Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney announced the establishment of the Virginia Education Center for Asphalt Technology (VECAT) during a press conference on Monday, Oct. 5 at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.
will be at the center of the new VECAT training program.
The statewide effort involves a partnership of The Virginia Asphalt Association, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Virginia Community College System, led by Germanna Community College's Center for Workforce in Culpeper.
"Whether you're in Abingdon or Arlington, students will now have the ability to further their careers in one of Virginia's key industries," Stoney said. "The efforts of this partnership will send a signal to all our competitors that we know what it takes to continue building the new Virginia economy."
The effort will be focused at Germanna with changes to the asphalt-related materials certification classes, the initiation of an asphalt technologist apprenticeship program and eventually asphalt technologist associate's degree.
Germanna President David A. Sam, (center) at VECAT launch.
The partnership will support business growth and jobs creation, increased competitiveness for Virginia's asphalt industry, continuing education for changing materials and practices and create a supply chain to replace retiring workers. This will be accomplished through entry level to advanced training, stackable credentials, an apprenticeship program and the development of a pathway to an associate degree.
Consulting industry occupations: project engineer, project inspector, asphalt lab technician, and asphalt mix designer/certifier.


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First Real Fear the Walking Dead Clip, Plus Official Synopsis
Janey Tracey
Thursday, 25 June 2015 - 1:24PM
After two completely generic teasers that told us nothing about the show, we finally have the first real footage from Fear the Walking Dead, featuring star Kim Dickens. It's still a short clip, but it's pretty revealing as to the tone of the early episodes, and it's chilling. It's by far the coolest thing we've seen from the show up to this point.
In the clip, Dickens's character, Nancy, who's a high school guidance counselor, is reassuring one of her kids that the rumors of a zombie apocalypse aren't true (woops). He says in a panicky voice, "Reports in five states, they don't know if it's a virus or a microbe - but it's spreading! People are killing!"
She tells him, "You need to spend less time online. The authorities would tell us."
Ending the teaser on that line is significant, especially since all the viewers know that the world as they know it is, in fact, going to come to an end. From this clip, it seems that the series will explore the government's reactions to crises in a critical manner, which will be fascinating and sociopolitically relevant if done correctly. And especially since executive producer Greg Nicotero recently claimed that Fear the Walking Dead took inspiration from real-life epidemics, including Ebola, I'm excited to see where they take this.
But regardless of how you feel about the footage, everyone will be glad to see an actual clip from the show after these two anticlimaxes:
AMC also released an official synopsis (finally!) along with the new trailer:
A companion series to "The Walking Dead," the #1 show on television among adults 18-49, "Fear the Walking Dead" takes us back to the beginning of the zombie apocalypse – a time when the world was changing rapidly for reasons unknown, before anyone understood exactly what was happening, when life as everyone knew it was upended and altered in ways no one could have ever imagined. "Fear the Walking Dead" is executive produced by Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, David Alpert and showrunner David Erickson and produced by AMC Studios. The series, set in Los Angeles, stars Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia, Elizabeth Rodriguez as Liza, Ruben Blades as Daniel, Mercedes Mason as Ofelia and Lorenzo James Henrie as Chris.
Fear the Walking Dead is set to air sometime this August.
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GLOBAL AMERICANS REPORT
TRACKING LATIN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
The Summit of the AmericasHalf Full or Half Empty?
Ever since its foundation, the Summit of the Americas has been an opportunity for the United States to promote its interests and reinforce its leadership in the region. Inaugurated in 1994 in Miami under President Bill Clinton, the Summit first largely worked to deepen economic ties through the planned creation of a hemispheric free trade agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and to create a club of elected heads of state. Despite the collapse of FTAA negotiations during the subsequent administration of George W. Bush, the Summit has had some victories. Most noteworthy was the creation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter during the 2001 Summit in Quebec City, Canada, where member countries affirmed their shared commitment to defend representative democracy.
But this year, for the first time in the seven iterations of the Summit, the President of the United States did not attend. The April 2018 Summit in Lima reflected popular and political concern over the wave of corruption scandals that has swept across the hemisphere and was dedicated to "Democratic Governance against Corruption." Choosing to stay in the U.S. to oversee the American response to the chemical attacks in Syria, President Trump's failure to attend the Summit added to perceptions that the U.S. administration lacks a coherent, engaged policy for the hemisphere. (Trump's absence followed former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's absence last year at the 47th OAS General Assembly.) In the president's place, the American delegation was led by Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, then-acting Secretary of State John Sullivan, the president's daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) President and CEO Ray W. Washburne.
In trying to deepen ties with Latin America, a day prior to the Summit's inauguration, Ivanka Trump and Ray W. Washburne announced OPIC's 2X Americas, a new women's initiative that would allocate $150 million in seed funding for Latin American women entrepreneurs and potentially mobilize up to $500 million in private capital to invest in projects that empower women in the region. Vice President Pence also announced that the U.S. would be submitting a bid to host the next Summit in 2021. If accepted, the U.S. will be able to meet with regional leaders on its own turf and renew its commitment to the process and the region.
Hopefully, the 2021 Summit won't come too late. If Trump's absence from the April 2018 Summit was a sign of declining U.S. leadership in the region, then the other 18 heads of state that failed to show are a sign of a fraying Inter-American system. Completely absent from the Summit were the delegations of Venezuela and Antigua and Barbuda. Originally disinvited by former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, after weeks of taunting the government of Peru that he would arrive "by air, land or sea," President Nicolás Maduro failed to show. Antigua and Barbuda boycotted in solidarity with Venezuela and sixteen other countries sent delegations led by their foreign ministers instead of their heads of state. (Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno traveled to Lima but left before the Summit due to the murders of three journalists in Ecuador by dissident Colombian rebels; Vice President María Alejandra Vicuña took his seat at the Summit).
Excluding Venezuela and Antigua and Barbuda, who did not attend the Summit, the region that sent the fewest heads of state was the Caribbean; 10 of the region's 16 countries failed to send a head of state. This disconnect between the Caribbean and the regional community isn't anything new. In the past, Caribbean countries have either voted against or abstained from voting on resolutions dealing with the political and humanitarian situation in Venezuela. One of the most recent examples was the 47th OAS General Assembly, in which a U.S.-backed resolution on Venezuela that included the strongest language in its condemnation of the country failed to pass because Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries refused to support it. Even though the resolution was put forward by the region's most powerful players (including Mexico, Canada, Argentina and the U.S.), the inordinate voting power of the Caribbean bloc in a body that functions on unanimity effectively killed it.
Had the heads of state from the region's other large countries—Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—failed to show, the Summit would have crumbled. Without their attendance, a Lima Group declaration condemning the May 20th, 2018 presidential election in Venezuela would never have been pushed forward or signed. The declaration by the Lima Group—made up of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Saint Lucia and joined by the Bahamas and the United States—called on the Venezuelan government to "hold presidential elections with the necessary guarantees for a free, fair, transparent and democratic process, free political prisoners, including the participation of all Venezuelan political actors; and ratify that elections that do not meet these conditions will lack legitimacy and credibility." Similar to Tillerson's absence at the 47th OAS General Assembly, though, it is difficult to measure the effect that President Trump's absence may have had on the group's inability to get more member states to sign onto the declaration.
Head-of-State Attendance at the VIII Summit of the Americas
Only 17 out of 35 member states sent their heads of States to the Summit in Lima, an attendance rate of 48.6 percent.
Lima Commitment: "Democratic Governance Against Corruption"
Following the theme of the 2018 Summit, "Dem in scandals and citizens continue to grow more frustrated with their governments and the political class over corruption. Peru, the host of the Summit, was not immune to the scandals. Weeks before the hemispheric confab took place, former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned from his post before a second impeachment vote in Congress, following the discovery that his firm received money from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
The Lima Commitment, which was agreed to by acclamation, is a testament to the region's stated commitment to fight corruption through broader cooperation among nations and the strengthening of institutions. The Commitment called for 1) reinforcement of democratic governance; 2) transparency, access to information, protection of whistleblowers, and guarantees of human rights, including freedom of expression; 3) public and transparent financing of political organizations and election campaigns; 4) prevention of corruption in public works, public procurement and contracting; 5) improved international legal cooperation in the fight against bribery, international corruption, organized crime, money laundering, and asset recovery; and 6) strengthened Inter-American and anticorruption mechanisms.
While some of the Commitments' recommendations seemed quite general, such as "strengthening democratic institutions for the prevention of and fight against corruption in the Hemisphere, ensuring that the competent authorities have the necessary guarantees for the proper performance of their functions," other points provide the necessary steps for governments and the OAS to strengthen anticorruption efforts.
With seven in ten people in Latin America and the Caribbean standing ready to support anticorruption efforts, according to Transparency International, the OAS and its member states must start making a real commitment towards fighting corruption.
These steps include
The strengthening of national anticorruption measures or systems for the effective participation of civil society, social organizations, academia, the private sector, citizens, and other social actors in monitoring governments' performance.
The adoption of legal measures that could restrict access to public office for individuals convicted of acts of corruption.
Promotion of cooperation between and among financial institutions and financial oversight bodies.
The continued strengthening of the Mechanism for Follow Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC).
Recommendations for the Successful Implementation of the Lima Commitment
Similar to the work done at the VIII Summit of the Americas, Global Americans, through its High Level Working Group on Inter-American Relations and Bipartisanship, published a set of recommendations targeting corruption in the hemisphere, titled Addressing Corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean Furthers U.S. National Interest1. The report calls for regional collaboration to address the structural causes of corruption in a way that strengthens democracy and promotes inclusion and economic growth. These recommendations gathered the expert opinion of more than 50 policymakers, academics, civil society, and business leaders from across the region.
When governments work together, it becomes much easier to prevent, detect, sanction, and, ultimately, eradicate corrupt practices. The chances of success further increase when efforts are coordinated with the private sector and an active, professional civil society. In other words, when good governance models are set in motion, when governments manage public resources in a transparent and responsible way, corruption and its multiple sources can no longer operate with impunity.
Some of our recommendations include
The creation and establishment of an Inter-American Citizen Coalition Against Corruption that would track individual countries' progress in implementing the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and publish the results. Such a coalition would act as a tool for the MESICIC in coordination efforts between countries on anticorruption measures to build prevention programs, enhance institutional capabilities, make laws and investigations more effective and transparent, and install protection programs for those that inform on or sanction corrupt practices.
The formation of three task forces led by independent civil society groups to work on:
The establishment of independent anticorruption agencies (watchdogs) and protection mechanisms for whistleblowers and judges; the creation of meritbased civil service recruitment, management and training processes to limit clientelism and patronage in the public sector; and the creation
of a regional fund for independent and investigative journalism in alliance with the private sector
and academia.
Reinforce the role of private business in fighting corruption, strongly urging governments, chambers of commerce, business associations, and civil society groups across the Americas to work together to create federal level anticorruption guidelines for the private sector for recurrent employee training and certification programs, following the model of corporate responsibility or sustainability certification models.
United States assistance to other hemispheric governments to pass their own versions of the Global Magnitsky Act. The act allows the executive branch to impose visa bans and targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for committing human rights violations or acts of corruption. Broadening its applicability in the Hemisphere could be highly effective along targeted sanctions on corrupt officials and individuals. (The Magnitsky Act has been used to sanction Venezuelan and Nicaraguan government officials.)
1. https://theglobalamericans.org/reports/addressing-corruption-latin-america-caribbean-furthers-u-s-national-interests/
Continue to 48th Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly: A Venezuela Resolution, Finally
Para el informe en español,
haga click aqui
Introduction: Partners Pull Away
The Summit of the Americas: Half Full or Half Empty?
48th Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly: A Venezuela Resolution, Finally
UN Human Rights Council:
The U.S. Pulls Out and New Members Are Elected
Inter–American System of Human Rights: Just Showing Up Isn't Enough, but It Is the First Step
Labor Rights in the Americas


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Wilshire Detroit
Curated For The Young & Creative
'P is for Pterodactyl': This Book Shows The Weirdest Words To Spell Ever
What do rappers and computer programmers have in common? A passion for creating kids books. After a few years of hard work, Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter have just published what they describe to be "the worst alphabet book ever," and it's so ridiculously hilarious, even adults would have an interesting time reading it.
"We were hanging out with our mutual friends and their kid, playing with these alphabet flashcards," Chris told Bored Panda. "We both got a laugh out of the card for "Q" which read: "Q is for Quinoa." That was so entertaining to us because, well, what little kid knows or cares about quinoa? And also, isn't that a terrible "Q" word, considering that it isn't even phonetic? That was the moment that sparked the initial idea to create our own alphabet book with only words like quinoa. The natural next step was to discover that the English language is so mean and nasty, there's no shortage of irregular words to choose from, and so the format quickly evolved into these little blurbs, like "Q is for Quinoa: We enjoy quinoa and quiche by the quays of Qatar." As you can imagine, we had a fantastic time writing it."
"For a few months, we had a shared Google document where we'd pop in and add words as we discovered them," Raj added. "After a while, it became pretty clear that the words we had collected implied a fantastic universe full of gnomes, czars, and tsunamis. For some letters, like "P" and "K", there are quite a few silent first letter words to choose from — so we picked the words that felt the most engaging for young readers, like "pterodactyl" and "knight". Other letters were much trickier, with few if any appropriate words to choose from. For those, we had to put some significant time and effort into creating clever workarounds that still matched the overall spirit of the book."
"Neither of us are children's book authors by trade — Chris is a computer programmer, and I'm a rapper otherwise known as Lushlife," he said. "When we started down the road to bring this book to life, I don't think we realized just how long the process would take. From start to finish, the project took almost three years to complete. Even though the book consists of just a couple hundred words, we went through scores of revisions. On top of that, we hardly knew anyone in the publishing world, so it took over a year just to find the right folks to help us get a publisher on board. Once we were able to cross that hurdle, our amazing illustrator, Maria Beddia spent a year in her studio working on the illustrations. I can't think of anyone else who could've so beautifully interpreted our crazy requests, like having 'a french leopard and a tiny witch sitting in a creepy Victorian home playing the Ouija board.'"
Chris also said that he firmly believes that kids are about as smart as adults, but without the wisdom or communication skills to fully demonstrate it. "We tend to underestimate our children when we present an overly simplified version of the world in teaching certain subjects. It can be enormously frustrating, for example, to have a particular set of spelling rules drilled into one's head, only to discover later that "I before E" is a giant conspiracy. Of course, the basics are important too, but why not hint at a more complete picture from a relatively early stage, and trust that our kids can handle it? Our hope is that P is for Pterodactyl fills the latter role. Also, kids should reach for our book because of the purple turban-wearing pteranodon with a skin condition."
More info: Amazon
P.S. Even though the first run sold out almost immediately upon release this week, the guys have another printing being rush processed — so folks that want to order now on Amazon will receive their copy of P is for Pterodactyl in just a couple weeks.
People think P is for Pterodactyl would make a great addition to any bookshelf
By Rokas L
via Bored Panda http://www.boredpanda.com/english-kids-spelling-book-p-is-for-pterodactyl/
Posted in Curated LinkTagged curatedBy wilshire
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Upcoming Issue: STEVE BUSCEMI as a Super Hero


DP World, one of the world's largest port operators, has agreed to buy two fellow state-owned maritime companies from its parent for $405 million.
"Overall, these transactions will enhance our position as a leading maritime services provider, and we look forward to leveraging on our proven track record to accelerate growth and deliver stakeholder value," DP World Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said.
The acquisition included Jebel Ali Free Zones, the emirate's largest free trade zone, which is located alongside DP World's Jebel Ali Port.


text:
By: Jin, Ha
20 cm 308p.
general Learn More
Originally published: New York: Pantheon, 1999; London: Heinemann, 2000.
For more than seventeen years, Lin Kong, a devoted and ambitious doctor, has been in love with an educated, clever, modern woman, Mannu Wu.
But, back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife his family chose for him when he was young.
Every year he visits her in order to ask, again and again, for a divorce.
In a culture in which the ancient ties of tradition and family still hold sway and where adultery discovered by the Party can ruin lives forever, Lin's passionate love is stretched ever more taut by the passing years.
Every summer, his compliant wife agrees to a divorce but then backs out.
This time, Lin promises, will be different. Tracing these lives through their summer of decision and beyond, Ha Jin vividly conjures the texture of daily life in a place where the demands of human longing must contend with the weight of centuries of wisdom.
FA Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
S 2001 Irish Times Literary Prize,International Fiction
W 1999 US National Book Award for Fiction
Paperback £6.74
Paperback, 07 Dec 2006 £5.99


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Sheriff under investigation revolving around Boebert after 'baseless complaint'
ByJohn Smith September 22, 2022
A sheriff, who is under investigation revolving around Rep. Lauren Boebert, is facing 'baseless complaint,' thanks to left-wingers. Following a complaint made by US Muckrakers leader David Wheeler last month, the Colorado Secretary of State's office confirmed in a letter to The Hill that it had launched its investigation of Garfield County, Colorado, Sheriff Lou Vallario. The sheriff is accused of violating campaign finance rules in his push to support Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo).
According to the Denver Post, American Muckrakers is a political action committee notorious for its efforts to topple Boebert. "Lauren Boebert has a history of believing she is above the law and telling lies. It looks like she and her political gang are going to be held to account by the authorities," Muckrakers' leader David Wheeler stated to The Hill.
Now, Wheeler accused Vallario of using his position and email account for the purpose of urging voters to support Boebert and calling out her Republican primary opponent, Don Coram.
There is enough evidence to show that Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario used his office to promote Lauren Boebert in June, according to a letter sent by the secretary of state's office. The letter says, "The Complaint alleges that since 2018 Respondents have improperly used the office, equipment, email, resources, and Facebook page of the Garfield County Sheriff's Department.
"The Complaint also alleges Respondents used those official resources to support a congressional candidate, deride the candidate's opponent, make false statements about Complainant, and make political statements and endorsements in violation of Colorado law."
Per Wheeler, Vallario sent several emails from that taxpayer-sponsored email account during that time, including an email he sent to himself campaigning for Boebert and attacking Coram's policies on drug use, immigration, and law enforcement.
In an email titled "FW: Phone," Vallario wrote, "Hi, this is Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario calling on behalf of Lauren Boebert for Congress. Make no mistake, Lauren Boebert is the only candidate in the Republican primary supporting law enforcement."
"I strongly encourage you to vote for Lauren Boebert and get your ballot turned in today," he added.
There are potential violations of Colorado campaign finance laws, but at least one or more of them can be cured, according to the Secretary of State's office, which has given the sheriff ten days to respond. Wheeler claimed that the sheriff had violated his civil rights for "purely political purposes." But the Secretary of State indicated in his notice to Vallario that he would not be investigating Wheeler's additional complaint.
Vallario refused to comment on the SoS process but said, "Given that I am used to working within a due process environment and the SoS has only received a one-sided complaint, I understand from their point of view that a violation(s) "may" exist. I think it is absolutely appropriate that I now have the opportunity to respond to those allegations."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Boebert claimed, "This is a baseless complaint from a North Carolina-based, leftwing opposition group that has a history of telling lies that are subsequently disproven."
John Smith is a professional writer, editor, researcher, journalist and novelist with over 20 years of writing experience. He is a native of New York City and a graduate of Queens College, where he majored in journalism. John got his start as a high school student reporting for The Leading Tribune. John first joined Byberry to help with as a copy editor. Before that, he worked as an independent journalist for various news blogs. As a staff writer, John Smith specializes is political news and opinion pieces. His areas of interest include politics, history, literature, entertainment and sports. John currently resides in Forest Hills, Queens, NYC.
Sean Hannity shreds Joe Biden and Democrats who offer 'No solutions, No attention' to surging crime problems
Multiple Democrats slam Biden over $300billion student loan handouts
French Pres. Macron: no statues are coming down, no "False Rewriting Of History"
Trump pardons turkey, allows preliminary transition to Biden, and says he will 'never concede'
Former Democrat Mayor sentenced to six years in federal prison
Bill Gates accused of allegedly spending millions of dollars on 'dark money fund'


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Geekritique
Movie & TV News | Book & Comic Reviews | Everything In-between
From Up on Poppy Hill (MOVIE REVIEW)
From Up on Poppy Hill, released in 2011, is the second Studio Ghibli film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, son of the universally acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki, and that is a damn shame. Because no matter how well his films are received he will always be known as the son of Miyazaki, always a shadow in his comparison, and critics and fans alike will likely always write him off as nothing more. I cannot speak for Gorō's first film, Tales from Earthsea, as I haven't seen it, but without a doubt, From Up on Poppy Hill is most certainly a Miyazaki.
Although this film was received a few years back, and was subsequently translated and released in the US in 2012, this is the first time I've had the pleasure to watch it in full. A friend brought his Ghibli collection over yesterday and I chose to watch this one as I wanted a chance to see Gorō at work. The translation, I must point out, was horrid. Watch it in Japanese, as the movie was meant to be. Moving on. (This review contains spoilers up until roughly half of the movie).
It's a pleasant film – a slice of life anime that takes you into a small, peaceful village, which is home to an old, decaying building that many still treasure and use, despite the fact that it is set to be demolished. The films protagonists all happen to be high school students who are extremely fond of the heritage the building possesses as it is home to the schools many academic clubs and has been for over a century. It's a mess of a building, and as tradition holds, the students never cleaned it – naturally the board wished to knock it down. Despite the grime and trash, it was beautiful in its managed dishevelment. Many of the films most gorgeous usage of animation are held within the confines of this building. Strangely, it's a place I would have liked to have visited.
Taking place in 1963, just before the Tokyo Olympics, the film had strong references to the lives lost in WWII, a motif potent in Ghibli films of late. Umi Matsuzaki, a young girl in said high school finds that in her efforts to help her friend Shun Kazama save the clubhouse, they fall in love with each other. While at her home, Umi shows him a picture of her father who was killed in the war. Shun realizes it is the same picture he owns, of his father. This film hits you right in the feels.
The lighthearted feel of Studio Ghibli films, as a whole, doesn't quite compare to the young innocence that From Up on Poppy Hill exudes, and it's a refreshing detour away from the more fantastical adventures the company is well known for producing. But unfortunately, I found the ending a bit unsatisfactory. I can't really explain without spoiling it, but it actually made me more confused (after it all seemed so clear). Regardless, a very entertaining film, clean, with no spiritism, violence, or explicit language, but still at a level of maturity that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. It can't be easy to live in the shadows of arguably the second greatest animator of all time, but I eagerly look forward to Gorō's next film.
Grab From Up on Poppy Hill on DVD/BluRay today!
Want to check out other films like it?
August 7, 2014 August 10, 2014 GeekritiqueAnime, Anime Movie, Anime Review, From up on Poppy Hill, Ghibli, Gorō Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Movie, Movie Review, Studio Ghibli
10 thoughts on "From Up on Poppy Hill (MOVIE REVIEW)"
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Alison's Wonderland Recipes says:
A friend and I were discussing Ghibili's recent "temporary halt on production" the other day. Do you think the company will close now that Hayao Miyazaki has retired? I really liked Goro's work on Poppy Hill, but it sounds like they've been discussing closing ever since Hayao announced his plan to retire.
geekritiqued says:
Well, Miyazaki has gone in and out of retirement a ton of times in the past. This is I believe officially his 6th time stating he was retiring. But it seems the most concrete. I don't think it'll close. The studio has too much of a presence. But then again, the studio is synonymous with his work. So it's hard to say just yet. Especially since Miyazaki spends nearly every day of his retirement in the studio.
Ah, I didn't realized he's retired multiple times. That helps put it in perspective! Thanks! 🙂
No worries.
habibilamour says:
It sounds cute…but I do prefer the supernatural ones 😛
It's certainly worth watching, if you ever get the chance.
efyatofika says:
I think this would be interesting movie. Thanks for sharing the info ^^ keep blogging 😀
Aww, thank you. I'll continue blogging, definitely.
😀 You're welcome
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ACM MemberNet - December 28, 2017
Welcome to the December 2017 edition of ACM MemberNet, bringing you the world of ACM and beyond. Explore the many facets of ACM with our newsletter of member activities and events. Read past issues of MemberNet online at http://www.acm.org/membership/acm-membernet-archive.
Read coverage of ACM in the news media.
Is there a person, event, or issue you'd like to see covered? Please email mn-editor@acm.org.
ACM Names 2017 Fellows
ACM 2018 General Election Candidate Slate
Mustafa Prize Recognizes Work by ACM Fellow
ACM Award Nomination Submission Procedures
Call for ACM Senior Member Nominations
ACM SIG Awards Recognize Achievements in Diverse Fields
GROUP 2018, January 7 to 10, Sanibel Island, Florida
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ACM Career & Job Center Connects You with Career Opportunities
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About the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program
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ACM Transactions on Social Computing and ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction Accepting Submissions
ACM Queue Presents: "Bitcoin's Underlying Incentives"
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ACM has named 54 of its members as ACM Fellows for major contributions in areas including database theory, design automation, information retrieval, multimedia computing and network security. The accomplishments of the 2017 ACM Fellows lead to transformations in science and society. Their achievements play a crucial role in the global economy, as well as how we live and work every day. "To be selected as a Fellow is to join our most renowned member grade and an elite group that represents less than 1 percent of ACM's overall membership," says ACM President Vicki L. Hanson.
ACM will formally recognize its 2017 Fellows at the annual Awards Banquet, to be held in San Francisco on June 23, 2018. Additional information about the 2017 ACM Fellows and the awards event, as well as previous ACM Fellows and award winners, is available on the ACM Awards site.
ACM has assembled its slate of candidates for President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer (for the 1 July 2018 — 30 June 2020 term), and Members at Large (for the 1 July 2018 — 30 June 2022 term). Statements and biographical sketches of all candidates will appear in the May 2018 issue of Communications of the ACM. Visit the ACM Elections page for more information and to view the slate.
One of the Islamic world's most prestigious science and technology awards, the Mustafa Prize, was presented on December 3 to Erol Gelenbe, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London and an ACM Fellow. He is the inventor of the eponymous G-networks or Gelenbe Networks that are the underpinning science used to evaluate the performance of computer networks.
Read the news release.
Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. ACM welcomes nominations for candidates whose work exemplifies the best and most influential contributions to our community, and society at large. ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. For awards presented at the annual June banquet, the deadline for nominations is January 15, 2018, with the exceptions of the ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award (March 30, 2018), ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial Fellowship (May 1, 2018) ACM–IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award (July 1, 2018), SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering (July 31, 2018), and Doctoral Dissertation Award (October 31, 2018).
Please take a moment to consider those individuals in your community who may be suitable for nomination. Refer to the award nominations page for nomination guidelines and the complete listing of Award Subcommittee Chairs and Members.
The Senior Member advanced grade of membership recognizes ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership. Nominations are accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadline for nominations is March 3, 2018.
ACM's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) regularly cite outstanding individuals for their contributions in more than 35 distinct technological fields. Some awards presented (or to be presented) at recent conferences:
SIGAda: Robert Dewar Award for Outstanding Ada Community Contributions
The ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work is a premier venue for research on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Human Computer Interaction, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning and Socio-Technical Studies. The conference integrates work in social science, computer science, engineering, design, values, and other diverse topics related to group work. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will keynote.
The ACM SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages is a forum for the discussion of all aspects of programming languages and programming systems. Invited speakers are Derek Dreyer, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems; Gordon Plotkin, University of Edinburgh; and Sarah Lawsky, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Tutorials will cover Message-Passing Concurrency and Substructural Logics; Computational Higher Type Theory; and Relational Interpreters for Program Synthesis.
The ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence (SIGAI) and AAAI are launching the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, a new conference to be co-located with AAAI-18. As AI becomes more pervasive in everyday life, its impact on society is raising concerns about issues such as value alignment, data handling and bias, regulations, and workforce displacement. AIES will tap experts from various disciplines, such as ethics, philosophy, economics, sociology, psychology, law, history, and politics, to address these issues.
The SIGCSE Technical Symposium is the largest computing education conference worldwide organized by ACM SIGCSE, attracting researchers, educators, and others interested in improving computing education in K-12 and higher education. The theme of the 2018 conference is "CS for All," with workshops, forums, panels and more focusing on diversity and creating a welcoming environment for learning. Anita Borg President and CEO Brenda Wilkerson will deliver the opening keynote, and Ruthe Farmer, Chief Evangelist, CSforAll Consortium will deliver the closing keynote.
The Fifth Annual ACM Conference on Learning at Scale is seeking paper submissions reporting on rigorous research on methodologies, studies, analyses, tools, or technologies for learning at scale. Full research papers and context/synthesis papers are due January 21. Work-in-progress and demo papers are due March 24.
The 18th ACM Symposium on Document Engineering seeks original research papers that focus on the design, implementation, development, management, use and evaluation of advanced systems where document and document collections play a key role. In particular, DocEng 2018 seeks works involving large-scale document engineering applications of industrial relevance. Full paper abstracts are due February 1; short papers are due March 22.
The ACM Academic Department Membership option allows universities and colleges to provide ACM Professional Membership to their faculty at a greatly reduced collective cost. ACM offers a membership for academic department faculty at the cost of $49 per person, more than half off the standard ACM professional membership fee of $99 per year. Through this program, each faculty member will receive all the benefits of individual professional ACM membership, including Communications of the ACM, member rates to ACM Special Interest Group conferences, member subscription rates to ACM journals, and much more. To learn more, visit the ACM Academic Department Membership page or contact Cindy Ryan.
The Ambassadors for ACM program rewards ACM members like you for encouraging new members to join. Your first-hand experience with ACM's valuable career development and continuous learning programs makes you a perfect envoy to share your ACM experiences with prospective members. The Ambassadors for ACM program offers opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral. Submit the ACM Referral Form, and your referrals can join ACM at a special discount rate. Our members are our greatest asset. Your support of ACM is critical to our continuing efforts to advance computing as a science and a profession. Please consider becoming an Ambassador for ACM.
The HP Employee Purchase Program (EPP) offers HP consumer and commercial-grade products at discounts typically up to 10% off starting prices. You can also take advantage of instant rebates, coupons, and HP Home & Home Office sales promotions that combine with your EPP discount, for a typical savings of 20-30% off. HP offers ACM members exclusive savings on the most innovative PCs, printers, and more. We are delighted to offer you personalized assistance in choosing the perfect electronics for all of your personal or business needs. Visit the HP Direct Employee Purchase Program page for more information.
You can use your technical skills for social good and offer volunteer support on software development projects to organizations who could not otherwise afford it. SocialCoder connects volunteer programmers/software developers with registered charities and helps match them to suitable projects based on their skills, experience, and the causes they care about. Learn more about ACM's partnership with SocialCoder, and how you can get involved.
Register now for the free ACM Learning Webinar, QISKit: A Swiss Army Knife for Quantum Computation, to be presented on Tuesday, January 9 at 12 PM EST Jay Gambetta, Manager, Theory of Quantum Computing and Information, IBM and Panelist, 50 Years of ACM A.M. Turing Award Celebration. There will be a moderated question and answer session following the talk.
ACM Learning Webinars are free with registration, available for streaming on all major mobile devices, and are recorded for on-demand viewing.
Register now for the free ACM Learning Webinar, Hierarchical Adversarially Learned Inference, to be presented on Thursday, January 18 at 12 PM EST by Negar Rostamzadeh, Research Scientist at Element AI. There will be a moderated question and answer session following the talk. Leave your comments and questions with our speaker now and any time before the live event on ACM's Discourse Page. And check out the page after the webcast for extended discussion with your peers in the computing community, as well as further resources on Learned Inference.
Check out our ACM AI/ML Webinar Series with three distinguished AI/ML researchers. Fei-Fei Li, Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) and Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud, presents the key ideas and cutting edge advances in the quest for visual intelligence in computers, focusing on work done to develop ImageNet over the years. Tom Mitchell, E. Fredkin University Professor and former Chair of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), discusses his machine learning approach to studying how the human brain uses neural activity to create and represent meanings of words, phrases, sentences, and stories. And ACM Fellow Eric Horvitz, Technical Fellow and Director of Microsoft Research Labs, shares reflections on promising directions with fielding AI solutions in the open world, where systems need to grapple with uncertainty and incompleteness and to work effectively with people.
ACM members are eligible for 25% off registration to popular O'Reilly conferences. This special member discount is available through your Safari member benefit, and is currently offered on the following conferences:
Artificial Intelligence Conference: April 10-11, 2018 (Beijing, China) and April 30-May 2 (New York, New York)
O'Reilly Fluent Conference (Web Programming and Performance): June 12-14, 2018 (San Jose, California)
O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON): July 16-19, 2018 (Portland, Oregon)
O'Reilly Software Architecture Conference: February 26-28, 2018 (New York, New York)
O'Reilly Velocity Conference (System Engineering, DevOps, WebOps): June 12-14, 2018 (San Jose, California)
Strata Data Conference (including Apache Hadoop): March 6-8, 2018 (San Jose, California) and May 21-22, 2018 (London, UK)
To take advantage of this special member discount, log into Safari Learning Platform from the ACM Learning Center, click Offers & Deals from the left navigation, and select Conferences.
Connecting with the right employers in computing can be a daunting task. Thankfully, the world's leading companies, colleges and universities come to the ACM Career & Job Center to find the best candidates. The new ACM Career and Job Center makes it easier than ever to find the right opportunities for you. New features include:
Access to the best companies, colleges and universities through our cutting-edge recruitment technologies, including automated job matching
Easy job alerts that notify you via email when your perfect job is posted
A new, quicker and more user-friendly candidate application process
Please note: all existing job board profiles, resumés and cover letters have been transferred to the new job site. We do require you to reset your password in order to access your account. Simply click on http://jobs.acm.org/jobs/user/forgotPassword, enter your email address and you will be provided with a link to reset your password and log in to your account. For any assistance, please contact ACM's Advertising Sales Manager, Ilia Rodriguez.
Infosys Foundation USA will host Pathfinders Summer Institute 2018, an intensive week of professional development for K-12 public school teachers to learn about Computer Science and Maker technologies, at Indiana University Bloomington, July 15 to 20, 2018. The application process will open in January 2018. All K-12 teachers and counselors are encouraged to apply; visit the website to receive updates. ACM and CSTA are supporters of this program.
ACM, the Computer Science Teachers Association, and Infosys Foundation USA announce the 2018 Awards for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science. Five recipients will each receive an award of $5,000, to be presented at a luncheon in conjunction with CSTA's Annual Conference, July 7 to 10, 2018. The deadline for applications for nominations is January 22, 2018.
Young researchers in computer science and mathematics from all over the world can apply for one of 200 coveted spots to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), an annual networking event. The HLF offers all accepted young researchers the great opportunity to personally interact with the laureates of the most prestigious prizes in the fields of mathematics and computer science. For one week, the recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, the ACM Prize for Computing, the Fields Medal, and the Nevanlinna Prize engage in a cross-generational scientific dialogue with young researchers in Heidelberg, Germany.
The 6th HLF will take place from September 23 to 28, 2018. The application period runs until February 9, 2018. Young researchers at all phases of their careers (undergraduate, graduate PhD or postdoc) are encouraged to complete and submit their applications by February 9.
Every year, the ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing recognizes talented high school students in computer science. The intent of the program is to promote and encourage the field of computer science, as well as to empower young and aspiring learners to pursue computing challenges outside of the traditional classroom environment.
The application process involves a Challenge that focuses on having the student develop an artifact that engages modern computing technology and computer science. Judges will be looking for submissions that demonstrate ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, originality, and a desire to further computer science as a discipline. The application period closes January 5, 2018. If you need inspiration, check out last year's winners and their projects!
Up to four winners will be selected and each will be awarded a $10,000 prize and a trip to the annual ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing Reception. The prizes are funded by a $1 million endowment established by David Cutler and Gordon Bell.
Detailed information, including the link to the online application, is available on the ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing website. Winners of the 2017-2018 Cutler-Bell Prize will be notified via email in February 2018.
Student volunteers are needed for XRDS, ACM's quarterly student publication that examines cutting-edge research in computer science and presents viewpoints on technology's impact in the world today. You can apply for Web Editor; Digital Content Editor; Department Editor—Hello World; Department Editor—Careers; and Department Editor—Labz. For detailed information on how to apply and job description and eligibility requirements for each position please visit http://xrds.acm.org/volunteer.cfm.
ACM Student Research Competitions (SRCs), sponsored by Microsoft Research, offer a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research at well-known ACM sponsored and co-sponsored conferences before a panel of judges and attendees. The most recent SRC winners presented at ICCAD 2017. The next conferences accepting submissions are:
ICSE 2018, May 27-June 3, deadline January 8, 2018
CHI 2018, April 21-26, deadline January 15, 2018
Programming 2018, April 9-12, deadline January 22, 2018
MOBILESoft, May 27-28, deadline February 19, 2018
PLDI 2018, June 18-22, deadline April 6, 2018
Learn more about competitions on the SRC submissions page and SRC guidelines for students.
The ACM Women's Council (ACM-W) provides support for women undergraduate or graduate students in computer science and related programs who wish to attend research conferences. This exposure to the computer science research world can encourage a student to continue on to the next level (Undergraduate to Graduate, Masters to Ph.D., Ph.D. to an industry or academic position). For application form, notification dates and more information, please visit the scholarships page.
ACM offers a special ACM Professional Membership for $49 USD (regularly $99) to help graduating students make the transition to professional careers, and take advantage of continuous learning opportunities, including free online books and courses and access to ACM's Career & Job Center. This one-year-only transition rate includes all the benefits of Professional Membership plus the option of purchasing a Digital Library subscription for $50. Recent graduates can access this special transition offer through ACM's convenient online renewal form, or by following the instructions on the paper renewal form. For more information, visit the Reasons to Transition to Professional Membership page.
Book the speaker for your next event through the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP) and deliver compelling and insightful content to your audience. ACM will cover the cost of transportation for the speaker to travel to your event. Our program features renowned thought leaders in academia, industry and government speaking about the most important topics in the computing and IT world today. Our booking process is simple and convenient.
This month's featured speaker is Jean-Daniel Fekete. Jean-Daniel is Senior Research Scientist (DR1, equivalent to Full Professor) at INRIA, France. His main Research areas are Visual Analytics, Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction. He was a member of the ACM SIGCHI Conference Management Committee, in charge of Data Analysis from 2010-2011. An ACM member, his main publication venues are the ACM SIGCHI and IEEE VIS conferences.
For more information on Jean-Daniel, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Jean-Daniel Fekete's Digital Library author page.
IEEE-CS and ACM are sharing their invited speaker programs, to further the dissemination of technical knowledge of computing fields that greatly benefit both memberships. IEEE-CS chapter volunteers can host a speaker from ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP), with access to top technology leaders and innovators from nearly every sector of the computing industry, by following the instructions on the DSP site. Make sure you identify yourself as an IEEE Computer Society Chapter.
IEEE-CS provides a popular offering of first-quality speakers serving its professional and student chapters. The Distinguished Visitors Program (DVP) owes its success to the many volunteers and staff members of the Computer Society who generously contribute their time and talent. Organizers of an ACM chapter, conference, or event can host a speaker from IEEE-CS's DVP by following the instructions on the DVP site. Make sure you identify yourself as an ACM chapter or event.
The Hour of Code, an annual global event, took place during Computer Science Education Week, December 4-10. ACM (which helped launch Computer Science Education Week in 2009) thanks the volunteers from these local ACM Student Chapters who organized games, tutorials, and other events to generate excitement in young people about programming and technology:
ADA University ACM Student Chapter, Baku, Azerbaijan
Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology & Sciences ACM Student Chapter, Bheemunipatnam, India
Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering ACM Student Chapter, New Delhi, India
Bowling Green State University ACM Student Chapter, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology ACM Student Chapter, Chandigarh, India
Chitkara Institute of Engineering & Technology ACM Student Chapter, Rajpura, India
College of New Jersey ACM Student Chapter, Ewing, New Jersey, USA
Federal Institute of Science and Technology ACM Student Chapter, Ernakulam, India
Federal University of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Akure, Nigeria
High Point University ACM Student Chapter, High Point, North Carolina, USA
Holy Family University ACM Student Chapter, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
IIT Indian School of Mines ACM Student Chapter, Dhanabd, India
Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano ACM Student Chapter, Bogotá, Colombia
Iqra University ACM Student Chapter, Karachi, Pakistan
Istanbul Technical University ACM Student Chapter, Istanbul, Turkey
JB Institute of Engineering & Technology ACM Student Chapter, Hyderabad, India
Kansas State University ACM Student Chapter, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Koc University ACM Student Chapter, Istanbul, Turkey
Kuwait University ACM Student Chapter, Khaldiya, Kuwait
Majmaah University ACM Student Chapter, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia
Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering ACM Student Chapter, Mumbai, India
Muthoot Institute of Technology and Science ACM Student Chapter, Varikoli, India
Nazarbayev University ACM Student Chapter, Astana, Kazakhstan
New York Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Old Westbury, New York, USA
Northwest Missouri State University ACM SIGCSE Student Chapter, Maryville, Missouri, USA
Oregon State University ACM-W Student Chapter, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Penn State Behrend ACM Student Chapter, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering ACM Student Chapter, Pune, India
Polytechnic University of Valencia ACM Student Chapter, Valencia, Spain
Polytechnic University of Valencia ACM-W Student Chapter, Valencia, Spain
Portland State University ACM Student Chapter, Portland, Oregon, USA
Rajiv Gandhi Technical University ACM-W Student Chapter, Bhopal, India
Rowan University ACM Student Chapter, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA
Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Surat, India
Sheridan College ACM Student Chapter, Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Southern Utah University ACM-W Student Chapter, Cedar City, Utah, USA
St. Mary's College of Maryland ACM-W Student Chapter, St. Mary's City, Maryland, USA
Treston International College ACM Student Chapter, Taguig City, Philippines
Trinity College ACM Student Chapter, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Union University ACM Student Chapter, Jackson, Tennessee, USA
Universidad Mayor de San Andres ACM Student Chapter, La Paz, Bolivia
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya ACM Student Chapter, Alella, Spain
University of California Riverside ACM Student Chapter, Riverside, California, USA
University of California, Santa Cruz ACM-W Student Chapter, Santa Cruz, California, USA
University of Hertfordshire ACM Student Chapter, Hertfordshire, UK
University of Louisiana Monroe ACM Student Chapter, Monroe, Louisiana, USA
University of North Dakota ACM Student Chapter, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
University of Petroleum & Energy Studies ACM Student Chapter, Dehradun India
University of Petroleum & Energy Studies ACM-W Student Chapter, Dehradun Indi
Valparaiso University ACM Student Chapter, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA
Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Guntur, India
Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology ACM-W Student Chapter, Guntur, India
Vidyalankar Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Mumbai, India
VIT University (Vellore Institute of Technology) ACM Student Chapter, Vellore, India
William Mason High School ACM Student Chapter, Mason, Ohio, USA
Chapters are the "local neighborhoods" of ACM. The regional ACM Professional, Student, ACM-W, and Special Interest Group (SIG) chapters around the globe involve members locally in competitions, seminars, lectures, workshops, and networking opportunities. ACM welcomes new chapters that were chartered November 15 to December 13, 2017:
ACM Student Chapters:
Amity University Jaipur ACM Student Chapter, Jaipur, India
Kuwait Technical College ACM Student Chapter, Abu Hulaifa, Kuwait
Luther College ACM Student Chapter, Decorah, Iowa
MSU Denver ACM Student Chapter, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado
New College of Florida ACM Student Chapter, Sarasota
NJIT ACM SIGGRAPH Student Chapter, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark
Renton Technical College ACM Student Chapter, Renton, Washington
UC Riverside ACM-W Student Chapter, University of California, Riverside
Vanderbilt University ACM Student Chapter, Nashville, Tennessee
VCU ACM-W Student Chapter, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
Washington State University Everett ACM Student Chapter, Everett
Yeshiva University ACM Student Chapter, New York, New York
The Uppsala ACM-W student chapter hosted the Ada Lovelace Celebration, an ACM Celebration event, from November 17 to 18. The first day consisted of a lineup of talks covering inspirational, technical and gender-equality related topics. The speakers were all powerful women from industry and research, including ACM Distinguished Speaker Panagiota Fatourou. Others speakers gave job and career advice, talked about latest practices in research and industry multicore programming or smart cities, and gave advice on how to be bold, and to believe in oneself. During dinner attendees mingled with the speakers. Attendees totaled around 70 (50% women, 50% men) from universities and companies located in Stockholm and Uppsala.
The second day of the celebration was a programming workshop led by developers in industry (mostly females). Together with a mentor from industry, attendees codeda project of their choice for the whole day. The event allowed attendees to learn new frameworks, to network with the developer and their peers, and to have fun. As a result, projects such as jump and run games, client/server games, chatbots, and many more were created.
If you would like more information on Celebrations or would like to organize an event in your area, please contact Wendy Powley, Chair of the Celebrations Committee. We can help you get started!
Did you know that ACM-W offers a general email distribution list for its members? This ACMW-public list is a communication channel for disseminating general information about ACM-W, bulletins and upcoming events. To join the list: http://signup.acm.org/listserv_index.cfm?ln=ACM-W-PUBLIC. Also read the ACM-W Connections newsletter for updates on ACM-W programs: local celebrations, scholarships and awards, chapters, and more.
XRDS Crossroads: The ACM Magazine for Students welcomes Gierard Laput and Diane Golay as new Co-Editors-in-Chief. The appointment is from December 4, 2017 to December 4, 2020. Gierard is a PhD student in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Diane is a doctoral student in the Department of Information Technology, Division of Visual Information and Interaction at Uppsala University.
ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (TAP) welcomes Martin A. Giese as new Co-Editor-in-Chief, to serve with Co-EIC Victoria Interrante for the term of January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020. Martin is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Neurology at the University of Tübingen.
Ubiquity, ACM's online magazine of critical analysis and in-depth commentary, now covers 12 new and exciting topic areas relevant to the future of computing, from autonomous driving to digital surveillance. Readers can also directly pitch Ubiquity editors article ideas and high-quality video content.
The new ACM journal ACM Transactions on Social Computing (TSC) is accepting submissions on work that covers the full spectrum of social computing including theoretical, empirical, systems, and design research contributions.
ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI) (previously the Journal of Human-Robot Interaction) is accepting submissions on human-robot interaction, including robotics, computer science, engineering, design, and the behavioral and social sciences. THRI is also accepting submissions for the inaugural special issue.
In Bitcoin's Underlying Incentives, Yonatan Sompolinsky and Aviv Zohar, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, describe the unseen economic forces that govern the Bitcoin protocol. Beyond its role as a protocol for managing and transferring money, the Bitcoin protocol creates a complex system of economic incentives that govern its inner workings. These incentives strongly impact the protocol's capabilities and security guarantees, and the path of its future development. This article explores these economic undercurrents, their strengths and flaws, and how they influence the protocol.
Subscribe to Communications of the ACM, the computing industry's most trusted source for news, analysis and insights! Non-members can use our online form and receive a new ACM membership with your 12-month subscription, or request a sample issue using our online free trial issue form.
Written by leading domain experts for software engineers, ACM Case Studies provide an in-depth look at how software teams overcome specific challenges by implementing new technologies, adopting new practices, or a combination of both. Often through first-hand accounts, these pieces explore what the challenges were, the tools and techniques that were used to combat them, and the solution that was achieved.
Copyright © 2017, ACM, Inc.


We are honored to have been chosen #1 Local Band/Singer and #1 Rock Band for four consecutive years. Thank you for your support of live music in the La Crosse area! Congrats to Greg Balfany on his band's win in the Jazz Band category. Congrats also to TUGG on their impressive haul of awards!
Get your votes in by July 19, 2017, for your favorites @ Explore La Crosse's survey.


Filipino mother holds her daughter on a footbridge in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, 09 April 2014 © EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGOThe NGOs challenged the conformity with several provisions outlined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of executive order 03 issued in 2000 by the then Mayor of the city of Manila. The order promoted "responsible parenthood and … natural family planning," and discouraged the use of modern forms of contraception. According to the NGOs, this limited women's and girls' access to sexual and reproductive health services in that municipality, and also resulted in a ban of modern contraceptives.
The NGOs also noted that a subsequent executive order – EO 030 issued by a new mayor in 2011- was also in breach of the State's obligations. It purported to support the free choice by couples of their method of contraception, whilst explicitly providing that there would be no funding for "artificial birth control." Further, no measures were put in place to make contraceptives available and affordable.
"They impacted women's capacity to make free and informed decisions and choices about their health care, sexuality and reproduction, as well as on their autonomy to determine their own roles in society," she added.


H: Have a positive experience: Notice a positive experience that's already present in your awareness, such as a physical pleasure, a sense of determination, or feeling close to someone. Or create a positive experience for which you're grateful, bring to mind a friend, or recognize a task you've completed. As much as you can, help ideas like these become emotionally rewarding experiences, otherwise it is merely positive thinking.
E: Enrich it: Stay with the positive experience for five to ten seconds or longer. Open to the feelings in it and try to sense it in your body; let it fill your mind. Enjoy it. Gently encourage the experience to be more intense. Find something fresh and novel about it. Recognize how it's personally relevant, how it could nourish or help you, or make a difference in your life. Get those neurons really firing together, so they'll really wire together.
A: Absorb it: Sense that the experience is sinking into you as you sink into it. Let it really land in your mind. Perhaps visualize it sifting down into you like golden dust, or feel it washing you like a soothing balm. Or place it like a jewel in the treasure chest of your heart. Know that the experience is becoming part of you, a resource inside that you can take with you wherever you go.


text:
package com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.service;

import com.fanmei.pay4j.common.Constants;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.exception.WeixinException;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.http.RequestExecutor;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.http.response.FanmeiResponse;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.util.RandomUtil;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.config.WeixinConfig;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.domain.CommonResult;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.domain.mch.Order;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.domain.mch.PrePay;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.domain.mch.RefundRecord;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.domain.mch.RefundRequestResult;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.weixin.param.*;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.xml.ListSuffixResultDeserializer;
import com.fanmei.pay4j.xml.XmlStream;

import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
import java.util.Map;

import static com.fanmei.pay4j.common.Constants.*;

/**
 * 支付API
 * @author rongtian
 * @author shice
 */
public class PayService extends AbstractService {

    public PayService(WeixinConfig weixinConfig, RequestExecutor requestExecutor, RequestExecutor weixinSSLRequestExecutor) {
        super(weixinConfig, requestExecutor, weixinSSLRequestExecutor);
    }

    /**
     * 统一下单接口

     * 除被扫支付场景以外,商户系统先调用该接口在微信支付服务后台生成预支付交易单,返回正确的预支付交易回话标识后再按扫码、JSAPI
     * 、APP等不同场景生成交易串调起支付。
     *
     * @param preOrderCreateParam 包含订单信息的对象
     * @return 预支付对象
     * @see PreOrderCreateParam
     * @see PrePay
     * @see 统一下单接口
     *
     */
    public PrePay createPrePay(PreOrderCreateParam preOrderCreateParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(preOrderCreateParam);
        preOrderCreateParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(preOrderCreateParam));
        String xml = XmlStream.toXML(preOrderCreateParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(ORDER_CREATE_URI, xml);
        return response.getAsObject(PrePay.class);
    }

    /**
     * 订单查询
     *

     * 当商户后台、网络、服务器等出现异常,商户系统最终未接收到支付通知;
 调用支付接口后,返回系统错误或未知交易状态情况;

     * 调用被扫支付API,返回USERPAYING的状态;
 调用关单或撤销接口API之前,需确认支付状态;
     *

     *
     * @param queryParam 商户系统内部的订单号, transaction_id、out_trade_no 二 选一,如果同时存在优先级:
     *                   transaction_id > out_trade_no
     * @return 订单信息
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @see Order
     * @see
     * 订单查询API
     * @since V3
     */
    public Order queryOrder(@Nonnull OrderParam queryParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(queryParam);
        queryParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(queryParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(queryParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(ORDER_QUERY_URI, param);
        return ListSuffixResultDeserializer.deserialize(response.getContent(),
                Order.class);
    }

    /**
     * 申请退款(请求需要双向证书)
     *

     * 当交易发生之后一段时间内,由于买家或者卖家的原因需要退款时,卖家可以通过退款接口将支付款退还给买家,微信支付将在收到退款请求并且验证成功之后,
     * 按照退款规则将支付款按原路退到买家帐号上。
     *

     *

     * 1.交易时间超过半年的订单无法提交退款;
     * 2.微信支付退款支持单笔交易分多次退款,多次退款需要提交原支付订单的商户订单号和设置不同的退款单号。一笔退款失败后重新提交
     * ,要采用原来的退款单号。总退款金额不能超过用户实际支付金额。
     *

     *
     * @param refundCreateParam RefundCreateParam
     * @return 退款申请结果
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @see RefundRequestResult
     * @see
     * 申请退款API
     * @since V3
     */
    public RefundRequestResult applyRefund(@Nonnull RefundCreateParam refundCreateParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(refundCreateParam);
        refundCreateParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(refundCreateParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(refundCreateParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinSslRequestExecutor.post(REFUND_APPLY_URI, param);
        return response.getAsObject(RefundRequestResult.class);
    }

    /**
     * 冲正订单(需要证书)
 当支付返回失败,或收银系统超时需要取消交易,可以调用该接口
 接口逻辑:支
     * 付失败的关单,支付成功的撤销支付
 7天以内的单可撤销,其他正常支付的单
     * 如需实现相同功能请调用退款接口

     * 调用扣款接口后请勿立即调用撤销,需要等待5秒以上。先调用查单接口,如果没有确切的返回,再调用撤销

     *
     * @param orderParam 商户系统内部的订单号, transaction_id 、 out_trade_no 二选一,如果同时存在优先级:
     *                   transaction_id > out_trade_no
     * @return 撤销结果
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @since V3
     */
    public CommonResult reverseOrder(@Nonnull OrderParam orderParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(orderParam);
        orderParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(orderParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(orderParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinSslRequestExecutor.post(ORDER_REVERSE_URI, param);
        return response.getAsObject(CommonResult.class);
    }

    /**
     * native支付URL转短链接:用于扫码原生支付模式一中的二维码链接转成短链接(weixin://wxpay/s/XXXXXX),减小二维码数据量
     * ,提升扫描速度和精确度。
     *
     * @param urlParam 具有native标识的支付URL
     * @return 转换后的短链接
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @see
     * 转换短链接API
     */
    public String getShortUrl(@Nonnull ShortUrlParam urlParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(urlParam);
        urlParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(urlParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(urlParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(LONGURL_CONVERT_URI, param);
        Map<String, String> map = XmlStream.xml2map(response.getContent());
        return map.get("short_url");
    }

    /**
     * 关闭订单
     *

     * 商户订单支付失败需要生成新单号重新发起支付,要对原订单号调用关单,避免重复支付;系统下单后,用户支付超时,系统退出不再受理,避免用户继续
     * ,请调用关单接口,如果关单失败,返回已完 成支付请按正常支付处理。如果出现银行掉单,调用关单成功后,微信后台会主动发起退款。
     *

     *
     * @param outTradeNo 商户系统内部的订单号
     * @return 处理结果
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @see
     * 关闭订单
     */
    public CommonResult closeOrder(@Nonnull String outTradeNo) throws WeixinException {
        OrderParam orderParam = OrderParam.createWithOutTradeNo(outTradeNo);
        declareMerchant(orderParam);
        orderParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(orderParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(orderParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(ORDER_CLOSE_URI, param);
        return response.getAsObject(CommonResult.class);
    }

    /**
     * 下载对账单

     * 1.微信侧未成功下单的交易不会出现在对账单中。支付成功后撤销的交易会出现在对账 单中,跟原支付单订单号一致,bill_type 为
     * REVOKED;

     * 2.微信在次日 9 点启动生成前一天的对账单,建议商户 9 点半后再获取;

     * 3.对账单中涉及金额的字段单位为"元"。

     *
     * @param billParam BillParam
     * @return FanmeiResponse
     * @see
     * 下载对账单
     */
    public FanmeiResponse fetchBill(@Nonnull BillParam billParam)
            throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(billParam);
        billParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(billParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(billParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(DOWNLOADBILL_URI, param);
        return response;
    }

    /**
     * 退款查询
     *

     * 提交退款申请后,通过调用该接口查询退款状态。退款有一定延时,用零钱支付的退款20分钟内到账,银行卡支付的退款3个工作日后重新查询退款状态。
     *

     *
     * @param queryParam 单号 refund_id、out_refund_no、out_trade_no、transaction_id
     *                   四个参数必填一个,优先级为:
     *                   refund_id > out_refund_no > transaction_id > out_trade_no
     * @return 退款记录
     * @throws WeixinException WeixinException
     * @see
     * 退款查询API
     */
    public RefundRecord queryRefund(RefundQueryParam queryParam) throws WeixinException {
        declareMerchant(queryParam);
        queryParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(queryParam));
        String param = XmlStream.toXML(queryParam);
        FanmeiResponse response = weixinExecutor.post(REFUND_QUERY_URI, param);
        return ListSuffixResultDeserializer.deserialize(response.getContent(),
                RefundRecord.class);
    }

    /*
     * 对回调对象进行签名验证
     */
    public <T extends CommonResult> boolean isValidSign(@Nonnull T result) {
        return weixinSignature.isValidSign(result, result.getSign());
    }

    /*
     * 生成客户端支付参数
     */
    public OrderPayParam genOrderPayParam(@Nonnull String prePayId) throws WeixinException {
        OrderPayParam orderPayParam = OrderPayParam.of(prePayId);
        orderPayParam.setPartnerId(weixinAccount.getMchId());
        orderPayParam.setAppId(weixinAccount.getId());
        orderPayParam.setPkg(Constants.PACKAGE);
        orderPayParam.setNonceStr(RandomUtil.generateString(16));
        orderPayParam.setTimeStamp(String.valueOf(System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000));
        try {
            orderPayParam.setSign(weixinSignature.sign(orderPayParam));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw WeixinException.of(e);
        }
        return orderPayParam;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Blackford at RSNA 2021: It's Time to Realize the Value of AI
World's broadest AI imaging marketplace enables unbiased navigation of medical imaging AI to identify the best-suited applications, measure their potential, and realize the value that they can deliver
Blackford Analysis, the platform for medical imaging applications and AI, today unveiled its latest vision at RSNA 2021. The platform now provides a standardized, unbiased approach to the largest number of medical imaging AI algorithms on the market.
Through Blackford's curated market of integrated AI applications, healthcare organizations can identify the applications best suited to their organization, measure their potential, roll them out, and realize the value that they can deliver. Serving more than 750 sites across the world, the platform currently provides access to 56 regulatory cleared clinical applications, with more joining every month.
Blackford will be showcasing several exciting new AI applications at RSNA that are now available on its platform, as well as highlighting key new partnerships with 3M Health Information Systems, Bialogics and EBIT, Esaote.
3M M*Modal Fluency for Imaging combines advanced speech recognition technology, computer-assisted physician documentation (CAPD) for real-time clinical insights, information-enabled workflow management and productivity-enhancing tools.
Bialogics identifies, extracts, and correlates data from diagnostic reports to provide analysis of AI/ML algorithms AI analysis to unlock clinical and operational insights hidden within discrete and narrative data elements.
Ebit, Esaote Group integrates within the Blackford RIS-CVIS PACS environment, allowing enhanced clinical solutions to physicians.
"When navigating the AI landscape, nothing is more important than access to a broad offering of applications from a platform provider who is free of clinical bias and has a history of success in delivery within the AI marketplace space," said Ben Panter, CEO, Blackford. "We originated the AI marketplace concept and offer the broadest integrated suite of medical imaging in the market today. As the leading marketplace provider, we believe in integrity and the opportunity to navigate without risk and bias."
Navigate the market
Blackford's unbiased, open vendor approach provides access to the widest selection of regulatory cleared medical imaging AI applications and allows any application on the market to be quickly added – including those developed in-house.
"Our established frameworks allow healthcare organizations to determine the most accurate and valuable solutions with a fraction of the IT and clinical resources when compared to any other marketplaces or direct interactions with AI vendors," said Panter.
Measure the potential
The platform allows providers to accelerate the evaluation process of any given AI algorithm by providing tools to dramatically compress the time and investment required to assess and quickly determine their appropriateness and applicability.
"We use evidence to help define our customers' AI strategy and avoid time-consuming trial-and-error attempts, while reducing the internal and external costs of AI evaluation," said Panter.
Realize the value
But the ultimate goal of Blackford's dedicated platform is to help healthcare organizations realize and enhance the value of medical imaging AI applications over time – delivering economies of scale to magnify the benefits.
"We do this by quickly and easily deploying applications, innovating the workflow integrations, orchestration and tools required, and continually measuring application performance as the AI market develops," said Panter. "We enable the clarity of an algorithm's value and performance over time, providing greater confidence for the continuation of program funding and long-term application utilization."
Also, at RSNA this year, on Wednesday, December 1st, at 11:30 a.m. CST Blackford CEO Ben Panter will deliver an Industry Presentation entitled What's Holding AI Back? The presentation will address the key challenges that must be overcome to make AI a commercial success in medical imaging.
Blackford Analysis
RadiologyAI
RSNA2021
SourceBlackford
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text:
Reimagining The James Baldwin And William F. Buckley Debate
By James Doubek
James Baldwin debated William F. Buckley in February 1965. Khalil Muhammad and David Frum are reimagining that debate for the 2020 March on Washington Film Festival.
In February 1965, two of America's most towering public intellectuals faced off at the University of Cambridge in England. They were there to debate the proposition: "The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro."
Novelist and essayist James Baldwin argued in favor. He did so by pointing to the experience of the Black man in America. He said the legacy of slavery and white supremacy had in effect "destroy[ed] his sense of reality." Black fathers have no authority over their sons, Baldwin said, because a Black boy's "father has no power in the world."
"There is scarcely any hope for the American dream," Baldwin said, "because the people who are denied participation in it, by their very presence, will wreck it."
William F. Buckley, founder of the conservative National Review, argued the opposing side. Buckley acknowledged certain injustices of racism and discrimination, but said Black people needed to do more to improve their own conditions.
"We must also reach through to the Negro people and tell them that their best chances are in a mobile society," Buckley said. "The most mobile society in the world is the United States of America. And it is precisely that mobility which will give opportunities to the Negroes which they must be encouraged to take."
More than a half century later, their debate is being reargued, or "reimagined," on Sunday night by two modern accomplished thinkers: Harvard University professor Khalil Muhammad and David Frum, who writes for The Atlantic.
Their debate — part of the March on Washington Film Festival — is being held under the updated motion: "The American Dream Is Still at the Expense of African Americans."
Baldwin and Buckley debated at a time when many Black Americans were effectively being denied the right to vote. Just weeks after the debate, civil rights marchers, including future congressman John Lewis, were bloodied by Alabama state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. It wasn't until August of that year that President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
Some 55 years later, the ongoing struggle for equality has manifested itself in nationwide protests against systemic racism and police violence against Black Americans.
Frum, who was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, tells All Things Considered that he wanted to participate to take stock of this moment in history.
"I think for a lot of us, this is a very heart-in-mouth moment, this fall of 2020. And you can lose perspective that things have been worse," he says.
Muhammad, who is a professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School, says he wanted the opportunity to "bring Baldwin's voice into greater recognition."
After a summer of protests over racial injustice while Black Americans die of the coronavirus at disproportionate numbers, Muhammad says, "Baldwin's voice as a novelist, as an essayist, as a critic of the hypocrisies of the nation and its core contradictions, speaks to this moment in ways that few other writers can."
Frum argues that in the 55 years since Baldwin and Buckley spoke, "the story of American politics has been the rise of Black political power, Black economic power, Black legal power, Black power in culture." He acknowledges the pessimism Baldwin felt in 1965, but says that now "when you tell people that they are powerless, that America is against them, that they are not part of the country, you don't teach action. You teach passivity."
Muhammad counters that "the story of black people in America, while [Frum's] right, is a story of great political vision and the dogged pursuit of making real the promises of democracy, [Frum] gives far too much credit to the American system as he explains it."
Muhammad instead credits "people who actually challenged at every turn the status quo. ... I completely reject the notion of despair as the natural outcome of criticizing this country."
Both Frum and Muhammad will speak and be cross-examined by students from the Howard University Debate Team.
The format of the event is a throwback to a time before the advent of social media. While modern political debate often takes place online in short, frenetic bursts, Muhammad thinks it's especially important for students of today to witness a different approach in order to understand the fundamentals of argument.
"In our system of government, you can't 'cancel' someone at the bar of the Supreme Court of justice," he says. "You have to make a case. And so I think that this old, very old format of debate is still as useful today as it's always been in order for people to hear precisely what the ideas are at stake."
Frum says debate is most effective when "people step away from it and they're different than they were before, not only the audience, but the participants."
When the Baldwin/Buckley debate was over, the audience voted: Baldwin won, 544 to 164.
James Doubek
James Doubek is an associate editor and reporter for NPR. He frequently covers breaking news for NPR.org and NPR's hourly newscast. In 2018, he reported feature stories for NPR's business desk on topics including electric scooters, cryptocurrency, and small business owners who lost out when Amazon made a deal with Apple.
See stories by James Doubek


text:
A movie studio. In space.
In 1999 Russia stopped funding the Mir Space Station in favour of the International Space Station. Mir was left empty after being continually occupied for 9 years and 356 days. She was programmed to de-orbit and burn up in the atmosphere by 2001.
However, in 2000 a private firm (MirCorp) flew two cosmonauts up on a 2 month mission to make the space station safe again. A Dutch-format reality show called The Big Mission was to follow contestants through astronaut training before one would win the chance to fly. The show was to be hosted by Lance Bass from N'Sync. The show was cancelled in favour of a documentary following an astronaut-training celebrity instead. The producers chose Lance Bass. MTV sponsored the idea, but another major sponsor pulled out after worrying their brand would suffer if Bass died on the mission.
Mir burned up in the atmosphere in March 2001. Bass went on to complete his astronaut training in 2002 and still intends to fly to the International Space Station.
Bizarre fact.
Posted in TV	film studioInternational Space StationISSLance BassMirMir space stationMTVN'Syncspace stationstudio in spaceThe Big Mission
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text:
30 Aug, 2015 09:49
Malaysia's ex-PM calls for 'people power' mass protests to topple govt
Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad called for the current prime minister to be ousted in a speech to tens of thousands of people, who have gathered for a second day of anti-government protests in Kuala Lumpur.
Protesters exercise during a rally organised by pro-democracy group "Bersih" (Clean) near Dataran Merdeka in Malaysia's capital city of Kuala Lumpur, August 30, 2015. © Athit Perawongmetha © Reuters
The protesters want PM Najib Razak to resign over a financial scandal.
"The only way for the people to get back to the old system is for them to remove this prime minister," Mahathir told media before going to the protests in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
Pressure mounts on Malaysian PM as protests spill into second day http://t.co/fDYZ3UT7hJpic.twitter.com/CFDXIQDoBk
— Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) August 30, 2015
"And to remove him, the people must show people's power. The people as a whole do not want this kind of corrupt leader."
The protest rally, which started Saturday, has remained peaceful so far. Mahathir made a brief appearance on the first day, encouraging the people to carry on.
The Saturday rally attracted 300,000 people, according to the organizers' count. Police estimated the crowd at 25,000.
Images from #KualaLumpur where protest against stashing of STATE FUNDS in PM's #Razak's PERSONAL ACCOUNT enters day 2 pic.twitter.com/82EzwCHw3G
— Sam (@The_Optics) August 30, 2015
The protesters accuse Najib of corruption after documents were leaked in July showing that he had received some $700 million from entities linked to an indebted state fund.
He later claimed the money was a donation from the Middle East. Najib sacked several senior government officials and the attorney general investigating the allegations against him.
READ MORE: 'Not gone away': Tens of thousands rally in Irish capital against water charges
Najib dismissed his critics, saying they don't really have public support.
"The people behind this protest don't care about the well-being of rural citizens," he said. Najib's main electoral support base comes from the countryside.
He added that the economic problems the country is experiences stem from the slowdown in China and the global economy rather than the failures of his own government, as the protesters claim.
The protest comes ahead of national Independence Day celebrations on Monday. Police cordoned off the central Independence Square in Kuala Lampur, declaring it off limits for the rally.


text:
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Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women's Nation and Men's Nation, in being functional members of the "Hoop of Life" and upholding the honor of being human.
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As an artist and cultural organizer, Stephanie is deeply committed to creating work that supports social justice and aligns with the FST and Junebug legacy.
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Born in Japan, Kazu has been engaged in social change work since participating in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage at the age of 17. He would go onto spend one-year living in Buddhist monasteries throughout South Asia studying the relationship between nonviolence and Buddhist dharma. He has over 20 years of experience in nonviolence, restorative justice, trainings and organizing and has been trained by elders such as Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Rev. James Lawson.
He spent over 10 years working in social justice philanthropy while being directly involved in many social movements, from the Global Justice Movement of the late 1990s to Occupy Oakland. He has been a Kingian Nonviolence trainers since 2009, is a Core Member of the Ahimsa Collective, a board member at PeaceWorkers and is the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.
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Associate Professor of Women, Gender, Spirituality & Social Justice
Alka Arora, PhD (she/her) is an associate professor of Women, Gender, Spirituality and Social Justice at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA. Her research and teaching focus on feminist spiritual activism, vegan ecofeminism, and transformative pedagogy.
Alka is also a certified facilitator with Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI), a non-profit organization that draws on the power of truth-telling and dialogue to transform gender relations.
A first-generation Indian-American, Alka was born and raised in Chicago, IL. After living on the west coast for over 20 years, she returned to Chicago in 2021 and works remotely. In addition to teaching in higher ed, Alka has extensive experience as a public speaker, workshop facilitator, diversity trainer, and coach.
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text:
Home Faces of Industry Big River Coalition's Sean Duffy joins Louisiana Committee of 100
Big River Coalition's Sean Duffy joins Louisiana Committee of 100
Penny Font
(Courtesy WWLTV) Sean Duffy (left) is interviewed by reporter Eric Paulsen during National Maritime Day last summer.
Sean Duffy, executive director of the Big River Coalition, has been named to Louisiana's Committee of 100 for Economic Development Inc., the Waterways Journal Weekly reports.
C100 is a private, nonprofit organization made up of CEOs and other leaders in business, professional firms and universities in Louisiana that partners with the state to attract and retain industry. The organization works directly with the Louisiana Economic Development Department, engages with business groups to influence public policy and maintains communication with the committee's 100 members with regard to economic development projects and other topics impacting business.
Duffy is a well-known advocate for increased funding to dredge the Mississippi River and led a coalition to gain congressional authorization and funding to deepen the Mississippi River Ship Channel to 50 feet, the Waterways Journal Weekly reports.
The Big River Coalition focuses on securing increased funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Those dredging efforts have also resulted in close to 10,000 acres of new land near the mouth of the river through the beneficial use of dredge material. Duffy also serves as executive vice president and maritime advocate for the New Orleans Steamship Association, also known as Louisiana Maritime Association.
The Waterways Journal Weekly has the full story.