text:
You know how important your email system is to your business. Not only is email your core communication tool, but also bears a lot of weight from the legal perspective and must be accessible at all times. You have a good email security system and also ensure your emails are always backed up, archived and stored safely. But what about keeping your email system safe from threats within your organization?
When it comes to email security, an oft-ignored, yet interesting angle to look into is–how to protect your email system from internal threats, like malicious intent of your own employees. There is the possibility that somebody who works for you could choose to corrupt your email system on purpose. You can avoid such instances from happening by constantly monitoring your employee's IT behavior. You can do this by installing software programs that work to track employee access and activities related to access and sends alerts in case of unusual IT behavior. Examples of unusual IT behavior includes employees logging into work email at a time or day they are not expected to, sending attachments to email addresses that are outside of your organizational network, etc. Also invest in CCTV cameras and biometric access if you can. That will also serve as a deterrent to malicious employees.
Email is the most critical communication tool for your business, but it also has the potential to serve as an easy, backdoor entry for cybercriminals into your organization's IT systems. When it comes to cybercrime, email is also one of the most commonly targeted elements. An email hack has the potential to translate into data leak, compromise sensitive vendor and client data leaving you vulnerable to lawsuits or install malware that can paralyze your business functions entirely.
If you don't have the time to look into the security of your email system, consider seeking assistance from a MSP. They will be able to review your business requirement and suggest the right email security tool for you. They can also help you draft a sound IT policy if you don't already have one and also conduct employee training and drills from the security perspective.


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Hearing Aid Technology Has Advanced
Hearing Aid Technology Has Advanced: Hearing aid technology can be sophisticated and straightforward, continually changing to provide wearers with more benefits.
As hearing aids have improved, so has their technology. Though they have evolved through time, the core components of hearing aids remain the same. These are a microphone, processor, receiver, and power supply.
The microphone detects sounds in your surroundings and sends them to the CPU.
Sending the signal to your ear canal is the receiver's job.
A power source or battery powers the system.
Hearing loss advocates push for all hearing aids to include the following four technical features: a telecoil, Bluetooth, a comfortable/discreet design, and rechargeable batteries (more on this below).
These are known as the "superfecta" features of hearing aids.
Hearing aid technology is characterised as advanced or basic based on the sophistication of the processor.
Even today's basic digital hearing aids provide significantly more benefits than earlier generations' most excellent hearing aids.
Innovative hearing aid technology
Digital hearing aids grow more automatic and have additional capabilities to help you communicate in challenging listening circumstances as technology improves.
New technology is resulting in higher hearing aid pricing and more benefits.
The features listed below are more likely to be found in advanced hearing aids.
Keep in mind that these new technologies must be taken into consideration. New technologies are incredibly advanced functions are only found in hearing aids, not personal listening devices.
Superior frequency responsiveness and sound processing
Because all hearing aids process sound, when sound enters the hearing aid, it must be separated into bands of sound (often referred to as "channels") and digitised before it can be amplified.
The more flexible a hearing aid can split sounds to amplify them for your unique hearing loss, the better the quality of the hearing aid.
If you have a high-frequency hearing loss, a better hearing aid may only amplify sounds within that band, whereas a lower-end one may boost both mid and high frequencies. This hearing aid customisation is known as frequency response.
Bluetooth connectivity
Bluetooth compatibility is a wireless capability that allows hearing aids to connect to cell phones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, usually via an intermediary device.
Because the signal bypasses the microphone and goes straight into the hearing aid's processor, Bluetooth technology increases the signal-to-noise ratio and removes feedback from the microphone.
A Bluetooth connection is less vulnerable to interference than an FM system (see Basic Features below).
Intelligent automation
A deep neural network for sound processing is available to some high-end hearing aids thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).
These adjustments can be made automatically by hearing aids if the environment is recognised through recording volume control settings and programme preferences for distinct sound environments.
Hearing devices that use a DNN may effectively imitate how your brain would hear sounds if your hearing were normal.
On App Interface by Oticon
The Oticon On app's home screen
For use with Oticon hearing aids.
Most current hearing aids have smartphone apps that allow users to make changes, contact their hearing care provider, and monitor battery life. Most crucially, some of them work the same way as hearing aids, sending phone calls or other noise sources straight to the user's hearing aids. Some are also capable of converting speech to text and translating between languages.
Batteries that are rechargeable
Rechargeable batteries are increasingly being used in hearing aids, removing the need to replace tiny button batteries every few days or weeks. These will be accessible on most hearing aid devices in the following years.
Tinnitus masking characteristics
Tinnitus masking functions are available in the most modern hearing aids. They can be programmed by an audiologist or other hearing care specialist to emit sounds that disguise tinnitus or ringing in your ears. (However, for many persons with tinnitus, enhancing the missing sounds with a hearing aid is enough to reduce the tinnitus that frequently arises with age-related hearing loss.)
Waterproof construction
If you want a truly waterproof device, you'll have to look for a more expensive one. However, Phonak, a hearing aid maker, currently sells a waterproof hearing device that can be submerged in up to one metre of water.
Audio in both directions
Several manufacturers now offer hearing aids with two-way audio streaming in the microphone, making hands-free phone calls easier. Using the microphone on your hearing aids, you can hear and talk when you get a phone call. As long as you aren't speaking into your phone, you are fine.
The fundamentals of hearing aid technology.
Basic hearing aids, while still computer-programmable, have limited ability to fine-tune for atypical hearing loss patterns. They are also less adaptable and automatic than advanced technology hearing aids.
In certain listening conditions, basic digital hearing aids require you to make manual adjustments, such as increasing or decreasing the volume or pressing a button on the device to decrease noise from behind.
The following are some features that are commonly seen in basic hearing aids.
Wireless hearing aids
Wireless technology enables two hearing aids to function as one complete system rather than as two separate devices.
Sound input is shared across hearing aids, and digital sound processing decisions are made using the combined information.
This is known as binaural processing.
This technology stimulates the brain's ability to process information from both ears, reducing the need for human adjustments.
When one hearing aid is activated for directional mode, the other is likely to switch to that mode simultaneously.
Wireless hearing aid data transfer rates are measured in nanoseconds, which is significantly faster than the human brain can detect.
The adjustments are perceived in real-time by the wearer. As a result, sound processing between the two hearing aids is synced, increasing sound quality for the wearer.
Wireless hearing aids can also interface with external devices wirelessly, typically through Bluetooth, telecoils that work with hearing loops, and frequency modulation systems (we discuss the latter two below).
Wireless technology essentially improves hearing aids in two ways:
By enhancing the communication between hearing aids (modern hearing aids can now transmit sound as a joint pair rather than individually).
You are making it simpler to connect with your favourite gadgets, such as cellphones.
Telecoil A telecoil, sometimes known as a coil, is a wireless feature that detects electromagnetic signals from compatible phones or rooms equipped with loops.
Hearing aids have long included this technology.
A telecoil can improve the signal-to-noise ratio by transmitting the intended signal directly to the hearing aid processor without using the microphone.
The telecoil is frequently used to make public events, tours, exhibits, and religious services accessible to those with hearing impairments.
FM radio compatibility
FM compatibility is a wireless technology that allows hearing aids to connect to FM systems, sometimes through a special attachment on the hearing aids known as a boot.
FM systems can be used alone or in conjunction with hearing aids. FM solutions, like the telecoil, improve the signal-to-noise ratio without creating a feedback loop in the hearing aids.
When choosing hearing aids for children, FM compatibility is especially crucial because these systems are frequently utilised in educational settings to ensure that the teacher's voice is heard over the commotion of the classroom.
Systems for directional microphones
Directional microphone systems are intended to magnify sounds coming from the wearer's front while suppressing noises coming from other directions.
Different system designs, to varying degrees, block sounds coming from behind. These systems increase speech interpretation in noisy environments.
Hearing aids with directional microphone systems have higher satisfaction than hearing aids without these systems.
Noise reduction through digital means
Digital noise reduction systems examine the signal to see if it contains undesirable noise. The system reduces the noise level when this undesired noise is identified.
This feature reduces background or ambient noise and boosts listening comfort.
Hearing instrument users choose digital noise reduction since it has proven effective.
Noise reduction on impulses
Impulse noise reduction, like digital noise reduction, increases listening comfort. This technology detects and muffles momentary loud noises such as the clatter of automobile keys, typing on a keyboard, or the clatter of dishes.
Noise reduction from the wind
Wind noise reduction, while a rather specialised application, can significantly impact persons who enjoy outdoor sports, such as golfers and boaters.
Wind noise cancellation detects the effects of wind blowing over the microphones of hearing aids and avoids or minimises wind amplification.
Systems for managing feedback
Feedback control systems are designed to combat the inevitable feedback (whistling) that occurs with hearing aids.
These feedback loops produce an obnoxious whistling sound that can interfere with hearing comfort.
Feedback management methods for simple hearing aids and complex hearing aids can be implemented differently. Simple feedback management techniques can be used to lower total gain and thereby eliminate whistling.
Advanced feedback management techniques decrease or eliminate whistling while maintaining the hearing aid's total gain.
Logging of Data
Data logging is a feature that saves information about your hearing aids' listening situations and your choices for programmes, volume settings, and other features.
When you return for a follow-up session, the hearing care professional will have access to this information. Your hearing care specialist can use this essential information to customise your hearing aid fitting better.
Is there a benefit to these characteristics that I'm unaware of?
Assume you're enjoying dinner with buddies in a typical busy restaurant. Sounds such as clanging plates, discussions and laughter at neighbouring tables, and rushing waiters are coming from all directions.
With your new hearing aids in place, you're listening to a chat with a friend. A joke has been cracked.
Your hearing aids reduce impulse noise like the clink of silverware on your plate (impulse noise reduction).
Put an end to the screams coming from the air conditioning system above you (with digital noise reduction), muffle conversations at the tables behind you (with directional microphones), and save information about your surroundings for later use in fine-tuning (data logging).
While your friend's vocal signal is amplified and moulded, this happens automatically. You can now unwind and enjoy the punch line.
This is only one illustration of how modern hearing aid technology works today. To discover a hearing aid near you, contact a hearing care expert.
Brought To You By – Microsuction Bury
The post Hearing Aid Technology Has Advanced appeared first on https://gqcentral.co.uk

subset: commoncrawl


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Tourist Trap
Capitalizing on the widely-publicized series of unsolved murders that occurred at the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas in the late 1970s*, Tourist Trap is a slasher film with all the classic elements.
It's got a big beefy killer in overalls and a mask, portrayed by Chuck Connors, known primarily for his television role as The Rifleman but also for his 400 pound chin. And, of course, a couple of scantily clad babes, including replacement Charlie's Angel Tanya Roberts, who would later make MILF history as the neighbor in That 70s Show.
For some reason the babes are on a road trip with a girl who's sort of a more conservative version of Sarah, Plain and Tall when their car breaks down (you don't say!) near a freaky roadside museum. It's full of creepy mannequins that big Chuck operates via his never-explained telekinesis, proving that if people started developing X-Men style mutant powers in the real world their first impulse wouldn't be to rule the world OR try to save it, but instead to perv out and build a giant whackin' emporium full of RealDolls.
The girls, naturally, trust museum owner Chuck completely. They don't realize he's the killer picking them off one by one, a ruse that even Scooby and Shaggy would immediately see through, even with red-rimmed eyes after hotboxing the van. Throw in a twist ending so shocking it'll leave you saying "huh, I guess that was the ending," and you've got a Tourist Trap even more perplexing/disappointing than Santa Cruz's famous Mystery Spot (where, incidentally, the Colby Jack cheese blend was first invented**).
Put on your Hawaiian shirt, fanny pack, and Teva sandals with socks, then join Mike, Kevin, and Bill in the Tourist Trap!
*not factual, this is just an urban legend we're trying to get off the ground
**this is another one
Digital Video file formats
All digital products you purchase from RiffTrax.com are DRM-free, can be played across a large variety of devices, and are yours to keep ... forever! Even if you have a hard drive meltdown, you can always log back into the site and re-download all of your previous purchases.
For our Download and Stream products, you can stream the product to your computer or to your TV via Chromecast, or download to a device that can play the MP4 file format. For more information on our video formats, please see this KB article.
Just the Jokes are simply MP3 files which are DRM free and can be enjoyed on any device that can play this common audio format.
RiffMeter rating
Content Rating


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[AI community] The tendency of humans to attach associations to terms from prior experience. For example, there is nothing magic about the symbol + that makes it well-suited to indicate addition; it's just that people associate it with addition. Using + or 'plus' to mean addition in a computer language is taking advantage of the ELIZA effect.
This term comes from the famous ELIZA program by Joseph Weizenbaum, which simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist by rephrasing many of the patient's statements as questions and posing them to the patient. It worked by simple pattern recognition and substitution of key words into canned phrases. It was so convincing, however, that there are many anecdotes about people becoming very emotionally caught up in dealing with ELIZA. All this was due to people's tendency to attach to words meanings which the computer never put there. The ELIZA effect is a Good Thing when writing a programming language, but it can blind you to serious shortcomings when analyzing an Artificial Intelligence system. Compare ad-hockery; see also AI-complete. Sources for a clone of the original Eliza are available at ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/AI_ATTIC/Programs/Classic/Eliza/Eliza.c.


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Beeswax Votive - 3 pack
See more: Votive
These lovely 100% pure beeswax votive candles are handcrafted, and sit perfectly in our glass votive holder (holders are not included). They are clean and long burning with a self trimming wick, and give off a gentle, natural honey scent. This a 3 pack of beeswax votives.
All of our beeswax candles are non-toxic, non-allergenic and non-carcinogenic, making them safe to burn for pets, children and people with asthma or allergies.
Beeswax Votive Candle Details
Burn time: 12 - 15 hours
Dimensions: 2" x 2.5"
Wick: 100% cotton, dipped in our own pure beeswax
Wax: 100% pure Canadian beeswax, filtered to 1 micron


text:
Irina (ID: 16883)
- Age:57
- Date of birth:October 12, 1966
- Zodiac: Libra
- Height:5' 4" (165 cm)
- Weight:114 lb (52 kg)
- Hair color:blonde
- Eyes color:green
- Country:Ukraine
- City:Vinnitsa
- Religion:Orthodox
- Marital status:divorced
- Children:2 (boy-1986, girl-1991)
- Smoke:no
- Alcohol:Never
- Profession:Archive worker
- Education:Incomleted higher
- English language:Using dictionary
- Others foreign languages:No
- Seeks partner:57 - 60 years old
Hobbies and interests:
I have lots of hobbies. Going to museums, theaters, cinemas, different exhibitions, concerts and parks are among them. I like dancing and travels very much. I am also very communicative person and that's why I have lots of friends and I like my free time with them out of the city somewhere near a lake or river far from noisy and busy city. I also like cooking some delicious meal.
About me:
I am serious, goal-oriented, attentive, responsible, romantic, sensitive, optimistic, kind and clever woman. I like reading thrillers, novels, detective stories and classical literature. I am fond of listening to disco music and opera. I prefer Russian, Ukrainian and Italian cuisine.
Looking For Men Type:
I would like him to be kind, life loving, reliable and generous. I want to share my sorrows and joys with me. He must be ready to create a strong and friendly family. If you are as romantic as I am then you are welcome.
Customer support in Ukraine: +380-96-0751758
Comments or questions: firstname.lastname@example.com or Contact Us
Copyright 2003-2024 © www.city-meeting.com. All rights reserved.
NOK Group s.r.o. reg. 28539362, Brehova 202/4, Prague, Czech Republic


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Today on the Streetsblog Network, we're featuring a post from San Francisco's Pedestrianist about two-way street conversions in Minneapolis and how such changing traffic patterns could benefit pedestrians and other users:
The city of Minneapolis is about to return two of its downtown streets to two-way traffic after nearly 30 years of one-way flow. Those streets, like many in downtowns across the country, were converted to one-way couplets by auto-centric traffic engineers in the middle of the last century.
Their goal was to squeeze more cars through older, narrow streets as fast as they could. And that's exactly what happened. The problem is that the fast, thick traffic along these one-way streets has proven to be dangerous to vulnerable road users, especially pedestrians, and has often pushed away much of the street life.
In San Francisco, the grid of one-way streets on either side of Market and around the old ramps to the Central Freeway in Hayes Valley and the Western Addition are among the most dangerous places to walk. The recent killing of a woman on Fell Street has prompted numerous calls to calm the traffic on that and other unidirectional expressways. One of the more common sentiments expressed in comments on Streetsblog is that these one-way couplets should be restored back to two-way traffic.
Two-way streets are naturally calmer because cars approaching from opposite directions make each other nervous. Nervous drivers are slower and more alert to their surroundings. Two way streets are also easier for bicycles to navigate, and the presence of bikes on a street further calms car traffic.
There is, in my opinion, no reason not to begin restoring two-way traffic on San Francisco streets, starting with the most dangerous first. The lives of our neighbors are too high a cost to justify a slightly faster car commute.
More from around the network: FABB Blog and Missouri Bicycle News call attention to a Parade magazine article about the bicycling mayor of Columbia, Missouri. Greater Greater Washington scrutinizes the National Park Service's rejection of a request to use Rock Creek Parkway for an organized bike tour event. And Let's Go Ride a Bike has more on the biking gender gap.
Photo by wvs via Flickr.


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PRODUCT OVERVIEW: Hodgdon Triple Seven Black Powder
Hodgdon Triple Seven pellets are formed charges of Triple Seven powder. They are totally sulfur free so there is no bad smell and they leave behind less residue to simplify cleaning. With pellets, there is no need for powder measures or flasks and you won't ever have to worry about messy powder spills again.
- Do not exceed the loads displayed in the reloaders guide.
- Never mix any two powders regardless of type, brand, or source.
- Never substitute any smokeless powder for Black Powder or any Black Powder substitute.


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LiveHelpNow help desk system provides the ultimate way to communicate with your website visitors and customers. Engage real-time the second a visitor visits a critical page of your website. Allow your customers to communicate with you directly on your website, via live chat, SMS/Text, Facebook, Twitter or Email. With LiveHelpNow, you may interact with your customers however which way they prefer, from one easy-to-use platform. This plugin adds the necessary script to your site that enables the live chat functionality.
Benefits for merchants
Omni-channel customer support platform, offering 360 degrees of customer service for your customers to be able to contact your company on the channel they prefer! Whether it is live chat, SMS, email, Facebook or Twitter. All customer inquiries are captured and organized by conversations and all in real time.
Benefits for customers
Real time communication enablement over Chat, SMS, Email, Facebook and Twitter from within one easy to use platform
Product features
- Here are just some of the features that differentiate LiveHelpNow from other help desk platforms:
- Accept chat over SMS (customers can text for support!)
- Secure forms (transmit highly confidential information such as credit cards, PHI info, order info) right within chat or email!
- Integrated Chat, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Call and Knowledge management (provide customers with all channels of support from one system)!
- Dedicated US-based 24/7 support
- Real-time agent monitoring
- Financial grade security
- Instant language translation
- Social media integration
- Support unlimited brands
- Integrated customer surveys
- Integrates with any CRM
- Targeted customer engagement
- Customer satisfaction scorecard
- Exportable dynamic enterprise level reports
- Skill based routing and queuing
- Agent permissions and restrictions
- Whisper technology
- File transfer
- Automated tagging
- Chat sentiment analysis
- Please attend live demo of LiveHelpNow to learn more.
Pricing and plans
Please visit pricing page and start 30 day free trial here
- Upload the entire
folder to the/wp-content/plugins/
directory, or install plugin from admin panel - Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
- Authenticate livehelpnow account in plugin settings (you can get an account on (https://www.livehelpnow.net/))
- Sample Chat should be installed by default and enabled on every page
- More options are available in plugin's settings and on chat edit page
- You can enable / disable chat for specific pages on page edit screen (side meta boxes)
Is the plugin free?
Plugin is free to install but requires active LiveHelpNow help desk subscription (https://www.livehelpnow.net/pricing)
How much does LiveHelpNow subscription cost?
$21 per month
Is the plugin customizable?
The widget embed is completely customizable with any colors and any language
Is support available for the plugin?
Yes we provide 24×7 support. Visit (http://help.livehelpnow.net/) , email email@example.com or call/text 877-548-3001
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
"LiveHelpNow Help Desk" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate "LiveHelpNow Help Desk" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
- Updated "Tested up to section"
- Fixed PHP notices about "Undefined property"
- Changed widget options API endpoint.
- Additional layer of error handling implemented.
- Fixed problem WordPress bug, not allowing template tags in side metabox, causing interference with global object ID.
- Fixed problem with not saving option when checkbox is not selected
- Fixed problem with authentication notice after activation
- Fixed problem with displaying both display and hide chat options on page edit screen
- Added php required version check (PHP 5.4)
- Updated "Tested up to section"
- Initial release


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Discover how a bimodal integration strategy can address the major data management challenges facing your organization today.
Get the Report →How to Connect to Greenplum Data in Python on Linux/UNIX
Create Python applications on Linux/UNIX machines with connectivity to Greenplum data. Leverage the pyodbc module for ODBC in Python.
The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quicker and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Linux/UNIX ODBC Driver for Greenplum and the pyodbc module, you can easily build Greenplum-connected Python applications. This article shows how to use the pyodbc built-in functions to connect to Greenplum data, execute queries, and output the results.
Using the CData ODBC Drivers on a UNIX/Linux Machine
The CData ODBC Drivers are supported in various Red Hat-based and Debian-based systems, including Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora. There are also several libraries and packages that are required, many of which may be installed by default, depending on your system. For more information on the supported versions of Linux operating systems and the required libraries, please refer to the "Getting Started" section in the help documentation (installed and found online).
Installing the Driver Manager
Before installing the driver, check that your system has a driver manager. For this article, you will use unixODBC, a free and open source ODBC driver manager that is widely supported.
For Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, you can install unixODBC with the APT package manager:
$ sudo apt-get install unixodbc unixodbc-dev
For systems based on Red Hat Linux, you can install unixODBC with yum or dnf:
$ sudo yum install unixODBC unixODBC-devel
The unixODBC driver manager reads information about drivers from an odbcinst.ini file and about data sources from an odbc.ini file. You can determine the location of the configuration files on your system by entering the following command into a terminal:
$ odbcinst -j
The output of the command will display the locations of the configuration files for ODBC data sources and registered ODBC drivers. User data sources can only be accessed by the user account whose home folder the odbc.ini is located in. System data sources can be accessed by all users. Below is an example of the output of this command:
DRIVERS............: /etc/odbcinst.ini
SYSTEM DATA SOURCES: /etc/odbc.ini
FILE DATA SOURCES..: /etc/ODBCDataSources
USER DATA SOURCES..: /home/myuser/.odbc.ini
SQLULEN Size.......: 8
SQLLEN Size........: 8
SQLSETPOSIROW Size.: 8
Installing the Driver
You can download the driver in standard package formats: the Debian .deb package format or the .rpm file format. Once you have downloaded the file, you can install the driver from the terminal.
The driver installer registers the driver with unixODBC and creates a system DSN, which can be used later in any tools or applications that support ODBC connectivity.
For Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, run the following command with sudo or as root:
$ dpkg -i /path/to/package.deb
For Red Hat systems and other systems that support .rpms, run the following command with sudo or as root:
$ rpm -i /path/to/package.rpm
Once the driver is installed, you can list the registered drivers and defined data sources using the unixODBC driver manager:
List the Registered Driver(s)
$ odbcinst -q -d
CData ODBC Driver for Greenplum
List the Defined Data Source(s)
$ odbcinst -q -s
CData Greenplum Source
To use the CData ODBC Driver for Greenplum with unixODBC, ensure that the driver is configured to use UTF-16. To do so, edit the INI file for the driver (cdata.odbc.greenplum.ini), which can be found in the lib folder in the installation location (typically /opt/cdata/cdata-odbc-driver-for-greenplum), as follows:
DriverManagerEncoding = UTF-16
Modifying the DSN
The driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties. Additionally, you can create user-specific DSNs that will not require root access to modify in $HOME/.odbc.ini.
To connect to Greenplum, set the Server, Port (the default port is 5432), and Database connection properties and set the User and Password you wish to use to authenticate to the server. If the Database property is not specified, the default database for the authenticate user is used.
/etc/odbc.ini or $HOME/.odbc.ini
[CData Greenplum Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Greenplum
Description = My Description
User = user
Password = admin
Database = dbname
Server = 127.0.0.1
Port = 5432
For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).
You can follow the procedure below to install pyodbc and start accessing Greenplum through Python objects.
Install pyodbc
You can use the pip utility to install the module:
pip install pyodbc
Be sure to import with the module with the following:
import pyodbc
Connect to Greenplum Data in Python
You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. Below is the syntax for a connection string:
cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for Greenplum};User=user;Password=admin;Database=dbname;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432;')
Below is the syntax for a DSN:
cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DSN=CData Greenplum Sys;')
Execute SQL to Greenplum
Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
You can use fetchall, fetchone, and fetchmany to retrieve Rows returned from SELECT statements:
import pyodbc
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DSN=CData Greenplum Source;User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword')
cursor.execute("SELECT Freight, ShipName FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = 'USA'")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
print(row.Freight, row.ShipName)
You can provide parameterized queries in a sequence or in the argument list:
"SELECT Freight, ShipName
FROM Orders
WHERE ShipCountry = ?", 'USA',1)
INSERT commands also use the execute method; however, you must subsequently call the commit method after an insert or you will lose your changes:
cursor.execute("INSERT INTO Orders (ShipCountry) VALUES ('USA')")
Update and Delete
As with an insert, you must also call commit after calling execute for an update or delete:
cursor.execute("UPDATE Orders SET ShipCountry = 'USA'")
Metadata Discovery
You can use the getinfo method to retrieve data such as information about the data source and the capabilities of the driver. The getinfo method passes through input to the ODBC SQLGetInfo method.
You are now ready to build Python apps in Linux/UNIX environments with connectivity to Greenplum data, using the CData ODBC Driver for Greenplum.


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WALTR helps you wirelessly drag-and-drop any music, ringtones, videos, PDF, and ePub files onto your iPhone, iPad, or iPod without iTunes. It is the second major version of Softorino's critically-acclaimed original WALTR, which solved 2 huge problems for every iOS user: unsupported media-format transfer without installing any additional 3rd-party iOS apps, as well as iTunes sync elimination -- allowing users to drag-and-drop files from any computer. WALTR 2 is here to add a few cherries on top.
- Video formats: MKV, AVI, MP4, MOV, MPEG, m2ts, 3GP, WMV, H264, H265
- Audio formats: MP3, FLAC, APE, ALAC, AAC, AIFF, WAV, WMA, OGG, OGA, WV, TTA, DFF
- CUE sheet support (automatic breakdown of a single file into multiple tracks)
- M4R Ringtones (includes support for ringtones over 30 seconds long)
- ....


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Mali has risk of Chikungunya transmission.
Chikungunya is a viral infection caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) belonging to the Togaviridae family. The virus is transmitted through the bite of infected daytime biting female – primarily Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus – mosquitoes. They usually bite during the early morning and late afternoon, and are typically found in and around urban and suburban dwellings. Some mosquitoes that transmit Chikungunya in Africa also live in forested areas. Monkeys and other wild animals are also believed to be reservoirs or carriers of the virus.
Travellers going to the Caribbean, Central America, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent are at risk, especially during the rainy season. Isolated cases of locally acquired Chikungunya have occurred in the USA, Italy and France.
In some cases, Chikungunya is asymptomatic – persons do not exhibit symptoms. Those with symptoms usually get ill 3-12 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Symptoms include sudden fever and severe muscle and joint pain. They can be accompanied by headache, fatigue nausea, vomiting, and a rash. Although most patients fully recover, chronic joint pain may last for several weeks or months. Other persistent problems may include eye, gastrointestinal, neurological, and heart complications. Persons with chronic health conditions, a weakened immune system, infants, and older persons are at risk of developing complications with this infection. Chikungunya is rarely fatal. Treatment includes supportive care of symptoms. There is no antiviral treatment available.
If you have had Chikungunya in the past, you are immune to subsequent infections. Chikungunya virus can be misdiagnosed for Zika Virus or Dengue.
Travellers should take meticulous measures to prevent mosquito bites during the daytime.
There is no preventive medication or vaccine against Chikungunya.
Information last updated: April 28, 2021.


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With a day of rest what does a bass fishing guide in Florida do? Well today I hit the waters of East Lake Toho with a new bait in hand. Today I was doing things a little different. Instead of chasing the bass around the lake I opted to go after a totally different species of fish. Florida Crappie!
East Lake Toho has been known for a long time to have some pretty good crappie fishing and I decided to target them today with the new bait from Timbuktu. This bait is called Fisher's Choice and the one I chose to use today was the Crickets. Having used live crickets many times for catching crappie, using crickets from a can was a different twist for sure.
Normally the day would start out trying to get only one cricket out of the carrier or trying to chase down the ones that slipped out before they hit the water or found a hiding spot on the boat. Today was a nice change of pace. Just simply opening up a can and slipping a cricket on the hook. No more crickets scurrying around the boat trying to get away.
I slow trolled them today and got a handful of crappie for my rewards. Casting them was very easy, as the legs stayed intact making the bait much more enticing to the crappie. The crickets are soft and moist and did a get job for me. Spider rigging was the way to go out here with the crickets. Slow trolled they held up great and did what they were supposed to do, and that's catch the crappie. They also offer Night Crawler, Wax Worms and Super Worms. Check them out at Fisherschoicebait.com
These cans hold over 80 crickets per can and very reasonably priced at Bass Pro Shops for only $9.99 per can. If you don't use them right away, that is no problem, if the can is unopened it will have a shelf life of up to two years, and once they are opened will be good for up to two weeks. How can you go wrong with that!


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XTM-9-HW-MSI-T MEGA SI+/DI+ Dual Spectrum CHIRP Trolling Motor Transducer with Temp
MEGA Side Imaging+ Trolling Motor Transducer supports MEGA Imaging+/800kHz/455kHz and Dual Spectrum CHIRP 2D Sonar with a CHIRP range of 150-220kHz. Includes built-in temperature sensor, rugged composite design, trolling motor mounting hardware and 20' cable.
- This accessory is compatible with the following Humminbird products: HELIX 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G3N, HELIX 9 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G3N, HELIX 10 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G3N, HELIX 12 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G3N.
- Dual Spectrum CHIRP Frequencies: Full: 150-220 kHz, Narrow: 180-240 kHz, Wide: 140-200 kHz
- Dual Spectrum CHIRP Max Depth: 1200ft (365m)
- MEGA Side Imaging+ Frequencies - Max Range (side-to-side): 455kHz: 440-500 kHz - 800ft (244m), 800kHz: 790-850 kHz - 250ft (76m), MEGA SI+: 1075-1150 kHz - 400ft (m)
- MEGA Down Imaging+ Frequencies - Max Depth: 455kHz: 440-500 kHz - 400ft (122m), 800kHz: 790-850 kHz - 125ft (38m), MEGA DI+: 1075-1150 kHz - 200ft (61m)
WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including LEAD which is known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to P65Warnings.ca.gov.
- Temperature: Yes
- Speed Included: No
- Imagining: Standard/Down/Side
- Chirp: High Wide
- Cable Length (Feet): 20'
- Mounting Style: Trolling Motor
- Box Dimensions: 4"H x 10"W x 15"L WT: 2.7 lbs
Owner's Manual (pdf)


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Get as much out of it as you put in! This double ended dildo and harness set treats both of you to remote controlled vibration. Explore 3 speeds of thrumming and 7 patterns of throbbing from the dual motors: one for you, and one for your partner. Place the longer dildo through the hole of the minimalistic harness, allowing the wearer to insert the smaller portion, which is curved to reach for the G-Spot.
A raised nub on the exterior is designed to provide clitoral stimulation. The longer dildo is also curved, and features a bulbous head to massage the receivers P-Spot or G-Spot. The remote control makes it easy to cycle through the 10 settings without having to pause penetration.
The seductive harness as 2 points of adjustment to ensure a perfect fit. The double sided dildo is made of premium silicone, making it non-porous and phthalate free, but not compatible with silicone lubricants. This pleasure tool is rechargeable and waterproof. Clean with mild soap or toy cleaner.
Measurements 10.75 inches in total length. Long dildo is 5.5 inches insertable length, 1.2 inches at narrowest diameter, 1.7 inches at widest point. Small dildo is 3.5 inches in length, 1.35 inches at widest diameter, 1 inch at narrowest. Harness fits waists up to 41 inches around. Materials Silicone, ABS, PU leather, metal. Color Purple. Note includes double dildo, remote control and harness. Charges via USB. Remote control requires 1 27A battery.
- Brand : Strap U
- Material : Silicone
- Length: 10.75 in


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President's Message
Welcome message from the APOC President
We welcome you to the official website of the Asia Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC). The APOC is an international orchid festival that is held every three years. The conference started as a tradition way back on 1984 in Tokyo, Japan.
Over the years, APOC has been successfully organized through the auspices of various orchid individuals and groups in private, government and NGO sectors. APOC as a prestigious international orchid event has been held in different cities and countries, which includes Indonesia; Adelaide and Townsville in Australia; Chaing Mai, Thailand; Korea; China; Taiwan; and Tokyo, Fukuoka, Nagoya and the upcoming 11th APOC in Okinawa, Japan.
We believe that the APOC is a significant activity to strengthen the orchid industry. Thus, we have designed the conference to become an avenue where common practices in the development, hybridization, culture, biotechnology and its application, and conservation of orchids are shared amongst orchid enthusiasts. Customarily, every conference include activities for the exhibits of creative and spectacular floral and garden designs, lecture series about latest trends in orchid industry, orchid show, and distribution of awards which honors exemplary work of orchid enthusiasts that participated in the conference.
We, the Trustees of the Asia Pacific Orchid Conference hope that the conference becomes a regular triennial Asia Pacific activity in the orchid calendar. We will sustain the tradition of bringing colorful orchid festivals to different cities and countries. Likewise, we will also sustain the effort to disseminate common knowledge and recent trends in the development, hybridization, science, culture and conservation of orchids. We hope that you could join us in attaining this goal.
Haruhiko Nagata
Former President


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President Donald Trump's lawyers have waived attorney-client privilege regarding a secretly recorded conversation he had in September 2016 with his former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen in which they discussed payments to an ex-Playboy model who says she had an affair with the President, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move comes as an attorney for Cohen openly questioned Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's claim that the tape showed no wrongdoing by the President, furthering the growing divide between Trump and Cohen, who had once said he'd take a bullet for the President.
Trump's lawyers asking to remove the privilege designation from the recording means that the government now has access to it as part of the US attorney for the Southern District of New York's probe into Cohen. It effectively gives prosecutors the ability to use the recording if they find it relevant to their criminal investigation of Cohen.
The prosecutors working on the case had not reviewed the recording because it, along with millions of other documents and files seized in FBI searches of Cohen's home, hotel room and office in April, was undergoing the special master process, in which an independent party reviews whether the items should be regarded as privileged and thus withheld from prosecutors. The special master had designated the recording as privileged, according to two sources familiar with the process, but Trump's lawyers subsequently waived their right to maintain that designation.
After The New York Times first revealed the existence of the tape -- and Giuliani claimed the tape was exculpatory evidence that did no harm to Trump — his legal team decided to remove any protection relating to the attorney-client relationship on this specific matter.
The President's attorneys clearly believe that the tape will not show any wrongdoing by their client. The transaction never happened, Giuliani told CNN.
But Giuliani's claims that the tape does Trump no damage was disputed by a source close to Cohen who said that Giuliani is "trying to say what is bad is good." Later Lanny Davis, Cohen's newest attorney, put out a statement claiming that "when the recording is heard, it will not hurt Michael Cohen. Any attempt at spin cannot change what is on the tape."
Team Cohen remains surprised that Trump's lawyers removed the protective claim of privilege, given their view that the tape is harmful to the President. They claim that Giuliani is mischaracterizing the tape in key ways that contradict the facts of the conversation as they see them. But they declined to offer a description of their exact view of the conversation beyond saying that Giuliani's more benign descriptions of the tape are contradictory to what actually occurred.
What's more, they see Giuliani's public comments as a way to change the subject from the President's near-universally panned performance in Helsinki, Finland, at the beginning of last week.
Giuliani put a positive spin on the content of the in-person conversation on Friday, describing it as Trump discussing potential payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges Trump an affair with her. Trump denies the allegation.
"Cohen is talking about buying the rights from AMI (American Media Inc.)," Giuliani told CNN on Friday. "They're talking about a corporation doing it, one of their corporations doing it. The President says 'make sure it's done correctly, and make sure its done by check.'"
Giuliani's point is that Trump did nothing wrong -- that before the conversation he knew nothing about any payments, noting that no payment was made and that he suggested paying by cash so there would be a record of it.
The President's lawyer also sought to position the President as wronged by the recording. Trump was stunned to hear about the tape, Giuliani said, and, according to a source familiar with the matter, responded when informed of its existence that "I can't believe Michael would do this to me." Giuliani said the recording is short—less than two minutes, according to another source -- and was simply a professional exchange between a client and his lawyer.
That was echoed Saturday by the President, who tweeted that it was "inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!"
In response, Cohen attorney Davis tweeted, "The strategy of @realdonaldtrump @potus @RudyGiuliani is flawed; just as is #Trump's false #Twitter statement made against @michaelcohen212 this morning. Rudy claims the tape is "exculpatory". Why so angry?"
Asked about the Davis tweet, Giuliani told CNN on Saturday: "How would you feel if your lawyer was recording you without telling you? The tweet is straightforward and correct."
When the existence of the apparent deal with AMI was first reported by The Wall Street Journal just days before the election, the campaign said that the President was unaware of anything relating to a McDougal payoff, and Hope Hicks—then a spokeswoman—denied that Trump even had an affair with McDougal. But the recording, made two months earlier, suggests otherwise.
In addition, Giuliani has said there is only one real conversation with the President and the rest are non-substantive, short, more mundane conversations about ministerial matters, like setting up discussions.
But one source close to Cohen, without specifying any conversation or naming Trump himself, says there are "definitely all kinds of tapes out there." Two other sources said that beyond the tape with the President there were other recordings of "powerful" people speaking with Cohen that the FBI seized.
At this point, Cohen has not has any conversations with prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, one source says. But lately Cohen has gone out of his way to distance himself from the President, tweeting shade about the president's Helsinki performance. In a CNN story earlier this month, a source close to Cohen indicated that "the truth is not you or your client's friend." The source also said that Cohen "is no longer taking a bullet for you (Trump), is no longer a flunky," calling his declaration of independence "his July 4th moment."


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- Gwarancja 2 lata
- Cienki, tkany na płasko – 1 cm całkowita grubość dywanu
- Materiał wysokiej jakości
- Ręcznie tkany
Runo – Wool
Spód – Wool
Kraj pochodzenia – Persia
Gęstość – 150-250.000 knots per sqm.
Opis produktu:
Dywan Shiraz 1446722 w rozmiarze 178x270cm.
Shiraz, with a population of about one million, is the capitol of the south-eastern province of Fars, and is situated in the Zargros Mountains. Shiraz is an age-old city, which has been the capitol of Iran several times, and it is known as the city of roses and nightingales. It has a reputation of being very relaxed, with a " we will get around to that tomorrow"-attitude. Shiraz has laid name to rugs that are knotted in the small towns and villages surrounding it, from where they are brought to the city to be sold. The local tribes like the Kashghai, whose best works are even finer and more densely knotted than those knotted in Shiraz itself, also make them. Shiraz rugs are characterised by a deep claret colour, combined with dark blue and small areas of white and green. The wool is soft, and darker wool, sometimes mixed with goat's hair, is used for both warp and weft. The patterns are coarse and geometrical, often identical to the Kashghai patterns. Often, small, geometrical birds and animals brighten them up. Shiraz rugs are made in all sizes, although big rugs are rare.


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Job Description:
At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection. Responsible Growth is how we run our company and how we deliver for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.
One of the keys to driving Responsible Growth is being a great place to work for our teammates around the world. We're devoted to being a diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. We hire individuals with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and invest heavily in our teammates and their families by offering competitive benefits to support their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.
Bank of America believes both in the importance of working together and offering flexibility to our employees. We use a multi-faceted approach for flexibility, depending on the various roles in our organization.
Working at Bank of America will give you a great career with opportunities to learn, grow and make an impact, along with the power to make a difference. Join us!
Job Description:
This job is responsible for engaging clients in the lobby to educate and assist with conducting transactions through self-service resources, such as mobile banking, online banking, or ATM. Key responsibilities include accurately and efficiently processing cash transactions for clients as needed. Job expectations include having deep conversations with clients to gain in-depth knowledge of the financial and life priorities and connecting clients to solutions that meet the financial goals.
Required Qualifications:
Desired Qualifications:
Minimum Education Requirement: High School Diploma / GED / Secondary School or equivalent
1st shift (United States of America)Hours Per Week:
40Learn more about this role
[Music in background throughout]
[Bankers working with clients in-person and on video chat.]
As a Relationship Banker at Bank of America, my job is to develop lasting relationships with the clients I serve. It's important to me to provide personalized client care while helping people navigate complex financial decisions.
Right from the beginning of my career with Bank of America, I was set up for success.
On screen copy:
Trained by the award-winning Academy at Bank of America
The onboarding and training I received through Bank of America's award-winning Academy offered personalized support, dedicated training time, and coaching that helped me prepare for the job.
Not only am I able to handle all types of transactions, I also help clients figure out what matters most to them so I can provide solutions and guidance to meet their financial needs. I am always learning and it is critical that I maintain my credibility by keeping up to date with our products, services, tools and resources.
[Bank employees in a meeting listening to a manager presentation.]
I meet with clients regularly, either in-person or virtually, to fulfill their account maintenance needs. I help them adapt to new digital solutions, like using the various capabilities of our Mobile Banking App, and can assist with any transactions needed in the Financial Center. Staying up-to-date on the latest digital tools, and educating my clients, is key to my success.
[Bank employees speaking with and listening to clients.]
I have to be efficient and know how to leverage the expertise of my teammates. Some days are more challenging than others. Between helping clients adopt new technologies, attending team meetings, and nurturing client relationships, I stay pretty busy.
Sometimes I work weekends or extended hours, but my role gives me the opportunity to learn the basics of banking and client management. There are many opportunities for growth and career progression, whether I'm looking to advance to a leadership position or specialize in lending, small business, or investments.
There are so many great benefits, including paid time off, competitive pay and healthcare, childcare reimbursement, and even tuition reimbursement.
On screen copy:
Competitive benefits
- Medical, Dental & Vision
- 16 Weeks Paternity/Maternity
- Employee Discount Program
- Childcare Reimbursement
And I'm grateful to work for a company that promotes inclusion and understanding.
I know Bank of America is invested in helping me reach my full potential, so I can help my clients reach theirs. We all have goals. Pursue yours at Bank of America.
On screen copy:
Bank of America® logo
On screen disclosures:
Bank of America and its affiliates recruit and hire qualified candidates without regard to race, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability, or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote the concepts of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, provincial and municipal laws. We also prohibit discrimination on other bases such as ancestry, medical condition, or marital status under applicable laws. Candidates must possess authorization to work in the United States, as it is not the practice of Bank of America to sponsor individuals for work visas.
© 2023 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
[End of transcript]
MAP-6094161 Exp-05/14/25


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Have bookmarks bar only show in newtab like Chrome?
A Former User last edited by
I'm trying to get away from Google and this is one feature that I miss.
zalex108 last edited by
But that way you'll need an extra click, isn't it?
I prefer an auto-hide Bookmarks bar.
Windows 10 (x64) | Anniversary Update
Opera Stable · Beta · DeveloperOpera Test profile | Opera Back up Linux · Mac · Win
"You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the power that created you". · Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
rudrick last edited by
@zalex108 said in Have bookmarks bar only show in newtab like Chrome?:
But that way you'll need an extra click, isn't it?
I prefer an auto-hide Bookmarks bar.
Windows 10 (x64) | Anniversary Update
Opera Stable · Beta · DeveloperOpera Test profile | Opera Back up Linux · Mac · Win
Yes auto-hover in and out.
A Former User last edited by
I want the bookmarks bar to be available all the time. A change to that should be an option, not set in concrete.
A Former User last edited by
I had a terrible time with Chrome last month, logging me out of sites, crashing my computer and now I can't even import my passwords back in, so I'm trialling Opera. I too miss the feature where the bookmarks bar is shown only in the new tab page.
A Former User last edited by
Chrome crashed my computer as I opened it this morning, but at least they get back to you on the forums! I would like to change the setting on Opera so that the bookmarks only show in a new tab or the new tab automatically opens with bookmarks showing. Thank you.
surajkrstha last edited by
When is this going to be implemented?? For one migrating from chrome it is very very distracting to see horizontal list of bookmarks. I always open links from bookmark bar on newly created tab. For now I have disabled to show bookmark bar.
treego last edited by
One workaround that I've used off-and-on is simply to do this: open the Bookmarks tab by pressing Ctrl-Shift-B or the appropriate sidebar icon
This takes one click just as clicking the New Tab (+) button in the tab bar.
Either way, your Bookmarks are readily available to choose from. I prefer the Bookmarks tab over a new page with speed dials if I want to access any number of bookmarks that are not in my speed dial page because now I can type in a search for the appropriate bookmark at this point, also.
There are certain bookmarks that I access most simply by typing the first few letters of the url for it; almost always what I'm searching for comes up immediately.
All that said, if Opera offered the same behavior as the requestor/starter of this thread said, it would be a welcome addition to Opera.
Carry on.
rudrick last edited by
This is badly needed! KB shortcut is not enough - needs visual on/off ticker/button OR option to auto-open for new tabs or auto hover on/off when cursor reaches&stays a moment on bottom edge of top gui.
treego last edited by
One could just open the Bookmarks page/tab again by pressing Ctrl-Shift-B and then pin that tab. That way, bookmarks are easily accessible; in fact, pressing Ctrl-Shift-B again will take you right back to that pinned bookmark page/tab.
rudrick last edited by
Better yet: Reborn sidebar could do what sidebars usually do.
We want to open panels from the sidebar, such as bookmarks, history, DLs, perhaps news too.
Also web panels. Or at least one (1) web panel c'mon please.
It's true that the heart menu is on the right side while Reborn sidebar is on left side.
Perhaps right side also needs a "bar" aka MENU!!! I can't believe this there actually isn't a sidebar in Opera.
Well there is: sidebar is for social media giant companies like FB and VK. Your sidebar was sold to them.
For everything else is just a href menu
stve9 last edited by
my workaround opera://settings/keyboardShortcuts scroll down to show bookmarks bar i use b


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In: NYC Cooperatives
When Local Law 152 of 2016 for periodic gas testing came out in 2016 all of us in the property management world were not sure how it would be set up, tracked and enforced by the city. Recently, we gained a lot more clarity to which buildings are subject to the testing in certain years and what the testing entails. (more…)
Pursuant to a new New York State regulation, Board Members belonging to all Cooperative and Condominium Associations will be required to provide an annual report to the members of your cooperative or association containing information on any contracts made, entered into, or otherwise voted on by the Board that were considered a related party transaction; such as a director with an interest in the company or a relative of the director with an interest in the company that a contract has been entered into with.
August 9, 2017
New York City Heating Regulations – Local Law 86 of 2017
Beginning October 1, 2017, pursuant to Local Law 86 of 2017, the regulations regarding providing heat during the nighttime hours have changed. During the Heat Season (October 1 – May 31), property owners must maintain an indoor temperature of 62 degrees inside all apartments at all times.
The former outdoor temperature trigger of 40 degrees outdoors is no longer in play and heat will now always need to be provided. This is also a 7 degree difference inside, as the old regulations provided for the landlord to provide heat to 55 degrees inside when the temperature fell below 40 degrees outside.
If the inside temperature falls below 62 degrees, tenants may file a complaint about inadequate heat with 311. Please take necessary action to ensure that your heating system will be provide heat according to the law beginning October 1st. Daytime heat must still be provided at a minimum of 68 degrees once it is below 55 degrees outside and hot water must be still be maintained at 120 degrees.


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French carmaker Renault <RENA.PA> has started recalling over 60,000 cars exported to China due to problems with their fuel level sensors, state news agency Xinhua quoted the Chinese consumer watchdog as saying.
Renault's China unit this week started recalling 61,508 Koleos sport utility vehicles produced between Dec 16, 2008 and July 10, 2012, Xinhua quoted theGeneral Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as saying on Saturday.
The cars have faulty fuel level sensors that display incorrect fuel levels on their dashboards, the watchdog said. Renault will change the sensors for free, it said.
The watchdog's website showed Renault's vehicle recall was announced on Feb 6, the second in two months. Renault had recalled 5,097 Koleos cars in January due to welding problems, the watchdog's website showed.
Like other European carmakers, Renault is struggling with swollen inventories owing to weak demand in Europe and wants to gain a foothold in China, the world's largest auto market and where it lags rivals including Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE>.
Besides expanding its Chinese sales network, Renault also wants to build cars in China.


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A celebration of the late Treat Williams, who passed away on June 12 at the age of 71.
On two dozen of our favorite performances of 2021.
Masaki Kobayashi's anti-establishment film still hits a nerve over half a century later.
Jessica Ritchey answers the Movie Love Questionnaire.
An interview with legendary Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai about "Sword of Doom" and his extensive career in film.
An obituary for the great Christopher Lee.
Sometimes a Dark Horse is a good bet. Dark Horse has done well over the last few decades since Mike Richardson founded the comic book company in 1986 in Oregon, six years after he opened his first comic book store, Pegasus Books in Bend, Oregon. While Dark Horse has been the home for canceled TV series to continue such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," feature films have been made from Dark Horse Comics series such as the 1994 "The Mask," "Timecop," the 2004 "Hellboy" or the 2005 "Sin City," the recently released "R.I.P.D." and the upcoming 2014 "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For." Dark Horse also has a samurai tradition.Richardson is very interested in Japanese culture. At SDCC, Dark Horse and Richardson brought the creator of "Lone Wolf and Cub," the 77-year-old Kazuo Koike and announced a new eleven-volume series "New Lone Wolf and Cub." "Lone Wolf and Cub" is Dark Horse's best-selling series of all time.The original "Lone Wolf and Cub" (子連れ狼) was a 28-volume manga series from the 1970s with ukiyo-e stylized illustrations. The series first came to the U.S. in 1987, published in English translation by First Comics. After First Comics closed down in 1991, Dark Horse Comics picked up the manga and completed the series in English.The story follows the widowed Ōgami Ittō and his three-year-old son, Daigorō. The Yagyū clan has made false accusations, discrediting Ōgami (which literally means wolf and thus the title). Ittō and his son seek revenge. The manga series became a Japanese movie series in the 1970s.Speaking through an interpreter, Koike said that if the movie series had been remade, he would have wanted the late Akira Kurosawa to direct. Since Kurosawa is unavailable, he'd love to get the chance to direct the story himself. For Ittō, his choice of actors would be either Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp, but he has no recommendations for the chief villain.It should come as no surprise then that when asked Koike listed the 2005 horror Keanu Reeves horror movie "Constantine" and the 1999 French-Spanish-American Johnny Depp thriller "The Ninth Gate" as two of his five favorite movies. Also on that list were the TV series "Criminal Minds," "24" and "Castle." Too bad Nathan Fillion wasn't around Dark Horse although his presence was felt in so many other places and ways at SDCC.As for Koike's favorite samurai flicks, he lists the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series and pointedly commented he doesn't like American samurai movies. That might be a blow to Tom Cruise and his "The Last Samurai."In a later interview, Dark Horse creator Michael Richardson and Stan Sakai laughed at the notion of Keanu Reeves in the upcoming "47 Ronin" which is set for a Christmas Day release. When Richardson got wind of an American movie remake of this famous story about 47 masterless samurai who carefully plot to avenge their master who was forced to commit ritual suicide after a confrontation with the villainous Lord Kira, he decided the time was right for Dark Horse to have their own version of the "47 Ronin."Richardson remembers meeting Roger Ebert in Cannes, when a desperate Ebert ran up to him and said he had to see this movie, "The Mask." Richardson gave up his seat and got a good review. He expressed sadness at Ebert's recent death.A self-proclaimed "fan of Japanese culture," Richardson had first learned about the 47 ronin more than two decades ago. Many movies have been made on this famous true story. Richardson noted that "Every time I saw one of the movies, there was something different" and from all of these he worked with source material and photographs of the actual sites and choose Stan Sakai to collaborate on a manga series. The series is five issues of varying length and the story is told from the perspective of the 48th ronin."That's never been done before," said Sakai. Being a third-generation Japanese American, artist Sakai knew about the story since the fourth grade. "I really wanted to get it right," he commented. Sakai had also been to the temple where the 48 are buried and used his own photos as reference for the beginning of the manga series.Sakai, who created "Usagi Yojimbo," feels that while Americans have become more familiar with samurai the perception has changed markedly over time. "I think now people just think of samurai as straight warriors. They forget the sense of honor and the cultural aspects. The samurai practiced the tea ceremony, ikebana and poetry."As the writer, Richardson felt it was important that this series have a sense of authenticity and consulted with Kazuo Koike. Richardson sees the samurai as the mythical character of Japan, "Each culture comes up with a mythical character, like for America, it's the Western and the gunfighter and the code of the West." Both the samurai and the gunfighter are outsiders who are known by the weapon they control. Richardson pointed out that Kurosawa's movies inspired a few Westerns including the 1964 spaghetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars" (from the 1961 "Yojimbo").Richardson had problems narrowing down to five favorite movies, listing the 1941 "Citizen Kane," the 1962 "Lawrence of Arabia," the 1940 "The Grapes of Wrath," the 1974 "Chinatown" and "The Godfather" (Parts I and II) as his favorites. For samurai movies, his choices were "Seven Samurai," "Yojimbo," "Sanjuro," and Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy" starring Toshiro Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto ("Musashi Miyamoto" in 1954, "Duel at Ichijoji Temple" in 1955 and "Duel at Ganryu Island" in 1956). The first movie of the trilogy won a 1955 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The trilogy is referenced in Quentin Tarantino's 2003-2004 two-film series "Kill Bill."Sakai also listed "The Godfather" and the "Seven Samurai," in his favorite movies, but also included the original 1933 movie "King Kong," the 1931 Boris Karloff "Frankenstein," Humphrey Bogart's 1941 "The Maltese Falcon" and the 1961 "West Side Story."For samurai movies, Sakai listed "Satomi Hakken-den" (里見八犬伝) which is based on a Japanese epic novel about dog warriors, the original 1962 "Zatoichi" because Sakai is not a fan of Beat Takeshi's 2003 version which included clog-dancing, "Sanjuro" over "Yojimbo," "Seven Samurai" and the 1965 "Samurai Assassin." Both Sakai and Richardson enjoyed Takeshi Miike's "13 Assassins."With a long list of movies that are based on series from Dark Horse Comics and a smaller list of movies that inspired Dark Horse Comic series such "Star Wars" "Predator" and "RoboCop," Richardson requires his interns watch a list of movies that began at 100 and continues to grow.Kazuo Koike was Dark Horse Comics' guest of honor. "Lone Wolf and Cub" is Dark Horse's best-selling series of all time and continues with an eleven-volume series "New Lone Wolf and Cub" with Koike teaming up with Hideki Mori (the original artist for the series, Goseki Kojima passed away). The new series will be published in 2014. The fifth and final volume of "47 Ronin" was published July 3 and is currently available.
The director Akira Kurosawa and the actor Toshiro Mifune worked together on some of the most remarkable films ever made, films that have passed into legend, like "The Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon." If you do not know their work, I envy you, because you have some of your most sublime moviegoing experiences ahead of you.
Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest of all film directors, died Sunday in Tokyo. He was 88. His later years were spent in near-blindness, and yet he continued to work, sketching scenes with the paper only inches from his eyes, and his final film was made only five years ago. Of the postwar giants who redefined the art of the cinema, what other director, save perhaps Sweden's Ingmar Bergman, could claim so many masterpieces? The titles are like a roll-call of greatness: "Stray Dog," "Rashomon," "Ikiru," "The Seven Samurai," "Throne of Blood," "The Hidden Fortress," "The Idiot," "Yojimbo," "High and Low," "Red Beard," "Dersu Uzala," "Kagemusha," "Ran," and many more.
HOLLYWOOD - There's an old union song with the chorus, "Newspapermen meet the most interesting people." I heard it sung once by Pete Seeger, and went to work for a newspaper. Twelve years later, the song turned out to be right.


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But rather than being deterred by government threats or overt acts of violence, including the murder of two human rights attorneys in Nairobi last March, who provided the whistleblowers with reports on extrajudicial killings by Kenyan police, WikiLeaks have turned the tables on the CIA.
On March 26, the group published a remarkable document that lays out the Agency's strategy to manipulate European public opinion over waning support for the Afghanistan war.
Classified "Confidential/NOFORN" (No Foreign Nationals) the 11 March 2010 document is titled, "Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission--Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough."
Prepared by the CIA Red Cell, the entity is described in the text as an Agency subunit "charged by the Director of Intelligence with taking a pronounced 'out-of-the-box' approach that will provoke thought and offer an alternative viewpoint on the full range of analytic issues."
According to WikiLeaks staff, "The proposed PR strategies focus on pressure points that have been identified within these countries. For France it is the sympathy of the public for Afghan refugees and women. For Germany it is the fear of the consequences of defeat (drugs, more refugees, terrorism) as well as for Germany's standing in the NATO. The memo is an recipe for the targeted manipulation of public opinion in two NATO ally countries, written by the CIA."
Curiously, in an echo of capitalism's real and not imagined, living social content, the CIA evokes Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. After all, it was Debord who, commenting on the ability of contemporary societies to produce and reproduce a monstrous world "mediated by images," first identified the media as a central locus for managing reality itself.
Langley's best and brightest now counsel America's political masters that although "apathy" may be their strongest ally in waging the endless "war on terror," it cannot be counted upon indefinitely to sustain the imperial project.
Contrast the CIA's evocation of "apathy" as a "warfighting" tool with Debord's insight that "the spectacle ... expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep." One might add that the Agency's proposed media assault on Western public opinion is being prepared precisely to guarantee that the masses continue to slumber.
France and Germany: Heading Towards the Exits?
Last month's fall of the neoliberal Dutch government over their continued support for the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan was a wake-up call for Washington.
The news was greeted with dismay by partisans of the Afghan intervention and their media sycophants. The New York Times reported February 21, that when a "last-ditch effort" to keep Dutch troops in Afghanistan failed, it immediately raised "fears that the Western military coalition fighting the war was increasingly at risk."
As U.S. and British forces step-up operations across the entire "AfPak" theatre, launching murderous and indiscriminate drone strikes in Pakistan and "targeted killings" and massacres in Afghanistan, the spectre of a significant climb-down by the French and German governments set alarm bells ringing in the Pentagon.
The planned withdrawal by December of some 2,000 Dutch troops from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), would undoubtedly throw a spanner in the works. The Dutch are currently operating in the restive southern province of Oruzgan, north of the Taliban strongholds of Helmand and Kandahar provinces where major military operations are underway; their imminent departure will significantly alter NATO plans.
While the cover-story for stepped-up operations in Afghanistan by Washington is ostensibly to destroy the Afghan-Arab database of disposable Western intelligence assets known as al-Qaeda, and halt the avalanche of drugs from reaching Western consumers, this is, and always has been, a ludicrous fairy-tale.
As we know through countless investigations and exposés across the decades, from Vietnam through Watergate and from Iran-Contra to the endless "War on Terror," the international drugs trade is the handmaiden of Pentagon counterinsurgency campaigns, CIA operations and elite violence world-wide.
The New York Times reported March 21 that Afghanistan's lucrative opium crop is no longer a target of military operations. According to the Times, "the military's position is clear: 'U.S. forces no longer eradicate,' as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers' fields alone."
But with the biggest players in Afghanistan's drug rackets linked to America's close allies in the corrupt Karzai government, the subtext is clear; as analysts Michel Chossudovsky and Peter Dale Scott have long argued, American interventions tend to manage, not eliminate, global drug flows, favoring narcotraffickers who play ball whilst targeting for destruction those who don't.
As Scott reported in January for Global Research, none other than Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, claimed that "drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the [2008] global crisis." Indeed, Costa told The Observer last December that he has seen evidence that "the proceeds of organised crime were 'the only liquid investment capital' available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year."
And as Chossudovsky revealed back in 2005, according to a U.S. Senate report "some $500 billion to $1 trillion in criminal proceeds are laundered through banks worldwide each year, with about half of that amount moved through United States banks."
Above all else, the CIA's strategy is meant to head-off any attempt by Europe's citizens to corral their governments and force an end to their participation in U.S.-led efforts to recolonize Central- and South Asia.
One wag, Julian Lindley-French, a professor of defense strategy at the Netherlands Defense Academy in Breda told the New York Times, "If the Dutch go, which is the implication of all this, that could open the floodgates for other Europeans to say, 'The Dutch are going, we can go, too'."
Given these sentiments, the CIA and Pentagon will turn to "other means" to stop their NATO partners heading towards the exits.
A Cynical Media Operation
CIA media operations are fully consonant with the aims and methods employed by U.S. war planners; indeed, the manipulation of public opinion by battalions of public relations specialists, pollsters and former high-ranking military officers, often employed by giant defense and security corporations with "dogs in the hunt," are part of the secret state's army of "message force multipliers."
That such operations have disastrous consequences for functioning democracies, not to mention the victims of NATO's tender mercies, cannot be stressed often enough. To ensure that the bombs continue falling and Western control over access to vital Central Asian gas and petroleum reserves continue, public opinion, treated as an essential front of the imperial "battlespace," must be "softened up."
Accordingly, the CIA found that "Afghanistan mission's low public salience has allowed French and German leaders to disregard popular opposition and steadily increase their troop contributions to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Berlin and Paris currently maintain the third and fourth highest ISAF troop levels, despite the opposition of 80 percent of German and French respondents to increased ISAF deployments, according to INR polling in fall 2009."
State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) pollsters found:
• Only a fraction (0.1-1.3 percent) of French and German respondents identified "Afghanistan" as the most urgent issue facing their nation in an open-ended question, according to the same polling. These publics ranked "stabilizing Afghanistan" as among the lowest priorities for US and European leaders, according to polls by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) over the past two years.
• According to INR polling in the fall of 2009, the view that the Afghanistan mission is a waste of resources and "not our problem" was cited as the most common reason for opposing ISAF by German respondents and was the second most common reason by French respondents. But the "not our problem" sentiment also suggests that, so for, sending troops to Afghanistan is not yet on most voters' radar. (CIA Red Cell, Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission--Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough, 11 March 2010)
"If some forecasts of a bloody summer in Afghanistan come to pass," CIA planners write, "passive French and German dislike of their troop presence could turn into active and politically potent hostility. The tone of previous debate suggests that a spike in French or German casualties or in Afghan civilian casualties could become a tipping point in converting passive opposition into active calls for immediate withdrawal."
This must be avoided at all costs. Cynically, CIA analysts conclude that "tailoring messaging could forestall or at least contain backlash."
From the looks of things on the ground, the CIA will have much "tailoring" to do in order to stitch-up NATO's fraying pretext for the Afghanistan intervention.
As an investigation by journalist Jerome Starkey revealed in The Times on March 13, "a night raid carried out by US and Afghan gunmen led to the deaths of two pregnant women, a teenage girl and two local officials in an atrocity which Nato then tried to cover up."
According to Starkey, when details of the botched raid came to light, NATO officials claimed the force had found the women's bodies "tied up, gagged and killed" in a room, implying the gruesome murders were the work of insurgents.
"A Times investigation" Starkey writes, "suggests that Nato's claims are either wilfully false or, at best, misleading. More than a dozen survivors, officials, police chiefs and a religious leader interviewed at and around the scene of the attack maintain that the perpetrators were US and Afghan gunmen. The identity and status of the soldiers is unknown."
As with the roll-out of any new product line, or moves to increase flagging interest in an existing commodity, niche consumers, French and German public opinion in the case of the Afghan intervention, are now subjects of a targeted marketing strategy by the CIA.
Accordingly, since INR surveys have found that the "French [are] focused on civilians and refugees," CIA analysts aver that "citing examples of concrete gains could limit and perhaps even reverse opposition to the mission. Such tailored messages could tap into acute French concern for civilians and refugees." Indeed, "contradicting the 'ISAF does more harm than good' perception is clearly important, particularly for France's Muslim minority."
Such cynical constructs are all the more remarkable considering that "France's Muslim minority" are cast by the French state, its far-right supporters and American secret warriors as a veritable "fifth column" to be closely surveilled and when necessary, repressed, lest an alleged "Islamist contagion" take root in the heart of Europe itself!
In this respect, "messaging that dramatizes the potential adverse consequences of an ISAF defeat for Afghan civilians could leverage French (and other European) guilt for abandoning them. The prospect of the Taliban rolling back hard-won progress on girls' education could provoke French indignation, become a rallying point for France's largely secular public, and give voters a reason to support a good and necessary cause despite casualties."
Never mind, that the warlord and Islamist/Mafia-backed coalition that comprises the Karzai government, as documented by innumerable human rights' organizations and Afghan women themselves, such as ousted parliamentarian Malalai Joya, have found that the same brutal conditions persist for women today as under the retrograde U.S./Pakistan-backed Taliban regime of the 1990s.
For Germans however, xenophobic and nationalist cards will be played. "Messages that dramatize the consequences of a NATO defeat for specific German interests could counter the widely held perception that Afghanistan is not Germany's problem. For example, messages that illustrate how a defeat in Afghanistan could heighten Germany's exposure to terrorism, opium, and refugees might help to make the war more salient to skeptics."
Additionally, CIA analysts stress that "emphasis on the mission's multilateral and humanitarian aspects could help ease Germans' concerns about waging any kind of war while appealing to their desire to support multilateral efforts. Despite their allergy to armed conflict, Germans were willing to break precedent and use force in the Balkans in the 1990s to show commitment to their NATO allies. German respondents cited helping their allies as one of the most compelling reasons for supporting ISAF, according to an INR poll in the fall of 2009."
Considering that U.S./NATO allies jumped into the Balkans only when it became clear that German imperialism under the bankrupt government of Helmut Kohl, was intent on destroying the multicultural Yugoslav socialist state, and did so only not to be left in the dust by a resurgent unified German state with eyes clearly focused on lucrative East European markets, is a remarkable rewriting of history!
Another card which the CIA clearly intends to play is the alleged "confidence of the French and German publics in President Obama's ability to handle foreign affairs in general and Afghanistan in particular."
Indeed, appeals from America's new capo tutti capo "suggest that they would be receptive to his direct affirmation of their importance to the ISAF mission--and sensitive to direct expressions of disappointment in allies who do not help." Such direct appeals from the global Godfather "might provide at least some leverage for sustaining contributions to ISAF."
GMF polling data cited by the CIA found that "when respondents were reminded that President Obama himself had asked for increased deployments to Afghanistan, their support for granting this request increased dramatically, from 4 to 15 percent among French respondents and from 7 to 13 percent among Germans. The total percentages may be small but they suggest significant sensitivity to disappointing a president seen as broadly in sync with European concerns."
Another exploitable bullet point cited by the CIA are Afghan women. Accordingly, "Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF role in combating the Taliban because of women's ability to speak personally and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory."
However, as I pointed out above, only some "Afghan women" would be viewed as "ideal messengers" in these media operations. Leftist, feminist or other internal critics of the Karzai Warlord-Mafia-Islamist regime would, by definition, be excluded from such forums. For the chosen few who pass muster, "outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission."
The United States and their NATO allies are encountering stiff resistance in Afghanistan. In order to buttress political support from skeptical North American and European citizens, the CIA and their "friends" amongst the giant media conglomerates are pulling out all the stops.
The publication of the CIA's analytical document by Wikileaks, provides the antiwar movement with insight into how imperialism intends to sell the wretched Afghan war to the public.
Counterstrategies that leverage this knowledge can potentially provide critics with ammunition that directly challenge American propaganda, disarm academic, media and political sycophants and more importantly, derail the policy of waging aggressive, "preemptive" wars well into the future.


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BALANDI, Afghanistan — An American soldier opened fire on villagers near his base in southern Afghanistan Sunday and killed 16 civilians, according to President Hamid Karzai who called it an "assassination" and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. Nine children and three women were among the dead.
The killing spree deepened a crisis between US forces and their Afghan hosts over Americans burning Muslim holy books on a base in Afghanistan. The burnings sparked weeks of violent protests and attacks that left some 30 people dead. Six US service members have been killed by their Afghan colleagues since the Quran burnings came to light, but the violence had just started to calm down.
"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said in a statement. He said he has repeatedly demanded the US stop killing Afghan civilians.
The violence over the Quran burnings spurred calls in the US for a faster exit strategy from the 10-year-old Afghan war. President Barack Obama even said recently that "now is the time for us to transition." But he also said he had no plan to change the current timetable that has Afghans taking control of security countrywide by the end of 2014.
The tensions between the two countries had appeared to be easing as recently as Friday, when the US and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding about the transfer of Afghan detainees to Afghan control — a key step toward an eventual strategic partnership to govern US forces in the country.
But Sunday's shooting could push that agreement further away.
"This is a fatal hammer blow on the US military mission in Afghanistan. Whatever sliver of trust and credibility we might have had following the burnings of the Quran is now gone," said David Cortright, the director of policy studies at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and an advocate for a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"This may have been the act of a lone, deranged soldier. But the people of Afghanistan will see it for what it was, a wanton massacre of innocent civilians," Cortright said.
Five people were wounded in the pre-dawn attack in Kandahar province, including a 15-year-old boy named Rafiullah who was shot in the leg and spoke to the president over the telephone. He described how the American soldier entered his house in the middle of the night, woke up his family and began shooting them, according to Karzai's statement.
NATO officials apologized for the shootings but did not confirm that anyone was killed, referring instead to reports of deaths.
"I wish to convey my profound regrets and dismay at the actions apparently taken by one coalition member in Kandahar province, said a statement from Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, the deputy commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"One of our soldiers is reported to have killed and injured a number of civilians in villages adjacent to his base. I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts, but they were in no way part of authorized ISAF military activity," he said, using the abbreviation for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
An AP photographer saw 15 bodies between the two villages caught up in the shooting. Some of the bodies had been burned, while others were covered with blankets. A young boy partially wrapped in a blanket was in the back of a minibus, dried blood crusted on his face and pooled in his ear. His loose-fitting brown pants were partly burned, revealing a leg charred by fire.
Villagers packed inside the minibus looked on with concern as a woman spoke to reporters. She pulled back a blanket to reveal the body of a smaller child wearing what appeared to be red pajamas. A third dead child lay amid a pile of green blankets in the bed of a truck.
NATO spokesman Justin Brockhoff said a US service member had been detained at a NATO base as the alleged shooter. The wounded people were evacuated to NATO medical facilities, he added.
The attack took place in two villages in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province. The villages — Balandi and Alkozai — are about 500 yards (meters) away from a US base. The shooting started around 3 a.m., said Asadullah Khalid, the government representative for southern Afghanistan and a member of the delegation that went to investigate the incident.
A resident of the village of Alkozai, Abdul Baqi, told the AP that, based on accounts of his neighbors, the American gunman went into three different houses and opened fire.
"When it was happening in the middle of the night, we were inside our houses. I heard gunshots and then silence and then gunshots again," Baqi said.
International forces have fought for control of Panjwai for years as they've tried to subdue the Taliban in their rural strongholds. The Taliban movement started just to the north of Panjwai and many of the militant group's senior leaders, including chief Mullah Omar, were born, raised, fought or preached in the area. Omar once ran an Islamic school in an area of Panjwai that has since been carved into a new district.
In addition to its symbolic significance, the district is an important base for the Taliban to use to target neighboring Kandahar city. Panjwai was seen as key to securing Kandahar city to east when US forces flooded the province as part of President Barack Obama's strategy to surge in the south starting in 2009.
Karzai said he was sending a high-level delegation to investigate and deliver a full report.
Twelve of the dead were from Balandi, said Samad Khan, a farmer who lost all 11 members of his family, including women and children. Khan was away from the village when the incident occurred and returned to find his family members shot and burned. One of his neighbors was also killed, he said. It was unclear how or why the bodies were burned.
"This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act," said Khan. "Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women."
Khan demanded that Karzai punish the American shooter.
"Otherwise we will make a decision," said Khan. "He should be handed over to us."
Residents in Alkozai village also demanded that Karzai punish the American or hand him over to the villagers. The four people killed in the village were all from one family, said a female relative who was shouting in anger. She did not give her name because of the conservative nature of local society.
"No Taliban were here. No gunbattle was going on," said the woman. "We don't know why this foreign soldier came and killed our innocent family members. Either he was drunk or he was enjoying killing civilians."
The Taliban called the shootings the latest sign that international forces are working against the Afghan people.
"The so-called American peace keepers have once again quenched their thirst with the blood of innocent Afghan civilians in Kandahar province," The Taliban said in a statement posted on a website used by the insurgent group.
US forces have been implicated in other violence in the same area.
Four soldiers from a Stryker brigade out of Lewis-McChord, Washington, have been sent to prison in connection with the 2010 killings of three unarmed men during patrols in Kandahar province's Maiwand district, which is just northwest of Panjwai. They were accused of forming a "kill team" that murdered Afghan civilians for sport — slaughtering victims with grenades and powerful machine guns during patrols, then dropping weapons near their bodies to make them appear to have been combatants.
And in January, before the Quran burning incident, a video that purportedly showed US Marines urinated on corpses of men they had killed sparked widespread outrage.
President Barack Obama has apologized for the Quran burnings and said they were a mistake.