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Posted by Daryll Tan / March 2, 2017 / on Best Practices , Blog , Branding , Marketing , Social Media / 0 Comment
Posted By : Daryll Tan
Daryll Tan is the co-founder and social media consultant at OpenMinds™. He is actively involved in social media strategising, startups, product and business development. As an entrepreneur, he strives to make a positive impact and create purposeful jobs; actively nurturing high performing teams and enhancing innovative thinking. He has also been invited to share his experience at various universities and media platforms. Find him on www.twitter.com/darylltan and www.linkedin.com/in/darylltan


text: Eat Through Your Creative Blocks Posted on December 16, 2014 (April 6, 2018) by Hannah Ditto In this series of posts, we're exploring ways around the different types of blocks to your creative work, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional. In this post, we'll dive into some ways to get around, or take advantage of fatigue, poor health, or otherwise physical states of being. Know your Enemy When you embark on a creative project or task, it's important to understand what you need out of the moment. Are you suffering from creative block, where you can't seem to come up with new ideas? Or, are you having a hard time executing those ideas, perhaps instead suffering from lack of productivity. If you're producing something creative, did it occur to you that these blocks could be distinct? Do you have a timeline that allows you to separate them? A recent study at Albion college points to evidence that you might actually be more creative when you're tired. Sound amazing? Consider that fatigue acts as a dampener for your rational brain and its ability to hone in on specific information. You might not focus well. You might get a lot of stray thoughts marching through the middle of your attempts at work. Killer for staying on task. But when it comes to generating out-of-the-box ideas, your brain needs a party of thoughts – the more the merrier. Feeling underslept? Don't seize the blanket. Seize the moment and make time to generate ideas for future creative work. This is your brain. This is your brain on creativity. Powering through Productivity Blocks So you've taken advantage of what seemed like your worst working time to do some creative idea-generating. Great! Now you just need to move on to doing something about those ideas. Here are some tips for getting from sluggish to finished task or product: Your brain is not a mystical wellspring of thought inside your cranium. It's a muscle, and it's part of the larger, self-equalizing system in your body. Feed it accordingly. There's no way to tell your body to direct your healthy lunch to fuel your brain and your chip-and-soda-snack-fiasco to power your appendix instead. Try to give your body a diet that avoids the drastic ups and downs of carb or sugar loading. Learn your body rhythms. In a small journal, take a day and write down your energy level, hunger, focus, and mood each hour. Get a generalized idea of what your best times are, and if you can, plan your your creative and your productive work for the appropriate times. What's that you say? Too late for the above? Okay, sure. Here are some quick-fix ideas. Take a 20 minute nap (and don't forget to set a timer). Have a cup of coffee or tea. Better yet, have a large glass of ice water. Do 5-10 minutes of stretching or exercise. A great way to incorporate both is to try a Sun Salutation yoga series. Still feeling the blergh, but need to get a move on? Help yourself work at a lower level. Set small milestones to limp along the process. "And now I'm going to choose my topic. And now I'm going to list 3 elements about my topic (or choose color, style, and tool). And now I'm going to add detail to the first element." Check your environment. Is your music a nice background or a rocking distraction? Is your space in a high-traffic area? Is it too cluttered? Chair too comfortable? Not comfortable enough? Don't ignore the small annoyances if they take fewer than 5 minutes to fix. What methods do you use to power through creative block?

subset: commoncrawl


text: A dream location, right on the beach SEstanyol, where you have the privilege to live each day the magnificent Sunset on the Bay of San Antonio (one must in Ibiza) or fun with the extensive range of sports that offer the beaches. Spacious rooms overlooking the bay of San Antonio, and new waterfront terrace guarantee you achieve disconnection you come looking. Slip into our hammocks to enjoy with a delicious drink at a chill-out room. Awaits the all-inclusive. A buffet restaurant with show cooking (cooking), shared with the adjoining Hotel San Remo, puts at your disposal a wide variety of dishes for all tastes.Its location in front of the beach SEstanyol, will have fun with it big without you losing sight of the sea. We are in the Bay Area San Antonio, surrounded by a large variety of shops, with a range of leisure and sports top. Right here in the Bay of San Antonio, place these sunsets Ibiza famous worldwide for romanticism and intensity.Spacious rooms with modern furniture, bathroom complete with bathtub and hairdryer, TV Plasma satellite TV, free WiFi, telephone, air conditioning, free safe and terrace, the most of them with wonderful sea views.The following options to choose from:? Single room: It has a bed a single square.? Double room: It has two beds a single square each.? Room comfort: It has two beds a single square each, plus a double sofa included.


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Cabinet Secretary Evasco on LP and Trillanes to coup Duterte: `THEY WILL FAIL`
Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco said that the plans of Liberal Party member (LP) and some rich businessman to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte "will fail."
This is what Evasco said during the introduction ceremony of new officers of Zamboanga del Norte United Correspondents (ZNUC).
ZNUC is a group of local media practitioners here in the Philippines.
"Now, they are convincing the military and police, this Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, to join in their cause to topple Duterte," Evasco said.
"That's because they look down on us, they did not know that our minds were molded by our experiences, our studies, and our outlook of life that the elite don't have," Evasco added.
Evasco also said that the elite group tried to destroy Duterte by using the media, riding on issues of summary killings, extrajudicial killings, and the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos.
"Sad to say, there are a lot of media practitioners who succumbed to the temptation of money. And we are talking of millions of pesos here," Evasco said.
He said the group went international and this is the reason why American President Barack Obama, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union want to investigate the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.
"And it was good they did it because it was an opportunity for (President) Duterte to enunciate his independent foreign policy," he said.
"By being rich, America or the European Union or the UN have no right to tell us what is good for us. In pursuing an independent foreign policy, you must be a friend to everybody. And if the President is resisting the bullying of our supposed friend, the United States, it doesn't mean we are already aligning with the opposite, China or Russia." he added.
"But I want to tell you, my people in Dapitan and Zamboanga del Norte, they will fail, because anything you do – if it benefits the people – it will never be toppled down," Evasco said.
Trillanes said that the allegation is "absolutely not true."
"Nothing but a misdirection from the political backlash the Duterte administration has been getting as a result of its bloody war on drugs," Trillanes said.
"President Duterte brought the crisis upon himself when he started killing his own people. It was made worse by the series of diplomatic blunders and controversial statements by the President himself," Trillanes added.
Despite this, Evasco reminded the media in Zamboanga del Norte to be true to their chosen field of service.
"The government and media have no other masters except the people. Tell the truth, defend the voiceless and the oppressed. That is not easy, a lot of your colleagues were killed for doing that." Evasco said.
"But whatever it takes to tell and defend the truth, you face it because you committed to be media persons," Evasco added.


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U.S. military investigators have concluded that the Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 30 U.S. troops in August was downed by a rocket-propelled grenade that hit the rear rotor, causing the aircraft to fall vertically to the ground and burst into flames.
The Aug. 6 crash was deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in the decade-long war and the Taliban claimed responsibility. No one survived the crash in Tangi Valley of Wardak province, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.
"A previously undetected group of suspected Taliban fighters fired two or three RPGs in rapid succession from the tower of a two-story mud brick building approximately 220 meters south" of the aircraft, said the official investigation report, issued Wednesday by the U.S. Central Command. "The first RPG missed the helicopter, but the second RPG struck one of the blades on the aft (rear) rotor assembly and exploded."
The report said that after the rotor was hit, the helicopter spun violently and then crashed in a dry creek bed where it was engulfed in flames. The fire triggered several explosions of fuel and munitions.
Among those killed were 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs, five Naval Special Operations personnel who support the SEALs, three Air Force Special Tactics Airmen, an Army helicopter crew of five, seven Afghan commandos, and an Afghan interpreter. A military dog also died.
While final autopsy reports were still being reviewed, it's believed that all 38 persons on board died rapidly after the crash.
The troops killed were flying into the area to aid a U.S. Army Ranger platoon, which had been flown in earlier to try to kill or capture a Taliban leader.
Investigators found no wrongdoing by those involved in the mission. The decision to transport all 38 who were killed in one helicopter was "tactically sound" to mitigate the risks of ground fire, the report said.
The report dismissed speculation that the troops aboard the helicopter were lured into the valley by insurgents with advance knowledge of the landing site.
"The shoot down was not the result of a baited ambush, but rather the result of the enemy being at a heightened state of alert due to three and one half hours of ongoing coalition air operations concentrated over the northwestern portion of the Tangi Valley," the report said.
According to the report, by 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 6, U.S. Army Rangers had cleared a compound and detained several suspected insurgents in Tangi Valley. Base commanders, however, were getting reports about insurgents assembling nearby and summoned the 17-member elite SEALs team.
The group of insurgents was reported to be growing, so before the SEALs team left on its fatal mission, a decision was made to expand the squad to 33 personnel, including the Afghan interpreter and troops.
Once it arrived near the compound, the helicopter descended to about 100 to 150 feet from the ground and slowed to about 58 mph, then came under fire. More than 10 feet of the rotor blade was lost and within seconds, the rear and the "forward rotor blade systems separated from the aircraft, and the main fuselage dropped vertically into a dry creek bed," the report said.
The aircraft was engulfed in a "large fireball" until it burned out several hours later.
Eight hours later, the remains of all 38 victims and the dog were recovered.
In other developments, the U.S.-led coalition said a NATO service member died Thursday following a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan and another died in a roadside bomb explosion in the east. The coalition did not release any other details. So far this year, 465 NATO service members have died in Afghanistan, including at least 348 Americans.


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Factors Which Influence How Nurses Communicate With Cancer Patients
Wilkinson, Susie
Bibliographic Citation
JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING 1991 June; 16(6): 677-688
MetadataShow full item record
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Intensive Care Nurses' Experiences of Caring for Brain Dead Organ Donor Patients Pearson, Alan; Robertson-Malt, Susie; Walsh, Ken; Fitzgerald, Mary (2001-01)


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Amazon fell 5% in after-hours trade after posting Q3 earnings that were well below consensus earnings per share estimates, while its Q4 outlook was also wholly uninspiring. However, don't look to the S&P 500 and more towards the FX and fixed income market, because there is a strong story here.
The USD has made modest strides higher as traders now focus on tonight's (11.30pm AEDT) US Q3 GDP report, with the big mover being USD/JPY. USD/JPY had been consolidating for most of October, but convincingly broke out above the key September high of ¥104.32 yesterday and looks destined for the ¥107 level. A further five basis point gain in the US ten-year treasury has been the backbone behind the USD gains as traders position themselves for a GDP print that's most likely going to be above the markets consensus of 2.6%. For what it's worth, the economist's range of estimates is between 3.6% to 1.3%, so it's quite a spread, with the Atlanta Federal Reserve's model suggesting downside risks with a call of 2.1%. As mentioned, given the moves in the USD and selling in various developed market bond markets, I feel traders are now positioned for a number north of 3%. The risk of disappointment seems elevated.
How to hedge bond selling, USD buying
There are a number of ways to hedge (or protect) against a move higher in US treasuries and the USD. Specifically, I have been suggesting looking at US financials (try the XLF ETF) who benefit from a sell-off in the US 10-year treasury (as it helps boost margins), while shorting the TLT ETF (iShare 20+ Treasury Bond ETF) has been a great trade and again is a play on selling in the bond market. Shorting US (and Aussie) REITS has also been profitable of late. In the equity indices space, the Nikkei 225 is a preferred vehicle to trade this macro thematic as the index benefits from the higher USD/JPY.
With the moves seen in USD/JPY overnight, we expect the Japanese market to open into the 17450-17500 area and the strongest levels since April.
The ASX 200 has gone the opposite way of Japan, with the Aussie index down 2.4% this week. Rising bond yields in developed markets is and will continue to be a huge headwind for the local market, which is why traders have been far happier to be long material stocks, which are bought for growth as opposed to income. High bond yields reduce the attractiveness of the income streams from dividend payments.
Technically (in the ASX 200) we saw a nice move back and rejection of the August lows on Monday and the selling has really manifested on itself from here. We can expect a slightly stronger open today, with our call currently sitting at 5306. But to close the week in positive territory (ie. above 5430), we subscribe a mere 1% probability. The more pertinent question is how traders react after 10.30am AEDT when the market has been open for 30 minutes and traders can assess Macquarie's results (consensus is for cash earnings of $994.5 million) and various other factors. I would not be surprised if we saw traders looking to sell into the modest opening bounce and this could tell a lot about semantics as we head into the new week, with traders eyeing more bank earnings in Australia, central bank meetings from the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and Bank of England. We will also be into the final stages of the US election and while a Trump victory seems unlikely it appears he has been getting some traction and this may start to unsettle markets, although looking at a number of investment banks flow data, most institutional clients are already well hedged against a spike in uncertainty.
Looking at other considerations for today, the AUD has been sold overnight, with AUD/USD trading from a high of $0.7652 to a session low of $0.7584. US crude prices, copper and iron ore futures are a touch higher, with BHP likely to open 1.4% higher.


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To find the right Consumables for your Printer use the search below with your Printer Model or Cartridge Part # .
The eco-friendly AVerTV Volar Green HD adopts concealed connector to decrease the damage possibilities, and the compact exterior remains the usability of adjacent USB ports. Besides, the equipped remote control and portable mini antenna, which has strong signal receiving ability, provide you complete control of PCTV viewing.
The latest AVerTV 3D ensures that users are perfectly entertained. By supporting up to 1080i high definition TV viewing, AVerTV Volar Green HD offers users to watch and record HDTV programs. Even better, you can plan the recording schedule, or record directly in iPod format to make your favorite shows on-the-go.
AVerTV Volar Green HD is certified by Windows Media Center Additional Qualification (WMC AQ), which guarantees the enhanced performance and superb stability on Windows Media Center (WMC) and the first-rate PCTV experience.
AVerTV 3D provides you an intuitive user interface with frequent-used function buttons listed right on the toolbar. You can easily switch channel, adjust volume, or watch the astonishing and immersive live 3DTV with one click, just like the same way you do with TV.
If you can't wait until 3DTV to be broadcasted, the exclusive see3D technology can transform all the 2D live TV recordings and movies into a fantastic 3D experience!
To get the immersive 3DTV viewing experience, we recommend you to watch 3DTV with NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit. Besides, AVerTV 6 3D also supports anaglyphic and polarized 3D display modes.
The Color Enhancement adjusts video quality and show the astonishingly sharp and vivid video color. De-interlace with Smooth Edge Option gives you the stable and smooth video quality without overeating CPU resource.


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Sororities collect canned food in Greek Week drive
Donations from the Panhellenic Council benefited Allied Churches of Alamance County and were distributed with help from Campus Kitchen at Elon University.
By Sarah Mulnick '17
Sororities involved in Elon University's Panhellenic Council collected more than a ton of canned food to benefit Allied Churches of Alamance County as part of recent Greek Week campus festivities.
Staff at Allied Churches, the largest shelter and lunchtime feeding program in the university's home county, had plans in early April to drive to a food bank in Winston-Salem, N.C., to replenish its low inventory.
The Greek Week food drive was enough to keep that from happening. Elon's sororities brought in 2,344 pounds of canned food for the nonprofit organization.
"It kept us from having to go drive," said Shannon Smith, food services coordinator for Allied Churches. "We're actually still using today the food that was brought. We needed that food and are so appreciative."
The drive ran for three days and was open to any interested Greek organization. This year the Greek Week committee, which Elon juniors Grace Cahill and Rachel Kagan co-chaired, made the canned food drive a priority.
The organizations received help as well from Campus Kitchen at Elon University. The campus affiliate of the national Campus Kitchen Project collects unused and unserved food from community partners, including ARAMARK Dining Services, for distribution to those in need.
"Each sorority had a collection bin in their house that was taken to Campus Kitchen at the end of the drive," said Cahill, president of the Panhellenic Council. "We wanted to make it a success."
Campus Kitchen has more opportunities planned to give food and help to Allied Churches in the coming weeks, including an event on Staff Appreciation Day that program coordinator Steve Caldwell hopes will generate a similar response.
"This is the first drive of this magnitude we've had," Caldwell said. "Allied Churches was thrilled."
Allied Churches receives donations from Elon University's Campus Kitchen about once a week, Smith said. The donations are brought to the Holly Hill Mall, where Allied Churches takes over.


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An amazing story of a game as art and religion.
I'm not going to write any more on this except to say that a similar type of thing was attempted within the indie rpg design community last year with a set of components passed from one designer to the next in a chain of creativity.
Read the article, tell me what you think.


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Restored steam train back in service for first time in 50 years
A restored steam engine, which originally pulled coal wagons in 1919, has moved under its own power for the first time in more than 50 years.
Engine 4270 was sold for scrap by British Railways in 1962 after more than 40 years of pulling coal trains in South Wales.
Volunteers and contractors at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway spent 11 years restoring it.
It will now form part of the heritage railway's fleet of locomotives.
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway spokesman Ian Crowder said: "It was completely dismantled and rebuilt, and a lot of new parts had to be manufactured for it.
"It's as good as it was when it was turned out from Swindon Works in 1919, if not better."
The restoration of the 83-tonne engine has cost at least £250,000, and there are only about six of the class of engine still in existence, Mr Crowder added.
It will pull its first paying passengers at the Cotswold Festival of Steam at the end of the month.


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12 Ways to Participate
1. Sign the petition. Add your name to our petition calling on public officials at the federal, state, and local level to prioritize investment in water infrastructure and water resources. For each petition signature we receive, our partner Change the Course will restore 1,000 gallons of water to critically dewatered river and wetlands across North America.
2. Join the Thunderclap. Spread the message of Imagine a Day Without Water by registering your social media accounts with our Thunderclap. Registered social media accounts will publish a post about the value of water with a link to thepetition at the same time. This will amplify the message of Imagine a Day Without Water, ensuring that it reaches the widest audience possible.
3. Participate on social media. Here are graphics and suggested posts to share on Twitter and Facebook. Use the hashtag #ValueWater and ask your audiences if they can imagine a day without brushing their teeth, giving their pet a bowl of water, making coffee, doing laundry, or any of the hundreds of things we need water to do for us every day.
4. Host a tour or an open house. Invite elected leaders, stakeholders, the business community and/or press to an open house or tour of a water or wastewater facility. The more visual the tour, the better. Broadcast journalists especially love giving viewers a peak and something they've never seen before. Examples of who to invite could include:
- Local television, radio, newspaper or digital outlets
- The mayor, city or county council members
- The city or regional Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and labor groups
- Regional engineer or contractor groups
- Student groups, college engineering programs
5. Issue a press release. After your tour, issue a press release explaining "Imagine a Day Without Water" and be sure to make photos available. Click hereto view a template press release that you can tailor.
6. Issue a Proclamation or Resolution. Ask your mayor, city council, county council, U.S. representative, senator, regulator, state legislator or governor for aproclamation or resolution on "Imagine a Day Without Water." See our template proclamation here.
7. Write an op-ed. Write an op-ed for your local paper or business journal. Be sure to check with the paper about word limit and lead time for submission before you start writing. Consider co-authoring with interesting or unexpected names on the byline—perhaps a representative from a local business that is water reliant, like a regional craft beer distillery, restaurant, or manufacturing company. Write your own, or start with our template op-ed here.
8. Use the "What's the Value of Water?" toolkit. The Value of Water Coalition has produced a series of communication tools and creative materials, including print ads, dorm-flyers, bill stuffers, bus ads, and billboards to spread #ValueWater the message to the public. These materials aren't Imagine A Day Without Water specific, and can have a relevant message long into the future! View the toolkit materials here.
9. Get water in the news – Schedule an editorial board visit. Visit your newspaper's editorial board and have a sit down meeting to discuss the state of water infrastructure in your region, address some of your biggest challenges, and clear up any misconceptions about water use and service in your area. If several water agencies serve the population of one newspaper, schedule a joint meeting to show a united front. An editorial board can be a powerful ally to have on your side. Use our message guide to help frame your outreach.
- Engage the next generation of customers and stewards. Ways to Involve future water consumers include:
- Arrange a field trip for students to come tour a facility. After your tour, issue apress release explaining "Imagine a Day Without Water" and be sure to make photos available. Click here to view a template press release that you can tailor.
- Share educational materials for students – school/dorm flyers, shareable social media graphics, or lesson plans on the water cycle in your area
- Have elementary school students do an art project on what water means to them
- Invite professors and students in water-related majors at your local college or university – engineering, agriculture, chemistry, policy – to discuss or write about how water challenges will impact their intended careers and futures?
- Take to the radio waves. Arrange an interview with a local talk news radioprogram. Commercial talk radio and public radio often have local mid-day shows that feature local guests, while national shows are typically syndicated during morning and afternoon drive times. Not sure what to say in an interview? Use our message guide, available here.
- Release a paper or report. If you've been working on a new report, research project, or survey, Imagine A Day Without Water is a high-visibility time to release it and reach a large audience! Make sure to tweet it out on social media, release a press release to local and relevant national news outlets, and let us know what you're doing.


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Audition (Ôdishon)1999
Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)
Critic Consensus: An audacious, unsettling Japanese horror film from director Takashi Miike, Audition entertains as both a grisly shocker and a psychological drama.
Audition (Ôdishon) Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
as Shigeharu Aoyama
as Asami Yamazaki
as Yasuhisa Yoshikawa
News & Interviews for Audition (Ôdishon)
Critic Reviews for Audition (Ôdishon)
All Critics (73) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (14) | DVD (13)
This movie, at just under two hours, is a long crawl from inception to climax.
Miike is brilliant at transforming the mundane and familiar ... into something sinister and eerie.
A diabolically adroit piece of filmmaking that goes even further than the films of Italy's excruciatingly macabre Dario Argento.
This brazen shocker is never less than compelling -- even when you feel compelled to shut your eyes.
There will be many people who consider Audition an atrocity, and a few who find it a stimulating cinema experience.
The shock imperative takes on a life of its own and floats away from the lengthy setup.
Audience Reviews for Audition (Ôdishon)
From the very beginning, before things slide greasily into OMG, there's a creepy ominous feeling. I thought it was cultural differences. "That guy takes a drink in every scene he's in, and none of them look like a drink because he's thirsty..." It's a creepy ominous work.
Super Reviewer
The shifts in tone along the film are baffling, as it begins as a strange drama, then becomes a romance, and then it is finally revealed that all that was a weird prelude to an absurdly shocking, outrageous and confusing third act that doesn't really make much sense.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer


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Reading Time: 1 minute
In a raid laid out by the Palestine Police Department, police invaded another East Texas game room in Palestine on Wednesday, executing a search warrant by around 6 a.m. Consequently, 59 gambling machines and over $5,000 in cash were seized at the Win City Game Room.
As per the reports of the Palestine authorities, the owner of the game room in the 1300 block of Texas Highway, 155 was not present at the site during the time of the raid. Police apprehended two men on nonrelated drug charges during the raid.
Juan Manuel Vega, 34, and Viri Fernandez, 21, of Palestine, were detained for possessing a controlled substance. A man named Fernandez was also charged for possessing marijuana.
Undercover investigators visited the game rooms and collected evidence over the course of the investigation leading up to Wednesday's operation.
Chronologically, this is the third game room where the raid was conducted this month in East Texas.
Source: European Gaming Media and Events
EGT Interactive – new game release in dice family
Reading Time: 1 minute
Autumn is here again! In all its shine, with all the warmth nuances of the colors and that divine aroma that touch the senses, with that expectation for something new.
This October, following that mood, EGT Interactive is happy to announce that another member in its dice games family is already live – Imperial Dice.
Just like its origin (Imperial Wars) this multiline slot is with conquering taste. But all the symbols are like dices! Their variety in this lavish 5-reel, 20-line game is full and quickly lead to high paying wins. The slot consists of 12 cards – 1 of which is Wild, 1 is Extra Spin and 1 is Scatter. Free spins and a four-level mystery Jackpot are featured too. Available on Desktop.
About EGT Interactive:
EGT Interactive is a Bulgaria-based gaming provider that brings the 15 years of experience of the EGT's land-based casino slots to the world of online casino games. The company is growing rapidly through constant innovation, consumer-centric approach and top-notch support. Every single aspect of the company's products is designed in line with the customer needs. The EGT games are based on an attractive Return-to-Player (RTP) strategy, which has proven to increase the player lifetime value.
Source: European Gaming Media
FeedConstruct revolutionizes live scouting with AJNA
Reading Time: 2 minutes
The data feed solutions provider of BetConstruct presented a more refined and accurate solution for data scouting.
Contemplating the ways of providing sporting data in a faster and more efficient manner, the company developed a feed solution enhanced with AI/ML called AJNA which was unveiled at Sportel Monaco. Translated as a third eye, it is an augmented live video streaming which recognizes gameflow of the sporting events, providing advanced player tracking in live mode and collecting more technical data to create new unique markets to bet on.
"Machine learning penetrates IT sectors and as a forward-looking company, we seek the ways to infuse our solutions with methods of automated data analysis. The concept of our solution bares its roots for Hindu tradition, the third-eye chakra called AJNA specifically. The on-field observation of a scout provides rather accurate data, whereas the augmented streaming reveals insights to the gameflow that a human eye can't see. With AJNA, we enrich our sports betting offering with additional augmentation and a more statistical data gathered." – commented our Founder and CEO Vigen Badalyan.
The solution consists of a single or double camera setup. As they deliver the streaming, AJNA solution does an auto field geometry detection from the video. Within a few minutes, the powerful eye of FeedConstruct identifies field scheme and corners having video frames transformed and sent to the tracking system one by one. Right after, players and ball detection comes into force. AJNA does a custom clusterization on sequences of images for each detected player in order to classify them to a team or referee group. During the match, AJNA recognizes full gameflow including events like ball possession, danger and many more. It also offers an extended personal tracking like player's speed or distance run per game. Such collected statistics can be converted into a number of exciting markets to bet on.
As for now, FeedConstruct has developed AJNA to provide a full live on-field coverage of football with a further intention to expand the coverage for more sports types.
FeedConstruct is a digital content provider offering real-time data feed solutions perfectly tailored to capture and entertain any audience. Among our solutions is
Friendship platform, an exclusive offer for federations and sports content providers allowing them to deliver streamings from events to 300+ betting operators to purchase. FeedConstruct's Live Scouts' reporting combines fast and secure communications to provide accurate and reliable information. Based on our scouts' reporting, we also provide highly efficient Odds Feed service. For a wide variety of sports data we have Statistics service. To perfectly engage any audience, we provide Live Sports Video Streaming service.
Source: European Gaming Media
Sportradar releases official response to Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis
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Sportradar, the world's leading provider of data, content and integrity solutions, has published its response to the Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis report, released in April this year, which proposed recommendations for addressing the sport's integrity issues.
Within the response, Sportradar has supported the majority of the Panel's recommendations but outlined concerns in relation to the recommendation regarding the discontinuance of data sales, stating that this approach would not only fail in practice but would cause further risk to the integrity of the game, with potentially irreversible consequences.
Sportradar Managing Director Group Operations, David Lampitt explained the factors outlined within the company's response.
"Attempting a total data black-out on a sport has never been done, or even trialed or tested before. Counter evidence and expert analysis indicate that such an approach is likely to have a harmful effect on integrity, which would be hard to reverse if unsuccessful.
"So, the Panel is staking its reputation, and that of the sport, on an uncertain 'guess', when there is good evidence that a different approach and an incremental process of implementing enhanced and targeted measures would be more likely to deliver successful outcomes and integrity benefits.
"If the recommendations remain unchanged, they would push the betting market underground where the integrity issues would be out of sight. This may give the veneer of improving the situation but would not deal with the underlying issues. These must not be brushed under the carpet.
"It's important to point out that the relative risk that the Review attributes to the different levels of tennis is also misleading. In 2017, and consistently over the last four years, ITF tennis has, in fact, had the lowest risk of corruption across all the levels of the professional game, including the Grand Slams.
"Of course, integrity risks exist across all levels. But they are most prevalent at the mid-level of the Men's game, so the rationale for applying the most draconian measures to the ITF Men's and Women'scompetitions and recommending relatively modest changes at the other levels doesn't tally with the evidence.
"Ultimately our interests, like the Panel's and other stakeholders involved, including the tennis governing bodies as well as the betting companies, are focused on safeguarding a clean sport. We want to be transparent about our submissions as we believe the evidence is important to ensure decisions are not taken that may have unintended and harmful consequences for the sport."
Sportradar's recommendations outlined within the response to the Review include:
- Implement a proactive tennis-wide approach to restricting data distribution, targeting specific matches with an elevated risk of corrupt activity based on a consistent and analysis-led evaluation. This is something that Sportradar is doing as part of their integrity partnership with the ITF
- Create a new body made up of representatives from tennis, betting operators and sports data companies to ensure a more concerted and collective approach to fighting corruption in tennis across related operational areas that should include the application of the above targeted data restrictions
- Increase AV streaming coverage, where possible, to help provide reliable evidence
- Create new regulations to enable quicker sanctioning based on betting data and expert player analysis
- Bring in targeted measures to deal with online abuse of players, especially at lower levels, enabling players to escalate concerns
- Use technology to target risks, streamline processes, maximise impact and enhance intelligence-led enforcement action
The Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis was released on 25 April this year after the tennis international governing bodies, the ATP, the WTA, the ITF and the Grand Slam Board appointed an Independent Review Panel to address betting related and other integrity issues facing the sport in early 2016.
Sportradar's official response to the Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis is available in full here.
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At CES 2013, Verizon Communications showed off a variety of updates for its FiOS TV service, as well as a demonstration of the forthcoming Redbox Instant service from the Verizon-Coinstar joint venture. Read this article on Telecompetitor…
Here is the second of two articles about IBC 2012. At IBC this year, I was on the lookout at the intersection of TV software – which has always been my focus – and multi-screen delivery. Two product categories enable multi-screen services: service delivery platforms and video gateways. Some suppliers have entries in both. This article looks at offerings from Viaccess-Orca, Cisco (with NDS), Nagra, and Motorola.
Update, October 28, 2011: According to reliable sources contacted after this blog entry was posted, only Intel's Digital Home Group (the Marketing team) was dissolved and reassigned. The Atom chips themselves are alive and well. In fact, the next-generation 51xx dual-core series are in the hands of outside developers, and the first new products based on them are coming in the CES 2012 time-frame.
(Original Post: October 13, 2011) It's interesting and unfortunate that Intel seems to have (suddenly) exited the Atom STB processor business – The CE4100 'Sodaville' and CE4200 'Groveland' chips. You'da thought it was a healthy business, given the effort and expense Intel put into promoting it just last month at IBC. A sizable booth, and about a half-dozen commercial implementations on display – and if it's true, this move likely left these implementations in an awkward position.
It's strange timing, just as the platform was beginning to get some market traction. The Boxee Box uses it. Logitech and Sony built GoogleTV devices around it. Amino built its Freedom product line around it, including a custom–built an Atom-based box for Telecom Italia. Not to mention Comcast and DirecTV and their upcoming Atom-based set-tops. But these chips were much more expensive than other STB chips and never got to real volume as a result.
From the initial news reports, it has not been clear if Intel has stopped taking orders for the chips altogether, or has only ended proactive marketing for them. Intel's apparent exit follows in the tracks of (a couple weeks ago) Intel pulling out of MeeGo, which is the environment that Intel had been pitching to STB co's for these chips. Now MeeGo has been merged with Limo, to expand its scope and shift it toward HTML5 (not a bad thing, but disruptive for developers).
Just goes to prove my old theory. In the end, so many companies always revert to "safe" businesses when the chips are down (and that's literally, in the case of the Atom line). For Intel, it's always been about the chips – the money they put into vertical markets such as TV are tactical marketing programs, not strategic.
Then there's Cisco, which buys S-A and later sells its Mexican STB factory to Foxconn. Nobody's quite sure what the story with Cisco's Videoscape is, but its lead executive resigned. Cisco always goes back to its core networking businesses.
Google and Google TV? The Google TV platform was also implemented on ARM-architecture chips, so that platform itself is not in jeopardy with Intel's exit. But (without going into the tangent about what Google might have planned for the platform after the Motorola Mobility acquisition), Motorola's IPTV set-tops are Broadcom and Sigma (MIPS architecture) based. So (correct me if I'm wrong), wouldn't GoogleTV have to be ported to MIPS in order to run on these Motorola boxes, if it hasn't been ported already? That could make it a long wait.
Last week's announcement that Google would acquire Motorola Mobility caused a fair amount of tea leaf reading by observers in industry segments ranging from mobile to tablets to TV (both the traditional variety of TV and the interactive Internet-enabled variety). Myself included. A lot of people reflected on Google's pending (if it goes through) acquisition as a way that Google will arm itself with a bounty of patents that might deter potential Google adversaries.
I think that this event occurs at an inflection point for two device categories: tablets and mobile smartphones. Smartphones first. Briefly speaking, I agree with others that say the MMI acquisition will drive some mobile device companies away from Android unless there is some contractual assurance by Google that MMI won't get any kind of competitive advantage over other Android licensees. But where would those device companies go? Right to Microsoft. Verdict: a win for Microsoft, and indirectly, a win for Nokia.
But the tablet story could have been more interesting. Unlike the smartphone, whose market dynamics are a three-player game between Google, Apple and Microsoft in a mature category, the tablet category could have had four or five players for some time ("tablet wars" could have echoed the "browser wars" of the 1990s-2000s). At first glance, the MMI-Google alignment seemed to compress the number of tablet operating systems down to two: Google (Android) and Apple (iPad/iOS). But I don't think that game is yet quite over.
According to Strategy Analytics, Android had 30.1% share of the tablet category as of Q2 of 2011, up nearly 30% from a year eariler. Apple had 61.3%, down 33%. The fact that Android is on the rise bodes well for MMI's Android-based Xoom tablet, which has been available from Verizon and others since early this year. Because Motorola is an incumbent supplier to pay TV service providers as well as to wireless carriers, the Xoom is well positioned in front of two kinds of consumers.
Granted, Hewlett-Packard's sudden discontinuation of the H-P TouchPad – and the rest of its WebOS business, formerly Palm, which was acquired by H-P just 16 months ago – also helped consolidate the tablet category. Not only did H-P discontinue the device, it discontinued the whole operating system. RIP Palm, really this time. The TouchPad was launched amidst an expensive advertising campaign and promises that it would be everywhere in our lives – only about 50 days ago. It went into fire sale mode a few weeks later with a permanent $100 discount. A 64GB version was launched in Europe just last week! Clearly, the decision to kill that business was made some time ago – and the launch was done just to clear inventory. H-P seemed to be "all in" – H-P even launched a store – until H-P was suddenly "all out" (except for the inventory). Only Carly Fiorina could love such a debacle. Sad.
RIM's PlayBook tablet debuted to mixed reviews. This device anticipated that HTML5 would win over Flash for video delivery (and had a little help from Apple). As a nod to its corporate enterprise accounts, it's tied to the Blackberry ecosystem – but it's at a time when iPads are gaining acceptance in the enterprise. RIM's QNX operating system was ranked #4 in tablet OS market share by Strategy Analytics in Q2 of 2011, that share was only 3.3 percent. The tablet OS called "Other" made up just 0.7 percent, but H-P was not even part of that, since the TouchPad launched in July.
In summary then, Apple and Google are the clear category leaders, while another potential player (H-P) exited the category abruptly. Perhaps RIM will stay in the tablet category for awhile, having its greatest appeal in Blackberry enterprise accounts, but its overall share will remain very small – maybe small enough for RIM to fold its hand. If so, that would leave two, right?
Not so fast. First, Apple is defending its leadership position not only through innovation but also through litigation. Samsung was barred from selling its Android-based Galaxy Tab model in Europe and Australia, although it won at least a temporary reprieve soon afterward. And according to some analysis posted by Daring Fireball, the number of Android-based tablets actually in use is much lower than its market share estimates. In other words, they are selling in to the reseller channel; they're just not selling through to consumers.
Then, there's Microsoft. According to Strategy Analytics, Microsoft holds the number three spot in the tablet category, at 4.6%. For Microsoft, tablets have always been seen as another distribution channel for the Windows franchise. Microsoft has already demostrated Windows 8 on tablets.
In fact, Microsoft may actually (finally) fill a gap that needs to be filled in the tablet category. One of the frustrations of the iPad is that it does not have the full Mac experience. Unless an iPad user accesses a Mac via a virtual machine, he or she does not have access to most of the tools that are fundamental to the Mac, such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, etc. So, the iPad is not a Mac substitute. Google does have virtualization to Google Docs, so in that respect, Google offers a better solution than Apple does, for Mac users. But for Google Docs, you need to be online. Therefore, neither Apple nor Google provide a satisfying solution. (Yes, I know – the iPad is a 'lean-back' device, and was not envisioned as a computer replacement. It makes a fine TV sceen via the Slingbox or via 'TV Everywhere.' Bla bla bla – call me old-school.).
Because Microsoft offers a full Windows experience on computers that are built in a tablet form-factor, there is less compromise. Funny, because Microsoft has been trying to succeed in the tablet category for upwards of 20 years, and finally it seems to have a formula.
(Apple, are you listening? How about a MacBook Air that's built in a tablet form factor, with keyboard attachable via USB, Thunderbolt or Bluetooth? I – and I'd bet many others – would buy one, since Windows 'insists' on being more and more difficult to use with every subsequent release.)
This morning, we were greeted with the announcement that Google – a company that built its business on top of the Internet, search and advertising – would be buying Motorola Mobility (MMI), the mobile smartphone, TV set-top box and home networking portion of Motorola that became a stand-alone company at the beginning of 2011.
There is little doubt as to the strategic and product-level advantages that this combination would give to both parties, should the acquisition be approved by shareholders and regulators. Strategically, it's about intellectual property, as stated in Google's afore-linked press release – with the un-said subtext that it will probably give pause to potential adversaries before becoming embroiled in the kinds of law suits that have gone back and forth between Apple and HTC, Apple and Samsung, and others.
Product-wise, in addition to the obvious synergies between Google (Android) and Motorola in the mobile smartphone (Droid) and tablet (Xoom) device categories, Motorola benefits by having an opportunity to make Google's industry benchmark search technology native within all of its products. Search has been a long time focus of Motorola, on the TV infrastructure side. We'll see over time whether or not this drives non-Motorola Android-based smartphone makers into the clutches of Microsoft Windows Phone.
Google potentially benefits in that MMI has the industry presence to help move Google's Google TV technology from something of a pariah status within the TV industry into the industry mainstream. This would give Google TV a better opportunity to receive a broader test in the marketplace, through Tier-1 pay TV operators that buy from Motorola. With Motorola's imprimatur, TV service providers might be more apt to test and adopt it (content owners willing). Conversely, if Google TV were to receive more of an industry blessing as a result, Motorola's value proposition could be strengthened.
There are some "devil in the details" things that hopefully will be ironed out. For example, a Google-owned Motorola Mobility will have two IP television security solutions for conditional access and encryption: Google's Widevine and Motorola's SecureMedia. Will one of them "win"? My belief is that they could be complementary, and not an either-or situation, because Widevine shifted its focus to connected consumer electronics devices (e.g. smart TVs and other video-capable devices) a few years ago. Of course SecureMedia is going in the 'multi-screen' direction too, so we'll see.
Another interesting area will be how the two companies leverage one anothers' advertising technologies. MMI has an investment into Black Arrow, an advanced advertising specialist; and has an entire product line (Medios) devoted to the merchandizing of content on any screen.
It's the cultural fit that's less certain. Can the acquir-or handle the business that the acquir-ee brings? Will the acquir-ee bring some grown-up discipline to the acquir-or? In a way, I liken today's Google to the Cisco of years past. Google's acquisition binge of recent years resembles Cisco's of 10-15 years ago. By its own admission, Cisco lost some of its focus in the process.
In retrospect, Cisco has been, and will remain, a network infrastructure provider (just as, at the end of the day, Intel will always be a chip company). Strategically, Cisco's acquisition of one of Motorola's biggest TV industry competitors – video infrastructure and set-top box supplier Scientific-Atlanta – a few years back made sense for Cisco, since video helps Cisco justify its network offerings. But culturally, Cisco has never truly become a "video" company, even with the company's launch of Videoscape, which purports to unify large subcontinents of Cisco under a video solutions banner.
I ask myself: why did Cisco (S-A) lose its momentum in its video business, which has resulted in Cisco selling off a set-top factory, not to mention big layoffs, and not to mention Cisco's abrupt shut-down of the once-hugely-popular Flip video business. Will the same thing happen to Motorola Mobility in a few years?
Or we can go off on another tangent and ask whether – by having bought its way into being Nokia's primary smartphone OS supplier – Microsoft will have brought both Windows Phone and Nokia back from the brink – just as Android breathed new life into MMI's mobile phones a couple of years back. Or, we can ask whether Apple feels in the slightest way threatened by any of this. Sequentially, too early to tell, and they'd never admit it if it did. But Google's effect on Motorola Mobility, and vice versa, is not tangent to the conversation at all.


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MANHASSET, NY – To increase awareness about women's risk for heart disease and prevention efforts, the North Shore-LIJ Health System today marked the "Go Red for Women" campaign with a special program held at North Shore University Hospital to coincide with the American Heart Association's (AHA) 10th annual National Wear Red Day to show support for women's heart health.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, claiming the lives of an estimated 240,000 females each year. Heart disease and stroke are the cause of 500,000 deaths in women annually.
The event, which was presented to more than 150 healthcare professionals in the hospital's auditorium and teleconferenced to hundreds of employees at North Shore-LIJ hospitals in the metropolitan area, educated staff about gender differences regarding heart disease and risks among women. The program also focused on empowering women to make healthy lifestyle changes to help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. A highlight of the event was an original performance by the Hofstra University modern dancers, who creatively expressed the struggle of heart disease and people's triumph over it. The dance was in honor of the troupe's professor and choreographer, Niles Ford, who died of a heart attack last January at age 52.
Committed to educating communities about ways to improve women's heart health, North Shore-LIJ is the AHA Cities Go Red sponsor of the movement across all five boroughs as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties.
"We know that more women in this country die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined, yet too few women consider cardiac disease a major health concern," said Stacey Rosen, MD, vice president for clinical services at the Katz Institute for Women's Health, and a member of AHA's Long Island Board of Directors. Dr. Rosen noted that only 56 percent of women correctly identified heart disease as the number one cause of death among females in the US. "In women, heart disease is too often a silent killer in which heart attack symptoms are not as pronounced as they are in men, and women are more likely to delay immediate treatment," Dr. Rosen said.
During the program, Joyce Lenard, 77, of Syosset, shared her dramatic story of heart disease when she was celebrating her grandson's bar mitzvah about six years ago. "Somewhere between the salad and the main course, I started feeling some chest pain but I thought it was indigestion," said Ms. Lenard. By the end of the evening, Ms. Lenard had excruciating chest pain, thought she was having a heart attack and drove herself to LIJ Medical Center in New Hyde Park. She was diagnosed with stress cardiomyopathy, often known as "broken heart syndrome" because it can be linked to emotions triggered by a death or grief. Though in Ms. Lenard's case, her episode was brought on by happy emotions, but at the time, she also worked a high-level, full-time job, coupled with other stressors in her life that contributed toward her condition. Reminding women in the audience, Ms. Lenard emphasized: "Don't neglect your symptoms and learn how to manage your stress."
"Go Red for Women encourages women to take charge of their heart health through early identification of modifiable risk factors and by making small changes that are within their control, such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercising and not smoking," said Dr. Rosen.
Jessica DiMeo, American Heart
Association (516) 450-1011
[email protected]


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Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is planning to send a team to play in Zimbabwe next year, if a fact-finding mission to the troubled African country comes back with a positive report.
MCC's world cricket committee, chaired by former England captain Tony Lewis and featuring fellow former Test skippers in Steve Waugh and Rahul Dravid is keen to see whether Zimbabwe is ready to return to Test cricket.
During a two-day meeting at MCC's Lord's headquarters, former Zimbabwe captain and current England coach Andy Flower, spoke about the position of cricket in his homeland.
Concerns about the impact of Robert Mugabe's regime led Flower to quit the country at the 2003 World Cup where he and team-mate Henry Olonga staged a black armband protest to mourn the "death of democracy" in Zimbabwe.
But recent reports suggest cricket structures within the country may be on the mend although whether nations such as Britain are prepared to reverse their stance on banning entry to Zimbabwe Cricket officials linked to Mugabe remains to be seen.
"The reason for going there is we don't know what we will find, or want to find - the political situation is so fractured, as far as we can believe," Lewis told a news conference at Lord's on Friday.
"But the one person urging us to have a look is Andy Flower, and we believe greatly in his judgment - so we will go with open minds," the former Glamorgan batsman added.
"We will go through all the correct processes you would expect first; we won't blithely go to Zimbabwe and start playing games again.
"But we felt as if, unless we started to do something now, it would be too easy to let the situation freeze."
Amidst accusations of racially-motivated selections and government sponsored maladministration, Zimbabwe witnessed a player exodus and a collapse in their on-field performance which has led to their exclusion from Test cricket for the past four years.
Although it is more than 40 years since MCC, which owns Lord's, stopped running English cricket, it remains responsible for cricket's laws and likes to see itself as the 'conscience' of the game.
Lewis believes its freedom from national allegiance allows MCC the chance to test the water in Zimbabwe in a way not open to leading countries.
"It's very difficult for the established governing bodies in cricket to make that suggestion and leap," added Lewis.
"With MCC's independence and global reach, it is easier for us to go and look and find out and come back and recommend to the great decision-makers.
"We don't run cricket but we can act as 'Polyfilla', I think, in tricky situations. Unless someone says 'let's have a go', nothing will happen - and I would like to think that one day they will be back in the (Test) cricket fold.
"We may come back at the end and say 'we had a really good look, and it's not right'.
"But there is an optimum time to go, and we think it should be shortly."
MCC contemplating Zimbabwe tour
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is planning to send a team to play in Zimbabwe next year, if a fact-finding mission to the troubled African country comes back with a positive report.


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COMPLIANCE with the terms of the peace accord in El Salvador has proceeded smoothly, all things considered. The agreement ending the brutal 12-year civil war was signed in January by representatives of the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of leftist organizations that fielded a guerrilla army.
The pact calls for, among other things, the demobilization of the guerrilla forces in five stages. This week, in the third of those stages, several thousand FMLN soldiers are scheduled to surrender their weapons under the supervision of United Nations monitors. Under the negotiated timetable, demobilization is to be completed by Oct. 31.
The peace process is entering a dicey period, however. Distrust between the old antagonists runs deep. Wary of possible government foot-dragging on promised reforms as the FMLN loses its military leverage, the FMLN has threatened to halt demobilization absent further government assurances.
The FMLN is especially insistent on reforms in the Salvadoran police and security forces designed to ensure the safety of government opponents and their families. Opposition leaders have accused President Alfredo Cristiani's government of fudging on the dissolution of notorious special security units once implicated in death-squad killings.
Now the FMLN is waiting to see if President Cristiani will accept the recommendations of a commission studying reform of the Salvadoran Army. A secret report to the president is believed to call for a significant purge of senior officers. Other difficult steps remain to be taken, including land redistribution and judicial reform.
Given the war's legacy of bitterness and El Salvador's deep social and economic rifts, peace is making remarkable progress. But land mines still strew the path. It's essential that the UN and the United States, though beset with numerous other claims on their attention and resources, do not disengage from El Salvador at this critical juncture.


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News story
Jo Swinson talks to 5 News Tonight about shared parental leave
Jo Swinson, Minister for Employment Relations, talks to 5 News Tonight about the benefits of shared parental leave.
From April 2015, parents will have greater choice in how they share time off work and care in the first year of their child's life. The change will drive an increase in workplace equality as women could choose to go back to work earlier whilst fathers can spend more time with their children in the first year after they're born.
Jo Swinson talks to 5 News Tonight about shared parental leave
Check your eligibility for shared parental leave and how much pay you can get if you take leave.
5 News Tonight video transcript
Matt Barbet: Now the hard-hitting world of rugby might seem an odd place to find a shining example of a new man, but England's union star Ben Foden says his years on the pitch have given him the confidence to be hands-on with raising his children. He and his pop star wife, Una from The Saturdays, are fronting a new government campaign urging mums and dads to take advantage of a new shared parental leave law. I spoke to the Employment Minister, Jo Swinson, a short time ago and started by asking her how successful she thinks it will be given that the government's own forecast suggests only 2 to 8% of men will take advantage of the policy in its first year.
Jo Swinson: Like with many changes, particularly towards greater equality and rights for dads that it does take a little time. So in the first year you wouldn't expect it to be as much as in year 5 of year 10. And it was the same if you think about when paternity leave was introduced that wasn't something that there was a huge take up of initially but now most men take some time off around the time when their baby is born, whether they take it as formal paternity leave or they take it as a period of holiday, although it's certainly not a holiday.
Matt Barbet: You and I are both parents. I'm a dad I've got 2 children and I took time off for both and I was present at both births as well. But the thing is, my wife won't mind me saying, that I'm the main breadwinner so chances are I'm going to be the one going back to work sooner and I imagine that's true for most couples.
Jo Swinson: It is true that in the majority of couples currently the man earns more than the woman but that is something where there are changes afoot. And there are now, depending on which surveys you look at, up to a third of couples actually have the woman who earns more. And so for those couples, those families, the economics might be very different. So why should we have an outdated system that assumes and says that it must be the woman who takes up to a year off and dads should only get two weeks.
Matt Barbet: Now your own circumstances mean that you're married to another MP. I'm not going to speculate on who's the bigger breadwinner, it might be you actually because you have a more senior job. You already have a son. If you were to have another baby how would you divide it up?
Jo Swinson: Well I think it's like for all couples, something that you would have a discussion about at that point. Working out what you each perhaps had coming up, how you felt about it. I feel very strongly from my personal experience that having period of maternity leave was very important. Not just for recovering from the birth which is a pretty intense experience. But also for that early bonding and of course naturally many mums are going to want to continue to do that. But of course there's no reason why dads will not also want to have time with their new baby. And indeed the flexibility that we have under shared parental leave now is going to enable couples to have perhaps some time together at home as a family for longer when the baby is a new-born but to maybe take other chunks of time during that first year. So it may be that the mother is taking some maternity leave in the early weeks and months but then decides to go back to work that dad might then take on more of the responsibility and particularly take some more leave around the time of the transition of mum going back to work to make that run more smoothly.
Matt Barbet: The bigger question it really raises is how secure are women's jobs here?
Jo Swinson: Well clearly there are still issues in the workforce. We know that after having children in later stages of women's careers this is one of the factors that is behind the pay gap that persists. But of course by having more men take time out of their jobs to look after young children and babies then that will help to start change the culture and make things more equal in the workplace. So more equality at home, I think, is also good for equality in the workplace and that is something that will help women's careers as well as helping the family situation and the bond between dads and their children.


text: What's going on here, no info in the description? How can this Bobby Puleo part drop out of nowhere?! But who really cares though, this is probably the best surprise of the year so far (and probably will retain that title until we see the end of it). Loads of night skating and about 85% of it being filmed on cellar door spots, this is classic Bobby Puleo skating and it's really refreshing to see. As the dude is pretty illusive no one can be really sure of when we'll see some more of him next, but this section will be on repeat for quite some time yet!


text:
Danny is a quiet boy (as in almost mute) not because he can't talk, but because he doesn't want to. His father left and went back to Mexico a few years back and since then Danny has completely withdrawn into himself. He lives with his white mother and younger sister and attends an exclusive private school on a scholarship. When he's at home he feels like he's too brown, too Mexican to fit in and craves to be more involved with the Mexican side of his family. But then when he's with his extended Mexican family he feels too white.
Obviously, Danny has issues. He has convinced himself that if he writes long letters to his dad telling him how awesome his life is going (regardless of the fact it isn't true) his dad will come back. Danny feels as though it was because he was too white, too boring, just not good enough that his dad left. He blames his mother while worshiping the father that left. The thing about Danny is that he doesn't act out. Besides some self inflicted wounds, he holds the pain inside, he is quiet, the eternal observer, and so no one really notices that his spirit is sort of dying. The only time he comes alive is when he is playing baseball. Danny is good. Extremely good.
His inability to feel completely comfortable in either culture is completely believable. Danny doesn't know Spanish, is practically the only brown kid at his school, can tell what people think of him when they see him. Too brown for the whites, too white for everyone else. He feels shame that he attends a private school and gets good grades, he longs to be tougher, more street smart like his cousins and can't help but wonder if the fact that he isn't tough is yet another reason his father left.
Then the opportunity to spend the summer with the Mexican side of his family appears. I really loved the people that Danny met. His extended family (especially his girl cousin closest in age), her friends, and especially Uno the thug who turns out to be so much more than that. It is Uno that really pushes Danny to become more than he is. More outspoken, more confident, and more willing to take risks. Together they hustle the neighborhood with Danny's baseball skills. In return, Danny shows them by example that they could do more with their life than hanging around the neighborhood playing out the same tired out negative roles. De La Pena does this with subtlety and so the message never feels heavy handed.
There are some weaknesses to the book. Danny's phone conversations with his mother lacked believability. Although there were reasons for her monologues and supposed lack of interest in Danny that were explained later in the book, it still seemed forced and not up to the level of dialog in the rest of the novel. And the fact that she called him "Danny boy." Perhaps he was Irish on that side, but still the nickname was totally jarring, although I suppose teens not familiar with the popular Irish song probably wouldn't be bothered at all. Uno's reformed gangsta father also felt a bit off. He is a man who tends to monolog all day spreading his "wisdom" to his son. Uno thinks his dad is giving him "mad wisdom" if he could just understand him, but truthfully, I don't think anyone could understand what his dad was saying –whether or not it was intentional I'm not sure.
The book ends with family secrets being revealed alongside an extremely disturbing violent encounter that has Danny reevaluating his thoughts about what exactly he wants his life and future to look like.
A fast read that will appeal to your reluctant readers.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena
Posted by Patti at 11:03 AM
Labels: YA book - Fiction, YA book - Sports
2 comments:
- Bibliovore said...
Hey Patti
I'm actually reading this right now! Spooky.
I agree with your review so far, and I want to add that it feels like Uno's book just as much as Danny's so far, so why is all the stuff on the outside about Danny? Hmm. I guess I'll see as I get further.
- August 25, 2008 at 7:04 PM
- Patti said...
I agree Uno was a major character, but I think Danny was the main one. That's interesting though.
- August 25, 2008 at 7:53 PM
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