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Main » Roleplaying Games » Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) » Core Rulebooks
Dungeons & Dragons: Acquisitions Incorporated
Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Limited Edition) (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master's Guide (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Monster Manual (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Player's Handbook (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything - Alternate Cover (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Volo's Guide to Monsters (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Xanathars Guide to Everything (Fifth Edition)
Dungeons & Dragons: Xanathars Guide to Everything (Limited Edition) (Fifth Edition)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Update: The #CBTLawsuit rollout is beginning – we need YOUR support
Jackie Bugnion explains the problems of citizenship taxation for #Americansabroad https://t.co/XHBJ2kDbml
— John Richardson – lawyer for "U.S. persons" abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) September 13, 2015
This post is to:
announce the "roll out" of a lawsuit filed in the United States
against the Government of the United States
to strike down the most egregious aspects of U.S. "place of birth taxation"
and provide relief for those who reside outside the United States and are unjustly, unfairly and unlawfully burdened by the attempt of the United States to impose its laws on the residents and/or citizens of other nations.
The lawsuit will require a large amount of funding including an immediate injection of $25,000.
For those who only want to contribute the funding are invited to go here. Those who want to understand what we are doing read on.
By way of background:
One more U.S. citizen abroad is forced to renounce her U.S. citizenship:
My comment on the renunciation of @annesmoedern https://t.co/ZaOp1Qkl4e … – She WANTED to renounce, but she wasn't happy about doing it.
— John Richardson – lawyer for "U.S. persons" abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) November 19, 2015
Congratulations for taking this difficult step. Thank you for your willingness to be interviewed and to write about this experience. Your writing and interview will help raise awareness of the reality of what the U.S. Government is doing to Americans abroad. To put it simply: Americans abroad are being forced – by the laws enacted by Congress and the enforcement of these laws by the Obama administration – to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
The specific reasons for this are discussed day in and day out on blogs, Facebook groups and pages, Twitter handles, and more. So, I won't repeat them here.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the cases of Afroyim v. Rusk and Vance v. Terrazas makes it clear (as per Justice Black in Afroyim) that:
"Citizenship in this Nation is a part of a co-operative affair. Its citizenry is the country and the country is its citizenry. The very nature of our free government makes it completely incongruous to have a rule of law under which a group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship. We hold that the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to, and does, protect every citizen of this Nation against a congressional forcible destruction of his citizenship, whatever his creed, color, or race. Our holding does no more than to give to this citizen that which is his own, a constitutional right to remain a citizen in a free country unless he voluntarily relinquishes that citizenship."
The time has come to use the courts to remind the U.S. Government that:
"Its citizenry is the country and the country is its citizenry."
The U.S. Government cannot engage in laws and policies that are "forcing Americans abroad to renounce THEIR U.S. citizenship".
Rachel, I admire your common sense, courage and generosity in sharing. Americans abroad owe you a great debt for having the courage to write about this experience.
The simple truth is that the U.S. Government is forcing Americans who live outside the United States to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
On July 8, 2015 I posted on the ADCS-ADSC blog that:
There will (in the very near future) be a lawsuit launched in the United States against the most egregious aspects of U.S. TAX policy, as they relate to ALL PEOPLE said to be "U.S. persons" who reside outside the United States.
The lawsuit will explore the following issues:
Can the United States Define its tax base so broadly that it includes people with little or no connection to the United States?
The lawsuit is likely to include issues related to the "forced imposition of U.S. citizenship" on people ("accidentals") who do NOT and have never had, a meaningful connection to the United States. Can the United States impose taxation on people, and otherwise control the lives of people, who do not live in the United States, and are often citizens of other nations, simply because they were born in the United States?
Can the United States impose taxation and reporting requirements on:
income not connected to the United States which is earned by
those who are residents and citizens of other nations?
Can the United States impose rules of taxation that limit the opportunities for Americans abroad from participating in:
pension and retirement plans in their country of residence
the benefits of mutual funds that are located outside of the United States and in the country where they reside?
Can the United States impose rules of taxation that:
subject the distributions of Registered Retirement Savings Plans ("RRSPs") of Canadian citizens to the U.S. Obamacare surtax,
but exempt the earnings from U.S. 401K plans from the Obamacare surtax?
Can the United States impose an "Exit Tax" on those who choose to relinquish U.S. citizenship? If so, can that "Exit Tax" be a tax on:
the assets of residents and the residents and citizens of other nations,
when those assets have no connection to the United States
when those assets are NOT located in the United States
when those assets were acquired after the person moved from the United States
when those assets were acquired with money earned and taxed in other nations
on the present value of non-U.S. pensions that were earned from employment and work outside the United States?
Can the United States impose laws on American citizens abroad, with compliance requirements that are so onerous, expensive, disabling and frightening that people feel they are forced to renounce U.S. citizenship?
People are NOT renouncing U.S. citizenship because the want to. They are renouncing U.S. citizenship because they feel they have to!
Who should support this lawsuit?
We hope for the support of individuals. We also hope for the support of all the various groups, whose members are claimed by the U.S. Government as "Americans abroad". "If Americans abroad do NOT hang together, they will hang separately".
I would add to the posting on July 8 that many of the issues we anticipate raising are NOT issues of taxation per se, but issues of "life control" under the guise of taxation.
In any event, what we are doing now is …
Working with our U.S. based law firm for the purpose of ensuring that our claims are provable. A great lawyer once remarked that:
A lawsuit and trial are NOT a search for truth. They are a search for proof!
Let's face it. We know how horrible the situation is. We know that no American citizen, who obeys all relevant U.S. laws, can live the life that he or she wants outside the United States. We know and understand the "TERRORony" of forms and penalties. We know all about the restrictions on investments, financial planning, the expenses of compliance, the constant fear and anxiety, the bank account closures, the strains on marriages, the lost business opportunities, and more.
We know all about this. But our knowing is NOT good enough. We must begin by confirming that what we all know to be the truth, can be presented in such a way, that we can meet the burden of proof.
We must be confident that we:
can prove the facts that
will support the legal basis to
secure us relief in the courts, from the most egregious aspects of life control based on circumstances of birth, that apply to those who were born in the United States and live outside the United States.
We need to be careful. We need to be prudent. The litigation in both the FATCA USA and the FATCA Canada lawsuits has taught us that this will NOT be an easy process. Nevertheless, I am confident of our position. This is about the extra-territorial application of U.S. law. It about "life control" based on the circumstance that you were born in the United States. It is unjust. It is unfair. It is immoral.
You did NOT choose the circumstances of your birth!
Prudence dictates that we begin by seeking a legal opinion that confirms that we can meet our burden of proof. Therefore, we will begin by securing this legal opinion. This will be our first step.
There are believed to be more than 8 million "U.S. persons" who are being hunted by FATCA. All of these people have an interest in this lawsuit. ALL of these people and their families are faced with compliance problems, the S. 877A Exit Tax, and more. Therefore, all affected persons should have an interest in funding this lawsuit. YOU are the affected persons. Therefore, YOU will be asked to contribute to the funding of this lawsuit. More information about the funding is here.
We will need an immediate injection of $25,000.
Who will be responsible for supervising the lawsuit?
The lawsuit will be run by a new non-profit group; The Alliance For The Defeat of Citizenship Taxation.
The real people interacting with the lawyers will include: John Richardson (me), Stephen Kish, Carol Tapanila and Patricia Moon.
Who will the lawyers be?
We have been in discussions with a large U.S. based law firm. We have confidence in this firm Once they confirm to us, after their own independent analysis that they believe that they can proved the relevant facts, they will be instructed to formally begin. We will introduce the firm at that time.
Have the plaintiffs been selected?
There are sufficient plaintiffs to begin the lawsuit. In order to seek a broad representation of the types of people that the United States claims to be "U.S. persons", we will be seeking additional plaintiffs. Stay tuned.
What about the timing?
I do NOT want to and am NOT able to commit to a specific time frame. That said, it is our objective to launch the lawsuit in mid-2016.
Further announcements:
Look to this blog, the Facebook pages https://www.facebook.com/CitizenshipTaxation, https://www.facebook.com/groups/citizenshiptaxation/, and the Twitter handle @CBTLawsuit for further developments.
In closing …
It's hard to belief that the United States attempts to rely on Cook v. Tait as the justification for place of birth citizenship-taxation. This lawsuit is long overdue. I am excited to be part of it! I am sure that you are excited to be notified of it!
P.S. In April of 2015, we submitted our report on U.S. citizenship "place of birth" taxation to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Feel free to read the various components here.
Author Patricia MoonPosted on December 2, 2015 Categories Uncategorized
Next Next post: Why YOU Must Fund the #CBTLawsuit


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Q: How to enable Unicode encoding using JPA EclipseLink? I am using JPA EclipseLink in my project and the DB is Sybase. When i am trying to persist an user entity which have name with characters other than english, for ex 'ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ' the save operation is getting failed and message says

"Internal Exception: com.sybase.jdbc4.jdbc.SybSQLException: Data
  exception - string data right truncated".

When i searched stack overflow for answers i got few answers about how to do it using Hibernate, but couldnt find using JPA.
My question is can we set any property in persistence.xml or can we set it on entity level to enable Unicode encoding?
If so how, please help me with resolving this issue. Many thanks.
Progress- I have added following in persistance.xml file.But still the issue isnt resolved.
<property name="eclipselink.jdbc.property.sendStringParametersAsUnicode" value="true"/>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Christian students need to stand up 'before it's too late'
A student is speaking out against the Biden administration's push for colleges to allow people to use facilities designated for the opposite-sex.
"As a female Christian student, I would certainly not feel comfortable sharing a bathroom or a dorm with a biological male, so I can only imagine what the students at the College of the Ozarks and other Christian colleges across the nation are feeling," says Campus Reform reporter and public university student Ophelie Jacobson.
The College of the Ozarks is in a legal battle with the federal government saying the directive forces religious schools to violate their beliefs by opening their dormitories and shared shower spaces to members of the opposite sex.
"Not only does this go against my personal level of comfort, it goes against my religious beliefs, and that is an area of my life that I believe the government has no right to interfere with," says Jacobson. "Unfortunately, we are going to see more cases like this one, and Christian colleges are facing increasing pressure to give up their moral values and beliefs to conform to the Biden administration's woke agenda."
To coincide with Pride Month, the U.S. Department of Education has released a resources page for LGBTQ students, telling them that federal law requires schools to ensure that LGBTQ students and other students have equal access to all aspects of a school's programs and activities, including bathrooms and dorms.
"There's also going to be a public hearing June 7th through the 11th where students can testify and share their stories of discrimination at higher education institutions," says Jacobson. "If any students are facing discrimination right now, it's Christian students on college campuses."
And the Campus Reform reporter asserts that it is not confined to secular campuses; Christian colleges are affected as well.
"Our religious views are not being welcomed by the Biden administration," Jacobson laments. "We're being treated unfairly because of it, and that's absolutely a reason to speak out and stand up for our religious beliefs before it's too late."
Biden focuses on hate crimes as violent crimes abound
Even though a reportedly small percentage of proliferating violent crimes in the United States can be attributed to "hate" based on an individual's race, religion or sexual orientation, President Joe Biden is targeting perpetrators of hate crimes in his war on crime in America.
U.S. Secretary of State lectures Israel about peace


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This wrap can be washed at 60 degrees and tumble dried on low if necessary.


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Bryan Adams set to play at Halton's DCBL Stadium in 2021
The "Summer of 69" singer's performance at the DCBL Stadium will form the centrepiece for Halton's year as the city region's Borough of Culture
Christopher McKeonLocal Democracy Reporter
Bryan Adams performing at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool (Image: Liverpool Echo)
Canadian superstar Bryan Adams will play Halton's DCBL Stadium next year as part of the 2021 Borough of Culture celebrations.
The "Summer of 69" singer will take to the stage in Widnes on July 2, 2021, with tickets going on sale at 9am this Friday (December 11).
The Widnes gig will form part of the singer's 2021 UK tour and will be the first major performance at the stadium since Elton John played there in 2017.
Halton Council hinted last month that it would soon be announcing a "big name" to play the stadium during its Borough of Culture year, with councillors and officers hoping it would prove to be as successful as the sell-out Elton John gig.
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Cllr Phil Harris, the council's executive board member responsible for the stadium, said: "I'm delighted we have another huge gig coming to the stadium and expect it to be as great a success as the Elton John tour visit was.
"This is something both residents and many local businesses can look forward to in 2021, after what has been a very challenging year."
Like the rest of the Borough of Culture celebrations, the gig will depend on how the coronavirus situation develops. But with a vaccine on the way, council officers are hopeful that the restrictions will have been lifted by July.
Along with the concert, the council is planning a series of events including a parade across the Silver Jubilee Bridge, grassroots concerts, a light festival at Norton Priory and the unveiling of several pieces of public art.
Keep up to date with what's on in your area by adding your postcode below
With a career spanning four decades, Bryan Adams has sold millions of records and been nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes for his songwriting.
His most recent album, Shine a Light , debuted at number one in the UK last year and features collaborations with Ed Sheeren and Jennifer Lopez.
Tickets for next year's stadium gig go on sale on December 11 at 9am and can be bought from Ticketmaster or bryanadams.com.
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Mum floored after realising 'hysterical' mistake with child's packed lunch
parents"I'm surprised you didn't get a confused call from the school receptionist!!"


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Route 38: Victoria - Hackney Central
New Bus For London: LT4 Date: Saturday
Route 38: Clapton Pond - Victoria
Routemaster: RM5 Date: Sunday
Henry, the precocious five year-old, is very excited. He's persuaded his parents to take him for a ride "on the new Routemaster", but half a dozen other people have had the same idea, so now he grabs the one remaining front seat on the top deck. Mummy has to sit behind, and Daddy is left to settle for several seats further back. Henry babbles forth, eyes wide, thrilled to be finally aboard. He reads aloud the next destination on the display unit, and points out to Mummy that normally these stick out but this box doesn't. She agrees and comments back that the front window is curved and really very large, and then they have an in-depth chat about how soft or hard the grab-rail is.
There's a smell in the air like an incontinent corner of a hospital ward, but that'll be because this is the newest bus on the streets of London. Only four of these vehicles are in service so far, which is hardly a revolution, and still outnumbered by the genuine Routemasters on London's heritage routes. When a second New Bus passes in the opposite direction Henry points with glee, and almost explodes. "Is that in your bus spotters book?" asks Mummy, and the general agreement is that it's not. Henry knows that our bus terminates at Hackney and has plans for the rest of the family's day out. "Mummy we can ride the Overground," he says, correctly listing all the possible destinations.
I'd like to tell Henry that today is route 38's 100th birthday, because I think this news would make him squeal, but I keep quiet. I fear I was just as loud and precocious when I was five, merrily spouting forth a stream of comments and facts while riding a bus, without a thought as to what those sitting around me might be thinking. My long-suffering parents took it all in their stride, and Henry's Mummy is succeeding gamely too. She asks Henry how long ago the 207 lost its bendy buses, and he knows... and then goes back to sucking on his Ben 10 drinks bottle.
Henry's Daddy has finally moved up the bus, and sounds mildly pissed off that a public transport safari has hijacked his afternoon. "Don't be a grump," says Mummy, "this is quality time." She then lies about how many more minutes the bus has to go - a wilful underestimate - and puts her foot down when Daddy wants to make an early break in Dalston. Only when Henry's not listening does Mummy whisper that in truth she's not a fan of the New Bus at all because "it feels like a coach". Henry meanwhile has been distracted by a fire engine, and a Tupperware box of cucumber batons, and is beginning to find the whole experience somewhat less than stimulating. When a third New Bus sails by he fails to notice, and if anything is in danger of feeling a little travel sick.
In Hackney we all troop off, apart from the elderly gentleman who's been sitting next to Henry who fails to notice that this bus terminates here. He has to be nudged off by the conductor, or whatever the job title of the rear platform operative is, and the bus then runs empty to the Mare Street garage. By now Henry is bouncing off to the Overground station, taking his parents to the John Lewis at Westfield where they've agreed to buy him an Olympic t-shirt. Precocious, obsessed and subtly manipulative - no really, I'm sure I was never like that at all. Not everybody waiting beside the pond knows that the special bus is coming. When the bog-standard 38 turns up a dozen locals climb on board, but those in the know hold back, and their patience is rewarded by the arrival of a vehicle from fifty years ago. "38 to Victoria. No Oyster. Free bus today." If only they'd waited. A lady from the Maggie's charity is going around with a bucket for donations, no pressure, and there's a special sticker to wear if you contribute. Everybody contributes. And we're off.
The bus's lack of suspension is very obvious as we twist and bump our way down Mare Street. A phalanx of photographers is waiting at the bottom, outside M&S, keen to snap away as we stop to pick up passengers. Or we try to. Those waiting don't seem convinced that this is a genuine service, because it doesn't look like one, however much our conductor pleads. Along Graham Road we score a success, as a woman breaks off from her mobile conversation just long enough to be persuaded aboard. "I'm on the old 38, it's brilliant!" she tells her invisible friend, before ringing off and taking a photo of herself to prove it's all real.
There are no scrolling health and safety messages, so the conductor has to warn one passenger "If you want to get off between stops it's at your own risk." On go the top deck's lights - a series of frosted bulbs screwed into the ceiling, and a far lovelier design than anything that's followed. Down the Essex Road a man with a missing tooth smiles and waves his copy of the Sun at us as we pass. We leapfrog ahead of the normal 38 we were following, which brings us to Angel where a large queue is waiting. Here at last the message gets through, and the top deck fills with proper passengers - the bus is alive.
Our first sighting of the New Bus is followed shortly after by the day's oldest bus, the vintage K-type from 1920. Someone's gone to a lot of effort to stick the correct number on the side, above the Schweppes Lemon Squash advert, and to paint a full list of destinations on the front. The driver is wearing a white coat and peaked hat, looking suspiciously like a milkman, sat behind his tiny control panel on a raised open seat. Almost all of the passengers are upstairs - a specially invited crowd of bus company managers, TfL bigwigs and the occasional family member. They wave and smile and take photos from the open upper deck, clearly excited to be riding the streets in a vehicle that normally lives in a museum.
We ride on into central London, picking up more accidental but secretly delighted passengers. "Ooh I thought I might see you on here," says one bus addict to his friend, plonks down next to him, and they proceed to drone on and on and on about technical transport matters for the remainder of the journey. At Cambridge Circus the conductor has to announce manually that "this bus is on diversion", deviating via Trafalgar Square to avoid the aftermath of a Hare Krishna parade down Piccadilly. But for those of us still aboard, we're on for the duration, heading for Victoria bus station where yet more photographers are keenly waiting. Seven years ago every journey into Central London was aboard a Routemaster like this, but yesterday's commemorative trips on the 38 were a special, treasured rarity.


I am ALL for store bought Halloween costumes, and for the Trunk or Treat we went to a few days before Halloween, that is exactly what my children wore - store bought costumes! Our local Target didn't seem to have a very large selection of Saint costumes, however. Really though, wouldn't it be awesome if we could order Saint costumes on Amazon? The reality is that for All Saints Day celebrations, the Catholic mama is on her own. I honestly think that's why many people skip Saint costumes, because as much as they'd like to do some special Liturgical living with their children, it takes a lot of time and planning to make a number of Saint outfits!
This year after the children decided who they wanted to be, I planned our costumes out with the goal of being as efficient as possible, and while their costumes are clearly not seamstress status, they held up for our All Saints Eve Party at our church, and each of them loved their costumes!
I cheated as MUCH as possible on these, and from start to finish I spent less than three hours making them. So, Catholic Mama, here are my hacks - let's cheat together!!
We have a Benedictine monk (Saint Benedict for the party!), Saint Philomena, and Saint Therese of Lisieux!
Our Benedictine habit is just a few yards of black jersey fabric, folded in half, with a little crescent cut out just big enough for his neck! I had my son lay down on the folded fabric and traced out the arms, then cut away - the fabric looked like a letter "T." This is the only one I pulled the sewing machine out for. I used jersey fabric as much as possible for these costumes, because with jersey you can make a straight cut, rip the fabric quickly, and then the "hem" will just roll a little and look fairly finished! Not spending energy cutting perfectly saves so much time! He wore it over a black hoodie so that I didn't have to attempt to sew a hood!
Saint Philomena has on a pillowcase! I cut arm holes and cinched the "neck" with twine! We used a cape we already owned, which was perfect. Her crown was an existing pink jersey headband, and I just hot glued flowers and leaves on to it! With this little love being under three, I didn't take the chance of accessorizing her with an anchor, arrows, palms, or a rope...in fact my husband forbade me from letting her wear a rope around her neck...what can you do?
Saint Therese the Little Flower also has a pillow case tunic; bottom cut off and left unhemmed, arms cut out, neck cinched! Her mantle I ruffled by hand quickly, and then hot glued sparkly gold ribbon to both sides. The toque is a simple piece of white jersey, and the veil is black jersey - both cut, ripped, and left unhemmed!


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Posts Tagged 'roy thomas'
All Star Squadron
When Roy Thomas left Marvel comics for DC in 1981 he had many years of writing successful comic series behind him, perhaps most notably The Avengers and Conan. No surprise, then, that his first new series at DC were the Conan-like Arak, Son of Thunder and a superhero team book – All Star Squadron. All Star Squadron, however, had more in common with another team book Thomas had written at Marvel, The Invaders, as both are set during World War Two. All Star Squadron not only allowed Thomas to write about the Justice Society of America (the original superhero team) but many other silver age characters that had long been forgotten. (We can see this slightly obsessive tendency in the way that comics from the 1940s are footnoted throughout the series).
The premise is simple: as World War Two begins (for America that is) a group of superheroes band together to fight the Axis Powers (and you won't get far with this unless you quickly acquaint yourself with phrases like 'Axis Powers'). The flaw in this retelling of history is obvious: surely a group of superheroes would swiftly bring the war to an end and thus make the historical period in which the book is set redundant? Luckily Japan is soon discovered to have a supernatural barrier that turns superheroes into villains if they get too close (although this doesn't prevent many heroes, generally the well-known ones from the Justice Society, from enlisting in the services – why use super powers when you can fight like a man?). Of course, superhero comics in general, and nostalgic ones in particular, are not where we go to find verisimilitude. Here is Hawkman's own explanation of his origin:
"In my laboratory I realised for the first time that an unseen hand had been guiding the experiments I'd been making there, even my creation of crude hawk-mask, which I'd seen in an earlier dream, and then felt compelled to fashion in reality. Then there was the strange belt I'd made of an element I'd recently discovered – or perhaps remembered from Khufu's lost knowledge – and christened 'ninth metal' for reasons that escape me."
If you're prepared to put logic to one side, however, this series is great fun – largely because you sense Thomas is having fun. He puts together a cast of forgotten heroes – The Shining Knight, Robotman, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Hawkgirl (and rebrands Firebrand to balance the sexes) – and makes them all individuals, just as he did with The Avengers. Hawkman and The Atom from the Justice Society also make frequent appearances, and Steel joins the group in issue 8. Mix in some history (Pearl Harbour, Winston Churchill) and some pulp villains (largely Nazis and mad scientists) and you've got all you need for light-hearted adventure.
The art on the first five issues is by the excellent Rich Buckler, who is then replaced by Adrian Gonzales, an artist I could not recall at all despite having bought the original comics. He drew very few superhero comics – I think only this and a some issues of World's Finest – but is perfectly efficient beneath the inks of Jerry Ordway, who to a large extent gave the book its look and (I think) went on to pencil it himself later. The first Showcase volume prints issues 1 -18 and the first Annual – all in black and white, of course, on cheap paper. (But comics at that time were printed on cheap paper and the colour wasn't up to much either). the only disappointment is that it only includes the All Star Squadron issues of a team-up with The Justice League thereby not only missing out three episodes but the conclusion of the story. Marvel are much better at including these extra issues: this sometimes means an issue is reprinted twice but that's preferable to not having it at all. That said, while far from being a classic, this remains one of my favourite comics.
Tags:all star squadron, roy thomas
Posted in Comics | 1 Comment »


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Q: How to return video from an Instagram media carousel album? I am making requests to the Instagram API to get posts on a users feed.
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-api/reference/media/#returnable-fields
There appear to be 3 types coming through; IMAGE, VIDEO and CAROUSEL_ALBUM.
In the IMAGE type, the media_url key in the object is a link to the image.
In the VIDEO type, the media_url key in the object is a link to the mp4 video and it has an additional key called thumbnail_url for the static image of the video.
The CAROUSEL_ALBUM however only has a media_url key (like IMAGE) and it is only an image, even if I know that carousel contains mp4 videos.
How can I get the video on the CAROUSEL_ALBUM type that's returned from Instagram?
I request the following fields:
`https://graph.facebook.com/v3.3/${item.id}?access_token=${accessToken}&fields=id,media_type,media_url,thumbnail_url,permalink,caption,timestamp`

These requests are made in a loop from an array of post ID's. Are there additional settings I need to make?
A typical CAROUSEL_ALBUM request I get looks like:
{
  "media_type": "CAROUSEL_ALBUM",
  "media_url": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/66441408_2082905628680299_8050667243209299756_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_oc=AQk2PElxoGzOzQ_4f-4vANh_Db1Mmra2wkci2aEKbc3vCstLzQeWQxKadbe1ByF8Vec&_nc_ht=scontent.xx&oh=5aa8ac107e1bd5da07b6cb5d760200f6&oe=5DC18C62",
  "permalink": "https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzif-HhAiBk/",
  "caption": "Each video in this carousel stands for a stage in the animation process for our latest experiment, where we animated a 3d model and used it as a basis for the 2d rotoscoping.",
  "timestamp": "2019-07-05T14:50:53+0000",
  "id": "18053365636184706"
}

Thanks

A: Whilst it doesn't seem like this API returns a video at the top-level for a carousel type, I did find a work-around for anyone that may need it.
In a carousel type, there should be a key for children. So you need to request that in the field's parameters.
Using sub-fields in this children field, you can get the actual media items (videos).
For example:
const fields = [
  'caption',
  'children{media_type,media_url,thumbnail_url}',
  'id',
  'media_type',
  'media_url',
  'permalink',
  'thumbnail_url',
  'timestamp'
].join(',')

const request = await fetch(`https://graph.facebook.com/v3.3/${userId}/media?fields=${fields}&access_token=${accessToken}`)

In the children's key of the JSON response, you will see your videos. Simply use this to display as your main media if you so wish.
Try the Graph API Explorer to see what fields are available to you. I cannot work out how to return width and height though if anyone is aware how to do that.
https://developers.facebook.com/tools/explorer


We open the show with a champagne celebration — for the addition of Fourth Street Live! as our fist official sponsor. The entertainment venue has an exciting lineup of Derby Week concerts you'll want to hear about.
It's our favorite time of the year and EatDrinkTalk is packed with plenty of entertaining information, starting with our special guest, Andre Wilson. When it comes to finding a knockout outfit for Derby, celebrities and locals alike turn to the city's style master. Wilson's clientele includes plenty of big names, many of whom have him on speed dial this week.
Wilson talks about how he got started, working in a clothing store at 15, and how this year he landed a prestigious assignment — designing those jackets worn by Derby Festival board members around town. Wilson's are a definite improvement.
Rick and Carolyn have decided on the show's pick in the big race — which of course is Audible. But there's a world of things to do before Saturday afternoon. In restaurant news, the Tim Tam Tavern has reopened with a special twist – the six-decades old bar will be serving Danny Mac's pizza. Carolyn is especially thrilled about the new Ehrler's ice cream store opening downtown. And we can't wait for the ribbon-cutting this week at Rabbit Hole in NuLu.
Join us as get prepared for a hectic and thrilling Derby Week. Find us on Twitter @EatDrinkTalkLou, and on Facebook, or check out all the news and events at EatDrinkTalk.net.


The Avalanche Danger is MODERATE today at all elevations/aspects. Loose, wet avalanches will be your main concern today, but upper elevation lee slopes are now sporting a thin and reactive wind slab layer as well as 3-5 inches of sled cooling, ski carving new snow. Cornice failures are also a major concern, cornices are very large and overhanging ridgelines much farther than you might expect. Avoid travelling near the edges of and spending time below these monsters.
Warm weather is continuing to degrade our snowpack. Temperatures at local Snotel sites and at the 7600 ft Granite weather station are above 40 this morning. Local Snotel Sites have lost between 20 and 30 inches of their snow pack in the last 7 days as a result of the wet, warm weather. Yesterday started out cold and warmed quickly with firm snow and very warm sleds in the morning followed by warm and slushy conditions in the afternoon. Temperatures today will begin to drop around noon and cool as a cold front moves into the area keeping upper elevation temperatures right around freezing overnight. Temperatures are forecasted to remain above freezing through Sunday night even in the mid and upper elevations. With the lack of freezing temperatures, especially below 7,600 feet, you still run a good chance of starting a loose wet avalanche in steep terrain. Scattered rain showers and periods of heavier rain today and tonight will increase the potential for natural and human caused wet slides through the next 48 hours.
Many of the ridgelines in the area are still sporting some very large, overhanging cornices. We had a report of a large, human triggered cornice failure earlier this week and also have seen many areas where large sections of cornice have already succumbed to the pull of gravity. Cornice failures are very common in the spring and we have a bumper crop of monster cornices this year. Avoid travel on or near large cornices and stay off slopes that have large, overhanging cornices above them. Make sure you are aware of where the snow begins and the ridgelines end, don't venture out past the last trees and rocks that mark the edge. Notice how far the cornices in the photos below are extending beyond the ridges.
0600 temperature: 41 deg. F.
Weather: Showers. High near 45. South wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Showers. Low around 33. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100% Showers likely, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Temperatures: 45 deg. F. 33 deg. F. 44 deg. F.
Weather: Rain showers before noon, then rain and snow showers. Temperature falling to around 32 by 3pm. Breezy, with a south wind 17 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Rain and snow showers, becoming all snow after midnight. Low around 26. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 16 to 21 mph becoming west 8 to 13 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. South southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Temperatures: Falling to 32 by noon deg. F. 26 deg. F. 36 deg. F.


Content is king. Having quality contents in your website surely help to attract visitors to your website. Write contents that are unique and related to your website. In most cases, a visitor will spend a couple of seconds to browse through your website and if he finds your content unappealing he will just click the cross button at the top right-hand corner of the page. So, it is always important to ensure that your content has what it takes to not only bring in the visitors but also make them stay as long as possible.
Social networking. Social networking is a great way to expand your online business. The current statistic of over 6 million netizens on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great sources to promote your online business. When you are putting up a website, make sure to include icons for social networking on your website's header or footer so that your website visitors can easily click on any of these icons to share your content with their social networks if they decided that it is worth sharing. You can also easily set up a fan page for your business on your Facebook account to further leverage the proximity of social networks. It will provide a platform for your potential customers to seek further information on matters relating to your business. Besides, your customers may want to seek further clarifications about the products that they have purchased from your website through this fan page. A word of caution though, is you must be quick to response to any question or issue raised to immediately put the enquirer's mind at ease.
Press release. Press release is also a great tool, which you can use to announce your business. If there is a new stuff that you wish to share with your visitors whether it is a new product launch, or an upcoming event, or a fresh piece of information, announce it to your potential visitors using press releases through the various press release websites on the Internet. Quite certainly, you will see a significant increase in your website visitors.
Search engine optimization (SEO). SEO will also help you to increase your website visitors. You can engage the service of a reputable SEO expert who is able to enhance your website to be SEO friendly with respect to the type of your online business. But firstly, you must find out from your SEO expert on the strategies he will be using to enhance your website. Make absolutely sure that he is only using the white hat seo strategies and nothing on the black hat seo ones, as you surely want to avoid getting your website banned from the popular search engines.
Setup a blog. A visitor would naturally want to find out more about your products or services before deciding whether or not to purchase. This is reason enough for you to set up a blog with some unique blog posts about your business, products or services. Through your personalized blog, your potential customers will get to know more about your products or services, and also able to make comparison with similar ones he found elsewhere.
By adopting all or even a few of these top 5 strategies, you will surely see a significant increase in your website visitors. Remember that a website without enough visitors will just not bring in the income you want.
The website traffic you should have must not be just high volumes but of people who are interested buying your products or services offered. Here is an outline on building a steady number of visitors to your website that would likely bring sales.
Why Should You Decide On Your Niche Before You Start An Online Business?
Increasing the search engine ranking of your website will actually assist to augment and boost the returns on investment. You can easily attain good sales and create brand name awareness only after getting high rankings in the search engines.
Are you looking for the best steps that can make your website popular online? If so, then you should read this article and you will get the suitable opportunity to meet your query in this context. People are using the internet by making online research with the keywords and this is the clue too.


The Backbencher – Bingo Halls Are in Decline but Bingo Still Grows Strong – How and Why?
Bingo Halls Are in Decline but Bingo Still Grows Strong – How and Why?
Bingo is one of the oldest and most beloved games of all time. Since the early 1500s, Bingo has been spreading in popularity with the introduction of bingo halls in communities worldwide. Over the last decade or so, bingo halls have been in decline and many have closed down due to many significant changes to the industry. However, this has not hindered the game at all, with an obvious growth noticeable to industry analysts. In the UK, where Bingo has been a staple pastime for many years, the game continues to grow in popularity despite the decline in bingo premises. With such an unlikely trend on the rise, what will we expect to see from the Bingo industry in the coming years? And how, exactly, is bingo continuing to grow despite its decline in premises?
Over the last year, the bingo sector in the UK has seen a 10% drop in premises. Bingo halls do not have as much of a presence in communities anymore due to a shift in the way people play, and in the upkeep required to maintain these venues. Bingo halls require a significant amount of maintenance, regular event planning and, substantial attendance in order to ensure financial sustainability. Unfortunately, bingo halls and bingo game nights seem to cater solely to the older generation of fans. This doesn't leave much room for growth in this particular sector and has propelled venue operators to shut down sooner rather than later.
An Industry Shift for the Better?
Bingo operators have opted for electronic terminals in various venues, which are easy to maintain and operate. Fans can easily access these terminals and play autonomously without needing to participate in a scheduled bingo night. As a result, analysts have seen a 25% increase in these terminals across the UK in the last three years. However, is it really the onset of electronic bingo terminals that has caused the decline in bingo premises across the UK? Not exactly.
Online bingo launched in 1996 and has generated over $1 billion in revenue since then. Unlike other casino games, bingo has been able to bypass many of the gambling laws which often ban online gambling. In the UK, bingo is considered a game of chance because each participant has equal chance of winning. This makes bingo different than a typical casino game, and explains the leniency in regulations across the board. In fact, UK bingo sites such as pgbingo.com have been gaining popularity quickly and steadily. Additionally, with the introduction of tablets and mobile gaming, bingo has been able to attract many people in various demographics.
Ultimately, online bingo has really catapulted bingo into new territories for fans of the game. As of today, online bingo represents close to 5% of the UK's Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and continues to grow. As of today, there are as many as 350 online gambling sites, if not more, within the UK alone.
Online bingo offers a plethora of features that make it attractive to fans of the game. Chat rooms are available to those who wish to mingle with other players or simply socialize in a friendly and safe setting. Sites will often offer free bingo options as well so that players can try out games for free before committing entirely. Probably one of the best perks of online bingo is its ability to offer multitudes of different bingo themes for players. Fans can choose from a variety of games depending on the themes they prefer, the graphics that attract them or, the jackpots that are available to them.
As such, bingo continues to grow and now caters to all sorts of demographics due to its availability. Although bingo halls provided for a more human gameplay, technology seems to have helped maintain the game's popularity and ensures its growth. We are sure to see significant changes in the coming years to one of the oldest games of all time.


text:
Q: ASP.NET Core HealthChecks Can anyone please explain what the "timeout" param does in .AddUrlGroup()?
Is it the timeout of httpClient - meaning how long it will wait for the response from that endpoint?
Or the frequency at which this Url will be pinged?

A: As far as I understand the code, there are several timeout values that you can configure. On the one hand, there is the "global" timeout that the parameter references. If no specific timeouts are set, this value is also used for the timeout of the HTTP requests. See this link for the code.
In addition, you can configure a timeout for each URI that you want to query. If this is set, it overrides the global timeout.
Also, the health check itself uses the global timeout value. Therefore, if you want to query several URIs and the first on times out, the health check as a whole will timeout.
The timeout parameter does not define the interval that the check is run for.


The P.E.I. government says any restrictions on freedom of expression in its new referendum legislation are "reasonably necessary" in order to ensure a level playing field for both sides in the upcoming debate on proportional representation.
The P.E.I. government says any restrictions on freedom of expression in its new referendum legislation are "reasonably necessary" to ensure a level playing field for both sides in the upcoming debate — and vote — on proportional representation.
Bill 38, the Electoral System Referendum Act, would limit groups and individuals to spending no more than $500 on referendum advertising unless they register with government, in which case they would be permitted to spend a share of $75,000 in taxpayer funding for each side in the debate.
Exceeding spending limits would lead to fines of $10,000 or more.
Both the Green Party and the P.E.I. Coalition for Proportional Representation have raised concerns, suggesting the legislation would not withstand a legal challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The coalition has announced it is disbanding because of what it calls repressive rules in the legislation.
Last week when pressed by the Green Party as to whether government had obtained a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the bill, P.E.I. Attorney General Jordan Brown told MLA Hannah Bell she was "free to get your own legal opinion on it."
But on Tuesday Brown tabled a legal brief which concludes government's bill "has been tailored to ensure that the freedom of expression is not limited more than is reasonably necessary in order to give effect to the stated purposes of the proposed legislation."
In debate Tuesday night, Communities, Land and Environment Minister Richard Brown said without spending restrictions, outside organizations could wield undue influence in P.E.I.'s referendum.
"I hear all the time about the constitution, it's not constitutional, it's freedom of speech," said Richard Brown.
"There are limits on everything. We do not allow people, in freedom of speech, to promote hatred, racism … The courts have allowed some limits."
But Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said government's legal analysis has overlooked a key ruling, where the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled the province could not restrict advertising by third parties in the period before an election.
He said given the fixed date set for P.E.I.'s next election in October 2019, with the possibility of a delay because of a federal election about the same time, the spending restrictions, along with a prohibition on raising money by referendum advertisers, could be in place for almost two years.
Bevan-Baker asked how that would affect groups like the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities, which has been a member of the P.E.I. Coalition for Proportional Representation.
"The Council of People with Disabilities offers incredibly valuable programs for Islanders," Bevan-Baker said.
"They might want to campaign in support of MMP. Can they raise money during this period for other purposes?"
Premier Wade MacLauchlan said groups would be allowed to raise money for purposes other than advertising in the referendum.
But Bevan-Baker wondered how government would draw the distinction. The prohibition in the current draft of the bill says designated referendum advertisers "shall not accept any contributions during the registration period."
Jordan Brown explained how a number of conditions would have to be met before any group could become a registered referendum advertiser and qualify for government funding.
"As an example, are two-thirds of their constituent members Prince Edward Islanders? Is their group open to be joined by all?" Brown said.
"There may be an issue with them becoming one of the [registered advertisers] for those reasons."
Bevan-Baker also raised concerns around what would be considered referendum advertising under the bill, and thus subject to the spending restrictions and the penalties for breaking them.
According to the bill, editorials, interviews, letters, columns and news articles are exempt from the restrictions, but only if published "without payment, reward or promise of payment or reward."
Bevan-Baker said his interpretation of the bill was that a newspaper editorial written by staff is only permissible if it's produced without payment.
"Often editorials in newspapers will endorse a particular party for example in an election, or in the case of a plebiscite they may endorse one side over the other," said Bevan-Baker.
Jordan Brown said context was important.
"If The Guardian decides that they're going to start being in the business of referendum advertising as it's defined in here, and they want to put 'editorial' on the top of it, they're going to be into a problem," he said.
When asked if a newspaper would be allowed to produce a special issue or insert on the referendum, Brown said, "It would depend on the circumstances."
When pressed, Brown said he felt preventing such a publication would be a justifiable limit on freedom of expression under the charter.


Read the AZCentral article here.
Puscifer Queen B cans are now available at the Four Eight Wine Bar / Puscifer Store, Merkin Vineyards Old Town Scottsdale, and Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room and Osteria in Cottonwood.
We are now accepting orders and VSC signups from OK.
Check out the NEW 'Magnums' sections in the shop for extremely rare and limited 1.5L Magnums!!
Take a peek inside the 'VSC Members Only' Section for a few extra special offerings!


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Kings House Jamaica
The History, Untold Stories & More
Kings House Jamaica | Photo: KingsHouse.gov.jm
Located at Hope Road in the parish of St. Andrew, King's House is the official residence of Jamaica's head of state, the governor-general.
King's House became the residence of the BRITISH governor when the seat of government was moved from Spanish Town to Kingston in 1872 and remained so until Independence in 1962.
Originally 69 ha of Somerset Pen were acquired, including Bishop's Lodge, formerly the residence of the Anglican Bishop of Jamaica. A dining room and ballroom were then added to the original building that dated from the 18th century.
It was however wrecked in the earthquake of 1907 and rebuilt in 1909 from designs by Sir Charles Nicholson.
But what preceded this building?
Let's take a quick look at....
The Old Kings House In Spanish Town, St. Catherine
Only the portico and facade of this impressive building can be seen today, facing the Spanish Town Square, the former governor's residence was burnt down in 1925. A museum has been established in the former stables. This is one of the few residential sites of the post-Columbian world with over 450 years of continuous occupation.
The original building was the Spanish Hall of Audience to which successive British governors made changes and additions. In 1761 this building was demolished and the following year construction of a residence for the governor was begun though the entire complex was not completed until 1802.
The residence of the governor in Spanish Town (and at various times, Port Royal) was traditionally called KING'S HOUSE and this King's House remained the governors' residence until 1872 when the capital was transferred to KINGSTON.
After that, the building was for one year the home of Queen's College, Jamaica's first university.
The facade of this old King's House was about 61m long. It was built of freestone from the Hope River, with columns of Portland stone, and a pavement of white marble that came out as ballast on ships.
A ballroom ran the length of the building and was the centre of social life in colonial times. Among the items of furniture were 13 mahogany settees, 24 mahogany Windsor chairs, 60 plain mahogany chairs with fan backs and leather bottoms and 14 large bronze busts.
In 1803 the government provided 33 slaves at King's House, but the governor of the day asked the Assembly for 10 more.
The portico of King's House, and the Square itself, have provided the setting for many significant events in Jamaica's history.
It was from these steps that the proclamation of the abolition of slavery was read, to a vast crowd assembled,
Here governor Edward Eyre delivered his final address suspending the constitution of Jamaica following the Morant Bay Rebellion, also
In this square the pirate Calico Jack (Jack Rackham) was brought for trial and the Maroon s brought the mutilated head of three finger jack to collect their reward!
The notorious Hutchinson, the 'Mad Doctor' of EDINBURGH CASTLE was also tried at the courthouse and hanged at the Square.
An interesting account of life inside King's House can be found in the journal of Lady Nugent who was the wife of Sir George Nugent who was governor from 1801-5. [Black 1974, Cunda" 1915, Nugent 1839]
Be sure to read more on the colonial history of Jamaica here.
Kings House Jamaica Today
Today, the 'new' King's House on Hope Road in Kingston stands host/ venue for state and ceremonial functions in Jamaica, including the swearing in of Government Ministers. Judges of the High Court and national awards for deserving citizens on National Heroes Day.
Kings House is also home for visiting heads of state and royalties from other countries.
It's beautiful gardens are also sought after attraction to visitors.
They have an efficiently maintained website that, in addition to current news and information from the governor general's office, also provides information on:
Protocols relating to the governor general
The governor general speeches
As well as importing notices
Here is the link to their website: https://kingshouse.gov.jm/
By the way, would you be interested to know who the governors who resided here are?
And I'm speaking specifically about the ones since independent Jamaica (since 1962).
Great! Here they are...
Governor Generals Of Independent Jamaica
...in descending order:
Sir Patrick Allen 2009 – Present
Professor Kenneth Hall 2006 – 2009
Sir Howard Cooke 1991 – 2006
Sir Florizel Glasspole 1973 – 1991
Sir Clifford Campbell 1962 – 1973 (First Native Governor General)
Sir Kenneth Blackburne 1957 – 1962
Contact Information For Kings House Jamaica
And how do you get here? What are the contact information?
Here below, is the address, phone number, email address and website information.
The Office Of The Governor General
King's House, Hope Road,
Kingston 6, Jamaica West Indies
Website: https://kingshouse.gov.jm
E-mail: kingshouse@kingshouse.gov.jm
Map & Directions To Kings House Jamaica
Here is a Google map, which includes directions to Kings House
You have received :-)
Now share you new found knowledge with your friends!
You might like these as well
Jamaican Folklore | 53 Shockingly Common Jamaican Folk Tales & Beliefs
When we talk about Jamaican folklore, many think all of history. Here are 53 traditional Jamaican folk tales and beliefs that are still practiced by many today.
The Colonial History of Jamaica | The Pieces We Tend Not To Talk About
You should know (I hope) a bit about Jamaica's independence, and surely post independence, but what do you know of the colonial history of Jamaica? Read more.
Andrea Campbell, Jamaican Proverbs, People and Places
Clinton Black, History Of Jamaica
"King's House, Jamaica", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_House,_Jamaica
Olive Senior, Excylcopedia Of Jamaican Heritage
"History of King's House", https://kingshouse.gov.jm/history-of-kings-house/
Other Pages Related To Kings House Jamaica
National Heroes Of Jamaica
National Symbols Of Jamaica
National Anthem Of Jamaica
Return to Famous Places In Jamaica from Kings House Jamaica
Return to My Island Jamaica from Kings House Jamaica


text:
The class system is alive and well and living at the GRT
(Conestoga College, WLU and UW fares are based on a 4-month term, and I converted that to monthly to compare them to monthly pass prices.)(Update: Perhaps the figure for high school students should be $47, which is the monthly equivalent of a 5-month pass.)
There is something wrong with a system where the privileged are treated to nearly free transit, while the less privileged are forced to pay nearly full fare.
Add to that that the universities are getting a billion dollar train that bypasses most of Waterloo to provide improved comfort to their students, while the Region says it's too poor to create decent bus routes to Conestoga College.
The difference isn't just that one set of students goes to university while the other goes to community college. It's also that the universities are in Waterloo and the community college is in Kitchener.
As a UW alumna and Waterloo resident, I'm ashamed.
Labels: transit, Waterloo
Loliondo and the Shiek
The A marks Loliondo, a Maasai village and district in northern Tanzania.
I have written about the Maasai before, on this blog in The Wheat Field, and in African publications in the 90s. In the fight between pastoralists and farmers, I tend to support the farmers, if only because poor countries need food sources. But in the fight between the pastoralists and the oil sheiks who want to turn Maasai land into the Disneyworld of Big Game Hunting, you have to support the Maasai.
At this very moment, the government of Tanzania is evicting Maasai from their land in Loliondo to please Mohamed Abdul Rahim Al Ali, an uber-wealthy Arab who bought the rights to hunt there. This is the sad end to a land dispute that has been going on for over 20 years.
Eighteen years ago, I visited Loliondo and saw what was going on.
The drive from Arusha to Loliondo is less than 400 km, but it's a hard trip. The first few miles are paved, but quickly you have to turn onto a road with ruts so deep that people are regularly killed when their cars roll. The going is slow. About 100 kilometers from Loliondo, in the heart of the Serengeti plain, we had to abandon roads altogether and drive cross-country, navigating by the stars. We used all three of the spare tires on our truck. It's not a trip that anyone would want to make frequently.
The rich man from the United Arab Emirates doesn't have to drive. He built himself an airport. He also built himself a large compound, which for some reason I was invited to visit. Two decades ago large screen TVs and satellite reception were rare even in North America, but he had both in a huge tent with a sand floor covered in layers of carpets. Giant hookahs with many hoses were scattered around, along with large pillows. The compound was surrounded by high fences, and there were lots of security personnel with lots of guns.
Tanzania doesn't allow hunting, but this fellow apparently bought himself an exemption. His airport and compound awaited his occasional weekend visits with friends.
The Maasai are semi-nomadic cattle herders who graze their herds over large areas. They don't believe in killing wild animals, or even their own cattle if at all possible. However, the Tanzanian government (apparently at the behest of this fellow) is claiming that the Maasai are killing wildlife, and that the wild animals need to be protected by ousting the Maasai and their cattle from large tracts of land. The restrictions that are being imposed right now are so large that Maasai cattle herds will have to be reduced by 75%.
There aren't a lot of people in Loliondo, and those that are there live on a narrow margin. These reductions mean depopulation, the end of a traditional way of life, and possibly starvation. For the wildlife they have stewarded so well, the future also does not look rosy: with no laws to stop them, the Arab hunters are already known to hunt from helicopters.
Here's an excellent brief video that shows the Maasai speaking on this issue: Voices of Loliondo.
Tanzania relies greatly on tourism, and so the government is sensitive to international public pressure. There's a petition that needs a lot of support: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_the_maasai.
History of OBC in Tanzania
Update: I just remembered how I got on to that compound. I met a Maasai man who was selling honey to the cook on the compound, and I tagged along - then got a tour.
Labels: Africa, development, human rights
What I would do with a 3-D printer
Every time I see a piece of furniture or plant or piece of art or food that I like, I would take a 3-D photo of it and then reproduce it in miniature with my 3-D printer. Then I would build a little house and arrange my little stuff in it. (If this caught on, it could become a replacement for acquisitiveness. Especially if we could melt the plastic back down.)
I would also like to use my 3-D printer to make consumer items instead of going to the store. Maybe also parts for my appliances and automobile and so on. For consumer items (for example plates and bowls), I would like to be able to customize the design.
This raises whole new sets of copyright/etc issues. Please, please, please let design be free. If I have a 3-D photo of my favorite Phillip Hoffman chair and I "print" it for my personal use, will I be breaking the law? What about a Calder mobile? A new roof for my Smartcar? A full-size bust of someone living? (I hate this Brave New World where I'm a criminal for possessing digital copies of things, even though I don't make money off of them. It's an affront to personal freedom and democracy.)
Not that I have a 3-D printer... yet. But the price has dropped to $1200 and they seem destined to be household appliances soon. It's pretty cool that we will all have replicators, but unfortunate that they are restricted to replicating plastic. (That reminds me of a bit from Charles Stross' Singularity Sky: an alien race called The Festival disrupts planetary civilizations by giving the people replicators that require no input, but The Festival is like a genie that never gives you quite what you want: one group gets a replicator that makes nothing but plastic cutlery, and the cutlery endlessly gushes out.) Of course one day 3-D printers may move beyond plastic... maybe soon.
Back in the bad old days we used to be restricted to whatever the local retailer wanted to sell us, be it books or music or clothing or whatever. Nowadays I have a far, far wider choice on the internet. But with 3-D printers the choices will expand again: if I want a little clip to attach my orchids to a stem, I will be able to search for exactly the one I want, and possibly also customize it. This seems like a Very Good Thing.
But as the need for local brick-and-mortar retailers diminishes, urban form will change and new business models will need to be developed. Is anyone ready for that?
When there are less trucks delivering manufactured goods, we'll need less roads.
My town continues to build endless strips of big box stores that all sell the same old sad junk. (If I could print whatever design of ceiling fan I wanted, why would I ever go to Home Depot to buy their tasteless crap?) What will we do with all the space we'll save?
Will municipalities have to change the way they collect taxes? Plan downtowns?
If I pay import duties on the Italian ceiling fan that I have delivered ready-made, will I pay import duties when I print the same fan?
I'm only ever-so-lightly scratching the surface of change to come.
The class system is alive and well and living at t...


From the point of view balance of benefits and costs, rail freight offers optimal solutions for prompt delivery of goods to the destination by land. The group of companies "Baltica-Trans" has earned a reputation as one of the most respectable carriers in Russian Federation, carrying out freight transportation by rail, train without a single concession to quality. Arguments in favor of railway transport.
Wide ways of adaptation to specifics of cargo.
Colossal diversity of rolling stock made real rail transportation of industrial goods transported by all known categories. Covered wagons are considered the most versatile container that adapts railway transport for the transport of piece goods and goods sensitive to effects of precipitation. Tank tanks and flexitanks are designed for liquids, and a gondola car is for bulk materials. When delivering grain, loose building materials and mineral fertilizers for cargo transportation by rail, the train uses hopper cars. Due to use of platforms, it became possible to carry out oversized transportation and transportation of tank containers - standard multi-turn container serving the lion's share of rail transport in the Russian Federation. Rail transportation from Group of Companies Baltica-Trans: what is the benefit?
Thanks to direct agreements with Russian Railways and a wide arsenal of our own tank containers, our company fixed the tariffs for commercial rail freight at a minimum level. Leading Russian operators offer us preferential modes of service. When using rail transport, international transportation is supplemented by customs transit; ongoing online monitoring of cargo movement with the provision of detailed reports. At request of circumstances, cargo transportation by rail is organized by an accelerated train; under rapidly deteriorating goods are allocated refrigerated wagons, equipped with high-efficiency refrigeration units.


A UK based Nigerian Lawmaker, Fiona Onasanya, will now be sentenced with her brother after she was found guilty of lying to the police.
The UK based Nigerian Lawmaker who is a former Labour whip, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice following an Old Bailey retrial for lying to police to avoid a speeding charge. The MP who was elected in June 2017 but stood down as a Labour whip last month, was accused of colluding with her brother Festus after her car was clocked going 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney near Peterborough, England.
The 35-year-old solicitor who was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice three times to avoid speeding points following a retrial at the Old Bailey, will be sentenced with her brother on a date yet to be determined.
"The Labour Party is deeply disappointed in Fiona Onasanya's behaviour. It falls well below what is expected of politicians. She should now resign.


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Sarasota Thursday, Apr. 26, 2018 1 year ago
Community composting programs grow
An initiative to encourage neighborhoods to keep their waste out of landfills has spread to three city parks, with more potentially to come.
by: David Conway Deputy Managing Editor
Every week, Tracie Troxler spends a few hours in Arlington Park standing just behind the recreation center, waiting to help anyone who wants to learn more about the bins of garbage and leaves behind her.
Troxler is the president of Sunshine Community Compost, a nonprofit organization serving Sarasota and Manatee counties. The group has worked with the city since early 2017, when it launched a community composting pilot project in Gillespie Park.
Sunshine Community Compost set up a composting station within the park and held an informational meeting for neighborhood residents. The concept behind the project was to make it easier for those inexperienced with composting to learn more about the process, which turns decomposing organic matter into a nutrient-rich soil enhancer.
Troxler likes to show people interested in participating the difference between the products of composting, left, and waste deposited into a landfill.
Since February 2017, more than 3,000 pounds of waste has been diverted from landfills in Gillespie Park. In October 2017, Sunshine Community Compost partnered with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program to launch another site at North Water Tower Park. In March, the city sponsored a third at Arlington Park.
More than 50 households in the city are participating. That doesn't include people who have grown comfortable enough with composting to do it at home.
Even those who are more experienced often opt to deposit their waste at the neighborhood site, offering help for those who are newer to the system. Troxler said this allows more established sites to become self-sustaining, with a leader living in the area providing the guidance Troxler did initially.
It also helps foster a sense of community for residents. Troxler makes a point of introducing anyone who comes to the composting sites to one another, creating a connection between neighbors.
"People like to come see each other," Troxler said. "The whole point of community compost is connecting people to each other and the planet."
Compost-A-Thon
The city and Sunshine Community Compost are encouraging residents to participate in International Compost Awareness Week, which takes place May 6-12.
During the week, the groups are partnering on a Compost-A-Thon — a community-wide effort to measure the composting taking place in that week. On May 12, participants will weigh and deposit their collected scraps at community composting stations. The event will culminate in a celebration luncheon from 12-2 p.m. at the Robert L. Taylor Community Complex.
If you want to participate, register by May 1 at sunshinecommunitycompost.org.
The city is playing a more passive supporting role, but it's still something that excites Sustainability Manager Stevie Freeman-Montes. As the programs grow, Freeman-Montes said the city will look for ways to offer space and other resources in other portions of the city if interest exists.
"We've been seeing how we can support it, because it's helpful for the city's goals of waste diversion," Freeman-Montes said.
Troxler is optimistic the initiative can continue to grow. She encouraged residents who want to see a composting site in their neighborhood to reach out to further explore the feasibility. She's also eager to extend the program into other places where people congregate — offices, schools and churches could offer even more opportunities to divert waste.
"We want to be able to go where people want to see these programs happen," Troxler said.
Commission eager to find profitable use for Celery Fields properties
Parents anxious to see security changes in effect
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"What does money mean to you?" asked my host, a very successful businessman. Before I share my answer let me tell you a little about this fascinating man whose question brought me a valuable perspective on how we should view gifts and inheritances.
My host had been born in mainland China. Before his second birthday his parents fled to Hong Kong as the communists took power. His father had a dream and business talent. The small company he founded in Hong Kong has grown into a worldwide enterprise with 12,000 employees. At age 18 my friend was sent off to the U.S. to begin his freshman year at an Ivy League university. His mother had placed $3,000 in a secret pocket she sewed in his blazer. That was to last him until he would come back to Hong Kong the following year to report to his father what he had learned. He repeated that odyssey to Hong Kong each year until he eventually completed medical school. He chose a difficult field of specialization within medicine and rose to the top of his profession. Clearly, by any definition he was successful.
As he told me this story over lunch, our conversation turned to family wealth and what he was doing to help his children get successfully launched in life. He had just returned from Hong Kong. His father, at 86, was still running the company his way. He insists that the factory floors are waxed his way, the machinery maintained his way etc. On virtually each trip to Hong Kong my host is reminded by his father of the Chinese saying "Rice Paddy to Rice Paddy in Three Generations". This is the same proverb that Jay Hughes introduced to the West in his book, Family Wealth – Keeping It in the Family. Here in the U.S. we are used to hearing it as "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations".
In these conversations with his father, my host has been asked what he is doing to prepare his children for the opportunities and responsibilities that come with family wealth. My friend then proudly shared with me some of his children's accomplishments. I wondered, given the magnitude of this family's wealth, what had motivated his children to achieve the levels of success they had already attained.
I was somewhat disarmed by the question. A number of concepts raced through my mind. "Well," I replied, "it really can mean or represent a lot of different things. For instance, money is a medium of exchange. It is the way I buy goods or services. But it also represents power and status. On the negative or dark side it represents control and dependency. And perhaps at the highest level it means opportunity, stewardship…" My voice trailed off as I thought of the powerfully positive ways in which I had seen some of my wealthy clients use their money.
As I walked back to the office that day I wondered how my children would view the inheritance I might leave them. And then I marveled at how different the outcomes would be if American families could imbue their children and grandchildren with that same sense of stewardship as is represented in the Chinese view of the meaning of money and inheritance.
What Would You Rather Do? Build a Better Boat or Train a Better Captain?
I was reminded immediately of the empirical evidence offered in the book Preparing Heirs by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser. In that book Williams and Preisser shared the social science studies around inheritance that they had conducted with approximately 2,100 wealthy families. They found that 70% (seven out of every ten) of the families that participated in their survey had experienced one or more of six "failure" events in the transition of their family wealth from the oldest generation to the next generation. What was even more powerful to me was their conclusion that 85% of these failures could be traced to two problems: lack of communication and trust and lack of preparation. Or, if we want to look at it from the proactive and positive side of this paradigm, with intra-family communication and preparation of the next generation of family members we could avoid 85% of the failures in the intergenerational transfer of wealth.
So my host had given me a powerful metaphor to use around the need for both communication and preparation: the metaphor of training a better captain. As I have reflected on this metaphor I realize that the dominant emphasis in traditional estate planning today is centered on building a better boat. But no matter how well conceived or constructed, the best vessel in the hands of an illprepared captain will not be able to survive the pressures of wealth transfers.


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Iron Ox raises $20 million for its robotic farms
Brian Heater	@bheater / 4 months
Bay Area-based Iron Ox today announced a $20 million Series B. The funding, led by Pathbreaker Venture and family office firms, brings the robotics company's total funding up to $45 million to date. A number of other investors also took part in the round, including Crosslink Capital, Amplify Partners, ENIAC Ventures, R7 Partners, Tuesday Ventures, At One Ventures and Y Combinator.
Founded in 2015, Iron Ox has become one of the more prominent names in the world of agricultural robotics. In 2018, the company announced its first indoor farm, growing a slew of leafy green vegetables in hydroponic boxes.
Iron Ox opens its first fully autonomous farm
Today they announced the addition of a Gilroy, California-based farm with 10,000 square feet of growing area. The location has already begun delivering vegetables to a number of retailers and restaurants across the state, including some big names like Whole Foods and smaller operations like Bianchini's Market, which operates two locations in California. Today's plans entail a nation-wide expansion in delivery for next year.
Image Credits: Iron Ox
"We have made it our mission to address food security by developing autonomous greenhouses that grow a variety of local and consistently delicious food for everyone," co-founder and CEO Brandon Alexander said in a release. "Today, we're thrilled to announce the successful operation of our Gilroy farm as well as our consumer brand, and our plans to complete additional sunlight-enabled, out-of-state facilities in 2021."
The appeal of robotic farming is pretty straightforward, addressing labor shortages and supply chain issues. In the era of COVID-19, some of those problems have become even more pressing, with additional concerns surrounding the potential for transmission. It's no surprise, then, that the company was able to nearly double previous raises in an era when investors are eyeing any and all robotics and automation.
That the company has a proven model makes things all the more appealing.


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The Town of Jabiru was a local government area of the Northern Territory of Australia, and was based in Jabiru. The town covered an area of  and had a population of about 1,250.

On 1 July 2008, it became part of the new West Arnhem LGA.

Overnance
The town's municipal services were provided by the Town of Jabiru, which was incorporated on 2 July 1985 by an amendment to the Act, requested by the Jabiru Town Development Authority.

The first Council meeting was held in July 1985, and every two years an election was held (unlike the rest of the Northern Territory, where councils were elected every five years).

On 2 July 2008, the Town and the special arrangements ceased to exist and Jabiru became part of the West Arnhem LGA.

References

External links
 Jabiru Town Council website

Former local government areas of the Northern Territory

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Prospects In Review
Blog Cubs 5, Brewers 2 (7.22.16)
Cubs 5, Brewers 2 (7.22.16)
In Commentary And Analysis, News And Rumors by dmick89 July 23, 2016 9 Comments
Baseball predictions are silly up to a point, but I'm going to predict the Cubs are about to go on a run that's similar to what they did in the first half. The Cardinals have pulled within 6.5 games, which is still a mile away in baseball terms, but I do miss the double digit lead they enjoyed for awhile. The Cubs again have the best record in baseball, which they lost for a brief period when they forgot how to win. They lost 14 of 18 and with last night's 5-2 win over the Brewers, the Cubs have now won 6 of their last 8 games.
Dexter Fowler returned to the lineup and immediately put the Cubs up 1-0 with a solo shot to center field. Fowler continues to be the best free agent acquisition of the 2015-2016 offseason. He fell into the Cubs lap just as spring training started for just $8 million in 2016. The deal also includes a mutual option for 2017 at $9 million. The option has a $5 million buyout on the Cubs part. It's hard for me to imagine the Cubs not exercising their part of the option, but it's possible the Cubs and Fowler reached some sort of agreement that the Cubs would decline the option. Even if that is the case, it's still the best deal of the offseason. Fowler went 3-4 with a walk, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored in his return.
Addison Russell was 2-4 with a run and a strikeout. He also tripled to lead off the 6th and the Cubs failed to score.
C.J. Edwards, Jr. has pitched really well since his call up. He was second in last night's game in WPA to Dexter Fowler with 0.16. He came in relief of Jason Hammel in the 6th inning with a man on and nobody out. Edwards threw a clean 6th inning, allowing no hits and stranding the runner. He walked none and struckout 2. He had some nasty stuff that the hitters didn't look like they had much of a chance with.
Three down
Anthony Rizzo has had a few games lately where he's been impatient at the plate and looked pretty bad. He struckout four times in a game against the Mets, though Noah Syndergaard started the game so at least some of that was just facing a great pitcher. Last night he was 0-5 with 2 strikeouts, but he did take the NL lead in RBI with a sac fly so it's not all bad.
Jason Heyward was 0-4 and he hit at least two weak ass ground balls. Heyward was better in June, or at least the early part of June anyway. He's back to being pretty awful at the plate in July. His wOBA by month so far: .281 (April), .272 (May), .319 (June), .275 (July). He's batting .231/.322/.319 with a wOBA of .289 and a wRC+ of 77. Thanks to some great defense he's still been worth 1.3 fWAR, but this is about as bad a first season as any of us could have imagined. About the only way I can think it would be worse is if he had or does suffer a leg injury, which could limit his speed, range and overall defense in the future. The Cubs may have signed the best free agent bargain in Dexter Fowler, but so far anyway, the worst contract of the offseason is Jason Heyward.
This third and final spot is going to Joe Maddon. After Russell's leadoff triple in the 6th inning, Miguel Montero hit a soft fly ball to LF that didn't have a chance of scoring Russell. Jason Hammel was due up and in the bottom half of the 5th, the Cubs bullpen was already active. The score was 4-2 and the obvious and correct decision here is to pinch hit. Joe did not and the Cubs failed to score. To make the decision even worse, after Hammel allowed a leadoff hit, he was removed in favor of C.J. Edwards, Jr. There's really no acceptable explanation as to why you'd not pinch hit for Hammel, but take him out after just one batter the following inning. It was a terrible decision. Joe does many great things and those are discussed to death, but he makes similar decisions to this too frequently and for some reason the media doesn't call him out on it.
Next up: Cubs @ Brewers, 6:10 pm CT
Tags: addison russell, anthony rizzo, cj edwards, dexter fowler, jason hammel, jason heyward, joe madden, miguel montero, noah syndergaard
That non-PH irked me as well. No damage done, but Edwards had to pitch in a more stressful situation than necessary.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
dmick89
Edwards has been great so far. He's kind of filled the role Grimm had last year.
dmick89Quote Reply
for some reason the media doesn't call him out on it.
The Cubs again have the best record in baseball
SKQuote Reply
They didn't call him out on it last year either, SK. The media and much of the fan base wouldn't call Joe or Theo out on anything unless they had 10 losing seasons in a row. These guys cannot do any wrong in many of their eyes.
dmick89,
I dunno, maybe. I don't think Theo and Joe are comparable in this …. but I also haven't paid attention to any media this year. But being in first place all season cuts a manager a hell of a lot of slack.
berselius
To-day's base ball squadron
Zobrist (LF)
Baez (2B)
berseliusQuote Reply
SK: But being in first place all season cuts a manager a hell of a lot of slack.
True. It's just a little annoying when the fans and media justify every bad decision and try to turn it into some sort of good decision.
#hugwatch on for Chris Sale, apparently
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/cubs-brewers-game-thread-7-23-16/
Daily Shrug Random Hot Stove Open Thread Edition
Postseason open thread
Cubs 8, Cardinals 2
Cubs 8, Reds 2
Cubs 16, Pirates 6 / Cubs 47, Pirates 15
berselius on Daily Shrug Random Hot Stove Open Thread Edition
Ryno on Daily Shrug Random Hot Stove Open Thread Edition
Rizzo the Rat on Daily Shrug Random Hot Stove Open Thread Edition
Perkins on Daily Shrug Random Hot Stove Open Thread Edition
2018 NL Central Standings


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MEPC 56(33); The amendments affect four of the Convention's five technical annexes(II III, V, and I) and are all designed to improve the way it is implemented. They make it possible for ships to be inspected when in the ports of other Parties to the Convention to ensure that crews are able to carry out essential shipboard procedures relating to marine pollution prevention. These are contained in resolution A.742(18), which was adopted by the IMO Assembly in November 1993. The amendments are similar to those made to SOLAS in May 1994. Extending port State control to operational requirements is seen as an important way of improving the efficiency with which international safety and anti-pollution treaties are implemented.