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Expect to see data this month from several clinical trials that are trying to establish if "mixing and matching" different COVID-19 vaccines is safe and effective or if it's better to get the same booster as the one used in the primary series of shots.
There are two ways to think about the type of COVID-19 booster you can get: in one scenario, you get a homologous booster, which is the same shot you got for the initial series. A heterologous, or "mix-and-match" booster, lets you get a different vaccine based on availability or improved efficacy.
This is an important scientific distinction that will likely be used to further inform how COVID-19 booster shots will be rolled out in the U.S.
"There will be situations for one reason or another where a person may not have the availability to be boosted with the same product that they were originally vaccinated with," Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told McClatchy last month.
But analysts say mixing COVID-19 shots could also dampen revenue projections for the vaccine market's leaders.
"If ongoing mix-and-match trials show that the late entrants' products are as effective at boosting as the original innovator vaccines themselves, then these companies stand to gain potentially meaningful near-term revenues and will almost certainly take significant share of whatever tail of future COVID vaccine revenue exists," SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges told investors this week.
Four COVID-19 vaccine makers — AstraZeneca
Johnson & Johnson
Moderna Inc.
and Pfizer Inc.
the market leaders — are expected to bring in $46 billion in revenue for their COVID-19 shots in 2022.
Roughly $19 billion of the sales generated so far over the past year came from selling the initial doses of their shots.
What to expect from the "mix-and-match" clinical trials
Right now, only recipients of the BioNTech SE
and Pfizer vaccine can get a booster shot (based on their health status, age, and line of work) in the U.S. The people who got the Moderna or J&J shots are still waiting on regulators to decide if they can get a booster.
Those are considered homologous boosters.
But other research is under way assessing whether it's okay to mix vaccines, and there are already some preliminary studies that indicate mixing vaccines is safe and could prompt a stronger immune response in some cases.
A U.S. study, which is being conducted by the National Institutes of Health and is testing a Moderna booster with other types of vaccines, is expected to make its findings public on Oct. 15 at a Food and Drug Administration advisory meeting assessing J&J's booster application.
Results are also expected sometime this month from a U.K. trial called Cov-Boost.
A preprint published in June out of the U.K. found that mixing the BioNTech/Pfizer and AstraZeneca/University of Oxford vaccines triggered better immunity than using the AstraZeneca shots alone. Researchers in Germany said, also in June, that mixing the same vaccines as the U.K. could "improve immunogenicity and to mitigate potential intermittent supply shortages for individual vaccines."
How mixing vaccines can impact revenue projections for COVID-19 vaccine makers
Depending on how the data shakes out, it could have a big impact on the market share held by the leading COVID-19 vaccine makers.
If clinical data shows that it's safe and effective to use a different type of COVID-19 booster, that could allow some of the smaller companies developing still-investigational shots to gain entry and a slice of market share, according to Porges.
"If mix-and-match boosting is found to be as effective or better than three doses of an mRNA vaccine, PFE and MRNA may capture less of the long tail of COVID vaccine revenues than currently priced in," he wrote, "and companies like Sanofi, Novavax, Valneva, and Clover Biopharmaceuticals could participate in this market."
is currently testing the experimental recombinant protein vaccine and booster it developed with GlaxoSmithKline in Phase 3 clinical trials. (Sanofi said Sept. 28 it would stop developing its mRNA shot.)
Novavax Inc.'s
COVID-19 vaccine candidate is expected to soon be submitted to the FDA for authorization.
Valneva SE
is a French biotech that is still evaluating its experimental COVID-19 shot in clinical trials, while Clover Biopharmaceuticals is a privately held Chinese biotech with a vaccine candidate in Phase 2/3 trials.
So far this year, U.S.-listed shares of AstraZeneca have gained 18.8%, J&J's stock has edged up 0.4%, Moderna shares have soared 201.8%, and Pfizer's stock has gained 13.5%. The S&P 500
is up 15.7% in 2021.


text:
To vote or not to vote — that is the question for Occupy Wall Street protesters and for Americans sympathetic to the Occupy movement taking place in cities throughout the US.
For many of those who intend to vote, it means casting a ballot for Democratic candidates, including President Obama. For those who don't plan to vote at all, the outcome of elections is irrelevant, because nothing will change under the current political system. Are these the only two choices?
The US is in a crisis, a political holding pattern in which Democratic presidents and party leaders keep adopting more and more Republican agenda while Republican politicians sink deeper into irrationality and borderline fascism.
The crisis won't be solved by intoning "We must vote to reelect Obama and other Dems because Republicans will be worse" or by denial that voting can have any effect on the future.
Are we locked into a rightward-sliding two-party paradigm for the rest of history? What if millions of voters began to think outside of the two parties?
We'll never interrupt the bipartisan assault on protections for working people and the environment until we change the political landscape. Wall Street banksters have nothing to worry about as long as Ds and Rs keep getting voted into office. The status quo will be validated in 2012, as it is in every election cycle, in three ways:
(1) Non-voting and anti-voting: Nonvoters have no effect on the political landscape. Occupy activists and others who have ruled out voting as a way to effect change ensure that they'll have no collective influence on who gets elected or the policies of the candidates who get elected.
(2) Zombie voting: mindless votes for incumbents and party lines, regardless of a candidate's platform, background, and qualifications. For such voters, Election Day is an empty but necessary ritual undeserving of critical thought.
(3) The mistaken belief among liberals, progressives, antiwar voters, and others that the Democratic Party offers change, that things will get better if we just keep voting to elect Democrats, or that we have to keep voting for Dems because they're not as awful as the GOP.
By justifying votes for a party that long ago abandoned its "party of the people" principles, progressive, antiwar, environmentally-minded, and pro-labor voters have participated in their own political demise. We are long past the point at which lesser-of-two-evils voting has turned into self-defeat.
The position of progressives in the Democratic Party was clarified recently when President Obama scolded the Congressional Black Caucus for daring to complain about the White House's numerous capitulations to the GOP (http://www.huffingtonpost.
The Democratic Party expects progressives to continue voting for a party hostile to their ideals on the assumption that they have no one else to vote for and that a Republican victory would be far worse. When genuine progressives, like Rep. Dennis Kucinich, run for the Democratic nomination, their loss is assured and their campaigns ultimately serve to herd supporters into voting for a nominee that rejects nearly everything they stand for.
As Les Leopold argues ("Don't 'Occupy the Democratic Party' — Four Lessons From the Populist Movement," AlterNet, Dec. 13,http://www.alternet.org/story/
Republicans are already trying to discredit the Occupy movement. We can predict that pro-GOP ads will slander the Occupy movement, and that, based on their usual tendency to retreat when challenged by the GOP, Obama and Dem leaders will dissociate themselves from the protesters and their demands. (See http://www.rawstory.com/rs/
Beyond Protest
Electoral activism and street activism both have their limits and both are necessary. (Other strategies, like targeted boycotts, are effective too. Why rule out any nonviolent strategy?)
Street protest can be successful at capturing public attention, as demonstrations have proved throughout history. But it can be easy to mistake the vigor of protest movements, numbers of participants, and public sympathy with real success in changing the world.
The protests against the Iraq War during the last decade collapsed after Barack Obama's inauguration, because so many Democrats, believing they had just elected a progressive antiwar president, decided that protest was no longer necessary — just when we needed it most.
What will happen in 2012 when pro-Dem unions and liberal groups and other Obama supporters are forced to decide whether to continue participating in Occupy protests against the Administration's policies or help get President Obama reelected? Organizations like MoveOn.org and Van Jones' American Dream are already trying to coopt the Occupy movement and spin it into "Reelect Obama." These groups will be reluctant to join the angry demonstrations that many of us hope to see outside the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina (as well as the Republican Convention, of course).
Participants in protest movements often espouse a variety of sometimes inconsistent ideals and tend to offer very general complaints and ideas for change. Demanding economic justice or an end to a war isn't a program for systematic change. The Vietnam War protests focused public opposition to the war and may have hastened the pullout of US troops. In the end, however, the protests didn't overturn the military-industrial complex or imperial culture of Washington, DC. Subsequent administrations, beginning with Jimmy Carter, maintained the pattern of US intervention in countries around the world.
In some cases, those in power simply ignore protest. The mass rallies throughout the US against President George W. Bush's order to invade Iraq in 2003 had no effect at all.
The Occupy movement must continue. We should look forward to its survival through the winter and renewed vitality when spring 2012 rolls around. But we must also find ways to make systematic changes and rebuild the political culture of the US so that wars of aggression, capitalist depredation, ecological irresponsibility (exhibited by the Obama Administration in early December during the UN meeting in Durban, South Africa, on climate change), assaults on the US Constitution, and other evils don't keep repeating every few years. In other words, we must replace people who are in power.
Vote For Yourself
The good news is that more and more Occupiers are showing interest in electoral action outside of the two Titanic parties. They've begun to embrace the vote as a strategy for challenging the corporate corruption and the erosion of democracy, in efforts like Occupy the Ballot (http://www.occupytheballot.
Occupy Cincinnati demonstrators are already working to establish their own party (http://www.denverpost.com/
On December 13, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson launched a presidential campaign, via his newly founded Justice Party (http://www.democracynow.org/
Alternative parties have been responsible for introducing urgent changes, whether the parties themselves have succeeded (the anti-slavery Republican Party in the mid 1800s) or failed. The list of reforms introduced by third parties and initially rejected by the political establishment includes abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, the eight-hour day and other workers' rights and protections, and civil rights for Blacks. If you're worried that the US is drifting into a new Robber Baron Era, remember that the Populist and Progressive parties helped end the last one in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Who will represent the important ideas on the electoral stage in the 21st century?
The Green Party (http://www.gp.org) holds promise as an established national party, having laid a foundation for willing Occupy candidates to run for public office. In many states, Greens have accomplished the difficult task of achieving ballot status, overcoming prohibitive rules enacted by Democratic and Republican politicians to hinder alternative parties and candidates. Greens have spent more than two decades building party infrastructure and gaining campaign experience. The demands of Occupy protesters are clearly reflected in the Green Party's platform and refusal to accept corporate checks.
In New York, the Green Party achieved major-party status through Howie Hawkins' campaign for governor in 2010, fulfilling the state's stringent requirements and earning Greens their place on the 2012 ballot. New York Greens have been active in Occupy Wall Street since the protests began in September. In the 2011 general election, Cheri Honkala, a long-time housing activist and founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, ran for Sheriff of Philadelphia as a Green on an anti-eviction platform. Ms. Honkala spoke publicly at Occupy events about her pledge not to cooperate, if elected, with banks attempting to foreclose on Philadelphians' homes (http://www.cherihonkala.com).
Speaking on the party's hope of emerging as a permanent independent political force in the 21st century, 2008 Green vice-presidential nominee Rosa Clemente said "The Green Party is no longer the alternative, the Green Party is the imperative." Some Greens have challenged Rocky Anderson to run for the Green nomination, noting that the Green Party already has ballot lines. (Greens will choose their nominee during the party's 2012 national convention in Baltimore, July 12 to 15.)
Whether Occupy activists decide to go Green or some other partisan route, they have the potential to lead a national voters' rebellion against the Titanic parties and trigger a sorely need seismic shift in US politics.
The day a few non-corporate-money Occupy candidates are elected to Congress is the day Democratic and Republican politicians are no longer each others' sole competition. The public debate on any given issue would open up to new ideas outside of the narrow D vs. R spectrum of policies and legislation approved by Wall Street, the oil companies, arms manufacturers, insurance companies, and other corporate interests.
There is no such thing as two-party democracy. Two-party elections are a single step removed from one-party states like the Soviet Union and China. At the heart of the voters' rebellion is the right to choose whichever candidates best represent one's own interests and ideals, without being told our choice is restricted to Big Mac vs. Whopper.
Refusing to vote and insisting on loyalty to Democrats will have the same effect — a future limited to the parties of war and Wall Street. Thanks to the momentum of the Occupy movement, 2012 gives us an opportunity to save the US from the demise of our republic, collapse of the middle class, and descent into terrain that would be familiar to Benito Mussolini in the 1920s.
Given the increasing entrenchment of corporate-money politics in the age of Citizens United and accelerated redistribution of wealth and power to the one percent, this opportunity might be our last.
Scott McLarty is media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States and for the DC Statehood Green Party. He lives in Washington, DC.
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subset: commoncrawl


text: How Much Snow with the Storm Next Week? Uncategorized by Weather Madness Nov 12, 2018 0 Comment I will be doing a live blog for the snow event next week so I can add my thoughts in anytime. The focus will be on the storm early next week that may produce a swath of snow from the southern Plains to the Northeast. Monday November 11, 2018 8:00 am – I made an update to the snow map above just slightly pulling the snow north a little in the Ohio Valley. Most of the trends on the operational models is to weaken the snow coming into the Ohio Valley then strengthen it up again across the Northeast as the storm develops along the East coast. The heaviest snows will fall across the Northeast with up to 8 inches over the White Mountains. As a side note, while the cold and snow are in the East, the pattern is such that Santa Ana winds occur in the West which is not good for wild fires. While this is not a big snow event, roads will be snow covered and icy in places. Below are the various computer model snowfall for the first event. Sunday November 11, 2018 7:00 am – I posted my snow map for the storm above. The map is basically a consensus of the models as the GFS went more to the ECMWF solution and the ECMWF adjusted east slightly. While this is not a big storm, it is a storm the will bring snow over a wide area of the country from the Southern Plains to the Northeast. Below are the various model snow predictions including the NAMS. Next storm…. After this storm is over, things get interesting again at the end of the week. A tropical system in the Atlantic will hold things up along the East coast which will allow a secondary storm to develop. The GFS is going with a big snow event in the Appalachians while the ECMWF is going with mainly a rain event with snow on the back end across the Ohio Valley and some front end snow. Saturday November 10, 2018 7:00 am – It appears to me that the models are starting to come into some agreement on the swath of snow next week. The ECMWF has gone a little bit to the east while the GFS has gone a little more to the west. The CMC model seems to be the best consensus of the models. After the morning runs come out I will issue my first snow map for the storm. GFS CMC ICON ECMWF Friday November 9, 2018 7:00 am – The run of the GFS model remains fairly consistent with the snow swath coming up from the southern Plains along the Appalachians into the Northeast with pockets of significant snows i.e. 4+ inches. The ECMWF model seems to be making some adjustments last night as it snow has snow across the southern Plains and a snow swath east of the Great Lakes. The two models are not in agreement yet which is always concerning but normal early in the forecast time period. I do know snow is coming with the storm next week, right now I an not sure which way to lean in regards to the amount of snow and location. None of the indicators really give any indication on which way to lean right now. I guess one can say that the CMC model below is a consensus of both operational models. CMC Model GFS ECMWF CMC Model GFS ECMWF Please Share My Blog to all your friends:TweetShare on TumblrEmailLike this:Like Loading... SnowsnowstormWinter Weather


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Cross Canyon Coues 2012
Cross Canyon Coues Dan Adler Diamond Outfitters of Arizona This hunting story actually starts in 1986, no that's no typo, 1986. I was at..
Cross Canyon Coues Dan Adler Diamond Outfitters of Arizona This hunting story actually starts in 1986, no that's no typo, 1986. I was at..
In early 2008 my brothers, dad and I began our normal discussion of where we should apply for deer and what areas we should hunt. My older..
I was 16 in December of 2002. My Dad, myself and my oldest brother, Justin, had been drawn for a coveted unit 22 coues whitetail rifle..
Well my 2012 archery hunt came and went this year on opening day. It all started this summer with a load of..
by Brian Rimsza Well just when I thought my year could not get any better it did. Most of you know I am an absolute coues deer fanatic. I..
By Art Pearce Art-Pearce-Article
by Sergio Cordova We hunted in unit 36C during the Thanksgiving Hunt (new hunt). My Compadre Pico, good friend Carlos, and I hunted the..
by Dale Gonzales Let me introduce myself, my name is Dale, buddies know me as Gonzo. After 15 years of bow hunting I was blessed with a..
by Mark Oliva PIC Mark Oliva with his monster archery Coues buck! The hunt for this buck started on January 5, 2010, when Joe Gonzales and..
by Tommy Hancock It all started with my good friend Shane inviting me down to his neck of the woods, to try a hand at whitetail hunting in..
by Brandon McDermott This hunt started out of frustration, after hunting Mexico for 8 straight years and never breaking the 120" mark..
by Loren Merrill I shot this buck opening morning in Unit 23 of this year. My 63 year old father glassed this buck at about..
by Mark Brock I started my hunt off all wrong. I didn't book a place to stay so I had to spend my scouting evening before opener..
by Christopher Madrid The year of 2009 was an odd year, due to the fact I didn't put in for the New Mexico draw. I found out the New..
by Pierre Rutherford Hello folks, hope all is well!! Got a 'lil story for ya…. I was doing some spot and stalk hunting for..
by Cody Goff I finally decided it was time to get up the nerve and post a story for once. I graciously had my friend Tim post the original..
by Jay Scott My hunting partner, Darr Colburn and I were invited by our friend Randy Ulmer to hunt a ranch in Sonora, Mexico. Randy and his..
by Jim Wilkins I had a huge surprise party for my wife's 50th birthday in July 2007. Friends and family members from numerous states..
by Rafael Quevedo There is a saying in Chihuahua that goes "el que porfia mata venado", that means " the one who persists..
by Nathan LaCost Dec. 2008 In the beginning, there was a tiny drop of water. In that water were two tiny amoeba. The start of whitetail..
by Kevin Clements Nov. 10, 2008 Finally, after 14 years of trying and 17 unfilled tags I finally got one of these "grey ghosts". I was..
by Gino Wullkotte (writing about his friend Erin Bittner) "One-ten or nothing, Buddy!" That was my "pep" talk to my old friend,..
by Jason Scott I have been going crazy trying to find time to get out and do some archery hunting. I have not done much hunting this year..
by Sam Larson I found out that I had been drawn for deer in July and started my preparation immediately. It was a unit in southern Arizona..
Here is a picture of my daughter Sarah and her friend Rebecca. Both girls are 14 years old and hunted the Juniors Any Antlered deer hunt in..
by Jay McMahon (originally published in Trophy Hunter magazine) The opening morning of the 2008 coues deer season began with a fresh..


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We are excited to present you our conversation with Amruta Purandare. Amruta is the Director of CINEMATRIX, which focuses on AI-driven entertainment media creation.
In this conversation, Amruta talks about her vision for the role of AI in the entertainment industry in the context of the current pandemic when productions have been halted, her advice for women who want to lead tech startups, and more.
SDD: Amruta, your work with CINEMATRIX is extremely intriguing and exciting. What was your first encounter with artificial intelligence like and can you tell us a bit about your journey so far?
AP: It was back in 2001, long before the wave of AI / ML had disrupted Indian IT scene. I was a 3rd year undergrad student in Computer Engineering, quite fascinated by the field of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Understanding. One of my papers on Self-Learning Systems won 2nd prize under AI and Fuzzy Logic category in some college- level competition organized by Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT). It presented the idea of mining web-data using text-parser to extract knowledge from web documents. This paper I believe built the foundation for the next few years, when I went to US for my higher studies and got full scholarship to pursue research in this field.
The initial 6-8 years I primarily worked in Natural Language Understanding. I started with Text Mining, then eventually moved into processing Speech and Dialog. In 2006, I presented a paper on Humor Analysis in FRIENDS TV-show at the EMNLP conference, which got me very excited about applying Machine Learning and Natural Language Understanding algorithms to process dialog or audio-visual content in Television Programs and Movies.
My recent work is primarily into Multimedia domain, where I am exploring and applying techniques from Computer Vision, Image Processing, Deep Learning areas, to process rich- media content that involves Audio, Video, Image, Dialog and Music datasets.
SDD: During exceptional times like these when production is halted we saw ESPN air deep- fake ads and surging numbers in online streaming. What is your vision for what AI can do for the entertainment industry in the future?
AP: The future of entertainment industry is no doubt powered and fueled by Machine Intelligence. For end-users or consumers, it is transforming how we listen to music, watch movies, play games or stream online content. Today, we can browse programs or launch apps in our Smart TV using simple voice commands – that's already AI.
For production houses and media professionals, it is providing new tools and technologies to automate workflows and easily create original content. Whether you are editing videos, adding visual effects (VFx), composing music, or making animation films, AI is already becoming ubiquitous in media industry. You can see deep-learning based algorithms like Video Segmentation, Artistic Style Transfer, Generative Neural Networks, Deep Fake being used to produce Hollywood style special effects, original soundtracks or animations..
Capturing gestures and facial expressions from real videos and applying it on animated characters is I believe a trend we are likely to see in near future. I am also seeing lot of demos these days on creating stunning Visual Effects, purely through Computer Graphics and Machine Learning.
Use-cases exploring applications of AI / Machine Learning in Entertainment are equally and mutually beneficial – not only for Media Professionals and Content Producers, but even for AI Researchers and ML Engineers.. Unlike traditional datasets that come in Excel or CSV formats, here we are talking about rich multimedia content – that has language, dialog, audio, visuals, action, comedy, drama, dance, music, sentiments.. It's pretty mind blowing when you look at the possibilities it offers for AI / ML research..
While traditionally these two streams (namely Engineering / IT and Cinematic Arts) have run in parallel, we expect to see more synergy in coming future. Today, I already see many engineers prefer to describe themselves as 'Creative Technologists' to emphasize that their creative side is just as strong and valuable as their core engineering and technical skills.
SDD: From an entrepreneurial and growth (particularly funding, talent acquisition etc.) perspective, what advice do you have for women who are interested in setting up tech startups?
AP: In early stage, most start-ups are typically boot-strapped or self-funded, so it's very important to be extra frugal with our resources and budget. As an entrepreneur, we need to evaluate very carefully – what we should outsource vs build in-house, or even what we can delegate vs do ourselves. These key decisions can have a big impact, not just on your budget but even from long-term product / code maintainability standpoint. I see many entrepreneurs prefer to outsource or delegate initial product development to focus only on the sales / management aspect of business. Personally, I am not very comfortable to have this dependency on external vendors or contractors, every time I need to add a new feature or functionality into my product, service, app or website. Understanding the code / platform inside-out is essential for me, in order to scale it afterwards or pitch it effectively in front of investors.
On talent acquisition, I have created student-outreach programs to engage college students looking for internships or final year projects. I like working and collaborating with Creative and Artistic individuals, who are not only strong in technical skills, but also highly creative in how they think or apply those skills in practice.. Fancy jargon somehow never impressed me – almost everyone has access to Git libraries, online training courses, Deep Learning / Machine Learning platforms & frameworks these days. What I like to see is what someone has built or created using those standard set of packages and libraries.
In early stage start-ups, you normally want to hire team members who are multi-talented,e.g. a mobile app or web developer who also has strong front-end design or computer graphics skills, or perhaps built some demos in AR / VR. Writing neat, clean, well documented code is also equally essential, so that you can enhance or maintain it afterwards, even after the team member leaves.
SDD: Do you have any advice for a beginner who wants to get into the field of deep learning (particularly computer vision, image processing etc.) and stay engaged with it?
AP: The best way to learn for me is always by trying it out myself. Whether it's a new programming language, tool / library, package, framework, or algorithm, I always give myself a fun mini-project or assignment which allows me to try or test something hands-on. Learning is a continuous on-going process, so it's important to stay up to-date with latest technologies we see trending on social media platforms.
In my experience, it's usually the fun side-projects we do over weekends or in leisure time that often bring us not only the sense of fulfillment and joy, but also the next big break or opportunity. Since it is something we choose to do voluntarily out of self-motivation, I think the excitement and passion is evident, when we speak or describe it to others.
Bringing your passion or hobbies into projects will make sure learning is far more fun and exciting, than just watching online course videos filled with math formulas. For example, if you enjoy sports, you can experiment with sports-related content while building your computer vision or machine learning models. If you like travel, you can experiment with travel blogs or travel photography, to test your text mining or image classification models. This strategy of giving freedom to choose your own favourite genre or domain has worked out exceptionally well, with some of my interns who were also new to deep learning and computer vision areas, and had never used libraries like TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras before.
SDD: Are there some of the new research papers or projects in AI that caught your interest recently, if there are can you share with us?
AP: I was quite impressed to see some Deep Fake demos recently, which also inspired me to try a few of my own.. The technology behind Deep Fake to animate still photos or images w/o using any traditional character animation tools is quite fascinating and revolutionary for Animation Industry. A recent demo on Pose Animator which captures hand gestures / body movements from webcam and applies it on animated characters is also quite impressive, and something I see many customers are already interested in.
I am also intrigued by OpenAI's JukeBox, and Google's Magenta.JS, which I plan to use in some of my own work on Computational Music Generation. I see this as an opportunity for me to learn techniques like Generative / Sequential Models or LSTM hands-on.
I also see lot of projects and demos trending on Augmented or Mixed Reality these days, built using web / front-end technologies like WebXR, WebGL, Three.JS, Unity, AR Core etc.
SDD: What inspires you everyday?
AP: The best part about Entrepreneurship is you have complete freedom to choose your own path, write your own job description, decide what you want to achieve in the next few years, as well as, define immediate short-term plan, and day-to-day activities to reach those long-term goals.. It's important to keep in mind long-term vision, as well as, set some short-term milestones to work towards, in order to stay productive and inspired.
Learning is also an essential part of personal growth and development. I always make sure my daily To-Do list includes new skills and technologies I want to develop or explore. These can be programming languages, frameworks, platforms, libraries that are most commonly used in some of the projects I see trending on social media that catch my attention. Keeping 10-15 exploratory project ideas ready on Sticky / Post-it Notes ensures that my daily work never gets boring or monotonous.
Apart from technology development, I find social media engagement as essential part of business development. A post or demo we share on social platforms can bring us important business contacts or leads, and opportunities to engage with like-minded folks or potential collaborators, who are working on related technologies and have similar vision as ours.
Join our She Drives Data community on SHEROES (You can also download the app on iOS and Android) to connect with thousands of women data enthusiasts across the world, hear from data science experts and get updated on the latest tech news every day ❤


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House Beautiful
House Beautiful, an interior design and decor magazine, is one of the oldest still published magazines. They wanted to update their branding to attract a younger audience, to match some of the more playful content that was being created. As a freelance designer, I worked directly with the digital team at Hearst to create an updated brand system for the magazine, designing everything from the website to social templates. The redesign was so successful that it was later adopted for the print magazine.
Project Credits:
Client: Hearst
Creative Director: Nick Neubeck
Art Director: Katja Cho
Animation: Eddie Phan and Hayeon Kim


text:
|Unit Price:
|USD 0.2900 / Piece/Pieces
|Payment Type:
|L/C,T/T,D/P,Paypal,Money Gram,Western Union
|Min. Order:
|5000 Piece/Pieces
|Delivery Time:
|30 Days
Basic Info
Model No.: LF-CDZD4578
Die Casting Machine Type: Hot Chamber Die Casting Machine
Die Casting Method: Precision Die Casting
Application: Instrument Accessories
Machining: CNC Machining
Material: Zinc Alloy
Surface Preparation: Electroplating
Pressure Chamber Structure: Horizontal
Tolerance Grade: 6
Casting Surface Quality Level: 2
Certification: SGS, CE, RoHS, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001:2008
Additional Info
Packaging: 10 pcs/ carton
Productivity: 10000/Month
Brand: LF
Transportation: Ocean,Land,Air
Place of Origin: Dongguan China
Supply Ability: 100000 pcs/ per line
Certificate: CE, ROSH,
Port: Shenzhen,Hongkong
Product Description
Zinc Die casting Part Nickel Plaing / Yellow zinc Plating die casting Processing
Product: Zinc die casting Nuts
Process: Zinc die cast
Color: Silver/Yellow
Finishing: Nickle plating, zinc plating
Port: Shenzhen, China
Production Capacity: 50000PCS/Month
Payment Terms: L/C, T/T, D/P, Western Union, by cash
Condition: New
Certification: CE, RoHS, GS, ISO9001
Standard: DIN, ASTM, GOST, GB, JIS, ANSI, BS
Customized: Customized
Material: Aluminum Alloy, copper
Copper Heatpipe Heatsink:LF-CD78-HT023
Made of zinc alloy, aluminum alloy, stainelss steel, Adc 12 , A380, ADC10...
OEM or ODM is welcome. Except our existing products we can arrange production according to customer's requirements. If you have your own designs or samples we can make molds and arrange production according to your product information.
|Product name
|County of original
|Dongguan China
cnc machining, Stamping
|1000 pcs
|Aluminum, copper
Q: When did your company start to manufacture the products?
A: We started from the year of 2005.
Q: May I get a free sample?
A: Some items are free and the others need to be paid.
Q:What is your Minimum order?
A: In usual the minimum order is USD 10,000 per shipment.
It can be less than the amount, in this case we will charge extra USD 400 for the local shipping charge.
Q:We can order many items to reach your minimum order USD10,000?
A: Yes. The amount USD10,000 is for one shipment and it is a total amount of all items.
Q: What is the lead-time?
A:It is about 25 - 30 days.
Q: What is your payment terms?
A: We accept T/T or LC.
Q:What certification do you have?
A:We have got CCC, CE certification for our products. If you need other certification. Please let us know and we will check if our products match it.
Dongguan Formal Precision Metal Parts Co,. Ltd
Address: Wanjiang Town,Dongguan,Guangdong
Contact Person: Carl Peng


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Our meat market carries only the best highest quality locally sourced meat cut fresh to order. We carry a variety of beef, pork, chicken and sausages daily along with other specialty meats upon request. Come on in and check out these amazing selection of meats, specialty cuts, marinades and quick meal ideas that will please everyone in the family including kids.
We have a variety of sausages available daily, rotating our recipes so you never get bored. The Cumberland, Romanian, lamb, traditional Italian mild and hot, Portuguese Chorizo and many more. Pair local breweries beers with our sausages creates amazing flavour you cannot resist. Add a bag of the softest Portuguese buns and that is one delicious "drool worthy" meal. #imgettinghungry
Need some inspiration or advice? Come on in and visit, we can help answer any of your questions to help guide you with preparing and cooking these delicious cuts of meat to perfection. Need a side, no problem we have those too.
We specialize in carrying a wide variety of Portuguese and Italian specialty products such as oils, olives, pastas, vinegars, tomato sauces, cookies and many more to come. Please stay tuned for many more exciting and delicious additions to our shelves.
We are offering 6 different freezer packs that can fit everyones needs: The Sizzler for the BBQers, The Warm & Toasty for our comfort food needs, Load it Up! to stock your freezer full of the essentials, The Confetti's Pack - aka: what do I feed the kids pack (enough said), The Solo Pack for the single eater who enjoys to cook & our specialty The Pork & Cheese Pack - a play on Portuguese cuisine.
Have a specialty requests - no problem, ask the Master Butcher and he will make it happen! A popular Sous Vide request: Ribeye seasoned well with rosemary and garlic, vacuumed sealed and ready to go.
Copyright © 2023 CONFETTI'S EUROPEAN MEAT MARKET & GROCERY LTD. - All Rights Reserved.


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Published in the journal Science Advances this week, the study found that the likelihood of extreme heat, dryness and precipitation will increase across as much of 90% of North America, Europe and East Asia if countries do not accelerate their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are not prepared for today's climate, let alone for another degree of global warming," says study author Noah Diffenbaugh, a Stanford University professor of earth system science.
The 2015 Paris Agreement, which President Donald Trump has promised to exit when the U.S. is eligible to do so, aims to keep temperature rise below 3.6°Fahrenheit by 2100 with an ideal target of 2.7° Fahrenheit. Though the differences seem minor, the study shows the difference between those targets would lead to dramatic increases in the likelihood of record warm or wet days, according to the study.
Source: Scientists Issued a Grim New Warning on Climate Change


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You have likely seen the news that eBay was compromised and disclosed on Wednesday the 21st, resulting in as many as 145 million customers being affected. eBay was quick to state that the criminals did not gain access to financial information, trying to allay customer concerns. Despite that, there are many aspects of the aftermath that concern people. Andy Greenberg at Wired and Madeline Bennett at The Inquirer are just two of many to write articles on "how not to handle a security breach".
It didn't take long for several US Attorney Generals and one official in the UK to start or express interest in a formal investigation. I think it is warranted given the slow response from eBay and given that there are no details about the incident available from the company. It took them several days to finally add a banner to their site warning users to change their password.
What is disturbing is that four days later, I have not received an email from eBay warning me of this breach, while still receiving notices of random auctions ending that I am not watching. Getting notice of a breach for several days via the news, and not the company is bad form. In a comment made to BBC on Friday, the 23rd, eBay said:
EBay told the BBC that it was not aware of any technical problems with the password reset function on the site.
"The site is busy, but our secure password reset tool is working," a spokesman said.
This caught my eye today as I read it just hours after seeing a Tweet from Kenn White in which he shows how 'secure' the password reset feature is:
Between the lack of response, slow action to get a visible password reset warning, not mandating that users change passwords, and not understanding what good password security is, I think it is time for the FTC to step in. Companies must be held accountable for the security of their customers.
Update #1: I received my breach notification letter and request to change password an hour ago, almost eight hours after posting this blog, four days after it hit the news.
Update #2: @miaubiz points out that the actual breach happened between late February and early March, leading to questions on why it took them so long to disclose.


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Scottish FA Technical Development Officer Mark McNally provided a group of coaches with an in-service and introduction to the Scottish FA Youth Award. The evening was attended by over 40 coaches from a variety of different clubs involved in the Quality Mark scheme.
The evening was organised by Club Development Manager Danny Bisland who said: "The youth award is the first time many coaches will be formally assessed. This can be very daunting and some clubs have requested an introduction to the course."
Mark McNally said: "This can be the first time many coaches have been asked to shape a team. It's great to have this opportunity to provide a small introduction to the course and allow a coach time to go away and practice."
The Scottish FA are committed to supporting all grassroots coaches and events like this allow people to learn and further develop.
Mike McCrae was one of the coaches who attended. He said: "I really enjoyed the evening and have been keen to take part in the course but never really knew what was involved, this evening has helped and I will be signing up for the next course as this will help me further develop as a coach."
For more information on the coach education or other regional activities please contact the regional office on 0141 886 7366.


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Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream has 251 calories (1051 kilojoules) per scoop (114g) serve. Use the Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream Nutrition Facts table below to estimate calories and nutrients for other quantities:
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Selected Weight
Total Fat (g)
Saturated Fat (g)
Sodium (mg)
Alcohol (g)
Cholesterol (mg)
Total Carbohydrate (g)
Dietary Fibre (g)
Sugars (g)
Protein (g)
Food Search:
About This Food
This Nutrition Information is for Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream. Were you looking for Baskin-Robbins Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream, Baskin-Robbins Cotton Candy Ice Cream, or Baskin-Robbins Cotton Candy n Cake Ice Cream instead? You can easily search for different foods with calcount's search box.
Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream is a popular food product which is readily available in Australia. One 80g serving contains 176 calories (737.6kJ). Use the adjustable slider above to alter the serving size and thus the corresponding nutrition values.
Carbs and Sugar in Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream
There are 22 grams of carbohydrates, including 18g sugar in 100 grams of Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream.
Protein and Fat in Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream
Each 100g of Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream contains 4 grams of protein and 13 grams of fat. There are 8g of saturated fat included.
Sodium in Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream
There are 82mg of sodium per 100 grams of Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream.
To see calories and other nutrition information for different weight quantities, simply drag the slider to change the food weight. Accurate measurement of food weight requires the use of a food scale. However, you can estimate the weight of the food by comparing your hand to the food quantity. An amount equivalent to your thumb is about 30 grams, a flat palm is approximately 120 grams, and a bunched fist is roughly 240 grams.
To search for more food nutrition information, type the food name into calcount's Food Search Box.
Compare to Other, Similar Foods
You might want to compare this food's nutrition values with these related foods:
- 220 calories in Baskin-Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip…
- 246 calories in Baskin-Robbins Choc Chip Cookie…
- 219 calories in Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Chip Ice…
- 239 calories in Baskin-Robbins Cookies 'n Cream Ice…
- 227 calories in Baskin-Robbins Macadamia Nuts 'n…
- 241 calories in Baskin-Robbins Pralines 'n' Cream…
- 189 calories in Baskin-Robbins Banana Ice Cream (100g)
- 232 calories in Baskin-Robbins Baseball Nut Ice Cream (100g)
A Note about How Many Calories there are:
Thanks for reviewing the calories in Baskin-Robbins Coffee Coffee Chip Ice Cream! The calcount team does its best to ensure the accuracy of all of the information published in the Calorie Counter Australia website. However, we do not guarantee that all of the published information is accurate and complete. Please remember to consult your medical professional before you take any action in respect to anything you read on this site. Our information includes copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property such as brand names and descriptions which belongs to the respective owners of said property.


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Please check back soon for the next upcoming event.
Please check back soon for the next upcoming event information.
"When I met Fadi my startup was growing fast, and it was quickly outgrowing me as a leader. Without significant change, it was inevitable that the business that I had co-founded was going to surpass my ability to lead as the CEO. I have been working with Fadi for over the last three years, and I have developed as a leader that has helped to grow my business from 50 people to over 200 people and increased revenue ten times. There is usually a big difference between a business coach and a business consultant. A business coach develops leaders, and a consultant develops a business. Given Fadi's background as a business leader himself, he is not only great at developing leaders but also able to provide sound business advice in all aspects of running a business. I look forward to every weekly session with Fadi as it helps me to focus on what I need to do as a leader to make tough decisions, coach my team to be better leaders themselves, and gives me the confidence that I need to get through the week. Fadi gets to know you at a personal level where he knows when to pat you on the pack or a give you a subtle kick in the rear. A business coach is not for everyone, but I would highly recommend Fadi to anyone that is looking to grow their leadership and expand their impact across their organization. I can't thank Fadi enough for what he has done for me personally, my family and my business."
"Last year I was searching for a business coach and a colleague of mine gave me Fadi's contact information. What I found appealing about his business coaching services was that he worked with other executives that ran businesses outside of my industry (I am an orthodontist in private practice). I believe that many solutions to problems/issues in my field can be found in other industries/professions. His help and experience have made an enormous impact on how I run my business. He has be instrumental in helping me bring my practice to the next level and I have already seen great results that I couldn't imagine a year ago! I highly recommend his business coaching services!"
"I have worked with Dr. Baradihi for 10 months and have found his services invaluable. He has helped me create organization within my business, hire key staff members, formulate a quarterly business plan and understand where / how to invest resources for growth. "You don't know what you don't know" - I can't imagine where I would be without his guidance! He is a man of character and integrity, qualities that are essential for building a successful relationship with a mentor. I am happy to have been recommended his services from a trusted colleague and would gladly refer his coaching services."
"Fadi has been my coach for 2 years. He is excellent at tailoring his coaching to the needs of the business and my personality style. I am becoming a much more effective business leader thanks to Fadi and his coaching."
"Fadi is a pleasure to work with. He is extremely knowledgeable on all matters related to growing and maintaining a thriving business. We have worked with him for years, and have found his insights to be invaluable. If you are interested in the success of your business, if you want to increase profits and decrease stress, or if you just want to take control of your professional life, then you need to give him a call!"
"Dr Fadi has been completely essential to my success. I bought a dermatology practice a year ago and without him it would have been a mess. He is knowledgeable in every arena pertaining to business, leadership and development. He is responsive, professional, and well organized. And now that I know almost 50% of his clients, I can say that everyone else feels the same way I do. I would recommend him without hesitation to anyone!"


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Disney and Pixar – The Power of the Prenup – NYTimes.com
June 2, 2008
business / pixar
Some future plans for Pixar / Disney. To me, it seems that Pixar is in a significant amount of danger from being leavened by Disney's culture. Worth a read, to develop your own thoughts.


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Minister of Economic Development Uklykaev said that there are no reasons for gas price growth.
16.Jul.14 9:42 AM
By Mikhail Prygunov
Photo trud.ru
Earlier Department of Energy together with "Gazprom" offered to change the maximum limit of gas price increase in 2015. It was planned that price growth will be higher than 6% in comparison with 2014. The main reason for such changes was the fact that gas price on the inner market of Russian Federation along with ways of indexation that were introduced by Ministry of Economic development would lead to the decrease of "Gazprom" personal funds for investment only in 53%. At the same time Ulyukaev sees no reasons for such drastic measures and evaluates economical position of "Gazprom" as financially stable.
Speaking about railways sphere Ulyukaev said that there is still possibility for providing tariff corridor that will make it possible for handling with price indexing and transporting of different type of cargos. This will also help to make situation better. The President has already ordered to introduce new price indexing on cargo transportation in 2015 by 10%. However the head of Railways thinks that price indexing should be higher than the level of inflation.


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Explore Aquinas College
Interested in Aquinas College? Explore it here, where you'll find everything from a virtual tour to…
In an effort to remove barriers to higher education for young adults aging out of the Michigan Foster Care System, Aquinas College has created the "Fostering Success" Scholarship Initiative. This initiative will ensure that total assistance from scholarships and grants (including ETV funds) will cover tuition, room, board and book costs for up to two prospective students each academic year.
Program eligibility / affiliation criteria:
- Students must be in Michigan foster care at the time they turn 18 or upon high school graduation.
- They must have achieved a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scake at time of admission.
- Have a ACT Composie of 22 or above (or SAT score of 1100 or higher).
1700 Fulton St E
Grand Rapids , MI 49506
(616) 632-2861
Interested in Aquinas College? Explore it here, where you'll find everything from a virtual tour to…
Aquinas awards up to 2 scholarships per year to incoming freshman students who meet the eligibility…
Fostering Success Michigan is a program of Educate Tomorrow that aims to increase access and success in higher education and post-college careers for youth with experience in foster care. Learn how you can contribute to building a holistic network that insulates (i.e., strengthens protective factors and reduces risks) the education to career "pipeline."Make a Donation


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In this article:
- Overview
- Audience
- Prerequisites
- Manage Details
- Manage Features
- Manage Administrators
- Manage Clouds
- Manage Tags
- Manage Webhooks
- Manage ITSM Integrations
- Manage Authentication
- Manage Theme
- Contacting Cloud Application Manager Support
This article makes a brief preview of the assets management section that Cloud Application Manager provides for any user with administrator privileges.
All users with Cloud Application Manager organization administrator access.
Access to Cloud Application Manager, Management site.
The user must be an Administrator of the organization in Cloud Application Manager.
The user should be at the organization level scope to access the Settings option on the left side menu. Accessing that option is also possible through the pencil button of an organization element in the Context Switcher.
Manage Details
In the admin console settings, Details section shows a list of items which describe the organization such as its icon, name, address, domain, account type, account status, billing settings, etc. These items are not editable (except the icon).
Manage Features
To see more info about the options in this section you can refer to these pages:
- AWS Sourcing
- Microsoft Azure Sourcing
- Managed Services Anywhere
- Application Lifecycle Management
- Monitoring
- Analytics
- Network Exchange
- Show Unregistered Resources: By enabling this option, you'll be able to see the unregistered instances under the CAM/ALM Instances menu.
Manage Administrators
Under Administrators, you can see a list of all administrators of the organization, as well as a search box for looking for a concrete user if there are at least ten administrators. For more details, visit Give admin access to Cloud Application Manager
Manage Clouds
All clouds available in the organization are listed under Clouds section. Visit Enable Access to Cloud Providers for more information.
Manage Tags
Take a look at all tags in the organization under Tags in the admin console. More information in Tag Instances.
Manage Webhooks
View all webhooks available in the organization under Webhooks. In order to add a new webhook, click Add and fill in the URL.
To get more information about webhooks, please read this article.
Manage ITSM Integrations
This section allows to configure ITSM (IT Service Management) integrations, where you can enable and configure the ServiceNow integration. There is more information about this here.
Manage Authentication
In Cloud Application Manager Enterprise Edition, users can sign in using any of the single sign-on authentication options you enable in the admin console. Enable User Authentication
Manage Theme
Organization settings page lets users also customize the logo and the accent color used in Cloud Applpication Manager under the Theme section.
Contacting Cloud Application Manager Support
Customers can contact the Lumen Global Operations Support center (support desk) directly for getting help with Cloud Application Manager as well as any other supported product that they've subscribed to. Below are three ways to get help.
Phone: 888-638-6771
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Create Ticket in Cloud Application Manager: Directly within the platform, users can "Create Ticket" by clicking on the "?" symbol in upper right corner near the users log-in profile icon. This takes users directly to the Managed Servicers Portal where they can open, track and review status of issues that have been raised with the support desk. Additionally, this is how a TAM can be engaged as well.
- Provide your name
- CAM account name
- A brief description of your request or issue for case recording purposes
The support desk will escalate the information to the Primary TAM and transfer the call if desired.


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Maybe it's the Indian and not the arrow, but no dedicated golfer really believes that. We're always just one right club, handy new gizmo, or fashionable bit of apparel away from our A-game. So here are some goods to make it all better, in the debut issue of The Grain.
Six more issues will follow, dedicated to each of the Majors and the Ryder Cup, and wrapping up the year in November with a travel issue. The magazine will be delivered to as many as 1.9 million readers per issue via partnerships with more than 30 state and provincial (Canadian) golf associations, as well as through partners like Shotzoom (makers of leading golf GPS apps including GolfShot and TOURCaddie) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
Or simply click here to start reading The Grain.


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Listening Post #8: Sanctuary In The Kitchen
When you lose your home, there are a multitude of other, intangible things that you also must leave behind. High on the list of what displaced women hunger for are culinary rituals: baking cookies with the kids, cutting, chopping, measuring, pouring the ingredients of a favorite recipe; wrapping nostrils around the aroma of Grandma's memorable Macaroni and Cheese
These losses are just a few of the many griefs carried by homeless women and their children: lost partners, lost love, lost income, lost security, lost stability, loss, loss, loss, all compounded and made more difficult by the loss of the hearth, that heart of the home. How heal from life's hurts when even the simple joy of preparing your favorite comfort food is only a dream?
Let me introduce you to the Dream Team: Ms. Sherrice Jones, Mr. Alvin James, and Mr. Allen Brevard, the remarkable magicians in the kitchen at Jane Addams Place, a shelter for homeless women and children in Philadelphia. They are healing the world every day by creating sanctuary in the kitchen as they pour out their love like honey, not only into the food they prepare, but into the hearts and lives of shelter residents.
Under their leadership and with their cooperation, mothers can cook with their kids on Mommy and Me days. Other times, favorite recipes are solicited and then prepared with assistance from those who contribute them. Children mourning the loss of family barbecues are intentionally invited to the love-feast of an outdoor barbecue with all the trimmings. Familiar smells and tastes emanate from the kitchen, summoning all those near-forgotten feelings of comfort, of nurture, of Home. The meals prepared in this sacred space are intended not only to feed bodies, but to nourish souls as well; you can practically taste the love that is the main ingredient in every recipe.
The trio who work this magic are supported by administrative policies and regular training that encourage the creation of Sanctuary[1]
throughout the shelter. But it is the utter goodness and deep spirit of loving kindness embodied in Sherrice, Allen, and Alvin that provide the alchemical moments here. Collectively, they are committed to living the Sanctuary commitments of open communication, nonviolence, and shared democracy. And they support each other in this vital work, every step, every day. Sherrice says that she is empowered to do what she does because "If I sweat, someone hands me a napkin, If I trip, I know someone will catch me. We respect eachother, and no one here has ego problems."
As I listen to her, I know in some deep place that this is what I and we all are hungry for: someone to help us wipe our sweat and tears, someone to catch us if we fall. Sherrice and Allen and Alvin are teaching us how to satisfy that hunger; and how to be bread for one another. Maybe today, each of us could get our egos out of the way and intercept a tear or a tumble, create a little Sanctuary Space in our own corner of the universe.
[1] For more information about Creating Sanctuary as a way to heal from trauma, see Sandra Bloom's work and website at www.sanctuaryweb.com
Leave a Comment:
Interested in starting your own volunteer listening program? We offer training for volunteers and train the trainer services.-Arundhati Roy


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Sullivan Catskills is a Winter Wonderland
- Newsletter
- ny catskills getaway, catskills getaways, ny weekend getaways, catskills hotel, catskills lodging, new york hotels, catskills inn, new york skiing, new york ski, ny ski, ny winter getawy
Winter Getaways for Family Fun in the Sullivan Catskills! Dear EscapeMakers – There's nothing like a fun-filled snowy day in the Sullivan Catskills. Whether you have little ones or kids that are grown, a winter getaway packed with family fun will leave you with memories to last a lifetime…If you're looking for an all-inclusive family resort, the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center is your best bet. Whether you're a family of two or eight,


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Just a couple of weeks ago, I went abroad for a short vacation. The day before I left, I found out that one of my friends—and for the sake of this blog post I will refer to her as "X"—was also traveling to the same destination. I was excited! I texted and called her in an effort to find a way to meet up with her when we got there, but it was no use. She didn't answer me. I could only assume that she had already left for her trip and wasn't reachable.
When I got to my destination, I forgot about my friend…until one evening during dinner, my dad brought up the topic and suggested that it would be a good exercise in sleuthing to try to locate her. So I donned my detective's hat, grabbed my virtual pipe, and got to work. At first, I didn't know where to start. I mean, finding someone in a foreign country with neither information nor sources is not an easy task.
After some brainstorming, I decided to:
- Contact a few of our mutual friends to see if they knew where she was
- Locate her social media pages to see if she had posted any travel details
- Try to find her parent's information online and try contacting them
- Find out which community center she belonged to, locate the phone number, and find out if they have they have a tour group traveling to the country
Shortly after that, I received an email response from one of our fiends confirming that X was a member of the same community center where her mother worked. "Perfect!" I thought. All I needed was the phone number and that wasn't so hard to get thanks to Google. I called the administrative office of the community center and asked them if they could give me X's contact information. No luck, they wouldn't release any details. After much pleading and a plausible explanation as to why I would be interested in the information, however, they did confirm that they had a group abroad but wouldn't give me the information as to where they were staying.
Armed with this much information, I decided to use a brute force attack approach. I called all the major hotels and asked if they had a tour group visiting from the city X is from. On the 6th such call, I struck gold. The hotel receptionist confirmed that such a group had arrived several days earlier and they were indeed staying at that hotel. I gave her my friend's last name and I easily got her room's phone number. I was on a roll and there was no stopping me now!
With my heart beating in my chest, I dialed the number, but the phone just rang and rang. No one picked it up. I tried again the next morning and this time…she answered! Lo and behold!
"Hi, X" I said, this is Sheva!
Silence on the other side for 5 seconds.
Finally, she came back to life. "Sheva???" she said, "What on earth? How in the world? Where are you…?" she asked in a clearly stunned voice.
"I'm here on vacation as well," I said, "I'm a few towns away from you." X clearly had difficulty processing the fact that I managed to track her down thousands of miles away from home without having had her phone, email or itinerary. We chatted for a few minutes and it was great. Unfortunately, we discovered that our schedules would not be able to align and we could not meet, but it was great being able to talk to her by phone nevertheless.
As we were about to hang up, she told me it was incredible that I was able to locate her.. "It's elementary, my dear X!", I replied.


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When I was a kid, I loved being invited by my Jewish friends to take part in their holiday celebrations. It was so much fun participating in and learning about the traditions of another culture and Yom Kippur, Hanukkah and Passover were among the holidays I remember most. At Passover I was always endlessly jealous during lunchtime as I sat in our cafeteria eating whatever was being served that day, while my Jewish classmates ate from their brown bag lunches featuring a variety of Passover foods including matzo sandwiches. Usually oozing with peanut butter and jelly, they always looked so crispy and enticing.
Many years later I found my husband and the love of my life and guess what? He turned out to be Jewish! So I guess I was destined to keep enjoying matzo after all. When I was thinking about my dream Passover school lunch sandwich, the idea for using Nutella immediately popped into my head. However, my son's class is nut-free and so I needed to make my own chocolate spread that was hazelnut-free. The taste of what I came up with is slightly different than traditional Nutella, but it's amazing in its own right and I don't know many kids who wouldn't enjoy melted chocolate mixed with sunflower butter inside some crunchy matzo for an awesome midday treat!
(Question: does one call nut free Nutella just Ella?)
Nut-Free Nutella Matzo Sandwiches
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
- 4 matzah sheets
- Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30-60 seconds, until melted, stirring halfway through.
- Add the sunflower seed butter to the bowl, and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Gently break matzah sheets into 4 pieces each, spread with the faux Nutella mixture and sandwich together.


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Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:
Company Description: Illinois Tool Works Inc. is a diversified manufacturer that operates a portfolio of 60 business units that serve industrial and consumer markets globally.
Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Avg. High Yield Price
2. 20-Year DCF Price
3. Avg. P/E Price
4. Graham Number
ITW is trading at a discount to only 1.) above. Since ITW's tangible book value is not meaningful, a Graham number can not be calculated. When also considering the NPV MMA Differential, the stock is trading at a 35.3% discount to its calculated fair value of $192.85. ITW earned a Star in this section since it is trading at a fair value.
Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Free Cash Flow Payout
2. Debt To Total Capital
3. Key Metrics
4. Dividend Growth Rate
5. Years of Div. Growth
6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
ITW earned two Stars in this section for 1.) and 3.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. ITW earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1933 and has increased its dividend payments for 55 consecutive years.
Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. NPV MMA Diff.
2. Years to > MMA
ITW earned a Star in this section for its NPV MMA Diff. of $2,471. This amount is in excess of the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as ITW has. If ITW grows its dividend at 11.2% per year, it will take 1 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.01%. ITW earned a check for the Key Metric 'Years to >MMA' since its 1 years is less than the 5 year target.
Peers: The company's peer group includes: The The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (MTW) with a 0.0% yield, Timken Co. (TKR) with a 3.0% yield and Highway Holdings Limited (HIHO) with a 7.6% yield.
Conclusion: ITW earned one Star in the Fair Value section, earned two Stars in the Dividend Analytical Data section and earned one Star in the Dividend Income vs. MMA section for a total of four Stars. This quantitatively ranks ITW as a 4-Star Strong stock.
Using my D4L-PreScreen.xls model, I determined the share price would need to increase to $229.90 before ITW's NPV MMA Differential decreased to the $500 minimum that I look for in a stock with 55 years of consecutive dividend increases. At that price the stock would yield 1.6%.
Resetting the D4L-PreScreen.xls model and solving for the dividend growth rate needed to generate the target $500 NPV MMA Differential, the calculated rate is 5.4%. This dividend growth rate is lower than the 11.2% used in this analysis, thus providing a margin of safety. ITW has a risk rating of 1.75 which classifies it as a Medium risk stock.
ITW has a history of generating above-average returns from growth in its end markets, along with a growth strategy focused on product innovation and acquisitions. The company follows a consistent policy of returning value to its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
The company's debt to total capital of 68% (up from 62%), is above my preferred maximum of 45%. Its free cash flow payout is 52% (up from 48%), is well below my 60% maximum. The stock is currently trading at a discount to my calculated fair value price of $192.85, as such, I am considering adding to my current position.
Disclaimer: Material presented here is for informational purposes only. The above quantitative stock analysis, including the Star rating, is mechanically calculated and is based on historical information. The analysis assumes the stock will perform in the future as it has in the past. This is generally never true. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. See my Disclaimer for more information.
Full Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I was long in ITW (3.1% of my Dividend Growth Stocks Portfolio).
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The document defines certain key concepts and determines a set of prerequisites that banks need to verify before accepting virtual asset service providers as customers.
Virtual Asset Service Providers to Be Regulated in Colombia
Regulation is becoming a key goal for countries in Latam, where cryptocurrency adoption is growing at significant rates. Now, the Financial Superintendence of Colombia has presented a document that seeks to establish norms regarding the requirements cryptocurrency exchanges and custody providers must meet to be serviced as customers by banks. The project defines key concepts such as virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and virtual assets in the scope of the regulation.
In the same way, it establishes that virtual asset service providers will have to be connected to the UIAF, the financial intelligence office of Colombia, and have a plan of action to deal with money laundering and terrorism financing attempts that might potentially be made using their platform.
The project also makes an indirect reference to compliance with the travel rule promoted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It states banks must verify these VASPs have:
The technological and operational capacity to monitor transactions with virtual assets, as well as to obtain, preserve and transmit the information of the originator and the beneficiary of each transaction.
More Requirements
The proposal establishes that the VASPs will have to be able to present clear information to their customers about the services they offer and the risks associated with these services, the costs associated with these services, and the virtual assets present on their platforms.
VASPs will also have a plan to deal with operational and cybersecurity-related risks to handle possible hacks or platform problems that might affect how their services are delivered to their customers. Also, banks will have the obligation to separate their responsibilities from those of VASPs, telling customers that only they and these platforms are responsible for VASP-related problems.
The proposal also establishes restrictions regarding investments. It states:
The supervised entities authorized to capture resources through deposit products or funds must ensure that the operations of deposit and withdrawal of resources in financial products of deposit or funds in the name of a VASP are carried out only through non-face-to-face channels.
The proposal is still in the discussion stages, and the Financial Superintendence will receive suggestions about it until August 12.


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This is one of the latest releases by Master of Malt, a Glenturret 1977, supposedly from the same batch as the editions by The Whisky Agency and Malts of Scotland. I bought a bottle last week and as always, Master of Malt is extremely quick in delivering the goods, safely packaged too.
Glenturret 34 yo 1977 (47,9%, Master of Malt 2012, refill sherry hogshead, 247 btl.)
Nose: nice vanilla biscuits, honey and plum compote. Tangerine candy and apricot jam. Dried pineapple. It shows a few nutty notes as well (hazelnut, almond). Honeysuckle. Turns towards slightly milky notes at times, but this comes and goes. Discreet spices. Complex and attractive.
Mouth: nice balance of sweet, fruity notes (cooked apricot, pear, papaya, pineapple candy) and slightly sourish citrus (grapefruit and lemon). Creamy and thick. Then some spicy gingerbread notes, waxy notes towards the finish and warm oak as well, but it stays impressively fruity.
Finish: long, pleasantly going from grapefruit to biscuits and back. Soft herbal notes as well.
Great whisky, with a lovely fruity sweetness, round malty notes and a dignified oldness. On top of that, it's significantly cheaper than the casks I mentioned in the introduction: around € 110. Highly recommended.
Score: 91/100


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Winter Storm #6
Update #1
February 28, 2019
Dear Resident,
Once again, Marlboro's Office of Emergency Management is monitoring some more projected winter precipitation, the first of which is forecasted by the National Weather Service to bring some mixed precipitation early Friday morning. This may be followed by additional precipitation Friday night which is currently forecasted to end as rain on Saturday. While an inch or less of sleet and snow accumulation is projected, the weather may present hazardous driving conditions, especially for the Friday am commute.
Marlboro DPW will have an early crew reporting Friday morning to deal with potential icy conditions, and, as always is prepared to mobilize additional resources if and when needed.
We will continue to track these storms and report back with updates as they become available.
Mayor Jon Hornik


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Note from BW of Brazil: Health, discriminatory practices and unequal access to health care are very important topics that have been featured in a number of posts on this blog. And the case that we will discuss today is a sad reminder of the severity of these issues. Past posts have delved into the death of various women, precarious childbirth situations and even miracle births. Along the way, there has been a long wait for the arrival of justice in one particular case that black Brazilian women activists have frequently written about as a glaring example of the way black women are treated in the medical establishment. From blatant acts of discrimination and disrespect, the outright human rights violations and ongoing stereotypical representations, Brazil still has a long way to go in regards to the black female population. After reading this story, you'll be sure to agree!
One other thing…Justice was a long time coming in this case but the minuscule settlement in the case makes me question the true value of a life. It is true that life cannot be measured with a monetary figure, but as another piece recently argued, life is very cheap in Brazil!
Brazil becomes the first country to pay compensation to family as a result of a maternal death; lawsuit highlights discriminatory practices against black women in health care system
By Marcelo Brandão, Ana Rita Dutra, Eliane Brum, Cristiane Segatto, Nelito Fernandes and Isabel Clemente with contributions from Reflexão e Mudança de Atitude
The Brazilian government has agreed to pay reparations in accordance with the first decision of the United Nations for recognition of maternal mortality as a human rights violation.
Nearly three years after the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of the United Nations (CEDAW) declared that Brazil was responsible for the death of a black woman and recommended that the State to provide access to quality maternal health services without discrimination, the Brazilian State will pay reparations to the mother of Alyne da Silva Pimentel.
According to Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:
"All women have the right to maternal health services when they need them, regardless of where they live, their salary or their race."
"It repeatedly denied to Alyne the required medical attention, which triggered her death."
"The Brazilian government took the first major step to complying with the UN decision, but must do more to improve maternal health services and eliminate discrimination against vulnerable women who require medical treatment."
"The Brazilian state is taking an important step in recognizing that the health system failed Alyne and other vulnerable Brazilian women," said Mónica Arango, regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights. "There remains some way to go for financial reparations be paid to the daughter of Alyne and for public policies that improve maternal health services for all women without discrimination to be created."
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 800 women die every day worldwide from complications associated with pregnancy. A quarter of all maternal deaths in Latin America occurs in Brazil and ninety percent of them could be prevented by prenatal care. Although Brazil has reduced its maternal mortality rate in the last decade, maternal mortality remains the major cause of deaths among women of reproductive age, affecting disproportionately women with scarce resources, black, indigenous and those living in areas in rural northern and northeastern regions of Brazil.
Alyne Silva Pimentel, a 28 year old black woman and resident of the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro died on November 16, 2002, in the sixth month of pregnancy, five days after being admitted to a public hospital with signs of a high risk pregnancy and lack of appropriate care. Alyne left a five year old daughter at the time and her death could have been avoided if she had had access to basic obstetric quality care, which is the responsibility of the Brazilian State, as defined by the Constitution of 1988.
On August 10, 2011, the Comitê pela Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra a Mulher (CEDAW or Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, of the UN, condemned Brazil in the Alyne da Silva Pimentel case. The decision of the UN CEDAW Committee concluded that the Brazilian state failed to protect the human rights of Alyne to life, health, equality and non-discrimination in access to health care. The Committee also considered that the State failed to guarantee Alyne's family effective access to justice.
The indemnity payment owed to Alyne's mother is an important step that needs to be accompanied by other measures of reparation and non-repetition as the implementation of health policies that guarantee physical integrity, life and health of women and which are effective to avoid similar cases.
At the time of her death, Alyne left behind a 5-year old daughter
Text from 2008 report by Eliane Brum, Cristiane Segatto, Nelito Fernandes and Isabel Clemente
When her mother didn't come home, Alice had many questions. "Where is my mother? Where is the baby? Why didn't my mother back?" After hearing the answers, she stopped talking. She tried but couldn't. When she could, she stammered. With Alice it was like this: first she lost her mother, then the words; and at only had five years of age. Another five passed. And Alice lost more; a year of school because he didn't speak right. Her father constructed a new family and hardly saw her. Her grandmother got sick and can't work as a domestic. Last year, another daughter died, she went on to raise another grandchild. Who sustains it all is the 77 year old great-grandmother. Alice is now 10. And a life that words can no longer describe.
Alice da Silva Pimentel, a girl with sad eyes from Belford Roxo in the Baixada Fluminense region, is at the center of an international trial. At the defendant stand is the Brazilian State. The death of her mother, Alyne, was brought to the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN. Brazil is the first country in the world to be judged by a case of maternal death. It has until July 16 to explain why it let Alice's mother die at the age of 28 and six months pregnant. It is a moral and political judgment that in diplomacy is called "the power of embarrassment."
This is a timeline of Alyne's last five days of life
• November 11, 2002 – Alyne felt sick. Accompanied by her mother, Maria de Lourdes, she went to the Casa de Saúde Nossa Senhora da Glória (Our Lady of Glory House of Health) in Belford Roxo in Baixada Fluminense. She left with a prescription for nausea, vitamin B12 and a topical medication for vaginal infection.
• November 13 – Alyne worsened. She returned to the health center. She was received by the doctor responsible for her prenatal care. "He told my daughter: 'Since you say you feel so bad, I will admit you'" said Maria de Lourdes. "I even asked if the baby was okay, he said it was." In maternity, Alyne was tended to by a third party professional. An ultrasound showed that the fetus was dead. Childbirth was induced. At 7.55pm Alyne gave birth to a stillborn fetus of 27 weeks.
• November 14 – the doctors did surgery to remove the placenta only 14 hours after the stillbirth. Soon afterward, Alyne was bleeding, vomiting blood, and her blood pressure dropped. "I called several times to the hospital. They told me she was fine and could be discharged the next day," says Maria de Lourdes.
• November 15 – Alyne continued hemorrhaging and could not breathe. "The doctor said that my daughter was in danger of death. She explained what had happened, but I didn't understand, because there were some big words," said Maria de Lourdes. Alyne decided to transfer. The only one that accepted her was the Hospital Geral de Nova Iguaçu (General Hospital in Nova Iguaçu). Alyne waited for an ambulance for eight hours. She only arrived at the hospital at 9:45pm without her medical records. She was in a coma. There was no bed. Alyne went to the emergency room.
• November 16 – Alyne died at 7pm. According to the autopsy, the cause of death was "gastrointestinal bleeding." Alyne was 28. Married to Adriano, a general services assistant, she helped the family income by selling jewelry. An Evangelical, she was the main voice of the church choir. She dreamed "big", as her mother says: she wanted to visit Venice and send her daughter Alice to college.
Statistics show that all Brazilian women are vulnerable to childbirth complications. Every year more than 4,000 Brazilian women die from issues connected to pregnancy, but for black women the situation is far worse. According to a 2009 report, the relative risk of maternal deaths for black women is 7.4 times higher than that of non-black women, literacy rates and education are 90% and 83% for white women, against 78% and 76 % for black women, respectively. Of households headed by black women, 60% have incomes below the minimum monthly salaries. Black women are the greatest victims of the lack of care in SUS health care system (1) in the event of legal abortion.
Like other experts who have spoken on this issue, Maria Luisa de Oliveira also points out the racial inequalities in the health care system. She is a psychologist, with a Master's in Public Health and Specialist in Ethics, Education and Human Rights. She is a militant of the black women's movement. Currently working in Sempre Mulher Instituto de Pesquisa e Intervenção sobre Relações Raciais (Forever Woman Institute for Research and Intervention on Race Relations), an affiliate of the Rede Feminista de Saúde (Feminist Health Network), and represents this network is the Plataforma DHESCA Brasil (DHESCA Platform Brazil). In a 2013 conversation with Ana Rita Dutra, she touched upon this question of medical attention given to black women.
What are the main problems faced by black women in health care today?
I'd say the main problem remains the operation of institutional racism that determines that black women receive unequal treatment at the time of health care. Let me explain: the prejudices, preconceived and disseminated ideas in society about black women are interjected so that professional assistance in health start to see the black population through these filters, so that the treatment is not the same for all women. Examples: for a long time, black health activists have denounced that black women receive less analgesia in childbirth due to the belief that we are more resistant to pain or that we should go through suffering because we make children indiscriminately, without being able to raise them, we are factories of the little marginalized, etc., etc., etc. We also know that black women, even going to consultation in health facilities, do not have breast examinations, which is vital for early detection of breast cancer. Another side of the problem is that diseases prevalent in the black population as a whole and in black women in particular are not sufficiently studied and understood, hampering assistance. Today, not so much, but a few decades ago black women were sterilized because of uterine fibroids, coupled with sterilization as a form of birth control and extermination of our population.
Government compensates Alyne's family
The Ministra da Secretaria de Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República (Minister of the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic), Maria do Rosário, in addition to ministers of the Secretaria Especial de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality), Luiza Bairros, and the Secretariat of Policies for Women, Eleonora Menicucci, presented Alyne's mother, Maria de Lourdes Pimentel, a certificate that recognizes the state's responsibility in her daughter's death and the financial reparations because of what happened.
"The death of your daughter is seen by us as a responsibility of public service. She died because the service was not suited to her needs. I mean that it deals with reparation of a symbolic character, to assume in front of the Brazilian people and the international community the responsibility of the Brazilian government in the death of your daughter," said Maria do Rosário to Alyne's mother.
The government paid to Maria of Lourdes US$55,000 (dollars), worth about R$131,000 (reais), in financial compensation for the death of Alyne. Moreover, the three ministers on behalf of the federal government, pledged to work for the reduction of maternal deaths. Measures, according to the representative of the Ministry of Health at the event, Dário Pasche, are already being taken by the Programa Rede Cegonha.
The Minister Maria do Rosário further explained the reason for the delay in payment of compensation to the family of Alyne. "The delay was because we had to structure the payment system so that it was legal. We had to have a judgment which established the legality of values and recommendation, as it is an international recommendation which was incorporated into domestic legislation."
The victim's mother sought CEDAW that in 2011 found the Brazilian government responsible for what happened and condemned it to pay compensation to Alyne's family. The process, according to Rosário, serves as a parameter for similar cases.
Source: UNEAfro Brasil, The Guardian, Blogueiras Feministas, Monitoramento Cedaw, Revista Época, Agência Brasil
1. The Sistema Único de Saúde or Unified Health System), better known by the acronym SUS, is Brazil's publicly funded health care system. SUS was created after the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which assured that health care is a "right of all and an obligation of the State". Prior to that, only people who contributed with the social security were able to receive health care. The creation of SUS was important in the sense that more than 80% of the Brazilian population depend on it to receive medical treatment. Brazil provides two-tier health care, but almost 25% of the population pay for private insurance. Source
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