The UW's Veterans Day 2010 Ceremony will take place on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The event will honor the men and women in this region "for their dedication and service in our Armed Forces." Advance registration is requested. Click here for details.
The city of Auburn is hosting the Vietnam Veterans Traveling Wall from Nov. 4-7 in Auburn's Veterans Memorial Park. The wall, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., will be open to visitors 24 hours a day. See here for more information.
The Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs has a list of events and observances taking place state-wide.
The Immigrant Families Advocacy Project (IFAP), the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project (NWIRP), and the University of Washington School of Law are presenting a Continuing Legal Education program on Friday, November 5, 2010, in downtown Seattle.
Find more information about the program, "Immigration Options for Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence: U-Visa under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act," including registration information, here.
Steve P. Calandrillo, Penalizing Punitive Damages: why the Supreme Court needs a lesson in law and economics, 78 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 774-821 (2010).
The most recent edition of The George Washington Law Review has published Professor Calandrillo's article, which analyzes modern punitive damages jurisprudence from a law and economics standpoint and calls for the abolition of the current ceiling on punitive damages.
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act: A Brief Legislative History with Links, Reports, and Summaries. "The history is designed in a streamlined fashion so as to allow users to more easily check when provisions in the law got into bill and then check for related remarks concerning those provisions. It also has links to earlier legislation related to different titles of the Act, to the Administration's proposed legislation in 2009, to related CRS reports, and to various summaries and commentaries of the law on the Web."
Each CD within a title is boxed and barcoded separately.
Mobile Payments: Global Markets, Empowered Consumers and New Rules? Click here for details.
Whose Right? Corporations, People and the 1st Amendment. Click here for details.
Justice for Washington's Wrongly Convicted? Click here for details.
For more information about CLE programs, please contact the UW School of Law's Continuing Legal Education office.
He dedicated his life to a world more fair and more equal, and an America where all are free to pursue their full measure of happiness – and all of us are better off for it.
The School of Law will hold a public memorial service honoring Prof. Miller and his many contributions on Monday, Oct. 25th.
The following reception will take place in the Library, from 4:30-6:30pm. The Library will remain open during the event, although the Law Student Lounge will be closed from 3-7pm.
Out thoughts are with his family and the many people who admired and respected Paul.
This evening I heard a news story on the car radio: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is considering a rule about employers using credit reports in hiring and promotion decisions. I decided to look up some more information when I got home. Here's what I did (and what you can do, too!).
The agency held a hearing (at least, I think a sound bite I heard was someone testifying).
The National Consumer Law Center (I think) is concerned about the practice of using credit reports for employment.
Someone in Congress is proposing (or has proposed?) legislation.
Next step: find the news story on the radio program's website. I knew it was on KUOW, but was it on All Things Considered (National Public Radio) or Marketplace (American Public Media)? The schedule indicates that Marketplace starts at 6:30, and I think I heard the story after that, so I clicked there. Sure enough, today's front page for Marketplace included a headline, Could Credit Affect Getting Hired for a Job?
Next step: see if my recollection of the story was correct and see if it links to other resources. Yes (pretty good recall) and no (no useful links).
a press release from yesterday announcing today's hearing.
Next stop: House Financial Services Committee. With just a few clicks, I got to a page about the May 12 hearing, with links to a webcast and the witnesses' prepared statements.
[EEOC Chair Jacqueline] Berrien said EEOC plans no immediate actions based on the meeting, which she characterized as part of a series examining employment practices that potentially "unfairly screen out" applicants based on race, age, or other protected characteristics that are not job-related.
That leaves a different impression from the radio story, which said "Today, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission looked at establishing a national policy." Maybe some sort of rule making will grow out of this, but the Chair's remark makes it clear that it'll be a while.
The Daily Labor Report story included a note: "A full report will appear in the next issue of Daily Labor Report. Click here for the latest issue." I clicked and found EEOC Examines Potential Bias Resulting From Employers' Use of Credit Checks -- also dated Oct. 20, but much longer. That article in turn linked to an article from three years ago, reporting on an EEOC hearing on potential bias in the use of selection tests and credit histories.
Starting with an interesting but short news item, I was able to find testimony before the EEOC, testimony before a congressional subcommittee, and newsletter articles on the issue. You can use techniques like this to deepen your understanding of many news stories.
Scott A. Schumacher, Criminal Tax and Immigration: A Search for Clarity, 129 TAX NOTES 234-39 (2010).
The Oct. 11, 2010 issue of Tax Notes contains Scott's article.
This article discusses the recent case law developments concerning the impact of a criminal conviction on immigration status, focusing on the circuit split regarding whether a conviction for filing a false tax return is an aggravated felony under the immigration laws.
Tomko and Sentencing Guidelines in Tax Cases after Booker, 125 Tax Notes 149-53 (2009), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1483338.
The Ninth Circuit Says Aloha to Boulware -- Again, 122 Tax Notes 1631-34 (2009), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1479741.
Unnecessary Harm: IRS Levies on Social Security Benefits, 113 Tax Notes 265-67 (2006).
You've signed on to LexisNexis or Westlaw and started doing research on that big paper. Then, just as you are making some progress, you are interrupted and must sign out. Several days later, you would like to pick up where you left off, but where, exactly, were you? What databases had you tried? What searches had turned out to be the best?
We propose the concept of research trails to help web users create and reestablish context across fragmented research processes without requiring them to explicitly structure and organize the material. A research trail is an ordered sequence of web pages that were accessed as part of a larger investigation; they are automatically constructed by filtering and organizing users' activity history, using a combination of semantic and activity based criteria for grouping similar visited web pages.
The article goes on to say that, although web browsers keep a "history" of visited websites, recreating (especially) new, investigative research is too difficult with just a list of URLs, or even URLs with page thumbnails. Certainly, if the authors have their way, this problem will be alleviated in the future.
But, let's go back to that research you started on Westlaw or LexisNexis. Fortunately for you, both services have a "research trail" (Westlaw) or "history" (LexisNexis), that provides you with a lot of information about that first session. For both services, look up at the top of the screen on the right side to find the link.
On LexisNexis, that history is kept on two tabs: recent results (the past 24 hours), and archived activity (the past 30 days). All of your research is kept, a "get a document," "shepard's," or a search in a database. Each search, with the number of documents retrieved, is listed along with the database you used. Rerunning a search is as easy as clicking on it.
On Westlaw, the current research trail is the one you are working on at the time. Older trails are reached by clicking on the "List of all Research Trails" link. Trails are listed by date (like on LexisNexis), but you can rename them to reflect your project, and even add your own notes. They are kept automatically for 14 days, but you can extend them with a click of your mouse. Similar to LexisNexis, your search activity and databases are listed along with every document you viewed. Rerun a search by clicking on its link.
So, don't let that first research session on Westlaw or LexisNexis go to waste! No need to start all over again. Use the LexisNexis history or the Westlaw research trail link to start just where you left off.
Department of Interior press release.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision memorandum.
For even more government information, see the DOI's Deepwater Horizon Response page.
We're coming up on the 50th anniversary of the trial of Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterly's Lover. The trial, in late October and early November 1960, included testimony by writers, professors, ministers, and others. On November 4, the jury took just three hours to return a verdict of not guilty and the book sold briskly. This victory for the publisher "did not mark an immediate end of literary censorship in Britain" - but the climate changed soon after. Ben Yagoda recounts this historic trial in Trial and Eros, Am. Scholar, Autumn 2010.
Sign up for a free trial of SAGE Research Methods Online (SRMO), an advanced search and discovery tools for researching across the social and behavioral sciences, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods.
The beta version of this research tool has been released and is available for trial until the product's official launch in January 2011. For information, click here.
Hat tip Sue Polanka from No Shelf Required.
Women's Votes Women's Voices: the campaign for equal rights in Washington by Shanna Stevenson.
the Washington Women's History Consortium's website.
Looking for quick and convenient access to the Gallagher Law Library catalog (MARIAN) and "quick links" to popular library research pages?
Try adding the Gallagher Law Library toolbar extension to your browser!
When surfing the web, you will also be able to select text on the page and right-click for a menu of search options. The toolbar will also automatically link results from your web searches to the Law Library's print and licensed e-resources.
To install the Firefox extension, click here.
To install the IE plug-in, click here.
Give this a try and let us know what you think. We'd appreciate any comments that you might have. If you need help with installation or if you would like a demo of how to use it, just stop by the Reference Office.
Many thanks to Richard Jost, Information Systems Coordinator at University of Washington Gallagher Law Library, and David Aznar, University of Navarro in Spain, for creating the Gallagher Law Library edition of this LibX toolbar!
Maureen A. Howard, Mastering Foolproof Witness Control on Cross Examination, DeNovo, Oct. 2010, at 9-10.
Naomi Sanchez, Taking Charge of Your Job Search, DeNovo, Oct. 2010, at 11-12.
Prof. Howard describes several techniques for managing uncooperative witnesses, including "the hand stop," repeating your question, and "the reverse/repeat."
This article is one in a regular series called "Off the Record." Other recent articles in the series address the closing argument (Aug. 2010), impeaching a witness on cross-examination (June 2010), and direct examination (April 2010).
Naomi's article discusses leadership skills, "unearthing" job opportunities, and developing a personal "brand."
The National Oil Spill Commission today is releasing four new draft working papers prepared by its staff. Commission staff prepares draft working papers to inform the Commissioners' on-going examination of the root causes of the Gulf spill and options to guard against and mitigate the impacts of future spills. The Commissioners' decisions regarding these matters will be contained in the Commission's final report, expected to be issued on Jan. 11, 2011.
Go to Thomas, the Library of Congress's site with bills and other congressional information.
Under the search box, click on Try the Advanced Search.
The default is searching the 111th Congress. That the current Congress and covers all the bills during Obama's administration. So we'll stay there.
Type "hate crimes" in the search box.
The search turns up H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.
That might not look like a hate crimes law, but take a look at the summary. You'll see that it's a huge law -- so big that it has subdivisions that are themselves named laws. And one of them is the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
This post offers research tips about using Thomas and being aware that one named law can be wrapped up in a much bigger law. It is also a way of marking the 12th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's being beaten and left to die because he was gay. James Byrd, an African American man, was brutally murdered by three white men June 7, 1998.
How will the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans shake out after the elections on November 2? Many political experts and news sources track and revise predictions, but until now it's been hard to compare perspectives. We've worked with some of the top names in politics — Sabato, Cook, Rothenberg, CQ-Roll Call, and RealClearPolitics — to make it easier to track the daily changes in the political landscape.
The site's US map has colors ranging from deep to light blue or red (Democrat or Republican, respectively) and gold for "pure toss up." If you are interested in a particular state's House of Representative races, just select that state from the drop-down menu. The five political sources are listed so you can see how each source rates a particular race.
And what are these political organizations? Satato's Crystal Ball comes from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. The Cook Political Report is connected with the National Journal. The Rothenberg Political Report is an independent newsletter. CQ Politics is a publication of CQ-Roll Call Group, which focuses on national legislation and other Congressional activity. RealClearPolitics is an independent political website. The five are nonpartisan and each emphasizes its neutrality in making predictions.
Jules Lobel (Univ. of Pittsburgh and Center for Constitutional Rights) spoke yesterday afternoon on "Success Without Victory: Progressive Lawyering in an Era of Judicial Conservatism." He discussed not only his own career as a public interest lawyer but also the longer reach of history. Salmon P. Chase lost his cases on behalf of fugitive slaves before the Civil War, but the cases drew attention to the unjust situation and his arguments were published and circulated widely by abolitionists. Susan B. Anthony lost her case arguing for women's right to vote, but publicized her cause. Lobel says public interest lawyers should certainly try to win cases, but invites us to think beyond the outcome of any one case.
For more, see Jules Lobel, Success Without Victory Lost Legal Battles and the Long Road to Justice in America, K184 .L63 2003 at Classified Stacks. The publisher's description is here.
You might also be interested in this book Lobel edited: A Less Than Perfect Union: Alternative Perspectives on the U.S. Constitution, KF4550.A2 L47 1988 at Classified Stacks.
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the Crown Prosecutors who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.
The Crown Prosecutors? What parallel universe is this? Just like Mr. Spock's beard, the attire – in this case wigs and robes – gives you a clue that you aren't in New York any longer.
Law & Order: UK had its U.S.debut last night on BBC America. If Ben Stone was your favorite prosecutor – and you are a bit of an Anglophile – this series is for you. The scripts were adapted from shows from the earlier seasons of Law & Order.
The show moves to its regular Friday night slot this week. If BBC America isn't your television subscription package, the DVD of season 1 will be released October 26, 2010. And you can already put it in your Netflix queue.
Learn how to perform terms and connectors searches on Westlaw today or Thursday, October 7. Log in to Westlaw and click on the "Training Calendar" link to sign up for a session.
About 40 percent of responding judges reported they are on social media profile sites, the majority of these on Facebook. This is almost identical to the percentage of the adult U.S. population using these sites.
Judges who are appointed and do not stand for re-election were much less likely to be on social media profile sites. About 9 percent from non-elected jurisdictions reported they were on these sites.
Nearly half of judges (47.8 percent) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement "Judges can use social media profile sites, such as Facebook, in their professional lives without compromising professional conduct codes of ethics."
Judges appear to be more comfortable with using these sites in their personal lives, . . .
A very small fraction of courts (6.7 percent) currently have social media profile sites like Facebook; 7 percent use microblogging sites like Twitter; and 3.2 percent use visual media sharing sites like YouTube.
phones, tablets or notebooks in the courtroom.
Almost all (97.6 percent) respondents agree that judges and court employees should be educated about appropriate new media use and practices.
Why the Judge in the Casey Anthony Trial Was Right to Recuse Himself Due to His Remarks to a Blogger, May 6, 2010.
A D.A. Puts Drunk Drivers on Twitter: Why The Policy Probably Won't Deter Future Offenders, Jan. 12, 2010.
Should Courtroom Proceedings Be Covered Via Twitter? Why the Better Answer is "Yes", Dec. 29, 2009.
Why Florida's Ban on Judges' "Friending" Lawyers on Facebook Is the Right Call, Dec. 15, 2009.
Why Courts Need to Ban Jurors' Electronic Communications Devices, Aug. 11, 2009.
Sean O'Connor, U.S. Perspective on IP and Antitrust Issues in Proposed Biosimilars Regulatory Pathway, in LES PRATIQUES DE L'INDUSTRIE PHARMACEUTIQUE AU REGARD DU DROIT DE LA CONCURRENCE 129-49 (Clotilde Jourdain-Fortier & Isabelle Moine-Dupuis eds., LexisNexis Litec 2010).
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, and related laws and regulations. He also explores the patent system and reverse payment settlements.


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Fibres, Yarns & Fabrics >
Isbjörn takes the train to reduce environmental impact
Statistics: nonwoven fabric production in Asia, 2019
MGC acquires Melchior Textil
IST to launch new high-tech fibre at ISPO
Transforming lives with innovative materials
Sustainable solutions from Teijin at ISPO
12th July 2019, Sweden
Sustainable children's outdoor clothing and accessories brand Isbjörn of Sweden continues its Green Promise to protect the planet, as it switches its freight from sea and occasionally air, to train from Autumn/Winter 2019 season.
As part of the company's Green @Heart heritage, Isbjörn will now use train to transport its range, from the bluesign approved factories it works with in north east China, to Sweden.
Switching to train freight means a journey time of just four weeks, compared to the two months it has previously taken by boat. It also puts an end to last minute airfreighting, should any last-minute delays arise. Airfreight accounted for 69% of the carbon dioxide released in transporting Isbjörn products during 2018, whereas this could have been 16 times smaller by train.
"For more than 15 years we have endeavoured to be as sustainable as we possibly can. Now that China has invested significantly in its rail infrastructure, we can now use a much more climate-smarter mode of transport from China to Sweden. We will use rail as far as Finland and then the rest of the journey to Sweden will be by road and electric trucks where possible," commented Maria Frykman Forsberg, CEO of Isbjörn of Sweden.
"Reducing, recycling, repairing and reusing are at the heart of everything Isbjörn stands for and our latest transport change coincides perfectly with the launch of our Green @Heart symbol on hangtags and merchandise. Our Green Promise to empower and equip future generations will continue, as we do all we can to protect the outdoor playground of young adventurers."
Moving away from sea freight will also reduce diesel pollution, uncontrollable factors, such as strikes by port workers, and increase overall safety. Another issue is moisture, as the cargo hold on a boat can get very hot, which can affect the quality of a garment even before it arrives at its destination. Isbjörn will now change from silicone to the non-toxic and environmentally safer Absortech to protect future ranges during transportation.
www.isbjornofsweden.com
Be the first to comment on Isbjörn takes the train to reduce environmental impact

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The United Nations and Human Rights
dipublico 10/06/2020 Featured, Libros 571 Vistas
A Critical Appraisal
Edited by Frédéric Mégret and Philip Alston
Publicado: 02 June 2020
The very concept of human rights implies governmental accountability. To ensure that governments are indeed held accountable for their treatment of citizens and others the United Nations has established a wide range of mechanisms to monitor compliance, and to seek to prevent as well as respond to violations.
The panoply of implementation measures that the UN has taken since 1945 has resulted in a diverse and complex set of institutional arrangements, the effectiveness of which varies widely. Indeed, there is much doubt as to the effectiveness of much of the UN's human rights efforts but also about what direction it should take. Inevitable instances of politicization and the hostile, or at best ambivalent, attitude of most governments, has at times endangered the fragile progress made on the more technical fronts. At the same time, technical efforts cannot dispense with the complex politics of actualizing the promise of human rights at and through the UN. In addition to significant actual and potential problems of duplication, overlapping and inconsistent approaches, there are major problems of under-funding and insufficient expertise. The complexity of these arrangements and the difficulty in evaluating their impact makes a comprehensive guide of the type provided here all the more indispensable.
These essays critically examine the functions, procedures, and performance of each of the major UN organs dealing with human rights, including the Security Council and the International Court of Justice as well as the more specialized bodies monitoring the implementation of human rights treaties. Significant attention is devoted to the considerable efforts at reforming the UN's human rights machinery, as illustrated most notably by the creation of the Human Rights Council to replace the Commission on Human Rights. The book also looks at the relationship between the various bodies and the potential for major reforms and restructuring.
Appraising the UN Human Rights Regime, Philip Alston & Frédéric Mégret
Part I: The Human Rights Mandate of the Principal Organs
1. The Security Council, Frédéric Mégret
2. The General Assembly, Andrew Clapham
3. The Economic and Social Council, Frédéric Mégret
4. The International Court of Justice, Bruno Simma
Part II: Subsidiary Human Rights Organs
5. The Council and Commission on Human Rights, Rosa Freedman
6. The Consultative Committee, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & Andrzej Gadkowski
7. The Commission on the Status of Women, Zehra Arat
8. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Madeleine Heyward
Part III: Organs Monitoring Treaty Compliance
9. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Patrick Thornberry
10. The Human Rights Committee, Ludovic Hennebel
11. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Andrew Byrnes
12. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Philip Alston.
13. The Committee against Torture, Andrew Byrnes.
14. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, Christine Evans
15. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Janet Lord & Michael Stei.
16. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances, Olivier de Frouville
17. The Committee on the Human Rights of Migrant Workers, Vincent Chetail
18. Coordination between Treaty Bodies, Suzanne Egan
Part IV The Governance of Human Rights
19. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Andrew Clapham.
20. Human Rights Co-ordination within the UN System, Georges Minet
Frédéric Mégret is a Full-Professor and Dawson Fellow at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. He holds a Phd in international law from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Graduate Institute of International Studies of the University of Geneva. He is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris and the author of many articles on international human rights law, public international law, international criminal law and the laws of war.
Philip Alston is an international lawyer whose teaching focuses primarily on human rights law and the law of international organizations. He directs the recently-established NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, part of the Institute for International Law and Justice. He is currently John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU School of Law.
Zehra Arat, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva
Andrew Byrnes, Professor, University of New South Wales
Vincent Chetail, Director of the Global Migration Centre and Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Andrew Clapham, Professor of Public International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
Suzanne Egan, Associate Professor, Sutherland School of Law and Director of the Centre for Human Rights, University College Dublin
Christine Evans, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Rosa Freedman, Professor of Law Conflict and Global Development, University of Reading
Olivier de Frouville, Professor of Public Law, University of Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and Director, Paris Center for Human Rights (C.R.D.H.)
Andrzej Gadkowski, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Geneva and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
Ludovic Hennebel, Professor, Faculty of Law, Aix en Provence University
Madeleine Heyward, Health Adviser, Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva
Janet Lord, Senior Researcher, Harvard Law School Project on Disability, USA
Georges Minet, independent researcher, formerly of the United Nations
Bruno Simma, Professor, University of Michigan Law School
Michael Ashley Stein, Executive Director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability, Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School, and Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria Faculty of Law Centre for Human Rights
Patrick Thornberry, Emeritus Professor of International Law, Politics, Philosophy, International Relations & Environment Department, University of Keele
Anterior Military Assistance on Request and the Use of Force
Siguiente In Defense of Politicization of Human Rights


Health Coaching today can manifest itself in so many ways.
At Hesed Yoga I focus on teaching you to eat real food, de-stress, and to begin to take care of yourself without feeling guilty.
Health is not one size fits all. We will work together to find out what fits you!
With BodyMindSoul we can add in a spiritual aspect as well. This can include; prayer, devotion time and learning how God and Christ play an important part in our health life.


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Xinfeng är ett härad som lyder under Ganzhous stad på prefekturnivå i Jiangxi-provinsen i sydöstra Kina. Häradet gränsar i väster i Guangdong-provinsen.

Under första hälften av 1930-talet var Xinfeng ett av de häraden som kontrollerades av den Kinesiska sovjetrepubliken.

Referenser

WP:Projekt Kina

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: How can I check whether two signals are jointly normally distributed? As explained on this Wikipedia page, if two random variables X and Y are uncorrelated and jointly normally distributed, then they are statistically independent.
I know how to check whether X and Y are correlated, but have no idea how to check whether they are jointly normally distributed. I hardly know any statistics (I learnt what a normal distribution is a couple of weeks ago), so some explanatory answers (and possibly some links to tutorials) would really help.
So my question is this: Having two signals sampled a finite number of N times, how can I check whether the two signal samples are jointly normally distributed?
For example: the images below show the estimated joint distribution of two signals, s1 and s2, where:
x=0.2:0.2:34;
s1 = x*sawtooth(x); %Sawtooth
s2 = randn(size(x,2)); %Gaussian

The joint pdf was estimated using this 2D Kernel Density Estimator.
From the images, it is easy to see that the joint pdf has a hill-like shape centred approximately at the origin. I believe that this is indicative that they are in fact jointly normally distributed. However, I would like a way to check mathematically. Is there some kind of formula that can be used?
Thank you.

A: Apart from graphical examination, you could use a test for normality. For bivariate data, Mardia's tests are a good choice. They quantify the shape of your distributions in two different ways. If the shape looks non-normal, the tests gives low p-values.
Matlab implementations can be found here.

A: This is more an extended comment than an effort to improve on the specific suggestion of @MånsT: Statistical test by and large are not tests for what distribution produced data but rather which ones did NOT. There are a few tests which are "tuned" to give answers to the normality question: Is this NOT from a Normal Distribution. The one sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is fairly widely known. The Anderson Darling test is perhaps more powerful in the one-D case. You should seriously ask yourself, WHY is the answer important? Often people ask the question for the wrong statistical purposes. Your example has demonstrated that your graphics-eyeball test has low power against an alternative composed of a sawtooth-Gaussian alternative, but you have not shown how that failure affects you underlying question.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The only thing better than Jeremy Lamb's half-court buzzer beater is the glorious call
By Coleman Bentley
Vaughn Ridley
If you were looking for a little madness from the NCAA Tourney this weekend, you were probably a little disappointed. One-seed Duke and two-seed Tennessee held off upset bids, while UNC cruised and Oregon, the 12-seed "surprise", knocked off the UC Irvine Anteaters, a 13-seed "surprise." So far things look chalkier than a bottle of Tums, which has many basketball fans lamenting the lack of chaos (and Sister Jean), but thankfully the NBA was on hand to ratchet up the crazy on Sunday evening with quite possibly the best buzzer beater of the year thus far. Jeremy Lamb, take a bow, sir.
Obviously incredible stuff from Lamb, who picks up the fumbled in-bounds and goes full Steph Curry from the Raptors' half, banking in as the buzzer sounds to not only give the Charlotte Hornets the 115-114 win, but also keep them in playoff hunt. If you watched the video on mute in the restroom stall at work while hiding from your Monday morning responsibilities, however, then you missed the the best part: The ridiculous, Gus Johnson-esque call from Charlotte broadcasters Eric Collins and Dell Curry (Steph's pa, who you think would be used to this kind of stuff by now). Go back and turn that sucker up if you haven't already.
RELATED: Atlanta Hawks announcers switch to golf commentator mode to mock quiet crowd in Charlotte
Just listen to those "OHHHHHSSS" and try to tell me this isn't the single purest Gus-gasm to ever issue from not-Gus. But that's just the icing on the cake that is the shrieking, voice-cracking "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, HE HITS, JEREMY LAMB WINS IT!" punctuated by another Gus trademark: "WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED." How it holds up to "CRAWFORD'S GOTTA HURRY, UH, OHHHH" is a question for the basketball gods, but both are absolute toe-curlers.
If that doesn't quite fill your madness tank, A. those must be pretty big tanks and B. the Sweet 16 fires back up on Thursday. You won't see Jeremy Lamb putting 'em up from half court, but there's got to be some upsets eventually...right?


This popular hatchback vehicle comes with full Nissan service history, MOT to July 19, valid HPI certificate, the relevant handbooks and two keys. Bluetooth, air conditioning, radio CD, USB aux and 12 volt sockets, alarm immobilizer, remote central locking, cruise control, electric windows and mirrors, trip and ECO computer, internal deadlock system, stop start technology, power steering, ABS, ESP, EBD, air bags, adjustable steering wheel with audio controls, cloth upholstery, front and rear headrests and armrests, height adjustable drivers seat, split folding rear seat, Isofix, child locks, ample sized luggage area, high level rear brake light with rear wash wiper and fog lights. Stunning vehicle finished in Rosso Red with alloy wheels, body coloured bumpers and wing mirrors and daytime running lights. As with all our vehicles this comes with 12 months AA roadside breakdown cover, we are also an approved supplier with ZUTO Finance. We accept all main debit and credit cards and part exchange considered. To view this lovely vehicle by appointment only please call 07734 263618 or 01276 471431 - please take the time to view our Five Star Autotrader Reviews of which we are very proud.


The purposes of this study are to evaluate the dose proportionality of 1.5- and 3 mg tablets of paliperidone ER, to document the pharmacokinetics of a 1.5 mg dose of paliperidone ER, and to assess the safety and tolerability of the 1.5- and 3 mg tablets in healthy men.
This is a randomized, open label, single center, single dose, 2 treatment, 2 way crossover study. It consists of 3 phases: A screening phase beginning within 21 days before the first study drug administration; an open label treatment phase consisting of 2 treatment periods (Period 1 and Period 2) during which volunteers will receive a single oral 1.5 or 3 mg dose of study drug; and end of study evaluations upon completion of all the study procedures in Period 2. All volunteers will receive each of the following 2 treatments in random order: Treatment A: One tablet of 1.5 mg paliperidone ER to-be-marketed formulation in the fasted state; Treatment B: One tablet of 3 mg paliperidone ER Phase 3 formulation in the fasted state. Successive study drug administrations will be separated by a washout period of at least 9 days and no more than 21 days. A 1.5-mg dose of paliperidone ER was selected to be studied as the availability of a 1.5-mg tablet would make dose-adjustments across the existing range of doses of paliperidone ER easier in patients with reduced renal function or tolerability issues. Safety and tolerability of the 1.5- and 3 mg tablets of paliperidone ER in healthy men will be monitored throughout the study.


To what extent fake news fuels perception is unclear, but the Ipsos Mori 2017 presentation highlighted that the massive difference between perception and fact is worldwide.
Take recruitment and Christmas. The perception is that employers stop recruiting and candidates stop looking. The facts are somewhat different. Most employers would love to solve their recruitment problem before Christmas and most candidates would like to get their next career move sorted before the New Year. Which is why at Aspire we are still very busy.
As for the Belgians, they sneaked under the radar as the perception is that the Russians are the world's biggest drinkers.


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📝 Under-18s: Birmingham 0 Exeter City 2
City record first pre-season friendly win away at Birmingham
Derek Baker
Exeter City under-18s had a mixed week results wise as they recorded a 2-0 win against a Birmingham City under-18s side but lost 1-0 in another pre-season friendly against Exmouth Town.
Just one warm-up game remains before the Exeter youngsters begin their league campaign, and they'll be hoping that following the encouraging signs in these two exhibition fixtures, their match with Northampton Town this weekend will provide the evidence that they are more than ready for the start of the Youth Alliance South West division.
Last Saturday saw Chad Gribble take his team to Birmingham with the ambition that his players would learn, and build, from their previous friendly matches.
The Devon side certainly showed their intentions, with some early pressure, and won themselves a set-piece. This initial delivery cleared, but Nelson Iseguan kept the attack alive and crossed to the far post and a trialist slotted the ball home to give the visitors the advantage.
That early goal set the tone for the game during the next 20 minutes. It was a spell which the Grecians enjoyed, dominating the possession and territory stats, and creating a few half-chances which they were unable to make the most of.
With no change in the score, Birmingham grew into the contest, and they began to have a positive period themselves. However, some solid defending from Exeter's backline meant the Midlands club struggled to find any decent openings for an equaliser.
Minutes before half-time, Gribble's men were awarded a penalty following Ben Chrisene's good work. Morison despatched the spot-kick, resulting in the Devonians heading into the break with a two-goal cushion.
It was the Blues who dominated the majority of the play after the restart, however, some resolute defending restricted the chances on the Grecians' goal.
The away side saw more possession come their way later in the half but their opponents didn't allow them any real opportunities to increase their lead, meaning the score remained at 2-0 when full-time arrived.
Following on from Saturday's victory, Gribble's squad faced men's side Exmouth Town on Wednesday in an entirely different test for them.
Town showcased their direct and physical style from the start, however, the much younger Exeter side stood up to the challenge well and competed with their more experienced counterparts.
The pitch proved challenging, however, City's youngsters moved the ball around nicely. Off the back of some decent interchanges they created several half-chances, however, they weren't able to do enough in the final third to take one.
The Grecians saw a man sent off later in the game for denying a goalscoring opportunity, and, from the resulting free-kick, the direct attempt flew past the goalkeeper to break the deadlock to give the hosts a 1-0 win.
Following the two matches, Gribble spoke of how the games provided good exercises for his players.
"Against Birmingham, I feel we didn't quite hit the levels we did in our previous matches against Crystal Palace and Swansea," he said. "It was more of a complete performance from us, without us being brilliant in one particular area.
"Our game against Exmouth was some of our players' first time they had played against men, which included two 15-year-olds. What is most pleasing is that the physical and direct play of our opponents wasn't the reason we lost. The match provided us with some great exposure to men's football which was exactly what we were looking for."


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Operation ReWired arrests 281 Business Email Compromise criminals
Operation: ReWired announced on September 10, 2019
On September 10, 2019, the Department of Justice announced that 281 arrests related to Business Email Compromise had been made, with 74 of those arrested being in the United States. It will take some time to track down the names of all of those arrested, as many of the arrests were overseas. Twenty-three US Attorneys Offices participated in the Operation, although only five sets of arrests were discussed in the Department of Justice Press Release about Operation ReWired. While we work to obtain the rest of the information, we'll go ahead and share some details from those already made public in the Press Release.
Chicago Business Email Compromise: Stokes & Ninalowo defraud Energy Company and Community College of Millions
The first case involves two major BEC scams that followed the same mold. The FBI says that an "un-named Community College" with about 15,000 students was doing business with a construction company our of Minneapolis, Minnesota. An employee of the university received an email from someone claiming to be "Yvonne Nguyen, a Group Accounting Manager" for the construction company, that said "Hi, please see attached for our new ACH details." The "unnamed company" (easily identifiable by clues in the indictment) boasts of their large catalog of university and college related construction projects, including several in the Chicago area with projected build costs exceeding $20 Million. The attached form was one that the college traditionally uses to ask vendors for payment details.
Because the request was on their own form, and seemed to come from a company who was involved in a large construction project for them, the college updated the payment details. "On or about June 20, 2016" the college approved a "routine payment" of $3,371,291 directed to a Bank of America account. Because of the updated payment information, on June 29, 2016, the payment was made ... but to the new account specified by the criminals. Almost immediately after deposit, several transactions were attempted from the account, which triggered fraud rules at Bank of America, who froze the account while an investigations was conducted. The largest such check was for $398,220, made out to "Steno Logistics." Steno Logistics became a corporation in Illinois one day before the first Yvonne Nguyen email was sent. The registered agent creating the corporation was Brittney STOKES, who used her home address on the account. At the time, Stokes was also working as an assistant to the manager of a Menards home improvement store.
The second scam conducted by STOKES and NINALOWO invlved a $1.7 Million payment sent from a Houston, Texas oil company to an energy exploration company in Irving, Texas. In exactly the same method as the first scam, an email claiming to be from the Exploration company was sent to the Oil company with the subject "ACH Update." The email said "We recently received a payment from your company and noticed that payments are still being made to our old bank. We have switched banks. I will be forwarding you updated banking details once I have your confirmation. I have also attached our W9 for your perusal."
This exchange led to a $1.7 Million transfer from Energy Company B to "Fake Exploration Company" ... in this case, the corporate email account WAS BEING CONTROLLED BY THE SCAMMERS. They confirmed the update with a bank account at TD Bank after also confirming other details, such as their physical mailing address. This led to a series of payments. On January 9, 2018 - $97,729.65. On January 11, $239,563.134 and $164,754.84.
In this case, Chase Bank shows that they also had a newly opened bank account for "Steno Logistics", also listing Brittney STOKES as the president, and opened with STOKES' Illinois Drivers License as proof of identity. Each time a payment was received by "Fake Exploration Company", a check was issued from the fake company to Steno Logistics. Checks included:
$22,054.17 on January 26, 2018
$35,000 on January 30, 2018
$833,672.50 on February 2, 2018
Large transfers were then made from the Steno Logistics account to accounts such as "Yummy Bear Day Care", which was a Citibank account. Yummy Bear Day Care was also registered in the State of Illinois by Brittney Stokes.
On many occasions thereafter, bank surveillance video showed NINALOWO making cash withdrawals from the Steno Logistics account. On Feb 3, 2018, Feb 5, 2018., Feb 6, 2018. Captured text messages between STOKES and NINALOWO also make clear that some of the checks written against the account, including one for $50,000, involved NINALOWO forging the signature of STOKES. The phones were seized for inspection by Customs and Border Protection as STOKES and NINALOWO came through US Customs, returning from Lagos, Nigeria, via the Atlanta Airport.
When they were arrested, Law Enforcement officials seized a 2019 Range Rover Velar S from Stokes and $175,909.
Dallas Texas: Opeyemi Abidemi Adeoso and Benjamin Adeleke Ifebajo
In the Dallas case, an individual sent a series of wires totalling $504,660.52 to a Dallas based bank account in February 2018. A second business, in March 2018, also wired $179,223.33 to another Dallas-based bank account. Upon investigation, these funds were being disbursed to someone using an alias identity "Daniel Sammy Campbell" and the street address "9451 Wickersham Road, Apt 2075, Dallas, Texas. ADEOSO was the current resident of that apartment at the time of the fraud. His previous landlord, at 6808 Skillman Street, recognized ADEOSO, and also informed law enforcement that he had been referred to rent there by his friend IFEBAJO. IFEBAJO was proven to have utilized many aliases, including Joseph Eric Johnson, Jeremiah Alex Malcolm, Tidwell Anthony Wilsom, and Andrew James Wilson. ADEOSO also used many aliases, including Peter Kuffor, George Macharty, Nelson Johnson, Braheem Larke, Michael Albert, Michael Jaden Sean, Michael Jeff Brown, and Benjamin Zee Brown. Each had many fraudulent foreign passports and other alias identities used to open numerous bank accounts in the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas.
ADEOSO was married to Bukola Comfort ADEOSO, who moved to Dallas Texas shortly after arriving in the United States. On numerous occasions, when ADEOSO made a large cash withdrawal, a matching deposit would show up in BUKOLA's account.
ADEOSO opened a LARGE number of bank accounts. Just using the Peter KUFFOR alias, which had a counterfeit Great Britain passport, he opened:
BB&T - June 9, 2015
Capital One - June 24, 2015
Wells Fargo - June 24, 2015
BBVA - July 3, 2015
Bank of America - July 30, 2015
First Convenience Bank - November 9, 2015
Chase Bank - November 24, 2015
This alias often used the Yahoo email flavorj1@yahoo.com - which was also used by the George MACHARTY alias. Macharty, using a counterfeit Nigerian passport, opened:
Wells Fargo - Sep 3, 2015
Bank of America - Sep 8, 2015
First Convenience - Oct 5, 2015
BBVA - Oct 7, 2015
Capital One - Oct 6, 2015
Chase Bank - Oct 28, 2015
BB&T - Nov 24, 2015
Alias Johnson Nelson accounts used the flavorj1 email and also justonceacademy@gmail.com
Bank of America - Oct 20, 2015
Capital One - Oct 21, 2015
BB&T - Oct 22, 2015
Woodforest Bank - Jan 6, 2016
His other aliases also opened many bank accounts. Between July 2015 and March 2016 these accounts received $423,285 in wire fraud proceeds from victim companies.
Another whole set of accounts was created in 2018 and 2019 and also received a large number of wire frauds from victim companies all across the United States, including the largest transfer, a $433,714.31 transfer to a BBVA account.
At the time of the Criminal Complaint, not all of the victims had been identified:
Cherria Davis was married to Adeoso on April 17, 2015. Ifebajo listed Cherria Davis as his US point of contact when he came to the United States on a non-Immigrant Visa on July 3, 2015, using the email "benvicschools@gmail.com." Customs and Border Patrol seized a DHL package containing fraudulent passports in the names of Chris Hammington and James Alexander that were destined to IFEBAJO's residence at 11911 Audelia Road in Dallas, Texas.
IFEBAJO also opened many accounts in many aliases, but tended to use business names. As Jeremiah Alex Malcolm he owned "Breakthrough Auto Links" with a fake Great Britain passport. Surveillance video in BB&T confirms Malcolm to be IFEBAJO. As Andrew James Williams, he ran "Williams Retails and Equipment" who had a BBVA bank account and a Bank of America bank account. As Joseph Eric Johnson he ran "Reality Global Equipments" with a fake Namibian passport and an IRS Tax EID 83-2508382. He had BBVA, BB&T, and Wells Fargo business accounts with that identity, and surveillance video at Chase, BB&T, and Wells Fargo showing IFEBAJO doing banking as "Johnson".
Like ADEOSO, linked by the ties to Cherria Davis, IFEBAJO also had many deposits to his accounts known to be from BEC fraud victims, including:
NYC: Ashu, Eke, Ikejimba, Ironuah
According to the Indictment, Cyril ASHU, Ifeanyi EKE, Joshua IKEJIMBA, and Chinedu IRONUAH "and others known and unknown" engaged in a fraudulent business email compromise ("BEC") schemes against "various victims, including an intergovernmental organization headquartered in New York, New York" convincing the victims to wire payments to bank accounts controlled by the defendants instead of the intended beneficiaries. As in the previous cases, the victims all received emails that seemed to be from companies with which they were genuinely engaged in business, but which deceived them into changing the destination accounts for business transactions.
After receiving the funds, they were quickly transferred, withdrawn, and laundered, either by withdrawing cash or writing cashier's checks, many of which were cashed out at check cashing facilities in Houston, Texas. Altogether, the defendants in this case caused to be transferred more than $10 Million in fraudulently gained funds. Two examples of the activities charged are listed in detail related to two bank accounts, one opened by EKE and the other by ASHU:
The "0131 Account":
On October 28, 2016 - IFEANYI EKE opened a Marietta, Georgia bank account ending in 0131 using his alias "Luthur Mulbah Doley"
On Feb 15, 2017, a foreign-based healthcare company wired him $41,495 to that account, through a correspondent bank in the Southern District of New York.
On Feb 16, 2017, EKE sent two cashier's checks totaling $25,000 to CYRIL ASHU, who cashed one of the checks the following day.
On Feb 27, 2017, "an intergovernmental organization based in NYC wired $188,815 to the 0131 account.
On March 1, 2017, EKE transferred $100,000 from the account to another account in his true name.
On March 2, 2017, EKE wrote a cashier's check for $68,000 payable to "Curesos Innovation"
On March 2, 2017, a foreign-based manufacturing company wired $123,895 tot the 0131 account.
Between March 2 and March 4, EKE bought three more cashier's checks:
$48,000 to Curesos Innovation
$68,000 to Yiwu Offshore Limited
On March 3, 2017, IRONUAH cashed the Curesos checks in Houston, Texas.
On March 6, 2017 IKEJIMBA cashed the Yiwu checks at the same check-cashing facility in Houston, Texas.
From October 25, 2017 through December 2017, ASHU used a stolen identity to open a bank account ending in 7622 and received $12,366 in fraud proceeds.
Georgia: Emmanuel Igomu and Jude Balogun steal $3.5 Million via a BEC fraud against a health-care provider
On July 2, 2018, Tanner Health Systems of Carrollton, Georgia was hit by a BEC fraud. Someone impersonating a THS vendor, Bernie Buchanan, the Executive VP of Ra-Lin and Associates, caused a payment of $3,528,500.02 to be misdirected to a Bank of America account in the name of GARRETT, LLC. The account had only one valid signator: Ishmael GARRETT of Newark, Delaware.
Two outbound payments were made from the account. $797,291.14 was sent to a SunTrust Bank account in the name "Audi Atlanta, LLC, 361 Pharr Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia. On the same day, $570,780 was sent to a JP Morgan Chase Bank account in the name Lucia Tech, LLC at 5456 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Suite 632, Atlanta, Georgia.
The Lucia Tech account had been opened with a fraudulent South Carolina driver's license in the name of Lucy Andrews. The address actually corresponded to a UPS Store box in the name of Henry Dax. Henry Dax used the telephone number 678-590-6197 and the email palaso@mail.com. Logs from the mail.com provider showed regular logins from an IP address 24.99.101.32, which belonged to a Comcast account at the street address 2340 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE, Apartment 404, Atlanta, GA 30324. Georgia Power records show that the electric bill for that apartment was in the name Emmanuel Igomu, which the telephone number 678-900-5328.
The Atlanta Police Department showed that they had been dispatched to that address based on a complaint from IGOMU showing that he had lost his passport! IGOMU gave his telephone number to the Atlanta police as 678-900-5328.
A search warrant served at the address revealed that IGOMU was residing there with Stephanie Gaspard, who IGOMU claimed was his wife. Fraudulent driver's licenses with their photos but other names were found, along with credit cards in names other than the resident's. IGOMU's cell phone was broken and it and its battery were found submerged in the tank of the toilet. When asked why, IGOMU said he must have stepped on it in his confusion from being awoken by the FBI's early morning knock. He wasn't able to explain why it was in the toilet tank.
One of the fraudulent South Carolina driver's licenses was in the name Henry Dax and was used to open the UPS Store used as the address for LUCIA TECH, LLC.
The James Clark identity was used to open a Fidelity Bank account in the name "JCEE CLARK, LLC"
IGOMU is a Nigerian national who entered the US on June 23, 2014 on a six month Visa which has never been extended. He had previously been arrested (though not deported) by the Atlanta Police Department charged with having 2 fictitious driver's license, a fictitious UK passport, and six different bank cards in three different names. On January 9, 2017, he was convicted of five felony accounts, but only sentenced to three years probation under the "First Offender Act."
Miami, Florida: Govantes and Tamayo
Yumeydi GOVANTES was the sole officer of "Yumeydi Quality Products" a Florida corporation claiming to do business at 1441 Sandpiper Boulevard, Homestead, Florida. They were incorporated on November 14, 2016. Yamel Guevara TAMAYO was the sole officer of YGT Buying Inc" a Florida corporation claiming to do business at 4840 NW 7th Street, Apartment 305, Miami, Florida. They were incorporated on November 17, 2016.
From November 2016 through June 2019, the defendants participated in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, laundering money by receiving funds into their bank accounts and then transferring the funds out of the country, primarily to China, after dipping into the funds for their own personal gain. Some of those transfers are shown below:
More Information, Please ? ? ?
We've shared above the cases that were specifically named in the DOJ Press Release about Operation: Rewired. Yet these were only FIVE of the 23 districts that had arrests. If you have details on additional information, please reach out to me on Twitter ( @GarWarner ) or in the Comments section below!
As we shared back in July, all of this information is just the tip of the iceberg with regards to BEC fraud. According to analysis by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), BEC losses during calendar 2018 exceeded $300 Million per month in theft! https://garwarner.blogspot.com/2019/07/fincen-bec-far-worse-than-previously.html
Labels: Bank Fraud, BEC, business email compromise, Nigeria, Operation ReWired, Operation Wire Wire, Wire Fraud
Operation ReWired arrests 281 Business Email Compr...


Most countries have a specialized service who's only purpose is to protect the life and personal integrity of the President.
In the United States, that structure is called the Secret Service. In Romania, it is called Serviciul de Protectie si Paza, or SPP for short. The Protection and Guard Service of Romania is structured in a similar way as its US counterpart.
The agents of the two services train together and have frequent meetings and conferences. Furthermore, some of their employees are also graduating each other's selection courses.
SPP is split into two main divisions, Sectia Asigurare Misiuni (SAM) - the Operative section, and FIAT, which is a counter-terrorist team.
In this section, we will analyse the latter, which is considered by many to be one of Romania's most elite units.
During the 1989 Romanian Revolution, a decision was taken for the creation of a structure which would protect the lives of the National Salvation Front, a group created in the 22nd of december 1989, after the fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
The group was activated on the 26th of december 1989 and comprised of only four people.
In the 7th of may 1990, the now expanded group received the name of USPP (Unitatea Speciala de Paza si Protocol or the Special Guard and Protocole Unit). The unit was under the command of the Ministry of Defense and was incorporated into the 30th Guard Brigade "Mihai Viteazul".
In 1991, the structure was renamed Serviciul de Protectie si Paza, or the Protection and Guard Service. SPP for short was created by law 51, on the 26th of july 1991.
The very existance of FIAT is highly controversial. The unit was created in the idea that if a terrorist group would take the President or members of the Parliament as hostages, the FIAT teams would be called to liberate them.
That ideology falls in conflict with Romania's Constitution, which states that the only structure responsible for counter-terrorist intervention in the country is Brigada Antiterorista, or the Anti-Terrorist Brigade of SRI, the national intelligence service.
But this is only the start of a lengthy conversation regarding FIAT, its existance, its purposes, its members and so on.
This group is composed of members of somewhat opposite ideologies. On one hand, the very well trained ex-military members, which have transfered to SPP due to the low wages which came with their work in the armed forces, at that time. It has to be noted however that the situation has changed since then. On the other hand, some of its members are young, around 20 years old, and most people would say they do not belong in a counter-terrorist unit. Since the very existance of FIAT has come under questioning on a constant basis ever since its creation sometime in the 1990s, the fact that some, but not all, of its members come closer to street thugs than operatives is definetely not helping the image of their unit.
Incorporating such different characters, top notch ex-military operatives and young individuals who's capabilities pale compared to the ones of the ex-military ones, the unit attracted even more public scrutiny regarding its training methods.
Since the group is supposed to react to threats against the president himself, it is obviously that the men need to be well trained and equipped. However, training them for operations which regard combat divers, high altitude parachutists and other such categories has nothing to do with close protection duties.
It is of no doubt that some of the training received by FIAT operatives is unnecessary and represents money wasted down the pipeline - but there's a catch. The real reason for all that training was not that the chain of command doesn't know the requirements for the job, nor that they needed activities to justify their budget (although the latter can be said about SPP as a whole).
Since most of FIAT operatives have transfered from the military, they held precious experience and capabilities which the armed forces weren't able to hold on to, due to financial reasons (the combatant's salaries). As those men transfered to SPP, the service got to hold, at that time, some of the best trained operatives in Romania, and turning them into mere bodyguards was not an option.
Therefore, SPP came as a sort of unexpected savior, offering its FIAT operatives a chance to continue all their training, maintain their capabilities and even evolve on a professional level. It is also interesting to notice that this strategy worked, and after a while, some of those people got back in the military, where things have improved with time, and are now on duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Admission into FIAT is quite a secretive process and little detail exists in public record about it. Their official website simply states that the individual must be healthy, willing to work under stress, have initiative and spirit of sacrifice.
Since many of its operatives used to come from the military, one could assume there was a very small failure rate in its admission process. Contrary to popular belief, according to which the failure rate is the uttmost important detail which sets special operations units apart, the reality is that the failure rate directly depends of the quality of the people who turn up to the selection. If, for example, one looks at the US military system, which allows civilians as young as 16 to apply for selection, a 75% failure rate doesn't mean the course was unbareable. However, if we are to consider, let's say, the selection process of the Polish GROM or Sweden's SSG, which only accept officers and operatives of other SF units in their country, a failure rate of 95% to 99% in those processes represents a totally different issue.
In recent years however, the issue of military operatives transferring to SPP has become a thing of the past.
As mentioned in some of the previous chapters, FIAT operatives go through a large variety of training procedures, which include airborne insertion, combat diving operations, close protection, counter-terrorist intervention, hostage rescue, CQB, etc.
Besides that, the operatives are also trained in gathering field intelligence prior to the president's visit to a location.
A very important mission for FIAT is surveillance, due to the nature of their job. A large part of FIAT operatives are trained snipers.
The weapons employed by FIAT vary from mission to mission, however their arsenal is one typical for any counter-terrorist force.
The Hochler&Koff MP-5 is one of the main weapons employed by the fighters. FIAT was one of the first units in Romania to employ this weapon, together with Brigada Antiterorista.
A large variety of sniper guns is also used, as well as several models of shotguns. Several models of Steyrhaus sniper rifles have been spotted in usage by this unit, however the exact models and characteristics could not be identified as of now.
The PSG-1 however seems to be the weapon of choise for FIAT snipers.
FIAT has its headquarters somewhere near Bucharest.
As you have already guessed from the pictures, they also use the training facility at Domnesti (SW Bucharest), same as DSPI.
SPP and the US Secret Service held a wide range of exercises together, some of them in Romania and some of them in the US. As such, we could also speculate that FIAT operatives and CAT operatives get a chance to train with each other as well.
The daily mission of FIAT and SPP as a whole is to protect the president, his family, as well as other personalities as it is decided by the country's Supreme Defense Council.
Besides that, SPP has had operations abroad as well, one example would be president Traian Basescu's visit to Iraq in 2005. At that time, his protection was ensured by FIAT operatives which traveled with him to Iraq and got back to the country after his return.
SPP has also sent 23 FIAT operatives to Sudan as of early 2006. They will stay there for a period of 6 months and ensure the protection of UN personel in that area of conflict.
Almost since its creation as a small detachment, SPP as a group started to have a mixed image in the collective memory of the Romanian public. On one hand, the black suit men with serious faces and sunglasses shadowing expensive German cars has somewhat of a good image in the public's mind, while on the other, numerous scandals related to violence, ciggarette trafficking, corruption and funds mismanagement have added a darker side to the service.
Throughout the 1990s, high ranking SPP officials have been involved in a series of scandals regarding contrabad with ciggarettes. Large quantities of black market imported ciggarettes were brought in the country using rented Ukrainian cargo planes, including Il-76, the Soviet equivalent of C-17 Globemaster.
Also since its creation, some of the younger operatives were involved in small scandals and skermishes with civilians, causing bad publicity and a negative press for the services. One of the most infamous cases is described below.
Young FIAT operatives, which were just accepted in the group, have severely beaten up a Romanian senator and vandalized his car on the A2 highway from Bucharest to the seaside city of Constanta. They have also threatened and terrorized his wife and two young children. All that for the fact that he was not driving fast enough on the highway (he had over 100 km/h).
The action was not isolated, as young SPP employees, particularly from FIAT, have been known to lose control of themselves in public in a wide array of events during the past decade or so. The only detail which made this particular event come out in the light was the fact that the person they have terrorized this time happened to be a senator. The director of SPP at that time, Mr. Naghi, called that senator on the phone himself and tried to talk him out of filing a criminal complaint. He did not succeed, and fair enough death threats have started to be heard on the family's landline phone. After spending a couple of weeks in the hospital, needing dozens of stiches all over his face and parts of his shoulders, the senator returned to work in the Palace of Parliament and made a public speech in which he condemned the event and called for an official investigation.
After many delays, the perpetrators were finally identified: they were 4 young men, three of them 20 years old and the other aged 21, which were heading for Constanta in their personal jeep to celebrate their recent admission into FIAT. At first, the SPP chain of command declined repeated requests from the mass-media and the senator to fire the 4 new operatives. However, after pressure mounted and the scandal persisted, the 4 men were sacked.
It is obvious that only the fact that the person in case was a senator has helped bring this situation to an end. Even so, pressures were made for him to keep things quiet, including usage of death threats, sent, perhaps, by the very people meant to protect him!
This story is not an isolated one, as incidents involving SPP members, both from SAM as well as from FIAT (read above), continue to affect the Service's public image, as an outraged public opinion has repeatedly asked for an all-out disbanding of this entity.
While there is no doubt that some of the younger employees of this structure are short tempered, that is no reason to disband the whole structure, especially when we are talking about an entity which is, after all, a secret service.


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Amazing anime from 2009. It is a pleasure for me to have a good anime, a few intelligent speakers, and these collective speeches reveal the central idea of the anime. It's really hard to distinguish the good from the good. Best of all, you need to find out what makes this important. Writing, directing, cinematography and taking into account the effect of taking into account.
Easily anime with the best dialogues ever. There is not a single thing wrong with that anime. It sets the 10/10 standard for every other animes in existence for me. The action, special effects, characters and score are all perfect to me.
I'm not a true fan of animation, but I'm like that too! I chose to load this wonderful anime in KissAnime now everyone can see this anime online for free.
Director: Andrew Cadelago, Bob Peterson, Brian Wright, Gregg Olsson, Josh Anon, Lorien McKenna, Mahyar Abousaeedi, Mark Sanford, Mark Shirra, Matthew Silas, Pete Docter, Robert Anderson, Ronnie del Carmen, Sukwon Park, Sylvia Gray Wong, Veronica Watson
Actors: Bob Peterson, Christopher Plummer, David Kaye, Delroy Lindo, Ed Asner, Elie Docter, Jeremy Leary, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger, Jordan Nagai
Keywords:Up leak watch online KissAnime Up watch online Up watch online stream watch Up free online watch Up free online no sign up watch Up online watch Up online free reddit
Robinson Crusoe: The Wild Life
On a tiny exotic island, Tuesday, an outgoing parrot lives with his quirky animal friends in paradise. However, Tuesday can't stop dreaming about discovering the world. After a violent storm,…
Country: Belgium, France
The Invincible Iron Man
When a cocky industrialist's efforts to raise an ancient Chinese temple leads him to be seriously wounded and captured by enemy forces, he must use his ideas for a revolutionary…
Maya the Bee: The Honey Games
When an overenthusiastic Maya accidentally embarrasses the Empress of Buzztropolis, she is forced to unite with a team of misfit bugs and compete in the Honey Games for a chance…
Country: Germany, Australia
The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them…
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The Rain Children
There is a world with two towns that are big enemies: Pyross and Hydross. KissAnime Review: The Rain Children – fantastic anime. The Rain Children is by far the best…
Country: France, South Korea
An animated comedy that recreates the misadventures of the passengers of the Ark built by Noah as per God's request. It's just that living together does not seem to come…
Country: Argentina, Italy
Pet Pals and Marco Polo's Code
Animation movie based on the "Cuccioli" TV serie KissAnime Review: Pet Pals and Marco Polo's Code – excellent anime, one of the best released in 2010 Most animes, even the…
This production was originally broadcast on radio back in the 1940s. It was put on DVD with new animation. KissAnime Review: One of the best in it's category, ever released….
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Music
Napping Princess
Japan, 2020, a few days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. Although she should be studying for her final exams, Kokone, a schoolgirl who lives in a small town…
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
For Whom the Alchemist Exists
Set in the continent of Babel, where the Tower of Babel looms large over seven nations. After the invention of alchemy led to its use as a tool of war…
Sammy and Co: Turtle Reef
Ricky dreams of leaving the safety of the reef in search of adventure. But nobody takes him seriously — he's still so young! Ricky leaves the reef, determined to prove…
Rodencia and the Princess Tooth
A magical adventure begins Once upon a time, within a vast and wild forest there was a fantastic Kingdom called Rodencia, a place where wonderful creatures and powerful wizards lived….
Country: Peru, Argentina, USA
Trailer: Up


With Spring comes changes and it was time for me to change as well. I started just working on a new blog redesign and decided to make the leap to Wordpress all together and rebrand a whole new site. It is very different on the back end and I am still learning but it is better for all of us. In the upcoming weeks, you will see my professional portfolio, something I wasn't sure how to share my work here. I'll also be able to share my make up portfolio and give you insights there. Until now you only had to take my word that I was a stylist and a make up artist but now you can see for yourself what it is I do. Basically it is a better platform to document and share with you all my work. You'll start seeing more and more changes but for now, just visit me at yaniragarza.com and tell me what you think.
So last week, I bought a jacket on clearance at Target. It was meant to be worn on date night with a skirt but I couldn't resist and wore it the very next day to work from home. This is where I do my wardrobe experiments and why I rarely do outfit posts, I work solo. I'm always cautious about mixing certain prints. Many have tried, failed and yes, I have laughed at them...not really but I have cringed. We follow certain bloggers for being bold and daring, I am not one of those bloggers. I am casual, comfortable and very Chicago. I am the everyday woman. The floral jacket is muted so it works here. Key to mixing floral prints with leopard? Tone it down. One has to be muted or it just looks like you dressed in the dark. Here's to turning on the lights.
So while was living it up in Miami (or spending all day in sessions at the hotel, whatever), I made plans to add contributor posts. Unfortunately, my preschedule was a total fail, so today's post is a special guest post from Laura Diaz, an FIT student living and playing in the big apple.
We wear our jeans almost every day, they are one of the most versatile garments that continue to evolve with fashion, yet they can sometimes be underappreciated. Jeans are renewed every so often, changing small details to adapt to, or sometimes create, the latest trends. This spring, the ripped jean trend is back! This trend is being followed by many celebrities around the world, from A-list Hollywood actors to the hottest telenovela stars.
What today starts a just a small tear on the knee, tomorrow can become a gaping hole or the beginning of some fashionable denim shorts! Alessandra Ambrosio shows us how to rock the small tear.
The natural tear of jeans, for me, looks better than the store bought. Maybe they look exactly the same, but it's more of a feeling of attachment. Why buy a pair of jeans that are torn? Emmy Rossum seems to think this way as well in her casual outfit, looking chic in the city.
Then there are those like Ashley Greene who show us what happens when that little tear in the knee gets out of hand.
Move on Penelope Cruz, the new hot Spanish telenovelas actress Michelle Jenner looks effortlessly beautiful with her casual torn denim.
On the other hand, Rihanna wears an all denim outfit that looks great on her but her accessories and shoes take away from the look. Always a trend setter, her mismatched and over the top outfits can always be forgiven.
I'm honored to be a guest blogger on Manolos Manicures & This Mom. Let me know what you think of my post and please follow this blog!
Normally Tuesdays, my parents pick up my little one and take her someplace fun, like the playhouse in McDonald's or Chuck E Cheese. Yesterday, my parents were unavailable so I had to shut off my computer, leave Starbucks early and pick up my Princess. She was so happy that her mommy was there to get her. When I asked what fun thing she wanted to do, she said go to Target to buy shoes and sunglasses. I am so proud to be her mom. She didn't get shoes but she got her sunglasses, jump rope and I hit the clearance rack.
This Prabal Gurung skirt was on clearance for $8.98. It is a size bigger than my size but I took it anyway. It fits.
This top was also on clearance and so comfy. It also was only $9 but I have enough casual pieces. The skirt was picked out by my little one but it was full price and even though $24 doesn't seem like a lot, I would love it a lot more if it were on sale. Bad habit. I'm cheap. I left both items.
DISCLAIMER: This wild shopping trip was sponsored by my husband's credit card as a reward for the cleaning I actually did. Love you!
I've always had an issue with my curls when I travel. I never wanted to bother with the hassle of humid weather and frizz so I would relax my hair and flat iron it before I'd go out of town, regretting it upon my return. I recently jumped on the bandwagon of coconut oil. I bought organic, unrefined. It was horrible. It left my hair like straw, dry, severely damaged and out of control frizz. I had damaged my hair more than I ever had in all my years. I rocked a top knot for weeks to hide it. Then I switched up my hair routine into 4 easy steps.
STEP 1: Wash hair with a cleansing conditioner. I wasn't sure how I would feel about using one but I tried L'Oreal EverCurl and was blown away. Not only were my curls clean, they weren't dry like with most curling shampoos. In fact, I didn't need a conditioner after but thanks to the coconut oil, wanted to try one just in case.
STEP 2: Treat hair with a deep conditioner like Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm by L'Oreal. It claims to reverse damage in one use so I applied it and prayed for a miracle. My hair was shameful, lifeless and fried. I wasn't expecting much and so left it on for the maximum 5 minutes. What I felt next, felt like healthy, virgin hair. Get it, miracle, virgin? No? Okay...moving on.
STEP 3: I wanted a moisture leave in and have been dying to try Carol's Daughter for a while since I've been growing out this relaxer but never have...until now. It is light weight and silicone-free, perfect for my curls. While it does have coconut oil in it, but it is blended with other oils so it seems to work very well.
STEP 4: This styling mouse was a fluke. I left for Miami with just a carry on and only packed the oil so the first night I ran into Walgreens and grab the first curling mouse in a small bottle I saw. I figured I would use it once and toss it but no. It is alcohol free and really defines my natural curl, a curl I hadn't seen in years.
With Miami hottie, Casey Garcia for my "last night in Miami" dinner.
With Carlos Gomez after that super amazing dinner. I owe you one. Gracias!
Back home on Sunday on our way to dinner with my little family and my hair had been untouched for two days.
I got so many compliments on my hair in Miami and I had so many people touching it that my hair should be doing the walk of shame right now. All jokes aside, I really just needed my daughter to understand that her curls are amazing and that mommy is proud of hers as well. The relaxing is over, the curls are back. I mean, Lou Diamond Phillips said my hair was awesome and that I was gorgeous so I guess I'll keep it! What do you think of my natural hair?
DISCLAIMER: L'Oreal products were c/o and I have since ran out. I picked up an extra shampoo yesterday. I am still receiving text messages with questions about this product because I won't shut up about it. I do wish the bottle was bigger, like jumbo size and just for me.
Carol's Daughter was c/o KLOUT so thanks. That was cool.
Thoughts and ideas are all my own. You guys know the deal but I have to tell you anyway.
So it just a few hours, I am boarding a train and heading to Hispanicize, the biggest conference for Latinos. I'm trying to take just a carry on but with all the electronics, gifts for friends and two outfits per day, my bag is getting tight. I decided that my make up can be minimized as I end up wearing the same look any how. If I were to only take 5 items, these would be it. Let's be realistic, in my case, I blog about beauty. I will be throwing in at last minute at least 2-3 more pieces just in case but these are really all I need.


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X-Men (2nd series) #35
Sunset Grace
Fabian Nicieza (writer), Liam Sharp (penciler), Robin Riggs (inkers), Digital Chameleon (colorist), Bill Oakley (letterer), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor in chief)
Jean and Scott stand upon the deck of a SHIELD Hellicarrier and the two newly weds are met by Nick Fury. He tells them about his recent finding of their comatose bodies and his need for their assistance near the town of St. Bart's. Agreeing to help Fury, they immediately travel to the place where a dimensional rift has taken over the sky. Jean nears the rift and is sucked in. Scared for his partner's life, Scott plunges into the abyss after her and the two X-Men arrive in a land with a plethora of images attacking their senses. Walking down a path, they meet up with the mutant that is causing the rift; her name is Sunset Grace. After requesting a meeting with her, she opens up to them about her past and her powers. She informs them of how her dimensional rifts were, at one time, a place of solitude for her but now they are a place of distress. She goes on to say that she has been in search for her family that disappeared into the portal years ago and just now has learned how to use her powers again to find them. Sadly, Jena knows the truth but is able to bring her family to her. After their arrival, Grace is overcome by joy and she makes everything that she almost destroyed safe once more by shutting down her rift. Luckily for the Summers, she sends them back through the rift before shutting herself in it. After a quick debriefing, Scott and Jean head off on their own and discuss if it was the right thing to do, by bringing her family back to life, even though they had died years ago. They agree that a make-believe life is the goal of a family.
Jean and Scott Summers embrace one another in a loving kiss. The two lovers talk to each other via their telepathic link and Jean is ecstatic that they are back in their bodies and in their original time. Scott tells her that it is great, because their telepathic link is still there. Jean tells him of how great it was to help raise Nathan Dayspring in the future and help save him from Apocalypse.
Suddenly, the two lovers are startled by a voice from behind them. The voice is that of Nick Fury and he questions them about their recent comatose state. He tells them that an ESPer Unit found them washed ashore on St. Bart's beach and they've been unconscious for two hours. Shocked, Scott stammers about them truly being gone for twelve years. Jean tells him that Rachel must have sent the two of them traveling back in time to almost the same time they had departed for the future. Nick Fury tells the two mutants that he doesn't mean to sound harsh, but he is more worried about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s problems than theirs, at the moment.
Behind Fury, a video screen shows an older lady that Fury introduces as … before he can say her name, Cyclops interrupts. Scott tells him that her name is Sunset Grace, who is a craftswoman that sells her goods on the beach. Fury continues on with his speech, he tells them that her real name is Grace Lavreaux, who is a fifty-nine year old widow and apparently a mutant! Fury continues on, as a new image is displayed on the screen. He tells them that she is apparently going to be responsible for the end of the world. Shocked, the two mutants brace themselves as the image appears on the screen. Above the beach, a hole in the atmosphere has opened up, revealing an horrific scenery and the hole seems to be getting bigger.
Jean stands before Fury and tells him that the two of them will help him, but it might be a better idea to get the rest of the X-Men involved. Fury, looking at his cigar, tells them that the time for assemblage is over, because, with-in a few hours, Sunset Grace's dimensional rift will engulf the world. Fury goes on to say that it doesn't matter what either he or they think, anyways, because Sunset Grace has asked for Jean and Scott personally to talk to her. Scott and Jean stand side by side and with Fury's last words, Scott telepathically asks what Fury means.
After a thirty-minute debriefing, Jean, Scott and Fury leave for the island below them and to rendezvous with the other members of S.H.I.E.L.D. On their trek to the site, Fury tells them that a few of his men were sucked into the portal and, via their comm. Signals, he was able to hear Grace request an audience with Charles or the his two mutants she had felt earlier (that being Jean and Scott Summers). Nearing the makeshift lab, the two X-Men find that Fury was unable to contact the mansion, because it seemed their systems were disconnected. Worried about Fury's revelations, Jean and Scott talk telepathically about their concerns over their friends' safety. Jean asks if they should try and contact the Professor and Scott warns her that the crisis before them must be taken care of first. She agrees with him and, after talking about their marriage life not changing their past, the lovers head nearer the rift.
Once by the rift, Jean tries to contact Sunset Grace via her telepathy. Jean screams in pain that Grace is calling out to her through the void and pulling her into it. With that said, Scott watches as his wife is sucked into the portal and vanishes. Without hesitating, even though Fury tries with all his might to hold him back, Scott plunges into the portal after her. He thinks, as he runs, of all the friends he has lost and remembers the silent vow he made to himself the day that Jean and him were married that he would never lose her or let her be hurt. He also knows that the two of them are two halves of a whole and that, where one half goes, the other must follow.
Reappearing on the other end of the void, Scott tells himself that he has done dumber things than this before. Jean telepathically contacts him and asks him why he followed her through the rift. Scott tells her that he must have been dumb to do so. Coming closer to her, she asks him then if he thinks it better that his wife disappear and him to never see her again. Teasingly, he replies that he must be in a no win situation with her, now. She tells him that she is just doing her job as his wife. Coming upon Jean, who is leaning over men dressed in SHIELD issue uniforms, he tells her that she still has her humor. Jean, becoming serious, tells Scott that these are the SHIELD agents and luckily they are still alive.
Finally reaching each other, the two newly weds embrace once more and Jean tells Scott that the atmosphere around them feels charged with sadness. Scott tells Jean that they should help the agents go home. Jean agrees and she wraps them in a telekinetic cocoon, while Scott uses his optic beam to harmlessly propel the cocoon and its occupants through the portal. Jean tells Scott that she can sense the pain he is feeling about being burdened with his optic visors once more. Scott tells her that it is fine, but Jean is reluctant to believe him.
Walking down a path that seems to change in scope, one minute it is a stone stairwell, the next a stone path and, finally, coming to a stop, the two mutants walk on a path of roots leading to a giant tree. Beside the tree stands a woman and her name is Sunset Grace. She apologizes for the pain she has caused them, and she accepts their help in trying to ease her sadness. Walking onto to a bridge, the three mutants pass by paintings suspended in the air. Grace tells the two of them that it is mainly their fault she has begun once more to use her powers.
On the other side of the portal, Agent Richter and Nick Fury converse about something that seems to be coming through the portal. Suddenly, a flash of energy and their missing SHIELD Agents appear through the purple mist and Fury wanders if he sent two newlyweds that had just begun their lives into a place that will end them?
Inside the rift, Grace leads Jean and Scott through a myriad amount of different images. She tells them that it was a few days ago when she was walking on the beach, looking for shells, that she met the two of them. After parting from their presence, she heard a scream, not a vocal noise, but one of the mind. She goes on to say that the scream felt like a spirit was saddened about the loss of its life only after finding true piece with another person. She tells them that it was moments later that her mutant powers flared up again and she was able to open a rift in the atmosphere to her own personal dimension.
Jean holds Scotts hand and she tells Grace that it must have been her powers flaring up around the same time her astral form was being sent into the future. Jean next asks how her psi-call could have leaded to such sadness and pain for her? Grace tells them that she hadn't used her gifts in so long that she had thought them gone forever. Briefly telling a story, she tells them that her mutants powers, as Charley called them, came freely out from her now and opened up a rift at the exact spot she had opened one up the last time. Scott surmises aloud that Grace's powers must open up a dimensional portal to the Astral Plane. Jean puts an arm around Grace and asks her how there could be so much sadness and loss here.
The myriad of images changes once again and in its place or the pictures of a happy Grace playing with birds, dancing on mushrooms, meeting a mate and falling in love. As the images dance across their vision, she tells them that when she turned thirteen she was able to open a hole in the air and, when she turned fifteen, she was able to turn her hole into a place she called Neverneverland. She goes on to say that each time she visited her dimension, the dimension would grow. She tells them that, unlike Peter Pan, she finally grew up and adult life to precedent over her make-believe world.
The images change once more and this time they are the pictures of vivid scenes, a car crash, a lone woman surviving, a car falling through one of her voids and Grace's eyes filling up with tears. She tells them that her and her family was traveling from the market when their car skidded off the road and went sailing over a cliff and headed towards the waters below. She tells them that her power instinctively began to work and she sent her family through the portal, leaving her to fight her way to the cliff above and out of a watery grave. She tells them that for some reason she couldn't get her powers to work again and, sadly, she could not retrieve or go to her family.
Sitting on a cliff that seems to have a skull carved into its face, Scott summarizes the last part of Grace's story, saying that she sent her family to the astral plane. Jean reminds herself that they saw the signs when they arrived into the dimension, in the form of the remains of a guardrail and the mangled sedan. Grace tells them that her world is that of make-believe but, when her family plummeted from the cliff, this world became her nightmare. She tells them that for months after their disappearance she couldn't move or even talk and that's when they sent him to her.
Scott states the obvious: that Grace means Charles Xavier was sent to her. She tells them that Xavier was so young then, younger than even the two of them are now. She says that she wondered how such a young man could contain so much humanity. He slowly puts together the pieces of her tattered soul but he could not help her unlock the dormant powers that she possessed and her family was lost to her. Until she met them, she goes on to say.
More images pour through the minds of the three mutants as Jean and Grace hold one another's faces and watch one another as tears fall down their faces. The images of Cable battling Stryfe, Cyclops giving his son Nathan up to the future, Redd and Slym leading their young charge, Nathan Dayspring, through the future and Francois holding his son, Christian, as he stands alone in the emptiness of Grace's Neverneverland, all flash across their minds. Jean tells Scott that their trip to the future was to teach his son, Nathan, about hope and to give meaning to his life, but Grace lost that chance the day her husband and son disappeared.
Scott begins to tear up and apologizes to Grace for all the loss her life has seen. Jean telepathically makes Grace look through her eyes and, in so doing so, Grace finds her son and husband. Two figures appear, adorned in robes and they embrace Grace. Grace tells Jean that her husband and son are much older now, but she finally realizes she done the right thing by sending them through her portal. Jean stutters that she doesn't understand. Grace tells her that she does understand and she needs them to make her feel complete, because that is what family is, the sum of the parts are never as strong as the whole. Jean tells her to take her family then, to let them in her heart, as she lets the two of them free of her Neverneverland.
Outside the portal, Nick Fury watches and sees the field begin to stir once more. Suddenly, he sees Scott and Jean appearing and he announces to the others that they have made it back. Holding towels over their bodies, the two lovers look saddened for what they have just witnessed, but they tell Nick to not worry about them, because they are okay. Fury asks, what happened in the portal and where is Grace? Jean tells him that Grace decided to stay in her own world, because she had finally found happiness for herself. Jean goes on to say that Grace closed the portal from the inside and she has no reason to leave.
Hours later, Scott and Jean stand atop the cliff where the Lavreaux family went over, so many years ago. They hold one another and Scott asks Jean how she was able to find Grace's family in the dimension. Jean tells her that her family was where they had always been, since the car accident, in Grace's memories. She tells him that they had died before entering the portal and what is sad about the fact is that Grace always knew it in her heart. Scott asks her if it is wrong for Grace to be living a make-believe life in her dimension. Jean tells him that she wishes everyone could find such joy in one another, as Grace found in her family.
Cyclops, Jean Grey-Summers (all X-Men)
Nick Fury, Richter, and other of Nick's S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents
S.H.I.E.L.D. monitor display:
Cyclops & Jean's memories:
Nathan Dayspring
Mother Askani
Sunset Grace's world illusions
Francois and Christian Lavreaux
Jean Grey-Summers
Stryfe
Jean and Scott posed as Redd and Slym (respectively) in the limited series entitled The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix.
Iceman.
« X-Men (2nd series) #34
X-Men (2nd series) #36 »
Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #3
In the 1996 limited series, X-men: Brood - Day of Wrath, a woman named Hannah Connover is infected by the Brood Empress, frozen in suspended animation by Iceman and taken by the X-Men to find a cure. She has never been shown on panel since!


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Part of HuffPost Science. ©2020 Verizon Media. All rights reserved.
06/12/2014 01:59 pm ET Updated Jun 13, 2014
Full Moon On Friday The 13th Won't Happen Again Until 2049
By Sara Gates
For the superstitious, June 13 this year will be extra-spooky.
That's because the full moon is set to fall on Friday the 13th, a rare occurrence that won't happen again for 35 years.
The moon will reach its fullest point at 12:11 a.m. EDT on June 13. Observers in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones may feel a bit left out, however, since this June full moon (also known as the "Honey Moon" or "Strawberry Moon") will turn full late Thursday night. But the moon should still offer a brilliant view -- weather permitting -- for skywatchers on Friday evening.
The last time a full moon coincided with Friday the 13th was October 13, 2000.
What makes the event such a rarity? It occurs only when three independent variables line up -- -- the moon phase, the weekday, and the day of the month.
As Vox noted, "the odds of a year having a Friday the 13th full moon are just 5.81 percent. That means it happens, on average, every 20 years or so."
Since the next full moon to fall on Friday the 13th is not expected to occur until Aug. 13, 2049, skywatchers should make to sure to get a glimpse of the perfectly round moon this week.
For those unable to see the moon firsthand, the Slooh Space Camera is planning a live webcast starting June 12 at 9 p.m. EDT.
Our Moon
Sara Gates
Law student & former journalist
Science Friday The 13th Full Moon


Masankho Banda, a world-renowned PeaceBuilder and healer, visited Wheeling High School on January 16 to conduct a workshop with students.
Banda, once recognized by The Dalai Lama, conducted a variety of sessions with students throughout the school day, including percussion sets and theater presentations with freshmen and sophomores.
Originally from Malawi, Banda also met and collaborated with a variety of school clubs, including Interact with Africa and SHADES.
Wheeling educator Diane Rawlinson organized the event.