent the patients back to hospital, further highlighting the dysfunction of the HSE at the time. They had to pay us a penalty for terminating the contract prematurely, which cost them more than running it for the subsequent two years.
Working for the HSE he found innovation was met with suspicion: 'the hospitals want to hold onto patients because without patients occupying beds, they can't justify their budgets.'
And because budgets are pinned to occupancy and the size of the facility, hospitals seemed slow to manage overcrowding at the cost of lesser funding.
Fair Deal?
He argues that we should 'evolve to a place where we simply don't treat people with certain uncomplicated infections in hospitals, like in Canada and Australia.'
Now, he says, the only fast track for vulnerable patients is into a state or private nursing home, which is excessively expensive, 'or their home is taken from them in what the government very cynically calls a Fair Deal:
someone works all their life, pays taxes, builds a home for their family, and contributes to the state and to society. But when they get ill, go into a nursing home or require dignified care the state wants to take their home from them to pay for that care.
Moreover, despite earning huge praise from patients, peers and when he presented the scheme to the NHS in the UK, he found the HSE 'were always finding fault with what we were doing.'
'I became used to that,' he says 'and very quickly realized the only thing the Irish public system does very well is perpetual dysfunction. It manages to procure massive budgets from the State, and despite this consistently overspends,' despite 'terrible outcomes for patients.'
He suggests that it takes 'a concerted effort to continually do health as badly as we do in Ireland', a system of public health, 'with such huge budgets for such a small population.'
He says it is important to question why, given a very small and young population, 'half of that population pays out of pocket expenses, approaching €2 billion, for private health insurance.' He reckons this is 'to protect ourselves from the dysfunction of the public system.'
🚨A record 908,519 people in Ireland are now on some form of a public hospital waiting list to be treated or assessed by a consultant. Meanwhile Gov lacks meaningful action on addressing capacity deficits #CareCantWait @DonnellyStephen @mmcgrathtd https://t.co/8ye5e4DoWw
— IHCA (@IHCA_IE) August 21, 2021
'It's a very simple problem,' he says, 'too many of the same actors are involved in the public and private systems.' The analogy he uses is of two separate doorways in a clinic: the public and the private:
You knock on the public door, and say, "Look, doc, I've got a terrible hip. It's really hurting me. And he goes: "Yeah, you need a relatively simple, hip replacement, but it's going to be probably three, three and-a-half years, because the system is overloaded."
But the doctor adds unless of course you've got health insurance. So you say, "OK, I'll go and get health insurance." But by this stage you are too old to avail of this. But what are you going to do now, as your hip is only going to get worse?
You've been to the first door, where you met the doctor in the public system about the hip, who we'll refer to as Dr Jim. Then you go ten feet down the corridor and knock on the door. "Who's there? Why it's Dr Jim again!'" And you say "Hey, Dr Jim, you just told me that you couldn't fix my hip for three years." and he responds: "not exactly. I can fix it if you pay me via your insurer."
In a country of five million people, we have almost one million people waiting for care of one sort or another in a public system, which is one of the best funded systems in the developed world.
And, Bowes says, 'it just so happens that the man running the show, Paul Reid, has no specific health care experience, for example. The UK's NHS employs around 1.4 million people to serve a population of nearly 67 million. Its CEO Simon Stevens is paid €210,000 a year, while Ireland's HSE employs around 102,000 people with a population of only 4.9 million, Reid is astoundingly paid over €426,000 a year.'
We have hundreds of people who work for the agency on long term sick leave. The dysfunction runs into every fractional part, IT, training, resourcing, recruitment, and services. The dysfunction is almost at a cellular level. But again, we are consistently told that we can't land the jumbo jet to fix it, because if we do that, what will happen?
When COVID-19 landed, Bowes says, 'with the stroke of a pen, we bought up every single private bed in the State. This occurred despite people saying since the foundation of the State, "Oh, you know, you can't publicize the private, it would never work, but it was done overnight because the will existed.'
Health policy in Ireland, he says, reflects:
the laissez faire attitude of a class of people who are running the medical system, advising the agency and the legal system. They of course all have health insurance. I don't know anybody who served on the board of the VHI or any doctor working in the system who doesn't have private healthcare. I myself have to admit that I took out private health insurance purely because I know how difficult it is to access care via the public system. It's sad but true and I am lucky enough to be able to pay, unlike more than 50% of the most needy In our society who cannot.
'Irish People' he says are dying 'for the lack of basic diagnostic care.
Bowes muses on how: 'The further up the pyramid you go around a health product in Ireland, the less you hear about the patients. And when you get to the board level, patient outcomes are in some way superfluous to the real issues, which are profit and the market.' He argues that there 'isn't a single private provider in the country here' which 'isn't preoccupied with profit.'
He says:
We're happy to ostensibly starve a public system and propagate a private system which is absolutely predatory on the dysfunction in the public system. And in many, many cases, the people providing the care in the public system also have been or currently are providing care in the private system.
That's our medieval, dysfunction and immoral system. It's actually, and I don't use this term lightly, an apartheid system. We have a segregated, apartheid system in health care. It simply isn't based on needs of the patients. Ok, obviously, if someone's at death's door, they're going to get seen, but I'm talking about this grinding dysfunction, where both sides are nodding to each other as they pass each other in the night, knowing that it's so wrong. It's so wrong. There are super doctors out there, super surgeons, super nurses and staff operating in the health system. It's definitely a case of lions being led by donkeys.
Really encouraged by response of a leading figure in Irish culture over the past 50 years.
"Daniele's interview with Fr.McVerry is classic.
Cassandra is rapidly becoming the most important vehicle for ideas in the land."
***@danieleidiniph1 @BowesChay https://t.co/7N1bz38X77
— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) November 5, 2021
Bowes muses 'I have no problem with doctors wanting to make a decent living. You've got to pay people appropriately. But now we're flooding the system with locums from overseas who are often poorly trained and have poor English and patient interaction skills .'
And points to another 'incredible dysfunction, which is again, state sponsored.'
We train more doctors than any other country of our size in the world, but we export them to Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It costs the state a significant amount to train these guys, and then they can just catch a plane to Bondi Beach. Of course, we can't force people to work here – no more that we can force a health care worker to take a vaccine – but there are ways to incentivize the system, and develop better methods of training doctors, because we still use the archaic Leaving Cert as the basis for deciding who we train as doctors.
He also wonders:
How is it that while we train more doctors than anyone else that we are importing more doctors and nurses than anyone else? Countries like the Philippines, India and others are being bled of their precious nursing and medical staff to come to Ireland to look after our sick. There's something wrong, right? But in the Irish system nothing changes. No wants to take on the vested interests. No one wants to take on the big personalities in health care and medicine. The political nexus between medicine, law and politics in Ireland is so tight because of insular practices and local allegiances trumping national welfare with some of the biggest political donors and influencers being waist deep in the sector.
He wonders 'Who's going to challenge the vested interests and speak out for vulnerable patients? The CEO of the HSE? Absolutely not. The past CEOs of the HSE seem to be only good at one thing, which is saying, "We're trying…" But they walk out at the end of the end of their contracts with a big pension and usually into guess where? Yes, you guessed it, the private sector.'
He reveals how 'a former CEO of the agency said to my face that he was the most powerless man in the health system.'
Image (c) Daniele Idini
Dysfunction Funds Profit
Bowes wonders:
How can you operate a business with a hundred and twenty thousand employees and seem to be powerless to sack people for not delivering, or in many cases simply doing their job wrong? Where's the accountability in that system?
And looking back on the foundation of the HSE in 2005 he wonders:
How can you amalgamate numerous health boards which are operating as satellites into a single "dynamic entity" and nobody loses their job? Not one manager is made redundant. Not one of them is even sanctioned.
How can a health system pay out tens and tens of millions in malpractice claims for egregious malpractice and incompetence in both governance and clinical care? For essentially killing women who are pregnant by denying them an abortion? By condemning young women to terrible life ending illness by failing to diagnose their cancers? How can you pay out these tens and tens of millions again and again, year after year, and nobody is sanctioned for it? How does that work?
It works because the dysfunction funds profit, and that profit is harvested by vulture funds, by private hospitals and private investors, by their legal advisors, some of whom don't even pay taxes in this country, and who pays the price? The citizens that languish on public waiting lists accruing ill-health because they can't pay for treatment. The man with the simple requirement for treatment, he's invisible to the system, he is superfluous to the profit motive.
The poor he says have no bargaining power because:
the bargaining power is money and influence, and the people who have the influence to change the system are receiving huge salaries to manage and essentially perpetuate dysfunction. Again, the private system predates on the mismanagement of the public system. If it functioned there would be no need for a private system, right? Therefore, you have to wonder, who does the current dysfunction benefit? It's an easy one: the private providers. But nobody who is of the machine is working against it. No one in Leinster House is saying to the CEO of the HSE: "What are you doing for your four hundred grand? We've got less intensive care beds per capita than Lithuania or Latvia. Two years into a pandemic, we still don't have a dedicated COVID hospital which is just insane.
Apparatchiks of a state system who've worked, like Paul Reid in state jobs are seen as a safe bet. They're nominated in as managers, managers of dysfunction, gatekeepers for their political sponsors and marked for future cushy roles on the private side of the wall.
Image (c) Daniele Idini.
Perpetual Crisis
He adds that 'things like this mysterious and much vaunted "Cyber Attack", which apparently "destroyed the abilities of the system" seem to be a perfect excuse to deflect from the internal failures of HSE management and external incompetence of its political masters.'
Bowes says: 'what I know, and anyone that has worked in the system knows, is that there was and is no viable system to attack.' The HSE have ruminated for decades on the implantation of an electronic patient record: they have spent millions evaluating, re-evaluating, procrastinating, and failing to implement a viable solution.
Months after this "Attack", you're still running Windows 1998. Somebody needs to be held accountable.
But, he says: 'the Minister doesn't talk to the to the HSE, the relationships between the "Three Masters" of Health are utterly flawed, the Department of Health is cumbersome and cautious, the HSE is a lumbering leviathan with no real direction other than self-preservation, and the Minister is preoccupied with surviving a potentially career ending stint in the mire of the Irish Health system.'
Consider this, with such a huge annual Health budget and such poor outcomes for patients alongside such terrible value for money, the dysfunction and paying for it becomes central to the rational of the organisation. They actually need this dysfunction. Without the dysfunction, they'd be screwed because there would be an open accounting of what we're doing in a system which is delivering horrendous results.
He also criticises Stephen Donnelly's policy of giving more money to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which sends public patient overseas for treatment, arguing that 'this is not the same as a really equitable national health system where everybody gets treated on the basis of need.'
He says that people could argue that in a free-market economy if someone wants to purchase health insurance it's up to them: 'However, that's different to paying almost half a million a year to a CEO to perpetuate a dysfunctional system.'
He says the HSE is only interested in crises, 'in things like COVID' and saying 'but COVID is why the system is screwed, or we're dealing with the cyber attack, which has caused this perpetual dysfunction, which is, you know, all entirely untrue.'
His conclusion is 'the managers, architects and political apologists for the segregated and morally bankrupt system have done an exceptional job of screwing the Irish people out of their tax dollar and their rights to health and dignity. I'm not sure they are capable of doing anything else. It's time to demolish and rebuild.'
Featured Image by Gareth Curtis
Cassandra Voices
The Big House: Censorship of the Medical Profession in Ireland
Psychedelic Eucharist
Covid-19 Absurdities


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01:28, 6th Jan, 2023 by AriseNews
Ukraine Rejects Putin's 'Trivial' Christmas Truce
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day on January 7.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence minister to impose a 36-hour ceasefire on the Ukrainian frontline, beginning on Friday.
The ceasefire, scheduled to start at 12:00 Moscow time (09:00 GMT), will coincide with the Russian Orthodox Christmas.
Mr Putin asked Ukraine to reciprocate, but Kyiv quickly rejected the request.
Ukraine's foreign minister has said the announcement "cannot and should not be taken seriously".
The Kremlin statement appeared to stress that President Putin ordered his troops to stop fighting not because he was de-escalating – Putin never de-escalates – but because he had listened to an appeal from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriarch Kirill had, earlier in the day, called for a Christmas truce to allow believers to attend church services for Orthodox Christmas.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar.
A Kremlin statement said: "Taking into consideration the appeal by [Kirill], the president hereby instructs the minister of defence of the Russian Federation to impose a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact in Ukraine" for the 36-hour period.
Mr Putin's order called on Ukraine to reciprocate so that the "large numbers of Orthodox believers [who] reside in areas where hostilities are taking place" could celebrate Christmas Eve on Friday and Christmas Day on Saturday.
In a statement on Twitter soon after, Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said there could be no "temporary truce" until Russian forces withdrew from all the areas they had occupied.
He later called it a "propaganda gesture", a "trivial ploy", and an attempt by Russia to invite pressure on Ukraine from European countries by pretending it was "humanistic".
Russia was trying to buy time to regroup and build fortifications, he added.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, echoed these sentiments, saying Russia had repeatedly ignored President Volodymyr Zelensky's propositions for peace. He pointed to Russia's shelling of Kherson on Christmas Eve and strikes on New Year's Eve as evidence of Moscow's inability to cease hostilities during religious holidays.
US President Joe Biden said Mr Putin was simply "trying to find some oxygen".
The Kremlin's ceasefire fits in nicely with a common narrative in Moscow, one that is aimed primarily at the domestic audience. That is – that the Russians are the good guys, and it is Ukraine and the West that are threatening Russia.
The truce is also a handy tool that can be used to demonise Ukraine – as the Ukrainians have dismissed the proposal, Moscow will claim that Kyiv does not respect religious believers and has no desire for peace.
But it should not be forgotten that it was Russia who started this war by launching an unprovoked invasion of its neighbour.
The move also comes just a few days after a large number of Russian troops were killed in a Ukrainian strike on a temporary barracks in the occupied Ukrainian city of Makiivka.
The Russian Defence Ministry put the death toll at 89, making it the highest single loss of life admitted by Moscow since the war began.
Relatives of the dead, as well as some politicians and commentators, expressed anger over what happened in Makiivka and blamed incompetent military officials. The incident happened on New Year's Eve – the most important holiday in the Russian calendar.
Political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya says that it is possible the Kremlin wants to ensure no more major loss of life occurs on another important Russian holiday.
"Putin really does not want a repetition of that on Orthodox Christmas Day," she wrote.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Mr Putin to declare a "unilateral" ceasefire in Ukraine so that both sides could negotiate.
Some people in Ukraine celebrate Christmas on 25 December, others on 7 January. Both days are public holidays in the country.
This year, for the first time, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said it would allow its congregations to celebrate Christmas on 25 December, as do some other denominations in western Ukraine.
The church split with the similarly named Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in 2018.
The UOC itself was tied to Moscow's religious leadership until Russia's invasion, and some of its top clergy have been accused of still covertly supporting Moscow.
A few hours after Russia's ceasefire announcement, Germany became the latest country to offer additional military support to Ukraine – saying it would follow the US in providing a Patriot air defence missile system.
It comes after France said on Wednesday that it would send armoured fighting vehicles.
Kyiv has repeatedly called for more aid from its international allies in the face of continuing Russian aggression.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ray is my friend and the Co-founder and Chancellor of Singularity University. He is also an XPRIZE Trustee, the Director of Engineering at Google, and one of the best predictors of our exponential future.
It's my pleasure to share with you 3 compelling ideas that came from our conversation.
I've previously shared my belief that national borders have become extremely porous, with ideas, people, capital and technology rapidly flowing between nations. In decades past, your cultural identity was tied to your birthplace. In the decades ahead, your identify is more a function of many other external factors. If you love space, you'll be connected with fellow space-cadets around the globe more than you'll be tied to someone born next door.
2. We'll hit longevity escape velocity before we realize we've hit it.
3. Technology will help us define and actualize human freedoms.
Ray argues that this began when humans developed the earliest technologies -- fire and stone tools. These tools gave people new capabilities, and became extensions of our physical bodies.
In the future, this will still happen -- except the medicine might have nanobots that can target disease, or will also improve your memory so you can recall things more easily.
Why is it so important to discuss dangerous ideas?
I often say that the day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea.
By consuming and considering a steady diet of "crazy ideas," you train yourself to think bigger and bolder… a critical requirement for making impact.
As humans, we are linear and scarcity-minded.
As entrepreneurs, we must think exponentially and abundantly.
At the end of the day, the formula for a true breakthrough is equal to "having a crazy idea" you believe in, plus the passion to pursue that idea against all naysayers and obstacles.


Danny Gokey became a favourite of millions of fans as a Top 3 finalist on Season Eight of American Idol. He has released four studio albums, including My Best Days, Hope in Front of Me and Christmas Is Here.
Danny says – "If you're feeling frustrated and deflated when you take inventory of your life because you're not where you thought you were supposed to be at this moment in your life, take heart, because IT'S NOT OVER!! You're actually closer than you think you are. Abraham was a shining example of this; he was promised a child by God but each year passed by childless and empty. Maybe you feel the same way, with empty prayers and disappointments. But Abraham learned a secret. He called those things that be not as though they were. We must do the same and come into agreement with what and who God says we are even if we're not experiencing it in that moment.


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Action 1987 Dos Dosbox Capcom Military
Fun blasting action
Unrelated to either the movie or the classic vertically scrolling arcade shooter of the same name, this is actually a fairly crazy little platformer/scrolling shooter that features a whole heap of blasting action and makes for an entertaining diversion. Produced by the same developers as the equally enjoyable A Game with a Kitty and Reactor09, this is well worth digging out. The plot is a familiar one and involves terrorists hijacking a truck transporting nuclear weapons through Texas and which must now be returned. This requires players to jump into the shoes of the titular commando and do what is usually done in this kind of situation: blast those terrorists to hell. This translates into a side scrolling shooter, in the vein of Contra, The Untouchables, or Ghosts & Goblins, only with more jumping to add to the variety. As you would hope, there is a nice range of weapons to use, including grenades and the game takes you through a good variety of environments. Commando is certainly simple enough, but no less enjoyable for that fact. The platform shooting requires swift responses and a fast trigger finger, and the game provides a fair level of challenge even to retro veterans. The graphics, while similarly simple, are decent enough, with a good use of colour in the environmental design and with that cool, old-school look for its chunky sprites and which give the game a good sense of personality. The soundtrack is worthy of mention too, with a great theme and plenty of meaty effects to add to the atmosphere. Overall, this is a bit of an unexpected treat for platform fans and is thoroughly deserving of investigation.
A conversion of a classic arcade top down shooter
While preparing to review this game I had a flashback of me standing in this arcade/bar with a few pinball machines, with Pac Man, with, maybe, Space Invaders or some other similar game and with another classic, Moon Patrol (or was that in this other arcade in my town, I can't say for sure!) Anyway, what this game reminded me of was the actual original, which was ad hoc looked at as the big boy arcade machine, as it was quite hard! What I mostly remember was the intense yellow tinge of the sand onto which the soldier moved, but I remember being quite scared of the game so I can't remember more of it. At any rate, this DOS version does away with that color scheme to push the magenta (oh, the magenta!) of the really limited EGA graphic style. But, it seems to me, if you can look past it, the game recreates that experience of shooting while cautiously scrolling the screen forward, hoping no stray bullet flies from nowhere towards you. Unfortunately, that is not the case here, as the game is much less speedy, and also it seems to be much sparse in the way it arranges the enemies. So yeah, it's a bit on the easy side and on the unimpressive side. But well, it was released in 87 and as far as I'm concerned, if I had access to it back then I wouldn't have been displeased. Maybe scared, but not displeased!
Games related to Commando
Trojan (1986)
Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny (1992)
Alien Syndrome (1987)
Into the Eagle's Nest (1986)
Guerrilla War (1987)
Gauntlet 2 (1987)
X-Fighter (1986)
Time Commando (1996)
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Other Developments, Further Reading, and Coming Event (10 May 2021)
Michael Kans	Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Bot, CISA, Coming Events, Cybersecurity, Data Protection, data security, DHS, DOD, EU, FBI, Further Reading, Misinformation, NSA, OSTP, Russia, Social Media, Technology, Telecommunications	 May 12, 2021 15 Minutes
The Facebook Oversight Board has "upheld" Facebook's decision to shutter former President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram account. The Board stated Facebook needs to decide within six months on a penalty appropriate to Trump's violations instead of the indefinite suspension it levied after the attack on the United States Capitol on 6 January fomented by Trump's lies. The Board stated:
However, it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension. Facebook's normal penalties include removing the violating content, imposing a time-bound period of suspension, or permanently disabling the page and account.
The Board insists that Facebook review this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform. Facebook must complete its review of this matter within six months of the date of this decision. The Board also made policy recommendations for Facebook to implement in developing clear, necessary, and proportionate policies that promote public safety and respect freedom of expression.
The European Union's Parliament passed a law that will require online platforms to remove terrorist content within one hour after receiving a removal order. The Parliament explained:
The new regulation will target content such as texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions, that incite, solicit or contribute to terrorist offences, provide instructions for such offences or solicit people to participate in a terrorist group. In line with the definitions of offences included in the Directive on combating terrorism, it will also cover material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives, firearms and other weapons for terrorist purposes.
Terrorist content must be removed within one hour
Hosting service providers will have to remove or disable access to flagged terrorist content in all member states within one hour of receiving a removal order from the competent authority. Member states will adopt rules on penalties, the degree of which will take into account the nature of the breach and the size of company responsible.
Protection of educational, artistic, research and journalistic material
Content uploaded for educational, journalistic, artistic or research purposes, or used for awareness-raising purposes, will not be considered terrorist content under these new rules.
No general obligation to monitor or filter content
Internet platforms will not have a general obligation to monitor or filter content. However, when competent national authorities have established a hosting service provider is exposed to terrorist content, the company will have to take specific measures to prevent its propagation. It will then be up to the service provider to decide what specific measures to take to prevent this from happening, and there will be no obligation to use automated tools. Companies should publish annual transparency reports on what action they have taken to stop the dissemination of terrorist content.
The National Security Agency (NSA) issued a cybersecurity advisory (CSA) titled "Stop Malicious Cyber Activity Against Connected Operational Technology" "for National Security System (NSS), Department of Defense (DOD), and Defense Industrial Base (DIB) operational technology (OT) owners and operators." The NSA asserted:
The CSA details how to evaluate risks to systems and improve the security of connections between OT and enterprise networks. Information technology (IT) exploitation can serve as a pivot point for OT exploitation, so carefully evaluating the risk of connectivity between IT and OT systems is necessary to ensure unique cybersecurity requirements are met.
This guidance provides a pragmatic evaluation methodology to assess how to best improve OT and control system cybersecurity for mission success, to include understanding necessary resources for secure systems:
First, NSA encourages NSS, DOD, and DIB system owners, operators, and administrators to evaluate the value against risk and costs for enterprise IT to OT connectivity. While the safest OT system is one that is not connected to an IT network, mission critical connectivity may be required at times. Review the connections and disconnect those that are not truly needed to reduce the risk to OT systems and functions.
Next, NSA recommends taking steps to improve cybersecurity for OT networks when IT-OT connectivity is mission critical, as appropriate to their unique needs. For IT-OT connections deemed necessary, steps should be taken to mitigate risks of IT-OT exploitation pathways. These mitigations include fully managing all IT-OT connections, limiting access, actively monitoring and logging all access attempts, and cryptographically protecting remote access vectors.
The Institute for Security & Technology's (IST) Ransomware Task Force (RTF) issued its report "Combating Ransomware: A Comprehensive Framework for Action: Key Recommendations from the Ransomware Task Force." The RTF consists of United States (U.S.) government agencies, industry groups, companies, and others. At the public rollout of the report, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said his agency would work with RTF to implement recommendations. The RTF made the following priority recommendations:
Coordinated, international diplomatic and law enforcement efforts must proactively prioritize ransomware through a comprehensive, resourced strategy, including using a carrot-and-stick approach to direct nation-states away from providing safe havens to ransomware criminals.
The United States should lead by example and execute a sustained, aggressive, whole of government, intelligence-driven anti-ransomware campaign, coordinated by the White House. In the U.S., this must include the establishment of 1) an Interagency Working Group led by the National Security Council in coordination with the nascent National Cyber Director; 2) an internal U.S. Government Joint Ransomware Task Force; and 3) a collaborative, private industry-led informal Ransomware Threat Focus Hub.
Governments should establish Cyber Response and Recovery Funds to support ransomware response and other cybersecurity activities; mandate that organizations report ransom payments; and require organizations to consider alternatives before making payments.
An internationally coordinated effort should develop a clear, accessible, and broadly adopted framework to help organizations prepare for, and respond to, ransomware attacks. In some under-resourced and more critical sectors, incentives (such as fine relief and funding) or regulation may be required to drive adoption.
The cryptocurrency sector that enables ransomware crime should be more closely regulated. Governments should require cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto kiosks, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading "desks" to comply with existing laws, including Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Combatting Financing of Terrorism (CFT) laws.
Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced legislation (S.1498) "to make sure the United States is positioned to lead international standards-setting, counter the Chinese government's influence and protect American jobs." They asserted "[t]his legislation would require the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to create a task force that would counter Chinese influence and ensure the United States is leading the emerging technology standards-setting process, and builds on Cortez Masto and Portman's bipartisan "Ensuring American Leadership over International Standards Act,"which was signed into law last year." They added:
This legislation intends to stop the Chinese government from dominating international standards-setting – which would allow them to continue to lead in the development of new technologies – and protect American jobs by strengthening the United States' position as a leader in this space. This legislation would protect American competitiveness and protect American jobs by creating an Emerging Technology Standards-Setting Task Force, led by OSTP, which would include representation from Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, Department of Labor. The Task Force would engage with academia and the private sector to develop a long-term strategic plan to assess which technology standards (5G, artificial intelligence, etc.) have the greatest impact on national security and economic competitiveness, and to craft a strategy to credibility and engagement with international institutions on standards-setting.
The United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the United States (U.S.) Department for Homeland Security's Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) "published a report to provide further details of Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) associated with SVR cyber actors…known and tracked in open source as APT29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes." The agencies stated:
UK and US governments recently attributed SVR's responsibility for a series of cyber-attacks, including the compromise of SolarWinds and the targeting of COVID-19 vaccine developers.
Alongside this attribution, the United States' National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an advisory detailing the exploits most recently used by the group. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CISA also issued an alert providing information on the SVR's cyber tools, targets, techniques and capabilities.
The SVR is Russia's civilian foreign intelligence service. The group uses a variety of tools and techniques to predominantly target overseas governmental, diplomatic, think-tank, healthcare and energy targets globally for intelligence gain. The SVR is a technologically sophisticated and highly capable cyber actor. It has developed capabilities to target organisations globally, including in the UK, US, Europe, NATO member states and Russia's neighbours.
The NCSC, NSA, CISA and CSE previously issued a joint report regarding the group's targeting of organisations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development throughout 2020 using WellMess and WellMail malware.
SVR cyber operators appear to have reacted to this report by changing their TTPs in an attempt to avoid further detection and remediation efforts by network defenders.
These changes included the deployment of the open-source tool Sliver in an attempt to maintain their accesses.
The group has also been observed making use of numerous vulnerabilities, most recently the widely reported Microsoft Exchange vulnerability.
The United States Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published Bug Bytes, "the second graphic novel in CISA's Resilience Series, communicates the dangers and risks associated with threat actors using social media and other communication platforms to spread mis-, dis-, and malinformation (MDM) for the sole purpose of planting doubt in the minds of targeted audiences to steer their opinion."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessed the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) $600 million acquisition of high-performance computing (HPC) "to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and to help certify their functionality in the absence of nuclear testing." The GAO concluded:
For over two decades, the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program has played a key role in supporting NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program by developing modeling and simulation capabilities and deploying HPC systems to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and help certify their functionality in the absence of nuclear testing. To support the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the ASC program has developed some of the world's most powerful computers. The most recent computing system acquisition, El Capitan, is estimated to cost $600 million—more than NNSA's three predecessor systems combined. Because of the importance and cost, it is imperative that NNSA follow best practices for HPC acquisition wherever practicable.
The ASC program conducted the El Capitan analysis of alternatives (AOA) process largely as a pro forma activity to meet management requirements because officials believed the only viable alternative was the acquisition of an HPC system. In doing so, they did not follow agency policy and guidance that state that AOA processes should be consistent with GAO best practices where possible and, if these practices cannot be followed, deviations must be justified and documented. In the future, the ASC program is likely to acquire additional HPC systems to meet the need to assess the performance of current and future weapons systems against the growing capabilities of adversaries to use advanced defensive systems. Without taking steps to ensure that the ASC program follows GAO best practices for its AOA processes, where possible, and justifies and documents any deviations, the ASC program cannot be assured that the AOA processes are high quality and reliable and that the chosen alternatives meet mission needs and are the best solutions to support the modeling and simulation of nuclear weapons in the absence of nuclear testing.
In addition, El Capitan's AOA process was conducted by Livermore, the contractor managing and executing the El Capitan system, as well as managing and operating the site where the system will be installed. This runs counter to Defense Programs policy and guidance that AOAs must be conducted independently of the contracting organization responsible for managing or executing the program, and of any party that will benefit from the execution of the program, to avoid conflicts of interest and potential bias. By ensuring that ASC HPC acquisition programs' AOA processes are performed by an independent entity, the agency can reduce the risk of conflicts of interest and potential biases that may lead to decisions that are not in the agency's best interest.
In carrying out the El Capitan acquisition program, NNSA has fully implemented all five selected key practices related to program monitoring and control. However, NNSA has only partially implemented key practices related to managing changes, maintaining traceability, and ensuring that program plans remain aligned to requirements. Until NNSA officials update and maintain program documents to include current El Capitan requirements and clearly document the relationship between El Capitan's mission requirements and functional requirements, agency officials may be limited in their ability to ensure that all mission requirements are met in the final system.
The GAO made three recommendations:
The Administrator of NNSA should take steps to ensure that, for future HPC acquisitions, the ASC program follows GAO best practices for AOA processes, where possible, and justifies and documents any deviations, as required by agency policy. (Recommendation 1)
The Administrator of NNSA should ensure that the ASC program's future AOA processes are performed by an entity independent of the contractor organization managing and executing the program. (Recommendation 2)
The Administrator of NNSA should update and maintain its acquisition program documents to include current El Capitan requirements and clearly document the relationship between El Capitan's mission and functional requirements. (Recommendation 3)
"What the Big Tech hearings really accomplished" By Margaret Harding McGill, Ashley Gold — Axios. t's easy to dismiss the Big Tech hearings as political spectacles with no concrete results. But even without new laws, company behavior has evolved under the heat of the spotlight.
"Epic v. Apple: Everything you need to know about the biggest trial in tech" By Nick Statt, Ben Brody, and David Pierce — Protocol. On Monday, Apple and Epic Games will meet in court to decide one of the most consequential antitrust arguments in the history of the tech industry. The trial has been nearly a year in the making, following Apple's removal of Fortnite from the App Store in August 2020. It's arguably the biggest courtroom showdown Apple has engaged in since its smartphone patent war with Samsung nearly a decade ago.
"Homeland Security Secretary Backs Call for Mandatory Disclosure of Ransomware Payments" By Mariam Baksh — Nextgov. The Department of Homeland Security will work with a private-sector think tank to implement a report of recommendations for slowing the scourge of ransomware, including one that would require victims to report when they give in and make a payment, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
"What I Learned on My Quest to Fix America's Social Media Problem" By L. Gordon Crovitz — Politico. One of the humbling experiences of starting a company in a new industry is that sometimes you don't know the industry you're in. In the case of NewsGuard, which I co-founded with fellow journalism veteran Steven Brill three years ago to help people protect themselves from the misinformation being fed them on the digital platforms, it took a group of Stanford academics to tell us what we were doing.
"Apple's New Software Update Will Let You Opt Out Of Being Tracked For Ads" By Pranav Dixit — BuzzFeed News. Last week, Apple announced brand-new hardware — souped-up iPad Pros, revamped iMacs, a new Apple TV, and AirTags. Today, it dropped iOS 14.5, a new software update for your iPhone and iPad. To get the new update, head on over to Settings, then General, and tap Software Update on your iPhone or iPad.
"Your Smartphone Should Be Built to Last" By Damon Beres — The New York Times. Years from now, what creature will digest the new iPads and AirTags that Apple announced on Tuesday? What soil will absorb their metals? The shiny gadgets of today will be waste tomorrow. As you eye that upgraded tablet, consider that Apple shipped so many new iPads last year that if they were all laid flat and stacked, they would be about as tall as 862 Empire State Buildings. Then think about whatever old iPad of yours is languishing now in some unknown place. Manufacturers don't talk much about this turnover when they announce the big new thing that will replace your mostly just as good old thing. This is all by design. There's a term for it: planned obsolescence, or designing a product with an intentionally limited life span. Ever try to get your TV repaired?
"The Postal Service is running a 'covert operations program' that monitors Americans' social media posts" By Jana Winter — yahoo! news. The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has been quietly running a program that tracks and collects Americans' social media posts, including those about planned protests, according to a document obtained by Yahoo News. The details of the surveillance effort, known as iCOP, or Internet Covert Operations Program, have not previously been made public. The work involves having analysts trawl through social media sites to look for what the document describes as "inflammatory" postings and then sharing that information across government agencies.
"Basecamp implodes as employees flee company, including senior staff" By Kim Lyons — The Verge. After a controversial blog post in which CEO Jason Fried outlined Basecamp's new philosophy that prohibited, among other things, "societal and political discussions" on internal forums, company co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson said the company would offer generous severance packages to anyone who disagreed with the new stance. On Friday, it appears a large number of Basecamp employees are taking Hansson up on his offer: according to The Verge contributing editor Casey Newton's sources, roughly a third of the company's 57 employees accepted buyouts today. As of Friday afternoon, 18 people had tweeted they were planning to leave.
"U.S. banks deploy AI to monitor customers, workers amid tech backlash" By Paresh Dave and Jeffrey Dastin — Reuters. Several U.S. banks have started deploying camera software that can analyze customer preferences, monitor workers and spot people sleeping near ATMs, even as they remain wary about possible backlash over increased surveillance, more than a dozen banking and technology sources told Reuters.
"Report: China, Russia fueling QAnon conspiracy theories" By Michael Isikoff — yahoo! news. Foreign-based actors, principally in China and Russia, are spreading online disinformation rooted in QAnon conspiracy theories, fueling a movement that has become a mounting domestic terrorism threat, according to new analysis of online propaganda by a security firm.
"The Incredible Rise of North Korea's Hacking Army" By Ed Caesar — The New Yorker. Shimomura was a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza crime family in Japan. When one of his superiors asked him if he wanted to make a pile of fast money, he naturally said yes. It was May 14, 2016, and Shimomura was living in the city of Nagoya. Thirty-two years old and skinny, with expressive eyes, he took pride in his appearance, often wearing a suit and mirror-shined loafers. But he was a minor figure in the organization: a collector of debts, a performer of odd jobs.
"Microsoft's app store changes crank up the Apple pressure" By Tom Warren — The Verge. Microsoft shook up the PC gaming industry this week with the announcement that it was cutting the fee it takes from game sales on the Windows store. On the surface, it's a welcome move, with Microsoft matching the 12 percent cut that Epic Games takes, and putting more pressure on Valve, which still takes a 30 percent cut on most Steam purchases. But the cut is also a tactical move: Microsoft wants to help pressure Apple, and this week's changes could play a role in the bigger app store battles kicking off next week.
On 11 May, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled "Prevention, Response, and Recovery: Improving Federal Cybersecurity Post-SolarWinds."
On 12 May, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a markup to consider the following matters among others:
Nomination of Lina M. Khan, of New York, to be Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission
Nomination of Leslie B. Kiernan, of Maryland, to be General Counsel of the Department of Commerce
S.1260, Endless Frontier Act; Sponsors: Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Todd Young (R-IN)
On 14 May, the House Armed Services Committee's Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled "Operations in Cyberspace and building Cyber Capabilities Across the Department of Defense."
On 20 May, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an open meeting with this tentative agenda:
Reducing Interstate Rates and Charges for Incarcerated People – The Commission will consider a Third Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Fifth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, among other actions, will lower interstate rates and charges for the vast majority of incarcerated people, limit international rates for the first time, and seek comment on further reforms to the Commission's calling services rules, including for incarcerated people with disabilities. (WC Docket No. 12-375)
Strengthening Support for Video Relay Service – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order to set Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Fund compensation rates for video relay service (VRS). (CG Docket Nos. 03-123, 10-51)
Shortening STIR/SHAKEN Extension for Small Providers Likely to Originate Robocalls – The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to fight illegal robocalls by proposing to accelerate the date by which small voice service providers that originate an especially large amount of call traffic must implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework. (WC Docket No. No 17-97)
Section 214 Petition for Partial Reconsideration for Mixed USF Support Companies – The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration to relieve certain affiliates of merging companies that receive model-based and rate-of-return universal service support from a "mixed support" merger condition cap. (WC Docket No. 20-389)
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
On 27 July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold PrivacyCon 2021.
APT29
Bug Bytes
Content Moderation
Cozy Bear
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Defense Industrial Base
Directive on combatting terrorism
Extremist Content
Facebook Oversight Board
Institute for Security & Technology
International Standards Organization
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
National Nuclear Security Administration
National Security Systems
NNSA
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Online Content Moderation
OSTP
Ransomware Task Force
Removal Order
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)
Stop Malicious Cyber Activity Against Connected Operational Technology
Terrorist Content
UK NCSC
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text:
Q: Double square braces in Bash I need to match some variables defined in a config file against an input file in bash and replace the variable with config file input.
Config file
var1=value1
var2=value2

input file
My user value is [[var1]] and
some lines which does not have configuration variables
My client value is  [[var2]]
some lines which does not have configuration variables

var1 and var2 in line 1 and 3 above must be replaced by the value in config file
rest of the lines remains same.
I am able to read config in an associative array say mapVals and input file to an array say inpArray.
Now when I am matching in a loop with below code.
for key in "${!mapVals[@]}"
do
        match=\[\[$key\]\]
        echo $match
        let index=0
        for line in "${inpArray[@]}"
        do
            if [[ $line =~ $match ]];
            then
                    echo $line
            fi
            index=$(($index+1))
        done
done

I am getting match for both line1 and line 3 for both of the [[var1]] and [[var2]] matches.
the output looks like
[[var1]]
My user value is [[var1]] and
My client value is  [[var2]]

[[var2]]
My user value is [[var1]] and
My client value is  [[var2]]

What should be the way for an exact match and replace.
Please comment if duplicate.

A: I got the answer here
so for square braces we need to use escape  []
the regex for [[var1]] is => [\[][\[]var1]]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Oracle sql query to to obtain records for a date range in IST I need to write sql query to obtain records for a date range in IST format.
We are storing data in the database in GMT format.
select *
from tableA a
where to_date(a.end_date,'DD-MON-YYYY') between date1 and date2;

(end_date is one of the column in tableA table)
Now date1 and date2 should fetch the records from database in IST time zone.
How i can write sql query for the above requirement.

A: Just Try the following query
SELECT FROM_TZ (
               CAST (SYSDATE AS TIMESTAMP)--replace sysdate with your date column
                , 'GMT'
               )
        AT TIME ZONE 'Asia/Calcutta'
  FROM DUAL;

In My case timezone is CET , and there is 3.5 hour difference from INDIA
select systimestamp from dual

7/30/2013 4:24:10.379910 PM +02:001

SELECT FROM_TZ (
               CAST (SYSDATE AS TIMESTAMP)--replace sysdate with your date column
                , 'GMT'
               )
        AT TIME ZONE 'Asia/Calcutta'
  FROM DUAL;

7/30/2013 7:54:10.000000 PM +05:30


SHIMLA, Jan 12 — The Himachal Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, has started focussing his attention on the conduct and performance of state ministers.
SHIMLA, Jan 12 — Mr Ganesh Dutt, convener of the media cell of the Himachal BJP, has announced the appointment of key office-bearers and district conveners to strengthen the rapport between the party and the media at various levels.
SHIMLA, Jan 12 — The Himachal Cabinet at a meeting here today decided to do away with the practice of according a guard of honour to ministers during tours.
HAMIRPUR, Jan 12 — Banking activities remained suspended throughout this district today as bank officers and employees resorted to a one-day token strike in support of their various demands, including a 20 per cent increase in wages.
JAWALAMUKHI, Jan 12 — The local Block Congress Committee at its meeting today took strong exception to the state government for ordering a CBI probe against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
SHIMLA, Jan 12 — Dr N.K. Sharda, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, has taken over as Vice-Chancellor following the expiry of the term of Prof C.L. Kundu as Vice-Chancellor.
"The ministers are under a close watch and anything can happen in the days to come" an insider told Tribune News Service on condition of anonymity.
It is understood that the Chief Minister is under a tremendous pressure due to the casual attitude of some of his colleagues, their inept handing of departments and failure to project the image of the government.
Besides, some of the ministers have incurred the wrath of the cadres for not cooperating with them and obliging and patronising their opponents, including Congress supporters.
Most of the ministers have not been able to take up various issues with the Central Government and the task of pursuing the matters at the Centre, satisfying partymen, handling the bureaucracy and maintaining a rapport with people has been left to Mr Dhumal.
There have also been complaints regarding the functioning of some of the ministers. The Chief Minister is also concerned about the dismal performance of certain ministers.
Apart from the feedback from the rank and file and the Sangh Parivar, Mr Dhumal will also take into account reports of state and central agencies.
Once the exercise is over, the Chief Minister might go in for a major cabinet reshuffle. While certain ministers may be dropped and new inducted, the portfolios of others may be changed, party sources say.
Of late, Mr Dhumal has started asserting his authority. Taking a cue from the Prime Minister, he recently replaced the Chief Secretary.
In a bid to discipline the ministers, he has fixed the number of days when they will have to remain in office at the state Capital and meet people and legislators.
Apparently, the decision was taken in the wake of complaints from partymen that ministers mostly remained on tours. They were neither available to workers nor were they taking any serious interest in official work which, they felt, harmed the image of the government.
The high command, it is learnt, is also concerned about the performance and the image of the government and has been in touch with the Chief Minister.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Industry Minister Kishori Lal said only the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Speaker and the Chief Justice would be given the ceremonial guard of honour.
He said the decision was taken with a view to reducing burden on the police.
The Cabinet increased the maximum age limit for the state administrative services examination from 31 years to 34 years for the general category and from 40 years to 42 years for reserved categories. While the number of chances were also increased from four to six for the general category, the restriction was waived in case of candidates for the reserved categories who could appear in the examination any number of times.
It also decided to accord class II status to lecturers and headmasters of high school. The monthly emoluments were enhanced from Rs 2000 to Rs 5000 for voluntary school lecturers, from Rs 1700 to Rs 4000 for voluntary trained graduate teachers, from Rs 1700 to Rs 3500 for voluntary classical and vernacular teachers and from Rs 1200 to Rs 2500 for untrained voluntary teachers.
The Cabinet created 1700 posts of vidya upasak who would be paid Rs 2500 per month.
The ex-gratia for Army personnel who died while on duty was increased in case of officers from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, for JCOs from Rs 6000 to Rs 15,000 and for other ranks from Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000.
Pension for ex-servicemen of World War II was enhanced from Rs 100 to Rs 150.
The Cabinet granted approval to D.A.V. Dental College, Solan, to start classes from the ensuing academic session. The decision was taken in view of the permission granted by the Dental Council of India and the Government of India to this effect.
The meeting also decided to set up a subcommittee for granting more administrative and financial powers to Panchayati Raj institutions.
The committee to be headed by Mr Kishori Lal, Industry Minister, would have Mr Mohinder Singh, Mr Ramesh Chaudhary, Mr Vidya Sagar and Mr R.L. Markanda as members.
The Cabinet approved the Mahila Mandal Protsahan Yozna and the Vivekananda Yuva Mandal Protsahan Yozna to grant incentives for involving women and youths in the implementation of various programmes like family welfare and education.
It also approved the raising of Rs 1.71 crore as loan from HUDCO to help fire victims of Chamba. A Rs 13.2 crore German-aided project to strengthen the family welfare programme in five districts — Kangra, Bilaspur, Chamba, Kulu and Shimla — was also cleared.
The afforestation scheme under the Sanjhi Van Yozna was amended to facilitate the allocation of 40 per cent funds for community works. Hitherto, the entire amount was spent on afforestation.
It also decided to set up a flying squad of the Excise and Taxation Department at Ghumarwin.
The employees held a rally at Gandhi Chowk. Mr R.L. Chauhan and Mr D.S. Guleria, Convener, and President, respectively, of the United Forum of Bank Unions, criticised the government for not accepting their demands. They said if the government failed to accept their demands, they would go on an indefinite strike.
They also took out a procession through various parts of the town and raised slogans against the Central Government.
KULU: Bank employees observed a day-long strike on Tuesday as part of a nationwide strike by bank staff.
The banks at the district headquarters, Bhuntar, and other parts of the district, including Manali wore a deserted look.
The employees of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank and United Commercial Bank, however, stayed away from the strike.
UNA: A strike was organised here by the local Bank Employees Federation. A dharna was staged in front of the State Bank of Patiala branch by more than 500 bank employees from all over the district.
SHIMLA, Jan 12 (PTI) — Mr Ganesh Dutt, convener of the media cell of the Himachal BJP, has announced the appointment of key office-bearers and district conveners to strengthen the rapport between the party and the media at various levels. Mr Amba Charan will be the general secretary of the cell while Mr Rajendra Sharma and Mr A.N. Walia will be state vice-presidents.
Mr Yuvraj Faquiroo, Mr Ashwani Sharma and Mr Shiv Singh Jaswal will be the secretaries while Mr S.S. Chuhan (Solan), Mr Rasil Singh Mankotia (Hamirpur), Mr Roop Lal Jambwal (Mandi), Mr Sanjay Sharma (Kangra), Mr Ashwani Dogra (Bilaspur), Mr Shyam Kulvi (Kulu), Mr Madhu Sharma (Chamba), Mr Puran Chand Sharma (Una) and Mr Mohan Lal (Lahaul and Spiti) will be conveners of their respective districts, a BJP press note said here.
SHIMLA, Jan 12 (PTI) — Dr N.K. Sharda, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, has taken over as Vice-Chancellor following the expiry of the term of Prof C.L. Kundu as Vice-Chancellor.
The process for the selection of the Vice-Chancellor is on and the search committee appointed for recommending a panel of three names will meet tomorrow. The committee, which met on December 23 last year, could not recommend a unanimous panel and the issue was, therefore deferred for the next meeting.
JAWALAMUKHI, Jan 12 — The local Block Congress Committee (BCC) at its meeting today took strong exception to the state government for ordering a CBI probe against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The committee said all charges levelled against Mr Virbhadra Singh were false and politically motivated.
The BCC said if the state government was so sincere, it should refer the inquiry to the Lokayukta.
The meeting was held here under the Chairmanship of Mr Inder Mohan Walia. The committee also expressed concern over the increase in thefts and victimisation of employees through transfers to remote areas.
It also demanded a high-level inquiry into the working of various departments of Dehra subdivision.


text:
Pupils 'raid' rival radio station
A GROUP of young radio broadcasters took to the sea to take over the airwaves of a neighbouring radio station.
School pupils from Gairloch, in Wester Ross, boarded a high-speed offshore inflatable boat to make their way to Portree, on the Isle of Skye, which is 28 miles away and home to commercial radio station, Cuillin FM.
Had they travelled by road, it would have been a 100-mile journey. And once in Portree, they presented a show, which was broadcast simultaneously on their home station, Two Lochs Radio.
Cuillin FM and Two Lochs Radio are two of the smallest independent radio stations in the UK. Although fully commercially licensed for the last five years, both stations are operated on a not-for-profit basis for community benefit.
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text:
Police rescues 2 abducted Kebbi students
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Aug. 1, 2021 The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says 30 out of 65 private airplanes verified so far are liable to pay required duties to the Federal Government. The Customs…
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Ex-First Lady sends strong message to women on Korea Peninsula
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FBI INDICTMENT: IGP RECOMMENDS SUSPENSION OF DCP ABBA KYARI, AS 4-MAN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION PANEL BEGINS PROBE
August 1, 2021 The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba has recommended the immediate suspension of DCP Abba Kyari, the Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), from…


text:
module MismoEnum
  module Generators
    class InstallGenerator < ::Rails::Generators::Base
      include Rails::Generators::Migration
      source_root File.expand_path('../../templates', __FILE__)
      desc "add the migrations"

      def self.next_migration_number(path)
        unless @prev_migration_nr
          @prev_migration_nr = Time.now.utc.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S").to_i
        else
          @prev_migration_nr += 1
        end
        @prev_migration_nr.to_s
      end

      def copy_migrations
        migration_template "create_mismo_enums.rb", "db/migrate/create_mismo_enums.rb"
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
Milwaukee police officer fires gun after suspect shows fake weapon
14-year-old in custody after pointing facsimile gun at officer
Authorities said a Milwaukee police officer fired his gun at a man with a fake gun Sunday afternoon.Milwaukee police said officers were called to the area of 14th and Center streets at 2:10 p.m. to a report of a person with a gun.A police spokesperson said officers then spotted a group of people at 17th and Locust streets, one of whom fit the description of the person with the gun.Police said an officer ran after the man, who then raised a gun at him. The officer fired his weapon, but no one was struck.A 14-year-old boy is in custody related to the incident, and a facsimile gun was found at the scene.No one was struck, and authorities said the boy is in custody.The officer involved,Officer Joseph Warren, has 14 years of service with the Milwaukee Police Department and is assigned to the Neighborhood Policing Bureau. He remains on full duty with the department.
MILWAUKEE —
Authorities said a Milwaukee police officer fired his gun at a man with a fake gun Sunday afternoon.
Milwaukee police said officers were called to the area of 14th and Center streets at 2:10 p.m. to a report of a person with a gun.
A police spokesperson said officers then spotted a group of people at 17th and Locust streets, one of whom fit the description of the person with the gun.
Police said an officer ran after the man, who then raised a gun at him. The officer fired his weapon, but no one was struck.
A 14-year-old boy is in custody related to the incident, and a facsimile gun was found at the scene.
No one was struck, and authorities said the boy is in custody.
The officer involved,Officer Joseph Warren, has 14 years of service with the Milwaukee Police Department and is assigned to the Neighborhood Policing Bureau. He remains on full duty with the department.


text:
More players keep reaching the top of the Madden ratings scale, but change may be coming next year
While games like NBA 2K and FIFA present rosters with only a handful of players rated above 90, Madden has been trending the opposite direction. With last week's roster update for Madden NFL 16 the game became more top heavy than ever. There are now eight 99 rated players, eight 98 rated players, and 126 of them at 90 and above.
That doesn't alone necessarily mean there is imbalance in the ratings or how the skills translate to the field, as the calculation of the Overall could simply be changed without even altering the individual attribute ratings. However there is a sense that players tend to get bunched together as they move up. By the end of the year the differentiation between them has shrunk noticeably.
Interestingly, the man formerly in charge of ratings, Donny Moore, expressed that he had hoped to institute a system where only eight players would have started the season rated 90+. Instead the season started with 121 of them.
.@Fillycheze @pastapadre u guys might like what I tried to get in for M16 but they put a nix to it..Instead of 130+ 90 OVR players, it was 8
— Donny Moore (@Donny_Moore) November 14, 2015
The new ratings lead though is looking at changing the system for next year in a similar fashion, and even just having a dialogue about it is at the very least encouraging.
@Donny_Moore @Fillycheze @pastapadre it's something I'm trying for next year, I dont think you can argue with any of our 99 ovr players tho
— Dustin Smith (@Equipment_Guru) November 14, 2015
Looking beyond the very top players, it's more than questionable whether a seven point gap properly defines the difference between an Eli Manning, who's having one of his best seasons, and a Colin Kaepernick, who played his way to the bench.
Players tend to get the benefit of the doubt and don't drop at nearly the same rate when struggling or failing to produce than they rise when performing well. That's why Peyton Manning is still somehow an 88 and the 12th best QB in the game despite being one of the worst in the league this season. Hopefully any changes made will affect the entirety of the roster, putting more room between the tiers of players at each position.
Several years ago when NBA Live attempted to rate based on a full 100 point scale instead of the 50+ scale, the NBA forced that to change, as they wanted the perception of the skill of their players in the league to remain as it had been, both at the top and bottom of the roster. Even with NBA 2K16 rating current day players against the best of all time – LeBron James and Steph Curry lead the pack of this season's players at 94 Overall – no player is rated below 63. The lowest non-long snapper in Madden is 54.
That's part of the concern that comes with making a dramatic change to what the numbers represent. Watch any of those videos EA does with rookies guessing their ratings – they're either delusional or just playing along – where they expect to be in the 80s and 90s. Even refer back to cases where players have directly complained about their already high ratings. Veterans have their expectations as well, and to drop their ratings, even if they remain in the same relative place among their peers, will result in some blowback. Hopefully that, and the league, don't prevent progress being made that will result in a better playing and more authentic game.
Tags: latest news, ratings


Do you want to decorate your previous Decor? Then, you need lots of things fall coffee table decor to try also to choose comprises Decor cabinet. Cabinet consistently becomes very essential thing in Decor for supporting the Decor actions, make it nicely coordinate, and also support the plan fall coffee table decor of this Decor. One of a lot of Decor cabinet choices, the favorite 1 is Fall coffee table decor. Cherry is one of fall coffee table decor the best and favorite materials which can be useful for Decor cupboard. It's because cherry is a timber material that's lasting and has good appearance.
Fall coffee autumn coffee table decor table decor are many out there that are your inspirations. Planning the layout of your Decor autumn coffee table decor is actually a little tricky as you need to look at the magnitude of your own Decor, the appliances you have, and any additional matters. But you don't need to be worried since there are just 5 autumn coffee table decor hot Decor design for your own inspiration. Inside this Decor style layout notion, you can put the sinkfridge, and also the stove in a triangle position. This informative article is likely to create your Decor function easier. You may have 2 sinks in the event that you have just two prepare Decor.
Modern Decor additionally always tend to use a open floor program design to create an willingness feeling to show what's in the inside. Modernists have come right into fame as a breaking of classic design. It begins to use industrial factors like concrete, metal along with also others. As you know, industrial aspects provide a characteristic of modern-day design. Meanwhile, the modern-day Decor still retain the all-natural elegance. Even though it lacks ornamentation, however, natural elements like grained wood cabinets deliver moderate patterns. Once you want to accommodate Fall coffee table decor, do not neglect to contemplate the characteristic and elements above into it.
The very initial thing you ought to pick in Fall coffee table decor could be that the height of your table. It is highly important to know where location you're likely to place it before acquiring the dining table. By simply picking out the suitable top for your own pub table collections, you are going to have the ability to set it where you see fit. Additionally, consider the stools. You ought to find the fitting 1 for your table. Although this isn't exactly an issue if you're searching for collections. The 2nd thing you should consider may be the material. It could be exceedingly difficult at first to choose where and the best way exactly to start. However, once you establish exactly the height you require, it isn't too tricky to find that the following point you need to consider could be the stuff. You will find a lot of stuff to decide, for example timber, metal, and artificial. Select one that is most matching to a way of life, preference of style, as well as needs.


Food safety, including regulatory changes that require compliance and new technology solutions, ranks as one of the top three "Key Growth Ingredients" cited in a recent report by GE Capital surveying CFOs in midsized food and beverage (F&B) companies. From growers and shippers to front-line retailers and every intermediary along the way, every player in the F&B industry maintains a responsibility to ensure that their products are procured, processed, distributed and sold in strict compliance with government, industry and vendor food safety regulations. As more types and greater volumes of information can be captured, tracked and managed for each product coming under these food safety requirements, regulatory compliance is requiring unprecedented data coordination, synchronization and integration that can only be accomplished with robust and often industry-specific technologies and processes.
In this landscape characterized by fierce competition, commodity pricing pressures and an increasing need to engage consumers at every level in every medium, market leaders in the F&B industry are also seeking to use the same technology tools and functionality required for compliance as a means to achieve a competitive advantage—providing their executives with critical visibility and actionable insights borne of more accurate and relevant data. In this way, food safety compliance requirements are laying the groundwork for business intelligence (BI) and business analytics that are enabling C- suite players to more effectively gain ground on the competition—improving efficiency, reducing costs, maximizing profit and improving brand loyalty.
So from a food safety perspective, the questions are two-fold: "What technologies are best suited to ensure regulatory compliance?" and "Which of these technologies can be seamlessly connected to all needed data types, applications and systems both to produce relevant and meaningful BI insights as well as highly-sought marketplace advantage?" Understanding the magnitude of data requirements to meet both compliance and competitive marketplace objectives underscores the value of seamless technology interoperability to a business' bottom line.


Sorry for the delay with the editing, here is the video footage of our exclusive interview with the Sailor Moon cast members who were at Anime North last year.
There are quite a few interesting questions and answers in this video featuring Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars #1), John Stocker (Grandpa Hino, Voice Director #3), and Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon #3). This includes John Stocker's confirmation that he was Grandpa Hino!
Stay tuned for more video convention coverage featuring Sailor Moon talent at other events.
European fans may be interested to hear about the appearances of Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter), Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars #1) and Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon #3) at the Malta Comics Expo. Jennifer Cihi, who sang a number of songs for the English language soundtrack will also be appearing.
The convention will be held October 31st-November 2nd at The Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valetta, Malta. Three day passes start at 31,50 € ($39.91 USD). Complete ticket information is available here.
The complete lineup of guests is available here.
For fans who attend — please share your experiences with us! We would love to see photos and hear about the first trip to a European anime convention for the Sailor Moon cast and one of the Sailor Moon singers!
Here's the second of the three public Sailor Moon panels that I recorded at Anime North this year.
I missed a small bit at the beginning, but just think of lingering smells and you'll figure it out.
I am still editing the other videos from Anime North and will post as soon as they are processed. The third panel and our press interview will be coming up, so keep a lookout for them!
This just in from an anonymous tip. Fans can watch the quick ad below which features Toby Proctor as a husband of a mother-to-be who makes the mistake of eating the last pickle.
In case you missed the mentions on our Facebook page and you didn't hear about this at Anime North – there will be a Sailor Moon themed comedy show on Thursday, June 19th in Toronto.
Fanfiction the Show: Sailor Moon will be featuring both Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2) and Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon #3) this year. Toby also participated last year. At Anime North this year, Toby described it as a comedy show based on Sailor Moon fanfiction with some "blue" humour. He also mentioned that last year it featured Tuxedo Mask being on a dating show where he was asking questions of Sailor Senshi daters.
For fans interested in catching the show next week, it will be at the Comedy Bar, located at 945 Bloor st. west in downtown Toronto (closest subway station is Ossington).
According to the event page on Facebook, doors will open at 7:30pm. The poster indicates that the show is scheduled to start at 9:30pm. The start time has been updated to 9pm, as indicated on the event page on Facebook.
I spoke with someone at the NXNE office, and she indicated that there are two ways for fans to get tickets for the show. You can either have an NXNE wristband (limited seats available) or you can purchase a $10 ticket at the door. The show organizer has also indicated that you can pre-purchase tickets via Comedy Bar (we suggest calling them as we couldn't find a ticket ordering link on their website).
The artwork featured on the poster, by the way, is by Stjepan Sejic.
Edit: Start time of the show and ticketing information updated.
Edit 2: Poster updated with new time.


"Violino solo e Basso l'accompagnato"
"I have purchased this CD twice, first for myself to listen to during labor and secondly for a friend who has a new, very stressful job. I love the music on this CD, it is wonderfully played and listening it to it during labor was very helpful and uplifting. Now both my daughter and I enjoy listening to it, and during fussy days it calms her down a bit, which is very nice. The music truly brings on a serene feeling without making one sleepy, which means its great for anytime you just need to relax yet stay alert. I'll be giving it to my friend for the holidays, and I'm sure she'll love it as much as we do."
"What better way to begin 'Bach for Relaxation' than with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." This CD is not dumbed-down Johann Sebastian Bach just because it advertises itself as relaxation music (which was my initial fear before purchase). Good orchestras and soloists perform the nineteen well-chosen chamber works, ranging from the deceptively simple "Prelude in C" from "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1" (Sviatoslav Richter, piano) to selections from the powerful Brandenburg Concertos.This is Bach in his most serene, mathematically perfect form. None of his mighty organ or choral works will disturb your contemplative mood as you drift through the sixty-eight minutes of this CD. I'm usually asleep by track fifteen, the adagio from "Concerto for Flute, Violin & Harpsichord BWV 1044." Another very good CD in this 'relaxation' series from BMG RCAVictor is "Cello for Relaxation.""
"This is one of my favorite classical CD's. It is a composition of soft, calmer Bach, and is perfect for almost any occassion. This is a great CD for first time classical listeners or long time fans ... It functions as perfect dinner background music, or to listen to alone. I highly recommend this compilation of Bach."
"We received this as a baby gift and it has been a godsend. Our newborn relaxes to the sound of this when nothing else works. We also love it for ourselves; the CD contains the best of Bach's less fiery works, and the musical interpretation and recording quality are outstanding."
"Another great collection of songs in this series with very good performances of the pieces.
Calm and soothing and definately recommended to relax by."


text:
Trending: Manufacturing Business Business Message Examples Cybersecurity Airbnb
Twitter Blue is Back – Here's How to Get It
Published: Jan 4, 2023 by Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead In Small Business News 2
Twitter recently brought back Twitter Blue sign-ups on iOS and web, which provides subscribers with access to exclusive features such as Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads and Reader Mode.
Twitter Blue subscribers also get a blue checkmark on their profiles, although all of these benefits are subject to a review system before they are activated. The reviews system ensures all requirements are met to help prevent impersonation, with accounts breaking the rules being suspended without a refund.
How to Get Twitter Blue
To subscribe on the web, sign in to Twitter through your browser and select 'More' from the options on the left-hand side. An option for Twitter Blue should then appear, click on this and then the 'Subscribe' button. You will then be prompted to verify your phone number if you haven't already, and finally, you will need to confirm your subscription payment.
To subscribe on iOS, the Twitter Blue option should be in the profile menu, which will bring you to the 'Subscribe' button. You will be prompted to verify your phone number if you haven't already done so, and from there you follow the in-app purchase instructions to complete the subscription.
After signing up on one platform, subscribers will have Twitter Blue access on all supported platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web.
Any existing Twitter Blue subscribers can upgrade, cancel, or auto-renew their subscription at the new price. In the United States, Twitter Blue costs $8 per month on the web, and $11 per month on iOS.
Twitter Blue's Alternative Checkmarks
Twitter also announced that there will be alternative checkmarks for certain entities. This includes a gold checkmark for some business accounts, which also includes a square profile picture to indicate that it is an official business. There is a gray checkmark for government and multilateral organizations such as institutional accounts, top officials, and official spokespeople.
There are also professional category labels that Twitter-using business owners can select when they convert to a Professional Account.
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Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a professional freelance writer and journalist based in the United Kingdom. Since 2006, Gabrielle has been writing articles, blogs and news pieces for a diverse range of publications and sites. You can read "Gabrielle's blog here.".
I like the idea of Blue as it relates to additional features like editing tweets. I think there should be some verification of a person's identity before a check mark is issued. I do NOT like when they start talking about giving Blue member tweets priority in the feeds.
Martin Lindeskog
Why is different pricing for web based compared to iOS? When do you think it will be able in more countries in Europe?