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Home Sports Broke GFA To Division One Clubs: Wait For Fifa COVID-19 Fund
Broke GFA To Division One Clubs: Wait For Fifa COVID-19 Fund
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The package to the GFA has come to reduce the financial constraints of the clubs due to the widespread of the COVID-19 disease.
Television right owners of the Ghana Premier League (GPL), Startimes Ghana Limited, has paid the Ghana Football Association (GFA) an amount of $100,000 as part payment of their sponsorship deal with the association.
$90,000, out of the total amount paid to GFA, has been shared to the 18 Ghana Premier League clubs, with each of them receiving $5,000 from the GFA.
Members of the Division One League also expected the GFA to come to their aid. However, sources indicate they are yet to receive any stimulus package from the GFA despite approaching them.
The GFA, however, is in line to receive some financial assistance from Fifa, as the world football governing body plans to set up a fund to mitigate the financial implications of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A member of the Division One League Board, who spoke to a radio station on condition of anonymity, revealed that the GFA has asked them to wait for Ghana's share of the Fifa forward funds.
"They gave $90,000 out of the $100,000 to the premier league clubs so I asked an EXCO member who is on the GFA Finance committee that I thought there would have been some parachute payment to the DOL clubs because we have no sponsor and the FA has a responsibility to keep us afloat," he said.
He further continued that: "They said there was no money and I pleaded that even if it's not from the StarTimes money because we are all under pressure.
"Anyway there's some money coming ie.the FIFA Forward money which fortunately FIFA President in consultation with the big wigs have agreed to waive all conditions that will make a nation eligible to access the fund.
"I understand DOL will get our fair share because we had no share in the Startimes money.
"Yes on our platform, people are asking questions."
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Home Air US approves sale of 105 F-35 jets to Japan, including F-35Bs for...
FILE PHOTO: An F-35B on the USS America.
US approves sale of 105 F-35 jets to Japan, including F-35Bs for carrier
The U.S. State Department has cleared the sale of 105 F-35 jets to Japan. The authorisation is for 63 F-35As and 42 F-35Bs.
The package is worth an estimated cost of $23.11 billion and includes 110 F135 engines along with aircraft ferry and tanker support.
It was reported back in December 2018 that Japan's newly revised National Defense Program Guidelines and new Mid-Term Defense Program had mentioned the purchase of these fighters to add to the existing order of 42 F-35As.
In 2018, Japan also announced that it was intending on converting one of its helicopter carriers to carry F-35B jets.
The purchase authorisation is displayed below.
"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Japan of one hundred five (105) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $23.11 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.
The Government of Japan has requested to buy sixty-three (63) F-35A Conventional TakeOff and Landing (CTOL) aircraft, forty-two (42) F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft, and one hundred ten (110) Pratt and Whitney F135 engines (includes 5 spares). Also included are Electronic Warfare Systems; Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence/Communications, Navigation and Identification; Autonomic Logistics Global Support System, Autonomic Logistics Information System; Flight Mission Trainer; Weapons Employment Capability, and other Subsystems, Features, and Capabilities; F-35 unique infrared flares; reprogramming center access and F-35 Performance Based Logistics; software development/integration; flight test instrumentation; aircraft ferry and tanker support; spare and repair parts; support equipment, tools and test equipment; technical data and publications; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated total cost is $23.11 billion.
This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region. It is vital to U.S. national interest to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability. The proposed sale of aircraft and support will augment Japan's operational aircraft inventory and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capability. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-4 aircraft are being decommissioned as F-35s are added to the inventory. Japan will have no difficulty absorbing these aircraft into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. The prime contractors will be Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth, Texas; and Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will require multiple trips to Japan involving U.S. Government and contractor representatives for technical reviews/support, programs management, and training over a period of 25 years. U.S. contractor representatives will be required in Japan to conduct Contractor Engineering Technical Services (CETS) and Autonomic Logistics and Global Support (ALGS) for after-aircraft delivery."
This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded, say the U.S. State Department.
JohnHartley
It is interesting to note the difference between headline bare bones price & the fully equipped, suited & booted, spares & ground equipment price. A bare F-35A has a headline price around $85 million, but fully equipped on this deal, it comes in at $219 million each.
The V-22 has a bare bones price of around $70 million, but looking at the Indonesian deal, a fully equipped price of $250 million. Something to think of when playing fantasy fleets.
Reply to JohnHartley
Relevant for Tempest fantasies too.
Reply to Andy
Perhaps so but I'm not sure in the way you meant? The RAF will probably need to decide if its wants F35A for the long haul, or whatever results from Tempest, which is likely to be a superset of F35A capabilities. Having both isn't likely to be a good option because it would almost certainly cut the number of Tempest aircraft and undermine the program, driving up costs when there is a major focus in the program to reduce them, in order to enable greater RAF aircraft numbers. If the RAF sticks with F35B in the interim and then migrates… Read more »
Its actually a mix of F35A and F35B, but your point still stands that aircraft cost is much more than the headline number. The V-22 price point was particularly interesting in the context of frequent cries to just buy V-22 for CSG AEW and COD. We'd probably need at least eight to support those two roles, so a cool $2B before we even factor in the cost of developing an AEW solution for the V-22.
Rob N
Yes – quite right – lests not buy anything, that WILL save money… The fact is that there has always been a big cost difference between the basics and an operational platform. This is nothing new. Every time we buy a new platform you have to spend money…. this is the case with our F-35 buy. The point is sometimes you have to spend to obtain a credible capability. We currently have no credible capability for our carriers no COG and Crowsnest is a joke. It is interesting to not that US V-22 are set to support QE on her… Read more »
Reply to Rob N
Why is Crowsnest a joke? And how does V-22 save money, presuming you were referring to that? I wasn't questioning our F-35B buy.
Do you have a link confirming V-22 QEC deployment? And on COD, why is V-22 a much needed capability for the UK to organically support vs making do with Merlin, port stops, or requesting support from the US in extremis? French took advantage of US COD capability during Libya.
OK Crowsnest is a joke because its radar the Searchwater dates back to Nimrod MK2 in the 70's. The AEW one dates back to 1982. The one Crowsnest is getting is not much more advanced then the 1980's one in terms of radar technology. It is not a modern ESA radar and is based on old technology. The carrier life span is 50 years thats how long the AEW solution has to last. You are asking a 197o's radar to detect hypersonic Manouvering stealth targets into the 2070's – not a chance. Then there is the platform. The Merlin is… Read more »
The link to the USMC v-22 and QE was…
https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/counting-down-to-uk-carrier-strike-group-2021-deployment/
It is from Save the RN. It says that V-22 is likely to work with QE on her deployment to support the embarked USMC. In effect a COG role.
Well what it actually says is "USMC V-22 Ospreys will not be permanently embarked on the carrier but, together with CH-53E Stallions, may be used to provide Maritime Intra-Theatre Lift to the carrier group as it moves around the world, supported by the global US military logistic support footprint." And indeed those assets MAY be used (STRN speculation), but not as organic platforms.
Yes I agree and that's what I said.
I never said they WOULD be based on QE only that it is likely they would support her.
Sure Crowsnest is using an older radar technology. It doesn't mean, along with the Cerberus mission system, it is incapable of doing a good job. It's been continuously upgraded since the 1980's, so characterizing it as 1980's technology is a bit disingenuous. It will also be operated alongside F35B while flying CAP using their radar and thermal sensors. Hypersonics will have a pretty large thermal signature. As a practical matter of assessing acceptable risk in the current political climate, since context is all important, consider that USN LHA assault ships such as USS America have no AEW whatsoever today, unless… Read more »
I am glad you agree that Crowsnest can only ever be an interim solution – the quicker we are done with it the better. On the constantly upgraded bit, it has got a new front end but the basic radar IS 1980ls technology. You spend some time telling me ii can get the job done and then say the F-35's will help it out – they will need too! I think the fact that the fighters crowsnest it supposed to control are more capable at AEW then the AEW solution – says it all. I rest my case. On radar… Read more »
Hmmm, you seemed to be assuming Crowsnest was going to serve into the 2070's so I don't think I was agreeing with your perspective when I suggested it was an interim solution. I included F35 because AEW isn't just about Crowsnest or E-2D alone. F35 will augment E-2D too, its one of the strengths of the F35 platform and 5th gen warfighting. One area where I think the RN's budget will be better spent is in implementing CEC, as the US have done and the French are doing, to more efficiently network all sensor platforms. Perhaps later in the 2020's… Read more »
Agreed that in practice all sensors will be used to protect the fleet. That goes without saying. Yes the first line of defence for any carrier group is the ability to hide from its potential attackers. However I am still not convinced that Searchwater is the right choice for the RN. We could have done so much better. The proposed modified F-35 radar in a pod for Crowsnest would have been a better choice. It is a modern AESA radar with great detection capabilities. Its only major drawback is its limited feildo of regard. However if you were to spin… Read more »
Soon there will be 500 F-35s containing China within the island chains.
This is good news. A strong navy for japan will be an added counter to China's expansionism. I would like to see Japan and Australia get bigger carriers, not just converted helicopter carriers.
I wonder what Japan will do for carrier AEW? With any luck they will go for a radar project involving V-22 we can join in with.
Helions
Initially the JMSDF will probably operate under the umbrella of their existing E3C/D fleet which can pretty much cover Japanese islands home waters and EEZ. If they choose to deploy their jump carrier when completed and equipped with F35s and CV22s I would not be surprised if they don't stick an AEW package on the V22. They certainly have the ability to do so. As for a full sized carrier, it's coming. I expect an announcement of such before the end of the decade. Probably look something like this: &f=1&nofb=1 Yes, it's a model illustration but interestingly, large Japanese warship… Read more »
Reply to Helions
Interesting any idea of possible displacement? Air group size?
A CV22 AEW would be good – if they have the funds to do the development we could buy into there production run. Everyone wuns.
Not sure on any specifics but it would probably be in the RN's QE class in size but with CATOBAR installed if that gives you any clue. Think USS Midway in size and capability. Here's another illustration with a comparison between a future carrier and the Hyuga class helicopter carriers:
&f=1&nofb=1
The Izumo is almost finished fitting out for F35B operations and the Chinese are not happy.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/06/26/japans-building-aircraft-carriers-chinas-thinking-about-sinking-them/
What the Izumo and Kaga may look like after conversion
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.explicit.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP._VyxXU52u8QKIEOV-8i-JgHaDi%26pid%3DApi&f=1
I wonder why they've put the ramp so far back?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/asia/japan-new-stealth-fighter-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
Looks like an F22 hybrid.
Japan understands, and is on the front line of Chinese aggression and expansion. Japan has a decent sized navy, being an Island……er we could learn from them in that respect.
Two British C-17 transport aircraft carrying weapons to Ukraine went around German airspace - why?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Official Release Date: March 2014, but order now to receive your copy immediately in the post.
After nearly a decade as vocalist and cellist of award-winning folk band Malinky, Fiona Hunter is stepping out on her own and gaining a deserved reputation as one of the finest young singers on the Scottish folk music scene today, with her fresh interpretations of songs of her native Glasgow and of the Scottish Travellers.
In pursuit of the latter she has worked with members of the Fetterangus Stewart family, the last tradition-bearers of this celebrated folk song dynasty.
Her academic qualifications in the field are of the first order – a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Scottish Academy and studies at the Smithsonian Institute in the USA – but it's her passion and natural ability to inhabit her material that sets her apart.


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Lil Durk Explains Tyga Diss
By 2dopeboyz, April 29, 2014 in General
A few days ago, Lil Durk took to Instagram to tease his fans and followers with his rendition of Nicki Minaj and Lil Herb's "Chiraq" track. Durk's version is to feature Meek Mill, and on the song Durk takes a handful of shots, and one of his intended targets is Tyga ("that n***** ain't got one stripe.") But why is Durk throwing shade at Tyga? Well, today XXL caught up with Durk to get some information on the diss, and what lead to it popping off.
XXL: I saw the preview to the "Chi-Raq" remix, and heard the Tyga diss. What happened there?
Lil Durk:
The song with me, Chris Brown and French Montana, I had said a line in there, a line about Blac Chyna. It wasn't a diss, it was just a line, like, I want her and shit. It wasn't no diss. When we was in L.A.—me, Tyga and Chris Brown, when we first did the hook—Tyga came in and heard the line, [and] he felt some type of way. It was tension since then. Chris Brown had played it back to him. It was tension. [Tyga] was like, "Man, just change it," and I was like, "No doubt, I'm going to change it once we get something in, I fuck with you." He said he fucks with me and he's been texting me since I left L.A., like, "I'm going to send you something, you going to send me something, etc." Then he stop replying and shit, and I felt some type of way and said, fuck it then, I'm not going to kiss his ass.
What did Tyga ask, specifically? To remove the reference completely?
He asked me to shout his name out on it. So I said I'll do it, and he said we're going to get some work in. I think he just told me that so I could just change it and I caught on to what he was doing, so I turned up on him.
How upset was he when he heard the line?
When he first heard it he was like, "Man, Goddamn, what you say though?" So I told him the rhyme, and said this ain't no disrespect, that's a complement, actually. He was like, iight, at least shout me out. Chris Brown was laughing. I was just like, it's all good. He was like, it just sound like a little disrespectful, just shout me out. So I said, cool, we're going to work.
Things are sure to get interesting here. Hit the jump to hear Durk's snippet of the song, and head over to XXL to read the full interview.
The post Lil Durk Explains Tyga Diss appeared first on Fake Shore Drive.


Aiming to eliminate the time that its IT staff spent maintaining on-site infrastructure, Clark Construction wanted to migrate its applications and data to the cloud. Using CloudEndure Migration, the company moved everything to AWS without a hitch. The migration lasted less than a week and went so smoothly that the employees outside of the IT department never knew the company's servers had migrated.
With headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and 10 other regional offices around the U.S., Clark Construction is one of the largest privately-held general contractors in the country, with more than $4 billion in annual revenue. For more than a century, the company has completed intricate interior renovations and some of the most complex civil operations in the U.S. Clark Construction takes pride in providing world-class service to its clients and in its ability to handle projects of all sizes and levels of complexity.
Clark Construction set a goal to shift the applications and data from its 50 servers running in its data center to AWS by the end of the year. With limited staff, the company's IT department wanted to spend more time on business operations and less time operating a data center and hardware facilities. Bob Gelety, the Director of Network Engineering at Clark Construction, and his staff chose AWS because of its strong reputation. They needed a migration tool that could migrate their data and applications running on VMware architecture, and which would also ensure they met their time constraints for the project.
After three migration tests with another tool, it was obvious they needed a different solution. Clark Construction had a small window in which to migrate: downtime was limited to an 8-hour period — once every other month. Using the tool they were testing, it would have taken days of downtime for Gelety and his two network administrators to migrate a terabyte of file-sharing applications and data into AWS, a luxury they didn't have. Gelety was also faced with another hurdle: having six Oracle-based financial legacy workloads, which their vendor claimed could not be migrated to the cloud without being rebuilt.
AWS recommended CloudEndure to Gelety's team. Clark Construction wanted its migration to be handled by a proven enterprise-grade solution that could be deployed quickly, affordably, and without system disruption. Within a few hours of testing, Gelety and his staff had successfully migrated a couple of servers and immediately recognized that they could migrate all of their servers without complication or the limitations experienced with the other tool — and with the speed that was needed to accommodate the 8-hour downtime window.
Preparation was important. Gelety and his team had methodically planned the migration project and wanted to ensure that every bit of data could be replicated before going live in AWS. CloudEndure's support staff worked closely with Clark Construction's IT staff, constantly checking the data's continuous replication status before the planned cutover.
CloudEndure successfully replicated Clark Construction's 26 applications. This process included the initial synchronization of existing server data and the continuous replication of any newly-written server data in real time. It was completed within several days.
At this point, Gelety and his team were able to test the most up-to-date state of their servers on AWS at a moment's notice, as many times as needed, and without any disruption to their source applications. This ensured that when the golden 8-hour cutover window arrived, they knew exactly what to do, and could complete the cutover in minutes. When the time came, Gelety and his team simply spun up the most up-to-date state of their servers in AWS, and shut off their in-house servers.
The cutover period lasted minutes, and Gelety and his team knew it went smoothly as none of the 3,000 users working off of Clark Construction's IT infrastructure noticed that the servers had moved, overnight, to AWS. In addition, CloudEndure's ability to successfully migrate the six legacy financial applications to AWS without a hiccup — something the vendor had said couldn't be done — was icing on the cake.
"I wanted to be able to say, 'At midnight on Friday night…I want to be able to turn on these servers on Amazon and turn them off in our old environment," Gelety said of CloudEndure Migration. CloudEndure enabled Gelety and his staff to migrate to AWS without fanfare. "We treat no news as good news," he added.
With the migration successful and Clark Construction's business continuity objectives reached, Gelety now plans to further leverage CloudEndure's technology by using CloudEndure Disaster Recovery to maintain business continuity.


brass beads and knotted bracelet with 308 Winchester pendant and clasp.
Show your support to the SOWW, Special Operations Wounded Warriors and to the NW Parkinson's Foundation. Hand knotted large 10mm stainless steel beads. Unisex bracelets. Our Battle Beads are knotted with Soutache cord in a variety of colors. Shown is Green cord. The antique brass lobster clasp attaches to a .308 Winchester case head. Look closely at the detail of the clasp. 10% from each bracelet sale will be divided between our two charity organizations.
Choose from Orange, Brown, White, R.E.D., Purple, Black and Green. (as seen in photo) These gets a ton of compliments! Great to mix and layer with other bracelets.
Total length of bracelet is 8″ for men and 7″ for women. Can be made in different lengths. Message us!
Each item is made to order. Please allow 1-3 days. All bracelets are unique and may differ slightly than picture.


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September 9, 2021 September 9, 2021 bcnn1wp
Scientists Discover 26-Foot-Long Dinosaur Bigger Than T-Rex
Researchers have helped identify a new prehistoric predator that dominated the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) in terms of size. The dinosaur, which was five times the size of the T-Rex of the time, has been named Ulughbegasaurus and was identified from a fossilized jaw bone.
The creature lived 80 to 90 million years ago, right alongside the T-Rex, University of Calgary researchers, associate professor of paleontology Darla Zelenitsky, and Dr. Kohei Tanaka found. The fact that it was between 24.5 feet and 26 feet in length and weighed around 2000 pounds means that it would have been the Apex predator of that era of Earth's prehistory.
The T-Rex species that walked the Earth at that time grew to around 10 feet in length and weighed around 440 pounds. That means that not only would Ulughbegasaurus have overwhelmed the T-Rex in competition for food, it likely held back the evolution of the smaller species.
"They probably kept the tyrannosaurus down, they were obviously better apex predators," Zelenitsky told The Calgary Herald. "It was like a grizzly bear compared to a coyote."
The sheer size wasn't the only advantage Ulughbegasaurus had that would have put it above the T-Rex of the prehistoric food chain, however, according to Zelenitsky. The predators' hunting practices and how they tackled prey were radically different, too.
SOURCE: Newsweek, Robert Lea
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Hello, everyone! I am visiting my family in Florida, so I'm taking a short break from all the cutting and pasting. I'll be back in a couple of weeks, though… probably with lots of newly remembered childhood stories. Hope you're all having a fun Spring Break! If you're not on Spring Break, I hope you're having a fun little Spring Break in your heart.
By the way, I'm participating in Munch Madness over at Knuckle Salad, so if you love snacks and filling out brackets, you might want to check it out!
Have a very delightful and adventurous Spring Break with your family!!
Typically at this time of the year, I would be 'jealous', but we've had such a splendid winter, here in wisconsin, (WAAAAY above average!) that all I have to say is, "Whatch out for the gators baby!" ENJOY :) !
OMG! Land of the giants! My mom lives in florida ( just south of orland ) I don't recall EVER seeing one that big, wow! I do say though, those giant beetles have caught me off guard a time or two! Your little girl is sweet :) Have a good visit! Thanks for the pics!
lol! or you might need therapy! then again I've heard plenty things about dipping in chocolate ;) Course they'd have to charge a bit more for the gourmet big daddy version! yum-yum??!
I got in so much trouble from everyone over that dang locust, everyone was so suddenly protective over it…I blame your picture.
Happy vacation middlest sister. We're gonna be missing you till you're back!
Your adorable daughter looks as if she'll be providing a new round of fun cartoons for the future!
Cannot deal with bugs of that size. Ew.
Finding it humorours that even your "Taking a break from cutting and pasting" involves "cutting and pasting" ! Have a great time!
I was gonna say the same thing about the cutting and pasting thing, haha.
You never fail us, Nikki.
Just occurred to me. You should make a middlest sister font.
Enjoy your vacation! I hope that you have a splendid time!!!
Thank you for including the palmetto bug.
I feel the same tender way about that roach.
I also wanted to compliment the palmetto bug. Nothing says Real Florida like those fuckers (although, growing up, they were just "roaches" until I learned that the rest of the country referred to roaches as something much less terrifying).
Awww, have a wonderful time!
Have a wonderful time with your family! I'm enjoying my spring break, too. My daughter is home from college this week and we're having a splendid time!
Have a fantastic time! BTW – the bugs in Louisiana are just as bad – if not worse. That's why I don't live there anymore!
Aw, I miss you already! Happy Florida! Love the postcard.
I'm eagerly awaiting her return!
It appears to me that this site doesnt download in a Motorola Droid. Are other people getting the same problem? I enjoy this webpage and dont want to have to skip it whenever Im away from my computer.


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Leaving jail, Bengals' Jones says he didn't deserve arrest
Leaving jail, Bengals' Jones says he didn't deserve arrest
Jan. 4, 2017 5:00 a.m.
Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones said Wednesday that he regretted a hotel scuffle that landed him in jail but insisted that he didn't deserve to be arrested in his latest legal issue during an often-tumultuous pro football career.
"I'm sorry that this happened," Jones told reporters as he left the Hamilton County Jail, more than 32 hours after he was booked on four charges. He said that it'd be different if had beaten people up, but that all he did was touch someone.
"Obviously if you read into it, none of this makes sense," Jones said. "We're going to see how it goes and I'm more than eager that this will be dismissed pretty soon."
Jones, whose NFL career was nearly ended by suspensions and arrests before the Bengals signed him in 2010, said he planned to discuss the situation with Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. A Bengals spokesman said Tuesday the team was aware of the incident, but wouldn't comment until the legal case was resolved.
Authorities said Jones tangled with hotel security investigating after he was pounding on hotel room doors Monday night. Cincinnati police said he pushed a security employee and poked him in the eye, then struggled, kicking and head-butting, as officers tried to put him into a police vehicle on the initial charge of assault.
He was charged with two more misdemeanours, of disorderly conduct and obstructing official business, and a felony charge of harassment with a bodily substance was added after the sheriff's office said he spit on a nurse's hand at the jail.
A judge Tuesday set bond at $37,500 and ordered Jones to provide a blood sample and be tested for communicable diseases. The sheriff's office said it had to wait until medical staff was available Wednesday morning, so Jones remained in jail overnight.
Public defender Lauren Staley said in court Tuesday that Jones "vehemently denies" that he assaulted anyone and will hire an attorney to contest the charges.
Jones will be subject to potential NFL discipline after the case is resolved.
Jones pleaded an equivalent of no contest to a misdemeanour charge of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct in a 2007 Las Vegas strip club melee. Jones was blamed for instigating violence that led to the shooting by someone else of two club employees, one left paralyzed from the waist down. He was ordered to pay more than $12.4 million in damages.
He was suspended as a Tennessee Titan by the NFL throughout the 2007 season, then was suspended again during the 2008 season as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.
The Titans made the Atlanta native the sixth overall pick out of West Virginia University in the 2005 draft, and he started 28 games in his first two seasons. His NFL career was in doubt before he became a regular Bengals starting defensive back and punt returner.
In Cincinnati, he was acquitted in 2013 on an assault charge in Hamilton County after a woman accused him of punching her in a nightclub. Earlier that year, he paid a fine for disorderly conduct after police accused him of making offensive comments during a traffic stop. He also pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in January 2012 after an arrest at a Cincinnati bar.
Follow Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell
For some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-sewell
Dan Sewell, The Associated Press
Blue Jackets extend streak to 16 games, within 1 of record
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SARAH NEOFIELD
Books that make you laugh. Then think.
What makes a successful blurb?
So my last post was a bit of a weird experiment for Halloween. But this time, I want to tackle a more serious area of research: the quest for what makes a good blurb (or, in the case of ebooks, description). We all know not to judge a book by its cover. But can blurbs give us readers a clue as to whether a book is worth reading… or give us writers a hint as to whether it will sell?
The successful blurb
It may seem crass to define the success of a blurb by sales figures. But a blurb is, at its most basic, a marketing tool. According to Derek Murphy, author of Guerilla Publishing, the task of a book's cover is to convince the reader to read the blurb. The task of the blurb is to convince the reader to buy the book.
Following the advice of numerous guides to writing a blurb, I collected blurbs from the NYT's bestseller list, and from the Top 20 lists from my genre (satire) on Amazon, resulting in a sample of 26 blurbs.
I read each of these carefully, and chose the top 5 books I would like to read from each of the NYT's and Amazon's lists for further analysis. I also included the two blurbs by indie authors which had scaled these lofty heights (and whose books sounded awesome!). This resulted in a sample of 12 blurbs for close analysis.
Rather than examining the entire description on Amazon (which often includes endorsements from reviewers, statements from the publisher, bullet points, excerpts, and other extraneous information) I looked only at the body text which would appear on the back cover of each book. And here's what I found:
1. Foreground the protagonist:
Two-thirds (8/12) of the blurbs sampled mention the protagonist's name in the first 15 words. The vast majority (10/12) mention the protagonist by the end of the first sentence. There were just two exceptions: The Testaments, which is notable because naming the three women protagonists would be a spoiler, and Bloody Genius, which does allude to the protagonist (who is later named in the second paragraph) as a member of one of the 'two feuding departments'.
2. If your work is set somewhere or sometime else, highlight this:
Half (6/12) of the blurbs mentioned the place a book was set in during the first 15 words, and two-thirds (8/12) mentioned it in the first sentence.
Additionally, one third (4/12) of blurbs mentioned the period a book was set during in the first 15 words or the first sentence.
3. Clearly indicate the drama:
If the beginning of your blurb has told us who is where (and possibly, whom they are with), there is a very easy way for the second sentence or second paragraph to segue into the drama: with a conjunction like 'but' or 'yet'.
'But' was the most commonly used, appearing in more than half of the sample (7/12). It was even used twice in The Institute's lengthy blurb. Other times, it appeared with 'Yet' or 'Not even'.
Despite what your English teacher might have advised, most of the time, 'But' was used to begin a sentence or paragraph. None of the other conjunctions were used more than once, but yet again, most of the time, they were used to start sentences or paragraphs.
4. Consider asking questions:
A third (4/12) of the sample used questions in a bid to engage the reader, all of which prompted simple yes/no answers.
According to the research summarised in Yes! by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, questions are better than commands when the audience is in an 'unaroused' state, that is, when they are not already convinced by a certain argument, or haven't already made the decision to buy a product. This may explain why, in all but one of the blurbs, the question was posed in the first paragraph – where we might expect the reader to be least convinced and in most need of gentle engagement. Towards the end of a description, a call to action may be more likely to work well.
5. Consider linking to other authors/titles
Only a quarter (3/12) of the sample did this, but the examples are so specific, they deserve attention.
The blurb for Repo Girl concludes 'If you enjoy reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, you'll love this fast-paced mystery with lots of laughs.'
Likewise, Little Mishaps and Big surprises tells us 'If you're a fan of Lucy Diamond, Lindsey Kelk, Sophie Kinsella or Tracy Bloom, don't miss this heart-warming, feel good romantic comedy'.
Both of these successful books appear to have been published by indie authors whose names may not have been as familiar to readers as other authors in the sample, like Margaret Atwood or Stephen King. By including other authors' names and titles in their blurbs, these indies have been able to precisely target the sort of reader who will enjoy their work – communicating something really important to the reader of the blurb, as well as possibly picking up some new readers searching for 'Stephanie Plum' or 'books like Sophie Kinsella'.
The only traditionally-published book to employ a similar tactic was that for The Cockroach, which is a satire drawing upon Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and, hence, in describing its genre, calls the book a 'Kafkaesque satire'.
6. Keep it short and sweet:
The body text of the average blurb in this sample was 150 words. However, there was a lot of variation. The shortest (that of well-known classic Nineteen Eighty-Four) was almost half this length. The longest (that of The Dutch House, which spans five decades and features a large cast of characters) was nearly double.
Choosing the right length for your book appears crucial.
7. Tell us about the protagonist + the antagonist/romantic interest, but hold back on other characters:
Almost all (11/12) blurbs named either an antagonist or a romantic interest. In some cases, such as Bloody Genius and Catch-22, this may be a group or an abstract antagonist, like an academic department, or the armed forces. The only exception to this rule was the blurb for an indie novel billed as a 'romantic comedy' which only obliquely referred to the character not needing 'a man to complete her'.
By contrast, fewer than half (5/12) of the blurbs mentioned characters other than the main protagonist and antagonist or romantic interest. Those that did include Doctor Sleep, which really only named two characters (Dan and Alara, since the antagonist, True Knot, is a group), The Dutch House (which is a complex saga in which the main character is not the narrator), The Cockroach (which has two group antagonists), Plastic (in which the third character appears as more of an object/plot device, at least as far as the blurb is concerned), and The Institute.
The Institute mentioned by far the most characters – five in all. It's worth noting that of the two books which really introduced more than two characters – The Dutch House and The Institute – were also significantly longer blurbs than any of the other books (241 and 243 words).
8. Use emotional words:
Do you remember those four words I gave you at the start of this blog post? Write them down now.
Did you remember all of them?
Which one sprang to mind first?
Although you might be blasted for including too many adjectives in a manuscript, there are different rules when it comes to blurbs: 'unexpectedly', 'sinister', 'brainy', 'desperate', and 'ravishingly' all make the cut.
According to my subjective analysis, words (both adjectives and nouns) with a negative emotional impact were most common. By 'negative emotional impact', I mean those which provoke fear, like 'looming' or 'nightmare', disgust, like 'incontinence' or 'vomit', or even urgency like 'don't miss' (and in case you're wondering, all of those examples came from the same romantic comedy blurb!) These types of words were found in all twelve blurbs in the sample, with an average of six tokens per blurb.
Conversely, words associated with positive emotions, such as 'heart-warming', 'feel-good', 'romantic', 'perfect', 'great', or 'fab' (all again from the same blurb as above!) while still common, were less frequent. These types of positive emotion-inducing words were found in all 12 blurbs, although a quarter of these contained only one positive emotionally-laden word. The average blurb contained four positive tokens.
The blurb with the greatest density of negative emotional words was that of Bloody Genius, in which close to 10% of the words in the text had some form of negative emotion attached to them. Most of these relate to violence ('feuding', 'faced off', 'battleground', 'confrontational'), death ('dead', 'killer', 'murderer'), and mental instability ('extremes', 'wildly impassioned', 'crazy', 'diametrically opposed zealots', 'maniacs'). Perhaps to balance out the large number of negative emotions, this blurb contained fewer than average words with positive connotations.
On the other hand, the blurb with the greatest density of positive emotional words, and the second highest density of words with negative connotations, giving it the highest density of emotional words overall, was the indie novel Little Mishaps and Big Surprises, from which the above examples were drawn. Given that research suggests it is unwise to connect your product (or art or ideas) with images that evoke disgust, like toilets, as this image will linger in your audience's head, it is perhaps unsurprising that the composer of this blurb felt it necessary to try and counterbalance the unsavory connotations of 'doggy incontinence' and 'vomit' with words like 'perfect' and 'fab'.
Did it work? Did you remember the positive words or the negative ones – or both?
9. Repeat the title:
Repetition aids memory, and is a persuasive tactic all of its own. Two thirds (8/12) of the blurbs in the present sample repeated the title of the book in their text in some form.
This is particularly easy where the book is named after a setting (like The Dutch House or The Institute), or a character (like Doctor Sleep), but most blurb writers manage to work the book's title in, up to five times in the case of The Institute.
Notably, neither of the two indie novels in the sample worked the book's exact title in, although the blurb for Little Mishaps and Big Surprises cleverly echoes the title in the phrase 'life has some little mishaps planned for Charlie that lead to some BIG surprises'.
Of course, simply because a blurb contains all of these elements does not guarantee that a book is worth reading (if you're a reader/reviewer) or that it will sell (if you're a writer). But, as my next post on unsuccessful blurbs will demonstrate, it should give us a pretty good idea!
Tagged blurb, marketing, read
The Book Lab: Effects of Sub-Zero Temperatures on Sodden Books
What makes an unsuccessful blurb?
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While internet bank accounts can help you earn more interest, you have to make sure you get the right one. Compare the most common features of internet bank accounts and decide which ones are most useful to you. We've conducted reviews of the most popular accounts, and you'll know exactly which internet bank account to open.
What exactly is an internet bank account? For our purposes, it means an account that's only offered online. While you may be able to bank with the same institution the old-fashioned way (in person), internet bank accounts are usually only offered to online users.
Aside from the ability to bank in your bathrobe, what are the major advantages of internet bank accounts? The answer is simple: Annual Percentage Yield (APY). By conducting your transactions online, you save the bank money which it ideally passes on to you in the form of higher savings rates.
When shopping among internet bank accounts, you'll want to look at some key features. Not every bank offers everything, so you have to decide how important these are to you.
2.Access to the money. If you want to take it and spend it, how much work do you have to do?
3.Number of linked accounts. Can you set up a network of accounts and zap money back and forth through your internet bank account?
4.Additional products and services. Can you buy CDs, get a mortgage, or pay bills online?
5.Leverage of existing banking relationships. If an institution that you already deal with has an internet bank account, you may qualify for some extra perks by keeping all of your business in one place.
6.Customer service options. How easy will it be to get questions answered?
7.Automatic savings plans. Can you put it on auto-pilot and let the money accumulate automatically?
8.Safety and security. Is the bank FDIC insured, and do you trust their security process?
Once you compare the features of various internet bank accounts, you can decide which one is best. For example, you may decide that APY is most important to you. Therefore, you wouldn't care about any other options – you'd just pick the bank with the highest APY. Be sure to consider the top 3 Reasons to Avoid Online Bank Accounts before you make the jump.
Here you'll find reviews of some of the most popular internet bank accounts. This is not an exhaustive list – it's just to get you started and provide some information to comparing against your own research.


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Is Michael Flynn Preparing to Testify Against the President?
Jabin Botsford/the Washington Post via Getty Images
The lawyer who represents former national security adviser Michael Flynn met with members of special counsel Robert Mueller's team Monday morning— further fueling speculation that Flynn may be about to take a plea deal in the Russia investigation.
Robert Kelner, Flynn's attorney, informed Donald Trump's legal team late last week that he could no longer engage in privileged discussion about defense strategy in the case, ABC News reports. That is a clear indication that Flynn might be negotiating a plea deal that could include him testifying against the president or senior White House officials, according to the report.
Those negotiations would include prosecutors telling Flynn, off the record, of course, the evidence they have against him. They would then give him the opportunity to disclose what information or evidence he has that could implicate others in the case, up to and including the president himself.
Sources told ABC News that prior to last week's break, Flynn's legal counsel and Trump's legal team had engaged in privileged discussions for months.
One member of the Trump legal team, Jay Sekulow, told ABC News last week that the break was "not entirely unexpected."
"No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about Gen. Flynn cooperating against the president," Sekulow said.
But other sources have told ABC News that the general has been feeling the heat ever since prosecutors began focusing on his son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked as a part of Flynn Intel Group. The younger Flynn accompanied his father in 2015 on the trip to Russia where the elder Flynn appeared at a Moscow dinner sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In addition, ABC News reports that Democrats in Congress forwarded information to the Mueller team allegedly showing that during his confirmation process, Flynn illegally concealed more than a dozen foreign contacts and overseas trips.
In a letter to Flynn's attorney, Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings and Eliot L. Engel wrote, "It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application in 2016 and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interviewed him as part of the background check process."
The information the congressmen reference is information House investigators collected from executives at three private companies Flynn advised in 2015 and 2016 prior to joining then-candidate Trump on the campaign trail.
Flynn was named as Trump's first national security adviser, but 24 days later, he was forced to resign when it was revealed that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials during the presidential transition.
"He has, over and over, omitted information that he should have disclosed," Cummings told ABC News. "It's not an aberration, and that's clear."
Cummings said that intentionally omitting foreign contacts when applying for security clearance can carry a five-year prison term, but acknowledged that penalties are rarely so severe.
The alleged transgressions do, however, provide the type of leverage that prosecutors can use to compel Flynn to assist in the broader investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Read more at ABC News.


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All Business Report
OPINION: Ramaphosa's commitment on data needs firm action
Opinion / 26 June 2019, 3:30pm / Greg Chen
President Cyril Ramaphosa makes a quick lunch takeaway stop at the Palace Fisheries in Saltriver, Cape Town. President Cyril Ramaphosa's commitment to reduce the cost of data, announced during the State of the Nation Address is commendable writes Greg Chen. Picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS
JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa's commitment to reduce the cost of data, announced during the State of the Nation Address is commendable, but it needs to be accompanied by firm action from both the private and public sector.
Low data costs are one of the most affordable, and also one of the most effective, ways of bringing people into the economy. With cheap internet access, people can learn and develop skills, find employment opportunities, and start and grow businesses.
Other less obvious benefits can also have a massive impact on the lives of low-income earners.
With readily available internet access, shoppers can find the best deals available and commuters can find the most efficient and affordable routes to and from their places of work. The cumulative savings from this information can be significant, especially for people struggling to get by every month.
But this ideal can only be achieved if the state and the private sector work in concert to make the president's commitment a reality.
It's fantastic that we'll get policy clarity on the spectrum licensing process, but policy can only take you so far. Ultimately, the spectrum needs to be allocated and the process cannot be allowed to drag on any longer than it already has.
Spectrum allocation also shouldn't prevent private sector players in the mobile and wider connectivity space from doing everything they can to make data affordable to all South Africans and to do so in a meaningful way.
Businesses can already start making massive changes to data affordability by employing data efficient collaterals in their digital space, and further reverse billing data for customers coming into their website or service.
This will open their business opportunities to millions more South Africans without having to wait for things to change on the macro-scale.
Ultimately, the time for platitudes is over and real action is needed.
Without affordable data access, South Africa risks falling behind, not only with the rest of the world, but the rest of the continent.
The government and the private sector have a unique opportunity to make internet access a reality for everyone in the country. They shouldn't waste it.
Greg Chen is chief executive of Mobiz.
Inside BUSINESS REPORT
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Transgender Veteran Advocates and Pols Blast Trump's 'Atrocious' Military Ban
Elected officials said the ban is an affront to equal rights for all Americans
By Madina Toure • 07/26/17 8:50pm
Jennifer Louise Lopez, a transgender veteran, at a rally in Times Square against President Trump's military ban. Madina Toure/Observer
Transgender veteran advocates and New York's top elected officials and leaders blasted President Donald Trump's decision to ban transgender individuals from the military after he announced the policy change on social media.
The president took to Twitter this morning to announce that the federal government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to "serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military" after consulting with his generals and military experts.
"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," Trump wrote on Twitter.
Jennifer Louise Lopez, a transgender veteran who served in the U.S. Navy in 1999 and founder of Everything Transgender in NYC, said that nearly 20 years later, "we're still dealing with the same issues that I had to deal with."
"I had to hide in men's clothes," Lopez said at a rally in Times Square against the ban. "I had to hide with the men. I could not be who I was and am. This is atrocious. There are transgender people that are wonderful, that would go fight for us and now this guy in office is gonna kick all of them out? We need to stop this."
When the rally—hosted by Equality NY at the U.S. Army Career Center—concluded, Lopez led others to chant, "We're here, we're trans, we're fabulous, don't fuck with us!" multiple times.
Sue Bolton, a graduate of West Point, a preparatory school for the U.S. military and a member of LGBT military organization SPARTA, said she is speaking on behalf of transgender service members who could not participate in the rally because a few were telling their stories to the media but noted that "most of them are doing their jobs." She stressed that they are not fearful.
"They woke up this morning and they saw a tweet from their commander-in-chief," Bolton said. "I will tell you this because I've talked to them: they were alarmed, they were concerned but they are not afraid."
Kristen Rouse, president and founding director of the New York City Veterans, discussed her experience under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy" signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993 directing military personnel not to discuss their sexual orientation.
"I served in the U.S. Army for 13 years," Rouse said. "Seventeen years of my service were under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' Men and women, veterans, advocates, members of communities, journalists, political officials stood up and spoke for me when I was serving in silence."
Earlier today, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Long Island City asserted that the vast majority of Americans are tolerant and inclusive and said that the ban is Trump's "playbook going back to the 1980s."
"He has always loved to divide people," de Blasio said. "He's always loved to put people down, and he just keeps doing it but you know what? He's out of sync with the American people. No, I don't think they care. I think they admire anyone who's willing to put on a uniform and serve their country."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said valor "knows no race, no creed, no gender and no sexual identity."
"Nearly 70 years ago today, President Truman signed an executive order to desegregate the military of the United States — a major step forward for equality in our society," Cuomo said. "In stark contrast, the Trump Administration's directive barring transgender members of the military is wrong, intolerant and a giant slide backwards in the fight for equal rights."
Last year, former President Barack Obama announced that transgender people would be allowed to openly serve in the military. Trump's move reverses that policy.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, for her part, said the decision is "harmful and misguided" and that it weakens the military, vowing to "do everything in my power to fight it."
"There are transgender service members who put on uniform and showed up to their military duties this morning, only to be told—on Twitter, no less—that their commander in chief doesn't want them in 'any capacity,'" Gillibrand wrote on her Facebook page. It is beyond insulting to the service of those willing to die for this country."
Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, one of seven openly LGBT Council members, said that his husband enrolled in the U.S. Navy when he was a teenager and was removed from the military on the suspicion that he was gay—before he was "even out of the closet" and before his parents even knew that he was gay, despite the fact that he was "honorably serving our country overseas in a very sensitive position."
"We have left that time behind and now appreciate the courage and the willingness of every American to serve our country and even risk their life for our country," Van Bramer said. "This president is a bully. This president is using his presidency to take the most vulnerable among us and separate them from us and deny them their heroism and their courage when they want to serve our country."
Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a 2013 mayoral candidate and the first openly gay speaker, said that transgender military personnel "have demonstrated ten times over more valor and courage than our president ever has."
"I find the President's statement particularly offensive because it comes from a man who never served a day in his life and as a privileged youth sought and received a deferment from compulsory service, while low-income and middle class kids went to war and gave their lives," Quinn said.
Filed Under: Politics, New York Politics, National Politics, transgender in the military, Transgender, Military, Governor Andrew Cuomo, lgbt, Christine Quinn, Donald Trump, New York City, Bill de Blasio, Donald Trump, National, New York
SEE ALSO: Biden Urges Congress to Block Rail Workers From Striking Over Sick Days, Challenging His Pro-Union Stance


text:
package org.apache.camel;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlEnum;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

/**
 * Represents the kind of message exchange pattern
 */
@XmlType
@XmlEnum
public enum ExchangePattern {
    InOnly, InOut, InOptionalOut;

    /**
     * Return true if there can be an IN message
     */
    public boolean isInCapable() {
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Return true if there can be an OUT message
     */
    public boolean isOutCapable() {
        switch (this) {
        case InOnly:
            return false;
        default:
            return true;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Return true if there can be a FAULT message
     */
    public boolean isFaultCapable() {
        switch (this) {
        case InOnly:
            return false;
        default:
            return true;
        }
    }

    public static ExchangePattern asEnum(String value) {
        try {
            return valueOf(value);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown message exchange pattern: " + value, e);
        }
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Cutting through the B.S. in the Beer Store debate
The Beer Store and the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) have, as of late, been engaged in a very public and increasingly nasty fight over the state of the province's beer sales.
And while both the OCSA and The Beer Store are making much-repeated arguments on their respective websites and Twitter feeds about what's in the best interest of the public, let's be serious here: The Beer Store currently enjoys roughly an 80% market share of all beer sales in this province and they are unlikely to relinquish it easily. Furthermore, the OCSA doesn't want in on the sale of booze because they think they can offer you a better shopping experience; they want a piece of that action. As 1997-era Diddy will gladly tell you, it's all about the Benjamins. Er, the Bordens, as it were.
So let's cut through the bullshit and take a look at the validity of some of the claims being made on both sides.
THE PRICE OF BEER WILL CHANGE
TBS says
If alcohol sales are deregulated, the price of beer will go up. In a statement accompanying a study that The Beer Store commissioned, Beer Store president Ted Moroz said, "Prices will go up. Make no mistake. Beer, wine and liquor will be more expensive in Ontario."
The OCSA says
In their own study, the OCSA initially said that the prices would go down, noting that the average price of a two-four at The Beer Store was 27 per cent higher than at private retailers in Quebec. The Beer Store (and others) contested these claims, noting that the original study didn't properly take things like taxes into account. The author of the OCSA report then responded with a second study, confirming his assertion that deregulation would mean lower prices at large retailers. So...lower prices, then?
Well no. Here's Dave Bryans, CEO of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association in a video explicitly saying, "Yes, you would probably pay more for convenience because of location [and] because of hours of service." So what the what?
Sniff test
Both sides are bullshitting you a bit. The Beer Store's studies point to jurisdictions like Alberta where the system is entirely privatized and, yes, people pay more. This argument ignores the idea that, if The Beer Store and the LCBO stayed in business alongside some alternative, like convenience stores, there would be increased competition. And when you have competition, prices tend to stay fairly competitive so one business likely wouldn't be able to simply charge whatever they want. They'd hypothetically be forced to stay competitive and the argument can be made that the consumer would ultimately benefit from the increased competition.
On the other hand, you tend to pay for convenience since there's an increased cost associated with increased distribution to more store locations. So what's the reality? Who knows. There's a reason there are conflicting arguments on this part of the debate: It involves predicting the future and, while we can point to other jurisdictions and make educated guesses, it's tough to say exactly how deregulated alcohol might play out in a place where it's been regulated for the last 80 years or so. People can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.
CHANGE WILL MAKE GETTING BOOZE EASIER FOR MINORS
The Beer Store points to the fact that they challenge 3.5 million customers per year and the dubious statistic that 64% of Ontarians believe that sales to minors would increase under a convenience store retail system (Oh, they believe it!). They also point to case studies about minors purchasing alcohol in privatized jurisdictions like BC and New York to show that the instance is higher when alcohol is deregulated.
OCSA says
The convenience stores association points out the fact that TBS's "studies" don't actually analyze their own rate of selling to minors (just how often they "challenge") and they likewise tout their own proven track record for ID'ing customers who are purchasing cigarettes or lottery tickets. They claim they'll do a better job keeping booze away from minors.
I'm going to have to call bullshit all around. Apparently everyone conducting these studies doesn't remember being a teenager. You can tout all the stats you want, but you can't keep teens away from cigarettes and alcohol. To paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, the kind of control you're attempting simply is not possible. If there is one thing the history of teenagers has taught us it's that cigarettes and alcohol will not be contained. Teens break free, expand to new territories and crash through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh... well, there it is: Teenagers will find a way.
THIS WILL AFFECT BEER SELECTION
Ontario has more selection with the Beer Store in place. The Beer Store offers up 420 brands of beer from 100 different brewers and that's more than almost every other beer-selling store in Canada (that's a fact).
The OCSA never really makes any claims toward improved selection--because they'd be stupid to even try--but anti-beer store pundits like the idea of private retailers being able to choose their selection, including from small craft brewers if they see fit; often pointing to a handful of depanneurs in Quebec that sell great craft beer.
The Beer Store's claims are legit, but still a little funky. It's true that they can't be beat for selection in the rest of the country, but that's something of a dubious distinction given that brewers that want to sell their beer in this province have literally zero other private options. Deregulation likely won't give Ontario a store with more selection; however, some hold out hope that it could give us stores that opt to focus exclusively on American craft beers, Ontario craft beers, maple porters, etc.
There's something to be said for that, but before we go crazy about the idea of craft beer in convenience stores, it's probably important to consider how many artisanal and craft selections you currently find among the Hostess, Lays, and Kraft products that convenience stores choose to stock.
DEREGULATION WILL HARM THE ENVIRONMENT
The Beer Store's industry-funded recycling program has a 92% return rate on bottles and recycled more than two billion beer, wine and liquor containers in 2011-2012; roughly half of what the entire Ontario Blue Box recycles. If the deposit system is lost, they claim 453,000 tons of liquor packaging will have to be managed by municipal governments. They claim the cost to municipal taxpayers will be $40 million a year.
The OCSA makes no claims in relation to recycling.
There's no clear bullshit here, with the possible exception that no one is actually proposing we do away with the Beer Store's "award winning recycling program." People just want an alternative place to sell beer. If The Beer Store remains in business, there doesn't seem to be any reason they can't keep acting as the province's bottle recycler. Indeed, given the skill with which they handle recycling, few might object if they opted to focus just on recycling. There is a suggestion that with less capital, the recycling system might suffer, but this point seems, at best, an attempt to simply shoehorn in a pro-Beer Store talking point and, at worst, a veiled threat to the province that they might stop recycling if they aren't allowed to maintain their monopoly.
Both sides are flinging more shit than angry monkeys at the zoo. The Beer Store is a legally-protected monopoly providing massive profits to foreign-owned breweries and the way they use this position to promote their own brands is a clear conflict of interest. The province obviously needs some alternative to The Beer Store, but let's not be so eager for it that we blindly accept the first alternative that comes along. The OCSA raises some good points, but theirs is not the fix-all solution to our Beer Store woes that we all want to think it is.
Finally, all this posturing seems largely moot anyway. The province has demonstrated no desire to change the status quo. Some people got their hopes up when Kathleen Wynne, in her February 11, 2014 Reddit AMA said, "We are in conversation with the Ontario Craft Brewers association and we're looking at ways to modernize beer distribution," but she also noted that "We need to make sure we make socially responsible decisions about the distribution of alcohol. We have a controlled distribution system in place in Ontario and it's worked well."
I contacted the Ontario Craft Brewers to ask about the "conversation" that was happening and was told by Christine Mulkins, who handles OCB's PR, that "OCB is always in discussions with government about ways to improve access for consumers and create more jobs in Ontario." So, Wynne's mention of a "conversation" was likely just a reference to an ongoing series of AGCO modernization consultations that are occurring (consultations at which you'll find sizable teams from the companies that own the Beer Store sitting alongside the OCB) as opposed to any real commitment to change
So while it's great that the issue is getting much-needed public discussion and more Ontarians are getting informed about alcohol distribution here, The Beer Store isn't going anywhere any time soon. That's no bullshit.
Ben Johnson also writes about beer on Ben's Beer Blog. Follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson.
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text:
Center for Statistics
Quetelet seminar Milica Miocevic: Bayesian Mediation Analysis
25-09-2018 from 12:00 to 13:00
Campus Dunant - lokaal 1.1 - Henri Dunantlaan - 9000 Gent
Jan De Neve
Jan.DeNeve@ugent.be
Pros and cons of Bayesian methods for mediation analysis
Mediation analysis is used to study intermediate variables (M) that transmit the effect an independent variable (X) has on a dependent variable (Y). For example, a researcher might be interested in whether an intervention designed to reduce unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (X) affects fruit and vegetable consumption (M), which in turn affects general health (Y). In this scenario, the quantity of interest is the indirect effect of the intervention on general health through fruit and vegetable consumption.
Two prominent approaches to data analysis are the classical (also called "frequentist") and the Bayesian approach. In recent years researchers in social sciences have turned to Bayesian methods when they encounter convergence issues (Chen, Choi, Weiss, & Stapleton, 2014), issues due to small samples (Lee & Song, 2004), and when they wish to report the probability that a parameter lies within a certain interval (Rindskopf, 2012).
In the frequentist framework, evidence for the presence of mediation is obtained by testing the statistical significance of the product of coefficients comprising the indirect effect. The distribution of the mediated effect is often asymmetric (Craig, 1936; Lomnicki, 1967; Springer & Thompson, 1966), and the best classical methods for evaluating the significance of the mediated effect either take the asymmetric distribution of the product into account or make no distributional assumptions at all (Cheung 2007, 2009; MacKinnon, Fritz, Williams, & Lockwood 2007; MacKinnon, Lockwood, & Williams, 2004; MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffmann, West, & Sheets, 2002; MacKinnon, et al., 1995; Shrout & Bolger, 2002; Tofighi & MacKinnon, 2011; Valente, Gonzalez, Mio?evi?, & MacKinnon, 2016; Yuan & MacKinnon, 2009).
Bayesian methods offer an easy way to take into account the asymmetric distribution of the mediated effect, and to compute functions of the mediated effect, e.g. effect size measures and causal estimates of indirect and direct effects. Furthermore, Bayesian methods provide an intuitive framework for the inclusion of relevant prior information into the statistical analysis. In this talk I will discuss the pros and cons of Bayesian methods for mediation analysis, and I will illustrate some advantages and challenges of Bayesian mediation analysis using an example data set from a prevention study designed to improve the health of law enforcement officers in the United States (Kuehl et al., 2016). I will conclude with recommendations that can be made for applied researchers based on the methodological literature on Bayesian mediation analysis thus far, and with some future directions for this line of research.
Find more events: Center for Statistics


Can you imagine a childhood without toys? Soft toys play an important role in a child's development. This is not often obvious when your see your little tot chatting away to her quiet stuffed buddies, but it's helping her develop all sorts of abilities. This affinity for soft toys begins quite early – squeaky toys, animal rattles and animal mobiles help babies' co-ordinate their eye-hand movements. This is the reason why these make for excellent gifts for children right from the time they're babies all the way to pre-school years.
As the child grows, stuffed toys prove to have a unique advantage over other toys since it resembles a living creature. This makes it easier for kids to relate to them and attach emotions to them. A child learns new words every day and this is why they're often talkative at a young age. Talking to their stuffed toys helps them get comfortable with speech and improves their pronunciation too.
Children are curious of the big world around them while being intimidated by it at the same time. A stuffed toy becomes their adventure companion. This is the reason why they insist on holding their favourite stuffed toy when they sleep or while travelling. These are huge steps for little kids as their toys are a reassuring presence in these situations. Children scolding their toys, giving their toys time-outs, parenting their stuffed animals are their ways of exerting a bit of control in this world by imitating adults with role play. Unconventional stuffed toys such as fruit and veggie baskets and groceries helps kids familiarize themselves with the names, shapes and colours of everyday objects.
Contrary to popular belief, stuffed toys and dolls aren't for girls alone. Boys too can benefit greatly by playing with dolls in terms of developing vocabulary and social skills. Other than that, you may often see young boys beat up their dolls or crash it into trucks – instead of being alarmed, consider this a great way for them to channel their aggression instead of lashing out at others. Similarly, playing with dolls helps little boys develop empathy and nurtures their emotional side.


Q: What is the sequence of events involving the ambush of Frank in Flagstone and Cheyenne's attack on Morton's train?
There are few movies that can combine great directing, acting ,music, cinematography, and writing into one movie, but this one does. There are no weak points. Every scene is a piece of art. I know of no other film that affects the senses as this one. Henry Fonda said this was his favorite film and role. It's easy to see why. He created 1 of the great "bad guy" roles in history. In a side note, Leone wanted to put brown contacts in Fonda's eyes,("who ever saw a villain with blue eyes", Leone said), but Fonda wouldn't have it, and the effect is magic in the famous Leone close-ups. Bronson, Cardinale, and Robards are equally powerful, all have great lines and the camera loves them. Speaking of cameras, the visuals are stunning. There is nothing fancy about this movie. Raw power is what you see and feel. Simply the best western if not film ever made.
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Title: BIOCASCADES: Sustainable and Scalable Biocatalytic Cascade Reactions Training Network.
Title: NOMORFILM: Novel marine biomolecules against biofilm. Application to medical devices.
Title: AQUAtic INVAders: Early Detection, Control and Management.
Title: GRACE: Gender and Cultures of Equality in Europe.


text:
Bursa Malaysia is the stock exchange of Malaysia. It is one of the largest bourses in ASEAN. It is based in Kuala Lumpur and was previously known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). It provides a full integration of transactions, offering a wide range of currency exchange and related services including trading, settlement, clearing and savings services.

Along with the Securities Commission of Malaysia, the stock exchange regulates the capital market in Malaysia and through its facilities, upholds the duty to manage and maintain order in the trading of stocks, bonds and derivatives.

History
Bursa Malaysia was established in 1930 when the Singapore Stockbrokers Association became an official organization of securities in Malaya. In 1937, it was re-registered as the Stockbrokers' Association of Malaya, but it still did not trade public shares. In 1960, the Malayan Stock Exchange was formed and public trading started on May 9 that year. In 1961, a board system was introduced in two trading places, one in Singapore and one in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian Stock Exchange was formally formed in 1964 and in the following year, with the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the stock exchange continued to function under the Malaysian and Singapore Stock Exchange (MSSE). In 1973, with the termination of currency exchange between Malaysia and Singapore, MSSE split into two which is the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) and the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES).

Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) was renamed Bursa Malaysia in 2004 and it consists of a Main Market, ACE Market and LEAP Market.

See also
 Economy of Malaysia
 List of Southeast Asian stock exchanges
 List of stock exchanges in the Commonwealth of Nations
 List of stock exchanges

References

External links

Financial services companies established in 1964
Economy of Malaysia
Ministry of Finance (Malaysia)
Companies listed on Bursa Malaysia
Minister of Finance (Incorporated) (Malaysia)
Government-owned companies of Malaysia
1964 establishments in British Malaya
1964 establishments in Malaysia
Stock exchanges in Southeast Asia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Scala child listbuffer returned as parent listbuffer I have started working on scala now. And come to a point where I want to use Inheritance correctly.
I am stuck at once place. I have tried to read docs and other information online. but I seems like I am stuck.
Please look at this and tell me if you have faced this in the past and whether I am doing something really really wrong.
So, this is my method:
 def getFacethierarchy): ListBuffer[BaseClass] = {
      val obj: Childclass = new ChildClass(1, "2")
      val list: ListBuffer[ChildClass] = ListBuffer[ChildClass]()
      list += obj
      list
  }

class BaseClass(var id: Int){
}

class ChildClass(id: Int, var name: String) extends BaseClass(id){
}

Now scala Is not allowing me to return a ChildClass instance.
In Java, this would work (Child is a type of Parent)
I tried to change my method signature to return "Any".
I am not sure what I am going wrong with.
Please help, if possible.
update:
To be more specific to what I am doing, I have updated the code snippet.

A: ListBuffer[ChildClass] is not a subtype of ListBuffer[BaseClass] because ListBuffer being a mutable data structure, it would break the type-safety.
You want to avoid something like:
val l : ListBuffer[Int] = ListBuffer[Int](1, 2, 3)
val l2 :ListBuffer[Any] = l
l2(0) = 2.54

What you can do is to simply create a ListBuffer[BaseClass]:
def getFacethierarchy): ListBuffer[BaseClass] = {
  val obj: Chlidclass = new ChildClass(1, "2")
  ListBuffer[BaseClass](obj)

}

A: The problem stems from the fact that ListBuffer is invariant, not covariant (no + before T). It cannot be covariant. For this reason, the ListBuffer[ChildClass] is not a subtype of ListBuffer[BaseClass], even if ChildClass is a subtype of BaseClass.
You can use existential types (: ListBuffer[T] forSome {type T <: BaseClass} (hope I used the correct syntax)), or provide an additional type parameter to the method you want to use (yourMethod[T <: BaseClass]: ListBuffer[T]). If you want "MyTypes" (might be, hard to tell without further details): Scala do not support it.
Taking a closer look at your code, you might prefer to return a List[BaseClass] instead, which is covariant, so you could write:
 def getFacethierarchy: List[BaseClass] = {
      val obj: Chlidclass = new ChildClass(1, "2")
      val list: ListBuffer[ChildClass] = ListBuffer[ChildClass]()
      list += obj
      list.toList
 }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The River Kwai passes through Latin America and Washington.
Eric Lomax, left, and his torturer, Takashi Nagase, who Lomax eventually met and forgave.
What differentiated him from so many others persecuted worldwide was the astounding fact that this tormentor, Takashi Nagase, once found and identified, turned out to be a Buddhist monk.
How to bring their story to people who can't possibly imagine what torture does to the ones who suffer it and those who create that suffering?
There was also an aesthetic challenge: given the extreme reserve of both antagonists, their inability to articulate to one another—no less anybody else—what they had been feeling all those years, how to imagine, for the screen, dialogue our two silent former enemies would never have said but that would remain true to their affliction? How to bring their story to people who can't possibly imagine what torture does to the ones who suffer it and those who create that suffering?
Eric's tragedy and his attempt at reconciliation had a special meaning for me: it connected his life to that of so many friends in Chile and other countries who had been subjected to inhuman interrogations. It was a way of understanding the common humanity of all torture victims. More so, given that the method that Bamberg employed to resurrect Eric's memories and restore his mental health had first been elaborated as a therapeutic response to the flood of damaged Latin Americans exiled in England during the 1970s and 1980s, those years when grim dictatorships dominated that continent. Eric Lomax, she said, had the sad privilege of being the first World War II veteran with PTSD who was able to take advantage of this new psychological treatment.
Can we accept that the questions Eric Lomax asked himself about forgiveness and revenge, about redemption and memory, no longer trouble contemporary humanity?
Ariel Dorfman, the Chilean-American writer and professor at Duke University, has written many books and plays translated into more than 50 languages. Among them are his play and film Death and the Maiden and his memoir of the coup against Allende, Heading South, Looking North: A Bilingual Journey. His latest book is the second part of that memoir, Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of an Unrepentant Exile. He lives with his wife Angélica in Durham, North Carolina, and from time to time, in Chile.
This really touched my heart and soul in such a way that I have not felt for many years. Thank you Ariel.


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Knowledge about bubbles for PYRs (permafrost young researchers)
The International Training School "Bubbles 2017" was organized at UiT (the Arctic University of Norway) in Tromsø. The school covered interdisciplinary overview of the methane role in a changing environment. The main aim of the Bubbles 2017 was to provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the role of methane in marine and terrestrial environments (e.g. permafrost) from generation, migration, consumption and impact on the seafloor, water column and finally into the atmosphere. The International Training School "Bubbles 2017" was organized at UiT (the Arctic University of Norway) in Tromsø. The school covered interdisciplinary overview of the methane role in a changing environment. The main aim of the Bubbles 2017 was to provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the role of methane in marine and terrestrial environments (e.g. permafrost) from generation, migration, consumption and impact on the seafloor, water column and finally into the atmosphere.
Dozens of lectures and exercises on gases have been given for two weeks. The most of the lectures were devoted to the marine seepage and identification of gas emission, gas hydrates deposits, pockmarks, and how the sediment and diagenetic biogeochemistry works. One lecture covered the subject of terrestrial methane in permafrost directly: "Methane emissions from the terrestrial and submarine permafrost regions" given by Frans-Jan Parmentier.
More than 60 students and early career researchers have participated in the school. Participants were from diverse parts of the World: Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Italy, USA, Kenya, and Russia. Twelve PYRs study methane in frozen soils of Siberia, the Kola peninsula, Svalbard and in submarine permafrost regions, primarily the Eastern Siberian Arctic and the Beaufort Sea. The fantastic organization of the school leading by Giuliana Panieri and local comprehensive support has been done by AMGG. https://bubbles.uit.no/ Some pictures are here https://vk.com/album-18849773_246784297
On the picture from left to right : Elizaveta Protsenko (Norway), Dong-Hun Lee (South Korea), Matteo Puglini (Germany), Maria Cherbunina (Russia), Julia Stanilovskaya (Russia), Elizabeth Weidner (USA), Anastasia Zagovenkova (Russia), Gleb Kraev (Russia), Michael Whiticar (Canada), Frans-Jan Parmentier (Denmark), Victoria Pastukhova (Russia), Liudmila Krivenok (Russia), Johannes West (Sweden), Peter Betlem (Norway).


text:
OfficesCoronavirusWorkplace cultureLatest NewsEmployee engagement
One in three thinks return to office will be in 2021
by Jo Faragher 17 Aug 2020
by Jo Faragher 17 Aug 2020 Employees from larger companies were more likely to think they would return to the office next year
Employees from larger companies were more likely to think they would return to the office next year
One in three British workers believes they won't be back in their office or other place of work until at least next year, according to a survey by YouGov for e-learning company Skillcast. A quarter of the 4,000 workers surveyed said they expect to return to their place of work in 2021, while 8% said they are likely to continue working from home indefinitely.
UK lags behind Europe on returning to office Lifting the coronavirus lockdown: COVID-19 workplace risk assessment
Forty-five percent said they did expect to be back in the office in some form by the end of December, however, while a fifth said they were unsure on their organisation's return to work plans. Those in companies employing more than 250 employees were more likely to think it would be some time before they returned to the office, Skillcast found. Of the larger employers, only 42% expect to return before the end of 2020, and 30% think next year is more likely. In those with between 10 and 49 staff, 55% expect to be back this year, and 13% in 2021. Four-fifths of those surveyed said they would prefer to work from home at least one day a week, while 7% said they would like the flexibility to work from home when needed. Only 9% sad they were not returning to the office because of uncertainty over when and whether schools would open, the survey found. Just over a fifth (21%) said they were concerned about the risk of contracting coronavirus on their commute, while 30% were worried about catching it at their place of work. Forty-five percent said they simply did not want to commute to work anymore. Vivek Dodd, chief operating officer of Skillcast, said: "This latest study shows that working from home will remain with us for the foreseeable future. "These are warning signals for companies to invest in strengthening measures to support their remote workers and manage their c
Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines.
How to Reset Your Employee Engagement Strategy in a Post-Covid-19 World
Almost half of managers think staff are at risk of burnout
Dai Bando 26 Aug 2020 - 8:44 pm
Looking at the increases in the infection rates I think that summer 2021 is a realistic date for a return to work. The government must invest in quality high speed internet for the whole country as a matter of urgency if homeworking is to be a sustainable long-term option.
Lack of sleep affecting patient care, warn NHS...


I caught sight of this snow sculpture of Willie Melt and Betty Wont while driving home from church on a fine, bright winter Sunday. I walked back later that afternoon to take some photos.
Apparently, this family has a long heritage of making snow sculptures, as you can see that one of the snowmen is not just Willie Melt, but Willie Melt the Fourth.
This entry was posted in Life!, Seeking a Sign and tagged snow sculpture, snowmen, yard art by tarvasalutes. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Poet, Life-Writer, Academic
Bethena, memory and Scott Joplin
I played the piano for years, but was never really good, only competent. I played watered down versions of the classics for my piano lessons, but left to my own devices, there were two composers I loved and wanted to master – one was Eric Satie, whose Gymnopedies I staggered through for my GCSE music exam. The other was Scott Joplin – the 19th Century composer probably known best for ragtime melodies like The Entertainer, which featured in the film The Sting.
I'm sad to say I've never managed to play a whole Joplin piece through with any fluency. I was defeated by the key signatures and great two-octave leaps of the left hand. But my mum could play really well, and it was through her, that I first heard his music, when she used to play his beautiful waltz, Bethena. I must have been quite young because somehow I conflated the name of the piece with my mother's name which is Betony. I remember thinking for a time that the piece was written for her, possibly because my dad had bought home a gift of two anthologies of Joplin's music.
These were Joshua Rifkin's arrangements, which I now know were instrumental in the Joplin revival of the 1970s. I used to flick through the pages of those books, just loving the titles – Elite Syncopations, Sunflower Slow Drag, The Strenuous Life.
Bethena is such a brilliant and sorrowful piece of music – the main theme is a haunting, syncopated melody, accentuated by the deep oom-pah-pah bass line. You can hear it here.
Joplin wrote it after his second wife, Freddie Alexander, died. By that time, Joplin had already suffered the death of a child from his first marriage. Freddie was only nineteen when they wed, but died ten weeks after their wedding of pneumonia.
Although Joplin had at one time made money from the publication of Maple Leaf Rag (probably his most famous rag –very difficult to play!), he was in hardship by the time Freddie died, and Bethena didn't sell and was eventually forgotten. Only now is it considered to be one of his best compositions – music that showed he was both a ragtime composer and a classical composer, which is what he wanted to be. Ragtime, though technically difficult, was never taken seriously by critics. Joplin refuted this, saying, "syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music, and to shy bricks at 'hateful ragtime' no longer passes for musical culture."
What a life Scott Joplin had – he grew up poor in a large family in Texas, taught himself the rudiments of piano in the house of the white woman his mother worked for, became a rail-road labourer, a travelling musician, a pianist in various red-light districts before settling in Sedalia, Missouri.
As a child, I remember reading – or think I remember – that Joplin had died in an asylum of a broken heart when his opera, Treemonisha, was not given any attention. I've always carried that story with me.
Treemonisha was really Joplin's magnum opus, but was never produced in his life time, and in fact, he had to self-publish the score, and the only public airing it ever had was a read-through he also payed for, with him playing the piano throughout. Set on a slave plantation near where Joplin grew up, the plot focuses on an 18 year old black woman, Treemonisha, who leads her community towards salvation, through education.
The score of Treemonisha was lost, and not rediscovered until the 1970s, when it was put on in New York. Since then it's been produced a handful of times, and its worth as a serious piece of music is finally established. Again, although known as a ragtime opera, it draws on a whole range of American musical idioms – black folk songs, pre-blues music, spirituals, classical music and ragtime. Biographers think Joplin wrote it for Freddie Alexander.
The story of Joplin's breakdown had always haunted me, so it was strange to read more recent accounts that claim he actually died of insanity related to syphilis. This says something about the amorphous nature of "truth" and biography, because the first version, absorbed as a child, certainly feels more true to me, and I can't help wonder about the effects of Joplin's mind of his own "strenuous" life.
Joplin was 49 when he died. He was buried in a pauper's grave, which finally got a marker in 1974, the year The Sting was released. He died on April 1st 1917.
April 4, 2016 April 5, 2016 hannahlowe1
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Taipei, Taiwan, May 15th, 2009 – Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) will service at Hall 4 (TICC) Room#105 in Computex Taipei 2009. Leading to Efficiency and Simplicity, ECS lines up her complete product lines of motherboard, graphics card, notebook, netbook, All-in-one, small-form-factor desktop systems and communication appliance in the showcase.
ECS Black Series motherboards enable a brand new technology – eJIFFY, supporting easy Internet access, chatting with friends and browsing photos without entering windows operation system. ECS will also exhibit whole series of AMD and Intel® chipset based motherboards, including P55H-A, A785GM-M, A790GMX-AD3 etc. In addition, adapting to NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics solutions, ECS plans to launch her complete graphics card line; Black (high performance), Green (environment friendly) and Silent (home entertainment) Series for a variety of end users.
In compliance with ECS Green policy – Protect the Earth & Enrich Life, ECS has been implementing Green concept from product design. Without compromise performance, ECS features green PCB, low power consumption, space saving and carbon reduction through a series of smart designs of notebook, netbook, All-in-one and small-form-factor desktop systems in Computex. ECS also presents her advanced wireless WiMAX handheld devices in the up coming trade show.