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West, Texas (CNN) -- Next to the 24-hour Czech Stop off I-35 in central Texas, travelers line up to get a taste of the pastries and breads that define this community.
But to really know West, a small town catapulted into the news last week, you have to venture about half a mile east. There, past the Ole Czech Smoke House selling sausages and the flags flying at half-staff, the people tell the story.
People like the men spotted in the dark and wonderfully cluttered-with-kitsch aisles of Czech Point Collectibles & Antiques. They, and others who will come and go throughout the day, sit around a small table, fueled by coffee the owner, Edward Havel, keeps pouring. He brews 12 pots a day and offers up fresh pastries from The Village Bakery across the street, the first Czech bakery that helped shape West. They shoot the breeze, swap stories, find comfort.
They are among the longtime -- in most cases lifetime -- residents who cared about this town long before the world took notice. Before a fire and explosion at the West Fertilizer Company on April 17 changed everything.
The blast killed at least 14, wounded more than 200 and destroyed dozens of homes in this town of 2,800. A memorial service, which President Barack Obama is expected to attend, is scheduled for Thursday.
The men sipping coffee here knew everyone who died that night. But they're not ready to go there.
What they are willing to talk about is what makes West, West.
It's the sort of place where shop owner Havel, 60, can point to the guy sitting next to him and say, "His daddy delivered me for $96."
Donations for Texas relief lag far behind Boston's
Finding the way
One of the regulars at Havel's shop is Bobby Allen, 59, the town artist -- and an eccentric -- who often doubles as a sign painter.
He stands 6-foot-6, has long golden and graying hair with a beard to match, sports a big cowboy hat adorned with turkey feathers and a small beaded Pawnee talisman meant to give him power. Around his neck hang the tips of deer antlers and gold arrowheads -- "in case I run out of money," he says. He made the suede vest he wears. Strangers interrupt him as he saunters down the sidewalk in his size 13 boots. They want to pose with him for pictures.
Stroll these streets and Allen's work is everywhere: The Saint Nicholas of Myra paintings on the windows of the old Best Theater, which stopped showing movies decades ago and was last used for the big Christmas bazaar. The trains above the entry of the Out West Bar & Grill. The image of "an old Czech sausage eater" on the front of Nors Sausage & Burger House.
Three days before the fertilizer explosion, he painted the windowpanes of an empty building next to his friend Havel's Czech Point, announcing "Future Home of the History of West Museum." Plywood now hangs where that work once was.
Powerful Texas blast left nearly 100-foot-wide crater
But for all the painting he has done around town, religious requests trump most. "I've painted more pictures of Jesus and Mother Mary -- well, and Willie Nelson -- than anything else," he says. Nelson grew up in nearby Abbott and people here see him as one of their own.
Allen's prone to make colorful pronouncements when he remembers the blast. "It blew the hair right off Jimbo's horse," he says. Or, "Hell, I was standing outside and it blew my hat off. Took me three hours to find it!" Neither of which is true. He smiles and says he just likes talking.
Allen lives about four miles from the blast site, about as far away from it as one can be in West. Even so, it cracked the windshield of his old Chevy truck.
Later on this day, we pile into his truck and head out onto a road he can't name. It's just one of the area's farm-to-market roads. Leaving the town center, we pass silos of livestock feed. The green of farms stretches far to the east.
Allen chews tobacco, a spittoon locked between his thighs, and gestures out his window as we travel the road that parallels where the fertilizer company once stood. That's the high school, its roof torn up. Over there, you can't see anything -- that's where the explosion was. He takes us to the Playdium Pool, the largest concrete pool in Texas when it was built in the '40s. Next door is the old skating rink where Saturday dance parties used to be held. "Nothing going on in there for a hundred years," he says. Heading back into the town center, he motions to Westex Welding: "This is a shop run by one of the guys who got killed."
He and others say the fertilizer distribution site wasn't supposed to be in West. West just sort of grew that way. But he guesses no more than 10 residents actually worked there. The other night, Allen says, he was up late talking to a close friend who's the son of the fertilizer company's owners. The guy's voice was hoarse, what with all the talking with investigators and all. He said his parents are "taking it real bad," Allen says.
He then heads south to the fair and rodeo grounds, where each Labor Day weekend West throws Westfest, a popular festival that draws tens of thousands to celebrate Czech heritage. Now, it's a sea of volunteers, unloading donations by the truckload, sorting and tripping over piles and boxes. Separate from the food and the stacks of bottled water are clothes, toiletries, dishes. There are cleaning necessities, books and diapers. Toys, small appliances and school supplies. It's all here for anyone in West who needs it. "More than we can use," Allen says under his breath, looking at the mayhem.
He leaves with a blank journal, a bag of mechanical pencils he likes to use when he draws and a Cowboy Bible New Testament, "written in a language even I can understand," he says.
The people of West aren't sure what to make of the media that's swarmed their town, the lines of TV trucks and cameras camped out in front of City Hall and next to the gazebo. Some resent questions demanding details about those who died, and the city slickers who seem to want gore or tears on command. In Nors Sausage & Burger House, which has fallen silent except for the press conference playing on the large flat-screen TV, the residents cheer when a local official slaps down a reporter who asks a question that's already been answered.
Others, who've never faced this sort of onslaught before, are simply nervous about their words.
Back at Edward Havel's shop, a woman who already said her goodbyes suddenly shows up again, visibly worried. She pulled a U-turn in her truck because she needs to say more and say it better.
"West is a family-oriented community. We grow together. We cry together. We laugh together. We survive together," she says. "We help each other. West always has open arms. ... It's an everyday routine. It's the way we are."
If someone has cancer, there's a fundraiser to help. Car wreck injuries? A sick child? A burned down home? The town steps up for that, too. Heck, one guy with only weeks to live recently held a benefit to raise money for his own cremation.
At the table is Melvin Coleman, who counts among his relatives-by-marriage nephew Scott Podsednik, a professional baseball player who was drafted from West High and played with the Chicago White Sox to win the 2005 World Series.
Coleman's wife lost a cousin in the blast. And Coleman's mother was evacuated from the nursing home by his daughter, who used to be a beautician there. She peered through a half broken window to see her grandmother's eyes peering out from the debris piled around her, and kicked in the remaining glass so she could get in to save her.
That's the West way.
A town copes with lives lost in Texas blast
A mini-9/11
From the old tin shop at the south end of Main Street in the town center, a person can walk to the other end, or Wild Bill's Outlaw Steakhouse, in about seven minutes. And that's with stops to take notes. The same is true going east to west along Oak Street, the other main road, and across the train tracks.
Amid the antique shops, bars and restaurants, there's a rodeo shop, weathered appliance store and barbershop with walls covered in guitars and old photos. Closed signs dot most doors. Plywood is nailed in some storefronts where windows once were.
A small bouquet in the door of Donna's House of Flowers is tied with ribbons that read "with sympathy." In the window, there's a photo from last month's 20th annual barbecue cook-off of those who volunteered with the West Fire Department. Another arrangement in the door -- in red, white and blue -- is from Donna and bears a note, which reads in part:
"I lost my best friend and husband Doug on Wednesday, along with his brother Robert. My family and I are mourning their loss and appreciate the love and support we have received from friends, neighbors, community members and complete strangers. ... Out of respect for all the firefighters and first responders we will be closing the flower shop until further notice."
Folks wear T-shirts bearing slogans like "God bless West." Children sit behind tables selling cupcakes and lemonade to help their community. Watching the story of the Boston marathon bombing unfold early last week, people here talked about how they couldn't imagine that sort of shock and communal pain.
Now some are calling this their mini-9/11 -- though they wonder, given the size of West, if this hurts more.
The sense of family and community responsibility has certainly played out over the past week. Among those who benefited, but also hoped to give, is Emil "Sonny" Fridel.
At 90, Fridel is still a man about town. He drives himself to the library, frequents The Village Bakery and makes regular stops for coffee at Czech Point. For years, he was a supervisor at the post office, a job that allowed him to know everyone.
This town was destined to become his home the day he fell for a "pretty West girl" at a local dance hall. The year was 1945, and he'd just returned from service abroad in the U.S. Army.
Pearl was an artist, a woman who taught many in town how to paint. Fridel's home pays homage to his wife's work -- including china plates and more than 200 dolls, their faces hand painted. Oil paintings dot the walls and lean against furniture. After she died, about a year and a half ago, the library held a retrospective of her work.
Fridel visited his pretty West girl every day in the nursing home where she lived before her death. The West Rest Haven was destroyed in the fertilizer blast, its 133 residents evacuated. It was still one of his favorite places to go, even though she is gone. He went there almost daily.
When the explosion rocked the area, most West residents didn't know what to think. Some, who lost power and watched pictures crash to the floor, thought it was an earthquake. Others, farther away and less affected, wondered if it was a propane tank blast. One guy, whose house was fine, figured a plane crashed. The artist, Bobby Allen, thought the North Koreans got a bomb and hit nearby Fort Hood.
A woman who lived about half a mile away and was thrown from her couch, looked up at the eerie sky -- a mix of pink, violet, green and a cloud of gray. "It was Stanley Kubrick directing something," she says. "That's how surreal it was."
But Fridel couldn't see any of this. He was in his den several miles southwest and saw his lights flicker. His hearing isn't great, but he couldn't miss that boom. A closet door swung open, as did some cabinets. He poked his head outside, not knowing what he was looking for. Synthie Dulock caught sight of him and came running.
Dulock, who lives next door, explained what had happened and insisted he evacuate with her family. As the news sunk in, he was resistant to go with the Dulocks and made a move toward his own car. There was somewhere else he wanted to go, and she had to stop him.
"He was concerned about people in the nursing home and wanted to help them," she says. "He said, 'They need me. I want to help.'"
No one is more grateful for neighbors like Dulock, who took care of Fridel overnight, than Fridel's daughter, Mary Ann Kubacak, who lives outside Austin, about 100 miles away. But Dulock says she did what anyone in West would do.
"Everyone is always taking care of each other," she says. "You're never going to meet a stranger."
Texas town tries to rebuild with community, spirituality
'You don't want to know'
We're strangers to West, but as we walk into Mynars Bar, just down the way from Donna's flower shop, we're tossed blue rubber bracelets emblazoned with the words "God is big enough."
At the bar sits a weathered-looking Tanner Atwood, 24. He wears a black cowboy hat, scruffy goatee, his long dark hair pulled back. He's chain smoking and drinking beer, something he's been doing more of since the explosion. The night before, when he was unable to drive, the sheriff just took him home. He says he got to the nursing home before the cops did, but he won't talk about what he saw: "You don't want to know."
He grew up here but left for a while, a "hippy traveler," he says. He came back only two months ago and is working as an apprentice electrician in Waco.
Growing up, he swam in creeks, tried to stay out of trouble and was chased by farmers when he was caught crawfishing on their land. Kids could go anywhere on their bikes, still can; the only rule: Don't go past Czech Stop, or the interstate.
He worked at the pool and pumped gas at the Exxon full-service filling station off the tracks in town. A lot of closed-down stations still dot the area, remnants of when Main Street served as the highway between Dallas and Austin, before I-35 came through.
"It's about as down home as down home gets," he says of West. "The bar you're sitting in was the very first place I had a beer."
Sometimes he stops talking and just stares at his beer. It's Saturday, three days after the explosion, and he's only slept three hours since then. What he saw clearly weighs on him, but he says it hasn't hit him yet.
Honoring a legacy
The support for West comes not just from other Texans, not even just Americans; it's gone global.
Petr Gandalovic, the Czech Republic ambassador to the United States, sits inside The Village Bakery. Polka music plays out front and American, Texas and Czech Republic flags flap in the wind. This is the ambassador's second trip to West since his appointment in May 2011.
The honorary consul for the Czech Republic in Texas lives in West, and Gandalovic says he lost two cousins in the blast -- Donna's husband and brother-in-law. The ambassador is here to extend condolences to the town on behalf of the Czech Republic. He says in his home country, this story is the No.1 news item and tops social media discussions.
His goal is to identify a project the Czech Republic, and the people living there, can support. A way to help West. The Czech Republic announced Wednesday it will donate 4 million Czech crowns (approximately $200,000) to the town.
Beside the table where he sits is a guest book filled with messages. "God be with West," says one. "Prayers are coming from all over the world," says another. "Blessings to you and the people of West," says a third.
The walls of the bakery are lined with historical photos. They include one of a store that belonged to owner Mimi Montgomery Irwin's great-grandfather, "the first legitimate Czech merchant," she says. While others were farming, "he sent his cuffs and collars to Waco to be starched."
West pride courses through her. She wrote the town history for a book, "Historic McLennan County." She's a descendant of one of the first settlers who came to the area in the mid-19th century, decades before West was formally established in 1882. People came for the land and the agriculture. The railroad brought outsiders, including Czech immigrants who in many ways still define the place.
Walk down the streets of West and you'll see "Vitame vas!" in windows, welcoming you in the Czech language.
Montgomery Irwin's parents opened The Village Bakery in 1952. It was the first Czech bakery in Texas, became the "home of the kolache" -- a traditional pastry filled with fruit or spices -- and set West in a new direction. The success of the kolache, not to mention the traditional strudel, breads and other treats, got others in the business. More bakeries sprouted up. Restaurants began baking their own treats. Even the local Chevron announces on its sign, "Kolaches made fresh daily." The Texas state legislature declared the place "Kolache Capital of Texas."
"This was something ingenious they did," she says of her parents. "They created the market and, additionally, helped create West."
This legacy is the very reason she returned to West six years ago, after 25 years in New York, where she was a vice president of a marketing division at Macy's. After her father passed away and her recently deceased mother's health began to fade, Montgomery Irwin, 68, couldn't stomach the idea of their bakery closing or being sold. She is adopted, an only child, a divorced woman who says she owes her parents everything. The decision was easy.
She marvels at this place and its people. Here, a woman she knows as "Cindy at the bank," who came in for kolaches earlier, is also the Cindy who was working at West Assisted Living -- right near the nursing home -- and single-handedly evacuated its 15 residents. Here, the executive assistant for the county commissioner, a woman Montgomery Irwin says "knows where everyone is buried," volunteers to help run the bakery during this overwhelming time -- and manages to snag portable toilets and a water truck for this crippled part of town.
On this day, after closing, the shopkeeper encounters 30-year-old Sierra Shaw on Oak Street. Shaw, who sang with the Bold Springs Baptist Church choir at Montgomery Irwin's mother's Catholic funeral, races to embrace her friend.
Their hug, like so many others seen around town, seems to be tighter now and lasts longer.
Volunteer firefighters stepped up, despite personal tragedy
Remaining West
Bells ring outside St. Mary's as people stream in for a standing-room-only Sunday Mass. Grown men, their arms folded across their chests, fight back tears. Couples reach for each other's hands. A man wraps his arms around his wife and daughter, who cries silently. A baby giggles, while another child in a hot pink tutu stands on her tippy toes to peer over a pew -- their innocence not yet lost.
At the corner of Main and Oak, insurance adjusters in crisp white shirts with logos mill about near their company banner. Disaster response and cleanup trucks find parking places. A police officer sits in his car off the busier-than-usual intersection. And a truck offering nonpotable water sits behind him on the train tracks, out of commission since the blast.
A few storefronts down Main, back at the Nors Sausage & Burger House, reporters tapping away on laptops are shooed from tables to make way for regulars, like the parents of one blast victim. They are embraced and then served before any others.
Amid the buzz that surrounds this central Texas town, West remains West and takes care of its own.
A diner at Nors passes over his iPhone to say what he can't express himself. On the screen is a Facebook post from a man who grew up in West and wants others to know what the town means to him.
It's "the walking into bakeries that have been there for years and thinking their ancestors had waited on your ancestors," the man wrote. "It's going to the local grocery store to pick up two things and being able to go right to them because they've not moved in 20 years. ... It's the memories of the chief of police that would pull you over for speeding, chew you out while pointing his finger in your face and end it with a shuffling (of) your hair, a slap on the back and a 'love you boy.' ... There's a sense of 'home' you feel when taking the West exit, no matter where you're coming from, or how long you've been gone."
Around the corner and down Oak a short ways, Edward Havel sits in the back of his store -- his coffee pot full and ready to serve.


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Audrey Jones, London + Share
Bring back the rail network as it was when my Dad worked on it. It was cleaner and more efficient and family affordable.
Your Views
Were there a viable alternative for me, I would definitely not be spending £85 per month for such poor service. The private companies are utterly useless in this case.
There are too many train operators who have a monopoly over the rail network such as First Group. On some lines the trains are not long enough. X-Country take note!
The Conservative party created this situation and are now not doing anything to protect the consumer from profiteering rail barons. Everyone needs to know this.
Bring it back pronto.
Enough is enough.
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Bring Back British Rail shared a post.
3 days ago
Privatisation is failing left, right and centre. Even the Tories are considering re-nationalisation! Please sign We Own It's petition to bring railways back into public ownership now! ✊🚄 ...
Bring our railway into public ownership now!The best chance to take back our railway
All in it together is what is needed it's not about of its private or state run. NR and the TOCs need to pull In the same direction and not necessarily be for profit.....
'Great' Western Railway are a joke, every train I've been on this week has been late, two trains cancelled due to broken down trains leading to overcrowding on the next and people still unable to board.Pathetic.
The Tories committed the Great Train Robbery. They should be locked up for it. The only way they'll re- nationalise is if they can get away with paying out vast sums in compensation to all their pals who would loose out.
Good luck with that. With the most right-government in power and with a huge majority expect the direction of travel towards even smaller public service investment.
Rubbish privatised rail has been a huge success! Companies like Virgin have made billions!
I'm all for nationalisation of utilities! Especially the railways as we need them to be efficient and reliable, in order to reduce the number of cars on our roads!! 😀
They don't need to do it all at once. Just take them back one by one as the franchise contracts finish. And merge them gradually under one banner.
Think BR did a great job.with very unreliable Loc'os.
1st class single, 1st class return. Standard single, Standard return the only ticket options needed keep it simple and affordable, not too much to ask for.
If they re-privatise it, they will have to foot the costs in subsidising the unworkable franchises.
resurrection of British Rail-destroyed by Beeching?
Could you please give me the sources for "even the Tories are considering re-nationalisation"? I find it far fetched.
Renationalising our railways would a beginning of getting our country back
The only way to get it all running together again!
Most of our Privatised Railways are run by Nationised Railways Companies of other Countries. Germany and Holland mostly. What an absolute farce. Pathetic.
It can and will work.
had to do a double take when i saw the text at the top!!!!!
Is network rail not public ownership
The only way the Tories will re-nationalise the railways is if there is something it it for them. No other reason.
It will never happen.
Railways don't make money 🥴🥴🥴🥴!!!
Southwestern is a hell, never stop delaying everyday!
Take back control!!
No More Rail Reviews: It's time to declare a National Crisis in Public Transport! Read the Association of British Commuters' brilliant blog laying out passengers' demands for 2020:
🚌 Declare a National Crisis in Public Transport
🚂 Abandon the Williams Rail Review
📝 Hold a Referendum on Public Ownership of Rail and Bus Services ...
No More Rail Reviews: It's time to declare a National Crisis in Public Transport - Association of British CommutersAt a time when rail francising is quite clearly collapsing, today's 2.7% fare rise is an outrage, and another clear sign that the government and industry will continue to treat us as no more than a captive market, continuing to pay more while we are constantly receiving less. Today, we'll be joi...
I think BR could learn from the TfL model, make all operators wear British Rail blue / grey (Jaffa livery for Greater Anglia's Essex Express :D )... all the bus firms in London manage with a sensible fare system and one livery. Corbyn's plan of buy the lot and make a State Railway was as mad as his Broadband offer 🙄🤣
Wouldn't want British rail back was a rail and underground commuter from the age of 16 was bloody aweful probably the same in all of our big cities Use the rail services now for long journeys to visit family (using off peak) trains are clean staff helpful and friendly and mostly trains run on time And the sandwiches are edible All this is about commuters and until offices and shops stagger work ours in big cities ths is never going to change it was the same in my commuting days and has never changed we were packed like sardines standing most of the way trains were late or cancelled and if you work 9 to 5 it will forever be the same
No one wants to go back to a rail system as we had in the 80s any more than I want to ride in a 1980s car. But looking at the rest of Europe it's clear that the state CAN run a better cheaper service than we have. If a UK government claims this isn't possible in the UK then I want a more competent government.
I'm not supporting anything that asks for a referendum. Not just because of the current mess but also because if the government do some kind of associated dodginess and we lose we'll be in a worse position than now.
Too late. The morons have voted and we have a tory government again
The Tories don't understand the concept of service - they only understand profit - money, money and more money for shareholders, top management and Tory politicians.
They ant to get every e. Public transport ! Then make it cheap and on time !
Used BR lots in the 80s and 90s, pretty good services and despite what daily mail car drivers and Les Dawson will have think, catering was quite ok and,restuarant meals really good. sod todays prices , pure rentier economics, lining the pockets of the international rich set.
I just understand how the government want us to give up our cars yet public transport is a joke never on time and prices right out of control in some cases it's cheaper to use the car.
I remember about 25 years ago that it used to be cheaper for 2 people to travel a long trip by car rather than get 2 returns by train. It's now cheaper for 1 person to take their car rather than take the train. I thought the idea of public transport was to get people off the roads.
The people who voted Tory obviously don't mind paying higher prices for a poorer service while bankrolling the franchises. Good on them
This fudgekin lot only listens to it's own share holders and the boards and the profit patrol not interested in the people only profit 🤬🤬🤬
98% of fare revenue goes back into the railway, staff cost, DfT, Network Rail charges ...
Way to do this would have been to vote in a party that would have done something. Not the same party that's been in power for 9 years.
It takes a degree in economics to get the best ticket.
To late profit before services Tory's don't care
Unfortunately we'll have to forget about this for at least another four years.
but lets keep voting tory because we all know 10 years was not long enough to sort out the transport system
What you going to do about those working class Tories who voted to pay more.
Sadly there is too much money changing hands for change!
Why shud taxpayers pay to re-natitiolise it? First that, then the floodgates will open.
Profit over people. The Tory mantra!
So easy just to blame the Tories and sit back. Job done.
If you didn't vote Labour shut up and suck it up!
I'd like to see a study done on how much per mile the 27 members of EU pay for rail travel. And compare it to ours. Gino just took a train to Florence and only paid about 7 euros on his tv show.
Bring Back British Rail is at King's Cross St Pancras.
4 weeks ago
Passengers Rise Up! Day of Action at stations across the UK today, demanding an end to the farce of rail franchising and fair fares now! With Bring Back British Rail, the Association of British Commuters, Northern Resist and NOR4NOR ✊🚂 ...
I was told that as well , but I'm still in the railway 45 years this year, I don't like privatised railways but even if Labour got in it would have taken years to renationalise the railways as too many TOCS with different conditions and wages so it would have been a nightmare to sort it out, and it would never go back to what it was in BR days the damage has been done for too long
Note that South Western Railways could be nationalised as it been losing £137m
The country had its chance to sort all this out at the election, you cant vote for capitalism and expect socialism!!!!!! These protests will fall on deaf ears as they have done since privatisation began, try telling a director or shareholder the won't get his 6 million pound bonus this year because passengers dont like it!!
where is the so called investment in services? I live in tunbridge wells, service is satisfactory. no major problems in the 25 years of commuting to london, except the cost!! BUT, it has been the same rolling stock in use since late 90's, slam door carriages were still in use in 2001. the timetable is the same as BR in 1994, 3-6 minutes quicker into london, only by cutting out station stops after sevenoaks. they paint the stations,change uniforms with new franchises. ALL cosmetic, mediocre changes at great cost to users.
Part of our railways are State owned, the other privatised & owned by a multitude of companies from other countries. Have no problem with this. My bugbear is the difference in service/philosophy between the railways being a public service for good (to help mitigate climate change & that of making a profit for shareholders of private companies who don't care about their social impact.
Yep agree. Turkeys voted for xmas. Really is no point. Admirable tho the demos are.
Too late for renationalisation now. After it was initially privatised and the BR 'red tape' removed it should have THEN been re-nationalised. It's now gone too far down the path for renationalisation to be effective now. Too many fingers in too many pies for it to work. Someone mentioned electric vehicles. Incredibly unlikely to happen. Not enough infrastructure for it, technology not ready to give adequate range for all except urban areas. The reasons go on.
Yeha your train services being somewhat shambolic isn't a national crisis Ours are worse in Aus and well we are in a national crisis
All the folk going on about voting for Corbyn and his fairytale campaign.. Get a grip, the government whether Tory or Labour love the roads as the revenue generated by fuel duty is huge! The cost of running a car and buying a train ticket for the same journey are canny similar!
It's a bit late now. BBBR should have publicly supported the labour party.
To many foreign companies running the networks hence we pay the highest fare prices in Europr
Looking at most of the people in the photos, not many of them will remember BR...also, the country voted in December and chose to keep the conservatives, so now you know..why don't you stop wasting your time with this futile campaign and put your efforts in to something more useful, such as encouraging the motoring masses to move over to EV'S?
The sheep dont understand they voted for lamb leg steaks... fools
Well if people voted in labour would be a different story !
The chance of real change was missed on 12th December.
Do realize ticket revenue goes to the government, right?
You could have changed things, but no now you must all pay up.
not a lot of support
Well done!
You had your chance in General election to change a failed system so get on with it
If the rail network did somehow get back into BR, would it really improve anything?
You voted for it
It's a cash cow, what kind of bonuses are the fat cats on?
I assume that most folks subjected to perpetual train misery voted Tory?
Public choice was that they liked the Tory policy of private ownership of rail. They enjoy the price increases and companies taking public money to give to their shareholders. Overcrowded filthy trains are wonderful. They had a chance to decide to Re-Nationalise rail services and decisively voted against it. The great British public have decided.
This Thursday 2nd January 2020! ✊ Please join passengers from Bring Back British Rail, the Association of British Commuters, Northern Resist, NOR4NOR and more who will protesting at stations across the country for our Passengers Rise Up! Day of Action demanding an end to the farce of rail franchising and fair fares now! 🚂 Event Schedule 👉
07:00-09:00 King's Lynn Station
08:00-09:30 London King's Cross Station
09:30-10:30 Chelmsford Station
10:00-12:00 Norwich Station
11:30-12:30 London Liverpool Street Station
16:00-17:30 Burton-on-Trent Station
16:30-19:30 Bolton Station ...
Reopen obvious gaps like Matlock- Buxton, Uckfield- Lewes, and the whole Waverley route. Reconnect large towns like Wisbeach.
People have selective memories. Yes, BR was successful in many ways, especially InterCity, but local services were often sparse and many have been improved, for example Reading - Basingstoke which I used to commute for decades. In the 80's there was only one stopper an hour and only about 6 cross country expresses a day. Now it's a stopper every 30 mins AND a cross country Express once or twice an hour. But I agree the profits should not go to other places. And InterCity was running subsidy free at privatisation in 1992.
For pure pedantry (!), do note that 'Passengers rise up!' (as above) is a statement: they do rise up. What you intended, I think, is an instruction or invitation: 'Passengers, rise up!'
It's gone to far now. The Real Railwayman have gone only few left. Railway used to run on tea and rumours. Now it's greed. And most is foreign run with more tBritish taxpayers money than B.R ever received. Which under investment was the main handicap.
Protesting at stations that ha e new fleets and massive investment ate very visable . What's the significance of Burton. Seems to make little sense that one
Abellio are doing such a wonderful job in Scotland that they are losing the contract in 2022 at the mid point. Seems they asked for extra cash....
The train service from Scarborough to anywhere is shocking which is why no-one in their right mind from Scarborough uses the trains hence the constantly clogged up roads
We want our country back with profits going to improve our railways and reduce fares
Network Rail is state owned and the TOCs are more heavily regulated by yhe DfT than BR ever was.
Who voted for Boris then, think a few of you up north gave him a helping hand, you're reaping what you have sewn!
Passengers will grumble. Then they'll go back to voting Tory
Too late, shoulda voted Labour people. You'll get 5 years glib promises and patronising, and plenty of standing time to repent. If lucky.
I wish Labour had Won.. BR would be back and fares would be 1/3 off.
You all voted for this remember
What's your solution. A protest vote wins nothing as proved
Never going to happen no matter what colour team is in charge, to many Fat Cats creaming profit.
Burton on Trent should say Burton upon Trent..the station has the wrong name for the town!
Bring back British Rail.
Should have voted labour then br would be back
Anything in sheffield?
Just stop 🛑 paying as counts can't deal with 1000000 cash on top don't pay travel for free or as I'd put it money your should have had back !!!!!!!
Why are they all south?????
nothing in manchester?
Bring Back British Rail why were you so quiet during the election?
Month to late, should have voted Labour
1 month ago
A big win for the campaign! Today, after four years' of pressure, The Scottish Government finally announced they would break their contract with Abellio - the rail company owned by the Dutch state - three years early. Scotland could now have a publicly-owned railway by 2022! 👉 you.38degrees.org.uk/p/publicrailwayscotland ...
Abellio ScotRail contract to end three years earlyTransport secretary Michael Matheson told MSPs the agreement will be terminated in March 2022.
Recently moved to Scotland (family here) so finding our way on the trains etc but after seeing the chaos frequently on Abellio and Virgin in the North of England, am now of the opinion the railways should be nationalised. However, having seen first hand the problems the SNP are experiencing with two major hospitals, Scotrail and now the Calmac Ferries I have to ask the question are the SNP fit to run these operations?
Scotland has a publicly owned railway - owned by the people of the Netherlands. Looks like the only country the UK government have a problem with owning railways is the UK...
I think we know already that the ScotRail franchise won't be state owned once Abellio hand back the keys, they will let the franchise out to another company, and nothing will change.
Last time we tried to get a public railway in Scotland the present Scottish Government voted it down. We need a change of government for this to happen.
Fixed overnight by the SNP !!! So who pays for it now or do they just stop investing to pay for independence
give it back to First, then I can have my Scottish holiday on my staff pass!
Go Scotland!
why wait 2 years?
Ste Moran ???
Denise Graham.
Glyn Jones is presumably dancing on the platforms in delight?
Bet Krankie gives it to Stagecoach.
Abelio are terrible....The Greater Anglia franchise is a bus more than a train...and now they have taken over in the East Midlands that's going downhill very quickly.
Andrew Moore
Tony Irle
Wales need to do the same.
Be careful what you wish for! remember the standards of service, quality of rolling stock, and capacity of the system, and reliance on Government funding!
Once again, more lazy journalism and sensationalism from the UK media. They not ending the franchise three years early. There is an option to extend the franchise for three years, from 7 years to 10 years. They have announced that they're not going to take up that option. That is all.
This needs doing to Northern Rail
Abellio are now wrecking the old East Midland Train's routes. Constantly late or cancelled
Latest from Twitter— @bringbackBR
Join the conversation using:
#bringbackbritishrail #bbbr #bringbackBR #BringBackOurRailways #railfail #farefail #publicrail #railripoff #RailRevolution #failrail


text:
GP needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 21 designs submitted by 11 freelance designers.
This is challenging but fun project.
OK, probably most of you know little [+] icon from Opinion Lab company. I personally think that a icon is ingenious. Simplistic and well executed. What you would need to do is to create simplified version of this icon keeping the main structure, adding some looping movement.
AV vector files can be download from: http://www.qppe.com/avvectors.zip
- Clean
- Simple
- Cutting-Edge
- Smooth Movements
- Animated GIF (not flash)
- 2 versions one in color and one gray
- I don't want Exact copy of [+]


text:
Search For Properties In Deerfield Beach
View All Deerfield Beach Listings ›
Current Properties in Deerfield Beach
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Situated just south of Boca Raton on South Florida's Gold Coast, Deerfield Beach is a thriving coastal city attracting visitors from all over the world. Residents of this delightful city take advantage of the beautiful beaches and local attractions.
Deerfield Beach is known for its magnificent ocean beaches which have been awarded the "Blue Wave" designation, given only to the most pristine beaches in the state of Florida. The city's picturesque 920-foot-long fishing pier is a local landmark, attracting visitors from all over the region. Excellent boating and fishing waters add to the area's appeal as a watersport's paradise, and many of Deerfield Beach Real Estate may access the water directly from their backyard.
Ideal for the avid boater, Deerfield Beach Luxury Real Estate includes beautiful waterfront estates on the Intracoastal Waterway and ocean-access canals. Offering a variety of luxury homes for sale, Deerfield Beach appeals to a wide selection of lifestyles for its diverse community and pristine properties therein. These luxury estates are extremely desirable, impressing visitors from the curb and providing a resort-style experience for their residents.
Deerfield Beach residents enjoy proximity to championship golf courses, including Deer Creek Golf Club, an upscale public facility featuring a luxurious clubhouse and a country club atmosphere. Several beautiful parks are situated within Deerfield Beach, featuring boat ramps, tennis courts, walking trails, and playgrounds. Residents may access the amazing amenities within the community in addition to world-class shopping, dining and cultural attractions located in nearby Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.
Premier Estate Properties is proud to offer a splendid array of real estate in Deerfield Beach's most desirable locations. From exquisite estate spanning multiple acres of land to luxury condominiums and oceanfront property, we can make your dream home a reality.


text:
Spring Valley Ford
location on Google Maps.
in new tab.
on social media.
Welcome to Spring Valley Ford - Located just outside of Spring Valley Ford near Interstate 80 and Route 6, our store has been here for over 30 years! We have a great, easy going staff that is both professional and courteous, and we strive to make your car buying experience the BEST you've ever have! Whether you are shopping for new or used, we are here to help! We carry a great selection of both new and used vehicles, used trucks, used SUVs and used vans, including a wide selection of Ford Edge, Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, Ford F-Series trucks including Ford F-150 and Ford Super Duty, Ford Fiesta, Ford Fiesta ST, Ford Flex, Ford Focus, Ford Focus ST, Ford Fusion, Ford Taurus, Ford Transit Connect, and Ford Mustang! Just a short drive from Princeton Illinois, Dalzell Illinois, Peru Illinois, Ladd Illinois, Cherry Illinois, Granville Illinois, La Salle Illinois and Chillicothe Illinois, we will make your drive worth the visit! Our Ford Certified Service Shop is one of the best around, and we have a full staff of Certified Service Advisors and Technicians to ensure that your vehicle is well cared for! If you are in need of anything from an oil change to a transmission service, tire rotation or alignment, new battery or radiator flush, just stop in or give us a call! We carry a wide selection of tires, including Goodyear and Michelin, and offer PRICE MATCH GUARANTEED --- if you find an in stock tire for less elsewhere, we'll match that price! Our financing department works with regional and local banks to offer you aggressive terms and rates, and we are equipped to help any type of credit buyer --- even if you have no credit or bad credit! If you have had trouble in the past getting approved for a vehicle, LET US HELP! We work with our lenders to get you competitive rates and payments that you can afford! Plus, with Ford Financing, we can offer 0% Financing on select new Ford models! And of course, we are your local leasing center for new Ford vehicles! Get a brand new vehicle, never worry about warranty, and have flexibility of options when you lease! We strive to make your experience the BEST you've ever had - and not just during the buying process, but for the life of your vehicle! Call us today @ 888-805-9134 for your No-Obligation Internet Price Quote from our Internet Department.
Business Hours
Monday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday Closed


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NFL RedZone from NFL Network
Catch every touchdown from every game Sunday afternoons
NFL RedZone take fans from game to game to see the most exciting plays. Fans catch their favorite teams and players in HD every Sunday afternoon during the season - all on one channel.
Join host Scott Hanson for live coverage of all the best NFL action from across the country and every touchdown from every game Sunday afternoons. Plus, see up-to-the-minute fantasy stats, extended highlights and much more. NFL RedZone is the perfect fantasy companion, allowing fans to improve their fantasy roster.
Broadcast Schedule
Live Sunday afternoons during the NFL season from Week 1 to Week 17, from the start of the 1PM ET games through the end of the late afternoon games.
Scott Hanson
Scott Hanson serves as a host for NFL RedZone.
Hanson is the host of NFL RedZone from NFL Network. NFL RedZone whips around every NFL game on Sunday afternoons delivering the touchdowns and most exciting moments live and in high definition.
NFL RedZone and Hanson were widely praised by the fans and media during its first season, being called "By far, the most innovative sports television creation of 2009—or even the decade" by the Denver Post and "the greatest invention in the history of mankind" by Sports Illustrated.
Hanson can also regularly be seen filing reports from NFL games, practices and events throughout the year in addition to appearing on NFL Total Access, providing the latest news and reports from around the NFL.
Prior to his start with NFL Network, Hanson spent two years with Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. He then moved to the Mid-Atlantic region where he served as lead anchor for the regional sports network for four years. In this capacity, he reported on all major sports and wrote, produced and hosted a documentary on Washington, D.C. baseball history. Previously, his broadcasting experience included stints as an anchor and reporter for WFTS-TV (ABC) in Tampa, WICS-TV (NBC) in Springfield, Illinois and WPBN-TV (NBC) in Traverse City, Michigan.
Outside of his broadcast career, Hanson is very involved in working with the unprivileged. He has worked with the Missionaries of Charity traveling internationally on humanitarian aid missions. His third and latest humanitarian aid mission was to the Amazon where Hanson interacted with the local children and helped set up medical and dental clinics.
Hanson graduated Cum Laude from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He was a four-year walk-on for the Orangemen football team, earning Scout Team Player of the Year honors in 1992.


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Whether you're a real estate professional, homeowner or service provider, one thing is certain - everyone at HSA Home Warranty is dedicated to making your home warranty experience a good one.
For more than 30 years, HSA has offered comprehensive home warranty plans, adding valuable protection and convenience to homes across the country. In addition to providing homeowners with peace of mind, an HSA Home Warranty helps to safeguard sellers and buyers alike from the expense of covered mechanical and appliance failures.
Many home warranty companies offer similar coverage, but you won't find a company so dedicated to service excellence. From our knowledgeable local sales representatives to our friendly customer service personnel, we all work together toward a common goal – providing our customers with outstanding service, creating clients for life.
"I commend HSA for your quick response to our AC problem, and your customer service representatives for their adept flexibility in solving our problem quickly. The service is excellent and your people care. Thank you for your first-rate service."
Christine | Las Vegas, NV
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text:
Caldas de Reis
Dávila Spa Resort
Contact details
Laureano Salgado 11
36650 Caldas de Reis, Pontevedra (Galicia)
Tel.:+34 986540012
- Autonomous region: Galicia
- Province/Island: Pontevedra
This picturesque building reminiscent of the homes built by indianos, Spaniards who came back with their fortunes from Latin America, is located in the heart of the historic quarter, between the Umia River and The Way of Saint James. It has been renovated on several occasions with a great deal of care taken to preserve its traditional essence while modernising it.
- Therapeutic treatments: Anti-stress treatment, Respiratory disorders, Rheumatic complaints, Skin complaints, Trauma
- Techniques: Bath, Inhalations, Nasal douches, Pressure jet, Pressure jet, Sprays, Swimming pool
- Characteristics of the water: Bicarbonated waters, Chloride-containing, Radioactive, Sodium-rich, Sulphur-rich


text:
Report: 'The Global War on Drugs Has Failed'
"The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." That is the opening sentence of a report released today by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a nineteen‐member panel that includes, among others, world figures such as former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. The report is also signed by the current Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, making him the only sitting head of government to openly denounce global drug prohibition.
The 20‐page report says all the right things: prohibition has failed in tackling global consumption of drugs, and has instead led to the creation of black markets and criminal networks that resort to violence and corruption in order to carry out their business. This drug‐related violence now threatens the institutional stability of entire nations, particularly in the developing world. Also, prohibition has caused the stigmatization and marginalization of people who use illegal drugs, making it more difficult to help people who are addicted to drugs. The report also denounces what it properly calls "drug control imperialism," that is, how the United States has "worked strenuously over the last 50 years to ensure that all countries adopt the same rigid approach to drug policy."
In the recommendations section, the report praises the experience of Portugal with drug decriminalization, mentioning Cato's study on the subject. But perhaps more importantly, it states that drug legalization "is a policy option that should be explored with the same rigor as any other." Until now, similar reports have denounced the war on drugs and perhaps called for the decriminalization of marijuana and other soft drugs, but they also have stopped short of mentioning drug legalization as a policy alternative.
This report is certainly going to receive a lot of media coverage in the upcoming days. It is, until now, the highest profile endorsement of drug policy reform that we have seen at a global level. And, by having Prime Minister Papandreou as one of the signatories, it offers the hope that other top office holders will also call for an end to the failed war on drugs.


text:
Cumulative Patch for Microsoft SQL Server (815495)
Originally posted: July 23, 2003
Who should read this bulletin: System administrators using Microsoft® SQL Server 7.0, SQL Server 2000, Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) and SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows).
Impact of vulnerability: Run code of attacker's choice
Maximum Severity Rating: Important
Recommendation: System administrators should apply the security patch to affected systems.
Affected Software:
* Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
* Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0
* Microsoft SQL Server 2000
* Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000)
* Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows)
Technical details
Technical description:
This is a cumulative patch that includes the functionality of all previously released patches for SQL Server 7.0, SQL Server 2000, MSDE 1.0, and MSDE 2000. In addition, it eliminates three newly discovered vulnerabilities.
* Named Pipe Hijacking
Upon system startup, SQL Server creates and listens on a specific named pipe for incoming connections to the server. A named pipe is a specifically named one-way or two-way channel for communication between a pipe server and one or more pipe clients. The named pipe is checked for verification of which connection attempts can log on to the system running SQL Server to execute queries against data that is stored on the server.
A flaw exists in the checking method for the named pipe that could allow an attacker local to the system running SQL Server to hijack (gain control of) the named pipe during another client's authenticated logon password. This would allow the attacker to gain control of the named pipe at the same permission level as the user who is attempting to connect. If the user who is attempting to connect remotely has a higher level of permissions than the attacker, the attacker will assume those rights when the named pipe is compromised.
* Named Pipe Denial of Service
In the same named pipes scenario that is mentioned in the "Named Pipe Hijacking" section of this bulletin, it is possible for an unauthenticated user who is local to the intranet to send a very large packet to a specific named pipe on which the system running SQL Server is listening and cause it to become unresponsive.
This vulnerability would not allow an attacker to run arbitrary code or elevate their permissions, but it may still be possible for a denial of service condition to exist that would require that the server be restarted to restore functionality.
* SQL Server Buffer Overrun
A flaw exists in a specific Windows function that may allow an authenticated userwith direct access to log on to the system running SQL Serverthe ability create a specially crafted packet that, when sent to the listening local procedure call (LPC) port of the system, could cause a buffer overrun. If successfully exploited, this could allow a user with limited permissions on the system to elevate their permissions to the level of the SQL Server service account, or cause arbitrary code to run.
Mitigating factors:
* Named Pipe Hijacking: To exploit this flaw, the attacker would need to be an authenticated user local to the system.
* This vulnerability provides no way for an attacker to remotely usurp control over the named pipe.
* Named Pipe Denial of Service: Although it is unnecessary that the attacker be authenticated, to exploit this flaw the attacker would require access to the local intranet.
* Restarting the SQL Server will reinstate normal operations
* This flaw provides no method by which an attacker can gain access to the system or information contained in the database.
* SQL Server Buffer Overrun: To exploit this flaw, the attacker would need to be an authenticated user local to the system.
* This vulnerability cannot be remotely exploited.
from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...n/MS03-031.asp


text:
A bill that would make high school graduation requirements for Texas students more flexible passed the Senate Education Committee Tuesday morning.
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, amended the bill before passage to address criticism from the state's higher education commissioner that the plan would leave students ill prepared for college. The revised bill calls for all students to take three years of science instead of two.
The changes come seven years after state lawmakers toughened high school graduation standards, requiring students to take four years each of English, math, science and social studies under the default diploma plan. School officials since have complained that students should not have to follow such a rigid plan, while business leaders have pushed for more challenging vocational electives to help prepare the rising workforce.
Patrick's revised Senate Bill 3 requires students to take three years each of math, science and social studies and four years of English. Students then could earn "endorsements" in business and industry; arts and humanities; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); or distinguished academics.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, did not vote in favor of the bill, saying she was working on an amendment to help ensure students did not get "tracked" into certain paths, such as college or a career. She also has advocated for the bill to be more comprehensive, to address standardized testing requirements. Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, also abstained, wanting the bill to address remediation and funding.
Patrick has pledged to address testing later.
The bill heads to the Senate.


text:
By Amy Dockser Marcus
A new paper offers a possible road map for getting more drugs approved to treat rare diseases. One key recommendation: improving access to the FDA's accelerated approval pathway, originally developed to quickly get treatments to patients with life-threatening diseases.
The paper, written by Brigitta Miyamoto and Emil Kakkis of the Kakkis EveryLife Foundation and published today in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, says the FDA should offer specific guidelines on how companies seeking to develop drugs for rare diseases can better utilize accelerated approval.
Kakkis helped develop and guide the approval process for three treatments for rare diseases at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, where he served as chief medical officer. He's now CEO and president of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, which recently announced $45 million in financing to support the development of rare-disease therapies. (So he'd also benefit from anything that helped those drugs get to market more quickly.)
The FDA created the accelerated approval process in 1992 in the wake of advocacy by HIV/AIDS patients angry at the slow pace of drug development. It allows drug companies to ask FDA to approve a new therapy using so-called surrogate endpoints — blood tests, urine tests, or other biomarkers that likely predict a patient will benefit from a drug but aren't on their own a measure of improved health. If the drug is approved, the company has to agree to keep testing to make sure that the results hold up.
(And sometimes they don't. Just last week an FDA appeals panel recommended the revocation of accelerated approval for Avastin for use in breast-cancer patients after studies showed the drug provided minimal benefits.)
In less-common diseases, drug development is difficult all around. There is often very little understanding of the disease, its natural history and how to treat it, and scant data on managing or treating patients. That makes it very hard for companies to know what information the FDA will need to decide that a surrogate endpoint meets its standard of being "reasonably likely" to predict a benefit in a patient.
Anne Pariser, associate director for rare diseases in the Office of New Drugs at the FDA, tells the Health Blog that it's crucial to be sure surrogate endpoints are valid indicators of the drug's efficacy; some have failed to predict outcomes. So "you need evidence to support" any surrogate endpoints. She also notes that drug development fails for many reasons, so easier access to accelerated approval is no panacea.
Kakkis says his foundation plans to hold a workshop in the fall to jump-start a discussion on getting FDA to write guidelines on just how much evidence a company needs to meet the "reasonably likely" standard, and whether the criteria should be different for at least some rare diseases.
In the paper, Kakkis and his co-author identified 15 rare diseases where a treatment reversed the disease in animal models but still stalled in drug development. The reasons why varied, he said. Some were looked at by companies but deemed too expensive to successfully develop, others sat in academia without attracting investment. A few languished for years but are being considered again. All of them, he adds, could benefit by clearing the path to accelerated approval.


text:
NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: The specific versions of the applications identified on the following List of Validated Payment Applications (Application List) have been assessed for compliance with the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS). Only the specific versions that appear in the Application List have been evaluated and determined to comply with PA-DSS. Note: applications identified below as validated according to PABP were originally reviewed as part of Visa, Inc's Payment Application Best Practices (PABP) program, by assessors qualified by Visa, Inc. Compliance with PA-DSS is determined by Payment Application Qualified Security Assessors (PA-QSAs) based upon their evaluation of the application and their documentation of such compliance in a corresponding Report on Validation (ROV). Although PCI SSC reviews ROVs for PA-QSA-related quality assurance purposes, PCI SSC does not independently confirm ROVs or the data or information they contain, and PCI SSC does not perform any tests or analysis of applications, products, or their functionality, performance, suitability, or PA-DSS compliance.
PCI SSC makes no endorsement or recommendation of applications or products, or of their respective developers or distributors. Furthermore, PCI SSC makes no warranties, guarantees or representations that any of the applications or products will meet your requirements for performance or functionality, that the applications or products will be free from errors or malicious code, or that the applications or products will be compatible with any other systems or applications. Any and all representations or warranties, including any and all representations and warranties made by the payment application vendor, are disclaimed by PCI SSC.
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text:
ndesk-dbus is a C# implementation of D-Bus. It's often referred to as
dbus-sharp, or "managed D-Bus" to avoid confusion with existing bindings
(which wrap libdbus).
D-Bus is an inter-process communication framework that lets applications
interface with the system event bus as well as allowing them to talk to one
another in a peer-to-peer configuration.
This requires: mono
Maintained by: Pierre Cazenave
Keywords: mono,sharp,dbus
ChangeLog: ndesk-dbus
Download SlackBuild:
ndesk-dbus.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
|Individual Files:
| ndesk-dbus.SlackBuild
| ndesk-dbus.info
| slack-desc
© 2006-2020 SlackBuilds.org Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
Web Design by WebSight Designs | Managed Hosting by OnyxLight Communications


text:
I have 3000+ polygons which represent watersheds (18 main watersheds). At the first stage all the 18 watershed will show and their list will be placed in the left sidebar. If any user mouse over the map only popup will show the watershed name. If any user click on any major watershed on map it will open pop up window with detail. At a larger zoom, all watersheds will show.
I'm asking for your advice which open-source solution is the best for handling that large amount of polygons?
I was thinking about Leaflet or OpenLayers but I don't know can they handle large amounts of polygons.
Also, do you suggest do store them in mysql or?


text:
We'd love your feedback about the Wisconsin Historical Society. Or, if you need help with the website, please send us details about the problem you are experiencing.
Your email address will be used only for a staff member to respond. We will not share or sell any of what you communicate to us with any third party.


text:
Wall transmitters
in JUNG design F 50
When the design makes the operation self-explanatory: the F 50 eNet wall transmitter. High-quality materials and clear forms complement the concept with style. They can simply be placed where they are needed. The wall transmitters are exclusively available worldwide in the 63 colours of Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier.
On the concise information area, the F 50 wall transmitters provide plenty of space for individual marking with the JUNG Graphic Tool. Operation is then via the buttons arranged at the side. In the variety offered by the JUNG design, they cut a good figure in every ambience.


text:
Will & Kate at the secret dinner
Prince William and Catherine were out last night in London. Will was invited to speak at a meeting of The Thirty Club. Apparently The Thirty Club is super elite and top secret. No one knows what goes on in there but its members are among the most powerful media and marketing players in England. Will's been invited several times but finally accepted this year on the occasion of his grandmother's Diamond Jubilee and his upcoming 30th birthday.
Kate is wearing Roland Mouret. You may know him as Victoria Beckham's (former) ghost designer. It's a great look on her. Except I hate her shoes. Isn't there a Real Housewife or a Jersey Snooki who could be wearing these shoes? They're Jimmy Choo. And tacky.


text: Terms of Use June 1, 2019 Acceptance of the Terms of Use These Terms of Use apply to all users of this website (Site). By using this Site you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you may not access or use this Site. Free Week All first-time visitors to Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping may claim up to one week of classes (six consecutive days). Subject to availability per location. See location for details. By participating in any exercise program, you assume the risks to your health and safety. While Farrell's can work for anyone, it is strongly encouraged that participants consult with a physician prior to participating in any activity or beginning a new exercise program. Performing exercises incorrectly may increase risk, especially if you have existing health or physical conditions. It is important to follow our certified instructors' technique direction. While Farrell's offers modifications to our exercises, it is your responsibility to inform Farrell's staff members of any physical needs so they can accommodate accordingly. If you choose to participate in the Farrell's exercise program, you assume the risks of your own free will and accord. Money-Back Guarantee (Get Fit or Get Paid Promise) Farrell's guarantees you'll see marked improvement in your physical fitness if you follow our proven system throughout the 10-Week session (60 days). If you follow the attendance and nutrition requirements and do not see marked improvement in at least 70% of our fitness testing areas, upon your request, we will give you $500. To qualify, you must attend 90% (57) of the classes offered during the 10-Week session and strictly adhere to the nutrition guidelines, and reporting requirements. We teach and encourage proper eating habits, but can't be with you 24/7. This is why you're required to turn in weekly food logs demonstrating you've followed the prescribed nutrition plan. These logs must be turned in each Monday for the previous week's activity. Results may vary. Actual results depend on the individual. You may not experience the specific results you are seeking, but we guarantee you will get results if you follow our program. National Challenge Any Farrell's member, 18 years or older, may participate in our annual National Challenge Contest. Registration is required and must be completed within 30 days of your 10-Week Challenge completion. Member must be enrolled in an annual Farrell's Infinite Transformation (FIT) membership during the course of the contest. A lapse in enrollment or payment for 30 days will disqualify the participant. Participants must complete the following to be eligible: Complete and submit copy of testing data form, which includes initial testing, week 10 testing, and four quarterly testings. 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(I promise to write about something else eventually, but there's simply too much good stuff out there concerning the three criminal defamation cases that I've been writing about for the past two weeks. The following is my somewhat rough translation of an April 23 blog post by Ran Yunfei 冉云飞 on the subject of Deng Yonggu.)
The shameless, hidden facts of the Deng Yonggu case
Ran Yunfei
Ran Yunfei
With respect to the extent, depth, and number of individuals involved, I'm afraid Chinese corruption today is second to none any time, any place. Corruption spread out over large areas and involving large numbers of people and huge amounts of money is spreading rampantly, all thanks to this political system and government of ours that has no real oversight. At the root of this inability to curb the rampant spread of corruption is a political sphere with no real oversight or healthy competition. In this abnormal political system, it is the fate of the people to be passively governed; if on occasion, they disagree, they can only make formal allegations or petition. The risks involved in making allegations or petitioning are great, basically the same as putting oneself in prison. Time and time again, government officials at all levels punish those individuals who criticize or oppose them. We can only gaze in admiration at the diversity of their methods, the speed with which they arrest people, the efficiency of their punishments. The three recent cases of Wang Shuai, Wu Baoquan, and Deng Yonggu all involve accusations made against local corrupt officials who levied exorbitant taxes and caused all kinds of disaster.
For making a signed accusation of corruption in the reforestation work being done in Gaosheng Township, Deng Yonggu has been falsely accused by the Pengxi County Procuratorate of defamation. Considering the principle under which there should be no crime if no one brings suit, for the public prosecutor to bring suit in this case is, from one perspective, a colossal joke. Even if one's criticisms of the government turned out not to be factual, it should never constitute defamation—this is basic common sense. If the officials who were criticized feel that they were libeled, why shouldn't they bring suit themselves and, at the same time, allow neutral investigators to examine whether what Deng Yonggu alleged is true? By not making the truth public and not discussing the truth of what Deng Yonggu alleged, prosecutors have taken it upon themselves to exonerate and illegally shield these few officials tagged as "scum." It looks like the Pengxi procuratorate and many other procuratorates are already very good at offering protection to other officials, giving these officials so much love that the officials don't have to bring suit because prosecutors will do it for them. This is truly ridiculous! This kind of clearly illegal behavior, where the procuratorate willfully violates the law, truly epitomizes the wretched state of China's law enforcement bodies.
Deng Yonggu has been making accusations about reforestation work for many years, writing letters to provincial and central disciplinary committees and writing about it publicly on his blog. Not a single government agency at any level has endeavored to investigate his allegations and make their findings public. Rather, in a classic case of local governments and officials with guilty consciences, they deleted his blog on Sina.com in an effort to conceal the truth. Governments and officials shouldn't try to obstruct and censor information that is not in their interests; instead, they should make the facts known publicly in an open, fair, and balanced way so that the public and media can scrutinize them. Lacking the true facts, it is a classic abuse of power for the procuratorate to stick Deng Yonggu with the crime of defamation when they have no standing to bring charges and the aggrieved party has not come forward. Even more important, I believe that punishing the innocent Deng Yonggu with defamation is connected to his revelations that the Pengxi government fraudulently obtained earthquake relief funds after the May 12 earthquake. Misappropriation of earthquake relief funds is something that causes considerable public anger. The local government treated his accusations of official corruption in reforestation work as "defamation" in an effort to shut him up and prevent him from continuing to expose the fraudulent use of earthquake relief funds. This is the true, behind-the-scenes nature of Deng Yonggu's case.
Following the earthquake, I had some interactions with Deng Yonggu here on the 1510 website, where he was known as "Taking the Broad View." Later, he posted an article accusing Pengxi officials of fraudulently obtaining earthquake relief funds (see link below) and "Villagers from Gaosheng Township, Pengxi County, Unite in Opposition to Local Government's Fraud in Obtaining Earthquake Relief Funds" (see photo linked below) and sought to use my blog to help expose these things. After I posted this information, I was contacted by concerned individuals who expressed hope that I would delete this information and agree not to publish anything on this subject again. I told them there was no way I would delete any blog posts. I have never voluntarily deleted anything from my blog because when I write I focus on the facts, discuss evidence, and put forward the truth. It's an unassailable fact that the information published by Deng Yonggu is absolutely true, as evidenced by the more than one hundred villagers who signed their names and gave their thumbprint as witness to the the government's fraud with respect to earthquake relief funds. How could such a minor forestry bureau employee can get the signatures and thumbprints of so many villagers if the facts weren't true? Corruption in the distribution of and application for earthquake relief funds is definitely not limited just to Pengxi. In many counties where the earthquake damage was relatively minor, false reporting of the need for post-quake reconstruction funds has brought many benefits to local governments and officials and few benefits to the public. They exaggerate the extent of local damage and use the public as a pretense for obtaining relief funds, skimming their share in the process.
Putting Deng Yonggu in prison for exposing false reporting for earthquake relief funds would attract too much attention to the circumstances surrounding Pengxi's earthquake relief funds and increase the pressure on the government there. Therefore, the local government took advantage of the speed, efficient, and cooperative law enforcement agencies and killed two birds with one stone by putting him in prison on a ridiculous "defamation" charge for his accusations on a completely different matter. Please, friends, note that not only Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren have been put behind bars for seeking the truth in the aftermath of the earthquake—there is also Deng Yonggu. I call for the immediate acquittal of Huang Qi, Tan Zuoren, and Deng Yonggu and restoration of their freedom.
Further links [to Chinese items provided in Ran's original article]:
- Pengxi (Sichuan) Court Holds Hearing in Defamation Trial of Deng Yonggu
- Sichuan Information Broker Weekly (12)
- Post-Quake Reconstruction Information Sent in by Mr. Deng Yonggu [screenshot]
- "Villagers from Gaosheng Township, Pengxi County, Unite in Opposition to Local Government's Fraud in Obtaining Earthquake Relief Funds" [screenshot]
- A Rusting Handle: Our Net Friend "Taking the Broad View"


text: Managers recognize that intelligent machines—information systems that sense, comprehend, act and learn—can have a tremendous impact on many of their most time-consuming tasks. In fact, they rank planning, problem solving and monitoring performance among the responsibilities that will be most affected by cognitive computing in the future. What managers haven't fully accounted for, though, is the effect that these machines will ultimately have on less routine, more strategic tasks.


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Disaster Planning: Seven Steps for Smoother Sailing
Disaster recovery plans should be living, breathing documents.
A disaster recovery plan shouldn't "sit on a shelf and gather dust," says Paul Sullivan, vice president and general manager of Agility Recovery, a CUNA Strategic Services alliance provider.
Instead, such plans should be living documents. Sullivan and other experts advise credit unions to incorporate these seven steps into their disaster recovery plans:
1. Designate a place to go to restore operations, whether that's another location or a mobile office brought to your site.
"If you don't have that," Sullivan says, "your plan is worth no more than the paper it's written on."
2. Plan how to communicate with staff. "Your people are your most important asset," Sullivan says. "Set up a notification system. Reroute telephone calls or establish a special number staff can call for updates."
3. Focus on more than the core system.
"The core is about a third of your information technology infrastructure," says Gary Yeager, vice president of sales for Ongoing Operations, a CUNA Strategic Services alliance provider. "What about the other two-thirds? If you lose connections to third-party vendors, you're in as much trouble as if you lose your core."
4. Prioritize applications. Figure out your business-critical applications.
The core will come first, "but from there, opinions differ on the next critical application, and the next," says Steve Comer, credit union industry manager for Hyland Software. "Prioritizing your applications is key to how quickly your credit union will get back in business."
5. Consider geography. Locating a disaster recovery site 10 miles away may seem convenient.
But in a natural disaster, "a 10-mile spread won't help you," Comer says. "Being in a different state or region of the country is worth thinking about."
6. Validate backup data. Is the data on your backup tapes any good?
"We've had clients send us tapes that contain no valid data," Comer reports. "Too often credit unions overlook the validation step."
7. Test your plan. Testing also often lands on the back burner, Sullivan says, but it's the only way to ensure your recovery plan will work. He notes that some credit unions test by using disaster simulations.
A more basic method is a tabletop exercise in which you "bring in key staff and ask questions," Sullivan says. "It's day one, what are you going to do first? What are you going to do next? What will you do on day two? Run those scenarios to see if people are prepared."


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Greenpeace activists are currently hanging in an arctic survival pod from the underside of a giant rig in the arctic to prevent it from dangerous deep water oil drilling.
The drilling operation threatens to devastate the unique arctic environment and undercover even more climate changing fossil fuels.
The activists in the pod have enough food and water for 10 days. This video is a quick clip shot at dinner time last night, from in the pod.
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That was the case in Jesus' day as well. When Jesus gave a glimpse of the magnificent view of marriage that God willed for His people, the disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry" (Matthew 19:10). In other words, Christ's vision of the meaning of marriage was so enormously different from that of the disciples, they could not imagine it to be a good thing.
If that was the case then—in the sober, Jewish world in which they lived—how much more will the magnificence of marriage in the mind of God seem unintelligible in a modern Western culture. Jesus would probably say to us today, when He had finished opening the mystery for us, the same thing He said in His own day: "Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. … Let the one who is able to receive this receive it" (Matthew 19:11–12).
So I start with the assumption that my own sin and selfishness and cultural bondage makes it almost impossible for me to feel the wonder of God's purpose for marriage. The fact that we live in a society that can defend two men or two women entering a sexual relationship and, with wild inconceivability, call it marriage shows that the collapse of our culture into debauchery and anarchy is probably not far away.
I mention this cultural distortion of marriage in the hopes that it might wake you up to consider a vision of marriage higher and deeper and stronger and more glorious than anything this culture—or perhaps you yourself—ever imagined. The greatness and glory of marriage is beyond our ability to think or feel without divine revelation and without the illuminating and awakening work of the Holy Spirit. The world cannot know what marriage is without learning it from God.
The most foundational thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is God's doing. And the ultimate thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is for God's glory.
Marriage Is God's Doing
There are at least four ways to see this explicitly or implicitly in Genesis 2:18–25.
1. Marriage was God's design.
Marriage is God's doing because it was His design in the creation of man as male and female. This was made plain earlier in Genesis 1:27–28: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.'"
But it is also clear in the flow of thought in Genesis 2. In verse 18, it is God Himself who decrees that man's solitude is not good, and it is God Himself who sets out to complete one of the central designs of creation, namely, man and woman in marriage: "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Don't miss that central and all-important statement. God Himself will make a being perfectly suited for him—a wife.
This text ends in verses 24–25 with the words: "They shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." In other words, this is all moving toward marriage.
2. God gave away the first bride.
Marriage is also God's doing because He took the role of being the first Father to give away the bride. Genesis 2:22 says: "And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." He didn't hide her and make Adam seek. He made her; then He brought her. And now, though she was His by virtue of creation, He gave her to the man in this absolutely new kind of relationship called marriage, unlike every other relationship in the world.
3. God spoke the design of marriage into existence.
Marriage is also God's doing because He spoke the design of marriage into existence. He did this in verse 24: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Who is talking in verse 24? The writer of Genesis is talking. And what did Jesus say about the writer of Genesis? He said it was Moses (Luke 24:44). He also believed that Moses was inspired by God, so that what Moses was saying, God was saying. We can see this if we look carefully at Matthew 19:4–5: "[Jesus] answered, 'Have you not read that he [God] who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said [Note: God said!], "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?'" Jesus said that the words of Genesis 2:24 are God's words, even though they were written by Moses.
Therefore, marriage is God's doing because God spoke the earliest design of it into existence—"A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
4. God performs the two-become-one-flesh union.
The fourth way that marriage is God's doing is seen in the fact that God Himself performs the union referred to in the words "become one flesh." That union is at the heart of what marriage is.
Genesis 2:24 is God's word of institution for marriage. But just as it was God who took the woman from the flesh of man (Genesis 2:21), it is God who in each marriage ordains and performs a uniting called one flesh. Man does not create this. God does. And it is not in man's power to destroy. This is implicit here in Genesis 2:24, but Jesus makes it explicit in Mark 10:8–9. He quotes Genesis 2:24, then adds a comment that explodes like thunder with the glory of marriage. "'The two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
When a couple speaks their vows, it is not a man or a woman or a pastor or parent who is the main actor—the main doer. God is. God joins a husband and a wife into a one-flesh union. The world does not know this. Which is one of the reasons why marriage is treated so casually. And Christians often act like they don't know it, which is one of the reasons marriage in the church is not seen as the wonder it is.
Marriage Is for God's Glory
Marriage is not only from Him and through Him, it is also for Him. Marriage is designed by God to display His glory in a way that no other event or institution does. The way to see this most clearly is to connect Genesis 2:24 with its use in Ephesians 5:31–32. In Genesis 2:24, God says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." What kind of relationship is this? How are these two people held together? Can they walk away from this relationship? Can they go from spouse to spouse? Is this relationship rooted in romance? Sexual desire? Need for companionship? Cultural convenience?
In Genesis 2:24, the words "hold fast to his wife" and the words "they shall become one flesh" point to marriage as a sacred covenant rooted in commitments that stand against every storm "as long as we both shall live."
But that is only implicit here. It becomes explicit when the mystery of marriage is more fully revealed in Ephesians 5:31–32. The Apostle Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 in verse 31: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." Then he gives it this all-important interpretation in verse 32: "This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." In other words, marriage is patterned after Christ's covenant commitment to His church.
Christ thought of Himself as the bridegroom coming for his bride, the true people of God (Matthew 9:15, 25:1, John 3:29). Paul knew his ministry was to gather the bride—the true people of God who would trust Christ. His calling was to betroth the church to her husband, Jesus. Paul puts it like this in 2 Corinthians 11:2: "I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ."
Christ knew He would have to pay for His bride with His own blood. He called this relationship the new covenant—"This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). This is what Paul is referring to when he says that marriage is a great mystery: "I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." Christ obtained the church by His blood and formed a new covenant with her, an unbreakable "marriage."
The ultimate thing we can say about marriage is that it exists for God's glory. That is, it exists to display God. Now we see how: Marriage is patterned after Christ's covenant relationship to His redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and His church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married. If you hope to be, that should be your dream.
Keeping covenant with our spouse is as important as telling the truth about God's covenant with us in Jesus Christ. Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love. It's mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It's about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way He relates to His people. It is about showing in real life the glory of the Gospel.
Jesus died for sinners. He forged a covenant in the white-hot heat of His suffering in our place. He made an imperfect bride His own with the price of His blood and covered her with the garments of His own righteousness. He said, "I am with you … to the end of the age… . I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5).
Marriage is meant by God to put that Gospel reality on display in the world. ©2009 John Piper
John Piper is founder of desiringgod.org and former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minn.
This article is adapted from the book, "This Momentary Marriage," by John Piper, ©2009 by Desiring God Foundation. used by permission of crossway, a publishing ministry of good news publishers, wheaton, ill. Scripture quotations taken by permission from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.