text:
Time to Claim that which Belongs to the Israelites
Filed under: Alexander the Great,Amalekites,Anti-Israel,Anti-Semitism,Anti-Zionist,Appeasement,Arab Appeasement,Arab Authority,Arab World,Assyrian Empire,Babylon,Bible,Bible Study,Blood Libel,Book of Kings,Chosen People,Civilization,Commandments,Covenant,Cyrenaic Greeks,European Historic Anti Semitism,European Pressure,First Temple,Five Books of Moses,Greece,Hate,History,Holy Roman Army,Holy Temple,Inquisition,International Politics,Intifada,Islamic Pressure,Israel,Israeli Capital City,Israeli Interests,Jerusalem,Joseph's Tomb,Joshua,Judea,Judean Hills,King David,King David,King Solomon,King Solomon,Leftist Pressures,Light unto the Nations,Limits Kings' Power,Middle East,Moses,Moses,Nebuchadnezzar II,Noahic Covenant,Old Testament,Oppression,Oslo Accords,Ottoman Empire,Palestinian Pressures,Persians,Pogroms,Politics,Promised Land,Prophets,Rocket Attacks,Roman Empire,Rome,Second Temple,Secular Interests,Syria,Tel Aviv,Ten Commandments,Torah,Two Millennia of Exile,United States State Department,West Bank,World Opinion,Zionism,Zionist — qwertster @ 2:41 AM
Tags: Chased and Hounded, Future Bright, Greek Empire, Israel, Israelite Judaism Reborn, Jews, Leaders Lack Boldness, Meek, New Start, Old Habits, People Will Demand Leadership tThey Deserve, Religious Revival, Roman Empire, Scattered People, Stiff Necked People
There is a strange thing which happens to people should they read the Old Testament with special attention initially to the first six books, the Five Books of Moses, or Torah, the scroll which is read from in Synagogues the world over during Saturday morning services and other days and holidays, and the first book of the remainder of the Jewish Bible, Joshua, sometimes thought of as the Sixth Book of Moses as the style of writing is so similar to those of Torah. Reading about the Prophets, Judges, Kings, Psalms and Proverbs, there are names of places. The realizations go even deeper should one study these writings and reference a map of ancient Israel so that the names of the locations can be located. Some of the places have identical names today and some have been changed, often to disguise their Israelite (Jewish) history and heritage. Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Hevron, Shechem, Jericho, Beersheba, all the precious tombs and the lands in which they lived, sanctuary cities and all are written about. One will read of the Tribes of Israel (see map below) which settles on both, yes, both sides of the Jordan River. The tribes northern border was the Litani River which lies in the center of modern Lebanon and was presumably the demarcation south of which the United Nations promised to prevent Hezballah from setting up as part of the peace agreement of the last Lebanon conflict. Promises to Israel appear to be the least kept of words between men as time and again any rumbling or threats from terrorists and the world runs frightened leaving Israel to face these threats without any trust in worldly promises. Yet, for reasons beyond all reason and logic, the Israeli government will always trust the promises of the world time and again despite every broken promise of the past; always ready to believe this time it will be different, despite all evidence to the contrary. Perhaps it is a character fault of trusting and believing in the best of people and nations despite all evidence to the contrary.
The problem is Israel has a history of trusting in the fairness and asking for the approval and constantly waiting for such approvals. It started long before Israel became a nation. We can start a short distance and work back. It was November 29, 1947 with the vote in the United Nations which suggested that when any nation would be made between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, it be divided between and Arab and a Jewish nation. This plan was made by the General Assembly which meant that should either side refuse the resolution the entirety was null and void. The Arab League immediately refused the resolution ending the patrician plan thus allowing for Israel to be established on all the land. When the fateful day arrived on My 15, 1948, the entirety of six Arab armies invaded at the break of dawn, or soon thereafter, and attempted to extinguish the nascent state and murder every Jew in a genocidal massacre. They failed in this endeavor but did manage to occupy Gaza and much of Judea and Samaria, which Jordan renamed West Bank to erase its Jewish root names, and held these lands illegally for the next nineteen years until the June 1967 Six Day War when Israel liberated these lands. But even this vote by the United Nations was far from the beginning, so let us proceed back further.
Left UN Partition Plan Resolution 181 Rejected by Arabs
Making Original British Partition Arab and Jewish Lands
as Only Standing Agreement Supported in 1921 Arab League
and Zionist Congress Backed by British Crown as Valid
Right after World War I ended there was a move in Europe to return the lands to the original indigenous peoples where such existed. This was what led to the British making the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which promised that the British would take it upon themselves to establish a Jewish homeland in the Middle East in the lands which had been ancient Israel. At the San Remo Conference the Allied powers met and drafted a paper in which they guaranteed and formalized their aims to establish a Jewish state and drafted the Balfour Declaration completely intact in a paper referred to by the name of that conference, the San Remo Conference. This paper was signed by all the Allied States other than the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia and Japan. In the Treaty of Sèvres, signed on August 10, 1920, which formalized the San Remo Conference and also established the Mandate Systems which establish the British Mandate as well as the entire set of Mandates from which the Sykes-Picot Treaty, set up the remainder of the Middle East and North Africa countries which were to be martialed initially by the European Allies and Russia until self-government could be established. The British Mandate was meant to establish the Jewish State but as the British had promised the Hashemite Dynasty a nation; so they met with the Zionist Congress and petitioned them to accept a state solely on the west of the Jordan River while surrendering their claims to any lands east of the Jordan River so that the British could establish an Arab State for Palestinian Arabs under the Hashemite Dynasty setting the Hashemites as the monarchy leaving the western parts to be used for the Arab State (see map above). The Zionist Congress, feeling powerless and desiring to not anger the British who were one of the most powerful of nations at that time, agreed to accept a severely truncated Israel. Transjordan, later to become Jordan, was finally established formally in 1946, two years ahead of Israel. But it goes back even further.
The history of the Jews and Israel, since the conquest by the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great and then the Roman Empire and the two banishments after temporarily successful wars throwing off Roman rule briefly only to fall to Roman legions sent to teach the upstart Judeans (Jews) a lesson that Rome would not tolerate such revolts, has been a series of pogroms, murderous riots, banishments, cleansings and finally the Shoah, the Holocaust. The fact that this happened twice was proof that they deserved the Biblical description of being a stiff necked people. Unfortunately, these were pretty much the last times the Jews were truly a stiff necked people and instead became, over the intervening approximately twenty centuries, Jews having anything but stiff necks by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, they have proven to be amongst the most malleable of all peoples. They left nations at a simple behest leaving their businesses and often properties and wealth behind, and kept to their own portions of cities, often a Jewish ghetto. They feared the Church, Mosque, Priests, Imams, Kings, Queens, Caliphs, Barons, Emperors, Czars, Kaisers, Mahārājas, Padishahs, Rajas and all other titled and authorities constantly fearing pogroms, cleansings, inquisitions, purifications, jihads and any edict which might make them targets. What was sad is that had the majority of Jews worldwide ever chosen to return to their ancient homelands they might have been capable of turning realities into independence or at the least making of their homelands a partitioned semiautonomous region where they could have lived in relative peace. All it would have taken would have been faith in Hashem and their own worth, but instead the Jews continued to live at the tolerance and best intentions of others. Such has been the history and thus is the current leadership.
There is a question which is approaching by one means or another as the Arabs are restless and angered by their leadership under the Palestinian Authority and a sizeable majority are ready to elect Hamas into leadership across their towns, cities and other local governance. The majority of Palestinian Arabs reside in areas where they elect their local leaders and in what is misnamed the West Bank, they reside in an autonomous region where they elect their leaders. Their last election for President was held in 2005 where Mahmoud Abbas was elected. Since then he has feared standing for reelection and thus has found reason after reason to cancel elections. The real reason is he is afraid of losing power and being replaced by Hamas. This might lead to his being charged for corruption and theft of funds and standing trial under Hamas judges who would have him killed just as soon as they were sure they had found every dollar and Euro he has stolen and stashed in Swiss and other banks. Whatever such a future might hold, Abbas will do all he is able to avoid finding out what exactly would happen. Still, Israel needs to be prepared for a Hamas takeover by one means or another in the near future. Should Hamas take control of Judea and Samaria, Israel will be forced to confront a situation where Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport and the heart of Israel surrounding these areas and reaching as far north as Netanya would rapidly become uninhabitable due to rocket attacks carried out by Hamas as soon as they would be capable of building or importing even the most rudimentary of rockets (see map below). Such a situation would be untenable at best and an unimaginable disaster should such a situation arise. With Hamas ruling the majority of the localities and potentially, should Abbas allow elections to be held at any time, running the entire show; Israel would need to come to a decision immediately and set forth a strong and unambiguous situational criteria. Israel would have to rule that a single rocket fired from the Arab areas within Judea and Samaria landing anywhere within any areas within the Green Line or any of the neighborhoods outside of Arab autonomous regions that Israel would immediately claim and annex all the lands other than Gaza between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and all Arabs within the autonomous regions would be pushed outside of the State of Israel and its true borders under International Law. Simple statement and placing the IDF on alert should provide the reality check required as proof of the real intentions. Unfortunately, such a declaration would not likely be coming as the government would be worried over what the Americans might say or even think, what the Europeans and European Union would say, what Russia, China and anybody else might believe of them, especially if it was unkind, and finally they would be overly concerned what the Arab and Muslim world would do and react to their displacing even a single Arab from their home. Simply stated, they would need to sample every nation, international body, the United Nations, European Union, and possibly see what Viking rune stones might say in predicting the Scandinavian nations' reactions. Unfortunately, the map says it all.
Katyusha Rocket Range by Mark Langfan
Depicting the Near Complete Coverage
of the Heart of Israel by Even the Smallest
Home-made Rockets Both Hamas and Fatah
Are Capable of Producing in Bulk
The time is rapidly approaching when Israel will be facing a choice, take all the land which is legally ours and grant the Arabs fair market share for their properties, except for those in governance as they have stolen sufficient to provide for themselves for a long period, and place them and the prisoners outside Israeli borders. This may require military force just as was used to destroy Jewish communities in Gaza and areas of Judea and Samaria to please United States President George W. Bush, his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the State Department and every other soul on the planet who supported the Gaza sacrifice which turned so disastrous that one hopes at least one lesson may have been learned. If the IDF can be utilized to beat down Jews and destroy their neighborhoods, livelihoods, businesses, communities and all else which had any real, intrinsic or emotional value, then Israel should sure as anything be capable of using at least similar force in extending the borders to their Internationally Legal limits along the Jordan River and making these lands safe for all Israelis of all religions. Families who have been completely free of any ties to terror and desire to remain as legal alien residents and obey Israeli laws and be aware that should any member of their family commit or support any terrorist activity, they will lose everything faster than they can protest the actions and be sent beyond the border without any remunerations for lost property et al. The world is steadily accelerating in their embracing of anti-Semitism and this has been steadily made evident by the adoptions of the BDS movement and the number of governments who refuse to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the true Israeli Capital City. No other nation is made to suffer the refusal of the world to accept their declaration of a Capital City other than Israel and Jerusalem. We recognize that the constant and incessant griping, sniping, threatening, and badgering of government officials by Arab Palestinian proponents sooner or later wear down many a government official which eventually snowballs into accepting their demand if only to have some quiet as the Jews won't complain, they're civil and meek like good Jews. Perhaps it is time to place some Israelites into the highest positions in our political establishment and finally stand up for ourselves and tell the world it is our turn to set some rules. Do we need to actually state these rules? We hope not as all Israel should demand and actuate upon are the exact things promised us since 1917, the lands of our ancestors, all of them. Read our history, read our Torah and Joshua and the rest of our Bible and become educated. We could demand what is actually Greater Israel which is defined as the lands taken at the height of Israelite power under King David and King Solomon (see map below). There is a lot to be stated about this area.
Eretz Yisroel as formed after the conquests by the Kingdoms of King David and King Solomon; both of whom allowed the Principalities of Edom, Moab and Ammon to be semi-autonomous as long as they and their armies supported Eretz Yisroel
We never did quite make it from the Euphrates to the Nile, but we did reach the Euphrates. Further, were Israel granted these lands, then there would be little left of the Syria Civil War as Israel would be dividing the warring parties and should the Islamic State insist on striking Israel, there would no longer be any need for any world hand wringing as all that would need be done would become done. Israel has attempted to please the world and the world cannot be pleased. Israel has attempted to live by the world's rules but those rules claim that Israel never be permitted to win. Even when we have won and liberated our own lands the world demands we give away those very lands after we already returned an area of land which vastly outsizes our actual borders under International Law. We are talking of the Sinai Peninsula and our sitting on the eastern banks of the Suez Canal. The time for deference is rapidly coming to a close if it has not already come and gone and Israeli leaders are simply being too timid. Excess of timidity is as much as sin as being overly boastful. Perhaps the time is now to declare our annexation of all that is ours and allow the chips to fall where they may. We surrendered Gaza and got a fanatical den of annihilative monsters desiring our death over their own lives and the world did not budge from their demands that Israel and her people commit suicide. Israelis have had enough with the demands that Israel surrender to every tin pot demanding their pound of flesh. We are done with it or honestly should be. The Israeli leaders may still bend over backwards, but the people have reached the end of their rope and the politicians had best heed the growing growling as that growl is meant for them if they do not point it in a healthier direction. When even one of the major parties in the United States removes backing for the Two State Solution and in turn the Oslo Accords from their platform, it is time that Israel take that dead issue off our table as well. Now is the time and not waiting for Hamas to become further entrenched in Judea and Samaria and join the Islamic State bringing that misery to our doorsteps. It will be best to end all misery before it multiplies tenfold and that means now. Time is here for a new breed of leadership, one that will fight for the people and end the Oslo Charade which leads only to self-annihilation because suicide is not a viable solution.
Iran the New Aryan Nation
Filed under: Act of War,Amalekites,Anti-Israel,Anti-Semitism,Anti-Zionist,Appease Islamic Interests,Appeasement,Arab League,Ayatollah Khamenei,Ayatollah Khomenei,Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,Ayatollahs,Blood Libel,Calaphate,Civilization,Coverup,Cyrenaic Greeks,Cyrus the Great,Enlightenment,Europe,European Historic Anti Semitism,European Pressure,Germany,Government,Greece,Hassan Rowhani,Hate,History,Hitler,Imam,International Politics,Iran,Iranian Military,Iraq,IRGC,Islam,Islamic Pressure,Islamist,Israel,Leftist Pressures,Missile Attacks,Muslim Expansionism,Muslim Invade Europe from the East,Muslim Invasoin of Europe from the West,Muslim World,Nationalist Pressures,Nazi,Nazi,Nuclear Program,Nuclear Weapons,Ottoman Empire,Persians,Plutonium Production,Politicized Findings,Politics,President Obama,Religious Pressures,Saudi Arabia,Saudi Arabian Pressure,Saudi Military,Shah,Sharia Law,Shiite,Smiling Cheshire Man,Sudetenland,Sunni,Threat of War,United States Pressure,Uranium Enrichment,War,World Opinion,World War III,World Without Zionism or America — qwertster @ 3:35 AM
Tags: Anti-Semitism, ührer Adolf Hitler, Cheshire Cat, Emperor and Pope Constantine the Great, Germany, Grand Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, India, Iran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Islam, Map of Conquest, Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, Nazi, New Threat, nuclear weapons, Old Threat, Pakistan, Permeates History, Persia, Personal Meeting, Preserving the Byzantine Empire, Reza Shah of Iran, Same Threat, Saudi Arabia
Few of us were alive when the Persians disappeared and instead became Iranians all in a single day. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the historical name of the country before the Greek conquest where the name Persia was born. Surprisingly, the word chosen to represent the master race was chosen carefully by the Nazis and they found their new name from a nation of great age and lineage but not in use by that nation from where it originated. This master race predecessor had all the necessary requirements, it was the name of one of the oldest and most stable of empires and apparently they disappeared from history so the Nazis grabbed their name and used it as their term of the master race, the Aryan race. The former owners of this name when they fell before Alexander the Great, were renamed by the Greeks using the word for nation, Persica or Persis, which in time became Persia. All the great accomplishments of that early and great empire were written into the history books using the Greek name as the name stuck until, as noted above, 1935. This was an act of deference and also a demand of an alliance with Germany as the Persian leader, Reza Shah, ordered that all diplomats for Persia now, immediately and without explanation, begin using the ancient, pre-Greek racial name of Cyrus the Great's tribe and the tribes of peoples he took to the edge of ruling the known world, Iran. This name derived from Middle Persian Ērān, Pahlavi 'yr'n, and in modern pronunciation, Iran or Aryan. The change of name can only raise questions about Persia/Iran and where they sided during World War II.
So let us discuss Iran, Nazis, Aryan, Persia and World War II. Initially the Shah declared neutrality; but when the British, who held ownership of the majority of the Iranian oil fields, the British grew ever more nervous over the German engineers and workers manning their oil interests and demanded the Shah send them back to Germany. The British concerns were that many of these Germans may be spies or could damage the oil fields. The history was unclear as to whether this demand was made in a threatening nature or as a polite favor requesting their preference for different workers but the one thing which was made obvious is the successive requests became demands but were all met with the same answer from the Shah declaring his neutrality while refusing to fire and send packing workers who had given him any reason for doing so other than they suspected there might be German Nazi spies amongst them who could sabotage the oil fields. The Shah having no cares and doubting these people would risk their jobs and his neutrality by any such foolish acts refused the British demands. This went through a couple of renditions before the British nerves and politics and the war took over and forced their hand. In September of 1941 the British and Soviets took control of Iran. They refer to it a wartime occupation and not any effort to compromise Iranian national freedom and that the entire necessity was due to the dangers that the Axis Powers were poised to move on Iran and the British and Soviets were simply protecting their investments and Iranian freedoms from the Nazi threats. The British and Soviets withdrew after the war but had changed the Shah rule for that of his more compliant son; otherwise the damage was minimal though there are those who claim the invasion shook the people's faith in their rulers.
Reza Shah of Iran 1935
There have been rumors that the Reza Shah was in negotiations with the Nazis to provide the Third Reich with much needed petroleum for their war machine which was running drastically low and even marginalizing operations. The Nazis were desperate and had likely offered the Shah great riches and power and potentially the reemergence of Persian like power in the Middle East, possibly a similar set of promises as they had given to the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini while he was living in Berlin to avoid the British forces who were poised to arrest him for allying with the Nazis. The British had much difficulty with different Arabs throughout World War II. The main thing to understand was that Iran actually was poised to assist the Nazis, allied with their cause and found a sympathy to their idea of an Aryan super race of perfected humans but the Iranian description might have varied from that of the Nazis who sought blond haired blue eyed men and women of above average height and physical fitness. The Iranians may have held for different qualities but they did believe in a pure Aryan race though theirs would be best represented in English as Ērān or 'yr'n.
Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini
in His One of Many Personal Meetings
with the Führer Adolf Hitler
Part of the above history shows there is a historic sense of grandeur and importance exuded by many Iranians which has been played to every extreme by the current rulers. The Islamist Ayatollahs take full use of this sense as well as a sense of entitlement and supremacy, especially when it comes to Israel and the United States. They have worked on that entitlement behavior to blame the United States and Israel, especially with the sanctions which the United States pioneered and joined by Europe to a pressure Iran into compliance and to explain a few things as objectively as possible. Considering I am a Jew living in Israel and as such have a bullseye emblazoned between my eyes makes me particularly sensitive to the fact that the Arab and Muslim nations and many of their peoples who sided with the Nazis but did not face the destructions and defeat as did the Nazis, never had those anti-Semitic views expunged. In the case of many of the Arab nations, they were exposed to the poisonous broadcasts by the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini who had anti-Semitic leanings and blamed the Jews of the Holy Lands around Jerusalem for the poverty and what he viewed as miserable living conditions of his Arab peoples compared to the Jewish farmers and entrepreneurs and shop owners in Jerusalem many of which sold Jewish items needed in religious observances, marketed the produce, as did several Arab families who gained wealth, and serviced farm needs such as fertilizers and pesticides and finally had foreign contacts mostly in Europe but also across the Arab lands of MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and possibly even in the far east where the farmers could sell their harvests. The Mufti blamed the Jews for taking all of the economic pie and not leaving any wealth available to his Arab subjects thus forcing them into poverty. He never considered that they should improve their lot in life by working the lands or finding other means for earning a living instead of relying largely on the good graces of others who did produce to gift them charity, something he found demeaning and where he blessed Arabs who would give alms he always blamed the Jews, even those who might have given similarly or even greater amounts or percentages of their income, for being stingy and not granting the Arabs a greater share in their wealth. The one thing which has to be remembered is that nobody was become a millionaire working the Holy Lands in this era.
When the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini fled Jerusalem fearing arrest by the British, who he also saw as favoring the Jews over the Arabs, not exactly an accurate appraisal as there may have been British who favored the Jews to an extent, British policy was either equally damning or anti-Semitic in its application on orders or preferences of the higher officers. The Mufti made broadcasts into the Arab lands with a very powerful directions broadcast tower spewing the Nazi supremacy and equating them with Arab and Muslim ideals of supremacy and equated Nazism and Islam in some unholy marriage of joining forces against the evil Jew who stole the food from Arab and Muslim mouths and refused to share and were enslaving the Arabs and Muslims in poverty by cruel and inhuman measures of attempted superiority born out of jealousy of the true Master Races, Nazis and Islamic, against the base and animalistic Jews. These broadcasts cast hatred of the Jews as the Jews selfishly stole all the wealth and held to it tightly were themes repeated by Imams as you preach to the masses basing your message on some of their ready beliefs as that is the path easiest to their attentions. So the message of Jewish hoarding became the legal tender on which much of the anti-Semitism was based and much of that was based on the Jews having stolen all the land from its rightful Arab, Muslim owners, the people in the Mosques for the sermons. This combinations drummed this hatred and the deceits such that many, nowhere near all, but a possible plurality bought into this message and it became their legal tender to claim the possessions of the Jews because they were only returning the lands and other wealth to its rightful owners.
Grand Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei
These alliances with the Nazis further poisoned the well against the Jews and many of the British chose not to intervene or actually harbored their own anti-Semitic leanings and thus their not opposing these beliefs only served to amplify their validity. This further amplified the latent anti-Semitic feelings, especially amongst the Arabs who were living in poverty and who were seeking a reason and the Jew selfishly stealing all the wealth and controlling the distribution of assets and their control of the British played heavily into that market. In Iran there was their neutrality which always appeared to favor the Germans as there were numerous German citizens working within Iran and the Shah had changed the name their nation was known by internationally to the Iranian Farsi word which meant Aryan, namely Iran, and this was often seen as tacit approval of the Nazi principles of the Master Race and the poignant hatred and casting of the Jews as an animalistic sub-human species which polluted the genetic superiority of the rest of the human race and as such needed to be extinguished. When Israel became a nation they soon afterwards enjoyed good relations with Iran of open friendship and embassies were exchanged and all the benefits which goes with such. All of this was shut down almost immediately after the revolution and the betrayal of the Shah by his former ally, the United States. President Jimmy Carter 'understood' the heart of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 as President Carter saw him as a holy man and thus he must uphold Christian principles from the post-enlightenment period of modern Western thought.
The American President could not have been any more mistaken, much like the current American President who trusts Iran to hold to the limitations of the treaty he signed with them. The treaty itself is lenient and pro-Iranian in its make-up but likely does not suit the immediacy of the Ayatollahs drive for nuclear weapons with which to claim preeminence in the Arab and Muslim world and thus as the rightful leader of such in the conquest of the world. The Ayatollah likely see their ascendance to be the rightful leaders of the Muslim world and as such the ones who will bring the Ummah from predominant Sunni beliefs to almost entirely Shiite in their beliefs as Iran, as the titular leader of Shia Islam will have ascended unarguably the strongest of position and have gained dominance over Saudi Arabia and Egypt and as such gained the title as the next and only true claimant to Caliph. Should the Saudi Royal family refuse to basically kneel before the Ayatollah Khamenei, they may have earned Riyadh the initial test of the Iranian super weapon in their nuclear armed quest to gain the world. Any upset or obstruction to the Iranian claim and smooth path to world dominance will have a ready-made and golden diabolical reason, Israel as the Jew amongst the nations and the Jews world-wide as they will be cast as all serving Israel against the perfection of the World by the Ayatollahs. Israel will actually be spared initially as they are required to serve as the true source of any difficulties because the Grand Ayatollah is a position of ultimate perfection and a straight connection to Allah if ever such could exist. They would be assuming a similar position to Emperor and Pope Constantine the Great who was crowned Pope after he conquered most of Europe, ending the many squabbles and smaller wars, uniting all under his banner. Unfortunately for Europe all men die and when Constantine died, so went his empire.
Emperor and Pope Constantine the Great
with Map of Conquest
Preserving the Byzantine Empire
How this will end? That, my friends and acquaintances, is the really big question. The things we know is that Iran will be at its weakest and most vulnerable and have given the world cause for alarm and a call for action right after they move on any nation whether directly or through terrorist proxies beyond their actions in Syria. What will be interesting is who allies with Iran and who starts to slide into the position of leaders of the opposition other than Saudi Arabia and possibly Egypt and other Sunni Arab nations. They would be uniting against both Shia Islam and the fact that Iran is of Persian lineage and thus not Arab and this also is an abomination to many Muslims, especially Arab Muslims. We know also that the Saudi oil fields have a majority Shiite population and could be the next war's Sudetenland which Iran will claim as part of bringing all of Shia Islam under their rule which is what has already occurred for all intents and purposes in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Where else they will initially turn will be telling. We expect their first move will be to co-opt Pakistan through some alliance deal as the two Islamic nuclear powers with similar goals, though that is not entirely true. Iran could promise Pakistan that one of their first moves would be to subsume by means other than direct war possibly as a treaty with India, to gain them the lands which they and India have fought wars over and potentially some of north-western India where there is a large Muslim presence. All things will become fungible when Iran becomes a nuclear armed nation with a war chest of nuclear weapons and the will to use them. This has us thinking of Alice in Wonderland and the disappearing Cheshire Cat's smile and Alice commenting that everything was becoming "Curiouser and curiouser!"
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiling for report on how he and Iran charmed the world reminding all of the evil laugh as the Cheshire Cat faded away leaving only his wicked smile and it just fit calling him the 'Smiling Cheshire Man'
Can the World be Defused?
Filed under: Absolutism,Act of War,Administration,Advanced Weapions Systems,Alexander the Great,Amalekites,Appointment,Arab World,Armed Services,Army,Attack,Babylon,Balkans,Barbarian Forces,Battle of Tours,Bible,Blood Libel,Britain,Calaphate,Carthage,Catholic,Catholic Church,Catholic Churh,Catholic Institutions,Catholics,Charles "The Hammer" Martel,Charles Lindbergh,Chosen People,Civilization,Command,Commandments,Covenant,Covert Actions,Cyrenaic Greeks,Czarist Russia,Direct Elections,Egypt,Egyptian Border Guards,Egyptian Military,Enlightenment,Eugenics,Europe,European Historic Anti Semitism,European Pressure,Five Books of Moses,Former Soviet Republic,France,Francis Galton,French Military,Golden Age of Islam,Government,Great Britain,Greece,Hannibal,Hate,Hellenists,History,Holy Roman Army,Iberian Peninsula,Immortals,Individual Right to Privacy,Inquisition,International Politics,Intifada,Iron Curtain,Islam,Islam,Islamic Pressure,Israel,Israeli Capital City,Jerusalem,Jewish State,Jewish Temple,Jews,Jihad,Leftist Pressures,Middle East,Military,Military Intervention,Military Option,Mongol Hordes,Muslim Expansionism,Muslim Invade Europe from the East,Muslim Invasoin of Europe from the West,Muslim World,Muslims,Nationalist Pressures,Nebuchadnezzar II,New Testament,Nile River,Old City,Old Testament,Ottoman Empire,Persians,Polish King John III Sobieski,Polish Military,Politics,Pope,Promised Land,Response to Muslim Takeover,Roman Empire,Rome,Russian Pressure,Saudi Arabian Pressure,Secular Interests,Siege of Vienna,Soviet Union,Special Forces,Temple Mount,Thermopylae,Threat of War,Torah,Turkish Military,Union Interests,Vatican City,Voting,World Opinion,World Pressures,World War I,World War II — qwertster @ 2:32 AM
Tags: ahman Al Ghafiqi, Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Battle of Tours, Battle of Vienna, Beyond the Cusp, Caliphate, Carl von Clausewitz, Catholic, Charles the Hammer Martel, Christendom, Church, Church of England, Failure, Greece, Hittites, Into the Darkness, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, King John III Sobieski, King Philip II of Spain, Mongols, Niccolò Machiavelli, Ottoman Empire, Persia, Phoenicians, Poland, Pope Clement VIII, ProtestantReformation, Purge, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Isabella I of Castile, Retrograde, Rome, Science, society, Spanish Armada, Spanish Inquisition, Sun Tzu, The Prince, Umayyad
Once a while ago there were three leaders who defused the terrors and monsters of their day. There work took a while longer and they may never get the credit they deserve. They were the magic combination which comes around only when things seem darkest. In a much earlier time the combination of leaders need not all be present on the world's fields of battle at the same time, but the world moves at a different pace these days. The old team which between them staved off Europe falling, thus eventually led to our modern age as we have known it, consisted of one hero in the west of Europe, The Battle of Tours pitting Charles the Hammer Martel defeating the Umayyad Caliphate led by 'Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, which halted the Islamic threat from advancing further eastward and eventually led to the forced retreat of Islam from the Iberian Peninsula under the reign of terror known as the Spanish Inquisition established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, a retrograde purge for which Spain would never quite recover as that evil, or is as some might claim the purification, left Spain without a curious mind in all the realm as the Inquisition allowed not such stray thoughts other than those found in the 'Good Book'. A few hundred years later the Ottoman Turks were prevented from further adventures in Europe being turned back at the Battle of Vienna by a somewhat unusual hero, King John III Sobieski of Poland who struck a deal whereby his lands would be left untouched by the greedy hands of the other barons and monarchs while he and his entire army would cross to the southern end of Europe and free Vienna breaking the Ottoman siege. This would stall and lead to the end of Ottoman expansion into Europe.
Between these two battles was a smaller battle that gained a larger than life share of attention from historians but was still none-the-less of great importance by what it avoided. The battle of which so much is made was the almost war that King Philip II of Spain decided to bring to a conclusive end and forever rid England of its Church, which followed not the Pope in Rome, restoring the rightful ruler of Christendom, Pope Clement VIII. The Armada was assembled and sailed on its historic mission which failed as it was made up of large and cumbersome ships of the old technology which favored the retrograde habits left over from the Inquisition and the purification of thought within the rule of Rome where science would become as close to defined as sin and as a threat to the sanctified rule of a Pope. The defeat of the Spanish Armada allowed the Church of England to prevail and their more open attitudes and the advantage of a strong political royalty which ruled alongside the Church of England but separate when decision of State were decided and the rule of law endured while the Church of England was to content itself with matters of faith. This partial separation between Church and the State had its periods of difficulty but it also permitted great strides in science which eventually spread through Europe beyond where the Pope had extended the Church's strangling long reach from Rome. Eventually Rome too saw the light of the reformation and the separation between religion and government became the supreme and crowning achievement which was a long time coming with the many fits, starts and backtracks that make history fascinating. The ancient Israelites (or Hebrews) had achieved a form of separation between religious influences and the rule of a king as the limitations of each were delineated in Torah leaving certain powers to the King, others to the Clergy and the freedom to override either, though solely through admonition and persuasion, went the Prophets during their era. The one unfortunate result of the separation of Church from the matters of the ruling elites was that Europe no longer had a single overseeing power structure that the Pope provided when all prayed in the manner instructed out of Rome. This would eventually lead to many wars between the many states in Europe culminating in World War II. With these conflicts came technology which placed Europe as the crowning achievement of its time.
The modern realms had a tripartite power structure which managed to work towards their shared goals in what resulted in a mutually supportive series of actions despite there being no treaty or visible connection where these three strong leaders actually were collaborating, instead each added to the strength and power of the others with minimal appearance of collaboration. The three leaders were the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, who presided in that office from May 4, 1979 through November 28, 1990, while Queen Elizabeth II was the supportive monarch; Pope Saint John Paul II whose Papacy began on October 16, 1978 and ended April 2, 2005 and was a strong advocate for the rule of the people and their rights to a government deserving of the people and not the reverse and strongly held to the traditional beliefs working tirelessly largely behind the scenes while making appearances often with intent to back freedom and human rights for all people; and lastly United States President Ronald Reagan whose Presidency began on January 20, 1981 lasting until January 20, 1989 and the challenging force behind the scuttling of, as he coined it, the Evil Empire which was the Soviet Union which he did as much as anyone in facilitating the sudden downfall of the Soviet system and its iron curtain fell in under one week from the inception of the collapse of Communism in Europe. These three people had as much influence in their short decade where all three stood at the pinnacle of the power that swept in a new life and vitality born of freedom and challenging the greatest tyranny which stood in opposition to all these three defenders of the people, their individual rights and their right to choose their own governance and take control of their national ship and steer it through the ballot box and supportive of human dignity and the sanctity of life.
The world is once again spiraling into the void that lies beyond the cusp where freedoms are forever lost and tyranny and darkness extinguish the light of hope and the dignity of the spirit. Once again a retrograde influence is oozing from every corner advancing across the plains devouring everything in its path. The seriousness of this threat can be measured in the resisting flames in the eyes of those readying to fight a battle they know they cannot win but fight it they will in the hopes that somewhere a leader will have the courage to step forth and hold the line from crossing beyond the cusp and darkness once again gripping the heart of Europe. This threat comes from every front and ignores all borders and had many masters of which not a one honors freedom, individuality and the rights of the people to choose their own destinies and those who will lead them into the light and not towards the darkness. Currently the forces of freedom sleep as their ruling head of state has little stomach for such as the struggles barking from the far frontiers. This man who leads by following knows only that the previous leadership suffered from flaws that came from striving and this leader swears not to make such mistakes and instead retreats before taking stands and charging forth as doing so may reveal his flaws as it did his predecessors, but he realizes not that timidity and failure of vision are his flaws though his slow shrinking before every challenge is his plan to avoid mistakes. This comes when Europe also means to do well by refraining from the competition and instead seeks to facilitate and placate their way to oblivion that also lie beyond the cusp where greatness fails the timid and the freedoms hard won become easily surrendered and lost as they tip beyond the cusp and fall into the night of oblivion. There are the few who have clear sight and identify the threats but can the world rely on the strength of those who previously held roles of a supportive nature and have not been leaders of the free world as is now asked of them. The leaders in some instance are up to the challenge while in other leaders we see the rage of mediocrity hoping only to hold the line as best as possible waiting for one of the historic leaders to step forward and take the helm once more. What must the few who can lead do when the majority in the world are too tired, fat and lazy to put their shoulders to the wheel and strive to remain free, to stop the mad plunge and assure that their people are not forced beyond the cusp as from there the return will take generations and may never recover as some points, once crossed, may well mean there will be no return for this will be the final fight, the final battle between freedom and all that does empower the greatness in the human effort and spreads the light of freedom giving every last soul the power of flight so as to soar to new heights and new greatness ever pressing forward the boundaries of the mind through new equations which describe the actual functions of the universe and to eventually voyage into the far unknown and visit those points of light seen in the night's sake for as sure as there is light there is hope for the future or the death of the individual spirit and the complete surrender to darkness forever extinguishing those final glowing embers of hope and heart as we fall beyond the cusp.
I have been asked by some close friends why I spend anywhere from three hours to all too often more than the eight hours demanded by a regular employ to continue to write to my slowly growing field of readers. Truthfully, I write in the hopes that somewhere an individual will find something that elevates them such that it awakens within them that spark of imaginations, the boldness to fight mediocrity, the hope that the future will continue to be filled with light and just one person at a time engage more to fight against the ever increasing flow dragging mankind towards a darkness that knows it has little time before the ingenious minds make that singular breakthrough which cements the condition of mankind at the cusp of a great adventure as we spread our wings and fly out into the cosmos and forever have insured that never shall all humankind be swallowed by the darkness beyond the cusp, beyond the whirlpool that swallows all imagination, enslaves every mind, demands total and permanent surrender, insisting on complete compliance never once to again dare. The war to remain in a place where there are a plethora of alternative paths and nobody is forced into the restriction of thought or held to a permanence of class must not be lost but there is this trepidation that the youth are not made aware of the coming threats nor are they largely taught to think independently and are made to believe that there are molds into which every person must choose their mold never to expand or reach beyond the restrictions of their mind. I write to express the truth that no two people are completely alike and thus there are no molds, only self-imposed prisons of the mind and the extinguishing of every flaming spirits as the mold makers impose a correctness of thought and attempt to ridicule and intimidate any who refuse to fold before their stifling approved dictionary for acceptable terms and their definitions. Look up the word 'discriminate' and unless you have an unapproved and 'outdated' dictionary you will not find it defined as a positive trait through which one sets standards for excellence in all things and thus chooses to expand and investigate things beyond their strict education. Trust that the elite are given the lesson that discriminate is not solely an evil where people are categorized by physical, racial, religious or national traits and all else is ignored. Discriminate also means to choose wisely, something the programmers of the public school system in too many nations is not a part of their indoctrination. Resist the limitations and open your eyes and if you suspect that the teacher is not teaching you how to think but instead what to think, start your own rebellion, a rebellion of one at first as you will need to first arm yourself and then set out to change the world. Presuming you are an adequately proficient reader this list should not take more than a few summer's free time. With these and a few other items of personal interest, yours, not mine, you may be ready to set out but remember one other item, failure is what redirects efforts towards accomplishments and may even tach us some lessons along the way. There often is more to learn when we fail than when we finally persevere and reach the necessary and inevitable conclusion after exhausting every conceivable failure along the way, or so it may seem.
Rebel by reading books, yes they still exist, and writings not on the approved list. Read books such as Atlas Shrugged or other Ayn Rand writings, Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell who was a socialist programmed by his education but who became disenchanted as he experienced life and later in his life wrote of the evils of socialism as he had witnessed it applied in his day, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Read books about history especially by those who lived in the times they wrote about starting with The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain with special attention to his travels in what is today Israel and his commentaries on Jerusalem and Bethlehem as well as his travels through the deserted lands and remember that his writings came from a period immediately before Zionists began arriving in greater numbers. Read the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, the Quran, and the life of Confucius and Buddha for some insights into the differing religions and investigate ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, Rome, Babylon, the Phoenicians, Hittites, Mongols, and acquaint yourself with Oriental religious and societal structures and their philosophies. Read some books on war and strategy as they are useful in life and interactions in the world even in peace times such as the writings of Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz and The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Learn to play both checkers and chess. Learn logic both as taught in math and electronics as well as philosophy, this will arm you in debates. Arm oneself with knowledge and one will be prepared for anything life sends your way.
I also write for my own catharsis as it soothes the mind when one is forced to organize their thoughts so as to put them down as coherent writings, and if my writings have appeared to not be as clear as hoped and lacking in total coherence, then imagine the jumbled mess in my head and what that must be like, and then imagine living with such a racket of fighting ideas but not ideals as without ideals we wander undefined through a dark forest of frightening thoughts forever to remain lost. The world seems that way at this moment and it will take a few miracles to set things back to right, but fortunately the world is full of miracles if one only knows not only where to look but how to look and discern the hidden miracles behind so much that happened every day. Smell the roses and drink some strong coffee and find some simple pursuits in life and make then your anchor by which to have a place or item you define as normalcy. Mine is real, good and strong coffee brewed from just ground whole beans blended often with little care and allowing the mixture to give me a little bit of surprise in life. A little sweet chocolate seems to make it so much tastier and gives it a round robustness that is next to addictive. But everybody deserves one addictive vice they refuse to surrender before the demands for normalcy. Ah, normalcy, how boring a thing can be.


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — New numbers show efforts to encourage more Grand Rapids high school students to go to college are working.
Grand Rapids Community College saw a 31 percent increase in the number of Grand Rapids Public Schools graduates signing up for classes. According to GRCC, the number of students from GRPS rose from 116 in 2017 to 152 this year.
The numbers reflect a redoubled effort to do things: convince GRPS students that a college education is within their reach and prepare them for an economy with plenty of jobs but not enough people to fill them.
India Whiteside, Teonicka Williams and Makenzee Powell are examples of success. They're part of the Early/Middle College program, which allows students to enroll in GRCC classes while still in high school. They'll graduate with the rest of their class, but an additional year of schooling will provide them with a tuition-free associate's degree from GRCC and a shorter path to either trade school or a four-year degree.


Load your family into the 2019 Toyota RAV4. Smooth gearshifts are achieved thanks to the efficient 4 cylinder engine, and all wheel drive keeps this model firmly attached to the road surface. Well tuned suspension and stability control deliver a spirited, yet composed, ride and drive It's equipped with tons of terrific amenities, but it won't break your budget. Such as cruise control, heated seats, automatic temperature control, heated steering wheel, turn signal indicator mirrors, a power liftgate, an overhead console, and a split folding rear seat. For drivers who enjoy the natural environment, a power moon roof allows an infusion of fresh air. Passengers are protected by various safety and security features, including: head curtain airbags, front side impact airbags, traction control, brake assist, a panic alarm, an emergency communication system, and 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS. You'll never lose visibility with rain sensing wipers, which activate automatically when the drops start to fall. We know that you have high expectations, and we enjoy the challenge of meeting and exceeding them! Please don't hesitate to give us a call.


text:
Q: How do I change the colors in Highcharts zones? I have this piece of code:
var rawData = [20, 20, 20, 20, 20],
    data = [
        [0, 100]
    ],
    overData = [
        [0, 0]
    ],
    underData = [
        [0, 0]
    ],
    zones = [],
    len = rawData.length,
    colors = Highcharts.getOptions().colors,
    maxColor = colors.length,
    i,
    val,
    sum = 0,
    pos = 0,
    plotLines = [];
    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        sum += rawData[i];
    }

    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        pos += rawData[i];
        val = (sum - pos) / sum * 100;
        data.push([pos, val]);
        overData.push([pos, (100 - val) / 2]);
        underData.push([pos, (100 - val) / 2]);
        zones.push({
            value: pos,
            color: colors[i % maxColor]
        });

    plotLines.push({
        zIndex: 7,
        width: 3,
        color: '#aaa',
        value: pos,
        label: {
            text: rawData[i],
            verticalAlign: 'bottom',
            rotation: 0,
            y: -10,
            align: 'right',
            x: -12,
            style: {
                color: colors[i % maxColor],
                fontWeight: 'bold'
            }
        }
    });
}

Now this line seems to use the API to generate standard highcharts colors:
colors = Highcharts.getOptions().colors

How can I set a color I define for each "zone"?  Could you please show me a small sample of how I could achieve a color for each zone?
Thanks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Il ponte tibetano è una struttura di collegamento costituita da una fune che ha funzione di marciapiede e da due funi/mancorrenti laterali superiori distanziate di circa un metro da quella marciapiede.

Descrizione

Le tre funi, poste a triangolo, sono solidarizzate da stralli laterali distanziati l'uno dall'altro da 50 a 100 cm. In una tale struttura l'oscillazione è inversamente proporzionale al carico di tensione: più tese sono le funi, più stabile è il ponte, in quanto si riducono le oscillazioni laterali, in particolar modo nella sezione centrale.

Record

Secondo il libro del Guinness dei primati il ponte tibetano più lungo del mondo sarebbe quello costruito tra il promontorio di Santa Margherita a Procida e l'isolotto di Vivara. Il ponte, lungo 362 metri, fu realizzato tra il 2 e il 10 luglio 2001 utilizzando 40 tubi Innocenti, 40 morsetti, 34 picchetti di un metro e mezzo, 2.500 metri di corda, 500 m di cavi d'acciaio, 1 trivella e 1 verricello. Tuttavia il Ponte tibetano Cesana Claviere risulta ancora più lungo (pubblicizzato come il più lungo del mondo) è stato costruito fra i comuni di Cesana Torinese e Claviere. La struttura è composta da un primo tratto di 70 metri immediatamente seguito da un ponte sospeso della lunghezza di 408 metri. Al quale è stato aggiunto un ulteriore tratto di 90 m per un totale complessivo di 560 m circa.

Nel settembre 2016 un nuovo ponte tibetano è stato aperto al pubblico nelle Prealpi vicentine presso Valli del Pasubio.

Nel luglio 2021 è stato inaugurato nel comune di Castelsaraceno (PZ) un ponte tibetano tra due parchi nazionali lucani che, con una lunghezza di 586 metri, è stato il ponte tibetano più lungo al mondo, fino all'inaugurazione nel maggio 2022 dello Sky Bridge 721, in Repubblica Ceca, che attualmente detiene questo primato con i suoi 721 metri.

Il ponte tibetano più alto d'Europa si trova invece in Valtellina, sospeso a oltre 140 metri di altezza.

Confronto con altri tipi di ponti
In alcuni contesti il termine "ponte sospeso semplice" non si riferisce a questo tipo di ponte ma piuttosto a un ponte sospeso che è "semplice" in quanto il suo impalcato (la struttura orizzontale che sorregge il piano viabile) non è irrigidito. Sebbene i due tipi di ponti siano simili sotto molti aspetti, differiscono nella loro fisica. Su un semplice ponte sospeso, i cavi (o catene) principali seguono una curva iperbolica, la catenaria. Questo perché i cavi principali sono liberi. Al contrario, su un ponte sospeso (semplice o meno) i cavi principali seguono una curva parabolica. Questo perché i cavi principali sono legati ad intervalli uniformi all'impalcato del ponte sottostante.

Le differenze tra queste due curve erano una questione di importanza nel XVII secolo, su cui lavorava Isaac Newton. La soluzione fu trovata nel 1691 da Gottfried Leibniz, Christiaan Huygens e Johann Bernoulli che derivò l'equazione in risposta a una sfida di Jakob Bernoulli. Le loro soluzioni furono pubblicate negli Acta Eruditorum del giugno 1691.

Un ponte a nastro teso (stressed ribbon bridge) ha anche una o più curve catenarie e un ponte posato sui cavi principali. A differenza di un semplice ponte sospeso, tuttavia, un ponte a nastro teso ha un impalcato rigido, solitamente dovuto all'aggiunta di elementi di compressione (lastre di cemento) posati sopra i cavi principali. Questa rigidità consente al ponte di essere molto più pesante, più largo e più stabile.

Un ponte sospeso auto-ancorante è un tipo di ponte sospeso in cui i cavi principali si attaccano alle estremità dell'impalcato, anziché direttamente a terra o tramite grandi ancoraggi.

Un ponte sospeso sotterraneo è un raro tipo di ponte sospeso sviluppato all'inizio del XIX secolo.

Storia

Il ponte sospeso semplice è il più antico tipo conosciuto di ponte sospeso e, ignorando la possibilità di contatto transoceanico precolombiano, ci furono almeno due invenzioni indipendenti del ponte sospeso semplice, nella più ampia regione dell'Himalaya e in Sud America.

Il primo riferimento ai ponti sospesi compare nei documenti della dinastia Han sui viaggi delle missioni diplomatiche cinesi nei paesi ai margini occidentale e meridionale dell'Himalaya, vale a dire la catena dell'Hindukush in Afghanistan, e le terre di Gandhara e Gilgit. Si trattava di semplici ponti sospesi di tre o più cavi ricavati dalla vite, dove le persone camminavano direttamente sulle corde da attraversare. Successivamente si utilizzarono anche rivestimenti realizzati con assi appoggiate su due cavi.

Semplici ponti sospesi che utilizzano catene di ferro sono documentati anche in Tibet e in Cina. Un ponte nell'alto Yangtze risale al VII secolo. Molti sono attribuiti al monaco tibetano Thang Tong Gyalpo, che secondo quanto riferito ne costruì diversi in Tibet e Bhutan nel XV secolo, tra cui Chushul Chakzam e uno a Chuka. Un altro esempio, il ponte Luding, risale al 1703, si estende per 100 m utilizzando 11 catene di ferro.

Lo sviluppo di ponti sospesi in funi metalliche risale al semplice ponte sospeso temporaneo di Annonay costruito da Marc Seguin e dai suoi fratelli nel 1822. Si estendeva per soli 18 m. Tuttavia, i semplici progetti di ponti sospesi furono resi in gran parte obsoleti dall'invenzione e dal brevetto del XIX secolo del ponte sospeso di James Finley.

Materiali

Il ponte tibetano è noto come costruito tipicamente da corde. I ponti di corda Inca sono ancora formati da materiali nativi, principalmente corde, in alcune aree del Sud America. Questi ponti di corde devono essere rinnovati periodicamente a causa della durata limitata dei materiali e i componenti delle corde sono realizzati dalle famiglie del luogo come contributo a uno sforzo comunitario.

Semplici ponti sospesi, per l'uso da parte di pedoni e bestiame, sono ancora costruiti, sulla base dell'antico ponte di corda Inca ma utilizzando funi metalliche e talvolta lastre a griglia in acciaio o alluminio, anziché in legno.

Nei ponti moderni, i materiali utilizzati al posto della corde (fibra) includono funi metalliche, catene e travi in acciaio articolate per scopi speciali.

Ponti di radici viventi

Nello stato indiano nord-orientale di Meghalaya, Khasi e Jaintia le popolazioni tribali hanno creato ponti di radici viventi, che sono una forma di modellatura degli alberi. Qui vengono realizzati semplici ponti sospesi modificando le radici della specie di albero di baniano Ficus elastica attraverso i corsi d'acqua. Ci sono esempi con una campata di oltre 170 piedi (52 m). Sono naturalmente auto-rinnovanti e auto-rafforzanti poiché le radici dei componenti diventano più spesse e si ritiene che alcune abbiano più di 500 anni.

Nella valle di Iya, in Giappone, sono stati costruiti ponti utilizzando viti di glicine. Per costruire un tale ponte, queste viti sono state piantate sui lati opposti di un fiume e intrecciate insieme quando sono cresciute abbastanza da coprire il divario. L'aggiunta di assi ha prodotto un ponte funzionale.

Design
I ponti più leggeri di questo tipo sono costituiti solo da un'unica corda per consentire l'attraversamento poggiando i piedi sulla corda stessa. La camminata funambola e lo slackline richiedono abilità per essere messe in pratica, in quanto il ponte tibetano costituito solo da una corda viene attraversato solo se si è in possesso di molto equilibrio. Più comunemente, la fune destinata al camminamento è accompagnata da una o due funi di corrimano, collegate ad intervalli da funi laterali verticali. Questo stile è utilizzato dagli alpinisti ed è ampiamente utilizzato in Nuova Zelanda su percorsi pedonali di scialpinismo minori, dove gli esempi sono indicati come "ponti a tre fili". Una variante leggermente più pesante ha due corde che supportano il ponte, le quali fungono da corrimano. Esse sono necessarie perché questi ponti tendono ad oscillare da un lato all'altro e da un capo all'altro. Raramente la fune destinata al camminamento (ed eventualmente essa più il corrimano) è combinata con una fune aerea simile a una teleferica o una funivia.

In alcuni casi, come il ponte sospeso di Capilano, i supporti primari formano i corrimano con l'impalcato sospeso al di sotto di essi. Ciò comporta più movimento da lato a lato nel ponte rispetto a quando i supporti primari sono a livello del ponte, ma comporta meno movimento nei corrimano.

Gli svantaggi legati ai semplici ponti sospesi sono molto grandi. La posizione dell'impalcato è limitata, generalmente sono richiesti ancoraggi e moli massicci e il carico produce una deformazione dell'impalcato. Le soluzioni a questi problemi hanno portato a un'ampia varietà di metodi per irrigidire l'impalcato, creando molti altri tipi di ponte sospeso. Questi includono un ponte a nastro teso, che è strettamente correlato a un semplice ponte sospeso ma ha una struttura irrigidita adatta al traffico veicolare.

Un ponte molto leggero, costruito con cavi ad alta tensione, può avvicinarsi a un ponte sospeso nel grado quasi orizzontale del suo impalcato.

Il ponte può essere irrigidito dall'aggiunta di cavi che non sopportano i carichi primari strutturali o mobili e quindi può essere relativamente leggero. Questi aggiungono anche stabilità in caso di vento. Un esempio è il ponte lungo 220 metri (720 piedi) sul fiume Drac al Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet: questo ponte ha cavi stabilizzatori sotto e ai lati dell'impalcato.

Per ridurre il movimento di torsione causato dagli utenti, un ponte può utilizzare cavi verticali da ciascun lato al centro del ponte, ancorati al terreno sottostante.

Uso
Il più leggero di questi ponti, senza piano di calpestio, è adatto all'uso esclusivo dei pedoni. Ponti leggeri con piano di calpestio e tensione sufficiente affinché l'attraversamento del ponte non si avvicini all'arrampicata, possono essere utilizzati anche da cavalli da soma (e altri animali), cavalieri e ciclisti. Percorrere un ponte più leggero di questo tipo a un'andatura ragionevole richiede un particolare passo lento e controllato, poiché il passo comune indurrà onde in movimento che possono far oscillare il viaggiatore su e giù o lateralmente. L'eccezione è un ponte stabilizzato, che può essere più stabile.

I semplici ponti sospesi hanno applicazioni nelle attività ricreative all'aperto. Sono una scelta popolare per i sentieri in cima agli alberi e, dove il terreno è adatto, per gli attraversamenti di torrenti. Possono essere progettati senza stabilizzazione in modo che il libero movimento del ponte fornisca un'esperienza più interessante per l'utente.

In francese, un semplice ponte sospeso rudimentale è conosciuto con uno dei tre nomi, a seconda della sua forma: pont himalayen ("ponte himalayano": un'unica fune e corrimano su entrambi i lati, di solito senza un ponte); pont de singe ("ponte delle scimmie": una corda per i piedi con corda aerea); e tyrolienne ("tirolese": una teleferica). Le teleferiche possono essere attraversate appendendosi sotto o camminate (da persone con particolare equilibrio). Una versione più evoluta del pont himalayen, provvista di un ponte tra una coppia di cavi principali, è nota come passerelle himalayenne ("passerella himalayana"). Esempi di questo tipo includono due ponti a Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet nelle Alpi francesi; questi ponti sono eccezionalmente lunghi.

Galleria d'immagini

Ponti tibetani in Italia
Via ferrata delle aquile
Ponte sospeso delle Ferriere
Ponte tibetano Cesana Claviere
Ponte tibetano Cascate Ragaiolo

Note

Voci correlate
 Ponte sospeso
 Ponte di corda inca

Altri progetti

Ingegneria civile
tibetano

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Holiday weekends in the summer are synonymous with barbecues and grilling. What better way to jazz up this year's picnic than with an Italian theme? Sure hot dogs and potato salad are tradition, but why not create fireworks of your own with a menu that will wow your guests! The key to any Italian meal is that it lasts for hours – perfect for a picnic or barbecue type setting. No one is in a rush – the meal unfolds a little bit at a time, as items are pulled off the grill. I recommend doing the prosciutto and melon and the grilled veggies ahead of time.
Prosciutto & Melon –sweet and salty, what a combo! Instead of slices of melon, I cut it into cubes, wrap prosciutto around it and secure with a toothpick. A perfect, and perfectly simple summer appetizer.
Bocconcini of smoked mozzarella This is the appetizer that people will talk about all summer. Smoked mozzarella (known as scamorza in Italian) is grilled so the inside gets gooey while the thick rind holds up to the heat. These little two bite beauties are the best. I find them in the cheese case at Stop & Shop.
Grilled Veggies – I love a huge variety of veggies drizzled with homemade vinaigrette – here is my favorite recipe from a blog post last year.
Grilled Sausages - go for the good stuff. I get sausages from D&D Italian Market on Franklin Ave in Hartford. This is a holiday. It's no time to go for the cheap chicken sausages.
Pollo al Mattone – chicken under a brick – I love this because the skin gets extra crispy when pushed down like this. Gabriele and Debi from Extra Virgin have a great recipe. You don't need a wood fired oven - a grill will do but you may need to adjust the cooking time. If you don't like dealing with the whole chicken, have the butcher cut it up for you.


text:
Onefire (Creek Nation) Values Portfolio at $23.5M
TSW Community:
In case you missed it, Onefire Holding Company gave an update to the the Muscogee (Creek) Nation earlier this year, communicating a holding value of their portfolio of $23.5M.
Onefire has a portfolio largely composed of private market investments (real estate, private equity, private debt), and typically holds asset values at cost until they have a definitive value change such as a sale, additional investment round, or formal third party valuation.
I'll write something on the j-curve, and the related accounting/communications implications in a future post. In short, however, is when reaching for higher average long-term returns in private market investments, there may be lower short term returns (or even losses due to management and operational fees) to achieve this performance.
In addition to the private markets aspect of their performance, Onefire has also inherited a number of legacy businesses which had been started or acquired over the past several years, including a mixed use real estate asset and a construction material business. This includes an aspect of local investment and job creation (MCN has a population of >80,000), which adds more levels of complexity and challenge around communication and shareholder relations.
Kudos to Mike Payne and the Onefire team.
NOTE: Onefire's asset value of $23.5M only represents a small portion of the tribe's overall asset base. Onefire is focused on growth whereas other pools of assets may be focused on stability or jobs - see more about that in this post.
In Perpetuity,
Onefire Values Portfolio at $23.5 Million
"And I think the ongoing performance of that dividend, in which I imagine would be public knowledge, will be a good indicator of the type of performance that Onefire is doing." –Onefire CEO Mike Payne
Jessica McBride/Media Coordinator
Business to make contribution back to MCN in 2017
JENKS, Okla. — According to a financial report provided by Onefire Holding Company to Mvskoke Media, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation-owned economic development entity's portfolio value as of Feb. 17 was $23.5 million.
The full report can be viewed below.
The value decreased from $23.9 million as of Dec. 31, 2015 per the report provided last year.
Onefire CEO Mike Payne stated by email that the company only documents an increase in equity value on the report if a recent equity event with the company occurs, such as selling stock.
'For audit reasons we can not inflate the value on our books without an equity transaction or formal valuation to support it,' he said.
Payne said in an interview with Mvskoke Media that Onefire had a good year in 2016.
"We executed on a lot of what we hoped to do. We closed on new investments in a lot of diversified industries," he said.
The company invested in the aerospace maintenance and repair, electrical and construction industries.
Payne said in 2016, Onefire reviewed around 85 investment opportunities, valued at approximately $170 million. He said the company closed on five investments in 2016, and will look at two-three more in the first half of 2017.
"The portfolio is performing very well," he said. "All those companies are doing for the most part, what we've expected them to do."
He said the company has invested in a total of 16 enterprises including RiverWalk and Edo Building Systems, formerly the SIPs plant operated by MCN.
He said the company saw the opening of FlyingTee and announced new tenants making their home at RiverWalk.
"Things are really moving in the right direction and set up for a great '17," Payne said.
Payne said that because of FlyingTee, RiverWalk has increased from 36 percent occupancy to 93 percent and that the value of the property has increased.
RiverWalk announced in July 2016 that Andolini's Pizzeria would be opening a location at the development. The restaurant is expected to open this year.
He said an announcement is expected soon regarding a new RiverWalk tenant.
Payne said Edo Building Systems is also performing well and growing.
"We've diversified it from just producing SIPs panels to basically providing design, manufacturing and build capabilities," he said.
Edo has expanded to offer commercial as well as residential services.
Onefire also operates a CNG fuel station located on Highway 75 south of Glenpool.
"We had a lot of hurdles to get over to get operational, but right from the get-go, from the time we turned the pumps on, there's been great traffic coming through and filling up," Payne said.
He said Onefire is ramping up branding and marketing efforts for the facility, including a loyalty program for using the fuel station and taking on corporate accounts.
Payne described the blend of investments Onefire considers.
Onefire invests funds with equity growth investments, and does not expect an immediate financial return.
"The value of the money that we put in there is going to grow, and grow, and grow exponentially to the point when there's a transaction on that company at a later date, our money has grown two times, three times, four times, five times its value," Payne said. "In the meantime, that money is in that company working and growing itself."
He said Onefire could possibly see a return on a couple of the equity growth investments it has made when it exits the investments this year.
Other investments are income based, in which Onefire receives monthly, quarterly or annual distributions from specific investments.
A third type of investment Onefire considers is a blend of the previous two, where the company would see equity growth and income in the investment.
"So I think if you look at Onefire's operations versus that of gaming or even particularly like MNBE (Muscogee Nation Business Enterprise) and MI (Muscogee International) and so forth, where those are operating entities that are making an investment in a piece of equipment or a gaming machine and then taking that and immediately producing revenue," Payne said.
He said the difference with Onefire is that they are investing in another company, and will gain revenue off of another entity's operations.
Payne said 2017 will be a transition year for Onefire, as they move towards operations and enhancing the portfolio that the company worked to build and invest in over the previous three years.
He also expects it to be profitable for the business.
"…Helping enhance the portfolio companies that we have maybe a minority investment in and starting to help leverage the tribal ownership and bring some of those benefits to the Nation, bring benefits within the portfolio to each other and just try to expand kind of our shared service model to the portfolio," he said.
Payne said Onefire is expecting to return a dividend to the Nation in 2017.
"And I think the ongoing performance of that dividend, in which I imagine would be public knowledge, will be a good indicator of the type of performance that Onefire is doing," he said.
Payne said Onefire is working with MCN to determine the distribution amount.
"It will be a calculation based on our profitability and whatever that calculation comes back to will be what is returned to the tribe," he said.
Payne said the goal of the operation is to generate wealth for the Nation and in turn, the citizens.
"We feel like every single citizen absolutely is a stakeholder in this and we want them to be proud of our portfolio," he said. "And I think as things continue to grow and become more visible they will be."
Onefire reports financial information on a quarterly basis to the National Council Business, Finance and Justice Committee and the Executive Branch.
The report is conducted in executive session, however citizens are able to stay and hear each business entity's status. Mvskoke Media is unable to report during Council executive sessions.
"A lot of that information is as you might imagine, highly confidential to the portfolio, to potential tenants at the RiverWalk… but we try to keep a very high level of transparency between us and those two reporting bodies," Payne said.
He said many times the information deals with a person's net worth, and information that could make the businesses less competitive in their industry by releasing the information.
Payne said sharing the profitability or investment information of the businesses Onefire has in its portfolio to the public could damage those businesses and in turn Onefire's investments.
For more information about Onefire, visit their website.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Barberpole Cat Certificate. To be issued to qualifying individuals.
Note: Please enter the name of each recipients in the comments section at checkout.
Certificates will not be issued without recipients' names.
Be sure to order your Barber polecat Lapel Pin (Item Code 3031) to accompany this certificate. Be sure to add that to your order.


Peace Be Still: Nyangwe Zvakamira-So!
Home Christian Character Fruit Of The Spirit Peace Be Still: Nyangwe Zvakamira-So!
This is a condition of the heart that makes you to be steady even in the face of a storm. Jesus slept soundly in the face of a storm. Paul and Silas sang and praised on the eve of their execution. Paul prophesied in the midst of a shipwreck. This can only happen by the Spirit. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Ghost!
"Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, thouugh the mountains shake with the swelling thereof" Psalm 46:2-3. I declare and decree that the peace of God uphold you.


text:
require 'singleton'

class TrackProgress
  include Singleton

  attr_accessor :verbose
  attr_accessor :pretty
  attr_accessor :short
  attr_accessor :number_of_exceptions
  attr_accessor :number_of_successful_tests
  attr_accessor :number_of_failed_tests
  attr_accessor :logfile

  def initialize
    @number_of_exceptions = 0
    @number_of_successful_tests = 0
    @number_of_failed_tests = 0
    @short = true
  end

  def show_commands(names)
    if @verbose
      puts "---------------------------------------------"
      puts "commands:"
      puts "---------------------------------------------"
      puts names.join("\n")
      puts
    end
  end

  def run_command(executing_command_label, command_pretty_name, &block)
    if @verbose
      puts "---------------------------------------------"
      puts "#{executing_command_label}: #{command_pretty_name}"
      puts "---------------------------------------------"
    end
    if @pretty
      s = "#{executing_command_label}: #{command_pretty_name}"
      s = "%-40s" % s
      print "#{s}    ["
      $stdout.flush
    end
    block.call
    if @verbose
      puts
    end
    if @pretty
      print "\n"
      $stdout.flush
    end
  end

  def run_phase(&block)
    if @verbose
      puts 'RUN'
    end
    block.call
    if @pretty
      print "|"
      $stdout.flush
    end
  end

  def verify_source(&block)
    if @verbose
      puts 'VERIFY_SOURCE'
    end
    block.call
    if @pretty
      print "|"
      $stdout.flush
    end
  end

  def verify_target(&block)
    if @verbose
      puts 'VERIFY_TARGET'
    end
    block.call
    if @pretty
      print "]"
      $stdout.flush
    end
  end

  def exception_occured
    if @verbose
      puts 'EXCEPTION OCCURED'
    end
    if @pretty
      print "E"
      $stdout.flush
    end

    @number_of_exceptions += 1
  end

  def register_progress(assertion_name, &block)
    if @logfile
      @logfile.write("#{assertion_name} ")
    end
    if @verbose
      s = "%-30s" % assertion_name
      print "#{s} "
      $stdout.flush
    end
    block.call
    if @logfile
      @logfile.write(" ok\n")
    end
    if @verbose
      print "ok\n"
      $stdout.flush
    end
    if @pretty
      print "."
      $stdout.flush
    end
  end

  def print_status(exceptions)

    exception_count = exceptions.count
    if exception_count < 1
      if @verbose
        puts 'DONE'
      end

      return
    end

    if @short
      # print "  FAILED"
      return
    end

    if @verbose
      print "DONE, but exceptions occured!\n\n"
    end
    if @pretty
      print "  FAILED\n\n"
    end

    rows = []
    exceptions.each_with_index do |e, index|
      if index > 0
        rows << ''
      end

      if exception_count >= 2
        e_index = index + 1
        rows << "Exception #{e_index} of #{exception_count}"
      end

      rows += e.to_s.split("\n")
      btrows = e.backtrace

      if @pretty
        if btrows.count > 3
          btrows = btrows[0..3]
          btrows << "<truncated backtrace>"
        end
      end

      rows += btrows
    end

    puts rows.map{|s| "  #{s}"}.join("\n")
  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Graphic patterns stand out and these lovely tights are no exception to the rule - fun and fashionable straight from the fashion centre in northern Italy.
Shape the attraction. Glamour your legs. Take a walk through colours. Cover & discover yourself.
Watch your step and meet Sarah Borghi from Italy. Quality legwear from stockings to leggings, from classic to trendy - designed to please your sense of fashion.


Are there health benefits in coffee?
Coffee is increasingly being tied to a healthy lifestyle. Some studies show coffee consumption linked to lower rates of type 2 diabetes, abnormal heart rhythms and stroke. Some tests demonstrate lowered risk of liver cancer and potentially a lower chance of Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's. Because we enjoy both coffee and tea for their tastes, their potential benefits on our health come as an added bonus.
Each bean holds delicate and flavorful oils inside. When beans are ground, it releases the entire flavor that exists in the beans from the roast. However, if oils are exposed to oxygen for too long, they can become rancid and acidic creating a sour or bitter flavor. So, keep the flavor locked up until you are about to brew in order to ensure the best possible cup.
What is the economic situation of small farmers in the coffee industry?
Coffee is produced both on large plantations and by small farmers. Typically, Fair Trade farmers cultivate less than 3 hectares of coffee and harvest 1,000-3,000 pounds of unroasted coffee a year. Small farmers are perhaps more aptly defined by those farmers who rely principally on their own families' labor. This makes Fair Trade potentially representative of an estimated 75% of all coffee farmers. Many coffee farmers receive prices for their harvest that can be less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt. They are often forced to sell to middlemen who pay them half the market price, generally between $.30-.50 per pound. Family farmers usually bring in a cash income of $500-$1,000 a year for their coffee.
What are the labor problems and working conditions in the coffee industry?
Conditions for coffee workers on large plantations vary widely, but most are paid the equivalent to sweatshop wages and toil under abysmal working conditions. In Guatemala for example, coffee pickers have to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than $3/day. A recent study of plantations in Guatemala showed that over half of all coffee pickers don't receive the minimum wage, in violation of Guatemalan labor laws. Workers interviewed in the study were also subject to forced overtime without compensation, and most often did not receive their legally-mandated employee benefits.
Because of this situation, many coffee workers bring their children to help them in the fields in order to pick the daily quota. These child workers are not officially employed and therefore are not subject to labor protections. While children in most rural families work at an earlier age than urban children, a February 4 investigative report by ABC-affiliate KGO television in San Francisco revealed children as young as 6 or 8 years old at work in the fields. We believe that the best way to prevent child labor in the fields is to pay workers a living wage.
Most coffee workers, like many agricultural workers around the world, are not guaranteed their basic labor rights including the right to organize. The rural nature of farm work makes them especially vulnerable to threats and coercion, as plantation owners can take advantage of their control over the workforce to keep them from organizing into unions to demand their rights. Many countries have adequate labor laws such as minimum wage, mandated health and safety requirements, and freedom to form a union, but these rights are usually not enforced.
What are some of the environmental issues, like pesticides and biodiversity, with coffee production?
Coffee farming originally developed in Africa as an understory crop beneath diverse shade trees that provided habitat for wildlife such as birds, butterflies, insects, and animals. Traditional farmers usually use sustainable agricultural techniques including composting coffee pulp, rotating crops, and not applying expensive chemicals and fertilizers. In addition, they usually cultivate food alongside cash crops, and intercrop other plants such as bananas and nut trees, which provide food security as well as additional sources of income.
In the 1970s and 80s, as part of the general shift to 'technified agriculture' during the so-called Green Revolution, the US Agency for International Development and other groups gave $80 million dollars for plantations in Central America to replace traditional shade grown farming techniques with 'sun cultivation' techniques in order to increase yields. This resulted in the destruction of vast forests and biodiversity of over 1.1 million hectares. 'Sun cultivated' coffee involves the cutting down of trees, monocropping, and the input of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This type of industrial coffee farming leads to severe environmental problems, such as pesticide pollution, deforestation and the extinction of songbirds through habitat destruction. The Smithsonian Institute has identified industrial coffee production as one of the major threats to songbirds in the hemisphere due to deforestation – the birds no longer have a habitat in which to live. Soil and water sources continue to be severely degraded by many coffee farms, as coffee pulp is often dumped into streams. In addition to the harmful effects on the environment caused by the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides in coffee cultivation, workers are also at risk of drinking contaminated water and being poisoned by pesticides.
For these reasons, many bird, tree, and biodiversity conservationists have developed standards for promoting "shade-grown" or "bird-friendly" certified coffee — that is, coffee grown under a canopy of diverse trees that provide habitat to birds. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, as well as Rainforest Alliance and the Seattle Audubon Society, all promote various labels of coffee that promote tree and bird conserving farming practices. In addition, many consumers are committed to purchasing organic coffee in order to promote sustainable farming techniques in poor countries.
For more information, see the Proceedings of the First Sustainable Coffee Congress by the Smithsonian Institute, which is a valuable resource on all issues of sustainability.
How does Fair Trade address environmental issues such as shade grown and organic?
About 85% of Fair Trade Certified coffee is shade grown and either passive or certified organic. Over half of the certified organic coffee is produced by Fair Trade cooperatives, but unless the coffee is Fair Trade Certified, there is no guarantee that the farmer received the benefit. Certified organic coffees in the Fair Trade market receive a $.15 premium per pound. Typically, small farmers have never had the money to finance cutting down of the trees or purchase large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Small farmers have traditionally passed on sustainable farming techniques to their children. We believe that small farmers are the best stewards of the land, with the highest interest in living in and passing on land with healthy soil free from harmful pesticides to their children. Paying farmers a fair wage with incentives for ecological practices is the best way to encourage sustainable farming. Fair Trade helps guarantee that the benefits of organic farming techniques reach the farmer as well as the consumer and the environment.
We support the shade grown/bird-friendly as well as organic labeling movements as an important tool for consumers to make responsible choices about environmental conservation, and support the double- or triple-labeling of coffee. Most consumers who believe in supporting living wages for farmers also support sustainable farming practices that promote environmental conservation.
How does the Fair Trade certification process differ from organic and shade grown certifications?
Organic, Shade Grown, and Bird-Friendly certification labels have contributed important and valuable efforts to promoting sustainable agriculture techniques that benefit farmers and the environment. However, they do not carry the encompassing attributes of the Fair Trade Certification process. Organic coffee is certified according to strict legal criteria. There are a number of different certifying agencies (QAI, OCIA) that all certify according to the same California Organic Foods Act and in accordance with the standards of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).
Most (85%) Fair Trade Certified coffee is organic and shade grown, and most Shade and Organic coffee comes from farms that are organized as part of the Fair Trade network. Unfortunately, most organic or shade grown coffee is not Fair Trade; you still have to look for the Fair Trade Certified label to know if the farmer got a fair price.
Notably, unlike organic certification, all Fair Trade coffee monitoring and certification costs are paid by the roasters in the consuming countries and not by the farmers.
We believe Fair Trade and Organic labeling initiatives to be symbiotic, because what is good for the workers is good for trees, birds, and our shared environment.


The Coutier family has been in the village of Ambonnay since 1619, with Antoine Coutier currently at the helm.
While Ambonnay is thought of as Pinot Country, Coutier's nine hectares are made up of 1/3 Chardonnay. Antoine's grandfather took the daring step of planting Chardonnay in 1946, and today Coutier is lauded as the premier grower of Chardonnay in the village.
The Coutier house style is accentuated by vinification and cellar techniques that seek to marry the traditional richness of Ambonnay fruit with the racy and pure style that the family cherishes. Coutier Champagnes are a "go-to" for Polanerites and beloved by clients seeking Champagnes that overdeliver on all counts.
Champagne R. H. Coutier is located in the grand cru village of Ambonnay, one of the top wine-producing sectors of the Montagne de Reims. The Coutier family has been in the village of Ambonnay since 1619, with Antoine Coutier currently at the helm. While Ambonnay is generally regarded as Pinot country, the family's nine hectares of vineyards are planted with one-third Chardonnay and two-thirds Pinot Noir. In fact, in 1946 Antoine Coutier's grandfather father was the first vigneron in Ambonnay to plant Chardonnay in the village, which has flourished ever since and is now as highly regarded as the Pinot Noir from this grand cru village.
The vineyards on the Montagne de Reims shift exposure as one arrives in the village of Ambonnay, facing due south and producing a warmer microclimate for the grapes. There is also a bit more clay and a bit less limestone in the soils of Ambonnay than is typical throughout the region, which tends to produce more sumptuous styles in the wines, such as Coutier's, which rely solely on Ambonnay fruit. This is not a large domaine by any stretch of the imagination, only producing 25,000 bottles in any given year.
The Coutier house style is accentuated by vinification and cellar techniques that seek to marry the traditional richness of Ambonnay fruit with the racy and pure style that the family cherishes. In this regard, only half of the Coutier wines go through malolactic fermentation, as Antoine feels this balances opulence with raciness in the finished wines. Barrel fermentation and/or aging is not used for any of the wines with the exception of the Cuvée Henri III.
The family still sells off approximately eighty percent of their production to other houses, and their own bottlings are a bit more dominated by Chardonnay in the blends than one might normally expect from a house based in Ambonnay. The non-vintage Brut Tradition is comprised of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, and is among the great values in the region. The Brut Rosé is a deeply colored example, as it is made from the same varietal percentages as the Brut Tradition, but with the difference being that all sixty percent of the Pinot Noir in the blend is still wine! It is a beautifully made rosé that offers up notes of red fruit, brioche and the complex soil tones of Ambonnay fruit. Next in the lineiup is a non-vintage Blanc de Blancs that features a high percentage of old vine fruit in the blend, including all of the original 1946 plantations from a single vineyard. Last in the Coutier hierarchy is their Brut Millésime, a classic vintage-dated bottle of bubbly that rewards cellaring, and the Cuvée Henri III, which is 100% Pinot Noir and the only wine to see wood in elevage.
The Champagne house of R. H. Coutier is one of the finest in Ambonnay, and is a wonderful introduction to the magic of grand cru bubbly in the heart of the Montagne de Reims. It has become a "go-to" for Polanerites and is beloved by clients seeking Champagnes that overdeliver on all counts.


Using the "TwinCAT Scope 2" software oscilloscope, curves can be displayed graphically with a resolution of the order of microseconds. Comfortable operation makes configuration simple; defined interfaces enable operation from the TwinCAT PLC. In combination with Beckhoff I/O terminals and the possibility to easily integrate filters, the Scope 2 is also ideally suited to measurement applications, such as Condition Monitoring.
Pascal Dresselhaus, TwinCAT product management, presents the TwinCAT Scope 2 in an interactive multimedia presentation.
TwinCAT Scope 2: Graphical tool for signal analysis and data acquisition.
Scientific Automation: High-speed measurement technology, Condition Monitoring and robotics extend the classic machine controller.