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[center]Pakistan growth creates wealth gap<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' />[/center]
Salman has a way with words. He also has a snappy dress sense, and a keen knowledge of the communications industry. He should be going places.
In fact, Salman was going places, a rising success at the firm where he's been working in Karachi for the past two years.
That was until they brought the new guy in.
"He didn't know anything about the industry," Salman explains.
"But he comes from an important Pakistani family, one with land, power. Our aristocracy.
"The family made a call to my firm, told them to hire this guy, and that was that."
Salman says that since the new arrival was put in charge of his department, morale and output have both plummeted.
And he has particular reason to be bitter.
He is one of a growing number of Pakistanis who have lived abroad, but decided to come back to work in their homeland, and try to make their mark on its newly-growing economy.
"With this kind of practice going on," he says, "I don't think this country will ever progress."
Big spenders
That is a damning verdict on what, statistically at least, seems to be an extraordinary boom in Pakistan.
The world may have focused on the political ups and downs of the country's President, Pervez Musharraf.
But since the General took power in a coup seven years ago, his most radical actions have been on the economic front.
The country has swallowed the usual World Bank-recommended diet of privatisation, liberalisation and opening up of markets.
But what makes Pakistan stand out is the speed it has done this, and the extent of the change.
Growth has soared, foreign debt has been cut, and the nation's consumers have gone on one of history's greatest shopping sprees, splashing out in record numbers on anything from fridges and flats, to luxury cars.
Bribes are rife
The World Bank has given the programme a big thumb's up, and foreign investors show signs of renewed interest.
But as any economist in the country will tell you, this kind of growth can only continue if people are convinced that the old Pakistan ways of doing business - with corruption, bureaucracy, and an alarming level of regulation - is on the way out for good.
Factory worker Zobair is not convinced.
He acknowledges that things are improving.
Operations at his textile factory, he says, have recently been freer than ever from government interference.
Yet still it comes.
"Eighteen official inspectors visit every year," he says.
"It doesn't matter if you are complying with every regulation, they are after bribes.
"Things are getting better, but the pace of change needs to be increased."
Remaining poverty
Kaiser Bengali is concerned. A Professor of economics at Szabist University, he took me to a village just 10 miles from Karachi City Centre, to show me the people who he says have gained nothing from all the reforms.
The village stank.
Filthy rubbish was piled up everywhere, there was no proper sewerage system, and, as locals explained, health care was grossly inadequate.
Many have no source of employment.
Pakistan's Government insists the poor have also gained under the new economic regime, but Professor Bengali does not buy it.
Instead, he says, there has been an alarming growth in inequality.
"Try to imagine," he says, "a man who sees the expensive cars in the street, but comes home unable to feed his children, because he can't find work. He is angry.
"Or an educated man who cannot support his own parents. He becomes ashamed of himself."
Angry responses
And Professor Bengali has a warning.
"Anger may lead people into crime, or self harm. Suicide rates are going up," he says.
"But people also turn to religious radicalism. We see this in Pakistan every day."
Even the World Bank acknowledges that the perception of rising inequality may become a problem in Pakistan, and it is launching various programmes to mitigate the worst aspects of social deprivation.
But there is a special urgency to this task.
Pakistan is the venue for an escalating conflict between the State, and local militants with ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Only this month, a suicide bomber killed more than 40 soldiers at an army base, retaliation for the bombing of a madrassah, which left more than 80 dead.
It is possible that the World Bank and other development programmes will alleviate the poverty and desperation that make people easy recruiting targets for militants.
But it takes far longer to build a new water supply system, or a new village health centre, than it does to spread an angry message, or the tools to make a bomb.
Cheers <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' />


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SINCE launching their debut album, Holes in the Sky, last December, Minky G and the Effects seem to have fallen off the radar in the local music scene; however, this is far from the truth, with the band leader Michelle (Minky) Gardner being busy as ever.
Having only one notable gig since the album launch, their debut at the Ellington Jazz Club in February, the band members have spent the last few months auditioning keyboard players, and they have settled on Murray Bishop to make the trio a quartet.
The reason behind adding a keys player to the full-time line-up was an attempt to fill up the band's sound, and shadowing the classic four-piece rock line-up of guitar, piano, bass and drums.
Being the band leader does not only include playing guitar and singing; Minky is the songwriter for the band.
She says she brings basically complete songs to the band and they "just make them more awesome."
This was a main reason behind bringing in a keys player because of what the guest keyboardists, Lukas Murphy and Nicholas Owen, added to her songs on the album.
The band, although being relatively quiet since the album launch, has a lot of plans lined up for the remainder of the year.
A south-west tour is being flagged for later this year, with a spot at the renowned Fairbridge Festival already confirmed, as well as a single and music video with the track "Trouble" from the album being put forward as a possibility.
Minky G is also immersing herself in her reinvention as a career musician.
Until midway through 2009, Minky was a radio journalist working in the Nova 93.7 newsroom while studying at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
However towards the end of the year, she decided to make an attempt at becoming a career musician.
As well as being the band leader of Minky G and the Effects, she is a well-known solo performer and collaborator around Perth.
She hones her art by spending up to three hours a day practising in her rehearsal space.
As a solo musician, she has had spots supporting local acts, Matt Gresham and the Sunshine Brothers, while continuing her ongoing collaboration with The Brow Horn Orchestra.
She performs a number of corporate gigs and weddings, as well as an array of gigs at cafés and open mic nights.
In addition to her career as a performer, Minky runs community jam sessions for local councils as well as teaching guitar at a local high school two days a week.
She has also contacted the David Wirrapanda foundation in hopes of visiting remote Aboriginal communities to help spread music.
Becoming a career musician is an extremely hard career. Not only do you have to have talent, but being able to write songs, manage a band as well as supporting yourself financially doing what you love takes a lot of heart and a lot of guts. Minky Gardner and her effects have both.
Categories: Entertainment

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By Rashim Nabanja
While presiding over the first diocesan corporate wedding ceremony at All Saints Cathedral Kampala, the Archbishop of the church, Stanely Ntagali surprised the congregation when he made a revelation of not having a cake for his own wedding ceremony.
This came as a shock to many because when the word wedding is mentioned, some of the things that run through everyone's mind are food and drinks, cake inclusive. A wedding ceremony without a cake in this century will turn out to be the talk of the day because now, it is a culture.
According to Ntagali, a couple in love would rather not get married than have a wedding without a cake.
"When I was still in Masindi diocese, I realized that many people feared to get married because of costly wedding parties."
Couples nowadays even go an extra mile of having cakes worth millions of shillings just for their wedding ceremonies. Others take it further by putting a cake on each table for the guests to cut.
On this note, Ntagali told people to marry for love and not convenience;
"If the two of you agree, get your parents blessings and come to church for a blessing too, the church is the most important thing, the riches will come later. A family that prays together stays together."
Ntagali went ahead to advise people to stop making excuses of not having millions of money to hold a reception because you want to do something luxurious.
However, although the Archbishop didn't get the chance to cut his own cake, he says he cannot even count the number of cakes he has eaten for the 42 years he has spent in marriage.


text:
Andrew Chair and Twig Coffee Table (Sale)
Two modern-ish items on sale…(I might say once more I firmly believe you get what you pay for, though I'm sure there are some of you that are more concerned with the price tag than materials).
Andrew Relax Chair,
$189.00 $149.99, Buy it here.
Few chairs cut a slim, low-angled profile while having the kind of wide seat support that lets you settle in. Fewer still manage to be slender and inviting without hogging space. The European-style Andrew Relaxer does it all with a lineup of unbeatable qualities, from gently curving lines, rich chocolate
bi-cast leather to an elegant profile suitable for any room.
24″W x 23.5″D x 28.25″H (15.5″H Seat)
Twig Coffee Table,
$499.00 $349.99,
Buy it here.
Frame is hand crafted of solid rattan stems. Each piece is nailed together by hand and then carefully assembled by the artisan. No two are alike. Each rattan stem is individually finished with a nitro-cellulose lacquer topcoat prior to assembly in a multi-step process. Glass top is .5" thick with a straight edge.
Dimensions: 38"W x 38"D x 18"H
[posted by katie]


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Got the sniffles? Alexa may notice someday -- and offer cough drops
A patent filing from Amazon considers Alexa gaining awareness of your emotional and physical state.
Some day, if you cough or sniffle while chatting with Alexa, the voice assistant may respond back with an offer to sell you cough drops.
Amazon was granted a US patent Tuesday that describes ways for making Alexa more aware of your physical or emotional state, such as if you're excited, bored or even a little sick. While Amazon is constantly working to make Alexa more human-like and knowledgeable, it's unclear whether the ideas from this patent will ever be added into the voice assistant.
Amazon declined to comment for this story.
The concept of making a digital assistant more emotionally intelligent has been discussed for years, but AI hasn't yet caught up to the complexities of human feelings. Creating AI that can notice these human cues could make Alexa more useful for people and help Amazon sell more relevant products to its customers.
But, Alexa and its fellow voice assistants still misunderstand a lot of basic requests, so it may be a while before they can tackle these harder tasks. Plus, especially when it comes to people's health, customers may find a new Alexa feature that notices emotional or physical changes invasive and creepy, even if meant to be helpful.
In an example in the patent filing, a user tells Alexa, "I'm hungry," while coughing and sniffling. Determining the user may have a sore throat, Alexa asks the user if she would like a recipe for chicken soup. She declines. Alexa follows up by asking "Would you like to order cough drops with one-hour delivery?" The woman responds: "That would be awesome!"
In another example, a user asks Alexa, "What's going on today?" Alexa determines the user is likely bored and responds, "Are you in the mood for a movie?"
Providing these responses could help Amazon sell Alexa owners more stuff via voice shopping and even serve targeted advertisements from nearby restaurants and other retailers. Also, being able to determine potential health needs could help Amazon build up its health care business, especially after it agreed to buy the online pharmacy PillPack earlier this year.
NASA turns 60: The space agency has taken humanity farther than anyone else, and it has plans to go further.
Taking It to Extremes: Mix insane situations -- erupting volcanoes, nuclear meltdowns, 30-foot waves -- with everyday tech. Here's what happens.
Smart Home Guides
Smart Home
- Best Smart Lights
- Best LED Floodlight
- Best Alexa Devices
- Heat Pump vs. Furnace
- Best Smart Garage Door Opener Controller
- Generator vs. Battery


text:
Further evidence of smartphone fragmentation in Europe
The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the quarter leading up to April 2014, suggests increased handset fragmentation across the European smartphone market, as global brands face competition from smaller manufacturers.
"Across Europe there is an accelerating trend of fragmentation in the handset market as smaller brands gain real traction," said Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "Established brands like Motorola and Sony are showing resurgence and newcomers to the European market such as Huawei and Wiko are challenging the established names."
Huawei saw the number of smartphones it sold increase by 123 per cent in the five major European markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) over the past year. It now holds 3 per cent share, securing a 5 per cent holding in both the German and Spanish markets. Wiko also saw triple digit growth across Europe with its Cink phones and now holds an 8 per cent share in its home market of France and is pushing ahead with expansion to other European countries, including the UK.
"Increasingly across Europe and the US we are seeing separation of tariffs and handsets, mirroring the dynamic seen in other parts of the world," said Sunnebo. "Consumers are starting to realise the true cost of handsets, and as a result they are shopping around to find cheaper alternatives. This shift in behaviour plays directly into the hands of lesser known brands like Huawei and Wiko, who are able to offer competitive technologies for a fraction of the price."
OS shares across Europe have stabilised with Android holding its position as the number one operating system in Europe, with a 72.4 per cent share of the market. Apple's iOS follows with 17.5 per cent, while Windows is third with 8.4 per cent.
Strength or weakness?
Fragmentation is both a strength and weakness of the Android ecosystem. On the plus side, the vast number of Android devices (and their average lower cost) means there is greater global reach than iOS and hence a larger audience for developers, as well as more choice for consumers. But on the negative side, the huge array of shapes and sizes means it is very difficult – and costly – for developers to support the whole Android market, and so consumers ultimately lose out.
Open Signal has some excellent graphics on its website that illustrate this problem. Its device map is incredible, as is its screen size map – really bringing home the degree of fragmentation out there.
The firm saw 11,868 distinct devices download its app in the past few months; in last year's report it was 3,997. Android fragmentation, of all varieties, is increasing. Whilst it is easy to conclude that this must be a bad thing, this is not necessarily the case. Surely customer choice is more important than creating a homogenised marketplace?
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Windows Server 2012 and Windows Storage Server 2012 offer an integrated iSCSI Target service that can be used with Cinder Volume in your stack. Being entirely a software solution, consider it in particular for mid sized networks where the costs of a SAN might be excessive.
One of the great advantages of integrating Windows solutions in the OpenStack ecosystem is the ease of management and deployment. Cinder is no exception as you will see right away.
All you need to start is a physical or virtual host running Windows Server 2012 or Windows Storage Server 2012 and a copy of our Cinder volume installer available for free here.
Here's our welcome screen:
Once you get through the license and the folder selection screens, you will be asked for the cinder.conf options as in the following screenshot. The great advantage is that the installer will create all the configuration files for you, without having to look around for obscure options by yourself 🙂
The Windows iSCSI LUNs path is the folder where the Microsoft iSCSI Target Service will create a VHD for each volume, so it is best to choose an appropriate data partition if available.
The next step consist in providing the optional logging options:
That's it! One last confirmation screen and the setup will start. Another great advantage of this setup is that it will take care of all the dependencies, including Python, the iSCSI Target Service, the cinder-volume Windows service and so on.
Once the setup is finished, the cinder-volume service will start and you can check the logs (in the path configured above) to see if the service is properly connected to your controller.
You can restart the service from the Windows Service GUI tool or via command line with:
net stop cinder-volume
net start cinder-volume
To test your new volume server, you can connect to your OpenStack controller and create a simple volume:
cinder create 1
This command creates a 1GB volume. You can now check the status of your new volume:
cinder list
The Windows Cinder Volume driver works perfectly well with Nova on any Hypervisor, including support for the boot from volume feature. Great kudos go to Pedro Navarro Pérez who contributed the Windows volume driver to the Cinder project!


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Destro (Foil Card) Figure Data
- Year: 2007
Destro (Foil Card) Images
Destro (Foil Card) File Card Data
Code Name: DESTRO
File Name: Destro, James Mccullen
Primary Military Specialty: Thief
Birthplace: Callander, Scotland
DESTRO is a faceless power behind M.A.R.S. Military Armaments Research System, the largest manufacturer of state-of-the-art weaponry. To DESTRO, war is man's most natural state: the fittest survive and the greatest technological advances are made. He maintains a luxurious lifestyle around the world. DESTRO provides high-tech arms to any side able to meet his price and will incite war where it does not exist. He dons his silver battle mask (a family tradition) and enters battle himself, either with COBRA Command (DESTRO is their major weapons supplier) or against them if it's better for business.
""I respect the G.I. Joe team for their combat skills and expertise, but I abhor that they waste those skills to maintain peace. I dedicate myself to seeing them underminded, subverted, or destroyed."
Destro (Foil Card) Version History
- All versions of Destro
- Classified versions of Destro
- ARAH versions of Destro
- Modern versions of Destro
- Movie versions of Destro
- Sigma 6 versions of Destro
Destro (Foil Card) Additional Info
Foil Card
Punch Stamp Code 73512
Cartoon Card
Punch Stamp Code 82941


text:
More often than not, the most objective and well-analysed piece of writing is not possible when a crisis is unfolding. The tendency of journalists and analysts will be to rush information to their readers and clients, respectively. There will be less time for reflection. A far clearer and perceptive analysis will become available, over time. Alternatively, it may be worth perusing stuff that was written well before a crisis happened. For example, if someone had warned of Evergrande well before the s**t hit the fan this year, then that would or should carry a lot more weight. I came across one such article [3] published in the Wall Street Journal in July 2020. The article relied quite a bit on research by Goldman Sachs.
Some key extracts from that article:
Now, another article [4] published on the 10th October 2021, citing research by Nomura Holdings, mentions the USD5.0 trillion debt that Chinese developers carry. In 2020, it was the value of housing including inventories, measured at USD52.0 trillion.
Straight off the bat:
Another article [5] in the same newspaper that appeared a week earlier had this important data point:
The scale of Evergrande's ambitions was staggering. As of the end of last year, the property developer had more than 700 projects under construction, covering 132 million square meters of total floor area. For comparison, the total floor area of the Empire State Building is about 257,000 square meters.
It is even difficult to make an objective statement on whether Evergrande will or will not be Lehman Brothers for China. Let us not forget that the United States arranged sale and unwinding of many other institutions during the crisis. With Lehman, either they took a chance or were forced to or it might have involved some other political and inter-personal dynamics (Dick Fuld was not a popular man on Wall Street) or some combination of all three.
Allowing it to fail brought America to its knees. Well, Paulson did beg China to bail out its banks (ref.: Paul Blustein's 'The Schism'). No surprises that China is now unimpressed with American swagger and dominance.
But, Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail and it nearly brought America to collapse because a financial institution has far too many linkages above the line and it had below-the-line contingent exposure on derivative contracts. It was a house of cards and so was the broader American financial sector.
Looks like Evergrande is a rather good match.
If the government in China decided not to let Evergrande fail, it will take a lot of money to shore up household balance sheets, local government revenues and much more.
Cue, China's fiscal deficit. Here are some 'official' estimates:
Mind you, all these estimates are excluding Evergrande and property sector bailouts that are yet to be finalised and announced. At the minimum, the ratings outlook must be downgraded, if not the rating itself.
Amidst all this, there are important political developments. It is possible to present the developments in China in the last one year, starting with Alibaba and Jack Ma, as those relating to regulation of businesses with the most recent proposal [7] being the banning of private capital in Chinese media companies. However, that is not the case. They are more than that. In a country where information is hard to come by and where a word added or dropped or a specific word deployed carry meanings that are not immediately obvious to the lay reader, it is important to defer to seasoned observers. So, it is useful to read LingLing Wei in Wall Street Journal and Richard McGregor in Nikkei Asia.
Let us start with LingLing Wei's article in the Wall Street Journal. Key extracts from that article [8]:
I have highlighted the key phrases and portions. We underestimate the extent to which specific events shape our thinking and beliefs. Sometimes, we may not even be conscious of it. The events that took place in Capitol in America on January 6th and the subsequent banning of Trump from social media by private companies must have clearly shaken Xi because it shook many other world leaders. It laid bare the power of capital over the power of the State. It could not be possible. Yet, it happened.
Just as Xi picked up the lesson of not letting the Party be weakened by corruption from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the message he picked up from America's financial crisis in 2008 and the treatment meted out to President Trump is that he cannot afford to take chances with private capital. They must be cut to size.
China also took another lesson from international developments. It watched the collapse of the Japan's economy and decided that it was due to Japan wilting under American pressure to strengthen the yen against the US dollar. So, it has done all it could to keep the Chinese yuan from becoming too strong. It may or may not have succeeded but it could not be accused of not trying.
Now, it is always possible to draw the wrong inferences from the experiences of others. It is quite possible that China has done that in all of the three lessons mentioned above.
With respect to Trump and private capital, Chinese capitalists might not be interested in re-imagining and re-fashioning the society as American capitalists are. I doubt if there is a historical precedent in China. There is plenty in America. Of course, historical precedents might not be relevant in a globalised world where Chinese business people receive foreign capital and appoint them to their Boards, leaving themselves susceptible to foreign influence or 'pollution' as the Chinese Communist Party thinks. They may be more susceptible to such influences than before. But, the society's long-running ethos does not lend itself so easily to such adventures.
In his landmark book, 'Plagues and People's, Prof. William McNeill writes of China:
Political unity comes easier to a land accustomed from antiquity to regard imperial centralization as the only rightful form of government (p.215)
Second, with respect to the lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is possible that the excessive centralisation of power in the hands of the party might kill off the dynamism that a limited exposure to capitalism had engendered. Is it possible to turn off and on these switches? Second, corruption related purges suffer from lack of transparency, absence of due process and hence arbitrariness. Therefore, the resentment they create might prove costly later.
Third, with respect to the exchange rate, China might have succeeded in preventing the currency from appreciating against the US dollar especially between 2003 and 2008 when the pressure on the currency to strengthen was at its highest. But at what cost? In order to do so, it had to engage in quantitative easing of its own, by using the Yuan money supply to buy foreign Government debt. So, the dollar might be America's currency but it was China's problem, especially in 2008. It led to China keeping interest rates artificially low to render the currency unattractive for speculators engaging in 'carry trade' – borrowing in low interest rate currencies and lending in higher interest rate currencies. That, in turn, led to rampant domestic credit growth and pervasive capital misallocation. The debt burdens carried by the property developers and the value of the real estate holdings are proof of that.
As though that is not enough, Goldman Sachs, in a recent report, has estimated that China's local governments carry a debt burden equivalent to 50% of GDP:
The total debt of local government financing vehicles rose to about 53 trillion yuan ($8.2 trillion) at the end of last year from 16 trillion yuan in 2013, the economists wrote in a report. That's equal to about 52% of gross domestic product and is larger than amount of official outstanding government debt. [Link [9]]
Finally, to keep interest rates low, China had to keep domestic prices low, many a time artificially.
Electricity tariffs are regulated. Power generation companies are losing money for every kilowatt hour of electricity sold. They have less incentive to generate power, unless coerced, of course. Then, coal miners are fearful of criminal prosecution and even death sentences for mining accidents. As a result, China has a power shortage now. That is what Professors Alex Yang and Angela Zhang write [10] for 'Nikkei Asia'.
[Parenthetically, however, Eryk Bagshaw of 'Sydney Morning Herald' says that China is shutting off power to its most inefficient and polluting users and hence the current power shortage to certain provinces and firms is a short-term pain that should result in long-term gain. Well, since the denouement is in the uncertain future, it is hard to know if he would be proven right. But, as it appears in the cases of Evergrande and property developers, more generally, this too could be too much too late.]
So, it is clear that in all the three instances, China may well have learnt the wrong lessons or, to put it differently, the lessons it learnt and the 'mistakes' it sought to avoid, may have come at a very high price; too high, in some cases.
In short, China is failing not because it emulated the West but it sought to avoid the mistakes of the West and committed its own, in the process. Now, it seeks to pursue a third way as Ling Ling Wei wrote in the Wall Street Journal, cited above. It embraced capitalism for around forty years (slightly less). Now it wants to switch it off and focus on socialism or common prosperity, for several reasons. Such a 'third way' has not been attempted before. It may not be possible to shut down capitalism and embrace socialism without also killing the economic dynamism that accompanied the dalliance with capitalism.
There may be a lot of sympathy even in the West for China's attempts to shut down the vulgar manifestations of capitalism but it is hard to conclude that the government has been driven solely by such economic and public purpose considerations. So, both from the political and economic angles, success is far from assured.
As I wrote in a column [11] recently, China might have left the barn door open for too long, particularly with respect to reining in debt accumulation by its property sector, local governments and other state-owned enterprises.
Therefore, such formidable, if not insurmountable, politico-economic challenges carry with them the risk that China turns adventurous externally both to divert attention and also to garner the critical resources that might be needed to fix some of these problems.
Into this potent cocktail, Hal Brands and Michael Beckley add something that is quite reasonable in the light of the facts surveyed above. That something is the conclusion that China is a declining power and that that is what makes it more dangerous. In their view [12], it is wrong to assume that China is an aspiring and rising power threatening the dominance of a status quo power. China's long rise is to be followed by the prospect of a sharp decline and that is what makes China dangerous.
Among their conclusions,
China will be sorely tempted to use force to resolve the Taiwan question on its terms in the next decade.
Interestingly or disturbingly, Gideon Rachman reaches the same view [13] through a different lens:
Both China and the US increasingly feel as if they are engaged in a potentially deadly poker game over Taiwan, as they attempt to bluff each other into backing down. Strategic ambiguity has kept the peace for decades. But a dangerous moment of clarity may be approaching.
In conclusion, a lot is riding on how China's property sector woes and its more general debt problem are resolved or not. Both possibilities present the scenario of enfeebled fiscal conditions and lower economic growth going forward. In turn, it can only mean that the inevitable surfacing of the consequences of China's debt binge of the last fifteen years might turn out to be calamitous geopolitically.
(The paper is the author's individual scholastic articulation. The author certifies that the article/paper is original in content, unpublished and it has not been submitted for publication/web upload elsewhere, and that the facts and figures quoted are duly referenced, as needed, and are believed to be correct). (The paper does not necessarily represent the organisational stance... More >>
[1] https://www.vifindia.org/article/2021/october/14/the-economic-and-geopolitical-implications-of-evergrande
[2] https://www.vifindia.org/author/dr-v-anantha-nageswaran
[3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-property-real-estate-boom-covid-pandemic-bubble-11594908517
[4] https://www.wsj.com/articles/beyond-evergrande-chinas-property-market-faces-a-5-trillion-reckoning-11633882048
[5] https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-evergrande-debt-crisis-sizing-up-a-big-mess-11633253402
[6] https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-s-fiscal-deficit-follows-Evergrande-power-crunch-as-next-worry
[7] https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/china-proposes-bans-on-private-capital-participation-in-media
[8] https://www.wsj.com/articles/xi-jinping-aims-to-rein-in-chinese-capitalism-hew-to-maos-socialist-vision-11632150725
[9] https://newzworldtoday.com/chinas-local-governments-have-hidden-debts-estimated-at-8-trillion-or-nearly-half-the-countrys-gdp/
[10] https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Evergrande-and-energy-crises-show-Beijing-s-need-for-systems-thinking
[11] https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/evergrande-china-may-have-left-the-barn-door-open-for-too-long-11632759386223.html
[12] https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/24/china-great-power-united-states/
[13] https://www.ft.com/content/9833d499-07ce-40eb-84e7-436023c6eb8b
[14] https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/world/china-evergrande-bondholders-in-limbo-over-debt-crisis/article36645093.ece
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text:
Dredge elsewhere! Environmental damage to Portland Bight outweighs economic benefits
Howard Chin, Guest Columnist
Anyone who says that the 'development' of the Portland Bight is a 'no-brainer' is likely to be the person who has no brain. Understanding is the key to all of this.
Roger Clarke speaks of "food security" and says, rightly, that we have to produce a larger proportion of the food that we consume instead of importing it, using foreign exchange, which we are not earning. Part of that 'production' is our fisheries, which have seen extensive overfishing and precipitous decline of the catch.
Remember when the Kingston Harbour was dredged years ago? I've been fishing at Port Royal Point from the 1970s and the fishermen have told me that the snappers that used to concentrate near the dredged-out reef were gone, and that was years after.
Both locally and in other countries, the beneficial effect of fish sanctuaries is well documented. It is apparent, also, that local fishermen have seen the successful results of fish sanctuaries in other countries.
Small fish don't need protection to grow to a size where we relish eating them, as the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Warmington, the People's National Party's (PNP) Phillips, Hylton, and others seem to believe. They magically go from eggs to eating size. The reality is that everything eats the hatchlings, even the baby barracudas and jacks, more so in open, deep water.
Seagrass beds, mangrove roots, gravel beds and shallow water allow the baby fish, shrimp, etc. to hide and have a moderate chance of avoiding being eaten by adult snappers, jacks, tarpon, grunts, snook, and many others. I have seen on Barry Street, fish vendors in the past, selling baby snook as small as 20cm (eight inches) long, netted from Dawkins Pond with its mangroves and seagrass beds, now mostly silted up by the blockage of the approaches to the causeway.
Where do the better-looking shrimp being sold by the Indian lady on South Avenue come from? I've asked, and was told, the seagrass beds of Old Harbour, which is in the Portland Bight. In Kingston, with the Kingston Harbour as badly polluted as it is, can you imagine having to get your shrimp from as far as Black River? You couldn't afford them because of the distance they'd have to be transported, and the shrimp vendors would go broke. However, do you think we're the only ones eating the shrimp? Smaller shrimp form the part of the 'baby food' for fish. Tasty predatory fish that leave and migrate east and west along the coast.
Last year, I collected more than 200 seedlings from the mangroves growing around the small jetty, a little past the Plumb Point Lighthouse on the harbour side, to try to re-establish at least a couple of the previous spots where they used to be along the raised Palisadoes roadway. They failed to thrive and then died, most likely because of the lack of sufficient silt to nourish them.
Saying that they will replant mangroves, re-establish reefs, etc. to replace those destroyed, is not so simple.
Ever hear of the term Panamax? It's a shipping term denoting the maximum size of a ship able to pass through the locks of the Panama Canal. It is 294.13m (965 feet) long, by 32.31m (106 feet) wide, by 12.04m (42.2 feet) draught (depth) capable of carrying 5,000 TEUs or 20-foot-long shipping containers. That's about to be old news.
What about New Panamax? That's the maximum-size ship capable of using the upgraded Panama Canal, and it's much bigger, and is defined as 366m (1,200 feet) long, 49m (160.7 feet) wide, 15.2m (49.9 feet) draught, and capable of carrying 12,000 TEUs (another source says 13,000 TEUs), displacing about 120,000 tons. That's really big.
However, I bet you have never heard of the term Nicamax. Well, I just made it up, but it will be the same as Wikipedia's Chinamax. The proposed Nicaraguan Canal is projected to pass 400,000-ton displacement ships, and, with a reported canal depth of 27.6m (91 feet), assuming a 10-foot clearance from the bottom of the canal, the ships that can transit should have a draught of about 80 feet.
Already, ships are being built to Chinamax size. Brazil is reported to have ordered 35 VLOCs (Very Large Ore Carriers) with 380,000- to 400,000-ton displacement. A container ship with the same ratio of TEUs to displacement that would correspond to a mind-boggling 38,000 to 40,000 TEUs. Talk of the economies of scale possible! That's why the Chinese need the reported 3,000 acres for the trans-shipment port.
All the recent aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, used for force projection, have all been built to Post- or New Panamax size, and, just coincidentally, the rights to, I am sure, transit the upgraded Panama Canal. When the Chinese build the Nicaraguan Canal, wouldn't they have negotiated the rights for passage of Chinese warships, and Chinamax-spec commercial ships, which would not be able to, or allowed to transit the upgraded Panama Canal? An interesting thought.
As well, it would draw business away from the Panama Canal. After all, why wait in a queue to transit when there's a new canal to the north that would have locks capable of accommodating two moderate-size ships in its locks at a time?
Proposed dredging
Now, what is to be the extent, and depth, of the proposed dredging of the Portland Bight Protected Area? The Jamaica Environment Trust and the others concerned about it don't seem to know. Want to bet it would allow Chinamax-class ships with a requirement of about 27.5m (90ft) depth as I would deduce?
What about the currents in the Bight? Wouldn't they be changed by the deep ship channel, berthing areas, and huge turning basin? Because the bigger the ship, the more it takes to turn. I'd also bet that some within the PNP know from the Chinese what the extent of the damage to the protected area would be, and the JLP just seems to be overall ignorant. If they don't, Jamaicans are being taken for suckers.
Run-off from dredging
There's also the simple matter of runoff. The proposed 3,000-acre (4.7 square-mile) port facilities would, of course, be mostly paved, and pavement has no capability to absorb or even delay the flow of rainfall on its way to the sea. Consider a major rainfall event, not a maximum as may occur in a hurricane, of about 10cm/hr (4in/hour). This would translate into approximately 1.2 million cubic metres/hour (271 million imperial gallons/hour) or a 3/4 Hermitage reservoir/hour into the sea. Any fish or shrimp not able to swim fast enough, and corals that cannot survive in fresh water, would die.
We should consider elsewhere. The Portland Bight was created a sanctuary by both the PNP and the JLP after careful thought. Should they now destroy it after so little thought? Fools!
Beware of the man with the plan when you have no plan.
Howard Chin, MJIE, PE, is a member of the Jamaica Institution of Engineers. Email feedback to firstname.lastname@example.com and email@example.com.


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In March 1999 a group of us on Trollope-l began a reading and discussion of The American Senator (1876). We read this book as a single one and during most of it I took it upon myself to write a faciliating posting each week. This was a lively discussion where we canvassed much that is of vivid interest in this novel. It's not a novel which is sufficiently known or paid read with care. It has much to say to us today about human nature as it manifests itself through society.
Contributors included: Janice Durante, Sigmund Eisner, Laurie Guilfoyle, R. J. Keefe, Penny Klein, Marcella MacCarthy, Patricia Maroney, Carol McGuirk, John Mize, Ellen Moody, Judith Moore, Virginia Preston, Teresa Ransom, Angela Richardson, Jill Spriggs, Gene Stratton, Judy Warner, Joan Wall, Frazer Wright.


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A New Know-how For Constructions Weight Discount
WhatsApp Business adalah aplikasi Android tersendiri yang dapat diunduh secara free of price, dan didesain khusus untuk pemilik bisnis kecil. In automotive styling, creativity, productivity, and the flexibility to rapidly iterate different design ideas are critical for fulfillment. Social media are relative new to society, nonetheless this isn't the primary time new applied sciences and new communication choices have appeared in society and posed new social factors.
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Choose and drop service is one other type of enterprise that combines stylish know-how with our mounted need for extra time. Additionally, not commonplace on an idea automobile: The MetroSnap†makes use of a 'Space Drive' drive-by-wire system from Schaeffler-Paravan Technologie Firm.
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A concept automobile is a automobile prototype made to showcase a new car's styling, technology, and total design before manufacturing. Modern autos may have fast-evolving expertise on their side, however oftentimes their styling leaves us nostalgic for our favourite rides of the past.…


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Coming to the Balkans…
When I started investigating citizenship laws and policies in the new states of South Eastern Europe on the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the mid 2000s, it seemed a remarkably empty field from an academic point of view. We cannot say this now!
Like many people in the UK and elsewhere, I had followed with horror what was portrayed as the ethnic conflict— now we know it was much more complex than that —and the crimes against humanity which accompanied the often violent dissolution of the former Yugoslavia into separate states. Although the lawyer in me often wondered about personal status issues, passports, statelessness, and such like, I never examined it further. I carried on with my own work on citizenship and constitutionalism within the European Union, taking little notice of what was happening outside or– increasingly –across the borders of the EU.
I started to take more of an interest after doing a small case study on the treatment of the so-called Erased in Slovenia. This was part of my study of one key aspect of EU citizenship rights, namely the rights of EU citizens resident in Member States other than the one of which they are a citizen, to vote in local and European Parliamentary elections, on the basis of residence rather than citizenship. This study, published under the title The Transformation of Citizenship in the European Union – which also extended to the new Member States –placed the EU citizenship rights in their broader legal and political context of the citizenship regimes of the Member States. In the case of Slovenia, which had introduced voting rights for third country nationals in local elections, at the same time as ensuring the compliance of national legislation with the requirements of EU law in advance of accession, the status of the Erased seemed to raise questions about whether the process of citizenship acquisition in new states had indeed been smooth. The Erased are (and remain as their situation is still not totally settled even twenty years later) the group of citizens of other former Yugoslav Republics resident in Slovenia at and after independence in 1992, who did not succeed in obtaining Slovenian citizenship and who came to be treated not as lawfully resident aliens but as non-persons, persons literally 'erased' from the records.
If such a story could emerge from Slovenia, the supposedly 'bon élève' in the classroom of Europeanisation, and a Member State of the European Union since 2004, I started to wonder how things were in the other states. How is citizenship dealt with where there have been long periods of prolonged violence or low level inter-ethnic conflict, resulting today in societies deeply divided along ethnic lines, and where levels of legal, political and societal readiness for accession to the EU were rather low, despite the prospect of membership which had been held out for all these so-called 'Western Balkan' states by the EU and its Member States? From 2009 onwards, I have had the chance to do so, along with Igor Štiks (whose publications, when writing his PhD on the topic, were some of the few to address the issue of citizenship in the former Yugoslav successor states) and a group of talented early career researchers from the region, all of whom are part of CITSEE (The Europeanisation of Citizenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia).
Why citizenship?
What can focusing on citizenship tell us when we study polities in transformation, compared to other methods of analysis of social and political institutions of membership, such as ethnicity or sovereignty? More generally, and also elsewhere in my work as an academic, I find the close empirical study of citizenship regimes (both in legal terms but also, perhaps more importantly, in their wider political and societal context) to offer great insights into the 'lived detail' of polities, helping us to understand how and why certain issues are contested (e.g. immigration, integration of non-citizens, ethnic differences, etc.) and also what the democratic quality of such states might be, at least in terms of membership rights and practices. Using the prism of the study of citizenship regimes, this is what we are slowly trying to build up through CITSEE over its five years of operation.
We can illustrate this with some quick examples from CITSEE's work. While we supposedly live in a border-less Europe, in practice we are encountering ever more of a 'border-more' Balkans, as Jelena Dzankic has noted. We can see evidence, in all of the CITSEE papers, of the importance of having "the right passport" (the visa-free Croatian passport scored highly on the list), or how "passports of convenience" are used, mainly to overcome issues of isolation. This is felt especially strongly in Kosovo now that every other state in the region, including Albania, enjoys Schengen visa liberalisation (at least for those with biometric documents). And we can observe that the overlapping citizenship regimes of these new states provide, from an academic perspective, an interesting story about legal pluralism in action.
What do we mean by citizenship regime?
My final thoughts here concern the concept of 'citizenship regime', which the CITSEE researchers have been using to shape their work on the country case studies that were published up to March 2011 on the CITSEE (academic) website and which are summarised here on this website dedicated to a wider inquiry into "Citizenship in Southeast Europe".
We start off by focusing on the internally and externally recognised link between the state and the individual; we prefer the term 'citizenship' to the ambiguous concept of nationality that in Eastern Europe is generally used to refer to ethnic background and not to the civic status of being a citizen of a state.Looking at that link means we have to examine first the rules of acquisition and loss, including initial determination of the citizenry, in all new states. Where there have been successive processes of dissolution, as with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) that was one of the initial 5 successor states of the former socialist Yugoslavia (SFRY) and eventually became Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, this can be especially complicated and confusing for individuals to navigate. Hence, we also need to take care of how citizenship operates in practice, as well as 'in the books'. Also looking beyond 'law in the books', we have tried to ascertain the 'official' or 'unofficial' ideologies of inclusion or exclusion which operate to set the boundaries of membership. Here, the statements of political parties in terms of representing sometimes competing views of nation and state have helped to guide our understanding. It is also important to look not only inside the membership regime, but also at its edges and at those who lie outside. Are the edges of a citizenship regime clear, or fuzzy? How does the polity treat those who lie outside?
Overall, you could say that we are looking at all aspects of the legal status of citizenship which are central to civic, political and socio-economic membership of a polity. We have focused much more on the civic rights (such as issues around the treatment of minorities, especially the Roma) and political rights, because these have an immediate impact upon the character of the polity, by determining the crucial question of who has a right to have a say in the future of the polity through voting and other forms of political participation and possibly activism. Social rights and social citizenship lie outside our direct focus of attention at the present time.
Finally, we have taken care to look at EU citizenship. What are the implications of this form of 'supranational' membership for those who are currently inside the circle of EU membership (Slovenia), for those who are knocking at its doors (Croatia and – possibly within a reasonable time – Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), and finally for those who still find themselves in a tricky situation of international stewardship which limits the possibilities for positive political agency that can bring a state closer to the goal of EU membership (Bosnia and Herzegovina and, especially, Kosovo)? More generally, what are the external effects of EU law and the politics of EU conditionality on the citizenship regimes of the new states of South Eastern Europe, both in fields which are strictly matters of EU 'competence' (e.g. visa liberalisation) and those which are not, except in a broader political sense (such as the treatment of minorities).
A Good Journey
The last two years have involved extensive travelling, both literally in the region, usually in the company of engaging and engaged guides from amongst the CITSEE research team, and metaphorically in terms of how working on CITSEE has helped to reorient my thinking on how concepts of membership emerge and are transformed in conjunction with contested processes of nation and state-building. Sometimes the EU– the original object of my research –has seemed irrelevant to citizenship on the ground. At other times, its presence has loomed large. A constant presence throughout this journey, however, has been the overwhelming human impact of citizenship in a region of change and of strife, but also a region capable of moments of beauty and of joy.


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Specialty Aviation Holdings Corporation (SAHC) acquired the assets of Advanced Radar Company in May, 2019. Advanced Radar Company (ARC) was founded in 2006 by the UCAR Foundation to commercialize a new generation of advanced weather radar and software solutions.In addition to weather radar systems, ARC provides advanced Engineering and Scientific services for application specific environmental monitoring and multi-sensor integration. We are proud of our support to a diverse, international, client base across the United States, Middle East, Central Africa, and Asia.
Neil Brackin, SAHC "Building upon the strength of ARC's weather radar, software and data quality offerings, SAHC will provide the resources through our network of industry partners to deliver the highest quality services for our customers in Special Mission Flight Operations and Weather Radar Services."
Specialty Aviation Holdings Corporation recognizes the opportunity to consolidate key talent and capability in the field of atmospheric sciences. Applying these resources and supported by the best people in the industry, SAHC is positioning itself to capitalize on the growing global need for monitoring, measuring, and engaging with microclimate weather metrics. SAHC is working with government stakeholders and private industry to support the further development of atmospheric science as well as deploying commercially viable and customized programs for our diverse client base.


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1.4. Words of Caution
In theory, the underlying mechanisms of the Web make no difference between a browser getting data and displaying it to you, and your LWP-based program getting data and doing something else with it. However, in practice, almost all the data on the Web was put there with the assumption (sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit) that it would be looked at directly in a browser. When you write an LWP program that downloads that data, you are working against that assumption. The trick is to do this in as considerate a way as possible.
1.4.1. Network and Server Load
When you access a web server, you are using scarce resources. You are using your bandwidth and the web server's bandwidth. Moreover, processing your request places a load on the remote server, particularly if the page you're requesting has to be dynamically generated, and especially if that dynamic generation involves database access. If you're writing a program that requests several pages from a given server but you don't need the pages immediately, you should write delays into your program (such as sleep 60; to sleep for one minute), so that the load that you're placing on the network and on the web server is spread unobtrusively over a longer period of time.
If possible, you might even want to consider having your program run in the middle of the night (modulo the relevant time zones), when network usage is low and the web server is not likely to be busy handling a lot of requests. Do this only if you know there is no risk of your program behaving unpredictably. In Chapter 12, "Spiders", we discuss programs with definite risk of that happening; do not let such programs run unattended until you have added appropriate safeguards and carefully checked that they behave as you expect them to.
1.4.2. Copyright
While the complexities of national and international copyright law can't be covered in a page or two (or even a library or two), the short story is that just because you can get some data off the Web doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it. The things you do with data on the Web form a continuum, as far as their relation to copyright law. At the one end is direct use, where you sit at your browser, downloading and reading pages as the site owners clearly intended. At the other end is illegal use, where you run a program that hammers a remote server as it copies and saves copyrighted data that was not meant for free public consumption, then saves it all to your public web server, which you then encourage people to visit so that you can make money off of the ad banners you've put there. Between these extremes, there are many gray areas involving considerations of "fair use," a tricky concept. The safest guide in trying to stay on the right side of copyright law is to ask, by using the data this way, could I possibly be depriving the original web site of some money that it would/could otherwise get?
For example, suppose that you set up a program that copies data every hour from the Yahoo! Weather site, for the 50 most populous towns in your state. You then copy the data directly to your public web site and encourage everyone to visit it. Even though "no one owns the weather," even if any particular bit of weather data is in the public domain (which it may be, depending on its source), Yahoo! Weather put time and effort into making a collection of that data, presented in a certain way. And as such, the collection of data is copyrighted.
Moreover, by posting the data publicly, you are almost definitely taking viewers away from Yahoo! Weather, which means less ad revenue for them. Even if Yahoo! Weather didn't have any ads and so wasn't obviously making any money off of viewers, your having the data online elsewhere means that if Yahoo! Weather wanted to start having ads tomorrow, they'd be unable to make as much money at it, because there would be people in the habit of looking at your web site's weather data instead of at theirs.
1.4.3. Acceptable Use
Besides the protection provided by copyright law, many web sites have "terms of use" or "acceptable use" policies, where the web site owners basically say "as a user, you may do this and this, but not that or that, and if you don't abide by these terms, then we don't want you using this web site." For example, a search engine's terms of use might stipulate that you should not make "automated queries" to their system, nor should you show the search data on another site.
Before you start pulling data off of a web site, you should put good effort into looking around for its terms of service document, and take the time to read it and reasonably interpret what it says. When in doubt, ask the web site's administrators whether what you have in mind would bother them.
Copyright © 2002 O'Reilly & Associates. All rights reserved.


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Doing Nothing on Thanksgiving is Not an Option at Eagle Rock School
One thing you can't say about Thanksgiving at Eagle Rock School is that there's nothing to do. This is one of those times of the year when students, staff and instructors are in accord that this mountainside campus of ours is indeed a great place to spend late-November holidays.
And, much like the name of the holiday, there's plenty of gratitude to go around as our community prepares for literally dozens of events and activities over a four-day period. It's a time when we all gather together to celebrate how fortunate we are to live in the Rocky Mountains surrounded by forests that a lot of us like to call home.
Thanksgiving at Eagle Rock is about celebrating the importance of having each other and remembering that we are all here to better ourselves. It's a time to appreciate what we've done to improve ourselves and what we've done to help others. It's a celebration of how we have impacted each other's lives in a positive way and to celebrate those successes.
Whether we're indoors creating art or standing outside in the cold playing touch football, the idea is to spend time together.
The highlight of the holiday, of course, is today's Thanksgiving Day dinner at 3pm, skillfully prepared by Continue reading…


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Contributed by The Muslim Vibe
We've all seen the pictures; empty shelves and people fighting to stock up on everything from soap to toilet paper to food.
Panic buying is a symptom of a dysfunctional society, pervaded with individualism and short term thinking. Those who buy up packs of disinfectant in the hope to slow the transmission of Covid-19 are aware that others need it just as much, yet do not consider their needs as equal to their own. To use a phrase, 'So long as I've got mine'.
This is all without realising, that without others having access too, the one who hoards is more likely to become infected, not less as the other goes without disinfectant. This is a reflection of the political, economic and moral systems we live in, which have produced people to think and act in this way.
Islamic Law has since its inception included the topic of monopolisation and price-fixing called al-Ihtikar ????????. Scholar Muhammad Jawad Mughniyyah states: "The Muslim community have in their entirety agreed on the prohibition of monopolisation as an idea; this is from textual evidence and it being rationally abhorrent in the principle of organising life in such a way that repels harm from being occasioned, from the prohibition of greed and wrongfully withholding, is rationally indigent, looked down upon, and goes against the right of maintaining ones honour and the command of being soft hearted.
"And even if we were to close our eyes to (the principles of) honour and soft heartedness, there would be upon us numerous religious principles which would necessitate the prohibition of monopoly and manipulation; amongst them would be the principle 'Islam does not occasion harm', 'repelling corruption has priority over bringing social good' especially if the corruption is widespread whilst the public good in limited to individuals. Also the principle of 'that which is most important precedes what is less important' and 'the compulsion of protecting the human person'.
And so it is upon Islam and the Muslims to demonstrate that it is the ugliest form for loansharks and opportunistic people who are lurking amongst amongst regular folk (to take advantage of them)."
Before the Muslim can export this to others, he must be aware his own ethical and legal responsibilities and be a manifestation of these himself. He must understand his role in developing society and how selfishness and exploitation leaves all people impoverished, not just those who miss out on essential items.
In this short series we will explore the following questions:
1) What are the textual evidences prohibiting hoarding? This
will help the reader to appreciate how Islam spoke of this matter 1400
years ago, being so anticipative and detailed in its resource and
2) What exactly is prohibited from being hoarded? Is it just food and water, or only essential items when those needs arise, like in the event of a Coronavirus?
3) How does Islam respond to the hoarder? Can the hoarder be forced to sell what he has bought and if so at what price and to whom?
4) How do we mould our social response during the Coronavirus pandemic to that of the highest examples in Islamic history? What examples of epidemics and famines have the early Muslims endured and what can we learn from them?


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During the early 2000s, I dealt with forestry companies. Primarily with their engineering department as well as the forester's themselves. These companies were very motivated by pricing and loyalty was as good as your pricing. They changed suppliers at a drop of a hat. However, later I did find out they did have loyalty.
They use a particular commodity that would retail anywhere from $0.81 – $0.95. There were a 100 units in a case. The average order for this commodity would be anywhere from 5-20 cases at a time.


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Jenn is here today to share our last Card Sketch inspiration project! And of course it's a beauty! This challenge will close this Sunday, November 1 at 11:59PM ET.
This beautiful collage design starts with an ink blended Heart Stackables die cut. Then Jenn added fun images from Thanks a Latte and Big Acorn along with leaves from Jump for Joy! I love the joyful Fall colors in the palette that Jenn chose!
Jenn loves glittery sparkle, so she added subtle hints of Prisma glitter to some of the stamped and die cut images!
Thanks for sharing this gorgeous Card Sketch inspiration with us today, Jenn!
Wishing all of our Fawnatics friends a wonderful weekend! Happy crafting!


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Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer
These things have been all the rage lately, but I haven't been compelled enough to spring for one myself. Well, I'm really grateful to my good friend Laura for this wonderful shower gift. We still have a lot of dishes to try out, but for steamed zucchini tossed in pesto and for a fun twist (get it?) on cucumber salad, this thing has been super. It is easy to assemble, use, and clean and I think it would be a great way to make preparing and eating veggies fun for kids and for adults who are kids at heart. ;-)
Bodum Columbia Four 6 Oz Cups Stainless Steel Thermal Vacuum Coffee Press, 0.5 l, 17-Ounce
$84.99 on Amazon
I confess: I LOVE coffee. But not any old cup of Joe. Nope, I'm a coffee snob. The luke-warm cups from the keurig at work infuriate me. Dunkin Donuts coffee is no more than a carrier liquid for excessive amounts of cream and sugar. You get the idea. I also don't own a drip machine b/c frankly, it takes up a lot of counter space and I'm the only one who drinks it. So, I've been doing the pour-over thing since before that was a thing and making espresso on the stove with one of those cute Italian things my Grandma gave me. I buy good, freshly roasted beans and I grind them myself and well, both of my methods were falling short. The pour-overs are never dark enough and the stove-top stuff can burn pretty easily. I knew a french press would fill a void in my life. And oh, how it has! This pot is petite, so it's footprint is small and it makes just enough coffee for me to get my morning fix. Best part... it keeps it hot until I'm ready for my second cup and cleans up with a very quick rinse. Is it worth $85? Guess THAT depends on how much of a coffee snob you are. :-P
Joseph Joseph 9 Piece Compact Mixing Bowl, Food Prep and Measuring Set, Nest 9
$49.95 on Amazon
A colorful, space-saving set that includes measuring cups (we had a few from one set and a few from another, but were always searching for the right one for whatever we were measuring at the time), a large mixing bowl (you can never have enough), 2 strainers (the ones we still have hog way too much space in our cabinets!), and a small mixing bowl that's great for prep.
Joseph Joseph Twist 2-in-1 Silicone Whisk, Multi-Colored
$10.16 on Amazon
The most annoying thing about a whisk is that it can take up so much space in a drawer! This one is great because it stores flat and the colors are super fun, too. It works, it's easy to clean, it won't damage cookware, and well, I love it.
Tervis 4-Pack Tumbler, 16-Ounce, Clear
$39.99 on Amazon
We had a good friend tell us we had to get these after staying with us for a few months and observing our drinkware patterns: Let's just say he was right. We also got the lids that pop on to make these to-go sip cups for coffee or straw cups for water. Best part? They're top-rack dishwasher safe and don't sweat.
Progressive International GT-3468 Snap Fit Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons, Set of 5
$15.00 on Amazon
Another colorful space-saver that is super practical! I've had sets of measuring spoons over the years. They've come on rings that don't really hold them together and that ring of spoons can be pretty irritating because you have to decide if you should pop the 1 or 2 spoons off the ring or leave them all together.


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On a triangle of reserve in Ōtāhuhu stands a memorial to Colonel Marmaduke George Nixon. It has been there since 1868. Now, like other statues around the world, there are calls to remove it.
Former senior Labour official and activist, Shane Te Pou, has launched a petition urging Auckland Mayor Phil Goff to relocate the memorial to the Auckland Museum.
Te Pou told RNZ: "It should not be standing in memory of who I think was a thug."
Nixon's legacy is a bloody one, which historians say involved the killing of Māori women.
During the Waikato War Nixon led his militia forces in an attack on the largely unfortified and undefended Rangiaowhia settlement.
The attack was unexpected. Nixon's and British forces had bypassed a defence line in the dead of night to reach the agricultural settlement, responsible for supplying food to Māori warriors.
Only elderly warriors, women and children were at Rangiaowhia when Nixon arrived. They ran for cover to churches and whare. The battle focused on a whare Māori were shooting from.
"An elderly man came out with a white blanket raised above his head. Clearly unarmed, he was killed by a hail of bullets despite an officer's order to 'spare him'," the NZ History site says.
The whare caught fire and the bodies of seven were found in its charred ruins. Two of the deceased were women.
Nixon was shot in the chest during the battle. He did not recover from the wound and died three months later. Public anger at those responsible for his death culminated in the proposal to erect a memorial in his honour.
A plaque on the memorial reads:
"To the memory of Marmaduke George Nixon M.H.R. Colonel commanding the colonial defence force and royal cavalry volunteers who fell mortally wounded in action at Rangiawhia."
The Māori who died are not mentioned.
Te Pou's petition says: "It's a travesty that such a one-sided account of a tragic historical episode is given literal stature."
The current debate around statues, sparked by the events in Charlottesville in the US, gives New Zealand an opportunity to revisit our own troubled past he says.
University of Auckland Associate Professor of Pacific Studies, Damon Salesa, said Te Pou's call to relocate it is reasonable but there are other options which could be considered.
"That includes putting other statues alongside or just finding a place of rest for them that doesn't allow them to speak and capture the public memory."
Removing statues and memorials to people considered "repugnant to some people" is not always the best way to redress history Salesa said.
"One of the grave dangers is by removing statues you can actually limit or whitewash history in a different way. The most important thing is to make sure the interpretation of those statues is robust. That the monuments don't simply speak for themselves, because they never do, but are put in a proper context, which is often critical or very different to the statues themselves."
Relocation of the memorial would raise an issue of what to do with Nixon's remains.
In 1968 his remains were transferred from the Symonds Street Cemetery when areas were removed for a motorway development. They now sit at the base of the obelisk.
"The fact that his remains were moved there after the statue was made mean that we have to be respectful to his remains as well but that doesn't mean we have to leave the statue undisturbed, or speaking for itself or making a claim about the past which frankly is not reasonable, objective or balanced," said Salesa.
Te Pou's petition explains he is a Māori father and he believes New Zealand history should be told forthrightly and honestly to his children.
"To the question, 'Why do we celebrate the life of men like Colonel Nixon who sought out war, and not those who seek peace?', I cannot offer them a satisfactory answer."
RNZ reported Phil Goff said if there is sentiment in the community that the other side of the story needs to be told, he is not opposed to it.


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Brush Collection Information
Brush Collection
Brush (sticks and branches) is collected curbside mid-April through mid-November. During these months, collections are scheduled for brush that is generated by city residents who are receiving city-sponsored automated refuse and recycle cart curbside collections.
Set brush curbside by 7:00 a.m. on the 1st day of the collection week. To ensure your brush is collected, place materials curbside appropriately. Brush may not get collected if placed out incorrectly. Review the Brush Dos and Do Nots photos. Call the Public Works Department at 608-837-3050 with further questions.
Brush Guidelines
- Brush must be stacked neatly at the curb, piled no more than 4 feet high, with cut ends facing the curb.
- Leave branches in long segments, as long as 1 person can handle. Do not cut into small segments.
- Brush should not be piled in a manner that affects motorist visibility, and should also be kept away from trees, signs, parked cars, mailboxes, fire hydrants, and utility poles.
- Do not put brush in bags, boxes, or trash containers - we will not pick it up. Keep brush in back of curb.
- Materials greater than 8 inches in diameter must be cut into manageable pieces, and kept separate from brush. Logs and branches 4 inches or more in diameter must be trimmed of all small branches. Materials less than 1 inch in diameter must be tied together in 4 foot bundles, not exceeding 50 pounds.
- We will not collect brush that is cut or trimmed by contractors. Contractors hired by property owners are responsible for removing the material. Collections are for brush and tree trimmings from a typical residential clean-up, not entire tree removals.
- Do not mix yard waste in with your brush pile, neither will be collected.
- Keep brush free of wire, tape, or inorganic materials. The use of string or twine is acceptable.
2023 Brush Collection Weeks
- Monday, April 3
- Monday, May 1
- Monday, June 5
- Monday, July 3
- Monday, August 7
- Tuesday, September 5
- Monday, October 2
- Monday, November 6
Possible Delays
Once a neighborhood has been collected, the crews will not return to that area until the next scheduled collection. Due to varying conditions, specific collection days of the week cannot be projected for each neighborhood.
Materials are not collected in one day. Collections will be conducted in the most expedient method possible, but inclement weather and mechanical problems may create delays. The collections will take place during the same weeks for the entire city.
Collections are generally completed within one week, if you have not been picked up within that time, please call Public Works at 608-837-3050 to inform them of the missed collection. Items will only be considered missed and rescheduled if they were set out by the first day of collection.


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Administrative Records Classification System
Administrative records are common to all offices and are different from operational records. The Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS) is an information schedule used to classify, file, retrieve and dispose of administrative records.
Search ARCS
Search for ARCS by keyword or file code
ARCS (Schedule 100001) supports business functions like facilities management, property, finance, personnel and information systems, and also includes management functions like committees, contracts and legal activities.
Browse ARCS Primaries
ARCS is organized by business function:


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Collecting seashells is one thing that is done worldwide and a favorite pastime of many. Whether you are a casual collector, or are searching for that special, elusive specimen, you will want to clean your shells before displaying.
Clean shells won't smell and they will look more beautiful, yet still very natural. As a word of caution I suggest you make sure there is nothing living inside your shells before you bring them home. Mollusks are the sea snails that build their homes around them as they grow, and those homes are the shells you find at the beach. Usually you will know right away if the shell is occupied when you can see the creature or it's "trap door" in the canal of the shell.
Sometimes hermit crabs will occupy an empty shell and they can hide way down inside the shell and may be difficult to see.
Take a bucket of sea water and add the shells to it and wait. If something lives inside, it will most likely begin to move and be visible after a while. Do some more collecting while you wait. If the shell is occupied, you must leave it at the beach. In many areas, collecting living seashells is against the law. Read my page about Types of Shells to learn about what you collect.
Once your bucket of shells is home, rinse the sand off and fill a bucket, or the sink with a weak solution of bleach and water. Info on the ratio of bleach to water varies but a cup or two of bleach to a gallon of water should suffice. Drop the empty shells in and wait ten minutes or so. Be sure to rinse them well in clean water.
Although I don't advocate collecting live shells, and in most places it's illegal, if by chance you do bring home an inhabited shell, the How to Clean Seashells post at About.com has some ideas for getting the dead animal out of the shell.
The echinoderms (sand dollars & sea urchins) are much more brittle than shells and must be handled carefully. Rinse them or soak in a very mild bleach solution for a minute or two and then let them dry. Putting them in the sun for a short period of time may help whiten them.
Related articles
- Puka Shells: What Are They? (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)
- Seashell Speak (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)
- Seashell Matching Page For Teachers (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)


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Teresa Moerer
Physical therapist, author, coach, speaker, and artist
Hello! Thank you for stopping by. Something makes each of us "tick," and I want to tell you what it is for me.
This fantastic time in my life happened because I have been following my dreams, hopes, and goals for many years and have come to a point where I can teach and mentor others.
All these years have not been a fairytale. There have been highs and lows and many in-betweens. There were many times when I had to cling to my beliefs and ideas as I went against the grain. They say you pay the price for being different, and I think that is true. I'm glad I never found the price tag out of my reach.
The lesson I learned was that if you build the muscle of resilience and hang in there, you eventually find a sweetness buried deep within you. And when you connect to this inner being, life becomes a trip in an open-top convertible driving toward the sunset.
So after a successful 30+ year career in physical therapy, struggling with a creative mind and an obsessive spirit for disruption, I came up with what I think is the best way to achieve the personal status you are gifted with and are dying to express.
Personal development is my thing, and I have stacks of books and articles to prove it! I believe that although there are principles to live by, creativity is a God-given gift and everyone should be using and expressing their unique talents. This form of happiness derived from personal development is a positive force.
So now, I would like to share the information I have researched, developed, and practiced so that you and your loved ones can share joy as you optimally function in life. In other words, let's win at life!
I thrive being married to my best friend and supporter, parenting three children (now grown) with him, and entertaining myself with cooking, gardening, oil painting, and friends I consider the salt of the earth.
I am different and proud of it. If you are looking for an adventurous change, let me know.


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From: $30.00
*Call (816) 886-6256 if needing a tee time before opening hours.
You can play as a guest or create an account to better analyze your golf game. If you would like to create an account before your tee time, please go to https://portal.e6golf.com/login.
Safety Rules of Play
- Before you swing any clubs, check your surroundings (monitor, TV, wall, people, etc.) to ensure nothing is within your range of swing.
- Practice swings must be done inside of the hitting bay. Do not swing your club outside of the hitting bay.
- Only one person in a bay at a time unless during formal instruction.
- Be alert to where you stand or walk and stay out of someone's swing path.
- After your turn swinging, please put the club back into the designated bag area or hand it over to the next player. Do not leave clubs lying on the floor (Trip hazard).
- No running starts when driving the golf ball (i.e. Happy Gilmore).
- You may bring your own clubs. Please make sure club faces are clean.
- No metal spikes or cleats.
- It takes approximately 1 hour per person playing to complete 18 holes once familiar with the system. We recommend booking extra time if it is your first time playing. Playing ability will also affect how long it will take you to complete your round.
- Plan to arrive 10-15 minutes ahead of time to check in.
- All parents or legal guardians with children are responsible for making sure that the above rules are enforced.
- Players are responsible for any willful damage to the golf simulator, or surrounding area.
- Throwing clubs is strictly prohibited.


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Artificial intelligence is the key to realising value from internet of things (IoT) initiatives, according to a recent survey of global business leaders.
SAS, Deloitte and Intel, with input from IDC, asked 450 business leaders about their use of IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Feedback indicates that 90% of survey respondents heavily use AI in their IoT operations (AIoT) – exceeding value expectations and becoming more competitive than those who solely use IoT.
79% of senior leaders are involved in IoT project decisions, and 92% of those leaders say that AIoT value exceeds expectations.
68% of companies rely on IoT data to inform daily operational decisions through spreadsheets and other non-AI technology.
Just 12% of respondents use IoT to inform planning decisions, but when AI enters the picture, respondents using the data for daily planning increases to 31%.
"In these results, we are seeing that organisations working with IoT data realise that if they want to get the real value out of the data, they need AI and analytics," comments SAS chief operating officer Oliver Schabenberger.
"I think it is fair to say that most successful IoT operations are actually AIoT operations.
AIoT is defined as decision making aided by AI technologies in conjunction with connected IoT sensor, system or product data. AI technologies include deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, voice recognition and image analysis.
According to the survey, 34% of respondents said increasing revenue is the top goal for using AIoT. Improving the ability to innovate (17.5%), offering customers new digital services (14.3%) and decreasing operational costs (11.1%) were all key goals.
Intel Americas chief data scientist Melvin Greer says AI and IoT are no longer separate technologies.
"AI closes the loop in an IoT environment where IoT devices gather or create data, and AI helps automate important choices and actions based on that data," explains Greer.
"Today, most organisations using IoT are only at the first 'visibility' phase where they can start to see what's going on through IoT assets. But they're moving toward the reliability, efficiency and production phases, which are more sophisticated and require stronger AI capabilities.
The survey noted that business intelligence (33%), near-real-time monitoring and visibility (31%), and condition-based monitoring (30%) topped the list of analysis techniques used with IoT projects.
Companies that have developed AIoT capabilities report stronger results across critical organisational goals including the ability to speed up operations, introduce new digital services, improve employee productivity and decrease costs.
For example, companies using IoT data to speed up operations without AI saw a 32% increase; companies adding AI to the mix saw speeds improve by 53%.


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Our last weekend with Jean and Trent in the city…
Advent Calendar: Comments for Cans!
It's nearly Christmas and time again for the "Comments for Cans" fundraiser. For each comment left below, I'll donate a dollar to the San Francisco Food Bank. Last year, your comments turned in to $1,350 worth of food for the hungry.
You have until January 4th to comment – one per person please. I think we can beat last year's record!
And tune in tomorrow for the big reveal: The 2009 Christmas card photo will be posted here!
Next Post: Advent Calendar: December 21
Previous Post: Advent Calendar: 2009 Photo!


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Sabres president: "It's a tough year"
We all know how bad things have been for the Buffalo Sabres this season. They're sitting last in the Eastern Conference, they're getting their only solid production out of Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek, and the fans are ready to revolt.
John Vogl of the Buffalo News hears from Sabres team president Ted Black about how even if the Sabres were made up of legends in their worst years they'd still struggle.
"It's a tough year," Black said. "Guys are just on pace to have career-low years in key categories such as goals. If you had a team that had Lemieux, Gretzky, Orr and Howe, and imported their worst statistical years, you'd probably have a team that wasn't going to make the playoffs. There's no slight to those great players, the fact is every player has a career-best year, and every player has a career-worst year.
"Unfortunately, we've got a lot of guys that are on track to have their worst year on the same team in the same year."
Rack up what Ryan Miller, Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Brad Boyes, and just about anyone else on the Sabres roster is doing and Black has a point. If you think that either Darcy Regier or Lindy Ruff will pay for these struggles with their jobs, Black says that won't be the case.
Sorry bloodthirsty Sabres fans, it looks like you'll have to suffer through the struggles with the rest of the front office.


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Wonderful Walnut recipes
The walnut is the nut of a deciduous tree. It has a hard, wrinkled shell and an oily, two-lobed kernel. Nuts in general are extremely healthy for you, and walnuts in particular are packed with several valuable nutrients. Just one quarter cup of walnuts will give you over 90% of the recommended daily amount of Omega 3 fatty acids, so there's no need to resort to fish for these important fats. Omega 3 fatty acids give us all kinds of health benefits from better cognitive function to relief from inflammatory diseases such as asthma and eczema. In addition, walnuts contain an antioxidant compound called ellagic acid that supports the immune system and appears to have several anticancer properties.
Choose fresh shelled walnuts which don't look rubbery or shriveled. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Walnuts are great raw or toasted. They can be served chopped in salads or on fruit or yogurt as a topping. They're delicious in baked goods such as muffins, zucchini bread or pancakes.
Mushroom Walnut Roast
Walnut and Pomegranate Spread (Mukamarra)
These delicious recipes are from our own Veg-Feasting Cookbook.
Mushroom Walnut Roast
Walnuts, tofu and oats make for a familiar yet distinctive taste that resembles a traditional meatloaf. Like meatloaf, this tastes great hot or cold. Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable and top with a sauce, like Nutritional Yeast Gravy or Roasted Vegetable Sauce.
Serves 6 to 8
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
½ cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps thinly sliced
2 cups vegetable broth or water
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons nonalcoholic red wine or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 package (14 -16 ounces) firm tofu, pressed of excess water, crumbled
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 -1½ cups dried whole-wheat or white breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1½ tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Set aside in large bowl.
In the same skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the walnuts, oats and mushrooms. Sauté for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are tender. Add a splash of broth or water if the ingredients stick too much. Stir in a small amount of broth, turn up the heat, and deglaze the pan (scraping the pan bottom to loosen the stuck-on bits of food). Add the remaining broth and cook for 10 minutes. Add the mustard, tomato paste, red wine, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
Continue to cook until the mixture is thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Add to the bowl with the onions and set aside. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste.
Place the tofu and arrowroot in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add to the onion mixture and stir in enough breadcrumbs to make a thick paste. Mix well. Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Press down firmly to pack the mixture into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes. For optimal results, let the loaf cool for 2 hours before slicing it, or make it a day ahead and reheat.
Chef's Tip
For a perfect crispy top, place an additional pan of water in the oven while you bake the loaf.
Walnut and Pomegranate Spread (Muhamarra)
This beautiful brick-colored spread from Syria is rich in vitamin C from the peppers, omega-3s and protein from the walnuts, and antioxidants from the pomegranate. It's a gorgeous appetizer garnished with kalamata olives and parsley or as a topping for crostini. Or try it with potatoes or pasta.
Makes 2 cups
1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
½ teaspoon salt
3 red bell peppers, roasted and peeled, or 2 cups jarred roasted peppers
¼ – ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses, or more to taste (see below)
Put the walnuts, bread crumbs, paprika, Aleppo pepper and salt in a food processor and blend until a smooth paste forms. Add the peppers and continue processing until smooth, then drizzle in the oil and pomegranate. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl and adjust the seasonings to taste.
Pomegranate Molasses
Pomegranate molasses is a tart, thick concentrate of pomegranate juice. It has a wonderful flavor and its thickness and dark color make food look very appealing. It blends well with walnuts, adds a tart, pungent flavor to beans and gives a sharp edge to salads and vegetables. It can also be diluted and used for sharp drinks and tart sorbets. It is available in Middle Eastern markets.


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Automated Perimetry and Visual Fields
Visual acuity, or our ability to see detail, is one of our most important visual functions and is used every day. It determines how well we can read, how well we can see people in the distance and how we manage with detailed visual tasks.
However, our visual space is not limited to our detailed central vision. Peripheral and para-central vision is also critical in our everyday lives. We measure peripheral vision and the extent and completeness of the visual field with an instrument called a perimeter, which is computer-driven and therefore automated.
When doing perimetry, you are required to look directly at the central light of the perimeter bowl. Other lights of varying brightnesses flash, one at a time, anywhere in the central and peripheral fields. You have a response button to press each time you notice one of those lights flashing. It normally takes about ten minutes for each eye to take a detailed field measurement.
Changes to the fields of vision, either the central or the peripheral field, are often a critical sign of serious eye and neurological conditions; these include glaucoma, intracranial tumours and stroke. Visual field testing, also called perimetry, is particularly important in patients at risk of developing glaucoma and those on certain systemic medication.
Contact Us Today!
E-mail: Contact Us | Phone: 03 9663 2729 | Address: Level 9, 267 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Book an Appointment


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Given the difference in their respective machinery when it comes to real Formula 1 racing, it's safe to say we weren't expecting Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Williams' George Russell to be fighting it out for championship honours this season, but that is the scenario we find ourselves in now – even if the championship in question is something of an unofficial one being played out in the world of virtual racing.
Leclerc was the early frontrunner in F1's Virtual Grand Prix series grabbing two wins in the first three races, but Russell has really taken the fight to the Ferrari man in recent weeks, picking up two wins on the bounce in the last two events.
And today the rivalry was renewed on the (virtual) streets of Baku and the drivers battled it out for victory in the Virtual Azerbaijan Grand Prix, on Codemasters' F1 2019 game.
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With just two races to go before real Formula 1 racing begins at the Red Bull Ring in July, and just three points separating Leclerc and Russell, the heat was on for both to come out fighting in today's race.
So could one of them seal victoru in this race? See all the action unfold as it happened in the video above...
WATCH: Re-live Daniel Ricciardo's unlikely victory at the 2017 Azerbaijan GP in full
Full grid for the Virtual Azerbaijan Grand Prix
|Alfa Romeo
|Antonio Giovinazzi
|Thibaut Courtois
|Pierre Gasly
|Gianluigi Donnarumma
|FDA Hublot Esports Team
|Charles Leclerc
|Enzo Fittipaldi
|Pietro Fittipaldi
|Louis Deletraz
|Lando Norris
|Ben Daly (Tiametmarduk)
|Esteban Gutierrez
|Anthony Davidson
|Racing Point
|Sergio Perez
|Jimmy Broadbent
|Red Bull
|Alex Albon
|Matthias Walkner
|Oscar Piastri
|Aymeric Laporte
|George Russell
|Nicholas Latifi