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October 2014
Funding for the Federal Courts
Avoiding controversy and the threat of a government shutdown, both Congressional chambers in September passed a short-term government funding bill – technically known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) -- that kept the government running into the new fiscal year that began October 1. The CR maintains current funding levels – including those for the federal courts -- until mid-December.
Congress is expected to return for a lame duck session following the midterm elections in November and pass either an omnibus FY 2015 budget or approve another CR that extends government funding at current levels, likely into the spring of 2015.
Judicial Vacancies
During the brief legislative session in September, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out ten judicial nominees who are likely to receive floor confirmation during the lame duck session later this year.
Also in September, the President announced several judicial nominees, including three to vacancies in the high caseload-burdened Southern District of Texas. Two of the three vacancies are considered "judicial emergencies" by the federal judiciary because of their age and high caseloads. The President's nominees – two Texas state court judges and a federal magistrate judge – were recommended by their Texas home-state Senators (Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz) after being screened by their bipartisan Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee after a long delay. Two vacancies in the Southern District of Texas yet remain and are without nominees; one of the vacancies has existed over 3 years.
The vacancy report, as of October 1, reflects:
The Senate is on record-setting pace to achieve the highest number of judicial confirmations in the fifth year of a presidency. That pace has been energized by the prospect of Democratic loss of control of the Senate in the November elections. Polls continue to reflect the likelihood that Republicans will retake the Senate, casting doubt on the confirmation of many Obama judicial nominees during the remainder of the President's term in 2015 and 2016.
The pace of confirmations in the Senate would likely slow down considerably in a Republican-controlled Senate, even if the so-called nuclear option remains in place. The nuclear option refers to the Democratic-invoked change in the Senate rules – requiring only a bare-majority of 51 votes on executive and most judicial nominations – that occurred last November and eased the confirmation of a record-number of judicial nominees so far this year. If Republicans claim 51 or more seats coming out of the election, they are likely to block more judicial nominees in committee and use procedural tools to frustrate confirmation floor votes. "We would have substantially lessened productivity on nominations, which on the judicial front has actually been one of the unsung success stories of this Congress," a senior Democratic aide recently told Vox. These developments are spotlighted in an upcoming Washington Watch column by Bruce Moyer in The Federal Lawyer.
Similarly, if a Supreme Court vacancy arises, Republicans would have the power to block any nominees that President Obama may offer. The ages of the Democrat-appointed members of the Supreme Court, and the likelihood that several could not outlast a Republican installed in the White House, has created heightened attention on the potential of retirement announcements by one or more justices next year.
AG Holder's Resignation
The resignation announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder on September 25 will likely set the scene for a bruising confirmation battle for his successor during the upcoming lame duck session. Senate Democrats will want to push through the confirmation of Holder's successor during the lame duck session, while they retain undisputed control. Republicans will push to delay the confirmation in order to subject the nominee to a much more contentious floor fight next year.
Judicial Pay
Recent court decisions in 2012 and 2013 elevating the compensation of federal judges will ultimately cost $1.2 billion over the coming decade, according to a recent estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
Those court decisions, including Beer v. United States and Barker v. United States, established that the Congress may not withhold automatic salary increases for certain judges and that Congress improperly withheld such increases on six separate occasions (in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2010).
Beer held that the denial of certain cost-of-living adjustments for judges violated the Compensation Clause and that a 2001 amendment that barred judges from receiving additional compensation except as Congress specifically authorized did not override the provisions of a 1989 law that provided automatic pay increases for judges. As a result of Barker, a class action suit that extended Beer to all Article III judges, judicial salaries rose by 14 percent on January 1, 2014, as the years of missing cost-of-living adjustments were added to their paychecks. The chief justice now is paid $255,500, and associate Supreme Court justices have a $244,400 salary. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges are receiving $211,200 a year, and the annual salary of a U.S. District Court judge is $199,100.
Restitution for the denial of the salary adjustments has resulted in payments of at least $25,000 to eligible judges. Retirement benefits, which are based on salary levels, also will be adjusted upward.
CBO pointed out that the pay of most federal judges is considered "mandatory spending," meaning it is not subject to the annual appropriations process. Assuming that the necessary amounts are appropriated for the discretionary salaries of judges at the maximum level permitted, CBO estimates that the additional discretionary costs will total about $190 million over the next 10 years.
The CBO report is here.
PACER System Access
Controversy erupted in late summer over the federal judiciary's management of PACER, the online system for accessing public court records. The dispute erupted over upgrades to the legacy systems of four federal appellate courts (2nd, 7th, 11th and Federal Circuit) and one district court (Central District of California) in the PACER system. PACER is an interconnected network of district and circuit court archives managed by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and funded through a fee structure based on document access. It is not a universal database.
News reports initially suggested that the AO planned to remove thousands of court documents from the PACER system during the transition to the "NextGen" version of PACER. Congressional inquiries followed, and the AO ultimately assured lawmakers, in a letter from AO Director Judge John Bates, that documents initially removed from the PACER system would be restored as system upgrades continue.
Judge Bates' letter is here.
For further coverage: http://wapo.st/1uOw7Bq
Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules
The Judicial Conference of the United States recently approved changes to court rules, including ones that could reshape how discovery is handled in civil litigation. The Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's policymaking body, adopted the amendments during its biannual meeting on September 16.
The proposed changes to the Civil Rules include language narrowing the scope of pretrial discovery requests to assure demands are "proportional" to the needs of a particular case. Proponents say the new rules would help bring down the skyrocketing costs of litigation. Opponents counter that the changes would benefit big business at the expense of plaintiffs with legitimate claims.
The rules changes will take effect on December 1, 2015, pending approval of the U.S. Supreme Court, or unless Congress steps in to oppose the amendments or to make adjustments.
The changes involve Civil Rules 1, 6, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, and 55, and proposed abrogation of Rule 84 and the Appendix of Forms (approved in September 2014).
Information about the amendments can be found in the March 2014 and September 2014 Reports of the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Practice. Those reports can be found here: http://1.usa.gov/1ruT7H1
In addition there are two sets of proposed amendments to federal court rules that are now subject to public comment:
The Judicial Conference Advisory Committees on Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Rules on August 15, 2014 proposed amendments to their respective rules and forms, and requested that the proposals be circulated to the bench, bar, and public for comment through February 17, 2015. Hearings will be held on the proposed amendments between October and February. Information on the proposed amendments is here: http://1.usa.gov/1ksGwez
The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States released for public comment on September 2, 2014 a draft of proposed amendments to the Judicial Conference's Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings. The Committee has invited public comment on the draft amendments through November 3, 2014. Information on the amendments is here.
Erwin Chemerinsky and "The Case Against the Supreme Court"
As the Supreme Court prepares to convene a new term on October 6, a notable Constitutional scholar has deeply criticized the Court and its jurisprudence in a new book. Erin Chemerinsky, the left-leaning dean of the law school at the University of California at Irvine, has published a 342-page critique, "The Case Against the Supreme Court" that concludes that the Supreme Court historically has too often made mistakes in meeting its obligation to protect individuals against discrimination and the tyranny of the majority. "The court has frequently failed, throughout American history, at its most important tasks, at its most important moments. This is not easy for me to conclude or to say," Chemerinsky writes.


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Adds new Key Recovery Agent (KRA) certificate to a specified Certification Authority (CA).
Add-CAKRACertificate [-InputObject] <KRA[]> [-Certificate] <X509Certificate2[]> [<CommonParameters>]
Adds new Key Recovery Agent (KRA) certificate to a specified Certification Authority (CA).
This command doesn't change actual settings, but just prepares KRA object. To change KRAs on CA use this command in conjunction with Set-CAKRACertificate command.
Key Recovery Agent certificate is used to encrypt user certificate's private key and store it in the CA database in a encrypted form. In the case when user cannot access his or her certificate private key, it is possible to recover it by key recovery agent (if Key Archival procedure was taken against particular certificate).
Specifies the KRA object to process. This object can be retrieved by running Get-CAKRACertificate command.
|Default value
|Accept pipeline input?
|true (ByValue, ByPropertyName)
|Accept wildcard characters?
Specifies one or more X509Certificate2 objects that represent key recovery agent certificate(s). To retrieve a list of enterprise key recovery agent certificates use Get-ADKRACertificate command.
|Default value
|Accept pipeline input?
|Accept wildcard characters?
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,
ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, InformationAction, InformationVariable,
WarningAction, WarningVariable, OutBuffer, PipelineVariable and OutVariable.
For more information, see about_CommonParameters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).
Author: Vadims Podans
Blog: https://www.sysadmins.lv
PS C:\> $KRACerts = Get-ADKRACertificate -Subject "CN=Key Recovery*" C:\PS>Get-CertificationAuthority -Name MyCA | Get-CAKRACertificate | Add-CAKRACertificate -Certificate $certs | Set-CAKRACertificate -RestartCA
First command retrieves from Active Directory all KRA certificates where subject field starts with 'CN=Key Recovery' (in DN format). Second command will retrieve currently assigned KRA certificates to 'MyCA' CA server and adds new certificates obtained in first command. After configuration is changed, the command will restart certificate services to immediately apply changes.
PS C:\> $Certs = Get-ADKRACertificate -ShowUI -Multipick C:\PS>Get-CertificationAuthority | Get-CAKRACertificate | Add-CAKRACertificate $Certs | Set-Certificate -RestartCA
In this example first command will display certificate selection UI where you can select available KRA certificates. Second command will add selected (in previous command) certificates to currently assigned certificates and writes new certificate list back to a CA server. After configuration is changed, the command will restart certificate services to immediately apply changes.

subset: commoncrawl


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A mummy of a 15-year old girl, who was frozen for 500 years, was found in 1999 in Argentina. Even though it has been concluded that this girl's body was lifeless for five centuries, when she was found her body was perfectly preserved. According to some foreign media, she was chosen as a sacrifice to the gods for religious reasons.
The Inca girl was only 15 years old and has been nick named 'the maiden'. Her frozen body was found in 1999 on the Argentinian volcano llullaillaco, which i cant pronounce. This volcano has a 6739 meter high summit and was being explored at the time when the expedition came across the inca girl.
She was chosen by the inca people to live with her gods. But in reality she was sacrificed to the gods for religion.
The body of the girl is perfectly preserved and looks as if she died very recently, but in fact the poor girl had died around 500 years ago.
Scientists where able to determine her diet by examining the proteins in her hair that had been preserved for all those years. It turns out that she had a very fattening and full diet for months maybe even years before she was sacrificed. The inca would sacrifice children after an important event as an offering to there gods. The children would be taken to the high mountain tops, fed coca leaves on the way and then given a intoxicating drink at the burial site. When they where intoxicated the inca priests would of killed them by strangulation or a blow to the head. sometimes they would of been left to freeze to death.
Recently scientists have discovered that the 500 year old frozen girl had a bacterial infection when she was sacrificed. They say that the illness is similar to tuberculosis and that the discover was made by swabbing the lips of the girl and comparing the sample with current patients. Scientists think that by discovering this bacteria it could help to fight new illnesses or reemerging illnesses.
So even though this poor girl died 500 years ago. Her sacrifice could help to cure some diseases that are affecting modern people.


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I am a professor of political science at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. I teach courses on American political behavior, political parties, campaigns and elections, interest groups, political participation, and political theory. My primary field of research is campaign finance, but I have written on a variety of other subjects, including congressional politics and elections, redistricting, and various aspects of jury service. I recently published a couple of different books on congressional primaries, and in 2011 I published a book analyzing the effect of campaign finance reform laws on US and Canadian interest groups. I just completed an edited volume comparing recent changes in campaign finance laws in Western democracies.
I'm currently working on three different projects: a handbook on primary elections; a history of changes in primary election laws during the mid-twentieth century, and a study of changes in how we have understood political corruption.
I'm also the co-PI, with Vin Moscardelli, on a project funded by the Hewlett Foundation to measure the consequences of primary election dates on various primary and general election outcomes. If you're here because you're looking for the data from that project, the download page is here.
In addition to my work at Clark, I am also the director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network at the University of Arizona.
I have taught at Clark since 2005. Before that, I taught at Swarthmore College and I worked as a research fellow at the Campaign Finance Institute, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, and as a research associate at the American Judicature Society. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, received my B.A from Carleton College, and received my Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
This website contains pages for my larger ongoing research projects, my vita, and syllabi for my recent classes. I have provided links here for all of my ungated published work. If you have an interest in additional materials, please contact me.


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Medieval Godfred Viking Celtic Battle Sword Stainless
Medieval Godfred Viking Celtic Battle Sword Stainless
- 27 Inch Stainless Metal Blade
- Antique Bronzed Scabbard Fittings
- Forged Metal Guard and Pommel
- Real Suede Wrapped Manage
- 35 Inches All round
This is a replica of a 9th century Viking sword. The sword is comprehensive down to the weighted pommel and sharpened edge. The sword is excellent for collectors and stage fights. The Sword is 440 Stainless Metal.
List Price tag: $ .00
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B001DEXYDC"]


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What becomes of an Olympic venue once the Games have ended? We take a look at Olympic sites from the 1968 Games, hosted by Mexico City, and the 2010 Games, hosted by Vancouver.
Mexico City
Mexico's capital, Mexico City, hosted the Olympic Games in 1968. The selection of Mexico City was significant for a number of reasons: it was the first time the Games had been held in a Spanish-speaking country, the first time they had been held in Latin America, and the first time they had been held in what was considered a "developing" country.
Photo: Julie Schwietert Collazo
For a brief moment, it looked like the International Olympic Committee would cancel the Games, as a massacre of student and civilian protesters occurred just 10 days before the Games' Opening Ceremony. The IOC decided not to cancel the Games; however, the world's biggest sporting event was definitely politically charged that year and Mexican officials were relieved that the Games concluded without significant incidents.
Today, many of the venues that hosted athletic competitions during the 1968 Olympics remain active sporting sites for Mexican athletes, and are open to the public. Arena Mexico, not far from the city's main square, the Zocalo, hosted wrestling matches in 1968 and continues to do so today. Popular lucha libre spectacles are held here regularly, drawing massive crowds eager to watch this beloved and uniquely Mexican sport in which masked and costumed wrestlers try to best one another.
Another Olympic venue you can visit for both a sense of the past and a dose of local culture is the Estadio Olimpico Universitario (University Olympic Stadium) at UNAM, Mexico's largest and most prestigious university, located in the south of the city. The site of the Opening and Closing Ceremony of the 1968 Games, as well as many track and field events, today's it's the home field for the popular Pumas soccer team.
Vancouver was one of the most recent Olympic hosts, so it's hardly a surprise that many of its venues are in excellent condition and are open to the public for recreational purposes. One of the most popular spots for locals in Vancouver is the Richmond Olympic Oval, which was the site for speed skating competitions in the 2010 Winter Olympics. After the Games, the entire complex was converted into a 23,000 square foot fitness and recreation center that's open to the public on a membership basis. There's a 31 route climbing wall, a paddling center, two Olympic size skating rinks, and dozens of courts for badminton, basketball, and volleyball. Don't feel like working out? You can take a guided tour of the venue instead.
Photo: tgreyfox
One of the most popular Olympic sites in Vancouver–and one of the most accessible, too– is the Olympic cauldron, which remains in its original location near the convention center. It's ideal for a photo opp. Besides the Cauldron itself, the natural views here are spectacular, with the North Shore Mountains visible in the distance.
To learn more about other Olympic sites you can visit in North America, check out our feature article, "Destinations of Champions".


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Plumbing Services in Cypress, Texas
We Unclog Drains
for diagnostic visit
At Budget Home Services, we put the customer first. We've been servicing Cypress, Texas and the surrounding Houston area since 1992. Ever since our first day in business, our philosophy has remained the same: "Take good care of customers and they will take good care of you."
Our location in central Houston makes it easy for our fleet of experienced technicians to get anywhere in the surrounding metropolitan area. Our plumbing services stick out from the pack thanks to our dedication to customer service and our commitment to using only the highest quality tools and materials for our plumbing repairs. We provide dedicated, skilled, and quality plumbing repair in the town of Cypress and beyond.
When you need to hire a plumber in Cypress, Texas, our technicians here at Budget Home Services are just a phone call away. You'll join legions of Houston home and business owners that swear by us for all their plumbing needs.
Licenced and Insured To Unclog Drains
Call us and we will gladly give you a price over the phone.
The Ashburn area is known for water heaters being in strange places. Whether it's in the garage, under the stairs, in the attic or closet we can take care of it for you.
Budget Home Service's Top Plumbing Services
We offer a wide variety of plumbing services here at Budget Home Services. We can fix your plumbing problem quickly and efficiently at an affordable price. Want to make sure that we can help with your particular problem? Then just give us a call today.
At Budget Home Services, we use a well-maintained fleet of trucks to service the entirety of the Greater Houston Area. All of our plumbing contractors are trained and licensed. They use the best quality equipment and tools on the job.
At the heart of our business is customer service. We strive to provide the best quality plumbing repair in Cypress, TX. When you call our offices, you'll speak one-on-one with a licensed and experienced plumber. They'll point you in the right direction regarding your problem. If needed, they'll schedule a time for the work to be done, at your convenience.
Where We Service in Houston, Texas
We service all of the Greater Houston Area, including its many cities, towns, and unincorporated areas. One area in particular where we provide our services is Cypress. The community of about 120,000 people is located in the 77429 and 77433 zip codes. It sits about 25 miles northwest of Houston.
Cypress, Texas has proven a popular place to live. Thanks to its friendly and welcoming atmosphere, great year-round weather, and abundance of entertainment, cultural, and recreational activities, the population has recently exploded in size. With a mixture of residential homes and commercial buildings, Cypress is now one of Houston's most bustling suburbs.
Budget Home Services can help you keep your Cypress home or business in tiptop repair. Our commercial plumbing and residential plumbing are popular in the area. Whether you know you need a repair ahead of time or an emergency strikes, we can help.
Find the Best Plumber in Cypress, TX
Budget Home Services hits the nail on the head with our plumbing services. Our technicians are fast and efficient. Our customer service is top notch. Our work is of the highest quality. Best of all, our technicians are familiar with the Texas way of life. Our plumbing services in Cypress are sure to meet your needs.
Licenced and Insured, All Major Credit Cards Accepted


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Forget HRT try Natural Hormone Therapy/
Menopause is an inevitable and natural change in every woman's life where the monthly menstrual and ovulation cycles draws to an end. We hear of some pretty disturbing symptoms from fellow females who have been through the menopause, however it needn't be so traumatic if we embrace the changes by adjusting our diet and lifestyle before and during this period. After all the more balanced your diet and lifestyle is when you hit the change age strongly determines how smooth your transition will be. Stress is the main cause to erratic and problematic menopause. According to Ayurveda, we can expect varied menopausal symptoms depending on our dominant 'dosha type', vata, pitta or kapha.Read More


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It is not easy for homeowners to understand where to go when the HVAC system isn't working properly. To ward off disaster, spend time getting to know the subject before something goes awry. This article is intended to help conscientious homeowners learn how to hire the help they need.
Be sure to get every quote or estimate in written form. You have no recourse on a verbal agreement, so a written contract is a must. This will allow you to follow up if something goes wrong or you don't get what you were promised, protecting you from shady contractors.
If you do have a good experience with a HVAC product or contractor, let others know. Go online and post a review so that people can easily find out who and what brands to trust. At the same time, you can check reviews online to learn more yourself about what's available.
If you want to know more about efficiently heating or cooling your home, go online and download the ENERGY STAR Guide. It provides information for homeowners to learn more about how they can save money while still keeping their home comfortable all year round, so it is a worthy ready.
Clean your permanent air filters or replace disposable ones every single month. If you have the choice, an electrostatic is the best option on the market today. Be sure to turn off your unit before you change the filter as it should never be run without a filter in place.
When selecting the spot to put the outdoor compressor for your unit, choose somewhere that gets plenty of shade. When it draws in air for cooling, it will be more efficient because it will not need to work as hard to cool down the air.
Make sure that your contractor provides a home assessment. Not every HVAC solution is for everyone. Your home could have special needs for heating and cooling. Your contractor should do a walk around of your space to judge what is best. If they aren't be sure to request one.
You should be sure to change the air filter of your HVAC system once every six months. Neglecting to do so can cause dust particles to clog the air ducts. In turn, your system will not work properly and you will find your bills going up. It's worth spending the time to clean the filters.
In the winter, wearing layers can save you a ton of money on your utility bill. If you can install a digital thermostat that makes the house cooler when you're asleep and warmer just before you get up, you can see significant savings on your next bill when it arrives.
If you have a window air conditioner without a timer, use a regular outlet timer to control when it is on or off. These are the same ones you use for holiday lights, so all you have to do is plug your air conditioner into the timer and set it to cool you during the day.
When HVAC fails, everyone feels miserable. If you perform regular maintenance, you are less likely to experience an untimely break down. These tips are very simple, but they can help you avoid expensive fees by teaching you to handle the maintenance yourself.


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!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event Late 1993-December 14, 1995: Logistical Base for Militants Fighting in Bosnia Is Investigated and Shut Down. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
Friday prayers outside the Islamic Cultural Institute, on October 19, 2001. [Source: Reuters / Corbis]The Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan, Italy, has numerous ties to terrorist activities during this period and after 9/11, and the Treasury Department will call the mosque "the main al-Qaeda station house in Europe." It is initially headed by Anwar Shaaban (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995 and December 14, 1995), an opponent of the current Egyptian regime and a supporter of the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya militant group, which is run by the 'Blind Sheikh,' Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman (see Late 1993-1994). It recruits fighters for militant Islamic causes and sends them to Afghanistan for training. One of the recruits, L'Houssaine Kherchtou, who will testify for the prosecution at the trial of men accused of bombing US embassies in Africa in 1998, will say that he knew Shaaban well, adding: "He was my guide. I went there every weekend to be with him." After studying with Shaaban for some time, Shaaban arranges for Kherchtou and a group of other men to receive military training in Afghanistan. [Chicago Tribune, 10/22/2001] There is heavy telephone traffic between the Institute and the New York mosque run by Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, and Italian police say it is a logistical base for the WTC bombing (see Late 1993-1994). The Algerian militant group Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) gains influence in the mosque after Shaaban dies in the Bosnian Civil War (see After 1995). It creates a "cottage industry in supplying false passports and other bogus documents" according to European intelligence officials, and serves as a gateway to Europe for operatives from Afghanistan. [Boston Globe, 8/4/2002]
Entity Tags: L'Houssaine Kherchtou, Islamic Cultural Institute, Al-Qaeda, Anwar Shaaban, Omar Abdul-Rahman
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
In late 1993, the FBI discovers that WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef used a mosque in Milan, Italy, known as the Islamic Cultural Institute, as a logistical base (see Late 1993-1994). The Italian government begins investigating the mosque and soon discovers that it is the main European headquarters for Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, a radical Egyptian militant group, and is also the logistical base for mujaheddin traveling to fight in Bosnia. The mosque is run by Anwar Shaaban, who has a close working relationship with Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, and who also stays in regular contact with al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. Shaaban runs a training camp thirty miles outside of Milan where fighters heading to Bosnia can practice using weapons and explosives. The mosque also helps smuggle men, money, and weapons to Bosnia. [Schindler, 2007, pp. 163-164] On June 25, 1995, Italian police raid the mosque and over 70 other locations in northern Italy. Seventeen people are indicted and eleven of them are arrested, but that is only a fraction of the hundreds investigated. Inside the mosque, police find forgery tools, letters to wanted radicals around the world, and hundreds of false documents. Plots to bomb targets in other countries and a US target elsewhere in Italy are averted. Shaaban escapes arrest, as he had already left the country, but he is killed in Croatia a short time later (see December 14, 1995). [United Press International, 6/26/1995; Vidino, 2006, pp. 216-218] But the Islamic Cultural Institute will soon reopen and continue to be a focal point for radical militants in Europe. It will be linked the 9/11 attacks and other violent plots (see Late 1998-September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Anwar Shaaban
The CIA and Albanian intelligence recruit an informer knowledgeable about al-Qaeda in the Balkans. The informer, whose name is Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, but is known as Abu Omar, is recruited by a special unit of the Albanian National Intelligence Service (ShIK) created at the behest of the CIA. An officer in the unit, Astrit Nasufi, will say that the unit is actually run by a CIA agent known as "Mike" who is based on the US embassy in Tirana, Albania, and who teaches them intelligence techniques. The CIA and ShIK are worried about a possible assassination attempt against the Egyptian foreign minister, who is to visit Albania soon, so about twelve radical Egyptians, members of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad, are detained beforehand. Nasr is not on the list, but is detained because of a link to a suspect charity, the Human Relief and Construction Agency (HRCA). He is held for about 10 days and, although he initially refuses to talk, ShIK has a "full file" on him after a week. He provides information about around ten fellow Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya members working for HRCA and two other charities, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, both of which will be declared designated supporters of terrorism after 9/11. However, he says there are no plans to kill the Egyptian foreign minister, as this would mean Albania would no longer be a safe haven for fundamentalist Muslims. The intelligence Nasr goes on to provide is regarded as good quality and includes the identities of operatives monitoring the US embassy and entering and leaving Albania. The CIA is most interested in monitoring former mujaheddin joining the Bosnian Muslims, and Nasr also provides intelligence on Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya branches in Britain, Germany, and Italy, in particular the Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan, which is a base for mujaheddin operations in the Balkans and is raided by the Italian government around this time (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995). Even though cooperation appears to be good, after a few weeks Nasr suddenly disappears and the CIA tells ShIK that Nasr has moved to Germany. [Chicago Tribune, 7/2/2005] Nasr will later surface in Italy and will become close to Islamic militants in Milan (see Summer 2000), but will be kidnapped by the CIA after 9/11 (see Noon February 17, 2003).
Entity Tags: Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, Islamic Jihad, State Intelligence Service (Albania), Central Intelligence Agency, Astrit Nasufi, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Islamic Cultural Institute, Human Relief and Construction Agency, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, Kosovar Albanian Struggle
Anwar Shaaban, an Islamist militant in charge of logistics for mujaheddin fighting in Bosnia, is killed in Croatia. Shaaban had been based at the Islamic Cultural Institute mosque in Milan, but managed to avoid arrest when it was raided (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995). On December 14, 1995, the same day a peace accord is signed ending the Bosnian war, Shaaban is killed by Croatian troops in what mujaheddin claim is an ambush. Shaaban's diary is found, and it cites regular meetings between al-Qaeda leaders and leaders of the Bosnian Muslim government, including General Staff Chief Rasim Delic and Interior Minister Bakir Alispahic. [Schindler, 2007, pp. 216-217] Shaaban, a leader of the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya militant group, had been in regular contact with Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman and al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. [Schindler, 2007, pp. 163-164]
Entity Tags: Rasim Delic, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Anwar Shaaban, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bakir Alispahic
Following an investigation of extremists linked to the Islamic Cultural Institute mosque in Milan, Italy, arrests are made, but most of the suspects are eventually released. The mosque was a logistics base for radical Muslims fighting in Bosnia (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995 and Late 1993-1994) and has been under investigation for some time. However, according to the Chicago Tribune: "[T]he criminal case appears to [founder] on the vagaries of the Italian justice system. Because of limitations on jailing people charged with crimes committed outside Italy, most of the suspects [will be] released and [vanish]." [Chicago Tribune, 10/22/2001] People connected to the mosque will go on to be connected to numerous plots, such as the failed millennium attacks and 9/11 (see Late 1998-September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Islamic Cultural Institute
The Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan, Italy. [Source: Public domain]By late 1998, US and Italian intelligence are already aware of the importance of a mosque in Milan, Italy, called the Islamic Cultural Institute. After 9/11, the Treasury Department will call the mosque "the main al-Qaeda station house in Europe. It is used to facilitate the movement of weapons, men and money across the world." Additionally, they are aware that Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, a founder and director of Al Taqwa Bank, is also a founder and financier of the mosque. The mosque is also less than 50 miles away from Al Taqwa's headquarters on the Swiss border.(see 1995-1997). [Newsweek, 3/18/2002] US officials will later say that al-Qaeda operatives involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings stayed at the Milan mosque. This causes US and Italian intelligence to watch the mosque more closely, and it also causes the US to look closer at Al Taqwa Bank (see 1997-September 11, 2001). [Newsweek, 3/18/2002] One member of the al-Qaeda cell in Milan lives in Hamburg with 9/11 plotter Ramzi bin al-Shibh for most of 1998 (see December 1997-November 1998). In 2000, Abderazek Mahdjoub, the head of the Milan cell, lives in Hamburg, attends the Al-Quds mosque that the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell attends, and has ties with some of the 9/11 hijackers (see 2000). Al-Qaeda operatives involved in the failed millennium bombing plot in Jordan also stay at the Milan mosque (see November 30, 1999). The Jordanian government later will claim that Al Taqwa helped fund these millennium bombers. [Newsweek, 3/18/2002; Newsweek, 4/12/2004] Starting in late 2000, Italian intelligence, wiretapping people associated with the Milan mosque and/or the Milan al-Qaeda cell, record conversations suggesting foreknowledge of the 9/11 plot (see August 12, 2000; January 24, 2001). This information is shared with the US in early 2001 (see March 2001). Additional evidence will come out after 9/11 suggesting some people in Milan had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks (see September 4, 2001; September 7, 2001). Given the closeness of the Al Taqwa Bank to the mosque, especially through Nasreddin, this raises the possibility of Al Taqwa involvement and knowledge of specific al-Qaeda plots, including the 9/11 attacks, though there is no known evidence of such direct ties except for the attempted millennium bombing mentioned above.
Entity Tags: Islamic Cultural Institute, Abderazek Mahdjoub, Italy, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, US Department of the Treasury, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, Al-Qaeda, Al Taqwa Bank
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. [Source: ABC]Italian resident Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who previously informed for the CIA on extremists in Albania (see August 27, 1995 and Shortly After and May 1997-2000), moves from Rome to Milan to live with a close associate of al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri (see Before Spring 2000 and Summer 2000). Al-Zawahiri's associate, Mahmoud Es Sayed, and Nasr arrive in Milan at the same time, and it appears their movements are coordinated. Nasr actually lives in Es Sayed's apartment and the pair make use of two radical mosques in Milan, the Via Quaranta mosque, which is their headquarters, and the Islamic Cultural Institute (ICI), which is associated with a cell of radical Islamists that works with al-Qaeda and appears to have foreknowledge of 9/11 (see August 12, 2000 and March 2001). The ICI has a reputation as the most radical Islamic center in Italy, was a key supply point for Muslims fighting in Bosnia (see Late 1993-December 14, 1995), and was connected to the first World Trade Center bombing (see Late 1993-1994). Nasr serves as deputy imam at the ICI and preaches anti-US sermons. Italian law enforcement authorities monitor him with bugs in his apartment and through a tap on his phone, finding out that after 9/11 he recruits Muslims to go and fight in Afghanistan. He does not seem to be directly involved in serious illegal activity, but the information the Italians gain helps them monitor other radicals. His relationship with the CIA during his time in Italy is unclear, but in one monitored call after 9/11 he appears to be dissuading another radical from attacking Jews and in another he tells an associate not to carry out a car bombing. [Chicago Tribune, 7/2/2005; Vidino, 2006, pp. 242] The CIA will kidnap Nasr in 2003 (see Noon February 17, 2003).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Mahmoud Es Sayed, Islamic Cultural Institute, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
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Why NASCAR is at a crossroads in 2018
Yet more star names off the grid, declining TV audiences and a need to revive trackside interest - 2018 poses a huge challenge for NASCAR, but there is a prosperous future if it makes the right moves
Dale Earnhardt Jr has been modern NASCAR's most popular driver so comfortably, he's won the accolade for it 15 times. Now he's retired, along with veteran Matt Kenseth, and Danica Patrick has an impending exit - 2018 is a critical period for NASCAR.
And it's not been lost on the paddock. After a year in which NASCAR had a breakout champion in Martin Truex Jr, dominating in a fashion rarely seen in one of motorsport's closest series, CEO Brian France and president Brent Dewar faced questions in a press conference centred on NASCAR's future at the Homestead finale.
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With thirty plus years of experience rebuilding Porsche motorcars, KMW Motorsports has been a leader in rebuilding, developing and blue printing Porsche street and race motors.
We do stock OEM rebuilds back to all factory specs using all OEM parts. From mild street performance upgrades including, PMO carburetor conversions, to purpose built race motors. Build and design a custom race engine per customer specs or, to any club racing rules.


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Here you will find some slides, figures and videos related to my work
My invited seminar at Università degli Studi di Milano – Segrate (November 16th 2017)2017-11-16-Milano_v1-1
My invited seminar at Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (April 20th 2017)2017-04-20-Napoli_v1
My presentation at MMM2016, Dijon (October 11st 2016)2016-10-MMM
My presentation at STATPHYS26, Lyon (July 21st 2016)2016-07-STATPHYS26
My presentation at the MECO 41 Conference, Vienna (February 15th 2016)
Slides from a seminar at the Theoretical Physics department in Universitat de Barcelona (13th July 2015)
My presentation at Viscous Liquids IV, Montpellier, (5th May 2015)
Parallel kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of Coulomb glassesWe develop a parallel rejection algorithm to tackle the problem of low acceptance in Monte Carlo methods, and apply it to the simulation of the hopping conduction in Coulomb glasses using Graphics Processing Units, for which we also parallelize the update of local energies. In two dimensions, our parallel code achieves speedups of up to two orders of magnitude in computing time over an equivalent serial code. We find numerical evidence of a scaling relation for the relaxation of the conductivity at different temperatures.
View full article…
Numerical approaches on driven elastic interfaces in random media
We present the main concepts behind the statistical and dynamical properties of elastic systems in disordered media, focused on the relation between the rough geometry and collective transport properties in driven steady-states. We review the numerical approaches that allow to analyze the equilibrium, creep, and depinning regimes of motion in these models.
View full article…
Nonsteady relaxation and critical exponents at the depinning transition
We study the nonsteady relaxation of a driven one-dimensional elastic interface at the depinning transition by extensive numerical simulations concurrently implemented on graphics processing units. Above a first, nonuniversal microscopic time regime, we find a nontrivial long crossover towards the nonsteady macroscopic critical regime. In order to avoid fitting effective exponents with a systematic bias we implement a practical criterion of consistency and perform large-scale ( ) simulations for the nonsteady dynamics of the continuum displacement quenched Edwards-Wilkinson equation, getting accurate and consistent depinning exponents for this class: , , , and .
View full article…
-state Potts model metastability study using optimized GPU-based Monte Carlo algorithms
We implemented a GPU-based parallel code to perform Monte Carlo simulations of the two-dimensional -state Potts model. The possibility of performing high speed simulations at large enough system sizes allowed us to tackle an old standing question posed by k. Binder in 1981, regarding the existence or not of specific heat singularities at spinodal temperatures different of the transition one.
View full article and our code…
Also find here our approach to the spinodal points in the -state Potts model.
Relaxation in the -state Potts model
We studied the nonequilibrium dynamics of the -state Potts model in the square lattice, after a quench to subcritical temperatures. By means of a continuous time Monte Carlo algorithm ͑nonconserved order parameter dynamics͒ we analyzed the long term behavior of the energy and relaxation time for a wide range of quench temperatures and system sizes. For we found the existence of different dynamical regimes, according to quench temperature range.
View full article…and find here some related videos related to my PhD thesis.


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Visual agnosiaBMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e7342 (Published 09 November 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e7342
- 1Northumberland, UK
- 2Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK
- Correspondence to: A Basu anna.basu{at}ncl.ac.uk
- Accepted 25 August 2012
When I was 11 months old I developed herpes simplex encephalitis after coming into contact with a cold sore, which damaged the areas of the brain responsible for processing vision. I was left with visual agnosia and had severe difficulties in recognising people by their faces. I cannot remember the details of the earliest events surrounding my illness, but I have talked about them a lot with my family and this is my story.
During the illness I lost my sight as well as my ability to sit and walk. It took me about six months to relearn to walk unaided. During this time my vision gradually improved, but I had to rely on my other senses to interact with the environment. I would sniff, touch, and taste things around me, including the floor, furniture, and people's clothing, which some found unnerving.
My speech development was good. I found changes in routine upsetting and puzzling. Mum had the support of medical and educational professionals and on their advice I was taught at home by an educational service (Portage) for preschool children with additional support needs and their families, and I had a support assistant at play school. Around this time mum noticed I was making mistakes in recognising family members. Once I was seen talking to my brother's friend, mistaking him for my brother (who looks completely different).
It wasn't just a problem with recognising family members, or people in general—mum had painted a Postman Pat mural on my wall and despite being familiar with his character through books and DVDs I just could not recognise him. However, it was when mum realised that I couldn't even recognise her that things came to a head. This happened on a Portage course for parents. As the parents entered the crèche, the children got up and went to their mums and dads. I got up too, studied the adults and then returned to my carer rather than going to my mum. Although mum had been standing close to me, it wasn't until she spoke that I got up and took her hand. Mum talked about this to a teacher for the visually impaired at my nursery. He said he thought I might have a facial agnosia. This was discussed with the child neurologist at my next appointment, and subsequently with a neuropsychologist.
My lack of recognition of family members caused all sorts of difficulties. Mum will never forget the time I was on a child's amusement ride in the supermarket while she was close by paying for her shopping. When the ride had finished she heard me calling for her and then saw me being lifted out by a woman. This stranger was reluctant to hand me back to my mum because she didn't see the flash of recognition she was expecting from me.
I also had problems with object recognition. No one could understand how I managed to find small objects dropped on the floor but wasn't able to recognise pictures of everyday objects. When given a verbal clue I would always get the object right. I couldn't visually distinguish between animals such as a cat and dog or a cow and sheep. This problem only improved after many visits to farms and zoos.
When I first started school my eye contact was poor and despite constant encouragement from my family, teachers, and carers to lift my head I found it hard to look at people. My confidence was lowered further by the repercussions when I misread facial expressions.
Some aspects of my condition have improved but not the facial agnosia and I continue to find the recognition and identification of faces difficult. Recognition is even harder when people are out of context or a particular feature such as hair colour has changed. School was on occasions frustrating, not least because everyone wore the same uniform. Finding friends both in and out of the classroom could be difficult, so I had to rely on my other senses. Things became easier when I moved into sixth form, as students could wear casual clothing. Teachers found my disability difficult to understand. Some believed it didn't exist and others didn't understand that the problem arose from my brain not my eyes. Unbelievably, at a parents' evening a teacher asked mum whether all her children were blind, to which (after taking a deep breath) she replied "On my last count, none of my children is blind."
Getting teachers to complete the simplest of tasks, such as using a black pen on the whiteboard and enlarging worksheets, was a test all of its own and made life in the classroom problematic. Despite these challenges I was successful at GCSE level, with 10 good grades. Subsequently I studied English language, art, and psychology at A level. As part of my psychology course I studied face perception and its disorders and was asked to give a series of talks to the other psychology classes. For my art A level I brought together elements of Cubism and still life and incorporated texture to give my work a more original and interesting direction, reflecting the importance of touch in helping me to understand my surroundings in my early life.
Over time I have built up my own strategies for recognising my family and friends and those I am in daily contact with like my work colleagues; for example, by remembering their style of walk, hairstyle, and hair colour. I have also become good at recognising voices and scents, including the perfume worn by particular people. Recently I have become more sensitive to sounds such as those made by jewellery and keys. I am able to find mum in crowded places by the sound of her bangles and dad by the sound of his car keys. This has increased my confidence in public places. I remember when I was around seven years old being perturbed at meeting identical twins who were also identically dressed. Although neither I nor anybody else could distinguish the twins by sight, for once my personal strategies for distinguishing between people by voice, scent, etc, failed me. I was left so scarred by this experience that months later I avoided a close family friend "because she might have a twin."
A few years ago I was approached by my neurologist, Professor Eyre. She asked if I would take part in a research study of face training, with the aim of relearning the mathematics of face recognition and using functional magnetic resonance imaging scans to look for any changes in the brain. When babies and children study faces intently their brains are learning to calculate the distance between eyes, nose, and mouth and the width and length of faces, which are the basics of expertise in recognising faces. The training programme required me to categorise faces based on differences in these distances. Involvement in the study has improved my eye contact and confidence. My training scores have also improved but I still have trouble recognising faces. Despite this I am becoming more confident in my day to day recognition of friends and family using all available means.
A doctor's perspective
Visual agnosia is a specific failure of visual recognition of objects not explained by elementary visual deficits. The agnosia can be category specific—for example, prosopagnosia is a specific agnosia for faces. Pure visual agnosia is a rare condition, particularly in young people, but visual agnosias can also occur as part of neurodegenerative conditions.
This patient's visual agnosia was secondary to early acquired herpes simplex encephalitis, which caused bilateral damage to the occipitotemporal regions. Those brain areas specifically involved in processing faces were affected, and although the patient made a good recovery overall, face recognition remains problematic on a day to day basis. Her story is remarkable on several levels. One of the most striking aspects is the "invisible" nature of the condition. It is not surprising that people may be confused by the fact that someone can see well enough to go horse riding but cannot distinguish between family members by their faces. What people don't understand they often refuse to believe and this has clearly led to some awkward situations. This patient's drive to study the condition in detail and to explain it to others is both understandable and commendable. Her ability to perceive the world differently can also be viewed as a strength and has led to some original artwork.
Doctors can help those with visual agnosia by being alert to the possibility of disorders of higher visual function, facilitating appropriate neuropsychological assessments, and providing explanations and accessible strategies for families and schools. To achieve all this, however, requires awareness of such conditions.
Most remarkable of all are the sheer courage and determination shown by this patient and her family to help overcome her difficulties, enabling her to succeed both in and out of school and in holding down a job. I have learned much from sharing this part of her journey and am proud to know her.
Anna Basu
Useful resources for patients and clinicians
Farah M. Visual agnosia. 2nd ed. MIT Press, 2004—A classic text on disorders of visual recognition
National Portage Association (www.portage.org.uk/)—A home-visiting educational service for preschool children with additional support needs and their families
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/prosopagnosia/Prosopagnosia.htm)—Patient information on prosopagnosia, or "face-blindness"
Faceblind.org (www.faceblind.org/)—Information from researchers and opportunities for those affected to take part in research
Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e7342
This is one of a series of occasional articles by patients about their experiences that offer lessons to doctors. The BMJ welcomes contributions to the series. Please contact Peter Lapsley (plapsley{at}bmj.com) for guidance.
Competing interests: The authors declare: AB received funding from the Special Trustees, Newcastle Healthcare Charity as well as funding for a Wellcome Trust vacation student and a Newcastle University vacation student for the study of the effect of face training on face perception in prosopagnosia and in healthy controls; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years, no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.


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Posted on behalf of D'Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC on Oct 02, 2012 in Motorcycle Accidents
After Stephanie Pelletier lost her 19-year-old son, Nicholas, in a motorcycle accident in 2008, she began researching motorcycle safety. Her work was the impetus for new safety legislation, which was recently signed by Governor Jodi Rell.
Beginning January 1, 2011, all new riders seeking to obtain a Connecticut motorcycle drivers' license must complete the Connecticut Rider Education Program (CONREP). The program - currently only required for riders under 18-years-old - is administered by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT).
To obtain a motorcycle license in Connecticut today, one needs to pass a written test to receive a learner's permit and then pass a road test to receive a full license.
The new law will require the new rider to take a $200, 17-hour course consisting of six hours of classroom training and 11 hours of road instruction - which includes the road test in the course.
Rep. Timothy Larson (D-East Hartford), who introduced the bill - which both the House and Senate strongly supported - stated: "It's going to go a long way to provide safe ridership and an educated ridership."
According to the Connecticut DOT, as cited by the Hartford Courant, 37 riders and four passengers lost their lives due to injuries related to motorcycle accidents in 2009.
When Ms. Pelletier lost her son, he was driving with only a permit. If her son had taken the new rider course, Ms. Pelletier believes her son would be here today.
"There are parts of me that are sad, but I'm happy if I can save even one parent from the pain that I feel every day. It was a tragedy to lose my son, but a positive thing has come out of it," she said.


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Local Business Owners get inducted into Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame
5/7/2018 (Permalink)
Co-owners of SERVPRO ® of Bay City, Randy Miller and Mike Snyder, were inducted into the 21st annual Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
This award has is presented to individual's with records of business achievement that demonstrates business excellence, courageous thinking and action, vision and innovation, inspiring leadership and community mindedness. In addition, nominees must serve as a role model for those who follow.
Starting in 1996, Randy Miller was an early pioneer to the mid-Michigan area SERVPRO system. Since then, the franchise system has grown to over 1700 individually owned and operated franchises. Originally, Randy started in Genesee County and expanded into Saginaw in 1997. Mike Snyder joined the company in 2000. Together, Randy and Mike have grown, acquired, and sold multiple territories throughout Michigan. With their headquarters here in Saginaw and an office in Romulus, they currently operate licenses in Saginaw, Bay City, Romulus, Taylor, Downriver, and Westland.
As one of SERVPRO's prestigious Extreme Team franchises, a large portion of their business is providing support to other franchises-primarily on commercial losses, and traveling the country for catastrophic events such as floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.
SERVPRO clients include insurance companies seeking superior and timely restoration services, as well as commercial and residential property owners who require routine cleaning services. With more than 40 years of experience, the SERVPRO System's time-tested techniques and proprietary cleaning products have earned SERVPRO Franchises a spot as a national leader in the restoration and cleaning industry.
SERVPRO of Bay City provides cleanup and restoration services following a fire, water or even mold-related damage. Additional services offered include: cleaning and restoration of specialty services, such as HVAC duct systems; building exteriors; electronic equipment, and documents that have sustained water damage.


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Purchase Book
- Purchase book is also known as purchase journal \ Bought Day Book.
- It records goods purchased on credit basis only(in the ordinary course of business)
- It does not record goods purchased for cash as it is recorded in cash book
- It does not record purchases of assets (like furniture, machinery etc.), whether for cash or on credit, as they are recorded in cash book and journal proper respectively
- Periodically, the total of Purchase book is transferred to Purchases account.
Note: Credit purchases are recorded in the Purchase book at their net value (Cost-Trade Discount).


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Technical Paper
Vehicle Mass Estimation for Heavy Duty Vehicle
Aiming at estimating the vehicle mass and the position of center of gravity, an on-line two-stage estimator, based on the recursive least square method, is proposed for buses in this paper. Accurate information of the center of gravity position is crucial to vehicle control, especially for buses whose center of gravity position can be varied substantially because of the payload onboard. Considering that the buses start and stop frequently, the first stage of the estimator determines the bus total mass during acceleration, and the second stage utilizes the recursive least-square methods to estimate the position of the center of gravity during braking. The proposed estimator can be validated by the co-simulation with MATLAB/Simulink and TruckSim software, simulation results exhibit good convergence and stability, so the center of gravity position can be estimated through the proposed method in a certain accuracy range.


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NEW LONDON, Conn-Freshman Kristine Kahl limited the Eastern Connecticut offense to just one run on four hits in game one to get head coach Donna Koczajowski her 400th career win while sophomore Jessie Richardson was 5-for-8 at the plate as the Coast Guard softball team picked up an impressive split against the national powerhouse. In their final tune-up before the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference tournament, the Bears (21-14) came out amped up on Senior's Day, doing just about everything right as they knocked off Eastern (24-10) by a 3-1 count in the opener before falling 8-2 in the nightcap.
Donna Koczajowski registered the 400th win over her 16 year career, all at the Coast Guard Academy. She has a record of 400-234-1.
Game One: Coast Guard 3, Eastern 1
Coast Guard scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning and then held on to defeat Eastern 3-1 behind the pitching of Kahl and the game planning of Koczajowski. The game plan the Bears decided to employ was to intentionally walk Eastern All-American senior Arielle Cooper, "we decided we wouldn't let Cooper beat us," said a confident Koczajowski.
Junior Kaitlin Ward led off the fourth by reaching on a hit-by-pitch and stole second before coming around to score on a line drive single to center by senior Stacia Sarwinski. Sarwinski would advance to second on the throw before moving along to third when freshman Hannah Ingerson reached on an error by Eastern senior starting pitcher Christine Akcer.
The error chased Akcer from the game and sophomore Shannon Martin came on in relief. After walking freshman Kelsey Gray to load the bases, Martin served up a single through the right side by Richardson to score a run and keep the bases loaded for sophomore Erin Lisko. Lisko delivered a single of her own, up the middle, to give the Bears another run for a 3-0 advantage. Eastern was able to escape further damage by inducing consecutive pop-ups to freshman shortstop Alyssa Hancock as Coast Guard left the bases loaded.
Kahl had a shutout working through six when the Bears would again threaten to score. They loaded the bases with one out courtesy of singles by Ingerson, Richardson, and Lisko. However, freshman reliever Emily Komornik got freshman Morgan Kingston to ground into a fielder's choice that forced Ingerson out at the plate and then got senior Holli Bastinck to ground out to second to end the threat as Coast Guard left the bases loaded for the third time in the game.
Eastern made things interesting in the seventh, when, after consecutive ground outs, Hancock singled up the middle and Kahl issued her third intentional pass of the game to Cooper. Junior Mattie Brett then came up and hit a sharp grounder up the middle to score Hancock and move Cooper to second. After a wild pitch put runners on second and third, Kahl was able to get freshman Alicia White to line out to Gray in left to preserve to the victory.
Kahl's line on the day included seven innings pitched, one (earned) run on four hits, and four walks (three intentional) and striking out one as she picked up the win to improve to 13-6 on the season.
Akcer took the loss for the Warriors to fall to 7-2, tossing 3 1/3 innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) on four hits, a walk, and a hit batter while recording a pair of strikeouts.
Game Two: Eastern 8, Coast Guard 2
Eastern came out of the gate guns ablaze and set the tone early by tallying a first inning run off freshman starter Sammy Yuknat en route to an 8-2 triumph over the hosts. A leadoff single by Brett and a walk by Hancock brought up Cooper. Coast Guard again stuck to their game plan by issuing the first of four intentional passes in the night cap. The gamble seemingly paid off as the Bears got out of the inning giving up only one run, a sac fly by senior Kelly Paterson to score Hancock.
Coast Guard would get the run back in the bottom of the second inning. After two quick outs, consecutive singles by Sarwinski and Ingerson set up a two-out RBI by senior Catherine Walker to tie things up at 1-1.
The Warriors would hang a four spot the next half inning after their first four batters of the inning reach. Hancock started things with a single to left, followed by an intentional walk to Cooper, and consecutive RBI singles by White and Paterson to give Eastern a 3-1 lead. Juniors Megan Godwin and Jen Tamindzija would follow with sac flies to center and right, respectively, to push the Eastern lead to four, at 5-1.
After a leadoff single by Richardson in the bottom half, the Warriors got the next three batters in order to bring their potent attack back to the bat. A bloop single by senior Katie Sokoloski and a line drive double to left center by Brett put runners on second and third with nobody out. This would lead to RBI groundouts by Hancock and White to give Eastern a pair of insurance runs.
Coast Guard would get one back in the bottom of the fourth to cut the margin to 7-2 when Ward led off the inning with a single to center that was kicked by Hancock allowing her to reach scoring position. This enabled her to score on Sarwinski's line drive single to center a batter later.
Eastern would close the scoring in the fifth when Godwin reached on an error by Lisko at second, who then proceeded to throw the ball into the Coast Guard dugout, allowing Godwin to reach second on the play. After Tamindzija sacrificed her to third, Godwin would come around to score on sophomore pinch-hitter Sam Rossetti's single through the right side.
Sophomore Erin Miller earned the win for Eastern, firing a complete game effort, allowing just two runs on eight hits while striking out four. Yuknat took the loss for the Bears, throwing a complete game and yielding eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and five walks (including four intentional).
The Bears return to action on Saturday, April 27th when they travel to Norton, Mass. to play 3rd-seeded Babson in the NEWMAC Tournament opener at noon. The rest of the schedule will be determined later that day, depending on the result of the first game; a win would mean that Coast Guard would play Wheaton (Mass.) immediately after while a loss would give the Bears a week off to prepare for an opponent yet to be determined (either MIT, Springfield, or Wellesley).
With the split, head coach Donna Koczajowski keeps her record above .500 all-time against the Warriors, at 14-13. The games were the final home games in the careers of Bastinck, Summer Dupler, Sarwinski, and Walker.


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Zimbabwe Travel Facts
The Basics
Country: Zimbabwe
Where is it?: Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in south eastern Africa.
Why do people go here?: These days, people don't visit Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe has introduced a number of reforms that has put the country in a state of disaster. It's still a great country and offers much for the traveler.
What are the main entry points?: Travelers come via Harare airport or overland from South Africa, Zambia and Malawi
Currency used: Dollar
Country Code for Phones: 263
Area codes for Major Cities: Harare 4
Population: 13 million
Religion: Mixed Christian and Animist 50%, Christian 25%, Animist 25%
Government: Semi presidential, parliamentary, consociationalist republic
Languages: English, Shona, Sindebele
Travel Information
Major Cities: Harare, Bulawayo
Attractions: Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park
Accommodation: Zimbabwe Hostels, Zimbabwe Hotels
Tourism Office locations and links: Zimbabwe-Tourist Dev Corp, P.O. Box 8052 Tourism House, Causeway Harare, Zimbabwe +263-793666, 706511, http://www.zimbabwetourism.co.zw/destzim/index.html
Off-the-Beaten-Path: Matusadona National Park, Nyanga National Park
Health Issues: Bilharzia, Cholera, Malaria, Yellow Fever
Tips for Visiting
When to go: May to October are the best months to travel in Zimbabwe
Common Phrases: Mazviita = Thank You, Kanjani = Hi, (M)uri rayiti = How are you?
Specific Events/Holidays: Independence Day: 18 April
Getting Around: There are both tourist and local buses. Since Zimbabwe roads are better than average for African standards, you should have no troube getting around. However, since the tourists are far and few between these days, you might have to use local transportation which is just as efficient and more affordable.
Cheapest airport to fly into: The cheapest airport to fly into Zimbabwe is the Harare International Airport.
Need more information?: Check out the Zimbabwe travel guide for more on what to see, where to stay, and how to get there.


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Political Notebook
How Tulare Republican Devin Nunes helped James Mattis become Trump's defense pick
President-elect Donald Trump needed a defense secretary, and Tulare Rep. Devin Nunes had an idea.
Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis would be good, Nunes recalled telling the Trump transition team. Nunes, a member of the transition team's influential executive committee, then called Mattis. The deal was eventually sealed. Trump selected Mattis for the top Pentagon post, and Nunes had another win with the incoming White House.
"They asked me for my help," the 43-year-old Nunes said, "and so I'm helping them."
As one of 20 members of the Trump transition team's executive committee, Nunes is a combination of headhunter, Capitol Hill liaison and shaper of policy. He's fielding job requests, vetting candidates and finding himself an ever-more popular guy in Republican circles.
"I have a lot more friends; that's definitely for sure," Nunes said with a laugh. "Every time I'm on the (House) floor, I have members coming up to me."
Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Nunes helped support his committee colleague Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., as Trump's pick to head the CIA. A fellow member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., was tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The only California lawmaker on the executive committee, Nunes estimated he's been contacted by several hundred potential Trump administration job aspirants. They're calling, sending emails and forwarding résumés. Their allies are sidling up to Nunes, putting in a good word. Sometimes, the pitches come from those who vocally opposed Trump in the GOP primaries, which Nunes called "kind of interesting." Nunes, in turn, communicates multiple times a day with Trump's incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus or other transition leaders. Several times a week, the full executive committee convenes for a conference call.
"I don't know if I'm looking for influence," Nunes said, "so much as I'm looking for good people to be put into positions for them to be successful."
Nunes started getting to know Trump's team in the spring and first met Trump when the then-candidate visited Republican lawmakers in July. In August, the two men spent more time together in Trump's plane and at fundraising and campaign events in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Tulare County.
The Tulare fundraiser that Nunes helped set up collected about $1.3 million for the Trump campaign, organizers say.
Trump's team contacted Nunes the day after the election and soon after announced his appointment to the executive committee, along with three of Trump's adult children, five other House Republicans and California entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, among others.
Thiel is chairman of Palantir, a data company whose clients have included the CIA and other intelligence agencies. He roiled Silicon Valley by backing Trump, when most tech entrepreneurs were backing Hillary Clinton.
Nunes' intelligence committee chairmanship had already familiarized him with Mattis and Trump's incoming national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, a sharp-elbowed retired Army lieutenant general and Defense Intelligence Agency chief who Nunes called a "good friend."
Prior to Thanksgiving, Nunes recounted, the Trump transition team shared with him the names of potential defense secretary nominees. Nunes suggested the addition of Mattis, the 66-year-old former head of U.S. Central Command.
"He wasn't on the (original) list," Nunes said. "I explained why I thought he would be good, and so they asked me if I would contact him, which I did."
Nunes said he emailed Mattis, who told him to "call any time." The two subsequently conversed, and Trump himself talked with Nunes by phone one night about the potential selection. By Nov. 22, Trump told the New York Times that he was "seriously considering" Mattis for the Pentagon job. Trump told a campaign-style rally in Indiana on Dec. 1 that he would nominate the retired four-star general.
"They say he's the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have," Trump said.
Because Mattis retired from the military less than seven years ago, he would need a congressional waiver to serve as civilian secretary of defense. On Tuesday, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence panel, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said that while he respected Mattis, "it would be a grave mistake" for Republicans to slip the waiver into a must-pass spending bill.
Nunes, meanwhile, will continue with broader Trump transition efforts that include crafting tax-and-trade legislation and finding candidates for some of the 4,000 or so presidentially appointed positions that will await filling.
"Whenever I feel comfortable," Nunes said, "I give them a name."
Michael Doyle: 202-383-6153, @MichaelDoyle10


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GRUB settings for dual boot
This is purely for my own personal reference as its a bugger of a thing to find a solution to when you have the problem.
The issue I had was with GRUB dual booting linux + windows (+OSX), which should never be difficult. The problem came about apparently because linux is on the primary drive while Windows the secondary. The error received when booting a 'standard' GRUB configuration is this:
"Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7″
When I say standard I mean somethng like the following:
title Windows XP Professional
root (hd1,4)
chainloader +1
The fix is to change the GRUB setting to the following:
title Microsoft Windows
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
Which makes sense I guess, but I still think its an unnecesary step.


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Marian Benbow Pfisterer assumed her post as Head of Office of the IOM Country Office for Austria on 1 January 2017 and is thus responsible for the manifold office activities. She has been with IOM since 2005, most recently as Head of Project Management/Liaison in Nuremberg, where she oversaw all projects implemented by IOM at the sub-office in Nuremberg, and was also responsible for project development as well as liaison and fundraising.
Before joining IOM, Marian Benbow Pfisterer worked as a Corporate Business Immigration Lawyer in Frankfurt/Main and studied law in Heidelberg (Germany) and Bergen (Norway).
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Supply Chain Conference 2020
In today's ever more connected and demanding world, your operations have to be not only watertight and responsive, but able to adapt to increasing complexity and future challenges. How can you ensure you stay ahead of the game?
The 18th annual Supply Chain Conference is being held on the 17th & 18th March 2020 at the ETC, Monument venue. The Supply Chain Conference brings together some of the world's most inspiring expert practitioners so that you can learn from their examples of best practice.
"An excellent opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with other businesses facing common challenges"
The Linde Group, Global Project Manager
Our 2019 Speakers
Duncan Buchanan
Policy Director
Onofrio Caradonna
European Product Supply Shared Service A. Director
Procter & Gamble
John Earley
Founding Partner
SmartChain International LLP
Ed Fairhurst
Director - Supply Chain Planning EMEA
Dr Jonathan Gorst MILT FHEA
Principal Lecturer
Sheffield Hallam University
Daniel Hannaway
Data Scientist
Heineken UK
James Hookham MSc BTech (Hons)
Deputy Chief Executive
Freight Transport Association
Richard Hunt CBE, Hon FCILT, VR
Past Chairman
The London Ambulance Service
Derek Johnson
On Trade Statistical Forecasting Manager
Heineken UK
Mark Jones
Enterprise Account Manager
Voice Solutions, Honeywell
Amy Jones
The Intelligent Supply Chain Lead
Unipart Logistics
Juergen Kull
Director Supply Chain Operations EMEA
Barry Morgan
Solution Specialist-Logistics
Co-operative Group
John Munnelly FCILT
Head of Operations
John Lewis
Vinesh Patel
Senior Supply Chain Manager
Sky UK
Deon Pillay
Head of Supply Chain
Patrick Rigoni
Founding Partner
SmartChain International LLP
Jason Russell
Supply Chain Manager
Mitchells & Butlers
James Smith
Business Director
AutoStore System Limited - UK and Ireland
Alex Watson
Head of Logistics – Operations & Fulfilment
Martin White
Former Global Supply Chain
Former Primark
Rachel Wilshaw
Ethical Trade Manager
Join in the conversation on the 20th & 21st March, register today and get yourself an early bird discount.
If you would like to learn more regarding our sponsorship oppurtunities, please contact Olly Filmer
If you have any queries regarding speaking, sponsorship or anything else, then contact us here


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Growing up I always waited until the last minute to do anything. Through high school and the two years I spent at college I spent many sleepless nights doing all that I could to get my papers typed and printed by the time my first class began the following morning.
Getting things done and on time can still be a huge struggle today, but I'm learning to put things on my calendar, reply to emails and texts shortly after they are received, pay bills on time, be punctual, etc.
I'm learning that if I don't plan and set reminders, life will collapse around me. I'll be late, my wife won't be happy, clients will be angry, the power will get shut off, and I'll be running around with an innumerable amount of stress on my shoulders acting like a chicken with his head cut off.
Its just not worth it. Life needs structure. Whether it be an art project, a school assignment, a project at work, or our normal day to day doings. We can't just expect things to get done on their own. We must plan ahead and we must learn to plan well.
Do I mess up and forget things from time to time? Yes, all the time. Even today, actually, when I received an email that said, "David, do you have a draft for me?"
Do I get discouraged and get really angry with myself when these things happen? Again, yes.
But I'm learning that there's a bigger picture. That bigger picture is grace and this small voice that continues to say "Cheer up, friend. You've still got a lot of life to live."


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A company that supplies automotive structural parts to Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen plans to expand its plant at the Tuscaloosa Airport Industrial park.
A company that supplies automotive structural parts to Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen plans to expand its plant at the Tuscaloosa Airport Industrial park.
The almost $18 million expansion at Metalsa Tuscaloosa (formely ISE Innomotive Systems U.S. Inc.) will include new high-tech equipment and will result in 16 additional jobs, according to the Metalsa plant manager Andre Louw. The Tuscaloosa plant now has 116 employees.
The new equipment will include a hot-form press that will make stronger structural support components for vehicles without increasing the vehicles' weight.
Louw said that is important for manufacturers striving for more fuel-efficient vehicles. The more a vehicle weighs, the less fuel efficient it is.
By using the hot-press technology — which he said is the first of its kind in West Alabama — the vehicle will not weigh more but the hot-pressed components' increased strength will provide extra protection and safety if there is a rollover accident.
Laser cutting and a high-production crane also will be installed in the expanded plant, whose construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2015.
In addition to supplying Mercedes and Volkswagen, the Metalsa plant also makes components for other auto-motive suppliers and even exports components to a Volks-wagen plant in Mexico, Louw said.
Metalsa is a relatively new name in Tuscaloosa's manufacturing scene. The Mexican-based company, which has plants around the world, bought ISE Innomotive from an investment group last year.
ISE built the Tuscaloosa plant in 2004 and when it opened two years later, its main customer was Mercedes-Benz in Vance. The plant makes front-end and rear-end frames plus the structural supports that go between a vehicle's doors to support the vehicle's roof should there be a rollover.
In 2009, ISE added cold stamping and last year, it added aluminum washing for components being sent to Mercedes in Vance.
The new hot stamping will replace the cold-stamping process.
The Tuscaloosa plant is just part of Metalsa, which has plants on every continent, with about 12,000 employees and annual revenue of $2.3 billion.
Louw presented the company's Tuscaloosa expansion plans Wednesday to the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority, which approved abating $557,110 in ad valorem taxes over 10 years and $502,472 in sales and use taxes that will be incurred for the expansion. The authority can abate some taxes for new and expanding industrial projects that will bring new jobs to the community.
A TCIDA summary of the project indicated the amount of abated taxes will total $1.06 million. The summary indicated the expansion would generate $1.96 million in new tax revenue over 20 years. That revenue will come from the non-abated ad valorem taxes that will go to schools and the sales property and state income taxes that the additional employees will generate over 20 years.