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Links 5/11/2014: Pisi Linux 1.1 KDE, Nexus 9
Posted in News Roundup at 9:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Hands-on with the Kano: The Linux kit that wants to help kids love coding
Kano, a small British start up with strong Israeli ties, set out to make the inside workings of a modern computer accessible to children again. The idea behind the project is get kids coding and hacking themselves, and was inspired by one of the founders' seven-year-old cousin who wanted to build a computer and wondered if it could be made as easy as playing with Lego.
Adobe launches Brackets v1.0, an open-source text editor for Web designers
Adobe has just released version 1.0 of Brackets, its free open-source text editor that's built in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, for coding HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Stunt Rally 2.5 Brings 20 New Tracks, New Sceneries and Improvements
Stunt Rally, a free, beautiful 3D rally game for Linux based on VDrift and OGRE, has reached version 2.5, bringing new game features and a few bug fixes.
KDE at LISA 2014 – Seattle, November 12 and 13
digiKam Recipes 4.1.1 Released
Another month, another digiKam Recipes update. This version features the updated and expanded Edit Photos with the Levels and Curves Adjustment Tools recipe which now covers the powerful curves tool.
Diving into Plasma's 2015
In terms of user demographic, we're almost certain to see one thing happening with the new Plasma 5 UI, as distros start to ship it by default, this is what these new users are going to see. Not everybody in this group of users is interested in how cool the technology stack lines up, they just want to get their work done and certainly not feel impeded in their daily workflows. This is the target group which we've been focusing our work on in months since summer, since the release of Plasma 5.0. Wider group of users sounds pretty abstract, so let's take some numbers: While Plasma 5 is run by a group of people already, the number of users who get it via Linux distributions is much larger than the group of early adopters. This means by the end of next year, Plasma 5 will be in the hands of millions of users, probably around 10 million, and increasing. (This is interpolated from an estimation of Plasma users in the tens of millions, with the technology adaption lifecycle taken as base.)
Pisi Linux 1.1 KDE
Pisi Linux has continued its activities after 1.0 and we reached our second stable version 1.1. This version resulting from intensive studies; strong, stable, comfortable to use, safe and so fast. The strength of the structure to prevent damage to your system uses hardware safely to the end. Also in this release, along with many innovations were offered to us.
eZeY 2014.09
Fedora 21 Beta Screenshot Tour
Ballnux/SUSE
openSUSE 13.2 and Fedora 21 Beta Released
The top stories today were the releases of openSUSE 13.2 and Fedora 21 Beta. WRAL looks at Red Hat at 20 and Matt Hartley guides folks to Ubuntu laptops. The openSUSE Tumbleweed/Factory merger is complete and a migration guide has been posted. Other tidbits include OpenBSD replacing OpenSSL with LibreSSL and The Register joking about a character on The Code named Sgt L. Torvalds.
Salix Live 14.1 Is a Light Slackware-Based OS with a Windows Vibe
Salix Live, a GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware that is simple, fast, easy to use, and based on the Xfce desktop environment, has been promoted to version 14.1 and is now stable.
The Perfect Business Desktop – CentOS 7
This tutorial shows how you can set up CentOS 7 desktop. The CentOS 7 have high quality of desktop environment which is fully suited for day to day business needs of a corporate culture. I will also show some of the specific features from Thunderbird which makes the day to day business use easier.
Ubuntu Touch RTM Gets Major Update – Video Tour
A new Ubuntu Touch RTM version has been released and the developers have made a number of important fixes, not to mention all the improvements that have been made to the backend.
Ubuntu MATE 14.10 Utopic Unicorn : Lightweight and Configurable
"Ubuntu MATE is a stable, easy-to-use operating system with a configurable desktop environment. Ideal for those who want the most out of their desktops, laptops and netbooks and prefer a traditional desktop metaphor. With modest hardware requirements it is suitable for modern workstations and older hardware alike." About ubuntu MATE
Flavours and Variants
Trisquel 7.0 LTS Belenos released
If you haven't used Trisquel before then be sure to read the Trisquel FAQ. There's also a Trisquel discussion forum if you need assistance, and a Trisquel subreddit on Reddit if you want to connect with fellow Trisquel users there.
You can download Trisquel right now in 32-bit or 64-bit versions. You can also choose between the main version, which uses GNOME as the desktop, and a lighter version called Trisquel Mini that uses LXDE instead of GNOME. There's even a smaller version for kids called Trisquel Sugar Toast.
Tizen based Samsung Gear S Goes Up for Pre-Orders in India
The Tizen based Samsung Gear S was launched in India a few weeks ago for 29,500 Rs, and has now gone on pre-order in via the Samsung online eStore, with a reservation / Booking fee of Rs. 1,000 $16 USD.
Nexus 9 reviews
Google's Nexus 9 tablet has been out for a little while and the reviews have started to come in. As you might imagine, the Nexus 9 is an important release for Google since it comes with Android 5.0 and is poised to go head to head with Apple's iPad Air 2. So how well does the Nexus 9 match up against the iPad Air 2? Read on and find out if Google has finally created an iPad-killer.
Nexus 9 Review: A Powerful Tablet…for Android Die-Hards Only
Google has had a really good thing going with the Nexus 7 these past two years. With its 7-inch display, it was the tablet equivalent of a paperback book: effortless to tote around, and cheap enough ($200 for the first-gen; $230 for last year's model) to be a no-brainer purchase. It was perfect for e-books, games, email, video, websites and social feeds. With its great display, ample power and pleasing portability, it felt like it was worth more than its price tag.
Google Nexus 9 review: A powerful tablet made for everyone
Google Nexus 9 review: The first taste of Lollipop is a sweet one
Nexus 9 review: A "premium" tablet with a not-so-premium feel
Nexus 9 Review: Matches iPad Air 2 In Performance, Slams It On Price
Disney Movies Anywhere service comes to Android with a link to Google Play
Sweet Spot: A visual look at the delicious history of Android
Let's face it: the masses don't care about IT; at least not in the way that we do. This has, is, and presumably always will be, a problem that OEMs, software developers, and marketing firms have learned to accept. Put simply, the world-at-large just doesn't care about operating systems, CPU cores, or firmware updates.
Even new types of products such as bendable tablets and smartphones won't appeal to many at first, and one need only look at the general reaction to current glimpses of the future to understand the resistance.
Android Hoards 84 Percent Smartphone OS Market Share
Google's Android stole share from all of its major mobile OS rivals over the past year to achieve a whopping smartphone market dominance of roughly 84 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Strategy Analytics report.
Apple's iOS, which weighed in with about 12 percent, lost more than a point of share to Android since the same quarter a year ago as a result of its limited presence at the lower end of the smartphone market, the report found.
ReactOS Finally Supports Reading NTFS Volumes
Pierre Schweitzer of ReactOS shared, "ReactOS now supports reading files from NTFS volume. This was a long awaited feature people were asking for." A new ReactOS ISO re-spin is now available containing this support.
Obsidian supports OSSSA in driving open source
Open source software specialist Obsidian Systems has been listed as an official supporter of the Open Source Software for South Africa (OSSSA) organisation, and has joined a growing network of supporters and collaborators championing the value of OS in trade, industry and government.
A debate on open source of virtual currency
With the popularization of knowledge on the online virtual money, more and more virtual money are produced. Since the Bitcoin made the Web money in fashion and gained global attention, the virtual money after Bitcoin were called "Copycat Coins". While these virtual money use different names merely to differentiate with Bitcoin, like the different names of currencies in the real world, such as the US dollar, the Euro, etc.
ON.Lab Unveils Open-Source SDN OS
The ONOS initiative joins other open-source efforts like OpenDaylight and ONF in trying to accelerate adoption of SDN and NFV.
A nonprofit group led by some of the earliest developers of software-defined networking next month will make available an open operating system for the industry, the latest effort to bring the open-source model into the SDN world.
Eskimo conserves resources with igloo applications
The face of web development has changed. No longer does the term dredge up images of a lonely hacker in a basement—nowadays, everyone from business executives to schoolchildren enjoy learning how to code. This is, in part, thanks to the development of increasingly easier to use boilerplate tools. The goal of these tools is to enable coders to build rapid Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) in an organized and reliable, yet creative, fashion.
In the GitHub repository, the user will find all the necessary information to begin developing their own fast MVP: installation files, examples, templates, file an issue feature, contributors, and license type. Eskimo: You'll want to get snowed in.
Google Chrome 40.x Dev Released, PDF Rotation Buttons Finally Fixed
It's not clear what Google is doing with the version numbers for Chrome, but for now it looks like 40.x is not really a problem. The devs are still making small improvements to the application and each new edition brings a few new features.
OpenStack vs. Amazon: The Power of Distributed Computing
At the OpenStack Summit in Paris, the OpenStack Foundation's Mark Collier discusses the open-source cloud effort versus Amazon and why one cloud doesn't fit all needs.
A Night of Culture in Paris with Canonical Ubuntu Linux at OpenStack Paris
Users of OpenStack talk cars, banks, and cable TV
OpenStack: Show Me the Money
A panel of investors at the OpenStack Summit in Paris explain what they're looking for and why security is ripe for investment.
GNU Tools Cauldron 2014 videos posted online
Presentation videos from GNU Tools Cauldron 2014 have now been posted online. The conference, which this year was held from July 18 – 20, 2014 in Cambridge, England at the University of Cambridge, featured nearly thirty presentations on tools in the GNU toolchain including GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection, and GDB, the GNU Project Debugger. Developers shared tutorials and insights in addition to discussing development plans for various projects within the GNU toolchain.
GNU LibreJS 6.0.5 released
There's a new version of LibreJS.
Health Hack 2014: the power of open source, open data, and cross-disciplinary collaboration
Mooltipass Open Source Offline Password Storage (video)
UAV policy from across the pond (pro-drones)
While the United States remains tightly caught in the grip of mid-term madness, and will continue to writhe and lash about until 8 November 2016, the United Kingdom is looking beyond short-term, cheap, and policy-free political fodder. It has taken a stab at addressing longer-term ethical, legal, social, political and economic issues – such as the consequences raised by use of what the UK calls Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs) or drones.
Primary Sources: New Documents on US Citizen Killed in CIA Drone Strike
The latest batch of heavily redacted investigative files reveal that the bureau had grown increasingly concerned over Khan's anti-American screeds posted to his blog and determined he was a serious threat.
Yemen: U.S. Drone Strikes Kill Up to 20 People
While recent attention has focused on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Syria, the United States has continued its covert bombardment of supposed militants in Yemen and Pakistan.
China develops anti-drone laser system
Engineers in China have successfully developed a laser weapon able to shoot down low-flying, slow-moving drones, according to the country's state media on Tuesday.
China Has Unveiled a New Laser System to Shoot Down Drones
District Court Orders Release Of Another DOJ Drone-Killing Memo, Cites [REDACTED] In Support
New York's Southern District Court — which has been hosting (along with the Second Circuit Appeals Court) the ACLU and New York Times' long-running, concurrent FOIA lawsuits against the government over its drone killing memos — has reached a partial decision on some of the embattled documents.
The court's decision was actually delivered on Sept. 30th, but its conclusion and order have spent the last month under seal while the government applied its redactions. An accompanying memo from the presiding judge [pdf link] notes that the court isn't buying all the government's redaction arguments.
Ukraine Elections Bring Society Closer to Brink of all Out War and Economic Collapse
The parliamentary elections in Ukraine has been lavished with praise by Western politicians and the mainstream media as confirmation of the country's turn towards democracy and a rejection of Putin's evil Russian empire. What the media drones and corporate politicians won't tell you is that these elections represent a disaster for the ordinary people of Ukraine.
U.S. Accuses 'Russia-Backed' Separatists of Firing at OSCE Drone
European security watchdog OSCE said numerous anti-aircraft rounds were fired at one of its drones monitoring a shaky truce in eastern Ukraine, and the United States blamed pro-Russian rebels for Sunday's incident.
The unmanned aerial vehicle — deployed to help monitor the cease-fire between government forces and separatists — was not hit and it later landed safely, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, said Monday
Pakistan sees highest drone barrage in a month since October 2011
Nine drone strikes were recorded in October, the most strikes in a month since October 2011, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
US Navy Cancels Port Calls Amid Philippine Anger Over Killing
The US Navy has canceled visits to the Philippine port of Subic amid public anger over accusations that a US Marine killed a Filipino on the city's outskirts, officials said Monday.
Foreign Department spokesman Charles Jose said the visits of three US ships to Subic this month had been canceled, while the head of the Subic freeport said nine such visits scheduled for this year had been called off.
Does New Zealand have its own secret court?
Thanks to Edward Snowden, there has been an enormous amount of news about the US intelligence community and the court – the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Court (FISA) – that governs it. Following the stunning revelations that FISA approved the wiretapping of millions of US domestic phone calls, the court is now viewed as a 'almost a parallel Supreme Court,' whose decisions are made 'with almost no public scrutiny.'
Despite New Zealand's deep involvement in the Five Eyes network, and the revelations that a surveillance warrant was held on New Zealander Daryl Jones who was later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen, there has been no discussion or examination of the role of the Commissioner of Warrants who issues surveillance warrants to the GCSB and NZSIS. The decisions of that office remain entirely opaque, creating a body of law that is not subject to challenge in any public forum.
Peace groups plan drone protest at Battle Creek Air National Guard on Saturday
Father and daughter arrested protesting world's most hated weapon
There was the anthrax letters shell game, Blackwater, Halliburton and pallets of money that disappeared much like Iraqi treasure. The greed and slaughter continued with Obama, presidential ordered secret assassinations, the NSA, telecoms, banks and other corporations conspiring against and committing crimes against US Citizens and the Militarization of the every day cop.
But it is the drone strike that makes Americans the most hated people and nation on Earth. It is a cowardly act that disregards whatever rules of war that ever existed in the however misguided "honor" of men. These bombs not only have killed children, teenagers, mothers, fathers grandparents, neighbors and entire wedding parties; they have created a level of anxiety and fear across vast regions. Mentally they are a torture of mass destruction. The pictures, eye witness accounts and journalist verifications on the ground are infinitely more believable than ANY White House in my lifetime.
New tapes show Israel's attack on USS Liberty was deliberate
The translated words of Israeli commanders and Israeli pilots from tapes can be heard, numerous times, as confirming the identity of the Liberty as "American." The tapes include a timeline in the background which fixes the times of transmissions, and establishes that confirmation was made before and during the attack. In 2004 the Jerusalem Post published a transcript of Israeli radio transmissions on that day, critical parts of which match the transmissions in the tape obtained by the film-maker, Richard Belfield.
The Deep State Plots the 1980 Defeat of Jimmy Carter
How do Wall Street, oil companies and the shadow government agencies like the CIA and NSA really shape the global political order?
That's the question author Peter Dale Scott examines in his forthcoming book "The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil and the Attack on U.S. Democracy," due out on Nov. 12. Scott, a professor emeritus of English at Berkeley and former Canadian diplomat, is considered the father of "deep politics"—the study of hidden permanent institutions and interests whose influence on the political realm transcends the elected.
The Empire of Chaos and the War on Drugs
President Putin's recent Valdai Speech contained a striking phrase about the counter-productive nature of much of US foreign policy: "We sometimes get the impression that our colleagues and friends are constantly fighting the consequences of their own policies, throw all their effort into addressing the risks they themselves have created, and pay an ever-greater price."
President Putin was referring to terrorism, but an equally valid example of the same point is the so-called "War on Drugs" that the US announced in 1971 and which it has been waging with no success ever since.
Noam Chomsky calls US 'world's leading terrorist state'
The United States is the "world's leading terrorist state," based on its deadly, CIA-run operations in the likes of Nicaragua and Cuba, according to new op-ed by historian and social philosopher Noam Chomsky.
In a new piece posted at Truthout.org, Chomsky pointed to the Central Intelligence Agency's classified review of its own efforts to arm insurgencies across the globe in its 67-year history. As RT previously reported, the CIA conducted the effectiveness analyses while the Obama administration contemplated arming rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria.
The Leading Terrorist State
Noam Chomsky Slams The US For Being the Greatest Terrorist State That Has Fostered Violence and Aggression
In TruthOut, Chomsky described the Central Intelligence Agency's classified review of its attempts to arm insurgencies across the world in its 67-year history. RT News reported that the CIA conducted the "effectiveness analyses" but the Obama government armed rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's Syrian forces.
Hagel's Syria Memo
Let's imagine a world in which the military-industrial complex controlled by the 1%, so mired in dishonesty and responsible for so much suffering, is decisively overthrown. It shouldn't take thirty years to topple it.
The Pierre Omidyar Insurgency
Omidyar was an admirer of Obama's right up to the moment the Snowden story broke, and many people who know him well, the types you might meet at CGI, struggle to explain his sudden turn toward confrontation. "He's a very serious and public-spirited person," says General Wesley Clark, who has been friendly with Omidyar since he raised money for his 2004 presidential campaign. Clark has publicly dismissed concerns about NSA surveillance and told me he couldn't really explain why Omidyar was so agitated. Omidyar is mellow by nature; he lives in Hawaii and is a devotee of Buddhism. "He's not this hard-core, radical maverick," Greenwald says. "Back before this all happened, he just seemed like the normal, average, amicable billionaire." Omidyar has communicated little about his motivations beyond a handful of abstruse public statements. He remains a remote and somewhat mysterious figure, even to his collaborators.
Environment/Energy/Wildlife
Global warming's early victims: Watch live as polar bears wait for sea ice to form
We're approaching the end of an era for the polar bears of Canada's Western Hudson Bay – or, in the more straightforward way of putting it, we're approaching the end of the polar bears, period. Typically, as the weather turns cold and sea ice forms, the region's bears migrate out onto the bay, where they spend the winter filling up on enough seals to last them through the ice-free summer months. But that sea ice has been tending to melt earlier and earlier each spring, and to form later and later each fall. This year, like every year, the bears are ready to get moving. But so far the Hudson Bay, which used to be traversable by as early as November 8, remains largely ice-free.
ABC Campaign Coverage–or GOP Campaign Commercial?
ABC-ERNST-2The right-wing Media Research Center released a study (10/22/14) slamming the evening newscasts for not giving the midterm election much airtime. It has a partisan interest here; the group wants more attention paid to the Republicans' impending victories. ABC World News, it said, was notable for having nothing on the election over the study period.
You Will Be Amazed at How Much Influence You Can Have," Billionaire Pours $9.5M Into MO Elections
Rex Sinquefield, who has been described as a "new American oligarch," has reported spending almost $9.5 million on Missouri state politics in 2014 alone, bringing Sinquefield's total spending in the state to nearly $41 million since 2006.
"If you get involved at the local level with the route I described, you will be amazed at how much influence you can have," Sinquefield told his business school alumni earlier this year.
How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen
The truth about the CIA's involvement was kept hidden for 20 years until, in 1974, Everette Howard Hunt revealed the story in his book Undercover: Memoirs of an American Secret Agent. In January 1950, when Orwell died at the age of 46, New Yorker Hunt had been part of the CIA's Psychological Warfare Workshop and he had been sent to obtain the screen rights to Animal Farm from Orwell's widow Sonia. Some people believe that Hunt exaggerated his own role in sealing the deal – he supposedly promised Mrs Orwell that he would arrange for her to meet her favourite star, Clark Gable – but he was certainly involved in getting the film off the ground.
Facebook Boosts News Feeds of Top 100 Media Outlets in Secret Political Experiment
What is the point of a social network that doesn't share your content with friends and followers? Oh, yeah, for profit, government spying, emotional experiments and now, political manipulation.
Since they went public, Facebook has been playing with their algorithms to prevent "viral" content from occurring naturally in favor of charging users to show content to their followers. This profit-seeking strategy destroyed the only thing that made Facebook useful. Now it seems to serve as little more than an oversized telephone or IM app. But underneath, in the shadows, it's still so much more than that.
Pianist Dejan Lazic Defends His Takedown Request By Pointing Out That The WaPo Reviewer Is Really Mean
We just wrote about famed pianist Dejan Lazic's rather misguided attempt to make use of Europe's new focus on "the right to be forgotten" to cajole the Washington Post into removing a 2010 review of one of his performances, written by Anne Midgette. The story has gotten lots of attention, and Lazic has posted a response on his website (as far as I can tell, there's no way to permalink just to the response).
Russia dismantles Steve Jobs memorial as 'gay propaganda' after Apple's Tim Cook comes out
The "gay propaganda" law caused outrage and protests in the West, particularly in the run-up to the Winter Olympics hosted by Mr Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in February.
Russia Dismantles Steve Jobs Memorial, Fearing That Tim Cook's Homosexuality Might Be Contagious
Virginia Police Departments Have Been Collaborating On An Ad Hoc, Secret Phone Record Database
Do you ever get the feeling that some law enforcement agencies just do whatever the hell they want? In most areas, this is the exception rather than the rule. In Virginia, however, that ratio seems to be reversed. Last year, an ACLU FOIA request uncovered the Virginia State Police's wholesale harvesting of license plates from political rallies.
Here's Hoping Judge Ignores The Nutty Plaintiff With An Important Case On NSA Surveillance Of Business Records
Many of us were excited, 11 months ago, when District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the NSA's bulk collection of phone metadata was unconstitutional. This was the first program revealed via the documents from Ed Snowden, and it involved the US using Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, approved by the FISA Court with little explanation (until much later) to say that it's okay to request all phone records from Verizon. What had been often mentioned as a brief aside, is the fact that the plaintiff in the case, Larry Klayman is a bit of a conspiracy-theorist nutjob.
US National Security Agency probably has your Windows Bitlocker recovery keys
Cryptome highlight that the Windows FAQs on drive encryption says that a recovery key for your encrypted device is uploaded to your SkyDrive (now named OneDrive) account to make sure that you have a means of logging into your device should you forget your password. This would be a reasonable expectation as the encryption was passively turn on, however it goes on to remind us that Microsoft's SkyDrive/OneDrive was a target/collaborator of the NSA's PRISM program which means tha NSA have keys to decrypt your computer.
The Senate just lost one of its most prominent critics of the NSA and CIA
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall lost his seat on Tuesday, the Associated Press is projecting. He lost a hard-fought race against Republican challenger Rep. Cory Gardner.
The candidates sparred over a variety of the issues, from Obamacare to birth control. But the biggest impact of Udall's defeat could be on civil liberties.
With Udall's defeat, NSA reformers lose an ally on the inside
With Colorado Sen. Mark Udall's defeat Tuesday night, the Senate will lose one of its most vocal, most active and most powerfully positioned advocates for dialing back the intelligence community's surveillance powers.
Judges Skeptical NSA Spying Violates Privacy Rights
In reviewing a post-Snowden case Tuesday, an appeals court questioned whether the government's bulk collection of phone records needs to be reined in.
NSA Metadata Collection Case in Court Today
A case challenging the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's (NSA) metadata collection efforts against United States citizens made its way into an appellate court today, where lawyer and opponent of domestic spying Larry Klayman was grilled by a three-judge panel. At issue is the collection of metadata in a massive program run by the National Security Agency known as PRISM, which was first revealed to the public by Edward Snowden.
Embattled NSA under fire in court
Critics of the National Security Agency's most embattled program harshly condemned the spying in a top appeals court on Tuesday.
Judges, however, seemed largely skeptical of their claims that the spy agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records was unconstitutional.
Instead, they seemed to express a desire to reverse a lower court ruling nearly one year ago that called the NSA program "almost Orwellian."
Anti-NSA ruling in jeopardy
Privacy advocates urge appeals court to halt NSA phone collection
Appeals court to weigh NSA phone data program
Oral Arguments In Lawsuit Against NSA Focus on Plaintiffs' Standing
Judges weigh NSA's sweep of phone numbers
Appeals court steps into debate over NSA surveillance program
Appeals Court Hears NSA Mass Surveillance Arguments
4th Amendment Fight Against NSA Continues
House Dem calls for undiluted NSA reforms
Appellate Judge Panel Seen Hostile to Anti-NSA Ruling
The December ruling that the NSA telephone surveillance program was unconstitutional looks to be in serious jeopardy, as the US Appellate Court challenge to the ruling has drawn a three-judge panel that seems extremely hostile to the idea of limiting federal surveillance powers.
Brazil's New Underwater Data Cable to Portugal Is Still Likely Not NSA-Proof
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's remarks at an October campaign event, in which she said a new underwater data cable being built from Brazil to Portugal would be made by Brazilian companies to protect it from US "espionage," were widely seen as a slam on the US National Security Agency's spying tactics.
Will Tom Cotton Be the New Face of Surveillance Reform Opposition in the Senate?
House Republican Tom Cotton looks set to defeat Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor in Arkansas and take over his seat in the United States Senate. If this happens, it is a distinct possibility that Cotton will become one of the most vocal opponents of any efforts to reform surveillance and constrain the National Security Agency or any other government agency's power.
Hacking Team Defends Spyware, Attacks Researchers' Methods
Privacy advocates and anti-surveillance activists have been taking a close look at the way that some vendors of so-called lawful intercept and surveillance software and hardware systems conduct their business and which customers and governments they sell their wares to. Now, some of those vendors–and the customers they work with–are mounting their own criticisms of the researchers and their tactics.
Hacking Team is an Italian company that develops and sells surveillance equipment and spyware to government clients.
Rogers downplays NSA moonlighting controversy
Earlier this month the NSA was forced to launch an internal review of the practice after Reuters published a story detailing how the agency allowed Patrick Dowd, the NSA's chief technical officer, to work 20 hours per week for IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., a private cybersecurity firm founded by former NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander. The company reportedly charges financial institutions up to $1 million per month for cybersecurity services based on technology patents Alexander developed while he was employed as NSA director. Under pressure, Alexander terminated the agreement with Dowd last week.
You've been permacookied and don't even know it
I've long warned that no one is truly anonymous on the Internet. Tor guarantees anonymous downloads about as much as naming your hacking collective "Anonymous" guarantees you won't be arrested. Those private snaps on your smartphone? If anyone cares to see them, they can be stolen and posted publicly. Repeat after me: When you use the Internet, anonymity is not a feature.
Cell carrier was weakest link in hack of Google, Instagram accounts
If you think the two-factor authentication offered by Google and other cloud services will keep your account out of the hands of an attacker, think again. One developer found out this weekend the hard way; Google's account protection scheme can be bypassed by going after something most people would consider an even harder target—the user's cell phone account.
The Government is in Pursuit of a Less Secure Internet
A government proposal to change the rules for obtaining search warrants risks making all of us more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
The FBI wants to be able to infect computers with malware when it doesn't know where exactly they're located. The implications for computer security, and for constitutional limits on the government's search powers, are drastic.
The Department of Justice is asking a judicial committee to amend Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which generally permits magistrate judges to issue search warrants to the government only for searches within their judicial district. The government wants to lift the geographical limitation to allow it to conduct electronic surveillance of devices whose locations are unknown.
Dropbox's Drew Houston Responds To Snowden's Privacy Criticism: It's A Trade-Off
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden sparked controversy when he advised consumers (twice) to "get rid of Dropbox" if they want to protect their privacy. Today, Drew Houston, CEO of the cloud storage startup, responded to the accusations. People can do more to encrypt their data, he admitted, but It's "a trade-off between usability/convenience and security," he said. "We offer people choice."
Police misuse of Ripa powers to spy on journalists is systemic, MPs told
The National Union of Journalists has told parliament that police misuse of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to snoop on journalists and their sources is "systemic and institutionalised" and is doing "irreparable damage" to the industry.
Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ's general secretary, told the home affairs select committee that police were routinely bypassing the need for judicial scrutiny to discover journalistic sources by using Ripa to go through phone records and other data.
How mobiles can hack our most sensitive data
The data can be picked up by a mobile phone up to 23 feet away and then transmitted over Wi-Fi or a cellular network to an attacker's command-and-control server. The victim's own mobile phone can be used to receive and transmit the stolen data, or an attacker lurking outside an office or lab can use his own phone to pick up the transmission.
Activist lawyer takes NSA surveillance case to federal appeals court
A conservative gadfly lawyer who has made a career of skewering Democratic administrations is taking his battle against the National Security Agency's telephone surveillance programme to a federal appeals court.
Ex-NSA chief invested heavily in tech firm tied to AT&T
As questions continue to be raised about the legality concerning the National Security Agency's vast surveillance apparatus, the NSA's ex spy chief is now coming under attack for ties he had to a tech company while in office.
A report published on Monday this week by Shane Harris at the Daily Beast revealed that Gen. Keith Alexander, the recently retired head of the NSA, bought and sold tens of thousands of dollars' worth of stock in a firm called Synchronoss Technologies Inc. while he ran the United States' intelligence gathering agency.
ACLU on Executive Order 12333: NSA may be laughing at your sex tape
Snowden told The Guardian that when some NSA analysts intercept photos of a sexual nature, they cannot pass up the temptation to pass the images around. He witnessed this privacy invasion "numerous" times and called the occurrences "routine enough" to be considered "fringe benefits of surveillance positions."
Pizza delivery man for Senate: Delete all the NSA's files
Haugh is just as absolutist when it comes to ending foreign wars and bringing home troops from far-off outposts. Not only does he advocate stopping the current air strikes against ISIL and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, but he's also quick to draw a connection between winding down wars and removing prohibitions on recreational drug use.
Former NSA lawyer: the cyberwar is between tech firms and the US government
The battle over encryption of consumer internet users' data has pitched US technology companies against the US government itself, former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker said on Tuesday.
No prospect of NYT journalist testifying at ex-CIA officer's trial, prosecutors say
In a motion filed in US district court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors say attorneys for the journalist James Risen have told them that, even if subpoenaed, Risen will refuse to provide any substantive testimony at the pending trial of the former CIA operative Jeffrey Sterling.
Prosecutors Say There's Still No Deal In Place With James Risen
Federal prosecutors said Monday they have no deal in place with a New York Times reporter whose testimony they want as they prosecute a former CIA officer accused of leaking classified information.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, prosecutors say attorneys for journalist James Risen have told them that, even if subpoenaed, Risen will refuse to provide any substantive testimony at the pending trial of former CIA operative Jeffrey Sterling.
Reporter still refusing to testify in CIA Iran leak case
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — Federal prosecutors said Monday they have no deal in place with a New York Times reporter whose testimony they want as they prosecute a former CIA officer accused of leaking classified information about covert operations against Iran.
Prosecutors: No deal with reporter on leak case
Federal prosecutors say they have no deal in place with a New York Times reporter whose testimony they want as they prosecute a former CIA officer accused of leaking sensitive information.
In a motion filed Monday in federal court in Alexandria, prosecutors say attorneys for journalist James Risen have told them that, even if subpoenaed, Risen will refuse to provide any substantive testimony at the pending trial of former CIA operative Jeffrey Sterling.
The CIA in Texas
Even the documented account by James Risen of the White House orchestrated plot in the wake of 9/11 to circumvent (indeed, ignore) legal restrictions on domestic wire-tapping has not crossed the threshold of public attention.
War. Torture. The NSA. And Jerusalem? The American president's addiction to king-like power must end
President Bush signed the bill into law, but – this being George W Bush, who saw his office as above the law on issues from going to war to torturing during an endless war and even spying on his own citizens – he also issued an adjoining statement expressing his view that the statute is an unconstitutional encroachment on presidential power. The Obama administration has taken the same position, in reasserting the White House's official neutrality as to which sovereign controls Jerusalem – and in resisting the power for Congress to keep the president's power in check.
Ex-CIA officer unseats Dem Rep. Gallego
Wyden: CIA Demand To Black Out Torture Report Details Would Be Unprecedented
The Central Intelligence Agency's call to black out all pseudonyms from the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on torture would be unprecedented – and represents an unacceptable effort to obscure key facts, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said last week.
You know who else won the 2014 election? The CIA.
With Republicans taking control of the Senate, there's a good chance the CIA won't be held accountable for its crimes during the Bush era
Milwaukee Students Disrupt CIA Recruitment on Campus
On Oct. 29, students led by Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) and Progressive Students of Milwaukee (PSM) disrupted a CIA recruitment event held on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.
The CIA is a defender of U.S. corporate interests against democratic people's movements. Protest organizers say that for more than 60 years, the CIA has assassinated foreign leaders and civilians around the globe, systematically tortured, trained assassins to kill both US and foreign civilians, facilitated weapons and drug trafficking by terrorists and paramilitaries, influenced foreign elections with money and murder, and lied to congress about its activities.
Internet/Net Neutrality
No Compromise: FCC Should Reject Risky, Confusing "Hybrid" Net Neutrality
Back in May the Federal Communications Commission proposed flawed "net neutrality" rules that would effectively bless the creation of Internet "slow lanes." After months of netroots protests the FCC is now reportedly considering a new "hybrid" proposal. EFF is deeply concerned, however, that this "compromise" risks too much, for too little.
Attention Kim Kardashian: You Can't Sue Another Woman For Having A Big Ass And An Instagram Account
Let's pretend for a moment that for-some-reason-a-celebrity Kim Kardashian reads Techdirt. Someone needs to let her know that lawsuits and lawyers are not for temper tantrums over threats to your own celebrity. I'd have thought she'd have previously learned this lesson after Old Navy staved off the lawsuit she filed because the clothing company had the gall to hire a brunette woman for one of their commercials. It would appear not, now that she's reportedly investigating whether or not she can sue a woman named Jen Selter for "copying" Kim's poses (bwah?) and having a big ass.
Does Kim Kardashian have her eye on your bottom?
To Los Angeles, where Lost in Showbiz learns that a landmark court case may be brewing. It derives this knowledge from a feature in leading legal periodical Closer magazine, headlined KIM KARDASHIAN FUMES OVER BOTTOM "COPYCAT". We won't go into too much detail here, because quite frankly, reading the whole article made Lost in Showbiz worry that civilisation as we know it is doomed and that brimstone is going to start raining from the sky any minute. Suffice to say, the general thrust is that Kim Kardashian is angry at a woman the piece refers to as "internet bottom sensation" Jen Selter. Selter has been posting photographs of her large buttocks on Instagram, an activity Kardashian apparently feels is an unacceptable infringement upon her very raison d'etre: one of the gangplanks of Kim Kardashian's global celebrity being her nonpareil ability to take photographs of her own large buttocks with a cameraphone. "Kim thinks Jen copies all her poses … she is fuming as she feels her curvy bum is one of her most unique selling points and feels that Jen is just trying to cash in."
EFF asks for the right to revive "abandoned" online games
While playing the original versions of classic games on aging original hardware can sometimes be difficult, it's at least typically possible. That's not the case for many online games, which are functionally inoperable once the developer or publisher decides to shut down the official servers that provide the only way for players to communicate with each other. Unofficial hobbyist projects that try to create new servers for these abandoned games could run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and its ban on "the circumvention of access control technologies."
Why We're Just Now Getting the 1960s Batman TV Show on DVD
In 1998, a man named John Stacks formed a company, Johnny Resin, that sold model kits to a niche audience. His specialty was a line of sculpts bearing the likenesses of actors from 1966′s Batman television series: Adam West, Burt Ward, and an assortment of villains, all in costume.
To Nobody's Surprise, Australian "Terrorism" Law May Be Used for Copyright Enforcement
As we foreshadowed, a new law requiring mandatory data retention by ISPs was introduced into the Australian federal parliament last week. In the few days since then, there have been claims and counter-claims about whether data obtained under the new law would be limited to use in fighting major crimes (such as terrorism, as the government originally claimed), or if it could be used to target citizens who download and share files online.
The current party line, from flip-flopping Attorney-General George Brandis (whom some may remember from this train-wreck interview in which he attempted to define "metadata") is that the new laws "can't be and they won't be" used to prosecute file sharers, because copyright infringement is only a civil offense.
Dutch Parliament Wants Popup Warnings on Pirate Sites
A majority of the Dutch Parliament has backed a proposal to target online piracy through warning popups on "pirate" sites. The warnings should inform Internet users that they're breaking the law, while pointing out what the legal alternatives are. The opposition characterizes the plan as "stupid" and notes there are better ways to deal with the issue.
German Police Raid 121 Homes in Massive Pirate Site Crackdown
Four hundred police officers raided 121 homes today in a crackdown on the popular linking site Boerse.bz. The homes are believed to be connected to active uploaders of the site but no arrests have been made. The Boerse.bz website itself switched to a new provider but remains online.
Microsoft Coup D'état: After Paying the Apache Software Foundation and Paying Apache Man to Become Microsoft Employee He Immediately Becomes President
Posted in Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 7:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
"Working behind the scenes to orchestrate "independent" praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy's, is a key evangelism function during the Slog. "Independent" analyst's report should be issued, praising your technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). "Independent" consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). "Independent" academic sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money granted). "Independent" courseware providers should start profiting from their early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should be sought and turned to our advantage."
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
Summary: Microsoft staff installed as head of the Apache Software Foundation just half a decade after the Apache Software Foundation sold out
ABOUT six years ago, Apache (or ASF) made itself vulnerable to a Microsoft coup d'état by becoming financially dependent on Microsoft. Apache has, in some sense, sold out. Our previous posts about this include (to list just a subset):
Embrace, Extend, and Apache
Yesterday's Microsoft Slashvertisement and Apache's Trip to Redmond
Microsoft Starts the Media Charade Ahead of Apache Conference
Microsoft Pays for a More Microsoft-Obedient Apache
Microsoft Now Tries to Invade Eclipse, Apache (Updated)
Glyn Moody, Pam Jones: Apache Sponsorship Likely an Anti-GNU/Linux Move
Does Apache Show That Money Talks?
Haters of Software Freedom Inside Planet Apache
Microsoft's Path of LAMP Destruction: From Novell to Apache (the L to the A)
Microsoft Hates Apache, Wanted to Sue It, Now Wants to Ruin It
Apache has since then been trying to pretend it Microsoft would not corrupt the foundation, but readers have sent us links to this new press release asking for money (making the foundation inherently vulnerable), signed by Microsoft's Ross Gardler, acting as "President". The word "President" in the press release could just as well be substituted with the word "Microsoft", as if the press release actually comes from Microsoft. To put it in Gardler's own words, "I work at Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc."
He also represents Microsoft at events and "Microsoft Open Technologies" is basically a Trojan horse inside FOSS, dedicated to derailing Free software and injecting Microsoft influence. It's a shrewd proxy strategy.
This appointment is apparently not quite so new, it's just that the media didn't cover it. Based on Wikipedia:
Shortly after joining Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. the Apache Software Foundation board elected Gardler to act as President…
Wow, what a timing! Reverse Elop?
It apparently dates back to last year. We have heard from some prominent FOSS luminaries that Microsoft tried to buy them off (bribe) too, either with bizarre job offers or some funding (which some may often accept with or without disclosure). Sadly, not all of them are principled and disciplined enough to decline. Microsoft uses its money to crush its competition from the inside (divide and rule) and it's proving rather effective so far. █
Ridiculous Patents at the USPTO, Trolls as 'NPEs', and an Update on Microsoft-Connected Patent Trolls
Posted in Law, Patents at 6:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A roundup of patent news and in particular news pertaining to software patents, trolls that threaten Free software, and media bias
EVERY NOW and then Techrights covers examples of patents — not necessarily software patents — which show how ridiculous the patent system has become, especially the USPTO.
Some days ago the EFF wrote about a patent on how to film a yoga class — a patent similar in some sense to Amazon's patent on photographing objects with a white background at the back.
EFF recently learned about a patent that covered a method of filming a yoga class. We reviewed the patent and discovered that it was just as ridiculous as it sounded. Despite our familiarity with absurd patents and our concerns about cursory review at the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), we were still surprised that this one issued. It seemed the so-called "invention" wasn't the kind of thing that should be patented at all—or at the very least, was not something novel or nonobvious. Yet another stupid patent, and winner of our October accolades.
Another new article from the EFF says that a "patent troll [was] hit with double fee award". "Lumen View is a typical patent troll," says the EFF. "Armed with a vague patent on "facilitating bilateral and multilateral decision-making," it sent out aggressive letters demanding payment. It refused to explain how its targets actually infringed its patent. Instead, it made shakedown offers it knew would be less than the cost of defending a lawsuit. When startup FindTheBest spoke up about Lumen View's tactics, the troll asked for a gag order. Thankfully, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York refused the troll's censorship demand."
Now everyone is against patent trolls. The plutocrats' paper, Forbes, calls them "Non-Practicing Entities" in this "interview Shawn Ambawni the COO of Unified Patents." (not to be confused with the proposed European Unified Patent Court)
"Unified Patents" issued some numbers on decrease in patent litigation although its numbers where not quite as encouraging as those from Lex Machina and they tried to paint it as a troll issue, not a patent scope issue. Here is the original spin with the "NPE" euphemism for trolls.
Instead of chastising the real patent aggressors, corporate media likes to pick on companies like Google (because Google stopped pursing real reform). It's just too popular to pick on Google and not companies that are aggressive with patents and use them against Google, e.g. Apple, Oracle, and Microsoft.
The corporate media, USA Today for example, continues to reveal its support for abusive litigation with patents by big companies and trolls (referring to trolls as "NPEs") and a patent maximalists' Web site writes about Wi-LAN, a very notorious troll, as though it's an "NPE" too:
Japan's ROHM Semiconductor has entered into an agreement with Wi-LAN which will see it transfer a portfolio of patents to the Canadian firm. This is the latest deal in which a Japanese technology company – traditionally a very conservative bunch when it comes to aggressive IP monetisation – has teamed up with an NPE in an effort to improve returns from its patents.
From the same patent maximalists' site comes an interview where Lemley says: "The tech industry is not monolithic – Apple and IBM, and increasingly Microsoft, are actually now fairly vocal proponents of patents as they become sort of more mature companies and see their market share being taken away by others. My guess is that if you asked engineers in the software world they would say, maybe not universally, but almost to a person, we're on a roll lets just get rid of them."
In other news about trolls, Acacia has just been defeated and here is an interesting observation about Intellectual Ventures (both are Microsoft-connected):
How can they have more subsidiaries than IV? Or rather, how can their fewer-than-IV-subsidiaries have filed more lawsuits than IV's? It's possible and highly likely because Joe's a very thorough guy and wouldn't say that if it weren't true. It's just surprising that I didn't know that because I pride myself on knowing all the things about all the trolls.
One sure thing is, patent trolls and big trolls such as Microsoft continue to be defended by some of the largest (and corporations-run) media, leaving everyone in a state of anxiety and disarray. The patent system as it stands at the moment serves virtually nobody except the richest people and richest corporations. It's a system of protectionism. █
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The Corrupt Judge Rader (of CAFC) Still Pursuing Bad (More Aggressive) Patent System in the US
Posted in America, Law, Patents at 5:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Photo from Reuters
Summary: Randall R. Rader, the disgraced judge from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), is still trying to impose his patent agenda on the United States, despite the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) repeatedly throwing away his rulings
Amdocs, a very surveillance-oriented company (although not advertised as such), has just lost an important case. Dennis Crouch wrote about it in "Software as an Abstract Idea". "In yet another case," wrote Crouch, "a district court has invalidated a set of software patents as unduly abstract under Alice Corp., Mayo, and 35 U.S.C. 101. In this case, E.D. Va. Judge Brinkema issued a judgment-on-the-pleadings that all of the asserted claims of the four Amdocs patents were invalid as patent-ineligible. The Decision."
Here again we are seeing the impact of the Alice case on software patents in the United States. "Alice Corp. Oral Argument Goes to the Dogs" is a new post from Matt Levy that's basically a comical video. It has been widely agreed by now (except by the more delusional patent lawyers) that software patents are severely affected by the ruling in the Alice case on software patents in the United States.
Meanwhile, the CAFC's corrupt trolls apologist and software patents proponent Rader reportedly says that "The law makes no sense any more" because SCOTUS, ruling in the Alice case, has struck down many software patents (if not all). The site (source) is vigorously preventing copy/paste (we've tried many browsers and even page source), but it basically shows that Rader continues his zealous pursuit in the maximalists' agenda (he himself has a serious conflict of interest, which is why he was ousted). █
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Our hamsa hand earrings is a very pretty way to ward off the evil eye. The black cubic zirconia round stones give these sterling silver hamsa hand earrings a delicate look. These hamsa symbol earrings are a great gift idea for someone special who wears symbol and protection jewelry. Gift box included.


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Just Lawful
Around and About the Courts
Posted on February 24, 2019 February 24, 2019 by justlawfulblog
The Old Concrete Cross: Humanists and Traditionalists Square Off Before U.S. Supreme Court to Argue Over Fate of World War I Memorial
The American Legion v. The American Humanist Association, No. 17-1717, combined with Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. The American Humanist Association, No. 18-18. Oral argument February 27, 2019.
Nearly a century ago the families of soldiers who died in service during World War I collectively funded the creation and display of a forty foot tall concrete Latin Cross bearing the soldiers' names, engraved words commemorative of honorable service such as "valor." The state of Maryland, through its Parks and Planning Commission, assumed titular ownership of the memorial some decades ago in order to support the upkeep of the Peace Cross, as the Bladensburg memorial is known, as it is fragile and may present hazards should parts of the cross crumble. The Bladensburg Cross is currently installed along a state highway. It is unavoidably visible to drivers and passers-by.
The American Humanist Association and like minded entities complain that the acts of the state's ownership, placement, and maintenance of the Bladensburg Cross violate the Establishment Clause. As they are offended by the sight of what is in their perception a religious sculpture installment, the humanists assert that they have suffered injury sufficient to obtain judicial redress.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with the humanists.
Traditionalists — whether religious groups, advocacy groups, or military-related entities, are deeply concerned by the Fourth Circuit's decision and fear that if the decision is permitted to stand then the fate of all war memorials bearing religious symbols throughout the nation will be in jeopardy.
In addition to seeking reversal of the federal appellate decision, the traditionalists ask the Supreme Court to dispense with the Establishment Clauses analysis found in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), as the three part test, proceeding as it does, in their view, from a predominantly secularizing standpoint, has not withstood the test of time. The petitioners ask the Court to return to the meaning of the Establishment Clause as it was envisioned at the founding of the nation, with a view toward custom and practice.
Petitioners ask with equal force that the Court reject the notion of "offended observer" standing, asserting that recognizing emotional reactions to passive public displays fails to articulate the concrete injury required for federal court jurisdiction.
The ordinary observer –offended or not — cannot fail to notice the cultural rifts underlying this dispute. Humanists, by their own accounts, would enjoy greater peace of mind were they not reminded of religions in their daily encounters with the government, symbolic or real. The presence of signs and symbols of Christianity — of which the Latin Cross is the defining icon — provokes a sense of exclusion from life in the public square. In light of the emergence of the nation as one embracing many faiths and many cultures, the humanists see no reason for continuing reminders of a religion that ought never be presented as being in control.
Traditionalists, on the other hand, fear the destruction of individual and collective memory and the loss of the nation's history should monuments be razed in the name of the Establishment Clause. To them, government involvement in the preclusion of religion is as offensive as any government involvement in its establishment.
If the cultural clash did not provide enough with which to grapple, the subtext of the legitimacy of originalism is in play as well, as that is what looking to the intent of the Framers is all about. Textual analysis is of course a time honored and enduring legal tool, with much to recommend it, but the larger question is whether textual analyses and historical references will suffice to carry the day in disputes arising two centuries after the nation's founding, subsequent to massive cultural, technical, and political change. Not the least of these changes by any means are changes to the Constitution itself, which, following reconstruction and later amendments, leave the nation's principal governing document no longer as it originally was.
In addition to the principal parties, there are scholars, religious entities, special interest advocates, policy groups, veterans, states and local governments, and others who have weighed in as amici. With the abundance of effort that has been expended to present this matter to the Court, one may hope that the Court will recognize that this may not be a case in which incrementalism will be a prudent response.
Links to principal parties' memoranda as well as a guide to amicus submissions are set forth below.
20181217160935389_17-1717 American Legion Brief
20181217164050705_18-18 Maryland National Park and Planning Brief
20190123152713265_37350 pdf AHA Final Brief 1-23-19
20190213163922725_17-1717 American Legion Reply Brief
20190213120308294_18-18 Maryland National Capital Park Reply Brief
Joint Appendix
20181217164536737_Peace JA – Volume I
20181217164544300_Peace JA – Volume II
20181217164556003_Peace JA – Volume III
20181217164614847_Peace-JA-Volume-IV
Summary of Amicus Submissions
2019 02 24 Amicus Submissions AL v AHA 17-1717
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A member of the national Muay Thai team, Dejun brings with him seven years of experience, both as a fighter and an instructor. He is trained by one of the oldest Muay Thai gyms in Singapore, BXG Boxing & Fitness, which has produced many other local professional Muay Thai fighters.


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New York City Council Members
Resolution calling on the New York State Assembly to pass A.5303, the New York State Senate to introduce and pass a companion bill, and the Governor to sign such legislation into law, which would amend the New York State Criminal Procedure Law to allow for the expungement of certain records.
Andy L. King
Filed (End of Session)
Referred to Comm by Council
Introduced by Council
Res. No. 57
By Council Member King
Whereas, People with criminal arrest records often face difficulties in applying for and obtaining employment, housing and other opportunities, even if they were never convicted of a crime; and
Whereas, A criminal arrest record can stay with an individual for life unless the record is sealed or expunged; and
Whereas, New York State doesn't currently allow for the expungement of criminal records and only allows for the sealing of certain arrest records and records of misdemeanor convictions; and
Whereas, People in New York State who have been falsely arrested, whose cases were dismissed, or who were innocent should not be hampered by an arrest record for any purpose and should be allowed to petition that such records be expunged; and
Whereas, A.5303, introduced by Assembly Member Jeffrion L. Aubry and pending in the
New York State Assembly, would amend the Criminal Procedure Law to allow
individuals an opportunity to petition a court for the expungement of records of arrest,
investigation, detention and computer databases for certain qualifying cases; and
Whereas, A.5303 would allow an individual who has been arrested with or without warrant to petition a court to request for an order to expunge any and all records of arrest investigation, computer databases, and records of detention pursuant to that voidable arrest; and
Whereas, In accordance with A.5303, such request to the court would have to be made no later than thirty days after the date on which the arrest becomes a voidable arrest; and
Whereas, A.5303 would define voidable arrest to mean any arrest resulting in the following conditions, (i) the person was released without the filing of formal charges (ii) a determination that the arrest was without probable cause, or (iii) dismissal of proceedings against the person; and
Whereas, A.5303 would establish penalties for individuals who knowingly fail to expunge records as directed by the court, or who, knowing the records are expunged, use the information for financial gain or willful destruction of a person's character; and
Whereas, Enactment of this law would provide certain individuals an opportunity to expunge their records and be free from the burdens of having an arrest record; and
Whereas, The New York State Assembly should pass this bill and the New York State Senate should introduce and pass a companion bill to allow people falsely or wrongfully accused of crimes and arrested to move on with their lives; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Assembly to pass A.5303, the New York State Senate to introduce and pass a companion bill, and the Governor to sign such legislation into law, which would amend the New York State Criminal Procedure Law to allow for the expungement of certain records.
SA/WJH
LS 1127/ Res. 326-2014
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Sunil Kumar Manna (27 August 1968) is an Indian immunologist and the head of the immunology lab of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics. He is known for his studies on cell signaling and apoptosis. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2009.

Biography
Sunil Kumar Manna, born on 27 August 1968, pursued his post-graduate education at the University of Calcutta and after earning an MSc, he did his doctoral research at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology which secured him a PhD from Jadavpur University. His post-doctoral work was at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center under the guidance of Bharat Aggarwal and on his return to India, he was reportedly offered a faculty position at the Presidency University which he declined to take up a position at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, where he serves as the head of the Lab of Immunology. His research focus is in the field of immunology and he is known to have carried out work on Cytokine mediated immunoregulation as well as apoptosis in cancer. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 115 of them. He also holds a patent for an anticancer agent, jointly developed by him.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2009. He resides in Nacharam, a suburb of Hyderabad in the south Indian state of Telangana.

Controversy
In 2012, a Japanese scientist accused Manna of plagiarism with regard to some of the images used by him in one of his articles published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Two of his articles were immediately retracted, and some were corrected, leading to seven of his papers being finally retracted. He was suspended from his job, after the institute found prima facie evidence against him but he was later reinstated.

References

External links

Living people
1968 births
20th-century Indian biologists
Cancer researchers
Indian immunologists
Indian scientific authors
Jadavpur University alumni
N-BIOS Prize recipients
People involved in plagiarism controversies
People involved in scientific misconduct incidents
Scientists from West Bengal
University of Calcutta alumni
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center alumni

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Peter Bording (Amsterdam, 4 mei 1965) is een Nederlands operazanger. Hij treedt op in opera en operette, maar ook in musical.

Biografie
Peter Bording volgde zanglessen bij Jan Handerson en studeerde opera aan het Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam bij Erna Spoorenberg en aan de Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Londen bij Johanna Peters en Thomas Hemsley. Nadien werd hij gecoacht door Cristina Deutekom.

Hij debuteerde in 1987 tijdens zijn studie als Papageno in een productie van Die Zauberflöte door de operaklas van het Sweelinck Conservatorium in de Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam en was in hetzelfde jaar understudy voor verschillende hoofdrollen in de originele Nederlandse versie van Cats in Theater Carré. Na het voltooien van zijn studie in Londen keerde hij naar Nederland terug, om de rol van Mr. André in The Phantom of the Opera in het Circustheater in Scheveningen te gaan vertolken.

Op uitnodiging van mezzosopraan en regisseur Brigitte Fassbaender vertrok hij in 1994 naar Duitsland om zich daar op opera te gaan toeleggen.

Sindsdien treedt hij als operazanger op bij toonaangevende festivals en operahuizen, zoals de Bregenzer Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Münchener Biennale, Richard-Strauss-Festival, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra comique in Parijs, Opéra national de Lyon, Grand Théâtre de Genève, de Komische Oper Berlin, de Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatsoper Hannover, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Boedapest, Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera en in Nederland vooral bij de Nationale Reisopera (sinds 2014 de Nederlandse Reisopera).

Als vaste solist was hij geëngageerd aan het Staatstheater Braunschweig (1995-1997 en 2015-2017), Staatstheater Darmstadt (1997-2000) en het Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen (2000-2011).

Zijn operarepertoire omvat vooral rollen uit het Mozart-, Italiaanse belcanto- en het Franse repertoire, zoals Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) en Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande).
Hij creëerde hoofdrollen in wereldpremières van Péter Eötvös, Michael Jarrell, Sandeep Bhagwati en in de musical Shylock! van Stephan Kanyar en Brigitte Fassbaender.

Als operettezanger treedt hij vooral op in de drie populairste werken in dit repertoire: als Danilo in Die lustige Witwe, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus en Edwin in Die Csárdásfürstin.
Hij wordt algemeen gezien als ideale vertolker van dit genre.

Met de titelrollen in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto en Werner Egks Peer Gynt maakte hij in 2015 een succesvolle stap naar een zwaarder repertoire.

Repertoire (selectie)
 Bellini: I puritani – Sir Riccardo Forth
 Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande – Pelléas
 Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor – Lord Enrico Ashton
 Egk: Peer Gynt – Peer Gynt
 Kálmán: Die Csárdásfürstin – Edwin
 Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Silvio
 Lehár: Die lustige Witwe – Danilo
 Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro – Conte Almaviva
 Porter: Kiss Me, Kate – Fred Graham / Petruchio
 Puccini: La bohème – Marcello
 Puccini: Tosca – Scarpia
 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia – Figaro
 J. Strauss: Die Fledermaus – Eisenstein
 Verdi: La traviata – Giorgio Germont
 Verdi: Rigoletto – Rigoletto
 Von Einem: Dantons Tod – Georges Danton

Engagementen

Onderscheidingen
 1991: Stipendiaat Stichting Voortgezette Studie Podiumkunsten, Den Haag
 1991: Stipendiaat Stichting Prins Bernhard Fonds, Amsterdam
 1991: Stipendiaat Stichting Pro Musis, Amsterdam
 1991: Stipendiaat Stichting Bekker-La Bastide-Fonds, Rotterdam
 1991: Stipendiaat Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude, Den Haag
 1991: Stipendiaat Stichting Dr. Hendrik Muller's Vaderlandsch Fonds, Den Haag
 1992: Stipendiaat Stichting Voortgezette Studie Podiumkunsten, Den Haag
 1992: Stipendiaat British Council Fellowship, Amsterdam/London
 1992: Stipendiaat Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude, Den Haag
 1996: Winnaar Alexander Girardi Wettbewerb, Coburg
 1996: 3e prijswinnaar Cristina Deutekom Concours, Enschede
 1997: Nominatie Sänger des Jahres in het vakblad Opernwelt voor zijn vertolking van Pelléas
 2003: Nominatie Nachwuchssänger des Jahres in de het vaktijdschrift Theater pur voor zijn vertolking van Danilo
 2015: Winnaar Schaunard Award, publieksprijs van het online operamagazine Place de l'Opéra

Externe links
 Officiële website
 Theaterecyclopedie
 Operabase

Nederlands operazanger
Nederlands bariton
Nederlands musicalacteur


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Brazil's ex-president Lula won't testify in graft probe for now | Inquirer News
Brazil's ex-president Lula won't testify in graft probe for now
Agence France-Presse / 01:06 PM February 17, 2016
In this May 1, 2015, file photo, Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivers a speech during a May Day rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The prosecutor for the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo said Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, that the former President has been subpoenaed as part of an investigation into a suspected money laundering scheme involving an apartment Silva once thought of buying. AP File Photo
SAO PAULO, Brazil—Authorities in Brazil Tuesday called off testimony by popular ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was to be questioned over allegations that he and his wife hid ownership of a luxury seaside flat.
The graft probe, which threatens the leftwing political giant's potential bid to return to power in 2018, was set to have Lula testify in Sao Paulo on Wednesday.
READ: Brazil's embattled ex-president Lula vows to 'survive'
But the National Prosecutors Council ordered the appearance called off, in a statement released by Lula's Workers Party.
Reached by AFP, the prosecutors spokesman would not confirm that the hearing had been called off.
Lula has faced questioning in the matter before and has not been charged.
But this is the first time he would have appeared as a suspect in the probe into "money laundering, which includes the crime of hiding assets."
The Council said its decision was made at the request of a Workers Party lawmaker who alleged procedural unfairness on the part of the prosecutor in the case, Cassio Conserino. Conserino told reporters there were apparently grounds on which to charge Lula at a time when the investigation had just begun collecting evidence.
Lula, 70, ended his two-term presidency at the end of 2010 with 80 percent popularity and his protege, Dilma Rousseff, winning the election to succeed him.
He oversaw Brazil's economic boom, fueled by high oil and other commodity prices and massive demand from China. Lula was lauded at home and internationally for his social policies and use of the economic dividends to lift many of Brazil's desperately poor into a middle class.
But Lula's legacy has already been badly tarnished by a huge corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras, where politicians, including high-ranking members of the Workers' Party, took bribes in exchange for contracts.
At the heart of the case Wednesday is a luxury triplex apartment in the resort city of Guaruja in Sao Paulo state.
The property is registered to OAS, a firm linked to the Petrobras scandal, but prosecutors in Sao Paulo state suspect it is really owned by Lula. The apartment also allegedly underwent a $200,000 remodelling paid for by OAS.
According to the authorities, luxury apartments in the development like this one were being used by OAS as bribes.
Supporters hope Lula will come back in 2018 after Rousseff steps down at the end of her second term. But with the Workers' Party discredited by the Petrobras scandal and Rousseff herself facing impeachment on separate allegations, the apartment allegations
4 new allegations of sex abuse vs UN peacekeepers in C. Africa
TAGS: Brazil, corruption, Inacio Lula da Silva, Politics


Werklig's approach embraces a regionality, one that is likely to conjure up romantic imagery and feelings within the minds of an international market. This regionality manifests itself by way of a gradient inspired by Aurora Borealis. This speaks not only of the origins of the brand, but of gentle transitions, beauty and something of the movement from light to dark that perhaps finds communicative value in the day and night time nature of the creams.
Still life; a series of nature-inspired sculptures, carefully balanced, are the highlight, finding a comfortable intersection between artistic craft, natural environment and ingredients. These touch upon different parts of Finland, from the forests of the east and the moorlands of Lapland to the archipelago and plains of the west.
The Senja wordmark is contemporary in its simplicity and application, soft in a way that sits comfortably within the cosmetics market with a distinctive N set at its centre, a smooth transition between vertical strokes.
Each of these details, from the gradient to wordmark to still life, is marked by not just the initial visual pleasure and distinction, but the subcontextual communicative drivers; the Nordic environment, craft, a careful balance, environmental synergy, and natural ingredients, as well as the quality of their execution. Although these do appear online, the website lacks the elegance and simplicity of some of the printed communications, particularly the balance of colour blocking, type and image that appear across the postcards.
Design: Werklig. Opinion: Richard Baird. Fonts Used: TBC.


A while ago, I was asked by Jessy at the Filmoria team to contribute a bit of writing on my favourite use of music in horror. I wanted to avoid all the obvious choices like The Exorcist or Psycho and dabbled with the idea of doing Texas Chainsaw, A Nightmare on Elm Street and some others. But after re-watching Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, I decided it had to be the use of John Murphy's In the House, In a Heartbeat at the climax of that film.
So today I would like to offer you a look at two more pieces I have written for Filmoria's 10 Days of Halloween. The first is my argument for 28 Days Later being a must-see horror movie. If you haven't seen this British nightmare, then really you must! It introduced us to running zombies, possibly the best horror creation ever. The 'Infected' are rage-fuelled, blood spewing psycho monsters that are absolutely terrifying.
Check out why I think 28 Days Later is a must-see movie at Filmoria here.
Then I take a closer look at the music used in the climactic scene as all hell break loose. It is one of my favourite scenes in horror cinema and the music is the perfect complement to the frighteningly visceral visuals. Other contributors to the most effective music in horror feature chose films like Gremlins and even Halloween 3 to discuss.
Check out the most effective music in horror feature at Filmoria here.
Anyone out there not like this film? What's your favourite horror movie music?
I've seen some people bash the movie, but I forget why. I absolutely love 28 Days Later. As for music, I'm watching a horror movie called Occupant right now, and the score is really haunting and organic to the mood of the film. It's pretty awesome.


In a recently settled motor vehicle accident claim, Mr. Simpson (not his real name), was walking to his local supermarket to buy his weekly groceries. During his trip to the shops he was hit by a car that was leaving a car pack. Mr. Simpson was walking on a foot path that crossed the car park driveway. He suffered minor injuries and since the motor vehicle accident he has required ongoing physiotherapy and support from family and friends to do certain life tasks, such as buying groceries or driving.
At first, the insurer of the driver accused Mr. Simpson of being partially at fault and that he stepped in front of the moving vehicle, therefore contributing to the accident. Mr. Simpson's solicitor was able to prove that under the Transport Operations Regulation that a driver must always give way to a pedestrian in a shared zone such as the footpath across the opening of a car park.
The solicitor was able to secure enough settlement so that Mr Simpson can continue to receive physiotherapy and pay a carer if his injuries do not improve.
Move off the road. If possible, move out of the way of other traffic to avoid further accidents.
Assess your injuries. If life threatening or urgent, call an ambulance.
Collect details. This includes the driver's name, address, car registration and insurance provider. The contact details of any witnesses of the accident.
Report it to police. If police were not at the scene you must visit your local police station to report the accident.
&Seek medical attention. Visit a medical practitioner to officially assess your injuries. Request a medical certificate, different to doctor's certificate. Make sure you tell the medical practitioner about all the injuries you have sustained.
If you're involved in a motor vehicle accident as a pedestrian these are the vital steps you need to take to insure your compensation moves forward smoothly.
Written by Shine Lawyers on July 23, 2017. Last modified: September 26, 2018.


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The Arts	| Performing Arts | Live Music | Art News | In the Galleries | Bookshelf | On The Screen | Museums | HIFF
INTERVIEW: Musician Mike DelGuidice On Touring With Billy Joel, His Original - "Where Do The Heroes Go?" And More
Mike DelGuidice. (Photo: John Bruno)
For years, musician Mike DelGuidice had celebrated the music of Billy Joel onstage with his band Big Shot. In October of 2013, DelGuidice got his big shot when after hearing DelGuidice sing, "The Piano Man" invited DelGuidice to join his band. Now, DelGuidice performs alongside Joel when he tours.
Earlier this year, DelGuidice released the music video for Where Do The Heroes Go? We caught up with the Long Island-based musician to learn more about his original song, touring with Rock and Roll legend and more.
What was it like going from playing the hits of Billy Joel with your band Big Shot to joining "The Piano Man" on stage?
MD: A pretty drastic difference. You know, in one band, I'm playing piano, and then playing with Billy, it's more of a guitar, background vocal kind of thing. So, it's different - and than obviously the biggest difference was the arenas and the stadiums. It was absolutely amazing.
What was it about Joel's music that resonated with you?
MD: How real it is, how literal he writes. He tells stories, captivating. He puts you in a place where you actually feel like you're where he wrote the song and you could put yourself into his music very easily. Musically speaking, his chord changes and his arrangements are not typical/standard. It just shows his brilliance as a writer.
What have been some of your highlights of touring with the Rock and Roll legend?
MD: Some highlights would be obviously the first shows that we did, the first run in Europe was really exciting. I've never really been on the road to that capacity and that first trip to Europe was great. We did five shows of singing duets with him. Until the Night was a duet that we did right in the beginning that stands out in my memory. Getting together after a show in a hotel lobby where there's a piano and us just all singing doo-wops, having a good time jamming that way.
Another memory was going to his house and sitting down face to face in his basement while he had a party at his house on Fourth of July. Flying with him. Once in a while, he'll take guys in the band or different people in the band and fly with them on his jet, take them to the gig. So, a lot of different things like that.
But, you know, the snapshots that you take every night in your mind, like you're out on stage and you're seeing 20,000 to 50,000 people, 100,000 at times. Playing Madison Square Garden for sure was an absolute highlight. I grew up on Long Island, and that was the place to go. It was the place to be.
Billy Joel has a bit of a residency there and your band plays throughout Long Island and New York. What sets the hometown crowd apart?
MD: In every town or in every city for every star, there's always a street named or a pride thing that happens. Billy's the pride of Long Island, you could say he's the pride of Hicksville because that's where he came from. But the truth is, he just became the pride of Long Island. And it's amazing. That's the whole thing, it's like when you're playing a home game. At any sporting event, when you're at your home base, you know you have your crowd, your guys behind you, your fans, the ones that are rooting you on and cheering you on. There's nothing more amazing than the energy that comes from that. That's why you'd always rather play home than on the road. That's the difference, I think, between Madison Square Garden and the Long Island venues that we've played. It's that hometown feel, you know you're home and it's special immediately and the crowd is as loud as it can possibly be.
You released a new video for your song, Where Do the Heroes Go? Could you speak a bit about the song and video's inspiration?
MD: I wanted to tell a story. Sometimes it's easier for me to speak in song than it is in person. It's nice to write a song where I was writing to my son and writing it about the heroes in my life that maybe he never got to meet. It's kind of a parallel between speaking to your son when he's young, and then all of a sudden, at the end of the song, it's the son speaking to you, and you're hoping that you're the same hero that you had in your life. I just go through a list of of the specific people in my life and specific aspects and moments to paint kind of that imagery.
The video paints a very unique imagery. It's some home video, but not much. It's a lot of different footage. Hero, it's a very broad word. Right now we're associating it - because of what's going on - with frontline workers. I associate it with that also, but I also associate it more personally. To get personal like that in a song, that's what I want most as a songwriter is to be as literal as possible, because like Billy's music that will take you to a place in your own life that will remind you of something, and that's what touches people.
I think the concept too was to show that old school footage and that heroes are not just the frontline people, police departments, fire departments, they're a music teacher or an English teacher, somebody that you had early on that said something or did something and directed you in such a way. I think it speaks to that, I think it speaks to any hero. Any person listening to the song, they all have heroes and I think it's that kind of thing of making it universal.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
MD: I can't wait for this whole thing to be over and we can all get back to playing for people and
having that camaraderie between the audience and ourselves and playing in front of a live audience and getting that energy.
For more information about Mike DelGuidice, visit mikedelguidice.com. To watch the Where Do the Heroes Go? music video, visit www.youtube.com.
Stephen Talkhouse's Peter Honerkamp Reveals His Top Five Talkhouse Nights
Billy Joel's Former Hamptons Office Sells
INTERVIEW: Joe Lauro Ready To Present His Hoodoo Loungers' "Soul Spectacular" At Bay Street
Mike DelGuidice & Big Shot Headlining IGHL's Spring Gala


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Glen-Gery sold to Bain Capital
Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy
Steve Matsick, right, president of Glen-Gery Corp., and Ricky McDavid, plant manager, in the Perry Township plant.
By Lisa Scheid | Reading Eagle
PUBLISHED: December 18, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 19, 2021 at 6:29 a.m.
Glen-Gery Corp., the 124-year-old brick maker based in Wyomissing, is being sold to Bain Capital as part of a $648 million sale, the companies announced.
Under the agreement of sale, Glen-Gery, which was owned by CRH plc, will operate as a subsidiary of Ibstock Brick Ltd., as it did between 1979 and 1999. Bain Capital is a private investment firm based in Boston. Glen-Gery was sold to Bain Capital Europe LLP, a fund managed by Bain Capital.
CRH, an international buildings materials group based in Ireland, sold Glen-Gery along with its clay and concrete businesses in the United Kingdom for 414 million pounds, which is about $648 million.
Steve Matsick, Glen-Gery president, welcomed the sale and said in a statement he expected it to have a positive impact on the company.
"We do not anticipate major changes to the structure of our company or the way we conduct business," Matsick said. "I do not see any reason why replacing CRH as our sole shareholder with Bain Capital should cause any concern for either our employees or our customers."
Glen-Gery, which started in Berks County in 1890, has 10 manufacturing locations, including a facility in Perry Township. The company has 10 retail locations, including one in Reading. It has 600 employees, including 130 in Berks. Glen-Gery has been a top brick supplier along the East Coast from Washington to Maine and into the Midwest.
CRH said in a news release that, as part of the transaction, Bain will assume certain debt and pension liabilities. Accordingly, the net cash consideration payable to CRH is expected to be approximately 295 million pounds, or $462 million.
In 1998, Glen-Gery became part of the publicly traded CRH, one of the largest building material companies in the world with $25 billion in annual sales. Its U.S. headquarters is in Atlanta and corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
In the past, Glen-Gery picked up brick safety and architectural awards. In 2011 the company won an industry manufacturing environmental award for energy savings and carbon dioxide reductions. The company's brick has been used at Penn State and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, among other places.
According to Reading Eagle archives, it had annual sales of $200 million in 2005 and dropped to $100 million a year in 2011.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2015.
Contact Lisa Scheid: 610-371-5049 or lscheid@readingeagle.com.
Lisa Scheid | Reporter
Lisa Scheid has been a reporter and editor for the Reading Eagle for more than two decades. She's written for teens and about business, municipal government, schools and agriculture. Her agriculture reporting earned state press award award for consumer beat reporting and local recognition as Agriculture Journalist of the Year. She now reports on the environment and outdoors and writes a weekly newsletter.


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Heritage Timeline
Home >About Us > Our history > Centenary
Since RoSPA's early days improving road safety during the black-outs of the First World War, we have existed for a simple reason – to stop the needless devastation and heartache caused by accidents.
As events around the globe commemorated the centenary of the First World War, we were also proud to mark our 100th anniversary during 2016/17.
We looked back over a century of changing attitudes to safety, our groundbreaking campaigns and the successes achieved.
But we also remembered those who had died, and their loved ones left behind, as well as those whose injuries had changed their lives irrevocably.
How it all began – "the rule of the footpath"
First World War black-out conditions had caused concern about pedestrian deaths resulting from people stepping into the path of vehicles approaching them from behind. It was felt that something needed to be done and a decision was taken to elect the London "Safety First" Council.
At the time, it was customary for pedestrians to walk on the right-hand side of footpaths, which meant that those walking closest to the traffic had their backs to approaching vehicles.
Among various options, consideration was given to changing the side of the road on which vehicles drove so they kept to the right. But this was ruled out due to the existing design of vehicles and road infrastructure, opposition from drivers, the need for horses to be re-broken and drivers to be retrained and the associated costs and confusion that would be incurred from all of the above.
Instead, it was decided that there would be less inconvenience and lower costs from requesting that pedestrians kept to the left-hand side of footpaths – meaning those closest to the traffic walked facing oncoming vehicles – and Richmond Borough Council became the first area of London to display notices encouraging this.
As the practice was adopted more widely, the results were seen immediately, with a 70 per cent decrease in the number of 'near-side' fatal accidents between 1916 and 1917.
And so began a century of safety campaigning, sometimes bold and public-facing and sometimes quiet and behind-the-scenes, to change attitudes and, where appropriate, legislation to save families from the anguish and heartache that serious accidents cause.
Visit our timeline
Highlights from our Centenary year
Happy 100th birthday!
We began our centenary year with a national survey, which found that nearly a third of parents had never received or sought advice or information about keeping their children safe from accidents. Based on what parents told us, we launched:
Lifeline, a freephone telephone helpline, so parents and carers have someone they can talk to if they need accident prevention help
The Brighter Beginnings Appeal, raising money for Keeping Kids Safe packs, which are distributed via RoSPA's partners
A Keeping Kids Safe hub to give parents and carers a one-stop-shop of key accident prevention information and advice.
Acclaimed poet Ian McMillan explored the human cost of safety failings in his poem A hundred years safer, written to commemorate Workers' Memorial Day.
May - July 2017
Exhibition unveiled
With our headquarters in Birmingham since the 1970s, we were delighted to have an exhibition at the city's iconic library. Visitors were able to find out about RoSPA's history and current activities, see some of our vintage safety posters and take part in children's activities.
A royal welcome
Enjoyed by nearly 3,500 guests from across the RoSPA family, the RoSPA Centenary Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace was the pinnacle of our centenary year.
Marking our centenary, we took training and membership offers, "ask the expert" sessions and games – including The Tufty Test – to ExCeL London for Safety and Health Expo 2017.
RoSPA travels to Scotland
An evening reception on St Andrew's Day in the heart of Edinburgh's historic Old Town provided a wonderful way to close our centenary year, celebrating the work of RoSPA and our many valued partners across Scotland.


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Bill S.405 191st (2019 - 2020)
An Act relative to voting rights
By Mr. Hinds, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 405) of Adam G. Hinds, Jack Patrick Lewis, Tami L. Gouveia, Jason M. Lewis and other members of the General Court for legislation relative to voting rights. Election Laws.
Adam G. Hinds
Emergency Preamble
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to restore voting rights to incarcerated felons, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
1/22/2019 Senate Referred to the committee on Election Laws
2/18/2020 Senate Accompanied a study order, see S2544
An Act relative to public street listings
H.596 189th (2015 - 2016)
An Act enabling cities and towns to extend voting rights in municipal elections to certain noncitizens of the Commonwealth
Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to qualifications of voters
An Act relative to voting rights in the town of Amherst
An Act to expand voting rights


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Q: meaning of '+=' I'm confused with the syntax of C#: what is the use of "+="?

A: This is called a compound operator. They are common to all languages I can thing of: Javascript, C, Java, PHP, .net, GL.
Like everyone has said, is a shortened version of value = value + 3.
There are multiple reasons for its use. Most obviously it's quicker to write, easier to read and faster to spot errors with.
Most importantly, a compound operator is specifically designed not to require as much computation as the equivalent value = value + 3. I'm not totally sure why but the evidence is paramount.
Simply create a loop, looping for say 5,000,000 adding a value as you proceed. In two test cases, I know personally from Actionscript, there is roughly a 60% speed increase with compound operators.

You also have the equivalent:
+=:  addition
-=:  subtraction
/=:  multiplication
*=:  multplication
%=:  modulus
and the less obvious:
++:  Plus one
--:  Minus one

A: a += 3

is the same as
a = a + 3

A: The += syntax can be used in different ways:
SomeEvent += EventHandler;

Adds a handler to an event.

SomeVariable += 3;

Is equivalent to
SomeVariable = SomeVariable + 3;

A: Note, it is not necessarily always equivalent.
for ordinary variables, a+=a is, indeed, equivalent to a=a+a, and shorter!. For the odd variable which changes its state, not so much.

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