text:
Brands that Have Permission: What if BMW Made Headphones and Apple Launched a Sneaker?
by Garyvee
1 month ago · 5 min read
When I look at an established business strategically for the first time, I try to think of ways they could deploy their IP or brand in a different category.
For example, the reason I have a signature sneaker with K-Swiss (even though I'm a businessman, not an athlete or a rapper) and the reason many companies have permission to enter different categories comes down to one thing:
Brand gives you permission to not have to stick to one product category.
It's what gave me permission to sign a deal with K-Swiss and have a sneaker. It's what gave me permission to have a wine brand (Empathy Wines). It's what would allow me to create other products in the future that reflect my persona if I chose to – like energy drinks or hot sauce.
The reality is, big brands have personas too. And those personas give them permission to enter different product categories where they can leverage what they're known for to create different products.
Nintendo started off as a playing card company.
A lot of people don't know this, but Nintendo started out creating playing cards. They launched in the late 1800s as a company that made card decks.
Over time, they experimented with different products in different categories until they eventually started selling toys. Then entertainment. Then electronic video games.
Today, they're an iconic video game company, but they didn't start out in that singular space.
No one thought that Sony could be a video game company, until they were.
Sony's another great example. They started out as an electronics shop making tape recorders and radios.
Eventually, the reputation they built for production quality in that space allowed them to move into building the PlayStation and becoming a major player in the world of video games.
A similar thing happened with Microsoft and the Xbox.
What if BMW made high end headphones? What if Mercedes made an Amazon Alexa competitor?
Brands like BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes have built up such a huge reputations around their names that they have permission to move into a ton of different sectors. They're all luxury brands known for engineering and quality, so they can attack different categories through that "lens."
For example, if I were the CEO of Mercedes, I would've considered making a competitor to Amazon Alexa a couple of years ago. Mercedes has permission because of their reputation around engineering high quality products, and they could've potentially leveraged their brand to create the next big voice device that people had in their homes.
Same thing with BMW. They could compete with headphone brand like Bose or Beats and enter a completely different market. If they leveraged their reputation for engineering to make headphones that worked better than anything else on the market, people would take their product very seriously.
What if Nike competed with Gatorade?
A big reason to enter a new product category is to service your current demographic in a different way.
When you think of Nike, what do you think of?
For most people, it's athletics, sports, or training. That reputation gives them permission to potentially come out with workout drinks and compete with brands like Gatorade.
See where I'm going here?
What if Apple launched a sneaker and competed with Nike and Adidas?
Another great example is Apple.
I think if they made sneakers a few years ago, I believe they could've completely crushed.
Apple is a cool brand that has penetrated culture with the iPhone and Mac. It's almost like a status symbol to have one. I think that reputation allows them to penetrate the sneaker market as well, from a design and technology standpoint.
For example, a few years ago, Nike came out with "Back to the Future" themed sneakers that laced themselves. In 2019, they're going on sale to the public.
I think if Apple had come out with something like that (i.e. a well-designed shoe that laced itself), it would've been a total gamechanger. People would've been stunned and more importantly, they'd be thinking of how Apple was going to innovate next.
What if the New York Times started the greatest marketing agency in the world?
The New York Times has built a brand around being a major media and publication company. That kind of infrastructure and reputation could translate really well to building an agency that serves big clients that want to do something similar.
More brands should ask themselves, "why not?"
If you build a strong brand, you have an incredible range options when it comes to innovating in various product categories.
Most people see Nike as a shoe and clothing manufacturer. I see them as a brand that could serve athletes with everything from shoes to clothing to sports drinks and more.
People used to see Sony as an electronics company, but they used electronics to expand into different areas like music, video games, and more.
Look at my own brand. I'm building a fast growing marketing agency, and I ran a liquor store before I entered this space.
This is one big game of "why not" and "what if." Brands who ask those questions will innovate much faster than those who don't.
#Uncategorized


text:
El colibrí llancer frontblau (Doryfera johannae) és una espècie d'ocell de la família dels troquílids (Trochilidae) que habita l'Amazònia septentrional.

Taxonomia
S'han descrit dues subespècies:
 D. j. johannae (Bourcier, 1847), del sud-est de Colombia, est de l'Equador i nord-est del Perú
 D. j. guianensis (Boucard, 1893). Del sud de Veneçuela i de Guyana i nord del Brasil.

Referències

Llancer Frontblau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Ideal Gift Idea.! A wonderful portrait of your pet or pets together ! from photographs. Eg. 20" x16" on canvas from £100 ! I can also arrange framing your beautiful portrait in a frame of your choice .
Supplier of Dog Harnesses, Water Bottles, Dog Seat Belts and more!
Hygiene pants and three packs suitable for small dogs, waist 11" to 15"
Cat accessories. Odour Free Cat Toilet plus litter. Igloo Cat bed. Cat nail clippers Automatic 3 day cat feeder (Andrew James) Items can be sold separately or as a whole from £5 each.
Pet safe cat microchip cat flap and also extension for thicker walls or doors. Brand new never used.
We would like free accessories for pets for our charity APC, animal protection centre. It would be a massive thank you if you would. Even if it's just trashed trainers. There are some examples, the photos.
New dog ramp still in box selling gas no longer needed cost £55 pound so grab yourself a bargain.


text:
Криза у Гамбії (2016—2017) — політична криза, викликана небажанням чинного президента Гамбії Ях'я Джамме, термін повноважень якого сплив 19 січня 2017 залишити свій пост та передати владу новообраному президенту країни, в минулому лідеру опозиції Адама Берроу. Вибори в країні відбулись 1 грудня 2016 року. Берроу набрав 45,5 %, Джамме — 36,7 %.

Невизнання результатів виборів чинним президентом
Ях'я Джамме очолював країну з 1994 року. Після свого програшу він заявив, що процес голосування проходив з «серйозними порушеннями» і закликав до проведення нових виборів.

Невизнання результатів виборів чинним президентом та побоювання щодо початку репресій проти опозиції призвели до початку масової еміграції з країни, переважно — в Сенегал.

Опозиційний лідер Адама Берроу, що переміг на президентських виборах, склав присягу і пройшов процедуру інавгурації в посольстві Гамбії в Дакарі.

Підтримку новообраному президенту висловили сусідні країни. Африканський Союз і Економічне співтовариство країн Західної Африки (ECOWAS) заявили, що з 19 січня вони визнають єдиного главу держави — Адама Берроу. Більшість країн Західної Африки оголосили про готовність до військового вторгнення в Гамбію в разі, якщо дипломатичним шляхом не вдасться переконати президента країни Джамме піти у відставку після закінчення його мандата. Про готовність до введення військ заявили Нігерія, Сенегал і Гана.

Відсторонення від влади Ях'я Джамме

19 січня 2017 війська Сенегалу увійшли на територію Гамбії. Таке рішення викликане тим, що чинний президент Гамбії Ях'я Джамме відмовляється покидати пост після закінчення мандата 19 січня. Введення військ відбулося згідно одноголосного рішення Ради Безпеки ООН.

20 січня Африканський союз і Економічне співтовариство країн Західної Африки вирішив призупинити вторгнення і висунули екс-президенту ультиматум. Цього ж дня очільник збройних сил Гамбії заявив про лояльність до новообраного президента Берроу. Надвечір екс-президент Гамбії Ях'я Джамме прийняв ультиматум та погодився передати владу новообраному президенту.

21-22 січня Ях'я Джамме покинув країну. Після його від'їзду казна держави виявилась порожньою — з неї зникло $11 млн.

Країну покинули також міністр юстиції і віце-президент. Наразі місцезнаходження Джамме також невідомо.

Примітки

Посилання
 На територію Гамбії увійшли сенегальські війська

Конфлікти у 2016
Конфлікти у 2017
Історія Гамбії


I'll start with some pictures. I have some cones and a sphere layed out on a ground plane at various distances from the camera and there is a wall right at the back.
I could use zDepthDOF to render a depth-of-field pass where black means in focus and white means out of focus. If I set the focus distance to be the same as the distance from the camera to the sphere I would get the following render.
If I take both images into after effects and use the depth-of-field render to control bluriness in the compound blur filter then I get something like this.
So what I need is a maya shader that will give me the same result as the mentalray zDepthDOF.
To help visualize what is happening I made the following diagram.
The gradient extends from the camera's near clipping plane to the far clipping plane. Objects sitting on the focal plane are shaded black. The further an object is from the focal plane the whiter it gets.
I think the best way to understand the shader network I created is to load it into maya and study the connections in the hypershade window.
Download my example scene file, djZDepthDOF.ma, from here.
Here is a snapshot of the shader network (click the image to open a hires version in a new window).
To figure out what color an object should be I need to know how far it is from the camera and for that I used the samplerInfo utility node. This node is has an output called pointCameraZ which is the distance from the camera of the surface point being rendered. Strangely, the value of pointCameraZ is always a negative number, so I used a multiplyDivide utility to multiply it by -1 thus making it a positive number.
To create the gradient I used two ramp textures. The first ramp is from white to black, and the second from black to white. The first ramp is used for distances from the camera near clipping plane to the focal plane. The second ramp is used for distances from the focal plane to the far clipping plane. The distance is obtained from the samplerInfo node and is used to "look up" the ramp color and a condition node is used to select the right ramp depending on the distance.
Since a ramp texture expects a "look up" value between zero and one I used some setRange nodes to normalize the distance values.
The cameraShape node is part of the network since it's farClipPlane value is used as an input to one of the setRange nodes.
A distance tool is also used (Create|Measure Tools|Distance Tool). One locator is point-constrained to the camera. The other locator is the one I animate to specify the focal plane. Sometimes I point-constrain this to the object I want to keep focus on, but more often I animate it by hand. The distance output feeds into some plusMinusAverage nodes and some simple math is done before passing some values to the setRange nodes and the condition node.
I also used the second locator as a way of specifying a focus range. This is the width of the black band in the middle of the gradient. It can be increased of decreased by scaling the locator in the z-axis. Objects within this distance range are in focus. To make it easier to visualise in the viewport I parented a cube to the locator to show me approximately where the focus range is (approximate because it should really be a spherical slice - but close enough to work with).
The next two images show the viewport snaps.
This shader renders quickly and requires no lights in the scene. It can be used with transparant surfaces using the same technique described here zDepthDOF by Andreas Bauer. It is not a neat as a single node mentalray shader like zDepthDOF, but it has the advantage of working with the maya software renderer and it shows up in the viewport in texture display mode (so there is a degree of interactivety).
The exampe scene has two render layers. One for the beauty pass and one for the depth pass. You could export the shader and use it in your own scenes - you would just need to use the connection editor to hook up your own rendering camera in place of the one in my scene.
Of all the depth shaders out there: DepthShader 1.0, zDepthDOF 1.6, and your djDepthPhenomena, this one is the only one that works on my Mac with Maya 2011 64-bit.
djDepthDOF works very well for me. Many, many thanks! I was burning through possibilities and began to think I would simply have to settle for mentalray's built-in depth channel.
Whenever I open the example file, I am given this error: [Directory Path]/example.ma line 1370: Unrecognized node type 'vectorRenderGlobals'; preserving node information during this session.
Perhaps this is because the Vector Renderer is not available in 64-bit for Mac, so I do not have it loaded.
This error occurs whether I am using Maya Software or mentalray, and it occurs regardless of the render layer that I am rendering.
I do not know what these are, but it does not seem to affect the output.
I'm glad it works for you. I have to admit that I'm using the p_z shader more often these days. Not sure if there's a mac version though.
You can probably use optimize scene and remove unknown nodes to avoid the vectorRenderGlobals error. And you can get rid of the shave error by clearing the pre and post render mel fields in render globals.
What's the setup for your renderlayers?
Specifically the DOF render layer... How are you getting it to show the b/w ramp?
Also - when I import your shader into my scene, I get a green coloring in my renders from the camera frustum object (even though I see it's set as non-renderable).
2nd question first: Yes mentalray seems to ignore some of maya's renderstat flags. I usually put the frustum on a display layer which I set to templated when I need to render. Or you can just hide it.
renderlayers? Pretty much like in the example file. I have a renderlayer where objects have material overrides. The ramp shows up in my viewport in texture display mode. Maybe, if you are not seeing it, this is graphics card dependent.
I'm having a slight problem with the shader when used on a scene where the objects are on a much smaller scale than your example file. I noticed that if I scale your scene and camera down and do a render with the focal point still on the ball in the middle, the cones in the back are still completely in focus. Whereas before, the cones in front and in back were out of focus (white) and the ball was in focus. Creating the white to black to white gradient. Is there something else that needs to be adjusted to get it to work on a smaller scale?
I have a rule for myself. Never scale cameras. When ever I do, I seem to run into strange problems.
In this shader network the value of the camera's far clipping plane is being used to drive one of the setRange nodes. When you scale the camera it also scales the location of the clipping plane, but the value of the far clipping plane distance in the camera attributes does not change. This is what caused your problem.
You could fix it in a few ways, but probably the easiest, assuming you grouped the whole scene and scaled the group, is to remove the camera from the group, and parent constrain it instead. Then adjust the clipping planes to fit the extent of your scene.
So I guess my question is, and I apologize if your previous response addresses it and I'm just not understanding, how do I simply import your shading network and hook it up to my camera which is at a much smaller scale than your scene? I didn't scale mine down at all, it's the default scale 1,1,1 to my scene which is set to centimeters. However, if I open your example file, your camera is still scaled to 1,1,1 as well but in comparison to your grid, it is about 50 times larger than my default camera. The same goes with your locators as well.
Here is an example of your camera and locators after being imported to my scene. Again, I didn't scale my down at all and my settings are at their default. http://skdzines.com/capture.jpg.
Other than that, I think I'm hooking your shader up correctly to my camera by connecting the cameraShape.farClipPlane -> setRangeFar.oldMaxZ.
I was just wondering why one would want to render the zdepth in maya as oppose to mental ray? Wouldnt mental ray look better then maya? As always, thanks.
@ skdzines: If you import my shader network, you should be able to connect your camera into it. Display my camera connections in the hypergraph, then use the connection editor to make the same connections to your camera.
The size of the camera icon that you see in the viewport can be set using the camera attributes in the "Object Display" tab. The attribute is called "locator scale". This is just a viewport guide and makes no difference at all to the render or the clipping plane values.
@ smokedogg: The shader network I showed here uses standard maya nodes and can be rendered using mentalray or the standard maya software renderer (and probably other renderers like vray - though I have not actually tried it). The result will be pretty much the same for all of them. I'd probably just use the one that rendered quickest, unless I had other reasons for choosing a different one.
When I wrote it, one of the things I did like about this set up was the ability to define the "in focus" region and to see the greyscale result in the viewport. The downside to this approach is that you are baking that focus info into the depth render. These days I prefer to use a true depth pass and make those focus decisions in post.
I originally wrote this post about 4 years ago so I should mention that I switched, almost exclusively, to vray 2 years ago. Now I can simply add the vray depth pass to my renders. And that means nothing extra to set up, and no extra render time.


Some of you may have already heard or seen this news, but I wanted to make sure that you also heard it directly from me.
On October 29th I will be starting an exciting new role as the Artistic Director of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society. In that role I will be responsible for all current programming (tap dance academy, youth performance ensemble, annual tap dance festival), and shaping the vision for the future of the organization.
Practically, this means that I will be relocating to the greater Vancouver area as my base, which I'm very excited about. Vancouver has a thriving arts and music/dance scene, and the landscape is beautiful. I will continue to travel throughout the year for performing, speaking, and teaching endeavors, and my commitments to the Tap Legacy Foundation, and artistic projects like Rising to the Tap, remain unchanged.
So there it is. A whole new adventure is on the horizon as I step into this new role.
I've deeply appreciated the opportunity to share my journey with you in the past, and look forward to continuing to share this new adventure.
P.S. Here's a link to some press about the announcement from Broadway World Vancouver!


If you are looking at getting BT 2010 certified, there is just the book out there that you will need to prepare for the exam 70-595. Authors include Johan Hedberg, Kent Weare & Morten La Cour. The book covers everything from BizTalk basics to WCF to RFID to BAM. Having said that, the book is to the point and compact enough to get you scoring soon!
Retry pattern and Suspend shape – the gotchas!
One would hope that when the administrator resubmits the suspended message, it would continue from the point it left of (that is continue in the loop). However, what I saw was, the orchestration would go into the "active" state indefinately. Also, when trying to terminate this active instance, the terminate job would show as pending and the service wouldnt terminate unless the host was restarted.
Further investigation revealed that the suspended orchestration has no related message (or context). See screenshot below.
To eliminate any false positives, I deployed the same app on our test environment and saw that there was a message linked to the suspended orchestration.
This is where I was stumped!
The value "Missing Restart Msg in the Spool table…" was the light at the end of the tunnel. I quickly ran the Terminator tool to clean the messagebox.
Once done, I ran the MBV analysis again and all critical warnings were gone in relation to "Control Messages".
I then tried my test again and saw the messages were now linked to suspended orchestrations….
Hope this helps someone having similar issues.
Certain blogs suggest that registry changes be made to force it to work. This is a bit risky once it comes to prod environments. The best approach to fix such issues is to repair the BizTalk installation and try configuring BizTalk again.


text:
require 'spec_helper'
require 'active_record'
require 'active_record/errors'

describe Ayl::Beanstalk::Engine do

  context "Standard API" do

    before(:each) do
      Kernel.stub(:puts)
      @engine = Ayl::Beanstalk::Engine.new
      @engine.stub_chain(:logger, :info)
      @engine.stub_chain(:logger, :debug)
      @engine.stub_chain(:logger, :error)
    end

    it "should default to localhost and 11300 as the host port for the beanstalkd server" do
      expect(@engine.host).to eq('localhost')
      expect(@engine.port).to eq(11300)
    end

    it "should respond true to the asynchronous? message" do
      expect(@engine.asynchronous?).to be true
    end

    it "should return true if it has a valid connection to beanstalk" do
      mock_pool = double("Beanstalk::Pool")

      expect(Beaneater).to receive(:new).with("localhost:11300").and_return(mock_pool)

      expect(@engine.is_connected?).to be true
    end

    it "should return false if it does not have a valid connection to beanstalk" do
      expect(Beaneater).to receive(:new).with("localhost:11300").and_raise(Beaneater::NotConnected)

      expect(@engine.is_connected?).to be false
    end

    context "Message Submission" do

      before(:each) do
        @msg = Ayl::Message.new(23, :to_s, Ayl::MessageOptions.new, 2)
      end

      it "should submit the specified message to beanstalk" do
        mock_tube = double("Tube")
        expect(mock_tube).to receive(:put).
          with({ :type => :ayl, :failed_job_handler => 'delete', :code => "23.to_s(2)" }.to_json, {
          pri: 512, delay: 0, ttr: 120})
        mock_pool = double("Beanstalk::Pool")
        expect(mock_pool).to receive(:tubes).and_return({'default' => mock_tube})

        expect(Beaneater).to receive(:new).with("localhost:11300").and_return(mock_pool)

        @engine.submit(@msg)
      end
    end

  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
import { createHash } from 'crypto';

/** Computes md5 hash from input and returns it as hex string */
export function md5(inp: string): string {
  return createHash('md5').update(inp).digest('hex');
}

/** Computes sha256 hash from input and returns it as hex string */
export function sha256(inp: string): string {
  return createHash('sha256').update(inp).digest('hex');
}

/** Converts base64 string to string */
export function fromBase64(str: string): string {
  return Buffer.from(str, 'base64').toString('binary');
}

/** Converts string to base64 encoded representation */
export function toBase64(str: string): string {
  const buf = Buffer.from(str, 'binary');
  return buf.toString('base64')
}


A National Coalition. With Big Local Impact.
The Bus Coalition is an advocacy organization that supports funding for federal transit bus and bus facility programs. With over 150 coalition members and a footprint in 43 states and the District of Columbia, the Coalition includes small, medium and large transit agencies, state transit associations and bus manufacturers and suppliers.
Founded in 2013 with only 17 charter members, The Bus Coalition has grown tremendously in the past five years and with that growth the Coalition's influence has grown too. Working with our champions in Congress, we successfully increased funding for bus programs in the FAST Act by more than $1 billion and more recently increased bus funding by $790 million in the FY18 and FY19 Omnibus Appropriations bills.
Working in concert with APTA and CTAA, our shared mission is to highlight the needs and benefits of bus transit and ensure bus programs are adequately funded at the federal level.
Above all, the Bus Coalition is the only advocacy group solely dedicated to ensuring bus public transit programs are funded at a level necessary to provide safe and reliable service to all Americans.
Buses are the backbone of transit service across America. More than one-half of all transit trips are carried by buses. MAP-21 cut bus funding by 57% from $984 million per year to $422 million, and the bus competitive grant program was eliminated. The Bus Coalition was formed to restore federal funds to critical bus programs.
Because of funding reductions, the age of bus fleets is skyrocketing. Between 2009 and 2016, the number of transit buses operating past useful life (12-years) increased nearly 40% and the number of buses operating more than 15 years increased a staggering 92%. Older buses weaken bus service reliability and increasing maintenance costs.
In early 2018, TBC sent a letter to House and Senate Appropriators outlining the need for additional bus funding and asking for increased investment in the FY18 and FY19 Appropriations process. In FY18, Congress delivered an additional $400 million for federal bus programs. See the letters we sent below.


text:
Mag Mawhinney Western & Cowboy Poetry
CDs / Books
Mag Mawhinney : Biography
Mag Mawhinney's rural roots are proudly set in the Canadian West. She was born in Duncan, BC and, at the time, lived in a float house on the edge of Lake Cowichan, a little logging hamlet on Vancouver Island. When she was eight years old, her family moved to the Cariboo Region of BC and began a homestead logging business in the bush, just outside of 100 Mile House. Homesteads and ranches surrounded them and that is where Mag learned about the "real west".
For over a decade, Mag has been writing western/cowboy poetry and performing at major cowboy festivals, as well as other events, across Western Canada. Her recitations have also been aired on TV and radio.
Mag also enjoys freelance writing and has been published internationally in numerous magazines, anthologies, newspapers and web sites, winning some awards for her articles and for poetry, in all genres.
Mag is also a songwriter and, in addition to the four songs on her CD "Passin' It On", she has written a number of songs for other artists, from Canada and the U.S.
Her third poetry book "Dreams of Fast Horses", states—"she writes with a humor that sometimes stretches the truth, but she also shows her sensitivity to the human spirit and her love for rural life."
Mag Mawhinney presently lives in Cobble Hill, Vancouver Island, near her birthplace.
Mag (far right) with her Dad and sister, 1950

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jakob Friedeborn (* 17. November 1607 in Stettin; † 16. November 1676) war kurfürstlich brandenburgischer Staatssekretär.

Jakob Friedeborn war ein Sohn des Stettiner Ratssekretärs und späteren Bürgermeisters Paul Friedeborn (1572–1637) und der Anna Schlecker (1568–1649).  Er besuchte das Pädagogium in Stettin und das Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin. 1628 studierte er an der Universität Leiden, 1630 an der Universität Oxford. 1633 wurde er Hauslehrer für Eduard von der Pfalz und Philipp von der Pfalz, die Söhne des Kurfürsten Friedrich V. Mit diesen reiste er von 1639 bis 1646 dreimal durch Frankreich und einmal durch Italien. Als Sekretär Eduards von der Pfalz versuchte er 1646 vergeblich, diesen von der Konversion zum Katholizismus und der katholischen Ehe mit Anna Gonzaga abzuhalten.

1646 trat er als Sekretär in Den Haag in den Dienst von Luise Henriette von Oranien, der ersten Frau des Kurfürsten Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg. 1650 ernannte ihn Friedrich Wilhelm zum kurfürstlich brandenburgischen Geheimen Etats-Sekretär und betraute ihn mit den pommerschen Angelegenheiten.

Jakob Friedeborn übersetzte mehrere englische Schriften, unter anderem über die Psalmen, in die deutsche Sprache.

Er war der Vater des brandenburgisch-preußischen Hofrats und Geheimen Staatssekretärs Johann Jacob Friedeborn (1659–1710).

Literatur
 Peter Bahl: Der Hof des Großen Kurfürsten. Studien zur höheren Amtsträgerschaft Brandenburg-Preußens. (= Veröffentlichungen aus den Archiven Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Band 8, Beiheft), Böhlau Verlag, Köln Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-412-08300-3, S. 475–476
 Amandus Karl Vanselow: Gelehrtes Pommern oder Alphabetische Verzeichniss einiger in Pommern gebohrnen Gelehrten männlichen und weiblichen Geschlechtes nach ihren merckwürdigsten Umständen und verfertigten Schrifften. Stargard 1728, S. 35 (Digitalisat).

Einzelnachweise

Staatssekretär (Preußen)
Person (brandenburgische Geschichte)
Geboren 1607
Gestorben 1676
Mann


A privilege is considered a rare opportunity, Which is exactly why The PRVLG fits this dynamic duo so effortlessly. Their act brings the rhythm section to the forefront of the stage unlike any other band around.
Creating a timeless sound that seamlessly mixes a vintage flare with a contemporary delivery, this set of twins certainly bring an element to music that is unheard of. A blend of Indie pop-esque melodies with some funk, soul, jazz, and r&b make for a Memphis version of Prince.
With Christian on bass and Christopher on drums and both singing simultaneously, the pair craft a truly authentic live show which showcases monster musicianship that is truly one of a kind.


New Zealand is being unfair to Apple. If anybody knows how to take care of its customers, it is Apple.
New Zealand is not being unfair to Apple. These laws apply to all companies. Flouting them (through ignorance or deliberately) will lead to this kind of action.
Apple has a long history of trying to flout EU consumer law with its selling practices of AppleCare for mobile devices. It is a repeat offender, and AFAIK, never challenges consumer protection demands because it has known from the outset that, in the training phase of store employees and the wording of online marketing, it was misleading purchasers. I think it has had its house in order for a couple of years now although they tried to sell me AppleCare when I bought the iPhone 6 using the same tactics that consumer groups were complaining about.
When I pointed out that the two year coverage the guy was trying to 'sell' me was already included in my statutory consumer rights, he gave a wry smile and conceded I was right but said he had the obligation to offer it to me anyway.
They were fined about a million euros in Italy a few years ago for doing exactly that - charging customers for coverage that they were already legally entitled to.
It's not really surprising. Why would China allow its citizens to have their data sitting in the US where the NSA can snoop on it. The EU has the same requirements.
Anyone who lives in the northeast would you want a car drive you around which was trained on California roads? I'll give you a hint, would you get in any car with a person who never seen snow and let them drive you during the storm we just had.
The van Idea make sense since it give more room for batteries and allows the sensor to have higher vantage point.
When I tough my kids to drive one things I taught them was not to always watch the car in front of them but the cars 10 in front as well as the cars behind. I have avoided more accidents because I saw brake lights way ahead and began slowing long before the car in front of me even tapped their brakes, this also allowed the cars behind me to begin slowing so we all did not have to panic stop. This is call offensive driving which most drivers do not do and think about the people programing theses system, what view of driving do they follow.
I believe it's called defensive driving but I could be wrong.
With regards to where the cars are being trained - they start out somewhere nice and dry and flat and straight then launch there, as we've seen with Waymo. Once they are confident that they are ready to test in more difficult conditions, they'll do that. There's no chance they will just launch in the NE having trained only in Cali or Arizona.


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text:
artists about
DJ | Berlin
For some individuals, career choices seem to turn out naturally. Julius Debler (aka) "Introversion" is one of them: "I never planned a music career, it just happened. I started making music in my early childhood."
Now, the 25-year-old Berliner by choice who defines himself as producer, sound designer and DJ is part of the new generation of young talents gaining a foothold in the electronic music industry by shaping it with an own and pioneering style.
In terms of producing, drums play a significant role in Introversion's compositions (it was the first instrument he laid his hands on in adolescent years). Many are breakbeat focused – not just the odd track here and there, it is definitely something that permanently defines his style. Other common denominators in his work are the continuous exploration of infusing furious dark 90's inspired techno with melancholic trance elements. Drums in full attack or wild synth stabs often get calmed by an emerging wave of classic trance chords finding their way into the arrangement. The way Introversion carefully picks out and introduces these old school-components, not being scared of their effect upon incorporating them, is what makes his tracks sound fresh and invigorating.
As a DJ, Introversion creates a diverse combination of tracks originated from hard, forceful techno. His sets mainly consist of new or unreleased material, drawing inspiration from 90's and 00's techno, rave and trance, alongside bridging a way to well-selected classics. To find the right balance for the journey, the emphasis lies as much on seeking out the track with the perfect severe kick drum, as well as the one containing the right atmospheric moment: "I love to play melodies and harmonic stuff, not just drum jams. But always quite hard".
Introversion has established himself as global touring DJ and producer within a short time as a result of several well-respected releases and playing at some of the scene's most remarkable venues such as Berghain Berlin, Institut fuer Zukunft Leipzig, Faust Seoul or FOLD London.
His breakthrough came when "Dystopia" hit the shelves in 2017. The diverse three-track techno EP on ARTS is already considered as modern classic.
This was followed by regular releases on ARTS, Emerald and remixes for Ellen Allien (BPitch), Nicolas Bougaieff (NovaMute), Blue Hour (Blue Hour Music) and SHDW & Obscure Shape (From Another Mind).
Boiler Room HÖR


Where does music come from? What drives people to create it, and how do they do it? We seek answers to these questions and more in the new series Dispatches from the Unknown.
Equal parts podcast, commission, recording, and live performance series, Dispatches asks big questions about music and the creative process. The series seeks to shed light on how people connect with their inner creative spark, to open listeners to new creative possibilities and processes, and to help make instrumental music and the art of improvisation more accessible to a wider audience. This is done in the spirit of inspiring creativity, and forging stronger connections between audiences, performers, and composers.
Season 1 features four fresh musical voices: NYC-based artists at the cutting edge of instrumental improvised music. Fabian Almazan, Anna Webber, Ike Sturm, and Satoshi Takeishi are all composing new solo music and are being documented in the process. Join host Chris Dingman in exploring the inner workings of their creative minds.
Dispatches from the Unknown was supported by New Music USA. To follow the project as it unfolds visit our project page.
The world premiere of these compositions was held at The Stone on Feb 21, 2017.


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On the 7th (Fri), explore the world behind art at Rogue's Gallery. Here are some ideas for day two: admire the majestic nature at Keyhole State Park, then don't miss a visit to Aladdin General Store, and then see the interesting displays at Hulett Museum.
To see photos, where to stay, more things to do, and more tourist information, read Devils Tower holiday builder app .
Charlotte to Devils Tower is an approximately 9-hour combination of flight and car. You can also drive; or do a combination of bus and taxi. Due to the time zone difference, you'll gain 2 hours traveling from Charlotte to Devils Tower. Plan for a bit cooler temperatures traveling from Charlotte in June, with highs in Devils Tower at 76°F and lows at 52°F. Wrap up your sightseeing on the 9th (Sun) to allow time to drive to Cody.
Get outdoors at Photography Tours and Chief Joseph Hwy. Eschew the tourist crowds and head to Whitney Gallery and Draper Natural History Museum. There's lots more to do: take in the dramatic scenery at The Buffalo Bill Reservoir, admire the majestic nature at Buffalo Bill State Park, and explore and take pictures at Bear Tooth Pass Hwy.
For where to stay, reviews, more things to do, and other tourist information, read Cody holiday planning website .
Traveling by car from Devils Tower to Cody takes 5.5 hours. Alternatively, you can do a combination of car and flight. June in Cody sees daily highs of 75°F and lows of 51°F at night. Finish your sightseeing early on the 12th (Wed) to allow enough time to drive to Yellowstone National Park.
Visiting Beartooth Hwy and Mount Washburn will get you outdoors. Step off the beaten path and head to Dragon's Mouth Springs and Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. Explore Yellowstone National Park's surroundings by going to Cooke City (Cooke City Montana Museum & Sylvia's Sweet Shoppe). There's much more to do: look for all kinds of wild species at Grand Loop Road, take in the natural beauty of Midway Geyser Basin, take in the dramatic natural features at Biscuit Basin, and explore the wealth of natural beauty at Gibbon Falls.
To see photos, ratings, and other tourist information, use the Yellowstone National Park trip planner .
Traveling by car from Cody to Yellowstone National Park takes 2.5 hours. Traveling from Cody in June, things will get a bit cooler in Yellowstone National Park: highs are around 66°F and lows about 34°F. Wrap up your sightseeing on the 18th (Tue) early enough to drive to Moose.
Moose is an unincorporated community in Teton County, Wyoming, United States, in the Jackson Hole valley. Step off the beaten path and head to Leigh Lake and Cascade Canyon. Escape the urban bustle at String Lake and Amphitheater Lake. There's lots more to do: hike along Menor's Ferry Historical Trail, explore the activities along Snake River, don't miss a visit to Chapel of the Sacred Heart, and take your sightseeing to a higher altitude at Teton Point Turnout.
For reviews, traveler tips, more things to do, and more tourist information, refer to the Moose driving holiday planner.
Drive from Yellowstone National Park to Moose in 2 hours. When traveling from Yellowstone National Park in June, plan for a bit warmer days and about the same nights in Moose: temperatures range from 72°F by day to 39°F at night. Wrap up your sightseeing by early afternoon on the 22nd (Sat) to allow enough time to travel back home.


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D4C has always been someone who doesn't follow… He was born to lead - to stand out and be different than others… a self described misfit, D4C finds his place in going against the grain.
He speaks about it in the lyrics of his song "Misfit"
I'd rather my environment be a product of me!"
Hailing from Australia's Gold Coast, D4C is a veteran in the music game. As an artist, producer, engineer and all around studio buff, he has done it all. Within the last decade, he has made his mark on the urban gospel scene in Australia, and his impact within the industry is undeniable.
Founding the record label "413 Records" in 2009 (originally known as D4C Productions), which has had a great line up of talented artists on the label throughout it's time. 413 is also a ministry that is moving across the Gold Coast and has teamed up with the ministry "The Commission" to spread all over Australia.
Bringing a positive attitude wherever he goes, D4C is a role model for young people and has had amazing opportunities to speak into the lives of many, and while uplifting the culture of hip hop through his musical talents, he has also found solace within the culture - music is his therapy.
D4C has performed and spoken both nationally and internationally in concerts, festivals, conferences, churches, town halls, prisons, juvenile detention centres, cafes, schools and parks... anywhere he can promote a positive message and share grace, love and hope.
D4C is part of a ministry called "The Commission" that travels around Australia, performing and speaking to youth, teens and adults, reaching out to those in need.
D4C recently completed his latest album "Next Chapter". D4C says it is his most honest, heartfelt and vulnerable work to date. Next Chapter was released on December 21st 2018. The first single from the album "El Shaddai" reached #7 on the iTunes inspirational charts in April 2018 & the second single "lost." reached #6 on the iTunes inspirational charts in November 2018. Upon album release, the song 'hurricane." reached #48 on the iTunes inspirational charts in December 2018. All 3 songs reached #1 on the Christian Rap charts in Australia at time of their release.
• 19-06-2015: Amplify Youth, Helensvale "D4C Take Over"
• 30-07-2015: Emmanuel College Chapel, Gold Coast QLD - "D4C Take Over"
• 17-11-2017 - Krosswerdz Logan City - with Rezadent, Kamaka & Nameless, Sista Sono, Meek Starkiller, Tim Turner & Joel Turner.
• 14-02-2018 - Krosswerdz Logan City - with Rezadent, MC Reboz, Street Raiders & more.
• 31-12-2018 - NYE PARTY, The Backroom, Brisbane - w/ DJ Rectangle, Shorty Main, Gibbo, Prophet of Poets, Skoobz & ID, Tiacca, Epifane, Peacekeepers, DJ Loading + more.


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text:
Michael Cohen, Hush Money, and Trump's Potential Criminal Liability
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (the SDNY) recently filed its sentencing memo in U.S. v. Michael Cohen. That memo has led to substantial speculation over whether the SDNY has evidence that President Trump criminally violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Many commentators believe that the SDNY does, particularly because the memo states that Cohen acted at the "direction" of President Trump. Commentators have also readily accepted the SDNY's view that so-called hush money payments may qualify as contributions subject to FECA's restrictions.
This post first examines which inferences may be properly drawn from the "direction" language. It then examines whether hush money payments qualify as contributions under FECA. It concludes that the legal issues here are far more nuanced than suggested by many commentators.
1. Direction by Trump. The SDNY memo describes two six-figure hush money payments, one from Cohen and one from American Media, Inc., to former Trump mistresses. These payments were apparently made to ensure that the mistresses remained silent about their affairs with the President. The SDNY memo argues that the payments were coordinated with the Trump campaign and were designed to influence the 2016 Presidential election.
The SDNY thus concludes that Cohen violated FECA. In its view, the hush money payments qualify as campaign contributions, and the restrictions on excessive contributions and corporation contributions applied to them. Thus, Michael Cohen violated FECA through his excessive contribution and through causing American Media, Inc. to make a prohibited corporate contribution. See 52 U.S.C. § 30116(a)(1) (setting relatively small dollar limits on campaign contributions) & (a)(7) (treating expenditures made in coordination with a campaign as contributions to the campaign); 52 U.S.C. § 30118(a) (prohibiting corporate contributions and expenditures in connection with various elections); 18 U.S.C. § 2(b) (establishing criminal liability for willfully causing another person to perform an act that would be a federal offense if performed directly).
To buttress its conclusions, the SDNY ties the hush money payments to Cohen's role with the Trump campaign. It also emphasizes that "as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of [President Trump]." See SDNY memo at 11 (citing probation report). That assertion apparently further shows that the hush money payments were intended to influence the election and were made in coordination with the campaign.
Some commentators believe that the SDNY would not include the "direction" language unless it had non-public evidence showing that the President directed the two payments. But, at least from the outside, it is unclear why the sentencing memo necessarily shows that. After all, in August, Cohen stated in open court that he arranged the payoffs "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate [i.e., Trump]." See Michael Cohen Says He Arranged Payments to Women at Trump's Direction, New York Times (Aug. 21, 2018). And the SDNY wrote the sentencing memo as an advocacy document, to rebut Cohen's plea for leniency. With that in mind, it is hardly surprising that the SDNY would copy and paste Cohen's admissions into the document. However, maybe federal prosecutors would not use a criminal defendant's own words against him, absent an independent investigation into whether his admissions were accurate.
In any event, many now assert that the SDNY communicated its belief about Trump's guilt through the "direction" language. See Chris Mills Rodrigo, Cohen filing means Trump committed two felonies, The Hill (Dec. 7, 2018) (collecting commentators' statements). However, if the SDNY actually believes that Cohen's admission establishes Trump's guilt, it would be mistaken. As discussed in prior posts, a person criminally violates campaign finance law only if he knows that his behavior is unlawful. See 52 U.S.C. § 30109(d) (describing criminal penalties for knowing and willful FECA violations). In other words, ignorance of the law provides a defense to prosecution. Thus, even if Trump directed Cohen to make or facilitate the hush money payments described in the SDNY memo (as seems to be the case, see here and here), that direction would be potentially criminal only if Trump knew that he was breaking the law.
This analysis does not change if the government proceeds under 18 U.S.C. § 2(b), rather than under 52 U.S.C. § 30109. Section 2(b) reaches a person who causes another to commit federal crimes, and it could potentially apply to someone who caused another to violate FECA. However, the defendant must "possess the mens rea required by the underlying statute." United States v. Gumbs, 283 F.3d 128, 131 (3d Cir. 2002). Thus, if a defendant were prosecuted under Section 2(b) for causing another person to violate FECA, ignorance of the law would remain a defense.
The SDNY memo thus does not establish, as recently alleged in one newspaper article, that "Mr. Trump is effectively an unindicted co-conspirator in Mr. Cohen's campaign-finance crimes." See Charlie Savage, 'A Simple Private Transaction': Trump Lays Out a Defense in a Campaign-Finance Case, The New York Times (Dec. 10, 2018). Nor does the SDNY memo establish that Trump violated any campaign finance laws. To demonstrate that, the SDNY would need to show that Trump knowingly and willfully directed Cohen or others to violate the law.
2. Hush money payments as campaign contributions. The SDNY memo relies on a contested interpretation of campaign finance law. That is, the memo follows the approach advanced in the failed John Edwards prosecution, in which the government argued that hush money payments potentially qualify as campaign contributions. But some believe that the hush money payments described in U.S. v. Cohen are factually distinguishable from those in the Edwards case. If that is so, the harsh criticisms applied to the Edwards prosecution might not apply here.
But there are strong arguments that hush money payments, as a matter of law, are never campaign contributions. Nor should they ever qualify as proper campaign expenditures. Under this approach, embraced by at least one former government official, FECA could not properly criminalize hush money payments. See Bradley A. Smith, Michael Cohen Pled Guilty to Something That Is Not a Crime, National Review (Dec. 12, 2018).
Regarding the statutory framework, a contribution includes various payments or transfers "made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office." 52 U.S.C. § 30101(8). Indirect or "third-party" payments, like the ones at issue in U.S. v. Cohen, may qualify as contributions even though they are not transferred directly to the campaign or the candidate. See 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(6). They may even qualify if they would not reflect proper campaign expenditures. See id. However, third-party payments will not qualify as campaign contributions if they "would have been made irrespective of the candidacy." Id.
The regulations do not specify whether hush money payments are deemed made "irrespective of" a campaign. However, provisions on improper campaign expenditures, which contain a similar "irrespective of" test, provide some indirect guidance. Under FECA, a campaign contribution cannot "be converted by any person to personal use." 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(1). Personal use occurs when contributions are used for commitments, obligations, or expenses that "would exist irrespective of the candidate's election campaign" or her official U.S. duties. 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2). See also Fed. Election Comm'n v. Craig, 816 F.3d 829, 836-37 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (explaining how Congress drew "irrespective of" test from FEC regulations).
The statute reveals that some payments will not qualify as campaign-related, no matter the circumstances. See 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2)(A)-(I). For example, if a candidate, as a direct consequence of her candidacy, enrolls in a course on campaign finance law and pays tuition for that course, that tuition payment will not qualify as a proper campaign expense. See 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2)(G). It makes no difference that, as a factual matter, the payment would not have been made but for the campaign.
Whether hush money payments should be treated in the same way remains an open question. The items specified in the statute are illustrative, not exhaustive, of expenses automatically considered made for personal use. See also 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i). One suspects that, if the FEC issued regulations on hush money payments, it would adopt an objective approach. That is, it would flatly state that those payments are always made "irrespective of" the campaign and would not qualify as proper campaign expenditures. Otherwise, candidates could use donors' funds to pay off their mistresses. See also Richard Pildes, Why John Edwards Probably Did Not Commit A Crime, Regardless of His Motives or Those of His Donors, Election Law Blog (Jun. 4, 2011) (urging objective approach to campaign contribution classifications).
However, hush money payments might be analyzed under a subjective approach. That is, those payments might be examined individually to determine whether they were made "irrespective of" the campaign and not to influence the election. Under this approach, a hush money payment made to one mistress (such as John Edwards') might not qualify as campaign contribution even though a hush money payment made to another person's mistress (such as Donald Trump's) would so qualify.
This subjective approach finds superficial support through the regulations. Under 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(ii), if an expense is not automatically considered personal under Section 113.1(g)(1)(i), its classification will be determined on a "case-by-case basis." This arguably implies that hush money payments made to different mistresses may be treated differently under FECA.
However, the regulations "case-by-case" language does not necessarily displace objective analysis. For example, though the regulations state that legal expenses will be examined on a case-by-case basis, the FEC has adopted objective standards to aid its inquiries. In the FEC's view, legal expenses will not qualify as proper campaign expenditures "'merely because the underlying proceedings have some impact on the campaign or the officeholder's status.'" Advisory Opinion 2009-20 (quoting 60 Fed. Reg. 7862, 7868 (Feb. 9, 1995)). Thus, legal expenses related to divorce will be personal, see 60 Fed. Reg. at 7868, even if a candidate could prove that her candidacy caused her divorce. However, the FEC has concluded that legal expenses will not be personal when "the legal proceedings involve allegations directly relating to the candidate's campaign or duties as a Federal officeholder." Advisory Opinion 2009-20.
The case law confirms the FEC's ability to apply an objective approach to expenses described in 11 C.F.R. §§ 113.1(g)(1)(ii). That is, though the regulation refers to case-by-case analysis, that simply means that the FEC may delineate broad categories as it decides individual disputes, in the "common law tradition." F.EC. v. Craig, 816 F.3d at 841. The FEC does not need to literally perform "a case-by-case analysis of [each] candidate's or official's rationale" for any given expense. See id. at 841 (rejecting claim that FEC must apply individualized approach to legal expenses; "that is not what 'case-by-case' must mean").
The FEC should adopt this framework for confidentiality (hush money) payments. That is, when those payments arise from campaign actions, they should be treated as campaign expenditures. However, when those payments relate to a candidate's adulterous or other romantic relationships, any resulting campaign payments should, like divorce expenses, automatically be treated as having been made "irrespective of" the campaign.
Under existing regulations, a third-party payment could conceivably qualify as a campaign "contribution" even if it is not applied towards a proper campaign expense. See 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(6) (introductory language). That is, a third-party hush money payment might not have been made "irrespective of" the candidacy, even though the hush money expense would exist "irrespective of" that candidacy. However, to establish a coherent and sensible regulatory regime, the FEC should apply an objective test to both, analogous to the one used in Advisory Opinion 2009-20. When the hushed activities relate to campaign actions, or the actions of the candidate in her capacity as such, any hush payments should qualify as contributions. If the hushed activities do not relate to campaign or candidate activities, then any hush payments should not qualify as contributions under FECA.
In U.S. v. Cohen, the federal prosecutors did not apply this objective framework. Rather, they clearly believe, as they did during their widely-criticized prosecution of John Edwards, that a subjective approach applies and that hush money payments for adulterous relationships may qualify as campaign contributions. However, federal prosecutors' views do not establish the meaning of the law even if a particular criminal defendant, such as Michael Cohen, acquiesces to those views. The SDNY memo thus offers only a glimpse of the factual and legal issues that must be wrestled with if a defendant resists prosecution for hush money payments. And if a court thoroughly wrestles with those issues, it should conclude that hush money payments do not qualify as campaign contributions under FECA and its implementing regulations.
Comments welcome. This post will be updated.
Follow me on Twitter: @AndyGrewal
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Dr. Rachel Hirsch cutting Arctic Char for the community freezer.
"Everyone I have met – both in Goose Bay and Nain – has been more than somewhat extraordinary," said Dr. Hirsch. "My co-workers at the Nain Research Centre are some of the most dedicated, hard-working people I have ever met. I feel very blessed."
Dr. Hirsch is focusing her efforts on helping to develop and evaluate a pilot youth outreach program in Nain through the Nain Research Centre and Community Freezer Program (CFP).
Established in March 2011 and led by the Environment Division of the Nunatsiavut Government and the Nain Inuit Community Government, and administered at the Nain Research Centre, the CFP program provides the community with anonymous and free access to country foods such as caribou, seal, Arctic hare, Arctic char and even polar bear.
Aullak, sangilivallianginnatuk ("going off, growing strong" in Labrador Inuttitut) is the first project of its kind in Canada focused on bringing together community youth and harvesters to enhance a community freezer program. Thirteen youth have been selected to participate alongside 15 harvester volunteers.
Dr. Hirsch explains that the project will be designed for youth by youth with guidance from community members including the senior harvesters. There will be a focus on intergenerational skills and a knowledge and values exchange through activities such as visits with elders, going off onto the land in both large and small groups, cooking classes, documentary film making and Inuit games. She is a partner in the project and will be helping throughout but especially in program evaluation.
Dr. Hirsch's research interests include human security in the Arctic, health and environmental governance, community resiliency and policy framing including innovative techniques in the evaluation of knowledge exchange.
The pilot project in Nain includes community members, government employees and researchers working together to build and share solutions to human security issues such as food security, inter-generational learning and mental health.
"Although I have only been living in Nain for a little longer than a month, it is already clear that even though the cost of shipping many foods is subsidized, many households are still food insecure," said Dr. Hirsch, adding that country foods are an important (and healthy) source of dietary protein.
Dr. Hirsch explains that many people are helping to guide and administer the program, including Tom Sheldon, Katie Winter and Carla Pamak of the Environment Division of the Nunatsiavut Government. She acknowledges the support of local harvesters, parents, the Jens Haven Memoral School, and the Nain Community Freezer and Youth Outreach Program Steering Committee as important steps in preparing to launch the program.
"This is truly a community-led project and it has been extremely exciting to work with many different community stakeholders who are involved in youth well-being and engagement," she said.
Funding for Dr. Hirsch's post-doctoral fellowship is from the Labrador Institute, the Faculty of Arts (geography), and ArcticNet (www.arcticnet.ulaval.ca). She is co-supervised by Dr. Trevor Bell of Memorial's Department of Geography and Dr. Chris Furgal of Trent University. She will be based in Nain until December 2012.


Slivers of Light – Daily Reflections To Bring You Out Of The Darkness.
You can now order your copy of the book "Slivers of Light" below.
A simple PDF of the book sent to your email inbox (from November 5th 2018), plus access to the 21-day "Shift", an online programme to follow while you read the book.
There are days, or periods of time in our lives, when it feels like everything is falling apart, and it's impossible to find a way out of the darkness.
This is when we need a "sliver of light".
A sliver of light is just a tiny shard, a glimmer of hope, that reminds us that things will get better, and we can find a way out of the black hole we have found ourselves in.
Written by Yoga Teacher and Wellbeing Expert, Gillie Sutherland of HappyFit, this is a collection of short essays, written from first-hand experience, each of which are, in themselves, a "sliver of light".
This is an invitation to take the small steps, just 15 minutes in your day, when you can unplug somewhere and get some inspiration, wisdom and hope to bring you back to life.
21 slivers of Light, 21 days to change a habit. Only 1 choice to make – stay in the dark, or find your way slowly back to the light.


MUDSA originates from the very first disabled supporters' Christmas Party, way back in 1989! Back then, it was the only disabled supporters' organisation of its kind and our thanks must go to Lyn Laffin, PA to Sir Alex, for helping us along the road to where we are today.
Needless to say, the Christmas Party for our disabled supporters has become a regular feature and is probably one of the most over-subscribed events on the MUDSA calendar.
This event takes place in the International Lounge where we can accommodate approximately 110 people each year. The main feature of the party is the First Team Squad coming down to share the festivities with us – one of the very few occasions when supporters can actually meet their idols face to face, have photographs taken and their souvenirs signed! The party usually takes place around lunchtime, just after the players have finished training, so we arrange to have lunch/brunch before they arrive. The players circulate round the room for about an hour and, occasionally, the manager will come down and join us just to add the cherry on top.
MUDSA Committee members Ann-Marie and Chas organise the front and back of house, respectively, and because of high demand, the applications are filtered scrupulously to ensure fair play, so those that don't make it one year, move higher up the list for the following year. At present, it works out that members will get a turn every four years and we do encourage you to register your interest as soon as you become a member with Ann-Marie by clicking here.
To attend the MUDSA Christmas Party you must apply EVERY YEAR so that you stay on the waiting list!
This is due to the huge popularity of the event and the desire from ALL MUDSA Members to meet their Manchester United heroes.
Numbers are strictly limited but as it stands, if you apply every year, you will get to attend the Party every fourth year.


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As a turn-key provider Modern Amusement Group carefully considers each and every facet of the project from all perspectives; Starting with an in-depth feasibility study and market analysis, to design and development, to engineering and construction, through to the operations, procedures, and management of the park. Right from the project conception through to park operations, our designers, architects, and experienced operators collaborate together giving input and sharing ideas and insight, in doing this we are able to foresee and prevent any issues that may arise, saving the client precious time and money. Designed strictly according to customer's request. Read More >>Installation Commissioning Modern amusement has the completed pre-sale and after-sale service system, can provide with the high qualtity, fast and considerate service, including the detailed installation, usage, daily operation, maintenance instructions and safety regulations. Regarding the large amusement equipments, which are involved with the professional installation and guidence, we can send the technicians to the scene supporting you. And we promise to test and operate all the equipments carefully before delivery, if you have any installating or operating problems, pls contact us freely. Read More >>Operation and Training Modern amusement facilities are to provide the leisure entertainment, so safety is first. The operators should get related professional training and guidence. Through education conferrence, user manual, video and live etc, we will provide the comprehensive training guidence according with the different equipments. Including products training, operations, emergency procedures, safety education, notice. Read More >>Maintenance Modern amusement products are high-quality, cost-effective, but for long term usage and better protection, we kindly suggest you had better get them regular maintenance and cleaning. Different products, we will offer different maintenance manuals, which will be sent with the shipment.


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Fresh Updates from First Huntingtin Lowering Study Publication
Article published date:
Dr Jeff Carroll
Today saw the publication of the first manuscript describing a huntingtin lowering trial in Huntington's disease patients. This study, sponsored by Ionis and Roche, provided clear evidence of researchers' ability to safely reduce mutant huntingtin protein in the spinal fluid. An overview of these results has previously been shared, but this manuscript provides important new information about the results of this remarkable trial. What'd we learn?
Huntingtin lowering: a little background
Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a single mutation in a gene we refer to as the HD gene. Like most genes, the HD gene is used by cells as instructions to create a little cellular machine called a protein, which we call huntingtin. The genetic mutation that causes HD also changes this protein, which we refer to as mutant huntingtin.
While HD symptoms are complex, it has pretty simple genetics – if you inherit a single mutant copy of the HD gene from either your mother or father, you will develop HD. Since we know that one has to inherit a mutant HD gene to develop HD symptoms, could we interfere with the process of making the mutant huntingtin protein? If so, would that slow or prevent the progression of Huntington's disease?
That general approach, which we refer to as huntingtin lowering has been a major focus of HD researchers for a number of years, and several companies are pursuing this target. Two companies – Ionis and Roche Pharma – are running the most advanced program, in collaboration with a number of academic researchers around the world led by Prof. Sarah Tabrizi, University College London.
We've previously discussed the early results of the first human study by Ionis and Roche here, subsequently updated here and here.
Excitingly, today saw the release of the first official manuscript describing these huntingtin lowering efforts in HD patients, and it provides new information about the first trail. This trial was focused on understanding whether treatment with a huntingtin lowering drug called an antisense oligonucleotide or ASO is safe.
Endpoints, Endpoints, Endpoints
As in any clinical trial, this study included a number of endpoints. Endpoints are just the target, or goal, that you want your study to accomplish. In future HD trials, this might include things like improved movement or thinking. But for a new drug that has never been tested in people, the endpoint is always safety, safety, safety.
Formally, researchers say that safety is the primary endpoint of the study. This just means it's the sole criteria we'll use to judge whether the trial is a success or failure. If the drug turns out to be unsafe, the trial fails. If there are no safety concerns, the study is a success.
While we'd obviously like be able to tell whether a drug is safe and whether it helps HD symptoms at the same time, we can't achieve both goals in the course of a single study. This is because it takes large numbers of participants – many hundreds – to tell whether a drug is influencing HD symptoms. But for a safety study, we want to treat the smallest reasonable number of people to reduce the number of people exposed to the risk of testing a drug for the first time.
While trials usually have one primary endpoint, researchers are curious about other possible impacts of their drug on HD-related changes. These other measurements are called secondary endpoints – this term helps us remember that the main, or primary, goal of the trial is to determine safety, but we have many secondary measurements we're interested in examining.
This study included a large number of secondary endpoints, focused on participants' HD symptoms, brain scans and lab tests to measure specific markers in the blood and spinal fluid. The new manuscript is exciting, because it's the first chance we've had to look at the raw data produced in the study. The interesting results of some secondary endpoints are discussed below, but it's important to remember that determining safety was the primary goal of everyone working on this trial.
No Serious Adverse Events
The data published in this new paper generally supports the safety of the drug, called Htt-Rx, in HD patients. The most important safety outcome measure is a list of what researchers call adverse events. These can be anything that causes distress to people, running the gamut from mild (a headache that resolves in a few days without treatment) to severe (a heart attack or suicide attempt).
Of course, in any group of dozens of people followed closely for several months, there's bound to be some adverse events. This is why having a placebo, or dummy treatment, group is so important in studies like this. By comparing the rate at which people in the trial experience adverse events, we can measure whether they occur more frequently in people given real drug, as opposed to the placebo injections.
There were no severe adverse reactions in any of the groups in the trial. Excitingly, no participants withdrew from the study, suggesting folks in the trial felt able to handle the repeated spinal injections and many tests administered.
Mild adverse events did occur during the study, but people receiving placebo treatment were exactly as likely to experience them as people receiving the drug. This suggests that these effects are not due to the drug itself, but rather the procedure of spinal fluid injections, or just bad luck. The most common side effect was a post-treatment headache, which is known to occur sometimes after spinal fluid injections.
NfL Changes
This study used several newly developed tests that raise some potential safety concerns worthy of additional study. First, the team measured the levels of a marker called neurofilament light, or NfL, in the spinal fluid of people in the study. This marker is released by sick and damaged brain cells called neurons, and researchers have previously demonstrated that it increases slowly and predictably in HD mutation carriers (covered on HDBuzz here).
Surprisingly, in the patients receiving higher doses of ASO, there was a brief increase in the levels of NfL, suggesting some kind of stress on neurons after delivery of a high dose of drug. According to the data presented in the paper, this increase in NfL returned to normal during the course of the study, even though people continued to receive injections of the drug. The meaning of this isn't clear – researchers were measuring NfL in hopes of eventually seeing a reduction in its levels, not an increase. However, the increase was relatively small, and seems to have returned to normal.
This increase in spinal fluid NfL is weird, frankly, and you can be sure that researchers at Roche are thinking about how to get to the bottom of it in the longer, on-going, studies with this drug. If there were any sign that this increase in NfL levels was associated with adverse impacts on brain function, we would know by now, so that doesn't seem to be the case.
Brain Imaging Changes
Another finding worthy of additional study arises from brain imaging called magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. This kind of brain scan uses giant magnets to take a picture of the shape of participants' brains. Many years of work by HD researchers have defined very precise changes in brain shape that occur as HD progresses. One of these changes is a progressive increase in the size of the brain's ventricles – the fluid filled spaces within the brain tissue. During the course of HD, these spaces appear to grow, as the tissue around them shrinks.
In the higher-dose groups, the volume of these fluid-filled spaces actually increased during the study, which is the opposite effect one would hope for if the drug was slowing brain shrinkage. This effect could be a real response to ASO treatment, or it could be due to unexpected physical changes in the brain thanks to some other aspect of delivering large doses of ASOs, and have nothing to do with HD.
As with the brief increases in NfL, the impact of these brain changes is not yet clear. What is clear is that these changes aren't associated with changes in brain function, at least as far as researchers can tell in this initial study.
Getting to the bottom of these potentially concerning lab tests requires a larger group of people, followed for a longer time. This is exactly why Roche and Ionis are conducting a new, larger, study called the GENERATION-HD1 study, the announcement of which we covered on HDBuzz here.
Where do ASOs go?
Another major outcome from this study is a better understanding of how ASOs move around the body after being injected into the spinal fluid. Based on a large number of animal studies, Ionis and Roche built a computer program to predict how much ASOs would be found in the spinal fluid (and brain) after being injected into people.
Models like this are really important because they help researchers plan how much drug to inject, and how frequently they need to inject it to keep levels of the drug high enough to do its job. In the study of HTT-Rx, researchers measured how much ASO was in the spinal fluid (and blood, where it shows up as it's being cleared away).
These results proved that the computer program was accurate at predicting how much ASO sticks around in the spinal fluid. This gives us confidence that the amount of ASO being injected, and the frequency at which it's being injected, are based on good assumptions. This will reduce the amount of guesswork involved in planning the next trials with this drug.
mHTT Knockdown
The overall goal of all this work is to reduce levels of mutant huntingtin in the brain. Unfortunately, for now, there's no direct way to measure mutant huntingtin in the brains of living patients. Brain tissue is irreplaceable, so we can't sample it to determine how much mutant huntingtin is there.
Luckily, we can guess at this by measuring levels of mutant huntingtin in the spinal fluid. This clear liquid bathes the brain, circulating and coming into contact with our entire brain throughout the course of a day.
For reasons that are still a little bit unclear, a tiny amount of mutant huntingtin is present in the spinal fluid of HD patients. Our current best guess is that this mutant huntingtin comes from the brain itself, rather than some other source. So, researchers have developed very sensitive tests for measuring mutant huntingin levels in spinal fluid, to give a clue about the levels of mutant huntingtin in the brain.
Treatment with ASOs resulted in very clear reductions in levels of mutant huntingtin in the spinal fluid. While it's not direct proof of lowering huntingtin in the brain, it's the best evidence we could hope for to suggest that the drug has successfully lowered huntingtin levels.
What about HD symptoms?
Finally, investigators examined the relationship between treatment with Htt-Rx and HD symptoms. Remember, the duration and number of people in this study is intentionally low, to minimize the risk associated with testing a drug in people for the first time. That means there's not enough people in the study – and they weren't followed long enough – to be definitive about any changes seen in symptoms. And, indeed, there is no large difference in the HD symptoms measured in participants during this short study.
Thanks to newly developed lab tests for measuring mutant huntingtin in the spinal fluid, we have a sense of how much mutant huntingtin lowering is occurring in each patient. As an early exploration of their data, the researchers examined the relationship between how much mutant huntingtin was lowered in the spinal fluid of each participant, and the severity of their HD symptoms.
There are some intriguing correlations observed – notably, people with the greatest reduction in mutant huntingtin tended to also have better symptoms. The researchers appropriately point out that these results should be taken with a grain of salt until we look in a bigger group of people for a longer time, but it's very exciting that larger reductions of mutant huntingtin are correlated with better HD symptoms.
The study described in this new manuscript represents a huge investment of time, effort and hope by everyone involved. The 46 volunteers and their families deserve enormous gratitude from the HD community, as they took on some risk in testing a drug with the potential to address HD's underlying cause. Physicians and researchers in academic labs, at Roche and especially at Ionis also deserve enormous credit for developing these drugs and bringing them to patients for testing.
What did we learn as a result of all this hard work? First – that lowering mutant huntingtin in the nervous system of HD patients is possible. This represents the first time we've been able to lower levels of the protein that causes HD in a targeted way. Second, we learned an enormous amount about how ASOs work in the body – how long they stick around in the spinal fluid and blood, which helps design future studies with more targeted delivery of drugs.
The primary endpoint of the trial, to determine whether this drug is safe, was met. There were no severe adverse events associated with this ASO being delivered to the spinal fluid of HD patients. There were some lab tests – including NfL and brain ventricle size – that do raise some questions that need to be addressed in future studies. Luckily, these lab test results weren't associated with changes in brain function that we can measure.
In short, the now published results of the first study with a drug targeting the root cause of HD are a big leap forward for the community. They point towards refinements and cautions we should consider as we test the drug in larger groups of HD patients over a longer time. In fact, the next studies with this drug are already underway, suggesting everyone involved is working towards the goal of determining as quickly as possible whether these drugs are both safe and effective against HD.
Latest Research Articles
Updates from the EHDN Plenary Meeting 2020
Published date: 8 January, 2021
In September, the European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN) hosted a virtual webinar event which comprised presentations on some of the latest scientific research as well as clinical studies of Huntington's disease (HD). Researchers, doctors, patients and other interested folks, tuned in for an afternoon of talks as well as question and answer sessions to learn ... Read more
Uncovering the dark side of DNA repair to design HD treatments
Published date: 22 December, 2020
A gene known as 'MSH3', which encodes a protein involved in fixing and maintaining our DNA, has become a hot topic in Huntington's research since being implicated as a key driver of the disease by multiple genetic studies. In a recent publication, a team of scientists from the National University of Ireland, Galway, have provided ... Read more
Huntington Study Group (HSG) 2020 Annual Conference: HD in Focus – Day 2
Published date: 1 November, 2020
The second day of the HSG conference was another busy day of presentations from HD researchers and clinicians. The day kicked off with a talk from Vaccinex who gave us an overview of their work on the SIGNAL clinical trial. Unfortunately, pepinemab, the medicine tested in this trial, did not influence HD symptoms and the ... Read more
Published date: 30 October, 2020
The Huntington Study Group (HSG) is a clinical research network focused exclusively on HD. Yesterday the HSG annual conference began with a schedule jam-packed with virtual talks from researchers, clinicians and different companies who are all working towards finding new medicines for HD. The day encompassed many interesting presentations which covered a lot of the ... Read more
Treatment for neurological disorder could be repurposed for Huntington's disease patients
While developing a drug called branaplam for patients with SMA, the pharmaceutical company Novartis discovered that it could hold promise for people with HD. The FDA has granted a special status called Orphan Drug Designation to branaplam. An existing drug…for huntingtin lowering? The pharmaceutical company Novartis has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ... Read more
Sad news from the SIGNAL study: pepinemab does not influence HD symptoms
Published date: 23 September, 2020
The SIGNAL clinical trial was designed to test a drug called pepinemab in people with early Huntington's disease. The key results of that trial were recently announced, and unfortunately, pepinemab did not slow or improve HD symptoms as hoped. What was the SIGNAL trial, and who participated? The SIGNAL trial was launched in 2015 by ... Read more
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Morrisons introducing 'Quiet Hour' at its stores in Bromsgrove, Rubery and Droitwich for autistic shoppers and shoppers with autistic children
Tristan Harris 19th Jul, 2018
MORRISONS has announced it is teaming up with the National Autistic Society to introduce a quiet shopping hour every Saturday at its stores in Bromsgrove, Rubery and Droitwich.
It is aimed at shoppers who are autistic or who have autistic children who find shopping an anxious or daunting experience.
During the quiet hour, between 9am and 10am the lights will be dimmed, music and radio stations will be turned off, there will be no tannoy announcements, there will be reduced movement of trolleys and baskets and checkout beeps and other electrical noises will be turned down.
Morrisons carried out a trial earlier in the year in three of its stores to find out what improvements can be made and to find a convenient time each week for the 'Quieter Hour' to take place.
Listening to customers they found one in five had a friend or family member with autism and many appreciated the option to shop at that time on a Saturday.
Morrisons is also working to improve awareness amongst colleagues of the issues autistic customers face in store.
Daniel Cadey, from the National Autistic Society said: "Around 700,000 people are on the autism spectrum in the UK.
"This means they see, hear and feel the world differently to other people, often in a more intense way. Morrisons 'Quieter Hour' is a step in the right direction for autistic people who find supermarket shopping a real struggle."
Matt Dunkers at Morrisons Droitwich said: "Our initial trials showed there is a need for a quieter shopping experience. We hope that these changes make a real difference for some of our customers at our store."
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SO YOU think you know more than the experts? – well here's your chance to prove it.
Rothamsted Research is offering UK farmers the opportunity to test their own theories and in conjunction with the AHDB is offering up to £3000 for a 'smart' research idea. All the projects will be co-designed and run by farmers themselves.
The monies come from a new fund aimed at supporting innovative on-farm research – with all projects to be thought up, co-designed, and run by farmers. The aim of the FarmInn project is to provide real world solutions to challenges facing UK agriculture.
About seven projects will be funded in the first instance, with each farmer receiving up to £3000 to cover the eligible costs of running their trial. "Any proposal that addresses the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of farm businesses will be considered," said Dr Shield.
The scheme will provide free access to Rothamsted's researchers and facilities, by pairing each farmer with an expert, he added. "Farmers are great innovators, continually striving for new and better ways of doing things. They also possess a huge wealth of expertise and when it comes to their own land, an unrivalled level of knowledge.
"We aim to support that spirit of discovery by taking away some of the financial risks of trying something new, and by providing them with specialist support in terms of designing experiments, collecting data and analysing results," he added.
All it needs is to fill in a short, simple application form and projects will be chosen by a panel of Rothamsted staff, who will then assign a suitable scientist to work with the applicant.
Once up and running, the projects' results will be presented via on-farm demonstrations, websites and social media, as well as an annual conference.


Brunch and Boat tour bundle available. Please call Samuel Slater's at 508-943-1639 to make reservations for the Mother's Day Bundle. It will include a brunch at Samuels Slater's Restaurant and an Indian Princess Tour.
Purchases made here are for the cruise only.